Jeremy knew something was wrong with Mike the moment he laid eyes on him.

It wasn't anything incredibly obvious. More like the small, subtle hints the security guard was giving off is what Jeremy based his conclusion on.

The red rimmed iris, lost of pigment in his skin, the faint discoleration under his eyes advancing to a much darker shade. Oddly, his cap would be slightly off center, exposing his scars just the slightest. For some reason today, he didn't bother fixing it.

It wasn't just his visual apperence either. His body language was like reading an open book.

The man who usually stood with his back straight with stoic attidude look to be almost alien to what Jeremy saw now. Shoulders slumped, stuffing his hands in and out of his pockets, and the occaisional paranoid glance over his shoulder, as if he thought someone was watching.

Even his reaction time was slow. Walking into the Pizzeria earlier that evening, he found the guard sitting in a chair, his head bent down with his hands cupping his head. Worried, the nightwatch called out for him as he came closer. It took a total of three tries and one outstretched hand for Mike to slowly look up from the floor, dark blue eyes rolling up to glare into green.

He gave a half-hearted smile to the disturbed nightwatch before standing up, walking calmly towards the locker room.

Jeremy just blinked, following after him.

"I-is something wrong?" He would ask, unplugging the tablet from it's charging station. "...Do you wanna talk about it?"

The security guard only took a shaky breath, holding his head down as he shut his locker. "No"

Jeremy pressed his lips together, turning away. He wasn't sure if that answered his first question or his second, but a gut feeling voted for the latter. Mike was one to have bad days every now and then, just like everyone else. There would be mornings when he'd wake with a headache from hell, only to down a cup of coffee and go to work, where a full shift's worth of harrassment awaited him. But he'd endure it noneless.

Then afterwards, he'd wait for Jeremy to arrive and the two would childishly bicker as the clocked ticked towards midnight. Depending whether Mike would head home or not, he'd tease Jeremy over the smallest of things, whether it'd be the way his hair was too floofy for his cap or how he hardly reached Mike's chin. These little comments would sail over Jeremy's head of course, and he'd occaislaly make a decent comeback of his own.

Their playfull banter at night would wash the troubles of the day away.

Jeremy watched as Mike doubled over, bolting inside the restroom. It was different this time.

He could hear him puke up his lunch from the next room over. "M-Mike...?" The nightwatch set the tablet back at the station, slowly walking towards the men's room. The door had been pushed open with such force that it was still wavering at the hinges as Jeremy reached out a hand to stop it. "...Are you ok?"

The air went quiet as the door shut behind him. The very first stall was open, a shadow on the ground leading inside of it. Jeremy swallowed nervously before stepping closer to the man.

Mike bent over, panting. He reached over and grabbed some tolit paper, wiping his mouth before tossing it in along with the rest of the vomit. A small whimper sounded from behind him and he slowly straightened, turning to the anxious teen with a disgusted sneer.

"Does it look like I'm ok?"

Jeremy took a step back and Mike paused, taking in the brunette's reaction. His snarl disappeared. "...Sorry" He muttered, catching his breath. "I'm not feeling like myself"

There was a moment of stillness, then Jeremy gave an understanding nod. "I-it's fine. You're...uh, sick?" Mike shook his head at the question, earning a raised eyebrow from the other party. "I don't feel sick" He defended, "I'm sure it's just something I ate" He leaned down, flushing the mess away.

"I-I don't think you should stay tonight..." Jeremy wrung his hands, his eyes widening as he stared his co-worker. "You should really go home..."

Mike froze at the order, stunned. Commands like that from Jeremy were rare, non-existant even. It was much too bold a move for someone like him, especially since today was a Friday. Mike felt his expression change to one of disagreement. "You're kidding, right?"

"I'm not"

Gritting his teeth together, Mike stepped out of the stall. Jeremy whimpered as he was roughly brushed aside. "Don't make a big fucking deal over a little puke, Jeremy" He stomped back into the locker room, the teen following close behind. "I'm fine"

"I-I wasn't talking about the-"

Mike reached out and slammed Jeremy's open locker shut, a grim look on his face. "I said I'm fine." He ignored how the brunutte cringed at the loud noise. Opening a small bunker, he pulled out two identical masks, shoving one into Jeremy's arms. The aggressive motion startled the nightwatch, fumbling with the straps as he pulled it around to rest on his head.

