Chapter Text
Mike and Jeremy had arrived at the mall later than they planned. Lizzie was going to have their heads when they saw her.
Mike had been ready for over an hour. He always is. Even when he was a kid, he was always rushing everyone out of the house early. It was everyone else that was always late. Jeremy especially! Ever since they’ve moved in together, Jeremy is always making him late to everything. He would stay in bed, half asleep, right until the minute they had to leave. And today is the last day they should be late.
“Hey, hey!” Mike was dragging Jeremy by his bicep— the short bastard was having trouble keeping up with his friend’s long legs, so Mike intervened— as they ran across the mall to where he saw the Freddy’s inside. “Would you calm down! Lizzie will understand! She wouldn’t want me showing up all gross and greasy, huh?”
“I told you to take a shower before we left!” Mike scolded him for the millionth time.
“I did!” Jeremy’s hair was still wet.
“More than five minutes after we were supposed to leave!” He pushed him forward into the entrance. The annoyingly loud music was already drowning out their conversation. “How is that even possible? We might as well not have come at all!”
Jeremy huffed. “It’s a 9 year old’s birthday party. And we live in this city! It’s not that big of a deal! I’m sure they haven’t even noticed.”
Mike wasn’t so sure. There were so many kids running around, but when he found his family in the crowds, he could see his niece sitting with her head in her arms while Lizzie was trying to talk to her from across the booth. Henry was there too with his partner. Mike couldn’t see anyone else and he was getting pretty worried seeing none of the kids running over to talk to her. He swallowed and forced on a smile as he approached the table, holding up her presents.
“Hey, Cas!” He called for the girl, who sniffled and lifted her head. She didn’t smile back at Mike. “We’re here! I’m sorry we were—”
Lizzie pushed herself out of the cushioned bench and stomped up to the two men. Both Mike and Jeremy stepped back at the fury in her eyes.
“Where the fuck were you guys?!” She hissed out like a venomous snake, ready to snap at their necks. “No one but Susie and her baby are here, none of my coworkers with kids wanted to make the drive, and the few friends she did invite said their parents wouldn’t let them come! I would have expected her own uncle would make the 3 minute drive from his house to make it here on time!”
Mike was cringing away from her fury so much he was practically forced down to her height. Jeremy had taken cover completely, hiding behind his back.
She's gotten way scarier since having Cassie.
“No one’s shown up?” Mike stepped over all the yelling about their lateness, choosing instead to note that apparently none of the kids running around were friends of hers.
“No one,” Lizzie leaned back and crossed her arms. She was still spitting through her teeth, looking around with hate in her eyes. “I heard from one of the moms that they don’t trust our family. She doesn’t even want her daughter to be anywhere near Cassie.”
“That’s bullshit,” Mike snapped. “Just because William was an asshole doesn’t mean shit about—”
She scoffs. “They don’t trust any of us.”
“Mama?”
Lizzie immediately turned around and smiled at her daughter, tucking hair behind her ear. “Yeah, baby?”
“Can you please stop yelling.”
Cassie was in tears. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she was embarrassingly snotty, but like Hell Mike is going to say anything about it to her. He handed off the presents to his sister and walked over and took the spot Lizzie occupied previously. He ducked his head to look at her. She dropped her head instead and sniffled loudly.
“Cas?” Mike whispered softly. The girl whined loudly.
“It’s Cassie!” She cried, muffled in her sweater’s sleeves.
Mike laughed. “You are so much like your mother, you know that? She used to correct me on her name all the time. Hates being called Liz. Don’t even think about using Elizabeth around her.”
Cassie giggles a little. “Elizabeth.”
“Yep.”
“What about Beth? Or E-liz-a?”
“It would be Eliza, but she doesn’t like those either.”
Cassie lifted her head and dropped her chin on her hands. There was smears of gooey, thick makeup that was clearly made just for glittery and girly little kids like her. It was all over her sleeves. Hopefully, Lizzie could get those stains out. She was still pouting.
“Why did no one come to my party, Uncle Mike?” She mumbled. She sounded heartbroken. He really didn’t know what to say.
“You did want to have it in the city,” he tried to make excuses, trying to rationalize why they would hurt her like this for something that wasn’t her fault. “Maybe they just couldn’t make it. That happens sometimes. Not everyone can—”
“But I wanted to go to Freddy’s!” She shouted. She buried her face again and stomped her feet angrily. “I wanted to go to a Freddy’s because it’s so cool and we don’t have one, but you do! I wanted to see you too and show my friends how cool my family is!
“This is stupid!” Cassie pushed herself away from the table and ran off, ducking under her mother’s arms. No one went after her.
Lizzie just sighed and put the gifts on a separate table. There were only three other gifts there and a few cards.
“I just don’t get it,” Jeremy spoke up. He hopped into the booth next to Mike, gesturing wildly as he talked. “We all moved from Hurricane! How can what your father did, like, 20 years ago still follow you around? Weren’t you guys the victims here? Why the—” he cut himself off quickly and glanced towards the kids. “Why the eff does it matter?”
“He’s getting out soon,” Henry answered. He leaned against the side of the booth. “It has everyone on edge. Things are getting brought back up, we’re all working on getting some sort of order of protection. And with a Freddy’s around here, news is spreading a little faster about what happened to one of the co-founders.”
“Still bullshit, I agree.” Lizzie sits herself opposite of them, where her daughter once sat. She looked exhausted, probably from all the stress she was under trying to salvage Cassie’s ruined birthday. Or she just really needed a cigarette. “I moved here to get away from it all, and to make sure we were far away from anywhere William could get to us, but of fucking course, he’s still ruining people’s lives.”
“Language, please.” Henry asked kindly. Lizzie just grunted and waved him off.
“So, Evan couldn’t make it?” Mike tried changing the subject from their father. He didn’t like thinking about his release.
Lizzie shook her head. “Nope. Couldn’t get out of work. Plus, he’s in New York. He probably doesn’t have enough money to pay for a ticket and fly down here. He said he sent a gift though. Didn’t come here in time.”
Mike nodded, not paying too much attention. He was watching all the kids running by, watching the animatronics standing at tables and singing songs.
Henry had sold Freddy’s long ago, somewhere in the 90’s when it was becoming too much for him and he needed the money for when they all started going to college. The company that bought it gave him a hefty sum and renamed the business to Fazbear’s Entertainment. Wasn’t a bad name. Not much changed in Hurricane with the original locations, but the new ones that were in malls and bigger towns all over the western states were a lot more modern. Or, not really modern, but not the same.
The one in Mike’s city— and the closest one to where Lizzie, Cassie, and Henry moved to— was weird. It was some sort of cheesy rendition of what the 80’s looked like, all neons, rock bands, and weird lightning bolts everywhere. There were some of the classic characters like Freddy, Chica, and Bonnie, but they’ve replaced Foxy with some wolf chick and added a bunch of random new ones.
Mike was kind of offended that they would get rid of the only one that he designed, but he supposed Roxy fit the theme they were going for better. Having a random pirate in a rock band was a little strange.
“I’m going to go look for Cas,” he said, unaware that he was interrupting a conversation. He noticed quickly enough. “Sorry, I just feel like this is my fault. I feel bad for being late and then upsetting her more.”
Lizzie huffed, but smiled a little. “That’s sweet, I guess. She does love you. And I’m sure it’s not your fault, today’s just a bad day.” She clapped her hands on the table suddenly. “Plus, that gives me time for a cig. Jeremy?”
Jeremy hopped out of the booth without question and walked out with Lizzie. He didn’t even like cigarettes, they just always hung out together whenever Lizzie needed a smoke. Probably a habit started when he used to smoke something that rhymes with shmeed.
Mike was last out of the booth and started off to find his niece.
The place wasn’t too big, but it had high ceilings and kids everywhere. Scratch that, he forgot about the party rooms scattered throughout the place and the stage room off the side of the arcade. It was just the general dining hall that wasn’t that big. Christ.
Mike decided that the party rooms were an easy no. It was a weekend and you would be caught pretty easily if you rushed into one of those. And if he remembers correctly from his time working at one of the locations back in Utah, all the rooms not in use were locked to prevent anyone stealing things or taking the room without a deposit put down first. He assumed Cassie wasn’t in the arcade just by principle. It was filled with kids and extremely loud. If he was upset and crying, he wouldn’t want to run in a room full of loud people everywhere. You would want to be alone where no one would notice.
So, Mike chose to look around the stage.
“Cas!” He called out, trying not to be too loud. “Cassie! C’mon out, kid! I can try convincing your mom to let you open gifts and have cake now. Then, I can pay for any game you wanna play. I’ll play with you too! Wouldn’t that be fun?”
No response. Mike wasn’t finding anything around the stage. He looked towards the curtains. If he was a crying kid, he would definitely hide in there. Somewhere you’re completely not supposed to be, and therefore, somewhere adults wouldn’t check.
Luckily for Mike, he knows better than anyone where to hide in a Freddy’s.
He hopped on the stage and was about to call out again, but stopped short. He could hear voices. Definitely a few sniffles, but he heard a voice that he knew wasn’t his niece.
Carefully, Mine softened his footsteps and pulled the curtain open just a smidge to look inside.
Cassie was curled up on the floor, legs pulled to her chest, still snotty and running with makeup. In front of her was another kid. They were kneeling on their knees in front of her, whispering to her and trying to stop her from crying.
“It’s okay, it’s fine. I’ll help you.” The kid— a boy— turned away and shuffled a step or two to the side to rummage around a large bowling bag. It looked like he had gotten it from Freddy’s judging from the design on it. He pulled out a packet of wet wipes and shuffled back over to Cassie, taking one out of the pack. The kid held it out to her. “Here. You’re kinda gross.”
Cassie laughed a little and sniffed. She took the wipe and started cleaning her face. The boy sat back on his legs and slouched forward. Mike took a closer look at him while it was calm.
The first thing he noticed was the kid’s hair. It was a mess. Mike could mostly just see the back of his head, but there was no doubt that the whole thing was a mess. It was more than just tangled, it was matted. It sat just above his shoulders in clumps, clearly not well taken care of. The rest of him looked better, but not good either. His clothes were dirty and his shoes were being held together by obsessive amounts of duct tape. The only thing that looked to be in good condition were the a-little-too-big socks that were bunched up at his ankles.
“Why are you crying?” The kid asked as he handed Cassie another wipe. He took the dirty one from her and just held it in his lap.
“Cause everyone hates me,” she sniffed, scrubbing at her eyes. “I invited everyone. Everyone! No one came! Only my family and one of my mom’s friends came. I didn’t do anything wrong— why did no one want to come to my party?!”
She huffed and looked at the wipe when she was done with it. Her lip wobbled as she stared at the ruined makeup that was no doubt covering it. The boy shifted a little.
“I’m, uh,” he scratched at the floor, shoulders tense. He was uncomfortable. “I’m sorry. Is it your birthday?”
“Yes,” Cassie said. She wiped her nose and put the wipe aside instead of giving it to the boy. “I’m nine. It was a few days ago, but we had to wait for the weekend to have a party. So people could come.”
She sounded bitter on that last part. It made Mike feel like a worthless ant. She deserved so much better.
“What about you? Is it your birthday too?” She turned the question on the boy.
“Oh, uh, no. My birthday is some other day. I’m just here for food and maybe some games. If I can find any tokens on the floor.” He made Cassie laugh again and he seemed to perk up at that. Mike could only see the back of his head, but his posture seemed to show enough. “I’m already ten, so I’m older than you.”
“You’re really small for a 10 year old.” She teased.
“Nuh-uh! I’m the perfect size!” The boy sat up taller as if to prove it and Cassie burst into giggles.
“What’s your name?” She asked, showing off the thick braces on her teeth with her smile.
“Gregory,” he said. “What’s your’s?”
“Cassie.”
That seemed as good of a time as ever to reveal himself. Mike made a show of taking clear steps and opening the curtain fully.
“Hey, Cas! There you are. We’ve been looking for you.” The two kids looked up. Mike saw Gregory’s face for the first time. It looked to be one of the only parts of the kid regularly washed, but that’s not to say it was being washed correctly. He had thick eyebrows that immediately turned down at the sight of him and warm brown eyes that held suspicion. Mike kept himself polite to ignore the trust issues coming from the kid. “Who’s this? You made a friend?”
“No! Or, maybe? I don’t know— he didn’t say we were friends but—” Cassie shook her head and wiped her face quickly to get rid of any glitter still stuck behind. “This is Gregory. That’s my Uncle Mike.”
“Hey, kid,” Mike held out a hand to help him up, but Gregory ignored it— actually cringing away from it— and pushing himself up without help. He helped Cassie get up, though. Seeing them both standing was eerie. Cassie had gained their family’s tall genes, no doubt about it, but Gregory was several inches shorter when he was supposedly older than her. “Uhh, okay. Well… we should get back to your mom now, don’t you think?”
Cassie nodded. She looked at Gregory, playing with her hands.
“Do you— do you wanna come to my party?” She asked in such a hopeful tone. As soon as she got that out, she exploded with pleas. “We have cupcakes and cookies and unlimited tokens for the games, and Roxy is going to come to my table and sing Happy Birthday to me! Please, please Gregory, it would be so much fun. Pleaseeeee—”
Mike laughed and shushed her. “Cas, c’mon. I’m sure Gregory can play, but he probably has to ask his parents first.”
She looked desperate, but held her tongue to stop begging so much. Both of them looked towards Gregory to get his answer.
The kid still looked hesitant. He hasn’t said a word since Mike had shown his face, quiet as can be. Something was bugging Mike about the kid. He was certain the kid wasn’t being well taken care of— he’s had mats like that in his hair before— but he didn’t want to assume anything. It was hard not to, Gregory was clearly wary around adults.
“Do you think your parents would say yes?” Cassie asked another question, growing impatient. Mike placed a hand on her shoulder.
Gregory stared at the two for a moment before looking at the ground. “I mean… I can ask.”
Cassie gasped and excitedly shook out her bracelet covered wrists, hopping over to her new friend and squealing. Gregory looked startled by the sight, but he smiled a little too, infected by her joy. They ran off without Mike, making him jog after the kids to make sure they didn’t get hurt.
When he made it back to the general seating area, Cassie was already introducing her new friend to her mother and begging her to let them play together. Mike doubted Lizzie was going to say no to her princess, especially not when she had no one else to play with. Just as he expected, Lizzie said that was more than okay.
“We have a lot of food,” she relayed to the kids and later to the other adults in the family. “I spent a good amount of money on this party, I would rather not waste the whole thing on just us.”
Mike joked that Jeremy was eating the same amount as ten children anyways with how he was scarfing down slice after slice.
For the rest of the party, Cassie didn’t once sit and mope. She was running around with Gregory everywhere. They were playing games, climbing on things, and eating all the treats and food Lizzie had paid for. At times, they seemed to not know what to do around each other. Cassie, Mike knew, was awkward around kids sometimes because she just wanted them to like her so much. Gregory he doesn’t know as well, but it seemed like he didn’t socialize with a lot of kids. He looked confused any time Cassie would do something kids just like to do, like jumping around or dancing randomly. It might just be that Gregory wasn’t the most energetic kid, but he did keep up with Cassie the same, so that was unlikely.
When it came to food, Gregory would eat fast and ravenously. He was very thin, but still had the round face of a young kid. He ate with his shoulders hunched, not once putting the pizza slice down. Once he would finish chewing, he’d immediately take the next bite, repeating the process until he was finished. Gregory ate feverishly, but he didn’t eat a lot. He only had two slices and half a cup of soda before he said he was full.
It was odd. Mostly, it was concerning.
When the kids were out of earshot, Mike tried bringing up his concerns.
“Did you talk to Gregory’s parents?” He asked his sister, who was currently finishing off one of the Chica cupcakes. The Chica at this location barely looked like her. She did look more a “girl” however.
Lizzie shook her head. “No, but he said he would. I haven’t had anyone come up to me yet, so I assume it’s all fine.”
She licked frosting off her teeth and wiped her mouth with a napkin. There was a look in her eyes that she was thinking the same thing Mike was. At least, he hoped she was.
“Have you noticed anything about Gregory,” he asked, picking at the flimsy tablecloth instead of looking at her. “Anything setting off some motherly instincts.”
“Everything sends off motherly instincts. You’ll understand when you become a mother.”
“Liz—”
“I mean,” Lizzie huffed and waved her hand in the air. “I get kids all the time that have mats in their heads from neglectful parents, but it doesn’t always mean something bad. Sometimes I get parents that have kids throwing tantrums if you so much as touch their heads with a brush, so they give up and have me come in to chop off bad knots.”
“Yeah, but what about the smell.”
“Sometimes kids don’t want to get cleaned up.”
“Lizzie, that’s obviously not just a kid being difficult about washing up, that’s clearly neglect.”
“The kids I see that have mats in their hair from neglect are kids too young to know how to clean themselves, many even are unable to.” Lizzie gathered some trash in his hands and pushed off to a trash can. “Gregory is clearly old enough to know how to do all that stuff, but something makes it so he’s unable to.
“I’m not stupid, Mike, I know something’s up with the kid,” Lizzie came back over to lean on the side of the booth with her brother. She watched her daughter and Gregory, jaw clenched shut. “If they continue to be friends, my door will always be open for him. I’ll make sure he knows he can call me anytime and I will be there to help, but I can’t say he’s being— you know. I can’t say he’s anything because I don’t know him. But I do see what you see, Mike. I’m not dumb.”
Mike felt relieved to hear that. Lizzie wasn’t stupid, he didn’t think that, he was just worried. Some things were just a little too familiar about the situation.
Gregory and Cassie were currently pressed together as they watched the claw descend from above and attempt to grab a Roxy stuffed animal. It grabbed it by its arm and just as it was being lifted up, the claw swung around a little too hard and dropped the doll. Both of the kids shouted at the machine. Gregory even dropped down to try and reach his arm into the compartment, making Cassie laugh.
He trusts Lizzie to watch out for the kid. He just hopes the kid accepts it better than he did.
The party was probably over by now. Mike had work at 11pm, so he wanted to take a quick nap before he had to go. They left first— something Lizzie commented on sarcastically— but he didn’t leave without saying goodbye to Cassie.
He said goodbye to Gregory too, telling him it was nice to meet him and how he hopes he continues being friends with Cassie so he could see him again. Gregory had only nodded, still not saying much to him or any of the adults.
Mike was leaving for his job soon, already dressed in uniform and ready to go. He stared at himself in the mirror. He could almost imagine what he looked like as a kid Gregory’s age. He probably had matted hair and old clothes too, maybe a few more bruises than just a couple old ones on his legs like every child has.
He looked towards the couch to where Jeremy was lounging, eating pasta from where the bowl balanced on his chest.
“Do you ever think about having kids?” Mike asked.
Jeremy stopped chewing and glanced up. He made a face, confused. “Maybe.” He said, without swallowing his food. “I like kids. I think they’re fun and cute. Why? Cassie’s party making you think of that stuff?”
Mike shrugged and turned away, scratching at the back of his head. “I dunno. Maybe a little bit. I just wonder if I’d make a good dad.”
“You’d make a fucking amazing dad. Look how Lizzie and Evan turned out! Could’ve been a lot worse without you there.”
Mike thought about bruises on little arms, clutched in his hands. He thought about all the times he’s screamed at and belittled his siblings for getting on his nerves.
He just shrugged again. “I have to go now. See ya.”
Chapter 2
Summary:
Lizzie has a talk with Cassie and Gregory uses a phone for the first time.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Lizzie gave Cassie’s new friend her phone number before he left, one of the business cards she carries around with her.
Gregory had taken the card and looked it over, awkward and a little nervous. He hadn’t said a word to Lizzie the whole party, not even a thank you. But he looked up at her then and nodded when she told him he could come over whenever he wanted, he just needed to call first.
“Hi, Mama!”
Lizzie was in the middle of dishes when Cassie came bounding into the apartment. She didn’t notice it was already four. She had just come home early from the salon and time quickly got away from her.
Cassie’s bag jiggled with all the keychains she had on them as she entered the kitchen. She wrapped her arms around her mother’s back and squeezed her stomach tightly in a hug.
Lizzie smiled over her shoulder at her. “Hi, baby! How was school today?”
“Fine.” She said absently. “Did Gregory call yet?”
This has been constant since her party. Everyday after school, Cassie has been asking if Gregory had called yet. Lizzie was happy that her daughter had gotten close to someone— one that wanted to hang out with her— but she was worried about what this attachment might do to her. Especially if her gut feeling was correct.
“Not yet, but I think we should have a little conversation about him first.” Lizzie said. Her daughter let go of her while she turned the tap off and shook out her hands. “Why don’t you go sit down while I dry up, okay?”
Cassie nodded slowly. She walked off to the kitchen table, less of a hop in her step now. She could tell that this conversation was serious.
Lizzie joined her after completely drying her hands on a towel. She sat across from her daughter and held out her hands. Cassie took them. “So, baby… you remember all those stranger danger talks that we gave you and your teachers gave you? Remember what I said about my father?”
“Gregory’s not like that!” Cassie immediately jumped to defend her friend. Whom she had just met and had only spent a few hours with. Dear Lord. “He’s a kid and he’s nice to me. He’s not stranger danger.”
“I’m sorry, yes,” Lizzie squeezed her hands. “I didn’t mean to say he was. What I was trying to say was that… there are a few signs that Gregory might be around someone like that. Maybe not exactly like what we taught you, but he’s still possibly being hurt by someone.” Hurt was a bit of an exaggeration considering they didn’t know anything, but it was a little too complicated and unnecessary to explain all that to her.
Cassie’s eyes were big and wet, shocked like she never even thought that could happen.
Lizzie was adamant on teaching Cassie this while she was young. They taught her the basics to stranger danger first, telling her to never trust an adult she didn’t know extremely well, and always trust her gut about something she is unsure about. Recently, when news about William getting released soon hit their calendars, Lizzie told her about stranger danger in families. She didn’t get into any of the graphic details, but she explained that sometimes kids can be born into families that want to harm them, not just random people looking for a victim.
She wanted to make sure her daughter never got hurt by anyone, but now she needed to tell her that sometimes people get hurt and you could only do so much to help.
“How do you know? What do you mean signs?” Cassie’s voice cracked and it already looked like she might start crying.
“Oh, baby,” Lizzie reached and cupped her cheeks, wiping the tears out of the corner of her eyes. “I’m sorry. I really wish I wouldn’t have to tell you this. They’re just little things, and I only know because I know what to look out for. I don’t know for certain, though, and I don’t want to put him in any danger, but I wanted to tell you. There might be times Gregory will go awhile without calling, or times he would want to come over a lot. And I want you to tell me if you see anything suspicious. If anything worries you, you tell me and I’ll handle it. Okay? Can you do that for me?”
Cassie nodded. There were still tears in her eyes and wetting her cheeks. She let out a miserable whine.
“Oh, Cassie. Come here.” Lizzie pulled away and held her arms out. The girl jumped out of her chair and crashed into her mother’s arms, already shaking with cries. Lizzie smoothed down her puffy hair and shushed her softly. “I know, I know. It’ll be okay. He’ll be okay.”
Gregory lugged his bag onto his shoulder, trying his best to ignore the burn in his legs and arms. He had a little too much in his bag recently. His winter clothes, some food and basic supplies. Much more than usual. That party at Freddy’s really gave him a good chance to take what he could get.
Still, it was getting really heavy.
He couldn’t walk far with it. By the time he got to his destination, he was dragging the bag by his feet. Gregory huffed and dropped the bag against the side of the building. His legs hurt so bad, he probably wasn’t going to move around much today.
Usually, Gregory comes to this shop to get water and head to the bathroom. Most places don’t let him stay long— if at all— but this shop was filled with suckers. All Gregory had to do was look pathetic and sad and they’ll let him stay as long as he wants. It’s not that hard. A lot of people feel pity for the dirty kid alone on the street.
It was a little rainy today. Gregory was woken up by the rain starting very early in the morning. He didn’t get the exact time, but not a lot of shops were open— not even a lot of the early morning ones— and it was still really dark out, so he assumed around 4am.
He had to take shelter and he tried to avoid spots like that as much as he could. He didn’t trust the people in those shelters.
But for now, there was just light trickling. Gregory just needed to drag his bag inside and he could clean off. If he wasn’t so nose blind to himself, he was sure he smelled awful right now.
Gregory huffed and grabbed the bag’s straps to start dragging again. He forced on a smile as he saw one of the workers opening the door for him.
“Hi, Bree!” He greeted nicely. It bugged him at first how much he had to force politeness around them, but it became easier and a lot more genuine the longer he stayed there.
The lady smiled back at him, but it was a lot more pitying than usual. Almost guilty.
Gregory’s shoulders slumped. “I’m not allowed in, am I?”
Bree sighed and shifted uncomfortably. “I’m sorry, really. We just got too many complaints recently about you staying awhile without buying anything. You're more than welcome to come in and buy something, but you can’t stay for hours anymore.”
Gregory tried his best to stop himself from sneering. They were still willing to let him in, he had to be grateful for that.
“Okay,” he said with all the restraint in his body. Gregory took a deep breath to maybe calm himself down. “Can I still sit down to count my money?”
“Of course, of course!” Bree held the door open completely now and watched Gregory drag his bag in. “Do you need help with that?”
“No, don’t touch it,” Gregory snapped at her, keeping the bag away from her. She jumped in surprise and he cursed at himself. He tried smiling again. “Sorry, uh. Please, don’t touch my bag.”
He hated stupid polite words, but he had to be nice. He didn’t want to get kicked out for good.
Gregory plopped down on one of the wooden chairs. They weren’t as comfortable, but he didn’t want to push himself and sit on one of the cushions when he was all wet. He opened his bag and searched around for the pouches he kept with all his money. Gregory wasn’t the best at math— he never was, but he’s gotten worse over the years— but he can count bills. He had a lot of ones, more than enough to order a snack with his water. They never said he had to get coffee.
Spending money is the bane of his existence. He hates it. He might not be able to calculate exactly how much he has, but he is very aware of every dollar he spends. And he really hates spending it on useless things like one, single, donut.
But Gregory went up to the register anyway and handed it over. He put the coins in the tip jar. They were useless anyways.
Gregory took his water and the donut and walked back to his seat. He had kept an eye on his bag the whole time to make sure no one touched it, so it was exactly where he left it when he came back.
He had to think while he ate.
They weren’t going to let him stay long, which was a bummer. Usually, Gregory can kill a few hours here cleaning up in the bathroom and drinking his water while he goes over everything in his bag. Sometimes he’ll talk to one of the workers, but he wasn’t one for strangers. Bree was nice, though. Sometimes she gave him hot chocolate when it was cold out, or she’d give him the rest of her break food.
Cassie reminded him of Bree. She was nice, that one time they hung out. He got a lot of free food out of that.
Gregory stopped chewing, almost visualizing a lightbulb popping up above his head with a little ding!
Maybe he could call Cassie? Her mom had given him a card with her number on it. She said he could come over whenever he’d like as long as he called first. Maybe— if he called and they said yes— Gregory can stay there during the storm tonight.
With that idea already plaguing his mind and getting his hopes up higher than the clouds, Gregory quickly chugged his water and grabbed his bag. He ignored the groaning of his muscles and limbs as he lifted it back on his shoulders.
“Bree!” He shouted, catching everyone’s attention. He didn’t really care. If he could pull this off, he might not need to come here anymore, he could just go to Cassie’s. Gregory stood on his toes to look at his barista friend. “Bree, do you have a phone?! I need to call someone!”
Bree walked over to the counter, face a little flushed. She leaned against it to talk to Gregory without him stretching up and yelling.
“What do you need a phone for?” She asked.
Gregory huffed. “I need to call someone. I just said that. Do you have a phone I can use?”
Bree widened her eyes a little, exasperated from Gregory’s demanding, but not wanting to say anything about it. “I have my cell, just give me a minute to get it from the back… Hopefully, this isn’t an expensive call.”
That last part was definitely not for Gregory’s ears, but he heard it anyway. He scoured through his bag for the card, hoping that he had kept it and not thrown it out.
His fingers cut on a small, sharp edge and he cheered quietly to himself, pulling it out completely. It was a little crumpled, but the number was still visible.
Bree came back and handed him the phone.
Gregory didn’t have a phone— he didn’t have anyone to call anyways— so he stared at the phone a little awkwardly. He felt his face burn as he looked back up at the barista.
Bree thankfully understood. “Haven’t worked a cell before?” Gregory nodded, embarrassed. She shook her head and leaned forward again. “That’s okay! It’s no problem— so, this is the call button,” she pointed at the button that had a picture of the green phone symbol. “So you just hit that and then type in the number you are calling. You put it to your ear once you type it in and when you’re done with the call, hit the red button here.”
Gregory nodded his head quickly and started typing in the numbers on the card. Once he was done, he stood there for a moment before remembering he had to hold it up to his ear. He looked up at Bree and gave her a thumbs up. She smiled and left him to continue working.
The phone rang for a while, a little buzzing in his ear. He tried to remember the last time he used a phone while he was waiting. He couldn’t remember if he ever did, but he did know a little how to use one, so he must have at some point. He just couldn’t remember when.
“Hello?”
Gregory jumped. He didn’t notice the ringing had stopped. “Uh. Hi? Is, um, is Cassie there?”
“Who’s this?” The woman on the phone asked. She didn’t sound as friendly as he remembered.
“Oh, Gregory. Sorry.” He winced. “From… from the party?”
“Oh, Gregory!” Her attitude changed immediately. She sounded happy to hear from him. “How are you, baby? Sorry, Cassie’s at school right now, but what can I do for you?”
He frowned. “Oh. Um… I dunno. I was hoping I could come over today. Just to hang out.”
“That’s fine by me! I have Fridays off, so you can come over now and I’ll let you wait. We can watch a movie if you want?”
Gregory felt his gut stir uncomfortably at the thought of being left alone with an adult, but she was nice, right? From what he remembered, she was very kind. The party was over a week ago now, he hoped he was remembering all this correctly. The last thing he wanted was to be alone with someone he didn’t know all that well.
He swallowed. “Okay… that’s fine.”
“Okay! I’ll give you my address.”
Gregory scrambled around his bag to grab something to write with. It took him awhile, but he found a pen and scribbled down what she said the best he could.
He said goodbye to Cassie’s mom and took the phone away from his ear to hang up. He looked up to find Bree again and saw her walking over to him. She smiled.
“How’d it go?” Gregory shrugged.
“Do you know where this place is?” He held out the card to her.
She looked surprised to see the card for some weird reason. “Oh, uh. You really shouldn’t be showing people someone’s address. Especially with their name and number on it. That’s really not safe.”
“Oh.”
“It’s okay, I’m not going to do anything with it!” Bree handed it back and smiled apologetically. “But sorry, I don’t know where that is. You might need to find a map. They have them at the bus stations for just 50 cents.”
“I don’t have 50 cents,” Gregory pouted. Maybe coins were more valuable than he thought. “Can I have my change from before back?”
Bree sighed. “You put it in the slot, I’m sorry. But I can give you change for a dollar?”
Great.
Gregory left the shop with another dollar gone and stupid, useless change that he is never going to use again after this. Hopefully the map is worth it.
The bus stop wasn’t too far from the shop, only a block away. He only knows that because a lot of street people go there. Either to travel to a new place or just for a place to stay. Gregory avoids it for the same reason he avoids shelters. It’s never safe being a kid on the street, but it’s worse being a kid on the street alone with someone.
It was one of the reasons he was hoping Cassie came home before he got there.
There was no one there when he got there. A blessing that was hopefully not in disguise. Just keep it as a blessing and he won’t mind spending even more money.
It took a second to figure out, but Gregory purchased a map and now sat down on the bench, thankful of the canopy that covered it from the rain. He wasn’t sure how to read the map at first, just kind of staring at it and uselessly reading through the street names. He didn’t really know any street names. He read them all the time, but he didn’t really connect it with a location. It was easy to just remember where something is based on what is around it. He’s only lived in this part of the city for a month and he’s gotten very good at remembering where things are.
Reading a map was pretty difficult. He wondered if Cassie could read a map.
Gregory couldn’t find the street name anywhere in the city. He checked once, twice, several times over, but he couldn’t find it. Worriedly, Gregory switched to looking outside the city at a few of the smaller towns surrounding it.
It wasn’t until the second town he scoured over did he find the street name the way Cassie’s mom had spelled it out for him.
It was much farther than he expected.
Gregory let out a high pitched groan and fell back on the bench, pressing fists into his eyes.
The way Gregory had gotten into this city was by jumping on a train. It was illegal and he was kicked off three stops in when they found out he didn’t have a ticket, but it was where he was hoping to end up anyhow. He didn’t think he could jump on a bus without having to pay. It was smaller and would be a lot more obvious than a train. The driver might even call the police on him and that wouldn’t be good at all.
Maybe they’d fall for the homeless kid schtick? Say he was lost and he didn’t have money, he just needed a ride back home. Would that be believable? It probably would, but would it work?
The next bus out of town comes in 30 minutes. And he really doubted they were going to take him straight to Cassie’s house.
He should call her mom again to see if she can pick him up.
Notes:
I’ve decided fuck my rules I’m posting on fridays now bc fridays are basically my start to the week and I can do whatever I want.
Now, I’ve never been homeless before, but I know people who have been, so everything in this fic won’t be entirely accurate. Plus, the people I knew were still adults or at least teenagers when they were homeless, so they could do things like get jobs and live in their car. Gregory obviously doesn’t have that privilege. Stuffs a little different.
Chapter 3
Summary:
Lizzie picks Gregory up and he has a nice light hearted night with Cassie.
Chapter Text
Lizzie was waiting patiently in her car at the bus stop, raindrops hitting her windshield steadily. It was so still and quiet outside that Lizzie desperately wanted to slam her head against the horn just to stop some of the God forsaken anxiety eating up at her.
Maybe she wasn’t being so patient after all.
She has been here since she got off the phone with Gregory for a second time. She should have guessed he lived in Mike’s city. He was at the mall there and she really doubted his parents would drive so far just to go to a Freddy’s.
She was being ridiculous. Lizzie didn’t even know his parents. She had no reason other than an annoying feeling of familiarity to worry about his safety. Although, they couldn’t even be bothered to brush his hair, it’s not out of proportion to think they couldn’t be bothered to do more.
Lizzie held her tongue and sighed. She turned up whatever stupid pop song was on the radio.
Gregory had gotten into her head very quickly. She had started worrying about the boy just as much as she worried about her own daughter. She worried about what went down at his house, if he was safe, if he was getting enough to eat. It’s been ten days since she last saw him and Cassie’s worries had morphed into her own.
She had to pick her daughter up soon too. Hopefully she won’t be waiting too much longer or else she’ll have to call the school and see if they can hold her for another few minutes.
Lizzie heard the sound of tires on the wet pavement and her head shot up from the steering wheel like a rocket.
The bus was pulling up.
Lizzie quickly unbuckled herself and got out of the car, grabbing her umbrella last second before rushing off to the benches. She reached it just in time as the doors opened and no one else but Gregory stepped out. He looked like he had been dipped in a tub and hung out to dry. The rain still beating down on him, probably didn’t help. His arms were also shaking and he was struggling to keep his bag on his back, pulling it up in a very uncomfortable angle. Lizzie did her best to ignore all that and smiled at the boy.
“You his mother?”
She blinked. The bus doors were still open and a man at the wheel was staring at them. He looked to be on his wits end, glaring at Gregory in annoyance more than anything else. He nodded his head at him.
“He didn’t pay,” the bus driver said. “Said he needed a ride home to his mom. Are you gonna pay me or what?”
Lizzie glanced at Gregory who quickly looked away, trying to keep his elbows from rising over his head. Alright. That’s fine.
“I only have a ten and a twenty.”
He took the ten and gave no change back. Lizzie wasn’t gonna ask for it. Her concerns were more on the kid’s poor arms. She stepped back to him and they both watched the bus take off again. Gregory turned to her and she looked down at the little boy, already getting soaked to the bone in his much too dressed down clothes.
“Sorry,” he apologized. He did look guilty at least. “I didn’t have any money.”
“That’s okay, I understand,” Lizzie jerked her head back to her car. “Now come on, we have to pick Cassie up from school. I have a blanket in the car too. You can use that to dry off and warm up.”
The kid nodded silently and followed behind, teetering a bit from the weight of his bag. Lizzie wanted to help him with it, but he looked very nervous and refused to step closer to her, even if it would put him under the umbrella.
Lizzie opened the back door for him and gestured for him to climb inside while she went to the trunk and grabbed the blankets. Cassie will probably want one too. One of her favorite things to do is snuggle and blankets give her that snuggly feeling.
She made it back to the boy and handed off a blue blanket with dinosaurs on it. “Here. I’ll give you the boyish blanket.”
“I don’t care. It’s a blanket.” Gregory took it gratefully and wrapped himself up. The blanket swallowed his skinny frame up nicely. She didn’t notice until it was gone, but his trembling stopped immediately.
“I agree, but some people care.”
Lizzie hopped into her own seat and they started off to the school. They were more than five minutes late already, and it will be ten minutes late by the time they get there, but Cassie would forget all that when she finally saw her friend again.
She’ll be so excited by the surprise. Lizzie was certain she considered Gregory her best friend.
She looked back at him. Gregory was just staring out the window, blanket pulled over his head to act as a makeshift hood. He looked tired, but not wanting to drift off. His round cheek was puffed up where it rested on his fist, warm brown eyes lidded and dark with exhaustion. He looked so young. He was so young. Lizzie’s heart ached.
“So why weren’t you at school today, Gregory?” Lizzie asked, not really sure what else to say.
He perked up and hugged the blanket around him tighter, shaking off the tiredness. “Uh… we didn’t have school today. It was too rainy.”
That’s not an excuse Lizzie has ever heard before, but he was only a kid. He didn’t really understand why school’s called only some days off. She wasn’t going to call him out on it. “That’s fun, huh? Too bad Cassie’s school didn’t do that. She loves the rain. She would have loved to take the day off today.”
Gregory just nodded his head, still staring out the window.
Lizzie licked her lips and focused on the road. She tried to think of other things to talk about, but she was drawing a blank. She’s pretty sure anything she did ask Gregory will just lie or give short answers to it. He didn’t seem like a very social kid. He kind of reminded her of Mike. A calmer version of Mike. He is always in his head, even more so when he was younger, and he was usually very quiet. Always very distrustful towards people and preferring to stay quiet so he wouldn’t say something they’d get mad at.
Really, Gregory only reminded her of Mike because of the wrong reasons. They shared the same defenses. She only saw similarities because she knows the signs.
Lizzie had looked him over for bruises just briefly. He was wearing about the same clothes as the last time she saw him— same shorts and shoes, but wearing a different shirt with longer sleeves than before— so she could see a little bit of his skin. There were bruises on his knees and shins, but they didn’t look bad. They looked like a normal bruise from bumping into or landing a little too hard on something. His face had no bruises, there were no defensive wounds on his hands. He looked fine.
He was just small and dirty. Which isn’t good, but maybe that was all there was. Maybe there wasn’t anything physical going on.
Gregory sat up and peered out the window, eyes wide and searching as he looked at the school. There were still kids running around and playing with each other, either on the sidewalk or on the playground off to the side of the building. He looked awfully curious at it all.
Lizzie swallowed. “I’m going to step out of the car for a minute to get her attention. She’s just over there— see her?”
She pointed towards the doors of the school. Cassie was standing off to the side from a crowd of kids, looking at them longingly. Gregory nodded his head and shifted in his seat, feet kicking at his bag. He was smiling, very slight and small. He might just be excited to see her.
Lizzie smiled too and stepped out of her car. She waved her hand to get her daughter’s attention. Cassie noticed her immediately and said something to the kids. They didn’t notice her, but Cassie ran off anyway. She smiled widely and waved at her mom.
“Hi, Mama!” She shouted. Lizzie moved to the other side of the car to hug her, scooping her up with the arm not holding the umbrella and squeezing her tight. Cassie giggled and hugged her back.
“Hey, baby!” Lizzie grunted, determined to squeeze the life out of her babygirl. Cassie whined playfully to be put down, still giggling like crazy. Lizzie dropped her back to the ground with an oof. “I have a surprise for you, you know? C’mon.”
Cassie gasped and hopped after her mother, clapping her hands excessively. Lizzie led her over to the driver’s side and opened the back door.
“Gregory!”
As fast as a jack rabbit, Cassie climbed into the car and lunged for her friend. Gregory yelped and cringed back when Cassie practically tackled into him, hugging his shoulders tightly. He blinked owlishly, a little stunned.
“I’m so happy to see you! I missed you so much and I’m so excited to hang out with you again!” Cassie pulled away quickly. “That’s what we’re doing right? We’re going to hang out?”
Gregory still seemed startled by what just transpired, but he nodded. “Yeah. Your mom said that was okay.”
“Good!”
Cassie happily sat back in her seat and buckled herself up. Lizzie wrapped her up in a blanket too and stepped back into the driver’s seat so they could head home.
The kids talked a lot on the short drive home. Gregory was a lot more talkative and excitable when around Cassie, and her usually quiet little girl was blabbering nonstop much like Lizzie did when she was her age. The shift in both of them was very apparent, bright smiles and loud voices. The laughs from them was music to her ears.
“When we get home, you can take a bath and I’ll set up the living room and pick a movie!” The two of them were currently planning a pillowfort type situation, but what Cassie said startled Lizzie.
“Cassandra!” She scolded.
Her daughter and Gregory jumped and turned to face her portion of the car. “What?”
“You can’t say that,” Lizzie said sternly. “That’s not nice.”
“But I meant it as a good thing!” Cassie defended. “He needs to take a bath ‘cause he’s dirty and he can use ours. I wasn’t trying to be mean.”
“I understand that, but it’s still not nice to point something out like that.” Lizzie addressed Gregory next, making sure she sounded apologetic in lieu of eye contact. “Sorry, Gregory. You are still more than welcome to take a shower. I’m sure you’d wanna get out of those clothes anyways.”
The boy seemed surprised. He stuttered over his words for a moment. “I-I mean… that’s okay. I would like that, but that’s whatever if—”
Lizzie shook her head. “No, no, it’s okay! I’ll help get it started for you and then I’ll wash your clothes real quick too. We have some extra clothes you can wear in the meantime. I hope you don’t mind some old clothes.”
Gregory smiled a little and nodded. “Okay.”
Okay. That’s good. A nice shower will do Gregory some good. Obviously he won’t be able to get the mats out of his hair, but it will still help. Lizzie knows dematting can take a really long time and she didn’t want to take up their entire evening together trying to tackle his hair. A shower and some clean clothes will do wonders anyway.
The ride home from school isn’t that far. In no time, they were home and unbuckling their seatbelts. Lizzie was out first with the umbrella already opening and ready for them. Cassie stepped in beside her, but Gregory just held the blanket over his head and exited through his door. He hopped around over to them and smiled up at Cassie.
“This is fun.” He said. Cassie giggled and pulled him under the umbrella.
“You’re getting wet!” She shouted. She wrapped the blanket tighter around him and patted his head afterwards. “You’re gonna be cold.”
“I am cold.”
“Then what are you guys doing!?” Lizzie teased. “Let’s get you inside!”
Gregory was really fighting everything not to fall asleep.
The shower was so nice. Cassie’s mom helped him get him started, showed him everything needed and gave him some old clothes to wear while she washed his, but he was left alone after that. And it was heaven on earth. The water was nice and warm, the soap smelled really good, and there wasn’t a speck of grime on anything. Besides the grime that Gregory was scrubbing off.
It didn’t take long for the whole bathroom to get hot and steamy. He ended up stepping out with bright red skin and heavy eyelids.
The lady had left a large t-shirt with some sort of weird design on it and pajama pants that were definitely an old pair that Cassie grew out of. He got dressed while still a bit wet, but Gregory didn’t care. He had the towel draped over his head and across his shoulders so he wasn’t dripping all over the place as he left the bathroom.
Cassie’s home wasn’t too big. It was the basic layout of most apartments. Gregory has been in a few whenever he was squatting. Basically just one open room into the next and then into two bedrooms. The bathroom sat at an awkward spot, however. As soon as he stepped out, he was in the weird kitchen/dining room.
Cassie’s mom— he should really learn her name— was busying herself by the microwave. Gregory can smell popcorn, like the smell outside of theaters and stadiums.
Popcorn is one of his favorite foods. Sometimes if he’s by the theater when they close, he can ask them for the leftover popcorn they throw away. He’s only gotten it twice, but it fed him for a while.
Gregory’s bare feet were a little too loud against the wood floor, so the lady noticed him soon enough and smiled over at him.
“How was the shower? You were in there for a while.” She asked.
“Sorry,” Gregory apologized quickly. It’s really easy for him to lose track in a nice hot shower.
“No, it’s alright! Take all the time you need.” Cassie’s mom didn’t seem upset, however. He must’ve misinterpreted her being accusatory. The microwave beeped loudly and she turned her back on him again to grab the popcorn. “I think it worked out anyhow. Cassie has been working on that pillowfort the whole time.”
As if summoned, the girl comes bounding in. Her hair is a frizzy mess from, most likely, being under a pile of blankets. Cassie grins at him.
“You look a lot better!” She says with an ample amount of energy. She takes his hand and pulls him the way she came. “C’mon! I put a movie in. Have you ever seen Willy Wonka? It’s a really good movie! It reminds me of Freddy’s and it’s really good. Have you seen it?”
Cassie was a really nice girl, but she did act a lot more timid when Gregory first met her. It was probably just because she was upset about her birthday being a bust. Still, it was a bit of a struggle to get used to her clingy attitude now. It wasn’t bad, he actually felt kinda good when she would get excited to talk to him, but it was an adjustment to how he usually interacts with people.
“I haven’t seen that. I don’t watch a lot of movies,” he said. Cassie let go of his hand when they entered the living area.
The couch cushions had been pulled apart and chairs were set up on parallel sides so that the blanket fort was tall and sturdy. There was two blankets tied together, the other wrapped behind what he assumed was the TV based on the silhouette he could see through the blanket. Gregory was impressed by it all. Maybe it’s because she had more to work with, but he could never make a shelter like this for himself. Most of the time he didn’t even bother.
“You did a really good job at this! It looks so cool.” Gregory complimented. He crouched down to look for the entrance.
Cassie dropped down beside him and lifted up part of the blanket so he could crawl under it. It was still light out in the apartment, so the sunlight peaked through the thin blanket. It lit the whole fort in a pink glow. The couch cushions were set up on the floor for them to sit on and a number of stuffed animals were all around him. He shuffled aside and sat down on one of the cushions so that Cassie could squeeze in. She smiled nervously at him.
“I can get rid of the toys if it’s too kiddy, but do you, uh. Do you think it’s cool?” She asked. She was anxiously pushing some of the toys away already.
Gregory grabbed one of the stuffed animals. It was a floppy eared dog with tan and orange fur. Its nose was large and round like a meatball. It was so cute.
“What’s this one?” He held the dog out to her. Cassie stopped slowly ridding the stuffed animals around them when he picked up the dog. She played with her fingers and watched him with apprehension. Gregory didn’t know what she was waiting for exactly, so he frowned. “What? Does it not have a name?”
“Oh,” Cassie mumbled. She shook her head a little. “Oh, um… his name is Elvis. Because look—” she took the dog from him and grabbed his ears. She looped them around each other and loosely tied them together. She flipped part of the ear up and turned him around so Gregory could see better. “See? He looks like Elvis. And Mama says that Elvis has a song called Hound Dog and that’s what he is! So his name is Elvis. Do you like it?”
Gregory didn’t know who Elvis was, but he nodded anyway. He took the dog back and made him wave at Cassie, making her smile again. She grabbed a toy of her own— a small tiger with big round feet— and shuffled up to the TV.
A shadow appeared over them. “Knock, knock? Anyone home?”
Cassie giggled and abandoned the TV to lift up that part of the blanket fort again. Her mom was crouched on the floor with a big mixing bowl in her hands and two waters under her arms. Gregory’s stomach was already growling embarrassingly enough at the buttery smell.
“Hey, you two! I brought popcorn and some waters. What’s with the TV being covered? Am I not allowed to watch a movie?” She was being playful about it, he knew that, but Gregory couldn’t help but feel annoyed that she was trying to get into their space.
Cassie answered before he could say something he’d probably regret.
“Noooo!” She giggled and started slowly leaning on her arm to push her mother out. “This is kids only! No grown-ups allowed!”
“Okay, okay, that’s fine. I’ve seen this movie a million-ba-jillion times anyways.” Cassie’s mom put the bowl and two waters on the empty cushion beside Gregory. She grabbed her daughter’s face and blew a raspberry on her cheek while Cassie squealed. She laughed and pushed her off. The lady smiled fondly and looked over at Gregory. He feared for a moment she would do the same to him, but she didn’t. Just nodded at him.
“I’m just the next room over if you guys need me, but I’ll give you guys some space.” She pointed at her daughter and raised her eyebrows seriously. “And no funny business. If anything happens you tell me. But I’ll probably know anyway. I have eyes everywhere.”
She whispered the last word to seem spooky, eyes stretched wide and looking between them both as she slipped back out of the fort. Cassie just giggled.
“Your mom is weird,” Gregory said after making sure she wasn’t still listening. “And what’s her name again?”
“Lizzie. She liked to be called Lizzie. And she is weird.” Cassie went back over to the TV and pressed a few buttons, lighting it up. She grabbed the remote and fell back onto the couch cushion. Gregory had already grabbed the bowl and held it in his lap, so thankfully, she didn’t fall on it. “My whole family is weird. My grandpa is not really my grandpa and I have an uncle that isn’t my real uncle, and I’ve never met him, but he’s Grandpa’s real kid. Also my real grandpa is in prison. And one of my real uncles lives with his friend from highschool, and might be a zombie. Mom said he’s a zombie, but he doesn’t look like one to me. Maybe he smells like one, a little.
“What about your family?” Cassie rolled over onto her stomach and looked up at him. “What’s your family like?”
