Work Text:
As a teacher of an elementary school, Ralph Miller had seen a lot. Parents too stuck up their asses to see how messed up their child is (despite being the cause); children who are literal demons from hell (yet their parents always seemed worse); parents who demanded him to be removed as they “didn’t think he was qualified enough” (hmm, I wonder why so many of these are parents. Perhaps it’s the fact that some parents let their children do anything and everything they want ); the list went on. However, nothing had prepared him for this. No teaching courses, previous experiences, or even wildest dreams.
“Good afternoon, Mr… Fazbear? I am the teacher in charge of Gregory.”
The large animatronic bear sat down, the chair groaning under the immense pressure. His son (How does an animatronic have a son??) sulked in the other chair.
“Hello, Mr. Miller. You may call me Freddy. Now, what seems to be the issue here with Gregory?”
His voice was full of emotion yet sounded so robotic, similar to how someone speaking through a filter would sound. And yet, Miller could sense that the bear truly cared for Gregory through his tone, the tone only a concerned but loving parent could employ. It was quite confusing to say the least.
The teacher continued. “Yes, well, I’ve called you in here today Mister…Freddy to talk about Gregory’s behavior.”
Upon hearing his name, Gregory glanced up but immediately averted his eyes towards the floor, hands beginning to fidget.
Freddy nodded. “I see. Please continue.”
“Well, this is quite a difficult situation to explain, but Gregory has been... quite the character this past week.” He pondered whether he should be blunt about the situation, that his underage child has been committing multiple illegal crimes in the past week, effectively traumatizing the entire staff team, but he decided against it. After all, for some reason, parents never liked it when he was blunt.
“I’ll start off with some examples.” Miller pulled out a stack of files from the inside of his desk. Memories of a child darting away down a hallway flashed through his mind, a tired coworker complaining about one of the students, the principal begging him to talk to the boy’s parents. Oh boy, this is going to be a long one.
He took a deep inhale and started. “The first event happened on Tuesday. We found a vent cover lying on the floor right next to an open vent in the wall. When we sent someone to investigate, they came back screaming about some ‘demon child’ crawling in the vents. We realized that it was Gregory from the security footage.” The teacher sighed with a shake of his head.
Strangely, Freddy didn’t look frightened by the thought of his son climbing in dirty vents in a public school. In fact, it seemed as though his face held a fond, and even nostalgic, look. What in the actual fuc- Am I the only one who finds this strange?! A bit abnormal, to say the very least?! Seriously, what-
Continuing on, he looked down the list of crimes. “In addition, throughout the week we’ve had reports from staff members that he was seen driving a van to and from school. A child. Illegally. Driving a vehicle.”
Without looking up, he continued on. “On Wednesday, there were reports of robbery from the school office detailing a small child snatching items off staff desks and playing dumb when questioned. The next day, a report came in from someone who saw a child of Gregory’s description breaking and entering into a nearby privately-owned property. Thankfully, however, we own that specific property and nothing too serious came out of that. He’s committed minor destruction of school property such as desks, chairs, vent covers… And finally he’s evaded questioning by school security many, many times. Every time we’ve tried to confront him about these events he manages to slip away and avoid us.”
He set down the files in front of the father and pushed them towards him.“These are quite serious offences and legal action could potentially be taken against Gregory for some of them. However, we were advised to speak with you first.”
Sighing for what felt like the umpteenth time today, he finished. “I understand that it is the first week of school and it takes time to adjust to new schools, but Gregory is taking this too far. This is the reason why I have called a meeting with you. I know Gregory wouldn’t stop if we told him but perhaps you could help. Maybe you could provide an explanation into why he is behaving this way, or a solution to this.”
The animatronic was silent. He sifted through the papers and shot a small but tired smile. “Oh dear, I am so sorry for any trouble Gregory has caused.” He set the pages down carefully and looked down at the child.
After a moment of silence, he began to speak. “I’ve only known Gregory for a few months, but I like to think that I know him pretty well. He’s feisty and on the chaotic side, but he’s a good kid.” Freddy looked back up at Miller and sighed. “I guess to explain this best I’ll have to start from the beginning.”
The animatronic took a breath. “He and I met in a bad situation that both of us would not like to relive. We’ve gone through some tough experiences, and he’s done a lot to survive, to save me.” The bear’s face grimaced slightly, supposedly from thinking about the past, his voice taking on a sorrowful tone.
“A lot of the behavior you detailed to me today seems familiar. The place we were trapped at had a lot of vents, some of which Gregory used to get around. We used a van to escape and Gregory was the one to drive us out. Every event you covered could be explained by this, I’m guessing he must’ve kept some old habits.”
The bear bowed his head down in shame. “I’m not asking you to forgive us, I’m just asking for you to understand. I know these don’t excuse Gregory’s behavior but I hope you’ll come to understand our situation.” His face held a sense of sorrow tightly guarded by a mask of neutrality. But Miller could easily see through it. “I’ll be sure to talk to Gregory and try to correct his behavior. In the meantime, I’ll accept any punishment you deem fit. Again, I am truly sorry for anything that has happened this past week.”
Miller was silent. He didn’t just see an animatronic bear in front of him or a careless parent who let their child do anything. No, instead he saw someone who truly cared and wanted the best for Gregory. He saw a being not quite human but still displaying the emotion and empathy of one. He saw a father who loved his kid.
Miller spoke his next words softly. “Please, raise your head. There is no need to be ashamed of yourself or Gregory for that matter.” Freddy looked up and made eye contact with the teacher, immediately relaxing slightly after noticing the look of understanding on his face. “To be honest, the school called this meeting to first find out why Gregory was acting this way, not to immediately dish out a punishment.”
Miller’s expression was steady. “After this meeting, I can safely conclude that this won’t be a problem anymore as Gregory’s behavior will be corrected in the near future. As for a punishment, we can discuss it in more detail at a later time with the other employees.”
Gregory’s face blanched slightly after hearing the other teachers mentioned, something Miller quickly picked up on. “Don’t worry, I’m confident that after hearing the reasoning behind this my coworkers will be much more open-minded to minimal punishment. For the time being, however, I find it alright to just let him go. After all, it has been a long day for all of us and I, for one, would love to get home as soon as possible.” He chuckled slightly.
The father-son duo stared at Miller in sheer disbelief, processing what the teacher had just said. However, once they saw the expression on his face, one of openness and understanding, waves of relief washed over the two, with grins soon following.
“So, we’re free to go?” Gregory spoke for the first time at that meeting. The teacher shot him a small smile and nodded.
Gregory jumped up and sprinted out the room, all the while laughing and grinning wildly, a side of him Miller had never seen before. He turned to his dad and watched him, waiting for him to catch up. Freddy said one last thank you and gave a mechanical bow before jogging to catch up to his son, his steps reverberating loudly against the hallway floors at a volume that shook the walls. Once caught up, Gregory ran beside him, chatting animatedly to him. Back in the office, Miller watched them go with a fond smile on his face. He put the files away and closed the drawer with a sense of finality.
The boy still confused him, as did the strange and vague circumstances he and his father had gone through. However, the teacher knew now that he didn’t have to worry anymore; Gregory was going to be okay, he had someone looking after him.