Cares of Communion (Bendy and the Ink Machine)

Drabble- Family

Author's Notes: We're kicking off this book with another drabble. It's one of my favorites and I put a lot of care into it, so I hope you enjoy <3

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There's a distinct sound nothing else can replicate when someone rides a bike across gravely cement. The slight bounce passing over a crack. The way you can hear worn roads slowly tear apart, each footstep and tire press briefly releasing a second of a journey, and eventually so many of these touches brush against the surface that the ground begins to age alongside the tales of travelers coming home.

Today, those stories kicked up dust underneath the mismatched wheels of a new family.

Henry could still feel the rhythm of peddling in his legs when the bikes stopped to a halt. For a while now, they had been skimming the edge of the beach, riding along the pavement that lined the pale-yellow sands. With a slow blink and pan of his gaze- finally still enough to not worry about turning his head besides where he faced- the young artist marveled at how...pastel the day was. Soft. Gentle. Almost like everything was painted with watercolors.

It suited him.

It suited Joey too.

The older man skidded a bit farther than his friend before stopping, maybe enjoying the thrill of it- maybe just yet another metaphor for how the studio director lived his life.

Ah, no- for once Henry was the one that had been abrupt and surprising.

"What is it, my boy?" Mr. Drew, having peddled about a meter further, threw his head over his shoulder to look back in questioning. Of course, Henry could only see a sliver of his face this way, but like a crescent moon, just a bit of it could convey so much; in this case, warmth and curiosity.

Joey would say again and again how wonderful it was for Henry to come out of his shell.

...But he would have no idea exactly how big a leap the lad would make today.

"Oh, nothing really," Henry avoided just a second longer, his naturally calm tone hiding how immensely, indescribably nervous he was for what he had made inevitable. "Just wanted to stop for a sec and look around."

No matter how warm Joey's gaze was for him, it was still something absolutely piercing- especially with the thoughts that clambered Henry's mind- and so in discomfort he shifted to look at the beach and forced out what he hoped what was a convincing chuckle. "You don't get to see something like this every day, you know."

And as the artist shifted, so did his mentor; first his upper body twisted a bit, staring at him as a wide grin softened a touch and his brow furrowed in concern. But then he finally abided by the wishes of the man he considered his son, swinging a leg over one side of the metal bar underneath him until he was back on his feet.

"You're absolutely, positively, undeniably right!" Joey hopped to agreement as he pulled his bike away from the side of the road and flicked up the kickstand. "A special day it is- it'd be oh so terribly wrong to simply speed it by!"

Another shorter, lighter grunt of a laugh as Henry let his shoulders rise and fall in a sigh of both relief and anxiety before mirroring what Joey did with his own vehicle. And soon two old bikes- a pale blue and a dusty rose- rested side by side some ways away behind their owners doing the same upon a faded bench facing the water.

It was just midmorning, the sky bright yet greyed with a thin veil of fog. It was the same mist that softened how everything looked that day; it was what made bright flowers pale upon windowsills of nearby homes and recede into their backdrop, what made each square of cement of the sidewalk fade into the next, and what made the waves ahead leave unsure how far away they truly were from the view beyond their knees.