The Ballad of Black and Red

"Then, out of nowhere, this massive BEAST of a creature showed up! And I was like, 'Holy shit!'"

As Alice continued raving about the indie game she'd spent the last three days cooped up in her room playing, she made sure to progressively increase her volume as customers flooded the restaurant.

In a dash of misfortune, the duo's server reluctantly seated them in the last available place, which was almost dead center of the building, right next to the restaurant's large circular bar.

This usually wouldn't have been much of an issue any other day, but unknown to them, that day there was a popular sporting event being aired, so the voices of disgruntled and excited patrons often drowned out what they were saying to one another.

To combat this, the two quickly began upping the decibel levels of their voices in hopes that they could break through the noise of the enthusiastic fans.

Why couldn't they just watch the game at home, Max defeatedly thought as he went back to focusing his attention on the fired-up girl he was sitting in front of in order to avoid missing out on anything else she had to say.

"Not because of the reveal that there WAS a monster the entire time, because I'd already known that-I mean, that is why I bought the game in the first place!"

"No fucking way!" A disgruntled old man behind Alice yelled out as he took a swig of some alcoholic beverage he tightly gripped in his right hand.

"This is some bullshit! How the fuck did he miss? Is he r–" Another, likely drunk, disgruntled man seated right behind Max yelled out before being cut off.

"Watch it!" An older lady seated next to him, whom Alice figured was his wife, yelled out to the man as she covered his mouth in hopes that their two kids would not pick up on his vocabulary.

"Get fucked!!! I knew that dumb bitch didn't know how to shoot for shit!" A younger lady, presumably, to Max at least, in her twenties by her looks, eagerly yelled out, which was met by groans, whistles, and cheers of support from numerous other sports fans in the building.

"Some real passionate Basketball fans here tonight, huh?" Max blurted out, which he only caught after having already said it, which Alice took notice of and responded by chuckling, which caused a big, goofy smile to form on Max's face.

"Anyway!" Max promptly changed the subject back to what they were previously discussing.

I'm really glad you liked it! I was honestly a bit worried you wouldn't like how slow-paced it was, especially when it came to properly revealing the monsters in the story!" Max ecstatically yelled out as the entire restaurant burst into a mix of applause, cheers, and groans.

"Yeah! At first, I didn't really get why you thought I'd mess with it, but... I trust your recommendations, so I stuck around, and at the end of chapter two, I was totally validated in doing so cause my god! That shit was rad as fuck!"

The restaurant started to quiet down substantially as the game went on a break.

The two quickly took notice of the difference in volume. The two collectively breathed a sigh of relief, while most others in the restaurant sighed in dismay that they'd have to wallow in their anxiety for a while because of the twenty-four to twenty-four score.

"I know, right! Oh my, I'm so glad I told you. I've been wanting to talk about it with you for so long! This is, like, one of the best choices I've ever made!" Max happily yelled out as his excitement over her enthusiasm for his new obsession of the month escaped from its containment.

Without giving it a second thought, Alice, hoping to catch him off guard, said smugly, "You're so right; it's almost as good as you asking me out tonight!" as she leaned forward and calculatedly placed her head slightly tilted on her left hand, which rested on the table.

"I–ah–wha?" It took him a split second to fully comprehend what he'd just heard, and in his confusion began wearing a bamboozled expression as he attempted to recalibrate completely.

"Hmm?" Alice asked as she leaned her arm, on which her head rested, towards him, making sure to avoid bumping into the sweet biscuit and mildly spicy chicken quesadilla entrees by moving them with her other hand to make her approach as smooth as possible.

Max usually would be prepared to handle Alice's teasing, but that day he was completely surprised as Alice had, for the first time to Max's knowledge, worn a dress. She had stated numerous times in the past to him and others that she didn't like wearing fancy-looking clothing because it didn't fit her style and because they were uncomfortable to wear.

However, there she was, sitting across from him, wearing a practically skin-tight, shoulder-less, pristine black, open-backed dress.

Through his peripheral view he couldn't help but take notice of its attention to detail. How the hints of wine-red spread across its entirety flatter the white gauze ribbon going around her neck and crisscrossing her chest, keeping the back and front parts up securely, completed its simplistic yet enchanting design. Even while attempting to not stare at her too often, he would find himself repeatedly doing so within short intervals of time.

