Warnings: violence, death, molestation, slurs (just one)

Xxxxxx

If there was something Mike enjoyed about being close friends with the official owner of Freddy Fazbear's, it was feeling like he now had a say in things. Even when it came to renovating. A couple months ago, the vintage show got their own show room, and Fredbear had been ecstatic. It was styled like the original restaurant and was a hit with kids and grandparents. It had been Mike's idea, and Eggs latched on to it immediately.

When Jeremy complained that the back room needed more space and a better counter, better tools, Eggs had them ordered the next day. Mark had been venting slightly to Eggs and Mike at lunch about how outdated the cook ware was and that was immediately fixed. The younger man took their complaints seriously, without argument and trusted their judgement since they had been around the restaurant longer.

It was something Mike had never had before. When he first befriended the animatronics (which seemed like a lifetime ago now) he worried about anything going wrong. If any incident happened again, his friends would be scrapped and destroyed and he'd be unable to help them. He knew they felt that same relief, he could see it in Freddy's eyes when Foxy's show went on, and it made him grateful that things had happened like they did.

But he had to admit, there were still things he wouldn't ever be able to accept.

His room was upstairs while Eggs and Jeremy had theirs downstairs. The other bedroom was now an office. Eggs tried to do most of his work at home but lately had been unable to for whatever reason. And that even counted his monthly calls to his father.

Mike hadn't meant to listen in. He had the day off but was awake late at night. He was a night owl from working third shift. He went for the kitchen to grab something to eat when he heard the familiar, skin crawling sound of William Afton's voice. He had frozen, staring at the slightly opened door and ended up eavesdropping as he stared in shock.

"-doin' real good there, kiddo. Been keeping up with everything and ya are a natural at this." William was saying. "I'm impressed."

"Thanks, Dad." Eggs responded softly.

"Cindy's missin' ya bad though. I dunno if she can wait a full year to see ya again."

The guard stopped breathing a moment. A year? What was this about a year? Had Eggs really promised to live with his father after a year? He felt sick and his blood went cold. He couldn't allow this. He knew what William would do to his friend if he returned to him; the disgusting man had made it clear the few times Mike had seen them interact.

Or maybe he was meant to visit William in a year. But if that happened, surely William wouldn't allow Eggs to return. The man was selfish. If he got what he wanted, he'd never let Eggs go. He'd find a way to trap him there.

Mike quietly left then. He never mentioned what he heard to anyone. Not even Jeremy. He didn't think the Engineer would be able to handle the information without having a giant fit. And he knew Eggs was stressed enough, he didn't want to add to it with the information that Mike knew. Obviously Eggs never told them for a reason. But there was someone he could confide in without worrying they'd tell anyone else, and that's exactly who he went to.

"I just don't understand…how could he think this is a good idea? He's seen what William's like." Mike said.

Freddy hummed, fingers drumming against his microphone. "You must remember Mike: human children are attached to their families even when they are less than trustworthy. We often see them here, hiding away from parents and yet unwilling to turn them in."

The guard sighed, running a hand through his hair. "But Eggs is an adult now. He has us, and Springtrap and the Funtimes. He can't be dumb enough to think his dad will change! He killed his adoptive parents almost instantly."

"I cannot pretend to know what he was thinking, Mike. But perhaps you should ask him?"

"But if he knows I found out, he might explode. He's going through enough." He shrugged and leaned against the wall of the bathroom area.

"Maybe so, but you are now worrying yourself. Seeing how you and Mr. Afton interact, I believe he would understand your concern." Freddy offered and gently put his large paw on the guard's shoulder.

He ended up thinking that over for a few days. And it was so obvious that it was gnawing at Eggs now that he realized it. The black haired boy would stare off at nothing at times, thinking hard, and there was a sadness to his eyes. Mike hated to think how long he'd been suffering alone. It was that thought that made him finally act.

"You got a second?"

Eggs paused. He glanced at Mike in confusion before looking around to see if there was anyone else with him. Finally he sighed and nodded. They went into Mark's office and closed the door, Mike thanking his stars that Mark was out on the floor doing something.

"Something wrong?" Eggs asked warily.

Mike hesitated. "I know about your deal with Afton."

Eggs stared at him blankly, but the older man could see him paling. His eyes shifted, panicking. Mike stood his ground. When neither of them said anything, the technician finally closed his eyes in resignation and sighed.

"How…?"

"I walked by your office at home and heard him. Why didn't you ever say anything?" He asked softly.

Eggs made a noise of disbelief. "Why do you think? I can't have you or Jeremy trying to stop me."

"So you planned on just disappearing off the face of the earth without a word?" Mike demanded. "We'd be sitting around, wondering what had happened to you! Haven't we both made it obvious we care about you? We'd never stop looking for you."

