A Guard's life

Forget, Forgot, Forgotten

A/N: With greetings to my Lionheart Anon for the idea~! It is FANTASTIC!

-

The morning was grey and cold.
Incredibly uncomfortable.
Time had passed in a flash, despite nothing at all seemingly happening.
Nothing of note, anyways.
The restaurant had become oddly busy- apparently people started craving entertainment when Halloween had passed and Christmas was far away.
Not that Mike would mind so much. He wanted his head filled with the busy buzz of nothingness, things to do that led nowhere. There was quiet pity underneath his uncaring shell, especially Jerry who constantly tried to get away, seemingly keen on doing something outside of the restaurant.
The kid looked... stressed.
But Simon refused to give him time off, this time around.
Once Mike managed to break apart from his apathy for long enough to ask him why he was doing that, Phone Guy simply stated that he was worried.
Well. It made sense. As horrible as Freddy's was, at least they were in control there, could overview whatever they wanted and in case of anything happening, they were THERE.
But on the other hand, the danger would not suddenly wither away, just because they ignored it enough, no matter how much they wanted it to.
Sadly, his apathy had returned with that thought, so he simply nodded and left.
This mood had taken control of everyone it seemed- even Old Sport, who didn't appear bothered at first was much more cold and reasonable than his usual self. For shame, for once Mike would have actually appreciated one of his outburst. Seeing Dave so apprehensive was... uncomfortable.
Again, maybe he should be doing something about it, but he wasn't.
Not even Christmas anything was happening.
It was then Mike's apathy slowly turned into anger.
Not anger aimed at a person, but rather at the universe itself.
Sure, they spend it together, the animatronics seemed to have fun-
But it wasn't enough to snap them all out of this weirdly oppressive tiredness looming over Freddy's in general.
He wanted an OUT.
It robbed them of two months AND fucking Christmas, now he wanted it to be DONE.
But... how?
It was partially his own fault, with how he treated Dave and Old Sport. To be fair, they deserved to be treated with the utmost contempt, but it didn't really lighten the mood of anyone.
With a deep sigh he opened the doors and entered the place. It was New Year's Eve, which mean for now it was calm- people prepared their own parties and since explosives weren't allowed at Freddy's- Baby's- ANYWHERE AROUND ANIMATRONICS- nobody was expected to show up, or at least not enough for it to be worth opening the place.
All stupid excuses.
Phone Guy kept the place closed down out of tiredness.
Everybody was so tired.
Phoney had mentioned everybody could might as well stay home- except Jeremy, who he had asked to watch over the robots with him.
Also a stupid excuse, which was obvious to everyone but him.
It was unusually quiet. There was no music playing in the background, giving all the other usually drowned out noise an almost echo-y feeling.
No animatronics were on stage.
Mike wondered if he should bust out the cameras in the security office to try and make sure they were close by.
Oh, what's this? A hint of motivation? Amazing.
Softly he waved at his friend, who was sitting in the distance, seemingly explaining something to the exhausted looking Jeremy, before making his way over towards the office.
It was the first thing he had been wanting to do out of his own volition and he would not let that go to waste.
Slowly he crept into the place, noticing that it was thankfully abandoned at the moment.
There was a god, it seemed.
When the system had booted up he lazily switched around, checking onto every room in hopes of finding out where the people were hiding.
The main stages were abandoned, but quickly he managed to find out where the people were hiding. Foxy was sleeping in the supply closet, squishing all the boxes under its heavy, metallic body. Baby was behind the curtains, watching Simon and Jerry, seemingly thinking she was invisible in her place. Jokes on you! No sins are hidden in this place. Someone is always watching. Freddy was apparently playing with Bonbon. At least Bonbon wasn't on his hand and he LOOKED rather amused as he searched around. Ballora's cameras were deactivated, but her music played and since she could be heard humming from time to time, Mike just boldly assumed she was in there and well-entertained.
Finally, his camera spotted the two colorful buddies sitting next to each other on the edge of... somewhere?
The angle made it rather hard to see in which room they were and on some days Mike was CERTAIN the place was actually growing and creating new rooms he hadn't seen before.
Doors popping up in strange places, making him question if he just walked down the wrong corridor or the place actually GREW these new places.
