SeaMike Propaganda

At a Glance…

Alternative ship names: Alas! There are none. I'm currently the only shipper.

Character Types: Canon x Canon (Crossover)

Ship Type: Friends with Benefits, A Casual Relationship, A Committed Relationship, A Monogamous Relationship, A Sexual Relationship, A Romantic Relationship, and It’s Complicated™️

Ship Status: Canon-Compliant, but Complicated

Stated Reason for Complication: It requires a lot of time shenanigans, in the specific way I have it, because both of them are technically dead, and although ways around that can be found without altering canon, it’s really, really complex.

Genders/Assigned Sexes at Birth and Sexual and Romantic Attractions:

In my headcanons, Michael is openly bisexual and bi-romantic, with a slight preference for men. In the canon of the games, absolutely nothing is known to be directly stated about him in this regard — though possible implications that may exist indirectly (which are too long to get into here) and also those made in other universes (which granted, don’t necessarily have any weight on the games’ universe) definitely don’t conflict with this headcanon.

Seamus is also bisexual in my headcanons, though he is fairly deep in the closet about it at the beginning of their knowing each other —largely (though far from completely) because he has such a strong preference for women, finding very few to be unattractive to him, and such a specific taste in men that logically speaking, he very, very rarely encounters a man he's attracted to by comparison, and thus had seldom, if ever, considered the potential for him to be anything but straight. In canon, he openly is shown to love the ladies more than quite a bit, but he has definitely made a few offhand comments here and there as well, which could absolutely be taken to lend to the idea that he isn’t exclusively straight, and to my knowledge it is definitely never outright stated or implied that he has no interest in men.

They’re also both AMAB men who use he/him pronouns — though, in my headcanons, although Michael is more than fine with being called and seen as a man, his own view of himself is technically more peri-boy than man (meaning the gender he most closely identifies with, but not specifically as, is a man).

End-game?: Yes

Good for each other?: Yes

How much they have in common, on a scale of 1 to 9: 7

Inspiration behind the ship: Well, there was an RP I did at some point involving Andromeda and FNAF, where this kind of technically happened (it’s a little more complicated than that, but that’s a story for another time) and then took off naturally on its own without anyone having any plans for it, and I very quickly fell in love with the idea and the dynamic the two had when placed together and allowed to get to know each other.

Why it’s underrated and how it’s overlooked:

Well, it probably isn’t more popular because no one's thought of it, because it’s a very obscure idea to come up with involving a character from a pretty obscure show as one of the two characters, but even if I fully acknowledge the reason why, I just think the potential for their dynamic is so underrated. It's a really fun and interesting ship to explore, both in terms of their differences, similarities, and personalities, and also because it has a lot of potential for both angst and later fluff and healing.

I like everything about them.

In-Depth:

About Michael:

Hoo boy. Okay.

So...Michael Afton. Michael (born June 21st, 1969) was the firstborn son of William and Eleanor Afton [Just “Mrs. Afton” in canon], in what would later become a family of three children — with a son named Garret as the middle child (born in 1973 — name heavily contested in canon, sometimes called Dave or Evan by the fandom due to alleged evidence in the game canon universe, but Garret is the canon name used in the movie and my pick for him) and Elizabeth as the youngest child and only daughter. (In my headcanons they have a fourth sibling, Alistair, who is the second oldest, but that's only a necessity to this ship in the way it plays out in my headcanons, and although there is nothing explicitly stating there could only be three Afton children, it is not something with much, if any, canon evidence so I will keep mention of it to a minimum in this section. If anyone has questions about him as a person for some reason, you can feel free to send me an ask on my main blog.)

Growing up, Michael had a fairly difficult life in an emotional sense; until the eventual arrival of his first sibling, yes, he had lived a relatively acceptable childhood, but as soon as he was no longer the only child, and as the family grew larger still, he quickly found himself falling by the wayside as the least favored of the three siblings — possessing neither the apparent innocence and clinginess of their “perfect golden child” Garret, nor the “uniqueness” and clever, at times almost cunning charm of Elizabeth. Instead, fast approaching his teen years by the time Elizabeth was even born, he wound up largely ignored and emotionally neglected, seen mostly as the “problem child” by comparison when he would try one way or another to earn their attention, or even when he would just make an earnest mistake.

