I Don't Own Fnaf

The peaceful early morning of Christmas was broken and become quite loud in an almost impressively short time, normally this would have disgruntled Mike, who, up until a few moments ago, had been asleep, because frankly he liked not waking up to sudden loud noises, before it meant he was usually in danger, and now it usually meant Mari needed him to talk to because the puppet had just woken up from a nightmare, but this time it was neither.

Well, it was still Mari, but as he cracked his eyes open as he blinked blearily ahead he was greeted to the sight of the puppet who had something playing from his music box that sounded a lot like Santa Clause is Coming to Town, staring down at him from the side of the bed, already up it seemed, as Mike just blinked once more before saying.

"Is this when I learn that 'The Christmas Spirit' isn't actually a metaphor? Because I don't think I have enough coffee in me if you're the ghost of Christmas Present" Mari just let out a short huff, the music thankfully dimming a bit as he reached out and tossed the covered off of Mike as the man just squinted up at the puppet before craning his head to look towards the window... The sun was barely up, if that with how little light was coming through the curtains meant anything, it was probably only a bit past seven then, not the earliest Mike had ever woken up or anything, but he and everyone had been up pretty late last night, enjoying Christmas Eve together.

"Come on! We have gifts to open!" Mike hummed, he wasn't awake enough to want to get up... but the infectious energy Mari always had with him managed to put a smile on his face and got him moving as he stretched himself out a bit as he sat up on the bed, saying casually.

"Alright, you've convinced me, I'm up. Just don't play that sound again, I want a minute of peace before the kids are up"

"They aren't that much younger than us you know" Mike huffed at that, as he shifted about, stretching a bit as he worked the stiffness out of his limbs that built up a lot during his sleep nowadays, as he spoke back lightly amused.

"Maybe from your side of the fence. But unlike literally everyone else here, I'm in my twenties" Mari just let out a soft little jingle before tilting his head to the side.

"I'm a teenager?" Mike blinked before nodding, as he headed over to the dresser in the room to pull out something a bit more comfortable for day wear that would cover his arms properly. He only ever wore short sleeves at night, Christmas or not, he'd rather have them covered, as he said back.

"Yeah. Your birthday is in May, the thirteenth to be exact. You're nineteen by the way" Had they ever talked about that? Mike knew they had discussed Mari's age a long while back during the start of the year, around March or April if he was recalling right, it had been right after the whole mess with that rip off BB place, the puppet had been slightly off at the time. But now that Mike knew who Mari was, it was easy enough to know his birthday, he had celebrated it enough times, though as he pulled a jumper that was a bit big even for him, over his head, and looked back over at the puppet, Mari had something close to an awed expression on his face, as Mike just smiled for a moment, before moving over, placing a hand around Mari's shoulder and said.

"Come on, we haven't even gotten to the gift giving yet" The puppet just gave him a short look before finally huffing as he nodded lightly moving to hug Mike just a bit, muttering.

"Merry Christmas Mike" Mike just held the puppet back as he whispered the same words back, before the two moved, careful to not make too much noise, the house wasn't as empty as it normally was after all, Mike hadn't been fully kidding about waking the kids. His brother and Foxy had stayed the night, just so there wouldn't have to be any travel to collect them for today.

So the plan was, as the only person in the house currently capable of consuming incredibly unhealthy amounts of caffeine, to manage to get down stairs and get a pot of coffee going, some breakfast made, and maybe just enjoy the morning with the energetic puppet before getting the other two up and moving to do some good ol' fashion present opening, after Charlie herself arrived of course, but she said she'd be around ten, so they had some time before that.

Of course, that's not at all what happened, as he and Mari turned to move down the stairs from the upstairs hallway, he was instantly caught in the line of sight of Foxy, who instantly waved up at him, calling out happily.

"Ahoy! About time! We be waiting for an age!" Mike just blinked, turning to look over at the sight of his brother half collapsed in the reclining chair in the living room, as he felt himself try to drag up some level of exasperation for his plans being foiled, but instead just felt a grin pull on his face as Evan called up at him.

"We've been sitting here for about twenty minutes, I had to stop Foxy from 'laying siege on your bedroom' to get you up early" Well... Mike honestly should have expected that to be honest.

"Well, I certainly appreciate it. Glad to see I'm not the only one dealing with an excited animatronic this morning" The bear just hummed, staring at the two as they made their way down the stairs, as Evan turned to look at the puppet, asking blandly.

"So, did you teleport straight to Michael's room when you woke up or were you already there? Cause we didn't see you leave your room" Mike managed to not trip over himself and spilt his head open on the ground, if he was being kind, he didn't even lose his footing, even if he was caught off guard by that, as he glanced over to Mari who's expression quickly defaulted back to his normal empty smile to hide his caught off guard embarrassment, as he quickly answered.

