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It shouldn't be complicated.
Gregory was in a life or death situation in a giant shopping complex, he shouldn't be wavering like that, he shouldn't be getting carried away by stupid things.
But he was so hungry.
“Monty, can we stop at a restaurant?”
“Gregory, not now, I'm running out of power” the metallic lizard grumbled back, looking around to try to see if any danger was between them and the charging station.
The boy himself wrinkled his nose angrily at the taller one, but didn't question it as they both ran towards the large cylindrical part placed conveniently in the middle of the Mall, the area was almost removed from everything, it should be enough for no robot to see them.
Monty entered the charging station, Gregory was not allowed to enter with him, the radiation from the charging form could be too much for his childish body, if Monty had somewhere to protect him with his body, like the chest cavity that Freddy had, it would be safer for him, so Gregory could stay safe and he could carry him. But since that wasn't an option, the child had to wait outside and pray for the best.
“Can we go to a restaurant after this?” he asked again, even though he knew Monty wouldn't hear him very well.
“Gregory, are you really thinking about food at a time like this?” the lizard grumbled again, his voice coming out muffled from inside.
“I'm really hungry, I swear it'll be quick.”
As soon as he finished his sentence, the station door opened, allowing the animatronic to exit, who looked somewhat angry under his glasses at his protected one. The ten year old boy put on the best abandoned dog face he could, making him growl in disgust.
“Okay, but we have to be quick! The kitchen has a lot of S.T.A.F.F Bots inside, and Chica could very well be there.”
The two headed to the kitchen area, Monty doing his best to act normally around the other animatronics while also using his body to prevent their sensors from detecting the little boy. They quickly reached the kitchen, Gregory barely holding on because of the hunger.
“Okay, we're here” Monty started looking through the shelves of the place, keeping an eye on the only Bot that seemed to be nearby. ”There aren't many ingredients around here... I'm going to take a look in the fridge.”
The lizard walked over to the nearby refrigerator, his feet making the ground shake with each step. Opening the fridge, he could only see some small frozen pizzas wrapped in plastic, he took one of them, putting it in the boy's hands.
“There must be some kind of oven nearby “ he said, closing the refrigerator. “It's your turn to make your own food…”
Monty watched in almost horror as Gregory ripped off the plastic as fast as he could and bit into a slice of frozen pizza, chewing as if it were the last meal of his life or as if it were the first. The animatronic didn't know exactly what to do, he'd never seen a child eat something raw like that, and he made shows for children. He acted quickly, stopping the boy before he could put another piece in his mouth without even chewing properly.
“Take it easy, little guy! You're going to end up choking” he took the rest of the pizza from the smaller boy's hands, lifting it into the air. “What happened to you? Were you that hungry?”
The brown-haired child took a second to compose himself, passing the back of his hand over his mouth and tapping his right foot frantically on the floor.
“I'm sorry... I'm just... It's just not easy to get food where I come from, I went overboard with that” he apologized, feeling a mixture of disgust at having to apologize for wanting to eat and a bit of shame at the situation.
“Don't your parents feed you at home?”
“Don't your parents feed you at home?”
The innocent question made the little boy's eyes fill with tears, even though he was refusing to let any of them fall. Monty sighed and ran his claws over the boy's head.
“Let's find the oven and bake this pizza for you.”
Yes, they found the oven. Yes, the Bot saw Gregory at one point, but before he sounded his annoying and stupid alarm, the animatronic slammed his head into the wall repeatedly, breaking the other robot.
Gregory sat on the animatronic's lap, enjoying every slice of pizza, when his dinner was finished, the two returned to their duties of surviving until the Mall opened. The subject of Gregory not eating often was never brought up again, but at least he had a good snack before all the hustle and bustle that would be the rest of his morning.
