The usually peaceful morning in Utah had been broken by the sound of a woman's hurried shouts: "Michelle! Your friend is at the door! Hurry up, you're both going to be late!"

"Oh my god, I know, jeez!"

Michael quickly adjusted his hair and muttered angrily as he hurried to the front door while his mother turned her attention to the beeping dryer within the laundry room.

"Gosh I fucking hate that name" Michael muttered.

He opened the front door while quickly putting a backpack on his shoulder and a tall figure stood in front of him.

"Goodmorning sleepyhead, ready to go to school?" He asked.

Michael clearly wasn't a morning person, but still found comfort in seeing Seth in the morning and didn't get annoyed at his teasing.

The boy chuckled and replied: "Literally shut up".

He left the house and closed the front door behind him. He then started walking to school with Seth who smiled and glanced at him, noticing his hair.

"Wooow your mullet is so well kept. Did your mommy do it for you, momma's boy?"

Seth smirked as he looked at Michael and kept pushing his buttons, but the long haired boy still played along and replied sarcastically.

"You're seriously annoying in the morning, you know that? And no, I style it myself every time I have to go outside. Can't believe you didn't even notice, I'm feeling kind of offended not gonna lie".

They both chuckled and Seth replied, continuing to play the game: "Sorry, your insufferable attitude distracts me from your beautiful looks and luscious hair most of the time".

"Woow, fuck you too, Seth Jeremy DICKerson"

Seth forced a dramatic and fake gasp out of his mouth: "Are you calling me a dick, Afton? Don't you know your mother would be disappointed by your foul language? Momma's boys are supposed to be sweet".

"Hey, you're the one who's like" Micheal started to talk in a sweet silly voice to make fun of Seth and imitate him: "I love you so much mama and I like your cookies very much!"

Seth laughed and gave Michael an easy punch on the shoulder.

"Oh shut up! You also love my mom and always accept the cookies she offers, you hypocrite".

"Well, it's not my fault she clearly loves me way more than you".

"THAT is simply not true, you don't know how hard It was to convince her to invite a white boy into our house".

"And? Your mom basically adopted me even if I'm white, that is true love right there. My point still stands true".

Seth laughed. "That's because she doesn't know you're not just white, you're british. That's the worst kind of white".

"I'm literally not british, can you let that go?"

"Nu-huh, you grew up and spent your childhood in Britain, you're british I don't care".

"I'm not-"

Seth smirked and interrupted him, bending to reach his face that he got closer to. "What's your favourite drink again? If I remember right it starts with a T".

Michael looked at Seth and stayed in silence for a second, looking at his friend's proud smirk that screamed "Ah! Got you", trying to find a way to fight back, but at last he finally accepted that he lost the game and sighed, turning his gaze away from him.

"It's Earl Gray tea, I guess you're right", and so he tossed a penny to Seth, defeated.

"Wow, at the end of this school year I could buy a whole house with all this money" Seth laughed and put the penny in his pocket.

They stopped walking once they arrived in front of the school and noticed a girl with a poofy loud pink skirt talking to a big dark haired boy dressed in more comfortable normal-looking clothes. The colorful girl, Chrissy, noticed them and walked up to them, followed by Rubén.

"Yoo! Guys guys guys, I wanted to suggest something".

Rubén interrupted Chrissy before she could explain, looking not very excited about what he was about to say: "She wants to go to a lame kids resturant".

Seth chuckled, slightly poking fun at Chrissy and asking: "Isn't that the place my little sister is obsessed with?"

"Hey! It's not just a kids resturant, they have cool robots and adorable plushies! Come on, at least we're gonna do something new instead of the same boring shit this lame town offers, plus they have pizza and bowling, HELLOoOo? It would be fun".

Micheal became kinda uncomfortable by the suggestion.

"Uhm... Are you talking about the Fredbear's Family Diner? Because..."

He paused, feeling kinda embarassed to finish his phrase for some reason.

"Because my dad is the owner, actually..."

They all looked at Micheal, surprised by his confession.

"SERIOUSLY?! It just recently opened but blew up, everyone's talking about it, your family must be pretty rich now! I mean it doesn't take much to make people excited since nothing happens here".

Rubén glared at Chrissy, scolding her with his gaze: "Chrissy, that's rude".

