Be careful of Watching Eyes, Blu
“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.”
Blu hardly glanced at the thick review packet sitting innocently on his desk. It was mostly reading but there were about forty questions in all; on the first pages were basics divided into different sections and on the following eight pages were readings with questions about the readings. It felt more like English class than science class to him.
“Blu,” he heard the soft call from behind him. Turning around to face the golden rabbit, he gave him the biggest grin he could muster at the moment. He was aware of red eyes on him but he pointedly ignored Henderson, concentrating on his frowning, fidgeting friend.
“Yeah, Spring?” he asked, keeping his voice quiet as well despite the fact that they both knew very well that they couldn’t have a private conversation with the Fazcrew so close to them.
Spring’s frown deepened and Blu knew he had already been seen through. However, Spring didn’t ask what was wrong; that was something that they weren’t going to discuss with Fazbear and Henderson right next to them- and Henderson is still watching me, it’s really fucking creepy! Dammit, did he see through me too? Get your act together, Blu!
“Blu?”
He blinked. “Huh?” he asked dumbly, staring at his concerned friend.
“Careful, you’re pulling a Mangle,” Spring told him with a small laugh, but there was no humour in it. He was watching him with only concern, and over the golden rabbit’s shoulder he could see Alfred watching both of them with a frown and furrowed brow. Across the room he could hear a girl squeal in laughter.
Blu hummed and twitched his ears up, giving his friends a confident grin. “Me, pull a Mangle? Aw, c’mon, I’m not that cool, you know~” he sang teasingly, earning a small quirk of the lip from both friends. He wanted to look over at Mangle and Chii but then he’d have to look at the Fazcrew and he was already doing his damnedest to ignore the chatting twins next to his friends.
“My mistake,” Spring teased right back, lifting a hand to wave dismissively as he rolled his eyes. “Mangle does always beat you in the studio, anyway.”
He gave a gasp of mock offense. “I beg to differ! Mangle barely stays on tempo!”
“Mangle marks the tempo, Blu,” Spring giggled, his left ear flopping down to block his face from others’ view. It was instinctive by now and Blu knew he himself did it too; any action that seemed vulnerable was hidden from sight as best it could be. Giggling certainly felt vulnerable, at least to Spring. Blu, however, loved giggling. “They can’t be off tempo when they make the tempo.”
“I disagree,” Alfred put in with a small smirk.
“Oh shush, Mr. Vocals,” Spring snorted, looking over his shoulder at Alfred with a grin. Blu giggled. “If I remember right you were the one off tempo this morning.”
“Nope,” Alfred disagreed, shaking his head. “You.”
“Me?” Spring gave a mock-sniff, lifting his nose in the air with half-lidded eyes. Blu was immediately reminded of Spring’s mother and gave a wry grin; Spring could pull off that posh aristocratic look when he wanted to. That’s probably how he got his way with this shitty school, now that I think about it. “I’ll have you know, good sirs, I am not at fault here. Obviously the song was too slow to begin with.”
Blu tried to play along, he really did, but as his eyes met Alfred’s across Spring’s desk he quickly lost the fight and dissolved into his own fit of giggles. “Oh my gods, Spring, really?”
The golden rabbit gave him a grin, breaking the facade. “I am really sorry about that, by the way. I was out late and, you know... Last night wasn’t very… you know…” he trailed off.
He didn’t want to say it but that was fine. Blu understood. He nodded slightly as the bell rang. “We know,” he assured, pushing himself up and leaping over the bar blocking his way out of the right side of the desk. He did not want to get too close to Henderson, even if it was just to get out of the desk. “And then you get up at unholy o’clock.” Really, all of them did.
“Hypocrite,” Alfred snorted, waiting patiently for the Fazbear next to him to stand up and leave before sliding out of the desk himself.
Blu ignored the rest of the class as they filed out, looking at his friends with his hands on his hips. “I’ll have you know that I am a proud hypocrite, thank you very much,” he drawled, but before anyone could respond a white arm draped around his shoulders.
