#theres Vanessa!! she was so so fun to write in this fic lol | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

puhpandas · 1 year ago

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Rabbit Burrow

(3,785 words) Part 1 (part 2 found here)

Tony Becker, one year after surviving the attack from GGY, tracks down Gregory post-SB. But he has to get through Vanessa before he can get to Gregory.

Tony likes to think his detective skills are pretty good. So when he swings a leg over the seat of his bike and wheels it near the entrance, he hopes it's the right place.

He'd tracked down Gregory to this apartment complex somewhere in Gale county. It's still in Hurricane, and Tony had been able to reach it with just a bus ride. The apartment is somewhat run-down, but clean enough to where you can tell it's well kept, just old. The air conditioning units he passes on the way to the front door are brand new.

He'd taken the closest bus to Gale county right after school let out. He'd been restless all day up until finally acting on his findings. Tony has been searching for Gregory for a year. Finally finding something and having to wait for his middle school day to end was agonizing. He just hopes his Mom and Grandma wont be too mad at him.

He'd wrestled his bike he'd ridden to school that day discreetly onto the bus and wedged it in-between his legs and the seat in front of him. The air had been humid and thick all day with the signs of a storm, and Tony had seen the dark clouds and heard the thunder peeking over the treeline outside the bus window on the way here. He ducks inside the front door and beats the rain by seconds.

"Can I help you?" The receptionist asks him, giving him a weird look when he steps inside. Shes a lady with long, styled black hair and covered in jewelry. Tony tries not to look too suspicious as he sends her a polite smile, heading to the elevator on the wall to the left. He would also be wary if someone he'd never seen walked into a resident building.

"Just seeing an old friend." He tells her. He presses the button to the third floor and tries to break her gaze by stepping behind the closing doors. The elevator shakes a bit before moving up.

He tries to take a deep breath. Theres some kind of excitement floating around in his chest at the fact that he's done it, but he pushes it down, lowering his expectations.

Despite his theories, he really has no clue what to expect. Theres some sort of worry mixing with the excitement, and all he decides is that if he escaped once, he can do it again.

It both took too long and not fast enough when he finally reaches the third floor. He double checks his crumpled sheet of notebook paper in his hand once, then a second time, something nervous but anticipating thrumming in his veins.

He steps onto the beige carpet of the long hallway, fresh vacuum marks in it, and follows the number plates by each door before coming to a stop near the middle of the hall.

3-05 The plate reads back to him. He quadruple checks his paper again. Its right.

He sighs out deeply, not even realizing he was holding his breath. Despite himself, his brows crease ever so slightly.

He shakes it away, pushing past it. Maybe digging too deep is what got him into trouble before, but its different now. Tony... Tony's learned things during his search for Gregorys location. If there was any point during his investigation that he would call digging too deep, it would have been months earlier from now.

Besides. Tony has always been bad at staving off his curiosity.

He thunks his knuckles on the white wood of the door quickly after that, three times in succession. He kind of bluescreens for a second when he realizes what he just did, then shakes it off. Waiting with wide eyes at the door, watching for a rattling of a doorknob or listening for incoming footsteps.

Nothing. He waits a few more minutes before knocking again, this time a little louder and harder.

Tony perks up when footsteps finally near the door, and his lips part prematurely when the doorknob rattles, not even put-together words yet on his tongue. They fall away immediately when a woman with blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail opens the door, one of those chain locks keeping it open maximum of three inches. "Hello?"

He stutters for a moment, words lost on his tongue, before he clears his throat, putting on a polite smile. "Hi, there." He says. "Um. Who are you?"

"I should be asking you that, kid." The woman raises a brow at him, never opening the door more than the chain lock allows it. She peers at him through the gap, and Tony tries as discreetly as possible to look past her head and shoulder into the apartment itself. "What are you doing here?"

When he looks back, shes still looking at him in a way Tony can only describe as cautious. The light in the hallway on the ceiling is flickering, and it casts split second shadows on the womans face that makes the bags under her eyes that much more prominent and her face that much more intimidating. "Well?"

Tony realizes he hasnt answered, and coughs slighty. "Oh. Sorry." He says, reluctant to continue. "I'm... I'm looking for Gregory."

Tony watches intensely to see if the name rings a bell or catches her attention. Just as he expects, her face twists ever so slightly in recognition. Tony catches something adjacent to panic or fear in her eyes until it's gone not half a second later.

"Who's asking?" She asks eventually, voice carefully even after a what appeared to Tony to be a mini conundrum in her head.

"His friend." He answers honestly. He ducks his head when the woman scrutinizes him, looking almost angry, but restrained enough to not show it. "I mean it," He says earnestly. "he and I... we were best friends. Last year. I came here to look for him."

Her eyes widen ever so slightly at that, and she studies him, eyes flicking back and forth over his face and his clothes and his hair. Tony doesnt miss the way her eyes linger for a millisecond on his scars. Its silent in the hall save for the two looking at eachother, and the buzzing of the flickering light on the ceiling is enough to save him from hearing his own heartbeat.

"Okay." She says eventually, and Tony subconsciously feels himself sag a bit at the relief that he won't turned away right as he was this close. She shuts the door without a word, and all Tony can do is stare at the peeling landlord white paint on the door as the sounds of the woman unlatching the multiple locks on the other side reach his ears. He waits patiently, until she cracks the door open not much wider than it had been with the lock, but just enough to fit his body in. "Come in. But no word to anyone. Got it?"

About what? Tony's about to ask, but then he steps through the door and the words die on his tongue.

"Oh." He says outwardly when Glamrock Freddy Fazbear sits on the couch. His body is adjacent to the patchwork quilt Tony has on his bed that his Grandma made him, and any of the makeup he had been painted with has long since scratched off.

His eyes are shut, and theres two jump cables attached to his ears that are plugged into a portable something. He doesn't so much as twitch when Tony enters the room.

The woman gives him a look after she re-locks only the deadbolt behind him and passes him into the apartment. "Oh." He repeats. "Not a word."

She nods at him, and it's only now that Tony can see the rest of her that isnt just her face. Shes in her twenties, if he had to guess, and she has a white tank top on with some sort of stain near the collar along with Hello Kitty fleece pajama pants. Her socks are mismatched and her nails are painted a purple color that could rival the deep bags under her eyes.

She collapses into an armchair (which hes pretty sure has a mismatched leg attached to it half-hazardously) and only looks at him silently as he steps further into the house, not so discreetly angling his body to get a peek past walls and open doors across the house.

Shes about to speak when Tony does first, "Wheres Greg?" He asks straight up. "Can I see him?"

Her lips twitch, and she just leans further back into the chair. The TV is playing some sort of Spring baking show, and the droning of the host mixes with the pattering of the rain on the window on the wall by the TV.

Anticipation and impatient-ness buzzes under his skin at being right here, and this woman undoubtedly knowing Gregory certainly doesnt help.

She only hesitates for a moment, but Tony can see the influx of thoughts that undoubtedly ran through her mind. She opens her mouth, taking a slow breath, before, "At school."

"He goes to school?" Tony gasps slightly, eyes widening. He moves to the couch, toeing past Freddy Fazbear as to not touch him even with just a brush of his jeans before sitting down, facing her. "What school?"

"He goes to Raindrop." The woman tells him, seemingly not hesitating this time.

It doesn't ring a bell, but it must be a middle school in Gale county. "...I go to Hailstorm." Tony says. "We both did. Or used to."

She stares at him after that, fingers drumming on the arm of her chair. She says nothing, just scrutinizing him, before, "You sure have a lot of cryptic ways of telling me how you used to know Gregory."

He wants to apologize, because it seems like what to do in response to that statement, but for some reason, that feeling in his gut he's learned to trust as his Detective sense tells him that he shouldn't.

Shes still looking at him intensely, and the rain outside pattering on the window somehow feels louder. There's some thunder outside that rumbles the floor, and the lighting casts a shadow on the living room. A few white lines across the coffee table caused by the blinds covering the window.

