Metric
••• Black Sheep •••

hello again

friend of a friend, i knew you when

our common goal was waiting for the world to end

•••••

edit notes: add map bot and wet floor bots. because. because i love themb.

The weekend passed by in a crazy-neon blur and come maintenance day Monday, I almost considered calling in sick so I could just have time to rest.

But I didn't, so I swiped my card at the Pizzaplex's employee door at ten. Thank god for the late start time, as those three extra hours of sleep were desperately needed. I hesitated when I found Freddy waiting patiently for me at the base of the stairs of the lobby, before releasing a bewildered sigh and approaching.

  He'd been doing it for the past couple of days - waiting for me to arrive at work like an old, obedient dog. It was strange and a little awkward, but it seemed to make him happy, so I didn't have the heart to tell him to quit. With all the stress he was putting himself under for worrying Mandy and the staff, I was happy to humour him. 

  "Good morning, Manager Y/n!" Freddy chirped. "I hope you had a pleasant night."

"Morning, Freddy," I greeted. His expression brightened, and he took my bag like he was built to be a giant orange bellhop instead of the star of a band. I took the chance to pull off my coat. "I did, thanks." Lies. "Where's Mandy?"

"She is right..." Freddy looked around his perimeter and frowned. The bag lowered in his grasp. "Oh. I seem to have gone astray."

I smiled and patted his plastic arm as I passed. My bag was back over my shoulder despite his timid protests.

"Come on, big guy. Let's go find her." Poor thing was probably biting her nails down to the nubs looking for him.

Freddy followed me, using that slow amble of his to match my feeble human speed as we ascended the stairs and took the elevator to Rockstar Row. I called Mandy over the walkie-talkie to inform her that Freddy was found. She sounded close to tears in her grateful reply.

Beside me, Freddy's head lowered.

"You guys are going to be learning a new song today, right?" I asked with forced enthusiasm in an attempt to bring Freddy's mood back up. All I wanted to do was to curl up on the couch in my office and sleep. "That's exciting!"

"Mmm... yes..." Freddy hummed distractedly with a tilt of his head. His ears swayed with the movement. "It is."

"I've never been to a rehearsal before," I continued. Freddy's gaze drifted to me and I felt the weight of it as we passed the green rooms. "What's the usual process?"

"The sound technicians download the new sets into our mainframes. We then first perform the song to check if there are any bugs in the new programming," Freddy said robotically as we entered the utility tunnel that led us to the rehearsal room. "Pending all goes well, we move to the routine."

"Do you enjoy it? Performing?"

Freddy paused at my question, steps faltering. I slowed to a stop in the dark utility tunnel, illuminated only by the strips of yellow LED lights that lined the edge of the ceiling and his blue eyes. He seemed to be shaken. I took a hesitant step away from him.

"Freddy..?" I asked quietly. Fear suddenly struck me; what if he had snapped? Who would hear me screaming for help in this dark, desolate utility tunnel as I fended off a bloodthirsty animatronic? Nobody, not until it was too late. My throat began to swell with panic. "... Freddy?"

"Forgive me," Freddy began, eyes lost. I jumped when his low voice echoed within the tunnel, bouncing off the reinforced walls. His gaze settled on me. "I have never... been asked that before."

He was looking at me with that odd little stare he did, the one when he looked like he was trying to solve a mind puzzler. His eyes scanned my face long enough for me to start feeling uncomfortable.

"I do enjoy it," he finally answered, picking up a walk as he resumed the path to the rehearsal room. I released an inaudible, shaky breath and willed myself not to have a panic attack when there was only a robot bear around to bring me back down from it. "I was created for entertaining. If I put a smile on a child's face, then I feel satisfied. Making people feel happy... makes me feel happy."

I walked in silence beside Freddy and felt his words settle in the echoing silence between us. The concrete beneath his feet thudded loudly with each step, but even that wasn't enough to disguise the quiet, almost whispered question that came from the bear beside me.

"Are you... happy, Y/n?"

I slowed in surprise, not expecting such intimacy. Am I happy? What a juvenile question. What a simple query that immediately and indirectly ripped open all of my wounds and left me bleeding out.

I wiped my clammy hands on my pants and inhaled deeply.

"Yeah." I sent a practised smile his way. "For sure I am."

