The way it should be…

The pizzeria echoed with the soft sound of sobbing. It was slow and pain filled…as if someone had just been handed the most devastating of circumstances. In fact that was seemingly the case. Following the noise, one would be able to determine it’s location to be the backstage area. Looking inside would break your heart.

Freddy was backstage, out of camera sight, and he was the source of the crying. The normally strong bear was curled up in a corner, the former strength he had no longer present. From first glance one could see his clothes were a ruffled mess but looking closer, you could feel your own heart break. His beautiful icy blue eyes were swollen red with tears, cheeks also red in color from all the times he tried wiping the tears away. The suave brown hair was a tossed to a point there would be knots in the delicate locks. His apron and top hat discarded to side in a way that normally would never be. Finally, clutched to his chest was a pink slip…the only thing left he had of him…

Bonnie was leaning against Foxy as they sat in the cove, his scarlet eyes were closed but one could see there were tears gathering at the corner of his eyes. He leaned into Foxy more than before to which the red head gathered the rabbit into his arms keeping him close as Bonnie was filled with sorrow. The pirate knowing all too well what his mate was feeling as too. Nothing makes him wish he could fix things more than right now but the fact was, he couldn’t…

Chica was also crying while she was in the kitchen with Cupcake…her tears were silent as she busied herself with making food. No matter what her emotion cooking helped. When she was happy cooking made her even more happy. When sad cooking helped her cope with whatever she was feeling, yet at the moment, she still felt helpless…

Goldie, however…was fuming.

Saying Gold was pissed was probably the understatement of a lifetime. He personally knew of the torment of being separated from the one you loved but he at least knew of Spring’s feelings toward him and vice versa. Freddy never even got the chance to tell Mike and the blonde bear felt slightly responsible as he was part of the group that pulled him away from the former guard. He had noted that the young male seemed more sullen that day and it wasn’t till later that they found out why.

What happened, or at least what Goldie had pieced together, was when Mike left the establishment his pink slip fell from one of his pockets. Right before the doors were to open…Freddy found the slip. He must not had thought much of it till he opened the crumpled paper and found that Mike had been terminated. When his younger brother fell to his knees, that is when Gold noticed something was very wrong. Rushing to his brother’s aid as well as the rest of the crew the blonde saw the slip his brother was holding in shaking hands. All of them did and when the brown bear muttered brokenly ‘he never got to tell him’ and then guilt set in for taking Freddy away from Mike that morning…

All the animatronics knew of Freddy’s feeling. They never seen that look in the brown bears eyes before as they did when he first caught sight of the new night guard. Love at first sight. They all thought it was adorable and as much as Foxy wanted to kinda pick on Freddy for it…he couldn’t bring himself to do so. Not when he looked so happy. The red head knew of that kinda feeling…it was the same one he got when he looked at Bonnie.

Everyone sorta picked up were Freddy was slacking now. Goldie even had to step up to singing again for the time being. No one could blame him but they didn’t know how long it was going to take the heart broken one to make it to the stage again. Even when he did, his heart wouldn’t be in it. That was already smashed to pieces. As far as the children knew he was ‘out of order’ for the moment but no one knew how much it wasn’t a lie. Freddy was broken and the likelihood of repair was slim to none. He would become numb before he ever got better and that would not fair well for the rest of them, without their leader…

“I never thought this would happen Spring,” Gold said looking once more at one of his only mementos from his love, the picture of the two of them. “We’ll fix this…”

