Chapter Text
It was a normal Friday evening. Gregory had finished up school for the week and was hanging out with Freddy and the other animatronics while he got his homework done. Vanessa gave them clear instructions to make sure Gregory finished his homework before playing.
It had been about 2 months since Gregory had freed everyone from the glitchtrap virus. A Mall was no place for a 12 year old to live though, so he had been taken under the care of Vanessa. Every Friday and weekend, he’d tag along with her to the Pizzaplex so he could see Freddy and all his other friends.
Life was great for him. He got to keep all the passes he collected so he basically got the entire Fazbear experience for free. The other animatronics were a lot nicer and friendly without the virus controlling them.
But this Friday evening was a bit rough. Gregory had some troubles during the day but didn’t want to talk about it to anyone. Vanessa was worried when she picked him up from school on the way to the Pizzaplex and Gregory wasn’t his normal self. He was quiet and quite irritable. The kid was normally pretty whiney, but this was different.
However, Vanessa couldn’t dwell on it much as she had work to do. So she dropped Gregory off to hang out with the other animatronics before alerting Freddy of the boy’s state. The animatronic bear told her he’d do his best to help out.
Gregory slammed his head into the table. Why was math homework so freaking confusing! It could be because he missed a year of school while living on the streets, but he was considered “gifted”. Due to this “gifted-ness” Gregory wasn’t required to go through 6th grade, the year he ended up missing.
“Gregory, please do not hurt yourself. Perhaps you should take a break?” Freddy suggested. He hated seeing Gregory so frustrated.
“M fine, Freddy. I need to do this,” The boy told him. He needed to prove that he wasn’t a dumb baby like the kids at school said he was.
“Okay…You’re doing great, Superstar,” Freddy promised. Gregory smiled before suddenly feeling a sinking little feeling. Oh no. He was starting to slip.
Despite spending most of his time in a giant mall made for children’s entertainment, Gregory tried really hard not to regress. When he started living on the streets, he was forced to grow up. A part of that feeling of needing to be strong and brave still stuck with him, despite having a home now. The kids at school making fun of him for being a bit behind didn’t help much either.
Gregory pushed his little headspace down and tried to focus on his homework. He needed to get this done and prove that he wasn’t some dumb baby! He was a strong big kid who survived on the streets and being chased by murderous animatronics. Surely he could get through his homework without slipping.
Barely. Just barely did Gregory make it through his homework. Because of his headspace starting to regress, a lot of the equations became more difficult to process. He could hear the kids at school, mocking him. He hated it because it made him slip even more. His body was just trying to protect him, but he hated it.
Finally, when he was done, he slumped on the couch in Freddy’s room, grabbing his soft Glamrock Freddy plushie that technically was made for babies. It had a couple sensory things to it like a rattle and would light up dimly when he squeezed it. But it provided a lot of comfort to him and he unconsciously snuggled with it, despite wanting to stay big.
“Gregory, are you alright?” Freddy asked, looking up from the fan mail he had been reading.
“M fine, Freddy!” Gregory quickly realized what he was doing and tossed the baby plushie to the side. But not before picking it back up and gently setting it down while mumbling a soft apology to it.
“You are showing signs of regression. Are you feeling small, superstar?” Freddy asked.
“Nuh-uh! I’m a big kid!” Gregory claimed.
“It does not appear so,” He told the boy. But before Gregory could protest, Chica suddenly opened the door.
“We’re on in 10 minutes- Oh, hi Gregory! Are you going to watch the concert tonight?” She asked, waving to the small boy. He waved back, about to answer.
“I do not think it would be best. He appears to be regressed at the moment,” Freddy interrupted before Gregory could say anything.
“Aww, how small, Hunny?” Chica turned and asked the boy
Gregory’s hands moved before he could even register what he was doing and held up three fingers.
“There is no way we can leave him here when he is that young,” The animatronic bear said to himself, “But we have to do the concert,”
“Oh I know! Have Vanessa bring him to the daycare! Everyone will be at the concert hall so it should be pretty empty,” Chica suggested. She knew how nervous Gregory got when regressing in front of others. Being small forced him to be vulnerable and after everything he has been through, it was hard to show weakness to people, especially those he didn’t know.
“Great Idea, Chica! I shall call her now,” Freddy said.
“Noo” Gregory whined. He didn’t want to go to the daycare! That place was for babies and he was a big boy!
“Don’t worry, Gregory, Sun will take good care of you!” Chica promised. He whined and pouted but knew there was nothing he could do.
While Freddy called Vanessa, Chica helped put together all of Gregory’s little items. He mainly spent the time telling her how he wasn’t small and didn’t need to go to the daycare, but she just nodded and packed up all his little stuff anyways.
It only took a couple of minutes for Vanessa to get down to Freddy’s room, she waited outside while Gregory got everything situated. Soon the door opened and Gregory stood in front of Freddy and Chica.
“You ready to go, little guy?” Vanessa asked. Reluctantly, Gregory nodded.
