Archive of Our Own ^beta

"What are you doing, George?"

The brown haired man looked up from what he was doing on his desk and made eye contact with one of his friends.

"Hi Karl, I'm just looking at some stuff." Answered George with a friendly smile.

Karl stood beside him and leaned over the brit's shoulder to get a glimpse of the pictures on the desk.

"Oh, you're looking at those photos again?" Karl asked, not at all surprised and with a bitter undertone that he didn't cover quite as well as he thought he did.

George rolled his eyes and gathered the photos together and put the stack aside. "Yeah." He murmured.

George has had a bit of an obsession with the mysterious photos that have been popping up all over the levels for quite a while now. However, none of his colleagues or friends seem to understand his interest.

Sometimes they react so dismissively and annoyed that George started to keep his interest to himself and spent his time alone in his room.

"When are you going to drop that subject? It's not good for you to keep pondering over a few photos. You hardly ever do anything else anymore." Spoke the other brunette. But George was only listening to half of it.

"Yeah yeah, like there's anything else to do around here." He scoffed softly.

He's been down here in the backrooms for almost a year now. Unlike many others, he was lucky and came across other people early on who accepted him into their colony and helped him survive in this strange new place.

George was neither a fighter nor an explorer, so there wasen't really anything to do for him.

When he came across the phenomenon of an entity called the Cameraman, he finally found something to occupy himself with.

But no one seemed to understand his interest in the unknown entity. He often had to listen to others talking about how he should deal with real things or things that were helpful for the group.

Karl sighed behind him, as if he felt sorry for George. "You know that I and the others would always welcome you to come on our expeditions."

George stared stubbornly at his hands. Of course he knew that, but somehow that just wasn't what he was longing for.

Apart from the fact that he wouldn't be able to help his friends at all. He would be dead weight.

"You know I'm useless out there."

George hadn't set foot in any of the other levels since he joined the colony. He was content here in level one.

This world was scary and dangerous, definitely not a place George wanted to wander for too long.

He could hear Karl sigh softly before puting his hand on his friend's shoulder. "You're just as useless siting here in your room all day thinking about something that doesn't exist."

George grimaced and gave his friend a sharp look. "And how do we know that? There's something behind these photos and I want to find out what it is. I just need a little more time."

"George, even if an entity exists out there leaving random photos behind, we've been given clear instructions to leave it alone." Said Karl, fed up with his friend's stubbornness.

"I don't want to harm it tho, I just want to know what it is. Besides, we could learm some stuff from watching it. It seems like a passive entity."

It made sense in his head.

The entity appeared to be able to travel through all levels unhindered and was able to take pictures of creatures that no human could approach without risking their life, that much was known.

The only questions were why it left the photos in the first place, what it was and how it traveled around.

It was originaly only a myth that people told down here, but George was convinced he could uncover the mystery around the strang entity.

However, Karl shook his head. "Why does it hide from us then? Just because something keeps away from us, does not mean that its friendly!"

Karl was desperate to get his reasons trough Georges thick skull. Why couldn't he just realize that he was wasting his time?

The brit remained silent, he had no answer for Karl.

"See?! Not to mention that you can't solve a mystery with locking youself inside your room all day!"

George blinked rapidly, trying to suppress the rising tears in his eyes.

"It simply does you no good being in here pondering all the time. Just come with us on an expedition to find something that is actually worth the research." Suggested the brunette, but George just shook his head and shoved the hand from his shoulder.

"Get out."

Karl took a surprised breath and looked at the bowed head of his friend. "What?" He asked quietly, thinking that maybe, he hadn't heard him right.

George, who already had a few tears running down his cheeks, was
continuously getting more frustrated with his friends attitude.

"I said: Get out!" George repeated, this time a little louder and with more force. Hopefully Karl didn't hear that he was crying.

It was a quiet for a moment before Karl found his voice again and spoke. "You're being inmature again, George."

George clenched his fists and bit his lip, as to not snap at his friend.

"I'm trying to help you, George. I and the rest are worried about you, you're not even eating with us anymore." Said Karl, trying to place his hand back on George's shoulder.

This time George slapped his hand away before it could touch him.

Karl drew his hand back to his chest and took a step backwards as George turned around to him and glared at him with wet eyes.

"Yes and there's a reason I don't spend time with you guys anymore! And its not because of my project!" Spat the brunette bitter.

"George-"

"NO! Get out and leave me the fuck alone!" That got Karl's mouth shut and he turned around before he finally left the room. George was alone again.

The brit took a deep breath and slumped back in his chair. His hands went to his face, where he wiped away the tears and quietly cried.

Why could no one leave him and the things he was interested in alone? Just because they saw it as a waste of time, didn't mean that George also had to think so.

And now Karl would tell everyone how George had yelled at him, which would make him look even worse.

The brunette put his head on the table and wished that he would somehow wake up in the real world again.

But the universe seemed to hate him with a burning passion, why else did he end up here?

_______

Two days later and none of his friends had come to check on him after Karl had left the other day.

They hadn't even brought him something to eat. George lived on the snacks he had laying around in the room and drank from the water that he had.

He had thought a lot since then.

Maybe he should pack his stuff and leave? It was only a matter of time before the others would kick him out anyways. He also felt extremely out of place.

But what would he do after he left his colony? Search for a new one?

It could take ages to find other people again and he already had so much luck when he found this colony. He wouldn't be so lucky again.

Even if he found a new colony, what then?

No, George had to change something and he already knew how.

He was determined to pack his things and find the entity of the cameraman and when he had found it, he would prove that his work was not meaningless and that he could do more than just sit around and be depressed.

He would return with something and show the colony that he was indeed able to do stuff. Then they would stop treating him like a useless child.

He already had a rough plan.

The last photo found was found within level three. Because there were normally several photos to be found in a level, there was a good chance that he would find more.

With a bit of luck, the entity might still be there.

However, George would have to prepare and pack enough stuff to survive in level three, the level was afterall, full of monsters that were just waiting for someone like him to walk straight into their arms.

George grabbed his notes and the photos, he put them into a backpack and left the room.

People looked suprised when they saw George in the corridors, none of them, however, spoke to him.

The storage room was his goal, there he could pack everything he needet. Unlucky as he was, he was met with someone he knew.

Sapnap stared at him with wide eyes as the brit walked into the room.

