Work Text:
The pizzeria had closed, the cleanup crew was gone, everything was locked up, everyone was asleep…
Everyone except one.
Soft music trilled throughout the room, meant to keep her slumbering, yet here she was, more awake then earlier. She always stayed awake for longer than she wanted, she was always so tired during the day, yet here she was, awake.
The nightguard would be here in two hours, and she normally was asleep before they arrived, so she just had to wait…
…
“This is so boring…”. She lifted the lid to her box and looked around, it was pitch black, with the only light being a soft light from an open window and the buzzing light of the arcade's, a car would drive by at times and add some extra light, but would disappear before her eyes adjected.
The stage was quiet, peaceful, everyone else was asleep, no noise came from the parts and service room either, they must have been asleep as well…
She closed her box's lid, submerging herself in the darkness. It stayed this way for at least an hour, before she heard knocking from the top of her box.
“Hey, Pups. I know you're awake.” she recognised the voice, it was the nightguard, he was in early…
She lifted the box’s lid a little, just enough to see the guard, just enough for her eyes to be seen.
“Hello to you too” the guard knelt down to see eye to eye, “can't attack me yet, it's not twelve” he laughed. The Puppet wanted to attack him there and there just to prove him wrong, but it wasn't worth it.
He must have been able to tell she was upset since he backed away a little, “just kidding, just kidding” she wasn't amused.
“So, Pups…” he leaned to her box and sat down, “why are you awake? If you can talk at all.” he looked at her quizzically, the Puppet slinked a bit back into her box for a second, before returning with a piece of paper and a crayon.
She handed the paper to the guard, he grabbed it and looked closely at the paper. Written on it was, “can’t sleep”, he nodded, handing the paper back to her. “I thought it was in your programming to be ‘asleep’ before twelve, but that's cool.” he looked towards the stage, “are they awake as well?” he pointed at the toys. Puppet waited for a second before handing the paper back to the guard, “none of them wake up before twelve” was written under her previous message.
“Huh, okay.” he handed it back to her. They sat in silence for a while, it was weirdly comforting having someone sit with her, but she was starting to drift into sleep. Before she fell asleep, the night guard stood up and faced her again, “whelp, this was nice but my shift starts in ten, so i best get going.” he started walking towards his office before stopping and turning around, “by the way, the name’s Jeremy! I'll try not to forget the music box tonight!” he laughed a little before disappearing into the hall.
It was an odd encounter, but for some reason, Puppet found it was a nice experience. She wasn't normally treated like a person here, unless it was from the withered's. She slowly drifted into sleep, and wasn't woken all night.
When she woke again, she peaked out of her box and was welcomed with a warm light slowly filling the restaurant. She noticed the night guard walking towards the door, he noticed her and waved before leaving. Something was telling her that today was going to be alright.