Gregory hesitated. He didn’t really know what to say. There isn’t much to say at all, but Cassie would be weird about it like other people always are if he doesn’t tell them anything. She’s already being a little weird about it, just staring at him with something in her eyes. It looked curious.
He decided it would be best just to lie. “I dunno. I guess they’re weird. I just have a mom and a dad.”
“No brothers or sisters?”
“No.” Gregory shrugged. “It’s just us.”
Cassie stared a little longer, but shrugged as well. She rolled back over and felt around for something. “That’s okay. I just have my mom, but on my dad’s side I have a baby sister. She’s really cute, but really annoying. She cries all the time.”
She pulls a remote from under her and cheers softly to herself. Sitting up, Cassie points the remote at the TV and hits a few buttons. The menu screen with the colorful music drops away and the movie starts.
They get settled. Cassie finds a blanket not holding up their shelter and wraps it around her. Gregory just sits with Elvis in his lap. They have the popcorn bowl sitting wedged between them and the water bottles were abandoned somewhere amongst the mess. Gregory had inhaled a majority of the popcorn, but Cassie didn’t seem to mind.
“I love this movie,” Cassie said wistfully. She dropped her head back onto her shoulder and looked at him. “It’s my favorite movie. My Uncle Mike doesn’t like it. He thinks it’s scary.”
Gregory scoffed. The candy shop owner was currently singing about lollipops. “Scary?”
Cassie laughed. “I dunno! It’s not scary. He won’t tell me why he thinks it’s scary, but Uncle Mike is scared of a lot of weird stuff.”
He thinks he remembers him, but wasn’t really sure. “Was he at your party?”
“Yeah! He was the reealllly tall one with freckles.” Cassie stretched and held her hand up high, pushing against the blankets. She dropped it back to her side. “He’s the one that lives with his friend and might be a zombie.”
Gregory does remember him then. He was the one that found them when Cassie was crying. He was tall and he acted nice, but Gregory didn’t really know if he could trust it. He didn’t like tall adults, especially male adults. Well… any adults, actually, but especially tall, male adults.
“He doesn’t look like he’d be afraid of anything,” Gregory mumbled. He stuffed his face with more popcorn.
Cassie shrugged and they went right back to watching the movie.
After a while, when the popcorn ran out and the pink glow from the sun shining through started to get replaced by the changing light of the TV, Gregory and Cassie had relaxed into lying on the cushions and pillows. Cassie found a blanket for him when he denied sharing with her. His eyes started drooping again at certain times, but he did his best to stay awake.
He didn’t know why he was so tired. Well, he’s usually always tired, but he’s never been this close to falling asleep so many times. Especially around strangers. That’s usually when he stays up the most.
Apparently, he did fall asleep at some point because he jumped back awake when Cassie spoke.
“What’s that?” Gregory mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He lifted his head and blinked a couple times to squint at Cassie.
“I said my mom said that some parents in this movie aren’t the best parents,” she repeated. Cassie didn’t look as tired to him as he felt. Her eyes were wide and reflecting the screen off of them. She looked wide awake. “Not, like, in a really, really, bad way, just that they weren’t that good. She says a lot of them weren’t being good parents for giving them everything they asked for and letting them do whatever they wanted.”
Gregory rolled his eyes. “That’s stupid. They’re good parents. They’re getting food and clothes and sh— stuff like that. That feels like good parenting to me. If anything, Charlie’s parents are the bad parents for letting their kid live like that.”
“Well… I guess that sounds right… but my mom said—”
“Adults lie all the time,” Gregory remarked tersely. “They lie about stuff all the time because they think kids are dumb. She probably just said that so you didn’t sing a song about how you want everything in the whole world.”
Cassie went quiet. Gregory felt a little bad, but she should know the truth. Adults aren’t always right and they aren’t always honest either. Charlie’s parents shouldn’t let their kid sit in cold and dirt, hungry and in a shitty house where they can’t afford anything. Charlie shouldn’t have to search for quarters on the street just to buy a candy bar.
Cassie was like the other children. Like Veruca and Violet and whatever their names were. She was spoiled, but she just didn’t know it. She had this warm apartment, with clothes and blankets and a mom to make her popcorn and plan her parties. She had a safe place with warm water and protection against weather or danger.
Gregory didn’t like this movie that much. It’s not that fun if you think too much about it.
“Sorry,” Gregory sighed. He buried his chin into the pillows under him. They were so soft. “I’m getting kinda tired.”
“That’s okay,” Cassie said. She started to move. “I’ll ask my mom if you can stay the night.”
Notes:
Gregory is literally just a little guy.
I strongly believe he would be a little awkward around Cassie at first because he’s not a normal kid, but he is still kid, so things like pillow forts and silly toys would still excite him.
And Gregory isn’t the most reliable when talking about Cassie. She’s a good kid, her only crime is having things that he does not.
Chapter 4
Summary:
Mike is tired and upset. Gregory doesn’t trust strangers.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Mike woke to a loud meowing in his ear.
He sighed into his pillows, brooding at his lost sleep. Mike pushed his head up and met the large brown cat sitting on top of his bed frame, her fluffy tail swishing back and forth in frustration above his head.
Mike groaned and dropped his head again. “If Jeremy forgot to feed you again, I swear…”
The fucking cat meowed again, louder and longer than before. That definitely meant Jeremy forgot to fucking feed her.
He kept his eyes closed, hoping his stupid roommate could hear their stupid cat and feed her himself, but he barely got a minute of rest before said stupid cat jumped off the bed frame and landed with all her weight onto the small of his back.
Mike shouted and jolted up. He swatted at the cat to go away and rolled over. Groaning loudly.
“You fucking asshole…” he cussed out the cat as he sat up. She just meowed her big fat head off again. Mike swatted her off again and she jumped off. “Alright, alright. I hear you. Calm the fuck down.”
He looked over at the clock and noticed it was only 8:30am. He got home at 6.
Another heavy sigh.
He doubts he’ll get much sleep now.
Mike threw the blankets off and started getting ready. He first kicked his cat out of his room, telling her that he’ll be out in a minute, before moving on to open the dresser. He grabbed a random shirt and sweatpants, feeling lazy today. Mike didn’t have much planned today, just maybe going out shopping if it was needed. It was a bit chilly, though, so he opened the closet to grab a hoodie.
When he closed it, the mirror on the back of it stared at him. Mike looked away quickly and threw the hoodie over his head.
They needed to get rid of that. He’s been meaning to, but the stupid closet doors were all mirrors. It came with the house and they were both too lazy to get new ones.
Mike left his room with the hood pulled over his head, eyes heavy. The cat mewed at his feet and weaved in between his legs. Once Mike made his way to the kitchen, he went straight for the pantry to get her food. He didn’t spare Jeremy a glance.
“Shit.”
His roommate still noticed him, of course.
Mike grabbed a wet food can and pulled the tab open. He dropped it into the cat bowl and she was munching it up in no time.
“I’m sorry, Mike.” He sighed and finally looked at Jeremy. He had an awfully guilty look on his face. “I forgot about Brownie. I thought she was just yelling for attention.”
“She never wants attention. She’s only still here because we give her food consistently.”
It was true, at least. Brownie was a very independent cat. She’s not much of a cuddle bug and would hide somewhere in the house anytime company was over. She was Jeremy’s cat before they moved in together and now Mike is stuck taking care of her.
“Yeesh,” Jeremy laughed under his breath. He handed Mike a plate of toast and eggs. “Rough night?”
“No,” he sighed heavily and took the plate. Dragging his feet, he dropped it off at the table and propped his head up with his hand as he sat down. Already, he was starting to feel sick. “Work was normal. Boring. I’m just not feeling good today.”
Jeremy hummed, once again looking guilty. He grabbed his own plate and sat across from Mike. His food was already almost gone, but the thought was nice, at least.
“I’m sorry, dude,” he said. He picked up his toast and took a bite. He talked right through it. “I don’t have work today, so you can just relax. Brownie shouldn’t bother you anymore; I’ll keep her busy. Just sleep, babe.”
Mike just rolled his eyes.
He shouldn’t be such a dick right now.
He wasn’t mad at Jeremy, or Brownie, or anyone, really. But he had a migraine coming on and barely got an hour of sleep in before he woke up again.
Mike got this stupid security job when they moved to a more expensive area. Jeremy is trying to get into coding and other stuff that has to do with the internet that Mike still doesn’t fully understand. He wants to get into gaming, but the only thing available are beta testing jobs and those don’t pay too well. Because of that, Mike thought it would be best to find a second job to work during the night. But then, he got fired from his first job. Now he has nothing but this overnight job that overworks him way too much for how little he actually gets paid.
It’s starting to take a toll on him, he thinks. He’s been working six days a week with only a couple hours off. And since joining on full time, they have started scheduling him at different and opposing hours. The past few days, he’s only had 6 hours off between shifts. Today was his first full day off in more than a month now.
He needed something new. Something that didn’t make his days feel like a never ending march to the next day and the next until weeks have gone by in a blink of his eye.
Mike hasn’t told Jeremy about these things. It didn’t seem necessary.
But Jeremy was looking at him now in a way that screamed he wanted to help, but didn’t know how. It made Mike feel small.
“Can you do some shopping for me?” Mike mumbled in a shameful tone, looking away from his friend to stare down at his untouched food instead.
“Of course I can, babe,” Jeremy said. He scraped the rest of his food onto his fork and shoved it into his mouth. He took his dishes to the sink and dropped them in. Carefully, keeping in mind Mike’s headache and general adversity towards loud noises. “Just make a little list of what we need and I’ll get it.”
Mike hummed and nodded. He grabbed a piece of toast, deciding the eggs would just make him feel worse.
Jeremy came back to the table with a notepad and a pen, dropping them down next to his breakfast. He then crossed his arms and rested them on top of Mike’s head, leaning against his back and pressing into him. Mike allowed him to do so, long since gotten used to the way Jeremy loved to hug and lean on people. In the almost 20 years they’ve been friends, Mike has gotten over his adversity to touch by befriending this man alone.
“Need anything else before I go?” Jeremy asked, scratching his fingers on top of Mike’s coily head of hair.
Mike shrugged. “No, not really.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Jermey leaned off Mike’s head and instead, placed his hands on his shoulders. “You don’t sound good. You’re using the worrying voice.”
“I’m not using the worrying voice. This is just how I sound.”
“Mhm. Not reassuring.”
As long as Mike has known Jeremy, Jermey has known him too. And he seems to know Mike more than anybody.
Mike simply sighed. He leaned his head back to look up at his friend. He smiled at him, genuinely. Not faked or forced.
“I’m fine, Jerm,” he said, softly. “Just tired.”
Jeremy frowned nonetheless, still clearly concerned, but he shrugged and leaned down to kiss Mike’s forehead. He patted his shoulders and moved away. “Alright, fine, I’ll drop it. Write down a list for me, please and thank you.”
Mike just grunted and went back to forcing down his toast.
The next time Mike was rudely awakened, it wasn’t from some impatient cat, but a phone ringing loudly throughout the house.
Mike had fallen asleep on the couch an hour or so after Jeremy had left, watching some cheesy TV drama. He groaned as his head throbbed more, no doubt brought back to life from the horrible noises coming from his landline. He rolled his body over and blindly grabbed for the thing.
“Please, don’t do that again. That’s a horrible sound.” Was the greeting he chose to answer the phone with.
“Good morning, grumpy butt.”
“Hey, Liz,” Mike yawned and sat up. He groaned slightly as he stretched. “What’s up?”
“Well, I’d thought I’d tell you that I’ve talked with Gregory a few more times now. He’s actually been over at my house quite a lot lately.”
Mike frowned. Despite Cassie’s party being weeks ago, he hadn’t completely forgotten about the worrisome kid. For most of the following week, Gregory has been in the forefront of his mind, anxiously wondering if the kid was okay. At first, he wasn’t sure why he couldn’t stop worrying about him. He’s never even said a word to him, yet his mind persisted. Thankfully, it has lessened over the past few weeks, he can’t help but think that worry about the kid is why he’s been feeling not so great lately.
“Yeah?” Mike cleared his throat. He could already feel his head spinning. “How’s he been? He and Cassie are still getting along?”
“Yes, actually,” Lizzie said. “They’re practically attached at the hip. When he’s in town, that is.”
“What’d you mean?”
Lizzie paused on the other side for a moment. Mike fidgeted with the folds in his pants as he waited for a response.
“I don’t think he has a home.”
“What?” Mike didn’t know what he was expecting, but he didn’t think of that option. It didn’t seem logical. “What’s that mean? Like, you think he’s homeless?”
“Something like that…” his sister sighed. “I don’t know— something just doesn’t feel right about him. The first time he called me to hang out with Cassie, he called from your city. He had to take the bus here and didn’t have any money to pay for it, telling the bus driver that his mom would pay for it when he got there. And every time I’ve seen him, he’s always filthy and always carrying that gigantic bowling bag with him. He’s come over a lot when it’s raining out and if it doesn’t go away by night time, he asks if he could stay the night. Not only that, one of my clients talked about how she had to call the cops on a kid she saw sleeping in the park recently and I got a bad feeling about it. We aren’t exactly the type of town with a lot of kids running unchecked, and I haven’t seen Gregory since then.”
Mike listened as Lizzie rambled on about what she’d noticed. He wasn’t entirely sure what to think of it. The thought of Gregory being homeless was obviously just as upsetting as the thought of him being neglected, but it really just added another twisted layer to the kid.
A kid doesn’t just choose to be homeless, it’s very likely Gregory had been in a bad situation and being homeless was the better option. It’s not like it’s unheard of, Mike has had thoughts of running away and being on the streets when he was younger and miserable living under his father’s roof. It was something he’s actually glad he’s never seriously considered.
But what does that mean for Gregory if he did decide being on the streets was a better alternative than his home? He was so young, it was alarming to think how bad things had to be in order to make that decision.
“You haven’t seen him since then?” Mike swallowed thickly. He got up from the couch and started pacing the floor. “Do you think the cops took him away, or something?”
“I wouldn’t know. I’m sure they would just take him to social services, but Gregory isn’t the most trusting when it comes to adults. He barely trusts me and I’m pretty sure I’m the only adult he actually talks to.”
“I don’t know, Liz. Maybe jumping to the conclusion that he’s homeless isn’t the right way to go about things.” Mike worried his lip in between his teeth. “We barely know the kid. Honestly, we shouldn’t be this caught up on him. He could be fine.”
“There is no situation where Gregory is in a good environment,” Lizzie exclaimed. “If he’s not living on the sidewalk, then he’s still being seriously neglected. You try having that kid in your house and see if you can ignore all the signs.”
Mike laughed bitterly, rubbing his nose with this free hand. “But what can we even do! Someone called the cops already and the kid is probably being investigated as we speak— it’s very likely that what’s done is done, and we can’t do anything else about it. Do you have a phone you can call for him?”
“I mean— no, he’s called me from different numbers, but—”
“Then that’s it!” Mike interrupted. “You can’t do anything unless he calls for you. I’m… I’m really sorry, Lizzie.”
He felt bad for telling her this. He wished they could do more. It felt like he was failing more than just the kid, it felt like he was failing themselves back when they were kids. How many times had Mike wished someone would notice what a terrible person their father was and saved them from their suffering? How many times had Mike felt like a failure because he couldn’t protect his siblings as much as he wanted to? Saying that there was nothing they could do to help Gregory made him feel like the worst person in the world.
“There’s something you can do, though.”
Mike sighed and was already beginning to talk Lizzie down again, but she persisted.
“Listen— I think Gregory would return back to the city if he did avoid the cops. It’s easier to get caught here than in the city where they have a much bigger homeless problem there. If you could just keep an eye out—”
“Liz—”
“Please, Mike!” His sister pleaded. “I really don’t want him to be alone out there. If he knows there are other people looking out for him, maybe we can figure out some way to help him later.”
He wanted to help. Mike really wanted to. And he supposed it wouldn’t hurt to keep an eye out for the kid, just so he could tell Lizzie he was okay.
Maybe it would help him feel less worthless too.
“I’ll keep an eye out.”
Gregory missed Cassie. He hasn’t seen or spoken to her in days, probably a week by now, and he was already feeling lonely without her.
Loneliness wasn’t a problem before he met her. Gregory always preferred to be on his own, anyway. Kids on the street weren’t always the nicest and adults were never trustworthy. He liked to keep his distance from others so that he could keep the peace of mind he had. It made things easier. But after befriending Cassie, he felt like days dragged on longer and his light and fun habit of people watching became more of a bitter experience of jealousy.
He had to leave the town Cassie lived in when a police officer shook him awake while he was asleep under a bench. Gregory was lucky to escape, but like always, he had no doubt they were already putting out a notice for if anyone finds him. He had no choice but to leave and go back to the city.
It was better there anyway. Cassie’s town was small, it took a lot longer to get places. The city was easier on his feet.
That’s what he told himself.
Gregory sat in the public library, not really paying attention to the book he had in his lap, but finding it better to at least pretend like he was reading than just sit in a bean bag chair doing nothing. Places like these were the best spots to sit and rest for a minute, but it wasn’t very close to other, more walkable areas. If Gregory wanted to kill time here before he had to find somewhere to stay for the night, he had to really want it. Right now, he didn’t really care how long it took to get here, he just wanted to turn off his mind for a little while.
Of course, turning off his mind always leads back to Cassie.
When was the last time he’s made a friend like her? He couldn’t remember a time someone had talked to him in such a nonjudgmental way, or as normally as she does. Her and her mom. Last time he could remember a kid trying to be friendly with him, their mother would always intervene and pull their child away. As if he had rabies or something.
Cassie and Lizzie weren’t like that. Cassie never said something out of line to him, and any time she came close— like when she said Gregory should take a shower— Lizzie had always told her to be nice. And Cassie has been nice. She was always so excited to see him again and so happy to talk to him. It was a hard adjustment at first, but now that he hasn’t seen her in days, it was even harder without it.
It was never this hard to leave someone before. Everyone else Gregory has left behind, he hasn’t thought twice about. Leaving behind Cassie felt like leaving behind a puppy he saw get kicked in the stomach.
He didn’t want to be alone with his thoughts anymore. It wasn’t as resting as he hoped it would be.
Gregory left the library, but decided to stick around the older parts of the city instead of traveling back to his usual area. Most of the cities he’s visited had similar layouts— older buildings were usually called downtown areas and they always had a weird mix of the richest and the poorest people in them. He always heard people talk about how high the average cost to live downtown were, but he still saw people living in rundown homes despite having the money to pay for them. It was weird to him that they had money to spend on an expensive house, but the expense didn’t match the value of the home.
Even so, the area was often prettier than the rest of the cities. There were always so many more interesting things in these parts of the cities than the large buildings and crowds of people.
He found a bench nearby and decided to sit there for a little while.
For once, it wasn’t that bad outside. It wasn’t warm, he still would have preferred a jacket of some sort, but it wasn’t terrible in the clothes he had on. Lizzie had washed his clothes the last time he saw her and had given him a couple extra. They’ve grown dirtier, but the jeans were much better than the one pair of shorts he had. Other than that, he just layered his usual polo and thermal shirt over each other to keep warm.
There was an old wooden park in the middle of the downtown area. There were a couple families and a group of friends playing in it, so it was out of the question for Gregory to walk right in.
He was caught in that moment of bitterness again. His chest hurt as he saw two boys chasing each other through the playground. The mother with her toddler, gently swinging him in the baby swing. Even the two teenagers sitting under a tree, just talking to each other, made Gregory seeth just a little in jealousy.
He missed his friend.
“Yeesh, you must be cold, huh?”
Gregory looked away from the playground to face the man talking to him. He didn’t sit beside him, which was nice, but he was still leaning against the bench from behind. The man had a buzz cut, bleached blonde, with dark roots still visible. He had very tanned skin and a lazy grin on his face. There was a grocery bag or two wrapped around the crook of his elbow. Something about him seemed familiar, but his looks and demeanor screamed that he was just some overly friendly weirdo that may or may not be on drugs, so the boy just rolled his eyes to himself. It’s nothing he hasn’t dealt with before.
He just kept quiet and looked away, but the stranger didn’t seem to care.
“See, I was born in California,” he began. He leaned more to his left so he could wave his right hand around as he talked. “I lived there for a long time too. I’ve been in these places longer, though, but still never got used to the weather. I hate it when it gets cold like this, but the holidays make it a lot better.”
Gregory didn’t say anything again, still choosing to stay quiet. Friendly adults weren’t the worst to be around, but they weren’t the best either. It always depended on what their motives were when talking to a child left all alone. In Gregory’s case, it was still never something he was happy to hear.
“You look familiar, you know. I can’t remember where I’ve seen you before…” So the man probably saw him around here before. That made him a little more of a threat, but he just kept silent.
The man snapped his fingers. “I know! You’re the kid from Cassie’s party!”
Gregory’s head snapped up and he recognized the stranger.
“I was her Uncle Mike’s friend,” he said with a smile. He placed his hand on his chest. “The one stuffing his face the whole time? Name’s Jeremy. If I remember… you are… Gregory, right?”
He wasn’t really sure what to say. He was conflicted. This man knew Cassie and was considered part of her weird family, but that didn’t really mean he was trustworthy. That just meant he knew who Gregory was.
Jeremy still didn’t mind how little Gregory was talking. He rolled one of the grocery bags open and moved some stuff around. “Hey, I got a Gatorade in here if you want it? I have two, so I can always grab another one if I really want it. This is more for Mike than for me.”
Gregory did answer the stranger for once. He shook his head. Jeremy just shrugged.
“That’s cool,” he said, so nonchalantly. “I should be heading back now, but I’ll tell Cassie you said hi. Stay safe, kiddo.”
Jeremy ruffled his hair, which made his skin crawl immediately, but he stepped off a second later. He waved goodbye to Gregory and took off. Gregory swallowed and watched the man go, fixing his hair a little. He felt something building in his chest and he couldn’t stop it from bursting out.
“Wait!” Gregory shouted at Jeremy before he could go too far.
Jeremy stopped mid-step and spun back around. He looked surprised Gregory had said anything at all, not even that he had called after him. Gregory hopped off the bench and dragged the bag onto his back. He swallowed again and walked up to the stranger.
“Can you… uh… can you tell Cassie that I’m—” he stopped for a moment to think of something to say. “Can you tell her I’m grounded? That I’m not allowed out of the house or something and that’s why I haven’t seen her?”
Jeremy nodded. “Yeah, I can do that.”
“And can you… can you tell me what she says? If you see me again?”
It was risky. Gregory didn’t trust adults, but this was Cassie and this was Cassie’s family. So far, they seemed like nice people. He might not be able to trust them, but they can give him what he wants, and that’s all he really cares about.
“Yeah, man, of course,” Jeremy didn’t seem bothered at all by all the questions. “Next time I see you around, I’ll tell yah. And I’ll bring you a coat or something. It gets cold out here.”
Gregory just nodded.
Notes:
I honestly don’t know what I want Mike and Jeremy to be in this. I really like them as friends and they are DEFINITELY best friends over anything else, but the silliness of them being a couple is so fun. Just Mike bring the most traumatized person to ever exist and Jeremy being….. some stoner dude lol. I’m just making it pretty vague rn but it can be interpreted as whatever. Mike does call him his partner in later chapters sooooo
Gregory continues to be my little guy that I love so much. He is just so real. Boy is constantly bitter and independent, but also so incredibly lonely and that’s so relatable dude.
Chapter 5
Summary:
Mike and Gregory aren’t starting off on the right foot.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
“How have you been, Gregory?”
“Fine,” the kid said into the phone. He stared down at his lap, kicking his legs from where they dangled on the bench. He cleared his throat. “Is Cassie home yet?”
“She is! I’ll go get her, sweetheart.”
It’s been a few weeks since Jeremy had found Gregory while out shopping. The adults all know now that Gregory really is homeless, but they all chose not to tell Cassie about it. They relaid half-truths to her about the kid, just telling her what he tells them to say, even though they knew they weren’t completely true. All they did was give her the message. They didn’t want her to worry about her friend.
It was a difficult situation. None of them wanted Gregory to keep living this way, but they couldn’t help him any other way. He ran from the police when they tried to help, and he trusted Mike and Lizzie only as a way to stay in contact with Cassie. He would barely talk to Mike and Jeremy himself, let alone answer their questions. Gregory didn’t accept any help outside of helping him talk to Cassie. They tried offering him things— food, water, money— but he refused it each time. The only time he accepted something was when they brought him a hoodie with the Fazbear Entertainment logo printed on the back. It was huge on him. His arms drowned in the sleeves, even when pushed up, and the bottom of it went down past his knees. He didn’t say a word about it.
Gregory suddenly brightened, smiling and perking up. He held the phone closer to his ear. “Cassie! Did you read that Goosebumps book? That new one? It’s at my library right now and it’s sooo good!”
Mike sat and watched the two kids talk. He’s been visiting Gregory the most, considering he had most of the day off until he had to work at night. Most of the time, Jeremy didn’t see him unless he had the day off too and were lucky enough to find the kid sitting on the same bench as before. They unintentionally made the spot they found him the first time the place to meet. It wasn’t far from their house and was right next to the library Gregory seemed always to be around.
His hoodie was getting pretty filthy. There were dirt stains and grime on the sleeves, little fingerprints visible from having to push them up every few minutes. His back and bottom were covered with grime too, most likely from sitting wherever he went to rest.
Mike doubted he went to any shelters. He would have been taken away by now if he did.
He wished the kid would talk to him.
Gregory giggled at something Cassie said on the phone and rocked back on the bench, pulling his legs up and swallowing them up under his hoodie. His smile was big and open, showing off yellow teeth.
“Those people at your school are assholes!” Gregory shouted, shocking Mike out of his thoughts.
Without thinking, he lightly smacked Gregory’s shoulder. “Hey! Don’t swear.”
The boy seemed to just now notice Mike was there and his smile fell. He glared at Mike, clearly irritated. Gregory leaned in closer to him, holding the speaker right to his mouth.
“Asshole!” He shouted again, just to annoy Mike.
“Hey—”
“Asshole!”
“Gregory—”
“They’re all big, fucking, assholes!”
“Alright, that’s it!” Mike took the phone from the kid, hearing Cassie squealing with laughter on the other side. Gregory exclaimed. He reached for the phone to get it back, but Mike leaned away from him. He brought the phone to his ear. “Cas, don’t repeat any of that. Ever. Got it?”
“Uncle Mike!” Cassie whined, but she was still giggling, clearly.
“Promise me and then I’ll give the phone back.” He pushed Gregory back down when he tried swiping for the phone again.
“I promise I won’t swear!” Cassie shouted.
“Good,” Mike accepted that. Mostly because Gregory was getting angrier by the second. He took the phone away from his ear and Gregory took the chance to snag it out of his hands. Mike sighed. “I’m sorry for that, but Liz would have my head on a pike if she heard Cassie say that.”
Gregory clearly didn’t care. He still glared at Mike, but sat back on his butt and went back to talking with his friend. His answers were more clipped and short now, and soon, they said their goodbyes. He took the phone away from his ear for a second and ended the call. He just tossed it back at Mike afterwards and moved to get off the bench.
Shit. Mike didn’t mean to upset him.
“Hey, wait—” he reached out to stop the kid, but he shot him a look that made him stop short. He pulled his hand back and watched Gregory start to grab his things. “Look— I’m sorry for that. I didn’t— I shouldn’t have taken the phone from you. I know you miss Cassie, that was mean.”
“Are you going to give it back next time?” Gregory narrowed his eyes at him, bag on his shoulder, but not yet leaving.
“I will,” Mike promised. “I won’t take it away next time. And I won’t touch you either. That probably bothered you too, huh?”
Gregory didn’t answer, but that was really answer enough. He shrugged his bag up further.
“Good,” he said, shortly. He turned around quickly after. “I’m going now. Bye.”
“Wait— c’mon, kid,” Mike sighed, rubbing his face. When he dropped his hand, he was glad Gregory didn’t run off while he was occupied. The kid did, in fact, turn around to face him again. “I want to have a conversation with you, okay? I’m happy to be your free phone service, but I do want to make sure you’re okay, and if you would just talk to me a little, maybe these things would run a little smoother, alright?”
Gregory stared at Mike, a dark stare that could make a man much stronger than him wither. Mike has grown softer in his age, however, so the glare made him turn to mush.
The kid was so intense. And confident. When Mike was a kid, he was angry at everything and everyone, his self-esteem was so low that he didn’t care if people hated him for the things he did or said. He was intense because he hated himself, Gregory was a completely different type of intense. He had so much confidence and ability it was almost frightening. He didn’t even have to talk half the time and the kid could manipulate any of them into doing what he wanted them to. He was so strong willed— it was no wonder he survived this long all on his own.
“I know you, uh,” Mike stumbled a little trying to talk. Gregory was still just staring at him. “I know you don’t trust me, but I just want to help you out, okay? I’m helping you with Cassie, and next time I won’t get in the way, but can we sit and just talk for a second?”
It didn’t look like the kid was convinced. He didn’t move from his position and his expression didn’t change.
Mike wasn’t confident he could get the kid to listen to him, but he was surprised as Gregory moved a moment later to sit back down. Farther than before, practically on the edge of the bench, but he still sat down.
“Thank you…” Mike licked his lips awkwardly. He got him to sit back down, but he didn’t know where to go from there. “How… have you been?”
Idiot. He was trying to make small talk with a ten year old.
Gregory rolled his eyes visibly and crossed his arms, leaning back into his bag. “Fine.”
“Okay, cool.” Where the fuck was he going with this? “So… you miss Cassie, huh?”
“Yeah, and what does that matter?”
Jesus.
“Just making conversation, kid,” Mike sighed and scratched his neck. “Cas is a good kid, I’m really glad you’re friends with her. She doesn’t have anyone else.”
“Yeah…” Gregory’s attitude started to change, frowning to himself. He uncrossed his arms and adjusted himself in his seat. “Why is that? She’s really awesome.”
“Well… it’s mostly our fault. Our family isn’t well liked back where we used to live and it’s getting dug up again for stupid reasons.”
Gregory made a face. “Why is Cassie in trouble for something you guys did?”
“We didn’t do anything, really,” Mike explained. “My father did— Cassie’s grandfather. He’s the reason why people didn’t want to come to her party. Which is ridiculous.”
“She said he’s in prison. Why? Did he kill someone?”
Mike started, feeling his heart skip a beat. He wasn’t aware Cassie knew that. Not about the murdering, no, only Henry knew about that, but about William’s sentencing. He remembers Lizzie telling him about her anxieties about being a parent and what she would tell her daughter when she inevitably asks about William, but he wasn’t aware she had already told Cassie about him.
“Uh, no. Not for that.” Unfortunately. “He did something pretty bad when Lizzie and I were kids and has been in prison for it since then. Sometimes parents don’t want their kid being around something like that to protect them. It makes sense, I suppose, but it still hurts Cassie.”
Gregory nodded along. He was glaring again, but it wasn’t aimed at Mike. He seemed just as indignant as he was about Cassie’s situation.
“I hate when parents do that,” Gregory said.
“Does that happen to you?”
The kid shrugged. “Not with Cassie.”
“No, no,” Mike laughed to himself. “Lizzie wouldn’t do that. She might be protective of Cassie, but she also wouldn’t judge a kid in your position like that.”
“In my position?”
He flinched. Damnit. “Uh, you know…”
Gregory just rolled his eyes again.
Mike winced. “Look, kid, I’m not trying to—”
“I need to get going. It’s getting dark out.” Gregory hopped back on his feet and took off before Mike could stop him again. He left in the direction towards the streets.
Mike sighed.
It was obvious to the kid that they all knew he was homeless, but he still avoided talking about it. If Mike tried bringing it up, he’d do the same thing he did today, just roll his eyes and leave. It was like he thought bringing it up was unnecessary or a bother. He wasn’t sure if he was embarrassed by it because Gregory seemed so confident, but he wouldn’t put it past him if he was. Everyone has insecurities.
He just couldn’t understand why Gregory didn’t want any help. When Mike was in a similar position, he wanted people to see him and see what he was going through so bad. He wanted someone to notice the abuse and take him away from it, or figure out some way to stop it. Maybe he didn’t accept it well at first, embarrassingly enough. Mike gave Henry a hard time just as much as Gregory was— probably more considering how confrontational Mike used to be— but he still wanted the help.
Funny how much he’s changed since then.
“He just refuses to talk about it.”
By the time Mike got home, he called Lizzie up and started ranting.
“I get that he doesn’t trust me, but when you were a kid and an adult was trying to help you, you used to tell them way too much. You and Evan never knew when to stop talking about any time someone so much as asked you ‘what’s wrong.’”
“I never talked much about William, though,” Lizzie said. “And Gregory is a different person. And this is a different situation. He’s not gonna act like I did when I was a traumatized kid.”
“I know, I know…” Mike was currently washing the dishes from his dinner, having eaten early before he had to run off to work. Which was only in an hour. He took his frustrations out on scrubbing his bowl of noodles so aggressively. “I just want to help the kid, but he’s so against it. We’ve known him for over two months, he should be able to figure that out by now.”
Mike accidentally knocked the side of the plate too hard into the side of the sink, causing it to make a loud sound that startled him. He stopped scrubbing for a moment and took a deep breath.
“Mike, you shouldn’t stress about this,” Lizzie reasoned softly. “He’s not your kid.”
No. Gregory isn’t his kid. He knew that.
“But we are the only people looking out for him.” He said, bitterly.
“Maybe we are, but we still barely know him. You need to give him time.”
Mike was getting sick of this constant back and forth between them. They’re always fighting over the same point. It was useless.
“Yeah, okay,” he grunted. Mike grabbed a towel and dried his hands off before grabbing the phone from his shoulder. “Listen, I have to get ready for work.”
“Okay.” It was obvious Lizzie knew he was just trying to get rid of her. “Love you. Talk to you later.”
“Love you too.”
Mike sighed as he hung up the phone.
It was getting pretty cold at night now. His new hoodie wasn’t going to help much longer.
Gregory was shivering. He chose to spend his night in the trees since migrating downtown. They had a lot more trees in this part of the city than anywhere else. Sleeping under the trees was a lot nicer than against a cold concrete building. The biggest problem was the bugs. That was never fun.
His hands were shaking as he rolled out the blanket Lizzie had given him ages ago. He liked it. It gave him that nice feeling again, the feelings he gets when Cassie gets excited to talk to him.
Sadly, the blanket was more of a bed than anything else. He was still stuck with just the hoodie.
Gregory sighed half an hour later as he realized he wasn’t going to get any sleep if he couldn’t stop shaking. He rolled on his other side, curled up into the tightest ball he could get himself into, pulled the hood over his head instead of bunched up as a pillow, but nothing worked. He still was left shivering, exhausted, and unable to sleep.
He was almost mad. Mike had given him this hoodie so he wouldn’t be cold at night and it wasn’t even working.
He didn’t like Mike. The man made him uncomfortable. Jeremy had been casual with how he talked to Gregory, and Lizzie was Cassie’s weird, but sweet mom, but Mike was just… awkward. He tried to talk to Gregory, but everything he talks about is either none of his business, or just awkward small talk like today. He could see how he’s related to Lizzie, but he’s got none of the charm she has.
He hated adults. They never knew how to mind their own business and they always tried to help him. Why couldn’t they figure it out that Gregory didn’t need any help? He was doing just fine on his own. He didn’t need anyone trying to help him.
Gregory’s nose was running and it was dripping on his hands. It was gross. Maybe he should leave and find somewhere else to sleep.
Suddenly, he started to hear voices. Voices that brought along footsteps.
Gregory quickly scrambled to get his things. He grabbed his bag from behind him and started pulling the blanket out from underneath him. He was on his feet, in the middle of shoving everything back into his bag, when a group of teens came stumbling out into the woods.
“Woah, shit!” The girl in the front of the group skidded to a stop, arms out to stop her still laughing friends. She was dressed in a short skirt and a huge puffy jacket, as if that would help the fact she was wildly underdressed for the temperature. Her eyes were wide and she was looking right at Gregory.
He realized he recognized her from the park awhile back. And her other friend was with her too. They were the two talking under the tree. The tree Gregory was trying to sleep under now.
“Shit, is that a kid?” One of the other teens said. And Gregory was quick to pick up the slur in their voice.
He felt his heart start to pound. From anger or fear, he didn’t really know, but he rather believe it was anger.
He continued shoving the blanket into his bag more prevalently.
“I think he was sleeping here.”
“What the hell is a kid doing sleeping in the woods?”
Gregory ignored them and threw his bag over his shoulder. His legs were shaking just as much as his hands. He felt his arms strain trying to hold the bag up. He didn’t want to have to carry it anymore. Gregory was so tired.
Ignoring the teens had proven to be the wrong choice. He stood there for too long and one of them touched his arm.
Gregory bolted.
His arms hurt, his legs ached, he was freezing cold, and he was so exhausted. He didn’t want to be running and worrying about someone calling the cops again. He wanted to sleep. He was so tired and he just wanted to sleep.
Gregory stopped when his lungs started burning. He gasped and shook, legs close to giving out. Looking behind him, he noticed he ran back to the library. The teenagers didn’t follow him. He was standing right in front of the bench he sat on hours ago, talking with Cassie.
His gasps changed to sobs and he fell back on the bench.
Cassie’s house was warm. She had warm water, warm food, and so many blankets and pillows that she could make a fort out of them. She had a bed with thick comforters on it and a million stuffed animals. She had movies she could watch whenever she wanted, and books she could take home and read. She had her weird mom and her weird family and they all loved her so much.
Gregory sobbed and he felt so embarrassed for crying, but he couldn’t help it. He missed his friend, and he missed the moments he had where he was warm and safe under someone’s roof.
He hated being so alone.
Mike went off to wait for the kid the next day, but wasn’t expecting to find him so soon.
Gregory was on the bench, leaning back against the hard wooden backing. His bag was clenched tightly in his arms, and his body was shaking steadily. His eyes were closed, but he looked utterly exhausted even while he was sleeping.
The kid had a hard night, that much was obvious.
Mike sighed. He took his jacket off and draped it over Gregory, trying not to wake him. After that, he sat down next to him and watched the afternoon crowds start walking around.
It didn’t take long before Gregory started to wake. Mike heard him take in a sharp breath. He looked over as Gregory shifted and blinked his eyes open, confused. He saw the large jacket before noticing Mike.
“What’re you…” he mumbled, tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” Mike said. He smiled at the kid, trying to be comforting. “You looked cold. You can have that, by the way.”
“Don’t need it.” Despite his insistence, Gregory pulled it closer around him.
Mike noticed a croak in his voice and he frowned. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Gregory pushed himself up and moved his bag off his lap, lying it on the ground instead. He grabbed the coat again and pulled it around his shoulders. “I don’t want to talk to Cassie today.”
Mike held back from asking why. “That’s fine. Have you eaten anything yet? I can buy you something.”
He’s offered this before and Gregory has always said no, but today, a sad look passed his eyes and he gave Mike a glance. He looked down at his feet with a defeated expression. With a shrug, he agreed.
Mike took the kid to a Dunkin Donuts. It was one of the only spots he could think of.
Gregory just stood beside him with the empty look in his eyes, staring right through all the donuts on display. He was hungry, it was obvious in the way his stomach hasn’t stopped making noise since they’ve stepped foot in the place, but he just shrugged when asked what he wanted. Mike decided to take control at that moment. He ordered a box of munchkins, deciding that the variety and amount was probably the best for the kid. He also ordered a hot chocolate for both of them, hoping it would warm him up even more.
Now they sat in the restaurant, a box of munchkins open between them and small hot chocolates clutched between both their hands. The warmth seemed to help Gregory, at least. His hands still trembled, but they weren’t so pale anymore.
He hasn’t eaten anything just yet, only staring at his hot chocolate and moving it back and forth in his hands, like he was trying to soak in as much warmth as he could. Mike was starting to worry the more Gregory’s stomach complained. He broke the silence in a hurry when the worry became too much to bear.
“Here—” Mike grabbed a napkin and picked up one of the glazed munchkins, holding it out to Gregory. “They’re really good, I promise. And you really need to be eating.”
The kid huffed and reached out to grab it, deliberately avoiding touching Mike’s hand. He simply held it in front of him at first, but even he couldn’t ignore his body’s complaints any longer. Gregory took a bite of the treat, chewing slowly. After the donut was all gone, he looked back down at his drink.
The silence returned. Mike shifted in his spot. “You know, your clothes are getting pretty dirty—”
“Can you leave me alone?” Gregory’s voice cracked and he slouched down in his seat, shutting his eyes tightly.
Mike was taken aback by the sudden break in the kid. For a selfish moment, he worried what the other people around were thinking. The only people that would really notice are the workers, but they didn’t stop doing their job for one second when Mike looked around to check. He looked back at Gregory and noticed just how distressed he looked. His shaking was more from his feelings than any chill left over. For once, he didn’t look to be in control over himself. He looked just like a scared little kid, trying to hold in his tears.
Mike was unwillingly reminded of when Evan was a kid, and the amount of times he made him cry.
“I’m…” Mike swallowed the lump in his throat. He pushed away the memory of Evan’s tearful eyes, and tried to move forward. “I’m sorry, Gregory. I didn’t mean to upset you, or— or something. I don’t know what happened, just—“
He cut himself off. He was just rambling at that point. He didn’t know why the kid was upset, but he had clearly been the one to upset him.
“I’m just sorry,” he mumbled after a moment. “I can go back home and leave you alone, if you really want that.”
Gregory worked on steadying his breathing, roughly wiping away any evidence of the tears he didn’t let fall. His face burned red, certainly embarrassed with himself. Unexpectedly, he shook his head.
“No, I’m fine,” he insisted. The kid pushed himself back up and reached for the donuts, grabbing one with his filthy fingers. “I just don’t need you babying me. I’m not a baby.”
Mike nodded. He was in uncharted waters, not sure what caused the sudden breakdown and the quick fix that happened moments after.
He tried to think. When he was younger, he used to react to things in odd ways, before he learned that some things could trigger his anger. He remembered how Henry would walk him backwards and figure out what it was that set him off. That usually helped, but there were times Mike would get frustrated at being analyzed like that and just get angrier. Henry would have to stop and they would stay away from each other for a moment, coming back to the conversation later when they both had a moment to think.
Mike didn’t have that opportunity now. Gregory wasn’t his ward, he couldn’t just leave him for a couple hours and come back to talk to him later. Gregory was obviously upset about something, but he didn’t know what he wanted.
What was it that upset him just now? It wasn’t from before— well, maybe it was related, but it was definitely something Mike had said. It came to him suddenly.
“Did you get upset because I brought up your clothes?” He asked.
Gregory looked up at him and quickly looked away. He huffed frustratingly, shrugging his shoulders. “People bring it up all the time. And just because you bought me food doesn’t mean you can get me to do anything else.”
Mike blinked. “I’m not asking anything from you. Or, I’m not trying to. I’m just trying to help you out a bit.”
“I don’t need people to always try and help me,” Gregory snapped. Once again, there was a look in his eyes that told Mike he wasn’t being told everything, but that isn’t any of his business. “I’m fine on my own.”
“You are really strong on your own,” Mike admitted. Gregory looked up in surprise. “I don’t know how you do it, but it still must be hard.”
Gregory frowned. He picked up his hot chocolate and distracted himself by taking a drink.
Mike kept talking, like how it usually goes. “I know you say you don’t need help, but it’s still nice to have some. Like Cassie. She helps you. She talks with you and is a nice friend to you. That’s pretty helpful in the grand scheme of things. I’m helping you by helping you talk to her, but I can also help keep you company and get you things you need if you ever need it. You can’t get a job of your own, so I’m happy to buy you a meal every once in a while. And you already know by now that we aren’t going to call anyone to take you away. We just want to do some things for you, is all.”
They should be calling someone. They should be helping Gregory get somewhere safe, but it was still so risky. They still didn’t know why Gregory was on his own, if he was running from something, if he was safer on the streets than wherever he was staying before. Mike and Lizzie both wanted to help the kid stay safe, and right now this is all they could do.
Gregory stared at Mike silently for a long time. Throughout the whole talk, he simply stared. When he was finished, he tore his eyes away and stared down at the food in front of him.
He was thinking. Thinking through everything said to him.
Eventually, he spoke up.
“Can you get me a library card?”
Mike laughed. “Yeah, I can do that. But I will be asking about it. I’m not going to be paying those fees if you lose any books.”
“I’m not going to lose anything,” Gregory argued, but for once, he looked relaxed. “Can I have another donut?”
Mike pushed the box towards him. “They’re all for you, kid.”
Notes:
Is Gregory an insanely smart and confident kid?? Yes. But he is still a fucking ten year old kid living on his own. Suddenly feeling the slightest bit of love from a nice family is obviously going to upset him.
This is the chapter that I noticed Lizzie and Mike keep fighting about the same things. I do like their relationship being one where they fight a lot, since they came from pretty different situations, even if it was from the same abuser. Still, it gets fucking annoying for me to write and repeat myself so much. I’m like, getting just as frustrated with those two as they get with each other lmao.
The first chunk of this story is almost done. Just a few more chapters and then we move on to like, an act 2 pretty much.
Chapter 6
Summary:
Gregory gets a chance to act like a kid and sees Cassie again. He also gets a well needed haircut.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The past few weeks have been getting better. Gregory was getting along with Mike more than before. He still wasn’t the most talkative, but he would perk up when he would wait at the bench and notice the man walking over. And if Mike was there first, he would spot Gregory running up to him and quickly sitting down. When it was really cold out, Mike would take him over to that same Dunkin’ and they would sit there to talk. The kid still spent most of his time talking with Cassie on the phone, but afterwards, he stuck around more to listen to Mike talk. When he got his library card, Gregory started talking about the books he read.
At one point, he brought up how Cassie had played movies for him when he slept over there and how he wished he could watch more, and Mike brought his laptop with him to the bench. He said Gregory could go out and check out a movie from the library for them to play, and the kid jumped at the chance to do so. He had grabbed Mike’s arm and pulled him off the bench so that they could go there now. He hadn’t acted like that before, never so excited at something Mike did that he had smiled while dragging him through the movie section. It was shocking, but it was even more so when he and Gregory sat down and the kid moved the laptop to face between them, sitting so that Mike could watch the movie too.
He was beginning to trust him. If only a little.
Mike still wasn’t any closer to figuring anything out about the kid, but with Gregory opening up more to help, he wasn’t as worried about it. Sure, he still worried when they would part ways and Mike couldn’t help but wonder for the rest of the night if he was okay, but the next time he saw him, Gregory never had a bruise or a scratch on him. He was just a bit dirtier every time.
Mike watched as Gregory grew bored of the movie playing on the laptop and left to go look at the books. He left his bag next to Mike— making sure to threaten him into keeping an eye on it— before he left, so his arms were completely free to grab books off the shelves and look them over.
“Have you read this one?” Gregory brought over some random kids book that Mike didn’t recognize, something he does quite often.
Like usual, Mike shook his head. “You know, I wasn’t much of a reader. I used to read comic books, but that was it.”
Gregory made a face. “Why? Reading is fun.”
“I wasn’t big on school. Reading was like learning and learning is lame.”
The kid rolled his eyes. He sat on the floor beside his bag. “You’re just old and boring. This book is a series. It’s about these cats that have magic and kill each other. They have these clans that they live in and there is this one clan filled with all the dead cats, and the living cats can talk to the dead cats sometimes. And they have cool names like Firepaw and Tigerclaw. That’s not lame.”
“Okay, I guess that’s not lame. That actually sounds pretty interesting.” It sounded totally crazy and weird, but Mike used to read comics about superheroes with some of the weirdest plots, so he guesses that’s just the type of stuff kids are into.
“It is interesting, jerk,” Gregory antagonized. He moved closer to Mike and held up the first page to him, pointing at a few sections. “See, they give you the names of the cats and what they look like and their jobs. This one is the main character and this one is the bad character. This shit is cool!”
“Mhm, that is cool.” Mike tried to hide the amused laugh behind a fake cough. He adjusted himself in his seat. “Why are you sitting on the floor, kid? There’s a chair right next to you.”
Gregory sat back down, book in his lap. He shrugged and turned the page to start reading. “I don’t know. I don’t want to get dirt on anything.”
“Well, why don’t you let me clean them?”
“I’m not letting you get me to take my clothes off. I barely know you, dude.”
Mike's eyes widened and he flushed in embarrassment. He swallowed and glanced around quickly before lowering his voice. “Gregory! That was not what I was saying and you know that!”
Gregory snorted, cringing into himself as he giggled. Mike sighed and leaned back from him.
“Jesus, kid, you’re gonna get the cops called on me if you say that,” he muttered. “I’m not trying to be a creep, you know? You know that, right?”
“Whatever,” Gregory shrugged. He had a shit-eating grin on his face. He turned back to his book and shrugged again, smile falling slowly. “I don’t know. I can do it myself. I need some money for the machines. It takes a while.”
Mike hates pitying the boy, especially of something he’s shown embarrassment for. “Well… I can just throw them in with some of my clothes at my house and give them back to you next time I see you.”
“I have nothing else to change into,” Gregory said. He slapped his bag. “I had to get rid of some so I could fit the blanket in here. I only have the clothes I’m wearing.”
He was wearing Mike’s jacket, the hoodie, and the clothes he’s always wearing, including a pair of shorts that were inappropriate for the weather.
“Why didn’t you keep the jeans?”
Gregory pulled out a ziplock full of coins, bobby pins, and little useless trinkets from his shorts. “These have better pockets.”
Mike nodded to seem non-judgmental, but the kid didn’t have the best priorities it seemed. He scolds himself internally right afterward thinking that. Gregory was only ten, and Mike has never been homeless himself. He didn’t know what his thought process was, getting rid of his pants like that. Maybe he really did need good pockets, having places to store things seemed important to him.
Still, getting rid of his more appropriate clothes when it was getting further into winter, wasn’t the smartest decision.
Mike suddenly got an idea. “What if you hang out at my place for a bit?”
Gregory looked up at his book. He stared at Mike suspiciously. Mike winced. So much for not acting like a creep.
