Friendly Affairs part 10

	The last twenty-four hours had been nothing short of an emotional roller-coaster for Mike. He had committed a mild act of infidelity, run out on his job, convinced his boss to keep him around in spite of his recent screw-ups, learned that his rather liberal views on robot/human relations weren’t exactly universally shared, forced himself to come to grips with a longstanding secret kept from him by his closest companions, and most recently, had some of the most confusing sex of his life.
	All in all, a pretty full day.
	But that was all behind him now. The past was in the past, and as strained as things had become, Mike saw a light at the end of this dark tunnel. He and Chica had made good progress working out some of the drama plaguing their relationship, and after a bit of back and forth, it was decided that a proper discussion couldn’t really be had until all relevant parties were involved. That meant bringing in Spring and Foxy, which, unfortunately, also meant that Mike was in for what would probably be the most awkward conversation of his life.
	Still, it needed to be done. That’s what he kept telling himself anyway, as he, Chica, and Spring took a seat around a child-sized roundtable in Storytime Cove, and patiently waited for Foxy to stop fussing with her amenities and join them already.

	“Just one moment,” the vixen huffed anxiously in response to Chica once again asking if she was ready to take her seat.
	Frankly, Mike was impressed that she was holding herself together at all. Pessimistic as it was, he had expected her to be nothing more than a sputtering wreck when he and Chica came down form their roost and asked to clear the air, and was surprised to hear her offer them to join her in The Cove to make the gathering feel more official. Now though, it was clear to see she was using the opportunity to distract herself in her hostly duties, and had stalled them all a good fifteen minutes for a conversation they could have easily had out by the café.
	“Sorry about all that. I simply wanted to make sure everything was set up just right, you understand?” she apologized while leaning over the table and placing a chintzy little tea set at its center, before finally taking her seat.
	“Oh, thanks,” Mike reached over for the kettle as the fox settled in; having worked up a real thirst after his initial confrontation with Chica. Unfortunately, it turned out that the set was purely decorative, and the only liquid it contained was a few drops of old apple-juice fermenting at the bottom.
	“S-sorry, again. I just thought it would be a nice centerpiece.”
	“Well, it’s… very cute,” Chica did her best to hide the growing impatience in her voice and excuse her counterpart’s eccentricities. Foxy was just nervous, after all. They all were; judging by the uneasy look on everyone’s faces. All except Chica herself; who could always be counted on to barrel through any social boundary no matter how strange or awkward it might be. “Anyway, I suppose we might as well jump right in. Me and Mike talked things out. He knows everything –and I mean everything- so if you guys have any tearful declarations of atonement you’ve had saved up, now’s probably the time.”
	It was obviously nothing more than a bit of lighthearted humor to ease into an otherwise uncomfortable discussion, but as soon as she said it, Spring burst out and immediately beset them with a whirlwind of sorrowful apologies.
	“Oh gosh! Mike, I am so sorry. Thing just got so out of hand. I swear, if I could go back-”
	“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he tried to appease her; putting his hands up in a gesture to tone it down. “She was joking. That was- That was a joke.”
	Through mournful eyes and a trembling muzzle, Spring did her best to do as he asked and keep herself together; though it was plainly clear that she was still very much under duress. Looking across from her, Foxy wasn’t faring much better -still fidgeting uncomfortably in place as she tried and failed to get comfortable atop her beanbag- and despite it being them in the wrong here, Mike wasn’t taking a single ounce of pleasure in watching either of them suffer.
	“Look, to make a long story very short: we talked, and I forgave,” he assured them; taking care to keep his tone even and his attitude positive. “I’m not mad. Not one bit. I’m uncomfortable, but I’m not mad.”
	“And if you’d like to hear the long of it,” Chica chimed in with her usual graceless snark. “I’ll probably get it up on the server by sunrise. Trust me, there’s a lot of little juicy bits you guys will love.”
	“What?!”  he nearly choked. “Chica, we talked about this!”