That, paired alongside tall black boots and tights, was something completely out of Max's level of expertise, and Alice was not oblivious to this knowledge.

Max, having known Alice for a decade, had never seen her wear anything of the sort. Normally, she would wear baggy boys' clothing like him, with the most risque of her clothing leaning towards a more emo style, which still covered most of her.

He was no stranger to her advances, so he had, over time, grown a tolerance towards her strategically maneuvered movements and phrases so he wouldn't be surprised. However, there he was, noticeably flushed and red as he attempted to avoid eye contact with the girl who'd managed to outsmart him.

Maybe she'd decided to change things up in celebration of our fifth anniversary, he thought to himself as he timidly glanced back over at her and became lost in her light hazel eyes, which were contrasted by her dark eyeliner and complemented by her vanilla brown hair.

He couldn't help but feel bad considering how hard she likely worked to dress up that day while he, in contrast, was hardly in anything even slightly considered 'fancy'.

For their date, just like many others beforehand, he merely rocked a plain red T-shirt with an open black button-up on top of it, with the only detail of note being his small black fanny pack across his chest.

He often contemplated for days over whether he should wear something more 'appropriate' for their dates which would always end in him choosing to wear the everyday items he already had stashed in his 'Closet of Doom and Gloom', as adoringly named by Alice.

This date in particular gave him a particularly hard time as he'd spent the entire week mulling over for hours on end over whether he should wear something fancy or not.

Considering it was their fifth year of being together, he figured he should do it for that one time at least. However, he also took into consideration that the restaurant they were going to the most fancy place in the world and was conscious of possibly looking like he was trying too hard to be someone he wasn't just for the sake of 'looking appropriate'.

Despite the drastic change in clothing choice, though, he wasn't given the impression that she was attempting to fit into a category she didn't belong in or was uncomfortable being placed in. Although it clearly was different in style than anything she'd previously worn, it still oddly felt like it was authentically her he couldn't exactly explain.

He wondered if she noticed it too, and if it was why she decided to don it. After all, she wasn't one to bend the knee to anything onlookers and the media attempted to force her to do, much less wear.

Noticing that she was about to make her next move to continue making him blush, he quickly averted his eyes and looked around until he found something to distract her with. If she kept on her teasing, he wasn't sure how long he would last until he broke.

"Oh–well! Would–you look at that!" Max nervously said as they brought attention to their server, who was making her way towards the two's table with two large plates full of delicious-looking food and three small cups of sides on a table with wheels.

"Oh... So you don't think it was a good idea, right..." Alice's voice noticeably toned down several notches as she scooted back into her seat.

"I–ah..." As the seconds quickly passed by, Alice's body language began to get progressively smaller in appearance as she shrank into her seat and her eyes darted down to her hands, which she had fiddling with one another.

The poor girl was moments from breaking down into tears, which was what anyone, including himself, who looked at her in that moment would have thought.

"No! I'm glad I did! I'm really happy I did! I couldn't be more thankful that you came!" In an attempt to clear the misunderstanding, Max blurted out what he had been thinking the entire time in hopes that she would notice his sincerity and cheer up, and the two could begin talking as normal again.

Today has been an incredible day, a perfect day, he thought; he wouldn't ruin it now, never again.

His puppy-dog eyes continued to gaze worriedly at the beautiful girl who'd now hidden her eyes, which had nearly been brought to tears only moments before.

To say he was utterly shocked when he saw the devious grin suddenly appear on her face would have been an understatement, as his mouth was left agape at the sight of her slowly lifting up her face to reveal the most smug expression he'd ever seen on her.

She looked as if her entire face was moments from bursting, as her largely inflated, bright red cheeks suggested so. Obviously, that wasn't the case, as she was very clearly holding back a laugh, one unlike any other, which had only been held back since the server had finally arrived with their food.

She was sure to finally burst the moment the server had left, he thought to himself, as his cheeks began heating up in embarrassment that he had yet again fallen for another one of her tricks. Their expressions would have likely weirded out anyone who looked at them, but the bags under the server's half-closed, practically lifeless eyes made it clear that she had given no thought to it.

