I Don't Own Fnaf

Mike... Mike's mind kind of blanked out for a moment, so he just blinked, then he blinked again, as he felt himself say something while the words that had just been said to him finally sunk in... And he was at a loss for words, because that wasn't something he had expected to hear in a million years from the puppet, even as he felt something warm and push and wriggle in his chest that Mike couldn't quite put a word on just what it was, as he found himself speaking.

"Are you... serious?" The puppet fidgeted, his mask held it's standard smile, but even with how shocked Mike was, he could always read Marionette's body language, he was nervous and incredibly flustered, but he still nodded, after a moment even speaking, with the puppet's tone slightly masked with static from his heightened emotional state.

"Y-yes... I- I'm serious" Mike just blinked again, his normally fast brain, which even he could admit when he wasn't trying to be all that humble, was good at taking in information sort of just stalled for another moment as he asked in a slightly stuttered voice of his own.

"Since when did that happen?!" Marionette winced a bit, and Mike really did feel bad about that, but he was a bit overwhelmed by the whole, being confessed to, thing.

"Uh... Well... The, uh, morning of Goldie's birthday?" ...Ok, no matter how out of it Mike was, while his mind was actively whirling around and trying his best to figure out what the hell he was supposed to say, do, or think currently, that didn't stop his mouth from speaking in spite of himself.

"That's a hell of a timing" The puppet awkwardly just shrugged, as Mike quickly shook his head, asking quickly, "Wait, no, sorry, just give me a second... Is that why you stopped wanting to-, uh, share a bed" He had been about to say sleeping together, but that made everything sound so much different now with a sudden new context, as Mari just let out an awkward sounding warble from his chest as he said.

"Y-yeah, just... I- I mean, it felt like I was taking advantage of you if I- you know..." Suddenly Mike did know, sort of, as he just blinked again, still watching as the puppet seemed to continually get more and more embarrassed while he tried to figure out just what the hell he was thinking or feeling, as a weird buzzing mess was making itself progressively louder and louder inside of his chest.

"Huh... I mean... Are you sure?" The puppet paused for a moment, just giving Mike a look which he, himself, winced at as he said quickly after, "Sorry, just... Give me a second to think this through" Mari just slowly seemed to gather some kind of determination himself as Mike floundered through his own words as he continued to struggle with what was happening.

It wasn't that he didn't understand or anything, he understood exactly what those words meant, he knew what was happening, he knew that, logically, Mari meant every word he was saying. But Mike's emotions were messing with him, because just as much as he could understand, at the same time he just simply couldn't comprehend how Marionette, the kind, compassionate, funny, and silly puppet, somehow thought Mike was deserving of what he had just been told.

That's truly what was stumping him in this moment, past anything else, before he could think about how he really did feel about this, he first had to accept the fact that someone as good as Marionette held that level of feelings for someone like Michael, who, no matter how much he improved through the last few months, still couldn't help but have those faint thoughts creep in the back of his mind of being unworthy of something even approaching this.

That didn't stop his pause from being noticed by the puppet, who seemed to have gathered himself enough to begin to speak in a much more calm and composed manner.

"I didn't tell you to make anything awkward, or because I expected anything, I don't and I know I shouldn't" Mike didn't like how resigned the puppet sounded with those words, even as he continued on speaking, "But I just couldn't keep this from you any longer. With everything that happened with Bonnie... It just didn't feel right. I hope this doesn't change anything between us" Mike blinked again, because it was something he was having to remind himself to do, before saying with a faint frown.

"Of course it wouldn't, I'm just... really surprised is all" It was finally sinking in though, and that let Mike begin to actually think properly, even though it seemed that that brief moment of certainty from the puppet was all he could manage as he quickly went back to being visibly anxious.

Mari always was so much more expressive and open than Mike was, so much more energy and life ironic as it was to think. Just like Mike, he felt things so much more than other people it seemed at times, but unlike Mike, he wasn't nearly as good at hiding those feelings away.

