Chapter Text
The first location Fazbear Entertainment had opened was Fredbear’s Family Diner in Hurricane, Utah in 1973. From that moment on, what was originally just a quaint diner with two anthropomorphic mascots and a full menu had evolved into a pizzeria with animatronic mascots that were now able to stand on their own. By the year 1986, over twenty-three locations opened up across the country, including one in Hawkins, Indiana.
Nancy Wheeler was late to work. She was going to beat herself up about this the entire day. She was never late, she had even gotten employee of the month for the past three months in a row. She fixed her hair, looking at herself in the rear view mirror before standing up and slamming the door to her car shut. She shrugs on the tawdry vest she and her coworkers were meant to wear before running up to the restaurant, catching herself in the reflection of the glass door. The vest is a painfully glittered number with black lining and big black buttons, her name tag is the most pleasant part of her uniform. She pushed the door open with a delightful ring of the bell above her head.
“Finally, Jesus!” Said Nancy’s ex boyfriend and coworker, Steve Harrington. “There’s this family over there that’s been asking for a manager for the past twenty minutes.”
“Why didn’t you just get Gary?” Nancy asked, her brows furrowed.
“Well, that’s because Gary’s out of town, probably forever.” That was Robin Buckley, one of Nancy’s best friends, that also just so happened to be Steve’s best friend. “He split last night, left a note.”
“You have got to be kidding me. So who’s gonna run this place?”
“We took a vote, and it should be you.” Steve said. Nancy looked over his shoulder at the family sitting at the table right in front of the stage. The animatronics still were tucked away behind the curtains, that must’ve been what they were complaining about. Chrissy Cunningham was smiling kindly while the old woman at the table shouted profanities at her. Chrissy nodded and said something quickly before turning on her heel, the smile dropped as she approached her coworkers.
“I don’t usually say these kinds of things but I am seriously going to strangle those people.” She breathed, one hand on her hip and another on her forehead. Robin reached out and rubbed her back gently.
“I got this…” Eddie Munson, the only person who was at the pizzeria more than its actual owner, stood up from his seat by the window and was about to walk over when Steve put his hand on his chest.
Steve shook his head, “they’ll call the cops, man.”
“You want me to scare ‘em off for you, Wheeler?” Eddie asked, standing in the same place but literally bending backwards to look at her. Eddie was probably the best security guard any restaurant owner could ask for. Plus, he did maintenance on the animatronics, so that was an added bonus. Eddie Munson was the full package, as they say. “Say the words and I’ll do it.”
Nancy huffed, straightening her name tag and putting on her game face, “I’ll deal with it.”
She strode over to the table where three obnoxious children were jumping on chairs, two adults chewing and talking loudly, and the very old woman who scrunched her nose when Nancy approached them. She lifted her glasses up her nose and squinted, looking at Nancy’s name tag. She lifted a bony finger, “you aren’t the manager.”
Nancy ignored her comment and smiled kindly, “what seems to be the problem here?”
“I wanna talk to the manager!” The woman said, so loud as if she couldn’t hear her. Nancy blinked and took a step back, she took a deep breath and looked down at her watch.
“Oh, it seems that… As of right now… Eleven-twelve A.M. I have just been promoted to manager! So, what can I help you with?”
“I don’t like your attitude:”
“You’re welcome to leave, ma’am,” Nancy smiled kindly, tilting her head. She was good. She was really good. “And please, don’t forget a complimentary Fazbear Entertainment pin on your way out.”
The woman stood up, grumbling to everyone else at the table. The kids began to cry loudly, Nancy looked over into the kitchen, squinting to see Argyle Mendez and her boyfriend Jonathan Byers plugging their ears. The two of them worked together in the kitchen, which, at first glance, it might’ve been a bad idea to have two stoners working in the kitchen—but it actually made for fantastic treats. Eddie narrowed his eyes, watching the family as they left the restaurant, leaving the pizzeria vacant if not for the dumbfounded employees now unsure of how to spend their time.
“Wait, what do you mean you all took a vote? I don’t wanna be a manager.” Nancy said, crossing her arms.
“Dude, did you see how you handled those losers?” Argyle asked from the kitchen, his voice coming out a lot louder than he needed to be as he cupped his hands over his mouth to amplify his voice. She squinted at the sound, then he did it again. “Sorry!” He moved his hands away and spoke quietly, “sorry…”
“Unless we can find another manager you’re the best option.” Chrissy said, shrugging.
“Well what about you, Chris?” Nancy asked her.
Chrissy laughed, “I don’t have the nerves for that.”
Steve’s hands were on his hips, “so it’s settled. Nancy is the manager.”
“I don’t think it works like that, guys. Shouldn’t corporate be sending Gary’s replacement or something?” Nancy insisted.
“Corporate schmorporate,” Robin began, jumping off of the half wall in front of the entrance. “The owner of the company doesn’t even visit our location, I hear about him going to all the other ones but not ours.”
“That dude’s creepy.” Argyle said, now standing right next to Nancy. She jumped and looked up at him. “Sorry.”
“He is a revolutionary,” Eddie chimed in, his hands on his hips. When he realized that Steve was standing like that too, he dropped his hands, awkwardly shoving them into his pocket. “William Afton is one of today’s greatest minds.”
“Didn’t he kill a bunch of kids and stuff them into the animatronics? That’s what he—” Steve pointed at Argyle, “told me.”
Eddie scrunched his nose, “come on. If that were true, we wouldn’t even be working here. People just like to make rumors because he’s such a genius. I mean,” he walked towards the stage. “Have you even seen his work?”
