Chapter Text
Cassidy had a knack for paying attention to everything around her, even if she’s not directly trying to. From the corner of her eye she had kept track of the kids running around while she sat at one of the tables. One boy with a yellow shirt that had pizza grease on it, a girl with bright red shoes, two boys fighting over an arcade machine, a girl with a plushie who was running around playing hide and seek, and Brandon who had been in the corner reading a comic.
“- Danielle hasn’t showed up in the last few meetings since Melissa and her got into that dispute over the funding-”
Cassidy had been politely listening to her stepmother talk at one of her friends about PTA school drama for the past hour. Cassidy had gotten stuck in this situation when her stepmother found out about the reopening of the infamous Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. “Oh, your dad said you used to love that place! We should go so Brandon can see it,” and so they had gone. Brandon’s mom had also invited her friend and her baby, who was uncannily quiet. Maybe she was really engaged in the complicated relationships and nuances that go with a group of moms pretending to tolerate each other, or maybe she was just asleep, Cassidy couldn’t really tell. The yellow shirt boy ran past and bumped into Cassidy’s chair and yelled a short “excuse me!”.
“- and I don’t even know what the fuss is about, if you ask me the budget should be going into new desks -”
The girl with red shoes followed Brandon into Pirate’s Cove and one of the kids by the arcade had just won. The main stage was closed.
“- Brandon says his desk is falling apart, they’ve had those things for ages -”
Cassidy knew her stepmother had asked her to the restaurant, probably to try and bond with her, not that they had a bad relationship but they were never close, although it seemed Cassidy was all but ignored. The plushie kid ran back out with the red shoes girl, both running up to the boy with the yellow shirt and chatting excitedly about something. Brandon looked up slightly when they walked by.
“- Still, Melissa insists on investing in new gadgets for the kids, but I don’t see the problem with just using paper -”
Yellow shirt, Brandon, red shoes, arcade, plushie.
“- They need to learn how to do the work on their own and it really -”
The stage curtains moved revealing the three animatronics. Cassidy had instantly felt a wave of nostalgia, they looked just like she remembered. The kids who were running around had all begun to crowd around the stage.
Yellow shirt, red shoes, arcade, plushie.
No Brandon.
Cassidy had stood up a bit straighter, actively trying to find Brandon among the kids. Red shoes girl had run out of Pirate’s Cove again followed by the yellow shirt boy, supposedly in a game of tag that was cut off by the stage opening. The rest of the kids were jumping in front of the stage excitedly. Cassidy had stood up.
“Brandon?”
She had walked into the different rooms, still no sign of him.
“Brandon this isn’t funny, your mom’s going to kill me if I lose you here.”
She never got a response.
She had gone back to her stepmother and her friend, they had all looked, and the police were called, but nothing was found.
Cassidy was now sitting in her car, playing the same mix tape on loop.
It had been almost a week since Brandon had gone missing.
Cassidy stared at the dashboard. She had driven without purpose and found herself back to the restaurant. She had been debating going back to look around, but decided that was stupid. It’s not like the place even closed, whatever there was to see someone would have found already. Cassidy thought it should’ve closed, at least for a bit. The police didn’t seem to have any sense of urgency which was pissing Cassidy off. She picked at the thread of her car seat as she glared at the air. She felt like shit just sitting and waiting for other people to find Brandon, it had already been a week for Christ’s sake and no one knew where he was. Her house felt creepily quiet without her little brother there to annoy her. With a sigh she turned off her car. Well, I’m already here.
Cassidy got out, shutting her car door behind her. It had been her grandfather’s car, it was old and in the process of falling apart but it still ran and it had been a gift so she wasn’t complaining. There was a slight breeze as she walked towards the pizzeria and the dull sky was spotted with grey clouds. As Cassidy walked in she noticed it was much busier than it was before.
There was music coming from the stage and hyperactive kids running around. Some had party hats so Cassidy assumed it was one of their birthdays. Cassidy walked around the back, glancing at the arcade machines. What if he got stuck behind one? Cassidy knew that wasn’t that probable, continuing to walk around. The prize counter didn’t have anyone attending it but it did have a variety of toys and treats. Some particularly cheap looking plushies were lined up on shelves. They were recognizable but Cassidy could remember the plushies she had being of superior quality. She leaned over to get a better look at them. I wonder where my old plushies are…
“Cassidy!”
