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Eggs had insisted on holding his hand after they'd escaped the confines of the security office. Or, more accurately, Eggs had compromised with Gregory on handholding. His undead friend had initially insisted on carrying Gregory around like a little kid. Which Gregory wasn’t. At. All.
"You're not an adult either, short stack." Eggs had shot back quietly, keeping them to the shadows as best he could.
They were in the entryway to the main lobby now, the neon lights buzzing softly and drenching the black and white floor tiles in a fuzzy pink glow. In the distance, Gregory could see some of the gray little S.T.A.F.F. bots hard at work, sweeping and mopping up after a day of pizza parties and family fun.
"I'm not short!" It was silly to get upset about, but silly was better than scary, and so far, this stupid pizza plex had been very, very scary. “I’m—”
“Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex is now closed. Initiating nighttime protocols.” The automated announcement played out over the intercom, signaling both the late hour and—
“No. No!” Gregory yelled, caution thrown to the wind at the sight of the large rolling doors with Freddy’s face on them, quickly closing off the only exit. “Wait! I’m still here!”
His mad dash for the exit was brought to an end as quickly as it had started, Eggs hauling his ass back by his shirt into a corner of the lobby obscured from view by a large, cardboard cutout of the entire Fazbear Glamrock band. A cool hand pressed against Gregory’s mouth muffled any words he might have tried to say. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Eggs making a shushing motion with his other hand, pulling Gregory closer to himself as the familiar clunk-clunk-clunk of metal feet on the tile drew closer than Gregory was comfortable with.
“Don’t worry. You’re safe with me.” Chica had begun her patrol route again, voice cheery and pleasant and not at all implying she’d eat them for dinner if given the chance.
They watched in silence as the 7-foot-tall animatronic stalked past them, arms dangling awkwardly at her sides and mouth agape. Eggs only released his vice grip on Gregory’s shirt once Chica had gained a fair bit of distance from them, but his hand remained stubbornly over Gregory’s mouth. One wet swipe of his tongue had the man pulling it away with a disgusted sound.
“Seriously?”
“What else was I supposed to do? You wouldn’t let go!” He retorted, sticking out his tongue and ignoring the fact that Eggs tasted as nasty as he smelled. Go figure.
“Gregory?” It was Freddy this time, his voice a bit garbled by the tinny speakers of the Faz-watch Gregory wore.
“Freddy!” He whispered, relieved. If anyone knew what to do, it would be the face of Fazbear Entertainment himself! “Eggs and I got locked in. The doors shut, and the announcer said something about nighttime protocols. What are we supposed to do now?”
“Eggs?”
“The friend I told you about earlier. That’s his name, like the food.”
“I see…” Freddy paused a moment, and Gregory snickered as he imagined the confusion on the animatronic’s face. “Well, how unfortunate, Gregory. You missed your chance, but there is still hope. You should be able to escape when the security doors reopen at 6:00 am.”
“6:00 am!” How were they expected to make it all the way to six in the morning?!
If Freddy had had anything to say to that little outburst, he chose not to, instead continuing on without so much as a request for Gregory to keep quiet while he spoke.
“Until then, keep moving and try not to draw attention to yourselves. If there is another way out, I will help you find it. I promise.”
The crackle and resounding click signaled Freddy had stopped speaking on his end, and Gregory chose to let loose a groan of frustration. Stupid automated hours! What if there were a fire? Or a flood? Or an almost nine-year-old trapped inside?! Adults never thought of all the possibilities when making up their stupid rules.
“Hey,” Eggs cut in, hand resting on his shoulder reassuringly squeezing it. “We’ll figure something out, half-pint.”
"What happened to kiddo? I preferred kiddo.”
Eggs snorted before raising a hand and ruffling Gregory’s hair. “Kiddo, it is then.”
“Yes! The magnet scrambled the machine! Now they’re some kind of…” he squinted at the overly bright cards the machine had spit out for them. “Daycare pass?” He was only a little disappointed that they’d have to go through somewhere as childish as the Daycare to hopefully find an exit.
