🍌Michael🍌

Michael grew up in a small town with his mom and dad. His sister died when he was very young, so he has only a small memory of her. Ever since he was little, he was extremely shy and would shake and sweat whenever he had to speak to someone. Michael's father was the only one in his early life that understood how Michael felt and was always very supportive of him. Michaels' mom was harsher on him, trying to push him out of his comfort zone, and constantly berating him about how he should get out more. This had a negative effect on Michael's development into his teenage years, and he was only more afraid of talking to new people

When he was in high school, he wasn't necessarily picked on, but was generally ignored by his classmates because his presence was so weak. It was so difficult to become friends with him, his peers eventually gave up altogether and didn't make any more effort. The treatment by his mother made him very self-conscious about his shyness and even though his dad was there for him, he never taught Michael how to work on coming out of his shell. Throughout high school, Michael dedicated most of his time to baking at home, which became a very comforting hobby for him. With the help of his father, he brought little plates of the things he made to the doorstep of family friends. This made him very happy inside, and it was a comfortable way for him to show his care for the neighbors around him.

In his senior year, things in his small family started to go a bit south. The talk of going to college was thrown around, and this created a crack in the family's foundation. His mother had no interest in sending him off to culinary school; she always talked about how he would never create a name for himself and it wouldn't be worth it to spend all their money on their shadow of a son. Michael's father had enough of this, and about halfway through his senior year, his parents filed for a divorce. This turn of events didn't shock Michael, he knew it was coming. After a bit of discussion, Michael's dad decided to pack his bags and move out to the next town over, where he had a buddy that ran a milk delivery service that paid good money. To nobody's surprise, Michael ended up going with him.

Michael and his dad both decided they didn't have enough money between the two of them to send Michael off to college, and even though it was sad, Michael was okay with this decision. They had a discussion about sending Michael to therapy and the psychiatrist for his undiagnosed anxiety and decided to wait a bit until they had a bit more money together. In the summer after his senior year, he got a job with his dad delivering milk, and upon his deliveries, he stumbled across a beautiful sweets shop with an especially peppy owner. This tall, candy-filled man was named Connie, and he was the owner of the shop. Michael surprisingly had an easy time talking to this guy, while his father was still there of course. After a few more milk deliveries and the weather started to chill, Michael was becoming more comfortable talking to people a bit. Sometimes he opted to go ring the doorbell by himself and talk to the customers. He also did this with Connie, and they got acquainted very quickly. After a few weeks, Connie learned that Michael was a wonderful self-taught baker, and was so excited to tell him that he was actually thinking about expanding his shop to serve baked goods as well. Now, after a few months of planning and talking, Michael now works as a full time baker at Connie's sweets shop, and has been going to therapy and is on medication now that he was able to get a stable job. He never contacted his mom, and Michael's dad is very happy with his job delivering fresh milk to the people in their town.