#the one (1) and only time we'll allow virgil to be the youngest

[ignoringdummiesfordummies]

Day Shift

This is a reupload of a fic created based on @burnadolt​‘s Sanders Sides fnaf AU from a couoke years ago. Cause... yeah, read mores tend to break if you delete the original, and we changed our sanders sides blog a long time ago. Summary: Roman, an animatronic Prince at the local pizzaria restaurant, finally gets a chance to talk to that new night guard he’s been so obsessed with.

It does not go well.

Ships: Roman/Virgil

-----

Virgil was working the day shift.

Virgil never worked the day shift.

Virgil was just here last night. How the hell was he even standing?

Yet there he was, in fact, standing, off to the side of the room- admittedly somewhat awkwardly, out of place under the bright fluorescent lights. As if it were the most normal thing in the world. Granted, Virgil didn’t seem to fully understand what he was supposed to be doing, seeing as how he’d hardly moved from his spot in the corner of the room. Instead, he seemed content to simply watch the every-changing crowd before him, scanning the room left and right and back again. Hopefully he didn’t get in trouble for wasting time on the clock- surely someone had been assigned to show him the ropes around the daylight hours, but had instead abandoned him to the chaos of the dining hall for one reason or another.

Who even knew how long he’d been standing there in the first place- well, Virgil, probably. Even from atop the stage, Roman had only spotted him in a gap in the crowds, when Virgil’s corner of the room had stood mostly empty and the flash of purple had caught Roman’s robotic eye. But now that he’d spotted the night... the security guard, it was almost impossible not to see him, every-time he turned his attention towards the audiences general direction.

Roman dodged a swing from Remus’s bat that most certainly wasn't in the original script, resisting the urge to scowl at his... would twin be the right word? Once upon they’d been the same, but then parts had been recycled and separated and rebuilt, and now there were two of them and it was... weird. It was weird. Instead of letting his processor dwell on that old puzzle, he brandished his sword with an extra flourish or two, while definitely not wondering if Virgil was watching. Who knows, maybe he finally stopped by to see Roman preform under the spotlights, in all his glory.

(Those stupid security cameras never got his good side anyways).

“Something wrong?” Remus asked, his voice raised into a sing-song pitch as he swung his bat in a big ark around his side before resting it on his shoulder. “Cat got your tongue? Or are you finally crumbling under the pressure of disappointing all your fans, your royal rust bucketness?” 

Ah, yes. Roman’s voice had cut out mid-line when he’d spotted Virgil, right alongside everything else. But who could blame him? It’s not like anyone had told him Virgil would be moving to the- oh no. What if Virgil was being moved to the day shift- permanently? How was he supposed too- this just couldn’t do, Roman still had yet to dazzle the new guard if he never got a chance to pop into the office, maybe show off one of the new songs he’d been practicing, or his cool sword! He’d sharpened the thing just for him!

(Seriously, how was he so good at managing those stupid doors? Normally it took night guards a few days to get the hang of them, but despite it still being the first week since Virgil was hired, somehow he’d managed to completely keep the animatronics out of his office. Not. Fair.)

He was brought back to harsh reality when Remus’s bat caught him on the side of his face, sending his head spinning round clockwise as Remus’s high pitched laugh echoed across the stage. Roman had to grab the side of his head to stop it, straightening it back as he backed up a few steps and readied his weapon. Improv it was then- and at this rate, he’d probably get flagged for repairs, and then he’d have to spend a whole day cooped up in the back room, where- wait. Hold on.

Wait a minute.

If he was flagged for repairs, he could leave the stage. After all, why drag their heavy robotic bodies to the back room when they could just walk on their own two legs?

Mind made up, Roman kept his voice muted as he came back at Remus, raising his sword up high as if he meant to swing it down on his head. Remus fell for the bait, hook line and sinker, raising his bat to block the attack, and leaving his torso wide open. Roman bent his other arm and jammed his elbow into the exposed joints under Remus’s main body piece, forcing the other animatronic off balance and stumbling back. Roman flourished his sword once more, pointing it at Remus and proceeding to make several gestures with his free hand, but not uttering a word.

Some of the kids who were watching were cheering or laughing, others were clapping at the display, and some were distracted by a large, decorative cake being wheeled out from the back kitchens. Ah, birthday parties. They brought in big crowds, but could be so fickle. Right now, however, Roman was thankful for the distraction. As the kids were ushered towards the table with all the party hats and plates laid out for them, one of the employees approached the stage while removing a remote from the clip on their belt. A moment later, and Roman felt his legs lock in place.

(A shame Remus wasn’t still thrown off balance, it was always funny when he fell on his face whenever this happened. Less so when Roman was the one falling).