"A-Ah, well, you know... I was pretty excited, so I just didn't see the point in using the steps, I didn't hear you two out here or I would have come out of my room to say good morning" It was a quick answer, with minimal stuttering, but Mike had the feeling his brother didn't believe him in the slightest, while Foxy just looked between the two of them confused for a moment, before suddenly saying.

"Are we going to get to opening presents or not?" The pouty fox was a lifeline that Mike was not ever going to say he didn't appreciate, as he quickly grabbed on to that as he finished getting to the bottom level, saying maybe just a bit too loudly.

"Great question, we can get to that in a bit, but in the meantime, I need to get some coffee going so I can manage to be excited as you lot" Mari quickly tacked on.

"I- I'll help!" He could feel the unimpressed look his brother was giving him, as Mike all but fled into the kitchen as he listened to the sound of Foxy asking Evan what they're deal was.

The two now alone in the kitchen shared a look, before Mari reached up, placing his hands over his mask as he let out a low little distressed chime, as he said.

"That was so awkward" Mike just hummed, glancing back at the door to the living room before moving to get his coffee started, as he asked over his shoulder.

"I'm pretty sure Evan has a good idea about us" Mari fidgeted a bit, before just sighing, as he floated over, closer, as he said back.

"He's certainly been making comments about it recently, but maybe he's just thinking out loud?" The puppet sounded like he was trying his best to be hopeful, but unfortunately Mike had to point out:

"He did just imply we're sleeping together"

"Right... Yeah, he knows... Should we tell him?"

"I wouldn't mind, but it's up to you"

"Well... I mean, Jeremy knows and that didn't become a whole thing right?"

"No, but that's Jeremy, the man knew before we did"

"T-true... I don't know, not today at least, if Foxy overhears then everyone's going to know by lunch, whether they're here or not" Mike chuckled a bit at that, yeah, the fox was pretty good at being a bit... overdramatic and loud with his reactions. Mike was pretty sure his neighbors had enough rumors about him and his mysterious roommate as it was without hearing a pirate shout about the two of them dating while his neighbors were trying unwrap presents, Mari continued on though, wringing his hands a bit as he spoke, "But I do think we should tell everyone soon, it... It doesn't feel good to be hiding this from everyone the longer we've been together"

"It's not hiding, at least I don't think so. But if you want, I can certainly start making out with you in front of Fritz if that's how you want to break it to him" Mari gave him a flat look at that, but it was broken off as the puppet couldn't help but crack a smile after a moment, as he said.

"You're a dork. What is with you and coming up with theoretical plans to bully him over our relationship status?" Mike just shrugged.

"Nothing, I just think he has funny reactions to stuff" Mike got the impression that Mari was rolling his eyes, even if the puppet couldn't stop the smile that was still on his face.

"We should be a bit more tactful than that at least" Mike just nodded, another thought occurring to him as he asked a bit more carefully.

"Sure, tactful make out session... How do you want to break it to Charlie? That's got to be weird for her, I mean, not as much as you being around still, but from that to dating..." That got Mari to pause, as he took a moment to think that over himself for a long moment, before saying softly.

"O-Oh, I didn't think about that... Maybe we should wait?" Mike frowned, he didn't like the sudden almost self-conscious tint to the puppet's words, but this was hardly the first time Mari had been anxious over this conversation topic, so he just decided to move it onto something else. They didn't need an answer about that right now.

"Whatever you think is best, but for right now how about we focus on the Christmas cheer instead of getting drowned in thoughts and what-ifs. I think we deserve it after what we all went through last Christmas" Mari just let out a sound of agreement, as the two moved to busy themselves with actual morning stuff, Mari being kind enough to finish up the coffee and making a sandwich for him while he went and got himself more presentable for the day, heading up stairs again, after a short talk with the other two, to brush his teeth and take a quick morning shower, so he was actually presentable to the world.

Heading back down about half an hour later, he gave Mari a grateful look as he was handed a cup of only slightly cold coffee, as he started to nurse it while everyone gathered around the living room. There wasn't much in the way of decorations, he hadn't thought about it, and even though Mari wanted to do something, they had been so busy with the Cove, setting it up and everything, that they hadn't had the time to do anything for their own home. That was fine though, as on the mantle next to the tv, was a small little mini tree that Mike had picked up from the store while he had been out last week, and under it on the ground were a number of colorfully wrapped gifts.

Mike himself had been run a bit ragged the last few weeks with running around on the animatronics' behalf, being their glorified shopper, given they couldn't go out and get the gifts themselves, and since it had been clear from the start that Evan and Foxy would be sharing the day at Mike's house, he had been the one to go get everything, so he already knew everything under the tree, but he was still excited to see everyone's reactions to the gifts.

Everyone talked for a while, Mike himself mostly just letting the conversation roll over him instead of actively participating like he normally would have. Instead letting himself be regaled by one of Foxy's many stories, which had the amazing color commentary that came from an invested and encouraging Mari and dry heckling from Evan. Foxy was clearly having fun himself, pivoting off of whatever the two said next to add to the story until it was some bizarre odyssey of a tale.

