Suspicions, Bonnie
“Thank you for your cooperation, class. Remember, these review packets need to be done by class Wednesday. You can use the next five minutes to talk amongst yourselves but I ask you don’t leave your desks, please.”
His ears twitched and he glanced at the review (and reading!) packet sitting under his arm, frowning. It was a thick packet, full of articles and questions, but that was fine. He knew he could probably get it all finished that night, and it wasn’t something he had to work with Rodriguez on.
Speaking of Rodriguez... “Blu,” he heard the whisper. He glanced over as the blue rabbit twisted around in his seat to look at his gold-furred friend. Behind himself he could hear Goldie turned around, speaking to Freddy, but he focused on his “enemy” and friends’ conversation.
“Yeah, Spring?” His voice was quiet, as if attempting to maintain a little privacy that he knew he couldn’t have, not with Bonnie sitting right next to him.
“What’re you thinking?” Well that was a weird question. Or was is philosophical? Bonnie didn’t know. “...Blu?”
“Huh?”
“Careful, you’re pulling a Mangle,” the golden rabbit laughed but Bonnie noticed there was no amusement in his voice or his smile. He sounded concerned. Yeah, something’s going on here.
“Me, pull a Mangle?” Rodriguez started, leaning on Salvage’s desk. “Aw, c’mon, I’m not that cool, you know~” Strange thing to gloat about…
“My mistake,” Salvage teased. “Mangle does always beat you in the studio, anyway.”
Rodriguez gasped at those words. “I beg to differ!” You sound fake as hell, Rodriguez. “Mangle barely stays on tempo!”
Tempo ? Wait, are they talking about a music studio? He frowned at this; there was no way in hell Rodriguez and his friends were musicians . He found it way too unbelievable; none of them “looked the part” and certainly none of them had the voices for it.
Not that he’d ever actually heard any of them sing, but that was beside the point. This was Springtrap Salvage’s group, and everyone knew they were all talentless slackers. It was pretty well known all around the school… but they also seemed to have some kind of influence, being able to pass every year despite having so much missed work.
“Mangle marks the tempo, Blu,” the golden rabbit giggled . Behind him, he noticed Freddy and Goldie’s talking had quieted. He wondered which one was wanting to hear the conversation. “They can’t be off tempo when they make the tempo.”
“Bonnie,” he heard Foxy say from his own desk diagonal from him. He lifted a hand, one finger raised, to indicate one moment . He wanted to know what the hell was going on. If it was something... bad , he couldn’t just sit there. And innocent conversations like the one taking place would give much more insight than most people would believe.
“I disagree,” Fischbach stated simply, though there was a hint of amusement in his tone. Bonnie couldn’t see his expression- he couldn’t even see Salvage- but he sounded amused underneath that indifference.
“Oh shush, Mr. Vocals,” the rabbit snorted as Rodriguez giggled. “If I remember right you were the one off tempo this morning.”
“Nope. You .”
“Me?” The rabbit sounded aghast, though it was clearly in good fun. His voice took on a mocking, formal tone as he continued with, “I’ll have you know, good sirs, I am not at fault here. Obviously the song was too slow to begin with.” Bonnie had a feeling that was an inside joke… and an insult. To the higher class? He wasn’t sure, but Salvage was not the one he was focusing on.
Rodriguez dissolved into a fit of giggles. “Oh my gods, Spring, really ?”
When the golden rabbit spoke again, his voice was soft and almost inaudible. “I am really sorry about that, by the way.” His voice became softer, so soft that Bonnie was almost sure they weren’t meant to hear it. Well... he was sure they weren’t supposed to hear it. “I was out late and, you know... Last night wasn’t very... you know...”
He didn’t say it so Bonnie didn’t know, but clearly the rabbit’s friends did as Rodriguez simply nodded and said, “We know.” The bell rang, dismissing class, and Bonnie had hardly blinked before Rodriguez had leapt out of his seat, between the desk and the wall. “And then you get up at unholy o’clock,” he added teasingly as Bonnie stood up and turned to his friends. Goldie and Foxy were already standing; Goldie gave him a simple shrug.
