Chapter Text
The Next Day
It had been a long day, and Freddy’s battery was teetering on critical, but he did not give it more than a moment of his consideration before shrugging the little "9%" pop-up off entirely. Gregory’s jabberings about his morning routine were much too important to interrupt, he reasoned. His battery could hold off for a bit longer.
Gregory, who had picked up the whine of Freddy’s battery system, stopped his ramblings, took a pause to breathe some, then asked “Is something wrong?”
“Hm?” Freddy looked down at the boy as he sat lazily in his lap, still surprised to see that he had even deigned to jump there in the first place.
Gregory craned his neck upwards and leaned forward to look back at him past his bulbous chest cavity. It took a second for Freddy to understand what he was referring to.
“Nothing is wrong, Gregory. I will need to make a trip to a charging station soon, though.”
“Okie Dokie, let’s go,” Gregory said without hesitation as he jumped down from Freddy’s lap to make a grabby fist for his hand.
Freddy obliged and they walked out of the Fazerblast lobby together, Gregory only leaving his side when he found a good pole to swing himself around, a good nook to climb on, or a new animatronic cut-out to size up. Freddy chucked at all the antics, happy to see Gregory in such a playful mood. Whenever Gregory had enough of playing around, he would circle back to Freddy and grab his finger again. Freddy made sure to keep his hand relatively still because of this.
After estimating Gregory’s minor behavioral changes over the two weeks he had lived at the Pizzaplex so far, Freddy was amazed to conclude that the changes were a definite improvement. He had believed that there wouldn’t be any improvement - not after the trauma they had been through - and yet, Gregory was improving. Although they had hugged once before, it had been but a fleeting moment. After that, Gregory maintained a physical distance from Freddy for the first few days he lived here. Freddy was well-versed in understanding children’s body language, so he had been careful to keep from accidentally violating Gregory’s personal space. He tried not to feel hurt over the boy’s discomfort - after all, he was not programmed to touch (let alone hug) children in the first place - and he had been taken over by the glitch, if only briefly. Gregory’s hesitation at being touched, even by him, was to be expected.
But when Gregory began to open up on his own after admitting to Freddy about his insecurities, the walls between them continued their steady tumble with Gregory even starting to initiate and find comfort in physical contact. His back and the top of his head were his favorite places to be patted, Freddy had learned. A few words of praise and assurance were always a plus, too… but this could not be taken too far, otherwise Gregory’s eyes would mist over, and Freddy most assuredly did not want to be the cause of Gregory’s tears. Not again.
“Can we go to Kid’s Cove after this?” Gregory asked after circuiting Freddy for the third time as Freddy pulled himself from his thoughts. “I have a lot of energy I want to get out!”
Between the Fazerblast lobby and the Kid’s Cove playground, Freddy still did not know which one Gregory preferred as their usual hang-out spot. They went to the Fazerblast lobby when they wanted to relax after a game of Fazerblast, to Kid’s Cove when Gregory wanted to romp around, and to Freddy’s greenroom in Rockstar Row when they wanted to play board games and get Gregory ready for bed. The latter option would be much easier once the mattress Vanessa ordered for them finally came. Until then, their nightly routine consisted of Freddy charging as Gregory changed into his pajamas, Freddy vacating the station to let Gregory sleep there before going into rest mode, getting back inside the charging station before opening hours to charge up for the day as Gregory took a bathroom break, and finally make sure Gregory made himself comfortable again before leaving to welcome the incoming guests. Vanessa had found it odd that Gregory enjoyed sleeping in the charging station as he did, but Freddy assured her that he slept soundly throughout the night… when he did not have nightmares.
Freddy had hoped that after their Fazerblast game, Gregory would start to open up about the nightmare he had last night, but it was still a work in progress. He knew it was about Monty, and that was about it. Knowing that Gregory tended to be more flexible to talk to after wearing himself out, Freddy immediately gave approval for his plan to stop by Kid’s Cove. Children were less guarded when tired, and Gregory was no different, so by all means, he should let loose.
