Chapter Text
“Hey kid what are you doing here?”
Gregory looks up at the voice speaking down to him from where he’s curled up under the table. The man’s appearance takes him by surprise. He is covered from head to toe in a variety of clothing – jacket, gloves, mask, hat - leaving no skin showing except for the top half of his face, the other half covered by a mask. It's black but does have a little image of Foxy on the side of it. His eyes are a strange color, pitch black but with what appears to be a ring of silver in them that almost seems to glow sending a strike of fear through Gregory. The glow is hidden a little by the guard’s hair and the shadow of the hat he wears but they’re still noticeable enough to make Gregory uneasy.
But then he spots the ‘security’ label on the jacket and relaxes a little.
“I can’t find my dad.” His voice shakes a bit, and his face is red from crying. They had come for the concert tonight but amidst all the people they’d gotten separated. Gregory had looked for a while, trying to move through the people to spot the familiar figure, but the crowd mixed with the panic of not seeing his dad left him hiding under a table trying to calm down. He doesn’t know how long ago that was, but his legs are cramped and he’s suddenly realizing how thirsty he is. He hadn’t even realized the people clearing out as looking behind the guard revealed the once loud place nearly cleared, the noise from earlier gone.
“Can’t find your dad huh?” the guard crouches down, though does so stiffly and with a whispered grunt as if the movement was taxing to him. His eyes meet Gregory’s more directly now that they are closer but they aren’t as scary as the first time. “Well, how about we go find him?”
He holds out a hand to Gregory and for a moment he hesitates, remembering what his dad said about strangers. But this man wasn’t a stranger. He worked here. Probably worked with Freddy who was Gregory’s best friend. Well, maybe not his actual best friend as the only time he got to see or talk with him was here. But he didn’t have many in school and when he came here to the mall, Freddy always knew his name.
Plus, Gregory would just kick him in the shins and run if he tried to do anything suspicious. That’s what his dad always told him to do anyways.
He peaks out from under the table and slowly reaches a hand out to take the gloved hand. Once held in his, the guard hoist him to his feet.
Gregory sways a moment from the sudden motion after hours of sitting but then there’s a comforting hand on his shoulder stabilizing him. Gregory can’t see his face but based on how gentle the touch is, Gregory’s going to assume this man is kind. It didn’t matter what the man looked like, Gregory knew from his own dad that people didn’t always look ‘normal.’
The hand on his shoulder guides him over to a chair and sits him down. After rummaging in his pocket for a second, he pulls out a sucker. Gregory eyes it, not quite sure whether to trust it or not, but then reaches out to take it. The wrapper is pink, white, and green and has a little image of Chica on it. He holds it in his hands but doesn’t open it. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” The guard pulls out a chair as well and sits down next to him and the weird eyes find his once more. “Now, how about you tell me your name? I’m Mike.”
He looks away and fidgets with the wrapper. He sometimes got nervous around new people, especially when he was already tired and just wanted to go home. In near whispers, he answers, “Gregory.”
“Gregory.” The man nods as if to permanently slot the name into his mind. “Why don’t you tell me what your dad looks like and we can get to finding him?” From his pocket, Mike pulls out was looks like a tablet to Gregory and taps the screen a few times.
Gregory takes a breath, bringing forward the image of his dad in his mind. “Well, he's taller. Has brown hair. Oh, and an eye patch!”
“An eye patch?” the words sound taken aback, like Mike wasn’t quite expecting him to say that, but he continues on messaging someone on the screen. Gregory leans forwards to try and read it but the lettering is too small and at a weird angle.
So instead, he nods in agreement with the question. “Yeah! Just like Foxy does! I like Freddy but I like Foxy too because he reminds me of my dad. We went as pirates for Halloween last year.”
“Did you now? Well, he should be easier to find then in that case.”” Mike puts the tablet back in his pocket and the next words have a relieved ease to them. “Want to know a secret?”
