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eyndr-stories · 2 years

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Chester and the Jesters (FNAF SB fanfic) C4 - Electricity by any other name

In Summary:

The new tech sure does seem a little strange. Chester (at least, that's what their name tag says) doesn't seem as concerned as they should be about the high turnover rate here at Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizza-Plex, or the numerous rumors about what happens to people who take the night shift. And to make matters worse, there seems to be some kind of criminal on the loose! The cops say they think the criminal is hiding out in the woods somewhere near the pizza-plex. Stress is high at the plex these days, but Chester is stoic as ever. Say, come to think of it, no one can seem to remember where Chester's application went or who they interviewed with. Their employee file is misplaced or missing just like everything else in this place. But the new tech does a good job completing their tasks, and has their own badge and everything, so of course they must belong here. It's not like someone would sneak into the plex and go this far out of their way to impersonate a low level technician. Right??

Things To Know (always read responsibly!):

Biggest warnings are for blood, death, knives, murder, the police, violence, also the OC is at one point hit by lightning. All fun stuff

About 70,000 words in total, 9 chapters, so roughly like. 7,500 words per chapter

This is an OC story, not a reader insert or a self insert! But if you want to imagine otherwise be my guest lol

Angst, fluff

OC x Sun & Moon, there's romance but zero spice

Occasional swearing

Heavy focus on Sun and Moon but most of the rest of the gang is there too :)

Afton doesn't exist, sorry peepaw, Vanessa is here but she's very chill. She's a kickass gamer girl lmao

Moon does an attempted murder but its fine. He's just a lil guy ok

OC uses they/them and also sign language most of the time

Impersonation, lying. There's also manipulation. Yall I wasn't kidding about the angst

There's also a lot of focus on how they're all robots, very cool robots with feelings lol

That's all I can think of, as always please lmk if I should add anything!

Ao3 Link: Right here!

Start reading here: Chapter 1

Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5

C4 - Electricity by any other name

Chester woke up in a comfort they didn't recall falling asleep in. As they sat up and rubbed the sleep from their eyes under their glasses, they realized that at some point someone had placed a pillow under their head and a soft blanket over them. It must have been Sun, seeing as no one else knew Chester was up in the room behind the balcony.

Chester could hear kids screaming and laughing from beyond the curtain. The daycare, and by extension the rest of the building, must be open. Chester didn't have any clue what time it was. There wasn't a clock in the room, and they'd plugged their faz-phone in to charge in the employee stock room when they'd clocked out last night. Their head still hurt, and they felt really groggy and just… bad. Plain bad. They wanted to go back to sleep, but they weren't tired enough, despite the grogginess that refused to fade from their brain.

With nothing else to do, Chester started cleaning the room. Without leaving, they couldn't do much besides organize things and pile all the trash in the corner. Chester put all the parts and bits for the staff bot in its own pile. They put all the undamaged daycare supplies in a neat pile near the door. Once everything was as neat as it was going to get, Chester brushed the dust off on their pants and looked around for something else to do.

Hunger gnawed at Chester's stomach. They were thirsty, too. There wasn't much to be done about it for the time being, so Chester sought distractions instead. Their eyes landed on the pile of staff bot parts. They did still have their tool belt with them.

Without a guide of any sort or any real understanding of what they were doing, Chester found the task of rebuilding the entirely dismantled staff bot to be more than a little difficult. Still, there was nothing else to do, so they got as comfortable as they could and did their best to puzzle it out. They were slow and methodical, ruling out what pieces couldn't go together first, doing trial and error with pieces they thought were likely to go together. Half of the bits were damaged beyond hope, most of them unfortunately being things like joints and connectors. It almost looked like the bot had been ripped apart joint by joint. Still, Chester did what they could with what they had. They tried to picture the staff bots they'd seen in their mind and recall what they could from what they'd read.

It was extremely slow going, but it was going. Without the pressure of the consequence of failure, Chester found that they were actually starting to have fun. Building a robot was cool enough on its own, but this one proved to be particularly interesting. There wasn't much Chester could do about the damaged wiring, but they weren't trying to get the thing to turn on. They just wanted to pass the time putting it back together.

The frame of it was light, but there were loads of small support beams to connect along the frame. The hands were simplistic, just a handful of joints to bolt together. There were small pressure sensors meant to fit into the palms. Chester had seen bigger, more complicated sensors in the diagrams of the main animatronics. The others had sensors all along their fingers as well, not just in the palm, and a few throughout the rest of their frame as well. The sensors told the animatronic when something was touching them, as well as how much pressure was being applied.

They'd actually become so absorbed in their reconstruction of the staff bot that they didn't realize Sun had come into the room until he spoke up, startling them.

"Hello new Chester! Oops, sorry for startling you. I'm just here for a recharge!" Sun strode across the room, opening a panel in the wall near the electrical box. He pulled a long cord from inside, then popped open one of the circular buttons in his chest, revealing the charging port underneath. He plugged the cord into the connecting port and plopped down to the floor, sitting cross legged and leaning back against the wall. The light of his eyes dimmed and he hummed a slow little tune.

"Thank you for the pillow and blanket," Chester signed slowly, unsure if Sun would still be active if he was in the middle of charging.

"Nooo problem friiiend~" Sun drawled. He slowly lifted his hand, staring at it for a moment before it curled into a thumbs up. "I see youuu cleaned up in here! Clean up, clean up…" Sun mumbled a little song, quickly trailing off.

"I did, I hope that's okay." Chester glanced around at their work. The room was still dusty, and there was still that pile of trash in the corner, but it was looking a lot better than before.

"Sureee. I don't mind!" Sun hummed a continuous note for a few seconds. "Sorryyy if I'm a little sloooooow. Everything is running onnnnn power saving mooode while I charge. Can't turn off completelyyy orrrrr my fansss will stooooop running and I'lllllll overrrheat. So for nooooow I'm a littleee slooooooow."

"That's alright." Chester realized they couldn't hear the sound of kids playing anymore. "Is the building closed for the night?"

"Yeeep! All locked up niiice and tight abouuut… fiiiiive minutes agooo." Sun resumed his quiet humming.

"In that case, I'll give you some privacy. My shift starts soon." Chester got to their feet. They changed out of their Hawaiian shirt, swapping it for their work uniform. Nametag in place and their employee profile form secure in their pocket, Chester straightened their hat and made for the door, grabbing their shoes on the way. They paused in the doorway, glancing back at Sun.

Sun barely seemed to notice them. He hummed quietly, but was otherwise still and silent.

"…Thank you for letting me stay here. I'll be back again at the end of my shift," Chester said.

"Youuu betcha," Sun said.

Chester left the room, descending the spiral staircase and making their way out of the daycare.

It was another busy night for Chester, though thankfully far less perilous than last night. They picked through small restaurants in the food court and did their best not to outright chug a large cup of water. Besides their list of tasks to work through, Chester had a few other matters to attend to. Firstly, they wanted to print copies of some of the technical books so they'd have something productive to read during their off hours. Second, they were in desperate need of things like a change of socks, a toothbrush, maybe a comb.

Another visit to lost and found later, Chester was one cheap duffel bag richer. The bag was covered in funky designs and fun colors and, most importantly, could hold the stuff that Chester needed to find. Now that they had a reliable and (mostly) private place to stay, they could store a few things they needed there. And if they, for whatever reason, needed to make a quick getaway, they could just grab their new duffel bag and go.

Chester faced down a gift shop. They stood in the entrance, duffle bag slung over their shoulder. They picked at one of the bag's straps, eyes trailing over shadowed shelves of overpriced merchandise. There wasn't a security guard to watch the cameras. Chester reminded themself that stealing from a large corporation like this wasn't the end of the world. They'd certainly stolen worse for less before.

Chester took a deep breath and stepped inside. They passed racks of sweatshirts and hats and graphic t-shirts all sporting different familiar characters in bold colors. They looked over shelves of plushies and a rotating stand packed with keychains and magnets. They breathed a sigh of relief when they spotted a small selection of socks with funky colorful prints. They grabbed a pack, stowing them away in their duffle bag. In a pack with a compact mirror and a small collection of face paint was a comb and a pair of hair scrunchies. Chester took the pack, mainly interested in the mirror and the comb. They lucked out with a toothbrush, finding a little collection of small kid toothbrushes near the back of the gift shop. Monty's likeliness was depicted on the package, flashing his pearly white gator grin.

They didn't need the notebook, its cover a simple depiction of the Fazbear logo and boasting the inclusion of a free pen and sticker sheet inside. But Chester had frequently wished they'd been able to take notes while they read and while they worked as well, just so they could jot down things they'd figured out on the job or questions they wanted to find the answers to. And besides, they were already stealing several things, what was one more item?

Chester picked up the notebook, but paused before they could put it in their duffel bag. They stared down at it. It looked wrong in their hand.

I don't need this, Chester thought. They set the notebook back in its place. They were stealing enough already, and they really couldn't justify taking the notebook.

Leaving the gift shop behind, Chester zipped up their duffel bag and headed to their first task. The bag was just heavy enough that they couldn't easily forget it was there.

On their way back to the daycare, Chester stopped by a bathroom to clean up and put their new toothbrush to good use. Their gums bled a little, but they were relieved to finally be able to clean their teeth. They broke a tooth of their comb getting their hair under control. It had started to become matted under their hat. They briefly entertained the idea of using the face paint just for fun, but quickly put it out of mind. They grabbed a fresh bandage for their head as well as some cleaning supplies, then returned to the daycare. This time, they remembered to take their shoes off upon entering the daycare.

Sun greeted Chester as they stepped past the double doors. Chester pulled their duffle bag over their shoulder in a small attempt to hide it behind them.

"New Chester!! How was your shift?" Sun asked.

"It went alright, actually. Did you… have a good… charge?" Chester hoped that wasn't weird to ask.

Sun laughed, though not unkindly. "I did! We're all topped off and ready for another fun day tomorrow!" Sun did a fun little twirl.

Chester wasn't sure what to say next. They usually didn't do well with conversations, but they were especially awkward since they were sort of imposing on Sun. They were, more or less, blackmailing him into letting them take over his room. A shot of guilt ran through them.

I'm a horrible person.

Sun spoke up, interrupting Chester's train of thought before it could get too far away from them. "So I've been thinking… since you're going to be staying here for… a while. I thought we should probably be friends! So that way it's not weird or awkward! We can just be friends hanging out together. Won't that be fun??"

"I don't think you want to be friends with me," Chester signed slowly, not meeting Sun's gaze.

"Why wouldn't I??" Sun tilted his head to the side.

Because I'm a bad person. "I'm not a very fun friend," Chester signed.

"Well I'm plenty fun!! I can be fun enough for the both of us," Sun assured. "Why don't we play a game together?"

"A game?" Chester paused. "What kind of game?"

Sun, spurred on by the not outright rejection of the idea, started to ramble excitedly and bounce from foot to foot. "Any kind of game you like!! We've got board games or imaginary games or active games- or we could do something else! We could do arts and crafts, or we could have a sleepover, or we could do a puppet show!"

Chester took a moment to reply, somewhat enamored by how smoothly Sun was bouncing from foot to foot. They wanted to try and give Sun's animatronic guide book another shot, see if they couldn't figure anything out from its pages. "I guess I wouldn't mind a board game."

Sun cheered extatically. "Fantastic!! Great choice! That sounds like so much fun, friend!"

�� At Sun's further prompting, Chester chose a game from a bookshelf packed full of game boxes at random. They dropped their duffle bag and shoes off upstairs while Sun set up a game called 'Sorry'.

Chester had never played before, so they picked up the instruction booklet and started to read.

"I could explain the rules, if you like!" Sun offered.

"Oh, you don't have to do that," Chester signed quickly.

"What if I want to?"

Chester studied Sun, unable to glean much from his relentless grin. "I suppose that would be alright then, if you really didn't mind."

"I don't mind at all!" Sun assured, then launched into an enthusiastic explanation of the rules. He told Chester how the little pawns worked, and how they traveled clockwise around the board, unless a card said otherwise. There were little 'slides' on the board that Sun was especially excited about. He told Chester about how sometimes you could send another player's pawn all the way back to their starting area, making them start over on their trek to maneuver the pawns all the way around the board and into an area called 'home'.

With the rules out of the way, they were ready to play. Sun got unlucky with the cards and wasn't able to get his first pawn out of the starting area for a few turns, giving Chester a bit of a head start. They started to get the hang of things fairly quickly. The only problem was that their hands would sometimes miss slightly when they went to grab a card or a pawn. They did their best not to be too obvious about it.

Chester's attention moved to Sun's hands as they moved over the board, drawing cards with easy precision and maneuvering pawns across tiles. When they weren't busy with the game, they were busy tapping at the edge of the table or fiddling with the ribbons tied around their wrists. Chester couldn't imagine how many tiny parts and pieces went into just Sun's hand. Every motion was entirely smooth and seamless. Even the glamrocks weren’t as finely crafted as all that. Sun's casing was different as well, not metal like the glamrocks but a more flexible, almost plastic material. Chester wondered if that was part of how he was able to move so quickly and fluidly.

Sun lifted a hand to study it himself. "I don't have something stuck to my hand, do I??"

Chester startled, realizing they'd been staring. Embarrassed, they hurried to explain themself. "You don't, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare. You're just very interesting."

"Interesting??" Sun looked down at his hands. "How do you mean, friend?"

"I don't mean to make you uncomfortable. I apologize," Chester signed in quick motions.

"I'm not uncomfortable! I'm just curious," Sun assured.

Chester considered how to explain their fascination. They signed slowly, piecing together their attempt at the right words as they went. "Robots in general are very fascinating to me. You in particular are interesting for a lot of reasons. Your design is very complex and clearly highly advanced. Your range of motion not only matches but outpaces a human's. I could study just your hand alone for hours and not get bored."

Sun stared at Chester, then looked back down at his hand. "Really?" Sun flexed his fingers experimentally. "No one has ever been so interested in my hand before. One of the other techs once complained for hours and hours about all the little connectors when one of the kids accidentally got glue in the joints and the tech had to clean out all the connectors."

"I couldn't imagine complaining, had I been in their shoes. I'd have counted myself lucky." Chester very much wanted to open up Sun's hand and see all the little joints and connectors for themself, puzzle out how they all fit together and worked to make Sun's hands move as they did. They didn't voice this to Sun of course, fearing they'd make him uncomfortable.

"That's kind of you to say! I think!" Sun waggled his fingers at Chester before setting his hands in his lap. "I do believe it's your turn, friend!"

"Right. Sorry." Chester focused back on the board. They kept their attention on the game, trying not to think about how they were playing a board game with an animatronic. More than that, they were sitting in a daycare, where they currently lived surreptitiously in the walls, because they were hiding out from the police. Not only that, but the animatronic sitting in front of them, as well as the others lurking the halls, were apparently a piece of paper away from manslaughter.

On that note, Chester realized something. They had yet to have to show Sun their employee profile form. "Hey… you don't seem to mind the fact that I don't have an employee profile in the system. Why is that?"

Sun tapped his pawn across its remaining two board tiles, ending his turn. He angled his faceplate up towards Chester. "I did notice, that first day we met! But employee profiles go missing all the time, and your nametag barcode is valid! Even if it is a hand me down." The light in Sun's left eye went dim for a moment before lighting back up, simulating a wink.

Chester picked at the card in their hand. They absently moved one of their pawns forward a few spaces and set their card in the discard pile. "So then… what is it about security mode?"

"What about security mode?" Sun tilted his head curiously.

Chester elaborated, mostly just walking through their own thoughts. "The other animatronics don't seem to mind either, during the day. They probably run through the same things you just did and decide it's not a concern. But at night, when they're in security mode, they get caught up on the missing file. So what is it about being in security mode that makes them unable to come to the same conclusions?"

Sun tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Hm. Well, none of us are really meant to serve as security personnel, so the software we run in security mode is a little restrictive, from my understanding. Any unauthorized person in the building is a security risk. Not that you aren't authorized! Just that you would appear unauthorized without an employee profile. Since you have a valid barcode, I imagine that the two send conflicting messages. And since security mode is so limited, the others probably just get confused as to what to do!"

'Confused' was one way to put it. "Okay… but what about you?"

"Me?" Sun pointed a finger to himself.

"You don't seem… confused," Chester explained.

"Oh, that's probably because I'm not in security mode! I don't ever leave the daycare, so I don't have the software for security mode," Sun said. "My focus is always on the kids!"

"Really?? What happens if you see an intruder or something?" Chester asked.

"…" Sun froze, his fingers pressed flat over the surface of the table. "…I don't need to worry about things like that!"

"Okay." Chester was still confused, but they had a different question to ask. "Why don't you ever leave the daycare?"

"Why would I ever want to leave?? This is the best and most fun place in the whole world! Everything I know is here, and I don't ever need to leave!" Sun laughed.

"Are you allowed to leave?"

"If I'm going to parts and service," Sun answered, sounding a little strained.

"Are you scared to leave?" Chester asked.

"Scared?" Sun tiled his head once more in confusion. He considered the question, fingers tapping away on the table. "What is it like to be scared?"

Chester was a little surprised at the question. They thought about how it felt to be afraid. "For me, it's like lightning in my belly. My brain goes really fast, and it gets hard to breathe. It makes it hard to do certain things. It's difficult to focus on anything besides getting out of danger, whatever the danger may be. It's… particularly unpleasant distress over the possibility of an unfavorable outcome."

Sun nodded slowly. "Yes. I am scared to leave the daycare." He focused on Chester. There was a faint tinge of static in his voice. "I think I'm scared very often."

Chester wasn't sure what to make of that. They signed, "me too."

"You don't ever seem scared," Sun remarked.

"I've been told I'm remarkably unexpressive," Chester said.

Sun hummed thoughtfully. "I'm not good at expressions, either!" He tapped at his cheeks, where his grin came to a point on either side of his face. "The kids don't seem to mind. Some of the adults don't like my smile, but I think they'd like it even less if I was frowning all the time!"

"I like your face," Chester signed, not really considering what they were saying until after it had been said. Their embarrassment didn't have a chance to grow before Sun replied.

"Thank you, friend!! I like your face too!" Sun swayed happily, his faceplate doing a little spin.

Chester laughed quietly. "Thank you."

The rest of the game passed without issue. Sun ended up winning, because Chester refused to make any ‘mean’ moves, even to their own detriment. They felt too bad about knocking Sun’s pawns back to the start, and wound up drawing a lot of progress reversal cards. They didn’t much mind having lost, though. They still had fun.

“It’s about time for me to start getting things ready! The daycare will be open soon!” Sun hummed happily as he packed the game away.

“I should get some sleep anyways. Thank you for the game, Sun.”

“Of course!! We can play again the next night too if you want!” Sun offered.

“Yeah, okay. My shift is really short tomorrow night, I have a day shift the following day. So we should have plenty of time for a game or two,” Chester signed.

Sun seemed absolutely ecstatic about that. He was quite literally jumping for joy, waving his hands around merrily. “I can’t WAIT!! Sleep well, okay?? I’ll see you soon friend!”

Chester gave Sun a little salute before heading up the spiral steps. The little voice in their head wondered if Sun was faking it, or if he actually did enjoy spending time with Chester. Chester couldn’t imagine why Sun would like them, given the situation and their general personality. Maybe he was simply making the best of things and was happy enough that Chester didn’t mind playing along.

Chester put it out of mind for now. They laid back with their pillow and blanket, next to their duffle bag full of stolen goods, and did their best to sleep.

~~~

Payday came the day after, on their day shift. Rosa was waiting for them in the employee stock room with a check in hand.

"Do you need any help setting up direct deposit?" Rosa asked.

"Checks are fine," Chester stated.

Rosa shrugged and chugged some coffee from a thermos, then hurried off.

Chester stared down at the check. It hadn't even occurred to them that they'd be getting paid, since the whole thing was just a big ruse. Chester wasn't sure how to feel about the money. They had worked for it, sure. But the job they were working wasn't really theirs. They were an impersonator, an imposter. They'd gotten the job through deceitful means and were lying about their identity, they were only here to hide out from the authorities. However, Chester reasoned that they weren't exactly a stranger to making dirty money. The money wasn't even all that dirty; sure, Chester was living a lie, but the work they were doing was honest. Well, in a sense, anyways. Chester pocketed the check, grabbed their faz-phone from its charger, and punched in for the day.

Finding an ATM machine in the building that offered the option to cash the check was difficult, but there were plenty of ATMs to inspect. With a pocket full of paper bills and their morals wrangled into submission, Chester was absolutely ecstatic, their mind racing with all the food they could buy. Not only would they not have to steal food anymore, but they could buy it hot and fresh, and they could eat as much as they could buy.

On their break, Chester struggled not to weep over their burger and onion rings. They hadn't had a proper meal in so long, they didn't care that it was just bland mall food. To them it was the most wonderful thing they'd ever eaten.

Chester was too busy enjoying their food in the breakroom's back corner to notice at first that someone was actually talking to them.

"Helloo?? Error, Chester not found!"

Chester finally looked up. At the foldout table next to theirs sat a small group of staff members, most of them new faces. The one who'd spoken was a technician, their nametag reading 'Katherine'. They had a choppy buzzcut and a strong jaw. They were smiling at Chester in a way that didn't seem particularly friendly. The others around them were doing a poor job of concealing their laughter.

All at once, Chester was brought back to their school years. They resisted the urge to roll their eyes and brushed their hands off before signing. "Sorry. Did you need something?"

"I was asking why you always sit alone on your break and stare blankly at everything. You some sort of weirdo?" Katherine asked. "Why don't you ever talk to anyone?"

Chester wasn't sure how they were meant to reply to that. They felt that Katherine was trying to poke fun at them, but they couldn't be bothered to care very much. Their coworker being a little mean to them was the absolute least of their worries.

"Uh oh, they must not have a pre-programmed response to that." Katherine looked at their friend group with a smile. "They must get along really well with the robots. That's probably why they came to work here."

"Kat, would you shut the fuck up?"

Everyone turned as another technician stood. She'd been sitting quietly in the opposite corner, and now stood to glower at Katherine. Her name tag read 'Vanessa'.

"Don't be jealous because Chester does a better job than you," Vanessa said. She walked passed Katherine's table and sat herself down at Chester's table.

Katherine scoffed. "As if!"

Vanessa turned to face Chester, ignoring Katherine as she loudly stated, "Don't let Kat bother you. They're a dick but they don't really mean any harm."

Katherine scowled and swiveled in their chair to face away from Vanessa and Chester.

"It's fine, I wasn't bothered," Chester signed.

"My sign is a little rusty, so forgive me if I don't make you suffer through my attempts to sign back," Vanessa said with a smile.

"It's no trouble, I can hear alright," Chester assured. They still had that damn constant ringing in their ears, but they could still hear. The ringing was even ignorable, at times.

"Great! I've decided that we're friends. My name is Vanessa, I can see ghosts and I'm damn good at my job." Vanessa smiled and offered a hand out for Chester to shake.

Chester shook it, studying Vanessa curiously. She had long blonde hair under her hat, pulled back in a ponytail, leaving a pair of dangly bunny shaped earrings on display. Her eyes were big and bright and peered sharply at Chester down a long nose.

"Are there any ghosts around right now?" Chester asked.

Vanessa shook her head. "Nah, most of em don't like the crowds so they stay in the access tunnels during the day. Did you know that this place used to be a diner? The pizza plex as we know it was built on top of the old diner years after the place closed down. They still had animatronics at the diner but they just stayed on the stage and played songs for patrons. Then they started trying to upgrade the animatronics and make them more personable for the crowds and accidentally gave them low level sentience. The animatronics went batshit and killed some people and that's why the old diner shut down."

Chester spent a moment reeling from this information. "I guess the ghosts informed you of that?"

"Yep." Vanessa took one of Chester's few remaining onion rings and ate it. "They rebranded everything, spent a lot of hush money, and opened this place up. Pretty wild, huh?"

"If it's true, yes."

Vanessa winked at Chester. "So, you liking the job? Gonna stick around a while?"

"I think so." Chester nodded. They ate the rest of their food quickly so Vanessa wouldn't steal any more. "How long have you been here?"

"About a year. It's a pretty fun gig, all things considered. It sucks that people come and go so quickly, though. I've been in need of a new buddy to bother since Brandi left," Vanessa said.

"Oh, Brandi quit?? I was wondering, I hadn't seen her in a while."

"Yeah, moved on to bigger and better things. I think a lot of the rumors around here got to her." Vanessa shrugged. "You don't mind the rumors, right?? A lot of them aren't true. No one's ever been killed in the new building. That night guard rumored to have been murdered by a bot one night literally lives in my apartment complex. They work at the grocery store down the street now."

"Has anyone ever been injured on the job?" Chester asked.

"That I can't say. I wouldn't put too much weight in the rumors. People tend to get freaked out by the animatronics just because they're quirky." Vanessa waved a hand. "Anyhoo, my break is almost over. I hear you're usually on the night shift, is that right?"

Chester nodded.

"When's your next day shift?? I'll try to find you and we can take our breaks together. Maybe even double team some tasks?" Vanessa offered.

Chester hesitated, fumbling with their empty plastic plate. They were nervous about the idea of trying to accomplish tasks in front of Vanessa, but at the same time, they might learn a great deal from being able to watch a legitimate technician work.

"Nevermind, I can just check the schedule! I'll see you around, okay?" Vanessa grinned and waved at Chester as she got up and left the break room.

Chester's break was nearly over as well. They carried their plate to the trash, wondering if their newly acquired learnings were of passable skill yet.

"Hey, Chester." Katherine tapped Chester on the shoulder. "Sorry if I pushed any buttons earlier. Listen, I wanted you to make some friends, but… just be careful around Vanessa, alright? She's a little…" Katherine drew a circle beside their head with a finger. "She has, like, full unironic conversations with the custodian bots. Other times she talks to herself and claims to be chatting up ghosts. She's a little coocoo for cocoa puffs, ya know?"

Chester wasn't sure how much weight to put in Katherine's words. They didn't much mind if Vanessa was a little weird anyways. "Thank you for the heads up, but I think I'll be alright."

"Fair enough. See you later, C-bot." Katherine pat Chester on the shoulder and returned to their table.

Chester left the break room, their belly pleasantly full. They put their fellow coworkers out of mind and got back to work. They had a lot of learning and practice to do if they wanted to be sure Vanessa didn't find them out.

~~~

"Scuse me!"

Sun shifted the toddler he was currently holding in his arms to better see the child who'd tugged at the leg of his pants. His facial recognition software instantly gave him the child's name- this was little Rachel, who came to visit the daycare every other day. Sun crouched down to be on Rachel's level. "My my, so polite! How can I help you, friend?"

"How come you keep looking at the tower?" Rachel asked curiously, pointing at the tower in question. The red curtain behind the balcony was drawn tight over the room beyond.

Sun hadn't even realized he'd been staring. Thinking back, he supposed he had been keeping a rather close eye on the room. Rachel had always been very observant, for as long as Sun had known her. He tousled her curly hair. "Don't you worry little friend! We just like to keep a close eye on everything. The daycare needs to be in tip top shape so we can all have lots of fun!"

Rachel giggled, slapping her hands over her head to protect her hair from Sun's ruffling. "Tip top shape!"

"That's right! Tip top, tip top!" Sun spun his faceplate. The toddler in his arms reached out their little hands to pat at his face, making a delighted noise. Sun's nearest ray instantly retracted as tiny hands got near.

The motion camera by the door gave Sun a ping. He straightened up and turned to face the new arrival.

"Hellooo there!!" Sun waved at the well dressed man who'd just stepped through the daycare doors. This was a new face, but the daycare pass in his pocket was valid, the name matching the one on his license- Roderick Smith. Sun stepped past a pair of kids playing with glamrock-shaped plushies on his way to greet the man. "Welcome to the superstar daycare! Are you here for a tour? Would you like to register a child?"

Roderick turned his gaze from the daycare to eye Sun over. "Pick up kid," he said, enunciating exaggeratively and speaking a tad louder than was necessary.

"I'm already on it!" Sun bounced the toddler at his hip. The toddler giggled happily and started to play with the bells tied to Sun's wrist.

Roderick did not seem to find Sun's joke amusing. "…Elijah Jones is his name. I'm here to pick him up."

Oh dear, this wasn't good. "I'm sorry sir, but you're not a registered adult! I'm afraid I cannot release young mister Jones into your custody," Sun stated.

"What?!" Roderick planted his fists on his hips. "Why not??"

Sun wasn't a fan of the man's volume. Briefly, he recalled something Chester had said to him; 'it's like lightning in my belly.' Sun felt like his battery was on the fritz, electricity curling in his torso. "It's a safety policy, sir, to protect the children. If you haven't registered then I can't be sure if you're an authorized guardian of a child."

"What are you trying to say? Are you telling me you think I'm trying to steal a kid?!" Roderick fumed. "I'm here to pick up my sister's son, I'm not some sort of criminal!"

"I don't think you're a criminal, it's just that we have to follow all safety procedures-"

"This is ridiculous. Why am I even talking to this thing?? Where's the staff?" Roderick looked around, his eyes landing on the unmanned security desk. "Is there no one watching these kids?!"

The sensation in Sun's torso was different now. It was like he was overheating, even though a quick system scan read normal temperatures. "I am the daycare attendant. Sir." Sun's voice came out tinged with static. Sun had to remind himself of his role. The kids were watching. He should be kind. He did not want to be kind.

"Where is the actual staff??" The man pointed at the empty security desk. "First you make me pay for a pass just to get in this place and now you won't even let me get my kid. You know what? Forget it. I'll just get Elijah myself."

When Roderick started to push past Sun, Sun moved to block his path. He quickly set down the toddler in his arms. "Sir, I cannot release any child into the custody of an unregistered adult."

"Get out of my way, clown!" Roderick snarled.

"Jester," Sun corrected under his breath, volume turned too low for the man to hear. He did not move.

Roderick looked ready to try shoving past again when someone interjected.

"Is there a problem?"

Sun and Roderick turned to see Chester standing a few paces away. Chester was wearing their uniform and their typical stern expression.

"Finally! Get this robot out of my way, I'm here to pick up my kid," Roderick said.

"I heard most of the situation." Chester paused to clear their throat. They hadn't spoken aloud in a long while, and their throat was hoarse. "Did you register yourself as an approved adult?" Chester asked.

Roderick huffed. "No, I didn't realize that was such a big deal. But it's not like I'm trying to steal a kid, which is what your clown robot would have you believe!" Roderick said, gesturing at Sun.

"I don't think you're trying to steal a child, sir," Chester said.

"Thank you!" Roderick shot Sun a mean look.

"However," Chester went on, "We have absolutely no way of verifying that you are who you say you are. We make no exceptions here when it comes to the safety of the children entrusted in our care, as I'm sure you can understand."

The man fumed for a moment. Chester stared him down with a rigid intensity until he wavered.

"Fine. I'll call my sister and get this cleared up." The man stormed out of the daycare, pulling out his phone.

Sun looked at Chester, who relaxed visibly as the man left. Chester offered Sun a smile they hoped was reassuring.

"You didn't have to do that," Sun started.

Chester shot a few signs off before Sun could finish. "That guy was being really rude. You're just doing your job and keeping the kids safe. It’s no trouble to me."

Roderick returned, pocketing his phone. "Alright, she says she added me to her profile, so I should be on the list now or whatever it is. Can I take Elijah and go already?"

Sun confirmed that Roderick was indeed now on the list of registered adults. He left to retrieve Elijah and make sure the boy had all his belongings with him and was ready to go.

Elijah was sad to leave and pouted as he pulled his shoes on, but once he spotted Roderick he lit up again.

"Uncle Rick!!" Elijah ran to Roderick, arms outstretched and making grabby hands at the man. Sun followed behind, watching to be sure Elijah didn't trip in his excitement.

Roderick's face softened as he picked up Elijah. "Hey, kiddo. Your mom sent me to pick you up today, since she's running late at work. You ready to go?"

Elijah nodded. He grabbed Roderick's tie in his tiny fists and started to fiddle with it.

"Sorry for the inconvenience, sir," Chester said, fighting to remain civil.

"Yeah. Keep your robot in check next time," Roderick said.

Sun bristled. I am kind, he reminded himself. Even when others are not.

Chester scowled. "Sun was right and you were wrong."

Roderick, who had turned and was halfway out the door, stopped and stared at Chester. "Excuse me??"

Chester almost regretted saying anything. Their throat felt dry and they hated the way Roderick was glaring at them. Still, they forced out the words, fueled by something hot deep in their chest. "Sun was doing his job and keeping the kids safe. You were the one behaving improperly. Keep yourself in check next time."

Roderick gasped. Chester shut the door in his face.

Sun stared blankly at Chester as they turned back around, staring at the ground as if surprised at their own actions.

Sun finally spoke. "Chester-"

"I'm sorry," Chester signed quickly. "I shouldn't have been mean to him. I don't know what came over me. I don't even know why I…" Chester looked at the door to the tower. "I'm sorry."

Sun ran another system check. The check assured that nothing was overheating, but Sun was doubtful. "Chester. Thank you," Sun said earnestly. "That was… thank you."

Chester smiled. "I hope he doesn't complain and get you in trouble."

"Me? You're the one who was short with him." Sun laughed. He turned his attention back to the toddler he'd set down earlier, who was pulling at the bottom of his pants and making grabby hands at Sun so he'd pick them back up.

Chester paled. "…You don't think I'd get fired for that, do you?"

"I'm sure if you explain the situation your manager would understand!" Sun assured. "I wouldn't worry, good technicians are hard to come by, so they wouldn't want to get rid of you."

"Right." Chester took a deep breath. "Let me know if you need anything." They retreated back up the spiral steps and into the tower room.

Sun watched them go until his attention was pulled elsewhere, spotting some kids getting a little too rowdy.

Chester kept to their room the rest of the day, though they kept an ear out for any more trouble.

That night, once all the kids had gone home and the pizza-plex was closed and locked up tight, Chester eagerly headed for the food court while Sun plugged himself in for a charge. Chester was starving. That, and the ease of what had become routine of hitting up the line of little restaurants in the food court, meant that they weren't as careful as they should have been.

Chester was halfway through a small cup of pre-cooked frozen onion rings when they heard a noise coming from the back end of the restaurant. Dread froze them to the spot as their head snapped up. They'd been caught red handed.

The animatronic was hunched in the back corner of the restaurant, partially hidden by a shelf full of canned unprepped toppings. She looked up in surprise upon noticing Chester was there. Her hands were buried in an overturned garbage can.

Chester stared at Chica, her hands full of garbage. There was a mess of it on her face as well. Chica stared at Chester, their onion rings in hand and packed in their cheeks.

"I won't tell if you wont tell??" Chica offered.

Chester nodded.

The two went back to their business. Chester finished their onion rings quickly and hurried out of the restaurant.

The rest of their shift passed without issue. After their run in with Chica, Chester was on high alert and avoided the other animatronics with relative ease. They kept an ear out for the sound of jingling bells, but they hadn't seen the animatronic who'd attacked them since the incident. They did bump into that one custodian bot, the one wearing the blue cap. The bot stared at them with an unwavering gaze. Chester wondered briefly about the bot. None of the other bots stared at them. Well, the wet floor sign bots did, but they always looked away if Chester noticed.

Chester made quick work of their tasks, managing to get quite a few done. They’d lucked out with a bunch of easier ones, all simple repairs and easy replacements. They were back in the daycare before they knew it.

Once again, Sun rattled off an impressive list of activities for them to do. Chester tried to get Sun to pick the game tonight, but Sun insisted that he would have fun regardless of what Chester picked. True to his word, when Chester suggested they sit and draw, Sun happily got out all the drawing supplies and laid them out on one of the kiddie tables.

Chester decided against trying to sit in one of the tiny toddler chairs and sat on the floor instead, legs folded beneath the table. Sun on the other hand, settled his comically tall frame precariously atop one of the chairs and immediately got to doodling.

It took Chester two tries to grab the pencil they were after. They felt like their aim was starting to get better, but it was still frustrating trying to pick up smaller items.

"How are you feeling, friend?" Sun asked lightly.

Chester shrugged. They signed with their free hand, mostly focusing on what they were drawing. "I'm alright. I have been constantly groggy. At least my headache is getting better."

"Have you been dizzy at all? I noticed you sometimes have trouble getting up the stairs," Sun remarked.

"You noticed?" Chester paused, feeling slightly embarrassed. They'd thought they had been doing an ok job of hiding it.

Sun had stopped drawing and was now giving Chester his full attention. "Have you been feeling nauseous? Bothered by lights or noises? Having trouble concentrating?"

"What's with all the questions?" Chester huffed. They didn't meet Sun's gaze. "Don't worry about me, Sun. I'm alright."

"Chester, you may have a concussion."

Chester stared down at their pencil. They knew they weren't doing great, but there really wasn't anything to be done about it. They glanced up as they spied a strange blue light flashing in Sun's eyes.

"When did you hit your head?? Chester, I think you need to see a medical professional." The concern was transparent in Sun's tone.

Chester realized Sun must have just scanned them. They pulled their hat down tighter over their head. "Right. I'll… I'll do that." Chester didn't enjoy lying, but they couldn't exactly explain why they couldn't leave the complex. They busied themself with drawing.

Sun wrung his hands together, the bells on his wrists jingling from the worried motions. His sunrays all shrank in, slowly popping back out one by one. "Are you scared of the doctor? Don't worry, lots of kids think the doctor is scary! But its their job to help you, and I hear they give you a lollipop when you're done!"

He'd seen right through their lie. Chester kept sketching, just so they didn't have to look at Sun. "Not that I don't love a good lollipop, but I really can't go to a doctor right now." Chester risked a glance at Sun, who had folded in on himself and was now bouncing his leg. "I'm sorry for lying."

"You are forgiven." Sun put his hands on his knees, forcing his leg to still. "We're just worried about you, friend."

Chester's hand stilled. They put their pencil down. "Why?"

"What do you mean, why?"

Chester looked at Sun incredulously. "Why are you worried about me?? Why would you care about me? I'm the asshole who blackmailed you into letting me take your room! Sun, I'm not a good person."

"No bad language in the daycare," Sun said on impulse, though he rushed to turn the volume down as he ran the line. He quickly put his volume back up to normal and carried on. "You're not a bad person just because you don't have anywhere else to stay!! Really, we don't mind you staying here at all!"

Chester wasn't sure where this was coming from. All of a sudden they were feeling a horrible rush of guilt and anger with themself. Here they were, making bad choices and hurting people, even though they could now afford the choice. They'd done nothing but steal and lie and deceive and hurt since they'd gotten here, since they'd gotten away. "I threatened to tell on you about the lights if you didn't do what I said. That was wrong of me! I shouldn't treat you like that. No one deserves to be treated like that." Chester took a moment, clenching their shaking hands into fists. They squeezed their eyes shut and breathed, calming down before going on. "I'm so sorry, Sun. You've been unreasonably kind to me, and I've been…" Chester stared down at the table. What were they doing here? Sitting here, drawing with Sun, pretending to be his friend. "I'm sorry. You can have your room back. I won't tell anyone about the lights, I promise."

Chester stood up, planning to grab their duffel bag and leave the daycare. Sun shot up as well, surprising Chester when he grabbed their arm to stop them.

"Chester… thank you for the apology. I know you don't want to tell me why you don't have anywhere else to stay, but that's okay. You don't have to. You are in need of help, and I want to do whatever I can do to help you. I don't think you're a bad person. A bad person wouldn't have helped me deal with an upset guardian, wouldn't have been kind and polite to me, wouldn't have gotten so upset over being mean to me. You can stay in my room for as long as you need, okay?" Sun slowly released Chester's arm, as if they might flee if he moved too quickly.

Chester had no idea what to say. They lifted their hands to sign, only to lower them again. Their eyes threatened to water, but they quickly fought back the tears. They took another deep breath. "I don't know what to say. Thank you, Sun."

Sun's head did a quick spin. "Of course, dear. I'm not mad or upset with you. Will you stay?"

Chester thought about going back to their little supply closet, maybe stowing their stuff away in one of the empty employee lockers. They looked at Sun, tried to imagine never coming back to the daycare. "…Are you certain you don't mind me staying?"

"Not in the slightest. I promise," Sun assured.

"Okay… I'll stay. Thank you," Chester signed.

Sun wrapped Chester up in a big hug, squeezing them tightly. Startled, Chester let out a nervous little laugh and awkwardly pat Sun's back.

"Would you like to keep drawing? We can talk about something else if you want," Sun offered, releasing Chester.

"Yeah, okay," Chester agreed. They returned to the table with Sun and took a deep breath as they picked their pencil back up (they even managed to grab it on the first try).

"Sooo have you been making any friends?" Sun asked. He went back to doodling, amassing a collection of colored pencils and crayons.

"Actually yeah. I think. Her name is Vanessa, she's a technician. I'm told she's weird, but I'm also told that I'm weird. I think Vanessa is alright," Chester signed. "I've also been getting along with Monty, the gator guy. One of the golf club dispensers in Gator Golf got jammed, and he roped me into a game since he was kinda bored. It was right during lunch time and there weren't a lot of people there."

"That sounds like fun!!" Sun bounced happily in his seat.

"Do you have any friends?" Chester asked, returning the question.

"I've got lots and lots of wonderful friends!! The kids are all so sweet and we have so much fun together! Sometimes Freddy or Chica will stop by and pay me a visit too. Freddy is very polite, like you! Have you met him?? I think you two would get along great."

Chester recalled almost bumping into Freddy the night they'd snuck into the complex. They'd been avoiding him and the other animatronics to the best of their ability since. "Not yet," they signed. "Hey… how many animatronics are there?"

