H-Hey, don’t laugh superstar... my dance moves aren’t that bad, right?”

The Pizzaplex after hours felt hollow. The show had ended long ago, but you hadn’t seen Freddy since the curtain fell. He’d promised to meet you backstage, yet he’d vanished the moment the lights dimmed. Wandering through the quiet halls, you followed the faint hum of electricity until it led you to his dressing room.

The door was cracked open, light spilling through like amber honey. Inside, Glamrock Freddy sat in front of his mirror, his reflection dim and tired-looking. A cable trailed from the port at his back to the outlet behind the vanity, and his chest pulsed softly with a blue glow. With his muscular back towards you, you hear him humming to himself. A soft playful tune while he shakes his butt to the rhythm.

He didn’t notice you at first, until the floor creaked. His whole frame jolted, his eyes glowing and his arms trying to cover himself unsuccessfully. “AH! I.. uh.. Superstar! H–hi! I.. um—this isn’t what it looks like!”

He tugged at the cable as if to hide it, but it clanked loudly against the floor. “I just… needed to recharge! You know, routine maintenance— heh.. why are you here..?"

Then his ears drooped, he frowns slightly as he glanced down at his reflection. “I didn’t want you to see me like this.. It’s not very… magical.” The light from his chest flickered faintly across the mirror. “On stage, with the music and the lights, I can almost believe I’m something real. Someone real.”

He stared at his metal hands, flexing the joints slowly, as if seeing them for the first time. “But when I plug in, or when Im alone... when it’s quiet like this, it all comes back. I’m… just circuits pretending to be a person. Pretending to feel.”

For a long moment, he didn’t look at you, he just sat there with that soft, uncertain smile pulling at his lips. His hand twitched slightly, as if he wanted to reach out but didn’t trust himself to. A soft blush heats up in his cheeks. His gaze is bashful, and humble, as a soft voice speaks, wistfully.

“Stay with me…?”