Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Oswald was not having the best day currently. First he got dropped off at Jeff’s pizza again, which normally would not be too much of an issue as Jeff is super chill and the pizza is ok; The problem is that he had spent practically all summer there since his dad worked out of town and his mom almost always was stuck with the night shift at the hospital. Second, he had decided to go into the ball pit that he had only found out existed because he overheard a family talking about tapeworms being in it. Truly not the brightest decision he could have made in the moment but the boredom had taken over and he was sick of just sitting around counting tiles all day. 

Upon finding the ball pit in the back room, covered in cobwebs and a layer of dust and a large wooden sign strapped to the front saying “Do not enter!”, he stupidly decided to ignore all the warnings and hopped in. He remembered falling farther than he thought was possible, only stopping when the quiet sound of Jeff’s mopping had changed to loud cheesy 80’s music. The dim, lifeless and frankly depressing restaurant had shifted into a bright, cheerful and lively kids restaurant. The pizza looked mildly better quality, there were more people in the restaurant than Oswald had ever seen populating Jeff’s at one time, and there were even cool mascots! 

“What could possibly go wrong with enjoying this cool place for a bit?” Oswald had thought to himself, deeply regretting it now. Oswald was now sitting in the dark behind a foreboding yellow bear suit, watching as a giant yellow bunny that looked like the fuzzy mascots in the dining room except full of nightmare fuel. The giant rabbit lumbered through the room, breathing heavily and eyes darting around rapidly like it was trying to find something. Oswald let out a terrified gasp when the.. thing had opened its mouth to reveal way too many sharp teeth; unfortunately those giant ears are very useful as they immediately swivel towards his direction, the creature’s eyes pinning him to the wall. He felt like how those rats that Jeff hunts feel when he swings his mop at them; scared and knowing that danger is right in his face. The rabbit approaches him, breath rattling and teeth gnashing as it leans over the suit, inspecting it deeply. Oswald holds his breath, trying desperately to stop himself from shaking or bolting out. After an agonizing thirty seconds the thing finally walked away, though it stared at him like it knew he was there but let him go anyway. 

Once it finally left, Oswald barely got a chance to sigh in relief and catch a breath before he jumped in shock hearing loud shrieking and the sound of people running in the other room. “Crap, that rabbit thing is probably terrorizing everybody now” he said aloud, clamoring out from behind the suit. He could have sworn he saw white lights in the suit's empty eye sockets staring at him, but when he whipped around to look again the suit was just as lifeless as it was when he first found it when playing hide and seek with Mike and Chip. Thinking of his new friends gave him a fresh wave of panic as he realized that the rabbit had gone in the direction the two boys had gone just a couple of minutes ago. With a newfound sense of urgency, Oswald quickly dashed through the storage room door and ran as fast as he could through the now deserted arcade, nearly tripping on a dropped pizza slice next to a machine glowing bright blue. As Oz rushed past, the screen flickered to show the text “You cannot stop this” in bright purple before shutting off. He had not seen the foreboding message, too preoccupied with saving his friends from a way too bloodthirsty looking rabbit.

Oz skidded into the entry room just in time to see a rush of kids and adults crashing through the front doors, parents pulling their children behind them with panicked looks in their eyes. Most sane kids would have gone with the adults, Oswald on the other hand could not be dissuaded from his goal of helping his friends. He pushed through the crowd, making his way towards the dining room door. As he passed the bear cutout though, a hand reached out and grabbed his arm, tugging him back. The boy that the hand belonged to looked the same age as Oswald, with slightly messy short brown hair and an orange shirt with a robot on it and a large gash in the center. His shorts looked like they had been clawed at by a bear or something, making Oswald think that the boy was probably attacked by the creature that stalked him earlier. The boy confirmed this theory by saying, “Do not try and stop the yellow rabbit, it does not listen to reason and only knows violence. Save yourself before you are trapped here too”. He spoke softly but firmly, certain in his words in a way that sounded more like an adult than an eleven year old boy. Oz looked at the kid and shook his head, responding “I have to try! My friends are in there, once I get them out I’ll leave too. I don’t think I’m supposed to be here.”

“You aren’t” said the boy, eyes flickering to pure black with a white pupil being the only indicator that he was still looking at Oswald. Oz wrenched his arm out of the kid's hand and dashed away, leaving the boy to stare after him. He didn’t have time to talk to creepy kids that wanted to tell him what to do, he had to get to Mike and Chip before it was too late. 

After shoving past even more kids in the dining room, he spotted something yellow step into a door. He quickly chased after it, certain that it would be the toothy freak that he saw earlier. Sure enough when he crossed the threshold into the messy party room, there was the towering frame of the creepy rabbit. It tilted its head at Oz and waved before beckoning him closer then turning around to walk away. “Hey wait! You can’t just walk away from me, dang it!” Oz yelled as he quickly stumbled to chase after the thing. He ran through the room, turning the corner and dashing through the next party room with a new sense of urgency; he had to get there before that thing. He had to protect his friends. He had to. In his franticness he wasn’t watching his footing all too well, tripping over a party hat and tumbling down to his face. He quickly pushed himself up, ignoring his untied shoe to keep pushing forward. I’ll just tie it later he thought, focusing on the door that was cracked open at the end of the hall. He dashed towards it, pushing it open so fast he almost fell over again.

He could not have expected what would be in the room. Something dark that smelled strongly like metal was puddled on the floor, slumped children leaned against the wall. One of them looked somewhat like the boy that stopped him earlier; Oz couldn’t inspect the others all too closely before the rabbit leaped out from the darkness, grabbing onto him. He shrieked and chucked the closest thing he could find at it, which turned out to be a wrench that was laying on a table for some reason. Oz didn’t have time to ponder why there was a wrench in a kids party room of all places as he had to get out now . He ran back the way he came, turning sharply through the halls until he got back to the main dining room. Just as he was about to go into the ball pit room and end this nightmare, his untied shoelace decided right then and there was the perfect time to make its presence known, tripping him so hard he smacked his shoulder into the door. 

“Ow fuck!” he grumbled, rubbing at his shoulder. “Hey kid, swearing isn’t allowed here at Freddy’s! Naughty language really isn’t cool, ya know” called a high pitched robotic voice from behind him, making Oz freeze as he slowly turned half expecting but really hoping that voice did not belong to that rabbit. Instead it was the yellow chicken, staring at him with its bright pink eyes with what he can only assume is malice as it started slowly lumbering towards him, arms outstretched like it was a cartoon character sneaking up to someone. “Sorry, gotta go nothankyou-” he shouted over his shoulder, slamming the door into the chicken’s face with a satisfying thump and squawk. Oswald hurriedly threw himself face first into the ball pit, barely catching the door slamming open again with another loud thump and what sounded like a glitchy fuck! , thumping footsteps rapidly approaching the ball pit. 

