[Dedicated to the radiant @ShadowWolfie75! Sorry it's late, I've been going through some stuff, but I really hope you enjoy!]
Written: Sunday, 30th August 2020
The L/n family were a family of gamblers, casino patrons and nothing more. The father, Steven, came from a line of liars and cheats, whereas the mother, Barbra, had married into it, swept off her feet while working in Vegas. They'd frequented The Devil's Casino more than once and they always brought their young daughter along, leaving her in the corner with a box of crayons and a two-dollar colouring book.
Now, Cuphead wasn't usually amazing with kids, but someone needed to keep an eye on her, and it was better than having to clean the bathrooms, so he hung out with her while her parents gambled and drank the night away.
He heard Barbra's laugh from a mile away, loud and piercing against the soft jazz inside. "Mugs, the kid's coming in, get ready to take over." Mugman gave him a quick thumbs up before returning to his task, as Cuphead jumped the bar and headed for the door.
Y/n L/n walked tiredly behind her parents, clutching her small bag of supplies. Her parents booked it without a goodbye and she wandered over to the corner beside the bar, plopping down heavily.
"Hey, there, buddy. What're you doing over here?" Cuphead sat carefully beside the small child, no older than 5 and looked over the colouring book in front of her.
"Colouring princesses." She replied, glancing over at the craps table where her mother and father were laughing. Her face drooped a little, but she handed Cuphead a page and some crayons, nonetheless. He gladly took them, congratulating her on how well she managed to stay inside the lines, drawing a bitty smile from her.
A few minutes passed and Y/n's eyelids began to flutter as she struggled to keep herself upright. Without thinking much about it, she moved Cuphead's paper and crawled into his lap, snuggling against his chest. The crayon dropped from his hand as he gently held her, leaning back against the wall.
"Tell me a story, Cuphead." She murmured.
"Uh, ok. Once upon a time, there were two brothers..." Cuphead's voice faded out and Y/n succumbed to the darkness, a tiny smile on her small face.
The roll of the dice determines the fate of the roller.
"Snake eyes, you lose!" A booming voice shook her awake, heart pumping, vision shaking. Cuphead held her tightly, willing her to look away from her parents.
"Please, we have a daughter to take care of! You can't take us, who'll look after her?" Her father yelled, arms protectively around his wife as he glanced back as his daughter's horrified face.
"You lost, fair and square." The devil replied, his eyes rolling into the back of his head, pupils disappearing. "Pay up!"
"Mumma, daddy!" Y/n cried, reaching out for them. Cuphead quickly turned her away and she buried her face in his shirt, great heaving sobs racking her tiny body. "Where am I gonna go?"
"I'm sorry, Y/n." Cuphead sighed, coddling her gently. She looked up at him with giant eyes, unshed tears glistening in the warm light. "If you want to, and I'm not saying you have to, you could come home with me and Mugs?" Y/n sniffled, nodding against his chest as she closed her eyes, tears leaking onto the plush carpet. "It'll be ok, buddy."
Hoisting himself from the floor, the small child still clinging to him, he walked to the backroom, finding a spare blanket, and wrapping Y/n, who had cried herself to exhaustion, in it. She whined in her sleep but settled down as he lay her down on the plush couch. "I'll be back soon; I finish in an hour." He knelt down and gently kissed her forehead. "I'll protect you, ok?"

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X Reader Oneshot Book
Fanfiction[REQUESTS CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, THANK YOU FOR VISTING] X reader oneshots! I do requests, so comment or DM me with the franchise, character and (if you have one) a plot! (Also if you'd like me to change the pronouns for your oneshot, you can a...