AN: I forgot to add this in my last update, but, as sonicshadowbro requested, I do intend to include more with Bonnie, as I'm coming up with some nice scenes for him. Be patient, because it's coming! :3 On a related note, this has brought a question to my mind: who are your favourite characters? Who do you like reading about or want me to write about more often? I decided to make a poll for that, which can be found on my profile. If you don't mind taking a moment to answer it, that'd be swell! Thanks!

Mike's Apartment - Saturday, December 25th, 1993

He sprang out of bed and raced into his living room, much like a little boy would have. It was Christmas morning, and Mike was eager to start the day. He started preparing the pancake mix while he waited for his mother to come to spend the day with him. He only had a few gifts under the modest tree he had lit up in the corner, and hoped there would be more to come.

As he was finishing the batter and ladling the first scoop into the hot pan, he heard a knock on the door. Beaming, he raced to the door and pulled it open quickly. As expected, his mother was on the other side.

"Mom!" he cheered, hugging her with little regard for the things she was juggling.

She almost dropped the stack of beautifully wrapped goods in her arms from the impact. She stumbled a little before regaining her balance. "Michael!" she exclaimed in panic.

Realizing she needed some assistance, he apologized and helped her with the boxes. His mother stepped inside his apartment and smiled as she looked around and saw that his living room was clean, for once. The air was filled with the clean scent of a light citrus cleaning product and the toasty aroma of pancakes wafting from the kitchen.

"I see you've done some cleaning," she applauded kindly. "You didn't just hide it all in your bedroom, did you?"

"I didn't!" he enthused. "I actually cleaned it up this time!"

"I'm impressed! My little man's growing up so fast… Oh, before I know it, you'll be running off somewhere with some girl."

Mike laughed and gave her a playful look. "I'm not going anywhere, I promise." He spoke with honesty, knowing that, as long as things were continuing as they were currently, he'd be staying relatively close to home. Not necessarily with 'some girl', but that detail wasn't quite as important. At least not now. He would be staying close to home, that's all she needed to know.

He helped his mom set the presents under the tree before he raced into the kitchen to attend to the pancakes. Mike had nearly forgotten the pancake he had ladled into the pan before his mother had arrived. Luckily for him, he had caught it before it began to burn. It was rather dark brown, but not burnt just yet. He flipped it over with a little bit of difficulty, slightly smearing the other side on the pan.

"Mike, let me help you with that," she offered kindly.

He turned his head to look at her, a soft smile on his lips. "I've got it, thanks."

A subtle hurt expression came to her face. She knew he was an adult, living on his own and more than capable of providing for himself, yet she couldn't help but feel a little rejected. Usually, she would do all the cooking and cleaning whenever she would visit, but this time, it seemed as if Mike had taken over, for some reason.

"It's not like you to be so…"

"Responsible?" he suggested.

"I guess so."

Mike shrugged. "I really shouldn't still be relying on you to look after me, Mom."

But she still wanted to take care of him. She knew this day would come, but it didn't make it any easier. Mike was growing up; becoming an independent young man.

"Mom?"

She shook herself from her thoughts. "Yes?"

"You seem upset…" Mike commented.

"I'm fine."

Mike slid the pancake off of the pan once it had cooked through and went over to his mom, giving her a hug. "It's okay… Please don't be sad!" He let out a quiet laugh. "You'll always be my mom, no matter how old I get!"

She held him tightly and nodded. "I love you."

"I love you too!" He gave her a squeeze and resumed his position at the stove. Within a few minutes, the pancakes were served. The small table was set with the pancakes and a glass of eggnog for each of them, all centred around a neat arrangement of festive pinecones as a centrepiece.

Mike's cooking wasn't perfect, his mother observed, but compared to when he had first moved out, it was quite the improvement. As a parent, this made her proud. Now, if only he'd start preparing meals that didn't come from a box…

"Dad's not coming, is he?" Mike inquired with disappointment.

