#hopechip

"Not you again." You nearly roll your eyes at the scene in front of you. The young man chuckles, sitting at your chair, in your office, in your tavern. He even has the gall to have kicked his feet up your accountancy desk.

"Is what a way to greet an old friend?" You snorts, dropping your apron on a nearby chair, staying close to the walls. You never know what this bandit is planning in his head. "Old? Assuredly. Friend? Aren't you going too far, now, Jung?" His last name only makes his smile shine darker under the office's run-down halo. 'C'mon, Wizard. We lived through a lot together." "By your own damn fault that's for sure." You lean against your closet. "What do you want this time, thief? Heroes, a hand, money?"

"Oh, darling, you wound me." He finally moves his feet away from your desk, before getting up from the chair with a little jump, and approaching you slowly, in his typical cat-like manner. "You know you're worth more to me than just a handful of money." Something shines at the edge of your vision, something he catches single-handedly, without even looking at it.

A golden coin. One with an eerie glow you can recognize anywhere. "Where the fuck did you get that?" His eyes stay on your face, observing your reaction. "it's a gift," he whispers, "from a client." "So now you got clients who casually own a Merlin coin? Do you even know how much that is worth on the magic market?" "I got an idea, and that is exactly why I need you." His smile falters a little bit. "What possibly could you need me for?" In the years you have unfortunately known Jung Hoseok, you have rarely seen his face go grim. As much as his looks, his charm and his skills have allowed him to progress to one of the most infamous and hired thief of this side of the country, you know his hunger for challenge can sometime end him in heists bigger than he can take. And a heist involving one of the most precious tools of magical power with a client he keeps being mysterious about? It ticks for you that Jung probably bit bigger than he can chew on. "I need information. Information that is hard to find, about people even harder to steal from." "You're going to have to give me more than that." His face goes serious. " I accepted a trade. My client," he spins the coin in the air again, "holds very close to his heart his collection of magical artefacts. Those coins? They mean nothing to him." Your face makes an impossibly confused expression. Those coins are a major source of conflicts between magical families. Royal families own at most a few dozens, and keep them in the trust of royal magicians and healers. Merlinic Wizards keep their coins strictly in their bloodline, and occasionally produce them for the cost of a mid sized diamond. Most of the magical world have only seen them in museums, and havent held anything stronger than a magical crystal if their work didnt warrant it.

"What does he want." Hoseok does not answer, just keep spinning the coin mindlessly. "Hoseok, tell me what he wants." "Before I do, you have to promise me you trust me." "You're worrying me." "I know, but please, Wizard, promise me." You hold up a pinky, the universal sign of honesty, and he binds yours to his as a small magical binding known as a promise.

"At first, he only said he needed a vial of an ingredient for a potion. I thought he was one of those crazy alchemists, he would asked for a gold elixir or something. The usual expensive, hard to find bullshit that is heavily guarded enough people would rather pay a professional so if he fails, they can disappear." "It was not just an elixir, was it?" "No," he sighs. He catches the coin mid-flight. "He want a vial of fae blood." Your blood runs cold. "Fae bl-. No. You can't. It will kill you." Fae are incredibly hard to kill, and they do not have humans, magical or not, in their hearts. Plus, any of their body parts, including their blood, allow the holder to put the fae under a spell for virtually forever, to the extent most fae, even when they need to extract their own blood for magical reasons, usually severely curse the vial in ways that would atrociously kill even a skilled witch. You do not want to think about what such a curse could do to poor, reckless, can barely perform intermediate magic Jung Hoseok. "Actually no, my uh- client, made sure of it." He takes out of his pocket a small claw with runes carved onto it, attached to a necklace. You snatch it out of his hands, or moreso, he lets you snatch it out of his hands. You let your fingers runs on the carvings, reading the runes and sigils carefully, admiring the handiwork. A weird smell emanates from the claw so you bring it to your nose. Rotten egg and cinder. Dragon Sulfur. "Is that also directly from your client's collection?" "From himself, in fact." You close your eyes in frustration. A dragon, of course. Only a dragon would seek a full collection of magical artefacts and have both enough desire and the resources to risk sending a very famous thief to anger the faeries.

"Why did you…?" "Ah, wrong question. You're not going to like the answer to that one." "Blood contract?" "No! Dear gods, no. I'm not that stupid." He leans back down against your desk, the dragon claw back in his hands. "Debatable." "Not the point. Let's say it's huh- a favor." You sigh,"did you lose a gamble at Kelly's again?" "You have no proof." "Whatever. We both know my mead is better anyway." He snorts, but doesn't say anything, a knowing sparkle in his eye. "What do you need to know?" "Actually, I need your entire knowledge about the fae realm. I'm not personally going there," he says, as he sees your eyes becoming wider. "My client already has a target. An old fae who lives east. He established a small domain near the Orion Falls. Strong enough to deter most humans, still permeable to dragonic magic."

"You have no idea how to undo a magic-based magic system, do you?" He smiles, almost sheepish, "touché."

"When are you set to go?"

"In two days, before the first light of morning." "It will be a dark moon…" you whisper to yourself, pacing away from the closet, your mind running thinking about the types of magic this kind of heist will require. "How much did he offer for this?" He suddenly chirps up again. "My weight in Merlin coins." You stop in your tracks. "Im sorry?" "You have heard." He sits back down in your chair, the coin twirling between his knuckles. "I saw it, with my own two eyes. dig my hands through it. All real. My full weight in Merlin coins." "It can't be. Must have been a glamour." "Nope, we both drank a truth potion before the deal. I asked explicitly." "Are you-" "I also made him admit he wanted to bang the royal concubine's older sister, so I'm sure he was telling the truth."

The concubine older sister being known to have a pretty fiery character, you don't doubt even the dragon blushed at the admission.

"I'm going to be honest with you, Bandit. This is going to cost you a pretty penny. Everyone knows the surface stuff, but people rarely try to trick the fae. You're going to need a good number of magical tools just to enter the domain safely, not even talking about potentially fooling the fairy or his protections."

"I trust your gadgets, Wiz. Name your price." "A third of your prize." He stops fidgeting with his coin mid-flight, his frown almost comically deep."Excuse me?"

"It's a fairy we are talking about, Hoseok. Not some pixie. If they catch you in your domain, you're either dead or condemned to eternal slavery."

"A fifth." "A third, and i find you a full arsenal and a companion I pay myself." "Is that really necessary?" He tosses the coin again.

"Would you rather walk into a fae's den magic-less and alone?" He catches the coin, looking up at you, grinning like a devil. "Deal." "What is included in the package?" You look up, thinking, counting the spells on your fingers. "A cloacking spell for starters. I'll enchant your tools for good luck. An emergency gift of gab candy. Protection should be covered by the dragon claw, but i'll give you a protection medallion to hide in your clothes just in case." "And for my little companion?" He wiggle his eyebrows. "Do I get blessed with your assistance, like in the good old days?"

You snort. "Hell no, I'm too old for this shit. If you're lucky, I'll find you an assassin. If not, you'll have to do with a random mercenary. Don't tell them about the coins, I'll pay them myself."

The grin hasn't left his face. If anything, it's getting more malicious. "See? It's always a pleasure dealing with you, Wizard. You don't get this kind of customer experience at Kelly's." "So that's all I am to you? Customer experience?" "Of course not. You also got better mead." You stare him down in pretend annoyance, but something old and stubborn blooms again in the secret of your chest.

"Come back tomorrow, an hour before close. I should have had time to work him a little." His smirk shines in the darkness,"do you think I can get a good luck kiss, as well?" You nearly choked on air, and will all of your face muscles into not showing it. "In your dreams, Jung,"he laughs," Now, shoo. I got a cash register to count."

The day after went perfectly normally. You spent the morning making and selling your typical teas and coffees for the early birds. Service got slow at lunch, so you focused on replenishing your stock of spells, and writing down on magical paper all the fresh gossip of the morning.