Seemingly they were talking, but the camera was glitching out a tad too much to tell what exactly they were speaking off. It didn't appear angry, or even stressed, but it wasn't happy either.
... usually it was incredibly entertaining to watch Old Sport go doing whatever, as you could never know what he would break out like the next time- he wasn't one to sit still for all too long.
But now it looked like...
... nothing much would happen.
For a moment longer Mike stared at them, deciding he might as well keep an eye on them as their biggest current threat.
Not like anything else called for his attention.
After what felt like an eternity, Old Sport seemed to say something to Dave and stood up to leave.
Realizing how tense he had been, Mike took a breath and stood up too, deciding to follow the man. Either he was doing something illegal and dangerous, worth to be stopped, or... Mike would have the chance to ask him to do something like that, so he wouldn't have to bear this incredible dull tension anymore.
Quickly he checked on the cameras again to figure out where he would go, following his path through the screens, until Old Sport finally left through the employee's only door towards the outside.
Freddy's always had only two exits it seemed.
That was pretty dangerous, wasn't it?
Then again, compared to everything else, it was probably one of the safer decisions Fazbender Entertainment had ever made.
Mike shut down in the computer and made his way towards the exit.
Meanwhile, Old Sport had gotten outside and already comfortable, pulling out a package of cigarettes he had bought from Matt.
If he didn't want to spend the next twelve hours pissing or rolling around on the floor in vague hopes of finding SOMETHING interesting, then he would have to waste some time here.
Hopefully Phoney would leave him alone- after all, there were no toddlers he could badly influence at the moment.
He leaned at the wall, taking a deep breath as his lungs filled with smoke. Quietly he stared into the gray sky, wondering about nothing in particular. Just a general sense of contemplation had taken ahold of him.
No snow it seemed. Well, on one hand that was convenient for the people that wanted to light up some fireworks, on the other hand it made the place look twice as depressing.
Hearing the door open and close again, he glanced over, to his surprise seeing Nemo of all people joining him, raising an eyebrow. "Huh, I took you more of the cocaine type."
"Usually I am. But we don't have an infinitive supply of coke laying around here, do we?" He chuckled, feeling tired and exhausted. "Plus I always do fun things on it and Phoney doesn't like me having fun. Want one?"
"Eh. They taste and smell disgusting. Also, they don't really do it for me anymore." Nemo shrugged, his eyes wandering along the street, before he shortly frowned and retuned his attention to the Orange Guy.
"For me neither, but it it's better than nothing. Though if we share the problem, feel like trying out something stronger?" His grin was sincere and the teen chuckled.
"If I still would be living with my parents I sure as shit would say yes, but... eh. Isn't really worth it anymore."
"Shit home?"
"Doesn't even START to describe the situation." A long sighed followed as the kid suddenly snatched his cigarettes and put one on. Not to smoke it, but to watch it burn it instead. Well, Orange Guy wouldn't call it a waste, if it managed to calm the kid down this way. "But I'm not really about to share my life story with some old creep."
"I'm not old!" The guy protested. "Wouldn't even want to know it anyways, I'm not about to play your dad."
"Oh FUCK you ain't going to play that piece of shit."
"Boy, if you don't want people to ask you, you better stop alluring to it, will you? Because you're begging for attention with that."
"You wouldn't understand. Not like you'd care anyways." There was a hint over overplayed drama in his voice- probably on purpose?
Deciding that he didn't feel like digging deeper Old Sport just returned to watch the sky. A swarm of birds flew by way up ahead. "But it's probably pretty bad when you spend New Year's Eve AND Christmas here."
Shortly Nemo looked surprised, almost caught, but he kept quiet.
"I've seen you lurking around in the back. Tried pretty hard to not get any attention, didn't you?"
Again the door opened in the back, this time it WAS Mike.
He stopped as soon as he saw the man had company, but unfreezed rather quickly. "What are YOU doing here?"
"The same thing you do? Avoiding work and hiding from the stench of dead hope in there?" As always, the teen sounded as if Mike was stupid for asking his question.
"Stop lurking." This was said with a low growl from Mike's side, as he had no time for his co-worker's attitude. Deep down he was happy though to finally have some sort of punching bag.
"Mfw, I go to work like a normal human being and get told to stop lurking."
