William was relaxing in the basement that night, he was reading a magazine about economics and business quietly. Even so, it cannot be denied that he seemed worried about his son's husband, what happened to him? Even though Ennard has the most advanced A.I. system among the Funtimes, this wasn't normal. He started to suspect something about the animatronic, there was something wrong going on and he still didn't know what. Now that his mind was filled with speculation, he closed the magazine and placed it on the side table before he exhaled softly as he pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly.
He leaned back against the back of the chair and stared ahead, his mind drifting to other things and he ended up lost in thought. What really happened? He could have expected Ennard's reaction when he said that he was created as a form of appreciation for his former personal protégé, but he didn't expect his reaction to be this extreme from what Michael said. Also, Ennard's words at that time sounded odd.
"Boo."
William widened his eyes in surprise when he heard someone whisper in his ear suddenly, making him immediately stand up from his seat and turn around. Then his gaze sharpened with annoyance realizing that Glitchtrap was playing a prank on him, the virus chuckled amusedly as het floated through the air. "You damn bastard," William cursed irritatedly.
"What are you thinking about, hm?" Glitchtrap tilted his head and approached William, pulling William closer after he cupped William's chin with his fingers. "You look troubled ...."
The man just snorted and pushed Glitchtrap away, the tone that Glitchtrap let out was annoying, a tone that he knew that Glitchtrap was trying to seduce him into asking for his help. Of course, he wouldn't fall for his own lover's sweet trap, the rabbit was quite irritating about returning favors. Meanwhile, Glitchtrap on the other hand laughed softly again, he approached William who was now leaning his body on the work desk and as his footsteps moved, his costume slowly disappeared.
"Sorry, sorry," he laughed softly, before he actually pulled William closer and grabbed William's waist with his arm. "What are you thinking really? You've been worried ever since."
William exhaled heavily, his gaze turned to the black-haired man. "It's only about Ennard," he replied. "Do you know anything about that, Vincent?"
Vincent's smile faded, he quickly released his embrace on William and stepped a little further to give the two of them enough space. William folded his hands in front of his chest, while he looked into William's eyes fixedly. Before long, Vincent chuckled. "Yes, I know something."
"What do you know?" William immediately approached Vincent, but Vincent raised his hands up to his shoulders while shaking his head as a sign that William shouldn't approach him any further. William frowned and seemed sullen. "What?"
"You might throw another chair at me if I told you."
"Why is that?"
The corners of Vincent's lips pulled upward again, he gave William a faint smile. "Because I killed Noah."
William's eyes widened again when he heard that, the expression on his face changed drastically showing that he was shocked by what Vincent had just said. He glared at Vincent intently, hoping that what Vincent's confess earlier was just another lie to make fun of him. However, Vincent's smile now showed that he actually felt guilty about this, his eyebrows were knit together and his gaze seemed to convince him that what he said was true, not just a mere falsehood.
"Say you're just joking," William said with a shaky voice, still sounding shocked and disbelief at the same time, but Vincent just glanced away. "Vincent said you weren't serious about it!"
Vincent sighed. "Sorry, Will."
The shorter man before him gritted his teeth, he knew that it must have made William furious. "Why? How?"
He dared to look back at William, apparently shuddering at how angry William was at him at this moment. Vincent took a deep breath and exhaled slowly again. He approached William carefully before gently rubbing William's tense shoulders to calm his lover. "I know you must be angry about this, I'm sorry," Vincent said softly as he cupped William's face, still careful—who knows if William might throw another chair at him, or another object. "That night you were exhausted at the construction, so I intend to take you home by taking over your body because you almost fell asleep there."
"You used my body to kill him."
"Wait—just listen to me, darling, please." Vincent stared William straight in the eyes while furrowing his brows deeply, William finally let out a heavy breath and released his fist, trying to calm down. "It was also winter, I passed through an alley close to the traveling circus and I found the boy there; he seemed," Vincent paused, "miserable, dying." He shrugged his shoulders after that. "What is certain is that his condition was a little dire, as if someone was torturing him. He was a smart kid, you know that, he knew you always carry your gun around just in case you're out at night."
