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“Spring, look. Martin drew you this time.”
“Oh? That’s great!” A cheery voice responded to the other’s deep drawl, prompting a raised brow over the top of a piece of paper clutched carefully between two large hands covered in golden fur.
“...Spring, look. Amy drew us both this time.”
“Oh really? That’s amazing.”
This time the paper was put aside in favour of the golden bear staring at the clearly distracted rabbit with matching golden fur, staring at one of the many long tables in the main dining area with a tilted head and a thoughtful expression. The bear leaned back on one hand, head matching the rabbit’s tilt as he tried to silently work out what in the world had caught the rabbit’s attention – usually they were the one who couldn’t wait to go through all the drawings left by the guests.
He quickly decided it’d be quicker to ask this time.
“Spring,” he began, waiting until he saw an ear twitch to tell the bear the rabbit was listening. “What in the world are you tryin’ to do?”
Spring seemed to snap out of their thoughts at the question, ears jumping to attention as they grabbed the edge of a table and began to tentatively lift the one side, swivelling it to clear a space. “I’m making more room. We need more space.”
The bear’s smaller ears tilted down, confused. “What could you need more room for?” He’d admit their stage wasn’t good for much more than turning on the spot, the cleared space for children to stand in front of the stage not much better, but rearranging the entire dining area was a new sight.
“Because, Fredbear,” Spring chirped, falling silent as they quickly found a rhythm and turned more tables, clearing more space in front of the stage where Fredbear sat perched on the edge of. He might’ve stopped the rabbit if he wasn’t so interested in what they had planned. They fell into silence until Spring seemed happy with what they had, hands on hips and proudly standing with their back to Fredbear as they turned to admire the empty space they had created before turning to the bear. “We need room to dance!”
“We?” Fredbear was quick to catch on, jaw quirking up into an amused smile as he reached over for another drawing to hide it behind. “I’ll pass, but just don’t scuff up the floor. And put the tables back after. We’ll never hear the end of it otherwise.”
It wasn’t the first time they’d rearranged the dining area when bored at night, really, but poor Henry always seemed to be one who the open staff went to when they’d walk into the seating having moved overnight. The duo just had to stand on stage and pretend like Henry wasn’t giving them a look out the corner of his eyes as some older member of staff complained about how heavy the tables were, or how they weren’t informed beforehand. They all knew who the complaint was aimed at.
“Hah, yeah,” Spring Bonnie replied, ears falling a little in disappointment at the lack of shared enthusiasm, only to just as quickly perk back up as they spun and softly padded over to the bear, only a twitch of the round ears indicating Fredbear was aware of his approaching partner, opting to instead take a better look at the drawing in his hand instead of using it to hide his face.
Only when he felt a familiar weight on his legs did he lift the paper enough to meet the rabbit’s green eyes, full of excitement, with his blue eyes. Spring had taken the opportunity to prop their head up in one hand, the other idly drawing circles into the soft fur of the bear’s thigh as they silently watched the bear.
“I know that look, bunny, you can’t fool me.”
Spring huffed softly before lifting his hand from the plush golden fur, plucking the paper gently from the bear’s hands and placing it to the side after giving it a fond look. “Was this your only plan tonight? Just looking through the drawings?”
Fredbear hesitated only for a moment before giving a small shrug and a nod. Spring Bonnie’s ears seemed to somehow lift higher, reaching for one of the bear’s hands and giving it a gentle tug in response. It wasn’t enough to budge the golden bear but he still watched, amused, until Spring gave up trying to wordlessly coax the bear off the stage. Fredbear already knew what Spring’s goal was, but it didn’t stop him looking a little hesitant at the request.
“I’d really like it if you would dance with me, Fred,” Spring asked softly and in that way they knew the bear struggled to say no to, smile small and faltering quickly at the lack of a positive response from Fredbear, the bear looking at anything but the rabbit in front of him and gently drumming the fingers of his free hand on the stage. Spring already knew what was up, but it didn’t stop them asking anyway. “Do you really not wanna?”
The little twinge of disappointment in Spring Bonnie’s voice already left a bad feeling fluttering through Fredbear’s circuitry. He knew the rabbit wouldn’t really be upset – they’d bounce back within the hour. Both of them had unique interests that sometimes just didn’t mesh well; dancing was one of Spring’s where Fredbear tended to be an observer rather than a participant of. It never deterred the rabbit from asking, but every attempt usually ended up with the large bear sprawled out on the floor, unable to keep up with the bunny’s energetic spins and twirls that their leaner form was capable of.
