Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

2:00 am, monday.

Your body twitches as the alarms blares through your room, arm already starting to go numb as you drag it across the mattress to reach over to your nightstand --- slamming the palm of your hand on the top of the object as it beeps into silence.

A groan slips escapes your throat as you push yourself to lay on your side, pulling the covers of the blanket over your body in a pathetic attempt of wringing out the remaining comfortability as your senses slowly awaken back to life.

Much to your discontent, you had a life to live.

The dread slowly creeps back into your mind as you realize that yes, you indeed have to endure 10 hours of overwhelming work that left you sore and too tired to even drag your limbs back home. Though you remind yourself that, in the end, you'll have your beautiful, wonderous bed waiting for you back at home.

…

Thinking about that makes you more reluctant to leave the comfort of your home. As much as you want to melt into your sheets and forever bury yourself between the atoms of your mattress, you still have a salary to earn.

So, after a few minutes of trying to convince yourself that it'll be worth it, you finally sit back up.

An action which you immediately regretted as a jolt of pain yanked at your spine, dragging a sharp wince from your lips as you froze to register the sudden attack.

Wow!! Great!! as if you didn't have enough shit on your plate!!>

Instead of focusing on the stinging sensation that seemed to spread out into your whole body, you stretch yourself out with, rather satisfying, the pops of your joints emphasizing each movement.

Finally, you push yourself off the bed and try to steady yourself to prevent tripping over your own two feet as the world spun and blurred around you, nothing a good face rub wouldn’t fix!

Your hand rose to your face, harshly massaging the muscles and letting it drag down to rest on your shoulder, using the first steps of your day to walk towards the bathroom to rinse off the stench that clung to your clothes and, well, you.

The doorknob clicks open, and with a silent creak, the sterile white of your bathroom nearly flashbangs you. Did you forget to turn the damn lights off last night? That.. definitely spiked the electricity bill, didn’t it.

You close your eyes as you stand in the doorway, reminding yourself that it’s 2:00am in the goddamn morning and you shouldn’t stress yourself out this early.

So!

You opened your eyes back up with a heavy sigh and unceremoniously stepped into the room.

Running a hand through your hair, you wince at the sheer texture of it.
Greasy, knotted, and probably looking like a rats nest.

Deciding not to think much of it, you focus on getting through this routine.

That’s all your life was anyway, from beginning and until the end.

Scheduled, planned, and predictable.

[ ]

Now fully fresh and ready for the day to kick you in the ass, you comb through your hair for one last time before throwing the item back into the drawer, walking out dismissively even if you still had plenty of time to pretty yourself up before coming to work.

Whatever,
You look good enough.

So you shut the bathroom door closed and walk towards your closet, pushing away the clothes that you oh-so yearned to wear but you couldn’t.

Uniform this, uniform that.

You grumble to yourself, complaints lost in the whistles of air and passing cars- cars? Oh yea. Night owls.

You pull the button-up shirt together, the uncomfortable fabric already biting into your skin as if you weren’t already overstimulated.

Stars above, this is making your head hurt.
So, so bad.

You shook your head, slipping your arms through the striped waistcoat you’ve been provided with, running your hands over the golden label embedded into the fabric.

Your name.
In gold.
It’s beautiful.
It’s sickening.

You sneer at yourself.
A promotion got you this.
A lousy promotion that you wish you never got.
Just made you end up breaking your back for people that never came.

You wonder why they still cling onto hope that the groups of teens that only came to swipe merchandise and vandalize the property will double into the loud crowd they used to have.

…

It’s pathetic, really.
But it’s your job.
So you don’t judge it.

You sharply inhale, smoothening out your clothes and adjusting your pants so it didn’t drag against the floor.

Looking at your monochrome attire in the built-in mirror, you almost scoff.
You look like shit.

Well, there’s no use in mourning over it now.
Pushing your hair back as you shut your eyes, lightly pulling at the strands to ease the screaming headache that felt like it rang throughout your entire body.

…

You really need to get over this shit and get to work.

You drop your hand to your side again, turning towards the exit of your bedroom and dragging your feet across the floor.

[ ]

One; you woke up, two; you showered & brushed your teeth, three; you got dressed, four; you ate breakfast (slowly, this time), five; you’re getting in your car to drive to the Gardenview.