William narrowed his eyes at Vincent. "You shot him ...?"
"He asked me to shoot him," Vincent replied calmly, he glanced the other way. "He didn't know it wasn't you at all, I don't know—I just felt bad for him back then, so I did what he wanted."
The Afton looked at Vincent in disbelief for a few times, before he massaged his temples tiredly, trying to digest the information he had just received.
So that's why Noah was no longer visiting them.
"Oh, Vincent ...."
"I know, I'm sorry," Vincent whispered softly as he pulled him into a warm embrace. "Then you know what I did after that?"
William shook his head, he let Vincent gently rub his back. "What?"
"I stuffed him into Ennard."
At least that made William immediately move away from Vincent again, he had no idea how many times Vincent surprised him like this today. William looked in disbelief. "You hid his body inside Ennard?" he asked again to make sure, Vincent nodded. "Wait—is there any chance that Ennard ..."
"Is possessed by his soul like those children, yes, there is a high possibility." Vincent glanced at the basement door briefly. "That's what I suspected from the start, Ennard isn't just an A.I, Ennard is Noah himself."
"Then why did he hide it?"
"You know Noah, Will," Vincent said with a smile.
William was silent, he began to think about the reason why Noah would hide this matter from them if he really possessed Ennard. However, remembering all of Ennard's recent behavior, he was increasingly suspicious that there was something behind it. After Vincent said something about this, everything seemed clearer now. Most likely Noah didn't want them to hate him for lying, especially to Michael. He sat back in his swivel chair and contemplated a way to persuade the animatronic to confess ... at least to them both first, without making him feel forced, of course.
Vincent teleported away shortly after because he said he wanted to check on their kids while he was still sitting in the swivel chair wondering. Should he tell Michael? No, that was a bad idea, he would let Noah tell the man himself. William stood up and decided to check on his eldest son, who he knew Michael was in the living room, repairing the illusion disc there accompanied by music playing from his cell phone.
He approached Michael, then patted his shoulder lightly from behind. Michael was surprised and quickly turned his head. "Father," he said. "What is it? Do you need anything?"
"Where's Ennard?"
"In the room, charging, why?" Michael tilted his head, wondering why his father was asking about his husband.
William was silent for a moment, he then took a deep breath. "Nothing," he answered slowly, looking away for a moment and seemed a little uneasy. "Michael—whatever happens to Ennard, I hope your feelings won't change."
Ok, that's a bit weird.
"What do you mean?" Michael frowned deeply as he stood up. "Why do you say like that? I will always love Ennard. What happened to Ennard? He'll be fine, right? Of course—after all, even if something happened, why should I stop loving him? My feelings won't change forever." Michael pressed his lips together, looking at William closely. "What exactly do you mean, Father?"
There was no answer from the man, he just looked back at him with a look that couldn't be explained at all.
"I'm just concerned over something." William finally spoke.
Michael knit his eyebrows together with his forehead still furrowed, William tapped his shoulder briefly and turned around, leaving him alone in the living room. There was a strange feeling in his heart now thinking back to what his father said to him, he still didn't understand the meaning. Michael sighed a little, he decided to think about this later and continued repairing the illusion disc, even though his mind was still divided into several things and one of them was Noah Carter.
There was something strange between Noah Carter and Ennard.
=o^o=
"Ennard, can you make me some coffee?" Michael asked Ennard for help, the next morning he was still struggling with the illusion disc—it turned out to be more complicated than he had imagined. He glanced at Ennard who nodded and walked into the kitchen in his animatronic form. Still remembering what William had said to him last night, swirling around in his head without stopping at all.
Michael exhaled slowly before refocusing on trying to fix the tiny wires in the disc with a pair of tweezers. He could feel Glitchtrap's presence nearby, turning on the television. Michael glanced at Glitchtrap too, who was now watching the news while floating in the air casually, wondering if Glitchtrap took a part in this too or knew something why his father had said that. The eldest Afton felt frustrated again, he was really confused by many things at once.
