Chapter Text
Waking up the next early morning was harder than normal for you. You supposed your body was finally feeling the effects of all the excitement from yesterday. You had had a pretty big day after all! You started a new job, met some new people, and an animatronic attempted to harm you! Very exhausting experiences if you do say so yourself. You decided that you'd be more gentle with yourself that morning. You took a nice long shower and made yourself a hot drink along with your breakfast. You didn't often allow yourself the time to wake up gradually before going to work, but maybe now was the time to change that. Maybe changing up your routine would make you feel less crumby than you had been lately. Taking the time for self care was important after all.
Since your morning routine took longer than normal, you arrived just on time rather than early like you preferred. The first two hours of your shift before opening were rather mundane. You helped the staff bots stock up your first aid stations and sanitized all of the surfaces in them. You didn't get through all of them before 7 AM but you figured the bots wouldn't have a problem finishing up the rest. You had tried to memorize their names, but every time you turned around and thought one was Jerry their name tag would read 'Jane'. You settled on just reading their names every time you had to interact with one of them rather than stressing yourself out with memorizing all of them. At 7 AM you began your new ritual of standing at the entrance to see the guests arrive along with Vanessa. You had given her your name today and tried to strike up a conversation only to be responded to with grunts before she could escape you. Even the staff bots were easier to talk to compared to her and her attitude towards you made you feel like you were very annoying. You really didn't want to make one of the few human staff members you knew uncomfortable or hate you, so you realized you should probably just give her space until she maybe warmed up to you.
You spent some time mingling with the guests who would tolerate your presence and helped a little boy put a dollar into a fizzy faz vending machine while making your way up to browse the restaurants for what you'd want to eat on your lunch. You stopped your ascent when you saw the animatronic gator with the red mohawk standing in front of Monty Golf greeting families. What did the little girl from yesterday tell you his name was again? Oh yeah! Monty! God you idiot, you literally just read his name on the huge sign above him! You felt like you should talk to him and let him know you liked his style. You made your way over to him and waited patiently for the crowd around him to disperse some before introducing yourself. You put on a pleasant smile to try and look approachable.
"Hey nice shirt, little man! Rock and roll!" His loud laughter boomed through the foyer as he fist bumped a little boy decked out in Monty Gator merch and your smile became far more genuine. You forgot your objective for coming over here and stayed content just watching him interact with the families. It was nice seeing people so happy just because their favorite character was paying attention to them. You were suddenly caught off guard when his eyes snapped over to yours, "What do ya need something? No one's in need of medical attention over here." His facial expressions and tone of voice were not as joyful with you as they were with the guests. You tried not to let that bother you and slipped past
a crowd of patrons over to him, "Oh no, I'm sorry! I came over here to introduce myself and ended up watching you with the kids! You're really good with them! Oh, and I wanted to tell you I love your mohawk!" Your praise changed his attitude into a more pleasant one and he puffed up his chest, "Well duh! I'm Montgomery Gator!" You shook his hand and introduced yourself. "Wonderful to meet cha kid! You should come play some golf with us!" You were about to have to tell him that you couldn't because you were on the clock when you got a notification on your watch. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I'll have to play another time! I have something I need to take care of." You smiled at him sheepishly and turned to head back out into the lobby. "Hey, no problem! See ya around!"
You unlocked your watch to see what the notification was and any giddiness that you had from the interaction was suddenly wiped off your face. "sh*t."
...