"How could it not though! Don't just try and comfort me, I know this isn't... I know you can't feel the same way, I know it isn't normal. I know things can't be the same. I've tried, I really tried to keep a distance, but I just couldn't, and I don't want to either, and I can't have that! I can be happy with just being friends, but that doesn't change that something is diff-" Mike didn't want to keep hearing this, and thankfully it seemed his limbs were finally moving on his accord again as he found himself already moving, standing up and simply hopping over the couch to get to Mari, as he reached out and pulled the fidgeting and uncertain puppet into a tight hug.

"Hey, hey... No. Nothing's wrong, nothing about this is something that's bad. It's... different, but that doesn't mean anything alright? We'll be fine, it's not like this is some world shaking thing, we're still here okay? We're alright. I'm never going to just leave you, ever, and if you don't think so then I'll keep hugging you until you realize that" Marionette just let out a long chime, his body slightly trembling, his arms moving for a moment, wanting to come up and grab hold of the man, but seemingly uncertain if he should do so. Mari finally made the decision to lightly push on Mike, separating him from the hug just enough to be able to pull back and as he just shook his head.

"We... I don't think..." He seemed to be struggling and Mike wasn't sure just why until it seemed the puppet reached some kind of breaking point, as he finally said, "Uh, goodnight?" And just like that, he vanished from Mike's arms as his arms closed around nothing, as Mike just stared ahead for a moment incredibly... unsure of just about everything.

Then something clicked in the back of his mind, a bit too late, but better than never. Mari had been avoiding touch for a while now, Mike had thought it had been strange, but it was suddenly making more and more sense. The puppet had been trying to build distance between the two that had slowly and surely been just removed over time between them.

Mike just found himself slowly leaning back, until he was half leaning up against the couch behind him, as he thought that over, remembering how everything had felt off for the last while, not incredibly, he and Mari were pretty much the same, but that lack of physical contact had been something he had been absently aware of, and had been uncomfortable with. It was why he had made the plan to dance with Mari in the first place. Because he missed it as much as he had wanted to cheer up Marionette, thinking something had been wrong.

Something had been wrong, or rather, just something had happened that Mike had somehow not noticed.

You know, thinking about it, asking Mari to dance with him was kind of romantic wasn't it? He hoped he hadn't been inadvertently giving the puppet the wrong signals, though Mari did seem very certain of how Mike would have reacted, which Mike didn't really get, but that didn't really change anything about the situation.

Marionette loved him...

The faint warm buzz grew just a bit bigger at that, as Mike slowly realized he was smiling. He was... happy?

Yeah, he was happy, really happy, along with a few other things, none of them negative. Huh...

In retrospect, they really did act like a couple... Even Evan had mentioned that they acted like they were basically... married... Mike had also made a joke about that as well hadn't he? It had just been a joke, but thinking about it now, suddenly his chest did a weird little squirm in his chest that he couldn't put his finger on just where it had come from, but it a nice feeling, a good one, even as he slowly began to think more about those comments a bit more seriously.

If both brothers noticed it then there was something to be said about it right? Especially if Evan only got context from how they acted around each other right? His brother hardly knew about the things behind closed doors, like up until recently sharing a bed... And constantly hugging each other, and talking about their days, and caring a bit too much, and getting little things for each other, and having movie nights, and... Holy shit they were married.

Ok, that was a bit of an overreaction, obviously, but it was something to think about, the last time Mike did any of that kind of thing was before his relationship with his last girlfriend, who he was mostly with because he really needed anyone to talk to at the time, and that had ended with him being stabbed by her brother. He still had a scar on his lower back from it, one of the more literal backstabs in his life. That was a weird realization to have, Mike had been treating Marionette like... Huh... That was an even weirder realization. Right, well, you learn something new everyday Mike supposed. Today just happened to have a lot of learning involved.

