I Don't Own Fnaf
Mike hadn't been expecting it, he had just moved out of the kitchen, over to a table to set down the pizza he just finished making for a family of five, when he happened to glance up in time to see her walk through the doors. Charlie. Mike would never forget the face of any of the kids he looked after, even if she looked older, more worn down than she should be at her age, it was her. Moving forwards before he could help it, he was half rushing over to the front where she was standing, looking around with a faint awkwardness and uncertainty.
At least until she caught sight of him. The mask on his face or not, it only took her a single look before her eyes widened in shock, as her eyes trailed over him in surprise as she said with that surprise lacing her tone as he got closer.
"Michael!?" He didn't even think about it, instead just reaching up and easily lifting the mask off his face, reaching down and clipping it to his belt as he just shot a smile at Charlie.
"Charlie, hey, I wasn't expecting to see you" She let out a surprised huff before stopping, pausing before letting out a laugh that seemed to come from not sure what else she was supposed to do, before finally saying with a rush.
"I- I can't believe it! You got tall! W-wait, what are you doing here?" Mike couldn't help but let out a laugh at the idea of that being what she was focused on at the moment, before saying simply.
"I see you didn't get much bigger," Her surprised and slightly amazed expression, which he was sure his face was mimicking, broke into an unimpressed look as Mike quickly continued, "And I'm here because I own the place. Welcome to the show that is Foxy's Pirate Cove" He held his arms out for a moment as Charlie seemed to look him over, only seemingly now realizing he was wearing a uniform with the image of Foxy as something as a patch on his shoulder. A look of surprise coming over quickly, before quickly shaking her head, seemingly falling back into a familiarity as she said with a slightly teasing tone.
"I should have known, who else would make Foxy an entire brand" Mike just huffed, looking away for a moment, saying with a faint hint of smugness to his tone.
"What? Jealous you don't have a place called Theodore's with a bunch of small rabbits running around?" Charlie let out a scoff before just giving him a sidelong look.
"I was eleven! At least I moved on from my robot friend phase instead of basing a business off of it, is that the same mask you had when we were kids? Really Michael?" Charlie half glared up at him, though there was a clear smirk fighting to hold itself off her face, as Mike placed a hand on it as he squinted his eyes at her before, finally being unable to hold himself back, reached down and just pulled her into a hug. Thankfully it seemed to be the right thing to do as not a second later her arms were wrapped tight around him in turn as he could feel the faint way she was shaking in his arms, as she quietly said.
"I- I didn't know what I was going to find when I heard about this place, but I didn't expect you" Mike just hugged a bit tighter, but managed to inject some humor into his tone.
"Well, now that you know I'm here, what do you think?" She was quiet for a long moment before saying with a hint of coyness.
"Hmm, not sure, could use less foxes" He couldn't let that slide, so he just grinned, silently, to himself before simply moving to stand up properly, having to have leaned down fairly low for him to hug her without shoving her head into the middle of his chest. So as he straightened up, she just went up, Mike letting out a laugh as she let out a faint squeal, her hands unwrapping around him and instead smacking on his side as he finally lowered him back down, as she took a quick step back, glaring up at him, but unable to fight the smile off her face, as she said with a bit of almost nostalgia.
"God, you're taller than William!" Mike just smirked back.
"And you're about as tall as Henry" He expected her to make some crack about that, or give him a stink eye or something, but instead she just went quiet, her face which had been bright, losing some of its light as she looked away for a moment before saying.
"Y-yeah, uh. Well, I mean, how did you even manage all of this? Did your dad help you after... uh, you know?" It felt awkward suddenly, as Mike felt himself grimaced, looking away as well for a moment before saying simply.
"Oh, no, everything here I had to pry from Fazbear Entertainment's cold dead hands, and, uh, Dad isn't around anymore... Neither, uh, neither is Liz" Charlie's face seemed to sink into sorrow for a moment as she said just as quietly.
"O-oh, I'm sorry Michael" She seemed to hesitate for a long moment before saying, "D-... Dad and Sammy aren't either" It was like a stab through the heart, as he felt himself clench his teeth to hold back from any greater outer reaction at the news. He knew about Sammy, but... But Henry had died as well? He felt the need to ask, but he just couldn't, not now, not at this moment, and especially not here.
"I'm sorry too... Come on, let's ignore our problems in favor of me showing you around the place" She seemed to appreciate the effort as her familiar almost always present smile returned as she said with a raised eyebrow.
