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eyndr-stories · 2 years

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

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 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~

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amberberrystar · 2 years

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i finally read graystripe's vow and imma need an entire 6 book arc centered around warrior clan because the erins cannot drop "kittypets in the old forest do warrior cat rps at recess" as an aside in one super edition and never touch on it again. i don't need a whole AVOS-style bring-warriorclan-to-the-lake, i just need 6+ books of warriorclan's wacky hijinks asap

#i need more monkeystar in my life #warriorclan #graystripe's vow #monkeystar #bugeater #bigteeth #clawwhistle #fireface #chester #chester is that kid who doesn't want to remember his oc's name so he just goes by his actual name #i'd settle for a monkeystar super edition but erins i NEED more warriorclan #warrior cats

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eyndr-stories · 2 years

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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) 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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