Work Text
You had been filling out job applications for the whole week, sending them in and never getting a response back. It was summer, and you needed a job to hold you over for a bit. You applied damn near everywhere within twenty minutes, your local McDonalds, the gas station, Walmart, you even applied as a babysitter. Nothing. Not a single call back.Until you got one.To be honest, when you picked up the phone, you weren’t sure which job had accepted your application..until they eagerly introduced you as the new member of Freddy’s family. It was gonna be one of THOSE places.
When they make it seem like a family, that’s how you know you’re about to encounter some serious human rights violations. But money, amiright?You’d be starting work Monday, and would work until Friday. 12 AM-6 AM. You applied for the night shift, because you’d probably be alone. And working there during the day shift would be too overwhelming…all the kids screaming, the music and the lights, the smells and sounds, yeah…not how you’d really want to spend your day. But cleaning up some shitty arcade at night? Not to bad. You could plug in your headphones to your chunky, portable cassette player. (Yeah, sure, cassette players were a thing of the 70’s-80’s, but you’d grown too attached to your cassette collection to ever invest in a discman or iPod or the like.)Plus, getting the night shift felt like you had more free time. You could go to bed around, maybe 6-7 PM and get up at 12 AM for your shift. Probably take a nap after, then enjoy the day. Bam.The pay wasn’t anything to brag about. Basically right on the line of legal minimum wage. But to be paid to walk around and listen to music all night? You did all that for free on your weekends. You watched your warm breath puff up in the cold air, like a dragon. Your hands in the pockets of your zip-up hoodie. Outside the Pizzeria. It really did look different from when you were a kid…but still had some of its charm. You could tell it was…less popular now, but still here. You reached for the cold metal handle on the one of two entrance doors, humming an old, catchy tune. Heartaches by Al Bowly. Old, but good.It didn’t open. And then you remembered they gave you a key for the door, and you reached into your pant pocket and dug it out, fumbling with the key in your cold hands to unlock the door. With a ‘click’ you pulled the heavy door open, glancing behind you and heading inside. This felt illegal. But it wasn’t, this was your job.Your worn down sneakers stepped onto the sleek, checkered floor. The building was dark, but you could still see fine. You looked over at the counter, but you didn’t need to stop there. There wasn’t even anyone behind it.You entered the main area of the pizza place, the ‘dining hall.’ With a big center stage, the curtains closed. There were tables set up, about eight maybe. And lots of chairs at each. White table ‘plastic’ covered it with a confetti design. Napkins and plates and party hats strewn across the table and on the floor. Thankfully no miscellaneous food-that you could see, anyway.You looked around-it was quiet. Nothing. You felt unsure of what to do…did you just, whip out the cleaning tools and get to work? Was there an instructor? They hadn’t given you much actual instructions over the call. You stepped forward again, glancing about.You saw a light from the corner of your eyes-behind a heavy grey door. It looked like the kitchen maybe. You wearily walked forward, a spike of anxiety in you. Someone else was in there, you could ask them for help. But you signed up for the night shift specifically NOT to talk to anybody. You swallowed the lump in your throat as you got closer, hand resting on the door before you pushed it open and stepped inside.The kitchen wasn’t that big, but it was crowded. A metal table in the center and the edges of room crowded with cabinets and counters and a couple fridges and ovens. Pots and pans and the like hanging up from the roof. You saw a man in there, moving frantically, knocking some stuff over on the opposite side of the room from you. You weren’t too concerned because you could see the employee uniform he wore. You opened your mouth, dry as cotton, and you spoke up; your voice embarrassingly nervous.“Uhm…Hello?”The person immediately turned around, startled, before quickly fading into an expression of relief and friendliness. They had white, but not pale skin with pink tints. His slightly curly ginger hair barely contained at all by the security cap on his head. He had big, circular glasses on. Behind them intense green eyes. There were people with green and blue eyes, sure, but have you ever seen someone with blue eyes that you can’t look away from? Not necessarily in a enchanting way, just in a ‘humans should NOT have that color of eye.’ Type of way. Like they could see straight into your soul.He awkwardly stumbled his way towards you around the metal table. Regaining his balance and stepping infront of you. Offering a friendly smile. Up close you could see the fullness of his face and the freckles that covered his cheeks and nose.“Heyyyy, you’re the new guy! The uhm, janitor right?”He extended a hand.“I’m Fritz. One of the security guards. Oh! Do you have a uniform?”He gestured at your clothes. You felt immediately embarrassed; did they give you a uniform? You don’t remember. You shake your head wordlessly.
