"Do you need anything else, Father?" Michael cradled the phone between his shoulder and ear while his gaze focused on the front, both hands holding tightly to the steering wheel and occasionally stabilizing the car's speed so it didn't go off the road. Father didn't answer for a while, but he could hear his voice instructing someone on the other end of the call, he was waiting. "You seem busy, you can call me later if you need anything."
["Wait a minute, Michael."]
So he didn't turn off the call, but instead changed the call mode to loudspeaker and then placed the phone on his car dashboard, he wouldn't risk himself while driving, especially as the road—even though it wasn't busy—was full of other vehicles. This morning, father told him to do a final check before giving a report while he was on guard for a week at the second location. It wouldn't be long, he hoped, his husband's class would be over in two hours and he was still on his way to Oxford city, he estimated he would arrive at the second restaurant after twenty minutes.
His mind drifted to yesterday, that kid had lied about his interactions with Ennard, he knew and he chose to wait. Waiting for Ennard to tell him the truth. Michael rolled down the car window completely and put his elbows out while exhaling, waiting for the red light to turn green while in reverie about Ennard who wasn't always so forthright. Maybe he was just too worried and thinking negatively about that guy in the bathroom, but he was a bully himself, he knew all the tricks and lies a bully would tell and he hated himself still memorizing it all.
"Father? Are you still there?" Once again Michael called, no sound could be heard from the other end of the call now. The corner of Michael's eye twitched in annoyance. "Dad."
["A moment."]
"What are you doing precisely?"
["Helping to open the restaurant because there are three employees who are absent today. Are you still driving?"] A mumbled 'yes' from his mouth answered father's question, Michael turned the steering wheel to the right after saying that. ["Okay, I need you to check the systems of all the animatronics, then check the electricity there to make sure everything is fine, the tables should be arranged facing the main stage, move Mangle to the playzone, there should be enough space for Mangle to accompany the children to play there."]
"Uh, interruption." Michael raised an eyebrow before they dived towards each other as his forehead furrowed. "Will it be safe?" He thought again about the case that happened to his friend before, and he felt doubtful. Of course, there was no desire for the same tragedy to happen again.
["I can guarantee."]
The answer wasn't convincing enough, but he believed his father. "In that case, okay. Are there more?"
["There are two things, check the equipment in the kitchen and make a list if you feel there is something missing. Lastly, can you investigate something there? At that time Vincent said he felt someone's presence but there was no one, and your papa's hunch is always right most of the time."]
Jeremy?
Was it Jeremy that Papa felt the presence? Michael kept his mouth shut, his fingers gripping the steering wheel tighter. "Okay, no problem," he finally answered, relaxing his shoulder muscles again until they slumped. "Do you want me to buy some food when I go there? Papa kept nagging me earlier because you left without having breakfast at all."
["That would be great, thank you, carbonate copy-paste."]
"I'm going to block you from life."
A laugh was heard from the other end of the call, his grip tightened on the steering wheel again, this time the emotion of irritation was channeled after hearing how his father called him with something he was bored to hear. A grumble escaped his pouting mouth, and he decided to end the call unilaterally. Michael got rid of all his irritation quickly and returned his focus to the road. From a distance he could see his destination restaurant. He increased the car speed to quickly get to the location and even overtook several other cars. After a few minutes, he pulled into the parking lot, stopping the car in front of the restaurant.
He remained still in the driver's seat after parking the car, eyes fixed straight ahead as in his brain he made a mental list of what he had to do here, maybe he should make a physical note too so he wouldn't forget. Michael took a deep breath, exhaling slowly as his hand turned the car key to the left and pulled it, therefore opened the door next door. His feet carried him to the front door, his hand reached into his pocket and took out the restaurant key.
Okay, the first thing was to make sure the tables were arranged facing the stage, fortunately once the door opened, he was immediately seeing the main hall so he was greeted with what he was about to check out. Eyes rolled from table to table and after a moment he had confirmed everything was arranged as his father wanted, then the next thing was to head to the kitchen. Checking the kitchen utensils wouldn't take long, and besides, Uncle Henry would've prepared them first. He didn't want to spend a lot of time counting cooking utensils and left the kitchen for the back room, the electricity token should be located near the night guard's office, around the hallway.
There shouldn't be any problems, let alone an electrical short circuit. Michael closed the electrical outlet after checking it carefully and locked it. He glanced briefly at the road that led to the nightguard's office and wondered where Jeremy was now. Sleeping? He doubted that. However, right now the only thing he wanted was to finish his work, so he left that place, stepping onto the main stage.
Actually, he didn't know much about the animatronic system at the second location, but he knew long ago that the Toys producer included a program to recognize criminal faces and he was quite similar to his father, so ... just think about it yourself.
