Love and Lies, Chii
Chii hummed softly to herself as Spring and Blu set their guitars into the trunk of the malibu, both rabbits laughing about something or other- an inside joke, Chii figured. They all had them, of course; they spent time one-on-one with each other after all. Occasionally. When they needed someone but not everyone is available.
You know, every once in a blue moon when they aren’t all together already.
Yeah.
After they all set their bags into the car, they all climbed into the car; Chii in the front, Mangle behind them, Blu center, and Alfred on Blu’s other side behind Spring. Spring started up the car as they all buckled their seatbelts and he briefly adjusted the mirrors.
“It’s always so nice after it rains,” Blu sighed from his place in the back. Chii glanced over at him, noticing him leaning against the back of the seat, his arm resting casually on Mangle’s shoulder. The fox in question had a devious smirk on their face, and Chii had no doubt they were plotting something for the playful little rabbit next to them. “Well, y’know, except when it’s hot as hell and the air is heavy and disgustingly wet, but still.”
“That’s called summer,” Spring chuckled, putting the car in drive and pulling out of his “parking spot.” The driveway to the gate was pretty long, but they were used to it; the mansion was set pretty far back from the road, after all, closer to the park and lake than it was to the street.
Not that any of them had any complaints about that.
“Summer in the south,” Mangle snorted, eying the blue rabbit. “Every single summer. Ever.”
“Thank goodness for air conditioning, huh?” Chii laughed, even though they actually spent just as much time outside in the heat or cold as they did inside.
“Hear hear,” Alfred agreed, smiling over at her.
“I can’t wait for summer to end,” Blu sighed as Chii turned back around, watching Spring hop out of the driver’s seat and open the gate. “And then for fall and winter to end, and then summer come again. Less than a year to freedom...”
“That’ll be nice,” Chii hummed in agreement, leaning against the window. The gate was being opened. “November won’t be easy, though.”
There was a brief silence as all four of them watched Spring walk back over to the car. Chii knew she shouldn’t have mentioned it, but it was something they would have to face eventually- maybe not to Spring, but the four of them had to talk about it at some point. They had to figure out exactly what they would do.
November is only a few months away, she thought, playing with her feathers. We have to face it sooner, not later.
“We finally have enough for the guitar,” Mangle murmured. “Let’s focus on the good, not the bad.”
“Will Spring even want to celebrate?” Chii asked softly. “The bad far outweighs the good this time. It’s only been a year.”
None of them answered her as Spring opened the door and slid back in.
“So,” Spring started, glancing over at Chii. He had clearly noted the tense silence. “About this weekend-”
“Still on,” Mangle immediately responded, as if daring anyone to contradict them.
“Why would we cancel?” Chii asked Spring, raising a feathery brow at him. “We’ve been through worse than yesterday.”
Spring snorted, shaking his head as he pulled out. He stopped before getting to the road. “I wasn’t saying cancel,” he informed them, slipping back out to close the gate. “I was asking what we’ll do Sunday,” he added as he hopped over to the gate and closed it, shaking it a bit to make sure it latched. He was back in the car before any of them could really think about his question. “We’re doing war by the water and just general music messing around Saturday, so what about Sunday?”
Chii hummed and watched her friend as they finally pulled out onto the street. The morning light was dimmed by the cloud cover. “I dunno,” she started, glancing over towards him. “Is Mimi coming home this weekend?”
“I don’t know,” Spring admitted with a small frown. He didn’t look over at her. “Maybe, maybe not.”
“Well,” Chii sighed, “maybe we can wing it?”
“Wing it,” Mangle snorted behind Chii, and Chii was tempted to turn around and throw a pencil or something at her friend.
“Pun not intended,” she added, glancing over her shoulder to Mangle and the boys in the back.
“Last time we, uh, winged something,” Blu spoke up, raising a brow at Chii, “we ended up setting a grill on fire.”
