That night when Henry and Bendy got back home, the teacher went straight to work figuring out something to help Nicole.
Bendy hadn't seen him this focused since he worked as an animator. Henry still loved drawing and did it lots. Bendy was getting better at it, but he knew he'd never be as good as Henry.
Bendy walked over it the very focused Henry. "Hey Hen, sorry ta interrupt yer work, but ya still need ya find a substitute teacher for tomorrow." Bendy said.
"Right, thanks for reminding me. I think I've figured something out. I'll have to wait until the day after tomorrow." Henry sighed.
Bendy could tell he was troubled by the whole situation. He clambered up into Henry's lap, standing up and hugging him.
Henry's arms stayed down for a second before hugging the demon back. "Don't worry bout it too much Hen, alright?" Bendy said.
"Alright." Henry said. He tried to sound convincing but both knew if he couldn't help Nicole, he'd be devastated and hate himself for it forever.
The next morning instead of going to the elementary school, Henry went to Shawn's grade twelve class to substitute. Bendy came with him.
He entered the class and saw a group of young adults looking over at him. "Hello, I'll be your substitute for today, my name is Mr.Stein." Henry said.
"Is that a cat?" One guy asked, pointing to Bendy hiding behind Henry's legs.
"No, that's a demon. I'm going to do attendance so just say something when I call your name..." Henry started calling names on a list.
Each kid answered that was there, and when Henry was done he looked at the notes Shawn left him.
"Where's Mr.Cohen?" A girl asked.
"He's at a meeting-wait why'd you say Cohen- never mind-" Henry forgot that Shawn now had the same last name as Grant.
Bendy snickered. "Didja forget already? Yer such a great friend to Shawn." The demon laughed.
"Okay, can we go back to the fact out teacher is the guy from that fake news story of Joey Drew." A guy said.
Henry looked over at him, pushing his glasses up. "Fake? Do you wanna know something about your teacher? He was one of the lost souls in there." Henry said, crossing his arms.
"Pff, sure." The guy sarcastically rolled his eyes.
"Alright if you know everything," Henry said. The class snickered. "Just ask him to drink some ink, he turns back into his old form. That or he gets really emotionally overwhelmed. It will transform him into an ink monster, same with me and Bendy." Henry said.
"Then drink some ink, Mr.Stein." The guy said, standing up and putting his hands firmly on his desk, glaring challengingly at Henry.
"Okay." Henry shrugged, digging in his back pack and pulling out an ink bottle. Bendy watched the scene unfold in front of him.
"You wouldn't, liar." The guy scoffed.
"It isn't the most wonderful taste, but I will. I'm not like the other ink monster forms though, most of them looks all the same. For some reason mine is different." Henry said. He drank the ink out of the tiny bottle and the expression on the guys face was priceless.
Nothing happened. It always took a minute. "See?! Liar, that's probably some weird robot-" the guy stoped talking as Henry's left eye started to turn a bright yellow.
Ink dripped from his face and black horns grew out of his head, a golden halo floating above him. He grew a whip-thin black tail, and small feathered angel wings. Half his face was covered in ink and one of his eyes looked like a lost one's eye. The hand on the same side of his inked eye had turned inky black and clawed.
Henry squinted one eye and shook his head. "I hate doing that, it feels weird." He said. Everyone gaped at him, eyes wide.
Henry looked at the guy who was doubting him. He gave Bendy some ink and the demon went into ink demon form.
"Yes, the story is true. Shawn-er-your teacher is completely covered in ink and has two yellow eyes like this one, same with your principle." Henry said.
"Really?!" Another kid asked.
"Yeah, anyways back to work." Henry said. He needed to focus on running the class.
While the students worked, Henry and Bendy chatted and joked about stuff. One girl kept looking at them suspiciously.
She finally asked the question she'd been trying to ask for a while when Bendy was leaned over with his head on Henry's shoulder, watching him write in a notebook.
"Mr.Stein, are you and Bendy like...together?" She asked cautiously. Henry looked over at her.
"What do you mean exactly by that?" He questioned curiously.
"Y'know, like...a couple?" She asked.
Henry's and Bendy's faces flushed into a dark red. "N-no, why-uh-why would you think that?" Henry spluttered.
"I dunno, it's kinda just the way you two are around each other. It just seems like you kinda act like you both like each other. Maybe you should look into that?" She smirked.
Bendy no longer had his head leaned against Henry's shoulder. "I don't think that we do." Henry said awkwardly.
He continued teaching class and both Henry and Bendy pretended nothing had happened. That night Henry was making them spaghetti for dinner and Bendy was drawing at the table.
They had both had showers so they were now back to normal. Henry set the table and Bendy put his drawing book away.
Henry was dazed out, poking his food but not eating it, lost in thought. The sentence that the girl had said kept echoing through his mind.
'Maybe you should look into that? You kinda act like you both like each other.'
Henry sighed. "What's the matter Hen?" Bendy asked.
"N-nothing." Henry muttered, blushing a bit. He kept his eyes glued to his lap, hands twiddling together uncomfortably.
"One of the kids got in yer head, didn they?" Bendy said, crawling up into Henry's lap and putting his hands on the man's shoulders.
"Yeah..." Henry shrugged, not meeting Bendy's eyes.
