I laid on my bed half-awake, noticing that the comforter was now laid over me as I felt the red vulpine wrapped around my waist with his head nestled into my shoulder.

'I guess he managed to pull it out from under me.'

I felt him tighten up, earning a muffled yip from me since I wasn't expecting it. After a few seconds, I wrapped my hands around his, noticing a smile on his face out of the corner of my eyes. "Foxy," I asked softly, thinking he was awake but noticed that he didn't react in any way. I had to suppress an 'aww' as his ears twitched slightly.

'He must be dreaming.'

I rested my head back on the pillow, feeling the warmth of being trapped in his embrace.

I laid there for a short while, enjoying the comfortable silence and the gentle sound of his sleepy breathing until I heard someone knock on the door. Toy Chica's voice came from the other side, calling for me to get out of bed.

"Hey, get up! It's almost 8 AM!"

I felt Foxy stir from behind me, drowsily looking around the room as he blinked a few times. "Morning," I told him with a grin as he continued looking around, seemingly confused. "Oh… We slept until morning," He asked with a yawn as he laid on his back beside me. "Yeah, I need to get ready. So, if you wouldn't mind, just look the other way," I told him as I slid out of the bed, walking over to the dresser before pressing a button on the wall. The ceiling lights slowly turned on, lighting up my bedroom. I looked back and saw that Foxy had an arm over his eyes, shielding his vision from the lights above. I began changing quickly, turning around every once-in-a-while to make sure he wasn't peeking, even if I'd stolen plenty of glances at him when his shirt was ripped.

After I finished, I walked over to the side he was sleeping on and nudged him lightly to see if he was still awake. "Yeah," He mumbled as he stretched his arms around, slowly opening his eyes as they adjusted to the light. "Listen, if you hear me knock on the other side of the wall like this," I told him as I walked over and knocked on it in a specific pattern, "That means to run over there and crawl through the vent. The room you're supposed to be in is on the other side." I watched him give me a thumbs-up and a friendly smile, still squinting a little as he looked at me. "Good luck," He told me, finally sitting up and stretching his back. "Thanks," I told him, wrapping my arms around his neck as I bent over partially to get on level with him as he sat on the bed. A blush crept up my face as I thought about kissing him again, but I heard the knocking at the door again, this time more vigorous as I heard her call my name. "Mangle, it's 8 AM, come on already!"

"I guess you should go on out there," I watched the red vulpine say with a small laugh as I got up and straightened my bow-tie once again. "I'll see you later," I told him with a grin, while I sat up and walked towards the door, soon opening it and walking out to see the yellow chicken sitting on the bench that me and Foxy had sat on just yesterday evening. "There you are," I heard her exclaim as I turned back towards her. "You look… Flustered," She said with an attentive, confused tone in her voice. "I'm just excited to perform," I lied, feeling the burning in my cheeks subside a little as I began walking towards the stage. "Hmm, okay then," I heard her say, shrugging as she left the cove and headed towards the main room.

"Finally," I sighed as I got into position, casually looking around with my arms hooked behind my back, not paying attention to anything in particular as I thought about what we were probably going to do tonight. Before I knew it, kids and parents had begun filing into the room, staring at the stage in anticipation. My ears pricked towards a man that was close to the front row, glancing at me as he was talking with another one. "I remember the old version, he always seemed pretty gruff and worse-for-wear, even if he was supposed to be a pirate" He chuckled as the other looked over to me as well. "I remember hearing about an incident with him. Never heard what happened exactly though," I heard him say before bringing up something else. "This one definitely looks a lot more friendly."

I thought about what they said for a little bit, but soon focused on the kids who were coming in. Already I could feel myself getting a bit uneasy.

'Was this what he was talking about?'