Maybe their system now after being tinkered and updated by his father was more or less the same as the animatronics in other locations, who knows? William was a typical person where no one couldn't predict his plans at all (no, he didn't think badly of that man). Michael jumped up onto the stage and walked in front of Toy Bonnie, staring right into the lifeless robotic eyes. Memories of the past came back like lightning.
"Jeremy I know you're around here and if you're thinking about startling me just leave it."
Michael looked back to hear someone's annoyed groan, the sound of footsteps could now be heard throughout the room, creating a small echo. "How did you know I would surprise you?" His old friend gave him an uncomprehending look, one eyebrow pulled upwards and Michael smiled.
"How could I not know?" Michael shrugged his shoulders and sighed, his hand reaching the back of his neck to rub it gently. "I was a nightguard at all the locations, I can guess you'll startle me by suddenly turning on all three of them." He glared closely at the Toys, the corners of his lips that had pulled upwards dropped back down to create a straight line. He had finished checking one more thing, the anomaly that his father mentioned earlier was standing beside him. "You were there when my father visited this place, weren't you?" His eyes shifted quickly at Jeremy.
The golden blonde strands fell to the side as Jeremy tilted his head, their eyes meeting. "So that was your father?" Jeremy asked back, Michael gave him a bored look.
"You see how similar the two of us are, don't annoy me."
A laugh escaped Jeremy's mouth. "I didn't mean to annoy you, but from the start I indeed felt like he was similar to you even though I didn't think that he was really your father. I saw him a few times here." Jeremy approached Toy Freddy and reached out his hand to grab the side of Toy Freddy's face. "I should've noticed right away when I witnessed how he dragged a corpse to the repair room back then before the other men came. William Afton, huh."
Michael folded his arms across his chest and huffed. "So you were there," he turned his gaze to Toy Bonnie once more, "my father's quite suspicious there's an anomaly here."
"Are you going to tell him about me?" Jeremy stared back at him.
"Of course." The eldest Afton raised his eyebrows at the subtle change in Jeremy's face, as if he didn't want his whereabouts to be known by anyone but him. "I can't hide important things like this from him, sorry mate." Michael smiled faintly and patted Jeremy's shoulder.
Jeremy flinched slightly when Michael rested his hand on his shoulder, his eyes instantly darting everywhere for a few moments, swallowing back the nervousness that came even after Michael withdrew his hand again and focused on the three animatronics. For sure, it was just a small friendly gesture from the old friend, nothing more, but he wanted more. Jeremy glanced at Michael who was humming softly while casually checking their system. Physically, he hadn't changed much, but in terms of attitude, Michael was completely different from what he knew when he was at school.
In the past, he was quieter, preferring to be alone, in contrast to his current personality. Changed drastically, just like his feelings. The gold ring really disturbed him.
"Let me clarify a little, your father can feel my presence?" Jeremy stared at Michael curiously.
"Hm? No." He chuckled. "My father's partner felt your presence at that time, so he was quite suspicious and told me to check it out today." Michael put his palms on his waist and let out a small sigh.
Thinking back, that day there was another man with black hair who was wary of how he was stalking them. He thought it was just a coincidence, what's more, he was more focused on the corpse being dragged inside, his horror increased when he realized that the man was William Afton. Quite a famous case in their time. "Ah, yes, I remember now," Jeremy said in a low voice. "Before you became a nightguard, he often came back and forth here, and always brought food, snacking. Why is he always hungry all the time? Weird."
Michael's forehead furrowed. "There's nothing weird about that," he replied, a hint of annoyance in his voice but then his eyes rolled to see Jeremy dismissing him, focusing on the Toys.
"Where are you going?" Jeremy asked a question quickly when he saw Michael leaving the stage, jumped down and walked away from him in a different direction, so he right away followed Michael's steps so as not to be left behind by the brown-haired man. "Mike?"
He saw how Michael's eyes darted at him for a moment, Michael suddenly stopped. "My father said to move Mangle to another room." Michael finished his words hastily, as if the last words were stuck in his throat, especially when he saw his friend's face change again to understanding, but conflicted at the same time. "I'll do it now instead of wasting too much time, I have to get going."
Jeremy quickly returned to follow Michael's steps. "I will help you!"
"Are you sure?" He raised an eyebrow. "Mangle killed you, are you sure you want to help me?" His tone sounded uncertain when Jeremy said he would help him, did Jeremy not feel horrified to be faced with something that killed him this quick? If talking about himself, it took him several years to be able to talk (or argue) with his husband, while Jeremy only regained consciousness for—not even a month? Perhaps.