He gives a dismissive wave of his hand.“Ah, no big deal, there’s plenty in the back. Come on.”He gestured to follow him, opening the kitchen door and holding it open, waiting for you.
You followed behind him, closing the door behind the two of you as he led you back to the entrance. And to a door on the left of the counter that you hadn’t noticed before. Fritz fiddled with the keys on his belt, unlocking the door and heading inside. You followed him down a short hall and into a back area. Clearly you were behind the stage, judging by the switches and lights and whatever technical junk.He led you into another room, a small breakroom with a plastic round table set up in the middle and several chairs. There were boxes in the corner of the room and cabinets in the back. Fritz opened one of them, gesturing inside.“Just, find your size and then go change in the bathroom. The labels on the inside of the shirt.”You nodded, walking forward and peering into the box filled with identical uniforms. You hesitantly dug around, a medium would probably be good. You sat in one of the bathroom stalls, inspecting the light blue button up and grey pants. Did you remember how to tie a tie…? Fuck. Would be embarrassing if you didn’t, or if you tied it wrong. You quickly changed, tying the tie around your neck as best as you could. You probably didn’t need the hat that said ‘SECURITY’ considering you weren’t security.You felt self conscious..this seemed like a bit of an overly formal uniform for a pizza place. But the fabric was cheap, so maybe not. You decided to just ditch your clothes in the stall and head back out. Fritz showed you where the cleaning supplies were in the small, cramped janitors closet in the right hallway that led down to the security office. You were supposed to sweep and mop the floors, clear out the trash from the dining area, general stuff. You were only supposed to clean the entrance area, the dining area, the bathroom, the halls to the office, and the kitchen. (Basically everywhere only patrons would be.)Fritz said he would be with you tonight, but that he’d be in the security office mainly. He said you could turn on the lights, but turn them off once done cleaning. And if you had any questions, to just come ask him. Then he walked off down the hall with a reassuring thumbs up. In all your jobs, you had never seen such a friendly instructor.You stood there awkwardly with the old broom in your hand. But you weren’t being paid to daydream, so you put in your headphones and got to work.
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You got home at 6:25 AM, your eyebags feeling heavier than normal. This schedule was definitely gonna take some getting used to. As soon as you came in you shed your uniform, putting on sleep shorts and a tanktop and then immediately collapsing into bed.You woke up in the morning on your own. You had turned off your alarm so far considering the odd work schedule. You checked the time; 10 AM. Ugh. You felt kinda like shit waking up this late..you’d have to get used to that.You spent the day doing whatever the fuck. Seriously, I don’t know. This is you, not me. You got to work at 11:50 PM. Taking out your keys and opening the front door. You could already feel yourself slowly falling into this new routine that would be your every weekday for the rest of summer.You entered. The smell of dust and pizza an odd and familiar smell. You hesitated to lock the door behind you. What if someone else was coming in? But they had a key. Better safe than sorry.You walked into the dining area, glancing down at the name tag Fritz gave you yesterday. Your name written on it in sharpie. You headed down the security hallway. Stopping as you noticed the office lights on. Was Fritz in there already? Maybe you should say hi, that would be polite. The socially normal thing to do-I think.You walked up to the odd set up, but someone was already leaning outside the big door entrance to greet you. And it wasn’t Fritz.“Hey, you’re not supposed to clean in the office.”He scolded. You jerked in surprise. You didn’t know who this guy was, but then you remembered that you and Fritz weren’t the only workers during night.This guy was a lot..scarier, kind of. He was tall-ish. Looked like he was bald, or had a small amount of hair you couldn’t see under the cap. But he wasn’t old, not really. He had defined eyebags like he had never slept a day in his life, and bandages wrapped around his palms and hands. His sleeves rolled up elbow length. His nametag read; ‘Mike.’“..I know.” You defended yourself, offput by his demeanor and your pre-existing anxiety.