For the Grab&Go AU, would Michael try to forcibly adopt Gregory? (Yes, this is in response to your post from earlier) Does Gregory run away from home in this AU? Does he meet Mike first, or Evan? (Answer whichever you want. This is more to nudge your brainstorming than actually looking for an answer)

I'd imagine he wouldn't go after Cassie, though, simply because her father also works for Freddy's, and Mike would probably already know him.

okay to answer this, first I'll say there's 2 Mikes in the au

Mike Smith -> this Mike killed Evan when ev was seven. This Mike grew up to work at Freddy's and accidentally got sent back in time, stopped the Bite from happening (grabbed Evan away when Ev was hiding from kid Mike on ev's birthday in 1983), and ended up kidnapping Ev when they were both put into the future (2001, maybe?)

Mike Afton -> this Mike was created after Mike Smith kidnapped Evan. To this Mike, his little brother Evan went missing when he was seven and was never found.

Mike Afton goes on to adopt Cassie and Gregory, after he gets a lot of therapy and grows as a person after thinking it's his fault that Evan went missing (this Mike believes Ev never would have ran away and got lost/kidnapped if he hadn't been so mean and tried dragging Evan to see Fredbear on his seventh birthday).

I'm still thinkin everything through ofc, but for now, current thoughts is that Michael Afton ends up adopting Cassie before Gregory. Cassie is either the result of a one-night stand Mike had, or Cassie is the daughter of one of Mike's masked bully friends who died/went to jail, and Mike ended up getting custody of her.

Gregory either had a bad home life or his parent(s) died and he was put in the foster care system. Either way, he ended up running away, where he met Cassie when no one showed up to her birthday party. Sometime after, Mike Afton adopted Gregory. So, Gregory meets Mike (Afton) before he meets Evan.

Evan runs away from Mike Smith when he's 15 or 16. Evan is living on the streets for a month or two, hiding from Mike Smith and trying to figure out what to do. One day, Evan gets caught shoplifting at a store that Gregory happens to be in. When Greg sees what's happening, Gregory causes a distraction and helps Evan get away. Once they're both safe, Greg laughs at Evan-- "that was such a rookie mistake you made! You really haven't been on the streets long, huh? Here, let me show you how it's really done!"

Greg introduces Evan to Cassie, and although the two of them encourage Ev to come with them bc their dad will be able to help Evan, Ev refuses. Greg and Cassie spend maybe a week or two bringing Evan food and clothes and hanging out with him, becoming friends. Finally, they bring Mike Afton to meet their new friend. Evan is terrified of this man that shares his abuser's face and name, but Evan quickly realizes this is NOT the same Mike who kidnapped him. He's still scared of Mike Afton nonetheless, but Evan stays around because Greg and Cassie are his friends. Ev doesn't want to abandon them-- especially not with a version of Mike that might be hurting them the same way Mike Smith hurt Evan.

So Evan stays, still trying to hide his identity from Mike Afton, and trying to make sure Greg and Cassie are safe with Mike Afton while also trying to use Mike to figure out his own complicated past, which Evan still doesn't remember very well.

As for whether Mike Smith would forcibly adopt Gregory,,

Im sorta debating whether Mike Smith would keep tabs on Mike Afton after realizing a whole other version of himself exists now that he fucked up the timeline. I think Smith would, but it might take Smith a while to realize Mike Afton even exists. Smith wouldn't trust this other version of himself at all, but he keeps his distance bc he doesn't want anything to do with Afton.

I can see a version of events where Smith doesn't trust Afton around kids when he learns that Afton adopted cassie and Greg and decides it'll be best to get Afton away from them, howeverrrr. That pretty heavily conflicts w the version of the au that I've been daydreaming about so far. Plus, Mike Smith knows that he himself is behaving really toxically and in ways that hurt Evan; he just has to keep raising Evan anyway, though, because no one else will be able to keep Evan's traumatic memories from surfacing like Smith thinks he can/has to, and Mike Smith has a lot of paranoia and trauma from other people hurting him that makes him afraid to let Evan out into the world. For Greg and Cassie, neither of these things are an issue; they're already out in the world and Smith might come to the conclusion that keeping them safe "isn't his problem" when he's already struggling to keep Evan cared for.

After Evan runs away, he ends up becoming a part of Mike Afton’s family. When Smith realizes where Evan is, I think Smith does try kidnapping Evan back-- only Mike Smith quickly realizes that he just... can't do this again. Evan isn't the only one with repressed memories; Smith himself also repressed just how bad things were when he first kidnapped a seven year old Evan who begged to be allowed to go back to his family and had to be locked in his room with his screams and beging and sobbing left ignored in the name of making sure Ev couldn't run away. Now, Smith sees the effects of being violently ripped away from that little slice of family and happiness that he found for himself crushing Evan, and Mike Smith just... can't. He doesn't have a plan, anyway. It was a miracle that seven year old Ev repressed away the kidnapping and his past, but Smith can already tell that this teenage Evan isn't going to do that. Smith knows he can't keep Evan locked up in his room and hope for another miracle solution like Evan repressing the kidnapping. So, he ends up letting Evan go at the realization that this is Evan’s only chance at happiness and safety.

Whether Mike Smith would have tried kidnapping not just Evan away from Mike Afton, but also kidnapping Cassie and Greg is an interesting question,, a version of events where Smith tries "saving" the three of them from Mike Afton while also letting Evan keep the siblings he found for himself could be really interesting.

It probably does bother Smith that he's leaving kids with Mike Afton when Mike Smith doesn't trust any version of himself with kids, but again, Mike knows he doesn't have the money or ability to try taking care of Evan, let alone two additional kids who also don't want to be with Smith and will try running away at any chance they get. Smith also doesn't have the guilt of, yk, killing Cassie or Greg in the original timeline like he does Ev, so Smith might justify it as "they're not my problem, not when I have Ev to take care of." Or at least, they're not his problem until he first figures out how to keep Evan safe (which he ultimately decides is letting Evan go).