Thankfully Oswald didn’t have to worry about that as he popped his head up into the weirdly comforting smell of mildew and dust, sneezing from all the mess he kicked up by his sudden intrusion. “There you are! What were you thinking, hiding in that disgusting thing?” asked a voice that was very comfortingly familiar to him; it was his dad, exhausted and clearly worried about him. He dragged him out of the pit, dusting his hoodie and pants off. “See, told ya he was fine. Just messin' around where he wasn’t supposed ‘ta.” mumbled Jeff, leaning on the door frame looking and sounding just as tired as he did when Oswald had first jumped in that stupid pit. With that Jeff walked out, letting the door swing closed behind him

“Sorry dad, I didn’t mean to scare y-” before Oswald could finish his apology, a large yellow arm reached out of the pit and grabbed his dad, dragging him through the “Do not enter” sign and into the dirty plastic balls. “DAD!!” he screamed, launching after him too late to actually grab him. He scrambled around in the pit, careful to keep a leg latched to the edge so he wouldn’t fall back in. Finally, he felt a hand and quickly grabbed it, relieved to have found his dad quickly. He tugged hard on the arm, wincing slightly at the twinge in his bruised shoulder. After a bit of tugging they both fell to the floor, Oz getting the wind knocked out of him with a soft oomph . “Ughh, dad? Are you ok?” he mumbled, leaning up on his elbows to look at his dad. He rubbed his head before standing up, turning around to face Oswald to reveal his glowing eyes. 

“I’m fine son. Now, let's go home, shall we?” Asked what very clearly was not his dad in a voice that sounded robotic and slightly deeper than his dad normally sounded.

Chapter Text

Oswald could not believe what the hell was happening right now. He surely had to be dreaming, right? This all had to be a really, really weird fever dream that that gross ball pit induced. He glanced up at his “dad” driving next to him, his eerie glowing eyes focused on the road ahead. Its hands were perfectly on ten and two, body unnaturally still. How this thing knew how to drive better than most people on the roads nowadays he had no idea; is there an animatronic driving school? Can the chicken drive too? What about the fox from the poster he saw with the hook, how the hell would that thing drive?? During Oswald’s spiral about driving animatronics, the thing had somehow managed to drive all the way to Oz’s house, over the curb and into the neighbor’s mailbox. Oswald yelled “Dude!!” instinctively, bracing himself against the dashboard.

The thing turned its head sharply towards him, staring with its cold eyes. Oz shrunk into the seat, remembering that this thing is definitely dangerous and probably almost definitely wants him dead. He shoved open the car door and tumbled forward onto the neighbor’s grass. He barely got a chance to haul himself back up before a big hand grabbed the back of his hoodie and hauled him up like a mother cat grabs a kit. “Hey! Put me down!!” yelled Oz indignantly, kicking out his feet uselessly as the thing ignored him and carried him like that to the front door. It stood dumbly at the door when jiggling the doorknob did nothing. “You don’t have dad’s keys, do you?” asked Oz tiredly, resigned to his fate with the weird rabbit dad thing. It clearly didn’t want to kill him yet but he probably shouldn’t mess with it too much juuust in case. The thing looked at him annoyedly before shoving its hand into its pocket, pulling out the house keys. “I grabbed them” it grumbled before opening the door grumpily. Could a robot be grumpy? Is this thing a robot?? Oz had no clue and wasn’t sure if he would ever find out. Right now his priority was to find his dad.

“What did you do to my dad? Where did you put him? Why did you grab him? What are you goin-” His questioning was cut off by the bunny covering his mouth with one large yellow hand. It apparently decided that it didn’t need to pretend to be his dad now that no one but him was there. “Stop asking questions. I will be your father as long as I need to be” growled the rabbit as it poked his chest roughly. It then tossed Oswald onto his bed, going to his wardrobe and ruffling through the drawers. “W-what are you doing? Get out of my clothes!” Oswald yelled, tossing a plushie at the thing ransacking his things. The rabbit shot him a withering look before turning back and grabbing a pair of pajamas with a big white rabbit on the front. “Here. Wear them” it demanded before storming out, shutting the door roughly.

Oswald slowly blinked as he processed what the fuck just happened. The rabbit wanted him to wear rabbit themed pj’s? Why? Was he just that full of himself? Oz had no idea what to do at this point. Should he call mom? She doesn’t exactly have any knowledge on weird robot creature rabbits but then again he has no one else really other than Mike, Chip, and Jeff. Jeff didn’t believe him earlier when he told him his dad was acting weird so he doubted the guy would help him now. Oz considered Dylan for only a moment before immediately writing him off. Dylan already thought of him as stupid and had enough to bully him for, the last thing he wanted was to add insane to that list. Dylan was an asshole, to put it simply; he didn’t used to be of course. He used to be a sweet boy that would put giraffe stickers on Oz’s cheek in first grade when he said he liked giraffes too. Dylan was the boy that loved raspberry jam and had a smile that lit up the room brighter than the sun ever could. Oz misses that sunny smile; Dylan doesn’t smile like that anymore. Instead he smirks stupidly and smugly, teasing Oswald condescendingly and with an air of arrogance that makes Oz want to wipe that grin off his stupid, kissable mouth- wait what?

Oz got caught off guard by his thoughts. He hated Dylan, has for at least a year now since he joined those boys at the beginning of fourth grade. Oswald shook his head, realizing he got way off track. He had no time for stupid Dylan and his stupid face; he had to call mom and save his dad from whatever ball pit hell he got dragged into. That was definitely not a sentence he thought he’d ever think, padding quietly towards his bedroom door. He paused and turned back to the pajamas on the bed. He didn’t want to follow what that thing wanted him to do but at the same time he didn’t wanna piss it off. He sighed as he trudged back to the bed, slipping off his sweaty grease stained clothes for the admittedly refreshing clean pjs. He paused as he realized that the thing hadn’t gotten him underwear, though he was kinda glad it didn’t. At least the thing had some respect for his privacy.

Once he was fully clothed in all his bunny themed glory, he marched out of his room to find his dad’s phone. His march became a lot less brave when he cracked open his parents door to see the thing had sprawled out on their bed. How the hell it fit on there and wasn’t breaking it he had no clue; the important thing was that his dads phone was right where he left it on the bedside table. He just had to get it. He snuck away from the door and went to the kitchen to contemplate what to do. It was then he noticed two things: one, Jynx had somehow gotten on top of the cabinet again and was meowing at him. Two, there was a note on the fridge with mom’s phone number. He grabbed the note and left a treat out for the kitty in case she came down; Oz didn’t blame her if she didn’t want to of course, after all there was a malicious rabbit thing with sharp teeth pretending to be his dad in the other room.

Oz went down to the basement to see if there was anything noisy enough to distract the fucker. All he found was some rope and a joystick mechanism left over from one of dad’s projects and a loose battery at the bottom of a plastic pack. Yeah, it sounded about right for their basement; he snagged all of it and quickly dropped it off at his room. He wasn’t ashamed to admit he tended to hoard useful items till he felt like he needed them or his mom made him toss them. Once he tucked them under the bed, he took note of the malfunctioning sewing machine right next to him. It was too heavy for his mom to bring it to the attic herself and his dad didn’t want to put it up until he figured out how to fix the damn thing. It was a perfect noisy distraction to get that big yellow prick out of there!

He gingerly switched it on then leaped into the wardrobe next to it. It was a shitty hiding spot but it would have to do. He needed to make sure he knew where the creature went after shutting off the machine. Sure enough, the thing came running into the room, yelling “boy what did you do?!” before sliding to a stop in front of the machine. Oz prayed that the thing wouldn’t actually go into his room to confront him about the noisy sewing disaster. After a couple seconds of clunking noises, Oz heard a loud crashing noise before the machine finally stuttered to a blissful silence. Apparently the rabbit had far less patience than he thought. Good to find that out on a sewing machine then my face I guess he thought as he slowed his breathing while the rabbit stomped towards the dining room. He heard Jynx yowl at it, followed by the grumbling voice seemingly replying to the cat with “Oh shut it you, I don’t need sass from you too”.

