A/N: The post-pre-transition chapter has arrived! Mike POV makes its triumphant return...kind of.

Also at some point this fic broke 12000 views and chapter 54 is almost to 100 on its own for some reason, so thanks for reading. Also shoutout to everyone who's read every chapter because statistics suggest otherwise *glances at ch38*

Thank you once again to Kitkatkatester for the review of last chapter :)

Enjoy!

A week had passed since Mike had met with the princess, and his 'house arrest' still had yet to cease. In that time, Scott had continued scheming his plan of revenge, relaying it to Vito's reluctant ears, while Noah...Noah somehow got even worse.

Staying in his office as normal, sure, but he seemed to have more energy in his step when he did emerge to scold someone for something, like he'd finally accomplished a task that had been plaguing him for ages...which he did, but his dependents didn't know that.

He'd also started paying even more attention to what Mike did on the daily in regards to his chores and duties. Often there would be a surface in need of a second cleaning because 'there's already dust on it again' or 'you clearly missed a spot'. This wasn't anything new but it was much more frequent. It caused Mike to work for longer stretches of time without stop. He knows he sweeped the stairs already, how is there still dirt?

The worst part was what Noah would say in passing as Mike struggled with cleaning so he could take a break.

"It appears you can't take care of this place like you used to."

"You can't do anything right, can you?"

"This could've been done an hour ago. Getting bored, are we? Pathetic."

These were repeated over and over again. Things he and Scott had been saying before, but now were said at a frequency that, coupled with the stream of tasks that never seemed to end even if he'd finished them, Mike was starting to consider the words to be true.

"My apologies, sir," was soon replaced with, "I know, sir. I'm sorry." His acknowledgement of his own perceived shortcomings left Noah with a slight smirk that he kept turned away from the servant. It was becoming almost too easy...

This treatment extended to whenever Scott was in the room, but he would focus more on going over his plan of revenge against the rope wielding Australian for the tenth time.

"So you're going to get him to the meet point, okay, can you handle that, Multiple Mike?" Scott asked.

"Yes, I can walk places, sir," Mike said with a mildly dejected sigh as he dusted a plate.

"Great, you better not mess this up or-" Scott started a threat.

"-you'll regret not staying kidnapped," Mike finished. It had been Scott's go to for the past week, at this point it didn't have much punch to it.

Scott glared at him for finishing his sentence so accurately. "I'm going to talk to Dad about our little trip to town tomorrow. I didn't have to let you in on this you know, you should be grateful I even considered it." He started to walk towards Noah's office.

"I'd be grateful to get out of here for a few hours," Mike replied out of earshot, putting the plate down.

Vito walked into the room a few minutes later, munching on some fruit. "Yo," he greeted Mike. "You good?" It was clear that Mike was very tired and appeared a bit sad.

"...yeah," Mike lied. "I'm good." He picked up another plate to dust, fingers on the slow and slippy side.

"Ey, that looks clean already," Vito pointed out, getting a better look at the decorative plate.

"...it isn't," Mike assured him as his fingers forgot about friction and caused him to drop the plate.

Vito reacted much faster than Mike could have, managing to keep the plate from hitting the ground. "You ain't in the right shape to do this, Mike," he told him straight up, setting the plate back in place.

"I know," Mike said in acceptance. "But I have to do it." He was well aware of his physical state being less than stellar, but keeping it out of the red wasn't the priority.

They'd had this conversation before but this time it was easier for Vito to react. "Somethin'll break if you don't stop for a second. It's you or the pottery, yo," he pointed out.

That had to be one of the more intelligent and hard hitting things Vito had ever said. "...they won't let me stop," Mike countered with a hint of desperation, making eye contact with him.

"They ain't watchin' right now," Vito pointed out.

Mike knew exactly where they were, and they weren't far, but he had a feeling he wouldn't win this argument. "...fine," he conceded, reluctantly placing the duster down. "I'll take a break." He'd take the fall if he was caught, sitting down and feeling just about every part of his body ache.

"Okay, we're go for tomorrow-um, who said you could stop working?" Scott barged in soon after Mike had taken a seat.

Mike was about to stand and apologize but was cut off. "I did, yo," Vito replied, still in the room. "'E was gonna wreck somethin' if he didn't stop." Not wrong.

"Pfft, it woulda happened eventually anyway, he's no good for anything to begin with," Scott figured.

"I'm sorry sir, it won't happen again-" Mike apologized in a very rehearsed manner, picking up the duster.

"Whatever. Dad's letting you go with us tomorrow," Scott revealed. "That hat-wearing loser guy's going down. Come on, Vito, let the servant do his pitiful job." He started to leave again.

"...I think I'm gonna go get some air, yo," Vito decided, heading towards the door to go outside.

"Ugh, why? You can get air anytime you want!" Scott asked, confused.

Vito shrugged and left, starting to walk in a similar direction to his last long walk. Scott sighed dramatically and stomped off to his room.

Noah soon emerged from his office, for once not holding anything. He looked at Mike, who had gone back to dusting, being a little more careful now that he was being watched and didn't have a Vito to catch something again. "I thought you'd already dusted those this morning," he remarked. "Starting to get forgetful, are we?"

Mike stopped, surprised at the reverse response. "...I'm sorry, sir," he replied slowly, placing the plate back down.

"I just spoke to Scott about your little jaunt into the outside world tomorrow…I don't think I have to remind you not to stray off by yourself again, do I?" Noah asked.

"No, sir," Mike replied. "I learned my lesson. I'm thankful to be allowed off the property at all." There was very little emotion in his voice.

"Yes, and you are going to help Scott and Vito with whatever they need," Noah reminded him.

Mike nodded slowly.

"Excellent. If all goes well I might just let you out more often...maybe," Noah said very casually before starting to leave again, then stopping. "By the way, do you happen to know where Vito is?" he asked.

Mike perked up just a little at hearing that first bit. At the second, he replied, "On a walk, sir."

"Hm," Noah hummed to himself. "Direct him to me when he returns home, servant." He finally left the room for real.

"Yes, sir…" Mike replied before going to continue his work.

I wonder what he wants Vito for… he thought to himself as he moved about cleaning as best he could with achy limbs. ...probably father-son stuff.

But since when did they do that?

Thoughts are always appreciated. Lemme know what they are if you have any.

I also updated a different TD story earlier this week if anyone's interested, should be second from the top on my profile.

Til next time, stay safe out there y'all, and I'll see you next time :)