Arc I, Part II: The Sounds of Night

Two weeks flew by in the blink of an eye and before Goldie knew it, it was the third Tuesday of the semester. Goldie could count the amount of times he'd seen his roommate in that time on just one of his hands; the rabbit seemed to come in long after Goldie went to sleep but left long before he woke up and returned only when he knew Goldie wouldn't be in. The only sign that Goldie could see that his roommate was ever there was how the sketchbooks would shift around and the slightly-rumpled blanket on the other bed.

The bear didn't really mind, though, despite the fact it was obviously the rabbit was avoiding him. He still found the rabbit freaky, and no amount of time would change that, he was sure of. Of course, he felt a bit bad about judging the rabbit just on the scars, but there was really no reason to try and get to know him... they didn't have any common ground, unless their fur colour counted.

Which it didn't.

He knew it was shallow, but he couldn't bring himself to really care. He honestly just didn't see any point in trying to get to know the rabbit. He had always been more of a "what you see is what you get" person, so the idea that people had layers didn't really click well with him; the outside always reflected the inside in some way. At least, that was what Goldie believed. It was a shallow thought, but he was convinced it was true.

That morning, however, that changed as he made a discovery.

As he was getting ready to go take his morning shower and get to class, something caught his eye. Well, first it caught his ear. At the foot of the rabbit's bed, between the bed and desk, the pile of sketchbooks suddenly toppled over, catching the bear's attention. He watched as the sketchbooks fell, and one of the spiral metal of a worn and damaged sketchbook caught on the blanket, pulling it along. It wouldn't really have moved the blanket if it weren't for the other sketchbooks hitting the one that got caught, so it partly uncovered the object that Goldie had assumed was a suitcase.

It wasn't.

Goldie paused and straightened up from where he was kneeling down, staring at the object. For a moment he didn't understand just what he was seeing. It didn't make any sense in his mind- this guy was into drawing and studio art and... such and such. That was what he did. There was no way he'd own one of those...

The object was a guitar case.

'It's probably filled with sketchbooks,' he told himself. 'A relative lent him the case for some reason or other. There isn't a guitar in it.'

He was curious, though. Was there a guitar in it? Was it his roommate's? Did his roommate know how to play it? Was his roommate actually a musician...?

A glance at the clock told him he still had an hour before class began. Usually he'd be in the bathroom now, so he had no idea if his roommate would suddenly appear back... but he was just so curious, he had to know.

It was a complete faux pas, a violation of whatever trust roommates who had never even spoken to each other held, a violation of privacy, it was completely wrong. But Goldie couldn't help but make his way over to the guitar case, crossing the invisible boundary between the two halves of the room. He knelt down and pulled the blue blanket off of the black case, ignoring the sketchbooks that were pulled off with it.

The guitar case itself was old and a bit worn. It had scuff marks and chips in it, indicating its age, and a nametag was on the front. It read "Durrell Franks" and a little note under it read, "That means DON'T TOUCH, Dante!" Of course the bear didn't know who "Dante" was, so he easily dismissed the writing. He did briefly wonder why everything the rabbit owned- that he had actually seen- looked so old and worn but dismissed the thought as easily as the writing. Not everyone was from affluent, rich families like him and his brothers, after all.

The bear reached around and undid the locks, casting a glance at the door. He wondered how the rabbit would react if he walked in right now... probably not well. He was sure if he himself walked in on someone going through his own belongings, he'd be completely pissed off... That thought didn't stop Goldie, though. He opened the case, half expecting to see even more sketchbooks or something piled up inside. No, there were no sketchbooks inside.

It was an acoustic guitar.

The guitar clearly wasn't new, but it was polished and taken care of; the strings looked brand new, it didn't have any dust on it, none of the paint was chipped... It had a few scuff marks here and there, which gave away its age, but they weren't bad enough to take away from the guitar's aesthetic or really be considered damage. It was painted black on the sides and edges of the guitar's face, but it was a deep emerald green elsewhere. In place of a brand name, there was gold cursive writing. The largest word was Franks, written across the guitar face.