Finally, the coast is clear! He made a mad dash towards his parents room, swiping the phone off the nightstand before diving under the bed. He used to hide under here all the time when he was little, back when he could play hide and seek with his family without worrying about stupid giant rabbits. He hurriedly punched in his mom’s number after finding literally nothing in his dad’s contacts. Oz honestly had no clue if the lack of numbers was from the rabbit or just a result of his dad’s iron clad memory.

“Hello darling? Is everything alright over there with you and Ozzy?” Oswald could honestly cry from relief hearing his mother on the other end of the line. “Mom, it’s me! I need you here right now, I think dad needs help!” Oz panickedly whisper-yelled into the phone. “What? Ok sweetheart, I’ll be there as soon as I can, just sit tight with your dad and breathe. Remember your breathing exercises I taught you and stay calm, if dad gets worse call medical ok baby?” she assured him as she informed her coworkers that she had to leave quickly. Oswald didn’t often have panic attacks when not in school but she knew that if he got this worked up that he would need help calming down, especially if something happened to her accident prone husband.

Oz heard a high pitched whine of static come from the phone, making him fling it out from where he was. Unfortunately he did that right when the rabbit came back into the room, revealing his spot immediately. “Kid, what are you hiding under there for?” the thing grumbled before dragging him out by the arm. Oswald once again wiggled in the things grip, hating how easily the stupid rabbit handled him. “I was looking for something, now lemme go!!” he yelped when the things grip got a bit tighter. “I’m taking you back to your room since you’re going to be fussy. You will sleep where you’re supposed to, not where I do, understand?” it snarled at him leaning over him menacingly while baring its teeth. “That’s not your bed, it’s my dad and mom’s!” Oz yelled in retaliation, shoving the rabbit hard in the chest. The shove was somehow enough to throw the rabbit off kilter, causing it to let him go long enough for him to run away. “Damn it kid!” the rabbit yelled behind him, before turning to the picture on the nightstand that they had not noticed earlier; a picture with the dad they were taking over for, an unknown blond woman and their new son. “That man got a wife?” they mumbled to themselves as they trudged towards the door. They had a kid to find and take to bed. They had enough to deal with for one day and just needed to rest.

The two ended up chasing each other through the house for the better part of twenty minutes, only pausing when Oswald managed to duck under something long enough to lose the rabbit for a little while. It always somehow managed to find him anyway, but seemed to just walk away sometimes after standing in front of his hiding spot for a long time. Oz was pretty sure the thing was toying with him, making him feel like a mouse being played with by a cat. It wasn’t helping that the rabbit seemed to be getting more and more irritated, stomping through the house faster than Oswald could switch hiding spots. It was weirdly fun in a strange way and Oz found himself giggling a few times when the rabbit did a double take after Oz managed to scramble out from his hiding spot right behind it and run to the next room.

This game of hide and seek was finished when Oswald had run into the living room and tripped over a stack of books, falling fast into the direction of the tv. “You trying to lose an eye, brat?” came from behind Oz, as he realized that instead of painfully crashing into the corner of the tv, he had once again gotten scruffed by the rabbit. “Do you have to keep grabbing me like that?” grumbled Oz as he wiggled around again. He knew he couldn’t truly escape from his position but he hated just letting the rabbit manhandle him. “If you’re going to keep crashing around everywhere, then yes, I’ll grab you however I wan-”

“Christopher! Do not grab our son like that, you’ll drop him!” yelled Oz’s savior from the front door. His mother had thankfully arrived right on time, giving the rabbit a look that could kill. She looked disheveled and tired, most likely having a rough night at the hospital. Oswald couldn’t help himself from joyfully yelling “Mom!!” and running into her open arms. “Mom, mom look dad got replaced by a big rabbit thing and it has been chasing me around the past 30 minutes and and and-” Oswald’s stuttering got interrupted by his mother pulling him back slightly to look at him confusedly. “Lovebug, what are you talking about? Your father is not a rabbit and most likely is just trying to get you to go to bed. Honestly, you’ve been watching far too many of those scary cartoons.” she told him before standing to walk towards the fake dad. When Oz turned around he was horrified to see that the rabbit had changed back to look like his dad and was looking at his mom. Oz reached out uselessly towards her, wanting to warn her before she reached him.

She reached out to his “dad” and gave him a kiss on the cheek before wrapping her arm around his waist. “How about I tuck you into bed sweetheart? I have to go back to work and you need your rest before your first day of school tomorrow.” Her reassurances would normally be comforting, right now though they were anything but. The rabbit looked him in the eyes in a way that he could only imagine was it telling him that if he didn’t stop, it would not end well. “Ok mom…” he mumbled before resigning to his fate and sulkily skirting around the rabbit to the door. Once the door clicked closed, his mother turned towards the rabbit. “I hope he’s alright. We really should get another appointment with his doctor soon, I’m worried that his paranoia is getting bad again” she confided, leaning on her husband’s shoulder. The rabbit had no clue what to do. What little it had gathered from secretly watching the boy and his father interact the past few months did not prepare them for whatever this was. They were expecting to replace a neglectful father and take in a grateful boy, not deal with an aggressive child and doting mother. “I am sure he’ll be fine, dear. I will take care of him, that I promise” they did not lie as they said these words, looking down at the woman, meaning every word. The tired mother sighed before giving her husband another kiss, this time on his lips. “If you say so, love. I’ll see you tomorrow morning, I want to see our growing boy off to his first day of sixth grade”. With that she turned and left, leaving behind a very emotionally confused rabbit

Chapter Text

The yellow rabbit flopped onto the bed they had claimed as their own during their stay, mildly exhausted from chasing around the little gremlin. They had a lot to think about now; they were a monster from what they were told and therefore could not and should not feel human feelings. Yet, despite this fact, they felt weirdly light after the interaction with the little bunny’s mom and the chase. It was weird to be treated kindly by anyone, even if they were disguised to everyone but the kid. They did not feel bad for scaring that kid, they did what they needed to to prevent more blood in their home. There already was enough after what redacted did back then. They shuddered at the memory of that day, not wanting to think about it for long. Which was strange seeing as how the creature was not meant to think much at all, being a being of agony apparently. 

The rabbit’s thinking was cut off by a thump from a few rooms over followed by what sounded like footsteps above them. “What the hell?” it mumbled while shoving itself off the bed and lumbering to the door. They stared dumbly at the attic ladder innocently sitting out, leading to the upper floor that the rabbit had no clue even existed. Stepping forward to the ladder, they looked up only to get hit with something brown smacking it in the face. “Ack” was the only response it grunted out, rubbing their nose before leaning down to pick up whatever it was. It turned out to be a mask of Freddy Fazbear, slightly aged and dusty from its abandonment. The rabbit tossed it to the side and climbed the ladder; surely that mask had not been what lowered the ladder. They were proven correct by the open window with a rope hanging out of it, breeze blowing against the shutters and various items in the room.

“Where the fuck did he get a rope??”

Oswald panted as he finally made it to Jeff’s. It was a long bike ride but it was worth it if it meant he might get his dad back tonight. He hadn’t managed to grab a helmet on the way out since they’re kept by the door, but he didn’t mind. He had changed out of the pajamas immediately upon getting back in his room and grabbed his backpack, stuffing it full of the things he had found earlier. Oz felt incredibly lucky to have not been caught by the creepy thing staying in the house. He really didn’t want to get grabbed by it again, especially if it somehow noticed him escaping through the attic. Hopefully it couldn’t climb the creaky ladder…

“Hey Ozzy, whachya doin’ here so late?” The voice made Oswald jump, forgetting that Anthony was working more of the night shifts recently. “Oh, uh, hey Anthony. Dad burnt dinner so I’m picking up some pizza if that’s ok”, Oz was normally never anxious around Jeff or Anthony but the situation with his dads has put him on edge. “Course it’s aight lil man. You doin ok? Ya look like your ‘bout to have a panic or somethin’” his face looked the most concerned Oz had ever seen him, the usually chill employee rounding the front counter to kneel down next to him.

