[I am so, so, so very sorry for how long it's been. Things have been hard for me lately, but reading all of your guys' comments helped me get off my self-pitying ass and onto working on something productive. I promise promise promise that it will not take this long for the next update.
Thank you for all your kind comments, they really have done much for me. Reading them all helped me get through hard times, so thank you all.
I am discontent with this chapter, however, if I wait to make it perfect, it will never be released. It is very plot heavy. I hope you all still enjoy.]
Mike nibbled on his thumbnail and glanced at the car radio's clock. Dammit, it felt like he'd been at this red light for hours but it'd been less than a minute. He swore under his breath and anxiously tapped the steering wheel with his other hand. Another glance at the clock.
Crap, was it too late to cancel? Maybe he'd say something at work came up, or that he caught the flu, or something.
Mike caught his own reflection in the doorside mirror. He watched himself shake his head. If he wimped out now, it'd be too suspicious, he'd never get this chance again. His parents would immediately assume the worst and disown him. Again.
Just thinking about it frustrated him. Mike squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. Dammit, dammit, this was a really bad idea.
But... it was for Foxy. So it couldn't really be that bad right?
Mike opened his eyes and laughed at the pathetic justification.
The traffic light flashed to green.
"Hello…?"
Mike jumped at the quiet voice. He'd been knocking at the two-story suburban house for the past five minutes and was about to give up when the burgundy door cracked open. He looked down slightly through the small opening.
"Hey Lili," the security guard knelt down, "Can you let me in?"
"Mom and dad aren't home yet."
He winced, he was already being treated like an outsider. "C'mon, I'm your big bro. I promise I won't do anything bad."
Lilian stared at him. She was young, 7 years old or something. Mike felt slightly bad for not being able to remember, but she'd barely crossed his mind even before he was kicked out. Lili bit her lip nervously and reached up for the chain lock-
"Oh, Mike! We weren't expecting you!"
He looked back and saw his parents, paper grocery bags in their hands. His dad quickly spoke up after his mother, "So soon of course. We weren't expecting you so soon."
Mike stood up and rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Uh, sorry…? I…"
"It's fine, really. We're happy to see you," said his mom. The door slowly swung open and Lili jumped out, running to give their dad a hug that only reached his waist.
It felt awkward standing there, like he was an unwanted intruder in their lives. He wanted to ditch this dumbass plan and go back to his shitty apartment and his shitty life. His family was never this happy when he was around, or at least not to his face. Always the lectures, always the pestering. Old hatred riled up again, but Mike wasn't sure if it was hatred for his parents or for himself.
"Hey, Mike, did you hear me?"
He snapped out of his doze at his dad's voice. His parents were frowning and his mom was walking closer. Probably to check his eyes. It'd become a habit for her in the year before he left.
"What?"
Lili pointed towards his shirt. He glanced down to see the familiar logo of Freddy Fazbear's face.
"I drove here from work, I didn't have time to change, I mean, I hope that's okay."
Okay, that was smooth. Definitely smooth. He totally didn't sound like a stuttery nervous wreck.
"Of course it's okay, it's just that… well," his dad knelt down to Lili and whispered in her ear. A grin grew on her face, the first one he'd seen since… well since forever. She dashed to Mike and looked up at her brother. Her face was gleaming.
"Have you met Chica?"
"Yeah, I, uh," Mike glanced up at his parents. They were staring at him with a mixture of expectancy and hope. He looked back to his sister. "Yeah, I have. She's really, uh, energetic and stuff. Do you want me to introduce you to her?"
He forced a smile, hoping that his parents would protest or something. Mixing this and Fazbear's seemed… wrong. After so many years, his memories of home were obscured in a partially pot-induced haze, but his memories of Foxy and the others remained clear. He could recall the exact instance he first saw Bonnie move from the stage, the feelings when he first saw Chica looking in through his office window. Every day, just before he slept, he'd relive the day Foxy saved him from Freddy. Everything revolved around that place. His life was divided in two the moment he answered that ad in the newspaper.
But his parents only nodded in approval when he looked up.
Shit.
The house smelled different. Not that he remembered how it smelled before it left. Mike just knew that it smelled different.
The rooms seemed to be the same for the most part, a few more crappy souvenirs here and there, a few less pre-eviction family photos here and there. If he looked closely in the background of two particular pictures, he could see his high school graduate self wandering off in the distance.
But the most noticeable difference was that his room was gone. Well, not literally of course. Mike knew his parents weren't that crazy. He still had to do a double-take when he saw nothing but dolls and toys. He walked in, then walked back out, wondering if maybe he'd just forgotten which room was his, then back in when he realized how crazy that'd be.
He glanced around, looking for any sign that this used to be where he lived for 23 years. Where he slept, ate, where he brought friends back after parties and where his parents told him to get the hell out of their house. But even the small nicks in the walls were painted over in fresh coats of white.
His parents tried their best to erase him.
That fact bothered him less than it should have.
Footsteps entered the room behind him and he instinctively reached for a non-existent button.
"What are you doing?" his sister asked.
Mike tried to smooth the motion over into a weird arm stretch. He turned around and tried to shrug as casually as possible in his current position. "Oh, uh, hi. I'm just, uh, y'know, looking around."
Lili shrugged too and held out a piece of paper in her hands. It took a moment for Mike to realize she wanted him to look at it. So he took the gently folded paper and opened it.
It was a crayon drawing of the Fazbear crew, but it was missing someone. An odd feeling swelled up in Mike's chest at Foxy's absence.
"I like Chica," she said quietly, "who do you like?"
The feeling grew. Without thinking, Mike reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out his flip phone. He knelt down besides Lili and opened the cover, a low quality image of Foxy filling the tiny cheap digital screen. He'd taken the photo several days previously, a reminder of why he had to do this to his family. Guilt spread across his body, his fingers felt cold and numb.
"Who's that?"
"That's Foxy the Pirate. He's… not with the others. He has his own stage, I take ca- help take care of him."
Lili's eyes widened. "Are you friends?"
Mike didn't know how to respond. Foxy was sentient and definitely felt a friend, but he'd done things for Mike that his human friends never had. Either he had shitty friends or Foxy was something beyond a friend.
"Yeah, I think so."
She grabbed onto Mike's arm and stared at him hopefully. "Can I meet him? Please?"
"If mom and dad are okay with it."
That was a lie. Even if they did say yes, he could already think of endless lines of excuses that'd last till the place closed. He wasn't going let anyone else see Foxy because-
Because Foxy was his.
Lili smiled wide and ran out, probably to ask their parents immediately. Mike got up and walked out of his ex-bedroom. He glanced at a door, slightly ajar. If nothing else had changed, this'd be the master bedroom and tucked under the bed would be a safe. The passcode would be 0604, his parent's anniversary. Inside would be… well, there'd be something. As a naive obedient kid, he never exactly saw what was in it, but it had to be something important if his parents had locked it up for so long.
His dad used to show it to him sometimes. He'd tell him that he'd open it when he grew up. But that never happened. The opening that is, Mike was pretty sure that after everything, he'd grown up just fine.
Maybe.
Mike shook his head and followed his sister. His ears drummed with a dum-de-dum.