Freddy remained quiet, staring at the side of my face as I quickly swept my gaze away. I had the nagging sense that he didn't believe me but he didn't get a chance to press for the truth. We had finally arrived at the rehearsal room. I expelled a breath of relief, glad that our strange conversation was over.

The rest of the band, the handlers, Dennis, Elsa and two unknown staff members were already inside the massive chamber-like room. The two strangers were typing furiously on their laptops from desks before centre stage. One was wearing headphones.

•••• edited

"Ah, there they are," Dennis announced as the door audibly shut behind us. Mandy immediately paced over, face pale. Freddy was already apologising before she could stop in front of him.

"I am deeply sorry, Mandy," he said. "It was not my intent to wander off without you."

Mandy faltered, not expecting to be pelted with a genuine apology so fast. Her mouth opened and closed before the slightly fierce look in her blue eyes drained away entirely.

"You scared me," she finally said, and rightfully so. Freddy shifted beside me with a guilty wince.

"Great, we're all here!" Dennis clapped his hands excitedly. "Oh, Y/n, you're in for a real treat!"

I smiled in amusement at Dennis' contagious enthusiasm. There were a row of chairs behind a sound booth-type desk where Elsa led me to with the rest of the handlers.

"I don't usually oversee rehearsals," Dennis explained to me as we took our seats behind the desk. The unnamed staff with the headphones around her neck was walking around the animatronics and sticking a USB in a little socket hidden on their pinky finger. "That's going to be your responsibility, but I'll be with you today just in case you're unsure about anything."

"They're usually pretty straight forward," Elsa jumped in. She - the head of performances - would sit in to see what she'd be expected to work with. "No stress."

Joey took the seat beside me with a beaming grin. Mandy took the one on the other side.

"Ugh!" Roxy groaned in annoyance when she finished loading in the song. "Monty gets a solo again?"

The gator growled smugly, lips pulled into a sharp smirk as he hefted his bass with an extra spice to his movements. He was clearly pleased with his role.

"Can't help havin' this much talent, bushy tail," he goaded as he leant his snout towards Roxanne. "You should try it sometime."

Her grip on the keytaur tightened.

"Go flirt in the mirror like you always do, you overgrown frog," Roxy sneered, making Monty snarl back in warning. Chica hovered behind the wolf's shoulder worriedly as she watched the interaction.

"Freddy usually makes them behave," Joey murmured under his breath to me. We both glanced at the bear, but he was looking off in the distance, totally lost to reality. "Us handlers aren't allowed to get in between the bots when they have their little tantrums. Looks like he's still out of it, though."

Bonnie clearly must've been on the same wavelength as Joey, as he approached the dangerously angry robots and patted them both on their backs.

"Hey guys, come on, now!" the bunny chuckled brightly. "What's a little solo, right? I'm sure you'll get one in the next song, Roxy!"

Bonnie eyed the woman with the headphones in a silent demand. 'Give her that solo or we're all dead.'

"Yes!" the sound lady nodded quickly. "I've already started composing it! You're gonna have a badass solo, Roxanne, trust me."

Monty shrugged off Bonnie's hand with a snap of his teeth and an adjust of his star-shaped glasses. Roxy leant back on her feet with a resigned huff.

"I better," she muttered as she grumpily poked at her instrument's keys. Dennis and Elsa were talking quietly, heads together as if sharing a secret. I didn't miss the way their eyes would jump to Freddy.

"Alright," the sound person stepped back behind the sound desk and took a seat next to the other nameless man. I would later learn that they were Sasha and Rami, the composer and choreographer coder. "Let's begin with the first run-through. Freddy, grab your mic, please."

Freddy stared intently at the floor, not hearing the order. Sasha's brow furrowed and she turned to Mandy.

"What's up with Freddy?"

The nervous girl could only shrug in response. She was shaking, so I reached across and grabbed her hand to give it a reassuring squeeze. She sent a grateful, watery smile back.

After exchanging a worried glance with Bonnie, Chica grabbed the mic stand and brought it over to Freddy. She softly shook his shoulder pad and called his name.

"Yes, Chica?" Freddy finally returned to his senses.

"It's practise time, honeybear," she said gently. Freddy blinked in surprise before his gaze dropped to the mic stand that had been pressed into his loose grasp.

"Oh..." he murmured. His fingers gripped around the stand. "I apologise for holding us up."

I felt a hollow sense of sorrow in my chest as Freddy slowly ambled his way towards the rehearsal stage, frowning with his ears pinned back as he stood in line with the band. He looked troubled and deep in thought. What was going on in that binary brain of his?

