It's Charlie's birthday, meaning some familiar faces stop by.


We can't give you honesty, honestly, I don't see anyone living that way.

"-So, to sum it up, it shouldn't be a major hustle granting you custody. These types of cases can last about 6 months or even longer in the event that the situation evolves further, which in not out of the realm of possibility in this instance. The fact that he doesn't have any identification will make the adoption process harder and an investigation will most likely have to be conducted before the State will allow Matthew to be adopted. The circumstances that led to him being abandoned on the side of the road will be of great interest in court."

"That's understandable." he said simply.

"From what you've told me he doesn't seem to have any trouble with school work, no?"

"Yes, uh, I haven't seen him struggle with anything they do and he even helps my daughter with her homework whenever she needs it."

"That's good, it means you won't need to waste money on tutoring sessions. Having him help your daughter is also an excellent way of keeping him up to date with what she's being taught. I recommend getting him a therapist that specializes in childhood trauma as soon as you can since there's a possibility that the court will demand it. Having someone to talk to, your daughter, yourself, a neutral third-party, it's important to make him feel like he belongs. With some luck, that might even help us figure out what led to his… abduction. And what exactly became of his family. Has he mentioned anything about that recently?" he sighed at that.

"Well, he doesn't really want to talk about it so I never really pressed him for details. I told him that if he feels comfortable enough to talk, I'd listen." Miss Davis nodded.

"That was the right call, it goes without saying that it's better to let him share his feelings naturally than to force him to do so."

"I just… I mean, he keeps all of it in him. Truthfully, I haven't even seen him cry ever since I brought him here that night. Sure, he does look gloomy a lot of the time and he's often lost in thought from what my daughter's told me- she spends the most time with him- but I don't think he's really processed what's happened. Maybe he's in denial?" he proposed.

"While I'm no specialist, it could be that he's putting up a front so as to not appear week in front of you. Perhaps he doesn't want to be judged."

"God, I hope that's not the case." He ran a hand through his hair. "We've done our best to show him that he's wanted and safe and that neither me nor Charlotte would think any less of him for asking us for help, that he doesn't have to hide, but I can't help feeling as if we haven't done enough, you know."

"I wouldn't fret about it, Mr. Emily. You've done a commendable job thus far. Matthew seems to get along great with your daughter. In fact, he's even confessed that he really likes living with the two of you and hopes to remain here." Henry perked up. "In my opinion, you're the best chance this boy has at a normal life."

Henry shifted a little in his seat. Unbeknownst to him or Miss Davis, two sets of brown eyes were silently watching their conversation from the top of the stairs, reflecting on just how true the woman's statement was.

o0o

Charlie's birthday had finally arrived and the girl couldn't be more excited. It was so contagious that even Matt was in good spirits. She practically forced him to come and play with her, not that he would have refused, as they waited for the Aftons. Despite not being in his element, Matt had gotten better at acting like a boy his age, if only by a small margin. He found it easier to interact with Charlie after spending a lot of his time with her and Cassidy. So even though he still had some difficulty playing with her and the like, he didn't find the activity as boring as he did in the beginning. It was a necessary step, after all, if he wanted to get close with multiple kids, he had to act their age.

After some time, Henry had decided to give Charlie her gift, which to Matt's surprise, was the Ella doll. The toy was identical to its appearance in the novels and the guidebook, with a light blue, or was that cyan, dress, pink bowtie, long brown hair and rosy cheeks. The boy should have expected that to be what Henry would've given her as, for one, the man built robots for a living, and second, that toy was the only one missing from Charlie's collection. She already had Theodore the Rabbit and Stanley the Unicorn. And speaking of toys, man, Henry wasn't too talented at making them look friendly or approachable. Matt was getting some serious Chucky vibes from the doll, with its porcelain face, uncanny smile and dead eyes, but hey, at least they weren't protruding from their sockets like Stanley's and Theodore's did. He hated to admit it, but he sometimes saw those two in his nightmares.

Charlie however didn't seem to be bothered by her father's creation's appearance. She was too fascinated and happy to be. Matthew watched with a smile as the man proudly presented to his daughter all that the doll could do. It was a warming sight, seeing the girl listen intently to her father's rambles. They deserved this, they probably more than anyone else, and it was nice he too could share this moment with them. It was moments like these that strengthened his resolve to save them from Afton. To keep them safe, as best he could.