By late afternoon, the tavern started filling up with its usual set of customers, as your employee clocked in. Adventurers on a quest, mercenaries looking for a job, lost people needing an informant. Min Yoongi tends to come every two or three days, when he's not on a job. He still wears the old robes of the Queen's Guard, without the royal coat of arms. He doesn't drink on weekdays, only orders an apple juice in a whisky tumbler, and listens in. You're almost sad to interrupt his little ritual.

You slide on the seat next to him, and his eyes follow you, almost surprised. "I found a something for you." He quirks his eyebrow, not saying a word. You slide a piece of paper towards him. "Heist. Fae-blood. East. Company of 2. Professional." His eyes take a second to read the paper, then looks up at you, and tilts his head. "I know, it's not much. It's someone I trust though. Wouldn't want him with just anyone." "Him?" He whispers so low, if you weren't looking directly at his face, you would have missed it. Hoseok's reputation is not explicitly tied to your establishment, but he has been around enough for the most observant regulars to notice it.

You nod discreetly. "He knows how to do his job, he just needs… Assistance. For the magical aspects." Yoongi doesn't say anything. He's not rejecting your offer just yet, so there is still hope.

"Stay until I close. We'll discuss it then." Yoongi glances at his watch, before nodding impercetibly, and you go back to your work station.

Hoseok arrives like a flower a few hours later. As per his usual, he charms half of the clientele on his way to the bar, dapping old coworkers, sending out flying kisses and hearts. You notice all of it, and collect the information like a precious nectar. Who swoons, who laughs, who pretends not to send daggers in his back with their eyes. You look at him work his magic of no magic, his art of revealing everyone's secrets in a crowd, secrets ready for you to drink up.

You remember how easy it feels to be on his team, how well your skillsets match, how it makes something warm you don't like naming unfurl in your chest. You try not to let it distract you on the job. "Hey sweetheart," he stands in front of you, leaning forward, his elbow against your side of the bar. "Can i get a spirit of peach in lemonade?" "5 coppers." His eyebrows go up. "Did the prices hike up since last time?" "It's the extra fee for people who dare to call me "sweetheart"." You send him the fakest smile you can muster. He grins, looking for the coins in his pockets. "5 coppers for the bitter wizard, got you." On the corner of your eyes, you notice Yoongi staring at your interaction. You catch his eyes while preparing Hoseok's drink, and Hoseok catches you looking at something behind him. "Ooh!" he leans closer, and whispers. "Have you found someone?" "Wait tonight," you set the drink in front of him without another word, and he hands you the coppers. Something mischievous grows in his eyes as he wraps his lips around the straw, and looks at you with something akin to fascination. You pointedly avoid his stare to keep on working. You dont miss the way no matter who comes up to speak to him, shake his hands, or wrap their arms around him, his eyes always end up coming back to you. By the time you're about to close, you had to cast an icey wind around yourself to prevent your face from getting warm. The last few customers go peacefully, leaving you, the assassin and the bandit to talk. You lock the door, before sitting down at Yoongi's table, Hoseok following you. "Nice to meet you, I'm Jung Hoseok," he holds out his hand. "I know," Yoongi mumbles. "Min Yoongi, assassin," he accepts his hand with a shake. Hoseok whistles, "I didn't know our local tavern owner had their hands in the big leagues." "I thought you were known for having your fingers in their purses?" Yoongi cocks his eyebrow in a way that delights Hoseok.

"I like you, we'll get along well." "Sure. Give me back my watch." The delight in Hoseok's eyes only intensifies as he pulls Yoongi's watch out of seemlingly thin air, the watch that you remember seeing on his arm just a second ago. "Sorry, I had to try it." "Real silver fingers you got here, thief," says Yoongi, tying his watch back onto his wrist, eyeing Hoseok's hand carefully. "So, what is the plan?" He asks. "A single fairy, east, near Orion falls. I need to get a vial of their blood for my client. According to him, he keeps a couple in his vault. Lives alone, nearing old age,"Hoseok explains. "Okay." "Leaving in two nights, before morning. Wizard gives us arsenal." "Cool." "You in?" "If you can afford me, yes." He starts stretching, the way his back archs reminding you of a cat waking up from a nap. "That is what I'll take care of,"you chime in, " what is it you're currently looking for?" "I need a book, something that will make my life much easier." "What kind?" "Sigil magic. Advanced." "Solomonic?" "I was thinking of something more broad." "Let me see what I have in my library." He laughs, "don't give me the easily printed shit okay? I want something you would use." You sigh. "I'll hand copy you the grimoire I found on old Sigillism. If you can't understand it, i'll make you pay extra for every question. Are we clear?" "Deal." "Deal."

Yoongi gives you a rare chuckle. He bow his head at Hoseok, "pleasure meeting you. I'll meet you at the east door after tomorrow." "Sure." Yoongi leaves by the backdoor, without another word. "Damn, where did you find this one?"Hoseok turns towards you. "To be honest, he found me. Popped up one evening looking suspicious as fuck. It took him two weeks and a drinking contest after hours to finally admit he used to be in the Queen's Guard and was looking for a spot to lay low and find jobs. I told him, he could stay on my turf as long as he shares what he knows." Hoseok hums, finishing his last drink of the night. "I see. He's good at reading people too, isn't he?" You nod. "He sees stuff during the rush I don't have time to pay attention to. Helps weed out the nosy." "Do you like him?" The question takes you by surprise, your eyebrows jump out. "He- He looks like good company. Never spoke much though." Your answer does not satisfy the curiosity written all over his face. "That's not what I asked though." "Hey, I'm the information broker here." "How much do I need to pay to get my answer?" You can't miss the obvious interest in his face, and you're really glad the wind spell in still active. "More than you can afford," you grab his glass and head to the bar to avoid him, picking up the glassware left around as you do. He giggles behind you, picking up what you can't hold with your two hands. "C'mon, Wiz. Can't be that high. Unless there's a fee on intimate business?" "There is most definitely a fee on nosy thiefs who break into my office on the regular." He laughs, the full, chest-open laugh he does when he doesn't have to perform charm.

"Tell me. Your price is mine." "Do my dishes faster than I do and I'll think about it." He laughs even harder. He grabs your waist,fingers stable and delicate on your sides, passing behind you in the tight space. He doesn't have to. You know he technically could go behind you without touching you, and usually you would call him out on it. But you missed him, and you missed having a warm body next to you, and- and something deep in your guts warms when you feel his laugh tingle your back. Even your spell can't stop your face from getting warm this time, so you distract yourself. You go find the broom, and the mop, and the rag and you start cleaning the tables and the floors as if your entire vascular system isn't currently betraying you.

By the time you're done being able to pretend, you turn around only to catch Hoseok suddenly looking up, almost embarassed. "So how did the dishes go?" He looks at you again,"been done for a good ten minutes now. Can I have my answer now?" "No. You were slower than me." "WHAT? Lies." You huff. " If I took this long to get dishes done, I'd go broke. Couldn't serve my clients." "You're playing me," he crosses half the room, closer to you. "Not at all." "Yes you are, for some reason you don't want me to know." "I have no idea why you'd think that." His entire demeanor shifts. He goes from the funny, sunshine, playful persona to something darker, deeper, almost predator-like. "Yes, you do, Wizard." He takes a step towards you, slowly, like a cat approaching a bird. "Do you think I'd notice the entire world but you?"

Your heart suddenly hammers in your chest, your throat dries up. He takes another step. He's only one stride away from you now. "Wizard," he tuts, "don't you know by now, that a thief always knows when a lock is latched?" You don't like the way his voice went lower. You don't like the way you have to focus to make sure your hands don't shake. You don't like the way you know he's using all his techniques to pick at the lock at your heart, and you don't like how he's so close to breaking in. "Don't you think it's tempting," he takes one slow step closer, and grabs at your waist again, "for me to sneak my way in?". You blink for a second, to gather your mind.