Foxy genuinely was incredible at improv for how he still managed to balance it all and not lose a beat when incorporating the wildest of things into the story itself, not surprising with just how many routines he's made for himself over the last year, Mike's honestly lost count, he was pretty sure Fritz had a catalog of them all somewhere in one of the offices.

As he thought about that, Mike felt himself lean back a bit on the couch, craning his head over to look up at the top of the stairs, he had an office, technically, didn't really use it for much really, all the business statements and stuff was filed at the warehouse and Cove and mostly by Jeremy, but the room was still there. His father's office... The vague thoughts of an idea were only just beginning to build themselves in the back of his mind before he was knocked out of the thought spiral as a knock came from the door.

Mike of course was the one who got up for it, wandering himself over to it while the others quieted down, just in case it was a neighbor wanting to wish him a happy holiday, it happened once or twice over the last few weeks. Mike wouldn't say he was the best neighbor, frankly he was pretty sure if it wasn't for the fact he ran a business built around children's entertainment they probably would have thought he was some hermit psycho or something with how little he got out. But he was still somewhat known and well enough regarded because of the Cove so it wouldn't be too surprising either.

Mike would have preferred if they didn't though, he wasn't much for social interaction and his house had way too many animatronics in it at a time to be a worthwhile risk to have constant visitors.

Thankfully it was a needless worry this time around, as the door opened just enough for Mike to see Charlie standing there, awkwardly holding a large bag that had a few neatly wrapped gifts in it, as she shot a small smile up at the man who just smiled back as he moved out of the way and let her move in as he closed the door behind him, as the sounds of greetings filled the air, Mari quickly shooting over, helping take the bag from his sister before pulling her into a quick hug.

"You made it!"

"I said I would?"

"I know, I'm still glad you're here"

"Aye! That means we can finally get to the presents!"

"That mean you're finally giving up on trying to make 'sea bonnies' work in a story?"

"Hey! I manage just fine thank you very much!"

"You talked about fazgoo five minutes ago, I think I'm being nice here"

"Ok, yeah, maybe that wasn't my best, but I think I made it work!"

"...Sure"

"Glad to see everyone's so lively... Uh, where should I...?"

"Oh! We don't have enough chairs... That hasn't happened before, uh, well you can share the couch if you want, it's a bit small but I don't take up much space and I don't plan on sitting just yet. Surprisingly neither does Mike when he's not trying to take up as much space as possible" Mike himself finally joined back into the conversation at that tease from the puppet as he moved over and dropped straight across the couch, most of his legs hanging off the side as he said casually.

"No idea what you're talking about Stripes" Mari gave him a look, but quickly broke into a little giggle fit even as he moved over to push his legs out of the way as Mike acquiesced to the puppet's wishes as he moved over and shoved himself into the side of the couch, as Charlie moved to sit next to him, as he watched with amusement as Mari floated over, bag still in hand filled with Charlie's gifts, carefully taking them out and placing them into their own little neat pile along with the others.

Mari had a thing when it came to gifts, not just the spooky kind, he just really enjoyed the act of giving and receiving stuff, even if they weren't really all that important, it was one of the main reasons Mike made sure that the puppet, even if the man teased him about it, got a copy of all the merch that was made. The puppet considered them all just so... special, it made Mike's heart melt if he was being honest, the fussy nature of the puppet trying to make sure they were stacked perfectly just added to it, because it was just so in line with who Mari was.

Still, he leaned forward a bit as the puppet looked around, trying to figure out just which one to pick out first to hand out, and watched as Mari seemed to come to an answer he was satisfied with, pulling out a small bag with a little golden tag on it with the name Foxy written on it. That had been a suggestion from the puppet that Mike had really liked and had used on the gifts he had been in charge of wrapping up, using the color of the tag to show who it was from and the name on it to show who it was going to.

"We should go in order, around the room, take from the top for the first and going until we're out! It's about as random as we can get cause I sorted it by size in stacks of who they're going to, so it should work out well!" Mari sounded quite proud of himself, as he moved over to hand the bag to Foxy who quickly hooked his hook around the strings to hold it up as his hands dug into the bag, pulling out the colored paper on the top to keep what was inside hidden, before with a shout of excitement pulled out...

"Ayy! A spyglass!" Foxy quickly and with a bit to much force used his hook to tear into the plastic casing of the metal hand telescope, finagling with it for a moment before extended it and holding it up to his one visible eye, visibly beaming as he looked around the room in what had to be way to close up to make out any detail. Evan just shrugged from where he was resting, saying carefully, his voice more measured than it needed to be, but with a clear pride in his voice.

