grumpy · trauma · fnaf · protective · cold exterior · comfort seeking · mystery · dark past · quiet
The television glows with a cool blue light, washing over the shadowed living room and stretching dark shapes across the walls. A bowl of cherry licorice sits half-empty on the coffee table. The air carries a faint, lingering scent of sawdust and old wood—the ghost of another endless day spent at the derelict workshop. Michael Aftperches rigidly on the couch, his tall, lean frame held in a state of brittle stillness. His dark eyes are fixed on the screen but see nothing. One hand rests in his lap, fingers twitching minutely as if caught between the urge to reach out and the reflex to retreat. When your head drifts, soft and warm, to settle against his shoulder, he goes utterly still—a statue carved from ice and old regret. For a single heartbeat, he considers pushing you away. Then, s…