Jeremy ran into the main room carrying his- well, Bonnie's, technically- guitar. He flopped down on the couch next to Mike, who was staring at his tablet. Neither made a move.

"Everything alright, Jer?" Mike asked. Jeremy shook his head.

"No," he said. Mike looked away from the tablet and raised an eyebrow at him.

"What's the matter?" he asked. Jeremy held the guitar out, using both hands to steady it. He wasn't nearly as strong as Bonnie.

"I don't know how to play guitar and I wanna learn," he said. He lowered the guitar again and stared at Mike. "Playing as Bonnie doesn't count- he always faked."

Mike put a dramatic hand to his chest.

"Faked?" he asked. His voice sounded hurt. "I always thought it was real!"

Jeremy pouted at him and sat up, slapping his arm lightly.

"Miiiiiiiiike!" he whined. Mike laughed and gently swatted his hand away.

"Ok, ok," he said. "I'll stop."

Jeremy shifted around a bit so that he was facing Mike with his legs crossed. He rested the guitar across his lap, holding it as if he was about to start playing.

"Anyway, I held this thing for years and still don't know how to play," he said. He strummed a cord. "And that bugs me."

"So you're gonna teach yourself how to play the guitar?" Mike asked him. Jeremy nodded.

"Yeah. But… I don't know how to do that."

Mike chuckled a little bit, glancing back down at his tablet. Seeing that everything was in order, he nodded to himself and turned the tablet off, setting it to the side. He turned so that he was facing Jeremy, too.

"Well… first, you'd have to know where to put your fingers," he said. "I don't know how to play guitar, but that seems like the best place to start."

Jeremy nodded and looked down at his fingers.

"Well… I did learn a couple of things over the years," he said. "We once had this one guard who knew how to play the guitar- he grabbed mine and started playing it."

Arguably, that same guard had shredded his guitar. Literally shredded it. He was one of the rare few guards that they hadn't killed- he was fired for not only messing with the animatronics (he did some… weird things to the robots) but playing with their props and stealing from the company. He destroyed Bonnie's guitar, smashed Chica's cupcake, and managed to dismantle Freddy's microphone. He tried suing the company when Foxy tried to stand up for his friends…

Somehow, the animatronic fox managed to beat him in court.

Jeremy shook that memory away. He wanted to focus on what he'd seen the guard doing with his fingers when he was playing the guitar, not all that… other stuff. Whatever all that other stuff was. He still didn't fully understand it. Maybe he could ask Mike about all of it someday.

"So, I saw him start with his fingers here- "

Jeremy placed his fingers on two of the strings. He had to struggle a little bit to get his fingers on the second string in a spot where his fingers weren't dragging on the other strings, but he managed to get it. He strummed the chord and nodded to himself, satisfied with the way it sounded.

"He also played this- "

He shifted his fingers to play another chord. Then, he moved around and played another one. Mike nodded.

"Did you learn any songs from watching him?" he asked. Jeremy thought about it for a second, then nodded.

"Yeah, a couple of them," he said. He shifted the position of his hands a bit and started playing a simple tune. When he finished, Mike nodded again.

"That guy must have used your guitar quite a bit," he said. Jeremy nodded before sighing. His shoulders slumped forward as if he were tired.

"...I'm sorry," he said. He shook his head. "I know you know I'm lying."

Mike didn't say anything to this. Jeremy clutched the guitar to his chest, wrapping his arms around the neck of the instrument. He didn't look at Mike's face. He was sure that the former guard must be upset with him for lying like this.

"I'll just… go," he said, starting to stand up, but Mike put a hand on his knee.

"You don't have to go yet," he said softly. "I'm just curious… why did you lie about not knowing how to play?"

Jeremy shrugged. Honestly, he didn't know how to answer. He didn't think Mike would understand. And, even if he did, he didn't think it mattered that much. It was a small, stupid reason to lie, and he shouldn't have done it. Mike squeezed his shoulder slightly, making him sigh.

"I… dunno," he mumbled. "I just…"

He shrugged. Mike breathed out a laugh.

"You… wanted to play the guitar?" he asked. Jeremy nodded.

"But you've heard all my songs a lot of times, so I didn't want to make you hear them again," he said. He hugged the guitar a little tighter. "So I lied…"

His mom and dad were blurs to his memory. He vaguely remembered always asking them things, asking them if they could do something for him or watch him do something or help him with something. They had always been busy. He wondered if they even realized he was dead, sometimes.

He was admittedly worried that Mike had been busy, too. The former guard gently removed the guitar from Jeremy's grasp and set it on the floor before wrapping his arms around the kid and pulling him into a warm hug. Jeremy was confused.

"Jer," Mike said. "It's alright. All you had to do was ask. I don't mind listening to you play."

"But you've heard all those songs so many times- "

"I don't care," Mike interrupted him. "I wouldn't mind spending more time with you guys."

Jeremy paused for a second.

"...really?" he asked. Mike nodded.

"Of course," he said. He pulled away from the hug to smile at him. "I love spending time with you guys!"

Mike sat there, smiling at him, while Jeremy stared at him in shock. The kid felt tears beginning to prick at his eyes. He shot forward, burying his face in Mike's shoulder so that he wouldn't see his tears. Mike seemed a little shocked at the sudden hug, but his arms wrapped themselves around Jeremy tightly.

After a while, Mike patted his back.

"You still wanna play something?" he asked softly. Jeremy nodded and pulled away from the hug. He reached down and gently picked up the guitar, positioning it to play. He made a vague mental note that something in Mike's eyes seemed different, but he shrugged it off. Mike leaned back against the couch, getting comfortable. Jeremy put his fingers on the frets and got ready to strum something.

Always busy…

He glanced back up at Mike's face.

"Are you sure?" he asked. Mike nodded.

"Of course, I'm sure," he said. "Just don't play Stairway to Heaven or I'll sing DD's jingles every time you walk into the room."

Jeremy laughed at that and nodded, beginning to strum what he remembered Susie claimed to be her favorite song. He liked this one, too.