The Bond

Ch 45

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

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

=o^o=

It was seven o'clock in the evening, Michael sitting in the living room reading another comic casually. There wasn't much work for him today at the supermarket, almost everything was in order and Michael thought that maybe tomorrow would be the last day he would help. Faster than he thought.

Then there was a sudden knock on the door, Michael turned around in confusion.

Looks like it's Lucy.

Because no one else dared to approach this house other than Lucy.

Michael closed the comic and placed it next to the sofa, he wasn't too worried about Lucy seeing the endoskeleton anymore. Michael opened the door of the house, and was right as he expected. "Lucy, hey," Michael greeted.

Lucy smiled warmly. "Have you eaten? I brought you food," Lucy said as she showed a black plastic bag in her hand.

"Oh I—already ate," Michael lied. "You don't have to do that, really."

"Come on, after I found out your kitchen was so empty, I got worried."

Michael grimaced.

"Anyway, accept it," said Lucy after that, forcibly pulling Michael's hand and giving Michael the plastic bag, making Michael surprised a bit. "I'm going home now, see you later Mike!"

The eldest Afton just watched Lucy who stepped out while humming happily. Michael let out a small breath, he didn't know if he should trust Lucy or not.

Michael closed the door and locked it again, then stepped into the kitchen to place the food Lucy had just given him on the kitchen table. Michael opened the contents—seemingly he was thinking too negatively because he thought it was actually a bomb or something dangerous, or even a sound tracker. Turns out it was just some sandwiches.

Not long after that Michael returned to the living room, intending to continue reading comics. However, a whirring sound from inside one of the rooms caught Michael's attention.

Precisely from the room that Ennard was using.

Michael stopped walking into the living room, he looked closely at the closed door, trying to reaffirm what he had just heard. It is true, that there is a sound like a moving machine. Michael's eyes lit up, he immediately opened the bedroom door;

Ennard was still standing across the room, but their eyes met. Michael didn't understand why he was smiling this wide since Ennard had woken up from his sleep.

"Ennard!" Michael said cheerfully, though confused as to why Ennard seemed to be scanning him. "Enn?"

"Hi!"

Michael jumped on the spot hearing the kind greeting.

"I am Ennard, nice to meet you! What's your name? We can be good friends and play together! What do you think?"

Knowing Ennard well, the words that came out of the animatronic were terrifying. Especially with that big smile and friendly tone of voice. Michael blinked his eyes and frowned deeply, he hesitantly drew closer to Ennard who was still looking at him warmly. Then Michael raised his hand, intending to touch Ennard's face so he could check what was wrong with Ennard—

His hand was smacked right away.

"Touch me and I'll cut your fucking hand off in second."

The Ennard he knew had returned.

Michael puffed out his cheeks while stroking his wrist. "What was that anyway?" he asked cluelessly.

"Automatic system, moron." Ennard rolled his eyes in boredom and walked right past Michael.

Michael turned and immediately followed Ennard's footsteps, he grinned. "You've been sleeping for so long, almost two weeks," he said, Ennard completely ignoring him. "Just like a sleeping princess," Michael continued, then giggled.

"At least I sleep better than your insomnia."

And Michael didn't feel annoyed by Ennard's reply, instead his grin widened.

They ended up in the living room, Michael still looking at Ennard while Ennard himself looked around the room before focusing on the endoskeleton on the living room table. There are some changes, but not too much, not even finished yet. Ennard frowned, then turned to Michael who was swinging his body from front to back.

"You haven't finished it even after almost two weeks? Are you lazy or slow or stupid?"

"Lazy," Michael answered spontaneously, he smiled broadly at Ennard's annoyed groan. "Why do you want to see the outcome of that anyway, anyway?" Instead of Michael asking, he pursed his lips as he looked at Ennard.

Ennard didn't answer, instead he seemed to take a breath. "You're really unreliable at work," Ennard said, sounding almost complaining. After that his robotic eyes glanced briefly at the eldest Afton's wrist—there was only a red mark from the smack earlier. "At least you take good care of yourself."

Ennard's incoherent mutter made Michael raise an eyebrow. "What?"

"Apparently you're deaf as well now."

Now a glimmer of annoyance rose within Michael. "You're the only one who doesn't know how to say things clearly!" Michael pointed right at Ennard's face as he pouted, the corners of his eyes twitching. Michael took a deep breath after that, then exhaled slowly. "But, Enn."

"Ennard."

"Enny."

"Ew. Ennard."

"Enn."

"Fine! What?"

The corners of Michael's lips pulled up, he looked at Ennard warmly and his wide smile was sweet. "I'm happy you're back."

Ennard was stunned for a moment, before quickly averting his gaze.

Is it normal for his iron face to feel burn?