“This was the most horrible thing I have ever gone through,” Mangle sighed dramatically, leaning slightly on Blu. The blue rabbit did his best to not overbalance; Mangle was several inches taller and quite a few pounds heavier than himself, and his injured leg and side weren’t much help on that front. “Please tell me we have something to look forward to!”
“Well,” Spring started as he finally stood up, a small grin in place, “it’s lunch time and then we have art with Mr. Smith.”
Chii bounced in place and cheered happily, “Yay! Come on, let’s go claim our table before some freshmen get it,” she laughed, pulling her bag up on her shoulder. “I made lunch for all of us.” She hesitated, looking around at all of them. Her eyes flickered around the room before she asked, “Are you guys alright?”
Blu glanced around at the empty room. Outside he could hear footsteps passing and voices drifting down the hall, but otherwise it was clear. He dropped his voice, just in case. “I think I may have really fucked up already.”
They all exchanged worried glances. “Why?” Alfred asked simply. It was one word but it said so many different things; What happened? Are you okay? What did Henderson do? Do we need to run damage control? It was so concerned, so protective, so worried that Blu honestly didn’t know how to respond.
How do I even say it? I flashed back to what happened last night and nearly had a freak out? Henderson noticed that I was starting to freak out? How do I even say that?
“You looked like you almost had an episode,” Chii put in softly, worried. Blu blinked and looked at her; how had she even noticed? “I heard you kinda… at the, uh, future plans question. I looked over at you and you looked pretty bad, Blu.”
“Oh…” Blu rubbed the back of his neck and gave a nervous smile. “Well, uh, Henderson said something that made me think about last night…” It was his turn to trail off. His friends frowned and exchanged glances again. He felt Mangle’s weight shift away and the fox stepped around to actually look at him. “It’s no big deal, though. It was a… really big slip-up but it doesn’t exactly say what happened. It’s not like he saw the bandages or something,” he added with a laugh. “For all he knows anything could have triggered it, so, uh, yeah… What about you guys? Everything okay?” They didn’t look convinced but went along with his redirection anyway.
“Yeah,” Spring shrugged. “I didn’t have a panic attack so that’s something. Al?”
They finally began heading towards the door as the crowd outside thinned. Alfred just gave a noncommittal shrug and Blu frowned.
“I guess,” he said simply and Blu knew it meant something did happen.
They all frowned and glanced at each other. They knew Alfred wouldn’t be able to explain what needed to be said- not at that moment, anyway- so they moved on, looking towards Mangle.
“I zoned out a couple times,” Mangle admitted as they entered the cafeteria, making a bee-line for their usual table in the back corner. “But I wouldn’t count that as a fuck up, really.”
“Nothing wrong with being a dreamer,” Chii agreed as she sat down between Alfred and Spring. “I didn’t even speak to Sanchez so I’m perfectly okay.”
Blu dropped down across from Chii with Mangle sitting on his right, across from Alfred and next to the wall. It was their common set-up in the cafeteria; they sat that way more for Mangle’s sake than anything else.
“So all in all, horrible day?” Blu questioned.
“Absolutely,” the others, bar Alfred, chorused while Alfred simply nodded in agreement.
“Should’ve known the moment you lost your balance this morning that it would be,” Mangle sighed, accepting the offered fruit salad from Chii. Blu took the one offered to him as well with a small, sheepish grin.
“Yeah, sorry,” he apologized despite knowing it wasn’t even his fault. He pulled the lid off of the fruit salad and happily began eating. I love strawberries...
“Hurry up and eat so there’s time for dessert, boys and Mangle~” Chii chirped, lifting five more containers out of her bag. Blu perked up at the sight of the strawberry-topped cake inside. My favourite!
“Awesome!” he cheered, grinning. “Thanks, Chii, you’re the best.”
“Aw, my grandmother could have done so much better,” Chii laughed, waving her hand dismissively as she passed the cake slices around. “Sorry, Spring, I would’ve gotten you chocolate cake but we don’t have any right now.”