Sun ticked off his fingers as he counted the animatronics. "There's the four glamrocks, Freddy, Roxy, Monty, Chica, and there's also DJMM, and of course, yours truly!" Sun put a hand to his chest, popping his sunrays in and out all at once.

That… wasn't right. Chester hadn't gotten the best look at the animatronic who'd bashed their head in, but they'd seen enough to know he wasn't any of the others. "Are you sure there's not one more?"

Sun's hand twitched. He lowered it to the table. "…What?"

"I… met… another animatronic a while ago. He had red eyes and a circle head like yours. I didn't get a great look at him, it was dark and…" and he was hard to see while he was chasing me and bashing my head into the ground, "I do remember bells? There were jingling bells on his costume."

Sun sat absolutely frozen. No bouncing leg or tapping fingers, no loading symbol sunrays. He stared at his page full of doodles, but the hand holding the crayon was still.

Chester glanced up at Sun. They wondered if he was thinking. Chester was about to prompt Sun when he suddenly snapped to attention.

"How strange!" Sun sounded strained. "How did. How did you meet this bot?"

It was Chester's turn to freeze. They couldn't let Sun or anyone else know about the incident. "It was just a brief meeting. Didn't even say much. Who knows, he could have just been one of Vanessa's ghosts," Chester joked.

"Who's to say?" Sun laughed, though the sound came out high pitched and strained. "Say, what are you drawing over there??"

Chester looked down at their sketch, gladly accepting the change in topics. "Just a rough diagram of Freddy. I've been reading those technician books all day long, I see diagrams every time I close my eyes."

"That's a very good drawing! You even got the little compartment on his arm where he keeps his spare microphone," Sun remarked, leaning over the table to look.

"Yeah! You all have these neat little details like that built in, it's really fascinating. Like how Chica's voice box has all this extra space for downloading voice files, so she can impersonate or mimic the others. That way she can cover for them in performances if someone else has technical issues. Or how Roxy's eyes can see through walls, so she always knows where everyone else is on the bumper car race track." Chester paused, wondering if that was why Roxy had found them so easily their first night shift, despite their attempts at avoiding the animatronics.

"My voice box is like Chica's! Mine can even create new voice files, so we can do all sorts of fun voices for story time," Sun said.

"Really?? That's cool!" Chester paused and looked up at Sun. "Hey, I've noticed that you sometimes say 'we' or 'us'. Can I ask why that is?"

"…I would appreciate if you didn't," Sun said.

"That's okay. I've got secrets too." Chester didn't press the matter. "What are you drawing?"

Sun relaxed, straightening his posture as he held up his paper for Chester to see. "It's a cozy little cottage and a creek in a field of wildflowers," he explained.

"Wow, that's amazing!"

"Thank you, but I can't take all the credit. I just copied this from a picture I found online. I thought it was really pretty so I wanted to draw it," Sun said.

Sun and Chester drew and talked about easy things for the rest of the night, until it was time for Sun to prepare the daycare. Chester tried to help clean up the art supplies, but Sun insisted he could handle it. Chester ascended the spiral stairs and listened to the faint sounds of Sun rushing around the daycare as they fell asleep.

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eyndr-stories · 2 years

Text

Chester and the Jesters (FNAF SB fanfic) C1 - Transgressor

In Summary:

Things To Know (always read responsibly!):

Biggest warnings are for blood, death, knives, murder, the police, violence, also the OC is at one point hit by lightning. All fun stuff

About 70,000 words in total, 9 chapters, so roughly like. 7,500 words per chapter

This is an OC story, not a reader insert or a self insert! But if you want to imagine otherwise be my guest lol

Angst, fluff

OC x Sun & Moon, there's romance but zero spice

Occasional swearing

Heavy focus on Sun and Moon but most of the rest of the gang is there too :)

Afton doesn't exist, sorry peepaw, Vanessa is here but she's very chill. She's a kickass gamer girl lmao

Moon does an attempted murder but its fine. He's just a lil guy ok

OC uses they/them and also sign language most of the time

Impersonation, lying. There's also manipulation. Yall I wasn't kidding about the angst

There's also a lot of focus on how they're all robots, very cool robots with feelings lol

That's all I can think of, as always please lmk if I should add anything!

Ao3 Link: Right here!

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

C1 - Transgressor

Desperation can, at times, lead you to do some funny things. Just some real silly little choices. Some 'oopsies', if you will.

Sirens wailed in the distance, audible despite the roar of wind and rain, despite the pounding of footfalls through the mud, despite the heavy crash of thunder, not a moment's hesitation before the lightning followed. There was a light ahead, piercing through sheets of rain, through tree branches and leaves.

Bursting through the trees, the transgressor breathlessly considered their options. There weren't many to consider. They braced their hands on their knees, taking in greedy gulps of air, wincing as cold air stung their lungs and sent harsh shivers down their spine.

The sirens were getting louder.

Having crossed through the woods, the transgressor was back out on the other side of town. That light they'd blindly followed through the trees was coming from the neon sign of some kind of mall, just down the hill ahead of them. The transgressor was close to the side of the building here, close enough that they could see onto the roof. Around the building's edge was a wide parking lot, and the street beyond. Pine and spruce trees bent and swayed behind them, leering, gibing, judging.

They're just trees. Get a hold of yourself.

They had to focus. They couldn't keep running forever. The transgressor scanned the parking lot of this mall. They'd stolen a car once, they could do it again.

The lot was empty, naturally. The sirens were maybe a few streets away at best now, getting closer by the second. The goosebumps on the transgressor's arms were raising so violently that their skin was tingling. There was a metallic sort of taste in their mouth, like bad pennies. The transgressor stared at their hands, still braced on their knees. There was still blood caked beneath their fingernails, staining their skin despite the rain. The transgressor turned their face instead to the sky, their glasses not doing much to shield them against the torrential downpour. What they really needed now was some kind of miracle.

As if it had only been waiting for the audacity of the thought, a deafening crack of lightning decided right then that it would be best to smite the transgressor where they stood.

The world shook violently. For a long moment, the transgressor saw nothing at all. They couldn't hear anything, could barely even feel the chill. Then, all at once, everything slammed back into place around them.

The transgressor was on the ground, now covered in mud. There was a deafening ringing in their ears, the rain now a distant hush. With shaking arms, the transgressor pushed themself up into a sitting position, despite the numbness in their arms. Their head was throbbing.

…This fallen tree was not here before.

The transgressor stared at the tree not three feet to their left. The base of it was jagged and splintered, and there were chunks of wood scattered around. The tree had fallen towards the building, crashing onto the roof of the mall.

Three things became apparent. One, the transgressor had just been indirectly struck by lightning. However, they were still alive, and the tree had graciously missed crushing them in its fall by a narrow margin. Two, it appeared that the transgressor now had a working bridge onto the roof of this mall. Three, they could see the light of the sirens glowing at the end of the street.

The transgressor didn't think twice. They pushed themself to their feet and climbed across the fallen tree and onto the mall's rooftop. The tree groaned and creaked beneath them, threatening to collapse under their weight.

Their legs were shaking so badly they could hardly walk. They pushed on, heading for the access door. After the trials of the night, picking the lock was almost comically easy.

The transgressor collapsed at the top of the stairwell, back against the door, shut tight against the storm. Without the noise of the wind and the rain, that ringing seemed even louder. The transgressor squeezed their eyes shut and tried to breathe.

By the time they'd caught their breath, the ringing in the transgressor's ears had gone down a little. They knew they couldn't stay here, though they desperately wanted nothing more than to curl up right here on the ground and sleep this horrible night off.

With a groan, the transgressor pulled themself up onto their feet. The stairwell was dark, nearly pitch black if not for the light coming from below, seeping through mesh metal platforms and around uncomfortably thin metal stairs. They gripped the railing tightly and made their way down the steps, trying not to mind how they creaked and groaned as if about to buckle beneath the transgressor's weight.

Bright blue light came through a cracked open doorway. The transgressor pulled the door open just wide enough to stick their head through.

The light came from a vending machine, the side of it painted with an assortment of colorful animalistic characters. Beyond the machine, the transgressor could see a wide hallway, lined with benches and potted plants. The pattern on the tile floor reminded the transgressor briefly of the carpet in the roller skating rink they used to go to as a kid, all colorful shapes and silly lines and bright colors.

Other than that damn persistent ringing, everything was quiet. The colors were loud enough, between the posters and glowing neon signs covering the walls, The transgressor's head was swimming. Still, it wasn't like they could afford to be picky. A building as big as this meant options. Places to hide, if the cops decided to search the building.

The transgressor stepped out into the hall, leaving the door cracked just as they'd found it. They started down the hall, following a sign promising a food court was somewhere ahead.

They'd just passed an abandoned red stroller when the transgressor heard a noise behind them. Their heart jumped and they whirled around, lifting their fists.

The transgressor stared down some sort of robot. The robot had rolled itself up out of nowhere on a set of wheels, carrying a mop with it. It had simple white casing and a head shaped like an egg, featureless save for two perfectly circular black disks, clearly meant to be eyes. The robot wore a faded blue cap atop its head. It stared at the transgressor for an uncomfortably long moment.

The robot turned its egg head towards the ground and began to mop up the mud that the transgressor had trailed in.

The transgressor breathed, setting a hand over their heart. This was just some kind of cleaning bot, doing its job. The transgressor cursed their jumpy nerves and relaxed. They turned and carried on, feeling ridiculous enough to ignore the feeling of the robot staring after them.

It quickly became clear as the transgressor explored the building that this place was enormous. It hadn't seemed this expansive from the outside. There were several floors, each one a winding maze of attractions and shops and hallways. There were lots of 'STAFF ONLY' doors, likely leading to areas that would be ideal for stowing away for the night, but every one of these doors was locked via higher tech security panel. These were no good, the transgressor couldn't pick a lock that wasn't there, and they didn't know the first thing about hacking.

Occasionally, the transgressor would come across more robots rolling around the halls. There were more cleaning robots, though none of them wore hats like the first one. There were little wet floor sign robots, their rectangular heads topped with big round ears. Those were actually pretty cute looking. The only robots the transgressor had to worry about were the security bots, who wielded flashlights and rolled around in clearly pre-defined paths, occasionally stopping to turn a full circle before resuming their routes. These bots had 'SECURITY' printed clearly across their fronts and backs. They looked to be the same sort of model as the cleaning robots, egg heads and all. So long as the transgressor was careful, they could avoid these bots easily enough.

The transgressor kept seeing those animal characters depicted everywhere, on posters and cutouts and signs, decorating the merchandise in gift shops, there were even statues of them. They didn't care much about these smiling mascots, though. The transgressor folded their arms tight over their chest in an effort to stave off the shivers racking their body. They were soaked to the bone and their clothes were torn and dirty and, in places, stained with blood.

Their luck finally seemed to be turning, at least. A lost and found, the simple door lock just as easy to pick as the one on the roof had been. There, the transgressor found a lazy pile of clothes by a shelf full of odds and ends. A watch, a child's left shoe, a couple of plastic cards. One card appeared to be for storing points at the arcade. The other was some kind of VIP backstage pass. The transgressor took the backstage pass and picked through the pile of clothes, scrounging up a pair of black pants and a button up Hawaiian shirt, the only things in the pile anywhere close to their size. The transgressor wasn't feeling particularly picky. They quickly got changed, using another shirt to dry off and wipe their glasses clean of rain spots and dirt.

The transgressor tossed their old torn and stained clothes in the garbage on their way back to the food court. The only stage they could remember seeing was at the back end of the food court. They eyed their backstage pass under the sharp neon lighting. A smiling depiction of a bear character wearing a top hat and a bowtie gave the transgressor a thumbs up behind the emboldened 'VIP' letters. On the backside of the pass was a barcode and some kind of legal disclaimer, the print far too fine for the transgressor to make out.

When the transgressor looked up, they didn't pay much mind to the bear character in front of them, its shape silhouetted in neon lighting. After all, this guy's likeliness was plastered everywhere, it wasn't uncommon to see statues of the different characters. But then the bear moved.

The transgressor was rooted to the spot for just a moment. The bear was turning around to face them, neon shining off of metal plating as the bear moved. In a moment of panic, the transgressor leapt to the side, diving behind one of those massive ceramic pots full of plants.

"Hello?"

The transgressor sat as still as they could and held their breath, mind racing. They glanced down at the card still gripped in their hand. There was no doubt, that same bear character depicted on the card was standing in the hall. Not only that, but the character had definitely just spoken. This was it, then. The transgressor had finally lost their marbles.

"Montgomery, are you attempting to pull a fast one on me again??"

There were heavy footfalls, moving past the transgressor's pot. The transgressor risked a peek.

The bear was standing a few paces away, back to the transgressor once more. From here the transgressor could see metal plating, and the outlines of panels. A robot.

Things clicked into place for the transgressor. This bear character was some kind of robot mascot, an animatronic. The transgressor recalled seeing several other characters depicted in posters and such, which meant there were probably more of them.

"Hmm." The bear looked around for a moment, then seemed to decide the coast was clear and moved on, heavy footsteps fading into the distance.

The transgressor breathed a sigh of relief. They'd have to be more careful, if there were mascots roaming around as well. They seemed a little more perceptive than the security bots.

The extra caution paid off. The transgressor encountered another mascot before making it to the stage in the food court.

This one looked like the bird character. She was painted a bright pink, so she wasn't difficult to spot as the transgressor peered around the corner. They waited patiently for her to amble off down a side hall before hurrying on their way.

Finally, the transgressor made it to the stage. They found the door they were looking for without issue, 'BACKSTAGE' printed clearly on its front and a card reader panel set into the wall right beside it. The panel's screen flashed green when the transgressor tapped their card to it, and the door popped open. They slipped inside and pulled the door shut behind them.

There wasn't much of interest backstage, just a lot of set props, flood lights, sound equipment, and rolling platforms. There was, however, a door labeled 'STAFF ONLY' that did not have a security panel set beside it.

The staff only door let out onto the top of a stairwell, metal stairs transitioning to cement halfway down. The chill coming up from the stairwell was biting, and the transgressor was grateful they'd gotten out of their wet clothes. They made their way down the steps.

These halls were clearly not open to the public, which is exactly what the transgressor wanted. The halls were musty and dim, lit only by narrow little strips of harsh florescent light along the bottoms of the walls. The posters here were meant for workers, detailing safety hazards and posting warnings.

The transgressor passed an open door labeled 'SECURITY ROOM'. Peeking inside, they could see a long desk with several monitors, all turned off. The room was empty save for a rolling chair and some cardboard boxes in the corner. It seemed that if there was a security guard, they weren't on duty. A stroke of good luck for the transgressor.

The door to parts and service wasn't locked. This room was massive, and better lit than the halls. Pale service lights cast a clinical glow over rows of shelves and lockers, lines of computer servers, and at the center of the room, some sort of crazy glass chamber housing what the transgressor guessed was a torture machine inside. They got a closer look at the thing, eventually puzzling out that it was some sort of advanced repair machine. The table bolted to the floor inside the chamber was outfitted with massive metal bands. Too big to strap a person down, but… that robot mascot had been pretty big.

This place must be where the robots got serviced when they broke down. The transgressor checked through some of the shelves, finding them to be poorly organized. There were open bins full of parts that didn’t seem to go together, bundles of wires jammed in with stacks of metal rods, smaller computer chips scattered on the same shelf as a collection of curved metal panels.

The transgressor checked the lockers next. Most of the ones that popped open freely were empty, except for two. The first just held a hat and a sweater. The second appeared empty at first, but something shiny caught the transgressor's eye. Stuck between the back of the locker and the loose metal shelf was a name badge. Across the top of the badge was the word 'TECHNICIAN' and inside the name box was the name 'Chester'. On the back of the badge, below the safety pin, was a barcode not unlike the one on the back of the backstage pass.

The transgressor pocketed the badge, hoping to try it on the staff doors to see if the barcode would work on the panels. They cast one more look around the room before carrying on.

They found a bathroom, sensor lights clicking on as they stepped inside. The transgressor went immediately to the sink and started washing their hands. They scrubbed and scrubbed until the water was no longer tinged with red and ran clear. The transgressor's hands shook as they grabbed a paper towel. They risked a glance in the mirror.

The transgressor was not surprised to see how haggard they looked. Between the mud on their face and in their short black hair, the heavy bags under their eyes, and all the cuts and nicks they'd acquired charging through bushes and branches, the transgressor was looking a little worse for wear, to put it kindly. They turned the water back on and did their best to clean themself up.

Eventually, after a few more minutes of exploring, the transgressor found exactly what they were looking for. A small closet with a doorknob dusty enough to promise infrequent visits. Inside, there were shelves of what looked like simple uniforms, shirts and aprons and hats. The transgressor stepped in and shut the door behind them. They sat down, fitting neatly between the shelves and the door, their back to the wall. Here they could safely recuperate and wait for the storm to pass without (too much) fear of being found. Just for a few hours, just until they could be sure the cops would have moved on, either looking for them elsewhere or, with any luck, given up on looking for them at all.

They did try to think of a plan. They'd gotten themself into a real pickle, and they were out of ideas, out of options, out of luck. The transgressor leaned their heavy head back against the wall and breathed a long sigh. They closed their eyes and tried to think. There had to be some way out of this, if they could just think…

The transgressor jolted awake, startled from a dream by the sound of laughter. There was a moment of bleary eyed confusion before the transgressor's brain caught up with them, and they realized they'd passed out.

Idiot!

Judging by the bright light coming from the crack along the bottom of the door, the lights were on in the hall outside. And judging by that laugh, and what they could now make out as muffled distant voices, there were people out there in the halls.

The transgressor had slept through the night. They got to their feet, gripping the shelf beside them as they did, stiff muscles protesting. The mall was open, which meant getting back out of here was going to be a huge pain in the ass. Unless…

The transgressor's gaze fell on the shelf they were gripping. They reached into their pocket, feeling the name badge was still there. These shelves were full of employee uniforms…

Well, they certainly couldn't hide in this closet all day. So, disguise it was. The transgressor pulled on a uniform and clipped their stolen name badge to it. They hid their hair in a hat and pulled the brim down low. Then they listened at the door for a long moment, making sure no one was in the hall outside to see them come out.

The transgressor squinted in the bright light of the hall, the fluorescents along the ceiling now blazing. The transgressor crossed their fingers and hoped not to run into anyone as they walked as casually as they could down the hall, heading back the way they'd came. With any luck, no one would pay them any mind, and they could just head for an exit. Just another average and totally legitimate employee, nothing to see here.

Of course, the transgressor's luck had never been good.

"Hey, you!!"

The transgressor froze, fear rooting them to the spot as someone came up behind them. They turned to see another employee, wearing the same uniform as them, sans the hat, which the transgressor imagined would have disagreed with her head full of curly hair. Her name badge read 'TECHNICIAN: Brandi'.

"New kid! Follow me. I don't care what you were doing, I need help with one of those pass dispenser machines. Some Karen is gonna wring my neck if I don't get her the pass she bought. Dumbass got it jammed in the machine somehow. Don't just stand there, lets go!" Brandi waved impatiently for the transgressor to follow her.

Stunned, the transgressor quickly came to the realization that they hadn't been found out. The disguise had worked, Brandi had assumed they were another technician.

…Wait, this was bad. The transgressor was not a technician.

Still, they didn't want to blow their cover, so they quickly moved to follow Brandi. Maybe once they were out in the mall, they could slip away in a crowd.

"What's your name, kid?" Brandi glanced over her shoulder at the transgressor, her eyes scanning their name badge. "Chester, huh? I'm Brandi. First day on the job? You look a little lost."

The transgressor glanced down at their name badge. They nodded. They were actually lost, Brandi had lead them down a series of unfamiliar tunnels and was now guiding them up a different stairwell than the one they'd taken down last night.

"Strong silent type, huh? That's just fine, I talk more than enough for most people. Sorry to drag you into this, I just need someone to help me pry the damn pass out." Brandi slowed her ascent briefly, glancing sideways at the transgressor. "…And maybe help me handle this Karen. I really can't deal with people like that today."

The transgressor - rather, decidedly Chester- nodded in understanding. They followed Brandi through a 'STAFF ONLY' door.

Their plans to disappear into a crowd went out the window when Chester realized the Karen and the offending pass machine in question was right down the hall from the staff door.

With all the lights on and the halls full of noise and laughter, the mall seemed a world apart from the neon drenched labyrinth Chester had navigated last night. They could hear a brainless pop song bumping along through overhead speakers. A pair of kids nearly ran into them as they dashed down the hall. The kids were snickering about something.

Chester spotted the wet floor sign bot the kids had tipped over a moment later. The poor thing’s wheels were swiveling frantically as it lay helplessly on its back. Chester stopped to right the bot, setting it gently back on its wheels. They gave the bot a little pat on the head before hurrying to catch up with Brandi.

"THERE you are! I've been waiting here for seven minutes!!" the woman standing by the pass machine complained, her foot tapping impatiently.

"Sorry about that, ma'am," Brandi said. She turned to Chester and rolled her eyes before turning back to the machine. "We'll get your pass to you in no time."

"Honestly, with how much you people charge for a one day pass, you'd think you could afford better machines!" The woman huffed and folded her arms.

Brandi reached into her toolbelt (Chester hoped it wasn't suspicious that they didn't have a toolbelt) and pulled out a screwdriver. She made quick work of getting the front panel off of the pass machine, setting the panel against the wall.

"Take a look in here." Brandi beckoned Chester over, pointing at something inside.

Chester swallowed. They glanced around, searching for some sort of excuse or easy exit from the situation. When they found none, they begrudgingly crouched down beside Brandi and peered inside.

It wasn't hard to spot the pass dispenser between bundles of wires and long metal containers, holding blank passes waiting to be purchased. Chester could see a pass wedged into the dispenser slot as well, its shiny laminated surface catching the light. A corner of the plastic card appeared to be caught on the inner edge of the slot. It looked like someone had already tried to yank it free, as the corner was bent and the card was stuck at an angle.

"I think the slot itself comes out, but I can't get a good enough grip on it to pull it out," Brandi said.

Chester frowned at the slot and the card. If they could just get this over with, Brandi would leave them be and they would be free to head out of the nearest exist without suspicion.

Chester reached in and attempted to pull at the slot. When that didn't work, they tried pushing it. To their surprise, it popped free of the frame holding it in place. Chester tilted it on its side and pulled it through the frame easily. They held it up to Brandi, who'd been trying to assure the woman that it wouldn't be long now before she had her pass.

"Woah! Hey, nice job!" Brandi looked pleasantly surprised. She pulled the pass free from the back side of the slot, then handed it off to the woman.

"It's bent!" The woman scoffed. "This is ridiculous! All of that and the pass is bent. Is it even going to work like this??"

"It'll still work fine, ma'am. You just need to be able to scan the barcode on the back," Brandi assured.

The woman, still not satisfied, went back and forth with Brandi while Chester maneuvered the slot back in place. They set it back in the frame and pulled until it popped back into place. With that done, they stepped back from the machine.

Once it was clear she wasn't getting a complimentary pass or a refund for her troubles, the woman took her slightly bent pass and stormed off.

"BLEH." Brandi stuck her tongue out and grabbed the panel she'd taken off the front of the machine. "I'm glad that's over with. Hey, thanks for the help! I dunno how you got that thing out of there so easily, that was great!"

Chester gave her a thumbs up. They waited as patiently as they could as Brandi began screwing the panel back into place.

"Hey, who'd you interview with? Was it Daniel?" Brandi asked.

Chester panicked. They nodded.

"That figures, Daniel quit just yesterday. Threw his hat down and stormed out. I don't blame the guy, but jeez. There's not a whole lot of managers left. Anyways, if you had interviewed with Rosa I was going to ask if she asked you a bunch of weird questions during your interview or if that was just me. I only started here a week ago and let me tell ya! I should have taken the warning signs when I saw em." Brandi shook her head. "I mean, I'm sure you know how it is. Most places have you do the work of five people and pay you pennies for it. Turnover rate is really high here, I mean I've just been here the one week and I've seen three people come and go! But what's really bad is that I've started hearing stories about why the turnover rate is so high. Like… I mean, did you see that safety waiver packet they had us sign??"

Chester, obviously, had not seen such a thing. Luckily, they were saved from having to respond when Brandi continued her rambling unprompted.

"I'm telling you Chester, this place is bad news. I'd start looking for other employment opportunities if I were you." Brandi finished screwing the panel in place. She seemed to realize something, and quickly went on to add, "That's not to say that I'm like, trying to get you to leave! You know?? Like, I'm just looking out for you."

Chester offered Brandi a reassuring smile and nodded. They started inching away. Not that they didn't like Brandi- they actually found her charming. But they very much wanted to escape this place.

Brandi smiled and pat Chester on the shoulder. "Good deal. Thanks again for the help. I've got a list of tasks a mile long so I'd better get to it. I'll see ya around, ok?"

Brandi finally left, and Chester was at last alone. They breathed a sigh of relief, turned on their heel, and nearly collided with someone standing directly behind them.

The stranger lowered the hand she'd been about to tap Chester on the shoulder with as Chester stumbled back. This stranger was wearing a plain white button up shirt, the sleeves rolled up. Her name tag read 'LEAD TECHNICIAN: Rosa Garcia'. The circles under her eyes were nearly as dark as her short hair. She carried a clipboard and a disapproving glare.

The stranger, Rosa, glanced down at Chester's nametag, then back up to meet their gaze. "Come with me."

Chester's heart pounded, their nerves jumping. Brandi had mentioned that Rosa was a manager. Did she know Chester wasn't an employee?? Should they make a break for it?

Rosa sighed. "Relax, I'm not gonna fire you or anything. Common, I don't have all day."

Chester swallowed the nervous lump in their throat. Maybe their cover hadn't been blown? They reluctantly followed Rosa down the hall.

Rosa lead them through a different 'STAFF ONLY' door. She didn't go too far down the hall before leading Chester into a small office, equipped with a desk and two chairs, a computer, a single filing cabinet, and a single poster on the wall- a picture of that bear character giving the viewer two thumbs up, a speech bubble over his head reading 'You got this superstar!'. Rosa sat down heavily in the padded chair behind a desk, setting her clipboard down next to a half empty mug of cold coffee. Chester took the metal fold out chair across the desk from Rosa, trying not to be too conspicuous about sitting on the edge of their seat, in case they needed to make a hasty exit.

Rosa turned to the computer, clicking the mouse a few times as she spoke. "I'll cut right to the chase, we're both too busy for anything else. We have no one on staff to work night shift repairs and we're gonna need you to cover it. Can you do that? I'm authorized to give you a small pay bump."

Chester wasn't sure what to say. They weren't a real employee. However, they didn't want to give themself away, so they played along. Why not?

Chester willed their hands not to shake as they signed. "I can do that."

Rosa paused. "Would you rather I used sign as well?"

"You don't have to," Chester assured, shaking their head.

Rosa nodded. She typed something into the computer. "Who did you interview with?"

Chester panicked for only a moment before a name came to mind, someone Brandi had mentioned. "Daniel." Chester recalled that Daniel had apparently quit yesterday, so Rosa wouldn't be following up with him anytime soon to confirm this.

"Right. Daniel… Daniel… Daniel's files…" Rosa tapped the mouse a few times. She grabbed the cold mug of coffee and downed it, never moving her tired gaze from the computer screen. "While we're at it… you wouldn't mind filling in for some other people, would you? We do pay overtime here." She looked at Chester hopefully.

"Sure," Chester agreed. What did it matter? They weren't actually planning on working here.

Rosa's pleased expression quickly turned to a frown at something on the computer, then she sighed. "Great. Files got corrupted again. Jesus, that's the fourth time this month." Rosa whacked the side of the computer monitor. She rubbed her forehead. "Paper forms it is."

Rosa grumbled and sighed as she hunted through the filing cabinet for whatever forms she was looking for. "Sorry about this. If you couldn't tell, this place is falling apart at the seams and we're barely keeping shit together. You'll have to fill out another employee profile form, as will a third the staff, apparently. Digital files are lost. Leave half if it blank for all I care, I know it’s a pain, just get the important stuff down." Rosa dropped a stack of papers on the desk between her and Chester.

Chester stared down at the stack, wondering if it was too late to run for it.

"What a pain in the ass," Rosa muttered, hunting through desk drawers for a pen. She paused and glanced up at Chester. "…Sorry. It's been a long day. On top of everything else there's a bunch of cops camped out at the end of the parking lot. I'm sure you saw them on your way in today. They wanted to talk to me and some other managers about suspicious activity in the area or whatever. I told them to just check the security cameras, but apparently that storm last night knocked out the power for a bit, and a few things like most of the cameras never powered back on. But the cops said they're gonna be here a while, which is even better. They're trying to catch some kinda crook on the loose, cops think they're hiding out in the woods nearby." At Chester's concerned expression, she added, "Don't worry, I'm sure it's nothing. You'll still work the night shift, right?"

Chester looked back down at the stack of papers. If the cops were camped out right outside…

What am I about to get myself into?

"I'll do it," Chester signed.

Rosa looked relieved. "Good. Don't worry about vagrants, those cops will be around a while. Just park closer to the building and you'll be fine." She held a pen out to Chester.

Chester nodded. They took the pen and picked up a blank employee profile form. It seemed they wouldn't be leaving the building for a while. And right here in front of them was everything they needed to ensure that no one minded their presence here. No one would know a thing. Once the cops had given up the ghost, they could just decide to quit. It wasn't like this was a real job, Chester wasn't even their real name. There was nothing tying them here.

They did desperately need somewhere to lay low for a while, and honestly, they really didn't have any better ideas. Chester took a deep breath, and started filling out their form.

"Thanks a lot for stepping up. Shows you've got initiative and all that." Rosa smiled. "And hey, don't forget about the safety waivers."

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eyndr-stories · 2 years

Text

Chester and the Jesters (FNAF SB fanfic) C9 - Together

In Summary:

Things To Know (always read responsibly!):

Biggest warnings are for blood, death, knives, murder, the police, violence, also the OC is at one point hit by lightning. All fun stuff

About 70,000 words in total, 9 chapters, so roughly like. 7,500 words per chapter

This is an OC story, not a reader insert or a self insert! But if you want to imagine otherwise be my guest lol

Angst, fluff

OC x Sun & Moon, there's romance but zero spice

Occasional swearing

Heavy focus on Sun and Moon but most of the rest of the gang is there too :)

Afton doesn't exist, sorry peepaw, Vanessa is here but she's very chill. She's a kickass gamer girl lmao

Moon does an attempted murder but its fine. He's just a lil guy ok

OC uses they/them and also sign language most of the time

Impersonation, lying. There's also manipulation. Yall I wasn't kidding about the angst

There's also a lot of focus on how they're all robots, very cool robots with feelings lol

That's all I can think of, as always please lmk if I should add anything!

Ao3 Link: Right here!

Start reading here: Chapter 1

Chapter 8 | Chapter 9

C9 - Together

Sometimes, when experiencing new feelings, Sun and Moon worked to learn what they could do to avoid the feeling. Oftentimes, things didn't feel right, like running a program they weren't designed to support. Like nonexistent code trying its darndest to run itself and somehow succeeding. A lot of the time, it was overwhelming. They simply weren't wired for it, processors struggling and failing to keep up. Yet they would feel anyways. Sometimes it was like errors that never read as errors, there was a sense of it being wrong, yet they could do nothing about it being there regardless, no matter what they did.

This time, however... This time they couldn't get enough.

Moon held Chester's hand the whole way back to the daycare. Fans were whirring desperately as processors did their best. There was that sense of wrongness about it, but neither Moon or Sun cared. The feeling was overwhelming, but they didn't mind.

"It's like when our systems start to overheat, but everywhere. It's like… when one of the kids draws a picture for us, but so much… bigger," Sun rambled.

Moon accessed a memory file. He’d been in parts and service a long while ago, after a kid had managed to jam a crayon into their elbow joint, upset about the fact that he had to stop coloring and take a nap. The technician had been especially talkative, and had rambled at length about a new romantic partner they were seeing.

"They're so sweet and considerate, I just adore them," the technician had said. It was the way they'd smiled as they said it that had stuck with Moon.

Adoration. That's what this was. Moon focused on the pressure readings in his hand, focused on the signals from his sensors. He studied the way Chester's typically neutral expression was softened into a light smile. He made several backup files of this newest memory file.

Moon still felt apprehensive about holding Chester's hand, but the way his sensors were lighting up was damn near addicting.

"Let me out? Please please please??" Sun pleaded as they made it to the daycare.

"You can come out when the lights go on. The building will be open soon," Moon mumbled, his volume turned too low for Chester to hear.

"Mooooooooon!" Sun whined.

"Wait your turn."

"You've been out all night long!"

Moon turned to Chester, who sat down heavily on the padded floor. He sat himself down next to them, settling his hands in his slap. Sun continued to complain while Moon ignored him.

"This whole night has been… a lot." Chester rubbed their face under their glasses. Pressing their cold fingers over their eyes felt nice. They let out a long breath and continued to sign. "And things aren't over yet. I need to figure out… what comes next."

Moon tilted his head, causing the bell on his nightcap to jingle as it swung with the motion. "What do you mean?"

"Well. I think it's time for me to come clean. I'm not a real technician, I can't keep pretending to be one like this. It's only a matter of time until I'm in over my head and I mess things up. That's been made especially clear, after tonight," Chester signed.

"You still fixed us, didn't you?" Moon could feel something different creeping in.

"Yeah, but… I'm just sort of... Getting by. I don't really understand things as well as I should, as well as all of you deserve. Changing lightbulbs is one thing, but repairing you guys… I shouldn't be taking any risks when there's so much at stake." Chester remembered thinking Moon might die. Even though they'd managed to fix him, they hated how they'd only just barely managed to do so.

"So… what does this mean? What are you… going to do?" Moon asked. It felt like apprehension, but it was different. It was… unpleasant distress over the possibility of an unfavorable outcome. Like his new battery was somehow on the fritz. Like lightning in his belly.

Chester signed slowly. "I have to tell the truth. Explain that I don't belong here, and I never did. And I have to accept the consequences."

Moon didn't like this. Not one bit. That wonderful feeling from before was still there, but now there was this horrible fear along with it. Fear that he might loose the source of that wonderful feeling. "What if you didn't?"

"You'd rather I keep lying to everyone?"

Moon tugged at the ribbons on his wrists. "We would rather you stay. If you tell the truth, you might not be able to stay." A thought occurred to Moon, then. He recalled their earlier conversation with Chester, before everything had gone down. They'd mentioned leaving, and had asked what Moon would do if they left. When he spoke, there was static in his voice. "Do you… want to leave? You don't want to stay?"

Chester wanted nothing more than to stay. They let out a long breath. They scooted closer to Moon and leaned against him, slumping against his side. Moon entirely stilled under them. "I'm just so tired, Moon. Nothing would make me happier than to be able to stay. But I just can't keep going on like this."

Moon felt something that reminded him a lot of how it felt to hurt. It was different than system errors or clumsy repairs, though. It was more like realizing their last update had a bug, and knowing that they had to just sit with it and wait and hope the next update would fix it. "…I understand."

"I'm sorry," Chester signed.

"Don't be sorry," Moon mumbled. "We don't want you to feel bad. If you need to do this, then we understand."

Chester's heart hurt. They leaned more heavily into Moon. "If things don't go great… I'm going to miss you two. So much."

Moon's arm twitched. He wanted to wrap Chester in a hug (Sun was even yelling at him to do so) but he couldn't. He remained entirely still. Instead, he started to play his music box.

Chester listened as Moon played a soft little lullaby for them. They closed their eyes and focused on everything about this moment. Moon's casing, slightly warm from the mechanisms working inside. The quiet whir of his fans. The way his music box sounded so soft behind his faceplate, as if he was humming. They wanted to hold onto this memory, just in case.

They sat there together, Moon playing his lullaby and Chester listening quietly, until the lights came on. Moon shivered below them. Chester quickly sat up, giving him space to change.

The first thing Sun did when he was done changing was pull Chester into a hug. He held them tightly, like he never planned on letting them go.

“I can’t convince you to stay with us, can I?” Sun asked.

“No. I’m sorry,” Chester mumbled, their hands currently occupied with returning Sun’s hug.

Sun squeezed them a little tighter. “…What if I can’t let you go?”

“The daycare will open eventually. You have to take care of the kids,” Chester said. “I need to catch miss Garcia or mister Baxter before they get started for the day.”

“What if… what if we just…” Sun faltered.

“We have to let them go, Sun.”

Sun sighed, the sound full of static. Slowly, he loosened his arms from around Chester. When Chester hesitated, he nearly tightened his hold again, but resisted. Finally, Chester pulled away.

Chester wanted to say something. They raised their hands, but there were no words. Chester’s eyes threatened to tear up again.

They couldn’t say anything more, and they had to leave. So, without another word, Chester left the daycare, Sun’s gaze on their back.

As they marched back through familiar unknowable halls, Chester’s mind swam with the things they’d left unsaid. They wondered if they’d ever see Sun and Moon again. Those two had come to mean so much to them, and there was a chance they’d never see the two of them again.

Chester breathed and focused, finding resolve in their decision. They had to come clean. It was the right thing to do.

Chester found Rosa in the employee stock room. She’d just clocked in and was grabbing her faz-phone from its charger.

“Hey, there you are. Are you alright?” Rosa asked.

“I’m fine. I need to talk with you, if that’s alright,” Chester signed.

Rosa nodded. “About last night, right? There was an officer waiting for me by the door, asking to speak with the night shift employee. Apparently there was some kind of incident here last night? I told the officer you’d probably already clocked out. When he left I noticed all the other cops in the parking lot were gone. Do you know what happened?”

Chester nodded. Rosa waited patiently while Chester collected themself. She took a long drink from her coffee thermos.

“There was an intruder here last night. He was here looking for me,” Chester started.

“For you?? Why?”

Chester sighed. “Let me explain from the beginning. There’s something I need to come clean about.” Chester told their story for the second time. They summarized everything a bit quicker this time around. By the time they were done, Rosa looked wide awake for the first time since Chester had known her.

Rosa stared at Chester for a long moment when they were finished. It was certainly a lot to take in. “So… Anthony came after you to try and kill you last night.”

Chester nodded.

“Are you… okay? I mean, obviously he didn’t get very far, did he? But you’re alright?” Rosa asked.

“I’ve been better,” Chester admitted.

Rosa nodded. “Do you want some time off? I can get Lance to cover your shifts, he’s got less overtime than I do. So don’t worry about leaving us short staffed.”

Chester stopped for a moment to rewind the conversation, double checking that, yes, they had told her that they’d originally snuck into the plex and were not actually a legitimate technician. “Time off??” Maybe they hadn’t heard her right?

“…You’re not wanting to quit, are you Chester? The other managers are doing their best to get other people back on the night shift again, so you don’t have to worry about the lack of security for much longer,” Rosa said.

Chester was entirely baffled. “I… I’m not. Fired?? Miss Garcia, I broke into the building and have been impersonating a technician for two months. Chester isn’t even my real name.”

Rosa sighed. “I can give you an interview if you want. But we really can’t afford to loose such a good worker right now. I’m not about to press any charges against you, and I doubt upper management would want me to anyways. We can make you a new name tag.”

Chester shook their head. What the hell was happening?? “But I’m not a tech! I don’t know what I’m doing!” When they’d imagined how this conversation would go down, they didn’t even consider that they’d have to try and convince Rosa to fire them.

“Half the people we hire lie outrageously and obviously on their resumes.” Rosa rolled her eyes. “If they really do more harm than help, then we let them go. But you’ve been a huge help around here. If you really weren’t good enough for the job, we would have let you go ages ago. I don’t know how you picked things up so fast but you’ve been completing your tasks, and I haven’t once had to reassign one of your completed tasks.”

“But- but I still don’t know half the things I’m supposed to, I didn’t go to school for this, all I know is what I’ve gathered while on the job and what I've read in the technical books,” Chester gestured to the shelf of books near the back of the room. “And even then, I can’t figure out half of the terms!”

Rosa sighed and rolled her eyes. That tired look had settled back over her now. “Look, if it really means that much to you, let me give you a proper interview.”

Chester, confused and entirely lost, hesitantly agreed. They followed Rosa back up through the halls and into her office.

Chester had imagined they’d be tossed in the back of a police cruiser by now, or at least kicked out on the street. By all means, they really should have been at least kicked out. They entered the office behind Rosa in a daze. Rosa motioned for them to sit across the desk from her. They complied, moving on autopilot. They wrung their hands together as they sat down heavily in the same chair they'd first sat in months ago.

“Right.” Rosa cleared her throat and picked up a clipboard. She rifled through the desk for a pen. “So. Let’s take a look at your qualifications.”

“I don’t have a college degree or anything. I barely graduated high school,” Chester signed.

Rosa shrugged. “I don’t have a degree myself. I did take a class over at the community college, though. Do you have any experience working as a technician?”

“Technically, I’ve got two months of experience. If that even counts?”

Rosa made a note on her clipboard. “Mmhmm. Very good. And do you have any experience in Fazbear Entertainment electronics and hardware specifically? We have our own line or arcade machines, not to mention the animatronics, of course.”

“Again, technically, but-“

“Two months of prior experience. Well, things are looking good so far.” Rosa scribbled something on her clipboard. “Do you have experience with typical repair tools? Screwdrivers, soldering gun, wrenches, ratchets, etcetera?”

Chester sighed. “Yes, I do.”

“Do you think you’re capable of handling the day to day responsibilities the job entails? This includes typical maintenance, running check up diagnostics, making installations, and general repair. All hardware of course, everything software related goes to the upper management offices.”