Anthony was hired at the beginning of summer to help Jeff with keeping the place neat and functional. If it weren’t for Anthony’s taller stature helping him reach all the spots Jeff had to jump to get there’d be a lot more spiders in the place. He had light brown hair that lightly curled around his face with a streak of pink on the front. His dark brown eyes always carried so much care it was really hard to dislike the guy. His posture was always relaxed in some way, nonchalance coming off his larger frame in comforting waves. Anthony had calmed Oz down a couple of times when his paranoia got really bad at the beginning of summer. Oz was honestly surprised to find out that he and Jeff weren’t dating or at least roommates with how well they got along and the way Anthony looked at Jeff like he was his whole world.

“Earth to Oz man, ya good?” The snapping fingers in front of his face jolted him out of his thoughts, making him look up at Anthony, surprised that the guy was bothering with him when he probably had important work to do. “Yeah yeah, I’m good. Sorry, I’m just a bit anxious for tomorrow since it’s the first day of class heh” In truth, Oz had barely thought about school since finding the rabbit in that stupid magic ball pit but it was the most believable thing he could say since saying “Hey Anthony, there’s a giant rabbit creature that is pretending to be my dad living in my house that I think maybe killed a kid but I’m not entirely sure and my dad is most likely stuck in the weird magic ball pit you guys keep in the back room” would definitely land him either back in his room at home or in the hospital with a case of insanity. Thankfully the concerned employee bought the white lie and nodded while ruffling his hair, “you’ll do great little man. Just gotta do your best and you’ll be aight, and if that asshat Dylan and his buddies try to harass you, tell em to buzz off or I’ll put em in the crusty ball pit in the back” he chuckled before standing up and heading off, giving Oz a wink before leaving.

Oswald appreciated the kind words and honestly wouldn’t mind Dylan and his group of bullies going in the ball pit and learning what it feels like to be the ones terrorized for once. He didn’t want to involve anybody else in this mess though so he went towards the ball pit alone and determined that he would definitely find his dad tonight.

He was not ready to find his dad or really anything tonight. The moment he came out of the ball pit into the brightly lit place, he was greeted by the horrible sound of a kid screeching their lungs out followed by a rattling mechanical noise. Oswald genuinely considered turning around and hopping back into the pit and just giving up. Instead he reluctantly stepped out to see what the fuck was happening now in this weird colorful pizza hell.

His internal question was swiftly answered by the standing metal skeleton in the middle of the damn hall. It was shaking slightly and the wailing seemed to be coming from that. He was really, really hoping that maybe that was not actually where the screeching was originating from. Unfortunately, it was, in fact, where the distress was located. Oswald approached the shaking metal death trap with apprehension, fearing for the worst that whatever or whoever is stuck in there is already close to death.

“D-dude, you gotta help me man! I hid in here away from the yellow rabbit but got stuck and now this metal stuff is digging into my arms really bad” the panicked voice of a kid no older than nine came from the metal trap, hands shoving against what looked like a bunch of spikey components that even Oz couldn’t name. “I’ll see what I can do! Do you know where a screwdriver or-or toolbox is?” Oz asked, thinking of all the different tools his dad would use while fixing up whatever random electronic he had brought home from the scrapyard. “How would I know?? I’m 9 dude” the kid’s response was fair, in Oz’s opinion since yeah he guessed it was a stupid question. The suit shuddered, the sides seeming to clamp tighter around the squirming child like a snake wrapping around its prey. “Hurry!!” the boy shrieked, panicking as he shoved his shoe between the bars and himself.

Oz ran back in the direction of the ball pit room, knowing that in the back of the room in Jeff’s was a storage room that led to the basement. If Jeff’s was anything like his house, there was definitely a tool box in there with something useful. He ran up to where the door normally was only to bump into the stage that he had somehow completely forgotten was there. He scrambled up and past the shut down animatronics, hoping and praying that they weren’t like that creature and weren’t going to start hunting him down too.

The storage room looked weirdly almost the same, with the shelves being in the exact same spots and the power switch there as well. What was definitely not the same though was the animatronic bear head on the ground and the metal skeleton standing by the basement door. There were what looked like animatronic parts littered on the shelves, the heads looking particularly creepy to Oz; he swore to himself to never go close to those unless he had to chuck one at something. They looked pretty hefty, hopefully that didn’t mean they’d be too heavy to throw at a certain giant rabbit menace. Oz shook his head, pushing away the mental image of the rabbit getting beaned in the face with one of the bear heads. He had to focus on saving that kid, who knew how much time he had until that thing either fully snapped shut or worse, that rabbit returned.

The basement door was unfortunately locked, meaning he’d have to go to Anthony to get anything useful. “Damnit, guess I gotta go back” he mumbled while turning around only to bump into the endoskeleton. “Damnit, guess I gotta go back” crackled out from its chest, its red eyes staring ahead. Oz did not like that at all. He kicked the thing in the knee and bolted to the exit, not wanting to deal with whatever the fuck that new nightmare was. He didn’t stop running until he made it into the room with the dreaded ball pit, slipping on a loose plastic ball into the pit. “SHIT!” he yelped as he got a mouthful of dusty plastic, spitting out a dustball.

“You trip again, Oz?” yelled Anthony from the other room. Oz sighed as he yelled back “yeah, I did. I’m fine”.  “Ok good. By the way, I got some pizza for ya and Jeff could use your help as payment.”

Oh great, chores. Lovely. He begrudgingly made his way to the front of the restaurant, knowing that if he wanted that basement key he’d have to weasel it out of Jeff first. “Heyyy Jeff, whatcha need me for?” Oz casually propped his arm on the counter, trying to look as helpful as possible.

“Hey kid, I need someone to toss out that garbage over there at the old mill. I don’t want to hurt my back again after last time. Think you’re up to it?” Jeff didn’t look up, sorting money from the register while talking. “Oh uh yeah, can I get the basement key from you after though?”

“What? Yeah sure I guess” he mumbled, nudging a flashlight at Oz with barely a glance. “Here, so you don’t fall in.” he said it with a little smile, knowing very well how often Oswald trips. “I’ll be fine Jeff, thanks” he grumbled, snatching the flashlight from the counter and tossing the garbage bag over his shoulder. “I’ll be back really quick” he called over his shoulder, nudging open the door with his foot. Jeff gave a small noise as response before seeming to focus back on his task.

The mill smelled as musty as usual when Oz got there, trash littered around the dumpsters from overflow. A few flickering LED lights clung to the frame of the garage door, barely lighting up the concrete and the bright colored parts next to the dumpster closest to the door. There had been brightly colored animatronic parts here for quite a while, clearly abandoned a while ago. Oz had taken a few parts once, the most notable of which being a stuffed bear with a top hat and bow and a kinda big doll with a propeller hat, blue and red striped shirt, brown shorts, and cute little black shoes. Oswald had moved the little guy to sit by his door as a guard while he was gone. He doubted it would be able to do much but he would take any reassurance he could. Now that Oswald thought about it, that toy he has is probably a Freddy plush from that place the ball pit goes to. If that is true, then this dump must have been the dumping ground for Freddy’s! 