Seeing how Jeremy shuddered for a moment, it was an obvious answer for him. Of course. Michael waved his hand. "No need to help me," he said. "I can do it alone."
"Usually animatronics are heavy, you don't look like you can do it alone."
Michael squinted. "I broke a lot of arms before, don't make me do it to you." It sounded like a threat, but he wasn't serious in the slightest and his friend knew it and laughed. Unless there was an urgent situation then he will do it. "Nevermind, I can do it alone."
"Wait a minute, hey." A chuckle still escaped Jeremy's mouth, he caught up with Michael again. "I will absolutely help you move Mangle."
"Are you sure?"
"One hundred percent." Jeremy nodded, there was a mumble from Michael that sounded like 'okay if that's what you want'. The corners of his lips twitched upwards. "Since I agreed to help you, can you stay here a little longer?" he asked hoping that Michael would agree, they started to enter the intended room and goosebumps saw the white and pink animatronic fox standing in the corner in perfect condition, not as broken as before.
Once again Michael rolled his eyes boredly. "I should've known you wanted something from me."
"Come on, Michael." Jeremy approached the eldest Afton while maintaining a faint smile on his face. He rested his hand on the crown of Michael's head to stroke the brown hair before it fell to his shoulder. "Just a moment."
Michael raised both eyebrows and shifted slightly in place when Jeremy tapped his shoulder, eyes rolling the other way. "I have to buy breakfast for my father and pick up my husband from college." His forehead furrowed when Jeremy gripped his shoulder tighter with his eyebrows knitted together, showing him a sad face.
"Only for fifteen minutes, there's no problem at all if you're a little late. Come on."
Pushy, Michael sighed softly.
---
William supervised his workers cleaning the main hall in the first location, wiping down tables and sweeping the black-and-white tiled floor. He left early in the morning and missed breakfast because several new items had arrived. Based on what his son said on the phone, it looked like he would get additional scolding from his husband. Yesterday's trial was quite annoying, all night he tried to refresh his mind by wandering around alone in public, Vincent didn't know at all and he would leave it like that. He didn't want another Vincent's three-hour lectures.
"Boo."
"If they see you I'll put your bones in your animatronic costume again, Cassidy. Go."
A scoff was heard from his nephew's soul which was now floating in the air, becoming transparent enough not to be seen by normal people. Cassidy smiled broadly before long. "How was the trial yesterday?" From the boy's tone, Cassidy was ready to mock him.
"Trial!" Another soul suddenly appeared behind Cassidy, a dark-skinned boy with black hair. "Was everything okay yesterday, Mr. William?"
"You could say it was fine at first," William muttered, eyes still watching the people carrying a new set of arcade games into the restaurant after unloading them from the truck parked right in front of the restaurant door. "Bad at the end, thanks for asking, Gabriel."
"Hey! I asked first about the trial!" Cassidy let out an angry protest, Gabriel stared at him with a raised eyebrow and Cassidy continued speaking. "And I didn't ask if everything was okay just now! You are very very very kind, Gabby."
William rolled his eyes, bored of hearing how Cassidy changed the connotation of his voice and even the series of sentences in a quick time. "Why don't you guys just go backstage? You'll be out in a minute, kid, there's two birthday parties today and it's going to be a long day." William glanced around for a moment and made sure no one was watching him talking to the boys.
The dark-skinned boy tapped his fingertips against his chin, as if thinking about the words of the man who killed him. "You're right," Gabriel sighed, "Jeremy is still upset he can't perform because of his voice box, I'll calm him down again before he throws another tantrum."
A soft snort rose in his throat as he watched Cassidy follow Gabriel towards the back of the stage with a wide smile plastered on his face and goo-goo eyes. After that, the corners of his lips turned downwards again, he leveled his gaze and returned to watching the workers. Henry would be a little late, he had told him personally this morning, approaching his residence with a pale face. He said it was okay if he couldn't come to work today if he was sick, but Henry was just as stubborn as him when it came to their work.
Maybe he should check things out in the arcade room. His feet stepped towards their destination with many thoughts in head, every step felt heavy due to how his brain was often filled with images of yesterday's trial, there were still remnants of irritation within him. The sound of shoes echoed through the halls as he walked, greeting the employees who greeted him first. His gaze suddenly shifted to an employee in the distance who was busy with his cellphone in hand.
"Caldwell," he called with his head tilted, the owner of the name who had been focused on typing something quickly turned to him in surprise. "Put your phone away for now, get back to work."
"Ah ... okay, Mr. Miller, I'm sorry." Caldwell put the device in his pocket and nodded at him briefly in farewell before walking away.
