#hurt!reader

Everything was fine. Everything would keep being fine as long as no one asked any questions. Because if anyone asked you a question, something was going to break open inside you so wide, so broken, that you could never force close it again. So, coffee in hand, makeup checked and double checked, laptop in bag and shoulders squared, you walked into the compound. 

You smiled and waved at Gary, calling out a soft ‘heya’ to the security guard who sat at the front desk daily, diligently checking everyone coming in and out of the labs. When you could, you remembered to bring him a coffee: for such a giant of a man, he loved an extra-sweet latte. He kept you all safe, or as safe as he could, and you thought he probably didn’t get enough recognition for it. He was as part of the brickwork of the place as much as any avenger or director alike. He kept the place going, and it was important to you to recognise every turning cog of a machine. 

It was the small things that mattered. They could make someone’s day. They could blow your life wide open in a way that made it hard for you to sleep at night. Focus on the little things. Sleeves pulled down, top button done up. Hair down to cover the bruise, just skimming past the edge of your hairline. He usually paid more attention when he hit you. It was usually easier to hide. 

Never mind; you’d just have to work a bit harder at hiding it until it faded. 

You passed a few fellow scientists on your way through to your lab. Dr Sophie Rosen, who was working on improving the space tech Stark Tech had started and got bored of, caught up with you, and you made your way through the winding corridors together, catching up after the weekend. You were meant to meet her for drinks on Saturday night - a group from the lab had agreed to meet up. But Mark had made it clear you wouldn’t be going when he’d thrown you to the floor and slammed the door to your shared bedroom in your face, locking it behind him. He’d left a boot print on your back, bruises on your wrists, and a ringing in your head.

‘Anyway, I’m jabbering on. I wasn’t sure to expect you in today’ Sophie’s comment pulled you back into reality as you turned to look at her, confused. She looked back at you, an equally confused smile pulling at her lips, ‘your cold? Gone now?’ Oh. God, you were slow today. You’d told her you were sick to get out of drinks. 

You brushed it off with a laugh, ‘Oh yeah, must have been one of those 48-hour things! All good now.’ The words rushed out of your mouth slightly too quickly, and slightly too dismissively, but Sophie didn’t clock it. Instead, she knocked into you gently, whispering in mock conspiracy, ‘Mark better have looked after you or I’ll send him up to space next instead of a test dummy.’ 

You laughed her comment off, the same way you did every time someone at work brought Mark up. Smile. Laugh. Brighten your eyes. Keep the small things hidden. Don’t think about the friends you’ve lost. The nights alone. The nights in agony. 

You made up some story about ‘soup or something’ before being internally flooded with relief as your lab’s door came into view. You sped up slightly, rushing to get away from a conversation you didn’t know how long you could lie through. You told Sophie that you were close to a breakthrough and that you were gonna ‘crack on’. You hoped she took the startled gasp of pain you let out as she pulled you into a hug as one of surprise. She didn’t need to know your ribs were pulsing in sharp pain at the contact.  

As the doors to your lab let off the gentle hiss that told you they were closing, you walked to your workbench, gingerly, letting the pull of your aching body envelop you for a second. You all but fell into your chair. Shut off inside your lab, you let yourself have a second to think of what happened on Saturday. A few seconds to process before getting on. 

Mark had come in from his shift in a shit mood. You should’ve known better than texting him to say you were going out that night. Should have asked permission. Should have had his lunch ready when he came in. Should have woken up early to clean the apartment.

 But you were tired. You were so tired, and you had been for a while. So, in the safety of an empty apartment, you’d let yourself rest, let the warm sunlight lull you into a false sense of security as you dozed. 

But suddenly it was midday and the door slammed open. Suddenly, he was in the bedroom. Suddenly, he was on top of you. Suddenly, you hurt. Different parts of your body screaming at you in pain while he spat abuse down onto you. You’d tried to curl in on yourself. Begged him to stop, tears streaming down your face. It didn’t make a difference.  

The slight sting of the cold metal workspace in front of you pulled you back to the lab as your forearms rested on it, your head cradled in your hands. You’d loved him. He’d loved you. He still did. Or at least, he told you he did. What was worse, you knew a part of you still loved him. It hurt to stay, but what if it hurt worse to leave? How could you even leave now? Where would you start?

Deep breath in. Deep breath out. 

In. Out.

You pushed the thoughts from your mind as you picked up an AJ and your souldering iron and got to work. What better distraction could there be than finishing your upgrades to the arm in front of you? 

About five years ago, you’d finished your degree and stepped into the world of the Avengers. Or, more accurately, you’d been brought in. The tech you’d made for one of your final projects had caught the eye of Fury; the next thing you knew, you were sat in SHIELD HQ being given some equipment and designs, and told to ‘have fun’. By the end of the day, you’d signed a contract. 

Like every other SHIELD agent, you’d had to complete basic training to become a fully qualified agent, basic self-defence, weaponry and combat. It was how you’d met Tasha. She was training your group one day, and while you were sparring, she used a Widow Bite on you. Once you’d recovered, you’d asked her if you could hold on to it. When you brought it back a week later with five improvements and a more compact design, she got you relocated to the compound. 

You missed her fiercely. She’d been like a big sister to you, so when you’d come back from the blip to find her and Tony gone, something in you withered. Back then? They would’ve noticed the small things. They all would have. Nat, Tony, Steve, Sam…Bucky. They would’ve seen the way the fire in your eyes had turned to smoke. They would’ve seen the long sleeves in summer, the high necks. The black eyes hidden under bad makeup. 

They would’ve gotten you away from Mark before you even realised what he was doing was wrong. But most of them were gone now. Mark had pulled you away from the rest. And you were trapped with him. Someone with basic fucking shield training couldn’t even defend herself. Pathetic. 

So, you kept your distance from the rest of the team that came back from the blip. You clocked in. You clocked out. You did good work, and you went home. You pulled away from everyone. No more training days. No Avenger and Co get aways. No film nights. 

You smiled softly at the project in front of you, the upgraded arm for Bucky. You remembered how he’d told you late one night that the weight of the metal pulled at his shoulder uncomfortably. A small thing, he’d said, barely mentioned in passing, but something that you’d remembered. And one that you’d, hopefully, just fixed. A gesture. A way to remind him you were still there. To keep him in your life when Mark had cut him out of every other part. You pulled up a holo-screen, sending Bucky a quick message: Upgrade’s ready when you are! :)

You knew he’d come pretty quickly; he always did when you called, but you kept yourself busy anyway. Less time to think that way. Yelena had said something about her batons feeling ‘clunky’ - you could help fix that. The problem was, you got a bit carried away. So carried away, with your ear defenders on and angle grinder going, that you didn’t hear Bucky come in. Didn’t notice him until a hand landed on your shoulder. 

You couldn’t stop yourself from flinching, no matter how much you wished you had. You shrank into yourself, expecting a blow that, of course, would never come. You turned around as fast as the disk on the grinder spun, to find Bucky, stepped slightly back, wide-eyed and hands held up as if he was looking at a startled deer, not a woman with a tool that could be lethal. Your finger left the trigger, your heart hammering in your chest at a thousand beats a minute as adrenaline burned through your body and every muscle clenched out of fearful memory. ‘Fuck’ you breathed out, panic coursing through you. The second the tool spun down, you placed it on the counter, yanking off your gloves and ear defenders; ‘Oh my god, Bucky I am so so sorry! I didn’t hear you come in.’ 

Bucky hadn’t stepped any closer. His hands were still up, but his brow had furrowed slightly, his eyes flickering up and down your body, before catching on the purple, hand-shaped bruise, encasing your wrist where you’d just pulled your glove off. Your eyes followed his own. 

You couldn’t help but gasp a little as you saw it, turning away from him and immediately pulling your sleeve back down. No. No no no no no. Not now. He couldn’t see now. Not after everything. Not after you’d survived so long like this. Bucky’s voice came slightly gruff from across the room as he tried to force some lightness into his tone, ’It’s okay Doll - you alright? Thought you were gonna get me for a sec there.’ 

Your heart was still running at a million miles an hour, but you let out a slightly breathless laugh as you turned back around to him. There was something sad in his eyes. It was only small. Barely noticeable. But you liked the small things. You saw the small things. The way his frown crinkled the skin between his eyebrows, how his eyes seemed to get darker when he was upset. And Bucky was sad. Sad, and maybe angry. But he didn’t say anything, didn’t push. He kept a false, gentle smile going your way. Kept his voice soft and his tone light. He was trying to make  sure he didn’t spook you.

‘Nah, gramps. I think it’d take more than me and an angle grinder to take you down,’ you laugh out, picking Bucky’s new arm up and crossing the lab space towards him. 

‘I don’t know. I reckon you got some rage hidden in there.’ 

‘Hah, if you say so, old man.’ You were standing just across from him now. ‘You okay if I attach it the first time?’ Bucky nodded at you, ‘Sure thing, genius,’ you could feel his eyes flickering over your form again, searching for something as the hem of your t-shirt rose up without you realising, Bucky’s eyes immediately honing in on another bruise. But he didn’t say anything. He added it to the mental catalogue. He’d taken your disapperance the hardest, never knowing why. Except now, now he was finding out, and he hated the answer. ‘Remind me what upgrade this one is?’ You’d just finished attaching the new arm as he asked, so instead of replying, you told him to ‘give it a go, soldier, you tell me.’ 