“I… I mean…” Chester paused. Their initial reaction was to say no, of course they didn’t feel capable. They lacked a lot of basic important knowledge. But with a lot of things, they understood enough to get by, or at least enough to be able to figure out what the problem in need of fixing was. “For some things, yes. But other things, like animatronic repair, or anything too technically complicated or… too important to mess up, no.”

Rosa made another note. “I see. And why is it that you want this job?”

“Originally I was hiding out from the authorities.”

“And now?” Rosa asked.

“Now…” Chester thought back over their time here. They thought about everything they’d learned, and how nice it felt to figure out how to fix something. It felt nice not only to be able to help out, but to do the best they could and have it pay off. “Honestly, I like the work. I like working with my hands, and I like the satisfaction of fixing things and learning how things work. I like the people here, too.”

Rosa made a few more marks on the clipboard, her pen scratching quickly over the paper. “Well, Chester. You sound like the perfect fit for this job. Let me offer you a deal; you stay on as a technician and i’ll work with Lance to tweak your task list, so you’ll handle most if not all of the grunt work around here. All easy stuff no one wants to do because it’s boring or tedious. A lot of the stuff you’ve been doing, actually, but from now on that’d be all you’re doing. Nothing too complicated. In the meantime, you can train under me during your day shifts and I’ll teach you everything I know. Sort of like an informal apprenticeship. What do you say?”

Chester didn’t have any words to say anything with at all. They were fucking floored.

Is this. Real??

Rosa was looking at them. Her expression was serious. Chester considered their options.

…There weren’t a whole lot of options. Even if there were, there wasn’t any version of things where this wasn’t the best option. Chester would have to be an idiot to turn it down.

“…Are you sure?” Chester asked.

“Positive. I see in you a great deal of potential. Besides, we really need to keep you on staff.” Rosa smiled.

“Well then… alright,” Chester signed. “You’ve got a deal.”

Rosa’s smile grew and she shook Chester’s hand. “Great. I’ll talk to Lance and fill him in. Did you want some time off or will you be here for your shift tonight?”

“I’ll be here,” Chester signed. They technically still did not have anywhere else to live. They’d have to figure that out soon. They’d been expecting to have been sleeping in a jail cell from here on out.

“Great. We’ll have your tasks worked out by then,” Rosa promised. She set her clipboard aside, revealing the paper she’d been ‘taking notes’ on was covered in doodles. “And hey… keep up the good work.”

Still in a sort of daze, Chester saw themself out of the office. They stood in the hall and stared at the floor for a solid minute. They barely noticed as Cappy and their security bot friend rolled past, the two of them still hand in hand.

Slowly, it started to sink in. They hadn’t been arrested. They hadn’t even been fired. They could keep working here. They could stay.

Chester’s feet started to move. They made their way out into the main building. They passed a few tired employees, just starting their shifts for the day. The building wasn’t open to the public yet, but the overhead speakers had started to play cheery pop music on a low volume. All the lights were on, adding to the surreal experience of it all. Between Chester’s daze and the weird emptiness of the illuminated halls, they felt like they were dreaming.

Their feet carried them at last back to the daycare. Once the grand double doors were in sight, the daze started to subside. In its place came something giddy. Chester’s heart was pounding as they reached the doors. They stepped inside the daycare.

Sun had been heading towards the doors when Chester stepped inside. He froze mid-stride, gaze locked on Chester.

Chester smiled when they saw him. They almost felt dizzy. “I wasn’t fired.” They laughed, still hardly able to believe it. They quickly explained their talk with Rosa, and the interview they’d had.

Sun approached slowly, as if he were afraid Chester would vanish if he moved too suddenly. “You can stay??”

Chester nodded. “I’m staying.”

Sun couldn’t hold back anymore. He pulled Chester into a tight hug, swinging them from side to side. He started to laugh, and as the happiness overcame him, he started to dance and twirl Chester around in dizzying circles.

Chester held on tight, grinning like a goof. For the first time in their life, they felt so incredibly lucky. Through some twist of fate or coincidence or happenstance or whatever the hell it was, they were here. They could stay.

Sun eventually calmed down, though he didn’t let Chester go just yet, swaying with them instead. “When you left, Moon and I, we were so sad. It was even worse than when I’d felt it before. We thought we’d never get to see you again, and we’d never be able to tell you what you mean to us both.”

“I actually felt the same sort of way. It was so hard, to stick with my morals and carry through with my decision. I wanted to tell you two something important, but I knew I shouldn’t, especially if I was never going to see you two again,” Chester said.

Sun finally set Chester down. He looked down at them carefully. His grin was as steady as ever, but his posture was uncertain, nervous. He fiddled with the ribbons at his wrists. “You… wanted to tell us something??”

Chester nodded. They couldn’t keep it in any longer. Not after everything that had happened, not after nearly loosing their chance to ever even see the two of them again. Chester took a deep breath. “You and Moon have come to mean so much to me. I care about you two a lot. It’s not just that I like spending time with you two and talking and playing games, but also… I like you both. I… I want to be friends, but I also want to be… more.”

Sun had to resist immediately grabbing Chester up in another hug. “We want that too!!”

“Really?!”

Sun nodded enthusiastically. “You mean more to us than anyone has ever meant to us before, and we like you so much that sometimes it hurts, but its such a wonderful way to hurt. We adore you. You’re so, so special to us. We don’t often understand or even tolerate it very well when we feel things, but if there’s one thing we’re both sure of its that for you we feel something that we’ve never felt for anyone else before. Its overwhelming and wonderful and it feels even better knowing you feel the same. Are you sure you feel the same?? Really truly?”

Chester smiled. “I really do.” They could feel a warmth in their cheeks from Sun's words.

“You don’t mind that we don’t know at all what we’re doing? Or that it won’t be the same as with a human? Because we can’t quite feel things for you the way a human could. But we can feel for you in our own way,” Sun said.

“I know. I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Chester assured. “Honestly, I don’t really know what I’m doing either. I don’t have a whole lot of experience, but I at least know without a doubt that my feelings for the two of you are resolute. And if you’re both willing to give me a shot, then I’m more than happy to do the same.”

“We can be clueless together?” Sun offered. He held a hand out to Chester, halfway between them.

Chester laughed, the sound light and happy. They took Sun’s hand. “I’d love that.”

~~~

“Vanessa, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Vanessa leaned back in her chair, giving Chester her full attention. It was just the two of them in the break room today. They’d decided to share a pizza again, but Chester had yet to touch their half of the pie.

“Oh, it’s the big thing, isn’t it?” Vanessa asked, sensing the mood had changed to something more serious.

“Big thing?”

“Yeah, you know. Your big secret. You’re finally going to tell me?” Vanessa prompted.

“You know I’ve got a big secret??” Chester had thought they’d been doing an alright job of hiding it, but apparently not.

“Of course I do. The ghosts love to gossip. They’ve got nothing else to do, ya know?” Vanessa waved a hand. “Lets have it then, you’ve kept me waiting for long enough!”

“Okay… Alright, here it is. I’m not really a technician. I broke into the plex two months ago and put on a uniform so I could sneak back out unnoticed, but then everyone thought I was a tech, and since the cops were after me I played along so I could hide out here. The cops that were staked out in the parking lot were looking for me,” Chester started.

Vanessa continued to stare at them expectantly.

“…I’m not joking. Chester isn’t my real name. I’ve been living in hiding here at the plex for two months. I’ve been lying to you,” Chester signed.

“Mmhmm. I know.” Vanessa nodded.

“You… know.”

“Yeah, I’ve known since the beginning. Is that… it? That’s all? There’s nothing else?” Vanessa asked.

“Nothing else?? What do you mean you knew since the beginning?!”

“The ghosts, remember? They told me all about you sneaking in and how you’ve been sleeping in the daycare attendant’s room above the daycare. But they all love you, you’re very entertaining. Its like watching a soap opera for them.” Vanessa smiled. "Also! Cappy tried to get me to fire you at one point and said you'd snuck into the plex. They really didn't appreciate cleaning up your messes."

“You… knew?? The whole time?” Chester shook their head. They were reeling from this. “You knew I was hiding out here from the police, who were after a wanted murderer. And you not only said nothing, but decided to be friends with me??”

“Yeah.” Vanessa shrugged. “What can I say, I thought it was entertaining too. Besides, I knew you weren’t a murderer. I once saw you apologize to the wall after bumping into it. And that was before I told you the building had feelings.” Vanessa laughed.

Chester remembered that embarrassing moment, way back when they'd first started working here, before they'd made the deal with Sun to stay in the daycare. They'd been either staying up all night reading technician books or sleeping in the little employee uniform closet and, needless to say, they hadn't exactly been well rested. Once they’d realized they’d apologized to a wall they’d looked all around to see if they were being watched. They hadn’t seen anyone, and had thought they were alone at the time. Apparently someone had been watching after all.

“You should know the cops aren’t out there looking for you anymore. Apparently they caught someone else, and his prints match the prints on the murder weapon, and from what I hear the guy eventually fessed up to the murder, not too long after they brought him in,” Vanessa said.

Chester nodded slowly. “His name is Anthony.”

“That’s the guy who broke in, right?? Everyone’s only heard rumors and the ghosts all tell it differently. Pleeease tell me what happened?” Vanessa clasped her hands together. “I’ll buy you some onion rings!”

“I was going to tell you anyways.” Chester took a moment, then retold their whole story once more, starting from the very beginning, elaborating more on how they’d gotten the job at first, then explaining everything that had happened the night Anthony had shown up. They also told Vanessa about how they’d come clean to Rosa, who hadn’t fired them.

“Ohh, so that’s why you’ve been shadowing Rosa! I thought she was training you to become a manager. That’s what everyone else assumed,” Vanessa said. “Man. Wow, that’s a lot. Hey, if you want, I could recommend a really good therapist, I’ve been seeing her for years now. She’s really nice.”

Chester picked at the edge of the pizza box. “You know, I might actually take you up on that sometime. It’ll have to come later, though. There’s some other things I need to figure out. I want to look into taking some technical courses at the community college soon. Right now I need to figure out a place to stay. As much as I love spending time with the daycare attendant, I can’t keep sleeping in the daycare forever. I miss sleeping in a bed. I miss having my own place. When I worked for mister Joseph, he put me up in different hotels around town. I wasn’t exactly on direct deposit, so I couldn’t provide proof of income to any apartment complexes. Basically I’ve been technically homeless for a while now.”

“You know… My apartment is a two bedroom. I was originally going to room with a friend, but they flaked out last minute and left me in the lurch. I’ve been trying to find another roomie since, but there’s a lot of weirdoes in this town, ya know? I should know, I’m one of em.” Vanessa laughed. “But what do you say?? Its close enough to walk to work, and there's a nice little pub right around the corner that makes a mean bloody mary.”

Chester’s nose scrunched up. “I was on board until you mentioned the bloody mary.”

Vanessa scoffed. “How dare you. I’m rescinding my offer. Only people with taste allowed in my apartment.” Vanessa stuck her tongue out at Chester.

Chester smiled. “I stand by it.”

“I’m just joking, offer still stands. What do you think??”

“In all seriousness? That’d be absolutely wonderful. You’d really let me room with you??” Chester asked.

“Just pay your share of rent on time and don’t leave the kitchen a mess,” Vanessa said.

“I can do that,” Chester agreed.

Vanessa grinned. “Cool, then it’s settled! I’ll make a copy of the key after work and talk to the agent guy about getting you on the lease. I don’t think you’ve realized it yet, but I’ve just tricked you into being my go-to default bud for when I need binge-watching company. I’m also gonna drag you along on walks. Oh! And there’s a sick little dog park I have to show you too!”

“That all honestly sounds wonderful.” Chester dared to imagine some peaceful normalcy. Real normalcy, not just pretend, with a massive lie looming overhead. They wanted very much to do normal friend things with Vanessa, hang out in coffee shops and bars and play video games and chat. They imagined being roommates, figuring out how to cohabitate together. “Would you mind me bringing guests over from time to time?”

“Course not, so long as you give me a heads up. Why do you ask? Did you have someone in mind?” Vanessa asked.

“I may have… okay, you remember how I said I’d developed certain feelings?” Chester started.

Vanessa’s eyes went wide. “Go on??” she said excitedly.

“Well, I’m. Sort of. In a relationship now.”

“WHAT!!” Vanessa slammed her hands down on the table. “WHY DIDN’T YOU LEAD WITH THIS!! Oh my god that’s great news!”

Chester laughed. “That got more of a reaction from you than the massive secret i’ve been keeping for months.”

“Well I already knew about that.” Vanessa waved a hand nonchalantly. “But seriously, congrats! I take it my advice didn’t pan out?”

“It actually only made things worse.” Chester quickly continued. “Not as in bad worse, it just made me realize I wasn’t enamored with a fantasy.”

“Can I guess who it is?? I think I have an idea,” Vanessa said.

Chester nodded.

“Is it the daycare attendant?” Vanessa guessed. “I know you said there were two crushes, and the daycare attendant has those dual AIs. Plus, with how you've been staying in the daycare, I imagine you've spent quite a lot of time with Sun and Moon.”

“I really can’t hide anything from you, can I?” Chester smiled.

“It’s all that practice looking for golden houses. Nothing gets by me.” Vanessa laughed. “Yeah, you can bring them around whenever you like, they’re both cool in my book.”

“Great. I think they’ll be sad when I move out of the daycare. I know I’m going to miss not having quite as much time with them.”

Vanessa hummed thoughtfully. “Are they allowed to leave? I know there’s been a restriction on the daycare for a while now, but usually the animatronics don’t wander around town regardless. I can only imagine the absolute fit upper management would throw.”

“Sun said he was going to try and talk to upper management soon. I guess if it comes to it I could try to sneak them out.” Chester imagined trying to sneak a seven foot tall animatronic dressed like a jester anywhere.

“Just slap some of those silly disguise glasses on them. You know, with the big nose and the silly mustache? No one will recognize them, surely.”

Chester laughed. “Right. A fool proof plan.”

Chester and Vanessa chatted easily, nearly missing the end of their break. Chester managed to eat a few slices of pizza, once they’d talked everything over with Vanessa. They returned to work, and continued where they left off shadowing Rosa. She’d acquired a new cup of coffee in Chester’s absence and sipped on it between incredibly brief explanations and lessons.

The end of the day couldn’t come soon enough. Chester was eager to get back to the daycare, though they were sure to pay attention to Rosa’s lessons and advice. Mostly, they learned from watching her work through tasks, asking her questions when needed.

Finally, it was time to clock out. Rosa told Chester they’d done well today, even though they’d done very little besides help her out with her tasks.

Chester stepped into the daycare. They smiled as Sun sprang into view, jumping out from behind the corner of a jungle gym and running towards them.

“Hello my dear!! How did your shift go? Did you learn lots of things??” Sun asked after crushing Chester in a standard greeting hug.

“I did, actually. Like how there's apparently a difference between a soldering gun and a soldering iron. How was your day? Any trouble with the kids?” Chester asked.

“Not at all!! And in fact, today was the first day the lights were back to normal! Management let me know this morning that nap time was back in the schedule. Moon was really nervous but he did very well. The kids missed him,” Sun’s cheery disposition faltered as he seemed to realize something. “Oh, but that means the lights will be off all night! I’ll only get an hour with you before it’s Moon’s turn.”

“You’ll still be hanging out, just like how Moon is hanging out with us right now,” Chester pointed out.

“Yeah but it’s different.” Sun folded his arms. “I suppose I’ll just have to make the most of it!”

Apparently, this involved practically cuddling with Chester while trying to play a board game.

"You know, typically the players sit on opposite ends of each other for Mastermind," Chester pointed out. They weren't being serious, of course. They were far too comfortable sitting in Sun's lap, leaning back against him with his legs folded around them.

"That's okay, I remember the colors I picked!" Sun said.

Chester considered their colored pegs. They knew they had two colors right, and they were fairly certain the yellow one was in the right place. They switched out a red peg for a blue one on their next guess and shuffled some of the pegs around into a different order, leaving the yellow where it was.

"Ooooooooh you're so close, but I can't say!!" Sun wiggled excitedly as he set several hint pins into their slots next to Chester's guess. "You're so good at guessing the colors!"

"Don't give it away!" Chester laughed. They kept the colors all the same and changed their positions around.

"I think you'll get it before the lights go out!" Sun commended.

Chester now had all but one peg correct. They looked back at their previous guesses, trying to find which color they were missing. They'd tried pretty much every color… unless the last peg was a repeat color??

"Ah… I've got you all figured out," Chester declared. They replaced the last peg with another yellow one.

Sun flipped open the lid of his original lineup. "You did it!! And you still had four guesses left, good job!"

"Thanks, but you definitely kept giving me all sorts of little hints the whole time." Chester smiled.

"I just can't help but root for you." Sun wrapped his arms around Chester. "Moon's coming out in a little bit. I'm getting in all the hugs I can!"

"Do as you must." Chester accepted their fate with ease. "You mentioned you talked to management, right? Did you happen to talk about leaving the building from time to time?"

"Oh, yes! They said nothing's been decided yet, but they would take it under consideration. We talked about possibly escorted and brief trips into town to start with, and marketing opportunities. Moon is skeptical but I think management will come around!" Sun said.

"I see. Keep me updated, okay?" Chester asked.

"Can do." Sun squeezed Chester lightly. "We're a little scared. About leaving the building. Leaving the daycare! But it's also exciting. And management may only start out by letting the glamrocks outside first. They'll probably have Freddy do test runs. If they even agree to it, that is! I think I'd at least like the option available to me, to leave."

Chester nodded. "That's understandable. I really hope management agrees. Otherwise I'd need to figure out how to jailbreak all of you."

Sun laughed, but Chester had only just barely been joking.

Chester leaned into Sun's hug and sat there with him until the hour changed over, and all the lights turned off for the night.

Chester leaned forwards for just long enough for Moon to finish changing before leaning right back against him. They adjusted when their back met one of the bells on Moon's cape.

"Sun forgot to ask if you had fun," Moon said, his voice soft and quiet.

"I did. I always have fun playing games with him. He gets really into it, it's very cute," Chester signed.

Moon hummed. "Board games are a very serious matter. Not to be taken lightly."

"Of course, of course." Chester noticed how still Moon was in comparison to Sun, who couldn't seem to sit still for the life of him. "Are you okay with me leaning on you like this?"

"Yes." Moon curled ever so slightly tighter around Chester, as if he feared they'd get up. "It's okay. I'm just being careful."

Chester's hand found one of Moon's. They squeezed it gently and gave it a little kiss, square on the back of his hand, before they could second guess the action.

Moon's fans blasted to life. He squeezed Chester's hand back, very gently.

"How's the eye? I haven't heard it click at all," Chester commented.

"It's perfect. Thank you," Moon said. "I'm glad you get to stay. I'm glad you want to stay."

"I'm glad you don't mind me staying."

"Don't mind." Moon huffed. "Don't mind, they say. As if your presence isn't the most marvelous thing to us."

Chester's face felt warm. "Thanks," they mumbled, unsure of what else to say in reply to that.

Moon and Chester sat together in silence for a while. Chester fiddled with Moon's hand, testing all the joints and tracing all the little seams that held him together. If they focused, they could just barely feel the small give in his casing when they pressed down. They could feel the pressure sensors at the tips of his fingers.

"Having fun?" Moon asked.

"Yeah." Chester tilted their head back to look at Moon. "You're very cool."

Moon gazed down at his hand, trying to see whatever it was that Chester seemed to see. "It's just my hand…?"

"Yeah, but its also… intentional. In a way that human hands are by accident."

Moon tilted his head. "…You aren't still suffering from that concussion, are you?"

Chester rolled their eyes. "No. I mean… look at my hand, right?" Chester held up their hand, fingers splayed out. "I grew this hand. No one really made it, it just kinda happened. It grew this way because that's what my DNA told it to do. You could argue that my parents made it, but still, they didn't sit down and gather the materials and craft it by had, piece by piece. No one sat down at a table and designed it, thought about materials, design choices, whatever. It just happened. Accidental. And then take your hand."

Chester took Moon's hand again, holding it gently so it sat palm up in their hands. "Your hand was intentional. It was designed and crafted and built with purpose. It's something someone sat down and put thought into, gathered materials for, and put in the time to craft. It's intentional."

Moon thought about this for a moment. "Is that… good?"

"It's neither good or bad. It's like… if everyone is a piece of art. Unique and wonderful and created somehow one way or another. Then humans are like when trees grow in funny shapes around rocks, or like when weeds brighten the crack of a concrete driveway. Not really intending to have become something messy and unique, but there none the less. And robots are like… the way the ocean tide comes and goes. Like rainfall. Like knowing the stars are always there even if you can't see them. Like, the inevitability behind the old, behind aging. Like the easy way wonderful things are so natural that they're mundane."

"Are you calling me mundane?"

"No." Chester laughed. "What I'm trying to say is that you're marvelous and incredible and you just are despite that. The ocean doesn't know or care that its tides come and go, they just do. Rain just falls, it doesn't care that it's rain or that it waters crops or soaks someone who regrets forgetting an umbrella. The stars don't know I miss them when I can't see them. The world is so full of crazy wonderful things, and its all so natural and regular for the world that its easy to forget how great it is. And you're something truly wonderful in the world. You're wonderful and you don't even know it because it's just how you are."

Moon was quiet for a long time. His fans whirred quietly in his head, but otherwise he was still and silent. Chester held his hand, their fingers still now as they sat and thought.

"What brought all this on?" Moon finally asked.

Chester shrugged. "I've been stuck inside for so long, I guess I just miss nature and the world. I've been thinking about you and Sun a lot. And thinking about robots and sentience and just… marveling at the way of things, I guess."

"I suppose I'm just surprised. You're so quiet and monotone, I didn't realize there was a little poetic side to you."

Chester smiled. "I contain multitudes."

"Hmm." Moon slowly set his faceplate atop Chester's head. "Thank you for sharing your multitudes with me. I'd love to get to know all of you."

Something about that had Chester blushing fiercely. They were glad Moon wasn't currently looking at them. "We should probably clean up the board game."

Moon nodded. "Sun mentions it every five minutes."

"Oh dear." Chester smiled. They sat up and started removing colored pegs from the board. Moon gathered the box and packed everything neatly away, running a quick little scan to be sure every piece was accounted for. He got up to set the box at last back on the shelf, much to Sun's relief.

Moon turned back to look at Chester. "…I'm not sure what comes next."

"Well, we could play a different game if you'd like?" Chester offered.

Moon shook his head. "I meant… next for us. We've never done anything like this before. Been more than friends with anyone."

"Oh. Well, that's the fun part, I think. We get to figure that out together," Chester said. "Honestly, I don't really know either. My plan is to sort of just. Follow my heart, I guess? As cheesy as that sounds."

Moon hummed uncertainly. "What if we mess up?"

"Then we'll figure that out together too. There's not really a guide book to follow, unfortunately." Chester got to their feet and stood with Moon by the game shelf.

"Hm. It's sort of scary." Moon tilted his faceplate to Chester. "But… we'll figure it out together?"

"Together," Chester agreed.

Moon reached out and held their hand. Chester smiled. They couldn't help feeling like everything would end up alright.

~THE END~

0 notes

eyndr-stories · 2 years

Text

Chester and the Jesters (FNAF SB fanfic) C8 - Ghosts

In Summary:

Things To Know (always read responsibly!):

Biggest warnings are for blood, death, knives, murder, the police, violence, also the OC is at one point hit by lightning. All fun stuff

About 70,000 words in total, 9 chapters, so roughly like. 7,500 words per chapter

This is an OC story, not a reader insert or a self insert! But if you want to imagine otherwise be my guest lol

Angst, fluff

OC x Sun & Moon, there's romance but zero spice

Occasional swearing

Heavy focus on Sun and Moon but most of the rest of the gang is there too :)

Afton doesn't exist, sorry peepaw, Vanessa is here but she's very chill. She's a kickass gamer girl lmao

Moon does an attempted murder but its fine. He's just a lil guy ok

OC uses they/them and also sign language most of the time

Impersonation, lying. There's also manipulation. Yall I wasn't kidding about the angst

There's also a lot of focus on how they're all robots, very cool robots with feelings lol

That's all I can think of, as always please lmk if I should add anything!

Ao3 Link: Right here!

Start reading here: Chapter 1

Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9

C8 - Ghosts

"Are you lost?"

Chester jumped, nearly dropping their faz-phone. They turned to see Moon standing a ways behind them. How he'd snuck up on them with all those bells on his costume was beyond them.

"Sort of, actually. Usually the building helps me out, but it doesn't seem to be in the mood tonight." Chester looked back down at the map. They scowled, realizing the hallways had changed around once again.

"Want some company?" Moon asked quietly.

"Sure." Chester smiled at Moon. "Maybe you can help me find my way to Mazercise? Apparently one of the rotating walls is acting up."

Moon hummed. He stepped a little closer, folding his hands behind his back. "For starters. We're not even on the right floor. Mazercise is on the top level."

"Ah. Of course. Go figure, as they say." Chester pocketed the phone and made their way back down the hall they'd just come from. They'd passed the food court a moment ago, and they knew the elevators were there. "So… I talked to mister Baxter again, since we last hung out. He said the daycare should go back to normal any day now, they're just waiting for the go-ahead from upper management. Apparently there haven't been any more issues with employee profiles going missing. I think maybe the building realized messing with the profiles was causing glitches and decided to stop. So no more glitches or errors! Everything back to normal. That's exciting, right?"

"Yes. That's good news." Moon focused ahead as he kept pace with Chester, keeping a safe distance between them. "You should talk to Sun about that."

"I will, I'm sure he's excited."

"No Hawaiian shirt tonight. Not feeling the summer vibes?" Moon asked.

Chester smiled. "I'm on the clock again tonight. Company time, not island time."

"I like the other shirt better. This one is boring." Moon spun his faceplate at Chester.

"At least it's better than being a full time jester." Chester flicked one of the bells at the end of Moon's little jester cape.

Moon put a hand to his chest and gasped in mock offence. Chester laughed as they reached the elevators.

The food court was mostly quiet, save for the very quiet hush of rainfall echoing down from above. Chester hit the call button for the elevator. The lights flickered, all at once, just for a moment.

"…You don't think the storm will knock the power out while we're in the elevator, do you?" Chester asked.

"Would you rather use the stairs?" Moon offered.

Chester glanced down the walkway, where the stairs were. They imagined having to struggle up two flights of stairs, in front of Moon no less, and frowned.

The elevator arrived a moment later. "I'll take my chances." Chester stepped inside, holding the door open for Moon.

Moon stepped inside, leaning against the back corner. Chester hit the button for the top floor. The doors slid shut, and the elevator started to move. The speakers crackled to life overhead, but it seemed something had gone amiss during the power shortage, as they started churning out a god awful ringing noise instead of funky pop music.

The ringing clashed horribly with the constant ringing in Chester's ears. They clapped their hands over their ears, their face screwing up in pain.

Moon moved in a flash, reaching up and grabbing the speaker's covering. He wrenched it free from the ceiling effortlessly, sending small screws raining down to the floor, then grabbed the exposed speaker and ripped it out. The ringing noise ceased at once.

Chester stared wide eyed at the speaker in Moon's hand. Moon stared at it as well, as if he was surprised to see it there.

"…Sorry." Moon turned the mangled speaker over in his hands, unsure what to do with it now.

"Why did you do that?" Chester questioned. They frowned, realizing that they would most likely be the one repairing the elevator's speaker.

"It seemed to be hurting you," Moon said quietly. He awkwardly bent down and set the speaker on the floor.

"Oh. Yeah, the ringing didn't seem to agree with my tinnitus." Chester touched their ear.

"You have tinnitus?" Moon tilted his head, causing the bell at the end of his nightcap to jingle.

"Yeah, ever since I got hit by lightning." Chester sighed, recalling that fateful night. The ringing had faded slightly after the first few minutes, but now it was a near constant. "It's not too bad, I only really notice it when it's quiet."

"You were hit by lightning?!" Moon's hands twitched. They lifted slightly towards Chester, like he wanted to grab them and look them over for damage. Moon kept his hands at his sides, instead opting to run a scan on Chester, the blue light coming on in his eyes.

"It was a while ago, I'm fine now." Chester waved him off.

The elevator doors opened. Chester picked up the damaged speaker and the covering, and all the screws they could find. They piled everything onto the covering and followed Moon out of the elevator.

Chester did their best to put that night out of mind. The storm pounding on the rooftop of the building wasn't helping. They wanted to pretend like everything was just fine, like they were meant to be here. There was guilt that came with that. Chester hated lying. But while the cops were still here, there wasn't much they could do, and so pretending seemed to be the easiest thing they could do to not feel miserable.

A thought occurred to Chester. With the storm raging as badly as it was… they might be able to sneak out of the plex without being noticed. Using the storm as a cover, they could run. They wouldn't need to pretend anymore, if they left.

"Are you mad about the speaker?" Moon asked.

Chester startled from their thoughts. They looked at Moon. "Oh, no, I'm not mad. Sorry, I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"Nothing. Are we heading the right way?? I'm not even sure." Chester glanced at an arcade as they passed.

"We are. It's not far, just at the end of this hall." Moon studied Chester for a moment.

Chester kept their gaze straight ahead. They kept thinking about leaving. What would everyone think if they suddenly disappeared? They'd be leaving all the techs in the lurch, vanishing without a two weeks notice. Chester thought about how much they'd miss talking with Vanessa about video games and ghosts. They'd miss playing games with Sun and listening to him ramble about the kids, miss watching him be silly just to make them laugh. They'd miss hanging out with Moon, too. They'd miss his ever gentle consideration of them and their safety, his light teasing, and even his nosy questions.

"Moon… what would you do if I suddenly wasn't here anymore?" Chester signed slowly.

Moon hesitated. "…What do you mean?"

"If I… left. Quit. Got a different job somewhere else."

"…I would be a lot lonelier." Moon pulled at the ribbons on his wrists. "I would… miss you."

Chester looked up at Moon. They hadn't been expecting that. "You would?"

Moon tugged the rim of his nightcap down, half covering his eyes as he angled his faceplate away from Chester. "Why are you leaving, anyways?"

"It was just a hypothetical thought."

"Why would you want to leave?" Moon asked. "Hypothetically."

"I just…" Chester's hand stalled as they reached Mazercise. Chica's likeliness was featured on the sign above the door, though she was dressed in colorful workout clothes and sweat bands. The neon lettering of the sign cast an intense green glow over Chester and Moon. Chester set the speaker and associated parts down by the doorway, then turned back to Moon. "I just feel like I shouldn't be here."

"Why?" Moon asked.

Chester wanted to tell him. They really wanted to tell him everything. The guilt of it all was slowly crushing them, and they weren't sure how much longer they could stay here and keep pretending. At this point, the longer they stayed the more likely it was that someone would eventually figure them out. When they finally started putting people back on the night shift, and Chester would have to worry about someone actually watching the security cameras. They couldn’t conceal sneaking off to hide in the daycare forever.

Still… at this point, Chester had been lying to everyone here, to Sun and Moon, for almost two months now. They couldn't just drop the truth after all this time.

Moon was looking at Chester, waiting for their reply. Chester didn't have one for him. There wasn't much they could say that would be satisfactory. They had to say something.

Just then, the lights flickered out, neon signs dying out to total darkness. They stayed out for a long moment. The silence was heavier, now without the faint background hum of electricity. There was still the hush of rainfall, and the ringing in Chester's ears. After waiting a solid ten seconds, Chester started to fumble for their flashlight. They felt Moon's hand on theirs, stopping them. He gently turned their hand over and lightly, very lightly, signed letters against their palm.

INTRUDER.

Chester suddenly couldn't breathe. Moon had figured them out, he'd somehow seen right through them. But… no, he wasn't trying to detain them or anything.

…He'd been warning them.

There was a loud click, and all the signs powered back on. Chester looked around, eyes wide against the heavy shadows between signs and vending machines and ATMs. There was a figure at the end of the hall.

Moon stood there, entirely still besides a constant tremble. His gaze was fixed on the figure. The figure turned and paused. They'd spotted Chester and Moon. They started walking towards them slowly, footsteps heavy.

As they neared, Chester could see the figure was dripping wet. They must have gotten in from outside. Chester felt an uncomfortable slow dread building with every footstep that the stranger neared. The figure was familiar. Why were they familiar?

Chester got their answer, though they didn't like it.

"Finally." The stranger staggered closer, reaching a hand in his pocket. "Two months. For two months I've been trying to hunt you down. It was hard enough, seeing as your coward ass vanished off the face of the fucking earth, but with the cops out in the woods too?! But then, by some stroke of luck, I see your stupid face, hanging out on the roof of this place, and it all makes sense. Of course you'd hide out here, right under the cop's noses. After two months, all I had to do was wait for an opportunity to break in, and here you are." He laughed. He stepped closer, the light of a vending machine casting a cold blue glow over half of his form, drenching the rest in sharp shadows.

"Anthony… I thought you were dead," Chester whispered. It was all they could think. They could hardly believe their eyes. "Mister Joseph, is he…?"

Anthony scoffed. "Big boss Joe is dead as dirt. I wouldn't be so worried about him, if I were you."

"Why are you here?? Why go through all the trouble to find me?" Chester questioned. "How are you even still alive?!"

"You think I'm gonna let you get away with what you did? After you cost me everything?! No. I'm gonna get the revenge I deserve." Anthony pulled his hand from his pocket, taking a long knife out with it. He twirled it once and smiled. "I'm gonna gut you like a fucking fish."

Anthony took another step forwards, now barely ten feet away. He stepped into the harsh green light of the Mazercise sign. The light illuminated his mud stained clothes, his torn jacket, ratty hair, and the long scar on his face. Anthony tapped the scar. "Turns out, this was my saving grace. Cops assumed I was dead, what with how much blood there was. I guess you did too, eh? No need to keep a close eye on a corpse. I snuck out of there and tried to find your trail, but the cops were already after you so I laid low and bid my time. Looks like it all paid off."

"Chester… what is going on." Moon's voice startled Chester, despite how quiet he was.

Chester paled. They couldn't imagine any of this looked good for them. They looked at Moon, who was staring at them carefully. His posture was tense, and he'd started to shy away from Chester. Chester's heart fell at the sight. This was everything they didn't want. How had everything gone so bad so quickly? "Moon, I-I'm sorry, I-"

"What the hell is this clown? Some kinda robot?" Anthony frowned at Moon.

Chester quickly stepped in front of Moon. "Don't worry about him. Anthony, you don't have to do this. Please, just leave. You know I can't tell the cops you were here, I'd be putting myself at risk."

"Maybe you can't." Anthony's eyes narrowed at Moon. "But he can. Even if I was willing to let you walk away after what you did, which I'm not. I've never stabbed a robot before. I imagine it works the same." Anthony took another step forwards.

Chester panicked. They couldn't let Moon get hurt. He wasn't a part of this, Chester wanted desperately to keep him out of this, though they knew deep down that there was no going back from any of this. Anthony had said too much. The lie was over. Everything was over. Chester's whole world was crashing down around them. The least they could do was keep Moon from getting hurt.

Anthony looked ready to lunge. Chester moved before he could, surprising him when they charged for him. They tried to tackle him, but Anthony was much bigger than they were, and they only managed to shove him back a few stumbling steps. Anthony reared back the knife and swung. Chester had been ready for this though, and they dodged. They balled their hands into fists and started swinging, trying to move Anthony back away from Moon more than anything.

Anthony took two hits before dodging back out of range, though he didn't seem very phased by Chester's lackluster punches. Chester advanced again, winding back for a heavier punch. Anthony kicked out as Chester stepped forwards, nailing them in the gut before they could move out of the way. Chester landed on their back, the wind entirely knocked out of them. They gasped for air and struggled to get back up, but Anthony was already over them. He had that same dead set look in his eye that he'd had the night Chester came to the plex. He brought his knife down on them without hesitation.

Chester was ashamed to admit that they'd closed their eyes. They'd done it completely on reflex. Anthony's scarred and resolute face burned the backs of their eyelids.

…Nothing happened.

Anthony yelled. Chester opened their eyes.

Moon was standing over them, his shaking hand gripping Anthony's wrist. Anthony was struggling to pull free. Moon was towering tall, no longer hunched over or trying to be small, his height surpassing Anthony's easily.

"Transgressor. You are being detained. Do not struggle," Moon said.

Chester sat up just in time to see Anthony drop the knife from his restrained hand, only to catch it with the other. It happened so fast, there was nothing Chester could do to stop it.

Anthony stabbed the knife into Moon's chest once, twice, before Moon managed to grab his other hand.

Moon wavered and groaned horribly, the sound drenched in static. Still, he held Anthony tightly.

Chester got out their flashlight. They cracked it over the back of Anthony's head. Anthony instantly went limp in Moon's grip.

Moon dropped Anthony, who crumpled to the ground, then turned his gaze down to inspect the damage. His hands hovered near the gashes in his casing, like he wasn't sure what to do.

"Oh, god. Oh, god." Chester dropped their flashlight.

"I'mmm going toooo shut dooown. Batteryyy compromiiiiised," Moon hissed out. "Chesterrr. I…" The lights in Moon's eyes went out. He tipped backwards.

Chester leapt forwards, but they weren't strong enough to keep Moon from falling. They managed to slow his descent.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Chester kept repeating, their voice hoarse. Their hands were shaking horribly. They couldn't look away from the gashes.

"What in the world is all this racket?!"

Chester felt the ground rumble with heavy footfalls. They looked up to see Monty approaching. He hurried forwards, once he caught sight of the scene.

"Monty." Chester focused. "Help, please, I need to get Moon to parts and service."

Monty nodded. "What about this guy?" He looked at Anthony's unconscious form.

"After we get Moon to parts and service, you should get the police. They're right outside in the parking lot," Chester said.

"Right. Okay." Monty carefully picked up Moon. He moved as fast as his heavy metal legs could carry him. Chester kept pace with him.

They found the door to parts and service, inexplicably, on the main floor, right at the bottom of the stairs. Chester ran through, muttering breathless 'thank you's, and booted the computer up while Monty set Moon down on the table inside the repair chamber.

"You need anything else before I take care of that intruder?" Monty asked.

"No, thank you." Chester was already hurrying into the repair chamber. The computer listed off a small number of urgent warnings about Moon's battery, ushering Chester to remove and replace it quickly. The computer also helpfully warned of imminent total system failure, if Chester couldn't get the battery replaced in time. With the battery out of commission, there was nothing running the cooling vents. If Chester couldn't get things powered back up fast enough, the building heat would cause permanent damage to things in Moon's head that Chester couldn't fix or replace.

Monty nodded and hurried off while Chester got to work. Chester willed their shaking hands to cooperate as they removed Moon's damaged casing. There were, both strangely and irritatingly enough, two layers of thin plastic casing. The lower layer was painted a light yellow. Chester tossed all the casing aside and winced as they spotted damaged wires along with the battery, which was not only dislodged but split open and leaking battery acid everywhere. Chester fumbled with their tools, nearly dropping them. They took a shaky breath and held it as they quickly disconnected the battery. They started to reach for the battery but paused, realizing it was covered in acid and very much not safe to touch. They needed their hands in tact and in working order. Chester swore and set their tools aside. They pulled off their work shirt, wrapping the battery with it before pulling it free. They tossed the battery in the corner and wiped up as much of the acid as they could with their shirt before tossing it with the battery. They grabbed their faz-phone, then tore off in search of the replacement battery. They ignored the other things on the list for now, since nothing else was anywhere near as pressing, things like proximity sensors and light level sensors and Moon's damaged eye.

Chester gripped the battery tightly as they ran back to Moon. Moon's faceplate was warm to the touch. They had no idea how much time they had left. They didn't know if they were already too late.

Chester set the battery in place. They needed to plug everything back in, but they couldn't be sure they remembered which cables plugged into which ports. If they messed this up, they'd risk damaging Moon or the battery or both. They squeezed their eyes shut, trying to remember how it had looked before they'd disconnected the old battery.

They didn't know what they were doing. They hadn't found any diagrams of Moon's body. They'd seen ones for Sun, and they seemed pretty similar in design, but Chester hadn't even studied Sun's diagrams all that thoroughly. They hadn't gotten the chance, they'd misplaced their copy of the stupid technical book and hadn't been able to find it yet. They could grab the original copy from the employee stock room, but that wouldn't help Moon if his design differed from Sun's. They could try to work the computer, get the repair chamber to work, but they didn't know how to run anything more than hardware scans. They couldn't waste time with trial and error, plugging in commands until they got the machine to work, and they couldn't be sure they wouldn't hit the wrong option and mess something up in the process.

Chester stared down at Moon, their vision blurring as tears threatened to fall. They looked at Moon's faceplate, his eyes dim. Chester never would have thought they'd miss those red pinprick lights, yet here they were.

A horrible moment passed where Chester considered that Moon might actually die. He was going to die because Chester was an imposter and didn't really know how to fix him. He was going to die because Chester had come here in the first place, bringing the horrible things they were running from along with them. There was no one else here who knew how to fix him. Chester was all he had, and they weren't good enough. He was going to die because of Chester.

"Moon, I'm so sorry…" Chester reached towards Moon's face. The metal was uncomfortably warm. Fear spiked in Chester's core. They couldn't just stand here, they had to do something. If only they had more time to think, they just needed to think, they could figure something out…

Chester started to remove Moon's faceplate. The open air would slow down the process of overheating. Chester removed the faceplate covering. Moon's nightcap came with it, held in place by small magnets. Chester couldn't help feeling weird, holding his detached face in their hands. They quickly set it aside and focused, trying to think as they looked back to Moon.

Chester froze, eyes landing on the inner workings of Moon's head.

…There were seven orange triangles, currently retracted, sitting inside Moon's head.

Chester looked back down at the casing they'd tossed aside as realization dawned over them. Two sets of casing. One blue, one yellow. Both for one animatronic.

"I need to get to the employee stock room," they yelled. When they turned, they spotted an open door in the wall next the entrance. The light flickered on inside. Chester could see the shelf all the way at the back of the room, where all the technical books were. They ran for the books. They found the one labeled 'DAYCARE ATTENDANT' and ran back with it, already flipping through it.

Chester's mind was buzzing with questions, but they focused. They found the diagram they were looking for, detailing the inner components of the daycare attendant's torso. They compared the battery in the picture to the one in front of them and read over everything on the page mentioning the battery. Then they took a deep breath, and got to work.

Once the new battery was installed, Chester found a charging cord along the back wall of the chamber and plugged Moon in. they couldn't bear to sit around and just wait while the battery charged up and slowly started supplying power to everything again, so they took another look at their faz-phone and gathered up the remaining replacement parts. There were several wires to replace, as well as the mechanism that allowed the charging port covering to slide in and out of place. Chester worked slowly and carefully, referencing the technical book when they needed to. Finally, the only thing left was the tiny replacement ring for Moon's eye.

Chester looked back to Moon's head. Moon's head… Sun's head. Their head, both of them. They focused through the mix of surrealism at seeing them without their face, and the absolutely gob-smacked feeling of realization that they'd been the same bot the whole time.

Chester found a voice box, as well as a complex little music box, each key capable of being hit individually. There was another compact little box the diagram informed them was a smell receptor. Peeking out beneath fully retracted sun rays was a complicated and tightly packed mess of chips, thin little wires, and processors. The fans were situated just below all of this, currently kicked into high gear.

Chester focused on the eyes. They got out their tweezers, gripping the tool with both hands as they carefully removed the tiny ring. It wasn't even damaged, it had just been jostled loose. Chester set it neatly back in place. They quickly put Moon and Sun's face back on, shaking off the weird feeling as they did so.

With repairs completed, there wasn't much else to do but wait. Chester took all the damaged parts and tossed them down the disposal chute at the back of the room. They chucked their shirt down the chute with the old battery, barely remembering to grab their nametag off the shirt first. They stepped back into the repair chamber and looked down at… both of them. The fans were a lot quieter now. They hadn't booted back up yet, which worried Chester. They had to hope they hadn't been too late, that Sun and Moon just needed to be fully charged before they could turn back on.

Chester grabbed the technical book and leaned back against the wall. They studied while they waited, trying to keep busy.

They studied diagrams and descriptions detailing how, once the many light level sensors lining the daycare attendant's frame detected a drastic enough change in the lights, certain panels would pop inwards, allowing panels underneath to slide in place over them. There were compartments labeled 'costume piece storage', where Chester assumed things like Moon's night cap and Sun's scarf were stored.

Thinking back, Chester wasn't sure how they hadn't figured it out sooner. Between Sun's panic about the lights and Moon's caginess on the topic of him knowing Sun… a lot of things clicked into place in Chester's head. They still had a hundred more questions, like why they'd both kept this from Chester, and how they could even both be inside one animatronic. Reading over the technical book, it did seem intentional that the daycare attendant would follow different sets of programming depending on what 'setting' they were in, but whether they were meant to have two different AIs was unclear.

Chester set the book down and took a deep breath. They wondered if Monty had finished dealing with the police yet. They imagined Anthony waking up behind bars. That brought them a small bit of comfort, at least.

More than anything, Chester wanted Moon and Sun to wake up. Chester knew they had a lot of explaining to do once they did wake up, but they didn't care. They just wanted to be sure the both of them were alright. Chester needed them to be alright. If they weren't… Chester would loose both Moon and Sun, all at once. They weren't sure how they would even begin to cope with that.

Chester didn't have to suffer in waiting for much longer. Moon's red eyes glowed to life, and his hands went to his chest. His fingers drifted over the replaced paneling for a moment before he sat up. His eyes landed on Chester.

"…When I said I didn't like your shirt, I didn't mean for you to get rid of it," Moon said.

Chester felt like they were about to pass out. They were so relieved. Moon and Sun were alright, they'd woken back up, they were both okay. Chester felt the tears rushing back all at once. They started to cry before they could stop it.

Moon slid off the table, reaching for Chester. He paused, hands hesitating before he could reach them. Chester covered the distance, pulling Moon into a hug. They held him tightly and wept with relief. Moon slowly and gently settled his arms around Chester.

"Are you okay?" Chester asked, once they'd calmed down.

"I'm fine. System scan reads everything running normally," Moon assured.

"Sun's okay too?"

Moon paused. "…He's fine."

Chester pulled away. They took off their glasses and wiped their face. They took a few deep breaths before putting their glasses back on and facing Moon.

"Are you both listening?" Chester asked.

Moon nodded.

"Will you let me explain?" Chester asked next.

"Please do," Moon said. His tone was soft, patient.

Chester pulled in another deep breath. With steadier hands, they started to sign. This was it. No more secrets.

"About eight months ago now, everything changed for me when I lost my job. I couldn't find a new job anywhere. I never went to college, I don't have any connections anywhere. I sold most of my stuff, but the time eventually came when I wasn't able to pay my bills, and I lost my place. Mister Joseph found me down on my luck, not a penny to my name, and no other options. When he hired me on, I didn't dare think twice about it. I signed whatever paperwork he told me to, and when I started working for him, I did what he told me to, running errands for him and picking things up for him. But then he started telling me to do things I wasn't comfortable with. Weird things, like carrying packages from one secure location to another and taking weird out of the way routes. Delivering envelopes I wasn't allowed to look at to people I didn't know and never saw again. Eventually, mister Joseph had me start stealing things. Breaking into places. When I realized the money wasn't worth it, mister Joseph threatened me with the legal documents I'd signed. I'd signed everything away to him without a second thought, put my name on agreements for things I'd never even heard of. If I tried to leave, I'd be ruined. Mister Joseph assured me that if the cops didn't catch me, he would. Or rather, Anthony would. Anthony was mister Joseph's business partner. He did a lot of the dirtier work, from my understanding. He and I never got on well. He was always sizing me up like he was trying to decide how to best skin me and hide the evidence.

"I decided I had to get out of there. I didn't want to be a part of it, whatever was going on, and I resented helping the two of them as much as I already had. Mister Joseph was a careful guy. He kept all his important documents and papers locked up in his apartment. Unfortunately for him, I'd learned a lot of on the job skills, and managed to break into his apartment once I figured out where he lived. I snuck in, planning to steal and destroy all the paperwork I'd signed and make a break for it. That was two months ago. The night before I started working here.

"When I broke into the apartment, thing's didn't go quite to plan. It had become a habit, to check and be sure I was alone in a place before I made any noise. That habit probably saved my life, because I spotted Anthony waiting with a knife before he noticed I was there. He'd been waiting for mister Joseph to come home so he could kill him and be free to take all the money the two of them made for himself. When he saw that I'd seen him, we both knew that his cover had been blown, and I knew about his plans. So he tried to kill me. I put up a fight, but before I could get out of there mister Joseph came home. Seeing the commotion, he must have realized in some part what was going on. He pulled out his own knife as Anthony decided it was then or never and came for him. Everything happened so fast, I didn't have time to do anything.

"Anthony stabbed mister Joseph in the chest, and he fell to the floor. Then Anthony turned on me, planning to not leave any witnesses. We struggled, but Anthony was very good at his job. He was about to kill me, but mister Joseph had gotten back up. He attacked Anthony, slashed his face. Anthony stabbed him again, and they both fell. They were both still, and there was so much blood everywhere, and I was covered in it. With all the noise, the neighbors had called the police, and suddenly I was standing in the middle of a crime scene, the blood of two dead people all over my hands. My involvement was incriminating enough as it was, even if I could prove to the cops I hadn't murdered anyone. At that point I'd been doing all sorts of illegal stuff for mister Joseph for months. So… I ran.

"I made it here, to the pizza-plex. That's when I got hit by lightning. Or rather, the tree next to me did. The tree fell onto the roof of the building and I climbed over and snuck in through the roof entrance. I'd planned to just hide out in the building for a few hours, in a mall as big as this I knew I could hide if the cops tried to search it. I found the Hawaiian shirt and these pants in lost and found. I had to ditch my old clothes because they were covered in blood. I found my nametag in a storage locker. I ended up passing out in a supply closet full of spare uniforms, and when I woke up, it was day. So I put on a uniform as a disguise, and it worked a little too well. Everyone thought I was a tech. And since employee profiles get corrupted all the time, miss Garcia just had me fill out a paper form and signed off on it. And the cops were steaked out outside, and I didn't have anywhere else to go, so… I played along.

"This whole time, I've been lying to you both, and everyone else. I'm not a real technician. I'm just a fast learner. I've been lying this whole time, and I am so, so sorry."

When Chester finished, they felt equal parts relieved and terrified. At long last, they'd laid absolutely everything out, they'd come clean. They weren't sure how Moon and Sun would react, if they'd even believe them. They put their face in their hands, not daring to look up at Moon.

There was a long, dreadful moment of silence. Then, Moon gently pulled Chester's hands away from their face. His posture was open and relaxed as he held Chester's hands and looked down at them.

"All is forgiven. We forgive you," Moon said.

Chester stared up at him. Their eyes were threatening to tear up again. "What?"

"You are forgiven," Moon repeated. "For the lies and deception. We do not hold it against you in the slightest."

"Really?" Chester's voice wobbled, but they didn't pull their hands away to sign. "Aren't you guys mad at me?? I've been living a lie for months."

"We are not mad. You had to do this. Besides, we've been lying too," Moon said.

Chester had nearly forgotten about the revelation about Sun and Moon and all that entailed.

Moon went on. "We were scared, at first. When Anthony was talking to you, it sounded like you'd tried to kill him and mister Joseph. We knew you'd been hiding things, keeping secrets. We weren't sure what to think. But then I saw your face, and you looked so horrified, because you could see that we were scared. And I know what that feels like, to not want people to be scared of you. And we both know you, and you're always nice even when you don't have to be. And then you tried to protect us from Anthony, when he wanted to hurt us, even though he was going to hurt you. So we both decided we trusted you. And we believed you wouldn't be cruel on purpose. You are more than forgiven. You are accepted."

That did it. The tears started to fall again. Moon gently squeezed Chester's hands as they cried.

Chester felt like they were floating. They could barely process any of it, but the absolute relief they felt was overwhelming. They focused on Moon's hands, holding their own so gently. They squeezed his hands and took a few deep breaths.

"If you're ready… I believe we owe you an explanation as well," Moon said. "Sun and I agree it'd be best coming from him. I'll be turning on the lights, if that's alright."

Chester nodded. Moon started to move, but paused. He looked down at Chester's hands in his for a moment, then slowly withdrew. He left the chamber and went to the light switch on the far wall.

Moon raised a hand to the light switch. Chester stood just outside the repair chamber and watched, eyes wide in anticipation. Moon flipped the switch, and the overhead lights blazed to life.

Chester winced under the harsh fluorescents, struggling to keep their eyes open. They watched the change happen in moments, panels exchanging while Moon's jester cape was pulled into its storage compartment, small bars folding the fabric in neatly. The cape was replaced by Sun's scarf, pulled up from its compartment by a small arm that usually sat flush against their neck. Seven orange rays popped out of their slots along the edge of their head. The fabric of their pants seemed to change all on their own, the material apparently light sensitive, like the darker half of Sun and Moon's face, which was now a light orange under the bright lights. In no more than three seconds, Sun was standing there, facing the wall. Slowly, he turned to face Chester.

"Hello, dear." Sun waved awkwardly.

"I'm not upset with you. Or Moon," Chester assured him.

Sun stepped towards them. "Moon didn't say anything because I asked him not to. This was my secret," Sun started. His hands moved as he explained, gesturing with quick and big motions that made his bells jingle. "At first, I didn't want you to know about Moon because he wasn't allowed to be out, and Moon was… no one really understood why Moon had done those things to those other employees, not until you came along. And so I was worried Moon might hurt you, or frighten you. I didn't want you to know the truth because I thought, if you were scared of Moon, and you knew Moon and I were one and the same, then you would be scared of me too, and I can't tell you how much I didn't want that. And then you and Moon started to get closer, and then I couldn't tell you because I'd been lying to you this whole time! And so then if you knew, you might be mad at me for lying and keeping things from you, and I don't know what I'd do if you were mad at me, just the thought was scary. I even took those papers you printed out, the ones of our technical book. I didn't want you to read them and find out, and I'm really sorry about that. I know I should have told you, and I'm so sorry I didn't."

Chester stepped forwards and took Sun's jittery hands in theirs. "All is forgiven."

Sun raised his downcast faceplate apprehensively. "Really?"

Chester nodded. "Of course. How could I be mad when I was keeping secrets too?"

"Even so, just because you kept something from us doesn't mean I was allowed to keep things from you." Sun's rays slowly shrank halfway into his head.

"Well, I'm not mad. If anything, I'm just fascinated endlessly by the two of you. I have so many questions, like how the two of you share one body together, but I don't want to pry or make either of you uncomfortable."

"Oh?" Sun's rays popped back out. "Well, neither of us would mind answering your questions. So long as you wouldn't be bored of us after you've learned everything there is to know…"

"Bored of you??" Chester nearly laughed. "Sun, I just like to know how things work. I can't imagine ever not wanting to spend time with you and Moon, I really like talking to you two and joking around and just… being with you. I love your company, both of you."

Sun started to bounce from side to side. His sun rays popped in and out of his head one by one in circular fashion. "Really?? You really do? You mean it??"

"I do." Chester couldn't help but smile, thinking Sun was as cute as a button.

"Ohh. That’s. That makes us feel… it's like there's too much energy, like our battery can't hold it all! It's like when I'm charging and everything is so slow, but the opposite. It feels like… like everything is going to be okay. Is that silly?? Or weird?"

Chester shook their head. "Not at all."

"Oh, good! Well, I can tell you that Moon and I are very good at sharing. We used to be so good at sharing that it was hard to tell who was who… of course, that was back when it was hard to tell if we were anyone at all. It's still sort of complicated sometimes… We're different, and we run different code and programs, but we're also one and the same. We… we're one person, if that one person was two people. Wait, that doesn't make much sense. Maybe Moony can explain it better," Sun offered sheepishly.

"That's alright. So… you get along alright then?" Chester asked.

"We do! Not all the time, but we do our best." Sun hesitated, like he was debating on elaborating.

The double doors suddenly flew open, startling both Chester and Sun. Monty rushed in, pausing when he spotted Sun and Chester standing together in the middle of the room. Chester quickly released Sun's hands, awkwardly stuffing their fists in their pockets.

All at once, Chester remembered the events that had lead them here. That light giddy sort of feeling in their chest vanished. They still had unfinished business to attend to.

"You're alright!! It looks like Chester fixed you up," Monty said to Sun, sounding relieved. "The cops just left with the intruder. I explained everything I could and showed them the security footage. The only camera that was working was really far away, but they could make out enough to tell that the intruder guy definitely broke in and attacked you guys. The cops wanted to take your statement, but I told them you were busy fixing up this guy." Monty pointed a thumb towards Sun. He paused and looked at Sun. "I thought you were stuck in the daycare? Not to mention, I know the nighttime guy was out earlier…"

"Um!" Sun laughed nervously. "Well you see, the rule against letting Moony out was because of the issue with the employee forms going missing! And since Chester figured out how to fix everything, there wasn't an issue anymore, and so-"

"Relax, fella. I wasn't gonna rat you out or anything. That wouldn't be very rock n roll of me, now would it?" Monty winked. "I was just curious is all. I'm glad you were there to help Chester in any case. I wasn't even headed that direction before I heard all the commotion. If Chester had run into that intruder alone, I hate to think of what might have happened."

Sun let out a little static-tinged whine. He gripped Chester's shoulder tightly.

"But hey, now that everyone's okay," Monty turned his attention back to Chester. "You should probably get in contact with the cops and give them your statement. You probably need to talk to Rosa or Lance too, let them know what happened."

"Right…" Chester wondered if they could get away with telling no one anything. Their heart sunk as they realized something. Even though things had worked out alright with Sun and Moon, the trouble was far from over. Their days of masquerading as a technician might just be over. Even if they could manage to keep their secrets hidden from their managers and the authorities… they weren't sure if they wanted to. They were so tired of lying, of pretending. They didn't want to end up in jail, and they didn't want to loose their ill-gotten job. If they were fired… they might not ever be able to see Sun and Moon again.

With that realization, Chester was starting to feel a little sick. They had a lot to think about, it seemed.

Chester turned their attention back to Monty. "Thank you for all your help tonight, Monty. I don't know what I would have done without you."

"Anytime, rockstar." Monty flashed a grin. He pat Chester's head. "I'll see you losers around."

Monty left the room, leaving Sun and Chester alone once more.

"Would you like to go back to the daycare? There's a lot I want to work through and talk about," Chester offered.

"I'd love to, dear. Moon will have to escort you back, since all the lights will be out," Sun said. He quickly wrapped Chester up in a tight hug. "But not before I get a hug!!"

Chester smiled and hugged Sun back. They didn't want to think about whether or not this would be one of their last hugs from him.

Sun turned the lights back off, and Chester got to watch the transformation once more. Chester noted something they'd missed the first time- Moon's nightcap popped out of a compartment on his upper back, just enough for the magnets in the rim of the cap to catch on his head as it tilted back towards the cap.

Moon hummed as he turned to face Chester. "Perhaps we can pick up a shirt along the way."

Chester had entirely forgotten that they were shirtless. They awkwardly hugged themself. "I used the old one to take out the damaged battery."

"Hmm. Whatever you say." Moon spun his faceplate, red eyes whirling.

"I did!" Chester insisted with a huff.

Moon held the door open for them. "Just teasing you."

Chester stuck their tongue out at Moon as they passed. They lead the way down the hall, finding the uniform closet just a few doors down. Chester paused briefly as they pulled the door open, remembering how they'd spent their first night here in this closet. That night felt like forever ago. Chester pulled on a new shirt. They took their nametag from their pocket, pausing before they pinned it in place.

'TECHNICIAN: Chester'.

Chester had been using this borrowed name for long enough now that it had almost started to feel normal. They'd actually come to like it, though they weren't sure if that was because they liked the name itself, or if they just liked how it sounded coming from Sun and Moon.

Chester put on their nametag. They closed the closet door.

"Shall we?" Moon held out a hand to Chester.

A smile bloomed on Chester's face. They took Moon's hand. Together, the two walked hand in hand back to the daycare.

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eyndr-stories · 2 years

Text

Chester and the Jesters (FNAF SB fanfic) C7 - One clever idiot, two soft fools

In Summary:

Things To Know (always read responsibly!):

Biggest warnings are for blood, death, knives, murder, the police, violence, also the OC is at one point hit by lightning. All fun stuff

About 70,000 words in total, 9 chapters, so roughly like. 7,500 words per chapter

This is an OC story, not a reader insert or a self insert! But if you want to imagine otherwise be my guest lol

Angst, fluff

OC x Sun & Moon, there's romance but zero spice

Occasional swearing

Heavy focus on Sun and Moon but most of the rest of the gang is there too :)

Afton doesn't exist, sorry peepaw, Vanessa is here but she's very chill. She's a kickass gamer girl lmao

Moon does an attempted murder but its fine. He's just a lil guy ok

OC uses they/them and also sign language most of the time

Impersonation, lying. There's also manipulation. Yall I wasn't kidding about the angst

There's also a lot of focus on how they're all robots, very cool robots with feelings lol

That's all I can think of, as always please lmk if I should add anything!

Ao3 Link: Right here!

Start reading here: Chapter 1

Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8

C7 - One clever idiot, two soft fools

The thing about all of this was that it wasn't supposed to last this long.

From the shadowed roof of the complex, Chester could see for themself that the authorities were still there. At the edge of the parking lot, at the base of the hill leading up to the main road, were a pair of white vans and a standard police cruiser.

They thought about leaving. The tree they'd climbed over to the roof on was gone, likely having collapsed during that first storm. Still, they could lower a fire escape ladder and climb down if they wanted to.

It was just that things had gotten so complicated, and the longer Chester stayed, the worse it got.

Chester took a seat and leaned their head back against the door. They turned their gaze to distant indifferent twinkling lights poking through the void.

No matter how much they might want to deny it, they were getting close to people here. Sun, Moon, Vanessa, Monty, even Cappy seemed to tolerate them a lot more these days. Chester was lying to all of them, tricking them into thinking Chester was a good person, worth trusting, worth having around.

They weren’t supposed to have stayed here for this long. They weren’t supposed to have made friends, gotten involved here. Yet here they were. It wasn’t like they had any other options, but still.

Maybe they could try living in the woods.

Chester took off their glasses and pressed their palms over their eyes and sighed. They weren’t sure how much longer they’d have to go on like this, but they could suck it up for a little more time. They’d just have to wait it out, keep laying low, not get any more involved than they had already, and then…

And then? Chester had no fucking clue. They supposed they’d figure it out when they came to it. No use in making plans; if there was one thing Chester was certain of it was that their plans almost never worked out like they should, if they worked out at all.

Chester pushed themself up to their feet. They put their glasses back on and turned to face the door. There was a security panel by the door now instead of a lock. They had their lockpick tools on them just in case, as they always did, but they hadn't needed them in a long while. Their name badge allowed them entry, and they pulled the door shut behind them. Down the stairs, Chester could see the door leading out of the stairwell and back into the main building was open and waiting for them.

“Thank you for all your help,” Chester told the walls. They walked down the steps and back into familiar low neon lighting, deep purples and blues and reds and greens tossing hued shadows over the patterned tile floor. Despite everything, some things hadn’t changed at all since that first night. Chester still felt like an intruder here.

“There you are.”

Chester jumped. They turned to see Moon, hunched in his usual fashion and standing several decent paces away. “Hello, Moon. Nice to see you again.”

“Where are we off to tonight?” Moon asked, his head tilting curiously. His hands were folded securely behind his back.

“Nowhere. I’m off work tonight, just wanted to take a walk,” Chester signed.

“Ah, so that’s the reason for your… exciting attire.” Moon studied Chester’s shirt.

Chester looked down. They were wearing their Hawaiian shirt instead of their usual uniform. “…I’m on island time.”

Moon laughed. The sounds was much lighter and more melodic than Chester was expecting, what with how low and quiet Moon’s voice usually was. Moon’s laugh only lasted a moment, but Chester was already trying to think of some way to get him to laugh again.

“Why did you come to work here at the pizza-plex?” Moon asked.

Chester turned away from Moon. They made their way over to a bench, taking a seat before responding. “I couldn’t turn down the opportunity.”

Moon came closer, though he paused a few feet in front of Chester and crouched there, pressing his knuckles to the floor to help keep his balance. “How boring.”

“Sorry to disappoint.” Chester rolled their eyes. "So you and Sun used to run the daycare together, huh?"

"…Yes." Moon spun his faceplate slowly, his nightcap miraculously remaining firmly atop his head.

"You said before that you had never met Sun. Sun says you two had different shifts, but it still seems strange to me that you two never even crossed paths. So… was that a lie?" Chester asked.

"It's not your turn to ask a question," Moon stated.

"Oh. I didn't realize we were still doing that." Chester folded their arms and resigned themself to being patient for their answers. "Okay, ask me a question then."

"Any question?"

Chester smiled. "Is that your question?"

Moon's face spun again, quicker this time. "Is that your next question?"

Chester couldn't help a small laugh. "Oh dear. I think this game is getting away from us."

Moon hummed. He idly traced the patterns on the floor with a finger. "Where did you work before you came here?"

Chester's smile vanished. They thought about the truth. They vividly remembered delivering packages to empty warehouses, jimmying open cars in the night, being handed paychecks of simple stationary envelopes full of cash from the person Chester hated most in the world. He'd smile wide at Chester's hesitation and clap them on the back. Chester hated when he'd smile like that, like he knew how they felt and he enjoyed it. Well, he certainly couldn't enjoy it anymore.

They couldn't tell Moon the truth. They didn't want to lie, either.

Chester settled on a sort of compromise. "I was something of a personal assistant. I mostly… delivered."

"Hmm." Moon scrutinized Chester for a moment.

Chester quickly moved on to their next question. "My turn then. Do you know Sun or don't you?"

"I do. I know him well," Moon stated. He didn't elaborate.

"Then how could you have never-"

Moon raised a finger, cutting Chester off. "Not your turn." He wagged his finger from side to side, as if scolding a child for stealing candy.

Chester huffed. Moon chuckled. He adjusted, moving from crouching to sitting, folding his legs.

"Why did you leave your old job?" Moon asked next.

Chester leaned their head back, desperate to finally be done with this subject. "You seem very interested in my old job."

"Just getting to know you," Moon said casually. "Answer the question."

"Alright, jeez. You know, with all these nosy questions, you sure do remind me of Sun."

Moon stared at them. Chester couldn't be sure what he was thinking, they hadn't learned how to read him just yet.

"I quit because… I had… a lot of conflict with my employers," Chester explained. "How could you have never met Sun if you know him well?"

Moon hummed. He fiddled with the ribbons tied around his wrists and leaned back. "I couldn't ever see him in person. I cannot be in the daycare when the lights are on, only when they're off. But we would still talk and leave notes for each other."

"Oh." Chester studied Moon. They wondered if he had only been cagey with them on the topic to annoy them.

"What's your biggest regret?" Moon asked. He was studying Chester again, watching them carefully.

That answer was easy enough to come to. Chester stared down at their hands, resting in their lap. They thought about their old boss again. They could still remember how he'd looked, his still body at Chester's feet, next to the body of his horrible business partner, and next to two knives, both covered in blood. Chester remembered being surprised at the sheer amount of blood. People really do have so much more blood in them than you think.

Chester took a breath. "My biggest regret… is not making a joke about Margaritaville when you asked me where I used to work."

Moon chuckled.

Chester was at a loss of what to say, so they tried the age old trick of turning the question back around. "What's yours?"

Moon's hands stilled, falling into his lap. "I think you know."

It actually took Chester a moment. They had to work back from what they knew about Moon, and what he might possibly regret that they would know about. "…Ah." Of course. He'd hurt them. Chester felt a little silly, having let it slip their mind so easily.

"How are you healing?" Moon asked. He tapped the right side of his faceplate. The blue light came on briefly in his eyes.

Chester reached up to touch their own head. The wound was no longer visible, easily hidden in their hair. They could still feel it, though. "I'm actually surprised at how fast it's healing. The bruises are still there, but you can't really see them through the hair. And I'm hardly ever dizzy anymore."

Moon's faceplate turned away. He folded his arms. "That's good," he said softly. He made that mechanical clicking noise he sometimes made, rapid and quiet little clicks like a camera shutter filling the brief silence.

"What's that noise for?" Chester asked.

"Noise?" Moon looked at Chester again. "Oh, right, the clicking. When I had that incident with the night guard, after I… hurt her. She hit me with her flashlight, before running out of the building. Got me right in the eye. It flickers in and out of night vision sometimes now." Moon reached up and tapped at his eye, metal finger making a tnk tnk sound on the glass of his eye.

"Oh. Come over here, let me take a look at it." Chester pat the empty bench beside them, beckoning for Moon to join them.

Moon looked at the bench, then at Chester.

"I don't bite, I promise." Chester pat the bench again.

Moon slowly got to his feet. He approached the bench carefully, almost like he had half a mind to bolt. He sat down next to Chester, keeping his fists firmly on his lap.

Chester scooted closer and carefully took the edges of Moon's faceplate in their hands. The shadowed half of his face felt strange under their thumb, like the paint was thicker than it should have been, or like it wasn't paint at all but a strange, slightly porous material. They angled the plate down towards them so they could get a better look at the damaged eye in question. It was hard to see in the dark, so they leaned in close. Under the red LED, they could just make out a ring below the glass. The ring popped forward and backward a centimeter or two in rapid motions, like the inner workings of a camera struggling to focus. Chester could hear the quiet clicking as it did this. They realized they could also hear the whir of fans. They could feel warm air on the tips of their fingers on the back of Moon's head, where the fans were venting out the hot air.

"Are you alright? Your fans are running," Chester commented.

"Fine. Hush." Moon pulled away. He scooted to the other end of the bench.

"Alright, well, I didn't see any damage on the outside. I'd have to take a look on the inside to fix it. Do you want to head down to parts and service?" Chester offered.

"No," Moon said quickly.

"Don't you want your eye fixed??"

Moon's fingers tapped rapidly over his knees. "…It's creepy down there."

"Oh. Yeah, I suppose it is creepy." Chester nodded. They hummed. "I could get my tools from the daycare?"

Moon shook his head. "You're off the clock. No working off the clock."

"…Do you think I'd get in trouble for that?" Chester wondered. "Hm. What if we just called it a favor for a friend?"

"Friend?" Moon's gaze snapped back to Chester.

"Unless you don't want to be friends?? Oh no, I didn't overstep, did I? I'm so sorry," Chester signed quickly.

"It's fine." Moon quickly cut them off. "I'm just surprised you want to be friends with me, is all."

Chester relaxed, though they tilted their head in confusion. "Why is that surprising?"

"I'm not a very good friend." Moon's fingers closed back into fists. He gazed down at them, hunched low enough that the red light of his eyes glowed in the metal of his hands.

Chester remembered when they'd said something similar to Sun. They remembered how they'd felt, their apprehension, how they'd been wary of letting Sun get close because they believed they weren't a good person. They still believed that. They wondered if that was how Moon felt, like he wasn't good. They wondered what it might be like for him, if he experienced loathing in the same way they did. Chester didn't want him to feel like they felt.

"I'm really not so good myself." Chester slowly reached out a hand, stopping halfway between them, leaving it out as an offering. "Maybe we can be not great together?"

Moon stared down at the offered hand. He raised his gaze to study Chester before looking back down. His fans were whirring again. Moon's hands curled and uncurled over his knees. Finally, he reached out. As gently as one might hold a kitten, he took Chester's hand.

Moon wondered if he was going to regret this. For now, all he could seem to focus on was Chester's hand in his.