She sighed quietly. "I'm afraid not… He wanted to come, really. He just had another business trip, that's all."

He pouted and pushed his last piece of pancake around in the maple syrup on his plate. "He says that every year… He's always away."

His mother looked up at him and gave him a sympathetic look. "He's trying to make sure he has time booked off for your birthday."

"Yeah, but that's not until April 20th."

"He's still making time to come see you." She was met with silence. "Mike, it's not that he doesn't want to be here… He's just having trouble booking time off to come home."

"I know, I know…" he mumbled.

She smiled at him and gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Chin up, baby, he'll be home soon. I promise." His mom finished her meal and stood, bringing her dishes to the kitchen counter. "Oh my, look at those cookies!" she called out. "Did you make these?"

Mike followed her into the room and saw her looking at the numerous gingerbread men (and women). "Uh, no, actually… My co-worker made them."

"They're beautiful…" She spotted the one of her son and exclaimed, "Oh, this one looks like you!"

He laughed a little and gently pried the cookie from her hands. "It does, doesn't it?" He held the cookie up to his face and beamed, matching the expression on the baked treat. He unwrapped the top of the bag and pulled the cookie out, snapping off one of the legs and offering it to his mother. She gratefully took the piece and munched on it, making a happy sound as she tasted the treat. "Wow, whoever made these is skilled!" she enthused.

Mike took a bite of the remaining gingerbread man and his eyes lit up in wonder as the flavour of the sweet, spiced dessert filled his mouth. It was perfectly done as well; chewy but not too soft, not too hard. As strange as it seemed, Porfirio had quite the talent for baking! "These really are good!" Luckily, his cheer was returning, despite the memory that his father wouldn't be joining them.

Remembering the gifts, the two of them returned to the living room and gathered around the tree.

Mike's mother kneeled down and reached for a box, looking through the colourful wrapped presents to find the right one to start off with. Once she had selected one, she picked it up and passed it to him with a smile.

"Thanks!" he exclaimed as he read the tag. 'To: Mike, Merry Christmas! From: Mom and Dad.' He turned the present over in his hands a few times before curiosity got the better of him. He tore open the red paper to reveal a bag of marshmallows, of all things.

"Uh… thanks?" he said with uncertainty.

Clearly, his mother had noticed his confusion. "It'll all make sense soon." She smiled and sat in her seat while Mike went over to the tree to pick out a gift for her. He picked up a large box and set it in her lap.

"For you!"

His mom grinned up at him and unwrapped her present. Behind the paper was a plain, brown cardboard box. She opened it and found it to only be filled with green tissue paper.

"Keep looking!" Mike encouraged her. She kept digging around in the box until she found a tiny box, wrapped in silver wrapping paper and topped with a white bow. Intrigued, she unwrapped this other box, revealing a silver chain with a stunning sapphire pendant dangling from it.

His mother's eyes widened in surprise as she marvelled at the lovely piece of jewelry. "Mike, this is gorgeous… Thank you, sweetheart." She brushed her hair aside as she slipped the necklace on and hugged him close. He returned her embrace without hesitation.

She grabbed another box from under the tree, this one being much larger than the others. When he got the box, Mike shredded the paper, much like an excited child. Now the marshmallows made sense; they were ammunition! "No way, you got me a marshmallow gun?!"

His mother chuckled at his excitement. "We thought you'd enjoy that."

"Thanks, Mom!" he shouted as he pulled the gun out of its packaging, hastily stuffing marshmallows into it. Instead of going to hug her, he shot a marshmallow at her, grinning from ear to ear.

"Hey!" she teased, batting the marshmallow away as it fell into her lap.

"What?" Mike popped a marshmallow into his mouth. "All's fair in war."

The day went by much faster than he had expected it would. He and his mother watched It's A Wonderful Life together and chatted for hours. Mike talked about how things were at work, not daring to utter a word about the nature of the animatronics or about his true relationship to Fritz.

