"Fredbear!"
The bear turns, his eyes questioning. They're stuck on the stage again, but it's after closing now. The children are gone and they get to spend the rest of the night to themselves.
"You sang wonderfully tonight! I really do love your voice." SpringBonnie smiles. When Fredbear returns the look, he has to look away out of embarrassment. It wasn't too sappy, was it? He meant it as just a compliment.
"You sounded good too, Bonnie." SpringBonnie looks back at him, a little surprised they're holding a full conversation. Sure, the diner opened just a few days ago, but Fredbear's seemed reluctant to talk for very long. He's not rude, but he's quiet. Insanely so, but it's a nice contrast from SpringBonnie's tendency to just talk and talk. "Your very good at harmonizing with me."
He wants to make an excuse, but he doesn't. Yeah, they were programmed to do this, but it doesn't mean it's not still them. "Thank you." SpringBonnie says after a moment, still feeling flustered. "Perhaps we could sing another song together?"
Fredbear blinks and SpringBonnie prepares to give him an out, but he eventually smiles again. "Right now? But we already sang today."
The rabbit gives a little shrug. He plucks the strings lazily, itching to actually make a cord or two. "I know that, but I just like hearing you so much. And this song can be special. Just for the two of us." Just for me, he means to say. He wants Fredbear to sing for him. Call him a romantic, but SpringBonnie just swoons at the thought of being serenaded. And maybe that's what he's asking for now. Maybe he just wants to share his love.
Fredbear takes a step forward and in moments, they're standing right in front of each other. SpringBonnie blinks at his bandmate, not sure what he's about to do. But then, Fredbear opens his mouth, holds the microphone up, and begins singing the sweetest love song SpringBonnie has ever heard. It's slow and soft. It makes the rabbit sway from side to side as he starts strumming out cords. They're programmed with this song already, but it feels different now. It feels so genuine, like every lyric is made just for them.
To SpringBonnie's surprise, Fredbear leans closer and rubs their noses together. It makes the rabbit jolt but he practically melts from the contact. He should've asked for this sooner!
"I can't help falling in love with you." Fredbear ends and they just stand there, so very close. The silence drags out but SpringBonnie hopes it never ends. He wants to stay like this, in this intimate moment with the bear he loves.
"I...I love you." He says, tasting the words on his voice box.
Fredbear laughs and the sound is so rich, it makes SpringBonnie shiver. "I love you too." They touch noses again and it's like seeing Fredbear for the first time all over again.
He hopes nothing changes. He hopes that it's just them, together, for the rest of eternity.
He hopes their love neve dies.
Spring stares at the world around him in complete awe. He has never seen anything like this before. It's so big and there are flashing lights everywhere! He was trusting when Freddy said this is Fazbear's Pizzeria, but he really couldn't be further from the truth. This is nothing like the old pizzeria Spring remembers. It's nothing like Fredbear's Diner.
They already went down several levels in an elevator and now, they are walking toward what's supposed to be the entrance of the entire building. He looks intently at the display cases they have set up, as well as the pictures along the walls. He stops when he sees familiar faces.
"What's the matter?" Freddy asks, but Spring ignores him in favor of staring at the pictures. It's the second line of animatronics: Freddy, Chica, Bonnie, and Foxy. He has no idea how long it's been since they took the stage, but he can only guess it's been decades. It really depends on how long he sat in that old room, trapped with Af-
He doesn't want to think about that. He won't.
"It's fine." Spring says at last, urging them to move forward. "I'm just surprised they still have-" He gets distracted again when he sees a bright pink cupcake in one of the glass cases. He can't recall the name -if it ever had one- but he knows it's likely the original, unless someone managed to replicate the metal work exactly. "I can't believe it." He whispers, mostly to himself.
"Ah, yeah. I guess you'd be a lot more interested in this mini museum than we would." Even as he says it, Bonnie looks at the cupcake with a sense of fondness. "Maybe we can take you around it really fast. There's still plenty of time until opening." He looks at Freddy for a long moment, then they start moving again. This time, the two of them help Spring walk along the glass cases.
