Chapter Text
You weren’t anything special.
Sure, your family would beg to disagree. They loved you and only saw the best in you, despite that special flavour of gifted-kid burnout you were currently, uh… thriving in. Over two decades of life and thousands of dollars into a dead end degree - only to get spit out the other end wondering what to do with your life. Which is how you ended up here, in your parent’s living room at 3 am, on your laptop. You yawned and rubbed at your stinging eyes. The bright, (honestly obnoxious) colours of the website weren’t helping, but that wasn’t what was important.
No, what you were interested in was the great big dollar sign next to the ‘available positions’ section. After only a little deliberation, you decided to go for it.
And so a few days later you had packed your bags and said goodbye to your parents. A taxi picked you up and you were on your way to a new paycheck and something… well. Perhaps something a little more interesting than your life before.
The Fazbear franchise was infamous. And as you approached the doors, you marvelled at that fact. The PIzzaplex had burned down a little over a year ago, and been all over the news for it, but corporate hadn’t wasted any time apparently. Bulldozing the ruins and rebuilding the whole place from the ground up superhumanly fast. You weren't alone in thinking that was a little odd, if the many conspiracy forums online were anything to go by.
You walked through the parking lot. Every parking space was painted with bright blue lines and matching ‘Fazbear brand’ logos, with the titular bear’s face literally everywhere . The Pizzaplex itself was huge, and you could only see the front side. The entrance loomed in front of you with a huge neon sign and giant cartoon cut out of Freddy, one arm extended in a wave. You squinted up at it, and could just make out hinges in the elbow, likely meaning the arm would wave back and forth. Cute.
Just underneath the cartoon Freddy was a massive neon ‘Welcome! ’. You stared up at it, appreciating how pristine and new everything looked. It was like the fire had never happened.
When you were younger, you weren’t really a fan of the franchise. But you’d have to be living under a rock not to know anything about it. The mall was of the Tripadvisor scores, week after week, year after year. So you had a pretty good idea of how the place used to look, at least from the outside, and it looked exactly the same as it always had.
Except, where there had once been hordes of screaming children and tired parents, now it was empty. Desolate.
The hair on the back of your neck stood up, and you hurried inside.
⭐
“Hello?”
Your voice echoed around the atrium as the automatic door swished closed behind you. It was dark with none of the main lights turned on, but suffused with a dull neon glow regardless. Purple and blue spotlights here and there cast tall shadows around the room. The entryway opened into an atrium that made up the first real part of the mall. An information desk sat in the centre, with a few gift shops on either side. Plant boxes and benches squatted in regular intervals around the floor, making the place kinda look like a neon rainforest.
You blinked your eyes, struggling to adjust to the darkness. “...Hello?” You called again. “I’m the uh, new hire? I got an email telling me to come here… today.”
The Pizzaplex didn’t have anything to say back to you. You fidgeted.
After a minute of silence, you sighed. Flopping down on a bench and taking out your phone. You leaned your back against a planter and opened social media.
Maybe you’d get paid for this time anyway. At twice minimum wage for doing not much - you wouldn’t complain.
In the distance, you heard a noise. A shuffling sound followed by a quiet thump and a curse. Somewhere in the darkness deeper into the Pizzaplex, someone was moving towards you.
You sat up quickly, hiking your bag up onto your shoulder. “Hello?” You called again.
The noises came closer, and you could make out footsteps. Light shakily walking through the atrium towards you, a handheld torch in someone's hand. The person got closer, and you stood to meet them.
“Hi,” the person said. As she stepped closer, the light of the flashlight lit up the area and cast a soft glow on her face. She was a tall woman with long blond hair, tied up tight into a ponytail and complimented with a dour expression. She was wearing a grey and black security guard uniform, with one arm pressed against her stomach. Her under eyes were dark, and she gave you the barest excuse for a smile. “I’m Vanessa, sorry to keep you waiting.”
“That’s okay,” you said, reaching your palm out towards her. She looked at it for a moment, before putting her flashlight down on a nearby bench and taking your grip. You both shook hands briskly. You smiled at her, and she frowned back. “I’m the, uh, new guy,” you chuckled awkwardly, hoping she’d cut you off before you had to scramble for anything more to say.
Vanessa sighed. “Right. That’s today. It’s been busy around here lately, and that slipped my mind.”
Your gaze skirted around the empty, dark atrium to the huge Pizzaplex. Very, very busy. “...Right.”
Whatever. Maybe Vanessa was just one of those people who are overwhelmed easily. Not exactly the best career choice as a security guard - but that’s none of your business.
Vanessa sighed again and picked up her flashlight from the bench. “Well, follow me and we’ll get you set up. When can you start again? Today?”
You followed her, as she quickly led you off to the side of the atrium. Vanessa walked briskly and you had to jog a little to keep up. “Yeah! I mean, if you've got hours for me, I can take ‘em whenever. I kinda,” You chuckled a little, scratching the side of your face. “...need the money.”
“Oh, don't worry about that.” Vanessa stopped in front of a door and squeezed the flashlight between her ear and shoulder whilst she pressed a security pass to the card reader. “You’re the only janitor on staff at the moment.” She looked over her shoulder at you. “Just like me, I’m the only security guard. Both of us have plenty of work to do.”
The light on top of the card reader blinked a few times, then turned green with a cute little trill. The door slid to the side and Vanessa stepped through without hesitation. You followed and entered a dimly lit hallway. On the left side of the wall were large stencilled letters spelling out ‘STAFF ONLY’ pretty unambiguously.