“I meant, like, well,” he stumbled through his words, a little panicked. “I meant— you’re not visiting Cassie because you’re worried about cops, right? What if Cassie sleeps over at my place for the weekend? That would get you out of the weather for a little bit and I can wash your clothes before you leave. Plus, you could see Cassie again, and that would be great.”
Gregory went from suspicious and confused to hopeful and excited. He pushed himself to his knees and shuffled over to Mike, grabbing the front of his shirt and shaking him.
“You better not be a creep!” He exclaimed as he shook him with surprising strength for such a scrawny kid. “You promise? Do you promise you’re not a creep and can get me to Cassie?!”
“Shh, shh!” Mike went to grab the kid’s wrists and pull him, but thought better of it. He put his hands back down and sighed, face burning with embarrassment. Once again, he lowered his voice to try and divert any attention on them. “Jesus, Gregory! You got to stop saying that so loudly. Yes, I promise I am not a creep. It’s rude you keep asking that. And I’ll have to talk to Lizzie and Cassie, but I’m sure they’ll be fine with it.”
Gregory let go of him and jumped to his feet. He grabbed the book off the ground and slammed it shut, a big smile on his face as he used the books to hit Mike’s shoulder.
“Ow! Hey!” Mike laughed at the boy’s violent expression of excitement. He held up his arm to stop getting brutally beaten, but smiled regardless. Even if it was a very unconventional way to show it, he’s never seen the kid this happy before.
It didn’t take long for someone to come up to them and ask them to leave.
Gregory continued to pull on Mike’s jacket sleeve as they walked back to the park bench. His grin was confident, his thick eyebrows turned downwards in determination. He wasn’t dragging his feet like usual, instead, he kept up in pace with Mike and would occasionally hop as he rambled on about something particularly exciting he wanted to do when he saw Cassie again.
As cute as it was that the kid was so happy just at the idea of seeing his friend again, it was also incredibly saddening. Gregory was so lonely. He probably wouldn’t admit to it, but he had to be. He was always so quiet and so still. He’s opening up to Mike now, but that is after weeks of sitting there, uncomfortable and just wanting to talk to the only friend that he trusted— the only friend he had. He didn’t even seem worried anymore about staying at Mike’s house for a few nights. All the joking concerns about Mike having alternative motives dropped out of his mouth and weren’t picked back up again for the remainder of the visit. The thought of seeing Cassie again caused him to ignore his previous worries.
That scared Mike a little. Someone like his father would have taken advantage of that loneliness, of that connection. He took advantage of his relationship with Henry in order to kill Charlie. If someone like William promised Gregory a friend, he worried the kid would take it.
Mike tried not to think about that. He wasn’t his father. And he had no other motives besides looking out for the kid.
“Hey, Cas! Are you ready to go?”
Cassie bounced up and down as she chanted, “yes, yes, yes,” for them to go find Gregory. Her light up shoes lit up the porch, purple lights bouncing off the wood floors along with her. Lizzie laughed and put a hand on her head to calm her daughter down.
“Okay, baby, why don’t you put your things inside while I talk to Uncle Mike for a second, hm?” She smiled fondly down at Cassie. The kid wasted no time running inside to throw her backpack off. She immediately jumped off to run around the small living area, unable to contain herself.
Lizzie laughed to herself and ushered Mike out onto the porch. He stepped out and left the door ajar behind him, so they could both listen out for Cassie.
“Here, I found it a while ago,” Lizzie said quietly. She reached into her purse and pulled out a weathered piece of paper, a clear cut out of a newspaper. She unfolded it and held it out to Mike. “They don’t seem to know anything.”
The piece of paper was for a missing child. The boy described was clearly about Gregory, but his name wasn’t put down and they didn’t have any real information on him, everything was just speculation. Even the picture was just a sketch of what the police and other eyewitnesses were able to describe.
“No one’s called about it yet?” He asked.
“Not as far as I know,” Lizzie shifted on her feet, arms crossed over her as a form of comfort. “We’re doing the right thing, not saying anything, right? If no one is looking for him right now, that kinda tells us what we need to know.”
Mike didn’t know. They didn’t want the kid to get hurt, but he didn’t know if they were doing the right thing not telling anyone. He wasn’t sure if this could get them in trouble or not, or if the law would be on their side because they were trying to help the kid the best they could.
Eventually, he shrugged, sighing heavily. “I don’t know. I think… I think I’m gonna try getting more information from him this weekend. This is serious, he’s got to understand that.”
Lizzie nodded. “Good luck. Remember to call me if you need anything. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
She then smiled into the house at her daughter and waved her over. Cassie came running over immediately and threw her arms around her mother. Lizzie let out an oof and patted her back. After a small check up to see if she was ready to go, they went off to pick Gregory up.
It’s been a month since Gregory and Cassie have last seen each other, only able to talk through Mike’s cell. It’s been about 3 months since they’ve become friends. Three months at least that he’s been on the streets, three months at least that no one has been looking for him, supposedly. It was safe to say whatever situation Gregory was in before, wasn’t a situation he was eager to go back to. If he even had anything to go back to.
Out of all the situations Mike had thought up when it came to Gregory, the idea that he had nothing to go back to came up occasionally.
It was almost unbelievable to think that a child would have no one looking out for them. That no one had noticed he was gone. Not teachers, not neighbors, not friends, or family, or anyone. The idea that Gregory was completely alone in the world was just so hard to believe. Even when Mike was abused, he was never alone. He had his siblings, he had Henry, he had his friends— even if they weren’t any help at the time. A child can’t just be alone. There had to be someone, right?
Mike jumped as he heard squealing. Cassie suddenly took off from the two adults and ran ahead of them. Lizzie shouted and cringed as Cassie completely ran across the— thankfully empty— street to throw herself at Gregory. The kid let out a shout when he got crashed into, but quickly realized who it was and dropped his bag on the ground to hug Cassie back.
Lizzie cursed quietly to herself and grabbed her no doubt pounding chest. Mike snorted at her worrying.
They crossed the road safely and joined the two kids at the bench. They were already talking a mile a minute to each other, it was quite adorable. Lizzie elbowed him subtly.
“He’s looking better, at least,” she whispered. “Less skinny, more energetic.”
Mike didn’t notice that much. He looked Gregory over a lot to make sure he was okay, but he supposed he didn’t realize the positives as much as the negatives.
Gregory was still dirty and scrawny. The skin around his eyes were still too dark and his cheeks, nose, and fingertips were still too red from the cold. But if he looked past all that, he did notice that his cheeks were looking fuller, and his legs looked less like sticks keeping him up. Still much too skinny, but he supposed it did look better.
The brightness in his eyes was more distracting than anything else. He looked so happy to see Cassie again.
He saw a shiver in the kid’s shoulders and decided they should get him inside sooner rather than later.
They were off back to Mike’s house, Cassie and Gregory staying shoulder to shoulder. Gregory and Lizzie talked only briefly, mostly just saying hi to each other and talking about school. Cassie jumped in random puddles while they walked.
“Baby, you’re going to get your feet all wet.” Lizzie scolded as Cassie jumped into a puddle filled with slush from melting snow. Gregory hopped back from her as it splashed.
“Yeah,” he agreed with a laugh. “If you get your feet wet, then your toes could freeze and fall off! Then we would have to cut your feet off and replace them with peglegs. You’ll be a pirate.”
“No I won’t! Don’t say that!” Cassie shoved her friend playfully as Gregory giggled mischievously. Cassie shoved him again. “Gregory! Don’t say that! I don’t want to cut off my feet!”
“Then don’t jump in puddles, stupid!”
“Gregory,” Mike scolded the kid, looking back at him. “Be nice.”
He rolled his eyes.
Mike seriously hoped Gregory was just being morbid and they weren’t going to discover the kid had no toes when they got to the house.
Thankfully, when they got there and the kid kicked off his shoes, he had all ten toes on his pale little feet. It was a relief, until they noticed the mud print left behind from the boy.
“Oh my God, Gregory,” Mike couldn’t help but wrinkle his nose in disgust. The kids giggled. Mike pointed down the hall. “Go to the bathroom right now. I should have known this would happen— you’re so lucky I have wood floors in here.”
Gregory laughed and took off to the bathroom. Lizzie followed after to make sure he got to the right place and if he needed help, the clothes she bought for him in her arms. Mike sighed and went to clean up the mess.
The next hour was spent with Mike cleaning up, washing Gregory’s clothes, and starting on dinner, while Lizzie and Cassie busied themselves making a spot for the kids to hang out in. Cassie insisted they make another blanket fort, claiming it was tradition now and that Mike wasn’t there for the first one. Mike didn’t have as many blankets and pillows for them to use, so the fort was more of a canopy more than anything else. They had stolen Mike’s duvet to hang over the couch with a broom wedge in between the cushions to keep it up. Cassie didn’t seem to mind anyway, and when Gregory came out of the shower— after almost thirty minutes, yeesh— he was more than happy to curl under it with a smile.
The relaxing atmosphere was destroyed rather quickly when Cassie had the fun idea to play a game.
In an instant, the calming blanket fort was turned into the base camp for their Clan. Apparently, playing a game meant pretending to be the cats in that book Gregory told Mike about just a few days ago. Cassie was more than excited to explain all the rules to Gregory.
Mike didn’t understand a lick of what they were talking about, but it was pretty funny to see Gregory awkwardly sit there and pretend he was a cat. Cassie was always pretty weird— something she absolutely got from her mother— so Mike wasn’t phased when she hissed at him.
“I’m just giving you some food, geez,” he put the bowls of mac and cheese down on the side tables and sat down on the floor beside them. He grabbed the remote and turned the tv on. “Do you guys want to watch anything?”
“No!” Cassie grabbed at the pasta with Gregory following quickly behind and sat back in her seat. Gregory wasted no time stuffing his face. “Uncle Mike, what would your warrior name be?”
“My warrior name?” He asked, turning onto some random movie he hoped would be fine to have on.
“Yeah! Like the warrior cats! You pick two words that are in nature and mash them together, and that’s your warrior name.” Cassie pointed at herself. “I want to be Starfur and have white fur that makes me look like I glow in the dark, but Gregory—”
“That’s not how that works!” Gregory interrupted with a mouth full of noodles. “Star names are for leaders and it goes on the end of the name. You can’t be Star-anything.”
“Well, what if I am a leader, but I chose to have my Star name-thing come first?”
“That’s still not how it works.”
“Well, why can’t you pretend that’s how it works for your story?” Lizzie came in with the laundry done, the basket leaned against her hip.
Gregory huffed and went back to eating his food, annoyed at being told off.
“What’s your cat name, Gregory?” Mike asked in an attempt to take the kid out of his mood.
He shrugged. “I dunno. I’m not good at making stuff up like Cassie is. I want to be really cool and badass.”
Cassie giggled at the swear. Mike winced and looked back at Lizzie to see if he was going to get chewed out for that, but she just rolled her eyes. She probably didn’t think it was worth it to tell the kid off again.
“Well… can’t your name just be Gregory.”
“No, that’s lame,” he said. “I want a cool name.”
“Why don’t you just eat for now and think about it while I try to find something good to watch.”
The kids eventually calmed down and started talking about other things. Mike’s mind wondered as he flipped through the limited amount of channels he had. Nothing was exactly kid friendly, but he wasn’t sure how much that mattered in the end. The only cartoons he watched as a kid were animals trying to kill each other in silly, but gruesome ways. That wasn’t exactly appropriate for kids, but neither were these weird cat books they were reading.
Mike decided just to put on some Tom and Jerry. It might not be kid appropriate, but it was entertaining.
Halfway through the episode, Mike heard the clattering of silverware as Gregory put down his empty bowl. Completely empty too. He noticed the small fingertip smears on the bowl where the kid had gathered up all the cheese left.
“Wanna another bowl?” He asked, a little amused.
Gregory looked surprised by the question before he thought about it, and ultimately shook his head no. “I’m kinda full.”
“Are you sure?” Lizzie took up responsibility cleaning up their dishes, even when Mike told her she didn’t have to. “We have plenty leftover.”
The kid shook his head again and turned to talk with Cassie.
Mike saw the mild concern on Lizzie’s face. He wasn’t too worried. He’s been pretty good at getting Gregory to eat when he visits, as well as making him take anything leftover for him to eat later. Lizzie was just stressing about his weight.
After another hour, Mike could see Gregory starting to deplete in energy. Along with his clothes, Mike and Lizzie washed his blanket as well, and the combination of fresh clothes and a warm, clean blanket wrapped around him was starting to weigh the kid down. His eyelids were droopy and he wasn’t as talkative with Cassie as time went on. Soon, his head was starting to fall and bounce right back up.
It was barely seven in the evening.
Lizzie was watching the kid practically pass out as well.
“Hey, Gregory?” She asked, startling the kid awake again. “Can I take a look at your hair?”
He frowned, eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. “Why?”
“Well, I’m a hairstylist, and your hair could use some work.” Lizzie grabbed a pillow from the couch and placed it in front of her, patting it down. “C’mon. Sit here and I’ll grab some things from Uncle Mike’s bathroom to see what I can do to make it feel more comfortable on your head.”
After a moment, Gregory relented and climbed out of their fort. He looked back at Mike as he awkwardly sat down in front of Lizzie. Mike simply shrugged.
Gregory flinched hard when Lizzie touched his hair without warning.
“Oh! Sorry!” She blurted out an apology. “I should have warned you before touching you, my bad.”
He didn’t say anything, but he did squirm on the pillow in discomfort, looking around the room as if to find something to distract himself with. He chose just to stare at the TV in front of him. Lizzie felt around his head, picking through the tangles and mats. Many parts of Gregory’s hair were able to lift up in clumps. Some parts were still damp from the shower earlier, but some were bone dry. Mike couldn’t get too much of a look from his angle, but he could tell the bottom half of the kid’s head was all mats.
“Not a lot of this is salvageable,” Lizzie muttered as she lifted up the longer top portions of Gregory’s hair to see the large knot in the center of it. “A lot of this will have to be cut off. Are you okay with a haircut, Gregory?”
The boy blinked back into the conversation and shrugged. His hand came up to touch the shaggy parts that covered his ears. “Can it still be long? It’s warmer when my hair is longer.”
Lizzie hummed in thought. “I can try, but the back of your head is pretty gnarly. But you’re okay with cutting your hair?”
“I mean, whatever.” Gregory shrugged again, looking nervous. “It’s fine.”
Cassie leaned out of the fort. “Mama is really good at hair! She does pretty hairstyles for me all the time. You don’t have to worry about anything.”
Gregory still didn’t object, but he didn’t look as nervous anymore.
Lizzie ordered Mike to get various things from his bathroom. He didn’t have nearly as many things as Lizzie no doubt needed, but he does take better care of his hair now than when he was a kid, so he still had more to give than just a pair of scissors and some shampoo. Lizzie tried to be careful as she brushed out some of the knots, but Gregory was still wincing much too often. The mats were no doubt uncomfortable.
As clumps were starting to get chopped off, Mike started making conversation so Gregory would be so nervous.
“When was the last time you got your hair cut?” He asked casually.
Gregory was busy playing with and picking apart some hair he grabbed from the floor, but he shrugged and responded anyway. “I don’t know. How long does it take for hair to grow?”
“It depends, really,” Lizzie answered for him. “Me, Cassie, and Uncle Mike have different hair texture than you. You have pretty straight hair, but it’s very thick, so it might take you a little while. For us, however, we often have to add things to our hair to help it grow faster.”
Gregory thought to himself for a second. “I think the last haircut I got was a year ago. I remember my hair being a lot shorter. I didn’t like it much.”
A year ago. That might be right considering the length of it, but Mike didn’t like the idea of that being how long he’s been on the streets. He hoped that wasn’t the case.
“Did you go somewhere to get it cut?”
He shook his head, making Lizzie yell at the sudden move. Cassie giggled and Gregory smiled. “No, I cut it myself in some bathroom.”
Lizzie nodded very carefully, measuring out another chunk and starting to comb it out.
“I used to cut my hair when I was a kid too,” Mike said, trying to ignore the reason why. “I used to cut all my siblings’ hair. I wasn’t very good at it, though. Lizzie is much better at this than me.”
Lizzie rolled her eyes and snipped off another piece.
“You really shouldn’t be cutting your own hair, though,” she said sternly. “A kid your age shouldn’t just be chopping randomly at any part you can reach. That’s probably why some parts of your hair are longer than other parts.”
Gregory just shrugged carelessly. “I never really cared.”
As more and more tangles are brushed out and mats cut off, Gregory’s eyes start to droop again. They close as Lizzie feels through sprayed-wet hair smoothly, his knees pulled to his chest and his chin resting on top. He looked relaxed in a way Mike has never seen him.
It’s been a while since Lizzie started on Gregory’s hair and the kids were both asleep from the calming atmosphere, Cassie passed out in the fort and Gregory slouch in the same sitting position.
“He’s such a good kid…” Mike whispered, moved to lean against the couch beside Lizzie.
“I could do without the swearing,” Lizzie said playfully, brushing through the shorter back of Gregory’s head. It looked like she was just about done with the worst of it, moving as quietly as she could to sit in front of Gregory. The kid didn’t move, still sleeping peacefully. “Thank God he fell asleep with his head still up.”
“Not concerning at all.” Mike tried to joke, but there was some reality in it.
Lizzie grabbed the spray bottle and lifted a portion of hair away from Gregory’s face as she wet it, trying not to spray him with water. He was under so deep, Mike doubted he would notice if he was getting sprayed in the face.
“He’s only slept over at my house a couple times, but every time he has, he slept through the whole night,” Lizzie recounted the times she’s spent with Gregory as she worked. “The first morning after, Cassie tried so hard not to wake him. She told me it looked like he needed it. When we finally woke him up, it was almost noon. I made him a sandwich for lunch, asked him what he liked and he said he liked anything. He ate the whole thing in seconds flat, and a handful of potato chips too. We spent another day with him, but he said he had to go when night hit. I asked him if I could drive him home. He just said he would take the bus there. I couldn’t stop him from leaving, so I let him go.”
Her voice sounded rough and pained throughout her story. Her eyes were glossy as she worked on autopilot fixing up Gregory’s hair. Mike noticed with great pain that her hands shook when she lifted up another piece of hair and trimmed it.
Mike had a hard time sometimes remembering his siblings went through hard times with their father like he did. In his mind, he knew Lizzie and Evan were abused too, but there have been too many instances where he thought they had it better than he did. Mike was the oldest. He got beaten and berated the most. He had to take care of his family before he could even think of taking care of himself. He did have it very bad, but he sometimes forgot that his siblings didn’t have it much better.
Mike remembered the last night he was abused. Lizzie had taken charge when Mike couldn’t. She had taken Evan to safety in her room, and when Mike fainted while trying to get them out of the house, Lizzie had stayed with him while Evan went to get help.
Lizzie was always so helpless when they were kids. She did her best to help her brothers, but she could never stop anything from happening.
Now here she is again, talking about how little she could help another little boy who was in danger.
Mike got up, startling his sister a little. She looked up at him with her green eyes so bright with tears. Mike bent down beside her and took the tools from her hands. He put them down to the side and pulled her into his arms. Her big, curly head of hair still tickled his face, assaulting nose with some heavy flowery-smelling perfume. He ignored it and hugged her tighter when he felt her hands around him.
“I think it’s time for bed. You’re a little emotional and the kids are already passed out.” He said softly, hoping to make her laugh. It worked and Lizzie flicked the back of his head.
Notes:
Gregory and Cassie are Warrior Cats kids no one can change my mind.
We don’t get to see too much of Gregory and Cassie just being silly kids cause the only canon we have of them are them trying not to die, but I kinda just made guesstimations on how they would act based on the little we get from their personalities (tho I’m gonna be honest I still need to finish sb ruins). Gregory has a hard time trusting people, that much is already known from the games, and he has a bit of a violent streak, so I imagine when he’s excited he would be a little too handsy and jumpy. Tho, he does still trust too hard once the trust is one over— going off of how close he got to Freddy in such a sort amount of time. So while he still doesn’t entirely trust the Afton kids, the trust he does have in them can easily be taken advantage of by the wrong person.
Once again, Lizzie and Mike go over some conflicting emotions regarding little Greg-boy. Mike still has some issues understanding that just because he had it hard doesn’t mean other people didn’t have it hard enough. Lizzie and Mike have such a different perspective on shit but they are so close to each other anyways I love it.
Anyways, next chapter is drama lol
Chapter 7
Summary:
Drama, drama. Gregory is a frustrating little shit.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The next morning went by in a similar way as Lizzie described.
Mike was woken up by Brownie crying her head off and throwing herself onto his back. Mike pushed her off and turned on his side. Jeremy was asleep beside him, dead to the world. As he usually is when he works late. Why he crashed in Mike’s bed instead of his own was beyond him. It wasn’t a big deal, anyway.
Brownie continued to scream.
When he made his way out of his room, he saw the blanket fort still standing. A quick look told him Cassie and Gregory were fast asleep inside. Cassie was stretched out with one leg hanging off the couch, while Gregory was curled up so tightly in his clean blanket that he looked like a little ball of dough. His hair was dry now than when they had left him, and to Mike’s amusement, he saw a little bit of a wave to it. It must have been weighed down by the matting.
Cassie woke up not long after Mike started making breakfast. She dragged herself off of the couch and went straight to the bathroom. He silently envied how her joints didn’t crack after sleeping on the couch all night. She didn’t even stretch, just got straight up and walked off. Wildly unfair. When she came back, she smiled at Mike and bounced over to give him a hug.
“Good morning, Uncle Mike!” She mumbled into his side, still clearly a bit tired.
“Morning, Cas,” he replied back, ruffling her frizzy hair. He pulled away to focus on the pancakes again. “How did you sleep?”
They talked for a little bit before more doors started opening and closing. Lizzie came running down the hall with her hair in a messy updo and thick globs of mascara dried under her eyes. She rushed to grab her shoes and her car keys, hopping on one foot to try and quickly get her shoes on her feet.
“I overslept,” she gasped out. “I need to leave right now if I want to get dressed before work. Jesus—“
Lizzie almost tripped getting the second shoe on. She jumped into action, making her way to her daughter to kiss her goodbye. She offered Mike a quick hug while she talked. “Good luck today, you two. Have fun with Gregory and call me if you ever need me. Bye, love you!”
She was out the door in seconds.
Cassie just climbed up one of their bar stools and waited for her breakfast to be served.
Jeremy was the next to appear, stumbling into the kitchen right as Mike finished making a stack of pancakes. He smiled lazily at the two, long hair in his face and covering one of his eyes. He took a plate of pancakes from Mike. He leaned in to give Mike a kiss on his cheek, humming exaggeratedly to tease him. Mike made a disgusted face and pushed Jeremy away, laughing him off.
Just like Lizzie said, Gregory slept right through it all.
Mike decided to wake him up at 10am.
Kneeling before the child, he gently placed his hand on his shoulder and shook him just slightly. Gregory didn’t register it at all. Mike swallowed down a bit of guilt already rising and shook the kid harder. That worked better. Gregory’s brows scrunched together in annoyance and he shifted. He made a sound similar to a growl under his breath and cracked an eye open.
Like a bullet from a gun, Gregory shot awake. He shoved Mike’s hand off and pushed himself into the back of the couch. Mike threw his hands up, backing down from the boy. He was breathing rapidly. Despite how soundly he was sleeping just seconds ago, Mike had given him a good scare.
“Sorry,” he apologized. The guilt from before was shallow from just having to wake the poor boy, but now it was deep in his chest from scaring him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“No, shut up. I’m fine, I’m fine.” Gregory pushed hair out of his eyes and then froze. He crossed his eyes and looked at the hair hanging over his face. Holding a chunk over his nose, he felt through it. The amazement in his eyes was delightful. “Woah… how’d she do all this?”
Mike huffed in amusement. “Lizzie is a mastermind. You look better now. Want any pancakes?”
Gregory completely ignored him, too enraptured in his tangle and mat free hair. Before, his hair was touching his shoulders, dark and greasy from poor hygiene, long strands on top almost down to his chin. Now? Gregory had his hair short in the back, curled up instead of flat down, and the strands that hung in front of his face with thick, fluffy bangs just above his eyebrows. The color was even lighter.
“Gregory?” Mike would have let him feel his hair all day, but he did want the kid to eat. He tilted his head to look him in the eyes. “You want any pancakes?”
He looked into Mike’s eyes and dropped his hands. “Do you have syrup?”
“Of course.”
Gregory went to sit with Cassie, listening to her talk about the weird dream she had, while Mike fixed him up a plate. Gregory didn’t seem to pay much attention, mostly focused on twisting a piece of hair between his fingers.
Jeremy was listening to Cassie talk too, but was leaning beside the oven. Mike spoke softly to him, hoping the kids wouldn’t hear anything.
“I’m going to talk to the kid today. Can you try and keep Cassie occupied when I do?” He asked. His friend nodded. He knew what Mike was referring to.
Gregory scarfed down the pancakes. “Can I take another shower?”
Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “Why? Didn’t you take one yesterday?”
“Aren’t you supposed to take showers everyday?”
Mike wonders if this is how Henry felt when they would say something disturbing as kids. If so, he really deserves more credit for what he did for them.
Gregory did end up taking another shower. They agreed that it wouldn’t hurt for the kid to clean up anything still built up in his hair. Plus, he seemed happier when he came out, skin pink from the heat of the shower and bathroom full of steam. After that, the kids sat on the floor in front of the couch and channel searched while Jeremy watched them. Mike busied his hands cleaning up while he thought of how to approach Gregory on the subject of his situation.
Every other time Mike has been close to mentioning it, Gregory would scowl and tell him off. Sometimes he would even turn away and try to leave unless Mike was able to stop him. Of course, it was harder for Gregory to turn and leave now considering he was in his home and didn’t really know where to run to, but Mike wasn’t comfortable taking advantage of the kid like that. And he hasn’t talked about his situation for some time. They’ve gotten closer in the coming weeks since they’ve last talked about it, and maybe with all the trust Mike was able to gain would help the conversation move forward instead of backwards.
He wanted the kid to be okay. He wanted Lizzie to stop feeling helpless. He wanted Cassie to stop being so alone. Helping Gregory would help them all.
Mike was able to pull him away around noon.
Gregory twirled his hair between two fingers, playing with the new length, feeling the never before felt softness.
His other hand was rubbing circles into the fabric of his pants, new pants. The soft and clean, new pants that Cassie’s mom had bought for him. There wasn’t any dirt dug under his fingernails. There wasn’t a layer of sweat and grease clamming up his hands.
He was sitting on a bed, plush, comfortable, and clean. Mike was sitting beside him, waiting for him to talk.
And despite all that time he spent protecting himself, Gregory talked.
“I don’t know,” he began quietly. He wasn’t a fan of how difficult this was already. He hasn’t even gotten anywhere. “I don’t know… what… you want me to say?”
The bed bounced a little, implying Mike shrugging next to him. “You can start wherever you want. Do you want some sort of… uh, some prompt?”
Gregory scoffed. “Sure.”
“What about where you were before the streets?”
Gregory went quiet for a moment. Well, he did ask for a prompt. I guess that was on him.
“Foster home,” he answered. “I don’t remember their names. They were just some couple with a bunch of random strays in their house. A lot of strays. Mostly it was kids with… special needs? I think that’s what they said? I don’t know, I was out of there pretty fast.”
Mike frowned. “What do you mean? Did they take you out?”
“No, I ran off.” Gregory shifted. He wanted to lie down in the bed. It felt so nice. “They had enough kids. I wasn’t needed.”
It was quiet again. Gregory wasn’t sure where to go from there.
“Did—” Mike cut himself off. The boy looked up at him. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Did anything ever happen? Like…” he trailed off again, sighing in frustration. “Look, I’m going to talk to you like you’re an adult for a moment because I know you’ve been through a lot, and I know what this kind of stuff can do to a young kid. At this home, were you ever afraid of the people in the house?”
Gregory shrugged. “I guess?”
“Did they ever yell at you?”
“Not really.”
“Did they ever hit you? Or neglect you?”
Gregory scrunched up his nose. “No.”
“Did anyone before moving into that home ever hit you?”
“It doesn’t matter if they did. I would have ran anyway.”
”But did they?”
”No.”
Mike nodded, but he seemed at a loss for a moment. He chewed at his lip and thought to himself for a moment. He sighed again.
“Then why did you run away? Why did you think living on the street was better than living in some foster home with— I’m assuming— good people?”
He really seems to care about this. It was… weird. I gave him that weird feeling again. That… wanting sort of feeling.
Gregory looked down at his lap again and twisted a lock of his hair tight, pulling on it and feeling a familiar tug on his scalp.
Mike, Lizzie, and Cassie have done more for him than anyone ever had.
“I wasn’t needed,” Gregory repeated, his voice flat, but laced with bitterness. “I’ve been in, like, a bajillion homes. They can be as nice as they want, but they’re not going to choose me. They give me this boring room, tell me I can fill it with whatever I want, but soon the money isn’t worth the trouble and they send me back. I get thrown into another home, and it keeps repeating. What’s the point? I stopped trying to learn names and I stopped making friends at my schools because I’m just going to get moved in another month. It was all stupid, and they didn’t want me, so I left and they didn’t bother looking for me. I doubt that stupid agency is looking for me either. They never cared where I went.”
That was all it was really. Gregory wasn’t wanted by any of them. Living on his own had taught him how much of a drain on resources he was, a couple hundred bucks a month wasn’t worth a kid you didn’t care about eating up everything in the house and causing trouble because he didn’t know how to behave. If the past year had taught him anything, it’s that all he needed was himself.
Even if the adults in the homes were never as bad as some of the adults he met on the streets. They were all the same, anyway. The only exception being the people he knew now.
He had a theory on why Mike was asking him these questions.
“I’m sorry I’m too much, okay? You don’t need to do this anymore,” he said with a sigh. “You can just leave me alone. No one is making you help me. I don’t need your help. I don’t need you and Jeremy, or Cassie and Lizzie. I don’t need you and I don’t care.”
Gregory felt his throat clog itself up. He fisted his pants in his hand, taking fast, controlled breaths. His eyes were starting to burn, much to his humiliation.
He hated that he might actually miss this weird fucking family.
Gregory jumped when he felt a hand rub his back. He shifted uncomfortably, but looked up at the man next to him.
Mike was careful in keeping his expression together, but it was obvious he was pitying him.
“Gregory…” he trailed off for a second, eyes searching the ground under his feet as if that held the script he had to read off. “Listen… I’m happy you’re not running away from some abusive household, but what you’re doing now isn’t safe either. You can’t fend for yourself out there. You’re starved and sleeping on the ground, and you can’t even get a job to get out of it. How long have you been on the street? Did you even think about how long you would be?”
The kid scowled, but he was more annoyed that Mike had a point than any offense taken. “No… and it’s only been, like…” he thought for a moment. “Maybe a year?”
“A year?!”
“I didn’t think it through, okay!”
Gregory pushed the hand off him and stood up. His legs were really shaky, and he wasn’t really sure why. He glares at Mike, hands curled into fists as he crosses his arms.
“I just didn’t want to be some stupid foster kid anymore!” He spits the words out like dirt in his mouth. “You don’t know what it’s like! You have a family! And I’m good on my own! I’ve survived just fine without anyone else!”
“You can’t live like that,” Mike said so quietly, not wanting to get caught up in a shouting match with him. “It’s dangerous. There are people out there that would take advantage of a kid like you. You could get killed!”
“I know that! But I’m smarter than that! I know to stay away from people, I know how to protect myself, I’m not some useless idiot!”
Mike stood up too. His height made Gregory step back, intimidated by the seriousness in his face. He swallowed.
“It doesn’t matter how good you think you are at staying safe; if you’re out there, you are still risking getting hurt everyday.” Mike’s expression shifted a little, looking strangely desperate. “I know you might not feel loved in foster care, but you know that you can still be loved? You— just— think about Cassie.” He pointed at the door leading outside the bedroom. “Cassie loves you. And she worries about you. You’re her best friend, she would be so upset if you got hurt. Or worse.”
Gregory could feel that frog in his throat again. He glares harder to keep the anger, despite the hot tears slipping down his face.
“I don’t…” Mike sighed and dropped his hand. He laughed in defeat. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I like you too, kid. I don’t want to see you hurt either.”
Gregory breathed steadily, staring holes into the stupid man’s chest. He sniffled and scrubbed the tears off his cheeks. His voice shook with barely concealed emotion.
“Then fucking don’t.”
He turned and ran out of the room.
Mike’s eyes widened and he swore to himself. He took off after the kid.
“Wait!”
Gregory just told him a story about how he was good at running away, and Mike believed him, but now he was getting his own part in it all. He entered the living room to see Gregory ripping his blanket from the couch, forcing Jeremy and Cassie to get up as he relentlessly tugged on it until they got off of it. Once he had his blanket, he went straight for his bag without a moment of hesitation.
Mike went after him again, hands up helplessly, as if he could just grab the kid and stop him from running away. “Gregory—”
“What are you doing?” Cassie called out in confusion. Mike risked a glance back at her and saw the hurt on her face, as if she already knew what was happening.
Looking away had been a mistake. Gregory had been cornered before, but with Mike distracted, he was able to use his bag as a battering ram and push through him. He glared hatefully at Mike, tears dried up but the evidence was still in his red and watery eyes.
“Gregory?”
He didn’t look at Cassie, but Mike could see his face crumbling to pieces at the thought of upsetting her.
Mike took a step towards him, opening his mouth.
Gregory opened the door and ran off.
Notes:
Is this chapter too short?? No idea, I’ve been writing things between 5k-10k words as of late idk what is short anymore.
Mike still has a temper, despite being a lot nicer now than when he was a teen with an extremely poor view on himself. Gregory is just a bit too similar because of how much he refuses any help. Kid needs a lot of patience that Mike has trouble mustering up.
See yah next week babby
Chapter 8
Summary:
Mike gets his ass handed to him by his family.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
“What the hell happened?!”
“I couldn’t even tell you,” Mike laughed, finding the whole situation ridiculous.
He never caught up to Gregory. The kid was either really fast, or was really good at hiding. Probably a mix of the two. He had left Mike’s coat that he’s been wearing, and the hoodie that they gave him. It was snowing outside now. Mike searched until his running nose turned to ice, but the city was just too big and the kid was way too small.
He came back home to Cassie scared and in tears. He asked Jeremy to take his spot searching for the boy while he called Lizzie.
That’s where he’s at now, getting screamed at by his sister while Cassie sat just in the next room, lost and distraught.
“What did you do?” Lizzie was seething. He could hear it in her voice.
“I talked with him and I upset him,” Mike answered. He was exhausted already. “I told him I didn’t want him to get hurt out there and that… freaked him out or something. I didn’t do this on purpose.”
“You obviously scared him! Did you tell him he had to go back to— to wherever he lived before?”
“I didn’t say he had to. I said he should because he’s safer there than living on the streets,” Mike sighed and rubbed his head, feeling a migraine forming. “He doesn’t come from a bad home or anything, he just doesn’t want to be there. But he’s been out there for a year! A year, Liz! He can’t walk around out there anymore, he’s not doing well. You know what he looked like when we first met him. He’s still really underweight.”
Lizzie was quiet for a minute. “If he doesn’t come from a bad home, then why is he running?”
“He was a foster kid that kept getting passed around from home to home.” Mike felt frustration looking back at their conversation. “He never really had a home in the first place, so he just… gave up or something and decided to be on his own.”
“That’s…”
“It’s stupid is what it is,” Mike huffed. “You remember how Father used to threaten us that getting taken away and separated from him would be worse than staying with him? Gregory told me he’s never been abused, verbally or physically, but he didn’t like the people, so he would just run off. He ran from a perfectly good homes just because they weren’t in love with him, or whatever.”
Why would you ever choose to run away from security? Even if Gregory kept going from home to home, he was still being taken care of in those houses. Why would you choose to be starved and filthy compared to simply being under appreciated?
“You’re a fucking idiot, Michael.”
Lizzie hung up the phone.
Mike groaned in frustration and tossed the cell on his bed. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly and breathed steadily through his nose. His nails dug into his palms so hard his fists were shaking.
This was all fucking ridiculous.
Gregory wasn’t going to the bench anymore. And he hasn’t come to the library in days. He knows that last part especially considering Mike got fined for the missing books. They are shockingly expensive.
Even before the anger was starting to dissipate and the concern started to spread, Mike still looked for the kid. He would walk around his area, check in on the bench, park, and library, each morning after work. The snow started cumulating, lasting longer than a day and collecting on the cold ground. Mike had to wear a hat and thicker jacket when walking outside now. Gregory’s hoodie and coat were always hung over his arm, just in case he ever did find the kid.
He never did.
Mike was getting ready for another walk around the block when Jeremy stopped him.
“Did he ever tell you how he got into the city?” He asked, watching Mike tying up his shoes.
He shrugged and grumbled. “I don’t know. He took a bus to get to Liz’s.”
“Are you even sure he’s still in town?”
Mike stopped.
Of course he’s thought about it. He didn’t like thinking about it, but he’s not stupid.
“No,” he admitted. Mike pushed himself back up when he finished with his laces. He didn’t look at Jeremy and grabbed his beanie. “I don’t know if he’s still in town, but it’s winter now and I’m not letting him sit outside without a fucking jacket on.”
Jeremy laughed a little. “Your mean big brother instincts have been awakened.”
He stepped past him, wordlessly nudging Mike out of the way to open the closet behind him. He pulled out his own winter jacket and hat. Mike frowned, watching as he shrugged it on.
“What are you doing?” He asked.
Jeremy smiled at him. “I’m coming with you.” He said. “I have the day off today, might as well tag along to make sure the kid is okay. And who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky today.”
Some part of Mike’s mind doubted it, and he felt betrayed that he would think that.
He wanted to find Gregory. He wanted to give his jacket back and make sure he didn’t freeze to death on the pavement. He really wanted to check on him and apologize for scaring him, and a million other things. And he cannot believe he cares so much for a kid he only knew for a few months.
“Fine,” Mike sighed. He was exhausted. “Maybe we can get a coffee while we’re at it.”
It was freezing out today. His fingertips were already turning red only a few minutes out of the house. Jeremy— who hates the cold much more than Mike ever did— had his coat zipped all the way up and over his mouth. He didn’t look very happy to be outside.
Despite the amount of stress and anxiety Mike has been feeling for days now, he laughed at his partner’s misery.
“You really didn’t need to come with me.” Mike mumbled to him, feeling a little guilty dragging him into this. He’s dragged him into this whole mess.
Jeremy just shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I’m fine. I didn’t want you walking around alone anyways. Especially when you have that face on. The suicide face.”
“I do not have on the suicide face.”
“You always do,” Jeremy elbowed him. Mike could just barely see the smile behind the thick jacket’s collar. “You’re face has always screamed ‘teen suicide.’ I gotta look out for you ‘cause it’s been a week and I feel like you are moments away from jumping in front of a car.”
Mike barked out a startled laugh. He wasn’t expecting that dark of a joke from his usually positive friend. “Jeremy! My god!”
Jermey bumped into his shoulder snickering himself. “Hey! You can’t blame me! You weren’t the best example of good mental health when you were a teenager. Fuck, even when you were in your 20s.”
Mike laughed again.
Once there was a time where Mike and Jeremy weren’t together. Jeremy’s life got a bit hectic after highschool and he wasn’t able to keep up with his friend. He went away to college for a few years, only coming back to Hurricane for holidays and the summer. He would work at Freddy’s with Mike, but that’s what it was, just work. Mike never kept in contact with the other people in their circle, only really able to talk to Jeremy. When he left, Mike had felt very… alone.
He had his family, as he always did, but that was also around the time Lizzie was starting highschool and Evan had his own problems with bullying and some bad mental health scares, there weren't a lot of people in his life to talk to at that point. It only got worse when he moved out and found an apartment all on his own.
Jeremy came back eventually when California was proving to still be too expensive and that’s when they reconnected. He helped Mike through a lot when Henry was too busy and his siblings were still too young to talk to. At one point, he actually told him the horrific mess that was William’s journals, and Jeremy helped him through it like he always does.
He’s always there for Mike, way more than Mike is there for him. That’s why he was trying to do this Gregory thing on his own, but that was pretty hypocritical of him.
Here he was trying to convince Gregory that he can’t survive without anyone helping him and Mike is trying to do the same thing.
“I should probably apologize,” Mike said with guilt coating his voice, like some overly frosted cake.
Jeremy turned to him, his eyebrows pushed together being the only thing visible to show his emotions. “For what?”
“I feel like I’ve been neglecting you, lately.” Mike shrugged. “I don’t know— this Gregory thing happened so suddenly, and I never really talked to you about it. I have no idea what your feelings are on this, and I feel like I dragged you into it without any warning. So, I’m sorry. And all.”
Practically 20 years they’ve been together and Mike gives the most ridiculously awkward apology he’s ever given.
Without acknowledging the apology, Jeremy wrestled Mike’s hand out of his coat pocket and held onto it firmly.
“You know me, man,” Jeremy bumped his shoulder again. “I’ll do anything to support you. But thank you for thinking about me at some point. So sweet of you.”
Mike rolled his eyes. Jeremy chuckled.
“No, but seriously. I’m glad you’re thinking about my feelings…” He paused for a moment, looking back towards the sidewalk in front of them. He gave a small, half-shrug. “Honestly, I don't know how I feel. Gregory’s a pretty nice kid, I’m worried about him too and want him to be okay, but he’s not, like, our kid. Do you ever worry that we could get in trouble for this? Like, is this maybe child endangerment or something?”
Mike shook his head, but he really wasn’t sure. “I don’t think it is? We’re trying to keep him out of danger, we aren’t trying to put him in danger. I think we’ll be okay?”
“Yeah, hopefully…” Jeremy’s brows scrunched up again. “You said he was a foster kid, right?” Mike nodded. “Do you think he’s still in the system at all?”
“I don’t know. I’m not really sure how that stuff works.”
“Did you never have to get put in the system for Henry to adopt you guys?”
For some reason, the question made Mike flush. “I mean, he never really adopted us. William made him our Godfather before we were born, making it so legally that if anything happened to my parents, he would have custody of us. He’s not, like— he’s not really legally my father.”
Jeremy nodded, but Mike could see the slight smile on his lips. He flushed further.
“Why are you asking, anyway?” He tried to quickly move on from the subject.
“I’m just thinking. Like, if the kid is still in the system, then maybe one of us can try that whole fostering thing.” He said. “That way we can get him off the streets legally instead of potentially kidnapping a child.”
“It’s not—” Mike stopped completely, his feet rooted to the ground. Jeremy stopped ahead of him when he realized, but Mike wasn’t paying attention. His eyes flicked back and forth as he thought everything through. “Do you think we can do that?”
Jeremy shrugged again. “I mean, it’s worth a shot? Don’t you just have to, like, take a few classes and someone tests you to see if you're fit to be a parent, or something? There’s got to be at least one of us that can do that.”
Mike laughed incredulously. “You do realize what you’re talking about, right? Adopting a child?”
“It’s fostering a child. And don’t even think of it like that. Think of it like…” Jeremy moved his hand in the air vaguely as he thought up some bullshit idea. “Helping out some friend, yeah? You’ll just be, like, a little more responsible for them than when you helped me out with a place.”
“Thinking of it like that is exactly the wrong thing to do,” Mike argued. “Gregory doesn’t want to be a foster kid because that’s what everyone sees him as. He didn’t feel wanted by any of them. He’s not going to accept our help if we’re just going to act like every other foster parent out there. He needs to feel wanted and loved. We can’t just be another foster home for him if we actually want to help him.”
He sighed through his nose and continued on walking, Jeremy taking his spot beside him again. “I’m not… against the idea, but we can’t just jump into this thing. Gregory needs to be safe and loved or he’s just going to run off again.”
It went quiet after that, not uncomfortable, but the air of seriousness could add another chill down their spines unrelated by the cold.
It was broken by Jeremy’s laugh.
“Man, that’s so corny.”
“Shut up, man.”
Mike scratches at the scruff on his cheek. He hasn’t shaved in a while. He can’t grow a full beard, so when it’s longer like this, he thinks he looks like his father. But shaving his face completely doesn’t help either, it just shows off the wildly similar facial structure they have. Same sharp cheekbones, same hard chin, same deep dimples. Mike’s at least glad he’s never needed glasses like Lizzie and Evan. That helps a little.
It’s early in the morning outside of a shitty little drive-in, the halfway point between Mike’s city, and the town most of his family lives in. The cold nips at his nose and burns his ears red, the gum he anxiously chews on has turned into a frozen rock in his mouth, little puffs of hot air escapes after every bite. It’s a sorry attempt to stop himself from ripping apart his lips any further and causing any more scarring.
It doesn’t do too much to calm his nerves.
A car door opens and shuts, Mike’s head shoots up from his sullen glare at the ground. Just as he’s been doing for the last 15 minutes, he waits for Henry to meet him at the entrance.
Henry hasn’t changed too much in the past 20 years besides the usual signs of age. His hair had lightened into a silver, receding back further. His eyes were heavier and his beard was almost white, but he still smiled brightly at the sight of his godson and made his way over to crush him in his famous bear hugs.
Mike wiggles his arms free and wraps them tightly around his uncle’s shoulders. He always feels like he’s still a scrawny little teenager in his hugs.
He tries his best to keep in touch with Henry, but because his work schedule is so demanding, it’s usually nothing more than a couple phone calls and some special events. Before he got his security job, Mike used to live in the same town they did. It was back when Cassie was still so young and they were all so new to the area, they stayed close together.
He didn’t realize how much he missed him until right now.
Mike was the first to pull away. “Sorry for calling you so early.”
“Oh, hush,” Henry waved him off. “It gets me out of bed. I’m always happy to see you, Mike.”
He felt his face burn, but he smiled. “Well, uh. We should get inside then. We don’t want your knees to start aching from the cold.”
Henry smacked him on the shoulder with a stern scrunch in his brow. Mike laughed and led his uncle inside.
They got a booth by a window. Both were quick to order some coffee, but took a minute looking over the menu. Mike spat his gum out on a napkin and Henry scolded his manners. They were both avoiding the conversation above their heads, taking just a moment to sit in the comfortable silence with each other.
When it came time to order, Mike felt sick reading over every item. He ordered french toast— an easy favorite, and something he didn’t mind reheating to eat tomorrow if he doesn’t finish it tonight.
They handed the waiter their menus and Mike’s shoulders hunched forward. It was now or never.
“Have you heard anything about William?” He mumbled, timid and sullen like he was almost too afraid to ask.
Henry sighed. “I’m afraid they aren’t telling me much. His rights to Fazbear’s have been taken away for years now and we’re out of Utah, there’s not a lot I hear about him.”
“But shouldn’t the court tell us if he was released by now?” Mike’s shoulders were tense. He moved to lean his elbows on the table, twisting his fingers and clasping his palms together. “Shouldn’t we be involved in this? He’s still our father and he’s still… he’s still a threat.”
Mike hasn’t seen William’s in years. He hasn’t visited him again after that fiasco years ago when he asked about Charlie. And after what he found out when he went back to their childhood home, he was very much inclined never to see him again.
He had told Henry about what he read. All of William’s theories, his experiments and plans. It was insane— he was insane. His ravings about Henry switched to hatred to adoration at the drop of a hat, every word still dripping with obsession either way. His ravings about him and his siblings were nothing but hate and indifference. So many paragraphs were detailed about how sick and twisted he saw them, like subjects to study or things to break and put back together again.
But his writings about Charlie…
They were on a whole other level of sickness.
William had the most unhealthy, most vile, most seething rage towards Charlie. It was something so unthinkable, how his father would scratch down near ineligible tangents about Charlie in his journals. You would think she did something so horrible to him, but the truth is, she was just a four year old girl that happened to be born.
In his mind, she was worse than Mike. William saw Mike as the reason why he was unhappy, but he saw Charlie as the reason why Henry wasn’t under his control anymore. William’s obsession with Henry was the reason why he hated Charlie so much. He thought Mike trapped him in that marriage and the role of a father, but Charlie was “trapping” Henry, and that was even worse to his father.
His tangents about Charlie changed after he killed her. They changed into mixed feelings of anger and guilt, but not guilt about killing her. He had felt guilty about how it upset Henry. He wrote about how his plan didn’t work as well as he wanted. Henry didn’t feel better after she died, which of course he wouldn’t, but William couldn’t understand that because he couldn’t understand people having different feelings on things. If any of his kids had died, he would have soaked up the attention and moved on. That much was obvious when he visited William in prison and he said himself that he was going to take care of Mike’s injuries the next morning.
But the guilt disappeared soon enough, and William stopped worrying about Henry when he discovered something so disturbing about Charlie’s soul.
“He’s going to try again,” Mike continued. “I doubt 20 years is going to change what he had planned. We incinerated everything in that fucking basement, but who knows what else he has? He probably has some warehouse out there in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere Utah where he’s keeping everything else.”
“Even if that is the case, you and I both know this is out of our hands,” Henry sullenly picked up his coffee mug and tiredly took a sip. “Once he’s released, he gets everything back under his name. And we are not in Utah anymore. He has no way of finding us.”
Mike huffed in disbelief. “We should still try to do something about this. Do you not feel some sort of obligation to stop him from—”
The waiter came back with their food and Mike quickly shut his mouth. Henry put on a mask of politeness and thanked the man for everything. Mike kept quiet and just watched as his plate was put down in front of him. His appetite was already ruined.
When the man left, Mike immediately leaned forward and kept talking in a softer tone, but still deadly serious. “He’s going to keep killing people if we don’t try to stop him from continuing this fucking crazy idea he has.”
“Mike, it is out of our hands now. I’m worried about the situation just as much as you are, but what is there to do? Unless we want to end up behind bars too killing the man.” Credit where it’s due, Henry did sound just as frustrated as Mike that they couldn’t do much to stop William. He stabbed some of his skillet on his fork and pointed it at him. “Besides, this isn’t why you called me. So spill it.”
Mike sat back, turning his head out the window. He was right in a way. He didn’t call Henry all the way out here just to agonize over his fucked up dad. Not entirely, at least.