Underneath this name, though, was smaller writing. It was still very clear, though some parts were more faded than others, telling Goldie that it had been written many years before.

"We love you no matter what. Please don't forget that."

Goldie stared at the writing for a few moments. He felt like that was important for some reason. Please don't forget that. Why would someone write that? Who wrote that? Assuming it was his roommate's parents or this "Dante," couldn't they just tell him every day like normal parents could?

However, he couldn't ponder on it for long. He heard the common room door open suddenly, and in a flash he had the guitar case closed and covered again. He shoved some of the sketchbooks back on top but didn't have time to stack them, instead making his way over to his bed. He began rooting around in one of the drawers, acting as if he had been searching for something.

A moment later, the bedroom door opened and Goldie glanced up. Just as he thought, it was his roommate who looked very surprised to see him there. Clearly he had expected Goldie to either be in the bathroom or gone by then. It only confirmed Goldie's thought that the rabbit was avoiding him.

His roommate quickly moved towards his bed in order to grab his bag sitting on the floor next to it. When he passed what Goldie now knew was the guitar case, he paused and frowned at the sketchbooks on the floor. Goldie felt relieved when the rabbit showed no signs of looking accusingly at him. Instead, the rabbit knelt down and picked the books up, stacking them once again on top of the case. Then he continued to his bed and grabbed his bag as well as a sketchbook sitting innocently on his pillow. Goldie watched him from the corner of his eye. The rabbit seemed completely steady and calm, confident in his movements, like nothing was bothering him. His back was straight, his ears perked, his head held up just like one would expect from the tall, tough-looking rabbit.

Then the golden rabbit let out a breath. His posture changed only minutely, with his head ducking and his ears drooping as he held the sketchbook tightly against his chest and shuffled his feet. He seemed so tired and... not very tall or strong- physically or emotionally- at all in that moment. A moment that Goldie knew he wasn't supposed to see, as the rabbit thought he was rooting around in his dresser-drawers... As the rabbit turned to leave, Goldie considered the rabbit's action and expression. The rabbit had seemed almost sad or... worried at that moment. He hadn't been expecting that from the student who usually seemed so sure of himself despite his avoidance to socialization and aversion to eye contact.

It occurred to Goldie that there was probably a lot about the "scary" rabbit he didn't know anything about- maybe his scarred appearance was not a reflection of who the rabbit was at all. After all, at that moment, he didn't appear to be so scary. He seemed like just another student being somewhere he didn't want to be with people he didn't even know.

Then there were the rabbit's eyes. Goldie hadn't made eye contact, as that would have given him away, but he couldn't help but notice the rabbit's eyes as he turned. They were an emerald colour, much like the green of the guitar... and Goldie, though he wasn't the best at reading emotions, had seen so much in those green eyes. They had made the rabbit seem vulnerable, and yet they still seemed to shine brighter than anyone else's Goldie had seen.

It was strange, seeing a part of the rabbit that he clearly wasn't supposed to. To see that confidence, as surprised-filled and strangely hesitant as it was, slip away... to see the rabbit's defenses falter and a bit of his true feelings slip through.

Goldie hadn't even known that there were defenses. "I really need to start paying attention to people, don't I..."

He was curious, very curious... but he didn't have time to investigate.

He needed to get ready for class.

It was several hours later when Goldie was finally free from his classes. Nearly four in the afternoon, he began heading towards the dorm to rest for a while. In his music classes he was usually on his feet doing one thing or another, and it could get tiring... Despite this, he paused as a flash of gold caught his eye, and he turned to look towards the pond between the music and studio art buildings.

His roommate had his back towards the golden bear, resting against a tree while he sketched in his sketchbook, but Goldie easily recognized him by the fact that he was missing part of his right ear.