And of course this pain, as he grew into his teens, only led him to act out in frustration, leading him to develop a growing jealousy towards his young brother Garret, whose favor in the family, even more than Elizabeth, irked him — not only because he was the elder of the two and the first to make his family love him less, but also because this little boy — the one whom his family saw as nothing but perfect and who soaked up that attention and love Michael craved — also took it upon himself to actively play pranks on his lonely and already distressed eldest sibling, as if he couldn’t quite the depths of the pain he had caused him. And yet when Michael would try to tell his parents of what he was enduring, they (and especially his father) would simply shrug it off, calling him overly dramatic and always chalking it up it to a mere mistake or denying it outright.

This eventually led to a rivalry of sorts, wherein the two would war with each other in pranking, both too blind to notice that the other secretly longed for the fight to end and a sincere connection to be formed between them, until, nearing Garret’s 10th birthday, Michael’s frustration grew more and more so that his pranking eventually turned to outright bullying; his siblings’ birthdays got such pomp and ceremony always, celebrated in earnest at his father, William — and William’s best friend, Henry Emily’s — various up-and-coming establishments over the years, whilst Michael got a small, barely notable home celebration, IF even that, and he simply couldn’t stand it anymore.

Noticing Garret’s fear of the animatronics at his William and Henry’s fairly new restaurant, he used this to his advantage to torment him more and more with their visages and presence, until, on the the little boy’s most special day — Garret’s birthday — things all came to a head in a way that would change everyone’s lives forever: Michael decided with his teenage friends to pull one major prank, carrying his little brother up to “give a kiss” to the animatronic he feared the most — a golden bear with a purple hat and bow tie named Fredbear, designed by Henry.

Stuffing Garret in the animatronic’s mouth as he pleaded and then cried and cried, the boys laughed on and on together, until suddenly the bear’s normally moving mouth snapped shut, malfunctioning in its determination to move and crushing the boy’s head — leaving all of them in horrified silence.

Screams erupted and people rushed about to fetch the owners — to fetch William and Henry — and Michael stood stunned as his father and his father’s best friend, who was like an Uncle to the Afton children, wrestled the giant mechanical animal to free Garret.

The little boy was rushed to the hospital, where he remained in a coma for several days — entire family at his side sick with worry, father desperately pleading for a miracle while holding his little boy’s favorite stuffed toys and making them talk to him, Michael begging for forgiveness and saying a thousand apologies to his brother who could not respond — until, tragically, Garret passed away.

The entire family of course struggled under the weight of the terrible grief they felt, but even with Michael’s inability to forgive himself and the massive weight of guilt weighing upon him severely what little of his mental health he’d still had before and causing him constant sleepless nights, of all of them, William was the one who simply couldn’t take it all and collapsed under it entirely.

Unable to bear the loss of his beloved little son with whom he had such a particularly close relationship, he slowly shut himself more and more away from the rest of the family and grew to resent both Michael for taking Garret away and to an extent, even his best friend, Henry, for designing the animatronic whose malfunction killed the little boy — a resentment and isolation which only grew stronger when he later discovered that his son’s spirit had managed to possess the boy’s favorite plush on the day he passed away.

Refusing to believe that his son could possibly be gone for good and wanting to return him to life, he wound up discovering the existence of a force called remnant — needing to be harvested from the souls of others who died by similarly tragic means and possessed an object like his son did — that he believed could restore Garret to life, and quickly fell down a dark path that resulted in not only the murder of his best friend’s daughter (believing it would only be temporary comeuppance for what Henry robbed him of, and that he could return her too in the end), and a divorce from his wife as he continued to obsess over his workshop all day, but eventually the accidental death of his own daughter Elizabeth by one of his animatronic murder machines, as well, which led Mrs. Afton herself, in her own grief, to take her life in turn.

The loss of his wife and daughter and the realization that bringing any of them back was not as easy as he had at first believed only led to his desperation growing further and further, and in the end, he had killed at least five more children total in the name of reviving his loved ones — a realization about his father which Michael only came to have once his father had used him, too, to further his aims, and indirectly but knowingly killed and painfully allowed him to be revived in the process.

