Chapter Text
It had been a while since Vic had needed to look for a job. Mechanics and technical support was a field where they had no issues in finding a job before, everything broke down and needed to be fixed at one point or another. That fact made the issue of their unemployment an even larger frustration.
Their last job had gone fairly well. Or at least it had until around 3 weeks ago, when they got arrested for assault and were promptly fired. To their luck, their charges were dropped since it hadn’t been their fault that a drunk asshole decided he had wanted to bash their head in. However, the couple weeks of no job on top of legal fees had left them desperately strapped for cash. And as it turns out, employers don’t seem to like seeing ‘aggravated assault’ on a person's background check, even if the charges had been dropped.
Vic’s eyes burned from lack of sleep as they looked over the couple of pieces of mail in their hands. Bills, of course, and they were gonna be overdue soon. Looking over the envelopes while they sipped on a cup of tea, the possibility that they could get evicted hit their mind. Luckily before their thoughts could spiral into a pit of paranoia, the loud ring of their phone pulled them out of their stupor.
“Hello?” They asked, hoping that the call wasn’t about one of the unpaid bills that sat in their hands.
“Hi, is this Vic Greenwell?” A peppy voice rang out from the speaker of the phone.
“Yeah, that’s me.”
“Wonderful! My name is Betty and I’m the hiring manager at Freddy Fazbear’s Mega PizzaPlex,” she cheerfully said, “And I saw that you had applied for the position of primary animatronic caretaker.” It was about a job! Immediately, Vic was on their feet and fully focused on whatever was going to come out of this lady’s mouth. They had remembered the listing of this job on the site they found it vividly. A job that’s posting was so vague and promised a starting pay of $22.75 an hour, it was wildly suspicious which was unsurprising coming from Fazbear Entertainment. But, Vic had to throw everything at the wall hoping that anything would stick and they would be damned if they didn’t give pay like that a shot.
Pacing the entire time, they answered Betty’s questions, trying to not sound as desperate for the job as they truly were. Though when Vic asked her about the position, the only additional detail you got was that it was, “A newer position that had been created for the animatronics comfort.” As confusing as that was, they couldn’t linger on why the comfort of the animatronics resulted in a position that paid like it did.
“When would be a good time for you to come and have a tour of the PizzaPlex?” She inquired.
“TODAY-” Vic blurted out as quickly as they could. They were going to get this job, holy shit, they finally got a job again. And not just any job, one that pays pretty damn good. “I could, uh, come in as soon as tonight.”
“We’ll see you tonight then. You can get here at around 6 and we’ll sort out the bits of paperwork and get you a tour.”
Once the hang up button had been hit, Vic immediately stepped into action. Eating an actual meal, taking a shower, changing into clothes. Casual clothes were okay, right? It was a pizza place or mall or both, so they hoped that they weren’t going to be expected to dress up. Pulling out a pair of black joggers, a black sleeveless shirt, and their favorite jacket. It was an old camo print jacket that was covered in patches, though they still had to double check to make sure none of the patches were inappropriate in any way. After slipping it all on, they were ready to go but a quick glance at their phone told them they still had around 4 hours till they had to leave.
Waiting to leave felt like years. No matter how they tried to distract themself, the anxiety started eating at them. What if they fucked up paperwork. Or they made an ass of themself. Or what if they rejected them there instead of over the phone. Thousands of scenarios played in Vic’s head as they stepped into their truck.
The drive to the PizzaPlex wasn’t a very long one. While they lived in a house that they rented closer to the edge of town, luckily they lived on the side that was significantly closer to the Plex than the other. After the longest 15 minutes they had ever experienced, they sat in their parked truck staring at the front doors to the building. The bright neon lighting did nothing to help with their burning eyes or the headache that was settling behind their eyes. The building in front of them was truly massive. Vic had never been one to care much about the Fazbear franchise, only hearing the rumors and urban legends that surrounded the company like a dark cloud. They had driven past the place before, but they never paid it any mind before. Never looked at it and realized how imposing it really was.
The time on their phone read as 5:53, so it was time to head in. With a deep breath, they stepped out of the truck and strode to the bright, front doors. Before the sliding glass doors even opened they could hear the sounds of the chaotic space. Music, children laughing and running around, people talking, Vic hoped to whatever god there was that they didn’t have to work up on the main floor.
Stepping into the lobby and dodging around the various other families that were there, they quickly realized they hadn’t been told where to go. Looking around aimlessly till their eyes landed on a woman standing near the door, wearing a simple outfit and a badge around her neck on a lanyard.
“Hey,” Vic starts as they approach the woman, “I’m supposed to meet a lady named Betty here. About a job?”
“Ah, so you must be Vic then,” her familiar cheerful voice rings out, “It’s nice to meet you in person.” Idle chat spreads between the two, primarily Betty just talking at them, as she leads them to an employee only door. As the two of them walk, Vic fully zones out of the small talk they weren’t really paying attention to begin with in favor of taking in their surroundings. Pleasantly messy is the best way to describe it. The back halls were pleasantly quieter than the front and not as brightly technicolor as well. Various posters and papers were intermittently plastered on the walls broken up by the occasional door or hallway. Crates, boxes, and other supplies sat against the walls, sometimes even into the walkway.
