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"If anybody was going to lose it and burn down Fredbear's, I never would've taken you to be the prime candidate," remarked Mike Afton flippantly, leaning against the restroom wall watching his father's security guard strike a match in front of the mirror that ran the length of the wall above the row of sinks. The teenager crossed his bare arms over the chest of his favorite muscle shirt, a garment that had already started its decline from black to a faded gray.
"This might be the first cool thing you've done in your life," he added, leaning in to take note of the collection of small objects Ralph was arranging on the edge of the sink. "A real crime, neato!" Mike resented the training manager and guard for his unflagging loyalty to his father, and for never speaking up against the insults William constantly directed his way. Worse yet, Ralph was frequently tasked with chauffering Mike and his two younger siblings when their father was at work, and to the teenager, Ralph came across like the annoying but responsible older brother he had never asked for.
"Your father hasn't pushed me that far yet," Ralph chuckled darkly. "However, the way he spoke to you back there was inexcusable."
"The boyfriend comment? Yeah, that was a jerk move." Mike's face flushed as he recalled the angry accusation from his father in front of his workers gathered in the break room, that he should quit giving free arcade tokens to his boyfriends, unless he wanted the cost taken from his allowance. "They're just my friends, and I'm glad none of them heard that or they'd give me such a hard time. Or they'd just leave. Hey, what are you doing if you're not being a firebug, by the way?"
"It's okay if you do feel something for any of them," Ralph said gently. "There's been some guys I liked, but I never gathered up the courage to do anything about it, y'know, to tell them. And this," he added, holding up a hefty sewing needle he had borrowed from the parts and service sewing kit, used for mending animatronic costumes, "is my plan to deflect your dad's heckling away from you for a change." He held the match to the needle, sterilizing it.
"Here goes nothing." Fishing an ice cube from a foam cup resting with his other paraphernalia on the sink, Ralph held it to the back of his right earlobe, then bit his lower lip and drove the needle through his skin.
"Yeow, that was badass!" Mike blurted out, watching his sometimes-mentor wince and begin wiping a slow trickle of blood from his ear, though not before a few drops landed onto the shoulder of his light blue uniform shirt. "Maybe I misjudged you. Ya going punk or something?"
Ralph turned, having pushed one of the cheap gold metal earrings he had bought on his lunch break into place. Eyeing himself in the mirror, he chuckled.
"I should've spent more on this; it'll probably corrode and turn my ear all green. Whatever style I'm rocking here, it's about as far from punk as one can get," he said, his grin widening as he gestured to his wire-framed eyeglasses and outmoded, winged hairstyle that he hadn't changed since his high school graduation four years before. "But this earring will no doubt cheese off your old man even worse than if I returned to my post out there on the arcade floor sporting a purple mohawk. It's a low-key way of hinting that I might not be the straight arrow he thought I was. I can take the dressing-down he's no doubt going to give me in front of everyone, but like I said, he'll leave you alone for a change and hey, problem solved, right?"
Mike shifted a sneaker across the tiled floor uncomfortably. "He kinda does see you that way already, and grumbles about you pretty often behind your back. My kid brother asked me why you're so good at pinball if you're limp-wristed. Wanna guess where he heard that one?"
Ralph smirked. "I should be mad, but that's actually pretty funny. Still no way to talk within earshot of a five-year-old, though."
"He's also still fuming over the way you knocked up-- I mean, sorry, the way you got Cindy pregnant, because first he was annoyed with you for maybe liking guys and then it looked like you might like girls after all."
"I do love Cindy, though." Ralph's continued smirk fell into a sad smile. "Even if we were only together, er, once and I was so hammered I can't remember much, she had my daughter and I'll forever respect her for that." His thoughts went to his bubbly, happy toddler and the beyond-awkward way he had awakened next to his best friend and coworker, at the time unaware of the new life they had created.
"I never admitted it until now, but that is kinda cool of you for raising Copper as a single dad."
And that's kinda cool of you for practically raising your younger siblings since your dad hardly seems interested in the job, though I wish you'd be kinder to them, Ralph thought.
-----
"Mike!" Ralph frowned at the teenager twenty minutes later, having strolled out to the loading dock behind the diner only to find Mike hastily stubbing out a cigarette. "If your dad catches you with those things again, he's not going to buy it this time if I tell him they're actually mine and you were borrowing them."
"Sorry," Mike mumbled, then noticed Ralph's unsettled demeanor as he seated himself at the edge of the loading dock, staring down at his worn sneakers. "So, speaking of him, how did that one go down?"
"Like a lead balloon, and about as poorly as expected. But it's safe to say he's got me in his sights now. Whatever, he won't fire me, because who else would he find to scrub the toilets and muck out the utility sink every now and then?" Despite receiving only meager raises for volunteering to do janitorial tasks that had nothing to do with his position as a security guard, Ralph could never bring himself to leave the work undone or pass it off to one of the teenage party hosts or arcade technicians.
"I know we're not best friends or anything and some days we can barely stand each other, but you literally shed blood today to make my life a little easier, and so I owe you some thanks." Mike reached out a hand and rested it briefly on Ralph's shoulder, earning an appreciative nod and smile in return.
"The way he was treating you was downright cruel, and I didn't want to see it escalate the way...the way it happened to me." Ralph looked over at Mike with a strained expression and prepared to share the secret he had never dared to reveal to anyone before.
"Y'know already how my dad disowned me and threw me out of the house when I told him Coppelia was on her way, oh, and for good measure he broke my nose as a parting gift. That was only half of the story, though." Ralph hurried his speech, anxious to get the words out before he had second thoughts about confiding in Mike.
"He was shouting about how irresponsible I was and then he sarcastically said he had assumed I liked Henry for all the gushing praise I had to share about the guy, every chance I got. I guess I did talk him up pretty often. So when I'd had enough, I mouthed off and admitted that for the record, I did have a crush on Henry, but out of respect for his being a married man, I'd never act on that and Cindy was the first girl I'd realized I had feelings for. I really got kicked out for, well, 'coming out,' as they call it."
"Damn, that's harsh." Mike gave a low whistle of appreciation before hastily adding, "and don't worry, I won't tell anyone that stuff, although I think Henry already knows you like him. He was already taken, but he did the next best thing. I've noticed how nice he is to you, when not everybody is exactly like that around here. I could do better in that department myself."
"Thanks, Mike," Ralph said softly. "That means so much. But if anything, you ought to be nicer to your kid brother. Scaring him half out of his wits all the time is going to scar him for life. My dad made most of my childhood a never-ending, terrifying game of hide-and-seek, and you've probably noticed I still jump at loud noises and startle easily. Why, if I had a dollar for every time I've spilled coffee down the front of my uniform shirt because the phone rang unexpectedly..."
The security guard rose to his feet, announcing he had better return to work before William docked his pay, and Mike waited outside for a few more minutes, thinking about all that they had talked about.
-----
"Hey, kiddo?" Mike felt guilt well up when his brother flinched at the tap on the shoulder of his striped t-shirt. "Sorry. How about we set up the milk crates so you're tall enough to reach the buttons on the pinball machines, and we'll play a few rounds together? You're getting really good at some of those games, far better than I ever was at your age."
He felt a wash of relief when his brother cautiously took his outstretched hand and they crossed the arcade floor together in search of a game. That was mixed with the sense of joy he felt when they passed Ralph, who was faithfully making his rounds among the games, his earlobe still glistening with a sheen of red.
Exchanging a three-way smile, Mike felt like maybe everything would be okay and things could only get better from here.