Chapter Text
Freddy stands in his dressing room, singing some of their show tunes. They have just got new ones and he loves the way they sound! Midnight is in a minute, and once those metal doors shut, Freddy and gang can stop acting like (mostly) mindless robots. After that night (Freddy shutters at the memory), Fazbear Entertainment had decided that a human working at night was too much of a liability. The animatronics are advanced enough to take care of themselves for the night.
“Freddy-” Gregory begins but stops at the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway. He dives back under the blanket and silently prays that he hadn’t just got himself caught.
“Final check!” The late-shift security officer calls into Freddy’s room. “No stray kids, right?” The guard asks teasingly.
Freddy turns to the officer and happily beams, “no, sir! I even checked my cake-hatch!” Freddy opens his hatch and the guard laughs.
“Good to know!” He laughs at Freddy’s antics, completely missing the child currently hidden under the beanbag in Freddy’s room. “Have a good night, Freddy!” The guard calls over his shoulder as he leaves. Freddy does his overly happy wave, that Gregory is starting to think is not fake and is the genuine way that he waves.
“You too, Officer Daniels!” Freddy says as the door shuts. The room is quiet for a moment as both Freddy and Gregory listens as he walks away. “What were you saying, Gregory?” Freddy asks quietly once he is sure the guard is too far away to hear them.
“I was gonna ask if I could go hang out in the daycare,” Gregory says, pulling himself out of his “master hiding spot” as Monty had deemed it sarcastically. “Once this place locks down, of course.”
“Of course! Sun and Moon have been asking if they can see you,” Freddy says gleefully. “Though I do believe that means Sun has an art project for you.”
Gregory laughs at that. “Well, a little glitter glue never hurt me.”
The clock in Freddy’s room dings, flashing “12:00 AM” in a bright bold font. Gregory walks to the door but stops in the threshold. He takes a shaky breath before taking a step forward. Impulsively, he lowers his head and checks around the corner. Sure, he’s been here for a little over a month now, and no one here is actually going to hurt him, but he can’t help himself.
“I can walk you to the daycare, if you would like,” Freddy says softly, as to not startle the young boy. Gregory looks over his shoulder and thinks for a moment before nodding his head. He waits for Freddy to be by his side before moving forward.
Freddy doesn’t mind the clingy nature of the boy. In fact, he enjoys it. Having a child to take care of after the pizzaplex has closed gives him a purpose. He no longer dreads the night, where he will have nothing to do but practice the songs that he already knows perfectly because they are literally in his programming. Gregory is a wild card, as all children are, and it keeps life after hours from getting stale.
Walking to the daycare takes longer than it probably should. Gregory is apprehensive to get too close to the security bots, more in number now that there is no night guard, and Freddy knows that there is no point in reminding Gregory that the bots will not react to him. Freddy messed with the codes and now the bots think Gregory is just a random droid roaming around. The boy already knows this and it just makes him frustrated to be reminded. It makes him feel like a baby for being afraid. Instead, Freddy just holds Gregory’s hand and pulls him close when a bot gets too close and runs with Gregory when he sprints past the ineffective bots.
They round the corner to the daycare and Gregory almost screams when he sees Chica, Roxy, and Monty standing by the daycare’s gate. Almost.
“Easy, Superstar,” Freddy soothes. “They are our friends, remember?” He tightens his grip on Gregory’s hand and Gregory nods his head. The boy takes a few calming breaths before shakily removing his hand from Freddy’s grasp and plastering a smile on his young face.
“Hey guys!” Gregory says, bouncing up to them with an air of confidence, while he is trying to suppress the urge to run.
“Oh hey, Cupcake!” Chica beams, reaching out to ruffle his hair. He laughs and bats at her hand. He doesn’t think anyone noticed that he flinched away from Chica, taking a half-step away before he makes himself stop.
Roxanne sees it, but she doesn’t say anything. There’s no reason to draw attention to it.
“Going to the daycare?” Roxanne asks, redirecting everyone’s focus on herself. Only because she wants the attention, not because she wants to keep the others from noticing Gregory’s anxious demeanor.
