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‘Circus Baby’s Entertainment & Rental ™… Why is Baby the face of this place?’ You think to yourself as you walk into the building for your second night. You press the button for the elevator… but there is no familiar rumble. The doors open to Michael sitting on the elevator floor. He holds a book on mechanics in his hand, well he isn’t exactly holding it. The book is draped across his chest, loosely gripped in his hand. He’s fast asleep, has he been here since last night? You enter the elevator, cautiously approaching your sleeping co-worker. He’s drooling a bit in his sleep... You can’t help but find it a little, cute? Wait what are you thinking?! You shouldn’t be thinking about him like that, after all, you’ve just met. You crouch down to his level and tap his arm lightly, he doesn’t budge. You shake his arm a bit rougher this time, still nothing.
“Michael?” You say softly, shaking him again.
He whips his head back, hitting it against the side of the elevator. “G- get away from me!” He shouts, swinging his arms around frantically. He tries to scramble to his feet but he slumps back to the ground. His eyes dart around the room frantically, before he eventually realizes he’s safe.
“Michael are you alright?” Your brows tighten with concern and you creep back towards him.
He shakes his head, his eyes adjusting his surroundings. “Everything’s all hunky-dory, was just… a nightmare. Sorry.”
“Let me help you up,” You offer your hand and he grips it tightly. You lift him, the momentum sending him tumbling into you. Your chests press up against each other for a second before Michael pulls away.
“Uh… we should probably get to work,” He mumbles, pressing the elevator button. He leans against the elevator wall, catching his breath as he stares at the ceiling. The elevator shudders as it reaches its destination. He glances over at you, staring for a while before muttering, “I knew you’d come back,” before turning back towards the wall. Michael leans down to enter the vent, “Don’t mind if I go first do you?” He looks back at you over his shoulder, an awkward smile on his face.
You shake your head from side to side, crawling after him into the vent. As you shuffle along behind him, you realize you’re not as panicked. It’s a little less scary this time, not being able to see what’s ahead, the darkness of the vent. You train your eyes on Michael’s shoes, trying to avoid being perverted. That’s when you notice his ankle, bandaged up with gauze. You think back to yesterday after he’d gotten back from Baby’s room his leg had been bleeding… Did the animatronics-?
“Don’t lag behind too much,” Michael’s voice echoes. You didn’t realize it but you’d fallen behind quite a bit in your thoughts. You creep forward a little faster, ‘how did he know you’d fallen behind? It’s not like he can turn around.’
You both crawl out of the vent, and Michael helps you to your feet, returning the favor. You both go through the protocol of checking for Ballora and Foxy, neither of them on their stage, but their shadows cast on the far walls.
“Huh that’s a little weird, come check on Baby with me,” He motions for you to follow him into the vent.
You pause, taking a deep breath, before following Michael into the vent. This vent feels tighter than the last one, but it might just be your nerves.
“It’s not much farther, don’t worry Y/N” Michael affirms. He must’ve noticed your breathing change into quick shallow breaths. But Michael was right, before you know it you’re both into the Circus Gallery.
You stand behind Michael as he taps on Baby’s light, who is nowhere to be found.
You step forward, pressing the light again for yourself… nothing. “That’s odd, and she wasn’t here yesterday either?” You recall.
“Nope,” he purses his lips, pressing the red shock button. But unlike yesterday, the click of the button is followed by silence. He presses it again impatiently, but this time is met with that same voice from yesterday.
“There seems to be a power malfunction, as we cannot properly motivate Baby. Please standby as the system reboots, I will be offline during this process, and various other systems such as security, vent locks, and oxygen may be offline as well.”
“Ah for the love of-” Michael starts as the lights switch off. The room grows dark, making it hard to see anything further than a few inches in front of you. Michael switches on his flashlight, “Damn computer system,” He curses under his breath.
You shuffle closer to Michael and grab onto his arm. You can’t see him except for the faint outline of his silhouette. “The- the security i-” You start to ask Michael before being interrupted.
“Motion trigger, entryway vent.”
“S- shit” Michael stammers as he grabs ahold of your arm, “They’re coming for us.” He drags you towards the desk at the front of the room. You follow his lead and sit under the table, your back against one of the control centers. Michael follows you, pausing for a moment as he looks at the table. It's gonna be a tight fit, and it already feels cramped with just you under the table. He breathes out heavily, preparing as he forces himself under the table. You both barely fit under the small table, and he’s practically on top of you. His tie flops onto your chest, and instinctively he tries to pull it back to his body, but gravity just says ‘nope.’ He adjusts, trying to give you more room in the tight space, but he ends up just making it worse, sliding himself further onto you.