They’d crept through the main lobby in relative silence. It had been decided—a joint decision! No way in hell was Gregory going to let Eggs call all the shots, even if he was an adult—that the best course of action was to find a better place to wait out the rest of the night.
If Gregory were a bit bolder, he might have asked his new friend why he didn’t just use his badge to override whatever programming was in place to keep the doors to the exit closed. It was there, plain as day, hanging from a little detachable lanyard thingy on his shirt front, right underneath his name tag. But, taking in the rest of Eggs’ outfit, he looked less like a security guard—which was a good thing! It was that dumb security lady that was after him in the first place—and more like a janitor if the coveralls he wore tied around his waist were any indication.
No, in Gregory’s limited experience, it was best not to ask too many questions when it came to adults. The fewer questions you asked, the less likely they were to get mad at you for asking something you didn’t know was off-limits.
Freddy had been helpfully guiding them through “upgrading” their complimentary entry passes (it was totally hacking, but the silly bear would never admit to it) and gaining access to the rest of the pizzeria. Or at least the Daycare located inside the pizzeria. They had also been doing pretty well at evading Chica in her search for them. So, their luck was bound to run out at some point.
“That is great news! I will meet you in the—”
It was a security bot that gave them away, flashlight annoyingly bright, and wheels in major need of oil with the way they squeaked as it surged toward them across the linoleum floor.
“Fuck!” Eggs said, scooping him up like a sack of potatoes, their agreement on handholding thrown out the window at the sudden burst of sirens.
“This area is off limits!” Chica’s shrill cry added as she homed in on their location in front of the upgrade machine, now sporting the crappy Mr. Hippo fridge magnet they’d found earlier.
“Sorry Fazbear. Gotta go!” Eggs said, cutting whatever Freddy had been saying short, already running out into the main lobby area and up the stairs that would take them to the Daycare entrance.
A stream of expletives coursed out of Eggs’ mouth as they made their getaway with a number of them unknown to Gregory. The oversized bird gave chase, now that she had spotted her prey, and with the way Eggs was breathing, Gregory knew the man wouldn’t be able to keep up the mad sprint he had going for long. Lucky for them, Gregory turned out to be pretty innovative when, in a panic, he kicked out one of his feet at just the right time to upturn a mop bot that had its back turned to them. The disrupted bot bought them some much-needed time with all the fuss it was making and ensured their escape from Chica through a set of double doors with the words “SUPERSTAR DAYCARE PICK-UP” painted above them.
The room they were in now was empty compared to the lobby they had just left behind, with no security bot or mop bot in sight. It was also dark and calm enough that Eggs took the opportunity to sit on one of the many empty couches past the rolling security door leading to the daycare proper. With the way he’d eyed the giant golden statues of what appeared to be an animatronic Gregory had never heard of before, the man was just as creeped out by them as he was.
He could feel Eggs’ chest steadily rise and fall, face pressed into his friend’s side unashamedly, as he took a much-needed breather. Even Gregory could admit that a little bit of comfort was needed after their harrowing escape from Chica’s hungry clutches.
There was something odd about the daycare area. Something that made it feel like its own isolated bubble of the pizzeria, untouched by whatever funny business was going on with the security lady and the rest of the animatronics, but whatever it was, he wasn’t about to question it. If anything, he’d take advantage of the lull in danger and ask Eggs a question that had been brewing in his brain for a while.
“Why’d your voice get all funny earlier?” At the lack of response, Gregory frowned and pulled his face away from Egg’s side to get a better look at him. Eggs stared in confusion. Leave it to adults to be slow on the uptake even while in mortal danger as they were.
“When we were in the security room, and you were worried about my nose,” Eggs opened his mouth like he wanted to object, so Gregory steamrolled ahead (sorry, Eggs. Snooze, you lose). “Your voice did a funny thing and got all-all high and old-timey sounding.” Gregory made sure to whisper the next part. Papa wasn’t here, but that didn’t mean Papa wouldn’t find out. “Like the magic teapot in that princess movie with the beast prince.”