"I figured you could use some more props for your shows" The fox let out a laugh, quickly moving over and pulled the bear into a tight side hug as Evan seemed to just grumble a bit, but clearly didn't mind nearly as much as he was putting a show on for. Mike just grinned, as the fox continued to play around with the item as Mari moved to hand out Evan's own gift, a wrapped up box with a red tag with his animatronic name written on it.

Mike wondered, as Evan took it and carefully as he could with his massive hands to pull apart the wrapping, if Mari had planned out that little exchange for the two to swap gifts right away, he wouldn't put it past the mischievous puppet, as he turned his eyes to the pile of presents with a bit more interest in the way they were ordered, before quickly looking back to his brother, a small grin pulling to his face as he watched as Evan finally got the wrapping off as he stared at the boxed thing in his hand, before slowly turning to stare at Foxy who was looking right back at him, through the spyglass of course, a grin that could be felt on the fox's face.

"You're kidding right?" The fox just pouted.

"What, you don't like it?"

"I-... Didn't say that"

"But you impl-"

"I love it Foxy" And just like that the fox seemed almost stunned before beaming back just as bright, if not brighter than before as Evan just sighed to himself, exasperated but not at all bothered as he pulled the box open, before reaching up and putting a top of his head a purple captains hat with it's normal golden filigree. Giving Foxy a look as the animatronic made quick work to point out how great it looked.

Mari quickly went back to the pile before the air could get too quiet, reaching down, picking up one that had two tags on it, one with a purple tag, Mike's own color, and another that was white on one side and black on the other, Mari's colors, obviously. Both of which held Charlie's name on it, as he quickly floated over,

"Now, one for you Charlie, it's kind of a joint gift between the two of us, Mike and Me that is, I hope that's alright" Honestly, most of Mike's and Mari's gifts to the others held both their tags on it, mostly for a budget reason cause Christmas was very expensive and Mike was already footing the bill for nearly all the gifts being given here, and because Mike was really bad at gifts himself, so he kind of tacked himself to Mari's genius. Charlie didn't seem to mind, giving a bright smile as she was handed the large bag and said, as she began to look through it.

"Not a problem at all, thank you two! Now, let's see here... O-oh!" She let out a soft sound as she reached in before pulling out a long dark green scarf that was the same color as the jacket she constantly wore. The scarf was thick and woolen, great for the winter, as she reached and ran a hand along it for a long moment, before slowly smiling, as she looked up at the two who were admittedly anxiously waiting for a response, "Thank you both, this is really nice"

"There's something else!" Mari seemed excited that the she liked it, as he quickly moved closer, gesturing for her to keep going, as she just blinked before quickly, matching the puppet's energy, reached down to pull out a small, hand held, tape recorder, along with a set of blank cassette tapes. She blinked at the sight of them, as Mike himself shifted a bit in his seat, that one had been mostly his idea, but now that it was out in the open, he tried to not feel like it wasn't as random as it probably really was, as Charlie asked.

"Oh? Cassettes? Is there anything on them?" Mari shook his head, leaning down, explaining the idea happily as he tapped on the case of the tapes.

"No! They're all blank, you can just slot them in here and record whatever you want on them. We figured with how many things you have going on, with your own job, and college, and everything, it might be a nice way to keep a record of things. Journals are nice, but it's nice to have a little record of stuff right?" Charlie just blinked a few more times, before just giving a wide smile.

"T-thank you, I actually think I really love it, it's sort of like taking pictures, but different, more... personal in a way? I'm not sure, but I'm sure I'll use it... In fact" She quickly pulled one of the blanks out, fiddling with the player itself for a moment, before managing to pop it open as she slotted the tape into place and before long the faint sound of spooling tape could be heard as she started a recording. Mike just felt relieved she liked it, he had gotten something of the idea from Phone Guy, had even asked the man where he got his tapes from to get that more portable one.

From there things moved on, everyone spent a while talking about the gift of the moment, as they continued to go around in the circle, there was a number of things that were given, Mike himself got a few little things, not as many as the others because he had been the one to buy the gifts and while he did get some stuff, it was small little items more than anything that he already knew about and couldn't quite act surprised about getting, but the thought and the actual experience of unwrapping them made him feel years younger than he had since... Ever probably, especially with the company present.

It was nice, incredibly nice, honestly, if he was being emotional then he would say this was probably one of the better days he's ever had, as laughter filled the room every couple minutes from whatever comment was made about the gifts, as they went around handing them out, but before long Mike was sure the puppet had arranged them in a certain way, as with slightly to excited hands, Mari reached down, plucking one of the last boxes out from the now very small pile, in fact there was only one left, he didn't recognize the one remaining, it must have come from Charlie, but the one Mari was holding? That grabbed and held his attention, because the one currently held a purple tag with the word 'Stripes' written on it.

It was Mike's gift to the puppet, he had been nervous for a few of them, he really wasn't good at gifts, but he had Mari to consult with him on them at least, didn't change the nerves as he watched his brother open up the box that held a copy of the photo album that Mike himself had stored in the closet, missing as many pictures of his father as he could get away with not adding without removing group pictures. The bear had just stared at it for a long moment before taking him, and Mike figured that was all that needed to be said for what it was.