With that clue stuck in his head he proceeded to scrounge around in the scrap pile for the next couple of minutes, finding nothing really new or helpful except for a puzzle matrix and a rat trap. What he’d do with either of those he didn’t know; Maybe he could finally help Jeff’s by repairing those arcade games in the back that he’s been eyeing for the whole summer. Having done his task, he briskly walked back to Jeff’s. There was still a kid trapped in a metal death trap he needed to save.

By the time he had gotten back to Jeff's, checked their storage room only to find tools so rusted and chipped they were useless, and retrieved an actually useful screwdriver from the 1985 location, the kid in the metal thing was more frantic then before. He had managed to shove his other shoe somewhere in the mess of pointy bits but another part of the trap had gotten closer to his chest. Oz quickly unscrewed what he could find, praying it would release the poor boy instead of making it snap shut harder.

Thankfully the trap opened up immediately, letting the kid tumble out straight into Oswald with an oomph. “Thank you!! Thank you so much, I thought I was gonna die man that was so so scary holy shit. I thought I was dead a buncha times” the boy rambled as he untangled himself from Oz, shaking heavily from relief.

“I’m glad I could help, you really scared me when I found you in there. Hey, have you seen my dad? He has brown hair, beard, blue shirt, looks kinda tired all the time and makes dad jokes a bunch” Oz really hoped the kid had seen his dad but the chances were probably low since his dad would have definitely gotten the kid out of the trap earlier. Knowing dad, he’d probably just use his hands to claw it open. 

“Like an adult? Sorry man, no, I haven’t. I got stuck in that thing really soon after separating from the others.”

“Wait, others? Who else is he-” a loud boom of a door slamming open both interrupted and answered Oz as the golden menace ran into the room and locked eyes with Oswald. Both kids shrieked and ran in different directions, Oz going to the ball pit and the other boy probably heading to the exit; Oz didn’t have the chance to double check or insure the kid was going the right way since he had to deal with the rabbit storming towards him with murderous intent. Only issue was that the thing looked slightly more… mechanical? Oz was super confused why the thing was making whirring noises but again did not have a good chance to question what the hell his reality was turning into.

The short distance to the ball pit room felt like it was several miles suddenly. He heard a loud crashing sound behind him, whipping around to see that the kid he freed had thrown a chair at the rabbit to help Oz. “This way man!” The kid yelled, obviously not knowing about the time traveling ball pit. “I’ll be fine, I found another way to the exit earlier!” Oz yelled back, knowing he was lying; technically there was a vent in the basement but he couldn’t move the boxes far enough. The boxes had also giggled in a robotic voice at him so he didn’t want to touch it with a ten foot pole after that anyway. He just wanted to reassure the boy, especially after everything that happened.

“Ok! Meet you outside, just get out!”
Oz intended to do just that, flinging himself into the ball pit at full velocity. The moment his scruffy hair popped out of the pit, an increasingly familiar yellow paw snagged his arm and tugged him out. “You are so lucky you did not die when climbing out of that window boy. How was I going to explain to your mother that you died on my watch because you decided to be creative and rebellious? Honestly, you are making me go insane. I will throttle you if you ever, ever do that again you absolute moron” the thing continued ranting as it dragged Oz by the arm out of the restaurant and to the car which it had already put his bike in apparently. Oz was too bewildered and tired to question how he had gotten chased by a rabbit to the ball pit only to be dragged out of it by what should have been the same rabbit but clearly was not since it had managed to drive here and load his bike into the car. 

“I’m sorry” he mumbled, not really knowing why. It was oddly nice to have someone act so concerned for him and his safety. He had gotten used to being pushed aside in people’s minds due to being a bit of a wallflower and not wanting to be a bother for anyone. The thing sighed as it opened the car door for him, nudging him in. “I boarded up that window so you would not try that again. You’re going straight to bed after this and I am taking you to school tomorrow. No arguing this time.” 

Oz just nodded tiredly, leaning against the car window sleepily. He could think about everything in the morning, right now sleep sounded perfect. Even if it meant there would be a weirdly caring big rabbit in the house while he slept. He was confused when he smelled pizza, looking back to see the pizza that he had asked Anthony for sitting in the rear seat. "You get two slices for dinner, then bed. If you get sick on my watch, I will not be holding your hand". 

Chapter Text

Oswald was unfortunately one of those people that after seeing something scary, would get haunted by nightmares of it. That night after eating a bit of pizza and begrudgingly putting back on the rabbit pajamas and passing out, he dreamed of that stupid yellow rabbit replacing his dad for good. He dreamed of it taking him to school, being at the front of the class for career day, taking pictures at the beach with him and his mom. All things that only his real dad should be doing if he was here. Oz almost wished that the stupid rabbit had murdered him repeatedly in his dreams instead of taunting him with his missing father. It was already bad enough mom and Jeff didn’t believe him, he couldn’t handle everyone at school also falling for the rabbit’s tricks.

Oz woke up with a start, gasping in a mouthful of cat hair as Jynx batted at his face. “Good morning kitty” he mumbled groggily and gently petted the black cat. He felt so exhausted still from running around so much yesterday and last night. He slid out of bed and stumbled out of his room, Jynx padding after him with a mew. Oz didn’t bother changing out of his pajamas yet, he could do that after eating breakfast.

“There’s my rising sixth grader! Good morning sweetie” his mom was a blessing to see after everything. He collapsed into a hug and breathed in the light smell of detergent and hand sanitizer. It was oddly comforting and distinctly mom. “Aww, cuddly this morning, huh? Your father wants to eat breakfast with you in the dining room so head in there before it gets cold.”

“Mkay mom” Oz mumbled, still a bit too sleepy to think correctly and somehow forgetting that his father was very much still currently a giant golden rabbit. He swiftly remembered this little problem when he walked through the door straight into a pair of fuzzy yellow arms; “There ya are, thought you weren’t going to get up for a bit there. You’ll be late for your first day at the rate you’re goin’ kiddo” the thing seemed to still be trying to talk like his dad to keep up appearances which was kinda nice but also definitely weird. “I’d be less tired if I didn’t have to go on a rescue mission last night…” he grumbled under his breath as he made his way to the table to start picking at the waffles at his spot.

“What I don’t get is why you’re hurting yourself over someone that left you at a place where kids like you went missing a while back.” The thing narrowed its eyes at him while crossing its arms, looking every bit like a disappointed father. “You don’t know what all happened there and it’s best if ya never do”. With that it seemed to be done talking for a bit as it sat at the end of the table and started eating its own set of waffles. How or why the rabbit even could eat was beyond him and besides, he had much more to think about and figure out other than his false dad’s digestive system. 

“How many kids did you make go missing then, huh you fucking freak?” the spitting remark would have probably had a lot more bite if he didn’t have a mouthful of waffle while saying it. The thing glared at him somehow harder than it was before and slammed its fuzzy fist into the table lightly, probably so as not to break it; “ I was not the one that made them go missing. I am an accumulation of agony, wishes, longing, and soul bits that were littered around that place. I may be cruel but I am no killer”

“Then why did I get chased by a thing that looked like you but more mechanicy?”

“You what?” For the first time it looked genuinely confused, not knowing what the hell the kid was asking him. Unlike the murder accusations, which judging the history of where they came from they don’t really blame Oswald for, they had no idea what to respond to that with. As far as they knew they were the only yellow rabbit that was supposed to be in that place. “I should talk to your mother about getting you to a psychiatrist kid”.

