A/N: short chapter but im trying to make the next ones longer. also im like referencing and taking a lot of inspo from other writings or shows or whatever and i'm citing them with like links and explanations in the notes of my ao3 (username Johnny_Jay_Doe) cause it's more convenient and like doesn't mess with the format. I'll still put big citations in the author's notes here, but theres way more stuff in detail on ao3 if you care abt that
also i'm gonna go back to prev chapters and edit for formatting/grammar and try to clean up the author's notes format so dw abt it
Words: 1970
┌─── ∘°❉ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ❉°∘ ───┐
"Go somewhere?" Bonnie lifts his head and asks.
"Yeah," You say, "let's go do something."
Foxy looks at you, confusion in his eyes but clearly trying to play it cool, "Where... where would we go?"
"Are we allowed to go?" Bonnie adds.
"Well, I am the security guard," You say, puffing out your chest a little, "and if I bring you guys somewhere, I'm still technically guarding you, so."
"I think you're meant to be guarding the premises." Freddy pipes in.
"Shut up!" Chica leans across the table and slaps her hand over a disgruntled Freddy's mouth, "Where can we go?"
"Aaaanywhere," You say, making a sweeping gesture with your hands.
"Can we go to a theme park?" Chica asks, stars in her eyes.
"Within reasoooon," You tack on and reverse the hand gesture.
Within reason really narrows down your choices. You can't bring the animatronics anywhere too public. Although it's still so early in the morning it might as well be considered night, you can't risk people seeing them. They pass as human, but just barely. Any night crawler with a keen eye could spot Bonnie's ears without a double take. You can't do anything that's remotely costly, Fazbear's doesn't pay that great and there are five of you. You certainly can't go anywhere far away. It'll be a nightmare if the pizzeria opens without its star attractions.
You sigh and resign yourself to pitching the lamest idea for what a group of viably attractive adults can possibly do on a night out.
"Y'all wanna go to McDonalds?"
Cramming four weirdly tall animatronics into your car is no easy task. Honestly, the nearest McDonalds is like two blocks away, but your windows are tinted and you really are paranoid about getting caught. Eventually you settle on giving Chica, who looks very pleased with herself, the passenger seat and leaving the boys to have a territory dispute in the back.
You catch Bonnie's eye in the rear view mirror. The poor thing is stuck in the middle seat, if you can even call it a seat. You pull out of the parking lot and start driving down the empty street. Bonnie all but launches himself over Foxy to press his face against the window. You drive slower to let him take in the sights.
"Huh," Bonnie says as you slowly cruise past a 7/11, "that used to be a Radioshack."
"No, I thought it was a Gemco?" Freddy counters.
"Bonnie's right," Chica says, her voice missing the energy you're so accustomed to hearing from her, "it was a Radioshack. My mom used to take me sometimes."
No one responds to Chica. You look over at her and find her face is devoid of any discernible emotion and angled towards the window. That must be awful, you think, to see how the world changed without you. Haunted by the memory of your family, who by all means think you're dead and would be horrified at the state of you now. Assuming they're alive to see it, that is.
You glance in the rear view mirror. Freddy stares at his lap with furrowed brows and a slight frown. His eyes dart to the window for a moment, then his shoulders slump and he looks back down. That, you think, must be worse. To forget.
You speed up the car as discreetly as you can.
"Woah, it looks different!" Chica snaps back to her usual peppy mood as you pull around the building and into the drive through. You spend an embarrassingly long amount of time relaying everyone's orders to the employee on the other end of the speaker and longer distributing the food throughout the car. You barely remembered to tell the three visibly not-human animatronics in the back to stop looking so visibly not-human. Luckily, the most definitely underpaid employee didn't seem to notice.
You're about to stop the car in the corner of the lot when you remember that there's a park really close to here. It closes at night, meaning no one will be there and you and the animatronics can get some proper fresh air. The drive only takes a minute.
Your headlights illuminate the wooden fence that surrounds the park as you slow the car to a stop. There's no one around to see your haphazard parking job. Bonnie, with all the grace of a baby deer, stumbles out of the car while managing to not drop anything. He stretches and stands next to you, gesturing to the large closed after 9 sign chained to the post.
"So are we going to trespass or..." Bonnie trails off, looking at you skeptically. Clearly he doesn't think that you expected the place to be closed, and clearly he doesn't think you have the guts for a misdemeanor.
"Yup." You say and confidently walk up to the fence. It's not that tall but you have to swing your leg over it awkwardly to drop down to the other side. You look back at your friends, "What are you waiting for?"
Freddy raises a hand in apprehension and looks like he's about to worriedly suggest you come back to his side of the fence. He doesn't get the chance thanks to Foxy pushing him aside with a smile. Foxy and Bonnie hop the fence (hop is a stretch, with how tall they are they basically just stepped over it), Chica is quick to follow, leaving a very nervous looking Freddy on the other side.
