"I can't believe you. You were so close!" Monty groaned as we made our way back to our green rooms, ready to be checked by Marcus before the Plex opened.

"Well, I'm not the one who started cheering."

"You could have still kissed her!"

"I wasn't going to-" I paused. "Okay, maybe the thought crossed my mind once... or twice..."

"I can't blame you." Roxy shrugged with one arm, the other being held by Chica. "She's literally the best person in the company. Think of how shitty we get treated by some people. And that's just those who even bother to speak to us."

"It's true! She's my favourite. And the daycare pair love her too, which is something."

"And she's pretty." Monty glanced over at me. I knew he was only trying to get a rise out of me, so I took a deep breath and willed myself to stay calm. "And we all know that she's hiding killer curves under that uniform."

"Don't talk about her like that."

"Aw, what's wrong, lover-bear? You jealous? Again."

"Montgomery." I warned. Chica frowned.

"Don't take it too far, Monty."

"I'm not! I'm just trying to get him to hurry up and make a move. She already went on a date, so it's not like other dudes don't see that she's good looking. One of them'll snatch her up if you don't. Then you'll have to deal with her having a boyfriend. What if she brings him here to meet us? That would suck for you."

"Stop it." My voice was a low growl.

"Hey, maybe I'll ask her out! I'd prefer if she wore something a little shorter to our date, if you catch my drift." He winked.

"I told you to stop it." I said through tightly gritted teeth.

"I'll stop when you stop being a coward and ask her out alrea-" I grabbed the nearby Cleaner Bot, ripping its head off with ease.

"Oh, dude! I'll get blamed for that!" Roxy whined, but I simply threw the sparking robot to the ground and stormed off., my hands curled into shaking fists. The S.T.A.F.F couldn't feel and didn't have anything in their programming other than to clean, so it didn't care about being broken and I was too angry to care either. Monty speaking about Ollie in such a way was annoying, but him bringing up her date had hurt me. Because it was true. I sat down heavily on the sofa of my green room.

I was an animatronic bear that was possessed by the ghost of a now-adult child that was murdered over 15 years ago.

She was alive, with a whole life ahead of her.

Even without her being pretty, and sweet, and funny, and way too good for me, she deserves someone who can live a life with her. Maybe one of those other guys would make her realise that. And maybe we'd drift apart. Maybe she'd move away and we'd never see each other again.

I brought my favourite plushie close.

"Oh, Bonnie. I wish you were still here. You'd help me... What can I do to make sure I don't lose her?"

~

I was in a good mood today, and I fixed up the animatronics with a spring in my step, happy to be back after my weekend off.

"Why are you so pleased?" Monty chuckled, watching me bob along to the music. I glanced over at Freddy, who was deep in conversation with Chica. "Ah, I see."

"You don't see anything." I huffed, closing the hatch on his arm and putting my spanner up to his mouth. "Now hold still while I tighten your tooth."

"He's great, you know." He said in a quiet voice, his words slightly contorted from me holding open his mouth.

"What makes you say that? I mean, yeah, I do know. But why'd you point it out."

"We had an argument. Well, we didn't. I was purposely trying to piss him off to push him into doing something he's too scared to do."

"Did he get mad at you?"

"So mad." He chuckled. "He broke a cleaner."

"That was Freddy? I heard it was Roxy! We assumed she lost a race again."

"Nah. He ripped it 'cus of me. But all I had to do was apologise once he calmed down and the big idiot just wraps me in a hug. He even apologised to me for getting angry. Can you believe it?"

"Yeah, I can actually. He doesn't seem like the type to hold a grudge."

"If that was anyone else, they'd be fuming for ages, especially with what I was saying." He shook his head fondly as I moved away from his mouth. "I can't tell you what I said, but Freddy is the real superstar here." I smiled at Monty's sudden softness over his friend.

"Why are you telling me this?" He shrugged, a sudden bashful look on his face.

"I guess I just wanted to remind you how amazing he is."