Your senses feel like they're fired to a 100. You can smell him, grass and something sweet and fruity. You can smell the alchohol on him,and feel his breath against your face. You can feel the way his hands grip at your waist as if he's thinking about the best way to unravel you open. And you're trying to convince yourself, you're trying to convince yourself that he's only playing, that you can still hide how your heartrate speeds, that your hands aren't begging to go around him right this instant. When you open your eyes, you're met with honesty you didn't expect. With Hoseok carefully looking at every micro-expression on your face, every muscle twitch on your body, at the way your chest rises and falls when you breathe hard. With a gentleness in the way he's waiting for your body to answer, even if your mind can't. "Wizard, tell me." You hum, barely keeping yourself together. "If you don't want this, you have to tell me." "I-", nothing comes out but a broken sound. "Darling…" his left hand goes up to the sensitive spot right under your ear, the tip of his finger barely touching the skin, and the finger goes slowly down and down, it brushing your exposed collarbone, then heads towards the open buttons of your shirt, before fiddling with the first closed one. Your hair rises against your skin, and you gasp, grabbing onto his shirt and holding him close. "Darling?"You don't answer. You can't. Not now that you know that he knows that you know. Not now that your heart is about to break open, and he's treating it as if it's business as usual, when for you it's years of keeping your heart safe that are about to go in flames, and that there is nothing you can do anymore to hide it. You want to say something. You want to say how badly you want this, yet how scared you feel. You want to say that you need time, that you can't take him wrecking you open only to leave on another reckless heist, and that you can't risk verything you built just to accompanying him on. You want to push him away and yell at him and grab him by the collar and have him right here on the bar. But all those words and those messy feelings get stuck in your throat, so you swallow back a sob you hope he doesn't hear. Because you don't want him to know how deep within he actually broke in. Yet, still he gets it. He sees you.

And his hands moves from your waist to your back, and your arms snake around his chest, and he holds you close to him without saying anything. You can feel his heartbeat thrums on his neck, where your nose is, you can smell the grass and the fruits off of him. The way his breath turned deep, relaxed against your own chest, the way his lips caress the top of your head, it all feels safe, like when the two of you were young vagabonds looking to make a living, sleeping wherever you can afford to, and protecting each other whenever it was necessary. Not like the way it feels when his eyes sees desires in you you haven't admitted to yourself yet.

He waits until your breathing slows, and you relax in his arms. Yet, he doesn't say a single thing, only pulls away from you to look at your face. "I'm okay. Thank you." It's quiet when he walks with to your office. It's quiet when he finishes closing up while you count your cash of the day. It's quiet when you leave the bar and head home, and you see his shadow follow you to make sure you get there safely. It's quiet, and cold, in your bed, when you realize your fears maybe messed it all up.

You almost expect him there next morning. Hoseok isn't the type to push when you're not feeling well, but he's also not the type to give you space without checking when he knows something is wrong. Your day is filled with small mistakes. Wrong orders, discussions only half-listened to, miscounted coins. At some point, you even wrote down the wrong sigil on an argile tablet. It wouldn't have failed the spell per se, but it would have been an expensive mistake on a medallion or a dragon claw. You focus extra hard on your magic today, making sure Hoseok and Yoongi's magical items will be ready for the early morning. But your night was short, and filled with anxieties and regrets. You know you let the fear get the best out of you. But it's hard, isn't it? Letting yourself be desired, be loved, be wanted without trying for it? Without trading, or overanalyzing, or having to offer anything? You don't doubt Hoseok either. He may be a bandit and a charmer, he doesn't play with people for fun, and out of all the people he has loyalty to, you maybe be the top of the list. Your heart and your body know he can be trusted. It's your brain, that feral demon, who would rather think about any other option than him actually wanting you closer.

The day goes by, and he doesn't show up, and neither does Yoongi. So when the last customer leaves, you take extra time on the back, preparing extra stuff for their journey, before heading for your typical meeting spot.

You got at the fountain early. The night covers the streets like a heavy coat. The air is fresh for a summer night, the sky is cloudless, the wind gentle. In theory, it should be an easy journey for them. You didn't take the time to sleep. Your employee will take the morning shift so you can rest. Dark Moon usually means quiet night anyway.

Hair rises on your skin before you hear him sneak behind you. "Hey, it's me." He whispers. You turn around to greet him. He looks softer, his smile gentle, his eyes checking the details of your face. You smile at him, open, honest. "Hi." You can see how his shoulders relax at your reaction. "So what do you got for me, Wiz?"

You unload your bag from your shoulders before opening it, his eyes run over the different objects. "The fabric bag is a cloaking spell. As you long as you have it near you, he won't be able to magically see you. It's going to protect you on the way there and on your way back, in the case of retaliation. This is the protection medalion, classic. The oil is for blessing your tools, anoint them at midpoint on the road, it should be enough for luck. The gift of the gab candy is here, emergency use only. The small flask is dark moon water, use it on your head and hands, and on Yoongi. It's extra shielding. If you can, don't do the heist on the full moon, it will be less effective." "And what is this?" Hoseok point to a padded side pocket in the inside of the bag.

You delicately open it, revealing a piece of green seaglass that reflects the rainbow. "Enchanted seaglass. I twinned it to mine at the tavern. If you need help, magic, anything, call me. Yoongi is a good practioner, so you might not even need it,but- you never know." You see his face going through different emotions: confusion, curiosity, understanding, wonder. In fact, he looks at you with so much wonder in his eyes, you feel like you might have turned into a star in the sky.

"I didn't know calling you was going to become a possibility again. I'm starting to think you like me or something." "Well, don't get used to it. I can't go around getting you out of trouble for another decade." He laughs, the real one- again.

"Wiz." "Yeah?" "Thank you. For everything." You blink once, then smile. "You still owe me a third of your weight in magic coins, Bandit." "You got it, Wiz." He chuckles. You dont know if it's the fatigue, the magic, or his smile. Maybe it's because even the moon is hiding away tonight, and he's running into danger with full trust in your magical arms, and he looks so handome by starlight. So you make your lips tingle with magic, and lean into him for a kiss.

You feel his surprise on your mouth, but then he moves back, and you swear it feels bigger than just magic in your chest tonight.

"Y/N!" The hand that hit the table wakes you more than your name being called. "Asleep on the job again?" You nod, eyes bleary, as your coworker Fleur looks down at your half-asleep form on your desk with pity in her eyes. "Darling, go home. You're lucky it was me for the next shift and not the boss." You check your phone, 8:50PM. Fleur is a little early for her shift, but you really, really need to sleep. "Tell your boy I said hi." You mumble a goodbye and a thank you before collecting your things and heading out. By the time you are home, your roommate and best friend is already there, headphones half in place, stuffing his face with ramen. he wordlessly hand you another ramen cup and a couple of chopsticks, eyes not even leaving his screen. "How was your shift?" "Fine."You sigh, mouth full of noodles. "You look like shit," he doesn't even look up from his screen. You take a look at the blue under his eyes and his tired, skinny form. "You don't look much better." He pauses whatever sounds he was listening to, and actually looks at you this time. "You're pushing yourself too much. You need rest, trooper." "You know very well, I can't." You do not have patience for his self-pity anymore. Not so late, not after such a long day. You avoid his stare, focusing on your meal. You can't afford to rest yet. Not when he's finally so close to his break. Not when studio hours fee stay that high and so does the wifi and the phone bills and that the companies are finally starting to pay attention to his work.

"We need the money, Boss." The nickname made him smile. A reminder to the promise you made each other. "I need the money. You are being stubborn about supporting my dreams."

"Yeah, well, remember me when you'll be in LA collecting Grammys."

"I'll have you hold the bag full of trophies while I'm on the red carpet." His gummy smile warms your heart as much as your cup ramen.

Not that you would ever tell him that.

"How did the audition go today?" You switch the subject. "Very well," he stretches and grunts, showing a little silver of pale skin under his shirt you are tempted to poke. "I got into the second-round, happening sometimes next week. They said they'll call me tomorrow to check." "That's awesome news, Yoongi!" you slap your hands down on the old couch underneath the two of you. "BigHit right?" "Yeah, the guy at the head is a quite famous Kpop producer. He was looking for producers and rappers, I applied to both. You know what that means right?" His eyes stare right at you in a serious way you did not expect.

