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Chica stuck her head out of the dark bag as it swayed back and forth, keeping in time with Nate’s steps. Freddy pulled his sister back down into the bag as their surrogate father rang Mark’s doorbell.
“Hi there, Mark!” The kids heard Nate greet his friend cheerily.
“Oh, hey!” Mark replied with a slight laugh.
“Well, they’re all yours for the weekend. Sure you won’t need any help? We both know they can be a bit rowdy at times-”
“Hey!” Freddy groaned while Foxy gargled in agreement with his brother. Nate opened the top of the bag to the children could see his frown.
“Sorry guys. Didn’t mean it like that.”
“No, that’s okay. It’s just me. Plus, my mom took Chica-” The chicken picked her head up in surprise and stared at Mark in horror. “No, not you, Chica. My dog’s name is Chica too.” Chica sighed in relief. Mark looked back at Nate. “We should be all good. I ordered a pizza which should be here in a bit. If you want, you could stay.”
“Nah, that’s okay. I gotta head to my new job anyway.” Nate shrugged off the bag and handed it to Mark. “Got a night shift working at the sister location, like you said. But, there is something I should tell you, before I leave.” Nate’s eyes quickly shifted from mark to the children, then back to Mark, who slightly nodded. Mark set the bag down on the carpet of the front room.
“Hey guys.” Mark started, and the children all looked up. “A lot of Chica’s toys are in the living room. Why don’t you guys go play with those for a while?” He suggested. Freddy, Bonnie, and Foxy all shrieked with joy, and began to rush towards Mark’s living room, but Nate stopped them.
“No hugs for me, then?” He pretended to pout, and all four children jumped at him playfully, wrapping their tiny little arms around the kneeling man as best as they could. They all proclaimed their respective goodbyes before zipping around Mark’s house.
“Don’t break anything, guys. We’ve talked about this!” Mark called after them.
Worry filling her mind, Chica let her brothers play on while she stayed behind to eavesdrop on her two surrogate fathers.
“You look tired, Nate.”
“Ah, it’s nothing. Just working, that’s all. Speaking of working, don’t forget to drop the kids off at their day job at Fazgame’s Limited. Apparently, they love it!”
“Well, can’t be a stressful as our last job. Anyway, was is it that you wanted to tell me?”
There was a pause, and Chica stuck her head around the corner to see Nate rubbing his neck awkwardly, his gaze cast downwards.
“The other day, after I hung up with you, Mat called me.” Nate stated solemnly.
“Mat? You mean phone guy?”
“Yeah.”
“I thought he was dead. I thought he burned down with that damn place.”
“So did I. But anyway, apparently the police got him anyway, due to the video footage. But still, he warned me that he was going to hunt me down. You and the kids, too.” Chica held back a terrified gasp.
“I’m sure he won’t get out of jail. Like, ever.” Mark reassured him, but even Chica could hear a trace of doubt in his voice.
“You’re probably right, but… I don’t know. I get that it shouldn’t worry me, but… still.”
“Yeah, I understand. You’re worried about them.” Mark gestured behind himself, where he and Nate could both hear the sounds of Foxy, Freddy, and Bonnie all playing. Nate nodded.
“Don’t tell them. It’s best if they don’t know. They are still kids, Mark.”
“I get you. I won’t tell them. It’d be easier to watch if they’re not constantly scared out of their minds.” Mark grinned.
“Or hyped up on sugar.” Nate said, pointing behind Mark. Mark turned around. Down the hall and through the kitchen, Foxy was chugging a bag of sugar that was on the counter while his two brothers cheered him on.
“Oh god. See you later!” Mark yelled as he dashed off, leaving Nate still standing in the doorway, laughing to himself.
“See ya, Mark.” Nate chuckled to thin air. Chica watched him close the door behind himself and she ran to the front window to watch her dad leave. In the background, she could hear Mark going off at Foxy while Bonnie and Freddy ran around, playing with what remained of the bag of sugar. Fear and anxiety chewed its way through Chica’s gut as she watched Nate drive off to his new job.
Phone guy was back? He was going to come after Chica and her brothers?
“Wait, where’s Chica?” She heard Mark call out from the kitchen. “Chica!”
“I’m coming!” She replied in her high-pitched voice, running towards the kitchen.
~~~
Mark had finally gotten the kids to fall asleep after six long hours of pizza, video games, and watching the entirety of Frozen in the living room. The children had all fallen asleep, except for Chica, who was too scared to do anything but pretend to be asleep. The thought of the phone guy breaking into Mark’s house and killing the children and Mark was horrifying Chica, and every time something suddenly made noise, she jumped out of fear. She looked at the clock on the wall.
10 p.m.
To occupy her mind, she wondered how she and her siblings had come to be less and less nocturnal. Even now, they played the day away to sleep at night, which was a complete change from how it had been when they lived at Freddy Fazbear’s.
She heard Mark stretch and let out an exhausted sigh as the night wore on. He stood up, off the couch and scooped up all four kids into his arms.
~~~
Carrying his tiny adopted children upstairs, Mark noticed that Chica snuggled closer to him as she slept. A hint of a smile grew on his face, and he rolled his eyes at the absurdity that had become his life.
A few weeks ago, he would have crapped his pants at the thought of being in the same room as one of the animatronics. But when the ghosts of the children had been taken in by Nate and Mark to switch off taking turns to babysit them, they had chose to inhabit the small bodies of cute, plushy toys of their respective animals. Mark had grown to love the kids he had been given. And even though he might not want to admit it, when he had to turn them over to Nate during the week, he was sad to see them go.