"…I know."

Eggs ran a hand over his eyes, glasses cockeyed as he seemed to try and breathe. Mike couldn't help but feel guilty. He didn't want to cause him any more stress. But Eggs had to know that he was there for him. Even if they often butted heads, they were friends. On some level, family. The mere idea of losing him hurt.

"Eggs…" Mike began gently. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to eavesdrop. But you gotta know I'm going to stop this. If he gets his disgusting hands on you, you'll never be free of him ever again."

"Mike, I'm…"

The guard let him take a moment. He gave a deep sigh and finally removed his hand from his face. He looked exhausted. There were dark lines under his eyes, his entire body seemed to sag. Mike worried about him collapsing.

"Mike, you need to understand something. Maybe at first, I thought…going back to him would be okay. That's why I made that deal. A year to fix things, and then I could live my life under his thumb. That way I'd…I dunno, make up for all the shit I've done." Eggs said.

"You haven't' done anything!" Mike argued.

"But I have no intention of doing so now." He went on like Mike hadn't said anything.

He paused. "Oh…."

"I've been fixing things…slowly, but surely. I'm trying to weed out any influence he had here. And then, on top of that, I'm trying to find out that…stuff he made. So he can't keep coming back."

"Stuff? What stuff?" Mike asked.

Eggs shrugged. "Some weird shit he put into me that healed me from the scooper."

It took the guard a moment to remember. The weird IV of liquid. William had mentioned that it would fix Eggs and refused to explain how he'd made it. But was that really the reason he had a function body after all this time? That seemed insane. Impossible. What would bring back a ghost and give them a physical form?

"And then?"

The younger boy frowned but met his eyes confidently. "Then I kill him."

The room went silent. Mike stared at him in shock. He hated to admit it, but the idea had often crossed his mind before. William was the lowest of the low. Molesting and killing small children, surrounding himself in the things he lusted for that were defenseless against him. But hearing Eggs say it, who was so young and had such hope for his father to turn around out of his genuine love for him…

"Alex…"

"I thought he could change, Mike. I really did. He looked me in the eye and promised me. But after my adoptive parents…" Eggs sighed. "And he was so confident that it would blow over. That I'd just get over his actions and we'd never have to talk about it again…I love him. I do. I love my Dad and my sister but the best thing I can do for him is kill him."

"But you're so young and…"

"I'm the one that let him go. I have to be the one that kills him." He said firmly.

"You're not a killer." Mike said.

At that, Eggs gave a laugh that sounded slightly hysterical. "You forget, it runs in the family."

Xxxxxx

Jeremy glared at the wall as he sat in Fritz's office. The red haired guard was sitting next to him, tapping his pen against his desk. He hated having to wait on someone else. He had shit he wanted to get done today and instead, here he was. Waiting on a new Engineer. One to work at either Baby's or the Toy Chest if he passed Jeremy's test and interview.

"He's fucking late." He grumbled but kept glaring at the wall.

"Yeah, yeah. He's also the only guy with a decent background that applied." Fritz answered in a bored manner.

The blond rolled his eye and turned to stare at him. "How's this shit hole doing anyway?"

"Pretty good! Fredrick and Bonblu are always getting into trouble and Chirp can't go a day without breaking something but…eh. Maria helps them keep in line."

"Good. Don't want you quitting. We're short enough people already."

Fritz grinned at that, laughing as he leaned back in his chair. "Thanks, I think."

Finally the door opened. Jeremy immediately moved his glare at the kid that walked in, not caring if he scared him off. The new guy sat down in front of the desk, eyeing the two of them. He was definitely a kid, maybe seventeen. Dark brown hair and amber eyes with dark skin. He had obsidian snake bites and matching gauges in his ears. Under his collared dark grey shirt were tattoos that covered every bit of skin.

"Kyle Hogers." He greeted in a lazy manner that instantly pissed Jeremy off.

"You're fucking late is what you are." He said.

Kyle raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, bus was late. Wait, you're supposed to ask if I have a reliable form of transportation, aren't you? Well shit…"

"Relax, we're pretty lax on that kinda stuff. Honestly if you can do what we need, you can work around your own schedule." Fritz offered.

"Unless you can't keep your worth." Jeremy added hotly.

The kid stared between the two of them. Finally, he shrugged. "Okay. So who are you guys? The bosses, managers?"

"I'm Fritz Smith. I'm the guard of this restaurant. Jeremy Fitzgerald here is our Head Engineer. He's the one that'll test you on your skills."

Jeremy huffed. What a waste of time. Even if this newbie was any good, why did they need him here? He'd rather be at the restaurant working. He had updates to give, asshole robots to clean. He wanted to see his asshole friends. Eggs McMuffin and he usually had lunch together if that dick had time, and Mike mentioned coming in for dinner before work.

