Event Trigger

Hello everyone, I'm creating a visual novel with a navigational system. Right now, I'm trying to allow the player to click on a character and have the option to spend time with them (which would trigger a dialogue event with scenes) or go back. The problem is, when the event is called, my back, skip, auto, save etc. buttons are all hidden and if I press escape, the game exits the event and doesn't even bring up the settings menu. Here's my room label, navigation buttons, character interaction, and event dialogue:

label livingroom1:
    $ current_room = "living_room" 
    if not event_active and renpy.music.get_playing() != "audio/dream.mp3":
        play music "audio/dream.mp3" volume 0.5
    if trigger_spend_time_aki == True:
        $ trigger_spend_time_aki = False  
        call spend_time_aki  
    scene livingroom
    show screen navigation_system
    show screen day_system
    show screen navigation_buttons
    show screen main_menu_map_button
    show screen quest_icon
    show screen heart_icon
    ""
    return

screen character_interaction():
    modal True
    vbox:
        spacing 10  # Space between the individual frames
        xpos -20
        yalign 0.7

        # Sleep Option
        frame:
            style "bed_menu_button"
            at slide_in_from_left
         
            imagebutton:
                idle "button.png"
                hover "button hover.png"
                action [Function(advance_time), SetVariable("trigger_spend_time_aki", True), Function(refresh_room)]
                xsize 500
                ysize 75
                xpos 0
                yalign 0.5
            label "Spend time (+1 affection)" style "bed_menu_button_text":
                xalign 0.5
                yalign 0.5


        # Back Option
        frame:
            style "bed_menu_button"
            at slide_in_from_left
            imagebutton:
                idle "button.png"
                hover "button hover.png"
                action [Return()]
                xsize 500
                ysize 75
                xpos 0
                yalign 0.5
            label "Back" style "bed_menu_button_text":
                xalign 0.5
                yalign 0.5

screen navigation_buttons():
    # Place buttons in a fixed position with manual spacing
    fixed:
        xpos -20  # Adjust this to position the entire block of buttons
        ypos 900  # Adjust the vertical position
if not trigger_spend_time_aki and not show_quests_ui and not show_charactermenu_ui and not event_active and not show_world_map_screen and not show_completed_quests_ui and current_room in ["living_room"] and time_of_day == "Morning" and quest_aki_talk in completed_quests:
        imagebutton: 
            idle "aki afternoon icon.png"
            hover "aki afternoon icon.png"
            action [ShowMenu("character_interaction"), Function(renpy.restart_interaction)]
            at character_effect 
            xpos 860
            ypos 570

label spend_time_aki:
    $ event_active = True  # Set the event as active 
    stop music
    play music "audio/serenity.mp3"
    
    scene stv1 with fade
    mc "Good morning, aki."

$ event_active = False  # Event ends, allow clicks again
    stop music
    play music "audio/dream.mp3" volume 0.5

    return

Hope anyone can help :)