Then Freddy laughed some more when thinking about it further. “But did we not just play Fazerblast? How did that not wear you out?”
“It did, for like thirty minutes,” Gregory replied. “I guess it wore you out more than it did me!”
“You are right,” Freddy said. “You bounce back much faster than I ever could.”
“Yep! But after dinner, I’m probably going to crash hard like usual,” he admitted.
“And what would you like for dinner, Gregory?”
“Hm, I don’t know.” Gregory’s smile widened. “It definitely needs cheese, I think.”
“Tomato sauce goes well with cheese, you know.”
“Something thick and round, too?”
“And sometimes triangular?”
“Duh,” Gregory huffed. “The triangular part is the best part. Then you can eat it with your hands.”
“Is that so? I thought the best part was the cheese.”
“Oh yeah, after the cheesy part,” Gregory said with a cheeky smile.
Freddy’s ears did their usual little jig. “You sure go through a lot of pizza! You are going to get sick of it if you keep it up.”
Gregory made a face of disbelief. “There’s a reason why this place is kid-themed and pizza-themed. People my age want nothing more than a good pizza! And the pizza here is made to kid’s tastes: extra cheesy.”
Freddy hummed. “As long as you eat your fruits and vegetables on the side, it should not be a problem.”
“And those stupid vitamin gummies or whatever, yeah, I know,” Gregory whined.
“Yes, and those ‘stupid’ vitamin gummies. Vitamins are very important for your growth, Gregory,” Freddy reminded him.
“Are they? For a while, I thought they were a myth - like Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy.”
“I am programmed to assure you that Santa Clause exists. Then again, I am the one that pretends to be him every Christmas, so take that as you will,” Freddy said with mock severity.
Gregory tried to hide his snort as they neared the second floor’s designated charging station. “They make you dress up as Santa? What do the others dress up as?”
“I am not forced; I enjoy dressing up as Santa, even if it is somewhat… tacky. And Chica enjoys dressing up as Frosty the Snowman; she looks so adorable, you really should see it! We have our own semi-permanent accessories for the occasion and everything! Roxy is forced to dress up as an elf, and Monty is put in a Rudolph get-up… and I know that they do not exactly enjoy it.”
“I wonder why,” Gregory scoffed.
Freddy tilted his head down at him as he entered the charging station. Gregory invited himself in and got comfortable on Freddy’s feet as the doors closed.
“What makes you say that?” he asked.
Gregory shrugged. “I don’t know them as you do, but I think they’re both kinda independent. They wouldn’t like having to play at being your, uh… workers? Pretending to be characters beneath you, I mean.”
Freddy thought about it for a moment. “I see… maybe we should take it up with management, then. I am convinced that Roxy looks beautiful in her elf costume, and Monty handsome in his Rudolph costume, but I never liked how uncomfortable they seemed to be. It never occurred to me that they might feel inferior as a result, but I wish I had thought of this possibility sooner. We should come up with new characters for them if that is the case.”
“Yeah,” Gregory added with forced enthusiasm. “Roxy can be the Grinch and Monty could be a candy cane.”
Freddy did not get the joke. “Silly Gregory, the Grinch is green; Monty would look better as the Grinch. And we cannot dress as inanimate objects unless they are a personified character you can find in Christmas-themed media.”
“Fine then, how about… oh, I know! She can be Krampus!”
Freddy got the joke then. “Very funny, Gregory,” he said with masked amusement.
“I thought so too.”
“Anyways,” Freddy said with a mock sigh, “vitamins are not a myth. They contain a bounty of nutrients that are vital for growth and cognitive development. They will help you stay healthy, and besides, Vanessa promised to find you a brand that tastes better.”
“She better get fruit flavors,” he huffed. “I used to take these melatonin gummies that tasted like real fruit gummies, and they were so good.”
