I Don't Own Fnaf
The events of a few days ago hadn't fully faded, Mari hadn't asked to go back to the warehouse, and Mike hadn't wanted to press on it, so instead they went back into their normal routine like nothing had happened at all. Mike, waiting on Mari to be ready so the two both could have a proper conversation with Charlie, because it didn't feel right for Mike to talk about her and Mari's mother and aunt potentially dropping around to talk to Mike, without the puppet to also be there for the discussion.
Mari on the other hand just did his best to distract himself, and while normally Mike would have been fine with that, he also would have preferred if the puppet opened up more during the day instead of having to talk the puppet down from the throes of panic in the middle of the night. Not that Mike was exactly handling it all that much better if he was being honest, seeing the bear trap almost taking his puppet from him again was... Well, it hadn't been easy for him either.
It was different, in a very stark and probably not healthy way, to have someone close to him having been in very real danger by an animatronic that they all now saw every day. As bad as it sounded, he never really cared about how the others had tried to kill him, sure it wasn't exactly great memories, but he just hadn't cared enough about himself to really feel the impact of it if Mike had to guess. And back then he hadn't really cared enough about Fritz or Jeremy either to care on their behalf for what the animatronics had done to them in the past.
But now that it was Mari? Or if it was any of them really, the very idea of it made it harder to deal with.
He felt a bit like a hypocrite over it, but he wasn't sure just what else to do, because at the end of the day, it was Charlie who was least at fault, more than anyone else, she never had any degree of control over what her body had done before she was even bound to it. And yet it still wasn't easy, and yet at the same time, he never really feared Lefty, the animatronic, he had hated it for what it had done, but never feared. And he could never really bring himself to come close to hating Charlie, so...
It was like his emotions were rubber banding about in his head, unsure just what to feel or how to feel it when there was no actual source of issue he could confront or work on. There was no wrong answer or thing to put blame on, so the emotions had nowhere to go but around and around.
He had to wonder if that's what was going on through the puppet's mind.
Mari hadn't been the same after the fire, something had happened in there, something before Mike had gotten to him if Mike had to guess, because the two had talked more than once in the need of comfort for the other about what had happened once Mike and Mari had been reunited in the face of the threat of a desperate Henry Emily. So it had to be something else, but whatever it was, Mari didn't talk about it, didn't bring it up, just... never mentioned it, and Mike wasn't sure just what to do.
He couldn't press, couldn't bring himself to do so when he had so much built up and pressing down on his own walls from everything that was left uncertain and unaddressed from the fire that it felt like if the puppet truly asked him anything he'd break apart at the seems, and the idea of doing that to his partner made Mike hesitate to long to ever manage to get the words out.
It was like the two were just... existing around each other, ready to pick up the cracks and breaks that appeared before being able to do nothing but let the other person plaster themselves back together. It wasn't healthy, it certainly was sustainable, and it was probably a miracle that Mike hadn't fallen so hard back into his depression that he couldn't manage to even drag himself out of his bed in the morning, but something, eventually, had to change.
Something needed to give, but the horrible problem with dating someone who was equally stubborn and as selfless as Mike was selfish to keep his problems from the other, it meant they were caught in a stalemate of a sort that he had no idea how to escape.
So today wasn't going to be that day, it would be just another one where the two danced around the issue and spent maybe a bit too much time pressed tightly against each other before and after work. Mari got clingy when he was upset, and Mike had to admit liking having the puppet as close as possible. It was harder to get pulled down when someone was right there to remind him not everything was awful. He hoped he did something similar for Mari.
But today wasn't going to quite be a normal day either. Mike would have liked it to be one, but given everything maybe it wasn't that bad.
The morning had been normal for the most part, though after work, their evening was going to be filled with work to get all the supplies and decorations moved out from the office where they had been stored in a mess of a pile in the corner. Mike wasn't hoping to be home any time before midnight to be able to get all the stuff for tomorrow's holiday events set up. But he wasn't overly disgruntled about the idea either, it would be a mindless kind of thing everyone could help out with which would be nice, just to hang around with everyone, even if they all were still technically on the clock while doing it, it would be without all the noise and commotion of a normal business day in the way of it.
Still, he was expecting to be exhausted by the end of it, so for the morning he was keeping himself nice and relaxed, laying half stretched out on the couch, as much as he could with how small the thing was in comparison to his long legs, eating breakfast with some tv instead of sitting at the kitchen table. Mari was doing something, fussing about in the kitchen. The smell of sweets filling the air gave away an idea of what the puppet had planned, though Mike was mostly just hoping Mari wouldn't be going overboard with whatever it was.
