A/N: A lot of people have asked for this chapter, and it's finally here. Time for the ghost kids to celebrate their father's birthday! I'll freely admit that it is kinda shocking that we haven't done a "filler" chapter this important for 170+ chapters, but there's so much going on in with this door-stopper of a fic that in all honestly this concept just slipped under the radar. But not anymore!
Keep in mind that several months have passed while Mike and the ghost kids were working in the Special Delivery factory, so we have now moved into the late-spring/early-summer months.
Chapter 182 – Happy Birthday Mike Part 1
It honestly felt weird for the ghost kids to finally go back to the home-centered life they had used to live before they and their father had gotten themselves involved in the Special Delivery project. Over the past several months, they had gotten used to the routine of waking up earlier than they normally did, accompanying Mike over to the Special Delivery factory, and conducting their daily surveillance of the various activities in the factory to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. None of the ghost kids would claim that it was particularly fun to watch what was effectively a whole bunch of nothing happen for days on end, but they were honestly surprised by how jarring their shift back to the relatively easy life they had used to live actually was.
Fortunately, it turned out that there was a relatively simple solution for the ghost kids to keep their minds off the awkward transition away from the closest thing that they would ever have to a full-time job.
"It's Dad's birthday soon!" Cassidy exclaimed excitedly. Mike was currently out, having gone to the store to get some groceries, so it was just the ghost kids who were in the house. "We should throw a surprise birthday party for him!"
"It's honestly kinda surprising that we haven't done this already," Gabe commented with a slight frown. "Normally Dad just goes to a fancy restaurant to eat out with us tasting the food thanks to the whole possession thing we can do. And then afterwards we bring a cake home and sing Happy Birthday and that's pretty much it."
"I don't think Dad particularly cares about his birthday all that much," Jeremy agreed. "I think he called it a reason for him to eat out at a fancy restaurant sometimes, and that's pretty much it."
"Well, we should go out of our way to make this birthday celebration a special one for Dad!" Susie argued. "He just finished doing a job for several months that he honestly never really wanted to do to begin with, he deserves something special for his birthday!" Part of her was still feeling guilty for blabbing to Nightmare and indirectly causing the conditions that had led to Mike being forced to take up leadership of the Special Delivery project, even though nobody had blamed her for it and it had ultimately turned out for the best in the end.
If the other ghost kids noticed this, however, they thankfully didn't comment on it. "How far should we go with this?" Liz wondered. "Should we schedule like a whole trip to another country or continent or something? Plan out everything so that Dad doesn't have to do any of the work except for maybe buying the actual tickets once we've looked them up?"
Charlie frowned. "I don't think it's a good idea for us to try and do another trip so soon," she warned. "Dad only just got back from a full-time job. I'm sure he's pretty tired from everything that's happened, and a trip might only make that worse. Dad deserves some time where he can just sit down, relax, and not have to worry about anything, including all the ways that a trip might go wrong."
"Yeah, but what the heck do we even do then?" Fritz asked. "If we don't do anything and just order a cake and cook dinner, that really isn't any better than the other birthdays Dad usually celebrates."
"You're not wrong," Liz agreed, before frowning herself. "The problem is that we can't really go out and do everything we want to by ourselves." Her voice took on a sardonic tone. "In case you guys forgot, we're ghosts."
Her siblings snickered for a few seconds. "Man, Dad's really rubbed off on us, hasn't he?" Gabe commented in amusement.
"We never invited anyone else to the birthday parties ever since Dad adopted us," Susie pointed out. "We should reach out to Alex and Meghan's Dad, Melody…heck, even Mr. Duessel and Mr. Armads if we really want to have as many people here to celebrate as possible."
"I agree with the Marshalls and Melody absolutely, but Mr. Duessel and Mr. Armads I'll have to think more about," Charlie replied. "What exactly do you think we should do for the party itself?"
"We should throw a birthday party just like the ones at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria!" Fritz exclaimed.
As one, the other ghost kids all turned to stare at him with complete disbelief. "Fritz, what the fuck," Cassidy spluttered. "That's literally one of the worst ideas possible."
The former Foxy inhabitant quickly realized how poor his choice of words had been. "I don't mean it like THAT!" he immediately protested. "I meant a good old birthday party with balloons, party hats, confetti, a giant banner saying Happy Birthday Dad, things like that!"
"Ohhhhhh…" Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief with the realization that his brother hadn't gone full stupid. "Yeah, okay, that makes more sense. And honestly, that's really not a bad idea." He smirked dryly. "It's more high-effort than most of the birthdays that Dad celebrates for himself around here."
"Ooh, that sounds like a lot of fun!" Susie gushed. "And we can ask someone like Melody to hide all the birthday decorations until we're ready to throw the party!"
"All right, guys, but we gotta keep all this a secret from Dad," Gabe warned. "It just isn't gonna be nearly as much fun if he finds out before we throw the party."
Charlie clapped her hands together. "Then let's get to work, guys!" the former Marionette inhabitant declared. "We're gonna make this the best birthday party Mike's had since we showed up to his house!"