Wordlessly, George walked past him and began to put food and almond water into his backpack.

Behind him, Sapnap rubbed his eyes before he looked at Georges back again. "George? Is that you?" He asked surprised.

The brunette paused and considered for a moment if he should even answer.
"Yes?"

"What are you doing? You're out of your room, you know that right?" He asked cautiously and walked closer.

George looked at the almond water in his hand and nodded. "I do know that, thank you."

"Are you ok? Karl said you were really mad and so we decided to leave you alone for a bit. Now you're out here and that just dosen't sound right."

George raised an eyebrow and stuffed the last bottle in his backpack before he turned around to look at the bandana wearing man. "Well, suprise! Here I am. If you would excuse me now, I have things to do." He gave a dull smile and walked past him.

He needed glowsticks and a flashlight.

Sapnap stood there, looking perplexed before he turned and ran after him. "Ok, you're still mad, I get it."

George ignored him and instead opened one of the many boxes which were filled with glowsticks to equip. He took as many as he could grab with both of his hands and put them in his backpack, He then closed the box and went to one of the shelves where the flashlights were.

Sapnap still followed him. "Look George, I'm sorry that I haven't been the best friend lately, but you're worrying me right now." Said the black-haired man concerned and gave an anxious look at the backpack of his friend. He had a bad feeling about what was happening.

"You're not leaving, are you...?"

When asked, George turned with a flashlight in his hand to his friend and gave him a seriously look.

"Listen Sapnap, I don't have time for you right now ok?" He tried to go past him again, but Sapnap grabbed him by the arm and stopped him before he could get too far.

"No, you're not going anywhere before you tell me what the fuck is going on right now! What the hell are you doing George?" Sapnap sounded angry and his face reflected a mixture of anxiety, anger and worry.

George, however, looked him coolly in the eyes and pressed his lips tightly together, not planning to tell him anything. He would just tell him how stupid he was acting again.

"You either tell me what you're planing, or I'm going to drag your ass to Bad's office and you can talk to him. You decide." He threatened as he realized George wasen't going to speak.

The threat had its effect. Annoyed, George took a deep breathe before answering. "I'm going on an expedition."

Sapnap blinked at him, confused and suprised. He needed a few moments to process what his friend had just told him. "What?! You going on an expedition?? With whom?"

George rolled his eyes. Of course, none of his friends would believe him if he said he was voluntary leaving the base.

He should've expected it. after all, it already seemed shocking enough that he left his room. "I don't know why that would be any of your Business, but I'm going alone."

Sapnap looked at him with an open mouth. Normally George would've teased him about the stupid face he was making, but he was still angry. "Why that's my busine- George, We're friends and I care about you!"

He looked at George, still in utter disbelief. "And what do you mean with you're going alone?? are you out of your mind?!" He continued as he put his other hand on the shoulder of the brunette to shake him.

"You care about me huh, hasen't felt like you do lately." George said angrily, trying to free himself from the grip Sapnap had on him.

The other looked shocked and nearly let go of him, before tightening his hold again "What are you talking about? I told you I'm sorry! You're making such a big deal out of this."

George could hardly believe it, this was exactly what he meant. Nobody here took him seriously or tried to see things from his point of view. "Now you're just proving my point."

Sapnap shook his head. "Ok this is going nowhere with you, we're talking about this later." He said dismissively and with a disappointed tone, after which upset George even more. He had to tighten his hold on the Flashlight to force himself to stay quiet. "Lets get back to the important part, where are you going?"

"I already told you, I'm going on an expedition." George replied, annoyed. He just wanted Sapnap to let go so he could finally get away from this conversation.

He scoffed. "No you're not. Tell me the truth."

"That IS the truth! Now let go of me!" George cried out and tried again to yank his arm out of Sapnap's hand. Unsuccessful. The ravenette was a lot stronger than him.

"The fuck its not! Do you think I'm stupid? You would never go out there on yourself, you would die!" yelled Sapnap back. Anger clear on his face as he glared at him.

That was it for George. In retrospect, he would regret it, but at that moment it felt damn good.

He slapped him.

Right in the face.

Almost immediately Sapnap let go of him to touch his now reddened cheek.

A bit scared of himself, George stepped back before he took a deep breath and ran past his friend toward the exit.

Sapnap was left behind, shocked the George just slapped him.

Meanwhile, George ran through the corridors and only slowing diwn again once he was sure that Sapnap wasen't following him.

It didn't take long until he arrived in the last room of the base which had the entrance to the outside.

It wasen't often that he was so far out here. after all, he never leaves the base.

There were few people around, mostly guards that protected the entrance from monsters and some people who would go out soon that were saying their goodbyes to friends.

Without looking around too long, he walked toward the door, which would bring him right into the outside of the backrooms.

"George?"

The brit froze, inwardly cursing that he was being stoppt yet again.

He looked to the side and was greeted with Karl and another person he didn't recognise.

Karl looked at him, confused. "What are you doing here? I mean, don't get me wrong, its nice to see you outside your room but-" He was interrupted before he could finish his sentence.

"KARL! STOP HIM! He's trying to run away!" Someone yelled from the hallway where George had come from.

Both turned and saw Sapnap, who was leaning on the door frame, trying to regain his breath while glaring daggers at George.

"Huh?" Came from Karl. When he turned to George, he was already several meters away from him. Trying to get towards the door.

"George, wait!" He shouted and ran up to him. Karl grabbed his right arm und spun him around, before he could even realize what was happening.

But Karl was not as strong as Sapnap and did not manage to prevent George from freeing himself again, as he yanked his arm away.

"No! Stop trying to gaslight me into staying!" Said the brunette and shoved Karl gently away from himself, he didn't want to hurt another one of his friends.

At the same moment Sapnap came up behind Karl.

"What is happening?" Asked Karl, extremely confused by the events.

Sapnap raised his head to respond. "He's gone completely insane, Karl. He said that he's going on an expedition. Alone." He explained.

Karl made an incredulous noise and raised his eyebrows as he looked to George, staring at him with a hurt expression. "Is that true? Are you planing on leaving?"

Meanwhile, everyone in the room had directed their attention to the trio.

"Yes. I'm going out there." George testified.

Karl took a shaky breath and tried to reach for George again, but the brit stepped backwards. Away from them. "George..."

