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He knew that guy; he only met him once, but it was him.
Hurricane, Utah was a small town- Jeremy noted.
He could see the mountains from where he stood from, and the neighborhood wasn't really huge-Everyone knew everyone from what he observed. The residence they now lived in was a two storey house, The bottom was where the kitchen, living room and bathroom were situated meanwhile the bedrooms were at the top. A split-level house was what it was called. The backyard wasn't very big, and fences separated it from the other houses.
They basically all looked the same, except for the one beside theirs. It had a porch, a balcony and everything that screamed upper class (well, upper middle class at least). He saw the owners the other day; they wanted to greet him and his family to the neighborhood. It was a couple; they seemed to be in their late 30’s and they were really polite. The woman had fair skin with a pink undertone covered in faint freckles, her eyes were a deep green, and her hair was a cooper shade of orange, curling at the ends. As for the man, he had pale skin with a shaved beard and blue-almost silver eyes. Jeremy is almost sure they had children together- he spotted a few toys scattered around on the porch once. Which was honestly surprising, the house seemed almost lifeless, he didn't know how to describe the feeling, but it sometimes felt almost too quiet or inhabited.
So, he didn't expect to spot a figure on the roof of his house when gazing at his bedroom window.
Jeremy hadn’t finished unpacking the night before; he was too busy helping his parents with the more important stuff when moving. So that was the goal for the day! He had 2 boxes full of stuff left. The first one contained all his comic books, journals and video games, the second one, all his clothes. ‘Remy’s stuff’ and ‘Remy’s clothes’ marked with sharpie. He brought a cutter with him-with the promise to be careful with said sharp object- and started opening the first box. Starting at the top of the cardboard box and dragging it to the bottom to open. And just as expected, it was filled with comic books- mostly ironman ones his favorite. Jeremy smiled brightly at the display, his dimples showing as he picked up the first book to place it on the bookshelf in his room.
He received a lot of new novels from his favorite story on his birthday. Jeremy loved reading stories, writing, and he had a pretty wild imagination! Sure, some downside of that was that he was often called childish for his age, but that didn’t stop him from spending all his pocket money in one go. He wished life was as interesting as it was in those books. fighting a bad guy, solving a mystery, meeting a fairy! Ok that one was a little too unrealistic- but dreaming big wasn't a crime.
As Jeremy put each book on the bookshelf, he found his gaze wandering. His room was decent, not really decorated for now as that was still being worked on. A wooden bunk bed with a desk instead of another bed underneath, a closet where he’ll put his clothes, two shelves, and a huge window facing the roof where a person s- wait what.
No, no that couldn’t be right, nobody was supposed to be on the roof he must have imagined something- the feeling of fight or flight and a sense of panic stirred in his stomach as he forced himself to do a double take.
His head snapped to the window and sure enough he could faintly make out the figure of a person with their back facing. He stood there completely frozen and pondered what to do...processing the situation as he finally came to the realization that someone was on HIS roof. His brows furrowed as he dropped the book in his hands. It dropped with a little ‘thud’ sound, forgotten on the floor as Jeremy bolted out of his room and slammed the door behind him.
He ran as fast as he could before quickly realizing something once again-that's it! That could be his superhero moment. The rush of adrenaline quickly turned into bravery; no one just climbed into someone’s roof for no reason.
He ran to the staircase in a rush-almost bumping into his little sister, Susie, that just got out of her room “Remy, watch out!” He heard her call out. He couldn’t be bothered to respond though, not when there was a bigger problem to deal with. The person could be a robber? Trying to break in by climbing on the roof! And maybe dealing with that alone wasn't going to be a good idea, but at least there was finally something interesting happening in this town. Arriving downstairs, Jeremy quickly rushed to the shoe cabinet and picked up his sneakers. Simple grey and white sneakers he struggled to tie the laces with, especially in a hurry.
He was about to run outside when he remembered he wasn't alone in this house, crap. Jeremy promised to unpack all his things today, yet he only rearranged some of his comic book before he dropped all of it. But who could blame him? That was the kind of thing that happened in a super cool story! He swallowed before yelling a faint “I’m taking a break! Going to play outside okbyeseeyou-” and busted the door open before his mom or stepdad could respond, he’ll deal with the consequences later!
