Im Not Going To Tell You All My Dark Secrets .

“   i’m not going to tell you   all   my dark secrets .   ”

❥     𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐃𝐎𝐌 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒 𝟑𝟓𝟖/𝟐 𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐒 ( 𝟏.𝟓 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐗)   (   𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟑   )    [   𝚂𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙴𝙽𝙲𝙴 𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚁𝚃𝙴𝚁𝚂    ]   .

★ — "Lame!"

Half - shouted in declaration, the ghost of a laugh underlaying the word. He's leaning backwards over the edge of the couch, wild strands of hair falling across his face as he pushes his way into Michael's personal space. Not unusual for a kid his age, but rare to see Gregory himself behave so unabashedly. He grins up at his guardian, wiggling a bit 'till he's comfortable and not winding himself by bending his spine in half.

"Is it cause you know the whole ooooh-mysterious thing you've got going on is the only thing that makes you kind of cool? I bet you've got some cool stories that could make up for it — maybe."

“   am i the one who did this to you ??   ” ( maybe daycare!mollie accidentally hurt gregory while trying to catch him? :o )

❥     𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐃𝐎𝐌 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒 𝟑𝟓𝟖/𝟐 𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐒 ( 𝟏.𝟓 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐗 )   (   𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟑   )    [   𝚂𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙴𝙽𝙲𝙴 𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚁𝚃𝙴𝚁𝚂    ]   .

★ — Gregory winces ; physically pulling away from the concern in the animatronic's voice, the sudden movement eliciting a hiss through clenched teeth, flash of pain flickering across his features before he can catch himself. A careful distance is maintained between the two of them, Gregory half - turned in the opposite direction as if he's prepared to run at any moment.

"M'fine."

He's not — not incapacitated, but certainly in pain, with an arm extended across his chest so hand can flatten against the back of his opposite shoulder, where he had almost been grabbed before he'd managed to slip away ( a burst of adrenaline having carried him just enough farther forward ). But he speaks with a firmness that says he won't hear otherwise, he won't spend his time here being coddled by an animatronic meant to look after kids like him.

"Jus' a scratch. Not that bad." ( certainly not the worst that could have been dealt ). "I — I need to keep moving."

★ — Gregory can feel the bubbling hope in his chest begin to ebb as the sound of static stretches on, devoid of anyone on the other side and once again leaving him alone in the caverns. His tether to the walkie - talkie loosens, the urgency in his grip beginning to relax as his shoulders uncurl. The connection may be broken, but that didn't change what he now knew — Michael was here. Michael was looking for him. There's relief in that knowledge, a soothing balm over his steady, thrumming fear.

Michael's voice breaks through the white - noise once again, faint and incomplete ; but enough for unease to settle into Gregory's bones. He was talking to someone. Someone Gregory couldn't hear.

( is that why Cassie had decided to come to this place? )

"What're you talking about?" "I — don't know. It grabbed me!" "It's, uh — it's not like last time. I- I think I'm deeper down." "There was an accident. Everything collapsed. I didn't get a good look." "What's going on? Can you even hear me?" "You have to get me out!" —— "Fucking come on!"

THE STATIC PERSISTS on Michael's end as well, fragments of Gregory's voice escaping through the incessant radio feed— every piece he does manage to catch, though... he can't help but feel it sounds undeniably wrong. It's identical to Gregory's voice, Cassie seems to believe it ( she's quickly distressed the moment Gregory tells them about whatever's down there with him, that he's scared ), and there's no doubt that he isn't alone down there. Yet even in the worst situations, it's far from anything Gregory would ever say.

Michael was the one to see him that night in the Pizzaplex, he knows how Gregory would act: and this isn't it.

He pauses for a moment, unsure how to respond ( if it isn't Gregory that he's talking to... he doesn't want to clue whatever it is in ), before opting to respond to the voice he does hear... trying to gain as much insight as possible. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. What's down there with you? Do I know what it is?" Subtle hint to the rabbit suit Gregory told him of after that night. "Can you describe it? Anything you might have seen?"