'Hey, I'm really sorry about the wait, y'all. We are honestly a bit understaffed, so our service isn't as fast as usual."

"No worries! We don't mind the wait at all! We had a lot to talk about anyway, so we hardly even noticed!" Alice energetically attempted to comfort the girl.

"Yeah! No stress! I actually used to work in the service industry too, so you know, I know how bad it gets, and you don't deserve the extra hassle," Max said as he followed Alice's lead.

"Ah... Thank you! I really mean it! You know, usually people give me annoyed looks, so I honestly, really do appreciate the gesture!" She said with a noticeable jump in her tone of voice as she began wearing a more obviously sincere smile than she had previously.

It had turned out that the previous time the server had come around was not to deliver their food, but instead was for the customers right behind Max, who'd arrived before they'd even arrived through the front door of the decently large establishment.

Finally, the two were given their respective meals after a bit over an hour, and the two politely thanked the overworked and overstressed yet kind teenage girl as she waved at them and made her way to another patron who was in need of multiple refills.

As the night went on, the two shared their delicious meals as they continued talking about all the things they did in their time apart, in tandem with the emotionally charged vitriol and cheers of their fellow patrons.

Max talked about all the new anime he'd binged that night, alongside all the notes and doodles he'd taken pictures of during the time he'd spent watching said shows.

Alice then discussed all the abandoned locations she'd explored and been chased out of alongside her small entourage of fellow thrill seekers, one's Max could never fully get along with, even when she was around to mediate.

As they finished the last bites of their food, Alice suddenly asked, having finished gulping down all the refills for the basket of bread they were given, "Oh yeah! So... You said... Something might have happened to Mike earlier, right? What was that all about?"

Max looked puzzled at Alice as he finished the last of his cola.

"When I called, you remember? You said you were with Mike, and you mentioned that he said something to you. You were gonna tell me what it was until you saw that cute calico cat on the sidewalk."

"Oh! Right!" Max set his drink down and began placing all his plates, glasses, and trash at the end of the table in neat piles alongside Alice, who helped him do so.

"Well, he kind of skirted around the details, but turns out he no longer works as a security guard at Freddy's."

By now, the basketball game had ended, so a lot of the rowdy people in the restaurant had gone home in disappointment or glee, depending on which team they rooted for, or were passed out drunk at their tables. It was a miracle that a fight hadn't broken out, considering the language used in the arguments that had occurred throughout the game between each team's fans.

"He got fired? I can't believe it, he finally joined us in the unemployment squad!" Alice exclaimed as she looked like she was about to burst into laughter.

"Oh, I'm so making fun of him when I see him again. Never again will he make fun of us for being unemployed ever again!" Alice cheerfully stated as she closed her eyes, raised a fist up to her face, and began shedding a tear.

"I would make fun of him, but when he talked about it, he seemed kinda..."

"Oh... Did something serious actually happen to him there?" Alice's tone almost immediately shifted as she began shyly playing with her long, decently taken care of straight hair and looked down at her lap in shame.

"I don't actually know it's just... I don't know, he just looked like he really didn't want to talk about it. Usually, when we make fun of him about stuff, he takes it on the chest and almost always comes up with a witty comeback. But this time he seemed... afraid? I don't know if that would be the right way to describe it or not."

Max wasn't ever very good at putting things into words, especially emotions. He wasn't much of a recluse, nor was he a lone-wolf type, but he still found it hard to fully understand his own feelings alongside those belonging to others.

Despite this, though, he had always attempted to make an effort to try to understand how people felt, even if his attempts at being empathetic often fell flat because of his knack of somehow always making the wrong decisions at critical moments.

It's a miracle they are still here with me, he would often think to himself on days when he'd get to spend all his free time alongside them, like that day.

Max always believed he was the luckiest boy in the world. Sure, he didn't have a whole lot going for him, nor did he have an entourage of people at his side, but he didn't need that. He wasn't in search of fame, nor riches, nor any special talents he alone had. All he needed by his side were Mike and Alice.

He was happy with the life he lived; after all, what more could he possibly ask for? He wished for the same happiness to find his only two friends, so he would do whatever it took to make them happy.

Seeing Mike so down that day had made him uncomfortable, which Alice took notice of. His discomfort wasn't very noticeable, but having known him half of her life, no lie he could ever concoct could ever get past her detection unscathed.

