Note: This takes place before "A Cupcake A Day" and "Chocolate Cheat Day."

Begin Prompt in 3, 2, 1…

Wipe Away the Tears

Prompt: Why does the Puppet cry during birthday parties?

Mike wasn't used to working the day shift. Even with the aggressive animatronics at night, he tended to prefer the quietness and familiarity of it. It was a predictable routine that Mike had gotten into and so far, it had worked well for him. Unfortunately, all it took was rapidly spreading strep throat to uproot him and stick him working while it was open.

It was funny; even with the lack of danger, Mike found himself leagues more uncomfortable working at this hour. Between the sounds of children screaming and terribly cheesy music he couldn't even hear himself think. Not to mention that he was still groggy since his sleep cycle had been thrown off to such a massive degree.

There was a birthday part that was taking up most of the dining room. A kid was turning ten and his parents decided to go all out, inviting an entire classroom of children and practically renting out the entire pizzeria. Mike wasn't really doing anything more than standing aside and waiting for his cue to bring the cake out, or whatever he was supposed to do.

It was then that he was suddenly blindsided by none other than Fritz. Fritz was a technician and a weekend and day shift worker who Mike had a tentative friendship with. They got along well enough but didn't spend much time together outside of work. Fritz was looking flustered and rushed up to Mike with the look of someone who had been forced to pacify twenty plus children.

Mike expected that he was going to ask for help but couldn't have anticipated what kind of help he needed.

"Mike, the Puppet's leaking again. Can you go wipe it down before it gets all over the prizes and presents? I have to bring in the cake so I can't do it," Fritz asked with clear exasperation.

Mike let that sink in for a moment before looking at the technician and giving an understandable, "What?"

"Just with a napkin or something- Here." Fritz hurried to a nearby table and grabbed a handful of colorful, confetti-printed napkins before handing them to the other man. "Here. Take these, wipe down the Puppet's mask, and then maybe just keep an eye out and make sure cake doesn't get spilled on the floor and tracked everywhere." With that, the technician dismissed himself, and Mike was left standing there in disbelief.

This would surely be uncomfortable- being that it was the Puppet- but this was what he signed up for when taking the job. If he had to… wipe down… leaking animatronics… then he would do it, if only to not get fired. At least this one didn't have teeth. With a sigh, Mike started to head over towards the Prize Corner at the other side of the pizzeria.

"When did I become the guy in charge of animatronic maintenance? He's the technician for crying out loud! If a bot's leaking, he should be figuring it out himself," Mike thought and grumbled on the inside. "I already watch them at night. I should get a free pass not to work with them during the day." Then he stepped into the Prize Corner. "If there's like a decomposing piece of pizza lodged in this thing, I swear-…"

It was then that he caught sight of the Puppet.

The Puppet was possibly the strangest animatronic in the pizzeria. It was long and thin, black with white stripes, and with a porcelain mask with a wide smile stretched across it. The Puppet was somewhat cute- cuter than Freddy, at least- but it branched too far into uncanny valley to make it far past that. It was currently doing what it usually did; stand in its box and stare out with a blank smile as it waited to be used.

Except now there was purple paint leaking out of its eyes. One of the Puppet's more iconic traits were the purple stripes on its mask which looked like tear marks. Yet now actual paint was dribbling down its face.

"What in the…?" Mike wasn't even sure what to make of it. He took careful steps towards the animatronic as he looked over the damage. "What is that, paint? Is it crying paint?" Maybe that explained the stripes, but that didn't explain why it was currently coming out of his face. "Forget it. Let's just get this over with." He reached out towards the animatronic when he was cut off by an intruding thought:

"What if it is crying?"

It was abundantly clear that the animatronics in the pizzeria were haunted. Freddy and his band clearly were and while Mike never saw the Puppet in action, he had heard stories and believed it was too. It was painfully obvious that the amount of deaths and disappearances in the past weren't just coincidental when considering the sentience that the bots had. Though he had never seen any of them cry, especially not with real tears.

