"Mr. Drew is back. Let's go meet your maker."

Bendy shifted as someone petted his face, not wanting to come out of sleep just yet. Sounds drifted around him and ghosted through his mind.

"– Boris…tell you to keep him by…machine? …Still be unstable and…"

"But Mr. Drew…woke up and I…need to see him."

"Woke up? What?"

Hands yanked the little devil away from Boris and abruptly woke him up. He flailed, distressed, and a bubbly whine came out of his mouth as he was held up by his armpits. In his panic, Bendy wasn't even aware that he had begun dripping ink, or that it was bleeding into his eyes again.

Joey held his new creation with fading excitement and growing distress. Ink ran in rivulets down his arms, staining his shirt as he stared at the struggling, crying cartoon. Boris was on the ground at his feet, wide-eyed and startled by the fact that his creator had essentially ripped his new friend from his arms.

"This isn't…this isn't supposed to happen," Joey mumbled, making no move to comfort the distraught demon. His words snapped Boris out of his shock, and the wolf stood up shakily.

"What, what wasn't supposed to happen?" He reached out as if to pet Bendy, to calm him down, but stopped short and held his arm to his chest instead. His creator had a look on his face, one that had appeared right before he had broken a wall all those months ago, and nervousness coiled in Boris' gut.

"Everything!" The artist pushed the smaller cartoon into the larger one's chest, who quickly held him tight and started making soothing noises. His eyes, however, stayed on Joey. "He's not, he's not supposed to be awake for at least three more days, and he's…look at him, Boris! He's melting!"

The words were stressed at loud volume, and it made Bendy wail and thrash even harder. Boris struggled to hold him.

"It's okay Mr. Drew! He's not melting!" The wolf cried, worried at the near manic expression on the man's face. "He had lots of ink when he was created too, he's okay! And, and this is what happened when he woke up last night. He got real scared and I think, I think he's crying? That's what I think it is."

He readjusted his arms and got one hand out to wipe the demon's face, getting the worst of the mess away. Bendy sniffled up at him and burrowed himself against the wolf's chest, who gave a tentative smile at his silent, staring creator.

"I think, you said he's different than me, so I think that's why. Ain't nothing wrong, Mr. Drew. He's just not used to stuff yet is all."

"Mm," Joey eyed the little shivering creature, who was no longer dripping ink, having calmed down just a bit. He sighed and looked at his ink-ruined shirt. "I'm… I'm sorry for reacting the way I did, Boris. I just had a rough night and I wasn't expecting to come back to this. Forgive me for being so on edge."

"It's okay, Mr. Drew." Boris sat back and began to rock back and forth, holding the little toon like a toddler. "It might be a good idea to try again though."

"Oh, yes, yes of course." Joey sat down as well and scooted closer to his creations. "Bendy? I'm sorry for frightening you in such a way," he spoke softly, "my name is Joey Drew, and I am your creator."

Bendy warily peeked from his hiding place in Boris' fur and looked Joey up and down. Fistfuls of the wolf's overalls were clenched in his gloved hands and his face was a liquid mess. Slowly he unfurled away from Boris and turned to sit directly across from his creator, keeping his grip on Boris' clothes. Joey's mouth quirked at the display.

"I won't hurt you. I was simply surprised that you had awoken so soon." The man held his hand palm up and offered it to the demon, who flinched at the approach but didn't withdraw. After a moment of watching the outstretched hand, Bendy – out of curiosity he couldn't control – shakily reached up to touch human skin.

When they made contact Joey curled his fingers around Bendy's little gloved hand, and the devil squeaked in terror and tried to pull away. His creator's grip remained firm however, and he began moving both their hands up and down in a greeting. Boris had a conflicted look on his face and just about asked Joey to stop, but Bendy stopped squeaking to stare at the way his arm was being moved.

"There, that's it. This is called a handshake," the animator continued the motion, "and it's what two people do when they meet each other."

The demon made a curious noise of acknowledgement, and when Joey released his hand the toon turned and held it out to Boris. The wolf responded with his own handshake but kept his eyes on his creator. Bendy gripped the older toon's arms and yawned, exhausted from the stress of the last five minutes, and curled back up against Boris' overalls.

Joey tapped a stained finger on the wood flooring in thought. "Perhaps…I was too quick to judge the situation."

"How's that, Mr. Drew?" the wolf's voice was a whisper as he stroked the little head on his chest.

"I think you might be right Boris. He's not wrong, he's just different. Nothing a little adjustments can't fix."

When Boris looked up, concerned, his creator clarified, "I mean adjustments on our part. Changes in how I – how we take care of him, teach him, that sort of thing. He's a lot more childlike than you were at this stage, I must say."

Joey stood up and stretched. "I wasn't expecting Bendy to wake up so soon. I was planning on doing some paperwork upstairs today, in fact, so please don't disturb me unless he wakes up again. I'll be back in a few hours."

The elder toon watched his creator leave and couldn't help the relieved breath when the man was gone. Still shaken from the whole encounter, he brought his legs up and leaned forward as if to create a wolfy shield around the smaller creature.

"Don't you worry none," Boris murmured to Bendy, slowly petting his horns, "we'll take care of ya. Ain't nothing gonna hurt you. I promise."

A/N: Uh, hello again? I did NOT mean to take this long of a break but I had serious writer's block and then didn't get the time to write when it left. Thus, this short blurb of a chapter. But hey, something's better than nothing, right? Anywho, thanks to everyone who's still reading this. You guys are awesome!