Circus Baby's Pizza World was totally dark and silent, except for one thing. A big white bear was creeping through the pizzeria's dark and empty halls, maintaining an amazingly quiet tread despite being a giant metal robot. The only sounds emitting from him at all were the occasional stifled giggle as he made a beeline towards the area of the pizzeria marked as "Ballora Gallery". He tiptoed into the dark and empty gallery until he was standing at the foot of the stage within that gallery. Asleep upon that stage was a beautiful woman, a ballerina, Ballora herself. Freddy looked up at her darkened figure, still stifling giggles as he called out to her.

"Ballora! Hey, Ballora! Wake up!" he commanded softly. When she did not respond, he repeated himself, louder this time.

After about two minutes of uncontrollably giggling, Funtime Freddy finally managed to be loud enough to rouse the sleeping beauty.

"Hello? Is someone there?" she asked, waking up slowly. Her head raised up from its slumped position and her arms came down from above her head, but her eyes remained firmly shut, like always. Freddy forced himself to be silent again, holding in the breath he didn't even need. For a moment, the only sound in the little dance studio was the sound of Ballora's neck, whirring as she spun her head from side to side.

"I can hear someone creeping through my room," she insisted, voice still low, smooth and soft. It would've been immensely soothing, had the only other individual there not been about to blow a gasket from excitement.

At last, he could bear it no longer. Funtime Freddy finally took in a breath, the sound of compressing air emitting from some of his body plates. It was a sound Ballora was able to recognize at once, but before she could even ask why Funtime Freddy was intruding upon her gallery so late at night, he shouted out to her eagerly, with a voice loud enough to shake the entire facility and echo even into the empty parking lot upstairs and outside. It was a wonder his raucous roar didn't bring the entire town running.

"BALLORA! BONBON HAD BABIES! I'M AN UNCLE!" and

Then the big white bear held up his two metal paws, or rather, the objects resting upon them. His right paw was totally gone, replaced by the top half of a little blue bunny, his hand puppet, BonBon. BonBon pretty much was Freddy's righthand man (literally), so this was not unnormal. What was unnormal, however, was what sat on Freddy's left paw. All five of his fingers were gone. In their place was five little blue bunnies, even smaller than BonBon, but looking just like her. They were finger puppets. They were BonBon's babies. And Ballora knew this at once even though her eyes were shut. She could sense that they were there, and as she zoned in on it with her auditory detectors, she could hear five sets of tiny gears and wires clicking and pulsing with electricity in perfect synchronization. So it was true, BonBon really did have kids now...

After getting over the mini heart attack that Freddy's unintentional jumpscare had created, Ballora could only shake her head in disbelief as Freddy literally trembled with excitement, gears and wires shuttering and sputtering as he shifted his weight up and down, up and down.

"BonBon had children?" Ballora demanded, voice still as low and smooth as ever. She was genuinely surprised, but as her voice box only came with one tone, this question came out sounding almost disinterested, though this was not the case at all.

"YES! BONBON HAD BABIES!" Freddy repeated, his voice far more fluctuant and vibrant than Ballora's. "I'M GONNA BE AN UNCLE!" he literally danced around in delight, heavy paws creating earsplitting crashes every time they hit the wood floor of the gallery. Ballora inwardly cringed, hoping he wouldn't damage the polished wood too much. True, with the pizzeria being shut down no one ever used her gallery anymore, but Ballora still wanted it to look spotless! That wasn't going to last if Freddy, in his excitement, dented it all up.

"Don't you think you ought to be a little more quiet, then?" Ballora asked as Freddy continued to singsong to himself in delight, still spinning in circles and pounding his paws on the floorboards.

"Eh?" Freddy paused mid-spin when he heard Ballora speak again.

"You. Don't you think you should be a little more quiet?" she repeated, bringing a delicate, painted arm forward slowly, gesturing to the five sleeping babies, and to their mother as well.

"Oh! Don't worry about that!" Freddy impudently waved his right paw dismissively and BonBon's ears flopped comically with the induced motion, but she remained sound asleep, entirely unaware of Freddy's shouting and dancing. "She powered down for the night! She won't wake up until morning, and the babies will sleep through anything too!"

