Michael splashed his face with running water from the bathroom sink and waited for the redness and puffiness in his eyes to dissipate. He ran his fingers through his hair before putting on his old baseball cap. The longer he spent in this house, the more the walls closed in, but he couldn't let Gregory see him like this. Michael had to give him a good impression. He had to seem reliable and trustworthy if he wanted Gregory to like him. He hadn't expected him to forget about him, but he also hadn't anticipated him to have seen his breakdown tapes. He was surprised that Gregory had no issue following his orders, especially after seeing his videos, but his poor memory allowed Michael to have a clean slate and reconnect with him.

But his unfortunate mother... Michael regretted letting Gregory roam around on his own. He should've been by his side when he had found her, or maybe he could have found her first and prevented him from seeing her. Michael's breathing began to quicken as he remembered the state she was in. When the incident happened all those years ago, Michael had abruptly left without any warning. She tried to contact him for several months, but once he changed his phone number, he never heard from her. Still, he couldn't help but stalk her online pages as it was his only way of remembering her and Gregory. He remembered the panic that shot through his body when she posted his missing person poster.

Michael hit his chest to calm his breathing, and when he had finished pulling himself together, he left the house and walked to his car that was parked on the side of the road. He caught a glimpse of the passenger seat through the window and saw Gregory sleeping peacefully on the lowered chair. He had his blankets up to his chin and laid on his side, curling his legs close to his chest.

Michael watched as Gregory's shoulders moved as he breathed. When he realized how awkward this was, he shook his head to clear it and opened the passenger door quietly. He slowly lifted Gregory's seat and fastened his seat belt. If Michael planned on driving to the pizzaplex like he had promised, he was going to make sure he followed basic traffic laws. Once he pulled back from locking in the safety belt, he glanced up at Bowtie, who was sitting on the ledge between the two front seats and glaring daggers at him. Michael stepped back, startled from suddenly seeing it.

Before Michael could say anything to it, Bowtie put a single paw up to its mouth as if to motion "Shh!" Its face remained angry, but it wasn't willing to wake up Gregory. That was fine with Michael, as he didn't want to wake him up either. He peered to see the backseat. Gregory's backpack was thrown back there without any thought, but Michael knew there was nothing in it. He opened the door and quickly grabbed it. Michael had already packed things he believed he'd need; a flashlight, a water bottle, and some extra tools in case of an emergency, so he figured he'd give Gregory some similar items. Bowtie's arms flailed around trying to grab Michael's attention. He silently groaned, but reluctantly opened the door and took it as well.

When Michael was back in the house, Bowtie let out its frustration. "What is wrong with you? Why were you staring ? Oh, I knew you were a creep!" it bursted out, crossing its arms.

"That's not it," Michael replied, "I just never thought I'd see him again." Much less like this. Every interaction he had with Gregory was far from normal. Michael hoped this whole thing would finish soon so they could really connect with one another.

"Uh huh! Sure," Bowtie sounded unconvinced. Michael sighed, though he knew if he was going to get close to Gregory, he had to get along with Bowtie too.

Michael walked into the kitchen and looked through the cupboards, placing Bowtie on the counter. "What kind of foods do you think he'd like?" he asked it. If they were to be in the pizzaplex for so long, he was going to have to eat something. He already had an empty stomach.

"Why would I answer that?" Bowtie huffed, annoyed.

"Because you need me to carry you back to the car," Michael said, glaring at it in triumph. The hand puppet's weakness; unable to move without the help of someone else. It gave out a defeated sigh.

"He has low blood sugar," Bowtie said, "so get him something with a lot of sugar in it!"

"I can't give him just candy," Michael said. Surely there were healthier options. If Michael could, he'd cook him a meal, but at this point all the food in this house has expired or is on the brink of it, and he had no idea how old the foods at the pizzaplex were.

"You don't really have much of a choice," Bowtie said. Michael quickly put together a few different snacks. There wasn't much left in the house to begin with, but he chose to grab some collections of crackers and fruit gummies, the kind of snacks with no ambiguity of their state. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. If worse comes to shove, the pizzaplex should have some non-expirable food around. It'd just be hard to come across.

Next was a flashlight. Gregory was going to need one too. Michael moved to the laundry room where he had initially found a collection of batteries, screws, and flashlights in the drawers. There was one flashlight left. He turned it on, but it didn't light up, so he opened up its hatch and replaced it with new batteries. He flicked it on one more time to double check, but this time it worked, so he confidently put the flashlight into the backpack. Michael could hear Bowtie yelling for his attention.

He left the room and was back in the kitchen, where Bowtie sat on the counter. "Don't you dare leave me here!" it shouted, flailing its arms once again. Michael nonchalantly picked it up in his other hand.

"Would you relax?" Michael asked. "I'm not going to leave you behind. Gregory wouldn't like that." He seemed to really like this toy. Bowtie's guard dropped a little, but it remained displeased.

"I still don't trust you," it muttered.

"Why?"