"Nah it's fine, I hate it. My dad always makes me work in that stupid place. He's too stingy to pay an actual worker, apparently".

"Dude, but that's so cool! We could go there together and help you, and also eat pizza... and do some bowling, but also help you!"

"Well, if you really want to go there, my little brother is gonna have a birthday there in like a month. It's not like he has many friends to invite anyways, at least that could sorta cheer him up".

"Omg yes, we'll go! ... Can you get me that silly duck plushie aswell?"

"Chrissy. I can't give out free stuff, didn't you hear what I said about my dad being stingy? He would kill me, and trust me. He would notice. He notices everything".

Chrissy genuinly looked disappointed.

"Also it's a chicken, not a duck. Get it right" he added.

"Oww... But there are like four characters, that's perfect for us, we could have one each and be matching little buddies", Chrissy whined.

Micheal chuckled at Chrissy's childish behaviour.

"This pizzeria doesn't even have those robots you're talking about, it's affiliated with my dad's and his friend's buisness, but it's a separate thing. We one only sell those plushies there because the kids like it anyways".

Michael then suddenly got an idea.

"You know what? Let's make a deal: I get y'all some masks, but I get to choose Foxy The Pirate since he's obviously the coolest one".

"YES. I want that yellow chicken, duck or whatever, she's adorable! Rubén is basically a bear, look at him, he's round and hairy, he should totally be the fluffy bear".

Rubén laughed and replied: "Excuse me? I only take it as a compliment because he's like the mascot and whatever, but just to make it clear: I'm feeling very offended right now".

Michael smiled at Rubén and Chrissy, but then suddenly looked at Seth.

"Hey, Bonnie plays guitar like you, so..."

"Do I seriously gotta be the bunny? He's like cute and stuff, doesn't really suit me does it?" Seth replied, sarcastically.

Micheal laughed: "Heyy, what do you mean? I think you're really cute".

"Oh shut up Afton, you know what I mean".

"I think Bonnie suits you, I'm serious dude. He's cute but also badass, chill and-"

Chrissy side eyed Rubén, as if they lived this situation too many times before and started to get annoyed by it, and so she decided to interrupt Micheal from finishing his sentence this time.

"Eeewww, get a room already".

They both turned towards Chrissy, embarassed and confused by the sudden implication.

"WHAT?!" They shouted in disbelief.

Chrissy began to make fun of them by speaking in a soft voice and sighed like a typical girl from a teen romance movie: "Oh Michael, your hair is so beautiful and soft I wish I could kiss you right now. Oh Seth, thank you, you're also cool and your arms are sooo big, I want to go to your house for the fourth time this week and be held by your strong arms. Absolutely Disgusting. Me and Rubén are third and fourth wheeling at this point, and those are too many wheels! We could make a car at this point".

Rubén and Chrissy looked at each other, giggling.

"We're just complimenting each other in a platonic way, I mean girls do it all the time, why can't we?" Seth protested.

Rubén tried to stop laughing and replied: "I'm sorry, but this is gayer than the guys in my football team when they pin each other down, slap their asses in the changing room and claim they're just being bros".

"OH MY GOD. LET'S JUST GO SMOKE ALREADY", Michael said as he sprinted away while Seth followed him to escape the awkward situation, reaching his pace.

Rubén and Chrissy stopped laughing as the two boys got away and became more serious as they slowly walked behind them and whispered to each other.

"Seriously though, they totally have a thing going on".

"Oh, totally".

"Seth is also totally gonna hide it and bring it to his grave like the idiot he is, and Michael probably thinks he's straight when he clearly also has a crush on Seth. If we don't do anything they'll continue to embarrasingly flirt in front of us like they're in a date without taking any actual action ever".

"We gotta help them but be strategic about this Chrissy, make them aware of how they feel for each other but also not too much, otherwise they'll just avoid their feelings even more".

"We'll find a way".

"Hey don't act like you're better than them though, haven't you told me about that crush you have on this girl in art class?" Rubén suddenly asked.

Chrissy eyes widened as she looked at Rubén in silence for a second, then ran to Seth and Micheal to also avoid the awkward situation.

"SETH YOU DID BRING CIGARETTES RIGHT? CAUSE I FORGOT TO DO SO YOU GOTTA GIVE ME ONE THIS TIME".

