Six years prior to Mike Schmidt taking up the position as night guard in Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, a man named Jeremy Fitzgerald got the position when he saw an ad in a newspaper that said, "Vintage pizzeria given new life! Come be a part of the new face of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza! What could go wrong?"

Surrounding it was ads that all said, "Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. This ad has nothing to do with anything relevant to this fic, either. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Chances are you'll die on night three. Blah. Blah. Yackity Smackity. Blah. Blah. This is a bad choice for a job since you're probably not gonna survive the week. I'd recommend being a cashier, sack boy, or work in a warehouse. They're all respectable jobs and the odds of dying on those jobs is much lower, though still non-zero. Blah. Blah."

As Jeremy settled into his new office, he got a phone call. Answering it, the guy on the other end said, "Uh, hello? Hello, hello? Uh, hello and welcome to your new job at the new and improved Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Uh, I'm supposed to talk you through what you should expect to see each week here. Uh, now forget what you may have heard… about Fredbear's Family Diner. Uh, some people still have a… bit of a bad impression of Fazbear Entertainment after the Bite of '83. I-I wanna reassure you that Fazbear Entertainment is committed to safety above family fun. We've spent a small fortune on new animatronics with, uh, facial recognition, advanced mobility, and they get to walk around during the day. But in terms of safety features, they're all tied to a database of sex offenders so they can detect them before they threaten guests. Hell, we should be paying them to guard you! Uh, that being said, there are issues they have. Uh, this is the second week we've been open and there has been just one person in your position before you. He finished his week, but complained that certain characters seemed to move around at night and even attempt to get into his office. We figured out that the issue is that the animatronics were never given a proper night mode. That means when it gets quiet, they think they're in the wrong room. Their solution is to find where people are. In this case, that's your office. So we have a solution for one of them, a Puppet that gives prizes won with tickets earned from the redemption games. There's a music box over by the prize corner camera and you can wind it up from the camera. Uh, you should do that often. Er, as for the rest of them… we have a better solution. We suspect that… they think any person in the building after it's closed is an endoskeleton without its suit on and stuff it in a spare suit. That would kill a normal human. So hey, we've removed all the electronic bits from a spare Freddy Fazbear head so you can wear it. Put it on whenever you want and leave it on as long as you want. It should fool most of them… but I doubt it works on the Puppet. Uh, something else I should mention is that there are no doors for you to close. But hey, you have a light, and even though it can run out of power, the building can't. Uh, check the lights, put the Freddy head on when you need to, er, keep the music box wound up, piece of cake. Have a good night, and I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Phone Guy had been talking for three hours. Jeremy checked the cameras while he was talking and noticed Toy Bonnie and Toy Chica had left the stage. He also noticed that the stage was in front of an area for regular dining and behind it was a collection of arcade games and a carousel, some of the arcade games being ticket redemption games.

Toy Bonnie made his way to the air vent on the right of the office, became visible in the blind spot of the vent camera, and said, "You know, I swear I'm a dude, but this design makes me look feminine,"

Toy Chica was in the hall and said, "Want a cupcake? Not this one, though."

She went into the air vent on the left and was visible in that blind spot. While she was there, she said, "This place is supposed to be kid friendly, so why does my design look so… immodest? And why can't I keep my suit eyes and beak from falling off?"

Jeremy put the Freddy head on and Toy Bonnie said, "You know, I know you're still the same night guard. You know too, Chica… right?"

"Yeah, but we can play along," she said.

Toy Bonnie went to one of the party rooms and Toy Chica went to the hall, putting her beak and costume eyes back on.

Toy Freddy appeared in the office hall, trying to figure out what Jeremy looked like, and asked, "Do you have any quarters for the arcade machines? I know the ticket redemption games are rigged, but I still want merchandise. And I wanna get high scores on a bunch of video games,"

Jeremy said nothing, putting on the Freddy head instead. Toy Freddy entered the office and said, "That mask of yours doesn't even have my face on it. It must predate me!"

Jeremy expected to die, but Toy Freddy said, "If you don't wanna give me your quarters, fine! I'll find another way to get tickets and high scores."

He walked off, went to the arcade area, and searched for quarters. Jeremy also noticed that he could use the flashlight on the cameras and saw three withered animatronics in the parts and service room. Disliking the way they looked, he changed the camera to Kids' Cove, expecting the character of Toy Foxy, but they were torn apart. They still walked upright, but all that was left of the suit was the head, left foot, and both hands. The rest of their body had their endoskeleton exposed. They were in better condition than Jeremy expected. He found a bare endoskeleton with no suit bits. It saw him and said, "I am Endo-02. What character am I supposed to be?"

"… Well, you have fox ears but eyes like Freddy. It doesn't matter. How about you stay in the left air vent and block other things from getting in there?"