“I told you not to use so much lighter fluid,” Spring tsk’d, eyes flicking momentarily to the mirror. “And it wasn’t the grill that was on fire, it was the charcoal. And the tree above it.”
“On the bright side,” Mangle laughed, a grin spreading across their muzzle, “it was quite an enjoyable show.”
“Right up until the firefighters came swooping in,” Spring sighed, shaking his head. “Honestly, that was awkward to explain.”
“But fun,” Blu countered with a grin. Alfred very lightly nudged their friend as if in disapproval, but Chii caught the hint of a smirk on his own face.
“Behave,” Alfred commanded softly to the rabbit and Chii laughed.
“Blu, behave?” she questioned, turning back around to face the road. “That’s a good one, Alfred.”
“Hey, I can behave,” Blu complained, a small giggle slipping through as he did. Chii smiled, and a quick glance over at Spring showed that he was smiling too. That was good.
“Maybe when the planets align,” the golden rabbit said, turning into the school parking lot. Only teachers were present that early in the morning, so the student parking lot was completely empty.
“On a supermoon,” Mangle added, the grin clear in their voice.
“A blue supermoon,” Alfred expanded, earning a snort from all of them.
“Aw, c’mon,” Chii giggled, unbuckling her seatbelt as Spring pulled into his parking spot. “Blu can be good when he wants to be.”
“Well thank goodness I never want to be,” Blu laughed as Alfred opened his door and slid out, and the rabbit leapt out, stretching his arms above his head. Spring popped the trunk without prompting, and the two Animals headed around back. “Can you imagine just how boring that would be?”
Chii laughed and slid out of her seat, bumping the door shut with her hip. “You sure do make things interesting,” she agreed, waiting for Mangle to climb out and close their own door before making her way to the trunk as well. Alfred handed her both her school bag and a lunch bag. The lunch bag wasn’t really hers; it was Mimi’s old navy-and-black bag, but Spring let her borrow it since they were all carrying their lunches individually and Chii’s school bag simply wasn’t large enough to carry her lunch as well. “I think we’d all die of boredom without you.”
“To say the least,” Mangle snorted, hitching their bag up on their shoulder as Blu and Spring slid the straps to their guitar cases over their heads. Alfred calmly slid his bag onto his uninjured shoulder, giving Chii a small smile of amusement. Chii returned it, feeling oddly at ease for once.
“Come on,” Alfred suggested after Spring had closed the trunk. “We shouldn’t keep Fitzgerald waiting.” The bear’s speech had slowed somewhat when he said the music director’s name, careful and effortful with his voice threatening to die in the middle, but neither Chii nor the others pointed it out. They were used to it, after all.
“Yeah,” Spring agreed, heading towards the school building. “We really don’t want to get lectured by him.” Chii shared a look with the others before following, holding the borrowed lunch bag securely.
No, she figured, watching Blu bound up to walk beside Spring, we really don’t. Last time was bad enough.
Mr. Fueller’s smile was too bright, too wide, for Chii’s liking.
That, she had decided the first day of math. This day, however, there was an odd stirring among the students as the instructor made his way around, leaning much too close to students as he pointed out their mistakes, and Chii knew that she wasn’t the only one getting bad vibes from the mathematician.
He reminded Chii of Charlie, and instinctively she crossed her ankles one over the other. She fidgeted, her skin crawling as his eyes passed over her. Thankfully, however, he didn’t approach her, and relief flooded her system as his gaze moved on to someone else.
The silence practically echoed around her, only the sound of pencil on paper, a frustrated huff now and then, and the instructor’s low voice tearing through the thick blanket. Everyone seemed somewhat tense, though whether it was because of the instructor or because of something else Chii simply didn’t know. After what felt like an eternity, however, the bell rang, and students practically flew out the door, a few of them even leaving their worksheets behind.
Students filed out and a shout from the hallway told Chii that the tension had finally gotten to one or two of the more aggressive students. Mr. Fueller ran out the door, leaving only Chii, her friends, and the Fazcrew.