"Michael ... we ran out of coffee."
He turned to Ennard as soon as he heard Ennard's deep robotic voice beside him, his eyebrows raised. "Really?" Ennard nodded in response to his question, he sighed. "I'll buy it then, I want to drink coffee so bad," Michael said as he stood up.
Glitchtrap looked at him. "It's snowing outside, you want to go out at a time like this? I can buy it for you."
"More like stealing for you," Michael responded with a sweatdrop, how would Glitchtrap buy it if he looked like that anyway? A strange anomalous rabbit that had strange powers. "Don't worry, I'll buy it, I won't be long anyways." Michael stepped towards the clothes hanger and took out his thick coat.
He went to the door and left the house. The weather was actually quite nice, cloudy and snowy, but not too bad. He went to the nearest convenience store to buy some coffee, maybe a few other things for his younger siblings as well, like snacks and milk, they'd love it. Not forgetting some sodas for Ennard, maybe some dessert for his dad—he ended up buying a lot of things as usual, which was a pretty annoying habit. Michael waited in line at the cashier to pay, he folded his arms in front of his chest.
Then he suddenly got goosebumps, as if a pair of eyes were staring at him closely. Michael looked in all directions to find the source; he found nothing. He let out a small 'huh', confused about it, but decided not to think too much about it.
Finally, it was his turn to pay, he took out some money and immediately left the convenience store. Glitchtrap seemed to be too worried about him because of the current weather, so he will be back home as soon as possible. Michael took a snow-covered path in a public park thinking it's the quickest way home. He was still glancing left and right, as if he was still trying to find where he had gotten those goosebumps feeling earlier because it still remained. It felt like someone was watching him from a distance.
Michael stopped walking, he really felt uncomfortable now. He turned around, but still found no one. He exhaled slowly and was about to turn around again until his eyes caught someone behind the trees to his left—he knew that man.
Carter.
They both rounded their eyes as soon as they stared at each other, it took a few seconds to snapped from bewilderment and the blonde-haired man quickly ran away from him.
"Hey!" Michael shouted, he ran and tried to catch up—he was convinced it was Noah Carter, the boy in his father's photo.
He was sure that he was the fastest runner in his family, but this man outrun him because he kept out of sight. Michael quickened his running pace so as not to lose his figure, he turned sharply right after Carter. He was starting to shorten their distance. Michael thinks of how he can stop Carter and asks why Carter has been staring at him since he was in the convenience store.
Carter turned right again, this time Michael deciding to take a detour. Michael sped up his run so he really didn't lose that figure. The longer it took, the more it finally appeared that Carter was running from the opposite direction while staring behind him, as if looking for his whereabouts—perhaps he thought that Michael had stopped chasing him.
However, after Carter looked forward again, of course he was surprised that Michael had come from a different direction and was now getting closer to him. Michael immediately lunged at him until they were both on the snowy path with Michael on top of him and holding his arms to their sides; that made him a little astonished. They both panted, Michael frowned deeply—this was really Carter. He could tell from the several identical strands of white hair from the photo.
He was about to open his mouth, but he ended up looking stunned at Carter. If he can be honest, he had felt a little irritated with Carter yesterday after knowing that Carter was very close to his father which his past self had never experienced, but that resentment suddenly disappeared.
Carter actually looked ... beautiful.
Those red eyes, that skin as pale as snow, that blonde hair, Carter was mesmerizing.
He could feel his cheeks heating up instantly—why was he even admiring this man? He already had Ennard as his husband. Now Michael felt guilty for thinking that way, even though there had never been anyone who could make him feel this way other than Ennard. He saw how Carter averted his eyes from him as he pressed his thin lips together, his eyebrows knit together as if he was scared. Michael exhaled slowly, finally deciding to leave on top of the man's body.
Michael crossed his arms in front of his chest while watching Carter who stood up after that. Carter was quite taller than him. "You are Noah Carter." That wasn't a question, it was a statement. Michael stared at Carter who was silent. "Why did you do that?"