"But how do you know?" Ballora questioned, inwardly wishing that she, too, had powered down for the night. See, as an animatronic, there were two options for sleep. One was to simply go into a resting state, as Ballora had been, but the other was to physically power down, like a reboot. Ballora was just reluctant to do the latter because there were rumors of robots that had gone into shut-down mode and never powered back up or had accidently restarted themselves instead of just powering off. Ballora didn't want that to happen, so she had gone with the former route of her sleep being little more than a light sleep-mode. Now, however, a deep sleep/restart might've been nice...

"Well, because-!" Freddy started off confidently, but then all at once, he wilted. "B-be-because, well, uhh, I, uhh, I don't know... actually. I, uhh, don't know if they will wake up or not..." Freddy suddenly looked very uncomfortable and he began to stare at his left hand, inspecting each sweet little face with an intense focus that none of the other animatronics thought someone as scatterbrained as Freddy could possess. Silence settled over Ballora Gallery once more, though this time, it was laced with tension. In the back of his mind, Freddy was suddenly acutely aware of how little he really knew about catering to kids. Sure, he had been designed to entertain them, but only as a stand-up comedian! He was no parent or caretaker! And sure, these kids here were just tiny blue bunnies, finger puppets, but that meant nothing. They were still newborns, and Freddy still had no idea how to properly raise and care for them.

Part of him wanted to try and wake them up right now just to make sure they would at all, but then another part of him was worried that if he tried waking them up now, they would hate him for disrupting their sleep. Self-awareness returning to him, he was pretty sure that Ballora was probably pretty mad too, and although he wasn't quite as concerned with her feelings, he did care about how his nieces and nephews would feel, and thinking this way did, admittedly, start getting him to feel a bit bad about unfairly waking up Ballora.

"In truth, Ballora, that's why I came to you," Freddy said at last, voice unusually quiet, smooth and gentle. It was still raspy, crackly, glitchy and pitchy, but he had brought the volume and hysterics way down and he was almost able to say that entire sentence without glitching even once. That was how Ballora knew at once that he was genuinely afraid. She could hear every last timbre of his voice and how it had changed in this one short confession alone. She was suddenly twice as alert before, aware that Freddy was about to be very honest and serious with her, something he was not usually known for being. This was a very big moment. "At least, I think it was..." he muttered, even softer now, but then he forced himself to speak up and he continued to explain.

"Y'see, I'm mighty proud to be an uncle, and mighty excited too! Don't get me wrong! But the thing is, I don't know how to be an uncle. I don't know the first thing about being an uncle. All I've ever been before was an entertainer, that's all. I was never really ever a caretaker at all... But you were! You were, Ballora! You were always so maternal, you always knew what to do whenever the little ones needed something. You saw signs and signals that went right over my head, top hat and all! So that's why I came to you. Maybe you could show me a few pointers?"

Freddy sounded painfully nervous for the entire little confession, but with every work he spoke, Ballora's smile on stretched wider and wider until the facial plates that created the left and half sides of her face had shifted apart, her grin literally splitting her face in half.

"Oh, Freddy," she murmured gently, voice somehow even lower and smoother than before. "There is nothing to be scared of," she promised. "Your fears are entirely natural! We all get them. Even we animatronics, even me. But that doesn't mean that there's anything to be scared of. You'll do wonderful, I promise, I know it!" these words, for the most part, were true. Ballora already had a few choice words for Freddy, if that was what he wanted to hear, such as not screaming and swinging your nieces and nephews around so late at night, but an overriding sense of genuine compassion had since filled her circuitry, all traces of sarcasm and spite gone. Instead of chastising him, Ballora comforted Freddy, reassuring him that he was going to be golden.

"But Ballora!" Freddy almost whined, interrupting her. As kind as her words were, they still didn't teach him how to be an uncle. "I still know nothing about childcare! Can't you at least teach me a little something? Like, how do you even pick up when something's wrong with a child?" Freddy was, of course, referring to the olden days when their little pizzeria still saw days full of life, light and love. In those days, little kids of all kinds would flock to Ballora for dance lessons and she always seemed to know exactly what each child needed and wanted. Freddy wanted to know how she was able to pick up so well on those social cues that he was blind to.

"Well, remember, Freddy, that part of it only is programming," Ballora reminded him gently. "Not everything I do is magic or miracle. Some came from... our creator..." her voice darkened at the mention of that evil man, but she would not deny it. Cruel and evil as he was, he technically had created them all by hand, giving them every trait they possessed, including levels of maternity and social awareness.

