The Bond

Ch 58

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

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

=o^o=

Ennard remembered clearly last night he had another argument with Michael over who would sleep in the guest room because the guest room only had one bed and—of course—they didn't want to share a bed. In the end they did rock-paper-scissors three times, and Michael won.

So Ennard was forced to sleep on the couch—actually he didn't really mind sleeping there. The problem was, he woke up feeling sultry and his chest was pressed against something in the morning.

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Michael sleeping soundly on top of him.

Ennard almost screamed, but he managed to restrained himself to do so and immediately rose from his bed causing Michael to tumble to the side and fall to the floor. Ennard glared in disbelief at the eldest Afton who now blinked a few times after collecting his consciousness.

"What are you doing?!" Ennard rebuked angrily, Michael just tilted his head.

"What?"

"Why did you—" His words seemed to catch in his throat, Ennard's face started to turn red. "Why were you even sleeping here? Didn't we agree you'd sleep in the bedroom after you fraudulently won the rock-paper-scissors?" snarled Ennard in annoyance.

Michael puffed out his cheeks looking at Ennard and hugged his knees bent to his chest. "Because I was cold."

"I'm literally piles of irons, moron."

"But in animatronic form! Not in the human form," Michael whined making Ennard facepalm. "In your human form, you are warm, and you usually sleep in the same room with me!"

"As an animatronic and that too sleeps standing!"

"I don't see any problems."

The red-haired man looked at Michael as if his gaze was saying 'Are you serious?', while Michael looked back at him with an innocent expression. His round eye seemed to make Ennard stutter to himself.

Ennard massaged the base of his temples tiredly. "I really don't understand the way you think," he muttered resignedly.

"Good morning, you two."

The two of them turned their heads, and Lucy's figure appeared while smiling broadly at them, at the same time carrying a laundry basket. Michael returned Lucy's smile with a wide grin, while Ennard just snorted and looked away from the girl.

Michael immediately jumped to his feet. "What do you need me to do?" he asked Lucy excitedly, he was so ready to take over the laundry basket in Lucy's hands.

"No need, it's women's clothes after all." Lucy turned the basket away from Michael so Michael couldn't reach it.

Michael's face looked like a disappointed dog.

"Did you just wake up?" Ennard asked Lucy who put the basket beside her feet. If true, then Lucy's neat appearance despite wearing home clothes was quite impressive for the size of a person who has just woken up.

"No, in fact I just finished taking a shower," Lucy answered with her eyebrows raised up.

Ennard frowned. "Just finished showering ...?" he said quietly, and slowly his facial expression changed once he realized something. "Did you—did you see us—"

"Sleeping together? Yes."

Ennard had a look of horror on his face, while Michael who was listening to the conversation tilted his head again.

Lucy?

She giggled.

"Why didn't you wake us up?!"

"Ehh why? You're both cute together," Lucy chuckled making Ennard blush and Michael blinked. "Besides, Mike looked so comfortable on top of you, I'd feel bad if I woke him up."

"Why do you feel bad for this bastard?!" Ennard reapproached in annoyance pointing at Michael who just pursed his lips hearing that.

Lucy shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and picked up the laundry basket again. "Well, it's not a big deal, you both looked tired too from waiting for me to come home from the hospital so late," Lucy said as she walked to the bathroom which was not far from the bathroom to put the basket by the washing machine.

Ennard just grumbled at Lucy's words, while Michael poked his head from the living room into the bathroom to look at Lucy. "How is she in the hospital?" asked Michael, Ennard glanced up.

"Who? Mary?" Lucy stared at Michael for a moment, and Michael nodded. "She's fine, maybe just a shock and a broken arm, a little bruised too. The doctor advised her to rest for a few weeks until she's fully recovered," answered Lucy at the same time explaining Mary's condition to Michael who nodded at that.

"Did she say something when her arm was broken?"

Ennard's question made Michael's shoulders stiffen for a moment, luckily Ennard wasn't looking at him, so he tried to relax.

Lucy tried to remember. "I guess so ..." Lucy hung up her words, Michael looked at Lucy impatiently. "She brought up that Mike was going to talk to her but then the shelf fell off, then soon the lights fell off too so maybe one of those is the cause of her broken arm."

Michael's lips began to lift upwards, he was actually also surprised by his actions yesterday, but he felt satisfied. "So that's how it is," Michael responded with pity. "I hope she gets well soon."

"Mhm, because without her we'd be understaffed," Lucy complained, and Michael's purple eye immediately lit up. Lucy laughed at the brown-haired man. "Sure, Mike, you can replace her temporarily."

"Yes!" Michael was really excited to hear Lucy's words, while Ennard looked at Michael in confusion.

Ennard folded his arms across his chest. "You're so passionate about work," Ennard said.

Michael slung his arms around his waist and smiled broadly at Ennard. "Of course! This proves that I can work and don't need your help!" Michael said proudly, while Ennard raised his eyebrows.

"You're still thinking about that? You weirdo."

Michael simply stuck his tongue out at Ennard in response to Ennard's taunt.

"By the way," Lucy said. "What do you want to eat? I happen to be able to cook. You must eat."

Ennard snorted and tried not to laugh, while Michael gulped at the word 'eat'.