So I have finally decided to stop Minecraft fanfics for a short while to write this first chapter of a Five Night at Freddy's story! This is so exciting! I have been thinking about it for a while and I know that the trilogy has ended but the FNAF fandom will live on! This story takes place in the Five Nights at Freddy's 1 game. So, without further ado, please enjoy this chapter of Balloons. Please review. Enjoy!

Balloons

Mike Schmidt walked slowly into the lobby of the Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria restaurant. The receptionist at the desk seemed very focused on something on her computer. Mike couldn't see what. She was facing the lobby and against the wall to the left of the door leading to the party rooms.

The receptionist seemed sweet, really. Her blond hair was straightened and her bangs were swept to the side. Her green eyes held a happiness in them and her smile seemed genuine. When her eyes landed on Mike finally after looking up from her computer, her smile spread wider, if it was even possible.

Mike, a tall and slender man, about six feet, stood dressed in formal attire. A black business suit and dress shoes. He had an interview today. He was applying for the job as night guard in the pizzeria. Mike had short brown hair in a boho wave men style haircut. His hazel eyes made him unique as they had silver flecks among their irises. His tan skin almost made him glow in the almost gloomy lobby. His slender fingers were clenched in anxiousness. He wasn't very good with interviews. Despite his handsome look and figure, Mike tended to be very nervous about the smallest of things. Sometimes he was paranoid, and at rare times, hysterical.

"Hello and welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria," the receptionist greeted with that bright smile of hers. The two figures seemed to brighten up the half dark room, though not in a romantic way. She now sat up straighter, her name tag finally showing that her name was Cass Brown. "Are you by any chance…" Cass trailed off, glancing at her computer screen for a few seconds. "Mr. Michael Schmidt?"

Mike nodded. "Yeah, that is correct. "

Cass nodded. "All right! Great!" She exclaimed enthusiastically. "I'm just going to call up to Aaron and he'll come down to meet you. Until then, feel free to sit in any of the chairs." Walking to one of the chairs Cass was gesturing to against the opposite wall, Mike sat down and crossed his legs, patiently waiting for Aaron King to meet him.

It was silent in the lobby after Cass hung up the phone. All that was heard was Cass's mouse scrolling or the tapping on the keyboard. That is, until Cass said something.

"So, Mr. Schmidt…" Cass started, stopping her typing and leaned forward.

Mike held up his hand in a small 'wait' gesture. "Please, call me Mike."

Cass grinned. "All right, Mike, why are you applying here?"

Mike thought for a moment. "Well, I'm used to late nights, this place is rather close to my home, and money is a little tight at home so I need some type of job, any job really. This one was the first I thought of and the quickest to ask for an interview."

Cass sighed. "You're not the only one going through a hard time. Freddy's is losing its touch." She began to smile again. "Maybe you can fix that. You seem like a cheerful man."

Before Mike could reply, a Hispanic man walked in. With short black hair, grey eyes, and light brown skin, the man was muscular. He seemed quite intimidating to Mike. The smile that the man had on his face made his appearance less threatening however.

'Does everyone smile here? Is there some kind of happiness fever here?' Mike thought to himself.

The man walked up to Mike and Mike stood up. The two men shook hands, though the other man had a stronger grip. "Are you Mr. Michael?" The man asked.

Mike nodded. "Are you Mr. Aaron King?"

The man nodded. "Please. Let's get to my office and we'll talk there. Is that alright?" When Mike nodded, Aaron began to lead Mike through the party room which was filled with kids. On the other side of the room, Mike saw three animal robots dancing and singing on stage. To the wall they were passing stood a small stage with purple curtains with stars covering it. A sign that read 'Out of Order' was posted in front of the hidden stage. The animatronics on the stage were a little creepy, but Mike could see how the kids enjoyed them. The bunny seemed to be the more sarcastic animal with her rock guitar and rebel attitude. The chicken, or duck, whatever it was, seemed to the more motherly animal. She had a small cupcake in her hand and she always seemed to scold the bunny whenever she did something wrong. The bear was a different story. He seemed to have a bunch of personalities. He seemed funny, a more comedic animal, but he looked like he could be stern if he needed to be.

As Mike and Aaron walked by and towards a door that led outside, Mike could see the animatronics were staring at him through the corners of their eyes. Even a tense atmosphere radiated from the closed off stage. Mike felt a shiver run up his spine but decided it would be smart to continue walking.

