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"Glad you're doing better. I was worried after you stormed off like that. Seriously, I thought I might've just yeeted that lady for what she said to you!" Roxy grumbled as she focused very hard on the paintjob she was doing on Monty's claws. A nice shiny gold color. It was a little 'extra' in her opinion, but the bassist insisted on gold and nothing less.
"Yeah… just… It was a lot… You probably already know by now, but Bonnie was… really important to me. I tried to keep it under wraps because of 'Muh Image'. God, saying that now makes me wanna cringe!"
"I'm already cringing."
"Hey, I was crying earlier, so you can't make fun of me! It's against the law!"
Roxy snickered at that, looking up at him with a grin. She tried to not eye his face too hard, despite his lack of glasses. He couldn't really wear them until the scratches were buffed out.
God… I'll never get used to seeing him without his shades. Seriously, his eyes are so freaking pink!
"I'm very… flattered? Humbled? Whatever. I'm glad you told me about it. Didn't think you'd trust me that much."
"Eh! Ain't a big deal. Plus… I don't think any excuse I could have made up woulda had ya fooled!"
"True! True. But couldn't you have cried faster? I had to watch those kids for like 2 hours or something! They have no idea what personal space is!"
"They're just li'l scamps! They don't know better! Especially after having someone as hug-friendly as Sun take care of them."
"Hmf! Whatever. Anyways, wanna continue with the sad stuff or the sappy stuff? Because I'm dying to hear about the Sunny scoop!"
"Ohohoho! I'm done with cryin' today! Time to dump all my repressed homosexuality on ya!"
"Repressed? Since when???"
"Oh shuddup!"
"I could have sworn you were bi!"
"Hmm… not sure myself. Guess girls are cool. But have ya seen those transformer guys? WOOF!"
"Gross!"
"Anyways! Sunny is fucking incredible. He has really gotten more confident and… that's kinda hot. I love his soft side, don't get me wrong! But fuuuuck man! Him sassing people… I just can't deal!"
"Ooooooh! You're thaaaath type of-"
"Don't make it weird, freak."
Roxy shrugged and returned to painting.
"But he just… he says stuff that I never thought I'd get to hear! He called me smart! Brilliant even! He said he was proud of me! I-I-I… I just want to kiss him so bad! But these ASSHOLES didn't bother givin' me LIPS!!!"
"Geez. Calm down. You'll mess up the polish. If you really wanna do something romantic like that, just nuzzle faces or something!"
Monty shut up real quick and started heating up, picturing himself doing that with him. He groaned loudly and covered his face with his free hand.
"Heh! Or you could nibble on him! Bet that would have him steaming like mad!"
Monty growled and turned away in shame, not able to even face her after she put that into his head.
"OH MAH GAWD! STOP IT!"
That made her burst out laughing at his sudden increase in accent. She accidentally smeared some nail polish on his finger, but couldn't care while in her little fit. He glared at her and let out a low growl. She was starting to get on his nerves.
"... I ain't interested in hearing about yer fantasies with Chica!"
Roxy stopped laughing and looked over at him surprised, getting quite warm herself. He chuckled triumphantly at successfully shutting her up, putting his hands on his hips.
"... At least I don't look like I just came out of a steamy arts and crafts session with Sun."
Monty looked at her confused before realizing his claws weren't dry yet, looking down and seeing golden stains, not unlike fingerprints on him. It looked kinda like someone grabbed him by the hips. His fans loudly turned on and he glared at Roxy as she tried to contain another laugh.
"... Well I ain't gonna be the only one who gets dirty!" He shouted and lunged at her, knocking her to the floor with a large bottle of nail polish flying into the air. The gator was quick to put his dirty paws on her neck, leaving a print there too.
She barked angrily as she demanded him to get off her. But before either one knew it, they were both splattered with more gold paint from the falling polish. Roxy gasped as she shoved Monty off and looked in the mirror, discovering her beautiful hair was ruined by the accident.
"MY HAIR!!! MY BEAUTIFUL HAIR!!!"
Monty stood up nervously, knowing he had majorly messed up this time. He tapped his claws together and muttered, "... Hey… a-at least ya… got to try some new highlights!"
The wolf very quickly snapped around to him with a lipstick in her paws, swiping it over his face before he could react. He looked at the mirror, inspecting the smear for a second. She seemed very proud of herself.
"Oh… so that's how we're doing this?" He grumbled before grabbing a container of face glitter and dumping the contents all over her chest. Though he seemed to be caught in the glitter explosion, as his arms were completely covered in blue.
Roxy grabbed a bottle of perfume and sprayed it at him, making him stumble backwards from the sudden assault on his olfactory receptors.
"Hello Roxy! I came to check if y-" the door to her room suddenly opened, Freddy standing in the open doorway. Then he quickly stopped in his tracks and stared in shock at the two messy animatronics, staring like they had been caught in the middle of a crime. Neither one spoke.
And neither did Freddy as he looked between them, clearly trying to formulate a response to this ridiculous situation.
