The next morning, Scott walked in, looking slightly preoccupied. He was on morning shift again, this time with Mike.
"Morning, Scott," Mike said from the Show Stage where he was cleaning off a - erm, 'pizza sauce' - stain from Bonnie's front. "You're looking thoughtful today. Are you still half asleep, or what?"
"Or what," Scott said, putting down his bag and getting to work on the Dining Hall. "Vincent and I went on a- ...uh, we... we hung out together last night."
"Oh?" Mike asked, "And how'd it go?"
"He embarrassed me, read through my private diary and..." Scott had been about to say 'tried to kiss me', but figured that'd only lead to a lot of awkward questions, and plus, he wasn't sure if Vincent really wanted him to disclose that information. "And said a lot of rude things. He said I was screwed up."
Mike sighed, "So, you're still not friends?"
"No, we're still not friends..." Scott paused, halfway through taking off the old tablecloth, "Did you know his hair goes down past his shoulders? And it's soft and shiny, too, like a girl's."
Mike raised an eyebrow, jumping off the Show Stage and walking towards the supply closet to pull out a new table cloth and party hats, "Is that an indirect compliment, Scott?"
Scott froze for just a millisecond and then laughed, "What? No! That's ridiculous. I said he looked like a girl."
"And that his hair was soft and shiny," Mike pointed out, returning back to the Dining Hall and chucking the tablecloth at Scott, who caught it and started putting it onto the table.
Scott shrugged, "Whatever. What I'm saying is, he looks like a girl. It even smells like a girl's hair, too."
"Woah, woah, woah, hold the phone!" Mike held his hands up.
Scott made a very unimpressed look at Mike, "You couldn't help yourself, could you?"
"How were you so close to him that you could smell his hair?" Mike's eyes narrowed accusingly, in contrast to Scott's, which widened.
"Well - I mean - he tripped!"
"He tripped?" Mike asked, sounding very unconvinced. He crossed his arms across his chest.
"Y-Yeah. I went for a walk to get some fresh air, and Vincent tagged along just to annoy me, and it was dark, and he tripped over a rock and fell on me," Scott said. Well... it was half true...?
Mike made a disbelieving sound in the back of his throat, "Mhm, yeah, right."
It was Scott's turn to glare, "Why? What are you saying could have happened?"
"Well," Mike shrugged, "I thought he might have finished off what he started back when we burst in on you yesterday morning."
Scott made a very uneasy chuckle, "Oh, shut up, that-that's ridiculous. He only did that back then because he knew you guys were coming and he wanted to embarrass me."
Mike grinned and went back to setting up the Dining Hall.
In a few more minutes' time, the opening bell of Freddy Fazbear's went off and the first kids started running in the door. Jeremy, Vincent and Fritz all walked in along with the first children.
When Vincent walked in, looking bored as ever, Mike called out, "Hey, Vincent! Scott thinks you look like a girl!"
Vincent blinked, looking at Mike until his eyes slowly slid over to Scott, "Well, he's not exactly the epitome of manliness, either. Look at those eyes. Big, brown, beautiful and watery. Those are girl's eyes, if ever I've seen them."
"Hey!" Scott protested, "I'm very masculine, thank you."
Mike snorted.
Scott rolled his eyes, "Fine, whatever. I suppose you think you're oh-so-manly, don't you, Vincent? Well, just because you've got a firm chest and strong jawline doesn't make you more than a portentous wannabe."
"No, wait, that was definitely a compliment," Mike said, holding a finger in the air as if Scott's words hung in the air and he was pointing at them.
Vincent, however, glared as if Scott had just seriously insulted him, "Y'know, I thought those good looks would compliment your good personality, but it turns out you're nowhere near as handsome on the inside."
Mike looked between Vincent and Scott, looking like he was trying hard not to laugh. "Guys... that's not even subtle... you're serious about this, aren't you?" A laugh broke through, and soon Mike was doubled over with laughter, clutching his stomach, "This is too good! You don't even know you're doing it!"
Vincent and Scott both glared at Mike, and then at each other, and then walked off to their separate posts.
Scott was on the Show Stage for the day, he hauled himself up to sit on the stage and lean back on one of the speakers - that was, until Fritz made a loud cough from where he was reprogramming the animatronics (looks like the backstage panel had broken again) and pointed towards the sign that said "Hi kids! Please remember, don't climb on the stage! Freddy and his friends need space!"
Scott rolled his eyes and jumped off the stage again. He leaned against the wall and scanned the Dining Hall, the anger he'd felt before draining quickly out of him and being replaced by a hopeless sadness. The one thing he didn't want to happen, the one thing he'd been trying, desperately, to avoid since the very first day Vincent smiled at Scott and Scott's stomach had dropped to his feet, had happened. He'd become close to Vincent.
He couldn't have that happening. He couldn't get close to Vincent, or he'd become too close to Vincent. That would be disastrous. Just imagine it! Falling in love with his very definitely male co-worker.
No, no. He didn't like him. He hated him. That was how things worked. That was how he coped, and it was more important now than it ever had been before. He refused to become friends with Vincent.
He looked up to distract his thoughts and saw Mike deep in discussion with Vincent. He wondered what they were talking about. Maybe Mike was pressing for details about what happened last night.
It felt like somebody had dropped a rock on his stomach.
Oh gawd...
He could just see it now. Mike would ask Vincent what went on and Vincent would brag about how Scott had taken him on a date, how he had bought him snacks and invited him to cuddle up next to him.