	“Well, yeah, but, you know, we did some other stuff that I thought meant…” she trailed off.
	Mike exhaled and closed his eyes; running his hand through his scalp while trying not to get upset. He could certainly see why she would have gotten the impression that he was alright with the memory sharing now. After her initial… investigation, into his thoughts on the matter, he may have shown a bit more enthusiasm than intended -several times, in fact- but now that her... questioning, had concluded, and she had wrung all those pent-up opinions out of his system, he had assumed his initial stance on the matter still stood.
	“Look, I know it’s part of your… culture, or whatever, but I can’t live like that. I can’t go through every moment together wondering if you’re recording me and handing it off to your friends.” He then glanced around the table. “No offense, but I’d like to think I have the right to some privacy.”
	“No, I completely agree,” Foxy stated flatly; finally managing to force herself still, only to cast her eyes downward in shame. “Now that it’s all out in the open, what we were doing was clearly wrong. I know you already said you forgave us for it, but, I really am sorry, Michael. Even if Chica put up another memory of you two, I don’t think I could ever partake in one again.”
	“Same,” Spring concurred meekly; though Mike was at least happy to see she was no longer sniffling. “We had all sorts of excuses we could fall back on before, but that’s all they were: Excuses. I… I never want to go behind your back like that ever again.” The bunny then straightened herself up, and with a deep breath, looked back over towards him with mournful resolve in her bright green eyes. “I won’t. I promise.”
	 Mike slowly nodded; surprised by her sudden shift in demeanor, but happy to see her and Foxy taking this just as seriously as he was. It seemed like the only person that didn’t truly grasp how important this was to him, was Chica; who glanced between all three of them like she was studying their faces for some sign of disingenuity. Finding none, the hen reluctantly crossed her arms and took on a more pensive posture as she realized opinions had effectively shifted away from her.
	“Really? Even if it’s just for the conversation? I can leave out all the awesome sex we had after if you really want.”
	Mike put his head in his palm as Spring began to blush and cover the awkward grin forcing its way across her mouth, while Foxy snorted a reflexive laugh before hastily clamping her muzzle shut and looking between them all embarrassedly.
	“What?” Chica asked innocently; full well knowing what she did. “It’s a really efficient method of relaying information.”
	“Chica…” Mike grumbled and glared across the table.
	“Alright, alright, I’m sorry. I’m just nervous, okay? This is what I do when I get nervous: I tease,” she attempted to quell his bubbling displeasure; accepting that now wasn’t the time for her usual attempts at crass humor. “Anyway, fine. No more memory swapping involving you without your explicit permission,” she resolved; looking around the room for any objections, and finding none. “There, see. That wasn’t so bad. Hardly a minute in and we’re already one third of the way through the agenda.”
	“Wait, we had specific topics to address? Should I have made a list?” Foxy inquired.
	“No. No. Its fine. I came up with some mental notes while we were waiting for you,” Chica grinned back; grabbing one of the plastic teacups in the center of the table and studying it for a moment. “I can put it up on the server though,” she quickly glanced over to Mike and added a sarcastic, “If Michael approves, of course.”
	“How about you just tell us all out loud,” the guard replied while trying not to roll his eyes. “What’s agenda number two?”
	“That’s the one where we stop dancing around the fact that everyone at this table has been trying to get into your pants for the last several weeks,” she answered bluntly; no doubt taking great amusement in watching his face go ridged before mustering up a mumbling, “Right…” under his breath.
	Mike wasn’t the only one not looking forward to this particular topic, as Miss Foxy went nearly as stiff as he did the moment Chica finishes speaking; save for her tail, which twitched erratically behind her and betrayed the unnaturally blank expression worn on her vulpine face. Spring however, had a completely different reaction; coming to life with a starry-eyed gaze and a jittery grin as both her ears straightened up in attentive interest.
	“Oh gosh,” the rabbit tittered nervously. “I can’t wait to hear what topic number three will be.”
	Seemingly spurred by Spring’s uneasy excitement, Foxy raised her hand in a bid to counter her enthusiasm.
