Chapter Text
You would've thought that after being forced to work for his father and waking up early every day for years, Michael wouldn't have any trouble with getting to work on time. Well you would be wrong because there he was, running down the street, deluding himself into believing he can somehow make it in time even though it was already five past eight. He might have underestimated how much time it'll actually take to do the make-up that's supposed to cover up the vitiligo marks on his face. Finding gloves to cover up the double-colored hands turned out to be quite the challenge as well because someone didn't think about preparing everything the day before.
It was even more embarrassing to be late since Mike was made aware that he's supposed to work with someone. If he was meant to do it alone, it wouldn't be so bad, he'd just open the restaurant a couple minutes late, it's not like there would be customers waiting at 8 A.M. anyways. But there already was someone. Someone opened the doors of the restaurant and was now waiting for Michael fucking Afton, or rather Fritz Smith as they know him at Freddy's, to finally show up. What was he supposed to say? "Hey sorry I'm late, I'm a fucking dumbass and didn't prepare anything yesterday so I had to rush getting ready this morning."? That's just fantastic.
The brunette wasn't good with people in general, he barely ever spoke to anyone at all actually, let alone handling awkward situations like this one. The only human interaction he was involved in somewhat regularly was talking to the cashier in the grocery shop. Other than that… oh there was a cat! That was something! There was this once cat that would occasionally visit Michael in his apartment. He liked talking to him a lot. He always listened…
Oh it's gonna be a rough start.
The thing that ripped Michael out of his own head was that he almost crashed into the front door of the pizzeria because he underestimated the distance he'll need to slow down from the sprint. As if his first day couldn't get even more embarrassing. Jesus.
The young man stood there for a moment, panting and struggling to catch his breath and hesitating to walk inside. ‘ Get yourself together, Afton. Stop being a bitch and just get in there, you're already late.’ He thought to himself and pushed the, pretty heavy, door open.
Upon entering, the first thing he heard was music playing - it was a song by Queen but he wasn't quite sure about the title of this one. Lover Boy? Something like that.
He took a couple steps forward letting the doors shut behind him. He couldn't see anyone at first but he did hear a voice. A voice that was singing along to the words of the song and getting the lyrics on point.
Michael cleared his throat before attempting to make the other person aware of his presence. "H-E-llo? I'm uh- I'm supposed to start working here today, sorry for being late!" He called out but was met with nothing but more singing. So he was not heard. Maybe it was for the best, considering how terribly his voice broke. Geez, he really didn't get to talk much, did he? He sighed and looked around a bit, trying to remember as many details about the place as he could in a short time. Why? He liked to be aware of his surroundings at all times so nothing could surprise him. You call it trauma, he calls it a quirk, you're not the same.
Then he began walking further and further into the restaurant, trying to follow the voice to find his new coworker. And finally he did! He walked into the Kid's Cove just to find a person about the same height as himself, with short blonde hair with a longer rat tail at the back. Something like the thing young Luke Skywalker had but centered instead of on the side. It was also much thicker than Luke's. Another thing that caught Mike's eye were the multiple piercings in the blonde's ears and bottom lip, he thought they looked really cool.
They seemed to be lost in their own thoughts as he was mopping the floor and putting on a show for what seemed to be a broken animatronic sitting in the corner, pretending to be Freddie Mercury. It was quite entertaining, you had to admit. But the spectacle ended as soon as emerald green eyes caught a glimpse of an unknown person standing awkwardly in the doorway. He stopped singing mid-word and stumbled a bit while trying to get himself back to standing properly right after mimicking Freddie's dance moves. He gave the stranger a goofy grin and an awkward chuckle before speaking. "Hey don't creep up on me like that, you scared me!" They said with a quite noticeable Irish accent. "You have to be the new guy, right? I'm Jeremy." They chirped out and came closer, offering the brunette a hand to shake.