"Show me around? You moved some things around, but I'm pretty sure I could still walk the entire layout with my eyes closed Michael. It's the diner" He smiled before saying back as he bumped his side into her shoulder, before nodding ahead.
"Maybe, but that doesn't mean we haven't improved on a few things, it's a pizzeria now as well" She nodded.
"I could tell from the smell, well, come on then, show me just how much the great Michael Afton has improved on our two old man's designs" It felt more light than the comment would suggest, as he managed a smile, as they walked forwards, as he gestured around at a few things, the tables and the arcade section, but... but not after saying in a more quiet voice.
"Uh, it's Mike now by the way, Mike Schmidt" Charlie froze for a second, seemingly mostly out of confusion before glancing up at him with a silent question, he just said, "I- I needed a break from the past and everything that got associated with my old name. This was about as much of a fresh start as I could manage for myself after... Well after"
"Oh, I- I mean it's a bit weird, but I guess I get it... Why Schmidt? Couldn't think of anything better?" Mike winced before saying simply.
"I'm not the best with names" Charlie let out a small snort at that, saying with a look.
"Yeah, I remember. What did you call me again? Twin One or Twin Two?" He shrugged unabashed.
"I mean, it depended on which one I saw first that day really" She just huffed, bumping back into him as they approached the prize corner.
"You're the worst Mike"
"Whatever you say Charlo-" She bumped into him again, a bit harder though he didn't really feel it, as he just smirked as they moved into the door of the prize corner, as Mike glanced around, glad to see Mari was in his box and not talking with Fritz, who Mike had noticed going into the Prize Corner when he walked out with the pizza. The two men talked quickly, with Mike basically giving himself another break, and nearly managing to introduce Fritz to Charlie with her full name, only for her to break in before he could, knowing what he was getting at, shooting him a look when he tried.
After a second of Fritz looking at Charlie like she was somehow the weirdest thing that was in the pizzeria at the moment, he headed out to tell Jeremy about needing to cover for him for a moment, as Mike just leaned against the wall of the door to the Prize Corner as Charlie stepped in and looked around with a faint look of wonder on her face.
"Wow, this looks great Mich- Mike. You have a lot of foxes here! And... Striped stuff?" She was looking at the board that Marionette had made to show off some of the new and soon to be coming items to the prize corner so the kids could get excited. Mike just smiled a bit and said with a hint of pride.
"It's one of the best parts, and yeah, the striped stuff is for the robot we have on staff that isn't a fox" She shot him a look at that as he said quickly, "What? I'll have you know Foxy's on the main stage alone only out of necessity you know. Animatronics don't grow on trees"
"Right, who else do you have then? I would have recognized any of them I think at this point" He just pointed over his shoulder at the large white and black Prize Box, and said.
"He's in there, remember the Marionette?" Charlie seemingly froze for a moment before slowly nodding, her eyes locking on the box before quickly moving away.
"R-right, I remember that one" She sounded faint, Mike just frowned, glancing back, the puppet hadn't come out of the box though so... He shook it off.
"Well, I found it, in good working order and well, tickets need to be counted, so we set him up here. Marion, my roommate, helped set this place up though, so any credit goes to him" She nodded, seemingly happy to leave for some reason as the two stepped out of the corner, saying.
"Do they work here?" Mike shook his head.
"Nah, he's kind of shy, works mostly on the phone, but he helps when he can. Here I only got Jeremy and Fritz to help me out, Jere's in the kitchen at the moment" She just nodded, looking around for a long moment, before her eyes seemed to move to the main stage, a look on her face of nostalgia appearing, and Mike knew exactly what she was seeing. The stage was in the same spot it had been when it was Fredbear's Family Diner, sometimes if Mike looked hard enough, he could still see both their dad's on the stage performing their hearts out to a small gaggle of kids.
But it hurt if he looked to long, so he instead looked away and said, "So, that's the tour, unless you want to be blasted by even more pizza smell and visit the kitchen to meet Jeremy while he's wrestling a pepperoni pizzeria into existence" Charlie after a moment just shook her head, giving him an apologetic smile.
"I'd like that, but I was only supposed to just step in and look around, just... You know, I heard a new pizzeria had opened up where the old diner was, and I just needed to see it, I wasn't... I wasn't expecting all of this. And if I stick around for any longer then I'm going to be late for my classes" Mike just nodded for a moment, feeling a bit disappointed but understanding she wasn't expecting to want to stick around. Though he couldn't help but ask.
"To class? A bit late in the day, and the year, to have something right now" She smiled a bit before saying with a bit more excitement.