“Do you remember what I talked about? With the whole… Gregory situation?”
Henry nodded out of the corner of his eye, swallowing his food to talk. “Of course. About the fostering idea, right?”
“Yeah. That.” Mike swallowed himself and turned his head to stare down at his untouched food. “I’m not sure how good of an idea it is anymore.”
“Why’s that?” Henry asked. Mike gave no answer, but over the years, Henry has gained this annoying little skill in reading Mike because of his less-than-talkative nature. He leaned back knowingly. “You’re worried about what sort of parent you would be, is that it?” Henry shook his head and laughed a little. “Mike— you are one of the most caring people I’ve ever met! I mean, just look at you now! You care so much about someone that you are choosing to use all your free time trying to help him. It’s admirable, son, they’ll all see that. There’s no need to fret over this.”
“C’mon, you’ve seen how I was with Lizzie and Evan,” Mike scoffed. “I wasn’t a good parent to them. I used to bruise them up just as much as William did.”
Henry frowned sternly. “Don’t say that. You were a child in a bad place. That’s not a good comparison.”
“But I did watch over them for years. I was solely responsible for them from ages 9 to 14. That’s long enough to see what kind of person I would be to a kid.”
“I had the same doubts when I chose to take you three in,” Henry paused to scoop up some more food. “After Charlie, I didn’t think I would be a good parent. I figured I wasn’t meant for it because of how terribly it went with my own two children. But I stuck it out, because I knew you all needed someone to step it up for you. You especially, Mike. Lizzie and Evan had you to believe in, but you needed someone yourself. I knew that had to be me, and I prayed everyday that I did my best with you. I don’t think I was the best father to you all the time, but looking at you now, I can’t believe the man you have become. I’m so proud of you, and it hurts me to see you don’t think you’re good enough. Trust me, you won’t see it at first, but I’m certain you made a difference in that kid’s life just being there for him.”
He stuffed the food in his mouth when he was done. Mike felt like it was utterly cruel of him to say something so meaningful and leave him winded by his words, only to keep eating like it wasn’t a big deal. It made him laugh a little watery.
Mike cleared his throat a few times, ducking his head down and finally picked up his fork, just to play with his food. “I really hope you’re right because I really don’t think I can forget about the kid.”
“You better not. That kid is in quite a lot of danger right now.” Henry stopped short, a spark in his eye as he thought of something. “Maybe this will help you too. Taking Gregory in might help you feel a little more in control about your father’s release. If you can’t save everyone, you could at least save the ones you can. That’s what I learned after Charlie. Even though I lost her, I was still able to save you three and my own son from a similar fate.”
Mike huffed. “Maybe. Or maybe I’ll just fuck up another kid.”
Notes:
I call this type of chapter “background dump” chapter bc I couldn’t figure out a book in between Wake Up and this one so that’s why there is such a huge gap between them lol. I trust me I tried thinking of anything but I seriously couldn’t think of anything interesting so you get a 20 years later fic.
You also get some info on Mike and what was in those journals. I might’ve not been able to think of anything that would make a full story, but I did think through how life was in those 15 years you guys didn’t see. Mike was not doing good at all. Like seriously not good. It’s a combination of very much untreated mental disorders he inherited from his parents and also The knowledge that your father not only murdered a literal child, but had this delusional belief that if he murdered MORE children he could live forever.
That would fuck anyone up but someone who already hates being alive??? Forget about it.
Anyways see y’all next week.
Chapter Text
Mike yawned, fist covering his mouth and eyes forced shut. He dropped his hand when he was done and stared blankly at the wall of screens in front of him. A crappy, half finished comic he was doodling was scratched up slightly when his pen came back down and hit the paper. He didn’t really care, it was just a doodle out of boredom.
He doesn’t know why he still works this stupid job. The pay wasn't that good, it was fulltime and gave him some decent benefits, but it was so quiet and he was already a borderline insomniac, his sleep schedule has been horrible since getting this job. It did give him a chance to draw and listen to music, but the boredom was often unbearable.
Not to mention, if he forgets his Discman then his paranoia starts acting up and he starts hearing things, maybe mistaking his own shadow for a particular robotic beast lunging at him.
Mike jolted as the door to the security office banged open, pen slashing a harsh line through his sketches.
His coworker scoffed. “You’re pretty jumpy tonight, Michael.”
“Hey, Vanessa,” Mike sighed shakily. He looked down at his ruined comic, crumpling it up, and throwing it aimlessly behind him. “You’re late. Fifteen minutes. And you know what that means.”
Vanessa groaned, head falling back as she whined her frustrations. “Are you serious? I just patrolled! That’s why I’m late in the first place.”
“I don’t make the rules. Last one to clock in has to patrol the area. You should’ve known better to clock in first.”
“That’s a waste of time, and you know it,” she retorted. “And you do make the rules, Michael. You’re the one in charge.”
Mike shrugged, fighting off another yawn afterwards. He was still yawning as he waved Vanessa off and spun around back to the cameras. His coworker huffed again and slammed the door.
Vanessa is pretty young. Young enough that she’s somewhat of an outlier compared to most of the security crowd Mike has found himself a part of. She had bleached blonde hair that was almost white with how light it was, and often wore multicolored extensions when she could. Her makeup was always heavy mascara and eyeliner, making her eyes stand out even more than the intense green color does on their own. She’s very unlike all the other 30 to 40 year old men that Mike is used to being forced to hang out with, but it’s clear how she was able to get this job so young and different looking.
She was tall. Not as tall as Mike, but just a few inches shorter, which is still a feat for itself considering Mike is a rather tall man. She also had strong shoulders and a very severe attitude when it comes to work. The one and only time Mike has been around with her when some kids tried to break in, she was relentless as she threatened to call the cops to report them for attempted robbery.
Which, in Mike’s opinion, was a little far. He was unsure they were planning to do that, but the kids didn’t even succeed in breaking one of the glass doors to get in.
Either way, Mike enjoyed her presence as much as he could as an extremely guarded person with an unhealthy amount of anxiety. He at least felt a bit safer with someone like her than someone closer to Mike’s age, who still says some of the most offensive stuff in the form of jokes. Growing up in a sheltered little Mormon town in the 80’s made him very familiar with the stupidest forms of bigotry that people his age still cling to.
Mike grabbed another piece of paper to continue doodling on, turning his music back on and occasionally actually doing his job and flipping through the screens.
Things have come sort of to a standstill in Mike’s life. Gregory was still gone, and the more they looked, the more helpless they felt. That didn’t stop them from looking, but Mike let Jeremy look without him on occasion. If only to research more into this whole foster care thing. It was doable, if a little time consuming. His state requires things like background checks and at least 27 hours taken in a parenting course. It wasn’t impossible, but after talking to Henry and even Lizzie a bit, he was the only one with enough availability to take on the kid. He didn’t blame either of them. Lizzie had her own kid to worry about with only one source of income and some child support money, and Henry was getting up there in age and had already taken care of more than enough kids that weren’t his own, not to mention he didn’t have a relationship with Gregory besides the one time he saw him at Cassie’s party. Evan was out of the question entirely, he didn’t really know Gregory outside of the time he came down for Thanksgiving and Cassie gave him a whole debriefing about her new best friend. Mike was practically the only option.
He still didn’t know how he felt about it all. Despite his experience with raising children in the past, it wasn’t because he wanted to. He had to raise Lizzie and Evan because God knows his father wasn’t going to. He’s worried that this is too similar of a situation, Gregory being the neglected child and him being the begrudging caretaker. Gregory didn’t deserve to feel like a burden again.
Jeremy was willing to help him, even if he wouldn’t be the one legally responsible for him. He was the one who brought up the option in the first place. He even said he would move his things to Mike’s room so that Gregory can have that to himself and they didn’t need to figure out where to put their shared office room.
Everyone had been shockingly supportive of the idea of Mike fostering Gregory. Henry and Jeremy had said he would make a good father.
He wasn’t so sure about that, but still put in the research. Just in case they ever did find Gregory again.
“Hey.”
Mike’s radio buzzed to life on the desk. He stuffed his pen in his shirt pocket and picked it up. “Yeah?”
“I need you down here now.” Vanessa ordered on the other side. She sounded stressed and out of breath.
Mike sighed and rolled his eyes, looking through the cameras so he could try and spot where she was at. He really hoped he wouldn’t have to do his job tonight and deal with a break in.
He flipped through a couple screens before he found her waving in front of the Freddy’s. Even in the grainy picture, he could see her pissed off expression.
Mike lifted the radio to his mouth. “I see you. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Hurry. The kid is hurt and a threat.”
Great.
He hit pause on his music and headed out the door, praying that Vanessa wasn’t the one to hurt them. Freddy’s wasn’t too far from the security office, and they had hallways behind the stores that they could travel through, so he made it there in only a couple minutes.
It was quiet when he arrived, which was odd. If the intruder had broken in, the space should be armed with an alarm system that would be activated as soon as something happened. It’s possible the alarm system was shit, or that the buttons were so worn down the intruder was able to guess what the code was and shut it off.
He found Vanessa standing inside an unlocked Freddy’s. Vanessa looked pissed off, but also… oddly disappointed? She almost looked to be uncomfortable with whatever happened.
She jabbed her thumb behind her shoulder. “He’s in there, locking himself in the backroom. I couldn’t— I was late because I was trying to get him out before— but he wasn’t cooperating. He’s violent and I don’t—”
“Violent?” Mike worried.
“Yes! He was fighting me and…” Vanessa trailed off. This is when she sighed and crossed her arms tightly. “I didn’t— I couldn’t just—”
“Okay, okay, hey,” Mike stepped towards her. He needed to take charge. Vanessa was still very young, and maybe she’s all bark and no bite. Clearly this person had spooked her. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it. Everything will be fine. Why don’t you call 9-1-1 in the meantime, alright?”
Vanessa seemed upset by something, but she nodded and let Mike pass her while grabbing her cell. She pointed out the room the intruder locked himself in.
Mike was surprised Vanessa couldn’t seem to handle this one. Sure, the last time something like this happened the teens were harmless and didn’t even try to attack, just tried running, but Vanessa seemed more than capable of handling them on her own. She only needed Mike to chase after the other two. She said this guy was violent, but she didn’t look to be hurt, maybe a little ruffled.
He held onto his taser just in case.
The door to the backroom was just beyond the stage room. He noticed Freddy was missing from his spot, but knew they were allowed to roam at night. Or at least he assumed they still did that. Henry and William worked hard to get those mechanics to work like that.
Mike heard noises inside the room, things getting thrown around and heavy breathing, some pained whines too. Vanessa did say the intruder was hurt.
He knocked hard on the door. “Open up! You know you can’t be here after hours!”
The noises all stopped, before he heard sneakers squeaking on the floors and a few thunks on something metal. Mike banged on the door again.
“You can either come out willingly or I’ll get my key and drag you out!” He forgot his key in the office. Hopefully Vanessa had hers or else he had to run all the way back there and then open the door. Embarrassing. “C’mon, kid, I don’t want to do this all night!”
Still nothing. Then, the metal sounds from earlier sounded again, but coming towards the door. Mike realized what it was when the door opened up.
Freddy stood in the doorway, almost awkwardly. If he wasn’t a robot, Mike would have said he looked awkward. He stood in the way of the guard, but seemed unsure of what to do further, head swiveling back and forth between Mike and whatever was behind him.
“Hey, Freddy,” Mike greeted the animatronic. His head swiveled back around. “Did you happen to see anyone around? Someone hurt?”
Talking with the animatronics was more or less useless, but there are some things they could understand. When Charlie died, Henry made an animatronic that could help locate a lost child and bring them back to their families or a person in charge. He also programmed many of the animatronics with security features that can identify people, including people that could be a danger to anyone. That technology got sold along with the characters, so they should still have those features.
Freddy took a step back from the doorway. Mike walked inside and turned on the light, turning back around when he heard something hissing. Like a latch being opened.
His heart stopped.
A child was tucked far into the animatronics endoskeleton. He could see the blood on them.
Henry has these odd-looking scars, stretched and embedded in his arm. He told Mike the story on how he got them once. Back when him and his father were still in the building phases of the animatronics, they tested out a glove from one of the suit. Henry said he must’ve worked up a sweat because the springlocks in the glove went off while he was wearing it. He said it was one of the most excruciating pains he’s ever been in, that he lost so much blood and had to go through so much physical therapy to get his muscles strong enough to use again. From that day forth, springlock suits were only worn if it was needed, and they then worked on the technology to make the animatronics move on their own.
Mike has had nightmares over that story, seeing the animatronics with all their teeth and jerky movements. He always worried that the springlocks were still in there and that they would hurt someone one day.
He didn’t think, he just acted.
Mike jumped forward and slotted his arms into the robot’s stomach. The kid screamed and kicked out, kicking at Mike’s chest to get him away, but he was determined to get the child out before something bad happened. He grabbed at their arms and wrapped around their back so that he could pull them out.
It wasn’t until he pulled the kid into the dim light of the backroom did he recognize the familiar blue shirt and cargo shorts.
Gregory was able to kick him off in his shock.
The kid started hyperventilating immediately. He backed up into the animatronic— who thankfully closed back up so he couldn’t run back inside— and held his hand over his bloody face. Mike was frozen in the need to help Gregory, but also the fear of scaring the kid off.
“The child is broken.”
Mike looked up at Freddy, surprised that he could speak. The animatronics he’s used to just play music or sometimes say some cheesy lines. He nodded at the animatronic anyway, just chalking it up to them being programmed with some sort of child safety system.
“Okay, okay, thank you, Freddy,” his voice was shaking. There was a lot of blood and he still doesn’t know if it was because of the animatronic or not. “Can you go back to your stage now? I got this handled.”
Freddy didn’t move. Mike wasn’t a fan of the almost protective nature of the robot, but he was his last concern right now.
“Gregory…” Mike focused his attention back to the hurt child. He was crying. His hands and knees were horribly scraped up, with bits of gravel leaving tiny black stones in open wounds. One of his hands was still covering his face, which had blood still leaking through. All of it was too fresh, too recent. “Gregory, what happened?”
The child was still struggling to breathe. He looked at Mike with a fear and anger that was so unlike the looks he’s gotten before. The fear was so much more prevalent than he’s ever seen. He was terrified. And he was hurt.
He sucked in another breath and a shaking cry came out. Everything fell apart after that.
“Mike,” the kid sobbed out, the fight dropped off him like a weight. “Mike— I-I lost— I lost the card. I lost the card and I didn’t want them to kill me! And the lady tried to— tried to grab me, a-and—”
Gregory dissolved into hysteria. His breathing was too fast and he looked far too scared to keep talking. Mike knew how to calm down a hurt child, sadly enough.
“Shh, shh, hey,” he bent almost completely down to the kid’s level, kneeling on one knee. “It’s okay. I’m not mad at you. We don’t need to talk now, what we do need is to clean you up. We can go back to the security office, they have a small first aid kit there. It doesn’t have much, but we can work with what we got right now. Can you move?”
Gregory wasn’t entirely focused on what was being said, but he did register that Mike was trying to take him out of the backrooms and shook his head wildly. Drops of blood were flung to the floor, making Mike feel sick.
“No, no, no, no, I’m not going out there with her.” He refused.
Mike frowned. “Vanessa?”
“The security lady,” Gregory insisted. He sucked in a harsh gasp. “She tried to grab me. She’ll kill me!”
“I’ll protect you. I Promise.” Mike didn’t really believe that Vanessa was the one to hurt him. She didn’t have a drop of blood on her and Gregory was covered. Even he already had a couple marks on him from pulling him out of Freddy’s chest. But he wasn’t going to say that. He wasn’t going to risk the kid not trusting him right now. “She won’t come near you. I’ll make her wait outside.”
Gregory wasn’t even close to calm, but he was maybe at least a little reassured because he searched Mike’s face for any trace of dishonesty.
Mike stood up again, knees cracking from the position, and held out his hand. “C’mon. I’ll carry your bag.”
The kid’s face fell completely and his lip wobbled. He just shook his head and grabbed Mike’s hand, one still covering his cheek.
“They took the bag.” Gregory said shakily. Mike’s chest ached.
Instead of worrying about who they were, Mike turned back to Freddy. “Can you go out there and make sure Officer Vanessa doesn’t come near us?”
The animatronic nodded and turned away, the door opening for him.
Mike made sure to stay behind Freddy to make Gregory feel more comfortable. The kid’s hand was freezing, despite the warm blood sticking to his palm. It reminded him that Gregory was out there in the cold. Mike didn’t bring the kid’s jackets— he really didn’t think he would see him again. Least of all, tonight while he was working.
Vanessa was still closer to the entrance of the store, pacing back and forth stressfully fast. She stopped hard when she saw them, but her focus was more on the animatronic than the bleeding child.
“Freddy! What are you doing off the stage?” She snapped and changed her pace to the three of them. Gregory froze up and dug in his small, bitten fingernails into Mike’s hand. Mike pulled him behind his back.
“Vanessa, can you wait outside for now?” Mike tried to keep his tone professional and calm, which he didn’t do very often.
She finally looked at the two of them, her eyes settled on Gregory a little too long for comfort. Mike squeezed his hand and he felt him shift further behind him.
“I’m taking him to the security office,” Mike said as firmly and patiently as he could make it. “And I’m going to talk to him privately while treating him. You can wait outside, but he doesn’t feel comfortable with you around.”
“What?” Vanessa grunted. “What are you talking about? He’s an intruder—”
“He’s a kid,” he interrupted. “And he’s hurt and fucking scared. I’m not asking.”
Vanessa looked pissed at being left out, but she stepped away from them. Mike kept an eye on her as they started walking again. Freddy stayed by Vanessa’s side to watch her. He’ll have to thank the bear later, even if it was just in his programming. He’ll just give him a good song to play instead of the non-stop Celebration by Kool and the Gang.
Gregory seemed to calm further with Vanessa not around, but he didn’t relax. His shoulders were still tense and his breathing was still heavy, even if it wasn’t coming out as fast. The blood was drying fast, however, and Mike didn’t want anything like the gravel in his knees to scab over.
They made it into the security office soon enough and he sat the kid down in his seat while he pulled the kit out of the cabinet.
“Alright,” Mike had to search his memory a bit to remember how to use one of these. He got hurt a lot as a kid, but he never got taught how to clean himself up well until Henry came along. He grabbed a little package of alcohol wipes. “Where do you want to start? I think your hands and knees need to get some stuff out of them, but what hurts the most.”
Gregory didn’t say anything. He had stopped crying, but now he was just staring down at his feet. Mike decided to start with his knees.
He warned Gregory before he did anything, but the kid flinched anyway. Thankfully, clearing away the blood and debris showed that it wasn’t as bad as it looked. There was some scraped skin and it would still hurt for a while, but it didn’t need much attention besides a bandage and some cleaning. He moved on to his left hand which was near the same as his knees, but Gregory still covered his face with his right.
“Hey?” He tilted his head to get his attention. “Can I see your hand?”
The kid hesitated for a long moment, but eventually he pulled his hand away and shakily put it in Mike’s hand.
There was a deep cut on his face, a gross bandage messily slapped on top of it. The kid seemed to know it had to be placed vertically over the wound to help keep it shut, but didn’t know a normal bandaid wasn’t gonna cut it.
Mike knew there was some sort of injury on his face, but that didn’t make actually seeing it any easier. He forced a thankful smile on his face and focused on cleaning his hand.
“You still don’t have to tell me what happened,” he started, still wiping blood off his fingers. “But can you at least tell me what caused that? Just so I can know if there is something I need to make sure you’re okay. If the thing was rusted, you might need to see a doctor for that.”
Gregory sniffled. Mike could feel his shoulders start to shake again from the hold he had on his wrist.
“It was a knife,” he mumbled. Mike sucked in a sharp breath. “I don’t— I don’t know if it was rusted. I couldn’t see it.”
Mike nodded, swallowing thickly.
A knife? Someone had come at this skinny little ten year old and cut his face with a knife?
He said someone took his bag. Mike couldn’t imagine someone robbing a ten year old boy for whatever they had in his bag. He was only a child, none of the clothes would be useful, and he wouldn’t have much money because he was a child.
Mike held back a sigh. He didn’t want Gregory to think he was angry at him.
“Okay,” he said carefully, looking him over for any more injuries. “I’m gonna have to look at that now. Lots of touching your face to do that. If you need a break, you can tell me.”
When he used to get injured for… various reasons, William used to grab him and touch him without warning. Even things that would hurt, like the one time his father had to give him stitches when he cut open his hand, William would just do it without warning. And Mike has a thing with people grabbing his face. He doesn’t like it, and he will throw a fit if someone tries it. Even if they are just being playful.
Gregory only nodded and shut his eyes tightly, bracing himself. Mike didn’t like that look on his face, but he gently took hold of his chin— wincing when he flinched back— and turned it to get a better look at the cut.
Once he took the bandage off, he could see how deep it was. It wasn’t a surface level cut, it looked like the mugger had pushed the knife into his face in order to do as much damage as he could. But it was also small in size, Mike would say only an inch and a half in length. The clean edge to it told him it might have been a razor or a box cutter. There wasn’t anything caught in the cut, so he didn’t think it was rusted.
As he continued wiping away blood, he prayed that it wouldn’t need stitches. They didn’t have that in the kit and Mike was not fit to do that on anyone, let alone a child who was already afraid and in pain.
Mike felt Gregory’s fingers slowly wrap around his wrist, trembling slightly, so he pulled back. “Do you need a minute?”
He seemed to want to nod for a second, but Mike was still holding his face, so instead he let out a quiet yes.
He pulled his hands away completely.
Gregory’s hands were still shaking, but he was worlds calmer. His breathing was steadier and his face was clean of tears. Although, wiping his face down probably helped. There was blood already trying to bubble up from the cut. It might be too deep.
“I think that might need stitches,” Mike muttered. He wasn’t sure how Gregory felt about clinics and doctors, but he figured it was the same as his feelings towards cops. “Not too many, don’t worry. It’s still pretty small, but I’m worried it won’t heal well without them.”
The kid doesn’t respond. This is reminding him a lot of when he first started talking with Gregory— concerned, awkward, and quiet.
Gregory took in a shaky inhale. “I’m sorry.”
Mike shakes his head immediately, but the kid keeps going.
“I’m really sorry for everything. I’m not a good kid,” he sucks in a harsh sob, twisting and pulling at his fingers. “I was being a stupid idiot and didn’t— you guys spoiled me now and I kept thinking about how cold I was and how I was hungry— I didn’t take your jacket and this guy offered to give me theirs. But they grabbed me,” Gregory’s breathing started to speed up again. “I don’t know what they were gonna do, but I got out. I lost my bag and the card— I couldn’t call anyone for help because I lost the card and I didn’t know where you lived. I snuck in here before it closed, b-but then that security lady grabbed me and sh-she—”
His rambling turned to cries and he crossed his arms over his stomach, digging them into his biceps and doubling over his lap. It looked like he was gonna be sick.
Mike grabbed the garbage can from under the desk and pushed it over to the kid. He didn’t throw up, but he did gag a few times. He probably had nothing left in him.
His story felt like a kick in the chest. And he knows how painful that could be, he wasn’t exaggerating when he thought that. He could understand why Gregory was so afraid of Vanessa now, having been through something so traumatic like that and then getting grabbed again by another random stranger that could easily do him more harm. Not to mention this definitely just happened considering all the blood.
“Shit, Gregory,” Mike shook his head again, more in despair than anything else. He wasn’t entirely sure what to say. He was good at calming down a scared kid, but comforting wasn’t his strong suit. “I’m sorry that happened, but why did you come here? You know— we’ve been looking everywhere for you to…”
Apologize? Start over? Mike realized he never thought through what they were going to do if they ever found Gregory again. He focused his worries more on getting him those jackets so he didn’t freeze to death.
Mike remembered suddenly how pink and cold the kid was and moved to grab his jacket from the coat rack. Gregory watched him as he walked back over and laid the heavy coat over his back. He stopped clutching at his stomach to grip the jacket and pull it closer around him.
“I’m such an idiot,” Gregory muttered to himself angrily, sniffling.
“No, you aren’t.”
“I am. I’m really stupid.” Another sniffle and the kid wiped his nose with the back of his hand, wincing when he accidentally bothered the cut. Mike hoped to get back to that soon, so he busied himself with looking through the kit while Gregory vented.
“I missed you guys. A lot.” For some reason, this seemed to anger him more. His bandaged hands closed into small fists in the opening of the jacket. “You get used to being on your own after a while, but then you guys started bothering me all the time and I hated being alone. It was so annoying and I wanted to—”
Gregory cut himself off short and shut his eyes tightly again. Mike had a hunch he was tired of talking about it, so he came back over and offered to finish cleaning him up.
He cleaned up any other blood that came up while he was talking and any snot that crusted his face. He seemed embarrassed when Mike rubbed his nose with a paper towel, but he didn’t push him away.
“You know, um,” Mike started awkwardly. He was already regretting saying anything, but the kid looked up at him and he had to keep going now. “I’m… it’s always hard for me to accept people’s help. And for me to admit that I need help with something. I didn’t come from a very loving and supportive family.”
“I kinda figured.” Gregory mumbled. That took Mike aback a little, but he moved past it. The kid was smart.
“Yeah, and… because of that, I went through a lot of hard stuff alone.” He took a moment to throw some soiled paper towels and other trash into the garbage below. Swallowing thickly, he continued. “I thought things were easier to do alone, and I still— honestly, I still struggle with that a lot.” Mike laughed humorlessly. “I spent the first 14 years of my life holding everything in and then the next 20 years trying to let it out, but I still struggle to not go through something new alone. But one day, something really bad happened to me and I needed help or else I was going to die.”
Gregory had spaced out a little while the story was going on, but he looked back up at Mike when he said that last part, eyes wide. Mike shrugged and finished taping off the gauze on the kid’s cheek.
“My father was angry at me and went too far. I ended up with my lungs collapsing, internal bleeding, and several broken ribs.” Was this appropriate to tell a young child? No, not really, but Gregory has the same problem as he did at his age— just way too mature for his age. “I knew I was going to die, so I went to get help. I actually almost— my brother had to go get help. I collapsed halfway there.”
“Shit…” something about hearing Gregory’s little voice say that was too funny. Mike ended up laughing.
“My point is, I would have died if I didn’t get help. Who knows what would have happened to my siblings too. Just that one moment where I chose not to deal with it alone, and my entire life changed so much. My father went to prison, we were all no longer in danger, and we all lived happily ever after or something cheesy like that.”
Gregory huffed at that, the first sign of anything besides fear and anger he saw the whole night.
“Isn’t it cool that life could work out like that? Where in one instance where you ask for help, and your life changes for the better?”
As if the universe timed that shitty speech, Mike finished cleaning up when as soon as he finished talking, closing the first aid kit with a satisfying click, like a period at the end of his sentence.
Gregory didn’t look any happier. His eyes were still dark and shadowed by his brow, and his cheeks were still red, colored by his strong emotions. “I am fine on my own.”
“You do incredibly well on your own, I know that, but you know you can’t go on like this forever,” Mike said carefully. He really didn’t want another fight like last time. “Now more than ever. Someone cut you with a knife, Gregory. And they took everything from you. You’d be starting from scratch in the middle of winter.”
“Can’t you just buy me some more stuff if you want to help so badly?” Gregory snapped, tightening his grip on the jacket more.
“I can, but I don’t think you get what I’m trying to say—”
Gregory kicks his feet down on the legs of the chair in a fit. His fists hit his knees a couple of times and he shouts wordlessly during his tantrum. He pushes himself down on his feet, but he must’ve been lightheaded because his legs shake when he stands.
“If I get help I won’t see you again!” Gregory screams. He grabs the jacket falling off his shoulders and throws it to the ground. “I won’t see any of you again! They’re just going to take me away again and I’ll lose all my friends, and I don’t want to do that anymore! I don’t want to be a stupid paycheck, or the new kid, or whatever! It’s stupid and I hate it!”
He forgot how much of a stubborn handful the kid could be.
Mike scolded himself for thinking that. Gregory had the right to be upset. Any kid would be from a lot less.
Mike sighed, scratching his neck. “Look… I still don’t know entirely how this stuff works, but I’ve been doing some research and… I wouldn’t mind taking you in— I mean, not that I wouldn’t mind it. I would— I would like to because I really want to, y’know, help you, but…”
He trailed off, face feeling like it was on fire. It was one of those embarrassing moments that everyone had. The universal experience of asking the random kid you’ve gotten attached to if he wanted to live in his house.
But Gregory was now staring at him like he was stupid and Mike just wanted to eat his words and maybe die.
“You want to adopt me?” He asked incredulously with his eyebrows raised.
“W-well I was just looking into the fostering aspect because I really don’t want to force you into anything you don’t want to… would adopting be better?” He wasn’t very prepared for this. He was so busy looking for Gregory and researching everything that he didn’t think of what he would say when it was finally brought up.
Gregory just stared. The shock of getting mugged and attacked seemed to be pushed aside for the time being and replaced with the shock of their current conversation.
“How would you… how would you even do it?” He still didn’t seem convinced this was real. He sounded like he thought Mike was messing with him.
“I looked into everything. You can foster a kid that was abandoned or given up by their old home, but I need to take a bunch of classes before that,” Mike cleared his throat. “And I just… kinda assumed that your old home gave up on you. Sorry.”
Gregory frowned, face pinched. “But— but what about before that? You have to take classes, where would I go? I don’t… I don’t want to go back out there.”
His voice was wavering dangerously when he said that. Mike never truly believed Gregory wanted to be on the streets, but hearing him actually say that he didn’t was heartbreaking. It’s clearly very hard for him to admit.
“I think you’ll have to go to another home for awhile,” Mike said softly. “I’ll try to be there during it all, promise. I-I don’t know how much I can be there, but I’m sure I can try calling you. They should have things like that available. I wouldn’t leave you alone.”
The kid looked back down at his feet, presumably to hide the fear that Mike could sense he was feeling.
It had to be scary. With everything he went through tonight, he must be terrified. He’s probably worried if he could even trust Mike right now after his attack. Mike had similar feelings with Henry, it was hard to imagine he would be safe after everything he had gone through with his father.
He noticed the gauze on his cheek was starting to saturate with blood. “Why don’t we start one step at a time. Your face is still bleeding, so I think you need those stitches. If we go, they’re going to find out I’m not— that you’re in the system and we can go from there. Does that sound okay?”
It wasn’t okay by any means, none of this was okay. Gregory didn’t deserve this, but this is what he was given. All Mike could do was take his hand again and talk over the radio with Vanessa about leaving early for the night.
Notes:
I actually wrote this chapter before the movie came out believe it or not lmao. Making Mike a mall security guard was a coincidence.
Lots of shit happened in this chapter actually lmao. First we got Vanessa whom I love. She’s like.. college age here so she is actually very young. I desperately wanted to add her in tho it just seemed right with Gregory and Cassie being added, you gotta add Vanessa.
A bit of references to security breach in here. Because a lot of the events of the original games didn’t happen, the Mega Pizzaplex is more on par with like.. a Rainforest Cafe lmao. They’re still in a mall and the characters are still the same, but it’s not as expanded as the Mega Plex. And because this takes place in the early 2000’s instead of the 20’s/30’s, the animatronics are not as advanced to be like. Talking and thinking. I give you a morsel of Dad Glamrock Freddy and a little more later, but that is not the main focus apologies. Although you should already realize that from the past stories in this series lmao.
Gregory’s alive also!! Barely lmao. He went Through It those two ish weeks without the Mike and Cassie. Boy’s got survival instincts tho he could’ve EASILY gotten killed. Hope he’ll be okay tho..
Alright see ya next week.
Chapter Text
Gregory screamed as strong arms suddenly wrapped around his shoulders and neck, yanking him back. The jacket the man had promised him was thrown away, landing in a snowy puddle where it immediately soaked up the freezing water.
The man had him in a headlock, one hand digging into the kid’s round cheeks to hold him flush against his chest. Gregory’s legs dangled uselessly in the air, not even scrapping a toe on the ground below with how tall the man was. He kicked and struggled, sinking his small hands into large sleeves to try and pry the man off to no avail. He tried screaming again, but the arm around his throat tightened, cutting off what little air he was getting from the start.
His vision blurred with static as the man’s other hand came around and something painfully sharp pushed into his cheek. The flurry of snow and the lack of air getting into his lungs played tricks on his mind.
He swore the splatter of blood from his face were glowing red eyes against a smiling pale face.
Gregory jolted back to awareness when he heard a soft tapping sound. He looked up at saw the annoying face of a social worker in front of him, tapping the end of her pen on her desk to get his attention. His face was burning, but he couldn’t tell if it was from embarrassment for spacing out or phantom pain coming from the bandages on his face.
“Are you with us, sweetie?” She asked, voice thick with some sort of accent Gregory didn’t recognize.
“Yeah, I’m here,” he grumbled, glaring at her.
“Did you want to take a break?”
“Yeah. Now please.”
She let him go back to his room. His temporary room.
After the hospital, Gregory was taken away from Mike and put in child protective custody. This city actually had a facility where children could go for temporary housing instead of just sticking them in the nearest foster home available like he was used to. The apparent downside of the facility was that it wasn’t very homey. It was more like a nursing home, but for a bunch of random kids. They had a cafeteria where all the food was served at certain times and kids only were allowed a certain amount, and some areas where kids could play in. Gregory spent a majority of his time alone in his room, but he did adventure out to their library every now and again. They didn’t have a lot of good books. Most of it was for little kids.
It’s been a week since he’s arrived and he could already feel himself slipping into old habits.
When Gregory lived in foster homes, he would avoid everyone. He never talked to the other children, or any of the adults, and just locked himself away in his room. He used to take food and hide it away in his room so he would come out even less. Now that he knew this place had a library, he also hid books away for himself.
It was a way to keep himself guarded. That way, when he left again, he would leave no imprint that he was ever even there.
He knew a little how the process went when it came to his files, but this was a completely new system he was in, so he wasn’t sure how much they had on him. They did tell him that his old home didn’t want him back, and that they were planning on sending him back anyway before he ran off, but they still made him go through each home with them to see if it matched their information. It was easy enough giving all that up, he was one of the lucky kids it seemed that just got stuck in a bunch of boring, uninterested homes.
The new thing was that they wanted to hear about the past year and where he had been up to.
Telling them about that was a lot harder. The first few months were hard and he spent so many of them suffering. He was dehydrated, starving, and burning up from the hot summer sun. He barely remembers much from the days he spent suffering from heat stroke and eating whatever he could get his hands on in the garbage.
It wasn’t much different when it started to cool down. He started stealing food and other items from places, getting in trouble time and time again. He once stole some food from a couple of teens being jackasses and leaving it out to grab. That was his worst mistake. Gregory was used to outrunning adults who never ran long, but these kids were just as fast as him and ran him down. He had gotten beaten for that and decided against stealing for a while. It was getting too risky anyway.
When it came to winter, he started begging. The cold was too much, he got frostbite on his fingers and got sick so many times from how cold it would get. He begged on the streets and in various shops to get anything. People would try to call CPS or some freaks would try to drag him to the police themselves, but Gregory was always lucky to get out of it.
That was all leaving out the creeps on the streets that would try to get close to him and touch him. Gregory was uncomfortably aware of the amount of felons that made it to the streets after imprisonment. Not to mention the amount of people that thought they could take advantage of some vulnerable little kid on the street, but they didn’t know Gregory was smarter than that. They could never fool him.
Until recently, that is.
The man had him in a headlock, one hand digging into the kid’s round cheeks to hold him flush against his chest.
His vision blurred with static as his other hand came around and something painfully sharp pushed into his cheek.
Gregory never came that close before. He didn’t know what the man wanted to do to him. He had smiled at him and offered him a jacket, saying it was much too cold out for him to not be wearing one. He couldn’t remember if he had felt some sort of gut feeling towards the man, but even if he didn’t, he was stupid for thinking they had no other motives.
He tried screaming again, but the arm around his throat tightened, cutting off what little air he was getting from the start.
He scratched at his throat. The bruises had to have disappeared by now. Gregory didn’t know. He’s been avoiding the mirror. It was hard to recognize him in it, anyway.
His room at the facility was dull. All that existed in it was a bed, a dresser, and a rug in the middle of the room. It was temporary housing. It wasn’t meant to be anything else.
Gregory crawled into the bed and wrapped the blanket tightly around him, staring at the wall in front of him.
He didn’t want to be here anymore.
“I’ll see you soon,” Mike had promised in that hospital lobby. He had bent down to Gregory’s level and held a hand onto his shoulder. The grip made him shake. “It won’t be long, okay? It’s just for a little while, and then you can come home with me. This is just something we have to do.”
Gregory breathed shallowly. He wanted Mike to let him go. He could barely breathe because his face hurt and Mike was too close to him.
His wish was granted as Mike pulled away and stood back up. Gregory was led away by a social worker.
He wished Mike was still there. He regrets not hugging him.
Gregory still didn’t hug Mike when he saw him again. He just stared down at his fidgeting hands when he sat down next to him.
“Hey, kid! How have you been?” Mike tried to sound happy when he greeted him, but it came out just a tad too exasperated. He yawned behind his fist and Gregory took a second while he was distracted to look at him. His eyes were dark and purple from his now very stressful schedule. The classes he was in order to get ready to take Gregory in were eating up all his free time along with working all night. He probably wasn’t getting much sleep.
Gregory hasn’t seen anyone else. The facility was making a special exception for Mike alone because of their situation. They didn’t allow anyone else.
“I’m almost done with my classes,” he tried to make conversation, leaning his elbow against the table and his chin against his fist. “I have a few more and then I need to get your room ready for the house visit. Jeremy has been moving everything out and into my room which is good because I do not have time to do that. Oh! And I have this for you! Sorry it’s a little old. Small apology for taking so long to visit you.”
Mike had reached under the table and pulled out a fuzzy brown bear. It looked like Freddy, but not one he recognized. The Freddy he knew was cooler. This one was pretty lame.
He took it in his hands anyway.
“It shouldn’t take much longer, okay?” Mike whispered to him when Gregory still didn’t say much. “Just a few more days and we’ll get you out of here. Somewhere that you’ll be safe.”
“It’s okay, Gregory.”
The social worker was trying to comfort him. As soon as he was put into their car, he’d doubled over and sobbed. They rubbed his back and shushed him softly, but Gregory had slapped and kicked at them to stop touching him. They ended up pulling away and he screamed obscenities at them. It was a tantrum, one he threw every time he was put into one of these cars and taken away. As far as he knew, this was the only time he cried to go home.
They said it wouldn’t be that long. But Gregory still screamed.
“Did you want to talk?”
Gregory frowned and looked up at Mike, confused. “What?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I heard that you haven’t been very active around the place. They said you might be still adjusting, but you look a little… out of it to me.” He looked down at the bear for a second. “Whenever my little brother Evan went through something traumatic, he would do this thing called dissociation. It’s basically spacing out, but with an added layer of depressive feelings. Not fun.”
Gregory scowled. “I’m fine.”
“I wasn’t trying to say otherwise, sorry. I just wanted to ask.”
His eyes started to burn and his throat closed up, but he felt anger. He’s so tired of people trying to help him. Why couldn’t people leave him alone?
“I want to go back to my room,” he snapped, his voice cracking horribly. “Can I do that? Are we done yet?”
Mike blinked sadly. He sighed and nodded. Gregory didn’t hug him again as he stormed off to the room. Not his room.
He immediately crashed down into the pillows and cried.
Gregory never let himself get attached to people. He wonders if he did once when he was too young to realize it and was betrayed. Either that, or he was just born with these completely rational feelings of distrust and anger towards everyone who ever tries to help him. No, he was smart being this way. Look what happened to him when he trusted the wrong people. He was almost killed and was put back in the exact place he didn’t want to be.
Mike was the reason why this all happened. He’s the one that found him and Cassie, he was the one that wouldn't stop trying to help him. He was why he stupidly believed that that man was just trying to be kind.
He ran into the mall, tripping on the sidewalk and scraping himself up in his mad dash to safety. The doors opened when he pulled on them, but it was only a matter of time before they closed behind him. He was panicking and scared. He still rushed through the lobby, glancing behind him every so often to make sure nothing was following him in the shadows.
There weren't many shops still lit up, the mall so close to closing for the day. Just like he did all those months ago, Gregory ran to the doors with the brightest neon lights.
Something grabbed him from behind while he was running. They grabbed his arm and yanked him back. He crashed back into them and they roughly turned him around. Gregory saw red and static, he felt his airways restricting. He didn’t wait to be hurt again.
He didn’t. He wasn’t going to die.
He turned in the assaulter's grip and bit their arm, hard. When they shouted and let go, he bolted to the Glamrock’s stage.
Gregory hugged the bear close to his chest, breathing faster than he was just a moment ago. His grip on the bear was tight. Tight enough to strangle. His hands loosened after that thought. The room was silent and cold, the blanket keeping him comfortably warm. He doesn’t think he’s slept in silence in years.
He kept thinking he wanted to go home, but he wasn’t sure what he even meant.
Notes:
Very short chapter I’m sorry.
I really enjoy Gregory’s complicated feelings. That weird trust thing he has where he doesn’t know what he can give and take is just so interesting to play with. He still very much likes Mike and has such confusing feelings towards him, but he was just attacked and taken back to a place he has not so good memories of. He wants to leave, go home, but he has no idea what he actually wants. What he considers his home. Very fun to play with.
Next chapter hopefully will be more interesting??? Sorry again
Chapter Text
Lizzie sighed to herself, absently cutting her clients split ends while they rattled on and on about their life. Her own life has been a mess for weeks.
The day Gregory had run off, she and Mike got into a fight. She shouted at him, he shouted back, nothing was said besides frustrated and scared yelling back and forth. She couldn’t get out early, so she didn’t get there until past six in the evening. Cassie had cried to her about her friend, Lizzie yelled at Mike some more, and they all went to try and find him.
Cassie had cried more when they were forced to go home. They never found him.
Her daughter was more than upset the next few days when she couldn’t go back to find him. Lizzie tried to explain that she had school and Mike promised he would keep looking, but she wouldn’t hear it. She threw tantrums that could rival the ones she threw as a child, but she never won. Lizzie would drag her into the car while she was kicking and screaming each day before she went to school.
On the third day of Gregory being missing, she would just cry. She would beg Lizzie to call her out, saying she didn’t feel well and that her friend could be hurt out there. It still ended with her screaming and wailing not to go to school.
They showed up late most days, but when Lizzie tried to explain their tardiness to the teachers that they are going through something very difficult and personal, they would say that it needed to be dealt with because her work was already suffering. Lizzie didn’t know how anyone had the patience to deal with people like that. She almost tore that bitch apart.
It was nonstop. Everyday was always dragging her off to school with her screaming one way or another. She never relented, she never gave up.
It was frustrating beyond belief, but it was sweet how much she cared for her friend. It was hard for Lizzie to appreciate the fact when she hasn’t had a moment of peace.
Lizzie didn’t have a moment to talk about any of this either. She and Mike weren’t talking much. He called for a short conversation on possibly fostering Gregory if they ever find him, but it was rather short. She was still angry at him for what he said and did.
Mike never understood. His mind was always on survival when he was younger, even when they moved on to Henry’s house. He never cared if he was loved, he only cared that the people he loved were safe. Lizzie always cared if she was loved. William tried to groom her into his favorite, and she fought for his love by acting just as ruthless and spoiled as he was. Evan had looked for love from Mike, who he saw kindness in more than he saw from their father, even if it wasn’t always there. Gregory was a foster kid, presumably an only child. He might’ve been in survival mode for so long, but it was obvious he was only surviving because that was the only option.
Sometimes she wondered what was wrong with Mike that he couldn’t understand that life is more than just surviving. Was this William’s fault or something else entirely? Did something else happen that caused him to think like this?
She thought of all of this for weeks on end. She was exhausted, sick with worry, and angry. She wanted everyone and everything to just be okay again.
But Lizzie hasn’t heard from Mike for days. And during Mrs. Palmer’s story about her dog digging under her fence again, she gets a call from him.
Lizzie sighs. “I’m sorry, Karren, but I need to take this real quick. Family emergency and all. It’s always good to step away for a moment anyway, I’ll let you look at what you have now and be back as soon as possible to continue, okay?”
Her client smiled and waved her away, saying she was in no rush. She stepped outside, warning her boss before taking the call.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Liz, do you have a second?” Mike rushed, the words almost drowned out by the street noise of the city.
“Yeah, I have a few,” Lizzie tucked some hair behind her ear. “What’s going on?”
“Okay, listen. Someone might try and contact you soon to ask for references. Obviously I’m not supposed to tell you what to say, but I thought it would be nice to tell you so you can keep an ear out.” There was the sound of a car door opening and closing. Mike sounded winded.
She furrowed her brows, confused. “Are you applying for a new job?”
“Uh… no,” a pause. “No, but it’s still important. I’m, uh, I’m working to adopt Gregory and this is one of the dozen steps.”
Lizzie felt her heart somersault in her chest. “You’re what? When— when did this—”
“I know, I know, I only talked about fostering before, but I found out that it’s not as, I don’t know, guaranteed to keep him around. If I was just fostering him, there’s still the chance he could be moved away. I’m still fostering him for the first 6 months before it’s official—”
“Mike, Mike, shut up, just—” Lizzie sighed, starting to pace away from the salon to get rid of the anxious energy burning her up in the cold. “What are you talking about? Did you find Gregory?”
Mike laughed on the other side of the phone. “On accident, yeah. He’s in child protective custody right now, but I just finished most of my classes and all I have left are the home visits and the references, so.”
“That’s… that’s good news?” It came off more as a question. “Is he okay? I know he didn’t want to go back there.”
“Eh,” she could practically see the shrug beyond the phone. “He’s definitely not happy about it, but I think it’s mostly the shock working its way through him. He wasn’t… he wasn’t doing so well when I found him.”
“What? Did he get hurt?”
“Someone attacked him,” anger laced his voice. “Fuck, Liz… you have no idea how happy I am I got him to agree to this. The bastard stole his bag and everything in it. If I hadn’t found him, he would have started from scratch in the middle of winter. And there was so much blood. That probably would have gotten infected without treatment, and it’s so close to his eye…”
Lizzie felt like the cold weather was an ice bucket dunked over her head. Gregory was attacked? Attacked? Who would attack a child? She felt her heart pound in a sickening way.
“What happened to him?” She was almost too afraid to ask. “Did he… what was his condition? I mean…”
“It wasn’t too bad, but definitely still scarring. He hasn’t told me everything, but he said the mugger offered him a jacket and grabbed him when he came close. He had some bruising around his neck and some scraps on his hands and knees, along with this cut on his cheek made with some sort of blade. Doctors couldn’t find anything else. It could have been worse.”
“That’s still bad, Mike…”
“I know that,” Mike sighed. “I’m just saying, it’s good that that was all it was.”
“I-I just can’t believe this.” She couldn't get past the fact that he found him, but finding him hurt? It was her worst nightmare. It was almost worse to her that he agreed to become a foster child again. Sure, it was clearly the safer option, but she could only imagine how it felt for him.
She breathed shakily, softly pressing under his eyes so any tears didn’t make her makeup run. “Is there any way I can visit him? Or, I guess, we. I’m sure Cassie would want to see him.”
“They won’t allow any more visitors besides me, but we can try after he moves in?” Mike said. “I don’t think it’s good for him to see anyone right now anyway. He’s barely talking to me as is.”
Gregory was definitely not doing well back in the system.
“Mike…” she sighed. “I know we talked about the fostering thing, but I didn’t think you would actually go through with it. I was hoping this was just something you were thinking of when you found someone to be with. Or with Jeremy too, that’s fine. I didn’t think you would jump into this so quickly with Gregory.”
“I didn’t expect it either, okay? But Gregory needed help now—”
“I’m just worried—!”
“I got it, I got it,” Mike huffed into the phone. “Fuck, I shouldn’t have told you about all this. Now I know you’re just gonna screw this over for Gregory.”
“I’m not going to do that,” Lizzie said. “I’m just— I’m worried about both of you. Being a parent is no joke, Mike, but I’m sure you’ll be a great dad.”
The line went quiet for a moment. A long moment. If it wasn’t for the soft noise coming from the car on the other line, Lizzie would have believed he hung up on her.
“I’m not… I’m not going to be his dad. He’s just—”
“Mike, you better shape up fast before this is all finalized,” Lizzie concurred harshly. “I’ll talk to you again after the call.”
She hung up the phone and left to finish her client's hair. She only had a few hours before she was off work and had to pick up Cassie from Henry’s house. That’s another mess she really didn’t want to deal with.
“Cassie! Stop right now!!”
“I want to see Gregory!”
Remember when Lizzie said Cassie was causing her a good amount of trouble? That trouble didn’t stop when she went off to school.
Lizzie flinched as Cassie screamed again, throwing toys at the door to her room. Lizzie has her back against the door, breathing shakily. She jumps, flinching away when another toy was thrown and crashed into the door beside her head.
Cassie wasn’t a violent kid. She was a good kid. Very smart, very curious, but has always been a very sweet child. Lizzie just had to remember everything people told her when she was young. Children are always a product of their environment. Lizzie was a violent and spoiled child because that’s what she was exposed to and because she was scared. Cassie is only acting like this because she was scared. She’s protective like Lizzie and she’s scared for Gregory, just like Lizzie.
“I want to see Gregory! Please!” Cassie cried. She laid on her back on the floor, arms thrown over her eyes as she sobbed. “Please! I need to see him!”
“Cassie, baby, he’s fine,” Lizzie gasped under her breath. She was shaken from the screaming. “He’s okay! He’s safe. They found him.”
“I want to see him! Why can’t I see him!?” Cassie screamed again. She pushed herself up, face blotchy with tears.
She had told Cassie everything. All of it. Once she picked up her daughter from Henry’s house, she talked with her in the car for an hour. She told her that he was homeless, that he wasn’t in school or grounded by his parents like they lied time and time before. Cassie didn’t appreciate the lying. Whenever she catches someone in a lie, she sees it as a personal act of betrayal. They had all lied to her about the safety of her best friend.