"M-Mike! You-"

Said guard cut him off with a cold glare. "I already told you I'm not leaving"

"...It's just that you've been acting...strange"

Mike paused in strapping on the mask, letting the clip fall around his collar. His lips curved into a sneer. "What's that supposed to mean?" He spat. Jeremy went tense, his hands nervously clutching his sleeves. "N-Nothing!...I'm uh..." He trailed off, looking away. "I'm just worried about you"

The security guard's glare softened and his sneer lightened, but Jeremy still felt the unease coming from his co-worker. "Don't" Mike mummbled. "Just focus on the job tonight. It's Friday, and even if there was something wrong with me-which there isn't" He added, eyeing how the teen shifted in alarm at the term. "...I still wouldn't leave you here on your own."

"...I can take care of myself, you know."

"I know you can"

Mike felt the burn of Jeremy's worried stare, straightening his tie and cap self consciously. "Then why stay?" The nightwatch asked, grabbing his uniform shirt off the bench. "Y-you could go home and rest...you look like you need it"

The olderman didn't voice an answer. Jeremy sighed, unzipping his hoodie. "I don't understand why you stay sometimes..." He tossed it to the side, slipping into his uniform. "I know what I'm doing, Mike. You've already taught me how to handle myself here." Jeremy finished buttoning his shirt, adjusting the collar. "...You shouldn't trouble yourself with me anymore..."

Mike's palm rested on the door, mindlessly tapping his fingers as he listened. "...Better safe than sorry."

Jeremy frowned. "You're still sick-"

"Not sick" The guard corrected. "Just...tired"

"You should still go home and get some rest then..."

Mike stiffened, taking on a grim look as he walked closer to the nightwatch. "...Why are you so keen on getting rid of me?" He asked, side-stepping around the teen. "What did I fuck up this time?" He sneered.

Startled at the sudden action, Jeremy took a small step back. He caught the guard's hands twitch in agitation in his peripheral vision and raised a brow. "...I didn't mean anything like that!" He defended, resisting the urge to flinch under the cold glare he was being given. "I-I already told you I was worried!"

"I told you not to" The olderman spoke through gritted teeth. In the back of his mind, he wondered why he felt so angry for something so insignifigent. "I don't need a dork like you trying to play big"

Jeremy swallowed as Mike crept closer, coming close to fully cornering him. "I-I'm not trying to do that! I'm just...concerned..." He trailed off, realizing he'd just repeated what irked Mike so much to hear, only using a different form of the word.

He watched Mike's face twist into vivid irritation and quickly opened his mouth to backpeddle. "...How come you can worry about me, but I-I can't about you?" The sentence came out with more confidence than Jeremy thought he had, but he didn't mind the sudden boost.

Mike's aggressive stance faded, letting his lips drop from a snarl down to a disapproving frown. For a moment, he even looked as if he'd been caught in a trap. "That's different" He stated after a moment of thought. "I'm not the one working the nightshift now. You are"

Jeremy crossed his arms, still aware of the close promiity of the two but not exactly careing at the moment. "You might as well be since you're here so much, Mike" The younger male retorted. "...Even if you're not sick, I don't need a babysitter-"

"You need to keep your mouth shut, Jeremy"

The nightwatch eye's widened at the order, surpirsed Mike would say something like that. The argument he had prepared died in his throat. Uncrossing his arms, he lowered his hands to clasp each other in front him, glancing away as the guard glared him down. "S-sorry..."

Mike caught on the hitch in his voice and a pang of guilt beat in his chest. But he didn't show it, keeping his close distance to the teen. "...Ok...I shouldn't have said that..." He rapsed, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "But I still mean what I said"

Looking up from the floor, disagreement flashed on Jeremy's face. "...M-me too" He wrung his hands together nervously, but remained locked in a stare with icey eyes. "I-I can handle the animatronics on my own...and you already work so hard in the day, it's just-"

Mike groaned, running a hand down his face. "Just stop, Jeremy" He mummered. "You're repeating yourself."