There was no answer other than Carter lowering his gaze slowly.
"Are you ... going to be angry?"
Michael raised his eyebrows in confusion at the question. "Angry? No, no," he laughed while waving his hand casually. "I just want to know why you've been staring at me since the minimarket."
"Perhaps—I'm just a bit worried?"
The eldest Afton saw how Carter's pale cheeks were slowly being covered with a blush while Carter was still looking down nervously, but seeming anxious at the same time.
Well that's quite an adorable—sight?
Michael hastily shook the thought away. "We don't know each other," Michael said, watching Carter up and down. They didn't really know each other even though Carter knew his father; after all, it had been decades since that incident, he was still surprised that Carter was still alive. Michael sighed. "Never mind then," he started to turn around, "I'll just go home."
He started to walk back to his house, he had been gone too long. Even so, he could hear footsteps behind him—Carter was following him. Michael stopped and looked back, Carter also stopped in place. He walked again, and Carter walked too. Michael did the same thing as before and the same thing happened again.
Now his forehead furrowed deeper, what exactly did Carter want?
However, he decided not to think too much and walked home—wait, was it safe to go home while he was being stalked so openly like this? Or maybe they both just have the same way home? Michael started to wonder again. Well, he started to quicken his pace as soon as his house was finally visible from a distance, he could hear Carter also quickening his pace.
It made him unable to hold back his irritation now.
Michael suddenly stopped and turned around while looking hard at Carter. "What do you want—"
"Michael."
He widened his eyes, how did Carter know his name? Carter kept looking at him with the same gaze; anxious, restless, afraid. "How do you know ..."
Michael didn't finish his words because Carter suddenly gripped his wrist tightly, making him flinch at how cold the man's hand was. Before long he was surprised to feel how the two of them had moved places—teleportation. Carter just teleported, to his and Ennard's room. Michael was shocked, he glared at Carter not understanding, how did he do it? What's more, his and Ennard's room?
He increasingly stared Carter's every move as he walked towards the cupboard and opened it to take out a gray jacket. He watched Carter put it on. There were no words between them, he was completely confused.
After a few minutes, Carter spoke again, his face red again. "Sorry I'm just—cold ... I thought teleporting us would be better." He glanced in another direction again after he shrugged.
"Who exactly are you ...?"
Silence again.
Carter was filled with anxiety—it was obvious from his face, he looked unsure and hesitant to answer.
Michael sharpened his eyes. "Answer me." He sounded demanding.
The man in front of him just lowered his gaze while showing a clear sign that he was nervous and afraid at the same time. Carter pursed his lips again with knitted eyebrows, hesitation clearly visible in his body movements. After several minutes passed in silence, Carter finally looked up and their eyes met again.
"Michael," he said quietly, his mouth opened to continue but he closed it back and glanced away for a moment.
"Speak quickly," Michael said impatiently. "How do you know my name? How did you teleport us? Who are you really? Weren't you my father's personal student? Why are you suddenly there? And what actually happened?!" Starting to get frustrated himself, Carter raised his eyebrows upwards. Michael took a deep breath to calm himself. "Explain all of this, or I will tell my husband to make you talk." He stared at Carter intently as he threatened him, before his forehead furrowed when he saw Carter suddenly laugh softly. "What?"
Carter stopped laughing and flashed a crooked smile. "Michael, I ... am Ennard."
Surprised? Yes. He was shocked. That answer made him widen his eyes completely, in shock. Did he just listen well or did he have a problem with his ears? He stared at Carter in disbelief, Carter just gave him a guilty smile. He took a step back from the man while shaking his head.
"Impossible."
A heavy sigh came from Carter. "Sorry, Michael," he said quietly with his gaze glancing in a different direction.
Michael still couldn't believe it, his eyes glued to Carter in denial—Carter was his husband all along? Ennard turned out to be ... an animatronic possessed by someone? It was like being slapped by a fact that he had never expected at all. Michael pressed his lips together, he needed time to digest all this, he needed time to calm down. He walked out of his room and left Carter alone there.