#got this prompt from using a random number gen on prompts ive recieved! hope you like it

[puhpandas]

Cassie and Gregory's first meeting, and how it might've gone in your eyes! OwO I'm curious~

Happy Birthday Cassie

(2532 words)

Technically, it's not the first time they've met.

They had been face to face a few times, but only with fleeting glances and little words. Standing next to eachother while they wait for the bathroom here, met eachother in the nurses office there, sitting next to eachother in class always.

But even then, Cassie had never really given Gregory a second thought. Sure, the kids in class talk about him, or more like how hes almost never present. One thing, and one of the only things Cassie knew about Gregory is that he only came to class half the time.

Another thing she knows is that when he does come to class, hes always dirty and ruffled, like he was in a fight or crawled through something dirty and small, and hair a mess, like he doesnt spare it any thought. Cassie herself could never imagine letting her hair get that tangled and messy.

Not only that, but despite Gregory's attendance, of lack thereof, he somehow has incredible grades. Cassie only shares her Math class with Gregory, but shes ever only seen A's from him.

Cassie would be lying if she said she'd never been curious. The other kids would always whisper and gossip about him, and nobody could ignore someone that notorious.

Not to mention how mysterious he is.

But Gregory, like a lot of things, had been shoved to the back of her mind when her birthday party at the Pizzaplex was only days away.

Cassie beams when shes the first one in their class, hands drumming on her desk and legs wiggling as she eyes all of the sparkly pink envelopes she put on everyones desks.

This party is going to be legendary! She thinks, unable to stop the bolt of excitement that shoots through her when kids start spilling into the classroom. Its gonna be awesome when everyone shows up. We'll play Fazerblast, go through the maze in Mazercise, maybe I can even meet Roxy!

She shoves the thoughts of her party that have been making her loose sleep from excitement the past week or so into the back of her mind, trying to keep her face neutral when kids start sitting down at their desks and noticing her party invite on their tables.

Just when she thinks the last kid had filed through, curiously, surprisingly, Gregory is one of the people attending class today.

He looks just like he always does; same blue shirt he always seems to have on with wild, tangled brown hair. His knees are smudged with dirt, but with tracks in them as if he attempted to wipe them down with a wet napkin.

Cassie suddenly feels self conscious of her decision to leave an invite on Gregory's table, just in case, when he comes to a stop in front of his desk and takes notice of it, right next to her.

She averts her eyes, and takes to watching the other kids. She sees some people eye her invite, and only give it a few twirls when they pick it up before shoving in their backpacks. Some people open up the envelope and read the contents, and some people ignore it all together.

But one cluster of reactions really gets her attention.

The area of the classroom that house the more popular girls, coincidentally all seated right by eachother, all eye the invite in almost incredulous curiosity, before each of them lean over to their queen bee when she rips it open and the contents Cassie had hand-written are out for the world to see.

Cassie feels her cheeks burn when the girls all whisper in hushed conversation, mean grins on their faces as they giggle not-so inconspicuously, looking over their shoulders directly at her.

She feels shame coat her stomach, any trace of excitement for her birthday replaced with humiliation and embarrassment mixing together like an ugly poison.

She hides her face in her sweater, avoiding eye contact, and tries to ignore the hushed giggles that she knows are making fun of her.

Of course. What was she thinking, inviting them like that? They're notorious for being mean, especially to unpopular people like Cassie, but she guesses she just wanted them to feel included, like how Cassie wishes she did.

She dares to peek open an eye when the sound of an envelope rustling catches her attention nearby, and she glances over to her right.

Gregory is sitting down at his desk, carefully peeling the sparkly envelope open, all while giving the girls at the front a death stare.

Cassie dares to watch as inconspicuously as possible, watching in curiosity to see how Gregory, the most mysterious boy in class, who always felt just one step above them, busied and dirtied from events nobody knows about, will react.

He doesn't seem to notice her just yet, just continuing to try to explode the girls with his mind, until he looks down at the card, putting the still intact envelope to the side.