“Then why are you down here?”He asked back, raising an eyebrow.“I…thought you were, uh, someone else. Sorry.”The sorry leaving your mouth felt bitter. You didn’t wanna apologize to this guy, he seemed like a prick. But he didn’t respond, just disappeared back into the office.You went down the hallway again to the Janitor’s closet, digging for your supplies as you wondered what that guys deal was. You were in the midst of picking up trash from the party tables when you looked up at the stage. The red curtains were open today, but the lights were still off. As a kid, the animatronics scared the shit out of you. But now that you’re older, you can really appreciate the effort that went into making these abominations. Unfortunately, it wasn’t part of your job to clean the animatronics. That was part of the mechanics job. You wouldn’t mind getting a closer look at them.You walked up to the stage, gazing up at the giant bear one. It’s brown, fake fur smooth and his plastic-mask like face resting. The slightly rosy cheeks and defined features. You wondered where the whole ‘skin-like plastic faces’ on otherwise completely fur covered animal robots came from. It seemed like an odd idea. Maybe it was so you could see their facial expressions better.You reached out tentatively to touch the fur on its always still legs. It felt like barbie hair, almost. You poked and could feel the firm base underneath. You stepped away, deciding to get back to work. You might get in trouble for tampering with the robots or something.It was 5:27 AM. You were mopping the dining room area, all that was left was lightly cleaning the kitchen at this point. That’s when you saw Mike walking down from the hallway. He paid you no mind, heading towards the entrance. You watched him, hands stilled. You opened your mouth, deciding to speak up.“We don’t leave until six.”He looked over at you, and you could see a beer can in his hand. Was he drinking on the job?“So?”“So…why are you leaving?”Mike snorted.“No one’s gonna break in at the asscrack of dawn. No point in staying then.”You wanted to argue with him, but then remembered that this coworkers problems weren’t your own. So what if he gets fired? Not your problem. You rolled your eyes and dumped the old mop back in the yellow bucket with a splash
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Your third day at work.Dare you say you were already getting into the swing of things, coming in, seeing an employee very briefly before cleaning for the next six hours and then leaving. The odd sleep hours were still something you were…roughly..adjusting to.You unlocked the red double doors leading into the pizzeria, putting your keys back in your pocket and heading inside. It smelled the same every day, without fail. Stale pizza, dust, mold, and something else that you could only describe as the smell of arcade carpet.You looked around, stepping into the main show area. It didn’t look like anyone was here…but that was odd. Usually there was atleast one other person here, some sort of night guard. You should’ve been glad you were alone, maybe, but you couldn’t help but feel unsettled. Uneasy. You stood like a deer in headlights, surveying, as if expecting to find literally anything worth booking it out; nope. All ordinary around here. You took a shaky breath, walking across the floor and inbetween tables, headed in a winding path towards the janitor closet in the hall.You dug out your supplies from the very small closet filled with wooden shelves. There was a lot of shit in here, but you only needed some of it.You took the broom into the main area, going up to one of the tables where you left a small little bag of your cassette tapes. For music. You let the brush lean against the table as you opened up the cassette player, rummaging through the bag for one you wanted to listen to.You felt a chill run through your body, your head whipped around. Nothing. Expected. You went back to it, running your thumb along the smooth plastic of the cassette player, as if for comfort.“Boo.”You didn’t have time to react before something was on your shoulders, someone’s hands. you jumped, your heart leaping up into your throat, a million possibilities racing through your mind, none of them good. You went to turn around as the person retracted their hands from their shoulders.