It was after this point — at a mere 18 years of age — that Michael, believing he deserved nothing better and feeling he had no reason left to live otherwise, dedicated the entire rest of his life to trying to find and stop his father, who had fled away. Michael informed Henry of what he had learned, and the two argued over what was to be done; Henry believed that there was little hope for the spirits to ever find peace as things currently were, and that even if they could, it would take years and would be something he would have to do alone (a complex matter which we haven’t the time to discuss in this small section), but Michael refused to take no for an answer, and decided to do what he could to put all of this to rights, even if it meant doing it without Henry. He would stop his father, and let the spirits move on to a better place.

Years of cat and mouse stretched on between William and Michael — the son just barely missing his father several times, with events too complex to bring up in this mere summary — until one day, they at last met, only for Michael to learn in doing so that his father had come to possess the very self-invented hybrid animatronic/mascot costume he’d worn to kill his victims in the first place, having been skewered inside of it when he attempted to escape the angry spirits of his victims.

Meaning to put it all behind him and rid the world of a monster that even now tried to continue on with murderous intent, he attempted to burn the building down with the animatronic inside it; however, William managed to evade the fire and escape relatively unscathed, and it was not until Michael accepted a job at a new Freddy’s location years later — initially not realizing Henry was at the head of it until he’d been hired — that both William and the animatronics containing all of the children (including Garret, whose possessed plush had been inserted into one of them by William many years prior) finally came to resurface outside the location, and, once brought inside by Michael as he was instructed to do, found themselves locked inside the building.

It had been a trap all along, made and designed by Henry alone to be their final furnace which would, he hoped, release all their souls once and for all. Henry, still missing his daughter and unable to get over her death, decided that he too would remain within, and, after saying one last “farewell” to his “old friend”, feeling that Michael too had no will left to live, offered him no escape route, and allowed them all to go up in flames together.

It was a brutal death.

Yet, Michael’s soul persisted after the fire… (And perhaps some others did, too…)

—

As an individual, Michael is, in a few words, quite easy to love, but difficult to get to love himself.

With great talent in art, a love of television, a friendly, dedicated, hardworking, and loyal disposition, a handsome face, and a witty and sarcastic sense of humor, it is difficult to understand at a first glance how such a person could possibly think so poorly of himself; however, despite all of that charm, bravery, and gentility of heart, Michael is nevertheless openly a deeply depressed and troubled man who is haunted by his past, carrying a massive guilt complex over his past mistakes as teen and believing, despite his efforts to make up for all that he had done going above and beyond the call of duty and leading him to endless suffering still, that he is not half so good of a person as he truly is. (And the fact that he near identically shares the face of his eventual abuser and serial killer father certainly doesn’t do wonders for his self-esteem, either.)

What he wants in a relationship:

Well, he doesn't really think he's particularly deserving of one or good enough to be someone's boyfriend, in general, but if he did allow himself to honestly state what he wants from one, he'd most likely say he wants someone to dedicate himself to, who will become his reason not to choose death, after all he's lost and all he's done — someone to at least partially "redeem" himself through, by being good to them and making them happy.

But, deep down, really, even if he feels he’s not deserving, he really only wants to love and be loved by someone in a sincere and unconditional way.

What he needs in a relationship:

Someone who will make sure to show Michael that he is a good and incredible person deserving of love, compassion, and understanding, despite his past mistakes. Someone to be by his side in spite of (but also not because of) the identity, nature, and eventual wealth of his family. Someone who will treat him well and give him reassurance.

About Seamus:

Seamus Zelazny Harper grew up in a far future time, in a pretty much post-apocalyptic Earth overrun by two alien species — the Magog, an animalistic race who devour and/or rape and infest humans of all genders and sexes with their eggs, which, when matured, will eat their prey from the inside, and the Nietzscheans, who are a more humanoid race with superhuman strengths and genetics that feel themselves superior to all other races and which capture and enslave them (especially humans) for their own use and entertainment.

