Work Text:
The paperwork that Francis was ignoring glared at them from the side of their desk, and they promised themselves they would handle it later. The later would be when their hands were steady enough to properly write instead of putting illegible chicken scratch that few, if any, could read.
For now, they had earbuds in while they watched a video on their phone. It was rotated on its side for maximum viewing size, and they were leaning forward on their folded arms to watch. Their back was currently not complaining despite the position it was in, and they figured when the aches started, maybe they could finish what they were supposed to.
Some would say that watching a horror video game let’s play would have been a terrible idea after what had happened, but they knew this game like the back of their hand, and listening to the youtuber’s soothing voice was doing more for their nerves than anything else.
When they heard the knob on the door turn, they swept the documents over their phone and jerked upright, hoping that their loose hair covered the black wires.
The caution was unnecessary, and they relaxed as they recognized the heavier footsteps of one of their robotic coworkers. Dove nor Crow would ever rat them out. They still took out one of the buds and paused the video so that they could carry a conversation.
It didn’t occur to them until Dove was fully in view that she might ask them questions.
“You’re here late.” Despite the statement, her head was tilted in clear confusion, and the implied question was obvious even to them.
“Yeah, uh, lots of paperwork today, and I’m being slow about it.” They picked up the stack they used to cover their phone to show.
She reached to take the pages, and Francis let her. “I thought they kept all this stuff on computers now, why would-” Her voice drifted off as she read the top page. Her eyes flicked towards them“- What happened?”
They froze. “They didn’t tell you?” As soon as the words slipped out, they winced. “Sorry. I just. I thought someone would have told y’all since this would have been important.”
“I guess they wanted us to get it from you.”
“They straight up closed Monty Golf for a while. I-” They cut themselves off as they grabbed the papers back. “If I have to spill everything, I’d rather do it once with both of you. The short answer is there was a near drowning.”
Dove’s eyes widened, and she loosened her grip so that Francis didn’t accidentally rip the pages. They didn’t miss how she slowly came around the desk and how she took in their appearance.
It had been a few hours, so the unpleasant dampness on their pants was mostly gone. They doubted she would be able to tell just by looking what they had done
However, the shaking was back, and they put the papers down again. This time leaving their phone expose d. The image on the screen had reverted back to the portrait orientation, so the thumbnail wasn’t clear, but the video title written in all caps was easy to read from a distance.
One of Dove’s pink hands entered their vision, and it suddenly occurred to them that their v i sion was blurring. Rubbing at their face, they tried to wave Dove away, but they could hear her get closer.
They were weak.
When she gently put her hand on their shoulder, they leaned into her, and she promptly changed her position so that she could hug them. Despite her metal shell, she knew her own strength, and the pressure was just right for hugging.
They sat in silence for a while, as Francis kept wiping their eyes. Thankfully, there was a tissue box on the desk, so they didn’t have to worry about getting up to blow their nose.
They don’t know why they were reacting so badly to this. They succeeded. No one died. And they probably only made Dove worry more by being so vague.
But that kid’s face being so still and cold was haunting them.
There was a polite knock on the door, and the noise was enough to jolt Francis out of the haze they had fallen into, and while they were furiously wiping their face again, they felt a heavy weight as Dove’s cloak landed on top of them and covered their head.
They took a few steadying breaths as they listened to who came in the door, and they didn’t know why they didn’t suspect Crow until they heard his voice.
“Is something wrong? Why is Francis still here?” His blunt concern was accompanied by his footsteps approaching them from the other side of their desk.
They rearranged the cloak so that they were wearing the oversized cloth, and they could see that he had paused very close by. “Bad day at work,” Dove answered. “They were waiting until you got here to tell us.”
There was no hiding the red rimmed eyes from this distance, so they didn’t bother to when looking up at him. His red eyes, once upon a time unnerving even to them, were full of concern and worry. “You aren’t hurt are you?”
“Physically, no.”
They were glad to see that answer gave him some relief, but they could tell he caught the implication as well.
Neither of them were birdbrains, after all.
He seemed unsure of how to proceed, so Dove took over with a hand on their back. “They just needed a moment.”
They tried to laugh it off, but even to them, the laugh sounded forced. “Just a little bit.” They agreed. After a few more deep breaths, they finally said, “… I should tell you what happened today. Because it might affect stuff they’ll make y’all learn.”
“You don’t
have
to,” Crow said. “If you don’t feel like it.”
“I don’t have a choice, because it seems like they won’t.” They took another steadying breath. “And I’m. Fine. Nothing bad- Nothing long lasting happened.”
They glanced upwards and could see the birds were making pointed eye contact with each other. So they waited until Dove said, “If you’re sure.” She slowly started rubbing circles into their back, and they pulled the lacy edges of the cloak together as they braced themselves.
“So. uh. The longer story is that a kid went missing in Monty Golf, and I uh. Had a suspicion. I guess that summer of camp counseling came back, and I wanted to check the water hazard.” They felt Dove’s hand freeze. “I- I found her. She couldn’t have been there long, but. Her face. She wasn’t talking.”
Great, their eyes were welling up, but they couldn’t stop there. “I had to do CPR. And scream at people to do stuff while trying to keep count. She finally started coughing up water, and we got the EMTs in, but...” They stopped. “I almost didn’t find her. I broke one of those fucking gator things because it got in the way, and it’s only because I found her that I didn’t get yelled at.”
And now they were shaking again. “I had to pull an almost dead child out of the water, and some part of me knows I’m going to get my pay docked because of it, and I’m just. So angry. But I’m so tired. Why should I be scared about money when my job is to help people?”
At that point, they felt pressure on both sides. Apparently Crow and Dove agreed that they needed a hug, and at that point, they absolutely did.