But he didn't have that safety net here, it was just his own panicked impulse buy that had ended up being what was in that box. He had no idea what or how Mari was going to react to it, and frankly he was more nervous than he had any right to be with how much anticipation and excitement also was rolling through his system as Mari, like he did with the rest of the gifts that had been directed to him, took his time to slowly and carefully unwrap it.

Finally, after a long minute, the gift was revealed as Mari let out a faint chime of confusion for a moment, his head leaning over to look at Mike.

"Uh... What is it?" Mike just spoke, keeping his voice steady as he explained the box that was filled with parts in the puppet's hands.

"It's one of those build it yourself kits, this one is a music box, look on the side, there's a list of songs that you can put into it and change out when you want" the puppet did so, with another serious sound ringing from his body, as he turned it over and saw the long list of songs on there, Mike had made sure My Grandfather Clock, wasn't on the list, nor Pop Goes the Weasel or any other song that was even related to freddys. Most were actually fairly modern songs that Mike had noticed Mari had been interested in whenever they had to drive and played on the radio, as he awkwardly continued to speak as the puppet studied the list.

"I figured we could build it together and, I don't know, get some music in the house that doesn't put you to sleep" He had been nervous about this one, he knew Mari didn't have the best memories when it came to music boxes, even if the puppet had his own built-in, it was the sounds that came from one that had him trapped for so long. But... But Mike knew what it was like to be able to take the power back from things that had hurt you in the past.

For a moment he thought his worries had been a bit to justified, as Mari continued to just stare down at the box of parts in his hands, silent for just a bit to long, as Mike was about to speak up again, when he watched as Mari slowly set the box down before drifting over and just leaned down to wrap his arms softly around the man, as Mike just quickly returned the hug, worried, for a short moment, before hearing the puppet say, softly, quietly just to him.

"I love it. Thank you" Mike just let out a faint breath of relief, before saying back just as softly, making sure the others couldn't hear.

"I'm glad... Love you" The puppet let out a small little chime of surprise before just wrapping his arms around a bit tighter, before suddenly pulling away and saying brightly to everyone who had more or less just given them the moment, which Mike was very thankful for, infinitely more thankful to Foxy who seemingly had taken the silent moment to go about talking about the things he had that were now bundled up in his lap from where he was sitting cross legged, on the ground, showing the things off for the dozenth time both to Evan and Charlie.

"Right! That's most of them... Expect for one last one of course" Mike blinked, remembering again that there was one last present sitting under the tiny tree on the mantle, as he turned his focus to it for a moment in faint confusion about where this was going, it had to be from Charlie... Expect as Mari floated over, picking it up, he couldn't help but notice the way that his brother and Foxy seemed to perk up, watching carefully, while Charlie herself seemed a tad confused, as Mike glanced between them all for a moment, before his eyes caught on the gift itself as it was lifted up.

More specifically the tags that were draping from it, A red one, a golden one, and a black and white one, each one had it's own version of a name on it, the first have a blocky and scrambled Captain, the next in large clumsy letters Michael, and the last in fanciful almost cursive was simply Mike. It wasn't hard to tell who wrote who's, as he just stared at them for a moment as the puppet presented him the gift as he just said.

"I don't remember buying this one" Foxy pipped up.

"We got Jeremy to do it!" He sounded very proud of that fact, as Evan explained.

"During one of the rides back to the warehouse I asked if he could stop somewhere and get something. Mari apparently has been squirreling away any change that ends up in the Prize Corner, and Foxy apparently has been exchanging tokens in his free time" That was certainly an answer to his more silent questions, as he shot the two a look, Foxy just looked incredibly pleased with himself while Mari looked a tad embarrassed but not all that guilty about apparently stealing from the collective tip jar.

"Oh..." Mike was honestly a little... well, very shocked, like the rug had been pulled out from under his feet, but not nearly in as bad a way that he had honestly thought, it was nice, very nice even, a warm feeling bubbling up in his chest as he let out a faint if almost shocked laugh, as he took the box from the puppet who was hovering close by, staring with rapid interest to see every little expression that passed on Mike's face as he reached down and ripped opened the side of the package to reveal...

"Oh! This is a game console?" Mari quickly spoke up.

"Yes! I remember you saying you used to play a lot of games, and you can't really use the arcade machines while we're at work, Goldie mentioned it might be a good gift, and I looked into a few that you might like from asking a few questions, I hope you like it" Mike just kept staring at the box, before just placing it down, and turning to look at the three animatronics.

"Thank you, all three of you, I really love it" Mike wasn't much of a smiler, half grins and little smirks were about as much as he expressed himself, but right now it felt like his face was aching with the grin that was pulling itself across his face.