Once upstairs, he set the four kids down on the bed, and tucked them in. They all stayed asleep, except for the occasional toss and turn. Mark surveyed his work of successfully getting his children to sleep -which was harder than it sounded- and walked out, turning off the light after turning on a nightlight in the corner of the room. Mark left the door slightly ajar behind him, just in case. He sauntered back into his room, changed into some pajamas, and climbed into his own bed to read for a while.
~~~
The sounds of her brothers’ loud snores did little to calm Chica’s heightened nerves. Her thoughts were consumed by the constant nightmare that phone guy was looming over her and her brothers, ready to cut them in half with his chainsaw or burn them to death with his flamethrower. Soon, the terror got to her, and she gan whimpering quietly to herself.
She slid out of bed, slinking out of the room, leaving behind her slumbering brothers.
She tottered down the hallway, seeking out the light peeking out from the crack in Mark’s bedroom doorway.
“Mark?” Chica called, and watched as Mark looked up from his book. He stared at the little duck in his doorway as she slowly made her way into his room.
“Hey, Chica. What’s up? Why aren’t you in bed?” Mark asking, his voice calm. Chica fidgeted nervously.
“I can’t sleep, Mark.” At Chica’s words, Mark tilted his head.
“Why not? What’s wrong?”
“I…” Chica sniffled, her fears finally getting to her, making her voice’s pitch impossibly higher. “I’m scared, Mark.” She cried, tears streaming down her plushy yellow fluff that was her face. Mark’s face fell, and he threw back the covers, climbing out of bed and picking Chica up. He pulled her into his arms, and settled back in his bed. Her cries hurt him, each whimper feeling like a punch to his heart.
“Oh, Chica, don’t cry. Tell me what’s wrong.” Mark said softly, holding Chica close as she wailed into his shirt (he fleetingly wondered how stuffed animals could cry, but then decided to stop questioning it).
“I heard you and Nate talking about the phone guy. Nate said he was gonna hurt you and me and Freddy and Bonnie and Foxy and Nate and… and…” Chica gasped for air as she sniffled and sobbed. Mark’s heart twinged at her words, understanding why she was so afraid. “He’s gonna burn us and cut us up into tiny pieces!”
“Chica, hey… hey, it’s okay. No one’s gonna get you.” Mark tried, but Chica kept blubbering. “Besides, he can’t hurt you with his chainsaw flamethrower. Know why?” He raised his eyebrow and smiled a bit down at her. Chica sniffled and shook her head.
“No. Why?”
“Because when the police took him away to prison, I got to keep the chainsaw flamethrower.” Chica’s eyes widened.
“Really?”
“Yeah, really.” Chica sat up, wiping her eyes.
“So he can’t get us?”
“Nope!” Mark grinned down at the little duck. “There’s nothing for you to worry about. Besides, you know that Nate and I would never let anything happen to you or your brothers. I will always protect you, Chica.” He had always felt a special connection with Chica, even when she was still in the animatronic robot suits. Despite being still terrified of her, he had wanted to rush to her aide when she had screamed while being attacked by Springtrap in the kitchen the last night at Fazbear’s. She was always his favorite (though he had promised not to pick favorites, she still was).
“Thanks, Daddy.” Chica hugged mark tightly, and Mark hugged her back with the palm of his hand, due to her tiny size. His heart swelled in his chest at the nickname. “I love you.”
“Love you too, Chica.” She leaned back and looked up at him.
“Mark?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I stay with you until I fall asleep? I still don’t know if I wanna go back to my room.” Chica asked quietly. Mark smiled.
“Sure thing, kiddo.”
Chica snuggled into Mark’s side as he continued reading his book, listening to the sound of her breathing, waiting for her to fall asleep. Eventually, her breaths evened out, slowing down to a constant. He took off his glasses, setting them down on the counter next to where he placed his book on the bedside table. He knew he should carry Chica back to her own bed, but he simply placed her onto the pillow next to his, and turned off the light, proceeding to slip under the blankets and let sleep overtake him.
~~~
The next morning, Mark stretched before opening his eyes to all four of his children lying on top of his chest. He grinned, and stretched, yawning softly. One by one, each of the kids stirred, quickly awakening to their surrogate father’s face grinning at them.
“Mark’s up!” Bonnie yelled, and Foxy began jumping up and down on Mark’s chest. Soon, Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica all joined in, and Mark barked out a laugh at his kids’ antics.
“Okay, okay. Who’s ready for breakfast?” Mark asked, and the children cheered in excitement. Mark chuckled, and couldn’t keep a smile off of his face. These kids were safe with him, he knew that for sure. No matter what phone guy might have said to Nate.
Mark took his children downstairs to make them all blueberry pancakes. While Foxy doused his in extra sugar, Mark took note that Chica seemed to be her normal, bubbly self again, as she happily devoured her food (again, he wasn’t sure why stuffed animals possessed by ghost-kids needed to actually eat, but he still enjoyed cooking for them). He had a glass of orange juice himself, and called Nate to see how his new shift at the sister location had gone.
And Mark knew that he would never be afraid again: whether it be phone guy, the animatronics the children once were, or anything. The only thing he would ever fear is losing the happiness that he’d do his best to keep forever in his children’s eyes.