“That’s fine,” Spring laughed, giving Blu a smirk. “Chocolate might be far superior but this is good too~”
They all laughed as Blu pointed his fork at the taller rabbit. “Now wait just a moment there, goldy-bun, ain’t nothin’ superior to strawberry!”
“I beg to differ,” Chii giggled, exchanging a knowing look with Alfred. “There is something superior to strawberries.”
“Chocolate is not it, though,” Mangle snorted, grinning at Spring. “Not even close~!”
Spring pointed dramatically at Mangle and cried out, probably loud enough to be heard throughout the entire cafeteria, “Treason!”
And what remained of the tense air slid away just like that as Blu laughed with his friends. He felt like the teenager he was supposed to be, if only for a moment.
He was determined to enjoy it while it lasted.
Blu knew the peace was too good to last.
He was sitting on a stool in the back corner of the art room, spinning around and laughing like the child he wished he could have been, with his eyes closed and hanging tightly on to his seat. Mangle and Spring were laughing right along with him as they spun him around and he knew Alfred was hovering close, just in case he fell, while Chii was laughing as she watched a safe distance away.
When he heard the abrupt “oh god dammit” from the doorway, he stopped laughing, opened his eyes and lifted his head... and he lost his balance. He squealed as he fell over and Alfred jerked forward to catch him before he hit the hard tile floor full force.
Play it off, Blu, play it off. He laughed and looked up at the bear who had caught him, who was frowning down at him. The frown wasn’t towards him, though. “Sorry, Al! Can you put me down now? Don’t drop me!” he added a moment before the bear dropped him the remaining inches to the ground. He laughed and stared up at his friend. “You’re such a jerk, Alfred.”
Alfred gave him a smirk and knelt down, grabbing his arm and hauling him to his feet. He frowned again as he quickly scanned Blu, as if to make sure he actually was alright. “Shirt.”
Blu blinked, confused, before realizing what he meant; his shirt had ridden up. Quickly he pulled it back down and straightened it, frowning to himself. He didn’t bother to glance towards the front of the room to figure out who had entered; the voice had been somewhat familiar. Not Henderson but familiar. Was it Jones? Or Fazbear… don’t remember, don’t care. “Thanks,” he said, giving Alfred a grin before walking over to the table Chii was sitting at. He dropped down next to her and turned to look at Alfred and Spring as they sat on either side of them, and Mangle slid into the seat next to the window.
“So,” Mangle started, all of them pointedly ignoring the group in the front, “I think we should do something this weekend.”
“We do something every weekend, Mangle,” Spring pointed out and Blu snorted.
“I think they mean something outside the house, Spring,” Blu told him, leaning on his hand to lazily watch his vulpine friend. “What’d you have in mind, Mangle?”
A grin spread across Mangle’s face as they leaned forward, almost conspiratorially, and said, “War by the water.”
Blu felt a grin of his own form. “Didn’t someone nearly fall in the lake last time we did that?” he asked, eyes flitting to Spring who seemed to be blushing slightly in embarrassment. “Well it’s got my vote~!”
“Same,” Chii giggled while Alfred simply nodded, amusement dancing in his eyes.
“I can’t tell if you just want to see me fall in the lake this time or not,” Spring snorted, shrugging. “A day at the lake sounds fun, yeah. We could definitely use a little vacation.”
The rabbit then hesitated and gestured for all of them come in closer, which they did without second thought, scooting their chairs forward and leaning closer to him in the best huddle they could manage like that. He could feel Chii leaning against his back, her head poking over his shoulder. When Spring spoke again, his voice was low and hushed. Under the din of voices, no one would hear them unless they were actively listening for it. “What’ll be the excuses this time, though?”
“Research project?” Chii suggested just as hushed, running her fingers through her feathers. “Tell them we have a project that’ll take all of Saturday?”
“Why not Sunday too? Make it an overnight thing,” Spring added, glancing around at all of them. “We could camp out in my back yard if it’s not raining.”
“Um,” Blu cut in, lifting a hand to get their attention. “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.”
“Sneak,” Alfred said simply, causing Blu to turn to him. “Don’t need to know.”