I heard the others begin their speech, which was pretty muffled by the distance and thick walls between us. "I guess that's my cue," I thought as I let a prerecorded message play from my voice box, not paying any mind as I saw the parents leave the room and go do something else, probably the bar if I'm being honest. My jaw moved with the words in an autonomous fashion, perfectly lining up the movements to the words down to the syllable. After a few short minutes, the message ended, and I thought of something to do to try and catch their attention. That's when I remembered Foxy taught me his little trick about sliding across the stage and I sprinted to the other side, soon sliding, getting near the edge before stomping down, and asking them if they wanted to hear a story. The kids looked at me with excited gazes at my stunt.

I noted to thank Foxy again for teaching me that.

"Where'd captain Foxy go," I heard one ask, causing me to think for a second as I swiftly thought of something. "The captain's been out on an adventure, I'm sure he'll be back soon," I told them with a smile. I crouched down and asked them if there were any types of stories they wanted to hear. After a little discussion, the children decided on a funny story, so I proceeded to continue the process of telling a story while acting out the scenes a little with them as they tell me which type they'd like to hear next.

/

Soon enough, I'd started to get the hang of it, and the hours slowly began to pick up, seemingly flying by towards the end. The crowd shrunk a little as families left, but then I noticed one kid walk in that was visibly older than the others, he just seemed... disturbing, in a way. He sat in the back and I noticed him pull out a small red and white box from his pocket, soon opening it up and pulling out a thin, white stick with an orange tip. He reached into the box again and pulled out a small, rectangular, red object as I saw a small puff of smoke rise from the corner of the room. Despite never seeing someone smoke before, I somehow knew exactly what he was doing, as if it were second nature.

"Hey, kid, whatcha doing back there," I called to him as he looked up with a smug look. I told the children to wait at the stage as I climbed off and walked over to the teen, seeing he had all types of stuff around his neck and wrists like chains and bracelets. "Listen, if you're going to get lung cancer, at least don't give it to a bunch of six-year-olds," I told him as he simply looked at me, offended.

"The fuck are you going to do about it," He asked me with a gravelly, antagonizing tone in his voice. "I can call security," I told him with a sly tone as he flicked the burning cigarette at me, blowing out another puff of tobacco and nicotine in my face. "Alright then," I said, doing something else I've never done before. A small LED ring around my right iris lit up, flickering slightly as I simply thought about getting someone in here to deal with this punk. "Alright then, tough guy, why don't you," I heard him taunt me, as my eyes seemed to give off a vibrant glow. I flicked my tail as I crossed my arms, watching his expression slowly change to one of anger.

"Already done."

I soon felt something pierce my right thigh and get ripped to the side, stunning me as I was shoved to the floor. I heard the kids screaming as he made a break for the door, but was stopped by one of the guards and pinned up against the wall, the guard soon calling for one of his colleagues as I stumbled up to the stage and quickly knocked on the wall.

We began ushering the kids out of the room as the guards took the punk away. Some employees came and looked at my leg, before telling me that they'd have to cover it up. I limped over to the bedroom before flopping onto the bed, watching patiently as the last employee left the room. Then, I heard something else I wasn't expecting.

"Are they gone yet?"

I heard Foxy's voice ring out around my room as I looked around in shock. "Foxy, where are you," I asked him as he soon appeared from the other side of the bed. "Why didn't you go into the vent?" "I couldn't fit," I heard him say sheepishly. "It's like a vent made for ants... at least, if ants were as big as you." I looked over at the vent, noticing it was a bit smaller than him. "Shit," I exclaimed, careful to keep quiet as the employees could still be outside. "What happened to you," He asked as I down at my right thigh, noticing manner change as I did. He climbed up onto the bed with me and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, gently pulling me against him.

"You okay," He asked, nestling his muzzle against my neck while I rubbed my cheek against the top of his head with a giggle. "Aside from my leg? Yeah," I replied, running my hand over his shoulders, before brushing past his neck and feeling the patch was gone. All that was left was the missing fur. "I'll patch you up," He told me softly. I watched as he got up and reached into one of my drawers, coming back with a towel. Oh, well. I had more towels anyway.

"How'd you know where my towel drawer was?"

"Lucky guess," Foxy replied with a smirk.

