"I'm Ten, Not A Toddler."

★ — "I'm ten, not a toddler."

Desire to keep his voice low in case something is close enough to hear them is the only thing that keeps his words from turning into a snapping statement, though there's still a clean annoyance that slips into his tone. It's not the right thing to be arguing about, but Gregory can't help it — he's so sure there's something different about Freddy, like whatever flipped a switch in the other animatronics and turned them murderous managed to flip Freddy's the opposite way, turning him into some sort of lone protector. ( if he were to be honest with himself, he knows he can't say for certain that's true ; but he so badly wants to be something more than another child to the one thing that's seemed to care about him in years ).

He's about to argue back once more, tell her that the stomach hatch has been the only safe place he's managed to find so far when she suddenly stops by a door. Brows raise as the electric lock clicks open, almost impressed.

"What security clearance are you? I haven't been able to make it through this way yet."

"What, do they teach animatronic behavior programming in kindergarten now?" She's fairly confident she knows more about the animatronic's programming than this kid. Addy does have decades worth of experience with them, after all. "Generally speaking, they're supposed to prioritize the kids over themselves." There's a pause as she glances around, "Current situation not withstanding." If anything, the other animatronics' behavior was far more strange than Freddy's.

"Hey, I'm not judging." She'd not judging that part, at least. "If anything, I'm impressed, but uh..." But in the back of her mind, the image of a child in an animatronic's torso makes her a bit unnerved. "Maybe don't do it again. Those things aren't built for people. And I don't just mean from a fit perspective."

She pauses for a moment by a door. "Wait, it's faster if we go this way." She holds her access card to the pad. Her card itself isn't what's opening the door, but her influence over the electronics. "At the very least, it's away from the security bots."

cold shoulder

cursed information via the tftpp books : multiple pizzaplexes!

a family can be a giant bear robot with the power to kill and a little tiny criminal boy and I think that's beautiful

[ HAIR ]: as the receiver leans against them/lies in bed, sender begins to run their hand through their hair to soothe them until they relax or fall asleep.

‘𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐲’ 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐬.

★ — They're watching a movie. Rented, at Gregory's insistence, having refused to watch any of Michael's shitty soap operas. He hadn't been sure what it was about when he picked it out, only stating that anything would be better than his guardian's taste in entertainment. It must be about halfway finished by now. Not that he would know.

Gregory is trying to stay awake. He really is — but he keeps drifting in and out of consciousness, his brown hues half - lidded and intensely focussed on the screen in front of them without truly processing anything that's occurred in the past forty - five minutes. The dim lighting for the ambiance of a movie night certainly isn't helping his fight to stay awake. ( neither is the inherent feeling of safety michael seems to carry with him ).

The thing is, Gregory wants to stay awake. He wants to watch the movie with Michael ; wants to spend this time with him. But his body and his brain seem to have two different ideas, and he can't stop himself from yawning, despite the fact that he tries to disguise the action as a deep sigh.

The fact that he can't remember when he shifted to lean against Michael should probably be the first sign that this is a losing battle.

And then Michael starts running his fingers through Gregory's hair, the acting unbearably gentle. For a brief moment, the kid tenses, still unused to this kind of physical affection ( something so gentle and warm, despite the coolness of michael's touch ). Then he relaxes into it ( his chest feeling tight ) with a slight whine. There's a smile tugging at the corners of his lips, though he half - buries it into Michael with a slight turn of his head.

"S'no fair — you're gonna make me fall asleep. I wanna watch the movie."

★ — Gregory has been told he has a bad attitude time and time again ; it's the reason no guardian would keep him after his mother's passing, until Michael had found him and steadfastly refused to give up on him. One might think that in his desperation to be cared for he might learn to keep that attitude in check, but if anything its only gotten worse. And so, he can't help but roll his eyes as Elizabeth speaks, a huff slipping past his lips. It's a terrible habit — the way he pushes people away, responds callously to any attempts to get to know him.

"Great. Am I supposed to say thank you or something?" ( a pause ). "What d'you even want, anyways?"

despite  how  she  was  raised  ,   despite  all  of  the  hardships  she  came  to  face  dealing  with  the  fall  out  of  what  happened  to  her  as  a  child  elizabeth  has  some  empathy  .   there  isn't  an  afton  who  isn't  damaged  .   she  wonders  if  he  could  see  it  in  michael  when  they're  together  .   though  ,   wait  until  that  volatility  of  his  comes  to  blow  ,  elizabeth  in  more  than  one  way  is  a  daddy's  girl  even  if  it's  latent  .   the  manipulation  that  william  thrusted  upon  her  still  being  very  fresh  in  her  mind  despite  his  being  long  gone  .   she'll  show  him  she's  not  one  that  you  mess  with  .   but  for  now  ,   she's  still  pretty  flippant  about  how  she  talks  about  everything  .   in  fact  coming  up  to  shrug  .    ‘  okay  well  ,  i'm  not  going  to  do  that  to  you  .  ’    for  a  second  she  would've  said  she  didn't  consider  him  a  friend  but  out  of  respect  she  wouldn't  have  treated  him  like  porcelain  like  others  do  .   but  she  doesn't  even  know  if  that's  true  .   they  are  definitely  not  friends  ,   but  she  doesn't  want  to  close  that  door  .