I deeply apologize for this long wait. It's been hard to come up with a legit plotline, but now I have and will be able to give out chapters more often than before.
I don't remember who, but some of you guys have asked for a Valentine chapter, so here it is.
the song "Rewrite the Stars" comes from The Greatest Showman
Enjoy.
A signature down, alongside the first month's rent, Mike can happily say that the apartment he got his eyes on for quite a while is now finally his. Wish he can just move in and stay there from now on, but sadly, it's not quite that simple. For starters, Mike has to spirit secure it; second, he needs a lot more furniture than just a bed and a shelf with clothing as he got at Freddy's. And third… well, nothing comes to mind right now, but Mike is pretty sure there's some other thing he needs to do before he can live in the apartment full time. So for now, he still has to share a room with the (all of them) kids in the hidden room at Freddy's.
"Could be worse, I suppose." Mike muses to himself as he locks the door to his new apartment. He could be living on the streets or in an incredibly sucky apartment, like the one he did before he got Steve as a roommate.
The remainder of Steve gave Mike the sense that a led ball fell into his stomach. He still blames himself for what happened, but deep down, Mike knows there's nothing he could've done to stop Vincent from goning after him. "At least he's gone." He should be happy about that, yet Mike is unable to shake the feeling of dread aside for some reason. In the depths of his mind, a faint thought whispers that death is not the end as he once thought it would be. That there is a chance that that man's spirit is still around. Mike quickly shakes these omnivorous whispers of fear aside; he does not want to think about it. He does not want to humor the thought that he is still not safe from the man who took everything from him.
Mike heads to Freddy's, but a message on his phone makes him do a detour to the nearest grocery shop. A bit confused, Mike buys the list of ingredients Chica wanted, nothing unusual there, although it definitely feels like his friend wants to bake a cake. Maybe one for the holiday as she also asked him to grab two bags of heart-shaped sprinkles. He guesses Chica is in a romantic mood. Mike drives to Freddy's with everything in his bag, and barely three steps in, Chica pounces him. "You got what I asked?"
Taken aback by this and how Chica wears the same excited face that says that he can look forward to spending the rest of the week outside if he hadn't bought everything. "Eh, yeah, sure, I got everything." He hands the chicken the bag, which she snatches like a child at Christmas. "I hope..." Mike muses under his breath and prays that he did.
"Great! Thanks, Mike!" Chica beams and runs to the kitchen before Mike can ask if he can get the bag, thus his work uniform back. She leaves a dumbfounded Mike behind, who makes the wise choice by not attempting to reclaim his bag.
The restaurant is closed for the day, which Chica is grateful. She does not want this cake to smell like pizza or other junk food. She brings the ingredients over to the spot she and Theo made, and together, they prepare this cake Chica long wanted to make.
Everyone who dares to step into the kitchen will be chased out by commanding words, and if not fast enough, then Chica is more than ready to throw a pan at them.
Jeremy almost got a pan flung at him, and annoyed he cannot get in and grab lunch, he heads over to the stage, where Freddy is doing some card game with Foxy. Not far from them sits Bonnie, tuning his el-guitar for tomorrow's show. "Hey, what's up with Chica?" He asks the three, pointing at the kitchen.
"Valentine mood." Freddy simply replies, but his tone makes it sound like a big deal. "She's mad to have missed it two times in a row, so I guess now, Chica wants to make this one perfect." With those words, he puts down his cards, making Foxy exclaim: "Oh come on!" As it turns out, he won this round as well.
Ah, so Chica is one of those who love valentine. "I see," and with how much she went into it, Jeremy can easily say that her boyfriend better has something super romantic planned. Otherwise, Bonnie may re-experience how it feels to be murdered. "Got anything in mind for your date tonight, lover boy?" Jeremy asks the purple rabbit, somewhat deadpan, yet unable to keep a sly smirk at bay.
Not turning away from his chosen task, and other than his ear turned towards the man, Bonnie does not look interested in addressing the man. "Why should I? Everything is expensive as hell." He tests the strings, but he tunes it a bit more with it not sounding quite right. "Valentine's day is dumb." Out of the corner of his eyes, Bonnie notices that everyone in the near vicinity is staring at him. As if he's going to play chicken with a truck. "What?"
"I don't understand this holiday, but," Foxy points at the rabbit who got a death wish, "even I know how stupid it is to ignore it. Chica loves this holiday."
"And since you're dating her, you have to show some acumination to the day. It will make her happy," Freddy lectures Bonnie, but since this idiot does not get how dead he is if he keeps that attitude, something everyone but him is aware of. "if not, then I sincerely hope you like getting your face torn off again."
Bonnie freezes mid-move at what Freddy said; he gives the bear a look at the reminder, and Chica will apparently do the same if he does not do something for this stupid holiday. "You gotta be joking."