Today really was incredible.

It only got better from there, the next few hours passing by in more or less a holiday infused haze of events and activities, the conversations moved around and jumped in places, as everyone moved around and talked, moving from conversation to conversation without much issue, half the discussions being about the gifts. Mike himself had without any shame moved and hooked up the new game console to his tv and that had become a whole thing with Foxy demanding a turn soon after, and Mike having to coach Mari through how the controls worked, the puppet had apparently never really played any games before in current memory, not even the arcade machines at the Cove, which Mike thought was borderline criminal if he was to be honest.

He spent most of that time rotating around the tv and hovering around the puppet trying to show him what to do until Mari finally got fussy at him in return and sent him off to get lunch started while he turned the controls over to Evan, who immediately started blitzing through the levels of the game that the console had come with. Mike made a mental note to start getting more games for it soon.

He had a feeling he'd be spending a lot more time in front of the tv than he already did.

Still, Mike knew better than to not listen to the puppet as he wandered his way into the kitchen to get started on a lunch, nothing fancy, but he could get some stuff going that would at least be filling, maybe he could break into his stash of hot chocolate, he didn't normally drink the stuff, but he had been feeling festive the last time he had been to the store so he had grabbed a box of the little packet mixes... He should have gotten those little marshmallows to now that he was thinking about it, he loved those little sugar bombs, and adding them to the drink would be a nice bit of nostalgia.

"Hey, need some help?" Breaking from his thoughts, he glanced over to see Charlie who had wandered her way into the kitchen, he just shot her a quick smile but shook his head all the same.

"Nah, not doing anything fancy, just dumping some canned soup in a pot and adding some stuff so it doesn't taste as store brand, figured it'd be nice with how chilly it's been out lately"

"Well, it is the middle of December" Mike made a faint sound of realization as he said with a suddenly clarity

"Oh yeah, nearly forgot about that" Charlie just let out a giggle at that, as she moved over, so she was a bit closer, standing around the open flame of the stove.

"You're a dork" Mike let out a short laugh at that, shooting a look over at Charlie, in faint surprise before just shaking his head.

"I'm aware, your brother loves to remind me of that fact" Charlie paused a bit at that before getting a small smile on her face as she asked.

"Yeah?" Mike just nodded.

"Yeah, you two are still honestly pretty similar, in the ways I get insulted mostly it seems. But I guess that twin connection doesn't just fade because one's a puppet now" She seemed to be incredibly pleased to hear that, beaming for a moment before that light seemed to dim, as she turned and looked out in the direction where the three animatronics were all still in the living room. Mike could hear Foxy's rambunctious and incredibly unhelpful tips from here. He just waited a moment before Charlie got around to her question.

"My, uh, my friends have been asking about me a lot... John and Jessica especially, they were really concerned about me for a while, the last few months before Halloween, I think I scared them, and then after... I haven't really talk to any of them, can't really can I?" The question... sounded more vulnerable than Mike was expecting, as he paused, his hands stilling in his actions as he tried to think of what to say...

"Do you want to tell them?" Charlie fretted with her hands for a moment, before shoving them into her jacket pockets to keep from continuing, something Mari never figured out for himself, same nervous habits huh? But after a short moment she just slowly nodded.

"I- I think so, at least to let them know I wasn't crazy you know? That there really was something to be found, at least John and Jessica, they... I think they should know, they were there for me the most after Sam... vanished. It doesn't feel fair to not tell them right? But... But it's not fair to Sam, or you or the others if I tell them either is it?" Mike hated how conflicted she sounded, as he just tried to figure out what to say. In a way, he had been lucky, he had no one in his life that he would have wanted to tell before all of this, but Charlie was in a very different boat here.

In the end, he just had to be honest, she was a grown woman who could make her own choices, all he could do was give her all the facts and how he saw the matter.

"The more people who know about the animatronics the more likely it is that word could get out, and if that happens... I'm not saying they would, but they don't have the same stakes in this as we do, if word gets out, it's our families who get torn apart. Hell, I'd probably be in the lab right next to my brother if some government lab wants to figure out why my vitals are barely functional. I'm not saying you can't trust them, but I can't say I know them well enough to say you should either. It's something to think about and over a lot before doing anything no matter what, but please do talk to me and the others before you make any decision"

"I- I see..."

