Freddy kept an eye on the time as he sat in the break room with his bandmates waiting for you to show up for your lunch break. This was the first lunch break you'd be taking with them since the PizzaPlex reopened. Everyone had agreed that eating in front of Chica would be a bit cruel since the girl was trying so hard not to eat. She, however, felt that she was ready to try. All of them were there to support her in case she slipped up. He was happy for her for trying to take another step forward.

He was also happy to be getting some time with you, especially without Adam there to sour the mood. His bandmates had a talk with him yesterday about leaving you alone. He really hoped Adam would listen. It grated on his nerves that he rejected you and had the audacity to still hang around. You deserved better than to have your spurned love thrown in your face like that.

"I'm here! Sorry if I'm a little late, I was busy with something." You said, walking in with your lunchbox. Freddy stood up, and pulled out your seat for you.

"You're fine. Don't worry about it." He reassured you as you sat down. He gently slid your chair forward.

"Thanks, Big Guy." You smiled at him, and he felt that familiar warmth radiate from his chest cavity at the now familiar nickname.

"Anything for you, Sweetheart." He tried the nickname he had been itching to use for the last few days now. It wasn't something he could explain, because he didn't quite understand it, himself, but he decided to follow his impulse to see what would happen. You smiled at him while your cheeks became an adorable shade of red.

Feeling like he accomplished something big, he took his seat next to you. You pulled out your lunch, and his gaze briefly flicked to Chica. She, surprisingly, looked very composed. A sense of pride shot through him. This was the most put together she had ever looked when this close to food.

"So, Sugarcube, how was your day?" Chica asked, drawing you attention away from your food.

You then launched into a retelling of your very busy morning. The day was already half over, and you had already done so much. He really admired your passion for everything you did. Anything you deemed worthy of your time got your full attention, and always went about it in the way you thought was best. It was one of the many things he liked about you.

"Excuse me, oh- I didn't realize you guys used this room for lunch breaks." came the very unwanted voice of Adam. Freddy flicked his gaze from you to the intruder, and felt his metaphorical hackles begin to raise.

"Hi, Adam. Didn't expect to see you here." You said, as he walked in. Freddy fought back the urge to kick him out, which was extra hard since he seemed to catch some sort of attitude since his friends talked to him. Normally, he'd back down a little when Freddy gave him the stink-eye, but today he all but ignored him. That did not sit well with him.

"Oh, (Y/N), you have something on your face." He said once he was close enough to you. Freddy scanned your face, and found nothing. Just what was he talking about?

"I do?" you asked, running a hand all over your face to wipe away the imaginary object. Freddy was about to tell you there was nothing there when Adam leaned in real close to your face.

"Here, let me-" his hand extended and lightly touched your face.

Freddy saw red, as he quickly moved you away from him and felt a low growl emanate from his voice box. Adam had the audacity to give him a raised eyebrow. This guy rejected your affections and he thought he could just worm his way into them again? He may not know much about human relationships, but he knew plenty about mind games, and he was certain that was a mind game he was trying to play on you. You deserved better than that! So much better!

"Uh, Freddy?" Your voice pulled him out of his rage induced haze. He looked around and saw everyone looking at him with a variety of expressions. He then realized he had hugged you to his chest plate. He quickly set you down from his grip.

"Oh, I am so sorry, (Y/N)! I have no idea what came over me!" He apologized profusely. Thankfully, you seemed more confused than upset.

"Freddy, I'm fine. Are you okay, though?" You asked, worried for him. He wanted to gloat that you attention was on him and not Adam, but he pushed it down. Now wasn't the time.

"Yeah, I just... uh..." his mind scrambled for an excuse. You slowly gained a look of understanding as you came to your own conclusion.

"I think I know what's bothering you, and I'm sorry." You said, confusing and concerning him at the same time.

"What do you have to be sorry for?" he asked.

"You guys went from seeing me 24/7 to only seeing me during breaks or maintenance. I also haven't really hung out with you after my shifts like I promised I would. I've had a lot on my mind since my promotion, but that's no excuse for not making time for my friends." You grabbed a hold of his hand, and looked you deep in the eyes. He felt his fans kick on from how he was beginning to overheat.

"You don't need to be jealous of my blooming friendship with Adam. You guys will always hold a special place in my heart. You especially, Freddy. You've become my best friend, and no one can ever replace you." You said, and he felt like he was on top of the world.

"You're my best friend too! I can't imagine how my life would be right now if you hadn't shown up." he admitted, and the two of you shared a warm smile.