Her face doesnt so much as twitch, he notices, and she doesn't blink when she looks at him. Her green eyes bore into him, almost glowing in the shadow cast beneath her bangs. It reminds him of how he'd done to her not minutes ago. What he does to people he wants to analyze. To see how they react to something.

That's what shes waiting for, he realizes. He has a feeling that if he doesnt match her cryptic bluntness and instead apologizes and caves that easily, that it will somehow result in her turning him away.

Theres a glint in her eye when he becomes aware of reality again enough to look, and he thinks she somehow just came to the conclusion that Tony figured it out.

Then, he tries to sit up a bit straighter, and muster up that same glint mirroring back at him. "You sure have a cryptic way of letting me know you dont trust me."

Her mouth twitches slightly, but its all Tony needs to know he'd guessed correctly.

Its silent for a moment, and the woman grabs the remote on the next arm over and pauses the baking show she'd been watching. She shifts in the red velvet seat, as if getting comfortable, before, "Tell me how you know Gregory, and I'll tell you how I know him."

He has a feeling he isnt getting to Gregory unless he gets through this woman first, so he clears his throat, leaning his forearms on his knees.

"Me and Gregory met early last year at the beginning of the school year." He begins. "Right after summer ended in August. He was the new kid, and he sat at our table at lunch since it was mostly empty. Me and my friend arent the most popular, so there was room to spare."

She waves a hand, signaling him to stop. "Your friend?" She asks. He nods. "How many of there were you?"

"...Just me and E-- my friend." He says. "There were two of us, and when Greg sat at our table, we remembered how he looked a little lost earlier in class and we introduced ourselves. Then we just... clicked, I guess. He would partner with us in creative writing."

"Writing, huh?" She smiles slightly.

"Yeah." He replies. "Then, it was just business as usual for the months afterwards." He pauses, fidgeting with the hem of his jacket he loves so much that reminds him of the trenchcoats big city investigators wear. "Then... I had gotten wrapped up in this mystery."

She shifts, crossing a leg over the over and holding her hands together. "A mystery?"

Tony nods, remembering it like it was yesterday. He thumbs the part of arm where a scar is on his arm that his jacket covers. "The three of us would always go to the arcade in the Pizzaplex." He tells her. "And one day, I noticed high scores that seemed impossible to reach, and I became obsessed with solving who it was who had gotten there."

Tony thinks hes very good at reading people. So he doesn't think it's just his imagination when the woman in front of him goes a little rigid in her seat.

Theres some sort of creases under her eyes, Tony notices, that weren't there before.

"What did you do?" She asks.

Tony has a feeling that she somehow knows already. So he doesnt beat around the bush.

"I solved the mystery, eventually." Tony says. "Because GGY had been Gregory, and he'd invited me to the Pizzaplex and tried to kill me."

She sags a bit, looking somehow infinitely more tired, but no surprise detected. "But you survived."

"Not..." He shakes his head, picking at the skin by his fingernails. "I wouldn't have. If not for Greg saving me."

"Huh?"

"He--" Tony searches for the words, looking at the carpet between his knees and remembering that afternoon in every vivid detail he'd looked over countless times before. "He'd tried to kill me, yeah, but... he was almost fighting himself as he did it. He was like having a fistfight with himself."

He doesn't look up at her, he just keeps remembering how Gregory had gone rigid right before plunging the knife into Tony's gut a second time and stopped himself. How it had looked like somebody yanked Gregory backwards, but it had been his own self throwing his body. Just so he didnt hurt Tony again.

"He looked like he was a malfunctioning robot." He recalls. "He was like, hitting himself, and was making noises like he was fighting something. I was too frozen to move at the time, but then he threw me a really high security pass for the Pizzaplex and told me to run."

Then he had collapsed in front of him, like he was holding himself down. He doesn't tell the woman, though.

He looks back up to see her staring, eyes wide in suprise. She looks deep in thought for all but a few moments before shaking herself out of it. "So what did you do?"

"I ran." Tony says. "He had got me already. He stabbed me in the back, the first time. That was how I knew he was attacking me in the first place. But I ran away with the pass, and I went to a room with a ton of monitors and erased the security footage."

Her eyes blow wide as saucers, that time. "You got stabbed," she begins. "and instead of getting help, you erase the security footage?"

"Yeah." Tony nods. "Greg would have gotten in trouble if I didnt."

She's silent, after that. Tony just keeps picking at the skin on his fingers. "I somehow knew that Gregory didnt deserve to be. He just..." Tony trails off. "He didnt seem..."

"Seem like himself?" She suddenly cuts in, and Tony's eyes widen.

He nods, a small tilt of his head, and the woman sighs. "That's what being mind controlled will do to you."

A year ago, probably longer by now, Tony would have never believed that. He would have never thought something so outlandish that is only ever shown in fiction could be a possibility.

Not that he was wrong, to. Really, anyone in their right mind wouldnt think so. But things have changed since then.

And Tony has seen a lot of things during his search that probably nobody else has. Plus, This woman has been so cryptic up to this point. If she told him this straight up, and it's clear that she knows Gregory...

Suddenly, everything that day seems to make perfect sense. And everything he'd found that he'd filed away into his little mental Gregory crazy wall.

(He'd used to call it evidence wall, like normal people do. But, well, at some point, maybe Tony had thought the things he'd been finding were a bit too crazy to deem as normal.)

Theres been a stretch of silence while Tony had been taking that in, and he only breaks it to say, "Is mind control a topic you're familiar with in this house?"

Her eye twitches, a bit. And now that Tony is looking for it, he notices that same strange sheen on her eyes that Gregory had during their friendship. That weird red tinted film that makes their eyes turn a completely different color when the light hits them right.

Tony doesnt yet understand how the mind control Gregory had been under works, but all he can hope is that there are some side effects.

She stares at him, eyes narrow, and theres another roar of thunder outside the window.

"Who are you?"

"Tony." He answers. "Tony Becker. Ring a bell?"

She hums, and she looks at him in a way where he feels like he's being dissected.

"He didnt remember anything for a while." She says eventually. "But hes been having dreams, lately. Sometimes he talks about two kids he used to be friends with."

"Me and Ellis." Tony's eyes widen. It doesn't even occur to him that he shouldn't share Ellis's name.

"He worries about you." She says. "I've heard him say he hopes you're okay. You and that other kid. You must have been close if he remembers being that good of friends with the two of you."

"We were." Tony replies. Memories of him, Ellis, and Greg going to the Pizzaplex and trying to get the most dunks in the basketball hoops flash in his mind. He thinks about when Gregory would come over to Tony's little run down house that he shares with his Grandma, and they write graphic novels together for the fun of it.

Gregory liked to call them comics before he'd suddenly decided that stuff wasnt cool anymore and stopped coming over. It had been like everything Tony saw him enjoy that wasnt painfully average for a child suddenly didn't mean anything to him anymore.

And then Gregory tried to kill him in a dusty back room.

Everything hed given up seems to make more sense now. It wasnt willingly at all.

"He doesn't remember your names." She speaks up suddenly, ripping Tony out of his thoughts. "But he remembers more and more every time he has a dream. Something reminded him of you one day, I guess. That must have been when it started."

Tony opens his mouth, but the beeping of a digital clock interrupts him. He follows the womans arm as it reaches across the seat to turn it off.

The time reads 5:00pm.

He watches as she looks over at him, and nods to the door. "After school activity." She informs him, getting up out of the seat. His eyes follow her as she moves towards the front door. "I'm his ride."

Tony's eyes widen at the implications. "So I just--"

"Stay here." She tells him. She grabs a flannel off of the small coat rack by the front door and slips it on, sliding some Adidas sandals on top of her socks and reaching in the pocket of the coat to grab car keys. She pulls them out, and Tony notices that theres a keychain of a white rabbit dangling from the key ring.

The breath is suddenly stolen from his lungs, and he bolts off of the couch, a buzzing under his skin. "You're bringing him?"

She nods to Freddy Fazbear. "If you can wait." She smiles at him, and it's the first time Tony has seen her smile, instead of the carefully kept nonchalant-ness. "He'll wake up pretty soon once he's done charging. So you won't be completely alone."