"You're the guy that fixed up the robots right? The Fazbear animatronics? Dude, I came in to see your work! Especially that old model you fixed, it looked amazing. I showed pictures to my Professor and he agreed." Kyle suddenly burst out, eyes lighting up in excitement.

"Yeah, that's me." He mumbled.

The guy was familiar with his work? That was…weird. But Kyle seemed to light up at that and grinned. Jeremy wanted to be even more annoyed. He'd prefer it if the kid was a laid-back dick but instead, he was some fanboy. He tuned everything out as Fritz began going over the paperwork, not caring what his answers were.

"Jeremy, you want to go test him?" Fritz suddenly cut in.

"Sure. Come on."

Jeremy got up and began limping off. The Toy Chest was smaller than Fazbear's but only after the constant renovations the place had. He paused to make sure Kyle was following, glancing behind him, only for the shorter male to walk into him.

"Sorry! Are you okay?"

Jeremy glared down at him. "Walk on your own feet."

Kyle flushed in embarrassment. "Sorry, got distracted. What are you limping for anyway? You okay?"

"Fucking perfect."

He kept going and ignored the question. Nosy prick. He went into the backroom and locked the door behind the new guy. Sitting on the table, Maria perked up at their entrance. They waved enthusiastically but Jeremy pretended not to notice. Instead he set his toolbox out on the table next to them.

"Maria here is your test. Took off their tail earlier. Put it back on without hurting them." Jeremy instructed.

Kyle paused at that. "Hurt…them?"

"Maria here. The fucking white fox in front of you. You hurt them, I'll punch your goddamn nose in."

Maria waved again. "'Ello, Mr. Hogers! I be Maria, Second Mate to Cap'in Foxy."

"Hello, uh, Maria." Kyle greeted back, staring at the animatronic in amazement. "They have facial recognition, right? Is that how she-?"

"They." Jeremy corrected.

"-Knows my name?"

"Yeah. Scanned your face and your resume and shit are in the program now. Anyway, you gonna do this test or not? Cuz I have other shit I could be doing instead of this. Missing a date."

Kyle moved around the animatronic. He leaned forward, inspecting the area around the tail, the tail itself, and then what tools he had. Jeremy watched him closely. Eventually he began doing something. The blond looked between him and the robot for any signs of the other fucking up.

"How be the others?" Maria suddenly asked.

"Fine. Mike's trying to find another guard and Boss Man is constantly fucking busy." Jeremy said.

"Good! Th'Captain keeps me updated, but we miss things."

He shrugged. "They're fine. You shitheads would be the first one to know if we weren't."

Kyle peeked up at that. "How big are their RAM to be this intelligent?"

"Too big. They're annoying."

"Always so flatterin', this one." Maria teased, laughing. "Don't be intimidated none, kiddo! Jeremy's a lotta bark but no bite. He's soft as a kitten purr."

He rolled his eye at that. Finally, Kyle stopped what he was doing and motioned to the attached tail. Jeremy limped over. He inspected what he'd done and began a mental tally. The kid did good work, but he was slow. Seemed to be a perfectionist.

"What degrees you got?" He asked.

"Uh, my Bachelor's and working towards my Masters." Kyle answered.

Jeremy nodded. "Well, better than my own credentials…."

Maria's tail began wagging. "Is he hired then, Jeremy? Where they be puttin' him?"

"Fucking relax, there's other shit we gotta cover. Geez. Okay, Kyle, if you can stop taking a thousand fucking years, this could work. When we're working on these assholes, we gotta do it fast. Usually it's between shows." Jeremy explained.

Kyle beamed at that, eyes lighting up. "Holy shit, really?! I get to train under you?"

"If you knock that shit off yes." He grumbled.

"Awesome! I promise, I'll do whatever you need me to. I'm a fast learner, I swear, and if you guys don't mind me being part-time because of school…"

Jeremy shrugged. "Mark is our Manager, he was part-time until his promotion. It's fine."

The younger boy looked ecstatic at that. "You guys are fucking great! Thank you so much, I promise you, I'll be a great Engineer!"

They left the back room, Maria waving after them, and went back to the office. Fritz wasn't there but Jeremy took his seat anyway. "Okay so like I said. You gotta be faster than you are at working. If something happens between a show, you need to run in there, fix it, and then let the fuckers get back to what they're doing. There's also weekly maintenance and you'll have to memorize the blueprints to the other restaurant's animatronics so you can fix them just in case."

"So it's just you?" Kyle asked. "Does that mean I'll be shadowing you?"

"Yeah. But you need to stay out of my way." Jeremy said.

"Hey, I've graduated. I know how to properly shadow someone."

