Chapter Text
Gregory blames his horse-shit luck.
He was just having fun in the vents, being the sneaky squirrel that Freddy always assumes he is. He just wanted to hide and win the hide-and-seek with Freddy damnit. He didn’t expect the flimsy opening to fall as soon as he steps his weight on it, and he didn’t expect to land on Monty’s messy room, while the bigass and intimidating Animatronic was in the middle of thrashing it.
Now, here he is, back aching and eyes wide, as he stares at the equally shock alligator.
“Wha--?” Monty manages to utter before Gregory is scrambling to his feet and climbing back up to the vents he fell into.
“Oh no, you don’t!” Monty growls. He grabs Gregory’s ankle and drags him out of the vents. “Whatcha doin’ here twerp? Why are you in the vents?”
Distantly, Gregory remembers Freddy’s number one rule about staying in the Pizzaplex; Don't go in any of the Animatronic’s rooms without explicit permission.
Which… oops.
“Let me go! Let me go!” Gregory screeches, swinging his arms as Monty suspends him upside down. “I didn’t mean to crash into your room! I'm sorry!”
“That ain't about that, kid.” Gregory can hear the eye roll from the sentence as he twists his body to better see Monty.
He scowls. “Then what’s it about, fucker?”
Gregory is now eye-to-eye to Monty, and he can see him quirking his eyebrow despite the glasses.
“Bit of a potty-mouth, ain'tcha?” Monty grins, flashing his fangs at the kid.
Gregory flinches, heart beating fast at the proximity of the alligator’s face, but he hid his slight fear with a scowl. Thankfully, Monty didn’t notice or care. “You shouldn’t be in the vents, kid,” Monty continues, ignoring the way Gregory deepens his scowl and crosses his arms. “You coulda fell and broke one of your bones. Don’cha know that humans are extremely fragile?”
Gregory wants to snark back, ‘I managed to single-handedly crush you, so who’s the fragile one now?’ but he wisely keeps his mouth shut. Instead, he continues glowering at Monty. If looks could kill, the alligator would be a pile of scrap by now.
Monty sighs. “Whatever, I'm giving you back’ta Freddy.”
Before Monty could, however, a knock sounded on the door, and it opened, revealing the one and only Animatronic Bear, Freddy himself. Gregory’s scowl turns into a pout. He twists to face Monty again, ready to blame him for his loss, but he stops at the sight before him.
Monty was usually so laid-back and calm, even though he has a very terrifying temper. Gregory could feel at ease around him when he isn’t flashing his teeth and claws, but he never could have imagined the look the alligator is making right now.
It was almost as if he is seeing an angel right in front of him, full of awe and adoration that it is almost sickening. His amused smile from earlier is now a full-on grin, and his tail is gently swaying behind him.
Gregory feels like everything suddenly stops. He is doused in cold, cold water and burning at the same time as his stomach suddenly twisted in knots. There was ringing in his ears, and he cant hear Monty’s words through the pounding of his heart.
He is settled down on the ground, and he stumbles his way towards Freddy. He can see the animatronic’s mouth moving, but he can only nod absently as his thoughts go rushing past him.
Monty likes Freddy.
He repeats in his head like a mantra. He looks up at Freddy as he guides him out of Monty’s room and he lets out a gulp.
Fuck.
Guess his luck is horse-shit.
“Monty likes Freddy!”
Sundrop tilts his head from where he is sitting, on top of the monkey bars, perfectly balanced on one bar. He looks down at where Gregory is hanging, upside down, a scowl on his face as he crosses his arms.
“Oh!” Sundrop exclaims, “I can't really blame him! Freddy is like a GIANT teddy bear, ripe for cuddling! Everybody likes him. Nobody would hate him! Nobody, nobody, nobody!”
Gregory shakes his head. He drops down from where he is hanging, stumbling a bit at the incoming vertigo, and climbs on top where Sundrop is sitting. “I know!” He huffs. Because, yeah, of course, he does. You would be an idiot if you don’t like Freddy, he is the best animatronic ever and he makes the greatest pizza of all time. “But this is different. Monty has a crush on Freddy!”
He swats Sundrop’s hands away when he picks him up to settle him next to the attendant, but he leans on his wiry (heh) frame for support. “Which is stupid and disgusting, and blegh. Crushes are fucking dumb.”
“Oh Gregory,” Sundrop giggles, “You're only saying that because you haven't been in love yet! I'm sure once you grow up you will have a crush of your own. And you will be SO smitten and SO in love, you won't even have time to play with your best-best friend!”