“And if they come in at midnight to find me gone?” The last time that happened had not been fun. He was pretty sure he still had the scar, but his fur was thick enough and the scar thin enough to cover it. Spring wasn’t so lucky with his own… so Blu knew he should be grateful for his own luck.
“They’ll be too drunk to even remember the next morning,” Mangle snorted, a little too loudly for Blu’s taste. They seemed to realize that they had raised their voice as when they spoke again, their voice was lower and more hushed. “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,” Spring sighed, running a hand through his own fur. “Then we’re out of this hellhole and off to freedom.”
If we survive that long, Blu immediately thought, turning his gaze to the front of the classroom. Immediately green eyes met crimson and his eyes widened in shock. Fuck, can he hear us?! “Guys, shut up,” he hissed, whipping around to his friends again and cutting Mangle off mid-sentence.
Spring blinked, shocked. “Blu?”
He glanced back over towards Henderson, who as he expected was now watching him with a raised brow, clearly unimpressed. Spring’s eyes flicked over and he frowned as he caught sight of those watching red eyes. The golden rabbit leaned over to whisper. “Has he been listening to us?”
“I think so,” Blu whispered back, glancing at the ceiling. Why is he watching us? He’s supposed to pretend we don’t exist. “I must’a really fucked up.”
“Relax, Blu,” Spring sighed, straightening up and leaning on his hand, stretching his fingers as he did so. Blu and the others understood the signal. Act natural. “So, war by the water Saturday?” he redirected. To anyone who might have tuned in at that moment, it sounded as if they were simply arranging a hangout rather than diverting. “And then camping in the back yard if weather permits?”
“Throw in a picnic and a jam session and I agree,” Blu put in with a grin, getting a laugh from his friends.
“Oh Blu,” Mangle sighed melodramatically, leaning over to drop their left hand on his shoulder. “Haven’t you realized by now we will always jam?”
Blu’s ear twitched as the bell rang and he looked up, noticing a red-haired human standing at the front of the classroom, a grin on his face and hands on his hips. “I think class is about to start.”
“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…”
When the front door opened and a giggling child could be heard, Blu looked up from the review packet sitting on the coffee table. He noticed his friends following suit and grinned a bit as a small golden rabbit ran through the door into the large, open living room.
“Hey guys!” the child greeted happily as he skid to a stop, waving frantically at them.
“Hey Plushie,” Blu greeted brightly, waving back and setting his pencil down. “Is there a bigger version of you following?”
“I heard that, Blu,” Spring called as he walked through the open door, keys clutched in his hand. Blu gave him a teasing grin.
“Everything alright?” he asked, looking back at the smaller, more energetic child as he dropped his small, light bag on the floor and pulled out a colourful magazine-like workbook.
“Plushie’s got his first homework assignment already,” Spring explained, amused as he sat down on the floor next to Alfred. “He’s excited.”
“Excited for homework?” Chii giggled, looking over at Plushie. “He’ll change his tune soon enough.”
The little rabbit giggled and carried his yellow pencil box and the workbook over to the coffee table. “But now I’m more like Springy!” he declared proudly, bouncing in place.
They all laughed, though Blu knew Spring didn’t want Plushie to be anything like him. In fact, it was something they all strived to prevent. After all, Spring’s entire life was defined by one thing that he needed medicine for...
Blu pushed the thought from his mind. “What kind of homework is it?” he asked the little rabbit instead.
“It’s just seeing what they already know,” Spring explained as he pulled Plushie into his lap, so the small rabbit could actually see the top of the coffee table and his workbook. “As far as I know, it’s got the ABCs, simple addition and subtraction- you know, like two plus two- and spelling.”
“Do they really expect six-year-olds to know all that?” Mangle asked with a frown, glancing at the workbook. “I didn’t learn to read until I was eight.”
“Considering all of us learned how to read in kindergarten, you’re kind of alone there, Mangle,” Blu chuckled, though he wasn’t exactly happy about it. “Plushie, you know your ABCs right?”