There's so much here, most of which he doesn't really recognize. But the things he does know strike him with a very real sense of nostalgia. Or, maybe it's just the realization of just how old he is. He sees an old costume torso and recalls it as the first Foxy's immediately, based on the matted fur, red color and the holes. He's awestruck by the salvaged drawing as well, all of them being of Freddy Fazbear. If those children knew their drawings would someday be up for display, would they still have made them? They probably would've been beyond ecstatic, honestly.
There's another line of pictures on the wall and Spring pauses. It's the same four animatronics, but they look...different. "Who are they?" He asks. He realizes it's not the question he meant to ask just after saying it.
"They're the toy animatronics." Bonnie says and again, there's something under his tone. "They were in a knock off Pizza place. It opened a little while after Freddy's and stayed open until...well, until disaster started again."
Spring nods slowly. Then, he decides to give his final thoughts on their designs. "They're ugly." The other two look at him in surprise, but he waves it off. He has always preferred the older looks. These new ones don't even seem like Henry's work. The Glamrocks don't either, but then again, Spring doubts Henry's even still alive.
The thought begins to weigh on him. He needs to move on from this museum area. "So, which room are we going into?" He asks, his eyes looking along what's apparently called Rockstar Row.
"We can go to Chica's room first, since she always seem to have Roxy over. Then we can visit Gator Golf to see Monty." Spring feels Bonnie flinch and he looks at the shorter rabbit for a moment. There must be something going on there that he'll inevitably learn about.
It takes a bit of maneuvering, but eventually, they make it to Glamrock Chica's door. Freddy knocks, polite as ever. Spring remembers going into Pirate's Cove back without permission and getting yelled at ever time. It didn't really stop him, though. Pirate's Cove felt safe. It's small stage reminded him of Fredbear's and even though Foxy was crude, he was still nice company from time to time.
It hurt less to see him than Freddy and Bonnie. And Chica didn't seem to like him much.
The door opens and Spring stares down at the new Chica. She's almost all white with splashes of pink and green, which is a pretty bad color combination, but that seems to be a running theme here. "Oh, wow!" She says, her eyes immediately going wide. "What...is that?"
"It's SpringBonnie." Bonnie says. "They found in him in the dig sight and the owners are probably going to keep him around for marketing."
"He's not Afton." Freddy adds. "He's the very first Bonnie animatronic."
Chica smiles wide and practically pulls the three of them inside. She jumps a little, then leads them to a long couch where another Glamrock is sitting, looking just as surprised. Spring locks eyes with her and falters for a moment. That's not a fox. Is she...a wolf?
"Hi!" Chica says, thrusting her hand at Spring, who shuffles around so he can take it. They shake. "I'm Glamrock Chica! The four of us here are in the main band, but sometimes Monty will sub in. I play the lead guitar, Bonnie plays bass, Roxy- oh! This is Roxy, by the way! She's a wolf and works the raceway. Anyway, she plays the keytar and Freddy is the lead singer, obviously. Oh right! I work in Mazersize, where you can work out while you eat-"
"Hold on." Spring stops her. "So...there's a band. Why are there three guitarists?" Shouldn't there be drums or keyboard or something? Is that just how modern bands are?
"Well, there are technically three guitarists, but the keytar doesn't really sound the same. It's like a keyboard that you can play while standing!"
"No it's not." Roxy says, having stood up at some point. She gives Spring a critical look, but if she's trying for intimidation, then it doesn't work. She's almost a whole foot shorter than him and he's dealt with worse than moody wolves. "How are you out of Parts and Service? You look like a rotting corpse."
Spring falters. He has to look away and close his eyes, forcing down the memories that come up. She didn't mean it like that. There's no way for her to know what...what he was. Who Springtrap is. She's just being rude. Foxy would've said the same thing. After a moment, he looks at her again. "These two kidnapped me."
Freddy makes a surprised sound and Spring laughs. It's a little broken up, like his voice box wasn't made for laughing. It never really was, honestly.
"We did not kidnap him." Bonnie says with a roll of his eyes. "He woke up a few minutes ago and we're showing him around before the higher ups can get ahold of him. They'll probably do more repairs, but for now, he'll look like this."
Spring appreciates the half vague description of him. He doesn't want to think about the fact that he's broken and green and nothing like the version of himself that he loved.