Before the endoskeleton could answer, Jeremy's shift ended and he was sent home. The following night, the guy on the phone called again and said, "Uh, hello? Hello hello? Uh… see, I told you your first night would be easy. You're a natural. Uh, I hope you noticed the older models… sitting in the back room. Er, those were used back when this place was called Fredbear's Family Diner. We just use them for parts now. Our first plan was to repair them. Hell, we even retrofitted them with newer technology. But they smelled bad, and, uh, the company went in a different direction and made new designs for the characters. Uh, if those older ones can still move, the whole Freddy head trick should work on them too. Heh, I always loved those old characters. Uh, did you ever see Foxy the pirate? Oh wait, Foxy… oh, yeah, Foxy! Uh… hey, listen! I doubt the Freddy head trick works on Foxy. Er, if he activates and you see him at the end of the hall… flash your light at him over and over. Those older models would always… reboot their systems if they saw flashing lights. Uh, come to think of it, try it on the others too. It could hold them in place. Um, one more thing! Uh, don't forget the music box. I… dislike that Puppet thing. It's always… thinking. And as I said, I doubt the Freddy mask fools it. Uh… right! I almost forgot that, um, the balloon vendor, Balloon Boy, is also an animatronic, not a, um, statue. He, uh, wants to steal the batteries from your flashlight. So just… don't let him in your office either. Uh, have a good night, and I hope to talk to you tomorrow."

Balloon Boy was already in the hall, laughing at Jeremy. Withered Foxy stood at the end of the hall, seeming to talk with Balloon Boy. Jeremy couldn't make out what they were saying, but he kept flashing his light at Foxy, who seemed to be taunting him in a stupid way by holding his hook up next to his face and grinning. He went to the left air vent camera and saw Endo-02 in it, seeming to block it. Balloon Boy approached from the hall and said, "Hi! That mask doesn't fool any of us. We're just playing along with your game. That's why we leave when you put it on,"

Foxy said, "Yargh! But why play along with yer stupid game?"

Jeremy realized he forgot to wind the music box when he heard "Pop Goes the Weasel" play and seem to get louder. He saw what the Puppet looked like through the empty Freddy head and it jumped towards him, tackle hugging him. Jeremy hit the ground and said, "Ow… You're stronger than you look,"

The Puppet replied, "Yeah, I'm not sure why when I'm supposed to give gifts in exchange for tickets. Maybe I'm this strong to prevent people from stealing the prizes? But then again, some of them include tacky sunglasses with the characters' faces above the lenses,"

"The others are playing along with the Freddy head. Why aren't you?"

"What game are you playing with them?"

"If they're in my office and I put on my Freddy head, they leave. Management thinks it fools them into thinking I'm Freddy, but they all insist they see through it."

The Puppet returned to the music box right as 6 AM came. Jeremy left and fell asleep when he arrived at home. When he woke up, he heard that several children in the area vanished at Freddy's and were presumed dead. The following night, the guy on the phone called and said, "Uh, hello hello! See, I told you it'd be okay! Did, uh… Foxy ever appear in the hallway? He's my favorite and the favorite of many others, too. They tried to remake Foxy, you know? Uh, they thought he was too scary, so they redesigned him to be more kid friendly, made the new Foxy non-binary, and put them in Kids' Cove. Uh, it was to keep toddlers entertained, you know. But kids these days can't keep their hands to themselves and tore the new Foxy apart over and over. At some point, they stopped trying and framed them as a building toy, renaming them to 'the Mangle'. Uh, most of their endoskeleton may be exposed, but it, er, could be worse. Uh… oh, hey! Before I go, er, I wanted to ease your mind about any rumors you may have heard. Er, you know how local stories come and go and seldom mean anything. I can assure you that whatever is going on out there, however tragic it may be, has nothing to do with our establishment. It… it's all rumor and speculation, people trying to get attention, you know. Uh, our guard during the day has reported nothing unusual and he's on watch from opening till close. Anyway, hang in there and I'll talk with you tomorrow."

Jeremy looked at the Parts and Service room and noticed that the withered Bonnie had no face or left arm, the withered Chica seemed unable to move her arms or jaw and had stray wires where her hands belonged, the old Freddy was damaged but in better condition than the other two, and all three seemed drunk. Freddy looked as if he was passed out drunk, Withered Bonnie was slumped on the floor, and Withered Chica looked wasted.

Withered Bonnie got up as if he got sober far faster than a human would and left, kicking Chica's head more into the light. Chica left soon after, also acting sober despite how she seemed to be wasted. When Freddy left, Jeremy saw him get up and put his hat on since it had fallen off when he was on the floor. He realized that meant he was programmed to put on his hat every night. Balloon Boy and Withered Foxy still seemed to be collaborating even as the humanoid animatronic played along with the game and Foxy didn't. Foxy still seemed to enjoy taunting Jeremy in that same weird way.

