Work Text:
Tony pushed open the door to his school.
The commons area was bustling with students, all huddled in their respective groups.
A clique of girls stood squealing and hugging each other. Next to them were the football players.
Tony didnt like them, and they didn’t like him. That was fine—at least it was mutual hatred.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the familiar face of his best friend gesturing him to come over. He grinned, trotting over to meet him.
Tony placed his bag down, rubbing the base of his neck. Carrying that many school supplies for half an hour hurt. His grandma said that he was going to destroy his back doing that.
“Ready to learn, brotato chip?” Ellis elbowed him. Tony sighed.
“Do not call me that,” he folded his arms. His friend rolled his eyes.
“Whatever. Oh! Look! New kid!” Tony’s friend pointed at a student.
They were short and pale; (Come on, Tony wasn’t just gonna assume someone’s gender.) They had medium length brown hair and were wearing a Freddy Fazbear T-Shirt.
He couldn’t decipher much else, his prescription was out of date and they couldn’t afford to get a new one. He was fine with that, as long as it didn’t interfere with academics.
“Sh-…? He? They.. look wicked. We gotta ask them to hang out with us sometime.” Ellis suggested. Tony shrugged.
“Before they get abducted into a group of other people.”
The two boys exchanged schedules, searching for the classes they had together. Tony’s eyes kept wandering to the brunette. Maybe it was the Freddy’s shirt. Maybe it was the way they seemed like they didn’t fit in either.
Ellis kept having to snap him back to reality.
“Hallway crush? We haven’t even been here for 10 minutes,” he teased. “Anyway, looks like we have PE and English together.”
A high pitched electronic bell echoed through the room. The students had to find their first period.
»»———— 𓃹 ————-««
He glanced at the room number on the door of the classroom and the one on his schedule. He was at the right place. Tony stepped through the doorway.
A few kids lingered outside the door, some were getting stuff situated in their lockers, and others were already sitting at the desks. He noticed the kid from earlier talking to the teacher. None of your business, he thought to himself.
The whiteboard said “Welcome to 7th grade! Sit wherever.” Written in purple expo marker.
Tony chose a desk towards the middle. He slung his backpack over the chair and sat down.
The kid looked at him. He smiled and waved at them, who apprehensively waved back. Tony tapped the table next to him; His mom wanted him to branch out and make new friends this year.
They nervously shuffled into the seat. From a closer look, they had dark amber—maybe brown eyes and a splash of freckles across their face. They made sure to not lock eyes with Tony, which made it even more awkward.
“Soo, you’re new huh?” Tony questioned. They nodded and turned to face him. “What’s your name?”
“I’m…-“ The brunette choked on their words. Their eyes flashed with panic. Tony realized their nose was twitching, quite like a bunny’s. “I’m Gregory. Greg. I- I know I look and sound like a girl, but…” Greg timidly trailed off.
“Nice to meet you, Greg! I’m Tony.” Tony held out his hand for a handshake. It didn’t occur to him that formal handshakes were not a thing middle schoolers do. Greg shook Tony’s hand.
Greg’s hands were small—Certainly way smaller than Tony’s. His skin was soft.
Tony realized that they’d been shaking hands for way too long. He quickly let go, sheepishly shoving his hands in his pockets.
“I like your shirt. Who’s your favorite animatronic?” Tony asked. At least there was some common ground between them.
“Thanks. I like Freddy. You?” Greg smiled at him.
“Bonnie’s my favorite, I like hanging out at the bowling alley.” Maybe making friends isn’t so hard?
»»———— 𓃹 ————-««
The first few classes of the day had passed already, just icebreakers and other first day stuff.
“Greg!” Tony called out as he ran towards his locker, waving. His new friend… acquaintance? Waved back. “I just wanted to ask.. uh.. do you wanna sit with us at lunch?”
Greg’s eyes widened.
“Of course!”
»»———— 𓃹 ————-««
It’d been years since Gregory’s disappearance.
And everything that had happened before.
Every time Tony passed a missing poster with his friend’s name and face plastered over it, it felt like something was reaching into him and tearing out his guts one by one.
They looked old, as if they hadn’t been replaced since they were put up.
That meant they must’ve found him, and he hadn’t gotten himself killed.
Tony had to hope.
»»———— 𓃹 ————-««
Tony’s heart lurched as he heard a familiar voice. Deeper and older, but no amount of time separated could scrape that voice out of his memory.
He tried his best to locate where in the local game store it was coming from.
The voice kept getting louder and closer.
“—can’t believe gta 6 finally released, people have been waiting for it since before I was born!”
Unmistakably, that was Gregory’s voice. Tony tried to tame every feeling crashing down at once as he weaved through the aisles to get to him. Tony almost slipped and hit the wall.
The brunette stared at him, one eyebrow raised. His facial features were almost the same, except healthier. He wasn’t sickly pale anymore.
Tony was so glad to see his friend alive and well.
“Greg, I- I can’t believe I’ve found you after all these years!” He felt tears welling up in his eyes.
Gregory looked him up and down.
“Do I know you?” He said, standing up fully. Tony felt as if he’d been shot. A sense of dread grappled around every organ in his body.
Gregory’s eyebrows shot up and his mouth hung open as realization hit him like a truck.
“Tony..?” he whispered. Tony smiled and nodded.
Gregory jumped into his arms, burying his face as far into his clothes as possible.
“We’re still in the middle of GameStop, by the way.” Tony observed, closing his eyes and letting the scent of Gregory’s hair products and cologne overtake him.
“…right.” He pulled away and pointed at the game. “I’m gonna buy this and then we can catch up, ok?” Tony gave him a thumbs up.
»»———— 𓃹 ————-««