His eyes narrowed as he watched Caldwell leave, the two new employees really made him suspicious. However, that wasn't the important thing right now, he had to focus on something bigger. He continued walking towards the arcade room, then he stepped up against the wall as the old gaming machines were brought out of the room where he was intended to go, making more room for those on duty. William went inside, observing at the rows of arcades—they weren't neat yet, it looked like he would tidy them up himself while they took the remaining arcade machines from the truck.
He was going to start from the end row of the machines, adjusting the game position, already had his mind mapped out the new layout of this room but there was no time to do it. Even so, he took the time to teleport a piece of paper and a pencil to his hand and quickly made a room plan regarding the idea of updating the arcade layout. When he was going to reopen this restaurant, many people were complaining, in fact, saying that this restaurant wouldn't sell because it was back to using old games from before year 2000 and he didn't care about all the arcades.
His success in making those bastards shut up and shrink down, was quite fun.
William moved one machine to be parallel to another, apparently wondering whether he should enlarge all the playgrounds in each location, or add a menu? New type of food? Or a new type of drink? Focus, focus on these machines first and then think about other things, William moved to the row of arcades in the middle of the room to turn around to where it would be facing now. He would need to pay more attention to the second location, after all, considering that the restaurant would open in one week, just waiting for the report from his eldest son.
The ringing notification that a message had accepted made him stop what he was doing, William took out his phone to check; a message from Lucas.
[Kallen will offer you a help, if you leave after that, you will avoid a conversation]
What was this jerk saying? He didn't understand at all.
Lucas gave him a strange, negative feeling towards his new employees lately, whether he was being serious or just playing around with him. A scoff stuck in his throat, William decided to ignore the message and rolled his eyes in boredom. Kallen might be a little bizarre, Lucas shouldn't make him think that he had any particular intentions towards him, although there were a few other suspicions about Caldwell. Caldwell had been holding his phone, and now he got a message from Lucas. It was impossible, wasn't it, if Caldwell was actually just Lucas in disguise?
No, that's impossible. It seems like the situation related to the lawsuit from Beckham and Jones was really affecting him and causing him unnecessary stress. He was just hungry, that's why he created strange speculations. It was better for him to finish his work in this room before moving on to other work, today was going to be a busy day.
"Do you need help, Mr. Miller?"
William took two steps back when the man his brother-in-law had been warning him about suddenly appeared in front of him; not really facing each other because Kallen was on the other side of the arcade machine. He was completely unaware of his arrival, and now he had two choices; leave the room as Lucas said, or stay there. He chose the second option, not wanting to be too influenced by Lucas' words. "Yeah, I'm trying to change the position of these things a little bit."
Kallen nodded. "I will try to help you, just give instructions."
Therefore, instructions were given to him, telling Kallen to arrange several arcade machines according to what he had mapped out earlier, even though this was actually only a temporary layout. Seemed like he misjudged Kallen, Kallen was quite skilled. Maybe Kallen's behavior from the start was purely well-intentioned and he was just prejudiced, especially after Lucas started interfering with the messages he sent.
"May I ask something, Mr. Miller?"
"Yes?"
"Who are you going home with after the restaurant closes?"
Forget it.
This was either Lucas was true to what he said or Kallen was trying to flirt him.
William changed his position by moving slightly away from Kallen who stared at him curiously. He crossed his arms in front of his chest with his lower lip pursed forward and his eyebrows swooping towards each other. "What's your purpose in asking that, actually? This isn't the first time," he said, wariness clear in his voice as he glared closely at Kallen.
"Because going home alone could be dangerous for you, Miller." Kallen maintained a faint smile on his face that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. "And I'm worried enough, I can take you home and we can talk alone. So, please."
He had no words left to reply other than horror, there was clearly another meaning to Kallen's answer, as if he was ... targeting him? Recalling how Ennard and Michael told their story in the past, he learned from it that this was a completely unnatural incident. And Lucas was right, he should've just left earlier after Kallen offered to help instead of being stuck in an awkward situation where Kallen stared at him as if hoping that he would agree. The words were still there, stuck in his throat.
Even so, Kallen didn't seem like he was trying to hurt him, or maybe not yet. Who knows? William felt his muscles tense, alert to the man in front of him. He really had to get out of the arcade room quickly.
"Mr. Miller?" Caldwell's arrival made William and the man shift their attention immediately. "I've been looking for you."
Was this a coincidence? Like when Kallen offered him the tea that time.
He ignored Kallen and took a deep breath to calm himself first. "Do you need anything?" Eyes glancing through the corners of his eyes to the back, Kallen's expression changed faintly to something that showed he wasn't feeling relaxed, his smile had faded into a straight line. After that he focused once again on Caldwell who was standing not far from him.
