Chapter Text
The couch shifted as someone plopped down next to him, and he looked up at Vanessa’s weary face. She settled back into the cushions, pressing her eyes closed the way she always did when she had something important to tell him, and before he had a chance to ask, she informed him, “The Becker kid is next.”
It took a moment for the words to register. Then he shot upright, whipping around to look at her. “He- what?”
Vanessa winced, sinking a little deeper into the couch and running a hand through her tangled ponytail. She always seemed surprised at his outbursts, but then, Rab was the calm one, the social one, and Gregory usually didn’t have the energy to freak out when he was back in control. But this went beyond that, it was...
“What do you mean?” the boy demanded, digging his nails into his palms. “Tony? Why him? Why not- why not-” Why not anyone else? It was too horrible to say out loud, but they both knew what he’d meant regardless.
The security guard shrugged, eyes still closed to avoid his wide-eyed stare. “He’s getting too close. He probably knows something’s up, and he’s been snooping around too much for that to slide.” She hesitated. “I think it was the arcades. Your high scores.”
...the arcades. The stupid arcades. Gregory stood up, wobbling a little-- she reached out to steady him and he flinched and drew away, venturing out of the karaoke lounge he’d been settling in for the night. A security bot rolled up behind him, waited until he was out of its path, then moved on as though he didn’t exist.
The boy passed through the arcade in a daze, brushing his hands along the machines as he passed. His fingers left behind a trail of glitching purple screens in his wake, his initials standing out at the top of each leaderboard. They were etched into the very walls of the Fazcade, every arcade machine in this building, into the building itself, everywhere, filling his eyes with the glowing letters.
GGY was everywhere. The message boards and whispers among Pizzaplex regulars confirmed that people had noticed. It just didn’t matter enough to them, or presented a gaming challenge, or, even for those willing to look a little deeper, it quickly became a dark, convoluted path that they were wise to stay away from.
Except for Tony, apparently. And come to think of it, he’d been wandering off a bit whenever they went to the arcade after school. Gregory remembered feeling distantly disappointed that he didn’t want to spend time together, even though he was constantly trying to convince himself that having friends was bad. It was always a brief moment of joy, of pleasure, when he got to see Tony smiling at him, laughing at something he’d said. The few, fleeting times when Gregory got to be himself, not Rab...
Having friends was bad. It was worse that he wanted more than that.
“Idiot,” he whispered, coming to a stop at the railing overlooking the arcade, the neon lights and colors as dull to him as ever, the music toneless and muted. Tony and Ellis were the world’s only bright spots for him, and he was going to lose them.
It only made sense for Tony to get curious and investigate. He wanted to be a journalist, after all, and he was always jotting down notes on anything that piqued his interest. The boy had been so sure he was under Tony’s radar, but if he was investigating, he wouldn’t stay that way for long. Once he started suspecting Gregory, Ellis would probably easily take his older friend’s side...
...and if he had to do that to Tony... if he was forced to kill Tony...
“He hasn’t started questioning me yet,” he whispered, wringing his hands together. Tony hadn’t so much as looked at him funny-- if he’d somehow missed it, Rab still would have seen. He wasn’t a suspect yet. “So- I can still fix this. It doesn’t have to be him.”
Vanessa, who had followed him, only shrugged when he glanced back at her. “It’s not impossible… he might agree, since we just finished a job and I’m getting funny looks again. We need to go under the radar, sooner rather than later this time.”
Her gaze flicked over the dim arcade for a moment, and he frowned when he noticed a purple undertone still remained in her tired green eyes. “Still... you don’t have a lot of time to ‘fix’ anything, kid. He’s already in a little too deep. And you can’t afford to... to have him angry with you again...”
“Then help me,” Gregory insisted. “We just need to scare him off, and he’ll stop investigating and leave it alone.” The woman didn’t respond. “Ness? Please, I can’t-” His voice caught, desperate, but he didn’t dare say what he was thinking. She was well aware of how much he wanted to live without a mask, without any of the secrets, the awful weight of his conscience.
For a moment, Vanessa dared to look at him. She almost never looked in his direction when they spoke-- it seemed to physically pain her. Her expression wavered, and she chewed her lower lip anxiously and pushed away from the balcony. “Do you think he’d be smart enough to back off?”
The boy took a trembling breath. “He- he might-- he should. If he’s been this secretive already, he knows this isn’t just some conspiracy. He just needs a push.”