The sky was bright blue with a few clouds but not enough to cover the sun casting shadows on each residence. The grass was a pear shade of green and almost overgrown compared to the others’ yards, but it was home, felt like home. Jeremy took a deep breath, the adrenaline fading away as he thought realistically about the situation. It was too late to turn back now. He took a few steps away from the front door and approached the side of his house. The sight he was exposed to was...
Disappointing but also relieving, it was just an average boy his age thinking he had the right to be in their property. He couldn’t really make out the boy’s features with the sun blinding Jeremy’s eyes and his head being turned. But what he did know was that that guy really caused a fright.
“Hey!” Jeremy shouted at the boy who flinched at the sound of the voice and snapped his head towards the other. That's when Jeremy could finally make out his features. He had tan skin with a lot of beauty marks and bruises on his knees and such. His hair was a sort of cut at home overgrown mullet with a middle part and a chocolate shade of brown, and his eyes were deep blue. He wore a dark grey tank top Aswell as blue dirtied by dirt shorts. The thing that caught his attention the most though was the fox mask placed beside him- he's almost sure he had already seen that design somewhere. “What are you doing on my roof?”
The fox boy furrowed his brows as he turned around face to face with a window- view of Jeremy's room. His eyes widen at the sight, and a nervous grin painted his face “Crap- that house got sold already?” It was more of a statement to himself than a question.
“Yeah! By me and my family so get down from here!” Jeremy heard the fox boy huff before he approached the edge of the roof. The shorter boy turned his head away and cringed as a loud THUMP hit the ground “Y-you’re alright there?” He asked, turning his gaze back to the boy that was now laying on the ground. Said boy stood up as fast as he fell, new bruises forming on his face and knees.
“Yup! Don't worry, I'm a professional! My limbs are basically used to this” he flashed a smile and Jeremy couldn't help but wince at the sentence, not sure what to think about this. “So..that wasn't the first time you climbed the roof of an occupied residence?” The shorter boy questioned as the other just picked up his mask and popped a bubble with his gum.
“Yeah, about that like- I didn't know it got sold, I usually just chill there but now...” he placed the fox mask on the side of his head, making some piece of his hair stick out awkwardly. “Eh, whatever, I'm your neighbor. Just call me Mike.” He nodded to the house just a few feet away that was separated by fences- the ‘fancy’ house.
Jeremy blinked for a second “Oh! I'm Jeremy. I'm pretty sure our parents met yesterday...” he was more than sure, but the resemblance between mike and the couple was faint. He didnt wanna make any false assumption in case he was actually just a relative.
“Sounds like em’ my dad and Lora are always the first to greet new people” oh well that explains it, Mike was like Jeremy but instead of a stepdad he had a stepmom “You new around here?” The shorter boy nodded “Thought so, haven’t seen you around”
Awkwardness washed over the two with an odd tension in the air as Jeremy processed the situation... did that count as making a friend? Are they acquaintances now? So many things happened in less than an hour and Mike seemed to analyze the other for some reason before he cleared his throat. “You like...Superheroes or whatever?” Mike spoke up referring to the stash of books he had previously spotted in the other’s room.
“Duh, they're my favorite genre of comic books!” Jeremy exclaimed, happy talking about this topic.
Mike lit up in relief “Same! Man, I was worried you’d thought I was childish. Wanna see my collection?”
that's when he recognized the mask on the other’s head: Freddy Fazbear’s pizza, the one that opened just a few days ago.
He’ll ask about that another time, for now he just nodded happily.
★
“Jer!” the sound of his name snapped Jeremy out of the flashback “dude you totally zoned out there you, okay?” Right, he was in the cafeteria with his friends...get yourself together, Remy.
“Yeah sorry, thought I saw someone” he said, scratching his neck nervously and getting a small hum of acknowledgment in response. He knew he saw him though; he changed only a little bit during those years. He still had that same beauty mark under his lip; his hair was shorter, and if he didn't know any better, he would have even said he looked well-kept together. But no, that life in his eyes he once had was gone, just like Jeremy's. Perhaps they had more common than he thought.
It was shocking to see him again; they only hung out once; it was fun! They played many video games and talked about their favorite superheroes. But after that, it was like the boy had disappeared into thin air. Yet, rumors spread fast and in just a few days he learned what happened. He kept his distance after this, and he probably will for the rest of life. He would be lying if he said the boy didn't interest him in a way. He was like a ghost only existing in hushed whispers, but curiosity kills the cat, they say.
At least he got to know Mike before he was replaced by Michael Afton.