It was a fairly large cut, but Foxy just went to work as if he were no stranger to that sort of thing. He started at the farthest point where my synthetic blood had leaked out, slowly running the cloth over it and soaking it up as he moved toward the cut itself, making sure none of it dripped onto the comforter. After he'd cleaned up the blood around the wound, he firmly held a bunched up section of the towel against it for a minute or two, before pulling it away once the bleeding had finally stopped.

The vulpine gave a small smile as he got up to put the towel in the bin next to my dresser before the door handle jiggled.

I watched as he bolted towards my bed, running on the pads of his feet so as not to make a sound, before throwing himself over the far edge. I heard him shuffle quietly as he slid under the bed in near dead-silence, all just before the door opened and the employee entered.

The employee walked in with a new patch. I waited patiently, hoping that he didn't bother walking to the other side of the bed as he patched up the large gash in my leg that was left by the teen's knife.

After what felt like the most stressful and agonizing 5 minutes of my life, the employee left with a sigh as he shoved the door closed behind him. I guess it was closing time since I saw Toy Chica walk in right behind him and rush over to me. "Son of a-" I thought as she hopped onto the bed and hugged me. "Hopefully she doesn't bother looking over there," I thought as she pulled back from the hug and looked at me. "Are you okay? Do you need anything," She asked, beginning to harass me with questions left and right as I attempted to tell her I was fine. "I'm okay, calm down," I told her, laughing at how eager she was to see me.

"Jeez, why is the blanket so dirty," She asked as she started wiping dirt off my comforter and onto the floor. "I'm... not sure, actually," I lied as I felt a sharp pain shoot up my leg. I let out a small yelp as my leg shot forward and kicked Toy Chica. "Ow, what the heck was that for," She asked with a slight shout as I held my leg. "Sorry, it's just spastic right now, probably because of that kid." "Well, you should probably give it a rest then. Want me to stay in here with you," She asked me as I got anxious again. "I'm fine, really. It's just a small cut." The chicken raised an eyebrow slightly, before shrugging it off and finally giving in. I watched as she finally left, not really paying attention to anything she said as I thought about the fox still hiding in my room.

I let out a deep sigh as I heard the door to the cove close, hearing Foxy crawl out from underneath my bed. I rolled over, looking at from on top of the bed as he seemingly panted in relief. "You sly fox," I teased him as he looked up at me with a grin. "Thank you," He replied as he continued laying on the floor. "You need a bath," I told him as I tried to sweep some of the dirt from my blanket onto him, causing him to roll around a bit in an attempt to shake the dirt off him before it landed. "Well, do we have anywhere I can do that," He questioned me as I thought for a minute. "We do, actually," I replied with a grin as he dropped his head down to the floor with a sigh. "Huh. I didn't expect that," He said as he sat up, bumping his nose against mine, earning a smile from me.

"I gotta ask," I heard him say as he leaned back a little, using his arms to keep himself propped up. "Why'd you want me to sleep in here with you last night?" I stared at him for a little bit as I thought about his question. "Well, I knew you'd be able to Toy Freddy from trying anything," I told him as I traced his jaw with my left hand. I started to get a little lost as I stared at him, but remembered that my pants had a large rip in them along the thigh causing me to stand up and walk over to the dresser.

"You sure that isn't the only reason," he asked, clearly having fun with where this was going. I stopped in my tracks as a blush crept over my muzzle.

"...No."

"Alright, just checking," he said with a laugh.

"What are you doing," I heard him ask as I opened up the dresser and grabbed another pair of sweatpants. "I'm going to change," I replied as I grabbed another T-shirt before walking over to the tall mirror. "Jeez how many pairs of sweatpants do you have," he asked in slight disbelief as I looked at him through the mirror while undoing the bowtie. "Sweatpants are comfortable, don't judge," I told him with a grin as he sighed and dropped back to the floor causing me to giggle.

