Montgomery Gator sure knew how to suck the life out of someone.

My job was to do maintenance checks after hours every night, on every band member. From ten o'clock at night until 6 o'clock in the morning. Unfortunately, Monty never gave me anything to work with. I had only been in his room once, and each time after I had been rudely turned away.

It had been a month now.

He would shred my reports if they were ever left laying around anywhere, forcing me to make sure I always had copies of my paperwork. I had been trapped quite a few times in the bathroom, my office, the supply closet, and just any space that had only one exit really. Every single time, the culprit for the stuck doors had actually been an out of order STAFF bot that was oh-so-conveniently placed in front of said doors.

I had asked for advice from the other band members, with no luck. Either because I was a mechanic (a bots worse enemy apparently), or because Monty was their friend. Probably both.

My anxiety increased with each passing day that I made a faulty report on Monty. I couldn't do maintenance on him, I couldn't report not doing maintenance on him for risk of being fired, and there was no way I would try to put him on lockdown. Even if he made the workplace my own personal hell.

The first 3 band members were polite, of course, besides Roxanne's harsh sarcastic since of humor. They were much easier to work on now that I had built a somewhat solid foundation of trust with them. I could tell that they were still wary of me though, and that was fine. I moved on to my last 'patient' for the night.

Used to the routine by now, I knocked on his door three times with the usual-

"Get lost, mechanic."

My expression twisted into something sour as I realized I was finally nearing my breaking point. The idea of using a stun gun on the asshole seemed oddly satisfying now, even though I could never bring myself to do it.

Desperately, I called to him through the door, "Just give me something to work with, please. What do I have to do? Make a deal?"

He was eerily silent for a few beats. I made a move to turn away, giving up for the night.

The door suddenly slid open and I whirled around to look at him. There he was, wearing his after work sweatpants as always, and glaring down at me with an almost amused expression, "A deal?"

I sighed out of pure exhaustion, this damn gator was gonna be the death of me. I knew I was going to hate myself for this.

"Yes. A deal." I replied, feeling suddenly dejected.

His large tail tapped against the door frame as he stood there deep in thought, trying to conjure up a deal beneficial to him. His ruby eyes still glaring down at me through his glasses. His eyes lit up for just a moment.

"I got deal for ya. See, I got somethin' of mine stuck in the vents one day, I need you to crawl in and get it." He was still grinning, as if he knew something that I didn't know.

"T-That's it? You just need me to get something out of the vents for you?" I asked, not believing it. It was so simple, easy even.

"Offer goin once, goin twice-"

"-Okay, okay, I'll do it!" I cut him off before I lost my chance to accept. He grinned maliciously, seeming very happy with my deal. I held my right hand out.

"Shake on it."

He grumbled and reached his large hand out. I eyed the hand swiftly moving behind his back, catching his deceit, "Let me see your hand, you better not be crossing your fingers."

He chuckled and held his his other hand up as he shook my hand, "Meet me here in my room on Friday when yer ready. I get what I want, and then ya get to work on me."

"Deal."

"Deal." He repeated, his sharp-toothed grin looking scarier than ever before.

The next two days went by more quickly than I had anticipated. Before I knew it, Friday was here, and it was time for me to finally come to equals terms with Monty through our deal. I play fetch in the vents for him and in return, I get to do my job.

So really I'm just doing extra work so I can do my normal work. Wack.

After checking on the other band members, who were all in tip top shape and not in need of any service surprisingly, I made my way to Monty's room.

My gut was practically screaming at me to turn around, and yet, I ignored it.

Slowly shuffling along, I finally made it to Monty's door where he was already waiting for me.

"Montgomery", I greeted.

He only grunted in reply and turned around, walking back into his room. I followed him, being careful of his slowly swaying tail in front of me. It could take me out in one easy swipe, and he would probably barely feel it.

Using one hand, he easily reached up to the vent and hooked a claw into it, popping it off as easy as one would take the lid off a can of Pringle's.

"...Can I ask a question?"

"No", he said, cutting his eyes at me with a silent warning. I instantly averted my eyes.

