Pizzeria fox

Out of order fox (Freddy x Foxy)

The last performance for the day has officially finished and as the last sang words left Freddy's mouth and Bonnie's guitar quieted down all the animatronics on the stage took their bows. From the corner of his eye Freddy caught a glance of Chica giving a friendly wave to the crowd. The applause was brief, but that was to be expected, Freddy and his friends experienced it before. After all, at those hours the ones who visited the pizzeria the most were adults and, as it turned out, adults would often rather talk amongst themselves than listen to rather childish songs of the pizzeria's band. The few children in the room did seem pleased, and that was enough for now.

However, besides all those patrons, one other thing that caught Freddy's attention the most were those glowing eyes, peeking from behind the purple curtain, hesitantly, barely daring to glance.

"Freddy, are you coming?" The question caught the bear animatronic's attention and he quickly turned towards Chica, who was already off the stage.

"Yeah." He nodded and hopped off as well. They both walked a dozen of steps away from the guests, but still enough to see Pirate Cove. The resident fox was no longer in sight though, causing Freddy to sigh.

"You're worried about Foxy, aren't you?" Chica turned to him, pausing her step as well.

"You're not?"

"You know I am. And so is Bonnie." Chica's downcast eyes wandered to glance at the right hallway where she saw the bunny animatronic wander off to.

"I'll go talk to him later." Freddy looked at his friend who almost snorted.

"You always talk with him, Freddy!"

"I know, I know." The leader of the animatronics rolled his eyes playfully. "What I mean by that is that tonight I'd rather talk to him privately. Just me and him."

Chica quickly caught on and shook her head with exaggerated disapprovement. "Oh, I get it. You had enough of me and Bonnie already?" She teased.

"What do you think? I see you two all day every day!" Freddy laughed and followed her lead to the kitchen.

The next half an hour passed quite fast. Freddy helped a bit with cleaning in the kitchen where the two friends also met with Bonnie. Once he got enough of that, he went to see if the remaining guests needed anything. He even got into a conversation with one friendly lady. And as the clock got closer and closer to a full hour the establishment gradually emptied out until eventually Freddy was the only one left sitting on a chair in the dining area. That is until he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Get up, you big bear, unless you want me to clean you along with the chair." Before him stood one of the staff, also responsible for cleaning after hours along with few others.

"I wouldn't mind, Alex. I'm getting a bit grubby." Freddy remarked but promptly stood up.

"I'll make sure to pass it to the right people." Alex joked. "But now shoo, Fred."

Well, there was no more prolonging. Not that Freddy was scared or anything, but seeing his little fox like that always hurt. And so he waddled over to Pirate Cove, skilfully evading the remaining staff. Taking one last breath he opened the curtain letting just the tiniest amount of light in, enough to catch the attention of its sole resident though, before slipping in.

"Foxy," He put his hand on the sitting animatronic's shoulder whose back faced Freddy, "How are you feeling today?"

"Rather shitty, but ye know that already." Foxy grumbled but turned his head to eye the newcomer, a small smile appearing on his snout. "Are we closed now?" He stood up to look Freddy in the eyes.

"Mhm, you can-." Before Freddy could finish he felt a certain familiar snout pressing to his mouth and he quickly returned the kiss, his arms finding their way to the other's waist. The kiss was brief.

"Sorry." Foxy's gaze was now glued to the ground.

"No need to apologize." The fact that the red fox was even in the mood for any romantic gestures was good. "I saw you glancing again."

"Aye." Foxy simply commented. "I enjoy seeing ye all on the stage."

"But you're also jealous." Freddy finished for him.

Foxy took few steps back and sat down once more. The slightly enlarged distance was enough for Freddy to almost lose sight of him in the darkness so he mirrored Foxy's position, sitting in front of him.

"It's been more than a year now that I haven't been able to perform. It hurts, ye know? It feels like I'm just here to rot. Not even allowed to be seen by guests, especially kids." Foxy laid his head on his bare knees, his half-torn tail curling around him like a protective blanket.

"I know... I know you're upset. Each of us would feel the same if we were in your shoes."

"Aye, but if it were one of ye they would quickly fix you!" Foxy exclaimed with a bit of frustration in his tone. "Ye're essential, ye're THE band of this damn pizzeria. Why else would they leave me here like that? A year ago they said they would fix me in few months, and look." Foxy gestured vaguely at his torn form, endoskeleton peeking through more places than it should be. "I'm clearly not a priority."

Freddy sighed, lost for words, He knew each of the sentences that left Foxy's words were true. He saw the pizzeria grow ever since Pirate Cove got out of order. The amount of tables, chairs, even decorations grew. Plainly, money wasn't being saved for Foxy, plainly, he wasn't seen as all that profitable.

Noticing the resigned look on Freddy's face Foxy's ears drooped down. "Sorry, cap'n. Didin't mean to upset ye."

"Heh, it's alright. I'm simply as unhappy about the situation as you are, my little pirate." Freddy teased gently, using the loving pet name. "But you know what?" He asked, making Foxy's ears perk up. "If you really weren't needed you wouldn't still be here." Realizing how bad it might have sounded Freddy quickly coughed and corrected himself. "I mean, the fact that you're still here, as you said for such a long time, can't be without its reasons. Kids loved you as well. You know how many of them asked me about your whereabouts?"

Foxy snickered. "A few times I saw some of the lil' landlubbers tug on me curtain only to be chased away by one of the waiters."

"See? You're still important." Freddy's enthusiasm rose along with his boyfriend's. "And ye know what, matey?" He asked, trying his best to imitate Foxy's pirate speech. Speech that was mostly there for performances and stories.

"Aye?"

"No matter what happens you still are needed for one very important job."

"Hm? What be that job?" Foxy inquired curiously, now looking straight at Freddy.

"Being my cuddle buddy." The brown bear grinned, making Foxy snicker. "Well, the constant singing can be stressful for me. You're like my stress reliever."

"You're cheesier than the pizza here!" Foxy playfully teased, leaning onto Freddy's shoulder. "But I reckon I wouldn't mind being 'ere, even if just for that."

The atmosphere changed to a more serene one, and only now had Freddy realized that the dining area's lights were off.

"It seems everyone finished for the day." He commented, opening the curtain a bit and looking around. "Yup, come on, let's make those legs of yours moving, you can't sit here all day, silly fox!"

"Ahoy, boss." Foxy gave a toothy grin and with mechanical whirrs accompanying his movements managed to stand up and jump off of the Pirate Cove stage, with Freddy's hand help of course.

And so once again the remains of hope have been put back together. They didn't have all the answers but Freddy knew one thing – he would be there to help Foxy find that hope however many times it crumbled.