"Well, maybe it's for the better that he's not working there. That place is haunted after all. For all we know, he's been dealing with God only knows what kinda paranormal shenanigans for what? Two years straight now?"

"Alice... Do you... Do you really believe the rumors..." He didn't need to ask. All he really needed to do was look at her dead serious expression to know the answer to what he'd ask even before he or she had said anything.

"I mean... Why wouldn't I? It is my line of expertise after all!" Alice proudly stated as she crossed her arms.

"I guess, but I mean... Even you gotta know how ridiculous those rumors are, right?" Max sighed as he asked in vain.

"Don't get me started Max..." Alice scowled, pursed her lips to the side, and squinted her eyes, making it look like she was warning him of an attack that would come his way if he continued on.

"I mean... You gotta admit it's a little out there, at least a little, right?"

Alice's body language continued to get more aggressive, with her now staring daggers at the foe before her.

"You're basically saying that what's his face, Afton, the owner of a multi-million dollar franchise, not only killed five kids at one of his own restaurants, but then stuffed them inside of the animatronic suits to hide the evidence. And to add on, ever since he did that, the spirits of the kids are now haunting the robots and stuffing people into costumes like their killer did to them."

"What's so crazy about that?"

"Everything! I mean, the charges were dropped on the guy, right? There's no way the police wouldn't have found them, much less let him go scot-free!"

"But it makes sense! Who the hell would think of looking into the mascots? That's something only a maniac could have come up with!"

"But I mean, if the public could come up with that conclusion, why couldn't trained officers do it?"

"Well, he probably dumped the bodies out after the initial investigation or something?"

"He was in cuffs, plus, some poor worker would have instantly noticed the smell of rotting corpses inside the suits and even seen the blood oozing out of them, would they not?"

"Well, didn't the place close exactly because of that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You're debating me without doing your research, huh?" Alice smugly asked as she leaned towards the confused Max.

She was right, Max wasn't exactly knowledgeable about the incidents revolving around Freddy's. All he was really familiar with at the time was the case of "The Hurricane Five," as infamously named by the media, so this was likely a losing battle for him.

Alice and Max would often get into friendly yet heated debates over topics they were interested in, like who was the best character in a piece of media, or which entry of a franchise was the best or worst, and other things of the sort.

However, one topic they would regularly butt heads over was the validity of evidence regarding the supernatural. For most of their high school years, Alice had dragged a reluctant Max across dozens of abandoned buildings in their surrounding area.

Because of this, they constantly debated whether the things Alice saw in said buildings were supernatural in nature or just the product of her overthinking mind. Despite Max's insistence that the things she would see were easily explainable, Alice would seldom fold unless he could directly prove her wrong with indisputable truth, which often didn't happen.

After all, how could he convince a believer that they were wrong when they were adamant about something that was never there in the first place?

It was an impossible task every time it came upon him, but he would always take it up anyway. Not because he wanted to prove her wrong, though. But rather, in the hopes that maybe the day would come when she was irrefutably right.

Mike had read him like a book, even if he didn't wanna admit it.

"Alright then...hit me," Max said as he prepared to hear what Alice would have to say next.

The two went on to debate for the next ten minutes, only stopped by one of the servers, who'd informed them they would have to leave as they were only moments from closing shop for the night. The two obliged as they picked up their things and made their way towards the entrance, waving bye to the kind teen who'd served them on the way out.

Once outside, the first thing Max did was look up towards the disappointingly black abyss above him. With no signs of stars in the sky he'd resided below, all hidden out of his and other onlookers' sight by the polluted atmosphere.

"I was gonna bask about how beautiful it was out tonight but–"

"It would be cliche?"

"I would be lying," Max immediately replied as he looked over at Alice, who'd let out a chuckle while covering her hand with her right hand.

Max smiled alongside her before subtly extending his left hand out in her direction. Alice took quick notice of the invitation and excitedly accepted his gesture.

To think she was once timid to do so much as sit next to him was something Alice found to be a foreign concept that she could hardly believe was reality only a mere four years beforehand. However, as she held his hand, she couldn't shake the feeling that a remnant of her reclusive self was still inside her somewhere, and only in the presence of Max would it ever make itself known.