Bucky quirked his eyebrows at you, a cheeky grin pulling at his lips, as if saying if you say so. You weren’t talking. Either you didn’t realise he’d blocked a bruise on your wrist that was filling him with rage, or you were hiding it. So he played along. He curled his fingers into a fist before swinging the arm in a full circle, the machinery now barely making a sound at the action. A surprised look came onto Bucky’s face as he brought his arm up backwards and slowly moved his arm in a back-and-forth motion a few times. ‘It’s not pulling,’ Bucky almost whispered in disbelief, before locking eyes with you, his features softening in gratitude, ‘you remembered.’ You smiled and nodded your head slightly, ‘you said it was hurting, I wanted to stop it.’ 

Before you knew it, Bucky had closed the distance between you, pulling you into the gentlest hug, but you couldn’t help but flinch again. Bucky felt every single muscle in your body tense, but he held you close, not letting you, but pulling you closer, letting your body realise it was safe, letting it relax into the hug. The contact put pressure on your ribs. It was worth it. Above you, Bucky simply whispered a ‘thank you,’ into your hair. 

The pair of you stayed like that for a while, bodies pressed against each other, pulling comfort from the other. It was nice.

You’d been so close once. Bucky was your person. Your best friend. Your safe place. You were one of the first people he was introduced to. The pair of you had bonded over 40’s music and good food. Movie nights happened weekly, and you’d stayed over in his room more than once after falling asleep mid-movie. Bucky always took the couch when you did. But Mark started making comments about the men you always seemed to hang out with. Then the comments turned into punishments. So you’d pulled away from the team. From Bucky. 

But you missed them. Missed him. Missed his messy hair in the mornings and the way his hoodies smelt of home. Missed how you felt safe with him. Eventually, you pulled away from each other. 

‘What are you doing tonight, Doll? We’re gonna have a movie night if you want to join us?’ Your heart broke a little knowing you had to say no. Everything in you wanted to say yes, to hide away with the team and never come back. But you couldn’t. Not with how Mark had been recently. Staying would only mean more bruises. More pain. You couldn’t cope with it.

‘I’d love to Bucky, but I can’t, Mark wants me home tonight.’ You didn’t miss how Bucky’s jaw clenched at Mark’s name.

‘But what do you want?’

You tried to laugh it off, ‘Come on Buck, it’s a Monday night.’ 

You tried to pull away. Bucky wasn’t having it. He fixed his gaze on you, immovable and hard. Before you knew what was happening, Bucky had your wrists gently held in his, pulling you over to the couch that sat in the corner of your lab. He sat you down before letting go of your hands and kneeling in front of you. You couldn’t look at him. His hand came up to your cheek, softly guiding your face so that you were looking him in his steel blue eyes. 

‘I miss you.’ 

He said it so simply, so matter-of-fact. It hit you in the gut like a bullet. You were frozen in time. Your brain was running at a million miles an hour, but you couldn’t make sense of any of it. You drew in a sharp breath as Bucky’s hands gently closed around your right wrist, and his voice, soft as sunrise, said ‘I miss you. And you’ve been pulling away from us. And now, I think I know why.’ He turned your palm upwards, cradling it in his hand, before shifting to sit next to you on the couch. You couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t do anything about the rising panic storming inside you. About the fear. The shame. The embarrassment. You couldn’t move when Bucky’s hands slowly pulled your sleeve up, revealing those small things you’d worked so hard to hide. 

Ugly, purple and black bruises, fading green ones with a sickly colour, and scars. 

‘I’m going to kill him.’ 

Bucky’s eyes, filled with anguish, took in the bruises, cuts and burns as he drew in a shaky, stuttering breath, his thumb gingerly tracing over the marks. He didn’t yell it. Didn’t shout. Didn’t rage. He said it like it was a fact. 

You’d been hurt. He was going to make sure it didn’t happen again.

You were crying. From nothing but the sheer gentleness that Bucky held you with. You hadn’t been touched, held, gently, like something precious, for so long. From the fact that he looked so sad that someone would ever hurt you. A stray tear turned into two, into a litany of sobs that were racking your body. 

At some point, Bucky simply curled his arms around you and pulled you into his chest. He held you close, held you tight, a promise that he wasn’t going to let go. A dam had opened, and water was flooding through. All the misery. All the sorrow and hurt of the last year, hitting you at once.

 Finally, you let it break you. You stayed in Bucky’s arms, protected from the rest of the world so long as he held you. And through each wave, each sob, each cry, he whispered comfort to you. Promises that ‘I got you now’, encouraging you to ‘let it out’, swearing that ‘you’re safe.’ 

Eventually, your cries wore out. You weren’t done crying. You weren’t gonna be for a long time. But for now, you’d tired yourself out. You pulled away from Bucky. He wouldn’t push. You knew he wouldn’t. But there was no going back now. Something in you had finally admitted the nightmare that your life had become, and you needed to tell him. Voice wobbling, breath shaking, you started talking. 

‘He didn’t used to-’ you paused, swallowing, steeling yourself as you looked into Buckys eyes and saw no judgement, only comfort and sorrow, ‘He didn’t use to hit me. I swear he didn’t. It started last year, when he got his new job after the Blip. Money was tight, and things were tense. We’d been arguing, and I said I was gonna stay the night here. It-‘ you broke off, looking away from Bucky. ‘It was the first time he hit me. Said the only reason you guys liked me was because you were probably passing me around like some fuck toy. It started that night and-‘ You could hear the groan of Bucky’s arm as his fist clenched, ‘and he hasn’t really stopped since.’

‘I wanted to come to you. I swear I did. But we’d just lost Nat and Tony and I…’ You looked away from Bucky, blush colouring your cheeks in shame, ‘I didn’t know how. It all happened so quickly, I couldn’t get out, couldn’t admit what he’d done. I’m sorry’ 

‘Dont,’ Bucky’s voice broke in, hoarse, sad and deadly, ‘don’t ever apologise for what he’s done to you. Don’t you ever feel embarrassed about this. We should have seen that something was wrong. I should have.’ Suddenly, Bucky was kneeling in front of you again, looing up at you like it was a prayer, ‘I am so, so sorry I wasn’t there before. But I am now. Please let me help you, Doll.’ 

You couldn’t speak, couldn’t say it. The pressure in your throat was too much to battle against. But you nodded. It was timid. It was scared. But it was there. He’d offered to help. You’d accepted.

He knelt up in front of you, pulling your body into another gentle hug. ‘I got ya. I’m gonna look after you now. I promise.’ He stood gently, helping you stand on shaky legs and wrapping you into his side. 

As you stepped out of the lab, you could feel eyes on you, your colleagues, on their lunch breaks, chatting, watching you be all but carried by Bucky Barnes into the personal quarters of the compound. But above you, Bucky was on high alert. Someone’s eyes locked onto you? He stared them down in seconds, making sure that not only would they look away, they’d never mention it ever again. He would protect you. Not only from Mark. From everyone. From the rumours. From the whispers. From the world. 

Before you knew it, you were sitting on Bucky’s bed. Gentle hands passed you a pair of joggers and one of his hoodies. You and Bucky were moving in a peaceful silence until you pulled your top off. The low growl that left Bucky’s chest was unmistakable as he took in the extent of the damage Mark had done. You locked eyes with his, which were full of apology and anger. He whispered out a sorrowful ‘I am so sorry.’ You didn’t need to reply.  

Without saying anything, he grabbed a balm off his bedside table and lowered himself onto the bed next to you. ‘Can I put this on you? It’s just a balm, helps bruises heal quicker.’ You gave a gentle nod of your head, and Bucky got some of the balm out onto his metal hand, warming it up with his human one. He kept all of his movements in your eyeline, quietly promising not to touch you without your consent, not to surprise you, and promising that you were in control. 

Warm hands started to work the balm over the bruise on your back while Bucky’s frown deepened. ‘It’s not your fault Buck,’ you whispered out. Bucky barely grunted at you in response, so you turned to look at him, moving your back out of reach and catching his hands in yours before he could carry on. ‘Bucky, look at me,’ he did. ‘This is not your fault.’ He just clenched his jaw and shook his head. ‘I should have noticed.’ A stray tear fell from his eyes. ‘I made sure you didn’t, Buck. This is no one’s fault but Mark’s. Promise me you know that?’ It was Bucky’s turn to nod in reply, but it was enough for you to turn back around and let him keep applying the balm. 

When he’d finished your back, he moved on to your arms, placing a kiss on each wrist when he’d finished. You stood up, quickly changing into Bucky’s sweats while he was turned around, before sitting down on the bed again, the smell of Bucky’s clothes immediately making you feel safer. 

In the smallest voice he’d ever heard, you whispered out, ’What do I do now, Bucky?’

‘Tonight you rest.’

‘And tomorrow.’

‘Tomorrow we get you out of there for good.’

You were heading back to your room from a meeting with coach. You had been told that you were going to be starting in tomorrow's game. You were so excited that you didn’t notice Sonnett running down the hallway. 

“Y/N watch out!” She calls out right before she runs into you. You wobble a little but she steadies you before you hit the ground. “Sorry! Got to run.” She is about to take off again down the hallway. “Actually, I could use you.” Sonny grabs your hand and drags you down the hallway behind her. 

“Why are we running? What did you do?” You ask her. 

“There is no reason for the running. I didn't do anything. Why would you even ask that?” Sonny responds. 

“Sonny, get back here!” You hear Kelley yell from down the hallway. 

“Did you prank Kelley?”

“Maybe?”

“Becky told you that you aren’t allowed to drag me into your prank wars. And I think that this constitutes dragging me.”