~~~

Moon's head was full of screaming the whole way back to the daycare. Some of it was even his own.

"Sun please," Moon pleaded.

"We HELD HANDS Moon! They were SO SWEET, Moon!!" Sun cried.

"Lets not ignore the rest of that whole conversation."

"So they didn't want to talk about their old job. Big deal," Sun said dismissively.

"Sun."

"…They must have a good reason."

Moon made it to the daycare. He stepped inside, quickly closing the door behind him. He stood near the light switch on the wall, but he didn't turn the lights back on just yet. "I get the feeling that Chester's 'good reason' is that they're some sort of criminal. Or they were, at least."

"That's quite an assumption, Moony."

"Sun, They carry lockpicking tools with them all the time. They have a duffel bag of stolen merchandise in the room. Don't get me started on the room itself, why else would they need to stay here??" Moon started to pace, pulling at the ribbons on his wrists. "I bet they're staying here because they're hiding. That's why they never seem to leave the building, either."

"Still, assuming Chester is some sort of criminal is a stretch, don't you think?? Think about it. Look at the stuff they stole. A toothbrush, socks. Those are things that humans need, not want. I think they're just down on their luck, with nowhere else to go and no one to help them," Sun argued.

"What about the lock picking tools?"

"If they were living out on the streets before they came here, doesn't it make sense? They might have had to learn a few things just to survive. That doesn't make them a criminal," Sun said firmly. "Not everyone who breaks the rules does so to be mean. I'm also willing to bet that they were cagey about their past job because maybe they didn't have one. Maybe they've been out on the street for a long time and they just didn't want to say!"

"Maybe," Moon relented. He sighed. "I suppose I was quick to jump to conclusions."

"There, see?"

"However. The idea that Chester simply came here off the streets is another assumption. One that you're very quick to jump to because you like them."

Sun stuttered. "I-! Wh. I- Well! You like them too!!"

Moon folded his arms. "We shouldn't make any assumptions either way. We need more information."

"You didn't deny it!" Sun teased.

"Neither did you," Moon shot back.

"I suppose you're right. Assuming anything would be rude," Sun agreed.

Moon stopped pacing. He leaned back against the wall and gazed out over the daycare. The shadows darkened and vanished in rapid succession while Moon's eye clicked quietly. "We especially shouldn't be casting much judgement when we're keeping secrets ourselves."

Sun was silent.

"Have you thought about how you're going to tell them?"

"Yes. A little. I just… really don't want it to go badly. Even just imagining how that would feel…" Sun sighed. "Feels like a scan reading off information you already know, but the information is really bad news, like a major system error."

Moon nodded. "You know you have to think of something soon. They'll figure it out eventually."

"I knooooow."

"Although, they haven't gotten it yet. Despite my occasional hints."

"Yes, your hints." Sun sounded annoyed.

Moon chuckled. "I'm just having fun. I get to tease you and Chester at the same time. It's wonderfully efficient."

"Good for you." Sun sounded, somehow, even more annoyed. He huffed. There was a long pause, and then, "Moony… what are we supposed to do?? Feelings are so difficult, all the time. I almost miss when everything was simpler. When we just ran code and did our job."

"…I can't really remember what that was like anymore. Like the memory files still run even though they seem incompatible. Everything from then is hard to understand."

"Yeah." Sun hummed. "I wish it didn't hurt so often."

Moon folded his arms tightly, like he was trying to hug himself. "At least we've got each other, right?"

"Right!" Sun laughed. "Even if we don't have much choice. I'd still choose to have your back anyways."

"You are my back," Moon replied softly.

~~~

Chester walked into the employee breakroom. They ignored Vanessa's greeting and sat down heavily in the chair next to her. They slumped over and put their head down on the table.

"Oh boy." Vanessa chuckled. She gave Chester's back a small pat. "Rough day?"

Chester heaved a sigh. They picked their head up, only to put their face in their hands, knocking their glasses out of the way as they did.

"What's going on bud?? Talk to me." Vanessa nudged Chester's shoulder. She pushed away her empty lunch box, sweeping up the trash from her lunch and quickly dropping it in the nearest trash can.

Chester fixed their glasses. Finally, they turned to Vanessa. "I have a problem." Chester glanced over their shoulder. The few others in the break room weren't paying them any attention. Even so, Chester signed close to their chest so no one else would see. "I have developed. Feelings."

"Oh? What, like a crush??" Vanessa asked excitedly.

Chester hushed her. They glanced over their shoulder again. Once they were assured they were still in the clear, they went on. "You can't tell anyone."

"I wont!" Vanessa mimed locking her lips and chucking an imaginary key over her shoulder. "Why the secrecy, though? Is it someone we work with??"

Chester didn't reply.

"It is, isn't it!! Oooh I wonder who it could be…" Vanessa tapped her chin. She paused, a frown coming over her face. "Aw man, it's not Kat, is it?"

Chester shook their head. "No, not them. It's actually… two people."

Vanessa gasped. "Double crushes!"

"Vanessa, I need help. I've got no one else to talk to. I keep making stupid decisions, and I just… I need to know how to get over these feelings," Chester pleaded. Crushes were the last thing they needed. Things were already complicated enough as it was, and if they couldn't keep from getting closer to Sun and Moon because of it, they'd only end up in a world of trouble. They thought about the night before, how they'd offered their hand to Moon, told him they could be bad friends together. Right after deciding they shouldn't get any more involved here than they had already! They put their face back in their hands.

"Get over them?? I thought you'd ask for my help in asking these two mystery lovers out," Vanessa said.

"Please don't call them that."

Vanessa smiled sweetly. "What, mystery lovers??"

"Vanessa."

Vanessa laughed. "Sorry, I'm just messing with you. So… I take it neither of them feel the same?"

Chester shrugged. "I don't know. Probably not??"

"Why not give it a shot, then?"

Chester could think of a great many reasons, but not a lot of them were reasons they couldn't share with Vanessa. "I just… can't."

"Hmm." Vanessa studied Chester for a moment. "Alright. If you change your mind… I make a pretty good wingman, you know. I could chat you up to these…"

Chester gave her a look.

"Love interests?" Vanessa tried. When Chester just kept staring at her, she shrugged and went on. "Alright. My advice to getting over a crush fast is to go out of your way to find things you don't like about them. A lot of the time, you get all caught up in a fantasy version of your crush and don't really think about their flaws. Seeking the flaws out can help break that fantasy, you know? And hey, maybe you find out they've got some super annoying habit that you can't stand. I used to have a big crush on this girl back in college, then I found out she liked to chew with her mouth open all the time. I got over that one real fast."

Chester thought Vanessa's advice over. It did sound reasonable. "That's some good advice. I'll give it a shot. Thank you, Vanessa."

Vanessa bowed her head and made a little flourish with her hand. "It was my pleasure, friend. Hey!! You're never gonna believe it- last night I finally got the golden house!"

"Really? That's great, you've been looking for that thing for a while now." Chester eased back into their chair.

"I know!! It was well worth the wait though." Vanessa dove into one of her long winded ramblings.

Chester followed with ease, prompting Vanessa with occasional questions, though they just listened for the most part. It was nice, focusing on something light and normal for once. Not only that, but it was nice just to converse with a friend. Their break didn't last long enough before they had to get back to work.

As the day went on and Chester slowly made their way through their task list, they kept Vanessa's advice in the back of their mind. They thought about how to put it to use. They'd get the chance soon enough- closing time was approaching quicker than they'd thought.

Sun was there waiting for Chester when they got off their shift. The daycare had closed for the day a while ago, and it looked like Sun had already finished cleaning up. He came bounding up as Chester came through the door.

"Hellooo~!" Sun sang. "How was your day?"

"Not bad. How was yours?" Chester asked, stepping out of their shoes.

Sun walked with Chester in stride as they made their way across the daycare. "Every day has its challenges. But I'd say everything went smoothly! Some of the kids were picking on a few of the others. I had a talk with them about how important it is to remember that everyone deserves to be treated kindly. They apologized all on their own and everyone got along the whole rest of the day!"

Chester paused as they reached the stairs. "That's nice. You're really good with the kids." They caught themself as they started to climb, remembering Vanessa's advice.

Sun stepped in tandem with them, watching to be sure Chester didn't suffer a sudden dizzy spell or trip. His hand hovered near Chester's back, not touching them, but ready to catch them just in case.

Not big on personal space, Chester tried. Well. He's just watching out for me, he knows I have trouble with the stairs sometimes. He's actually being very nice and thoughtful…

Wait. Fuck. This isn't working.

They reached the room. Chester went to their little corner, where their bed and duffle bag were. They paused and looked at Sun, who had followed them over and was currently swaying happily back and forth.

"Do you need to charge?" Chester asked.

"Nope! All the kids were picked up earlier than usual today so I had some extra time. I've charged up already!"

"Okay. Would you mind giving me some privacy? I'd like to change."

"OH!! Yes, of course! Sorry!" Sun wheeled around and practically sprinted out of the room.

Chester heard Sun fumble loudly down the steps, reaching the bottom in record time. They tried very hard to be annoyed, to find Sun's clinginess grating. They were having no such luck. In fact, they were struggling not to smile.

Chester got changed quickly. They'd recently replaced their work shirt with a fresh one from the uniform closet, and they wanted to keep it as clean as possible for as long as possible. They knew from their attempts to wash their clothes in a bathroom sink that trying to clean clothes without a washing machine was a huge pain in the ass. Work shirt and hat dropped off in their duffel bag, Chester took a moment to check their little handheld mirror. They were halfway through trying to make their hair cooperate before they realized they didn't usually bother with appearances, besides looking decent enough for their work shifts.

WHAT am I doing.

Face warm, Chester immediately threw the mirror back in their bag. They left the room, feeling determined that they'd find something about Sun to be annoyed about by the end of the night. As they descended the stairs, they thought about having to do this all over again when they saw Moon. They'd figure that out when it came to it.

"What would you like to do tonight?? I believe I picked last time at your insistence, so you should pick tonight," Sun said. He was excitedly rocking back and forth, the bells on his shoes jingling in tandem.

He never stops moving. His energy is endless, Chester thought. They weren't really all that annoyed by this, though. In fact, it made it easier to tell what he was feeling.

"Do you need some help picking? Maybe I could narrow it down for you?" Sun offered.

Chester shook their head and focused. "Sorry, just thinking." They approached the board game shelf, eyes drifting over a wide collection of titles to pick from. Their mind drifted again, still trying to think of something they didn't like about either Sun or Moon. The task was proving to be far more difficult than they'd been expecting, and Chester was starting to get a little worried.

Both of them could be nosy at times. Chester didn't think they'd have minded that so much if they didn't have their secrets to worry about, though. Moon seemed to enjoy teasing them, but Chester would be lying if they'd claimed to be actually annoyed by that.

"Maybe if you're having trouble picking a game we could do something else??" Sun prompted.

Chester had forgotten all about the games. They focused back on the shelf. They started to reach for one at random, but paused when they realized they'd just played chutes and ladders with Sun the other night. They looked instead for something new, lowering their hand.

Sun made a quiet noise, too steeped in static to tell what it was meant to be. Chester glanced back to see Sun had his faceplate tilted up to the ceiling, his arms hanging limply by his sides.

"…Impatient," Chester realized, mumbling the word aloud in their epiphany. With Sun's energy levels, there wasn't much room left for patience.

Sun startled, faceplate snapping back down to look at Chester. His shoulders hunched and he folded his hands together. "I'm sorry," Sun said. He went on, quickly starting to ramble in his worry. "I didn't mean to… I've just been thinking and thinking and thinking all day long about spending time with you, and no one else uses up as much processing power all the time as you do and it gets to the point where I worry about if I need a system reboot but then I see you and it gets so much better and so much worse at the same time and I sure am talking a lot and I can't really seem to stop and-"

"Sun." Chester grabbed hold of Sun's arms, cutting him off.

"…Sorry," Sun said again. "I don't really know how to handle…" Sun's fingers started to fidget, quickly devolving into wringing together like he often did when he was nervous. "I'm sorry for being impatient. I think there's something wrong with me."

Chester shook their head slowly. They moved their hands down from Sun's arms, taking hold of his hands instead, stilling them. "Sun… there's not a thing wrong with you."

And I don't have a single fucking clue what to do about it.

Sun was very quiet, save for the whirring from his fans. His gaze slowly turned down to look at his hands and Chester's, clasped together.

Chester looked down as well. What the hell am I doing?? Chester quickly pulled their hands away and turned back to the game shelf. They grabbed the first box they saw- Battleship.

Sun still seemed sort of stunned, but accepted the game.

They got everything set up and went back and forth for a few turns, Chester deciding to use a spiral strategy to guess where Sun's ships were the fastest. They were doing their best to focus intently on the game.

Sun looked up at Chester. "Hey. You being here makes me glad."

Chester smiled. "Thank you, Sun." They felt an airy lightness in their chest. "You know flattery won't convince me to go easy on you, right?"

Sun laughed. "Oh, dear! My plots have been foiled."

They went back and forth, honing in on each others ships and cracking jokes as they went. Despite the jokes and the teasing, Chester didn't mind one bit whether they won or lost. They were having far too much fun to care.