Growing up, though a genius lucky enough to have friends with enough technological know how to advance his skills, Harper overall had it very difficult in life, struggling with his family to survive day by day, witnessing two of his cousins be raped and devoured by Magog, and eventually both of his parents being killed by the Nietzschean slavers when they attempted protect Harper from being harmed.

Eventually, a business opportunity requiring goods to be smuggled off of Earth for an allegedly good cause led to Harper finally having an opportunity to leave the planet, and he joined forces with a rogue pilot named Beka Valentine, who would eventually become his…sort of friend and fellow space salvager — until, one day, while salvaging an old warship from the edge of a blackhole, they would meet up with the ship’s Captain who had been frozen in time for over 300 years, and, together with several others, would ultimately join him in his quest to restore order and peace to the universe.

On board the ship of the Captain that he, Beka, and a few others had joined, he was constantly overworked aboard the ship and very often mocked, verbally and physically abused, outright neglected and ordered to neglect his own (even very small but majorly important for health) needs, rarely shown genuine respect and gratitude, and all the while accused and blamed over things he had little to nothing to do with — even by those like Beka, who, despite genuinely caring for him as a friend and having known him longest, still knows nothing of how to treat another human being healthily due to having grown up abused and neglected, herself, with criminals for family. Nevertheless, he endured this, and obeyed orders readily and with hardworking loyalty at nearly every junction, accepting even the smallest scraps of outside praise as payment and even enduring emotional blackmail and outright threats of being fired from the Captain amidst a severe PTSD episode, because he believed that this was friendship and the best that he could get.

Unfortunately, this, however, would prove to be all of their undoing within that life — not just his — as it would all eventually come to an end when their Captain, refusing to leave behind a stubborn Utopian society which refused to evacuate despite a fast-approaching swarm of highly advanced and murderous Magog, set nearly the entire crew to work upon that planet (save Beka, who attempted to part ways) to try to keep their society safe despite knowing there were slim to no odds of success and that the rest of the world was counting on said crew to live, and then abandoned ship to escape to an alternate universe, knowing that the gateway available to him would be for him and him alone — essentially leaving them each to die in terrible and agonizing ways. Beka would attempt to fly back and save Harper and the others at the last moment, but would be count into the pull of the Magog ship and explode before she could reach them.

Harper would be the last to die — horrified, alone, and knowing the fate that befell his longtime friend as well as that everyone else had passed — at the cruel hands of a Magog who was partially descended from a dear friend.

—

As an individual, Seamus is, in a few words, someone who would be easy to love, if only he would allow you to truly know him.

Despite often putting on a facade of arrogance, overconfidence, hypersexuality, and extreme boldness of action, deep down, Seamus is wracked by guilt, PTSD, self-worth issues, and a deep sense of loneliness, believing not only that his parents’ death was entirely his fault and his life was never worth their sacrifice, but also that accepting mistreatment and even abuse from others is a fair trade in order to receive even a fraction of often shallow, nearly always deeply unhealthy care from someone else.

He projects brazen flirtiness around the women he meets and outwardly expresses an obsession with finding a woman, even taking his joking to his close friends about it to the darker fringes of humor at times, yet despite being a genius at engineering who create fully lifelike androids, he has never once attempted to create a lifelike robot for adult activities, always allowing even beings he creates with a vague hope of being loved to be fully sentient and to be able to fully understand healthy dynamics and consent and refuse him, and accepts these refusals willingly — meaning what he actually desires is a meaningful, loving, and wholly consensual relationship with someone he loves and who loves and chooses him in return. And furthermore, the very few times his flirts ever seem returned by other humanoids, he also suddenly becomes extremely shy, awkward, and nervous — giving the sense that he only flirts so brazenly because he wholly doesn’t expect it to work (and, to be fair, it very rarely does, and practically never has without his pursuers wanting to use him in some way, so he does have reason to think so).

He’s truly an interesting, complex, wounded, but deeply loyal and loving person hidden beneath a faux shallow and brash exterior.

What he wants in a relationship:

To be wanted and to feel attractive to at least someone - anyone. It doesn't matter if they're good to him overall, just so long as he's wanted and accepted enough to be in a relationship with someone.