“Yep! Sun has a craft he wants to do with me, and I could use a little more glitter glue in my life,” Gregory says, unconsciously backing into Freddy who puts a paw on Gregory’s shoulder.
“Ah, shucks,” Monty says crossing his arms over his chest. “And here I was about to ask if you want to go golfing with me.”
“Us,” Chica corrects. “Want to go golfing with us.”
“Yeah, sure, I guess you and wolfy can come too,” Monty says with a chuckle.
Gregory freezes. “You want to go golfing with me?” he asks, genuinely confused.
“Of course, you’re the easiest player to win against!” Monty says, jokingly. He lowers his glasses and winks, making it clear to Gregory that he is in fact joking. Everyone knows that Chica is the worst a minigolf. “Besides,” Monty adds. “I figured it’s time we start doing some family bonding.”
Gregory smiles up at him. Family bonding. Monty thinks of him as part of the family. The fuzzy feeling bubbling up in his chest is crushed when he remembers the last time that he was in Monty golf.
Gregory can still remember it clear as day. He had just gotten the camera and was running out of the course when Monty rounded the corner.
“Hey, Little Guy!” Monty had called mindlessly. Gregory screamed and ran the opposite direction. Hot tears were streaming down his face, he couldn’t see where he was running. Where is Freddy? Just a little faster, just a little-
“I would love to! What about tomorrow night?” Gregory asks, shaking himself free of the memory. He can’t see Freddy’s big smile, but he can tell by the way the bot is squeezing his shoulders a little tighter that he is very happy. And if Freddy is happy, Gregory can stomach being in there for a little bit.
“Only if I can get you the next night,” Roxy says.
“For go-karting?”
“No, to steal the Mona Lisa,” Roxy deadpans. Gregory and Monty both bust out laughing while Chica scolds Roxy. Freddy doesn’t quite get the joke, but Roxy beams in spite of Chica’s berating.
“Okay,” Gregory says once he can speak without wheezing. “That’s a deal.”
Everyone is smiling as Gregory walks to the daycare. No one notices the way he practically sprints in the daycare once the door is open, or the way his smile falls away once he thinks they can’t see him.
“I’m glad you guys are starting to get along,” Freddy says once the doors close.
“Yeah, about that,” Chica says, rubbing her arm.
“Are we telling him now?” Monty asks. He moves his glasses lower on his face so he can see the world without a red tint.
“Well, I don’t see why we shouldn’t,” Chica says crossing her arms in front of her chest defensively.
“Because it’ll kill the mood,” Monty says, intentionally keeping his arms by his side, so he doesn’t become aggressive.
“I’m with Chica, now’s as good of a time as ever,” Roxy says, interjecting before Chica can counter. “Besides I think the mood is officially dead.”
Monty huffs but says nothing else.
“What are you guys going on about?” Freddy asks.
Chica opens her beak but shuts it after a moment. She doesn’t know how to start this conversation. She looks towards Roxy.
“Well, you see…” Roxy begins before trailing off. Freddy looks between the girls. He doesn’t get angry, its not in his code to be angry, but he does get frustrated easily with his bandmates. He stares at them expectantly but neither of them can think of how to start this. They know Freddy loves Gregory, and they think that he will be upset that they waited this long to tell him about the night terror.
Monty sighs loudly. “You remember a few days ago when you had to spend the night in parts and service?” Freddy looks at the gator confused. Hesitantly, he nods. “Well, Chica found the kid in your room having a severe night terror.” Freddy looks at Chica who nods meekly. “When she couldn’t wake him up,” Monty continues, “she left to find Sun or Moon. On the way, she ran into Roxy and me.”
“Literally,” Roxy chuckles before pantomiming Chica running into them with her hands.
“We asked what was wrong and she told us that Gregory was having issues. Roxy went to get Sun or Moon while Chica drug me back to your room.”
“It was so bad Freddy! I didn’t know what to do!” Chica cried. Freddy didn’t react to her out burst and looked back towards Monty.
“What happened when you got there?” Freddy asks, keeping his voice level and calm.