Ever since then, she had been crying to go to Gregory.
“It’s not time yet, baby,” she whispered. She seemed to have calmed, so she steps away from the door, praying she doesn’t make a break for it. “I promise— promise— we will see him as soon as we can, but we can’t right now. We just can’t.” Cassie sobs loudly. She pulls her knees to her chest and buries her face into them. Lizzie’s heart breaks for her child. She sighs and sits down beside her, wrapping her into a side hug. Cassie scowls and tries shouldering her arm off, but is unsuccessful. “I’m so sorry. I know you’re mad at me, Cassie, but you have to understand. We couldn’t do anything to help him. At the time—”
“You hurt him!” Cassie’s voice shook, but her anger was strong. She glared at her mother. “You said you would be there to help him. You knew he was sleeping outside for a really long time! Why did you let that happen!?”
Lizzie felt her throat constrict. She wanted to cry. She was so close to it. “At the time… we couldn’t do much. Look at what happened with Uncle Mike. It was exactly what we were worried would happen. He pushed him too far and Gregory ran away. The important thing is we have him safe now. Isn’t that good enough?”
Cassie shook her head. Slow at first, but she whined and shook it harder. “I need to see him.”
“I know,” Lizzie sighed. She leaned against her and kissed the side of her head. Cassie turned her head away. “I’m so sorry, baby.”
She refused to listen. “I want to see Gregory. Now.”
Gregory Allen Munch?
That’s such an ugly name. No wonder they never told him the whole thing.
He flipped around his file, boredly reading through his entire life written down on a few pieces of paper. Nothing but the soft light of a small desk lamp lit up the previously empty office.
Gregory Allen Munch, born June 16th, 1993. Mother Rebecca Marie Munch, father unknown. Found abandoned in some random hospital in Minnesota. Makes sense. He never left the state when he was passed around from home to home. He’s traveled all over the state, but never out of it.
First house, from infant to 18 months. Young couple with two other foster children. He stayed there for such a short amount of time because all the kids were taken away for neglect. It says that he showed signs of emotional deprivation syndrome, whatever that meant. He was only a baby. It's not like it’s hard to take care of a baby.
Second house, from 18 months to 2 and a half years old. He was brought back after issues with aggression and refusal to be taken care of by his foster parents. Apparently, as such a young toddler, he had a habit of screaming and hitting anyone that came near him. That quality followed him to the next house, also the longest he’s ever stayed.
Third house, ages 3 to 6. A widowed mother with three of her own biological children. Rich, military, and perfect.
Gregory remembers this house the most.
Three other boys in the house, all older than him by several years. Two of them ignored him for the most part, socialized with him a little, but never tried to befriend him. But the youngest boy— older than him by just a few years— didn’t like Gregory one bit. He wouldn’t put a hand on him, but that didn’t stop him from insults and bullying. The mother never allowed it, but it still kept happening. He still insulted him for being a foster kid, for being a weirdo, for just being alive and in his life.
At six years old, he pushed the older boy down the stairs. He broke an arm and a foot. He did it because the boy had him locked in a closet. The next day, Gregory was given back.
The fourth house lasted a month, fifth lasted six weeks, sixth lasted for two.
His list of behavioral issues kept growing and his chances of finding homes dwindled. His last house, house number seventeen, was the only one willing to take him longer than a few weeks. They were put down as good people, but as far as the system knew, Gregory was still there. They never filed for him missing. The system called and they lied, said they figured someone picked him up when he ran off and he was taken away. They probably didn’t notice.
Mike will be house eighteen. He will read over all this information on him, see the evaluations and details. He’ll read everything they’ve added, what he did on the streets. Gregory’s life was going to be all out there, no privacy. Soon, he’s going to be Mike’s responsibility.
Gregory has never gotten close to a family before, until Mike and his family came into his life so suddenly.
The door to the office opened. The police officer in charge at night swore as he saw him sitting calmly in the chair. He shoved the door open all the way and jerked his head over his shoulder.
“What the hell are you doing in here, kid?” The man questioned. Gregory slid off the chair and kicked the filing cabinet door closed. He didn’t answer the man. “How’d you even get in? This is a locked office. You can’t even be here during the day without a caseworker.”
Gregory wordlessly answers the man’s questions by holding up a stolen access card as he walks by him. The officer snatched it out of his hand and grabbed his arm, yanking him forward.
“Fucking Christ…” the officer muttered to himself as he tugged Gregory out of office and down the hall, no doubt taking him back to the room he was staying in.
That’s what he expected. What he got instead was two other police officers and the owner of the office he broke into.
The officer let go of him when the three noticed them. Gregory rubbed his arm and stared down at his feet. “The kid nabbed one of the access cards, but didn’t seem to know about the silent alarm. I caught him reading some files on the desk. That’s breaking and entering, and reading classified documents.”
“My documents,” Gregory argued. “I should be able to read them. I didn’t read anything else.”
“Gregory, please.” His caseworker shook her head at him, shutting him up. She sighed and faced the officer next to her. “He’s troubled. I don’t think there is anything here to worry about.”
Troubled. One of many words in his file. Others include aggressive, emotionally and physically stunted, and not sociable.
“There is quite a lot of personal information in those files. From a lot of other kids and their families,” one of the two officers— this one large and bald— shook his head. “Without a camera in your office, we can’t be sure he didn’t gather any information.”
The caseworker laughed incredulously. “He’s a child! What is he going to do with any of the information, hm? Do you think he’s a spy for someone else’s family?”
“That doesn’t matter, ma’am,” Baldie said. “The kid will have to be moved into someone else’s custody. He violated the privacy rights of several people tonight. Does he have anywhere else he can stay? Somewhere without access to these records?”
The caseworker looked over at Gregory. She sighed, facing the cop again. The disappointment on her face gave him such a strange feeling. He almost found it funny.
“His foster father isn’t finished training yet, but he has a relationship with Gregory,” she said. “He may be willing to take him in early. Considering the circumstances.”
Gregory’s heart leapt in his chest. They were going to tell Mike about this too? And move him in so soon? He wasn’t ready.
“Can’t you take me to another house or whatever?” Gregory asked.
“On such short notice, this is the best we can do. Is there a reason why you don’t want to go live with Mr. Afton? You haven’t objected to his care before.”
Gregory swallowed and looked back down at his feet. He didn’t answer.
The caseworker said a few words to the officers, saying something to get them to walk off. Gregory felt awfully exposed when the original officer walked away from his side. The caseworker crouched down in front of him, looking at him through her grandma-looking glasses.
“Can I look at your arm?” She tilted her head when he looked up. “It’s my job to see these things. Officer Shae was gripping you pretty tightly. Pretty brutish, if you ask me.”
“It’s fine,” Gregory mumbled.
She held her hand out to him anyway. He huffed, and after a moment, gave her his arm. She turned it over, softly feeling the dull pain in his wrist. She shrugged casually. “I don’t think it’ll bruise. Lucky for Shae. I would have him charged.” He scoffed. She raised her eyebrows at him. “You think this is funny? Honey, this is no laughing matter. You’re a minor, and I’m certain that you weren’t looking at anything else, but what you did was a serious matter. A lot of the kids in here were taken from very dangerous situations, if anything private came out, that could put them in quite a lot of danger.”
“Well, I wanted to learn what you were showing Mike. If you would just show me my files, then I wouldn’t have done this,” he snaps. “This is my life. I should be able to know about it.”
He didn’t even know he had such an ugly name. Mike saw that ugly name. He knew that ugly name and the ugly story that went along with it.
“You could’ve just asked.”
Gregory bristled. He yanked his arm back. “Thanks for telling me that.”
She sighed and stood back up. “Is there any real reason why I shouldn’t call Mr. Afton?”
“I mean, no, but—”
“You can’t stay here anymore, Gregory,” she interrupted. “I’m calling Mr. Afton. Hopefully we can start paying him soon to compensate for the few hours of work he will be missing from this.”
Gregory clenched his jaw. Maybe he was counting all wrong. Mike wasn’t house eighteen, he was house nineteen. He was getting kicked out of here after just a few weeks.
She called the night officer back over to escort Gregory back to his room to start packing up. He barely had anything after he was mugged. The facility gave him some donated clothes, and he had that bear Mike gave him, but that was it. Everything fit pathetically into one garbage bag. Even before he lived on the street, his life was so easy to pack up.
Gregory just marched along. He was angry, but it was smothered the more time passed. Soon, all he could think about were those labels written down in his file. Troubled, stunted, aggressive. Problem child, heading off to his nineteenth home before he hit junior high. Not social, not trusting, not a good kid.
Mike should already know what he’s getting into after spending months bugging him, but what’s a bit of a criminal record to really sell how bad of a kid he is.
He sat waiting in the main lobby with the officer and caseworker for an hour before Mike was able to show up. He was still wearing the security guard uniform, even the hat was still on his head. His eyes were still purple and dark from the lack of sleep, but he gave Gregory a soft smile, despite the circumstances.
“Hey, kid.” Mike greets with a sniff, wiping his nose on his jacket sleeve. He looked at the caseworker as she stood up. “So, uh. Y-you said I was taking him home early? We haven’t done a house visit yet, are you sure that he can stay with me without that?”
“Yes, considering the situation. I’ll be over in the morning to do a quick check,” she fixes her glasses, crossing her hands in front of her stomach. “I appreciate you doing this for us, Mr. Afton. I didn’t want to scramble to find someone at 2am to take him in.”
Mike winced. “Uh, just Mike, please. Um… can I ask why Gregory can’t stay here anymore?”
Gregory turned his head to stare down the halls instead of face his new foster parent. He tried to tune out their conversation, but he was pretty unsuccessful.
“It’s a matter of safety, I’m afraid. I will still continue to be his caseworker, but he can’t stay at the facility anymore. I suggest you still follow protocol and don’t have visitors over until your classes are done with. Currently, he is not legally your ward yet, but he will be in your temporary custody. That means you will be responsible for him. I know you have been doing very well in your classes, but are you ready to do this?”
Are you ready to take in such a troubled kid, Mike? Are you ready to deal with him for however long you can handle it before you give up and send him off again?
Mike smiled, gapped teeth on display. “Of course. This is what I’m here for.”
Gregory breathed shakily. He quickly wiped away the tear that escaped his eye and stood up to follow Mike to his car.
Mike walked close by, bending down slightly to whisper to him as they walked out the front doors. “Are you okay? What did they mean by a safety issue? Were you not safe there?”
“I broke into whatever-her-name’s office and read over my file,” Gregory admitted. He tried to sound like it didn’t matter, but it sounded tired to his ears. “She said she didn’t think I did anything else bad, but I still did something illegal. They’re worried about the other kids.”
“Oh, shit, kid,” Mike blinked owlishly, astonished. “Breaking and entering? The worst I did as a kid was lying to the police. And a bit of underage drinking, but that was kinda normal when I was a teenager. Don’t do that, though. It was never worth it. I got my ass beat.” Gregory snorted. “But why didn’t you just ask to read your file?”
“I didn’t know I could!” Gregory cried out in frustration. Mike ruffs his hair, much to his chagrin. And the man’s apparently.
“Uh…” Mike pulls his hand back. “I think we need to wash your hair when we get home. It’s all greasy and tangled again.”
Gregory huffs. “Whatever.”
Notes:
This chapter makes me so goddamn sad. Anyways merry Christmas lol.
I made up Gregory’s name and story from a lot of episodes of SVU. I binge that show all the time and it gives me a lot of good insight on certain things. This foster system for example or the term emotional deprivation. I looked more into it and I thought it fit gregory well so I add that in.
Not much else to say but Greg’s with Mike now which is fun. See yah next week I gotta go back to work now.
Chapter 12
Summary:
Right off the back, Mike isn’t doing so good.
Notes:
(Psssst there is vomit and child abuse in this chapter.)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
William once cut him with a knife.
It was only once. Mike was 12 and he turned his back on his father. Lizzie and Evan were sitting in front of the television, pointedly ignoring the fighting coming from the kitchen. He couldn’t really remember why they were fighting, but it was something Mike wanted to avoid, so he turned his back on his father while he was talking.
William had come up behind him and grabbed his arm. He had pushed his shirt up just enough to press that knife into his spine. He dug his nails into his arm and hissed in his ear threats Mike was too frightened to remember. He didn’t move an inch as William pressed it further into his skin, the spike of pain from the cut was nothing compared to the terror he felt in that moment, wondering if the last thing he would see was his younger siblings sitting completely unaware not five feet away.
His father had moved away and cleaned off the knife before putting it back. Mike didn’t move from his spot, frozen where he stood. Evan and Lizzie never looked away from the screen.
Mike was frozen again by a disgusting feeling of deja vu. Here he was holding a knife in his kitchen, while Gregory sat in front of the television, completely unaware of the horrors going on in his foster parent’s mind.
His hand was shaking as he held the knife, but he couldn’t move to put it down. From where he stood, he could see the scar on Gregory’s face, clear as day and healed. It was a small valley in his round, previously unblemished face.
He was so small…
Mike turned and dropped the knife back in the sink, flinching at the loud clatter it made. He walked briskly past Gregory to get to the bathroom. He slammed the door behind him and leaned his forehead against it, squeezing his eyes shut tight as he tried to steady his breathing.
When Mike still went to his family’s therapist— Abby— she once told him some people that go through trauma experiences flashbacks seemingly at random after having children. Once their child reaches a certain age where something traumatic happened, the parent would be reminded of when they were their age and what they went through. When Lizzie’s 14th birthday was getting close, Mike had a few moments like that. He had a panic attack once at night caused by a nightmare of the night William had caved in his chest. He couldn’t breathe and it unwillingly reminded him of the pain he went through, how every breath felt like he was dying. Mike doesn’t remember how, but he had woken his siblings up with the panicking. He had held Lizzie in his arms, refusing to let her go.
He couldn’t stop thinking of her bleeding and bruised. The same thing happened when Evan got into an argument with Henry over something stupid about school and Mike had jumped to his defense, claiming the punishment that was never to happen.
It was humiliating each time, but they haven’t happened in such a long time. Mike couldn’t even remember the last one.
He was out of practice. His panic attack was getting the best of him fast and he left a knife out with an unattended child. He needed to get himself under control before Gregory got himself hurt.
Mike gasped, clutching his chest as his lungs spasmed painfully. He felt sick to his stomach. The eyes from his father sat on his shoulders, the feeling of his dirty fingernails digging into his arm felt just as sharp and painful as the memory of the knife against his back.
The fabricated image of Gregory frozen with a knife to his face is what made Mike vomit.
He wasn’t sure how long he was gone. He only threw up in the sink once, but he hung his head over the porcelain and panted as he tried to pull himself back together. He was barely even aware of his surroundings until he was startled by a knock on the bathroom door.
“Mike?” Gregory called from the hall cautiously. “Are you sick?”
Just hearing the boy’s voice reminded him of it all and he gagged again. He gasped, blinking hazily when nothing else came out. He wasn’t sure if the burn in his cheeks was from the embarrassment of getting caught or from some lingering fever he was just made aware of.
“Yeah,” Mike’s voice was high and strained, rough from the bile still sticking to his throat. He still wasn’t breathing properly. “Yeah, I think I might be a little. Can you go get my inhaler? There should be one in one of the kitchen drawers. It’s red and kind of ‘L’ shaped.”
“Okay… don’t die in there.”
Despite the state he was currently in, Mike laughed breathlessly.
Gregory has only been living with him a few days. He settled himself in his room the first night home, both of them deciding they would sleep now and tour the house later. The next day was busy with the house visit, followed quickly by Mike’s classes and then another shift over at the mall. Jeremy assured him that he watched his little sister all the time when he was younger, so Mike didn’t need to worry about leaving Gregory with him for the night. Mike wasn’t exactly worried about Jeremy’s capabilities, he was more worried about “abandoning” the kid on the real first day in the house.
Today was the first full day Mike had with the kid and he freaked himself out.
The kid knocked at the door again while Mike was absently washing out the sink. “I think I got it. What do you need this for?”
“Remember when I told you about that collapsed lung thing?”
“Yeah?”
After a moment of cleaning himself up, Mike opened the door to the bathroom. Gregory looked up at him and handed off the inhaler. Mike shook it and took a puff. It didn’t lessen the aching in his chest, but it did help him breathe a bit better. Having the kid’s perpetually downturned brows and intense brown eyes on him also helped pull himself together.
“I have breathing problems because of that,” he finished. “The inhaler helps when my lungs aren’t working, but not completely. I still need to rest for a bit to get myself back in working order.”
Gregory frowned. “That’s crap. Why haven’t they healed?”
Mike simply shrugged. “Some things don’t ever heal completely. I have the lungs and scars to prove it.”
When he stepped past Gregory to get back to his chores, he just barely caught his frown deepening and the soft graze of his hand on his cheek. He regrets saying that now, but he tried to ignore it. He wasn’t sure how to fix what he said, and he wasn’t sure Gregory would appreciate the attention.
In the past few days, Mike has avoided talking about the past. He knew now that Gregory had read his file— he’s read it too, of course. It was something he was hesitant about, but the caseworker had assured him that it was a regular procedure for future parents to learn the basics of what their child has gone through. Just like Gregory had told him, there was no abuse on his record. The only thing that came close was the neglect when he was an infant, but that was short lived and a seemingly one time occurrence. Although, that didn’t make the rest of the file any easier to read.
Even though the kid was never abused, he’d been through a type of hell Mike had never thought of. He never thought he would consider himself lucky that he and his siblings were so easily given over to Henry. Before, he had assumed Gregory left good homes that wanted him, but that he didn’t want. He didn’t think Gregory had been given up on over seventeen times in his short, young life.
It made sense to him now. The kid didn’t trust anyone or accept help easily because had been left high and dry by dozens of adults before. It was more than not feeling loved by one family, he felt unloved by seventeen different families.
It only got worse when he read about the year Gregory spent on the streets.
The kid chose heat exhaustion, starvation, dehydration, eating other people’s trash and risking his safety by stealing from people, getting groped and grabbed by random creeps and strangers, and freezing himself half to death. He chose to deal with all that over another possibility of rejection from another life with another family.
In one of Mike’s classes, he learned that a foster child’s life was determined by the families they were put with. They join a family, and they gain a community from it. It wasn’t just connecting with one family, it was connecting with the kids at school, the teachers, coaches, churches, everything. Their whole lives are connected by the support of a family, and if that family rejects them, the kid loses everything.
Gregory took his life in his own hands. He refused to connect with people anymore and created his life from his independence. Now he had a connection with Mike and his family, and if he failed this, the kid might not be able to recover from it.
It was a shocking amount of pressure he was put under, but he had done his research for a reason. He wasn’t going to fail Gregory.
But his hands kept shaking while trying to do the dishes.
Mike sighed and turned off the water, ringing out his hands. He decided to walk away from the sink, leaving the kitchen to sit down on the couch behind Gregory.
“I think I should heed my own advice and take a break,” he mumbled when Gregory glanced back at him. He swallowed and rubbed at his still aching chest. It had fixed itself significantly, but it would flare up again if he sat with his concerning thoughts too long. He nods towards the TV. “What are you watching?”
Gregory shrugged. “Just some cartoon about dinosaurs. For some reason they’re magic, which is stupid because dinosaurs don’t have magical powers.”
“How do you know that?” Mike teased playfully. “Have you ever met a dinosaur?”
Gregory giggled and it was such a sweet sound from the usually serious boy. “No, of course not!”
“Then what if they could do magic? How would you know?”
Gregory laughed again. He turned back to the TV, but something seemed to have changed with the kid. He shifted more often now, and from the faint reflection Mike saw on the screen, he wasn’t watching the show anymore. He seemed to be focused on something to the right, but nothing was there to look at. It looked more like he was trying to keep an eye out for something behind him. Mike realized he was trying to subtly keep an eye on him.
He had to remind himself how smart the kid was. He probably sat like this before so he could watch Mike through his peripheral vision while he did the dishes. He wasn’t going to say it, but it was clear he still didn’t entirely trust Mike. What trust he had, had fallen apart after the mugging.
Mike patted the cushion beside him, startling the kid just a little. “Why don’t you sit with me so you feel better?”
Gregory looked surprised, but hid it quickly. He glanced back at Mike. He shrugged and patted the seat again.
“You can keep a better eye out with your back to a wall,” he explained. It was a tactic he used as a kid too. It made him feel better to have the entire room in view of him. “You don’t need to worry about me. I’ll keep my hands to myself.”
“That just makes you sound more suspicious…” Gregory muttered, but he stood up anyway after a moment and moved to sit next to his foster parent. He curls up on the center of the cushion instead of up against the arm like Mike had expected. He can keep his head comfortably forward now, but still watch Mike for anything that might frighten him.
Mike does his best to not focus on the kid too much, forcing himself to just watch the show. They sit like this for two episodes— about 30 minutes— before it happened.
Gregory leaned against his arm.
It made him jump, just slightly, but he settled back down quickly. He glanced over at the kid and saw him just as tense as Mike was just a second ago. His breathing was a bit unsteady, but he rested his head slowly onto Mike’s shoulder. It was almost like he was testing the waters, seeing what he could do. But Gregory wasn’t the type to be cautious for anyone’s sake beside his own. He wasn’t testing what Mike would allow, it was more likely he was testing what he would allow himself.
Gregory’s eyebrows were pressed against each other and he shut his eyes tightly, looking like he was forcing himself to relax. He turned his head and pressed up against him further.
Mike felt just a tad bit uncomfortable with the kid curled up next to him, but with his hands still sitting in his lap. It almost felt like he was ignoring the kid, but he also felt like he would ruin the little moment if he moved. The last thing he wanted was to remind Gregory of some unsavory memories.
Gregory’s arms came out from where they were neatly tucked into his chest. They wrapped around Mike’s waist so carefully. Mike moved just slightly, lifting up his own arms to help the kid get more comfortable. Hesitantly, he rested one of them across Gregory’s shoulders. It was extremely awkward and uncomfortable on both sides. It was probably hilariously sad as well. If anyone from his family saw them right now, they would probably tease Mike for never learning the proper way to hug someone.
But Gregory was looking for comfort, and Mike already swore he wasn’t going to fail the kid.
Mike pulls him in just a little closer. Gregory sighs through his nose, forcing himself to completely relax against Mike. He seemed so tired. He might actually fall asleep against him if this kept up any longer.
Going off a small swell of affection, Mike twisted his wrist a little so that he could brush over his soft head of hair.
He felt his heart stop as another unwanted memory came to him.
When Mike was ten— the same age as Gregory was now— he came to sit with William on the couch after a very stressful day trying to take care of a young Lizzie and a baby Evan. There was a distinct smell of whiskey in the air, an unfamiliar scent. William never drank, finding the lack of control that came from drinking unsavory, but for some reason he did that night. Mike had seen his tired, buzzed state and decided it would be a risk to bother him.
Even so, Mike had moved closer to his father. He had startled William, but then he lifted an arm and invited Mike to curl up beside him.
Mike remembered how frightened, but hopeful he was. He had leaned against William’s chest and dozed off, listening to his steady heartbeat and calming rhythm of his breathing. William had rested his arm over him. He had stroked the short, shaved curls of his hair.
William had pulled him close and pressed a kiss to his head. He had let him sleep there all throughout the night.
“Mike?”
He snapped back to himself so suddenly it left him breathless.
Gregory pushed him away immediately as his grip loosened up, breathing unsteady himself. He glared at Mike and got up from the couch. Mike feels his chest constrict as the child walks briskly away from him.
“Gregory, I’m sorry,” his voice sounded strained thin. He didn’t know what he did while he was stuck in his head, but he had clearly betrayed the kid’s trust. “I— I didn’t mean to—”
The kid came back over to him with the inhaler.
“You’re doing that thing again.” He gestured vaguely at Mike with the inhaler. “You know, with the breathing.”
Mike was wildly confused right now. Both from waking up from a sort of nice flashback— which he didn’t think were possible because they made no sense— and from Gregory still willing to be near him after scaring him while he was trying to be vulnerable with him. All he could do was pant under his breath and stare.
The kid shook the inhaler again to remind him. Mike reached for it and Gregory dropped it into his hand.
“Don’t do that again,” he mumbled seriously. Then, as another shocking development, he climbed back onto the couch, this time staying on the very far end on the edge of the ottoman. Mike quickly shook up the inhaler and took a puff, but he still stared afterwards.
Gregory got sick of it quickly. He turned his head sharply and snapped. “What?”
Mike jolted and looked away. “Nothing, nothing, I just… I thought you wouldn’t want to sit with me anymore after that.”
“Well, are you going to do it again?”
“No.” Mike was horrified he did it at all. He was so adamant on not touching the kid without permission and he had grabbed him.
“Good.”
Gregory turned back to watch the TV. His focus wasn’t on it again, but he still acted like it was.
Mike shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Don’t you want to ask what happened? Because I wasn’t trying to hurt you. I promise.”
Gregory frowned a little in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“Well— I grabbed you,” Mike explained weakly. He chewed at his lip anxiously. “I didn’t mean to. I was trying to comfort you, but I felt— I had one of those moments from earlier. I really didn’t mean to scare you and—”
“You didn’t scare me,” Gregory interrupted with insistence, still not looking away from the screen. “I was fine, but then you started breathing funny again, so I got that thing again. I’m not some fragile kid. It was just a hug.”
He’s right on that. Gregory is anything but fragile. Mike was more of the fragile kid at that moment, begging for Gregory not to be mad at him for getting into his space— when he was the one to invite Mike in the first place. He was being dramatic, now that he thought about it. It made him laugh a little shakily and slouch back down in his chair.
“Right,” he whispered. “Sorry. You’re right.”
They sat in silence for a while, just watching the TV. Mike still didn’t feel ready to get back to his chores, even though some part of his brain was supplying that constant threat of “or else” above his head. He desperately needed the rest after two panic attacks in such close proximity to each other. Soon, he had moved to stretch himself out on the length of the couch, eyes half-lidded and lazily watching the show playing on the screen.
Once again, Gregory slowly came back over Mike. He stood in front of him for a minute, Mike almost completely dozed off. He grabbed his arm and startled him awake.
“I don’t want to lay down with you,” the boy whispered softly, but still strangely firm. He tugged on Mike’s arm again. “Get up. I’m tired and I don’t want to sleep in my room.”
Mike mumbled nonsense to himself and sat up with a groan. Gregory climbed up onto the couch, this time he didn’t hesitate to curl himself up against the man’s side. He yawned into his shoulder, leaning further into him. Mike carefully gather the kid closer to him, adjusting the way he sat so that they could comfortably lean against each other— as comfortable as they can be with several feet of height difference between them. They ended up with Gregory’s body tucked completely under his arms and Mike crowding the boy to keep him warm and safe.
Gregory did, in fact, fall asleep. He quickly sank into unconsciousness when Mike started to brush through his hair, a trick he learned the day Lizzie cut it for him. The boy was out like a light once the mats gave way to smooth waves under her careful combing.
Mike had felt sick to his stomach that night he curled up beside his father, even though it was one of the most gentle and domestic acts he’s ever had with William. He wasn’t able to squash down the fear that William would suddenly tighten his grip on his hair and shove him to the ground. Even when he woke up the next morning from a nightmare, he had pushed himself away from his father instead of seeking more comfort from him. He had felt cold and still like a statue, every move stressed him out until he was so tired he couldn’t be bothered to care anymore.
Gregory might have been suspicious of him still, but he sought out the comfort. Not once, but twice, he had forced the comfort he craved from Mike. From a family.
It was an uncomfortable reminder of how lonely the kid was. He didn’t trust Mike just yet, but his desire to be loved kept overpowering his worries. It was why he was here in the first place. It was what he would think about every time he saw his reflection and saw the mark on his face that would never let him forget it.
Jeremy could finish the chores when he came home. He wasn’t moving from this spot as long as Gregory slept.
So Mike sat and stood guard for the kid, deciding a bit of dozing off was all he needed for the day. He was able to grab the remote and turn the volume down by a good ten, and then changed the channel for something less overwhelming to watch. He didn’t say it while Gregory was awake, but the kiddie garbage on the TV was drilling holes in his brain with how bad it was. Putting on some crappy soap opera was more interesting to him.
He refused any feelings of tiredness to consume him, focused on combing through the kid’s hair and pushing away unwanted memories. Gregory was here, William was still in Utah, everything was okay. There was nothing for him to get so worked up over. They were fine.
Despite how much he fought it, Mike did end up slipping away from exhaustion. He didn’t realize until hours later when he felt Gregory move in his arms.
Mike jolted awake like he had been struck when he heard the soft whine under him. He blinked sleep from his eyes and looked down at the boy. Gregory squirmed a bit in discomfort and whined again, face pinched as he tightened his grip on Mike’s t-shirt. He was having some sort of bad dream. He didn’t want to wake him, but he also didn’t want him to suffer alone in his mind, so he tried to hold him closer and shush him softly, trying to awaken those old instincts he used on his little siblings.
A lot of that has been the case lately. Mike spent most of his time just trying to remember what he used to do with Lizzie and Evan as kids. It was different back then. He wasn’t an adult and he still acted more like a mean older brother than anything else, but there were still many times Mike had to take care of them like they were his children.
Mike’s weak form of comfort seemed to have worked, however, as Gregory stopped fussing and went back to sleeping peacefully.
The door to the garage opened not long after.
Jeremy came in and shut the door behind him, kicking off his shoes into a basket. He stopped short as he glanced over and saw the sight of them on the couch. His jaw dropped in such a dramatic way it made Mike blush.
“Shut up,” he whispered before his partner could say anything. Jeremy comically pointed at them with his mouth still wide open. “Shut up!”
“No way, man,” he shook his head and snorted. “Oh my God, do we have a camera? I need to take a picture of this right now.”
“Jeremy— Jeremy!” Mike hissed at him when he took off to see if they had a camera. He was certain his face was a very deep shade of a particular primary color, but he still refused to push the kid away. He groaned quietly to himself and dropped his head back, wincing when it accidentally hit the wall too hard.
He heard his friend returning, giggling to himself with a little video camera in his hand.
“Are you serious right now?” He glares at Jeremy as he shoves the camera in his face. Jeremy shushes him loudly.
“Shh! You don’t want to wake him, hm? Don’t yah, Daddy Mike?”
“Never say that again.”
Jeremy continued giggling to himself, backing up to get a good shot of the two of them. Mike took a small risk and flipped off the camera with the hand behind Gregory’s shoulder. Jeremy laughed louder.
“This is a new one for me. I knew I was into the mature type, but I didn’t know I was into dads.” He teased.
Thankfully, he stopped torturing the man and shut the camera off. He came over and sat on the arm of the couch, throwing his own arm over Mike’s shoulder. Mike still glares as he grins down at him.
“You’re such an ass, Jerm…” he grumbled. Gregory shifted again and Mike adjusted to keep him comfortable. He spoke a little quieter again. “I didn’t get a lot done today. Had a few asthma attacks and then took a couple naps on the couch with Gregory. Sorry about that.”
Jeremy shook his head. “It’s alright, man, I’ll get them done. Are you okay though? What caused them?”
“Just…” he sighed. “I don’t know. Just a lot of things are reminding me of my father right now. I think it’s just ‘cause it’s been awhile since I’ve had to take care of a kid.”
Jeremy hums to himself. He shrugs. “Maybe. What were they about?”
Mike wasn’t too thrilled to share his thoughts, but Jeremy knows more about him than anyone. He knew he wasn’t going to judge him. “The first one was— there was this time just before living with Henry where William got into an argument while Liz and Evan were watching TV in the other room. I turned away from him and he put a knife against my back. Honestly, I don’t even know if it left a scar, it didn’t bleed that much, but I was doing the dishes, and I had a knife in my hand, and Gregory was sitting in front of the TV— it was just too familiar, so I panicked and had an asthma attack.” A flood of embarrassment rushed through him suddenly. “I threw up in the bathroom. Sorry, I didn’t clean it up properly—”
“It’s fine, man, I’ll do that too,” Jeremy squeezed his shoulder. He didn’t look bothered by the amount of chores he had to finish up, but Mike still felt guilty. “That doesn’t sound good, though.”
“No, it wasn’t,” Mike huffed. He frowned afterwards. “The second time was when Gregory sat with me the first time. It was so weird— I had this memory of when I was his age and my father was a little drunk. I sat next to him and he pulled me into a hug. I fell asleep on him, but I remember being really afraid. I don’t know why, nothing happened. That was probably the nicest Father has ever been towards me without prompting him to be, but I still remember being so scared. I got out of it when Gregory pushed me away and I… admittedly freaked out a little and was worried I made him uncomfortable. He said I didn’t, he just got scared when I started panicking again. He came back over after a while and that’s how we got into this situation, heh.”
Mike let out that laugh at the end, but explaining this all didn’t give him a lot of enjoyment. It just made him feel sick again.
“Is it because you're worried about being Gregory’s father?” Jeremy asked with a tilt of his head. Mike couldn’t help the spike of fear that shot down his spine.
“What? I’m not his father, why would that be what’s going on?” He tried to ignore the anxiety the question gave him.
“Well, I don’t know, man,” his friend shrugged. “Both of the freak outs you had were because you saw yourself in your dad’s position. You were holding a knife while Gregory was watching TV, and Gregory was the kid hugging you on the couch. It seemed like you were connecting yourself more as William then as yourself when you were thinking about it. But I dunno. I don’t live in your big dumb brain.”
Mike felt discomfort growing in his chest the more Jermey spoke. He was all too aware of the way Gregory was clinging to him now and he was starting to wonder if he should cut the nap off now. Gregory shouldn’t be sleeping this much anyway, it was going to mess with his sleep schedule.
“Mike?”
He ignored Jeremy for a moment, gently shaking the kid awake. Gregory sucked in a sharp breath and frowned. Jeremy sat back and pulled his arm away. The kid blinked his eyes open, immediately getting pissed off for being awakened.
“Hey, sorry buddy,” Mike spoke softly to get his attention. “I needed to wake you up so I can finish some of my chores, okay? Can you let go, please?”
Gregory mumbled to himself in aggravation, but did move away from Mike. “Jerk…”
“Sorry, kid. You can keep sleeping in your room if you want?”
He just grunted and pushed himself off the couch, dragging his feet as he left the room. Mike ignored Jeremy again and quickly got up to finish the dishes from earlier. Unfortunately, his friend followed him.
“What was that for?” He questioned. “You didn’t need to do that. I already said I would finish the chores.”
“You we’re working all day, I didn’t want to put more stress on you.” It wasn’t a lie. Jeremy had worked all day. Mike did nothing but freak out for no reason and sit on his ass. He needed to get some work done.
“But you pushed him away. Is it because I was psychoanalyzing you, man? I didn’t mean anything to it! That was just a guess! I wasn’t trying to imply you were acting like your dad.”
Jeremy sounded exasperated, and for some odd reason, that pissed Mike off.
“That’s sure what it sounded like,” he snapped back at him, keeping his eyes on the dishes in the sink. He turned on the water, but he couldn’t get himself to start. The knife was the only one left.
“Well, I’m sorry, but that wasn’t what I was trying to say,” Jeremy still tried to keep his voice from rising, but he was getting frustrated too. Mike knew he was. Or maybe he just hoped he was so that he wasn’t just starting a fight out of nothing. “You are not like your dad. You aren’t going to be like that with Gregory. You know that.”
“I’m not his father.” Jeremy let out a loud laugh.
“You are literally in the process of adopting him, dude!” There was a slapping sound against something solid, presumably Jeremy throwing his hands around to get his point across. “What do you think that makes you? ‘Cause that’s kinda how it fucking works.”
“I’m just helping him out,” Mike tried to explain, but it made his chest hurt thinking like that. He wasn’t Gregory’s father. “He’s no more my son then I am Henry’s.”
Jeremy laughed again. He was getting sick of it.
He grabbed the knife in his hand and clutched it tightly in his fist. A million different thoughts ran through his head in a million different ways. He didn’t know if he wanted to stab Jeremy or himself more. He imagined what both outcomes would look like, but he didn’t choose either of them. Nor the others bouncing around his skull.
Mike opened his eyes, not knowing when he closed them, and grabbed the sponge to clean off the blade. His hand itched to use the utensil in whatever way his mind saw fit.
But he didn’t.
He didn’t know if Jeremy said anything else, but the other man was quiet now. One glance over his shoulder told him he was still behind him.
Seeing his eyes, Jeremy spoke again. “I’m serious, Mike. You aren’t like your dad. And Gregory isn’t like you.”
Mike just glared at him until he left the room. He finished cleaning the knife and put it back where it belonged.
Notes:
Mike: Yeah I’m LEGALLY this kid’s father, but I’m not like his FATHER father. He’s just some kid lmao
The man has so many fucking issues. Deadbeat father in the making rn. I’m joking he wouldn’t do that. He’s just got issues.
Sorry for the short note, I usually like to analyze the shit out of my own writing, but I’m way behind on chapters because I’m moving out of my place soon and it’s currently holiday season at my work. Haven’t been able to write a lot for a minute now. Hopefully I won’t fall really behind tho??? I really wouldn’t want a week to go by with no chapter posted.
Chapter Text
Gregory was going shopping today. He needed a lot of things, the donated clothes from the facility weren’t going to be enough and he still needed a real bag.
They went to the mall since Mike was working during the day this time. The two men didn’t seem to go over who would watch him while they were both at work, so Mike just decided to take him along and let him sit in the office or stick by him when he patrolled the area.
Gregory didn’t mind. It was actually kind of nice to hang out with Mike while they walked around the mall. He was adamant on not letting Gregory leave his side to explore, but with them constantly moving, he didn’t feel the need to run off. He was content just watching people walk from store to store and other kids running around.
That was kind of a strange thing. Usually when he’s people watching like this, his imagination runs wild thinking up the details of each group he sees. Often, those thoughts move into one of jealousy, but he didn’t feel that as much this time. Maybe it was because he had his hand in Mike’s and was able to point out things and talk about it. He’s never been able to do that before.
“Is that one guard lady working today?” He asked, watching a tall blonde woman walk by them.
Mike shook his head. “Vanessa is in college right now. She only really works nights or evenings. You’ll be fine.”
“Okay,” that did make him feel a little better, weirdly enough. “Who do you work with during the day then?”
“You probably won’t see them much. Day shifts are a lot more independent than night shifts. I only really see them if they call me over or if I happen to be in the office when they are.”
Gregory just nodded his head. Having Mike mostly to himself sounded more than enough for him. It was rather selfish of him to want that, but he didn’t think too much about it. More kids ran past them, one checking into Gregory’s shoulder causing him to swing back from just how small he was. Mike’s hand tightened in his and he pulled him closer. Gregory watched the kids run behind him. They were laughing with each other and almost crashed into another couple of people.
“Are you okay?”
Gregory didn’t respond, but he was fine. He looked back at Mike and saw him watching the kids suspiciously. He was a security guard, after all. He probably had to watch for tht kind of stuff.
“Are you going to shoot them?” He asked. His foster parent startled and finally looked down at him.
“What?! No!” He exclaimed. “Why would you think that?”
“I thought you had a gun.” As if to confirm it, Gregory reached for his holster sitting on his belt. Mike jerked him back by his arm, pulling him far from grabbing the weapon. He moved himself back a little too just to make extra sure the kid couldn’t grab it.
“I’m not that type of guard! This is a taser and only allowed in very specific circumstances. Like if someone is trying to rob a store or attacking someone.” He pulled him away again when Gregory tried to grab for it again. He giggled to himself as he jokingly kept trying. “Hey, hey! Gregory, this is not a toy! That’s not funny!”
Despite Mike saying that, Gregory actually found this very funny and very entertaining. He stopped trying to take the taser when his feet started lifting from the floor, content on just dangling where Mike held him up. He put him down soon enough and huffed. He didn’t seem that mad at him either.
Mike glanced around a few. He sighed. “I think you need a distraction; why don’t we look around some shops for a bit? I know there’s a Toys R Us around here somewhere.”
Mike pulled Gregory around so that he was on his other side— absolutely so he didn't try lunging for his taser again— and started to retrace his steps back to where the toy store was. Gregory didn’t really need toys. They’re too much storage for something stupid and useless. He never understood why kids liked them so much. He assumes it’s just greed, like a kiddy version of having a fancy car.
Soon, the amount of screaming and crying doubled, telling them they were at the kid’s portion of the mall. There was another security guard there, a wide man currently telling off a preteen for throwing a basketball at store windows. He exchanged a nod towards Mike, but nothing else.
“Fuck, I hate going through here…” Mike mumbled to himself. He didn’t notice a mom glaring at him for swearing, but Gregory did. He chuckled.
“Why?” He asked.
Another kid came barreling past them. This time, Mike was quick enough to tug Gregory out of the way. He looked very overwhelmed. “It’s always really loud over here and families are always the worst people to deal with.”
Gregory watched one kid loudly crying as they laid down on the floor, her mother standing over her with defeated anger boiling over. She was telling her daughter to knock it off and stop crying.
“Yeah,” he rolled his eyes at the immaturity around him. “I can see that.”
Gregory stood at attention when he heard the familiar sounds of guitar and piano. He looked over Mike and saw Freddy’s in all its neon lights and linoleum floors. He could just barely see the stage, lines of heads from children as they crowded the stage to get a glimpse of the robots performing. Gregory could just barely see the ugly painted claws of some of the band members. As well as a flash of red eyes.
Wait.
Did any of the animatronics have red eyes?
Mike pulled him into a loud Toys R Us before he could even say anything. “Okay, uh. What kinda toys would you be into? Hopefully something that could distract you while I’m working.”
Gregory was still staring out the glass doors, but he couldn’t see into Freddy’s anymore. He just shrugged.
“I dunno. Toys are kinda boring,” he said. “I never got into them.”
“Into toys?” Mike raised an eyebrow. “Uh… okay. Well, what toys did you have when you were younger? We can start there, I guess?”
“I don’t know, I don’t think I had a lot of toys beside court bears.”
“Court bears?”
They walked further into the store. It was kind of reminding Gregory of the first movie Cassie showed him, something with a guy named Willy. Everything was big shapes and colors, lots of mascots towering over the shelves in cardboard signage. “When you’re young and in family court all the time for foster care, people give these cheap toys to make the whole thing less scary or weird. I didn’t get it. Most of the time I just left those at the houses when I left again.”
The red eyes were still bugging him. He couldn’t think of a character that had red eyes. He didn’t know much about Freddy’s or their characters, but the red eyes seemed different. They looked different.
Mike pulled him to the shelves of action figures. “Well, maybe you’ll like these toys more than a stuffed bear. They’re at least a little more interactive.”
Gregory tried to stay in the moment and not think so much about what he saw. He let go of Mike’s hand to walk down the aisle, looking at the toys with little interest.
“Did you use to play with these?” He asked Mike, picking up some muscled, wrestler-type toy.
His foster parent shrugged. “Not really. I used to just, uh… you know, it’s kind of weird.”
Gregory looked back at him. “What?”
Mike’s face was really covered in freckles, but you can still tell when he’s blushing. He scratches his chin and chews at his lip.
“I used to just… make up stories in my head a lot and sometimes act them out.” He waved a hand in a circle. “Liz didn’t come around until I was six-ish and I still couldn’t really play with her. By the time I was your age, I couldn’t really play at all. So… stories… I guess.”
Gregory brightened, excited to learn more. “Really? What were they about? Did you have cool characters? How did you do it?
“Uh… pirates, mostly. And cowboys. A lot of the time monsters would be involved. I just thought they were cool,” he frowned to himself, thinking. “And you kind of just— it’s like writing a book, but the whole thing is in your head, you know?”
“I do that sometimes too,” he says. It’s maybe not as creative as Mike’s stories, but he thinks his people watching habits would be considered such.
For some reason, that just made Mike’s frown deeper. Like Gregory had upset him. He looks away from the kid and nods his head towards something behind him.
“I saw these things before and thought maybe you would like them.” Mike walked up and reached for the shelves filled with realistic looking animal figurines. He picked up one and held it out to him. It was a little orange cat. “I thought you and Cassie could use them to play out that book you like. And maybe we can play a little with them while I’m working. They aren’t that expensive.”
Gregory took the little cat in his hands, holding it in his palm. It was staged in a casual way, tail up high and one arm out as if it were walking. It had very small green eyes that were painted on poorly, but he didn’t mind.
“Okay,” he gave in easily. He turned around to look at the other animals. He saw they had quite a couple different cats. “Can we get a few more?”
By the end of it, Gregory had two orange cats, one black cat, two grey cats, and one big blue dragon. The dragon figurine wasn’t part of his little collection of cats, but he saw it and thought it was probably the coolest thing he’s ever seen, so Mike bought that too. He only winced a little at the final price.
They explored the store for a few more minutes before calling it quits. While exiting, Gregory’s attention was once again grabbed by Freddy’s. The show was over now and he could see some of the animatronics walking from table to table for the kids’ entertainment. His eyes caught on Freddy, watching as he happily let the kid dangle on his arm.
When Gregory had escaped harm for the second time, he ran immediately to Freddy’s. It was a close and familiar spot and for some reason the shutters weren’t down just yet despite it being one of those shops that closed earlier than most. He ran in and tried hiding behind the stage again, but he didn’t take into account that the robots would be staying there when they were closed.
He didn’t see much of them during Cassie’s party. Her favorite was Roxy, but they talked to her only a little before running off to play more games. The animatronics were usually busy with whoever paid for them the most.
Standing right before the seven feet of metal, fake fur, and plastic was more intimidating than you would think. And having them turn to look at him was even more terrifying.
He ran off again. The only one who followed him was Freddy.
Gregory looked up at Mike. “Can I go say thank you to Freddy?”
He stopped suddenly and looked at the child in confusion. “Why?”
“He helped hide me when I thought I was going to get killed by that security lady,” he explained softly. “I want to thank him.”
Mike had a hard to read expression on his face, but he ended up sighing and pulling Gregory along to enter the pizzaria. He was happy to get what he wanted, skipping just a little to keep up with Mike’s long legs.
They seemed to have arrived during a lull in business. Most of the kids were gathering up to leave and the others were starting to eat. The animatronics were quickly getting cleaned up by an employee while they stood on stage. Just like that night a little over a week ago, Freddy turned his head and looked right at Gregory.
His eyes were blue. Only blue.
Freddy waved, ears perked up in a way that seemed happy and harmless. Gregory smiled and let go of Mike’s hand to approach the animatronic.
“Hi,” he greeted softly. The robot was even taller than Mike. It made the conversation more tense than usual. “Um. I wanted to thank you for saving me that night. And for letting me hide with you. In you, I guess.”
The employee was looking between the two of them awkwardly and Gregory realized that it might be pretty weird to talk to a robot. He flushed and was about to leave back to Mike’s side when said robot spoke up.
“My pleasure, superstar!” Gregory jumped at hearing his loud voice actually speaking to him. For a split second, he wondered if he actually understood his words. Freddy tilted his massive head, staring down at him. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m okay,” he smiled up at the animatronic. This was actually pretty cool. He was talking with Freddy Fazbear. “That night was just scary. Mike helped me, though.”
He pointed behind him at his guardian. It wasn’t meant to be anything, but Mike took it as a sign to move closer towards them.
“You were broken.” Freddy said blankly, giving Mike a wave of his own, but his attention was still on Gregory. “Are you alright?”
He frowned at him, confused. Mike made him jump when he put a hand on his shoulder.
“Freddy’s only programmed with a certain amount of phrases,” he explained to the kid. “Back when I was a kid, they didn’t even have that. The most we had was a music box. I think he’s trying to ask what happened?”
The last sentence was directed more at Freddy and the animatronic nodded. Gregory hummed thoughtfully.
“That’s— nothing. I’m fine.” He moved from foot to foot uncomfortably and pushed Mike off him. He changed the subject from his issues to something else bothering him. “Hey, do any of the animatronics have big red eyes?”
Freddy’s ears shifted again. “Montgomery Gator lives in the swamps of Gator Golf. He’s a nice fellow.”
He pointed past them to one of the party rooms. Inside were kids barely listening, mostly yelling to each other, while an alligator animatronic sat on a box and sang while playing guitar. Behind his goofy looking sunglasses, Gregory could see he did, in fact, have red eyes.
He somehow was able to sense someone watching him and made direct eye contact with the kid. He didn’t stop playing, but he winked.
Gregory tore his eyes off him. He looked back at Freddy, who looked back at him expectedly. “No, um… that’s not it. Their eyes were all red. There weren't any white parts.”
“Bonnie the Bunny lives in Bonnie Bowl, but be warned, he is a killer on the lanes. See if you could beat him in a game with your day pass.”
Mike sighs from behind him. “Told you, kid. Freddy can’t say much, but I’m sure he appreciated the thanks. Right, Fred?” The animatronic perks up again and tilts his head, ears moving back and forth in a sort of curious way. Mike huffs. “Yeah, well, I should probably continue working. We only have a few hours before Jeremy takes you home. Say bye to Freddy, kid!”
Gregory was rather unsatisfied from not getting any answers from the bear, but he waved bye anyway. Freddy waved too as Gregory was pulled away.
“Goodbye, Superstar! Can’t wait to see you again!”
They left Freddy’s with eyes on them, but Gregory tried his best to ignore that and moved around Mike to fish out one of his new toys. The little grey kitten, to be exact. Something was bothering him. He thought through the night he met Freddy while he absently fiddled with the cat. Freddy seemed more alive that night. He was protective towards Gregory and he had followed him when the other animatronics just stared. He had even figured out a way to hide him. The Freddy he just spoke to seemed… blank. Even the “concern” he showed didn’t seem like the protectiveness all those nights ago.
Gregory didn’t think Mike understood how robots worked. Even if Freddy only had a few phrases he could choose from, he still tried to communicate with him. Gregory might not know much either, but that seemed a little odd.
Mike was leading them back to the security office. Gregory didn’t enjoy staying there for too long— especially not alone— but Mike couldn’t take the kid everywhere. He had shown him how the cameras worked, so at least Gregory wouldn’t be entirely isolated there. He played a little game of looking for Mike on the cameras while he finished paroling, waiting for Jeremy to get off work and take him away.