The brit shook his head "Don't even start, I'm not going to chance my mind."

"Why?" Karl wanted to know, still not beliving what was happening.

"Why?? Because no one here takes me serious! You talk to me like I'm a stupid child, you talk me down constantly and make fun of everything I do!" He listed angry. His voice shriller than usual, but he had promised himself that he wouldn't cry again.

"I feel like I'm fucking useless and a burden!" He finished his little rant and took a second to breath.

"But what good is leaving gonna do you?? You- George, you're literally going to die if you go out there!" Said Karl, to which Sapnap nodded in agreement. "Look, I know the past few weeks have been hard for you, but thats no reason to do stupid things."

George gritted his teeth and stomped on the floor to somehow let his anger and frustration out.

Sapnap raised an eyebrow and gestured to the movement. "You're throwing a tantrum, George. Just come back inside with us."

"Stop Treating me like a kid!" George said angrily. This was exactly what he meant, why he had to prove himself. No one treates him like the adult he is.

"Then stop behaving like one! You're angry and that's ok, but you're taking it to far!" Sapnap tried to reason with him, but it only fueled the brunettes anger.

"No! This is exactly the reason why I have to go out there and find that entity, you're not taking me serious otherwise!"

The faces of his friends darkened instantly at the mention of said entity.

"That's what this is about? Your stupid little theory?" Karl asked mockingly before he rubbed his forehead, as if he was the one this situation was stressing out.

"George, think about this for a moment. You're being ridiculous." Added Sapnap.

"No I'm not, you're the one gaslighting me right now! This is your fault!" George replied bewildert.

Sapnap leaned over to Karl and wispered, just loud enough that George could still hear him. "I told you he would lose himself if we let let alone in his room for too long.

George could burst so angry was he. Nothing that he said would make his friends even begin to understand him.

"Sapnap is right, think about this. You're going to search for something that doesen't exist, George. Out there are so many things that are gonna get you before you even make it out of this level. Trust me, you're going to get killed the moment you leave this door." Karl tried to persuade him.

George closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself and to remember that he shouldn't listen to the two of them. If he gave in now and agrees go back with them, nothing would ever change.

"No. I'm an adult. I can do whatever I want, you're not my parents." He began, staying as calm as possible.

"I'm going to prove all of you that I'm not some helpless child and once I come back with my prove, you're going to apologize to me for Treating me like one." He finished his speech and turned away from both of them.

Sapnap and Karl watched angry and sad as the brit moved away from them and walked toward the exit. "Fine! go if you're so sure about it! Go out and walk straight into your death! I couldn't care less about your childish ass!" Sapnap shouted after him before turning and stomping away.

Karl watched after him, briefly before giving a last word to George. "You know where to find me when you come back." And then he followed after Sapnap.

George clenched his fists and stood in front of the door. The guards exchanged a brief look with each other before they opened the door for him and let him out.

Determined, he stepped outside and held his breath as the door closed behind him.

There was no turning back anymore.

______

George had no idea how he had managed to reach level three unharmed, but here he was.

He had had no idea how long its been, but it couldn't have been longer than two days.

There were several situations in which he was sure his journey would end early.

One time it was a child faceling that jumped him when he got around a corner, another time he was almost discovered by a Hound and occasionally he meet the lonely Smiler.

But other than those few incidents, he was doing good. All the information the gathered from reading trough hundreds of documents about the backrooms and its entities finally came to use.

He hadn't wasted his time in his room, afterall.

He knew lots of stuff. He knew where he could find stuff like food and water, how the monsters he encountered behaved, what you did to get around them and how to go through the various levels.

It only lacked him on personal experience. But he was getting there.

Sapnap and Karl would be surprised if they could see how well he was doing so far.

George sat down in one of the smaller rooms to rest for a few moments.

He had his flashlight off as to not attract any entities and spend his pause, looking into the darkness ahead. Being out here gave him a lot of time to think, which he took advantage of.

Often he had to stop himself from thinking because he realized that he was lost in his thoughts too much.

Not being focused on your environment was something that could cost you your life out here.

One would think he would be used to being alone with himself, but it was very different out here. The loneliness out here was nothing line the one inside his room.

Shaking his head, George closed his eyes. So far he had found nothing that could indicate the existence of the cameraman entity but he calmed himself with the thought that he had only just arrived here.

Each level could be infinite, which was very well known to him. So it would probably be a while before he would find anything.

But he wouldn't let that discourage him.

For now it seemed to be a good moment to take a short nap.

When George woke up, it was because he heard noises from outside. He was immediately wide awake.

The brit sat up and looked toward the closed door, listening.

For a moment he thought he could hear footsteps, but the sound was drowned out pretty quickly by the sound of something moving right ouside the door.

George put a hand over his mouth and kept his gaze stuck on the door, while He hoped that whatever was out there would move on, there was absolutely no reason for anything to come inside this room.

There wasen't any other escape routes out of the room either, there was only one door. If something decided to come Inside, he was fucked.

George saw a bright flash of light from under the door before whatever was outside it made a run for it.

It was quiet before he heard a faint noise that he could not estimate, then he heard the soft footsteps walk away in the other direction.

George blinked into the blackness and grabbed his flashlight, but decided against it and took a glowstick from his backpack instead.

The flashlight was put back into the backpack. If there were Entities waiting for him, it would make more sense to use the glowsticks. In case of an emergency, he could throw those as a distraction. His flashlight was too valuable to lose.

Carefully, he got up, swung his backpack over his shoulder and turned on his glowstick. They weren't as good as the flashlight, but they did their job and would be sufficient for now.

George waited a few moments to make sure that the hallway was clear, before he went to the door.

Without further hesitation, he opened the door and stuck his head out. The corridor was empty and he couldn't hear anything, wich was a good sign.

Facilitating a sigh of relief he walked out into the hallway.

Two entities had been here. He had a guess what the one by his door was, but the other? He didn't know of any creature that used some sort of bright light, especially not one that was able to scare another entity away that easily.

Curious, George moved in the direction in which the steps had previously disappeared to. It was not part of his actual expedition, but he was curious and it wouldn't hurt to collect some extra information.

Perhaps he would find a complet new entity. Oh what a success that would be, that alone would be enough to go back home.

If he couldn't find the cameraman, then at least he wouldn't come back empty-handed.

