First of all, Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! Hope you all had a good Thursday!

Second, seriously, 100 reviews?! *dies of joy* Thank you so much, everybody! I can't believe this story's gotten so popular! It means a lot to me, it really does.

Third, a cookie to anyone who gets the title reference.

After Hours

What Do You Do With a B.A. In ME?

East Hall... nothing.

Kitchen... noises. Must be Chica.

Pirate's Cove... Foxy's peeking out. Same as usual.

Backstage... hmm. Bonnie and Freddy. Freddy doesn't usually go back there. Are they talking? Wish I could get audio on these things.

Now that I look closer Bonnie seems kinda down. Wonder what that's about?

Mike shut his laptop, and the loud clapping sound cut through his thoughts and dragged him into reality. Tucking the device under his shoulder, Mike stood and weighed his options. What were Bonnie and Freddy talking about? It would probably be best to leave them be... but then he wouldn't know what they were talking about. He didn't really want to eavesdrop on them, either – no point putting himself at risk like that again. So that only left one choice, if it was even a choice at all.

The guard walked over to Pirate's Cove, ducking under the stanchions and hopping up onto the stage in one fluid motion. He pulled the curtains open and swiftly spotted Foxy's glowing eyes amidst the black space inside.

"Ahoy, Mike," Foxy greeted the man, stepping forward slightly so that Mike could see him better in the dark. "Here t' listen ta another o' Cap'n Foxy's stories?"

Mike shook his head apologetically. "Hate to disappoint, Foxy, but not this time. Sometime soon, though. I was just wondering, do you know what happened with Bonnie? I saw him backstage on the cameras and he seems down."

Foxy frowned. "Wha' makes ye think I be knowin' anythin' about th' rabbit? He doesn' talk ta me."

"Well, yeah, but I figured you might've seen or heard something through the curtains," Mike shrugged in response.

"Y'mean, eavesdroppin'?" Foxy cocked his head at Mike.

"What else would I mean?" The guard replied. "Look, I don't mean to offend you or anything, but if you know something-"

"Ah, 's fine, lad," Foxy reassured his friend. "Ah'd be lyin' if I said I ne'er caught a glimpse o' th' night life 'round here.

"Anyhoo, I did hear a li'l bit o' talkin'. Somethin' 'bout breakin' somethin'."

"...Breaking?"

"Yeh, happens ev'ry now 'n then, dunno why. Ye thinkin' o' takin' a look fer yerself?"

Mike nodded. "Yeah, just thought I'd see what I was getting into. Thanks, buddy." He turned to leave, then stopped suddenly and turned back to the fox. "Hey, Foxy? How much time do you spend in your cove during the night?"

"Th' whole time, more 'r less," Foxy replied, looking a bit puzzled. "Why?"

"Well, it's just, you can come out if you want. Nothing's stopping you."

Foxy seemed to consider that for a moment, then sighed and waved his hook hand dismissively. "Ah, wha's th' point? They don' like me anymore. Th' kids, Freddy, none o' them. They wouldn' want me-"

"I would," Mike cut Foxy off with a fierce glare. The fox was almost frightened by the sheer intensity in the human's eyes. "Foxy, I want you out there, even if they don't. Instead of hiding in here you should be out there with them. Give them a reason to like you, and if they still don't then keep trying until they do. I know it's scary, but you'll be a million times more happy with friends then you could ever be alone."

Mike stopped, and Foxy could see the fire fade slowly from his eyes as he managed to compose himself. "Look, I'm only saying this because I want youto be happy. You don't have to kill yourself over it, just think about it, okay?"

With the seeds sown, Mike turned and left at last.

Mike reached the backstage door just as Freddy was walking out of it, and so the two of them almost walked headlong into each other before they were able to stop. "What's up with Bonnie?" Mike asked.

"Ah, broke a string on his guitar," Freddy sighed. "Happens ev'ry now 'n then. Ah'd leave 'im if ah were ya. He'll sulk fer hours 'til it's fixed."

A broken guitar string? That was it? Mike was surprised and a bit put out that he'd been worried over something so mundanely small. Did Bonnie not know how to fix his own guitar? Probably, if he had to wait for somebody to do it for him. Most likely, a technician would come in sometime tomorrow and make the repair.

Then again, why wait?

"Yo, Freddy. The spare parts for you guys are in there, right?" Mike asked, pointing behind thebear into the darkened backstage room. It'd been a while since he'd had to do something like this, but maybe...

"Yup, why d'ya ask?" Freddy inquired, head cocked slightly in confusion.