Gregory tapped the orange cat against the table as he watched the cameras. What should he name them? Mike already named one of the gray cats Smokey which was really lame. Jeremy was way more entertaining than Mike. He was like a big child himself. He’ll think of a better name.
Jeremy is an odd note in his life. According to his papers, Jeremy isn’t one of his foster parents, only Mike is. Even so, Jeremy is always there. He lives with them, he watches over him when Mike isn’t there, he hangs out with him and jokes around a lot, he tries to help with the homeschooling Gregory has to do, but he doesn’t seem to know much. Jeremy does the exact same things Mike and any other foster parent would do, but he’s not anything to Gregory. He’s pretty much a glorified nanny.
He snorted, shoving the dragon into the crowd of cats. It made a horrible scratching sound against the metal desk, but all the cats came tumbling down. A couple of them got caught on the sharp wings and scales of the dragon.
The cameras in front of him stutter and glitch. Each one. Everyone.
Gregory frowned at the screen and pressed a few buttons on the board in front of him. He shifted to a different tab and the same thing was happening with those cameras too. The cameras weren’t the best quality and a lot of them were worse than others, but they never glitched out this bad all at once.
He saw one go red and froze in his seat. He quickly clicked out of that tab and focused solely on the cameras leading to the security office. They glitched sickly, saturated colors, but never flooded completely with red.
But in the mess of warbling colors, Gregory could see shadows heading towards the door.
He jumped when someone knocked on the door.
“Hey, Gregory,” Mike called from behind the door. “Jeremy’s here to pick you up. You got all your things?”
Gregory let out a breath he wasn’t aware he was holding and sniffed. He gathered his toys and shoved them into the new backpack Mike bought him, pulling it onto his shoulders. He opens the door to the awkward smile of the two men.
“Your cameras are broken.” Gregory jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at the still wildly glitching screens. Mike craned his neck to look into the room and swore under his breath, pushing his way inside. Gregory stepped aside and watched him smack the side of the TV before reaching around it to mess with the wires.
Jeremy snorted at his friend’s pissed off fretting. He threw an arm around Gregory’s shoulder and led him out of the room, waving over his shoulder at Mike.
“You have fun with that!” He sang out to Mike. “I’mma take the kid home now! Byeee!”
Gregory twisted around and waved too. “Bye, Mike.”
Mike grumbled something and gave a cheap smile at the two before fiddling more with the cameras, smacking the top of the TV several times. Gregory vaguely heard him swearing about how he ‘never signed up to be a technician.’
It made him smile a little at his misery. He shrugged Jeremy’s arm off and removed his bag, pulling it to his chest to open it.
“I got a new backpack and a bunch of other stuff,” he told the adult. Gregory pulled out the orange cat and pushed it into Jeremy’s hands. “Here, you name that— I also got more cats and a cool dragon, but that’s mine. Mike got me a backpack and some different shirts, short and long sleeves. We didn’t get any pants though because I didn’t have enough room in the backpack. And we don’t know my size.”
Jeremy nodded through that all, lazy smile still on his face. “We can get that now, little dude. We don’t have to go home right away.”
Gregory shrugged and pulled the backpack back around his shoulders, zipped up only half way. “Okay, sure. I wanted a bigger backpack, but Mike said I didn’t need it. He doesn’t know shit.”
“Crap.”
Gregory sighed. “Crap, fine.”
Jeremy snorted, fairly ugly. “Why would you need a bigger bag? That one fits you fine.”
The bag fit perfectly on his back. Perfect for his size and for what a normal kid would need to take to school, but it was too small for Gregory. Too small for comfort.
He didn’t think his foster parent would understand it. Gregory shrugged his shoulders and glared down at the floor. “It’s fine.”
Jeremy laid a hand on the top the backpack, a rare frown on his face as he looked down at Gregory. He didn’t say anything at first, probably thinking of what to say like Mike always does. Gregory was about to snap and tell him off.
“He’s not letting you adjust much, is he?”
Gregory didn’t think he would say that.
“I, um… I mean, not really,” he looked back down at his feet as they walked, furrowing his brows in a frustrated way. “He’s— he’s not bad, but he doesn’t… he doesn’t understand anything.”
If Gregory needed to leave again, a stupid Batman backpack made for carrying folders filled with homework and some dumb toys wasn’t going to help any. He didn’t want to tell them that, however. He didn’t think it would go well.
“Did Mike ever give you a little piece of paper after he bought that?” Jeremy asked.
Gregory rolled his eyes. “I know what a receipt is, dummy. Why?”
“‘Cause we can just return that and get one you can carry a lot more in.”
Gregory whipped his head up. “What? Why? Mike bought this one for me.”
Jeremy huffed in amusement. It was starting to get annoying how much stuff this guy found funny. “Mike might be a nice guy and all, but he has such a hard time getting that some people are different than others. He tries his hardest, though, so we’ll just tell him you already ripped this one.”
Gregory smiled to himself. He rather liked the idea of being in cahoots with Mike’s friend. A bit of mischief is a sure fire way to get him on board with anything.
“We should actually rip it up,” Gregory schemed. “So if he ever checks our story, he won’t see we lied.”
“Well, it’s a perfectly fine bag, I dunno about that…”
Gregory did not have the receipt for the bag, but Jeremy said he’ll get the new bag anyway and the Batman one would just be an extra if he ever needed something smaller. Gregory was able to pick out a backpack that was for camping. On his shoulders and pulled all the way up to the smallest it could go, the bottom of the bag met his knees. It had dozens of pockets for hundreds of things. It easily fit his new clothes and toys and had room for much more. He could already tell it was one of those bags that he was going to struggle to carry after a while, but the airy, plush patting on the straps didn’t feel like it was going to cut harshly into his shoulders and collarbones.
He hopped along Jeremy with his new-new bag on his shoulders and his old-new bag swinging from Jeremy's hand as they went off to buy him even more clothes.
Soon, Gregory was thoroughly tired of the mall and was ready to go home. He followed Jeremy off to the car park nearby, hiking up the concrete incline to wherever he parked his car. The adult seemed to be struggling with all the exercise, clearly sweating under the thick jacket and the woolen beanie combo. Gregory laughed at him.
“You’re so old,” He teased him relentlessly. “It’s not even that bad.”
“Shush, little dude, I’m like… 35 or something,” Jeremy said breathlessly. Gregory laughed again.
“You don’t even know? Do you have dementia or something?”
“Alright, you big meanie,” Jeremy nodded his head towards the junkie red car ahead, pointing his keys at it so the lights lit up. “Get in the car so I can take you home and put you in time out.”
Gregory trotted his way up to the car and pulled on the passenger door to climb inside. “I’m not five, old man.”
Jeremy didn’t even look upset as he sat behind the wheel, that constant smile on his face still holding up. He took off his hat to wipe off the sweat accumulated on his brow, and it made his greasy black roots flatten out while his crispy blonde ends still stood out of the sides of his head. Gregory giggled and poked his arm. “You need to lose some weight.”
“Alright, that enough outta you,” Jeremy pushed the beanie onto Gregory’s head and pulled it over his face. Gregory yelped and grabbed at Jeremy’s hands, squeezing them as hard as he can to try and hurt him. The smell was worse than the playful attempt to suffocate him. “Shh, shhh, go to bed now.”
Gregory shoved the hat off him and fixed his hair. Jeremy tossed the hat in the back and worked on getting his coat off before they started driving.
Jeremy was kind of like a big child himself. Even before Gregory started living with them, he was always the one to play games with. Lizzie and Mike didn’t play a lot of games. Mike was too serious all the time and Lizzie was better at just acting weird and saying goofy things, but Jeremy would pick Cassie up upside down and swing her around. She would giggle and laugh so loudly and he didn’t act at all worried that the man was going to drop her. He really liked wrestling, it seemed. Cassie always tried to attack him when she saw him and he’s always playfully rough with both of them. It was actually really fun.
Moments of silence like these still made Gregory nervous. Jeremy was a big fun kid basically, but he didn’t know him as well as the others. The quiet was an unwelcome reminder of that.
Gregory still had a rather good day overall, so he decided to fix that little problem and get to know his roommate more.
“So what are you?” He asked after a minute on the road. Gregory leaned against the arm rest to stare up at the man. “Are you and Mike married? Are you dating? Is he just some guy you’re crashing with?”
Jeremy barked out a high-pitched laugh. “No, we aren't any of that. I’m his friend. His very best and closest friend.”
“But you guys live together? You sleep in the same bed,” Gregory pointed out. “That sounds like a couple.”
“Couple of besties.”
He rolled his eyes. “I’ve heard of two men adopting kids dozens of times, I’m not stupid, you know. My place didn’t do that, but I know some did. I’ve heard stories from other kids.”
“Yeah, well, right now you’re just Mike’s kid, right?” Jeremy shrugged his shoulders. “He didn’t want me on the papers yet, but maybe one day. For now, I’m just here to take care of you two. Call me a live-in nanny that doesn’t get paid and sleeps in the same bed as your dad.”
Gregory hummed absently. He fiddled with a piece of hair in front of his eyes.
“Didn’t you guys kiss once?”
“You don’t have the evidence to prove it.”
This didn’t really tell Gregory anything about the mysterious adult man in his life, but it was at least entertaining. He tried to think of something else to ask him. “How long have you known Mike?”
“Uhh,” Jeremy squinted his eyes while he thought. “Since I was about… 15? Maybe 16? Long time, basically.”
“Why did you start living with him? Don’t you want to make your own family one day?”
Something odd happened there. Jeremy grimaced for just a second before dropping the look. “I liked Mike and his family. I wanted to still be with them when they moved away, so I moved with them. Not everyone needs to get married and have kids. I like being with Mike.”
“That sounds like you like him.” Gregory teased again. Jeremy blew a raspberry that was definitely directed at him even if he couldn’t take his eyes off the road. “Where did you use to live?”
“Some small town in Utah. Actually, we lived, like, twenty-ish minutes apart for the all of highschool. Then I went to college for five years. We weren’t always together until, like… I want to say, our mid-twenties? I don’t know.”
This was rather intriguing. “What was Mike like when he was a kid?”
Jeremy laughed loudly again. “He was mean, at first. His old friends used to bully me. I don’t know if he ever did, I think he just followed their lead to seem cool, but he was a real jerk. He still was a jerk for a while after that too, but he wasn’t exactly the happiest camper, so I don’t really blame him.”
The thought of Mike being mean is a hilarious one. The older Mike that he knows is pretty mellow and a real push over. He hasn’t yelled at Gregory once. He learned very early on that he was also extremely easy to manipulate, so it was hard to imagine that guy being a bully.
“What was Lizzie like as a kid?” He asked a similar question. He pictured Cassie but paler and with very big orange hair.
“She was very confident, still is really. She was kinda the boss of the three of them. And she fought with Mike a lot. Like, all the time. Still do.” He pulled into their driveway and parked the car, reaching back behind him to suit up in his winter clothes again. “She was also always bright colors and big hair. It was the 80’s, so she was pretty on trend at the time. I don’t think she changed all that much, if you ask me.”
Gregory hopped out of the car with both his backpacks and followed the man into the house. “That’s funny, do you have pictures? Embarrassing ones, obviously.”
“Henry does, not sure we do,” Jeremy held the door open for him and took the dumb backpack for him to throw into a nearby closet with his jacket. “You know Henry, right? Have you met him?”
Gregory kicked off his shoes and tugged off his own jacket at the same time, hopping a little to stop himself from falling over. He was wearing the hoodie Mike had originally given him, but it was nice and clean, like it always was nowadays. “Nope! Never met him.”
“You’ll love him. He’s like if someone made a teddy bear into a real human man.”
Gregory laughed to himself, imagining what Freddy would look like as a human.
“Are you alright, there?”
Gregory blinked out of whatever spaced out headspace he was in. He was sitting in the snow, cold and wet blanket barely helping to keep the shivering at bay. His hands were stiff and bright red against the shadowed white snow. They were crazed and bleeding. He couldn’t feel anything. It was so cold his ears were starting to ring.
He wished he had taken that jacket.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Gregory flinched hard as a hand landed on his head, softly combing out the stiff icicles that had frozen in between the strands of hair. He slowly looked up to see who owned the intrusive hand.
A smile filled with yellow teeth and dimpled cheeks. Long hair shadowed their face. A large jacket with soft, fluffy lining in the inside of it was in their arms, locked against their chest.
“You must be freezing,” the intruder cooed, still brushing through his hair. They tilted their head, giving Gregory the slightest look at a pair of bright eyes. “I have an extra jacket, if you’d like to borrow it? Free of charge.”
Gregory’s eyes caught on the jacket once again. It looked nice and dry, like it hasn’t been out in the weather very long. There were only a few tiny snowflakes caught on the thick leather and sherpa.
It would work. And they were just offering it up like it was nothing when it was everything.
“Fr-free of charge?” Gregory’s teeth chattered, but this was an important part of the deal.
They smiled wider and nodded their head. “Cross my heart. Wouldn’t dream of anything in return.”
Gregory stared at the coat just a bit longer before tearing his frozen fingers off from where they clung to his chest and reached for the jacket.
The intruder threw it away just as his fingers grazed the soft fabric and grabbed him by his wrist, roughly pulling him towards them.
Gregory woke up gasping, breathing heavily and clutching at his blankets. His body shook with the same chills he felt in the nightmare. One of his hands was clenched in the locks on top of his head, as if he could pull the past feelings from his mind.
The edge of the blanket brushed against the still healing scar on his face and he violently kicked the blanket off of him.
He sat up in his bed, fueled by anger, and stared at the wall in front of him.
Guess he wasn’t going to bed tonight.
Notes:
I really like Mike and Jeremy being the classic “oh yeah Mike and his life time best friend Jeremy that never got married and just so happen to have a child they raise together. You know. Like best friends do”
It’s fun.
Anyways I deeply hate shopping Chapters in books I think they’re super boring and often unnecessary and in fucking everything, but whatever. Too much of this book is in a mall and I needed filler space. This was originally in Mike’s POV but it kept ending too short on the word count, so I had to scrap all of it and rewrite it in Gregory’s POV. It was longer this way anyways.
I finished all the prepped chapters!! All I need to do is power through the next updates and we are done with this book and off to something else.
Chapter 14
Summary:
What is Cassie thinking during this?
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
“What would you like to order?”
Gregory looked down at the menus — which were merely three sheets of copier paper with fake entrees written down on them— that were taped onto the table and scratched his chin in thought. Cassie giggled to herself.
“Give me…” Gregory hummed, squinting at the papers. “Give me a FazBurger with a side of FizzyFaz.”
“Okie dokie!” Cassie scribbled down the order with a laugh. She looked back up and pointed her pen. “And what would you like, sir?”
Jeremy rocked back on his butt from where he was sitting cross legged on the floor, clutching his ankles. “Uhh, pfftt, you know what? Give me a large Fazbear Pizza with all the toppings, annnd— oh! Can you put extra sausage on that?”
“Of course! Bzzzzt! Oh, one moment please.” Cassie picked up a fake phone and acted out like someone was talking to her. Lizzie smiled from where she sat on the couch and jokingly brought up her own hand to pretend she was on the other end of the phone.
“Miss Vega, can you come to my office? You just got a raise!” Lizzie lowered her voice as if to sound like an authority figure and moved her body in the tone of her words, shoulders squared and pushed back. “You’re going to be the new owner of Freddy Fazbear’s!”
“Oh no, that’s too much responsibility!” Cassie stands up from the coffee table and pretends to throw down a hat. “I quit!”
She stomps off without giving Gregory or Jeremy their meals. Gregory breaks out in laughter while Jeremy calls out dramatically, claiming to be starving. He even falls back onto the floor and feigns death. Gregory laughed more and immediately jumped on his gut, making the man cry out in shock.
Cassie giggles and hops back around to jump on her uncle too. Gregory yelps as he gets piled on, but Jeremy is the one really getting the short end of the stick. He groans at the weight of two kids on top of his stomach and smacks the floor.
“Truce, truce!” Jeremy wheezes out, trying to push the two children off. “I can breathe, you monsters.”
Cassie giggled more and rolled onto her back. Gregory squeezed himself out from under the pile and landed on his butt. He was still in Cassie’s eyesight, just upside down. He had a wide grin on his face that showed off a large gap where he was missing one of his canines. They were both still giggling, her’s turning into screeching when Jeremy carefully pushed her off him so he could sit up.
“Why don’t you guys go clean up for dinner?” He grunted as he pushed himself off the floor. “Gregory especially. You didn’t shower today and you smell so bad.”
“Shut up!” Gregory whined, glaring at Jeremy. But he did sniff under his arms to see if he did smell. He made a face and glared at Jeremy again, but addressed his friend. “Cassie, you wanna see my room? Mike got me some cool toys.”
The two of them took off to Gregory’s room without another thought, jumping and laughing at each other.
This was Cassie’s first time seeing Gregory in such a long time. The last she saw of him, he was running out the door without saying a word to her. It’s been a month since then. He was taken in by Mike during that time. Cassie’s mom didn’t let her see him for a few more weeks and she couldn’t even talk to him over the phone anymore. She couldn’t understand why, but she didn’t care anymore now that she was here with him.
Gregory looked really different. His skin wasn’t shades of red and pink, a mixture of sunburn and frostbite coloring him. His hair was very fluffy and clean now, no longer dark and greasy all the time. And he had new, clean clothes, but that caused a lot of attention to his boney limbs and scarred skin.
His hands were still very red. The skin on them was rough and cracked, leaving bloody marks over his knuckles and the creases in his fingers. She saw Jeremy putting cream on them before they started playing, but it wasn’t getting rid of anything.
He also had this cut on his face that Cassie knows wasn’t there before he ran off. It’s too fresh and it creases with his smile.
It was hard not to pay attention to that.
Her mom’s words about Gregory being in a bad situation kept haunting her. She’s mad. She wanted to help him, but her mom kept her from doing so. Why couldn’t they do anything to help him before he got hurt? Why did they wait so long to take him in? It was their fault Gregory got hurt, but that made her want to cry because they are her family. Her family weren’t bad people. They wouldn’t hurt Gregory on purpose, but why did they wait so long to help him?
Gregory’s room was pretty boring. He didn’t have anything fun in it so far. There were only a few toys and nothing on the walls. Cassie’s room has a little mural that Mike painted for her. She had stars and fairies all over her room. Gregory just had bare white walls except for one wall near his bed that was dark blue. Even his sheets were boring, just gray and white.
Why didn’t Mike give him a nice room? Wasn’t Gregory living here now?
Gregory came over with this cool looking dragon toy, smiling and creasing that scar again. “Look! Isn’t this the awesomest thing you’ve ever seen? It’s super pointy too. See?” He poked at the toy’s wings and horns, showing off how sharp the toy was. “Could you imagine what it would do if you knocked someone in the head with it?”
He mocked hitting Cassie on the head with the dragon and laughed when she flinched. Gregory handed the dragon to her and went searching through his desk drawer again for more toys, placing them on the desk once he found them. He didn’t have much at all.
“Did you spend Christmas on the streets?” She asked him, fidgeting with the dragon’s spikes.
Gregory didn’t look at her. He shrugged. Softly, he asked, “When did they tell you?”
“After you ran away. I dunno when.” Cassie shrugged as well. “Why did you run away? Why didn’t they help you?”
Gregory stopped looking through his desk drawer. He pushed it shut and stared down at the ground, starting to chew on his fingernails.
“I dunno,” he mumbled. He took his hand out of his mouth and crossed his arms. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not leaving now. It’s too cold out.”
That hurt a little to hear. He was only staying here because it was too cold out to leave. “Is that the only reason why you aren’t leaving?”
“I mean—” Gregory cut himself off with a huff. He was getting frustrated already. “No. Not really. I want to keep seeing you, and I probably wouldn’t be able to if I was placed with anyone else. Mike and Jeremy aren’t bad, they’re just weird. You’re weird.”
Cassie laughed a little which made Gregory smile again.
“You should tell Uncle Mike to make your room look nicer,” she said. “He made my room look really pretty. Maybe yours could be space themed! It has the blue already— it could be a really cool idea.”
“Maybe—” Gregory jolted suddenly and he excitedly clapped his hands. “Oh! Maybe he could make it forest-y! Like ThunderClan!”
“That would be so cool!”
“Gregory!”
He groaned loudly, throwing his head back and stomping his foot. Defeatedly, he grabbed some clothes off the floor and huffed to himself. “I need to take a shower.”
Cassie laughed at his dramatics. She followed him out of his room, but diverted ways past that. She headed back down the stairs to her mom and Uncle Jeremy while Gregory begrudgingly walked off to the bathroom.
She started to hear their conversation while she hopped down the steps.
“He sounds like he’s adjusting well, at least.” Her mom said. Cassie stepped a little quieter, tiptoeing her way to the doorway, but keeping herself hidden so she could still listen in. “I was worried he was going to stay locked in his room 24/7 like Mike used to be.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s good news,” Jeremy replied, a little further and harder to hear than her mother. “He’s usually downstairs for the most part. He’s been adjusting to us pretty well, but, like, I don’t think he’s doing all that well mentally .”
“What do you mean?”
“I dunno, like…” Jeremy trailed off. There was a bit of scraping from whatever he was cooking before he kept going. “Whenever there isn’t something distracting him, he gets really spacey. He’s still in survival mode, it feels like. We were at the mall because both of us had to work, and we tried to buy Gregory a few things, but it was difficult. He wasn’t interested in toys or video games, and everything else we bought him were stuff he could still use if he ran off again. I had to buy him a new bag because he didn’t think the school bag we got him was big enough to store a lot of stuff in.”
“He just needs time to adjust.”
“I know that. I know that more than Mike does apparently,” Jeremy sighed. Cassie had never heard him sound so tired before. He was usually so positive and calm, but he sounded so stressed right now. “We had a fight last week. He’s freaking out over this parenting thing. He’s not pushing Gregory away yet, but I’m worried he will. You know Mike.”
It was silent for a moment. Nothing but the sounds of Jeremy finishing up dinner. From the smell of it, Cassie assumed it was macaroni and hot dogs.
“Do you think this was a good idea?”
“What, uh,” Cassie’s mom cleared her throat. “What do you mean?”
“Do you think we were being stupid taking Gregory in? I mean,” Jeremy scoffed. “Like, do you think Mike is fit for this? I know he can take care of kids and he’s a good guy, but do you think he’s fit to be, like, parenting?”
Mom was quiet for a second. She sighed to herself. “I think he rushed into this. Parenting is not easy, especially parenting a kid like Gregory. What was he freaking out about?”
“He kept— keeps— having these flashbacks back to William.” William? Who was William? “When he told me about them, it sounded like he was putting himself in William’s place. I think telling him that just freaked him out more and he kept saying he wasn’t Gregory’s father— I honestly don’t know what to think.”
“He said he wasn’t his father?”
“He insists on it! He refuses to call himself Gregory’s father. I get William really fucked him up, but he, like, literally adopted a child! If he was worried about what type of father he would be, he shouldn’t have done this in the first place!”
There was a clatter of what sounded like plates and the splat sound of macaroni being scooped up and tossed onto the plate.
Cassie’s mom told her about her grandfather once. Her real one, not the one she knows as her grandpa. She knows he’s a bad person, but she never knew his name. They were talking about her grandfather, William.
Jeremy laughed in the silence. “I sound like such a dick.”
“No, no,” her mom disagreed with him. “I think you’re right. He shouldn’t have agreed to take him if he didn’t think he would be a good father. It’s not like he got knocked up like I did. He should have thought this through more.”
“Mike has never thought anything through, you know that,” Jeremy joked, punctuating it with a laugh. “Ah, well. Good thing I love the kid ‘cause we’re stuck with him now. No way we’re getting rid of him.”
Cassie heard a creak behind her and she jumped around. Gregory was standing at the foot of the stairs, eyes narrowed with a slight scowl on his face.
Did he hear all that?
Gregory walked right past her, outting their presence and alerting the adults to end the conversation. Cassie quickly followed her friend to make sure he was okay.
Jeremy smiled at the two. He presented the finished plates with a wave of a cheese-covered kitchen spoon. “Mac ‘n cheese and hotdogs! A crowd favorite.”
“Thanks, Uncle Jeremy!” Cassie took the plate, hopefully acting as her usual cheery self, and sat down at the island as her mom got up to grab some food herself.
Gregory took the plate silently and sat down next to Cassie.
He ate without a word and she was a little too anxious to speak herself, so they lapsed into a silence the adults didn’t mind. They got their own food and moved to sit on the couch instead, making some small talk about getting a real dining table, if they even had the space for it.
Cassie couldn’t tell what Gregory was thinking. Every time she looked over at him, he was just silently chewing and scowling at nothing. He was always scowling though. It’s what his face looked like all the time. She didn’t know if he was upset because of something he heard or not. She was pretty upset with what she heard, but she didn’t even know if he heard anything at all.
Out of nowhere, Jeremy came up behind them and threw a towel over Gregory’s head. The boy screamed as Jeremy aggressively shook out his still wet hair, making silly noises for effect. Gregory blindly slapped his hands in the air, trying to hit something and free himself. Jeremy yanked the towel off, leaving Gregory with his hair sticking up all over, covering his eyes, but not the grin on his lips. He turned and pushed the man back.
“Asshole!”
“No swearing!” Jeremy said in a sing-song voice. He tapped Gregory’s nose and combed his hand through his hair to fix it. “You need to ring out your hair, buddy. It’s gonna get your clothes all wet.”
“You’re still a jerk!” Gregory smacked Jeremy’s hand, but there wasn’t any real aggression in his voice. He turned back to his food. “Asshole.”
“Swearing after censoring yourself does not count as not swearing.”
Gregory cackled and shoved more food into his mouth. He had a grin on his face, nothing off about it. The smile was real, there wasn’t some unspoken tension between them or resting on top of him. He didn’t hear anything, Cassie decided as she finally touched her own food.
“When is Mike coming home?” Mom asked Jeremy, both sitting on the couch now.
Jeremy shrugged. “I think he has a 10 hour day today. He left around one-ish and said he'll be back pretty late.”
“Is Vanessa working tonight?” Gregory asked. He glanced over his shoulder, but didn’t face the adults. He had tensed up hearing about Mike.
Jeremy shrugged again.
“Who’s Vanessa?” Mom asked casually, but something changed. When Cassie looked over at them, her mom and Jeremy were sharing a look with each other. That, with Gregory suddenly clamming up, made Cassie feel like she was being left out of the loop again.
They were going to keep things from her again. “Who’s Vanessa, Ma?”
“Just one of Mike’s coworkers— it’s nothing.” Jeremy said. They shared another look with each other. Cassie grew frustrated.
“You’re lying to me again,” she glared at her mother pointedly. “You said you wouldn’t—”
A clatter of dishes made them all jump. Gregory pushed his food away and kicked himself out of his chair. “It doesn’t matter who she is! Jesus, let it go!”
Cassie reached out to try and comfort him, but he smacked her hand away and stormed off up the stairs. They all flinched again when he slammed the door behind him. She felt a surge of panic at the familiar moment and she turned it onto her mother.
“You said you would stop lying to me!” She shouted. “You said you would stop, but you’re lying again!”
“We aren’t lying to you, baby—”
Cassie took this as an opportunity to vent out every frustration she had gathered. “You are lying to me! You’re always lying to me! You didn’t tell me Gregory didn’t have a family and you didn’t tell me he got hurt! Why didn’t you help him sooner?! He looks bad!”
“We were helping him the whole time, Cas,” Jeremy said in a soft voice. “But we had to go off those rules we told you about, remember? We were the strangers to Gregory, we couldn’t just grab him from the street and stuff him in a room. That’s, like, exactly what you shouldn’t do and you know that.”
She hadn’t thought about that. She knows her family so well and trusts them strongly, that it hasn’t even occurred to her that Gregory didn’t really know them. Taking him from the streets immediately wouldn’t have helped in the way she wanted it to.
But Cassie was still mad. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“We wanted to protect you, Cassie,” her mother got up from the couch and walked over to crouch down in front of her. “This isn’t anything you need to worry about. I know you’re still going to worry about your friend, but this is adult business.”
Cassie was already starting to object, but Jeremy spoke over her in her defense.
“Keeping secrets from her isn’t gonna do anyone any good,” he argued. “Look at her now. She’s pissed off and scared for her friend. You don’t need to give her all the gory details, but just explain to her what’s going on so she’s not thinking up all this bullshit.” He scoffed, and then to himself, said, “Jesus, you and Mike are, like, the exact same.”
Mom gave him a glare, but she looked successfully shamed for being secretive to Cassie again. She was relieved someone was standing up for her so she didn’t feel like she was drowning and left behind.
Her mother sighed. She shrugged her shoulders in defeat. “Fine. You’re right. I should’ve realized the amount of stress this was causing you and just been honest. I’m sorry, baby.”
Cassie felt her eyes well up with tears. She shrugged her shoulders too. “It’s okay. Thank you…” she trailed off for a moment, hesitating. “Who is Vanessa?”
“She’s really nobody, but Gregory has been associating her with his attack.” Jeremy explained. “She works with Mike and when they found him, she had grabbed him and scared the living crap out of him. He gets really paranoid whenever Mike talks about work and asks about her a lot, but she’s really just Mike’s coworker.”
Cassie shifts anxiously on her feet. Her mom rubs her arms in order to comfort her. “Is that how he got that cut on his face? Did someone attack him?”
Mom turned around to look over her shoulder, sharing another look with her uncle. Jeremy scratched his chin, attempting to still look casual even though there was some pain and sympathy coloring his face.
“They did,” he muttered. “He got hurt. Just a bit. It was really only that cut on his face and some scrapes on his hands and knees, but the hospital assured us he was fine everywhere else. That, like, isn’t to say he’s not totally fine. It scared him bad. I haven’t met Vanessa personally, but Gregory said himself that he doesn’t know who attacked him. Vanessa was just a scary stranger that grabbed him after.”
Cassie felt even stupider for judging her family before. They would have been the scary stranger if they had just grabbed Gregory and took him in without his permission.
There was still one more question that she had to ask.
“Does Mike not love Gregory?”
Alarm ran through both of their expressions. Her mom squeezed her arms comfortingly. “What do you mean?”
“Before dinner was ready,” Cassie mumbled anxiously. “I heard you guys talking. You said Mike didn’t want to be Gregory’s dad. And you talked about your dad, William, and about fighting with each other— does Mike not like Gregory?”
“No, no, no, baby,” her mother started rubbing her arms again, causing her to look into her eyes again. “Mike loves Gregory. He does, trust me. Your uncle is just… he’s just like this. It’s hard for him to connect with people. Especially… especially after your grandfather William.”
“But we do love Gregory,” Jeremy cut in. He pushed himself off the couch and came up to the two girls. “Trust me. He’s not going anywhere any time soon.”
Cassie had a bad feeling in her gut. She remembered what Gregory had said about it being too cold out to leave now and how Jeremy said he had to get a bigger backpack because he was worried about what would fit in there. She didn’t know how much she believed that he would stay.
“Do you know if Gregory heard anything?”
She looked back up at Jeremy. He looked worried. Very worried. “I don’t know. I heard him come down just before we came to eat, but I don’t know what he heard. I couldn’t tell.”
“That’s cool, that’s fine,” Jeremy turned his head towards the stairs, face pinched anxiously. “I’m going to talk to him for a minute. Sorry.”
“That’s okay,” her mom grunted as she pushed herself to her feet, cracking her back. “We should probably get going anyway. Why don’t you run upstairs and try getting Gregory to come down and say goodbye?”
Cassie nodded and quietly made her way upstairs to her friend’s room. She knocked on the door softly when she arrived at it. “Gregory? We’re going to leave soon. Can I say goodbye?”
It was silent on the other side, but it didn’t take long for it to open and Gregory to wrap his arms around her without saying a word.
Cassie hugged him back, swallowing harshly against a lump in her throat. “Please don’t leave, Gregory,” she pleaded quietly. “Please?”
“I’m not going to,” he mumbled back with a bitter tone to it. “It’s too cold.”
Cassie hugged him tighter. “Please.”
Gregory sighed. “I won’t leave, okay? It’s fine here.”
She still didn’t feel all that convinced. She hated this. He was very stubborn and very scared of people, and she didn’t know what she could do to help. She couldn’t do anything, really. Cassie was helpless to what her mom and uncles decided to tell her. She didn’t have any way to get here without someone driving her and she didn’t have a phone of her own to stay in contact with him.
Cassie was helpless.
“I love you, you know?” She sniffled miserably. “You’re my best friend.”
Gregory sighs again. He pushes his weight against Cassie, heavy with exhaustion. “You’re my best friend too, Cas…”
Notes:
We have a MASSIVE snow storm in the Midwest rn but I still have work lol.
Here’s Cassie. I didn’t realize this until I actually wrote it but I haven’t written in Cassie’s POV yet??? What???? Anyway I love writing children feeling betrayed because of simple lies trying to protect them. It’s a weird thing to like, sure, but a child feeling betrayed is so much more raw than an adult. Especially if it’s something they’re being left out on like the safety of her best friend.
Okay see ya again for a doozer
Chapter 15
Summary:
Mike gets a little sick. Long time coming, honestly.
Chapter Text
Nightmares suck.
Mike had just turned thirty-five and he’s still shaking from nightmares.
They haven’t been too bad for awhile now, it only started getting bad when news about William getting released was hitting their radar. They’ve been worse since Gregory was found.
This one in particular made him sick. He had jumped from Jeremy’s side and ran to the bathroom to puke up everything in his stomach into the toilet. He hasn’t been keeping down a lot lately. Maybe he was getting sick.
By some miracle, he hadn’t woken either of the two. Instead of going back to bed still sweating and nauseous, Mike took a shower and crashed on the couch downstairs for however long left he had until people started waking up.
His dream was gory and disgusting and downright terrifying.
He didn’t even remember too much, his mind immediately blacking it out after he woke up to try and protect himself from the horror. But he remembers parts of it. Horrible parts.
Mike remembers labyrinths of halls, twisting like mazes in the mall he works at. He remembers twisted and broken animatronics charging at him. He remembers Freddy, usually so bright and shiny, rusted with thick, black blood. And he remembered a small boy with a mangled, indistinguishable face.
That’s when he woke up and vomited all over the place.
Mike closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself. He’s dealt with nightmares for so long. It’s ironic and not at all funny that he used to bully Evan for his nightmares when these are the reactions he has to his own. Horribly unhealthy coping mechanism that he is very thankful he grew out of.
He wonders if Evan ever forgave him for how he used to act. Did he ever apologize?
Would he act the same when Gregory has nightmares?
Mike let out a sigh he was holding in and groaned, rubbing his forehead. He sat up on the couch and dragged his hands over his whole face before letting them drop into his lap.
Maybe he needs to start seeing a therapist again, but he doubts he has the money for that. Maybe he just needs to call Evan and talk to him to relieve his guilty conscience. He hasn’t talked to him since thanksgiving.
Mike was too lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t notice someone had come up behind him until he heard a startled swear.
“Fuck—!” Mike swiveled around, startled himself. The small outline of Gregory was just barely visible in the low light, but Mike was able to adjust to the darkness easily. He saw his very much not mangled face glaring at him. “What are you doing down here? Did Jeremy kick you out of bed?”
The accusatory tone was awfully funny considering this was Mike’s house and he could technically go wherever he wanted. He shook that thought away and focused back on the kid. “What’re you doing up?”
“What are you doing up?” He shot back. Mike huffed. Gregory rolled his eyes and headed to the kitchen. “I’m getting food.”
“Did you not eat?”
“I did. I’m just hungry.”
“Okay, okay,” Mike put his hands up in surrender. “I get it. Sorry for bugging you.”
Gregory didn’t say anything in response. He turned on the light in the kitchen, squinting at the brightness, and started going through the cabinets. He started piling things up in his arms— cookies, crackers, fruit snacks, Mike suddenly understood why they’ve been running out of food so much faster.
“Have you been hoarding?” He asked.
Gregory shot him a look, stopping his scavenging for a moment to look a bit ashamed and embarrassed. “No…”
“Sorry— that’s fine,” Mike fumbled for a second on what to say. “Sorry, um… I used to do stuff like that too. I would have liked to know that though. We’ve been grocery shopping every week, pretty much.”
A bit of guilt joined the shame. “Sorry…”
“It’s fine, really,” Mike tried to think of what to say past that, but was drawing a blank. He noticed Gregory struggling a little to hold everything. He patted the spot next to him on the couch. “Why don’t you sit and eat? I’m kinda hungry too. Plus, it would be less for you to carry.”
Gregory hesitated, but then the box of crackers almost slipped from on top of the cookies, sacrificing a couple little handfuls of fruit snack pouches to keep it up. He sighed and bent down to grab them before taking all his food to the couch, dropping them onto the coffee table so he could sit down. He ripped open the pack of cookies and started munching on their chocolate chip goodness. Mike took one for himself as well.
“You didn’t tell me why you were up?” He questioned the kid again as he took a bite.
Gregory grumbled to himself. “Sleeping’s hard. It’s really quiet here.”
“Really?” Mike talked through his chewing. He swallowed. “You used to sleep through anything. Is your room bugging you?”
“No, it’s fine,” Gregory shrugged his shoulders, avoiding eye contact. “Just not sleeping.”
A thick silence came between them again. Mike scratched anxiously at his arms. There was this awkwardness he felt towards Gregory now. Some strange anxiety that kept him from bonding with the kid. He was his ward now, he should be closer with him. Jeremy and Lizzie were closer with him than Mike was. He used to laugh and chat with the kid easily, but after fostering him, something changed.
He wasn’t meant to be a father and he knew it. He never wanted kids in the first place for this exact reason.
“I can’t sleep either.”
Gregory glanced up at him, chewing slowly.
Mike cleared his throat. “My sleep schedule is horrible. Usually it’s work related, but right now it’s mostly nightmares. Bad dreams. That’s why I’m down here. I had a bad dream and I didn’t want to bother Jeremy so I came to cool off on the couch instead.”
He didn’t know why he was telling the kid this. He was kind of desperate to talk about anything with him to get rid of this uncomfortable feeling between them.
Gregory stopped chewing. He didn’t reach for another cookie. Instead, he reached for Mike.
He scooted over to Mike and leaned against his side again, curling his bony legs up to tuck himself even further into him. Mike held his breath as he raised one of his arms and draped it across the kid’s back, trying to rub it in a poor form of comfort.
Gregory sighed quietly. “I keep having nightmares about what happened to me.”
Mike felt a sudden pain in his chest. “You have, huh?”
He nodded. “That’s never happened before. You’ve read my files. I’m smarter than that. I know never to trust anyone.”
“But you trust us, right?” Mike prayed that he did. He would hate it if the kid really didn’t trust them and just felt trapped here. When Gregory didn’t respond soon enough for his liking, Mike shifted uncomfortably and quickly brushed past it. “It’s okay, don’t answer that. I didn’t mean to put that pressure on you.”
Gregory ignored the question entirely, pushing himself deeper into Mike’s side. “You made me think that guy could be trusted. I don’t— that’s never happened before. I don’t know why… I’m still so scared.”
That last part was said so softly, so vulnerable. Mike didn’t need any verbal confirmation that Gregory trusted him, he wouldn’t be here with him if he didn’t.
“I’m always scared. I feel like I’ve been scared my whole life.” Mike rubbed Gregory’s back when he felt him shiver. He wondered if he should stop for a second to grab a blanket, but decided against it. He didn’t want to break away from Gregory for even one second. “From the second I opened my eyes I’ve been scared to death, but I’ve always pretended to be strong. I was a mean kid and I never asked for help. I’ve always been a scared coward. But you are strong, Gregory. You survived on your own for so long, but you know how to play it safe. When that man mugged you, it scared you and really hurt your confidence too, but here you are now, talking to me and letting yourself get closer to others. If that were me when I was your age, I would have shut my mouth and kept it all to myself. You are one of the strongest people I’ve ever met.”
Mike lifted up his other arm and tried out the little hair brushing trick. He could feel light trembles racking through the kid, so he pulled him closer to see if that would help warm him up. When he heard a quiet sniffle, he realized it wasn’t chills that were making him shake.
That was enough talking for tonight. He decided it would just overwhelm Gregory more and the kid really needed to get some sleep.
Mike was absolutely miserable.
He woke up close to noon with Gregory missing from his side and his stomach cramping up horribly. Someone had covered him in a blanket, but it was making him sweat like crazy and this disgusting taste sat on his tongue.
He realized suddenly that he seriously needed to puke.
He fell off the couch and stumbled to the bathroom to spit up what little was in his stomach. It didn’t take long for it to be over with and he crashed onto the tiles beneath him, shaking against the cool floor.
All the overworking, anxiety, and nightmares were finally catching up to him. Mike was truly sick.
“Shit,” Jeremy sounded like he was so far away, but Mike felt his warm hands press against his even warmer face. “Are you okay? Mike?”
He could only groan miserably.
“Is he okay?” Another worried voice joined the group. It took him a minute to realize it was Gregory. He rolled his head on the ground to try and see the kid, but all he could see was a blurry silhouette of him.
“He’s definitely running a fever,” Jeremy answered. He pushed coiled hair back and tried wiping away some of the sweat gathering on his brow. “Shit, I told you this would happen. You need to eat, dude.”
“This is not the time…” Mike whined, shifting into a groan as his stomach churned again. Jeremy quickly got the message and helped pull Mike up so he could gag over the toilet. Nothing came out in the end.
His partner and friend rubbed his back, shushing him softly, but still scolded him in a softer tone.
“You’re calling out of work today, I don’t care,” he said firmly, worry coloring every word. “You are not fit to work like this, okay? No arguing.”
“Shouldn’t you be at work?” Mike slurred his words through the disgusting drool sticking to his mouth.
“I’ll call Ness and tell her I’ll be late. She can cover for me, it’s fine.” He carefully pulled Mike’s head out of the toilet bowl and wiped his face with a wet towel. If Mike didn’t feel so terrible, he probably would have made a complaint about being treated like a child.
Speaking of.
“Gregory?” He mumbled out to the kid he had almost forgotten about. “Are you alright?”
The boy in question was standing at the door in the same pajamas as he wore last night. He stared with frightened eyes. In Mike’s delirium, he felt guilty for causing the kid to worry.
“I’m fine,” Gregory said quietly. He picked at the healing scabs on his hands. “Are you sick?”
“He’s sick, alright,” Jeremy interjected with a sigh. He tossed the soiled towel into the hamper across from him. “This was bound to happen. Fucker doesn’t know how to take care of himself. Can you do me a favor and open our bedroom door for me? I gotta get him into bed, but he’s a fucking giant.”
Mike wanted to scold him about swearing in front of Gregory, but he felt like everything else inside him would spew out if he opened his mouth again.
He blurrily saw the kid run off to do as he’s told and felt Jeremy’s arms wrapping under him to haul him up. His head swam like dizzying whirlpools sucking him down into the ground.
Despite what Jeremy had said previously, this wasn’t too often of an occurrence. Most of the time when Mike overworked himself, he would just burn out and spend most of his time off rotting in his bed or on the couch. The added combination of not eating enough and constant stressing over Gregory as well as the extra work he had to do to get Gregory all mixed together into a fever he has been trying so hard to ignore the signs to.
Jeremy carried him all the way up to their room, having to kick Brownie out from under the bed so she wouldn’t bug Mike while he was resting.
Now gently placed into bed— scratch that, Jeremy practically dropped him five inches from safety— Mike was haphazardly wrapped in a thin blanket to satisfy his contradicting body temperature. He whined again as Jeremy’s warm hands wiped away some more sweat from his face.
“You’re so needy when sick, I almost don’t want to leave you,” he cooed pitifully. Mike could hear the mocking pout in his voice without having to see it. “I’ll be back before dinner, okay? Gregory will just sit in his room and work on his schoolwork. He’ll be fine, just try not to get out of bed, got it?”
The thought of leaving Gregory alone for the whole day didn’t sit right with Mike. He really didn’t want the kid to fend for himself again. He wasn’t allowed to babysit Lizzie and Evan when they moved in with Henry because he was awfully neglectful towards their needs and let them do whatever they wanted with close to no supervision. He got in trouble many times for leaving them to make their own food in the oven or microwave. He didn’t want to do that to Gregory.
He tried to voice that to Jeremy, but he just shushed him again and pushed him back into bed.
Gregory will be fine. He knows he will. He just had a conversation with him not even a few hours ago about how strong and resilient he was, Gregory would have no problem sitting by himself for half a day.
But if Mike was good at anything, it was worrying himself sick. Literally in this case.
For the next couple of hours, Mike spent his time overthinking, moaning pathetically, and somewhat conscious. It was similar to how he spent most of his childhood. He couldn’t exactly pinpoint when Gregory came in after Jeremy left for work, but he brought that Freddy bear Mike had given him at the adoption agency, and sat away on the floor to work on some schoolwork. Once or twice he tried asking Mike a question about it, but expecting him to think was out of the question, so Mike would just mumble something incoherently.
With the bear and the quiet scribbling on paper, Mike felt a weird sensation of deja vu. He squeezed the bear to his chest and felt his lungs clenching strangely.
He mumbled to himself quietly as he realized what this all reminded him of. “Evan…”
Gregory looked up from where he was doodling on his math worksheet instead of solving the problems. “What?”
“Evan.” Mike tried to say clearer. He blinked, but his eyes stayed closed for a minute. “I used to be a bad brother. To Evan.” The kid didn’t say anything, but Mike was starting to drift off and he couldn’t really think about what he was saying. “Do you think I’m a bad father, Evan? Or, uh, not Evan, no…”
Quiet. Quiet enough for Mike to drift off a little before slowly waking back up to a voice. “No… why?”
He didn’t sound like Evan. “I don’t know what ’m doing. I didn’t want kids, but Gregory’s good kid. I don’t know if I can be his father. ‘M not good enough for that.”
“You’re not bad.”
Mike shook his head— more like nuzzling into the pillow, but he meant to shake his head. “No. I’ll hurt him like Evan and Lizzie. I don’t want to do that. ‘S good kid.”
“He’s a bad kid.”
“Shut up. He’s the best kid.”
There was a laugh. Not Evan’s. Evan doesn’t laugh in such a loud and snarky way. But it sounded pleased either way.
“I don’t wanna be a father…” he started slipping further and further into sleep.
Mike was seconds away from falling deep asleep, but there was one more thing said into the stuffie air.
“Sorry, Mike,” a soft voice apologized, sounding so much like a soft spoken Evan. “I’ll try to be better.”
Notes:
Kinda short and boring but chapters get like that so that they could build up to something bigger. Yah know?
This chapter is basically like. Mike really wasn’t a good “parent” to his siblings even tho I know he was only a child himself. But that still would fuck him up now that he’s responsible for a kid again. He has bad connotations with fatherhood and also bad connotations with raising kids. He still kinda sees his siblings as little kids, especially Evan bc he is his BABY brother like they have like a 10 year age gap I think idk it’s been awhile. But anyway he still really likes Gregory that’s obvious, he just needs to stop thinking of the past and shit honestly.
Next chapter next week all that shit you know already.
Chapter Text
For the most part, Gregory has been better. He hasn’t been much of a problem for Mike since he’s moved in. He eats his food, remembers to clean himself up, doesn’t make too many messes— not to say he’s the cleanest kid, but he tries to clean up after himself. He hasn’t argued too much or refused to do something. He was trying to be on his best behavior. He could be a good kid, he believes he can if he just tries a little harder. Mike believed in that much.
Maybe he just didn’t care enough before. And he does care more now. He cares that he stays with this family as long as he could because this is the only family that is making him feel normal. Even if he’s not going to school like regular kids and even if he doesn’t have the most basic family members, he still feels normal with them. Probably because they’re all so weird, so he doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb.
The only con that comes with a normal family is family events. Especially when you are brand new to the family and it’s basically getting trapped in a house with very similar looking strangers.
Gregory was getting dragged along to Cassie’s house to celebrate Lizzie’s birthday. As annoying as it was, Mike was complaining more about it than Gregory was.
“I don’t know why she’s doing this,” Mike was still complaining as Jeremy drove them there. “She sees us all the time, why does she need a birthday party to force us together. We were all together for Christmas not long ago anyways. And Thanksgiving!”
“Not all of us,” Jeremy said pointedly. Gregory didn’t need to be a genius to know they were talking about him. “Besides, this’ll be fun! You don’t turn 30 everyday.”
“When I turned 30, I went to work and you forced me to buy a cake to celebrate the next morning.”
“Lizzie has more of a zest for life than you do, douche.”
As fun as it is to hear Mike and Jeremy bickering back and forth, Gregory needed some sort of reassurance that this wasn’t going to be horrifically awkward for him. “Who’s going to be there?”
Mike turned in his seat. “Lizzie, Cassie, my uncle Henry, Evan and his girlfriend I think are coming too. Probably a couple of Lizzie’s friends. Maybe Henry’s son Sam. Maybe Sam’s wife.”
That was a lot of people. Gregory shrank against the old leather seats behind him.
Mike turned back around, looking at his friend anxiously. “I don’t think we should go.”
“Too late, we’re already on the road!” Jeremy defiantly shook his head. “Now shut up and tell me what you want from Mickey’s.”
Jeremy could bribe him with happy meals all he wants, but that wasn’t going to stop the dreaded anxiety bubbling in his stomach. Gregory didn’t like strangers, that has always been the case, but it has been a lot more frightening lately than before. He used to be comfortably wary before, but now, if someone he didn’t already know tries to talk to him, he’ll freeze up. It was a problem, it put him in danger. He hates how he lost his confidence to take care of himself.
Mike had called him strong. Gregory had promised to be better. This was his chance to prove Mike right, and to prove he was still strong like he believed he was. Gregory could be strong if he wanted to.
They were all long finished with their meals by the time they got to the house. It wasn’t Cassie’s like he thought it would be. Instead, it was a small, one story house that sat at the end of a long driveway. There were a couple cars already parked in the slushy winter grass. They pulled up next to a SUV and started the noisy circus of unbuckling their seatbelts with the fabric-on-fabric sound of their jackets rubbing against the seats.