The dull music echoing over the arcade filled the silence that followed. Gregory dug clenched fists into his messy hair, leaning against the railing and squeezing his eyes shut so tight it hurt. “Please, Vanessa.”
The security guard exhaled, and he glanced up as she turned away, starting to head down the spiral steps. “One of the Glamrocks was tailing him the other day, so I’ll look into their memory logs and see what I can do about it,” she relented. “And... maybe talk to him about it. Try to get him to stop.”
Gregory snorted, following close behind her and her bright flashlight beam. “I’m not- I’m not charismatic like he is. I hardly get to talk to Tony.” And when the opportunity was there, he was usually too nervous to say a thing. Ellis was chatty enough for the both of them, anyways.
“Clearly you like this kid.” Vanessa didn’t stop walking as the boy sputtered, trying to think of a good response to that. “If you want a chance of saving him, you’re going to have to talk him out of this yourself. I can only do so much to help if you don’t.”
“Vanessa,” he whined, cheeks burning as he raced down the steps after her. She knew full well what she was doing, her eyes glinting in brief amusement when she paused to let him catch up. If she was teasing him, maybe there was hope, but the thought of trying to talk to Tony about this made his stomach churn. “This is gonna be impossible...”
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“This is impossible,” Tony muttered, burying his face in his hands. The misty air was rapidly turning to a heavy drizzle, soaking his hair and sending streams of ice-cold water down the back of his neck, but he was caught in indecision, halfway between his grandmother’s house and the school.
It wasn’t such a bad idea... no one would know if he snuck in. He knew where the cameras were, and how to stay clear of them, and everything would be fine as long as he was quick and smart about it. He needed answers about those missing counselors-- he had to know if GGY was involved, he had to know more.
The only thing stopping him was the heavy weight of dread pooling in his gut at the thought of going that deep into investigating. Tony knew GGY was dangerous, and every step closer felt like another step toward getting caught. Whoever this kid was, they seemed like they would kill to keep their secret.
On the other hand... GGY was already killing. Altering animatronic code and outscoring everyone in arcade games and luring counselors like Mary Schneider into the Pizzaplex... more and more people were going to go missing, and Tony had a feeling that he was closer to the truth than anyone had gotten. It was impossible to decide what to do like this, so torn between his unanswered questions and the risks.
He was so deep in indecision that he missed the footsteps lightly splashing down the sidewalk, the hollow sound of raindrops drumming on an umbrella, which was now held over his head. Someone cleared their throat just behind him, and Tony glanced up with a start.
He almost didn’t recognize his friend at first-- Rab’s chocolate-brown locks were half-tucked under a grey hoodie, and in the flickering light of the lamppost overhead, his face was ominously shadowed and oddly unreadable. Tony almost thought he saw purple reflecting in the boy’s gaze, but it must’ve been the umbrella or something, because then soft amber eyes were looking him up and down.
Aware that he was drenched and probably looked demented sitting out here in the rain, Tony self-consciously ran a hand through his sopping hair. “Oh... uh, hi, Rab.” He blinked up at the boy. “What’re you doing out here?”
“Running an errand for my sister,” Rab replied easily, settling down next to him on the curb, heedless of the soaked pavement. He always seemed to have an effortless reply ready when they talked, and Tony didn’t remember it being quite so unsettling before. “Thought you were painting a garage or something.”
“I was...”
“Eh, I get it.” The other boy grinned. “You’re out here cleaning off the paint, right?”
It caught him so off-guard that Tony laughed, though he told himself it wasn’t funny. “Um, yeah... let’s go with that.”
A silence fell between them, leaving Tony wondering what he was supposed to say next. He hadn’t told either of his friends about GGY, and he still tried to tone down his investigations when Rab was around-- he was so hard to read that Tony could only wonder what he thought of him.
And mysterious, too. Rab jumped between clever observations and mischievous jokes at whim, and he’d been admiring that for so long that Tony had failed to realize he didn’t know much about this boy at all. Only that he was funny and smart and kinda... ridiculously cute, and now, apparently, he had a sister...
Tony hummed thoughtfully. “I didn’t know you had a sister. Older, right?”
This earned him a surprised look. “Yeah, yeah, I... dunno, guess she never came up before.” Rab shrugged. “Why?”