What he needs in a relationship:

Someone who will treat him with respect, understanding, and kindness, and teach him to genuinely recognize and value his own self-worth in relationships of all varieties, and make him realize that he is mistreated by many of those he should be able to consider friends. Someone who will make him feel he's wanted, needed, and attractive, because he genuinely IS wanted, needed, and attractive to them. Reassurance all the way. Someone who will stay with him and be devoted to him. Someone who will love him for who he is first, and his talent and genius capabilities second.

How they would be good for each other:

1. They are both fairly open about their romantic feelings and attraction usually, so once they are truly together, it will be very obvious to each other that they are interested and care. In general, they have similar ways of expressing themselves in romantic relationships and similar needs that they would likely both find fulfilling and easily understandable. They’d both be very affectionate and treat each other well.

2. They have similar jobs and talents and thus would take an explicit interest in the other's line of work and life.

3. They both lost most (if not all) of their family at a young age, including someone whose death they blame themselves over in one way or another, and in general have similar trauma (including the highly specific issue of once having something living inside their bodies and threatening their health and life after a traumatic incident which led to it getting inside them). Furthermore, they also both have a canonical history of struggling with suicidal thoughts and occasional substance abuse to cope with their trauma and self-hatred — with Michael having turned to sleeping pills to escape daily life and as a coping mechanism, and Seamus ocassionally trying to drink himself into oblivion and in some cases even with outright intent to kill himself; given this, they would very easily understand each other and not judge one another for the things they have been through and the scars that remain.

4. Neither would feel pressure to hide their struggles with self-worth if they both knew they were feeling the same thing, and they could both talk about and help each other through their trauma; both of them can give reassurance of each other's worths and deservingness of love, despite their pasts, because as said previously, they both understand the struggles each other face in that regard, and they also both understand the other’s needs and wants on a very personal and deep level.

5. Romantic relationships would be beneficial for them both in general, and they would both be quite devoted, as they are especially lonely and would gladly cling onto whoever would love them sincerely.

6. Seamus could certainly benefit from someone who could afford to spoil him a little, and Michael would love having someone to spoil, but he’s also humble enough and has experienced struggling financially in the past enough not to be too out of touch from what Seamus went through.

7. What wouldn’t be good for them once they’re together, really? They’re perfect for each other.

How they would be bad for each other:

Well, in the beginning, they definitely would likely have some trouble fully admitting their feelings, like they do in my story, because Harper wouldn't quite be comfy admitting he's seriously into a guy (internal homophobia due to past discrimination going on around him in his world - yay! 😔), and Michael would take Harper as being straight because of his comp-het habits, and thus likely play off any of his feelings that slip out as "a joke", even though he himself is very openly bi.

Once Harper did make advances, Michael would likely see it as being experimentation or loneliness/desperation on Harper's part rather than him actually being into men, simply because he's never yet been able to have a relationship with a woman or even a one-night stand, and thus might fear getting his heart broken the further they took things.

Other than that, though, I think it's mostly smooth sailing once they're actually officially out about their feelings and together?

I guess they might have some potential for struggling if they're both feeling bad about themselves at the same time? Idk, I think they'd usually still be able to be there for each other, though.

I guess Michael might also be fearful of being replaced by a woman for quite awhile into their relationship too, fearing Harper is just settling for a guy because he couldn’t get what he “actually wanted”, and if Harper were to keep up flirting with others after this, it would definitely hurt him, even if Harper wasn't serious about it, but I don’t think that would happen.

Dealbreakers:

Both:

- Well, I think they’re both not the type to accept a polyamorous relationship from the other in their specific relationship. In my headcanons, Michael is entirely monogamous and would be deeply insecure about and hurt by Seamus needing another partner, and Seamus, though expressly open to exploring polyamory himself on occasion prior to meeting Michael, is quite content and exclusively committed to his partner as he is, not feeling the need to bring anyone else into it, and would be equally jealous, hurt, and insecure if Michael chose someone else to love in addition, too — given how deeply he longs to be exclusively special to someone, and deep down feels Michael is more than he deserves to begin with.

