Behind the Curtains

Chapter 25 - Guitar Lessons

Slipping behind the curtains in the main dining room, Kitten takes a look around at the backstage area where Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica's main controls are kept for the stage lights and music, as well as some shelves and bins of extra parts and supplies for the stage, animatronics, and instruments. The pirate had yet to visit this area since she wasn't sure if she was even allowed back here, but her curiosity got the better of her anyway. Thankfully for the cat, no one had seen her enter backstage, so, with a nervous but giddy smile, she begins to snoop around and explore the new area to her heart's content.

Looking around at the shelves of spare parts and the cords all hanging neatly on wall hooks, the pirate smiles at the newly discovered area. What catches the girl's eye the most are the instruments that the three musicians use on stage during their shows. Gazing around the backroom once more to ensure she's alone, Kitten walks over to Chica's keyboard and gently runs her fingers over the white piano keys. Upon pressing a few keys, thankfully, no sound comes from the keyboard or speakers. Guess the power to the equipment is off for the weekend.

Walking out of the storage room with his tuning pliers in hand, Bonnie lets out a sigh of mild annoyance. "I really wish the workers would stop touching my tools..." the rabbit mumbles as he shuts the door to storage behind him. While working on tuning his guitar, a misplaced item pulled his focus and forced the guitarist to leave his instrument for a minute to locate and retrieve his tuning pliers. Stepping up onto the stage again, Bonnie makes his way over to the door behind the main stage curtains. What he isn't aware of is the snooping pirate is right inside of the room near the door.

When he opens the door leading to the backroom, Kitten's ears perk up at the sound of the squeaky hinges coming from the door opening. Standing up quickly, the purple rabbit steps into the room to suddenly find himself face-to-face with the feline. Not expecting her presence, Bonnie yelps out in surprise and jumps back just to end up stumbling over his own feet. Falling back, he lands on the floor behind him. Kitten jumps a bit herself from his exclamation, but seeing him fall back suddenly fills her with concern over his well-being. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaims before rushing to his side, now kneeling down in front of him. "Are you alright?" the pirate asks the rabbit as he rubs his head tenderly.

Turning his attention to the voice of the concerned feline, his face quickly becomes dusty with a light pink blush from how close she is to him. "Uhh... Yeah! Yeah, I'm okay...!" he says with a smile and a slightly embarrassed chuckle. "It kinda hurts, but like I've said, I've been through worse."

Hearing this calms Kitten's worry and brings a smile back to her face. "Here, let me give ya a hand up." Standing up on her own two feet again, the pirate extends an open hand to the musician to help him up and off the floor.

Reaching up and grabbing her hand, he feels his heart skip a beat as he stands up with her aid. "Th-Thanks." Clearing his throat to get rid of his stutter, Bonnie decides to move past this embarrassing moment before it gets worse for him. "So... why are you in here?"

The redhead turns her gaze to the side with a tiny blush of embarrassment shining on her cheeks. "I was, umm... exploring," she chuckles sheepishly and rubs the back of her neck with a nervous smile. "Sorry."

Bonnie can understand her reasoning for wanting to explore. Kitten is still new to the pizzeria and with her feline curiosity, it's not surprising to hear that she wants to look around at every opportunity. Hopefully, her curiosity will settle down as she becomes acquainted with the place. "That's okay. You should explore little by little when you can."

"That 'when you can' part is the part I'm apparently not good at following," Kitten says with a self-jab. She chuckles a bit at her joke, but the laughter fades off as her reality sets in again. Her ears fold back slightly as a small wave of guilt overcomes her again.