You and Vanessa walked for a short while through the staff hallways, making small talk. Well, more like you tried to make small talk and she grunted out one-word answers. The security guard seemed… nice, you thought, if tired. And a bit closed off. Either way, it didn’t take long for you to reach your destination, and Vanessa used another pass scanner to open the next door. When it opened, the automatic lights switched on and you gasped at the sudden light. Temporarily blinded, you felt for the doorway and stumbled in.
Vanessa didn’t even flinch and just moved right on through. You entered what appeared to be an employee lounge, with a low table and a tiny, unused kitchenette. One chair sat, half-tucked under the table. On the far wall was a set of lockers that Vanessa approached.
She spun the combination on one of the lockers and it popped open, allowing her to grab its contents. She turned back around, now holding a small cardboard box with the Fazbear logo on the side. By now your eyes had adjusted and in the light of the employee lounge, you could see something you didn’t before. Vanessa was using only one hand to hold the box, while the other was stained red.
“Oh my god!" You shouted, dropping your bag and rushing to her side. “You’re bleeding!”
Vanessa flinched at your loud voice. “I know, relax. It's not that bad. I have, like, thin blood or something,” she grumbled.
You grabbed the box out of her hand and threw it onto the table. Carefully, you took her arm and pulled it away from her body. Vanessa hissed at the movement.
Luckily, it wasn’t as bad as you first thought. It looked like her nails had scratched the skin raw, and deep enough to draw a little blood. The fresh cuts stood out in stark contrast to older scars beneath them, mottled discolouration over her skin in patches that spoke of heat and pain.
“They were… itchy,” Vanessa reluctantly admitted. You hummed under your breath as you inspected the shallow cuts. They bled much more than was really necessary, honestly, but you’d had plenty of your own injuries in your time. Some wounds are just dramatic like that.
Vanessa was silent as you grabbed a couple clean tissues and cleaned the wounds. She complained when you got plasters from your bag to cover it up, but eventually thanked you, (if somewhat begrudgingly), and denied your offer of any painkillers.
“You drop out of med school, newbie?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. She kicked out the one chair and took a seat.
You laughed under your breath, casually chucking your small first-aid kit back into the bag. “Nope, just unlucky. Skinned too many knees to not carry a couple plasters, haha.”
Vanessa hummed and inspected your handiwork on her arm. “Well, I think you’ll do alright here. You’re good enough at cleaning up messes.”
You laughed again, smiling at her. Relieved. And also…. Well, compliments weren’t too often come by, so you’d appreciate what you got.
“Now, open your box. I’m dying of curiosity,” Vanessa said drily, effectively steering the conversation onwards.
The box? Oh, the box from the locker. You picked it up and turned around, leaning back against the table. Ripping open the lid revealed an employee’s lanyard sitting on top of a folded pile of fabric. You put the lanyard to the side and pulled the fabric out, revealing a tall dark-green jumpsuit. ‘Staff’ was once again stencilled in bold letters along the back.
You side-eyed Vanessa, and her much more flattering security uniform. “ You don’t have to wear anything like this.”
Vanessa snorted. “I have a more fashionable job."
A twinkle in the box caught your eye and you peered down. There was one last thing at the bottom.
…
In bewilderment, you pulled out a long foil roll of Fazbear branded stickers. Complete with the faces of the Glamrocks and Pizzaplex merchandise. All cutesy and covered in glitter.
“...Do I even wanna know?” You asked.
Vanessa barked a laugh. “Probably not, but that’s just the brand we work for,” she said, clapping you on the shoulder. “Those are employee essentials right there.”
You shook your head with a grin, but tucked everything back into the box anyway. Vanessa’s joy at your expense would be avenged at a later date.
“So,” you asked. “What now?”
Vanessa stood up and walked up to the wall, rapping her knuckles against it once. She glanced back at you as a panel in the wall slid away, exposing a screen you hadn’t seen before. Underneath the screen popped out a keypad. “Now we enter you into the system.”
She helped you record your biometrics, and explained it as she went. First was your portrait, which was photographed and entered into the employee database. After that, you tested out your shiny new security pass. That pass would get you into almost any room you wanted, and Vanessa said you should have clearance to most of them. If something didn’t work it was probably just above your security grade. That was fine, she said. The public wouldn’t see behind those doors anyway, so it wasn’t super important to clean them.
Finally, you were done. But there was one last place Vanessa had to show you before she could go back on patrol. You stood up eagerly, because the next destination was a major factor that convinced you to take this job. Kinda the most important part to you. Included in your contract, along with the generous pay, was one caveat that had you chomping at the bit as soon as you read it.
You also got free accommodation.
Vanessa showed you through the winding maze of staff tunnels for a long time, before finally coming to another little door. In that non-descript part of the Pizzaplex was where she left you. Giving you her number to ‘contact her if anything happened’, and one last wave. With that she was gone, and you were alone.
You sighed. Your bag dropped to the ground with a thump and you took in your new lodgings. It was a small room in the heart of the employee's only-section, with one door that led out into the hallway. It was easy to get turned around, but you guessed you were maybe… Somewhere near the main cafeteria? It didn’t really matter.
It was small, but alright for a bedroom. One main room made up the most of it, with a single shelving unit in one corner, and a fold-out bed in the other. A small ensuite attached just to the left of the main door.
You stretched, pulling your arms above your head and feeling your muscles loosen. It would do just fine.