Chapter Text
“I normally wouldn’t hire someone so fresh on the field, but… well, I’ll admit, I’m desperate here. And your resume looked good, if a bit fluffed.”
The backwards compliment is a slap to your face, but it only stings a little. Smile tightening, you look your new manager over- he’s tall and thin, on the older side, and a bit sweaty. With a terrible habit of staring right into your soul when he talked.
You fight back a shiver as you speak up, “I’m just thankful to have a chance here, Mister Campbell. This is a great opportunity.”
He points a finger in your face and fixes you with a stern expression. “Trust me, you would not be here if the higher ups weren’t shitting their pants about getting a stupid mechanic-“
“Robotics engineer,” you say with a taut politeness. You continue before he can get a word in edge wise, making sure you’re walking the fine line of firm and civil. “I’m a robotics engineer. It’s very different from a mechanic’s job.”
The finger in your face (you want to bite him, but his finger nails are grimy and you do need this job) slowly falls as he stares at you. Unblinking, bloodshot eyes… like a coked up owl.
Clearing his throat, his gaze finally drops. “Yeah, well, anyway, I just hope you know what you’re doing. You fuck these things up and this whole company goes down the shoot.” He turns on his heel and starts down the hall. “Come on, kid, we gotta get you introduced.”
You follow at his side despite his long legged strides. “Will I be trained under someone? The head engineer or-“
“No,” Mister Campbell says. “Unfortunately the entire team up and left us and any stragglers we could hire were even faster to abandon us.”
A brow lifts on your face. “Why’s that…?”
“Because,” he drawls as if the subject is grating his nerves raw, “the animatronics can be… difficult to deal with. Roxanne is a diva, Chica is strange at best, Montgomery is a self absorbed tough ass, and Sunrise is- well, bipolar and neurotic.”
The two of you pause outside a door decorated in a familiar face; the images of a grinning brown bear almost makes you smile, but the question floating around your head pulls your attention back to Mister Campbell. “What about Freddy?”
“Oh, him?” Campbell laughs and turns the knob. “There’s a reason I’m introducing you to him first.”
As soon as the door was open, you peek inside. The entire room is decorated with Glamrock Freddy’s image. Posters and plushies and fan works coat every inch, like they had hired an obsessed child to design the place. With a light chuckle, you walk in and let your eyes roam slowly, curious, until-
“Hello, there.”
Turning to face the voice, you let your head slowly crane upwards until you were eye to artificial optic with the tall, friendly looking bear. He stares down at you, smiling as best his he can, and tilts his head to match your own head cocking.
“Hello, Freddy,” you greet warmly.
Mister Campbell clears his throat and steps up to you. When he puts a hand on your shoulder, you wince. “Freddy, this here is our new mechanic-“
“Robotics engineer,” you correct again, a bit more tersely, and casually shrug his sweaty palm off. Shaking off the attitude, you grin up at Freddy, whose eyes shift between you and your hiring manager. “I’ll be the one fixing up you and all your friends.”
“Oh!” The rounded ears bounce slightly as his head bobs in surprise. “I didn’t know we’d be welcoming you on board so soon! I would’ve-“ He glances around and seems to grow sheepish as he looks back to you and chuckles. “-cleaned up more if I knew.”
“Leave that to the janitors, Freddy,” Campbell says with a frown. The watch on his wrist beeps, high pitched chirps that must annoy him because he groans and rolls his eyes as he swipes open the message on the smart device. His brows crease as his eyes narrow. “Shit, speaking of janitors, I need to go. I’ve got more interviews to do.”
“Uh, what am I supposed to do?” You ask.
He doesn’t look at you, just waves his hand dismissively as he walks to the door. “Just keep on Freddy for today. He’s well acquainted with all the ins and outs you’ll be doing. Go meet your coworkers or something if you get bored. Just remember to clock out at midnight.” He’s closing the door now, but you can hear him muttering under his breath, “Nobody wants to fucking work anymore, Christ above. Can’t keep a single one to save my miserable god damn life. Ugh-“
The door closes. Awkward silence fills the air for a few long moments before you laugh, a light, airy sound as you rub your forehead. “So far, he’s one of my best managers yet,” you mutter to yourself.
“Pardon?”
“Is he always-? Ya know what, never mind.” You turn your attention back to the metal bear and look him up and down, stroking your chin as you circle him like a critical shark. He follows you, twirling his midsection around as you go. “You guys are so advanced. It’s amazing to be up this close and get to work with you guys.”
Freddy chuckles. “I just hope you stay. No one has ever stayed longer then a few days.”
“That’s gotta be a bummer, dude, I’m sorry.” You frown. “It must get lonely around here then.”
He doesn’t say anything, but the sad expression he makes has your chest aching for him. You reach out a hand and pat his arm reassuringly- you had imagined him to be made completely out of plastic and metal, but there was a soft, silky texture on the surface. Fur. Minky, maybe? It was a shame you never got to meet the first generation, or the second, or third, or sister location animatronics because you had always wondered if they had had fur.
You were so obsessed with the texture, how nice it felt on your palms, that you forgot you were practically petting a sentient being. Pursing your lips awkwardly, you rise up your eyes to Freddy.
“Uh-“ You move your hand away and give a bashful laugh that turns into you clearing your throat as you look anywhere but at Freddy. “-Sorry. You’re just very soft.”