Freddy had to actively deny the initiative to laugh to keep from embarrassing the boy. Gregory sometimes brought up the most random details about his life, always so eager to talk about himself as he was. Although Freddy sometimes found this childlike tendency rather distracting coming from other children, he thoroughly delighted in Gregory regaling him with every little trifle he could think of at the moment. Freddy wanted to know about the lizard Gregory had caught once in the lobby of a hospital years ago, or about his favorite Nintendo game he shared with his sibling, or about that time he accidentally drank a nasty-tasting juice from a glass bottle that made him feel “real icky.” He did not even mind it when Gregory filled him in on the finer details of how the juice tasted when it came back up. As long as it did not hurt to talk about, Gregory would tell him anything and everything, with Freddy wanting to know everything there was to know about his special Superstar.
As they spent more time with each other, though, Freddy quickly learned to avoid certain topics. Gregory’s parent situation was strictly off-limits, and the reasons for so many of his stories taking place in hospitals were a no-go as well. It did not matter to Freddy either way; so long as Gregory wanted to tell him even the most ambiguous or nonsensical details of his life, Freddy would listen. Down the line, if Gregory wanted to tell him more, then again, Freddy would listen.
That is if Gregory would still be with him down the line.
Freddy’s ears went still.
The door opened suddenly as Gregory got to his feet to run towards the seating area just ahead of them. He ran a few circuits, climbed to the top to grab the palm tree decoration, and then ran back to the charging station without opening it to peek up at Freddy through the window. After drawing Freddy’s outline in the fog that formed against the glass from his breath, Gregory amused himself by smashing his face against the glass.
“Gregory, have you eaten sugary food recently?” Freddy asked, afraid of the answer.
Gregory’s face went neutral. “I haven’t eaten sugary stuff recently…”
Freddy raised a merry eyebrow at him.
Gregory blushed. “I may have… had too many sodas today. One of the kids I met today had a cool mom that bought sodas for everyone. She gave me seconds because she thought I was well-behaved,” he added, looking puzzled at the memory. Freddy wondered just how much of the mother’s disposition of Gregory was defined by his lovable dimples.
“Oh? You made more friends today?” Freddy asked excitedly.
Gregory nodded and shrugged, more focused on the apparently very interesting charging station door as he fidgeted about it absentmindedly. “A lot. It’s easy to group up with all the kids whose siblings are having their own birthday parties. Their parents aren’t focused on them, and they get to go around the Pizzaplex doing whatever they want.”
“I would love to meet your friends one day!”
Gregory frowned. “Nah, they’re only my friends for a day. I never seen any of them afterwards. They just leave when the Pizzaplex closes.”
“Most guests are return customers that live nearby,” Freddy said, undeterred. “Of course, we do get our fair share of newcomers that are on a weekend outing or on vacation, but most of them return regularly. I am sure you have made friends that go to the local schools. Perhaps when you start to attend school yourself, you will be able to see them all the time!”
Gregory’s face fell further. “Yeah, but I don’t even know if I’ll get to attend school here; not unless Vanessa decides on whether or not she’s going to adopt me, and I can tell that she doesn’t really want to. I don’t think it’s because she doesn’t like me, but I know she doesn’t think of herself as a good person, so maybe that’s it. She says she isn’t even sure if she can try it because of my parents. It’s… it’s not like what they did is illegal…” he mumbled. “And they’ll definitely want me back, but… for strange reasons.”
Freddy did not know what to say to comfort the boy from a situation he knew very little of, but he would say it anyway.
“Officer Byron has promised to help us, Gregory. If you do not want to go back, or if you feel unsafe with them, then you should not be forced to go back.”
“It’s not that simple, Freddy. Officer Byron explained that, unless we can get evidence on them, I’m legally theirs to do whatever with. I mean… they didn’t abuse me, they didn’t hate me or whatever… they’re not bad. I just don’t like what they did to me.”
“Do you miss them?” Freddy asked softly, still in the dark entirely, but hyperfocused on Gregory’s emotional state and responses more than anything else. As a result, he was picking up more than he thought he was.
Gregory bit his lip, his eyes widening slightly at the question. “Not as much as I should. I do miss my brother a little. I mean, sometimes I hated him, but I know it wasn’t really his fault. Without him, I wouldn’t even exist… and I’m glad he’s still alive. He wasn’t mean, just sick all the time.”
