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Gordon has a box under his arm as he walks in.
Benry remembers Gordon leaving for the store a couple of hours before. He was rambling about something called ahyoupunchyor and how he wanted to try it out on his stub arm.
Gordon also said a lot of other stuff about it, but that was when Benry zoned out.
He still gets a little nauseous thinking about the arm, not as nauseous as he got back then, but still. He’d prefer those emotions stay locked up in their own little box in his mind.
Benry immediately runs over from his spot on the couch and snatches the box from him, Gordon lets it happen. He’s already used to Benry’s grabby nature (and maybe a bit more used to Benry being suspicious of everything he does).
“You gonna go ahyoupunch? Gonna bully your arm like a-”
Benry forgets what he was going to say.
When he sees the cover of the box his mouth goes dry.
“Benry, it’s not ahyou- whatever the fuck you just said, it’s acupuncture and it’s to relieve tension. Well, it’s supposed to, I should’ve gotten the refundable one...”
Gordon trails off.
“You okay?”
Benry snaps out of his trance and shoves the box back into Gordon’s arms.
“Yeah just uh … looking at the … the punch … stuff.”
Benry shuffles backward, wanting to put as much distance between him and the box as he can.
Gordon looks at him, an unreadable expression on his face.
Benry stares at the box like it’s about to attack him.
After a moment, Gordon’s expression shifts, and he puts the box back under his arm. The cover is facing his side.
“It’s pronounced acupuncture, stop saying it like that”
Benry immediately starts to playfully repeat the word, (pronouncing it in his own fucked up way) grateful for the distraction.
He succeeds in thoroughly annoying Gordon and driving him into his room. Forcing him to lock the door lest Benry bust in and annoy him further.
The cover of the box settles into its place near all the other unwanted thoughts.
Gordon stays in his room the rest of the day. Benry assumes he’s doing the ahyoupunchyor thing and whatever that entails.
Good, he can hog the couch and play all the games he wants, Without Gordon.
…
This is boring.
Benry throws the controller over the back of the couch, not bothering to pause the game. The plastic of it cracks against the floor behind him.
He lets out a long sigh of orange to off-white sweet voice.
Tommy’s translation plays in his mind.
‘orange to off-white like a rind means I’m bored out of my mind!’
Benry rolls over onto his back, contemplating whether or not he should ask Gordon to watch a movie. Maybe even go on a walk, who knows.
Yeah, that sounds nice.
He gets up off the couch and pauses.
Is he still doing the … the needle thing?
Benry suddenly feels very apprehensive about going anywhere near Gordon’s room.
He takes a deep breath, steels himself, and starts to make his way over anyways. Some stupid needles are not going to keep them from having quality Benry Feetman time.
The farther he walks down the hallway the more intense the waves of ice-cold fear get.
He’s sweating and starting to feel nauseous as he stops in front of Gordon’s door.
When he reaches for the doorknob he can see that his hand is shaking.
Yeah no, he can’t do this.
Before he can walk away, Gordon opens the door. He lets out a surprised gasp and almost drops what he’s holding.
“Uh, hey Benry.”
Benry stares at him for a moment, willing down his rising panic.
“Wanna go on a walk? Spend quality time with best friend Benry?”
Benry’s eyes drift from Gordon to what he’s holding as he responds. It’s a small box, just small enough for him to be able to see inside.
Benry freezes.
There are needles inside.
Dozens of them.
Benry’s breath quickens, his heart beats faster in his chest, and he feels bile start to rise in his throat.
He’s strapped to a table. Blindingly white lights are all around him. He’s only able to squirm as sharp needles pierce his skin over and over and over again. Indifferent scientists completely ignore his cries of fear and pain. He’s completely hopeless.
Benry can barely hear as Gordon worriedly calls his name. The box is hidden behind his back but the damage is already done.
He runs from Gordon and the box and the needles. Bright white sweet voice spills out of his mouth with a high-pitched ‘nails on a chalkboard’ wail.
He hurries into the bathroom and slams the door in Gordon’s face. His eyes are squeezed shut but everything is still white.
White walls, white floors, white ceilings, white lab coats.
The white glint of light off the metal of a needle.
He dry heaves into the sink.
Focus on other things. Focus on other things. What other things?!
He splashes his face with water, trying desperately to calm down.
He can barely hear a voice talking to him from the other side of the door. Benry pulls on his hair and tries to focus on it.
It’s giving him instructions.
He blindly follows them.
The overwhelming whiteness slowly dissipates and is replaced by warm oranges and maroons. Then yellows and light blues and greens.
Rainbows of color overtake his thoughts, replacing blind panic and fear.
He slowly builds up the courage to open his eyes.
Benry’s at home.
The room is filled with dozens of colors of sweet voice, and the bright white that had been there before was gone. The only white remaining is the porcelain of the sink, toilet, and tub.
He looks down at his hands, arms, and any skin that isn’t covered. No puncture wounds.
He finally starts to calm down.
Once he feels like he isn’t about to vomit he opens the door and-
There’s Gordon, he looks worried out of his mind. The box is nowhere to be seen.
“Are you okay?”
Benry nods.
“You want a hug?”
Benry nods again, a little more enthusiastically this time. Gordon's hugs are always the best.
As soon as warm arms envelop him he cries.
Benry wouldn’t let go of Gordon after their hug and Gordon didn’t have the heart to try and pry him off. So instead of taking a walk they cuddled together on the couch and decided to watch a movie. Then fought over the remote, it was a tie.
That was an hour and a half ago.
“You want to talk about what happened?”
Benry took a while to respond but Gordon didn’t push him, he knew firsthand how hard talking about these kinds of things could be.
“No … not now, sorry.”
“You don’t have to say sorry.”
A couple of minutes passed in silence.
“I threw away the needles by the way, they didn’t work.”
Benry snorted.
“Didn’t bully your arm good enough? Too much of a nerd to be a jock, nerdman.”
“It’s not … punching your arm, and what do you even mean by bully?”
“… Stop hitting yourself.”
Gordon stared at Benry for a long moment before he erupted with laughter. Benry started cackling along after getting over his surprise.
When Gordon was reduced down to breathy giggles he leaned against Benry and Benry leaned back. The credits were rolling but neither of them moved.
“You don’t have to talk to me about it but …”
Benry looked up at Gordon.
“I’m always here for you.”
Gordon looked back at Benry and smiled.
Benry felt like he could cry again.