Excited, the brit walked down the corridor. He looked around and held the glowstick in front of himself, since it was still quite dark, despite the lights flickering on the ceiling.

Suddenly George almost slipped on something, he heard the faint sound of paper from underneath his boot and took a step aside to look at what he stepped on.

When he looked down, he found a palm large piece of paper.

George looked around again to make sure it was safe before he bent down and lifted the paper.

It turned out that it wasen't a simple piece of paper, but a photo instead.

The smooth surface of the photo was still completely intact, from which George concluded that it must've been made not too long ago.

He moved his glowstick closer to the picture, which alowed him to really see what was in it.

he recognized the hallway in which the room was that he took his last nap in and the focus of the photo was a creature that was standing in front of his door, with its head turned towards the camera.

Georges guess about which entity had been in front of his door was proven right. The only question left was, what left the photo.

Suddenly the realization flashed through his mind. That was a photo like the ones in his backpack.

The strange light was from a camera. He had been so distracted with the idea of a new entity, that he didn't even conect the points that led to his original entity.

He was so stupid.

The cameraman was nearby and George had missed him. But he couldn't be too far.

For the time being, George put the photo in his pocket and kept walking, looking for even the smallest clue that would bring him to the entity.

So he walked.

And walked and walked.

Until he had several hours of searching behind him and decided to take another break.

In this part of the level the sounds of the engine rooms were extremely loud and his ears were pleading to take a break. And don't even get him started on his poor feet.

With some luck, he found a place where the noise was not as loud as in the rest of the areal and settled there.

This time he made sure that there was more than just one way out of the room, since he didn't want to repeat his last mistake. He surely wouldn't be as lucky a second time.

And George was not willing to risk being stuck inside a one-way-exit-room with a Skinstealer blocking the door.

He let his backpack fall to the ground and sat down beside it. He took out a bottle of his packed almond waters and started to drink it in order to calm himself a bit.

He would've to start keeping an eye open for more water soon, but that was a task for future George.

The present George currently struggled more with his paranoia which started right after the discovery of the first photo.

He had heard from others that it was quite normal to feel watched in many levels, but George felt like it was more than a symptom of his sanity sinking.

For now, he could do nothing but be attentive and avoid doing stupid or risky stuff.

He had to just to focus on his expedition.

He would find the cameraman and prove to his colony that he was not as useless as they thought.

George searched around in his backpack until he found the stack of photos. He then took the new one out of his pocket in order to put it with the others.

He hadn't achieved a lot yet, but at least he could say he that had found a new photo.

Before he could add it to the stack, he noticed that it was a bit damaged and it tore on one place.

Cursing, he tried to smooth his the paper with his hands. The first indication that he found and he damaged it. Excellent work.

When he thought it was smooth enough, he stroked over the tear and wondered what he should do with it. He had no tape or other things that he could fix it with.

His only option was to just put it with the rest and store it as safe as possible to prevent further damage.

It wasen't the best or safest option, but it would do for now. He would fix it once had the proper stuff to do so.

Sighting, he took of the rubber band that was holding his stack together, put the new one on top and put the rubber back on, before
puting the pictures back in his backpack.

______

It wasen't long until his next almost run in with the cameramen.

George was walking aimlessly through the long corridors of the level when he heard a sound from further away.

Several feet in front of him was a corner that lead to the right and from there he heard faint clicking noises and then saw a bright light and a louder click.

Hurriedly, the brunette broke out in a dash. Sprinting towards the sound, in hopes to be quick enough to catch a glimpse of the entity.

He wasen't even thinking of the possible danger in which he could run into, as he ran around the corner and looked around.

Nothing.

No camera and no creature.

The hallway was empty and if he didn't knew any better, he would've guessed that he was starting to hallucinate.

The only indication that what happend was real, was the picture that was laying on the floor in front of him.

Frustrated, George out a loud groan as he picked up the photo and held it to his glowstick.

This time, there was a spooky corridor, cordoned off with rusty iron bars and a lamp flickering in the background. That was all there was to see. The paper was still warm.

The brunette turned around and saw the barred passage and the lamp.

George turned forward again and looked around again. But he was to late again, he had missed his chance.

Whatever this entity was, it was either extremely fast or was somehow able to teleport. George couldn't explain the sudden disappearance of the entity otherwise.

With a little luck and patience, he would react faster next time something happens. He had to be.

For the moment he's just happy to have at least gotten a new photo he could add to his collection

George had the picture in one hand and the glowstick in his other, as he walked further down the corridor. It would soon be time to find a place to sleep again.

_____

At his next break, he safely stored the photo away and rested his eyes for a while. George then went back to explore the level.

He came across a few Smilers and heard some other noises in the distance, found some food and a few bottles almond water.

Otherwise, his expedition got back to being peaceful again. He certainly wasen't complaining tho. It gave him time to think.

George had feelt like he was so close to solving he mystery of the cameraman like no one before him. Or at least he had never heard of stories that were similar to the two entcounters he had.

There were only ever found the photos, never so scarce things like this. He was so close to the answer.

Soon he would be able to go home again.

Had his colony already declared him as death? Have his friends mournede his death? Sapnap had been so mad at him that he was unsure and Karl was also hard to tell.

He shook his head slightly, the two didn't deserve that he thought of them.

Rather, they should use the time to think about how they had treated him and how they should apologize when he came back.

Did he even want to go back?

George paused, surprised by his own thoughts.

Where did that even come from?

But somehow the question seemed justified.

He shook his head and pushed these thoughts far away. If he doesen't go back to his colony, where would he go?

This whole expedition would've been in vain. A big waste of time.

George ignored his mind for now and told himself that this was a conversation with himself that he's gonna continiue another day.

______

Something was watching him.

He was sure of it.

No matter where he went or what he did. the feeling in the pit of his stomach refused to go away.

On the contrary even, it got worse.

George could not tell if it was just his imagination and the effect of the level, or whether something was actually following him.

He had heard about how people have gone crazy alone in the backrooms and he was definitely not interested to experience the same fate.

For now, he blamed the loud engines. At this rate he's going to be deaf before he leaves this level.

But his paranoia exhausted him, he couldn't even walk around without having to look over his shoulder every few minutes.

It was bad and above it all, it slowed down the progress of his expedition.