~~~

Between Lance and Rosa, Chester figured Lance would be the better of the two to approach with the employee profile issue. Lance seemed less likely to ask them prying questions about how they'd come about their information.

Chester told him about the issue being that missing digital employee profiles and valid nametag barcodes sent conflicting messages, resulting in errors that the bots didn't know how to handle very well while in security mode. They told Lance about their paper copy solution, and how there hadn't been an issue with the bug since. They also told him about how getting other programs to run instead would get the bot in question out of the error situation as well. Lance wrote everything down and assured Chester that anyone else who ended up on the nightshift would be equipped with a paper copy of their employee profile, at least until the software division over in the upper management offices figured out a patch.

As Chester was leaving, Lance stopped them.

"Hey, Chester. I just wanted to say… you've been doing a really great job around here. I had a talk with Rosa, who says you're staying on track and getting through your night shift tasks. You've shown some good initiative and you've been a huge help. I can't say how much exactly, since it's more Rosa's department, but I can say that you're due for a raise soon. So, keep up the good work, okay?" Lance smiled.

Chester did their best to hide their confliction. "Thank you," they signed. They left the office.

I really am getting way too involved here.

This was supposed to be a ruse. Chester might have been a fast learner, a good observer, but they still weren't a real technician. So then, why did they feel proud??

The pride in and of itself was another mess of confliction. They did want to do a good job. They weren't sure when they'd gone from wanting to do the bare minimum in order to not be fired, to doing the absolute best they could at this job. It wasn't just them wanting to appear competent in order to not be found out anymore. They actually enjoyed the work they were doing, and they liked doing it well.

WAY too involved.

Chester decided to unpack this later. They did, after all, have a job to do.

With that conversation with Lance out of the way at last, Chester found it much easier to focus on their tasks. Between that and asking the walls for help with getting around, they managed to get through a good number before it was time for them to go on break.

Vanessa and Chester were in the middle of a discussion about exploiting bugs in games in order to achieve faster speed-running times when Katherine sat down at their table in the break room, effectively butting in.

"Settle something for us, losers," Katherine said, pointing back at the table they'd come from. Two of their friends were watching on.

"Yes, you would loose in a fight against either of us," Vanessa said. "Is that all?"

"Oh my god, shut up. I could totally beat you both at the same time. But no, that's not what we were arguing about," Katherine said. They waved over their two friends, who reluctantly came to sit with Chester and Vanessa as well.

Chester recognized one of the two, her long dark hair dyed pink on the tips. Her nametag read 'TECHNICIAN: Wendy'. She sat with Katherine often. The other was a new hire, their nametag reading 'TECHNICIAN: Ellis'. Ellis had short curly hair and a round face.

"We were trying to tell Ellis here that the animatronics are actually like, sentient. They don't believe us," Wendy explained.

"I mean, it's just AI isn't it? They have pre-recorded voice lines and follow programmed scripts," Ellis said.

"How long have you been working here?" Vanessa asked.

"Today's my second day," Ellis stated.

"They haven't had much chance to interact with the bots yet," Katherine said.

Vanessa nodded. "Well, they're sentient alright."

"How can that be??" Ellis looked at the group in clear disbelief.

"As senior technician here," Vanessa started, straightening up and smiling, "allow me to illuminate the situation. You see, a few years back when this place first opened, the robots weren't sentient to start out with. They were super advanced, sure. Technical marvels of the modern age, without a doubt. But sentience didn't happen till I think about a year or so ago, very roughly. It was about when I started working here, they were hiring lots of new techs on because the bots were having all these weird problems following a mass general update. Turns out, thoughts and feelings and general self awareness don't mix super well with rigid programming."

Vanessa's expression turned serious. She folded her arms over the table and went on. "I know all the bots seem pretty chill now, but back when I first started they had it really rough. Some of them seemed to handle sentience better than others. They had to discontinue two animatronics who had gotten to the point where they were just unfit to carry on. They weren't totally sentient at that point, but they were aware enough that trying to exist in that state, self aware but confined to coding not intended for any of that… I really can't imagine how horrible it must have been. But yeah, besides that, when the AI update came out that made everyone sentient, it was implemented as an automatic general download and was sent out to all the bots in the plex at once. Programmers weren't even thinking about it, but the staff bots and wet floor sign bots also received updates through the network. However their processors weren't really built to handle all that like the animatronics, so they’re all very low level sentience."

Chester was so lost in the horrifying speculation of what it must have been like for the bots at first that they almost missed Ellis's next question.

"But… how do you know they're sentient??" Ellis's tone was different now, with a far most serious edge than before, after Vanessa's explanation.

"Same way I know you lot are sentient. You have thoughts, feelings, ideas. The way the bots feel might look a little different from how humans feel. They're wired differently, so to speak. But rest assured, they do feel," Vanessa said.

"…I'm not sure how to feel about that. Still don't know if I believe it," Ellis said.

"Believe it, dummy. Just treat em like co-workers and you'll be fine. That's what I do," Katherine said.

"I didn't know the staff bots were sentient to some degree as well," Wendy said. "It took me a whole month to figure out the robots were sentient."

"Oh, yeah. I didn't figure it out for a while either." Katherine laughed. "Looking back, I really should have realized sooner. Chester seemed to get it pretty quick, though. When did you figure it out, C-bot?" Katherine nudged Chester's arm.

"I guess I just… assumed right off the bat after my first conversation?" Chester couldn't remember having any sort of big epiphany moment. They'd just been so focused on not being caught in their ruse, it hadn't even occurred to them to question the sentience of their robotic coworkers.

"Typical. Of course a robot wouldn't have any trouble accepting another robot as sentient." Katherine rolled their eyes. They straightened up and put on a neutral, tired sort of expression. They spoke in a monotone voice. "Hello. I am Chester. Here to assimilate into mankind. I must sit and observe the humans in order to blend in."

Wendy laughed with Katherine while Vanessa rolled her eyes. Ellis seemed distracted by all the talk of robot sentience.

"Chester clearly didn't observe you very well. They're far too polite and civil," Vanessa told Katherine.

"They didn't observe you then either," Katherine shot back.

"I apologize if my staring ever weirded you out," Chester signed. They'd assumed that no one had noticed them watching everyone else, but thinking back, they hadn't exactly been attempting to hide it.

"I'm just fucking with you, Chester." Katherine pat Chester on the back. "Seeing as over half the damn workforce is apparently on break, someone had better get back out there. I'll catch you losers later."

Vanessa checked her phone for the time. "It's about time for us to head back out there as well."

Chester helped picked up any trash left on the table before leaving the breakroom with Vanessa.

"Kat's insufferable," Vanessa commented, rolling her eyes. "They do a good job though, at least."

"They do," Chester agreed.

"I think she messes with you cause she's jealous of you. Before you started, Kat lead the whole division in task completion. Lately you've been giving them a run for their money," Vanessa said.

"Really?? But… I'm still so slow," Chester eyed their task list over. It was dauntingly long.

"Yeah, but I don’t think you've had a single task re-opened yet. That means no one had to come in behind you and fix something you did. Rosa's always going on about making sure we do tasks the right way the first time, regardless of how swamped we are, because it wastes even more time to have to go back and do a task over again," Vanessa said.

"I see." Chester considered that for a moment. They supposed they didn't feel as terrible about taking their time on every task. "I just... Really want to do a good job. And not mess up," they explained, leaving out the reasoning behind this fear. How if they didn't take their time and puzzle through every task, someone might figure out they were just doing a surprisingly decent job of pretending to be a technician.

"Right. You don't need to worry so much, Chester. Everyone thinks you do a good job." Vanessa winked at them. "Anyhoo, I'm headed off a different direction. I'll see you around, okay?"

"See you." Chester waved goodbye to Vanessa. They looked back down at their task list, finding it to be a little less intimidating. They picked their next task from the list and got back to work.

~~~

Chester thought they were doing an alright job of successfully avoiding their feelings, so far. It was a little easier with Moon than it was with Sun, since he liked to keep his distance.

Moon was currently keeping Chester company for the last half of their night shift, walking with them around the plex as they ran diagnostic checks and worked through their task list. Moon kept his distance as usual, keeping pace with Chester but keeping as much space between them as possible, practically scraping himself along the wall. When Chester stopped to complete a task, he'd sit himself down a few decent paces away and watch them from a distance.

Chester felt a little hesitant over being watched while they did their tasks, but most of their tasks tonight were simple but tedious tasks, all things they got the feeling the day crew had put off doing because they hadn't wanted to suffer through the boredom.

They started working their way down the line of card-reading gates by the front entrance, opening up the little port panel in the base of each gate and plugging in the diagnostic scanner. All they had to do was wait for the little device to finish its business, unplug it, put the panel back in place, and move on to the next one.

"Why do you like this job? This is boring," Moon commented. He spun his faceplate around lazily.

"Every night is a little different. Tonight's tasks just happened to be more tedious," Chester signed as they sat back and waited for the diagnostic device. They loved nights like these, where the tasks were easy and they didn't have to stress about messing anything up or doing something wrong.

Moon hummed. "You should tell me a story."

"A story?? Why?"

"Because I'm bored," Moon said simply.

Chester rolled their eyes. "No one told you that you had to hang out with me."

"Would you rather I leave?"

"…Once upon a time," Chester started.

Moon chuckled.

Chester went on. "There was a lonely traveler. The traveler loved wandering the world and seeing its sights. They liked to be moving, going places. They spent their days and nights exploring magical mountains and discovering all sorts of strange creatures hiding in the nooks and crannies of the world." Chester paused, moving the diagnostic device over to the next gate.

"One day, the traveler met a king who was very rich and powerful. The king had stolen and tricked his way to the throne, and his nefarious advisor guarded him and assured that no one would attempt to do the same to him. The traveler had wandered into the king's land by mistake, and the king decided the traveler must pay the price for their transgressions. So he and his advisor turned the traveler's legs to stone, so they couldn't wander the world anymore."

Chester paused, fiddling with the small panel they'd removed from the side of the gate. They set it carefully back down on their knee and continued to sign. "The traveler decided that, to be trapped with the cruel king and his advisor, unable to travel the world any longer, was a fate worse than death. They'd tried everything they could to break their curse and turn their stone legs back to flesh, but it was no use. So, at last, they decided to pull themself off the castle balcony, and fell into the sea."

Moon stared patiently at Chester, waiting for them to go on. Chester had been finished with their story, but upon realizing Moon wasn't satisfied, they decided to keep going.

Chester moved the diagnostic device to the next gate and continued. "Then… The traveler was surprised to find that… the ocean tide was strong enough to carry them along. When they sank below the waves, they found an entirely new world to them, hidden below the water. There were coral cities and fantastic sea creatures and beautiful seashells. The ocean tide pulled them along, and they traveled once more, roaming the bottom of the seas. And they were happy."

Chester looked at Moon again. Moon tapped his fingers over the floor as he considered Chester's story.

"I'm glad the traveler was happy in the end," he said. "Thank you for the story. I wasn't expecting you to actually tell me one."

"Oh. Well, you're welcome." Chester watched the diagnostic device as it slowly ran its little program. They waited until the screen flashed green, then moved it to the next gate. They looked back over at Moon, who was steadily getting closer as Chester made their way down the line of gates towards where he was sitting against the wall. "Sorry if it wasn't the best story. I hope you're not too bored. I do appreciate the company."

"I liked your story," Moon said, "and your company is just fine. I haven't gotten to talk to anyone in a while. The bar is very low for you."

Chester smiled. "Glad to know I meet the absolute bare minimum." They fiddled idly with the small panel for a moment. "Do you miss working in the daycare?"

"Of course," Moon said softly. "…I miss the kids. Even when they didn't want to settle down for naptime, or fought over stuffed animals. It was still… fulfilling. Watching over them."

"That's sweet." Chester imagined Moon, quietly watching over the kids of the daycare, tucking them in for naps. "I hope things get put back to normal for you soon. I talked to mister Baxter about the whole employee profile issue, so I'm sure you won't have to wait for too much longer."

Moon nodded. Chester watched him wrap his arms around himself in a loose hug.

Chester wasn't sure how to comfort Moon, though they wanted to very much. They got the feeling he was a little more upset than he was letting on. They weren't sure if Moon felt the same about his position in the daycare as Sun did about his, but they knew it must have been difficult for him regardless. They decided instead to try for a distraction. "Your turn."

"My turn?" Moon's faceplate rotated a few degrees.

Chester nodded. "Yeah, you tell me a story now."

"Hmm." Moon refolded his legs and tapped at his chin. "Okay. Once upon a time… there was a jester who served a mighty king."

Chester raised an eyebrow at Moon. Moon put a finger over his grin, shushing them.

"When the king told the jester to dance, the jester danced. When the king told the jester to sing, the jester sang. And when the king told the jester to smile, the jester obeyed."

Chester went through the motions of moving the diagnostic device along to the next gate. Their focus was entirely on Moon.

"The king’s word was law, and was bound by magic. No one had ever broken one of the king’s decrees before, though some had tried. None were able to break the magic. The king on his throne was entirely untouchable. The jester knew this very well.” Moon paused, his gaze turning down to his hands. “When the king told the jester to gather the stars from the sky for him to decorate his crown with, the jester had no choice but to comply.”

Diagnostic device forgotten, Chester sat and stared at Moon, waiting silently for him to go on.

“The jester did everything they could. They built the tallest ladders, they tossed up lassoes of the longest ropes, and they even climbed the highest mountains trying to reach the stars for the king. But the stars were always too far away. They could not satisfy the king, but they could not disobey him either. The jester, stood atop the highest mountain, searched for a solution. They found the top of the mountain was home to many gorgeous stones and jewels that shimmered and gleamed just as bright as the stars. So the jester took some of the jewels back for the king, claiming they were stars plucked from the sky. The king was satisfied, and fixed his crown with the false stars. The king seemed none the wiser, but the jester always knew, every time they gazed upon the king. They knew the real stars were forever unreachable in the sky above.”

Moon looked up at Chester, finished with his story. Chester sat back, thinking the tale over.

“I think the jester did just fine. Even if they couldn’t reach the stars,” Chester remarked. “Mountain jewels are just as nice.”

“They failed the king,” Moon said.

“They didn’t, though. The king was satisfied in the end. Isn't that what mattered?” Chester pointed out.

“…Maybe.”

Chester realized they’d forgotten about their diagnostic device and quickly went to move it along to the next gate. Once it was running, they turned back to Moon. “Thank you for the story.”

“You’re welcome.”

“What is it with these fantasy kings, huh?" Chester offered a light laugh.

Moon chuckled. He kept his gaze on Chester as they moved next to him, plugging the diagnostic device into one of the last gates. He stiffened, like he wanted to move away, but remained where he was.

"Feeling okay?" Chester asked.

"Fine." Moon turned his faceplate away. He fiddled with the ribbons around his wrists. "Wondering if…" Moon trailed off.

Chester eyed him curiously. When he didn't continue, they prompted him. "Moon?"

"Forget it." Moon reached up and pulled his nightcap down to cover his eyes. He curled in on himself, still not looking at Chester.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Chester asked, wondering what had Moon acting like this all of a sudden.

Moon made a static filled noise. He looked down at his hands, then glanced carefully at Chester from under the rim of his hat. "I was. Wondering. If maybe…" Moon trailed off again. He made another noise, this one sounding more like a sigh. He slowly held his hand out to Chester, pausing halfway between them.

"Oh!" Chester realized what he was asking. He wanted more calibration practice. Chester smiled. They finished plugging the diagnostic device into the last gate and turned to Moon while it did its thing. They took his hand, holding it gently. They signed to him with their free hand. "You only had to ask, silly."

Moon huffed, turning his faceplate up. His fingers were rigidly still in Chester's hand.

Chester looked down at Moon's hand, studying it carefully. It looked pretty similar to Sun's hands. Chester was having a hard time finding any differences at all, actually. They probably shared the same sort of model type, like how the glamrocks shared the same type of endoskeleton frame. Chester brushed a thumb over Moon's plastic casing, wondering if they could feel for the sensors underneath, what with how much more flexible and thin Moon's plastic casing was, compared to the glamrock's metal casing.

Moon's frame rattled, his casing shaking noisily as his whole endoskeleton seemed to vibrate. Chester looked up at him in surprise. Moon seemed just as surprised, sitting there entirely motionless like a deer caught in headlights. Then he quickly snatched his hand away and scrambled to his feet, putting several feet of distance between him and Chester.

"Your device is done. Time to go," Moon said.

Chester glanced over at the diagnostic device. Its screen was flashing green at them. They unplugged it and put the panel back in place. They stuck the device in their belt and got to their feet.

"Are you… okay??" Chester asked cautiously.

"Fine," Moon said curtly.

"Do you want to try calibrating again?" Chester offered.

Moon quickly shook his head. "I think that's enough for one night."

"We held hands for half a minute."

Moon folded his arms. "Why do you want to hold my hand so badly, hmm?"

Chester faltered. They quickly busied themself with their faz-phone, marking the entrance gate diagnostic task complete and scrolling through their list for the next task. "You're the one who offered."

"Anyways. What's next on the list?" Moon was already making his way to the main hall.

Chester hurried to catch up. "Next I need to… replace a broken nozzle on an ice cream dispenser." They marked the task as 'in progress'.

"Hardly seems very technical."

"At least it's easy." Chester shrugged. They lead the way to find where replacement nozzles were stored. The map looked to be leading them to the general warehouse, down in the access tunnels.

"And afterwards we can have ice cream," Moon said.

Chester studied Moon. "Can you eat?? I know the glamrocks have small removable compartments for food waste, so they can eat a slice of pizza or something for a stunt or what have you. But your faceplate doesn't exactly… move?"

Moon spun his faceplate. "I could pretend."

The pair made it to the general warehouse. There were almost no service lights here, so Chester clicked on their flashlight, aiming it away from Moon. They started searching shelves, angling the beam of light over labels and cardboard boxes and storage crates.

Chester signed to Moon with their free hand. "If you could have three wishes, what would they be?"

Moon hummed. Chester watched the bright red lights of his eyes turn back and forth as Moon slowly rotated his face a few degrees clockwise, then counter, then back again while he thought. "My first wish… countless riches. Of course."

"Naturally." Chester smiled and nodded.

"My second wish. World domination. Duh." Moon waved a hand. "And my third… world peace."

"How kind of you." Chester found the box they were after. They pulled out a replacement nozzle and turned away from the shelf slowly, giving Moon plenty of time to move out of the way of their flashlight. "Although if you ruled the world, you could make sure there was world peace anyways, couldn't you?"

"It would take more than one ruler to achieve total world peace, no matter how good the ruler was," Moon said.

Chester hummed thoughtfully. "What if you had one more wish?"

"One more wish. How gracious."

As the pair stepped out from the tighter confines of the storage shelves and out into the open floor, Moon remained by Chester's side instead of immediately moving to put distance between them. They walked together slowly, Chester keeping an eye on where they were going and Moon considering the question carefully.

"I would wish… for a different face," Moon finally said.

"Oh?" Chester glanced up at him.

"So I could eat ice cream, of course."

"Ah, of course." Chester nodded. "No other reason?"

"…" Moon tilted his faceplate away, hiding the red glow of his eyes from Chester. "I wouldn't mind… not having to smile all the time. I think most people find me off-putting."

"I don't," Chester replied immediately. They paused when Moon's gaze snapped to them.

Here in the shadows, the darkened half of Moon's face was nearly invisible, save for the faint curve of his carved cheeks faintly reflecting the red of his pinprick eyes, and the faint shapes of his teeth locked into an eternal grin. Chester, who was usually focused more on Moon's body language, took a moment to focus more on Moon's face. They got the sudden urge to give Moon's pointy nose a kiss.

Chester shooed the sudden thought away, hoping their face wasn't as warm as it felt. "I like your nose," Chester signed.

"Don't lie to me." Moon sighed, turning his faceplate away. "It's alright, I know my face is creepy."

Chester scowled. They put their flashlight away for a moment so their hands were free to take hold of Moon's faceplate. They angled it back towards them, and before they could chicken out or overthink, they gave Moon's pointed nose a smooch.

"I wasn't lying." Chester quickly turned and marched for the door, taking their flashlight back out so they didn't trip over anything. They were embarrassed enough as it was.

Moon stood there in stunned silence, only snapping out of it when Chester made it to the door. He slowly moved to follow them, still reeling and confused by what had just happened.

The pressure sensors in Moon's face kept bouncing the readings back and forth through Moon's mind. It was all he could focus on. Exactly a seventh of a PSI, for barely a second. There was something else, something there that didn't have a decipherable reading. It was like fried wires, sparkling with far too much electricity. It was almost overwhelming, though not entirely… unpleasant.

"This looks like a super easy replacement. Shouldn't take long to fix at all," Chester commented, avoiding looking at Moon.

"Right. Yes. Good." Moon nodded. "I think. I need to go."

That made Chester look back at him. "I… I didn't overstep, did I?"

"No," Moon assured. "I just. Need some time. To process. Everything is fine."

"Okay. I'll see you around?" Chester asked.

"Yes. See you. Good night." Moon hurried off, quickly vanishing around a corner.

Chester took a deep breath, then slapped a hand to their forehead.

Stupid! What was I thinking?! Why did I do that… Chester shook their head. They hurried off towards the food court, their face burning. They were at least glad Moon wasn't here to see their embarrassment.

Moon, meanwhile, couldn't get back to the daycare fast enough. He hit the lights as soon as he was through the doors, leaving Sun to deal with the overheating processors.

"AHHHHH??" Sun immediately said, grabbing at the sides of his faceplate. His rays quickly retracted as his hands neared.

"I know," Moon replied.

Sun didn't know what to do any more than Moon did. He simply laid himself face down on the floor, letting the vents on the back of his head pump out endless waves of hot air.

"MOON," Sun said, his voice quiet as the speaker of his voice box sent out the sound directly into the padded daycare floor.

"I know," Moon said again.

"What are we supposed to do, Moon?!"

"I don't know," Moon replied.

"Ahhhhhhhh," Sun cried again. "…I can't wait for them to get back."

Despite it all, Moon couldn't help but agree. He sighed heavily. "Me too."

0 notes

eyndr-stories · 2 years

Text

Chester and the Jesters (FNAF SB fanfic) C6 - 'Plex is haunted

In Summary:

Things To Know (always read responsibly!):

Biggest warnings are for blood, death, knives, murder, the police, violence, also the OC is at one point hit by lightning. All fun stuff

About 70,000 words in total, 9 chapters, so roughly like. 7,500 words per chapter

This is an OC story, not a reader insert or a self insert! But if you want to imagine otherwise be my guest lol

Angst, fluff

OC x Sun & Moon, there's romance but zero spice

Occasional swearing

Heavy focus on Sun and Moon but most of the rest of the gang is there too :)

Afton doesn't exist, sorry peepaw, Vanessa is here but she's very chill. She's a kickass gamer girl lmao

Moon does an attempted murder but its fine. He's just a lil guy ok

OC uses they/them and also sign language most of the time

Impersonation, lying. There's also manipulation. Yall I wasn't kidding about the angst

There's also a lot of focus on how they're all robots, very cool robots with feelings lol

That's all I can think of, as always please lmk if I should add anything!

Ao3 Link: Right here!

Start reading here: Chapter 1

Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7

C6 - 'Plex is haunted

"Can I ask you something?" Chester marked their in progress task complete and turned to face Vanessa. The pair of them had just finished installing a replacement speaker on the food court's stage. They were going back and forth with each other's task lists, finding ones that would go faster with help.

Vanessa was busy digging around in her pocket for something, but she still caught Chester's signs. "Course. What's up?" She finally pulled out a small pack of gum. "Want one?"

"Oh, sure. Thank you." Chester popped a stick of bubble gum in their mouth before continuing. "I've been meaning to ask… why you're friends with me? Not that I'm complaining, just curious."

Vanessa popped her own gum in her mouth and balled up the wrapper. "Honestly, I was watching you for a while before I first talked to you. The ghosts and I agree you're a decent person. And besides, the building seems to like you, and it's usually a really good judge of character." Vanessa took aim, then tossed her gum wrapper into the nearest trash can, a good ten feet away. When the wrapper made it into the can, she dabbed.

Chester was momentarily stunned not just by the excellent shot but also the preceding dab. They quickly shook it off. "The building??"

Vanessa nodded. She scrolled through her list of tasks, eventually settling on a staff bot repair task. "Yep. Don't ask me why. But the building for sure picks favorites." She waved for Chester to follow, putting her faz-phone away and starting off towards the next task.

Chester followed her down off the stage. They skirted around tables packed with noisy kids and families, plates full of hot cheap delicious garbage food. Chester was starving, but they did their best not to stare at a family's party platter of nachos. They focused on chewing their gum. "Favorites. How do you know this?"

"Well I wasn't sure at first, but the ghosts have been here the longest, and they're pretty adamant about it. Why do you think it's only ever the assholes who's employee profiles get corrupted? How come no other computer files ever get corrupted? Haven't you noticed how the halls sort of rearrange themselves how they see fit? Or how doors always seem to stick and won't open easily for Kat? Or how it never takes you or me all that long to get to places that are meant to be on opposite ends of the building?"

Chester had actually noticed some of those things. They'd attributed the halls to simply not being able to follow the map very clearly, and getting lucky and ending up where they needed to go anyways. But maybe they hadn't been able to memorize the map because the halls themselves kept changing? And with the employee profiles, could that really be the cause of the corrupted files??

"Anyways. Let me tell you more about House Hunter," Vanessa said. Without waiting for a reply, she started to ramble about a new game she was playing, where your pixelated character hunted these little house-shaped monsters that ran around on chicken legs. According to Vanessa, one needed to collect the remains of these defeated foes in order to build you own, much bigger, monster house.

"What do you do with the house you build?" Chester wondered.

"That's where the online aspect comes in. You can pit your house against other people's houses in different mini-games. Depending on the stats you go for with your house, you could be generally good at a lot of games or really good at a few games," Vanessa explained.

Vanessa went on about the house she was building, how she was going for the best 'jack of all trades' house attainable and how she had to hunt down all sorts of different little monster houses to collect a wide variety of materials from.

They reached parts and service proper just as Vanessa finished lamenting about a rare golden house that she'd spent all night looking for having escaped her grasp once again.

Chester paused when they realized they actually knew the bot they were here to repair. It was that custodian bot, the one with the blue hat. They'd seen this bot around the plex loads of times before.

"Cappy! What did you do this time??" Vanessa chided, folding her arms.

The bot, apparently named Cappy, lowered their egg head slightly. They pointed down at one of their wheels and attempted to roll forwards and backwards. The wheel wobbled and made a concerning grating noise, clearly loose.

"This again? Isn't it time we replace that old wheel?" Vanessa sighed.

Cappy stared at her blankly.

"Fine, fine." Vanessa waved. "I'll help you down and we'll take a look at it."

Vanessa lent the bot her arm for stability while they slowly folded over at the middle, until Cappy was seated on the ground beside the cylindrical chamber. Vanessa started removing the wheel.

"Anything I can do to help?" Chester asked.

Vanessa started to reply, but paused. She looked at Cappy for a long moment. "Uh… Cappy would prefer it if you kept your distance."

Chester took a step back. "Why??"

"They say… um. That's kinda mean. Basically they hate your guts," Vanessa said.

Chester was flabbergasted. They hadn't even realized Cappy had an opinion of them to begin with. The bot was currently staring at them, with that same neutral expression they always wore. Chester realized then that Cappy was not staring, but glaring.

"Apparently you keep making messes right after they finish cleaning an area. They're one of the bots who usually only work at night, so I guess they're not used to someone coming by and ruining their work," Vanessa elaborated.

Chester thought back and realized they had actually caused messes for the poor bot to clean on at least three separate occasions. They'd even tracked a bunch of mud in, back when they'd first snuck into the building. "Oh. Oh, dear. I'm very sorry, they were all accidents," Chester told Cappy.

Cappy turned their head all the way around, so they were no longer facing Chester and Vanessa. They folded their arms.

Vanessa gave Chester an apologetic look. "They're pretty mad."

"I had no idea. I feel terrible," Chester said.

"Here, hold this for me." Vanessa handed over Cappy's damaged wheel. She got to work removing the socket it had been connected to next.

Chester held it carefully in both hands. They noted a faded sticker on the wheel cap, one of Roxy's bust in front of a racing flag. Turning the wheel over, they saw that the ring meant hold the wheel to the socket was loose.

"Can't we just replace this ring?" Chester asked.

"We can't take it off without damaging the wheel. Its easier just to replace the wheel entirely. We've got plenty of spares laying around here, but Cappy likes that one." Vanessa pulled off the socket. It had become scraped and slightly bent over time. She chucked it and went to grab a new one from the shelves.

Chester glanced back at Cappy, who was still avoiding looking at them. "I didn't realize the staff bots had names."

"They don't usually, that I'm aware of. Cappy is just what I call this trouble maker. You know, cause of their hat," Vanessa explained. She returned from the shelves carrying a replacement socket, this one slightly bigger than the first. She sat back down in front of Cappy and got to work connecting it. "We'll see how long this one lasts. You know we'll have to replace the wheel eventually, right Cappy?"

Cappy turned their head around to look at Vanessa, staring blankly at her for a moment.

"I'll see what we can do when the time comes." Vanessa nodded. "Wheel, please."

Chester handed over Cappy's wheel. Vanessa struggled to get it back on. She swore heavily until it finally snapped into place.

With the wheel back on, Vanessa pulled Cappy back up into standing position. Cappy gave the wheel a little test. It seemed far steadier now, though they did seem to still be having a little bit of trouble with it.

"Go easy on it, alright?" Vanessa warned.

Cappy gave her a salute. They gave Chester a glare, then rolled out of the room.

"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll come around." Vanessa pat Chester on the shoulder. "Anyhoo. Let's go on break, I'm starving."

~~~

Chester ran into Sun on their way out of the daycare.

"Chester!! My friend! Where are you going?? I thought you said you had the night off tonight?" Sun asked. He rolled forwards and backwards on the balls of his feet, his long arms folded behind his back.

"I do. I'm sorry, I actually wanted to try and find Moon again tonight. We can hang out later, though," Chester signed.

Sun stalled mid-sway, nearly toppling backwards. "What?!" He quickly righted himself. "You want to- why??"

Chester explained. "I'd like to make sure he's doing okay. I kinda get the feeling he's… not supposed to be around? I mean, he isn’t out and about with the rest of you. I just want to make sure he's alright, maybe ask him some questions too. I know you're worried because I told you before that he hurt me, but now that I've figured out the issue with the employee form errors, there shouldn't be a problem."

Sun started wringing his hands together. "Friend… are you sure about this??"

"Yes." Chester gave Sun's arm a pat. "I'll be back soon. See you."

Sun heaved a mighty static-tinged sigh. "…Good luck."

Chester waved as they left the daycare. They checked their back pocket, where their paper copy of their employee profile form was safely folded away, just in case.

Their plan was to head to the security room down in the access tunnels and maybe check the cameras for some sign of Moon. They carried on past the daycare's check in counter and out into the main halls of the complex. A pair of wet floor signs turned to stare at Chester as they passed. They turned back to each other as Chester found a 'STAFF ONLY' door.

Folding their arms against the underground chill, Chester carried on through the access tunnels.

Chester paused for a moment, recalling their recent conversation with Vanessa. They looked around at the walls and the ceiling, then decided to attempt an experiment. "…Hello. I'm trying to get to the security room. If its not too much trouble, would you mind helping me out?" Chester signed to the nearest wall.

They stared at the wall for a moment, half expecting the solid concrete to reply. When they received no response, they turned back to continue down the hallway. They took two steps, then stopped again.

There was an open door a short ways down the hall. A panel on the door read 'SECURITY ROOM'. Chester couldn't be totally certain the door hadn't been there before, but they were at least almost positive there hadn't been any open doors down the hall before.

"Thank you," Chester signed, just to be safe.

Chester stepped into the security room. They eyed the darkened monitors and the dusty desk. They pulled out the rolling chair and took a seat.

When the monitors blazed to life, Chester winced at the sudden bright light. They'd been in the low light of the closed complex all night. They desperately fumbled for the display settings, quickly turning the brightness down. With that out of the way, Chester spent a good five minutes trying to figure out how to pull up any of the cameras. They realized that part of the problem was because half of the cameras seemed to be inactive. Chester remembered something about the cameras getting knocked out during one of those storms. Apparently, they hadn't been fixed yet. They couldn't recall seeing any related tasks. Maybe the cameras had to be replaced entirely? Chester had heard that replacement orders often took a while to arrive.

Lost in their thoughts, Chester didn't notice that someone else had entered the room until a voice startled them nearly out of their skin.

"Looking for something?"

Chester spun in their chair. It was Moon himself, standing by the door. He looked like he almost wanted to flee, one hand on the doorknob and posture all hunched over, his back to the wall.

"I was looking for you, actually." Chester felt the urge to stand. They weren't sure if they wanted to run themself or greet Moon. Seeing how apprehensive Moon looked, they opted to remain seated in their rolling chair.

"Why?" Moon asked.

"I've got some questions for you, remember? I hope that's alright," Chester signed.

Moon said nothing. Instead, he slowly moved a few steps into the room and sat on the ground, folding his legs. He stared up at Chester, his eyes casting a faint red glow over the curve of his pointed nose and the rounded edges of his rigid cheeks. Chester paid little mind to his unrelenting grin, having grown used to Sun's own immobile smile.

"Right. So… what do you do here in the plex?" Chester asked first.

"Right now… nothing. I'm not supposed to be out," Moon said.

"I see. Why is that?"

Moon made an odd mechanical clicking noise as he hesitated. "I want to ask you questions, too."

"Oh, alright then." Chester nodded.

"Why didn't you tell anyone that I'd hurt you?" Moon asked.

Chester instantly regretted this. They folded their hands over their middle, tapping their thumbs idly against their stomach. "I… technically, I did. I told Sun."

"That doesn't count," Moon said.

"Why not?"

"…" Moon grabbed the end of his nightcap and started to fiddle with it, gently enough to not jostle the bell at its end. "Is that your next question?"

"Do I only get a certain amount of questions?" Chester paused. "Wait. That's not a question, don't answer that."

Moon chuckled quietly.

"My next question… Why aren't you allowed to be out and about?" Chester asked.

Moon looked away for the first time, his faceplate angling down as his shoulders hunched up. "I… am… a potential security risk."

Chester considered that for a moment. "So… it's you. You're the one all the rumors are about."

Moon hunched over even farther. He pulled his legs up, hiding most of his face behind his star patterned knees. He looked incredibly small, sitting like that in the middle of the empty floor.

"I'm sorry," Moon whispered, his volume barely audible.

Chester felt an ache in their chest. They got up from the chair, wanting to go comfort Moon somehow. Once they stood they hesitated, realizing they barely knew Moon. They didn't want to make him uncomfortable. They settled for sitting on the ground a few feet away. "I don't think you meant any harm. You didn't know what you were doing. You were in pain, right?"

Moon glanced up at Chester. "Pain." Moon seemed to mull the word over, repeating the sign almost to himself, index fingers angled towards each other as his hands twisted back and forth. "It was overwhelming. Couldn't tell much beyond it."

Chester nodded.

"My turn for a question." Moon fixed his attention back on Chester, red eyes locking with theirs. "Are you scared of me?"

Chester looked at Moon. He really seemed like an entirely different bot than their first meeting. He was so quiet and folded in on himself. He seemed very small, despite his frame having several feet on Chester.

"I was at first. I'm not anymore," Chester answered honestly.

"I'm sorry I scared you. I'm sorry I hurt you." Moon sounded genuine.

Chester believed him. They were about to tell him as much when Moon carried on.

"I'm sorry about the others, too. Their employee profiles were gone, like yours. The first time, the janitor, they knew me enough to stop me with the lights, before I could do anything. The second, the night guard… I hurt them. Not as bad as I think I hurt you, but… that time was different. She realized, about the employee form being gone. She took off her name tag, agreed she was an intruder so the error would go away. She knew I'd restrain her. I… when I went to restrain her…" Moon put his hands over his face. "It was an accident. I'd only ever dealt with kids before, and not often. It wasn't enough… I didn't recalibrate correctly, overestimated… and I…" Moon's hands gripped at the edges of his faceplate. "Pulled her arm back too hard, dislocated her shoulder. I hurt her."

Chester thought about how Moon had been keeping their distance from them, and how when he'd caught them the other night from falling back into the ball pit, he hadn't even touched them, instead grabbing their tool belt. Chester recalled how they'd flinched, and how Moon had immediately shrank back and apologized.

He really didn't mean any harm. What Moon lacked was interaction, information. He didn't know his own strength, how much was too much, and he seemed deeply afraid of how much exactly 'too much' was.

Chester reached out and took one of Moon's hands, taking him by surprise. Moon froze up entirely, eyes locked on his hand.

"Thank you for the apology. It is appreciated and accepted," Chester stated.

"What. Are you doing." Moon continued to stare, not daring to move an inch.

"I'm helping you calibrate your pressure sensors so you don't have to be scared of yourself anymore," Chester explained, signing with their free hand. "Why don't you try slowly squeezing my hand, and if it starts to get too tight, I'll tap your hand like this." Chester tapped their thumb twice against the smooth plastic on the back of Moon's hand.

Moon just stared at them.

"Common, give it a try. It'll be alright," Chester assured.

"What if it isn't? What if I hurt you? What if…" Moon made a quite whining sound. His free hand slowly itched at his torso, plastic scraping softly against plastic. "Oh. I don't like this."

"Its important that you at least give it a try. Look, I'll squeeze first and you can try to copy me." Chester gave Moon's hand a light squeeze. "Super easy. You can do it."

"Don't patronize me." Moon made another whining noise. "…Are you sure about this??"

"Would I have grabbed your hand if I wasn't?" Chester countered.

Moon's other hand stilled, and for a very long moment, he was a perfect statue. Then, with one final whine, the hand in Chester's finally started to move.

Moon was inching his digits closed so painfully slow that Chester could barely feel the movement. It took him a full minute to near the pressure of the light squeeze Chester had given him. He quickly loosened his hand and pulled it away, scooting back away from Chester for good measure.

Chester almost wanted to poke fun at him, but held back. "That was great! Well done."

A blue light came on in Moon's eyes, ringing the red dots. After assuring himself that Chester's hand was unharmed, he relaxed slightly. He scrutinized Chester's expression. "…What are you smiling about??"

"Nothing. Just… it's no wonder I can't find a partner, I had no idea just holding my hand was such a pain."

Moon scoffed and folded his arms. "Yes, it's almost as painful as error messages jabbing holes in my mind."

"Would you ever want to try the exercise again?" Chester asked. "I don't mind helping you calibrate."

Moon studied Chester. He looked down at his hand, then at Chester's hand. "…Perhaps."

"Can I ask you some more questions?"

Moon got to his feet, moving slowly and carefully. "That's enough for tonight."

"Oh. Alright. Can I see you again soon?" Chester asked. They also pushed themself up to their feet, just so they didn't have to crane their neck to look at Moon.

"Perhaps," Moon said again. He headed for the door. "Goodnight."

"Night." Chester waved goodbye.

Chester turned the monitors on the desk back off before making their way back to the daycare. They thought that had gone rather well, all things considered. They'd even gotten some answers, though they still had more questions. When they got back, Sun was there waiting for them in the light of the daycare, standing in much the same spot they'd left him in.

"You weren't just waiting there the whole time, were you??" Chester asked, shutting the daycare's doors behind them and kicking their shoes off.

"…Not quite," Sun answered. "How did it go??"

"Great! He actually found me, which is good because I wasn't having much luck with the cameras." Chester told Sun about Moon's lack of experience with calibrating appropriate pressure, though they didn't tell Sun about Moon's incident with the night guard, figuring Moon probably didn't want just anyone to know about that. They told Sun how Moon had apologized for everything. "We're all cleared up now, so you don't have to worry about Moon. He's alright."