Gold was not going to let this pass by…the managers would be getting hell for this but right now he had a little brother to take care of. His first step, however, was getting an accomplice. The new guard he had seen earlier would be the best candidate, as everyone else was moping around. Their moods taking on something similar to Freddy’s. It was time to pay the guard a little visit.

~~~*~~~

“Just where is that crying coming from?” the female guard stated as she searched for the source. She had been doing that for at least an hour if not more. When the young woman entered the establishment she had been getting off the phone with her sister confirming the plans they had made for the weekend…cause she was terribly forgetful and her sister would have read her the riot act if she hadn’t.

Back to the problem, last night and tonight there had been crying and for the life of her she couldn’t figure out who it was. She couldn’t figure out who it was cause, everyone was literally out of sight. Chica had gone to the kitchen, for what reason she didn’t know. She didn’t even see where the purple rabbit went. The female guard knew there were three others but for the life of her she hadn’t seen them at all. Sighing, she continued to scroll through the camera, she was not giving up her search though. Concentrating hard she blocked everything till…

“The crying would most likely be my brother…”

“Oh…alright…” The young woman stated nonchalantly, then it registered…she was supposed to be the only one there and obviously…she wasn’t. Flailing, the female fell over taking the chair with her. “Eep!!”

Gold just sighed as he placed his fingers to his forehead…why did all the human guards do that? It wasn’t his fault they weren’t paying attention. It had to be just a human thing…humans were really dumb once-in-a-while. Still it gave him a good look at this person he was trying to recruit. Glancing down, he took in the female’s appearance.

Her most notable feature was her mismatched eyes, one normal deep brown color and the other just happened to me a dark purple…something very odd for humans, which was behind a pair of rectangle-ish glasses. Her hair was a dull red with a small patch of it being really light gray in color over her left eye and pulled back into a low pony tail. Skin tone was between a healthy pale and fair with an average look to her body structure. She was wearing the security guard uniform, her hat on the desk, and was looking at him like she didn’t know what to do next.

Sighing, the bear reached over a hand to pull her to her feet, which she accepted hesitantly. Before things could get strange again he decided now would be a good time for a conversation. Save for the fact…the female had already been questioning what was in her coffee that evening.

“Gold.”

“Hmm?” The young woman stated, tilting her head to the side a little bit…she was confused.

“My name, you are?” Goldie asked.

“Well, this is awkward.”

“What?”

“Umm…well…I’m Argent,” She stated and all he could do was stare at her, “No joke.”

“That is rather strange…but anyway,” The male said simply, “I need your assistance.”

“Whatever for?”

“Come with me.”

“I’m not supposed to leav-” She was interrupted as he grabbed her wrist. Mainly, to shut her up but he was sure she would be air headed enough to get lost in the building as well.

“You’ll be fine…come with me.”

Without much of a choice the red head allowed herself to be dragged down the dark halls of the pizzeria. There was a sense of dread building inside her but honestly, she didn’t feel that this guy was out to do her any harm.

