Rain's Writing Archive

a little game of tag

Originally posted to Ao3 on 2/19/2022.

“Hey Vanessa! Betcha can’t catch me!!” Gregory yelled to the security guard as he ran past. A few patrons turned to watch him, but his attention was focused solely on Vanessa.

Her shoulders slumped, a deep sigh escaping her. She turned and zeroed in on him immediately, able to pick him out in a crowd with incredible speed after four and a half years of having to do so.

“You’re knocking years off my life by doing this every day, y’know?!” She yelled back as she finally gave chase to the fourteen year old.

“That’s the point!” he laughed as he ran up an escalator to the third floor, Vanessa hot on his heels.

It was basically just a game of tag to them, but it hadn’t always been. At first, if Vanessa had ever caught him, Gregory would’ve been thrown back onto the streets in a heartbeat and banned from the Pizzaplex forever. Now, though, if he got caught, the woman would just stick him in the Lost and Found and call it “time out”.

Weaving through crowds of people was something Gregory was very adept at. Vanessa, not so much. While the boy could slip between people like water, the woman had to constantly push others out of her way if they didn’t move on their own when they saw her coming.

It was actually pretty funny to watch when someone got especially mad at her.

Gregory dodged out of the way of a large group exiting the Fazcade elevator. He peered over his shoulder to watch as Vanessa got caught trying to squeeze past. He cackled, making her glare at him, which only made him cackle harder.

Gregory managed to dash into the Bonnie Bowl elevator just before it closed. The family already in the elevator gave him awkward looks as he panted and gasped for air. He didn’t bother speaking to them, just running out of the elevator the second he got the chance.

The bowling alley had been a lot busier than usual since Bonnie was put back into commission, and that fact was only further proven when the boy had to try twice as hard to dodge and weave through the crowd than he had on the lower floors.

Eventually, he made it to Bonnie’s stage, at which point he heard Vanessa call out his name.

In a split-second decision, the teen made a sharp left rather than a right like he’d been planning. Flashing his full access security badge to the badge reader next to the door that led to the back rooms of the bowling alley, he shoved the door open and slammed it shut behind him.

The lock clicked, and Gregory was running again.

Down the hall, down a flight of stairs, through the door at the bottom, through the security-office-turned-hideout, across the catwalk, down the spiral staircase, and over one of the Fazerblast walls.

He pulled his Fazerblaster out of his hoodie pocket, expertly shooting any alien bots that came too close. He even managed to hit a few other players.

Gregory finally came across the elevator and hastily clambered inside, desperate to give his aching muscles a break, but not desperate enough to stop putting distance between himself and the security guard. His lungs and throat burned, but he still chuckled to himself as he thought about Vanessa either climbing over one of the Fazerblast walls or crawling through the vent into the Winners’ lounge.

The doors opened, and the teen trudged through the hall, stuffing his fazerblaster back into his pocket. The lobby was emptier than usual, making it easy to get to and call the elevator.

The elevator ride was uneventful, and Gregory had seen no sign of Vanessa since the bowling alley. Hopefully she’d lost sight of him and was still up on the third floor.

The teen ducked back into the crowd of the Atrium, blending seamlessly into the chaos.

Exhausted from their little chase, Gregory decided he would take a quick nap in the storage room behind Freddy’s greenroom in Rockstar Row. Freddy himself was probably somewhere else in the Atrium, most likely swarmed with kids. Gregory huffed a laugh at the mental image of a bunch of kids climbing the singer as if he were a jungle gym.

If that were to actually happen, the bear would probably just stand there and accept his fate.

With an amused look on his face, the teen made his way towards Rockstar Row. He’d taken the same route so many times that he could probably do it blindfolded. So he sleepily walked to Freddy’s room and headed straight for his room in the back.

His bed had been neatly made that morning by the bear, and Gregory made a beeline for it. He flopped down face first onto the pillow, not bothering to take off his shoes; he was out like a light before he could even consider doing so.

A/N: managed to write this whole thing in a few hours while i was waiting for a five hour long playlist to download (it still is downloading as i type this lol) sorry if the ending is sorta rushed or awkward i just wanted to get it over with tbh

Part 1 of gregory: menace of the pizzaplex • Next Work →