Mike and Aaron pushed through the door and walked outside into the warm summer air. They climbed a staircase that looked like a fire escape. The stairs rose alongside the outer wall of the restaurant. They climbed the metal stairs and pushed through the metal door at the very top. Walking in revealed a large office with bookshelves, file cabinets, and an oak desk with a computer. The room was neatly kept and impressed Mike with the sheer organization of it. The only papers that were lying around were folders that looked like Aaron had been working on before Mike arrived.

Pointing to the chair on the other side of the desk, Aaron politely commanded that Mike would sit down and "stay awhile". So, Mike sat in the rather comfortable chair in front of the desk. Aaron sat in a brown swivel chair behind the desk and started to pull up a Word document on his computer screen. Pushing the side of the computer a little bit for Mike to see, Aaron began to fill Mike in on the job expectations and rules.

"All right. There aren't many rules here at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza and they are very simple," Aaron began, motioning to the computer screen. "I'm supposed to be handing you this contract and everything but I'm just gonna sum it up for you since you're gonna get the job anyway."

At this, Mike chuckled. How simple. He didn't even have to say much of anything of importance.

Aaron chuckled as well. "So what this says is that anything that happens in the restaurant will stay in this restaurant for a few reasons. Reason one: As soon as you sign up for this job, when you say anything confidential, our lawyers will be on you like a pack of wolves on a rabbit. It won't be pretty."

Mike shuddered. This reminded him of...No.

Aaron nodded his head, thinking that Mike was shuddering because of how brutal the lawyers will be. "Reason two: Everyone will think you're crazy. There's been a few people who quit this job and blabbered on about what happened during their shifts."

Mike bit on his thumbnail in anxiousness. "What did the lawyers do?"

Aaron raised his eyebrows. "Well! The lawyers didn't have to do much of anything. They just gave a tiny push and they were put in a mental hospital. It wasn't pretty. Everyone already thought they were crazy. It didn't take much to finally make them sure of their suspicions."

Mike's eyes widened. 'They can do the same thing to me! Why would I want this job?! I am seriously reconsidering this! But then again...I don't have any other choice...I guess I'll have to suffer through it.'

"Listen, Michael," Aaron started. "This sounds really bad. I know. But there's a guy that will call you every night explaining everything about the job, okay? All you have to do is sit in your office and engage if an intruder comes into the pizzeria. That's all you have to do. Nothing hard. Now, we haven't had a break-in in..." Aaron thought for a moment. "Four years? About that long. There still is a possibility but it's unlikely. Freddy Fazbear's Pizza is the safest place on earth. You'll be perfectly fine here. These animatronics will protect you. Before you leave, I'm gonna take a picture of your face and record your voice. Do I have your permission?"

"May I ask why before you do?" Mike questioned, still nervous and suspicious about the job offer.

Aaron looked shocked. "Of course! One of the rules here is to not be here after dark. If you are here and your face and voice is not in the system, the animatronics will..." Aaron winced. "...engage. We're taking your face and voice and we're going to program it into the animatronics' databases. This way, they'll remember you and give you permission to be here. You become their friend and they will protect you at all costs. So, really, we should be paying them to guard you!" Aaron and Mike laughed a bit at the small joke. "But in all honesty, Michael, just as long as you keep everything confidential, you will live in peace. The pay isn't much. It's just barely minimum wage, I know. But once we get Freddy's back to what it used to be, you'll be paid more. I promise."

Mike nodded. "And you're sure there's nothing else to say?"

Aaron shook his head. "No. Two more things. The animatronics are allowed to walk around at night. When they do, it's probably just to meet you. If you don't want that, if you're not comfortable yet, you can use the security doors and cameras, which I will show when we get to your office in a moment. Last thing, because of our tight budget, we have to have a limited amount of power. This means, if you're going to avoid the animatronics, you're going to have to use your power wisely. If you have the security doors shut all night, the power won't last more than an hour."

Mike gulped and rubbed his palms together nervously. "What happens when the power runs out?"

Even Aaron looked a little uncomfortable at this question. "To be honest, we're not really sure. Some people say that they saw Freddy in the dark playing the Toreador March. They don't go into much detail after that. So I recommend trying to get acquainted with the animatronics first."

