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It was a familiar situation. You wake up in the middle of the night, sweating, trembling, absolutely terrified; but not because of some dangerous threat. It’s your own brain haunting you, creating illusions of things that had happened to terrorize you.
Gregory had been moved around from home to home his entire life. He had experienced every kind of parental figures in the foster system. He’d been abused and abandoned by some of his past “parents,” and the entire situation always left frightening imagery to dance around his brain. Reminders of shouting, yelling, pain, terror- it was all familiar. If that wasn’t bad enough, he also knew what it was like to be hunted by several corrupted animatronics and a psychotic woman in a bunny suit. Monty, Roxy, and Chica were all friendly and helped support him, but he couldn’t shake the memories of them going out for his blood. He could remember sobbing and shaking behind cabinets as Monty stomped by. Running as fast as he could as Chica trailed after him hungrily. Roxy’s taunts and jeering as she chased him around the main atrium. He now knew it wasn’t really them, and that they were now his friends, but never actively went out of his way to surround himself with them. The most time they’d spent together was the big attempt to repair a dissembled Bonnie, and even then Gregory had to take frequent breaks to get away from the trio. He only found solace in Freddy, and eventually Bonnie when he was repaired. He never confronted them about his nightmares though. He didn’t think they’d understand- they were just robots after all. He couldn’t blame them for not dreaming.
He thanked his lucky stars that the room he was asleep in was completely empty. Normally Bonnie would go into rest mode here, but he and Freddy were out the best attempt at a date they could manage. When you’re trapped inside a Pizzaplex, there’s not really a lot of options. The pair had obsessed over the idea ever since Gregory introduced them to those stupid sappy Hallmark movies ages ago, so he wasn’t going to go bother them with his ridiculous night terrors. They deserved to be happy for a little while.
So there he sat, curled up in the corner of Freddy’s room. He brought his knees up to his chest and sat his chin on top of them, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to shake off the dream. It’d leave him eventually and he could go back to sleep. He didn’t even notice that he was sobbing and whimpering audibly until the door slid open, revealing a very confused looking Bonnie and Freddy. Gregory quickly repositioned into a more causal stance, trying to rub the tears off of his face before either of them noticed- but it was too late. Freddy was already racing over. Gregory yelped a bit as he swooped off of the floor and practically cradled by the giant animatronic.
“Gregory!” the bear exclaimed, staring down into his eyes, “What’s got you so frightened? Are you hurt?”
Gregory shook his head wildly. There was no point in hiding anything now. It might even do him some good to talk about it.
Bonnie approached beside Freddy wordlessly as he examined the young kid. His crimson eyes scanned over Gregory with intensity, carefully observing him.
“He doesn’t look hurt,” Bonnie’s glitched out voice stated calmly.
“I just had a bad dream. I’ll be fine,” Gregory replied, squirming and trying to free himself. Freddy was infinitely stronger though, and refused to let go.
“Mmm,” Bonnie hummed. “Do you wanna tell us what happened in it? If you don’t wanna say anything that’s fine,” the rabbit questioned, his large ears twitching curiously. Gregory wondered how it was programmed to do that.
“I will if you put me down!” Gregory chimed, relaxing as he was lowered to the floor. He looked up at the animatronics, his eyes nervously flitting from side to side. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.
“It was just about getting chased again. I just— I saw Roxy running around today and it shook me up. She’s great and all but I just can’t stop thinking about them all chasing me!” he finally admitted, deciding to fixate his shaky gaze away from Bonnie and Freddy. Looking at an animatronic wouldn’t help. Even if they had always been harmless.
Gregory was a bit surprised as Bonnie got down on his knees, trying to his best to meet eye level. It was as if he knew that Gregory was feeling intimidated.
“It’s not easy to be friends with someone who hurt you, even if it wasn’t their fault,” Bonnie murmured, setting a hand on top of Gregory’s head and gently ruffling up his shaggy hair. “You should’ve said something about your nightmares sooner, kid. Freddy and I will help you.” His voice crackled and started to fizzle out towards the end and his hand started to tremble. Bonnie quickly removed the offending arm from Gregory’s head and spat a curse quietly as he couldn’t make it stop.
Gregory glanced up at Freddy to see if he had anything to add, but he seemed a bit distracted with looking at Bonnie affectionately. If Gregory wasn’t so shaken up, he’d probably roll his eyes.
