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bangtanexchange2015-02-24 07:58 pm
bangtanmod) wrote in bangtanexchange2015-02-24 07:58 pm
Entry tags:
for jxxnggxk: "chances are you've made a very poor career choice"
Title: "Chances are You've Made a Very Poor Career Choice"
Recipient:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jxxnggxk
Pairing: gen (slight Jimin/V if you squint)
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 7557
Warnings: this is light horror! so, some scary themes mainly mentions of death/animatronics
Summary: Jimin has finally managed a job at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza and it's going great. Until he learns of all the stories of "Freaky Freddy's."
Author's notes: Five Nights at Freddy's AU! Thank you to my lovely friend who read this over and beta'd <3 Also, recipient, I hope you like it! I read one of your prompts and this automatically came to mind.
Considering usually by this time in the semester he'd be sleeping through (or in) classes, tonight, it's an absolute blessing Jimin was able to get to bed before one in the morning. The key word is get, because once he's finally quieted all his thoughts, the door bursts open, shining light in his face while a figure stands in the doorframe. He would be frightened if it wasn't for the loud "Jimin" distinctly in Hoseok's voice. Jimin groans.
"Hey! This is exciting news." Hoseok says as he walks over and sits on the bed. Well, actually on Jimin's legs which is only mildly painful.
"Hoseok." He whines. "I have a nine am tomorrow."
Hoseok shrugs. "If you go to bed at two you'll have a solid six hours, no worries." Jimin glares, not really sure how effective it is in the darkness of his room, but Hoseok scoffs like he saw it. "You should be more appreciative."
Jimin gives a large sigh, finally sitting up, "What?"
"Well," Hoseok starts, grin evident even in the darkness. "You've been looking for a job, right?"
"Yeah, but I can't work with you at the library. All the available spots were late late night-"
Hoseok flicks at his knee. "I wasn't talking about the library. My friend's the manager of this place and he's mentioned that he's been looking for someone for a while and is practically desperate. It's at a pizza place not that far away, like a five minute bus ride. You interested?"
Jimin blinks. He has no idea what he did to get Hoseok as a friend, but he's never been so grateful. Through his connection to Hoseok, he's managed so much, least of which being his current living situation with Hoseok and his friend Namjoon. They didn't even mind he could only pay half of his share of rent until he got a proper job that he now might be able to get. With Hoseok's help.
"Hell yeah."
"Alright." Hoseok grins, then gets up. "My friend's name is Seokjin and he's said he could meet you Friday to make sure you're 'suitable'." The air quotes are included as Hoseok shrugs. "I'll give you his number later."
Jimin nods at Hoseok's retreating back, genuinely excited he'll be able to stop mooching off Hoseok and Namjoon. Also, finally get those new shoes he's been salivating over for a month now. And the new backpack he terribly needs. Maybe a few school supplies, but definitely-
"It's called Freddy's by the way." Hoseok says from the door, shrugging. "It's local, I think? The pay's not amazing, but Seokjin's told me it's really nice working there once you get used to it."
"Right." Jimin might have to rethink those shoes, but the important thing is: no more mooching. "Good night hyung."
----
After a brief interview (which Seokjin said was only for formalities anyway), a short conversation about schedules, and a tour, Jimin has come to the realization that there's something wrong with this place. Something that Jimin cannot figure out, but feels once he's about three rooms into this trek of the entire building. It's not the people. Seokjin is incredibly nice and has been thoroughly explaining everything as he leads Jimin around. There's also no sort of bad vibes from the other staff members he gets brief glances of as he passes through rooms. It's just some feeling he can't place.
It's the strongest in the actual pizza parlor. They had passed through it many times, but Seokjin only starts explaining things now. About how Jimin's job will be to clean the tables, lay out new table mats, wipe the black and white tiles. Never the stage though. They have different people for that because the animatronics are extremely sensitive and should only be dealt with by specifically trained people. It's a little strange, but that ultimately leads to less work for Jimin.
And if Jimin has to admit it, it's probably the animatronics freaking him out. It's three on one huge stage: a bunny, a bear, and a chicken, as well as a fox on its own separate one. Seokjin had said that they were there to keep the children entertained with cheerful dance and song, but Jimin always hated things like that. Life-sized robotic animals are incredibly creepy if you think about it.
"That's it really." Seokjin smiles, "Unless you want to see the backstage, but that's only filled with parts for the animatronics that the mechanics deal with."
"You have mechanics?"
"Yeah, they come do a check up on all the animatronics once a week."
Jimin frowns, "Do they break often or something?"
"It's just to make sure Foxy, Chica, Bonnie, and Freddy are all in tip top shape." Seokjin chuckles and it sounds a bit off, a bit nervous. If Jimin really had a choice in the matter and didn't need this job desperately, he'd question what that chuckle meant, but he is neither of those things. Besides, Seokjin's attention is taken off him since he runs off towards the stage.
In the less than five minutes of conversation between Jimin and Seokjin, some orange haired staff member has starting poking around the animatronics. Literally poking at the arms and stomachs.
"Taehyung." Seokjin's voice is so scolding, the boy immediately steps back from the bear animatronic and gives a sheepish grin. "What are you doing?"
"They've just been acting weird today." The boy looks to the animatronic next to him, the large brown bear that's smiling into a microphone. It really doesn't look too weird. Well, not weirder than a smiling human-sized animatronic should look. "I was checking them out."
"The mechanics come tomorrow, you can report any...weirdness to them." Seokjin sighs, "Just get off the stage, alright?"
Taehyung shrugs and jumps off, which Jimin thinks is a bad idea if the animatronics were so sensitive they needed a mechanic every week. Giving a large grin, Taehyung walks towards Seokjin before catching sight of Jimin and staring at him. "Who's he?"
"Actually-" Seokjin pauses, then motions Jimin to come over. "This is Jimin, he's going to start working with us as a new employee."
Up close, the boy looks about his age and incredibly handsome. Especially when he smiles and waves brightly at Jimin. "Hello!"
"Hey." And Jimin really can't help but grin back.
"You two will be working similar shifts so I guess it's good we ran into you, Taehyung, but-" Seokjin frowns and motions towards the kitchen. "Please go back to cleaning the dishes, we've got a birthday party in less than an hour."
"Right." Taehyung shines his grin at Seokjin before jogging off. "See you."
Seokjin sighs hard, then eyes Jimin. "You'll also be helping in keeping him off the stage. I swear he's as bad as the toddlers."
"Um." Jimin blinks. Is that really going to be part of his job duties because he can't tell if Seokjin's joking or not.
----
Actually having work is kind of very difficult to adjust to. He used to complain frequently about not having anything to do, too much free time which just lead to him watching the most random things. Now, it's been a week of him reporting to Freddy's for his mid-afternoon shift and he swears all he did was blink. He hasn't even worked a busy day yet.
Well. He's about to.
"You should put two tablecloths on each table so it's easier to clean."
With Taehyung, who Jimin has come to learn is the most troublesome employee- scratch that- troublesome person in the world. In fact, he's currently messing up the cloth on the table Jimin just fixed up.
"What?" Jimin says, not really asking, but simply to take Taehyung's attention away.
"We have about forty minutes between schedules today, so if we just lift up the tablecloths it's a lot easier." He steps back, proud smile on his face. "I thought of it a while ago."
Jimin blinks then slowly looks over to Taehyung's side of the room (it was Jimin's idea to split it into sides, saying it would be faster but really this way he doesn't have to deal with Taehyung unless absolutely necessary). The idea is not particularly horrible if you don't factor in that the first party asked specifically for bright colors and the later one is doing monotone style. The biggest offender is a muted grey tablecloth under a bright orange one that doesn't look right.
"Uh." Jimin starts, looking at Taehyung's huge grin. He honestly looks incredibly proud, and as much as Jimin finds him annoying all he can do is sigh. "You can try it, but I'm almost done-"
"I'll help." Taehyung pulls off the tablecloth he was fiddling with in such a swift motion Jimin doesn't have time to react. When Jimin does finally come up with something to say, Taehyung's running off to get the other tablecloths.
If the parents complain, it's not Jimin's fault.
(They don't. The only mishap they have is one kid managing to spill his spaghetti on everything but himself, including half of the grey tablecloth. They have extras, of course, but Jimin and Taehyung promptly freaking out because they didn't know there were extras convinces them not to try that again.
Even if it ends up being an extremely efficient idea. )
----
It's quite sad that Jimin being able to sit at his apartment table and eat food that he cooked has now become extremely rare. But, that's what happens when you're still trying to adjust to an extremely busy schedule. Also what happens is Hoseok hurrying over to sit with him and Namjoon coming to steal some food. It's nice to know he's missed though, for conversation or cooking ability.
"I swear you work today." Namjoon pauses scoping out the rice from the pot to look over at Hoseok and Jimin. "It is Tuesday, right?"
"It better be or you'd be skipping lab right now," Hoseok grins.
"Oh yeah."
Jimin rolls his eyes, "Yeah I usually work today, but they're fixing up the animatronics today."
"Did they break?"
"Wait, wait-" Namjoon plops down into his seat and stares hard at Jimin. "You work at a restaurant?"
"Well sort of. It's more of a pizzeria-"
"With animatronics?"
"Yes?"
Namjoon continues staring, eyes narrowing in thought which ends up being quite disturbing after a minute. Then, Hoseok flicks at his arm and the stare turns into a pout.
"What Namjoon?" Hoseok laughs, "Do you not approve?"
"No- just- You work at Freddy's? Freddy's?" When Jimin nods, Namjoon shakes his head and sighs. "You're a junior and you haven't heard any of the tales about Freaky Freddy's?"
"Namjoon."
"You're even worse! You got him a job there when you know."