"Oh, it's for college. I transferred nearby for the fall, but there's a summer program so I can be able to skip ahead of one of the course levels without having to spend the time on working through the course itself without it taking a hit to my earned credits. It's basically like an accelerated course" Mike felt something in his chest swell with something akin to pride at that, as he said quickly.
"Oh? That's great! Here for a second I thought you were being forced to do summer school or something. What are you majoring in?" Her smile became a bit more subdued, but still she answered with honesty.
"Engineering, after.. Well, after everything, I wanted something to remember dad by, and I really enjoy it" Mike just nodded.
"I get it, I guess in a way we're both following after our families"
"Yeah... I guess we are. It was nice to see you again, but I really have to run, here, uh, do you have something to write my number down with? It'd be nice to be able to catch up, I've actually been getting a lot of reunions recently" Mike let out a sound to show his interest while he pulled out a notepad he used for orders out so she could write her number down, as she explained, "Remember Jessica and John?" Mike had to take a moment to recall those names, he was a bit too old to hang out with Charlie's friend group back when they were kids. Honestly, he was usually the babysitter or something similar to it when they all were together.
"Yeah, one kept trying to date you because they didn't fully know what dating meant and the other was John who wanted to date you but didn't know that dating was a thing" Charlie turned red as she hissed at him a bit.
"Why is that what you remember about them?" Mike just shrugged.
"It was funny to see at the time, so it stood out" She just huffed but answered all the same.
"Well, I guess, but we've been catching up, I uh, well, I left around the start of high school, I only really came back for college, so it's been interesting seeing old friends again. I hadn't expected you though"
"Yeah, I think you mentioned that once or twice" He sounded bland but she could tell he was joking as she shot him one last look before saying.
"I mean it though, I- You just vanished after everything, I- I learned later what happened, but Dad refused to tell us anything for a long while... He didn't let us be around Lizzy or your dad after that at all, and then I just left... I honestly thought I'd never see you again"
"I-... Honestly, same. When I opened this place up I tried to get in touch with Henry, but I couldn't find anyone who knew where he went" That seemed to be what ended the conversation, as the two gave off some simple but suddenly stilted goodbyes as she headed out without much fuss. Mike just stood around for a moment, watching out the front window as she got into an old beaten up and clearly well driven blue car before driving off. He still stayed there for a moment, trying to get his own feelings under control, the excitement and just simple joy at seeing her...
It was... Hard in contrast to knowing Henry had passed on at some point without him ever being able to say anything, but... At least someone from his childhood was still here, or, well, at least alive, in the sense that they survived long enough to become an adult normally. Shoot, Charlie would be... what? Nineteen right now?
He ignored the small spike of pain in his chest at the idea that Mike had nearly missed the entirety of her teenage years. She was an adult now, in college of all things, when the last time he had seen her she was barely out of elementary school.
Finally after a moment he just shook his head, standing around daydreaming wasn't going to get anything done and he was still on the clock. Still, he was more than a little aware as he went back to working that he was a bit distracted throughout the rest of the day, mostly just in shock if he had to guess, which was a new one for him. He didn't really get shocked much, at least not nearly enough to affect him this long.
Mike was pretty sure that he recovered from learning about the existence of ghosts faster than this.
Either way the day came to a close, and by the end of it he found himself talking to Fritz and Jeremy as they worked on cleaning the place up for tomorrow. Explaining the situation to the two men, both who seemed curious about it.
"So she's an old childhood friend?" Mike nodded.
"Yeah, though maybe 'friend' would be a bit off. The Afton's and Emily's spent a lot of time together, though that was mostly because our dads spent a lot of time together working on things for the business, so it was usually on me to look after the kids given I was the oldest by a fair margin. They were sort-of not-really family for a while, or at least just more bodies to look after for me, so we were pretty close for a bit, if not by choice" Mike had tried to worm his way out of looking after the twins after a while, it wasn't that he had disliked them, it was just... Well, he was an angry teen already having to look after his own siblings. Thankfully Henry was a bit more involved than his dad was, so it wasn't often, especially after they got Juniors up and running.
"So, she's also a founder's kid? Of that Henry guy right?" Mike nodded, before pausing to shoot Jeremy a look.
"Yeah, he uh. He came back to the franchise after a while, I don't know the whole thing as to how or why, but he's the one that made the Toy Animatronics, and he's the one that ran the Freddy's back in '87" Jeremy frowned for a moment before asking.
"What did he look like?" Mike... Paused for a moment, before answering all the same after taking a second to remember himself, it had been a while since he pictured the man.