Roman waited somewhat impatiently as the employee did a quick check of his voice box and the area around his body Remus normally hit him at- the two of them were designed to take a few hits, so it usually took a fluke for Remus to actually do any damage. While the employee was running through the usual checks, Roman turned his attention back to where he’d last seen Virgil. Out of the corner of his vision, Roman spotted Remus checking out whatever he was looking at, and jerk slightly as his gaze landed on Virgil.

Virgil had stopped watching the crowds, and now seemed to have his gaze fixed on a small cluster of people near the entrance to the kitchens. Roman wasn’t sure what- or who he was looking at, but after a few additional moments of staring Virgil pushed himself away from the wall and began making his way across the room. Halfway across, he was stopped by a women who seemed to be asking him some sort of question. However, another employee, spotting them, quickly intervened and took over whatever it was she needed help with. It must have been common knowledge that Virgil didn’t know much about the day shift side of things. No longer impended, Virgil continued on his track across the room, Virgil continued on his path towards the kitchens, were the group had dwindled to just one dad.

So invested was Roman in wherever Virgil was headed, Roman almost missed the employee checking on him calling in that Roman was headed for the back room for some repairs, right before the locks keeping him in place disengaged and his path-finding lit up a route towards the room he was meant to head towards. And as much as Roman wanted to jump off the stage straight from where he stood- well, that was half of the reason he and Remus weren't allowed to wonder around during the day anymore. Instead, Roman forced himself to walk down the stairs off to the side of the stage.

A few loose kids ran up to him the moment he dismounted, and Roman gave them a deep bow, sweeping one arm under his chest and the other gracefully to the side, earning a chorus of giggles for his efforts. Ah, how he’d missed being amongst his fans- Roman snuck a sly glance back, and sure enough, Remus had already gotten his weapon taken away from him. There was the other reason he wasn’t allowed off the stage anymore.

“Why, hello there kiddos~!” Patton’s voice broke threw the the excited shrieks of children filling the room, pulling the attention away from Roman and onto himself. “Prince Roman here has some very important places he needs to get too, but how would you like some ice cream instead?” he asked, giving Roman a glance and smile, nodding once towards the direction of the back room. He supposed his performance had caught more attention than he’d thought. Roman nodded back, and continued to strut his away across the room. And if his path just happened to lean a little more towards passing Virgil than it needed too, oh well.

By now, Virgil had come to a stop in front of the man outside the kitchen, and was just... staring at him. Much to the... customer(?)... fathers(?) confusion, naturally. Roman was just now getting close enough to hear the man snapping at Virgil to buzz the fuck off already, which just made Roman want to reach for his sword. Oh- lookit that, they’d forgotten to take Roman’s sword off of him. Before he could think twice about interviewing, however, the manager had made an appearance and placed one hand on Virgil’s arm, whilst another employee, the one who had intervened with the women earlier, trailed behind. First day on the day shift, and it looked like Virgil was already in trouble.

“I am terribly sorry,” the manager was saying, grinning in that fake way that never seemed to reach his eyes. “It’s huh- he’s new you see, and a bit awkward, and I assure you I’ll have a proper chat with i-him in my office.” he said, putting an extra dash of emphasis on the last couple words as he shot Virgil a look. Virgil seemed to catch on fairly quickly, turning away from the situation he’d caused and walking towards the hall leading towards the bosses office. Which also happened to be the same hallway leading towards the back rooms.

Now, this was just too good to be true.

Now ignoring the conversation unfolding as he passed (briefly, he picked up on the manager offering the guest free pizza or something) and followed Virgil into the hallway. The lights were immediately dimmed- you could almost mistake them for off- and the noise from the other room sounded muted, almost far away. Roman quickened his steps to catch up to Virgil, and turning a corner in the hallway, found him not to far ahead.

“Virgil~” Roman called out, his voice springing from his voicebox like a song. Virgil came to a dead stop ahead of him, nearly tripping on his feet and forcing him to brace himself on the wall to his left with a loud thunk, silence following shortly after. For a moment, Roman was afraid that Virgil wasn’t gonna turn around, and he’d gone into so much effort to pose for him! One hand with the fingers placed daintily on his chest, the other raised up in the air. Back straight, shoulders high, heel-to-toe stance.

But then Virgil didn’t glance behind him, turning fully around after a few seconds, keeping close to the wall. “Aren't you-” Virgil began, only to cut himself off as he swept aside some hair obstructing his vision. “Aren't you supposed to be busted? Or something?”

Roman laughed, tilting his head to the side and making a motion akin to running his hand threw his own hair. He couldn’t do it, really, or he’d mess it up. And he needed to look his best, right now. “Oh, that?” Roman asked, attempting to keep his voice as smooth as possible. Unfortunately, it was coming out a little static-y... maybe he did need some fine tuning. “Just some fine acting on my part- I saw you in the crowds and well... I wasn’t sure how often I’d have this opportunity.”