Tony doesnt know what to say to that. Thousands of words spawned from the thousands of thoughts hes had about finding and tracking down Gregory are on the tip of his tongue, but he only gets any out when the woman begins to leave the house.

"Wait!" Tony reaches out a hand. She turns around, a brow raised. The door is still slightly ajar, and the sound of heavy rain reaches his ears. "What's your name?"

She smiles a bit at the question. "Vanessa."

"Vanessa," He asks, oddly desperate. "Dont tell him I'm here." He swallows. "I want to see him remember me."

Vanessa tilts her head, but nods after a moment. "Sure, kid."

She smiles one last time on her way out, and says, "Tony Becker."

The sound of the rain outside disperses when the door shuts and locks, and Tony doesnt move for a long while. He just stares at the landlord white door, electricity under his skin and something floaty in his stomach.

Greg. He thinks in his mind when he finally rips himself away and looks around some more, seeing a door propped slightly open down the hall with a bed and a desk with pencils and paper strewn all about. He doesn't dare go in, but stares at what he can see. Its been a while.

The silence is numbing, when he can only hear the faint whirring of Freddy Fazbear on the couch next to him and the rain on the window, he plants himself on the couch cushion next to the animatronic, grabbing the remote and resuming the baking show Vanessa had been watching.

He doesn't listen to a word. He just trembles with anticipation and bobs his leg up and down as he stares at a random corner of the screen.

ao3 link

#i had a lot of fun with this one. if you need help understanding the strange interactions between tony and vanessa #its supposed to be a right of passage i guess. vanessa doesnt want anybody else to get involved #or to drag back any of the vanny & ggy stuff.#not if theyre not serious. so if tony had apologized #it would have shown vanessa that she shouldnt humor him and to just turn him away so he doesnt get involved #because he'd just be a scared kid looking for his friend.#but tony matching her and showing that he understood the test and is still serious about it #& he also matches with gregorys descriptions #shes like alright you can know.#theres meant to be a part 2 to this little oneshot thing where gregory and tony actually reunite #but i still need to plan it out. ive been obsessed with detective rabbit reuniting for a bit now and wanting to write it so #it shouldnt take too long. but no promises lol #just wanted to write tony and experiment with something new and this happened :) it was fun #my fics #pandas writes #tony becker #fnaf gregory #detective rabbit #ggy #tales from the pizzaplex #twoshot #gregory #tony #ellis #vanessa #3 star fam #freddy #also rabbit burrow is a reference to the saying rabbit hole #but i made it burrow because like tony said #he crossed the line a long time ago

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eyndr-stories · 2 years ago

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Chester and the Jesters (FNAF SB fanfic) C4 - Electricity by any other name

In Summary:

The new tech sure does seem a little strange. Chester (at least, that's what their name tag says) doesn't seem as concerned as they should be about the high turnover rate here at Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizza-Plex, or the numerous rumors about what happens to people who take the night shift. And to make matters worse, there seems to be some kind of criminal on the loose! The cops say they think the criminal is hiding out in the woods somewhere near the pizza-plex. Stress is high at the plex these days, but Chester is stoic as ever. Say, come to think of it, no one can seem to remember where Chester's application went or who they interviewed with. Their employee file is misplaced or missing just like everything else in this place. But the new tech does a good job completing their tasks, and has their own badge and everything, so of course they must belong here. It's not like someone would sneak into the plex and go this far out of their way to impersonate a low level technician. Right??

Things To Know (always read responsibly!):

Biggest warnings are for blood, death, knives, murder, the police, violence, also the OC is at one point hit by lightning. All fun stuff

About 70,000 words in total, 9 chapters, so roughly like. 7,500 words per chapter

This is an OC story, not a reader insert or a self insert! But if you want to imagine otherwise be my guest lol

Angst, fluff

OC x Sun & Moon, there's romance but zero spice

Occasional swearing

Heavy focus on Sun and Moon but most of the rest of the gang is there too :)

Afton doesn't exist, sorry peepaw, Vanessa is here but she's very chill. She's a kickass gamer girl lmao

Moon does an attempted murder but its fine. He's just a lil guy ok

OC uses they/them and also sign language most of the time

Impersonation, lying. There's also manipulation. Yall I wasn't kidding about the angst

There's also a lot of focus on how they're all robots, very cool robots with feelings lol

That's all I can think of, as always please lmk if I should add anything!

Ao3 Link: Right here!

Start reading here: Chapter 1

Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5

C4 - Electricity by any other name

Chester woke up in a comfort they didn't recall falling asleep in. As they sat up and rubbed the sleep from their eyes under their glasses, they realized that at some point someone had placed a pillow under their head and a soft blanket over them. It must have been Sun, seeing as no one else knew Chester was up in the room behind the balcony.

Chester could hear kids screaming and laughing from beyond the curtain. The daycare, and by extension the rest of the building, must be open. Chester didn't have any clue what time it was. There wasn't a clock in the room, and they'd plugged their faz-phone in to charge in the employee stock room when they'd clocked out last night. Their head still hurt, and they felt really groggy and just… bad. Plain bad. They wanted to go back to sleep, but they weren't tired enough, despite the grogginess that refused to fade from their brain.

With nothing else to do, Chester started cleaning the room. Without leaving, they couldn't do much besides organize things and pile all the trash in the corner. Chester put all the parts and bits for the staff bot in its own pile. They put all the undamaged daycare supplies in a neat pile near the door. Once everything was as neat as it was going to get, Chester brushed the dust off on their pants and looked around for something else to do.

Hunger gnawed at Chester's stomach. They were thirsty, too. There wasn't much to be done about it for the time being, so Chester sought distractions instead. Their eyes landed on the pile of staff bot parts. They did still have their tool belt with them.

Without a guide of any sort or any real understanding of what they were doing, Chester found the task of rebuilding the entirely dismantled staff bot to be more than a little difficult. Still, there was nothing else to do, so they got as comfortable as they could and did their best to puzzle it out. They were slow and methodical, ruling out what pieces couldn't go together first, doing trial and error with pieces they thought were likely to go together. Half of the bits were damaged beyond hope, most of them unfortunately being things like joints and connectors. It almost looked like the bot had been ripped apart joint by joint. Still, Chester did what they could with what they had. They tried to picture the staff bots they'd seen in their mind and recall what they could from what they'd read.

It was extremely slow going, but it was going. Without the pressure of the consequence of failure, Chester found that they were actually starting to have fun. Building a robot was cool enough on its own, but this one proved to be particularly interesting. There wasn't much Chester could do about the damaged wiring, but they weren't trying to get the thing to turn on. They just wanted to pass the time putting it back together.

The frame of it was light, but there were loads of small support beams to connect along the frame. The hands were simplistic, just a handful of joints to bolt together. There were small pressure sensors meant to fit into the palms. Chester had seen bigger, more complicated sensors in the diagrams of the main animatronics. The others had sensors all along their fingers as well, not just in the palm, and a few throughout the rest of their frame as well. The sensors told the animatronic when something was touching them, as well as how much pressure was being applied.

They'd actually become so absorbed in their reconstruction of the staff bot that they didn't realize Sun had come into the room until he spoke up, startling them.

"Hello new Chester! Oops, sorry for startling you. I'm just here for a recharge!" Sun strode across the room, opening a panel in the wall near the electrical box. He pulled a long cord from inside, then popped open one of the circular buttons in his chest, revealing the charging port underneath. He plugged the cord into the connecting port and plopped down to the floor, sitting cross legged and leaning back against the wall. The light of his eyes dimmed and he hummed a slow little tune.

"Thank you for the pillow and blanket," Chester signed slowly, unsure if Sun would still be active if he was in the middle of charging.

"Nooo problem friiiend~" Sun drawled. He slowly lifted his hand, staring at it for a moment before it curled into a thumbs up. "I see youuu cleaned up in here! Clean up, clean up…" Sun mumbled a little song, quickly trailing off.

"I did, I hope that's okay." Chester glanced around at their work. The room was still dusty, and there was still that pile of trash in the corner, but it was looking a lot better than before.