Gregory makes a face. He knows that there is a possibility that he will one day like someone, he has seen his older friends from the streets turn from denying any vulnerability to shoving their tongues down someone else’s throat. But he would never, ever, ever do that. Love is disgusting, and crushes are horrible. But that is not the point!
“That’s not the point,” Gregory voices with a pout, “That is SO not the point, Sunny.”
Sundrop tilts his head even further to the left, Gregory would have been scared of him falling over if he wasn’t busy glowering still.
“What’s the point then? What is it? You could tell me, I would understand. I would, I would. What’s up, best-best friend?”
Gregory groans, and burrows deeper on Sundrop’s side. What is the point then? He can feel the buzzing irritation of the thought of Monty having a crush on Freddy, but really? It's not like it will go anywhere. It’s just a simple crush, nothing more nothing less. And Monty surely won't confess to Freddy. And if he did, Gregory is 90% sure that Freddy will reject him.
But goddamn. That 10% is a fucking bitch. He needs to do something to ensure that he is 100% sure…
He straightens up, eyes beaming at the wonderful thought that passed his mind.
“What’s the opposite of wingman?” Gregory asks, looking up at the Sun animatronic.
Sundrop gives him an amused yet concerned smile. “The opposite for wingman is inappropriate for kids, best friend! You cant, can't, can't say it! It's very bad.”
But Gregory ignores him as he grins. “I'm going to cockblock them!”
Sundrop’s disapproving smile was ignored in favor of plotting ways to cockblock Monty and Freddy.
This is going to be great!
The child is being weirder than usual, Monty decides.
He knows that the child has been very clingy from the beginning from what Freddy has told them, with the whole Vanny thing going down, and he had become more clingy even after the bunny menace was gone, but this is becoming ridiculous.
Monty turns around, careful to not step on any of the chords littered on the stage, and there, he can see Gregory’s small form in the ventilation system near him. Normally the child would be staying in the daycare with Sundrop and Moondrop until Freddy would come to pick him, but apparently, today is not the day.
He frowns, but then he immediately brightens up when the music starts playing from the speakers. Almost like a dance, he reaches for his bass and plucks the first few chords of the song.
Freddy is at the center as always, like a shining star in the night as he begins the first verse of the song. Monty grins, the voice of the bear easily charming him as it did years ago. The cheers and screams of the audience were ignored in favor of playfully circling the bear. Freddy was undeterred, playfully swatting him as he moves from his place and circles around Chica, with Monty following him.
Chica laughs, twirling as they circled her. Freddy goes to Roxy, and the wolf humors him by standing back-to-back to him. She does some cool moves with her keytar player as Freddy belts out the highest note of the song. Monty lets out an almost inaudible sigh, the high note baritone he belted almost sounding like choir angels in his ears. But even though he wants to continue listening to Freddy, angel incarnate, Monty has a job to do. He used his tail to pull Chica to the center, signaling for her turn as she shreds it on her guitar.
The song ends with Monty and Roxy dragging out the final chords with their bass and keytar respectively, and the newfound eruption of the crowd almost bursting their non-existent eardrums.
“Thank you! Thank you!” Freddy laughs in his mic. “Welcome to Pizzaplex the greatest place in the world, and we hope you enjoy your stay!”
With those parting words, the center of the stage starts lowering down from underground, the echoing screams of their fans fading as they go deeper down.
Monty grins as Freddy claps, a genuine smile overtaking his features. “Great job everyone!” The bear praises. And even though it was meant for all of them, Monty can't help but preen at the words. “You are so amazing as always!”
Then, Freddy breaks away to praise them individually. Starting with Roxy and giving the wolf a high-five. Monty can't keep down the swell of affection at the actions. Freddy is always so kind and the nicest (and stupidest) idiot he had the pleasure of meeting. He seems to love everyone so genuinely, even if they somehow wronged him. The big bear has this aura of gentleness that Monty can't help but want to squeeze and hug the life out of him.
He watches as the bear hugs Chica, pursing his lips to stop the snarl he feels coming. He can't keep on doing that when Freddy expresses affection to anyone other than him, he reasons for himself. He flexes his hands, opening and closing them to ease away his tension. He needs to stop being possessive, god it's not like Freddy is his.
Monty perks up when Freddy is walking towards him. This is it, his dose of happy pills in the form of heartfelt praises from a teddy bear. He lifts up his hand, ready to high-five the other when someone blocks Freddy’s route.
Gregory stands tall, like some sort of sick joke, as he points at Freddy. “Freddy!” He announces, like a man on a mission, and Monty’s eyes narrow dangerously. “I'm lost!”
