Chapter Text
Hurricane, Utah
July 23, 1983
5 days until the bite…
It was the dead of night in the Afton household. Everyone was sleeping soundly as crickets chirped and owls hooted from outside their window. All except for one. A little boy named Evan was not having as peaceful a night as the rest of his family. He tossed and turned in his bed while mumbling and murmuring. Tears leaked from the corners of his eyes as his mumbles turned into audible pleas for his life.
“No… please… stay away from me… NO!!!” Even jolted upwards, his eyes bulging out of his sockets as he looked around the room. His heart was racing, the horrible monsters he just saw in his dream still fresh in his mind.
Evan slid out of bed and sniffled softly, tears still dripping down his cheeks. As Evan sobbed, he noticed his favorite toy sitting on a chair nearby. His beloved plush Fredbear, woven together with pristine yellow fleece, with a dapper violet tophat and matching bowtie. His dark, fleece eyes locked with the little boy’s, and Evan immediately ran to hug it for comfort.
He rubbed his eyes before slowly walking toward the door so he could get some water from the kitchen to help calm down, still carrying his toy in his arms. As he reached the white wooden door and reached out towards the brass nob, he paused, his hand trembling as he remembered the awful nightmares that he just experienced. His mind wandered to images of the golden beast he encountered in his sleep lunging at him the moment he opened the door, and sinking its massive teeth into his skull.
“Don’t worry,” Fredbear said. “I’m right here beside you.”
Evan took a heavy gulp and gently opened the door. Upon opening the door, he was greeted with a pitch-black hallway, dimly illuminated by the half-moon outside a window at the end of the hallway, which gently anointed a vase of roses set atop a beige desk. The little boy then glanced to the right and saw an eerie blue glow flickering from the bend of the hallway, as well as the distant, slightly muffled sound of people talking.
Evan sighed softly, a bit relieved that he was finally out of his nightmare, before slowly creeping through the halls, being careful not to wake anyone. The rug compressed ever so slightly beneath his bare feet as he slowly dragged them across it. Eventually, he made it to the turn, where he peeked out of the hallway and saw the living room, which was lit up by the television as it played a show about a vampire and his wife.
He then gasped softly when he saw the form of a teenage boy lying on the couch in front of the TV. The boy had brown hair and light skin, matching Evan’s, he had a mullet with slightly curly hair, and he had well-sculpted muscles. He was wearing a grey sweater with ripped sleeves, blue jeans, and white socks, and he had his face covered with a red mask made in the likeness of a character named Foxy the Pirate Fox. This was Evan’s older brother, and frequent bully, Michael Afton.
Evan trembled nervously. He really didn’t want to wake up Michael. He could be mean on a typical day, but when he was woken up from his slumber, he was downright terrifying, as Evan had the displeasure of finding out. Slowly and carefully, Evan tip-toed across the room, his steps muffled by the carpet. He was just about to reach the kitchen when suddenly…
“GRAAAARRR!!!”
Evan screamed and faceplanted onto the ground. Michael proceeded to burst out in a fit of hysterics, kicking his feet in the air and laughing his head off while Evan quietly sobbed on the ground. Eventually, Michael sat up and took off his mask, still laughing at his little brother.
“Hahahaha! Oh God, you are too easy!” Mike teased as he wiped a tear from his eye.
“Why are you so mean, Mike?” Evan whined while still lying on the ground.
“Oh, calm down, you crybaby,” he mocked. “Honestly, you always make it so funny to pick on you, how could I resist?”
“Michael…” A woman growled.
Michael immediately froze and slowly turned his head to the hallway, which had its lights turned on. He saw two girls with long, bright orange hair and green eyes standing in the hall. One was an adult woman with the refined and elegant frame and posture of an experienced dancer, wearing a black nightgown and a very frustrated glare. The other was a little girl who was still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She was dressed in a pink, floral pattern pajama shirt and matching pants.