	“I for one, would be perfectly happy to strike all this from our collective memory and pretend that none of it ever happened instead.”
	Mike gave her a token chuckle; feeling rather empathetic towards her view on the matter, though not entirely sure whether she was serious or not. Either way, Chica was having none of her wishy-washy attitude.
	“Come on, you all knew things were leading here,” she asserted while glaring at her glossy white friend. “Where was this skittish attitude when you agreed to have sex on camera?”
	Instantly upon hearing the words, something in Mike snapped.
	“You set that up!?” he blurted out before Foxy could properly respond; saying it more as a statement than a question as he pointed an accusatory finger across the table in Chica’s direction. “All this time I was wondering about that, and you set it up! Why did I only put that together now? Of course you set that up!”
	“You bet your butt I did,” Chica beamed; before taking a more aggressive tone. “And you didn’t even watch the whole thing! Do you know how hard it was to coordinate all of that? Getting everyone in place! Getting you in your chair and looking at the screen! I never actually thought it would work!”
	“Now, Mike, don’t you listen to her,” Spring cut in on her sardonic little rant before the bird could get too carried away with it. “It was really sweet of you to focus on her instead of us. Really! Everyone agreed that was the highlight of their night. Even Chica. Why you should have seen how she…” Spring trailed off at the realization of what she was saying. In the moments after, her eyes went wide, and she frantically began to apologize. “Oh, Mike, oh gosh, I’m so sorry! I know you don’t want to hear this stuff from us.”
	The guard kept quiet and frowned apprehensively; more out of habit than any genuine grievance he had with her statement. The truth was -invasion of personal space aside- it was actually really nice to know that his belated decision to ignore their show and rededicate himself to Chica had been noted and appreciated. And though the source may have made him a little uneasy, hearing Spring tell him how much everyone enjoyed that night wasn’t exactly the punch to the gut that he was expecting. Maybe, just maybe, he was actually beginning to wrap his head around all of this.
	 “It’s… fine,” he conceded; as much for his own sake as hers. “I’m um, I’m glad you could appreciate the gesture.”
	Spring’s worried expression slowly softened back into the sweet smile he was more familiar with, and even Chica had dropped her mock-anger in favor of a knowing little smirk and some extremely self-satisfied words.
	“Well well, looks who’s coming around.”
	“Let’s just get back on track,” Mike sighed and tried to move on. “I’m not going to pretend I was completely against all of the flirting and whatnot you guys have been pulling on me. The truth is, I do have some pretty strong feelings for everyone at this table, and I’ll be the first to admit how happy it makes me to know that I have so many people in my life who care about me,” he looked around the room, and observed the various happy reactions on everyone’s faces as he spoke the words. “But,” he quickly added; focusing on and addressing Chica specifically. “Things aren’t that simple. Not for me, anyway. And I’ve got some real reservations about this free-love notion you seem to have regarding our relationship.”
	“Why? Because you don’t like the idea of having crazy awesome sex with your three favorite people in the world?”
	“Because,” Mike shot back with a deathly serious glare and a sense of urgency in his voice that made even Chica take him seriously. “I don’t know what that makes us. I know we’ll never been a typical couple, but I thought we had something real here. I thought- I thought you…” he looked away; unable to finish his sentence due to the sudden deluge of emotions welling within him.
	Chica’s beak went slack as she stared across the table at him. Seconds of silence passed as both Spring and Foxy watched on with bated breath, until the bird’s dumbfounded expression finally solidified into a pained but genuine smile.
	“Mike, of course what he we have means something,” she said as if it were the most obvious statement in the world. “It’s just- Look, I really don’t think I could take it if you went out and found yourself some normal girl to be you’re outside squeeze or whatever, and I doubt you’d be happy if I hooked up with another employee for those nights that you’re not around, but this is completely different. We’re not swingers, and I’m sure as heck not asking for a completely open relationship. But me, Springy, and Foxy, we have a history; one that none of us can ignore. Yeah, it’s a really weird history, but… I was pretty weird to you when we first met, and look how that turned out.” She then leaned forward; her expression bright and open as she made her plea. “I’ll always be your girlfriend, Mike. Trust me, you’ll never be able to get rid of me. But all I’m asking is that you think this over, and then maybe –MAYBE- take a chance on this, like you took a chance on me.”