After removing the vent, he finally turned to me and held out his left hand.

I looked back and forth between his hand and his face, unmoving. He obnoxiously rolled his eyes, two tiny streams of steam floating from his nostrils.

"How else ya supposed to get up there, short-stack?"

"Oh", I flushed, feeling like an idiot. I gingerly placed my small hand in his large one.

Abruptly, I was yanked upwards with a yelp. His right hand gripped underneath my right leg as he pushed me up and into the vent. As graceful as I would've imagined it to be.

My face pushed roughly against the bottom of the cold, dusty vent as I scrambled to pull myself in when I no longer felt his support. Once I was safely in the vent, I turned to him with a frown.

"You did that on purpose", I huffed.

"Don't know what yer talkin about", he folded his arms over his broad chest cooly, watch me from below with a bemused expression.

I rolled my eyes and continued my descent into the darkness of the vent. I paused to sneeze twice, the dust getting to me.

"We ain't got all day, cher", he drawled, his tone displaying his obvious impatience.

"What do you have in here that's so important anyways?" I asked aloud, wondering if he could still hear me from how far I had crawled.

"You'll see."

It was quiet for about 5 minutes after that. I searched around with my hands, not finding anything except dust bunnies.

"There's nothing in here!" I called to him.

"Might be a little farther down."

I grumbled as I scooted down further.

I felt the vibrations in the cool metal before I heard it. A thumping ahead of me that seemed to be getting louder and louder.

"Uh, Montgomery-"

My breath hitched when the thumping stopped quite close to me, maybe 6 feet away at most. With my eyes adjusting to the darkness, I finally saw the two white pinpricks staring at me.

"Monty!" I yelled this time, my body going completely numb.

The thing screeched as it launched towards me, and I scrambled backwards as fast as possible in the tiny enclosure. A piercing scream tore from my lungs as it got closer and closer. My limbs shook something terrible.

The creature skittered forward on multiple legs with an eerily still grin. It was black for the most part that I could see, with a pale face. All that ran through my mind was that it very much resembled a spider.

There weren't many things that truly scared me. I'd pick up just about any creature, from reptiles to amphibians to insects. Most 'creepy crawlies' didn't really bother me.

But oh.

Oh.

Spiders?

A strangled cry for help burst forth as I finally reached the opening of the vent, falling backwards just as the awful creature took a viscous swipe at my face.

I was hoping to land on the floor. Hoping to hit my head so hard that I'd forget the creature even existed in the first place. Instead, my body fell into a pair of warm muscular arms.

Then I was dropped unceremoniously on my bottom.

Monty thought it was hilarious.

The mechanic really shouldn't have indulged him like that. The look on her face, the shock of it all, it was something he definitely logged away in his memory log to look back on.

As his guffawing had finally died down, he took a good look at her for the first time since she came barreling out of the vent.

The small blonde sat on the floor, still in the same spot she landed. Her ponytail now loose and wild and draped across her right shoulder. Bony knees were tucked to her chest with her arms wrapped tightly around them. Her slouched shoulders shook as she took shallow ragged breaths.

"C'mon now, mechanic. Where's that spunk ya had earlier?" He bent down, closer to her level.

His grin dropped instantly when he saw the blood on her gray hoodie sleeve.

"Cher?" He questioned with a quietness reserved for children, never for adults. He laid his palm over the top of her head, gently coaxing her to look up at him as he inspected the damage.

Something ugly and wretched twisted inside him at the sight of her. A gash stretched across her cheek, tiny droplets of blood mixed with her fresh tears spilled out across her dainty freckles. Her doe eyes looked up at him pitifully through wet lashes, just for a moment. Then, they squeezed shut and she yanked her head away from him.

She clambered to her feet clumsily, still covering her face with her right arm as she walked toward the door to Rockstar Row. He followed after her.

"Look, I didn't mean for that to happen. C'mon, mechanic. It was just a little joke." He tried to reason with her. He just needed to put her in her place, that was all. He really didn't mean for her to get hurt.