“Uh.” Virgil said, taking a step backwards, glancing over his shoulder. He seemed twitchier than normal- but then again, most of Roman’s interactions with the night guard were glimpses caught threw the window of a closed door. Roman took a step forward, matching him. “Look, I’ve got places to be too, so um-”

“Surely one little conversation couldn’t take too long!” Roman said, reaching out a hand towards Virgil. Virgil scurried back, hovering outside the door to the managers office, clutching the edge of his shirt like it was gonna fall off of him. “Oh, come on now, there’s no need to be shy!”

“I- look,” Virgil shook his head, casting more glances down the hall before tugging at his hair in a nervous manor. Now, that wouldn’t do- he was messing it all up! “I really gotta do this- I’ll talk too you tonight, okay?” Despite wording it as a question, Virgil opened the door and bolted inside before he could get an answer, letting it slam closed behind him. Not that Roman would’ve been able to answer, had he been given the time. 

Roman placed both hands, one folded over the other, on his chest. Had he been human, he was sure his heart would’ve skipped a beat- and if he used a healthy dose of imagination, he could pretend the metal under his hands felt warmer than the rest of him. Very little could interrupt this moment.

From behind Roman, the manager approached down the hall, stopping to look the animatronic up and down. After a moment, he grabbed a walkie talkie from his belt, turned away from the robot, and said: “Hey, uh- the Prince bot’s frozen in the hall. Can someone come take care of this?”

When the manager looked back up, Roman was looking right at him. He just about jumped right out of his skin.

----------

Never had Roman felt as if closing took half as long as it had that night.

No sooner than the finally lights been dimmed, the last locks put in place, and the clocks finally tick over to midnight then Roman sprinted towards the edge of the stage, leaping off to clear the nearest table and land hard on one knee. (Super-hero landing.) A moment later, his brother came tumbling after him, crashing over himself several times before hitting the ground face-first.

At least Remus was laughing.

Roman sprung back up to his feet a moment later, brushing off his sash as he took several quick steps into the room. After a moment he thought to look up, catching the glint of a security camera pointed in his and Remus’s direction, and gave a quick wave. He wasn’t sure if Virgil was watching or what, but he’d hate to miss the opportunity. But- wait, what if he only checked the camera after Roman finished waving? What if he thought Roman had forgot?

“Are you seriously just gonna stand there waving at the cameras forever?” Remus asked, right as he draped an arm across Roman’s shoulder and joined him in staring up at the camera. “I swear, you’re the thirstiest bitch I know- alright, let’s do something about this.”

Remus pushed away from Roman, wasting no time in marching towards the nearest table and grabbing a random party hat, before dragging a chair loudly across the floor towards the camera. Roman caught on fairly quick- it was Virgil’s job to keep watch on and off the camera, and tampering with one (minus the, um, permanently busted one in the kitchen) would be a sure fire way of forcing him from that office he’d cooped himself in. But Roman simply wasn’t nearly that desperate- yet.

“No, Remus look it’s cool, I’ve got-” Roman began, as Remus was already fanangling the hat over the lens of the camera. However, they were both interrupted by Patton crashing in through the nearest doors.

“Heeeeeey, what’s up daddy-o?” Remus asked, tilting his head so far back he was practically upside down to look at Patton. “Did they lock the doors before you could stalk another child home again?”

Patton choose to ignore the (probably true) jab, and instead turned his attention towards Roman. “That was so scary!” He gushed, about... something. Had a spider got in his wires again? “I was so worried that something had...” his voice box cut itself off, and he just shook his head.

“Think he killed any of the kids?” Remus asked, tying the strings of the hat in a pretty little bow atop the camera.

“I don’t... I don’t think so.” Patton said, tightening the knots in the jacket hanging around his shoulders. It hadn’t been a part of his original design, and Roman had completely forgotten where he’d gotten it from, but right now he wasn’t concerned with that.

“Hold on,” Roman held up both hands and glanced between the two of them. “What are you two talking about?”

“The- that guy! From earlier.” Patton said, very unhelpfully.

“Someone got arrested,” Remus sung, humming happily as he leaned back on the chair to admire his work. “While you were in the back playing sick. “Crazy too- it was the one guy Virgil was bothering, can you believe it?”

“It was... he... hold on.” Roman said, taking a few steps back and letting himself collapse into the nearest chair. Thankfully, it held his weight. He moved one hand to his head, then jerked it back again before he could ruin his hair. “What the hell did I miss? Someone got- were the kids- what?”

“Someone got arrested.” Patton repeated. “It was all very confusing- the police suddenly showed up to take this one guy away who the staff kept talking too... they were probably distracting him, now that I think about it.” he walked over to Roman, placing a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, they got him, so I’m sure everyone's safe now.”

“I hear he was wanted for many crimes.” Remus sing sung, probably having no idea what he was really talking about.