Eggs stayed quiet for a bit; thinking hard enough, Gregory was afraid for his brain. It wasn’t until Eggs spoke that he realized the guy had just been embarrassed. Which, in his opinion, was stupid with a capital S. If the two of them had anything to be embarrassed about, it was Gregory. Especially after he'd gotten all shaky and left tear stains and snot all over Egg's shirt earlier. He'd been a total scaredy cat!
"If I'm being honest, I'm not the best with kids your age." Eggs admitted as he looked at Gregory with a slight frown. "Most of what I know is courtesy of my mom, and while she was a wiz when it came to ankle biters like you,” Gregory stuck his tongue out at Eggs for that, which only caused the man to chuckle. “Unfortunately for me, she's also from jolly old England."
"So?"
"So,” Eggs’ frown deepened as if he didn’t like what he decided to say next. “It means my only example of dealing with brats like yourself is mommy dearest taking care of my little brother, mannerisms and all."
“What’s that like?” Gregory blurted out before he could think better of it. His questions already seemed to be putting Eggs in a mood, and if his frown and the nervous bounce of his leg were any indication, it was a mood Eggs did not want to be feeling.
He’s met with another blank stare.
Another warning sign.
And still, Gregory continued to question.
“Having a sibling, I mean.” Silence. “Or a mom?” More silence. Gregory was nervous now.
Papa would scold him.
Papa would tell him: “An object should not ask the person who made it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”
Papa would do a great many things he thought Gregory deserved.
Gregory always deserved them.
So, it was a surprise when Eggs did nothing.
Not nothing, nothing. But the man didn’t shout, or hit, or scold. He just continued to sit there, a little confused and flustered.
“Uh, well…”
“Gregory,” It was Freddy to the rescue!
“Freddy! We made it to the daycare. Where are you?” Gregory made sure to pull away from Eggs and put a good amount of distance between himself and the man in case his friend had a change of heart about disciplining him for his earlier behavior.
“I am unable to reach you.” The bear sounded apologetic enough, which was nice, even if it wasn’t true. “Check the Daycare security desk for a security badge, then let me in.”
“Got it,” Gregory replied, smiling as his watch went silent until another thought crossed his mind. “But how are you gonna make it down there, Eggs?”
He’d spied a slide that looked like it led straight to the daycare area’s ball pit (which looked fun, but Gregory wouldn’t admit that aloud), but there didn’t seem to be an adult-sized entrance for Eggs to use. By the look on his face, Eggs had come to the same conclusion.
Again, Gregory expected frustration. Maybe a bit of the cursing from earlier when Chica had been chasing after them.
And again, Eggs defied all expectations Gregory had for him. The man just shrugged his shoulders as if the lack of clear entry to the daycare was a minor inconvenience and not something that could cost him his life.
“But—”
“Your parents want you to follow me.” Time had run out. Chica had discovered their little hiding spot.
“That would be your cue to go, kiddo.” Eggs said, rising to his feet with Gregory in tow, hand like a vice around his wrist.
“Wait!” Gregory called out, digging his feet into the floor and trying as hard as he could to keep from being led to the stupid slide. “You gotta come with me!”
Eggs looked a little frustrated now, in the way adults got when they wanted a kid out of their hair, but said kid refused to listen. Gregory didn’t care. Whether Eggs liked it or not, he was stuck with him, and they’d find a way out of here together, Gosh darnit!
“Gregory…” Chica was even closer now.
Eggs looked a little sad now, which was never a good sign. That meant bad things, always.
“Eggs!” He yelled, fear over Chica wholly forgotten. This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t!
Eggs let loose a big sigh before hauling Gregory up by the back of his shirt, resolutely ignoring all the kicking he was attempting.
“I’ll figure it out, kid. Don’t worry about me.” Eggs said, at last, smiling all the while.
“Eggs—!” And with that, Gregory was sent hurtling face-first down the slide against his will.