I changed while staring over at the corner he was in, never seeing him poke his head up to peek as I pulled the sweatpants up to my waist, slightly whimpering as I moved my leg. "You okay," I heard him ask as he sat up, thankfully I hadn't taken off the dress shirt yet. "Yeah, my leg's just sore," I told him as he continued looking at me, almost as if he knew there was something else. "You put too much trust in me," He sighed as he laid back down. "What's that supposed to mean," I asked as I began unbuttoning the dress shirt. "It means... that you trust me too much," He said as I felt a hand touch my left shoulder, making me jump, looking over and seeing him holding my shoulder with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. "How did you get over here," I asked with a slight shout as he leaned over, holding himself up by his knees in laughter. "Went under the bed," He chuckled, pointing at the bed with his thumb, causing me to get confused. "How can you crawl under the bed, but can't fit through the vent," I asked him as I held my shirt together, covering myself with a deep, raging blush while he finally stood up straight, bumping his chest as he tried to catch his breath.

"Sorry," He told me as he turned around and flopped onto the bed, facing the wall as I saw the corners of his eyes close. I finished changing, not bothering to check on him while I threw on another white T-shirt, this one clean for once. I sighed as I turned around and crawled up beside him, resting my arm on his back while he laid on his chest. I started brushing my hand against his fur as I heard him begin purr quietly before turning his head over to me with a small smile. "We should probably go check up on the others," He suggested as I kept running my fingers through his fur, soon rolling onto my side to face him. After a few minutes of staring at him, he finally rolled onto his side, and then surprised me by placing a hand on my hip as he pulled us closer together, resting his jaw atop my head with a sigh. I slid my arms under his and held his back as I nestled my head against his neck, feeling each bare patch of fur along him while I did.

"Seriously, we should probably go meet up with the others before they find us here," He told me as I groaned, feeling him unwrap my arms from around his torso as he got up. "Fine," I whined, sitting up and sliding off the bed with a wince once again as I felt my leg sting. "Are you okay," I heard him ask again, seeing him turn around with concern in his face. "Yeah, it's just my leg," I told him as I struggled to my feet. "Here," He said, wrapping his arm around my waist as he partially lifted me off the leg. "I'll help you out of the room." "Thanks," I told him as he supported me, walking to the door as he stood to my right. We made it to the door and opened it up, finding the cove to be devoid of anyone, so we continued out. I stumbled down the hall towards the stairs, until Foxy heard something from the hallway, and he helped me towards the sound.

Some loud pounding noises were coming from the door of the room he usually slept in.

"Hey, the door's locked," I heard Freddy shout from the other side as Foxy let me lean against the wall and walked over to the door, trying to open it as he shouted to the bear through the door. "Who locked the door," The red vulpine asked. "I have no idea," Freddy replied as the fox told them to back away from the door. Foxy planted his left foot a little ways behind him, before picking up his right foot and slamming it into the door near the bolt, leaning into the kick as he did so. The wood on the other side of the wall that held the door in place snapped off. "Damn, Foxy," Bonnie chuckled as they walked out the room. "It won't lock anymore," Freddy said as he stepped out. "It isn't shutting anymore, period. What do you mean 'lock,'" Foxy asked with a chuckle as he walked back over to me.

"Well, let's go sit down at the bar, I guess," I suggested as I managed to limp without Foxy's help back down the hall. "You sure you don't want me to help you there," I heard him ask from beside me as we got to the stairs. "I'll be fine," I told him with a slight laugh as I went to walk up the steps, but accidentally fell with him catching me before I knocked myself out. "You're sure," He asked in a taunting tone as he pushed me back up so I could catch my balance. "Fine, maybe a little bit," I admitted as he lifted me off my feet and carried me up the stairs quickly, soon setting me down before anyone saw. "You two can't be any more obvious," Jeremy chuckled from the doorway as I saw Foxy looked around the room quickly before the guard threw a tray at the red vulpine, hitting him in the chest. Foxy quickly gripped it and threw it back, this time Jeremy wasn't swift enough and got hit in the back.