~~~*~~~

The two headed down the hall, passing by Pirate’s Coveter footsteps garnered the attention of at least one of the occupants. Foxy’s hooked peeked out and slowly pulled back the curtain a tad and glanced out with one of his golden eyes. To say he was surprised was an understatement. Gold and the new night guard, the blonde bear was actually dragging the female behind him. That was not something he was ready to see, shock was on his features but with where they were headed he didn’t know. He watched as they disappeared out of sight…what was Gold up to?

~~~*~~~

Once they were back stage, the young woman gasped at the sight in that was his the hidden corner of the room. She had to fight the urge to run over and hug the poor thing. Argent saw Freddy all huddled up in a corner crying his eyes out. She looked devastated knowing there was probably very little she could do. It was then Gold took her back out and they left the brown bear for the moment.

“Oh my lord, what happened?” She stated in a hushed tone, terrified what would happen if she spoke any louder.

“Management fired the former guard under nonexistent circumstances,” Goldie began looking toward the backstage area again, “Freddy was and still is smitten with the guard, his heart is literally in pieces. He never got to tell him how he felt. From what it looks like…now he never will…”

“Fuck that…” was all the young woman said and then began to push Gold back in the direction of not only her office but the managers office as well, “Managers office, now.”

“Really now?” The golden bear was certainly amused at this turn of events. He thought she would have gotten involved but now she looked pissed. The blond allowed himself to be maneuvered back across the party room, this time he spotted Foxy who had a ‘wtf’ look on his face and all Goldie could do was mouth ‘later’ to him as Argent, who was surprisingly stronger than he thought, pushed him back towards the managers office. They stopped in front of the door as the female finally replied to him.

“If I can get his name, I can hunt him down and figure something out to get him back in the building. Thought if we want a more permeant solution, we need to get better management in this place…though I think you can handle that much on your own. Can you get me in here?” Argent finished up with the question, because as she was explaining things she tried to get the door open, as fate would have it, it was locked. Now, the Bear had an opportunity. Just to mess with her, the Golden bear grabbed her by the waist, pulled her towards him and he blinked them inside the room.

“A girl after my own heart,” he spoke trying to see what kind of reaction he could get from her. He had to have some fun once in a while. The reaction he got was hysterical, as she was already blushing and she literally pushed herself away from him as if he had the plague. It was quiet funny.

“Umm, no…I don’t even know you,” she stated quickly. Looking around she then questioned where exactly they were. “Where?”

“I’m kidding, I am actually taken…my other half, is just not here at this time,” the blonde said filling in a few things. “And this is the managers office. I’m just special.”

“Okay…So long as it is joke flirting, I’m good with that then, deary,” Argent smiled, relaxing a bit. May as well change the subject, it wasn’t going to affect the end result. She began rifling through the filing cabinets looking for the employee records. She knew from past jobs they were kept on hand for about 6 months. As she was this persons immediate replacement it made sense that it would still be there and depending on how they sorted things, the first thing she came across. The red head continued the conversation as she hunted for information, “I joke flirt with my guy friends all the time…keeps the creeps away.”

“Self defense; not a bad use for it.”

“I know, right,” the woman then stopped as she looked at the date on the file she had, “Ah ha~,” the red head sing-songed, she found his records, “Micheal Schmidt, worked here only a week…one of the longest runners. Fired for…this doesn’t even make any sense…”

“I know…” Gold stated, smiling slightly at the confused look on her face. Her eyes even stated that this ‘didn’t look right’.

“Ah, his address, ‘4213 Sister’s Court, Cawthon’. This will work nicely!” She found a sticky note and quickly jotted down the information that she would need. Then she placed the note in her back pocket and put the file back. Best make sure it looked like nothing had happened.

“How quickly can you get him here?” Gold asked with haste in his voice. The woman paused. She didn’t know how much effort it was going to take. The girl didn’t know this Mike person, at all, and looking at the bear she honestly didn’t know what he could tell her. He seemed to be acting after the fact which could mean he doesn’t know at all, it isn’t that important or that Gold just didn’t want to tell her…Argent was leaning towards the first two options.

“Probably by the tomorrow night, if I am lucky. I can go home and take a nap right away…so I can focus on finding him when I wake up…and if he is even in the mood for coming back. Otherwise I may need a few days.”

“I cannot tell you how much time we have…Freddy had only stopped crying to sleep…mainly cause he cried himself to sleep. He has been this way for two days.”

“The poor sweetie…we’ll fix this,” the red head spoke. Then there was silence, he watched as the young woman looked around the room as if trying to figure out what to say…finally, she did, “Umm…can you get me out of here now? Not the same way you got me in here either. I’m…not the fondest of being touched…”

All Gold could do was smirk a little bit and hold his hand out to her, “Hand holding out of the question?”

“That, I am alright with.” She took this offered hand again and he blinked her back to her office where for the rest of the night she did her job and was working on a plan.

~~~*~~~

Gold was heading back to start getting ready for the day when he was confronted by none other than the pirate himself. He seemed to have left Bonnie in the cove for some reason. Looking passed him, the blonde was able to catch the smallest glimpse of the the rabbit passed the cove curtains. Bonnie seemed to be sleeping, that would be the only way Foxy would have left him at this time. With how upset everyone is…

“Matey, what ye been up te?” The pirate asked, suspicion lacing his voice. Foxy had every right to wonder.