Mike was afraid she would not take the news well. He liked to think that she would get used to the idea, and approve of Fritz if they ever met. But if he were honest with himself, he didn't actually know. He had heard horror stories of gay kids getting disowned by their families and the like, and desperately hoped that wouldn't happen to him as well. Mike loved his mom too much to even want to consider that possibility. Then it occurred to him: he didn't know if he was gay or not. He knew for sure that he was in love with Fritz, but didn't actually know if that meant he was attracted to men in general or if it was… something else. He really had no idea. That served to increase his hesitance to reveal the information. Mike didn't know himself well enough to put his emotions into words. Not yet. So he certainly wouldn't attempt to explain that to his mother.

He tried his best to ignore the pangs of sadness that periodically washed over him as the doubts in the back of his mind pointed out that, if he wasn't careful enough, this could be the last Christmas he'd spend with his mother, or any of his family members for that matter. Mike hated that he even had to be concerned about such a thing. At least with modern times, society was becoming increasingly tolerant of homosexuals, which somewhat eased his fears. It was a toss up as to how she would take the news, if she ever found out, and Mike trusted that she would at least be understanding.

He still had a lovely time with his mom, despite his anxieties. In the end, Mike knew she loved him dearly, and figured those affections wouldn't be revoked, no matter what happened.

Porfirio's Apartment - Saturday, December 25th, 1993

Ugh, why won't that banging stop?!

He grumbled and rolled out of bed, as the pounding on his front door continued. He hastily slipped on a pair of jeans and a purple shirt before leaving his room. Porfirio inched closer to the door, about to answer it until he was interrupted.

You're not actually going to open that, are you?

You don't know who's on the other side! It's a trap!

He took a shaky breath and peered through the peephole in the door, seeing a cheery young woman with bright, brown eyes and black hair done up into two buns. Porfirio stepped a few feet away from the door and began to pace with his hands folded behind his back. "It's Haruka," he muttered to himself.

So? What does that change? You can't trust anyone other than us. She could hurt you, Porfirio! Don't let her in!

He heard the door rattle, freezing him in place and drawing his attention to it.

"Porfirio?" he heard her call out through the door. "You're awake, aren't you? Could you let me in, please?"

He turned towards the door and stumbled closer to it.

Don't do it!

His hand shook violently from anxiety and from some nicotine withdrawal; he was due for a smoking break. It eventually settled on the doorknob, as he brought himself to unlock it before retreating for the safety of his bedroom.

Clearly, Haruka had heard him twist the lock open, as she had entered right away. She frowned slightly as she saw no sign of Porfirio. She set the presents she had brought for him on his coffee table, since he had not bothered to get a tree, then called his name once again. She heard a quiet thud from the bedroom, and followed it.

She saw him there, bent over to pick up a book that had fallen to the floor. Instead of stepping into the room to help him, Haruka waited in the doorway. For whatever reason, he usually hated it when anyone other than himself came into his bedroom. Porfirio had only ever invited her in on a select few occasions, and even then she could only recall one time when anything romantic had transpired between them in the year or so they had been together. Even then, despite it having been one of the most intimate moments they had shared, it was far from sexual. She couldn't think of a time where he had ever come close to suggesting such a thing, either. Haruka couldn't explain why he was so protective of his bedroom, but respected his boundaries anyway.

Porfirio was a strange man, there was no doubt in her mind that he was. Haruka couldn't understand why he would suddenly lash out at her on occasion, or why he would grow cold toward her, and it often hurt more than she would care to admit to. He would usually scream at her to leave him alone when he got into one of those moods. Other times, he would simply go cold; ignoring her and being short with her, even flinching if touched and locking himself away. She hated it when he acted like this, but she still loved him despite his odd and hurtful behaviour. Yet, when Porfirio was in a good mood, he treated her like gold. It was the very opposite of his mood swings. He had a soft side that would show itself, but not without it being interrupted by bursts of aggression and moodiness.