"M f w?" Irritated Mike tried to figure out what it meant. "Motherfucking what?"
"Close, but no cigar." It resulted in the teen snorting, before inspecting the older guy. "Why are you asking ME though what I'm doing here? You're the one who could stay home and I dunno... GET yourself a family? Do your hobbies? Whatever? You're a grown ass man, get a life."
"Shut the fuck up." An even lower growl accompanied this.
"What an awesome argument, but for SOME reason I don't want to." Unimpressed Nemo played around with the cigarette he still was holding in his hand, waving a bit of smoke in Mike's general direction.
"I want to break your fucking skull right now." Without missing a beat he reached towards him and simply grabbed the glimmering end of it, putting it out like that. "Put that shit away, your underdeveloped brain can't handle even more damage."
"Ow, hard one!" Snickering he let the now extinguished cigarette fall on the floor. "I worry about my brain as much as you worry about your dick. Then again, I my brain gets more use then your dick... you know what, you're right, I'm risking too much here."
"I hate you so fucking much. Why are you even IN this job? WHY ARE YOU HERE!?" Was he freaking out way too much? Yes, yes he was. But it felt GOOD.
"For the money? Why are YOU here? Is there any OTHER reason to be here?" The kid shot back, his visible eye slimming a bit.
Old Sport in the back simply crunched popcorn that he had taken out from... somewhere... hopefully not his pockets... and leaned back, to enjoy his little show.
Sadly, that got Mike's attention towards him now. "What about YOU, fuckhead? You don't even get paid!"
"I'm in it for the banter-!"
Well, he said that in a jolly tone, but suddenly a loud noise interrupted Mike's ability to listen- some sort of ear ripping beeping drowned out everything else and forced him to step back and press his hands on his ears, frantically trying to escape the pain.
When it stopped, he opened his eyes again he had pressed shut completely automatically and looked at the mildly worried faces around him.
Old Sport started, frowning confused and actually a tad bothered. "Whenever I say I did it for the banter, SOMEONE freaks out. Gosh, what IS it with you people? Or is it just because you hang around Phoney so much?"
Equally as confused Mike reciprocated the look. "What the fuck are you even talking about- I take you didn't hear that shit?"
"Obviously not, seeing as you're the only one freaking out here. Geez, I thought you were about to speak in tongues, but you're probably not cool enough to get possessed." Nemo snickered.
"As if you even have SEEN a possession happening, you angsty teen." The kid was getting too much for him right now. HE WAS THE EXPERT ON FUCKING GHOST HERE. HE DEALT WITH THEM ONE ON ONE FOR FUCK'S SAKE!
"Oh, I can speak to ghost!" His grin grew even wider as he saw how badly he angered the other guy.
Thankfully Old Sport barged in. "Everybody at Freddy's can, get over yourself."
With a pained sigh Mike calmed down, shaking his head still disapproving, but feeling a bit better. Already he felt like his old self was coming back a bit. "Fucking idiot, let him believe whatever. I actually appreciate the pain his stupidity brings me. These last month have drained my fucking soul."
"Wouldn't know how that feels!" Old Sport answered, with a small smile. "But I agree, it's just been... deader than usually. I guess you HAVE to be dead inside or outside to work here, but lately it's just been excessive."
The angsty teen scoffed. "Who's fault is that, huh? You're the guys being all gloomy."
"No shit, Sherlock. But what can we fucking do about that?" Annoyed he responded, not expecting the kid to actually have any sort of solution...
"Well, what even IS the problem with you guys? Nobody is talking to each other anymore!" The way he said these words sounded almost like he took it as a personal offense.
"Shit happened, okay? And we can't just act like it didn't." Grinding his teeth, Mike forced that out.
"Why not?"
The response was so nonsensical that for a minute Mike was certain that actually Old Sport had been the one saying that, imitating the teen's voice. "What do you MEAN why not?"
"Why can't you just pretend it never happened?" The stare he gave was completely serious. "All you gotta do is to not act with that in mind anymore."
"What about the others- they would never-"
"Okay, how about you pretend you have amnesia? Both of you, actually?" Stepping back Nemo looked at them expectantly.
Absolute silence.
There actually WAS no good reason not to.
Slowly the Orange Guy and Mike looked at each other, then finally a familiar grin took place on the face of said Orange Guy. "You know what? I'm down for that. Let's make them squirm for a bit."