...Though the idea of having a whole sheet cake to himself was mildly appealing in its own way, given most of his sweet consumption was nicking the occasional piece or item from whatever Mari was making from the Cove.
He decided to not pay to much attention to that though, instead wrapping himself up in watching the cartoon on screen in front of him, it was one of those early morning ones that played to keep kids entertained while the parents were waiting to be able to ship them off to school, given it was summer it probably didn't do its job quite as well anymore, but Mike had found himself occasionally caching the episodes mostly to keep something mindless that he didn't really need to keep track of playing in front of him while he had breakfast while his brain was still getting itself set up for the day.
The time seemed to pass a bit slowly, but Mike didn't mind, he just enjoyed the moment for the time it lasted.
Eventually Mari floated on out from the kitchen, the sound of the first few notes of a very familiar tune of the birthday song Mike heard basically over day playing teasingly out from his music box, as Mike's head lolled back to stare up at the puppet with a raised eyebrow, before his eyes caught onto what was in Mari's hands. It was a small little plate and on it was a simple cupcake. He couldn't see it quite well from how he was sitting, so he pulled himself up just as the puppet made his way around to the front of the couch, looking a bit embarrassed but confident as he said.
"I know you said you didn't want to do anything, and we don't have to celebrate, but I still wanted to at least do something, and even if it's not a party, you should still get to have some cake" Mari held out the little plate as Mike took it from him as he looked down at the cupcake resting in his hands. The frosting was a deep rich looking purple, and from the peaks he could see of the cake itself, it looked to be red velvet, as Mike felt a small smile spread onto his face before he could stop it, as he looked at the top, where in colorful swooping lettering was two simple numbers in a simple black icing font.
'25'
He didn't exactly feel all that different for being a year older, he never did, but staring at it did make something warm and buzzing appear in his chest as he let out a loose kind of laugh before reaching up with one hand, and probably without as much care as he should for a cupcake balancing in one hand, yanked the puppet down to be able to hug him. Mari just let out a surprised short little chime before it melted into a trilling kind of warble.
"Thank you Net"
"Happy birthday Mike" Yeah... Maybe it would be. The thought got another little laugh from him, as he peeled the overly colorful white cupcake wrapper covered in balloons off and took a bite. It was as wonderful as he already knew it was going to be.
Foxy was bouncing, well, not really, but he felt like he was, his whole body was trembling with excited nerves as he waited for the curtains to be pulled open to reveal himself and Goldie to the many children he could already hear moving about on the bigger and more open side of the curtain that was dividing the two animatronics from their awaiting crowd.
It would be so great! He had spent days working and improving on a few concepts he had been thinking about, and maybe tossing a few he did have but couldn't quite make fit into more settled one's for other holidays that he was sure with the right amount of asking could get them to do this big kind of event all over again soon enough. Which was exciting in it's own way, it had been months since the end of last year, when they had done those two massive events for Halloween and Christmas, and Foxy had to admit, he missed the extra energy and flood of people.
Okay, maybe not the latter, they had so many coming in of all ages in the last few months that the fox could hardly believe it, but there could always be more, and if that was a possibility, then why in the world would he ever want to settle?
Goldie wasn't nearly as excited, the fox knew that, but could see it from the way the bear gripped at himself a bit, anxious but mostly unbothered by it. To the bear it was just a job. Fox couldn't understand that, couldn't really comprehend how the other couldn't get so much joy out of performing, from seeing the way the kids lit up at the sight of them, didn't feel the rush of happiness from being seen and adored for who he was and what he could do instead of being met with fear or hate.
Privately he knew it was because Goldie never had been in a location, hadn't known and lived through the same things, privately he'd never bring it up, because that would admit remembering it all himself, remembering those times. So he kept them locked away and pressed as far down as they could go, and instead just let the excited energy from the noise outside of the stage infuse him with energy of his own.
He was ready, and after a full week of practice and effort, he knew for a fact the bear at his side was just as prepared. Something he was grateful for, even if the bear didn't get the same rush, he still practiced and helped Foxy at every turn. Even if he grumbled he never actually said no. Goldie was the best friend a fox could ask for in his own estimations, and there was hardly anyone else he'd want to share a stage with.
Foxy, with a well practiced but still weighted ease, pushed the vision of the other three he had shared a stage, for a time, before being banished to his own broken down corner, away from his thoughts. They were creeping in more and more recently, but they were hardly what he wanted to focus on, so he simply didn't, instead busying himself with humming out the first few chords he was expecting to play any second now.