He was mostly expecting some kind of panic to well up in him or some crazy reaction to where his thoughts just landed him on top of everything that had just been dropped in his lap, but... Nope, he was just here thinking about it now while lightly enjoying the faint buzz of warmth still lingering in his chest. Let it never be said that Mike couldn't take his own thoughts and feelings in stride.

Honestly, as it stood, it wasn't that complicated, Mike somehow had a crush on his roommate, surprising and really out of left field, but it was what it was, the more surprising thing was that he hadn't noticed more than anything really, but then again he had been busy wallowing in his own self pity and worrying over the puppet himself in recent weeks to really take in consideration any feelings he might have had outside of the normal ones.

The fact that Marionette was: dead, a guy, and a puppet, all were more... secondary things, they didn't mean much to him in all honesty. It was a big surprise sure, but, well, Mike had about as much physical attraction to women as he did men, which was about none at all, which was around where his attraction to sock monkey's landed, so that kind of negated two of those points, and the dead thing wasn't really a dead thing given he was still among the living, so nothing too think hard about. He had already long since seen the animatronics around him just as much as people as the humans were.

So... What now?

Well, there really was only one option. Mike was the impulsive one after all, and he had a feeling that Mari hadn't managed to escape to his music box just yet. So with that, and the faint increase of his heart beating starting to get louder and louder, he began to walk to the puppet's room, moving over to it, before knocking on the door. Listening to the faint panicked chime ring out before the door was slowly opened.

"Hello hello" The puppet just let out an awkward sound before saying with concern.

"Uh... Hi... I'm sorry if I made-" Mike just pushed the door the rest of the way open before leaning in, picking up the puppet and simply hugging the hell out of him, laughing just a small bit at the sound of he surprised chiming coming from the animatronic's form as he reached up, until one of his hands was lightly holding onto the back of Mari's head as he just held the puppet close as Mari said, "Mike! W-what are you-?"

"Just confirming something, and proving you right" Mike's heart felt like it was about to beat out of his chest, admittedly he was way more nervous than he thought he would be, his self control only keeping him from being a bit jittery and shaky, but that wouldn't be enough to cause him to given even a hint of hesitation, as Mari slightly tensed before asking.

"R-right in what way?" Mike slowly leaned back, just enough to get a look at the puppet's slightly worried face, and decided he needed to fix that immediately as he said softly.

"That things are going to change" And with that, before the puppet could begin to take that the wrong way, Mike leaned in, and pressed his lips against Marionette's. They were much warmer than he thought the normally cool porcelain would have been as he pressed himself deeper into the strange kiss as Marionette let out the sound of a thrilling warble that Mike hadn't ever heard before, as the puppet's entire body trembled before a set of hands reached up, tightly wrapping around his shoulders as suddenly he was being pushed back with a matched enthusiasm.

A small part of Mike found himself admittedly uninterested in the action of the kiss itself, he wasn't attracted to Mari like that, he wasn't attracted to anyone like that, but he had to admit porcelain was much less inherently gross than another human mouth, and so much more importantly, he could feel his own heart rate skyrocket at the sound the puppet made, at the trembling in his arms, at the eagerness and clear desire from the other, it just made him want to hold on tighter, to get more of that response. So while it was clear that Mike didn't get much from kissing directly, Marionette sure as hell did, and that more than made up for it on the human's side of things as he somehow managed to pull the puppet even closer, holding him tight into the crook of Mike's body.

Eventually they had to pull away, because eventually Mike needed to breath, but that was okay to, because when he did, Mike was rewarded with an expression of pure joy, a smile so wide and big that for anyone else who saw this mask, it would probably be disturbing, for Mike, he just felt his chest squirm and his heart melt just a little bit more... Damn, how had he not noticed that?

He let out a laugh before he could help it, the sound soon being mixed with the faint joyous sounds of chimes, as Marionette said, hope bleeding into his tone.

"So-... So?" Mike just pulled the puppet close, he was still in the man's arms after all, and Mike found himself relishing in the feeling. It had been a while since they got to be this close, he hadn't realized just how much he had missed it.