“Trying to be a good big brother,” Gold replied with simply. The red head continued to look at him with a bit a mistrust in his eyes. It was then Gold grabbed the fox by the shoulder and took him far enough away so no one could hear them. Center of the party room it was. Once there he flicked the other’s eye patch up to look him in both eyes. That is when he started in…“We need someone on the outside right now and you know it. We need to get Mike back here. All things considered that girl is our best shot. I was actually lucky they hired a female as they are normally more empathic. This one appears to be so as well, which means we could actually get some results…we just have to deal with management.”

There was silence for a couple seconds, which filled the golden bear with tension. Out of everyone, Foxy would be the best bet on the inside. He was ingenious when it came to mischief, probably one of the things Bonnie adored him for. Then the red fox lifted his hook and flicked his eye patch back into place before a wicked smirk crossed him lips. What he said caused Gold to smirk an equal malicious grin.

“Now, ye speakin’ me language, mate.”

~~~*~~~

The former security guard was currently face down in the living room sofa. A couple days had passed since he had lost his job at Freddy’s…Freddy. He couldn’t stop thinking about the brown bear. Mike groaned as he pushed his face into the couch cushion even more, the more he thought about the other, the more things came to mind he never dwelled on before. Freddy’s blue eyes, full of more life than what should be there. His hair looked so soft and touch felt so warm…

Mike never considered himself an open person but some how that annoying bear was able to grow on him very quickly. Almost too quickly. The male had to keep some distance. His last day there, he could tell that the brunette was trying to tell him something but he wasn't able too. That hug remained in his head a lot longer than it should have. It felt so nice…he honestly wouldn’t have minded if it could have lasted longer than it had. As much as he wanted to go back he couldn’t bring himself too. That was a place for children…he didn’t even know anyone with kids.

His roommate told him to take it easy for a few days before looking for another job. He could see that something was wrong with Mike but didn’t say anything. It was at this time the dark haired one was thankful for his roommates observations. Besides…honestly, it wasn’t like he could tell him could he? That he had somehow fallen for the animatronic? Hell, he didn’t even tell his roommate where he was working.

Getting up, he trudged to the kitchen. The apartment was his for the time being and with the mood he was in, it was a good thing. His roommate, that he affectionately calls ‘Prince’, was out with the aptly nicknamed ‘Princess’, it was one of their days out. Honestly, he didn’t know what the relationship was between them but they were happy…that was all that mattered. Part of him wished he could have that happiness as well but…it didn’t seem likely.

As he was grabbing the pitcher of lemonade from the fridge. There was a knock at his door. Looking toward the clock in the dinning room, he noted the time on clock. It was after 4 in the afternoon. He had spent almost the entire day face down in the sofa trying halfheartedly smother himself while staying in is grey pajamas. As more demanding thoughts were coming into his head, the knocking at the door started up again. Seems this person wasn’t going to go away so may as well answer. Hopefully, it wasn’t another salesman.

Heading to the door, Mike could hear on the other side a muffled ‘Mister Schmidt?’. It was a female, that was for certain. He was too tired to try and figure out exactly who it was but he was pretty certain it was Princess. So the blue eyed young man figured that maybe Prince forgot his key or something. Opening the door without looking, he started, “Princess, I could have sworn you and Prince wouldn’t have gotten back yet.”

“Hun, ‘Mad Scientist’ suites me better, seriously though, I am no Princess.”

The dark haired male snapped his eyes open in a rush to see in fact Princess was not standing in front of him. It was a really strange looking young woman. He couldn’t tell if she was older or young than himself but she had a knowing look in her eyes as if she had seen more things than she was willing to let on. Still how did she know who he was or where he was living?

“Who are you? How did you find me and want do you want?”

“Really? Fine, fine, twenty questions it is,” she sighed, “Name is Argent but just call me Arty. As for how I found you, I am working at your pervious workplace and was requested to come find you.”

“Unless, this is important, I suggest you leav-”

“It’s about Freddy.”

“Talk fast,” was all that was said and the young woman proceeded to explain quickly.