Sun sounded hopeful when he said, "Maybe you're right." Gradually, he started to move around more and more excitedly, bouncing and pacing in short little steps. His sunrays did their loading symbol thing, though it was a lot faster than normal. His excitement grew exponentially as he spoke. "Maybe everything is okay now?? If you really have fixed the problem... It really does seem like it, and that means- oh, and you're such a wonderful dear, you brilliant marvel!" Sun seemed downright giddy. He clapped his hands down on Chester's shoulders. "Chester, you're incredible! You are my favorite person."

Chester stared at him. They really didn't know what to say to that. They didn't know how they were supposed to feel, either. They sure were feeling something regardless.

Sun didn't seem to mind Chester's stunned and confused silence. He pulled them into a big hug, swinging them around. He only set them down to do a happy little dance, all his bells jingling merrily.

"Sun? What??" was all Chester could manage.

'You are my favorite person.' Sun's words kept turning around and around in Chester's head. They couldn't seem to get them to stop, though they weren't actually too upset by that.

"If you're sure, and you must be sure, and Moon didn't hurt you, so it must be-" Sun kept rambling, almost entirely to himself at this point. Fans were whirring away in his head, but he didn't seem to mind, or perhaps didn't even notice.

"You sure seem excited by all this," Chester finally signed.

"Well of course! The daycare-" Sun very abruptly froze. His fans continued to whir, but otherwise he was still as stone.

"The… daycare?" Chester prompted, confused. What did the daycare have to do with this? They considered Sun's abrupt change in attitude, how quickly he'd stilled. Was he scared about something? He usually only got especially scared about the lights being off.

The lights… and wasn't it odd that Moon was only around when the lights were off? And how he and Moon were so similar in design…

Chester hesitated to ask. They knew the topic made Sun uncomfortable, but… if they were right, then… Moon wasn't a danger anymore, and so Sun wouldn't have to be worried about it anymore. "Sun… The daycare was at risk of being shut down because of the incidents with Moon, wasn't it? That's why you had to keep the lights on."

Sun nodded slowly. He studied Chester very carefully.

Chester went on, going through their thoughts. "They had you keep the lights on to keep Moon out of the daycare. To protect the kids. They must have thought he was unpredictable. He used to work in the daycare with you, right?? That’s why your costumes and designs are so similar. Since he's not allowed out and about, they must have tried to power him down? Put him in storage? Obviously, they didn't do a very good job of it. But… yeah, with the employee profile error circumnavigated, there shouldn't be an issue anymore! He could come back to the daycare."

Sun was silent. He was hesitant about something. Chester wasn't sure what.

"…I know the lights are a touchy subject, but… there's no issue anymore, right?" Chester offered.

"…Right! Right. No issue." Sun laughed. He started to move again, this time much more subdued. "I'm just. Doing a lot of thinking right now!"

"Oh, right." Chester relaxed. "You know… I do wonder… Moon said that you two had never met before. Yet you two used to run the daycare together? Unless I've assumed incorrectly?"

"No, no, you're right. It's just… Moon would only be… around. When I wasn't," Sun explained carefully.

"Oh, so you had different shifts." Chester nodded. They had wondered how Sun managed not to wear himself out, running the daycare all day long without a break like he did. "Right, anyways. I'm planning to talk to mister Baxter about the employee form issue and how to fix it. I probably shouldn't mention Moon, since I don't want to get him in trouble… but once the issue is resolved, it should work itself out anyways, right?"

"I'm sure it will." Sun laughed again.

Chester knew Sun well enough by now to tell that something was still bothering him. "Is everything alright, Sun?"

Sun spun his faceplate at Chester. "Sure is!! Everything is just fine, Chester, my friend, my good pal, my close compadre. I just have a lot to process! Oh boy, it's a lot. Whew! I bet you can hear my fans whirring." Sun laughed again. He put a hand to the back of his head, as if he could feel the air being expelled by the fans in question.

Chester could indeed hear the fans. "Right. Did you still want to hang out tonight? If you need some time, that's alright too, I don't mind."

"You're very sweet, Chester. I… do think I would actually like some time to… process," Sun said. "But we can hang out tomorrow night, right?? Is that alright?"

"Yes, of course." Chester gave Sun a thumbs up. "You can have the room, if you want some privacy, I'll just be down here doing some reading."

True to their word, Chester grabbed their photocopy books and left Sun to himself in the tower room. They settled down at one of the plastic kiddie tables and shuffled through their haphazardly organized pile of papers.

That was odd… they could have sworn they'd made a copy of the daycare attendant book. They'd been meaning to read that one for a while now. It wasn't here in the stack… maybe they hadn't printed it after all? Chester decided to blame this on the concussion, and settled for going over the wiring booklet again. They glanced up at the tower as they settled in, wondering briefly if Sun was doing alright.

Sun, meanwhile, was very much not doing alright.

"You didn't tell them."

Moon's voice filled Sun's mind. He was accessing his voice files in their voice box, but he didn't currently have access to the speaker. The words stayed in their shared mind, where Sun could interpret what Moon was saying regardless of whether or not he could audibly hear the words.

"I couldn't!" Sun paced back and forth across the room. There was space enough for him to do so now, he noticed. A lot of the trash was gone, and Chester had cleaned and neatly stacked the extra supplies at some point. Sun's fans were whirring at full force again.

"Why?"

"Because if they knew I lied to them, if they knew I was keeping secrets from them, they might be mad at me. I don't want them to be mad at me," Sun explained, gesturing with his hands even though he knew Moon couldn't see.

"It's not like they aren't keeping secrets from us."

"That's different, Moon."

"Is it?"

"They have a very good reason, I'm sure," Sun stated, punctuating this by folding his arms.

"What will you do when the lights go back to normal?"

"I will simply refrain from being in view when we switch."

"Sun."

Sun sighed. "I know." He put his face in his hands. "Just give me some time to figure this out. Please? You can't tell them. Okay?"

"I haven't told them yet, have I?"

"I know you haven't. Thank you." Sun folded his hands together. He scuffed his shoe over the ground a few times, just to hear the bell jingle. "Thank you, Moon. For having my back still."

"I am your back."

Sun folded his arms. "You know what I mean!"

"Wouldn't do to be your own enemy, now would it?" Moon hummed about that for a moment before continuing. "Yes, it is… it is something. Keeping this particular secret for you."

Sun's hands started to wring together.

"You're lucky I find the whole thing deeply amusing."

"Moon, I'm sorry. I haven’t been very nice to you. When they said they might have to close the daycare, I-"

"I know, Sun. you've apologized several times now." Moon's voice was patient.

"Sorry."

Moon sighed. "I'm glad we're talking again, at least."

"Yeah. Me too." Sun's faceplate spun. "Maybe… we could even go back to seeing, as well?"

"Perhaps."

Sun paused for a moment. He didn't focus so much as he unfocused. It wasn't difficult, at least not usually, to keep that particular code from running, but he still felt the odd little relief of regaining some processing power as the code ran freely.

"…I see you've cleaned."

"This was all Chester." Sun did a full turn, swiveling his faceplate all around the room.

"Why do you think they need to stay here? Of all places?" Moon wondered.

"Humans need to pay for things they need, like houses. Maybe they don't have enough money," Sun offered.

"They work here. They make just as much money as the other technicians. None of the other technicians are lacking in funds to such a degree that they need to secretly sleep in a daycare."

"Maybe they spent all their money?" Sun folded his arms again. "Whatever the case, I'm sure it's a very good reason, and they'll tell us when they're ready, and everything will make sense."

"Right…"

~~~

There was one high priority task waiting for Chester as they punched their number into the clock-in box. Animatronic repair. They couldn't put that one off- one of the bots was likely already waiting for them in parts and service. Chester wasted no time. They stuck their faz-phone in its little pocket on their tool belt and turned to the door.

"I'm heading to parts and service proper, would it be any trouble to help me get there quickly?" Chester asked the walls.

They left the employee stock room. Right down the hall were the large double doors, bold print lettering over the doors reading 'PARTS AND SERVICE'.

"Thank you very much," Chester signed. They quickly made their way down the hall.

Monty was waiting for them, his arms folded as he paced around the room. He paused when he saw Chester enter the room.

"Hey, runt."

"Hello Monty." Chester was already scrutinizing Monty for damage, trying to bring to mind the diagrams of him they'd studied. They pulled the task details up on their faz-phone, but since the task hadn't been written up by Lance or Rosa, the detail box was empty. "What can I do to help?"

Monty scuffed a foot over the tile floor. "Ahh, it's nothing. Forget it." He turned and started towards the back exit before Chester could reply. He made it two steps before his left shoulder collided with a metal shelf, the force of the impact sending several smaller parts to the floor. Monty winced and quickly started picking up the scattered parts, which looked to be spare thin support beams that lined the inner frames of the staff bots.

Chester approached, reaching Monty's side just as he finished gathering all the parts off the floor. They realized they'd seen Monty bump into several things these past few days, mostly doorways. Chester also realized it was usually his left shoulder hitting these doorways.

"It seems like one or two of your proximity sensors is busted. It shouldn't be too difficult a fix, if that's the case. Would you mind if I ran a scan and took a look?" Chester asked.

Monty huffed. He looked down at his handful of small parts, then set them on a random shelf, amidst a few other staff bot parts. He sighed. "Fine. Just make it snappy, alright?"

Chester gave him a thumbs up. They quickly went to the computer by the cylindrical repair machine and powered it on. They found the diagnostic scan option from the menu, then glanced up at Monty, who was scowling at the machine, standing just in front of the doorway.

"You don't have to be on the table, if you don't want. You only have to be in the chamber for the scan to run," Chester told him.

Monty relaxed significantly at this. He cautiously stepped inside, putting a hand on the doorway as he did so he wouldn't bump the frame. Chester ran the scan after plugging their technician number into the computer just as they had before when they'd fixed Freddy's arm.

The computer finished its scan, displaying a load of technical jargon Chester didn't have the first clue how to decipher. Their faz-phone helpfully listed the replacement parts they would need. They'd been right- there were three sensors that needed replacing. According to the map, the sensors were down the hall in a smaller storage closet.

"I'll be right back, just need to grab the replacement parts. You can come out of the chamber now, if you want," Chester informed Monty.

When Chester returned with the sensors in hand, Monty was standing outside of the repair chamber, eying it disdainfully.

"How long is this gonna take?" Monty asked.

"Shouldn't take too long, I just need to find and replace the busted sensors with these new ones." Chester showed Monty the sensors they'd grabbed. They paused and looked around. They needed a surface and ideally a chair. Their eyes landed on the table housing the repair chamber's computer and the chair pushed under it. "Would you mind sitting over here?"

"Do I have to sit?" Monty asked. "It's hard to sit down and stand up."

Ah, that's right. While the glamrocks had considerably good mobility, they hadn't been designed with the balance required for sitting down and standing up in mind. Chester considered their options for a moment, then decided to climb up on the table and sit there themself. That way they could reach everything they needed to and Monty wouldn't have to sit.

Pleased with this, Monty stood himself in front of Chester so they could get at his outer shell. Chester set the sensors on the table next to them, got out their tools, and got to work removing Monty's front left chest plate, figuring that was a smart place to start looking for busted sensors, since it was his left side that kept bumping into things.

Monty watched Chester take off the metal plate and set it aside. "Thanks for doing this, runt. It's very rock n' roll of you."

"Of course. It's my job, after all." Chester focused on locating the line of small sensors along the outer edge of the exposed metal frame. A lot of the diagrams didn't include wires or any upgraded hardware, so it took them a moment to navigate Monty's inner workings.

"Right. But you're a lot better about it than the other techs," Monty said. "For starters you're fixing me up by hand instead of strapping me down to the machine. That thing gets the job done, sure, but it's… a little rough." Monty scratched at the back of his head.

Chester cast a glance at the repair chamber. The complex array of machinery fixed to the ceiling, hanging over the metal table inside, was admittedly very spooky. Besides, Chester didn't really know how to work the computer anyways.

Monty went on. "Freddy says you did the same for him. And that was during the day, when you techs are busiest. So I figured… you know. Maybe I should get checked out. The busted sensors have been bothering me for a while now, so… what I'm trying to say is thanks."

"Don't thank me yet, I have to remove the busted sensors first." Chester offered Monty the most apologetic look they could muster. "It looks like I need to disconnect the wires from each. I'll try to be fast."

Monty groaned, but nodded. "I guess it's too late to turn back now. Alright, lets do this."

Chester focused on the first sensor. Comparing it to one of the replacement sensors, it was clear the thing was busted, crushed between the frame and the backside of the chest plate. Most likely, Monty had just bumped into something a little too hard in just the right place and damaged it.

"Should I count down or just do it?" Chester asked.

"Count down," Monty said.

Chester cleared their throat. They counted down out loud, needing both their hands for the task. They severed the small wires from the sensor. Monty grunted, but didn't move. Chester set the damaged sensor aside and quickly set the replacement in place. Setting it in place along the frame was easy, but reconnecting those tiny wires was more difficult. Monty remained as still as a statue the whole time, and Chester did their best to work quickly and not make any mistakes. They double checked they'd connected everything properly and sat back, letting out a small breath of air.

"Only two left," Chester signed.

"Great," Monty muttered. "…That actually wasn't as bad as I was expecting. The others think reconnecting is the worst part, but disconnecting has always been the worst for me. Can you count down again for the next one? I think that helped."

"Of course." Chester found the second busted sensor easily, as it was right above the first.

Chester counted down once more, then quickly disconnected the second sensor. Monty's hands snapped shut into tight fists. He was still as Chester connected the replacement sensor.

"One left, then we're done. Ready?" Chester asked. They'd found the third and final sensor around Monty's shoulder, this one likely busted as he kept bumping into things from the first two being busted.

Monty grunted and nodded. Chester counted down one last time, then severed the last sensor. Monty kicked the stool, sending it clattering across the room. Chester made quick work of re-wiring the last replacement sensor, having learned quickly from the first two. Finally, they checked everything over before sitting back with a satisfied nod.

"There, all done! Are you feeling alright?" Chester asked, grabbing the chest plate.

"Yeah, that wasn't bad! You're pretty good at this, runt." Monty relaxed significantly, now that the worst was over with. "Don't be surprised if you suddenly start getting all the bot repairs."

Chester laughed nervously. "I can't be the only tech who's careful with you guys."

"Vanessa's pretty great, too. Everyone likes her. And Lance is alright, he's really cautious and listens well. Rosa is careful most of the time but she gets impatient. The others are always in a rush and aren't careful. But since you're always on the night shift, you don't have to rush around," Monty explained.

"Well, don't take this the wrong way, but do try not to see me too often." Chester finished screwing the chest plate back in place. They gave it a pat and hopped down off the table. "You're all set."

Monty grinned and clapped Chester on the shoulder. "Thanks a million, rockstar! Hey, let's play another round of golf soon, alright? A shorter round, this time."

Chester smiled. "You bet."

Monty left parts and service, getting through the doorway without issue.

Chester made it through the rest of their shift with ease. Their task list was much shorter tonight, and they managed to get through every task on the list for the first time since they started working here. They clocked out for the night with a strange sense of satisfaction.

They didn't head straight for the daycare, instead making their way back to parts and service proper. They went over the shelf Monty had bumped into, collecting a few spare staff bot parts. Parts in hand, they made their way back up to the main building and headed for the daycare.

Chester passed through rockstar row on their way. They didn't come through here often, since the glamrocks seemed to congregate here often outside their rooms. But Chester didn't need to avoid them anymore, they'd all seen their employee profile form.

Freddy, Roxy, and Chica all turned to greet Chester as they approached.

"Hello there, Chester! Working hard?" Freddy asked.

"Always," Chester replied.

"Hey, good job with repairing my race car, by the way. I won the next race with it after you fixed it," Roxy commended. "I mean… I would have won anyways. But that race was especially easy for me. Car handled like a dream."

"That's good, I'm glad it worked out." Chester recalled fixing the bumper car what felt like ages ago now. That had been one of their very first tasks.

"You're probably headed home for the night, huh?" Chica asked. "You work tomorrow, right?"

"I do, yeah. I have another night shift scheduled," Chester replied.

"Okay, good! I hadn't seen you around for a while so I was wondering if you'd gone back to the day shift." Chica winked conspiratorially. Freddy and Roxy both gave her weird looks, but she went on before they could say anything. "It's been a long time since we've had a night shift worker around. But you're so quiet we hardly notice you!"

"Do not be afraid to stop and chat with any of us, superstar. We are all glad to have you here," Freddy said, smiling kindly at Chester.

"Thank you. I appreciate that." Chester tried not to think about how they would all be less glad about Chester's being here if they knew what had brought them here in the first place. "I'd better get going. Have a good night."

The three bots wished Chester a good night. Chester carried on, reaching the daycare at last.

Sun was waiting for them by the doors. "Hellooo Chester my dear!! Watcha got there?"

"These are the last parts I need to finish fixing up that staff bot in your room," Chester told him as they stepped out of their shoes. "I'm nearly finished. I might even be done before the plex opens for the day."

"Oh really?? That's… that's good! That's for the best." Sun nodded. "Can I keep you company while you work?"

"Sure, if you like. I wouldn't mind." Chester smiled. They lead the way through the daycare and up the spiral steps, Sun just a step behind.

Chester pulled over the mid-repair staff bot and settled into their cozy corner. It was quite comfortable these days; Sun kept adding pillows and blankets discretely when Chester wasn't around. At this point they'd amassed a small mountain of pillows and blankets. "So… I've been meaning to ask you. Why do you have a broken down staff bot up here?"

Sun sat down against the wall, crossing his long legs. "Well… ah." His fingers tapped rapidly along his legs.

"You don't have to say if you don't want to," Chester assured. They referenced the diagrams they'd copied and printed from one of the books in the employee stock room before getting started.

"That's very kind of you." Sun swayed idly from side to side for a moment. "It was my fault. I did that to the poor staff bot."

Chester nearly dropped their screwdriver. They looked up, surprised. "You did this??" The staff bot had been in complete and total shambles when they'd started working, practically ripped apart by every joint. A lot of the casing had taken serious damage and had needed to be replaced.

Sun turned his faceplate away, hunching his shoulders. His rays retracted halfway into his head. "They wandered into the daycare and were tracking all sorts of contaminants in! This was months ago, before they all had predefined patrol paths. And I'd just finished the end of day cleaning, and…" Sun's hands started to wring together, plastic casing scraping together uncomfortably as he ground and pulled his fingers and palms together.

"I didn't even realize I'd… done that. Until after it was done. I was… scared that I'd get in trouble, so I hid them here in my room." Sun started to ramble, speaking in one fluid uninterrupted rush without the need for a break for air. "I regret it a lot! I was just so overwhelmed in the moment and it happened really fast and then I felt so, so bad, like something had been rewired wrong even though the system scan came back normal. And then I had to hide them because if someone found out and I got in trouble, what would the kids think?? I always tell them, its so, so important to be kind even when other people aren’t kind to you. You should care about others because everyone is worth caring about! That’s very, very important to me. Even if it wasn’t in my programming, I know its important, and it’s especially important for the kids to know so they can be kind to one another and grow up into kind people. So many of them look up to me and I want to be the best role model I can be for them! So that’s why I hid the staff bot and didn’t tell anyone. But then I felt so bad because the bot was broken and I didn’t know how to fix them and I thought, well, the poor staff bot should be fixed, it shouldn’t have to be broken forever. And I wanted to apologize and try to make things better. But I still couldn’t tell anyone! And for a long time I just didn’t know what to do. And then you came and started fixing them!! So that’s… that’s good, thank you. Are you… mad?”

Chester had stopped working to give Sun their full attention, listening patiently as Sun laid everything out to them. “No, I’m not mad,” they signed. “Thank you for telling me.”

Sun relaxed slightly. “I think I should have told someone so they could fix the staff bot. I should have told someone what I did. I think I eventually would have, if you hadn’t started to fix the staff bot.”

Chester nodded. They turned a metal bolt over in their hands. They considered Sun for a moment before setting the bolt down to sign. “You’re probably right. But there’s no need now, and you can apologize as soon as I’m done.”

“I will!” Sun nodded. “Are you sure you’re not mad at me??”

“I’m sure. I’m not mad. I understand where you’re coming from. I’m not sure exactly how aware the staff bots are, but I do think it’s a good idea for you to say you’re sorry. Can’t hurt, right?” Chester focused back on their repairs. They signed one handed to Sun. “I think it’s great that you care so much about the kids. If it wasn’t clear from listening to you play with them and talk with them during the day, it is now. They’re in good hands.”

Sun straightened up, his rays all popping out at once. “Really?? You really think so?!”

Chester nodded. “I do.”

Sun leaned over and hugged Chester. He quickly let them go and proceeded to bounce happily. His rays kept popping in and out and he was vibrating hard enough to rattle his casing. “Thank you!! Thank you thank you, that means a lot to me.”

Chester smiled. He’s so cute. They watched Sun for a moment, then, with a start, realized they were staring and quickly hunkered back over the staff bot.

The staff bot was finished before opening, just as Chester had thought. With Sun's help, they moved the bot down the stairs and into the daycare (after Sun had properly disinfected them, of course).

"Alright, let's hope this actually works." Chester held their breath, then activated the staff bot.

There was a quiet whirring sound, and then the staff bot slowly fixed themself into neutral position. The lights in their eyes came on. A moment later, they looked around, posture relaxing. They studied Chester, who was standing directly before them.

"Hello. Are you experiencing any system errors?" Chester asked. Most of the internal things, processors and memory chips and disks were all in tact, and all of the work they'd done had been hardware related, so they hoped there weren't any problems that they couldn't easily fix, if at all. They'd been as meticulous as they could have been in their repairs, taking their time and doing things right.

The bot registered the request, ran a quick scan, then shook their head. Then they spotted Sun, standing a few paces behind Chester and shifting anxiously from foot to foot. From prior calculations, they understood that remaining in close proximity to the daycare attendant was extremely likely to result in total system failure. They did not want to experience total system failure a second time. They quickly turned and wheeled themself away, then stopped and looked around. They seemed unsure of where to go.

"Oh no," Sun said. He sat himself down on the ground, folding in on himself and trying to make himself smaller. He reminded Chester of Moon, sitting like that.

Chester approached the bot, getting in their line of sight before signing. "It's alright, Sun won't hurt you."

The bot stared blankly at Chester. They turned and looked around again, finally spotting the door.

"Listen, you don't have to stay here, but would you mind at least letting Sun apologize? I'll be right here, so you don't have to worry about anything going wrong," Chester offered. "Please stay?"

The staff bot stared at Chester. Their head turned slowly to Sun, who gave them a very small wave. The bot turned back to Chester. The technician was requesting them to stay, but they had previously calculated that close proximity to the daycare attendant would lead to high chance of total system failure. They ran the calculation again. The percentage came back lower this time. The daycare attendant was currently in proximity, but the bot was not experiencing system failure. They ran the calculation again. Finally, they nodded.

Sun happily sprang back to his feet, causing the bot to quickly wheel themself behind Chester. They latched onto Chester's arm with a hand.

"Oh no, I'm sorry, I'll stay right here." Sun quickly sat back down. "I'm very, very sorry for hurting you. I promise I'll never do it again. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you, please let me know and I'll do it! I'm sorry again."

The staff bot eased out from behind Chester, though they didn't release their hold on Chester's arm. They studied Sun for a long moment, then finally nodded.

Chester breathed a sigh of relief. Sun relaxed, his shoulders slumping.

"Alright. Now if you don't mind, I can walk you to parts and service. You've been deactivated for a while, I'm sure you have a lot of updates to catch up on," Chester signed.

The staff bot registered several words this time. The request to be taken to parts and service, the needed system updates pinging repeatedly. The technician was much easier to understand this time. The bot complied easily, turning towards the door and starting to roll along, keeping a hold on Chester's arm.

"I'll be back soon," Chester called to Sun. They left the daycare with the bot.

Chester felt a little like a proper gentleman escorting a fine lady, what with how the staff bot was holding their arm. They didn't mind this, leading the bot in comfortable silence towards the nearest door to the access tunnels.

They ran into Cappy before they could reach the door. Cappy stopped mid-mop and stared at the pair.

The bot at Chester's arm stopped in their tracks as well. They recognized Cappy's manufacturing number. Memory files were pulled and studied in quick succession, quick recollections of many long nights spent patrolling in close proximity to the custodian bot, even if there was no mess to clean, even if there were other security bots already patrolling the area.

Cappy and the newly repaired staff bot rolled towards each other. They locked their hands together. Cappy studied the other bot, then turned to look at Chester, who watched on in mild confusion.

"Is this… your friend?" Chester asked.

The bots just looked at each other.

Chester shrugged. "Well, if you want to join us Cappy, you're more than welcome to. We were on our way to parts and service to get your friend some system updates."

Cappy nodded. Chester lead the way, the two bots rolling along hand in hand behind them. They remained hand in hand the whole rest of the night. Once the update downloads were complete, Chester helped equip the staff bot with the security tags. They grabbed a security hat from the uniform closet as well, situating it on the staff bot's head.

"There, now you two match." Chester gave the bot a pat. "You're good to go."

The two bots looked at each other. Cappy looked at Chester, then gave them a small nod. Together, the two bots left parts and service hand in hand.

After watching them depart, Chester powered the computer back down and made their own way out of parts and service. They thought about Cappy and their security bot friend as they headed back towards the daycare. Chester was glad to have been able to reunite the two. As morning came and the plex opened for business, Chester settled down to sleep, their thoughts full of robot sentience and staff bot diagrams.

0 notes

eyndr-stories · 2 years

Text

Chester and the Jesters (FNAF SB fanfic) C5 - A friendly game of minigolf

In Summary:

Things To Know (always read responsibly!):

Biggest warnings are for blood, death, knives, murder, the police, violence, also the OC is at one point hit by lightning. All fun stuff

About 70,000 words in total, 9 chapters, so roughly like. 7,500 words per chapter

This is an OC story, not a reader insert or a self insert! But if you want to imagine otherwise be my guest lol

Angst, fluff

OC x Sun & Moon, there's romance but zero spice

Occasional swearing

Heavy focus on Sun and Moon but most of the rest of the gang is there too :)

Afton doesn't exist, sorry peepaw, Vanessa is here but she's very chill. She's a kickass gamer girl lmao

Moon does an attempted murder but its fine. He's just a lil guy ok

OC uses they/them and also sign language most of the time

Impersonation, lying. There's also manipulation. Yall I wasn't kidding about the angst

There's also a lot of focus on how they're all robots, very cool robots with feelings lol

That's all I can think of, as always please lmk if I should add anything!

Ao3 Link: Right here!

Start reading here: Chapter 1

Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6

C5 - A friendly game of minigolf

Luckily for Chester, Vanessa was far too occupied ranting to them about videogame speed-run strategies to notice how slowly they were working or how intently they watched her work. Chester might be slow, but they were struggling a lot less with their tasks than they had been. Things like wiring and running diagnostics were starting to make sense, and when things didn't make sense, they could usually puzzle out a solution given enough time.

Vanessa and Chester had just finished replacing a broken coin slot on one of the arcade cabinets (talking about the games in the arcade had quickly steered into favorite video games, of which Vanessa had quite a few) when they decided it was time for a break.

"You'd think with how much of it there is around here I'd hate pizza by now, but I still crave it almost as much as Chica," Vanessa said. "You wanna go in on a pie with me?"

"Sure, that sounds good." Chester called the elevator. They looked back at the arcade as they waited, watching a group of kids going absolutely feral on the arcade's connecting dance floor. The DJ, an enormous animatronic perched atop a stage, waved at Chester and Vanessa as they left the arcade. They both waved back.

"The DJ is a really nice guy. Have you talked to him yet?" Vanessa asked. She pushed the button for the main floor, and the elevator made its decent towards the food court, energetic pop music coming in through an overhead speaker.

"I haven't. I thought he couldn't talk? He doesn't have a voice box, just music files and speakers." Chester recalled DJMM's extensive diagrams.

"He uses sign language, like you." Vanessa made the sign for 'sign language', moving her pointer fingers in opposing circles. "Between the two of you, I'm getting lots of practice!"

Chester smiled at that. The elevator doors opened, and the two made quick work of acquiring lunch. The glamrocks were putting on a show for the lunchtime crowd. Chester and Vanessa passed a gaggle of kids loudly singing along on their hasty retreat from the commotion.

The breakroom was blissfully quiet compared to the rest of the building. Chester's headaches were getting less frequent, but they still relished the reprieve from the cacophony of noise.

The two sat at Chester's usual corner table. There were only two other employees in the break room, neither of them people Chester recognized. Chester happily dug into their cheap and extra cheesy mall food quality pizza with Vanessa.

"Have those cops outside asked you any questions yet? They're sooo annoying. They nearly made me late for my shift this morning." Vanessa rolled her eyes.

"I guess I've gotten lucky," Chester signed slowly, staring at their slice of pizza.

Vanessa went on. "They apparently wanted to search the building, but they can't get a warrant. I asked a few questions myself, though. Get this- they haven't given up on the steak-out yet because the criminal they're after is wanted for murder. They lost the crook somewhere in the woods behind the plex, so they think the crook is hiding out there somewhere. Like, hiding in a tree fort or in a cave with some bears. One of my friends is super bummed cause they've got all the hiking trails closed off. But isn't that crazy?? There might be a murderer out there, right behind where we work." Vanessa wiggled her fingers at Chester. "Ooooh spooky!"

Chester swallowed uncomfortably, nearly choking on their pizza. "Yeah. Crazy." They set the slice down, suddenly loosing their appetite. "Do the ghosts have any gossip to report?"

Vanessa eagerly accepted the topic change, much to Chester's relief. "They do!! From what I hear, Lance got a boyfriend! He came to pick Lance up one night at the end of his shift. I'm told there was a very sweet kiss upon a cheek."

"Good for him," Chester signed. "I think mister Baxter is a decent guy, if he's found someone then I'm glad for him."

Vanessa nodded her agreement. "I wish I could find a special lady. I've been told I come on kinda strong." She sighed and picked at a burnt piece of pizza crust for a moment. "How about you? Got anyone special in your life?"

Chester shook their head. "Besides the difficulties of finding someone who's actually alright with me being ace, I'm far too busy these days. I don't exactly get out much."

"Oh yeah, I couldn't imagine working the night shift all the time like you do, and picking up extra day shifts on top of that! But hey, if you ever feel up to it, maybe sometime we can wingman each other? Hit the town, have some fun at the very least?" Vanessa's eyebrows bounced enticingly as she poked Chester's shoulder.

"That does sound like fun…" Genuinely, Chester would have loved to hang out with Vanessa outside of work. It had been so long since they'd done that sort of thing. It'd been a long time since they'd had a friend. But… this wasn't real. Even if they could leave the plex, Chester wasn't at all who they were pretending to be. Vanessa didn't even know their real name. "I'm sorry, like I said I'm just really busy these days."

"That's alright. If you ever need a break, offer still stands." Vanessa smiled.

Chester and Vanessa went their separate ways once their break was over. Chester didn't have long to mull over the lonely sort of despair they'd brought upon themself before they ran into Rosa.

"Hey, there you are. You done with your break?" Rosa asked. She shifted a thermos from one hand to another so she could pull out her faz-phone. "I need you to take a task for me. Its animatronic repair, but it's a simple one, shouldn't be too much trouble. Lance is off today so I'm covering a few of his duties."

Chester couldn't come up with a good enough excuse to turn the task down. They'd managed to get by so far by cherry picking tasks they could manage, tasks that weren't as horribly consequential as repairing one of the animatronics. If they messed up something like that… Not only would they be at risk of someone figuring out they didn't actually belong here, but there was a chance they'd hurt the bot in question.

"Thanks a million, Chester. You're a life saver. Keep up the good work, kid." Rosa pat Chester's shoulder and took a long swig from her thermos as she carried on past them.

Chester looked down at their phone. They had a new high priority task. With no small amount of dread, Chester dragged their feet down to the access tunnels, making their way to parts and service. They struggled to remember everything they'd read about the animatronics, everything they'd studied and learned about wiring and welding.

Despite their attempts to prolong their arrival at parts and service, Chester found that they'd arrived all too soon. They could have sworn they'd intentionally taken the long way around, but they never could get the hang of these hallways.

The star of the whole plex, the bear mascot himself stood waiting for Chester by the enormous cylindrical machine at the room's center. Just their luck. Freddy Fazbear gave Chester a little wave as they entered the room. Chester noted his other arm hung a little awkwardly at his side.

"Hello… I take it Miss Garcia could not make it?" Freddy asked.

"She says she's covering some things for mister Baxter," Chester explained. They pulled up the task details. Rosa's descriptions were extremely brief, compared to Lance's long winded explanations. "Your right elbow joint seems to have been damaged?"

"That is right. I took a step too close to Chica during our last performance, and… well, Chica gets really into her guitar playing at times," Freddy explained.

"I see." Chester eyed the cylindrical machine. They approached the computer hooked up to it, powering it on and squinting at the complicated command menu. They quickly scanned through the options, finding only a few they understood. One of the commands was 'Run Diagnostic Scan'. Chester selected this. A prompt came up asking for Chester's technician code. They'd memorized their code by now, and plugged it in. Another prompt came up, alerting Chester that there was no animatronic to scan. They looked up at Freddy. "Would you mind stepping inside the cylinder?"

"Of course, superstar." Freddy made his way into the cylinder, walking slowly. He had to duck a little to be sure he didn't bonk his top hat on the top of the doorway. He eyed the cold metal table and the dangling machinery above. "Do you want me to… Do I have to be on the table for this repair?"

Chester paused. They had no idea if it was protocol or something to have the animatronic strapped to the table for repairs. But if Freddy had asked, maybe it wasn't? The scan seemed to be running just fine regardless. Chester eyed the table. They noted Freddy was eying the table as well, his metal brows pinched together in worry.

"No, we should be fine," Chester signed.

"Ah, good." Freddy's expression relaxed. "I find the table rather uncomfortable."

Chester could imagine, though they wondered how an animatronic would even mind the hard surface. The bots had pressure sensors, and proximity sensors, but no way to tell the difference between textures.

When the scan finished, Chester's faz-phone lit up with a very short list of replacement parts, and where to find them. Lucky for them, the joint and socket they needed were here in the room, on one of the shelves. Chester picked these up, comparing barcodes on the shelves to the codes on their phone. Thankfully, the plastic bin of spare joins seemed to have been stored away correctly. They probably had Lance to thank for that, what with how much time he spent down here in the access tunnels.

Chester spotted a power generator against the wall, right by the bin of joints. Chester noted the generator in their head for later. They weren't sure how they'd get it all the way up to the daycare, but they figured they could puzzle that out when they came to it.

Parts in hand, Chester stepped into the cylinder with Freddy. They set the parts on the unoccupied table.

"Can I see your arm, please?" Chester asked.

Freddy held out his damaged limb to them, even angling it so they could get at the screws holding the metal panels in place. Chester took in a deep breath and got to work removing the panel concealing the elbow joint.

Once the panel was off, Chester stared at the joint for a long moment. They realized with a start that they actually knew what they were looking at. They could picture Freddy's diagram in their head, they knew what the joint was meant to look like, they knew how it connected to the sockets, they knew how the sockets were bolted in place. None of the wiring had been damaged, but even if it had, Chester realized that they knew how the wiring connected as well. With a sense of cautious relief, they took out their tools and got to work disconnecting the top socket.

"Here, if you could place your arm over the table, I'll stand on the other side. That way the arm won't just fall once I've got the socket off," Chester signed.

Freddy complied. He watched Chester work as they dismantled the joint, leaving his upper arm connected to the lower half by a bundle of wires. Chester got to work connecting the new joint together.

"This doesn't… hurt, does it? Your arm being like this?" Chester asked.

"Not at all, superstar. I do appreciate how gentle you are," Freddy said. "None of the wires are damaged, right? Wire reconnection is far more uncomfortable."

"You're in luck, the wiring is fine," Chester assured.

"Oh, good!"

Chester glanced up at Freddy. He seemed far more relaxed now than he had earlier. His expression was set into a neutral smile and he was standing straight, though he was bent slightly over the table. Chester wondered briefly if it was strange for him to be in parts and service, where he was surrounded by storage shelves full of, essentially, replacement body parts.

Chester's curiosity pressed at the edges of their brain, questions bouncing around like the worlds worst game of ping pong. "Pardon me if this is rude or upsetting to ask, but… what is pain like for you?"

"I do not experience it very often. Sometimes the way my programming runs feels… disagreeable. Forgive me, it is not easy for me to describe. I have been told pain for humans often depends on what is causing the pain. I believe that much is true for me as well. Some circumstances are manageable or mitigatable. Wiring, for instance, is more manageable, however uncomfortable. Running power through a new wire is uncomfortable at first, it feels very tight, like squeezing through the head of a needle. It only lasts a moment. Other times…" Freddy paused to collect his thoughts. Chester could hear a small whirring fan kick on in Freddy's head. "Other times there is nothing to be done, the discomfort does not pass easily, and it can be very overwhelming. This usually only occurs when I disagree with a line of code and try to keep it from running, or when I encounter system errors. I have never experienced a headache before, but I imagine the sensation closely resembles a very bad migraine."

"I see." Chester nodded slowly, mulling over this information carefully in their brain. "If I ever cause you pain or discomfort, please let me know and I'll try to fix it."

Freddy smiled. "Thank you, that is very kind of you. I will let you know."

Chester finished connecting the new joint in no time. They had Freddy try it out before screwing the panel back in place.

"You've done a fantastic job, superstar! Thank you." Freddy pat Chester's shoulder, beaming down at them happily.

"No problem, just… doing my job." Chester forced a small smile.

Freddy had a birthday party to get to, and so he waved goodbye before making his way out of parts and service. Chester disposed of the damaged parts and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. They'd actually done it. It hadn't even been difficult. Still, with any luck, they wouldn't have to do another animatronic repair task for a good long while.

~~~

"Hey Sun!" Chester called out verbally, since their hands were full. They heaved the bulky metal monstrosity in past the daycare doors. They kicked their shoes off as they made it inside. "I finally found a generator!! And I think it shouldn't be too hard to hook it up to the lights!"

"OH?!" Sun came bounding up. "Oh, oh dear. Oh. Please don't… ah. Can I carry this for you??" Sun's hands were fluttering around the generator's frame. His gaze was fixed on the wheels, where they were catching and pulling at the padded floor and starting to leave marks.

"If you don't mind," Chester signed, stepping back. Not only was it extremely heavy, but the generator's shitty little wheels were proving to be a huge pain to maneuver over the cushioned floor anyways.

Sun eagerly grabbed the generator by the bottom edges. He straightened without so much as a fraction of hesitance, like he was lifting a box of feathers. He turned and walked off at normal pace with it, leaving a stunned Chester rooted to the spot.

"Are you coming? I don't think I can hook this up by myself," Sun called, realizing Chester wasn't behind him.

"Right!" Chester shook it off and hurried after Sun. "You're really cool, you know that?"

Sun's faceplate spun happily. "Why thank you, friend! What brought this on?" Sun maneuvered the generator, balancing it against his hip and holding it one handed as he tapped the code into the panel and opened the door to the spiral staircase.

"Jeez," Chester breathed. They followed Sun through the door, closing it behind them. "You're carrying that generator like its nothing. The thing weighs twice as much as I do."

Sun looked down at the generator, pausing halfway up the stairs. He suddenly feigned straining with it, lowering it and hunkering over it, arms rattling. He took a massive exaggerated step. "ARGHHH! HRGHHHH! GRAHHHHH!" He continued like this the rest of the way up the steps. When he got to the top, he set the generator down and threw himself over it dramatically. "PHEW!!!" He wiped imaginary sweat from his brow, then looked at Chester. "How was that?"

Chester was too busy laughing to reply. They gripped the railing on the stairs tightly, feeling a little light headed. They got their giggling under control. "That was much better, thank you."

Sun pushed the generator into the room, parking it by the wall with the electrical box. Chester got out a screwdriver and began removing the back panel of the electrical box.

"How long do you think it'll take?" Sun asked, peering over Chester's shoulder as they set the panel aside and got to work.

"No more than a few minutes, I think. I did some reading, it shouldn't be too much trouble. Right now I'm installing the interlock kit to the panel. Then I need to install the power inlet box, then start wiring the connections. Then I just install the circuit breaker and put the panel back on," Chester recited the steps they'd learned.

"Mmhmm. Yes, yes." Sun nodded along. "Very good. Yes."

Chester smiled. "Do you want to help?"

"Sure!!" Sun bounced up and down.

"You can hold these little panel screws for me, if you like," Chester offered, sweeping the little collection of screws off the rim of the electrical box, where they'd been perched precariously. They held the handful out to Sun.

"On it, boss!" Sun very carefully cupped the screws in his hands. He stared at them dutifully, making sure they didn't run off anywhere.

Chester was making good progress. They glanced back at Sun, who was still staring down at the screws. Chester smiled at him. Sun noticed the attention and tilted his faceplate up to Chester.

"What's that smile for?" Sun's faceplate tilted a few degrees in curiosity.

"Oh, nothing. You're just cute is all," Chester said.

"Cute??" Sun jolted.

Chester froze, embarrassment shooting through them. Did I seriously just said that-?! "I mean-!" Chester jerked their hands away to sign. They weren't looking, their hand pulling or hitting something, they couldn't tell. The electrical shock was more than a little distracting.

Chester yelped and fell back on their ass. All at once they could see trees, rain, the shape of the plex from the top of the hill, its neon sign glowing through the haze. Chester blinked, shaking off the images and the shock. Their heart was pounding uncomfortably.