"I also know Seokjin's been working there for two years and nothing bad has yet to happen-"
"Yet." Namjoon repeats, then starts to dig into Jimin's fried rice, still shaking his head. Honestly, Jimin has gotten used to Namjoon with the month they've spent living together, but sometimes he simply can't understand. In those moments he looks to Hoseok for translation. Like now.
Hoseok gives a large sigh. "There's some 'stories' about Freddy's. I mean, it's a pretty old place and there's a bunch of tales about it being haunted or other things-"
"Hunchul told me it was a senior thing to sneak in after it was closed, but then someone died-"
"Was Hunchul just saying that because he was too scared to do it?" Hoseok asks giving Namjoon a look which has Namjoon nod in agreement before going back to his food. "It's just scary stories for freshman and certain idiot juniors who are extremely gullible-" There's a small objection from Namjoon, but Hoseok chuckles. "I'm sure you can ask anyone who actually works there and they'll say it's all wrong."
----
While Hoseok might have thought that would be a good idea, it's certainly not.
The cook doesn't even answer, just gives him a look and tells him to clean the dishes in the sink. Jiho, the helper in the kitchen today, says that the stories were the whole reason he applied. ("Hell yeah man, I love danger" and Jimin makes a note to never hang out with Jiho). Asking Seokjin leads to a loud nervous laugh then asking Jimin if everything has been going okay. That might have been the scariest answer if Jimin hadn't gone to Taehyung.
"What stories?" Taehyung blinks as he picks up some forks from the tray to set the table.
Jimin shrugs, "I don't really know. Hauntings, I guess? My friend said someone died, but I think he was just scaring me."
"I could see that."
"What?" Jimin doesn't mean for that to come out as a shriek, but what the hell did Taehyung just say? He could see someone dying here? What?
"Well, the animatronics sometimes have this weird aura around them like in those horror animes when you know the killer is around."
"What?"
"Have you felt it yet? It's always on the day before the mechanics come." The look Taehyung gives him is one of confident curiosity, like he knows Jimin is going to say yes. Almost waiting for Jimin to admit it, but now he's caught on.
Jimin frowns, taking a spoon from the tray to throw it at Taehyung's chest. "You're just messing with me."
"Hey!" Taehyung yelps when it hits his shoulder. "It's true."
Jimin rolls his eyes.
----
For some reason, Jimin gave Taehyung his number. Or really, they exchanged numbers because they work together and it was supposed to be a good idea. Instead, it is up there with taking an Art History class as one of the greatest mistakes he's ever made. Taehyung only messages him when he has either the most benign things to say or the most idiotic things to say and, usually, he also needs to say it at the most inopportune times.
"I've got Seokjin's keys!"
Case in point is that it's Thursday at twelve in the morning and that's how Jimin's greeted as soon as he's accepted Taehyung's call.
Jimin sighs, "What keys?"
"The keys to the Freddy's."
Jimin blinks at his cell. "Taehyung, why do you have the keys?"
"So we can sneak in!" He can practically see Taehyung's huge beaming smile.
"What."
"You said you wanted to know if the stories were true so now we can. I'll meet you in an hour?"
"But." Yes, Jimin did want to know if anything said about the pizzeria is true, but that did not include going there after dark in which one of stories said someone died. However, he knows Taehyung rarely listens to reason. "The buses have stopped running."
There's a few seconds of silence where Jimin thinks that either Taehyung is sulking (bad, but okay) or he had already hung up (worse). That's until he hears the clicking on a keyboard.
"The busses run until two tonight, do you think it'll take an hour?"
Jimin groans, "I don't know, do you think we can die within an hour?"
"What? We won't die, Freddy likes me."
"Taehyung." The only thing that tells Jimin is that Taehyung is crazier than he seems and, in the off chance he's not, that Taehyung will live to tell the new story of how Park Jimin, college sophomore and busboy at Freddy's, managed to die after sneaking in.
"C'mon." Taehyung pleads until Jimin gives a large huff before agreeing. "It'll be fun! See you at there."
----
If Jimin thought something was wrong with Freddy's during his very first day there, now it's so overpoweringly awful that the feeling is almost suffocating. As soon as Taehyung opens the door, the hairs on the back of Jimin's neck stand up and he has a sense of dread settle in to the pit of his stomach. The walk to the parlor is nerve wracking and once they get to the actual room-
"This was a horrible idea." Jimin is standing in the doorway while Taehyung walks right over to Foxy's stage. The fox animatronic is completely enclosed at the moment and, for some reason, that gives the idea to Taehyung he should try to pry it open. Rather than Jimin's thoughts that maybe it was closed off for a reason.
"What?" Taehyung asks, then backs away from Foxy's stage with a small sigh. "It won't open."
"Good," Jimin says to himself, watching as Taehyung moves on towards the main stage while he still refuses to leave the doorway. The good thing about this is Jimin will be able to run out while the animatronics are busy with Taehyung.
"They don't really seem off today." Which Taehyung says with a disappointed voice once he's right in front of the stage, staring directly at Freddy. Freddy is, as always, smiling into the mic and looking out towards the dining area. It is also, as always, a little creepy.
"Right. Okay. So since we've figure out it's all lies, let's go."
"Wait a sec." Then, Taehyung hops on the stage and seems to be inspecting every single part of the animatronics. He's actually trying to find something wrong.
"What do you mean 'wait a sec,' we could get fired, Taehyung. We could be arrested." Jimin doesn't add in that they could get killed because he doesn't want to seem too scared. But. They could get killed.
"Seokjin wouldn't do that."
"Please Taehyung." Jimin whines, taking a careful step inside. "Let's go." With the dim light provided from the numerous windows, Jimin can't really see how Taehyung widens his eyes, but he can feel it. Or maybe he just assumes that's what Taehyung does when Jimin feels a hand on his shoulder.
Jimin, on the other hand, screams out and snaps his shoulder out of the hand's grip.
"Hey." The voice is human, or at least sounds very different from what Jimin imagines an animatronic would sound like. It calms him enough that he'll risk turning around to see who (or what) it is before attempting to jump out the windows. "Chill." It's a guy, as tall as Jimin, but looks a bit older. Also, looks very annoyed.
Jimin's heart is beating so incredibly fast that he's afraid he might hyperventilate. "Who- what are you- why?" It apparently hinders his ability to speak as well.
The guy sighs, "Why are you trying to sneak in if you can't handle it? And you-" He looks off to where Taehyung is, glaring. "Get off the stage right now."
After taking a few deep breaths, Jimin finally manages to calm down a bit. "Who are you?"
"I watch the place after night which they only had to get after a bunch of kids kept trying to sneak in." He gives Jimin a look, then sighs. "Yoongi. You can ask Seokjin tomorrow if you don't believe me."
"How do you know we work here?" With Taehyung's sudden outburst, right behind Jimin, his heart is back to pounding in his chest and he snaps around, only to push at Taehyung when he sees who it is.
"You need to relax, kid." Yoongi snorts and Jimin tries to give him a pitiful look that somehow shows that this is all Taehyung's fault. It doesn't seem to work. "My job is to check the cameras throughout the night which have pretty good sound. And, yes, you could get arrested. Especially if you don't leave. Right now."
Jimin shoots a glare at Taehyung, who offers one of his huge sheepish smiles. "Sorry, we'll go."
"Right, but beforehand-" Yoongi holds out his hand. "The keys."
"Oh! Uh." It takes a few seconds of Taehyung patting himself down before he grins wide when he feels his back pockets and takes the keys out, placing them in the other's hand.
"Please don't try this again." Yoongi sighs, "It only makes my life harder, but I'm very grateful you didn't do the stupid thing and come on a reset day."
Jimin wants to ask, really wants to, but he knows that if Taehyung hears, it will result in something horrible. So, he grabs onto Taehyung's sleeve and pulls him down the hall.
"Yeah. Right. Sorry again, we're heading out now. Bye!" Jimin says quickly, giving one last glance back-
He freezes.
Freddy is supposed to look towards the dining area smiling, yes, but Chica and Bonnie look at Freddy. They do not look directly towards the entrance. That, Jimin is absolutely sure of.
"Jimin?" Taehyung says.
It snaps Jimin out of his thoughts because he cannot tell Taehyung what it is. Besides, it's probably nothing. He just needs to get out. That's it. The atmosphere is driving him crazy.
"Nothing." Jimin takes a shaky breath, then tugs Taehyung away. "Let's go."
----
Mondays are Jimin's worst days. It's a jam-packed schedule where he has classes until his afternoon shift at Freddy's, then another class and, usually, a night filled with doing his homework he didn't do over the weekend. The small solace he has is the short break between work and his late class which he spends relaxing. This time, it's watching television as an attempt to not think about anything.
"I heard," Hoseok starts, sliding on to the couch and bumping shoulders with Jimin. "You snuck into Freddy's."
Jimin blinks, "Um." He was merely trying to mind his own business, and, kind of, trying to block that day out of his mind. Not that he could when he sees Bonnie and Chica every day, but it doesn't hurt to try.
"Seokjin told me, so, don't lie." Hoseok frowns. "This is all Namjoon's fault."
There is a loud groan from further in the apartment that gets louder as Namjoon enters the room. "What exactly is my fault?"
"Wait. Seokjin knows?" Jimin asks, surprised when Hoseok nods. "But, he didn't say anything?"
"He said everyone does it once and as long as you don't break anything, it's fine. But, really Jimin, that was a horrible idea, never listen to Namjoon."
"Hey." Namjoon says, then puts his hand on top of Jimin's head. "Whatever Jimin did is not my fault." Ever word he shakes at Jimin's head and Jimin glares back at him, earning a smile.
"He snuck into Freddy's because of your horror stories."
