"Alright, children. Gather around. We need to talk." Ballora called, standing in front of one of the booths.
After hugging and settling the five wild critters, Ballora and Mike took them back into the main area for another sitdown.
"We've been talking a lot lately," Bonnie commented as she climbed into the booth, which made Ballora smile.
"Well, a lot has happened, dear. It'll take some time before we've got a normal routine figured out." She replied.
Freddy, who was already seated, raised his hand in response to that.
"Yes, Freddy?" She acknowledged.
"Is everything okay now?" He asked while lowering his hand. "Or are we going to be sad again?" He added.
"That...is a very disheartening thing to hear, not gonna lie," Mike said, bothered by how appropriate of a question that was given everything that's happened.
"Don't worry, Freddy. Everything is okay. I promise that there won't be any more distressing moments from now on." She swore.
"We'll see," Chica replied, catching Mike off guard.
"Chica, do you WANT to be sad?" He questioned, unsure of how to interpret that.
"No. But we've been sadder than ever since yesterday." She explained before she pointed at Foxy. "And this is the most Foxy has EVER cried." She informed.
"...Sleep with one eye open..." He grumbled while squinting at her.
"What? It's the truth!" She defensively exclaimed, astonished that her brother would threaten her like this.
"Ahem." Ballora cleared her throat, but she did so softly.
The children quieted down instantly after hearing that, almost as if someone had cast a magic spell on them.
"Whoa," Mike said. "How'd you do that?" He asked as he looked at Ballora, much to her amusement.
"History, Mike. That's all it is." She answered with a smile. "The children know that if I clear my throat or clap my hands, then it is time to listen." She explained.
"HOLD ON!" Goldie shouted, her eyes as wide as saucers. "Did...Did you just call him Mike?!" She questioned.
Once their sister pointed that out, the other children all had their eyes widen like hers when they realized that Ballora had used Mike's FIRST name.
"Hey! She's right! You DID call him, Mike!" Chica exclaimed.
"Is there something wrong with me addressing him by name?" Ballora asked, a bit confused by their shock.
"You usually say, mister Schmidt. Not Mike." Freddy pointed out.
"Oh. I suppose the sudden lack of formality would appear strange, wouldn't it?" She inquired, receiving nods from all of them. "Well, since Mike and I are going to be partners from now on. It would be demeaning to refer to him as mister Schmidt. Before, I was his superior in the workplace. But now, we are equals. And he will be treated as such to the fullest." She explained.
"Uh, miss Ballora," Mike spoke up, gaining her attention. "You still ARE my superior. We both know mister Afton didn't ACTUALLY demote you. He just said that because...well...he's...himself." He told her as he put a hand to his chin. "There's no other way to describe him, now that I think about it." He realized.
"I disagree, Mike." She replied. "Before now, I would be working out of the main office in a managerial capacity. However, that is no longer possible since we will be taking care of the children together." She said.
"Why isn't it?" He questioned.
"Because it would be an insult to you if I treated you as a subordinate. You were hired for the specific purpose of watching after this facility and the children. There is nothing I could give you in the way of orders that wouldn't come across as condescending now that their well-being is OUR responsibility." She responded.
"Oh yeah? Then explain the guide." He challenged as he pointed to the stack of papers that rested on a nearby table.
"The guide was meant to be, in a sense, a stand-in for myself. As mister Afton's assistant, I never had enough time to do everything I wrote down on those pages. I even told you as much a few minutes ago. But now that I will be here as much as you, if not more so when your shift ends, I will be able to do it all and then some." She explained, which made her realize something. "And because of that, we'll no longer need the guide. Thank you for mentioning it, Mike." She said.
"Wait, you're not going to throw it away, are you?" He asked as she walked over and picked it up.
"That was my plan, yes. We have no reason to hold onto it." She answered.
"But you worked so hard on it. We shouldn't just get rid of it." He argued, making her smile.