"But what about the Minireenas?" Freddy insisted, not letting Ballora get out of this. "They're like your robotic children! And you have eight! BonBon only had five! How do you look after them?" Freddy continued to plead with the gorgeous dancer. She laughed a little.

"That's because the Minireenas were designed to be my daughters," she said. "We were made for each other!"

"But you still are so amazing with them! You're such a good mother!" Freddy continued.

"Well, thank you, Freddy," Ballora was genuinely flattered by this compliment. "But part of it comes from the Minireenas as well. It's not all me. They respond very well, we have good communication, we look after each other. The Minireenas, like you said, are my children, my daughters, and I love all of them dearly. My feelings for them and my desire to care for them and willingness to treat them as equals is what counts," she said. "It's not entirely one-sided either. We look after each other, just in different ways, but we love each other no less for that."

Then, as if they had heard Ballora speaking about them, eight tiny dancers that looked like half-finished mannequins emerged from the shadows of the curtains of the stage. Giggling, little white heads trembling as they did so, the eight skipped and spun over to their mother. Ballora looked down at them, smile stretching even wider. She knelt down, extending her long and graceful arms to them. They jumped onto and walked up her arms with grace and ease, all eight of them managing to fit somewhere on her body, snuggling her. She continued to smile and coo at them.

"My girls, my wonderful, beautiful little girls," she murmured as they continued to swing from her arms and tutu, still giggling gleefully.

"See, Ballora? How do you do that?" Freddy almost sounded jealous, but what Ballora paid attention to more than that little note of envy was the note of sadness. Yes, sadness. Seeing the Minireenas interact with Ballora made Freddy sad. But why? Well, that wasn't very hard to guess. Ballora felt something in her chest ache for him, saddened that he couldn't seem to see himself ever being as loved as that.

"Do you really think you aren't good enough?" she asked gently, finally hopping delicately from her stage to stand in front of him.

"How could they ever love a mess like me? What if I do something wrong?" he replied sadly. Ballora's chest ached again. Was this a heart? It had to have been! Or at least, whatever the robot equivalents was. She reached out to touch his arm.

"Freddy, listen to me, parenthood is hard. No one ever said it was going to be easy. Even I think it can be incredibly difficult, harder even than coping with this new life of ours, or any of the nightguards or controlled shocks or technicians that come with it," she began. "But it is so worth it, and although it's hard, it will not be that way all the time. Trust me. It will get easier. It will. I promise. I should know," she paused to smile, cocking her head towards her Minireenas, who were still climbing all over her and giggling.

One of the eight little dancers, however, walked across Ballora's arm and onto Freddy. He watched her with a sad expression in his eyes. She met his and giggled at him, her way of trying to cheer him up. It worked a little and some of the sadness fell away from his face.

"They are cute, aren't they?" he asked no one in particular, but Ballora agreed anyway. That Minireena, meanwhile, continued to cross Ballora's arm until she was standing on Freddys, then she knelt down upon his hand and began to fidget with the finger puppets.

"Hey! Wait a minute! Stop!" Freddy jerked back the moment the little dancer began to touch the finger puppets.

"Easy, Freddy, easy," Ballora caught his arm again before he could accidently fling the Minireena away.

"But, Ballora!" Freddy sounded genuinely concerned.

"She's not going to hurt them!" Ballora promised. "She just wants to see what they're like awake!"

"But don't they need sleep, Ballora? We can't just ruin their sleep cycle!" Freddy protested.

"And you think you won't be a good uncle?" Ballora replied with a laugh. "Trust me, Freddy, everything is ok..." she continued to caress his arm as her Minireena slowly activated all five of the baby bunnies. Freddy continued to look nervous, but he protested no more.

Within just a few seconds, five pairs of little eyes opened eagerly and little excited squeaks filled the gallery.

"They're up, they're up!" Freddy murmured in amazement. Of course, he'd seen them awake before when BonBon first had them, but he was still rendered breathless (metaphorically of course) by seeing them come to life again. They began to chitter and chatter in confusion and excitement as they woke up, shaking their tiny ears as they tried to adjust to their new surroundings. They'd never seen this room before! And who was that pretty lady touching their uncle? And those little things in the white skirts, they looked like children too. Did they want to play?