"Thanks, Monty. You're a good friend. A little misguided if being mean was what you thought would help, but a good friend nonetheless." He grinned a toothy grin before letting me go finish up with the others.

When it was Freddy's turn, I couldn't help but feel a little giddy. What would he think if he knew about my feelings? Looking up at him as I fiddled around with the wires in his hand, I noticed that he seemed to be deep in thought. What was he thinking about? Ignoring the heat in my cheeks, I beckoned him down.

"You can crouch down while I tighten your ear now. No more treating you like a tree." He laughed sheepishly, settling himself in a comfortable position that allowed me to get to the top of his head.

"That's a shame."

"It- It is?"

"Oh, uh, I didn't, uh, I didn't mean to say that out loud..." I furrowed my brow. "Please just ignore it and continue."

"If you say so." A song I particularly liked started playing, and I gently swayed my hips from side to side as I worked, careful not to move so much that I disturbed any of the sensitive wiring in Freddy's head. "Why do your ear joints need tightening so much? Seems like an odd oversight. Are you ignoring me?" I cocked my head to the side, bending down so that I was face to face with the bear. He jumped slightly, shaking his head.

"S-sorry, I was lost in thought. My ears?"

"They're always coming loose. You know why?"

"I suppose it's because I wiggle my ears when I'm happy." I hummed as I stood back upright, continuing with the fix.

"I do notice you moving them about a lot."

"Well, that makes sense. You do make me very happy." My body stopped what it was doing and my mind blanked. I make him happy? "Did I say something wrong?"

"N-no. I just wasn't expecting to hear Freddy Fazbear flirting with me." I gave an airy laugh, booping his nose. Everyone stared at him, pausing their conversations.

"Did your nose just... squeak?" Roxy narrowed her eyes at us.

"I was hoping that you'd never find out about that."

"That's so fucking funny." Monty sniggered as I gently pressed his little black nose, a big grin on my face as it made the high pitched noise again.

"It's so adorable, you mean!"

"I suppose it could be seen as adorable." A bashful smile appeared on his face and his ears did their usual little dance.

"Hey, mechanic." A shrill, grating voice came from the doorway, scaring all five of us. "Shouldn't they be off while you do that?"

"I know what I'm doing." I turned around, annoyed at being told what to do by someone even less qualified to be a mechanic than me. "And my name is Olive, not mechanic."

"Yeah, yeah, Vanessa." She waved her hand dismissively, throwing her blonde ponytail over her shoulder. "Alex said you do security shit too."

"That's right."

"I need the robots to patrol tonight. You too." I frowned. The animatronics had a 'patrol mode' to help the security guards in case of any emergencies.

"Why don't you ask the animatronics nicely then? And I have other things to do."

"Like what." Her lip curled in annoyance.

"I promised to stay in the daycare with Sunny, especially because of all of the issues the generators have been having lately." It was true. Alongside everything else that seemed to be breaking or going wrong recently, the lights randomly switching off despite the generators not needing to reboot was becoming a common occurrence.

"And who did you make that promise to, exactly?"

"Sunny, of course."

"You promised the robot?"

"They're not robots, they're animatronics."

"Just because you're a mechanic, you don't have to get all protective over what I call them."

"They don't like being called that." I argued. Chica nodded.

"We consider it rather rude." Vanessa flicked her gaze over to the others, obviously not expecting them to talk to her.

"Whatever. I'll let Sean know about you disobeying my orders in favour of playing with the baby robot." My blood was boiling at this point and I was sick of her snooty tone. Nobody insults my friends, especially not little Sunny.