"OH COME ON!!!!" Roxy shouted, and the two of you turned to look at your friend group. Monty was banging his head against the table repeatedly, Roxy was pulling her hair while looking like she was seconds away from exploding, and Chica merely had her face in her hand. Even Adam looked frustrated about something. Freddy couldn't stop the smug expression from crossing his face. That's right, you mind game player! He had a special spot in (Y/N)'s heart.

""What's with all of you?" You asked, and they all groaned as if in pain.

"I hate to leave you all so suddenly, but I DO need to get back to my station." Adam said, making a quick exit. Freddy shot him one last look of triumph. He didn't like to brag too much, but he'd make an exception for Adam. He TOTALLY won that interaction! Serves him right for continuing to show himself even after his friends warned him off.

"Look, if it'll make all of you feel better, I can hang out with you tonight after my shift." You said, and the other three just looked at you with a deadpan expression.

"Sure, Little Lady. It'd be nice to just goof off with you again." Monty said, breaking up whatever their mood was with a small smile.

The rest of lunch went on uneventfully. You ate your meal without upsetting Chica one bit, and they all made plans to visit the DJ that evening. All in all, Freddy would say it was a good break.

____________________

Kevin watched as Freddy shut himself down for the technical maintenance. He was very happy to finally be doing the job he wanted to do this whole time. He and a few others were seriously hunting down different jobs on the side considering how miserable their work lives had gotten, but no one paid as well as the PizzaPlex, and his rent was expensive. That was why he was very surprised by you earlier that day.

He really expected you to be an Odwell 2.0, especially how you ambitiously climbed the ladder in a way that reminded him of just how power hungry the old bat was. Sure, you started off professionally, but when he pushed back a little, you retaliated by rubbing your newfound power in his face. That really didn't leave a good impression on the rest of them. Sure, you made your point that the animatronics wouldn't hurt them, but he thought you made it clear that you cared more about the machines than you did them. Some resigned themselves to their new fate, but he and a few others didn't.

Then this morning's meeting happened. You had proven their assumptions wrong by not only cleaning Doris' mess, but also asking them what they thought and had left yourself open to help them with anything and everything they may have issues with in the future. Kevin never thought of himself as a mature person, but even he had to admit that he was wrong about you. Especially since you gave him the opportunity to actually do the job he applied for in the first place.

And now he can use his job as a chance to prove to himself once and for all that the animatronics weren't alive. He never got to look at their coding before, and now as a technician, he could. There had to be a line of code somewhere that allowed them to project such realistic emotions, and he was going to find it.

He shared a look with the other technicians, and they all nodded in unison. They were going to do the same for the others. Today, they would prove that there was no life underneath all those wires and metal.

Kevin started his journey, making sure to look for bugs and glitches as was his job. He looked, and he looked, and no coding was making itself known. He shared a confused look with Maisy. Apparently she was as successful as he was. He went right back to looking. There was extra coding to keep them from connecting to Bluetooth for some reason. He left it alone, assuming it was there for a reason. After so long, he realized that the coding he was looking for simply wasn't there.

He sat back and pondered on exactly what that meant. Sure they had coding to be friendly to guests, but that was about it when it came to behavioral coding. Which meant that all their reactions and emotions...

No! There had to be an answer! If it wasn't in their coding, maybe it was in their memories! He plugged in his earbuds so he could hear what was going on in the memory. He looked through Freddy's memories and stumbled across one when the animatronics spent that week with you, and it made him stop in his tracks.

Freddy was crying. No, not just crying. Grieving. He was grieving HARD. And it was over Bonnie. Losing the rabbit had a profound impact on the bear, and there was nothing in his coding to suggest that there was a command or program to force him to have that reaction. Emotions as strong as that had to come from somewhere. Which meant...

"They really are alive." he said to himself, but he was sure the others heard. He was proven right when they came over to see what he discovered. He handed them his ear buds and played the memory he just watched. He leaned back as they watched one by one, and came to the same conclusion he did. They all shared a look of guilt.

Freddy was full on grieving over a robot they had truly believed was never alive. A robot they had refused to fix when he became broken. A robot that Freddy had apparently viewed as his brother. He was in this much pain because the didn't do their job to fix his friend, and now... and now it was far too late to do anything about it.

No wonder you had been so adamant about treating them well. If this was what you saw in them, then it made sense why improving their quality of life was so high on your priority list. There was so much to apologize for. So much to make up for. So much to regret.

Kevin took a deep breath, and resolved himself for what he had to do. He didn't know how the others would feel, and he didn't care. He was wrong. He needed to apologize, and make things right. He doubted he'd ever succeed, but he'd never be able to look himself in the mirror again if he didn't at least try.