“Jumpy huh?”He chuckled. You whipped around to face whoever this was. He had got his hands off of you but he was still standing just as close, too close to be polite. You instinctively froze when you caught a glimpse of the man.He was wearing what looked like a Freddy Fazbear’s uniform, in style-anyway, you say that because it was all purple. Minus the ‘security’ badge. But he wasn’t wearing one of the hats. Why was his uniform purple? Was he some sort of higher up? What the hell was going on?You stared at him. Eyebrows furrowed and eyes wide. You felt cold to the bone, legs and hands shaking and your hair standing on end.“Oh you’re new here, huh?”He smiled. But it wasn’t friendly. It seemed predatory, unsettling. His teeth too white and too..straight. Something about his face was deeply unnerving.“I’m Vincent.”He purred, leaning forward ever so slightly and sticking out his hand for you to shake. You stared at his hand, and then back up at him, and then his hand again. You never liked shaking hands but you sure as hell weren’t shaking hands with this guy.You started to calm down a little. Calm down probably wasn’t a good descriptor; more like…less primal, instinctual fear and more sensible, unnerved-ness in its place.“Come on, I don’t bite.”He said with faux kindness, talking to you like you were some sort of stray animal and he was offering you food. You narrowed your eyes, inspecting him.“..Unless you want me to.”His smile widened, eyes narrowing in turn as he let out a quiet little chuckle at his insanely funny joke. Without thinking you instinctually recoiled, your lip twitching up in disgust. How dare he talk to you like this? Who does this guy think he is, huh? The only way you're ever gonna touch him is with your fist to his nose, you decided.“Eugh!”You let out the disgust without even thinking. It probably wasn’t the smartest decision, considering you were alone in here with this creep, in the depths of the morning, for several more hours.Vincent glared at you, his smile turning into a frown, taking a step back and muttering something to himself you couldn’t hear.You glared at him, sizing him up from his head to his toes. Not letting your judgmental expression fall away.“Feisty! What’s your name huh?”He remarked, the smug smirk returning to his face. Was this guy dense or just stupid? He looked down. You followed his gaze, seeing your own name tag. You looked back up at him. He didn’t look up.“Mmm….I’ll just call ya Doll.”His eyes moved. It took you a second before you realized he was checking you out. You felt your hands and face heat up, blood boiling and your fingers clutching your cassette player. The nerve of this guy!“My eyes are up here.”You snapped. He looked up like he was snapped out of a trance. He snorted, amused by you. You felt your hands aching to knock this guy right in the face. You restrained yourself (barely,) you needed this job. Your teeth gritted together so hard they might chip.“D’awwww, don’t look so angry Doll!”He cooed mockingly, as if actively delighting in making you uncomfortable and upset. You closed your eyes briefly, biting your lips as you took a deep breath in, and out. Before setting your cassette player down on the table and grabbing the broom. Walking away from him to do your job, as if he wasn’t there at all. Unfortunately you could feel him staring at you. You felt the need to look back, but you resisted. Sweeping. It felt like several minutes of him just staring at you silently.After a bit you finally got the nerve to glance behind you, only to see nobody there. You felt yourself relax, your legs almost failing beneath you. The feeling of being watched went away-or at least eased exponentially.You wiped your hands on your shirt, now realizing just how sweaty and warm they were. You ran a hand through your hair, taking a deep breath in an attempt to slow your racing heart. You felt significantly less scared now, but still on edge for certain.The hours passed so slowly, you tried to listen to your music while you cleaned, but you didn’t like the fact you couldn’t hear anything around you when your ‘co-worker’ was here too. So you swept, and mopped, and cleaned in silence.After what seemed like ages and also only an hour, it was time to leave. You set your supplies back inside the janitors closet, heart light and movements swift to get out of here and back home as soon as possible.As you walked through the main area and towards the doors, you glanced at the stage and noticed Bonnie wasn’t there. You stopped, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. But then you realized; maybe Vincent was the mechanic or maintenance guy. You still felt a little odd about it, but it was overpowered by your relief to be leaving. You pushed open the two doors, locking them behind you and getting in your car, speeding off home