“H-hi, mom,” Michael said, dragging out his words awkwardly. “What are you doing up this late?”
The mother, Clara Afton, took a deep inhale through her nose, before letting it out through her mouth. Her expression softened, but she still clearly wasn’t happy with her son.
“Go to your room, Michael. I’ll be there to talk to you soon,” she sighed.
Michael sighed and did as he was told, heading over to his room with his head hung low, and his Foxy mask held in his hand. As he walked to his room down the warmly lit hall, he saw his father, William Afton, emerge from the basement. The two men sneered at eachother briefly before going their separate ways.
William, despite being Michael’s father, was the polar opposite of him in many ways. The two bore the same skin tone, green eyes, hair color, and general facial structure, but other than that, they couldn’t be further apart. Where Michael was slim and muscular, William was skinny and sickly looking with unusual scars visible on his hands and neck. Where Michael gave off a look of a gruff and wild hooligan with his grey jacket that had its sleeves ripped off and his untamed mane of a haircut, William presented himself as a refined gentleman with his dark purple suit and a slicked-back hairdo. While Michael was intimidating but attractive, William was imposing and unsettling.
Perhaps because of these many differences, the two didn’t have the best relationship, and would often find themselves at odds with eachother no matter the circumstances.
Michael watched his father slip into the bedroom across from him, before shutting his own door and passing by a trashcan overflowing with garbage, a set of baseball gear hanging in his open closet, several metal band posters, and a desk with an open notebook that hasn’t even been touched, before flopping over on his messy, unmade bed.
While he waited for his mother to come in and scold him, he grabbed a rubber ball from the floor and tossed it against the wall opposite of him. The ball bounced off of the wall, landed on the floor, and bounced right back into his open palm. Michael then ejected the ball from his hand and repeated the cycle until he heard his door slowly open.
“Michael?” Clara called. “Can I come in?”
Mike sighed. “Yeah.”
Clara gently opened the door and entered his living room before shutting the door behind him. She then sat down next to her son, who was still keeping up the gentle rhythm of playing catch with the wall. Clara looked down at the floor solemnly before gazing back at her son.
“You know what you did was wrong, right?” she said.
“Not this again,” Mike groaned.
“Michael, we wouldn’t have to have this talk again if you would stop picking on your siblings.”
“Well maybe I’d stop if it weren’t for dad-”
“Leave your father out of this,” Clara scolded. “I know he may not be the best father in the world-”
Mike scoffed. “Understatement of the century right there.”
“But that doesn’t give you the right to be mean to Evan and Elizabeth,” she continued. “Would you like it if someone tormented you for something someone else did?”
“I’m not ‘tormenting them,’ don’t be so dramatic,” Mike replied. “I’m just having some fun.”
“Michael, Evan was crying!”
Mike jolted slightly when Clara raised her voice, and the gentle thumping of the rubber ball came to a halt. Clara took a deep breath and calmed herself down, before continuing.
“Michael, you’re their older brother,” she said. “And you’re halfway through high school too. You have a lot of power over the two of them. And with great power…” She then remained silent.
Mike groaned softly but finished the sentence for her. “...Comes great responsibility. I know. You tell me this all the time.”
“Well, it’s because I mean it. You are responsible for looking out for the two of them and taking care of them just as much as your father and I are. You shouldn’t go around abusing your power for no reason.”
Mike remained silent and continued to avoid eye contact. Clara sighed, understanding that her son was still far from understanding that.
“The least you can do is apologize,” she said.
Mike gave a noncommittal nod and stood up, before exiting the room. Once he was out of sight, Clara buried her face in her hands and groaned.
“What am I gonna do with you, Mike?” She asked.
As she asked herself this, her husband slowly stepped in with his arms folded behind his back. He stood next to her and slowly ran his hand across her shoulder.
“Come now, my dear,” he said in a calm, sultry tone. “You can’t blame yourself for what the boy did. He’s always been a problem child.”