"And what authority do you have? I've worked here for years and I outrank you more than you must realise. I'm protecting the other ANIMATRONICS from a lot of expensive and hard to fix harm because I'm the only one that Moon will listen to. If you want them to get out of the daycare and rip you to shreds, be my guest! But I won't let my ANIMATRONICS get hurt because you're too incompetent to handle a simple shift and the S.T.A.F.F Bots yourself. Ever speak to me like that or offend these four again, I'll turn off their safety controls and let them handle you themselves. Get out of my office!" The people in the room had all slowly shrunk away from me as my outburst continued, not knowing who would invoke my wrath next. "Why don't you focus on all of the things going wrong each night instead? While I'm busting my ass making repairs and babysitting Moon every time the shitty lights go out, you're letting Chica get into the pizza machines more than we all know she's allowed," Chica looked away, a guilty expression on her face, "and letting Monty get into the rafters of Gator Golf, where he fell and broke both of his legs so badly that I couldn't fix him by myself," Monty grimaced but I continued, "and we still don't know how Roxy's mirror got broken! Get better at your only job, then you can order me about on my two sets of responsibilities. Until then, why are you still standing in my office?"

"Let me know if you find either of the two missing kids." Vanessa promptly left with a furious expression, slamming the door behind her. Two kids went missing? She couldn't have led with that? I uncurled my hands, which had balled up into trembling fists without me realising, and took several deep breaths.

"Are you... good?" Chica asked nervously.

"Did you know about the kids?" They all shook their heads. I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Can you all keep an eye out then? I'll bring it up with Sunny. One of the twins might know something."

"I'll go talk to DJ. He always seems to know everything. Creepy bastard." Roxy tutted, but I knew that her words were affectionate. "Then I'll check the raceway."

"I can check the mazes! Mazercise here I come!"

"That's a good idea, Chica." Freddy added. "I'll look in Fazerblast."

"Guess that leaves good old Gator Golf to me. Those ball pits are the perfect place to hide." Monty mused.

"Good luck everyone." I gave them all a weary thumbs up. "And let me know if Vanessa gives you any shit. What a bitch..." Roxy, Monty, and Chica promptly left the room to search their respective places. Freddy hung back for a moment.

"You look uneasy." He pointed out.

"I feel it, honestly."

"And are you alright after Vanessa being so... rude?"

"I've dealt with worse than a know-it-all. Sorry that she kept calling you guys robots."

"Don't apologise, superstar." He beamed at me and I felt myself smiling along. "Thank you for sticking up for us. I was shocked to see you get so angry."

"Huh. I guess you guys have never seen me really mad before."

"It was interesting," Freddy placed his paw on my cheek, leaning down slightly. My heart skipped a beat. "But I much prefer seeing you happy." He went to move back, but I put my hand over his and he gladly stayed.

"Well, I'm happy when you are. So I guess I'll just have to smile forever." His ears wiggled in delight and I could have sworn that his eyes brightened. "I heard you got angry too."

"Yes, well, it was just..."

"Monty explained it. He said some very sweet things about you."

"He did? Oh, that reminds me! I have something for you."

"You do?"

"It is a Fazwatch. It means that we can... stay in touch... You don't have to take it if you don't want to, I'm sure you have better things to do than talk to me, especially when you've finished work, and you probably think this is stupid, and-" I watched on amusedly as a stream of quick words flew out of his mouth.

"It's a lovely idea."

"I was afraid you'd say that so just forget- wait! It is?" A giggle escaped my lips.

"It's thoughtful. And I enjoy talking to you, so of course I'd like to keep in touch with you."

"Oh, I'm so glad!" He sighed in relief before catching himself. "I mean, yes, that's good, I- Just take this..." I took the watch that he held out to me, quickly fastening it around my wrist and taking off my usual watch.

"Thank you, Freddy. I'll see you later." He nodded as I reluctantly moved away from his touch.

"See you soon..." I made my way to the daycare without any issues and, when I took the slide down into the play area, Sunny immediately dragged me over to the arts and crafts table, chattering about his day at a hundred miles an hour.

"So you had fun today?"

"Absolutely!"

"Did you hear about those two children that got lost?" A frown appeared on his face.

"Yes, Yasmin told me just after she closed the daycare." I assumed she was the manager of the daycare as I recognised the name. "It was in Fazerblast, apparently."