Jimin's head is forcefully turned back towards Namjoon so he can stare right at him, looking him up and down. It's unnerving for a minute, then Namjoon shrugs. "Well, he's alive-"
Hoseok sighs, "Please Namjoon. He could have gotten into so much trouble over a couple of stupid stories that aren't true."
"Right." He doesn't sound convinced at all which has Hoseok rolls his eyes, then fake punch Namjoon in the stomach.
"C'mon, don't worry about it." Jimin shoots him a smile, but it doesn't help anything.
"See!" Namjoon says, then quickly heads towards the kitchen when Hoseok scowls over at him.
The sigh Hoseok gives is long, tired, and pretty done with everything. He reaches over to mess up Jimin's bangs with a grin. "Just don't do it again. Not unless you force Namjoon to go too."
"Don't worry, I won't." It's a promise Jimin wholeheartedly wants to keep.
----
Despite the alleged confirmation that nothing is going on with the animatronics (Jimin finally chalks up Bonnie and Chica moving to Taehyung moving them), Taehyung is still messing around with them. But, of course, only on the days when Seokjin is out for a while or just not there at all. This is because Jimin might have been told to keep Taehyung off the stage, but that doesn't mean Taehyung will listen.
"Will you get off there and help me?" They're supposed to be cleaning, the very exciting task of moving the cart around and clearing off all the plates and utensils into the water tub. It usually goes by very quickly. If Taehyung was helping, but he won't come down from the stage.
"It's strange." Taehyung says as he stares Bonnie right in the eyes.
Usually, Jimin wouldn't indulge, but today the group before had been a bunch of terrible toddlers who managed to somehow get spaghetti on the ceiling. He really needs all the help he can get and if that means he has to indulge Taehyung, well- "What?"
"I'm pretty sure the mechanics are coming tomorrow, like-" Taehyung looks over, "I can feel it."
Jimin sighs, "Well, they do come once every seven days or so. It's been like six days since the last visit-"
"No, look." Taehyung points at Bonnie's face while motioning Jimin over with his other hand. There is, however, no way in hell that Jimin is getting any closer.
"There's nothing happening."
Taehyung pouts, "You don't see it? They're always really off, really sad or something. But, the day before the mechanics come, it's always the worst."
"Right, well, you can ask Seokjin later-"
"Did you know Seokjin always calls for a mechanic the day before? Or the day of?"
"And?" Jimin asks, even though he sort of gets it. Wouldn't Seokjin just schedule it for every seven days if it was a weekly thing? But, Jimin does not want to convince Taehyung of anything lest he spend the entire day playing with the animatronics and not helping.
"I bet he feels it too," Taehyung says. "I bet that's what the mechanics do, fix how they're feeling somehow. Maybe, all those stories are from when the mechanics weren't called. Maybe, if the mechanics don't come the animatronics come alive-"
All Jimin wanted to do was get Taehyung to shut up, throw a spoon at his head and make him stop. Really, it wasn't even supposed to reach Taehyung, maybe hit the stage or the floor in front of it, but it does. Or it almost does because Freddy's hand pops up and blocks it.
The clank of metal hitting the tiles is a memory Jimin will never forget.
"T-Tae-" Jimin tries to say, but he can't. It draws Taehyung's attention anyway. Taehyung turning right into Freddy's arm, bumping into it and pausing.
"Huh?"
"Please come down here and help." He's trying to say it calmly, but he really wants to yell that they should leave. Forget cleaning, forget work, and just go.
"Yeah." Taehyung even seems a little shaken, "Yeah, okay."
----
Unlike how every movie goes, Jimin goes straight to Seokjin as soon as he sees him. It ends up being explained away with the reason that the mechanics come because the animatronics start getting jumpy. Quite literally.
Jimin accepts that at first, because he would rather believe that than anything else he was thinking of; however, the animatronics being jumpy does not explain how Jimin is certain that they've been looking at him. Not every day, but at least once a week. Whenever Jimin is cleaning the few tables near the stage, he looks back, and the animatronics are staring in his direction. One of them, all of them. Their bodies don't turn, but their eyes are definitely looking at Jimin.
There's also been plenty of instances of Foxy being in a completely different position then he was at the start of the day. Not like how he moves when he sings, but a position that is not included in his little cheerful dance he does. It happens in, literally, the blink of an eye.
The worst thing is when one of the kids at a birthday party manages to make his way on stage. Jimin had his hands full with one of the other kids telling him all about how her favorite color is yellow, how they should paint the pizzeria yellow, and, basically, listing every yellow object at him. So, Jimin had no idea how the kid managed to do it, but was only alerted to it when a scream echoed throughout the room. On the stage, Chica was bent over the kid, staring down at him while he was cowering and yelling. Jimin and Taehyung managed to rush over at the same time, with Jimin lifting the kid up and taking him down and back to his parents while Taehyung tried to lift Chica back up.
The explanation Seokjin gave to the parents was the same one as before: the animatronics can be jumpy. The kid had punched at Chica's leg and so Chica had fallen over.
That doesn't explain why Chica's arms were reaching for the child's shoulders.
----
Lately, Jimin's been rushing to get out of Freddy's as soon as his shifts over. Throw off his apron, change fast, grab his stuff, and he's out the door. No one's noticed (Seokjin's been eyeing him, yet he hasn't said anything), least of all Taehyung.
"Hey!" Taehyung is standing in the doorway of the employee lounge, preventing Jimin from leaving. There is a small, miniscule chance Taehyung's just asking him to go eat, but with the huge grin on his face, Jimin doubts that's it.
"C'mon Tae," Jimin sighs, "I've got a lot of homework to do."
"Do you want to know what I just figured out?" Either he's being ignored or he wasn't heard. Maybe a mixture of both.
Jimin sighs again, staring at Taehyung and hoping he'll get the message.
"We need to check the animatronics out right before the mechanics come."
Why he expected Taehyung to understand any sort of social cues, Jimin has no idea.
"What."
"The reason nothing happened last time is because we didn't go on the sixth day, the day before the mechanics come. So, if we go on the sixth day something should happen."
"Wait," Jimin pauses, searching all around Taehyung's face to see if he realizes what he just said. "You want something to happen?"
"Yeah! I mean, if the stories are true-"
"If the stories are true we'll die, Taehyung."
"No we won't." Taehyung is grinning wider now and Jimin really really thinks the other has gone crazy.
"How? In what possible way would we be alright if other people have supposedly died by visiting Freddy's after night?"
"Freddy likes me, remember?"
Jimin blinks. Once, twice, hoping maybe he'll come back to a reality where Taehyung actually understands what he's saying. How does he know Freddy likes him? How can animatronics like someone? Why Freddy? Actually-
"You know what-" Jimin starts, then barrels his way past Taehyung. "That's it. No, Taehyung. No. It's too dangerous."
The pout Taehyung gives when he pulls Jimin back does nothing. Really. Jimin feels nothing at all.
"C'mon." He whines and tugs on Jimin's arms, preventing him from getting away. "Are you really going to make me go alone?"
"Neither of us are going! Why don't you get it, it's dangerous. It's not fun anymore, it's just legit danger now."
"How about this-" Taehyung pauses to think and Jimin shouldn't let himself be convinced into this. It's just an all around bad idea. Even if Jimin is making a big deal out of nothing and all this animatronic coming alive stuff is lies, it's better safe than sorry. But, here he is waiting for Taehyung's big plan. The thing is, he is absolutely going to say no.
"If I manage to get Seokjin's keys and if I call you before twelve, we'll go. And-" Taehyung stops Jimin just as he's about to open his mouth. "And! We only go in the dining area, take a quick look at the animatronics, not going on the stage, then leave."
There's a few minutes of Jimin processing all that in which Taehyung looks at him with puppy dog eyes. That might have a slight effect on him because it honestly doesn't seem like a horrible plan. Mostly becase they wouldn't even get to the actual going to Freddy's part. Besides, Taehyung would keep berating Jimin until he eventually went.
Jimin sighs, "Alright. But, we're staying thirty minutes tops."
Taehyung gives a huge grin, practically jumping up and down. He's excited for this. Honest to God, excited. What is wrong with him? "Yes, totally. See you later."
Better question: what is wrong with Jimin?
----
There was no way in hell Seokjin would leave the keys in a place Taehyung could find it again. Jimin had thought. There was no way that they wouldn't change the locks or install cameras or something. Jimin had thought. There was absolutely no way Taehyung, a person unable to do anything normally, would call him at a normal time. Jimin had thought.
Basically, Jimin had thought there was no way this was possible. Not them getting back in again. Not any of the stories actually being true. And, certainly, not them becoming one of the stories.
Yet, here they are, both of them standing at the entrance to the dining area in shock because none of the animatronics are on the stage. The only solace they have is Foxy's area is closed off so he has to be inside.
Right?
"Where are they?" Taehyung sounds wary. He's the one that begged and pleaded for Jimin to come back again, said that it'd be okay, and he's scared.
Jimin takes a deep breath. Partially to calm his nerves, but mostly to stop himself from punching Taehyung in the gut. "Let's just go. Maybe...maybe when the mechanics come, they take the animatronics away." Any other day, Jimin would be able to convince himself of this. He'd be able to reason everything away into something logical.
But, tonight, Freddy's song starts up. Not from the stage, from the direction of the bathroom.
Taehyung and Jimin turn to each other at the same time and, before Jimin can say or do anything, Taehyung's going towards the bathroom. What did Jimin do to deserve Taehyung in his life?
"No, c'mon Taehyung." Jimin whispers, trying to sound as scolding as he can. It doesn't work, Taehyung is heading towards the bathroom fast while Jimin is slowly trailing behind.
"What are you two doing here?" It startles them both, Taehyung freezing right in front of the bathroom doors while Jimin almost trips forward. The voice sounds like it's coming from everywhere, not just the bathroom. So, it's not completely worrying. It also sounds a bit familiar-
"Get the fuck away from that door."
