If This Is Going To Work, Youre Going To Have To Trust Me.

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!"

★ — On one hand, it'd be really stupid to go to some unknown location with someone he barely knows — and really, Gregory knows next to nothing about Ollie.

On the other, if Ollie had wanted to hurt him, she'd certainly had plenty of chances to do so. Like right now, it was the middle of the night with no one around and only the two of them were behind a large, solitary building. And the last person he'd followed away from the pizzaplex despite knowing next to nothing about them had given him an escape from the foster system. So.

"You'd seriously take me with you?" ( a pause ). "Wait — if you've got a show tonight, why're you here instead of there?"

@braveburned from here

Her hands are on her hips, but Ollie doesn't plan on lecturing him. She's well aware of her own history of impulsive choices, and she's well aware of how little lectures did to stop any of that. If anything, she knew it could make that sort of thing worse. So hey, maybe a distraction would work better. It certainly couldn't be any worse.

"Well, I drum for a band, and the show tonight's probably chill enough for a kid." Doesn't mean a kid should be there, but that's neither here nor there. "I could probably get you in."

[ RIDE ]  for the taller muse to give the shorter one a piggyback ride so they don’t have to keep up. (the image of this is killing me)

‘TOL AND SMOL’ PROMPTS

★ — "This feels like a bad idea."

Evidently not enough of a bad idea to keep Gregory from climbing onto Michael's back, though he does do so with some sense of hesitancy ; shifting his weight as gently as he can with brows furrowed in concern, half leaning over his shoulder to help steady himself. As much as he may try to hide it from Gregory, it was no secret to the younger boy that Michael's limbs often ached in pain, that the strain of a normal day was enough to hurt. Gregory's watching carefully, keeping a close eye out for any sign that his own weight is too much for the man to handle.

"Can you at least try to warn me if you're gonna drop me?"

Concern he can't bring himself to put into words is pushed into a tone that's half - teasing half - annoyed — he'd rather Michael just drop him than put himself through pain to try and prove something, either to himself or to Gregory.

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?"

★ — "M'fine."

Huffed response, clearly annoyed, at the mention of calling someone, his eyes get wide ; a flash of fear he can't quite hide.

"No, don't ——!"

' are you alright? is there anyone i can call for you? ' @braveburned

❛ 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."