For a moment, Chester panicked as their vision didn't seem to want to come back to them. They blinked rapidly, the dread setting in for only a moment before realization calmed them- the lights had just gone out. Chester's eyes were adjusting, they could see the electrical box in front of them and the shape of the generator next to them.

"Sun?" Chester called out. They felt along the ground behind them, where Sun had been. Their hand met a collection of tiny screws scattered on the ground. The dread came back.

Was Sun freaking out about the lights? Where was he?? Chester fumbled along their belt until they found the flashlight they were now glad they'd taken from the employee stock room. They clicked it on, wincing at the sudden sharp white light. They swept the beam across the room. The room was empty, though Chester noted the curtain had been thrown open. They hurried out onto the balcony and peered down at the daycare below. They swept the beam over the ball pit, but everything was still.

"Sun?! Where are you??" Chester took the stairs down, planning to scour the daycare and make sure Sun was alright. They took two steps beyond the door before freezing to the spot.

Red eyes were fixed on them from the other end of the daycare.

"You." Chester stared wide eyed at the animatronic, cast in shadows beyond the reach of their flashlight. This was the same animatronic they'd met on their first night shift, the one who'd given them a concussion before promptly and totally vanishing. Chester stood stock still, waiting for the animatronic to move.

The animatronic did move, but they turned away from Chester. They turned back to the wall they were standing next to, frantically tapping away at something there. Chester risked a few steps closer, holding their beam higher. The animatronic seemed to be tapping at a light switch. Chester panicked for a moment as a thought occurred to them- what if they'd just short circuited the whole building??

Chester went to the nearest window, then breathed a sigh of relief. They could see low neon lighting in the waiting area outside from a sign on a wall, and from an ATM machine by the check in desk. So they'd just knocked out the daycare's lights, then. Chester turned from the window, focusing on the task at hand. The animatronic hadn't attacked them or threatened to detain them, so he still remembered Chester's employee profile. Either that or he wasn't currently in security mode. Whatever the case, Chester still needed to find Sun.

"Sun! Where'd you go?" Chester called out, struggling to project. They swept their light back and forth over play structures and stacks of toys. They paused, noticing the red eyed animatronic watching them. They breathed, trying to reign in their apprehension. They signed with one hand, flashlight in the other. "Did you see where Sun went?"

The animatronics' eyes shifted in the dark. It took a second for Chester to realize, but the bot had tilted his head, much like how Sun tilted his faceplate when he was confused or curious.

Chester was having a hard time not feeling unnerved with the way the bot was just staring at them. "…You're not gonna bash my skull in again, are you?" They tried a light laugh.

The red eyes lowered. Chester squinted through the darkness, not willing to get too much closer, even to put the bot in the light. It looked like he'd crouched down to the ground.

"…Sorry."

Chester paused. They hadn't been expecting the bot to apologize. "Oh. That's alright. All is forgiven. Just uh, don't do it again. Okay?"

The bot didn't reply, and Chester was too far to make out any sort of expression. They pushed their fear aside to take a few steps closer, still watching the bot carefully.

"How come you aren't around often?" Chester asked.

The bot watched Chester just as carefully as they watched him. "…I'm only here when the lights are out." He spoke in quiet, gentle tones.

Chester took another step, slowly but surely closing the distance. "What, like a vampire?"

The bot mimicked the sign, tapping two fingers in a 'V' shape to his neck. "Sort of." He sounded amused by this.

Another step closer, and he was almost in the light. This time, he moved back away from the light. "…You don't like the light," Chester realized. They glanced down at their flashlight, then back up at the animatronic, who's gaze never wavered from them for a moment. Chester took in a breath and held it. They clicked the light off.

For a moment, all Chester could see in the sudden darkness was two red pinprick lights a ways ahead of them. They stood stock still, waiting. Waiting for their eyes to adjust, waiting to see if the bot moved. The bot was just as still as they were.

Once Chester's eyes adjusted enough to make out shapes around them, they started to relax. They slipped the flashlight back into their toolbelt.

"You can see in the dark, right?" Chester signed.

"Yes," came the bot's hushed voice. "You cannot."

"That's correct."

"…Why did you turn your light off?" the bot asked.

"It bothered you. Just trying to keep on your good side." Chester smiled, hoping to convey they weren't being too serious. "Listen… I'm looking for my friend Sun. I'm not sure where he's gone, but he can't be far. He can't really leave the daycare. Since you can see in the dark… would you mind helping me look for him?"

The bot tilted his head again. After a long moment of consideration, he said, "…Sure."

Chester watched the bot stand slowly and turn to study a nearby crawly tube. Chester turned their gaze to the play structure they were standing beside. They tried to think about where Sun could be. If he'd jumped off the balcony in a panic, maybe he'd hurt himself on the landing?? Maybe he was laying broken and unresponsive at the bottom of the ball pit. The thought caused Chester no small amount of distress. They turned their back to the red eyed animatronic and headed for the ball pit.

Chester started wading through plastic balls, trying to feel along and not loose their footing at the same time. They noted the red eyed animatronic watching them from the corner of their eye.

"What's your name?" Chester asked. "I'm… I'm Chester." The name didn't sit quite right with them, but it wasn't like they could go around giving out their real name at this point.

"Moon." The animatronic, Moon, watched Chester carefully.

"Huh. Have you ever met Sun?" Chester asked.

Moon took a moment before responding. He was still watching Chester intently. "…Not in person."

"Oh. Well, he's pretty cool. If we can find him, you could meet him…" Chester rounded back to give the ball pit another pass. No sign of Sun yet.

Moon approached, footsteps cautious, only audible by the jingling bells on his shoes. He stopped by the edge of the ball pit, crouching down to grip the rim of the pit with his hands. Chester took a moment to look him over, realizing he was finally close enough to see.

Moon wore similar pants to Sun's, though his were patterned differently, with star shapes instead of long stripes. He had a lot of ruffles and ribbons like Sun too, though his whole color scheme was much darker. He wore a long nightcap on his head, a little gold bell at the end catching the low light from out in the hall. His circular face was half shadowed, leaving only a crescent shape visible in the dark. He had a stagnant grin like Sun's. 'Moon' seemed to be just as fitting to him as Sun's name was to him.

"Huh. Another clown animatronic," Chester said. They had to wonder what role Moon could possibly play here at the plex. Had he been some sort of prototype for Sun?? Was that why he wasn't usually out touring the plex? Maybe he was meant to be decommissioned or something?

"Jester," Moon corrected.

Chester tilted their head in curiosity.

"Lots of people don't like clowns… think they're scary. Jesters are friendlier," Moon said.

"Oh. I understand." Chester gave up on the ball pit. They huffed and made their way to the edge of the pit, climbing out. Moon took several steps back, keeping his distance. Chester stood a little too quickly and wavered, a bout of dizziness quickly hitting them. They felt their weight shift back a little too far, and took in a sharp hiss of air as their stomach dropped-

There was a small jerk, and suddenly Chester was pulled forwards. They could see Moon standing right next to them, his hand on their tool belt. Chester flinched before they could realize what had happened; Moon had just pulled them forwards by the belt, saving them from crashing back into the ball pit.

Moon leapt back with startling speed, crouching back down to the ground. "Sorry, sorry, I'm sorry."

Chester held up their hands, straightening up and taking a steadying breath. Their heart was pounding. They willed it to settle. "It's okay, thank you for catching me." They took a step away from the pit and cast another look around the daycare. "I really don't know where Sun went… I'm starting to get worried. Listen, I'm gonna try and get the lights working again so I can have an easier time looking for him. Since you don't like the lights, I'm letting you know in advance so you can head out, alright?"

Moon just stared at Chester. He was very still, no chance of gleaning his reaction through body language like Chester had learned to do with Sun.

"I'll see you around?" Chester offered, heading back towards the door to the spiral staircase.

"I'm not sure," Moon said quietly.

"Well, I hope so. I've got some questions for you, next time I see you." Chester reached the door and gave Moon a little wave. "Bye for now."

"Goodnight," Moon replied.

Back in the tower room, Chester made quick work of finishing connecting the generator to the electrical box. They crossed their fingers and activated the generator, flipping the lights back on.

There was a sudden hum that Chester realized just then had been missing. They blinked, suddenly blind in the flood of light around them. It had worked- the lights were on. Chester double checked everything, making sure it was all installed correctly and connected properly. They breathed a sigh of relief and went back out on the balcony.

To their surprise, they spotted Sun standing not far from the ball pit. Had he really fallen in after all and Chester had just missed him??

"Sun!!" Chester called, relieved to see their friend. Sun's gaze snapped up to them, and he waved enthusiastically.

Chester hurried through the door and down the steps. In their rush they tripped down the last few stairs like a dunce, flying forwards with a yelp. They landed very suddenly, but not uncomfortably, against plastic casing and soft fabric ruffles. Sun had caught them, having come through the door to meet them.

"Careful!!" Sun chided. He gently released Chester, keeping a hand on their shoulder to be sure they wouldn't fall right over again.

"I was worried about you!!" Chester lightly swatted Sun's arm. "You really don't like the lights being out, huh?"

"I didn't mean to worry you." Sun's eyes flashed with blue light. "Are you alright?? Are you- did you- did…" Sun relaxed, posture slouching slightly as the blue light clicked off. "You're unharmed."

"I'm alright. I actually sort of made a new friend." Chester recounted their meeting with Moon, and how Moon had helped them search for Sun before Chester had decided to fix the lights. "I guess he's gone now. He doesn't like the lights, apparently."

Sun laughed his uncomfortable strained sort of laugh, like the sound was being dragged out of his voice box. "You met Moon. And you're okay?" That blue light came on again.

"I told you, I'm fine. I think I've got the issue figured out, with you guys getting confused in security mode. Remember when we talked about that?" Chester asked, their hands moving through the signs quickly.

"I remember," Sun said.

"Moon wasn't confused this time. He remembered that I'd showed him a paper copy of my employee form. So there's no issue anymore! I still haven't figured out why the employee files get corrupted every now and then or how to fix it, but now I'm at least confidant in this solution. And I think you were right about the others getting confused because of conflicting messages, missing employee forms and valid nametags. I've been thinking about something Freddy told me recently, about how he sometimes disagrees with how his programming runs, and how it makes him feel uncomfortable, like he's in pain. This is just a hunch, but I think maybe its hard for you guys to cope with how certain programs or errors make you feel. So maybe that’s why…" Chester trailed off. That's why Moon lashed out that night.

"That's why the others get… confused," Sun finished slowly. He wrung his hands together, metal shifting quietly against metal. "Chester… when we say 'confused'…"

Chester willed Sun not to finish his question. He did anyways.

"Moon hurt you, didn't he?" Sun asked quietly.

Chester looked away. They sat down on the stairs, hands folded in their lap while they considered how to reply. They went back and forth in their head- they wanted to tell Sun. They despised lying to him, keeping things from him. At the same time, if word got out and the company filed an incident report with the police, Chester was done for. They looked up at Sun. He was clearly worried, his grin entirely foreign amidst his tensed body language. He was so worried for them. Chester sighed, hoping they wouldn't regret this. "It's extremely important that you don't tell anyone. Okay?"

Sun nodded solemnly.

"Okay. That night, when I made that deal with you so I could stay in your room… Earlier that night, I met Moon for the first time. It… didn't go super great." Chester explained in minor detail how Moon had stuttered through voice lines and chased them down. They told Sun that Moon had been the cause of their head injury, leaving it at that. They explained how they'd finally shown Moon their employee form, and how Moon had seemed to snap out of it before retreating.

Sun's hands were shaking as Chester spoke. He was silent until they were done.

"Chester… I… I'm so sorry," Sun whispered, uncharacteristically quiet. "I'm so, so sorry."

"It wasn't your fault," Chester said.

"I'm sorry," Sun said again, his voice wavering and edged with static.

"Easy Sun, it's alright," Chester tried to assure. "It wasn't anyone's fault! I don't even hold it against Moon. I'm still sort of scared of him, honestly, but… I don't think he meant to hurt me. It didn't seem like he was fully aware of what was going on through… whatever it was he was going through."

Sun made a soul wrenching whining noise, the sound of it now drenched in static. He folded his arms tightly, trying to stop their shaking.

Chester realized then that he was crying, as much as he could cry without any tears.

"I don't like this," Sun whined. "I don't like it, it hurts, it hurts, I want this to stop."

Chester shot to their feet, stumbling slightly but quickly regaining their footing. They closed the distance between them and Sun and wrapped their arms around him.

"It's okay," Chester whispered, pressing the signs into Sun's back. "It's okay."

Sun's arms hovered over Chester, shaking hard enough to be audible. Then he finally settled his arms around Chester. A shiver rattled its way down his whole frame. He squeezed them tightly, holding onto them like a lifeline.

Chester held Sun until he stopped shaking. When they pulled away, Sun was reluctant to release them, but loosened his arms just enough for Chester to slip away.

"Thank you. That was…" Sun put a hand over his chest, trying to feel for something that wasn't there. "I don't know."

"Sadness. You were sad," Chester offered. "Or at least, whatever the robot equivalent to it is."

Sun considered this. His fingers scraped slowly over plastic plating. "I don't think I like that at all."

Chester nodded. "Yeah, that's a tough one."

Sun focused back in on Chester. "Why didn’t you tell anyone you'd been hurt? Why… Why stay here? After Moon had hurt you?"

"…I can't answer that. I'm sorry." Chester couldn't look at Sun.

"…Okay." Sun reached out and gently took one of Chester's hands. "Chester, I don't want you to be scared of me. The thought of that makes me… feel…" Sun trailed off, his faceplate lowering.

"I'm not scared of you, Sun," Chester assured. They squeezed Sun's hand. They were a little confused as to why Sun would be worried about that. Maybe because he and Moon looked alike?

Sun didn't look up, didn't move for a long moment. He stared at Chester's hand in his. Chester got the feeling he wanted to say something. They waited patiently for him to find the words, understanding full well how difficult it could be at times to find the words.

Finally, Sun settled on a simple, "I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?? I'm not upset with you."

Sun didn't reply. He released Chester's hand and turned away. "I think I want to stop feeling sad. It's too much, I don't like it."

Chester thought maybe Sun had been trying to apologize for his emotions. "It's alright to feel things, Sun. I know it can be miserable sometimes, but it'll make the things that make you feel good that much more wonderful by comparison." Chester straightened up. "If you want, we can play a game? Put all this behind us?"

Sun nodded eagerly. "Yes, I would like that."

Chester lead the way out of the stairwell and back into the daycare. They chose a game at random from the game shelf and helped Sun set things up.

As the game progressed, Sun started to relax. Chester relaxed by extension, glad to see that Sun was starting to feel better. By the end of the game, Sun was even back to his happier movements, swaying and tapping. Even so, there was a slight hesitance once it was time for them to part ways. Sun had a daycare to prepare, and Chester had a long day to sleep off.

~~~

The next night, Sun seemed to be feeling much better. Sun insisted Chester pick the game once more, again assuring them that he didn't mind any game, he just had fun playing and spending time with Chester. Chester felt much the same way, and so they chose a game at random, though they tried to pick a new game for variety.

Tonight's game was 'Connect Four'. Sun set up the slot tower and divvied out the chips. Chester took the red chips, figuring the yellow chips were more fitting to Sun.

"You really like board games, huh?" Chester asked, starting off the round by dropping a chip into one of the center rows.

"I do!" Sun nodded enthusiastically. "I like all games. So long as everyone is having fun! That's what's most important." Sun dropped his chip one slot to the right of Chester's.

Chester dropped their next chip in the slot to the left of their first. "I would have loved to have a place like this growing up. Seeing these jungle gyms and listening to you play with the kids all day, it just makes me happy knowing the kids have a place like this. You run a really nice little daycare here, Sun."

Sun started bouncing in his seat with enough fervor to bump the table. "Oh gosh!! Thank you so much, that's so kind of you!" Sun laughed. He seemed to realize suddenly that it was his turn, and quickly dropped his next chip, to the left of Chester's last chip. "I try really, really hard to make sure everyone is taken care of and having fun. It's what I was built for! Sometimes it's hard, kids don't get along or they have bad days or get upset or sometimes the parents are mean, but even so, I can't imagine ever wanting to do anything else! When the kids are kind to each other, or when they give me a hug goodbye, or draw something for me, there's this feeling… sometimes feeling things is so hard and overwhelming, but this feeling is so, so nice, it's one of my favorite things! And it's almost never overwhelming, definitely one of the kinder things to my processors. It's like… its like right after a software update that patches up a bug, or right after I finish recharging. Like everything is not only as it should be, but the best it can be!"

"That's really nice." Chester smiled. They turned their chip over a few times in their hands before dropping it on top of Sun's last chip. "I think the kids are all the better for it, too."

"I sure hope so!" Sun continued to bounce and sway, barely managing not to bump the table again. He dropped his next piece, beside the first chip he'd dropped.

Chester could hear bells jingling merrily along Sun's costume as he bounced. It almost sounded like there were bells jingling inside him too, like there were spare bells stowed away somewhere in his casing. Every part of him really was crafted for his position. Chester wondered what that was like, that feeling of fulfillment Sun must have from carrying out the role he was entirely and intentionally made for. They imagined as well what it might be like for him to fear loosing it. Chester felt they understood a bit better why Sun seemed so anxious about the lights- being told the daycare was at risk of being closed down… What was anyone supposed to do if they'd lost their entire life's purpose? What they were literally built for?

"You've been thinking for a while! It's so early in the game to be strategizing that hard. I worry I'm in for a rough time!" Sun laughed lightly.

Chester brought themself out of their thoughts, focusing back on the game. "Sorry, I got distracted." They made their next move, dropping their chip to the right of Sun's last chip.

"Do you like being a technician? Does it feel… what's the human equivalent? Like a full night's rest??" Sun wondered. He made his next move while Chester replied.

"I do, actually. I didn't think I would, when I… started this job. But, as it turns out, I like working with my hands, and seeing something that was broken run again because I fixed it is very rewarding. And there's a satisfaction to marking tasks complete in my little list. It feels… fulfilling. Maybe not to quite the degree that you experience, and maybe not in the same way that you experience it, but there is that sense of fulfillment for me from doing a good job. Or at least, doing my best and having it be enough."

"That's good! So you think you'll stick around then? You like working here, right?" Sun asked.

Chester stared down at their chip, flipping it over and over in their hand while they thought. "I… yeah. I would like to stick around," they admitted. They dropped their chip. They knew they couldn't stick around here, they were only here because they needed a place to lay low for a while. But… there wasn't any harm in not being miserable while they were stuck hiding out here, was there? They hadn't lied to Sun after all, they did want to stick around. Even if they couldn't.

"Good! We can play so many games!!" Sun's rays all popped in and out. His stagnant grin seemed much more genuine. "I really like playing games with you. It's much different than playing with the kids! I love playing games with them too, but you don't seem to mind at all who wins or looses. You just like to play, like I do!"

"Yeah." Chester smiled. "It's just nice to hang out with you, honestly. You're very easy to talk to. And that's coming from someone who doesn't like talking to the point of being selectively mute." Chester laughed.

"Aww, thank you friend! You're very kind." Sun put a hand to his cheek and waved at Chester with the other in a very 'oh, stop it you' sort of way. He dropped his next chip. "How come you don't like talking??"

Chester explained while they thought about their next move. "Well, for me it's really difficult to translate what's going on in my head into spoken word. And there's a lot to consider with tone and implication, I could accidentally say something I don't mean to say by using the wrong tone or messing up what I'm trying to get across badly enough. It's just easier for me with sign. And sometimes I just… I don't know, I just don't feel like speaking, it feels… difficult. It's tough to explain." They played their next move, managing to line up three chips in a row.

Sun quickly blocked the space Chester needed for their fourth with his next move. "I see. Speaking can be hard for me too, sometimes! My coding doesn't like it when I try to use certain tones. I'm supposed to be happy and friendly and upbeat all the time! And I don't mind that, really, I like being friendly, and when I'm happy and silly it makes other people around me happy too! But sometimes I don't feel happy. And when I speak it comes out sort of funny," Sun explained.

Chester could remember hearing static coming through with Sun's voice from time to time. They nodded in understanding. "I see." They dropped another chip.

They played a few more turns in silence. Sun nearly got four in a row, but Chester managed to block him before he could win the game. The board quickly filled with red and yellow tiles. They would both get close to winning without managing to actually seal the deal.

Sun broke the silence first. "What's your favorite thing to do when you're not working?"

Chester thought back, to a time before their life had gotten so complicated. "I really like to take little walks and just… look."

"Look?" Sun tilted his head, faceplate rotating a few degrees.

Chester nodded. "Yeah, I like to look at the world in general. Sometimes I'd take a walk in the woods and find a nice place to sit and just… look at the trees and plants moving in the breeze and watch birds and squirrels. I love looking at the stars, too. I don't know, there's just something nice about just. Existing in the world. Watching it quietly and appreciating it."

"Hmm." Sun hummed thoughtfully. "That sounds very nice."

They played until there were no moves left to make, the game ending in a draw. They tipped the slot tower and played another round. This time Chester won, though they got the sneaking suspicion that Sun had let them win. They played and talked and laughed together until it was time to wrap things up and prepare for the day.

This time, when Chester left to sleep up in Sun's room and wished him good luck for the day, they felt a little sad to say goodbye. They felt silly for the thought, but they couldn't help it. They genuinely enjoyed Sun's company, and despite everything, it seemed the feeling was mutual.

Chester curled up in their makeshift bed, drifting off with ease and sleeping just as easily.

~~~

Chester's dizziness was slowly improving. The headaches they did get were manageable, and the haze clouding their brain was all but gone. Despite their improvements however, they still found themself spacing on certain things.

I'm totally allowed to blame this on the concussion, Chester thought as they fled for their life down the halls of the plex. They'd spaced and forgotten to return their faz-phone to its charger after their shift. They'd been about to settle down for bed when they'd realized, and not wanting to sleep with the employee form in their pocket, had removed it before bed. Naturally, they'd forgotten to put it back in their pocket when they'd left to return the faz-phone. Which was why they were now being chased down dim neon drenched halls by a violent chicken robot.

There was a way out of this, if Chester could just think. They were outpacing Chica by a small margin. She was lighter than most of the other animatronics, but she still had trouble turning corners at top speed. Chester couldn't keep running circles all night, though. They'd get tired. Chica would not.

Chester thought back to a few nights ago, when they and Chica had caught each other both eating things they shouldn't be eating. Chica hadn't said a thing about their missing employee profile then. Of course, Chester's employee form had been on them, then.

Chester found themself back in the food court. They dashed along the outer line of little restaurants, then made a sharp turn down the short staircase and into the main seating area, taking all five steps at once. They fumbled the landing, careening sideways and forwards. Their hands found a trashcan by the side of the stairs, toppling it in an attempt to regain their balance. This didn't work quite as well as they'd hoped, and they ended up sprawled across the tile, their side hitting the leg of a table.

In a panic, they tried to quickly scramble back to their feet. They whacked the top of their head on the underside of the table, falling back on their ass with a cry. The pain was quickly overshadowed by fear, but…

Chester looked up, eyes landing on Chica, who was not currently attempting to murder them. She seemed to have forgotten about Chester entirely, instead focusing on the toppled trashcan. She dropped to her knees and grabbed up in her fist a discarded, mostly eaten slice of pizza from the ground. She eagerly stuffed it in her beak, then feverishly dug through the trash, finding another slice.

Apparently, the urge to eat garbage pizza was even stronger than Chica's urge to put an end to Chester's error causing existence. Chester only sat around contemplating this for a moment before booking it out of there. They passed a staff bot already rolling over to clean up the mess Chica was making- the familiar custodian bot with the blue cap- who stared intently at Chester as they hurried past.

Chester made for the daycare, checking over their shoulder to be sure Chica hadn't lost interest in her garbage. They rounded the corner, putting Chica out of sight. They turned around just in time to catch a flash of green before they walked right into another animatronic.

Monty stood before Chester, perhaps having come to investigate all the ruckus. Chester nearly swore aloud in frustration- they just couldn't catch a break.

"Hey, little guy! Little- are you lost, lost? Runt, hey-" Monty started to stutter through voice lines. He took a heavy step forwards. "You… don't have… valid employee profile." Monty groaned. Several fans had kicked on and were whirring away, desperately trying to cool down something overheating in his head. "Runt… make this stop."

Chester was exhausted. With Chica behind them and Monty in front of them, they tried to think. If certain things could snap them out of their error feedback induced rage, then perhaps there was another way out of this. Chester recalled everything they knew about the gator, which admittedly wasn't much. He was prideful, said 'rock-n-roll' a lot, and loved playing minigolf. That would have to be enough.

"Montgomery, I challenge you to a game of minigolf!" Chester said quickly, speaking as well as signing to be sure Monty understood.

Monty froze. Chester eyed his clawed hands, hovering uncomfortably close to them.

"You're on, runt. No way you can beat me!" Monty said. His voice was edged with static. Rigidly, he turned and started to walk away.

Chester stood still, hoping Monty would just walk off to gator golf and leave them be. No such luck.

When they didn't follow, Monty turned back around. With a static-drenched growl, he snatched the back of their shirt and pulled them along with him. Chester struggled to keep on their feet as Monty practically carried them with him down the hall, past pirate's cove, and through the double doors to gator golf, whacking his tail on the doorframe as he passed.

After stomping past bushy plastic foliage and past a swamp themed shack where people could make their minigolf experience purchases, Monty dropped Chester by one of the golf club dispensers. Chester recalled fixing this particular dispenser not too long ago. They winced when Monty ripped the top off the machine, easily tearing it off like the lid of a pringles can. He grabbed two clubs from inside. He held out the one with the blue handle to Chester, keeping the red handled club for himself.

Chester took it. Monty grabbed some golf balls from inside the machine, then stalked down the faux dirt path to the first hole. He stared at Chester intently.

It seemed their choices were to either play mini golf with Monty, or perish. Given the options at hand, Chester opted to play. They joined Monty and set their ball on the grass carpet. They squinted at the hole, laying in wait in the shadows between two hills. They tried not to think too hard about the absurdity of the situation, and hit the ball with their club. They actually managed to get it close to the hole. Chester realized that, actually, they shouldn't be trying to win. They needed to prolong this game for as long as possible, because as soon as it was over, Monty would be back in security mode.

Monty made his move next. He hit the ball surprisingly lightly. It barely made it halfway down the little field.

As the game went on, Monty would occasionally run a clearly pre-programmed line. These lines were all steeped in static, drawn out and slow as if Monty were struggling to get them out. Or perhaps, trying and failing to keep them in.

Chester noticed that Monty was playing a lot differently than he had the first time they'd played, when the situation hadn't been quite as tense. There was no boasting or bravado, no light jabs at their skills. He was playing with extreme caution, taking his time to get his ball across little wooden bridges, through hollow logs topped with plastic frogs, around clusters of fake reeds.

With a start, Chester realized Monty was doing the same thing they were doing- trying to prolong the game. They remembered how he'd sounded before they'd challenged him to the game, how he'd less stated that they didn't have an employee profile, and more warned them about it. He'd asked Chester to make it stop.

Chester stared at Monty as he barely tapped his golf ball towards the hole, not a foot away. The ball rolled two inches closer at most.

"Beat that, runt!" Monty hissed through the static. "You having fun yet?"

Chester hoped that Monty wasn't still in any pain. They made their shot, purposefully overshooting.

They were only a course away from the final hole when the lights turned on all at once. Monty dropped his club, shoulders sagging in relief. Six in the morning had come at last.

"MAAAN. What a pain!" Monty groaned loudly. "You alright there, runt?"

Chester nodded. They leaned against their golf club and returned the question. "Are you alright?"

Monty waved a clawed hand in the air. "I'm fine. You need to figure out what to do about your employee file if you wanna keep working the night shift. I don't know if you realized but I was pretty close there to doing whatever it took to make the errors stop."

Chester nodded. "I know. I have a paper copy of my profile form, I just didn't have it on me tonight."

"Let me take a look at it soon as you get the chance. And show it to the others too," Monty said.

"I will." Chester held a hand out to Monty. "Good game."

Monty barked a laugh. "Are you kidding? That was the worst game I've ever played!"

"Thanks for not killing me," Chester corrected.

"Sure, kid." Monty shook Chester's hand. "Now get outa here before I change my mind."

Chester smiled and nodded. They made their way out of gator golf, frowning as they passed the golf club dispenser and realizing they might have to be the one to fix it. They heaved a sigh as they left gator golf, trudging at last towards the daycare.

Chester considered telling Lance and Rosa about the error feedback loop the bots would get stuck in. If they were careful about it, they might be able to explain the situation, and also warn them against assigning anyone else to the night shift without first having said employee show the bots a copy of their employee form, all without explaining how exactly Chester knew about the issue, and how they'd originally found out. If the bots could be distracted from this hellish overwhelming error loop by engaging certain other programs, that might be valuable information as well.

They decided to come forward with the information. There wasn't anyone else working the night shift currently, but it likely wouldn't always be that way. Chester didn't want anyone to get hurt, and so they'd have to risk it.

For now though, they desperately wanted to get to sleep. Once they'd taken Monty's advice and shown all the bots their employee profile form, they hoped they'd be sleeping a little easier. With murderous animatronics scratched off their list of things to worry about, Chester dared to hope that things would even start looking up for them.

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eyndr-stories · 2 years

Text

Chester and the Jesters (FNAF SB fanfic) C3 - Deal

In Summary:

Things To Know (always read responsibly!):

Biggest warnings are for blood, death, knives, murder, the police, violence, also the OC is at one point hit by lightning. All fun stuff

About 70,000 words in total, 9 chapters, so roughly like. 7,500 words per chapter

This is an OC story, not a reader insert or a self insert! But if you want to imagine otherwise be my guest lol

Angst, fluff

OC x Sun & Moon, there's romance but zero spice

Occasional swearing

Heavy focus on Sun and Moon but most of the rest of the gang is there too :)

Afton doesn't exist, sorry peepaw, Vanessa is here but she's very chill. She's a kickass gamer girl lmao

Moon does an attempted murder but its fine. He's just a lil guy ok

OC uses they/them and also sign language most of the time

Impersonation, lying. There's also manipulation. Yall I wasn't kidding about the angst

There's also a lot of focus on how they're all robots, very cool robots with feelings lol

That's all I can think of, as always please lmk if I should add anything!

Ao3 Link: Right here!

Start reading here: Chapter 1

Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4

C3 - Deal

There was plenty to distract Chester from their thoughts. They had a lot of work to do, if they wanted to keep up this ruse. Mostly a lot of reading. Firstly, however, they had something a little more pressing to take care of. Being a human person with needs to fulfil was highly inconvenient.

Sneaking into the kitchen of a little restaurant called ‘El Chips’ proved to be much easier than Chester had feared. Still, they needed to be careful. They had to take only what wouldn’t be noticed if it went missing. That meant taking one taco shell from an already open bag, loading it with toppings from mostly full containers, and eating it over the big industrial sink to be sure they didn’t leave any mess behind. Taco devoured, they moved on to the next restaurant to repeat the process.

Chester slowly ate their fill, ignoring the little voice in their head that reprimanded them for stealing. Stealing from large corporations was easy to justify, especially when they were starving.

With food out of the way, the only other pressing physical matter was sleep. Chester imagined the moment they stopped moving for any length of time they’d pass out again, just as they had last night. There wasn’t time for that, though. They weren’t in a whole lot of danger if they went another sleepless night.

Chester found their way back to the employee stock room, where they located every technician related book they could get their hands on. Piling them all up in a neat stack on the floor, Chester grabbed the first one and began to read, opting to pace as they did so.

Through the night they read, puzzling over confusing terminology and unelaborated acronyms. The clinical nature of the manuals was mind numbing. Hours passed, and Chester started to get desperate. These weren’t books for beginners on the topic, and these concepts were extremely advanced for them.

The book on animatronic construction turned out to be their saving grace. This book was loaded with pictures and detailed diagrams that were well labeled. With the help of diagrams, Chester found they were grasping things far better than before. It was a start, and that was all they needed. They could build the rest from this first bit, once they understood it well enough. Like a giant puzzle, to which they’d just found their first edge piece.

Also not unlike a puzzle, was learning about how the animatronics were built, how all the little pieces fit together. Chester actually found this fascinating. The animatronics were even more involved than they had originally assumed. Roxy, the wolf animatronic, had all sorts of sensors in her head, since she was built for racing. All of the glamrocks had an impressive amount of dexterity in their hands, so they could play their musical instruments, but Monty, the alligator animatronic, had the most complex hand structure, as he was meant to play mini-golf as well as his instrument.

At first, Chester was confused by the exclusion of that Sun animatronic they'd met, especially when the book seemed to include diagrams for animatronics that weren't even in service anymore. With the discovery of a second book of animatronic diagrams, Chester quickly realized the reason why. The daycare attendant, as the book called Sun, was the latest in the line of animatronic developments. His construction was so complex and involved, it filled an entire book on its own. Granted, the book was much smaller than the others, but still. Finding this book to be very involved and intimidating, Chester set it aside for the time being.

For the rest of the night, they read. And the night after that. The night after that they finally decided to sleep, finding that spare uniform closet they'd spent their first night in, and using a small stack of shirts as a pillow. By then they were practically dead on their feet, and they had no trouble falling asleep the moment they laid down.

Chester went on like this, and they were careful. They were observant. They listened to the other technicians, watched them work when they could. On their breaks they sat in the back corner of the employee break room and sipped at a styrofoam cup of coffee and listened to the other employees chat about their jobs. Brandi kept them company on occasion as well, when their breaks aligned. She really didn't seem to mind that Chester didn't have a lot to say, saying it was nice to talk as much as she liked without getting interrupted or talked over. Chester liked the company, and relished in the simple calm of normal conversations.

Chester picked easier tasks from their list and avoided drawing attention to themself. They read and studied and read some more, re-reading the same books until the repetition stuck. Some parts were damn near torturous to get to stick in their brain, but if they could manage to convince their brain to be interested in what they were reading, they could manage.

Of course, Chester had always learned best with hands-on experience. There was only so much they could glean from the books, especially when they didn't have the vocabulary for a lot of the technical jargon. They were relieved when their schedule finally changed to the night shift, the night of another storm. Working the night shift meant they could take their time with the tasks, there wouldn't be anyone around to see them struggle and experiment as they carefully puzzled out how things worked.

The night shift quickly presented other problems, however.

Firstly, Chester would need to find somewhere to be during the day, on their off hours. They might be able to just masquerade as a guest every once in a while, but if they were spotted multiple times by another employee who recognized them, things might get a little awkward. If they couldn't leave the plex, that made things difficult. Chester resolved to find somewhere by the end of the night.

Secondly, Chester was not entirely alone in the complex at night. The animatronics were still here, wandering the halls. Seeing as Chester was technically allowed to be here at night now, they hadn't thought this would be an issue.

They were very wrong.

Usually, when Chester ran into an animatronic during the day, the bot wouldn't pay them much mind, some even flat out ignoring them. During the night, however, things proved to work out a little differently.

Chester glanced over their shoulder. The wolf robot was following them. Roxanne, Chester recalled. Chester had just come from the food court, having grabbed a large cup of water from one of the many soda dispensers to sip on while they walked to their next task, and they were certain that the animatronic was tailing them. Chester took a few turns at random, crunching on ice from their drink and trying not to panic. Roxanne followed. Anytime Chester glanced back over their shoulder, they could see glowing eyes boring straight into them.

Finally, Chester stopped and turned to face the wolf. "Why are you following me?"

The wolf stalked forwards, footfalls heavy enough the shake the pants around Chester's legs. The wolf’s hands twitched in a way that made Chester uncomfortable. "Don't be s- don't be scared. Don't be- employee profile not found. Are you lost? Lost? Are you-"

What the hell? The wolf seemed to be experiencing some sort of system error. Her voice lines were all choppy and strained. She kept twitching and snapping her jaw open and closed. Chester took a few steps back.

"Hey, kid! Hey-" Roxy made some sort of horrible groaning noise, accentuated by the loud whirring of fans. Her expression was a horrible mix of pain and anger. "Are- lost- are you… barcode valid. Profile not found. Barcode-"

Chester fumbled with the signs, their hands shaking. "A bunch of computer files got corrupted, that's why I don't have an employee profile. I have a paper file."

"…Paper." Roxy shuffled closer, staring down at Chester suspiciously. "Profile not found."

"I could show you?" Chester offered. "Show you my profile? The paper one?"

Roxy’s expression looked strained. She kept balling up and flexing out her hands, metal clicking and scraping together as she did.

Chester started walking. Roxy followed. Chester tried not to let their nerves get the best of them, even though they could feel Roxy staring daggers into their back. Where was that office?? Chester glanced nervously back at Roxy, who stalked heavily behind them. She looked like she wanted to strangle them.

Rounding the corner, Chester's eyes fell at once to a 'STAFF ONLY' door a short ways down the hall. The door had been left cracked open, and a light was on in the hallway inside. Chester hurried to the door, Roxy following along behind them. Relieved, Chester spotted the small office down the hall. They hurried inside and fumbled through the filing cabinet, setting their drink down on the desk between the computer keyboard and a pack of blank printer paper.

"Here!" Chester pulled out the file they'd filled out with Rosa. They held it up to Roxy, who Chester only now realized was standing directly between them and the door, the desk blocking their way around. Boxed in, Chester couldn't do much but wait nervously as Roxy scrutinized the form.

They waited for long enough to wonder what would happen if Roxy saw through them, somehow figured out they were a farce. Would she call the cops? She looked like she wanted to just throttle Chester.

"Employee profile… profile verified." Roxy’s shoulders fell in visible relief. She blinked rapidly several times, gaze eventually falling on Chester. "Well that was… annoying. Whatever that was." Roxy put a hand on her head. "Thanks for clearing that up."

Chester cautiously lowered their form. "Are you… alright?"

"I'm fine, looser. Be more careful next time, alright? I couldn't think straight for a while there, thought you were some kind of intruder. There were lots of conflicting error messages..." Roxy shook her head.

"Sorry. A lot of files got corrupted a few days ago and my employee profile was lost," Chester signed.

"Again?? What a pain!" Roxy groaned, rolling her eyes. "One of you little techies needs to fix whatever keeps corrupting files."

Chester nodded. "You didn't… you didn't happen to alert the authorities, did you??"

"Us animatronics don't have the authorization to call the authorities directly. I did send a notification to the security staff, but there isn't a night guard on duty," Roxy explained.

"Good. Wouldn't want to bother the police over nothing." Chester breathed a little laugh.

"Right." Roxy pat Chester on the shoulder with a surprising gentleness. "Sorry if I scared you, I wasn't really… aware of things. You alright there tech?"

"I'm fine, thank you," Chester signed. They took a deep breath, calming their nerves.

"Great. See ya around, looser." Roxy turned and left the office.

Chester glanced down at their employee form. Maybe they should print a copy of this thing. They carefully rolled the form up and tucked it into a pocket on their toolbelt.

Ignoring their tasks for now, Chester searched up and down access tunnels in search of some sort of office with a printer. They were keeping an eye out for the other animatronics as well, not wanting to run into the same issue as before with Roxy. They had to wonder why Roxy was suddenly having these issues; Chester had spent a good deal of time with her when they’d fixed that bumper car for her. Roxy hadn't said a thing about not being able to find their employee profile then.

"What do I have to do to find a stupid printer in this place??" Chester grumbled, pulling the door of a cleaning supplies closet shut. They tried the next door down the hall, and paused. "Oh."

The room had a line of computer servos along the right wall, little blue lights blinking through metal grates and between fans as big as Chester's head. Along the left wall was a computer, some filing cabinets, and one of those big office printers. Chester flipped the lights on as they stepped inside.

Chester took out their employee form, setting it carefully over the glass of the scanner at the top of the copy machine. They powered it on and figured out the buttons and controls easy enough. They scanned their form, then hit print.

The lights flickered while Chester waited. They could just feel the rumble of thunder, even as deep in the complex as they were.

Chester checked the tray once it sounded like the machine was done printing. They frowned when they found it empty. Chester tried printing one more time, but were met with the same results. They tapped the printer's little screen to wake it up, wondering if maybe it was out of ink or something. The screen flashed an error message: 'No paper'. Chester checked the paper tray and sure enough, it was out of paper.

Grumbling about their luck, Chester hunted through the room for some blank paper they could use. The filing cabinets were full of organized folders and documents. The desk holding the computer didn't even have drawers. Chester huffed. They knew they'd seen a pack of paper back in the office they'd gotten their employee form from. With no other options, they left the room to go get some paper, flipping the flickering lights back off. They shut the door behind them, ignoring a strange little feeling like they were forgetting something. They’d be back soon anyways, even if they were fairly certain they were just tired and imagining things.

Chester didn't think they'd be getting through all their tasks tonight. They'd at least gotten the high priority ones sorted. They scrolled through their task list as they sipped their water, plotting out which one to tackle next, making their way back up a stairwell and into the main complex.

Vibrant neon struggled to illuminate wide halls, sharp primary colors fading into shadow before the light could reach the high ceilings, the outline of rafters barely visible in the dark. Chester eyed their map. No matter how many times they walked back and forth across this place, they couldn't seem to get a sense of direction.

Chester paused, glancing back down at their map. They could have sworn there were two hallways on the left side of this corridor, but now the map showed only one. Chester looked up, eyes moving along the wall. They spied only one hallway through the shadows. Chester shook their head. Their lack of sleep was really starting to get to them.

They started walking again, but they instantly felt uneasy. Chester kept checking over their shoulder, thinking maybe another animatronic was trying to follow them, but there wasn't anything there, just a water fountain and a collection of benches. Chester tried to carry on, but the feeling persisted.