Jimin pauses, then looks up. "Yoongi?"
"Yes- Don't you dare open that door dumbass." His voice sounds so sharp, yet completely on edge that Taehyung steps away from the door. Jimin has no idea how Taehyung is so calm when his own stomach is doing flips and he's practically frozen in his spot. Then again, Taehyung seemed to have wanted this to happen.
"What's in there?" Taehyung calls out, very loud. Even though Yoongi was perfectly capable of hearing Jimin before and the fact that there is something in the bathroom.
"Does it matter? Just get the fuck out." There's a pause, then the sound of a door shutting. "Get out right now."
Adrenaline kicks in fast. Jimin might be scared, but Yoongi sounding absolutely terrified sparks him into motion. He runs over to Taehyung, aiming to grab him and pull him to the exit. He'll use all his strength if he has to. Mainly because he knows that Taehyung's still going to try and open that door.
"Let's go." Jimin says, tugging on Taehyung's arm.
"Jimin."
"Didn't you hear Yoongi? We've got to-"
"Jimin."
"Look, you might be okay with staying here, but I'm not. There's something wrong here, something bad. This isn't a joke anymore, Taehyung. This isn't just stories-"
"Jimin." This is the first time Jimin has heard Taehyung so frightened. As much as Jimin doesn't want to, he turns around. He has to see, he has to know. He has to.
It's Freddy. It's standing in the doorway between the hall and the dining area, looking straight at Jimin and Taehyung.
"What are you doing? Go." Yoongi yells and it's probably blasting through the speakers, but Jimin only hears it muted. Freddy's eyes are completely entrancing as he moves forward. Slowly. Each step sounding like metal churning.
"L-let's-" Jimin's mouth snaps shut as Freddy's head turns directly towards him.
There's shuffling in the speakers, then the sound of a door opening before shouting from the hallway. All it sounds like is noise, Jimin doesn't know if it's because of the fear or Yoongi's just yelling random things.
It doesn't matter because it's not working.
Taehyung takes a deep breath, "What do we do?"
There's no possible answer to the question. What do you do when an animatronic has come to life and is walking towards you to do God knows what? Run, he supposes. But, how can you do that when you're frozen?
"Freddy." Taehyung says and immediately the bear's head moves, gears and metal clinking at how sudden it was. The creepiest thing of all is that Freddy actually stops. "Hey. Uh. We're sorry you're stuck here, probably so bored-"
"What the fuck?" Yoongi's voice rings out causing everyone, including Freddy, to look back at the hallway. He's standing in the doorway, but begins to back up as Freddy starts toward him.
"No, wait!" Taehyung snaps. Why, Jimin doesn't know. Yoongi has doors to keep him safe while Jimin and Taehyung are out in the open. It would make sense to let Freddy follow Yoongi, then Taehyung and Jimin run out as fast as they can. Though, when has Taehyung ever made sense. "Please don't hurt my friends. We're just doing our jobs, just like you're doing yours."
There's just silence. Which, well, is better than being attacked, mauled, or murdered.
"Okay?" Taehyung asks, stepping closer and pulling Jimin forward also. Had he been holding onto Taehyung this entire time?
For what feels like hours, they're just in a stand-still: Freddy is frozen in front of them, Taehyung is looking at it and Jimin is watching from slightly behind. Then, Freddy turns and slowly walks toward the kitchen.
Jimin doesn't dare breath until Freddy's walked through the door and out of sight.
There's the click of the speakers turning on, but only silence for a couple seconds. "I'm not-" There's a large breath. "I'm not going to ask what just happened, but what the fuck."
Taehyung flashes a grin back at Jimin, who merely stares back. That's all he can do. He's never been so scared in his entire life.
"You guys need to leave. That might have been a fluke, alright? Today is dangerous, so get out."
His heart is pumping incredibly fast, but he still knows what a fantastic idea that is. He tugs on Taehyung's arm, motioning to leave because he's sure his voice isn't going to work at the moment.
Taehyung gives one glance back towards the kitchen, then they're walking out.
----
An entire week, that Thursday night at Fredy's to this Thursday, has passed by. Life continued on normally, Jimin ate, slept, went to classes, hung out with friends, but the one thing he absolutely did not do was go back.
He knows it's horrible for him to do. Seokjin had been looking for an employee for the longest time and then the person he hired won't show up to work. It's even worse because Seokjin had called Hoseok, only to ask if Jimin was okay. Hoseok had then tried to make Jimin tell him what was going on, but it gets nowhere. Who would believe his story? Not even Namjoon would when he's the one who told him Freddy's was haunted.
There's a huge chance Jimin will be fired (Hoseok tells him this every day he misses work) and maybe, that's what Jimin wants. He definitely feels apologetic towards Hoseok and Namjoon considering he's barely made enough money to cover his part of the rent for two more months. It's the only reason Jimin hasn't sent in a resignation.
----
During the third week, Taehyung calls. It's quite surprising because he calls at around four in the afternoon, a perfectly acceptable time. Though it is interrupting Jimin doing his homework, but small victories.
"You should come back." Taehyung says it as soon as Jimin's picked up the call.
Jimin grins despite himself, "Who's working my shift with you?"
There's a long dramatic sigh that lasts way too long, but Jimin laughs. "Jungkook. He won't listen to me about anything."
"Oh yeah? I know the feeling.
"Hey, he won't even set the table the right way."
"Oh really? Coming from the person who keeps putting the red table cloths into the white table cloths laundry basket?"
"Seokjin liked the pink!" There's a few seconds of silence, a very difficult thing when Taehyung is there. "I'm really sorry, Jimin."
"It's fine." Because it actually isn't his fault. Taehyung didn't actually know the animatronics were haunted and he definitely didn't seem to realize how dangerous it might be. And, if Jimin had to be honest with himself, he had been a bit curious and probably would have checked it out at some point.
"Come back, okay?" Taehyung says, "Jungkook's not as fun as you."
"I don't know-"
"Don't worry about anything. I'll protect you."
Jimin snorts loudly, "Right. As long as you're there."
"They listen to me. You saw it! Everything will be fine so you should come back."
"And you're just going to always keep them away from me, huh?"
"Exactly." Taehyung chirps, beaming smile evident in his voice. "Nothing's going to happen."
----
Taehyung ends up being right, but in a completely opposite way.
After a few days, Jimin had been convinced. It mostly was how guilty he felt towards Seokjin, because there were only a few employees; Namjoon and Hoseok, because of the rent; and Taehyung, because Jungkook is an absolute terror. So, Jimin was going to show up to his first shift in about a month. Until Hoseok leans on Jimin's doorframe, holding out his cell for Jimin to take.
"It's Seokjin." Hoseok is giving his 'I don't want to say I told you so' face when Jimin picks up the call.
"Hey...Seokjin." Jimin greets, hesitantly. "Uh, sorry I've been gone." For basically a month and, well, who knows how much trouble that's been for Seokjin. If Jimin is about to get fired, he deserves it.
"It's no problem. Really." Seokjin sighs, "I did the same thing."
"What?"
"It's nothing. Not anymore. I called because you don't have to come in for a while, if you were planning on coming back."
Jimin's stomach drops, even though he expected this it's still upsetting. "Oh."
"No, you're not getting fired." Seokjin pauses, "Um, there's been an...incident. Freddy's is going to be closed for a little while."
He might have been a little upset before, but now Jimin's stomach is completely unsettled. "An 'incident?' What does that mean? Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah. Well. Um. Jiho's maybe missing." Seokjin lets out a small nervous laugh. "And with the Chica incident, uh, people aren't exactly swarming in-"
"Jiho's missing."
"Maybe, alright. Don't worry, we've got so many people trying to help we'll figure out what happened in no time."
There are some parts of Jimin that are completely confused, some that are terrified, but mostly he's just numb. What he expected was Seokjin firing him or, at least, yelling at him. Not this.
"So, um, yeah. I'll keep you updated, but since Freddy's can't sustain itself at the moment the place is on an indefinite hiatus."
"Uh- ye- yeah. Okay. Got it." That's all Jimin can think to say. Then, Seokjin gives a small bye and the phone call is ended. He hands the phone over lifelessly and Hoseok looks so worried.
"You okay?" Hoseok asks. "What's up?"
"No, I'm alright." The stare Hoseok gives him is very wary and Jimin tries to give a small smile. "Really."
"Okay." Hoseok frowns, but turns to leave anyway. "You can talk to me later. Anytime, alright?"
"Yeah," Jimin breathes. As soon as Hoseok's gone, Jimin just falls back on his bed. He's taken to staring at the wall in complete and utter shock. It might not be related to Freddy's. People sometimes go missing out of nowhere because the world is dangerous. That's it. That has to be it.
But then, why is the pizzeria involved?
After a few minutes of Jimin staring blankly at his wall, trying to reach a conclusion that will help him sleep at night, he gets a message.
Taehyung [5:24pm]
Did Seokjin call u yet?
Jimin [5:25pm]
Yea.
Taehyung [5:25pm]
He'd been messin with freddy for a while...u think thats it???
That is absolutely not what Jimin wanted to learn. He looks at the message then flops back to lay on his bed. This is crazy. This entire thing is so unreal to him. He can't believe it.
His phone vibrates again.
Taehyung [5:30pm]
hey...u want to check it out
He will never ever understand Taehyung.
Jimin [5:31pm]
....
Taehyung [5:31pm]
jk! :d but u want to get dinner?
Really, Jimin's not in the mood, but he's definitely not in the mood to be alone. This is the better of two evils, he decides. Plus, Taehyung always rambles on about the most random things that it will probably help.
