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Bonnie had fully prepared himself for another night of self loathing. He’d set up camp in the bathroom, seated hunched against the wall. He made the conscious effort to stay away from the mirror at all times now. Looking at the mess that was his body would only ever make things worse, so much worse. It brought back up the terror, the anticipation of something terrible happening again- not that it ever did. But he couldn’t help but worry constantly about it. All he wanted was to find some kind of solace within the Pizzaplex or to just be whole again for a single day. He hated the way some of his inner electronics jutted out of his purple robotic “flesh.” Some parts of his casing were ripped off to reveal the interior workings of his body. He would be a disturbing sight to anyone who had the misfortune of laying their eyes on him, but they would never be more disturbed of him than he was of himself. Looking into the mirror pained him. Hearing the occasional choked static of his voice pained him. But worst of all, today was THE day.
The third anniversary of his destruction.
But it was the first one he’d been able to recognize and process. He didn’t even know the other ones had happened. Being in a dark, cramped room with everything about you destroyed really doesn’t give you a perfect concept of time. But he could understand it now. And honestly? He wished he couldn’t.
What if they decided to come back and finish the job again? He had come so far since the incident, even if everything sucked now, he didn’t want to go back. He didn’t want to leave Freddy and his newfound friends again. Being able to see and interact with them was infinitely better than the distant singing he had in the dark room.
Every little movement outside the bathroom made him wince. All he had to do was make it through the night. Surely they wouldn’t attack him during the day. Even so, he could hide with Gregory and feel a lot safer. He just had five hours until 6AM. He could make it if he just sat still, didn’t make any noise, kept completely quiet.
And yet he didn’t even have to make noise. The door opened unexpectedly and in stepped Freddy himself, looking over at Bonnie in confusion. It wasn’t the first time he’d caught him like this, but it would be the first time he got an explanation.
Bonnie frowned as Freddy made the extra effort to block the doorway, not letting him slide out without giving some reasoning for hiding out.
“What are you doing? I keep finding you in here. You’re starting to worry me,” Freddy murmured, keeping his tone gentle and considerate. Once he realized Bonnie wasn’t going to make a quick escape, he made his way over to the rabbit and settled down on the floor next to him.
“..I just come in here when I don’t feel safe, that’s it,” Bonnie huffed, avoiding looking at Freddy. He hated knowing that Freddy had to deal with his broken jumbled mess of a body, he didn’t want to throw his messed up emotions on top of that.
“Why don’t you feel safe? You know you can always hide in my room, Bon. Nobody would come in there during the night,” he consoled, raising a hand up to Bonnie’s chin and tilting his head to face him. Bonnie was forced to make eye contact. “Come on. Tell me what’s up.”
“What if whatever attacked me finds out and comes back? I can’t go back to that. I’m already living in misery, if they assault me again I won’t be able to—“ his voice trailed off into the strangled static noises. He wanted to groan and complain, but talking again wouldn’t help at all.
“Even if they found out they wouldn’t bother you. You’re not being a nuisance to the Pizzaplex, so why would they care?” Freddy stated plainly, releasing Bonnie’s face and instead grabbing his hand. Bonnie could feel the muted sensation of Freddy rubbing circles on the back of his hand. He couldn’t really feel it, but it made him feel better nonetheless. He scooted closer to the bear, taking a mock deep breath before talking again. Maybe his stupid voice wouldn’t mess up.
“I died three years ago,” was all he could manage our before it all felt like it tumbled down on him. Bonnie’s systems were suddenly overloaded with... whatever, causing him to spasm and convulse. He felt Freddy lock his arms around him, keeping him mostly stable and grounded during the tremors. Bonnie could faintly hear the quiet buzzing of his electronics whirring, the clicking of his joints, the awful static noises he was making— it was all too much.
When he returned to normal, he was being tightly held by Freddy. All he could manage to do was adjust his head into the crook of the bear’s neck as the last of shaking stopped.
“You okay now?” Freddy chimed in after a moment or two of silence. Bonnie just nodded, too terrified to open his mouth again. “I didn’t know it was today. I... I stopped counting when you came back. Just think of it as another victory. They tried so hard to kill you and you’re still here,” he comforted, still not releasing Bonnie. The rabbit was silently grateful.
“I guess,” he squeaked, letting his limbs finally relax a bit. “That’s not my only problem,” Bonnie stated before he could stop himself. He didn’t want to get into the pain of looking at himself. He didn’t want to know what Freddy really thought of his appearance. He wished the radio static would cut him off, but things never really worked out the right away.
“Would you like to go on? You don’t have to but... I’m here to help,” Freddy told him with a light shift, slowly releasing Bonnie and instead letting him rest more comfortably tucked into his side. Freddy did end up keeping one arm around Bonnie’s shoulder, which was easy because of how slumped he was.
“..Am I pretty to you? Be honest. I won’t be upset,” he half-lied. Bonnie probably would be hurt by his answer, but he could understand. Freddy looked away, carefully choosing his next words.
“I think you look fine. In fact, I think you’re the prettiest thing I’ve ever laid my eyes on, broken pieces or whole,” Freddy chirped, meeting Bonnie’s gaze once more. “I think it’s charming.”
It didn’t feel half-hearted. It felt genuine. Bonnie couldn’t hide his grin from Freddy, who looked awful pleased with what he said. Freddy thought he was still beautiful. It wouldn’t matter what he thought of himself. [News Flash: Your opinions do matter :)]
“Now let’s get out of the bathroom, hm? You can stay in my room. I’ll put you in the usual hiding place. Nobody will find you and hurt you there,” Freddy reassured, slowly rising to his feet. Bonnie had gotten comfortable sitting on the floor, so when the only thing that was holding him up left, he only had a split second before he’d crash to the floor. Fortunately, he caught himself before that happened.
He took Freddy’s hand and finally left the bathroom. Maybe this time it was for good.