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Evan climbed onto the roof above the porch from his window and slid down into the shrubs. He then ran to Lucas' car and got into the passenger seat, smiling.
Lucas looked over at him, looking like he was proud he and their other friends managed to convince Evan to do this. "Teenage rebellion looks good on you," he commented.
Evan's cheeks tinted pink before he laughed and leaned back into the seat, "I told you I could be rebellious."
"Says the boy who called this hobby a 'one way ticket to getting arrested,'" Lucas put the car into drive before going to pick up the others.
°•°•°•°
When they got there, it was nearing 2:30am. The four teens got out of the car and grabbed some flashlights from the trunk before walking up to the door.
"I thought you said we'd be here by one," Evan said as he clicked the flashlight on and off a few times.
"Well if Gabe hadn't taken so long..." Matthew looked over to the aforementioned boy, his words mostly in jest.
"It isn't my fault! Mom took longer to sleep than normal."
Lucas playfully rolled his eyes, "regardless, it'll be fun. Go in, walk around, make fun of how tacky everything is; normal stuff."
Evan watched as Lucas pushed the door open with ease. "You'd think there'd be a lock on this place," he mumbled before following his friends in.
Once the four were inside, their flashlights were on and they walked around the place. Arcade games were in semi-perfect lines despite being here alone for ages, it smelled like mold, faint copper, and old pizza baked into the carpet.
"It reeks in here," Elliot plugged his nose.
"I've smelled garbage dumps better smelling than this place," Matthew said.
Lucas just shrugged and wrapped an arm around Evan's shoulders, "you'll get used to the smell the longer we're here, Ev, don't worry."
"I doubt it, it's gonna be sticking to me for days."
"So? Not like your dad's gonna know you were here just by smell, right? Everything is fine, let's have some fun exploring or maybe a certain robo-nerd could hook up some games~"
How could this boy make Evan feel so at ease in a place like this?
Evan sighed with a soft laugh and shook his head slightly, "if you wanted to play arcade games, you could just go to the Superplex."
"Yeah, but then I can't play with you since you'd likely be on shift."
Evan was about to say something when Gabriel called to them from the stage, "those things look like the robots from your work, Ev. C'mere!"
Evan and Lucas looked at each other a moment before going over to peek behind the curtains.
"I seriously doubt-" Evan cut himself off when he was met with the robots. Three robots about as tall, if not a little taller, as him. A bunny, a chicken, and a brown bear. He gagged and covered his nose again before stepping back, "found where the awful smell is coming from."
"Yeah, those things reek," Lucas agreed.
Matthew walked over to them and covered his nose and mouth once he was close enough to the robots, "disgusting."
After a half hour of exploring the area, Matthew and Gabe started to attempt to fix some Princess Quest game and Evan and Lucas went to the restricted areas to look for some tools to help.
The two were in the repair room, the smell of copper having gotten stronger somehow and much more messy feeling. Papers and napkins were on the floor, the floor was slightly sticky, the smell felt like it got worse the further they went.
Evan walked over to the desk and rifled through the drawers, there's gotta be a toolbox in here somewhere...
Lucas shined his flashlight on the blueprints on the wall, rough drafts and technical stuff to be figured out, each one signed by a Henry Emily or William Afton.
"Oh hey, this dude has the same last name as you," Lucas chuckled.
"Common last name, I guess."
Lucas shrugged, "maybe. Crazy coincidence though."
Evan grabbed the toolbox, "yeah. C'mon, we got an arcade game to fix."
Michael woke up in the middle of the night to a quiet house. He laid in bed for a bit before getting up to go to the kitchen and make himself some coffee, not the best thing to have in the middle of the night, but he could already tell he wasn't going to go back to sleep anytime soon.
He went to the living room with his cup and sat down, sinking into the pleather couch. He set the coffee down on the end table and turned the TV on. Some cooking show appeared on the screen and Michael didn't care enough to change it.
The blue light shone on family pictures on the wall, some of the older ones seemed to have someone edited out, if you look close enough. The newer ones were still at least a decade in age, pictures of Evan when he was little all the way to this year; from preschool graduation to last month's robotics contest.
It wasn't long until the back door creaked open, Michael could hear the soft footsteps of someone hoping not to get caught doing something they weren't meant to.
He sat silently as the 5'3 figure moved into the hall, he then turned on the lamp, "where'd you go?"
Evan stopped in his tracks and turned around before giving a slight shrug, "out."
"Yeah, I know you were out. Out where?" Michael didn't have to ask, he recognized he heavy odor clinging to his son. The smell of the place that should've been demolished, the smell of the resting place of too many, the smell of a place that took his little brother away from him.
"Nowhere, just some abandoned pizza joint."
"And you four couldn't wait until daylight? You just had to go when no one would be around to help if something went wrong?"
Evan rolled his eyes, annoyed by his father's worry, "and what could possibly happen in some rundown pizzeria? The animatronics come to life?"
Michael's jaw tensed at that, he took a breath to calm down. "The point is that it was a stupid move, you snuck out, you didn't tell anyone where you were going. You aren't an idiot, Evan, so stop acting like one. You're grounded for three weeks, no robotics, no TV, no books. Just work, school, and whatever else you can find to entertain yourself."
"Fine! Whatever," Evan walked back to his room, grumbling Scottish insults and curses.
"Language!" Michael called after him before slumping into the couch, he ran his hands over his fave and groaned. Kids could be so difficult.
He looked up at the clock, it was nearing 4:15am. It was too early to be dealing with this...