"Aaaaah… Ahem ! I see… you two have been a little busy. But I'm uh… glad to see everything is… back to normal at least…"
Monty was very quick to put away the container he was holding and try to brush himself off, feeling ashamed for making such a mess of himself. Especially now that Freddy saw him.
"Y-yeah… we… just had a little accident…"
"Anyways, Fredrik. What do you want?"
Monty snorted at Roxy's unnecessarily formal name for him.
"Um… just Freddy, please. And I… wanted to talk to Monty actually. Didn't know he'd be here."
That had the reptile tense and tighten his fists, a sudden feeling of dread taking over as he heard that.
Great! Another one of papa bear's talks! It's just going to be another lecture or his uncomfortable attempts at being friendly. Can't he just accept that he's not going to win me over to the Freddy fanclub?
"Oh sure! He's all yours, Freddy! Please take him off my hands before he ruins my room anymore!" Roxy said in a light-hearted tone, patting Monty on the back and shoving him over to the bear.
Monty looked back at her in betrayal, unable to believe she'd do this to him. She gave a sarcastic thumbs up before going back over to her vanity.
"I'm sorry, Monty. But… this is important. Let's go to my room and talk."
He really didn't want to. He wanted to just… do literally anything else than that. But if he didn't, Freddy would get all mopey and make Chica upset at the gator for hurting his feelings. He'd like to avoid that more, so he gave in and just followed along.
*~*~*
"A'right. What is it this time? Lecture or heart-to-heart? Either way, make it quick" Monty groaned after cleaning himself off. He put his feet up on Freddy's table, making the singer give them an uncomfortable sneer before sitting down across from him.
"I wanted to discuss what happened earlier today. I'll… try to be brief about it" he sighed and hunched over, leaning on his knees while keeping his eyes on the floor.
Monty didn't respond, he just let his gaze wander while he waited for the talk to be over.
"I… I had no idea that Bonnie's decompositioning was the subject of a rumor. Especially… not one involving you."
That had the reptile snap his attention back to Freddy, immediately feeling a surge of rage run through his wires. He never ever wanted to hear that name coming out of his mouth. At least not around him.
"Well maybe because you are an oblivious fuck! Ever thought of that?!"
Freddy immediately recoiled, startled by the sudden aggression. He looked like he wanted to tell him off for swearing, but quickly quelled that urge.
"... … I… will admit, I have not stayed as informed as I thought I was. In fact… I feel like I have been completely kept out of any and all inside issues and drama. I've learnt so much recently that has changed my perspective. I didn't know the daycare attendant has been facing so much mistreatment from staff or about their anxiety-"
"SUN'S ANXIETY!!! Are you fucking kidding me?! You're STILL not going to use their names?!"
The bear looked mortified, as if he just realized his mistake. He fumbled over his words to try and correct himself.
"I-I-I-I'm so very sorry!!! That was an accident! I didn't -"
"It wasn't an accident! That was you slipping back into your usual ignorant bullshit! You're just sooooo used to seeing them as the same person that you never bothered to understand what makes them different!"
"... … … … … Sigh… you're right. I have been so very ignorant of those two. I always thought Sun was a happy, carefree bundle of joy that I never noticed his debilitating anxiety. Neither did I notice Moon's ostracization."
"... M-Moon's what?"
Freddy looked up and saw Monty's face shift into dawning fear. He suddenly realized that that was exactly what had been happening to Moon. All he could think was, god I'm such a fucking moron.
"H-Hey… don't feel bad. I only learnt about it recently too."
"Then you should feel bad too!"
"N-n-no! I didn't- what I meant was that you shouldn't beat yourself up over it. Feeling guilty is natural, I'm feeling guilty too. But being angry at yourself won't solve anything."
Then he looked down again, holding his hands in his lap and steadily growing more nervous. Monty decided that, just once, he'll cut him some slack. He leaned back in his seat and waited for him to continue.
"A-anyways… I didn't want to talk about that… I wanted to talk about Bonnie."
"Oh yeah? What do you want to say about him? What could you possibly say that I would give a shit about?"
"... … …"
Freddy didn't say anything. He could clearly see his mouth moving, but there wasn't a single sound coming out. He stared for a moment, not sure what was happening to him.
"... I'm so sorry. I-I-I need a moment…" he mumbled softly and turned away from him, putting a hand to his face while he seemed to be trying to compose himself.
"... Are… are you cryin'?" Monty asked nervously, leaning over in an attempt to get a better look at him.
"It's just… talking about Bonnie is always so hard…"
Suddenly, Monty felt something beyond a gut punch. He felt like he had been hit by a train from the realization. He never once considered that Bonnie could have been a sensitive subject to Freddy. They had been friends too after all, so it wasn't too far-fetched.
"I'm… you don't… need to talk about him if you're…"
"No. No. I want to. I need to. I just… he was such a wonderful friend and asset to the team. I miss him a lot. But… you must be hurting a lot more right now. I couldn't imagine being blamed for… ugh…" once again, he had to cover his face to calm down.
"Hey… maybe you should just take a moment of alone time. I can come back later!"