For a moment, Goldie considered just walking on. He was tired and would have loved to sit down on a comfortable couch or even lay on his bed for a bit before the others were out of class and dragged him off to do something or other... but then he thought about the guitar and that expression he had seen right before the rabbit left their room, and he remembered why he was suddenly so interested in the strange rabbit. The rabbit who, looking at him right then and remembering the scene from that morning, looked more damaged than scary.

It was almost frightening to Goldie how much he suddenly wanted to talk to his roommate. Not even really just because of the guitar, but that expression he had seen, that moment of vulnerability he had witnessed. So instead of walking along the sidewalk like his classmates, he hitched his bag up higher on his shoulder and walked across the grass towards the rabbit. The rabbit, so focused on his drawing, didn't even notice his approach.

Goldie kept his footsteps soft, not wanting to startle his roommate, and peered over the rabbit's shoulder to look at the sketch. Well, Goldie thought it was a sketch... but it was actually a pencil drawing instead. And Goldie, who could neither draw a circle nor appreciate famous works of art, was amazed by it.

It was the pond. On the pond were two ducks innocently swimming around, and on the north side of the pond was a tree growing crookedly over the water. A quick glance up told Goldie that, yes, there was in fact a tree growing crookedly at the pond's edge, just as it had been drawn. Across the water was the studio art building, and there were people walking along the sidewalk in the background. Somehow, despite being done with nothing but a pencil, it has been shaded very beautifully...

The drawing looked so realistic that, had it not been done in a sketchbook with a pencil and he hadn't seen the rabbit drawing part of it, he might have thought it was a photograph. Of course, Goldie might have been biased- he wasn't exactly good with that kind of art- but he was pretty sure that what the rabbit had made would wow even the art professors.

The rabbit in question was at that moment working on the pond's water, which seemed to be reflecting the sunlight. Goldie watched as he moved the pencil across the paper with quick but careful strokes to get just the effect he was looking for...

Goldie didn't want to surprise the rabbit and cause him to mess up, so he waited until his roommate had paused in his drawing and lifted the pencil from the page to speak. "That's really good, you know."

As he expected, the rabbit jumped, startled, and turned to look at him with surprised, wide eyes. Goldie smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to startle you," he said, though he'd known very well he would startle the rabbit. He stepped around the rabbit so he wasn't standing over his shoulder. "Um... I'm Frederick Fazbear," he introduced himself. "Your roommate. Er- I know it's already been two weeks, I'm sorry for not saying anything before..."

The rabbit blinked up at him, clearly surprised, but replied with, "Uh... My name's Durrell Franks... but I usually go by Springtrap..."

Well if that wasn't a strange nickname, Goldie didn't know what was. It was awkward, he thought, to even consider calling another person "trap," especially considering he had a feeling that name was referencing his scarred appearance. He didn't want to ask, considering there was a chance it was a sensitive topic... "Do you mind if I just call you Spring?" Goldie asked instead. The rabbit, Springtrap?, simply shrugged in response. "Well, everyone else calls me Gold or Goldie, so.. I guess you could call me that. Um... mind if I sit?"

Goldie half expected the rabbit to look at him like he was crazy or flat-out say "no," but instead the rabbit shrugged and said, "It's a free country, if you want to sit you can." The bear grinned in response to his words and sat down next to him. Sitting side by side, he quickly realized that minus his ears, his roommate was actually a tad shorter than himself... several inches taller, including the ears, but an inch or less shorter without. The rabbit had always seemed so tall, so it surprised Goldie to realize he was almost the same height as the rabbit- or, actually, the rabbit was almost the same height as him.

'I am a really bad judge, aren't I?'

The rabbit- no, Spring- turned back to his sketching, though Goldie did notice his movements were slower than before now that his attention was divided. He searched for something to say to the rabbit. He definitely couldn't say "so I noticed you have a guitar" because that would lead to questions and revealing that Goldie snooped, and then the rabbit would never speak to him again and might even request a room change...

"So I guess it's really obvious you're a studio art student," Goldie started a bit awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. Spring's ear twitched a bit, and Goldie could have sworn the rabbit was amused by his awkwardness.

