Dark blue eyes met large, dark green orbs that stared down at him with glittery tears brimming them. Small, light warm breaths, barely brushed against the golden fur that covered his broad chest. None of them said a word right away, only comforted by the sound of their own breathing and the heavy rainfall pounding against the roof outside.
"What's the matter, baby doll?" Goldie asks in a whisper.
Tiny unseen paws tighten their grip on his chest, clinging onto him as if their owner's life depended on it. "I'm scared, dwaddy bwear." a tiny voice squeaks, "I dwon't wike thwat scarwy noise outswide..."
A few warm droplets spill on the furry surface beneath him. He squeaks in alarm when something large and heavy suddenly rests on his petite form. His synthetic muscles soon relax and the tension that plagued him faded away as Goldie gently caressed his back with his thumb. "There's nothing to be afraid of, baby doll." the bear said soothingly. "It's only the angels playing bowling again."
A sniffle is heard. "W-weally?" The blue bunny kit looked slightly unconvinced by this.
"Yes. Really." Goldie smiles, even though it was hidden in the dark. "Even angels need to have a little fun now and then."
An unseen frown appears on the kit's white muzzle. "Can't you twell them to kweep it dwown?"
Goldie laughs softly. "I can't, baby doll. You're just going to have to wait it out until they're finished." The little body under his paw shivers, quickly followed by a whimper. A sigh leaves the golden bear and for a moment his attention drifts over to the small sliver of light leaking in through his ajar bedroom door. He didn't even hear him come in. Sneaky little bunny...
"How about you sleep with me tonight. Would you like that?" he asks in a gentle voice.
The bunny's green eyes seem to brighten a bit before quickly bobbing up and down. Goldie laughed softly; he wrapped both arms around the bunny in a firm hold and rolled to his side. As quickly as they came, those dark green orbs faded back into the darkness as their owner drifted back to his own little world. Goldie gently nuzzled the spot in between his ears before drifting off, himself - the rumble of thunder lulling him to sleep.
...
Goldie opened his eyelids and found himself back in the present. He looked down, hoping to find a little blue kit pressing and snuggling against him as if he were a giant fluffy pillow. But reality soon kicked in, and his heart seemingly sank after finding himself alone. He sits upright and moves so that he sat on the edge of the bed. He takes a moment for his mind to settle before standing up and pushing open his bedroom door to go to the one place that's on his mind.
An hour later, Freddy wakes up to the faint sound of childish laughter coming from the Dining Room. He pushes himself up, carefully not to wake up the sleeping fox next to him. It was just one of those nights he didn't want to sleep alone, but the younger male didn't mind. He gives his head a gentle caress before quietly make his way to his bedroom door. Right away he noticed his brother's open door and closes his own behind him.
As he steps into the empty dining hall, a wave of memories comes crashing down on him like a landslide. The last time he'd been standing alone in the dark was when he went after Jeremy during his first week. All of it seemed so unreal now. To think that he and his family had been going after guards for so long all because of an error one made during a birthday party. Looking back now, Freddy really did feel like a monster inside. With the light coming from the moonlight outside Freddy stared at both of his paws, imagining them caked with blood from the many men and women he wrongfully killed.
You can't give back what you've stolen, a voice in the back of his head told him, This guilt is what you deserve for all those hearts you've broken and the tears you've caused... Freddy shakes his head and sighs. He can't keep living in the past forever.
Using the noise to guide him through the darkness, Freddy made his way over to the lounge. After opening the door he pokes his head in and, sure enough, finds his brother sitting on the couch watching some of their old home movies. Freddy enters the room and closes the door behind him before making his way over to the couch.
"Goldie?" he calls out in a voice loud enough for him to hear.
Goldie's ears perk in surprise, and he looks at him from over his shoulder. "Oh... Hi, Freddy. Did I wake you?"
"Sort of." Freddy says with a small laugh as he takes a seat beside him. "But what are you doing up so late? Do you have any idea what time it is?"
Goldie moves his gaze away from his brother and over to the TV screen. The footage of Bonnie and Blu's fifth birthday reflected off his dark blue eyes as he watched his family have a good time, without him in the picture... "I had a dream about me and Blu." he says gruffly. "Remember how he used to be afraid of storms when he was younger?"
"Oh yeah!" Freddy replies with a small laugh in the end. "He always used to come crawling to your room in the middle of the night to sleep with you."
"Yeah." Goldie says, a shadow of a smile on his maw before quickly fading away. "I've noticed that he's been feeling a little depressed lately... He misses that human."
"You mean Jeremy?" Freddy asks with a raised brow. "It's quite obvious that he does. Those two are very close with each other."
"But how close?" Goldie then asks, his jaw tightening a bit.
"What do you mean?"
Goldie clenches his paws into tight fists. "You know what I mean..." His eyes harden and his teeth clench tightly as he controls the urge to break something. The thought of his own child being in a relationship with a human is beginning to drive him insane. Blu would know better right? He knows better then to not be in a relationship with Jeremy that's beyond friendship. He still doesn't understand why Freddy allowed Bonnie to be with Mike back when he was human.