"Sorry that it's not much of a good answer"

"No, I get it, this isn't one of those situations where there is a good one just laying around is it? I really want to tell them, they're my friends, my best friends, but at the same time... Is it selfish that I want to just hold onto this as well? It feels like everything would change if I just suddenly mention Sam was back and completely different"

"I-... I had this talk with Fritz not too long ago, when Janet first joined the ranks of the ghost crew we got going on here. Honestly, we had a few talks about it, with him, me, and Jeremy, even back when we first opened the Cove. Knowing about all of this, it changes everything, in a way that you can't just leave it alone, that's why those two are still here even though their only claim to it is knowing about the animatronics, they know and because of that, they're here. I'm not saying it's some curse or trap, but it makes everything... It puts it all in a new perspective I guess. If you really want to know more about it then you could ask Janet, she's probably the best at answering these kinds of questions"

"I- Maybe... It's just a lot to think about, but I think I'm alright for right now, it's just been on my mind, and with how incredible today's been... I just wondered how possible it would be to share moments like this with them" Mike was stuck for a moment with how genuine and open she sounded, a faint bashful smile on her face, as he couldn't help but reach out and with a grin, ruffled her hair as she let out a short yelp before moving out of the way, glaring at him in confusion, as he said.

"No matter what you decide I'm sure you'll do the right thing. I'm proud of the person you've become, I don't think I've mentioned it before" Charlie went flush for a moment before just turning away, a small smile on her face in spite of herself it seemed, as she said back shortly after.

"Thanks Michael" The two just shared in that short moment... before there was a crash from the living room as the two shot each other a look, as Mike asked dryly.

"Five bucks says that's Foxy"

"I know I'm new to the group, but I'm not that new" Mike just grinned as they moved back to the living room to make sure nothing was broken.

It wasn't, Foxy just leaned back dramatically after getting a game over and didn't realize his entire weight being slammed into the back of the coffee table would make it slide against the wooden flooring in a horrible horrible sound. The group got a good laugh out of it as Foxy sputtered out excuses about how the table shouldn't be flimsy enough to be pushed around like that, ignoring the fact that the fox was several hundred pounds of metal. It was endearing as it always was when the fox blustered about.

The day continued from there, with an admittedly poor combination of hot chocolate and savory soup, the afternoon passing by quickly enough, and soon into the evening Mike found himself sitting on the couch, Mari has scrunched up against him as the two could reasonably be without looking like they were literally laying on top of each other, so Charlie had room to sit on the other side of the couch, as the two other animatronics took the chairs, as they watched the last of several Christmas holiday movie reruns.

Mike remembered the last time he had seen some of these movies, it had been during a particularly rough winter for him emotionally, but that wasn't really saying much given the general state of his life, so he just rather enjoy the movies, before managing to sneak in an Immortal and the Restless holiday special in before anyone could realize what was playing. He was quite proud he had managed to indocrinat- ah, he meant, introduce the show to everyone well enough that they recognized it soon and weren't immediately telling him to change the channel to something else.

It was well into the evening when it seemed that the air finally broke, as Charlie let out a yawn one to many times in the last ten minutes, admittedly Mike himself was tired as well, his eyes felt heavy as hell from where he was sitting, Mari had at some point not really dozed off, but had slumped enough to appear that way on the outside, more just lazing about, leaning against Mike a bit more than he probably should be given they were still somewhat serious about maintaining a cover, Mike couldn't really find it in him to move the puppet though so it was more on the two of them.

It didn't really matter though, he was pretty sure Foxy was literally sleeping with how he was half laying against the side of the chair where Evan was sat, having moved there a while back to be able to not have to shout across the room for the bear to be able to experience the fox's color commentary. Honestly, from the looks of things, Evan was the only one seemingly unaffected by the almost exhausted air of the room. After a moment of thinking about it a bit more, Mike had to eventually take the responsibility of being the eldest in the room and as well as the host to call it a day, as he shifted a bit, Mari jingling a bit at the uncomfortable shifting as he seemed to wake up a bit more as Mike himself spoke up, breaking the silence that had long since permeated through the air.

"I think it's about time to call it a night" He glanced over to Charlie who jerked back to focus it seemed at the sound of his voice as he said carefully if casually, "Evan and Foxy have already taken over Evan's room as their quarters, if you want you can take- You can use the spare bedroom if you want, or the couch if you don't want to drive" Mike felt vaguely pathetic that even after all this time he still couldn't easily say Lizzy's name out loud. With how good the day had been had made it harder for him to think about the one person who was missing from this scene for it to truly be a childhood reunion of a holiday.

Charlie let out another yawn, looking around a bit more, thankfully either a bit too tired to notice it, though he was sure his brother had, as she seemed to think about it for a long moment.

"I mean... I wouldn't want to impose or anything-" Mari quickly moved over, grabbing onto one of her hands as he spoke quickly and earnestly.

"It's no trouble! I kind of would prefer it if you stayed, it is quite late" It really was, Mike had craned his head around to look over at the grandfather clock on the wall, it was on it's way to the next day, he had no idea just how the time had flown by so quickly, but here they were.

"I- Well, I mean... I guess I can take the couch?" She didn't sound overly certain of the decision, probably because it was very out of the blue, but Mari let out a pleased sound, as he quickly floated up and said before she could try and rethink her decision.