"Yes. And you're a music student. I know that because several nights I could have sworn you were trying to murder me. You leave your music stand in front of the door a lot," Spring told him, glancing over. Goldie simultaneously wanted to laugh and cringe- he had a habit of forgetting to put his stand back after practicing.

"S-sorry!" he fumbled, trying to find something to say. "I swear I wasn't trying to kill you. I just, you know, um, forget to put it back in its proper place..."

For a moment, there was what seemed to be the ghost of a smile on the rabbit's face, but Goldie wasn't quite sure since it was gone before he could really register it. "Don't worry. My, my brother used to do it all the time. Left it anywhere in the house he chose to practice that day... Drove my parents crazy." He paused. "Though I did sprain my ankle because of that once..."

Goldie laughed slightly. "Alfred- my youngest brother- did that to me when we were children. Not with a music stand, mind you. It was a microphone... I stepped on it at the top of the stairs and fell." The bear shook his head at the memory- Alfred had been horrified and apologized nearly a thousand times while at the hospital. He had actually broken his leg, but Goldie didn't think Spring needed to know that. Then it registered what Spring had actually said. "So, wait, your brother left music stands around your house?"

The rabbit paused for a moment and nodded. "Yeah. Um- my family were all musicians, so... yeah..."

"Cool... does your brother attend school here as well?" Goldie ventured curiously, not missing the way the rabbit's eyes darted in the opposite direction.

"No. H-hey, do you have any idea why the drama program wants three different large backdrops?" Spring suddenly asked, glancing at him. "The few times I've seen you on campus, you were with one of the drama students, so..."

Goldie wasn't naive enough to not realize the subject had been purposefully changed, but instead of pushing the matter he went along with the conversation. There was probably a reason Spring didn't want to talk about it- he seemed uncomfortable enough even mentioning his family in the first place. "You know about the backdrops?" Goldie was actually legitimately a bit surprised; usually no one without direct access to a drama student would know about the backdrops for their productions. And even then, the students sometimes wouldn't say...

"I'm, um... I'm one of the students who paints them," Spring admitted, looking a bit embarrassed. "N-not the only one of course, but I was put on all three large backdrops... Last year they only needed one, so I was just- um- just, never mind..." The rabbit was obviously rambling. It was clear he wasn't used to any sort of social interaction.

It was actually kind of adorable.

Goldie chuckled a bit, watching the rabbit flush in embarrassment. "I honestly don't know why. Foxy- he's my dramaturge friend- won't really tell me anything about it. Says I gotta wait and see it to find out." He paused. "Sooo... what do the backdrops look like?"

Spring raised a brow. "Right now they're half-painted canvasses with indistinguishable blobs of paint here and there."

"Okay, and what will they look like when those blobs of paint are turned into objects?"

There was a beat of silence before the rabbit ducked his head in a futile attempt to hide a small grin. Goldie noticed it anyway and knew exactly what the answer would be.

"You have to wait and see." Oh, he was totally teasing him, Goldie realized. And it seemed so natural for the rabbit, like he couldn't help it even though Goldie could clearly see he was trying to keep from doing so.

'Interesting...' Goldie couldn't help but think. 'Even when talking to a complete stranger after two weeks of silence and avoidance, his real personality comes out.'

Of course, he didn't say that. "Aw come on," he whined instead, leaning closer to his roommate. "I'm dying of curiosity here, you mentioned it and now I wanna know~!"

Maybe he was invading the rabbit's personal space, but Goldie couldn't help but feel satisfied when the rabbit glanced at him and finally made eye contact for the first time since he'd sat down. His eyes shone with amusement. It was a nice feeling, knowing he had replaced the rabbit's usual worry with silent laughter.

"You look like a puppy whose chew toy got snatched away," Spring commented, leaning a bit away from the bear who was much too close for his comfort. "And I don't want to be tarred and feathered by the drama students for giving it away."