~~~*~~~

Mike was throughly surprised. Freddy, the face of the Pizzeria had not been seen in over two days. He was so distraught that Mike had been fired and he hadn’t be able to tell Mike something that was very, very important, that the bear had literally withdrawn from the world. That was the surprising part the other bit of the story was pissing him off. Management didn’t seem to care all that much.

“How could they just let that slip by!? He is their main Mascot!” Mike shouted. By this time he had let the strange woman inside. With what she was explaining, it wasn’t something he wanted just anyone to hear. Not with what he was hearing. Honestly, he never thought his departure would have made that much of an impact…yet, it did. This made him fell a little sick.

“Sugar, I was lucky to get sleep…” The young woman said, “It was bothering me that much. Why do you think I was asked to come get you? He is literally out of action in the worse way and everyone close is worried sick.”

“I can understand why…I just…I…I can’t go back though.”

“Why not!?” the red head all of a sudden yelled at him, “I have half a mind to smack you up beside the head if you can’t gimme a good reason.”

Mike better explain himself quickly enough. This girl went from docile to mad in seconds, mad females are not something fun to deal with. The situation was going to end 1 of 2 ways, here is hoping it wasn’t violent. Putting his hands up, he stepped away from Argent.

“It’s a kids place, I am obviously not a kid and do not have one or know anyone that does,” Mike said quickly. Seeing the anger evaporate from the mismatched eyes, Argent scoffed a laugh at him before shaking her head.

“Is that really all? Boyo, I’m the new night guard. Even though I have only been there two nights, I know where the emergency exit is and have the keys to it…I can get you in,” the red head stated simply.

“You’d do that?”

“Umm…duh?” She stated as if it was the most obvious thing.

“Alright, fine, I’ll go see what Freddy has to say.”

“Good, I’ll pick you up tonight. Be ready.”

He could have easily could have backed out. With as much swearing as he did about the place, he could have made things so much harder for the young woman he was seeing to the door. Mike could have done a lot of things right there…but he didn’t. Looking into the mismatched eyes of his successor, Mike spoke quickly and firmly.

“I will.”

~~~*~~~

Mike had left his apartment early, when Prince came back, he told his roommate he had plans for the night. This made the other male beam. He may have been thinking of something else but the dark haired male couldn’t tell Prince where he was going exactly. So let him think what he wants…Prince may not be that far off depending on how things go with Freddy. With that bear anything can happen.

Arty had left him her number, she had gone home to get a bit more sleep, and he texted her that he was going to be waiting for her at a local diner. It would be easier to meet up that way than at the house. Prince knew he didn’t swing that way and having a strange girl coming to the door to pick him up would have looked a little odd. Seeing as Prince knew all his friends Mike would not have been able to wiggle his way out of that.

Sitting at a booth, near the window, he sipped at his coffee as he looked outside. It had started to drizzle a little bit, making the city shine, as everything now had a watery sheen to it. As he sat there, the brunette started to think things over again. Did he really want to do this? If he was asked that question out loud, the answer would be only because it was for the children. No one ever needed to know he really wanted to go back to see the bear of his own free will.

It was then a sea green Prius, of all things, pulled into the parking lot and parked on the far side. He looked at it right before his cell phone started to ring. Grabbing his phone from his pocket and looking at the number, he noted it was Argent. Did she own the Prius? Answering the call, he retook another sip of his coffee. “Art?”

“Yes?”

“You in the Prius?”

“Yes?” She repeated.

“I’m sorry.”

“The hell for?” She asked, “It’s my sister’s car not mine. Come on now, we gotta get going.”

“Yeah,” Mike chuckled to himself as he stood up and headed for the counter. He was obviously not wearing the work uniform anymore but he did sport a pair blue jeans with black hi-tops, a back button up and a thick brown jacket. Paying for his meal, the dark haired one exited the building and made his way to the car. Opening it up and sitting inside, he buckled-up as the red head began to pull out of the parking stall.

“'Sides, you really should be the sorry one.”

“Why?”

“Sis modified the Prius, this thing can do burn outs now,” Argent grinned wickedly before proceeding to do a burn out, out of the restaurants parking lot drifting onto the street with the turn. Effectively scaring Mike. If they didn’t have to police after them on the way to the Pizzeria, it would be a miracle.

