What lies in the shadows~~~ Michael Afton x Reader

Chapter 11

"Hey! It's ok! I'm not going to hurt you. What's going on?" Michael scoots closer to me, but I scoot away. He grabs my arm and pulls me closer to him. "As much as I know, you need space. Right now, you need someone to be a shoulder to cry on. Just trust me for these few minutes, then you can go back to not trusting me however much you want." Michael wraps his arm around my shoulder and slowly pushes my head to lay on his shoulder.

"We don't have time-" He cuts me off.

"Vanessa is upstairs looking for us. She was just down here, and I doubt she will come back. Can you please just tell me what's wrong?" Michael begs as he holds onto me.

Silence falls between us as I try to calm down enough so I won't sob while I explain.

"If I don't find these wires, Freddy risks destroying all of his systems and programming just by being powered on. If that happens, Gregory won't have much to keep him safe, and we lose a vital part of getting resources to get Gregory out of here. Now, I don't even know if I have the wires, so we might be screwed already as is." I let the stress fall off my shoulders as I ramble on to Michael.

"Man, Look at me. Crying like a baby to a guy, I'm sure who's had it way worse. God! I'm pathetic!" I let a sob pass my lips, and I clamp my hand over my mouth to stop anymore from coming out.

"Hey! None of that! Your emotions are not invalid because someone may have gone through worse." Michael grabs my hand, pulling it away from my mouth.

"I just want to find the stupid wires! I don't want Freddy's systems to fail, but what if I can't find them? What if his systems do fail? What will we do without his help? We can't hide Gregory like Freddy can. What if-"

Michael grabs my face and turns it towards him. He stares into my eyes for a few seconds. Suddenly, his lips are on mine, and I'm shocked. Frozen in place, and the time has seemed to stop. The chaos of the day drips away, and the stress that once filled my mind is suddenly melting away. It's replaced by a calmer feeling. One of bliss and love. I let myself relax. I let my eyes close shut, my body lean into him, and I let myself enjoy the moment. The kiss is short, but it's filled with so much care. It's almost suffocating. My mind has forgotten the stress that once caused my panicked state.

When he pulls away, he wipes the left-over tear streaks from my face. "Sorry, I had to stop you from overthinking. I figured that would work."

We stay like that for a few minutes. I go to speak, but I can't seem to form words.

"Look, I've already got an animatronic out there on the verge of short-circuiting. I don't need you to short-circuit too." He smugly replies as he continues to hold my check. My face burns a bright red, and I shove his shoulder.

"How long have you wanted to do that?" It's Michael's turn for his face to flush red. He rubs the back of his neck. "Jeez, curious, aren't you? I want to say maybe a year. I didn't know what the feeling was, though."

"Huh? Interesting... Oh God! The wires!" I quickly jerk out of my blissful state.

"Take it slow. The more you rush it. The more likely you'll be to overlook it." Michael says this as he grabs a box to sort through.

I decide to break the silence that has fallen over us as we looked through the last two boxes. "What do we do now? You know after the kiss. What does it mean?"

Michael gives me a confused look before it settles into a small smile. "It means I like you."

"And I like you too." I quickly reply to Michael. "So, we both like each other; what now?" I urge Michael on hoping he'll say what I'm thinking. I'm too scared to actually let it leave my mouth.

"Then we date. That's if you want that." I quickly nod my head without hesitation.

"Then it's settled; we'll date." He smiles and grabs my hand.

In his other hand, he holds up a box of wires. My eyes widen. "I presume this is what you were looking for?"

I launch myself into Michael's arms, thanking him a million times. He lets out a small chuckle, holding me close.

The guilt of how I treated him earlier rises in me, and I feel an obligation to apologize to him for it. It wasn't right to him.

"I'm sorry there was a short time there where I didn't trust you. I was just a little in shock, you know? I feel extremely bad." I mumble into Michael's shoulder.

"There is no need to apologize. I understand it was a lot to take in at once. Plus, look at us now. It all worked out." He pulls away, giving my forehead a kiss.

He stands up and helps me up.

"Come on. There's an animatronic out there that needs your help." Michael doesn't let go of my hand, and he leads me back towards the service center.

The rest of the night should be interesting.

With that, I let the stress fade away... For now, at least.

~~~

Helllllloooooooo! Soooooo, how do y'all like that ending ;)? I think this was my favorite chapter to write. I struggled with the kissing scene because I didn't want to make it cringey, but I think it came out decent. Also, we made it to 2K! That's the fastest one of my books has ever reached 1K, let alone 2K. I am thankful for everyone of you who continues to read this. It definitely motivates me to keep writing. There's not much more I have to say. I hope you guys have a wonderful day or night! I'll see you guys real soon. :)