"Sureee. I don't mind!" Sun hummed a continuous note for a few seconds. "Sorryyy if I'm a little sloooooow. Everything is running onnnnn power saving mooode while I charge. Can't turn off completelyyy orrrrr my fansss will stooooop running and I'lllllll overrrheat. So for nooooow I'm a littleee slooooooow."

"That's alright." Chester realized they couldn't hear the sound of kids playing anymore. "Is the building closed for the night?"

"Yeeep! All locked up niiice and tight abouuut… fiiiiive minutes agooo." Sun resumed his quiet humming.

"In that case, I'll give you some privacy. My shift starts soon." Chester got to their feet. They changed out of their Hawaiian shirt, swapping it for their work uniform. Nametag in place and their employee profile form secure in their pocket, Chester straightened their hat and made for the door, grabbing their shoes on the way. They paused in the doorway, glancing back at Sun.

Sun barely seemed to notice them. He hummed quietly, but was otherwise still and silent.

"…Thank you for letting me stay here. I'll be back again at the end of my shift," Chester said.

"Youuu betcha," Sun said.

Chester left the room, descending the spiral staircase and making their way out of the daycare.

It was another busy night for Chester, though thankfully far less perilous than last night. They picked through small restaurants in the food court and did their best not to outright chug a large cup of water. Besides their list of tasks to work through, Chester had a few other matters to attend to. Firstly, they wanted to print copies of some of the technical books so they'd have something productive to read during their off hours. Second, they were in desperate need of things like a change of socks, a toothbrush, maybe a comb.

Another visit to lost and found later, Chester was one cheap duffel bag richer. The bag was covered in funky designs and fun colors and, most importantly, could hold the stuff that Chester needed to find. Now that they had a reliable and (mostly) private place to stay, they could store a few things they needed there. And if they, for whatever reason, needed to make a quick getaway, they could just grab their new duffel bag and go.

Chester faced down a gift shop. They stood in the entrance, duffle bag slung over their shoulder. They picked at one of the bag's straps, eyes trailing over shadowed shelves of overpriced merchandise. There wasn't a security guard to watch the cameras. Chester reminded themself that stealing from a large corporation like this wasn't the end of the world. They'd certainly stolen worse for less before.

Chester took a deep breath and stepped inside. They passed racks of sweatshirts and hats and graphic t-shirts all sporting different familiar characters in bold colors. They looked over shelves of plushies and a rotating stand packed with keychains and magnets. They breathed a sigh of relief when they spotted a small selection of socks with funky colorful prints. They grabbed a pack, stowing them away in their duffle bag. In a pack with a compact mirror and a small collection of face paint was a comb and a pair of hair scrunchies. Chester took the pack, mainly interested in the mirror and the comb. They lucked out with a toothbrush, finding a little collection of small kid toothbrushes near the back of the gift shop. Monty's likeliness was depicted on the package, flashing his pearly white gator grin.

They didn't need the notebook, its cover a simple depiction of the Fazbear logo and boasting the inclusion of a free pen and sticker sheet inside. But Chester had frequently wished they'd been able to take notes while they read and while they worked as well, just so they could jot down things they'd figured out on the job or questions they wanted to find the answers to. And besides, they were already stealing several things, what was one more item?

Chester picked up the notebook, but paused before they could put it in their duffel bag. They stared down at it. It looked wrong in their hand.

I don't need this, Chester thought. They set the notebook back in its place. They were stealing enough already, and they really couldn't justify taking the notebook.

Leaving the gift shop behind, Chester zipped up their duffel bag and headed to their first task. The bag was just heavy enough that they couldn't easily forget it was there.

On their way back to the daycare, Chester stopped by a bathroom to clean up and put their new toothbrush to good use. Their gums bled a little, but they were relieved to finally be able to clean their teeth. They broke a tooth of their comb getting their hair under control. It had started to become matted under their hat. They briefly entertained the idea of using the face paint just for fun, but quickly put it out of mind. They grabbed a fresh bandage for their head as well as some cleaning supplies, then returned to the daycare. This time, they remembered to take their shoes off upon entering the daycare.

Sun greeted Chester as they stepped past the double doors. Chester pulled their duffle bag over their shoulder in a small attempt to hide it behind them.

"New Chester!! How was your shift?" Sun asked.

"It went alright, actually. Did you… have a good… charge?" Chester hoped that wasn't weird to ask.

Sun laughed, though not unkindly. "I did! We're all topped off and ready for another fun day tomorrow!" Sun did a fun little twirl.

Chester wasn't sure what to say next. They usually didn't do well with conversations, but they were especially awkward since they were sort of imposing on Sun. They were, more or less, blackmailing him into letting them take over his room. A shot of guilt ran through them.

I'm a horrible person.

Sun spoke up, interrupting Chester's train of thought before it could get too far away from them. "So I've been thinking… since you're going to be staying here for… a while. I thought we should probably be friends! So that way it's not weird or awkward! We can just be friends hanging out together. Won't that be fun??"

"I don't think you want to be friends with me," Chester signed slowly, not meeting Sun's gaze.

"Why wouldn't I??" Sun tilted his head to the side.

Because I'm a bad person. "I'm not a very fun friend," Chester signed.

"Well I'm plenty fun!! I can be fun enough for the both of us," Sun assured. "Why don't we play a game together?"

"A game?" Chester paused. "What kind of game?"

Sun, spurred on by the not outright rejection of the idea, started to ramble excitedly and bounce from foot to foot. "Any kind of game you like!! We've got board games or imaginary games or active games- or we could do something else! We could do arts and crafts, or we could have a sleepover, or we could do a puppet show!"

Chester took a moment to reply, somewhat enamored by how smoothly Sun was bouncing from foot to foot. They wanted to try and give Sun's animatronic guide book another shot, see if they couldn't figure anything out from its pages. "I guess I wouldn't mind a board game."

Sun cheered extatically. "Fantastic!! Great choice! That sounds like so much fun, friend!"

At Sun's further prompting, Chester chose a game from a bookshelf packed full of game boxes at random. They dropped their duffle bag and shoes off upstairs while Sun set up a game called 'Sorry'.

Chester had never played before, so they picked up the instruction booklet and started to read.

"I could explain the rules, if you like!" Sun offered.

"Oh, you don't have to do that," Chester signed quickly.

"What if I want to?"

Chester studied Sun, unable to glean much from his relentless grin. "I suppose that would be alright then, if you really didn't mind."

"I don't mind at all!" Sun assured, then launched into an enthusiastic explanation of the rules. He told Chester how the little pawns worked, and how they traveled clockwise around the board, unless a card said otherwise. There were little 'slides' on the board that Sun was especially excited about. He told Chester about how sometimes you could send another player's pawn all the way back to their starting area, making them start over on their trek to maneuver the pawns all the way around the board and into an area called 'home'.

With the rules out of the way, they were ready to play. Sun got unlucky with the cards and wasn't able to get his first pawn out of the starting area for a few turns, giving Chester a bit of a head start. They started to get the hang of things fairly quickly. The only problem was that their hands would sometimes miss slightly when they went to grab a card or a pawn. They did their best not to be too obvious about it.

Chester's attention moved to Sun's hands as they moved over the board, drawing cards with easy precision and maneuvering pawns across tiles. When they weren't busy with the game, they were busy tapping at the edge of the table or fiddling with the ribbons tied around their wrists. Chester couldn't imagine how many tiny parts and pieces went into just Sun's hand. Every motion was entirely smooth and seamless. Even the glamrocks weren’t as finely crafted as all that. Sun's casing was different as well, not metal like the glamrocks but a more flexible, almost plastic material. Chester wondered if that was part of how he was able to move so quickly and fluidly.

Sun lifted a hand to study it himself. "I don't have something stuck to my hand, do I??"

Chester startled, realizing they'd been staring. Embarrassed, they hurried to explain themself. "You don't, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare. You're just very interesting."

"Interesting??" Sun looked down at his hands. "How do you mean, friend?"