He pulls the curtain open and everyone grimaces. Looming over Eddie’s shoulder is the star of the show, Freddy Fazbear. The animatronic must have not reset completely last night. It looked like he was reaching out, his jaw was posed in such a way that made it look like he was going to take a large chunk out of Eddie’s cranium. Eddie saw all their faces and furrowed his brows, looking up and jumping out of the way. “Jesus f—”
“Ew, why does he look like that?” Chrissy asked, holding onto Robin’s hand.
Eddie cleared his throat, shaking his arms out for a moment. “Probably forgot to reset him after last night’s show… Happens all the time.”
It didn’t happen all the time, in fact. The restaurant had been strange lately, there were just small things that felt out of place. This was one of the big things. Nancy watched with her brows knit together as Eddie shrugged his jacket off and climbed onto the stage, pulling a tool out of his back pocket and carefully unscrewing Freddy’s bow tie. Everyone went silent, almost as if something bad was gonna happen suddenly. Eddie reached into the spot where the bow tie used to be and screamed, as if his hand was being pulled into the animatronic, his other hand was on its chest plate as he was trying to get away from it.
Steve instantly ran up to him while Robin shouted, “call 911! Call 911!” Terrified high pitched screams were heard from the kitchen, Nancy went stiff.
Eddie’s screams turned into an evil laugh, he clicked a button and pulled his hand out of the animatronic with ease, it had returned to its beginner position with a high pitched shriek. Nancy sighed, her eyes falling closed. Chrissy had returned from the kitchen with a paper bag for Robin to breathe into. Eddie replaced the bow tie, snapping it into place and screwing it back on.
Steve pointed his finger in Eddie’s face, “you’re fucked up, man.”
“Thank you,” Eddie laughed, bowing down with his hands behind his back before jumping off of the stage.
It was usually quiet at this time. The kids didn’t get out of school for another four, maybe five, hours. There was the occasional parent-with-child, but they never stayed for longer than thirty minutes because of the way the animatronics looked. They scared kids… A lot. For whatever reason. Nancy never really understood why people found them scary. They were cute. Sure, they were a little bulky and enormous but they were charming. A bear, a chicken and a rabbit. There was a fox, but he wasn’t a part of the band. He had his own special section, Pirate’s Cove down in a dark corner of the arcade. Nancy’s favorite was the chicken. Chica was a big yellow bird with hollow eyes holding a cupcake on a plate that looked like it had come straight from the Uncanny Valley. Chica was the typical girl’s answer, but Nancy was just that. Average run of the mill twenty-two year old girl.
Every one of them wandered around, performing their daily duties and dragging along until the kids showed up. Nearing three o’clock, Eddie started up the band. He stood in front of the stage, pulling at his bottom lip as he watched the animatronics start up. He nodded, clearing his throat and turning to everyone standing around him. “They’re good to go. You sure you don’t want me to stick around in case anything happens?”
Nancy shook her head, smiling kindly. “It’s Tuesday, shouldn’t be too bad. Get some sleep, you still have to come back tonight for your actual shift.”
“Okay, boss lady. See you freaks later.” Eddie said before pushing the glass doors open and leaving the restaurant.
Robin was staring down, sitting at the table with her hands on her cheeks, “I think I’m traumatized.”
“Quit being dramatic.” Steve said, his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the table.
“Hey, be nice.” Chrissy frowned, rubbing Robin’s back gently.
This was all they did, waited around all day for the kids to show up. Or just any customers, really. The kids were the only people that actually used this place for what it was made for. Fun. As the clock struck three-thirty, that same group of kids flooded through the doors. Max Mayfield waved at all the employees before walking further into the restaurant. Steve pulled a chair from the table he was leaning against and placed it right in front of the stage, just where Max liked it. He sent her a smile before she quietly thanked him and sat down, she began speaking in a hushed tone, directly to the animatronics. Lucas Sinclair hesitated before joining Max, pulling a chair right beside her. He didn’t like to look directly at the animatronics, he focused on Max’s voice.
“Where’s Eddie?” Dustin Henderson frowned, his gaze shooting to every corner of the restaurant then back at the employees. “Did he leave already?”
“You just missed him,” Steve shrugged. “Guess you’re stuck with us.”
“Hey, Mike, don’t do that.” Nancy told her brother as he went to climb on the stage. He flipped her off and she stomped over, pulling him away from the stage. “I can actually stop you now because I’m the manager.”
“Bullshit.” Mike seethed.
“No, it’s true,” Jonathan said, bringing a slice of pizza to Lucas. “Should probably listen to her or you’ll get eaten by Foxy.”
Nancy smiled at Jonathan. Mike scoffed and ran around the pizzeria obnoxiously, touching everything in sight and knocking things off of tables and counters. Jane Byers—everyone called her ‘El’—sat at the table beside Robin and scribbled in her notepad, she showed it to Robin. It read ‘hello.’ Robin smiled, “Hey, El.”
Will Byers cowered in the corner, staring at the animatronics from afar. The very sight of them shook him to his core. He wished his brother didn’t work here. He wished his friends didn’t come here. He had nightmares, every night. Chills all over his body when Bonnie would turn his head—it looked as if his eyes were boring right into his heart. Knowing exactly what scared him. That’s what happened in his dreams—it was always Bonnie.
“Hey, you okay?” Jonathan’s voice broke Will out of his trance. Will’s eyes stopped focusing on the purple animatronic as he looked up at his brother, shivering ever so slightly. “Wanna come hang out in the kitchen?”
“Yeah…” Will said, looking at Bonnie one last time before following Jonathan into the kitchen. He still felt the robot’s eyes on him as he sat in the kitchen with Jonathan and Argyle. He always thought there was something living inside of them. There was something wrong with this place, he could feel it.