Unaware of Michael's smoking habits his father, William, was working at the newly opened Fredbear's Family Diner. It was nearly opening time and Henry and him were checking the place as usual to make sure everything was ready for the day and that nothing was out of place. A shorter ginger haired and chubby man with a bushy beard spoke to the much taller, dark haired leaner man who was standing outside, dressed quite formally and smoking a cigarette. He and Micheal weren't so different after all, they both needed a cigarette on their lips in the morning to function and start their day.

"Still can't get rid of this bad habit of yours, huh?" Henry said to William, who looked at him with the corner of his eye.

"Having a family of three and taking care of a buisness is really stressful, you know I cannot live without it". The man replied

Henry chuckled, "Yeah I know, you've always been the perfectionist type. You've been smoking since I met you in college because you felt stressed out about the tiniest details".

"Doesn't help that my daughter dresses like a punk now, cusses, plays loud music, screams at me, Clara and pushes Evan away, knowing damn well this will make him have a meltdown".

After William finished that sentence he inhaled some fumes into his body, took the cig away from his lips and sighed.

"Oh come on now, don't be too hard on Michelle" Henry replied, concerned. "She's a teenager now, right? Kids these days are always like this with their rock, metal music and whatever".

William chuckled, tapping the cigarette with his finger to let the ashes fall on the ground.

"You just symphatize with her because you were a full-on hippie when you were her age".

He looked at Henry with a playful smirk on his lips, and the man replied by laughing back at the joke aswell.

"Yeah, but I still got back into society now didn't I? It's just a phase trust me, she'll grow out of it".

"I just don't get where she got that from. Me and Clara have always been disciplined kids, we never caused problems at school and now we suddenly have to deal with the principal screaming about Michelle on the phone, acting as if we're the ones who raised her this way. It's probably her new group of friends badly influencing her or whatever, I'm worried about the path she's taking".

William touched his forehead, suddenly feeling tense and groaned, exacerbated by the situation.

"Those little delinquents. I can't believe I have to deal with other parent's screw ups I swear to god I-"

Henry noticed how William was stressing out again and stopped him from talking.

"Hey hey now, you're starting to fume again. Thought the smoke from the cig was your head going on fire for a second", he laughed to lighten up the mood.

"Look, let's not think about it. Let's go back to work, alright?" He then added to take his friend's mind off of the situation.

Henry put a hand on William's shoulder, guiding him towards the entrance of the pizzeria. William followed his friend and sighed, throwing the almost finished cigarette on the ground and stomping on it with his dress shoes to put it off.

"Yeah, you're right. Let's go back inside and get back to work". He slightly smiled at his friend as they entered the pizzeria.

Time passed and, as always since the pizzeria has opened for the first time, Michael came back home only to have lunch with his mom and siblings before going to help his dad at work. He was washing his hand and felt some little hands tugging his ripped jeans, followed by a young girl's voice.

"Can I bring my pony toys this time?"

Michael wasn't enthusiastic of helping his dad at work again at all. He had to do this almost everyday, his friends even decided to hang out after school today but he couldn't join them.

"Yeah, whatever".

He finished washing his hands while Elizabeth happily scurried away. After he dried his hands with a towel he quietly entered Evan's room, knowing his little brother never wants to go with them and hides somewhere. He sighed, annoyed at having to search him once again, but kept being patience. He then noticed the fort in the corner of the room made by bedsheets with a star and spaceship pattern on it.

The boy got on all fours and looked at his little brother's back.

"You really don't like going to that place, do you?" The big brother softly asked.

He glimpsed a little motion of his little brother's head, which he knew was a nod.

"I know buddy, me too..." He felt genuinly bad for Evan and thought of a way to convince him. He then glanced at the Fredbear plushie laying on the floor and took it, getting his hand inside the fort.

"Hello little spaceman! Why are you here looking all sad? The troop is waiting for you to go on our crazy space adventure!" He made up a voice, and Evan smiled at his favourite plushie speaking to him.

"Your bigger moody brother cannot do this without you, you know? He doesn't even remember the name of the planets of our solar system, he's an idiot! The troop would be doomed without you, he's begging you to come with them".

The little boy giggled and turned around to look at his brother, who had his other hand out.