"Oh, no reason," Mike mumbled absent-mindedly as he wandered past Freddy and into the darkness. Normally going backstage would've sent chills down his spine, but he was too focused on the task at hand to worry about that. Sure enough, Bonnie was sitting by the small table near the opposite wall, clutching his still quite intact guitar with a downtrodden look on his face. Deep down, Mike couldn't help but think the rabbit was overreacting, but he wasn't about to say that out loud and risk offending him.

"Hey, Bon," Mike spoke up tentatively. "Heard you broke a guitar string."

"Leave me alone," Bonnie groaned in response, not even bothering to snap at Mike for the nickname. Not wanting to waste time going back and forth on the matter, Mike silently strode over to a nearby cabinet on the wall and pulled it open. A quick scan located the spare strings for Bonnie's guitar, and Mike quickly removed them, along with a bridge pin puller, and walked over to Bonnie.

"Alright, show me which string broke," Mike spoke concisely.

Bonnie turned aggressively to face Mike. "I said leave me a-"

"Bonnie!" Mike snapped, startling the rabbit into silence. Out of the corner of his eye Mike could see Freddy ducking in, probably to check on things, but Mike focused mostly on Bonnie. "Just listen. I know what I'm doing. You may not remember it, but I've done this before. I can fix your guitar, but you have to let me.

"Now, which string broke?" Mike concluded. Still stunned silent, Bonnie held out his guitar and pointed to one of the strings in the middle. Allowing the rabbit to continue holding the instrument, Mike gently traced the broken string up to the head of the guitar, and then started loosening the proper tuning machine. Once the string was loose enough, Mike pulled the broken string out and turned his attention to the other half attached to the bridge. The bridge pin came out easily enough, and Mike collected the other half of the broken string.

Setting the two halves aside, Mike gingerly pulled out a replacement string and slid one end into the peg hole, reinserting the end peg to anchor it in place. Stretching the string tight, Mike held it up to the tuning peg and twisted the tuning key to wind it. Once the winding was complete, Mike stood back up to admire his handiwork.

"That should be it. Wanna test it?" Mike asked Bonnie, who nodded heartily and began plucking at the strings repeatedly. Mike had no idea if it was in key or not, but apparently Bonnie was happy, because the rabbit eventually stopped and stared at the fixed instrument in awe.

"It's... perfect," Bonnie breathed, turning to stare at Mike in amazement. "How?"

"Ah'd like ta know th' same thing," Freddy chimed in at last from hisplace at the backstage door. "If'n y' don' mind, that is."

Mike gazed at the two animatronics for a while with a difficult-to-read expression on his face – somewhere between sadness and disappointment – before seeming to register the question. "I... uh, I used to be a technician here. You guys don't remember?" He asked, although given the looks of shock on the robots' faces he needn't have bothered.

"Technician?" Freddy echoed. "Ah don' 'member seein' ya 'round here before ya became th' night guard. Yer not messin' wit' us, are ya?"

"No, no," Mike quickly replied. "It was, ah, about a year ago, I believe. I really needed a job at the time, and this place was hiring, so I went for it." The guard laughed hollowly. "After a couple of months I slipped into Pirate's Cove when no one was looking and found Foxy. The workers caught me tinkering with him and, well, I got fired on the spot. I mean, the pay was sub-subpar, so it wasn't a huge loss, but at least it was something.

"Then a couple of weeks ago, management for this place personally called me and offered me a night guard job, and I'm sure you know the rest." Mike finished, letting the ensuing silence permeate the room.

"About a year ago, huh?" Bonnie quipped after a brief while. "Makes sense, I guess. Our memories aren't that good. But were you ever planning on actually telling us this sometime, hmmm?"

Mike sighed. "Eventually, I swear. I was never sure how to bring it up, and it never seemed important enough to just come out and say."

"Tha's fair 'nuff," Freddy said. "'Course, Chica n' Foxy are still in th' dark 'bout it."

"We can tell them later," Bonnie replied flatly, apparently remembering his newly repaired guitar. "I gotta take my baby out and celebrate! You know any good guitar-playing songs, kid?"

"First of all," Mike shot back, voice playfully vitriolic. "Don't call me kid. And second, yeah, I've got plenty of songs like that." The human walked toward the doorway, and Freddy stepped aside to let him through. "Come on, Bon!"

Bonnie bristled at the sound of the nickname. "Hate that name," he growled, stalking out past Freddy to follow Mike.

Freddy just laughed.