Freddy snapped back into the present and looked down, clearly feeling a bit uncertain about being the only standing. He followed Bonnie and got down, giving his best lopsided grin.
“You need a hug, superstar?” Freddy chimed, and Gregory practically threw himself at the bear animatronic. Freddy embraced him tightly and motioned towards Bonnie, who quickly joined in. Gregory could easily make out who was who because Bonnie was lightly twitching. It was... charming, in its own way.
One can only sit squashed between two giant robots for so long before it becomes uncomfortable. He squirmed his way out once more and readjusted, standing up and dusting himself off. He sniffled and wiped the tears he didn’t even know were there from his eyes once more. When had he been crying-?
“Why don’t you come on our walk with us? The other animatronics should be settled in by now. It’ll be fun,” Freddy offered, following suite and standing up. He lowered a hand out to Gregory, but the second Gregory put his hand in the offer, he was hoisted up onto Freddy’s shoulders.
Wow. Okay. This was different.
Being up on Freddy’s shoulders was nothing like sitting fearfully in his chest cavity. He was so high up, but then again, he was entertained. He giggled the whole way through, completely disregarding his nightmares from earlier. It was so much nicer to walk through the Pizzaplex at night without fear of being hunted down. Especially when you were riding on the shoulders of a friendly robot bear!
Bonnie walked beside them quietly, the only noise emitting from him was the occasional popping of electronics or some garbled static. He didn’t seem distraught about it for once, simply tranced with watching Freddy carry around Gregory. Lame saps, Gregory thought before he was lightly jostled around.
“You feeling any better?” Bonnie asked, glancing UP at Gregory for once. That was a strange feeling. He nodded excitedly in return, grinning wildly. Bonnie gave him a soft smile in return, turning his attention back towards the walkway in front of them.
“You think I could hold onto Gregory and run at the same time? We’re not too far from my room,” Freddy questioned, and Gregory assumed he was looking over at Bonnie mischievously from the way the rabbit was skeptically squinting.
“Maybe, but if the kid falls off and breaks an arm I am not responsible,” Bonnie answered, crossing his arms and turning away.
“It’ll be fiiiinnnneee,” Freddy laughed. “Alright, hang on!” was the only warning Gregory got before Freddy charged towards the entrance to his room. Gregory held tightly to the top of Freddy’s head, giggling as he was tossed around lightly. They made it safely to Freddy’s room and there were a good couple of moments before Bonnie made it to them. (The rabbit always walked a bit slow due to his frequent malfunctions. They usually would move to his pace, but this was a special occasion.)
The door slid open once more and Gregory was lowered down onto the couch. Freddy sat down next to him and Bonnie retreated to his hiding corner.
“We’re here for you, Gregory. You don’t have to face things alone just because we don’t understand them,” Freddy spoke softly. He raised a robotic hand to Gregory’s shoulder, squeezing it gently before placing it back in its original position.
“..I know. I was just embarrassed that I was still scared of them.”
Freddy had a sudden grin and he leaned close to Gregory, whispering the next statement veeerrry discretely.
“Bonnie’s secretly scared of Roxanne. He’s got no reason, either. He just can look at her once and freak out,” Freddy stated. He backed away and winked.
“Blackmail,” Gregory chimed.
“Aw, whatever. Now it’s time for you to go to sleep. You’ve already missed out on a lot with that walk,” Freddy said imperatively. Gregory sighed and slid off the couch, going over to Bonnie’s little corner.
“Can I sleep over here with you? Just in case I...” his voice trailed off as he realized there was a possibility of waking up terrified again. Bonnie just nodded slowly, gazing at Gregory with a look of pure understanding. Gregory settled in beside Bonnie, resting comfortably tucked into the rabbits side. Or, comfortably was a bit of an overstatement. It was more so safety than comfort, but that never really mattered to Gregory. He’d slept in worse places before.
Bonnie wrapped an arm around Gregory and slowly rubbed up and down his shoulder. Occasionally the rabbit would accidentally bump him a little too hard due to the twitching, but Gregory never really noticed it. He did notice how Bonnie never went into rest mode until Gregory was asleep. Either that or he didn’t at all, because he was still repeating the motion when Gregory finally drifted off.