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It all happened so fast...
"Catch me if you can, shark bait!" Fritz yelled from across the hall to Susie, who was currently chasing him.
They've been messing around and the girl ended up with her hands in the pyramid of cupcakes, resulting in them getting covered in frosting. And now she had the intention of getting the strawberry cream all over Fritz's face. Being called "shark bait" only fueled that intention more.
The boy laughed and ducked behind the corner to sprint over to the stage, but before he knew it, his feet stumbled upon something and he fell, face first, to the ground. The said something gave out a distorting sound.
Fritz's breath hitched.
It sounded like... like...
Like strings breaking
...They swear they didn’t mean it...
Susie finally caught up and her shocked gasp was what had made the boy stir.
He turned around to see the girl kneeling beside-
"Jeremy's guitar..." she said weakly, her voice barely above a whisper.
The redhead set his eyes on the instrument laying on the ground. The view was miserable. Not only have a few strings snapped, but the neck was also visibly cracked.
Fritz felt a lump forming in his throat as his face grew hotter and hotter. Oh no, he wasn’t going to cry, he was too big for that.
Susie, however, already had tears running down her face, her strawberry-cream hands on the floor, staining the tiles pink.
It was just an accident...
"I'm telling you Gabe, I’m so exicited!" Jeremy exclaimed happily as he rummaged through the box full of party hats and other accessories.
Gabriel smiled. He was excited for the celebration too, but something about seeing his friends so happy made him think that this feeling was better than any party he'd ever been to. He let out a pleased sigh and continued searching the box. He stopped when he came across a black bowler hat.
"Hey! It looks just like the one Freddy wears!" noticed Jeremy, as he put on his own party hat.
Gabriel looked at his friend, puzzled.
"Really?" he asked, before examining it up close. It did remind him of the one the leader of the Freddy Fazbear's band was dressed in. He giggled and put it on his head.
Jeremy chattered on as they walked through the hall, and Gabriel was half listening and half wondering whether leaving the two troublemakers alone was a good idea. Cassidy was going to arrive any moment now and if they wanted their surprise to work everything needed to go as planned. But they've only been gone for a few minutes, surely nothing could have happene-
He went still at the sight before him. Jeremy's chatter died as he looked at his friend, confused.
"Hey, what's going on?" he asked, and turned his head in the direction Gabriel’s eyes were set on.
And he stopped dead in his tracks.
"Y-you guys are back already?" Susie stuttered out, her eyes widening in shock as she quickly wiped the tears from them.
The broken instrument, the evidence of their fault, was still laying untouched in front of them.
He saw it
They knew he saw it
And yet they couldn’t bring themselves to do anything
Both she and Fritz hadn't moved from the floor. They weren't even sure how much time had passed. The only thing they were sure of was the pained expression on Jeremy's face.
-
Gabriel mentally slapped himself. He should have known better. He really should have known better. This was his fault. He was the oldest, the wisest, the one who was supposed to prevent this. God, he felt like he was going to beat himself for letting his friends down till the day he dies.
Susie frantically wiped her face, completely forgetting that her hands were still sticky and covered in cupcake frosting. It must have been on her face now, normally she would have laughed so hard. But she was in no mood for laughing, no, she felt like her heart was pouring from her eyes. Her futile attempts at making the tears go away failed, as all the tears she had managed to wipe were immediately replaced with new ones.
Fritz could only stare. His thoughts were racing and all his bravery had left him. If only he could simply walk the plank and let the sea swallow him.
But Jeremy...
He looked... devastated
He slowly approached the crime scene. Gabriel hovered close behind, cautiously.
"J-Jer?" Susie attempted.
"I didn’t mean it, we were just playing!" Fritz added quickly.
But Jeremy wasn't looking at either of them. He was looking at his guitar. His precious guitar. The one he had dreamed of for months. The one on which he was supposed to play today. He reached to pick it up.
It had been awfully quiet for a long while.
"Hey... are you okay?" Gabriel asked, putting his hand on his friend's shoulder.