Michael needed a second to process what just happened because it was quite a lot for him. He stared at Jeremy for a short moment before his eyes trailed down to the hand reached out to him, finally grabbing and shaking it softly. Jeremy didn't seem to be bothered by the gloves, they weren't going to question it either. He just assumed there had to be a good reason for them. "Fritz. It's Fritz Smith." His reply very quick and automatic as if it has been schedultd many times before. He had to be prepared for this moment as to not blow hiw cover the very first day.
"Alright, Fritz Smith." Jeremy chuckled and retracted his hand to put it in their pocket. "So tell me, don't you have a clock at home?" He asked, raising his eyebrow. That made Michael visibly nervous. He looked down for a second and rubbed his own arm. "No no, I do, I'm sorry for being late it's just-" He didn't get to finish, getting interrupted by the other's laugh. "It's fine, I wasn't being serious. Nobody's ever here at this time anyway so I don't mind, really. As long as you show up at all, it'll be a-okay."
"Oh. Well… Still, it's embarrassing to be late on my first day, I wanted to show myself from my best side and that kinda ruins it. I mean, I could still try but that doesn't have much sense now, does it? Apparently the first impression is the most important and I already screwed that up by not only being late but also accidentally sneaking up on you and creating a really awkward situation for both you and me. Now we'll both think about it for a long time and we'll be reminded of it every time we see each other and it'll prevent us from viewing each other differently than the first time we met and- oh god, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to ramble like that it's just- I uh… I don't really talk much to people and I don't know when to stop. Sorry, you probably don't wanna hear about it from someone you met less than two minutes ago, I'm sorry." ‘ Aren't you just fantastic, Afton? Outstanding first impression. Idiot. ’
Michael was surprised when instead of much expected scolding or annoyance he was met by a friendly gaze and a warm smile. Jeremy was listening to him carefully, leaning on the mop and they quickly shook his head as soon as the brunette started apologizing. "No no, it's fine, I don't mind. If you think you talk a lot, just wait and see what I can do." He laughed. "People constantly tell me to shut up but oh boy, once I start there's no stopping until I'm done. But if you're so worried about the first impression, you can bump into me again and I'll pretend I've never seen you before in my life."
The silly suggestion made Mike laugh quietly. What a strange person Jeremy was. He seemed to be so… so… totally different from Michael. Does that make them strange? After giving it a second thought, it's probably Michael that's the strange one here. But Jeremy really didn't mind… at least not yet. Afton was sure that his new coworker would grow tired of how annoying and weird he was. Everyone else always did so why would this time be different?
Jeremy didn't think Mike was weird at all. He seemed to just be a little awkward but that's it, they couldn't imagine him being annoying beyond tolerance. Sure, they didn't know each other at all but Jer had a good feeling about this strange fella.
He swung their pretty muscular arm to wrap it around the smaller man’s shoulders but the reaction he was met with made them change his mind. Michael flinched and curled up on himself a bit, taking a step away. Jeremy has seen this kind of behavior before, he knew exactly what that meant. Their heart dropped and a wave of embarrassment hit them instantly. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I'm pretty touchy with people but I should've asked first. Are you okay?" They asked, voice soft and soothing to help the other relax. "Huh? Oh- yeah no I'm fine it's just- I'm not very used to being touched. I don't mind it! I just didn't expect it, I guess." He replied, straightening his back again and looking to the side. "Mhmm… Well, I'll make sure to ask next time. I don't want to scare you." The light mustache curving as the warm, friendly smile appeared on Jeremy’s face. "Now! I should probably show you around, new guy. How’s that sound?" He said enthusiastically, feeling like someone important, someone big, responsible for showing the new person what's where. It was a feeling they enjoyed quite a bit, something he didn’t get to feel while growing up with two older brothers and borderline neglectful parents.
Michael didn't answer verbally, just nodded with a smile, truly excited to get to know the pizzeria. One, maybe it would help him find out something, anything , about his father who allegedly worked here before. And two, he wanted to get to know more about the pizzeria and the animatronics in general. If he was supposed to be working here, it's in his best interest to learn everything as quickly as possible.