“You shouldn’t have to worry, you’re right,” Crow whispered as he added a slightly stronger squeeze.
They had a feeling this position couldn’t be comfortable for either bird, but telling them that wouldn’t do anything, so they simply took the comfort they were offering. They weren’t sure how long they had been there before they felt one of Dove’s hands release its hold, and when they looked up, they could see her reaching for their phone.
By this point, it had finally gone to black, but it didn’t need much to unlock. “Yeah, I uh. Was watching stuff to try and get my headspace to where I could finish writing the report. Hadn’t quite worked yet.”
“What were you watching? I couldn’t tell from the title.” Dove’s attempt at changing the topic was obvious, but appreciated.
“Yeah, that guy sometimes hides the game title in weird sentences,” Francis said as they took the phone from Dove and unlocked it. “It’s one of my favorite horror games.”
“Oh?” The immediate interest from Dove brought a smile to Francis’ face. “What game?”
Before Francis could answer, Crow interrupted, “Why don’t we all get more comfortable?” He released his hold before straightening his back, but left a hand on their shoulder.
Francis’ face scrunched up as they looked at the time on their phone. “I dunno, I probably should finish this paperwork. It’s already almost ten...”
“You’re already late, and there’s hardly anyone here. You can show us one video maybe?” Dove’s hopeful look immediately tore down what little resistance they had left.
“ Sure. Why not. It’s only thirty minutes long.” They stood up with their phone, and started to try taking off the cloak Dove had thrown on them.
“You can keep it for now,” Dove assured them, but she did bend down and pick up the end to keep it from tripping Francis up.
After some finagling with the phone to perch it on a drawer so that it would be visible for all three of them and removing the earbud cord, they were soon ready to watch. Crow turned off the lights, and with Francis in the middle of the group, they sat on the floor.
Between the warmth of the cloak and the inherent heat the animatronic birds gave off, Francis found their eyes shutting in the dark room, and they didn’t even make it to the first jumpscare before passing out from the stressful and emotionally taxing day.
-
Crow was the first to notice that Francis had passed the fuck out, but he figured that with the day they had, maybe just a quick nap would help.
Dove noticed when they slumped halfway against her in their sleep, but
she agreed with Crow that they needed the break, and she thought she would wake them once the video ended. She did not realize that they were on a playlist, so when the video didn’t end, she didn’t think of the time.
Unfortunately, they both completely lost track of time , and by the time they were at the end of the game playlist, Francis was still out cold, and it was definitely too late to send them out of the office.
While they weren’t told in depth what happened between midnight and six AM, but intruders were not appreciated, and Francis wasn’t on the night staff.
-
“-the Night Guard?”
“I don’t know where she is at this hour, and I don’t want Francis in trouble.”
Francis woke up to a whispered discussion, and at first, they were tempted to just lay down and go back to sleep.
However, the ache in their back and neck was getting to be too much, and the words they heard were concerning now that they thought about it.
They shifted away from the metallic thing they were leaning against, and when they heard Dove’s voice, they realized what had happened.
“You’re up!”
“Shit, I’m so sorry,” They said as they tried to stand up quickly. “I should get going. I’ll just finish the paperwork when I come back in tomorrow-” They looked at their phone “-Make that today.”
“Uhhh, about that,” Crow said, while pulling the edge of Dove’s cloak back towards him. “It’s after midnight.”
“Yeah, that means I really need to-” They tried to take the cloak itself off and hand it back to Dove.
“He means that it’s really hard to leave until six in the morning. Most of the doors are locked until then, even with an employee keycard.” She nervously looked towards the door. As if afraid someone or something was about to come in.
They paused. “… And you wouldn’t happen to know which ones would let me out, would you?”
“Nope, they made a pretty big point on not telling us that.” Crow’s answer was accompanied by an eye roll that was visible thanks to his glowing red eyes.
“And what was that about the Night Guard? Couldn’t whoever that is let me out?”
“Vanessa is… Kind of a wildcard.” Dove was hesitant to answer. “She’s the only human here right now, supposedly, but it can be hard to find her.”
“And the easiest way to get her to come out might get you in trouble.” Crow added.
“Just what I need.” The sarcastic answer spoke for itself. They tapped their foot as they thought of other options before sighing. “Sleepover until six , I guess? Or is there something y’all need to do?”
“We do need to go to our charging stations soon, but that’ll only take a little bit.”
“ Maybe we should go one at a time, though? Don’t want to leave you alone here,” Crow’s anxiety was creeping up, and Francis already felt bad for being behind this batch of it. They shouldn’t have let themselves pass out like that. Granted, they hadn’t expected to in such an uncomfortable position, but here they were.
“Whichever suits you guys better. I guess I should finish this up, while you take care of that.” They waved at their desk.
“Might want to work by phone light, not sure if the overhead lights are a good idea.”
“I can do that.” They agreed. They weren’t sure what Crow was so concerned about here, but they had their charger, and saw no need to make him more worried.
While both birds took care of charging, they managed to whip through the rest of the paperwork very quickly. With their emotions spent earlier, it was easier to write down the facts of what happened, and they were certain that their print was legible.
It almost made them feel bad that it took them so long to even get started.
By the time Crow came back from his charge, Francis had once again borrowed Dove’s cloak and was laying down. He had a pillow he picked up while passing by one of the many prize counters, and threw it at them.
The scramble to catch it made them bark out a laugh, but once the pillow was situated, and a new game picked to watch, Francis was ready to pass back out. They tried to stay up a little so that they could see their friends’ reactions to this game, but their heavy lids didn’t give them much choice.
With friends nearby, it was easy to fall asleep again. And thankfully, they didn’t have any dreams.