The rabbit’s excited giggles and attempts to pull the larger animatronic to his feet, something Spring could do with ease if they wanted, only to give up and plop down next to him for the night were the only moments afterwards that made the embarrassment tolerable.
Tonight, however, Spring Bonnie seemed determined to coax the bear from the stage.
The golden rabbit raised their hands and gently placed one on each of Fredbear’s furred cheeks, persuading the bear to finally turn his head so vivid blue eyes could meet with bright green and soft smiles, thumbs gently brushing through the fur of the bear’s face.
“I know you’re not the biggest fan,” Spring began, seemingly lost in thought for a moment as their thumbs continued to move through the golden fur. If the rabbit continued like this, Fredbear could almost fall asleep, relaxing into the touch and eyes sliding shut. Spring stopped the motions, getting the bear to peek an eye open to look down at them once more. “But could you agree just this once? For me, Fred?” Spring pleaded, hands finally withdrawing to rest on the bear’s knees to await an answer.
Fredbear grumbled as the rabbit’s smaller hands retreated, eyes half-lidded as he observed the expectant rabbit in front of him. His eyes then fell onto the space behind his partner, already cleared out and expecting two rather than one dancer. The silence hung over them for only a moment longer before, with a dramatic rumble, Fredbear held a hand out to Spring. The rabbit’s ears audibly clicked up into their surprised position before they quickly fit the bear’s single hand between his two, helping him slide off the stage’s edge to stand on the dining area floor.
“Just go easy on me this time. I’m too old for your kind of dancing.”
Spring moved to grab the bear’s other hand once he was standing, eyes focused on the floor as they led the bear further into the middle of the open space with a hop in their step and a soft laugh. “If you’re old then what am I, hm?”
Fredbear didn’t hesitate, intertwining their fingers and leaning forward to give the shorter one’s ear a gentle nudge. “I think you’re timeless, sunshine.” His reply was immediately met with a soft groan and the rabbit’s head falling against the soft fur of the bear’s torso, unlinking their hands to let them fall to their sides. “That was an easy one.”
“Just… give me your hands back!” Fredbear grinned and complied with Spring’s demand, silent aside from a low, rumbling chuckle, larger hands sitting gently atop the smaller ones as they were held out in front of him.
They stood there in silence, Fredbear watching with a fond smile as Spring seemed to take a moment, avoiding eye contact, before slowly leading the bear’s hands to where they wanted them – one was placed on their hip as they moved their now free hand up to Fredbear’s shoulder, intertwining their fingers together once more with the remaining pair. Only then did they look back into the bear’s eyes, bouncing with renewed energy.
“Ready?”
Fredbear’s ears raised, confusion apparent on his face. “For what?” Usually Spring’s idea of dancing was spinning dizzyingly fast, hand in hand until someone fell over, usually Fredbear – it seemed to be the children’s favourite ‘dance’ and Spring had happily picked it up – but this was entirely new to the bear, too curious to where the rabbit picked this up to notice said rabbit trying to gently pull Fredbear’s shoulder to coax him to begin stepping forward.
“You’ll see. It’s easy!” Spring assured the larger animatronic, continuing to pull at the bear until he complied and they began moving. It was slow, holding each other at a distance to watch they didn’t step on each other’s feet – Fredbear would step forward and Spring would step back, repeatedly counting to three softly, occasionally tugging the bear to sidestep a little and then a slow circle to repeat the steps once more back the way they came. Eventually the musically-inclined bear finally put the pieces together.
“Is this… a waltz?” Spring didn’t reply to the bear’s question, trying to hide a smile by continuing to watch their steps in rapt attention. But that told Fredbear that he was right.
They continued to clumsily waltz, Fredbear eventually falling into step with a little more ease and taking his attention off the floor to watch the golden rabbit who was still insistent on watching their feet, smiling softly at the sight. He may be a terrible dancer but the slower pace was almost relaxing, letting him just observe as Spring tried to encourage the bear to lead. That was probably their intention from the start, or maybe they’d felt it’d be easier for both to stay upright if Fredbear was the one stepping forward whilst Spring stepped back.
Spring finally met the golden bear’s blue eyes once more, bright with excitement and, Fredbear noted, a little mischief. He knew that look, giving his own look back in warning. As if that would do anything once Spring had set their mind to it.