“Quick help me slide this thing over,” He murmurs having given up on other matters, now tugging at the metal sheet propped up against the table. You both shift over the sheet, fully hiding under the table. Michael sighs with relief, his hot breath against your face.
Your eyes are trained on his body, pressed against yours. The steady movement of his chest, rising and falling. His waist lies in between your legs and his legs shift against yours. His hands press against the wall behind you, pinning you to the spot. If you both weren’t about to die right now you’d probably be kissing him.
You hear the sound of the vent opening and the clatter of metal. “ Hello in theree~” a high-pitched voice coos, followed by more clanking of metal against the floor.
You open your mouth to speak but Michael swiftly moves to cover your mouth with his hand. He shakes his head slightly as your eyes widen in fear. His hands are firm and calloused, but somehow still soft, as if he wants to erase any sign his hands have been put to work. You struggle with his hand on your face but make little noise. Your breathing eventually slows as you calm down. He eventually removes his hands from your mouth and he presses his forehead against yours, shutting his eyes tight. He’s honestly just as scared as you are.
“She’s watching us,” the voice whispers again. You swear you can see movement through the holes in the metal. “We’ll see you again soon~” the voice taunts.
You wait in silence long after the animatronics clatter through the vent. Neither of you want to even breathe let alone move. Michael eventually opens his eyes, taking a long exhale. He wraps his arms tightly around you in a bear hug.
“A-Apologies” he stammers, looking down at your position under him. He lets you go and tries to move the metal sheet from the table but it gets stuck on one of the holes. You help him slide it away, your hand brushing against his. He tries to exit the confined space, slamming his head against the top of the table. “Bloody hell!” He grips his head as he slips out from under the table. You emerge from the table as Michael rubs his head, a pained look on his face.
The lights then suddenly flicker back on. “Thank you for your patience” The system booms as the various controls boot back up. “ The power system has been rebooted automatically ” it continues. “This completes your tasks for the night, proceed back to the main control module with care, and we’ll see you back tomorrow.” And with that, the voice grows silent.
You want to be near him, but he seems a bit pissy at the moment.
“Damn system” he mutters, kicking the metal plate which hid them earlier. He winces as the metal doesn’t budge. He stares at the floor for a while before remembering you’re still in the room. “Apologies, I- Nevermind. Shall we get out of here?” He suggests.
“Please,” you agree, heading for the vent as fast as possible.
You both hurry through the vents and it seems like you’re already in the elevator before you know it. Michael stands up beside you, stealing glances every few seconds as if he has something to say.
“Spit it out” You finally say, pushing the elevator button. You stare at him intently until he stutters out an answer.
“Have you ever been on a date? Well, I mean, have you ever asked someone out on one?” He rambles, a bit unsure of what exactly he’s trying to ask.
“Michael, have you never asked someone out before?” You tease, assuming he’s just being awkward as usual. “And yes I have.”
“Oh yeah… Me too, um a while back. I uh-” He stammers, blushing a bit.
“Aww is someone getting a bit flustered?” You tease, elbowing him lightly in the side.
Michael turns redder by the second. “No! I uh- Of course not!” Michael grasps for a way out of his embarrassment. “And I bet I could get a date faster than you anyways,” He declares smugly.
“Oh really?” Your eyebrow perks up as you cross your arms. You somewhat doubt his claim, he’s by no means ugly, he’s actually very… attractive. But you wonder if he has the confidence to do it.
“Of course! I’d even bet on it!” Michael's confidence is building and it shows. You managed to fluster him, but you doubt it’d be that easy to do again. You take the bait, and offer out your hand, ‘that'll be easy.’
Michael takes your hand in his, firmly shaking it. ”Are you free tonight?” He inquires, tilting his head like a curious puppy. “There’s a TV sho-”
“TV? I’d probably enjoy that!” You interrupt enthusiastically. The idea of spending more time with Michael makes you feel giddy. Especially after the night you’ve both had it wouldn’t hurt to spend the ni- morning? Whatever with him. “Yeah I shouldn’t be busy and I don’t ne-” You pause, ‘shit.’
A smile spreads across Michael's face as you realize that he’d just won your bet. You shake your head, laughing to yourself.
Michael seems pleasantly surprised by how easy it was and he looks up at you with a smile on his face. “O- okay! Do you just wanna follow me in your car?” The elevator comes to a halt at the main level.
You nod and follow Michael out of the building. His house is surprisingly close, not large but cozy. You pull into the driveway and Michael is already at your car door as you park. He, in an attempt to be nice, tries to open your car door. Instead, the door doesn't open and he tugs at the handle. He looks at you through the window, an unamused look on his face. You chuckle, holding up the keys as you unlock the door. He opens the car door successfully this time, letting you out and shutting the door behind you. He hurries up to the front door, unlocking it by the time you reach the porch, “After you?”
