My Number One (001/Henry Creel/Vecna x Reader)

Saved by the Ballard

My eyes were swollen, and my pillow was wet from drool. It was the best I had slept in...well, forever, probably.

"You can walk in heels, can't you?" asked Walter, producing a pair of big black heeled boots and a two very small pieces of fabric for my 'outfit'. "A fellow performer has kindly leant you all of this. I hope you don't mind that I had a little look at what shoe size you were wearing and, wow, you need to go shoe shopping."

"I don't mind," I said groggily.

"Well, come on, get ready. I'll be back in fifteen minutes to collect you. Remember, if you need the bathroom or shower or anything, it's just down the hall."

As my mind woke up, it began to process the sounds around me. I could hear girls' voices out in the hall, and loud, sharp footsteps along with them. The sounds from downstairs were the loudest, though—deep, bellowing men's voices.

I got up quickly and pulled on the outfit. I had never seen shoes like this in my life—I even questioned if they were shoes for a moment. They were so shiny and big and...the moment I tried to stand in them, I toppled over.

After a ten minutes of practicing taking steps in my room, I found that the easiest way to walk in the shoes was to put all of my weight on my toes, and essentially just tip-toe around. Then, Walter appeared at the door again. He didn't knock, which I thought was strange as he had told me to change my clothes.

When he took me out into the hallway, I was greeted by other girls wearing similar outfits to my own. They looked ever so tall in their boots, and their legs so long. Walter then led me down the stairs, and coming from the other staircase leading down into the basement was a lot of noise. We walked down that one, too, and when I passed through the curtain at the bottom, the room I had seen earlier on was now absolutely crowded.

Men swarmed the floor and the couches, and surrounded the stage. On the stage were five girls moving their bodies in a smooth, slinky manner. They were showing even more skin than I was, and I wondered how they were so comfortable with that in front of so many people. I had been shy with just Mr Ballard seeing me—

And then I was reminded. Mr Ballard. I had been so distracted with this escape that I had barley given him a thought. He was the only thing I missed about the laboratory. I assured myself that I would find someone or something just as special as him in this vast world I was now a part of. Maybe he just seemed so special because there wasn't much else to think of in the lab.

Or maybe he just was.

Walter was looking down at me, smiling. "It's quite grand, eh?"

I wasn't sure what 'grand' really meant, but I smiled and nodded back. I did begin to feel a little concerned that I hadn't actually worked out what my job was just yet. Time was ticking before I'd actually have to do whatever I was to do. I supposed I'd be moving my body around on the stage like the other girls in the outfits like my own. "Why do they move like that?" I asked.

Walter laughed. "You don't think they're good at dancing? Well, I must have an expert on my hands! What a lucky man I was to find you!"

I laughed back. "No, they're good. But why? Why do they...dance?"

Walter looked confused for a brief moment. "Are you younger than what I think?" But then he shook it off. "Why? Because the men like it, of course."

I thought I'd risk asking one more question before I made myself look too strange and clueless. "Why do the men like it?"

Walter laughed again. "Ah, that's what you meant, was it? The men are attracted to it! I used to find it that pleasurable, too, which is why I made the place. What straight man wouldn't want to a room full of women they can watch dance as they please, for free, every night of the year? Well, that's what I thought at the time, anyway. But you do get bored. I got bored. I feel your mind becomes...somewhat immune to it. So used to it that it eventually takes a toll on your sexual stimuli..." Walter appeared a little sad, but then shook his head and clasped his hands together suddenly. "Well, that's enough of that. We better go and get you stuck in."