Still hesitant, Mike looked aside. "That will probably scare the shit out of Simon."
"And you think not out of Dave? They're going to survive! And it's a nice shake up! Play along Mike! Or don't and I'll do it myself!" His tone was playful and thankfully he wasn't talking about anything too bad, so...
"Alright... for a day, I guess." A bit grumpy he agreed.
Nemo smiled, clapping his hands. "Great. You two- lay down or something. I get the others and then you can start the play!"
"In the dirt?" But despite his complaints, Mike followed the instruction. The angsty teen disappeared in the door, leaving them to wait. "... He better not just letting us lay here like idiots. If the guy doesn't come back, I will feed him to Freddy myself."
Thankfully, there would be no need to!
Loyally Nemo rushed right into the main hall, where conveniently all of the Guards were standing together, talking to each other- seemingly about Baby, who casually sat at the side of the stage, letting her legs dangle.
Though, it could not have been TOO important, seeing as the running teen instantly got all of their attention.
"YOU GUYS GOTTA GET OUT HERE, MIKE AND ORANGE FUCKING DIED- THEY JUST FELL OVER, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HAPPENED!" Sounding properly terrified and out of breath due to the sudden sprint and a bit of theatrical talent, Nemo leaned onto a chair, waiting to see if his lie would be believed-
Oh yep.
Simon jumped up, in utter shock. "MIKE- WHAT?"
Dave didn't even bother reacting, but was merely a purple bolt past McNobodyWillEverUnderstandMe and was outside a minute before the others.
Without waiting a second he picked up Old Sport and carried him inside, not caring what the others were doing.
Since there was no place to lay him down properly, Dave carefully placed him on a table, refusing to let him go and leaned over him, trying to find some sort of response in his face. "... Old Sport... hey... can you hear me...?"
At this point Simon had entered too, making another distressed noise, as he placed Mike on a chair instead.
He also tried to shake him and wake him up, softly patting against his cheek. "Mike? Mike, you can't- you CAN'T-"
"Stop fucking touching me." Oh.
Well, Mike never had been the best actor.
Angry he stared at his friend, before several more emotion mixed under that.
"Th- thank god! Mike, w-what happened? Are you alright? Why were you-" Phoney started, but was roughly interrupted.
"Not to sound rude- actually, I don't care- Who the living fuck are you?" Nervously his glance wandered to Old Sport.
What the fuck was he supposed to act like?
How do people without memory act like?
Damn it, why even try, it's not like they could do anything about this, right.
Simon looked pale, or at least to Mike, despite the fact that Simon's face wasn't there. "M-Mike, stop that! This i-isn't funny!"
"How do you know my name?" Snarky he replied, crossing his arms.
"Wh- What do you MEAN how?! You're my- you're my co-worker!"
At first there was only a raised eyebrow, but then a sudden smirk was across his face. "JUST your co-worker?"
Freezing up Simon looked at him, baffled. "W-what?"
The guy leaned his head from side to side, the smirk growing into more of a grin, as he radiated some true asshole energy, akin to the one usually reserved to cats. "Just a shot in the dark, you know... but you seem a BIT worked up for just a guy working with me."
"M-Mike, you're f-fricking with me, I-"
"Oh, I'm FUCKING with you? Well, that explains your reaction then." The little shit was grinning widely, finally being into this whole play pretend.
Especially when Simon was so flustered. "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, MIKE, YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"
"Can't do what?" Stretching himself fully, Mike snickered. "What's the problem, Simon?"
"S-SEE!? YOU KNOW MY NAME! MIKE HECKING SCHMIDT-" There were a few beeps coming out of the heating up phone.
"Uh." Shortly he paused. "Well. You look like a Simon to me! Don't know where that fucking association comes from."
Old Sport coughed and blinked, seeing as Mike probably needed a bit of help. Dave was only an inch away from him.
Buddy boy.
"Sportsy? Are ya alright? Did ya lose your memory too?" There was not that much panic in Dave's voice, either he also didn't believe this scene, or he just wasn't too worried about his partner's memory.
"Too? What- okay, okay- from the beginning-" Old Sport sat up on the table, looking around the restaurant. Everybody's eyes were on him now and Simon moved closer, his body shaking with rage.