"Uh, light brown hair, had a messy beard, about your height, green eyes with glasses. Kind of stocky" Jeremy nodded, thinking back to something before saying simply.
"He didn't hire me" Mike just shrugged.
"I don't know how involved he was really, he might have just been running things from the back without being directly involved, Fazbear Entertainment was long since a thing by that point" Jeremy just nodded again after a moment.
"Maybe, it doesn't really matter. Are you going to meet up with Charlie?" Mike found himself nodding before he even thought about it, only answering verbally after the fact.
"Yeah, if she wants to of course. It would be nice to catch up with her, and I think she could use the company, I think she might have come back here alone for college" It was just a guess but given the way that Charlie seemed surprised by John and Jessica, who of her best friends from childhood, kids that Mike once or twice found himself looking after, he got the impression she was more... lonely than she was acting. Especially if she was willing to waste the time before one of her classes to come to the Cove of all things just to look around, given he doubted she was expecting to see anyone she recognized. A new voice interrupted his thoughts, as Marionette finally made an appearance after working on his own closing activities in the prize corner.
"Are you sure that's a good idea? Isn't it a bit weird that she just happened to show up?" Mike was taken aback with how... scathing Mari sounded, as he sent a look at the puppet for saying simply back.
"Maybe the timings a bit weird, but we've been getting people from Freddy's past appearing all over the place from Phone Guy to the whole thing with BB, at least this one I'm more than happy to deal with" Mari didn't seem nearly as convinced, crossing his arms with a huff as he said.
"I don't think it's a good idea, she's... Something about her is off, I don't like it" Mike raised an eyebrow at that, kind of offended on his old friend's behalf, before sending a glance back to notice Jeremy had seemingly already had exited out of the situation, Fritz looking back and forth for a short moment before seemingly deciding that Jeremy's response was the correct one as well, heading off after him as Mike just frowned to himself before turning back to his friend.
"Charlie's a friend, an old friend. One I didn't think I'd be seeing any time soon. I'm going to get to know her again. I want to hear about her life and what all's happened" Marionette wasn't done though, and Mike was beginning to think the clinginess was better than when he was irrational about strangers.
"And are you planning on telling her everything that you've been up to in return?" Mike... Frowned, feeling a hint of familiar anger trying to pry up as he said back in a bit more of an icy tone.
"That was a low blow Mari" The puppet seemed unperturbed.
"I'm just saying the truth, a lot of people can change in the years. You don't know her anymore"
"Yeah, that's why I want to get to know her again. I know things aren't the same Mari, I'm not chasing after some childhood revival, trust me, my childhood was nothing I want to re-experience" Sure, he liked to think about the time as one of the best parts of his life, but, being honest, his life sucked royally until very recently, and he could admit his childhood wasn't all that great, it was just better compared to the things that followed it. The puppet seemed to realize he wouldn't be able to talk Mike out of this, as he let out a discontented static hum before saying as he turned away
"I still don't like it but I can't stop you I guess" Mike was pretty sure it was his own now embittered mood that caused him to hear the bitterness in Marionette's voice. It was fine, this was fine, Mari would get over it, he did with Janet, just... Mike couldn't help but feel something protective rear up in his chest at the idea of being able to have someone from before his life went fully to shit back in his life, even just in passing, getting to know Charlie again would be worth it.
Marionette left without him, and while normally Mike would have followed after, instead he found himself swinging by the warehouse, deciding to catch his brother up on the day, he was pretty sure the bear wouldn't remember Charlie, but it didn't hurt to ask, plus he had been meaning to have another conversation with Goldie for a while now anyways, and it was better to get it out of the way instead of continuing to not think about it until they had no choice.
Pulling up to the warehouse, Mike pulled himself out of the car and moved over before... pausing, just for a second, as he turned around, a frown marring on his face for just a second as he looked around before shaking his head, as he headed inside. It had been nothing, though Mike was sure for just a second someone had been watching him. Shaking it off as excess nerves from the weird fight he just got in with the puppet, as he headed to the back office, looking around for a moment, before noting Goldie wasn't there...
Weird, he normally stayed in the room for the most part, and Mike hadn't seen him on the way over.
Shaking it off as nothing, he looked around the space for a moment, absently noting that there was a new plushy, one of the ones he had Mari had designed together, which was sitting next to the much smaller Goldie on the desk. Mike felt his eyes slide to the computer still just sitting there, he hadn't bothered with it, he knew he should, but things had been good enough that he had willingly ignored the thing. Honestly he was done with Dave and his shit, and there was a very low chance his father's account would happen to have anything important on it anyways after so many years so Mike just had let it be.