"Probably just a leak like Fritz said. He made it sound like this happens all the time," Mike tried to convince himself. "I'm making a big deal out of nothing." He wanted to believe that, but it was difficult to ignore this uncomfortable feeling that he was witnessing a sentient being weeping in the corner. He still had to do his job, so he took a deep breath and tried a new tactic.

"Just going to clean you off here, okay?" Mike forewarned. He didn't know if it would help to talk to it, but it made him feel better at least. He then reached out and took the Puppet by the chin, slower and gentler than originally intended, and started to wipe away some of the paint with the napkins. It smeared over the white and took repeated wipes to come clean.

"Just bear with me here. No pun intended," the security guard quipped with a small smile. The Puppet didn't react at all and he wondered if he had been overthinking everything. Still he was gentle, treating the porcelain as though it would break from his touch alone. If anyone asked, then he would blame his lack of sleep.

The sound of children singing "Happy Birthday" broke him out of his thoughts. Mike looked over at the dining room to see Fritz carrying out the birthday cake, with his voice easily lost amongst the children's own. They gathered around the table and around the birthday boy, who was seated at the head of the table and wearing the signature 'Freddy Hat' that the birthday kids would wear.

Mike got a small, amused smile. The kids already looked ravenous; like they were prepared to tear through Fritz if he didn't get the cake on the table and divided up quickly enough. Fitting that one of them would be wearing a Freddy hat. The security guard didn't envy him, with his own job suddenly looking a lot better, and turned back to the Puppet to finish up.

Only to find that the tears had returned with a vengeance. What had once been a little trickle of purple fluid was now nearly pouring down the mask. It took a few seconds of Mike staring in disbelief to realize that the Puppet's head was slightly turned too. It was very subtle but the animatronic was looking at the birthday party. It didn't take a genius to realize that the song beginning and the leak returning wasn't a coincidence.

There was no doubt in Mike's mind that the Puppet was crying.

He wasn't sure what to think now that his suspicions were confirmed. These animatronics were a handful, aggressive and uncooperative, and it was hard under normal circumstances to feel badly for them, but Mike was aware that they didn't live pleasant existences. He wasn't sure why one would cry over a birthday party- unless it was exasperated dread at knowing it would soon need to perform amongst that madness- but it was distressed watching it.

Knowing that he had to do something, Mike inhaled deeply and reached forward to try wiping away the tears again.

"I know," he sympathized. He then cracked a smile, "I hate this song too."

To his surprise, the Puppet let out a dull chiming noise, as though responding to the comment. He raised a brow curiously and continued to work at the task at hand.

"So, usually I work the night shift, but today I decided to cave-in to masochism and come in early. I'm now going on no sleep at all. Probably the same with you. I wouldn't be able to sleep if every five minutes kids were barging into my room demanding toys and candy… Then again, if I woke up to kids breaking into my apartment, I can't say I'd ever feel like sleeping again." Mike continued to casually carry a one-sided conversation. "But in all seriousness, I'm here because apparently the second coming of the plague wiped everyone out."

There was a delighted scream from somewhere in the dining room and the Puppet reacted with a soft twitch. Another fat drop of paint started to roll down its face.

"Hey, come on now. You were doing so good. Besides, I'm running out of napkins," Mike forewarned. He was still as gentle as he could be, both vocally and physically. "Not that these things work. I think I'd get better absorption with a piece of cardboard," he quipped. Once again, this got the slightest chime from deep in its chest.

By now the Puppet was almost entirely cleaned. The napkins had reached the end of their helpfulness though and using them would only spread paint further, so Mike decided just to use the sleeve of his uniform, not worried if it stained since it too was purple in color. By now the leaking had stopped fully and the party seemed to quiet down as the children finished eating. Still, he wasn't ready to put his guard down.

"Alright, good as new," Mike murmured as he wiped the last light streak off the Puppet's red cheek. "But just to be safe, I'm going to hang out here and keep an eye on you… Mostly so I can avoid actual work." He expected another blank chime as an answer, robotic and predictable, but this time he received something more akin to a trill. He assumed that was the Puppet's equivalent of a thank you.

In a way, that alone was almost worth it.

…

But that was not the end of it.