Her tiny frame shook as she turned around to look at him accusingly. Those sky blue orbs pierced right through him.

"You, Montgomery Gator, are a selfish asshole! "

He took a step back, as if she had physically hit him. The weight of her raspy voice carried through him, and he suddenly recognized the feeling that was churning within him.

Guilt.

Before he could do anything else, she darted out of the room.

Moments later, Roxy came stomping around the corner to investigate all the noise, with Chica and Freddy in tow. She sniffed the air once, twice. Her eyes never left his as her ears flattened against her head and she snarled at him.

"What the fuck happened?"

Sundrop came swinging down from his room, hearing a silent sobbing noise from the playground in his daycare. Which was quite odd for this time of night, and he had originally feared a child may have been left behind. With a quick check of tonight's check-outs, he saw that every child had been accounted for.

Who was crying?

Not wanting to spook the person, he creeped through the playground, following the muffled whimpers. Up a slide, across a bridge, and down a few stairs, he finally came upon the source of the noise.

He began fretting when he recognized the blonde hair in front of him, "Oh, Sky! Oh no no no! Are you hurt? Why are you crying? What are you doing here?"

Her head swiveled around to look at him pitifully, her blue eyes shining bright with tears. He took in the slouched shoulders, flushed cheeks, and bloody cheek before slowly approaching her, using one hand to gently pull her toward him, and the other to steady himself in the awkward tight corner she had chosen to hide in. "What happened, my friend? Are you okay?", he asked as he slowly stroked her hair. She weeped miserably into his shoulder.

"Oh, Sunny! I don't know what to do!" She sobbed. Her breathing increased and he nearly began panicking. He had only ever dealt with crying children before, never adults.

"About what, Sunshine? Tell me, my dear friend, please tell me so I can help you." He was trying his best.

"I've been trying so hard to be nice and patient an-and understanding and I-", she started gasping painfully, "-I don't know why they hate me!"

Sundrop gasped in horror, grabbing her face to make her look at him, "Sunshine! Who hates you? Who did this to you?"

The weepy look she gave him made his insides clench.

"Montgomery", she whispered this time, so quietly as if saying his name too loud would summon him. She wiped her face on the sleeve of her oversized hoodie. Her pale lips wobbled.

"I can't do it anymore, Sun." She bowed her head down, hiding her face. "I'm just-I'm so exhausted. I tried everything I could think of, but my new job is just miserable. It's just gonna keep getting worse, I should transfer to a new position before they fire me instead."

Unsure of what to say, Sun continued trying to soothe her in the only way he knew how. He knew she had worked so hard for this position, but he hated seeing his friend so unhappy.

He could see the bags under her damp, droopy eyes. Her hair was unkept and her skin was pale and clammy. She had reached her limit.

'Let me out'

Moon prompted from within him, but Sun was hesitant to leave his friend like this.

'She won't be upset with you. Let me out so I can help her.'

Sun couldn't argue with Moon's reasoning. He could help her get a well rested, and much needed, few hours of sleep.

Sun adjusted the lights, and soon, Moon had come out to inspect the damage.

"Moon?" Sky sniffled as she looked up at him.

He shushed her as he carefully scooped her up closer to him. "You need rest." He carried her out of the playground and to the nap area normally reserved for children.

A twinkling lullaby played quietly, and stars on the ceiling blinked in and out. Diffusers sprayed lavender aroma down from somewhere above them, calming the last of her tears.

He grabbed a blanket and a couple of pillows, easily maneuvering the blanket to wrap around the small girl in his arms, and sat crisscrossed on the floor with her in his lap. A pillow lay between her head and his right thigh.

"Moon?"

"Hmm?" He hummed.

"I... I don't want Montgomery to hate me. I think this place can be very lonely for someone like him, you know?"

He seemed to think on it, "Perhaps." He continued, "but he is lonely by choice."

"Oh."

"Go to sleep, Dewdrop. I will wake you when it's time."

Within minutes, she was completely out. He was completely content with watching her sleep, not having the privilege to see her like this very often.

Not that he would ever admit that out aloud.