Caldwell nodded slowly, Caldwell's eyes met Kallen's gaze for a moment and then met his again. "Mr. Raglant wants to talk to you."
"Mr. Raglant will be late, he's already sent a notification message about that in the group chat," Kallen answered with one eyebrow pulled upwards.
"He just arrived and is looking for Mr. Miller right now." Another reply was cold from Caldwell, his gaze narrowed.
"Where is Steve now?" He didn't want to add more burden to his mind about the oddities of the two employees and hoped that Caldwell would answer his question so he could get away from this conversation, his brain was already full of many things and he wasn't willing to add more material for overthinking.
The corners of Caldwell's lips tugged upwards. "Mr. Raglant is in backstage now."
Good. He didn't bother making any more words and darted out of the arcade room towards the back of the stage, where his best friend was (based on what Caldwell said). His pace was quite fast, he no longer responded to greetings from his other employees, there was no time to do that and he hoped that Henry was alone at the moment. The hall seemed cleaner when he returned to the place again, they were decorating the hall with birthday party decorations. There was Rowen talking to the team heads of other divisions in front of the stage.
"Oh hey, Mr. Miller," Rowen greeted him in a light tone, "good morning."
He didn't reply with a sound, just a nod of his head. His feet didn't stop when Rowen said hello, instead kept leading him to the door connecting the backstage. He opened it and the first thing he saw was his best friend's back and the children's souls surrounding him, William closed the door tightly before locking the room. That was quite taking attention, it seemed.
"Mr. William! What is it?" Susie ran to him and smiled broadly. "You look like you just saw a ... ghost."
The joke made the others laugh, Cassidy laughed the loudest of course. Henry let out a soft chuckle then cleared his throat before he could cough and leaned closer to him who was showing a sour face. "Do you need anything?"
"What do you mean I need anything? You are looking for me."
Henry raised an eyebrow, one arm slung over his waist. "I wasn't looking for you," he answered confusedly.
Another oddity, does that mean Caldwell was lying to him? William pinched the bridge of his nose after taking off his glasses and a heavy sigh escaped his mouth. His ears heard Henry dismissing the children, telling them to return to the animatronics they were possessed by. Henry walked over to him again and patted him on the shoulder, a worried look on his face now. At least Henry looked better than when they met this morning at his residence.
"What's wrong, William?" Henry asked, his worry becoming more evident.
"Those two." The brown-haired man moved away from his friend and leaned his back against the wall. "Kallen and Caldwell. They're both, peculiar," William looked at Henry seriously, "We accepted them right after Beckham and Jones quit, and that was because of an emergency but we should have just interviewed them first. Now Kallen keeps asking me who I'm going home with and Caldwell always interrupts him at the right time. It's not a coincidence, I know that. It was all intentional." No longer leaning against the wall, William began pacing around the room with his gaze focused on the floor. "This is not the first time, there is something fishy from them."
"I understand, I understand so calm down, Will." Henry grabbed both of his shoulders to stop him from pacing around, not long after that Henry pulled his hands back to cover the lower half of his face before he could cough. "I will monitor them more closely so they don't do anything more to you, don't worry." The corners of Henry's lips twitched upwards into a smile, and he averted his face away quickly to sneeze.
Honestly, William was more worried about his friend's condition than his current condition. "You should just rest at home," William said with a frown.
Henry laughed. "I certainly can't leave my friend in a mess like this."
Damn it, why is he so nice?
"Charles is on backstage duty today for the scheduled birthday parties," Henry said again as he pulled out a device and typed something in someone's private chat, "I've told him to help with the games and entertainment section now while you fill in for him. The chances of you running into Caldwell and Kallen are slim if you stay backstage."
"And you?"
Those wood brown eyes conveyed amusement, as if he was tickled by his rhetorical question. "I'll keep doing my job, what else?"
"You're sick, Hen." William narrowed his gaze.
"I will be fine." Henry easily dismissed him while waving his hand. "Stay here, and maybe consider telling Vincent about those two."
He had a point, William exhaled. "Thanks, old friend."
His words were only greeted with light laughter from Henry. Henry patted his shoulder again as an encouraging gesture before he left the control room behind the stage. William's gaze remained fixed until Henry actually left. William massaged the base of his forehead tiredly, he will send Henry home sooner today rather than later Henry's wife would get angry at him for making her husband's illness worse. That woman was quite a hassle to take care of. An incoming message was received, William checked it not long after, a message from Lucas that made the corners of his eyes twitch in annoyance.
[You regret not following what I said earlier, right? L. Big L. L]
He would tell his brother to control his boyfriend's attitude later, what's more—why hasn't Michael come with his food yet?