The brunette paused. "Then go home" He answered. "I don't need you here"

The words flew from the teen's mouth before he could fully process them. He didn't realize the second rude nature to his sentence until he watched as Mike's stance faulted, a look of hurt flooding his features. Instinctively making himself smaller, Jeremy tried to correct his mistake. "I-I didn't mean it like what you think!" He stammered, "It's just that you're sick...and I-"

"Repeating yourself." Mike growled, taking a step closer to him."You're still repeating youself"

Jeremy gave a small whimper as the distance between them shortened. "S-sorry! I, uh..." His apology was cut short when two hands calmy reached out and grabbed his shirt collar, bringing him closer to the fuming guard.

Reflexively, his brought his own hands to hover over Mike's, torn between whether he should continue to apologize or to just take whatever was coming to him. He just messed everything, didn't he?

He stared fearfully at the darking eyes that held him in place, a lump growing in his throat as the two's faces were brought closer. Not enough to be indecent, but enough to make an impression. Jeremy felt his lip quiver involuntarily, and cursed himself for being so wimpy.

"I just want you to listen to me...." Mike breathed, keeping his tone calm and gentle. He caught the scared gleam in green eyes and hesitated. "I'm not going to hurt you" He wavered. "Stop acting like I am."

He was saying one thing, but his body was doing another. Jeremy was half sure that Mike had no idea that it wasn't the verbal communication making him shiver.

"You're right, you know" Mike gripped the collar tightly, making sure not to harm the nightwatch. "You can handle this without me. I figured that a long time ago."

Keeping his mouth shut, Jeremy shuttered in the eyelock, wondering where the sky blue had gone. "But I had to fuck with four animatronics back then." The guard continued. "You're fucking with eleven, or more. Who knows? They could have a couple more stashed in the back for all we know."

A little voice crept up from Jeremy's throat and escaped his lips. "...I-I appricate the help Mike," He whispered. "I really do. But you have to start taking care of yourself too...Working all and night isn't good for your health-"

"Look who's talking" Mike growled, "At least I'm out of school. You still have your studies to work on"

"Y-yes but..." The securtity guard remained stoic as the nightwatch stuttered for an excuse. "But I manage-"

"Exactly"

A feeling of irritation and stubbornness rose in Jeremy. Even someone like him can get a little peeved off every now and then. "...That's no excuse!" He spat back, ignoring how the grip around his collar tightened. "I-I'm not a kid, Mike! You don't have to be so tough about it all the time! Stop acting like your not tired all the time..." He trailed off, rolling his tongue thoughtfully.

"There is something wrong with you..." Jeremy stated. "...you don't need to watch after me-"

His voice cracked as he was harshly pulled upwards, Mike craning down so their noses were nearly touching. Jeremy froze, a scream itching in his throat as he watch a deep blue darken and spread, leaving a tiny white speck of an iris in it's place. He could practily feel the pressure as he heard the security guard grind his teeth.

"I'm not risking it" Mike growled, "I'm not risking you"

Something beeped.

Jeremy was released, taking a few good steps back for measure. Mike blinked, once, twice, bring up to his watch to look at the time. He groaned. "11:50PM"

His only response was a uneasy nod, the nightwatch still shaken from the sight. Jeremy swallowed, his heartbeat hammering. Mike was back to normal, at least, his eyes were. The cold blue was back again, glaring dully at the digital watch as he reached for the tablet.

"...Let's get to the office."

Holding the tablet out for Jeremy to take, Mike stood by the door, waiting. The nightwatch only stared for a moment, baffled. He opened his mouth to speak, but his lungs decided against it. The sight of the void took his breath away, it seemed.

"Mike..." He whipsered, reaching out to take the tablet caustiously. "Are you...blanking?"

The hand around the door handle halted mid-pull. He felt the tablet leave his other hand as he stared at the checkered floor. The air between them was full of silence, broken only by the sound of the tablet being powered on.

Mike bit his lip. "I don't know"

His throat was dry and his hands twitchy. Thre was a faint seering senation in his head. Not a headache, no. He's had enough of those to know the difference of one. But instead, it felt like someone was purposly pushing jabs into his skull, like they wanted it to cave in.

Why did he feel so angry? He wasn't supposed to feel anything at all.