But as soon as the words left his mouth, Jeremy burst into tears, hugged what was left of his instrument to his chest and rushed into the bathroom.
"Jeremy, wait!" Gabriel shouted after him. Why had everything gone so wrong? This was supposed to be a fun day. They were supposed to play a surprise concert for Cassidy. They were supposed to have fun! He turned towards the other two, expectantly and kinda annoyed. Of course, he knew it must have been an accident, but it wasn't the first time they did something stupid like this.
Susie had broken into full blown sobs by now. Fritz just looked up blankly at his friend.
"What did you guys do?" he asked, trying his best not to let the irritation show through his voice.
"We were... I just... I tripped" Fritz stuttered out.
Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose between his eyebrows. Susie sniffed and hiccuped.
"I-it's my fault! Why don't I ever learn? I- I'm such a dummy! Why am I like this?" she stopped, trying to catch her breath, still out of breath from sobbing "Jer must hate me now! I-I should go apologize-"
She started to get up from the floor, but Gabe stopped her.
"No, you should go clean yourself up. I'll go talk to him, okay?"
Susie blinked a few times, and nodded.
"Okay, but tell him I'm so super sorry! A-and that he can have my slice of cake if he likes, too!"
Gabriel smiled slightly, and turned towards the other boy, who had stayed quiet all throughrough Susie's apologizing mantra.
"Fritz?"
The boy gazed up at him, opening his mouth and closing it immediately. He felt a tear break free and run down his cheek. He quickly turned his face away and muttered
"W-whatever... just... tell him I'm sorry, I guess..."
The older boy only gave a silent nod, and ordered Fritz to help Susie clean up in the girls’ bathroom, to which he protested, but after a moment obliged and off the two troublemakers went. Gabriel adjusted his hat and headed in the opposite direction.
Jeremy remembered it clearly. It was his tenth birthday, just a few months ago.
His parents must have noticed the way his eyes were always glued to the guitars on displays of local music stores, because when he unwrapped the paper of his present and opened the box, he found the most amazing guitar he had ever laid his eyes on. He remembers hugging them tightly to make sure they knew how grateful he was. And finally, he remembers proudly showing it to his friends and how they've made plans to play a song for Cassidy's birthday before the animatronics came out as the main atrraction. He had a clear vision of pulling the strings and getting lost in the melody he and his friends created together. And he liked that vision.
Now, it all faded away and the only thing he had left was the broken dream splayed out before him.
-
Gabriel reached the bathroom door, raised his hand, hesitated for a moment, and knocked.
"Jeremy? It's me. May I come in?"
There was no answer. He gently pushed the door open, and found his friend slumped on the bathroom floor. For a moment he just stood there, wondering whether Jeremy had even acknowledged his presence. Then, he cleared his throat and attempted
"They're really sorry, y'know..."
No response came.
"Maybe we can still fix it...?"
Silence.
Feeling the ball in his throat rise farther and farther up, he tried once more
"Surely there must be something-"
"Busted..." came a strained whisper.
Gabriel blinked.
"Wha... what?"
"It’s busted! Completely busted!" Jeremy's voice escalated into a shout. Although it sounded more like a whine, probably due to the crying. Gabriel took a step back. He should know what to do. Why didn't he know what to do?
His friend's shoulders slumped again, and his voice returned back to his normal octave when he said
"... How are we going to play our song now?"
Gabriel opened his mouth, but no words came out. The only thing he knew was that he could give up, there had to be something they could do, the just had to be...
...something
...anything-
And just then, an idea popped into his head.
"...Do you think we can still save at least some of the cupcakes?" Susie said as she finished drying her face with a paper towel.
"Dunno, you should've been more careful" Fritz muttered, leaning on the sink.
The girl turned to him, a frown on her face.
"I wouldn't have bumped into them if you hadn't push me!"
"Don't go acting like it's all my fault-"
They stopped when they heard rushed footsteps from behind the bathroom door. They hurried to open it.
"Gabe! What did- what did Jeremy say?" Susie asked nervously.