He had specifically tracked Fritz down and convinced him to put in a few new selections of music that the fox had managed to hear over the radio or in the background on the tv, though finding them afterwards had been a hassle, and apparently a whole thing with rights about lyrics and music, whatever that meant, he knew it would be more than worthwhile once the first show of the day began.
And true to his prediction, it was. The kids might not always show up every single day, and with Foxy's massive list of shows, bits, and scenes, it was hard for any one kid in particular to be able to call anything when it came to the animatronics repetitive, but there was always a kind of unique air when the children seemed to realize what they were going to see was truly unique to this moment and this moment alone.
The stories of setting sail to the high seas with the goal of independence, using multiple references to the actual history of the country, courtesy of a thoroughly questioned Charlie with her much more complete education for the details, weren't going to be told after today, or the that following tomorrow more, at best they'd have to come back next year if no real grantee they'd ever hear this one again.
It made every single set of eyes on the floor turn to him with such a rapt kind of attention it was a wonder Foxy didn't stumble over a word with the burning sense of pride he held at being able to control the focus of a room of so many with nothing but his words.
It was that rush that truly made it worth it, that sense of knowing, of being seen, of life he could express to so many without a fear of being discovered and destroyed. It was the most freedom he could have, and somehow the subject matter, the holiday itself, seemed to ramp that feeling up. Maybe some inbuilt sense of pride for the nation he was a part of, if only in a technical sense, or maybe just the idea of what the day meant making him feel more than normal, it didn't matter as he just made sure to put even more energy into the performance.
The kids ate it up, and after half an hour as the curtain closed to give Foxy and Goldie a break, both having spent a lot of it bantering faster than normal back and forth, from Foxy's own energy, it was a relief as much as a nuisance. They had a whole hour before the next one would come about, and that raked at something in the fox who wanted nothing more than to march up to those curtains and pull them open himself to keep the show going.
But on the other hand, he had to much energy, to much everything it felt like, and standing still or just barely moving on the stage, letting his words and flapping hand and hook do all the work had left him restless that now that he was out of the line of prying sight, he had set to pacing in an instant.
Goldie just seemed to sink in on himself, like the springs pushing him into shape deflated a bit now that there weren't as many eyes on them, instead he moved, slowly because of how loud his suit was, and carefully as well, as he sat down, resting in the more traditional way. Foxy didn't particularly like seeing the bear like that, though half slumped over himself seemed downright comfortable with how Goldie explained it, Foxy couldn't bear the idea of being so still for so long.
Normally the two would talk, quietly as to not have anyone over hear them, the thick curtain and music outside of the stage meant it wasn't that big of a worry but still a careful habit the two had built for when those things hadn't been as certain, but the fox couldn't bring himself to sit still and he knew the bear would shoo him off he the fox did laps around him while he was trying to relax after such a high energy first performance of many as the day carried on.
The bear would no doubt crash after work, might even need a break and skip a performance or two, Foxy couldn't stand the idea of not doing every show, but he had come up with a solo act just in case. He didn't understand the bear's lack of interest in the stage, but that didn't mean he'd ever push Goldie to do more than he wanted to. It was still a minor miracle that the bear had come this far and thinking about it still sometimes made the fox feel giddy.
It was always so much less lonely when the stage was shared with someone else.
The thought came and went without comment, not that Foxy would give it the time even if he thought it deserved one. Instead he just focused on making his pacing less thudding on the wooden floor when Fritz poked his head out from the side and gave him a frantic kind of hushing motion.
Foxy just waved back, and the man just sighed, but didn't comment, just ducking away from view as Foxy moved to the back of the stage to be able to move about without being as loud to make the audience waiting for his next appearance to wonder what was happening behind the scenes. it was nothing, or at least that's what they needed to think, there was nothing wrong, nothing admis, nothing alive.
The last time he made that mistake it helped nearly burn everyone in his life to death.
Another unwanted thought, it was crushed just as easily as the rest, as he continued to move, tapping his hook against his side for a moment before finally finding himself bored with the nothing to do and found himself moving over to sit down next to the bear who didn't bother to do more than just tilt his head to turn and glance at the fox. Foxy of course took this as an open invitation to start talking.
