Chapter Text
Gregory sighed. He’s stuck with this kid full-time now, but he can’t dwell on that, not at the moment. He has to get to the lobby. He looked over at Evan, who was seemingly just wandering around. “C’mon, we have to go,” he said, not wanting to waste time.
“Look, I found something!” He pulled a sticky note off the wall and handed it to Gregory, who quickly read it.
ATTENTION KITCHEN STAFF - All food materials must be securely stored at closing. Chica has been caught eating from the kitchen garbage after hours. The maintenance repairs are costly and will come out of kitchen staff paychecks. - MANAGEMENT
Eating? Isn’t Glamrock Chinca a robot? How sentient are these things? Gregory shoved the sticky note in his backpack and grabbed Evan by the wrist. “C’mon. If we don’t leave soon, we’ll be locked in all night.”
He pushed open the green-and-pink double doors, and started walking down a hallway, Evan following close behind. However, he had to stop when he saw the pile of paint cans and totes blocking his path. He grumbled and turned into the only available door, some kind of bathroom. As he stepped in, he heard a strange… rustling sound? He didn’t have a clue what it could be until he turned the corner and saw Chica, hunched over in front of some trash bags. Oh no. Gregory knew what these animatronics could do. What they were capable of.
Evan’s breathing immediately picked up, and Gregory felt him tug on his wrist to get out of the room. ‘ I- is that-”
Gregory hissed at him, “It’s Chica. Go find something to distract her with! ” Evan ran off in a flash, and a couple of seconds later, he heard a metallic crash that sounded like something falling over. Chica’s head perked up with a squawk, and Gregory quickly shuffled backward out of the room, carefully making sure Chica couldn’t see him. Evan ran behind him as well, as he seemed to know the danger these animatronics possessed. Chica stumbled out of the room towards the loud noise, and Gregory started to carefully make his way back into the bathroom, hoping Evan got the memo and did the same.
They made it out through the far door and were now out of Chica’s line of sight. Another right into a dark hall, and Gregory noticed the dead-end with only a door to the left. He and Evan both stopped for a second to catch their breath. His heart felt like it was going a mile a minute. But their chance to calm down was cut short by Chica’s singsong voice.
”This area is off limits!~”
Evan squeaked and immediately went for the door, with Gregory following behind. It led into another storage room full of shelves, which they hurried straight past into another brightly colored pink-and-green hallway. They took a couple of turns and ran into a dim hall with tons of mechanical equipment.
As Gregory tentatively took a few steps into this unfamiliar room, he looked back at Evan, who had stopped. He looked terrified. His hands were shaking, and he kept swinging his arms back and forth to try and calm himself down. It wasn’t working.
“Come on. Chica’s pretty stupid, but if we don’t keep moving, she’s totally gonna find us.”
Evan looked down at his shoes. “Okay… I- just… give me a minute.” He took a deep breath and stepped out into the hall, the metal grates used as a floor loudly clanging as he took a step. He flinched at the sound, but his attempts to calm down were interrupted by the sound of a bang coming from the gate to his left.
“THERE YOU ARE!”
Gregory quickly turned around and saw Monty banging at the gate, quickly pushing through it. Great. This just gets better and better. He looked at Evan, who was still frozen in place, and roughly grabbed his wrist to start running. Evan quickly snapped out of it and ran as well, catching up to Gregory and swiftly running past him. When Gregory got to the next hall, Evan was already halfway down it. Damn, this kid was fast.
Gregory slowed down a little, hoping to conserve energy, when he heard another robotic voice.
”Are you lost??”
Roxy. Of course. That’s just what he needed. He picked up the pace again, until he couldn’t sprint anymore, and had to catch his breath. It seems like Evan felt the same, but his breath didn’t slow down. Evan looked around frantically, before they heard Chica’s high-pitched voice again.
”Lost boy over here~!”
Gregory took a sharp breath in. They were screwed. He started moving again, with Evan stumbling into a sprint behind him. They ran up a flight of stairs, and into a room full of security cameras. The door that they just came in from slammed shut behind them and Evan leaned against it, trying to make sure it couldn’t open again. Evan was breathing heavily, and looked like he was about to cry. Gregory was breathing heavily too, but he just had a vague look of unease on his face. “Jeez,” he panted, every couple of words cut off by a sharp breath. “Are they gonna.. be like this all night…?”
Evan stared up at the cameras and the parallel doors, taking in the environment. “This is just like-” His voice hitched and tears pricked the edge of his eyes. Evan slid down against the wall until he was sitting in the corner and buried his face into his plush, quietly crying and quickly breathing.