Some kind of embarrassment shoots through her stomach when she watches Gregory's eyes trail over each word, and she only has half the mind to look away when he reaches the end.

She was just in time, because from the corner of her eye, she can see him looking at her.

She doesn't dare look over at him. Lest she make eye contact, but she does acknowledge how he gently folds the card back up, slips it inside the envelope, and puts it in the smaller, more isolated pocket in his backpack.

🐺

This has been the worst birthday ever.

That's the only thing Cassie can think as she hides in as she sits at a table in one of the party rooms, mascara running down her cheeks as fat tears roll out of her eyes.

An empty party room.

Nobody had shown up to her birthday.

She had put the instructions on the card, already knowing exactly which party room she'd be using. She put the room number and even directions on how to find it inside. She thought of everything.

Which meant nobody's here not becuase they got lost, but because they had deliberately not come. Even her Dad had ruffled her hair and told her to have fun, before leaving her to wait for her guests to go off to work at some other part of the Pizzaplex.

Cassie is completely, utterly, gut wrenchingly alone on her birthday.

The thought sends her into another round of tears, and she can feel how her face is scrunched up, despair wrinkling her chin, and all she can do about it is wipe away the tears with the sleeve of her sweater.

Today was supposed to be perfect. She was supposed to have fun with her friends. She was supposed to cut the carrot cake her Dad had ordered for her and share slices with them. She was supposed to race against them at Roxy Racers, and maybe even meet Roxy herself.

As she sits in the empty, gloomy room, sad and alone, she thinks its safe to say today is not perfect.

After another round of tears, shes suprised to hear the sound shes been waiting for all day.

The door to her party room slides open, clunking against the wall, and Cassie can only catch the shadow on the table before she finally looks over, half-hazardously wiping away the bullets of tears still staining her cheeks.

The air is stolen out of her lungs when the last person she had expected to come to her party stands in the doorway.

Gregory takes a step into the room, the same Gregory from math class that nobody has ever seemed to see at school two days in a row, that Cassie had always felt so curious about. The door slides shut and once again throws the room into complete silence, save for some cheery music to the theme of 'Fazbear Birthday' playing quietly on the speakers.

Gregory takes a look around, looking at the floating balloons and empty chairs and the sole, untouched carrot cake sitting in the middle of the table, empty places littering the table in front of each seat.

Cassie feels self consciousness redden her cheeks, when he finally looks at her, and Cassie tenses, scrambling to find something to wipe away all remnants of her previous breakdown so Gregory doesnt see how much of a weirdo she is and walk right back out that door.

"Um- I-- Gregory!" She finally stutters out, resorting to using the tablecloth as a tissue as she wipes at her eyes, and Cassie has no idea if its helping at all or making her definitely smudged makeup worse. "Haha, hi! Um, I'm sorry, I didnt expect you--"

"To show up?" Gregory finishes, and Cassie startles when she sees him smile for the very first time ever. "You invited me, why would I not come?"

Cassie finds that shes unable to answer, and she just pauses, unsubtlety glancing towards the rows of empty chairs as a crestfallen look undoubtedly appears on her face.

She tries to shake it off, not wanting to look like shes fishing for pity or sympathy in front of Gregory, but she cant help it when the complete lack of people in the room besides herself and the one, only person who came to her party overwhelms her again.

She can see Gregory startle when she promptly bursts into tears again, and she abandons trying to clean up her ruined makeup, just hiding her face in her hands as she let's out almost cartoonish weeps.

She feels shame build in her stomach when the tears don't stop, nor does the burning, aching feeling in her chest, and she feels Gregorys presence shift from the middle of the room to the plastic chair at her side.

"Im-Im sorry." She says in between sobs. "Y-You shouldn't have to deal with me. I'm a m-mess."

She feels Gregory lay a hand on her shoulder, and only then does she finally lower her hands ever so slightly, peeking through her fingers.

Gregory is just looking at her in a way shes never seen before. He looks sympathetic, but in the most <i>non</i> judgey way possible. Hes offering her a soft, comforting smile, and it stretches wider when she finally makes eye contact with him.