"Aww, I won't tell anyone! Besides, they'd think Foxy told me, not you. Also, tarred and feathered? Seriously?"

"They're drama students, you'd be surprised," Spring told him in a dry tone, and Goldie couldn't help but laugh. He wondered why the hell he didn't talk to the rabbit sooner- he was rather adorable even with all the scars, and he was pretty funny to boot. "They also won't go after their own. They're like..." Spring glanced up as if thinking of a way to describe it. "A hive mind, I guess. They'll just know. Trust me, I have to deal with them as a group..."

"A hive mind, huh?" Goldie chuckled, finally leaning back out of Spring's personal space. "That actually sounds kind of freaky."

"Don't insult one," Spring said, turning back to his sketch. "If one is against you, they all are. And most drama students here are pretty damn overdramatic." Goldie thought about Foxy and all of his revenge pranks. He could see where Spring was coming from.

"So, you speaking from experience?" he asked casually.

"Not my experience, but one of my fellow painters, yeah," Spring answered, glancing back at him. "Why?"

"Because Foxy has wicked revenge pranks. I was just wondering if you were ever one of his victims," Gold told him with a grin. Spring shook his head slightly with a slight smile.

"No, not me. I stay out of people's way. It's easier like that. If people don't know you exist, you're less likely to make them angry or scare them..." The golden rabbit trailed off, looking towards the water. Goldie frowned, thinking that that wasn't a very positive outlook on it. He knew why Spring mentioned the scared part.

After all, Goldie was scared by his appearance the entire last two weeks.

"You're not so scary, though," Goldie suddenly said. He ignored the rabbit's scoff that clearly said 'liar.' "You're more like a big fluffy pillow. Look at all this fluff," he went on, batting at Spring's fluffy left ear. The ear twitched and Spring shook his head, looking amused again. "You can't be scary with all that."

Spring raised a brow as he looked at Goldie. "I look like Frankenstein's monster. I don't think any amount of "fluff" will hide that." Goldie's own brows raised, surprised to hear Spring say something like that so casually.

Apparently the scars weren't a sensitive topic.

"Well you don't even try to hide them," Goldie observed. "Your fur is long enough to hide the thinner ones if you really wanted, so I'm guessing you don't want to hide them. And besides, you don't look like Frankenstein's monster. Frankenstein's monster is scary and dead. Or undead, whatever. You're not." Goldie watched Spring's ear twitch again. He wondered if it was just a nervous tick or something. He could see the rabbit was processing what he'd just said from the look in his eyes. It was true and they both knew it- the rabbit's fur was plenty long enough to hide the smaller and thinner scars. He just didn't try. He just didn't want to. It looked like the rabbit was about to say something.

However, before Spring could respond, they heard someone calling Goldie's name. Both of the gold Animals turned at the sound of the voice. Freddy, Alfred, Bonnie, and Bonsai all stood on the sidewalk looking over at them.

Goldie grinned a bit upon seeing them. "Hey Spring, you wanna meet my brothers and friends?" he asked. Spring shrugged slightly in response but made no move to complain or protest, so Goldie waved the group over. Goldie did, however, notice when Spring averted his eyes.

The bears and rabbits headed over to the golden Animals. As soon as they arrived, Goldie said to them, "Hey guys, this is my roommate."

"Um... hi?" Spring greeted unsurely. "I'm, uh.. Durrell Franks. But you can, uh, call me Springtrap."

"Or Spring," Goldie added, not liking the thought of his family calling the rabbit "trap."

"I'm Freddy, and this is our youngest brother Alfred," Freddy greeted while Alfred glared at him, obviously not appreciating being introduced like that.

"Boone Hare," Bonnie said with a wave. "But call me Bonnie. It's nice to finally see another rabbit on campus. There don't seem to be a lot of us!" The purple rabbit smiled kindly at the shorter golden rabbit, who seemed a bit embarrassed as he waved back.