“I’ll pick you up after the show, superstar. Be a good boy for Sun,” Freddy said, patting the boy’s head as he handed him off to the security guard.
“Good luck on the show, guys,” Vanessa told the animatronics as they began walking to the stage. She took Gregory's hand and they began walking towards Superstar Daycare.
On the walk there, she asked a couple questions, mainly stuff about how old he was feeling, if he would be needing any padding, or if wanted to talk about what made his headspace start to regress.
When they got to the doors, they walked inside and took in the surroundings. Just like Chica said, everyone was watching the concert. The only thing in the daycare at the moment was Sun. Speaking of Sun, he was cleaning up the arts and crafts tables when he spotted Vanessa and Gregory.
“Nessa and Gregory! It’s good to see you two again!” He said, skipping over to them.
“Good to see you too, Sun,” Vanessa responded, “Look, Gregory regressed and I can’t watch him because of work and neither can Freddy because he’s got the concert. Do you think he can hang out in here until the show is over?”
“Of course! Regressors are always welcome in the daycare!” Sun exclaimed, picking Gregory up. The boy giggled a little. He loved uppies! Vanessa had a hard time holding him for a long period of time (even though he was still quite skinny, Vanessa wasn’t very strong) so being held by Sun was amazing!
“Alright, well, I’m gonna head back up to the security room and make sure no one tries anything. Have fun, Gregory! Freddy will pick you up in about 3 hours,” Vanessa told him, ruffling his hair. The show usually only lasted 2 hours but photos and autographs would take at least another hour, if not more.
Vanessa started to walk away once she was sure Gregory was okay. Sun and Gregory waved goodbye as they watched her leave. Once she was out of sight, Sun turned his full attention to the little one
“Okie Dokie, Little one! What would you like to do first! We could do crafts, have a story time, Ooh! Or play a game? Do you like Hide and Seek?” Sun asked.
“No! Not hide n’ seek,” Gregory whimpered. Hide and seek reminded him too much of when he had to hide from the animatronics. Playing that game only brought back memory-induced anxiety.
“Shh, it’s okay, we won’t do anything you don’t wanna do,” Sun assured, bouncing him gently. The soothing motion quickly calmed the boy down.
As he started to relax, something caught Gregory’s eye. A couple blankets from the nap time cots and a bunch of giant foam blocks. They could build a blanket fort!
“Can we build a fort?” The boy asked, pointing to the cots.
“Of course we can! But we need to leave one blanket for your nap,” Sun said. Gregory whined a little at that. He didn’t like naps. There was always a chance of a nightmare plaguing his mind while slept.
“Don’t worry, Superstar, Moon will make sure you’ll sleep safe and sound,” The animatronic promised. The mention of Moon made Gregory a little nervous. He hadn’t seen the moon animatronic since he got trapped in the Pizzaplex two months ago. Would he be any different than he was then? Or does he still have the virus? But he quickly moved on from his worries when Sun started helping him build the fort.
Gregory spent the first hour or so building the fort with Sun. They had tons of fun putting it together and getting all the foam blocks up and tying the blankets. It had been a while since he regressed in the daycare and he forgot that Sun liked to adjust activities based on how old the child was, making sure whatever they were doing was fit to be entertaining for the kid.
After the fort was all set up and they played a game inside, Sun heard Gregory’s tummy let out a small grumble.
“Is someone hungry?” Sun asked.
“Mhm, bu’ I can wait a lil longer,” Gregory said as he stacked mega bloks on top of each other. He had been hungry for a while, but he was used to having to wait hours after the first hunger pain before he got any food.
“No, no, no! No child in the daycare will be hungry! You need food to grow up big and strong,” Sun exclaimed, picking Gregory up and carrying him over to the snack tables. He set him down on a chair before making a quick trip to the back room. When he came back, he held a plastic Fazbear toddler sippy cup that was filled with juice, skinned apple slices, and a packaged PB&J crustless sandwich.
Sun set the food down in front of Gregory, smiling softly before sitting down across from him. Kids were picky and some regressors had bad relationships with food, so Sun always made sure to help anyone who needed extra assistance when it came to eating.
Gregory started scarfing the food down, forgetting to take his time. Whenever he was hungry like this, he often had to be reminded to slow down.
(tw for small mention of throwing up)
“Woah there, little one! Take your time, you don’t wanna get sick!” Sun told him. Gregory remembered those times when he did eat too fast, especially when he first started living with Vanessa. He’d eat too much food way too quickly and end up hunched over the toilet for like 30 minutes. Not wanting to go through that again, Gregory started to slow down his eating.
(Mention over!)
When he was finished with his food, they continued on with their games inside the fort. They played with blocks, sensory toys, board games, and even drew for a little bit. Sun was very impressed with his creativity.
But eventually, his eyelids started to grow heavy and he suppressed a yawn. He checked the time, hoping he could make it until Freddy picked him up to go to bed, but it was 8:00. He still had about an hour and a half until Freddy picked him up. Hopefully Sun wouldn’t notice him growing more sleepy.