---
Professor Blake was explaining their lesson material today while writing it at the same time on the chalk board, Noah just cradled his chin using the back of his hand with his gaze focused forward, he had discussed this with his father-in-law several years ago, but taking notes again wouldn't hurt at all. Just a small chat in the middle of the night at that time. His red eyes glanced at the man sitting beside him, Caleb seemed serious about listening to everything Mr. Blake said.
Then his eyes rolled back to the original direction, but more and more they lifted up to the blackboard, checking the time on the clock. In fifteen minutes, the class should be over. Ten minutes, Mr. Blake always dismissed class five minutes early, maybe that's why many people favored that elderly man. A sigh escaped his lips, he closed the notebook as Mr. Blake had returned to sitting at the lecturer's table.
"When a particle moves along a circular path with uniform velocity, there will be no tangential acceleration. Correct or not correct?"
Ah, yes, Mr. Blake liked to throw random quizzes at the end of class as usual.
Some people answered immediately, some said it was correct but also some said it wasn't correct. Faintly he could hear Kingston's reply saying that wasn't true, he kept his voice in his throat so he wouldn't snort it out and just put his things on the table, putting them in his sling bag. He didn't need to answer every time, he knew there were a few people in this class who were always annoyed, exasperated due to how he always 'steals' their spotlight in quizzes like this, some also seem to feel that he was too ambitious to answer that he didn't give other students a chance.
Therefore, okay then, he will keep his mouth shut this time.
"What do you think, Mr. Alexander?"
The problem was that the lecturers always end up asking him if he didn't participate. It was kind of ridiculous because it made those people even more annoyed, he knew it. Everyone suddenly quieted down to hear the answer.
"Correct."
That one answer from him made three or four people voice their delight, indicating that they were on the same side with his of this question. He didn't know since fucking when he became the declaration of right and wrong in their class, getting treated as the key of every answer. Okay, take a breath, count. One two three.
"No it's not." Oh, poor Kingston, immediately complaining. "A particle cannot move in a circular path with uniform velocity as the direction of the particle is changing continuously. That statement is not correct."
Noah turned his head towards Kingston who was sitting two seats behind him. "Don't be confused, he has stated that the velocity is same." His shoulders rose briefly, he leaned his back against the back of the chair and rested his left leg on his right thigh. "You can't say about direction because you don't know where they are measuring the velocity of partial. Either it might be on same position. In circular motion the speed is constant so there is no tangential acceleration."
Ouch, his stomach entrails suddenly burns.
He guided his hand to the organ in question and gave a small squeeze of his clothing. "I think that's all from me, Professor," he continued, ignoring the creeping sensation of pain. He should've finished his breakfast this morning, ugh, Vincent would definitely scold him as soon as he got home since he was sneaking around behind him after not finishing his food.
"But, Professor!" Kingston was still trying to argue, then his teeth chattered when Mr. Blake shushed him gently. "So it's correct?"
Mr. Blake nodded happily. "Correct," he said as he stood up and grabbed his bag, "class is over, you can go home."
Once Mr. Blake said that, he left the classroom casually, the other students were getting ready to leave. Noah watched Kingston closely out of the corner of his eye, apparently expecting Kingston to have a tantrum or something. It was quite a surprise to him that Kingston left the classroom without saying anything, apparently still riled up so bad, the corners of his lips twitching and pulling upwards. He waited for Caleb who hurriedly put the notebook into his bag, though his forehead furrowed suddenly when Kayana approached him.
"You always humiliate Jayden in class," Kayana said as if she was tickled and giggling. "People are starting to think that you are a teacher's pet."
Wow, okay, nothing new. Should he pretend to be surprised?
"Don't think too much about it," Caleb said to him shortly afterward, Caleb's smile crooked after he told Kayana to shut up about it. It seemed like he also knew about this and was trying to keep his feelings in check? He was a good kid, different from Cassidy. That shit has absolutely no filter in talking. "You're just smart. Too smart."
"And the professors like you." The red wavy-haired girl chuckled again, they started walking together down the corridor. "Teacher's pet."
Caleb held back a groan. "Kay, stop it."
"I genuinely don't care, really," Noah answered, his hand lifting the strap of his sling bag over his shoulder after it had fallen. "What was your answer about that quiz, by the way?"
"I thought it was correct too!"
"I asked Dayton, not you."
Kayana pouted her lips.
He rolled his red eyes lazily before they locked back on Caleb. "Mind sharing?"
There was no answer from Caleb for a while. "My answer?" He nodded, waiting for Caleb to continue. "I can only think about lunch. You think eating pasta with ice cream is delicious?"