Spring suddenly began counting faster, louder, pulling their partner along as they smoothly kept stepping backwards whilst Fredbear began to stumble every other step. But whilst Fredbear had taken his eyes off his partner to once again watch their feet, Spring kept up with ease, feet moving out of the way long before there was a risk of the bear landing heavily on one. They even pushed back against the bear whenever it seemed like he was about to topple over, easily righting the bear to continue at a speed Fredbear would not classify as a waltz – not a normal one, anyway.
“You’re keeping up pretty well, for someone who can’t dance, Fred,” Spring commented as they continued moving, expression softening as Fredbear looked up for only a brief moment. Then that mischievous glint was back within seconds, Fred feeling Spring’s grip strengthening just a touch. “I think I might fall for you all over again.”
That caught Fredbear off-guard, faltering in his steps and, as if waiting on this, Spring easily pulled the bear off-balance and they spun. It was all a whirl of movement and by the time Fredbear was aware of what had happened Spring was looming over him with arms looped around his torso, smiling brightly and green eyes lit softly now that their face was shadowed, sparkling with amusement.
“Looks like you’ve fallen for me this time.”
The couple stared at each other in the ensuing silence, Fredbear still catching up whilst Spring looked on, expression amused but the soft adoration was there.
Then Fredbear snorted and let a few deep rumbling chuckles free, breaking the silence and soon Spring followed with high pitched giggles as they slowly sunk to the floor, taking the bear with them to put his head in their lap, long ears falling across Fredbear’s face as they began to idly thread fingers through the thicker tufts of golden fur on the bear’s head as they both just silently watched each other.
“How long did that take you to come up with that, bunny, hm?” Fredbear eventually asked with eyes half closed as he just enjoyed the feeling of gentle hands undoing every little tangle they came across, smoothing out the soft golden fur as they went. Spring paused for only a moment as they glanced to the side, sheepish, before replying.
“I was working on it for about a week,” they mumbled back softly, earning a twitch from the bear’s round ears and another soft chuckle.
“Hm, well I think it was worth the planning,” he admitted, blue eyes glowing brighter for just a moment before they fell back to a dimmer brightness, amusement twinkling in those orbs. “But let’s not throw the old bear around next time.”
Spring Bonnie snorted, leaning forward to gently rub their nose against the bear’s. “No promises.”
The pair stayed there for a little longer, just enjoying the close proximity and practically dozing until Fredbear peeked an eye open, both having fallen shut in the silence.
“Maybe we should sort the tables and go back on stage. It’s a much cleaner place to be than the main floor, Bon,” Fredbear pointed out. The floor wasn’t filthy but the place where only the two animatronics and a few select staff members were permitted to be was leagues cleaner to sit upon than a floor where kids and greasy foods were rampant. Spring’s ears drooped in response as they sighed much more dramatically than necessary and rose to their feet with a ‘fiiiine’ whined under their breath, pulling the bear with them.
With the two of them moving the tables this time, the dining area was quickly reverted back to its original layout, the two moving back to the stage and slumping against each other as they perched on the edge.
“So where did you even pick up that dance? It doesn’t seem like something the children would be doing?” Fredbear asked the question that had been on his mind for a while.
Spring Bonnie hummed, looking at the lights above as their feet swung. “You have to keep it a secret. ‘Kay?” They watched Fredbear’s amused expression until he nodded in agreement. “Okay, okay-” Spring began to look around, almost as if it was possible anyone but the duo would be in the empty restaurant at this time of night. When they turned back to the bear, the excited energy practically radiating off the rabbit told Fred that they’d been waiting for him to ask for a while. “-It was Henry!”
Fredbear quirked an eyebrow, amused. “Henry?”
“Mhm! He was dragging around one of those endoskeletons he likes to tinker with in the back room. Said it was extra practice for some couple’s dance thingy he got convinced to go to.” Spring paused. “He could win points for freestyle, though I’m not sure the endoskeleton would agree.”
“ So he exchanged dance lessons for your secrecy?” Spring gave a soft mhm in response to the question. “Then I won’t mention I think you’ve surpassed him. That man has more left feet than I.”
“Agreed. The endo didn’t even move and Henry still found a way to trip over the legs,” Spring noted, amused. They both shared a few laughs at Henry’s expense a little more before Fredbear retrieved the drawings from earlier and they spent the rest of the night poring over them.
Fredbear kept to the secrecy in the end, though it didn’t stop a few gentle jabs at the co-owner whenever he saw an opportunity. And Spring was happy to play dumb when confronted by the flustered man, looking for whoever spilled the beans to the bear.