Your hand idly run over the metallic shell of the gifted vehicle, spinning the keys around your fingers before shoving the piece in and twisting it open.

You pushed yourself in with a discontent grunt, shutting the door beside you with a heavy thud as you unceremoniously started the car, feeling the engine of it hum and grumble back to life. Settling your hands on the steering wheel, calming yourself down so you don’t intentionally crash into a building and call for a day off, you shifted the gear and stepped down on the gas as it gradually picked up speed. You turn the wheel a few times to play around, before eventually sticking to the road because you'd rather be at home than be in prison at the end of the day. ... Your eyes still felt so, so heavy.

Chapter Text

The car slows down as you click off the radio, instruments dying down into a faint buzz until it eventually cut out.

You need to get that fixed.

...tomorrow.

Sitting in silence while you talk to yourself is wasting work hours, dread the day any longer and you'll have to deal with people interrupting your work.
...As if the Toons aren't a problem themselves.

You turn the wheel over and align yourself, properly, within a parking space. The rest of the other spaces are just the other employees, due to the fact that the fame of this place kind of.. died out.

A sigh escapes past your lips as you attempt to soak the rest of your sorrows up, forcing your face to relax in a less bitchy way and push the car door open.

The trees sway in a gentle rhythm, the brick pathway littered with dead leaves that twirl in the air once the wind was strong enough. You stare at the environment for a few moments.

You used to dream of working here.

Now, where did that you go?

...

>> switched to rich text here, space between text might be wonk

...

Nevermind, actually. Change happens with time. Time is useless if there's no change. The door closes with a quiet click.

The soles of your shoes click rhythmically against the pavement as you walked towards the entrance, soft rustling of the field of grass around allow a moment of peace. The calm before the storm, as you always say.

You gaze down at your hands, worn and torn within the timeframe of your stay here. Running a finger over a scar that spiraled down your wrist due to a machine incident.

...You pull your sleeve down further, opting to just cover them up with the provided gloves inside.

[ ,,, ]

The door opens with a loud hiss, cold air climbing all around you like a wet blanket that was left out in the snow for too long.

Restraining yourself from cursing out loud, as the machines that operate this damned park need help with keeping the heat on a level where it wont burn the entire location down.

Closing your eyes as you took a deep, deep breath, and exhaling it slowly, you try to not recoil away at the tug on your sleeve.

"Hey, hey! Good morning!" A chipper voice beamed, finally releasing their hold on you as you gaze down at them.

..It's Dandy, of course it is. He has always been the first person to meet everyone.

The words bubble out your throat automatically, the same question of what you should prioritize first.

"Oh, y'knoww ~ the same ol' usual!!" He gestures you to follow him, which you comply with.

"Though repairs are fortunately out of the question, you're just going to need to clean and tweak a few machines." Dandy swings his arms as he walks, always having that cheerful air around him. You wonder how that feels like.

The constant air of positivity, I mean. He's a stark contrast to how you are, you think.

It also makes you think about how the others see you.
Hmm.

Curious thoughts are always a delight to be drowned in.

You forget to tune back into whatever Dandy was saying.

Something about stock. And the others. And the mains. And him missing the kids that visited.

The mains.. hmm.. you could really go for a snack right now, actually. Sam or Sprout would probably sneak you a snack if you asked. You probably have a good enough friendship with them.

Maaaybe.
Hmm.
A chocolate bar would be good enough. You already had breakfast.
Though it'll probably upset your stomach.
Hmm.

"..Yello?" Dandy clears his throat, lightly patting the side of your leg to bring you back into reality.

You mutter a quiet apology, he waves it off with a dismissive hand and his signature charming smile. Then he goes back to rambling about everything and anything again.

The conversation dies down as you both step into the elevator, and your hand instinctively reached down towards the button for the lower floors, before you were interrupted before you did so.

"Waaiitwaitwait! First, we have a new system to run by you!" Dandy pointed up towards the floor where the other Toons resided, in which you tentatively pressed.

...This is either going to be like that one time Arthur told you that you're going to teach the Toons how to fix minor machine leaks or something, where it all ended in disaster, or it's going to be something more difficult. Never easier.

You held back a groan as you stepped away from the elevator buttons, settling in the spot beside Dandy.