“Tall white goth guy in a black face mask—he looks like he walked out of a mall in 1986.He’s also a notorious stickler for the rules who hates my guts,” he admitted.“I honestly don’t know how to deal with him.Your best bet would be to go find my friend Matt and ask for help.He’s usually downstairs at the snack bar.”Blake indicated towards the block occupied by a scribble that was supposed to be a hot dog roller.
“Okay, what does Matt look like?”Marin inquired.
“Tiny Vietnamese guy covered in piercings and tattoos,” Blake described.“Either has enough energy that he looks ready to vibrate out of his skin at any given moment or he’ll be actively passed out on the counter.Delayed sleep phase disorder will do that to you.”
“Got it,” Marin nodded, taking the tablet from Blake.“I’ll try to be as discreet as possible.”
“You sure you want to do this?”Blake asked, setting a hand on Marin’s shoulder.“Technically it’s my responsibility to get this information.I could always go after hours and dig around the offices myself—I wouldn’t be at risk of getting in trouble.”
Marin shook his head.“I’m sure.I want to help out, too.”
“That’s fair,” Blake surmised.“But if you ever want to go, let me know, okay?”
“Okay.”Marin smiled.“But I doubt I will.I’m pretty interested to see what’s been inside the castle all these years.”
“Video game cabinets, cheap prizes, and sticky kids,” Blake summarized as they approached the front of the castle.To Blake’s surprise, one of the large wooden doors swung out for him the second he reached for the handle.
Standing inside was none other than the aforementioned Noel Trembley, the security guard who filled in for Blake over the summer.He always had an eerie quietness about him—save for when he was filming TikToks with their co-worker Jace behind the Skee Ball machines—and it was a little unnerving to be pinned by his big pale eyes, ringed in dark, thick eyeliner.With the amount of theatrical makeup he wore, Noel looked like he would be much more likely to loiter around a cemetery than to work at a family-friendly arcade.
“Uh, thanks…” Blake said, stepping inside.Noel’s gaze followed him and Marin as they entered the building.He closed the door behind them, setting a heavy hand on Blake’s shoulder.
“Everything okay, man?”Blake asked with a frown.
“You tell me.‘Cause if anyone asks if I saw anything weird on the security tapes this morning, then I definitely didn’t,” Noel told him, voice quiet and even behind his black mask.Blake was surprised at how calm Noel appeared, given the situation—he would have presumed that most people would’ve been freaking out after witnessing something like that.
Shit, he thought.He’d been so preoccupied with Marin’s sudden…existencethat he hadn’t even thought to go erase the security footage of everything that transpired early that morning.Blake was well aware that—despite Lovepreet’s prior assurances—he’d managed to break at least several company policies in what had been recorded.
Noel was so kind as to list them off for him, tapping off the violations on his black-lacquered fingers.“Bringing a non-staff member on site after hours, inappropriate use of the facilities, property damage, and theft… I think,” he concluded, eyes landing on Marin for a moment before twitching back to Blake.He moved a fluffy spike of black hair onto the shaven side of his head as he spoke, appearing thoughtful.“Those are pretty big violations, Mr.DeLuca.”
“He didn’t steal me, I went with him.I’m a person, not athing,” Marin defended, stepping between Blake and Noel.“And didn’t you just say that you didn’t see anything?”
Noel regarded him, expression unreadable under his face mask.“That I did.I’m always happy to do a favor for Matt’s close friend.However…” he trailed off with intent.“I happen to know for certain that you’re certified for security and loss prevention.”
Blake scowled.“Fine, I’ll take one of your shifts as long as it doesn’t interfere with any of mine.When?”
“Matt was talking about a group outing to Frosty’s next Saturday,” Noel explained.“I’d really hate to miss out on quality time with him.”
As much as Blake wanted to spend time with his friends outside of work, he wanted to keep his job much more, so he had no choice but to assent to Noel’s blackmail.
If he was being honest, Blake had no idea what Matt saw in Noel with his creepy, almost stalker-like behavior.When Noel had materialized in their friend group after Matt’s rehab stay, Matt had defended Noel’s mannerisms with reassurance that he was, in actuality, an awkward theater kid with severe social anxiety—a gentle sweetheart with a soft-spot for sewing, video games, and rabbits.Blake was reluctant to believe him at first, but upon spotting the hand drawn tag of the anthropomorphic sea bunny that had permanent residence on Noel’s lanyard, he’d assented to Matt’s assessment.
“Fine,” Blake sighed in resignation, giving into Noel’s demands.“Have fun watching Matt eat an ice cream sundae the size of his head.”
“I treasureallthe time I get to spend with Matt,” Noel retorted a little breathlessly.
“So just to be clear, we’re keeping this between us?”Blake asked, glancing at Marin and Noel.
“…between us,” Noel agreed, dropping his pensive gaze to the floor.Blake frowned, uncertain that Noel was going to let it gothateasily, considering what he’d seen on the CCTV.The scope of the situation required more than a shift to keep quiet.
Although Blake wasn’t quite satisfied with Noel’s answer, it didn’t look like the security guard was going to elaborate.Unsure of what else to do, Blake headed for the Point of Sale to clock in when Noel reached out to touch his shoulder one last time, glancing between him and Marin.“Hey, uh…”
“Yes?”Blake insisted, exasperated and fighting the urge to shrug Noel off.He should have known better than to assume that Noel would let such a strange situation go.
“Be—” Noel’s tone was now much less theatrical and far more reserved.Blake couldn’t tell due to the decorative face mask he donned, but he thought that Noel was frowning.“Be careful, okay?”
“Careful?”Marin echoed, cocking his head.
“Yeah,” Noel said, crossing an arm over his torso—Blake sensed as long as he was being sincere, that social anxiety reared its head.“That’s—this isn’t something you want to go around advertising.It could garner a lot of unwanted attention.”