Oz huffed and hurried to finish up his breakfast so he could get away from this really weird conversation. Once he finished he went back through the kitchen to get to his room so he could actually change into proper clothes and grab his bag. While passing through the kitchen he found a paper sack that presumably had his lunch in it so he snagged it on the way out. He hurried to tug on his clothes, grabbing his favorite jacket and his backpack before rushing towards the front door. 

He thought he had gotten out without the rabbit noticing until he turned around and saw his mom standing there with a camera and the stupid yellow bunny standing there smugly with its arms crossed and electric blue eyes eyeing him triumphantly.
“Come here Oswald, your dad wants to take a picture with you for your first day!” his mom clearly still did not know that her husband has been replaced with a literal rabbit. Oz grimaced slightly and tried to get out of it the best he knew: by being grumpy about it. “Moooom I’m too old for that.”

“Oh don’t you pull that Oz, your father has always taken your picture for your first day of school. We can’t break tradition now” she cheerily told him while guiding him into a more photogenic pose. The rabbit had moved closer without Oz noticing somehow, now standing next to him and hooking an arm around his shoulders.
“Say cheese boys!”
“Cheeeeese!” The rabbit said it much more enthusiastically than Oswald, his smile strained while the rabbit clearly could not be happier with the situation. If his mom wasn’t there watching he would definitely punch the cheeky fuck in the jaw.
“Awww you boys look precious! Alright, have a good trip! I won’t be home when you come home sweetie since I’ll be at work so if you need anything, call dad." With that she gave Oswald one last hug and her fake husband a kiss on the cheek, walking inside the house and sealing Oz’s fate with the locked door.

“You are not driving me after that”

“How else do you intend on getting there on time then?” the cheeky bastard grinned as he unlocked the car and all too happily dragged Oz along for the ride.

School went about as well as Oswald expected to. The only unexpected parts were when Jet set off a firecracker in the schoolyard, sending sparks onto Dylan which was both funny and mildly concerning because he freaked out a lot, and a Freddy plush running in the hallway when Oz went to the bathroom. He had no clue if the freddy plush thing actually happened or if it was just a result of sleep deprivation. Either way he was very happy to be over and done with it and wanted nothing more than to pet his cat and flop on his bed. Unfortunately Dick-lan and his posse of asshats were waiting outside the school and picking on a girl. Oz normally didn’t bother with Dylan anymore but he couldn’t just ignore a kid getting bullied literally day one.

“Oi Dylan, fuck you doin?” In hindsight maybe he shouldn’t be cussing at a boy that was 2 inches taller than him and definitely stronger than him but he was too tired to care and Dylan didn’t scare him as much anymore, especially after seeing him shriek and hop around from a couple sparks. “The hell did you just say to me?” Dylan whipped around to glare at whoever dared to swear at him while he was with his cool group only to deflate and sigh heavily upon seeing who it was. “Fuckin hell, hi Oz” The look on Dylan’s face was definitely worth bugging him, looking so done with Oz after not even interacting much for quite a while other than Oswald checking on him after the firecracker incident at lunch. Dylan had decided to shove his sandwich at Oz after that, telling him that he “wasn’t hungry anymore after I almost got arsoned”. Oz hadn’t really felt like eating after thinking about his situation too hard made him mildly nauseous, not that Dylan cared since when he saw that Oswald was just picking at the sandwich and barely eating it, he rolled his eyes and told Oz to eat it properly before he shoved it down his throat. Oz didn’t feel like testing Dylan on the first day and quickly scarfed it down.

“Helloooo, earth to Ozzie the Ocelot! Are you tweaking or something?” Oswald finally focused back in on the conversation to Dylan shaking his shoulders, his buddies snickering behind him and whispering snide remarks to each other. “Oh uh sorry, I didn’t sleep great. I wanted to know why you’re picking on someone already when school literally just started; are you guys that desperate for attention already?” Oz casually leaned against the wall, doing his best to look as cool as he could.

“You- we are not desperate, we’re trying to teach this dork to not talk about weird ass creepy animatronics when no one cares” he gestured to the girl’s notebook that she was clutching to her chest. “Dylan..” Oz sighed, knowing why he picked a fight with her. Dylan ever since he was a kid hated mannequins, dolls, and animatronics. He had a deep seated fear that Oswald had swore up and down that he would never ever tell anyone or else Dylan could punt him across a football field 10 times. Oz may not be super close with Dylan anymore but he would never betray him like that; after all, Dylan has equal dirt on him that he had also sworn never to tell.

Dylan looked at Oz and seemed to share the same thought, to drop this and go their separate ways. “Whatever, do what you want with the freak” he shouted over his shoulder while walking away. His buddies thankfully followed him, shoving Oz’s shoulder on the way past him with a snicker.

“Well that sucked” Oz settled his hands into his hoodie pockets and walked up to the girl. “Sooo… you’re into animatronics?” he leaned on the wall and glanced down at the book then to her. He needed any leads he could get on whatever the hell was happening in the faz-pit. “Oh, uh, yeah. My dad was a mechanic at this Freddy’s place back in the day. He told me to get rid of his sketchbook but I held on to it. You can have it if you want though!” She quickly shoved the book into Oz’s hands, seeming to not want to interact with it much. Oswald could kinda see why when he had it in his hands; it felt like it was buzzing at him angrily, like something was being contained in it.

“Uhhh hey why is it buzz-” he looked up only to see her missing. “Oh, uh, bye?” Oz had no idea what to do now. He didn’t really want to touch this book much longer, swiftly shoving it into his backpack so it wasn’t touching him anymore. He didn’t expect to see a plushie in his bag that he definitely did not put in there before though. “Oh great, first a haunted book now a haunted plushie. I really can’t catch a break today, can I?” he mumbled to himself while zipping back up the bag. He had a feeling that he shouldn’t take out the teddy bear so he decided to follow that feeling. After all, he already had enough weird stuff happening to him. He didn’t need to deal with extra bad luck.

“Oswald! Get over here, I’m blocking traffic!” Speaking of bad luck, it seemed the yellow rabbit had decided it not only needed to drop Oswald off at school but also pick him up too. Oz dragged his feet to the car, deliriously laughing under his breath at the sigh of the rabbit sticking its head out of the car window, hanging out of it cartoonishly. How that 8 ft tall menace managed to fit in the car let alone out the window Oz had no clue and figured it wasn’t really worth finding out. At least he’d get to pet Jynx soon.

Chapter Text

The drive home was weirdly peaceful. The rabbit asked Oz how his day went and he responded neutrally. The question reminded Oswald a bit too much like his drives with his real dad so he decided to change the topic and ask the rabbit something. “Hey do you have a name?”

The rabbit looked surprised, glancing at him through the mirror before focusing back on the road. “Kid, I’m an 9ft tall fuzzy yellow rabbit with nightmare teeth from a transdimensional ball pit; only names I’ve been called are variations of demon and freak.” it scoffed and raised a furbrow at him. “You could just name yourself dude. I can’t keep calling you ‘the rabbit’ since there’s also the purple Bonnie. Wait, is your name Bonnie?”. Oz was getting fed up with having to refer to the fucker as just the rabbit or the thing that kidnapped his dad. If he was gonna be stuck with the thing for a while, he may as well have something proper to call it and didn’t want to piss it off any more by calling it the wrong thing.

Oz could have sworn he saw the bunny shudder, frowning hard at the suggestion. “Do not call me Bonnie, ever. I do not want to be associated with that fuzzy nitwit.” Its scowl held an air of annoyance and distaste for the purple Bonnie. It didn’t answer the question of if its name actually was Bonnie though; Oswald mentally jotted down the question under the list of things he really wanted to ask this thing eventually.