Freddy rolls his eyes. "They're only friends, Goldie. Don't think that I don't know what you're thinking." He then reaches forward and grabs the remote to pause the video. "You need to stop stressing out about this sort of thing and let Blu take care of himself. So what if he does have a relationship with Jeremy? Don't you want your baby doll to be happy with the only real friend he's ever had?"
"..."
Outside, a droplet of water falls from the sky.
...
"This weather must be getting to everyone." Goldie muses as he watched heavy raindrops hit and run down the glass window at the front of the restaurant. "It seems a little less...jovial."
Frederick shrugs next to him. "Nobody likes the rain, especially if you're a toddler who wants to go to the playground but can't. I'm pretty sure outdoor plans have been cancelled because of this weather."
Goldie snorts softly, a faint smile appearing on his maw as he thought back to something from his childhood. "When I was a cub I used to sit here and watch the rain all day. My brother always complained about it being too loud, but I always found it nice to hear the raindrops hit the pavement outside. It's something natural and not man-made like those loud vehicles humans drive in. I'll admit that I used to get startled easily whenever the food truck stopped by."
Frederick laughs softly to himself before giving the older bear a friendly smile. "You wouldn't like where I lived, then. Our restaurant was located not far from the city. It was at a strip mall located in the safe part of town. Cars passed by all the time on the freeway behind us. It was a big place; we had four extra party rooms and a large office at the end of a corridor. A doorless one at that."
"'Doorless' you say?" Goldie asked, his normally vigilant dark blue eyes twinkling with interest.
"Oh yes. And with vents leading to the office from both sides, too."
Goldie snorts softly to himself at this. That would be a rather interesting experience. He wondered what the guard must've felt working without any doors to protect him or herself. "So did you have a night guard as well as a day one?"
"Yes. I can't remember what the day guard's name was; we rarely ever saw them in person because they barely ever left the room. But the night guard, heh, he was a funny guy - a little plump, too. He was a man in his mid-thirties named Fritz Smith. His father was American and his mother was Canadian, so he always spoke with an accent. Believe me when I tell you that Maggie and the others loved him to death. We used to prank him by pretending to try and break into his office at night and scare the living daylights out of him. No one got hurt, of course."
"Was he aware that you were only playing with him?" Goldie asked with a raised brow.
"Eventually. He caught on after his second week, but went with it anyway since it gave him something to do other than watch cameras all night." The bear's smile then dropped a bit and his ears lowered. "All of us were sad when the restaurant closed down and we had to go our separate ways. We all miss him, especially BB. He was like family to us..."
Goldie said nothing and stared back at the window again. Wanting to change the subject, he cleared his throat and said, "I've noticed you seem to have taken a bit of a liking to Blu."
"Pardon?" Frederick asks.
Goldie's eyes narrow at him slightly. "Don't deny it. I've seen the way you look at him. You've been trying to befriend him ever since Jeremy was moved to the day shift. By the looks of it you're trying to get close to him." His eyes darken as he slowly brought his face close to the smaller bear's and speaks in a low voice. "Too close."
Frederick began to feel a little uneasy, but controled his composure and gives the other bear an assuring smile. "I can assure you, Goldie, that I have no intentions towards Bonnie Blu whatsoever. He's just managed to catch my interest and I'm hoping we could be friends. Forgive me if I made it look otherwise."
Goldie relaxes, but his eyes remain hard. "I will say that Blu can be a little hard to...get around with. He doesn't like being forced into things he wants no part of. Whatever romantic ideals you have for him, it's best to just let it go and forget about them. Unless he feels the same way about you, which I doubt, then you can try and be intimate with him. But..." He brings his face even closer, the tips of their noses inches from each other. "If I find out you try to force Blu into anything against his will. Anything." His eyes turn dark. "You better pray BB and Marion don't grow up fatherless."
Frederick stared at him with a calm expression, but his eyes told a different story. He's never been threatened like this. Maggie used to threaten about running away. But she was a kit, then. He didn't worry too much about it because Maggie knew she had no where to go if she did run away. He's never had his life threatened by anyone. Not like this, at least. But he didn't blame Goldie for his sudden aggressiveness towards him. He was just being a protective papa bear.
"I can assure you, Goldie." he says calmly, placing a daring paw on his shoulder. "I won't try anything drastic with Blu."
"How do I know you're being sincere about this?" Goldie asks gruffly, folding his arms over his chest. Instead of feeling intimidated or frightened, Frederick smiles.
"Because I'd do the same thing if any of you tried harming my "girls"."
...
A groan leaves Jeremy as he finished skimming through the cameras and ending with the same results: children running around while high on sugar or pizza. He feels a small weight added on his shoulder and sees a blue arm resting on it. He cranes his neck back and smiles at the blue bunny staring down at him with half-lidded eyes.
"I've only been working the day shift for one month and it already sucks ass."
Blu frowns at the young man and gives the side of his head a playful wack. "Language, Mr. Fitzgerald." he says teasingly, smirking at the scowl on his face as he rubbed his head.