“That must have been why Virgil was rushing to get into the office.” Roman realized. “I didn’t even realize- no wonder he said we’d have to wait til tonight to talk.”

“No, wait, shut the fuck up.” Remus said, crashing straight to the floor before scrambling up and over to Roman, smacking his hands on the princes shoulders with a CLANG that echoed in the room. “You’ve got a date? With the hot new night guard?” Remus asked, glee in his voice. “Ah, Ro-ro, you’re gonna get fucked tonight!”

“Don’t call me ro-ro.” Roman said automatically. “And we’re robots, we don’t even have-”

Patton gasped, his hands smacking up to his face. “You’ve got a date?!” he asked, glee ringing in his voice like a bell. The moment Roman turned his attention to him, Remus went scrambling off somewhere, but Patton had all his attention on Roman now. “Oh, Roman, that’s wonderful! I know you’ve been trying so hard... wait, don’t humans sleep?”

Roman gave an awkward laugh, adjusting the way his sash sat on his body. Ignoring the last part, cause honestly he wasn’t sure how sleeping worked, he said; “Hey, don’t make me out to be some love-sick puppy...”

“Boy, you’ve been lusting after that guard since you first caught sight of him!” Remus shouted from some far flung corner of the room, dragging something heavy across the floor. “I had no idea dark and brooding was your type!”

“Shut up!” Roman squeaked, hiding his face behind his hands. God, they’d gone from talking to someone getting arrested and then Romans love life in no time flat, huh? While his head was done, he picked up more sounds, namely footsteps down the hall. Footsteps to light to belong to anyone here- well, Janus was light enough to sound like a person when he walked, but right now he was busted so he was limping everywhere. “Wait, he’s coming, oh god, oh fuck, I’m not ready!”

Roman stood back up, waving his hand at himself in a vain attempt to help himself cool down and silence his internal fans that were just going to town, while Patton helped Roman adjust his accessories and fix up his hair- Roman hadn’t even noticed himself running his hands through it again. Patton gave him a smile- when you knew their faces well enough, it was easy to tell when they were smiling for real. “Break a leg, kiddo.” Patton said, despite the fact he was the newest bot here. “But not really, cause that would be rude.”

It was then that someone appeared in the doorway, hesitating for a few moments before walking into the low-level lights shining from the stage. Virgil glanced at the two of them, then up at the camera covered by a party hat, then back at them. After a moment, he held up a hand and gave a little wave, seemingly out-of-place and awkward in the rest of the restaurant.

Patton was doing this thing he did where he bounced on the back of his feet as Roman approached Virgil, before giving a deep bow while seeping his arm dramatically across his torso for pose number 5. “Greetings, our dark and stormy guardian. It’s so wonderful to see you out of that dusty old security office!”

“Yeah, um,” Virgil looked around again- he did this thing where he pretty much turned his whole head, instead of looking around with his eyes. “I’m not really sure if I’m supposed to be out here? Maybe? I’m uh, I’m still kinda new. To this, and to life, I guess.”

“Of course you’re allowed out of your office... who trained you, anyways?” Roman asked, making sure to stand straight. Gosh, Virgil was short. He also hoped he wasn’t coming across as rude, but seriously, was anyone telling Virgil anything?

“um...” Virgil shrugged. “There was some phone recordings in my office I listened too, but I’m not really sure they were for me? I think they were there for the hu-”

Roman gasped dramatically, reaching out and snatching one of Virgil’s to hold between his own. “Abandoned in these trying times?! Well, fear not my dark and stormy p- I can show you the world!”

“Are you...” Virgil faltered out, before tilting his head at Roman. “Are you quoting Disney?”

“Yes.” Roman said. “There’s a bunch of old tapes in the back, if you uh.... if you wanted to head back there with me and um, watch some? With me? Maybe?”

“Well, I mean I love Disney, so that’s a yes.” Virgil said. If Roman had had a physical heart, it would have burst out of his chest.

Neither of them noticed the scrapping sound getting louder until Remus dumped a bucket of water from a janitors bucket onto Virgil. Roman jerked back from the sudden water, and Virgil jerked too- but-

His body convulsed violently, a few sparks flying, before his eyes went through a series of colors before landing on blue, white text spanning across his vision. Then they went black, as the sound of a machine powering down emanated from him, and Virgil collapsed to the floor with the sound of clattering metal.

Roman, Remus, and Patton gathered around him. Remus kicked his shoulder, making it clang.

“Huh.” Patton said. “He looked so... I guess we should get him to the repair room, huh?”

“Hey, pops!” Remus said, shouting suddenly as he looked at Patton. “You’re not the youngster anymore!”

A moment later, Romans sword smashed down on Remus’s head.

#roman sanders #virgil sanders #sanders sides fnaf au #ship #write something #the one (1) and only time we'll allow virgil to be the youngest