"Come on, Freddy!" You cheer.
"Yeah, come on, Freddy!" Bonnie adds, full of sarcasm.
Freddy (finally) steps over the fence. He grumbles something as you all give one final cheer.
You use the light of your phone to lead the group to the park tables. Bonnie sits next to you, citing to the others how he had to sit in the middle in the car and how he should be able to sit where he wants now. You all finish your food relatively quickly. Freddy, to your delight, had somehow never drank soda before. Maybe McDonalds Sprite was a bad introduction.
Crickets sound from the tall patches of grass strewn around the table. Chica sits with her knees up to her chest trying to avoid them. It's remarkably quiet. Everyone, you included, is thoroughly lost in thought. You wonder when the last time the animatronics were outside was. Like really outside, away from the pizzeria. You watch the way Freddy traces the grain of the wooden table and Foxy stares into the barely lit nearby forest. It must've been a while.
You're almost inclined to ask them about their life before they were killed. Hell, you're almost inclined to ask them about being killed. You know it's a sensitive subject, the animatronics only told you the bare minimum to placate you, but you can't help but wonder. It feels like falling asleep halfway through a movie. The story is there, just not finished. But there's no way to casually bring it up in conversation, and you've struck a sensitive sort of stability here with your friends. One where they don't tell you the details of their past and in return you don't have to express your own vulnerability to them. It does feel artificial, you've got mental whiplash from how quickly you all moved on from the whole Goldie thing. But you'll take artificial a hundred times over the very real threat of fucking up another good thing.
That's part of why Chica and Freddy's interaction in the car surprised you so much. You didn't know if they even remembered anything from their life, and more, you didn't know if they trusted you enough to tell you.
One thing you do know is you never want to see Freddy look that downright broken again, even if it was just a moment. You never want to be the cause of it. You never want to push. You have no leverage here, you have no right. So you'll settle for this. Sitting here under the stars, eating crappy fast food with your friends.
This isn't bad, you think, taking in the soft smiles on the animatronics faces, not bad at all.
Bonnie stands up, trodding through the overgrown grass. The crickets' trilling swells in protest as he walks a few paces away from the table and lays flat on his back. The grass partially obscures him, though you can still see his face peering up at the sky. You get up and walk his way. You stand parallel to him, head turned up to look at the gleaming moon. Suddenly you're falling, as Bonnie sits up and grabs you around your waist, pulling you back down with him in a pile of laughs.
You lay sprawled on your back next to Bonnie, his arms still wrapped around your hips. The others join you one by one and sit in the grass next to you. The moon glows a yellowish white. Glimpses of purple barely shine behind the stars in the deep black sky. A light breeze coaxes a giggle from your lips. Bonnie leans in to you, his chin resting on your shoulder.
"I swear there used to be more stars in the sky." Bonnie says, a low whisper in your ear. If the last time he saw the night sky was in the 80s, he's probably right. Light pollution, just another way the world has changed outside of the time capsule of the pizzeria.
"Maybe," You nod your head.
"It's okay though," He whispers, "I've got a pretty great view."
You don't have to turn your head to know he's looking at you, but you do anyway. Your faces are inches apart. His eyes sparkle with adoration and you can't stop yourself from breaking into a big smile and laugh, a melodic thing, as you press your forehead against his.
Your chest swells with gratitude. You're so glad you can have these silly quiet moments with the animatronics. You're so glad they let you. You feel privileged, lucky. That's it, you're lucky.
Your life didn't go the way you'd expected it. You thought you were going to spend the rest of your life in offices and clinics. And look at you now. Laying in the grass at God knows what time with four supernatural friends. You could never have predicted this, and for the first time, you don't feel like you failed. You don't feel like you lost. Not at all, you won, and by pure chance.
You might just be the luckiest girl alive.
The car is full of laughs on the way back to the pizzeria. You all get back inside a couple minutes before the bell chimes. Cutting it close, sure, but no one seemed to worry. Chica hugs you before you leave.
"Thank you for taking us out." She says.
"Of course," You respond, "we'll have to do it more often."
You walk out of the door and into the parking lot. You stop a few paces away from your car, scanning the parking lot. There's still one thing you have to do.
You feel him before you hear him.
"(Y/n)," The change in air pressure alerted you of Goldie's presence before he even opened his mouth. You pivot on your heel to face him.
"Hey." You smile and step towards him. He steps back. "Just the guy I was looking for."
He gives you a confused look. You make a curling hand gesture at him, a follow me. You don't wait for him to catch up as you turn and walk to your car. You hear his footsteps echoing yours. You swing around the car and open the passenger door before getting in the driver's side.
Goldie stands at the passenger side door, head tilted and squinting at you.
"You coming?"
└─── °∘❉U ･ × ･ U❉∘° ───┘
A/N: title is from the song "Do You Wanna Ride?" from the Be More Chill musical