“Hypocrite,” Fischbach accused as Freddy slipped out of the desk.
“I’ll have you know that I am a proud hypocrite, thank you very much,” Rodriguez declared and Bonnie felt a little shocked; hadn’t he said nearly the exact same thing just that morning?
Bonnie caught Freddy’s blue gaze and Freddy shrugged, heading towards the door. Bonnie followed, but he could still hear the conversation behind him as Blanc joined their friends.
“This was the most horrible thing I have ever gone through,” Blanc sighed and Bonnie silently said to himself then you’ve had a very easy life, Blanc. “Please tell me we have something to look forw...!” Their voice faded as Bonnie and his friends moved further from the classroom and towards the cafeteria.
“That was really weird,” Goldie finally said once they were seated at their table with the other “high-rung” people.
“Weird?” Chica questioned, raising a brow at the golden bear.
“You didn’t even talk to your partner,” Foxy accused her with a huff, frowning at her. “It was really weird. Somethin’s off about Blanc. He, she, it, whatever is really weird.”
“Maybe there’s a reason,” Freddy mused, frowning. Bonnie blinked and turned his attention to the bear, raising a brow. Did he notice something too?
“What do you mean?” he asked. Freddy’s blue eyes were distant, his hand playing with his fork. Clearly he was deep in thought.
“It’s nothing,” the bear finally responded, shrugging. His eyes wandered around the cafeteria for a few moments before resting on the doorway behind Bonnie. Bonnie didn’t even turn around; he could already hear them.
“...a couple times. But I wouldn’t count that as a fuck up, really.”
“Nothing wrong with being a dreamer. I didn’t even speak to Sanchez, so I’m perfectly okay. ”
“So all in all, horrible day? ” That was Rodriguez’s voice. It was distant; clearly they were across the cafeteria already. He could barely hear them over the sounds of the students around and he knew very well that his friends couldn’t hear them at all.
“Absolutely. ”
Bonnie rolled his eyes. “They’re complaining about getting partnered with us,” he informed his friends, feeling strangely irritated by it. “As if they have any right to complain, we’re the ones stuck with a bunch of weirdoes.”
“Here here,” Foxy snorted, aggressively taking a bite out of his sandwich.
The purple rabbit picked up his own sandwich. “But you know, Freddy,” he started, glancing over at the brown bear. “I agree. I think there’s a reason for it.”
And I don’t think it bodes well.
Bonnie heard the laughter down the hallway before his friends did. As such, he felt absolutely no surprise when he walked into the art studio to find Rodriguez and his friends in there.
What he wasn’t expecting was for the blue rabbit to be spinning around on a swivel stool, the golden rabbit and white fox propelling him with their other friends hovering nearby.
“Oh god dammit,” he heard Foxy whine behind him and the laughter abruptly cut off; Kain’s eyes snapped over to them, Rodriguez lost his balance and fell, Fischbach quickly caught him, Salvage looked briefly at them before turning to his friend, and Blanc scowled over at them, clearly unhappy that their fun had been ruined.
Freddy moved towards the tables in the front of the room and, naturally, they all followed.
“ Sorry, Al! ” the blue rabbit was saying from behind them. “ Can you put me down now? Don’t drop me! ” He glanced over his shoulder just in time to watch Fischbach drop Rodriguez the remaining foot-or-so to the ground. The rabbit on the floor laughed as he stared up at the bear. “ You’re such a jerk, Alfred. ” The bear didn’t give a verbal response as he reached down to pull Rodriguez to his feet.
A flash of blue and white fur came to Bonnie’s attention as the rabbit’s shirt- a few sizes too big - rode up. But... that white wasn’t all fur, he realized. Bonnie’s eyes snapped to the edge of thick white cloth peeking out from under the green shirt. There was a tinge of red just before the white cloth- bandage! - disappeared under the shirt.
Rodriguez had become aware of his shirt riding up and had pulled it back down but Bonnie knew he saw a blood-stained bandage wrapped around his abdomen. Suddenly, it made sense as to why the small blue rabbit was wearing a shirt three sizes too big; he was trying to hide it.
Now Bonnie felt like an ass. He’s injured. The hell is he doing at school?
