Work Text:
Lifting up a large box of spare metal parts, bolts and who knows what else onto the shelf you immediately took a step back to catch your breath. It felt like you were doing constant workout sessions with the amount you were hauling about in Parts & Services, and your aching back and legs did their utmost to remind you of that. Standard stuff for your first hour in your shift, much to your chagrin.
“For crying out loud….at least get rid of half this junk if you don’t need it…” You muttered to yourself, rubbing the itch out of your nose with the back of your hand.
You were a junior maintenance worker and technician hybrid working at the ever so famous Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex. Since the building was probably the size of an entire state, it wasn’t the hardest to find multiple positions in all kinds of roles, with the pay being absolute trash to boot the more customer facing it was. You were just content with having a job that kept your hands busy, you had bills to pay and food to put on the table, you didn’t have the privilege to be fussy. Wiping your hands on your already messed up utility pants, you headed back through the comically large red doors to check on what else needed clearing up and sorting. You had been tasked this afternoon to tackle the ever growing piles of nuts and bolts from past maintenance on the main stars and staff bots, including utterly decimated metal gates and broken parts brought in from the entire Pizzaplex, but most notably from Monty Golf.
Moving to a large pile of entangled metal who-knows-what, you hauled up a trashed up fence through, whipping your head to get your fringe out of your eyes as you dumped it with the others, making sure to sort it for disposal. This was probably the 10th one in the last week alone, and you did voice your mild concerns about it to upper management only to be dismissed immediately. Monty was a real pain in the neck sometimes.
The Glamrock animatronics were fascinating, but came with a truckload of issues from their ‘quirky’ personality chips, which then translated into behavioural issues that you had a hard time comprehending sometimes. Strings of code written by humans were somehow able to bring these characters to life in ways that stepped right into uncanny valley territory, the results of which you were in the middle of cleaning up. You had never actively worked on them since you did not have the adequate training or clearance to, but you had interacted with all of them on a fairly consistent basis when they had to come downstairs to Parts and Service after every show. It was actually kind of funny, as the other technicians thought you were a little…too okay with being around them, and warned you that since you didn’t have to deal with actually fixing them to not let your guard down.
Roxy had a big sister kind of charm to her, but clearly had some self-esteem issues bubbling under the surface which was concerning, Chica was sometimes too chipper for her own good, you had to wrestle away trash cans from her a few times when she was in Parts and Services, telling her off like you were an overprotective parent. Monty was very enthusiastic about only playing golf and didn’t seem content with his current position in the band, you didn’t know much else as you admittedly were intimidated by his gruffness, so you never spoke much.
The main star himself, Freddy, was…a different thing altogether. You spoke to him the most out of the four, and despite him knowing your name he later started opting with nicknames instead, which was probably a programmed feature but you could care less.
You loved it.
***
“Okay, trashed fences here, bolts over here aaand….” You muttered out, looking at the neatly sorted array of metal in front of you, heading to a small old computer near the wall to detail the salvage. Just as you had closed the clunky old application, you heard the sounds of distant hurried footsteps approaching the inner hall of Parts and Service, turning to see another fellow junior technician walk in briskly.
“There you are...that’s a damn relief.” He gave a heavy sigh and took his cap off to wipe the sweat from his forehead. You had only briefly worked with him a few times since he usually worked up top in the main Atrium, but checked his name tag to be sure which read as ‘Vito’.
“Afternoon Vito, everything all good? Did a kid end up getting stuck on the catwalks again…?” You asked with a light raised brow. You somehow were always the one to go to when it came to rescuing kids attempting to 'parkour' on these outrageous attractions, so you were ready to grab the large set of keys and your badge you kept to the side to enter Monty Golf from the utility tunnels.
“No, no…not this time at least. I don’t know how the hell it happened, but Freddy is stuck in the damn freezer.”
You blinked.
“I’m….sorry? He’s stuck? In the freezer?” You repeated the last part to be extra sure. Why wasn’t anyone trying to get him out?!
“The last party had an ice cream cake made for the customer, and I guess whoever the hell was scheduled to deal with Freddy forgot to go back and thaw the rest of him out since Chica went absolutely nuts when the Monty Mix got involved, you know how she is…” Vito went on to explain, looking very distressed himself and tuckered out from all the running you imagine he had to do. You mentally told your rushing thoughts to cool it before responding.
“Why come all the way to me to get him out? Not that it’s a problem, but aren’t the senior techs about as they have the clearance to do this? Like Martin or Cleo? How long has he been in there?” You asked, the concern beginning to edge more in your voice.
“The doors are totally screwed, I guess they were in such a hurry it wasn’t closed up properly and messed something up, and I don’t know to either of those questions. I just got in and did the usual rounds and couldn’t find Freddy, some detective work later I came down here since you’re honestly better at dismantling everything in this kiddy hellhole than I am.”