“Chica tried to wake him up again, but it didn’t work. She convinced me-”
“With four games of minigolf,” Chica mutters.
“-To use that stupid voice changer,” Monty continues not acknowledging the comment, “that they gave me for when your voice box was still broken from using Chica’s.” Freddy grimaces at the memory. “Because of my build, Gregory thought I was you. He let me hold him, and even then, he didn’t realize who I was. Eventually he told us about the nightmare he was having.”
“In the dream, we were chasing him,” Roxy says quietly, almost hurt at the thought that Gregory would still be afraid of her. She is supposed to be his favorite. “He broke down sobbing and asked why you weren’t there to save him.”
“After that he said that he wants to be our friend, he’s just scared of us,” Monty finishes.
“And he wasn’t awake during any of this?” Freddy asks.
“Not fully awake, or the voice trick wouldn’t have worked,” Chica says.
Freddy is silent for a moment, processing the information he was just told. “And why have you waited until now to tell me?” Freddy asks, his tone similar to that of a disappointed dad.
“We didn’t want to say anything in front of the kid,” Roxy says.
“Didn’t want to embarrass him,” Monty tacks on gruffly.
“And its not like we could’ve said anything during the day,” Chica mutters, trying her best to not shrink in on herself.
Freddy considers them for a moment. “Thank you for telling me.” He smiles gently. “Better late than never.”
“Yeah, better late than never,” Monty echoes.
“So,” Freddy says after the group falls silent again. “Do you really want to play golf with him or are you just trying to make him feel better?”
“Both, really,” Chica answers.
“We want to hang out with him,” Monty says.
“But we also want him to feel better,” Roxy finishes.
Freddy smiles at his friends. He’s so happy that they are all getting along with Gregory. He had been worried that they wouldn’t get along, and until recently he had been right.
Monty and Roxy both avoided the kid as much as they could, and Gregory understood that. Chica was the only one that made an effort, but Freddy had to tell her to back off a little because it was obvious that she and Gregory were both forcing themselves to go and put on a happy face for the other.
“I’m glad everyone is getting along,” Freddy says. “Even if that means playing a little golf.”
“Yeah, you’re playing golf with me- us, bear,” Monty says. He crosses his green arms across his chest, trying to be forceful, knowing very well that Freddy has the power to tell him off. The girls chuckle at his slip up.
“Alright, as long as you take it easy. You know I’m bad at golf,” Freddy relents.
“I was going to go to the kitchen, if you guys want to come,” Chica says after a moment of silence.
“I want to go, I hear they got new ice cream that supposed to look like me and I want to make sure it looks right,” Roxy says flippantly, knowing that she really just wants to hang out with Chica.
“I don’t have any plans tonight,” Monty says pushing his glasses back up now that they were done talking about emotions.
“I would like to come,” Freddy says. “I don’t wish to join Gregory in the daycare.”
“Glitter glue,” Monty grumbles and all the animatronics shiver at the thought.
“I’m still getting it off my legs from trying to get Sun,” Roxy complains as they start walking towards the kitchen.
“And Gregory will still be covered in it when he comes back,” Freddy groans. “It will be impossible to get out of my chest.”
“Hey, I can give him a lift on my shoulders,” Monty offers.
“But you’ll get glitter glue on your shoulder pads,” Chica points out.
“Shoulder pads are easier to explain and clean than Freddy’s cake-hatch,” Monty grumbles, trying to cover his tail. Roxy laughs at him and hits him playfully on the shoulder when he tells her to shut up.
“Hey Roxy.” Freddy leans forward with a sly grin on his face. “Race you to the kitchen?”
Her eyes light up. “You’re on, Fazbear!”
“On my count,” Chica says excitedly. “One, two-”
“Three!” Monty yells and takes off running.
“Hey!” Roxy yells and takes off after him. Freddy runs after both of them, and Chica tries to keep up while genuinely laughing harder than she has in a long time. Gregory’s relationship with them had been straining on their relationship with each other. Healing with Gregory will make their friendship that much stronger.