Michael Doesnt Exactly How To Approach This. He Knows Gregorys Birthday, He Needed It For Their Not-so-legitimate

Michael doesn’t exactly how to approach this. He knows Gregory’s birthday, he needed it for their… not-so-legitimate legal documents, but he has largely no idea how Gregory feels about it ( based on the fact that the kid hasn’t brought it up beyond that, though, he can guess ). Michael’s history with birthdays doesn’t help in the slightest. Still, he refuses to ignore it, and had luckily paid some attention where Gregory wouldn’t: he’ll return home from school to a couple gifts: two of which are toys he remembers catching Gregory’s eyes lingering on, and the other a thrifted GameCube that came with a handful of classics. “Wasn’t about to let you get off scot-free on your birthday, sorry.” He comments with a small smile. “There’s a bit of cake in the fridge, which might be branded, but I did get it for free.” Aka he stole a Fazbear cake. 

★ — It's not that Gregory had forgotten about his birthday. He'd known the date was approaching with some sort of awareness, but had planned to let it come and go like any other. It's been years since anyone had pretended the date was special for his sake — lucky if a foster family would even offer him a passing ' happy birthday ' throughout the day, and ( unfair as it might have been ) ..... he'd honestly expected the same from Michael.

He hadn't expected him to remember ; didn't think it would strike his memory as something worth keeping track of.

Which is why he's so surprised when he walks home to presents, and glances up as his guardian to see that small smile. Eyes go wide, flickering back towards the toys, and to the fridge when it's mentioned.

"Oh,"

He can feel his cheeks flushing, chest and throat feeling tight, and it's —— embarrassing. He shouldn't feel this excited about his birthday being not only acknowledged, but celebrated by his ( favorite, definitely his favorite of all time ) guardian, but he is, teeth sinking into his lower lip to try and bite back the little smile tugging at them. He's decidedly not looking at Michael as he drops his backpack and steps in to take a closer look at the gifts, eyes sparking with light.

It's when he gets to the GameCube that he finally looks back at Michael, slight tilt to his head.

"What's this?"

❛ See, this is why no one lets you make the plans. ❜ ( from cassidy in her SB AU who is absolutely about to come up with a worse one ( said jokingly obv ) / @ladyseidr )

inbox spring cleaning

★ — "Hey ——!"

Quickly shouted in slight - offense, his brows furrowed and mouth forming a small ' o '. He manages to pull himself together before continuing, pulling his volume into a hissed - whisper.

"Screw you, I'm great at plans!" ( highly debatable, if their current predicament were anything to judge ). "Like you could come up with anything better."

if this is going to work, you’re going to have to trust me.

this has definitely been in there for a year oops

★ — It hasn't been long since that night ; they've only just made the move from shitty motel into an equally shitty one bedroom apartment.

Gregory thinks he's probably lived in worse places.

The tension in the small, shared space is palpable. Michael is — well, he's trying. In the back of his mind, Gregory does know this. That if Michael didn't care, he wouldn't have offered to take him in, wouldn't have given him the bedroom as a place all to himself, wouldn't be trying to comfort him when the nightmares and fear of shadows kept him up into the early morning.

But Gregory can't help but be wary, despite the way he tries to hold himself with a sense of forced nonchalance while still carefully watching every movement Michael makes like he might have to bolt. A learned behavior from previous years of being moved from place to place, guardian to guardian, only amplified by the fear he's carried since leaving the pizzaplex.

Because he doesn't trust Michael. He seems nice, well intentioned ( certainly the best option the kid has if he doesn't want to end up on the streets again ), but all Gregory knows about him is his name and the fact that he's another loose thread in this web that all connects back to Fazbear Entertainment ; he's involved, somehow, but won't tell him how. More than that, he's actively trying to keep Gregory in the dark.

And Gregory is so, so fucking scared that if he stays in the dark, he won't be able to see what's coming next until it's too late for him.

They've reached another stalemate — arguments not uncommon, escalating until Gregory is yelling and Michael is nearly. Gregory's standing in his doorway, glaring as harshly as he can at his current guardian, hands curled around the wood and blatantly prepared to slam it closed.

"Why should I trust you! You don't tell me anything!"

It's not helping anything, these screaming matches, but everything is bubbling over and Gregory doesn't know what else to do, not when Michael seems so intent on not listening to him.

"If this isn't going to work, then just get rid of me already! I'm not some fucking charity case, I'm not gonna just stay inside and do nothing!"

❛ Conserve your ammo. Goes faster than you think. Especially at target practice. ❜ congrats gregory you got your gun 🎉

THE WALKING DEAD SEASON ONE SENTENCE STARTERS

★ — Before Michael can even finish his introductory warning, the kid is scoffing and rolling his eyes. Off to a great start!

"You're acting like I don't know how to use a gun. Orphan, remember? FEDRA school? They teach us how to do stuff like this, that's the whole point of keeping us around."

Small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips, he leans forward onto the rock that Michael's situated them behind for the purpose of target practice. Straight ahead is an empty can of food. Gregory squints to narrow his focus, flicks the safety off, pulls the trigger, and —— fires.

He misses completely.

"Shit. Wait — I can do better than that, hang on!"

❛ The most important thing here is we need to stay together. ❜ @jeremangled

THE WALKING DEAD SEASON ONE SENTENCE STARTERS

★ — Gregory's never been outside the wall before.

The thought sits heavy in his chest— this is all completely new to him— a constant weight, a steady, thrumming fear. He has no clue what to do, how to maneuver this terrain, how to get where they're supposed to be going. Michael and Jeremy navigate like its second nature to the pair, and Gregory is acutely aware that he may as well be dead weight.

He sticks closer to Jeremy for the simple fact that the man makes him feel less terrible about that than Michael does.

Gregory hears ( more than he sees, eyes practically glued to the ground as if he can will the rocks and rubble to not shift under his feet and cause him to stumble as he walks ) Jeremy come to a stop and shuffles his feet to mimic the abrupt stop. Blinks in response, a little confused.

"Um — 'kay."

He lifts his eyes to nod in agreement, taken aback by the seriousness in his tone. A beat of silence passes. Gregory opens his mouth to ask a question— promptly closes it. He'll just annoy them. Jeremy turns to lead the trio once again, and nearly as soon as they take their first steps onward once more —— yeah, he can't help it.

"Why? Where are we going? Is there gonna be infected? Or is it more FEDRA patrols? Does FEDRA patrol this far out? Do you guys see fireflies when you come this far out?"