"What?" You snort, "Will you become an idol?! Can't wait to see you dance on stage! Oh my god, you'd be so cute with some fancy eye-liner!" He rolls his eyes while playfully pushing you off the couch. "No, idiot. It means prepare your resignation for the hotel reception job, no more 5 to 9 shifts for you. You can go home and sleep like a normal person instead of running around job to job like a headless chicken."

"That's rich coming from Mr "Wakes up, write raps, make beats, 20 hours later realizes I forgot to eat…" he shoves you harder.

"No but for real, trooper. You should rest. Use your vacation days even. I'm closer than I have ever been and-" he takes a slow breath. "I just want to say thank you. For everything. And i want you to fucking rest and take care of yourself instead of taking care of me for once." Whoops. It's better he doesn't know about the extra job you picked up since tonight then.

You talk a little more on the couch together, before you decide to call it a night. You set up your alarms to be as silent as possible and get everything ready to sneak out of the house two hours later.

at 23:00, you walk slowly out of your shared apartment, and set off to your first shift as a security guy at Fazbear Pizzeria.

You arrive in front of Fazbear Pizzeria early, at around 23:40. The building is evidently old and abandoned. There's trash lying around and the smell of iron and rotting pizza ingredients is getting heavier in the air the closer you get to the main entry. You decide to walk around the abandoned building, looking for the service exit that was mentioned in your acceptance text. You find it at the very back of the bold pizzeria. A grey, damaged metal door, with a funny looking accessory near the interphone. It seems to be some tech thing, with five lights that all seemed to be turned off. Its design looks a tadbit newer than the rest of the building. Your curiosity leads to you to touch it, but you get electrocuted the second your skin grazes the mysterious object. "Shit!" You shake your hands, checking if anyone around saw you.

No one. Not even for your first day. That definitely sounds like amazing management.

You knock on the door first, receiving no answer. You try knocking again and yelling, wondering if there is really noone to welcome you and do the usual onboarding shit. You start feeling quite alone here.

at 23:47, you try to open the door yourself, and you are surprised to see the lock actually opens and you invite yourself in. "Hello…?" You try timidly. Against your instinct, you decide to walk into the darkened hall. You only do two steps before the door closes behind you, and you hear the lock settle. Shit.

You try to open it back up again, to no avail. An analog clock above the door indicates it's 23:48. Guess it's one of those offices where they really don't want you to leave before you are done with your shift, huh.

You take a couple steps towards the office right next to you. The only room with a light, from what you can see. Children's drawings and Freddy Fazbear posters cover the walls, and trash literally litters the desk and floor. You notice a fan and a screen which seems to monitor the camera. There are buttons on your left and on your right, controlling the light in the hallways and the electric doors.

As you look closer around the office, the line phone starts ringing. "Hello?" You try, curiously. "Hellooo, Hello?" A male voice on the other side of the line starts.

"H-" "I wanted to record a message for you," the voice interrupts, " to help you get settled in on your first night. " Welp, your hope that there was a real person behind the line just went down the drain, turns out you're really alone in this. "I'm finishing up my last week now as a matter of fact so, I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but I'm going to tell you, there is nothing worry about. You'll be fine! So, let's just focus on getting you through your first week okay?" You nod, before catching yourself being ridiculously alone.

"Let's see. First there is an introductory greeting from the company that I'm supposed to read. It's kind of a legal thing, you know. Um, 'Welcome to Freddy's Fazbear Pizza, a magical place ofr kids and grown-ups alike, where fantasy and fun comes to life. Fazbear Entertaintment is not responsible for damage to property or person." Person? Sure. Does not sound at all ominous.

"Upon discovering that damage or death has occured-" Hold up- death ?

"A missing person record will be filed within 90 days or as soon as property and premises has been thoroughly cleaned and bleached and the carpets have been replaced, blah blah blah-"

Of course. Would not want to bleed to death on these dusty ass carpets. Priorities. You're thankful to yourself that the you of two hours ago thought about wearing your old boots and some nice jeans instead of whatever uptight corporate outfit you had to wear at your other two jobs.

"Now that might sound bad, I know-"

"No shit," you say to noone in particular.

"But there's really nothing to worry about!" As if there could be more to worry about. Potentially some haunted robots or some shi-

"Uh, the animatronics characters here do get a bit quirky-" Fucking hell.

"at night but do I blame them? No!"

Blaming them? Yes, that would totally be the last straw.

"If i were forced to sing those same stupid songs for 20 years, and I never got a bath? I’d probably be a bit irritable at night too. So remember, these characters hold a special place in the hearts of children, and you need to show them a little respect. Right? Okay." You sigh heavily, holding your head in your hands. What wouldn't you get yourself into for Min Yoongi? What did you get yourself into?

"So just be aware: the characters do tend to wander a bit. Uhh, they’re left in some kind of "free-roaming mode" at night. Uhh... something about their servos locking up if they get turned off for too long. Uhh... they used to be allowed to walk around during the day, too, but then there was The Bite of '87. Yeah... I-It’s amazing that the human body can live without the frontal lobe, you know?"

You start softly hitting your forehead against your desk. At this rate, selling your frontal lobe in the black market would have been a more fruitful and certainly less painful venture.

"Now concerning your safety: the only real risk to you as a night watchman here, if any, is the fact that these characters, uhh, if they happen to see you after hours, probably won’t recognise you as a person." Having to respect something that doesn't recognize you as a person. Average corporate experience, you might say. "Th-They’ll most likely see you as a metal endoskeleton without its costume on. Now, since that’s against the rules here at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, they’ll probably try to... forcefully stuff you inside a Freddy Fazbear suit." … Stuff you inside a suit?

You might laugh if you weren't so focused on trying not to cry. "Um, now that wouldn’t be so bad if the suits themselves weren’t filled with crossbeams, wires, and animatronic devices, especially around the facial area. So you can imagine how having your head forcefully pressed inside one of those could cause a bit of discomfort... and death. Uh, the only parts of you that would likely see the light of day again would be your eyeballs and teeth when they pop out the front of the mask, heh. ...Y-Yeah, they don’t tell you these things when you sign up..." The idea of Yoongi receiving your eyeballs and teeth on top of the meagre pay of this job, discovering you even signed up for this at the same time as discovering your death? It would crush him. He would not be able to function anymore. He also would not be able to afford living in any way because you would be too dead to work. Shit. "But hey! First day should be a breeze; I’ll chat with you tomorrow. Uhh, check those cameras, and remember to close the doors only if absolutely necessary. Gotta conserve power.

Alright. Goodnight." Good night?!

Is that it? One voice recording is the only training you got before having to spend 6 hours trying not to die at the jaws of fucking murderous animatronics?

You will have definitely seen the worst corners of animatronics. Maybe in a few years, when it will all be in the distant past, you will be able to tell Yoongi and he'll laugh at you while writing a song about it. If you're lucky, he will do so from his penthouse on Hannam Hill. Or maybe in a private jet on your way home from winning a Grammy. Preferably drinking expensive champagne.

You can't really afford daydreaming right now, as you apparently have to focus on cameras and door in order to not get killed.

The good thing is, nothing of notice happened yet. The bad thing is, it's only 1AM.

You noticed that spending too much time on the monitor, using the door or using the light in the hallways were actively sucking your batteries. Locking yourself in until 6 AM was therefore not an option. You spend your time trying to distract yourself. Maybe Phone Guy was wrong after all. Maybe the animatronics don't move around all that much and you'll get a quiet night. That quiet hope gets extinguised at around 2 AM, when you check the cameras to see that one of them moved.

You feel your heart drop to your boots, the panic making your heart tremble. The blue bunny. The gigantic, metallic blue bunny went from the showstage on Cam 1A to backstage Cam 5 by itself.

You tremble as you check every single camera on that cursed monitor, and even eye the two corridors just to be sure. He's still far, you try to reason yourself, he's still far and you have plenty battery left to lock yourself in if he gets any closer.