Chica perks up again. "Has he seen everything yet? Oh, you have to see the rest of the Pizzaplex! There's so many arcades and activities to do! Like I was saying, there's mazersize for those who want to work off calories while they eat! They also get great discounts-"
"Move on, Chica." Roxy huffs.
"And there's Fazerblast too! It's like a lasertag thing but super high tech! Freddy runs that part, as well as most other things, since he's the main animatronic. Then, Monty runs the Gator Golf course! I know how it sounds, but it's actually a really cool minigolf area! Kids love it, because sometimes, Monty will show you how to do it just perfectly to get a hole-in-one! And finally, Bonnie runs the bowling arena. It's just as boring as it sounds, sadly."
"Hey!" Bonnie sounds only half offended.
Spring looks at Chica for a long moment. Is this how it's going to be from now on? He'll be completely lost and others will just assume he understands? Or worse, they'll need to fill him in on every single detail. "I...I don't know what most of that is, honestly." He gives a sheepish smile when Chica deflates. "I was made in the late 70s, so most of those things weren't really...around?" At least, not as far as he knows. There wasn't even an arcade in Fredbear's diner. He found out about that after Freddy's opened. But he did get good at Pacman. "I think bowling sounds fun, though. Anything else might be too much right now."
"He's got a point." Bonnie nods. "Spring has been gone for a really long time and the 70s were very different from now."
"Like hippies?"
Bonnie gives Chica a look. "I wasn't thinking about hippies, Chica. I mean technology wise. The Freddy's back then was basically just a stage with party tables. There's so much more now that wasn't even possible then."
"I do not think he is in any physical shape to do those act activates either." Freddy adds.
Spring raises a hand to hopefully get his own input in. "I won't really be doing any of those activates, though...right? Do you all actually play the games?"
Surprisingly, he's met with four nods. "Oh, totally!" Roxy smiles, her voice slightly growling. "I beat those little kids so bad, they start crying after ever race! No one beats Roxanne at her own raceway!"
The others cringe. After a moment, Freddy pats Spring's shoulder. "You will not be forced into anything you do not want to do, but it may be best that you become acquainted with the Pizzaplex. You may be required to run your own area, as well as preform."
"Preform?!" Spring's voice cut off at the end. He can't preform! He hasn't...he's not sure he can even strum cords anymore with how slow his hand moves. He's too old for that sort of thing. And without Fredbear-
"I can't preform." He says, finally. "I don't even have a banjo! Do people even listen to that music anymore?" He only knows old songs. He can't take requests, not like the others likely can. What child would want that?
"You can sing, can't you?" Chica asks.
He shakes his head. "No, I don't sing. I can't."
"Yes you do." Freddy says suddenly, his tone bold. "You sang all the time." Spring stares at him, not sure how Freddy could possibly know that. He wasn't there when he and Fredbear played together. And if he was, then he would understand why Spring can't do it alone. He'd understand, but he doesn't.
"Excuse me?" Spring glares at the Glamrock. He wants to take a step forward, to challenge Freddy on a matter he's so plainly ignorant about, but he doesn't. He may have the advantage of free programing, but he's too weak to even walk on his own. If Freddy really wanted to hurt him, he could.
A part of Spring almost does it, even still. He wants to see how far Freddy can get pushed before he hits back. Spring found the old Freddy's line pretty easily. He found Bonnie's and Foxy's. He always knew when to back off around Fredbear. Is this one any different?
Freddy's expression softens, though and the tension falls away. "I am sorry. I just...I assumed you sang as well. All of us can, even though I am the lead."
Spring gives him another long look over. "Well, maybe you should keep your assumptions to yourself." And with that, he turns to walk out of Chica's room. Without the other's support, he has to walk along the walls and his legs threaten to buckle, but he manages. He did it back in Fazbear Fights, so he can do it now.
Spring decides he's done meeting with these new animatronics for now.
Oooh, the tension! The drama! Don't worry, there won't be too much of that. And I'm thinking there will be near daily updates, since it's ending up that way. I really just update whenever I finish a chapter (which is also why the quality isn't always great until I go back and edit it).