"Fuck," I heard the guard shout from the room as a loud thump was heard mere seconds later. "Got yer ass," Foxy called in his rare, booming stage voice as the others just started climbing the stairs. "I guess that's not the only one then," Jeremy retorted as I blushed, quickly walking into the bar area before the others saw if they even heard his comment. I continued through the room with a limp until I got to the booth we were sitting at yesterday and I sat down, soon seeing Foxy walk up and sit beside me, this time he was on the outside. I watched as the purple rabbit ran out from the corner of the room as he ran down and slid into the booth, all the way to the inside as he started asking Foxy something. "Now, I have a question for you," Bonnie said as I heard Foxy sigh. "Where the hell were you last night?" "Here we go," Foxy mumbled as he looked up at the ceiling. Chica sat down beside Bonnie, also asking as she did. "You do realize you could've been seen, right," Chica asked as I tried to hold down a giggle at how they all questioned him. "Foxy, I swear if you would've been seen I would've had to get you," Freddy chuckled as he sat down in a seat he pulled up to the end.

"I'm going to decline to answer that question," Foxy groaned as he turned his head to them. "Why's that," Bonnie questioned him as I tried to cover my mouth due to uncontrollable giggling. I caught myself staring at the vulpine beside me as he tried to figure out something to say. "Now that I think about it, I didn't see either you or Mangle after you went for that walk," Freddy said as I stopped laughing, but still covered my mouth. "Leave him be, we should be thankful he wasn't in that room with us," Chica said, changing the subject as I heard Foxy sigh in relief. Soon, the topic changed to my first day of performing.

"Well, it was fun. I got to tell lots of stories, but was cut short by probably an hour due to some idiot that walked in and started some crap in the back," I said as they looked at me confused. "Why did that cut you off," Bonnie asked me. "He cut my leg open," I replied while the red vulpine to my left stared at the ceiling with his eyes closed. "That's why you were limping," Freddy said in a slightly shocked tone as he looked at the others. "Foxy, did you sleep bad last night or something," Bonnie asked with a chuckle as the vulpine looked back down at him. "I slept great last night, actually. I just wish I could lay back down," He replied with a grin while I looked at him.

"Okay, what have you done to this dude," Bonnie asked me as I shrugged my shoulders. "I have no idea," I told him as he looked back at Foxy. That's when I heard something from a speaker in the opposite corner of the room. "That's not what the footage from the stage says," The speaker said as Foxy immediately got up and bolted through the room, turning right at the corner until he went out of view. "Aaand, there goes Jeremy," Freddy chuckled as I soon heard the sound of screaming from the security office. "Should we go help him," Chica asked as Bonnie agreed and they got up, following where the vulpine ran, leaving me and the bear alone at the table as we waited for them to get back.

"What did Jeremy mean by that," Freddy asked me as I felt a blush creep up my cheeks once again. "Well," I said, thinking about what I should tell him. "I don't think that he'd want me to say." The bear looked at me confused as I said that, but then came Bonnie bringing Foxy back into the room. "Foxy deleted the damn footage," Bonnie shouted as Foxy slid into the booth beside me with a grin. "You ain't seeing jack shit," Foxy told the rabbit with a chuckle as he turned over to me. "You're welcome," He mouthed to me where the others couldn't see while Bonnie sat down. "Jeremy couldn't pull up backup files so it's gone," Chica said as she walked back down to us. "Good," Foxy replied with the same grin as they looked at him. "You know we'll figure it out at some point," Bonnie said while the red vulpine leaned against his arm on the table. "I'll wait for you," Foxy replied, taunting the purple rabbit. We continued talking as both Foxy and Bonnie went back-and-forth, though, the others just quit and let it be.

After a while, Foxy told me to meet him back in the bar in about half an hour.

Another PSA from the beta-reader: If I catch any of you smoking, I'm going to use the same fire extinguisher from earlier and blast you with it. Cigarettes are responsible for more than 480,000 deaths every year in the US alone, and that doesn't include vaping.