Clara peaked between her fingers and glared at William with disgust and irritation. “‘Problem child’?! You, of all people, have the nerve to call him a problem child?!” Clara stood up and prodded her finger into her husband’s chest while admonishing him. “You’re half the reason our son is like this, to begin with, William!”
“Honey-”
“Don’t you ‘honey’ me! I’m going back to bed,” and with that, she marched off in a huff. “Oh, and you’re sleeping on the couch tonight!”
With that, she marched into their room, slammed the door behind her, and locked it tight. William meanwhile simply stood in his son’s room, glaring down at a family photo on the corner of his desk. The photo showed William in an apron and standing behind a grill while Clara, who was still pregnant with Evan at the time, was hugging Michael from behind while he was waving at the camera. William picked up the picture frame, and his hand shook with anger.
“You always have to ruin everything, don’t you?” He growled. He then set the frame back down and left Mike’s room. “Tomorrow is another day…”
4 days until the bite…
Michael’s snores were audible from all across the front half of the school bus, disturbing multiple conversations in the process. He leaned against the window next to him and drool dripped from the corner of his lip all the way down to his lap. He was suddenly awoken however when his friend next to him abruptly shook his shoulder. Mike grunted audibly and rubbed his eye, before giving his friend an annoyed glare.
“Hey, don’t look at me like that!" Dylan retorted. "The big game is today! You've gotta be ready for this, dude!"
"Yeah, and what do you think I'm doing right now?" Mike asked. "I'm takin' a power nap so I don't end up falling asleep on the field."
"Let him sleep, Dylan," a girl said from behind them. The two turned around and saw their best pitcher, Hannah, poking her head up above the seat. "Mike's our star player, after all. We should let him rest up."
"Thanks, Hannah," Mike replied.
"Dude, you should have rested up last night!" Dylan scolded, "Why the hell are you falling asleep on the bus?"
"Well, I would've gotten more sleep if my crybaby of a brother didn't wake me up last night," Michael grumbled.
"Man, I feel you dude," another kid, Samuel, said. "My little brother, Fritz, can be so damn annoying sometimes."
"Yeah, same here with my cousin Cassidy," Dylan said. "God, she is such a brat sometimes. Thankfully she's with my aunt in San Francisco, so I don't have to live with her."
"God, I'm so jealous," Samuel sighed.
"Hey, didn't you say she and your aunt were in town to see the game?" Hannah asked.
Dylan groaned loudly. "Don't remind me!"
Everyone started laughing as the bus continued to drive towards the baseball field.
They arrived very soon, and they all got changed into their white uniforms, slipped on their black hats, and grabbed their equipment. As they entered the field with the rest of their team, they looked out into the stands to see their families waving at them. Hannah was clearly happy to see her mom and dad there, while Samuel was cringing as he watched his little brother trying to outscream the rest of the crowd while running left and right and waving his hands around. Dylan just winced in annoyance when he heard the shrill, high-pitched jeers of his little cousin, Cassidy.
“BOO!!!” Cassidy cried, “BOO!!! YOU SUUUUUCK!!! GET OFF THE FIELD!!!”
Dylan clenched his fist and gritted his teeth.
Michael looked into the stands for any sign of his family. Eventually, he saw his mom, sister, and brother entering the stands and sitting down next to Dylan’s family, mostly at Evan’s request as he really wanted to see Cassidy while she was in town. Michael sighed and glanced down in disappointment. Once again, no sign of his father.
‘Of course, he wouldn’t be here. Why would he be?’ Michael thought. ‘I’m only his oldest son. It’s not like I’m important to him or anything.’
However, Michael’s downtrodden eyes lit up when he heard a familiar voice in the crowd.
“CLARA! HEY, CLARA!” A man called.
Clara and Michael looked up and saw close family friend and his dad’s co-worker, Henry Emily approaching them while holding his daughter Charlie’s hand.
“Henry, you made it!” Clara replied with a warm smile.