Joey sat back in his seat and discreetly ran a stressed hand down his face. All this tension was making me feel nervous, like something was impending and we were slowly inching closer to disaster.

The song began when Chica stroked her electric guitar, coaxing the strings to release an attractive squeal. Bonnie and Monty jumped in immediately after with the drum and the bass, perfectly in time. If I hadn't know that they'd downloaded the song just prior, I would've figured that they'd been practising this new song for months.

After a loop of an upbeat rock tune that I genuinely enjoyed, Roxy began brushing her claws over the keys of her instrument. Her addition to the song lifted the melody entirely and made the 80s-themed punk-rock instrumental feel complete.

  "Oh, please," Joey begged under his breath as he nervously scratched his notched eyebrow. Mandy was clutching her arms. All eyes were on Freddy, and his were on the mic in front of him.

His quiet sigh travelled through the sound system. Then, he opened his fanged mouth and began to sing.

And if you ignored the cheesy, kid-orientated lyrics, the song was really good. Freddy's voice interwove impeccably with the instruments, deep and perfect and I felt Joey and Mandy on either side of me heavily relax when the bear began to perform without a hitch.

His expression was still unsettled.

Joey nodded his head to the beat of the rock song with a pleased smile. It was certainly catchy, and I even found myself tapping my finger on my knee in time with Bonnie's drums.

The bunny himself was going hard, concentrated solely on his instrument as the drumsticks went flying. He did a trick where, when there was a big enough break, he tossed one stick into the air and expertly caught it.

"Show off," Joey muttered, clearly having been watching his charge, too. I held back a giggle at his dryly bemused expression.

My gaze drifted back to the belting Freddy and I almost flinched when I found his eyes piercing me. Even from where I was sitting I could see the darkened blue of his optics and I felt flayed, exposed, naked under his stare. It wasn't the puzzled gaze he'd usually look at me with. It was something else entirely. Something a little more potent.

I lifted my knee to my chest in an act of nonchalance. Just to half-hide from his heavy gaze behind my leg.

I gotta talk about that with Jenkins.

As if noticing my discomfort and realising that he'd been grilling me alive under his heated stare, Freddy abruptly ripped his head to the side. The mic moved with him and the flow of his singing remained undisrupted.

A strange weight settled in my chest once his stare had been removed and it felt as if though I was choking on dry air. I swallowed, eyelids flickering, and prayed to god that Freddy would be fixed soon.

The song ended and Dennis began an enthusiastic round of applause that soon leaked to everyone.

Finding no issues, the routine practise was next. I watched everyone but Freddy.

I sneaked out after Elsa as soon as rehearsal ended, catching up with the brunette in the utility tunnels. She turned when I called.

"What's up, hun?" she asked kindly. My eyes darted around the tunnel as I tried to not look suspicious. I probably just made myself look more suspicious.

"Uh... Joey said that you'd might know," I said, beginning my question with an awkward grimace. Elsa titled her head. "Are the... are the animatronics built from parts of the old ones? The originals?"

"Oh!" Elsa chuckled and shook her head. "Oh, no, absolutely not. That technology is decrepit by today's standards. No, these guys are all made of brand new parts. Why the question?"

I reeled back a step and nervously smiled.

"... no reason," I said with a hand to the back of my neck. Elsa's eyes narrowed and I rushed to find an excuse to explain my behaviour. "Just, uh... I used to go to the pizzerias when I was younger. I was curious."

Elsa's face brightened. Unlike Freddy from before, it seemed that she'd bought my lie. "Ah, I see!"

As Elsa and I got chatting about the rehearsal on the way to lunch, I sullenly crossed out the possibility of possessed parts in my head.

⚡️🧸🤖🧸⚡️

"Hey, Y/n..." Arty's unsure voice came through my walkie-talkie. "... you know how to recalibrate an elbow, right? Over."