"I don't mean to make you uncomfortable. I apologize," Chester signed in quick motions.

"I'm not uncomfortable! I'm just curious," Sun assured.

Chester considered how to explain their fascination. They signed slowly, piecing together their attempt at the right words as they went. "Robots in general are very fascinating to me. You in particular are interesting for a lot of reasons. Your design is very complex and clearly highly advanced. Your range of motion not only matches but outpaces a human's. I could study just your hand alone for hours and not get bored."

Sun stared at Chester, then looked back down at his hand. "Really?" Sun flexed his fingers experimentally. "No one has ever been so interested in my hand before. One of the other techs once complained for hours and hours about all the little connectors when one of the kids accidentally got glue in the joints and the tech had to clean out all the connectors."

"I couldn't imagine complaining, had I been in their shoes. I'd have counted myself lucky." Chester very much wanted to open up Sun's hand and see all the little joints and connectors for themself, puzzle out how they all fit together and worked to make Sun's hands move as they did. They didn't voice this to Sun of course, fearing they'd make him uncomfortable.

"That's kind of you to say! I think!" Sun waggled his fingers at Chester before setting his hands in his lap. "I do believe it's your turn, friend!"

"Right. Sorry." Chester focused back on the board. They kept their attention on the game, trying not to think about how they were playing a board game with an animatronic. More than that, they were sitting in a daycare, where they currently lived surreptitiously in the walls, because they were hiding out from the police. Not only that, but the animatronic sitting in front of them, as well as the others lurking the halls, were apparently a piece of paper away from manslaughter.

On that note, Chester realized something. They had yet to have to show Sun their employee profile form. "Hey… you don't seem to mind the fact that I don't have an employee profile in the system. Why is that?"

Sun tapped his pawn across its remaining two board tiles, ending his turn. He angled his faceplate up towards Chester. "I did notice, that first day we met! But employee profiles go missing all the time, and your nametag barcode is valid! Even if it is a hand me down." The light in Sun's left eye went dim for a moment before lighting back up, simulating a wink.

Chester picked at the card in their hand. They absently moved one of their pawns forward a few spaces and set their card in the discard pile. "So then… what is it about security mode?"

"What about security mode?" Sun tilted his head curiously.

Chester elaborated, mostly just walking through their own thoughts. "The other animatronics don't seem to mind either, during the day. They probably run through the same things you just did and decide it's not a concern. But at night, when they're in security mode, they get caught up on the missing file. So what is it about being in security mode that makes them unable to come to the same conclusions?"

Sun tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Hm. Well, none of us are really meant to serve as security personnel, so the software we run in security mode is a little restrictive, from my understanding. Any unauthorized person in the building is a security risk. Not that you aren't authorized! Just that you would appear unauthorized without an employee profile. Since you have a valid barcode, I imagine that the two send conflicting messages. And since security mode is so limited, the others probably just get confused as to what to do!"

'Confused' was one way to put it. "Okay… but what about you?"

"Me?" Sun pointed a finger to himself.

"You don't seem… confused," Chester explained.

"Oh, that's probably because I'm not in security mode! I don't ever leave the daycare, so I don't have the software for security mode," Sun said. "My focus is always on the kids!"

"Really?? What happens if you see an intruder or something?" Chester asked.

"…" Sun froze, his fingers pressed flat over the surface of the table. "…I don't need to worry about things like that!"

"Okay." Chester was still confused, but they had a different question to ask. "Why don't you ever leave the daycare?"

"Why would I ever want to leave?? This is the best and most fun place in the whole world! Everything I know is here, and I don't ever need to leave!" Sun laughed.

"Are you allowed to leave?"

"If I'm going to parts and service," Sun answered, sounding a little strained.

"Are you scared to leave?" Chester asked.

"Scared?" Sun tiled his head once more in confusion. He considered the question, fingers tapping away on the table. "What is it like to be scared?"

Chester was a little surprised at the question. They thought about how it felt to be afraid. "For me, it's like lightning in my belly. My brain goes really fast, and it gets hard to breathe. It makes it hard to do certain things. It's difficult to focus on anything besides getting out of danger, whatever the danger may be. It's… particularly unpleasant distress over the possibility of an unfavorable outcome."

Sun nodded slowly. "Yes. I am scared to leave the daycare." He focused on Chester. There was a faint tinge of static in his voice. "I think I'm scared very often."

Chester wasn't sure what to make of that. They signed, "me too."

"You don't ever seem scared," Sun remarked.

"I've been told I'm remarkably unexpressive," Chester said.

Sun hummed thoughtfully. "I'm not good at expressions, either!" He tapped at his cheeks, where his grin came to a point on either side of his face. "The kids don't seem to mind. Some of the adults don't like my smile, but I think they'd like it even less if I was frowning all the time!"

"I like your face," Chester signed, not really considering what they were saying until after it had been said. Their embarrassment didn't have a chance to grow before Sun replied.

"Thank you, friend!! I like your face too!" Sun swayed happily, his faceplate doing a little spin.

Chester laughed quietly. "Thank you."

The rest of the game passed without issue. Sun ended up winning, because Chester refused to make any ‘mean’ moves, even to their own detriment. They felt too bad about knocking Sun’s pawns back to the start, and wound up drawing a lot of progress reversal cards. They didn’t much mind having lost, though. They still had fun.

“It’s about time for me to start getting things ready! The daycare will be open soon!” Sun hummed happily as he packed the game away.

“I should get some sleep anyways. Thank you for the game, Sun.”

“Of course!! We can play again the next night too if you want!” Sun offered.

“Yeah, okay. My shift is really short tomorrow night, I have a day shift the following day. So we should have plenty of time for a game or two,” Chester signed.

Sun seemed absolutely ecstatic about that. He was quite literally jumping for joy, waving his hands around merrily. “I can’t WAIT!! Sleep well, okay?? I’ll see you soon friend!”

Chester gave Sun a little salute before heading up the spiral steps. The little voice in their head wondered if Sun was faking it, or if he actually did enjoy spending time with Chester. Chester couldn’t imagine why Sun would like them, given the situation and their general personality. Maybe he was simply making the best of things and was happy enough that Chester didn’t mind playing along.