He turned to his friends to see if any of them had caught it as well, but all of them were facing each other and chatting about their planned movie marathon weekend. They didn’t even see that…?
“So.” He couldn’t tell if that was masculine or feminine, it could go either way, so he quickly determined that that was Blanc’s voice. “I think we should do something this weekend.”
“We do something every weekend, Mangle.” Who was that? It wasn’t deep enough to be the bear and it was too deep to be the chicken, so it must have been Salvage. I really need to figure out how to differentiate their voices if this is gonna become a regular occurrence.
“What’d you have in mind, Mangle? ”
Bonnie noticed Foxy’s ears twitching and a scowl slipping into place. So he can hear them.
“War by the water.”
“Didn’t someone nearly fall in the lake last time we did that?” That was definitely Rodriguez. “Well it’s got my vote~!”
“Same.” Higher than the rest, it was definitely Kain.
“I can’t tell if you just want to see me fall in the lake this time or not.” Definitely Salvage, he decided. “A day at the lake sounds fun, yeah. We could definitely use a little vacation.”
A vacation? The first week of school isn’t even half done and you already feel like you need a vacation? But was that really what he meant, he wondered. Vacation from school or... something else?
“Bonnie, earth to Bonnie.” Bonnie blinked, realizing Goldie was waving a hand in front of his face.
“...xcuses this time?”
It was so quiet that he had to strain to hear it over the rest of the class. He gave Goldie a grin and waved, saying, “Sorry, lost in thought.”
“...roject? Tell them we have a project that’ll take all of Saturday?”
“Why not Sunday too? Make it an overnight thing. We could camp out in my back yard if it’s not raining.”
“...stracted? You’re not usually like this, Bonnie,” Goldie said with a frown. Bonnie shrugged, too distracted to really pay his friend all of his attention.
“Um,” Rodriguez, he quickly identified that annoying voice even from that distance. “My folks have been trying to get me to drop out of school, I highly doubt they’ll care about me having a research project.”
That certainly got his attention. Trying to get him to drop out? What? Ignoring whatever it was Goldie was saying, he finally turned around to look at the group. They seemed to be huddled as well as they could be on the same side of the table, none of them seeming bothered at all to be leaning against each other to lean in closer and hear the conversation.
“Sneak,” Fischbach said. Sneak what? Sneak out? It was much easier to identify voices when he was watching them. “Don’t need to know.”
“And if they come in at midnight to find me gone?”
“They’ll be too drunk to even remember the next morning,” Blanc snorted, loudly enough where Bonnie was sure even the Fazbears and Chica could pick up on it. However, apparently remembering themself, Blanc lowered their voice as well. “It might work for my parents, and even if it doesn’t it’s not like they even know where Spring’s house is. We can’t keep using the same old excuses, Blu, they’ll only work for so long.”
“Well, they only need to work for eight or nine more months. Then we’re out of this hellhole and off to freedom ,” Salvage said with a sigh, his friends nodding in agreement.
Rodriguez frowned as his eyes trailed away from his friends, looking around the room. When his green eyes met Bonnie’s- huh, he’s actually got really nice eyes. If he wasn’t such a weirdo girls would probably like that - his eyes widened, and quickly he turned back to his friends, hissing something to them and causing them all to shut up. Bonnie raised a brow at them. Too late, Rodriguez, I just heard all of that. Salvage leaned closer to Rodriguez to whisper something in his ear.
He couldn’t hear what they were whispering, but when Salvage straightened up again, he said, “So, war by the water Saturday?”
Bonnie knew they were redirecting the conversation and he turned to look at his friends. Goldie, Foxy, and Chica just looked confused while Freddy wore a frown, his fingers tapping against the table. “Wanna talk about weird?” Bonnie muttered. “I’ll tell you guys everything later.”
“Everything? Wait, why are you suddenly so interested in those weirdoes?” Foxy questioned with a scowl, barely glancing back at said weirdoes. “We’ve spoken to them all of once. We’re their science partners, not their friends .”
“You don’t need to be friends to know something’s going on here,” Bonnie shot back, turning his gaze to the board in front. “I’m not waiting for someone to fucking die before I’m willing to do something, weirdoes or not.”
