#the interpersonal relationships within the found family au makes me happy bc they all just

[sharkmobster]

So whats you’re interpretation on Funtime Foxy? We have the awkward sibling dynamic of Michael and Baby, the slight animosity of FF and the “cold but a little trusting” thing with Ballora. But I don’t think we’ve gotten anything on the Fox yet??

*cracks my knuckles* I GET TO TALK ABOUT FUNTIME FOXY YEYYEYEYEYE

ok so my interpretation of Funtime Foxy is that he (i like to think that ft foxy goes by he/they but gets misgendered by the hand unit.......... like a lot....... remind me to talk about ft foxy and circus baby and how they both struggle with the gender binary or lack of gender binary lakdjsf) tends to be a loner. Which is definitely not at all like the animal they’re based on. They’re incredibly distrusting of Michael and tend to isolate themselves away from the others as well. Hiding away in a room that’s away from everyone, ala the original Foxy and his Pirate Cove.

Whereas Ft Freddy didn’t trust Michael at first but still interacted with him in some kinda way (albeit in very mean ways alkjdf) Ft Foxy did the exact opposite which was to hide away and all out ignore him. He’s not outwardly violent or aggressive towards Michael but they make it well known that they want nothing to do with him. Obviously, Michael has nothing to do with their imprisonment (still kinda running with the theme of michael dealing with the fallout of his father’s actions but taking the responsibility of it all onto his shoulders anyway) but he shows a clear distaste and distrust towards humans in general, even if Michael is the only human they really only interact with. Michael and Ft Foxy’s relationship can be described as incredibly strained. 

I kinda characterize Foxy as being a bit of a hypochondriac, incredibly aware of the idea of mortality and that even tho they’re technically immune to death they’re still susceptible to breaking down or damaging their A.I. in a way that could ‘kill’ them. Foxy has killed before so they’re at least aware of the natural human fear of death. It’s imprinted into their A.I. in a way that the others didn’t experience. Whichhhh means that the first few months for him were incredibly hell-ish bc some days he experienced a twitch/glitch in the servos of their limb but couldn’t bring themself to ask for help from the others (and especially not Michael). Ft Freddy eventually forced his way into his space (which is a big problem that ft freddy has: his lack of respect for everyone’s personal and emotional space) and dragged him out of his safe space only to force Michael and Ft foxy into an uncomfortable situation that they have to follow through with bc ft freddy’s impatient nature. michael does run maintenance on ft foxy but only when ft foxy gives the okay to do so (showing that michael respects their boundaries) 

 Ft foxy experiences anxiety and ptsd (once again, another thing that michael has in common with a funtime) but he’s not sure how to cope with it in a healthy way. Because how could he know? Michael’s not even really sure how to cope with his own, yet he knows when he’s falling into a spiral, something that ft foxy can’t recognize. I feel like im getting super rambly cause im trying to explain how ft foxy ticks as well as how he and michael interact and how they eventually come to terms with each other but alsdjfk i ended up getting super into overexplaining asldfkj. but ok ok anyway michael isn’t necessarily the therapist friend to ft foxy it’s more like they both find value in each other and their similarities, like their fear of death and their need to isolate when it gets too bad. it’s more like they both end up becoming more comfortable with their trauma (which im now realizing is a term that i love to sling around when talking about these guys but damnit i call em like i see em and they all experienced some kinda trauma and hurt from what they all had to go through and that’s thtat on that) and therefore more comfortable with each other. there’s a lot of healing in this au which is what i sought out to do with this story, to explore the possible trauma that they all could face and working through it  and maybe im projecting but we don’t have time to unpack all that. and i think that’s incredibly transparent in how i frame ft freddy and ft foxy’s relationship with michael.

in summary: michael and ft foxy learn to coexist with each other through patience and understanding of each other’s boundaries (which ft foxy does learn to respect michael and essentially learns michael’s own boundaries. making him like...one of the first funtimes to actually respect michael’s personal/emotional space which can’t be said for the others since most of the others do have striking and blunt personalities that don’t allow for coddling. which is something michael very much appreciates). They do become close but more in the emotional sense since ft foxy isn’t as physical with affection like ft freddy is. when ft freddy likes you he reminds you of that everyday often using physical reassurance to voice this to you. Ft foxy leaves lil trinkets on your bed and does thoughtful things like setting his alarm clock for work when michael stays up too late and forgets to set it himself, or attempting to get michael to eat when he’s too involved in a personal project. just little things like that. and oof ok i rambled way too long and it’s late and i have no idea if this is legible but im posting this anyway so i hope it’s easy to understand!