Gregory hopped out of the car into the mud below. He waited for Mike to get out next, then Jeremy who shivered in the cold like he always did. Despite this, he smiled widely at the two grumpier boys.
“Oh, c’mon!” He laughed at them, stupidly stomping his foot in the mud. “Aren’t you excited? Gregory gets to see the whole family today! And we get to see Evan again, I miss that kid.”
Mike still grumbled to himself, but he smiled flatly down at Gregory and gave him his hand. He took it with a sniffle from his running nose and they headed to the porch of the house. Cassie wasted no time running out the door to Gregory, throwing herself into a hug like she always did. He was getting better at catching her so he didn’t get startled and thrown off his feet.
“Gregory!” She cheered excitedly as they hugged. She pulled away and hopped on her toes. “I’m so excited you're here! Everyone’s here! You haven’t met them all yet, I have to introduce you! Come on, come on!”
Cassie grabbed him by his hand and pulled him inside. She instructed him to wipe his shoes on the mat before entering, and then they had to pull off all their winter gear and throw it onto the wardrobe next to the door, but after that, Cassie was excitedly dragging him around the house.
“This is my grandpa Henry! This is his house we’re at now.” She had pulled him over to a man standing by the counters that were filled with cheese and crackers. He had a thick graying beard and thinning gray hair, square glasses on a hooked nose, and a large round gut. He wasn’t as tall as Mike or Lizzie, but his weight still made him look big to Gregory. Most people were big to him anyway. Cassie tapped his arm rapidly to get his attention. “Grandpa Henry! This is my friend, Gregory!”
When he turned to the two kids, the old man smiled brightly. His dark brown eyes were aged and tired, but warm as the sun. He put his hands on his hips and brightened further.
“Gregory!” He exclaimed in a deep tone of voice. He didn’t have the gravel or accent in his voice that Mike and Lizzie had, he actually had a slight twang to it that reminded him of his caseworker. He tossed his hand out to him, large and hairy. “It’s wonderful to finally meet you! Everyone has told me so much about you, I’m glad I’ve been given the chance to see you today! How are you liking it over at Mike’s place?”
Gregory didn’t respond. He felt tense and uncomfortable meeting the man. He swallowed and looked away, searching for Mike and Jeremy who hadn't entered yet by the looks of it. He saw Grandpa Henry pull his hand back when he wasn’t getting any response.
“Ah, not to worry, kid. I don’t mean to make you nervous. I’ll let you two go,” he said. He didn’t sound upset that Gregory refused to acknowledge him. Instead, he turned his sights on Cassie and scooped her up in a hug. She shrieked in laughter as her grandfather squeezed her tight in his big arms. “But not without a hug, of course!”
Gregory stepped away from the two, awkwardly grasping his hands as he waited for his friend to come back to him again. He saw Mike and Jeremy finally come in from outside. Lizzie came out of nowhere to give Mike a hug, who returned it in a stiff manner. Jeremy was a lot more comfortable hugging her, complementing her new, big hairdo. She moved away from them to head further inside, greeting more people with a similar excitement to her daughter. Despite the obvious differences in hair color and age, Cassie looked a lot like her mom when she was excited and running around like this.
Speaking of, Cassie was dropped back on the floor beside him, still giggling from the hug. She sobered up a little when she turned back towards him.
“Are you feeling okay?” She asked softly. “I heard Uncle Mike was sick last week. Are you sick now?”
Gregory shook his head. “No, I’m fine.”
“Then why didn’t you say hi to Grandpa Henry? He’s pretty much your grandpa too.” Cassie moved from foot to foot, fidgeting with her multi-colored bracelets.
“I just didn’t feel like talking.” Gregory answered with a bit of a bite to his words. Cassie wilted a little, making him feel bad. “Who else is here?”
“Just some of my mom’s friends, and my Uncle Evan and his girlfriend right now. Do you want to meet them or…” she trailed off, mumbling. He appreciated her asking this time, so he looked around the open area. He nodded to two unfamiliar faces talking with Lizzie and Mike.
“Is that them?” He asked.
Cassie nodded. “His girlfriend is next to him. Her name is Cassidy. I remember because it’s almost my name, but not really.”
Uncle Evan was taller than both his siblings and had darker skin too. He looked a lot different, but with them all standing next to each other, he could see a few similarities. He had a similar face shape as Lizzie and a similar nose. They all had the same gaps in their teeth and deeply cut dimples in their cheeks. Mike and Evan both had the same anxiousness about them, while Lizzie was so confident and took up so much space with her energy.
None of them looked like Grandpa Henry and it reminded him that he wasn’t their real father, like Cassie had told him a long time ago. He wondered what their real parents looked like, what they shared with them.
He remembered what Mike told him about his father and decided that it wasn’t worth it to know.
Evan’s girlfriend was significantly shorter than him and very pale with jet black hair. She had a long face with a long nose, and dark blue eyes that watched the three siblings talk with interest. She must’ve sensed him staring because her eyes suddenly met his. She gave him an empty, but polite smile and a small wave.
“They’re really nice,” Cassie said beside him in a hopeful tone, like she was trying to get him to talk again. “Uncle Evan more than Cassidy. Mom says she doesn’t know how to act around kids, but she’s still nice. Evan doesn’t talk much either, so maybe you’ll like him.”
Gregory shrugged. He didn’t think anyone would be mean, but strangers still made him nervous. His plan for today was just to stick by Cassie.
But Lizzie noticed him as well and smiled, waving cheerfully at him. He gained attention from them all. Gregory reminded himself that he wanted to be a better kid for Mike so he wasn’t disappointed in him.
So he waved back and Cassie pulled him over to say hi again.
Evan was rather nice. He seemed just as awkward as Mike, but he didn’t try to make friends physically like Henry did. He had said hello and introduced himself, but didn’t ask him many questions. Cassidy had just smiled when she was introduced. Gregory gave Lizzie a quick hug and forced out a happy birthday for her before he was finally free to play with his friend and stop all the talking.
Like usual, Jeremy was happy to play along with them. They set up a dumb board game at a table not filled with food and presents, and started making up rules to play when they realized they had lost the instructions. Gregory was having trouble keeping up without any real rules, but still laughed along with them.
At one point, Cassie’s grandpa had wandered over and asked if he could join. Both Cassie and Jeremy were happy to let him, but Gregory just shrugged and quieted down. Henry had sat across from them next to Jeremy, squinting as he tried to understand the rules as the two talked over each other trying to explain it.
“I’m not sure this is how it’s played…” the old man narrowed his eyes and scratched his beard, looking down at his little metal thimble in puzzlement. Cassie giggled to herself. He glanced over his glasses at Gregory. “Do you get any of this? Is it just my mind leaving me?”
Gregory snorted, looking down at the table. Cassie pressed against his side. “He’s in last place.”
“It’s math,” he snapped at her in defense. He flicked his messy stack of fake money. “I’m not good at math.”
“Well, lucky for you, son. I know someone who is fantastic at math. Evan!” Henry called for the stranger, who jolted at the sound of his name. He said something to his girlfriend quickly before rushing off to the group.
Once again, Cassie and Jeremy clumsily tried explaining their made up rules to the new player. Evan seemed to understand better than Gregory did and was happy to advise them. It was a little nerve wracking to have him stand behind Gregory to look at what he had, but he kept himself still so he didn’t feel Evan behind him. He was still having fun despite the fact he would tense up every time Evan would come around his side.
“Jeremy, you have no properties or anything— where are you getting all this money?” Evan questioned with his arms crossed, looking down at the older man from his round frames. Jeremy simply shrugged with an easy smile. “Are you stealing from the bank when I’m helping the kids?”
“I’m a bank robber! Give me that cash!” Jeremy exclaimed and threw himself across the table to grab at the kids’ money, causing all the little figures and houses to scatter everywhere. Cassie shouted in offensive and tried wrestling her money from Jeremy’s fists while Gregory laughed at the chaos.
“I was winning!” Henry complained lightheartedly.
“You really weren’t,” Evan said apologetic over all the shouting for Jeremy and the kids. “You were in a lot of debt.”
Jeremy cackled madly with all his fake money spilling from his hands. He pushed himself from the table and ran off, making a mess of the floor with little figures falling everywhere. Cassie huffed and pulled Gregory along to run after her uncle.
He let Cassie run ahead of him when he noticed Mike stuffing something in his hoodie pockets. When Gregory narrowed his eyes at him, he stared back with large eyes, clearly caught in the act.
Gregory smiled mischievously. “Did he give you money?”
“No…” Mike said, very obviously suspicious.
The kid laughed and pounced on Mike’s arm, trying to pull it out of his pocket by leaning as far back as he could and pushing on the ground with his socked feet. Mike crowed and leaned back to try and combat the attack, using his other hand to try and pry Gregory’s little hands from his arm. Sucks for him, because Gregory never lets go if he puts his mind to something.
“I don’t have any, I promise!” Mike lied straight through his teeth. Gregory blew a raspberry at him so he knew exactly what he thought of his statement.
He eventually got to shove his hands into Mike’s pocket, pulling out a couple crumpled papers of fake money. He laughed victoriously and smacked Mike on the back of the head.
“Ow!”
“That’s what you get for being a thief!” Gregory announced. He got back to his feet and called out for his friend. “Cassie! Mike was in on it! Let’s kill him!”
They didn’t kill Mike, obviously. Instead, it started to calm down after beating Mike with couch pillows. They crudely cleaned up their game and settled on just talking amongst themselves. Cassie and Gregory sat in front of the TV and talked to each other, briefly getting sucked into the program every now and again. The adults were all sitting on the chairs and couches.
At some point, they tried to include Gregory to get to know him better.
“So how have they been treating you, son?” Henry asked from a leather lounging chair beside the couch. Gregory looked away from the TV to the old man. “Has it been fun? It’s only been a few weeks now, hasn’t it?”
“‘Bout a month.” Jeremy answered, sitting on the arm of the couch and leaning heavily into Mike’s side.
A month sounded like such a long time. It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, but at the same time, Gregory feels like he’s known them all for ages. He feels like it’s barely been a few days since he’s started living with them.
“It’s been fine,” he said to Cassie’s grandpa. Jeremy snorted. “What?”
“That’s just your favorite thing to say, I dunno,” he shrugged and easily changed the subject. “Don’t worry about me, just keep talking.”
Henry let out a gruff laugh himself. “With that one watching over him, I’m sure you have your work cut out for you, huh, Mike?”
Mike started at being brought into the conversation, almost as if he had his mind on other things. “Hm? Uh, well, Jeremy’s actually been a pretty big help. I’ve still been working a lot of nights, so he’s watching him while I’m at work and I watch him during the day. He’s pretty much a big kid himself, so he’s good at entertaining them.”
Jeremy flicked his temple and snickered when Mike smacked his arm back.
“I’m glad getting a child together has really helped you two mature.” Henry quipped flatly, but still clearly amused. Lizzie let out a groan.
“Don’t get me started on that,” she pointed accusingly at her older brother, who in turn glared at her. “He’s no better than a child himself. I don’t think he’ll ever mature.”
“Anyway,” Henry turned the conversation back to Gregory, much to his chagrin. “Besides those two, has it been going well? How have you managed school?”
Gregory shrugged. “I’m homeschooled. I fell really behind so I would have been, like, really held back. Mike helps me with school work.”
Being homeschooled wasn’t that big of a deal to him. He hated school when he was younger. It was hard to keep up and make friends when he was moving so much. It gets a little hard to focus sometimes and it could get super boring staying in the house all day, but Mike and Jeremy take him out a lot. There are times he wished he could be in school with Cassie, but he wouldn’t be in her grade even if they were in the same town.
“Well, that’s okay,” Cassie’s grandpa sat back with a smile. “School was such a hard time when Mike and his brother and sister came to live with me. I think it’s better for a kid to get used to the family before sticking them into a new school, but I didn’t think I could step up and homeschool all three of them at the time. I didn’t even have Jolene back then! It would have been a nightmare.”
Jeremy nodded. “I moved so much as a kid, it really fu—” he was given a glare from multiple people in the room. “—messed up my learning. You don’t know how much I begged to be homeschooled. Especially during highschool.”
Henry let out a laugh.
“Mike said you adopted him when he was older…” Gregory thought for a moment to try and remember what he was told. “When he was fifteen, right?”
Mike opened his mouth to object to something, but was drowned out by Henry’s boisterous voice. “That’s right! Mike had just turned fifteen, Lizzie was nine, and little Evan was only six. Very different ages, I would never be able to teach them all effectively.”
“That’s so weird,” Cassie giggled. She laid back on the ground and pointed at her mom. “You were my age at some point. Now you’re old.”
Lizzie narrowed her eyes and tossed a pillow at her daughter’s head, who giggled more and latched around the pillow, hugging it to her chest.
“Was Henry your only other father?” Gregory asked curiously. He got confused looks from all of them. “I mean, the older you get, the harder you are to place. And with siblings is even harder. I heard lots of stories about siblings being broken up. How many houses did you guys go through?”
“Oh,” looks of understanding passed by all of their faces. Mike’s looked a bit guilty too. “No, uh… Henry was a friend of our father. He was made Godfather of all of us and that’s why we went to stay with him. We were never in the system.”
Gregory hummed. He’s had foster parents before that were part of the system at one point themselves, but this was a new situation. He thought Henry was just someone who adopted them, not someone they knew beforehand.
Cassie perked back up. “Wait, you guys were adopted too?”
“Not technically—”
“No, you all were,” Henry interrupted Mike with a shake of his head. “I adopted all of you. You’ve officially been my children for years now.”
“Yeah, but not really,” Mike argued. “It was just a formality so that we could stay in your house.”
Jeremy suddenly elbowed Mike’s shoulder, cutting him short from any more arguments. He hissed and glared at his friend, but pointedly said nothing else when Jeremy gave him a look.
“I thought Henry was just my grandpa,” Cassie scrunched her eyebrows together. “Like how Jeremy is my uncle when he’s not related to me. Or like Uncle Sam. But does that mean he’s actually my grandpa?”
Gregory frowned at the uncomfortable faces in front of him. How could Cassie know so little about her own family?
Mike suddenly clapped his hands and pushed himself off the couch. “I think it’s time for cake. I’m eating some cake.”
Lizzie got up herself to follow after Mike, hurriedly whispering to him. Jeremy followed quickly behind them. Henry and Evan had their own hushed conversation, watching the trio run off. They all abandoned the conversation.
Specifically, abandoning Cassie with no further explanation.
She huffed and turned back to the TV, face scrunched up in hurt. Gregory remembered that argument a few weeks ago that he tried to ignore. The one where Cassie felt as if she was being lied to and had yelled at her mom that she promised not to lie to her anymore. Along with conversation about Mike not wanting to be his father and how Cassie had definitely heard that too. She had begged him not to leave after that. He promised he wouldn’t, not just because it was too cold out, but because he didn’t want to leave her.
He didn’t need to. He realized that now.
Gregory promised to be a good kid for Mike and to not leave Cassie, but Mike still wasn’t changing his mind and people were still lying to Cassie. He didn’t need to be a good kid for people like that.
“They don’t tell you a lot, do they?” He muttered to Cassie, moving a bit closer. Cassie miserably sniffled and shook her head, quickly wiping her nose on her sleeve.
Her voice cracked when she spoke. “They don’t tell me anything.”
Gregory nodded, looking down at the floor. He sniffed himself, his nose running. “I have a library card, you know. Maybe you can come back to the city some time and we can look into it on the computers.”
Cassie looked up at him, confused. “What’d you mean?”
“You said you’re real— uh, your mom’s dad was in prison right?” He had to be, if Mike’s story about his father told him anything. “Well, the news usually tracks that kinda thing. There might be some stuff on the internet about your family.”
Cassie scraped her socked toes on the floor in thought. “It could work…”
“Your family is super weird. There’s gotta be something out there about them.”
Notes:
I really tried to make this fluffy but that is not my forte so you get last minute angst lol.
First Evan appearance tho lmao. I feel bad making him move away bc I love Evan he’s my guy but also I have the POV’s of four different people with a bunch of side characters like Jeremy and Vanessa and a little of Henry so it’s a lot for me to keep up with. I didn’t want to deal with Evan and Cassidy too lmao. Too many fucking people.
We are getting close to the big finale lol idk what I’m gonna do after this. Maybe a Henry and William fic?? Or just small stuff like last time.
Chapter 17
Summary:
Library trip turned into another small trip that will definitely not change everything forever lol
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
What they found was even worse than they thought.
Cassie couldn’t come to the city for two more weeks. Apparently, February was a busy time for Lizzie at the salon. In that time, Gregory has been holed up in his room almost everyday. The only time he wasn’t was that one day of the week that both Mike and Jeremy worked the same hours so he had to go to the mall with Mike. He stayed in the security office for most of that anyway.
Mike and Jeremy were the same. They still tried to talk with Gregory and still tried to make him feel at home. And Gregory still played nice with them. He still liked them, even if Mike didn’t like him back.
Jeremy at least was honest about everything. When they came back from Lizzie’s party, Jeremy had gotten into a very tense conversation with Mike. It was mostly just snippy words back and forth until they got home and they told Gregory to go upstairs while they fought. Gregory had just laid on the ground and listened to the yelling from below.
Mike had come upstairs to apologize not long after. He tried to explain everything that happened at Lizzie’s party, but his words kept fizzling out and he kept being incredibly vague about certain things.
Gregory had just accepted the apology and they moved on.
On February 15th, Cassie was dropped off at Mike’s house and they were off to the library.
It was a weird sense of deja vu walking there. Only a couple months ago, Mike was taking him there after meeting up for the day so that he could warm up and read a little something. He only had Mike’s hoodie and oversized jacket on him to keep him warm. Now, Gregory had his own fitted clothes with a hat and longer pants that kept him warm. They had even bought him big, fuzzy boots so his feet don’t go numb walking through snow. They’ve done a whole lot for him.
But now it was time to betray their trust and learn personal details about them behind their backs.
Gregory pulled Cassie along the shelves and shelves of books, trying not to get distracted by any flashy cover. He swerved around an adult standing around and came through to a clearing filled with a long row of tables, dozens of computers stacked on top.
He let go of her hand and pulled out a chair, hopping up onto it. Cassie grabbed a chair of her own and pulled it closer to him so they could both look at the same screen.
“Do you know their last name?” Cassie asked, leaning against his arm as he typed something slowly into the computer.
“Yeah, Mike’s last name is Afton,” he mumbled as he kept searching for the letters. Sure he’s only used a cell phone recently, but he’s actually very fast at picking up new things. He’s just not the fastest typer. “Do you know what his first name is? Your mom’s dad, I mean. It would probably be easier to find him that way.”
“Try William.”
Gregory did, and it soon brought up an article talking about him. The headline read, Founder of Popular Family-Friendly Restaurant “Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria” Released on Parole.
His eyes widened. “He was the founder?”
“I thought only Henry was the founder,” Cassie leaned closer. “They didn’t tell me he was too.”
“I didn’t know Henry was either.”
Gregory clicked on the link.
“William Afton, co-founder of the most popular kids’ restaurant chain of the 20th century, has released on parole on October 1st after serving a 20 year sentence with charges of three counts of child abuse and one count of attempted murder. Afton was convicted on October 1st, 1983, after a former colleague, Henry Emily, took one of his three children to the hospital after suffering a brutal beating.
Afton was known to everyone in the small village of Hurricane, Utah as a very charming and charismatic man, but guarded in his personal life. He often presented his family as his inspiration, having their birthdays as big events at his restaurants. He was known as a big family man and often admitted that some of his robotic characters were based off of his children. It was a shock to many when stories of abuse came out. In those years, his colleague Henry Emily took over the business as well as taking his three children in. Back in 1980, Emily’s daughter was murdered behind one of their own restaurants. Many believe Afton had something to do with her death, but there has been no evidence recovered and Afton hadn’t been charged with anything.
Afton had recused himself from society after his release, avoiding any media and public appearances.”
Interspersing the article was a few photos of him. The first one was a picture of William himself, fuzzy and scowling at something far off from the view of the camera. It looked like it was a zoomed in photo of something else long ago. Gregory focused on the difference the man had between what he knew of Mike. He was pale with straight hair, and large gold glasses perched on a thin nose. One of the more frightening features were his striking blue eyes. They swallowed the small pupils, almost like a glowing light.
Another picture showed what looked like a publicity poster for the restaurant. William stood tall in front of the doors of some undistinguished building, holding a child that looked like it could be Evan. He was holding a golden bear that looked hand made. In front of him stood a girl with big orange hair and a wide smile on her face, piercing green eyes, and an ugly pink dress. There was no doubt that that was Lizzie. She looked almost exactly like Cassie.
Standing right in William’s shadow, was no doubtedly Mike. He was shorter than his father, but the curly hair and oversized clothes over a thin, hunched figure gave him away easily. He didn’t have a smile on his face, not even a shy one like Evan. He was just staring at his father, hands bunched up in front of him. Like he was trying to be on his best behavior.
Gregory scrolled past that all the way to the bottom.
The last picture looked to be another picture of William, but the quality of the picture was a lot clearer then the rest. It was the most recent picture taken of him, right after being released. He looked clearly older, hair graying on the sides and harsh lines of age on his face. He was a lot thinner here than in the older pictures of him, the clothes he was given hanging off his frame. Even so, his chin was held up high and he was smiling.
“I didn’t know Henry…” Cassie trailed off slowly. She sounded disturbed. “I didn’t know any of this.”
Gregory stared at the last photo. There was someone standing in the shadows, just too blurry to identify.
“Does it say— does it say who he hurt?”
“It was Mike,” Gregory mumbled. “He told me that his father almost killed him. That’s why Henry adopted them.”
He clicked on the link underneath the recent photo, and it took them to another article filled with even more photos just like it. He scrolled through them all, ignoring the tension surrounding them.
“Why didn’t they tell me this?” Cassie stressed. “Mom told me he wasn’t a good person, but she didn’t tell me this!”
“Shh!” Gregory finally tore his eyes from the screen and faced his friend. She had tears in her eyes, sniffling periodically. He pointed at the computer, pressing his finger against the lit screen. “Listen to me! I know this guy!”
Cassie turned to him. “What?”
He pointed again, at the blonde head of hair standing beside William. “That’s Vanessa.”
Vanessa was with William. William, who had beaten Mike close to death, was standing next to Vanessa, the security guard that works with Mike. Who was here in Minnesota, not in Utah. And who grabbed Gregory while he almost got murdered.
This was no coincidence. She was here for a reason.
“Mike usually goes to the lounge area and sits on his laptop the whole time,” Gregory closed out of all the tabs and pushed himself out of the chair. “If we are quiet and avoid that area, then we can head straight to the mall.”
“What?” Cassie quickly followed behind. She lowered her voice, looking around anxiously. “Gregory, why are we going to the mall?”
“To find Vanessa.”
Gregory weaved through several more shelves, looking for a way to stay hidden while trying to make it out of here. The lounge area was off to the side of the kids books, which wasn’t that far into the building. It was still in the eyesight of the entrance, but there were shelves right when you walked in that they could run along so if Mike happened to look up, he wouldn’t see them. There was still that open space right in front of the entrance that they would have run through, but it should be easy with a bit of timing.
He pulled Cassie with him, making sure her steps aligned with his. She stumbled a bit, but still tried to copy him.
“Why are we doing this?!” Cassie loudly whispered, clearly growing scared.
Gregory shushed her and glanced past the shelves for a second. Mike was sitting angled to watch the computers. If he happened to look up to see that they weren’t there, he might go looking for them. They would need to be quick. Something caught Mike’s attention on his laptop and he leaned closer to it, absorbed into whatever he was doing on there. That might just be perfect, if he was really focused on his work.
He gripped Cassie’s hand tighter and bolted out the doors.
“Gregory, why are we doing this?”
Gregory continued to march forward, eyes narrowed while he thought. He looked around for a second before making a quick turn down an alley. Cassie rushed to keep up with his brisk pace. She looked wistfully at the backpack on his shoulders. They had left in such a hurry, neither one of them stopped to grab their hats and gloves from the bag. All they had was the coat on their backs. Cassie at least had a hood, but she still felt the cold biting at her skin. Gregory was already turning pink from the cold.
He still didn’t answer, cutting another corner instead. Cassie whined when she almost lost him for the third time.
“Gregory, seriously!” She grabbed his freezing hand with hers, pulling him back and forcing him to stop. “We could get in trouble for this! Mike’s going to notice we’re gone at some point and—”
“We’ll be fine!” Gregory insisted. “If your mom gets upset, you can blame me.”
“What if Vanessa is a bad person? What if she tries to hurt us?” Gregory was afraid of her. Cassie at least knew that! She didn’t know anything about William or how Vanessa was connected to him, but she did know Gregory was definitely afraid of her.
Gregory looked back at her for merely a second. “I can take care of us, don’t worry.”
He turned another corner, mumbling to himself. He walked around with such persistence, it wasn’t hard to imagine him when he lived on the streets. He knew exactly where he was and exactly where to go, all while Cassie was reeling to try and catch up. She couldn’t tell any street from each other. Everywhere they passed looked the same as before.
It was nerve wracking. Cassie had never run off before, and if she lost sight of Gregory, she wouldn’t be able to keep going on her own.
Gregory picked up speed a little. She saw the mall ahead of them. “C’mon!”
“Gregory!” Cassie dug her heels into the sidewalk, stopping them not 20 feet from the door. She huffed, eyes burning with unshed tears. “What are we doing?! What is the plan here?! We can’t just run in there and— and—”
She didn’t know where to go from there. What was his plan? Was he just planning on confronting Vanessa and telling her they saw her with Mike’s dad? What good would that do?
All of this was too much. She didn’t know anything about her family, and now Gregory was dragging her into a potentially dangerous situation. Her grandfather was a worse man than she thought he was. She didn’t know what she thought her mother meant when she told her that William wasn’t a good person, but she didn’t think attempted murder. She didn’t think that Mike had almost died and her mother had suffered abuse from her father. She didn’t think of any of that, but now they were going to confront a woman that is somehow a part of this.
“What do you think Vanessa is in… in whatever is going on here? Whatever it is that’s happening?” Cassie asked him softly.
Gregory frowned. “I don’t know. Maybe she was a prisoner too and that’s how she knows Mike’s dad. Whatever it is, it’s obvious that she’s not here as some sort of coincidence. She’s got to be stalking Mike or something.”
“Well, if she is, what do you plan on doing about it?” She asked again, growing frustrated. “What if she hurts us?”
“She won’t,” Gregory told her off. “I won’t let her hurt you. I’m just gonna try… I don’t know, threaten her, I guess.”
“Threaten her?”
“I’m going to tell her that I found her out and she needs to leave before I tell Mike!” He snapped at her.
“You’re just a kid!” Cassie shouted with a crack in her voice. “You can’t scare her!”
Gregory’s cheeks were already red, but they would’ve blushed with embarrassment if they weren’t. “I have a friend that could help us.”
He turned and walked briskly to the mall. Cassie couldn’t tell if her shaking was from fear or chills, but either way, she followed after her friend to try and escape it.
The mall seemed so much bigger than she remembered. It was dark from the early set of the winter sun, and empty from the hours they kept in the stores. The mall would be closing soon. Cassie hoped they could get this over with quickly so they could get back to the library before they’ve been gone too long.
Cassie anxiously followed close behind Gregory, looking around the building and into the stores with lights still on. She doesn’t go here very often, only on special occasions like on her birthday, but just like on the streets, Gregory seemed to know this place very well and didn’t hesitate for a moment as he strode through the open lobby halls.
They didn’t stop until they got to the one place Cassie knew well enough. The neons and geometric decals of Freddy’s stood open and lit up in front of them. This was when Gregory hesitated.
“My friend’s in there,” he muttered quietly. He caught Cassie’s eye for a moment, shifting nervously. “Mike told him to protect me from Vanessa. He could protect you too.”
“Who is it?” Cassie asked. Was there an employee inside who Gregory bonded with? When did this happen?
Gregory pulled her in.
The place was empty, a few employees cleaning tables and sweeping the floors. They avoided them for the most part, they were more absorbed into their work, probably used to ignoring any kids running around the place. They headed into a more disclosed area and stopped there. Gregory pulled off his backpack and searched through some of the smaller pockets. He pulled out a keycard that had the word Security stamped in bold letters on top.
“Where did you get that?” Cassie whispered, only to be violently shushed by her friend.
Gregory pulled the bag back on and headed deeper into the hall, Cassie scrambling to catch up. They came to a door labeled Parts and Services. Gregory pushed the keycard into a machine built into the handle of the door. The light on it flashes green twice before clicking open. He pushed the door open and led Cassie inside.
The parts and services room were filled with, well, parts. Machinery filled the shelves and cluttered a few tables. The lights were on, but Gregory stopped for a second to grab his flashlight from his bag.
“Why are we in here?” Cassie asked as quietly as she could.
“They never come in here,” Gregory answered. “The only people allowed in here are bosses and security. That’s why Mike had a card for it.”
“Why did you steal Mike’s card?” She worried. “Won’t he get in trouble for that?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Gregory pulled a few more things out of his bag, including a blanket and their hats and gloves. He handed the letters to Cassie before throwing down his blanket and sitting down on the floor. Cassie quickly put the gloves on her frozen fingers and sat close beside him. “We just need to stay here for a bit before we can get my friend. We’ll be fine.”
Cassie looked at the empty heads lining the wall. The scraps of synthetic fur and plastic eyeballs scattered everywhere. There was even a large endoskeleton body in one of the corners opposite of them, standing tall with no skin beside the rubber eyelids attached to bright yellow eyes.
She shuddered and scooted closer to Gregory. “How do you know about this place?”
Gregory shrugged. He fiddled with the velcro on his shoes. “I escaped here after I was attacked. The door was opened and it locked behind me, so I figured I would stay here ‘cause no one could get me there. Of course, Mike found me here, so it didn’t really work.”
“What… happened?” Cassie shifted and tried to explain what she meant. “I mean, I know what mom and Jeremy told me, but I don’t— I don’t know if I could trust them right now.”
Gregory swallowed, staring down at the floor. It took a moment, but he started talking again with a soft voice. “I don’t know, really. I know I was cold, and a man offered me his jacket. And I was stupid ‘cause I tried taking it, but he grabbed me and tried to… kill me probably. I don’t know what he wanted from me. I got away, somehow, and ran to the mall. That’s when Vanessa tried to grab me and I thought she was going to try and kill me too. That’s when I ran in here.”
“It’s cold in here.”
Out of all the things Cassie could say, she didn’t know why she said that. Perhaps she was just thinking about how cold Gregory had to have been that night, and how he ran here after something so scary just to be no warmer than before.
“Sorry…” Gregory mumbled an apology and shuffled closer. He pulled the blanket up a little to bunch up around their feet, and then laid an arm across Cassie’s shoulders to try and warm her up more. Cassie pressed against him, swallowing the bit of guilt welling up in her chest that she made Gregory apologize.
They sat in silence for a while longer. Cassie still anxiously looked at all the heads and skeletons of her favorite robot friends in paranoia, but at least she felt more comforted safe inside the room with Gregory beside her.
“How long before Vanessa gets here?”
“I think her shift starts at midnight.”
Cassie groaned and knocked her head back into the wall behind her. This was a huge mistake.A
Notes:
I’m gonna be busy today so I couldn’t read over this chapter and fix any mistakes so if you seen any no you don’t. I’ll come back to it when I have time to fix it up.
Also William hasn’t been charged with Charlie’s death, it’s just speculation to the general public that he did kill her considering he almost killed Mike and he was close to Charlie before she was murdered.
Okay see you all later I need to go like right now.
Chapter 18
Summary:
Mike realizes they’re missing and the kids go for a run!
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Mike tried to keep his breathing under control. His legs were shaking and his heart felt like it might burst in his chest. He could barely understand a word the police were saying to him. He could barely understand the words coming out of his own mouth.
Gregory and Cassie were gone.
He shouldn’t have let them run off, he shouldn’t have gotten distracted. He should’ve stayed by their sides because they are just kids. He can’t just let them run around a massive building alone. He was so stupid.
Mike felt like an irresponsible idiot when he pleaded with the cops to call his sister for him. He was a coward. He couldn’t tell her himself that he had lost her daughter. He felt useless as the police scoured the area for the two kids while Mike was busy sitting in a nice, comfortable chair, trying not to freak out.
He should be helping. He should be trying to cooperate. He could barely breathe or think without his mind bringing him back to a panic because for God’s sake, he had lost his kid and his niece. He had lost them both, and he didn’t know where they could be or how long they had been gone.
What if someone had taken them?
Mike didn’t know when Jeremy had arrived or when he had been moved to a police station, but he had ignored everyone around him to run to his friend and throw himself into him, shaking with tears he hadn't been able to get rid of for what easily could have been hours.
Jeremy pulled him off to grab his shoulders, horrible distress in his face as well. He looked terrified, a greater terror than he’s ever felt before. Mike knew the look well.
He had asked what happened, but Mike didn’t know the answer. He was a mess as he tried to explain that they were there at the computers one second and then gone the next. He told him that it was his fault, that he wasn’t paying attention to them. He didn’t notice they were gone, nothing was out of the ordinary until he searched and searched and they just weren’t there.
They hugged again before Jeremy was bombarded with the same questions on where the kids might go or if there is anyone they know who could have taken them.
The common suspects were parents. They asked about Cassie’s father or any past families Gregory used to be a part of. They asked for other relatives and the first person on everyone’s tongue was William.
Mike couldn’t think about that. William wasn’t in prison anymore, the idea that he could find where they moved to and come to hurt them once again was a thought that Mike couldn’t entertain. It made him feel sick.
He never wanted children because of this. Every thought of becoming a parent came back to his father. What if he became just as abusive as his father? What if he neglected them or hurt them? What if he lost them just like he did today and it might all be his father’s fault?
Every tightening feeling that consumed him just crushed his heart tighter and tighter when Lizzie arrived at the police station.
He had almost hoped she would walk right in and call him stupid for reacting like this, tell him off and say that she had picked them up early because he was too thick in the head to notice if they were there or not. But Lizzie came in with mascara running down her cheeks, begging for answers on where her daughter was.
After that, all Mike wanted was for her to hit him for what he did.
They spent hours in the police station. The police were searching and calling— even calling Utah’s Department to try and get information on William’s whereabouts— but time kept dragging on with no luck. They suggested they leave for the night, get some rest and that they will keep them updated with any new information.
Lizzie didn’t finish grilling him when they arrived at Mike’s house. “Is there anywhere you can think of them being?”
Mike shook his head at his sister. “No. They could be anywhere right now. Gregory knows how to hitch a ride on a bus.”
“Do you know where he would go from there?”
“No.”
It was almost midnight. Mike was supposed to work tonight. He would have to call Vanessa soon and tell her he can’t make it. If she’s even there on time.
His heart lurch in his chest and he sat upright. He looked up at Jeremy and Lizzie.
“The mall,” he said, breathless. “Gregory hides in the mall.”
“This is the friend you were talking about?”
Cassie stared up at the animatronic bear. She didn’t know exactly what she was thinking of, but she didn’t think Gregory’s “friend” was Freddy Fazbear himself.
“He helped me last time and protected me from Vanessa,” Gregory stood commandingly in front of his friend, clearly confident in this outlandish plan. “I think they have some sort of safety feature in their systems or whatever. He’s very protective.”
Gregory stepped up and patted Freddy on his arm, like he was saying thank you. The animatronic angled his body and wiggled his ears in a manner that seemed positive.
“But what help could he actually do?” In some weird way, Cassie felt like she was being a little rude to Freddy, talking about him right in front of him, but he was just a robot. “Can he leave the pizzeria?”
Gregory shrugged. “I think he can. C’mon, let’s test it.”
He took Freddy’s massive finger in his little hand and pulled him to the stairs off the stage. Obviously, Gregory didn’t have the strength to actually pull the huge robot with him, but Freddy followed after him anyway. Cassie watched them walk off the stage before turning back towards the other animatronics.
The only ones left on the stage were Roxy, Bonnie, and Chica. She felt a chill run down her spine when she noticed their still forms with open eyes, staring at the child that had walked away. They didn’t look at Cassie, as if they didn’t see her at all and only saw Gregory.
She climbed off the stage and followed her friend, wanting to get away from the robots she loved. They were a lot creepier in the dark.
Gregory was standing outside the pizzeria, trying to convince Freddy to step out from the doors.
“C’mon Freddy!” He pleaded in a whisper. “You have to come with us to talk to Vanessa! You remember Vanessa, right? She’s a bad lady.”
“Do you have the clearance to take me out of the pizzeria?” Freddy asked, tilting his head. Cassie was surprised to hear him speak something besides the catchphrases and songs.
“Yeah, of course. I have this!” Gregory held up the security badge he stole.
Any normal person would obviously see that the card didn’t belong to Gregory. No one would give such high clearance to a child. But a robot can be easily tricked. Freddy’s ears perked up, and with several whirling sounds from his gears, he stepped out onto the clean tiled floor of the rest of the mall.
Gregory was happy to keep walking now that Freddy was following obediently behind. Cassie jogged to catch up with him.
“Okay, we have Freddy now,” she said quietly. “What’s the rest of the plan?”
“Now we’re going to use Freddy to threaten her into telling us why she’s here and make her never come back!” He said this all so confidently, even though it sounded completely crazy to Cassie’s ears.
“You think Freddy would be threatening to someone?” She thumbed at the animatronic behind them to get her point across. As if Gregory would turn around and realize how ridiculous he sounded. “He’s a big kid’s toy. I don’t think he could harm anyone anyways.”
Gregory looked over his shoulder. “Freddy, could you kill someone if you had to?”
“Fazbear Entertainment is not liable for any harm or damage caused for you or your children,” he replied in a robotic, but cheery voice. “Enjoy the show!”
“He could totally kill someone.”
“But we aren’t going to kill her, Gregory,” Cassie pushed.
“We aren’t going to kill her,” he rolled his eyes. “I’m just saying—”
“Hey!”
All three of them froze where they stood. Cassie turned her head and saw a tall blonde woman heading towards them. She stepped up beside Gregory, but Freddy beat her to it and stood in front of both of them. They saw Vanessa stop short. She looked at animatronic hotly, jaw clenched, but chose to address the kids instead.
“What are you two doing here past mall hours,” she narrowed her eyes at Gregory specifically. “You especially aren’t supposed to be here. I heard Michael’s looking for you.”
Cassie’s breathing hitched. She had almost forgotten about that. They should’ve left some sort of note.
“You—” Gregory’s voice caught in his throat for a moment. He cleared it and his face hardened to stone. He glared straight at her. “You’ve been following him.”
“What?” Vanessa didn’t sound phased from the accusation, simply asking a question. Cassie feared for a moment that they were wrong and all this was for nothing.
“We saw pictures of you and Mike’s dad,” Gregory said. He stepped closer to Freddy, staying safely behind his legs. “He just got out of prison. In Utah. Why would you be here working at a mall with his son if you weren’t working for him?”
She stared at him, still giving nothing away.
“Why are you here?” Gregory swallowed again, shifting on his feet, prepared to run again. He was still scared of her. “What do you want from Mike? Are you going to kill him? Is his dad here too?”
“What, are you a fucking detective now? When did you get a badge, huh?” Vanessa stalked closer. Freddy didn’t move, but Cassie grabbed Gregory’s hand to pull him back. “You need to get out of here, kid. Michael’s looking for you.”
“Don’t— stop it!”
Gregory stumbled back into Cassie, avoiding the security guard reaching around Freddy. The big animatronic wasn’t fast enough to block her, but he still moved to push her off with his heavy plastic frame.
“No one's gonna hurt you, kid! I’m just trying to help you!” For the first time since she found them, Vanessa looked at Cassie. “C’mon now, don’t you want to go home to your mom?”
Something in Cassie’s chest dropped. Something about the fact Vanessa mentioned her mom instead of just saying parents made the hair on her arms stand up, even underneath the jacket.
“Just stay away from Mike!” Gregory shouted at her. “And Cassie, and Lizzie, and the rest of my family, you creep!”
Vanessa slammed her fist against Freddy’s leg when he moved in front of her again. She was clearly get angry now, pointing the same hand at them threateningly. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, kid. They aren’t a family to try and protect.”
“What would you know?! Is that what William is telling you?” Gregory stood tall again to try and seem brave. “He’s a dick!”
Vanessa was practically snarling. “Shut up, kid…”
“He’s a murderer! And so are you!”
“I never killed anyone!”
Vanessa grabbed something from her belt and jabbed it hard into one of Freddy’s exposed joints. A sharp, shrill buzzing noise startled a yelp out of Cassie. It lit the animatronic up in sparks of electricity, causing jerks in the frame and glitches in movement. As soon as Vanessa pulled the taser away, Freddy stopped sparking. He merely twitched as the security guard stepped easily past him.
She was still holding her taser firmly in her hand, finger hovering over the trigger.
Cassie tightened her grip on Gregory’s hand, feeling her lungs tighten with it.
“You don’t know anything, kid,” Vanessa snapped, bright eyes narrowed on them both. “You don’t know the Afton’s nearly as well as you think you do. You don’t know what they’re capable of, you don’t know what they’ve done, and you don’t know what they will do. You can leave this fucking family, you know that? Both of you.”
Cassie noticed something else on her belt. She had been watching the taser with diligence, but she noticed some tucked into the thickness of her winter coat. There was a glint of red and white.
“What’s in your coat?” Cassie’s voice shook. If she had any more weapons on her…
Vanessa stopped short in her rage. She glanced down exactly where she had been staring. Vanessa lowered her taser and reached into her jacket with her other hand.
She pulled out a plastic, Halloween rabbit mask with bright red eyes.
Gregory stepped back from her. “You were there. You and Mike’s dad. You tried to kill me—”
Vanessa lunged forward and jabbed the taser towards Gregory.
Cassie pulled him away and started running. Gregory shouted and stumbled after her, getting dragged more than running with her. She looked behind her to shout over at him, but quickly noticed Vanessa wasn’t standing by Freddy anymore. In fact, she wasn’t chasing them. She wasn’t anywhere.
Cassie didn’t stop running anyway. Vanessa not being there just made it all more terrifying.
Gregory seemed to catch up to what was happening and ran alongside Cassie, faster than her by a hair. He knew where he was going more than she was.
Turning corners was a challenge. Gregory knew how to turn fast and keep on running while Cassie tripped over herself trying to catch up. One hard turn causes her to fall and hurt her ankle. She let out a shout and Gregory shushed her. He apologized immediately and bent down to see if she was okay.
“It really hurts,” Cassie gasped, holding her knee while looking around anxiously. Gregory was doing the same, glancing up every now and again as he moved towards her foot to look at the injury. He tried taking off her boot, but she shouted again at the spike of pain it caused. “Stop! Stop, stop, stop! That hurts!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Gregory apologized again. He let go over her leg and looked around for something more. Whatever he found caused him to search his pockets quickly. “Vanessa has a key card too, but we can’t just sit in an open space.”
Cassie tried to object, trying to tell him her ankle hurt too much to keep running, but they heard someone call out to them.
“Children…”
That wasn’t Vanessa’s voice.
Gregory shook Cassie’s shoulder, making her jump. She looked over at him, understanding that he was helping her to her feet. He quickly moved to her injured side and pulled her arm around his shoulder to keep her sturdy. He helped her hop along with him to a random door he opened with the stolen keycard.
“Your parents are looking for you…”
The voice had a melody to it, but also a cracking edge to it that made it sound inhuman. It sounded familiar, but she couldn’t focus on that when they were currently running for their lives.
Cassie leaned a little too far into Gregory’s side, making him hiss in pain. She stopped short and looked over at him. “Are you hurt?” She whispered.
Gregory shook his head. “I’m fine.”
“Gregory—”
“Where are you? Your family is looking for you…”
Is that… Chica?
“She’s gonna kill us.” Cassie whined miserably.
Gregory determinedly shook his head. “Robots can’t kill you.”
“What about before? With what Freddy said?” They kept stumbling through the halls. Cassie tried to ignore the pain and walk on her own, but it just caused a limp that continued to slow them down anyway. She noticed Gregory holding his side tenderly. He did hurt himself. “And what about Vanessa? We don’t know where she went.”
“She couldn’t kill me last time.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I remember how I escaped now,” Gregory checked down a hallway before leading her down it. “Mike’s dad was the one to grab me that night. I didn’t recognize him in the pictures because he looked so different, but I get it now. I remember him talking to someone else. I-I couldn’t see, but I remember seeing something red and— Vanessa’s jacket had— has white fur on it and the mask… She had tried to finish it, but when he let go of me, she didn’t— she hesitated and I ran off. I remember that same jacket when I ran into the mall and she grabbed me.” He let out a laugh, as if anything happening right now was funny. “She couldn’t kill me then and she can’t kill me now.”
Cassie wanted to believe him, but they were both injured and lost in a massive mall and Vanessa worked here. As confident as Gregory acted when it came to leading them around, it was clear Vanessa had the upper hand.
They heard scraping against the tiles. Cassie tried to hobble along quicker.
“What about William?” Cassie stressed. “You said he was there. That means he’s here, Gregory. He could be in the building too.”
“We can handle it if he is.”
“This is stupid, Gregory!” Cassie stopped walking completely as she yelled at him. Overwhelmed and scared tears poured down her cheeks. “You’re going to get us killed! Why did we even come here!?”
Before Gregory could answer, something came charging out of the shadows, heading straight for them.
“I found you!”
Gregory shoved Cassie to the side, almost knocking her over again if it weren’t for him still holding her up. Chica came speeding towards them, arms outstretched to grab them and beak wide open. Her turns were sloppy and reckless, enough so that the two injured kids could hop away as she stumbled and skidded to try and keep up. Gregory practically dragged Cassie from the animatronic, her feathered fingers inches from grabbing her arm many times. There was a harsh screech coming from her voice box that made Cassie’s ears hurt.
Another fresh set of tears rushed down her face as she was forced to use her sprained ankle. Pain shot up her leg as she ran.
They used a pillar to hide behind as they bolted in the opposite direction they came. A loud crash followed as Chica was unable to copy their agility and slammed right into the concrete pillar. There were sounds of plastic snapping and shattering, and the screeching turned to garbled static quickly.
There was more stomping and growling. Cassie turned her head and saw Monty the alligator animatronic running at them. She felt her heart stop as she saw his sharp claws and snapping teeth, with their goal paralyzed in his sight.
Monty didn’t reach them, however. He was bowled over by a flash of red, white, and gray.
Roxy— Cassie’s favorite animatronic and all-time idol— was tearing Monty apart like an animal. Her green claws were scraped clean of paint as she ripped them through Monty’s plastic frame. They sunk deep into his plating and tore them apart, deep gashes sparking with split wires. Her jaws were clamped around his shoulder, uncaring as Monty clawed and scratched at her to free himself from her grip. Cassie saw his metal spine twisting and jerking, mechanisms she didn’t understand trying to roll over and buck her off. She saw him give up trying to rip her off and instead rolled on his side, digging claws into the scraped up tiles to escape. There was a loud snap and his torso became detached from his legs, wires pulling and breaking off as he crawled his upper half away from the vicious wolf.
It was all just metal and plastic, but that didn’t stop her stomach from churning after seeing such a gruesome display.
Yellow eyes turned to look right through her. Her jaw hung with fangs shattered and broken, but still just as sharp.
Gregory shook Cassie out of her paralyzing fear and pulled up, dragging her into a door. Roxy didn’t follow them, just stared. When Monty turned and tried to drag his body after them, the wolf broke out of her trance and reached out to sink her claws back into her robot companion.
The door closed behind her and they were left in a long hallway. There was a fire exit on the far end of the hall.
“If we use that, an alarm would go off and it would call the fire department,” Gregory gasped, breathing heavily. His eyes were wide, completely set on the door. “C’mon.”
Cassie bit her lip painfully hard as she was pulled along again. It was hard to focus from all the pain and adrenaline they had been put through the entire night. She just wanted to go home.
Gregory pulled her forward until they made it to the door, where he let go of her arm to push on the door. It didn’t budge. His face fell. He pushed harder, pressing his body against the handle. It creaked and groaned, but it never budged.
“Are you kidding me!” Cassie cried, hugging her arms around her.
“It’s fine, we’ll be fine, just…” Gregory grunted, eyes squeezed closed as he pushed as hard as he could. He let out a sigh and panted, looking around the hallway. He nodded at something off to the side. “There. There’s an employee door. We can… see if they have a phone or something.”
Cassie sniffled, not bothering to wipe her face. “Can we sit down for a minute?”
“Yeah, yeah, we can, Cas,” he took her hand again and headed for the staff door. “I’m getting kinda tired too.”
He pulled out his key card and it easily opened up the door for them. It led to another plain, stark white hallway, but with many other doors lining the walls. They probably led into other stores, judging by the labels on the doors that seemed familiar to her. Gregory made sure to lean against the door so no one else could come in, and Cassie took the spot diagonal to him. She whimpered as she straightened out her legs.
“What are we gonna do?” She sobbed quietly. She finally brought her hands up to scrub at her icky face.
“I’m sorry I dragged you here, Cassie,” Gregory whispered. He swallowed harshly and brushed his hand against his side again. “I didn’t want to leave you, like I promised I wouldn’t, but I wasn’t… I wasn’t thinking. I’m so sorry, I was being stupid— I wanted to… to help out… or something.” He leaned forward on his knees, loosely hugging them. He had this look in his eye, the adrenaline draining out of him and all it left was guilt and fear. He was so scared. “I couldn’t just let Vanessa keep working here if she’s spying on Mike. And everyone thinks I’m being dramatic about her, so they wouldn’t believe me if I told them! If she knew— if she knew that I knew… maybe she would have left. And then we would be fine.”
“Stop saying everything will be fine!” Cassie snapped at him, making him flinch. “We should have told Mike! We shouldn’t have done this on our own! We all need to stop making everything so difficult and just stick together for once!”