"I'll get you some blankets and a pillow then!" And just like that he was off to find just that, as Mike just smiled as he watched how happy the puppet was over it. He understood, as weird as it was to say, he honestly slept better last night knowing that his brother was downstairs. Better than knowing that he was in some cold warehouse. That had been something of a point between the two recently, the warehouse didn't really have much in the way of heating, even the space heater that Mike had put in the office didn't do too much, but Evan didn't seem to care as much as Mike thought he should.

Anyways, he watched as the bear in question moved, bumping Foxy with his foot as the animatronic just made a grumbling sound before being half hauled up by the bear and moved off to his own room. Mike had seen how the two had arranged themselves, frankly nothing in the house beyond Mike's own bed was big enough for either one of them, so they just went to Evan's room cause it was one of the only rooms that was fully carpeted, and just dealt with the floor being covered with as many spare blankets and pillows that were around the house, neither complained so he figured it was fine.

If mattresses weren't so damn expensive and with how little Evan stayed the night, Mike probably would have just replaced the kid sized beds in the house already, but like most of the home improvement things, it just wasn't yet worth the effort of going through with them when the status quo worked just fine. There was a reason the living room nearly looked the exact same for the last decade even with Mike only using it for the last year.

Either way, soon Mari had returned, his arms full of a blanket that Mike knew was from his own room, as he quickly moved over and dropped it onto the couch as Mike got himself out of the way, as two pillows were quickly added to the pile along with a... rabbit?

"What's bonnie doing here?" Mari got a bit awkward, shrugging for a moment even as Charlie moved over and picked the plushy of the original bonnie up, turning it around for a moment, a soft look to her face as the puppet said awkwardly.

"Ah, well... I don't know, just... I remember Charlie's favorite was Bonnie so..." That wasn't fully correct, she definitely liked rabbits and had adored the bunny animatronic, but her favorite had been her own plushy named Theodore the rabbit. But it was close enough it seemed, another thing recalled,mostly, as Charlie just smiled, turning the rabbit around once more in her hand before saying as she reached out to pull Mari into a hug.

"Thanks, I'm sure he'll be a good look out for me tonight" Mari was obviously embarrassed, not having thought through just how embarrassing it was to give his sister one of his toys to sleep with. Mike just thought it was adorable as he moved a bit to give the siblings some time to themselves as he moved to head up to his own room, sure the puppet would be joining him soon enough.

In the meantime, he pulled off the jumper he had on, and moved around to get into slightly more comfortable clothing given he had already not been in particularly uncomfortable clothes to begin with. Along with all the other sleep time rituals that everyone had when they could, as he stepped into the bathroom connected to the bedroom and did his best to not glance too much at the mirror, as he moved around and got himself ready for bed.

Before long he was ready, as he stepped out and was greeted to the sight of the puppet already there, sitting on the bed, as Mike tossed Mari a smile, as he moved over to sit down next to the puppet.

"Hey" Mari just gave a smile back.

"Hey"

"What a day huh?"

"Yeah"

"Everything alright?"

"Oh! Yeah, of course, just thinking about some stuff"

"Want to talk about it?"

"Mmm... Not yet, I'd rather get some sleep, we have a big day tomorrow"

"You mean I have a big day, I'm the one driving us, you can just sleep the whole ride"

"And leave you to that boredom? I would never"

"Then I guess we do have a schedule to sleep, come on, let's get some shut eye"

"Alright" Before long they found themselves in a mix of limbs, pressed together in the bed, Mari half curled up against and over the top of him, as they laid in the quiet darkness of the room, as Mike found himself staring up at the ceiling, that faint buzz of warm energy still present to much to immediately fall asleep, but not enough that he wanted to be anywhere else.

Tomorrow was another day, but he wanted to stay just a bit longer in this one.

God damn, did I really just spend a full week working on writing out a 9k word Christmas chapter during the last week of May, aka the further point of the year from Christmas? Yes, yes I did, and oh boy was this a very difficult chapter to get the right energy and mind space for given it is so far from the right season for this as of time of writing, but, I mean, it still was very fun to write, and well, it would have felt wrong to just skip over it, so here we are. There honestly isn't a lot here that's important in the grand scheme of things, just a lot of fluff and just warm character moments for everyone to have before everything starts going down hill again, because this cast gets nice things occasionally before everything hits the fan for the hundredth time.

Honestly, the main issue of this chapter was I had no idea what I wanted it to be, like, I knew the very basics because of the outline of this section of the story I have, but it literally just read 'Michael and the others celebrate Christmas' and that's it, that's the entirety of the writing notes I have for this chapter, some chapters have literally hundreds of words of explanation of what I want them to be ahead of time, this one didn't even break ten words, that's on me of course, but I really wish I thought of it before I was literally in the middle of writing out the chapter, but oh well. i think it turned out pretty well. There's going to be a bit more 'filler' before we're truly into the final plot, but that's because I want to let everyone have a proper and genuine break from everything, a reset on the stress if you will, before this final arc kicks into proper high gear. Anyways, See ya!