" Why ? Because... I don't know! Look at you," it said, spreading its arms out towards Michael. "Someone Gregory barely knows is suddenly here to save the day? Tch!"

Michael tried to ignore its comments, but it kept going. "And you know this house way too well for a family friend!" it yelled. "What are you doing in his mom's will anyway? It's weird!"

"Maybe if you ask politely I'll tell you," Michael said, though he had no intention to do so. Bowtie simulated an exhale and asked nicely, "Why are you in Gregory's mom's will?"

Michael brought his hand up to his face and smirked. "Hmm... not telling," he said.

"What? But you said you would!" Bowtie refuted. Michael shook his head.

"No, I said maybe I would," he clarified. It exasperated an annoyed face.

Bowtie really did act like a child. Its personality was something Michael hadn't witnessed inside of an AI before. During his years engineering and programming, he always tried to make sure his own designs had the basic three laws of robots and common sense. Since his animatronics were expected to be around children so often, he made sure each was capable of taking care of a child. He added many safety protocols to keep them at bay in an emergency, though Gregory claimed they were now rampaging through the pizzaplex for blood. Bowtie, on the other hand, wasn't engineered by him. It was much smaller, and therefore less of a threat. It's main appeal was its ability to talk and play with its kid, basically acting like a best friend. Michael imagined it'd also be good at pretending, as hand puppets are typically used for shows.

"Who made you anyways?" Michael suddenly asked. He hadn't realized how far in thought he had gotten.

"How should I know? I wasn't alive during the building process!" it yelled, still frustrated at Michael.

"Okay, well, what do you know? Certainly there's more to you than a children's toy," Michael replied. It was too intricate to only be used for a child's entertainment.

It groaned, but it thought for a while before saying, "I know the price of the animatronics at the rental facility! Though, I guess it might be outdated."

Figures it would know that. It was a walking, talking advertisement with self-awareness.

"I was asking about the way you function. Anything about that?" Michael clarified. It thought about it some more.

"I'm supposed to pick up on keywords!" it said excitedly.

"Keywords?"

"Yes! Like, want, buy, have. Things like that. I have to keep track of what would make a child happy," it said.

Michael facepalmed at its stupidity. It wasn't just a toy, it was built to spy on its owners, filter that information, and give it to Fazbear Entertainment. They'd be able to add whatever those kids claimed they wanted in the facility, or, even worse, sell that kind of personal data to other companies. It was like how phones and computers kept track of all the websites you visit in order to advertise things you liked. Of course they'd stoop so low.

"You're not connected to the internet, are you?" Michael asked. He wanted to bring it along to make Gregory happy, but he couldn't risk it revealing their plan to the corporation. Bowtie shook its head.

"I don't think so. The toy line was canceled," it said. That was a bit relieving. It was unlikely they'd have any servers open for a toy that isn't on shelves anymore. Michael was getting curiouser by the minute by its design. He wanted to tear it open and look through its parts, but there was probably a better time for that.

"Anything else you think Gregory will need?" Michael asked, changing subjects.

"Water," Bowtie said simply. Right, hydration was important. Michael took one of the plastic water bottles and put it in the backpack.

Michael got ready to leave, but he passed by the markings on the indent of the hall. He stopped and gazed at it for a while. There were several small lines drawn onto the wall. The blue lines represented Gregory's height, while the green was his brother. Each line had a number next to it to indicate how old they were. The green lines stopped at twelve.

Michael remembered that morning vividly. Gregory's brother was waiting for his friends to arrive for the birthday party, and so they recorded his height as they always did on the kids' birthdays. He exclaimed about how tall he was, and Michael told him that one day he'd outgrow him. He seemed to like that idea.

Even though he went there so often, he still wanted his party to take place at the pizzaplex. He always was so mystified by the place. Michael complied, and even organized a few special events for him. Gregory, on the other hand, hated the pizzaplex. He couldn't step within sight of an animatronic before breaking down, so Michael would always keep him away from his work whenever he could. He had always taken his brother alone to the pizzaplex on his days in, but since their mother wanted to join the party, Gregory had to as well. He was too young at the time to participate in the same activities as his brother, and so he was dropped off at the daycare. It hurt Michael to leave him behind while he cried, but he figured he'd calm down eventually once he realized there was nothing to be afraid of. Then his brother went missing, and the rest is history.

Michael traced his thumb along the last green mark. It was up to his diaphragm. He still had to lean over to hug him properly when he was still alive. Michael let go of the wall and looked at the other markings.

The blue line stopped before twelve. Michael couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. Why hadn't they continued tracking his height? There were some faint, shaky lines of blue, as if it was drawn by Gregory himself, but they were barely visible in contrast to the bright green that was slightly above it. He stopped trying to draw them around nine.

"What are you doing?" Bowtie spoke up. Michael sighed and said, "Just thinking."

"Well, stop it. It's weird," it said. It wasn't that odd for one to reminisce, but Bowtie wasn't aware of Michael's connection to this family.