Pulling back his computer screen to the original position, Aaron glanced at the time in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. "3:57," he read. "We have enough time to get acquainted with the animatronics and visit your office. After that, recording and photo taking. How does that sound?" asked Aaron with a smile.

Mike shrugged and nodded. "Sounds good to me."

"Great." Aaron got up and so did Mike. "And whenever you want to call out, let me know a few days ahead of time so I can set everything up."

"And if it's an emergency during my shift?"

Aaron shifted uncomfortably before having Mike follow him outside. "If it's an emergency, you'll have to tell one of the animatronics that you're leaving."

Mike gaped at him as they climbed down the stairs. "Really? But what if I'm not 'acquainted' with them?"

"That's why I said you should. If anything, as you leave, drop a note on one of the tables stating when you left, why you left, where you went, and how long you're going to be gone from your shift. I don't think I'm asking for too much here."

Mike nodded. "You really aren't but this is kinda hard to...adjust to."

Aaron tilted his head in agreement. "Yeah. I can see that. But my father started this business and I am dead set on keeping it alive." The pair reached the bottom of the steps, and before pushing back open the door that led them to the party room, Aaron stopped and said, "I really do hope you'll stay, Mike. If you do, we might just become friends."

Mike nodded. "I hope I'll stay too."

Aaron gave him a kind smile and opened the door. The two of the walked in the restaurant and was greeted by the sound of a happy birthday song.

The animatronics were surrounding a kid and singing to the child. The bear held a cake, the bunny had a rock guitar, and the chicken held the bear's microphone to his mouth since the bear already had his hands full.

Mike had been to Freddy's when he was a child but then... that... incident... happened and Mike couldn't go back. He knew which animatronic was which but if he wasn't mistaken...

"Where's Foxy?" Mike inquired as the duo looked on at the birthday party.

Aaron froze. "You remember? You remember Foxy?"

Mike turned to him. "Yeah. Wait. Is that him? In there?" Mike pointed at the 'Out of Order' stage. "Did you lock him up because of that... incident?"

Aaron pursed his lips. "My father had no choice. Foxy's dangerous."

"It's been twenty years, Aaron. The incident happened when I was five. Doesn't he deserve a second chance?" Mike asked.

Aaron was quiet for a moment. "I've wanted to give him another chance but that battle made us broke. Maybe one day when Freddy's is back on its feet."

Now it was Mike's turn to stay quiet. That is, until he spoke again. "Aaron, if I am able to forgive Foxy, I'm sure everyone else can."

Aaron was about to reply when the little girl the animatronics were singing to ran up to them. The little girl looked around the age of five and had small brown pigtails. She was light-skinned just like Aaron. It was obvious that she was his daughter.

"Daddy!" The little girl squealed, hugging Aaron's leg. "Bonnie let me touch her guitar!"

Aaron smiled. "Did she now?" Mike saw him look at Bonnie and he could've sworn he saw Bonnie wink.

The little girl nodded and hummed, "Mm-mhm!"

Aaron looked back down at his daughter and gave her a small hug. Patting her back, he said, "I think she's waiting for you, Maya."

Sure enough, Bonnie was kneeling down with her arms open to Maya.

"Happy birthday, Maya," Aaron said, giving Maya a kiss. Maya beamed before running back to Bonnie.

The two watched as Bonnie embraced the girl before heading down the West Hall to the security office.

The office was a bit messy at the time. There was small fan on the desk and wrappers were everywhere. An empty cup of soda sat on the desk as well and a cupcake with eyes was there too.

Aaron laughed nervously. "Don't worry. I'll clean this all up before you get here tonight."

Mike nodded and walked in to get a better feel of the office. There were two entryways on either side of him. Each side had two buttons: a white one labeled LIGHT and a red one labeled DOOR. The door button was on top of the light button.

Aaron stood in the middle of the west doorway. "Close the door on me," he ordered gently.

Mike stared. "What?! No! Is this a death wish? No way!"

Aaron chuckled. "Close the door, Mike. Just hit that big, red, square button on the wall labeled door."

"I know what button to hit, but I'm not going to hit it! It'll kill you!" Mike argued. It was his first interview and meeting with Aaron and he was starting to think he was ruining his first impression…

"Mike, I'm not thinking any different of you," Aaron soothed. "I still think you're a really nice guy and you're just trying to do the right thing. Now please, hit the button."