His voice was lower, much less piratey, it was really hard to do the accent and be quiet, Foxy's voice had been made to be booming and far reaching, so to be quieter it meant he couldn't really use Foxy's voice. He wasn't much of a fan of that, it felt weird to be almost completely bare of the tones, but he had also become fairly adjusted to it over the last year of doing this with the bear, so it wasn't really that bad.
"We're packed! Isn't this incredible?" The bear just let out a low barely audible hum in response, which wasn't exactly thrilling, but Foxy was already speaking anyways, so it didn't really matter, "I wonder if we could sneak one of the others back here to ask if they can smuggle some of the plushies your brother and Marionette whipped up so we can give some out" It had been an idle thought, but Goldie responded anyways to that one.
"That might be a bit much" Foxy just waved that off, like it wasn't anything to worry about.
"Not if we make it look stilted enough, you're creaky enough that anything you do looks plenty robotic, tossing a toy can't be that hard to fake!" It could be though, and they shouldn't try it here, to many people to see if he did something wrong, he should have tried to test this idea out back at the warehouse where the others could be able to tell if anything was wrong with his act, or with him. Should have thought about it earlier. He didn't back down though, he never really could, but Goldie like always came to the rescue.
"We'd still have to get the plushies from the puppet, you know how he is with who gets to give out prizes" It was mostly a joke, Marionette was most definitely possessive over his prize corner, just as much as Foxy was over his stage, but if they asked, he was sure Marionette wouldn't mind giving up a few to give to the kids. The two both cared too much about seeing those smiles on the little ones' faces to be able to not go with the idea.
"We could get Mike to ask?" Goldie shifted a bit in that way he did when he felt like the fox was dragging on a bit too long just to do so, not that he was wrong either, but still.
"And that would take closing down the Prize Corner completely for a few minutes, and then Marionette would strangle the both of us" ...Okay, that sounded a bit unlikely, but also not something he felt the need to risk either, so he conceded the point a bit to gladly, though still made the move to huff a bit anyways.
"Fine"
"We can talk to him about it later, I'm sure you already have enough ideas on how to incorporate a give away" The bear wasn't right, though he wasn't really wrong either, Foxy was starting to try and think up some, so he just patted the bear on the shoulder, and perked up at the faint chiming note that echoed out from the Cove to signal that the show would start again in about another five minutes.
It was a que for the children to get excited and as well for the two behind the curtain to know when they had to get ready, as Foxy quickly leaned over to the bear.
"Remember, we're doing the-" The bear just waved him off,
"I know, the story about George Washing-Machine, not your most original" Foxy just huffed, before reaching out and grabbing to the hand that was still extended out, letting the bear use him to more easily climb to his own feet without making to much creaking springlock filled noise.
"I'm not used to having to work with other people's material"
"It's history" Foxy didn't see the point the bear was trying to make.
Instead he just chose to ignore whatever it was else the bear had to say about his glorious story writing, choosing to spend the last few minutes needlessly running over the lines he was about to perform to his awaiting crowd, nothing about it was to complicated, a bit longer than the last one, but hardly the longest show he'd put on. He didn't have to worry about Goldie either, the bear always made sure to know his lines, no matter how many show routines and ideas Foxy shoved into the bear's head, Goldie, just like any other animatronic, was made to be able to keep track of them all with ease.
This was what they were made for, what they could be good at without a hint of worry about messing up, without fear of anything else. He just had to let his nature take over and enjoy the ride.
So that's what he did, as the curtain raised up, Foxy waited the half step it took for the proper track to load into the speakers as he moved the barely step forwards he was comfortable with, his hook held up high, and with a booming voice reintroduced himself for the second of numerous future times of the day. Already relishing the looks of awe on the faces of the kids below.
Devon had never nearly tripped as much in a single hour as he did before now. Every other second it felt like he had to bring himself to a sharp and abrupt halt so as to not run over some kid who wasn't paying attention. It was annoying, and frankly the place was way too loud as well, the constant blaring hum of conversation, the music playing in the background, and the fox on the stage that someone really needed to turn the volume down on... But it at the very least made everything pass by quickly.
It was different from his other jobs, where he was used to having to stand behind a count for what felt like unquantifiable hours at a time in between someone coming in to ask for something, unable to really do anything but be bored and wait. Here there was never a time to be bored, much less wait. He could find some corner to just take a break in for a few minutes, but it was never an actual escape unless he wanted to risk being caught slacking off in the break room.
Because of that constant rush of going from one place to another, listening to the people around him and the things they needed him to do, the hours flew by faster than they ever had, unlike the constant dull thrum of nothing that came from school or the boring waiting at his other jobs, it was like he showed up, blinked a few times, and then found himself back home passing out soon after in a haze of exhaustion.
