Chapter Text
Almost a week had passed since Cuphead came back and the deal had been made. A week of Mugman not being able to sleep, because every time he closes his eyes. He sees his brother dead on the floor. As the hallucination of him laughing, mocking him to finish the mission. Every time the mug would shoot up to look for Cuphead.
It has gotten to the point where he doesn’t even sleep on the bed anymore. He would just go sit next to Cuphead bed and guard him. While Cuphead could practically feel his twin’s exhaustion from his soul. When Bendy had enough of Mugman waking up in the middle of the night and moving around. So the next morning he went to confront the red cup.
“Look Cuphead I know we had a deal with the two of you protecting us. But how can you protect us if one of ya is practically half asleep and the other is recovering?” Cuphead just nodded in agreement as a thought went through his head. He hadn’t done that since they were kids! There was no way it would still work. Right?
“Okay, I hear ya. I know of a way to put him to sleep. But! You and your brother had to be in another room! Deal?”
Bendy was suspicious about the situation but if it got the mug to sleep. “Fine. Me and Boris would probably be in a bar or something. You got an hour tonight!”
As the sun was just about to set, Mugman just entered the motel room almost tripping over on the doorstep. His eyes felt so heavy and blurred, while his whole body felt like lead. He couldn’t fall asleep, no matter what. He had to look after Cuphead, to see that he is okay, that he's alive, he’s not hallucinating, that this is real. The mug could see his brother making something? It smelt nice… warm.. so comforting..
Mugman immediately smacked his face to wake up! The smack kinda startled the cup. “You okay bro?!” Mugman suddenly lifted his head to see Cuphead? Why did he look so concerned? Is he hurt? Before he could speak, the mug smelled something familiar. When he noticed that he was on the bed? Why was he on the bed? Wasn’t he near the door? He’s holding something warm now… tea? When was the last time he had this kind of tea?
The bed kinda shifted with the weight of his twin now suddenly sitting next to him. When did he get there? Wasn’t he in the kitchen? When he finally pieced together what was going on! “No.. no sleep… can’t.. won’t… sleep..” The mug could barely put together a coherent sentence. “No you're not going to sleep, you're just taking a break.” A break? Yeah…yeah. That’s fine… but where was the demon and wolf? Aren’t they supposed to protect them? That was the deal right?
Mugman almost dropped the tea as he tried to get up. Cuphead caught it before it could spill. “Okay. No tea then. Maybe later.” As Cuphead gently grabbed his brother by the arm to sit him back on the bed. “How about you lay down for a bit? No sleeping, just laying down.” As he patted on the bed.
Mugman was too tired to argue back about getting back to the mission. They need to find the other two. What were their names again? Something with a B? It doesn’t matter, they just need to protect them and that’s it. As he was looking at the ceiling. When did he lay down? Where were his shoes? The mug turned his head to see his brother sitting on the edge of the bed.
Then he heard it, an old tune of his brother humming to him. Soft and warm yet kinda ruff from smoking. He tried to fight off the sleep, yet his brother continued to sing to him. It’s been so long since he heard his brother sing. He was never really good at singing out loud. But humming was another story. He could feel his eyes growing heavy as he drifted off to sleep.
This time he didn’t dream of his brother’s death. Instead he dreamed of the two of them as children laying on soft green grass. While his brother was humming to him. Even after he closed his eyes, Cuphead continued to sing just to be safe.
On the other side of the door was Bendy and Boris listening to the cup sing. The two were suspicious at the cup’s sudden secrecy. So the two decided to come back earlier to see what they were up to. They heard everything, to the tea and the singing. Boris was stunned as Bendy was the one who spoke first. “Huh.. who knew that they even could be soft.”