Gregory nods eagerly. Secrets were one of his favorite things to know. He loved listening in on conversations. His dad said that made him ‘snoopy’ which always made Gregory huff because it wasn’t like he was going around telling anyone. Except for his Freddy plush. Sometimes he heard things too good to not share with anyone.
Mike leans forwards a little and like is really was a big secret whispers, “Foxy is my favorite.”
Gregory’s eyes light up. “Really?”
Mike nods and the way the skin – skin Gregory can see now in the light, has an odd tint to it. Purple, he thinks, but that could also just be the way the neon is reflecting – crinkles around his eyes makes Gregory think he’s smiling. “Yup. Has been since I was a kid. The original one.”
Gregory wrinkles his nose. “You’re old then.”
Mike laughs, filling the otherwise silence around them, the only other sound being the soft music of the plex. “You know your Fazbear’s history then.”
“Yeah,” he nods eagerly, “My dad used to- ,” here Gregory cuts himself off. His dad didn’t like talking about what they called ‘the incident’ and while he encouraged Gregory’s interest in the animatronics and characters, he never talked about his own time working for the company. Gregory knew he used to be a night guard, like Mike, but not much more than that.
Mike spots the discomfort and backtracks. “Well, speaking of him, he must be worried. And I have a message from Freddy saying there’s a parent with the description of your dad near the entrance worried out of his mind. So what do you say we go put it at ease?”
He holds his hand out but not too far, simply an offer to take it, which Gregory does, dropping the sucker into his pocket as he stands up.
He follows Mike through the atrium and over to the elevators, the doors letting out a soft ping before opening and they step inside. The light here gives him another chance to study the man as they descend and he sees he was not wrong in his assessment – his skin really did look purple.
His father always did say he was such a straightforward kid, and that fact remains true here as he looks up at the guard and asks, “Why are you purple?”
“Didn’t eat my vegetables,” is the guard’s quick response as the elevator shifts around them, jostling them both. “Stay healthy kid, and listen to your parents.”
Gregory huffs, but then they are reaching the ground floor and the doors are opening, revealing the entrance cutting short anymore time for him to ask questions. And he would love to ask because Mike seemed interesting and for as many times Gregory has come here, he doesn’t think he’s seen him before making him wonder if he was new.
They make their way down the stairs and already he can hear a voice he recognizes, which fills him with immediate relief, and by time they reach the front doors, Gregory is the one pulling Mike along.
Though he notices Mike hesitate as they get close, pulling back a little but now seeing his dad in sight, Gregory slips his hand from the guard and rushes to his dad who’s speaking frantically with another staff with Glamrock Freddy standing nearby behind them.
“And he’s about yay big and brown hair and oof-” is what Gregory hears right as collides with his dad in a hug. His dad falters for a moment in confusion before realizing who it is clutched around his waist and when he does, lowers the hand he was using to describe his height to hold him back just as tight.
“Gregory.” He ruffles his hair. His voice sounds relieved, and Gregory feels bad for making his dad worry.
Mike hangs back, shift foot to foot as he watches, the other staff already leaving to go do other things. Gregory stays in his dad’s embrace a moment longer before remembering and turning back to Mike. “Oh yeah, this is Mike! He found me and helped me back.”
Jeremy looks up and over to Mike who Gregory now notices has a strange, almost surprised look on his face if his wide eyes are anything to go by. Weird, maybe he just thought his dad’s eye patch was really cool.
There’s no odd look on his dad face though as reaches a hand out towards Mike as if to shake it. “Thank you for finding him. I really appreciate it.”
Mike looks almost scared to grab the hand but then he takes it and nods and mumbling a, “No problem.” He releases his dad’s hand and then glances down to Gregory. “You stay out of trouble now too kid you hear?”
Gregory goes to nod but now that he feels safe, he’s feeling tired and the best he can do is bob his head a little as he feels his eyes trying to drop shut.
Jeremy notices and chuckles. “Time to get you home bud.”
So with a lazy wave behind him at the guard who helped him, Gregory allows his dad to take his hand and lead him out of the pizza plex.