	Mike found himself bereft of words as he mulled over the surprisingly heartfelt appeal. There was no insistence in her voice -no hints of defensiveness or doubt- everything was simply laid out as clearly and honestly as she could make it. He was so used to her usual brand of coy manipulation; hearing her speak so openly couldn’t help but instill in him a sense of legitimacy to her position. Chica believed in what she was saying one-hundred percent, and deep down, Mike wanted to believe it too.
	“As someone who’s been inside of Chica’s head about a million times already, I’d actually have to back her up on at least one aspect,” Spring spoke up. “You really couldn’t get rid of her if you tried. I bet If you got fired tomorrow, she would either spend the rest of her service-life trying to get you back, or figure out a way to break her programing so she could run away to your house.”
	“It’s true,” the bird eagerly affirmed. “I’ve got a plan! It involves magnets!”
	“Buuut,” the bunny continued before she could go into any more detail. “I’d just like to say, that while I stand by everything Chica just said, I don’t want to pressure you into doing anything you don’t want to. The four of us will always be besties -you can count on that- but it’s not hard to see that you and our resident pizza bird were practically made for each other, and I don’t think either me or Miss Foxy would ever want to get in the way of what you have.” She then glanced over to Foxy; who acknowledged the statement with a nod, before speaking up for herself.
	“This um… This is all as horribly awkward for me as it is you,” she began; just barely collecting herself enough to look him in the eyes as she spoke. “It’s not that I haven’t been a willing participant in all this, but… you know what it’s like getting swept up in one of Chica’s schemes.” The fox then chuckled weekly, before losing her nerve and sheepishly rubbing her arm as she fought to speak her piece. “Still, none of that invalidates anything I’ve said to you thus far. You are… very dear to me, Michael, and nothing will ever change that.”

	Somewhere in the back of Mike’s mind was a voice telling him than none of this was real. He was dreaming. It was the day after his very first shift and he had fallen asleep reading some fairly indulgent fiction, and this was all a product of his lonely imagination. But no; for whatever reason, fate had decided that he would go from being begrudgingly-contented in his solitude, to dealing with the most unlikely indoctrination into a harem he could imagine.
	Naturally, he was finding himself woefully out of his depth.
	What could he say in the face of Chica’s unbridled optimism? Of Spring’s eager affection and uncharacteristically tempered respect of his boundaries? Or of Foxy’s genuine attachment shining through her crushing unease? It wasn’t that he didn’t already know just how strongly everyone felt about him, but hearing it out loud was a lot to take in all at one time. There was no possible way he could give them all the response he thought they deserved. Literally. His mouth opened, but no word would come out. There were sounds -mumbling, incoherent platitudes of indecisive hesitance and flattered gratitude- but nothing that could qualify as meaningful communication. He could see the amusement in everyone’s faces as he wrestled with his completely befuddled brain, until Spring decided to grant him some mercy and throw him a bone.
	“I think Mikey might need a minute to get his head working again. Maybe we should-”
	The bunny froze mid-sentence as all four of them were jolted out of their conversation by the unexpected sound of the building’s side-access door creaking open, followed by the rumble of heavy footsteps stamping through the hall.
	“Hello, is anyone there?” the voice of one of the dayshift guards echoed from beyond The Cove; followed by more plodding footsteps as he approached the open doorway. “Hello? Mell, I think? Are you in here?” He stopped and stared as his head popped into view. “What are you doing?”
	Mike looked back behind him from his seat on the floor while holding one of Foxy’s teacups delicately within his fingers.
	“What does it look like? We’re having a tea party,” he answered with a completely straight face. “Care to join us?”