Jeremy saw Withered Bonnie seeming to be sleepwalking in the office hall before he stayed awake some more and tried to enter through the left vent, but Endo-02 stayed in it, blocking his way. Bonnie somehow turned around and crawled back out the way he came, surprising Jeremy as he was watching it through the cameras, his view of Bonnie being obstructed by his ally.

Withered Chica appeared in the Office and said, "Pizza!"

Jeremy said, "I don't have any on me and I have no clue where the kitchen is."

He had put on the Freddy mask the instant he saw her in his office and Chica walked away, her arms stuck in a T-pose. Jeremy wondered if her servos were jammed. Looking at the cameras in one of the party rooms, Freddy still seemed a bit drunk with his blank stare at the camera. Freddy entered through the hall in front of the office and said, "May I take your hat, sir?"

"What hat?" Jeremy asked.

"The Freddy mask you're wearing. It's not Toy Freddy, but it's in better condition than mine. If you still want my head, we can trade,"

"I have this feeling that the electronic parts in your costume head that make your endoskeleton act like the Freddy character would be unsafe for me to wear,"

"Fair. Anyway, even though I'm behind a closed door, I've heard patrons don't like the pizza here. But besides a burger restaurant that uses animatronic entertainers, there's also a rival pizzeria that uses a different set of animatronic entertainers. Maybe you could order a pizza from there?"

"I'm not hungry, though, and you're an animatronic and don't need to eat,"

"… You're right. And if you use the corporate phone, they could recognize the number as being one of their rivals and refuse to sell you a pizza in case you wanted to discover their secret recipe,"

"Do you have any information on that story about kids from around here vanishing?"

"Nope. Sorry! I'm turned off during the day,"

"Why do they turn you on at night?"

"Good question."

Withered Bonnie appeared in the office as Freddy left. He said, "If we're supposed to be used for parts, then why are we in enough of one piece to move around on our own?"

"I don't know,"

"Also, the teeth on the Mangle look a bit sharp. I mean, the Foxy I know has teeth that sharp too, but during the day, we're all in Parts and Service,"

"Do you have any information on the child murders that seem to have happened here?"

"The what?!"

"The guy on the phone denies that there was any wrongdoing committed here, but I'm skeptical,"

"I thought I heard something about a yellow rabbit character. And I'm not yellow. But from overhearing people, I wanna say I was created to replace a yellow rabbit character also named Bonnie. That one seems to have used non binary pronouns and is now referred to as 'Spring Bonnie'."

6 AM came and Jeremy returned home. The night after that, the guy on the phone called and said, "Hello hello! Hey, good job, making it to night four! Uh, hey, um, keep a close eye on things tonight, okay? Uh, from what I understand, the guy in the position before you was laid off. Er, when we get it all sorted out, we may move you to the day shift in the position that guy… was in. Er, we're gonna attempt to contact the previous owner of this building. Uh, I think the name of it was… Fredbear's Family Diner. It closed because of the Bite of '83, though. I doubt we can track anyone down. Yes, I know the only physical damage was, uh, an animatronic jaw. Anyway, hang in there! Good night."

Using the flashlight in the hall, Jeremy noticed a giant floating head that resembled that of Withered Freddy… but it was yellow, had wires coming out of an eye socket, and was missing an ear. It also seemed to be unable to close or move its lower jaw. The head seemed to shrink and grow a yellow body similar to that of Withered Freddy and said, "The Bite of '83 was because some boys forced a younger boy into my mouth as I was singing! I broke my jaw because of it,"

"What are you?!" Jeremy said.

"I used to be called Fredbear, but that was when I was a springlock suit and had a purple hat and bow tie. Now I'm a spirit, have a black hat and bow tie, and have been dubbed 'Golden Freddy' even though my suit a different shade of yellow compared to gold,"

"What do you call yourself?"

"… I now refer to myself as Golden Freddy."

Endo-02 continued to block the left vent and Jeremy fended off the various animatronics not because he was convinced they'd kill him but to pass the time during his shift.

When his shift ended, Jeremy was moved onto the day shift for a birthday party. The new Foxy was there and kids were tearing it apart and putting it back together wrong… until they snapped and bit down on a toddler, removing their frontal lobe. When they realized what they had done, they said, "Oh my God! How am I that strong with my jaw?! Why is my jaw this strong?! Someone call 911!"

As they spoke, bits of brain fell out of their jaws.

Jeremy was keeping an eye on each animatronic, and while he wasn't looking when this, the "Bite of '87", happened, he heard the sounds. Although it was an accident, Mangle and the other toy animatronics, though not the Puppet, were to be scrapped and that caused that particular location to close for good, though the possibility of reopening, even on a lower budget, was still in the air…