Dawn Chorus (Proxies x Reader)

Crowded

BEN hovers over the ground, glitching in and out occasionally. He has brought some light and noise to the basement, only in the most literal sense. He complains a lot, in waves. He goes through stretches of being completely chill and stretches where being stuck here is too much. He can barely escape the game cartridge and when he does, he can't go far. He only makes it halfway up the stairs before he disappears then reappears by his game again. It is funny when he tries to lean against the wall and falls through, starting a cycle of him reappearing in the same place and falling again. I have to reach out and touch him to make him solid enough to stop the cycle, which adds its own amusement as he smacks into the wall.

Today is a whining day.

"I don't even kill anyone," he groans, rolling his eyes and smirking when Eyeless Jack clears his throat, "directly. Why can't they just leave me alone? And why did you help them?"

He turns an accusatory glare towards me. I'm in ropes again, resting in my spot between the two leaks. I shrug. He usually turns on me. I'm pretty sure Eyeless Jack got him started on it when I was sleeping because he woke me up to ask the first time.

"They have you down here too. You aren't even one of them. What do you get out of helping move us around? Do you like choosing the population that dies?"

I flinch a little when he says that. I don't want them released, honestly. If they kill people, being down here with me makes the world a better place, at least for a while.

"I didn't want the people in the house to die."

BEN chuckles and it sounds like a bad, distorted recording. "Too late for that, I already--"

Eyeless Jack clears his throat again. Clearly the monster is trying to control the conversation. He isn't subtle about it, but I don't point that out. I don't need a reason to prefer them to the men upstairs; they haven't wronged me directly.

"I ha--" he freezes for a moment then continues to speak, "ate being bound. I hate basements. I ha--" Another long pause. "ate the living. Living humans."

The last word is a clarification, thrown in hastily when the chains across the room start to shift. It's actually comforting. The situation feels less dire with BEN's bitching and Eyeless Jack's careful manipulation of the conversation. Neither of them is worked up to the point of animalistic rage and fear. I wrap myself in my blanket and shift my legs to fight off the numbness from sitting on this floor so long.

"Ooh, are you going to start flopping around again?" BEN asks, amusement in his tone.

"My legs hurt again," I mutter in response.

BEN's expression changes suddenly, a bit more serious and thoughtful than I've seen it since he joined us here.

"Actually, I could probably untie your legs," he speaks softly, a smirk replace the serious expression, "if you could make up for the lost entertainment."

I don't hesitate to respond, "I'll stay tied up."

"That's fine, I like that too."

I try not to give him the satisfaction of disgust moving across my face. I bow my head and school my expression into neutrality. No need to encourage him. He does act like a teenager. Sometimes I wonder how old he was when he died, but I won't pry. Somethings are meant to be private. Selfishly, I also don't want to risk angering him. Because I can touch him, it doesn't take much effort for him to touch me too. I don't really know what he is capable of. I only caught him off-guard in that house, and I don't want to test how much he can hurt me now that he knows physical contact is easy.