Michael Afton x Reader

an interesting experience

-the next morning-

your alarm pulls you out of your sleep, and you groan with annoyance. Unlike yesterday, today you feel anxious to go to work, although you can't completely place why. it was just a stupid moment- he won't even remember it. it didn't mean anything and he won't care! I don't care. Nobody cares. you tell yourself, trying to calm your nerves. This morning it takes you longer to get ready, so you catch the bus instead of walking to the pizzeria. The bus is empty aside from you and an elderly couple sitting near the back. Once you get off at your stop, you still have to walk for about 2 blocks before getting to work, where you immediately change into your purple uniform. So far today, you haven't bumped into anyone or made suggestive eye contact with any employees, so you'd consider it a good day so far. but the day was still young, and there was plenty of time left to ruin it.

Once you get to your office you turn on the computer monitor and look at your to-do list. on top of the daily chores, you have to... test some prototype animatronics? seems like strange work for a security guard, but alright. Once your simpler activities are complete, you head down to parts and service for your strange task. The door is open, but you still knock as you enter to not accidentally sneak up on Michael.

"Oh, y/n! I was waiting for you! I know it's a weird job for a security guard, but it takes two to test the animatronics security programming, and to be completely honest, I wanted to spend some more time with you." he explains as you walk in. at his last statement, you laugh awkwardly and can feel yourself blushing.

"Well I can't think of a better way to spend my saturday!" you respond, hoping to sound cool and collected instead of like the gigantic swarm of nervous butterflies that you actually are. he shows you how the mechanics of the machines work and what needs to be tested, and you must look as confused as you are because he gives you the easier job: you hold up pictures of people, and he adjusts the animatronics if they react incorrectly.

"The folder is full of pictures of innocent people and people who are in the criminal database. they will react cautiously to innocent people, since they need to be gentle around kids and patrons. when they see a criminal they will set off an alarm. no matter what happens, you'll be completely safe!" Michael explains. He's not saying some great speech, yet you find yourself hung up on every word he says. You love the way he gets excited when he talks about the things he loves, the way he smiles like a little kid when he sees you listening, the way his eyes seem so much brighter... shut up shut up shut up! Try to stay professional, will you? it's so hard when he looks at me like that.. fuck, why does he look at me like that? you try to stop thinking so much and instead focus on what's going on in the moment. Michael starts to turn ok the animatronic, but then stops and quickly puts on an empty Freddy head.

"What's that for?" you ask with a laugh.

"ha, the animatronics don't uh. respond well to seeing my face." he replies.

"wow, did you make them so smart they can tell how ugly you are? or are you a criminal?" you ask, joking with him.

"rude! you seemed so nice at first!" he responds, laughing. When he stops, he explains why. "no, I'm not a criminal. I look... a lot like my father, and he's done some stuff to say the least. I programmed them to keep him away from here myself, but unfortunately they can't seem to tell the difference between us. ironic, isn't it?" you have many questions about what he told you, but you decide not to pry. you can see that talking about it extremely altered his mood as he's now silent and the look of regret in his eyes had returned. wouldn't this be a great time to know how to comfort people, y/n? unsure of what to say however, you say nothing. Michael looks up at you and gives you a tired smile.

"Alright, let's get this bad boy turned on, it won't test itself!" Michael exclaims, trying to bring back the cheery atmosphere.

"Bad boy?" you repeat with a scoff. "You sound like a suburban white dad." this gets a laugh out of him, and for the next thirty minutes he says nothing but dad jokes and extremely Caucasian expressions. you pretend to hate it, but this is the most fun you've had in months. as you pull random pictures of people out of the folder, the robot bunny responds accordingly. Michael seems to have done everything perfectly on the first try, and so he's just sitting on top of his desk trying to make you laugh with his terrible puns. everything's going perfectly until you pull another picture out of the folder. his father.

Before you can even figure out what you did, Michael jumps up, rips the picture out of your hand and pulls you to the side just as the animatronic lunges towards where you were standing. you're so shocked you can't even move or speak until Michael pulls you back to reality.

"fuck, are you ok? I don't know how that picture of him got in there, I'm so sorry y/n are you hurt?" you look up at his concerned face and surprise both of you by giggling.

"I'm sorry, I just can't take you seriously with that mask... I feel like I was just saved by a furry." you respond between giggles. He laughs a little too, mostly just relieved that you're ok. Without letting go of you, he turns off the animatronic and then pulls off the bear mask.

"Is this better?" he asks. you take in all of his features as if for the first time- his perfect jawline, his smirking lips, and then up to his eyes. his grey eyes staring directly into yours, as if he could see straight through them and into my soul. At that moment you were extremely grateful that he was holding you tightly. because without that support you might just melt into a pool on the floor. Perhaps he felt the exact same way, as you could feel him wrapping his arms around you tighter as he leaned against the wall. you were practically on top of him, and you quit trying to stand up and let yourself rely on his arms and body for support. His face was mere inches away from yours and you began to lean into him, never breaking your pleading eyes from his. He tilts his head down a little more towards you and you can hear his heavy breathing. it's so comforting to feel his warm breath on your face- you've never felt this safe with someone in this situation before, but all that melts away now. your past, your mistakes, your worries- all far away. Only now do you look down from his eyes to his parted lips as you lean in to kiss him. right before your lips touch his, he furrows his brows and tenses up. you immediately pull away from him and begin apologizing, but he shakes his head and cuts you off.

"no, you have nothing to apologize for. I should've said something sooner, this is on me. i-its that I don't want this, don't get me wrong, I just feel like we should stay professional. fuck, I'm sorry, I don't want to ruin anything or hurt you in any way y/n it just doesn't feel right to-" he begins to ramble and sounds slightly panicked.

"It's alright, I understand. you're right, we need to stay professional." you say, trying your best to be comforting. you can't pretend you're not extremely disappointed, but he has a point. both of you are at work, still clocked in, and there's cameras, too! you feel grateful to be the only person who watches them, because otherwise you'd have another serious problem. you move away from him more, to a friendly distance. "can I at least get your number?" you ask, hopeful. He smiles back at you and you hand him your phone. He puts in his number and when he gives it back to you, you see he saved his contact number as "Michael :D".

"I'll see you later, then." you say to him with a smile as you leave the room, and he waves in return. Once you get back to your office, you immediately slump in your chair and groan. you let your head hit the desk and you sit like that for about 5 minutes before you grudgingly get back to work. 

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