I paused, turning off my computer. It was knocking on two and I was just about to leave so I could get a quick rest in before returning at twelve for the night shift of glorified robot babysitting. I retrieved the device from the desk beside me and clicked transmit.
"... yes?" I answered, equally unsure by the proposal behind the vague question. "Over."
"Cool... cool..." Arty murmured. I waited patiently for him to finish. "Monty's punched a wall." There it was. "O- over."
"I'll be there in five, over," I said with an amused roll of my eyes. Shouldn't have been surprised by how bristled he'd been after his verbal tussle with Roxy in the rehearsal room.
"Thanks, Y/n! Over."
I hurried down Rockstar Row towards Monty's green room and hoped that it wouldn't take too long to fix. I'd been eyeing up my bed all day.
I felt a gaze as I passed by Freddy's room. I walked faster.
"Hey, guys," I greeted as I swiped my card and entered Monty's room. The gator was sat on his couch with a scowl on his face and one arm hanging limply. Arty had his arms crossed as he leant against the vanity.
"Y/n, hi!" Arty grinned as he stood from the table. "I've just been telling Monty here about using the punching bag in the back room that had been specially made for him instead of, you know, concrete walls."
"It got in my way," Monty grumbled.
Arty ignored him. "Show Y/n your arm."

Monty inhaled deeply before lifting his elbow with his hand for me too see. The joint was totally munted. That was far more than a simple recalibration job.
"It was from the shock," he grunted when he saw my eyes widen.
"Dude, that's... bad," I confessed as I ran my thumb over the bent metal and noted the amount of busted cables. "You're gonna have to go down to Parts and Services-"
"FUCK Parts and Services!" Monty roared as he scrambled to his feet. I jumped, heart beating fast and stumbling back in silent fear. Arty was quick to soothe the gator with his hands on his arms, totally unafraid as the gator panted heavily. I just realised how sharp Monty's teeth were as they glinted in the green lighting of his room.
"Sorry, Y/n. He's had some... bad experiences in the past with that department," Arty explained when he saw my pale expression. He turned back to the seething gator, who glared down at his handler through his glasses. "Back when Monty had less of a handle on his temper and they didn't try to help him."
"You can swear?"
Admittedly, I probably shouldn't have had that as my first response to nearly shitting myself after being frightened, as both gator and human turned their heads to me in bewilderment. It must've been the right one, though, as Monty's shoulders dropped their tension and his tail swung.
"... yeah," he muttered. He moved his head away with a subtle growl. "What's it t'ya?"

"Nothing," I said with a quick wave of my hands. Arty sent me a small smile as I turned to the walkie-talkie. "I'll just get Jenkins to bring the pieces over and..." I glanced back at the destroyed elbow and wondered if my area of expertise consisted of what Monty needed - it was way outside of my pay grade. "We'll hope for the best, I suppose."
Jenkins was quick to send us the parts required, including an entirely new hand as Monty's was a little bent, using a staff bot to speed it over. Monty returned to his laxed position on the couch and I perched on the cushion beside him. Arty remained close by, watching curiously as I tried to not break the gator any further and I found his closeness soothing as I sat in the shadow of the massive robot.
"Do you know what's going on with Freddy?" I asked Monty as I detached his forearm from his body. He watched me work in boredom. "He had another session with..." I eyed the way his lips were beginning to curl into a snarl and avoided the department's name. "You know. They can't find anything abnormal."
Monty scoffed. "Golden boy isn't acting so golden? S'if I'd care."
Arty sent Monty a disappointed frown. His tail thudded against the ground in retaliation.
"Alright," I shrugged as I stuck the new joint ball into place and reconnected the wires. Monty's red glare turned down to me, as if waiting for me to crack and beg for answers. I refused to.

Monty groaned and hung his head back. His glasses slipped to rest against his red mohawk.
"Freddy and Bonnie have been going to Bonnie Bowl a lot recently," the gator grumbled. "Jus' sittin' n' talking. Real intense-like."
My brows raised and I tried my best to not look too accomplished by getting him to answer. I reattached his arm and fiddled with the final wires.
"What about?"
"Beats me. Sorry, darl.'"
"So Bonnie does know something," I murmured as I sat up and admired a (hopefully) job well done. "I knew it."
Monty snorted and tested his arm when I moved away. It worked just fine.
"Oh, yeah," his rumbling voice agreed. "Where one goes, the other follows. Those two are inseparable. You should ask the rabbit what he knows."
I gave a slow nod. It'd have to wait when I returned for the night shift later on. Happy with his fixed joint, I patted his arm and stood.
"Thanks, Monty," I said with a smile. "You've been a real help."
"Ugh," Monty said in disgust as he pulled his glasses back down over his eyes. "Don't say that."
I giggled at his faux annoyance at being labeled anything positive. Arty shook his head with an affectionate grin.