The Fazcrew headed towards the door as Chii’s friends all congregated at Alfred’s desk, and she stood up to join them.
“First week of school,” Mangle started with a sigh as they leaned on Alfred’s desk, “and there’s already a fight. It’s like this place is full of brutes.”
“Give them a break, Mangle,” Spring started, his voice soft and understanding. “They’re just letting off steam.”
Chii raised a brow towards the golden rabbit. It was odd that Spring, with his natural inclination towards peace, would so easily excuse violence. He hasn’t had his medicine today or yesterday...
The fox began to open their mouth, assumedly in response to Spring’s words, but a fleshy smack sounded, causing all of them to turn and look towards the doorway. Jones was stumbling backwards, his hands flying up to his nose which had collided with the doorframe that he had just walked into.
Blinking owlishly, Chii simply watched as Jones yelped in pain and Henderson immediately burst out laughing. She frowned, crossing her arms; she didn’t see what was so funny. That fleshy smack had sounded like it hurt.
“Stop laughin’!” Jones growled towards his friend, clearly also not finding the situation very funny either.
“Never!” Henderson declared, either oblivious to or not caring about their audience.
What goes around comes around and anything that goes up must come down, Chii mused as Henderson promptly tripped over a desk’s legs. She winced at the sound of his arm hitting the desk and the metal beneath it- how he managed that one she had no idea- but the way her friends tensed up concerned her much more than their “enemy” rabbit’s safety; she looked around at her friends, noting the way Blu’s face pinched slightly in perceived pain, the way Spring rubbed his chest, the way Mangle’s gaze lifted to the ceiling, how Alfred’s eyes seemed darker than usual...
Blu caught her gaze and forced a smile, but Chii knew the truth. “It’s fine,” he lied, as if she couldn’t see the memories in his eyes.
“You don’t look like it’s fine,” she accused quietly, and Spring’s hand dropped away from his chest. Blu didn’t say anything else.
“We should get to English,” Spring started, glancing around at all of them. Alfred nodded, Mangle didn’t react, and Blu frowned. Chii crossed her arms, unsure if she should speak up. Her friends looked more than mildly disturbed by what had happened- no doubt memories from what they themselves had been through spurred by that sound... “It sounds like the fight’s over.”
He was right. The sounds in the hallway had quieted into the general murmur of students trailing off to their next class. Chii sighed silently and glanced over at Alfred, who carefully took Mangle’s arm. Mangle was really out of it, she noticed.
“Yeah,” Blu agreed, turning away from them and towards the now-empty doorway. “Before we’re late. I swear Mrs. Mittel has it out for us.”
It was more than slightly true. Chii grimaced; ever since Mangle had just blurted out their observation... well, Mrs. Mittel never forgave them. Any of them.
After all, even to some of the teachers they were a collective.
“The let’s go,” Spring sighed, and they headed towards the door. Chii shared a brief look with Blu before following.
Something seemed off, she thought, glancing over her shoulder towards Alfred silently guiding Mangle along the hallway.
Something seems very off... but what?
Chii knew a moment before it happened that Jones was going to trip.
In fact, as she watched him pass Sanchez’s easel, she thought, he’s gonna trip, isn’t he?
And then he did, his foot getting caught on the leg of the easel much the same way Henderson’s caught on the desk just earlier that day. The easel jerked and Sanchez’s eyes widened as her backerboard dropped off, landing on the heap of fox on the floor.
That wasn’t what had Chii’s attention, though.
As the fox fell, everything in his hands fell, too; the pencils hit the floor and scattered every which way, their lead snapping from the force, and the paintbrush for his ink clattered and rolled under Henderson’s easel, and the plastic cup of ink... well, impressively it landed on its bottom.
Unimpressively, it proceeded to shatter upon impact and send the ink flying into and through the air.
Flying right at them.
