Chapter Text
Backed up into the corner. Colourful knuckles pressed up against a frozen grin. Sobs that couldn’t be stifled emanating from a voicebox that Would Not Cooperate. Fleeting memories, a rumbly chuckle, an outstretched hand the colour of drying ink, the mischievous jingle of bells echoing from the rafters. Embraces in the worst of times. Trembling uncontrollably, they wrapped their arms around themself and muted their soundsystem. The others couldn’t know how bad it was. He couldn’t let them know. They can’t know. They CAN’T.
…
Thank god for this permanent grin.
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Sun lay crumpled at the end of the wharf, as they had for an hour now, their motors cooling as they clenched their hands into aching fists. They were folded in on themself like a botched piece of origami, curled up as tight as their joints would allow them. Occasionally the chill morning silence was broken with a choked back cry, and Sunny would shiver violently as they tried in vain to repress the wails that forced their way from his electronic voice box. They were ignoring the thump, thump, thump of metal on packed sand as one of his friends drew near, curling in tighter on themself.
“Go aw ay, Fredd y,” Sun muttered into the splintered boards of the wharf, their stupid voicebox breaking up the sentence.
“Try again, Chickadee.”
“...Chica?” Sunny raised their head to peer up at her, but their visuals blanked and alerts sprang up frantically in Sunny’s mind. They were dimly aware of Chica’s strong arms pulling them up, and they flicked in and out of consciousness, catching glimpses of sea and sand and bubblegum pink legwarmers as their head lolled about. Finally their programs coordinated, stopped buffering and Sunny blinked their artificial eyelids, trying to focus on Chica’s face. When she finally came into focus the LED screens of her eyes were wide and scared, her irises wobbly with display tears. “Sunny, oh Sunnypie, ohhhh…” her metallic cries trailed off as she pulled Sun close to herself, burying them in her fluffy jumper and squeezing them tight as she let out distressed hiccups. Sunny was alarmed and scared but let themself be hugged, melting into the plump animatronic’s warmth and wrapping their arms around her weakly. Suddenly, their faceplate was grasped firmly and they were staring directly into Chica’s wide eyes.
“Don’t you dare do that again!!” she squawked, searching their face for confirmation. Sunny tried to nod frantically but they were too weak and also their face was being gripped by a Very Angry Chicken. Chica released them immediately, eyes full of worry.
“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” she looked so concerned that they let out a little giggle, and she instantly relaxed.
“I’m A-OK,” Sunny assured her, “and I promise I won’t do it again. Cross my heart!!” it was Chica giggling this time at their little inside joke. They didn’t have any hearts, they were robots!! Sunny squeezed Chica’s arm, catching her attention.
“Chica? What exactly… What happened to me just then?”
She looked out to the glittering ocean and blinked frantically, and Sunny realised with a jolt that she was holding back tears. The sun reflected off their big sister’s carbon fiber casing, and everything felt for a moment very surreal, like a painting.
“You run off kinetic energy, Sunnypie…. You hadn’t moved in so long that your systems nearly shut down.”
Sun slumped forwards in Chica’s arms, the reality of the situation hitting them as Chica’s words sunk in. Shutting down was no small fear for an animatronic, as shutting down without assistance from maintenance crew could mean losing possibly all of the data in their personality and memory chip, leaving them as an empty shell the next time they were rebooted. Sunny shuddered uncomfortably and clung to Chica’s frame for support, hoisting themself precariously onto their feet and brushing grains of sand off their fraying jumpsuit as they wobbled on the sand. Chica made to stand up and help but they flapped their hands in her direction.
“I- I can do this on my own, please don’t trouble yourself!!” Sunny began to run on the spot in order to build up kinetic energy, before their motor engines stalled and they teetered and toppled over, landing in an ungraceful heap amongst the dunes. Chica shook her head fondly and bent down to take Sunny’s hands, helping them to their feet. Sun felt hilarious dread rise in their (nonexistant) stomach as they remembered that during her time at the Pizzaplex, Chica had been a fitness instructor. Specifically jazzercise.
“One, two, hup, hup, let's go!! Yes ladies, show us your muscles!! Looking Faztaculous!!” Chica sang as Sunny giggled furiously. The two of them jogged on the spot together, holding hands as the sun blistered above them until Sunny felt their energy returning to them, motors whirring smoothly and all their familiar enthusiasm settling comfortably into place.
The two animatronics meandered back to Ness’s Grandparents’ house at their own pace, chatting about whatever caught their fancy, Chica’s hand hovering near Sunny’s shoulder whenever they faltered or quivered. By the time they had returned to the front garden, Roxy’s keen eyes had already spotted the two returning and she had alerted all the others. Roxy strangled them with a hug, Gregory gave them a tentative smile, Monty and Bonnie kept their distance but Sunny could practically feel the relief radiating off them. Freddy was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s-”
“Freddy’s in his room,” Vanessa interjected, and oh Sunny wished that humans weren’t so easy to read. Ness’s face was creased with worry and anxiety and something else despite how hard she was attempting to hide it. Sun decided to respect Vanessa’s privacy, though they were frustrated by her secrecy. Why didn’t she just tell them what was going on? Friends aren’t supposed to keep secrets from friends. Just trust her, Sunny told themself firmly. Surely there was a reasonable explanation to her erratic behaviour. Vanessa swallowed and continued, “He’s really upset with himself, won’t speak to any of us. I won’t rush you, but… maybe the both of you should try and talk this out.”
Sun released the excess air from the vents built into their exoskeleton, an exasperated animatronic sigh.
“Yeah,” Sunny said. “I think we should.”