Helping Hand - It's Not Me It's My Basement Fic

father figure already?? daring today arent we

when dr. d. light finished the dishes and embry finished putting them away, he crouched down to the child. "so embry," he started, keeping his soft smile. "if i do stay with you for a night or two, where exactly would i sleep? i'm alright with sleeping on the floor or in a chair," he offered.

embry thought for a moment, then they answered "i can set something up for you on the couch, if you don't mind that."

"i don't mind at all! thank you." he gave the child another hug. to be honest, embry hadn't been given this many hugs in a single day in forever.

embry guided dr. d. light to the couch, and set a pillow and blanket there for him. "so, uhh.. you know where my room is if you need me."

"thank you, embry!" the doctor ruffled up their hair. it made them somewhat happy, but they didn't want to show it. this was the most love they'd felt in forever. so they just gave an "mmhm."

the doctor thought a bit, then said "embry, would you mind if i showed myself around? i won't enter your room or your parent's room. i just want a good feel of this house, okay?"

embry nodded, and the doctor left the room with a large smile. "why'd i ever let him stay," embry thought to themself, upset and annoyed. they pushed the tv and their old drawings to the side of the room, then focused on finding more things for dr. d.'s temporary bed.

but then they heard a voice. "embry.."

embry whimpered and turned to face the door. the monster was mimicking their mother's voice again, and that upset them. "what is it now?"

"embry, please send the doctor for us." the voice requested, "don't you want to help us? that's the reason he came."

"i know you're not my mom," embry replied, trying to just focus on the couch. "and i'm not letting you hurt me or him. i'm not letting you do what you did to my parents again."

"embry, please, he knows better than you do. if you send him down he can help." now their father was speaking. embry shouted back, "well he doesn't want to come down! go away."

"embry, you act like you don't want to help your own parents." their father's voice sounded stern now. that always shook them, their real father never got mad except for once or twice in their very early youth.

"because you're not my parents!" embry stomped their foot on the ground. "you killed my parents! i know you did! so shut up and go away!"

there was a moment of silence. and embry sighed, thinking they had finally gotten it to be quiet. but the voice came back, now mimicking them. "let us in, embry."

"i said no!" embry shouted, stomping over and punching the door to send a message. the monster slammed on the door back. "you know you want to come down here, embry. you just want it to all end right? we can make that happen. just let us in."

"shut up!" embry pulled their own hair. they really did want this to end, they'd considered going into the basement themselves maybe hundreds of times. but still— they'd never really do it. the monster started slamming on the door, speaking in a chorus of different voices, "let! us! in! let! us! in!"

"go away! just shut up already! leave me alone!" embry shrieked, forcing their body onto the door to hold it shut. the monsters kept screaming, and embry kept screaming back. until they felt themself being pulled away from the door.

they hadn't even noticed they were crying again. dr. d. had come running back when he heard the shouting, and now pressed his own back against the door. and that seemingly made the monsters leave, growling and shaking the house before the shouting stopped.

then, dr. d. crouched down to embry again. "oh, embry, are you okay?" he asked, putting his arms out for them to walk into a hug. embry practically slammed themself into his embrace, letting themselves be picked up. "it's okay embry, it's okay. i'm here now."

dr. d. gently rubbed their back in circles, humming softly as they cried. "why'd this have to happen to me?" they wept. "i just want to be happy again.."

"i know embry. i'm so sorry you have to go through this." dr. d. light shushed them, and when given permission, gently ran his fingers through their hair. "i think you should go to bed. we've both had a long day."

embry nodded in agreement, and dr. d. light carried them off to their room.

(the story's gonna get better swearsies)