The Bond

Ch 22

"Bold."/"Bold italic" : animatronic is talking/animatronic is talking in mind

"Normal."/"Normal italic." : human is talking/human is talking in mind

=o^o=

Mark has become more pushy lately. Michael was annoyed by him all the time and Michael felt guilty about it—he had troubled Mark to live in his apartment, but on the other hand Michael couldn't just reveal what had happened to him after the four of them decided to separate since junior high school graduation.

So he prefers to avoid Mark's questions that relate to work and his family, even though Mark remains stubborn.

But he's also stubborn.

"Come on, just get out of there and move somewhere else. I'm fed up."

"You think I'm not?" growled Michael tiredly, staring at his own reflection in the public bathroom sink. "But we have to stay until—at least I have a job."

"You can find a job after living somewhere else."

Michael hadn't thought of that before.

"Your stupid brain must not have thought of that. Oh wait, you never had one."

"You—you're just getting more annoying," Michael said, rubbing his face furiously and trying to keep a groan of annoyance from escaping. Michael snorted shortly after, looking back at his reflection. "Why are you so fussy about wanting me to move? You're mad that I haven't been paying you any attention since I lived with Mark, huh?" Michael's lips curled into a thin smirk, he wanted to irritate the animatronic back by teasing him.

"Yes, so? You have a problem with that?"

Michael's grin faded slowly, he looked dumbfounded for a moment. "... What?"

"I'm the only one worthy of your attention, not a flirty bastard like him. Tck. Ennard.exe powering off . . ."

"Eh?" were Michael's first words after he had been silent for a few minutes, trying to understand what the parasite in his body had just said.

Then his face turned completely red.

"Why are you—what do you mean!?" Michael exclaims to himself in embarrassment in the mirror, the blush on his cheeks thickening as he fidgets. "Ennard! Don't—don't just nonactive yourself after you say such embarrassing things—Ennard you bastard! AAHHH!" Michael immediately crouched down and hid his face between his knees.

If only he still had his heart, it might beat really hard this time.

Damn you Ennard.

Michael began to grumble under his breath, this time looking down at the floor. He pursed his lips and knitted his brows together, his gaze unreadable, but definitely between nervous and annoyed.

"Mike? Are you okay?"

Michael looked up to find Mark walking into the public bathroom worried. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine," Michael replied quietly, getting back to his feet and clumsily cleaning his coat.

"I think I heard you talking to yourself earlier," Mark said carefully, causing Michael to wince and turn his attention elsewhere. "We can try to cure you of that."

"You say it as if I have an illness," Michael said half offended, Mark just shrugging his shoulders.

"By the way, I bought ice cream." Mark smiled faintly, passed a cup of ice cream in his hand to Michael, chocolate flavoured. "No need to thank me."