Chester put it out of mind for now. They laid back with their pillow and blanket, next to their duffle bag full of stolen goods, and did their best to sleep.

~~~

Payday came the day after, on their day shift. Rosa was waiting for them in the employee stock room with a check in hand.

"Do you need any help setting up direct deposit?" Rosa asked.

"Checks are fine," Chester stated.

Rosa shrugged and chugged some coffee from a thermos, then hurried off.

Chester stared down at the check. It hadn't even occurred to them that they'd be getting paid, since the whole thing was just a big ruse. Chester wasn't sure how to feel about the money. They had worked for it, sure. But the job they were working wasn't really theirs. They were an impersonator, an imposter. They'd gotten the job through deceitful means and were lying about their identity, they were only here to hide out from the authorities. However, Chester reasoned that they weren't exactly a stranger to making dirty money. The money wasn't even all that dirty; sure, Chester was living a lie, but the work they were doing was honest. Well, in a sense, anyways. Chester pocketed the check, grabbed their faz-phone from its charger, and punched in for the day.

Finding an ATM machine in the building that offered the option to cash the check was difficult, but there were plenty of ATMs to inspect. With a pocket full of paper bills and their morals wrangled into submission, Chester was absolutely ecstatic, their mind racing with all the food they could buy. Not only would they not have to steal food anymore, but they could buy it hot and fresh, and they could eat as much as they could buy.

On their break, Chester struggled not to weep over their burger and onion rings. They hadn't had a proper meal in so long, they didn't care that it was just bland mall food. To them it was the most wonderful thing they'd ever eaten.

Chester was too busy enjoying their food in the breakroom's back corner to notice at first that someone was actually talking to them.

"Helloo?? Error, Chester not found!"

Chester finally looked up. At the foldout table next to theirs sat a small group of staff members, most of them new faces. The one who'd spoken was a technician, their nametag reading 'Katherine'. They had a choppy buzzcut and a strong jaw. They were smiling at Chester in a way that didn't seem particularly friendly. The others around them were doing a poor job of concealing their laughter.

All at once, Chester was brought back to their school years. They resisted the urge to roll their eyes and brushed their hands off before signing. "Sorry. Did you need something?"

"I was asking why you always sit alone on your break and stare blankly at everything. You some sort of weirdo?" Katherine asked. "Why don't you ever talk to anyone?"

Chester wasn't sure how they were meant to reply to that. They felt that Katherine was trying to poke fun at them, but they couldn't be bothered to care very much. Their coworker being a little mean to them was the absolute least of their worries.

"Uh oh, they must not have a pre-programmed response to that." Katherine looked at their friend group with a smile. "They must get along really well with the robots. That's probably why they came to work here."

"Kat, would you shut the fuck up?"

Everyone turned as another technician stood. She'd been sitting quietly in the opposite corner, and now stood to glower at Katherine. Her name tag read 'Vanessa'.

"Don't be jealous because Chester does a better job than you," Vanessa said. She walked passed Katherine's table and sat herself down at Chester's table.

Katherine scoffed. "As if!"

Vanessa turned to face Chester, ignoring Katherine as she loudly stated, "Don't let Kat bother you. They're a dick but they don't really mean any harm."

Katherine scowled and swiveled in their chair to face away from Vanessa and Chester.

"It's fine, I wasn't bothered," Chester signed.

"My sign is a little rusty, so forgive me if I don't make you suffer through my attempts to sign back," Vanessa said with a smile.

"It's no trouble, I can hear alright," Chester assured. They still had that damn constant ringing in their ears, but they could still hear. The ringing was even ignorable, at times.

"Great! I've decided that we're friends. My name is Vanessa, I can see ghosts and I'm damn good at my job." Vanessa smiled and offered a hand out for Chester to shake.

Chester shook it, studying Vanessa curiously. She had long blonde hair under her hat, pulled back in a ponytail, leaving a pair of dangly bunny shaped earrings on display. Her eyes were big and bright and peered sharply at Chester down a long nose.

"Are there any ghosts around right now?" Chester asked.

Vanessa shook her head. "Nah, most of em don't like the crowds so they stay in the access tunnels during the day. Did you know that this place used to be a diner? The pizza plex as we know it was built on top of the old diner years after the place closed down. They still had animatronics at the diner but they just stayed on the stage and played songs for patrons. Then they started trying to upgrade the animatronics and make them more personable for the crowds and accidentally gave them low level sentience. The animatronics went batshit and killed some people and that's why the old diner shut down."

Chester spent a moment reeling from this information. "I guess the ghosts informed you of that?"

"Yep." Vanessa took one of Chester's few remaining onion rings and ate it. "They rebranded everything, spent a lot of hush money, and opened this place up. Pretty wild, huh?"

"If it's true, yes."

Vanessa winked at Chester. "So, you liking the job? Gonna stick around a while?"

"I think so." Chester nodded. They ate the rest of their food quickly so Vanessa wouldn't steal any more. "How long have you been here?"

"About a year. It's a pretty fun gig, all things considered. It sucks that people come and go so quickly, though. I've been in need of a new buddy to bother since Brandi left," Vanessa said.

"Oh, Brandi quit?? I was wondering, I hadn't seen her in a while."

"Yeah, moved on to bigger and better things. I think a lot of the rumors around here got to her." Vanessa shrugged. "You don't mind the rumors, right?? A lot of them aren't true. No one's ever been killed in the new building. That night guard rumored to have been murdered by a bot one night literally lives in my apartment complex. They work at the grocery store down the street now."

"Has anyone ever been injured on the job?" Chester asked.

"That I can't say. I wouldn't put too much weight in the rumors. People tend to get freaked out by the animatronics just because they're quirky." Vanessa waved a hand. "Anyhoo, my break is almost over. I hear you're usually on the night shift, is that right?"

Chester nodded.

"When's your next day shift?? I'll try to find you and we can take our breaks together. Maybe even double team some tasks?" Vanessa offered.

Chester hesitated, fumbling with their empty plastic plate. They were nervous about the idea of trying to accomplish tasks in front of Vanessa, but at the same time, they might learn a great deal from being able to watch a legitimate technician work.

"Nevermind, I can just check the schedule! I'll see you around, okay?" Vanessa grinned and waved at Chester as she got up and left the break room.

Chester's break was nearly over as well. They carried their plate to the trash, wondering if their newly acquired learnings were of passable skill yet.

"Hey, Chester." Katherine tapped Chester on the shoulder. "Sorry if I pushed any buttons earlier. Listen, I wanted you to make some friends, but… just be careful around Vanessa, alright? She's a little…" Katherine drew a circle beside their head with a finger. "She has, like, full unironic conversations with the custodian bots. Other times she talks to herself and claims to be chatting up ghosts. She's a little coocoo for cocoa puffs, ya know?"

Chester wasn't sure how much weight to put in Katherine's words. They didn't much mind if Vanessa was a little weird anyways. "Thank you for the heads up, but I think I'll be alright."

"Fair enough. See you later, C-bot." Katherine pat Chester on the shoulder and returned to their table.

Chester left the break room, their belly pleasantly full. They put their fellow coworkers out of mind and got back to work. They had a lot of learning and practice to do if they wanted to be sure Vanessa didn't find them out.

~~~

"Scuse me!"

Sun shifted the toddler he was currently holding in his arms to better see the child who'd tugged at the leg of his pants. His facial recognition software instantly gave him the child's name- this was little Rachel, who came to visit the daycare every other day. Sun crouched down to be on Rachel's level. "My my, so polite! How can I help you, friend?"

"How come you keep looking at the tower?" Rachel asked curiously, pointing at the tower in question. The red curtain behind the balcony was drawn tight over the room beyond.

Sun hadn't even realized he'd been staring. Thinking back, he supposed he had been keeping a rather close eye on the room. Rachel had always been very observant, for as long as Sun had known her. He tousled her curly hair. "Don't you worry little friend! We just like to keep a close eye on everything. The daycare needs to be in tip top shape so we can all have lots of fun!"

Rachel giggled, slapping her hands over her head to protect her hair from Sun's ruffling. "Tip top shape!"

"That's right! Tip top, tip top!" Sun spun his faceplate. The toddler in his arms reached out their little hands to pat at his face, making a delighted noise. Sun's nearest ray instantly retracted as tiny hands got near.

The motion camera by the door gave Sun a ping. He straightened up and turned to face the new arrival.

"Hellooo there!!" Sun waved at the well dressed man who'd just stepped through the daycare doors. This was a new face, but the daycare pass in his pocket was valid, the name matching the one on his license- Roderick Smith. Sun stepped past a pair of kids playing with glamrock-shaped plushies on his way to greet the man. "Welcome to the superstar daycare! Are you here for a tour? Would you like to register a child?"

Roderick turned his gaze from the daycare to eye Sun over. "Pick up kid," he said, enunciating exaggeratively and speaking a tad louder than was necessary.

"I'm already on it!" Sun bounced the toddler at his hip. The toddler giggled happily and started to play with the bells tied to Sun's wrist.

Roderick did not seem to find Sun's joke amusing. "…Elijah Jones is his name. I'm here to pick him up."

Oh dear, this wasn't good. "I'm sorry sir, but you're not a registered adult! I'm afraid I cannot release young mister Jones into your custody," Sun stated.

"What?!" Roderick planted his fists on his hips. "Why not??"

Sun wasn't a fan of the man's volume. Briefly, he recalled something Chester had said to him; 'it's like lightning in my belly.' Sun felt like his battery was on the fritz, electricity curling in his torso. "It's a safety policy, sir, to protect the children. If you haven't registered then I can't be sure if you're an authorized guardian of a child."

"What are you trying to say? Are you telling me you think I'm trying to steal a kid?!" Roderick fumed. "I'm here to pick up my sister's son, I'm not some sort of criminal!"

