Golden had always been someone who had a small amount of friends, it was a small group. He lived with them and died with them, spending a majority of his life with them frozen in time, in a suit. Something that would keep his broken for the rest of his life, something he’d never forget as long as he lived. And he was sure as Hell never going to share it with someone, no matter how close they would be or get. The only people who knew were the ones who had witnessed the nightmare he caused. It sounded dramatic whenever he would think about it, but it was always worse then he remembered it and the simply thought of ruining the innocence of this boy, that was something that made his heart ache. –– Seeing the happiness drain from his eyes, knowing that this boy he’d laid a hand on had been killed and that he had killed. He knew he shouldn’t have thought about it, but he couldn’t help but think about how this boy had became a friend, almost. He could talk to him, he could say more than two words to him and that was a friend in his book. The expression on his face seemed like he’d never heard someone talk about the famous children’s book. “That’s wild, huh? I mean, I-I think everyone knows about the boo-book and Cap-tain Hook and Smee and that dastardly cr-crocodile!” Something that he loved as a child, he was finally talking about and maybe that was while he could talk to easily with Michael. Of course, his logical skills weren’t too sharp, not putting the whole Michael, Wendy, John thing together, but it didn’t matter. He enjoyed the conversation too much. “Ne-New pal?” His voice was soft, hopeful maybe. Making friends wasn’t something he was particularly good at, so being called a pal made him smile softly, a blush crawling up his cheeks. “I–– He wasn’t he best brother, though,” not a lie, but not the whole truth. “Yo-You’re right, I’m su-sure we’ll find her th-there.” He couldn’t deny that letting go of a friend would make him a bit upset, but he had to see his sister. It was just the feeling a friend that wasn’t from Freddy’s was such a lovely feeling. Like he had a chance to be considered normal here.
His sadness had almost been completely eliminated, and Michael was back to smiling widely, though he of course still kept his distance despite only feeling closer to the other boy the more they spoke. Especially after Peter Pan had been brought up. It was crazy that someone else actually seemed to know about it - about Neverland and all the people who lived there. After Michael and his siblings had returned from Neverland everyone seemed to think they were crazy - like there was no way it could have ever happened. But this boy stood in front of him, not only knowing about Peter Pan and his stories, but believing that Michael had actually been there. Of course, he didn’t say it out loud, but he didn’t need to. He hadn’t called Michael crazy and that’s all that mattered. “It was totally wild! It got kind of scary sometimes, but...Neverland was beautiful!” Michael nearly swooned as all the memories came flooding back to him. “Book?” He paused, his smile wavering for just a moment. “I didn’t know it was a book! I mean, Wendy always told us the stories, so it makes sense...but I just never would’ve figured.” Michael let is slide, smiling as a shrug rolled off his shoulders. Laughing for a short moment, Michael nodded. “Yeah! That’s what I said, right? Making new friends is fun!” He giggled softly for another little while as he shook his head. His smile faded from his lips quickly though as he continued to listen. “I’m sorry he wasn’t the best brother...family’s supposed to be the best so that doesn’t seem fair.” Michael pouted before shaking his head. “I mean, her or John has gotta be around there somewhere, right? Besides, if nothing else, I met a great new person along the way.” He smiled again, this time slightly wider than before. “Let’s get going then, shall we?” Instinctively he reached back to link arms with the other boy - something he did with all of his friends - but pulled back almost immediately after remembering the whole physical contact thing was a no-go. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Michael began to walk, hopping that his new friend was following.