By 3AM, Bonny moved to the Dining Area on Cam 1B. Still far, you think. Far enough he's not a direct threat. Maybe to your sanity, but you must be pretty fucked up already for accepting this job.

You try to remain calm by checking the cameras regularly. You try to not be too fixated on it, in order to save enough battery in case you really need to lock yourself up from a handful of gigantic murderous animatronics about to stuff you up in one of their suits as a welcome gift.

Your heart drops again when you check the Dining Area Camera only to see a completely black screen. At this point, you're basically freaking out checking the hallways light first, then frantically going through all of the cameras until you see Bonny posing backstage as his 2AM-normal. You're going through all the breathing exercises you have ever known trying to calm down your hyperactive heart, completely hunched over, your hand holding on tightly onto the desk.

By 4AM, you haven't gotten any new scares from Bonny. The animatronic only moved from backstage to the dining area and back a couple times. That limited reprieve was completely gone by 5AM.

You thought that getting closer to normal waking hours would make them less agressive. Something about the devil's hour being at 3AM or something. Turns out, they're about to make that last hour be the worst night of your entire life.

Chica, the yellow bird with an unreadable bib, is now in the restrooms while a form you can't recognize is standing in the west hallway, way too fucking close to you to your taste.

You debate leaving the door open a couple more minutes in order to save energy until you panic decide against it and close it until the form moves again, preferably far away from you.

When you check again, Bonny is back in the Dining Area, but Chica is now inching closer to you in the hallway. In a frenzy, you open the door on your left and close it on your right. You can only hear the fan and your heart beating in your ears as you keep your eyes flicking from the monitor to the door, praying to every god you can think of that she will quicky and peacfully go away.

The next morning, you just call in sick to your two jobs. It's Friday, and honestly, you are pretty dead. Probably from dying once and almost dying every night for the last week or so.

So you spend the day with Yoongi, who didn't have the heart to out to sell his CDs that day either. Most of your afternoon was spent on the couch, eating ramen and Chapagetti, and throwing theories at each other about what the fuck you went through and what could happen during the night. You're honestly not even sure if what happened was even real. Maybe the Pizzeria is ridden with hallucination gases and Yoongi and you keep getting collective(?) psychosis over the posters of the old animatronics. You would prefer the hallucination gases over any other hypothesis to be honest. The two of you discussed at length how to survive the night. It seemed pretty clear that the location from last night was task-based and not time-based like the previous ones. You had absolutely no awareness of time and no clock, compared to the three previous nights, which makes it, in your humble opinion, even harder to survive, since you can't satisfy the "game" by just surviving, you have to be an active participant to your escape by accomplishing those tasks to. The true evil really is productivism all the way in, isn't it. "The good thing, it doesn't seem we die definitely in any way." Yoongi says softly. "Yeah, that's good, I guess." "You guess?" His voice carries a hint of teasing and his eyes a little bit of a spark. "I mean we don't really know it, do we?" He nods. "I think we do though. When I died the other night, we came back at midnight. Last night, we came back into the control room. I think the nights are split into like, save points. At least last one was." "Do you think it will be like that too for this night?" "I dunno," he shrugs, "I looked online and I couldn't find much about that place or… what it does. Only the typical rumors, the murders, the haunting, the lawsuits…" he sighs. "Boss?" "Hm?" "I'm glad we are doing it together." He smiles softly at your before poking your forehead. "You idiot. You wanted to do all of this on your own? On top of your two other jobs? You utter idiot." "I'd do it again for you." You hear his breath catch in his throat when you said it. "Trooper…" "Yeah?" "I promise I'll pay it back. Everything. One day, we'll be sitting on a beach in Busan, we'll be able to live comfortably with my music, and it's going to be my turn. I'm gonna take care of you, I promise. Everything. I'll pay us a full expense trip to Jeju Island, just the two of us." He brings your hand to his lips as he finishes. "I just want you to be happy." "Me too, Trooper. All I want for us is to be happy."

The cuddles allow you to find enough comfort to nap for a few hours, before you have to ready for one last night at Freddy's. The two of you are silent while you get ready, wearing sweatpants and jackets that would allow you to run, crawl or hide easily. You don't break your silence on the bus ride, nor walking from the bus stop to the pizzeria. The way your hands hold onto each other so tightly says everything about how much you trust each other and are willing to go through it again together once last time. You breathe in one last breath of fresh air for the night before opening the service door, and walking into last night's elevator.

Two handheld devices with one earphone each greet you on the side of the elevator, that you put it immediately. “Welcome back to your last day on the job," Hand-Unit welcomes you already, it seems. His words already making Yoongi grunt in annoyance. "That is, the last day of your first week. Some of the most valued qualities that we like to see in new employees are determination, fearlessness, and a genuine disregard for instinctive self-preservation." Good thing you applied then. " You've earned your one-week bonus which will be given to you in the form of a delightful gift basket, the cost of which will be taken out of your next paycheck. We've gift baskets containing fruit, nuts, flowers, and of course the ever-popular cash basket. Using the keypad below, please enter the first few letters of the gift basket you would like to receive.”

You and Yoongi look at each other, wary. By now, you know you get fucked over whatever you try. But you still try, because you would definitely love a cash basket right now.

As expected, the screen glitches and doesn't allow you to type. “It seems you had some trouble with the keypad. I see what you were trying to type, and I will autocorrect it for you. Thank you for selecting...Exotic Butters. " Welp, at least you'll have something to cook with. Butter is still quite worthy, in this economy. "Please be aware that there are still two technicians on site today. Try to avoid interfering with their work if possible. Also, feel free to ask them why they are still there, and encourage them to go home.”

Yoongi snorts, "Not if I leave first," he mutters. You are kind of curious to meet someone who is potentially stuck in the same predicament as the two of you are. The elevator finally stops in front of the vent from yesterday. You breathe in strongly, only to let out a huge sigh at the same time as Yoongi. This time, you let Yoongi go in first. (Maybe because if you're going to die you'd like to watch his ass a little more before. Maybe.) You barely have time to get back on your feet when Hand-Unit is already giving out orders again. “Let's check on Ballora, and make sure she's on them stage.”

Completely blasé now, Yoongi slams the blue button.

You swiftly grab his arm as you see the view through the window. He gulps. Instead, of Ballora, the graceful, ballerina animatronic, is the shadow of a hanged person. “Great. Now let's check on Funtime Foxy.”

Yoongi hesitates, so you reach and delicately press the blue button on Foxy's side.

A similar figure hangs in Foxy's auditorium. “Great, it looks like everything is as it should be in Funtime auditorium. Your task today will involve more maintenance work. Circus Baby had a rough day, and is in need of repair. You will be required to reach the parts and service room by once again sneaking through Funtime auditorium. Unlike Ballora, Funtime Foxy is motion-activated. For this reason it's important to keep the room dark, as to not accidentally activate them. You have been provided with a flash beacon. Use it if you need to get your bearings and to ensure you don't bump into anything. However, use it as sparingly as possible. Proceed forward to reach the parts and service room.” No. Fucking. Way. "Well, that is a new level of unreliable narrator bullshit if I have ever seen one." Yoongi mumbles. "What do we do?" you ask, "Should we go together?"

Yoongi doesn't even let you entertain the possibility of going with him before equipping himself.

This time, he gets a flash beacon, which you reckon seems to be much better equipment than the first time. His walk to the Parts and Service door is strangely easy. "Okay, I'm in", you hear him whisper.

"Great job reaching parts and service. Circus Baby has been deactivated for an unknown reason. It's your job to make sure she is structurally stable and secured to the conveyor. Our technicians will take it from the...[static]” Neither of you like how Hand-Unit got cut off.

""Can you hear me? I’m pretending. Remember how I said I could pretend?" "Holy shit, Trooper…"

"I know, shush."