However the thing that caught their attention were the various drawings on the walls. Amongst the pieces of promotional material put up on the walls, were coloring pages and drawings from kids. Drawings of the mascots of the restaurant lined the walls, coloring pages that had been haphazardly filled in, as well as various crafts like paper plate faces and such. It added something sweet to the concrete walls of the halls.
Vic was suddenly pulled back from their thoughts as Betty stopped moving, standing in front of what looked to be an office door. With a creak and a smile, she opened the door and gestures for them to step in. As they enter the office, they see an older man sitting at the desk.
“Ah,” the man grumbles as he looks you up and down, “You must be the one here for the animatronic caretaker position.”
“Yeah, that’s me. My name is Vic-” They say as they sit down in the chair across from him. The man, Oscar Lloyd by the looks of the nameplate on his desk, puts a hand up. After shuffling around some papers and placing them in front of Vic.
“These are all of the papers that you need to sign. Please get started.” A decent stack of papers sits in front of them as a pen is placed on top of them. Gingerly, they pick up the pen and start glancing through the papers as the man stares at them. The first half of the papers seemed normal, similar to ones they’ve had to sign before, but they quickly turned from normal to vaguely concerning. A couple of non-disclosure agreements to be specific, but they signed them all. The act felt concerningly like signing their own death certificate as they were stared down by the unblinking man across from them.
Once all of the paperwork was finished, they were grabbed by Lloyd. “Thank you,” he coldly drones, “Now, Betty will give you your schedule, explain your position, and give you a tour. Feel free to ask her anything.” After being quickly moved out of the office, Vic stepped over to Betty who was waiting just outside the office.
“Welcome to the Fazber Family,” a badge that looked like hers was placed into Vic’s hands, “Come on, I got a lot to show you.” As the two once again walked down the halls, they decided they would try to listen to what she was saying this time.
“So, we here at the PizzaPlex strive to provide families with the highest quality of entertainment. We have rides, stores, games, the whole shebang! But the primary draw for most people are our highly advanced animatronics.” She turns and looks at you as you both once again enter onto the loud main floor. “That’s where you come in! While in the past, our animatronics would undergo maintenance with an automated system, the higher ups recently decided that a more human touch would be helpful for the animatronics as they’ve never been fond of the maintenance system.”
“When you say ‘never been fond’, what do you mean?”
“Well, our maintenance team has reported that they seemed distressed or upset when undergoing maintenance. So we thought that a personal caretaker would be helpful in that regard.” That was unsettling, why would robots be distressed? They could only begin to wonder what on earth that meant.
“So what is, uh, what is expected of me? What all will I be doing?” Vic couldn’t help but let a bit of concern creep into their voice.
“That’s simple! You’re going to be primarily taking care of the main 4 as well as the daycare attendant,” she starts with a warm smile as you two walk into a large, museum-like room, “With those 5, you’ll be caring for their mechanical and emotional needs. Think like a friend who is also their doctor.”
That sent Vic mentally reeling. Emotional? One, how and why do a bunch of entertainment robots have emotional needs. Two, they were barely able to take care of their own emotional needs on a good day. But, it was too late to back out now. They had signed all those papers and could suck it up for the paycheck.
As Betty rambled on about how you would work nights, Wednesday through Sunday, and your benefits, she eventually started to lead you to the 4, tall animatronics that were currently crowded around by people. Each animatronic was pointed out to you. Freddy, Chica, Roxy, and Monty and you were told that you would get a better chance to meet them on your first shift. The last one to see was the daycare attendant. After a little bit of walking, you two entered the area marked with the large, colorful ‘Superstar Daycare’ sign.
The sound of young children playing filled their ears as a cheerful song played overtop. The more pastel area grabbed Vic’s attention as something different than the bright neon's of the rest of the Plex. Betty pointed out the daycare animatronic inside the play area and they were immediately enthralled.
Compared to the other animatronics, this one seemed to have been constructed entirely differently. It was taller and lanky, watching it move was practically like watching a rubber hose cartoon, and it was currently being climbed like a tree by children. They chuckled as Betty continued to explain various things about the job to them, focusing their attention on her again.
However, a certain animatronic was also curious about them. Having been pointed at was enough to grab his attention, even with children covering him. The thing that kept his attention though was the peculiar person standing next to the person pointing. Dressed in darker clothing, brightly dyed hair, and a face that seemed to be stuck in a mild scowl, the bright white security badge stood out against them. And yet, Sun didn’t have an employee profile on the person, not even a guest profile. As he was searching through his database, he could have sworn he heard a little laugh from them.
As they left with the employee with them, they didn’t leave his mind. His curiosity couldn’t help but wonder who that was or if that was them that laughed. Even after the daycare closes for the night, he starts to hope that he gets to see them again. That laugh was pretty.