"Its okay to be a mess. I mean, nobody came to your birthday party." Gregory tells her, and she feels embarrassed in the same way she did before, but also almost... relieved? Appreciative? That Gregory didnt beat around the bush and just said straight up what happened.

It feels less like somebody is trying to calm her down because it's what they're supposed to do and more like she has somebody else in it with her.

"If you didnt cry about it, I'd be confused for sure. I saw all of those invites on the other kids' desks." He says, and turns around to fish something out of his backpack. "'M not surprised those girls didn't come. They seem like pretty big assholes."

A startled laugh bursts out of Cassies chest, and the shame dissipates just a little bit. "Y-Yeah. They've always sucked. Always rude to me, too."

"I sure wouldn't doubt it. I've never been around to see it, though." He says, and then finally finds whatever he was looking for in his bag.

She tries not to get even more emotional when she sees the stark sight of pink sparkle against Gregory's dirty, Glamrock Freddy themed backpack, tucked neatly inside the pocket when he turns back around.

When she finally looks towards him, he's handing her a cloth with that same look on his face, that makes Cassie feel almost immediately at ease.

"I wish I could give you a cleaner one..." He says, almost sheepish, but Cassie is still caught up in the thoughtfulness to notice. "But hey, better than nothing!"

The cloth is a bit dirty; its white and has a smudge of pale yellow that looks like an old stain, but Cassie still takes the cloth gingerly, using it to wipe away some of the mascara tracks on her face and smudged purple.

"Thanks." She says, and when she tries to hand it back to Gregory, he just pushes her hand back to her chest.

"Keep it." He insists. "Not the best gift, but... I hope itll help you feel just a bit less gross on your birthday if you end up crying again."

Cassie definitely does not tear up again at the almost jarring understanding and non-ridicule. Gregory points out that she might cry again, and that's it okay. It's a sad day.

So she just uses the gift (because that's what it is; a gift) to wipe at her eyes, stopping any more makeup that caked up her face before from running again.

"Thank you" She says genuinely, and Gregory grins at her when a smile breaks out on her own face.

"No problem." He says. "Now, instead of moping around, how about we eat some of that cake and then go race in some go-karts?" Gregory throws out, pointing a finger at her Roxy colored stars clipped to her sweater.

She sniffs, rubbing away the rest of the upset that plagued her when she had been all alone (because she isnt anymore).

Cassie smiles, and she can still taste the salt on her lips, but she grabs her own plate and Gregory's, and goes to cut the cake.

"Wait!" Gregory stops her. "Arent you gonna make a wish?"

He gestures to the unlit candles, molded as the number twelve, and she pauses.

"They arent lit, though..." She points out.

"Leave it to me." is all Gregory says, and he pulls out a lighter from one of his pockets without a single elaboration as to why he even has one on him. He lights the candles, and pockets the lighter, grinning at her when he pulls back and then taking a deep breath.

"Happy Fazbear birthday, pizza games and cakes!" He starts singing, and Cassie cant help but burst into laughter when he exaggerates his voice in the same was Freddy does in the song.

Cassie almost cant blow out the candles because she keeps smiling, and it interrupts her every time she tries to blow, but eventually, the lights from the candles fizzle out, and Gregory's clapping along with his cheering echoes through the room, and Cassie cant help but feel her cheeks redden.

"Happy birthday, Cassie." Gregory grins, and Cassie, for once today, is happy.

Gregory wastes no time grabbing a frankly huge slice of carrot cake and stuffing his face, but Cassie lingers for just a moment longer, pausing.

I wish, She begins, ignoring how sappy her wish is about to be. that Gregory and I stay friends after today.

When Cassie grabs her own slice, an edge piece with a lot of frosting on it, Gregory starts jabbering to her with jokes and clever quips, and Cassie feels tears prick her eyes. This time not from the entirely silent room clouding her with sorrow, but from Gregory's boisterous laughter that sends her own stomach cramping from joining in.

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