It felt a lot like he was just skipping through parts of his summer break until he had to go back to school, but it wasn't that bad either, he was waking up early regularly, willingly, for the first time in his life, and with a best friend who was an early bird, the two still managed to hang out enough that he didn't feel like he was missing out on the freedom of being out of school to much either. It was still annoying to have to do all of this, but it was better than if he didn't have a job, and the job itself... Wasn't that bad.
Noisy, annoying, ridiculous, loud, childish, etc. for sure, in fact he had made sure to say all those things many times over to Mick to make sure his friend knew that the whole thing about summer working was a drag, built it was a familiar song and dance to the point he was pretty sure his friend was just tuning him out. Devon was mostly just glad that Mick was busy with his own job during nearly the same hours so his fellow teenager wouldn't try to come around and see where it was that Devon was working. He wasn't sure he could live down being spotted in anything that wasn't his normal go to black hoodie by his friend, or really anyone he knew.
There were some teens that hung out around here, but none that were thankfully ones in his year. He was going to be a junior soon enough, and it wouldn't be good for his image if anyone saw him here... Not that he really had an image to maintain, it's not like anyone actually talked to him at school, they thought he was creepy or something, but that was still an image of some kind and this place would ruin any kind of spooky cred he had somehow built up and that would not fly at all.
Those thoughts moved out of his mind as he nearly tripped again and just barely avoided a fate of having his shirt splattered with red, white, and blue frosting as he let out a low growl in frustration as he quickly moved away so the brat didn't see the glare he wanted to aim down at them, the sound was thankfully caught up in all the noise so he didn't actually come off as some kind of wild animal, even he felt a bit close to snapping for a moment before forcefully dragging himself near all the arcade games, it was louder there, but no one was running around, to busy latched to the screens of their games.
He had tried a few of them, they were fun sure, but being older than most of the people lined up to the machines, in his eyes it was pretty obvious that the whole thing was one big cash grab, hardly any of the games were made to be beatable, just enticing enough to want to keep playing to make kids ask their parents for another dollar or two to get more tokens. He wouldn't have played any of them, much too cautious with his own money, which had been slowly being saved over the last few years, to spend it on something like those machines.
He had only played them at all because he occasionally just found some tokens that had been lost and when he gave them to Fitzgerald, the man just said if he wanted, he could use them on the machines, apparently the puppet thing in the Prize Corner gave out a set amount of free tokens a day to keep the kids interested, and all the others had already been paid for, so he could use them how he wanted, either return them or use them, and it wouldn't mess with any of the lists that apparently the business needed to keep track of.
Devon hadn't even thought about that, but he certainly acted like that was what he was worried about to make it seem like he wasn't some kid who didn't know anything beyond being unsure what to do with the tokens, so he usually ended up spending some time after his shift while the day was settling down to use the tokens on some of the games.
He didn't think he'd be doing that this time, even though he did have a token moving around in his pocket, it was only the afternoon and he was sure that there would be more people than he had ever dealt with before now still here by the time the doors had closed for the day, and Devon would be leaving well before that point.
Maybe snatch another one of the cupcakes while he was on the way out, if they had any left, the kids consumed so much sugar in his line of sight, even the teenager couldn't imagine doing that, it felt like staring at a stomach ache.
Still... Another couldn't hurt, as he drifted a bit towards the Prize Corner, the place with all the treats, the puppet apparently had enough mobility to hand the things out when requested, Devon had no idea how the machine worked out who was just constantly asking for more, but they hadn't run out, so it was probably one of the others. Schmidt probably, the boss hung around the entrance of the Prize Corner more often than not when he wasn't running around as much as everyone else.
Devon figured it was because that's where all the actually important stuff was, no one cared if a token or two was taken home, but the plushies had to be expensive to produce, so Schmidt, playing guard, probably just stood around so kids would think twice about snatching something. It wouldn't exactly be hard, the puppet thing couldn't really do anything if some kid wanted to just walk around the back and grab something to take home.
Devon wouldn't lie and say he wasn't lightly tempted to snatch some of the candies, but he refrained, mostly because of the look Schmidt gave him every time he stared too hard in the Corner's direction, it was like the man could read his mind, it was... unnerving... And kind of cool, not that he'd ever admit to it.