~~~*~~~

Arriving at the workplace with no police confrontations to boot, Argent parked her car toward the back of the lot, close to the emergency exit. Nodding for Mike to stay put, she exited the car and head to meet the lock-up crew. Exchanging pleasantries with them, the red head disappeared inside the building. Mike stayed put, he would just have to wait it out till the strange girl texted him. Taking out his phone he decided to pass with a little game.

~~~*~~~

The female made her way to the office and on the way caught sight of the blond bear. He was taking Freddy’s place on stage. Giving him a thumbs up and a nod, she continued till she was in the office. Throwing her cap off, she picked up the tablet and began to fiddle with it. Argent was looking for a way to get the cameras to stop recording but she may have to wait for Gold to get back there and help her out. The red head had not been there long enough to figure out how the system worked completely.

She didn’t have to wait long though. As soon as it struck midnight, when she set down the tablet, the blond was right in front of her. He looked at her expectingly, as she gestured him to come over to her and she held the tablet out to him. He looked a bit confused and reached for the device. Why did she want him to have it?

“Help me get these things to stop recording,” Argent said.

“Why?” Gold questioned thoroughly confused. When the red head smiled at him, he thought it was something good but he didn’t know how good.

“He’s waiting in the car.”

“You got him!”

“I swear Fate was on my side today. Found him in the right mood and everything. Not gonna say it was easy but it wasn’t difficult either,” She propped her head up with her knuckles. “After we get him to Freddy we can have the cameras come back up and then have them go down again. Want to have the power flicker, to make it look more convincing, but I am not gonna try my luck.”

“Wait here,” Gold stated as he handed back the tablet. He knew just what needed to be done, “I know who can help with that.”

“Beautiful, I’ll be waiting,” Argent stated as she took back the electronic devise. With that the Bear disappeared and reappeared moments later. “That was quick.”

“As soon as I said Mike was waiting, Foxy took off toward the stage to grab Bonnie,” The blonde stated explaining everything he though of in the brief moments he was gone. Taking back the tablet he waited for his cue, “Bonnie can use his guitar to draw enough power to get the lights to flash and then we can cut the power to the cameras as well as doing that again to get Mike into the clear. The camera will start back up on their own after about five minutes.”

“Epic.”

“Just got to wait…and now.” The power flashed briefly, but it was just enough time to cut the cameras off and get Mike inside. “Cameras down, let’s get this done.”

~~~*~~~

Mike was still in the Prius, still waiting…still thinking. He didn’t know how Freddy was going to react. Would he be happy? Be mad? Believe it wasn’t real? There was a number of things that could happen. The main issue right now was getting inside to see the bear. However, depending on how things were going inside, he could be sitting in the car for a while. It was then he noted the lights dull on the outside of the building. Before he could question it, his phone vibrated. Quickly, looking down he noted that the red head texted him. They had somehow gotten the cameras cut for a little bit he needed to hurry.

Getting out of the car, Mike locked it behind him as Argent had asked of him. It was still drizzling so he didn’t need to try to out run the rain. All he had to do was out run their timer. Getting to the back door, he knocked on it a couple times and then it opened. What greeted him was both the sight of Argent and Gold…strange. He was then pulled inside the building by both of them before the door was closed and locked again.

“Come on, Mike,” Argent spoke hurriedly, “We have only got a couple minutes left. I should have timed that better.” They were all literally running down the hall to get to where Freddy had been held up for nearly 3 days.