He just threw another look over his shoulder when he heard a creaking from the front.

He immediately jerked his head back around and looked, as he instinctively recoiled a few steps.

A door not too far ahead fell closed just as he looked and he could hear faint sounds from inside.

Carefully, George approached the door. On second thought, it would've been wiser to turn around and find another way to go, but George was a curious person.

Sometimes curiosity and stupidity were two sides of the same coin.

He crept closer and heared noises which sounded suspiciously like metal. Soon, he was faced with the ominous door.

He just hoped it wasen't a Skinstealer waiting for him or a trap. Maybe this was not a good idea after all.

Just when George pondered if maybe, he should not open that door, he heard the faint but unmistakable noise of a camera that was being moved and zoomed in.

His eyes widened, he straightend up and grabbed the door handle with a firm grip. Suddenly realizing what was awaiting him on the other side.

This was his chance. His moment. He just had to open the door.

He hesitated for a moment, he diden't know why. Perhaps it was the fear of the unknown. The fear that he was wrong and there wasen't what he was expecting on the other side.

No. He had to get himself together now. With all his courage, he pushed the handle down and opened the door as wide open as possible.

George looked straight into the lens of a camera. he saw the color green before he heard a loud click and an extremely bright light blinded him.

He closed his eyes and stumbled backwards, his hands shot up to his face. Trying to rub the pain out of his eyes.

He moaned softly and cautiously dared to open his eyes again as the pain went away.

For a moment, he saw some dark spots before everything went back to normal.

The space in front of him was empty yet again. Once more, the entity had disappeared before he could catch a glimpse of it.

It was disappointing.

Sighing, the brit placed a hand over chest where his heart was beating like crazy and took a moment to calm down. He then went into the room and looked around.

He found nothing.

It was,bIn fact nothing there. Not even a photo.

That was what George found to be the strangest part.

The camera had definitely been on him and had taken a photo on wich he probably looked like shit.

George cursed silently, it was bullshit to worry what he looked like in that photo. Who should he even look good for? The cameraman?

Anyways. There was no photo and that worried him.

Maybe it'd show up somewhere else, he just hoped he would be the one to find it and not someone else. That would be embarrassing.

Why was the camera pointed at him in the first place? He had never seen humans in any of the other photos, so why did this happen?

He looked down on himself, checking for anything that had changed or was weird. Nothing. He was completely fine.

He was worried that something would happen to him now that the entity had a photo of him. Who knew what it could do.

Was that the reason why there weren't any stories of sightings? Did the people who encountered the entity die or something?

Oh no. George touched his face and rubbed his thumb over his forehead. What if the entity had noticed that he was following it and decided to get rid of him?

Ok, Hee had to stay calm and think. There was no use panicking now.

He quickly went to back to the entrance of the room and closed the door before he sat down in the back between a couple of boxes.

He took off his backpack and used the moment to drink some water, while he was thinking.

He had to be more careful from now on, no more running into things without thinking first. More importantly, he would start to write stuff down. Who knew what that camera flash did to him.

The botlte of almond water was placed down next to him and George opened his backpack again. After some digging around he finally found what he was looking for.

Victorious, he made a quiet "Ha!" sound as he pulled the small notebook out.

Satisfied, he took the pen that was pinned on it and opened the first page. The book was completely empty and ready for him to start writing stuff down. He had brought it exactly for situations like this.

So far he hadn't seen it necessary to document his expedition, he was pretty confident to make it back again and be the one to tell his story, but if something was to happen to him before he made it back to his colony...

He wanted people to know what he experienced here. If he died, then at least there was a chance that someone would find his notes and be the one to tell other people.

He wasen't going to take everythink he had found out with him to the grave. As bad as that sounded.

He wasen't planing to die out here, but you could never be prepared enough.

And so George started writing, he wrote everything down. He wrote about his experience so far, his journey, about the photos and his thoughts and feelings.

Finally, he wrote about the worry he had about possible effects caused on his body because of the camera. He would have to keep an eye out for that in the future.

After he was done, he closed the notebook and put the pen back on it, before he put them back inside his backpack.

He took a last sip of his drink and also stowed it back in his backpack.

George made sure that his bag was well sealed before he got up and threw it over his shoulder to continue his journey.

He stretched first and sighed, deciding that his break had been long enough. He still had a mystery to reveal.

So George went back to wandering through the dimly lit corridors.

He made some smaller entries in its new journal everytime he found the time. Everything was going good so far.

Two days later and still, nothing had changed. George started thinking that maybe the camera didn't actually do anything. Wich was a good thing, don't get him wrong. But he still felt a bit disappointed.

His paranoia, however. Had grown into new dimensions and on top of that he was finding less and less food.

What he found instead were more photos.

They just started appearing everywhere and he had the assumption that they were specially laid out for him to find.

George's photo collection had almost doubled itself within the last few days.

Of course, he had been happy about it, thinking that it meant he got closer and that the entity was purposely leaving this many photos behind for him.

It was a good sign, maybe it didn't want to get rid of him after all. He could form a bond with it, show that he meant no harm.

Maybe in the future, it would let him get closer and let him take a look when it trusted him enough.

But that was in the future.
For now, he would simply continue to collect photos.

However, disappointing was that he didn't have any encounters with the entity since it nearly blinded him with its camera.

But George didn't let that get to him.

It wouldn't be long anymore, he was sure of it.

_______

George stood in the middle of a dark hallway, glowstick in one hand and photo in the other.

The light illuminated his surroundings and let him see what was on the photo.

What stunned him so bad, was the fact that he was looking at himself.

At first he thought that he had finally found the photo the entity took of him, when he nearly lost his eyesight. But when he looked at it, it became obvious that it was a different one.

The picture showed him laying between a couple of boxes that were supposed to hide him from other entities, his head was placed on his backpack and he was sleeping peacefully.

George looked confused and lowered his hand with the photo, unsure what to make of it.

The entity had crept near him in one of his breaks and shot a quick photo.

A uneasy feeling spread in his stomach.

Maybe it just accidentally stumbled upon him and decided to take another picture. This was not taken intentionally, surely it wasen't.

There was absolutely no reason to worry.

This had nothing to do with his increasing paranoia or the lasting feeling of being watched.

Thats what he told himself, at least, when he pocketed the photo and went on.