"I don't think you're a criminal, it's just that we have to follow all safety procedures-"

"This is ridiculous. Why am I even talking to this thing?? Where's the staff?" Roderick looked around, his eyes landing on the unmanned security desk. "Is there no one watching these kids?!"

The sensation in Sun's torso was different now. It was like he was overheating, even though a quick system scan read normal temperatures. "I am the daycare attendant. Sir." Sun's voice came out tinged with static. Sun had to remind himself of his role. The kids were watching. He should be kind. He did not want to be kind.

"Where is the actual staff??" The man pointed at the empty security desk. "First you make me pay for a pass just to get in this place and now you won't even let me get my kid. You know what? Forget it. I'll just get Elijah myself."

When Roderick started to push past Sun, Sun moved to block his path. He quickly set down the toddler in his arms. "Sir, I cannot release any child into the custody of an unregistered adult."

"Get out of my way, clown!" Roderick snarled.

"Jester," Sun corrected under his breath, volume turned too low for the man to hear. He did not move.

Roderick looked ready to try shoving past again when someone interjected.

"Is there a problem?"

Sun and Roderick turned to see Chester standing a few paces away. Chester was wearing their uniform and their typical stern expression.

"Finally! Get this robot out of my way, I'm here to pick up my kid," Roderick said.

"I heard most of the situation." Chester paused to clear their throat. They hadn't spoken aloud in a long while, and their throat was hoarse. "Did you register yourself as an approved adult?" Chester asked.

Roderick huffed. "No, I didn't realize that was such a big deal. But it's not like I'm trying to steal a kid, which is what your clown robot would have you believe!" Roderick said, gesturing at Sun.

"I don't think you're trying to steal a child, sir," Chester said.

"Thank you!" Roderick shot Sun a mean look.

"However," Chester went on, "We have absolutely no way of verifying that you are who you say you are. We make no exceptions here when it comes to the safety of the children entrusted in our care, as I'm sure you can understand."

The man fumed for a moment. Chester stared him down with a rigid intensity until he wavered.

"Fine. I'll call my sister and get this cleared up." The man stormed out of the daycare, pulling out his phone.

Sun looked at Chester, who relaxed visibly as the man left. Chester offered Sun a smile they hoped was reassuring.

"You didn't have to do that," Sun started.

Chester shot a few signs off before Sun could finish. "That guy was being really rude. You're just doing your job and keeping the kids safe. It’s no trouble to me."

Roderick returned, pocketing his phone. "Alright, she says she added me to her profile, so I should be on the list now or whatever it is. Can I take Elijah and go already?"

Sun confirmed that Roderick was indeed now on the list of registered adults. He left to retrieve Elijah and make sure the boy had all his belongings with him and was ready to go.

Elijah was sad to leave and pouted as he pulled his shoes on, but once he spotted Roderick he lit up again.

"Uncle Rick!!" Elijah ran to Roderick, arms outstretched and making grabby hands at the man. Sun followed behind, watching to be sure Elijah didn't trip in his excitement.

Roderick's face softened as he picked up Elijah. "Hey, kiddo. Your mom sent me to pick you up today, since she's running late at work. You ready to go?"

Elijah nodded. He grabbed Roderick's tie in his tiny fists and started to fiddle with it.

"Sorry for the inconvenience, sir," Chester said, fighting to remain civil.

"Yeah. Keep your robot in check next time," Roderick said.

Sun bristled. I am kind, he reminded himself. Even when others are not.

Chester scowled. "Sun was right and you were wrong."

Roderick, who had turned and was halfway out the door, stopped and stared at Chester. "Excuse me??"

Chester almost regretted saying anything. Their throat felt dry and they hated the way Roderick was glaring at them. Still, they forced out the words, fueled by something hot deep in their chest. "Sun was doing his job and keeping the kids safe. You were the one behaving improperly. Keep yourself in check next time."

Roderick gasped. Chester shut the door in his face.

Sun stared blankly at Chester as they turned back around, staring at the ground as if surprised at their own actions.

Sun finally spoke. "Chester-"

"I'm sorry," Chester signed quickly. "I shouldn't have been mean to him. I don't know what came over me. I don't even know why I…" Chester looked at the door to the tower. "I'm sorry."

Sun ran another system check. The check assured that nothing was overheating, but Sun was doubtful. "Chester. Thank you," Sun said earnestly. "That was… thank you."

Chester smiled. "I hope he doesn't complain and get you in trouble."

"Me? You're the one who was short with him." Sun laughed. He turned his attention back to the toddler he'd set down earlier, who was pulling at the bottom of his pants and making grabby hands at Sun so he'd pick them back up.

Chester paled. "…You don't think I'd get fired for that, do you?"

"I'm sure if you explain the situation your manager would understand!" Sun assured. "I wouldn't worry, good technicians are hard to come by, so they wouldn't want to get rid of you."

"Right." Chester took a deep breath. "Let me know if you need anything." They retreated back up the spiral steps and into the tower room.

Sun watched them go until his attention was pulled elsewhere, spotting some kids getting a little too rowdy.

Chester kept to their room the rest of the day, though they kept an ear out for any more trouble.

That night, once all the kids had gone home and the pizza-plex was closed and locked up tight, Chester eagerly headed for the food court while Sun plugged himself in for a charge. Chester was starving. That, and the ease of what had become routine of hitting up the line of little restaurants in the food court, meant that they weren't as careful as they should have been.

Chester was halfway through a small cup of pre-cooked frozen onion rings when they heard a noise coming from the back end of the restaurant. Dread froze them to the spot as their head snapped up. They'd been caught red handed.

The animatronic was hunched in the back corner of the restaurant, partially hidden by a shelf full of canned unprepped toppings. She looked up in surprise upon noticing Chester was there. Her hands were buried in an overturned garbage can.

Chester stared at Chica, her hands full of garbage. There was a mess of it on her face as well. Chica stared at Chester, their onion rings in hand and packed in their cheeks.

"I won't tell if you wont tell??" Chica offered.

Chester nodded.

The two went back to their business. Chester finished their onion rings quickly and hurried out of the restaurant.

The rest of their shift passed without issue. After their run in with Chica, Chester was on high alert and avoided the other animatronics with relative ease. They kept an ear out for the sound of jingling bells, but they hadn't seen the animatronic who'd attacked them since the incident. They did bump into that one custodian bot, the one wearing the blue cap. The bot stared at them with an unwavering gaze. Chester wondered briefly about the bot. None of the other bots stared at them. Well, the wet floor sign bots did, but they always looked away if Chester noticed.

Chester made quick work of their tasks, managing to get quite a few done. They’d lucked out with a bunch of easier ones, all simple repairs and easy replacements. They were back in the daycare before they knew it.

Once again, Sun rattled off an impressive list of activities for them to do. Chester tried to get Sun to pick the game tonight, but Sun insisted that he would have fun regardless of what Chester picked. True to his word, when Chester suggested they sit and draw, Sun happily got out all the drawing supplies and laid them out on one of the kiddie tables.

Chester decided against trying to sit in one of the tiny toddler chairs and sat on the floor instead, legs folded beneath the table. Sun on the other hand, settled his comically tall frame precariously atop one of the chairs and immediately got to doodling.

It took Chester two tries to grab the pencil they were after. They felt like their aim was starting to get better, but it was still frustrating trying to pick up smaller items.

"How are you feeling, friend?" Sun asked lightly.

Chester shrugged. They signed with their free hand, mostly focusing on what they were drawing. "I'm alright. I have been constantly groggy. At least my headache is getting better."

"Have you been dizzy at all? I noticed you sometimes have trouble getting up the stairs," Sun remarked.

"You noticed?" Chester paused, feeling slightly embarrassed. They'd thought they had been doing an ok job of hiding it.

Sun had stopped drawing and was now giving Chester his full attention. "Have you been feeling nauseous? Bothered by lights or noises? Having trouble concentrating?"

"What's with all the questions?" Chester huffed. They didn't meet Sun's gaze. "Don't worry about me, Sun. I'm alright."

"Chester, you may have a concussion."

Chester stared down at their pencil. They knew they weren't doing great, but there really wasn't anything to be done about it. They glanced up as they spied a strange blue light flashing in Sun's eyes.