"If us staying friends means I don't get to hold you like this anymore, then why would I want things to stay the same?" Mari let out that warble sound again, and Mike thought he could get used to it, it was nice, and frankly it was cute. Of course that seemed to be when Marionette's anxieties kicked back in as he slowly pulled away, his face of joy slowly shifting into one of uncertainty once more.

"But what about... Why would you..." Mike just tilted his head and asked simply.

"Why would I what?"

"I- You know... Choose a puppet" Mike frowned, hating the insecurity that laced the animatronic's words, he wanted to just move in closer and pull the other man back into the hug, but he knew Mari would just push him away again. They had to have this talk, even if Mike really wanted nothing more than to just enjoy the idea of where this could lead, he also knew they did need to address this now.

"Why wouldn't I?" The puppet simply shrugged.

"It doesn't... bug you?" Mike shook his head instantly.

"Of course not, Mari, when have I ever cared about something like that?"

"I mean, never, but... There's a difference, this isn't... Right. You're a human, I'm not, not anymore, that's going to cause issues" They were still in Marionette's room, as Mike reached out a hand, while he talked, moving the puppet with him so they were both sitting on the bed instead of awkwardly standing in the middle of the room.

"Like what?" Mari just let out a huff, his hands waving a bit to give more energy to the points he was about to make.

"You know what! We can't do stuff normally! We can't tell people, we can't go places, we can't!" Mike just hummed as he thought over those points. Maybe it was just because it was him, the guy who wasn't great with not doing things that were probably not good ideas, but he just couldn't find anything big with what Mari was saying.

"I don't, I mean, sure we can't go on normal dates, but normal is boring, I don't want to be with you because you're normal. And sure I can't exactly go around shouting to the rooftops about my puppet boyfriend-" Mike took a certain level of enjoyment out of the flustered mess of chimes that got from the puppet, as he continued without missing a beat, "But being honest Mari, I wouldn't do that anyways, I'm not a very social person, nor do I particularly care about informing the masses about my private life. Everyone who I actually care about telling probably wouldn't mind, I mean, Jeremy definitely already knows right? And given he's done nothing but make side comments about us, I doubt he minds''

"But you can't say that for everyone!" Mike just smirked and said casually as he bumped Marionette's shoulder with his own.

"I'm pretty sure Foxy will just use this to try to get me on the stage again, make a duo out of the two of us. Evan probably couldn't care less. Fritz... I don't know how he'd react, but, eh, if he doesn't like it then I'll just fire him" The casual bluntness of that got a laugh from the puppet before he could stop himself as he, without thinking about it, bumped his shoulder back into the man a bit harder and said in an admonishing but amused tone.

"Mike!" He just looked back.

"What?"

"Don't abuse your position, he'd be right to think it's weird" He just shrugged.

"Maybe, but I don't care, I think our opinion matters a bit more than his in this situation. Besides, who cares what other people think? That's a waste of time and effort, besides we don't have to be loud and open about this, I doubt we're going to know how to do all this right away. Keeping us to ourselves is fine for as long as it takes. I wasn't kidding Mari, I'm not going to just shout about it, I'm a private person, you know that"

"You know, you sound pretty sure I'm going to agree to this" Mike just shot Mari a slightly cocky look.

"What, are you saying you're not tempted?" Marionette quickly looked away, being able to blush or not didn't change the fact that he felt incredibly warm and jittery, especially when Mike looked at him like that.

"N-no, but I... I just don't want you to regret this later, I don't want us to fall apart because we tried something that couldn't ever have worked out. I know you don't care for normal, but what if you do one day? I- I can't give you a lot Mike, it's just me, you've given me everything I have now, you've already given me your world, and... And I don't like that I can't give you even that much in return" Mike thought about pointing out Mari had helped build his world, but he hadn't a feeling that wouldn't address the real issue, so instead he moved to ask about the root of the issue.