Giving a heavy sigh, you got up to grab your badge to head in the opposite direction of the utility tunnels, “Alright, let me grab his Handy Field Repair Manual and my tools, I’ll message you as soon as we’re in the clear.” Vito gave a quick salute as you walked past, heading further into Parts & Service to grab what you needed as you made your way out. Clearance be damned, it seemed that nobody was available to do this except for you. You hurried along as fast as you could despite the aches and pains from hauling the fences from earlier, which others could maybe mistake as you being ever so diligent at your job, but you knew what the real reason was deep down. You had a big, big, soft spot for Freddy.
Making your way through the kitchens, you headed to Cold Storage and looked for the set of doors that looked out of place. Fetching your thick insulated gloves, you spotted it further down the hall, the locks and bolts meant to keep it sealed looking very much broken. There already were a few ‘Keep Clear’ bots set up around the parameter, and you headed through to dismantle the broken lock to get in.
You thankfully had whipped on your thicker fleece prior because damn, it was cold. Lugging your toolbag and manual in, you searched for Freddy, calling out to him.
“Freddy!? Are you there? Please tell me you are in here…”
Crossing the threshold, you spotted a pair of white LED eyes in your peripheral and whipped around, seeing the big bear himself stuck in an odd position, his arms on a metal table which shelved other foodstuffs. His chest cavity had also been left open, corroborating Vito’s explanation prior.
“Freddy…! Oh for goodness sake, you’re frozen solid.” A small part of you wanted to just laugh at the absolute absurdity of the situation despite your concerns from earlier, but you held it in for now. There were literal blocks of ice at the joints of his arms, including on the sides of his head and knees. How long was he left in here and how did nobody notice…?
“Starlet! I am so glad to hear your voice, what a relief…I believed I was going to be kept here overnight…” His voice box spoke up, bottom jaw frozen solid preventing him from moving his mouth to talk. His ears were still somehow able to wiggle slightly though much to your amazement, did he have tiny heaters in there?
The familiar nickname immediately made you warm up despite being in an industrial freezer, but you only sighed in slight frustration and annoyance. Whoever was meant to help Freddy with this dumb icecream cake was going to get a scolding later for sure. “Unfortunately, my ocular fluids have crystallised…I am unable to process your appearance at the moment, starlet.” He spoke up again, and you could tell he was attempting to move by the odd movements he was making but to no avail.
“Hold your horses Freddy, you’re literally stuck…let me get you out of here, hang on.” You whipped out the repair manual to check which parts you absolutely shouldn’t blast hot air on, and got to work with the little toy heater. “Let me at least make sure you can see again and move your head a bit…” You carefully began to warm the back of his head and sides so that his eyes were functioning again, and the base of his neck.
Moving back around to face him, you immediately smiled and sighed with relief to see him blinking normally and moving his head around. His eyes made contact with yours and his lower eyelids lifted, breaking out into a bright smile, “Starlet! That is so much better now, thank you. This is…quite embarrassing, but I did not want to stress out the technician as the party for little Charlotte was getting further delayed, I believe they had other…issues to attend to. I apologise for the inconvenience this has caused you, as you have been extremely busy in Parts and Services recently…”
You started to work on his arms first, gently holding them as you thawed out the ice with the ridiculous looking toy heater, “Freddy, you have nothing to apologise to me for. The one who should be apologising is whoever left you stuck in here for who knows how long…”
“It has been approximately three hours and thirty-six minutes since I have entered Cold Storage, if that helps…”
“No it does not, Freddy.” You huffed, stopping briefly to look him straight in the eyes. He needed hourly recharges didn’t he? It must be backup power for now, which alarmed you even more. Your brows furrowed slightly as you began to tell yourself to get a grip, this really shouldn’t bother you so much, he is a machine, this isn’t going to kill him. Sure, he was probably going to malfunction pretty badly if left any longer, but he could be repaired.
Right?
That still didn’t stop the burning irritation in your chest, and letting steam off like this wasn't the right way to go about it.
Freddy frowned, eyeing you carefully as you went back to continue, “Starlet…”
“I’m really sorry Freddy, I...I didn’t mean to raise my voice at you. I’m just…annoyed. You shouldn’t have been left in here like this, full stop.” You began. “Who the hell-”
“Language, Starlet.”
“I didn’t swear, silly bear.” You pouted and stuck your tongue out playfully to ease the mood, Freddy’s expression relaxing a bit. He tilted his head when you carried on, watching your expression soften slightly, "I understand your exasperation, it has...not been very comfortable for me, so I am very grateful that you chose to come and help me instead of waiting for a senior technician to do this..."
Looking up briefly you gave a smile and thanked him, one arm was now done and you watched him flex it out, wiggling his fingers to test the joints. Working on his other arm, he relaxed his free one in front of you, watching you work with a calm expression (or as calm as his face would allow). You then went to help close his chest cavity, warming up the joints and allowing him to shut it himself which showed that he was at least capable of doing that.