Monty could feel his mechanical heart sink as Freddy stops his route towards Monty to face the little rascal. He knows it was a bold-face lie. He has seen the security cameras, he had chased Gregory around the Pizzaplex, and he knows for a fact that the rascal knows every nook and cranny in this huge mall. But he scowls at the genuine concern Freddy shows, and he scowls even deeper when he lifts the rascal off the floor.
“Oh, Gregory! How did ever did you get here?” Freddy asks, holding the rascal near his chest. “Come, come, let’s get you to the Daycare. I thought you have maps?”
“Yeah, but I lost them.”
Monty watches as Freddy turns around, opposite from the alligator, and begins to walk off the platform. He can see Gregory’s face peering over the bear’s shoulder. There is a smug smirk on him, his eyes almost mocking him as Freddy carries him away.
A snarl rips from his voice box, startling the two girls in the vicinity. Monty scowls and snarls even louder when that little shit’s smug smirk widens.
That fucking brat.
The brat keeps on popping up throughout the day, even though he is supposed to be in the daycare with Sundrop.
Monty would notice that he would pop out whenever Freddy would try to talk to him. Freddy would walk to the alligator or was just about to open his mouth to talk to Monty, when Gregory would conveniently come out from where he is hiding, and take Freddy away with flimsy lies that Monty could see through, but apparently Freddy could not because he would happily let him take him away.
And it's so so annoying.
He says so to Roxanne once they’re alone in the comfort of Monty’s room. He is standing in the middle of his mess, there is stuffing everywhere and shredded plushies of him and his friends. His desk is toppled over with fresh scratches, and his vanity mirror cracked with glass littered everywhere.
Roxy is sitting on the (mostly) intact couch on the far corner of his room, legs propped on the (surprisingly) alive coffee table. She looks amused, almost exasperated, at the mess he made. He ignores it in favor of settling next to her with a slump.
“So, what? The kid’s fucking cockblocking you?” She snorts, bright eyes rolling to the ceiling. “We don’t even have cocks, and you and Freddy aren’t even in a relationship.”
Monty sighs. He lies down, settling his head on the wolf’s lap. Roxy begins to play with his bright red hair, claws untangling the knots in it.
“This ain't just about that,” Monty huffs, “This ain't radical, firecracker. I need’ta get ma serotonin boost from Fredbear.”
Roxy raises an eyebrow. “You are dangerously close at sounding like a sap, big guy.” She chuckles. “You are down bad. You really need to do something about that.”
“Shut,” he glares. But, unfortunately, Roxy ignores him and begins to braid his hair.
“All I'm saying,” Roxy says, “You better get your balls together and fucking confess. I don’t wanna continue watching you make goo-goo eyes at the bear. Do you know how embarrassingly obvious you two are?”
Monty shoves Roxy’s face with a clawed hand, but he lets it smack over his eyes as he groans. “You’re so hella annoyin’ this is so totally not cool. You cant complain ‘bout ma crush! You were pinin’ for Chica for years!”
“This isn’t about me, big guy,” Roxy huffs, but Monty can see her bristling at the jab.
“Whatever!” Monty exclaims. “How does this even relate to Gregory stealing Freddy away from me?”
“Fredbear’s not yours,” Was Roxy’s automatic response, before she pauses, thinking for a beat or two, before continuing, “I don’t know, really. I think you need to talk to Gregory about his weird-ass behavior. You know how much baggage that kid has.”
“And he’ll stop tryna steal Fredbear from me?”
“No, but you two can maybe reach an agreement and shit,” Roxy shrugs, “I dunno. Just a thought.”
Monty groans. “Y’know am not good with words, firecracker. How can’nai even start’ta conversation, huh?” He sits up, and raises a hand, and imagines that it was actually Gregory he is talking. “Hey, wassup lil dude? I know you have so much trauma, witha me, Roxy and Chica tryna kill you. But I really wanna date your pops, can’ya please move out of th’way so I can bang him, huh?”
Roxy snorts, once and then twice, before full-on cackling as Monty made his Gregory hand-puppet move, opening ‘his’ mouth but no sound coming out. But Monty nods his head as if he can hear everything he has to say.
Just as he opens his mouth to ‘answer’, a movement caught his eye. There, on the ceiling, where the vent opening is, are the dark eyes of Gregory peering through. Before Monty could shout, mechanical heart on his throat, Gregory turns around and scrambles away, probably to Freddy ready to tattle on him…
Shit.