Work Text:
“Hello?”
“This way!”
A door clicked shut. Max’s footsteps echoed lightly as she made her way down the hall. Coming upon a set of double doors, she hesitantly pushed the handle down and stepped in, glancing around nervously. She felt her heart rate picking up, observing the piles of wires and parts that littered every surface. A small collection of parts, which she assumed were for the animatronics due to their colors and shapes, sat next to a metal garage door. She eyes them cautiously.
“Warmer.” She heard a muffled voice say.
Her eyes widened and moved to the center of the room, locking on to the robot standing in the middle of it. She breathed out a shaky exhale, muttering under her breath. “How in the heck…” She slowly stepped forward, the air feeling like breathing in chalk or dust.
“Warmer.” the voice repeated.
She looked to the side and went over to where she could spot a foldable chair, lifting it and placing it in front of the bear. Standing on it, her eyes traveled along the metal inside the animatronics’ costume. It was quiet. She lifted herself a bit onto her toes, trying to find where the kid had gone. Not a sound was made. She leaned in closer, searching…
A bang sounded from behind her, causing her to lean back in surprise and lose her balance. She felt her breath catch in her throat. Both she and the chair leaned backward, and the air was knocked out of her lungs as her body made contact with the ground. She groaned in pain as her eyes squeezed shut.
A loud click sounded from above her, accompanied by metal clashing together.
“Max?” A voice behind her asked. She held the back of her head as she sat up, feeling a hand on her back helping her lean forward. “Max? Max, hey, are you okay?” She took sharp ragged breaths, coughing into her sleeve as her lungs tried to take in air. She looked to her side.
“Mike?” She blinked away her confusion nodding. “Yeah, I’m,” She swallowed nervously, “I’m all good.” He breathed out a sigh of relief, looking up. She followed his gaze, before quickly looking away from the robot. Its mouth had closed just as she had leaned away. If she hadn’t then, well, she wouldn’t be thinking about it right now. Or thinking about anything for that matter.
“Let’s get out of here.” He held her arm and helped her stand. She nodded shakily, turned around, pushed the door open, and left the cluttered room without risking a glance behind her. As they left the building she calmed down her heart rate, taking shaky breaths and exhaling even shakier ones. She didn’t notice that Mike’s eyes kept shifting over to her, nor did she see the way he looked at the truck she’d come here in. His eyebrows pinched together, but he turned the key into the ignition and pulled away from the building silently.
The drive was quiet, but not a stifling kind of quiet like back at the pizzeria. Trees swayed in the light morning wind, and Max felt herself lose focus as the road slipped by.
The rumbling of the car disappeared as they pulled into Mike's driveway. The silence was loud now, no longer like a warm blanket but a blazing furnace. It was suffocating.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” She nodded. He nodded back and stared at the steering wheel. Her hands were still shaking, but she figured now would probably be a bad time to talk about the kid she was sure she’d seen at the pizzeria.
“So, do you wanna tell me why you were in a…closed-down, abandoned pizza place? In the middle of the day?” Mike prompted. Max looked over at him.
“My…my uh,” She hesitated, was there really any reason to hide it at this point? The guilt was eating away at her already, and she didn’t think she could come up with any excuse. “My brother and I broke in. With two of his friends.” Mike opened his mouth to respond but quickly closed it when he realized what she’d said.
“You..what?” He paused, “You’re joking.” Max shook her head. Mike’s shoulders slumped, “You’re not joking.” Max sighed and looked out the window. “Why? Why would you do that?” he questioned. She hugged her arms around her torso.
“We’re…low on money so we found someone who said they’d pay us a lot.” She explained.
“Who? Pay you a lot of money to do what? Break into a closed-down restaurant?” Mike pushed. She hugged herself tighter.
“It was your aunt.” There was silence once more. Neither of them spoke, and Mike put his head into his hands. He sighed and leaned back, running a hand through his hair and letting the other fall atop the console. His eyes were shut, and Max unintentionally tried to back herself into the corner of her seat and the car door.
“So you were spying on me and Abby to help my aunt with the custody battle. Great. Awesome.” He drawled.
“Not..exactly?” Mike turned to her with a deadpan look and she backtracked. “Well yeah, at first I was, but now I, I really like being around you and Abby! When Jeff suggested breaking in I didn’t want to help anymore but…it was a little too late to back out.” She tried justifying.
“So, what, you figured going along with it anyway was a better option?” Mike huffed, “Ignoring the fact you probably would’ve gotten me fired, thanks for that by the way, you could’ve gotten arrested. Then what? You would have been in even more money trouble.” In different circumstances, Max would’ve rolled her eyes at how much he sounded like a dad lecturing their kid for staying out late. Now, it just made her feel even more guilty.
“I didn’t…I tried not to think about it too much. I just followed what they told me and waited outside.” She argued. He looked more confused than mad now.
“How did you end up inside then? What were you doing?” She wrung her hands together.
“They were…taking a long time…” She paused, seeming to think about something before coming to a conclusion. “and I thought I heard a scream.”
Mike’s eyes widened and he tilted his head forward slightly. “A scream?” He asked. Max nodded.
“I thought someone might’ve, I don’t know, had something fall on them? I went to see if they were okay but I couldn’t find any of them in there. I don’t think they ditched me though, they were gonna be making a lot off of this too.” She explained. Mike nodded in understanding and leaned back again.
“‘So you were looking for them because you heard a scream,” Max nodded. “and ended up almost having your head bitten off how?” Mike questioned.
“I saw someone.” She admitted. Mike looked at her with a pinched expression.
“You saw someone? Like, one of the people you went with or..?”
“A kid.”
“A kid?!”
“Yeah, some kid with a yellow striped shirt I think- what are you doing?” She questioned as he turned on the car again.
“I’m going back to help that kid, what do you think?” he asked exasperated, moving to back out when she stopped him.
“No, Mike, I don’t think you understand.”
“Understand what?”
“I don’t think he was there. Really there at least.” She clarified. He looked at her confused before realization finally dawned on him.
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“How-”
“I don’t know. I just heard a kid talking and leading me to that room, and then it sounded like he was inside that…thing.”
“Right…and Jeff?” Mike questioned.
“I’m not sure, if they’re still there I couldn’t hear or find them.” The, ‘and they couldn’t hear m e ’ , went unsaid.
“Right. Okay.”
“...”
“So what now?” Max asked.
“Well,” Mike started, “I don’t have work for another..” He pulled back his sleeve to look at his watch, “14 hours, so do you wanna come in for lunch? I’m sure Abs would be glad to see you.” She gave him a half smile and found it didn’t feel forced.
“Sure.”