The Bond

Ch 115

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

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

=o^o=

He couldn't sleep well that night. The morning sun seeped into the room through the gaps in the closed curtains hitting his face, he opened one eye briefly before groaning a little. He wanted to stretch, but an arm held him close. Michael looked up a bit, he found Ennard was still asleep—he remembered he asked Ennard to come out and sleep with him last night. A thin smile plastered on Michael's face, he decided not to move and enjoy Ennard's embrace.

Then his thoughts anchored to Lucy again, the worries returned and Michael let out a tired breath. He hoped Lucy was fine wherever she was right now, once they found her he would bombard Lucy with thousands of apologies.

Michael hid his face in Ennard's chest and drew closer to the man in search of more warmth. His mind was still a mess, he wanted to calm down first before starting the day. Michael drew his lips together, he closed his eyes again, then gasped slightly as his brown hair was gently stroked, so he raised his head again and found Ennard staring at him.

"Good morning," Michael said cheerfully, the man in front of him just nodded and put his hand on his waist, making him chuckle briefly. "You used to be so short-tempered and full of hatred, what happened?" Michael cupped the side of Ennard's face.

"You, happened."

Michael giggled as Ennard briefly kissed his forehead. "I like you too."

Ennard didn't reply anything but stared at him intensely for a while, then got up and sat down while leaning his back against the wooden head of the bed. He watched as Michael got up and changed his position, Michael crawled towards him before sitting on his lap, they faced each other for a moment. They stared at each other, then Michael wrapped his arms around Ennard's neck as Ennard pulled him closer that they could feel each other's breath.

"Hey Mike, are you awake? I made you—"

They both startled and turned quickly towards the bedroom door together, and they found Henry stood there with a cup of tea in his hand, Henry gawked so did they. They seemed to freeze and couldn't move for a moment, before their faces turned red and Michael slipped off Ennard's lap, while Henry still looked dumbfounded.

"I thought you ...." Henry stopped what he was about to say, his forehead frowned. "Aren't you with—what about Ennard—who is he and how did he get in here?"

Michael exchanged glances with Ennard briefly, then smiled awkwardly at Henry and drew closer to the man covered in question marks. "How about we talk downstairs?" he suggested, Henry still staring at him cluelessly but he pushed Henry gently out of the room after motioning for Ennard to follow the two of them downstairs.

Once they were in the dining room Michael sat down opposite Henry while Ennard stood next to him. At least for a few minutes they were silent, not saying anything, Michael was still preparing the words to explain although he could still feel his face heating up because Henry almost caught them kissing. Damn it, the timing would have been perfect if Henry hadn't come into the room, Michael thought so.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, while Henry was still keeping his eyes on Ennard. "Uncle," Michael said to get Henry's attention, now Henry was putting his attention at him. "He is Ennard."

"Impossible." Henry immediately refuted. "Ennard is an animatronic."

"That's the thing," Michael replied. "I, uh ..."

"Afton made an illusion disc so I could change my form from animatronic to human a few months ago," Ennard interrupted Michael impatiently, Michael gave him an exasperated look for a moment.

After that Henry seemed stunned. "Illusion disc?" he asked again to make sure, Michael nodded. Henry stood up and walked closer to Ennard, apparently making Ennard back a little. Then Henry looked back at Ennard intensely up and down, then circled around the red-haired man and noticed several wires coming out of Ennard's back. "Interesting," Henry muttered, he sounded amazed and this time stared Ennard straight in the face,

Ennard gritted his teeth and pulled further away from Henry, making Henry to smile slightly before sitting back down to face Michael. "You inherited William's skills," Henry said, though it was easy to notice that his tone was sad when he mentioned his old friend's name. "By the way," Henry cleared his throat briefly, "as for your friend, we'd better leave it to the police."

"Police?" Michael frowned. "I don't believe them, what if it's too late? While they're always stalling for time to take care of something!"

"I know, I know you want to take an action as soon as possible." Henry pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, Michael recognized it as a map that Thomas had given him a while ago, he had indeed given it to Henry last night. "I also knew you would refuse the plan, so I thought of something else too." Henry said while looking at the two of them. "But that might be risky."

"Whatever the risk, I will take it." The eldest Afton glared steadily at Henry, while Ennard only nodded in agreement with his words.

The Emily's eyebrows knit together. "But, Mike, I don't want you to get hurt. You two."

"We'll be fine, Emily." Ennard snorted as he patted Michael on the shoulder, while Michael gave Henry a reassuring smile. "We've been through a lot, especially those lunatics who are constantly chasing this chubby—"

"Hey!"

"—we should be fine."

Michael puffed out his cheeks in annoyance that Ennard was completely ignoring his protest.

For a moment Henry still kept his worried expression, before he nodded slowly. "In that case, okay." Henry spread the map out on the table. "It's a pretty plain and simple plan, all you need to do is go to their base." Henry pointed to the area that had been circled in red marker. "That place is pretty close around town," Henry said as he looked at Ennard and Michael, then he looked back at the map. "Of course you guys have to be careful, there might be a trap or something. I'll catch up with you two later with the authorities."

"So, we're going to cooperate with the police?"

"No." Henry smiled. "Reporting to police is only plan A. They don't work for the government; they act of their own free will with official documents that what they are doing has been approved by the government itself. For this case, I have an acquaintance there and I will discuss it with him." Henry folded his arms across his chest. "But it is possible that they will cooperate with the police to take care of the people who are after you."

"Free agent, huh," Ennard muttered, causing Michael to glance at him for a moment. "I don't mind that, how about you, Afton?"

"Can you stop calling me Afton?" Michael pouted, Ennard rolled his eyes in boredom. "I don't mind at all as long as we save Lucy."

Henry nodded too. "In that case, okay." He paused for a moment and stared at Michael who was now arguing a bit with Ennard about how Ennard often called him by his family name, then the corner of Henry's lips lifted upwards. "I'll be meeting my acquaintances to talk it over, then. You two stay here, we'll probably make our move tomorrow."

Michael watched as Henry get up from his seat, he also stood up. "Uncle—thanks again," Michael said earnestly, Henry just gave him a warm smile and left the two of them in the dining room. Ennard glanced at Michael.

"Afton."

"Just shut up if you can't call me Michael."