Work Text:
Bryan was at his office desk, the sun filtering in from the back window. It was a beautiful afternoon, and from this view he could see customers and parkgoers wander the park. Groups mingled outside the gift shop, being entertained by his animatronics. A long row of guests waited in line for the rollercoasters. Kids of all ages walked by with ice cream and sweet treats to munch on.
It was a gorgeous day, a good day for business, and yet Bryan was becoming more and more distracted from his work. He was trying to concentrate, but his mind kept wandering back to an interaction that had happened this morning. It had been so awkward, he couldn’t focus on anything else.
He just couldn’t stop thinking about…
BANG!
A surprised scream left his throat as Bryan jumped out of his seat in panic. He peaked over his desk to discover the sound of the sudden loud noise.
Molten was standing in his office, the door having been flown open in his arrival. The hinges of said door sagged pathetically from the strength of Molten slamming them.
“Bryan, I was looking for you,” Molten said casually, as if he hadn't just burst into Bryan’s office and nearly given him a heart attack.
Bryan glared at the smug animatronic, clutching his heaving chest.
“Molten! Don’t do that!” Bryan scolded, “What did I say about the doors? Please be careful with the doors!”
The bear looked back at said doors with an almost guilty posture, but didn’t say anything to defend himself. Bryan knew that since he had gotten upgraded, his strength had increased, and doing delicate things (like gently opening his office doors) was harder than normal.
“Also, where else would I be?” Bryan questioned, gesturing to his office. This was where he always did his work at this time.
“I don’t know where you go,” Molten scoffed, and slinked over to meet Bryan at his office desk. The animatronic retrieved some papers from behind his back and tossed them onto the dark wooden table.
“Here. More reports on the clean up after the latest Twisted attack,” Molten said, but Bryan seemed to barely hear him.
His mind was preoccupied with remembering the tone of their voice, the angry eyes that had narrowed upon seeing him. How trapped Bryan had felt, unable to leave the situation or remedy it. He wished that things had been different-
“Bryan?”
“Huh? Wha?” Bryan mumbled, shaking his head and the bad memory from his brain.
Molten was staring at him expectantly, confusion evident on his face. Bryan felt that he should be doing something right now…
“What did you say?” Bryan tried, hoping to gauge some context.
Molten rolled his eyes, huffing out a breath of annoyance.
“The paperwork, Bryan. Why aren’t you putting it into the system?” he said sharply.
Bryan’s eyes shot open, “Oh, yes, uhh right away Molten! I’ll get to that right away.”
He hurried back to his office chair and to his computer, clicking his mouse to find the right place to input the report. He let out a long sigh, the air hissing through his teeth.
Bryan expected Molten to turn around and leave, as his job was done. However, when Bryan cocked his head around his computer to check, Molten was still there, stopped dead in his tracks.
“Is there something else, Molten?” Bryan called to him.
“What’s wrong with you?” Molten said bluntly, catching Bryan off guard.
He fixed Bryan with a calculating look. That look always intimidated Bryan, and he sank down slightly in his chair, away from the animatronic’s leering eyes.
“Did you not have your coffee this morning?” Molten wondered, eyes narrowed, “You always get groggy and annoyingly slow if that is the case, very unproductive for the park if I’m being honest-”
“I do not get - okay…” Bryan massaged his temple, reeling in his frustrations.
He just needed to distract himself with work. He did NOT want to get found slacking off by Molten. He was not aspiring to get his ear talked off by another lecture from the animatronic.
“I just had a rough morning, alright?” Bryan snapped, then realizing his tone of voice, quickly changed it, “but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”
Molten just kept on looking at him, not budging. After about a minute of staring contests between the two, Bryan groaned in frustration.
“Do you really have to know??” Bryan said desperately.
“Yes, I do,” Molten demanded, a smug smile on his face.
“Fine, if you must…” Bryan looked down, searching for something to fidget with and scooping up his phone from the table.
“My ex came to the park today,” he admitted.
“Ha!” Molten barked out a laugh, eyes alight with amusement. “You have an ex? No offense Bryan, but I find it hard to believe someone would have the balls to date an idiot like you.”
“Wha- I’m very charming! What do you know?” Bryan exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at Molten.
Molten shook his head, still chuckling to himself, but Bryan quickly silenced him.