Moving over to the arcade machines still in the room next, Mike let out a pleased hum that his name was still at the top of the Faz-Fighters game, though he had been knocked down to fifth on the other cabinet.
"I didn't hear you come in" Mike didn't quite jump, he had heard the footsteps of his brother approaching, but the sudden voice still caught him off guard, as he turned around to see Goldie standing there, giving Mike a confused look.
"Figured I'd drop by, someone came to the Cove today, I don't suppose you would remember Charlie?" The bear's head tilted to the side, before saying.
"Only what you've told me, she showed up?" Mike nodded.
"Yeah, it was pretty surprising, but apparently she's back in town because she's in a nearby college. I figured it was worth mentioning, and, uh, well I thought I should probably talk to you about something" The bear moved further into the room, his head turning to stare at the two plushies sitting next to each other, waiting a moment like he was expecting Mike to say something about it. He didn't, he honestly thought it was kind of cute. Instead the bear only straightened up after a moment and asked.
"What is it?" Mike took a deep breath before taking the plunge.
"Well... Your birthday is coming up" The aminatronic's entire body seemed to stiffen, and Mike worried for a moment if his springs had somehow locked up, before after a long moment Goldie said.
"I-... I'd rather just avoid it if that's what you're getting at" Mike quickly found himself nodding.
"That's fine, I just... didn't know if we should talk about it or if you wanted to do something or anything. I could come over if you wa-"
"No" Mike paused at the faint static filling his brother's voice before the bear got himself back under control as he said slowly afterwards, "I-... I mean, no, I think it would be better if nothing happened. I just... want the day to pass on by like any other" Mike nodded again.
"Right, of course, I get it, I used to do the same... It never really worked though, so, if you need anything, just... get in touch, hell, if you want I can bring Foxy over, it's been a while since you two got to talk. I'm getting the whole phone thing sorted out for here soon, it's just been taking a while to get it ran out here for some reason" Goldie seemed to consider that for a moment, before finally saying.
"If you wouldn't mind... It wouldn't affect the pizzeria?" Mike waved that concern off.
"We can handle one extra closed day, I'm sure Foxy would be delighted about it as well, he's been asking after you occasionally" The bear seemed to consider that before finally nodding.
"Then... Yeah, if you wouldn't mind, maybe bring him around the day before?" Mike nodded, more than a little glad his brother had accepted it that easily.
"Of course! No problem at all. I'm glad, it's not good to be alone on bad days" Goldie seemed to agree to that point, though after a moment asking after something else, clearly trying to change the topic.
"Will you be ok?" Mike waved him off.
"I'll be fine" The bear didn't seem to particularly be convinced but didn't say anything, Mike decided that he appreciated it, turning away from the subject at hand, and instead getting ready to say something when he paused, a faint chill coming over him at the same time Goldie tensed, the bear's head snapping around the same time Mike straightened up properly, something in the back of his mind needing him to be prepared for something when-
"S-Shit!" Mike had no idea what it was that tipped them off in that first moment, but it gave him enough time to hear the creaking of old metal as he moved forwards, half tossing himself to the side as from above him, the ceiling light snapped, crashing into the ground with a heavy thud, the sound of the shattering of the lightbulb inside being in the only thing to be heard for a moment as Mike glanced up and just grimaced. "That would have been a very embarrassing trip to the hospital"
"Did you feel that?" Mike's eyes glanced back over to his brother, who wasn't staring at him or the light, but out towards the doorway, frowning to himself he just answered honestly.
"No? I mean, beyond the way my heart is racing" Sure it was weird, but Mike was mostly just glad that his head didn't just get caved in more than anything else right at this particular moment. The bear frowned before saying quietly.
"I thought I felt something... It was cold" Mike shrugged.
"A draft maybe? I don't know" Glancing up at the ceiling, Mike just frowned at the damage, it wasn't honestly nearly as bad as he expected.
"The mount looks like it got stripped, we're probably lucky the wires came loose instead of ripping them out of the roofing"
"Think it's still safe?" Mike shrugged.
"I can ask Fritz tomorrow to come over and look at the thing, but I think we're just supposed to turn the switch off that those wires were connected to. Live current and all that" Goldie moved over and did just that, while Mike glanced around, making sure everything else was fine, there was still enough light being let in from the main portion of the warehouse from the doorway, as well as the small muted tv and arcade machines...