"Y-you're BOTH in on this?!"
"In on what?" To be frank, Simon's reasonless stress was pretty amusing.
"You know w-what?! I play your game- what DO you remember?!" This question came from Simon, but Dave leaned a bit closer at that, his whole attention on Old Sport.
"I remember..." Old Sport considered his options. "... I remember... working... at a small Fredbear's..."
Dave whined at that and confused people shortly glanced at him. "Fredbear's had been closed for a fuckin' while now, sorry to tell ya..."
"What? Closed? Why?" Playing shocked, he jumped up to stand with the others, but tumbled and leaned against the table once more.
"Because... well..." Dave shook his head. "Didn't know you ever worked there, Sportsy..."
"... can't say I recognize you either?" With a soft smile the Orange Guy looked at him.
"Oh, that's easy, I'm your husband!" The response was said with a wide, glowing grin.
Great, he should have known Dave would pull something like this. "Ah...?"
Mike in the back snickered, enjoying seeing his frenemy struggle to this degree.
But Old Sport wouldn't give up all that easily. "Then... why don't we wear matching rings? Or any rings for that matter?"
"Not supposed to, because, ya know, could get stolen or stuck on somethin'. We have them at home!" There was such an earnest tone in his voice that Old Sport started to believe that Dave DID have a pair of rings hidden away.
"We do?!"
"Of course we do!" Smiling Dave petted his hair. "Told ya, we're married! Did ya thought I was lyin'?"
"I would never..." He got what he deserved for lying it seemed.
Thankfully Jeremy now stepped towards him too. "Dave, don't- d-don't lie to him. You aren't married-"
"VERY FUNNY, JERRY, AIN'T YOU A KIDSTER!" His expression threatened him with disembowelment.
The kid stomped down with his feet, surprising both of them. "STOP. OKAY? THIS IS NOT FUNNY." He hugged himself, his misery radiating from him to a point that actually Marion climbed out of his back, softly massaging his shoulders.
"Jeremy? What is going on?" The ghostly animatronic protectively moved between him and the other people in the room.
"Old Sport hurt his head and now doesn't know who he is anymore and Dave thinks it's funny to tell him lies- we have to help him return his memories, not telling him conflicting- n-nonsense!"
After this rant Old Sport was the first to talk again. "J- Jeez, are you alright, kid?"
"No... I feel sad... I- Old Sport, you're my friend- and lately all is just... going wrong..." Despite having no eyes, he looked close to crying.
Both undead creatures looked at each other, before rushing to comfort the boy. "Oh, come on, I just have a little memory issue, don't worry! It's going to be fixed up in no time- how- how about you tell me about all the things I've seemingly forgotten about and I- I will probably remember everything super quick!"
Sniffing Jeremy looked at Mike. "A-and what about him?"
"Oh, he- you know, I think Simon is the best man for taking care of his memory issue." Softly the Orange Guy grabbed his wrists and took him away, Dave still looking murderous, but staying well-behaved at their side- especially with the Puppet watching.
Simon watched them walk off, before turning back towards his friend, who somewhat friendly tilted his head as he looked at him.
"So, what do we two beauties now do here all on our own?" There was no telling if he said that sarcastically or meant flirtatious. In either case, the Phone Guy wasn't pleased.
"We two? We two have a nice, long explaining session in front of us, where you'll explain me what the HECK has gotten over you! This- this, uh, isn't funny, especially not now!"
"Why "especially not now"? What is happening so horrible that you can't take me fucking around?" The annoyed groan this resulted in made Mike smile even more.
"W-What do you mean WHAT happened- Mike, I know you remember, you're doing a- a, uh- horrible job at pretending to not be!" Irritated Phone Guy stared at him. "We need to-"
"Yes?" Interested he leaned closer, he didn't know Phoney had hidden some sort of plan from him before.
"I- We should- well-" Wrong alarm, he actually had no idea. "We should not be doing THIS, Mike!"
"Okay, fine, then let's do something fucking else, if you're this bothered." He stood up and without warning he picked up Simon by the hips, putting him over his shoulder, resulting in a shocked shriek.
"MIIIIIIIIIKE-!? WHAT- MIKE, YOU-"
The laughter he heard cut him off. "I wanted to see if I can carry you! And I was fucking right, you're a fucking TWIG!"