Mike bit his lip before finally pushing the red button on the west side. Instead of the door slamming shut, a small beeping sound was made and nothing changed.

"The door won't close because I'm right here. These doors will not close if something is in the way, even an animatronic and especially a human," explained Aaron.

Mike let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "You scared me so bad for a moment there."

Aaron looked apologetic. "Sorry, but I wanted to test your trust. If we're going to work together, we need to trust each other."

Mike nodded. "Makes sense." 'This guy's crazy. He would've died if the motion detectors skipped.'

Aaron smiled tightly. "Let's head to the lobby and take that picture and recording, hmm?"

Mike nodded and the two men began to walk to the lobby where Cass was waiting for them with her huge smile.

"Hi guys!" She greeted cheerfully. "That took a while!"

The two men smiled. They couldn't help it. Cass was a cheerful young woman and it really rubbed off on people.

"All my interviews take a while, Cass," reminded Aaron gently.

Cass tilted her head in agreement before blushing darkly. "Can one of you help me with something?"

"What is it?" Mike asked politely. He'd like to make good friends with Cass even before he started.

"Um, I...need help reading this," Cass muttered in embarrassment before turning her head away. Mike looked at Aaron in confusion.

"Dyslexia," Aaron mouthed and Mike nodded his head slowly in acknowledgement.

"Course," Mike replied before taking papers from Cass. He slowly began to read the papers as Cass typed the requisition letters into the computer.(Requisition: an official order laying claim to the use of property or materials.)

Apparently, Freddy Fazbear Pizza was ordering a new microphone for Freddy, new chairs, a couple new tables, more dough for pizza, several drinks, and a new tablet.

Mike didn't ask any questions after reading the requisition letters. It wasn't even supposed to be his concern anyway. It was supposed to be private but he happened to stumble across it as a favor.

During the time Mike and Cass were working, Aaron had left to his office and returned a couple seconds before Mike finished reading with a camera. Aaron had Mike stand in the middle of the lobby to take his picture. They took a front picture, his two sides, and the back of him. They then recorded Mike stating his name, new job, and his promise to keep all things Freddy Fazbear confidential.

"And that's all we need!" Aaron said cheerfully after he stopped recording. "Nice way to end an interview: a photoshoot!"

Mike chuckled. "I suppose. Never ended an interview like this before. As a matter of fact, this interview was kind of unique."

Aaron grinned. "That's what Freddy Fazbear's is all about, Michael."

Cass looked up. "Hey Aaron?"

Aaron looked over at the receptionist. "Yes, Cass?"

"Aren't you forgetting to give Mike something...?"

Aaron snapped his fingers as he remembered. "Yep. Yep. I am forgetting something. Yep. I'll be right back," he said before rushing out of the lobby and to the party room.

For the amount of time Aaron was gone, Cass and Mike talked about their likes and dislikes, their hobbies, Cass's memories at the restaurant, and a few other professional topics. Cass, even though Mike already knew this, was a really nice woman. She was kind, bright, and smart. She had dyslexia since she was a child and was teased because it was almost impossible for her to read. It still is very hard for Cass to read and write, but she was getting better. She needed Aaron to help her with the requisition letters, however. The numbers of the item ID's are something that she will never be able to read. They weren't words she could try to guess. If she put in the wrong number ID, she'd put in the wrong order.

When Aaron returned, he was carrying a large bag that held a uniform inside of it. It was a stereotypical security guard uniform. It was light blue with a black tie, yellow badge pinned to the left shoulder, and a light blue cap with a black lid.

"Your key card will be given to you in a couple days," Aaron said as he handed the uniform to Mike. "I'll need you to come at 11:45 so I can let you in as I leave and make sure you're comfortable until your key card arrives, okay?"

Mike nodded. "Yeah. I can do that. What time is it?"

Cass looked at the bottom right left corner of the computer screen. "3:40."

"Impossible," Aaron reminded. "I left my office with Mike at 4:00."

"Then 4:30," Cass corrected.

Mike nodded. "Yeah. I'll be there."

"Great. See you later then, Michael," Aaron said, winking.

Mike smiled and left the pizzeria. As he walked home, he replayed the past couple hours in his mind. Finally, it all clicked.

He would be working from twelve in the morning to six in the morning as a night guard for a restaurant with a bad history and a possibility of robbery with three large, six foot animatronics as his only company for a long time. Crap.