His large hand palms the top of your head and he ruffles your hair. “It’s okay. You’re my engineer, I assumed you’d be handsy. Oh! Speaking of handsy!” He claps your shoulder and guides you to the door. “We should probably head to the maintenance room! There are several staff bots that need fixing.”
“Putting me to work already?” You playfully groan as you follow Freddy out of the room.
The bear makes sure he’s walking your speed, he is two feet taller then you after all, and hums in amusement, “Unfortunately, you humans need to earn a paycheck to survive. Or so I’m told.”
The Pizzaplex is still dimly lit as you walk with your newest coworker. It is oddly quiet too, only a handful of staff bots rolling up and down their paths and even fewer people at their stations. The building wouldn’t be open until the weekend, three entire days from now, so it felt… empty here. It was almost reminiscent of a weird dream, the kinds you wake up from and have that sad and scared nostalgia. So familiar yet so alien.
‘Apocalyptic’, you think to yourself and try not to frown.
“Here we are!” Freddy chirps cheerfully as he stops in front of a marked door.
It and the hall it has been tucked into stand out in the way that it seems oddly plain. All dingy grey and darkly lit. Where the lights around the rest of the complex were neon and bright, the ones overhead were a dull, sickly yellow. Several bulbs even flicker pitifully. You want to question it, but you don’t, instead allowing Freddy to guide you through the door marked ‘technical maintenance: employees only!’
“Most of the time,” Freddy says as you two walk in, “you can service me and the rest of the Glamrock band in our designated rooms. But for harder fixings, or staff bots, you’ll need to do it here.”
You squint your eyes in the darkness and try to look around. “Sorry, you might have night vision, but I don’t, buddy. Is there a light switch or…?”
He makes a surprised noise and then there’s a flick and light pours form the heavens above. Or, well, the fluorescent bulbs that hung from the tall ceiling. The place is dusty but impressive, a handful of different stations already set up, and the most up to date technology one could ask for. Like a kid in a candy store, you grin eagerly.
“Where do I get started?” You can’t help the pitch of your voice rising into dog whistle territory as your hands clench and unclench in front of your chest.
Noting your ambitious attitude, the bear leads you over to a table. A plain staff bot sits on the shiny surface, turned off, and in rough shape. There are two more sitting against the wall, in the same condition. Sitting on a wheeled chair, you scoot up to the first bot and carefully look it over.
“What happened to this poor thing?” You ask, glancing at Freddy.
“A group of toddlers happened.” He shook his head slowly and tsk’d. “The bots didn’t stand a chance.”
“Oh, in that case, this thing was lucky to make it out alive. Er, as alive as this counts as?” You fix your attention back to the bot- this would be a long day. Rolling up your sleeves, you start by taking off the chest panel and peering into the meat of the beat up bot.
“I can assist you here,” Freddy suggests as he steps up to you. “Then when it’s time for you to go, I can show you back. Would that be okay?”
You smile up at him. “That’d be nice, Fredster. To start, I’d love it if you could hand me a soldering gun please.”
Time seems to fly as you work meticulously on the damaged machines. The distant hum of music drowns out the noises of buffing out dents and soldering wires back together. Freddy was much needed help and in the blink of an eye, each bot was flickering back to life.
You scoot back in your chair to give them enough room to power on. They peddle this way and that, as if rolling for the first time, and you clap your hands giddily. You don’t notice the proud look Freddy gives you until you turn to him with fists raised triumphantly in the air.
“We did it!” You cheer because, despite having done harder projects in a shorter amount of time, you feel accomplished. It’s been a while since anything like this had given you any sense of joy so you relish in the feeling.
Freddy holds out his hands and you slap your palms against his robotic ones. “Way to go, superstar!”
The compliment and the nick name makes your chest ache. His fingers close around your hands and he gives them a joyous little shake. With a beaming smile, you let your hands slide away from him.
“I owe it to my wonderful partner,” you compliment back. “Who knew you’d be so helpful?”
Bashfully, Freddy lets out a shoulder shaking laugh. He opens his mouth, but is cut off by your watch beeping. Perking up, you bring it up to your vision and-
“Holy shit- it’s almost midnight!” You bark and stand up suddenly, only to knock your knee hard against the underside of the work table; it sends shock waves of pain up and down your leg. With a yelp of pain, you sit back down and curl into yourself. “Fuck, ow…”
“Are you okay?” Freddy asks with frantic worry as he kneels next to you. The warmth of his hand smooths over your back and the gesture is comforting to make a laugh stick in your throat.
“I’m fine,” you assure him. “But, uh, I do have to go… my shift ends in like five minutes.”
Freddy helps you to your feet and again, you’re taken aback by his size. “Let me escort you out. It’s the least I can do for my new pal.”
“I’d like that, big guy.”
Just as you’re slipping into your car, someone calls your name. You glance up, narrowing your eyes in the darkness (they really needed better street lamps in the parking lot) and watch with mild annoyance as Mister Campbell comes going up to you. He’s got a bundle of wrapped clothes in his arms and when he finally gets to you, he stops to catch his wheezing breaths.
“I forgot-“ he pants out, face pale and slick with sweat. “-to give you your uniform! Shit, I need to get into better shape… Here.”
As soon as the coveralls are in your hands, he’s gone. Quicker then he ran, he vanishes. Pursing your lips, you open up the package and take a look at the neon colored coveralls. Your name is stitched onto the breast with ‘technician’ written above it.
You frown. “I’m an engineer…”