Within minutes, Freddy had pulled out five little pairs of legs from the compartment on his hip. He attached them to the finger puppets, giving them the freedom to move around without his help. They bounced all around the room in awe and wonder, sniffing eagerly at the Minireenas, who giggled and petted them with equal enthusiasm.

"See?" Ballora asked as her Minireenas petted the Finger Puppets. "There's nothing here to fear."

"I guess you're right," Freddy conceded at last, finally starting to genuinely calm down. He looked over at Ballora in endless gratitude. "Thank you so much for all of your help," he said, voice meaningful and tone conveying what words alone could not.

"It takes a village, am I right?" she asked back. For a moment, Freddy didn't understand, but then he vaguely remembered hearing that phrase before, often spoken by humans who had many children. It was always in reference to how many hands it really took to raise a child.

"It does," he agreed. Just for a moment, this thought left him worrying again, but as he sat down on Ballora's stage and as she joined him, both of them watching their children play around the gallery together, that worry dissipated again. He did have a village, right here, in the abandoned little pizzeria. Sure, that wasn't ideal, but he still had it, and that was perfectly fine.

For the first time that night, Freddy finally began to believe that he really would be a great uncle, and by the next morning, when the other animatronics had awoken, he was more than happy to share that confidence, plus the big news, with all of them too...

"CIRCUS BABY! BONBON HAD BABIES! I'M AN UNCLE!"

"FUNTIME FOXY! BONBON HAD BABIES! I'M AN UNCLE!"

"BIDDYBABS! BONBON HAD BABIES! I'M AN UNCLE!"

Round and round Freddy ran, eagerly screaming his excitement as loud as he could to the entire pizzeria.

"Oh yes! Do go on! Continue to tell every little last animatronic here that you're an uncle!" Baby cried sarcastically. "It's not like everyone can't hear you just fine, no. Go ahead, scream louder if you must! And I think you forgot to tell the paper plate dolls!"

"Now Baby," Ballora was the first to jump to Freddy's defense, though he was far too ecstatic to have even heard Baby's insults. "Let him be, he only just found out last night and he's still very excited."

"You don't say?" Baby scoffed as Freddy went zooming by again, still bellowing his stupid head off.

"Leave him be," Ballora repeated firmly. "Surely you must know how this feels?" she gestured to Baby's BiddyBabs, who were, like the Minireenas last night, eagerly peeking out to meet their new playmates, though they were a bit more vicious than the Minireenas, pinching, prodding and poking at the tiny blue bunnies, but they didn't seem to mind at all, too intrigued by the BiddyBabs to notice any potential pain.

"I never got this excited though," Baby grumbled as one BiddyBab pushed a Finger Puppet over. The little bunny only hopped right back up though, sniffing eagerly at the BiddyBab.

"But you love your children this much, no?" Ballora asked and Baby's face softened. A sigh escaped her, the air hissing from her body plates.

"I do," she said, and something genuinely warm and affectionate had entered her voice. Ballora smiled to herself. Baby might've liked to pretend that she was an angsty teen, a philosophical and aloof leader who was almost on another plane of existence than the others, but underneath all of that pretention, the real Baby did still exist, just as sweet, playful and caring as before.

"There we go," she encouraged and Baby grumbled again, but this time it wasn't serious. Instead, as she continued to watch the BiddyBabs, Minireenas, and newly added Finger Puppets play, she could help but smile a little herself as well.

In the background, Funtime Foxy and the now-awake BonBon were watching in amusement as Freddy continued to giggle and screech.

"Ooooh! I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm an uncle now! I'm an uncle now! I have little blue bunny babies! I'm an uncle now! And we're going to have so much fun together! Oooh, all of us together! Hahahaha, oh, I can't wait! Woo hoo! I'm an uncle, I'm an uncle, I'M AN UNCLE! That's right! That's me! Uncle Freddy! Uncle Freddy, pleased to meet you! Uncle Freddy, at your service! Uncle Freddy, Uncle Freddy, Uncle Freddy! What a wonderful name! It has such a nice ring to it! Oh, I'm so excited that I'm an uncle now! We'll be one big happy family!"

AN: Inspired off of VonderDevil's "Uncle FunFeddy" fanart, which was brought to my attention by Wattpad writer GoldenFazbearGreen. Thanks for the inspiration! Hope y'all liked this cute little family fic about SL characters and their kiddos! Now here's the link to the pic.

vonderdevil/art/Uncle-Funfeddy-666685768