"You ready to go? Or you wanna keep staring a little more?" Alice teasingly asked as she leaned in closer to get a better look at his face, which was getting progressively redder by the second.

"Huh? Oh yeah, right, the arcade," Max quickly blinked and forcefully composed himself.

"You're not gonna believe it, but Mike beat all of our previous scores," as Max relayed this information, Alice grabbed his shoulder and began moving him towards a nearby bench.

"Huh? Oh, sorry!" Max politely said as he hurried away to the grass area in tandem with Alice to get out of the way of the family of three behind them.

"No problem," said the middle-aged man, who seemed to be the father of the two kids whose hands he held beside him.

"Thank you!" the girl and boy, who at a glance seemed to be twins, gleefully said as the small group made their way towards their red mini-van.

However, before the trio got too far, the father bent down to listen to something his daughter had to say. After discussing for a few seconds, he let go of her hand, and she slowly began approaching the duo.

It was a few seconds until the two had noticed her presence, but when they saw her, they couldn't help but awe at how obviously shy she was to come up to them.

"Hey there! Is there something we can help you with? Alice's tone was gentle and soothing, much unlike her more rowdy and abrasive way of speaking.

Max wouldn't have ever guessed that she was capable of being so cozy if it wasn't for the many times she had come over to his house and played with his younger sister, Amanda.

Amanda was a very energetic girl from day one, so he was worried that she and Alice's overactivity would overwhelm his receptors. However, upon first meeting Amanda, she made sure to be as pleasant and collected as she could be which in turn would calm down Amanda.

After much, much time spent together, they both began seeing each other as a younger and older sister respectively, as Alice would often come around to visit whenever Max and his parents had failed to put her to bed.

The three were always very apologetic for disturbing her so often, but she never minded coming over as they would always make her feel at home, and she enjoyed spending time with the overactive munchkin.

Though all of that was true, she did have her sneaky, ulterior motives in visiting so often. Said motives included the ability to spend more time with Max while also getting into the good graces of his family so she could be more easily accepted into his family when the discussion of marriage came into play.

There was, however, a third reason, but it was one she did not like pondering on all too often. Alice knew that Max had already figured out her other reasons for coming, but was sure that he was yet to uncover the third. A girl's got to have her secrets right, she would say to herself whenever she'd thought about discussing it with him for too long.

"I–I... I really... Really! Like your outfit, miss! You're super, duper pretty!" The girl whispered just loud enough for the two to hear before waddling away back to her laughing father.

Immediately after hearing her precious words and seeing her embarrassed look, the two's hearts simultaneously melted as they awed at the wholesome display before them.

The three waved at Max and Alice before finally making their way to their vehicle to head home after a long night of family bonding.

"She's right you know," Max said as he sat on the light-brown wooden bench beside them.

"I think you're pretty too," she replied as they both began looking directly at one another while still having their hands interlocked.

"So... You still down for the arcade?" Max asked as the two met shoulders.

"Actually, I think I wanna save that for another day, the other people in the restaurant did a number on my eardrums. I still feel overwhelmed by the ruckus everyone was making in there..."

"Yeah, me too, ha-ha," Max laughed as he jokingly put his arms up to his ears to 'check if his ears were still functioning'.

"But I don't want tonight to end so soon," Max looked quickly at Alice as she leaned her head backwards over the backrest.

Their date was, at first, seemingly moments from ending, but it seemed that Alice had concocted other plans for the night in her mind. He would have waited to hear what else she had to say, but knowing her, she would want him to take a gamble for what it was.

Taking the way she phrased her last sentence, he took a few seconds to come to a conclusion about what she was likely waiting to hear from him. And now, unlike last time, he wouldn't falter in the face of her advances, not again.

His parents were out in Costa Rica celebrating the twentieth anniversary of their marriage and wouldn't return until the afternoon.

His sister was sleeping over at her favorite cousin's house that night and wouldn't return until the afternoon.

Putting all of his options into consideration, he finally began finalizing what he wanted to ask.

Would you want to come over, was what he had meant to ask, however before the words were given permission to come out, his heart intervened and made him instead ask what he believed she really wanted to hear and what he truly wanted to say deep down.

"Would you like to spend the night with me?"