"Which one was it? I bet they're wrong." Bendy said. He kept trying to move his head to look into Henry's eyes, but the teacher kept turning away.
"No, actually. I'm afraid they were right and now I don't know what to do." Henry sighed.
"Who was it?" Bendy asked.
"It doesn't matter. What they said was only half true that I know of. Just ignore it." Henry said.
Bendy thought of all the things the kids had said that day. Then he realized which one Henry must've been talking about.
"Do ya wanna talk bout it?" Bendy asked cautiously.
Henry shook his head. "Just forget it, doesn't matter." He said.
Bendy grabbed Henry's face and forced him to look at the demon. "Yes it does matter. I think I know which kid yer talkin bout..." the demon trailed off, staring into Henry's eyes.
Henry didn't say anything, nobody really had to. The two kissed, and then Bendy pulled away and sat down on Henry's lap.
Henry blinked a few times before his brain caught up. He smiled and hugged the tiny demon. Neither of them were able to wipe the giddy smiles off of their faces.
To fill the void of silence, Bendy said, "so what was yer plan ta help Nicole out?"
"It won't even work, it'll just make her more sad than before." Henry sighed.
"What is it?" Bendy asked.
"I was going to report her parents, but then she'd be sent to foster care or an orphanage. I guess I really can't help her." Henry looked sadly off into nothing.
Bendy stood up and looked Henry in the eyes. "Y'know, ya seem ta really care for her, maybe ya could adopt her?" Bendy suggested.
This seemed to perk Henry up. "I-I, but I can't! I mean I'd love to but she probably wouldn't want to leave her parents and I've never had a kid what if I'm terrible at being a dad-" Henry spluttered.
"No," Bendy cut him off. "You are amazing with kids, and she literally said herself that she wanted to live with us!" Bendy pointed out.
"She might not mean it." Henry sighed. "Let's just figure this out tomorrow." Henry said.
The two went to bed and the next morning when Nicole walked in, Henry instantly noticed she had a black eye and did a poor job of covering it with her hair.
"Hey Nicole, come here for a minute." Henry said worriedly. The little girl stood in front of him, looking up at him with red eyes as if she'd been crying.
"What happened ta yer eye?" Bendy asked. Nicole looked away.
"I-I'm not allowed to say." She mumbled. Henry and Bendy shared a worried look.
"I'm just going to ask you a couple questions, and I really need you to answer truthfully okay?" Henry said, putting a comforting hand on the little girls shoulder.
She shakily nodded, looking as if she might cry at any given second.
"Did your parents give you that black eye?" Henry asked, trying to sound as gentle as possible. Nicole hesitated, then nodded.
"Do they hurt you lots?" Henry questioned. Another hesitant nod. "Would you rather live with me and Bendy?" Henry asked.
Nicole finally looked up into Henry's eyes, her whole face lit up. "C-could I really? That'd be way b-better than living with mom and dad. T-they always hurt me and y-yell at me and call me b-bad things I'm n-not allowed to say." Nicole burst out crying.
Henry scooped her up into a hug. "Don't worry, I'm going to get you out of there and you can come live with me and Bendy." He said soothingly, petting her black hair.
"Bendy, take care of Nicole for a bit while I make a few calls and sort this mess out." Henry said. Bendy nodded and let the little girl hug him and cry into his shoulder even though he was as big as she was.
Henry made some calls and sorted things out, and in the end police came to the school because he couldn't leave work and he talked with them.
A little boy with a freckle covered face scampered over and looked up excitedly at the police man and woman.
"Mr.Stein, why is the police here?" He asked. Henry stopped talking for a moment to look down at him.
"One second," he said to the cops. He kneeled down to the little boys height.
"Well, because we're helping your classmate Nicole with some problems she has, don't worry about it just go back to playing." Henry said, smiling at him.
"Okay!" The boy grinned and ran off.
Henry stood back up and the cops gave him some papers. "These are adoption forms for her, I'm glad you told us otherwise she'd be getting harmed more." The first cop said.
"She's so young for all of this to be happening to her." Henry glanced over at her.
"I can tell you're great with kids, they all love you and your little uh...friend?" The second cop said as if asking.
"He's a demon, a cartoon demon." Henry answered hesitantly.
"Well, the kids seem to adore him." The first cop said. The second cop nodded in agreement.
They left and Henry walked over and crouched down beside Bendy and Nicole.
"Hey Nicole." Henry said, picking her up from Bendy's arms.
"You're coming to live with me and Bendy, how's that sound?" Henry asked. Nicole's eyes went wide.
"Really?!" She asked excitedly.
"Absolutely, and you won't be hurt anymore, nobody will hurt you, or else they'll have to go through me." Henry smiled, poking her nose.
She giggled, practically beaming with happiness. Bendy smiled too. "Ya are very great with kids Hen." He said.
"So are you." Henry said. He bundled the two smaller beings into a big hug. "I love you guys."
"This is the best little family I've ever been in." Nicole grinned.
"It's actually not that little, don't forget about Boris and Alice." Bendy said.
"Also all of our friends. They'd be like her uncles and aunts." Henry grinned.
"Yay!" Nicole laughed.
"Don't let her anywhere near Norman, he'll make her good at jump-scaring." Bendy said.