"Who do you think you are? My mom?"
"Need I remind you that this is a children's restaurant?" His gaze hardens, but not threateningly. "Because I care for the well-being of the children here as well. Even though I'm not very fond of them."
Jeremy lets out a long sigh and sags in his office chair. "Working here at night was twice as more exciting than coming here during the day; more quiet and less responsibilities like having to constantly remind kids not to come down these halls."
"You think you got it bad? The new night guard does a penny's worth of nothing besides sleeping the whole time. He's not even worth going after." Blu finishes with a small scoff of disappointment. The new night guard isn't even worth ratting out. They were all dumbfounded when they found him snoring in the middle of the first recorded message that plays on the first night. They didn't bother waking him up, so they just left him in the office and acted as though he wasn't in the building at all.
"Well... Look on the bright side." Jeremy smiled. "We still get to hang out. Even though we can't do much other than talk..." The smile on his face dims as he focuses his attention on the tablet screen in front of him.
Blu laughs softly before smiling sympathetically at him. "Chin up, darling. It's payday for you. Be happy." Jeremy says nothing in response, but gives him a lopsided smile instead. Blu smiles back, feeling a little warm inside. "By the way..." he adds casually, "I thought about your offer in the letter you gave me last month..."
At first Jeremy was confused. But then his cheeks turned red and he facepalmed after remembering the offer he had written in it. That's the last time I'm writing anything while in a depressive state, he thought to himself before stiffening when he feels Blu's soft paw rest itself on his shoulder. He felt butterflies in his stomach and can only imagine just how red his face must be. Just the way Blu had laid his paw on his shoulder seconds ago... He couldn't find any words to describe the feeling he now felt.
There was a small, shy smile on Blu's lips as his face tinted red. "I know the letter said Sunday... But I was wondering if...we could watch it next Saturday instead? The guard doesn't come in until midnight, so maybe you can come after the restaurant closes up. I would like that a lot..."
Jeremy slowly looks up at him from over his shoulder, his face complete flushed and a sheepish smile quivering on his now dry lips. "Sure thing, Blu... It'll be like a... Uhh..." His voice trails off, feeling a bit embarrassed to even finish what he was going to say.
"Like a movie date..." Blu finishes for him in a thoughtful whisper. Is this how Bonnie felt when he realized his feelings for Mike? Is this what it feels like...to have a crush on someone? A light knock on the left window caught both their attentions. When he saw Frederick standing outside of the office, Blu quickly got the message that his time with Jeremy was up.
Goldie, not wanting to remove himself from his position watching over the children, usually had someone else go get him; mostly either Bonnie or Frederick. Blu sighed and patted Jeremy's shoulder.
"See you around, Jeremy."
Jeremy watched the blue bunny walk up to Frederick through the office window. The two of them exchanged a short, friendly greeting, before walking down the West Hall together. Jeremy switched over to the West Hall camera and bit his bottom lip tightly, watching the way Blu's hips slightly swayed as he walked. As if reading his mind, the rabbit looked over his shoulder slightly and flashed him a half-lidded smirk that would make any girl squeal. For him, it sent shivers down his spine.
You must really like toying with me, Jeremy thought before switching over to a different camera.
Blu let out a small laugh after seeing the red light on the security camera go out and looked away with a smirk. It was out of the corner of his eye that he noticed the odd look Frederick was giving him. "What?" he asks, a small chuckle escaping him unintentionally.
"Why were you looking at the camera like that?"
"I'm just toying with Jeremy a bit."
Frederick's eyebrows furrow in annoyance at the name. "I see..." There's a small edge in his voice that Blu shakes off as being nothing but stress. But Frederick was far from being stressed.
When they reached the Dining Room and went their separate ways, Frederick couldn't keep his mind off of Blu. He stood on stage with his microphone in hand, Chia standing on his left with her own cupcake in hand and Maggie standing on his right with her guitar in her arms, and fell into deep thought as he started to sing away for the children.
Not far from the stage, Blu wanders over to a nearby table where a group of toddlers were coloring. He may not be a big fan of children, and has a limited patience with them, but he doesn't mind hanging out with the quieter ones. He looks over to the Show Stage and listens to Frederick and his band perform. Oh, he couldn't help but perk his ears slightly as he listened to the lyrics natural flow out of the posh bear's muzzle.
He smiled down at the audience of happy, bouncy children in front of him. Every now and then he would tease the little girls in the crowd by either winking at one of them, or tipping his hat in a gentlemanly style. Either way, it made them happier.
X.X
BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARG! You have no idea how much trouble I've had writing this chapter! I've probably rewritten this a thousand times!
*sighs*
Hopefully I won't have as much trouble in the next chapter.
Oh yeah! Dusstythezommby made a really cool sketch on Imgur of Jeremy and Blu! Their username is Dussters on that site. Look up "Jeremy and Blu sketch" and it should be pretty easy to find. So thanks again to Dusstythezommby for the fanart! :D
And thanks to everybody for your continued patience and support :)
*throws out prizes*
And yes. I made that drawing you see at the top left corner of your screen... :3