You once again found yourself in front of the daycare's massive wooden doors. Only this time, the doors were wide open and the room was brightly lit up with headache inducing flouresents. Around the daycare a few families sat at tables eating lunch together and parents stood watching the children play inside through the glass. And hoo boy was there a lot to look at in there: Giant colorful playstructures you had barely seen the day before and a massive ball pit and a large cardboard castle and oh yeah, a herd of children swarming the sun animatronic who was cradling a crying toddler. He twisted around and took massive steps to avoid stepping on kids and scolded some and consoled others, all while trying to protect the little boy in his arms. Jesus, they were ravenous. You were pleased to find that Moon was nowhere around and hoped that his sun counterpart was nowhere like him. You supposed that you were called down here to help with the boy who was crying. Gathering yourself to help you prepare for the loud noises that would assault your ears, you started walking towards Sun. "He-" You barely began your introduction to him before he swiveled around to look at you and gently put the boy in your arms. "Oh good! You got my ping! He swallowed glue!" He said while glancing back and forth between you and the kids. A girl that had been latched onto his leg was beginning to climb up his body. "Oh okay, wait what? He swallowed glue?" You exclaimed, repositioning the boy in your arms to look at him better. "Yes! Kids do that sometimes you know!" He laughed nervously and shooed you towards the first aid station in the daycare. Ignoring the animatronic's nonchalance about the glue situation (you tried to excuse it based on the fact that he was currently being mauled to death) you rushed towards the station and tried not to panic. You didn't know what type of glue he swallowed or how much or how long ago this was! Setting him down on the exam table, you pulled on some gloves and began examining him. Okay, his face wasn't turning too red and he was crying quite loud so you knew his airway wasn't blocked but a rash was beginning to form around his mouth. "Hey hey hey buddy, you're okay! You're okay!" You coo'd at him and searched through the cabinet for the water bottles. "Here, honey, you need to drink this." You held the water bottle to his mouth until he had a good grasp on it and he began to chug the water. He couldn't cry while drinking which gave you an opportunity to gather your thoughts. Okay, contact poison control and then the parents, you told yourself. As you were on the phone, the poor boy essentially projectile vomited onto the floor and himself. "Oh okay well he just threw up on himself so no need to worry about me inducing vomiting!" You panic laughed and told the operator you understood that he needed to be rushed to urgent care as you hurriedly wiped the vomit off of him. His cries were increasing in volume. Hanging up, you ran out of the room with the boy in your arms and to Sun who was currently trying to stop a spunky young girl from climbing onto a table, "He needs an ambulance! I have to alert his parents!" You called out urgently. "I don't know where they are sorry!" Despite his singsong tone of voice, he sounded just as panicked as you did, "And it's against the rules to call an ambulance! Use the pager at the security desk! His name is Josiah Brook and his Father's Hunter Brook!"
"We aren't allowed to call for an ambulance?" You cried out. You crumpled when he gave you a short 'Nope!' and ran to the desk. Your wild movements weren't helping as Josiah threw up some more onto your arm but you didn't want to risk any more time. Picking up the phone you realized you didn't know which button was the pager and just as you were about to yell to Sun he called out, "Top button on the right!"
"Hunter Brook to the Superstar Daycare immediately, please! Hunter Brook to the Superstar Daycare immediately!" You spoke clearly over the pager and hung up to wipe more vomit out of little Josiah's mouth. It felt like an hour had passed before a frazzled looking man ran into the daycare with a teenage girl behind him, "Josiah?" He yelled and you moved quickly towards him. "He swallowed glue! He needs to be rushed to the hospital!" You handed the boy over to him. "He what? Did you call an ambulance?" He started rushing out of the daycare with you and the girl hot on his heels. "No-"
"No? No! Why didn't you call a f*cking ambulance for him?" He yelled at you but didn't hesitate in his step. "I wanted to, I'm sorry! It's against the rules!" You cried back. "f*ck the rules! You should have anyway! This is my f*cking son!" You stopped following him once you reached the entrance and watched them sprint out into the parking lot toward their car. You stood there awhile in silence watching them in shame.
...
You stopped at a bathroom to wash the vomit off of you and sanitize your hands and arms. You splashed some water onto your hot cheeks and stayed there for a moment to try and compose yourself. You couldn't help the immense guilt you felt. You had done everything in your power that was within the rules, but what if that little boy dies or is seriously ill? Should you have just broken the rules to do what you thought was best? But you didn't even know why those rules were in place. Maybe it was for a very good reason. But how could not being allowed to call for an ambulance ever be for a good reason? You figured you'd ask Sun why that was a rule and then determine whether or not you'd follow the rule.