Henry huffed and wiped some sweat off his forehead before sitting down next to her. “Yeah, I wouldn’t have missed this big day for the world.”
Mike’s heart was warmed hearing that.
“I’m glad you could come, Henry,” she said. “I take it William’s taking care of the Pizzarea while you’re not there?”
“Yeah, even after I told him he didn’t have to,” he said. “I even had Scott sub for us at Fredbear’s, but William still insisted he go in today.”
As the conversation shifted to William’s obsession with the recently expanded Fredbear Fazbear’s pizza party place, Michael was tapped on the shoulder by Hannah. He then turned around and faced his coach as he marched towards them, posture straight and arms crossed behind his back.
“Afton, how we lookin’?!” The coach barked in his typical overbearing tone. “You feelin’ good, kid?”
“I’m ready, coach!” Michael said while cracking his knuckles. “I’m gonna squash those scorpions!”
“That’s what I like to hear, kid!” He then looked at Hannah. “How’s that throwin’ arm, Prescott?”
“Warm and ready, coach!” Hannah said while rolling her shoulder.
“Alright! Look alive, Tigers! This is the game we’ve been trainin’ for! NOW LET ME HEAR YOU ROAR!”
Everyone on the team gave a thunderous roar in unison before charging onto the field to face their green-clad rivals, the Scorpions. The game started with the Tigers on batting. Hannah went up first. She tapped the bat on the home base before standing ready to swing. She stared at the tall, skinny Caucasian boy holding the ball, who snickered upon seeing her step up to the plate.
“EASY OUT!!!” He shouted, prompting more snickering from the rest of his team.
Hannah’s vision narrowed and watched as he wound up his pitch. With one swing, she knocked the ball across the field. As the ball landed, Hannah managed to make her way to first base, which the announcers were quick to comment on. The same scenario went down with Samuel, and despite his cousin’s jeers and an initial miss, Dylan did manage to get to first base as well.
Then it was Michael’s turn at the plate. He popped a stick of watermelon bubblegum into his mouth and then lined himself up for the swing. Mike smiled as his eyes scanned across the bases, looking at each of his friends. They’d been in this kind of situation so many times that they were able to coordinate this kind of thing without even saying a word. Mike’s eyes then zeroed in on the pitcher. It was clear that the boy knew what Mike and his friends were setting up. This play of theirs was the talk of the town after all. But Mike wasn’t worried. He simply blew a pink bubble from his lips and tapped his foot, before watching the pitcher throw his shot. Time slowed to a crawl for Mike as he watched the ball zooming towards him at a slight angle.
‘Oh no, a curveball! Whatever shall I do?’ Michael thought sarcastically with a smug smirk on his face.
Michael swung his bat just as it reached him…
And the bubble popped.
CLACK!!!
An enormous sound boomed across the field as Mike’s bat made contact with the ball. The little white orb of leather rocketed across the sky, over the heads of everyone in the field, before landing outside of the field. The crowd erupted in cheers and the pitcher dropped to his knees.
“AND IT’S OUT OF THE PARK, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!!” One of the announcers shouted. “THE BALL IS OUT OF THE PARK!!! ANOTHER STUNNING PERFORMANCE FROM MICHAEL AFTON, THE PRIDE OF SELLDSHARE HIGH!!!”
Michael and his friends jogged across the field while waving at the crowd as they cheered and clapped. Hannah gave a smug side-eye to the pitcher as he knelt on the ground in shame, before cartwheeling over home base. The rest of the quartet landed on it before Michael was hoisted into the air by his team while they cheered for him.
As Mike basked in his victory, he looked into the stands and saw his family clapping for him. And then the victory was soured as he was once again reminded of his father’s absence.
The rest of the game went just as well for the team. Hanna struck out their best batters, Michael got two more home runs, Dylan caught a ball that would have been a home run for the Scorpions, and Samuel acted as an immovable wall to anyone trying to get past first base. By the end of the game, the Tigers left the Scorpions in the dust, crushing them in the score and winning the final match of the season.