By time Mike returned to the pizzeria for the night shift he had almost forgotten about earlier. It had been so long without proper sleep that it could've been affecting his train of thought. He had only gotten a few hours of sleep before he was forced to return to the pizzeria. It was going to be a rough night between trying to stay awake and keeping the animatronics away.

It was just after midnight and Mike was checking through the cameras while sipping at a thermos of coffee. He checked Pirate's Cover to find the curtains closed and the stage where Freddy's band was still prone. Then he switched to the Prize Corner and proceeded to choke on a mouthful of coffee at the sight of the present box open and the Puppet nowhere to be seen. He didn't even have the chance to wind the music box. It was already gone.

"I wiped that mime's tears for two hours and now it's going to kill me," Mike thought. He tried to stay calm as he flipped through the cameras of the rooms, hall, and dining room. "Where is it?" he muttered under his breath. He glanced up towards the office door in paranoia and proceeded to freeze up when he realized he wasn't alone anymore.

There was the Puppet hovering in the doorway. That same blank smile, same long body, but now hovering off the ground without any strings holding it up.

Mike's eyes widened and the monitor went forgotten and his mind started to race for solutions. It was too late to hide under the desk. Maybe the flashlight would work, but that seemed like a stretch. His heart started to pound as the animatronic slowly started to float closer to the desk. Small pinpricks of light glowed deep inside its eyes as it stared him down, now looming over him threateningly.

Then, right when Mike was considering making a run for it, something bizarre happened. It spoke.

"Don't be afraid. I'm not like the others."

That was immediately apparent from the voice alone. Unlike the cartoonish, crackling recordings that played when the other animatronics 'spoke', the Puppet's voice sounded very human. Soft and gentle, masculine and non-threatening, and contrasting in every way to its appearance. Though the fact that it spoke at all left Mike staring blankly.

"I wanted to thank you for earlier. You were gentler than any of the others, and I've never had anyone speak to me, let alone like a person. You didn't have to do that. I know you couldn't have possibly known that I was aware enough to hear and understand you," the Puppet continued as it stopped on the other side of the desk. "And for that… I think it is only fair that I return the favor."

Mike furrowed his brows in questioning but stayed silent. The animatronic turned away from him and, in a motion that looked very human-like, leaned back against the desk. Its hands rested on the wood of the desk and it looked down the hallway as though keeping an eye out. Mike discreetly checked the monitors as quickly as he could to not take his eyes off the striped one long. To his surprise, the other animatronics still hadn't moved.

"You said earlier that you were tired, so I'm going to stay and keep an eye out. Just to be safe," the Puppet said. The security guard set aside the monitor once more to look up and saw it turned to look back at him. "As long as I'm in here, the others won't come in. So, you can have an easier night tonight." It looked forwards once again into the darkness. "It's the least I can do for pulling me back together earlier."

For a few minutes Mike couldn't do much other than sit there and watch as the Puppet kept guard. He almost thought it was a trick, but it became apparent the longer he waited that the animatronic meant what it said. Or it was waiting for him to fall asleep, which wouldn't happen no matter how tired he was.

It was curiosity that finally convinced Mike to break the silence. Still braced for anything, Mike asked, "Can I ask you something?" The Puppet turned its head with a questioning hum; still too human for its body. "What was going on earlier? Why were you crying?"

"…Birthday parties bring back bad memories. Some more than others," the striped one quietly admitted. It almost sounded embarrassed by it. "Today was a particularly hard one. Just seeing them so happy… Don't get me wrong, I like seeing them enjoying themselves and enjoying life, but there are some things you cannot forget." It lowered its head almost sadly for a few moments. "But I can't help it. Birthdays are still a touchy subject and I occasionally get wound up…"

It then gave a soft chime as it turned its head to look back at him. "Pun intended."

"Got it. I guess I assumed as much." Mike wasn't sure what else to say about this. "But yeah, thanks."

"Just returning the favor," the Puppet said pleasantly. It then turned away. "…And perhaps if it works out well enough, maybe we'll help each other again. I think you'd do well with someone on your side… And I know that I could use someone like you on mine."

Mike wasn't sure what this sort of arrangement would entail, but he knew it would have to be more than just cleaning. Yet something still seemed promising about it. He would just have to wait and see.