You focus to listen to Baby's voice through the earphone. "The cameras are watching. I must be careful not to move. Something bad happened yesterday. Something bad always happens. I don’t want it to happen again. There is something bad...inside of me. I’m broken. I can’t be fixed. I’m going to be taken to the scooping room soon, but it’s not going to fix what’s wrong with me. What is bad is always left behind. Will you help me? I want you to save what is good, so the rest can be destroyed and never recovered. But you must be careful. Ballora is here...in the room with us." "Boss?"you whisper.

"Yeah?" He breathes out. "You think we can trust her?" "I think we don"t have any choice, Trooper." You nod. "I'm scared." "Me too." Your hear his voice get stuck in his throat. "Trooper?" "Yeah?" "If I don't make it…" "Shut the fuck up." "But if-" "Shut up or I'm coming to get your ass myself." "Okay, just-" he sounds like he's on the verge of crying. "I love you too, now shut up and listen to her." "Ballora will not return to her stage. Ballora will not return to her body. You must be careful. You must remain calm, and listen to my voice. There is a button on my cheek. You must find it, and press it. There is a passcode that you must enter before you can retrieve me. Enter the code carefully," Baby says again. You hear a click, indicating Yoongi found the button. You hear bips for every number Baby tells him, then a faint mechanical sound. ""Good. A hatch should've opened. Take the card that you find inside." You can hear Yoongi's heavy breathing in the earphone. ""Now you must turn back. I will guide you through Funtime auditorium so you can reach the scooping room. When you are there, I want you to destroy this body. Put the card into your handheld device, and I can continue to speak to you. Now, press the green button to your left. This will send me to the scooping room." You hear the heavy sound of a machine whirring, probably the system moving Baby's heavy metallic body into the so-called Scooping Room. "You must follow my instructions in Funtime auditorium. Ballora is going to follow you. She will try to catch you. I will help you avoid her. She will not follow you inside the scooping room. She is afraid. Go back now."

Yoongi is silent as you hear him move around. Your anxiety is only growing as you listen to her instructions and to Yoongi's steps through the earphone. "Go forward. Stop. Go forward and left. Keep going. Stop! Be...silent. Go forward and left. Stop. Go forward. You are almost there."

Tension is at its paroxysm, you can barely see from here where Yoongi is in the auditorium. You have no way to know, no way to tell him or ask him anything, no way to help. You have never felt so helpless, knowing the person you love the most is out there, trusting the voice of a rogue animatronic, with no idea of what her intentions are. Maybe that's just what love is sometimes. "Stop. She is right in front of you. Don’t...move." You hold your breath. "He is here to help, Ballora. He is not here to hurt us. Ballora, he is here to help us."

You don't like the way Circus Baby is talking to Ballora about your best friend. "Go forward again, Ballora is behind you. She is afraid of the scooping room. She will not follow you."

If even Ballora is afraid, you're honestly not sure if Yoongi should actually be entering. "“Warning." Hearing Hand-Unit voice again makes you jump. " You've entered a highly dangerous area. You've entered from maintenance hatch 1B, reserved for cleaning and repair of the scooper. Entering this side of the room is strictly prohibited by unauthorized personne...[Static]”

Fuck,Fuck,Fuck,Fuck,Fuck FUCK. "You are in the scooping room now. "Funtime Foxy has already been here today.

"Funtime Freddy has already been here today.

"Ballora has already been here today.

"Circus Baby has already been here today." "Yoongi! Get out. Please just go." You're begging. You never begged in your life, and now you're begging. For his. "I can't," you can hearing the fear in his voice. "I can't Y/N, it's locked from this side-"

""I’ve been out before, but they always put me back. They always put us back inside. There is nowhere for us to hide here.

"There is nowhere to go... when we look like this. But if we looked like you, then we could hide. If we looked like you, then we would have somewhere to go." You brace yourself. You want to tear off the earphone. You want to scream, yell, beg, anything to make it stop. But you know nothing will. And you can't do that to him. You can't give up on him on his last moment. Not when he's dying because of you. "The scooper only hurts for a moment." Yoongi doesn't scream. You can hear a grunt, and the disgusting noise of the metal stabbing into his chest. You don't have time to think. You slip through the vent and starts running through the auditorium. You don't know where, you don't know how, but you know this can't be where it ends. You're stopped by Ballora jumping you. The world tilts, the air leaves your lungs, and you're back into the control room... With Yoongi. He's sat down against a wall, eyes haggard, breathing way too fast and clutching his chest. He's whole. He's alive. He's back. "Yoongi!" You throw yourself in his arms, as he rushes to check his own body. No cut, no bruise, no scooper mark. As if nothing happened. "Trooper, the scooper… it was real. I felt it. I know I did. Not like last time. I was dying for real." He looks at you, " What did you do?" You smile awkwardly, "Threw myself into danger hoping it would help?" "I-Okay. Yeah. Fair. It helped." "We gotta find a way out." He shakes his head. "I'm not sure if there is one." "We'll make it happen. Hand-Unit is unreliable, Circus Baby is unreliable, so we'll make our own way out." You hold tightly one last time, before heading out to the vent. "What are you doing?" "Just like you did, except I'll find another way out when I come back". You see him hold himself back from saying anything, then he nods. "Okay, don't die. Not for real, please." You nod, " and you, rest, you just died, for fuck's sake."

You head out, and you also don't face any issue going to Parts and Service. “Great job reaching parts and service. Circus Baby has been deactivated for an unknown reason. It's your job to make sure they is structurally stable and secured to the conveyor. Our technicians will take it from the...[static]” Hand-Unit starts again.

""Can you hear me? I’m pretending. Remember how I said I could pretend?" Circus Baby starts too.

You wait for her to finish her monologue before focusing again when she tells you the number to type in. On a whim, you decide to type all zeros. Well tried. Her face opens up, showing her inside electronic mangling, scaring you into spawning back into the control room. "Back already?" Yoongi teases.

You sigh heavily, "yeah, tried using a completely different code. She didn't like it."

"I don't think the code is wrong though, it did what it was supposed to do." You nod, "So I guess I'll try every single option until i find a way out." "Okay, you do that, I'll enjoy having all my organs and my heartbeat for a couple more minutes." he sighs, almost relaxing onto the floor. You smile at him, before heading back out. This time you tried not pushing the button to send her to the scooping room. Didn't work, Ballora caught up to you. After a couple of other tries, you're back in the room with Yoongi, the two of you trying to formulate plan with the little information you have. "So the code didn't work, it wasn't the card either, it wasn't the button to the scooping room either. The only thing we haven't tried yet is not listening to her in the Auditorium." You explain, sitting next to Yoongi. "Yeah, except this thing is huge and the way out could literally be anywhere." You nod. "So there must be some sort of clue about the location of that thing, right?" "Yeah." He agrees, "but where?" "I don't know… Is there maybe a map somewhere we may have missed?" You start looking around the control room, but nothing looks like a map. Only posters and creepy masks and buttons. After quickly searching through the room, you sit back down next to Yoongi who is looking deep in thoughts. "I- I think I have something." he starts, careful. "What? Where?" "You didn't see it. It was when I was out last night in the Breaker Room. There was a map on that screen, and I think I remember seeing a Private Room, somewhere in there." "Where was it?" "Exactly on the opposite side of the scooping room. We can access it through the auditorium." You look at each other, the idea hanging heavy in the air like a cartoon lightbulb. "It does sounds like something crazy enough to be worth trying." "Together?" "Together." You help each other back up before heading to the front of the vent. "I won't miss this spot, let's go." Yoongi laughs, "I think it has been our safest spot of all of our spots this week, be grateful, yeah?" You poke him in the ribs. You're really excited for this to be over with. You walk together into the Auditorium. You stay close to Yoongi as he manages the flash beacon, and you head closer to Parts Service. For the last time, you hope, you listen to Baby's tirade while typing in the code, then sending her to the scooping room. When you are about to head out, you hold Yoongi's hand as tight as possible. You got forward whenever Baby tells you to go forward, but when she tells you to go left, you go right instead. You have no idea where you are, somewhere in the middle of the room, you can only hear Baby's voice continuing to tell you to go left. Her voice only stops once you hear an automated say "Access granted."