The blond sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Okay. I'll have you talk to Fritz or Mark about the important legal shit. When you can start. He'll let me know."

He stood up and limped over, offering his hand. He gave Kyle credit that the other managed to contain himself. He had a firm grip and rough hands from working with machines. They shook hands and even though the younger boy looked like he might explode, he kept his mouth shut.

"You'll likely meet the rest of the team later too. For now though, I gotta get to my date."

Kyle beamed up at him. "Thank you so much! I promise, I won't disappoint you!"

Jeremy mumbled something and left the room. He met Fritz out on the floor. "He good to go then, Jeremy? Thanks for doing this. We really need him. They're working you too hard."

"It's fine. Just glad you're not a nervous, whiny bitch anymore." Jeremy said teasingly.

Fritz glared at him, flushing. "Shut up. Geez. Anyway, you and I haven't hung out in a while. I think I still owe you dinner."

"I gotta get back to meet up with Alex McOmelet but we can after work."

Fritz grinned at that, looking relieved. Jeremy let him talk about shit that happened lately, knowing the other needed to ramble and get things off his chest. He and Mark talked a lot, but Fritz was intimidated by Eggs being their new boss (and likely his last name) so he tended to stay away from him and by extension, Jeremy and Mike.

Still, they talked like nothing had changed. Fritz was the voice of reason and logic in their group. Despite being surrounded by ghosts and spirits, he tended to be skeptic. And now that the Toys were friends with him, he was more confident as well.

"Are you sure you don't wanna come with me though? Eggs is fucking rich, he can afford buying you food."

Fritz laughed. "Nah, I don't wanna butt in. Me and Mark usually have plans since our breaks are at the same time. Maybe next week? If Michael…uh, Alex? Mr. Afton, is there too then he can definitely pay for me."

"If you insist."

Jeremy left as Fritz headed to talk to Kyle. He limped outside, pulling out a cigarette as soon as he was outside. He checked his phone and saw that Eggs was on his way, so he just stood there and smoked as he waited. He turned when the door opened. Kyle came out and pulled out his own cigarette, pausing when he noticed him.

"Light?"

Jeremy huffed and threw his lighter at him. The younger boy caught it, lighting his stick before giving it back. The two stood there for a bit not saying anything. Kyle eventually broke it as he exhaled.

"Sorry about…inside. I didn't notice the leg."

"Happens. Had a guy ask me if I served. Another asshole called me a queer. Kinda learn to take that shit in stride."

Kyle winced. "Ah. Always fun. Mama always bugged me with that too. She took it hard when I came out."

Jeremy shrugged. "One thing about Freddy's now…as fucking ridiculous as it sounds, we stick together. You do your goddamn job, you get treated right."

He noticed the other relaxed slightly at that. He finished off his cigarette before tossing it into a nearby trashcan. "Thanks. For the job, I mean. Never woulda thought I'd get to be a real Engineer…Family thinks I'm better off at a small auto shop."

"Then your family needs a fucking better idea of talent." Jeremy mumbled.

"Heh, maybe. Anyway, I need to go catch the bus. Gonna be a real pleasure working with you."

The blond watched him walk off down the street. When he finally turned the corner was when Eggs pulled up. Jeremy got in. He listened to the other as he began spitting about some bullshit that happened to him earlier. He glanced down the street but didn't see the new guy, so he just shrugged it off.

"Mike has the next couple days off. He asked if you did too, wanted a few hang out days. I can change your schedule if you want." Eggs offered.

"That sounds against the rules, Mr. Overeasy." Jeremy snipped back.

His boss laughed at that. "I make the rules, you forget. Do you want them or not? Should happen more now that we might have a new Engineer. Got a few other guards we're interviewing too. Might ease up the workload a bit."

"Would be fucking nice, that's for sure. Are you going to join us or are you too important?"

Eggs hesitated. "I don't have the time to take off…"

"Kid, you've been working nonstop. Just take one off and let us having a fucking time to ourselves. What's the point of being rich if you can't have some time off to enjoy it?" He asked, kicking back in the seat.

"…I'll see what I can do."

Content with that, Jeremy looked out the window. He pretended not to notice Eggs was distracted. He was a slow driver anyway, but now they were at a snail's pace. And it was obvious because Eggs was thinking about something. He had been for a few days, weeks even. Something that was taking up his entire attention constantly.

"Where we going anyway? Don't exactly feel like pizza."

Eggs paused, blinking, before he laughed. "How about something expensive? I've got the company credit card on me."

Jeremy perked up at that. "Fuck yeah, now we're talking! What's expensive around here? Italian? Let's go."

Xxxxx

Kyle is my fnaf 3 guard that likely won't show up anywhere else lol. Hope you all like him, he'll be a minor character since this isn't his story.