One Hour Later…
Gabe dialed Melody's number in his cell phone and raised it to his ear with his telekinetic powers. Mike had returned from his grocery shopping about 30 minutes ago, and had spent a few minutes to put all of his groceries in the fridge and the cupboards before going up to his bedroom to take a nap.
Thus, the former Freddy inhabitant had made his way over to the basement, which was as far away from Mike as he could reasonably get. He had considered relocating to Mike's workshop instead of the basement to make this call to put as much distance as possible, but that would've been much more suspicious if his dad caught him going over there. The basement would have to suffice, and Gabe had checked the camera to make sure that was inactive and that Mike wouldn't see or hear the conversation he was about to have.
"Hello?" Melody's voice called out from the phone.
"Hi, Melody, it's me, Gabe!" the former Freddy inhabitant immediately answered. "How's it going?"
"Oh, hi Gabe!"Melody responded. Her tone was cheerful, but there was an undercurrent of concern. She was obviously already aware that Mike had taken on the role of the leader of the Special Delivery project, but hadn't heard anything from either Mike or the ghost kids for several months. "What've you guys been up to, it's been so long since the last time I've heard from any of you!"
"Eh…" Gabe shuffled a bit uncomfortably, "…we can't really tell you the full details. Don't want Dad to get sued."
"No, I get that," Melody immediately understood what Gabe was referring to. Having worked at Eisensteel as its chief engineer for a while now, she was fully aware of the kinds of agreements and obligations that she would need to sign in her work contracts to ensure confidentiality and prevent leaks from getting out to the public. "Is he still working over there?"
"Nah, we've all finished up over there," the former Freddy inhabitant answered. "We were all busy helping Dad do his job, but Dad left after he wrapped things up and now we're back at the house like usual. And now that we're here, we were thinking of throwing a surprise birthday party for Dad since his birthday's coming up in a few times."
Melody gasped. "Oh my God, I completely forgot about that!" she exclaimed. "Mike never really made a big deal about his birthday parties, but I can't believe it just slipped my mind like that…"
"Don't worry about it," Gabe reassured her. "Dad really doesn't make a big deal out of his birthday parties normally either. But we want to change that for this one, because he just finished working his butt off for a huge job and he deserves a real celebration."
"I can agree with that. So is this you guys inviting me for this surprise birthday party?" Melody asked.
"Yeah, but we wanted to do more than just that," Gabe replied. "We kinda need your help making sure that this birthday actually remains a secret. We want to get a whole bunch of party decorations and a really nice dinner and dessert set up for this birthday party, but we can't exactly hide all this in our own house."
Melody snickered. "Oh, I see what you're saying. Okay, I'm down. Work isn't too busy nowadays so I have some time to help out with the preparations."
Gabe grinned. "You're the best, Melody!" he declared. "We really want to make this a birthday that Dad remembers in the best way possible!"
"I can definitely help you there," Melody assured him. "So, what do you have in mind?"
Meanwhile, in the living room…
Susie was busily typing out a message to Alex and Meghan on their online chat. Ideally, she would have called them directly, but with Mike only one floor above her, the former Chica inhabitant decided that chatting online was the safer option to prevent their plan from being exposed.
Susie: Hey guys, how's it going?
Alex: Holy crap, it's Susie! It's been forever since the last time we've heard from you guys!
Meghan: Yeah, I can't remember the last time you talked with us. How's it going?
Susie: We've actually been helping our Dad do a job that he picked up for the past couple of months. Can't tell you anything more than that, but we were all helping him. It was a full-time thing, so that's why you haven't heard from us.
Meghan: Wow, and you've all been doing that for months?
Alex: That's actually really impressive.
Susie smiled at the complement, although the warm emotions were tempered by the reality that their actions were part of an atonement for crimes committed long ago.
Susie: Thanks, but we were just doing what we could for him. Anyways, Dad's birthday is coming up soon, and we were thinking about throwing a surprise birthday party for him. And we wanna invite you guys!
Alex: Ooh, that sounds like a lot of fun! Can Mom and Dad come too?
Susie: Sure, I don't see why not. I asked Charlie before, she said it was okay. But we're trying to keep it secret from Dad, which is making this harder than normal.
Meghan: Need us to help with anything?
Susie: My brother's reaching out to someone else who's gonna be invited, but if we need anything we'll let you know!
Alex: Great. Let us know when the party is, and we'll try and convince our parents to be there!"
Susie smiled and closed the online chat. Barely a few seconds later, Cassidy floated into the room, looking at her sister with anticipation. "Are they coming?" she immediately asked.
"They're gonna try," Susie answered. "They still have to ask their parents first."
"That's all we can do for now," Cassidy replied with a shake of her head. "Hopefully Mr. Marshall will come to his best friend's birthday, at least."
Susie shook her head. "We can't let that distract us. We have a birthday party we need to prepare for!"
Meanwhile, in the dining room…
Charlie had wrestled with the idea of whether or not to invite Colm Duessel and Hector Armads to Mike's birthday party. Both of them had played crucial roles in keeping Mike safe and preventing Glitchtrap's possession victim from coming anywhere close to attacking him. But on the other hand, they weren't true friends to Mike in the same way that someone like Ryan Marshall or Melody were, and there was still a significant amount of risk that their existence would end up getting exposed to the public with all the consequences that would entail.