"What do you think is such a big thing that I would regret this?" He really did want to know, because what could be such a thing that Mari thought Mike'd ever even think about risking them for? Mari seemed to struggle for something to truly say, and eventually stumbled out an answer.

"I- I don't know... Kids? I can't give you children Mike" ...Mike took that, thought about it for... about two seconds, before promptly snorting in a valiant attempt to keep himself from laughing. It was a fairly unsuccessful attempt. The puppet didn't seem to take that well, "H-hey! I'm serious!" Mike just laughed a bit harder, almost doubling over before saying.

"Mari, doll... I don't think that was in the cards for us even if you were human" Marionette paused at that... actually thought over what he just said, before promptly burying his face in his hands, as he let out a low pained sound.

"I-I didn't mean like that! I just!... Ugh!" Mike just gave the puppet a moment to get over his embarrassment, as after a moment he said, still clearly flustered, "You- I mean... Wouldn't you want kids? You're amazing with children, and if I'm here-"

"Nah" His simple answer seemed to surprise the puppet as he looked over at Mike with a faint shock.

"W-what?" Mike just shrugged, a frown coming to his face as he now looked away this time, his tone quickly moving into something much more serious.

"Kids... are a future concept, one we can have a long debate about much later if it really matters, but... I don't want kids Mari. I raised my siblings practically by myself, and I- I didn't do a great job of it given I killed one of them and left the other in a broken home. I doubt I'd make the same mistakes, I'm nowhere near what I was like back then, but... But those memories are going to stay with me, so if I can help it, I'm probably never going to want to have kids of my own"

Mari went silent at that, clearly processing the sudden heaviness to Mike's words, but he wasn't going to lie about this. He... He failed before and he didn't want to take the risk of failing again, besides Mike wasn't exactly role model material, and he could hardly see himself as a dad... And now for the next thing, as he leaned in just a bit closer to the puppet as he said in just as much of a serious tone.

"And as for that other thing... Asking me if I'll ever regret it? I want you to answer something for me Marionette, when have I ever gone into anything without being fully committed?" Marionette himself froze at the direct question, but not just that, it was the name Mike used. He called him Marionette, something he only did when he was fully serious. Marionette chose to focus on that feeling of seriousness instead of the faint thrill that went up his spine at the sound of his full name in Mike's voice, as he answered quietly.

"Never" Marionette felt himself tense just for a second as he felt an arm wrap around his side, pulling him closer, and finally getting rid of the remaining small bit of space between him and Mike that the two had been slowly erasing over the last few minutes, as Mike spoke his next words simply, like they weren't actively changing everything. Like with everything Mike, bulldozing straight ahead to his goal.

"Then why would you think that I could ever regret you?" Marionette felt heat bloom up through his chest right to his eyes, as he had to actively pull himself together before he started crying at such a simple but world shaking sentence. In the end, with a faint sniff he couldn't help but croak out with an even fainter laugh.

"Damn it Mike... You're doing it again"

"What's that?"

"Doing something impulsive and then getting me into it, because I can't say no" Mike lightly tensed for the first time since they had really begun to speak about this, seemingly truly nervous, as he said.

"Does that mean..?" Marionette just simply nodded, he could feel a smile pulling back on his face despite himself, but he just couldn't help it, he was too damn happy for having just been talked into something, his emotions to high to in this moment think about any future consequences... and then Mike ruined it, "Does this mean I can kiss you again? Cause I'm wondering if I can get any new sounds o-" Marionette may, or may not have, tackled Mike to get him to stop talking.

...And then proceeded to kiss him anyway.

"You seem... Happy" Mike blinked at the not quite curious but bordering on it tone of his brother's as he approached the golden bear, before shrugging, ignoring the bubbling feeling in his chest so a smile wouldn't drag itself onto his face as he said back.

"Had a good night. What about you? Any activity from the box bunny?" Evan just shook his head.