Gabriel didn't seem to hear her though, because he didn't even turn around and only continued his trekk to the main stage. Fritz and Susie looked at each other, bewildered, before wordlessly following their friend. They stopped at once however, when they realized where exactly Gabriel was headed.
"Hey! We're not allowed in the backstage, remember?" Fritz cautioned, because as much as he hated to admit it, he wasn't really as brave of a pirate as he wanted to be. Not yet, at least.
"Y-yeah, someone might catch us!" Susie uttered.
Gabriel sighed.
"Alright, listen, I'm doing this for Jeremy, okay? It will only take a minute."
And, despide further protests from his friends, he entered the backstage. For a moment he just stood there, absolutely astounded. The animatronics were even more impressive from up close. He smiled when he saw Freddy's hat, and raised his hand to touch the one on his own head. As much as he would want to stay and admire the robots a little longer, he needed to focus.
He quickly scanned the room until his eyes landed on the thing he came here to get.
-
Susie hovered around the backstage entrance, pacing around and mumbling incoherently.
"Would you stop muttering? It's annoying!" Fritz snapped.
The girl raised her head, eyes wide open
"I'm just afraid we're gonna get busted! Aren't you?" she asked.
"Pff, of course I'm not!" the boy retorted, not willing to admit he was just as scared as she was. Susie didn’t seem to believe his show of bravado, and opened her mouth to voice her disbelief, but the door behind them opened right that moment.
Both of their jaws hanged open when they saw what Gabriel was holding.
"Wait, is that...?"
Jeremy looked at himself in the mirror. His face was red, his eyes swollen, tear streaks staining his cheeks. God, he looked awful. He was mad too, but it wasn't his friends that his anger was directed at. He was angry at himself. He shouldn't have left his guitar unsupervised.
They should probably talk this out. Yes, that seemed like the most rational thing to do. He splashed some water on his face to make himself look presentable and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down before facing the others.
-
Gabriel was back in front of the bathroom door. This time though, his friends were right behind him. Fritz still looked skeptical though, as he asked
"Are ya a hundred percent sure this is a good idea?”
His friend only gave him a side-eyed glance and reached for the doorknob.
-
Just as he kneeled back down to pick up his broken instrument, another thought came to Jeremy's mind.
How was he going to explain this to his parents? Gosh, they're going to be so mad...
Tears welled up in his eyes again when he imagined the dissapointment on his mom and dad's faces.
The door creaked open, but he didn't feel like turning around.
-
All three entered slowly, finding their friend on the floor with his back turned to them. Despite the other two still being hesitant, Gabriel stepped forward and tapped his friend's shoulder.
"Hey, Jer?"
The boy only grunted in response, turning his head hesitantly. His eyes opened wide as he gasped at the sight before him.
His friend smiled reassuringly.
"I'm sure Bonnie won't mind if you borrow this for a short while" he said as he handed Jeremy the shiny red guitar he'd snatched from the backstage. The boy carefully took it in his trembling hands, as if he was afraid he might damage it in any way.
"B-but I... I can't accept it..." he said after a few seconds.
Fritz stepped forward
"Oh, come on! My man Gabe risked getting caught by the grown ups to get it for you!" he cut in and snaked his arm over Gabriel's shoulders.
Jeremy looked at them, and then back at the instrument he was holding.
If his friends had gone so far just to make him happy, then it surely would be okay if he accepted-
His thoughts were interrupted by Susie's cries
"Jer, I'm so sorry! Please forgive me! Gosh, I'm so very sorry!"
All three of them looked at her, shocked by this sudden outburst.
"Hey! I thought you were done crying!" Fritz bellowed, but his face softened and he added, much calmer 'But, yeah, I'm sorry too, and we'll... we'll make it up to you!"
Jeremy looked between the both of them and smiled.
Maybe it will be okay
Maybe his parents will understand
Maybe he can let himself be happy in this moment and worry about it later
So when Gabriel looked out the door and annouced that Cassidy has arrived, and his friends looked at him to make sure he's okay, he smiled and said
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go play our song!"