"Your solo was really cool, by the way!" I added before I left his room. I just managed to catch the gator smile before he snuffed it out with a forced frown as the door shut.

⚡️🧸🤖🧸⚡️

Returning the Pizzaplex at midnight was strange.

There was a very stark dichotomy between daytime pizzaplex and nighttime pizzaplex. The usually bustling, loud lobby felt eerie as I walked across the glossy tile and I tried not to think too hard about the dark shadows that the dimmed lighting left. My steps echoed in the emptiness.
There was only one other human in the complex; a security guard named Vanessa. Dennis said that we shouldn't be crossing paths, however, so I may as well have been alone.
At least I was allowed to wear whatever I felt comfortable rather than the requirement to be in smart attire during the daytime. My fat pants and hoodie was a brilliant combo to spend an all-nighter in.
With the freedom of making sure the bots are settled and entertained and then doing literally nothing else all shift, I had the smart idea to scour the complex in case I stumbled across any evidence of the animatronics being possessed. Michael had once said that the old pizzerias were scattered full of suspicious items that pointed to something more sinister behind Fazbear's smiling logo.
I was determined to find something of a similar caliber.
I popped in to each green room to say a quick hello to the Glamrocks before they went in for a charge. Charging would usually take about a half-hour, which prompted me to do an initial sweep of the utility tunnels. I just had to be fast.

The labyrinth-like tunnels loomed darkly as I stood at the entrance. They were pitch black.

"Maybe next shift," I said to myself and closed the doors.
With my plans changed, I instead turned to exploring the more... open areas of the Pizzaplex.

My phone beeped while I was in the middle of Roxy Raceway, investigating the back rooms of each garage bunker. I stopped my search and sighed - that was my timer to let me know it was time to return to the bots. I had found nothing of value.
I took the short way back to Rockstar Row - crossing in front of the Daycare's entrance. I didn't hear the running metal feet until I was suddenly swept into the air.
A scream tore through the silence - my scream - as I grasped desperately at the skinny arms around my waist. My feet dangled above the floor at a dizzying height and I was unwittingly reminded of Monty's sharp teeth, Freddy's weird stares, Evan, Jeremy, Elizabeth-
"Hello, hello, hello!!" a voice exclaimed in my ear as I was swung around like a ragdoll. "New friend, new friend!!!"
I clawed at the metal around my stomach with broken sobs as I struggled. My heart pounded in my head, pushed against my chest, desperate to escape what surely was going to be an awful fate like those before. I shouldn't have gone off alone, why did I go off alone? I'd grown complacent, believed the vapourware lies and catchy songs and charismatic robots, forgotten the dark truth of the very place that I was investigating.
I should've stayed in my little office until morning, praying that my door would hold off the attacks from vengeful robots who wanted to put my fragile skull between their teeth.
Michael would be so disappointed in me. Michael would be so disappointed in me.

"Sundrop!"

The robot who'd grabbed me abruptly stopped his loud, incoherent rambling that sounded fuzzy and thick in my ringing ears. My heaving breaths came out in shaky cries as I hung numb and limp, legs swaying in time with the robot.
"Freddy! My good friend, Freddy! Oh, you're here, you're here!!" the robot gushed loudly. I clenched my watery eyes closed because of course Freddy was here. Evan's fate was going to be my own.
"Put her down, Sundrop," Freddy sternly ordered. The swaying of the robot stilled. "You're scaring her."
I was suddenly set down to the ground so fast that my stomach dropped. Hands grabbed my shoulders and a giant, smiling face was shoved into mine. I tried to flinch away with a frightened cry but his hands held me still.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no!!!" Sundrop cried as he held my shivering body. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, new friend!! Please, don't hate me! I'll- I'll bring you glitter glue!! How about some stickers??? Fizzy faz?!!"
"Sundrop, please-" Freddy began, ground shaking as he approached. My brain had all but disappeared on me, leaving only a blubbering mess of a scared little girl in its absence.
I could think only of frontal lobes being bitten off, of bodies stuffed inside suits, of the souls of those angry kids who were cursed to inherit those metal robots that had become their tomb.