He spun around with his co-worker, who desperately tried to keep ahold of him. "I- I, uh- I demand you to stop!"
"What are you going to do if I don't?"
"Y-you'll be getting a- uh- shift with Dave!"
"Oh, I am SO scared. Fucking- can't take it. LITERALLY SHAKING!" Grinning Mike put him finally down. "I don't even know what would be so bad about that, because I lost my fucking memories!"
"You didn't. Please Mike. Please, this is just..." Exhausted Simon fell back and sat down.
"..." Usually he wouldn't know what to do, not daring to act out, but now he had a somewhat valid excuse. So he leaned in and hugged him.
Quietly Simon hugged him back tightly. "Mike, I have just... no idea what to do."
"That's okay. Fuck. Most of the time, nobody does. Maybe just fucking... sit back? Take a break? As long as nobody's on fire?"
"Says the guy who breaks out screaming whenever someone asks him if he had seen the pink fox." A quiet snort followed those words.
"... I HAVE NO MEMORIES OF ANYTHING REGARDING ANY FOXES, BUT IF I HAD THEM, I WOULD TELL YOU THAT I'M TRAUMATIZED FROM WHAT PEOPLE WANT TO DO WITH IT." It wasn't directly screamed, but said with a LOT of conviction.
"... well, you yourself did some questionable things to that fox." Simon was finally ready to fight back.
"No I didn't."
"How would you know?"
"Because I AM myself and know what I would do!" The man was NOT willing to sacrifice his good name.
"Okay, fine, what WOULD you do? How about..." Simon made a hum and thought back of the things Mike ever did. "... playing a sunshine princess for a bunch of kids?"
"I will break your kneecaps and devour them afterwards." That memory was seemingly not appreciated.
"What about sipping bleach and then hiding in the office under the table to hide it actually DOES hurt, but you're too "badass" to admit it?" He had been let go at this point and used his newfound freedom to stand up and corner him.
"Oh, but you- you LOOK LIKE A MAN THAT WOULD cry over having a paper being ripped a bit." Quickly he shot back, standing his ground now.
"IT WAS AN IMPORTANT PAPER! I CARRIED IT THROUGH THE RAIN AND WIND WITHOUT A SCRATCH AND THEN YOU COME UP AND ASK TO LOOK AT IT AND THEN YOU- GAH! I'M STILL MAD!" He wasn't as mad as his words were trying to convey.
"You're-" cute when you're pouting, was what almost came out of his mouth, but he swallowed it before it came out, growing red.
Confused Simon noticed that and came a bit closer again. "What was that?"
"You're- you're a fucking idiot, you know that?" It didn't come out quite right.
"Did you just stutter? That's usually my job!" There was a soft laugh and again he proceeded to step closer, forcing the other man backwards.
"Must have- f-fucking imagined that!"
"What were you going to say, really now?" Oh, he didn't REALLY care that much about it, but he enjoyed having Mike this flustered.
"What did you think, huh? Stop getting off on seeing me like this. Are you SURE we aren't fucking?" Trying to go in for the kill, he was convinced that Simon would back off after that.
Sadly he was wrong. "You know yourself and what is possible, so... is that implying you WOULD?"
For that he got an honest of god shriek from the other guy.
This was a lose-lose for Mike, no matter how he answered- "W-Well, how the fuck would I know?! I mean- yeah, sure, I fucking know myself, but- the way you- the way you act towards me is just- it's not my fault you ACT like that is the case!"
Finally Simon backed off. "Alright, alright, buddy, I'm sorry. I, uh... I just wanted to be, uh... a bit of a mean guy."
"Sometimes I hate you, I really do." Groaning Mike orientated as to where he currently was standing and headed to the nearest chair, staring him down. "You really WANT me to- to think that way, huh?"
Simon coughed, now also embarrassed. "You, uh- you should better leave it here, otherwise we'll- I'll shoot back again and we'll be d-discussing this all night."
Suddenly a sting of boldness rushed through Mike's veins. "It's not like you have anything better to do. But you know what, I'll fucking one up you- give me a kiss, let's see if I remember the truth then!"
Oh, he got the sentence OUT with seeming confident, but as soon as he finished, his face grew twice as red and he wanted nothing more than to take it back...