“Ok fine, jeeze. What do you wanna be called then? I can’t call you a freak in front of mom.”

After another two minutes of silence Oz had given up on the question, rolling his eyes and looking out the window instead. The rest of the car ride was quiet, the only words spoken came at the end of the trip when they finally arrived at the familiar house.

“...Call me Theodore.” its eyes looked a bit distant, like it was thinking of someone or something specific. Oz was shocked that it actually gave a proper answer and seemed to be sad somehow. Oswald was not about to open that can of worms today so he just nodded and simply said “Theodore it is then, ya fuzzy weirdo.”

Oswald had somehow completely forgotten about the plushie that had hitchhiked in his backpack when he got home. After locating Jynx on top of the fridge and coaxing her down with a treat, he had flopped on his bed and taken a much needed nap. He woke up groggily from his rest to soft giggling and rustling. Oz had assumed he was just hallucinating again and rolled over; unfortunately there was a pair of beady eyes staring into his soul waiting for him there. He shrieked at a pitch that could rival Dylan's biggest screams and scrambled backwards, landing on his back with an oomph . “Wh-what the fuck-?” his words came out strained from the air getting knocked out of him. His attempt to scramble backwards away from his bed and the beady eyed intruder was made difficult by the toys rolling out from under his bed, hand slipping on a rubber ball making him lose his balance and bang his head on his wardrobe.

“Ow! Fuck that hurt…” Oz rubbed the back of his head, wincing at what was definitely the beginning of a bruise.

“Dude, you almost killed him you pinstriped idiot” the strange voice that weirdly sounded like a melancholy teenager shocked Oswald back into the current situation. He looked around trying to find who had gotten into the house only to find a teddy bear with robotic eyes narrowed in a concerned yet tired expression looking at him. The bear looked to be only maybe 2 ft tall, not counting the ratty brown top hat it was wearing. It looked like there was some dried mud on it, mostly around its legs and torso. Its brown fur looked like it was a few shades different from what it should be, its paws worn down most likely from use. There were a few areas of it that looked like it had been sewn to fix tears, the most notable of them being on its side where almost an entire seam was replaced with silver thread that had a silky sheen. The most colorful and least tattered part of it was a light pink bandana that looked like it used to be a part of a sweater or hoodie. The plushie was very obviously sentient and seemed to not be a threat as far as Oz could tell. Why the hell it chose to come along with Oswald back home he had no clue though; maybe he just attracted weirdly sentient animals at this point. Now that Oz was thinking about it, he also had no idea how this big teddy bear fit in his bag in the first place.

“You got a concussion or just shocked to see a talking teddy bear?” The male voice crackled out of the bear again, crossing his arms below what Oswald only now realized must be a really dirty speaker. The amount of gunk that was on it had stained the area to the point where any audio coming from it was muffled lightly and crackly.

“Honestly it's a little less shocking after my dad got replaced by a 9ft tall bright yellow fuzzy rabbit that also may be trying to kill me in a weird time traveling ball pit” That sentence made the bear raise a fuzzy eyebrow at him before nodding in understanding. 

“Why are you in my house?” Oz crawled closer to the bear curiously. A rustling noise on his bed drew his attention to the doll that he had salvaged and cleaned from the mill about a month ago. It looked a lot more lively than it usually did, managing to crawl down the bedsheet and land on the carpet with a soft thump. It walked over to Oz and plopped itself down next to him, leaning against his leg contently. Its beady eyes looked a lot more like mechanical eyes than Oswald had last seen, though that may just be because it was actually moving its eyelids on its own. Its eyes still looked like dolls eyes, glassy blue staring up at Oz with adoration. “Also, sorry if this is rude, but how are you alive? You’re not possessed or something are you?” Oswald already had enough issues with Theodore, he didn’t need demon dolls too.

“Funny you should mention that kid…” The bear sighed as he took a seat on the carpet, struggling slightly with sitting down in a way that was comfortable for his stuffing filled body. “My name’s Alec. Pinstriped doll over there goes by BB. I used to be in a human body until this cursed teddy bear body swapped me and took my place. I’ve been in this stupid plushie for 3 years now.” Alec looked both morose and enraged as he told his sorrowful tale, glaring at the carpet like the cat hair covered fibers were what to blame for his fate. “I’ve been trying to find and get back to my family and that body swapper for a while. I got pretty close a year ago; fucker chucked me into the old mill scrapper. I got saved by Stitch.”

“Ok ok wait hang on, this is a lot to take in.” Oz pinched his nose, mimicking a behavior his true dad often does when stressed. “So you’re a boy that got body swapped 3 years ago and BB is..?” he glanced down at the doll that was now attempting to crawl into his lap with its tiny wooden hands. “BB was eight years old when he was murdered. He has no clue how long ago that was and acts like a little kid anyway so we just treat him like a kid.” Alec was so casual with the statement, as if the knowledge that this doll was actually a murdered child’s soul was a regular occurence in everyday life. “How are you so casual about this?!” his voice cracked as he yelled at the way too casual bear. “Are there a lot of murdered kids you know??” Oz was somewhat hoping that the melancholic teddy would say no, that BB was the only one. That Stitch was a neighborhood friendly paranormal specialist or something. Instead Oz was horrified by the answer that Alec gave him. “Yeah actually; not all of them are completely murdered, some are alive, some aren’t. Some are just maimed. It’s complicated.”

BB sat up from his spot in Oz’s lap to rattle at Alec indignantly. Alec scoffed and rolled his eyes with a mechanical whir, somehow understanding the rattling as words. “I know he’s a kid but he’s already too deep in the shit now, may as well come clean and tell him the truth now before he ends up like us or Sarah.”

Oz deduced that BB was most likely telling Alec off for scaring him and overloading him with way too much horrifying information at once. Oswald just wanted to have a normal summer again with his normal dad and blissfully ghostfree life. Oz shook his head, dazed and still processing everything.

A heavy knock on the door made Oswald yelp and shoot up, accidentally flinging BB across the room with a squeak and upset rattles. “What are you screaming abou-” Theodore cut himself off as he stared down at Alec who had gone limp on the floor. It felt like he was in that one movie with the living toys, except those toys were just made alive and not possessed by children and upset teenagers. “Kid, please tell me you did not talk to that bear at all.” The yellow rabbit looked weirdly concerned. “Why do you care? It’s just a plushie.” Oz kicked it lightly with his socked foot, forgetting for a moment that he was alive as he tried to act nonchalant. Oz’s forgetfulness was rewarded with Alec clawing at his foot and shrieking a deafening high pitched mechanical wail.

Oswald jumped back, yelling apologies and covering his ears. Theodore grabbed the bear by the middle and hauled him up to eye level, glaring at him with pinprick sized pupils. He looked terrifying, mouth opening to show the sharp teeth Oz had nightmares of. “How dare you come into my home and try and steal my son’s body” his voice did not sound like the usual gentle timbre Oswald was used to; it sounded low, gravely and more threatening than ever. Oz wasn’t sure if he could help or if he even wanted to get in the way of the bizarrely protective papa rabbit.

“Th-th-this body is already oc-oc-occupied! I was-wasn’t tryin-ing to take him-” Alec’s voice was shaky and staticky as he panickedly pushed uselessly against his assailant’s fuzzy fist. Theodore’s eyes narrowed even more, glaring down at the bear furiously. “Why should I believe you? I know what you are and what your body is built to do. You cause pain just cause you crave something you will never have; you will never have a family by stealing and taking the place of innocent souls.”