He stood slowly, watching her the entire time, but not out of fondness. Porfirio almost appeared to be defensive.

"I won't come in, I promise…" she soothed, hoping to calm him.

He didn't seem to relax at all, only backing up a little more and setting the book on the unmade bed. Porfirio continued to watch her, not taking his eyes off of her for a second.

Haruka frowned, quite troubled by her boyfriend's behaviour. "Are you upset because that party got cancelled?" She was not answered. "Porfirio, please don't do this… It's Christmas, so I came to see you... I even brought some gifts for you…"

She heard a trill-like mew as Kowalski rubbed up against her leg. Haruka loved cats, and they certainly loved her as well. She scooped the soft furball into her arms and brightened a little. "See? Even Kowalski wants you to come out."

After a few moments, he nodded and cautiously approached her. It was apparent that he was in a odd mood, so she knew better than to try and touch him. Haruka figured that would have been too much. Instead, she smiled up at him and said, "That's much better."

With the cat still snuggled against her, she sat down on his couch and pulled her legs up beside her, watching as Porfirio slipped into the kitchen.

A couple of minutes later, he returned with a plate of buttered toast. She giggled quietly as she saw a blissful expression cross his face as he bit into a piece. It was almost difficult for her to picture him without his favourite meal, since he often had a crumb-covered plate lying on at least one table at any given time.

"What?" he asked, muffled by the food still held up to his lips.

"Toast again?" she teased.

Porfirio shrugged and sat beside her, continuing to eat. After he had finished a piece, he glanced over at her and smiled softly, shifting slightly to be closer to her.

Haruka observed that his behaviour had changed some since she had arrived. She was glad for this, taking the improvement as an indicator that Porfirio might have been in one of his better moods that day.

Once Porfirio had finished his meal, they heard a knock at the door. Haruka stood and answered the door for him as she saw him make no effort to do this.

"Oh, sorry, uh…" the young man on the other side of the door began nervously. "D-Do I have the right unit?"

She glanced at him quizzically, eyeing him from head to toe. "That depends on who you're looking for, I guess."

"I'm looking for Porfirio… I thought I had the right place, but…"

Haruka grinned. "Well, you have the right place, then." She turned around for a moment. "Porfirio, come to the door! Someone's here for you!"

"Ugh, who?" Porfirio grumbled.

She returned her attention to the young man at the door. "Well, what's your name?"

"Oh, I'm Mike!" he exclaimed. "One of his coworkers."

"Mike…" she mulled over the name for a few moments as she tried to place where she had heard it before. "Right! I believe he's mentioned you before. It's wonderful to meet you!"

Mike's face brightened as he heard this. "Wait, really?"

She nodded. "He has… By the way, I'm Haruka," she explained, extending her hand to him.

He shook her hand without hesitation. "Oh!" he realized, piecing together who she was from the cookie version of her Porfirio had made. Mike noted that he had done a good job of depicting her soft features in baked form.

"Hang on a second, I'll go get Porfirio for you." Haruka stepped away from the door, and a short while later, he had taken her place.

He sighed as he saw Mike waiting, not excited in the slightest to have him there. "What do you want?" he asked with little patience.

Mike winced a little at the intensity. "I-I just came to say M-Merry Christmas…"

Porfirio rolled his eyes. "Bah, humbug," he uttered flatly.

He laughed nervously to ease his discomfort. "I thought I'd r-return your tray… I really liked the cookie… I-I'm sorry, I won't keep bothering you! H-Here!" Mike held the tray out to him, with only two cookies left on it: the ones of Porfirio and Haruka. When Porfirio had taken the tray, he fled, not wanting to stick around to see his reaction.

He sighed as Mike raced off, not bothering to look at the tray. Porfirio shut the door and roughly set the tray on the kitchen table.

"Well? What was that about?" Haruka inquired, waiting in the kitchen for him.