Cassidy turned in the direction of the sound, seeing a blonde woman around her age who was vaguely familiar. Cassidy squinted her eyes as if it would help her remember quicker.
“Susie?”
“Gosh, I haven’t seen you in ages!”
She smiled warmly as she walked up to Cassidy, and Cassidy turned to face her fully. She had on an off-white button up shirt with a confetti pattern on it, along with a “Fazbear Manager” name tag. Time had changed her features, it was still Susie but now she was taller and had had a more matured demeanor than from what Cassidy remembered. They had met at Frazbear’s and would play together for hours whenever they could. After the restaurant closed they slowly fell out of touch.
“It’s been years, hasn’t it? How’ve you been?”
Cassidy nodded. “Decent.” She didn’t really want to go into details.
“What’ve you been up to?”
“Well, this,” Susie gestured generally to the restaurant.
“Seriously?” Cassidy looked around as if just becoming aware of where she was. Susie smiled with a nod of her head.
“Yup! We bought the rights to the characters, and some of the old robots. It took a while to fix them up but I think it’s turned out really well.” Susie seemed just as spirited as she was as a kid. Cassidy dipped her head slightly in acknowledgment, thinking a second.
“‘We’?”
“Oh right- remember Gabriel? He helped out with buying it so we co-own this place now.” The name brought back even more memories.
“Wow, really? I didn’t know you guys still talked.” Cassidy could briefly recall one of Susie’s birthday parties where her, Cassidy, Fritz, Gabriel, and Jeremy had spent a whole day just messing around together. After that if they happened to run into each other at Freddy’s they would play together, but never really hung out much outside of that. Cassidy still had fond memories of that party though.
“Yeah, we went to the same school. Jeremy’s been helping with the tech stuff too actually.” That made sense, they were both pretty young so buying a business would require some financial help, but Cassidy also felt a twinge of desolation, had they all continued to be friends without me? Not like she cared, she had plenty of friends, as in one - but sometimes that’s enough.
“That’s really cool.”
Susie joined Cassidy in leaning against the prize counter, following her line of sight as she spaced out.
“Y’know…” Susie started, nudging Cassidy’s shoulder, “If you were ever looking for a job, we are hiring.” Cassidy tightened one of her pigtails absently.
“Really?” Susie nodded with a sigh. “We’re a tad understaffed at the moment, that’s why I’m here helping out today.” Susie waved vaguely at the kids enjoying their birthday party. “Day shift stuff can mostly be covered but we don’t have anyone to look after the place at night.” Cassidy tilted her head.
“Have people broken in?”
“No, but we wouldn’t want to risk it and things have already come up.” Cassidy wondered what she meant by that but didn’t ask any questions. She had been looking for a new job. I did want to look around the restaurant more too… and if I was an employee I’d be able to check different rooms for Brandon that the police might have missed. Cassidy crossed her arms as she considered it.
“I’d be down to help.”
“Awesome! What here I’ll grab some papers-”
Susie motioned her hands for Cassidy to stay as she ran into an office. She popped her head out of the room.
“Nothing too important, just basic legal stuff,” she clarified.
After she went back in she came out with a stack of papers. Cassidy wrote down her information and read over the contents of the terms curiously. After she signed the final agreement Susie took the papers and shook Cassidy’s hand gratefully.
“Great, I’ll call you when I can. Do you mind starting soon?” Time was of the essence, Brandon was still out there somewhere, possibly without food or water, starting sooner would be beneficial.
“No, that’s fine,” Cassidy reassured. “Cool,” Susie turned to the group of kids who were restlessly awaiting birthday cake. “It was nice catching up, I’ll talk to you later, k?” “Yeah, nice seeing you,” Cassidy returned as Susie ran off down a hallway.
Cassidy returned to her car, the sky seemed to be getting more overcast and she didn’t particularly care for getting caught in the rain. She felt a vague sense of hope, like she was actually doing something instead of waiting around.
This trip had gone better than expected.