Stay With Me // [Red Guy x Reader]

12

// tw: mentions of slight body insecurity//
    The harsh lighting of a lamp rudely awoken Y/N from their peaceful slumber, the glow blinded them yet they were paralyzed from head to toe, unable to move their arm up to block out the beam. Their eyes blinked slowly as they tried to get their stinging eyes used to the light from the lamp, but once they did, they noticed how everything seemed to be...bigger. Y/N's eyes scanned the room and noticed it was unfamiliar, and that it looked to resemble one close to an attic...maybe that's where they were. Something that did seem off was that there seemed to be cases on the left side of the room that contained random items, like batteries, a bag of chips, a shovel, and...others they weren't able to make out. The thought that still lingered was why was everything so ginormous.
    When looking around, their eyes landed on something that was in the corner of their eye, which was something red. They tried to direct their head toward the object beside them but they still couldn't move. Suddenly, the sound of the door across the room alerted Y/N as their eyes darted toward the door as they watched someone enter the room. Whoever walked in wore an obscure outfit that had different patterns of rainbows, clouds, zebra stripes, and much more just thrown onto their outfit, it is complimented with a reddish-pink bowtie neatly on the collar of their neck. Their face was unclear as they seemed to have a shade over them somehow, but Y/N noticed how they had brown, bobbed hair. They hummed softly and approached Y/N, gazing down in admiration at them and something else before picking something up from behind the small person.
    Y/N gasped mentally as they felt themself being lifted into the air and swaying around with the air, seeing as loose strings held them up in the air as whoever the giant person was playing with them like a puppet, a smile revealing itself under all of that darkness. The person lifted Y/N's limp body into the air with the wooden piece they held inside their hand as they used their free one to grab some tall stand, it looked like those stands that held up those barbie dolls Y/N has seen in the stores when passing by the toys section...except bigger. The thing that was used to control Y/N was placed on the two polls that stuck out as the rest of their body still dangled in the air from the strings.
    Now, Y/N had a better look at what they couldn't see. There was a doll that looked somewhat like the trio's home, giving Y/N a slight shiver down their back as they also noticed how there were four little characters inside the house that represented who Y/N knew in this strange world. Red, Robin, Manny, and themself. They'd also notice how there was a stained glass window up on the back wall with more obscured patterns, yet the things that were inside them were oddly familiar.
    All of Y/N's focus went back to the giant person, who carefully searched through a drawer before gently picking up a copy of the stand that Y/N hung from, they'd watched with curiosity as they watched a puppet version of Red being pulled out of the drawer. He was set on the side beside Y/N and gently brushed off, the unfamiliar person's smile never left their face, not even when they slammed the drawer shut with great force, which caused the two puppets to sway uncontrollably.
    The person who seemed to be taking control of this dream sat down and slightly stretched their fingers, followed by the gentle melody of a piano playing. It was a rhythmic song that had a soft tune to it, a calming tone to it as their fingers flowed freely across the pieces on the piano. As the song progressed, it seemed to show some more emotion inside it, removing that peaceful environment of the song with something that seemed to have more sorrow and strong feelings with it. The way the person played was forceful and quick, yet it still came out as an elegant sound. It soon ceased to a gentle type of sadness as it seemed to try to come to peace with something before it picked back up and was replaced with that angry and quick pace before the person slammed their fingers on the same notes before their fist slammed down lower on the piano to make it cry out with a deep voice as it slowly died out with a low hum before the person removed their fist. A frown sunk on their face before it switched back to a smile.

