Chapter Text
Mike Schmidt’s entire being was protesting against the abomination of sounds and sights attacking him from all over. He covered his ears, hoping to drown out the noise when he remembered what his career counselor, Steve Raglan, had told him.
“Anything happens, there’s a breaker in the main office. Just flip it.”
He did just that, and was relieved to find that the music stopped blaring, the light fixtures stopped flickering, and the monitors glitching gave way.
After regaining his composure, he was grateful for the moment of silence. Until it was rudely interrupted by a loud and sudden buzzing. Squinting at the monitors and their crappy, outdated resolution, he noticed a police cruiser, and along with it, a police officer.
Great. What have I done this time? Mike wondered. It was only his second night at this job and he had already gotten into trouble with the law. This’ll be fun, he thought bitterly as he shuffled towards the main entrance. Upon opening the glass double doors, he realized that the police officer was very pretty.
“About time! I was starting to think maybe you fell asleep on the job.” she joked.
Mike stared in awe at her. It was as though he hadn’t been in the presence of the opposite sex in over ten years. (That was pretty much true.) Other than Abby, Jane, Max, and his mother who had been gone for seven years, Mike had little interaction with women outside of that small group. He only really liked and cared about one of them. Abby. He realized he had been staring for a bit too long, and words were having a hard time being formed.
“Uhm, can I, uh, help you, officer?” he stuttered, tripping over his own words.
“Please. My name’s Vanessa.” she insisted, disregarding the need for formalities.
“And you must be..” she probed.
He continued staring. God, she was pretty.
Vanessa realized she wasn’t going to get an answer anytime soon. “The new security guard?” she said, finishing her sentence for him as she took off her hood. Her hair was a pretty shade of blonde. It suited her, Mike thought.
“Uh, yeah.” he said, breaking his gaze.
“You’re bleeding, by the way.” she informed him, glancing at the bleeding strike on his left arm.
“What?” Mike’s mouth dropped open. How? He thought it had just been a dream.
“That’s nasty.”
Great. First, he was bleeding. Now, this pretty cop thought he was “nasty.” Great!
“Come on, I know where they keep the first aid kit.” Vanessa said, sauntering down the hallway as if she owned the place. As if she knew it like the back of her hand.
Mike followed her like a lost puppy, encapsulated by her.
“Love what you’ve done with the place.” Vanessa said, admiring his crappy attempt at decorating the office with his torn Nebraska poster. “Why Nebraska?”
She noticed Mike struggling against the web of bandages and gauze. “Oh, you need a hand?” she asked, walking over to him.
“I’m fine.”
“You sure?” He looked like he needed help desperately. He fiddled with the gauze hopelessly, not sure how much to use, how to wrap it, or how to do anything for that matter. He sighed in defeat, dropping his arm for her to take a look at it. There goes his masculinity.
Vanessa smiled sweetly, taking his arm carefully and removing the mess of gauze to rewrap it properly. Mike couldn’t help but feel his cheeks flush as their bodies made contact. His heart rate quickened at the touch, and he could feel the heat rising from his chest to his ears. He hoped she wouldn’t notice how flustered he was.
“I’m a certified EMT. So, if your heart ever goes out, I’m the one you wanna call.” she said cooly.
Mike wanted nothing more in that moment than for his heart to stop right then and there. He sure felt as though it had stopped, as her fingers brushed against his forearm with such care. Nobody had ever treated him so kindly.
“You seem to really know your way around here.” he said, still confused on why she walked around this place with such ease and familiarization.
“Well, Freddy’s is on my beat. I like to stay well informed, y’know?” she explained. “Plus, I really loved this place when I was a kid.”
Mike wondered about what Freddy’s was like in its prime, before it got shut down for whatever reason.
“That should do it!” Vanessa said, patting his arm gently. As she watched him fiddle with his sleeve, she spoke again. “Well, we might as well finish our meet-cute while we’re at it. Vanessa Shelly.”
What. The. Fuck. Mike felt the flush in his cheeks deepen as he stared at her hand mindlessly. Was she..flirting with him?
“I’m just teasing you, don’t worry. Let’s try that again. Vanessa Shelly.” she said, extending her hand once more.
“Mike.” he stammered, taking her hand as she shook it firmly.