After changing into a black skull T-shirt and torn jeans, and trading his baseball glove for a pair of fingerless gloves, he left the field with his friends while they were all talking about how thoroughly they destroyed the Scorpions. While Michael was gloating about hitting three home runs in a row, they were stopped suddenly by the loud and excited screams of Elizabeth as she ran up to Michael and hugged him by the waist.
“THAT WAS AMAZING, MIKEY!!!” She praised. “YOU’RE SOOOOO COOL!”
Mike grumbled in embarrassment, then ruffled Elizabeth’s hair while pushing her off. “I thought we agreed you wouldn’t call me that.”
Elizabeth just giggled and hugged him again.
“Aww, she’s so cute!” Sam said.
“Come on, dude, just hug her back already,” Dylan said.
“And what? Listen to you three laugh at me over it for the next month!?” Mike retorted. “Not a chance!”
Hannah spoke up, trying to reason with him. “Come on, Mike. You know we’d never-”
Suddenly, Elizabeth held Mike tighter and pouted at them. “Leave my big brother alone, you meanies! He gives the best hugs ever!”
“Do you want me to pummel you, brat?!” Mike growled, his face as red as a tomato.
“Oh, there you all are!” Henry said.
Everyone looked over and saw Henry rounding a corner with Charlie, Clara, Evan, and everyone else’s families following him. Cassidy grabbed Evan’s hand upon seeing Michael and pulled him close to her.
“Foxy monster…” Cassidy hissed.
“Devil kid,” Mike greeted.
“Cassidy, calm down,” Evan pleaded. “Michaels starting to get less mean.”
“Didn’t you just say he scared you last night?”
“He apologized…” Evan muttered.
Clara walked up to Michael and embraced him, congratulating him on how well he did. Mike smiled and hugged her back. After this tender moment between them, Clara released her embrace, with Michael soon to follow.
After Mike said his goodbyes to his friends, and Evan hugged his goodbye to Cassidy, the Aftons and Emilys grouped up outside to talk about their plans for tonight. Michael immediately noticed his mom’s excitement when talking about it.
“So, Mike,” she began. “I was talking win Henry earlier about how we could celebrate this big moment.”
“Yeah? And?” Mike asked.
“We decided that it would be fun to have him and Charlie over for dinner tonight! Doesn’t that sound great?”
Mike shrugged. “Sure, why not. Henry’s basically family already. Plus, I’m sure Lizabrat wants Charlie to come over, and I’d rather not deal with her throwing a fit tonight.”
Clara scoffed and sighed.
“Well, we’ll stop by later at seven. Is that alright with you?” Henry asked.
“That would be perfect,” she said. “We’ll see you then.”
Henry nodded, then patted Mike on the back while giving him a congratulatory smile before leaving, taking Charlie with him. The four Aftons got into the car and drove home, with Michael in the back seat between Evan and Elizabeth. And just this once, Mike decided not to pick on either of them on the way home.
Later that night…
Evan, Elizabeth, and Charlie all sat at a small kids' table, eating their dinner of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and peas, with Evan’s Fredbear plushie seated in a chair next to his, and a sock puppet with the color scheme of a mime sitting on a fifth chair next to Charlie. Elizabeth was having a great time chatting with her best friend, while Evan just felt awkward sitting next to them with no one else to talk to, and wishing that his plushie wasn’t so shy around other people, so he could at least have someone to talk to.
‘If only Cassidy were here,’ he thought, with nervous tears welling up in the corners of his eyes.
Meanwhile, at the adults’ table, Clara and William both sat across from eachother at the head and foot of the table respectively. Henry and Michael sat at opposite sides from eachother, with Mike sitting closer to his mom, and Henry sitting closer to William, leaving two vacant seats.
“Mmf! Dish ish great, mom!” Mike said.
“No talking with your mouth full, young man,” Clara said semi-seriously.
