Project A.L. (BFB AU) (COMPLETED)

Nine - Cracks in the Facade

How long had it been since their blood was taken? X had been lying on the exam table for what could have been minutes, or what could have been hours. Sitting up revealed a digital clock just above the set of double doors, reading 17:24. X assumed this was in the early evening and got up from the table.

They thought back on the day. Had they fed Four yet today? Looking back further caused X to flinch at the memory. The last time the two of them had been together in the same room, they'd lashed out at X and sent them away. Would they even want to see them?

X shook the thoughts out of their head like dusting off a table. This was their job, and Four is just another gear in the machine to get another paycheck, not a friend who was mad at them and didn't want to talk.

They're not your friend, they're a part of your job. Get over it.

They sighed, wishing that Four wasn't still angry before going to the food dispenser to waste more time waiting for the machine to dispense the food than to actually dispense the food.

When X got there, they saw Nine pacing back and forth in front of Three, who sat in a chair beside the food dispenser.

"I don't know, Three, how do you think they would react if I told them?" Nine asked Three when they stopped pacing, Three shrugging the question off before pointing at X, as if to say "go ask them." Nine whipped their head around so quickly that it looked like it hurt, to find X standing in the doorway. They rushed over, falling to their knees as if to beg for forgiveness.

"Oh, thank Infinity you're here," Nine was tearing up already. "I broke the food machine again, and I'm too chicken to call maintenance 'cause last time I did, they told me they'd cut my fingers off with a hacksaw!"

"How...do you even manage to break the food machine?" X was mildly hesitant to assist them, but also was interested in this. Three looked over at the two of them with a pitying look, convincing them without much effort.

"The pellets got jammed in the dispenser, and I tried to fix it, but the nozzle fell off," Nine sobbed into the floor, being a bit over dramatic with the delivery of that statement.

"They kicked the machine in anger as the pellets got jammed, and the motors stopped," Three corrected their case, to which Nine got up and stomped a foot in anger.

"That's not true!" They yelled, blatantly lying at the number sitting directly next to the large dent in the side of the food dispenser. Both statements were at least partially true, however, the nozzle was, as a matter of fact, on the floor.

"Alright, I'll just call maintenance to fix this," X sighed as Nine cheered for them, running back to Three and stealing their chair out from under them. They took the communicator from their side, while Nine started running around the room, being chased by Three for the chair.

"Hello, maintenance? One of the food machines broke in Hall 5, and we need it fixed as soon as possible," X stated into the small microphone embedded into the surface of the radio, while the speaker crackled until a button clicked on the other end.

"Goddamnit, did Nine kick it again?" The voice crackled from the audio quality, before they sighed, sounding like an aggressive amount of static as it came through the speaker. "I'll be there in a second, wait there."

The static came forth once again, signaling the end of the conversation. Nine sighed a sigh of relief, as if they had been holding their breath for the entire radio conversation.

"I thought I was a goner there for a second," Nine huffed in short intervals, trying to regulate their breathing like they'd been sprinting through a 100 meter dash.