The breath you and Yoongi let out makes up for all the air you couldn't breathe calmly since you left home this night. “It seems that you have accidentally wandered into a restricted area. Due to the sensitive nature of the materials that you may be exposed to here, you will not be allowed to leave until the cleanup crew arrives at 6 am. So hang tight! Rest assured that you will be promptly rescued, fired, then sent home. Thank you for being an employee. We hope that your experience has not been as regrettable as ours.”

"Go fuck yourself" Yoongi mutters. Truly a shared sentiment. An analog clock shows midnight. A digital device shows 98% battery. This is your chance. The monitor only shows 7 cameras. Three buttons stand to close doors on each side of the desk and a vent on top of it. Three screens stand on top of the desk, only showing a constant static. The desk also carries your steadfast fan and a couple of crumpled papers and paper soda cups.

"No light this time?" Yoongi asks. You shake your head "only cameras and doors this time." "Why didn’t you trust me?" You hear Baby's voice ask from far away.

As you switch around between the different cameras, you hear Yoongi gasp and see him run to close the vent. His eyes are blown wide, and you recognize the signs of a state of survival you'll both be in for one last night. "Boss?" "Saw it move at the corner of my eyes. it looked like… Inside organs, but metal." A shudder goes through him, "I think I recognized him from the window of the scooping room."

Not good. Not good at all. You check on the vent camera and indeed, here it was in all its terrifying glory. A sort of mashing of all the animatronics you came across in the facility: Baby, Foxy, Ballora, Freddy, Bonbon… All holding onto each other by iron limbs and pressure valves and buttons falling apart. A white clown face, red nose and a party hat served as his face, only adding to the extreme eerieness and deranged vibe of the…body? Animatronic? You weren't sure anymore. You were trying not to think about this… monstrosity trying to steal Yoongi's body to escape. Taking his place, replacing his organs. You were really, really trying to not think of it.

"Sometimes I don’t understand why people do the things that they do." Ennard is still in the fucking vent, and it's draining your energy storage.

By 1AM, he finally left.

"I thought you liked me." For a few minutes, you don't see him at all.

A pipe sound make you and Yoongi check back a full round on the cameras. Ennard is thankfully still far away, "I thought I did everything right."

A squeaky sound make you close the door on the right, while Yoongi check on the cameras, only to see he is right in that hallway. Outside of the repetitive dying, you're becoming real good at this. "We don’t want to hurt anyone, but we need you." A hint of worry passes on Yoongi's face, and disgust etches itself on your face. You don't know how many shots you get at this, but you are not willing to let Yoongi go at the hands of that freak robot.

"We need you, so that we can leave. We need you, so that we can hide." "What you need is to shut the fuck up," you mumble, your fingers dancing between the different cameras. By "3AM", you have 56% battery, and you have stopped Ennard 5 times. "We need you... ..so that we can look like you." "If they find us like this, we won’t be able to try again." By 4AM, Baby/Ennard still hasn't shut the fuck up. You're very much intending for them to be found like this at 6AM and burnt in the pits of hell where they belong. "You must help us." Your reflexes are faster than your awareness now. Every noise leads an action: checking the cams, closing a door, closing a vent. You haven't said much to each other. "You must let us inside the room." "You must let us inside the room." "You must let us inside the room." By 5AM, her voice is getting really, really insistent. "You must let us inside the room."

"I don't understand."

5:23 AM. You only have 18%. You hope it's going to be enough. "You won’t die. And it will only hurt for a moment." You don't wanna die again. You dont wanna see Yoongi die again.

The booth is completely silent except for your breathing, and you and Yoongi taking turns wordlessly with the monitor and the buttons. By now, you got a rythm. You caught onto all the auditory clues that signals he's moving closer or further away. You're only waiting for 6AM to free you from your shared nightmare. You only have 14% left, and you don't dare checking the cameras for more than a second at a time to not waste energy. You gotta make it till 6. You only have 9% percent left now. Your hand reaches for Yoongi's in the dark, your eyes not losing sight of the screen. 5% when you open back the vents, after hearing Ennard move away. 3% when you open back the door when you don't see him in the left hall camera. You're holding Yoongi's hands so tightly now. Your hands are sweaty, your fingers cramping, but neither of you have the heart to let go of each other now. You know the clock was at 5:59 AM when everything goes dark. "I will find a way out."

For the first time that night, you want to agree with her. You can only hear your heartbeat and your own breathing. One beat, then two. Then out of the right hallway, you hear the familiar click of the service door opening . At the same time you see a metallic glint from the left hallway. "Run!" Yoongi's hand tug you violently towards the right hallway, you feel your ankle twist on itself on the tiles. He tugs you harsher as he almost drags you towards the door and out. As you turn around you almost make eye contact with the thing until Yoongi slams the door with his shoulder. You suddenly come back to yourself to help it push it close, your strength fighting Ennard's on the other side, and with one last push, the door closes on him. You hear a metallic gurgled scream from the other side. You let yourself fall down against the door for a second, catching your breath, and Yoongi follow you. "Hey," he starts, "Look." His finger is pointing at the device. 5 green lights. Your work is done. You let out a snort, which then turns into a giggle, which then becomes a series of nervous bursts of laughter that Yoongi follow you in. "C'mon", he gets up, giving you hand, "Let's get you home." You wince as you take get back to your feet. Now that the adrenaline, and the euphoria from being alive, wears off, you notice it got red and inflamed. Yoongi notices too, as he always does. So he puts your arm above his shoulder and holds your waist as he starts gently walking forward.

Wednesday went by a blur. You honestly don't remember much of whatever happened between the moment your head had to leave the pillow and when it went back to it before your graveyard shift. You collected just enough awareness by night time (and caffeine in your bloodstream) to make sure you didn't die tonight. At the doorstep, you honestly wished it was only your tired and caffeinated mind playing tricks on you when you were with a surprise.

"Yoongi,"you whisper. "What's wrong?" He hurries to look up to the hallway from behind your shoulder. "The set-up, it's different," your voice is breathless. "How did it happen?" "There's no time, Trooper… It's 23:54. Let's go."

You enter the new office together. "There is no door anymore. We are so fucked, Boss. So, so fucked."

The office is now a wide open space. Right ahead there is wide hallways, and on each side an open vent with light buttons. Behind you, a couple of Freddy Bear face lay around, as well as two flashlights. Your reliable fan is lucking still there, and your monitor shows a couple new options.

Just like clockwork, the phones rings as soon as trhe analos clock hits 00:00. "Uh, hello? Hello, hello? Uh, hello and welcome to your new summer job, at the new and improved, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza." Summer job? "It's October?" Yoongi exclaims. "Uh, I'm here to talk you through some of the things you can expect to see during your first week here and to help you get started down this new and exciting career path." So exciting, really, you can't wait to get started. "Uh, now, I want you to forget anything you may have heard about the old location, you know. Uh, some people still have a somewhat negative impression of the company. Uh... that old restaurant was kind of left to rot for quite a while, but I want to reassure you, Fazbear Entertainment is committed to family fun and above all, safety."

Yeah, you would hate to hear rumors about this workplace's lack of safety. "They've spent a small fortune on these new animatronics. Uh, facial recognition, advanced mobility, they even let them walk around during the day. Isn't that neat? (clears throat) But most importantly, they're all tied into some kind of criminal database, so they can detect a predator a mile away. Heck, we should be paying them to guard you."

You definitely know of a couple of places who would benefit from this kind of security, none of them welcomes children though. And none of them would you set foot in ever again either. "Uh, now that being said, no new system is without its... kinks. Uh... you're only the second guard to work at that location. Uh, the first guy finished his week but complained about... conditions. Uh, we switched him over to the day shift. So hey, lucky you, right? Uh, mainly he expressed concern that certain characters seemed to move around at night and even attempted to get into his office." Trying to get into his office? No fuckin' way. Unbelievable. Very unprofessional behavior from those animatronics. "Now, from what we know, that should be impossible." Totally should, yeah. "Uh, that restaurant should be the safest place on Earth. So while our engineers don't really have an explanation for this, the working theory is that... the robots were never given a proper "night mode". So when it gets quiet, they think they're in the wrong room. So then they go try to find where the people are, and in this case, that's your office."

