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Five Guys at Freddy's

Mike stood up from his quick one-hour nap and yawned, stretching his arms out wide. He cracked his neck and rubbed his eyes gently to rouse himself before sliding his phone out of his pocket and turning it on. Its light was bright, and Mike had to cover his eyes for a moment, but his eyes adjusted quickly enough and soon he could read the time.

5:44.

“Closing time,” Mike sighed to himself. He wandered back into the dining hall and was met by the familiar visage of Freddy. The bear had finished sorting all of the tables and chairs and was standing back up on the stage, holding his microphone and grinning as he did every day on stage. If Mike didn't know better, he might have thought that the bear was just a lifeless machine.

“Closin' time, boy?” Freddy drawled.

“About fifteen minutes,” Mike nodded. “How'd you know that?”

“Been doin' this here song n' dance fer years, kiddo. Ah know when th' song's windin' down,” Freddy replied. The robot bear then leaned into his mike and spoke, his already deep and booming voice amplified even further. “BONNIE! CHICA! 'S CLOSIN' TIME! GIT ON OV'R HERE!”

“Coming!”

“On my way!”

The two responses were shouted out from the kitchen and the left hallway. In less than a minute, the two other animatronics had stepped into the dining hall and back onto the stage. Before long Bonnie was holding his guitar and Chica her cupcake, just as they always did. Mike couldn't help but smile at the image. He couldn't explain it. Maybe it was because the sight, which used to fill him with such great terror, was no longer frightening to him. Now it was almost saddening, like he was saying goodbye to a good friend.

“So Mike, I gotta ask,” Chica asked from her place onstage. “How was your first night with us? Enjoy yourself?”

“Well, he certainly enjoyed himself with Foxy,” Bonnie sniggered.

“Play nice, Bonnie,” Freddy admonished the rabbit before turning back to the guard. “Well, don' keep us waitin'. Good time?”

Mike opened his mouth to answer, but then stopped and pondered the question more thoroughly. Yes, he did have a good time. At the very least it was much better than he'd been expecting. It was wonderful just how warmly all of the animatronics had accepted him when they knew precious little about him. Now that he stopped to look at them closer, Mike couldn't help but see the machines as kind of a family.

Chica was cheerful and upbeat, looking out for Mike and the others in a playfully pushy way. She was kind of like a few of the female friends Mike had made growing up. She might have even been a big sister kind of girl. Mike was an only child so he couldn't know for sure what having an older sister would be like, but Chica certainly fit his image of one quite nicely.

Bonnie was gruff and sometimes rude, but ultimately meant no real harm to Mike or any of the others. After all, if Bonnie didn't consider Mike worth caring about, then why would the rabbit have listened to his desire to leave the booth? And why would he have helped Mike instead of scaring him back in? Although the rabbit would never admit it out loud, Mike was certain that Bonnie was just as happy as the others to have Mike around. He was a true big brother figure, Mike decided.

Foxy was as loud and boisterous as the pirates that he was modeled after. In the end though, Mike knew that he meant as little harm as any of the others. He was actually kind of childlike in his own goofy and imaginative way – the pirate adventure that Mike and Foxy had cooked up was more than enough proof of that. Mike would have hard a tough time explaining it to anyone else, but when Mike was with Foxy he felt like he really could do anything, even sailing across the seven seas for real and not in his mind. Nothing was too 'unrealistic' with Foxy around, and the little kid inside Mike kind of loved that. He was... like a crazy uncle.

And of course, Freddy was the dad. The way he kept the other three in line and made sure the restaurant was in absolutely perfect condition every night made it impossible for him to be anything but. Still, it just felt right. Freddy was the leader, after all. If he turned out to be anything but a dad it just would've felt wrong. Furthermore, Mike could tell that even though they'd only known each other in person for a brief time, Freddy cared for him just as much as he did the others, and he was grateful for that. He really was.

A father, an uncle, a big brother, and a big sister. There were no two ways about it, that was definitely a family. Kind of a bare bones family, but a family nonetheless. And Mike was glad that he could be a part of it.

Finally, Mike smiled warmly and nodded in the affirmative. “Yeah, it was fun. I can't wait to do it again.”

Bonnie and Chica grinned in response, and Freddy let out a deep chuckle. “Happy t' hear, m'boy. See ya soon.”

Mike nodded and turned to leave, but stopped dead in his tracks. There was still one thing left to do. He checked his phone.

5:53. There was still time.

Turning quickly to the right, Mike jogged over to the roped-off Pirate's Cove and leaped up onto the stage. Gently pushing the curtains apart, Mike was greeted by Foxy's glowing eyes. “Ahoy, Mike. Don't it be near closin' time?”

“Yeah, there's about five minutes left,” Mike responded. “I've already said my farewells to the others. I just wanted to make sure I got to say good-bye to you before it was too late.”

Mike smiled. “I had a lot of fun with you tonight, Foxy.”

Foxy's eye patch flipped up as his jaw dropped – or maybe it was just unhinged, Mike wasn't sure. Either way, Foxy quickly pushed it back into place. “Really? I... I mean, yer darn right 'ts been a good time, matey! Ain't no cap'n capable o' givin' a good time like Cap'n Foxy!”

Mike laughed. “Yeah, that's right. You're the best of the best.” Then he sighed. “I don't really know how to say this, but... it's been a really long time since I've gotten to just do something fun, responsibilities be damned. Honestly, it made me realize that I really missed doing wacky stuff like that. Growing up I was kinda short on friends, so I sorta missed out on the chance to have fun with others like that.

“And of course, you can't really do crazy stuff for no reason once you're older. People tend to look down on that. Not gonna lie, Foxy, growing up sucks sometimes,” Mike looked down at his hands and twisted his fingers a little. “I guess what I'm trying to say here is that, well, this was nice. It was fun to just shut my brain off for a while and be a little kid again. So... thanks, Foxy.”

Mike turned to face the animatronic fox once again... but received no response. The fox was frozen like a statue, as though his movements the past night were all a dream. Mike checked his phone one last time.

6:02. He'd overshot the mark.

Mike sighed in disappointment. Had Foxy heard what he'd just said? He hoped so, he'd put a lot of feeling into that little speech.

“...Thanks a lot,” Mike whispered with a gentle smile on his face.

------------

Just as he'd done for the past two weeks, Mike Schmidt unlocked the front door and stared out into the morning air. It was still very much dark out – unsurprising, given that it was November – and Mike could feel a familiar tiredness in his muscles. But this time it was different. It used to be a relieved sort of fatigue, a gladness that whatever higher power there was had decided to let him live for just one more night.

Now? It was more of an... anticipatory fatigue. He was tired, certainly, but he was also excited. Excited, for the first time in his life, that soon enough he'd be back. Back to see his new friends once again.

Friends. It was ridiculous. For weeks these machines had been trying to kill Mike. He'd have sooner seen them melted down into slag than tried to be their friend. Hell, he'd have sooner melted them down himself. But he'd just spent the past three hours with them, talking to them and even playing with them. And he couldn't wait to do it again.

That was friendship, wasn't it?

Yeah... it felt really good.

Friends.

For the first time in a long time, Mike Schmidt left work with a smile.