Jimin [5:33pm]
sure
Jimin [5:33pm]
if ur going to try and drag me to freddys im deleting ur number
Taehyung [5:44pm]
:D
He really doesn't know what that means, but, for some reason, he's willing to take the risk.
Recipient:
jxxnggxkPairing: gen (slight Jimin/V if you squint)
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 7557
Warnings: this is light horror! so, some scary themes mainly mentions of death/animatronics
Summary: Jimin has finally managed a job at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza and it's going great. Until he learns of all the stories of "Freaky Freddy's."
Author's notes: Five Nights at Freddy's AU! Thank you to my lovely friend who read this over and beta'd <3 Also, recipient, I hope you like it! I read one of your prompts and this automatically came to mind.
Considering usually by this time in the semester he'd be sleeping through (or in) classes, tonight, it's an absolute blessing Jimin was able to get to bed before one in the morning. The key word is get, because once he's finally quieted all his thoughts, the door bursts open, shining light in his face while a figure stands in the doorframe. He would be frightened if it wasn't for the loud "Jimin" distinctly in Hoseok's voice. Jimin groans.
"Hey! This is exciting news." Hoseok says as he walks over and sits on the bed. Well, actually on Jimin's legs which is only mildly painful.
"Hoseok." He whines. "I have a nine am tomorrow."
Hoseok shrugs. "If you go to bed at two you'll have a solid six hours, no worries." Jimin glares, not really sure how effective it is in the darkness of his room, but Hoseok scoffs like he saw it. "You should be more appreciative."
Jimin gives a large sigh, finally sitting up, "What?"
"Well," Hoseok starts, grin evident even in the darkness. "You've been looking for a job, right?"
"Yeah, but I can't work with you at the library. All the available spots were late late night-"
Hoseok flicks at his knee. "I wasn't talking about the library. My friend's the manager of this place and he's mentioned that he's been looking for someone for a while and is practically desperate. It's at a pizza place not that far away, like a five minute bus ride. You interested?"
Jimin blinks. He has no idea what he did to get Hoseok as a friend, but he's never been so grateful. Through his connection to Hoseok, he's managed so much, least of which being his current living situation with Hoseok and his friend Namjoon. They didn't even mind he could only pay half of his share of rent until he got a proper job that he now might be able to get. With Hoseok's help.
"Hell yeah."
"Alright." Hoseok grins, then gets up. "My friend's name is Seokjin and he's said he could meet you Friday to make sure you're 'suitable'." The air quotes are included as Hoseok shrugs. "I'll give you his number later."
Jimin nods at Hoseok's retreating back, genuinely excited he'll be able to stop mooching off Hoseok and Namjoon. Also, finally get those new shoes he's been salivating over for a month now. And the new backpack he terribly needs. Maybe a few school supplies, but definitely-
"It's called Freddy's by the way." Hoseok says from the door, shrugging. "It's local, I think? The pay's not amazing, but Seokjin's told me it's really nice working there once you get used to it."
"Right." Jimin might have to rethink those shoes, but the important thing is: no more mooching. "Good night hyung."
----
After a brief interview (which Seokjin said was only for formalities anyway), a short conversation about schedules, and a tour, Jimin has come to the realization that there's something wrong with this place. Something that Jimin cannot figure out, but feels once he's about three rooms into this trek of the entire building. It's not the people. Seokjin is incredibly nice and has been thoroughly explaining everything as he leads Jimin around. There's also no sort of bad vibes from the other staff members he gets brief glances of as he passes through rooms. It's just some feeling he can't place.
It's the strongest in the actual pizza parlor. They had passed through it many times, but Seokjin only starts explaining things now. About how Jimin's job will be to clean the tables, lay out new table mats, wipe the black and white tiles. Never the stage though. They have different people for that because the animatronics are extremely sensitive and should only be dealt with by specifically trained people. It's a little strange, but that ultimately leads to less work for Jimin.
And if Jimin has to admit it, it's probably the animatronics freaking him out. It's three on one huge stage: a bunny, a bear, and a chicken, as well as a fox on its own separate one. Seokjin had said that they were there to keep the children entertained with cheerful dance and song, but Jimin always hated things like that. Life-sized robotic animals are incredibly creepy if you think about it.
"That's it really." Seokjin smiles, "Unless you want to see the backstage, but that's only filled with parts for the animatronics that the mechanics deal with."
"You have mechanics?"
"Yeah, they come do a check up on all the animatronics once a week."
Jimin frowns, "Do they break often or something?"
"It's just to make sure Foxy, Chica, Bonnie, and Freddy are all in tip top shape." Seokjin chuckles and it sounds a bit off, a bit nervous. If Jimin really had a choice in the matter and didn't need this job desperately, he'd question what that chuckle meant, but he is neither of those things. Besides, Seokjin's attention is taken off him since he runs off towards the stage.
In the less than five minutes of conversation between Jimin and Seokjin, some orange haired staff member has starting poking around the animatronics. Literally poking at the arms and stomachs.
"Taehyung." Seokjin's voice is so scolding, the boy immediately steps back from the bear animatronic and gives a sheepish grin. "What are you doing?"
"They've just been acting weird today." The boy looks to the animatronic next to him, the large brown bear that's smiling into a microphone. It really doesn't look too weird. Well, not weirder than a smiling human-sized animatronic should look. "I was checking them out."
"The mechanics come tomorrow, you can report any...weirdness to them." Seokjin sighs, "Just get off the stage, alright?"
Taehyung shrugs and jumps off, which Jimin thinks is a bad idea if the animatronics were so sensitive they needed a mechanic every week. Giving a large grin, Taehyung walks towards Seokjin before catching sight of Jimin and staring at him. "Who's he?"
"Actually-" Seokjin pauses, then motions Jimin to come over. "This is Jimin, he's going to start working with us as a new employee."
Up close, the boy looks about his age and incredibly handsome. Especially when he smiles and waves brightly at Jimin. "Hello!"
"Hey." And Jimin really can't help but grin back.
"You two will be working similar shifts so I guess it's good we ran into you, Taehyung, but-" Seokjin frowns and motions towards the kitchen. "Please go back to cleaning the dishes, we've got a birthday party in less than an hour."
"Right." Taehyung shines his grin at Seokjin before jogging off. "See you."
Seokjin sighs hard, then eyes Jimin. "You'll also be helping in keeping him off the stage. I swear he's as bad as the toddlers."
"Um." Jimin blinks. Is that really going to be part of his job duties because he can't tell if Seokjin's joking or not.
----
Actually having work is kind of very difficult to adjust to. He used to complain frequently about not having anything to do, too much free time which just lead to him watching the most random things. Now, it's been a week of him reporting to Freddy's for his mid-afternoon shift and he swears all he did was blink. He hasn't even worked a busy day yet.
Well. He's about to.
"You should put two tablecloths on each table so it's easier to clean."
With Taehyung, who Jimin has come to learn is the most troublesome employee- scratch that- troublesome person in the world. In fact, he's currently messing up the cloth on the table Jimin just fixed up.
"What?" Jimin says, not really asking, but simply to take Taehyung's attention away.
"We have about forty minutes between schedules today, so if we just lift up the tablecloths it's a lot easier." He steps back, proud smile on his face. "I thought of it a while ago."
Jimin blinks then slowly looks over to Taehyung's side of the room (it was Jimin's idea to split it into sides, saying it would be faster but really this way he doesn't have to deal with Taehyung unless absolutely necessary). The idea is not particularly horrible if you don't factor in that the first party asked specifically for bright colors and the later one is doing monotone style. The biggest offender is a muted grey tablecloth under a bright orange one that doesn't look right.
"Uh." Jimin starts, looking at Taehyung's huge grin. He honestly looks incredibly proud, and as much as Jimin finds him annoying all he can do is sigh. "You can try it, but I'm almost done-"
"I'll help." Taehyung pulls off the tablecloth he was fiddling with in such a swift motion Jimin doesn't have time to react. When Jimin does finally come up with something to say, Taehyung's running off to get the other tablecloths.
If the parents complain, it's not Jimin's fault.
(They don't. The only mishap they have is one kid managing to spill his spaghetti on everything but himself, including half of the grey tablecloth. They have extras, of course, but Jimin and Taehyung promptly freaking out because they didn't know there were extras convinces them not to try that again.
Even if it ends up being an extremely efficient idea. )
----
It's quite sad that Jimin being able to sit at his apartment table and eat food that he cooked has now become extremely rare. But, that's what happens when you're still trying to adjust to an extremely busy schedule. Also what happens is Hoseok hurrying over to sit with him and Namjoon coming to steal some food. It's nice to know he's missed though, for conversation or cooking ability.
"I swear you work today." Namjoon pauses scoping out the rice from the pot to look over at Hoseok and Jimin. "It is Tuesday, right?"
"It better be or you'd be skipping lab right now," Hoseok grins.
"Oh yeah."
Jimin rolls his eyes, "Yeah I usually work today, but they're fixing up the animatronics today."
"Did they break?"
"Wait, wait-" Namjoon plops down into his seat and stares hard at Jimin. "You work at a restaurant?"
"Well sort of. It's more of a pizzeria-"
"With animatronics?"
"Yes?"
Namjoon continues staring, eyes narrowing in thought which ends up being quite disturbing after a minute. Then, Hoseok flicks at his arm and the stare turns into a pout.
"What Namjoon?" Hoseok laughs, "Do you not approve?"
"No- just- You work at Freddy's? Freddy's?" When Jimin nods, Namjoon shakes his head and sighs. "You're a junior and you haven't heard any of the tales about Freaky Freddy's?"
"Namjoon."
"You're even worse! You got him a job there when you know."
"I also know Seokjin's been working there for two years and nothing bad has yet to happen-"
"Yet." Namjoon repeats, then starts to dig into Jimin's fried rice, still shaking his head. Honestly, Jimin has gotten used to Namjoon with the month they've spent living together, but sometimes he simply can't understand. In those moments he looks to Hoseok for translation. Like now.