Michael put his hand up to the wall and tried to remember Gregory's height. He was much shorter than his brother at the same age, which Michael thought was strange. The doctor had clearly stated that they'd both grow to be relatively the same height. Maybe he would just have a late growth spurt.

Michael couldn't hide his curiosity about the other rooms in the house. He wanted to visit Gregory's and his brother's old room, but he worried it would be an infringement on their privacy. He convinced himself to visit only his brother's room, just to ease his mind.

Bowtie yelled at him as he walked through the hallway, "Hey! You're going the wrong way!" It had expected Michael to leave the house by now, but he planned to quickly peek into the room and then leave.

He crept open his door and looked inside. It was as neat as ever, with the only odd thing being an opened box and a Puppet plushie. "This is Gregory's brother's room! Get out!" Bowtie screamed, flailing its arms.

"It's just like how I remember," Michael murmured in a state of shock. His green bedding looked as if it hadn't been touched since that day. His old whiteboard still had the physics equation he had told him to try out. His desk was spotless, excluding the lamp that sat on it.

"And why do you know this room so well?" Bowtie asked. It was still very much distrustful of Michael. He ignored it, continuing to gaze into the room. Michael made note of all the books that sat on his shelves, remembering the ones that he had bought as gifts.

"You know this house," Bowtie said, thinking out loud, "you know of Gregory and his brother, you're even in his mom's will! You're–" it cut itself off and gasped in realization. Michael turned his attention to it.

"You totally are his mom's secret lover!" it said. Michael groaned.

"Close," he said, waiting for Bowtie to put two and two together.

"You're, uhm..." it trailed off, thinking.

"It starts with a D. Or an F in some cases," Michael hinted. It brought its paw to its chin as it thought hard.

"Wait," it said, its gears finally putting it all together, "You're his dad?"

Michael nodded. Bowtie pulled down its ears in excitement, shrieking in joy and shaking its head.

"Haha! You are his mom's lover!" it said. "I love being right." Michael shrugged, not sure what to say to that. He supposed Bowtie had already made odd suspicions of him.

"Wait, wait wait wait," it said, slowing down and turning back to Michael, "why haven't you told Gregory? He'd be ecstatic!"

"No, no, I can't tell him," Michael said. Gregory was already under so much pressure. Michael didn't want to add to his stress.

"Why not? He looks up to you, 'ya know. The least you could do is tell him the truth," Bowtie said, crossing his arms. Was that true?

"It'd just make things more complicated," Michael said.

Bowtie growled in annoyance. "Well, if you don't tell him, I will!"

"No! No, you can't," Michael protested.

"I can and will!" it refuted, crossing its arms.

Michael panicked, but he breathed for a minute. The worst he could do is leave Bowtie behind so that it couldn't tell Gregory. He really didn't have anything to worry about. This hand puppet wouldn't be able to do much if it was left on its own. Still, if he wanted Gregory to trust him, Bowtie was essential.

"Listen," Michael said, beginning to bargain with it, "I do want to tell him, and I will eventually. It's just... he doesn't remember me. Let me have these few days of bliss, and then I'll tell him everything."

"Uhm, no!" it disagreed. "The sooner you tell him, the better! Don't you see he needs his dad right now?"

It'd be so much easier if Michael could just keep pretending to be only a close family friend. He could still take care of Gregory like his own, without having to face what he had done. Michael had left him behind when his eldest son died. He was ashamed of his choice, but the more time that had passed, the worst it became to simply return. He didn't want Gregory to hate him. He wanted to show him that he was now more ready than ever to be a good person and parent. He had spent so long preparing for an opportunity like this, and while the amnesia on Gregory's side wasn't expected, Michael was willing to use it to his advantage.

"I'm still his dad whether he knows it or not," Michael said. "Gregory can't take another shock right now. I just want to wait until this all blows over, okay?"

"But that's lying!" Bowtie argued.

"It isn't lying, it's just... not mentioning it," Michael said.

Bowtie was still unconvinced. It glared at Michael more than it ever had.

"Just do this simple favor for me, yeah? I'll tell him eventually," Michael said, trying to reassure Bowtie.

"And why should I?" Bowtie asked, its voice full of sass.

"Because if you don't, I'll either leave you here or destroy you," Michael bluffed. He would leave it here if he absolutely had to, but he wouldn't purposefully destroy Gregory's favorite toy. Still, if bargaining wasn't going to work with Bowtie, Michael had to resort to threats.

Bowtie gasped. "You wouldn't!"

"I so would!" Michael refuted. It felt somewhat silly, but if Bowtie was programmed to act like a child, it was only natural to treat it as such.

Bowtie growled while its eye twitched, but it sighed in defeat and said, "Fine. But you have to tell Gregory at some point!"

"Of course I will," Michael replied. He was going to have to keep his eye on it. He knew Bowtie was aware of Gregory's circumstance, and with the fear of being destroyed if it told him, it'd avoid telling him. However, it may spill when it's alone with Gregory, and Michael couldn't take that chance.