His head dipped below the view of the window before he opened the door to sit back on Freddy’s feet. Freddy took the chance to discreetly double-check the band-aid on the back of his neck he had dressed earlier in the morning, just to make sure it held up. Freddy was satisfied to see that the inflammation had gone down, but when Gregory did not say anything more, he bent a little to ask if he had any new scrapes or bruises crop up. Gregory shook his head and remained quiet, but showed him the cast on his arm briefly to prove to Freddy that it was clean as well.
Freddy watched the boy closely as he dropped his arm to draw invisible patterns on the floor.
“You can tell me more, if you wish, Gregory. Or you can choose to never tell me… but I would love to know, should you want to,” Freddy gently reminded him.
He could hear Gregory sigh as he laid his cheek against his foot, now curled into a warped ball half-sprawled atop Freddy’s feet. Freddy wondered how this could have been comfortable in the slightest.
“I’d rather not,” Gregory mumbled.
“Alright,” he said softly. Then: “You should introduce me to any friends you make in the future; I enjoy hearing the stories you tell me about them! Maybe you could even make plans with some of them to meet up again so you will not feel lonely anymore.”
“But I don’t feel lonely, Freddy,” he implored.
“The other day you said that I was your only friend,” Freddy prompted.
“Oh. No, I just know that the friends I make here won’t last long. But that’s fine; as long as you don’t go anywhere, that’s okay with me, so it’s not like it’s a big deal. Besides, the ones that come here often are more spoiled, being rich kids and all that,” he said with half-hearted disgust.
Freddy chuckled, not exactly disagreeing.
“And introducing you to any of them would be hard. You’re always so busy throughout the day; I’d never be able to find you, let alone get to talk with you. And they probably wouldn’t believe that you’re my friend, anyways.”
“I am everyone’s friend!”
“They wouldn’t believe that you’re my best friend,” Gregory revised.
“Nonsense! Just message me via your Fazwatch that you would like to come and see me, and I will tell you my location. I can always make time for my Superstar,” Freddy added in the knowledge that Gregory blushed when he addressed him as such.
“Whatever,” Gregory mumbled abashedly.
Freddy chortled in return, glad to have taken Gregory’s mind away from any topics that might hurt him. Unless he was expressing his emotions in a healthy way, Freddy would mend all of Gregory’s scrapes, physical or otherwise.
“Oh! I still haven’t told you about the epic game of tag yesterday!” Gregory exclaimed excitedly, his sugar high returning in full throttle as Freddy opened the door to follow the boy out towards the pizza kiosk. With a flourish, he began to regale him of his valiant tale.
“So I was at the theater eating lunch with my friends when a group of teenagers ran in and hid all around us. Then we recognized them as the team we played against in Fazerblast! It was crazy! And so we hid with them because it was the reasonable thing to do, and then Monty came in and said he was after us. But the older kids hid in plain sight, so I knew we’d get caught. Then the intercom came on to tell us that the show was about to begin, and then someone told us to run so we did. Monty’s escort screamed at us to stop and was real mad about the whole thing, but we ignored him. We almost got caught at the elevators, but at the last moment, it opened and we all jumped in. We thought we were clear until Monty managed to get in the elevator with us. He roared real loudly, and we all screamed. But then he said ‘Going down?’ or something like that, and didn’t tag us. Then the elevator music came on and it was kinda funny. I knew that he’d catch us all as soon as the doors opened because I was like here, everyone else was here, and Monty was here!” he said as he showed Freddy everyone’s place with his hands waving about wildly.
“You guys were pretty trapped, hm?”
“We really were. And so I challenged him to a game of Rock Paper Scissors because no one else had the guts to. He accepted, and-”
“What did Monty get out of it?” Freddy asked.
“Hm? Oh, if he won, I would be out, but if I won, we’d get like ten seconds to run. I chose scissors, and he got paper. I'm real good at Rock Paper Scissors, you know.