He wanted to forget about that photo as soon as possible. Simething about it send shivers down his spine.

The entity however, seemed to have other plans.

From there on, George kept on finding more photos of himself, to the point where the entity seemed to photograph nothing else anymore. It was creeping him out.

The brit was starting to question if this expedition was still a good idea.

His nerves were on thin ice and he had problems sleeping with the knowledge that there was an entity just waiting for him to close his eyes.

Despite the circumstances, George could not bring himself to cancel this expedition and go home.

He had no idea how long he had been here or even how deep inside the level he was. How would he even get out?

And now that he was thinking, he noticed even more strange things.

For example, it hade been a while since he last saw or heard any monsters, which was extremely odd. This level was usually full of them.

He suspected the cameraman had something to do with that, who knows. Its not like he could just straight up ask it.

George didn't even know when their roles had switched. It started as him searching for the entity and now it looked more like he was the one being followed and watched.

Also, nearly everytime he went to sleep now, he found little chocolate bars or bottles of almond water beside him when he woke.

At first he thought that it was nothing but a coincidence, but as time went on and it happened again and again...

It became clear that something or rather someone left this for him intentionally.

The brunette asked himself all over again what the motives of the entity were. He had never heard of such behavior from any creature in the backsooms. He almost assumed that the entity was somehow obsessed with him.

Besides that. The entity never stayed so long in one level. Normally, it shot a few pictures and moved on. It was a pretty fast process.

And yet, it broke its normal procedure just to follow George around the level.

George couldn't rhyme together why the entity was so intrested in him. It made no sense to him.

It was not like he was a model or someone who looked even remotely good on pictures.

It was all so confusing and George wondered what he was still doing here. Where this would lead him.

He should've ran away at the first photo of yourself. Back home where his friends were waiting for him.

But no, something held him back and he had a hard time figuring out what it was.

He just continued to write everything into his notes and continued to wander through the endless corridors and rooms of the level.

_______

Loud noises were heard from inside the room before him and George was a 100% sure it was not the machinery of the level.

He hadn't heard anything other than the standard noises of this level in so long, he thinks he might be going crazy soon.

All entities of the level seemed to magically avoid him and that left him in awkward silence all the time. There was nothing happening anymore and it started to bother him.

And now, after so long. Something was happening again.. He wanted to rip that door open throw himself into the arms of whatever was waiting on the other side.

It had been so long since anything interesting had happened.

The only thing that kept him from opening the door, was the fear to be flashed again. He definitely had no desire to be temporarily blind again.

Of course, there was still a small chance that nothing would be located on the other side, it could very well be just another machine room.

Ultimately, he wouldn't find out without opening the door, so he grabbed the handle and covered his eyes with one hand. Just to be safe.

With a soft click, he opened the door and waited for the click of the camera to sound, or for something to tackel him.

But contrary to his expectations, nothing happened. Which led him to cautiously peek out between his fingers.

He saw the camera standing a few feet in front of him, but that's it. he could've sworn he had seen someone behind it last time.

But he was apparently alone this time.

He dropped his hand from his face and walked cautiously toward the camera, careful to stay out of the radius of the lens, just to be safe if it does suddenly go off.

Without problems, he approached the standing camera until he stood right behind it and took this as a chance to take a closer look.

This was clearly the camera belonging to the entity, but where was said entity?

Surely it hadn't just abandoned its camera here.

Whatever the reason was, it was a good opportunity to inspect the equipment of the entity.

The first thing he noticed was that it looked and felt really heavy. The tripod it was standing on and the light on top had to be removed to be transported, or else it would be to difficult to be moved.

At least he knew what the noises always were. The sounds were coming from the camera being set up.

This brought him back to the question how the entity was able to disappear so fast after taking a photo.

Somehow it didn't make sense anymore. He was lost, everytime he thought he solved one thing, another popt up.

just as George raised a hand to let his fingers slide over the smooth surface of the camera, he heard a noise from the front.

From the direction of the door to be exact.

George had forgotten to close the door behind him and that noise sounded like it had been shut.

George swallowed. Knowing that here was no wind that could close the door.

Slowly he looked up from the camera.

Wide brown eyes meet two black dots and a wide smile.

Shocked, George held eye contact with the creature standing in front the door, before he dared to look it up and down.

The head of the creature was a white ball floating over the body. The eyes and the smile looked like they were painted on by a child and the body was wrapped in a long green robe, the hood being pulled over its head.

At least he belived the head to be floating over the body, but it was hard to tell for sure when all he could see inside the hood was darkness.

The robe was covering most of its body and George could only see the lower half of a pair of long human-looking legs, the feet wrapped in black boots.

Sure, there were stranger looking creatures in the backrooms, but George had never seen such a unique one face to face.

Unsure about how he should behave, he hesitantly stepped away from the camera.

This was without doubt the entity that he had sought for so long.

They didn't seem evil and George didn't want to risk angering them by accidentally breaking or moving something on the camera.

The entity crooked its head to the side and the smile seemed to move. It looked like it was smiling at him, trying to reassure him as if George was the shy creature that would bolt at one wrong movement.

For a moment the brit wanted to rub his eyes to make sure that he hadn't imagined the movement, but then its face moved again.

This time it was the eyes, they changed from dots to oval shapes in an attempt to look less menacing to the human.

hard to be non-threatening when you were about six feet high and were a possible dangerous creature.

The entity was several feet away from him and yet, they were towering over him like a building.

"Uhh..." George had no idea what he should do now. He had dreamed about this exact moment for months, but now that it was happening, he was completely unprepared.

It wasn't everyday that he revealed the identity of an unknown entity, after all.

It blinked at him and then took a step toward him.

His heart was beating so loud that he feared the entity could hear it as it slowly approached him.

Soon the creature was on the other side of the camera, while George stood frozen and kept his eyes firmly locked on the entity.

Apparently waiting, the humanoid being looked down at him. Not threatening, but the certainly smaller brit felt a little intimidated.

Something moved from under the robe and a hand appeared. It looked surprisingly like a normal human hand, the only difference was that it was covered by a black glove.

The entity lowered its head to look at the camera between the two and placed its hand on it.

George watched in awe as a bright light surrounded the camera before it started to built itself apart with clicking noises and eventually formed itself into a small, metalic cube that landed in the hand of the entity.