"Please! Just… listen to me this one time. Please."
"... F-fine… whatever. But if you say anything dumb again, I'm leaving."
Freddy nodded and waited a second before continuing.
"I'm… going to skip to the point. I know you don't like stalling. When Bonnie was still around, we would hang out a lot. We'd talk a lot. And… sometimes… he'd talk about you."
" M-M-ME?!? "
"Yes. I… was a little iffy on you when you were introduced. You seemed like… a rotten egg, to put it bluntly."
"Just call me an asshole, Fredbear."
"... Yes. That. But when I'd tell him about that, he'd tell me I got it all completely wrong! He'd say…
'Oh Fredster! You fell for his bad boy schtick, didn't ya? No no no! You've been bamboozled, my friend! He may seem like a cold-blooded lizard, but he's really not! Beneath all that tough guy persona is just a guy who wants… someone to understand him. He wants someone who will treat him with respect, like a friend. He got anger issues, sure! But I can tell Montgomery got a heart of… gold might be a little generous. Let's say silver!'."
Monty stared in silence at him as he talked. He couldn't help but feel a chuckle threatening to escape. That sounded just like something Bonnie would say.
"He'd tell me that you were kind of sweet when you wanted to be. You cared about the kids more than you let on. You were very passionate about golf. You were self-conscious about your eyes, so you'd never take off your sunglasses, though that one was more speculation on his part. He made you sound like a… standoffish, yet caring and passionate person."
Now it was Monty's turn to try and hold back a sob. He never knew Bonnie talked about him to anyone at all. He thought it would have been something he wouldn't have paraded around so proudly. He really did see him as a friend and was not ashamed to show it. It made everything hurt all over again.
"... That's… why I have tried so hard to get close with you. Bonnie was my closest friend. I cared about him so much. If… if he liked you that much then… you just couldn't be a bad guy. He always spoke his mind! Said whatever he was thinking! I… I trust his judgment. And… since I wasn't the only one who lost him… I figured you'd be devastated about it too. I just… thought we might be able to connect and… keep his memory alive. And… I have to admit that my intentions were somewhat selfish too. I really needed a friend at the time and I just really wanted to get to know you."
Ok. Yeah. There was no way Monty could fight it anymore. He would cry whether he wanted to or not. He just cursed the fact that Freddy would have to see it.
He leaned down into his lap and covered his face with shaky hands, getting some residual glitter on his face. And he cried. He wept into his palms as his tail wrapped around his legs tightly.
Freddy looked at him in concern, not sure what he should say or do. He didn't want to make him uncomfortable by trying to comfort him, since he wasn't very keen on the bear being friendly with him. But he couldn't just sit there and do nothing.
He stood up and walked over, sitting down beside him on the couch and looking at him empathetically.
"Monty… is there… anything I can do…?"
"I'm such an idiot. I'm an asshole. Why do you even bother?"
"No! Nonono! That's not true! Come here." Freddy's instincts kicked in and overwrote his previous doubts. He leaned down and gave him a hug, pulling him in against his shoulder.
"I bother because I want to. And because you really do seem like someone who would be a good friend. You didn't deserve what people said about you. They d-don't know you. Th-th-they don't… they're wrong! If he was here, he would have given everyone a piece of his mind personally!"
Great! Now Freddy was crying too! Perfect! This couldn't have gone any worse! And to add to the shit-show, Monty just couldn't find the power or energy to pull away from the hug. He just felt so weak, useless and pathetic. He shouldn't let that dumb bear act all concerned, like he really cared! He shouldn't be affected by his dumb words so much!
But he let it all happen. He did nothing to stop it. He hated how much he felt better from the stupid arms around him. How much he appreciated that he was openly crying too. He hated it so much!
"... I'm sorry for being so forceful. I'm sorry for… not being the type of person you wanted me to be in order to be your friend."
"J-ju-just-t st-t-top tr-rying so hard! Just b-be genuine! St-stop trying to i-impress m-m-me!"
"... I'm so sorry…"
Neither had anything else to say. They couldn't think of anything. They could only sit there and cry, Freddy holding Monty close and Monty sobbing uncontrollably into his hands.
*~*~*
"... … …"
'... … … I… had no idea. That's… so sad. Poor Freddy.'
'Yes. I feel the same. I've always thought Monty was being rude to him, but I never knew there was something like this beneath the surface.'
'... I… I don't know what to do, Moony. This is a lot to take in!'
'Don't worry, Sundrop. The only thing you need to do is be there for Monty. If you're worried about Freddy then you could speak to him too. But… you don't have to worry about that, because I was already planning on doing so.'
'R-r-really??? You always get so uncomfortable with these heavy subjects. At least with anyone but me. You're sure you want to do that?'
'Honestly… I feel as though I'm the real shut-in out of us two. I could use some friends.'
'AAAAW MOONY~! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!!!'
'You say that all the time…'
'I mean it all the time!'
'Heh. Sure.'
Moon then quickly moved along away from Freddy's room, continuing on his patrol.