“Yeah!” Plushie giggled, picking up his pencil. He held it wrong, like a knife of some kind, but Spring gently corrected his hold. It was almost awkward, the way Spring showed him how to hold it; Plushie was right-handed, after all, and Spring wasn’t. “Springy and Mimi sang it with me all the time!”
“Oh really?” Chii giggled, looking at Spring.
“Oh shush you,” Spring laughed, watching as Plushie began writing out the ABCs. Blu noticed he only wrote out the capital letters. “I used to love that song when I was your age.”
“Silly,” Alfred chuckled, turning back to his review packet. “Blu. Twenty-nine.”
Blu blinked and flipped to the next page of his packet, looking at the question. “Ummm…” he trailed, frowning as he thought. “Nitric oxide, I believe.”
“Thanks.”
“Not a problem,” Blu nodded, quickly circling the answer before returning to question twenty-three. He heard the rustling of papers as Spring pulled his own review packet out. None of them spoke, concentrating on getting their work done.
“I’m bored,” Plushie declared after several minutes of silence and Blu giggled. “Spriiiing, I’m bored!”
“Welcome to the life of homework, kiddo,” Spring chuckled, ruffling his brother’s fur and sharing a grin with his friends. “Once you finish up yours, why don’t you go practice your dance?”
“Can’t I just go now?”
“Already trying to escape homework,” Mangle giggled from their place, leaning on the coffee table to peer over at the bunny kit. “How cute~”
“Not until your homework is done, Plushie,” Spring chuckled, reaching over to lightly push Mangle away.
Although the little rabbit whined, he obediently returned to his homework. Occasionally he’d ask for help, but mostly he already knew everything. Blu didn’t fail to notice this.
Looks like he’s more like you than you’d like, Spring, he thought tiredly, scratching out a miscalculation. But is that any surprise? He was here that November, after all. He cut the thought off there, narrowing his eyes. Concentrate, Blu.
They spoke occasionally to see where each other were and to help each other out, and eventually they reached the end of the review packet. It was almost seven o’clock and Plushie had long since run off upstairs to play.
An hour of daylight left. Awesome.
“Hey guys,” he said, looking towards his friends. They all turned to look at him as they slipped their packets into their bags. “Wanna go outside and mess around?”
“Mess around how?” Chii questioned curiously, zipping her bag back up.
“You know, run around, climb some trees, the good ol’ stuff,” Blu answered with a shrug. Spring frowned at him, unsure.
“Blu, you’re hurt,” he reminded the rabbit. “Running around and climbing trees is the last thing you want to do.”
Blu frowned and glanced down at his side, ears flopping down. It hurt a lot less than before but he knew that was because of the pain medicine he had taken upon arriving at the mansion. They’re right… He sighed and leaned on his hand, staring at the table. “Right, you’re right,” he agreed forlornly, glancing up. “Well then, we could just watch a movie or play music or something, I guess. I just thought… you know, sunlight and stuff.”
He watched as the others exchanged frowns. I hate this, he decided, averting his gaze. Seventeen years, you’d think I’d be used to being limited. His fingers brushed against the fresh bandage, frown sharpening. It’s not like this is the first time, after all. And it certainly won’t be the last.
“Come on,” Spring finally decided, standing up and dropping his bag onto the sofa none of them occupied. “Let’s go get our guitars and we’ll play outside today. It’s too nice a day to waste inside.”
Looking up at him, Blu flashed him a small smile. It was a compromise between what they wanted to do and what they could do. They had been making them for as long as they could remember.
Mangle can’t walk too well? Let’s sit on the back porch and watch a movie together. Alfred is struggling to breathe? Let’s spend the day relaxing, maybe playing some music out on the lawn or even some videogames in Spring's bedroom. Spring forgot to take his medicine? Let’s just mess around and talk about movies and games. Chii doesn’t want anyone to touch her? Let’s just watch a movie in the living room while she messes around in the kitchen.
Blu got clawed and slashed by his mom again? Let’s just play our guitars and sing a song.
It was normal. It was what they always did. Their entire lives were just one big compromise between the things that they wanted to do and the things they were actually capable of doing. Yes, they were used to it.
That didn’t mean they had to like it, though.