"Mike, although your appreciation of it flatters me, that is not a good enough reason to keep it around." She told him.
"I don't appreciate the guide as much as the thought and work that went into it, miss Ballora." He corrected as he grabbed onto it as well. "So, if it's all the same to you. I want to hold onto it. Otherwise, I'll feel like I wasted your time for nothing." He said.
For a moment, Ballora was speechless. She didn't consider THAT was why Mike was so against the idea of throwing it away. But before she could say anything in response, it was one of the children who did it for her.
"Aww, that's so sweet!" Bonnie exclaimed with a smile. "Let him keep it, Ballora!" She requested.
"Yeah! It was a gift! You can't just take it back!" Goldie agreed.
Chica, Foxy, and Freddy all offered a resounding "Yeah!" in support of this decision, which Ballora couldn't deny was quite adorable.
"Hmph, it appears that I'm outnumbered on this." She said with another smile. "Very well, Mike. It is yours to keep." She resigned as she let go of the guide.
"Thank you." He replied with a smile of his own.
"Now then, with that sorted. Let's discuss what the remainder of tonight will be like." She began. "Currently, it is nearing one-thirty. Unfortunately, this means that half an hour has been lost from one of the other scheduled pass times. Seeing that playtime is meant to be two hours long, I feel it makes the most sense to subtract the lost time from it." She stated.
"Aww." The kids all whined in unison.
"...You know..." Mike spoke up, wanting to offer an alternative. "We COULD take thirty minutes away from the bedtime preparation?" He suggested.
When he said that, Ballora turned to face him, and the look she gave was the kind you'd expect from someone who you just DEEPLY insulted.
"Mike, you can't be serious." She said with widened eyes. "After everything the children will do before then, we can't afford to lose that time." She told him.
"...We can't?" He questioned, unsure of why it was so important.
"We'll be fortunate if the children don't dirty themselves during playtime or free time. But they WILL need to be cleaned after snack time. And because free time comes after snack time, if the children do get messy again, part of bedtime preparation will be spent cleaning them once more, so they don't ruin their pajamas. Then there will be the toys, art materials, and other objects that are strewn about the place we'll need to put away. Lastly, we can't send the children to sleep without telling them a story or singing them a lullaby; that would be cruel of us." She explained, VERY passionate about this.
"...Huh...I was not prepared for you to be at the ready with all of...that..." He confessed, needing a few seconds to process that information.
"Do you have a counterargument?" She inquired.
"Um...I think I do..." He nervously replied before sharing. "What if...we...pick up all of the stuff AFTER the kids are asleep?..." He proposed.
"Mike, do you WANT the children to be slobs?" She asked as she crossed her arms. "They must learn the importance of picking up after themselves. We are not their maid and butler; we are their guardians." She firmly stated.
"...Whelp. Sorry kids. I tried." He apologized, quickly turning to the children since Ballora's stare was burning right through him.
However, to his surprise, the only one still seated in the booth was Bonnie.
"What the, where did they go?!" He asked her, causing Ballora to turn her attention to the booth and make the same startling discovery.
"The others left when you two started fighting. Because they didn't want to miss out on playtime." She answered.
"Bonnie, we were not fighting. It was a civil discussion between two adults." Ballora assured, not wanting her to get the wrong idea.
"I dunno, it looked like fighting. Because that's what Foxy and Goldie do a lot." She argued.
"Well, that's certainly something to keep a note of for later," Mike replied as he walked over and picked her up, setting the guide down on the booth's table beforehand. "Did you happen to see which way they went?" He inquired, now carrying her in one arm.
"Mhm. Foxy and Chica went to the arcade. Freddy and Goldie went back to our room." She informed.
"And you stayed behind because?..." He pressed, curious to know why she didn't follow any of her siblings.
"I wanted to be the good one." She said, which made him laugh.
"Mike. I don't know if that is something we should be condoning." Ballora discouraged.
"Oh, you're right." He responded before he looked back at the bunny in his company. "Bonnie, you shouldn't try to be good. You should be a rebel." He told her.
"That is NOT what I meant, and you know it." She sighed with a slight shake of her head. "But enough about that. We need to go and monitor the children to ensure nothing happens. Who will you be in charge of?" She asked.
"I'll take Freddy and Goldie. It'll give me and my little rebel here a chance for our bowtie lesson." He answered, causing Bonnie's face to light up.
"You mean it?!" She asked, BRIMMING with excitement, making him laugh a second time.
"Of course! I told you I always wanted to learn, and you are unquestionably an expert with how well you put yours on." He complimented her before he started walking away.
Watching the two of them leave, Ballora couldn't help but smile. It truly warmed her heart to see Bonnie, normally so withdrawn, be so expressive with someone.
"Charmingly silly, as expected." She thought, thinking back to what she had said to Mike earlier when he arrived for his shift.
Once the pair were out of sight, Ballora also left the main area and headed for the arcade.
Meanwhile...
"So, what first?" Goldie asked as she and Freddy looked at a long line of toys that they had laid out.
The twin bears wasted no time when they reached their room in removing many of their toys from one of the toy boxes. Now all that they had to figure out was what to play with.
"The army men?" Freddy suggested while he pointed at the plastic bucket they were stored in.
"Hmm...not a bad idea...but it's missing something..." She muttered, trying to think of what it was.
Suddenly, the duo heard their bedroom door open and close, and when they looked to see who had arrived, it was none other than Mike with Bonnie in tow.
"Hey, Mike!" Both greeted in unison.
"Right back ya." He responded with a single wave of his right hand. "We couldn't help but notice that you two had suddenly disappeared. I'm glad we found you. Otherwise, we would've had to go into lockdown." He joked as he approached.
"You heard, Ballora! We've already lost a fourth of our playtime! We couldn't afford to lose more while you two were fighting!" Goldie exclaimed.
"It wasn't a fight." He said.
"Pretty sure it was. It was almost the same as when Goldie and Foxy get on each other's nerves." Freddy argued.
"See? I told you." Bonnie chimed in.
"Again, we're going to have to talk about that later. Only then, it'll be just Goldie and Foxy." He replied. "But that's for later. What're you two up to?" He asked, focusing back on the bears.
"We're trying to decide what we want to do. I suggested army men, but Goldie says something's missing." Freddy answered.
"I'm surprised you like playing with army men." He admitted as he looked at her.
"Of course I do! It's fun to arrange them into formations, think of strategies, and then have a battle." Goldie explained.
"What complex plans can you come up with when your men are made of plastic?" He inquired.
"Eh, we usually just end up throwing stuff at them until they're all knocked over." She confessed with a shrug, which made him chuckle.
"Ah yes, the foolproof battle tactic that has won many a war. Throw stuff until the enemy is no more." He said.
"Hey, don't mock it. It works." She insisted.
"Yes, mam." He obeyed with a salute.
"What're you two going to do?" Freddy asked, assuming that he and Bonnie were here to play too.
"I'm going to teach Mike how to wear a bowtie!" Bonnie answered, still as excited as she was before.
"Aw, that's nice," Goldie said with a smile, only for it to quickly disappear as she refocused on her and Freddy's dilemma. "Now, if only WE can figure out what we can do with the army men..." She muttered.
"I have an idea," Mike spoke up. "What if you guys used those building blocks in that bag there to build two separate forts? Then, you could put your soldiers in them, and on top of that will have some nice collateral for when the throwing begins." He suggested.
As that proposal stewed in both bears' minds, slowly but surely ear to ear grins appeared on Freddy and Goldie's faces.
"Mike! You're a genius!" They praised him together before they got to work.
"Thank you. You're too kind." He replied, happy to see that they liked his idea.
With those two now busy with constructing a battlezone fit for a Fazbear, Mike took Bonnie over to their dresser so they could get started on his lesson.
"Your ties are in here, right?" He asked, wanting to be sure they weren't in the wardrobe.
"Mhm," Bonnie answered with a nod.
Opening the second drawer from the top, amidst the various articles of clothing, all of which were neatly arranged, Mike found the folded red silk ties that Bonnie wore. Taking one from the lot and closing the drawer afterward, he set Bonnie on the floor while also sitting with his new accessory in hand.
"Alright, teach. Show me your ways." He said as he bowed his head and held out the tie, making her giggle.
"Mike, I can't just SHOW you! You're going to have to do it with me!" She told him.
"What? I thought you would bestow your mystical bowtie knowledge on me, and then I'd be able to do it as well as you. But now you're telling me I have to do it MYSELF? Geez, Bonnie. I'm not sure if I can handle that much..." He carried on, making her giggle more.
"It's not that hard! Honest!" She promised before she undid the bowtie around her neck, returning it to its former straight shape. "Now, pay close attention. I'll go slow, so you don't miss anything, okay?" She asked.
"Gotcha." He responded with a thumbs up, ready to learn.
Meanwhile, In The Arcade...
"I swear, I don't understand the appeal of these games," Ballora admitted as she watched Chica and Foxy enjoy themselves.
Due to their smaller stature, the fox and the chicken planned to stand on each other's shoulders and take turns playing. As you can imagine, Ballora swiftly shut down that idea the moment she walked into the room and saw Chica climbing on top of her brother, briefly scolding them on how it was dangerous. A much SAFER way to do this was to bring in chairs from the main area for the kids to stand on, which she did. Although Ballora did intend to talk with mister Afton about possibly making chairs specifically for the children to sit in while they were in the arcade, that was far more ideal in her opinion.
"They're fun!" Chica exclaimed, keeping her focus on the screen.
"How? All you're doing from the looks of it is shooting things with a spaceship." She inquired.
"Which is fun!" Foxy responded, also focused on the screen.
Try as she might, Ballora couldn't wrap her head around it. Was it truly so satisfying to destroy colorful pixels that were made to look like aliens?
"Why don't you play a game, Ballora?" Chica suggested, wanting her to have fun too.
"I'm afraid I've never had an interest in games such as these, sweetie." She replied.
"Have ye ever played one?" Foxy asked.
"Well...no." She answered.
"So, ye just decided ye didn't like them without ever trying one." He said. "Which, if I remember correctly, YE said we should ALWAYS give new things a chance." He recalled.
"...Clever boy." She praised, which made him smile. "Fine, I shall give one of these games a chance. I mustn't be a hypocrite, after all." She decided. "Do you have any recommendations, perhaps?" She asked.
"Oh! You can try the one Mike was going to play!" Chica answered as she pointed across the room at Freddy In Space. "You know, before Foxy bit him." She added.
"Will ye let that go already?!" He responded, making her laugh.
"Now, now. You're meant to be fighting the aliens, not each other." Ballora said as she lightly patted both their heads.
"Yes, mam." They responded together, which made her smile.
With the kids quieting down as they focused entirely on their game, Ballora walked over to the machine Chica mentioned to give these digital delights an honest try.
"This seems a tad violent..." She thought as she pulled the plastic gun out of the holster attached to the cabinet. "But, I shall keep an open mind. I will make it as far as I can before I lose, and then I will be able to judge it fairly." She decided, pulling the gun's trigger to get things started.
Back In The Children's Room, Sometime Later...
Blocks...so...many...blocks...men lying everywhere either face down or on their backs...destruction the likes of which had never been seen before...and amidst it all...stood the two monsters responsible for this horrible carnage...
"My turn!" Freddy exclaimed as he picked up a small rubber ball, carefully aiming it at another of Goldie's platoons.
With his targets locked, Freddy threw the ball at the army men, but not TOO hard, which caused them to fly out in different directions.
"Curse you, fiend!" Goldie said to her brother while dramatically shaking her fist. "You've taken out my machine gunners!" She added.
"Fiend seems to be a popular word among the kids." Mike thought as he watched the two carry on, thinking back to when Chica used it earlier.
All in all, things had been peaceful for Mike and the youngins, with the twin bears waging their "war" and Bonnie teaching him how to put on a bowtie. Which, admittedly, didn't take too long to learn, mainly because Mike didn't want to patronize or upset her by feigning ignorance. He made a few mistakes at the start so Bonnie could still "teach" him, then he messed up a little at the final stages before finally managing to do it flawlessly by himself. Of course, Bonnie was happy and proud of Mike, rewarding him with a hug, much to his delight.
However, because his "lesson" didn't take long at all, they had to figure out how to spend the rest of playtime while Freddy and Goldie continued to fight for ultimate supremacy. That's when Mike remembered that he wanted to start helping Bonnie with her self-confidence issues, so, with her in agreement, that's what they did.
"Mike?" She spoke up since he had fallen quiet.
"Hm? Oh, sorry, Bonnie. I got distracted." He apologized as he turned back to her.
"It's okay. Those two always like to put on a show." She replied.
"Even more than Foxy?" He asked.
"Foxy thinks his life is a show." She answered, which made him laugh.
"Yeah, that sounds about right..." He agreed as his laughter petered off into a chuckle. "But anyway, where were we?" He inquired, needing a reminder of what they were doing before the bears' wartime antics caught his attention.
"Making myself heard." She said.
"That's right." He remembered with a snap of his fingers. "Okay, so the first thing we need to do is get you in the right headspace." He told her.
"We do?" She questioned while cutely tilting her head to one side.
"Mhm. To do that, I'll need you to close your eyes." He responded.
Doing so immediately afterward, Bonnie patiently waited for Mike to tell her what to do next.
"Imagine this as best you can..." He started with. "Everyone is gathered in the main area. We're trying to decide on a group activity. Freddy and Goldie suggest a board game. Foxy wants to play pirates. Chica wants us to have a game of hide n' seek. And you're sitting in the middle of them." He described. "What do you do?" He asked.
"Wait for you or Ballora to ask me what I want." She answered.
"Sorry, Bon. That won't work. The other four are talking so much that we don't realize you're not saying anything." He countered.
"But that wouldn't happen. You don't ignore me, Mike." She argued.
"...Okay...while it DOES send me over the moon knowing you're so sure of that, as you should be. I need you to PRETEND that I would." He replied, having to fight back the urge to hug her right then.
"But...I don't want to imagine you ignoring me..." She said with a small frown.
...Whelp...this was a predicament that Mike hadn't foreseen. On the one hand, he wanted to press on because he believed this would be good for Bonnie. But on the other hand, if he continued with this approach, he ran the risk of making her sadder, to the point she might cry, and if he did that, Mike wouldn't hesitate to punch himself in the nose.
"Alright, open your eyes." He instructed, throwing his head back at his failure.
"I'm sorry, Mike..." She apologized and reopened her eyes; her frown was now a tiny bit bigger.
"No! Don't you say you're sorry, Bonnie. You did NOTHING wrong." He assured, now looking back at her. "We just need to figure out a method of helping you deal with your social anxiety that won't upset you." He explained.
"Okay..." She responded, still feeling sad.
Seeing Bonnie unhappy was like watching a rainbow be shot out of the sky; it just wasn't right. Hence, Mike reached over, picked her up, and pulled her into a hug.
"Hope you don't mind; I thought you could use one right about now." He informed.
"I did, thank you." She said as she laid her head against him.
For a few moments, the whole world didn't exist; it was just this peaceful, calming embrace the two of them shared. But then Mike got hit in the back of the head with a rubber ball, abruptly ending it.
"Sorry! That was a misfire!" Goldie apologized, letting him know who his assailant was.
"Are you okay, Mike?" Bonnie asked while looking up at him, which made him chuckle.