... but that wasn't his style.
Both of them were flustered beyond believe now and quiet... so at least Mike won here?"
WAIT
NO
Simon wasn't ready to back down yet. "... never, uh-, never had a New Year's kiss before..."
Dear lord, Mike would fall over in a minute. "I- I will go and look at those... others. That I don't know. To make sure they don't fucking... do things."
With that he scuttled away under Phoney's watchful rotary.
In the further part of the restaurant Old Sport and Dave were intensely staring at each other.
"I swear to ya, if ya do this, you will be reminded of me in no time!" Enthusiastic Dave grinned, as he looked at Old Sport, who was more or less covered in confetti, provided by the hysterically laughing Funtime Freddy.
"I don't think this actually has to do with anything we ever did together." The Orange Guy was wearing the Fredbear head and standing on a chair, in front of a big bouncy ball. "Why do you think me running on a rubber ball while wearing my mask would give me back my memory?"
"It won't, but it sure as shit gonna be a ton of fun!" Happy Dave stepped back to give him the space he would need to balance on the ball for more than a second. "C'mon, Sportsy, do it for ya lover!"
Jerry yelped. "Don't manipulate him like that! If you know it won't help, then don't tell him to do it..."
"You know Dave, I don't really trust you here." Carefully he stepped off the chair. "I'm not feeling it."
Worried Dave stretched his neck out towards his orange companion. "Well... ya wanna see me do it? I could prove it to ya, it's fun!"
"Hm..." The offer was tempting, but as he took off the costume head, he wanted to come up with something more appealing. "... sure, it would be fun to see it, but how about... how about you rugby tackle Funtime Freddy instead?"
"You wanna see me wrestle the bear to quench ya bloodthirst? Right on it!" The Purple Guy seemed excited, but Funtime Freddy was hurt... as hurt as he could be, I suppose.
"D-Daaad! Why w-would you- you- you wan--n-t to h-urt me?! B-BON-bon! A-ArE they s-serious?!" Shocked he looked at his little companion, who seemed actually somewhat surprised.
"Oh, they don't mean it! They're just being funny people! They wouldn't try to attack us!" The small bunny looked pleadingly over to the Orange Guy, who smiled a bit.
"You're right bunny! It was a joke, actually I wanted..." His grin grew a bit wider. "... I want you to hug Mike and the Phone Guy. You looked like you don't really like them, so... I'd like to see that fixed."
Insulted Dave scooted back, hissing. "Are ya kiddin' me, Old Sport? Those two are dicks! They almost fuckin' killed both of us!"
"Did they? Can't seem to remember..." He chuckled. "I thought you'd do anything to help me get my memory back?"
"That's fuckin' blackmailin'!" The Purple Man exclaimed, seemingly actually worked up. "Ya don't understand our situation here!"
"That's true. But I still want you to do it. Come one, for New Year and for your so-called "Lover" you can swallow your pride!" Poking him a bit jokingly, Old Sport wondered if he would back out.
Funtime Freddy agreed. "H-HUGS?! N-New Year H-HUGS!? Those are- are AWESOME! I- I CAN g-Go Huuuug w-with you! Me and B-BON-BON LooOOOOoVE hugs!"
"I don't wanna give out hugs!" Unhappy Dave crossed his arms. "At least not to those two!"
"Then you don't love me enough it seems!" Playing insulted and hurt, he turned away.
"I- Sport- ya know what?" Ooooh, he was pissed now. "Imma do it, but ya owe me big time for that one. Phoney will kill me and you'll be regrettin' this day!"
"If you get attacked, maybe THAT reminds me!"
"Don't act really forgetful at the moment here, Sportsy." Grumbling the humanoid Eggplant stood up and made his way towards the main hall, where he last had seen the other two, running into Mike on the way and just without warning or comment grabbed him and pulled him into a hug.
Naturally, Mike instantly proceeded to fight him off. "DON'T TOUCH ME YOU FUCKING PSYCHO!"
"HOW DO YOU EVEN KNOW I'M A PSYCHO?"
"JUST FUCKING LOOK AT YOU!"
They ended up wrestling on the floor, only interrupted when Freddy's heavy footsteps rushed over.