He just ignored said man's glance this time, walking past Schmidt who was at his normal post with a short nod, hoping to dine in dash in getting the sweet and eating it before heading out of the Corner, he needed the break frankly and the cupcakes were honestly really good. Another weird thing about the Cove, it had great pizza and cakes, but everything else was very... average. It wasn't hard to tell what had effort put into it compared to everything else. Devon just wasn't sure why it was pizza and desserts of all things that got that level of effort.
Thankfully there weren't to many kids in the small side room, so he just moved over, readily fine with using his much more superior height compared to all the brats that normally came through the door to reach across the counter where the most recently refilled set of colorful treats sat, planning on just snatching one and tossing the wrapping into the trash before Schmidt decided to pay attention to what he was doing. The puppet was busy moving slowly to collect some kind of weird looking yo-yo for some kid with bright red hair, and he didn't feel like waiting.
He did his best to not squirm when the little girl left and the puppet's head did that weird slow tilt to look over the room before spotting him, munching away, and quickly moved over, right in front of him, staring.
It was just its job, it moved in front of whoever was in the room and then waited to be told what to do. At least, that's how Smith had explained it to him when he asked how the thing worked. It seemed really complicated, the man just laughed it off and said it was.
Still, it felt weird, unlike the other two, this one didn't make much noise at all, and there was something a lot more creepy about something so vaguely human-like hanging on wires from the ceiling. So just having it stare blankly ahead at him was unsettlingly enough that he turned away to not have to deal with seeing it staring in his direction... Before promptly feeling ridiculous about caring, and turned back and snapped a bit.
"Can you go to your box or something?" It just continued to stare at him. He didn't like how quickly he stumbled out the next words, anxious all of a sudden in a way he couldn't explain, and not liking it nearly enough to not snap at the thing a bit.
"Er... I mean, I'm not some kid, I'm an employee, that means you do what I say, go to your box" Devon suddenly felt incredibly stupid as the thing just kept staring at him. He just groaned, it was a freaking dumb robot, he didn't need to explain himself to it, much less expect it to do anything, if it had nothing to do with the corner, then it was useless. Deciding to just shove the rest of the cupcake mulishly into his mouth while still feeling dumb, he tossed the wrapping into the trash and not quite stomped out, ignoring the look Schmidt gave the back of his head... Damn the man probably heard him...
Mike had in fact heard him, and was mostly just amused as the kid with bloated chipmunk looking cheeks thought Mike wouldn't notice him going in and asking for a cupcake every half an hour. The snatching one was a new thing, and he glanced back into the corner, at Mari who was already back to work helping out another set of kids. He doubted the puppet really cared, he only was careful with handing them out so no kid puked from eating ten of the things at once. Though, he was quite certain he'd be dealing with a pouty puppet when the shift was over about the kid's choice of words.
He couldn't find it anything more than funny though, like seeing a little dog bark and bark before realizing it wasn't doing anything and scampering away. Only in this case it was some kid full of bluster over someone he didn't even know that could hear him. Mike couldn't help but huff in amusement at the idea of what would have happened if Mari had shown off any of the more spooky things he could do while the kid had been blustering about.
The thought slid away soon enough as he noticed something that would probably need his attention. Fights didn't often come up at the Cove, it was a place that, especially in the afternoons, was focused for kids, but that also meant occasionally frustrated parents of two different groups would clash over something stupid and needed someone to come in and moderate the situation. The others could do the job just as well, basically everyone here had experience with working security at this point, but Mike was the one in uniform, and usually it was enough to just move over and let the two arguing parties realize if a fight did happen, neither would be winning.
It looked like that kind of situation, so he pushed himself off the wall and made his way over.
Duty calls and all that.
Fun enough chapter, dealing with the events of the last one and all that while shifting to show off even if stuff doesn't always feel great, life goes on and you kind of have to deal with it. In this case, with Mike's birthday and the two main lads having a nice moment together, while on the other side of things, Foxy and Goldie are being the life of the party in the most ironic sense of course. And Devon continues to be Devon, he's a teenager, honestly not too much to say there, it just seemed like a good place to have a chapter with him while we focus a bit on Cove stuff.
Honestly nothing to plot relevant happened here. This note is being made well after the chapter was written, cause I didn't put my thoughts down after I had finished this one, so I'm doing it the night before posting it. It's kind of interesting I guess looking back and seeing how slow I was taking this start originally that there are a few more or less filler chapters in the first ten written for this story. Well, not so much filler, just a lot of setting up the background pieces, but still, sorry about that! Anyways, I don't really have much to say in that regard so, suppose that's it for now. See ya!