Work Text:
It had been. . . 68 loops. 5 months in the elevator. The stagnant buzz of the single light above them was the only noise that had been sounding for. . . 3 hours, 16 minutes, and 6- 7- 8 seconds. In fact, that was the amount of time since his original self had swindled his scissors from him and he'd stopped banging at the now shut elevator doors.
He felt hopeless. He'd practiced so hard to trick his younger self- the useless, naïve, newbie- and his colleague had decided to fuck that up for him by rambling on and on and on!
His colleague had been quiet since. He gave up on glaring at the miserable wet cat of a man and instead focused on. . . The buzzing. . .
"AGH! I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"
His co-worker flinched but he payed him no mind as he stood up abruptly.
"I will not stay another day in this goddamn hell hole!"
He growled out. He made his way up to the open panel of wires that used to be the elevator buttons and started pulling ends of wires out.
". . . I-i- I don't think y-you should be-"
"SHUT UP!"
His colleague went quiet once again. In all honesty, he didn't quite remember why he was so hostile towards the other. . . In some ways he missed when he was more annoying. When he was less of a messy husk of himself. The scruff on his chin did him no favours either- he was glad he didn't have that problem. . . Well, he had a different one, his ribs were probably broken by now his chest had gotten so used to being binded it had gone numb.
Or maybe he was just ignoring how excruciatingly painful it was. He'd been taking off his binder every time his co-worker went to sleep- which wasn't often as the man was like an anxious dog, twitching and yelping at any noise louder than the incessant drone of the buzzing artificial lighting above. He almost scoffed at the thought. He distantly wondered if the man too, like a dog, would whine if things got worse. . . Back to the issue at hand, quite literally, he continued ripping out wires until with a last desperate buzz- the light was out.
He growled loudly in anger. Of all the things his scrounging could do- killing the fucking lights? The one good thing about this damn death box? What would fail next- the vents? He punched the wall twice. And that fucking squeaking noise, it could shut-. . . What was that squeaking noise. . .?
Constant, in and out, wheeze after wheeze. Oh. . .
"Oh, you're so fucking-" pathetic? The word died on his tongue. Something stopped him from mocking his co-worker. Why? He had no idea. . . He wanted to but, just as he predicted, the man sounded like a scared dog and. . . He just couldn't do it.
"Breathe." He said a bit calmer now.
"T-try-ing-" his colleague strangled out the word from behind the knot in his throat.
"Are you sitting down uh- where are you right now?" He asked, only hearing more wheezing. He almost yelled and jumped out his skin when a weight slumped on his side before remembering what human contact felt like- it was definitely his coworker. He was shuddering and a wet patch was growing on the shoulder of his shirt- he suppressed the urge to scrunch his nose up and push the man away- instead he put an arm around him.
"Scared of the dark?"
a small shifting nod.
". . . Why?"
A few sniffles before an answer. "I-. . . Don't like what could be hiding in it."
He almost sighed in annoyance, what a stupid reason. Of course the grown fucking man was afraid of monsters. "There's nothing here but you and me." He assured bluntly.
". . ."
"And it's stupid to think there would be anything else here. When was the last time we saw another person?- tell me." He continued, scoffing.
". . . It's been ages."
"Correct. So calm the fuck down." He aggressively pulled the man to his chest, earning another yelp- he suppressed his own, maybe that wasn't the best action when your chest burned from being bound so long.
fake coworker enthusiast (Guest) Sun 24 Aug 2025 06:14PM UTC
Comment Actions
Squibblesx Tue 26 Aug 2025 07:47PM UTC
Comment Actions