	As it turned out, Miguel -the same guard who had bailed Mike out of his fight a few days ago- did not want to join them. He was actually here because he left his cellphone at work during his shift, and had let himself in to come and pick it up. Sensing a good opportunity to excuse himself from the burning inquiries of his animatronic companions, Mike eagerly volunteered to help the fellow employee in his search while leaving the other three to their own devices.
	It had taken him all of two minutes to locate the missing phone, and another fifteen before he replanted it in a new location to be conveniently discovered at his leisure. Maybe it wasn’t the most honest of tactics, but Spring was right, he needed time to think.

	The proposition probably sounded like a no-brainer to some, and Mike would certainly attest that there was a part of him that wanted to simply say yes and revile in the benefits of the arrangement to its fullest, but something within him struggled to rectify his woes against the flagrant optimism the rest of his companions shared. After all, he had experienced first-hand the emotional toll of an unfaithful companion running off for what they claimed was nothing more than some harmless fun, and even years later, still felt the sting of betrayal and jealousy whenever he thought back to those trying times. Yet for all his misgivings, Chica was undeniably right about one thing: Everyone in that room had a history that was impossible to ignore.
	Her, Spring, and Foxy had spent years together balancing their relationships just fine. Sure, their edges could seem a little frayed every now and then, but there was no denying that –whether romantically, or simply as friends- all three of them loved each other; and as impossible as it sounded, now that he was part of the picture, all three of them had extended that love toward him as well.
	But was it really that simple? Could he actually find it in himself to accept that his feelings were a little more complex than straightforward monogamy would account for? Was it possible to be loyal to someone while breaking the number one rule of loyalty? Mike truly didn’t know, and posed the question to himself over and over all throughout his rigged phone hunt, only to come up wanting each time.
	Eventually though, his musings were forced to an inevitable end, as Miguel happened upon his hiding spot under a pile of stray fliers behind the prize counter. With no other task to eat up his time, and still no closer to his answers than before, Mike resigned himself to his fate and begrudgingly saw the off-duty guard out.

	“Lucky break there, Mike,” Chica ribbed as he waved off the other employee re-locked the side-exit; effectively pinning him between herself and the sealed-up dead end. “Too bad you’ve still got three hours left on your shift.”
	“Don’t worry, I’m not running out on you again,” he felt the all too convenient presence of the door behind him as he spoke. “I just… still need some time to get my head sorted out.”
	“I’ve got to say, you’re being awfully prudish for someone in your position,” Chica noted as she stepped to the side and allowed him to pass.
	“Is it so hard to believe that I’m perfectly happy with you alone?” he reasoned; making his way back to The Cove while Chica trotted and listened at his side. “If I’m being prudish, then you’re being borderline unfaithful.”
	 Mike suddenly felt a hand around his waist as Chica stopped him in place; turning him around and demanding his attention while they were still out of earshot from the room.
	“I’m not unfaithful,” Chica insisted with uncharacteristic sobriety. “I stopped doing anything physical with the others the moment I realized what I- What we, meant to each other. That was going to be the third thing on my agenda, by the way: How to address that extra bit of weirdness. I know I can be impulsive, and that I’ve pushed the limits between us pretty far, but…” She glanced down at the floor for a brief moment, before looking back up at him. “I’ll never be unfaithful, okay? Whatever you decide, I’m with you, one-hundred percent.”
	Mike nodded and allowed her a wincing smile. As strange as everything had become, it was comforting to know that beneath it all, Chica was still far more mature than she let on. It cemented the notion that he hadn’t made a mistake putting so much stock in her in the first place, and that –one way or another- things would eventually work themselves out in the end.
	With that in mind, Mike reached out locked his arm around hers, before resuming their trip back to The Cove. I inside, Foxy and Spring were waiting by the table; and though still a little nervous, Mike took his seat and once again join his closest friends for a surprisingly manageable discussion, about a topic that no longer seemed to contain the overbearing sense of intimidation it once held.