Alec took offense to the rabbit’s spiteful words, glaring at him and spitting out insults with fervor. “Oh like you’re one to talk, you took that kid’s dad so you could be loved for once! At least I had a family once, you’re forcing this one to like you just to feel good about yourself you asshole”. Oswald limped over and tugged on Theodore’s arm, not wanting the boy to die from the deadly grip he had on him. Oz could hear what were probably the mechanical parts in Alec starting to crack and without his dad there, there was no way he’d be able to fix it without possibly hurting him more. “Stop, please! He’s telling the truth, he’s not trying to take me. Please don’t kill him!” Oz felt tears start to pour down his face as panic rose the longer the rabbit held him hostage. “Please let him go. Please?” He hated begging, especially to the guy that kidnapped his dad only yesterday.

Theodore looked down  and froze at the harrowing sight before him; the boy he had been so determined to protect was sobbing and looking at him with pure panic on his face. Some of his curls were stuck to his face, plastered there by the sheer amount of tears. The rabbit who considered themself rather heartless before this boy now felt heartbroken at the realization that he had caused some of the boy’s panic. Of course the stupid bear was partly to blame, his boy’s poor foot staining the sock dark red. The enraged rabbit closed their eyes, rattled a strained breath, and dropped the bear. They would deal with the idiot later, already thinking of how they should either dull down the sharp edges or declaw the damn thing. There was something much more important right now.

Theodore kneeled down in front of the panicking boy and brushed the hair from his face. “Kid? Look at me buddy” their voice was much softer than it was before, gently talking to the frightened child. Oswald did not seem to hear them though, legs shaking severely as he stared blankly and continued to hyperventilate. “Shit, kid please talk to me. I’m.. look, I didn’t mean to scare you.” They reached towards the desk and grabbed a tissue, gently wiping away the tears. Oz flinched away slightly, startled by the movement he hadn’t processed until it was touching him. “S-sorry… Sorry” he mumbled as he rattled another shaky breath. Theodore sighed, gently scooping up the boy he was becoming concerningly attached to way too quickly and heading towards the master bedroom. He had a feeling that it would take a while to calm down the boy and they had no intention of rushing him for fear of making it worse.

They sat him down on the edge of the bed and calmly told him that they were going to go get medical supplies to treat his injured foot. Oswald barely seemed to hear him, only clawing at his shirt and mumbling something that the rabbit’s large ears barely picked up. They smiled slightly, simply saying “I’ll get Mr. Wallaby too.” It did not take long to gather what they assumed they needed to treat a small wound as well as a well loved stuffed wallaby from Oswald’s room. They snarled at the bear that was now under the bed with the doll before they left, not bothering to stay long enough to hear a response. It would have been easier if Oswald’s nurse mother was here but sadly she had to go into another shift and would not be back for at least two more hours. They gently placed down the materials they had gathered on the bed, putting the toy in Oz’s arms for him to hold while they worked on fixing him up. They cautiously took off the sock, softly apologizing to the still shaking boy as the fabric stuck to his skin. They snarled under their breath at seeing the three bloody scratches at varying depths, the deepest one looking especially painful. Hopefully Oz would not need stitches. If he did then Theodore was definitely chucking that bear into a bonfire no matter what.

The rabbit focused back on their task, wiping the area clean with a warm washcloth then gently rubbing in some antiseptic. Oswald hissed and jerked his foot back, the rabbit’s grip gentle enough that Oz was able to bring his foot back to his body easily. “Sorry buddy, I know it hurts. That bear looked like it went through a garbage can and a sewer, I don’t want you getting sick.” They gently pet the boy’s hair, trying to be comforting. They tried not to think about how strange the action was for them, focusing only on comforting and caring for the boy. He was concerningly nonverbal now but thankfully had stopped hyperventilating and was now taking small, shaky breaths. They gently wrapped his foot in bandages that had little forest animals on it. They definitely picked it because it was the best looking one for medical purposes and not at all because there were rabbits on the pattern. Oz seemed to like it thankfully, gently touching the parts that were not covering his wound.

Theodore knelt their head down and gently nuzzled the bandaged leg, letting out a soft purr. “There we go, all wrapped up. Your mom can double check my work later when she gets home. If you want us to toss that bear I’m sure she won’t oppose it. There’s nothing good that will come from having a hazard in your room.” Oz scrunched his face and made a grunting noise that probably was meant to mean a no. “Oh don’t give me that, that thing hurt you!” they launched onto the bed, making Oz lift off the bed a little with a surprised giggle. They then went into a tickle attack, careful to not pin down the boy still recovering from a serious panic attack. The child squirmed and wiggled around the bed, giggling all the while and playfully batting back at his fuzzy assailant. Theodore couldn’t help but laugh as well as they basked in the relief at finally seeing the timid boy smile genuinely because of them. They may have failed to protect him from a potential body snatcher and getting scratched but they could help him now and make amends. They did not care what that tattered sewage rat said, they had no regrets for inserting themselves into Oswald’s life.

Rebbecca sighed as she locked the front door, placing her jacket on the coat hanger and bringing the Chinese takeout she had brought home for her family down on the kitchen table. She had seen her husband’s car in the driveway so she knew that he and her son were home yet it was oddly quiet. She walked quietly through the house until she got to her and her beloved’s shared room, planning to change into casual clothes and out of her sweat stained scrubs. She was surprised to find her husband and son laying in the bed, her husband holding Oswald gently as they both slept. The sight was absolutely precious and she refused to interrupt them. The tired mother quickly changed as quietly as she could then went to the bedside table to turn off the lamp so her adorable family could rest in peace. She raised an eyebrow at seeing the medical supplies on the nightstand. Usually if someone was injured, her or Chris would dress the wounds in the bathroom which was where the supplies usually stayed. She leaned over the duo to try and see who was injured, bumping into her husband as he sat up slightly to greet her.

“Oh, hello honey. Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. Did one of you get hurt?” she whispered as she continued to inspect the two. Her love scowled slightly as he looked down at their son, face turning concerned and full of adoration. “Yeah, Oswald got scratched on his foot by one of his toys. I wrapped the wound best I could and am going to fix that toy when I get the chance.” her brows furrowed at the news, knowing that both her and her husband always made sure to buy their son safe toys that had little risk to harm him.

“I’ll make sure to look at it after dinner and before bed. We should probably toss that toy if it caused a bad enough injury to where you needed to wrap his poor foot.” She leaned over her husband to look closer at her son’s bandage, placing a hand on her husband's side to steady herself. She smiled lightly when he squeaked softly at the touch, shifting his body so she could inspect his work better. “You’re adorable when you’re sensitive, love.” The loving and blissfully unaware mother smiled wider at seeing Theodore’s blushing face. They had no idea how to handle flirting whatsoever and could only stutter out nonsensical noises in response. Unfortunately that woke up Oswald, the boy sitting up with a scrunched face and humorously tousled hair. “Oh, baby” His mother laughed gently at the state of her child, lovingly patting down his hair and asking him what had happened earlier.
Theodore looked at the scene with what they could only assume was adoration. They really should not be getting so attached to this little family, yet they find themselves falling in love with them far too quickly for their liking. They had watched them from afar for a while but had only been interacting with the family for two days and yet they could not be happier. Theodore sighed softly as they followed their sleepy child and loving wife to the dining room to eat a warm family dinner, gently smiling and wagging his small bunny tail that only Oswald’s tired eyes could see.