The cube then disappeared into nothing before George could even blink.

After that, the hand disappeared back into the robe.

And just like that, there was nothing standing between the human and the entity anymore.

George looked nervously up to the head of the creature and tried to force a smilie.

In return, it closed its eyes and smiled back.

George found that oddly sweet.

"Sooo uhm, hi?" George said softly, clearly nervous. He spoke to get rid of the akward silence and the tension in the air.

The eyes of the entity seemed to sparkle as they looked down at him. Heraring George speak caused it to perk up and tilt its head at him.

A single hand appeared again and stretched towards him, whereupon the being blinked at him, waiting.

George needed a moment before he understood what they wanted from him.

He hastily stretched out his hand and grabbed the much larger one waiting for him. They shook their hands briefly, wich was somehow really endearing to the brit.

George then let go of the entity's hand.

The Entity, however, continued holding his hand and pulled him closer. whereupon George made a surprised sound.

A finger suddenly taped against his chest with suprising gentleness.

George blinked confused, he had no idea what that meant. It was obvious that the entity was unable to communicate verbally with him.

"What?" It blinked briefly before repeating the motion again. Patiently waiting for George to understand what it wanted.

"Eh, me?" It nodded and he thought briefly. "My name?" He asked uncertainly.

The creature nodded enthusiastically, pleased that George had understood so quickly.

George chewed on his lip. Was it a good idea to give his name to a random creature? He could imagine many scenarios in which that didn't end well for him.

Fuck it, he decidet. If he was already in contact with this entity, then he wanted to make as much out of it as possible.

It didn't seem to have anything bad in mind with this interaction and what bad would it do to play along?

George thought that the entity was despite the scary first impression, kinda cute. He wondered how he could've ever thought that this nice creature could ever cause any harm.

The longer he spent in its presence, the calmer he felt.

"Its George, nice to meet you." He introduced himself.

It was strange how many emotions two points and a line could express, but the entity practally beamed at him, especially after the last part of the sentence.

George wondered briefly whether the creature ever had contact with others, but quickly pushed the thought aside when the second hand of the entity appeared from below the robe to show him something.

It was the block that somehow was able to turn into the camera and back. George was still amazed at that, but now he was just watching as the block turned back into the camera.

This time it was only the camera without the tripod and the little lamp.

The creature moved the camera in George's direction and turned it upside down to show the underside of the camera.

There was someting writen.

A simple word, or more likely, a name. "Dream?" George read and then looked up at the entity, questioningly.

They smiled at him and nodded before pointing to themself with a suddenly appearing third hand.

George blinked at it in surprise. It had more than just one set of arms, interesting.

He quickly understood. "That's Your name? Dream?"

It nodded again and briefly closed its eyes. "I like it, sounds pretty." George said without thinking about it beforehand.

He blushed. Did he really just flirt with a humanoid creature that wasen't even able to talk back?

Dream, on the other hand, seemed more than delighted with the compliment.

The hand disappeared with the camera under the green robe again and instead pulled out something else.

A photo was given to him.

Curiously, the brunette took the picture and looked at it.

He recognized it relatively quickly as the first picture of him that was taken, the one he had stressed over cause he hadn't found it.

Now it made sense why he didn't find it, Dream had kept it.

It was a little funny how George looked in the picture. His expression was a mixture of wonder and excitement because he thought he would finally caugh the entity in the act and then there was shock caused from the moment when the camera clicked at him.

He also had dirt on his face with dark circles under his eyes and his clothes didn't look any better than his face.

Dream's hand gently grabbed his and guided him to flip the picture around.

On the back was written the word "Pretty". It was a bit hard to read and the messy handwriting hinted that the entity didn't write that often.

George felt blood rise in his cheeks and muttered a quiet "Oh" He looked at the entity, only to find that they had turned their head away and a green color had appeared under its eyes.

It was... blushing?

George opened his mouth a few times, but couldn't find the words to say something.

A lot of things made sense now. Dream had begun to follow him and take pictures because they thought he was pretty, not because they wanted to scare him or something.

The food and water that appeared out of nowhere whenever he slept were gifts.

Dream somehow made sure to keep other entities away from him, to ensure that he stayed safe.

And the paranoia was because the entity was watching him. He wasen't going crazy!

George made a thoughtfull face.

How long had Dream been watching him?

The monster that crept around outside his door the other day.

Could it be that Dream had stumbled upon him by accident, saved him from a Skinstealer and then decided to observe him out of curiosity? They probably kept following him after they had seen that George had a whole collection of its photos.

The entity was of such sweet nature, it probably wanted to make him happy and so it left him more photos, Aww.

No one seemed to be interested in the mysterious emerging Photos. Dream was probably super happy that finally someone was interested in his work, so he bombed him with photos to keep him around.

And he thought that George was pretty.

Wait. Was he flirting with him?

Dream turned their head back to George and the brunette almost felt like his face was burning when they made eye contact again. He was blushing so hard.

"You think I'm pretty?" He asked quietly.

The entity nodded slightly and gave a nervous blink.

George smiled, this time without any nervousness or uncertainty. "So you followed me around instead of just talking to me?" It was really cute how the entity's blush intensified at that.

George chuckled, completely relaxed with the situation now that he knew of the other's motives.

Dream shrugged and let the photo disappear. His hand clasped George's smaller one.

George looked down at his hands, now both of which were held by the entity.

He started to laugh.

The situation was so absurd that it was funny again. This mysterious entity was flustered because they had a crush on him cause they thought he was cute?

Dream blinked, a little surprised by the laugh of the brunette, but began to smile even more when they realized they liked the sound.

George slowly calmed again and lifted his head to smile broadly at the entity. "So you like me, huh?"

Dreams face exploded in various shades of green, which made the brit grin. The answer was obvious.

They tried to look away, avoiding George's eyes, Clearly embarrassed.

George exhaled pleased, he hadn't laughed like that in a while.

Suddenly, the third arm of the creature reappeared. George suspected they decided to use it because they didn't want to let go of George's hands.

They pointed at their chest and then at George's, questioningly.

"You wanna know if I like you back?" Dream nodded and watched him intently.

George tilted his head and thought for a moment.

"I mean, I don't really know you and we only meet a few minutes ago..." He began and watched Dream's smile drop.

