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“Someone's in a bad mood~”
Chips chuckled at Cuphead attempting to mop the floor from some kind of sticky substance that nobody wanted to know the origins of. Even with one eye, everyone could tell that cleaning duty didn't bring him joy, but this time it was something different. And whatever it was- it sure as hell made everyone at the casino curious (and a little worried, but no one'd admit it).
“Lay off, I'm kind of busy here.”
“Oh c'mon, don't be so discreet, Mr.-I-will-accept-any-dare-I-am-given. I thought you were brave or somethin’.”
Cuphead nearly slips and has to regain his posture by grabbing the bar counter, barely sending a glare towards the other, before focusing again on cleaning.
“Bravery has nothing to do with this.”
“Alright, so what has?” His co-worker asks, this time less teasingly and more drifting towards concerned.
At the casino, almost everyone had already seen the other's worst days. Angry, exhausted, happy, drunk as the fucking sun and excited. Upset was a whole new territory that no one wished to encounter nor interact with, yet it still appeared. And since Cuphead, the casino's biggest prank-maker, was a mix of tired, sad and something smelling like buried issues, it didn't go unnoticed.
“Just screw off, it's none of ya’ damn business, Chips. I'm gonna go look for some stronger detergent, be right back.”
He snapped, scurried out of the main hall and left his co-worker baffled at the reaction.
“What's wrong with Cuphead today?”
Pirouletta walked over to him, frowning slightly.
“I dunno’, but something's clearly wrong. Is Mugman good? Have they had a fight or something like that?” Chips looked at her, but she only shrug in response, somehow making it as elegant as her.
“None that I know of. He looked like his usual cheery self, plus frustrated as he was training his card tricks.”
“Huh. That's weird then.. I'mma tell him to check on his brother later, cause’ I'm starting to feel a bit unsettled.”
The two nodded at each other before going back to their own responsibilities, left a bit scatterbrained.
Meanwhile, Cuphead was staring at the bottle of cleaner in his hands, feeling hazy. His eyes couldn't quite read the text in front of him and it was hard to focus. Just as he thought he was back in control, he felt something slip and once more his body was filled with an odd sense of exhaustion.
“Maybe I need more coffee.. ”
He mumbled to himself, trying for the fourth time to read the description. After another fail, he let out a defeated groan and left the (sort of) janitor's closet. He didn't think much as he completed moping the whole floor in the closing casino and went on to change into his casual clothes. His body worked on autopilot and he was soon stuck inside his head while waiting for Mugman to come out of the building so they could both go home.
“Cup? You good there?”
Without thinking, his body flinched seconds before he blinked at his brother, his posture relaxing ever so slightly.
“Sorry, just a bit twitchy I guess. Let's go.”
He turned around already walking away and not waiting for a response. His brother hurried after him, the plain concern on his face making Cuphead suppress the urge to start any conversation. They went home in silence, not even a word between them even while eating supper and making sure one of Cagney's daisies was ready to sleep too.
“Goodnight Mugs.”
That was the only thing Mugman got out of him as his brother closed the door behind him. He started at the floor, contemplating whether to question him or not, but his worry won. The teen grabbed one of his blankets and a pillow and quietly went inside his sibling's messy room.
“Mugman?”
“Can I sleep with you tonight?”
He didn't even bother to come up with an explanation as he was quickly tugged into the bed and under the covers. Cuphead connected his head back to his body and properly looked at him, now he with a worried expression painting his face.
“What's wrong?” His question seemed fairly innocent, but Mugman knew that currently he was the one making his brother concerned.
“Your nightmares are acting up.” He didn't question it, no, he stated it as a fact and proceeded to lean on the other's shoulder, letting the statement sink in.
“It's nothing.”
“Bullshit!” Mugman nearly hissed at him, barely moving besides pointing an accusing finger at his sibling.
“Seriously!”
“Cuphead you either tell me what happened or I'm going to infodump you about the story of those ancient Greek gays, Achilles and Patroclus.”
