Chapter Text
NIGHT ONE
Matthew had taken a new job as the nightguard for a warehouse holding what remained of the robots and props for an old restaurant chain called Showman’s Pizza Place. There were things scattered seemingly at random - toys, old signs, boxes full and empty, but the most disconcerting of them all had to be the robotic eyes and skeletons strewn about. Though he knew it was likely from how late it was, he felt a sudden wave of dread just looking at them; he couldn’t help but rush to his office, trying to avoid eye contact with what lay on the shelves.
Soon after he got to his office - 12 AM exact, according to the clock behind him - his phone began ringing. It was a coworker of his, he recognized by the name, so he answered it after just a couple of rings. He meant to begin with a “Hello,” but instead gasped when he turned around and finally noticed the animatronic sitting on the other side of the desk, slumped over. If memory served, it was an incomplete animatronic named Peggy.
“Hey, I’m-- ..are you alright?” the voice on the other end of the phone asked, seemingly taking a moment to process the startlement. “I’m..Yes, I just got a bit startled, sorry about that,” Matthew reassured quickly. “Okay..well, uh, I’m Mark, and I’m sure you know I’m supposed to be helping out with your shift–I really wouldn’t be surprised either way, actually, they don’t really tell us anything here..”
..That, Matthew had already gathered by then.
“Well–anyway, so, you just have to make sure the animatronics don’t..get outside, or break anything, or..the last nightguard said they’d sometimes wander in and just..stare? At him? But, they’d leave when he put the mask on--”
“What mask- oh, this one under the desk?” Matthew asked, glancing around a bit more before grabbing the creepy mask. He held it close to his face; it felt weird over it, and it was a bit unsettling how hard it was to see through the mesh over the eyes. He put it down on top of the desk for easier access later as Mark continued. “Yeah, that one. Uhm--just..hold it over your face until they leave. Oh, and, make sure Peggy doesn’t start twitching, too.”
“What?--”
“And I think.. that’s all for tonight. So, uh, have a good night – and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
Before Matthew could stop him, the call suddenly ended. He groaned a bit; “You could’ve elaborated a little more..”
Then, he looked up at the Marilyn Monroe-esque animatronic before him. “..Hopefully it doesn’t give me any trouble tonight.”
He decided to glance at the cameras, just to see only two of the animatronics were on the stage; Johnny and Harry had both left. Nervous, though reassuring himself he wasn’t in any danger, he leaned the tablet down towards the desk so he could keep his other hand over the mask. He occasionally glanced up at Peggy while searching for the missing animatronics, but it never moved that he could see.
It didn’t take long for him to find one of them when, to his right, he heard footsteps. Hitting the button to the right side of his desk to turn on that hallway’s lights, he saw that it was Johnny.
“Shit--right, the mask! It’s staring, do I put it on now..?”
He decided to for the moment, holding down the light button to keep watch of the blond animatronic, and used his spare hand to hold the mask tight against his face. He didn’t stop until he began feeling strangely woozy, and realized Johnny wasn’t going anywhere. He sighed and finally let go of the light, just as Harry stepped to his left.
“S-seriously?! BOTH of them?” he stammered, deciding to hold the mask with both hands to his chest for easy access. He’d just have to time when he put the mask on; the mesh over the mouth must’ve been filthy to block so much air. He didn’t have the time to inspect it at the moment, though.
After what felt like days of them both ever-so-often walking closer - Harry once stepping so fast, he panicked for a second - Johnny suddenly rushed towards him at a surprising speed and leaned down, making him jump and hold the mask over his face, making eye contact with the limited vision it gave him. He sighed a breath of relief when Johnny left, before taking the chance to gulp in air after taking off the mask; he seriously had to see about cleaning it after his shift was over, he began suspecting it had some sort of mold in it with how odd it felt to have on only seconds too long.
He didn’t have long to contemplate this when suddenly, Harry rushed over on the other side, and Matthew quickly put the mask back over his face, that time deciding to hold his breath until Harry left. It didn’t help as much as he’d hoped.
Finally, not long after and an otherwise uneventful night, 6 AM finally hit.
It was time to rest.
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CUTSCENE
Matthew knew it couldn’t have been normal for those two animatronics to be going to him like that. It also didn’t help that his supply against them was clearly tainted with something to be able to mess with him so much and so quickly just by hovering it over his face. So, he ended up having a chat with his boss, Jason Baker about it.
“So… it was only the two?”, Jason confirmed. “Yeah.” Matthew nodded.
Flashing a surprised look for a fraction of a second, Jason darted his eyes away in thought. “Hm. Last guy said another was moving around…” he commented with a sigh. “Another..?” Matthew prompted, nervous again. “Do you know why they’ve been moving around so much..?”
“Well..not exactly,” Jason answered, “All we know right now is that it probably has something to do with the..old and unused system in their programming.” Taking on a somewhat reassuring tone, he then added, “We’re going to be looking into it some more today.
Besides just those two going about, is there anything else you noticed or heard?”
“..Uh, Mark said something about Peggy..?”
“Oh, yes, did she act up tonight?” Jason asked. “Well, no, but–”
He cut Matthew off with a sigh of relief. “Oh, good. At least we got one back in order, then. Well, anyway, I won’t take up any more of your time – you’re free to head back home, now. You’ll get some sleep, and, uh..thank you!”
“..Yeah, uh, no..problem..” Matthew said, shifting a bit. “..But–one more thing, uh, the mask I was told to use – it worked, but it seemed to be..incredibly dirty, and I didn’t have the chance to see what was on it exactly, but..”
“That’s odd, it shouldn’t be any worse than everything else in there..” Jason trailed off before looking back at Matthew and finishing, “..Well, if you see fit to, feel free to give it a clean during your shift tomorrow.”
“..I’ll see if I can make time to.
See you tomorrow morning..”
“See you tomorrow.”
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TAPE
05/10/1995
5:30 AM
Showman and his band were on the stage, the lead holding his prop microphone as if it helped project his voice.
“Ladies and gentlemen..Boys and girls..” Showman began, turning to the left and right at the crowd primarily consisting of children, “Put your hands together foooorrr……ooouuurrrr……BIRTHDAYY BOYYY!” he finished, gesturing to the tiny humans, the audience full of cheers.
And then, the band began singing the standard Happy Birthday song, replacing the place for a name with the rather general “..friieenndd..”.
With a few final glitches, the tape comes to an end.
It was a happy day.