- In a similar vein, flirting with others while in a committed relationship is a no for both, except when very obviously in a joking manner.

- They definitely also both need someone supportive of their jobs and understanding of their pasts; thankfully, this isn’t an issue on either front and wouldn’t ever be, but if it somehow was, it would almost definitely spell the end.

Seamus:

- I feel like Seamus — judging from how he is presented in canon — definitely needs a sex life with his partner in order to feel fulfilled, so I couldn’t see him dating someone who was far enough on the asexual spectrum that they wouldn’t be willing to have sex with their partner in any form from the very beginning, but I do think he could make an exception for a partner who he already had formed a deep bond with, if for any reason they changed their mind or became incapable.

Thankfully, I feel like this wouldn’t be a role that would be a problem for Michael to gladly fulfill begin with, on multiple levels, as he too values a physical connection with his partner — and besides that, he’s loved quite dearly by Harper, anyhow.

Michael:

- Although he wouldn’t break up over it, I really don’t think he could handle his partner working a dangerous job that he couldn’t join them on, as he’d worry too much about losing them just like he’d lost everyone else in his life. It would destroy him.

- Also absolutely needs someone open to the idea of the paranormal, even if not particularly subscribing to it — given his situation.

There might be some others, but that’s all I could think of right now.

How they met:

Well, at least in my main story and the RP it’s based on, it’s a little bit complicated, and I don’t want to get too long-winded here, so to put it as simply as I can, Michael’s spirit ended up being pulled into a third world that Harper was also pulled into slightly prior to the events that lead to his death, and given a physical form as all people who entered that third world did if they died.

After that, they ended up meeting due to their two groups — some people from Michael’s family, and some people from Seamus’s friend group — needing to work together in order to eventually get back home.

Both groups happened to be about to travel together on a ship right before Michael ended up on the scene, so he and Seamus ended up spending time on the ship together, and…yeah, things developed from there.

How it would play out:

Well, like I said, at the start, Michael would likely be the first to fully fall, and as they grew closer over their commonalities and their feelings started to be mutual, it’s a given that admitting those feelings would be difficult — with Harper still grappling with his apparent bisexuality and fearing being judged or rejected, and Michael also fearing the same from Seamus because of Seamus’ hyper compulsive heterosexuality, thus playing off pretty much any and all of his own feelings that presented themselves as him “just joking around” because of how close they’ve become.

Then, once Harper finally was motivated to become bold and comfortable enough to make advances and explore his feelings (like, say, a push somewhere along the lines of being faced with nearly losing Michael entirely to a grievous injury or a dangerous situation), Michael would likely see it as being experimentation, or even just loneliness/desperation on Harper's part due to never having been able to have a partner of any kind before, rather than him actually being genuinely into men. It would definitely cause him some inner turmoil — cause obviously, it’s what he wants, but at the same time, it would be a scary position to place himself in, knowing that nothing is guaranteed and that he might get his heart broken in the end, especially once/if they started hooking up. Ironically, Seamus would probably feel the same, since he’d never gotten so far with anyone before and it’s even someone he’s falling in love with; the idea of that turning out to be a lie, too — especially when people have feigned some interest before for their own gain, albeit on a lesser level — would destroy him.

They’d both still end up giving in to their emotions, though, because they’d both be too desperate to feel loved by each other for at least a little while than to never get to feel it at all — even if it might ultimately be doomed.

And eventually, they’d slowly start to open up to each other as time went on, and one would finally gain the courage to confess, and then they’d at last be together officially.

Still, their troubles unfortunately wouldn’t be over, even then, if things played out like they did in main story; they’d still have to grapple with the fact that Michael is technically already dead, and Seamus is soon to be, if he goes back home and nothing changes. In time, they’d have to find a solution to these issues — a way to bring Michael back to life, a way to keep Seamus’s fate from taking him, a way to stay together despite their two worlds being separated.

It wouldn’t be until they were able to find a solution that they’d finally be able to have their happily ever after. (But we won’t talk about how they’d solve that for now…it might become a proper fic someday. ^-^’ If I ever gain the courage.)

Free Rambling Space!: