Hozier
••• From Eden •••

there's something tragic about you

something so magic about you

don't you agree?

babe, there's something lonesome about you

something so wholesome about you

get closer to me

•••••

Fanart!!!

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Artist: Sleepiix

Artist: BoyMarcel98






edit notes: add camera flash side effects

  There must've been a bug going around the complex, because soon after Mandy returned from being sick, it was suddenly Gabby who was calling in for a day off to recover from an illness.

  That landed me where I was now, limping alongside Roxy as we meandered the Plex after the first show of the day. She was quiet and I was busy rescheduling my workload on my Faz-Watch, but that didn't make me any less aware of the hideously awkward tension that hung between us. It was near-on debilitating and I hoped that the wolf would break the silence first, because I kept coming up blank in terms of icebreakers.

  I'd realised that despite spending almost five months now at the Pizzaplex, I never really did... hang out with Roxy. At least, never alone, just her and I. There'd always been someone else there to bridge us together, whether it was one of the other Glamrocks or Gabby, and our blatant unfamiliarity was quickly apparent; even Roxy was tugging on her hair while trying to find something to say.

  A group of children raced up to Roxy, a massive crowd of them, obviously having banded together and bonded as friends during this heavy-traffic Saturday. I stepped back as Roxy dropped to their height and engaged in the aimless, stumbling conversations that children do. She was in her element as she posed for photos from parents' phones and signed autographs on photos, merch or bits of scrap notebook paper.

  But as soon as they'd move on, her smile would fade into an awkward grimace and send me a glance out of the side of her eyes when she thought I wasn't looking. It was agonising in a silent, disconcerting kind of way; Roxy was usually so self-confident. It was quite eye-opening that a little social distress was enough to silence her completely.

  Roxy Raceway was still quiet, as it usually was in the mornings. There were only a couple of kids on the raceway as they skid their karts along the tarmac. Parents milled in the 50s-style Glamrock Beauty Salon at the end of the large, cavernous area, either getting manicures while their kids kicked up their tires on the track or chatting in the pit-stop style seating area outside.

  Roxy, having decided to herself where she wanted to go, lead the way to the salon. I followed thoughtlessly, trailing after the wolf while I tried to wrack my brains for a way to chop this tension down like the weed it was.

  Roxy patted an empty styling chair. "Sit."

  My head shot to her at the sound of the demand. I glanced between her and the seat, before settling on a confused look. "What?"

  "Are you deaf or just incompetent?" Roxy patted the chair with more insistence. "Sit."

  I pulled a look at her insult but placed my crutch against the wall and sat, anyway. I watched in the mirror as she shooed off a staff bot that had begun to approach with a brush in hand and instead plucked her own from a table. I winced as she tugged the tie from my hair and began pulling the bristles through it.

  "When was the last time you had your hair cut?" Roxy asked with a grumbly huff to her voice as she brushed my hair. "It's terrible - just look at all these split ends. What does Freddy even see in you?"

  Dang, why were the newbies so good at hitting where it hurts? Did the programmers just put all the brattiness into Monty and Roxy, or was it a developed trait to protect themselves against the feeling of being inadequate ? No wonder why Dennis was so careful about picking their handlers, their insults were genuinely painful.

  I don't know what Freddy sees in me, either.

  It would've made more sense, if he was beginning to be able to understand the concept of and feel affection, that he'd direct it at a bandmate. But no, it was me, decidedly human and chock-full of mistakes; I'd cried in front of him a handful of times and shouted in his face to the point of him being emotionally wounded. I ignored his advice with my leg, we bickered and he even had to come save my sorry ass when I foolishly went exploring on my own.

  I'd been nothing but an inconvenient thorn in his side, and yet he didn't pluck me out. He kept me close, as grating and painful as thorn-me was, and decided that my character flaws were worth whatever it was that I meant to him.

  "I don't know," I replied honestly. The brushing was beginning to feel nice and I was taken back to my youth, when my mother used to brush and style it for me. I felt young, like a child, and my eyes started to grow heavy at the pleasurable tugging at my scalp.

  "You don't know when the last time you had your hair cut or don't know what Freddy sees in you?"

  "Uh..." I floundered. I found Roxy's face in the mirror as she concentrated on my locks. "Both?"

  Her dry glare found mine through the reflection. She had to pause for a second to greet some timidly approaching children and excitedly ramped their confidence up. I watched her interact with them and a twinge of sympathy stuck a chord within me - Roxy was great at her job. She was genuinely kind, if not a little overzealous at times. Like Monty, she was just afraid of the uncertainty of her future. Uncertainty that I, though unwittingly, had caused.

  Imagine looking at your friend and wondering which one of you was going to get the cut and cease to exist just because the favourite was beginning to malfunction? To be torn apart so your processor could be rewired and implanted into someone else? Imagine counting down to a day that you weren't even sure was coming, and imagine not being able to do anything about it if it did. Human hands built them into life, and it would be theirs that would strip that life from them without hesitation.

  "I'm not trying to be a homewrecker, Roxy," I said softly when she returned. She pulled out a pair of scissors and began trimming the ends of my hair. "It's not my intention to hurt anyone. You and Monty won't be touched, I promise."

  Roxy grunted as she concentrated, despite being more than capable of multitasking. We fell into a silence that was somehow even more tense than before.

  "He talks about you all the time, you know," she said. "Without even realising it. It's gross. Chica adores it, though, all this lovey-dovey stuff. Makes her swoon."

  "Oh." I could see my cheeks blush in the mirror, flushing red as though I'd just been for a jog through the complex. My heart rate reminisced the same damn thing. I didn't realise that he... talked about me. And all the time? A weird feeling of weakness swept through me. 

  "You like him back, don't you?" Roxy asked.

  "I... don't know," I replied quietly. "It's confusing." And I was still so entrenched in my memories of Michael - not to mention the difficulties that would follow if I did openly admit that I was interested in Freddy, too. Would we pursue with a relationship? How? It would have to be kept on the down low, and we'd have to be so careful. Would it be worth the inevitable end? The inevitable pain?

  It wasn't as if he could meet my family (who, honesty, would probably institute me for falling for a robot, no matter how charismatic and charming Freddy was) and it wasn't as if he had any family for me to meet - aside from the band, I supposed. I couldn't live at the complex, he couldn't leave it. There were just too many variables. It broke my heart that whatever was beginning to bloom between us was destined to fail and, unless Freddy was already aware of these difficulties, it probably had broken his heart, too.

  Roxy must've noticed the conflict on my face. She huffed through her nose and sprayed something expensive through my tended hair.

  "Let's talk about something else," she abruptly decided. I was more than eager to change the subject; having deep, existential thoughts about how I was slowly getting a crush on a robot bear that was too sentient for his own good was for late-night, can't-sleep Y/n to worry about.

  "Okay," I agreed. Roxy fluffed her fingers through my hair as she tried to decide how to style it. I tried to think of a new topic, but could only come up with an elementary question; "what's your favourite colour?"

  "Seriously?"

  "Why not?" I beamed through the mirror at Roxy. She caught my gaze and hesitated, before sighing and resuming her styling.

  "Red," she answered with a harrumph. "Yours?"

  I gave my answer and she hummed. "What about animal?" I questioned. "Do you have a favourite animal?"

  "There's these... animals that come in with people. They wear vests," she replied after a brief moment of contemplative silence. "I like them."

  Animals that wear vests? I furrowed my brow as I tried to picture what they could be, before I brightened with an answer. Roxy stepped back to admire her work.

  "Guide dogs?" I tilted my head with a smile. "I like them, too."

  "They don't like me, though," Roxy murmured. "They always get scared whenever I'm near."

  "Oh, you know what?" I began enthusiastically. "That's actually because dogs are just really good at sensing when someone's super cool. That'd be why they're scared of you - you emit cool so strongly that it frightens them."

  Roxy stared at me dryly as she paused what she was doing. I felt myself wilt just a tad under the look she was giving me- I'd briefly forgotten how mature her sentience really was. I must've looked like an idiot, trying to cheer her up as though she were a child.

  "No, it's because I scare them," she said. I avoided her stare with an awkward blush and she resumed her project. "... thank you, though. For trying to make me feel better."

  My gaze jumped back to the wolf and was elated to see her expression. I'd look like an idiot a thousand times over if it meant that I got to see Roxanne genuinely, contently smile at me. She did a couple of finishing touches with my hair before spinning the chair back around so I could see the final result in the mirror.

  "What do you think?"

  I grinned at the pretty style she'd chosen for me. There was clearly an innate skill within her for styling, and she'd managed to find a way to match the shape to my face without changing anything too drastically. It also just looked healthier. My own shampoo and conditioner had nothing on the salon-level products Roxy had used to make my locks all soft and shiny. The split ends had been completely chopped.

  "You did amazing, Roxy!" I gushed as I admired the style from every angle I possibly and humanly could.

  Her tail brushed just slightly over the ground, pleased.

⚡️🧸🤖🧸⚡️

  A knock on my office door made me lift my weary eyes from the computer screen.

  Freddy's face lit up when I caught his gaze through the window of my office. He happily waved as he closed his eyes in gentle mirth, making a smile pull at my lips. He took a step back when I opened the door.

  "Hey, Fred," I greeted tiredly.

  "Good evening, Y/n," Freddy replied with a happy little wiggle of his ears. He entered my office when I gestured for him to come inside with a nod of my head and shut the door behind him. I returned to my desk chair. "You haven't left for home. It's very late."

  "Can't leave yet," I sighed as I spun back around to face the computer. I had a pile of work to do that I didn't get done due to being Roxy's surrogate handler for the day, and leaving it 'till tomorrow was akin to making a death wish. "I need to get this stuff done tonight."

  "Have you eaten?"

  "Not yet," I murmured. I begun typing out a response to an email about an upcoming commercial the company was beginning to plan for the complex. "I'll eat something soon."

  I could feel Freddy's disapproving stare before he even said anything. My spine tingled with it, heavy and somehow familiar. I braced myself for the inevitable reprimand and dropped my chin onto my palm.

  "It is nearly ten at night." There it is. I hid a smile behind my fingers. "I'll order your dinner now."

  "M'kay, papa bear," I hummed.

  "Why does everyone call me that?" Freddy muttered from under his breath. I blew air through my nose in amusement and hit send. "You should rest," he insisted when he noticed me pull up another email that I needed to reply to - this one a scheduling conflict for Wednesday. "Maybe have a short break on the couch?"

  I spun around on my chair and found Freddy already perched on the edge of the sofa with an expectant, innocent, wide gaze. He could get away with anything with the way he was looking at me. I raised a brow and crossed my arms. I wasn't unobservant enough to not notice the way his fingers were twitching, nor naive enough to realise what he was implying.

  "This is just you wanting to snuggle," I figured. 

  "Perhaps," he confessed without a hint of shame to his voice and a shrug of a shoulder. "But you should still rest. Will you join me?"

  I released a long, loaded sigh through my nose as I glanced back at my emails. I still had so many to crawl through, so many schedules to organise and, on top of everything else, worry about this new advertisement HQ was wanting to begin planning. But I was also so tired, and I'd be lying if I didn't admit to thinking a little too much of that morning when I woke up curled against him. Just the idea of closing my eyes was enough to sway me.

  "I'm quickly beginning to realise that I can't say no to you," I huffed as I turned back to face Freddy. A bright smile crossed over his maw when I began to hobble towards him. "You're lucky there's no cameras in my office."

  "Lucky indeed," he agreed as I slumped into the soft pillows beside him. An exhale released from my lips in relief as I quickly sunk into a state of relaxation. When a knock on the door revealed to be a staff bot with a burrito after Freddy opened it, my mood only improved.

  "Is that better?" Freddy asked when he relinquished the burrito into my outstretched, grabby hands. His gaze softened when I gave a giddy, excited giggle as I unwrapped the warm meal and took an eager bite. "Don't eat too fast."

  "This is why everyone calls you dad," I said from behind a mouthful. He pulled a displeased look as he sat beside me, gaze intent. His hands hovered in that way where he wanted to do something but was unsure, fretting.

  "Don't talk with your mouth full," he warned. "You could choke."

  "See?" I talked, anyway. "Dad."

  He rolled his eyes at my quips and leant back into the sofa that creaked with every slight movement the heavy robot made. I rested against his side as I ate my dinner - I hadn't realised how hungry I was - and listened to the quiet hum of machinery his endoskeleton made underneath his orange shell. It was soothing, in a weird sort of way. It was both reminiscent of the past and grounded me in the present.

  "How is your leg?" Freddy asked when I was halfway through my burrito. I hummed as I stared at the food.

  "Sorry," I said. "I'm not allowed to talk."

  "Y/n."

  I chuckled at the exasperation in his tone. "It's fine. Couple more days and I'll be walking normal, too."

  "That's great news," Freddy remarked, pleased. His arm shifted to rest along the top of the couch and I sunk further into the space of his side it allowed. I pulled my knees up to my chest as I nibbled on a bit of bread wrap. "I didn't get to see much of you, today. I missed you."

  My heart gave a betraying flutter at his words. I forced myself to focus on the burrito instead of how the simple, three words shifted my entire mood. Food, Y/n. Think of the food.

  It didn't work. The warmth spread like a wildfire, kissing along my nerves and stroking sensations across my skin. My feet shifted on the couch and I stared at them.

  "I missed you, too, big guy," I murmured.

  Freddy made a content purr from the back of his throat. I pulled myself into a tighter ball against him and the backrest of the couch, cheeks blazing with heat, as I finished off my dinner. I scrunched the tinfoil into a ball and tossed it to the bin under my desk. It severely missed.

  "You should play basketball," Freddy remarked.

  "Shut up," was my response. "Thank you for getting me dinner."

  His muzzle tilted down to me with a satisfied warmth to his simper and it brushed against the top of my head. my eyelids fluttered. "You're most welcome," he said, before quickly scooping me into his arms and causing me to shriek in surprise.

  "What are you doing?" I squeaked.

  "Snuggling," he said through a happy sigh as he got comfortable on the couch with me curled in his arms. I struggled for grip to sit upright, but my hands just kept slipping along his shell. "Is this not what snuggling is?" Freddy sent me a pitiful look with an unfair tilt of his head. "Do you not want to snuggle?"

  My heart damn near gave out at what was clearly a puppy-dog pout on his face. My struggling ceased immediately, and I allowed myself to relax into his hold like the oversized human baby I was. Maybe I just didn't want to disappoint him, but a larger part of me did want to snuggle. 

  "God." I grumpily crossed my arms and donked the side of my head against his chest. "I'd let you get away with murder."

  "I like your hair."

  I immediately softened. "Thank you." Fuck, was that all it took to make me forgive him? Christ, I needed to reevaluate how I handled his compliments. He could intentionally burn the entire complex to the ground and a cute smile and sweet words could make everyone forgive him. I wondered if he understood the power he held, and if he was aware just how dangerous it could be. 
 
  Freddy raised a hand to run it through my hair. I grimaced back at the sight of his sharp claws aiming for my temple. "Whoa, hey, watch the claws!"

  His hand recoiled at my exclamation. He glanced at my serious face and the blue claws. A small smile grew on his face.

  "Don't worry," he soothed. The claws retracted into his fingers, leaving not even a noticeable ridge. My brows raised in surprise. "I guarantee you that I am the safest animatronic you will come across."

  "I bet the endos say otherwise," I said dryly. Freddy began running his now clawless fingers through my hair and I surprised myself from how fast I went limp, boneless from the sweet, sweet sensations. He was scratching the exact spots that would render me completely blissed out. My eyes closed of their own accord. "Oh..." 

  "I bet so, too," he hummed with a tinge of humour to his voice. "How was your day with Roxy?"

  "Mmm. Good." I felt so drowsy, so sleepy. How did he know about my sweet spots? Last time I was gently scratched in those places it was with Michael. It didn't help when Freddy pulled the couch's blanket over me, engulfing me in its plush warmth. Even the metal of his hold wasn't too bad of a place to rest on. "I think we're actually friends now."

  "How splendid," he hummed quietly. It was as if he wanted me to fall asleep, which, actually, he probably did. I was too tired to fight his efforts off, and the reprieve of the burrito in my stomach just made me all the more lethargically content.

  I was softly nudged awake an hour later. My heavy eyelids peeled open and found Freddy's gaze peering down at me, still sprawled in his arms.

  "It is almost closing time," Freddy said in a gentle voice as I began to stretch out my cramped body. "I must implore that you go home so you can get an adequate rest before tomorrow."

  "You kicking me out, big guy?" I teased in a clogged voice that was clearly just beginning to wake. It was a good nap - a great one, even - despite the circumstances being near absurd. I certainly didn't picture sleeping in my robotic coworker's arms while in my office when I walked into work that morning. Freddy huffed.

  "If it were up to me, sweetheart, you'd have a bed in my room."

  I paused mid-stretch to send him a baffled fucking look of downright shock. He stared back at me, unwavering, and I realised with a start that he was dead serious. My heart dropped to my stomach when my brain immediately pulled up some more... provocative thoughts of having a bed in his room. My breath sucked in too fast for my lungs to take.

  "Fuck me," I cursed my disbelief into a whisper before realising my poor choice of words too late. I slapped my hands over my mouth as my face blazed red, and Freddy blinked in brief astonishment before that stupid fucking smug look of his returned. His hand squeezed my thigh. My heart almost catapulted to the damn stratosphere. 

  "While I'm not opposed," he began slyly, "I must insist that you get home."

  "Shut up, shut up." I pulled myself from his arms with great effort and fumbled onto the couch beside him. The blanket tangled in my legs during my flustered escape.

  "Watch your injury," Freddy warned within a chuckle. I slumped to the floor as I wiggled in my bid for freedom against the tyranny of being the spectacle of his entertainment, still trapped in the blanket. He watched me in deep amusement. "What are you-?" He picked me up mid-floor shuffle and held me up by my armpits like one would with a misbehaving cat. The blanket slipped from my legs, freeing me from its soft confinement. "There you go, you stinker."

  I stared at him as I hung there, face burning with blush and frowning from the significant damage to my dignity. Freddy carefully placed me on my feet with a long, low sigh of content beguilement, no doubt thinking that I was the damn near funniest thing he'd witnessed all week. I'd probably find the situation funny, too, if I wasn't silently freaking my head off about my slip of the tongue and the visual thoughts that had begun to take over my brain.

  "You always say the most unexpected things," Freddy murmured with a warm smile. "You keep me on my toes."

  "I think I keep myself on my toes, too," I admitted breathlessly. He tilted his head at me and my brain tumbled over itself with raunchy ass thoughts; 'what if he tilted his head like that while on the bed? What if he was kneeling? What if I was kneeling?' My blush worsened with each erotogenic idea that shoved itself in front of my mind's eye.

  "Are you going to retrieve your belongings or are you planning another impromptu stay overnight?" Freddy asked when he realised that my staring was only going to amount to more staring. "Not that I'd mind, of course."

  "Right." I shook my buzzing head and snapped back into focus. I grabbed my bag and made way to the door that Freddy was holding open for me. I avoided his gaze as I slipped past. I wasn't being subtle in my staunch embarrassment, if his almost inaudible roll of a chuckle was anything to go by.

  I gave my goodnights to the rest of the band as they milled about in their separate rooms. Freddy trailed beside me as I went, keeping me quiet company as we rode the elevator down the lobby in silence. I was torn between wanting to cry and wanting to kick myself for what I said and my horribly wonderful thoughts that followed the idea of Freddy having a bed in his room, but I resumed a look of self-control as we made our way to the exit.

  "Have a good sleep, sweetheart," Freddy said as I swiped my ID against the card reader and unlocked the employee entrance. I bit my lip before releasing it when I turned back to give him an awkward, albeit warm smile.

  Fuck it. "I'll see you in the morning, handsome."

  There was a distinct, creaking sound as his stumpy metal tail began to wag in response. Freddy's eyes drifted to the side. I prided myself on at least getting even with making him flustered.

  With a cheek-bitten smile, I stepped out into the cold of the night and began making my way home.

⚡️🧸🤖🧸⚡️

  "Have you heard the news?" Joey asked hushedly as he pulled me to the corner of the party room that we were watching over. "Mandy's changing departments."

  "What?" I gasped. I was drowned out a gaggle of giggles coming from the crowd of young children that Bonnie was entertaining. Joey nodded feverishly, coily ponytail swinging from the effort and eyes wide as he divulged me with information.

  "Told me yesterday," he continued. "Said that she can't take the stress of being a handler anymore. Honestly, I'm surprised she didn't buckle sooner. Tough little bugger that one."

  I frowned sadly. I genuinely enjoyed working with Mandy, and while moving to a new department wasn't as finalising as quitting the complex altogether, there was definitely going to be a significant drop in time spent together. But I could understand why, too - Mandy was a particularly anxious person, and being a handler was a high-stress job. She needed to put her own mental-wellbeing first.

  "How's Freddy taking it?" I asked. He and Mandy had been close friends since before I arrived at the complex. "Does he know?"

  Joey blinked at me. "Dude, don't you get it? You're gonna have to watch over him until they hire a new handler. Freddy's sad that Mandy's going, sure, but he's downright ecstatic that he gets to have you, instead."

  The sympathy I was feeling towards the robot was abruptly squashed. I sent Joey a dry look.

  "Charming."

  Joey only chuckled with a shrug and turned back to survey the party. Bonnie was sat with the kids, large fingers fumbling as they all tried to make origami bunnies together from the unused napkins on the table. It was probably the quietest party he'd fronted in a long while.

  "Joey, look!" Bonnie said triumphantly as he held out his creation for his handler to see. It was... it was not good. The folds were all crumpled and slipping out of place. Joey covered a snort by clearing his throat and I grinned.

  "Looks great, buddy!" he nodded. I gave a positive thumbs up.

  Joey went off on lunch break and Bonnie went to charge after the party, so I busied myself with reorganising my office. I hummed along to some tunes that randomly popped into my head and spoke lines from movies or shows that had no clear relation while my busy mind wandered as I set about the mindless task.

  "'Well jokes on you, I've set the thermostat to ninety,'" I muttered to myself in stupid voices. I shoved some hard copy files into a folder to be sorted out when I had the mental capacity to do so. "'Good, I like it warm.' 'Good, because I also set the house on fire-'"

  "Hello?"

  "WAH!" I screeched and tripped over myself when I turned to the door I'd left open. Mandy was poking her head inside while Freddy stood behind her, oddly fidgety. I pushed my hair back with an embarrassed smile and tried to act natural. "Oh, hey, guys. Please don't tell me you heard me talking to myself."

  "No," Freddy quickly said just as Mandy, with an amused grin, replied with an 'absolutely we did.' I beamed painfully at them. Great.

  "It's my last week working as a handler," Mandy said as she shifted on her feet. "Since we're not going to be hanging out as much after I move, I wanted to know if you would like to join us?"

  I sat back on my feet and hummed, glancing around the absolute bomb site my office had become - it was like ground zero had hit. I could always just shove everything into a random place and deal with it later. Yeah. That sounded like the responsible thing to do. Mandy was more important. 

  "Okay." I nodded and stood. "Off to Fazerblast we go, then."

  "Yay!" Mandy cheered.

  "Yay," Freddy weakly echoed.

  I kept staring at Freddy with a scrutinising frown as Mandy lead the way to Fazerblast. He was acting weird again - or, well, weirder than normal. He gazed ahead and pretended to listen to Mandy ramble on about her new position in managing the staff bots at Bonnie Bowl.

  Before I could butt in and ask what it was that had a wedgie between Freddy's giant metal asscheeks, Monty and Arty joined us with a chipper greeting from the human and a grunt from the gator as we all began walking through the complex together. Now it was Monty's turn to eye me weirdly. What the hell was going on?

  The gator placed a hand on my shoulder and pulled me back from the small crowd that had amassed as we crossed the partly crowded atrium. A couple of kids began holding onto Monty's tail as he walked, dragged along the ground and giggling like the cute little menaces they were. He ignored them in favour of crossing his muscled arms and scowling down at me.

  "Uh oh," I said when he began to glare at me from behind his glasses. "What's wrong?"

  "Who's Michael?" Monty gruffly asked.  

  My steps faltered and I almost ate shit from how surprised hearing him grumble that name made me. My chest clenched painfully as I shot him a shocked look.

  "What?"

  "Ya shouted that name at Fazbear's face a couple a weeks back and then got all sad," Monty recalled with a sharp twist to his tongue. His red eyes pierced through me and pinned me to the spot. "M'not gonna ask a third time, darl.' Who's Michael?"

  "I have no idea what you're talking about," I said nervously as I forced myself to look forward. The other three had pulled ahead, walking at a pace faster than ours and I stared desperately at the back of the bear. Freddy, help me.

  "I think ya do."

  Monty dropped his snout closer to my face when I remained silent. A warning growl slipped from between his sharp teeth and curled through my hair. His vague threat had my stomach twisting in subdued fright.

  "Tell me."

  "Fine, you child," I hissed as I shot my head up to send him a withering glare. "A run down, keep up; Michael Afton and I were best friends since we were thirteen and then dated for years before he abandoned me for no reason eight years ago. He hurt me, I hate him, but I'm still so in love with him that it hurts. Happy?"

  Monty blinked as his sunglasses slipped an inch down his metal snout and revealed his almost-comically wide eyes. I huffed and turned away, fists balled so tightly that my knuckles ran white. He leant back and stared ahead, quiet as he soaked in the information I'd all but head-slammed him with.

  "Dang, doll," Monty mumbled after a tense silence as he adjusted his glasses. "Sorry fer bringin' it up. Th' sucks."

  I softened under his genuine sympathy, but only slightly. A sigh released my tension. "It's fine. You didn't know."

  He gave an awkward pat on the head in the only way of reassurance that he knew how. I huffed through my nose in sad amusement.

  "Thank you."

  Monty shrugged and dropped his hand back to his side. "Jus' don' say I'm goin' soft and we're even."

  I sent him a small smile. "Deal."

⚡️🧸🤖🧸⚡️

  "It's just a shed," I whispered to myself as I stared at the wooden structure before me. "Just a shed."

  I reached a hand out to the door and froze.

  "Fuck," I breathed to myself as my hand hesitated, outstretched.

  My fingertips brushed the cold handle and I recoiled back as if struck. Tears prickled my eyes. It was the only thing that Michael still had a semblance of control over, this rundown shed filled of him. I still hadn't gathered the courage to enter its depths, so it sat in the back lawn like how Michael himself lived in the back of my head.

  I'd hoped that stripping Michael away from the shed that I was forced to see every time I entered my bedroom would finally pull him from my mind. But it'd been eight years, and I still wasn't strong enough to even open the damn door. My rage and sorrow swarmed up my throat.

  "Bastard," I cried at the shed, as if it could communicate my pain to wherever he was. "You monster."

  And then, as if just realising that shouting at a shed wouldn't bring him back, I turned on my heel and headed back inside.

  "Monster," I whispered again as I wiped the tears with my sleeve.