There was a comfortable silence settling between you as you continued working, your warm breaths billowing out into mist in front of you. You felt your nose, ears and cheeks going cold, they were numb at this point. “Alright, both arms done, I’ll sort your legs out and we can get out of here. I’ll need to fix the locks though so don’t wait on me, okay?”
Freddy seemed a bit apprehensive but nodded lightly, you slowly sat down and warmed up the backs of his legs where his knees were, pulling off the chunks of ice that began to slide off and towelling the wet parts down with a spare clean rag from your toolbag. Thankfully his legs didn’t contain anywhere near as much wiring as the important bits were protected. The aches from before were starting to intensify, the cold not doing you any favours. Standing up slowly you hold your back to steady yourself, “There we go, does anything feel wrong or out of place?”
Freddy was mostly silent, eyeing your slant posture and moving carefully to support your back, “I am very much fine starlet, thanks to you. Are you alright? You seem to be in pain.”
You suddenly found the corner of a cabinet near the exit doors very interesting to look at, avoiding Freddy’s concerned stare, “I’m good, nothing a painkiller or two can’t sort out. Just picked up a lot of fences today…” You trailed off, not wanting to complain about Monty in front of Freddy. He cared a lot about his friends, and even if one of them was a pain it didn’t feel right to say it in front of him.
Freddy sighed and moved to your shoulder, “Forgive me for being intrusive, but please allow me to carry you out.” The tone of his voice indicated that he wasn’t going to budge on this, the large animatronic swiftly looping your toolbag through his arm as he went to carry you out princess-style, earning a slightly surprised noise from you at his sudden boldness.
“You clearly weren’t going to take no for an answer, were you…” You shot back at him, narrowing your eyes somewhat playfully. He winked as he hoisted you up with ease, it was like you weighed absolutely nothing.
“Unfortunately for you, starlet, I will not be.” You rolled your eyes and settled in, eyes moving to the blue lightning bolt on his chest and watching the sparkles on it through the dimly lit freezer.
His loud footsteps echoed throughout as you both exited Cold Storage, and he gently let you down to allow you to attempt to replace the broken latch with a placeholder until better parts were ordered in. Freddy seemed inclined to stick around despite you telling him not to, which wasn’t a surprise.
“These things are supposed to be unbreakable, honestly, colour me surprised…” You muttered under your breath, breaking out into a shiver as the room was warmer and your body adjusted to the heat. You suddenly felt a large hand (paw?) rub at your back and you couldn’t hide your smile. This bear, honestly…
“Thank you Freddy.” You turned to smile up at him, and he reciprocated in return, ears perking up. His baby blues then moved to the latch you were finishing up, “How is it looking? It seems to be a suitable replacement, for now that is…”
“It will do, I just need to make an order request for a new latch and report the damage, then it’s back to the rest of the fences…” You mentally swore this time to avoid another scolding. Damn you, Monty. A part of you wanted to beat his legs in with his golf clubs.
“If…I may.” Freddy began, seeming unsure and wary of your potential response. You knew he had a habit of constantly wanting to help, despite always attempting to self-repair much to the behest of the senior technicians who worked on the main stars. “It is getting late, and I imagine two extra hands….or paws…are better than none.” He stopped and waited for your response eagerly, looking like a golden retriever waiting for head pats. You couldn’t help but laugh this time at him calling his hands his ‘paws’, rubbing your arms to warm yourself up again, “Don’t you need to recharge? You’ve been stuck in there for a few hours, I don’t want you collapsing on me and having Moon tell me off.”
He seemed to consider what you said, looking up in thought (the fact that he was probably capable of thinking scared you slightly) and perked up again, “If I remember correctly, you have charging cables in Parts and Services, you can simply use those instead.”
Freddy clearly had no intentions of wanting to leave you this time, and you gave an exaggerated and playful sigh, picking up your tool bag and standing up slowly again, “Looks like you’re on fence lifting duty, Fredbear.”
He chuckled gently and placed his hand on your shoulder, one brow raised up, “It is no sweat off my back…not that I, well, can sweat…you understood what I meant.” His eyes drifted to the side sheepishly as he finished his sentence and you snorted, shaking your head at him and patting his large hand on your shoulder. It was times like this where you really enjoyed your job more, it was a slight shame you weren’t knowledgeable enough to work on the main stars yet ...maybe that was going to be your next milestone.
You reached up to gently press on his nose, enough to not set off the squeaker on it despite the urge to flaring up, “Then let’s get moving, I don’t want Vito waiting all night on us.” Freddy nodded and you both left Cold Storage together, rambling about your day and his day (despite most of it being spent in an industrial freezer), him being the gentleman and carrying your tool bag and manual. You promptly messaged Vito through your Fazwatch to let him know he was free to go, since you were bringing Freddy down with you for a quick 'check-up'.
It had dawned on you that it was your first time actually sort of ‘working’ (or defrosting) on a Glamrock animatronic, and it was a total accident at that. As Freddy continued talking, you watched him with a hopeful look in your eyes, wishing this wouldn’t be the last time you spent time with him like this.