Chapter Text
Now Gregory had no idea what his mother looked like, but he did know that she was always next to him. Well, usually next to him anyways. She had gone to the restroom and taken his cane with her. It had only been once that he walked away when she left, but it never happened again.
Either way, it had been awhile since he heard her leave. It was getting cold outside. After all, a T-shirt and shorts could only retain body heat for so long. Maybe his mom wouldn't mind if he waited inside for a bit. He only planned to wait for a few moments, she would never know.
So Gregory made his way inside by feeling around and listening for the sliding doors. It took him a while but he found it. At-least his mom didn't leave him in the car again, now that would have been difficult.
The doors slid open and he walked until he felt nothing guiding him. Either he waited here for someone to ask if he was okay, maybe they could guide him to the restroom. He kind of needed to use the restroom as well.
"Hey, little guy!" Gregory turned to where he thought the voice was and waited. Maybe this person knew where his mom was.
"Over here!" Gregory made his way over to the general direction slowly but surely before hearing a rough cackle that represented laughter and footsteps coming his way, in the opposite direction of where he was facing.
Heat rushed to his cheeks, no matter how many times he had done this he would never get rid of the embarrassment that it caused. Gregory understood that he couldn't see and that it was a part of his everyday life. But this person didn't, the person would think that he was stupid and walk away, leaving him alone.
It wouldn't be the first time it happened, probably wouldn't be the last. Some people had less compassion than others. Just the way of life, nothing more nothing less.
Maybe he should help out the process by walking towards the person. Yeah, that wouldn't turn out badly. Gregory takes his first step and nothing happens, he could do this. He continues at a brisk pace hoping to not run into anything.
Gregory takes a few more steps before crashing into something that sounds like metal, his ass hits the floor. So much for not running into anything.
"Where you goin' kid, that's my foot." Was the person wearing something metal on their feet? Gregory wasn't sure if they were or if they were somehow a robot. He believed the former, mostly because his mom told him robots weren't real.
She had told him a lot of things, like how the "radio" that they had could be controlled with a remote, Gregory knew that it was actually called a TV. Gregory knew a lot of things that his mom lied about, but he never heard anything about robots being real.
He assumed his mom hadn't lied about that, why would she? Gregory understood the TV thing, maybe she didn't want him to feel bad about not being able to see it. But robots? She had nothing to gain from it or even protect him from it.
"-id?" Gregory hadn't known that he had spaced out, how long had he been gone? Probably not that long since that person was still there. People don't stay long if he goes unresponsive, his mother told him so.
"Yeah?" Gregory muttered as he tried to get back up to his knees. It was harder than usual because of the lack of walls around him. Nothing to steady himself with other than a firm hand. Wait, a hand?
"Let me help you up, after all, it's hard to get up with your eyes closed." He could hear a rough chuckle above him. Gregory felt himself being pulled up by his hand and set back down on the smooth floor.
"Thanks…"
"The names Montgomery Gator kid, Monty for short." Wait was he-
"Are you actually an alligator?" Gregory practically shouted, vibrating with excitement. If he could see, his teeth would definitely be on full display.
Gregory liked his alligator plush at home, the teeth were pointy but fuzzy, the tail was soft with round bumps, but the claws were his favorite part. He liked the feeling of the leather on his fingers. Don't even get him started on the color, he liked green. His mom described it as the color of life, vibrant and silly.
So he liked to imagine it looked like the taste of some of his favorite candies. Sour but sometimes sweet.
"Open your eyes and look at me! Of course I'm actually an alligator, are you blind?" Gregory waited a few moments before blurting out his answer. He would let this bring him down he still wanted to feel if he was actually an alligator.
"Yes, I'm blind."
Monty went quiet and Gregory could hear him shifting around, the metal scratching together as Monty's legs moved back and forth. "Oh, sorry kid."
"It's fine, you weren't supposed to know." He wasn't sure if he could ask if he could touch him yet, they just met. But at the same time he was getting impatient. The thought of being to feel a real alligator was too exciting to pass up.
"But, can I-" Gregory paused as he tried to phrase the next few words in the least unsettling way he could think of. "Can I touch you?" That seemed like the least creepy way of phrasing it. Monty was still silent and it made Gregory uncomfortable and nervous. What if he creeped him out enough that he would never get to touch him.
"I-it's just that I always wanted to touch a real alligator, p-please Monty."
A few seconds passed before Gregory heard a chuckle and felt someone ruffling his hair.
"Sure, go for it kid. Just watch the teeth, they're awfully sharp." The smile on his face felt uncomfortable because of how wide he felt himself grinning. His little hands reached out as he heard Monty moving, probably lower to the ground.
Monty seemed tall for an alligator. Or maybe he was just taller than him, either way, Monty's voice felt a bit higher than his mom's. So in Gregory's eyes, or in this case his ears, he was taller.
"Thank you!" He all but shouted out, not being able to keep his excitement at bay anymore. His hands finally reached out enough to touch Monty, who felt nothing like his stuffed alligator at home. His skin felt really smooth, little ridges popping up here and there.
"You don't feel anything like my stuffed alligator at home…" Gregory muttered as he was entranced at the smoothness of Monty. After a bit he moved on to what felt like his wrists, they had leather on them, he liked leather. They were probably bracelets,
One with little spikes he figured because of the smoothness of the metal he felt his hand was on. For a bit he stayed there until he moved onto his hands. They had leather on them as well but this time there were no spikes. They were most likely gloves.
"Your lucky I'm even letting you do this twerp." Monty growled out, he sounded embarrassed or maybe disappointed at what Gregory had said. Regardless Monty still let Gregory feel his hands until he moved them back before he got to the claws, they would be too sharp to not hurt the kid.
Monty won't admit it but for the past few moments, Gregory grew on him. He didn't cry or ask why he replaced Bonnie. Hell, the kid even smiled at him.
"It's not a bad thing Monty, you feel nice." Gregory chirped as he finally moved onto Monty's face after a bit of wondering where Monty's hands went.
The head of his new companion was long, the teeth were a bit sharp if he pressed too hard. But all in all, exactly what Gregory had expected to feel, other than the texture. But he got over it quickly too entranced at Monty's nostrils and snout.
Gregory had felt everything on Monty's face besides the top of it, where the spikes were if his stuffed alligator could be trusted. But as he felt it it was soft, like hair. There was something else up there too, they felt like glasses.
"Woah-" Gregory gasped before putting both of his hands in the tuft of hair and began to ruffle it. "So soft!"
He could almost forget that he was in the middle of looking for his mother if he kept this up. The keyword was almost.
Before he forgets he needed to ask if Monty had seen his mom, so that's what he did.
"Hey Monty?"
"Yeah kid?"
"I-I have you seen my mom, she works here?" Monty froze, if this was the kid of the woman he was thinking about…
That would hurt the kid too much, so he did what he needed to.
"Yeah, she had to grab something from your house. She's gonna be right back."
"Okay Monty."