    "You must be wondering who I am," the voice spoke, their hands returning to the piano as they slowly played the piano again, the beginning of the song they played before repeated but slower than originally, "my name is Leslie."
    A woman's face appeared from the dark shadows as a cloud seemed to move away to cover the window and let colorful lights flood the room, her face looked somewhat mangled and old as it was being held together with sticking and patchwork. Y/N was confused about what was going on, was this one of these lucid dreams they had like last time?
    "You must be very confused, but, that doesn't matter. The reason I brought you here is because of him," Leslie spoke, Y/N already seeming to know who she meant, "I've noticed how you've been having a sort of...connection, with this thing. So, I wanted to talk a little about it."
    Y/N mentally prepared themself to listen to this person talk.
    "You've been going old with what I've expected for you to do, yet, you're also getting him out of line," she began, "you see, he still seems to think about everything that is going on and managing to get others to open up their eyes to it. And with you around, I'm able to manage to keep them at bay." Leslie could sense Y/N's confusion, so she further explained. "The people you are with are...how do I put this, unhinged? They need to get back to their previous ways to prevent any future complications, so I need your help with that. If you do this, then you can have anything you want, but there's a cost for this."
    Y/N felt their throat tighten as they listened to this offer, "I can give you whatever you want, but you'd have to give up one thing. Either give up your world with your real family, and friends and go back to where everything is real. Or, stay here with these people you've known for such little time and inside a reality that isn't even real. It's all up to you, Y/N."
    They didn't know what to say or even think, they sat there almost lifeless as they stared at the woman who used them like their own personal servant for their dirty deeds. Y/N's mind was completely blank, nothing could pop into their head upon listening to this.
    "I will give you your time to think, but remember, you aren't free to just wait this out," Leslie kindly spoke, somewhat reviving Y/N from their empty thoughts of nothingness.
    "Now, get out!" Leslie screamed out, it ringing inside of Y/N's ears as the woman started to giggle maniacally. Y/N noticed how they could move again, so they moved their head around to look at Red, who seemed to be staring at them with little-to-no mention since, well, this is a puppet version of him. Suddenly, the strings snapped and they watched as they fell from the ceiling of some room and to the ground, the walls were a collaboration of the bright patterns from that woman's dress as the wallpaper for the walls beside them, it all flying past them like a beautiful rainbow as they quickly free filled to their death.

    As soon as they plummeted to the ground, Y/N shot up quickly from their spot on the couch as they gasped desperately for air, noticing how they most likely weren't breathing again when inside of...whatever kind of dreams those were. Tears flowed down Y/N's face as they desperately tried to wipe them away, trying to collect themself together with a few breathing practices they remember someone teaching them when they were little.
    In...out...in...out... repeated inside Y/N's head as they slowly breathed to relax their shaking body, sliding off the chair and tripping over their own feet as they hugged their own body as they climbed the stairs till they got to the second floor and reaching the bathroom.
    Y/N turned on the sink and paused their breathing to wash their face off with some warm water, grabbing a nearby hand towel nearby before continuing their breathing exercise, in...out...in...out... They'd finish wiping off their face and stare at themself inside the mirror, staring at their red face that had a pale and exhausted look to them. Y/N brought their hands to their eyes and gently rubbed the bags as a way to stretch them out to possibly hide them, but it was useless. They'd sigh in aggravation before closing the door to the bathroom and deciding to strip from their clothes and hop into the tub, turning the knob for the hot water as they drenched themself with the water, making sure it wasn't hot enough to boil their skin, but enough to be comforting and help their body relax.

    As they stood there, they gazed down at their body, feeling somewhat grossed out by the way they looked. It just looked a little...unnatural, like it didn't belong there. It didn't sit right with Y/N, but nothing did, everything was still hard to process and Y/N wasn't able to handle it all, nor could they handle what their body was going through either. Their body looked like it's slowly been changing since they got there, and it just didn't sit right with them. In defeat, they just sunk inside the tub and let the water of the shower head rain above them as they hopelessly lay there motionless, the thoughts of what just happened to try to be pieced together inside their mind. Why did this all happen to Y/N? Why them? They just wanted to watch some late-night television.
    All Y/N wanted was to watch a simple TV show, not be the next babysitter for some weird woman who played the piano in an attic and had weird replicas of the others. Whatever was going on, Y/N wanted nothing to do with this.

    As their head raced with thoughts, they'd fail to recognize that it was starting to slow down the more they slouched into the tub and relaxed with the hot water that fell onto their body and gave Y/N the relaxation they deserved, not even realizing they were starting to drift away with the water as they slowly fell back unconscious as they ever so slightly hugged their body as they imagined big arms holding them gently and comforting them from these harsh thoughts.

   During their comforting sleep, they failed to recognize the person who entered the bathroom and retrieve them from the now-freezing shower they never woke up from.

//y'all, I would have posted this a few days ago but I got Covid... yolo ✌️ //