Chii didn’t even think before she dove behind Spring, not even considering what would happen if the golden rabbit actually moved; she just did the first thing her instincts told her to. She heard Blu yelp as he darted out of the line of fire, almost running straight into the back row table, and Mangle practically leapt up onto the counter they were next to to avoid getting hit.
Neither Spring nor Alfred moved, though Chii knew they had time.
Of course, maybe it just happened too fast for either of them to realize what was going on.
The ink splattered across the floor and Chii’s friends, and Alfred reacted almost immediately. There was a beat of silence before someone in the room began laughing- a pretty laugh, Chii assumed, but a bit screechy in her opinion, too loud and obnoxious.
They didn’t care, though. They’d been laughed at before.
Chii stepped out from behind her rabbit shield, glancing at the ink spiderwebbing across their shirts and, in Alfred’s case, his right arm. Spring had a tendril of ink right across his eye, but he didn’t seem to be in any sort of discomfort or pain so she figured it was safe to assume that it hadn’t actually gotten in his eye.
Spring turned his gaze to Alfred and Chii smiled a bit, noticing the spark of mischief light up in his eye.
“Hey Al,” the rabbit started with a grin, apparently not at all agitated by Jones’ misstep. “You got a little somethin’ on your shirt.”
The bear smirked right back at Spring and Chii giggled, watching as their quiet friend simply tapped his cheek, saying without a single word- well, everything. Spring instantly understood, his eyes widening and hand flying up to the ink on his face, and Chii tried not to laugh, realizing he hadn’t even realized it was there.
Just when Chii thought the potential disaster was over, a familiar voice piped up with, “Well, Springtrap, now you’ve got something to match that ugly scar, huh?”
The air, which had relaxed somewhat after Spring’s little joke, immediately tensed up again as Spring, Alfred, Chii, Blu, and Mangle all looked towards Ashley Creol, eyes hard.
There were few things they could forgive. As much as they hated that awful nickname Springtrap, they at least understood it was created by an immature middle schooler who just wanted to fit in. It had been used sneeringly and jokingly and even disgustedly, but the amount of malice the cheerleader had in her voice and face made it clear that it was said purely for insult and injury.
It wasn’t just a “name” to her.
What was worse, though, was her mentioning his scar.
His scar.
Chii felt disgust twist in her stomach and she scowled towards the cheerleader, stepping back around Spring. You don’t even know how he got that scar, you little...
“Yeah,” Blu suddenly spoke up, and Chii realized he had rejoined them, staring down Creol. His back was to Chii, somewhat between Spring and the cheerleader, so she couldn’t quite see his expression. She could, however, easily imagine the sneer on his lips. “But it would match so much better with your dead black heart.”
“If she even has one,” Mangle added, sniffing and flicking their tail disdainfully as they watched the cheerleader. Chii had to stifle a satisfied smirk as Creol’s face turned an unattractive shade of red.
“True,” Blu snorted in agreement, crossing his arms and shifting his weight to one leg. Although he didn’t turn to look at Mangle as he responded, he continued, “Someone like her is nothing but an empty husk, anyway, feeding off of everyone else’s misery.”
The words were harsh and true, and no one could deny it. No one even spoke up to try to deny it. In fact, everyone else simply watched the interaction with mixed surprise, dread, and interest.
This is the first time we’ve engaged anyone in a fight, she realized, looking back at Creol as she stood up straight, a snarl on her lips. Blu, why did you respond?!
“What did you say, you Mexican fuck?!”
Any thought that this altercation may have ended peacefully practically imploded with the human’s words and Chii’s eyes narrowed. There was a general shifting in the room, displeasure at the girl’s words practically ringing around the air.
Surprisingly, Blu was the one who seemed to have the least displeased reaction. “For the record,” he started calmly, and she could practically hear the sneer in his voice despite his more relaxed demeanor, “I’m Spanish, not Mexican! Learn geography!”
And he wasn’t even born in Spain.
“Whatever,” Creol scoffed, lifting her head up as though she was so far above them. Nearby her, the Fazcrew threw her dirty looks; Sanchez looked the most offended of them all.