His house is quite roomy, it has a sort of homey feel that reminds you of your childhood home. Thought you to have to admi-
“Yes, I’m aware of the ugly wallpaper” He sighs, setting his keys on the counter. He loosens his tie and takes a peek at some of the cupboards in the kitchen.
Michael seems a bit… preoccupied, so you take it upon yourself to explore the rooms of his house. You enter the living room and try to switch on the lights, but they don’t turn on. You search the room for another light before finding a table lamp, which illuminates the room pretty well. There's a small box TV, a couch and a clock in the shape of a sun… and that’s about it. For such an interesting guy he has a surprisingly bland house. You assume the room on the other side of the living room is his bedroom, so you decide not to wander any further.
“Popcorn?” Michael chants from the kitchen. You spin around to see him gripping a bag of microwave popcorn, an excited, child-like grin on his face. You nod, stifling a smile. He seems to get excited over the smallest of things… It’s kind of adorable. “Oh and make yourself comfortable!” He adds as he disappears back into the kitchen.
You plop yourself on the couch, which has a comfortable amount of give to it.
Michael meets you at the couch, the bucket of popcorn in hand. He sits himself down, setting the bucket in between the two of you. “Ever heard of The Immortal and The Restless?” Michael says excitedly, clicking on the TV. You shake your head as he clicks through channels, eventually finding the one he’s looking for. “Trust me you’ll love it!” He smiles at the TV as the title displays on the screen.
“As the sun sets, so also does another chapter…” The TV drones on as the episode starts.
Michael is completely engrossed in the show… ‘He must really like it huh?’ You reach for some popcorn and start to watch as well. When you both reach for more popcorn, some spills out of the bucket. Michael places the bucket on his lap and scoops up the few pieces of popcorn, popping them into his mouth. He then turns to you awkwardly.
“Five-second rule…? He mumbles through a mouth of popcorn. His full mouth mumble causes you to laugh, and he nearly spits his popcorn himself.
After you both settle down a bit and focus back on the show, you reach for some popcorn, bucket still on his lap. Michael is quick to scoot closer to you, still leaving a comfortable gap between you, but at least you won't have to stretch anymore.
“They can’t do that! I’m a vampire! I don’t get paychecks!” The voice from the TV shouts.
Vlad and Clara do have quite a weird relationship indeed, but you can see why Michael enjoys the show, and you just might as well.
As Vlad and Clara continue their fight on-screen, you slowly find yourself moving towards Michael, a bit tense from the plot thus far. Michael pretends like he doesn’t notice you growing closer, but in reality, it’s clouding up his thoughts. This is making it a bit hard to focus on the show, but he can’t stop thinking about how close you are. Eventually, he gives in to his thoughts and wraps his free arm around you, resting it on the couch behind your head.
As the episode comes to a close, Michael leaves his engrossed trance, turning towards you. “How’d y-” He starts before realizing you’re sound asleep. “ Oh, ” He whispers to himself. For a moment he’s just frozen, what’s he supposed to even do in a situation like this. The only thing he’s certain of is he probably shouldn’t wake you. Especially having the job the two of you do, sleeping is hard to come by, even if you’ve got all the time to do so. Michael carefully moves the bucket of popcorn off his lap so it doesn’t spill.
Still sound asleep, you shift your head against Michael’s shoulder, nuzzling into his side more in your sleep. He’s warm and beyond comfortable, it’s no wonder you fell asleep.
Michael takes in a sharp breath as you nuzzle into him. ‘Shit I hope I didn’t wake them.’ Michael freezes up again, but he tries to stay relaxed as he watches you sleep. He slowly moves his arm to shut off the TV, and the room darkens a little more. As the time passes he figures eventually he’ll fall asleep too. But as he starts to feel drowsy you start to stir again.
You, mostly asleep, wrap your arm around Michael's torso, draping your body over his. You moan sleepily into his side before facing him, eyes squinted practically closed. “Michael?” You hum sleepily, your voice cracking ever so slightly.
“Yes, love?” He returns softly, cocking his head slightly to the side.
“Can I-” you move forward and sleepily press your lips against his.
He groans, panicked into your mouth, surprised by the sudden kiss. He eventually accepts it and kisses you back.
Your lips part and you snuggle back into his side, promptly falling back asleep.
He rests his hand on your back, rubbing up and down your back as his face turns red. ‘Did they just-?’ He thinks to himself, looking down at your peaceful face. Michael breathes out heavily, his heart racing. He’d been avoiding thinking about it, but you were really cute, especially looking like this, asleep against his chest. Michael closes his eyes peacefully, drifting into dreams about you.