Hoseok gives a large sigh. "There's some 'stories' about Freddy's. I mean, it's a pretty old place and there's a bunch of tales about it being haunted or other things-"
"Hunchul told me it was a senior thing to sneak in after it was closed, but then someone died-"
"Was Hunchul just saying that because he was too scared to do it?" Hoseok asks giving Namjoon a look which has Namjoon nod in agreement before going back to his food. "It's just scary stories for freshman and certain idiot juniors who are extremely gullible-" There's a small objection from Namjoon, but Hoseok chuckles. "I'm sure you can ask anyone who actually works there and they'll say it's all wrong."
----
While Hoseok might have thought that would be a good idea, it's certainly not.
The cook doesn't even answer, just gives him a look and tells him to clean the dishes in the sink. Jiho, the helper in the kitchen today, says that the stories were the whole reason he applied. ("Hell yeah man, I love danger" and Jimin makes a note to never hang out with Jiho). Asking Seokjin leads to a loud nervous laugh then asking Jimin if everything has been going okay. That might have been the scariest answer if Jimin hadn't gone to Taehyung.
"What stories?" Taehyung blinks as he picks up some forks from the tray to set the table.
Jimin shrugs, "I don't really know. Hauntings, I guess? My friend said someone died, but I think he was just scaring me."
"I could see that."
"What?" Jimin doesn't mean for that to come out as a shriek, but what the hell did Taehyung just say? He could see someone dying here? What?
"Well, the animatronics sometimes have this weird aura around them like in those horror animes when you know the killer is around."
"What?"
"Have you felt it yet? It's always on the day before the mechanics come." The look Taehyung gives him is one of confident curiosity, like he knows Jimin is going to say yes. Almost waiting for Jimin to admit it, but now he's caught on.
Jimin frowns, taking a spoon from the tray to throw it at Taehyung's chest. "You're just messing with me."
"Hey!" Taehyung yelps when it hits his shoulder. "It's true."
Jimin rolls his eyes.
----
For some reason, Jimin gave Taehyung his number. Or really, they exchanged numbers because they work together and it was supposed to be a good idea. Instead, it is up there with taking an Art History class as one of the greatest mistakes he's ever made. Taehyung only messages him when he has either the most benign things to say or the most idiotic things to say and, usually, he also needs to say it at the most inopportune times.
"I've got Seokjin's keys!"
Case in point is that it's Thursday at twelve in the morning and that's how Jimin's greeted as soon as he's accepted Taehyung's call.
Jimin sighs, "What keys?"
"The keys to the Freddy's."
Jimin blinks at his cell. "Taehyung, why do you have the keys?"
"So we can sneak in!" He can practically see Taehyung's huge beaming smile.
"What."
"You said you wanted to know if the stories were true so now we can. I'll meet you in an hour?"
"But." Yes, Jimin did want to know if anything said about the pizzeria is true, but that did not include going there after dark in which one of stories said someone died. However, he knows Taehyung rarely listens to reason. "The buses have stopped running."
There's a few seconds of silence where Jimin thinks that either Taehyung is sulking (bad, but okay) or he had already hung up (worse). That's until he hears the clicking on a keyboard.
"The busses run until two tonight, do you think it'll take an hour?"
Jimin groans, "I don't know, do you think we can die within an hour?"
"What? We won't die, Freddy likes me."
"Taehyung." The only thing that tells Jimin is that Taehyung is crazier than he seems and, in the off chance he's not, that Taehyung will live to tell the new story of how Park Jimin, college sophomore and busboy at Freddy's, managed to die after sneaking in.
"C'mon." Taehyung pleads until Jimin gives a large huff before agreeing. "It'll be fun! See you at there."
----
If Jimin thought something was wrong with Freddy's during his very first day there, now it's so overpoweringly awful that the feeling is almost suffocating. As soon as Taehyung opens the door, the hairs on the back of Jimin's neck stand up and he has a sense of dread settle in to the pit of his stomach. The walk to the parlor is nerve wracking and once they get to the actual room-
"This was a horrible idea." Jimin is standing in the doorway while Taehyung walks right over to Foxy's stage. The fox animatronic is completely enclosed at the moment and, for some reason, that gives the idea to Taehyung he should try to pry it open. Rather than Jimin's thoughts that maybe it was closed off for a reason.
"What?" Taehyung asks, then backs away from Foxy's stage with a small sigh. "It won't open."
"Good," Jimin says to himself, watching as Taehyung moves on towards the main stage while he still refuses to leave the doorway. The good thing about this is Jimin will be able to run out while the animatronics are busy with Taehyung.
"They don't really seem off today." Which Taehyung says with a disappointed voice once he's right in front of the stage, staring directly at Freddy. Freddy is, as always, smiling into the mic and looking out towards the dining area. It is also, as always, a little creepy.
"Right. Okay. So since we've figure out it's all lies, let's go."
"Wait a sec." Then, Taehyung hops on the stage and seems to be inspecting every single part of the animatronics. He's actually trying to find something wrong.
"What do you mean 'wait a sec,' we could get fired, Taehyung. We could be arrested." Jimin doesn't add in that they could get killed because he doesn't want to seem too scared. But. They could get killed.
"Seokjin wouldn't do that."
"Please Taehyung." Jimin whines, taking a careful step inside. "Let's go." With the dim light provided from the numerous windows, Jimin can't really see how Taehyung widens his eyes, but he can feel it. Or maybe he just assumes that's what Taehyung does when Jimin feels a hand on his shoulder.
Jimin, on the other hand, screams out and snaps his shoulder out of the hand's grip.
"Hey." The voice is human, or at least sounds very different from what Jimin imagines an animatronic would sound like. It calms him enough that he'll risk turning around to see who (or what) it is before attempting to jump out the windows. "Chill." It's a guy, as tall as Jimin, but looks a bit older. Also, looks very annoyed.
Jimin's heart is beating so incredibly fast that he's afraid he might hyperventilate. "Who- what are you- why?" It apparently hinders his ability to speak as well.
The guy sighs, "Why are you trying to sneak in if you can't handle it? And you-" He looks off to where Taehyung is, glaring. "Get off the stage right now."
After taking a few deep breaths, Jimin finally manages to calm down a bit. "Who are you?"
"I watch the place after night which they only had to get after a bunch of kids kept trying to sneak in." He gives Jimin a look, then sighs. "Yoongi. You can ask Seokjin tomorrow if you don't believe me."
"How do you know we work here?" With Taehyung's sudden outburst, right behind Jimin, his heart is back to pounding in his chest and he snaps around, only to push at Taehyung when he sees who it is.
"You need to relax, kid." Yoongi snorts and Jimin tries to give him a pitiful look that somehow shows that this is all Taehyung's fault. It doesn't seem to work. "My job is to check the cameras throughout the night which have pretty good sound. And, yes, you could get arrested. Especially if you don't leave. Right now."
Jimin shoots a glare at Taehyung, who offers one of his huge sheepish smiles. "Sorry, we'll go."
"Right, but beforehand-" Yoongi holds out his hand. "The keys."
"Oh! Uh." It takes a few seconds of Taehyung patting himself down before he grins wide when he feels his back pockets and takes the keys out, placing them in the other's hand.
"Please don't try this again." Yoongi sighs, "It only makes my life harder, but I'm very grateful you didn't do the stupid thing and come on a reset day."
Jimin wants to ask, really wants to, but he knows that if Taehyung hears, it will result in something horrible. So, he grabs onto Taehyung's sleeve and pulls him down the hall.
"Yeah. Right. Sorry again, we're heading out now. Bye!" Jimin says quickly, giving one last glance back-
He freezes.
Freddy is supposed to look towards the dining area smiling, yes, but Chica and Bonnie look at Freddy. They do not look directly towards the entrance. That, Jimin is absolutely sure of.
"Jimin?" Taehyung says.
It snaps Jimin out of his thoughts because he cannot tell Taehyung what it is. Besides, it's probably nothing. He just needs to get out. That's it. The atmosphere is driving him crazy.
"Nothing." Jimin takes a shaky breath, then tugs Taehyung away. "Let's go."
----
Mondays are Jimin's worst days. It's a jam-packed schedule where he has classes until his afternoon shift at Freddy's, then another class and, usually, a night filled with doing his homework he didn't do over the weekend. The small solace he has is the short break between work and his late class which he spends relaxing. This time, it's watching television as an attempt to not think about anything.
"I heard," Hoseok starts, sliding on to the couch and bumping shoulders with Jimin. "You snuck into Freddy's."
Jimin blinks, "Um." He was merely trying to mind his own business, and, kind of, trying to block that day out of his mind. Not that he could when he sees Bonnie and Chica every day, but it doesn't hurt to try.
"Seokjin told me, so, don't lie." Hoseok frowns. "This is all Namjoon's fault."
There is a loud groan from further in the apartment that gets louder as Namjoon enters the room. "What exactly is my fault?"
"Wait. Seokjin knows?" Jimin asks, surprised when Hoseok nods. "But, he didn't say anything?"
"He said everyone does it once and as long as you don't break anything, it's fine. But, really Jimin, that was a horrible idea, never listen to Namjoon."
"Hey." Namjoon says, then puts his hand on top of Jimin's head. "Whatever Jimin did is not my fault." Ever word he shakes at Jimin's head and Jimin glares back at him, earning a smile.
"He snuck into Freddy's because of your horror stories."
Jimin's head is forcefully turned back towards Namjoon so he can stare right at him, looking him up and down. It's unnerving for a minute, then Namjoon shrugs. "Well, he's alive-"
Hoseok sighs, "Please Namjoon. He could have gotten into so much trouble over a couple of stupid stories that aren't true."