“I may be dragging you, but this is not a prank war so not breaking Beckys rules.”

You turn a corner and are all of a sudden heading down a set of stairs. Sonnett’s grip around your wrist made it impossible to get out of it without hurting yourself. 

“Can you let me go please. I was on my way to get ready for dinner. I am already running late.”

“You're fine, we can just go to dinner right now.” You are keeping up with Sonny until the final bit on the first floor. You trip over one of the stairs and let out a yelp as you fall down the final few stairs. You fall into Sonny and you both tumble to the ground in a heap. 

“Sonny! Y/N!” Kelley calls from the flight of stairs above you. This draws the attention of some of the other girls who are waiting in the meal room which is next door to the staircase. 

In a second they were at the bottom of the stairs as Sonnett peels herself off the floor. 

“Oh God, Y/N! Are you ok?” You let out a groan clutching your wrist to your chest. 

“Sonnett what did you do?” Becky all but yells. 

“I- I didn’t…” 

Ali came running in with the team doctor. 

“Y/N can you sit up for me?” The medic asked. She helped you into a sitting position leaning up against the wall. She took your hand into her own and started poking it in different spots. 

The rest of the girls turned back to Sonnett and Kelley knowing that you were in good hands. They were berating them as the medic made her assessment. 

You let out a cry and tears start streaming down your face as she continues her assessment. “I think it's broken. We need to get you to the hospital for x-rays and casting.”

“A- am I still going to be able to start tomorrow?” You ask through your tears. All of your teammates went silent waiting for the answer. 

The medic sighed, “It’s not the end of the world, you will have another opportunity to start. You are only 16.” 

“Y/N I’m so sorry.” You shake your head and let the medic help you to your feet. Her and Ali help you out of the hotel to head to the hospital. 

“You’re the one who is going to tell coach why Y/N can’t start tomorrow. And the part you played in it.” Becky told her. 

Dustin had froze. Panic set in as he watched his older sister struggle more and more to take in a full breath. A small crowd began to gather and the excited chatter of the cafeteria simmered into hushed whispers and gasps. Everyone was watching, and not in the way Eddie was used to.

“Henderson!” Eddie snapped. 

At that, Dustin went to work. “Mike, go call 911! Lucus, see if the nurse has an epipen. GO!” The sheep dispersed. Dustin picked up your bag with trembling hands and began digging through your books and school supplies, searching for the epinephrine injector he swears you kept in there.

Eddie turned his attention back to you, trusting that Dustin had the rest handled. At the look of panic in your blotchy and swollen face he almost froze too. A chilling dread spread through his veins as you began clawing at your throat, doing everything you could to open your airways. 

“Hey, hey, hey, look at me princess. You’re gonna be alright, gonna be just fine, you hear me? D-Dustin will getchu your meds and you’ll be good to go,” Eddie rambled, trying to convince himself just as much. He gently cradled your warm face and stroked your hair to try and soothe you.

With every second passing you became closer and closer to death. Eddie looked up in desperation. His red-headed neighbor (Max, he thinks her name is) snatched the backpack out of a distraught Dustin’s hands and turned it upside down, emptying its contents. Robin was there too and put a comforting arm around your brother while Max took over the search for the injector. Eddie was vaguely aware of a teacher trying to pry him off of you but he’d risk getting expelled for shoving a teacher if it meant staying by your side. 

“Got it!” Max exclaimed, holding the orange and clear tube triumphantly. She slid to her knees on your otherside, not hesitating to jam the needle into your leg and holding it there.

Eddie flinched at the force it took to inject you. You took your first full breath, allowing him to take one as well. Your eyes were drooping slightly as the medicine was introduced into your system.

“Hey, there she is,” Eddie said gently.

Your tired eyes met his and he could’ve sworn the corners of your lips twitched upwards.

The paramedics arrived and Eddie hesitantly let you go so they could treat you. It was a blur of navy blue and red as they hooked you up to numerous tubes and slid an oxygen mask over your head. 

You became slightly more alert at the sight of strangers surrounding you as the stretcher clicked into place, raising you a couple feet off the ground. You moved your head tiredly trying to catch sight of anyone you knew. Anyone to comfort you.

“Dustin, go with her,” Eddie told the curly haired boy. He looked up at him with wet eyes that clenched at Eddie’s heart. “She needs you, go on.”

Eddie watched the determination emerge on the freshman’s face as he walked through the paramedics declaring that he was your brother, allowing him to be by your side. 

Swallowing thickly past the dryness in his mouth, Eddie watched you get rolled out on the stretcher. 

He turned numbly to see that Lucas and Mike had returned and started digging through your lunch, in an attempt to find out what it was that could’ve caused your reaction. As the two predictably began to bicker, Eddie grabbed the cup of applesauce and slowly brought the spoon out. To his horror, he scooped out a few small round nuts mixed with the smooth texture of the applesauce. 

His darkened eyes snapped up, immediately finding Jason. He at least had the decency to look scared, his skin white as a sheet. True terror shining through as he came to realize the severity of what he did. He shook his head slightly, pleading with Eddie. For what, he wasn’t sure. But he could give a shit.

The grip on the applesauce tightened, causing it to tremble, before he launched it in Jason's general direction. A fire of rage lit up Eddie's entire being, consuming any reason or restraint within him.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?! You could’ve killed her!!” Eddie roared, the words ripping from his throat like a thunderclap.  Every fiber in his being screamed for justice, determined to ensure that no harm would ever come to you again. 

“I-I-I didn’t think…I didn’t mean to-” Jason blubbered.

“Not good enough!” Eddie snapped. He charged forward, driven by the need to avenge your pain. Just when he was closing the distance between them a thick arm wrapped around his upper body. “LET ME GO!”

Eddie struggled against the firm grip that held him back from doing to Jason what he should've done a long time ago. If Eddie was strong enough, he could've saved you, stopped all of this bullying in its tracks before Jason had ever even looked in your direction. His strength never came from muscles or brute force, but from his anger—the primal need to protect those he loved. He was so consumed by his rage that a red haze blurred his vision. Or were those his tears?

“Eddie, man, don’t do this,” Doug said, doing his best to calm his friend.

“Please,” Eddie pleaded, losing some of his fight. “Just let me go.” 

“Dude, if you get into a fight you won’t be able to see Y/N in the hospital,” the bassist whispered in Eddie’s ear. He looked over and saw Principle Coleman closing in on them, there wasn’t much time left. “We can handle it, just go while you can.”

A wave of overwhelming frustration washed over Eddie as the struggle against Doug’s hold diminished. Tears welled up in his eyes as his chest released his rage and tightened back up with helplessness and despair.

He didn’t let it consume him though, taking off in the opposite direction of the principle, his sheep following close behind.

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When the van ripped into the hospital parking lot, Eddie finally took notice of how many stowaways he had. Lucas, Mike, Max, Robin, and even Nancy all burst through the double doors at the back of his skunky smelling van and made their way to the emergency room entrance.

Eddie was the first one through the doors, eyes scanning the waiting area for his curly haired friend. What he wasn’t expecting to see was the one and only King Steve sitting with the boy. 

Steve noticed them first, taking the lead on letting them know what’s going on. He explained that you’d be fine but the doctors are running some tests and getting you hooked up to the necessary machines. It’ll be a little longer before Eddie gets to see you with his own eyes.

Eddie turned on his heel and walked through the doors he just came through as Steve explained that your mom was called but was on a trip with her girlfriends and won’t be able to make it back until tomorrow.

The disinfected smell of the hospital only offered to heighten Eddie’s desire for a cigarette. He finds solace in the only coping mechanism he has under his belt, even if he knew it was bad for him in the long run. The stress of the day weighed heavily on him as he leaned on the brick wall of the hospital outside. The familiar routine of lighting up offered a good distraction, the only way to momentarily ease his anxiety.

That was until your brother found him. He silently stood next to him, not feeling the need to fill the silence with anything but the gentle breeze and the birds chirping in the distance. But it made Eddie feel uneasy.

“I’d offer you a smoke, but I don’t want to corrupt you more than I already have,” Eddie said with a sad laugh.

Ignoring Eddie’s comment, Dustin asked, “you remember that one time when Hellfire came over to my house for a session? When the theater kids needed the drama room at school?”

Eddie nodded his head slowly, releasing the smoke from his lungs as he did so.

“I was still in middle school so I had only heard about you from Y/N. She had this weird way of speaking about you. It was in a way I had never heard her speak about anyone before.”

Eddie’s heart punched against his ribs painfully, his insecurities taking over.

“She was nice enough to let me watch your campaign so I could get ideas for the campaign I was doing with Mike and Lucas, and our other friend Will. I think she regretted it because of the Reese's Pieces incident.”

Eddie couldn’t help but start chuckling embarrassingly at the memory. “God, that was so stupid,” he smacked his forehead in an attempt to stop his mind from reliving one of the most embarrassing moments of his life. 

-

The Hellfire members flooded into your home, bringing chips, candy, and drinks to share. Your first time hosting the club was going great, until Dustin noticed the bag of Reese’s Pieces in Eddie’s hand.

“My sister is too nice to say anything but-” Dustin started.

“Stop, Dustin-”

“-we can’t have those in the house.”

Eddie’s eyebrows pinched beneath his bangs, “what? Why not?”

“She’s allergic to peanuts.”

Before you could roll your eyes at your little brother and reassure him it was fine, Eddie turned and chucked the bag out your kitchen’s open window leaving you standing there in shock and Eddie horrified by his own impulse.

-

“I think that’s when she fell in love with you.”

Eddie’s head whipped over to Dustin. The kid had the audacity to look smug after completely shattering his world view. His mind spun with the revelation.

Love, a word so potent, was now intertwined with his thoughts of your relationship. Eddie knew he liked you, a lot, but his brain never brought him to love. He replayed moments from your friendship in his head, searching for the signs, trying to decipher if Dustin was telling the truth. If the sentiment was truly real. A mix of surprise and uncertainty overwhelmed him, but there was also something warm and hopeful there. It was both exhilarating and terrifying.

He needed to see you and hear it from you directly. A million thoughts and memories raced through his mind, but one thing was clear–he needed to be with you, to tell you how he felt.

part 3

Lee quickly toed off his shoes and met you at the couch, setting down his paper grocery bag along the way. You looked adorable swaddled up in a blanket with your stuffed bunny, but Lee’s heart couldn’t help but ache for you.

You’d been stuck on the couch all day. Standing or even sitting up required too much energy, not to mention that shifting positions could mean upsetting your body further.

Earlier today Lee wanted to call in sick and tend to you, but you assured him that you would be okay as he went on with his shift at the station. He lovingly carried you to the couch where he’d set up everything you could’ve possibly needed while he was gone. Blankets, painkillers, snacks, water, books, and the TV remote were all within reach. Your daddy left you with a kiss on the forehead and strict instructions to rest up, drink water, eat a snack, and call him if you needed help.

You obliged with a yes, daddy and made it through the next seven hours still in pain, bored, and missing your daddy. You were so happy when he came home, but your state meant you had to wait for him to come to you instead of running to meet him at the door as usual. Luckily, Lee wasted no time getting to your side. He’d missed you just as much as you’d missed him.

He held your smaller hand in his and gave you three gentle kisses on your forehead, the tip of your nose, and your puffed out lip. Lee normally loved your pouty face but knowing that this one was caused by your state of pain rather than an adorable neediness made it less enjoyable. He almost wished there was a single person responsible for your pain so he could take it out on them, but he knew all he could do now was be here for you.

“How ya feelin’ sweetie?”

“Hurts, Daddy.”

Lee muttered a curse under his breath and gently massaged the hand he was holding. “My poor baby. ‘ wish there was somethin’ I could do to help. I could beat up someone right now, makes me so mad seein’ my baby hurt like this.”

You shook your head and pulled his hand closer. “Just need Daddy.”

Lee smiled for the first time that day. “And you’ll get him, sweetheart. Just let me help ya out a little first, yeah? I stopped by the store and got somethin’.”

You raised your eyebrows in curiosity. Lee normally just bought the essentials, and you technically had everything you could need to recover at home already. He tucked your arm back under the blanket and began pulling stuff out of the bag.

“I gotcha a different kinda pain medicine, this one’s a cream. There’s a new thermometer, in case the old one wasn’ workin’ right and my baby really is sick. This here’s a new pair of socks to keep yer feet warm and protected. And this is a lollipop for being my good ‘n brave little baby.”

You admired your new socks and treat with a soft thank you daddy and let Lee fuss over you with his new supplies. He cleaned the new thermometer and let out a sigh of relief when it confirmed that you were at a safe temperature. He swapped out your old, worn-out socks with the new, softer ones. And then he carefully peeled back the blanket and your clothing to rub in the pain-relief cream.

After Lee washed his hands, he climbed in behind you on the couch, replacing the numerous pillows and blankets with his solid body. His round belly fit perfectly into the curve of your back, and his strong arms acted like a weighted blanket. He knew just how to support you to keep you comfortable and ease your pain.

In this position, he could also speak to you in a hushed tone and feel butterflies in his chest whenever you whispered back or snuggled closer to him.

You asked him about his day. He kept it brief, mostly talking about how much he missed you. He only shared the details of his work with you when you were at your big age; Lee was very diligent about preserving the safety of your little mind.

He turned the question on you, listening to you describe the episodes of Bugs Bunny you watched and what antics your stuffies got into today. He loved hearing about your inner world. Lee never got to explore his imagination too much. His responsibilities kept him tied to the real world, so he admired that you were able to keep that part of you alive while still dealing with your own issues.

The two of you fell into a comfortable silence before you were overcome with the need to tell your daddy how much you appreciate him.

“Thank you for takin’ care of me, Daddy.”

Lee kissed the back of your head. “It’s no problem, sweetheart. That’s what daddies are for. You feelin’ any better? That pain medicine doin’ its job yet?”

“Mhm.” You nodded and then turned your head to muffle your next sentence, shy about the sappy words about to leave your mouth. “Daddy’s the best medicine though.”

Lee chuckled and pulled you closer if that was possible. “Oh yeah? What makes ya say that?”

You squeezed his arms wrapped around you and wiggled against his belly, proving your point. “Daddy’s soft and cozy and strong. And Daddy gives the best cuddles.”

What many may not know was that Dexter was an adopted child. He was adopted as he was only 3 months of age in the Orphanage and even though he knew he wasn’t related to anyone by blood, he saw them as his own Family. Michael was the only one who didn’t really like him and that probably never changed.

It was the 30th of August 1983, a few days before Evan’s Birthday, which was the 5th of October. Dexter was still in school, learning Spanish and handcraft, while Michael was already out of school and was supposed to watch Evan and Lizzy, while their Father, William Afton, talked with Henry about something important, concerning the Funtime Animatronics at Circus Baby’s Entertainment and Rentals.

William didn’t favor any of his kids, he loved them all equally. But he had to admit that he saw a very bright future for Dexter. The boy was helping in the house wherever he could and he took so many extra lessons to learn a lot, that he was barely home. He was an excellent student too, with all these extra lessons, William thought that Dexter would never get homework done, but he mostly already finished them in school or got a few days longer from his teachers.

He got the best grades and the only thing he was not so good in was sport. William wasn’t mad about it that he had a four in sport. Not everyone can be good in everything and not everyone is fit for sport.

Michael was also a very clever boy, but he never shows it. He brought a lot of F’s home and the only good grades he got was in History and sport. Elizabeth was still in Kindergarten and Evan was very good and clever in his classes in school. The only thing that made William angry was that Evan got bullied a lot, mostly from Michael himself.

As William was done chatting with Henry, he came back and only saw Evan and Michael, but not Lizzy.

“Where is Elizabeth, Mike ?”, William asked.

Evan looked traumatized, while Michael shrugged his shoulders.

“She said she needs to pee, so I let her go to the Bathroom.”

Evan didn’t say anything.

“Then we will wait.”, William said.

And so…they waited. They waited 30 minutes and William promised to collect Dexter in 15 minutes. Something was wrong and so William went to the Bathroom for girls and looked around, even called her name…she never replied. He panicked and ran to Michael.

“Elizabeth isn’t there. Help me search her.”, he told his Son and Mike instantly searched with him.

They couldn’t find her and William was 2 hours too late to get Dexter from school. Henry made a missing report in the building and William drove off with Evan and Mike to get Dexter.

Dexter sat on the sidewalk of the school, scared that his Father forgot about him. Until he saw the purple car. He got up, but instantly saw that Lizzy was missing. He put his schoolbag into the trunk of the car and then sat next to his Father in the car.

“Where is Lizzy ?”, he asked.

“She went missing in Circus Baby’s entertainment and Rentals.”, he informed him.

Dexter froze up in shock.

“What ?”, he asked softly.

“You heard me, Son… We will drive to the Police now and report her missing.”

Dexter put on the safety belt and then they drove off. He knew something was wrong with Evan, but he blamed it on his Nightmares and his lack of sleep.

After the report was done, they waited for another 24 hours, because they can only search a person when they went missing for 48 hours… Stupid ass law but who fucking cares ? In two days they could be dead already, but hey…

All they found the next day was Elizabeth’s bow. Nothing else.

William started to be a bit more distant from his kids since then and then the Birthday of Evan came. Dexter begged Michael to tell Father about it so he can actually get Mark’s Family sued, but he refused in fear of what might happen if he would tell his Father. So they did the prank, Mark forced them into.

It was the 5th of October 1983…Evan’s Birthday…

“MARK STOP IT ! FREDBEAR IS NOT SAFE FOR THAT !”, Dexter yelled as he was about to shove Evan’s head into the Animatronic’s mouth.

Mark stuck out his tongue and ignored the warning. Not even 10 seconds later Fredbear bit down and everyone was screaming in horror as Evan’s head started bleeding. Michael screamed his little Brother’s name and shoved Mark and the others out of his way, pulling him out of Fredbear’s mouth.

“EVAN ! TALK TO ME ! EVAN ?! EVAN, PLEASE !”

Mark and the others ran away and Dexter was paralyzed in utter horror. He stared at the bloody mouth of Fredbear and his head was empty, trying to process everything, while William ran over and called an ambulance and held his Son close.

“Father it was an accident, I swear ! I didn’t mean to hurt him ! We were forced to and I had no other choice ! I’m sorry !”, Michael cried out.

William pulled him into a hug, while he cried.

“It’s alright. You didn’t know this could happen.”

But that didn’t mean that William won’t punish Michael for that later, with a lot of housework, grounding and forcing him to be better in school. A very fit punishment if you asked him. And just then they both snapped their heads up and looked wildly around until they saw Dexter. Dexter was standing there, staring at the bloody mouth and screaming bloody murder.

It all caught up to his brain and now he was in a full blown panic attack. No one noticed that Springbonnie moved, until he was right next to Dexter and tried to comfort him with a hug, which Dexter instantly replied with. He held onto Springbonnie tightly and hid his face in his fur, crying and shaking.

While William thought someone was in the suit, Dexter knew better. He after all spent a lot of time with his favorite Character.

Flashback…

Dexter was six years of age and was all alone in the Arcade room, playing a game. He was sad. Michael didn’t want to play with him, his Father had no time for him and he had no friends to play and talk with. All he had was watching Fredbear and Springbonnie and the Arcade Games.

“H-hello there l-little boy…”, a voice greeted shyly.

Dexter stopped playing and turned around, facing his favorite Character, Springbonnie.

“Hey Springbonnie. I didn’t know you can roam around freely.”, the boy said with a saddened voice.

The bunny’s ears perked up and he looked at the child almost worried.

“Why are y-you so s-sad ?”

“Just don’t have anyone to play with… My Brother doesn’t like me all that much, my Father is busy and I have no friends.”

Springbonnie looked at the boy saddened and went into a thinking mode. Then he looked at Dexter again shyly.

“W-well, if you want…I will be your friend.”, the Animatronic offered.

Dexter perked up at that and looked at the golden bunny with slight hope.

“Really ?”

“Y-yeah ! W-we can sneak into the Parts and Service and spend time together ! I can also bring games with me !”

Dexter got a big smile on his face and ran up to the bunny, tackling him into a hug.

“Thank you Springbonnie ! How about tomorrow ? Father will soon go home with us…”

“S-sure ! We will meet there in my breaks.”

Dexter smiled brightly and then heard his Father calling him and his Brother.

“I have to go. See you tomorrow !”

With that he waved the bunny Goodbye and rushed off.

The next day they met in Parts and Service and played a few board games. Most of the time Springbonnie won and Dexter had to learn that it is a part of his programming. He wasn’t mad about it either. He was just happy to have a friend.

“Say…who is in the suit of yours ?”, Dexter asked.

“Huh ?”

“Oh come on, Springbonnie. I know that you can’t act and talk like a human. You are just machines that got programmed to say and do certain things. A human has to be in there to act so much like a human.”

“There is no one in my suit though. Only Mister Afton can enter me and he is in his office.”, Springbonnie answered.

“Prove it to me. Open your mouth.”

Springbonnie clicked the two springlocks on the sides of his head and then opened it and Dexter was in utter shock. There truly was no one inside the suit. The bunny closed the locks again and looked at Dexter.

“I don’t know why I am so different… But now I know why Fredbear is so different from me.”

“Wait…Fred is not like you ?”

“No… He is unresponsive and only does what he is programmed to do.”

“Damn, must be hard to not have a friend then…”

“I have you as a friend now.”

Dexter smiled and then hugged Springbonnie.

“Yes you do.”, Dexter replied.

The Animatronic hugged back.

They met more often and Dexter even got taught by Springbonnie how to fix or even replace his voice box, without getting his hands springlocked. It took a few tries, but he got the hang of it and with that secretly helped his Dad to get home earlier than usually.

Dexter gave up telling his Father that Springbonnie has a very human like AI and is very much ALIVE, because his Father didn’t believe him anyways.

End of Flashback…

After all these accidents happened, there were children reported missing and Charlie Emily was found dead near William’s and Henry’s new Pizzeria, called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. She was dead in a back alley.

One day William came home, covered in someone’s blood and Dexter waited for his Father, worried sick that he may have gotten hurt. He almost screamed when he saw his Father’s clothes covered in blood. But something clicked instantly.

“All the times you came home late…you killed the kids that went missing. Didn’t you ?”, he asked.

William froze up and turned to the couch and spotted Dexter.

“Uhmm…no ?”

“You are terrible in lying, Father.”

William started to sweat and break down.

“I can’t control this. I am going insane and this is the only coping mechanism I have !”

Dexter got up and stared his Father in the eyes.

“You forget you still have two other kids to take care of. Stop thinking so much about Lizzy and Ev and think about us, who still walk the earth. If you get jailed for that, we won’t be able to survive on our own, Papa.”

William looked up at his Son.

“You…aren’t scared of me ?”, he asked.

“Would you hurt us ?”, Dexter asked him back.

“No ! Never !”

“Then I don’t see the problem. I am worried about your safety. You need to stop now or you will be found out one day, Father. One slip up and you are done for.”

And so it stayed by only 1 murdered child and 5 missing ones, Dexter found a girlfriend and graduated from school, instantly asking for a job in programming things. Everything went well for many months. But…then in Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza went Night guards missing or even were found dead, stuffed into suits. One night William left, trying to investigate and fix the issue, but… never returned home that night. And to add it all up to their depressing lives, Evan died two days after William’s disappearance from a heart attack.

Dexter got the house and Mike the factory ‘Afton Robotics’. While Mike still went to school, Dexter paid the bills and everything else to keep them alive. He and his Brother lived together even after Mike had a possible Girlfriend after he graduated.

Then Dexter met up with his own Girlfriend and she broke his heart that night and he came running to Mike.

“MICHAEL !”, he yelled sobbing as he was in the house.

He instantly came running down the stairs and rushed over to Dexter.

“What happened ?! Did the date not go well ?”

“She broke up with me ! She was just after my Father and his money, now that he is gone, she doesn’t want to do anything with me !”

“Then she didn’t deserve you.”

“I H-hate women !”, he cried into his Brother’s chest.

He had to buy Dexter a lot of ice cream and had to comfort him for a few days, until Dexter processed everything correctly.

They continued to live together for many years. Then Michael got a job as a Night guard at Freddy’s, which worried Dexter, but he didn’t stop his Brother. If he wanted to do this then he won’t stop him.

Michael told him that he wants to try and redeem himself. He heard Dexter and William talk that night and he wanted to help and find out what happened and where his Father went off to.

They soon found out that the Animatronics were haunted and still were, even though someone told Mike that someone destroyed them one night a while back. The very night where their Father disappeared.

What Michael never told Dexter was that he found a safe room and in there was Springbonnie with a decaying corpse inside it. He didn’t want Dexter to have a panic attack and think that whoever died in that suit WAS necessarily William Afton.

Then Michael went from Location to Location. He went from Freddy’s to Junior’s then to Circus Baby’s. Dexter was there too, trying to get the Funtimes up and running. Why you may ask ? Well Mike was told from Dexter that he lost his current job, because the workers and bosses didn’t like him and then started to note every small thing down they had against him.

But as Dexter was working on Circus Baby he made a scarring discovery. He found Elizabeth, their sister’s dead body, mangles, inside the Animatronic. He instantly went to Michael and he forbade Dexter to ever enter the facility again, claiming that she might possess CB and he doesn’t know if she could be aggressive, so he will burn the place down. Which he did at some point…

A few months passed and Dexter kept asking Michael to use Afton Robotics so he can also make profit. No one else would give him a job and he was desperate, but Michael refused, in fear Dexter will create more killing Animatronics.

He got killed in Circus Baby’s, before he set fire to that place, and decided to abandon Dexter, thinking it was for the best, because he was a rotting corpse and could have scarred Dexter even further for life, then he went to Fazbear’s Frights that was just newly built. He never knew that Dexter was there once too and looked around. He broke in though, because he wasn’t open at the time.

What Mike never considered though, was that Dexter most possibly would lose his shit over him and disappearing like that. Dexter sat most of the times on the floor in his room, swinging back and forth, holding his head in his hands and falling into dark thoughts.

‘What did I do wrong ?!’ ‘Did Mike hate me that much to just leave me here ?!’ ‘What did I do ?!’ ‘Why does he hate me so much ?!’ ‘What have I ever done to him ?!’ ‘Wasn’t I good enough ?!’ ‘Haven’t I given enough ?!’ ‘Is he at least alright ?!’ ‘Did he find Dad ?!’ ‘Why did he leave me ?!’ ‘I’m sorry ! Please come back !’ ‘….I wish I was dead and would never come back…’

Dexter stopped eating regularly and only ate once a week and soon only once a month. He threw himself into a full on, sleepless search for his Father.

One day, Dexter received a letter from Michael. He opened it and read it.

“Hello Dexter,

I’m sorry that I left you all alone, but I had my reasons. Tonight, I won’t be anymore, so Afton Robotics belongs to you. Please don’t make any killing Animatronics, I took so good care of them that they will be wiped out by the time I die and you can have a fresh start over with Fazbear Entertainment… I lived the whole time with Uncle Henry and he helped me in everything I did so far. I sadly found no trace of Father. We both opened a restaurant called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza Place, to lure the last remaining killing Animatronics in and to destroy them. Please don’t come for me and please do not intervene. We will be fine. This is my last mission that I have to accomplish. I need to ask something else of you though and I’m sorry that I kept this from you… I have a Son. His name is Gregory Bill Afton. He almost looks like Evan. Please find him and take him in for me. His Mother kicked him out one night as I was checking on them and I don’t want him to live any longer on the streets than necessary. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I’m sorry I couldn’t find Father. I’m sorry that I am doing this to you. And most of all I am sorry that you have to face the world now all on your own, without any of us to be by your side. I hope you can forgive me one day.

I love you and take care,

Micheal Afton.”

Dexter stared at the letter after he read through it and then broke down crying again.

‘What fucking reason could you possibly have had to abandon me ?! You knew I was struggling just as much as you ! You knew that I was mentally and emotionally very unstable alone !’

Dexter sobbed and sniffed for hours until he found his voice again.

“Fuck you Michael Afton… You fucking Bitch…”

Dexter turned on the TV and around midnight came on the news that Michael’s place burned down and there were no survivors. There were two burned bodies and one burned body in an Animatronic suit.

Dexter cried the whole fucking night, knowing Mike was gone. He had no one now.

The next day he started to design new Animatronic designs, a whole new place and called it ‘The Mega Pizzaplex’. He gave everything to Fazbear Entertainment and they instantly started to work on the place and a video game at the same time.

Dexter wanted to stay anonymous and even made an anonymous bank account. He got a lot of money, but he never told anyone, nor did he want to be inside the Pizzaplex. He made the Animatronics, made cleaning bots, staff bots and even security bots. And he didn’t make them so he doesn’t have to deal with annoying, super expensive employees, no, he made them for better security.

Robots are NOT humans and they are NOT going to kill a child if they function properly. Dexter designed all Staff bots and Animatronics with facial recognition scanners and the Animatronics even got something called a safe mode. The safe mode is activated at all time, throughout daytime and nighttime, but it will be deactivating if they see a highly dangerous criminal.

They are not programmed to kill when the safe mode is deactivated, but they are programmed to hunt down the criminal and capture him until the police collects them. Dexter coded his Machines very well too. A hacker would have a hard time to get in undetected.

Everything was safe. But he didn’t know that an Anomaly was inside the very game Fazbear Entertainment created. The VR game ‘Help Wanted’. He knew what the game was supposed to do, that it was supposed to cover up all the bad things that happened in the locations and an Indie Game designer decided to make Horror games out of them so future generations also know about some of the things that happened there years ago, which by the way, also was hired by Fazbear Entertainment.

Dexter didn’t care for it. At least the Pizzaplex would have a chance then. He put a lot of effort and ideas into the Pizzaplex and in the end it was the biggest Freddy’s location that ever existed. He quickly became a billionaire, but he never told anyone.

While he did all of this, he was also searching for Gregory, but he couldn’t find him anywhere. He looked into every dark alley he knew existed, but there was no trace of him. He hoped when the Pizzaplex was finished, Gregory would find shelter in there and all Dexter had to do was pick him up and get him home. If Gregory was really Mike’s Son, then he is most possibly just as smart as his Father and will go into the Pizzaplex to survive.

After all, it was warm in there, dry, safe and it had a lot of food and water.

Dexter was still hell – bent to find his Father and he never stopped looking. He made a friend a while back, called Alex Cruser.

Fazbear Entertainment, after the VR game didn’t really get published, nor worked the way they hoped it would, created another big Location. It was an escape room game with at least always 4 to 5 Animatronics from every Location that existed once.

The first room, was the starter room and nothing happened. You just saw the Original Freddy band perform and Foxy gave you a flashlight. Then the real shit started.

Alex went there to investigate, in request of Dexter to find out what was going on and an employee let something slip about an escape room Freddy’s location. Fazbear Entertainment asked Dexter for Endoskeletons and something he recreated a while ago, just better than before, Illusion discs. He programmed them to look, sound and even smell like the previous real Animatronics.

So in short…All the Endoskeletons were just that, Endos with an illusion disk slapped on them. With that the Endos looked like the previous Animatronics, sounded like them too and smelled just as horrid.

Dexter didn’t know any of this. He was told that they plan to make a museum in the Pizzaplex and needed some things he could make.

Dexter wasn’t allowed to program more though and that made him suspicious. So he asked Alex to investigate a bit and tell him what he saw.

But instead this message came one night…

“DUDEE !!!” “JUST LEFT THE NEW FAZBEAR ATTRACTION !” “My friend, take everything and come here. You have to see this !”

Then the Location was sent. Thankfully, because Dexter had no clue where it was.

“Just sent you the Location. Go. Tonight.”

‘This doesn’t sound like Alex at all… Did…something happen to him ?’

Dexter grabbed his backpack, made it empty, stuffed some stones into it and then left for the Location. As he arrived two of his staff bots were there. One told him of all the things that could happen and they won’t be responsible for any of the things mentioned that could happen. Then he had to pay and give his belongings to the other one.

‘Fuck this shit. I fricking knew it…’

He gave them his backpack and then he was allowed to go. And with that he went through the door and was greeted by the TIP Manager. It briefly explained what it did and what he had to do. Then he pressed okay and continued to the first room, which was just a waiting/Introduction room with the original band performing.

‘Why would they even mention possible brutal deaths and that they won’t be responsible for it ? I think Mike didn’t get rid of everything that likes to kill people…’

He pressed a button and Foxy held out a flashlight for Dexter. As soon as he took it, there was confetti flying around and Foxy laughed, before disappearing. Dexter looked around and groaned as he saw the button above the vent.

“Really now ? Why a vent ? It looks very tight…”

He pressed the button and waited until the vent was open, then he crawled through it and into the first room that could most possibly end him.

‘Evan’s bedroom… I remember that he always talked about his nightmares and drew them very often per my request… Did anyone find his drawings ?’

The TIP Manager arrived and told Dexter that something will appear in the window and he has to close the curtains to make it go away, that Nightmarionne will come out of the hole above the bed and he then has to hide in the Freddy Springlock suit behind him, that he already spotted and that he needs to complete the puzzle that is in the room and to get out of the room before his time was out.

‘Okay then…let’s go.’

Dexter pressed okay and then the shit started. He looked at the window, then at Nightmare Balloon boy and then he ran to the puzzle and turned a few of the pieces into right place.

Soon he heard a sound and looked only to see tentacles, he ran to the suit and put it on, not long later the Marionette came out of the hole and Dexter held his breath in shock. That thing was terrifying for a 7 year old.

‘Fuck, Evan I’m so sorry I never believed you…’

As quick as it was there it left again and Dexter got out of the suit, only to spot Balloon boy twitching. Dexter panicked and hurried to get the suit off and shone his light at him, making him go still again.

‘They don’t tell you everything ! Assholes !’

“How do you stop your Nightmares from getting you, Evan ?”, Dexter asked.

“They hate light. I shine my flashlight at them. Then the small Freddies go away and Plushtrap and the nightmare Balloon boy stop as soon as I flash them. The others work different… I have to listen for their breathing and close the doors and closet if I hear them, otherwise I can shine my light into the halls.”, Evan explained.

Dexter smiled as he remembered that.

‘Thank you, Ev…This just saved my life…’

Dexter rushed back to the puzzle and turned other pieces into right places, then he looked at the window and yelped. Nightmare Fredbear was right there. Dexter quickly closed the curtains and held them close until he heard a sound that sounded close to a ‘Whoosh’, then he opened them again and Fredbear was gone. Then he flashed Nightmare BB and hid quickly in the suit, because Marionne was also on its way.

As it was gone again he ran back to the puzzle and turned the last few pieces quickly.

‘Now I need to find the last piece… Probably in the chest, so I need to look for two keys…’

Dexter flashed Nightmare BB and then opened the drawers, finding the two keys and unlocked the chest. Then he looked at the window and saw Fredbear there again, he quickly closed the curtains until the sound came again, then he flashed Nightmare BB again and hid in the suit because Marionne came back.

As it was gone again, he grabbed the puzzle piece and put it in and turned it into the right position too. Then the thing clicked and the poster fell down, showing a code. Dexter looked down further and was in confusion.

‘A red button ? What does this one do ?’, he questioned himself and pressed it.

Nothing happened sadly.

Dexter looked at the bed side table and rushed to open it and found a safe. Before he could punch in the code, there was a new sound and Dexter looked around wildly, spotting a small Freddy. He quickly flashed it and it disappeared, then he flashed Nightmare BB and hid in the suit again.

As the Marionette was gone he got back out and checked the window, nothing so far, so he ran to the safe, punched in the code quickly and opened the safe, he found a hammer and he took it, looking at the closet.

‘Well then… I guess I will have to open that…’

He looked again and flashed Nightmare BB and then closed the curtains to avoid Fredbear getting him. Then he ran to the boarded up closet and tore out the nails. He opened the closet and then suddenly heard another new sound, with flashing lights. He turned around, coming face to face with Nightmare Bonnie. He ran for the steel door, that slowly opened and he quickly rolled underneath it so it won’t get him.

The steel door fell shut and Dexter saw that he was in a room in between. He decided to take a small break. But then he spotted something.

‘What is this…?’

He crawled to the open vent and took out the piece of paper that was in there.

“Utah News

Fazbear’s open again ! The abandoned place of Freddy’s reopened as a horror escape room !”

‘So I was right… This was once a Location of a Freddy Pizzeria…’

Dexter looked at the wall he slid down on to sit down and saw that the next Location was Freddy Junior’s.

‘The toys… Great…’

After a while he went into the next room and the TIP Manager told him to hide in lockers and that not all are open, while Toy Chica is patrolling around, to watch the Music box of Freddy and to not over wind it and to complete the puzzles before someone gets him.

‘Well shit…’

Dexter took a look around and tried which lockers are open and which not. He spotted vent openings too and a keypad with weird symbols on it. After he took a look at all of this he felt ready, took a deep breath and started his level.

He heard Toy Chica already walk around, so he went to the other side and started to look for the code. He got out his pen and a piece of paper and drew the symbols then he wrote the numbers down that he spotted for the symbols.

‘Six Symbols for six numbers..’

Dexter soon noticed that Toy Chica always changed her route. So he had to hurry around. Then he heard banging over his head and he quickly his in a locker, praying he did the right thing. Not even a second later Mangle came out of the vent.

‘Fuck…I fricking knew it….’

Soon it also disappeared and Dexter got out and searched for the 4th symbol.

After a few seconds he found the fourth and fifth symbol and then ran to the keypad and punched in the code. Then he ran for the lockers and hid in there until the room was opened. Which took ages…

As soon as the coast was clear and the room was open, he left the locker and ran into the room. He saw the next issue. As soon as he turned on the power, he will need gears to get the power for something… Maybe the door. He flipped all the switches and turned on the power.

The Music box started and Dexter was running out of the room and searched for the gears. He found 2 before he had to hide from Mangle again. As soon as it was gone he continued his search for the third one and then he quickly wound up Freddy and continued. He had to find five of them after all.

Soon enough he found the last two and then ran to Freddy, wound him up and then put the gears in their respective places. After he put the last gear in the power for a switch was getting charged. He hid in the locker inside the room and waited.

‘Come on…CoMe On…COME ON !’, he thought impatiently.

After a while the switch had 100% power and Dexter flipped it. Then he searched for a red button and found two of them. He pressed them and then he ran for the exit door. Toy Chica spotted him, but Dexter slid underneath the steel door before she could get him and the door fell shut.

Dexter panted and fell back against the wall, panting heavily and his heart almost leaving his chest.

‘I’m supposed to be over 30 years old, but fuck… I’m glad I am stuck in a 19 year old’s body…’

He laid on the floor, trying to catch his breath.

“Fuck… I wish you were with me right now Mike…”, Dexter said softly.

After a while he sat up and sighed.

“I bet you would already know what is going on… I have no idea what all of this means besides that someone still plans to murder people…”

He banged his head against the wall and looked at the ceiling. After a while he looked around and spotted another open vent. He took out the piece of paper.

“MISSING ! Alfred C. Jons”

And a lot of descriptions how he looked.

“Isn’t he one from the Mental Health Center ? Fuck…Mike I wish you were here and tell me what all this means… I don’t like where all this is going…”

Then he looked at the bottom of the piece of paper.

“Yep he was one from the Mental Health Center…”

He sighed and moved to the third room. Again the TIP Manager came down and Dexter instantly went to reading.

‘Use the cams near your office to see who is coming… So more than just Springtrap is here ? Okay… Fuck me. …Use the lever to turn the systems on and off… Use levers near doors to close them…When they are at 0% they open on their own… Well shit… Don’t look at hallucinations…don’t leave office he will attack you… Complete the puzzles before something gets me…Well fuck me…’

Dexter looked around the room and then saw a small steel door blocking something from his view and the vent underneath.

‘For what do I have to turn the power off ? Only when something is INSIDE the office you usually have to turn everything off… At least that was in Circus Baby’s for a while…’

“Father ?”

“Yes, Dexter ?”

“Why do you always turn the power off when an Animatronic enters the office ?”

“Because they don’t see you then if it’s dark and you hide somewhere. With that you can save power. There is a vent that leads right in here and you can’t block it either. So we need to make the room dark when it happens.”, William explained.

“Oh…”

“I know. We need to seal that thing and then I can give the Animatronics advanced eyes.”

“Ah… Can I help you tonight ?”

“Sure.”

“YAY !”

William chuckled.

‘Wait…vent !’

Dexter looked up and he saw a huge opening.

“Oh…fuck…”

Then he looked around and the only place to hide was under the table.

“Great. Fan – fucking – tastic ! So I have to deal with phantoms, Springtrap AND an unknown Animatronic ?! YAY !”, Dexter yelled with sarcasm.

Then he spotted the keypad and a locked chest.

“AND I NEED TO FIND TWO CODES ?! OH HELL NAW ! MIKEY COME BACK TO LIFE AND HELP ME YOU BASTARD !”

Then Dexter laid down on the floor and started to weep softly.

‘I know nothing about the other Animatronic ! How do you beat it ?! I don’t want to be choked to death ! The first time was bad enough and I somehow am still alive, just not aging bodily. How did Spring even manage that ?!’

Suddenly Dexter’s head snapped up in realization.

“Uncle Henry ?”

“Yes, Dexter ?”

“Why do you not close the doors on all Animatronics ?”

“Because some of them can break them down easily and get inside.”

“Oh..”

‘What if the other Animatronic needs to come in, check the office and then leave and can’t spot me ? Man this will be hide and seek…’

Then he started the whole thing and saw two Animatronics. Springtrap and a Freddy Animatronic.

“Okay…”

He left the Cam on them while he searched for the code for the keypad. He found it under the table and he quickly punched the code into the keypad. With that he was verified to look at the vent map and he got a Fazcoin. He looked at the Arcade and put it in.

Then a game started and Dexter first off ran back to the monitors and saw them still in place. He nodded and then ran back to the Arcade Game and talked with, who he assumed, was Fredbear. Then he talked with a red crocodile and a female Balloon Boy.

He heard something, so he left the game and checked on the monitors, only to see that the Bear was ready to run to the office from the right. Dexter quickly crawled under the table and pressed himself against the right side. He heard fast footsteps and soon saw light. He held his breath until the Bear turned and left.

As soon as Dexter didn’t hear it anymore he got out and checked for Springtrap. He was on the left but he wasn’t ready to go for the office yet. He ran back to the Arcade and talked with a funny colored fox. They all wanted something and Dexter could only get the balloons.

He heard the vent and he checked the cams. Vent five… Dexter ran to the vent map and saw that it led to his office. He turned off all the systems and crawled under the table. Soon Springtrap appeared from the vent inside the office and looked around, then he left. Dexter waited until it was quiet and then he ran and turned the power back on. They were both in the middle again and Dexter quickly got back to work.

-Timeskip-

This was very extreme and it took Dexter a while until he was where he needed to be…apparently.

The system warned of overheating and a fire going to break lose, which Dexter really didn’t wanna stay here for. He met the bunny man. And here it was that scared Dexter.

“Springbonnie ?”

Whoever was inside him…whoever may have died inside him…he knew he was once human, he wanted out and he was not a part of this game. He aggressively said let me out and then there was Springtrap, trying to tear off the head, a dead body inside it and loud screams. It creeped Dexter out and he started to have tears in his eyes. (He has that reaction, because he is sensitive to loud noises and that screaming is hella loud)

“M-Mikey…help me…”

That was why the suit looked familiar with the structures in Frights. This was originally Springbonnie. But…it must have been a replica… William said he scraped Springbonnie after the bite. Maybe a prototype was found in Fredbear’s and the person put it on had died ?

The system said that there is not much time left until the fire. A lot of coding rolled and Dexter hoped to find the combination in that blasted game. He closed the doors in case Springtrap wanted to visit him and waited.

Soon there was the combination and he had to put it into order. He did so quickly and punched in the numbers in the small chest. He got a key and he ran to the keypad and put the key inside. With that the safety doors opened and the vent did too…slowly.

There was an explosion which made Dexter flinch and slightly tear up. There was fire everywhere, but Dexter quickly crawled through the vent as soon as it was open. Springtrap followed him quickly, making him panic and as soon as he was outside, he pressed the button for the vent to seal and it cut Springtrap’s head off, just…it was an Endoskeleton’s head that suddenly laid there.

‘That’s what they use the illusion discs for ? They told me they will use them in the Pizzaplex and make a small museum of all the past Animatronics…’

Now Dexter was really suspicious and he knew SOMETHING bad was going on.

‘I HAVE to continue…’

And with that he moved to Circus Baby’s…

He saw Baby without her limbs and he snarled.

“Because of you fucking bitch my sister is dead. Do I really have to fix your sorry ass ?”

Dexter felt very stressed out, but can you blame him ? He needs to survive all these endoskeletons that Fazbear Entertainment programmed to kill people, without Dexter’s knowledge. He is practically responsible for this partly, even though he had no clue about this.

He took a deep breath and entered the room. The TIP Manager came out and gave him information.

‘Tesla coils…run for 5 seconds and need to recharge for 10… Fuck me, I have to time my enemy… Blue button for light, red for shock…gun…? Are they out of their fucking mind ? Father said multiple times that it will damage the hardware severely and they would need to be fixed constantly…fuck had Mike to do that ? …Use it for no reason too often he will attack before the gun is ready… Ah shiet… Use blue button to activate Bon Bon and control Freddy… Use it too often for no reason Freddy will get pissed… Well Funtime Freddy was always the Animatronic with anger issues…And order parts, if one is broken return it and order a new one… Fuse the parts after connecting them to the Animatronic. Fucking knew it, I have to fix this Biatch…And that’s it. Alright let us start this Freakshow…’

Dexter pressed start and the nightmare began with the monitors telling him to find a CPU…BABY’S CPU.

‘CPU input… Must be in one of the drawers…’

Dexter opened the drawers and found the chip, then he shoved it into the monitor and he could start working.

‘Let me think again… Dad said there is an alarm and I just need to listen… Sometimes it was false though… On which Robot was that again ?’

Dexter was thinking hard, while he ordered the parts already and connected them to Circus Baby.

“Freddy was always silent… I remember that from my one shift with Father… He repaired the systems and I had to look out and he was so silent that I was too afraid to blink. Then I had to activate Bon Bon to get him back to his place… That will be here just the same then…”

He heard Music.

“Fuck.”

He ran to the left and saw Ballora coming for him. He pressed the shock buttons and the Tesla coils activated shocking her. She screeched and then crawled away like a spider.

“Oh fuck me… Dad what monstrosity did you make ?”

Then he rushed to the monitor and started with the head. While he did that he kept thinking.

‘Ballora I can hear… Only leaves…’

“Dad ? Why are there strange noises coming from the speakers ?”

“It’s the alarm system for Funtime Foxy, if they malfunction. With that we can turn them off in time and restart their system.”

Dexter smacked his forehead.

“I am fucking stupid to forget that…”

He was done fusing the head and went to the legs. Suddenly there was a sound and Dexter rushed to Foxy’s stage and looked. It was malfunctioning and Dexter waited until the lights are off, then activated the shock gun and checked on Freddy.

‘He is not there anymore !’

He pressed the button and saw Freddy’s eyes turn green near the door. Dexter took a deep breath and rushed back to fuse the legs.

-Timeskip-

Dexter was almost done. He just needed a little bit of the right arm and then everything would be fused together. He ran back from Foxy’s stage and tripped.

“OW ! FUCK ME !”

Dexter was about to get up, but saw a red button in the dark. He pressed it and then got up and quickly finished the arm.

Through the speakers was he informed that the Animatronics were deactivated for better transport and that Dexter was supposed to go through the right door in the right hallway. So he did as he was told.

He was in another hallway and there were two normal doors and one steel door that would lead him further.

‘Maybe one of these doors are open now because of the button ?’

 Dexter tried the first one, nope. But the second one did open and there was a newspaper. He took it and read it.

‘….What…?’

“CORPSE STOLEN !

Unidentified woman wearing a costume stole an old man’s dead body”

‘What the fuck…?’

He dropped the newspaper and stared at it in horror.

“Why is this shit here and why would someone do that ?”

He shook his head and moved on. As soon as he saw the Elevator he gulped, hating that he has to go in there…

‘I remember the time Father said someone died in that fucking thing, because the metal fan blades on top of the elevator broke loose and they still turned while it fell into the elevator, cutting the guy in half… I can’t imagine how fast they turned and how sharp the edges of the blades were…’

He hesitantly stepped into the elevator and pressed the button to go down.

“Now that I think about it…what even is scoop mode ?”

Suddenly the elevator stopped and red light appeared. Dexter started to worry. Then he heard giggles and he looked up, seeing Minireenas above the fan blades. They stared at him and continued to laugh.

‘What are they doing here ? Shouldn’t they be with Ballora ?’

Soon enough they disappeared, but just out of sight, not from the elevator. They started to destroy it partly.

“HEY ! HEY STOP ! DON’T DO THAT !”, Dexter yelled in a panic.

Then the elevator lost its grip and Dexter started to fall down with it.

“PAPAAA !”, Dexter yelled in utter fear, gripping onto anything that stabilized him.

He still had his legs in the air and soon he realized it was stupid to hold onto something, instead to protect his head. So he wrapped his arms in front of his head and waited in his total panic. This time he was truly terrified and even shared a few tears. Was this the end ?

CRASH !

 The whole elevator crashed down and through an area that probably wasn’t a part of the attraction. Dexter laid in the elevator, passed out, but not dead yet. He was still breathing.

After 20 minutes he woke up and had a massive headache.

“Oww… Where am I now…?”

He slowly got up and looked around.

“Definitely not somewhere where I am supposed to be…”

He then looked at himself and touched over his whole torso.

‘No pain and I am still fully functioning… But I fell from meters above and that pretty fast… Springbonnie…what exactly did you do to me when I was close to dying that day…?’

He pushed that thought into the back of his head.

‘No time to question that. I need to move forward and find a way out of here… Springy is gone anyways, there is no point in questioning someone who is long gone…’

He moved to a door that was in front of him and to his surprise it opened. It was a storage closet. He spotted something on a little stepladder, he picked it up and his eyes bulged out as he read the name of the missing man.

‘Alfred Calvin Jones ! The Mental Health Center employee that was reported missing in that one piece of paper ! He talked with…Vanessa Addison Martins…? Isn’t she the new Security Guard in the Pizzaplex ?’

He read through the whole notes and it unsettled him slightly.

‘This girl actually sounds a bit mental… Not gonna lie…’

He put the file back down and then saw the big opening behind him.

“Another vent… Yay, because the other vents were all so assuring…”, Dexter said with sarcasm dripping off his tongue.

But he continued further.

It took him a lot of turns and some time until he finally got out.

“Bitch FINALLY !”, Dexter yelled when he was in another room and out of the vents.

He looked to his left and saw a room, shielded with bullet proof glass.

“What the…?”

In the small room were all the Funtime Animatronics, Dexter just had to face.

“Heck…?”

Then he spotted the door across the hallway and he made his way there, but froze up and turned around as he heard noises coming from the small room. Dexter yelped as he saw a big Animatronic endoskeleton. It had no casing on itself, it was just wires and eyeballs.

“Holy fuck…”

The robot stood up and stared at Dexter, then he punched the glass, getting it to crack.

“SHIIIIIIIT ! NOPE ! I’M OUT BIATCH !”, Dexter screamed and ran for the door, slamming it shut behind him and it locked itself on its own.

Dexter panted. Then he pulled out his Flashlight, to see more in the dark room only to realize that it was broken.

“Seriously ?! Why ?! Just fucking why ?!”

Dexter threw the flashlight on the floor in frustration and then slid down the door that locked itself. He was at a loss of what to do now. There was no TIP Manager, so he has no clues what that thing was nor how to beat it. He knows that it will be his next opponent. But it was not part of the attraction…

“Okay… Deep breaths and think… All the parts of the Funtimes were there with that thing… So maybe it’s a mishmash of all of them ? That means it has advanced eyes of Foxy, very good hearing from Ballora, a sense of feel where you are at all times from Freddy and probably the jumpscare of Baby… I hope I am right, otherwise I came so far for fucking nothing and I disappointed my Father and my Brother…”

With that he got up and started to blindly feel around the area. Soon enough he touched something and he grabbed it. There was a crank on it and he wound it up, it made a lot of noise and it gave light. Dexter looked around and saw a solar pallet. He held his flashlight on there and a door to his right opened.

‘Here goes nothing…’

With that he left his little room and into a…

‘Oh fuck no… A warehouse of all things right now ?! Shit !’

Dexter took off and ran almost into the middle and then hid there for a bit, hearing metal footsteps. He held his breath and had the flashlight under his dark shirt to hide the light. He looked underneath the shelves and saw its feet move further to the back. Dexter got up and ran for it to the other end of the warehouse.

He spotted a door and a note there with something that wants your ID Keycard.

Someone named John has one in the lower drawers on his desk.

‘Great now I need to find a desk too…’

He heard footsteps again and ran to his left for the hills. But…he spotted the Animatronic still many feet away, even though it just sounded like that thing was very close.

‘What the hell is wrong with me…?’

Dexter spotted a purple key and he picked it up and stuffed it into one of his pockets, then he continued his search for John’s desk.

-Timeskip-

It was hard to avoid the Animatronic while searching for the damn desk, but Dexter made it and found it. Though he sadly had to find a crowbar. He found one near John’s and he broke open the drawer, taking out the keycard. Then he sneaked his way back to the door and opened it.

Behind that door, was the generator and a door with a purple glowing lock. Dexter pulled out the key and unlocked the door, only to find a lab behind it.

‘What the fuck…?’

Dexter closed the door softly and then looked around. He saw a lot of equipment but also a drawing with numbers on them.

‘Steps… Get people to this location…get them…killed ?...get something out of them and into bottles, put bottles into…a machine…’

He continued to look around and spotted a covered dead body in a glass case.

‘Holy shit… Is that maybe Alfred…?’

Then he looked behind himself and spotted the continuation of the…plan ?

‘What…am I looking at…? So in these bottles is data that they will use to CLONE a human being, but in reality it’s an Animatronic and then….what ? Send someone else in there and do the same again…? Who the hell is doing this ?!’

Then he saw a tape and took it. He inserted it into the VHS tape player and the TV showed Dexter horrific things that scarred him.

“Heh..heh…heh…Mikey…you missed one fucker to kill… Even though I am not at all that surprised nor concerned… This furry ain’t in the Pizzaplex, nor near me, so I am not worried for now…”, he mumbled under his breath.

Then he left the room and saw that the monitors with the fuses were active.

‘Alright there are only three. I ran around this fucking warehouse so many times that I know everything right now…’

He looked closely.

‘Okay, I need to find the right fuse in there AND I need to look which cable leads to where to set it in right…’

And that Dexter did. After he finished the last one he heard a door opening and he rushed for it. He saw two ladders and he glared at them.

‘I HATE ladders…’

Then he climbed them up and soon was out of the warehouse and inside the last location that was a part of the attraction.

“Mike’s Pizzeria…”

The TIP Manager appeared in the small entrance to the room, where a rotten rabbit Animatronic sat in a chair.

“Not gonna lie he looks like shit…”

Then he read the instructions.

‘Vent light, use to flash them out, got it. Use monitor to defend from danger…I will need to look at that later what my options even are there…complete puzzles blah blah blah… okay let us start this shit.’

And then it started.

Dexter looked at the screen that showed the defense options and activated REPEL. He jumped as a loud sound appeared from behind him.

“Oh shit…”

He turned it off and used the CALL system, which started inside the room the robot sat in.

“Ah fuck…”

And lastly he used the door that closed off the room the bunny robot sat in.

“Understood. Ima drop that door when he comes, right. Comes to chew on my ass…”

Then he opened the door again and ran inside the room, he spottes a paper on the desk and he read it.

‘Scraptrap on chair…Molten Freddy in vents…Scrapbaby behind… Nice, I know their names now…’