That received a tense, chilly silence as the words sunk into his friends’ minds. It lasted only a few seconds which seemed to drag on forever.
“Die?” Goldie blanched, staring at Bonnie with wide, shocked eyes. “What the hell do you think’s going on that makes you think one of them’s gonna get killed ?”
Bonnie didn’t get a chance to respond as, at that moment, the bell rang and a red-haired human stood up from his desk in the corner.
“Later,” he hissed to Goldie and, in extension, the others.
The human scanned the class before grinning and saying, “Everyone quiet down now! Up front, all eyes please, so we can get this over and done with and get started on having fun. Alright then, everyone settled? Good. I’m Fritz Smith and this is art, specifically drawing. I see a few familiar faces and a few I don’t recognize at all, so let’s get some introductions out of the way, starting in the front. Now, don’t be shy, we’re all friends here.”
No, we’re not, Bonnie mused as Mr. Smith gestured for Foxy to stand up and introduce himself to the class. Not at all.
Bonnie wasn’t sure if he should bring it up again. He wasn’t obsessed with it, of course, and he really didn’t want to give the others a reason to believe he was . So he didn’t bring it back up. I’ll say it when it’s relevant again , he decided as he worked out a chemical conversion. Until then, I’ll just stop thinking about it.
However, as he decided this, Chica suddenly dropped her pencil, looked over at him, and demanded, “Bonnie, what the fuck did you mean earlier?”
Startled, he looked up at her and frowned. The others were watching him as well, now. “What do you mean what the fuck did I mean?” he asked incredulously, frowning at Chica. “I think I was very clear.”
“Yes,” Freddy interrupted, drawing Bonnie’s red gaze to him. “You were clear in the fact you think one of them is likely to die. What we don’t understand is how you came to that conclusion.”
There was something in Freddy’s eyes, something in his voice, that told Bonnie that the bear knew more than he was letting on. However, before he could even begin to explain himself, Foxy cut in with, “And after only one conversation.” The fox sat up off of the floor. “C’mon, Bonnie, you’re just reading too much into their words.” Bonnie scowled slightly; reading too much into their words, huh? “We don’t even know them. We’ve only spoken to them once and you’ve only overheard their conversations, what, a couple times? You’re hearing what you want to hear.”
No, what I want to hear is that their lives are fucking breezy so it’s okay to hate them, and that is not what I hear!
“He’s got a point,” Goldie put in and Bonnie frowned over at him as well. “You have a suspicion about somethin’, so your mind’s twisting things to match it. It’s pretty common, actually.”
Um, no. My mind’s not twisting anything.
Freddy seemed to disagree with his brother as he shifted, frowning. “I don’t know,” the brown bear started. “Somethin’ does seem… off .” Foxy opened his mouth, ready with a retort. “And I’m not just talkin’ about how strange they are.” Foxy’s mouth snapped shut and he scowled. “I think Bonnie’s right, somethin’s going on. And you’re right, too, Foxy; we don’t know them.” He paused and glanced back towards Bonnie, a frown in place. “We see only what they let us see. Well… Supposedly we only see what they want us to see.”
“Supposedly?” Chica repeated, watching the brown bear with a raised brow and a frown. “What do you mean supposedly?”
Freddy shrugged slightly. “When you’re not used to people watching you or paying you any attention, you’re bound to screw up.” With that, the bear turned to Bonnie again. “Bonnie? Context, please?”
Oh geez, how do I explain this? “Well,” he began slowly, trying to gather his thoughts. Where would he start? I suppose where I first realized something was wrong. “When we were doing that stupid questionnaire thing,” he continued after a few seconds of deliberation, “Rodriguez… had a freak-out, I guess? He just suddenly… froze up.” Oh man, how to describe that moment. “Like, he wasn’t even breathing. And when I tried to say something, he got really, uh…” He trailed off, unsure of how to describe the other rabbit’s expression.
Chica, however, mumbled, “Oh,” causing Bonnie and the other guys to look over at her. “That’s what that was about, huh?” she asked, watching him with a frown. “He sounded really pissed, Bonnie.”