"What's going on here?" a voice - a human voice - snapped as a woman approached. Freddy and Sundrop turned their heads.
"Officer Vanessa," Freddy greeted the security guard as she approached. He subtly began peeling Sundrop's fingers from my shoulders. I was too frightened to even look at the new person.
"Nessie!!!" Sundrop greeted brightly and launched away from me. He swayed in front of her, gleefully hopping from one foot to another. "Oh, hello, hello!!! I've made a new friend, do you see, do you see??!! I've gotta go get some glitter glue to make it up for scaring her, but-!!"
"Sundrop, how many times do I need to tell you that it's Vanessa," the woman snapped. Sundrop's swaying slowed. "God - you never listen. Go back to the Daycare."
Sundrop's shoulders slumped, and he comedically began dragging his jingling hands and feet as he sullenly made his way back to the Daycare. His disposition would've been amusing if it weren't for the very real look of misery on his face.
"And you two," Vanessa snapped as she aimed her flashlight at Freddy and I. "Why aren't you with the others? You're supposed to be entertaining the robots, not wandering around."

As if finally seeing my shakiness, Vanessa's stern attitude softened with a sigh. Freddy's hands were still on my shoulders and all I could see in my mind's eye was him leaning down and ending my life with his teeth.
"Jesus." She rubbed at her temple. "Sundrop always frightens the new ones. You good? Do you need some tea or something?"
I shook my head. I could feel my heart beating behind my eyes. I was afraid that if I blinked, it would stop.
"Leave her with me, officer Vanessa," Freddy assured. His hand slid off of my shoulder and instead cradled the middle of my back. "I will see to it that manager Y/n is taken care of."
Vanessa set a squinted glare on Freddy as she surveyed his honest expression, green eyes jumping between the robot and my face. She gave a sigh and a shrug.
"Fine by me," she relented. "You know what line I'm on if I'm needed."
Freddy gave a nod. "Thank you, officer Vanessa."
"I gotta finish my rounds," Vanessa said. She pointed a finger at Freddy. "Keep your new manager out of trouble."
"You can count on me."

Vanessa left, sweeping her flashlight to illuminate the shadows that the weak lighting couldn't reach, as if somebody could be hiding in them. Freddy moved to my front and knelt to one knee, almost at eye-level.
"Y/n, are you okay?" he asked. My unfocused gaze trained on his blue eyes. "I apologise for Sundrop. He is a little... much to begin with, but he only has good intentions, I promise you."
"Why did they make him look like that?" I whimpered. His stretching smile was branded to the front of my mind, too wide and uncanny. The memory of it made me shiver.
Freddy's brows furrowed in sympathy. A large, clawed finger caught a tear and I winced at the chill of the metal.
"You will see that he is a nice fellow," Freddy vowed as he stood, towering over me once more. He gathered more tears from my cheeks, the ones that couldn't stop leaking from fright despite my slowing heart. "You just met in... unfortunate circumstances. All he wants is to be friends."
I pulled in a deep inhale and I used the sleeves of my hoody to wipe at the remaining wetness. With my senses returning, a wave of fluster came over me. I just couldn't stop making myself look like a fool in front of Freddy, could I?

"God, sorry," I sniffled as I wiped both sleeves on my cheeks once I realised just how much I had cried. "This is embarrassing."
"Not at all, Y/n," Freddy soothed. "You do not need to apologise for being frightened. It's only a natural response-"
We both paused at the odd-sounding voice that crackled from Freddy's audio, all fuzzy and staticky and sounding nothing like himself. A metal hand flew to his throat.
"Voice box error," Freddy quickly elaborated with wide eyes and folded ears. "It is nearly time for my thorough monthly maintenance."
My brows dropped over my eyes in scrutiny. That couldn't have just been a voice box error, could it? He sounded- no, that couldn't be it... but my ears did catch it...
He sounded British?
"What's that?" I asked between sniffles as I wiped my nose. "Some kind of global voice box setting? Is Fazbear aiming to hit internationally?"
"They did consider it once," Freddy rushed to nod. His blue eyes were glued to the floor, brows knitted. His hand hadn't moved from his throat. "That must have been the remnants of such programming."
I wasn't entirely convinced but I couldn't think of any other explanation. His baffled reaction had me suspicious.
"We should return to the others," Freddy said, effectively changing the subject. His hand dropped back to his side. I nodded in agreement.
"Lead the way," I said.

The bear lead me back to Rockstar Row, where the others must've been waiting for our return. I hoped that I didn't look like too much of a mess after almost having a heart attack and then crying about it.
I watched Freddy as we walked.

The feeling of his fingers lingered.