What If... (Gregg x Reader)

New Friends and Old Part 2

|| hey everyone! i apologize for the long wait for this chapter! real life got in the way and i've been going through some stress lately so i figured i'd work on this again to get my mind off of things! i hope you enjoy this one! i'm not sure if it's longer than usual but yknow! thank you to everyone who's still around! stay safe and have a good day/night! || _________________________________________________

Gregg had let go of your hand.

You snapped out of your daydreams and realized you were in front of a somewhat medium sized building. In the window you noticed the printed letters that spelled out 'Party Barn' were slightly faded, an equally faded 'For Sale' sign was hung in the corner of the window. You faintly remember walking past a few times in your childhood.

"We're here!" Gregg said and turned to you, grinning. You sort of just... looked at him for a while. His expression didn't change all that much. Meanwhile, Mae was struggling to open the door to the Party Barn behind Gregg, you noticed.

In what seemed like hours, Gregg started looking a bit flustered and decided to break the silence, "C'mon Y/N!" Gregg grabbed you by the hand again and lead you closer to the building.

"Geez, what did you guys do to this door?" Mae grunted, shifting her weight against the heavy door.

"I don't even remember, dude. Here, I'll try it," Gregg went over to the door and attempted pulling the handle a few times, but after that didn't work he started kicking it, you and Mae both watched on from the sidewalk. On the fourth or fifth kick the door swung open, a slightly visible dent was implanted in it you noticed as Gregg ran inside.

"Geez, dude. You're lucky you didn't break your leg!" Mae said from beside you. "Wow, he's actually pretty strong." You said smiling. Mae looked over at you, noticing your smile. She chuckled a bit.

"W-what? What's so funny?" Your cheeks flushed slightly as you caught her eye.

" Pfft, you like him, don't you~?" Mae teased and gave you a smug look.

"Well, like, I like him as a friend. He seems like good friend material!" You averted your gaze at the ground shyly.

Mae was about to answer but got cut off by Gregg.

"Hey dudes! Hurry up already!" Gregg's voice said from inside the Party Barn. You and Mae went inside, remembering to lightly close the door this time.

Inside of the Party Barn there was a stage and some band equipment around it. On the stage there was a classic microphone, a storage container with a laptop on it, and behind the microphone were more containers with a larger stereo sitting on top. Gregg was sitting on the stage, tuning a red guitar next to an amp box.

You idly remembered Gregg making a few stops but not letting go of your hand. It was strange. You remember what looked like a hardware store and a tall apartment building...

" So, you said you guys used to play here, like music?" You asked while you walked over and sat next to Gregg. 

"Yep! Well, sorta. You can probably see the sign in the window. It used to be a party supply store before it went out of business awhile back." Gregg explained while he finished tuning the guitar and testing out the sound a few times.

You glanced over at the sign. "Hm, I think I remember this place..." You pondered for a moment. " Whoa, really? Maybe you seen one of our actually okay practices before?" Gregg asked, smiling.

" Well...I would like to see one. I-if you don't mind, that is..." You looked away, a small blush forming across your cheeks. Gregg chuckled "Of effing course you can watch! I can't wait 'til Bea and Angus get here! It's gonna be awesome!" He started flailing yet again. 

You giggled at this. " Who's Angus and Bea?"

He went quiet when you asked, his smile fading away a bit at the same time. His gaze shifted to the dark floor of the Party Barn. You noticed his change in attitude before apologizing. "I'm sorry..." You said quietly. You felt bad now, you didn't mean it... You wonder what happened between their friend group to have such a cool and bright guy like Gregg to get so sad so fast...

"...It's 'aight. They're friends of Mae and I. Some stuff just kinda got in the way...we're all cool now though, I think." Gregg looked back up at you, somberly smiling. You smiled back before looking over at Mae, who was crouching by one of the speakers, pulling off pieces of soft pretzel and giving it to something small that you couldn't quite make out.

Your attention suddenly shifted to the door as it creaked open to reveal a tall bear wearing glasses, a fedora and a sweater vest. Right beside him, a slightly shorter crocodile wearing dark eyeshadow and a dress with an Ankh symbol. You leapt off of the stage, assuming that these were the friends Gregg talked about.

" Hey guys, Mae's back!" Gregg said to the two of them, motioning over to Mae who sat bolt upright at the introduction. The cat turned to them also, waving hello somewhat nervously. "Oh! Uh, wow...hi." Mae responded.

The crocodile huffed as she noticed Mae and the bear walked in, a stoic look on his face, though you couldn't be sure... " Hey, it's you...you're back." The bear said quietly, and almost kind of...sad? Mae nodded nonchalantly.

"Yeah! She's totally back! And this is Y/N! We just met today at the Snack Falcon." Gregg also motioned over to you. You halted in movement. 

" U-um, hey there..." You awkwardly waved at the two. The bear, Angus you presumed, waved a large paw before silently walking up the stairs to the stage next to the microphone. Gregg went quiet again as he watched the bear before jumping down from the platform, walking over to the corner of a stereo, not saying a word.

The air seemed to get heavy all of a sudden...

After a while of just standing there awkwardly, Mae broke the silence. " So, uh-" She started before Gregg cut in. " Oh, Mae, I totally forgot! I have your old bass!" He called out to her before running off behind the stage.

" Oh dude I don't think I even remember..." She slightly smiled. Bea walked further into the building, stopping right before the stairs. Mae turned to look at her while you stood there awkwardly watching. " Oh yeah, Y/N, you can grab a chair and watch us!" You heard Gregg's voice come from behind the stereo. You glanced over at the big stack of chairs in the corner. " Thanks Gregg!" You called out to him.

After you sat down on the stack of chairs as a whole and Mae talked a bit to...Bea, was it? They hooked up their instruments and the microphone to the speakers, then they started to play.

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After the song "Die Anywhere Else" they called it, ( and Mae playing actually alright!) they started chatting. " Pretty good!" Gregg said, smiling. Bea chimed in, " Yeah, that was okay. " She also said, less interested. "Not bad considering I don't know this song!" Mae spoke as she idly rubbed her wrist. " Holy crap. That was hard to do! "

"You'll get back in practice." Angus told her in a hopeful tone. "I hope. Geez. My wrist hurts." She said, looking down at her paws. "That was great, man. Like, just seeing you back, playing your old horrible bass." Gregg grinned at Mae, a knowing look on their faces. You hopped down from the tower of chairs and stretched. "That was so cool! I hope you guys do more performances." You complimented. "Thanks, Y/N!" Mae smiled a bit. Gregg nodded. "Definitely, we'll practice more! Especially since we have a new audience!!!" He flailed happily. "Ok, are we doing this diner thing?" Bea asked.

" Yeaaaah!!!!!!!!!" Mae yelled excitedly as Gregg joined in " WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Angus joined in too, less excited.  " Yay." He said casually as Bea also chimed in, even less excited. " Hip Hip. "

Gregg laughed and walked over to you, putting an arm around your shoulder. " Hey, Y/N! Why don't you come with us?" Gregg said, a bright grin on his face as he looked expectedly at you.  The rest of the group put away and turned off their instruments and gathered by the door, chatting among themselves while you decided. " O-oh, yeah! Sounds good!" You replied, a small blush forming at the sudden contact.

" Cool! Let's get goin' gang! " Gregg exclaimed happily before he grabbed your hand, almost like a habit and pulled you towards the door yet again. You could tell this would be a long, yet fun visit.

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