Yeah, he was. “You heard that, huh?” Chica nodded and he frowned; he should have expected that, considering she hadn’t been speaking and was in the desk next to his. “I don’t know what set him off, really,” Bonnie admitted, glancing up at his ceiling. “He wasn’t just angry, he was scared . Terrified, even. I don’t even know what I did to scare him but he didn’t seem all there.” He still suspected it was that word, though. That common insult, the one everyone said at some point in their lives. Bitch. But why?
“So you did something to scare him,” Foxy scoffed dismissively from his spot on the floor. Bonnie’s eyes snapped back down to him, frowning. “That doesn’t mean anything, Bonnie.”
Frown deepening, he looked Foxy right in the eyes and said as flatly and matter-of-factly as he could, “A bloody bandage does, though.”
The others all fell silent and still, watching him and waiting for him to elaborate. And he did. “When we went into the art room his shirt rode up when Fishbach pulled him to his feet. You guys were talking about our marathon and I was watching them, ‘cause they had said some really weird things. He had a bandage wrapped around his abdomen and there was blood on it- and I wasn’t just seeing things, ma’s a doctor, I know a bandage when I see one.”
The bear twins exchanged worried glances and Chica shifted in her seat, frowning. Foxy’s the only one not taking me seriously right now.
However, when the fox spoke again, even he sounded uneasy. “So he probably fell. It doesn’t mean anything.”
Doesn’t mean anything? It sounds like some type of fucking trauma to me, Foxy! He opened his mouth to say as much but Freddy suddenly cut him off.
“Fischbach’s practically mute.”
Bonnie blinked and turned to Freddy in surprise. The brown bear seemed to be surprised with his own words, as though they had slipped out without his permission.
“Huh?” Goldie sounded as confused as Bonnie felt. “No he’s not, I heard him talking.”
Freddy sighed and rolled his eyes. “Practically. I didn’t say he is .” Freddy shook his head, frown returning. “I thought he was being rude at first but he was legitimately struggling to say anything.” Bonnie frowned; surely they would have noticed if someone they’d known, even distantly, had speech problems. Though it would explain why the bear, when called on, never answered... “He looked really ashamed about it, too. I basically had to watch him the entire time... which is kind of awkward but yeah...” He trailed off, as if unsure if he should continue.
“And that has anything to do with a bloody bandage because...?” Chica prompted him to continue, watching him with a raised brow and a sharp frown.
“He had a bruise around his wrist, too,” Freddy explained, briefly lifting his left hand. “He rubbed his wrist and ended up pulling the fur back and I noticed it. I didn’t really get a good look, considering I was only glancing, but it… looked a lot like a hand.” He added quickly, “From what I saw, anyway.” It was as though he was looking for a reason to think something he sounded sure about was wrong.
They were all silent as they looked around at each other, all of them equally unsure of what to do or think. “We shouldn’t jump to conclusions,” Chica finally advised, shaking her head at them. She looked directly at Bonnie. “We don’t know what’s going on. For all we know they could have been roughhousing or gotten themselves into an accident.” Almost as an afterthought, she tacked on, “Besides, Kain didn’t look like she had any sort of trouble going on.”
“I didn’t notice anything about Salvage either,” Goldie added, though Bonnie noticed that he was frowning and his brows were drawn together. Looks like you’re rethinking that, Gold. “He was just really nervous and wary.”
“Blanc kept zoning out but that doesn’t mean anything,” Foxy huffed, shaking his head at all of them. Specifically Bonnie. “They’re all weirdoes and they’re bonded by their mutual weirdness, but that doesn’t mean anything, Bonnie.”
Bonnie’s ears twitched; he couldn’t help the flash of agitation rushing through him at his friend’s words. “I’m just saying that I really think someone needs to keep an eye on those five,” he explained as calmly as he could. “Something is wrong here and if it has anything to do with what I think it might-”
“We have no right to suspect anything !” Foxy snarled, sitting up and away from the wall and glaring at Bonnie. “There was a bruise, a bandage, and a freak-out, whatever! It doesn’t mean anything, it could be any number of things! It’s none of our business .”