"G-GROUP HUUUUUUG!" A giant metal machine jumped onto them, both of the BARELY managing to dodge it, as the loud crashing rang through the whole building.
This attracted Simon. "Mike?! What, uh- what happened?! Gosh DARN, I can't leave you for- uh- for five minutes!"
Bolting up, Dave saw his chance and rubgy tackled Phoney, to put him into a headlock that may or may not could be misunderstood for a hug. "HERE PHONEY I AM HUGGING YOU BECAUSE WE'RE SO GOOD FUCKIN' FRIENDS!"
"L-let me go! What- what's happening!?" Helpless the Phoney squirmed around.
"I AM SHOWING YOU ALL MY FUCKIN' AFFECTION, BUDDY. WE SHOULD BE GREAT FRIENDS FOR THE NEW YEAR-!"
"I GET THE FIREWORKS, JUST P-PLEASE LET ME GO-"
Old Sport had laughed loudly, but at that he tried to pause with his snickers. "We have fireworks?!"
"YA REMEMBER ME YET OR DO I NEED TO CUDDLE 'EM MORE?" Dave tightened his grip, making the poor man choke.
Softly Orange Guy snickered. "OH- MY MEMORIES! THEY HAVE RETURNED! Let him go, I want to hear about the fireworks!"
"Me too." Mike had rushed up and hissed as he saw the Purple Guy letting Phoney go. Maybe he was a bit disappointed about not being able to crush Dave's skull with good reason.
Being finally free, Simon scrambled up and looked rather peeved. "U-uh... I got some... so we could at least SOMEWHAT celebrate..."
The small guard in the back spoke up again, after having stepped back from the whole situation for a while. "That's- that's good! I brought some snacks too, since... I wasn't sure if you would want to make something fresh or even- use the kitchen... so... m-muffins anyone?"
The Guards looked at each other and nodded, prompting Jerry to get out a box and handing all of them some. A soft smile sneaked onto his face. "Do we want to go out then, to- watch the sky...?"
"Is it, uh- already so late?" Surprised Phoney checked the time to realize, apparently YES, it was so late already. "I swear to god, something is eating our time..."
"Hey." Mike barged in. "Where the fuck did the teen disappear to, actually?"
Nobody could say it, but Old Sport shrugged it off. "He probably is glad he got rid of us all and can nap somewhere in the back. I used to do that a lot too. Let's not worry about it, come on people!"
He dragged them out and they got in position- the animatronics actually quietly followed them out, waiting for the show.
All of them were standing together and enjoying the silence.
For this year, there were no big resolutions, no plans... not even a marshmallow roasting...
... but that was okay.
They knew what they hoped for.
Again, they had survived one more year together, not unscarred, but they still were themselves and they still could go on.
That was something to celebrate in itself.
The air was cold and they stood close together to negate the chills from the blowing wind.
None of them was sure how long they waited, but finally, the first fireworks were audible and then proceeded to explode in the sky. Quickly, more followed, a lot more and from the distance to the main part of the city they actually had the best view, with no high buildings obscuring it.
The colorful lights lit up the faces of the watchers and each of them was enchanted in their own way.
In the middle of the spectacle, while the most fireworks went off and were exploding, Simon grabbed Mike and pressed his rotary against his lips.
It was incredibly odd, cold against warm, flesh against smooth acrylic glass, but it made Mike's heartrate shot up by a thousand and when he was let go, he stumbled back.
"A-ah?" That was all he could get out in that second and probably the rest of the night, as his whole brain decided to buzz and do nothing else besides that. "A- I- W-"
For a moment Simon looked at him softly, something he could feel, despite there being no eyes-
"D-Do you, uh- do- I-" Phoney giggled hysterical. "R-Remember me now...?"
"... I- I- swear to- You know- that- I-" Thankfully the darkness slightly covered up the deep shade of red, but every exploding light exposed him again and again. "Y-yeah."
That was the most he managed to get out, before quieting down.
When Simon looked away and at the sky again, he felt his hand being taken.
And he smiled.

-

A/N:
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
ENJOY!
BE HAPPY!

OH GOD
ALMOST FORGOT!
LOOK WHAT THE WONDERFUL oralite did for me!

I LOVE YOU!
HAPPY NEW YEARS TO YOU ESPECIALLY!