"French fries with ice cream is better."
"So you did try it?" Kayana raised an eyebrow curiously.
Yes, he did, thanks to Michael.
He decided not to answer and continued walking towards the place where Michael usually picked him up. Looked like his husband hasn't arrived yet. Michael told him earlier that he had business at the second restaurant, maybe he was still there. With Fritzgerald. If he was being honest, he was quite irritated, jealous? Apparently. However, he actually had no reason to be jealous, knowing Michael of course that shortie wouldn't do anything wrong. So, if something happened, then he would blame Fritzgerald. As simple as that.
Noah didn't pay much attention to the conversation between Caleb and Kayana as they walked, he could vaguely hear them talking about his father, it wasn't interesting. The trial has reached journalists, news of unexpected events in the middle of the trial has also been published on print and social media.
"Noah, do you want to come with us to the cafeteria?" Caleb tugged slightly at the hem of his sleeve to get his attention, he cocked his head.
"No," he refused.
"Okay, then!" He saw Kayana take Caleb's arm right away, causing a slight blush to appear on Caleb's face before Kayana pulled him from there.
There was a bench nearby, facing the campus road which was always used for vehicles. Noah put the bag aside as he sat down, another sigh escaped his mouth, he took his phone and fiddled with it to kill time, waiting for his husband to arrive. But there was nothing pleasant there, so he closed the phone and took out another note. The notebook was a different one from what he used to write in class. A personal note, full of doodles and sketches of animatronics in case something happened to them, or just a different design for them.
He opened a page about the Funtimes, in the past they had wanted to operate Funtime Chica again, but until now the idea hadn't yet been realized. Several weeks ago Bon Bon said his legs felt odd, he would check the animatronic again later. Funtime Foxy has been complaining that his room was too hot since last month even though they've put a lot of air conditioner in there, there must be something wrong with the machine. There were no problems with Funtime Freddy at all, putting aside the anger issues he has.
"Noah, hey."
The familiar voice drew his attention from the notebook to the front, a pair of fresh green eyes sparkling with a smile on his face. "Dan," he said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
Daniel jumped to sit next to him, he shifted the bag slightly against him. "Picking up Mark, we'll go to the museum in a bit."
"Date?"
"Yeah."
"Have a good time."
The beige-haired man raised his eyebrows upwards, staring at him quite surprised. "I thought you were going to tell me to punch him in the face or something." There was a grin on Daniel's face as he rolled his eyes in boredom. "It seems like someone is starting to befriend him."
The bridge of his nose wrinkled. "Disgusting."
Daniel laughed for a few moments, Noah squinted in confusion and gazed in all directions for a moment before fixating on Daniel again when he saw something white fur starting to stretch from behind Daniel's back, stretching up to the top of his head and flapping strongly to create a mist, the width of which was approx. two meters. "What are you doing?" he asked uncomprehendingly, holding back his concerned tone. "People can see your wings."
"Oh," Daniel responded while staring at his wings. "Don't worry, the fog earlier deceived human vision," he continued casually, was that one of the skills fallen angels had? He honestly didn't know, but he was quite impressed. "My wings are soooo stiff after I hid them while working all night. Are you waiting for Michael?"
"Uh, yeah." He checked the time on the watch around his wrist, he had been waiting for fifteen minutes and Michael didn't tell him anything if he was going to be late.
"Looks like he's late." This voice, Noah cocked to the side and sure enough, it was Mark. "He's always late, you know?" Mark's sigh could be heard clearly as he drew closer to them, kissed Daniel's forehead briefly and sat down next to the fallen angel, he shifted his sitting position again to the very end of the bench. "Either he came on time or was late, even the teacher gave up on giving him detentions when we were still at school."
It was surprising that he always arrived on time when he worked at the rental place before. Noah didn't pay heeds to Mark's words and let the two of them make out, right next to him, assholes.
Noah opened his notes again, he intended to think again about what he should do with the Funtimes if Daniel didn't talk to him. "Why don't you come with us to the museum?" Daniel offered, and apparently the offer was spontaneous seeing how Mark changed his facial expression to one of disbelief. "The more the merrier, right?"
"Dan, love, we're NOT going to a double date with them."
"Why not?" Daniel turned his gaze from him to Mark, his eyebrows raised. "Like I said earlier, the more the merrier."
"But I want to just be with you!" The black-haired man whined, squeezing Daniel's hand tightly with a frown, even though his gaze was sharp when Noah looked at him. "Double dates with him and my ex sounds like a bad idea."
Worst idea, actually.
Daniel just laughed. "Your ex is Mike and I used to bully Noah in the past," he elbowed Noah, making Noah wince, "Our past is always questionable, but here we are now. What's the problem?"