“No reason.” She probably wasn’t in their school, but Tony was sure he would’ve recognized the last name, or the resemblance, even if she went to the nearby high school.
...did he even know Rab’s last name?
Rab sighed, abruptly shaking him from his roaming thoughts. “I read the story, by the way. About GGY.”
For a moment, Tony didn’t even know what he meant, staring a little too long into the other boy’s eyes before realizing... “Oh- oh, good. Is there anything you want to change?”
“Yes.” Rab’s eyes flitted around for a moment, which was very out-of-character... what was happening here? “Mainly, I just want to know... you didn’t make up the details about the character, did you? You always look for inspiration from real-world stuff.”
He noticed that? “Sort of... I was going to tell you and E- and Boots about it tomorrow. It’s a lot deeper than I thought, and it makes for a good story, I th-”
“You need to leave it alone,” the other boy interrupted, his voice turning stony. “Stop investigating this GGY stuff.”
Tony blinked. “....what?”
“I know you’re trying to figure out who GGY is-- of course you are.” Rab was staring at the curb, the water dripping onto his shoes, bouncing his knee apprehensively, and Tony was sure he’d never seen the boy this anxious. “It’s not like you’re the only one who noticed, y’know. Just... it’s dangerous, okay? You should know that by now. That’s when you’re supposed to stop investigating so you don’t-”
“Rab, what are you talking about?” Tony was incredulous; this was crazy! “You already knew about GGY?”
“Not as much as you do,” the boy explained hastily, “but enough to know that this person is bad news. You’re not a detective, okay? If they find out you’re about to discover their secret, you could be in danger. And... no one would know what happened to you.”
His voice was oddly grave, Tony noticed, like his friend knew all too well what would happen. And he... of course he knew it was dangerous. He was careful, he wasn’t in that deep, and he was more determined than ever to figure it out now. “I’ll be fine. I know all this, I’ve done it before.” The boy didn’t look convinced when Tony insisted, “I know, all right?”
“You don’t.” Tony huffed and stood up- he was done with this nonsense, but Rab seemed more desperate now. It was so weird... not like him at all. “You have to let it go. I don’t want to see you get hurt!”
“I’m not going to get hurt!” he snapped, pulling on his bike helmet again. “What, do you think I’m an idiot or something? I’m the one who wrote our entire project, I’m the one who did the research, and I’m the one who found out GGY is killing people!” Tony scoffed. Sometimes he didn’t know what he saw in this boy. “I know what I’m doing, and you don’t. Bet if I was able to prove GGY was real, you’d still manage to steal the credit. You have no idea how important this is, ‘cause you and Ellis never take anything seriously.”
“It’s not about that.” Rab was on his feet, too, but he didn’t sound mad, just more desperate than ever. “I know you, Tony. And you really don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”
His real name jarred him for a moment-- Rab usually stuck to nom de plumes if he called him by name. “It’s Tarbell, remember?” he snarked, climbing onto his bike. “And you’re wrong. You’ll see.”
Rab stared at him for a moment. Something in his gaze shifted, and he glanced away, huffing out an annoyed sigh. “Fine, whatever you say, Tarbell.” He held out his umbrella to Tony. “At least try not to get sick doing... whatever you’re doing.”
He swallowed, reaching out to grab it, trying to ignore how warm Rab’s fingers were when they brushed against his. “Sure.”
They exchanged another glance, but whatever desperate persuasion that’d been written all over his face, it was wiped away, and the other boy only looked indifferent now. Tony kicked off down the road, his bike leaving a spray of rainwater in its wake, and he glanced back only to see Rab had already disappeared into the rainy night.
Something bitter still remained in his gut as he pedaled toward the school. He really doesn’t know anything about me. How would he know what’ll happen?
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By the time he was aware of himself again, Gregory was drenched and shivering and couldn’t for the life of him remember how he’d gotten back to the mall, trudging through the utility tunnels with numb fingers curling around his arms. Rab was quiet, but he was still there, lingering, waiting for Gregory to catch up.
At some point, the security guard, his “sister,” passed on her regular patrol. Her eyes flickered, Vanny grinning smugly down at him before Vanessa pushed her aside to shoot him a sympathetic look. She passed him a blanket to wrap around his trembling shoulders and headed off in the other direction, her footsteps echoing down the hall.