"Bonnie, it was a rubber ball. I think I'll live." He answered before he looked over his shoulder at the guilty party. "I'm surprised you two even have army men left to attack." He admitted.
"It's mainly our snipers and generals. We spaced them out and put them farther back than the others, so they're harder to hit." Freddy explained.
"Ah, gotcha." He replied before he looked at his wristwatch. "Well, you guys have another solid hour of attempts. Unless you want to call a draw?" He informed, noting that the time was now two.
"Never! Surrender is for the weak!" Goldie exclaimed, only to adorn a contemplative look a second later. "Although, we could use something to spice this up..." She said.
"...Could...we...maybe...play too?..." Bonnie hesitantly asked, much to everyone's surprise.
"You want to play with us, Bonnie?" Freddy questioned before anyone else could.
"I mean...if it's no trouble..." She responded, afraid that she overstepped.
"Not at all! You can make your army from the soldiers we've already taken out!" Goldie suggested with an excited grin.
"But won't that leave us outnumbered?" Freddy inquired.
"Yes, but we shall fight until our last dying breath with all we've got!" She exclaimed, once again raising a fist into the air.
"Bonnie was right; they do like to put on a show. Mostly Goldie, though." Mike thought before he looked down at Bonnie. "Ready to go to war, general Bonnie?" He playfully asked.
"Yes, I am." She answered with a nod and a determined expression.
No matter what she did, Bonnie always managed to be the cutest little thing. But there was no time to dwell on that, as Mike stood up from the floor, Bonnie in his arms, and a bowtie still tied around his neck, he walked over and picked up the ball that had struck him before he and his "general" went to war.
Meanwhile, Back In The Arcade...
It's hard to imagine a parental figure being more than that at times, mainly because they strive to portray that image as best they can. But as Ballora continued to play the game Chica had suggested, she and Foxy eventually stopped playing theirs to watch her since, to their amazement, she was good. Like, INSANELY good.
"LEVEL FIVE COMPLETE." The game's announcer stated as Ballora finished the section she was on. "RESULT: PERFECT! ALL TARGETS HIT! NO DAMAGE TAKEN! NO SHOTS MISSED!" It informed, showing them her stats.
"Wow, Ballora! You're amazing!" Chica praised, blown away by her skill.
"Yeah, where'd ye learn to shoot like that?" Foxy asked, astonished by how good her aim was.
"I wouldn't say this is shooting, Foxy. It's far easier than the real thing." Ballora answered as she looked at him. "This game demands a steady hand, quick reflexes, and a keen eye to know what to shoot at and what not to." She explained.
"You make it look so easy, though." He replied.
"Well, these games ARE meant to be for children. So that's expected." She informed.
"I dunno. I'm pretty sure papa makes them harder the further you go." Chica said.
"I'm sure he does. But surely he wouldn't make them so challenging that they'd be unfair for the target audience." She responded.
"There's only one way to find out. Ye gotta keep playing!" Foxy exclaimed.
"Hmm...I suppose that IS true..." She agreed, casually looking over the plastic gun in her hand. "But I'm sure you children would want to play rather than watch me, right?" She asked.
"Are you kidding?! We'd NEVER make it this far! If you don't make it to the end, then we'll never get to see it!" Chica answered.
"I don't know if we'll have enough time to get to the end. We only have an hour left of playtime, and who knows how long your papa makes these games last for those who are good at them." She told them.
"Aw, come on, Ballora! Ye can't stop playing until ya beat it! Yer the only one who can!" Foxy argued.
Looking at the children's faces, which were full of anticipation and excitement, Ballora couldn't resist giving in to them. Although, secretly, she DID want to beat the game as well, for she NOW understood why people enjoyed them so much.
"I...suppose that if the game should last a bit longer than we think...that it wouldn't hurt if playtime went on for a few extra minutes..." She said, much to the kids' joy.
"Yeah! You can do it!" Foxy and Chica cheered her on, right as she squeezed the trigger to continue.