Burger Bats basement is actually really huge, there's a secret entrance only the employees know to ride an elevator down to the CEO's office... Though it takes like 30 minutes down on the elevator, and then another 10 minutes ride to actually get to the office. So the total is 40 minutes.
But it'll take long if you don't remember the pattern cause the office tend to change where it's location is...
The secret entrance is in the employees lounge which is in the basement too, the top floor...
Outside, the faint chime of the front door rang. It was followed by hurried footsteps and Nat’s familiar yet shy greeting.
Blair was in the bathroom, when they heard someone come into the restaurant. They knew his co-worker would handle it and continued with their own work.
11:00PM
It was late—too late for anyone decent to be coming in. They had been dealing with some real pieces of work lately, and they weren’t in the mood for another one.
He continued to scrub at some graffiti on the stall door. The tag was crude, a mess of jagged lines and inappropriate words that made their nose wrinkle.
“Welcome in! We’re about to close, but I can still take your order.” Nat’s voice was slightly muffled through the thin walls. His voice was gentle but tired as always.
He went back to scrubbing, but a few minutes later, shouting echoed from the front. The sound of an argument soon filtered through the thin walls—cruel words from a voice that wasn’t Nats.
"Are you serious right now?" the customer snapped, their voice rising. "This is ridiculous!"
Blair paused, the cleaning rag still in their hand.
“Sir, I’m doing my best,” Nat said, his tone polite but noticeably strained. "If you’ll just give me a moment—"
Not just raised voices—screaming.
They froze, gripping the rag in their hands. Nat was keeping it together, voice steady, even when the customer spat venom back at him. Blair couldn’t make out the words, but they could hear the tension, the barely-contained frustration in Nat’s tone.
"I don’t have a moment! What kind of place runs out of sauce at this hour?!"
Blair furrowed their brows, dropping the rag into the bucket and barged out the bathroom. But by the time they reached the counter, the customer was already storming out, the door slamming shut behind them.
Then—silence.
Nat stood there, stiff and silent, staring at the register. His hands were balled into fists at his sides, his burger hat slightly askew.
Blair looked at him across the counter, his eyes filled with worry but couldn't say anything. Neither did Nat.
He watched as the blonde turned on his heel, grabbed a stray cup off the floor, and tossed it into the trash.
Though reluctant, Blair turned around and two went back to work like nothing had happened, the silence stretching between them. The shop was locked up soon after, the chairs flipped onto the tables and the floors mopped.
Nat locked the front doors, his grip on the keys just a little too tight. His expression was something that Blair tried to figure out, it was one filled with numbness yet held sorrow.
He took the trash bag from the kitchen, the plastic crinkling in his grip. Then, without another glance, Nat pushed open the back door and stepped outside.
Then quietly, Blair silently opened the door and their eye’s followed Nat's movement. He watched as the blonde tossed the bag into the dumpster.
They expected silence for Nat to come back, but instead— they saw Nat plop down on the dirty ground, beside the dumpster.
Then he heard soft, choked sobs.
“Nat?” Blair called out cautiously, their voice low, almost unsure.
His blonde hair was disheveled, and his burger-shaped hat was gripped tightly in his trembling hands. His face was buried in his knees, but his shoulders shook with every muffled sob.
Blair hesitated for a moment before stepping out. They crouched next to him, unsure how to start. “Bad customer?” they asked softly.
Nat lifted his head, his tear-streaked face illuminated in the dim glow. His eyes were red, his expression was filled with sorrow.
“It’s not the customer,” he muttered, voice thick with emotion.
Blair frowned, sitting down fully on the pavement. “Then what’s wrong?”
For a moment, Nat didn’t answer. He gripped his hat tighter, his knuckles white, and his lips quivered as he struggled to find the words.
Finally, he broke.
“I’m scared,” he admitted, his voice cracking as fresh tears welled in his eyes. “Is this what I’m supposed to be?” He gestured vaguely at the restaurant behind them, his hands shaking.
Blair blinked, taken aback. They opened their mouths to respond, but Nat kept going, his words tumbling out like a flood he couldn’t stop.
“Could I be more?” he whispered, his voice breaking as the tears spilled over. He buried his face in his hands. “I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. I don’t know if I’m good enough for anything else.”
Blair felt their heart ache, Nat’s words hitting closer to home than they wanted to admit. “I’m scared of the future,” Nat confessed, his voice barely audible now.
Blair swallowed hard. They didn’t have an answer. They didn’t know what to say. The truth was, they felt it too—that gnawing fear, the uncertainty that kept them up at night.
They knew that feeling too well. The uncertainty, the dread of waking up every day and wondering if this was it. If they were stuck. If they’d ever be more than a name tag and a uniform that barely fits right.
Instead of offering empty words, Blair reached out hesitantly and placed a hand on Nat’s shoulder. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for Nat to lean into them, resting his head against their shoulder.
His breath came out in a shaky exhale, and for a moment, it seemed like he might say something.
Blair glanced at him, their dark eyes catching the faint tremble in Nat’s hands.
They dug their hand onto their pocket and pulled out their lighter and flicked it open and shut, the small flame briefly lighting their face before disappearing again. They weren’t sure what to say—if anything needed to be said.
Blair was unsure of what to do or say. Comfort wasn’t exactly their forte, but seeing Nat like this, stirred something in them—a mix of concern and frustration at the situation.
“I hate closing shifts,” Nat muttered suddenly, his voice quiet but brittle. He looked down at the lighter Blair was flickering, there was something calming about the way the small fire lit with a soft click, in a calm pattern.
“It’s not just the customers,” The blonde continued, his voice cracking. “It’s everything. The pressure—”
Blair couldn't bring themself to look Nat in the eye, and continued to play around with the lighter. The way his brown eyes looked wide and searching for an answer that never truly came, a glimmer of vulnerability that Blair wasn’t used to seeing.
He let out a humorless laugh. “It’s not just him. That's all of it. I keep wondering if this is all I’m meant to be. Just... standing here, taking orders, getting yelled at because someone’s fries aren’t crispy enough.”
Blair’s head tilted back as they stared at the starless sky. “You’re not stuck here, you know. You’ve got time to figure it out.” Their chest tightened as they shifted on their feet, making sure they glanced away. They weren’t great at this kind of thing, but they couldn’t just leave him like this.
Nat slightly shook his head, his blonde hair falling into his face. “What if I don’t? What if I waste my life here, just... existing?” His voice dropped to a whisper.
Blair cared—of course they did. They just didn’t always know how to show it.
They hugged Nat. It was a reluctant one.
Blair rubbed his back in a circular motion and didn't even move nor made a fuss when Nat’s tears started to wet Blair’s shoulder.
"...Yeah," they murmured after a long pause.
He grasped on Blair’s shoulder, as he buried his head on the crook of their neck. The dark haired adult could hear Nat’s soft sobs starting up again. The way he embraced Blair was similar to what a lost child would do.
“I’m scared, Blair.”
“I’m scared too,”
They admitted, the words feeling heavy but honest. Their lips twitched into something close to a smile—soft, almost apologetic. “It’s not like I’ve got everything figured out either.”
Blair was unsure if what they said was enough, but it was the truth. And sometimes, the truth was all they had to offer.
Nat let out a shaky breath. After a moment, he looked at Blair again, a confused expression appearing on his face “Really? It's really okay to not know?
Blair nodded, noticing his posture a little less rigid now. They pulled away as they both sat there in silence for a while, the cool night air wrapping around them. Blair didn’t try to fix it—they didn’t know how.
Instead, they let Nat cry, leaning their head slightly against his, hoping that maybe, just maybe, sitting together like this was enough for now.