"If you're jealous because I'm close to your ex, just say so, Halberg." Noah snorted and glanced away at his book again, ignoring Mark's embarrassed protests that he didn't like his husband like that anymore and Daniel's laughter became louder. "Why don't you two just leave? That bastard is here now," he said while glancing at Daniel.
"Come on, you're alone here waiting for Mike, I can't just leave you like that." Daniel chuckled. "We'll stay with you until Mike arrives, how late will he be anyway?"
Late.
Very late.
They waited almost an hour and a half.
After that, a black car that he knew finally appeared, Mark ended up scolding him to the core, full of annoyance, Daniel tried to separate them so as not to cause a commotion. Of course, he was exasperated too, he hadn't said anything since he got into the car and he believed Michael knew that he was angry, and was now trying to persuade him desperately. He honestly didn't really listen to what Michael was telling him, but he made a few points.
One; moving Mangle turned out to take longer, two; he foraged ahead for food for their father; three, his father-in-law kept him in the first location to help with this and that, four; congested roads, five; Jeremy fucking Fitzgerald. The main reason why his husband was late.
"Enn ...."
Michael called him in a pleading tone when the car stopped after a red light, his eyebrows knitted together and his lips pressed together. "I'm sorry."
He still didn't open his mouth at all, even to answer a single word. Silent treatment wasn't a good thing, he knew, and he was annoyed that he let out a heavy sigh while pinching the bridge of his tired nose. He knew Michael felt incredibly guilty, it was obvious, in fact. Shoulders tense and jaw clenched, eyes frequently looking back and forth from him and the other direction—nervousness skyrocketing, fingers gripping the steering wheel so tightly they turned white.
Eventually, Noah rubbed his face in annoyance. "Listen," he said, Michael immediately turned his gaze towards him, although occasionally he glanced forward to check the countdown from the red light to green. "Could you at least have the presence of mind to tell me in advance that you're going to be late? Really, I don't care what your excuse is for your lateness, just tell me and I will," the words suddenly caught in his throat, he forced himself to swallow hard, "and I'll understand." His voice was soft at the end, he leaned his back against the back of the car seat as he pressed his lips together, his gaze forward. "Green."
"Ah." Michael lowered the handbrake and started the car again. He was silent, for at least five minutes Michael didn't say anything else, he seemed focused on driving but he knew his mind was drifting to other things.
"Michael stop daydreaming if we had a car accident I would be even angrier at you."
"I'm not daydreaming." Michael puffed out his cheeks while knitting his eyebrows together, his shoulders tensed again and his arms straightened, gripping the steering wheel tighter then suddenly turning it to the left, they pulled over. "I really didn't mean to." His words were quiet, his shoulders began to slump. "Are you mad?"
Noah folded his arms across his chest. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't mad, but you're too pathetic, I can't be angry with you for long." He saw how Michael slumped slightly in his seat with a deep frown and averted eyes, not wanting to exchange glances with him. His hands moved to grab the sides of his husband's face, forcing Michael to look back at his. Their eyes met, he slowly erased their distance.
And hit his forehead against Michael's hard.
Michael groaned in pain as he rubbed his red forehead. "Why did you do that?!" he whined, Noah rolled his eyes boredly. "Enn!"
"Who knows, I might be able to channel some of my intelligence to you."
The two of them fell into silence, which for him was quite awkward to feel. Michael was still rubbing his forehead, he seemed sullen; both cheeks puffed out. He couldn't help but pull his cheeks in amused aggression, Michael protested again and squaked in pain, trying to remove his hands from his face. "Noah—ow stop it!"
A chuckle escaped his lips, Noah sighed. "Chubby." He placed a small kiss on Michael's cheekbone after he pulled his hand away, Michael's face flushed.
"Mmm," Michael mumbled incoherently nervously, he glanced away again, at the same time seeming hesitant to say something that seemed to be bothering him. "I ... love you?"
"Why do you sound doubtful like that? Repeat it."
The blush on Michael's face thickened. "I love you."
"Again."
"I—you make me look like a fool."
Noah hummed. "You are a fool." He ran his fingers through Michael's brown hair before tucking his husband's bangs that fell over his eyes behind his ear, a faint smile on his face. "But that's what I like about you, my fool. I love you too."
The eldest Afton was more relaxed now, the corners of his lips twitched, smiling back crookedly. "So, you're not angry now?"
"I'll be angry if you ask like that again."
"Just angry or angry angry or like really really angry?"
"... Just start the car, Michael."
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A/N: i feel like this chapter is missing something and i coudlnt think what is it hhh sorry if this chapter seems off i was kinda rushing it sobs