"Right." He doesn't sound convinced at all which has Hoseok rolls his eyes, then fake punch Namjoon in the stomach.
"C'mon, don't worry about it." Jimin shoots him a smile, but it doesn't help anything.
"See!" Namjoon says, then quickly heads towards the kitchen when Hoseok scowls over at him.
The sigh Hoseok gives is long, tired, and pretty done with everything. He reaches over to mess up Jimin's bangs with a grin. "Just don't do it again. Not unless you force Namjoon to go too."
"Don't worry, I won't." It's a promise Jimin wholeheartedly wants to keep.
----
Despite the alleged confirmation that nothing is going on with the animatronics (Jimin finally chalks up Bonnie and Chica moving to Taehyung moving them), Taehyung is still messing around with them. But, of course, only on the days when Seokjin is out for a while or just not there at all. This is because Jimin might have been told to keep Taehyung off the stage, but that doesn't mean Taehyung will listen.
"Will you get off there and help me?" They're supposed to be cleaning, the very exciting task of moving the cart around and clearing off all the plates and utensils into the water tub. It usually goes by very quickly. If Taehyung was helping, but he won't come down from the stage.
"It's strange." Taehyung says as he stares Bonnie right in the eyes.
Usually, Jimin wouldn't indulge, but today the group before had been a bunch of terrible toddlers who managed to somehow get spaghetti on the ceiling. He really needs all the help he can get and if that means he has to indulge Taehyung, well- "What?"
"I'm pretty sure the mechanics are coming tomorrow, like-" Taehyung looks over, "I can feel it."
Jimin sighs, "Well, they do come once every seven days or so. It's been like six days since the last visit-"
"No, look." Taehyung points at Bonnie's face while motioning Jimin over with his other hand. There is, however, no way in hell that Jimin is getting any closer.
"There's nothing happening."
Taehyung pouts, "You don't see it? They're always really off, really sad or something. But, the day before the mechanics come, it's always the worst."
"Right, well, you can ask Seokjin later-"
"Did you know Seokjin always calls for a mechanic the day before? Or the day of?"
"And?" Jimin asks, even though he sort of gets it. Wouldn't Seokjin just schedule it for every seven days if it was a weekly thing? But, Jimin does not want to convince Taehyung of anything lest he spend the entire day playing with the animatronics and not helping.
"I bet he feels it too," Taehyung says. "I bet that's what the mechanics do, fix how they're feeling somehow. Maybe, all those stories are from when the mechanics weren't called. Maybe, if the mechanics don't come the animatronics come alive-"
All Jimin wanted to do was get Taehyung to shut up, throw a spoon at his head and make him stop. Really, it wasn't even supposed to reach Taehyung, maybe hit the stage or the floor in front of it, but it does. Or it almost does because Freddy's hand pops up and blocks it.
The clank of metal hitting the tiles is a memory Jimin will never forget.
"T-Tae-" Jimin tries to say, but he can't. It draws Taehyung's attention anyway. Taehyung turning right into Freddy's arm, bumping into it and pausing.
"Huh?"
"Please come down here and help." He's trying to say it calmly, but he really wants to yell that they should leave. Forget cleaning, forget work, and just go.
"Yeah." Taehyung even seems a little shaken, "Yeah, okay."
----
Unlike how every movie goes, Jimin goes straight to Seokjin as soon as he sees him. It ends up being explained away with the reason that the mechanics come because the animatronics start getting jumpy. Quite literally.
Jimin accepts that at first, because he would rather believe that than anything else he was thinking of; however, the animatronics being jumpy does not explain how Jimin is certain that they've been looking at him. Not every day, but at least once a week. Whenever Jimin is cleaning the few tables near the stage, he looks back, and the animatronics are staring in his direction. One of them, all of them. Their bodies don't turn, but their eyes are definitely looking at Jimin.
There's also been plenty of instances of Foxy being in a completely different position then he was at the start of the day. Not like how he moves when he sings, but a position that is not included in his little cheerful dance he does. It happens in, literally, the blink of an eye.
The worst thing is when one of the kids at a birthday party manages to make his way on stage. Jimin had his hands full with one of the other kids telling him all about how her favorite color is yellow, how they should paint the pizzeria yellow, and, basically, listing every yellow object at him. So, Jimin had no idea how the kid managed to do it, but was only alerted to it when a scream echoed throughout the room. On the stage, Chica was bent over the kid, staring down at him while he was cowering and yelling. Jimin and Taehyung managed to rush over at the same time, with Jimin lifting the kid up and taking him down and back to his parents while Taehyung tried to lift Chica back up.
The explanation Seokjin gave to the parents was the same one as before: the animatronics can be jumpy. The kid had punched at Chica's leg and so Chica had fallen over.
That doesn't explain why Chica's arms were reaching for the child's shoulders.
----
Lately, Jimin's been rushing to get out of Freddy's as soon as his shifts over. Throw off his apron, change fast, grab his stuff, and he's out the door. No one's noticed (Seokjin's been eyeing him, yet he hasn't said anything), least of all Taehyung.
"Hey!" Taehyung is standing in the doorway of the employee lounge, preventing Jimin from leaving. There is a small, miniscule chance Taehyung's just asking him to go eat, but with the huge grin on his face, Jimin doubts that's it.
"C'mon Tae," Jimin sighs, "I've got a lot of homework to do."
"Do you want to know what I just figured out?" Either he's being ignored or he wasn't heard. Maybe a mixture of both.
Jimin sighs again, staring at Taehyung and hoping he'll get the message.
"We need to check the animatronics out right before the mechanics come."
Why he expected Taehyung to understand any sort of social cues, Jimin has no idea.
"What."
"The reason nothing happened last time is because we didn't go on the sixth day, the day before the mechanics come. So, if we go on the sixth day something should happen."
"Wait," Jimin pauses, searching all around Taehyung's face to see if he realizes what he just said. "You want something to happen?"
"Yeah! I mean, if the stories are true-"
"If the stories are true we'll die, Taehyung."
"No we won't." Taehyung is grinning wider now and Jimin really really thinks the other has gone crazy.
"How? In what possible way would we be alright if other people have supposedly died by visiting Freddy's after night?"
"Freddy likes me, remember?"
Jimin blinks. Once, twice, hoping maybe he'll come back to a reality where Taehyung actually understands what he's saying. How does he know Freddy likes him? How can animatronics like someone? Why Freddy? Actually-
"You know what-" Jimin starts, then barrels his way past Taehyung. "That's it. No, Taehyung. No. It's too dangerous."
The pout Taehyung gives when he pulls Jimin back does nothing. Really. Jimin feels nothing at all.
"C'mon." He whines and tugs on Jimin's arms, preventing him from getting away. "Are you really going to make me go alone?"
"Neither of us are going! Why don't you get it, it's dangerous. It's not fun anymore, it's just legit danger now."
"How about this-" Taehyung pauses to think and Jimin shouldn't let himself be convinced into this. It's just an all around bad idea. Even if Jimin is making a big deal out of nothing and all this animatronic coming alive stuff is lies, it's better safe than sorry. But, here he is waiting for Taehyung's big plan. The thing is, he is absolutely going to say no.
"If I manage to get Seokjin's keys and if I call you before twelve, we'll go. And-" Taehyung stops Jimin just as he's about to open his mouth. "And! We only go in the dining area, take a quick look at the animatronics, not going on the stage, then leave."
There's a few minutes of Jimin processing all that in which Taehyung looks at him with puppy dog eyes. That might have a slight effect on him because it honestly doesn't seem like a horrible plan. Mostly becase they wouldn't even get to the actual going to Freddy's part. Besides, Taehyung would keep berating Jimin until he eventually went.
Jimin sighs, "Alright. But, we're staying thirty minutes tops."
Taehyung gives a huge grin, practically jumping up and down. He's excited for this. Honest to God, excited. What is wrong with him? "Yes, totally. See you later."
Better question: what is wrong with Jimin?
----
There was no way in hell Seokjin would leave the keys in a place Taehyung could find it again. Jimin had thought. There was no way that they wouldn't change the locks or install cameras or something. Jimin had thought. There was absolutely no way Taehyung, a person unable to do anything normally, would call him at a normal time. Jimin had thought.
Basically, Jimin had thought there was no way this was possible. Not them getting back in again. Not any of the stories actually being true. And, certainly, not them becoming one of the stories.
Yet, here they are, both of them standing at the entrance to the dining area in shock because none of the animatronics are on the stage. The only solace they have is Foxy's area is closed off so he has to be inside.
Right?
"Where are they?" Taehyung sounds wary. He's the one that begged and pleaded for Jimin to come back again, said that it'd be okay, and he's scared.
Jimin takes a deep breath. Partially to calm his nerves, but mostly to stop himself from punching Taehyung in the gut. "Let's just go. Maybe...maybe when the mechanics come, they take the animatronics away." Any other day, Jimin would be able to convince himself of this. He'd be able to reason everything away into something logical.
But, tonight, Freddy's song starts up. Not from the stage, from the direction of the bathroom.
Taehyung and Jimin turn to each other at the same time and, before Jimin can say or do anything, Taehyung's going towards the bathroom. What did Jimin do to deserve Taehyung in his life?
"No, c'mon Taehyung." Jimin whispers, trying to sound as scolding as he can. It doesn't work, Taehyung is heading towards the bathroom fast while Jimin is slowly trailing behind.
"What are you two doing here?" It startles them both, Taehyung freezing right in front of the bathroom doors while Jimin almost trips forward. The voice sounds like it's coming from everywhere, not just the bathroom. So, it's not completely worrying. It also sounds a bit familiar-
"Get the fuck away from that door."
Jimin pauses, then looks up. "Yoongi?"