In the end, she decided to reach out to Colm and not to Hector, for the simple reason that Hector wasn't actually aware of the existence of her and her siblings. Colm already knew about them and who they were, and had already proven that he could be trusted with their secret. There was no such guarantee with Hector, and just because the man had proven himself a reliable bodyguard, but being confronted with the existence of the supernatural was a whole 'nother story.
Fortunately, she already knew Colm's number, and once Gabe was finished with his call to Melody, Charlie took his place in the basement before making the call.
"Hello?" Colm's voice came through the phone. "Who is this?"
"Mr. Duessel? This is Charlie," the former Marionette inhabitant responded in greeting. "I'm the oldest of Mike Schmidt's ghost children. We've talked to you a few times in the past."
"I know who you are," Colm replied, sounding just a tad bit unnerved. "I gotta admit, it always feels kinda weird knowing that I'm talking to undead ghosts."
Charlie chuckled dryly. "That's not the first time I've heard something like that," she replied.
"Heh," Colm chuckled, before the amusement faded from his voice. "All jokes aside, why are you calling me? I thought we wrapped things up a couple of days ago, and your dad already gave me and Hector the money he promised. Tell him thanks for getting it to us so quickly, by the way."
"No problem," Charlie answered gratefully, "and you're not in trouble or anything. Actually, we're calling cause of a good thing?"
"Oh?" she could hear him raise an eyebrow over the phone. "What's that?"
"Dad's gonna be celebrating his birthday party soon," the former Marionette explained, "and as funny as it might sound, you're the closest thing we have to a family friend. We're gonna be throwing a birthday party for him, do you wanna come to the house and celebrate it with us?" Her tone turned slightly mischievous. "You already know where we live, after all."
"Har har," Colm replied dryly. "I'm kinda surprised your dad actually remembered me enough to invite me to his birthday. Like, yeah, we've gotten along a lot better than we did when I tried to rob your house, but I didn't think we got along that well when I was working as his bodyguard."
"Dad actually doesn't know we're gonna throw a birthday party for him," Charlie whispered, even though there was no realistic way for Mike to hear her. "It's a surprise we're gonna throw. A reward for all the hard work he did on his job."
"Huh…well, I wouldn't mind coming, but I don't know what day it is," Colm answered after a few seconds of thought. "What day is Mike's birthday, exactly?"
"It's on Saturday," Charlie explained. "Five days away from today."
"Okay, I can work with that," Colm replied. "I don't think I can bring my wife, though. Neimi doesn't know about you guys, and she kinda gets spooked pretty easily."
"…that would probably be for the best," the former Marionette inhabitant had to admit. "And I don't think you should bring Mr. Armads with you either, since he doesn't know about our existence at all unlike you. Is that okay with you?"
"Yeah, it's fine," the former thief and bodyguard brushed off her concern. "I wasn't gonna mention the birthday party to Hector anyway, and Neimi doesn't react all that well to strangers anyway. What kind of activities are we gonna do over there?"
"Still trying to figure that one out," Charlie admitted. "But we'll definitely have a plan down by the time the birthday happens."
"All right, I'll see you there, then," Colm affirmed. "Just make sure you give me a heads-up before it starts so that Mike doesn't catch me coming up to your house for the birthday."
Charlie smiled. "Sounds good!" she replied. As she ended the call, she saw Jeremy floating towards her out of the corner of her eye.
"How'd it go?" the former Bonnie inhabitant asked.
Charlie gave him a thumbs-up. "Colm's down, we're good to go."
"Great!" Jeremy responded eagerly, before a sardonic smirk suddenly appeared on his face. "I don't suppose we should ask that Averus guy from Fazbear Entertainment over to the party too?"
Jeremy and Charlie stared at each other for several seconds…and then both of them immediately burst into laughter. "Yeah, right?" Charlie managed to breathe out in between gasps of laughter. "That would be a fuck-up so absurdly monumental it would make Fritz's worst mistakes look like acts of pure genius."
Jeremy was just as amused at the idea as his sister was. "Yeah…I'd rather invite Nightmare to Mike's birthday party before I invited anyone from Fazbear Entertainment," he agreed. "And I'm talking about demon bear form Nightmare, not his human disguise."
The two of them snickered as they went to rejoin their siblings. They had a birthday party to prepare for, after all.
/
A/N: Well, that's the first part of the "Mike's Birthday Party" mini-arc wrapped up. The invites have been handed out, and Mike (so far) is none the wiser.
A bit of a shorter chapter compared to usual; I was considering adding more to it, but going any further felt like it would be unnecessarily adding stuff to pad the length out. Sorry this chapter took so long to get out, my parents came over the weekend and that pretty much took up all of my time.
I'm not sure how long this arc will be, it'll either be two or three chapters total (not sure which). Anyways, the ghost kids are gonna make sure that their father has a proper celebration of his birthday.
Hope you guys enjoyed!