Oh gawd!
Vincent had read his diary, what's worse, he read the one page that Scott was most protective over; the page where he'd written all about the little stirrings he got in his stomach whenever he thought of the possibility that he just might be attracted to his own gender. He stared at Vincent with a ferocious intensity, trying to read his lips or hear a snippet of their conversation. He could only imagine the kind of things he would be saying.
"Yeah, but Scott's not exactly as straight as he seems, you should have seen what he wrote in his diary..."
Oh. Gawd!
Scott groaned, now completely certain that that was exactly what Vincent and Mike were so keen on discussing. So embarrassing. Oh, not to mention, completely rude and out of place.
Scott felt anger bubbling in his stomach again.
Actually, yeah! How dare Vincent just take his personal information and talk about it freely with Mike like that!? Totally unacceptable! He hadn't told Mike about Vincent making advances on him, so what right did Vincent have to be telling Mike Scott's insecurities?
The anger stayed with him like a flame in his stomach for the rest of the day, making him short-tempered and snappy at everybody who tried to approach him; even the customers, which made the Boss, a short, well-built middle-aged man with a stern face but caring personality, have to come to him no less than three times during the day with complaints.
Finally, the day drew to a close. Scott volunteered to stay behind to lock up and clean the ovens.
"Alright," the Boss said, "But I don't want you to do it alone. Those animatronics can be... unpredictable... and I don't want to lose my most valued employee." With a sidelong glance at Scott, he mumbled, "Sure you don't want to make Vincent do it, instead?"
Scott laughed but shook his head, "No, but he can stay behind and help me, if he likes. I, uh, needed to talk to him, anyway."
The Boss gave Scott a knowing look, "Scott. I am completely, absolutely opposed to having the both of you together after hours. Whatever your argument with him is now, I'd wait until tomorrow."
"Why not?" Scott asked.
"Because if I leave you two here together only one of you will come out again. If something goes wrong and you two are fighting, you'll end up dead. Staying at Fazbear's after hours is no laughing matter, Scott."
"The animatronics don't get put on free roam until 12AM," Scott said. "I'll only be quick."
The Boss frowned and was silent for a long time, then he sighed, "Vincent! Get over here. You're on lock up duty with Scott. Try not to destroy the entire pizzeria in a bloody fight."
With one final warning look towards Scott, the Boss and the rest of the guards left the building.
The building quickly became silent, awkwardness falling like a blanket between the two men left in the Dining Hall. Vincent stared at Scott with a calm patience, waiting for him to say whatever he'd obviously needed to say for him to request that Vincent stayed behind.
Scott glared at him for a while, and then he said, "You know, I didn't tell Mike that you tried to kiss me. I made up an excuse."
"I'm sorry?" Vincent asked, looking mildly taken aback.
"What I'm saying is, you didn't have to go talk to Mike about things that I might have discussed with you last night," Scott growled, feeling his anger rise to the surface again.
"I... Scott, I... I'm not sure what you're talking about..." Vincent said.
"Don't play dumb with me!" Scott snapped viciously. "I saw you and Mike talking, and what else could you have been talking about?! What did you tell him, hey?! Did you tell him I was going to kiss you, huh?! Guess you guys had a good laugh about it, didn't you?!"
Vincent blinked at Scott, and then his lips quirked at the corners and soon there was an idiotic grin plastered across his face, "Scott, you dope."
"I'm not a dope!" Scott said. "You're the dope here!"
Vincent started to chuckle, then he was laughing, "Mike and I were talking about the latest Pokémon game."
Scott froze mid-glare, feeling like a very large balloon that had been in his chest had just burst. "W-What...?"
Vincent was laughing more now, he took a long breath and fell into fits of giggles, "You idiot, Scott! You stupid, adorable idiot!"
Scott felt his face flush, embarrassment burning through his veins in that kind of way that let him know that he would never, ever be able to look back at this moment without cringing.
Vincent wiped tears of laughter from his eyes and attempted to supress the most of the rest of his giggles in order not to embarrass Scott further. "Don't w-worry about it, S-Scott." He giggled once more, "It w-was just a mistake..."
Scott groaned loudly, burying his face in his hands. "I can't believe it... I can not believe it... this is so embarrassing..."
Vincent leaned forward and grabbed Scott by the shoulders, pulling him forwards so he stumbled into Vincent's body. He wrapped his arms around him. "Don't worry about it. We'll keep this between us..." His voice wavered ominously, and for a second Scott was sure he was going to start laughing again.
Scott was stuck between deciding to push him away and relaxing into the contact, he stood rather awkward and stiff in the embrace.
"Scott," Vincent spoke, "I promise, I'm not going to tell anyone about what happened between us last night, okay? Especially not anything about your innermost thoughts and doubts. Okay?"
"...Especially about me maybe not being fully... fully..." Scott drew a line on Vincent's stomach with his finger, hoping he'd get the gist. "You promise?"
"Not being fully straight?" Vincent tightened his arms around Scott, "I promise."
Scott smiled, and then he relaxed in the hold, wrapping his own arms around Vincent.
They stayed like that for a while, a hug that was comforting at first, but then became something more. It lasted too long to just be a friendly hug. They were both so absorbed with the feeling of having each other close, that it was a few good minutes before Vincent broke apart.
"Lets get started on those ovens, hey?"
Scott smiled and nodded, "Yeah."