Chapter Text
Driving through the pouring rain in the dead of night, Bandit pulls into the barren parking lot of the vintage, if not totally outdated pizzaria before smoothly guiding the car into the closest parking space to the building's front door. Once the car came to a complete stop, he shifted it into park and turned on the lights inside of the car. Only to find that his gingersweet red heeler wife, who proudly went by the name Chilli Cattle Heeler, had fallen asleep, the heated seat reclined back for extra comfort. He gently closed his eyes and shook his head softly with a little warm smile before deciding to give his adoring wife a little wake up tap on the shoulder.
“Hey babe. We made it. It's time to get up for your new side gig.” After about ten seconds without a response, he tapped her shoulder again, causing Bandit's sleeping beauty to slowly sit up in her chair and raise her arms up as she let out a long yawn. She then used her thumbs to rub the sleep crust out of her eyes, being careful not to poke herself with her claws as she turned to look at her Prince charming.
“Already?” She responded, it had been a solid sixteen seconds or so since Bandit last spoke, so it was a bit late to respond to his last sentence, though it was still nevertheless better than not responding at all. “What time is it?” “About eleven fifty.” He answered. “Just in time for your first night here at Freddy's. You know,” He scratched the back of his head “I still can't believe that I drove you here for work.” “Why is that?” Chilli Inquired. “Is it that hard to believe that I still have enough energy left in the tank to work a six hour night shift in my early forties?”
“No, it's not that. Though now that you mention it, I can't help but be impressed.” Chilli blushes softly at Bandits' compliment. “I mean, I know you're eager to start making renovations to our home now that we've decided to stay here in Brisbane, but working for six hours right after working from two to ten is just crazy, even if these guys are paying you a solid fifty dollars per hour.” “Well, what can I say? I don't want the house where we conceived two children against all odds and watched them take their first steps to fall into disrepair.” Bandit lets out an involuntary sigh and puts his paw over his eyes as his wife brings up these reasons for her emotional attachment to their house. It had only been a little more than a month since Bandit almost sold the house and moved the family away from Brisbane for a better job with a higher salary, so clearly Chilli was bringing these fond memories up to try and intentionally make him feel even worse about what he almost did.
“Chilli… we've been over this. I didn't want the job, it didn't seem like one I'd enjoy doing. I only wanted to get hired there so that I could give us and our children a better, more comfortable life. You said you were fine with it, and both of us were convinced that Bingo understood what was happening and was okay with moving out.” “Right, but you were still the one selling the house. So you shouldn't be able to say that you didn't have any part in this.” “I know.” Bandit takes his wife's paw into his own and looks into her eyes. “And I am sorry. I should've told you that I didn't really want the job, and I should've read your signals better to realize that you didn't want to go.” “Even though you didn't realize that, you still should've called off selling the house for Bluey's sake. She made it obvious and apparent that she didn't want to go.” “I've been on this planet for five times longer than she has been. I figured I had the better Idea of what would make our family the happiest. Besides, from what I could tell, she was outvoted by you and Bingo, so I figured that moving would result in the biggest net positive for our family in terms of happiness.”
He lets out a deep breath through his nose while Chilli looks down at her feet. “Chilli. The whole reason why I put so much research into making sure that town was as good as they said it was is because I only wanted what would make you and the girls the most happy and comfortable, but I see that that doesn't justify me almost making us move. I just want you to know that I'm sorry for the pain I almost caused you, and to make sure that this doesn't happen again, I'll be sure to read signals from you and our kids better, and be more honest and open about how I feel about things like moving out. Because I love you, and I love our children, so I want to ensure that I never come anywhere close to hurting all three of you so badly ever again.” Chilli closes her eyes for a few moments, considering everything that her beloved just said, as well as the feelings behind them. “I appreciate that you're so sorry for your actions.” Bandit smiled a bit, his tail starting to wag as he anticipated Chilli accepting his apology. “However.” Bandits' mood dropped down again. “I am not ready to forgive you yet.” “Oh…. Alright. It's okay. In that case…. I'll just give you some time for it. Take as long as you wish.” “Okay, I will. Thanks Bandit.” The air in the car grew a bit colder as they sat there in melancholic silence.
“So…” Chilli spoke up. “If my decision to work a six hour night shift after my eight hour shift as airport security isn't why you're surprised that you'd end up driving me here, then what is it?” “Well, back when I was a kid, I always dreamed about driving myself to my hometown's Freddy's to play games and eat pizza all by myself. At the time I imagined myself being in my mid twenties, but by the time I was twenty-four, I predictably completely lost interest in cheesy childrens establishments like this one. Instead I spent my time doing my first few jobs as an amateur archeologist. Now I'm experiencing my first time sitting in the parking lot of a Freddy's in over thirty years, and I don't even feel like going inside. I bet my nine year old self would be advising me to check into a psych ward if they could see this scene.”