“It’s alright,” Mike stated trying to calm the girl down, “We never worked out a concrete plan.”

Argent said nothing in return. The brunette male was correct however. They barely worked out a plan, everything was being done on the fly and that rarely if ever worked. Yet, with the female's silence came the sound of crying. Mike didn’t need move than one guess to figure out who it was.

As they were running, the group caught sight of the rest of the Fazbear crew. They all had varying degrees of smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes. Unlike before these were tears of happiness. Something could be done now. They could make Freddy feel better, they could get their friend back.

The three stepped into the back room, where Freddy was still huddled in the corner. His face buried in his knees, his frame wracked with harsh sobs. Beside him was still his apron and top hat and in one of his hands that were wrapped around his knees was Mike’s missing pink slip. He was not the strong bear that had been left behind. This was not the Freddy he had left here before. Mike didn’t know what to do. He was beyond shocked.

Feeling a hand on his shoulder brought him back to reality. Looking back, he saw Gold nodding to him. This is why, he was brought back. He had been the cause of this, not that he wanted to but he was. At that moment he cursed the management for their ways, they broke something that was much more frail than anyone had thought. It was now up to him to put him back together. He didn’t know what he would have to do but he would think of something.

Stepping up to the other bear, Mike stopped right before him. It seemed that Freddy was too far gone in his sorrow to notice that there was someone else in the room. Or, if he had noted the other presence, he simply didn’t care. The brown bear was not going look up at him till he had a reason to. So Mike had to give him a reason.

“Look at you…” Mike said simply. This made the other brunette’s head shoot up to stare at the one that had addressed him. The former night guard could see the extent of the others crying. His blue eyes were so red with how much he had been crying one would think his eyes would normally be that color. Cheeks were red and the skin around his eyes was puffy as well. Just from looking at the brunette Mike knew Freddy didn’t think he was real.

“M-mike?” Freddy chocked out. He hadn’t used his voice in days and it clearly showed. His singing voice was going to need time to recover. Mike would give him such time, right now he had to get the other to realize he truly was there. Kneeling down, Mike reached out with a hand and gently wiped the tears from the icy blue eyes of the other brunette. This caused Freddy to freeze. It wasn’t an hallucination, Mike was physically in front of him. This was real.

“You stupid bear…what will the children think?”

Freddy launched himself at Mike. Causing the aforementioned male to land on his butt with an armful of shaky animatronic. The brown bear had buried his head in the Mike’s shoulder as more tears escaped him. The human male figured that was going to happen, it was going to get worse before it got better. So sighing a little, Mike placed his arms around Freddy, holding him till he was able to calm down long enough to talk.

A few minutes had passed before the crying of the other began to calm. Freddy’s breathing began to even out. The entertainer was able to finally to comprehend what was all going on. Mike was there. He was really, truly there. He wasn’t going crazy with grief. Just how was going to be a question for another time, right now that didn’t even matter. Freddy was so thankful, so thankful to have Mike there with him.

“Mike…you’re…really here…” The bear chocked.

“Yeah,”

“Mike?”

“Hm?”

“I…I…” Freddy stumbled over his words. It was now or never. He didn’t know if he would see Mike again after this. There was no certainty with life. There never was. He could only hope that the man he was pinning over didn’t break him even more…but he had to try. He took a few more deep breaths, he could do this. Looking up at Mike and summoning up his normal bout of courage, which was harder than he thought it would be, Freddy was finally able to say what he had been trying to that morning. “I l-love you,”

It was as if time froze as he waited for the response from the other. Nearly a minute had passed and there had been no reaction from the other male. Freddy was ready for anything but he wasn’t ready for the silence. Tensing up more than he thought was possible he gripped Mike’s coat as he continued to wait. This got Mike to finally do something.

The former guard didn’t reject him, all he did was sigh and move himself to sit up against the wall behind him. Still holding Freddy in his arms, the human male continued to cradle the weak-hearted animatronic. He brushed a hand through the bear’s hair, slowly and carefully working out some of the knots that had build in the silky tresses. Rubbing circles on the entertainers back, the former guard decided to end Freddy’s torture.