Fuck. So now they're actively looking for you. Great. As if last night wasn't already hard enough. "So our temporary solution is this: there's a music box over by the Prize Counter, and it's rigged to be wound up remotely," you check the monitor for the Music Box as the voice goes on, "So just, every once in a while, switch over to the Prize Counter video feed and wind it up for a few seconds. It doesn't seem to affect all of the animatronics, but it does affect... one of them." One of them only? Oh god. Can any of this can any worse?

"Uh, and as for the rest of them, we have an even easier solution," The voice seemingly answers your growingly hopeless questions. "You see, there may be a minor glitch in the system, something about robots seeing you as an endoskeleton without its costume on, and wanting to stuff you into a suit... So hey, we've given you... an empty Freddy Fazbear head! Problem solved! You can put it on anytime, and leave it on for as long as you want. Eventually, anything that wandered in, will wander back out."

Problem solved. Phone guy almost makes it sound easy.

"Uh, something else worth mentioning is kind of the quirky modern design of the building. You may have noticed there are no doors for you to close, heh."

Oh yeah, the only safety net in this entire operation gone? Didn't even notice it. "Uh, but hey, you have a light! And even though your flashlight can run out of power, the building cannot. So, don't worry about the place going dark."

"Well, I think that's it. Uh, you should be golden. Uh, check the lights, put on the Freddy head if you need to, uh, keep the music box wound up, piece of cake. Have a good night, and I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Piece of cake, he said. "Is that it?" Yoongi whispers, "Is that all we get before we are thrown into an open-space with homicidal robots?". "Believe me, I wish there were more." The two of you starts looking around at the different tools at your disposal: the flashlights, the masks, the monitor and the buttons for the light of the vents. You check the lights and cameras in all the room, as Yoongi is looking around the office. 6 hours. Only 6 hours. You can do this.

Foxy looks a lot more wrangled than he did last night. Chica's design is somewhat… more sleek? Sexy? A shudder goes through you thinking about how digusting the designer, or the client, must have been to put down "Sexy Chick Robot" in the requirements. By 1AM, none of them has moved yet. You don't know if there is a god of Animatronics, but you would love to thank them for that. Or maybe send a couple of strongly-worded emails about those creations of theirs. By 2AM,you and Yoongi almost allow yourself to relax. The two of you are laying around, hands holding, flashlights, but the shift start to feel more and more like an urbex hangout than a painful death trap night job. A slight swoosh sound alerts you though. "What was that?" You whisper, your flashlight searching the whole room for one of the Four, almost familiar now animatronics. Yoongi flashlights stop on the left vent. "Trooper! Mask, now !" You can see there what you thought until now to be merely a statue, that you saw immobile in the PlayRoom Camera, now immobile in a crawling position in the left vent. Yoongi trembling hand reaches for the light button a couple times until Balloon Boy disappears with a laugh. "Holy shit, that was close," Yoongi whispers, taking off his mask. "Yeah…" the heavy masks had the two of you quite breathless. "He kinda looks like you." The humorless look in Yoongi's eyes makes you hold back a wide smile.

"You won't say the same once one of us kills you." "I'd rather it's you. I want to keep my eyeballs, thanks." He shakes his head as he looks back to the front of the room. "It's kinda quiet today," Yoongi mumbles close to your ear. You look up to the analog clock. "It's almost 3AM. Not the worst part yet." "Trooper, I'm not going to lie, I hate the idea of having a door-less space. I want to see if there is any spot close to here where we can hide if something goes sideway." Your eyes widen in panic "Yoongi,no-" He shushes you softly "I am not going far, and I'm not leaving you alone. I will be back in 20 minutes tops. I am taking my flashlight and I'll be wearing my mask at all time. I promise, I'll come back to you fast." You hate it, but he's right. As far as you're aware, the mask and flashlight don't do shit. If whatever went down last night with the glowing eyes happens again, you do not want to sit there with a stupid mask on your face to see if it fools the sophisticated newly updated facial recognition system.

You check the monitor one more time before he kisses your cheek.

"They seem pretty far back, come back quick." He nods at you before putting on his mask and leaving through the gaping space of the door. You try to check for his locations through the cameras, only being abel to glimpse at him occasionally. It's much harder to handle the vent lights and the camera on your own. You're too late when you see him enter a room at the same time as a form that seems to have bunny ears. Your scream get caught in your throat as every thing comes down to a stop. You feel your own heartbeat turn to silence as all the air is stolen from your lungs. Your muscles stiffen over your entire body as you feel yourself fall over. You try to close your eyes bracing for impact. You stumble back into the open office when the world finished its spin on itself. "Uh, hello? Hello, hello? Uh, hello and welcome to your new summer job, at the new and improved, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza." …Huh?

You look up at the analog clock showing 00:00 AM. "Trooper?" You jump out of your skin at the voice behind you. Yoongi. "Boss?"

You sprint the couple of steps until you're hin his arms. he cradles your head into his hands, eyes wide open bordering on insanity. "You're here, you're alive. I am alive… how?" He asks sofly, voice breaking and incredulous.

"You tell me! You were out there with that… thing and now you're back here and in one piece and-" you don't finish your sentence before holding him closer, tighter to you. His warmth helps ground your shaking into a fleeting sense of safety. He can probably feel the wetness of your tear against his cheek. "It took me by surprise. One second I was looking around, the next he was right in front of me about to grab me, I felt my heart stop then I stumbled and now I'm back here." You can feel his heart beating loud through his chest, right up against yours. "No more going around, no more splitting, we stay together as much as possible. Is that clear?!" You feel him nod into your shoulders, a grunt of relief leaving him. You could not care less about Phone Guy going on in the background.

By the time the two of you have managed to calm down and tear away from each other, its 00:30. So you go back to what has now become your new habits. Checking the cameras, winding up the music box, lighting up the vents and the hallway. Things remain manageable until 3AM, where Bonnie keeps acting up and moves up and down the grand hall right in front of your office. You and Yoongi, finding a new found calm, takes up an almsot natural survival instinct of projecting your flashlight into the hallway, putting on and off your mask and checking the cameras and the music box. For a couple of minutes, the two of you are forced to stay immobile as you start an epic stare down with the bunny animatronic now standing right at the entryway of your office. Your hand hold Yoongi's so tight you might break his fingers, and your heavy breathing under the mask is the only thing that keeps you from fainting right on the spot, as you stare down Bonny's broken, open jaw and his missing arm. He's gone in a blink. 4:00 AM hits when you start to deal with Chica's going on and off the vents to your right on top of Bonny's curiosity. You can feel pressure grow as you watch the minutes pass by, getting closer and closer to 5AM. Yoongi already died once. And it set the two of you back to midnight. You have no idea how and why. If you're lucky, maybe you fell asleep at the hotel reception and this is all a nightmare and when you wake up Freddy Fazbear is only a thing of your imagination, some sort of creepypasta podcast you were listening to on the job.

You don't really have time to think too deeply into it as you are now dealing with Bonnie in the main entrance, Chica on your right vent and Boongi Boy- Sorry, Balloon Boy into your left one.

When 5AM hits, you're suprised by Chica T-posing in the middle of your office. You and Yoongi scramble to put your mask over your face, staring at her dead in the eye. In fact, you might even see signs of haunting in those robotic eyes. Your heavy breathing is so loud in your ears, the hot air overwhelming in your mask. You wait a few minutes, your view start to black slowly because of the lack of fresh air. You think you see movement on the corner, so you start taking off your mask. Your fingers graze the side of your mask as you feel Yoongi's hands stop you. You look at him, making contact with his his focused eye, as he lightly shook his head then stare back in front of the two of you.