"Nothing, I peered in, he hasn't moved at all" Mike just nodded, his still thrumming joy pulsing in his chest taking a bit of a hit, as sad as it was, they still had too much to do for him to be able to truly just bask in his feelings, no matter how much he wanted to just sit down and beam at nothing like an idiot, he had things he had to do, people and places he was responsible for. That was certainly a new one, enjoying what he was feeling, not too new of course, but this experience was more than a little novel to Mike, and he really wanted to just enjoy it... But as it was, they had other things to think about, "What about Jeremy? How is he doing?"

"Better, I mean, he's still stuck in bed, but apparently he was able to have an actual conversation with Fritz yesterday so... I'll be visiting after I leave" Mike hadn't been able to visit the two as much as he wanted, he had been a bit to busy trying to get everything else sorted out in the last two days since the Shadow Bonnie incident. But he had managed to get some food over there at least, because Jeremy needed to eat, and Mike would force feed the man soup himself if he had to.

"I see... What about Foxy?" Mike noticed the slightly more... invested tone the bear had in his voice as he asked about the other animatronic. But he just said quickly back.

"He's... coping. I asked if he wanted to just stay here while we were working on the Cove, but he seemed pretty dead set on staying there"

"He's alone over there, I don't think that'd be the best for him" Mike nodded easily enough, he fully agreed with his brother, but as it stood, the fox was stubborn and unwilling to leave the Cove, and Mike had the clear impression that he wasn't going to be able to be the one to convince the kid that staying around the painfully empty building while they were working on getting everything set back up and repaired wasn't a good idea for his mental health.

"He's not looking to leave though, it'd probably help if you talked to him"

"Why would that do anything?" Mike gave his brother a look at that, but the bear really didn't seem to get what the elder sibling was getting, so he just said simply.

"Probably has something to do with the fact that you're his friend"

"So are you?"

"Yeah, but I'm also seven years older than he is, meaning I'm the lame adult friend, that's going to get some resistance to listening to me when the kid wants to be a stubborn teen. But you're his age, and you're the one he's going to be staying with, so..." Evan seemed to think that over, and seemingly realized that there wasn't anything in there that was wrong, as much as Mike might have liked to think otherwise, he had been a teenager once himself, and he knew just how stubborn they could be, surprisingly mature haunted fox or not.

"I can call him later... I've been wanting to talk to him about somethings anyways, before all this rabbit nonsense started" That caught Mike's attention, as in his natural fashion, he immediately asked about it.

"Oh? Anything interesting?" The golden bear normally would have just shut that down in an instant, not at all interested in sharing any information with his brother unless it was particularly important. He didn't see the point in anything even approaching gossip... But as it stood...

"He mentioned that he used to know me, us, when he was alive" Mike just nodded at that, slightly surprised that his brother was only bringing this up now, having figured the two animatronics would have probably discussed it amongst themselves at some point before now.

"Yeah, we knew him, well, I knew him at least, though I'm sure the two of you talked at some point or another. Remember one of my friends? The one with the Bonnie mask?" Goldie had to take a moment to recall just who his brother was talking about, but after a moment, he did faintly recall... someone. A fairly average looking teenager with darker skin, black hair, he had...

"You and him were on some team right?" Mike nodded, surprised that the bear remember that apparently as he said quickly after with a faint smile.

"Unofficially, but yeah, that was when I was a lot more into sports, we player basketball against the other local teens, mostly cause it was fun to just win easily against the other kids on the court" Yeah, being a head taller than every other fourteen year old probably would have helped. Mike continued quickly afterwards though, "Anyways, yeah, Foxy was his younger brother, Gabriel was his name, I only really saw the kid a few times, but he was around occasionally, sort of like how you used to follow after me when you were younger"

Goldie could only find himself nodding, the memories didn't bring up anything, but he could sort of imagine a smaller version of Michael's old bonnie masked friend, though he couldn't help but wonder, if only faintly, what Foxy would have looked like, before shaking the thought away easily enough, it was a useless and pointless one. Instead he spoke back to his brother.