Blanks were supposed to be numbing. They were supposed to be painless, nerveless and short, nothing alike to what he felt now. Paranoid? Maybe. But he knows he isn't supposed to be aware of churning in his stomach or the burning behind his eyes if this really was a blank. Blanks didn't have syptoms, or at least any obvious ones.

This has never happended before. It scared him.

Mike shook the pulsating thoughts away. "I'm still awake, right?" He commented, swinging the door open. " So don't worry about it. I'll be fine" His watch beeped again and he brought it into view, frowing at the numbers.

"Five minutes. C'mon, Jere"

Jeremy took a deep breath and followed Mike to the office.

Walking quickly, the secuirty guard ignored the animatronics that stood posed on stage as they passed, not having enough energy to flip them off tonight. Jeremy, on the other hand, spared the robots a quick glance, raising a baffled brow at what he saw

Their head's were turned towards the guards, endo eyes following their moves as they passed. They didn't look malicious, surprisingly, but were fixed in such a way that it seemed like they were tracking something, careful and cautious. Even BonBon watched the air around Mike with guarded interest.

The nightwatch shuddered, quickening his pace.

The office was mess as always. Mike pulled out the soft spinning chair, motioning Jeremy to take a seat while he leaned over and grabbed a pull-out, kicking it open and taking his place beside the teen. The two sat in stuffy silence, Mike fiddling with his watch while Jeremy mindlessly adjusted his sleeve cuffs.

Only when Mike's watch beeped 12:00 did a realization slam into the nightwatch. "We forgot the flashlight..."

The older man held up a hand, fingers wrapped around said object. "You forgot the flashlight" A corner of his mouth tugged upward into a smirk. "Not me"

Jeremy let out a sigh of relief, tapping to wind the music box. "Geeze, Mike..." The security guard rolled his eyes at the mention of his name, leaning back into his seat. "Don't 'geeze' me, dweeb" He flipped the vent's lights on, flickering down the hallway. "...and you're telling me you can handle yourself..."

Jeremy looked up from the screen, pouting. "You're not going to hold that against me, are you?"

Slumping in his seat, Mike's tired smirk deepened. "I might"

A dose of guilt stirred in Jeremy's gut. Looking back down at the screen, he switched from camera to camera, thinking of a decent comback. He raised a hand and rubbed his shoulder, fiddling with his collar to find it wrinkled. He smoothed it back into place, his thoughts rolling over to earlier events.

"...I'm sorry about earlier..." He mused, keeping his eyes on the animatronics. "..I-I didn't mean to start an argument-"

"It was my fault, Jere" He heard Mike shuffled beside him, probably propping his feet up on the desk. "I shouldn't have overeacted like that..."

He was cut off by a series of coughing. Jeremy's head swung up at the raspy noise, keeping his thumb on the music box remote. He watched as Mike caught his breath, recollecting himself. "I, uh.." The guard cleared his throat. "I'm fine"

The nightwatch's mouth opened ready to protest before shutting it again, giving an aknoledgin nod before returning to the screen. 'Fine' was definitely not a word he would use to describe Mike right now, but considereding the little episode from earlier, he wasn't going to point out the increasenly obvious. The last thing they needed to do was to cause a lot of commotion.

He felt a tap on his arm. Mike pointed to the left vent, whispering as he pulled his mask down. "Balloon Bitch"

Green eyes darted to the vent just as a bright colored plastic hat came into view. Jeremy barley had enough time to yank down his mask, going still as his breathing slowled.

The air around them was quiet, making the pounding of his heartbeat of so much louder. Then, the sound of metal on metal echoed through the walls, growing more distant as Ballon Boy left the two alone again.

Mike was already flickering the lights again by the time Jeremy had lifted the mask. "Bonnie down the hallway" Jeremy followed the flashlight's direction.

Sure enough, the purple rabbit stood at the far end of the corridor, stunned by the bright light Mike was pleasently flashing him with. The light flickered off momentarily, enveloping the robot in total darkness. The tiny red led leds of his endoskeleton blinked in response, taking a confident step forward towards the office.

The light flicked back on again and Bonnie's AI glitched, causing him to take two steps back. His metal feet clanging against the tile as he stumbled back, shaking the dizziness away.