“Pleasure to meet you, Mike.” she smiled, giving his hand a squeeze before gathering the first-aid kit and tucking it away neatly.
“You doing alright this evening, Mike ?” The way she said his name made his heart stop. When it resumed beating, he answered her.
“What?”
“You know. Are you alright? Okay? Is everything copacetic?” she explained. The way she was speaking to him made him feel like he was a child. Like she was saying ‘don’t worry, I won’t use big words.’
“Yeah, I know what ‘all right’ means.” he said, brushing her off.
“Really? Because your heart rate is through the roof, you’ve got that random gash on your arm, and you’ve been acting suspicious since the moment I walked through the door.” she said, crossing her arms.
What the hell? Had she not just been flirting with him? And now here she was, accusing him of god knows what.
“It’s just been a..weird night, I guess.” he shrugged.
Her cop-mode switched off. She seemed satisfied with his answer. Was it a test? Was there a right or wrong answer?
“Sounds like Freddy’s.” she smiled, taking a seat across from him.
Well that was really fucking cryptic, Mike thought mentally.
“This place..it gets to people. In fact, it’s one of the reasons why you’re gonna quit.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Oh yeah. New security hires? You guys never last.” she explained before continuing. “Have you met them yet?”
“Met who?”
Mike watched in horror as Vanessa’s hand slammed on the ‘SHOWTIME’ button. He had known her for just about 20 minutes and she was already proving to be full of surprises. He had already been scared of these things, and here Vanessa was, unleashing them as the loud music blared and the colorful lights flashed. Worst of all, she had just dropped some bomb about kids going missing here. Mike wasn’t exactly the best person to talk to about ‘missing kids.’ It only made him think of Garrett.
“This-this is..” Mike stammered as he practically hid behind Vanessa.
“The greatest thing you’ve seen in your entire life?”
“Sure, whatever you say.” Mike smirked. He couldn’t help but smile at the fact that she was smiling.
“Wanna dance?” she asked, smiling and extending a hand. He was met with a choice. He could:
A) Say yes, and make a total fool of himself. Although it would be worth it for her.
OR:
B) Say no, and hurt her feelings.
Neither really seemed like the right option. Thankfully, the stupid blue-purplish robot bunny saved him the trouble of making the decision as its guitar started spewing red-orange sparks.
“Maybe some other time.” Vanessa smiled as she walked away from the stage.
“What did you say about missing kids?” Mike inquired as he trailed behind her.
“What?” Vanessa replied, as if she hadn’t mentioned it five minutes earlier.
“You said some kids went missing.” he reminded her.
“Sure. Back in the eighties.”
“What happened?”
“It was big news. It’s why the place shut down?” Vanessa informed him, as if it was common knowledge for everyone to know about some kids who went missing at some random pizzeria.
“You really didn’t do your homework, did you?” she waved a finger at him jokingly. “And,” she added, glancing down to his chest. “You’re not even wearing your badge.”
Mike was confused. How did she know so much? What badge? Raglan hadn’t mentioned any of this to him.
He trailed behind Vanessa as she walked behind the arcade counter and pulled out a small plastic box containing a bunch of the supposed ‘badges.’ Mike’s breath hitched as she was mere centimeters away from him as she pinned it to his vest.
“There. Now you’re official.” she said in a tone he couldn’t quite deduce. Their eyes locked for a moment. Why did he feel this way? They had just met. Their gaze was interrupted by the beeping of Mike’s watch. 6am already.
“Guess that’s the end of your shift then.” Vanessa said, backing away and putting the box down.
“Yeah, guess so.”
“I’ll walk you out. I’m in no rush.”
Mike fiddled with the padlock on the door as Vanessa pulled up behind him in her cruiser.
“Hey, some friendly advice. Don’t let this place get to you. Just do your job, and you’ll be fine. Don’t worry.” she assured him.
“Yeah, sounds good.” he replied, unable to read the look on her face. The early morning sun complimented her features, as if the golden rays were just for her. She gave him a little wave before driving off.
On the way home, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. She was different, but in a good way. She intimidated him, made him feel nervous, but in a good way. He liked the way his cheeks flushed and his heart rate quickened when he was around her. He liked how nice she was, how caring she seemed to be. He liked her confidence, how she made him feel shy.
He hoped he’d be seeing her more often.