"I see. I suppose we should talk about that, and I had a few other things, though I think it would be better to wait on a few of them until the Cove is back in working order" Foxy could probably use the distraction, Goldie was under no disillusionment that the fox had taken a very hard hit by the destruction that the Cove had suffered. If he could help his friend out with getting his mind off of it, and more importantly, not spending all his time around it, then he would.

"Sounds like a plan, I'm hoping it doesn't take to long, but Jere getting sick right as everything happened has slowed us down a bit, not to mention other things. I'm just hoping that none of us have to go back to part time jobs to be able to get the place up and running properly now that we've already burned through most everything we already had in storage" Goldie had been ready to just nod, when something Michael had said in those words stood out to him.

"What other things?" Mike grimaced a bit suddenly before sighing, looking suddenly tired, letting Goldie know instantly that this was something much more serious than what he had originally figured when he had asked. He half expected a faint dismissal, nothing with harsh intentions, but Michael doing what he always did, hiding the things that he figured he could handle himself, but instead he just said simply.

"Not sure yet, but it's looking like our family drama isn't quite over just yet. Remember Afton Robotics?" Goldie nodded, the name having being around the warehouse was enough to let him know that such a company existed, Michael himself had explained once just what he had remembered it being, though of course it seemed that was wholly inaccurate, as the man continued to speak, "Apparently it might have it's own location, from what I found when I was rooting through Henry's old things, it seems that it was an... well, it was a robotics company that handled production of animatronics. But to find out more about it, I need to get in contact with some people"

"Phone Guy?" Michael simply nodded, while Goldie did his best to not feel the standard annoyance he had at the thought of the man, he knew just who that was suppose to be a bit to well, the man had been a nuisance for years, Goldie himself had known the man obviously couldn't have been the Purple Guy, he also just hadn't carried, listening to the man's annoying voice for as long as he had existed as Golden Freddy meant he had something of a grudge against the man. Even if he was trying to not be quite as rageful and murderous, he could admit, he got a fair bit of joy in remembering how the man had finally been tripped up and gotten in the end.

To hear that the man had survived left a bad taste in his metal mouth, but there wasn't much he could do about that without the expressed disapproval of everyone around him, and that was even if he could scrounge up the care to kill anyone. He really hadn't been feeling all that murderous in a long time now after all, even for past... pests.

"Right, keep me in the loop then if you find anything out" Michael just nodded, a faint uncomfortable look passing over his face for just a moment before it faded like it was never there. Goldie was certain that the man was hiding, or at least avoiding something that was on his mind, though the animatronic couldn't have had much of an idea as to what it could be. Given just how out there Michael was capable of thinking, it could be anything.

Therefore it wasn't worth the effort to think about. If it became something, then the bear could deal with it then. Tomorrow was another day after all.

Charlie was... uncertain as to just what she was hoping to get out of this, but she also knew something was wrong. Maybe not everyone would have noticed, Michael had become worryingly good at hiding what was on his mind, but Charlie had grown up with the man, back when he wore his emotions through every little expression. She could see the confusion and faint dread on the man's face when he notice the mentions of a place called Afton Robotics.

Maybe it wasn't any of her business, it was clearly something with Michael's family, but... But no matter how she tried to let the manner just rest, that didn't mean she couldn't remember other things, strange inconsistencies in her interactions with her childhood... friend? Big brother figure? Baby sitter? However one wanted to try and consider whatever kind of friendship that they had, it didn't change the fact that Charlie wasn't blind to things.

Michael was hiding... something, and as Charlie stood in the office of his late father, she had a feeling her dad had been hiding something from her as well before he...

She didn't know what, but she did have clues, the way that her dad had never let her anywhere close to Freddy's, even though he practically had run the place, in the ways that he could, to the way that Michael had always managed to skirt around the topic of the past locations, keeping his past to himself, and never really giving a direct answer on his own life, which was caught up in his own pizzeria. It was a strange connection, but one she found herself focusing on.