★ — The symptoms of a dance that is met in step ; the monster ( for really, Gregory has no other way to describe the thing. a decaying, decrepit creature hardly resembling anything he has ever seen before that awoke to meet him here, in the pit of earth that sits beneath cursed ground ) moves forward, and in turn the child moves backwards, never letting his eyes stray from Springtrap for fear of what may happen if he were to lose sight for even a moment, hardly allowing himself the luxury to blink. The sight of it causes a steady pulse of fear to thrum through him, one he does his best to keep hidden beneath a brave facade. Even so, he is far more scared of what it might do if he let his guard down for a single moment.

Answer isn't what he'd hoped to hear — childish naivety had thought that things would end in the pit, finally, if he were able to face the very thing that haunts his nightmares, the ultimate unknown from that night. That somehow, finding himself back down here would make all the puzzle pieces fall into place and paint a perfect picture.

( some part of him knows it was foolish, the part that rings with disappointment now. but it's too late. Gregory has already placed himself in the maw of the beast ).

"You —— live here? Why? For how long?"

His questions no longer ring like demands, instead falling to curious intonation that sounds softly throughout the sinkhole. Child - like. A need to question, and a need to understand. Even so, his grip never loosens on the fazerblast in hand ; holds it close to his chest, like a lifeline.

A pause — his head shakes in response to Springtrap's question. He didn't look capable of much, but even so ....

"How do you know about the guard?"

He'd seen the writing, in the old office. Graffiti that read Vanny, a signature bunny mask drawn crudely next to it. But it still wasn't adding up.

"Do you .... know what happened to the other kids that went missing here? If you live here, you must've seen what happened, right?"

𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚠 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚍 𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚕𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚕, haunting gait turns the rusted thing about with two distinct clashes of metal against flooring below. ears swinging with creaks, as finger twitches. the hissing, fluid-filled breath echoes like a never ending death rattle. turning to face the child as a tongue comes out to lap over yellowed teeth. the nerves and tendons within singing with the 𝚎𝚡𝚌𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 of proximity to that which his body is kept alive with. fear. haunting, bone chilling childhood fear. something his disgusting form elicits in spades. a one and only perk of being.. [...] this. though for better or for worse, he is home.

he cannot think of himself as the child does. 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚐𝚞𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚎𝚝 𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐. hard to see himself. shell of how far he has fallen.

keeping his pace with gregory, springtrap finds himself stopping as his head falls into a series of monstrous twitches. shoulder brought up towards the side of his face. even more in disrepair than last time they saw each other. albeit not this close.

he was not asked for explanation. afton always one to keep his cards held close. a man who had been recording his family since before he'd murdered a single soul in secret. a man whom had an operation built beneath his home. [...] 𝚜𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚒𝚖𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚊 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚝.

purple eyes bore into the child and being still allows his body to calm in twitches, though the rattling doesn't cease. as if he's attempting to haul air through the holes in his body. though tremble causes it to hiss, and crackle into a low chuckle. trying to decide what he should say, and what he should not.

"why -- i live here. [...] this is my home." he responds. [...] his head coming to tilt more-so. "not i, certainly." it's true. (to an extent). he is also his counterpart, though not the body that stands before him.

"does it look like i could have such an affect, in this state?" [...] "perhaps it was the guard. [...] i recall she was looking for you, was she not?"

“I like perching like a little bisexual gargoyle” (feardrummed)

𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒

★ — Gregory snorts, the beginnings of a laugh as the corners of his lips tug upwards half - noticeably. His eyes are bright, dancing with amusement and mischief ; a light that is only just now beginning to come back to them since that night. She's perched precariously on the edge, and without much further consideration Gregory decides he wants to come up too.

"Hold on ——."

All the warning he gives before he starts his climb up, a little bit more of a struggle given how much smaller his limbs are than Ollie's.

( he can practically hear Michael telling him to get down — not that he would listen even if his guardian were there ).

inbox call !! for some silly small stuff while I don't have the energy to actually write anything