"Then we all ran out of there as soon as the doors opened, but the escalators were packed full of people, so we split up to wait in line, but then Monty started to chase me so I couldn’t wait. I led him on this wild goose chase around the entire atrium - we lapped the place! Well, as much as we could considering it’s more of a u-shape and doesn’t circle the entire atrium. You know what I mean. And by the time I got back, everyone was on the first floor and ready to go so I slipped through the people on the escalators and then we all ran for Rockstar Row, and it was so funny because Monty couldn’t really keep up with us because he’s so big - he couldn’t get through the line area, you know what I mean?”
Freddy nodded at the meandering hand gestures Gregory supplied.
“See that’s how I kept ahead of him when I ran around the atrium - it was so crowded that he couldn’t really make sharp turns and catch up.
"But then the employees working at Rockstar Row tried to stop us to see if we had photo passes (we didn’t, by the way), but then Monty made them leave us alone to keep the fun going. But then my friend Mickey actually tripped and fell - flat on his face, like this!” He made a clap sound to abbreviate the fall.
“Me and a few others stopped to like carry him or something, but then Monty stopped too to see if he was okay. He told us that was why we shouldn’t run in the Pizzaplex, and then Mickey looked upset for a moment. I think he was embarrassed for tripping in front of everyone. Then Monty said ‘So, where were we?’ and then we started to run again. And then - well, you kind of know the rest from there, but because my friends and I didn’t leave from Rockstar Row and didn’t have any parents to run to, I figured you and Roxy would have to be our finish line instead, so I ran towards you. I thought about just running clear out of there to hide somewhere, but I knew it’d confuse everyone so I didn’t do that.”
By this point in Gregory’s retelling, he was out of breath from speaking more than breathing. They had been waiting before the single S.T.A.F.F bot that served the Pizzeria in the atrium for a while now as Gregory continued on in oblivion, but Freddy was too amused by his story to have the heart to distract him till he was finished.
“Ah, so that was why they were following you,” Freddy said absently.
“Who? Monty? I don’t know why he was chasing us in the first place-”
“No, not Monty. I was referring to your friends. They were all following your lead.”
“Oh,” Gregory said with pursed lips as he thought about it. “I guess they were. Well, it wasn’t as if anyone else took the initiative to save us, so I voted I do it.”
Freddy’s shoulders shook from the booming laughter he couldn’t restrain.
“You sure were brave, Gregory! I am glad you had fun with Monty. He often plays tag with the older children, and the banter had gotten quite severe by the time I made it to Rockstar Row. Bets were made, empty threats were thrown about, you know; standard preteen antics. Monty has always been good with teenagers, and I, for one, have always admired his sharp wit. He can be quite funny when he is in the mood.”
“Yeah, I guess he was pretty funny,” Gregory admitted after he ordered a plain cheese pizza, his wonderful grin faltering now.
Freddy delicately patted his hair down, mindful of his claws (even if Gregory thought they were good back-scratchers). Gregory looked back up at him, his gaze wary as they locked eyes.
“That being said, I know that you had a night terror, and I also know it had something to do with Monty. Earlier, you said that you used to take melatonin gummies, and-” Gregory’s face lit up at the suggestion, so Freddy had to backtrack. “No, melatonin will not help in this instance; there is evidence suggesting that melatonin will worsen night terrors. However, that does not mean that there are no medical options out there. I will see what Vanessa has to say about it if that is alright with you?”
Gregory’s eyes were big with gratitude as he nodded. “It wasn’t awful, as nightmares go. I knew what I was setting myself up for when I joined in on the fun. At the time, it was not as frightening as it could have been: I had my friends with me, and the Pizzaplex was full of people. I am more afraid of the isolation I felt that night than I am of them. But when I look at them, I am reminded of the isolation.”
“Can you tell me about the dream? It might make you feel better,” Freddy offered.