"Bonsai," Bonsaid said simply in introduction, his eyes going to the sketch in Spring's lap. "Oh wow, you're a studio art student! That looks amazing. I wouldn't be surprised if you got a full ride scholarship here with talent like that."

Spring immediately became embarrassed and shook his head. "I-I, well, it was offered, but, um.. I didn't, you know, take it. I mean- I didn't go straight from high school to college so, uh... well, I, uh, waited, and... yeah... I'll shut up now..."

Still adorable. Goldie grinned a bit at the flustered rabbit and asked, "What year are you in anyway?"

"Second..."

"Really?" Bonnie looked a bit surprised. "I don't remember seeing you before."

"I, uh, usually don't... um, go anywhere a lot of people are..." Spring told him, glancing aside in embarrassment. "I stay to myself, mostly..."

"So if you didn't start college right after high school, how long did you wait?" Bonsai asked curiously. Spring shrugged a bit and looked down at his sketch.

"Um, two, three years, something like that..." Spring trailed as if thinking. "Yeah, something like that..."

"Our parents wouldn't let us wait even a semester," Alfred complained. "Your parents didn't want you out of the house?"

This time both of Spring's ears twitched as he glanced up at them again. Goldie could practically see the doors slam down, darkening those bright eyes. He knew the rabbit wasn't going to offer any more information at that moment. "No," was all he said as he began working on his sketch again.

Freddy and Bonnie exchanged a glance, realizing something important had just happened. Bonnie finally said, "It was nice meeting you, Spring, but we need to be on our way. My girlfriend's expecting us in like... ten minutes."

Spring nodded slightly. "Nice to meet you too. Have fun," he replied, not even looking up at them. Even Alfred could tell he had said something wrong and that the rabbit was upset. The rabbit didn't want them to know, but it was very obvious...

Please don't forget that.

Goldie glanced up at his brothers and friends, then ventured to ask, "You wanna come? It'll be fun."

"No thank you, really. I need to finish this sketch." Goldie was about to protest, but Freddy caught his gaze and shook his head. The golden bear knew Freddy was right- the door was obviously closed and locked for the time being.

"Alright. Well, seeya later, Spring," Goldie said, standing to his feet. "Take care."

Spring only nodded in response.

Goldie had been asleep for hours by the time Spring returned to their bedroom, as per usual. This time, however, Goldie was awakened by the sound of a crash. He sat up in bed and fumbled with the lamp on his nightstand, illuminating the room.

Immediately his face flushed in embarrassment. Sprawled on the floor was Spring, who had very obviously just tripped over a music stand that Goldie had once again forgotten to move.

The rabbit looked up from where he was laying on his stomach, the music stand laying across his back now, very obviously embarrassed to have tripped over it in the first place. Then all he said was, "... why is your music stand so damn heavy?"

Goldie couldn't help but grin at this statement and slipped out of bed to help his roommate up. "Sorry, sorry," he apologized, setting the stand aside and pulling the rabbit to his feet. "I, uh, must've forgotten to put it back when I finished rehearsing earlier... again..."

"It's fine," Spring told him, straightening his disheveled clothes. "I noticed it fast enough to avoid falling on it, so... yeah."

"Well that's good at least..." Goldie trailed. Then he noticed something; there was light in the common room. "Hey, did you forget to turn the common room light off?"

"No, the other guy is in there right now," Spring answered, sitting down on his bed, fidgeting with his hands. "You know- the guy with the night classes."

"Oh... that makes sense." Goldie sat down on his own bed as well, glancing at a clock. It was 11:47 PM- almost midnight. "Hey, don't you get up at like... 5:30 AM?" he asked, furrowing his brow. Spring nodded slightly, looking at him in confusion. "It's almost midnight. Why do you stay out so late? You'll only get like five hours of sleep, and I doubt that's healthy at all."

The rabbit glanced towards the window, though the curtains were drawn and the blinds were down. He was silent for a few moments before answering, and Goldie could tell that his answer wasn't the complete truth.

"I like the sounds of night."

Arc I: End