The boy shook his head, banishing the thought of that man.

From that point onward, Charlie had not paid much attention to him as she was too busy admiring her father's handiwork, though he couldn't fault her for it. On a side note, she did seem pretty interested in robotics from the questions she had asked Henry about how Ella worked, much like her novel counterpart.

The Aftons had showed up around noon, with William… regrettably, and Michael too, although he seemed to want to be anywhere other than here. They didn't waste any time giving Charlie her presents. Elizabeth had bought her girl things, stuff to paint her nails and other such objects. The rest of the family's presents he hadn't been able to see as Liz was the only one to pull them out of the gift bag to show Charlie, though if her gasp was anything to go by, they too were just as cool, for a girl anyway.

Matthew had pondered what gift to get Charlie for days. Henry, as expected, had not been all that helpful on the matter with his "She'll like anything you get her", which, to the man's credit, was technically true. At least he had offered Matt to take him shopping in case the boy opted to buy a present for her. Eventually, he had settled on writing her a letter of appreciation with a nice drawing at the end. For the life of him he hadn't been able to figure out what to get Charlie. He didn't want to buy some generic gift or like, give her money. Hell no. If he were to do that it would've been Henry's money anyway, as he didn't have any himself, not to mention the fact that that would've been a really, really bad gift, especially after all she had done for him.

No, he wanted it to mean something and the way to do that was to make the girl's present himself. But what to make her had been the question. Eventually, after deep internal turmoil on his part, he had settled on writing her a letter of appreciation with a nice drawing at the end. Matt had spent another few days coming up with the perfect things to say and how to phrase them. So, while the gift might've been lame in the eyes of the pretentious, no one could deny the fact that he had spent a great amount of effort on the letter.

He had waited for everyone else to give Charlie her gifts and only then did he do so as well, which, in hindsight could have been the wrong move. To save himself from the embarrassment of the Aftons and Henry seeing Charlie read his letter he had pulled her into the kitchen, alone from everyone. The silence that followed as the girl read the letter out loud had been one of the most stressful situations of his entire life, right up there with being stranded on a random road at night, especially as her voice grew quitter the longer she read. It was made even more troublesome because he hadn't been able to read her expression at all due to his panicking, so he had no idea if she had been disappointed or not, or just what her opinion was. And so, Matt was simply left there, waiting for her to finish as he overthought her reaction.

It had been a complete shock when she had started crying. Immediately, his self-esteem had hit rock bottom as he tried to conceive how what he had written could make her cry, on her birthday no less. To say he felt ashamed would've been an understatement. However, he hadn't been able to get even a single word out in a meager attempt at an apology when Charlie surprised him again by pulling him into a hug, thanking him. Sensing his distress, she had assured the boy that she was crying because she was happy and not because the letter's content had upset her, quite the opposite. That reassurance from the girl was all he needed for the suffocating pressure of ruining one's birthday to get lifted of his shoulders. Still, he had apologized for making her cry on such a significant day, to which she had responded by saying that he had made this her happiest day.

Well, at least he'd made things memorable, in his own messed up way. Matt was pretty sure that Charlie would remember this moment for her entire life, and from her reaction, he could deduce that she'd value it with all her heart, something that gave him a fuzzy yet pleasant feeling in his chest, though he still felt pretty bad about causing her to cry.

o0o

After Charlie had calmed down the two of them made their way out of the kitchen only for the girl to be assaulted by a thrilled Elizabeth who wanted her and Charlie to paint their nails or something, Matt hadn't really understood any of that women jargon, and promptly pulled the other girl up to her room. That left Matthew in the awkward position of standing in front of an eager William and exasperated Michael, the former probably intending to introduce his son to the boy.

"Ah, Matthew, it's great to see you again. How have you been doing?" Afton started. What an obnoxious accent.

"Well, I can't really complain, Mr. Emily is pretty awesome." the man smirked in response.

"That's good to know, but don't let the old sport catch you calling him that, you'll never hear the end of it." Matt gave a curt nod.

Ha, you could never compare to Dave Miller, Willy. That guy at least was lovable, even if he was deeply misguided. You're not so likable, thought the boy.

"Anyway, this here is Michael, my eldest. I don't believe the two of you met when you came over, did you?" the man asked as he pushed his son forward slightly, forcing the two boys to make eye contact. Matt shook his head at William's question. "What a shame. Come now, why don't you introduce yourself?" He shifted his gaze to his son, a silent conversation taking place between them. The boy found himself unable to discern anything concrete from Mike's expression except for the fact that Michael seemed wary of his father, which he had every right to be. He was wearing a grey sweatshirt, the kind that you'd often see bullies wearing in bad high school dramas, with some blue sweatpants and a purple shirt underneath. Michael was taller than Matt by a good 2 feet but did not match William's height. Also, it was nice to have the headcanon that he was his father's spitting image confirmed.

Drama queen much, Afton? You really like putting your son on the spot, Matthew remarked idly.

"I'm Michael." the other boy said simply, his voice sounding much like his father's, who in turn sounded like PJ Heywood.

"Matt." he responded.

"I'll let the two of you get acquainted with each other." William butted in. He smiled as he patted Mike's shoulder. And just like that he was off to talk to his wife and Henry. There was a pause as the boys were left there. Michael watched as his father left before turning to look at Matthew. They held their gazes in an uncomfortable silence, neither knowing how to continue. Matt shoved his hands into his pockets, relaxing his back as he put on a nonchalant expression while Michael seemed to get more irritated with each passing second for whatever reason.

"Aren't you going to say it?" he snapped, although his voice hadn't been raised by much. Matthew was taken aback, even though he didn't show it. He raised an eyebrow, clearly confused.

"Say what, exactly?"

"That I look just like my father." Well, the resemblance definitely was unnatural, face wise anyway. Michael's hair, however, was lighter in color than William's and he had blue eyes, but…

"I mean, I'm sure everyone feels the need to point that out, but I don't think you really need me to do so too." that obviously wasn't the answer the "older" boy had expected if his eyes widening slightly said anything.

"… Thanks..." he hesitated. "I guess." Look at that, he made the second scummiest person in FNaF thank him with no real effort. That had to count for something.

"Don't sweat it." Matt waved him off. He had to resist the urge to say kid. It was so weird talking to someone younger than you while that person thought the opposite. "So…" he trailed off. "What do you like to do?"

"Huh?"

"Yeah, help me out a little, I'm not too good at this communication stuff. Here, I'll start. I like to play arcade games. You?"

"Why the hell do you want to know?" his tone oozed defensiveness and insecurity, though Matt wasn't the one who was going to judge him on that. He instead gestured towards the three talking adults.

"Because it seems we're going to be seeing a lot of each other, so, you know, might as well be on speaking terms to make both of our lives easier." Michael's expression shifted as he considered the boy's argument. Despite what he might've wanted to believe, he had to admit it was a pretty good one. Mike let out a sigh after a couple of seconds.

"Alright, fine. I like drawing. There, that good enough for you?"

"Sure, drawing's cool. What do you usually draw?"

"Whatever I feel like drawing. Why do you even care?"

"I just said-"

"Not that, why do you care about what I like, you could talk to me without having to ask about my interests."

Damn, poor Michael reeks of angst. I think I know what's going on, though. So, since he's the oldest child he's pretty much ignored by his parents in favor of his younger siblings and therefore no one knows anything substantial about him, he's used to people forgetting he exists, so he doesn't expect them to be curious about his interest and when that happens, he thinks they want something from him or are doing it to make fun of him or criticize him. I can't really see a more plausible explanation for his defensive behavior. Despite that, however, it might also be because he just doesn't want to share these types of things with a kid he doesn't know but, eh, I don't know, debated Matthew.

"What's wrong with me asking about your interests? I'm not going to judge you or whatever if that's what's bugging you. And I'm sure you're sick of dealing with a bunch of stuck-up adults, anyhow." Henry wasn't a stuck-up, for the record. Michael narrowed his eyes but before he could retort he was interrupted by the ball of cuteness that was his brother."

"Hey, guys…" he said in a shy voice.

"Sup, Evan." greeted Matt.

"What do you want?" his brother snapped his attention to him.

"Umm… Charlie and Liz said to come upstairs to their room, uh…" Matthew whistled, rubbing his chin.

"For real, I mean, damn, that's kind of soon, you know, only eight years old." little Evan didn't seem to catch his joke, evident by his confused expression. His brother on the other hand was staring at him incredulously. "But, well, guess we can't refuse them since it's Charlie's birthday. Come on." he motioned for the other boys to follow him. Despite not understanding what Matt had meant Evan did so without question. It took Michael a few seconds to regain his composure, but he followed them as well. Matthew snorted when he heard the older boy mutter a "What the fuck." under his breath.

"So, built any new Legos since last time, Ev?" the youngest perked up at that, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Y-yeah, I made a few robots and cars but nothing to compex." he chirped.

"Complex." corrected Michael, causing his brother to flinch the tiniest bit and Matthew to roll his eyes.

"Then I guess next time I come over we know what we're going to do." Matt winked at him.

"Mhm!" the boy nodded eagerly.

When the three got to Charlie's room and entered they were met with the door closing behind them out of nowhere. Elizabeth, smiling devilishly, locked it and explained how she and Charlie planned to do the boys' nails and dye their hair and how there was no way for them to escape. Now, being locked in a room with two girls was bad enough, but when those girls decided to defile their appearances in such a manner, welp, suffice to say that the boys wouldn't go down without putting up a fight. Enough said.

Evan hid behind Matthew as Michael attempted to wrestle the key out of his sister's grasp. Matt tried to reason with Charlie but she wouldn't budge. The malicious gleam in her eyes was all he needed to know. Still, he needed to stall her for as long as possible so Mike could get the key. The boy advised Evan to help his brother, suggestion to which he rapidly agreed. Matt began talking a lot of nonsense to keep the girl from approaching, going as far as to tell some horrible jokes that fortunately got even Elizabeth to laugh, distracting her from Michael's survival instincts. When Evan shouted that they had gotten the key, all three boys darted out of that room faster than light itself. But even with the failure of their initial plan the girls did not give up and instead chased the boys throughout the whole house.

Matthew had never done so much exercise since coming to this universe. In fact, the soccer practice he used to do back in his world did not even come close to this. Not even the vilest creatures like William Afton deserved to be chased around by excitable girls hellbent on painting their nails. Death would've been a mercy compared to that. Truly the most undesirable fate for a mortal.

o0o

He sat with his arms crossed in his backseat, sandwiched between his siblings. Evan was playing with the hem of his shirt, looking out the window while Elizabeth was humming along to the song on the radio. No one had spoken since leaving the Emily household. To someone else this kind of atmosphere might've been awkward, but to the Aftons it was an old habit.

Earlier in the day he would've rather spent his time doing anything else, but now at the end of the party as his father was driving them home, he reluctantly acknowledged that he had had fun. If it'd been up to him, he would've gone out with his buddies and wouldn't have regretted it, but the day didn't completely suck. He didn't mind coming to these sorts of things, he just hated having to babysit all other kids present, which was what he was doing most of the time nowadays, since he was always the oldest. That meant that he couldn't enjoy the normal things at gatherings because he was the one supposed to look after everyone else due to the fact that all of the adults were too busy to pay attention to their brats. Surprisingly, today hadn't been quite like what he had expected. Of course, Elizabeth had been her princess self and Evan remained a crybaby, that was to be expected, but at least the whole ordeal had gone better than usual.

Instead of his sister throwing her temper tantrums to get her way or the little man breaking down crying, although he had been close multiple times, the three of them had been able to tolerate each other's presence long enough to not get in trouble, which was a really nice change of pace. Michael was so tired from the constant infighting. Of the favoritism his siblings received. He missed the simpler times where it was just him and his parents, even though he could only vaguely recall such times. But all of that had been ruined when daddy's little girl had come along. And to think he had been excited to have a little sister, he was baffled at his past, naïve self. Elizabeth's birth had signaled the beginning of his own existence being slowly but surely forgotten and suddenly, he was no longer the little boy he had once been. Now he was supposed to be the big, responsible brother that had to care for his sister. He could no longer act his age because his parents had greater expectations from him.

He remembered a time when his mother used to tuck him in or let him come sleep in their bed if he had nightmares or tell him she loved him. She didn't do any of those things anymore, and it wasn't as if he had grown up past the point of those things, he was barely eleven. His father was another matter entirely. The man had never told him he loved him, never even told him he liked him. Anything Mike did, it wasn't good enough for his attention. Whatever interest Michael had that did not correspond with his father's ambitions was meaningless. And Michael had tried, so very, very hard to get his father to acknowledge him. He tried to take up an interest in robotics, his father's field, he worked his ass off to get better grades, he stopped hanging out with his bad friends for a while and nothing. All William cared about was to not get embarrassed by Michael in front of other people. It was evident that the man had long since given up on his eldest son and he certainly did not waste any change he got to let Michael know just how worthless he was in his father's eyes, how he would amount to nothing.

He never outright said it, but he didn't have to, Mike knew, from the way he acted, from the way he talked, from the way he treated him. Even when his father had brought him to meet that kid, Matthew or whatever his name was, it was as if William was comparing Michael to that boy. As if to show Michael how he should be and act. He accepted long ago the fact that he'd never please his father long enough to be liked or loved, but was it such a big request to receive just the smallest bit of praise? To be told he had done a good job at something? Was it so wrong to want to be noticed? Even a little? What could he do to get his parents to appreciate and like him, he didn't know. He had tried everything.

That was the reason Michael was the way he was; rebellious, angsty, insecure, a jerk to almost anyone, why he picked fights with his sister even though he'd never win due to her being a spoiled brat, why he constantly teased Evan even though the poor boy was only five and hadn't done anything wrong. In a way… he kind of deserved the treatment he got from his family, in his opinion.

Michael sighed, rubbing his eyes. He spared his brother a glance but the boy did not meet his eyes even though he had noticed it. The window of the car was very interesting to the little man all of a sudden. Michael chuckled to himself in silence. Calling Evan a little man was generous. He leaned his head back as he looked up ahead through the windshield. The forest that led to their house was always a tranquilizing environment. It had this soothing calm to it that the boy was unable to describe. It was nice was what he was trying to say.

Talk about treatment, he thought. The boy his father had introduced him to had shocked Michael plenty of times in barely a minute. The fact that his father wanted Mike to meet him had already made him cross, but then the way that kid had stared at Michael with that uncaring look, it pissed Mike off. So instead of giving the kid the satisfaction of making fun of Michael by pointing an obvious detail out he was the one to bring up the subject. But the kid had not been an asshole like Mike had predicted, no, Matthew saw exactly what bothered Michael and addressed it so as to not offend him. Then the kid asked what he liked to do and when pressed as to why he gave Mike an answer the older boy couldn't refute. For the first time in who knew how long someone else had actually cared enough for Michael as a human being to engage in a conversation that didn't feel condescending. Mike had struggled to find a hidden reason to Matthew's perceived decency only to fail, coming to the conclusion that the kid did not have any ulterior motive, as far-fetched as that might have been to believe. And it left Michael feeling conflicted.

Mike had been the asshole in that whole conversation and it left him feeling bad about something he had done. For the first time in a while, he regretted being the way he was. That kid had treated him normal, and as weird as it was, it was made even weirder by the fact that the kid was only seven from what he had heard from Elizabeth and Evan… Wait. He was seven… Matthew was seven and he knew about that?! That was insane! He was Liz's age and talked about that so casually. Michael himself had only found out recently.

His brain seemed to have short circuited a second time just as it had done previously when he heard what the kid had said when Evan had come to get them.

"We're here." spoke William, breaking Michael out of his stupor. He briefly registered Elizabeth saying something about ice-cream and his father denying her request, saying that she had had enough for a day, only to soon after give in to the girl's demand.

No Afton noticed Mike's baffled face as got out of the car, shaking his head. These had been a long couple of hours. And Michael was in desperate need of sleep.

"Children are so spoiled these days. When I was a child, we didn't have all of the sweets you have. You were lucky if you tasted chocolate once a month." William complained, causing Elizabeth to pout.

"But daddy, you're an adult now, you can't say you don't have sweets." she countered.

"Hmm, I guess you're right, dear. So, what's it going to be this time?" the girl proudly puffed out her chest.

"Vanilla!" she exclaimed eagerly.

"Very well, then." he offered her a loving smile, stretching to his ears.

A chill ran down Michael's spine.


Chapter title from "Springtrap" by Fiction Music.