His brother shut up finally, looking down at him irritated before his scowl turned into a guilty grimace.
“Fine, just.. Just don't laugh. It's stupid.”
“It's not stupid if it's bothering you.”
Mugman countered, lifting his head to scan him over. His eyes looked foggy, the tea inside his cup already cold and his hands twitching, forcing themselves to not move in order to grab the scar on one of his arms as a nervous tick.
“I keep seeing Chalice in my nightmares. She's… Look, I'm all in for getting our powers back and learning more about Calix Animi, but what if it's not worth it?”
Cuphead stopped momentatily to look at his sibling to see a wide-eyed baffled expression, not filled with anything else but surprise. He resumed, this time staring downwards onto his hands, watching the skill, less visible, scars left on them.
“We've been trying to learn more about those warriors and the Legendary Chalice, but what if they're not what everyone made them out to be? What if they're not as gold-hearted as everybody thought? I mean-” he laughed awkwardly, trying to ignore the gnawing inside his stomach “-there must be a reason why we haven't seen any of them and Chalice is still missing. So, what if it's something bad? Something that we really, really shouldn't discover?”
“Cup-”
“I don't want us to go through all of this again. I don't want any of us to die and then come back to life just to experience more pain. Sure, it was cool and stuff, but think about how much pain we felt. How much all of that still has effects on us!”
The end of his sentence is slowly filled with pent-up anger and sadness, lingering from every fight from before.
“We still have nightmares! We have so many scars! We died more times than I can remember or comprehend all because of my stupid mistake!”
“Cuphead we've been through this. I forgave you. We're okay. ” Mugman placed a hand on his back, trying to gently rub it although it wasn't working with how worked-up was the other at the moment.
“Well, I haven't forgave myself! We're not okay. We've healed since then, yes, but what if trying to gather information about the Calix Animi will cause something like that again? And it'll be my fault.”
“We'll be fine like always.”
“You don't know that. We might die and not come back. Our souls may not come back to our bodies.” He glanced at his sibling with a near icy scowl, trying to prove his point though his eyes were beginning to sting and turn red.
“Brother-”
“I'm not having you die on me again! I'm not losing you! ”
Cuphead trembled as his voice rose with each exclamation, the tears pouring down making his sibling nearly cry at the broken sight too. He was clinging to his shoulders, holding him tightly as if he was about to turn into smoke and only his body would stay behind. As if he was already gone by some part.
“I ca- can't lose you. Anyone else but you.” The desperate edge of his voice made Mugman instinctively hug him with all his might, choking back his own sobs.
“I'm not going anywhere. I'll be right there with you Cup. Not going nowhere. I'm by your side.”
He almost cringed at how weak his comforting sentences sounded before noticing that they were working on calming down the other.
“I'm right beside you. It's okay to be afraid. We had to go through this because no one else would. Because the universe knew we'd overcome it at the end.”
“The universe is a-” hic “-damned prick!”
“Yup. That too.”
Cuphead slowly regained his composure thanks to his brother's reassuring and the familiar warmth surrounding him. It was as if they were back there the first night after they beat the Devil, unable to sleep so they just sat beside each other silently.
He moved closer, head placed on Mugman's shirt and well on his way to dozing off after the emotional event.
“You going to sleep?”
“Mhm.”
“Alright. Sleep well Cup. I love you.” He tapped his younger brother on the nose before carefully repositioning himself.
“Love ya’ too. Go to sleep though.”
The silence following after was a peaceful one, comfortable, the tension from earlier nearly evaporsting ad if it never occurred in the first place.
Mugman briefly darkened at the thought of Calix Animi. What if his brother had a point? What if there was a reason the warriors didn't have any descendants and one of them was missing? (But he was tired of his mortality. He was tired of his mortality. He was so fucking tired of his mortality-!)
He dismissed the pondering immediately and looked down on his already asleep sibling, a sheepish grin enveloping his face. He missed this. He missed the affection. He missed his brother.
And he'd rather be dead then to lose him as well.