#NNDDJJSJSJSJ

[fandomdumpsterfires]

Dancing under projector light.

(Another norman/henry writing as these two are now my otp)

Henry walked out of the elevator as it reached the music department floor, grumbling to himself. His shoulders tense and brow creased, a set of papers and an ink stained pen in one hand as he sulked through the halls.

It was another one of those days.

Once again, joey had gotten on the artist's nerves. He had gotten the idea for a new character. Nothing too important, just a little side character. And yet, joey was insistant on rejecting it. Proclaiming that nothing would ever top bendy even though henry made it VERY CLEAR that this character wasn't gonna replace the little devil darling by any means.

He huffed in annoyance, being drawn to the recording studio where sammy was directing a new song for the cartoons. But he didn't go into the band room, he went up into the projector booth. Normally, he only came here during lunch hours, finding it more enjoyable than the noisy breakroom, but it was the only place he could think of to wind down his frustration. He took a seat at the desk and just buried his head in his arms, sighing.

...

"Joey got yer tongue?"

A voice from being almost made henry jolt, until he immediately recognized it. Turning around, he was met with the studio's projectionist, norman polk. Norman had his arms crossed, leaning against the booth's doorframe, watching henry with a quirked brow.

Henry sighed "..yeah, he's been doing that a lot lately.." he said, fully turning to face norman, who approached "what did he do this time?" He inquired. He was always good at that, asking questions. Norman was a very curious guy, wanting to know everything about what the mysterious joey drew was up to. Some people found his curiosity annoying and would go to say he's 'nosy', but henry didn't think that at all.

"Well," henry began, keeping his voice low as to not disrupt the band "i..went to show him a potential new character i've been working on, and he goes on a tangent about how nothing could top bendy! And that i should know better than to not try and replace him!" He stood up, getting fired up again "which wasn't what i was trying to do at all! I even made that obvious and yet he STILL brushed me off, ugh.." he turned towards the desk, slamming his hands down on it with what little force he could, making a small thump.

Norman's brow furrowed as he listened to henry's vent. He's been hearing more and more of these stories, lately. Joey just kept getting worse and worse as time went on..whatever he was up to, whatever was making him like this, he'd uncover it soon enough "joey deffinately ain't right in the head anymore if he's rejectin' your ideas now." The projectionist said, how could anyone do that? Henry's artwork was some of the best he'd ever seen, you'd have to be crazy to say no to it.

Norman noticed henry's stack of paper, being drawn to one paper in particular which had something on it as it stuck out. From what norman could see, it looked like a shoe, a shiny cartoon shoe like the ones bendy wore "wha's that?" He asked, pointing to it.

"Oh.." henry looked to the papers, slowly pulling out the one norman was curious about "this is the aforementioned 'replacement' for bendy." He went over to the taller man, showing him the drawing.

The character was about bendy's height, wearing a striped maroon vest with white gloves and shiny black shoes, suit adorned with a large crimson bowtie. The one thing that really caught norman's attention was the character's head. It was a projector, almost looking a bit too big for its body, a boater hat hanging off of one of its reel holders with a red ribbon tied around it. The projector's lense was mostly colored black, with an up curved line of white in the center, making it look like an eye closed in happiness, a grin of joy just below it. In the top right corner was 'vector the jector' written in clean handwriting, henry's signature written in the bottom left.

"Henry this lil' guy is amazing! Joey doesn't know what he's talkin' about." Norman said, earning a slightly flustered glance from the artist "uh, thanks." He replied, a tinge of red crossing his cheeks and ears "i..kind of based him off of you-"

This earned a suprised look and blink from the projectionist. Norman could feel his face heating up, yet mustered a smile "i'm..flattered to know that you'd think i'd make a cool toon, heh." He replied, handing henry back the picture.

Holding the picture in his hands again, he just stood there and looked at it, rubbing the spot that had his signature on it with his thumb. There was a sudden warmth on his shoulder, norman's hand giving the artist a feeling of reassurance "hey. Don't let joey get ya so down. Maybe tryin' again will convince 'em?" He suggested.

Henry smiled, but it was more of a sad one than a happier one "thanks, norman, but i think joey's made himself clear.." he was about to put the drawing back in the pile, only to pause and instead put it on the desk "..you can have him, though." Norman's brows raised in suprised "wait..really?" He said, not expecting that "well, you seem to really like him, so.." henry shrugged.

"Thanks, henry. 'Bout time i had a little company up here." Norman said. Henry gave him a look "hey, what about all those times i've come to visit you during break when wally isn't dragging you off to play poker?" He grinned, quirking an eyebrow "well, outside of those visits, of course." Norman chuckled, the two men staring at eachother as the music came to a slow.

When the music started up again, it was a gentle violin, followed by soft blips of a piano and the other instruments eventually came in to. Henry noticed the change in music, an idea jumping into his head as he offered out a hand "care to dance?"

Norman grew flustered. Dance? "I've..never really danced like this before.." he said, slowly taking henry's hand as the two got into position, henry putting his other arm around norman's waist while norman put his on henry's shoulder "i can teach you." Henry offered "that would..be kinda nice." Norman smiled, red dusting over his cheeks.

Henry showed norman how to slow dance, teaching him step by step. Norman was a little wary, henry was a fair bit shorter than himself and didn't wanna mess anything up, yet henry managed to make it work. And soon enough, the two were dancing at the same pace, the music continuing, eventually coming to a slow and a stop, the last rings of violin strings filling the room, sammy instructing everyone to pack it up for lunch.

As the music came to an end, henry found himself blissfully sighing in peace. He had completely forgotted what he had been angry about prior. Sure, it may come back later, but as he layed his head against norman's chest, he knew his time with the projectionist would outweigh any negatives.

#these gays are rotting my brain. if that wasn't obvious #NNDDJJSJSJSJ #i was debating on if this should be a comic or fic but i went with fic since it's easier for me to do #batim #bendy and the ink machine #henry stein #norman polk #henry x norman #normry #heman #moving pictures