Gregory chewed on his lip, his words very quiet as he spoke. “I was in a rectangular room with tan walls. The floor was wooden, and the room was lit up, but there was no light sources. Worst of all, the room did not have any openings or doors - until one opened up in the ceiling: a square-shaped black pit. Hundreds of plastic balls - like the ones in the Daycare ball pit - spilled out of the opening, and I got buried by them as they filled the room to the ceiling. I couldn’t see Monty, but I could feel that he was in there with me. I felt him grab my leg and yank it… and then you woke me up.” He looked very vulnerable for a moment before continuing. “I don’t know, it sounds really stupid now.”
Freddy gave him another pat of assurance. “Posttraumatic nightmares are a common way for the body to handle trauma, Gregory. It does not mean you are weak if you have them.”
Gregory’s smile was genuine as he leaned into his touch, his blush of shame already dissipating.
"I will be there to wake you up from any more bad dreams, I promise," Freddy said solemnly.
“Thanks, Freddy,” Gregory mumbled under his breath as he showed his favorite bear some dimples.
Chica knew it was a bad idea to show her fellow bandmates the active one-way call that had been left on since she invited Freddy to their rehearsal a week and a half ago.
She just figured it out too late.
It was a blue-moon miracle that Roxy had entertained the idea to begin with, as it was no secret that her distaste for the boy went far into darker territories. It was an unspoken rule that the boy was to never be around Roxy whatsoever, and it was a rule that Freddy had been competent at maintaining. Despite this, Chica had guessed that it was the thrill of listening in on a private conversation that reeled her in on it: Roxy had always had a tendency to be somewhat nosy.
As for Monty, she was convinced that he only agreed to listen in out of boredom and mild curiosity.
The plan had been to listen to the call in order to try and hear the boy's side of the story. She held out the hope that they would strike lucky and hear Freddy and the boy converse about his having damaged her and Roxy again, but that would have been too perfect. If it had turned out that way, then surely, Roxy could not be too nasty to a boy that clearly felt guilt for having hurt them as he did... but that might have been Chica's idealism talking there. The boy had a reason for what he did - they all knew it - but that was the other unspoken rule: do not talk about the reason.
But, as the conversation continued, the plan slipped up with all fours in the air before collapsing to the ground in an embarrassing wake.
First, it had been the boy's commenting on Roxy's likeness to Krampus. At that, Chica thought she would have to have Roxy committed. Amazingly, Roxy's only response was a clench of the jaw that had the equivalent PSI strength of an industrial hydraulic press. The real ebullition would happen later in the privacy of her own room, Chica knew, and the only one that would be victimized by it would be Roxy herself.
It got a lot worse when the conversation turned awfully sensitive once the boy confided to Freddy about very intimate matters regarding his family situation. Of course, this gave a few hints of varying credibility as to why the boy was sticking around, which was insightful and good to know. Despite this insignificant win, it was around this time when Chica wised up to the fallibility of her plan, but by then it was much too late. Roxy had stopped her from ending the call with a grab of her wrist and a seething glare, so Chica kept the call active to tempt fate another day.
But then... oh, but then, Freddy brought up the boy's... nightmare situation... with Monty as the star of the show... as the star of the show in question listened in to take notes on his figmented performance.
If Chica could have laid an egg from mortification, she would have.
It was not often when the gator felt emotions strong enough to lose control over his facial modulations, but when it happened, it would always spur Chica into a fright. Ignoring Chica's splutters of reason, Monty straightened himself from his lean against the wall, adjusted his sunglasses further up his nose, and walked out of the rehearsal room to smash up who knows what.
With the door shutting behind their friend, Roxy finally spoke up.
"Wonderful scheme there, Chica," she said with vague emotion, her ears flat against her finely-combed hair as she stalked out after Monty.
"I just wanted to help Freddy," Chica murmured with Roxy well beyond earshot.
From what she could hear of the call now, the boy was thoroughly scarfing down a freshly-made pizza between his long orations about a time he almost fell from a tree and broke his neck. If Chica had been a brave chicken, she would have tried to join their game of Fazerblast rather than standby on the sidelines like the nosy eavesdropper she now was. At least that plan meant that she would've gotten some pizza for her troubles.