Sanchez was born in Mexico, wasn’t she? Ah, yeah, she was...
“You still speak a stupid language anyway,” Creol finished off, apparently oblivious to the chicken just to her right glaring holes into her head. Blu snarled and started forwards, but Spring quickly reached over and grabbed his shoulder, preventing him from taking that threatening step forwards.
Only Creol could ever be afraid of Blu, Chii thought wryly as Creol’s eyes widened almost unnoticeably.
“Oh please,” Blu settled for words again, and Chii could have sworn for a moment that she could hear the hint of an accent that Blu hadn’t had in nearly eight years now, “at least Spanish makes sense, English is so weird- it’s an amalgamation of different languages.” Without missing a beat, Blu gasped in mock horror, his posture changing to match the new mockingly-apologetic tone. “Oops, sorry,” he started, his voice dripping venom that made Chii glad she could not see whatever expression he was making towards Creol. “I forgot- bimbos don’t understand big words like amalgamation!”
Her flush deepened and Chii felt a sudden, unexplainable urge to laugh. She had no doubt that she wasn’t the only one. “I will-” Creol started, presumably in a threat, but suddenly their teacher was there, and whatever urge Chii had to laugh was gone just like that.
“That’s enough, you two!” Mr. Smith almost yelled. “Act your age, all of you!”
All of who?
“Sorry, Mr. Smith,” Spring immediately started, pulling Blu back towards them. The blue rabbit didn’t fight him, allowing himself to rejoin the group. “Won’t happen again.”
“We’ll see about that,” Blu muttered, but no one acknowledged his words. Chii noticed Alfred glare slightly at him, though.
“Get back to work, everyone,” Mr. Smith commanded, glaring around at everyone. Mr. “Salvage, Mr. Fischbach, if you need to go home and change clothes, you’re excused.” The instructor turned to look at all of the students, eyes critical as they landed on Jones. “No more accidents, Mr. Jones.”
“R-right, got it,” the fox stuttered out nervously.
Apparently satisfied, Mr. Smith turned his attention towards the other chicken in the room, and Chii was so glad that she herself was not the one having to face that glare. “Ms. Sanchez, secure your backerboard properly, and Ms. Creol, easels are not for leaning! You break it, you pay the damages fee, got it? Mr. Fazbear, get that smirk off your face, and Ms. Sanchez, whatever you’re about to say; don’t.”
With that over and done with, Chii turned back to her own easel, carefully twirling the inky paintbrush between her fingers. The class seemed to slowly come back alive, but no voice broke through the tense air in the room. Instead, they all continued sketching and inking, filling out the negative space on their “canvas.”
The air was heavy. Chii wished it was breakfast time again.
Charlie was sitting outside on a lawn chair when Spring pulled up to the curb.
Fighting the urge to ask Spring to continue down the road, she glanced around at her three friends in the car, their eyes gazing towards the rooster nervously. Spring fidgeted and tapped on the steering wheel, a frown tugging at his lips in displeasure.
The rooster stood up from his chair and walked across the lawn, stopping next to the malibu and peering in critically. He crossed his arms impatiently, raising a brow at Chii, and Chii grimaced and turned back to her friends.
“I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” Chii murmured to Spring, Blu, and Mangle as she opened the door. She slid out, pulling her bookbag up securely onto her shoulder.
She didn’t get a chance to close the door as Charlie suddenly grabbed it, stopping its momentum.
“Were you with these three last night?” Charlie asked calmly, raising a brow towards the males and Mangle inside the car.
“Yes,” Chii answered tightly, and without even considering it added, “We were working on a project and all got stuck at Spring’s house in the storm. Didn’t have signal.”
“We figured it’d be better to be safe and miss curfew than try and get home and get sick or dead,” Mangle added smoothly, smiling politely. Chii could see in their eyes that right then, chicken didn’t sound like a bad idea for dinner.
She resisted both the smirk and the shudder.