Freddy points at his face, "Is this the face I am?"
"Unless your big-boss face is now it, then I doubt it." Bonnie rolls his eyes, but with how the others are looking at him. "Fine, guess I have to give her something." He gives in, but he is not planning on making a big deal outta it.
That rabbit better makes a deal out of it; otherwise, Chica will kick his ass. Then again, Jeremy would kinda like to see Chica tear Bonnie a new asshole. "You should speak with Martin about ideas. He used to spoil his wife rotten with gifts and dates." His brother tends to go over the top, mainly to clarify how much he loved his former wife. Annabelle did once admit to him that she found it kinda embarrassingly but couldn't make herself tell Martin that as he was so cute when going the extra mile to create the perfect date.
Bonnie rolls his eyes and leaves the stage with a stupidly confident: "Nah, I got it." He takes his human form and with the usual rabbit out from the door. Jeremy turns to the two others, both got the same face of the thought he got: Bonnie is so, SO dead. "Well, can't say we warned him."
Foxy nods in agreement, though he does feel sorry for Chica "It's too bad, Chica is in a good mood." All three look to the kitchen door, where they hear said chicken do a happy tune.
Why can't Bonnie be just a bit more socially aware? Guess someone has to save that rabbit… sometimes, he hates being the wingman to that idiot rabbit. Letting out a loud sigh of annoyance, he closes his eyes and, moments later, appears in his human shape. "Do me a favor and try keep Chica somewhat in the dark about Bonnie's idiocy."
"Where are you going?" Jeremy asks, confused about the usual fox leaving the restaurant as well.
"Going to save Bonnie becoming rabbit stew." Daniel replies and heads out to speak with a person who happens to owe him a favor.
Freddy snickers at that but can see Foxy's point. "Right, well, at least we can see what blunder Bonnie got in mind." Jeremy nods in agreement; both want to watch Bonnie suffer, though neither wants to clean up the mess Chica will make if Foxy isn't successful in whatever he got in mind.
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Chica comes out with a beautiful layered cake, covered with a pinkish cream, with the heart-shaped sprinkles decorating the bottom and looking like it's crawling upward. Whipped cream, placed out like small puffy mountains, each with a small heart-shaped cake on top. Very proudly by this achievement, Chica places the cake at one of the tables "Who wants cake?!" She calls happily out, and cuts a piece to Theo. He sure deserves with the great help he was. "Thanks for the assistance, you were great," She smiles at the young bear. Theo smiles up to her, while trying to get the cream he got over the face but only smeared it further out. He happily takes the cake and seems to have been advised something from Chica, as he, very gentleman-like, hands the piece to Vixey. The young fox thanks him, though a bit taken aback by the sudden behavior change. She looks at Chiara but the young bird is busier helping BonBon cut a piece of the cake than notice Theo act kindly.
Freddy gets a piece of cake and a spoonful later. "This is very good, nice combination of strawberry and chocolate." he praises Chica, and takes another bite.
"Very suiting for the celebration," Mike agrees and is SO happy he got everything for her.
The others voice their agreement that the cake tastes good and is very pretty to look at as well.
Chica beams at the praise, though she cannot take the entire credit. "Theo was the one who decorated the cake. He got quite the talent for it." Said young bear hunched bashfully down at his seat from the praise the adults sent his way. Chica notices Bonnie arrive through the door in his human form, to her joy, trying to hide something behind his back. She turns around, picking up a conversation with Freddy, allowing her boyfriend to set up the surprise.
When he approaches the others, Chica walks over with a slice of cake. "Here, this is for you." She hands him the plate, which got a card as well.
"Thanks," Bonnie hesitates but hands her the small bouquet of flowers he bought at the nearby store. "Here, thought you might like them." They exchange gifts; Chica seems happy about the flowers, and while she prepares a vase for them. He eats the cake, not really his thing, but still good. Then he opens the card.
Inside are two tickets for a concert with a band they both like. This surprises him, more so when this couldn't have been cheap.
Chica puts the vase with the flowers at the same table, a bit disappointed that's all she got, but she guesses maybe Bonnie got a date in mind. She joins Bonnie, who amusingly keeps staring at the tickets. "Concert is next month, and don't worry, I have already spoken with Freddy about us being gone for a few days." She smiles and does ponder, "Got any plans for tonight?"
He puts the ticket at the table, still surprised Chica got them, more so when she waited for this day. Guess he has to do a bit more, just so her gift does not overshadow him. "Well, uh," Bonnie scratches the back of his head, trying to come up with something. "I was thinking the two of us could head to town, get some nice views of the lights."
Chica's smile drops; she knows that face. "You don't have anything planned, do you?" she asks him coldly, disappointed by this. But she guess it's okay as he was trying. "Alright, but I was sort of hoping for something a bit more… romantic."