"Yes- Don't you dare open that door dumbass." His voice sounds so sharp, yet completely on edge that Taehyung steps away from the door. Jimin has no idea how Taehyung is so calm when his own stomach is doing flips and he's practically frozen in his spot. Then again, Taehyung seemed to have wanted this to happen.
"What's in there?" Taehyung calls out, very loud. Even though Yoongi was perfectly capable of hearing Jimin before and the fact that there is something in the bathroom.
"Does it matter? Just get the fuck out." There's a pause, then the sound of a door shutting. "Get out right now."
Adrenaline kicks in fast. Jimin might be scared, but Yoongi sounding absolutely terrified sparks him into motion. He runs over to Taehyung, aiming to grab him and pull him to the exit. He'll use all his strength if he has to. Mainly because he knows that Taehyung's still going to try and open that door.
"Let's go." Jimin says, tugging on Taehyung's arm.
"Jimin."
"Didn't you hear Yoongi? We've got to-"
"Jimin."
"Look, you might be okay with staying here, but I'm not. There's something wrong here, something bad. This isn't a joke anymore, Taehyung. This isn't just stories-"
"Jimin." This is the first time Jimin has heard Taehyung so frightened. As much as Jimin doesn't want to, he turns around. He has to see, he has to know. He has to.
It's Freddy. It's standing in the doorway between the hall and the dining area, looking straight at Jimin and Taehyung.
"What are you doing? Go." Yoongi yells and it's probably blasting through the speakers, but Jimin only hears it muted. Freddy's eyes are completely entrancing as he moves forward. Slowly. Each step sounding like metal churning.
"L-let's-" Jimin's mouth snaps shut as Freddy's head turns directly towards him.
There's shuffling in the speakers, then the sound of a door opening before shouting from the hallway. All it sounds like is noise, Jimin doesn't know if it's because of the fear or Yoongi's just yelling random things.
It doesn't matter because it's not working.
Taehyung takes a deep breath, "What do we do?"
There's no possible answer to the question. What do you do when an animatronic has come to life and is walking towards you to do God knows what? Run, he supposes. But, how can you do that when you're frozen?
"Freddy." Taehyung says and immediately the bear's head moves, gears and metal clinking at how sudden it was. The creepiest thing of all is that Freddy actually stops. "Hey. Uh. We're sorry you're stuck here, probably so bored-"
"What the fuck?" Yoongi's voice rings out causing everyone, including Freddy, to look back at the hallway. He's standing in the doorway, but begins to back up as Freddy starts toward him.
"No, wait!" Taehyung snaps. Why, Jimin doesn't know. Yoongi has doors to keep him safe while Jimin and Taehyung are out in the open. It would make sense to let Freddy follow Yoongi, then Taehyung and Jimin run out as fast as they can. Though, when has Taehyung ever made sense. "Please don't hurt my friends. We're just doing our jobs, just like you're doing yours."
There's just silence. Which, well, is better than being attacked, mauled, or murdered.
"Okay?" Taehyung asks, stepping closer and pulling Jimin forward also. Had he been holding onto Taehyung this entire time?
For what feels like hours, they're just in a stand-still: Freddy is frozen in front of them, Taehyung is looking at it and Jimin is watching from slightly behind. Then, Freddy turns and slowly walks toward the kitchen.
Jimin doesn't dare breath until Freddy's walked through the door and out of sight.
There's the click of the speakers turning on, but only silence for a couple seconds. "I'm not-" There's a large breath. "I'm not going to ask what just happened, but what the fuck."
Taehyung flashes a grin back at Jimin, who merely stares back. That's all he can do. He's never been so scared in his entire life.
"You guys need to leave. That might have been a fluke, alright? Today is dangerous, so get out."
His heart is pumping incredibly fast, but he still knows what a fantastic idea that is. He tugs on Taehyung's arm, motioning to leave because he's sure his voice isn't going to work at the moment.
Taehyung gives one glance back towards the kitchen, then they're walking out.
----
An entire week, that Thursday night at Fredy's to this Thursday, has passed by. Life continued on normally, Jimin ate, slept, went to classes, hung out with friends, but the one thing he absolutely did not do was go back.
He knows it's horrible for him to do. Seokjin had been looking for an employee for the longest time and then the person he hired won't show up to work. It's even worse because Seokjin had called Hoseok, only to ask if Jimin was okay. Hoseok had then tried to make Jimin tell him what was going on, but it gets nowhere. Who would believe his story? Not even Namjoon would when he's the one who told him Freddy's was haunted.
There's a huge chance Jimin will be fired (Hoseok tells him this every day he misses work) and maybe, that's what Jimin wants. He definitely feels apologetic towards Hoseok and Namjoon considering he's barely made enough money to cover his part of the rent for two more months. It's the only reason Jimin hasn't sent in a resignation.
----
During the third week, Taehyung calls. It's quite surprising because he calls at around four in the afternoon, a perfectly acceptable time. Though it is interrupting Jimin doing his homework, but small victories.
"You should come back." Taehyung says it as soon as Jimin's picked up the call.
Jimin grins despite himself, "Who's working my shift with you?"
There's a long dramatic sigh that lasts way too long, but Jimin laughs. "Jungkook. He won't listen to me about anything."
"Oh yeah? I know the feeling.
"Hey, he won't even set the table the right way."
"Oh really? Coming from the person who keeps putting the red table cloths into the white table cloths laundry basket?"
"Seokjin liked the pink!" There's a few seconds of silence, a very difficult thing when Taehyung is there. "I'm really sorry, Jimin."
"It's fine." Because it actually isn't his fault. Taehyung didn't actually know the animatronics were haunted and he definitely didn't seem to realize how dangerous it might be. And, if Jimin had to be honest with himself, he had been a bit curious and probably would have checked it out at some point.
"Come back, okay?" Taehyung says, "Jungkook's not as fun as you."
"I don't know-"
"Don't worry about anything. I'll protect you."
Jimin snorts loudly, "Right. As long as you're there."
"They listen to me. You saw it! Everything will be fine so you should come back."
"And you're just going to always keep them away from me, huh?"
"Exactly." Taehyung chirps, beaming smile evident in his voice. "Nothing's going to happen."
----
Taehyung ends up being right, but in a completely opposite way.
After a few days, Jimin had been convinced. It mostly was how guilty he felt towards Seokjin, because there were only a few employees; Namjoon and Hoseok, because of the rent; and Taehyung, because Jungkook is an absolute terror. So, Jimin was going to show up to his first shift in about a month. Until Hoseok leans on Jimin's doorframe, holding out his cell for Jimin to take.
"It's Seokjin." Hoseok is giving his 'I don't want to say I told you so' face when Jimin picks up the call.
"Hey...Seokjin." Jimin greets, hesitantly. "Uh, sorry I've been gone." For basically a month and, well, who knows how much trouble that's been for Seokjin. If Jimin is about to get fired, he deserves it.
"It's no problem. Really." Seokjin sighs, "I did the same thing."
"What?"
"It's nothing. Not anymore. I called because you don't have to come in for a while, if you were planning on coming back."
Jimin's stomach drops, even though he expected this it's still upsetting. "Oh."
"No, you're not getting fired." Seokjin pauses, "Um, there's been an...incident. Freddy's is going to be closed for a little while."
He might have been a little upset before, but now Jimin's stomach is completely unsettled. "An 'incident?' What does that mean? Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah. Well. Um. Jiho's maybe missing." Seokjin lets out a small nervous laugh. "And with the Chica incident, uh, people aren't exactly swarming in-"
"Jiho's missing."
"Maybe, alright. Don't worry, we've got so many people trying to help we'll figure out what happened in no time."
There are some parts of Jimin that are completely confused, some that are terrified, but mostly he's just numb. What he expected was Seokjin firing him or, at least, yelling at him. Not this.
"So, um, yeah. I'll keep you updated, but since Freddy's can't sustain itself at the moment the place is on an indefinite hiatus."
"Uh- ye- yeah. Okay. Got it." That's all Jimin can think to say. Then, Seokjin gives a small bye and the phone call is ended. He hands the phone over lifelessly and Hoseok looks so worried.
"You okay?" Hoseok asks. "What's up?"
"No, I'm alright." The stare Hoseok gives him is very wary and Jimin tries to give a small smile. "Really."
"Okay." Hoseok frowns, but turns to leave anyway. "You can talk to me later. Anytime, alright?"
"Yeah," Jimin breathes. As soon as Hoseok's gone, Jimin just falls back on his bed. He's taken to staring at the wall in complete and utter shock. It might not be related to Freddy's. People sometimes go missing out of nowhere because the world is dangerous. That's it. That has to be it.
But then, why is the pizzeria involved?
After a few minutes of Jimin staring blankly at his wall, trying to reach a conclusion that will help him sleep at night, he gets a message.
Taehyung [5:24pm]
Did Seokjin call u yet?
Jimin [5:25pm]
Yea.
Taehyung [5:25pm]
He'd been messin with freddy for a while...u think thats it???
That is absolutely not what Jimin wanted to learn. He looks at the message then flops back to lay on his bed. This is crazy. This entire thing is so unreal to him. He can't believe it.
His phone vibrates again.
Taehyung [5:30pm]
hey...u want to check it out
He will never ever understand Taehyung.
Jimin [5:31pm]
....
Taehyung [5:31pm]
jk! :d but u want to get dinner?
Really, Jimin's not in the mood, but he's definitely not in the mood to be alone. This is the better of two evils, he decides. Plus, Taehyung always rambles on about the most random things that it will probably help.
Jimin [5:33pm]
sure
Jimin [5:33pm]
if ur going to try and drag me to freddys im deleting ur number
Taehyung [5:44pm]
:D
He really doesn't know what that means, but, for some reason, he's willing to take the risk.