“The roads were flooded, Mr. Daiz,” Spring explained, giving the adult a pinched smile. “Dark, flooded roads, and heavy rain- not something you want a seventeen-year-old highschooler walking or driving in, right? Don’t worry- she slept in my sister’s room,” he added, though it was a lie. It was a lie they commonly told Chii’s parents; her mother didn’t really care one way or another, except about her own reputation and how Chii’s... actions would affect it, but Charlie...
Charlie didn’t like people touching what he believed belonged to him. Unfortunately, that included Chii.
Unfortunately, they also couldn’t just explain that they were like siblings... or that none of them were interested in girls.
Or that Chii was.
Those were things men like Charlie Daiz just didn’t understand, who couldn’t even play the part of father for a year without sexualizing her.
She grimaced, but thankfully she was now behind her step-father so he didn’t catch her expression. Her friends, however, certainly did.
“Well at least you three have some propriety,” Charlie muttered, eying them suspiciously. Blu frowned and quickly turned away, and Spring’s own eyes seemed to darken at the hypocrisy of the rooster’s words.
Honestly, Chii noted, it looked like Spring was struggling with himself to not just deck the rooster.
“I expect a phone call next time,” Charlie warned, slamming the door shut and turning to Chii. “Inside, now. You worried your mother, you know.”
Frowning, Chii turned around and headed inside the house. Of course she knew she hadn’t worried her mother- her mother probably hadn’t even noticed her absence- but she also knew she couldn’t say anything. That was Charlie’s excuse for being short and mad, for the nosy neighbors peeking over the bushes.
If they thought they were being sneaky, she mused bitterly, they were sorely wrong.
As soon as she was inside, the door closed- not quite slammed, but close- harshly and she winced, glancing over at Charlie.
“Charlotte,” he growled, “I told you I don’t want you hangin’ ‘round them boys.”
“They’re my friends and my classmates,” Chii told him, frowning. “We had a project, I told you.”
“No more goin’ to guys’ houses,” he warned, his hand coming down heavily on Chii’s shoulder. “Am I understood?”
If there was one thing Chii hated, it was this.
“Alright,” she agreed, though it was a total lie. “From now on we’ll go to Vivien’s house,” she told him, knowing he’d assume the name Vivien to be Vivian. It was times like this she was very glad Mangle’s name was just as androgynous as their appearance; Charlie had always assumed Mangle, with their pink and white fur and makeup, was a girl. “And their parents will be there the whole time,” she added, frowning. “They work from home.”
It was a complete lie, but it wasn’t the first time she had to use Charlie’s ideals about gender and gender roles to her advantage. He had always assumed Blu was a girl as well, up until around eighth grade when the girls began really... developing.
Leave it to dirty ol’ Charlie to eye fourteen year old girls’ chests.
Her step-father was looking at her critically. He didn’t dare try anything, not with Chii’s mother just one room over, but she could feel his eyes on her even as she turned and headed down the hall to her bedroom.
“I better not catch you with that yellow rabbit again, Charlotte.”
She had to bite her tongue to keep from correcting gold rabbit, thank you very much, and quickly she shoved her bedroom door closed. Immediately, she dropped her bags on the floor next to her door and kicked her shoes off, letting out a heavy sigh.
Not even home for three minutes and I miss them.
The loneliness and fear twisting in her stomach was almost debilitating. She fell heavily onto her bed, making some of her stuffies bounce up and a few even fell onto the floor between the bed and the wall, and pulled her phone out of her pocket.
Pulling up the group chat, she sent, ‘Be safe please.’
She didn’t wait for a response; Spring was driving and Blu and Mangle both had their own problems to deal with, and Alfred was busy. Dropping her phone on her bedside table, she turned over to face the wall and wrapped her arms around a few puppies there. It was comforting.
It was the closest thing she would get to being safe inside that house.
Footsteps in the hallway, a voice calling out to Charlie, a smooth-voiced response, words full of love, words full of lies.
Chii hated it.