"Sure, just let me magically get the spring out," Bonnie retorts snarky back at her. Spring turns his head to them at the mention of what he thought was his name. "That's helluva more romantic than boxes of heart-shaped chocolate and cheesy words on a letter."
"Is that what valentine is to you?" The disappointment is starting to frizzle into anger, Chica could've accepted if cheap flowers and a lovely walk was all Bonnie could manage, but him trashing on one of her favorite holidays. Not a chance. "Just a day to waste money on whoever you got the hots for?"
"Took the words right outta my mouth." Bonnie says and not seeing the anger in the chicken's gaze. "This day is stupid, and you're being silly taking it so darn seriously." But comes to realize his mistake the moment Chica grabs one of his ears and tug it so hard that Bonnie is pretty sure something got loose.
"You rotten piece of wires! I don't care about the chocolate and sweet words!" Chica pulls Bonnie's face down to her level, the enraged purple pieces into the scared magenta. "Is it too much to ask you to treat me a nice romantic day?! I could've accepted the walk and the flowers, but your stupid carrot brain just had to ruin it!"
Freddy quickly steps in as it looks like Chica is ready to pull Bonnie's ear off. "easy there—"
"Stay out of it, Freddy!"
Said bear jumps at the anger now pointed at him, still, wanting to save Bonnie from getting torn to shreds and not having an angry Chica for the next month. He puts his hands up, "Hey, don't shoot the messenger. I just want to tell Bonnie that his surprise to you is delayed." Chica looks confused at him, her anger more or less gone, which is a relief. Still nervous, Freddy eyes the scared stiff rabbit. "There might still be a chance for it to work. Foxy is currently trying to sort it out."
So Bonnie did have something else in mind, only that it might have been canceled? Huh, might explains his kinda trashy mood. "Oh," she lets go of Bonnie's ear and he drops to the floor. Chica is still unhappy about what Bonnie said though, "this surprise better be worth it." She huffs and walks off, needing some time to calm down again from what Bonnie said about this beautiful celebration of love.
So, SO happy Freddy saved him there. "T-Thanks," he voices to the bear and caresses his ear. "I thought she was going to tear me to shreds."
Freddy hums, mostly because Bonnie is not out of the woods yet. "Save that gratitude to Foxy. Oh, and some advice from one coming from the country of love." He pulls Bonnie up and slaps his bulky arm over the rabbit's slender shoulders. "Keep your darn mouth shut and do your hardest to appease Chica. Otherwise, you will end on the scrapyard; never to be found." Bonnie stares in disbelief at him. The poor fool thinks it's Freddy that's going to do that to him. "It's not the bear you have to fear, but the one who knows how to make rabbit stew."
Bonnie's face pales at what Freddy meant, and sure, he is aware that Chica can be downright scary, but he never thought she could be a killer robot… oh wait, riiigght… forgot about that. "Good advice." Freddy smirks and with a perhaps bit too hard friendly clap on the shoulder, the boss leaves him.
Bonnie notices that all the others are staring at him, which annoys him a lot. He's not on the stage to give them a show. He gives them all an angry look, holding up the façade that he isn't scared of what Chica will do to him if Foxy does not save his ass.
Foxy returns about an hour later, not sure if he should laugh or roll his eyes at Bonnie coming over with: "Tell me you got something." Trying to sound so casual, but Foxy easily picked up the dread Bonnie felt.
"I got your darn gift." He hands Bonnie a paper with a note saying that Bonnie got a table at this special place. Bonnie snatches it, after a moment, he sends him a stare of disbelief; it's not a place Bonnie would've picked, nor the entertainment. "That or nothing bucko." Foxy tells him, adding, "I know Chica would love it. Considering what she does as the entertainment."
"But I don't do that…!" Bonnie sneers, and Foxy retorts with a gleeful smirk that dares him to decline this save: "Tough luck, rodent." Foxy strolls past him, calling just to get one last jag in, "I like what you have done to your ear." Causing the rabbit to pale at the reminder.
…. Something tells him that Foxy and Freddy won't let him live this down for a looooong time…. Great, just great. At least they saved his skin, so there's that. "Right… better get to it." he heads over to the kitchen, which can either lead him to a trip through Part and Service, or earn him a very happy girlfriend.
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Some searching around the area, Tim finally finds the place and is relieved to see Jenna's eyes light up as they step inside the karaoke bar. He hands the bartender the slip of paper the mutt gave him, and the man grins. "Ah, so you're the one Danny spoke about." The man leans to the side and his eyes land on Jenna, already enjoying the show. "Got you a nice seat, lover boy, and from what I hear, you got a good show for us."
"Don't expect a masterpiece," Tim grumbles but grabs Jenna and they follow the man to one of the many tables. On it is a bunch of stars that form a heart, inside the letters T and J. Tim inwardly rolls his eyes, well aware that this was Foxy's idea. Outwardly, he smiles at his girlfriend, who is weirdly delighted by that display of cheese.
