Chapter Text
As the last child walked out of the doors of the pizzeria, screaming and attempting to cling to the doorframe while his mother pulled him out with an exhausted expression, Freddy let out a long, heavy sigh. He remembered when he first started his job at the pizzeria, he was a wide-eyed, excited young adult with dreams of entertaining happy, young hearts as they cheered for him and looked upon him with adoration and respect. But he quickly learned this job was actual hell on earth.
In the last week alone, he had been used as a jungle gym by countless children, he had been thrown up on, he had been shoved into a ball pit, he had pizza smeared into his fur that took hours to get out, and he didn't even want to begin to think about 'those fans'....
His coworkers all seemed much happier with their jobs, but then again, they had better luck with the kids. Foxy could get the kids to be quiet and sit still for hours while he told them about his days at sea. Chica would dance with the kids until they got hungry and then they would all eat pizza together. Bonnie would play them songs, or do crafts with them. He was a good sport and would put up with anything the kids wanted to do. But Freddy on the other hand, was disrespected by the kids. They liked to bully him as if he was some sort of emotionless robot.
He dragged his feet along the floor as he walked to the break room, where he opened up the mini fridge and grabbed a beer. The fridge didn't work very well, so the beer was only a little cold, but it was better than nothing.
"I thought you were trying to quit," Foxy mumbled under his breath as he walked in and got changed out of his pirate costume. He was always getting on Freddy's case about something.
"I won't even think about it until I get a new job away from these kids," Freddy grumbled in response.
"You know the kids aren't all that bad, you just have to show them that you're someone worthy of their respect, all while acting like their equal."
"That's easy for you to say. You're playing the cool pirate character, of course the kids are going to respect you. All of you have a cool role and a backstory, and I've got nothing besides being the mascot."
Foxy sighed, "Do you think I got a little booklet telling me what stories to tell the kids? No. I make them up on my own. I put in the effort to make myself into a cool character"
Freddy shook his head. "I don't know, I'll think about it. You're right, there's got to be something about me that I can use to my advantage... Like maybe I could be an astronaut!"
Foxy laughed at this idea, "If you can make that work for you, I say go for it." He walked towards the door and was about to close it behind him. "Just remember, we're all in this together. I have my bad days, too. Try not to let the kids get to you. It's the parents you need to be scared of" He laughed as he shut the door, leaving Freddy alone with his thoughts.
He didn't have any good ideas, so he thought it would be best to look around the pizzeria for some inspiration. He figured it would be good if his new persona would tie into some stuff that already existed in the establishment.
After a good 20 minute search he found nothing except for more reasons to be miserable. All he found was children's art of Bonnie, Foxy, and Chica, reminding him of how unpopular he was. He was going to give up when he heard a small sound coming from a filing cabinet, along with the sound of... movement?
He debated whether or not to open it up, figuring it could just be a rat. But it didn't really sound like a rat.
He heard it again. A very muffled "Pikmin!" coming from inside the top drawer. He tried to open it up, but he quickly noticed that it seemed to require a key. He dug around in the drawer of the nearby desk until he found one, and tried it out. Miraculously, it worked. He opened up the drawer, only for whatever was inside it to go silent.
He put his hand inside and felt something move against it, so he grabbed it and pulled it out. It was a small blue creature, with a leaf coming off the top of it's head? But what was it? Freddy had never seen anything like this before, but maybe, just maybe, this creature would give him what he needed to gain some respect.