Disappointment was appearing in their eyes and body posture. It kinda broke George's heart to see the entity sad.

"But I guess I would like to get to know you." He finished, giggeling softly as the other perked up again and gave him a hopefull little smilie.

Dream wanted to say something again. First it touched its own chest and then George's.

"We?" The Brit asked, at which Dream nodded and made a new move.

He turned his hand, imitating two running legs with his long fingers and then pointed at them both again.

This time George took a little longer to guess what the other meant. But Dream remained patient with him and waited.

"We leave together?" The smaller guessed, unsure if he had gotten it correctly.

Dream nodded again, pointing to himself and then drew a question mark into the air.

"Oh! If I wanna come with you?" He had interpreted correctly if Dream's strong nod was anything to go by.

George took a moment of time to really think about it. Did he want to run away with Dream?

The better question was if there was anything worth declining for. His friends hadn't been the nicest and it was unknown whether they had changed in the time he was gone.

They probably thought him dead anyways.

Besides, he had almost spent his entire stay in the backrooms learning and reading about the entity in front of him, he had left his colony for them and spent the last weeks trying to look for them, even risking his life out here.

He had devoted his existence in this world to Dream, before he even meet him.

In the short time that Dream interacted with him, they had been nicer to him than any of his friends back in the colony. It was sad, but true.

And he felt quite safe with the entity, now that he knew that no harm was to come from them.

There was actually no reason to reject Dream's offer.

His only goal had been to prove the existence of the entity, but now that he meet them, the wish to keep them to himself was stronger than the wish to prove himself to people that didn't deserve him in the first place.

He had made his decision. He would rather go and stay with this sweet entity than go back to his shitty friends and the people who didn't belive in him.

"I would love to go with you." He finally said.

Before he knew what happened, he found himself in the arms of the creature, pressed tightly to their chest and surrounded by four strong arms.

After George got over the shock, he started laughing again and put his arms around Dream to make this a proper hug.

It probably looked comical.

This at first glance terrifying creature bending down to embrace George, who was a lot smaller and who had to stand on his tiptoes to help the entity reach him better.

The brit was nearly dissapearing in the embrace of the entity.

And then George found himself in the arms of his new friend when they lifted him up from the ground and against their chest.

A low squek escaped George when he was suddenly so far from the ground, but he got used to it quickly, certain that Dream wouldn't let him fall.

One of the four arms let go of George and made some weird movement in the air, where a portal of some sorts opened shortly after.

Without hesitation, Dream stepped through, taking a suprised George with him.

It closed behind them and suddenly they were in a completely new location.

"So that's how you get around so fast. Cool" Marveled George, as he looked around.

Around them were lot's of photos hanging on light green walls and even a few paintings.

It reminded George of an art studio, but really old fashioned. It was a welcome change from the cold brick walls and the loud machinery he had gotten used to.

It was also nice and quiet here, he heard quiet classical music playing from somewhere, which was very pleasant to the ears after only hearing the loud noises of the other level for so long.

"Is this were you live?" George asked curiously. Dream had its own level? It seemed like that. After all, he had never heard of a place that looked like this.

Dream nodded and brought them up a staircase, the upper floor had less pictures on the walls, but it looked even more homely than the floor below.

It seemed that this was one of the smaller levels, perhaps only consisting of the inner part of the house

"Does anyone else know about this place? Or is is just yours?" Dream looked down at him and used one of its extra hands to put a finger on their smile.

"Oh, so its secret huh? Just us two." He said, teasing them just to see the entity blush again. It was cute.

And it worked, Dream's cheeks glowed in a soft green hue.

A few meters away, Dream opened a door and entered a large bedroom with George still in their arms.

George's eyes were immediately directed to the comfortable-looking bed that was inside. It had been so long since he last slept in a proper bed.

The brunette was deposed gently on the soft mattress, where he immediately fell on his back and closed his eyes.

He let out a pleased sigh. He had forgotten how nice it was to sleep on a real bed.

He felt the bed next to him dip slightly as Dream sat down next to him. Long fingers moved through his hair and another began to softly touch his face.

George chuckled quietly as another hand placed itself on his belly, which slightly tickled him.

He opened his eyes, remembering something. "Hey Dream, there aren't any other entities in this level, are there?" He asked anxiously. He had not seen a single monster while being in Dream's presence for so long that he'd almost forgotten they existed.

Dream shook their head quickly, as if they were offended that George would even think it would allow anything to live in its level beside itself- and well, George now.

Good, so this was one of the safe levels.

That calmed George enough that he closed his eyes again. Knowing that even if anything lived here beside them, Dream would protect him.

_______

"Dreeaam, what're you doing?" George whinned as he sneaked up behind his partner.

Dream had spent the whole morning sitting at the foot of the bed, doing something with a pen in George's notebook.

This left the brunette without any form of entertaiment and attention and he didn't like it.

"Dreeeaaaam"

He was ignored for a while longer before Dream turned to him and handed him the notebook.

George stopped pouting and toke the notebook, curious at what was so important that Dream couldn't spent time with him.

"Awww Dweam." There were two persons representing Dream and George with a lot of hearts drawn around them.

The sweetest thing was George in the drawing, was giving Dream a little kiss on the cheek.

It was not the best drawing and they were only two stick figures, but it was the sweetest one he ever saw.

"You made this? Its cute." Praised George as he looked up and grinned when he saw that Dream was blushing nervously and played with two of its hands.

"Do you want to tell me anything with this?"

Dream looked away from him.

George grinned even wider. "Do you want a kiss, perhaps?"

He loved teasing them, the other always reacted so nicely.

Dream then nodded with their eyes closed, blushing even harder. George felt his heart melt in his chest.

"You can have one if you want." He said, moving to place himself in Dream's lap.

The entity bent down to him, so that George could reach its face and closed its eyes again.

George chuckled before he leaned forward and placed a kiss on Dream's smile.

"Muah!" With that, George pulled back and grabbed Dream's face before they could turn away again to hide its now bright green face.

"You're so cute." Cooed George, the taller hid its head in the crook of his neck, to avoid George's teasing.

The brit laughed and put his arms around them.

Going with Dream was the best decision he had ever made and he was glad to be able to spend the rest of his time with them.

Dream would never treat him like his old friends did. The entity practically worshiped the ground he was walking on.

He wouldn't change a thing.