"So, what do you think this far?" He asks through the song of someone that sings just as badly as he would.
Jenna does not seem bothered by the tone-deafness. "I am very close to forgiving you for what you said back at the restaurant." A wink in his direction, "but a song or two might cheer me up. You got spots for the karaoke?"
Right that moment, the person keeping track of who will sing comes over to them. Handing them three slips of papers, one of them she gives to Tim. "Your up. Ready to roll?"
"Wait, you're going to sing?" Jenna asks, surprised by this. Tim never sings! Not willingly, at least, but their old programming does not count.
"All in the name of love, right?" He replies weirdly seriously, and to the woman handling the music, "Are you ready for your ears to bleed? I haven't sung once in my entire life" Jenna has to choke down a laugh at that comment. Even the woman is quite amused by what Tim said.
"If you get on my top five of worst singers, I'll give you both a drink." And the woman heads over to start the music.
Kinda wishing that someone will turn him off, but knowing it may end up with Jenna turning him off for good. Tim takes a deep breath. 'Okay, if I am going to crash, I might as well do it in style.'
He gets onto the small stage and into the microphone. "Right, so, first time actually singing, so yeah, now you're warned." A wave of laughter from the crowd. Tim eyes Jenna and her giggling as well. "This is for the greatest girl I know." With those words, he walks over to the woman handling the music. "Hey, got a guitar I can use?"
She points at one beside the piano. He takes it and sits on the chair meant for the piano. The music begins to play. Tim joins in, feeling a bit more at ease with his hands on an instrument he's comfortable with.
"You know I want you
It's not a secret I try to hide"
His singing is nowhere near Freddy's
"You know you want me
So don't keep saying our hands are tied"
but at least people aren't running for the hills
"You claim it's not in the cards
And fate is pulling you miles away
And out of reach from me
But you're here in my heart
So who can stop me if I decide
That you're my destiny?"
Tim looks over to Jenna, pleased to see her having a big and somewhat bashful smile on her face.
"What if we rewrite the stars?
Say you were made to be mine
Nothing could keep us apart
You'd be the one I was meant to find"
he only briefly glances up when the lights get turned off, leaving him in the spotlight
"It's up to you, and it's up to me
No one can say what we get to be
So why don't we rewrite the stars?"
he does not care, way more focusing on singing this darn song.
"Maybe the world could be ours
Tonight"
He plays to the music in between the lyrics, looking up when a familiar voice starts on the next verse.
"You think it's easy
You think I don't want to run to you, yeah"
Jenna, with microphone in hand, walks up to him
"But there are mountains (There are mountains)
And there are doors that we can't walk through"
He watches her step up before him, not once stopping playing to the music.
"I know you're wondering why
Because we're able to be
Just you and me"
Tim smiles up to her as it feels like those words are actually hers.
"Within these walls
But when we go outside
You're gonna wake up and see that it was hopeless after all"
He leans to his microphone and joins Jenna
"No one can rewrite the stars (Rewrite the stars)
How can you say you'll be mine?"
Jenna steps up behind, but neither stops their little duet
"Everything keeps us apart
And I'm not the one you were meant to find
(The one you were meant to find)
Tim glances with a goofy smile back to her, letting her have the spotlight
"It's not up to you, it's not up to me, yeah
When everyone tells us what we can be (Tells us what we can)
And how can we rewrite the stars?
Say that the world can be ours tonight (Be ours)"
Abandoning the guitar, Tim steps closer to Jenna's microphone, joining her in the song.
"All I want is to fly with you
All I want is to fall with you
So just give me all of you"
both holding the microphone, they walk in an asymmetric circle
"It feels impossible
It's not impossible
Is it impossible?
Say that it's possible"
Tim grabs his microphone and gives his all
"And how do we rewrite the stars?
Say you were made to be mine"
Purple and magenta locked to one another along with the melody of the song
"And nothing can keep us apart
'Cause you are the one I was meant to find
It's up to you, and it's up to me
No one could say what we get to be
And why don't we rewrite the stars?
Changing the world to be ours"
Jenna steps closer to him, the same smile when they confessed their feelings.
"You know I want you
It's not a secret I try to hide"
He puts a finger to her mouth and he takes the last lines
"But I can't have you
We're bound to break and my hands are tied"
Then he moves over and kisses her.
A moment of silence, then the crowd goes wild. Jenna does not hear, only she and Tim existed in her little world for that moment.
Annnd this is the chapter! I hope you like it. I definitely had fun writing this. I share the same thoughts as Bonnie and have little to no interest in valentine's, but I would NEVER be as outwardly annoyed by it if I ever got together with someone who adores the holiday as Chica.
if you wish for something you want to happen in this story, feel free to suggest it. it may become a chapter.
until next time