"Nothing."

"It didn't seem like 'nothing'," she replied, looking at the metal baking sheet on the wooden table. Haruka picked up the cookie version of herself and read the tag. Her eyes danced in delight as she read the message from Porfirio and admired his handiwork. "Love… These are beautiful," she said.

His face twisted bitterly at the compliment. "There's nothing special about them."

She shook her head. "I'd disagree." Haruka came to his side and wrapped her arms around him, chancing the negative reaction that may have come from it. He didn't move for a few moments before, much to her surprise, returning the hug. Trying her luck once more, she kissed him briefly and said "I love you too." Haruka felt him bristle at her touch, but he hadn't pushed her away, which was progress.

Porfirio managed a slight smile as he fought to ignore them telling him to push her away and kick her out of his home. He felt uncomfortable at best, but knew that she was happy. For her sake, he simply let them yell at him. It was Christmas, all he wanted was to make Haruka happy. And so far, he had succeeded.

Freddy Fazbear's Pizza - Saturday, December 25th, 1993

Freddy sat on the stage and looked around the eerily quiet restaurant. The only sound he heard was the dull hum of fans and the occasional scuffle from one of his friends shifting. Like most weekend nights, it was pretty boring and there was hardly anything to do.

Just as Freddy was about to declare it the worst Christmas ever, the front door of the restaurant swung open and in tumbled Mike, struggling to carry several bags in with him. Oddly enough, he was out of uniform, dressed as if he were only going to visit friends rather than show up at work. His cheeks were cranberry red from the frigid winter air.

"Mike...? What are you doing here?" Freddy exclaimed in bewilderment. He didn't expect to see anyone come in that night, especially not the most timid of all the staff members, alone.

He smiled at him as he attempted to keep his bags together. "Oh, hey Freddy! I came to see you guys! It's Christmas, after all, so I thought I'd stop by!"

Freddy's eyes widened a little. He couldn't believe that Mike had thought to visit them on a holiday. No one had ever done that for them in the six years they had been rotting away at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. It's not like any of the staff would have felt any reason to, either, considering they were completely unaware of the humanity trapped within the animatronics until a few weeks ago.

Mike laughed a little as he stumbled toward the stage. He set the bags down with a sigh of relief before rummaging around inside to find something. He triumphantly emerged with a parcel wrapped in snowman wrapping paper. There were two boxes, one much smaller and flatter than the other, held together with a white ribbon.

Mike beamed and handed the bundle to Freddy and cheered, "Merry Christmas!" He then drew another two gifts out of the bag and marched over to Bonnie, giving him a present with a similar appearance, only his was a much smaller box. Mike gave the last one to Chica; hers was wrapped the same way, only it was large and rectangular, unlike the others.

The three animatronics stared at the gifts in their hands, filled with awe and wonder. None of them could have ever expected to have anyone visit them, let alone receive such a kind gesture. They all gawked as they tried to find their words.

"Open them!"

Bonnie was the first of the three to act, ripping off the paper without a second thought. "No way!" he laughed incredulously. He held up a guitar pedal that he had unwrapped, grinning from ear to ear. "This is wicked! Thanks, Mike." He almost couldn't contain his excitement as he pulled the lid off of the box, as if he couldn't take the packaging off quickly enough.

Chica carefully opened her present next, ensuring she didn't tear the paper. She gasped when she saw a lovely cookbook underneath, brimming with delicious recipes for her to make. "O-Oh my…"

"Do you like it?!" he inquired, bubbling with enthusiasm.

"Of course I do! T-This is so nice of you…"

Mike smiled warmly. "My pleasure. Hey Freddy, open yours!"

He untied the ribbon and opened the larger of the two gifts first, peeling back the paper in anticipation. Freddy had no idea what Mike could have possibly thought to give him. "A Discman?"

"Uh huh! With headphones! I made sure they'd be just right so you could use them!"

He smiled for a moment, but frowned shortly after. "Thank you, but… I don't have any music to play."

"Open the other one!" Mike encouraged.

He did, opening the other a little faster. Freddy stared at the CD in his hands in shock. Of all the musical works that existed, Mike had sought out a copy of the songs from Carmen. He could hardly believe his eyes. More importantly, he had no idea how Mike had even known what Carmen was, let alone figured out that it was such a special work to him.

"Well? Do you like it?"

"How did you know…?" Freddy managed to choke out, overcome with emotion.

"Uh, well…" he began uneasily. "I heard from your dad that you liked it, s-so I thought, well…"

Freddy pulled Mike into a hug without hesitation, almost squeezing him too tightly. "Thank you so much…"

He smiled and returned his embrace. "You're welcome! Merry Christmas!"

Chica joined them, wrapping her arms around the two of them. "Merry Christmas, Mike!"

After separating himself from the gorgeous pedal, Bonnie joined his friends. The group stayed together for a few seconds before separating. The three animatronics were filled with glee and overwhelmed by Mike's kind gesture. It was clear that he had put a lot of effort into choosing their gifts, along with coming up with a significant sum of cash to pull it off. Each of them went to enjoy their new things while Mike picked up his other bags and headed off.

He went to Pirate Cove next to visit Reynard and Gilead and give them their gift. Mike slipped behind the curtain, almost falling as his bags swung forward from the momentum.

Reynard looked up at him, surprised. "Mike? What are you doing here?"

He balanced himself and grinned, grabbing a large box from one of the bags and handing it to him. "Merry Christmas, guys!"

He shook his head in disbelief. "Christmas…? I guess it is, isn't it? I'd almost forgotten about it. There really hasn't been a reason to remember, anyway…"

"But now there is!" Mike shouted. "Open it! It's for you and Gilead!"

"For me?" Gilead piped up.

"It sure is!"

"I can't really use it, whatever it is…"

Mike came over to him with Reynard and sat beside him. "Maybe not yet, but Anthony will come back soon!"

"I suppose…" Gilead mumbled.

"Why don't we see what's inside here?" Reynard suggested.

"Sure."

Reynard opened the gift and chuckled at what he saw inside: a SNES with a copy of Star Fox. "Good pick," he applauded.

"Video games… Oh how I've missed those," Gilead said.

"I hope you like it!" Mike exclaimed.

"I love it," Reynard replied happily. They both thanked him in unison as they began to check out their new toy, with Gilead watching and adding his comments as Reynard unpacked the console.

"Mike?" he heard behind him. He spun around and saw James standing at the edge of the stage, looking confused. His silent approach nearly gave Mike a heart attack.

"Oh, h-hey James! Uh, Merry Christmas!"

A smile crept across James' face. "Oh, thank you. And Merry Christmas to you as well."

Before James could say anything else, Mike pulled out his final present and gave it to James. "I know you like giving gifts, s-so I thought you'd like to receive one for a change."

His face lit up with joy a he saw the gift. James clapped excitedly and took the box, wrapped just like the one for Freddy was. He opened both of them quickly and smiled brightly, despite clearly not knowing what they were.

"It's a Discman. You know, for playing music," Mike explained. "And I got you a CD to play in it. I didn't know what kind of music you liked, so I got you some Chopin songs."

"Classical music is really pretty… Ah, it reminds me of my box!"

Mike grinned. "I thought it would! Now you don't have to stay there to listen to your music!"

He laughed, "I suppose you're right about that. Thank you, this is very nice."

"You're welcome!"

James opened up his gift and began to set it up not long after. Mike was pleased to see all of the animatronics so merry; blessed with the joys of Christmas they had missed out on for so many years. He went home shortly after he had finished making his rounds, glad to have had a such a lovely day with some of the people he cared about. This year, he had truly experienced some of the fulfillment that came with giving gifts to make his loved ones happy.