Actually, moving closer, Mike frowned to himself as he looked the machines over. The flashing scores of the leaderboard were... gone. Just like the ones at the pizzeria, the scores had been deleted.
That was... weird.
The next few days were kind of awkward, mostly between Mike and Mari, the man was sure the puppet would talk about it at some point, but nothing came of it, and he wasn't quite willing to broach the subject either, so instead the air just continued to grow off between them with things left unsaid, knowing the other wouldn't agree with them. It was a forced normalcy and Mike felt it was nearly suffocating.
Beyond that, as for the source of the tension between the two men, Charlie remained unaware as the two talked a few more times, but it never really lasted long, time had grown a gap between them that wasn't looking to be fixed any time soon. And as it stood, as much as Mike hated to admit it, he had too many secrets to risk getting too close to her without making sure no one around him would be put at risk.
Both were somewhat tight lipped about the years they missed in each other's company, Mike for his own obvious reasons, and Charlie for whatever her own were, but it just simply didn't come up and when it somehow did, both often found themselves walking around it. It was almost awkward, but nice as well, just to hear from her, even if they hadn't talked that much in all honesty.
Mike wasn't looking to push it, frankly he wasn't sure he even wanted to, they had been close back then but that was mostly in a literal sense being often around each other than anything, to say they had been genuine friends would be saying a bit much about the two's relationship, he was several years older and had his own friend group where hanging around a girl four years younger than him was just wasn't cool. Meaning they never were exactly around each other because they actively wanted to be, it just happened like that enough that the kids from both families knew each other enough to be considered close.
So, yeah, he wasn't looking to stress the point, just knowing she was alive and well was enough for Mike for the time being.
Currently however, he was dealing with something completely different, as he and Foxy stood around talking.
"No Foxy, no surprise cake! Or gifts! He's not looking to celebrate or anything, just wants some company on the day" Mike really shouldn't have mentioned that this was for Goldie's birthday, it would have been easier if he just said the bear missed the fox. It wouldn't be a lie, the two occasionally asked after the other. The fox on the other hand didn't seem to get it.
"But why not laddy! Naught can help cheer up a down bear like a cake or a gift or two!" Mike refused to rub his brow in stress, as he said back plainly.
"What are you Mari now? No, no gifts, or at least don't say they are gifts. Feel free to bring some things over though, just... Look, it's not a day for him to try and celebrate alright? He just wants the day to pass on by without thinking about it. It's... He just needs someone there, or at least I want that for him, and it can't be me" That finally seemed to drag some of the energy from the fox animatronic, as he looked around for a moment, his body lightly fidgeting that Mike had long learned was a robotic way of showing nerves, before saying.
"Er, well, that be a lot of responsibility yah know? You sure I'm the best for the job?" The pirate accent faded out by the second sentence, showing how nervous he really seemed about it, as Mike just reached over and placed a hand on the fox's shoulder, saying with a light but hopefully comforting voice.
"Of course I do bud, I trust you. If you don't want to that's fine as well, but-" Foxy quickly shook his head.
"Nay! I- I mean, of course I want to!" The fox seemed to be able to grab onto another wave of energy, and in true Foxy fashion quickly just bulldozed his way through whatever he was thinking about as he loudly suddenly proclaimed, "Right! I'll do it, that golden bear won't know what hit him!" Feeling better about the situation now, Mike said with light humor.
"Please don't hit my brother" Foxy just brushed him off, holding his hook to the air before saying.
"Aye!" With that the fox hurried off somewhere on his stage behind the curtains, Mike just watched for a moment before deciding this was fine and moved on with his day.
So, yeah, Charlie isn't going to be jumping straight into the main cast, at least not for a little while yet, but she has been introduced. Just there is no reason on any character's part to force her into the main plot for the time being, given the main plot is just living their lives. Plus, it would just be weird, sure Mike and Charlie know each other pretty well, but that was years ago, it'd be like after a decade of randomly running into that one babysitter you had for your entire life before you were to old to have a babysitter. That's essentially what Mike is to Charlie, and when you're a nineteen year old college student, that can be kind of weird, especially when you're dealing with your own issues.
Speaking of own issues, Henry's dead, RIP he'll be missed by someone. But yeah, the Emily family here has been shuffled about a bit huh?
Honestly, this section of the story is more foreshadowing for the rest of the work more than anything, as well as to get everyone in a properly almost healthy mind space so I can tear them down later on. Just finishing up the pieces here, though next chapter is mostly going to focus on other characters which would be nice, I like doing the other POVs. Anyways, See ya.