Chilli let out a little chuckle as Bandit explained his strange feelings about pulling up to this equally strange restaurant. “Well if it helps with your complicated emotions, I wouldn't dare to let you inside after business hours anyway. Since I don't want Fazbear Entertainment firing me on my first night and blacklisting me from applying at a Freddy's ever again.” “Awwww man…” Bandit made his ears droop a bit as he feigned disappointment for his spouses amusement. “You won't even let me go inside to meet Bonnie? He was always my favorite, and still is...” Chilli rolled her eyes at her husband's theatrics with a smile. “Don't worry Bandit. I'll make sure to ask him for an autograph while I'm in there.”
He smiled softly. “Thanks Chilli, I hope you enjoy your shift.” “And I hope you enjoy your drive home.” They both closed their eyes and leaned in close to each other to share a tender, loving kiss. Their tails wagging in perfect sync until they both pull away after about five seconds. After the kiss, Chilli looks down at her watch to check the time, her eyes widening a bit as she realizes that she has to be in the restaurant and behind the desk of her security office in just three minutes. “Oh shoot!” She quickly dons the night guard cap and badge that were gracefully bestowed upon her by Fazbear Entertainment and tucks her phone away into her pocket. “Well, I've got to get going now. I'll see you around six AM, alright babe?” “Sure thing Chilli Sauce. I'll be here right on the dot to take you back home.” “Alright, Well…. Have a good night, best of luck taking care of the girls in the morning, tell them I said hi, we can talk more about what almost happened with the house later, and in case you may have forgotten.” She grabs her husband's paws and looks into her husband's eyes once more. “I promise I will always love you~” Bandit couldn't help but blush a bit, despite the fact that he's lost count of how many times his spouse has said those exact words. “And I promise I will always love you~” Their tails started wagging yet again.
Chilli unbuckles herself, grabs her thermos full of single single coffee, and gets out of the car. Once the door is shut and locked, Bandit shifts out of park and drives back home to check if the girls are staying up late, and then hopefully get some rest if they aren't. At the same time, Chilli uses the key that was provided to her by Fazbear Entertainment to unlock the front door and head inside. Making sure to lock the door behind her before using the flashlight feature of her phone to light up the main room, which was full of folding chairs and folding tables with striped party hats on them. Along with a bunch of star decorations hanging from the ceiling with string. Looking around, she could immediately tell that it had been recently cleaned and Tidied up. After all, she knew firsthand what kind of messes one child under ten can make, so how else could the main room look so nice after having dozens of kids being kids all over it for fifteen hours?
This alone had Chilli rather intrigued, but then she saw the three main animatronics, Chica The Hungry Chicken, Bonnie The Blue Bunny, and of course, Lead Singer Freddy Fazbear. She just so happened to know their names because her daughter Bluey had been invited to celebrate her cousin Socks’ birthday there a few months ago, which put her daughters into a Freddy Fazbear phase for a week, kind of like the She-ba phase she had when she was around Blueys age. This of course was on top of the research into this place that she did when she applied to work here. Reading all about the place and its mascots on the official Freddy Fazbear website made by Fazbear Entertainment. Which had a brief history of the company and its policies on it, along with character bios for all three members of Freddy's band. Making the three of them seem much more appealing than their animatronic counterparts.
Each animatronic stood at around eight feet tall, wearing fabric suits to cover up their endoskeletons made up of wires and steel. For the most part anyways, Chilli didn't have to look too hard to see the gaps into their costumes, left to allow them to bend and twist their joints. With the only price being how the same gaps serve as windows for anyone with working eyes to see into their suits and catch a glimpse of the cold, unfeeling metal within.
All three of the animatronics were standing on their stage, as still and lifeless as a member of the Heeler family when the music stops during musical statues, fittingly enough. According to the business hours sign just outside the restaurant, the place closed down at ten PM every night, giving the staff plenty of time to deep clean everything inside. However, Chilli could tell from just a glance that the animatronics hadn't been as thoroughly cleaned as everything else in the main room. Clearly whoever was in charge of cleaning everything in here was very hesitant to clean the animatronics, prioritizing that last for some reason. Even when they did clean the animals, they were much more focused on speed than quality when it came to cleaning off the stars of the Pizzaria, which left the Cattle dog somewhat puzzled. These three robots were the most important and beloved objects in the entire building, so why not go out of their way to clean them as deeply as they cleaned everything else in the room? After all, it's not like they were going to clean themselves.
Unfortunately, Chilli didn't have all night to marvel at the animatronics, so after briefly checking the digital map she had of the building's interior, she turned left and headed north down to her very own security office. Shining her phone light through the window, she saw that it was remarkably small. She expected to have at least a little elbow room to enjoy while she watched over the Pizzaria, but this room was barely big enough for two people. All that they had inside was a desk, an office chair, a tablet, a vintage phone, two switches on the west and east walls by the surprisingly high quality doorways, two faintly glowing square buttons next to the switches, a single light on the ceiling illuminating the room, some tacky posters of the animatronic characters, a plastic cupcake made to look like the one held by Chica, and a desk fan. Once she made it to her office, she sat down in her very own office chair and checked the time on her watch again. Watching firsthand as her digital watch changes from reading as eleven fifty-nine PM, to reading as twelve AM. Officially marking the beginning of her six hour shift. “Now I just need to wait here for a while as our renovation budget rises. Considering how I've been working in airport security for years, this should be a total singe.”