Mike swallowed. “I can’t help it. I can’t go too long without taking another bite of this!” He said before scooping up some more of the potatoes.
Clara chuckled softly. “Well, thank you. I’m glad you like it, honey.”
“He’s right, Clara,” Henry said. “This is spectacular!”
Clara blushed a bit at the compliments, though there was a bit of dead air before William spoke up.
“The meatloaf is too salty,” he said.
Clara’s blush disappeared and she appeared a bit distraught by what he said.
“I think it’s perfect the way it is,” Henry replied.
William was quick to shut that down. “Well, it isn’t.”
“Last time, you said it didn’t have enough salt…” Michael said.
“And now she added too much.”
Michael scowled at his father before his mom tried to break up the tension.
“So, Michael managed to hit three home runs in a row,” she said. “Aren’t you happy for him?”
“Yes, very much so,” William replied while looking down at his food, before taking another bite.
“Bet you would’ve been happier if you were there to see it,” Michael said.
William looked up from his food and narrowed his gaze. “What are you trying to imply?”
Clara placed a hand on Mike’s before he could say anything, trying to calm him down. Michael sighed and went back to his food. Meanwhile, William turned his attention to Henry and began telling him about today’s turnout at Fredbear’s.
“Man, not that many people showed up today, hugh?” Henry said.
“Well, that’s to be expected,” William said. “We don’t tend to see a lot of attention on Thursdays.”
“Oh really?!” Michael interjected.
“Michael, please…” Clara begged.
After a moment of hesitation, he sighed and kept trying to ignore his father and Henry as they talked about work. Meanwhile, Clara hoped to get Mike’s mind off of it by talking to him about the reward he and his team earned for their class.
“Since you won the game, you’re going to be going on that field trip to the Alchemex lab this Monday, right?” Clara asked.
“I mean, yeah, but I’m not that siked for it,” Mike said. “It’s just a bunch of boring nerd shit, anyways.”
“Language, young man,” William scolded. “Besides, that ‘boring nerd shit’ was where Henry and I used to work.”
Mike’s eyes narrowed. “So shouldn’t you be a bit more happy for me, then? I mean, you did always want me to follow in your footsteps.”
William sighed and rubbed his forehead. “For god’s sake, Michael, what do you want from me? Praise? Didn’t you already get enough of that?”
Henry was suddenly deeply uncomfortable by the turn this conversation took.
Michael stood up and slammed his hands on the table. “I JUST WANT YOU TO ACKNOWLEDGE ME FOR ONCE IN MY GOD DAMN LIFE!”
The chatting between Charlie and Elizabeth stopped as they overheard Michael’s outburst. Evan clutched Fredbear close and started tearing up.
“You’re always thinking about yourself, Michael,” William said. “Haven’t you ever thought that maybe the world doesn’t revolve around you?”
Michael, so utterly disgusted by what William said that he couldn’t even bring himself to respond, stormed out of the dining room and off to his room. Carla and Henry were visibly shaken while William simply went back to eating.
“I… I’m gonna sit with the kids,” Henry said. “Evan looks lonely.”
Henry picked up his food and a chair and went to the kids' table. Clara proceeded to stand up, grab Michael’s plate and utensils, and leave.
“And just where are you going?” William asked.
“To give Michael his food,” she said. “Unlike you, I actually care about my son.”
“Michael gets adoration from all of his peers,” William said. “Even from his siblings who he bullies regularly. Why should I waste time and energy on giving him what he already receives more than enough of? Besides, he’s a teenage boy. He needs his space.”
“Oh, so missing half his birthdays and every game he’s played this season was you ‘giving him space’?”
William didn’t reply, making Carla sigh with exasperation.
“You know, William, I always say ‘with great power comes great responsibility,’” Clara said. “It’s a motto I’ve lived by since I was a little girl. I hoped that once we had kids, you’d finally realize what that meant.”
Clara then walked away with Michael’s food. William simply sighed and continued eating his dinner.
‘Tomorrow is another day…’