Bonnie was struck dumb, but not because he disagreed. Because he couldn’t understand how obtuse Foxy was being- Foxy, who should have been the most sensitive to these things out of all of them. Because as far as Bonnie knew, this sounded a lot like someone was hurting the rabbit. And if Fischbach had a bruise then maybe someone was hurting him too. And if someone was hurting two of them, who was to say someone wasn’t hurting all of them? It would be the lowest common denominator between the five of them if it was true.
“I think,” Chica finally broke the silence, picking her pen up again, “that both of you are right.”
Bonnie’s eyes snapped over to her, furrowing his brow. How is that possible? He wondered. Apparently he wasn’t the only one as Goldie said, “How can both of them be right? They’re saying the exact opposite of each other.”
It was true; he and Foxy were on completely different sides here.
“They’re both right in a way,” Chica told them, rolling her eyes as she pointed her pen towards Bonnie. “Bonnie’s right, somethin’ fishy’s goin’ on, and if it puts any of them in danger then just standing by and watching it happen is just as bad as dealin’ the blow ourselves.”
Well at least someone understands , he thought bitterly as he followed Chica’s pen towards Foxy. “But Foxy’s also right that we can’t just assume we know what’s going on and get involved. If we do, we risk messing a lot of things up, for ourselves and Fischbach and his friends.”
Bonnie hated to admit that she was right. Chica dropped her pen back on Bonnie’s desk and leveled them all with a stare. “We don’t know them, we’re outsiders looking in. We don’t know what’s going on, we don’t know so we shouldn’t get involved . The most we should do at this point is watch for signs.”
Watch for signs. But what kind? I’ve already seen the signs, Chica, and I only spoke to him for all of ten minutes today. For the first time ever .
“Watch for signs?” Foxy repeated incredulously. “Haven’t we already established that when you get an idea your mind twists things to match it?” Bonnie glared at him, huffing softly. He was not seeing and hearing the things he wanted to hear. It was so much easier being able to assume that Rodriguez and his friends were just stuck-up unfriendly assholes.
“Then don’t call ambiguous actions or conversations proof or signs,” Chica sighed impatiently, looking at their vulpine friend. “Foxy, you should know this better than any of us.”
Bonnie was shocked; he was sure all of them had thought it but he hadn’t expected Chica to say it. He looked over towards Foxy, who was frowning sharply but silent now. Several seconds of silence passed before the fox bit out a, “Fine.”
Finally Goldie seemed to catch on to what they were meaning. “So wait,” he started slowly, looking around at them all. “Did we just agree to keep an eye on our least favourite people in the entire school? ”
“Pretty much,” Freddy confirmed flatly. “Just because you don’t like them doesn’t mean they deserve whatever’s happening.” Bonnie didn’t miss the use of the word “you” instead of “we.” Always so neutral, Freddy...
“If anything at all,” Chica added to Freddy’s words and Freddy nodded in agreement. Bonnie couldn’t help but scowl; he knew something was going on and he would figure it out.
“If anything at all, yes.”
Bonnie watched his friends fall into a short silence. It was broken by Goldie asking, “Keep an eye on our science partners, huh? What exactly are we watching for, anyway? Signs, but signs of what?”
The silence lasted a few moments longer, the answer in the air but none of them wanting to voice it. “Anything suspicious, I guess,” Bonnie finally answered. “Things like… I dunno…” He hesitated. “Depression, abuse, gang activity- you know, that kind of stuff.”
They fell into another silence, this one somehow much more tense than before. Bonnie could tell just by looking at them that those words were echoing in their minds. They echoed in his own mind, too. He had no real reason to suspect abuse, but the depression and gang activity... well, they seemed more plausible, at least without having met Rodriguez’s parents. But that bandage...
Nothing was off of the table because they simply didn’t know . He turned back to his review packet, frowning at the question he was on. The mutual, albeit uneasy, agreement hung between them all. Keep an eye on your science partner. Watch for anything strange or dangerous. And be careful.
He sighed and glanced up towards his friends. He needed to break the tense silence and change the subject. It was becoming suffocating.
“What’s the answer for number eight?”