Evan grabbed his bigger brother's hand and got out of the fort, smiling at his him and holding his favourite Fredbear plushie.

"Alright! Now that we got our space captain, we can go" he exclaimed as they got of the room, going back to Elizabeth who was busy deciding which of the my little pony figures she should put in her transparent glittery little handbag.

In the first days the Fredbear's Family Diner opened Michael would bribe Evan to come to work with him by telling him how he would see his dad again, but that started to not work anymore since Evan realized that it didn't mean he could spend time with his dad, since he was focused on his job.

The little boy was so happy when the place opened, cause he thought he could now finally spend more time with him and play together. He even saw William and Clara loving each other again and his dad promising her he would be more present in his family's life now that he finished his project. That was true, he started to become present, but there were still problems. Evan stopped trying to ask for his father's attention after a while, cause he always felt rejected. William always tried to engage, but it wasn't like old times anymore. Everything he did felt more forced.

In the past he would usually run to the front door whenever he heard his father coming home again, but now the little boy always ran away whenever he heard his footsteps coming closer, almost as if he was scared of his father now. Even Michael was scary to him when he was mad and avoided him when he looked moody.

Evan felt unwanted, even though he's a little kid and couldn't fully realize it yet. Clara was the only one who genuinly kept trying to spend time with him whenever she could, but he started to refuse and close himself off from the family, because deep down he felt even his mother was forcing herself to spend time with him. Clara felt alarmed by the situation, with Michael she could've blamed that fact on teenagehood, but Evan was only almost 7. Being shy and quiet was always in his nature, but this wasn't only timidness anymore. He refused to socialize, which was especially alarming since he didn't socialize with kids his age aswell.

He started being more skittish. He would hide whenever someone came into his room and looked sad all the time, but she didn't know what to do, or what was the cause, so she just kept trying her best to help him like she always did towards the other members of the family, hoping her persistence would lead to change.

However, she didn't know what Evan had to listen to whenever she wasn't home. William and Michael kept fighting these days and, since Clara wasn't there to be the mediator of the situation and keep the water warm, things always escalated for the worst. Both of them didn't know how to handle their anger, they preferred to repress it, and so the smallest spark between them would turn into a fire.

William would just try to speak to Michael, but the way he would say things irritated his son who took it as scolding or a personal attack. Consequently, his words and constant irritated disrespectful attitude and yelling would infuriate William, who would yell back.

Sometimes the situation would get so bad that the father's initial simple expressions of worry would turn into sharp and mean words. He would immediately regret them, but Michael felt hurt and would always run to his room instead while yelling horrible words back at his father, locking himself in while William screamed that he needed to open the door. That would continue until his father calmed himself down and gave up, leaving Michael alone.

Michael never told Clara about the situation, and neither did William. She genuinly believed things were finally getting better now and Michael didn't want to ruin her happiness and start another fire, he always hated seeing them fight and besides, since William never hit him he thought this wasn't a big deal anyways. He preferred to pretend his relationship with his dad wasn't getting worse and worse rather than hear his mother desperately crying while trying to hide her sadness again because of another discussion between her and his husband.

No matter how much Michael distanced himself in spunky clothes, mean words and rebellious personality deep down he still cared about Clara and his family, even if he wouldn't admit it and acted as if he didn't care about anything anymore. That was what he would say just to protect himself.

After walking for a while Michael, Elizabeth and Evan finally managed to arrive at the kids resturant their father owned, who was waiting for them in a lonely alley with his arms crossed and a disappointed facial expression. Once Michael met his father's glare, he knew what was about to happen.

"Oh god, here it is again" Michael thought as he got up to him, while Elizabeth scurried away to play and forced Evan to come with her by taking the anxious boy by the hand.

"Why, hello there. Do you think it's funny that your father had to be called by your school during work, the one that pays all your clothes that you love so much, because you're misbehaving again while I'm here working my ass off?"

Michael sighed and looked down in a submissive manner, even though he didn't want to admit his wrongs or oblige to his father. "No, dad..."

" 'No dad', he says" William replied. "That doesn't actually mean anything to you, does it? Why aren't you taking any of the things I say seriously? I really don't understand what happened to you". Even though he said this out of concern, it really sounded as if he was only angry because he got disturbed during his job.