They briefly went through every room in the pizzeria, there was no time to waste on staying in every room for too long. Maybe they could get into more details some other day. Jeremy also introduced Michael to all the animatronics, much to his displeasure. He hated them. He hated those robots. Hated them. Hated them. But he had to keep calm. He didn't want Jeremy to question it. He'd look crazy! A guy who hates animatronics came to work in a pizzeria full of them? Yeah, a total weirdo!
The thing that surprised Mike the most was that all the animatronics were turned on before anyone even came to the restaurant. Back in Fredbear's Family Diner they were off until the first customers started showing up both to save energy and for safety reasons. They would only be turned on in “checkup mode” before opening so the staff members could make sure everything is working properly.
He figured out that the robots were, indeed, on when Mangle’s head suddenly turned towards him when he was kneeling next to her.
It made Michael jump and squeak in surprise and Jeremy couldn't contain their laughter that almost sent him crashing on the floor. Mike groaned, a bit frustrated at the reaction. There he was, close to a heart attack after an animatronic moved towards him when he was certain that it was deactivated and what was he met with?! His coworker is laughing their ass off?!
Mike huffed but took a deep breath to calm down. He didn't want to let his nerves get the better of him, Jeremy didn't deserve to see that side of him.
They were nothing but nice to him so far. He did nothing wrong. It was okay.
Everything was okay. It was funny, his reaction was funny, laughter was a perfectly fine thing in this situation. It's fine. It's okay. Deep breath in and out.
Fitzgerald noticed the change in Mike's behavior so he calmed down and tilted their head to the side. "Umm… Are you alright?" They walked a little closer but not too close.
"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine, don't worry. I was just a bit surprised, that's all. Why on earth are they on?" He asked and was met by a shrug.
"I dunno man, I think it has to do with their face recognition tech. They're not only entertainment but also security machines, they're supposed to be guarding the pizzeria and notify the staff or deal with any danger."
"What do you mean by 'deal'?"
"I wish I knew. The higher-ups never tell us anything. I'm not a mechanic, I don't know how they work exactly and I've never seen them in action other than that one time they started screaming when they saw Dave. I thought they're only supposed to do that when they detect a known criminal or a person banned from Freddy's. I guess it was some glitch in the system or something."
Michael's eyes lit up when the Dave guy was mentioned. So the animatronics went off after seeing his face huh? Could it be… It was very possible.
"Dave, huh? Who's that? Does he work here?"
"Not anymore!" Jeremy replied leaning against the wall. "He's been our mechanic for a bit but didn't last long. One day he just… Got up and left, you know? Can't say I miss him. He was uh- weird, to say the least. He tried to convince us all really hard that he's a cowboy but that was nothing but a ton of bullshit, I can tell you that much. I bet you this guy's never seen a cow in his life. Why'd he try so hard, you might ask? No fecking idea! He was just a strange dude who spent most of the time with the old animatronics, you know, the ones brought here from some other location. Nobody knows what he was actually doing with them but he claimed to be harvesting parts that then he used to fix up the Toys. I couldn't tell you if that's true though, I know nothing about the mechanics." The blonde explained, visibly feeling very strongly about the whole cowboy thing. They seemed genuinely offended at how bad Dave was at convincing everyone of his origin.
He never really liked Miller. He was always so bossy and thought he's better than everyone around him. What a prick. Maybe it was rude but Jeremy was glad they didn't have to work with this weirdo, something about him was really off and gave Fitzgerald the ick.
Michael was taking in all this information like a sponge. Every little bit of it could be useful. Every, even the smallest thing, that could somehow help him get closer to finding his father was valuable. Mike knew he'll have to ask his coworker about "Dave" again. He was actually about to do this but he was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening and some customers coming in.
He'll come back to this conversation.