“Just shut up and listen, I’m not done. He came in while I was helping Happy Frog in the gift shop. It was so awkward-”
Bryan found himself slipping into a rant, the bottled up anger bubbling to the surface.
“He pretended not to recognize me at the start, but I could tell he was purposefully avoiding me. When he finally had to come to check out, you know what he did?”
Bryan looked up at Molten, who was now leaning with one arm non-chalontly on his desk. Seeing Bryan furrow his brows at him, Molten attempted to hide his bored expression with one of actual interest. He didn’t hide his boredom well.
“...what did he do?” Molten asked in a monotone voice.
Bryan jumped on the tailend of the story.
“He bragged to me about his new fiance! And about how he was getting married this year, and that I wasn’t invited! How uncalled for is that??” Bryan stormed on, waving his phone in the air aggressively.
“Huh, what a bitch,” Molten cut in, and Bryan nodded, his jaw working. Normally he would have been cross about Molten swearing, as this was a family-friendly establishment, but he was too wrapped up in his outrage to care.
“Yes!! Ugh I can’t stand him, really,” Bryan scoffed, unlocking his phone to read those old text messages for the millionth time that day. As he gazed at the old conversations, the fire that was lit under him dimmed a little, and eventually was extinguished.
“But I really did love him at one point,” Bryan sighed, sinking into his desk.
He scrolled through text after text, propping up the side of his head with his fist. Molten was still leaning on the other side with one arm, examining his claws.
“And you know, I tried to make it work,” Bryan mused, deep in his own world of lost love now, “I really loved him, and I wanted to see a future with us together. But he never wanted the things I wanted, and he never supported me how I wanted him to. He was studying law, I was finished my business degree, and-”
“Yeah okay,” Molten butted in again, now pacing in front of his office desk. Bryan didn’t keep his eyes on him long, gluing them back to his screen, face contorting with the stress he felt.
“That’s all fine and good Bryan, everyone loves a sob story. But you are not seeing the opportunity right in front of you right now. And it’s a wonderful opportunity in my opinion.”
Bryan slowly put down his phone, fixing Molten with a worried look.
“...what opportunity?”
Molten smiled at him, displaying his razor sharp teeth.
“An opportunity for me to go and kill him.”
“What?!” Bryan shouted, shooting to his feet and slamming his palm down hard on his desk.
“No Molten, there will be no killing! Do you hear me??” Bryan hissed, his heartache and melancholy forgotten.
He had a bloodthirsty animatronic to wrangle now.
Just great.
“What?” Molten drawled, his smile unwavering, “It’d be easy, quick work really. All I have to do is track him down-”
“Did you not hear me the first time?” Bryan cut in with desperation, “No killing Molten!”
Molten almost pouted at that, pausing to rub his chin pensively.
“Fine, fine, no killing,” he decided, and Bryan’s shoulders sagged with relief.
“...but I could still track him down and burn his house to the ground.”
Bryan gaped at him, utterly speechless. In a twisted way, he found it sweet that Molten cared enough about him to exact revenge on someone who had wronged him. But then again, this was mostly being used as an excuse for Molten to cause destruction and harm to others without perceived consequences.
“You don’t even know what he looks like,” Bryan said, trying to get one step ahead, “You can’t track him down,” he challenged with a proud smile.
“Oh I can, and I will,” Molten said slyly.
Bryan raised an eyebrow at him.
“…you're bluffing.”
“Am I?” Molten perked up gleefully, “Remember the time I rescued you from Twisted Bonnie? I don’t remember you telling me where you lived, but I found a way-”
“You could have searched it up in the park’s system!” Bryan argued, “Or asked another animatronic!”
“I could have," Molten nodded, tilting his head upwards thoughtfully.
Then he grinned, brandishing his sharpened claws, letting the metal shine in the sun.
“But did I?”
Bryan sighed tiredly, a baffled smile showing on his lips subconsciously.
“I think I'll take my chances,” he stated, attempting to finally put this subject to bed. “Get out of here, Molten, go torment some other businessman."
Molten laughed evilly, the sound grating on Bryan’s ears.
“Just give me a call if you need any other jobs done. Bloody or otherwise,” Molten grinned, and swiftly left Bryan alone to finish his paperwork.
Bryan just shook his head fondly as Molten closed the door quietly behind him.