"When did you hit your head?? Chester, I think you need to see a medical professional." The concern was transparent in Sun's tone.

Chester realized Sun must have just scanned them. They pulled their hat down tighter over their head. "Right. I'll… I'll do that." Chester didn't enjoy lying, but they couldn't exactly explain why they couldn't leave the complex. They busied themself with drawing.

Sun wrung his hands together, the bells on his wrists jingling from the worried motions. His sunrays all shrank in, slowly popping back out one by one. "Are you scared of the doctor? Don't worry, lots of kids think the doctor is scary! But its their job to help you, and I hear they give you a lollipop when you're done!"

He'd seen right through their lie. Chester kept sketching, just so they didn't have to look at Sun. "Not that I don't love a good lollipop, but I really can't go to a doctor right now." Chester risked a glance at Sun, who had folded in on himself and was now bouncing his leg. "I'm sorry for lying."

"You are forgiven." Sun put his hands on his knees, forcing his leg to still. "We're just worried about you, friend."

Chester's hand stilled. They put their pencil down. "Why?"

"What do you mean, why?"

Chester looked at Sun incredulously. "Why are you worried about me?? Why would you care about me? I'm the asshole who blackmailed you into letting me take your room! Sun, I'm not a good person."

"No bad language in the daycare," Sun said on impulse, though he rushed to turn the volume down as he ran the line. He quickly put his volume back up to normal and carried on. "You're not a bad person just because you don't have anywhere else to stay!! Really, we don't mind you staying here at all!"

Chester wasn't sure where this was coming from. All of a sudden they were feeling a horrible rush of guilt and anger with themself. Here they were, making bad choices and hurting people, even though they could now afford the choice. They'd done nothing but steal and lie and deceive and hurt since they'd gotten here, since they'd gotten away. "I threatened to tell on you about the lights if you didn't do what I said. That was wrong of me! I shouldn't treat you like that. No one deserves to be treated like that." Chester took a moment, clenching their shaking hands into fists. They squeezed their eyes shut and breathed, calming down before going on. "I'm so sorry, Sun. You've been unreasonably kind to me, and I've been…" Chester stared down at the table. What were they doing here? Sitting here, drawing with Sun, pretending to be his friend. "I'm sorry. You can have your room back. I won't tell anyone about the lights, I promise."

Chester stood up, planning to grab their duffel bag and leave the daycare. Sun shot up as well, surprising Chester when he grabbed their arm to stop them.

"Chester… thank you for the apology. I know you don't want to tell me why you don't have anywhere else to stay, but that's okay. You don't have to. You are in need of help, and I want to do whatever I can do to help you. I don't think you're a bad person. A bad person wouldn't have helped me deal with an upset guardian, wouldn't have been kind and polite to me, wouldn't have gotten so upset over being mean to me. You can stay in my room for as long as you need, okay?" Sun slowly released Chester's arm, as if they might flee if he moved too quickly.

Chester had no idea what to say. They lifted their hands to sign, only to lower them again. Their eyes threatened to water, but they quickly fought back the tears. They took another deep breath. "I don't know what to say. Thank you, Sun."

Sun's head did a quick spin. "Of course, dear. I'm not mad or upset with you. Will you stay?"

Chester thought about going back to their little supply closet, maybe stowing their stuff away in one of the empty employee lockers. They looked at Sun, tried to imagine never coming back to the daycare. "…Are you certain you don't mind me staying?"

"Not in the slightest. I promise," Sun assured.

"Okay… I'll stay. Thank you," Chester signed.

Sun wrapped Chester up in a big hug, squeezing them tightly. Startled, Chester let out a nervous little laugh and awkwardly pat Sun's back.

"Would you like to keep drawing? We can talk about something else if you want," Sun offered, releasing Chester.

"Yeah, okay," Chester agreed. They returned to the table with Sun and took a deep breath as they picked their pencil back up (they even managed to grab it on the first try).

"Sooo have you been making any friends?" Sun asked. He went back to doodling, amassing a collection of colored pencils and crayons.

"Actually yeah. I think. Her name is Vanessa, she's a technician. I'm told she's weird, but I'm also told that I'm weird. I think Vanessa is alright," Chester signed. "I've also been getting along with Monty, the gator guy. One of the golf club dispensers in Gator Golf got jammed, and he roped me into a game since he was kinda bored. It was right during lunch time and there weren't a lot of people there."

"That sounds like fun!!" Sun bounced happily in his seat.

"Do you have any friends?" Chester asked, returning the question.

"I've got lots and lots of wonderful friends!! The kids are all so sweet and we have so much fun together! Sometimes Freddy or Chica will stop by and pay me a visit too. Freddy is very polite, like you! Have you met him?? I think you two would get along great."

Chester recalled almost bumping into Freddy the night they'd snuck into the complex. They'd been avoiding him and the other animatronics to the best of their ability since. "Not yet," they signed. "Hey… how many animatronics are there?"

Sun ticked off his fingers as he counted the animatronics. "There's the four glamrocks, Freddy, Roxy, Monty, Chica, and there's also DJMM, and of course, yours truly!" Sun put a hand to his chest, popping his sunrays in and out all at once.

That… wasn't right. Chester hadn't gotten the best look at the animatronic who'd bashed their head in, but they'd seen enough to know he wasn't any of the others. "Are you sure there's not one more?"

Sun's hand twitched. He lowered it to the table. "…What?"

"I… met… another animatronic a while ago. He had red eyes and a circle head like yours. I didn't get a great look at him, it was dark and…" and he was hard to see while he was chasing me and bashing my head into the ground, "I do remember bells? There were jingling bells on his costume."

Sun sat absolutely frozen. No bouncing leg or tapping fingers, no loading symbol sunrays. He stared at his page full of doodles, but the hand holding the crayon was still.

Chester glanced up at Sun. They wondered if he was thinking. Chester was about to prompt Sun when he suddenly snapped to attention.

"How strange!" Sun sounded strained. "How did. How did you meet this bot?"

It was Chester's turn to freeze. They couldn't let Sun or anyone else know about the incident. "It was just a brief meeting. Didn't even say much. Who knows, he could have just been one of Vanessa's ghosts," Chester joked.

"Who's to say?" Sun laughed, though the sound came out high pitched and strained. "Say, what are you drawing over there??"

Chester looked down at their sketch, gladly accepting the change in topics. "Just a rough diagram of Freddy. I've been reading those technician books all day long, I see diagrams every time I close my eyes."

"That's a very good drawing! You even got the little compartment on his arm where he keeps his spare microphone," Sun remarked, leaning over the table to look.

"Yeah! You all have these neat little details like that built in, it's really fascinating. Like how Chica's voice box has all this extra space for downloading voice files, so she can impersonate or mimic the others. That way she can cover for them in performances if someone else has technical issues. Or how Roxy's eyes can see through walls, so she always knows where everyone else is on the bumper car race track." Chester paused, wondering if that was why Roxy had found them so easily their first night shift, despite their attempts at avoiding the animatronics.

"My voice box is like Chica's! Mine can even create new voice files, so we can do all sorts of fun voices for story time," Sun said.

"Really?? That's cool!" Chester paused and looked up at Sun. "Hey, I've noticed that you sometimes say 'we' or 'us'. Can I ask why that is?"

"…I would appreciate if you didn't," Sun said.

"That's okay. I've got secrets too." Chester didn't press the matter. "What are you drawing?"

Sun relaxed, straightening his posture as he held up his paper for Chester to see. "It's a cozy little cottage and a creek in a field of wildflowers," he explained.

"Wow, that's amazing!"

"Thank you, but I can't take all the credit. I just copied this from a picture I found online. I thought it was really pretty so I wanted to draw it," Sun said.

Sun and Chester drew and talked about easy things for the rest of the night, until it was time for Sun to prepare the daycare. Chester tried to help clean up the art supplies, but Sun insisted he could handle it. Chester ascended the spiral stairs and listened to the faint sounds of Sun rushing around the daycare as they fell asleep.

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