"̴͚̝̤͂̀̅͑S̸̹̺͒̑͌t̴̼͔͖̣̏a̶̡̘͗r̸̫͎̰̬͗́̅̀̏ś̷͕h̷̨͍͉̯͌̉͝ǐ̵̜̉̏́n̶̖̣̖̄͌͂͜e̸̛͕͉͑̀́̄-̸?

° Chapter 10 °

*** this is gonna be the longest chapter, sorry **"

The Pizza Plex opened again, at last. But there were new regulations. Parents were instructed to not let their children out of sight and to report any suspicious activity they see. Roxy and Monty, as agreed, kept the picture with no intention of ever actually going through with their threat. It was just a funny prank to agrivate Freddy after all. They also kept in mind what Freddy said and never brought it up to Bonnie. He was right, the bunny has enough on his plate right now, and they never really had the intention of blackmailing Bonnie anyway. Chica and Roxy made up but definitely grew more distant.

As for Freddy and Bonnie, Bonnie was doing a lot better, though it was clear something still bothered him. Freddy started acting more concerned and protective of the bunny to hopefully make him feel safer, but it hardly helped. Monty and Roxy would start playing little pranks on Freddy. Spilling Monty's Mystery Sauce on him, getting kids to ask him weird things, leaving pizza on the ground in his greenroom for him to step on, their little jokes never end. It of course irritated the snot out of Freddy but he persisted if it meant keeping that picture private.

~~

Monty giggled and layed the paper he had been writing in front of the two bigger animatronics. Roxanne only blinked at the paper. It was an undistinguishable chicken scratch. She turned to Monty expectantly for him to explain. The gator sighed.

"I'm gonna' take Freddy's hat and place it under the splash bucket. Once he comes to collect it, I'll tip the bucket, and the balls are gonna' fall all over him! It'll be hilarious!"

Chica shifted uncomfortably.

"I-isn't the splash bucket still under construction...?" She asked. Roxanne turned to her and nodded.

"Yeah, why?"

"What if something goes wrong? Someone could get hurt!" She explained. Monty brushed off her concern.

"The splash bucket is completely safe, trust me." He claimed. Roxanne fidgeted uncomfortably.

"I won't have any part in this!" Chica huffed. The wolf turned to her in concern and Chica only avoided eye contact.

"I guess I could-" she turned to Chica again and met her obvious glare. Once she read Chica's expression she sighed.

"Yeah... I'll skip this one out, dude." She ducked her head.

~~

"Why didn't you tell me those three were bullying you??" Bonnie asked. He was angry. Not at Freddy, but at those three jerks picking on him. He did not know why they were though.

"I...I did not want to stress you out anymore than you were..." Freddy looked down timidly. Bonnie softened at that, kneeling down to be at a closer level with Freddy who was sitting on Bonnie's sofa. Freddy had two pizza slices thrown at him by Roxy. He was in a hurry and was not allowed in any bathrooms to wipe it off. He did the best he could with napkins and no mirror but it clearly was not enough and Bonnie saw it. When Bonnie asked what happened Freddy just could not bring himself to lie to him.

Bonnie sighed, reaching for his bowling shirt and using it to wipe the pizza sauce off Freddy. It was kind of dry so it required scrubbing, but he tried wiping as gently as possible.

"Oh no, Bonnie, do not ruin your bowling shirt for me-" Freddy insisted. Bonnie silenced him.

"You're more important than some shirt." He said. Freddy leaned back and relaxed at Bonnie's gentle cleaning. It felt nice to know one animatronic in this Pizza Plex always had his back. When he was finished he gently kissed Freddy's forehead, when something caught his attention.