“Took you long enough, stupid bear,” Mike stated simply. Freddy relaxed, Mike wasn’t going to walk away. The human male just made that distinctly clear. Mike was just hard to read, you had to look between the lines. That was probably one of the things Freddy loved about him. However, as Freddy began to get some rest, in the arms of the one he loved most, what he heard Mike mumble out made his heart flutter a little bit more.

“My stupid bear.”

~~~*~~~

Argent and Gold had left the two alone when Mike had made his way over to Freddy. Gold had blinked them back to the office, just in time for the cameras to kick back in. They would leave the two alone till morning. It was then that they break the two of them up. Freddy was on his way to recovery. It would take a little bit but now there should be no more suffering for the face of the pizzeria.

Both guard and performer were smiling. Granted, the two were still out of camera sight…they could be heard though. Freddy should now be on the mend. That was great news. Gold had been unable to protect his brother from heart ache but he was at least able to help fix it. That made him feel all the more accomplished. As they placed the tablet down on the table the human and animatronic shared a smile.

“Thank you,” Gold said simply.

“Don’t mention it,” the red head replied. Leaning back into the office chair the young woman stretched a bit. Her shoulders were aching slightly from holding herself back when came to how Freddy was. She had a hard time fighting the urge to hug him and tell him it would be alright.

“Why not? You helped us all out a great deal.”

“Hun, I am not worried. Just happy to help.”

“Your so nonchalant about this…”

“I normally try to help, it’s just me. ‘Sides, if I end up going to hell, may as well have some good karma on my side,” Arty stated with a laugh and a wink. “You able to hold up on your end?”

“Certainly, but…” Gold cut himself off. They were able to get the managers to agree to hiring back Mike on one condition. It wasn’t exactly what they had wanted but there was no other way. They had to get Mike back for Freddy.

“But?”

“You would have to quit-”

“Sweetie…I just took this job cause I was bored. Quitting is no issue. I am on vacation from my other job,” Argent stated with a shrug of her shoulders.

“Well, then,” Gold stated a little flabbergast. Who takes on another job vacationing from their pervious one? This girl was strange. Still, holding out his hand to shake the red head’s, which she returned gladly. “I suppose just work your last two days and then quit. It was good working with you.”

“I share the same sentiment,” the young woman with a smile. There was then a calm silence embraced the two before something happened. Something then came to the red head’s mind. Something that didn’t bother her but was questionable. “Question.”

“Hmm?”

“Why did we run down the hall when you could have blinked us there?” Argent asked as she stared straight a head of her. Only when the golden bear chuckled did she look over to meet his gaze.


“There are times when that would not be the best thing to do,” the male replied with a smile. In turn getting Argent to smile as well.

“True…”

The last few hours was more planning. Getting Mike in, letting him and Freddy some time alone, and getting Mike out before management comes. That would be the next two nights. With the ordeal that those two had gone through it was best not to push them too fast. Yet, when Mike came back on to the night shift they were pretty certain that Freddy would be helping Mike in the office more than often then not. Mike still had to do his job after all…and they had a relationship to work out.

When the night ended, they got Mike out of the building, not without a good night kiss from Freddy. Making the other male blush furiously muttering about how was not the right time but not fighting it either. Mike waited by the back door till he heard the other female guard get closer. Argent made her way to her car and once she got that started, opened the door and Mike hopped inside. Smiling at him, she went to drop the male off.

On the way back the red head told him to have his ear out on his phone. When he asked why she told him. If he wanted more detail he would have to ask Gold on it but more or less, once her 5 days were up and she quit, they would be calling him up and asking if he wanted his job back. He was going to tell her not too but she explained she had other things and the job wasn’t as exciting as she hoped it would be. All he could do was laugh at the face she made.

Still…as much as Mike would deny it…he couldn’t wait.