Michael didn't know what to say, cause he knew that whatever he told his father would be mean words, so he stayed in silence instead, not daring to look at his eyes.

"You're gonna stay here until closing hours taking care of your siblings as a punishment".

Michael suddenly looked up at William, surprised.

"Until closing hours? When will I be able to do my homework then?!"

"Don't you dare lie to me", William tried to contain his irritation and the volume of his voice. He didn't want to attract any attention or say anything he would regret again.

"Since when do you do your homework? I know you hang out with those delinquents you call friends of yours instead of attending classes like you should".

Michael seriously wanted to punch his dad in the face and defend his friends, but he limited his expression of indignation by staring angrily at William and making direct eye contact.

"Fine. I'll make sure Elizabeth and Evan don't go near those horrible safety designed robots of yours then" Michael lastly said to provoke his father, but he didn't give him the right to reply. he immediately walked away while glaring furiously at him till he finally left to search for his siblings instead. In fact he wasn't scared of William lashing out on him in front of everybody, cause that would only prove how faulty of a person he actually is. He always tested him. He wanted to ruin his fake reputation.

"God fucking damnit" William furiously muttered to himself, but at last he kept his composure and went back to work, smiling at the customers and children, trying to make a good impression even though he really wasn't a people person.

While Michael was searching for his siblings he suddenly got stopped by a man he recognized, Henry, who noticed his frown and checked up on him.

"Michelle, hey!"

Michael turned towards the familiar voice and smiled happily as he saw it was Henry's.

"Uncle Henry!" That's what he would always call him. Henry was really like a second father to him. The Emily and Afton family were very close afterall, it's almost as if they were the same household. Michael hugged the bearded man to greet him, and he tightly hugged him back.

"What's a pretty girl like you frowning about?" he pinched his cheek as he warmly smiled at him.

Michael felt a bit uncomfortable at the misgendering and because he was still being called by what now was his deadname, but still genuinly smiled back at Henry.

"Nothing, just had another discussion with dad, you know how he is. I have to stay here and help until closing hours as a punishment". His genuine smile vanished as he finished the sentence.

"Ow, come on dear, I know he might seem a bit strict sometimes, but trust me he's only doing this cause he's worried about you".

"Yeah, I guess..." Michael replied, looking away. He only saw the worse in him, so he couldn't believe that.

Henry saw how upset Michael looked, so he tried to suggest something to cheer him up.

"Hey let me tell you this, I will ask your father if you can go have dinner at my place after work, how about that? Charlotte really misses you".

"Oh my god, yes!" Michael replied, looking at Henry, thrilled by the idea. "I miss little Charlie aswell, how old is she now?"

"She's a 5 year old little pumpkin now" Henry giggled. "She weirdly likes to listen to rock music on the radio lately, you guys are like two peas in a pod".

"Hell yeah! She could totally be the lead singer of the unnamed rock band me and my friends started" Michael said while laughing, but then he suddenly remembered the duty he had to attend. "Fudge, Uncle Henry have you seen Elizabeth and Evan around?"

"Oh yeah, they went straight to the ball pit like, five minutes ago".

"Thank you, sorry! Older br- sister duty calls me!" Michael lastly stated as he ran to the ball pit area and waved his hand at Henry.

It has been a few weeks since Michael thought about coming out to Henry. He thought he would be the safest person to do so since he was the only one who always fully supported him for his choices, for who he was. He figured that if one adult would accept him for realizing he's a man, it would be Henry.

As he took care of his siblings he figured how finally coming out at Henry's house would be the perfect moment. However, he was still very much fearful. He was scared of Henry's reaction, that he would lose one of the only adult figure he had left in his life. It was the only male grown-up he felt fully comfortable and safe with. Not only that, during that time coming out was no joke. He heard violent stories many times, and coming out to a person in their house could transform itself in a serious dangerous situation, but Michael couldn't ever imagine Henry being that kind of person.

Even though he was scared, he still felt determined to do this. He was basically losing the only parent figure he felt comfortable with anyways, cause Henry would accidentally remind him how he was born in a female's body, so he had to take the shot. He had to go for it and hope for the best.

He decided that if he was gonna eat at Henry's house he would finally come out to someone for the first time.