Chapter Text
"SHOWTIME ALREADY? I...AM EXPERIENCING A MALFUNCTION..."
Gregory was torn from his thoughts by some loud-ass voice ringing out around him.
"THE RECHARGE CYCLE IS NOT COMPLETE..." The voice continued, drowning out Gregory's thoughts to the point he forgot he was supposed to be hiding.
"Shh!" He hissed, "Will you shut up?!" In his haste to make a shushing motion, Gregory bumped his elbow on something within the hatch and quietly cursed to himself as the arm began to tingle and sting.
"WHO SAID THAT?" From within the hatch, he could feel the animatronic begin to move and look around him.
"I did! I'm down here" The hatch jostled Gregory a bit as the bear attempted to look under the vanity desk.
"DOWN WHERE? I STILL CANNOT SEE YOU."
He rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay...listen. You were sleeping, and your stomach hatch was open so I just...climbed in."
"MY STOMACH HATCH?...THAT PLACE IS RESERVED FOR OVERSIZED BIRTHDAY CAKES AND PINATAS. IT IS NOT A SAFE PLAY AREA!" The bear rose his voice with concern and Gregory had to cover his ears in fear they would start bleeding.
"I know, I know! Now could you stop talking, my eardrums are gonna explode!" There was sweet, blissful silence for a good ten seconds. But suddenly the hatch was filled with light and Gregory toppled out onto the floor with a thud.
"There you are-"
Before he even had time to comprehend what was happening, he was lifted up and blinded by the bright blue light of the animatronics eyes as he was scanned.
"Scanning complete." He was placed back on the ground, stumbling back a couple of steps and rubbing his eyes in annoyance until he could see clearly again. The bear stared at him for a moment, the fans inside of him whirring quietly. "How odd..." Oh god that couldn't be good. "Your guest profile is...unknown to me..." Gregory fiddled with his hands awkwardly. "Who are you?"
He hesitated for a short moment. "I'm Gregory...no, I don't prefer 'Greg'." The animatronic closed his mouth and looked to the side nervously like a dog that had been caught chewing shoes, a reaction that Gregory found disturbingly human-like.
"Gregory, hm...I will notify the main office." Gregory was about to protest, but a noise that sounded suspiciously similar to the windows error popup sound rang out from Freddy. "Huh. Connection error. I cannot connect to the main network."
He cheered internally. Thank god he wouldn't have to waste energy making up excuses to trick a lump of metal. "That's fine! I was just going, anyway." He made a move for the door, but when he tugged on the handle he found it to be locked. "Or...not. Uhm, you can open this door right?" He looked to Freddy, who tried the door then shook his head in response.
"I apologise, Gregory, I cannot. I am unsure why it is locked. Perhaps it is because I am malfunctioning." Gregory groaned and tried the door a couple more times to no avail.
"It shouldn't be locked! It worked earlier." Freddy's fans whirred a bit louder and he turned his head to Gregory.
"Gregory, did you use a photo pass to access my room?" Gregory shook his head yes to this, "...I am confused, if you have a pass, your guest profile should be known to me." At hearing this, Gregory looked away sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders.
"Well I dunno why you don't have it, don't look at me." His eyes drifted to the gap in the curtain for a short moment, then he crossed his arms and frowned at Freddy. "Who cares about the stupid profile thing anyway? Just help me find a way out of here!"
"Yes, of course." The animatronic spent a short moment looking at the room opposite of the curtains, Gregory followed his gaze into the room and to...a vent. "You are small. Gregory. Perhaps you can crawl through the ventilation system to arrive at the exit. However, I feel compelled to encourage you to speak with the nightguard, I believe tonight Officer Vanessa is on duty, your parents may have contacted her. She can help you."
As if on cue, the beam of a flashlight appeared and started to move further down the massive hallway. "No no no, I can't talk to her!" Gregory whisper-yelled, frustrated, "She's out to get me! Let me back in the hatch, quick! Or she'll see me." Freddy moved towards him, but instead of opening the stomach hatch, he walked into the backroom and lifted Gregory up to the vent. Gregory frantically opened it and scrambled inside, just managing to close it as the flashlight shone between the curtains. Gregory shuffled back further into the vent, but the metal bent and groaned beneath him so he opted to stay still as Vanessa opened the door to Freddy's room.
"Freddy, have you seen a kid aro-"
"Officer Vanessa! I am delighted to see you! I must speak with you about something." Gregory's breath hitched in his throat, fearful that the animatronic was about to rat him out. "I would like to visit my bandmates to...apologise about my malfunction on stage today. I understand the door to my greenroom was locked as a safety precaution, but I can assure you I am not experiencing any glitches at this tim-"
"Yes, okay, Freddy. I don't need a speech about it. Don't wander too far, you're on low battery. The day shift workers will kill me if they have to carry you down to parts and service at 6 in the morning." Vanessa glanced around the room for a moment, then turned on her heel and walked out. After her footsteps faded away to a distance Gregory deemed acceptable, he slid out of the vent and jumped down to the ground. He stumbled a bit since it was such a big jump, but grinned once he saw that the door in Freddy's greenroom was open. He noticed Freddy turn to him as if he were about to speak, and quickly shushed him.
"Freddy you talk too loud, that guard will come back if she hears you." Freddy was still for a moment, then his stomach hatch opened. Gregory noticed a small gift box inside, and raised an eyebrow at it. That wasn't there earlier. He stepped forward and turned the little handle until the box popped open and made a sound effect. Gregory winced at the sound and looked back to the door, expecting the guard to return. But she didn't, and Gregory reached into the box and pulled out a...watch.
He frowned at it for a moment, fiddling with it until the screen turned on. There was a notification and Freddy's voice started to quietly play from the watch as Gregory tightened it on his wrist.
"Hello Gregory! I can send you messages through this Fazwatch, so do not worry about the volume of my voice. I can now escort you to the front entrance. We must make it to the entrance before 12AM, that is when the doors close for the night. They will not open until 6AM. "
Gregory snorted at the name of the watch, which earned a confused look from Freddy. He quietly cleared his throat and tried to check the time on the watch...but, he couldn't find it. What sort of watch didn't tell the time?? God this place was weird. "Uhm, Freddy? What's the time?" There was another notification.
"It is currently 11:35pm. We have 25 minutes to reach the entrance before the doors close."
Blah blah blah, the entrance wasn't that far away anyway. Wait...
"What do you mean 'we' ?" Gregory moved to peer out the door and make sure the guard was far, far away.
"As I said in the first message, I will escort you to the front entrance. The fastest route is through the utility tunnels, and I do not believe that it is a safe place for children to be on their own. You can hide from Officer Vanessa in my stomach hatch, though if she finds me too far from Rockstar Row I will be sent back to my room."
Gregory rolled his eyes. Sent back to his room? He's a heavy animatronic that's like a million feet tall, who's gonna make him go back to his room?
"Okay...fine. You promise it's the fastest way?"
"I assure you it is. Now, we must get going." Freddy opened his stomach hatch again and kneeled to Gregory's height, which he found a little humiliating. He crawled in and wriggled a bit, being in such a tight space didn't seem as bright of an idea as it had earlier.
But whatever, he'd only have to be in there for another 20 minutes or so.
...right?