Charlie wasn't blind to the tragedies that had happened at Freddy's, she knew exactly what had caused it to be run into the ground the first time, had felt the impact harder than it felt like anyone else had, even though she knew that wasn't true, the horrors that had happened had rocked her and her family so harshly that even now there weren't days where she wished she could wake up in a room with her brother, being yelled at from the other room by her father that they were going to be late to school.

Knew it had happened again, and that her father simply couldn't handle it happening again, and simply... gave up. And now there was another location, as much as Michael had done his best to rebrand, to her, and no doubt to him as well, it was just another pizzeria, another Freddy's, in it's own way. So was something happening there as well?

Charlie knew she was probably just being paranoid, that this really wasn't any of her business, but... But at the same time, as she rooted through the office that had been recently unlocked, she couldn't help but continue to find herself staring at the picture frame that was resting on the desk. Her family... back when they had all been there, together...

She never got an answer for who had taken Sammy from them, she never knew what monster had done what they had done to destroy her father's last try at something for the happiness of others, she never knew, no one knew, it was a mystery that had been left unsolved for years, and... And Charlie, as she found herself surrounded by parts and pieces of the past pulled together by her late father, couldn't help but feel the need to find out.

She had always known she hadn't come back to Hurricane because she was that invested in going to the college here, she had been accepted at a number of other places, but... But something had urged her to take this one, and as much as she tried to ignore it, now as she stood there, she couldn't find the strength to pull away.

So instead Charlie sat down at the desk, and began to look to see just what pieces her father had left for her to now pick up and put together.

Charlie's on the hunt for answers, and given just how that went for Mike when he started looking around... Eh, I'm sure it'll be fine! What's the worst that could happen?

Anyways, time to talk about the idiots, they've done it, they've smooched. Incredible.

No, really though, I'm real happy we're finally here, only took, what, 300k words? Slow burner? I hardly know her!

But yeah, I like how it turned out, Marionette is a lot more self-conscious than he appears at times and he's been thinking about this for a while now, worried because he's certain everything would go wrong on admitting to his feelings... And then there's Mike, the asshole who is in equal measures a brilliant guy but also a total dumb ass, who gave exactly one brain cells worth of effort into wondering if he should think more about it before fully committing himself, but that's Mike, he doesn't really do planning, he's an emotional impulsive dumbass and I love him for it.

Don't worry to any people who aren't super into this kind of thing, it's not going to be suddenly the only thing that's written here, it's honestly not going to change that much, just a bit of with how Mike and Mari interact with each other more than anything, and even then not much given they already were practically dating with how they acted with each other, especially given just how dense this section of the story is already going to end up being I just don't have time to focus solely on the romance if I don't want this section to be the next forty-five chapters in of itself.

For the record, no weird smut or anything is ever going to be in this story, much like I made sure Mike pointed out, he has zero interest in that kind of thing in general, muchless with a living puppet, we respect Ace boundaries here! ...And more importantly my complete negative interest in exploring anything like that ever. Sure, I wrote a kiss, cause... Well, I figured that would be the best way of Mike just showing Mari exactly what he was thinking without the puppet having the chance to over think things. It'll probably happen occasionally cause Mike knows Mari likes it, even if he's honestly indifferent. Ace romance is a thing and the best way of handling a story like this with the main characters being interested in each other when one is not human in the traditional sense, which is incredibly ironic given I, myself, am aromantic.

Speaking of, this is my first real exploration of writing out romance with it being planned from the start, and holy hell did I go full in on doing it with such a weird choice of characters, an ace ex-convict and a gay haunted puppet, like what? Anyways, I know a lot of people have caught the signs of it leading up to this chapter from the reviews I've gotten so far as of the writing of this chapter, which I hope means I did a good job of writing it out in a realistic manner. But I do genuinely want to hear how I did, given I literally have no idea how to express these kinds of things myself and have mostly just been hoping I'm doing a good job of it. Hope it wasn't cringe, anyways, see ya!