She was so tired of everything that kept going wrong because none of them could be honest with each other and stop leaving people out of things.
“I’m sorry,” Gregory apologized for the millionth time. “You’re right. Nothing’s fine.”
Cassie had more tears to spill apparently. She sniffled and hugged herself tighter. She wanted to go home.
One of the doors in the hall broke open with a bang.
“There you are…”
Notes:
Is this shitty??? Lmao
I’m better with personal stories, big endings like this were we have heavy drama and a threat of action are not my forte, but it is fnaf and I feel like this is only right to end this way?? Idk but we are onto the last chapters so I have thoughts about them lmao.
Gregory doesn’t really seem very smart here, but I like that better than what he was shown in the sb game. I mean, he is a smart and capable kid, but not to the level where he’s upgrading fucking robots and shit idk. And the animatronics might not be the best bc I always have an issue writing them. This context especially is a little harder considering they are not supposed to be as high tech and advanced as they actually are bc of the change in story. So this might be a bit lame lol.
Anywayyysss we only have a few more chapters!! Big ones coming up and then BAM!! Last one we’re done. Onto the next project whatever that is.
Chapter 19
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Mike felt his hands shaking from something other than the cold as he waited for Vanessa to open the shutters. He was alone. He convinced Jeremy and Lizzie to stay home in case they got any news. This was his fault and his lead to follow.
They had to be here. If they weren’t here, then Mike had no idea where they could be or if they were safe.
The shudders shook. Mike held his breath as Vanessa pulled them up. She had a harsh scowl on her face and, for once, wasn’t caked with heavy eye makeup. She looked much younger without any makeup, and very tired. She opened the door for him, watching him rush inside and quickly clean the snow off his boots.
“Have you seen any sign of them?” He asked, already breathless from fear.
Vanessa shook her head. “Nope. Are you sure they’re even here?”
“It’s the only place I can think of.”
“They’ll be fine,” she insisted. She handed off a flashlight to Mike before starting to lock up the doors again, speaking over the banging metal of the shudder being pulled back down. “That boy is a little brat, but he’s not stupid. He wouldn’t hide in here.”
A surprising amount of anger leaked into Mike’s panicked behavior and he snapped at the young woman. “Don’t fucking say that. I don’t want to hear shit about how you don’t like him, just find him! He’s just a kid for Christ’s sake.”
Mike wanted to apologize immediately. Henry had done an amazing job at instilling that need to own up to his outbursts right after they happen, but stronger part of him refused to do it. Vanessa should apologize to him— to Gregory, in fact. She shouldn’t get a pass for talking about him like that when he’s missing, possibly hurt. It wasn’t right in any sense of the word. So, Mike didn’t apologize. Instead, he stared her down as she finished locking back up. When Vanessa faced him, she looked sufficiently shamed. She wouldn’t look at him directly, hands bunched into her pants pockets.
“‘M sorry, okay—”
“I don’t care if you are. Don’t talk about my family like that, got it?” Vanessa nodded obediently. Mike turned away from her, ignoring the burning guilt he felt for yelling at her.
Vanessa followed after him as he walked further into the mall. “I’ll split off looking for them, you go to the security office—”
“No, stick by me for now,” Mike cut her off again. Something told him not to let her out of his sight. He never had any problem trusting Vanessa in the past, but he was feeling very protective of the kids and didn’t want her to find them first. Last time she interacted with Gregory, she had scared him half to death. “We’ll get the radios first. And I want to hear everything, okay? Anything that you see. I’ll have you on the cameras, but we don’t have cameras everywhere, so just update me on whatever you’re seeing.”
“You’re being awfully bossy, Michael,” Vanessa muttered, the snark in her tone quieted from the scolding she got earlier. “We can just split up now and search instead of you waiting for me to get there if you see anything.”
“You don’t need to be anywhere near them, if they are here. All you need to do is call the fucking police when they’re found.” Out of the corner of his eye, Mike saw a flinch from the girl. Now he felt like his anger and fear were controlling him. He took a shaky breath in and let it out with a sigh. “Sorry. I’m sorry. I’m just worried about them, and to be fair, you haven’t been very nice to Gregory in the past. Or ever, really.”
“Same could be said about you,” Vanessa’s bite was back, but it simmered down quickly enough. She adjusted her fists, pushing them farther into her pockets with her shoulders hiked up to her ears. “Fine, I’ll play nice. Sorry I don’t like kids, or whatever.”
That still wasn’t a good apology. It was a passive aggressive comment and a reluctant attempt, but Mike didn’t care to keep arguing. They had made it to the staff halls. It was just a long hallway and a couple doors to go through to get to the office.
Yellow teeth greeted them when they turned around. Yellow teeth and bright, gleaming eyes.
The man was tall, taller than average. He had a graying beard that scruffed up his sharp features and made him look rounded out, almost friendlier. If it wasn’t for the unstyled, stringy hair and the mess of what could only be oil stained all over a mustard yellow jumpsuit.
If it wasn’t for the fact that Gregory and Cassie had the image of William Afton burned into their heads after what they learned about him.
William squatted down onto his heels, knees pressed together and hands drumming on them. He tilted his head at the two kids, like a curious animal.
“You look so much like your mother,” he said to Cassie, his voice oddly pitched in an almost unprecedented way, in an accent that sounded almost silly. You wouldn’t believe a man that speaks like that would be such a monster. His head popped back to its rightful position and he pressed his knees into the hard concrete, searching his pockets frantically. “I still have a picture. In my wallet here, look.”
William pulled out his wallet and leaned closer to the two shocked still children. Gregory’s breathing picked up rapidly, arm pressed in front of Cassie’s chest as if he could protect her.
He held out his wallet, opening two small, worn down flaps in the old leather. Just like he said, there was a school photo of Cassie’s mother, with a wide smile to the camera, sitting behind yellowed and aged plastic. Beside the photo, was a photo of a very young Mike without the same cheesy smile.
“I didn’t have a chance to get, uh, my other boy in there,” he pulled the wallet back to him and looked at the two pictures, one hand still drumming on his knee. “He was too young when he was taken from me, but I would have put him in there too if I could. I would put him right in front of Michael. They refused to give me any pictures…”
He trailed off, as if distracted by another thought in his mind. Gregory kept his hand clutching Cassie’s arm, refusing to take his eyes off William for a moment.
His demeanor was so conflicting. Gregory knew he was a threat— a horrible threat— but he didn’t look… okay. His appearance was shallow and unkempt in a way that didn’t match the photos taken of him at his release just five months ago. There was a substantial desperation in his eyes that felt new, and he had forgotten the name of his youngest son just now. He was a dangerous man, but he carried himself like someone confused and not all there.
He hummed, shoving his wallet back into his pocket. Then, when he turned back towards them, he carelessly grabbed Cassie’s leg and pulled her straight under Gregory’s grip, gathering her up in his arms immediately and standing back up.
Cassie screamed in pain at her injured ankle being moved so suddenly. Gregory pushed himself off the wall and latched himself to William’s arms immediately, tugging on them uselessly to free his friend.
“Hey! Let her go!” Gregory shouted in a panic. Standing next to him was a grim reminder that this man was still very tall and strong, even if he didn’t look like the pinnacle of health. This man had still beaten Mike when he was a lot bigger than Cassie and Gregory were now.
William’s expression morphed into a disgusted scowl, taking away all the slightest bits friendliness that Gregory was crazy to see before. He held Cassie away possessively and kicked at him, not moving his arms as they were busy keeping Cassie from pushing herself away from him.
“And you are just like that rotten boy, still trying to ruin my life.” William spat at Gregory, the silly tone of his voice disappearing into one of pure hatred. He adjusted Cassie so that she was pressed so close to him it had to be painful. With his other arm, he shoved Gregory off hard. Hard enough to throw him to the wall and make him smack his head into the bricks.
Gregory gasped in shock at the sharp pain bursting from the back on his skull. He hit his head hard enough that it made his vision blurry and he had to blink away tears to keep his eyes on them.
“Michael took everything from me, but he gave me exactly what I needed to get it all back.”
In an unexpected turn of events, William grabbed Gregory’s arm and pulled him roughly up from the ground. He didn’t even get his sight back before both him and Cassie were being rushed into the room he had come out of.
“I left him to lick his own wounds once and he has me imprisoned for 20 goddamn years,” William wasn’t shouting, but the anger in his voice caused shivers to run down Gregory’s spine anyway. He pulled the boy in front of him and let go so that he could shut the door behind him, locking it. “He took my kids, my home, my business, my research, my entire life away from me. He wouldn’t have died, I would never leave him to die! He was the one that left his brother and sister! I was the one to pick them up that day like a good father and this is what I get for it!”
He ignored Gregory, walking straight past him to sit Cassie down on an old office chair. With his sight returning to him and eyes adjusting to the low lighting of the room, Gregory realized it was another room similar to the parts and service room back at Freddy’s. It was clearly just a storage room originally, but one of the extra tables was pulled out to the middle of the room with machinery scattered all over the top of it. There was a large rabbit head that sucked up most of the attention of the parts, its icky fur rotted and peeling from the synthetics and plastics of the robotic frame. It was clearly so much older than the animatronics the two kids were used to seeing.
William stood in front of Cassie, arms tightly holding her shoulders down so she stayed sitting in the chair. Cassie kept her eyes closed, grimacing and preparing herself for anything her grandfather would do to her.
“You sit still. I need to look at your leg.” William had that silly tone again, but the charm was ruined after the frightening incident of getting grabbed by him. He crouched down in front of Cassie and took her injured leg with no hint of concern or careful touch. Cassie even cried out and grabbed his shoulders to anchor herself as he pulled off her shoe.
“You’re hurting her,” Gregory said, gasping slightly. He felt stupid just standing there, but he couldn’t figure out what he could do. William had pushed him into the wall and immobilized so easily, it was like breathing to him.
William sent him a simmering glare, a warning. “I know what I’m doing. She’s fine.” Focusing back on Cassie, he held up her foot and squinted at it, slowly twisting her ankle in a way that made Cassie gasp. She bit her tongue to stop herself from being too loud, too scared to misbehave and have the man hurt her more. William hummed. “It’s only twisted. See? I told you, you’re fine.”
He dropped her foot and stood back up. He pointed a scolding finger at Cassie, telling her to stay put. Then, he turned to Gregory.
“You’re not Michael’s son,” he said matter-of-factly, but the blunt truth still made Gregory flinch. William paid it no mind. “Despite that, you are a lot like him. An unwanted child, from a mother that cared so little she abandoned him, and now he’s leeching off of a man who is not his father. You are not my family, but neither is he after what he’s done. You deserve each other.”
Gregory took in shaking breaths, staring up at the man while his head still spun and his eyes swam with tears.
William kept talking. “Michael ruined my life, but family can be replaced. Watching you all told me that making a family is as easy as pie. Research, however, research needs to be remade. He destroyed all my journals, all my equipment and experiments. I need to start all over again. And with your resilience and strength, I think you would be a good fit.”
Gregory swallowed thickly to keep his voice from cracking. “What?”
The man walked over to his work table, searching for something among the mess. “Well, Vanessa has been a great help and all, but she’s not what I need. I’m very thankful for her generous hand in things, letting me use her and test her, having her help with things I couldn’t do behind bars. She’s just lovely, not even Henry helped me with my research before. It was nice to have a partner. But she couldn’t give me everything I needed. I needed a child.”
Gregory felt his heart sink. “Is that why you grabbed me? Did you know about— about Mike or Cassie—”
“No, I didn’t know,” William sighed in aggravation. Sounds of metal and other materials getting pushed around almost drowned him out. “You were just very convenient at the time. Little boy, alone in the snow. It was like the universe dropped you down on a silver platter, an apology for the grief I’ve been put through. If I knew you were Michael’s problem, I wouldn’t have gone near you. Everything that bastard touches gets turned to ash and I’m always the one they blame.”
Whatever he was looking for, he had found. Facing Gregory again, he held a hardcover book in his hand, the leather peeling and his dirty hands painting it with more stains. He had a proud smile on his face as he cracked it open.
“Before everything was ruined, I was quite the inventor. I had made things like hallucinogenic gasses, halo discs— although those were still a bit finicky— and so much new technology that would have revolutionized so much of our society. It was all so easy too! Scientists much better than I could have done it all if they just— well, if they just forgot their morals for a moment is all.
“Having children was once a burden, but became very useful after a while. Human experimentation always shows the best results, but the law sees it all as unethical to do. It’s ludicrous, really. Humans will be the ones using these tools, why not test it on humans to get a better understanding of its capabilities and effects? Michael taught me a lot on what the body could handle, especially when he was very young. He was resilient like you, Gregory, although much more behaved. Little Charlie taught me even more in such a short amount of time. But with my imprisonment and everything being destroyed, I’m back to square one and need a new helping hand.”
He was walking around both the kids and writing things down while he rambled nonstop about human experimentation, looking at them and then quickly jotting something down. As if he was building notes on them. Momentarily, he stopped where he stood towering over Gregory. His wide eyes were losing that glaze that had settled over them while he talked, seemingly staring straight through him.
A laugh burst from his lips, making both the kids jump.
“It’s been quite some time since I’ve talked to anyone besides Vanessa. I got a little carried away,” he laughed again, casually. As if this was just a normal joke. “You don’t get a lot of visitors in prison when you’re labeled a child abuser. Anywho, what do you think you weigh? I’d say about 65 pounds, hm?”
Gregory stepped back from him. “What do you plan to do with us?”
“Whatever I want,” William shrugged carelessly. He looked over at Cassie, smiling at her. “She might just bring my own daughter back to me. I loved Elizabeth the most. She was always the most fun, reminds me a lot of myself sometimes. It would be nice to get to know my granddaughter as well.”
Cassie shuddered visibly. Gregory was itching to stand by her again, but William had turned back to him, making him freeze up again.
“You will probably die, but that’s okay. Your soul and body will be used for a bigger purpose than turning to frozen meat out in the cold. This will be better for you, you’ll see.”
Gregory couldn’t hold back his scream when William grabbed him.
Mike could feel himself panicking again without someone there to distract him.
Vanessa had— for once— followed his directions and went to check the cameras while he walked the mall. Alone. Where his worrying and overthinking started rearing up again.
If the kids weren’t here, Mike wouldn’t know where else to look. If they weren’t here, then they ran off to who knows where and he lost them. Last time Gregory had run off, he got himself hurt because he put his trust in the wrong person’s hands. This time he was with Cassie and Cassie hasn’t been through the same things as they all have. Lizzie has done everything she could to make sure her daughter has a happy, healthy childhood, and now she very well could be going through a trauma they had tried so hard not to have her go through. And it was his fault.
Mike didn’t hurt Gregory or his niece physically, but he had to have done something wrong. Why else would they leave? Despite the nagging worry in the back of his head, he knew they weren’t taken out of the library. There would have been some kind of noise. If not from Gregory yelling at the kidnapper, then Cassie screaming for help. They left the library themselves, but that’s not to say they didn’t get kidnapped after they left.
He doesn’t even know when they left.
He shook his head, smacking his temple a few times with the heel of his palm to try and stop his head from repeating the same anxieties over and over again. He lowered his hand when he was done and tightly wound it up in a fist, digging his short nails hard into his palm.
Mike grabbed one of the extra keycards from his pocket and opened another door leading to another hallway to search down. He couldn’t find his card— Vanessa had tried convincing him to let her search again— but he just grabbed someone else’s and went on his way.
His breathing was still labored, but it was under better control. He was able to focus better on what was in front of him. And he stopped short as he saw bright white fur running by.
“Hey!” Mike shouted startlingly loud in the empty halls at the stranger. They didn’t turn around, still running. Mike didn’t wait until they were out of sight. He ran straight after them. “Get the fuck back here!”
Now, Mike wasn’t a very athletic guy like his friend Jeremy. He had breathing problems and a great disdain for how his body looked normally, not to mention while he’s sweaty and tired from exercise. He hated running more than anything in the world.
But two kids were missing and there was an intruder in the building.
Mike didn’t have advantage in agility, but he did have advantage when it came to height and a complete lack of personal safety. The intruder tried to slow down when they came to whatever door they needed to get to, but Mike didn’t. They turned their head— masked with a frightening bunny face that would have startled him if he wasn’t so preoccupied— and watched as they completely crashed into and slammed into the upcoming wall.
Mike could barely breathe, but he held the person against the wall, arm pinning their shoulders down, uncaring or the thick white gloves attempting to push him off. He got a better look at the intruder even if his vision was a bit spotty.
The mask was a white bunny, but with patches of gray stitched in around one of the eyes and tips of the rubbery ears. The eyes of the mask were bright red all over, the pupils small and beady like a real rabbit. There was some sort of woolen cap that wrapped around the rest of their head, hiding any distinct features that would have been useful to know. Despite the very obviously homemade costume, they knew what to do to hide themselves.
Even so, Mike has seen that jacket a million times over the past few months.
“What the fuck are you doing, Vanessa?” Mike snapped at her. Despite recognizing her, he did not let up his grip. She was disguised and running from him, defying clear orders to watch the cameras. Something was clearly up.
Vanessa, shockingly, didn’t say anything. She didn’t bite, she just stared at him with the beady red eyes of her mask.
He was getting tired of her fast. His fist curled beside her ear and he leaned harder into her. “I swear to fucking God, Vanessa. If you know where they are, then don’t fuck around and hand them over. I’ll have you fucking arrested for this shit.”
She snorted under his arm, like this was funny.
Mike actually does consider himself a violent man, though he has spent years trying to be better and holding himself back from hurting people. If he gets in a fight, he focuses all his energy on words instead of fists. Words can often do enough damage as is, especially with his talents, but crossing the line into physical violence was something he never wanted to do. Throwing a punch or shoving someone into something was the final step into becoming his father, so he held back from going over the line.
Except Vanessa was pushing him over that line. He could only stop himself from smashing her head back into the wall by yanking the mask off her face and throwing it to the ground, crushing it with his boot.
Vanessa stared up at him with startled, but guarded eyes. She refused to show how much he frightened her, but it was clear he had her.
“Fine,” she raised her chin, nodding towards the door she tried to open earlier. “They’re in there. Say hi for me, will yah?”
Mike didn’t trust her one bit. How could he? She’s dressing up and acting extremely suspicious all so suddenly. But he wasn’t going to risk losing them again. He stepped back from Vanessa, keeping a tight grip on her arm. He dragged her towards the door. “Then open it. You better not be fucking with me.”
She clenched her jaw and pulled out her keycard, swiping it with shaking hands.
William perked up like a jack rabbit when they heard commotion outside the door. Shouting, slamming, and banging. He smiled widely and clapped his hands excitedly, a quality Cassie frighteningly displayed many times before when she was excited. And her mother did too.
“Sweet Vanny told me we had another guest,” the man said in a gleeful voice. He patted Gregory’s shoulder, raising him from his dizzy state. His nose was bleeding from when William had smacked his head into the table. He had hit his head earlier too, Cassie was worried he might be really hurt. William didn’t seem to care. He simply pulled Gregory back up to his feet, neglective of him stumbling along. “This is so exciting! I haven’t had this much fun since, well. I-I don’t even remember, ha!”
Dragging the boy on his feet, he grabbed the metal chair he was using before and pulled it over to Cassie. He settled Gregory down in the seat and lifted his chin up, making sure he didn’t tip over. William then quickly turned back around to the table and grabbed the yellow rabbit head. Humming thoughtfully, he turned it over a few times before deciding to sit it over Gregory’s head. With him being so small and disoriented, the head sat heavy on his shoulders and caused him to tilt. William jumped to push him back in the chair, wincing as he slowly— with more care than he’s shown this whole time with them— rested the rabbit’s head back, making sure it didn’t touch the chair and stayed still on the boy’s head.
“He’s got a concussion, so I’ll put you in charge of this,” William turned to Cassie and pointed at one of the rotting holes in the head, specifically at a thin wire-looking thing that she didn’t have a name for. “You see this here? This is a spring lock. If it gets shaken or damaged in any way, it will start to loosen. You’ll hear this clicking sound, like tick, tick, tick. If something hits Bonnie’s head, it will snap! If it snaps, then these locks will spear straight through his head, into his skull, killing him in a very painful way. If you start to hear any clicking, you tell everyone as loud as you can. If you hear a snap, well… then I’ll hear the scream.”
William acted out the whole thing with the semi-conscious boy, making Cassie's shaking worsen at the frightening visual. She nodded to show she understood, her eyes focused completely on Gregory. She held in her tears, her panicked gasping breath, so that nothing distracted her from clicking to be heard.
William walked off again, grabbing something Cassie couldn’t see from the table. She couldn’t see Gregory’s eyes in the animatronic head. It was just two white plastic eyes staring blankly ahead.
“This is all so exciting!” Her grandfather continued to say, proving that he just couldn’t contain himself. He stood in front of the two kids again, now with his back facing them. “Everything is working out so much better than I could have hoped. I’ve waited so long for this and I’ve finally been given what I deserve. And I cannot wait any longer.”
Cassie saw a glint of something out of the corner of her eye. It caused her to glance away from Gregory for just a second. William had his hands crossed behind his back, and in them, was a large, shining knife. His fingers drummed on the black handle as his excitement grew.
She focused back on Gregory, listening closely. His breathing had slowed, falling back into that unconscious state. She heard a wet snorting sound that must be from his bloody nose. There was still a stain in his shirt collar, dark and still wet.
With so much hatred it made Cassie flinch, William whispered to himself. “I’m going to kill you for what you’ve done, Michael.”
Notes:
No way!!! William Afton!!!! It’s almost like he’s the main antagonist for this entire fucking series!!!!!!
Love hate relationship with writing William. He’s so interesting to me but also scares me so deeply because of his complete disregard of human life. He’s ruled by fear of his own death yet he treats everyone else’s like it’s nothing. And his whole thing with being an inventor I kinda just made up. I haven’t read any books, but I’ve heard of some of the fucked up shit he’s made and it made me realize how sci-fi horror this series actually is. Like William is literally a mad scientist as well as a serial killer but no one really talks about that stuff. The only parts people really bring up is him making remnant but even that I don’t see people go far into.
Another note, I hate Mike doing any sort of badass physical stuff. Like it seems out of character for him ngl lol. This guy spends 90% of his time hyperventilating in a small office chair I cannot imagine him being very hands on at all, but this story required it at the moment.
Chapter 20
Summary:
William always loved to host parties. Especially surprise parties.
Notes:
There is blood and violence stuff here. Like more than just talk to warnings to thee.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Surprise!”
Mike blinked. His father was smiling at him so happily, eyes shining in glee. He was old. His hair was starting to gray and skin stretched around his grin. He looked so pleased to see him.
He blinked again. There was no glass separating them.
“I’m so glad you could make it! Vanessa, please take his card away and make sure the door is secure, would you?”
“I can’t.”
A shift in William’s expression. A harsh shiver ran through Mike.
“Why not?”
“He still has my arm. I can’t move.”
Mike subsequently tightened his grip even more. He felt like he could break her arm.
William sighed. “Well, I have a few tools that can get him to let you go, it's not that difficult. I’m sure it’s the same as when he was a boy. Just watch this!”
As if revealing some grand trick, he took one big step to the side. Mike’s breath caught in his throat.
In an instant, he let go of Vanessa and rushed to Cassie and Gregory. He didn’t care to listen to the door shutting behind him and locking. He immediately reached to take Spring Bonnie’s head off of his kid, but Cassie’s hands suddenly shot out and grabbed his wrist. Mike looked at her. Her eyes were red and dripping with tears, and her hair was a frizzy mess. She shook her head, breathing shakingly.
“Oh, yes, you should be careful with that,” William spoke up again. Mike jumped, twisting around again to shield the kids from his father. The situation was starting to catch up to him and his heart was racing in his chest. “Do you remember the spring locks? You should, they’ve almost got you a few times.”
Mike doesn’t remember almost getting hurt by spring locks before, but it was hardly the time to think about that. If the head went off then that was it for Gregory.
“How do I get it off?” Mike asked, voice trembling. His father was going to kill his kid.
“Well, I have experience taking those things off with no issue and I don’t intend to have him killed right now, but it’s just a bit of incentive for everyone in the room.” William pulled his hand from behind his back and gestured a large knife at them all casually, humorously. “If Bonnie springs to life, then that’s the end of this boy’s story. So no sudden movements if you want him to stay alive.”
Mike had never seen his father this way. The way he remembers William, he was completely miserable. He didn’t find joy in hurting them, he just did when it all boiled over. He was always so uninterested in other people’s pain, he never smiled with fascination and pleasure. That was more like the William he had never known from the journals. The obsessive one with inane theories and experiments. Before, he really believed his father was sick in the head. Now, he had no doubt in his mind that William was really and truly sick.
He didn’t look well at all.
“Why are you doing this?” If Mike wasn’t so afraid for not only his life, but the kids’ lives, he would pity the man. But no matter what was wrong with him, there was no excuse for the things he’s done. “What’s your fucking goal in killing people and hurting your family?”
Mike was always very good at pissing off his father. Seeing his lip twitch was enough to tell him he still annoyed him.
In fact, he was seething.
William huffed through gritted teeth and gripped the knife harder as he started to pace. “See, that is the goddamn reason. You are the fucking reason! You have ruined my life over and over again, consistently! It’s because of you that I got into this mess in the first place! It’s your fault I went to prison and I lost everything! Family is why I kill people! You are the reason why!”
William screaming at him after so long of not even hearing his voice made his frame shake. He felt incredibly weak and pathetic because of that, but Gregory and Cassie were right behind him. He could feel weak all he wanted, but he couldn’t be weak right now.
“You were released,” Mike said in a normal tone of voice. He was going to stay calm. He wasn’t going to get into a screaming match with a man wielding a knife. “You could’ve left us behind. You didn’t need to come looking for us. Now you’re just going to end up in prison again.”
“I am not!”
William was never quite this… off the handle. He would lose his temper constantly, but he would never take Mike’s words to heart enough to scream and shout about how wrong he was. He was more controlled before, more prideful in how he looked, even if he was trying to intimidate his children. William used to be so predictable, but he was far from it now.
Mike reached out and took Cassie’s hand as William charged towards him. He lifted the knife so the sharp tip of it pressed against Mike’s chest, but he didn’t move. He didn’t dare to risk bumping into Gregory and setting the head off.
It was a strange feeling being just as tall as the man who used to use his size against him every chance he got.
“I am not going to prison!” William practically spat in his face, making him flinch. Cassie squeezed his hand. “I am leaving this room with the kids, or I am dying in it!”
His eyes were very shadowed and gaunt.
“Sir…”
William huffed again and looked over his shoulder at the long forgotten mystery woman in the corner. Vanessa had a harsh frown on her lips. “You’re not gonna die—”
“I am,” he cut her off. “This is my last chance. I'll finish it all here no matter what happens.”
“But you’re not going to die,” she insisted. She had removed the gloves and the hood from before, leaving her just in the fuzzy jacket and frizzy bleached hair. She was concerned for him. They had some sort of relationship together, whatever it was. “We have more than enough time to get it all back. Then you’ll be fine and we—”
“There is no ‘we’ and there is no time, Vanessa. Time is what got me into this mess. We have now or we have nothing.”
“So what is this then?” Mike kept most of his focus on holding Cassie’s hand and watching the knife in William’s hand, but talking was distracting him, so he kept on talking. “What’s with her? Is this just a coincidence or do you really have something with 20 year old girls you can manipulate and take advantage of?”
Mike gasped and took an unwilling step back, trying not to trip over the kids and set the animatronic head off.
William had stabbed the knife into his stomach with no warning or hesitation.
The sharp, extraordinary pain was worse than a simple graze to his spine like the last time his father pulled a knife on him. This felt more like a punch, like his punctured lung except he could see the knife tear through fabric and skin like it was nothing. His hand instinctively went to stop the blood, having to let go of Cassie to do so, and he felt it staining his hands. It was hot, burning his cold hands and the blade cutting his fingers as he grabbed at it. William was still holding it, keeping his grip firm when bloody hands slipped trying to push the object out of him.
“She’s your sister, you idiot,” he hissed to Mike, listening to the sharp grunt when he moved just an inch. “And you wouldn’t be in this mess if you acted more like her.”
Mike took in several sharp gasps, struggling to breathe, but he laughed anyway. Tears burned like blood as they fell down his face. “Fucking ‘course she is.”
“Gregory? Gregory, no—”
Mike shot his head around, but gasped again and shut his eyes tightly, stumbling on weak legs as William ripped the knife out of him. He pushed him aside, making him trip and hit a table in the small room.
Gregory had lifted his head and knocked the Spring Bonnie helmet into the back of the chair.
They all heard the ticking start.
The spring locks are about to go off.
Several things happened when they all realized this.
Cassie had screamed and reached for the head while Gregory had pushed her away, frightened and disoriented from the sudden noises assaulting him. Mike had tried to get back up and help him, but William pushed him back. He held him still by pressing his injury into the side of the table, forcing Mike’s own scream out of him from the pain. All the while, William didn’t take his eyes off the kids, as if he wanted to see the inevitable gore.
“Please,” Mike begged his father. He hasn’t begged him for anything in such a long time, long before he was arrested. He knew when to keep his mouth shut and give William whatever he wanted from him, but he couldn’t allow this. “Please, don’t do this. Please, don’t do this! Take it off him, don’t kill him, please! Father—!”
Mike shouted again as William shoved him hard into the metal.
Gregory was now screaming for someone to take the head off him, his arms not strong enough to push it up. Even with Cassie trying to help him, it weighed too much.
He couldn’t hear the ticking anymore. He didn’t know when it would go off.
Mike scrambled to grab something from the table and blindly hit his father with whatever he grabbed. He felt the handle of it weighing in his hand, so he turned the tool around and he jabbed it deep between his ribs, hearing him cry out just as the spring locks snapped.
Mike dug the tool all the way to the handle so he could let go and push William off him. There was blood all over him, soaking down to his knees, but he turned to the kids to see if by some miracle Gregory was okay.
He saw his brown eyes blown wide and dried blood smeared on his pale face.
Vanessa held the animatronics head high up by the one ear still attached to the helmet. She took a step back from the kids and dropped the head as if it would bite. Her legs shook, folding forward with her hands on her knees, she sucked in a sharp breath.
She had saved him.
Mike didn’t waste another second. He clenched his teeth, holding in groans of pain as he dropped from the weak crouch to fully on his knees in front of the boy. He ignored the blood covering every inch of him and pulled Gregory to him. He held him close despite the agonizing pain it caused his side to stretch like that, hand in his hair and face pressed into the side of his undamaged head. He felt Gregory’s breathing quicken into hyperventilating and he wrapped himself tightly around Mike.
“You’re okay, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I’m sorry.”
He didn’t know what else he could say. For one horrible moment, he thought Gregory was gone for good. Forever. He wouldn’t know what he would do. If he had looked over and saw his kid wriggling in agony on having pins and springs forced into his skull, or silent and limp, already dead and gone, there would be nothing he could have done. He would have failed. He would have lost his son and he wouldn’t know what—
There was a loud bang from the metal table, tools and scraps of material jostling around on it. Mike jumped and quickly reached out to Cassie, holding Gregory tighter.
William slammed his fist into the table leg again and shouted in frustration. Mike finally got to see the damage he did while trying to get away from him and it made his stomach churn. Right under his father’s arm, nestled between two ribs, was a very thick handle of a probably very large screwdriver. Mike hadn’t realized just how large it was in his hand until he saw it now. It had to have been a very long tool if it had a handle that big.
William choked out a laugh. He moved, sliding down onto the floor as he laughed. The blood bubbled and spilled from the wound at a much faster rate than Mike’s wound. It must’ve hit something important.
Mike— with great effort— pushed himself up to sit on the seat Gregory once occupied. He held the boy away from sight, shielding him from looking at the gruesome scene. He unwrapped one of his arms to pull Cassie’s head to his shoulder, stopping her from seeing too.
“Of course this happens,” William slurs his words bitterly, scowling at the three of them. “I could have saved my life. I could have saved yours too. I knew how to do it. I could make myself live forever, but I just needed to run a few more tests. Immortality doesn’t cure disease.”
He gasped suddenly and clutched at his side. There was blood on his tongue and it stained his yellow teeth with a grody finish.
William wiped his mouth with his other hand and stared at the blood already dried all over them. “Do you know why I was released after twenty years? Did they ever tell you?”
Mike tried to breathe steadily. He was shaking. He knew William was dying. “They never told us you got out. Before tonight, I didn’t even know if you were out yet.”
Another wet laugh, painful and thin. “Parole was coming up, but they thought I would be dead by now anyway. When I bested them and beat the fucking disease, they still didn’t think I would last much longer, so an early release was issued. They believed I could do little harm.”
A loud laugh that made both the kids and Mike flinch. He was almost angry that that was all it took to release him, after everything Evan and Lizzie had told the court. And they deemed him safe to rejoin society because they thought him being sick meant he couldn’t do any harm.
“Did they fucking forget about knives?”
William laughed again.
“I hate you so much,” he was panting, the pain becoming too much with all the laughter. He bared his teeth in some sort of fucked up smile. “I hated you more than I ever thought possible, but it’s poetic that you are always the one to destroy me. It’s a son’s destiny to defeat their father, or else too many men in one family will cannibalize itself.”
“Why does it seem that only you have that problem?” Mike tore his eyes away from his dying father to look down at Gregory. He still hid his face away from the blood, but his breathing had settled down and shock had taken over. The way he still clung to Mike and all the times before today when he had done the exact same thing, searching for comfort. “I really thought something would happen and I would hate being a father, but it never happened. And Henry never changed either. It’s just you.”
William scoffed, coughing weakly and wheezing. “Well, I’m sorry for being such a terrible father then. You’re just so much better than me, huh?”
“Haven't gone to prison yet,” the next words caught in his throat. He might hate his father, but he never thought he would kill him. “I think I’ll be off the hook with this since you tried killing us first.”
He didn’t laugh this time. His eyes were hazy with pain, and most likely blood loss. Yet, he did smile.
“Your first kill is never the last one. Trust me on that.” William turned his head with great effort and snapped his fingers at Vanessa, pointing to Spring Bonnie’s head. “Bring me that won’t you? And then fuck off. You’ve disappointed me enough today, I’m not wasting my last moments with you.”
Even dying, he treats everyone like shit.
Mike ignored the two of them, not bothering to listen to a deadman complain. He instead looked Cassie over, asking her quietly if she was hurt at all. She was also falling deep into shock like Gregory was, but she was aware enough to shake her head no.
“I twisted my ankle,” her voice wobbled dangerously, but she’s clearly been crying so much there was so little left in her. “It hurts, but I much rather get out of here.”
“We’ll tough it out together, okay? Just hold onto my arm while we walk.” Mike turned to Gregory again and lifted his head up. Frighteningly, he looked entirely too dazed and his nose was definitely broken. It made his heart jump to see. “Hey, kid? Can you hear me?” Gregory nodded his head, breathing slowly through his mouth. “Do you think you can walk?”
They heard a bang from William that made them all jump. Mike quickly hid the kids again and looked over, alarmed.
William had slammed Spring Bonnie’s head against the floor. A familiar ticking filled the room once again. He looked up and smiled when he met Mike’s eyes.
“Your first kill never leaves you either, Michael,” he said, lifting the head with a shout of pain. “I’ll always come back for you.”
Mike realized what he was doing and quickly stood up, pushing away the dizzying ache that surrounded him. He helped Gregory to his feet and felt Cassie grab his arm like he told her to do. Vanessa kicked up dust from the ground as she scrambled away from William and rushed to the door ahead of them, quickly unlocking it for them to leave.
William had just enough energy left to laugh at their pathetic attempt at fleeing. They were all too injured to leave in time for the show.
The spring locks snapped and laughter turned to agonizing screams.
“No, no, no, don’t look, Cas.” Mike had to pull Cassie closer to him to stop her looking behind them. It was a bit hard to tell, but he hoped the sick look on her face was there only from hearing the screams.
He felt a different hand touch his shoulder and he roughly shrugged it off.
“Don’t touch me,” he snapped at Vanessa, but she ignored him and carefully herded them out the door back into the hallway. She closed the door behind her, only muffling the screams a little. They were too desperate and loud to get snuffed out behind concrete walls. He turned to stare her down. “Taking that head off of Gregory changed nothing. Stay away from them.”
Vanessa was visibly shaken. She looked moments away from kneeling over herself, despite physically being fine. She shook her head minutely. “I’m sorry, but you know how it is with him. I couldn’t—”
“I know better than anyone how it is and I never tried killing kids to get him to like me,” Mike took a few steps back until his back hit the opposite wall. He let go of the kids’ arms as he slid down it, breathing steadily. The kids followed his lead and sat on either side of him as close as possible. Mike gasped when Cassie leaned too hard into the stab wound. “Just call the police and help us out a bit. And turn yourself in while you’re at it.”
“We have a first aid kit, if you just hold on…” her voiced trailed off. Mike could barely focus. Vanessa hurried off to find a phone when he didn’t respond to her.
Mike couldn’t be bothered to yell at her again. He just stared at the door in front of him. The screaming had stopped, finally silenced under death. He could easily picture his father slumped in the same position as he was in now, blood running down his side and splattered all over the place from the traps crushing his head.
He had killed him. His father was dead.
“You’re shaking a lot,” Gregory mumbled from beside him. Mike looked away from the door to the kid he had gotten so enamored with in such a short amount of time. He looked a little more aware of his surroundings, but Mike knew the pain of a concussion. There are high chances he won’t remember everything that happened tonight. “Are you gonna die?”
Mike reached out and tried wiping the blood off his face without touching his nose, but was unsuccessful, only getting his own blood smeared all over him. He’s decided he doesn’t like the look of blood on the kid.
“I don’t die, kid,” he said, but maybe all the blood loss was getting to him because he really felt like death. “But when I get better, you will never leave my sight again. I swear to God, I did not prepare myself enough for how many times you’ve run away in the past.”
Gregory snorted in such an ugly way because of his broken nose, but it was the best sound Mike has ever heard. He leaned his head on his son and tried to keep his eyes open for just a bit longer. Just until the police got here and they were officially safe.
“Is mom mad at me for running away too?” Cassie whispered from his right.
Mike hummed. “Oh yeah, but she’ll get over it when she hears what happened. She’ll just be happy you’re okay.”
It was getting harder and harder to stay conscious. He heard his niece ask another question, but it left his mind as his head slumped forward.
Notes:
I TOLD YOU I DONT WRITE ACTION SCENES
Lmao I can explain why this chapter is so choppy and fast tho I promise. See I was just thinking about how little EVERYONE thinks in high-pressure, life or death, situations like these. They go by so fast and your brain often struggles to catch up. Mike had been ambushed by suddenly seeing his father again, to his kids’ safety, to getting STABBED—
All and all, it would all be happening so fast in his mind he would barely have time to watch and understand exactly what was happening. That’s why it’s not very descriptive and kinda just jumps from one thing to the other. It slowly comes back when they are safely out of the room, but that’s when the adrenaline ran out and his blood loss was becoming way too much.
There is one more chapter after this and then a little something after that’s kinda like… an epilogue??? Ish?? You’ll see next week what I mean.
Chapter Text
Mike wasn’t going back to work.
When he got all fixed up in the hospital and started his recovery from getting stabbed, the first thing he did was apologize to Jeremy for forcing him to handle all the pain of bills and money for a bit. Jeremy had called him stupid for apologizing at all.
He had given the kids a bit of a scare. Despite his goal to stay awake to make sure they were okay, he had fainted. He didn’t realize it until someone had told him when he woke up. He couldn’t even remember who, he just remembered asking about the kids.
They were safe. Cassie had a boot on her foot, but with rest she’ll heal up fairly quickly. Gregory’s concussion had been pretty bad, having hit his head twice on two different sides, but there was hope for nothing permanent down the line. The broken nose was bandaged and it gave him a nasty bruise that spread to his eyes.
Even so, they were okay. They were going to be okay. Eventually.
Mike grunted as he pushed himself off the couch, hand instinctively going to hold his healing side. Gregory scrambled off the couch as well and stopped Mike from getting up further.
“No, no, no, what do you want? I’ll get it for you!”
“I’m fine, kid.”
“No, you’re not. I’ll get whatever it is, just tell me!”
“Gregory, I need to go to the bathroom.”
Helplessly admitting defeat, Gregory huffed and sat back down on the couch. He gave him a frustrated glare that had Mike smiling as he left the living room.
The kid is protective. Mike was right, he didn’t remember too much of the night, but he didn’t forget everything. He remembered coming to with Spring Bonnie’s head on his head. He remembered the ticking and everyone screaming, including him. He remembered the smell of blood and everything William had said before he had his head completely obliterated, and he remembered sitting beside Mike while he was unconscious. He had told Mike he didn’t think William was dead. It filled the kid’s nightmares and made him awfully paranoid. He turned that nervous energy into helping Mike while he recovered.
Mike had been worried the kid would be damaged beyond repair like he was after William, but that was far from the truth. He spent every moment with them and stopped trying to hide away. It was terrible how much closer they got because of all this.
He returned to the living room and Gregory was more than happy to pull him back down on the couch.
“Do you think you can teach me how to draw?” He asked.
Mike shrugged. “I can try, I guess. Why?”
“Mother’s Day is coming up soon and I wanted to draw something for Lizzie. She’s practically my mom, anyway.” Gregory leaned up against Mike’s side, pointedly not on the side with the injury. “And then I can draw comics like you do and make you and Jeremy something for Father’s Day. Is that okay?”
Mike smiled something stupid and dorky. The idea of fatherhood still scared the life out of him, but he couldn’t help the exciting feeling whenever Gregory called him his father. He just had to make sure he lived up to the standard.
In some ironically terrible way, seeing William again helped him become a better father figure in his eyes. William was cruel down to the last few seconds of his life, but Mike had almost died that day trying to protect Gregory and Cassie. William would never do that, no matter how much he claimed he was fighting for Lizzie and Evan. Mike wasn’t going to have the idea soiled for him just because his father wasn’t a good one.
Gregory was his kid, and he isn’t ever going to hurt him. He isn’t going to hate him, or beat him, or blame him for his unhappiness. Hurting children was a choice, not something that just happens once they get on your nerves. Mike had gotten extremely angry with Gregory when he told him why he had run off with Cassie, but he never raised his hand at him or insulted him. He never even had the urge to.
How could he? He loved the kid.
Mike scrubbed his hand through Gregory’s greasy hair, ruffling it. “Can you tell me what day Father’s Day is?”
Gregory stopped and squinted his eyes, thinking to himself.
“July or something?” He mumbled. Mike laughed at him.
“It’s your birthday, dumb dumb,” he teased. “First birthday with us too. Do you really want to spend that day celebrating me and Jeremy?”
He shrugged. “I don’t really care about my birthday.”
“Well, I care about your birthday and I can’t name several other people who also care about your birthday. Your first birthday with us. You know Cassie will throw a fit if we don't have a party for you.”
Gregory threw his head back and groaned. As if celebrating his birthday with gifts, cake, and people who loved him was such a burden on him. “Why does it matter?”
God, it’s so unreal how much he loves this kid. “It really doesn’t, but if you’re fine with sharing your birthday with us then that’s fine. It’s within my right to do whatever you want on your birthday.” He pushed Gregory off him playfully. “Now go get some paper so I can teach you how to draw.”
Gregory stood up and Mike expected him to run off immediately, but he stayed where he was for a moment. He had a frown on his face that made the scar stretch strangely. It made Mike worry a little. More than a little.
“What’s wrong?” He asked softly.
Gregory just shrugged again, seemingly bashful. “I dunno… are you sure you’re fine with me calling you my dad? You told me when you were sick that you never wanted to be a dad, and I don’t want to annoy you like that.”
Just like that, Mike was hit with the memory of saying all that to Gregory. He was only half aware of the things he was saying to the kid while fever-brained, but with all the chaos of the next few weeks, he had completely forgotten about it. The reminder made him wince. He was stupid for even thinking like that. Who the hell adopts a kid and then refuses to call himself a father?
“I, um,” he swallowed anxiously. “I don’t really— I don’t know, I was being stupid. I am your father, a hundred percent, I just didn’t want to… to think of myself as a father. Because you’ve seen my dad.” Mike laughed. “I didn’t want to think of myself as that guy.”
“You’re not that guy! He was an asshole and tried to kill us,” he held up two fingers. “ Twice!”
Mike laughed again, wincing at the ache in his side. He touched the injury and tried grounding himself before he could think about the whole killing thing. Killing his father. And almost getting killed himself. And Gregory. Twice.
“Yeah, I know all that. I have a few issues on my end, but I’m still sorry I made you believe you weren’t my kid.” Mike tilted his head when Gregory looked down at his feet, trying to get his attention. “Because you are. You are my kid. And I wouldn’t have done all this if I thought otherwise. Even if I say otherwise. Got it?”
When Gregory didn’t respond, Mike poked at his nice and full stomach until he broke. The boy laughed and smacked his hands away.
“You got that, huh?” Mike pushed.
Another laugh. “Jesus, yeah, I got it!”
He slapped his hands off again and Mike pulled back. He pointed up the stairs, telling him to go get the art supplies so they could draw.
Gregory woke up gasping, eyes snapping open to his infinitely too dark room. He pushed himself to sit up and frantically shifted around to look around the room. He had fallen asleep with his back to the door and had woken up from a nightmare.
He remembers the ticking and laughter, and the snap that caused screams to follow. He remembers hands grasping at a disgusting yellow rabbit head. And eyes so pale they were practically glowing were watching him.
William wasn’t dead. Gregory heard all the screams and pain, but he didn’t believe someone so evil could be killed just like that.
He kicked off his blankets and hopped out of bed, immediately feeling like someone was watching him. Gregory headed out of his room, pausing for just a moment to make sure he heard no one moving around, before running to Mike and Jeremy’s room. He felt the anxiety building again as he knocked on the door. His back was towards the stairs like this. Someone could walk up behind him and grab him so easily. He might be gaining more weight now, but he was still too small.
Gregory frantically knocked again until someone opened the door.
Mike frowned at the hyperventilating boy. He quickly opened the door fully and crouched down to pull the kid into a hug.
“Shh, shh, calm down, it’s okay. You’ll be okay, just breathe.”
Mike was able to look over his shoulder. He would tell him if anyone was sneaking up behind them. He would tell him, and his arms were holding him like they were a shield, so he could start to relax.
It took just a few moments longer to fully relax again.
Mike patted his back when his breathing slowed to a normal rhythm. “Okay, I’m going to regret this, but here we go.”
In one breath, he scooped Gregory up in his arms and stood up with a grunt. He swore as quietly as he could, closing the bedroom door behind him and leaving them out in the hall.
“Fuck, you’re getting too big for me.” Mike grunted again as he walked down the hall to get back to Gregory’s room. Gregory felt his heart start pounding again.
“Wait, no,” he pressed himself against Mike’s shoulder. “Can— can we go downstairs please? I don’t want to go in there.”
“Why not?”
More than a bit embarrassed, Gregory hid his face again. “I wanna make sure no one broke in while we were asleep.”
Mike sighed and pulled him closer. “Yeah, okay, I get that. We fit better on the couch than in your tiny bed anyway.”
Gregory thanked him softly and Mike carried him down the stairs. Once they got to the living room, Mike was once again swearing and grunting under his breath as he lowered Gregory onto the couch. He stood back up and held his tender side.
“Yeah, I already regret that,” he grumbled. He shook it off and turned to the kid. “Do you want me to check the doors and windows for you or are you satisfied with this?”
Gregory would much rather keep Mike in his sights than have him surveillance the area. He shook his head. “I’m fine— can you just sit with me?”
“Yeah, of course, kid.” Mike sat himself down in his usual spot and pulled Gregory close to him. He combed through his hair to help him relax more. Gregory curled up against him. “Do you wanna talk about it tonight? I think it’ll help.”
This wasn’t the first time in the weeks following William’s death that Gregory had nightmares about it. All of this was almost routine. Even so, Gregory had always refused to talk about it directly. Especially when the topic makes Mike so uncomfortable.
This time, he sighed. “Do you think they would let us see your dad’s body?”
Right on cue, Mike shifted in his seat, clearing his throat. “Uh, I don’t know. He’s probably gone by now. There’s no way he’s still sitting in that mall.”
“But if his body is still there— or if it’s—”
“There’s no way he’s still alive, kid,” Mike cut him off softly. He held him closer. “He’s gone. He’s gone, Vanessa is gone, and we’re okay. I’m fine and you’re fine.”
Gregory felt the humiliating pressure of a sob in his throat. His eyes grew wet and he tried to hide it in Mike’s shoulder. He gasped shakily. “I’m not fine.” He wasn’t at all fine. “I almost died. You almost died. I’m so scared, I’m sorry, I don’t—”
This time he cut himself off with a wail. Mike hugged him impossibly closer, trying to hold him together despite him falling apart in his arms.
He couldn’t say anything else and Mike didn’t say anything either. All he did was hold him as his tears became uncontrollable. Gregory hasn’t cried like this since the streets. Since Mike had found him asleep on the park bench and bought him donuts. Or the night he ran from his apartment, tucked behind a dumpster, and cried into his arms as silently as he could. He didn’t want anyone to find him then.
Now he just couldn’t care. He’s been through too much to care.
He clung to Mike to know he had him there. Gregory had almost lost him when he was stabbed. That whole night had been one big screw up, a nightmare.
“Shh, it’s okay,” Mike whispered to him as he cried. He kissed Gregory’s temple and leaned his head against the fault. “It’s okay. Just cry, it’s okay. It’s okay, baby.”
Gregory gasped in his tears, but Mike helped keep him together.
Notes:
Tiny itty bitty chapter for the finale.
Well, kinda.
See, I actually made another little two-shot after this as an alternative ending, but it didn’t so much fit AS an ending. But it did still fit into the story almost like an epilogue. Idk what to do with it, like if I should post it at the end here to make this like 22 chapters or if I should post it separately idk!!!!
Anyways little hopeful ending bc I like hopeful endings. Maybe a little bittersweet now that I think about it?? Gregory is awfully scared…
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