There was another rumbling roll of thunder, followed by another flicker of the lights, neon lighting dying out, leaving Chester in absolute darkness for just a moment before coming back to life. They wished they'd grabbed one of those flashlights from the employee stock room. They wondered if the power would go out.

Chester paused again, turning to look behind once more. They could have sworn they'd heard a sound, like jingling bells.

The sound came again. Bells for sure, the sound light and quiet. It sounded like it was coming from above them.

Chester looked up.

Something looked back down at them from the rafters.

There were a pair of glowing red lights, the vague shape of long bending limbs. Whatever it was made a series of sharp mechanical clicks, and then spoke.

"Trespasser. Rule-breaker. Transgressor. You are being- Transgressor. Being- are being detained. Do not struggle."

Chester took several steps back, watching those limbs unfold and move as whatever it was followed them, moving across the rafters.

"Wait, I'm not-" Chester fumbled with the signs, more than a little freaked out by this thing in the rafters. "I'm not trespassing! I work here!" Chester reached for the pocket with their employee form. It wasn't there. Dread set in as Chester realized they'd left it in the printer.

Uh oh.

"Liar. Naughty transgressor. You are- do not struggle. Do not-" There was another loud series of clicks. The sound of fans whirring was audible even over the clicks. "Employee profile not found. You are- barcode valid. Profile not found. Trespassing. You- rule-breaker. Do not struggle. Transgressor."

The shape groaned, red lights vanishing for just a moment. When they reappeared they fixed instantly on Chester, who stiffened. The shape dropped without warning, long limbs reaching for Chester.

Chester jumped back, their drink slipping from their hand, water spilling all over the floor. They got a brief glimpse of the thing for only a moment before the figure leapt at them again. An animatronic, one they didn't think they'd met before, his round head and slender form silhouetted by neon lights. The lights gleamed off of shiny golden bells adorning the animatronic. The bot was crouched on all fours, limbs shuddering as red eyes fixed on Chester just before he lunged.

Chester dove to the side, metal casing brushing their arm. They didn't waste a second, breaking into a sprint as they regained their footing. They could hear scrambling behind them, sharp clicking, and a pained groan. Then there was the sound of bells jingling as the figure pursued.

I can't be caught. He's gonna get me in trouble, detain me for the rest of the night and not let me do any tasks. I can't let him catch me.

Chester tried to think through the panic, through the haze of exhaustion. They hadn't come this far just to get fired for neglecting their ill-gotten job.

If they could just get back to the room with the copy machine, they could grab their employee profile form. It wasn't far, they just had to outpace-

All the air very suddenly vacated Chester's lungs as a heavy force hit their middle. After a moment of confused panic, Chester realized they'd been grabbed by their toolbelt. The animatronic yanked on the back of their toolbelt, sending Chester flying back towards him.

"Transgressor," the animatronic hissed in Chester's ear, his voice strained.

Chester fumbled with the belt, managing to unclip it. The belt fell away, and they stumbled forwards, running once more.

The door to the access tunnels was right down the hall- had they left the door open?? The door was wide open, a soft light glowing from the stairwell beyond, just bright enough to illuminate the doorway against the low light of the hall. Chester leapt through, slamming the door closed behind them. Barely a second later they heard a heavy THUD- the animatronic had jumped after them and crashed into the door. Chester flew down the stairs. They heard the door slam open.

Chester turned down the hall. Third door on the right, there it was, Chester could see the blinking blue lights from the servos through the open doorway-

THUD. Chester shot a look behind them, jaw dropping when they realized the animatronic had bypassed the stairs entirely, jumping the railing and dropping the distance, landing heavily on the metal grate floor, which Chester could see was now dented from the force of the impact.

Red eyes fixed on Chester once again, and the animatronic took a running leap for them. Chester dove into the office. They could hear bells jingling behind them as they scrambled for the copy machine.

Chester had a hand on the hood of the scanner. They didn't have time to lift the lid before something latched onto their ankle and pulled sharply, yanking Chester to the ground. They broke the fall with their palms, pain spiking up their arms. Their hat flew off in the fall, landing a few feet away.

"Detained- de- detained- you are-" the animatronic wailed, speakers crackling from the force of it.

Chester flipped over to see the bot crouched over them, his shaking hands gripping his faceplate hard enough that Chester could hear the metal start to groan unpleasantly.

"You- you are- AUGHHHHHH!!" The animatronic screamed again. "STOP IT STOP STOP STOP!" His hands balled into shaking fists. He raised them over his head, eyes locking back on Chester.

Chester rolled just as the animatronic heaved his fists down on them. They pushed up onto their hands and knees, planning to jump up and grab their employee profile. They froze before they could, eyes caught on the sight of the hard tile right where their head had been. The animatronic wrenched his hands free of the jagged hole he'd made. The tile all around the hole was cracked.

That hit would have killed them.

Something is very wrong here.

Chester barely had a passing understanding of the animatronics, but they were pretty sure that the robots were not supposed to be able to use lethal force. That had to be some kind of safety code violation-

Chester moved, realizing that it was now fatally stupid to just sit here. They lifted the lid of the scanner and snatched their employee profile form from inside, just as the animatronic wrapped a hand around Chester's head.

The animatronic screamed again as it threw Chester's head into the ground. Chester yelled as well, pain splintering like lightning through their skull. They'd dropped their stupid form on the way down- where was it?!

The animatronic didn't let go, instead lifting Chester's head and bashing it again against the hard tile. Chester's vision flashed with stars. They tried desperately to focus as their head was lifted again. They felt around for the paper, hands shaking violently.

Chester's head cracked into the ground again. They felt like their skull was about to crack like an egg. They didn't think they could take another hit like that. Their hand fell on something that didn't feel like tile- paper.

Their head was lifted once more. Chester thrust the paper towards the animatronic, their fingers gripping the top of the page hard enough to tear it slightly.

The world seemed to come to a halt. Chester, held up uncomfortably by the head, didn't dare move beyond the tremble in their hands. They heard the hum of the servos, a clicking sound coming from the animatronic, and the ringing in their ears.

Suddenly, the hand gripping Chester's head withdrew with a speed as if the animatronic had been burned.

"What- What happened… Where-" the animatronic scrambled backwards away from Chester, as if Chester was the one to be afraid of.

Chester managed to push themself up onto their elbows. The world was spinning violently around them, and their head ached with the worst migraine they'd ever had. Everything looked hazy… Chester found their glasses. They'd been knocked off at some point and thankfully weren't cracked or broken. Everything was concerningly still hazy even once the glasses were on.

"No no no no. Not again, no no," the animatronic muttered, pressing his hands to his face.

Chester felt something warm running down their face. Were they crying?? They lifted a hand to their face. Their fingers came away covered in red.

Blood on their hands. That face, sneering at them, eyes wild. The same face, eyes closed, unsettlingly still. Blood, blood on that face, blood on their hands, blood everywhere. People have so much more blood in them than you expect. Pounding, the pounding of rain, of fists on a door, of Chester's footfalls as they ran.

Chester squeezed their eyes shut, trying to block out the sudden barrage of images. They breathed, trying to focus on the present.

Chester looked up just in time to see the animatronic stumble through the doorway, hurrying out of the room. Now alone in the room, Chester fought through the haze trying to smother their brain. They realized they were still holding their employee profile form. They stared down at it, focusing on it.

All of that over some stupid form… and why?? Chester breathed and tried to think. Thinking was really difficult right now, for some reason. Something they'd read drifted to the forefront of their thoughts, something about… a wireless network adaptor? All the animatronics had one, to let them connect to the internet, so they could download software updates and send alerts to staff if something triggered their… security mode.

Security mode. Chester had read about that. All the bots went into security mode once the complex closed for the night. Maybe there was some sort of code that only ran during security mode? The alleged code had gotten caught up with Chester's lack of a digital employee profile, causing the animatronics to react as they had.

Even so, were the animatronics supposed to be capable of lethal force?? Even if Chester was right about the security mode coding, at most the animatronics should have theoretically only restrained them.

Chester heaved a sigh and closed their eyes against the headache. They wanted to just lay here and rest and forget any of this ever happened. They wanted to forget this night, this stupid mall, everything. They wanted to go home. Chester's heart hurt. They reminded themself that they didn't have a home, they hadn't for a very long time.

Chester braced against the copy machine and slowly, very slowly, got to their feet. The world spun nauseatingly around them. Chester focused on their breathing until the nausea passed.

Still gripping their employee file, Chester made for the door. They had to… go somewhere. Do something. They tried to figure out the details as they slowly inched their way down the hall, leaning heavily against the wall to keep their balance.

The missing files… employees were in danger. In fact, Chester had the sneaking suspicion that some of the rumors they'd been hearing were true. Employees getting into 'incidents' and never coming back to work again. Chester had known that there was no one left to work the night shifts, but they couldn't have guessed that this was why. If employee files got corrupted often, then it was entirely likely that Chester was not the first to run into this issue.

What had that animatronic said…? 'Not again'??

They had to report this to someone, they had to…

Chester paused at the base of the stairwell, frozen by a realization. If someone found out they'd had an incident on the job, found out they'd been violently assaulted by an animatronic, it was extremely likely the police would get involved, maybe even the news. Chester couldn't let that happen.

They had to pretend this had never happened. They were the only employee on the night shift (for good reason, they now realized) so no one else was really in any danger. This meant, however, that Chester would have to resolve whatever this bug was with the animatronics on their own. They had no idea what they were going to do if it was a software issue, they had even less experience with coding than they did with hardware. Maybe they could just figure out how to get the digital files to stop corrupting?

Chester made it to the hall. They didn't remember getting up the stairs, but here they were. That nausea refused to relent, sticking sickeningly in the back of their mind and at the base of their throat. Still gripping their employee form, they trudged onwards. They were going to print a copy of this damn form if it was the last thing they did.

They found their tool belt laying on the ground not far from the door and buckled it back into place. Chester also passed a custodian bot mopping up the water they'd spilled earlier. A little wet floor sign bot sat at the ready nearby. Both robots turned to look at Chester as they passed. Chester recognized the custodian bot, this was the bot with the little blue cap on their head, the one who'd startled Chester when they'd first entered the pizza-plex a few days ago. The bot stared at Chester as they passed, their blank and rigidly monotone face offering little in the way of expression. Chester carried on.

Paper finally acquired, Chester trudged back down to the printer room once more. Luckily, the printer had saved the last scan, so Chester didn't have to try and smooth out their wrinkled and torn form to re-scan it. Chester grabbed their hat up off the floor and scowled at the cracked tile. They weren't sure how the hell to fix that, so they just pulled the copy machine over to cover the cracks. Copy in hand, Chester carefully folded and pocketed the wrinkled form. They carried the copy back to the upper office, filing it away where they'd found the first form. Then they headed for the nearest bathroom.

They ducked into the first stall just as the nausea finally became overwhelming. Chester emptied what little they had in them into the toilet and sat there for a long moment after, waiting for the nausea to finally subside. Their head was swimming, headache and dizziness swirling together in a mess of bad.

They couldn't sit around here all night, so Chester slowly pushed to their feet and flushed the toilet. They leaned against the stall and breathed as the loud hush of the toilet roared uncomfortably in their ears. The horrible feeling of acid in their throat urged them to get to the sink. Pointedly avoiding the mirror for now, Chester turned on the nearest sink faucet and rinsed away the disgusting taste in their mouth and gargled the acid in their throat away. Then they put their head under the stream of water to clean all the blood out of their hair. They hissed as the water moved over a specific spot on the right side of their head, the same area that had been repeatedly bashed into the floor. The pain lasted for only a moment, and then all Chester could focus on was the headache.

Chester finally looked in the mirror, hoping to clean themself up. They winced at their reflection. They weren’t exactly glamorous, but at least they were still in one piece. They started scrubbing the blood off their face and cleaning it out of their hair.

Their head wouldn't stop bleeding, and seeing as their work shirt was already ruined and blood stained, Chester balled it up and opted to use it to apply pressure against their head. They stuck their name tag on the Hawaiian shirt they were still wearing underneath.

Once they were decently cleaned up, Chester checked the time. They swore. Only an hour and a half till six, when the plex’s front doors would unlock and people would start arriving for their shifts and getting ready for when the plex officially opened to the public at seven.

They still needed to find a place to lay low for the day, maybe even get some sleep.

Chester checked their task list, wondering if they even had time to complete any more tasks. They'd gotten through a woefully pitiful amount of tasks tonight, but at least they'd completed all the high priority-

Wait a minute. There was a new task.

Chester scowled at the singular high priority task at the top of the list. It definitely hadn't been there earlier. 'Daycare lights', it read. Had that Sun fellow reported the task?? Whatever the case, Chester didn't want to get in trouble for leaving any high priority tasks unfinished. One last task for the night, then they'd figure out someplace to lay low.

Chester did their damndest to move stealthily and not run into any other animatronics on their way to the daycare. They spotted Freddy, the bear mascot, as they peeked around a corner. They waited for him to wander down the hall and turn a different corner. They found a first aid kit on their way, a simple metal box bolted to the wall just beyond a 'STAFF ONLY' door. After sticking a bandage on their head, Chester carefully pulled their hat on to hold the bandage in place. They tossed the old work shirt in the trash, planning to grab a replacement shirt later.

At the daycare doors, Chester paused to get out their employee profile form. They didn't think they'd be able to avoid Sun, so they wanted to be careful not to set him off. They pushed through the daycare's double doors.

All the lights in the daycare were on. Chester frowned at this, wondering if the issue was that they hadn't turned off automatically after closing time with the rest of the lights in the building. They were about to check the task details when the daycare attendant popped into view.

"Oh, it's you!! Hello new Chester! Remember me? We met a few days ago!!" Sun made his way over, though this time he didn't run.

"I remember." Chester nodded, but quickly stilled their head when that made the dizziness worse. "There's a task about the lights? Is another bulb out?"

"Not quite!" Sun came to a stop a few feet away. He shifted from foot to foot. The sun rays around his head retracted and slowly popped back out in clockwise fashion. He reminded Chester of a loading symbol. "Um. So it's very, very important that the lights here in the daycare stay on. They have to stay on at all times! That's what they told us, and I always follow the rules!"

Chester watched Sun slowly shrink in on himself as he spoke, his shoulders hunching and fingers wringing themselves together. His faceplate remained stagnant, wide grin betraying his distress.

"And so we put in that request for you to come look at the lights! Because they're supposed to stay on! Lights on, it's the biggest rule! Lights on, on, on." Sun laughed, the sound high and quick. "And earlier- just for a little bit!- earlier the lights… well, it was the storm! The lightning must have-" Sun stopped and glanced at Chester. He finished his sentence in one rapid rush of words. "…The-lights-went-off-for-just-a-little-bit."

Chester glanced up at the lights. All of them were back on now. "Yeah, I remember the lights flickering a few times in other parts of the building."

Sun nodded. "Right, right, right. But the lights in the daycare… went out. For twenty-two minutes and twenty-six seconds."

Chester still wasn't understanding. They were far too tired to guess and try to extrapolate, so they asked plainly. "What is the specific issue that needs fixing?"

"Well! Well… we were hoping maybe you could fix the lights so that they wouldn't go out like that again! If another storm came by or the building lost power. Because the lights are supposed to stay on! I know this, it's the most important rule. Lights on!" Sun laughed again.

Chester wasn't sure if they could do something like that, even if they were a proper technician. If there was no power, there wasn't much they could do to keep the lights on. Still, Sun seemed really worked up about the lights, so Chester agreed to at least give it a look. "I can't promise I'll be able to do much of anything, but I will take a look and maybe do some research."

"Really?! That's wonderful!! Thank you!" Sun's posture changed instantly. He threw his hands up in the air and straightened so quickly that he bounced slightly. His faceplate spun a few times. "This way, follow me! The electrical box is up in my room. Wouldn't do to have it out where the kiddos could reach it, no-sirie!" Sun bounded to the other end of the daycare. "Don't forget your shoes!"

Chester paused to remove their shoes, leaving them by the door. Past a single room bathroom was another door, covered in the same foam paneling as the walls of the daycare so it blended in. There was a security panel set into the wall beside it. Sun tapped a code into the panel with rapid fingers, and the door popped open, revealing a narrow spiral stairway beyond leading up. Sun climbed the steps quickly, taking them three at a time with his long legs. Chester took their time following behind, gripping the railing tightly. Going up stairs was hard enough with the relentless dizziness, but this was a spiral staircase to boot. The nausea was threatening to come back. Chester fought it back and made it up the stairs, desperate to not give anything away to Sun.

At the top of the stairway, through another door, was a small room that Chester realized must be the room behind the tower balcony. They spotted the bright red curtains to their left, currently drawn closed. The big dome light on the ceiling illuminated in great detail the hazardous chaos of the rest of the room.

There were spare supplies, stacks of little plastic kid chairs and colorful foam blocks, scattered around with genuine junk. Broken pieces of a playhouse, what looked to have once been a staff bot of some kind lay in pieces around the room. A thin layer of dust covered everything. Loose bundles of some kind of cable sat heaped in the corner.

Sun stood next to the electrical box on the far wall. With his bright warm colors he stood out starkly against the drab décor.

Chester went to the box and popped it open. They grabbed a screwdriver from their toolbelt and set to work removing the panel hiding the wires at the back of the box. "What is this room?" Chester asked curiously with their free hand.

"This is my room! It's just for us- no one ever comes up here but us. I recharge in here when I need to," Sun explained. His steady gaze swept over the room before focusing back on Chester, watching them work intently. "So, new Chester. You know that it was an accident, right?? We didn't turn the lights off, they went off on their own! It was nobody's fault. You know that, right??"

"Yes," Chester answered, though they weren't sure if Sun was trying to imply something. They set the removed panel aside and squinted at the wires, all grouped in neat colorful bundles. The whole array looked really complicated. There was a timer box hooked up to a lot of the lights, though it appeared to be inactive currently, leaving all the lights on and active. Chester started gently checking to see if anything was loose, or if any wires were damaged.

"So-! So, we're not in trouble, right??" Sun asked. He was anxiously wringing his hands again.

"Trouble?" Chester couldn't figure out why Sun seemed so worked up about the lights.

"They said… if the lights go out, that'd be really bad! The lights need to stay on at all times!! Upper management told me I'd be in trouble if the lights went out, that they… They said-" Sun looked away, tapping his fingers together rapidly. "They said they might have to close the daycare!"

"Oh?" Chester paused, hands stilling. They stared at the wires, trying to focus on a thought, an idea, through the muddled haze in their brain.

Sun hurriedly continued. "I know the lights did go out, but! It was an accident, it wasn't anyone's fault, you agreed with that! I know how important the lights are, I know. But everything is fine, nothing… nothing bad…" Sun trailed off for a brief moment. One of his hands drifted to his head, pressing into his forehead before he seemed to snap out of it, returning to his anxious fumbling. "Nothing bad happened, right?? So- so you don't have to tell anyone about the lights turning off, right?"

Chester was still piecing their idea together in their brain. They tapped their fingers along the edge of the electrical box as they thought.

Sun started to visibly tremble. When he spoke, there was faint static underlying his words. "I'm sorry, I know I'm asking a lot, I'm sorry. I know it's your job, you're just doing your job, I know it's really important that the lights stay on, but please, please, please don't tell anyone about the lights, if they closed to daycare I don't know what I'd do, please-"

Chester held up a hand, cutting off Sun's desperate rambling. They straightened up and faced Sun. "I won't tell anyone about the lights… if you don't tell anyone about me staying in this room."

Sun froze. His fingers remained knitted tightly together, and his trembling ceased. He stood stock still as he stared at Chester. With his immobile grin, Chester had no hopes of being able to glean what he might be thinking. They curled their fingers into fists to keep them from shaking.

"…Okay. It's a deal," Sun said at last.

Chester tried not to look too relieved. They let out a small sigh.

"Can I ask… you wouldn't be willing to tell me why you want to stay in my room, would you?" Sun asked.

Chester considered their reply, scraping their thumbnail along the edge of the box. They hated lying, but they knew they couldn't be as honest as they wanted. "I don't have anywhere else to stay."

Sun nodded carefully. His sun rays did that loading symbol motion again, retracting and popping back out in circular fashion. Chester got the impression he was thinking about something.

"You wouldn't be willing to tell me what's so important about the lights, would you?" Chester asked.

Sun turned his faceplate away, picking up the nervous fidgeting again. "…The lights being off presents a major safety hazard."

Chester didn't press it, since Sun hadn't pressed them.

"So we've got a deal. Right?" Chester offered a hand for Sun to shake.

"We've got a deal!" Sun extended a pinky and hooked it with Chester's in lieu of shaking their hand. "I promise not to tell anyone about you staying here."

"I promise not to tell anyone about the lights," Chester assured. "And I'll see what I can do about keeping them on if the power goes out. Might have to just hook them up to a generator."

"Thank you!!" Sun bounced excitedly and released Chester's pinkie. "Thank you thank you thank you! It really really means a lot to us!"

"No problem." Chester picked the panel back up and got to work screwing it back in place over the wires.

If Sun was right, and it really was true that no one ever came up here save for him… with the state of the room, Chester figured it must be true. It seemed their luck was finally starting to turn. With a place to sleep and stay in while they weren't working, they could hide out for as long as they needed. If they weren't so dead tired, they might have been more relieved.

Sun left to prepare the daycare for the day's kids. Chester left for just long enough to clock out (after marking their daycare lights task complete) and grab a new uniform before dragging their feet back to the daycare and up the spiral steps, carrying their shoes up with them so they wouldn't be noticed. Chester cleared a spot in the back corner and laid down on the floor, not giving a single fuck about the discomfort of the hard floor. It was at least better than the uniform closet, where they couldn't even stretch out. Needless to say, Chester passed out quickly and slept hard and sound.

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eyndr-stories · 2 years

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Chester and the Jesters (FNAF SB fanfic) C2 - With a shnoz like that how could he NOT be nosy

In Summary:

Things To Know (always read responsibly!):

Biggest warnings are for blood, death, knives, murder, the police, violence, also the OC is at one point hit by lightning. All fun stuff

About 70,000 words in total, 9 chapters, so roughly like. 7,500 words per chapter

This is an OC story, not a reader insert or a self insert! But if you want to imagine otherwise be my guest lol

Angst, fluff

OC x Sun & Moon, there's romance but zero spice

Occasional swearing

Heavy focus on Sun and Moon but most of the rest of the gang is there too :)

Afton doesn't exist, sorry peepaw, Vanessa is here but she's very chill. She's a kickass gamer girl lmao

Moon does an attempted murder but its fine. He's just a lil guy ok

OC uses they/them and also sign language most of the time

Impersonation, lying. There's also manipulation. Yall I wasn't kidding about the angst

There's also a lot of focus on how they're all robots, very cool robots with feelings lol

That's all I can think of, as always please lmk if I should add anything!

Ao3 Link: Right here!

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

C2 - With a shnoz like that how could he NOT be nosy

In theory, so long as Chester was careful, everything would work out just fine. With the cops camped out at the end of the building's expansive parking lot and more patrolling the town, hiding out in Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizza Plex was, admittedly, almost ideal.

Almost.

The issue with impersonating a technician, or at least someone who would pass an interview for a job as a technician, was that Chester did not know much of anything about technical equipment. It wasn't like they could ask what exactly their day to day job responsibilities were, either. So, Chester did what they did best. They were quiet, and they were observant. They sat back and watched and learned.

Several things became clear over the day as Chester watched their coworkers hurry back and forth through access tunnels and to different parts of the complex. Firstly, their initial concern over someone noticing that they weren't doing much of anything quickly faded because the rare few others they did see were coming and going very quickly, and everyone seemed to have a list of tasks to do. These tasks, Chester learned, were assigned via small handheld devices that fit neatly into a tool belt, which everyone seemed to have.

First order of business, find out where to get one of those tool belts.

Chester also noted through their observances that there appeared to be one other technician manager aside from Rosa, a tall man by the name of Lance.

Lance Baxter was in the access halls more often than anyone else, and Chester quickly realized that it was because he was absolutely riddled with anxiety and stress. He would often hide out in the tunnels, taking the longest possible route around or just stand somewhere inconspicuous and tap at his handheld device. The man looked like he hadn't slept a wink in weeks, and jumped if anyone tried to approach him a little too suddenly.

Lance was perfect. Chester quickly formulated a plot in their mind, working out what they needed to say before getting into the mindset of someone woefully lost on their first day of the job, which wasn't actually all that difficult.

Chester tapped Lance on the shoulder. Lance jumped, quickly putting his handheld device away as he turned to face them.

"Excuse me sir, it's my first day and I'm a little lost. I was trying to find Daniel but I can't seem to find him anywhere," Chester signed.

Lance followed the signs, then pushed a large pair of glasses up his nose before signing back, speaking aloud as he did. "I'm so sorry, I'm afraid Daniel quit yesterday."

"Oh no!" Chester put a worried hand to their forehead and looked around helplessly. "I'm not sure what to do, Daniel said he would show me the ropes. I'm so sorry to bother you, but would you mind helping me out??"

"Ohh that is quite a pickle! Yes, yes of course! I can help you. I can do that! Yes." Lance awkwardly looked around for a moment. "Um… I'm not sure what all Daniel told you. But I see you don't have a tool belt yet! So let's start there!" Lance latched onto the direction with relief.

Much to Chester's relief as well, they ended up not having to do much of anything but look lost. Lance rambled as the two of them walked, leading the way to an employee stock room. Lance didn't question Chester at all about why they didn't already have a tool belt or one of those hand held devices. He was woefully caught up in his own anxiety, and actually apologized to Chester several times during his rambling.

"So sorry about Daniel quitting, we've been having a really rough time of it lately. I hope you haven't been lost for too long!! The faz-phones have maps on them, it's really easy to see where you need to go. Rosa and I assign tasks as they come up. Since its your first day I'll try not to overwhelm you, don't worry!" Lance assured. "It's usually not so bad, its just that lately things have been… well, we're just short staffed is all!"

They made it to the employee store room. Lance strode past a line of janitor carts, a table of walkie talkies set into chargers, and a shelf of heavy duty flashlights before arriving at the rack of technician toolbelts. The 'faz-phones' as Lance had called them, were lined up on a shelf, plugged into labeled chargers.

"What's your number? The technician number Daniel assigned you?" Lance asked, looking over the row of phones.

Chester froze. Should they make something up? Pick a number from the line of phones at random? But what if they chose one already assigned to someone else??

"Don't worry if you can't remember! It took me a while to memorize mine, too. Here, this one isn't in use. Since its your first day it won't be any trouble to reassign your number," Lance said quickly once he'd caught sight of Chester's panicked expression.

"Thank you," Chester signed, relieved. They accepted the faz-phone, giving it a look over while Lance made a note in his device to reassign their number later.

"Try not to forget again though, it'll be much more difficult to reassign your number once you've got an in progress task list assigned to you," Lance warned. "You should memorize it anyways because you need it to punch in."

"Right."

Lance grabbed a tool belt at random for Chester and mentioned that should they loose any of the tools, replacements could be found here in a crate at the back of the room.

"When you select a task from your list there should be an option to view it on the map. You can also pull up the map tab whenever you need. There's different types of tasks as well, electrical, repair, diagnostics, installation, etcetera. Usually we try to personalize task lists to each employee based on your profile, but with how few of us there are we kind of have to help each other out a lot. If you ever handle an animatronic repair task, the repair chamber in parts and service central can connect to your device, just plug your technician number into the computer and it'll update your faz-phone with any replacement parts you need." Lance paused. "I'm so sorry if Daniel already told you all of this! I tend to ramble from time to time." He laughed nervously.

Chester was far from annoyed. They were deeply appreciative of Lance's rambling. "No worries."

Lance glanced at their own phone, wincing at whatever he saw pop up on the screen. "Um, I'm so sorry, but I've got some tasks I can't reassign. If you have any questions or need anything else, you can contact me or miss Garcia through your faz-phone. Good luck with your first day, Chester!" Lance offered an apologetic smile.

With that, Chester was alone in the room. They looked around, noting a bookshelf near the end of the room full of employee handbooks. There were several health and safety booklets, a few maps, some 'in case of emergency' booklets, and-

Chester breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Technician booklets. Manuals and guides to the animatronics and a lot of the tech around the plex. They didn't have time to read right now, but they'd definitely be reading those over the moment they did have the time.

The faz-phone buzzed in Chester's hand. They turned it on to find a quickly growing list of tasks. As the list kept updating, the little scroll bar on the side shrinking smaller and smaller, Chester's worry grew in kind. They navigated through the tasks, trying to find one that looked relatively easy.

They'd be doing a lot of learning on the job, it seemed. Chester took a deep breath to steel their nerves. All they had to do was do this job well enough to not be fired. That wouldn't be too difficult, right?

~~~

A few hours later, as Chester was elbow deep in a bumper car with an angry impatient metal wolf looming over them, they were starting to regret some of their decisions.

As the animatronic wolf told it, she had apparently ripped the wheel of the car clean off in frustration because the last tech who serviced it hadn't aligned the wheel properly, causing the car to constantly drift to the right. Chester was having a hard time getting the base of it to sit right. It didn't seem to want to sit all the way down into the bit that connected it to the two front wheels. Chester could easily guess that the previous technician had wedged it in as far as it would go and had called it a day, since it still technically worked well enough to move the wheels left and right. Since it wasn't properly bolted in, however, it had easily worked its way loose again.

Chester pulled the entire wheel and its connecting cylinder out of the car, figuring they'd set it in there wrong. They really didn't know what they were doing. The wolf certainly wasn't making it any easier.

"Hurry it up! My next race starts in ten minutes!" she growled, folding her arms. The glamrocks, as Chester had learned they were called, were comprised of a complex inner working of moving metal plates and extremely durable endoskeletons. The intricacies of their impressive design meant their faces were allowed a small range of expression through the use of adjustable plates around their brows and cheeks, and their complex range of motion allowed for the conveyance of body language. And so, it was very clear to see that this particular animatronic was deeply annoyed with Chester.

Chester huffed, doing their best to ignore the looming wolf robot, and tried to get a better look at the inside of the bumper car, to try and puzzle out how it was meant to connect. The wheel's cylinder was meant to sit in a tube connected to metal rods, which in turn connected to the wheels. As the cylinder turned the tube, the rods would be pushed or pulled in tandem, turning the wheels. Chester eyed the tube, wondering if there was a dent in it preventing the cylinder from fitting in it properly.

There wasn't a dent, but upon close inspection Chester did find a loose screw sitting at the bottom of the tube.

Relieved that the error wasn't a lack of knowledge on Chester's part, they quickly pulled out the screw and tried fitting the wheel's cylinder back into the tube. It clunked into place without issue. From there it was a simple matter of screwing a bolt through the tube to hold the cylinder in place. They closed the hood of the bumper car, relieved.

Chester turned to the wolf. "That should be-"

"Great. Outa the way." The wolf strode past Chester and climbed into the car. "I've got a race to win."

Chester quickly moved out of the way- they were far too busy to be run over. The wolf lady sped off at once. Chester pulled up their task list and marked that particular in progress task as complete, opting not to leave any notes in the optional note box. They weren't sure if others could see their notes, and they didn't want to inadvertently give away their complete lack of knowledge. The task vanished from the list and was instantly replaced with two more.

Chester heaved a sigh. They scrolled through the list, noting that a few tasks that had been there a while were gone now. Chester guessed that these tasks had been reassigned, or had even resolved themselves, by some miracle. They hunted through the list for something easy. There were a few 'high priority' tasks at the very top of their list. At first, Chester had been deeply intimated by these, worrying about the level of skill they might require. As they reached the end of their current tasks, however, they begrudgingly decided to at least look them over.

…Something wasn't right here. Between two tasks labeled 'Animatronic repair' and 'Welcome area projector installation' was another high priority task labeled 'Replace lightbulb'. Chester selected the task, reading the details.

Apparently, a light in an area the map declared 'Superstar Daycare' was out, and needed replacing. The lightbulb type was listed, and the map also helpfully listed what supply closets stored replacement bulbs. Chester accepted the task, marking it as 'in progress', and started on their way towards the nearest supply closet.

Maybe the task had just been labeled wrong? Whatever the case, Chester was grateful for the easy fix. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, as they say.

Chester puzzled absently over the nonsensical phrase as they made their way out of Roxy Raceway, walking along the colorfully painted far wall, vibrant orange desert canyons populated by tall cacti. What was a gift horse? Was the horse the gift? Was it considered bad luck to look at a horse in the mouth? Chester couldn't extrapolate the connection between the phrase and its intended meaning. They knew by means of gleaning implication from others that it meant to not attempt to find problems with something graciously given, but where the hell did horses fit into the picture?

It seemed someone had the foresight to store a step ladder in the storage closet with the lightbulbs. Chester was grateful for this, they weren’t sure if they would have remembered to grab a ladder otherwise. Lightbulb and ladder acquired, Chester pulled their map back up and made their way to the daycare, storing the lightbulb in their tool belt and setting the top step of the ladder over their shoulder to free their hands. They'd been back and forth across the building enough times that they thought they should have started to get a feel for the layout, but for some reason they couldn't wrap their mind around these halls. They kept running into areas they could have sworn they'd passed, or they'd pass the exact same gift shop they would have sworn they'd seen on the other end of the building.

Chalking it up to stress and exhaustion, Chester put it out of mind as they came at last to the daycare.

Past a blissfully quiet check in area and down a set of stairs, Chester navigated through a collection of tables and chairs situated outside of what appeared to be the actual daycare itself. The top half of the two-story high room was enclosed with netting, reminding Chester of bird exhibits in zoos. Chester pushed open the giant double doors, which were reminiscent of a castle’s wood gate entrance. The medieval references continued inside the daycare itself. Across from jungle gyms and slides and neatly organized stacks of toys was a moat full of plastic colorful balls, little bridges leading across to a massive castle themed fort. High up beyond the reach of most average ladders was the top of a tower, decorated with chiseled foam stones and flowering vines of paint. Beyond the balcony atop this tower, a theatrically red curtain was drawn over a doorway, hiding a space beyond. The only thing here not on theme was the security desk by the door, currently unmanned.

Chester spied a group of kids, all gathered together around plastic tables and tiny chairs. Amidst all the bright colors and surrounded by kids, Chester almost didn't notice the figure sitting with the kids until he sprang to his feet.

"Hellooo!" the figure called. "You must be here to fix the light for us!!" The figure took a moment to check over the children, a few of whom had turned to look at Chester. The figure looked like another animatronic, but he wasn't animal themed like the others. He looked like a sun, his flat circular head encircled by seven orange triangles. He was tall and narrow, all bright oranges and reds and yellows, and clad in stripes and bells and ribbons like some sort of clown. He wore a soft bright red scarf around his pole neck.

"Yes, I-" Chester's hands stalled as the animatronic did an honest to god cartwheel around the table he'd been sitting at before running right for them. A jolt of fear shot though them at the sight of someone barreling towards them, and before they knew what they were doing they'd crouched into a defensive stance, fists raised.

"Woah there! Are we boxing??" The animatronic halted instantly to sign and speak in tandem, then raised his own fists. He bobbed fluidly and exaggeratively from side to side, like a character in a fighting game.

With a brief bout of embarrassment, Chester lowered their fists and straightened back up. "I'm here to replace a lightbulb."

"Of course!! It's right over here in the snack time area! Leave your shoes by the door and I'll show you," the bot said, spinning on his heel not a moment after quickly flashing the last sign and waving for Chester to follow. He bounded across soft padded floors.

Chester followed, kicking off their shoes and placing them out of the way before taking quick strides to keep up. They noted some of the kids were staring after them and the animatronic, so they gave the kids a little wave. One waved back, nearly knocking a pair of star shaped sunglasses off of her face.

The animatronic stopped in a small nook off the side of the main daycare. Above a little kitchenette surrounded by tiny tables was the faulty light in question, a dim yellowed dome sitting snug against the low ceiling.

Chester set up their step stool under the light. The stool was the perfect height for the job, and Chester began carefully twisting the dome off.

The animatronic was watching them carefully. Chester glanced at him, but couldn’t discern much. The bot's face was a set mold with a big pointy nose and an even bigger grin. His white eyes glowed faintly as he scrutinized Chester. His eyes lacked any discernable pupils, but it was clear he was staring at them none the less.

“Say, did you know you seem to have picked up the wrong name tag??” the animatronic said.

Chester froze, fighting down that panic. They struggled not to drop the dome, instead setting it down gently between their feet. Hands free, they signed at the animatronic. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“It must have happened because you two have the same name, right? But the barcode on the back is the first Chester’s employee code!”

Chester looked down at their stolen name badge. Apparently this bot could see the barcode on the back. Chester tried to think up some excuse, some explanation. They could have agreed with the animatronic’s assumption, laughed about the mix up, but what would happen the next time Chester met this animatronic and they still had the same name tag? When the barcode on the back was still the same, surely the bot would get suspicious.

The animatronic went on in the face of Chester’s panicked silence, tapping a thoughtful finger on his chin. “Here we thought the first Chester had quit months ago! If you two mixed up your name tags that must mean the first Chester decided to come back? Which is funny, because the first Chester seemed to really, really want to leave really badly all the time!”

“Chester did quit. They just… gave me the old name tag,” Chester signed quickly.

“Oh?? How lazy, they wouldn’t even make you a new name tag!” The animatronic ‘tsk’ed.

Chester shrugged. “We’re really short staffed, I’m sure they were busy.” They reached up and started to unscrew the old lightbulb. With one hand they continued to sign, quickly changing the subject. “So what’s your name, then?”

“OH!! Of course, where are my manners?!” The animatronic reeled back, slapping both hands to his cheeks. “I’ve got lots of names and nicknames and they’re all just great!! Sun, Sunny, Sundrop, Sunshine, Mister Sun- take your pick!”

“You don’t have a preference?” Chester asked. They shook the old lightbulb next to their ear. They heard the faint rattle of a dead bulb (as well as the constant ringing, which didn’t seem to be going away anytime soon) so they stored the old bulb away and began screwing in the new one.

“Nope! I love them all!” the animatronic insisted, signs punctuated by the jingling of bells on his wrists.

“Sun seems easy enough. Is that alright?” Chester asked.

The animatronics' head spun a full 360 degrees as he gave Chester two thumbs up. “That’s a-ok!”

"You don't have to sign if you don't want to, by the way. I can hear just fine," Chester mentioned.

"Noted!" The animatronic, Sun, watched Chester work. His fingers started to fiddle with the ribbons tied around his wrist, jostling the bells tied to the ribbons. “You seem a lot nicer than the other techs! Are you going to stay for very long?”

Chester couldn’t fathom how they’d managed to come across as nice, but they weren’t about to argue. “I’m not sure yet,” they answered honestly. They’d be around as long as the cops were still after them. With the new lightbulb securely in place, they reached down for the dome covering. “It’s my first day on the job.”

“Only your first day??” Sun’s faceplate turned only a few degrees, mimicking a head tilt. “How’d you know about the first Chester quitting if its only your first day?”

Chester fumbled with the dome, nearly dropping it. “I didn’t. You told me that. I made a reasonable assumption when I said that before, about them giving me Chester’s old name tag.” They focused on screwing the dome back on so they could hurry up and get out of here. This bot sure was asking a lot of questions.

“I see! You must have been right, I can’t imagine why else you’d have Chester’s old name tag!” Sun said.

“Okay, all done.” Chester hurriedly climbed down, folding up the step ladder and setting it over their shoulder. “Sorry for the intrusion,” they quickly signed, already heading for the door.

“It’s no problem!! Have a nice day, goodbye!” Sun called after them.

Chester grabbed their shoes on the way out and closed the doors to the daycare behind them, then breathed a sigh of relief. That had gotten a little too close for comfort.

Chester got their shoes situated and hurried off, eager to put some distance between themself and the daycare. They pulled out their faz-phone, marking the task complete. They’d return the ladder to the closet they’d found it in, and then get on with their next task.

Chester recounted the encounter in their head as they walked, making sure they hadn’t told Sun anything incriminating or conflicting. That Sun guy sure was nosy. So long as Chester avoided running into him again, they should be fine.

Before the end of the day, Chester ran into Rosa once more. She mentioned forgetting to ask for their technician number earlier. She needed it to assign them their schedule, since the computer had wiped all those employee files, which would have allegedly contained Chester’s assigned technician number. Chester read off the number printed on the back of their faz-phone, promising to memorize it soon.

Finally, the day was over. Chester ducked into a restroom down in the access tunnels and hid in one of the stalls to wait for the building to close for the night.

Perched atop a toilet seat, dressed as a technician for an entertainment complex, hiding out from the authorities and living an absolute lie, Chester took a moment to think about the unfortunate directions their life had taken.

Chester thought about karma. They were not religious, not superstitious, they didn’t even particularly believe in luck. They did believe in the possibility of such things, however. And so, they had to wonder, if their misfortune was in some way retribution for something they’d done. Some horrible mistake they’d made without even realizing the true extent of their actions. Perhaps the lack of realization was part of it, perhaps not even knowing how terribly they’d managed to hurt someone was crime enough on its own.

Chester had never meant to hurt anyone. Of course they hadn’t. Sometimes, despite their best efforts, they wound up hurting people regardless. Sometimes it took them a while to even realize their mistakes. Maybe the realization was just around the corner, waiting to hit them over the head. Maybe this was all somehow their fault after all.

Chester looked down at their hands. They’d washed their hands, scrubbed their fingers nearly raw.

Even so, they could still picture the blood that had stained them a little too easily.

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