"Oh, that's where Freddy's headed now. I can tell him."

"Will Bear find them?"

"Maybe. We don't even know if they're still in the building. Maybe they got separated from their parents and tried to get back home on their own?" I kept my voice upbeat to reassure them, but Sunny didn't seem so hopeful. "Turn your frown upside down! They're probably fine."

"That's what they said about us..." My ears pricked up at his muttered statement.

"What was that?"

"I don't know if Moon wants to talk about it. They know it all." I decided to just ask what had been playing on my mind since the pair showed off their human forms.

"Did you two... die?" They sniffed.

"Yes. I don't remember, but Moon does. Never told anyone." Reaching over, I wrapped them up in a warm hug, rubbing circles on their back.

"It's okay. The other four died too. And Bonnie did."

"Do they remember? Like Moon? Am I the only one who forgot?" They wailed.

"No. In fact, Moon seems to be the only one who does remember."

"Moon won't tell me!" I hushed them, thinking carefully about my response for a moment.

"It might be for the best that you don't know. The less details you have, the less upsetting it is."

"Maybe..." The sound of the lights shutting down echoed around the daycare.

"Hello, Moon." The little animatronic pushed away from me, glaring.

"You upset Sunny. Why'd you have to bring it up?"

"I had to know. I'm sorry." Moon huffed.

"I won't tell you if you ask. You don't need to know what happened."

"Don't you want to find out what happened after you died?"

"No." I examined the cold look on their face.

"Alright. I won't force anything out of you."

"You won't?" They asked sceptically, shuffling a little closer.

"Of course not." Wordlessly, they leant against me, allowing me to put my arm around them. I closed my eyes, soothed by the gentle clicking of their mechanics. It didn't take long before the lights switched back on and Sunny reappeared. They stayed where they were for a while.

"You're right. I don't wanna know. Maybe I do a little, but it'll make Moon sad to think about it more. I'd rather have a happy Moon."

"That's a very mature decision, putting someone else's feelings above your own."

"It is?" I hummed an affirmative response. "Great! I'm super mature now!"

"I don't think you'll ever be super mature. But that's what I love about you." They beamed at me.

"You love me?"

"Of course. Both of you. You're like family to me!" Their bottom lip quivered.

"We love Ollie too!"

"Oh no, don't cry."

"Too late!"

After sending Freddy a quick message about the children last being seen in Fazerblast, I got to work drawing with Sunny, who was determined to cover everything in glitter. The lights went off a few more times and I even convinced Moon to draw their own picture. They drew Sunny taking a nap with the caption 'good Sunny' written in barely legible scrawl. It was probably the sweetest thing I'd seen them do, and I once again realised how much of a contrarian Moon was and how much they loved their brother. When the end of my shift arrived, I bid the boys goodbye and left Sunny to their colourings. I, luckily, didn't see Vanessa on my way out. My Fazwatch buzzed.

Freddy:

It is the end of your shift now, so I thought I'd say goodbye. None of us had any luck finding the children and we didn't have any run-ins with Vanessa.

Ollie:

That's good about V. Sad about those kids though. Hope they're ok

Freddy:

It is possible that they were found somewhere that wasn't the Plex and taken home, and that the parents have yet to let us know that they are safe.

Ollie:

Fingers crossed!

Freddy:

Fingers crossed indeed.

Ollie:

Anyways I need to go so I can drive back. See you tonight!

Freddy:

Get home safely! Sleep well.

Ollie:

:)

I started up my car with a heavy sigh, giving the Plex one last glance before I pulled out of the car park and returned to my cold and empty apartment.

Here's a huge chapter to say sorry about not updating yesterday! I had a bad day with my seizures but I feel much better today so I'm back to writing!

Also I made a playlist for the karaoke songs in the last chapter that I completely forgot to post... oops. It literally just has the songs they sung on there in case anyone wanted to have them in order or whatever

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5bGtdHQv3UafxjWdocYPVK?si=3459541600a945d2