Gregory stumbled, his head spinning-- he blinked and found himself in the hideout, curled up on his mat on the floor. A cracked mirror he’d stolen lay against the far wall, and Rab was grinning at him through it, his eyes sparkling purple. “How did it go?” the boy croaked, already fearing the worst.
“Oh, not bad,” Rab replied with a wicked grin. “I really thought you had him for a second there.”
His heart sank. Gregory only remembered vague bits and pieces of the encounter-- finding Tony out in the rain, his concern turning to panic when the boy snapped at him... handing his umbrella over... oh crap, he idly realized, that was my only one. But... even worse...
“H-he’s really...” His voice wobbled, and Gregory had to stop for a moment to steady it as his observer looked on in amusement. “...so he’s really not going to stop?”
“He went ahead and broke into school last night right after we talked.” His purple-eyed counterpart shrugged and walked over to the window, humming the Fazer Blast theme. “Maybe he was supposed to find the therapists’ records, but I don’t think you wanted him to look as far as he did. Didn't scare him off at all. Anyways, he’s way closer than he was before. The master won’t be pleased.”
Tony had left angry, hadn’t he? The details were fleeting, but Gregory sank a little deeper into the blanket as they came to him. He hadn’t come close to convincing Tony... the other boy had just thought he was being insulted, he’d taken it as a challenge...
Tears stung at his eyes, surprising Gregory so much that he almost let one slip down his cheek. He knew what this meant, he knew what was going to happen next, and it hurt, it hurt... it’s not fair, he silently pleaded. Why does it have to be him?
“Don’t you worry, G,” Rab teased, leaning against the wall to smirk at him. “You won’t remember a thing. It’ll be like you never even met him.”
A sob broke loose this time-- Gregory couldn’t help it. He buried his face in his arms and struggled to calm the shaky gasps escaping his lips. Tony... he was never going to see Tony again. Tony’s vivid blue eyes and warm smile, the little twitch of his lips when he was writing... the light banter when they were together, when he didn’t have to think about what to say or do because sometimes Tony didn’t need him to say a word to understand how he felt. Tony just understood him, quicker and deeper than anyone. Tony, who had first introduced himself to Gregory, not knowing what trouble it would get him into, not knowing what a terrible person he was about to become friends with... clever, sweet Tony, who was going to have to die, and it was all his fault.
As his thoughts spiraled and he struggled against tears, Rab, who got easily annoyed when he broke down like this, sighed dramatically. He leaned against the wall to study Gregory, his eyes glinting in the dim room. “Yeah. Kinda disappointing, isn’t it? Tony was a lot of fun to mess with.” He snickered a little. “Believe it or not, I tried to help you out. He just didn’t want to back down. And the master thinks the only way to keep him from running his mouth is to take him out of the picture, y’know.”
Sniffling, Gregory lifted his head again. There was a tone to his counterpart’s voice that hinted at something... had he thought of something else? “Do you think there’s another way?” he whispered, desperate, because he couldn’t care less about Rab’s motivations if it meant keeping Tony alive. “What- what’re you thinking? What do you want to do?”
Rab giggled, and Gregory squeezed his eyes shut against the patronizing sound, opening them to find himself alone in the room again. When he looked in the mirror again, the purple eyes still gleamed out at him, thoughtful as ever. “Oh, G, I’m not gonna do this for you. That would take the fun out of it.” More giggling, echoing in his head, bouncing around in his skull, giving no explanation, no idea, no way to save Tony...
Gregory buried his face in the blankets and curled up on his side, starting to give up. He’d wake up under Rab’s control again, and Tony would be dead by midnight tomorrow. That was how it always worked, and that was how he was going to lose his friend.
Then his counterpart’s contemplative tone returned. “Say Tony wasn’t just some random kid who got too close to the truth. Say he... already had a close connection to you.”
The boy took a trembling breath. “H- he’s my best friend...”
He already knew that wasn’t the answer Rab was looking for. “Say he was more than that to you... and say he was a talented, aspiring little detective.” Journalist, Gregory wanted to correct him, but stayed silent. “Say he could do more help than harm to the cause.”
Gregory’s eyes snapped open as it suddenly clicked. It was... it was an awful, awful idea... but if Rab was right, it could work. It would . He would agree, he would let Tony live, Tony could live.
Rab, sensing his victory, started to drift to the back of his mind again, leaving Gregory with his thoughts. “All right. Let’s try a little experiment, then... ”