It'll Take Some Adjusting|Shawn Flynn x Reader

"Shawn? C'mon open up.." 

You sighed, growing slightly frustrated as you knocked several times on the door, only to get no response from the other side of it.

'Damn it...I knew I should've told those idiots not to bombard him with all of these things he's never seen before..' You thought before turning around and leaning your back against the door, rubbing the side of your head. 

While it annoyed you that Shawn had shut himself in like this and refused to acknowledge your presence.....you couldn't blame him.

If you were thrown a century and a half into the future, you'd probably have a nervous breakdown, too. Not to mention the poor guy had come from a place that was filled with unspeakable horrors...ones that he was likely still traumatized about.

But the other egos were unaware of that, and the moment he asked how much the world had changed, they all began to bombard him with the latest tech, food, and other things. It was too much for him to handle at one time, and, thus, he ran out and locked himself in his own room.

And that led to your current situation, with you trying to coax the toy maker out. You've come back and forth to the door over the course of an hour, and he still refused to open it.

And it worried you immensely, considering that at some point, you heard a disgusting retching sound on the other side.

"Shawn...please.." You sighed tiredly. "...you don't have to come out if you don't want to. But...I just wanna make sure you're okay. I just wanna talk....that's all.....please."

After a minute or so of complete silence, you head him unlock the door. Exhaling a sigh of relief, you turned around and twisted the doorknob before entering

As you shut the door, the first thing you noticed was that the room was covered wall-to-wall in small splatters of ink. There was some on the floor, too, so you made sure to watch your step as you made your way over to Shawn's bed, where he was sitting.

He seemed to be holding a small, wooden bowl with an ink blob that looked like Bendy, which he poked absentmindedly, turning it into Boris. But he didn't look up at you, not even as you sat down next to him.

You stayed silent, though, knowing that when he was ready to talk, he'll talk. 

Your eyes then trailed over to the bucket beside his feet, your eyes widening slightly as you saw that it had at least a quarter of ink in it.

There were specs of green, white, and brown mixed in, making it look like sludge or-

"I-I...I did get a lil' sick," Shawn spoke suddenly, carefully pushing the bucket away with his foot. "That happens lotsa times whenever I'm nervous...s-sorry ya had to see that.."

"It's fine," you told him. "But...are you...?"

"I dunno, [y/n]...it's just all so....overwhelmin', ya know?" He set down the bowl and hunched over, resting his elbows on his knees and placing his head in his hands. "Everythin''s changed and....I..I dunno if I'll be able to catch up t' speed with it all. It kinda...scares me a little and I...."

His grip on his head tightened and you could see that the veins in his arms were beginning to turn black. That simply showed the corrupt ink that coursed through his systems. He was able to control it easily....unless his emotions got the better of him.

"...I-I don't know what to do.." Shawn whispered, letting out a shuddering breath.

You blinked slowly, taking a few moments to figure out what to say to him. 

"Well..tell me this, Shawn," you began, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Do you..want to go back to your time?"

The toy maker glanced up at you. "I...I don't know," he muttered. "I mean is life..really better now than it was back then?"

"Well...somewhat, yeah." You gave him a small smile and gently squeezed his shoulder. "Back in your time the Irish...kinda had it rough in America, didn't they?"

"Yeah, we did..so what?"

"But just think about it...now Jack, an Irishman, is a YouTuber who has millions of fans. He earns a living simply by doing what he loves."

Shawn's eyes widened incredulously. "What? Really?"

"Yep."

"Huh..that's kinda neat," he mused, before sighing a little and glancing over at the bowl of ink. "But..maybe you're right. Maybe life here will be better than in that hellhole of a studio..."

You wanted to tell him about the state of the studio, given how you've seen it in B.A.T.I.M, but you stopped yourself...knowing that it'll probably take a long time for you to explain to him how the world he came from was been converted into a video game, let alone what a video game even was.

Besides, that was the reason he had hid away from everyone to begin with...you didn't want him to kick you out.

"Wait here, Shawn..I'll be right back."

Before he could ask you where you were going, you got up from the bed and left his room, closing the door on your way out.

With a sigh, Shawn rubbed the side of his face. He couldn't help but feel bad for ignoring you when all you were doing is trying to help him. 

"Shhhhaaawwwwnnn..."

The raspy and gurgled whisper made the toy maker turn to see the ink blob form into the shape of a tiny Searcher, one that had glowing green eyes and wore a hat just like his own.

"Oh, heya Pitch," he chuckled softly, grabbing the bowl and bringing it back into his lap. "So...whatdya think of the modern world? Ya think we'll be happier here?"

"Yesssss.." Pitch nodded slowly. "Verrryyy...happyyyy..."

Shawn finally sighed in defeat, patting the top of the ink creature's head, despite getting some of the goopy liquid on his hand.

"Alrighty then..I guess we can-"

"Hey I'm ba....oh who's that?"

The duo quickly glanced over to see you entering the room once more. Pitch's eyes narrowed warily and he let out a small hiss as you approached the bed.

"Pitch, stop it," Shawn scolded, frowning down at him. "This is my friend, [y/n]. They're th' one who's tryna convince me to stay here, so be nice."

"Pitch?" You blinked several time in surprise. "Is that the little guy's name?"

"Y-Yeah," the toy maker nodded. "I created 'im back in th' old workshop in my free time. As you can see he's uhh...very protective of me."

You nodded in understanding, before sitting down next to him and looking down at the small, inky fella. He simply glared at you, but didn't attack you or do anything else.

Sighing, Shawn set Pitch down beside him once more. "He ain't too strong, so ya got nothin' to worry abou-" He trailed off as he noticed you had a jar filled with something brown and a spoon in your hands. "What's that?"

"Oh right!" You giggled, almost forgetting what you came back to show him. "It's called Nutella. Thought I'd introduce you to some food of this era." Handing the jar to him, you watched as he quirked an eyebrow, staring at the label.

""Hazelnut spread with cocoa"? Is this actual food?"

"Well...you can eat it just like it is," you shrugged, smiling as you offered him a spoon. "Try it. I have another jar at home so I don't mind."

Shawn looked at you as though you were bonkers, but, eventually, he gave in and took the utensil from you. He twisted the jar open, catching a whiff of the delicious chocolate aroma the moment he pulled the lid off.

Pitch blinked slowly, leaning over to see the jar, his mouth watering a little from the smell. "Mmmmmmm..."

You blinked in surprise, giggling again as you saw Pitch's face. "You wanna try some too?"

For a few seconds, he hesitated, staring at you in suspicion. But eventually he decided to trust you and nodded. "Choooocooolaaaaate.."

"Yes you can try some too. I'll be right back with another spoon in a second." You smiled and reached over to pat the ink creature's head. Surprisingly enough, he allowed you too, as he closed his eyes and made a small purring noise.

Shawn's eyes widened incredulously as he watched the exchange. Usually Pitch wasn't this friendly to other people. Usually he would attack anyone who tried to disturb his work back at the studio...which essentially ostracized him from his fellow coworkers.

Now, though, it seemed that he took a liking to you...not that the toy maker was complaining.

You then left his room once more and returned a minute later with a small, plastic spoon that would be easy for Pitch to grip. Once you handed him it, you simply watched as the two indulged in the Nutella, with Shawn commenting that he was glad to eat something besides Bacon Soup for once.

Afterwards, you finally convinced him to come out of his room and rejoin the egos in the living room, who all looked pretty guilty over pressuring him so much. Upon seeing him, they all apologized profusely for scaring him into hiding, promising to help him slowly integrate with the modern world.

And judging from the smile on Shawn's face...you knew he was more than willing to take up their offer.