Walking back to the daycare felt like a walk of shame. A passing staff bot gave you, what you assumed to be, a look of sympathy as it tilted its head, but once you entered the daycare department the silence felt deafening. You weren't sure if the parents were staring at you wondering what had happened or if they were pissed at you. Maybe they were even mortified by the idea that you'd be the one to care for their children. A middle-aged woman stopped you, "Oh dear what happened to that boy? Is he alright?"
"He's on his way to the hospital now. He unfortunately got a hold of some glue and ate it." You told her somberly.
"Of course he did. Now this is exactly why I keep telling people that animatronics aren't supposed to care for children and actual people should!" She scoffed and turned to the woman sitting beside her who nodded in agreement.
"And yet you still took your kids here to be watched by an animatronic." You told her blankly in defense of Sun and heard her huff angrily as you walked away. You shouldn't have entertained her or even responded, but it wasn't Sun's fault, right? There were a lot of kids to keep track of in there! Speaking of which, things seemed to have calmed down slightly when you entered. Sun was still flitting around frantically but at least everyone wasn't crawling all over him anymore. Most of the kids had settled down in front of a TV playing Bluey and the rest were spread out around the place. Some were coloring, there were two older kids doing a puzzle, one you thought you saw attempting to rip a head off of a Chica plush, and one single scrawny looking boy sitting in front of a staff bot who was very slowly reading a storybook. How he had captured the boy's attention, you weren't sure. You nabbed a tangle fidget off of one of the tables and offered it to the girl murdering the plush, "Here darling. Try this out. I use these kinds of fidgets all the time when I'm overwhelmed." She swiped it out of your hand and with her attention now on it, you picked up the Chica plush to assess the damage. Well, it was nearly headless and would need to be sewed back up. You doubted there would be a needle and thread around, but maybe there was a costume department here. After all, who made the animatronics clothes?
There was a jingling of bells that made you tense. "You're back!" Sun called out from behind you, "How is he?" He settled in front of you with his hands clasped in front of him and his head craned down to meet your eyes. You knew that he was insanely tall, but from this position you realized truly just how much he towered over you and you were honestly a little nervous to be this close to him. But that was true for anyone; You didn't take too kindly to people being in your face. "I can't really say for certain. They're rushing him to the hospital now. He wasn't having trouble breathing so it's kind of a matter of how his stomach and intestines are which I can't know without certain equipment." You explained quietly so that the kids wouldn't hear. He hummed quietly for a moment, more than likely trying to think of how to respond. You took that time to study all of the groves in his face and the frilled collar around his neck while trying not to seem too invasive. You found him oddly cute. Okay, it was probably super embarrassing to find an animatronic cute or adorable. "It... it was just so hard to keep track of all of them at once!" He blurted out suddenly, startling you, "It's normally not a problem! I'm usually very very good at keeping track of all the little ones I swear! It's what I was designed for after all! I usually handle injuries myself but there was just an unusual amount of kids here today! We were doing arts and crafts and Crystal poured glue on Penny's head and I was cleaning her up and I forgot to put the glue away before I took her to the bathroom and-" He continued to ramble on trying to justify himself before you decided to stop him. "Hey no I get it! No need to justify yourself to me! I wouldn't even be able to watch a third of the kids in here all at once!" You told him, laughing gently to hopefully lighten the mood, "No one expects you to be perfect all the time." He huffed at your words, "We were built to be perfect. Understanding imperfections is for humans."
You weren't quite sure what to say to his words. You were suddenly very aware of your humanness and lack of understanding of what it might be like to be him. Picking up on the awkwardness, Sun backed up a tad and stuck his rather large and slim hand out to you, "Never mind all that! We haven't had our proper introductions yet! I'm sorry for not introducing myself earlier and for being so abrupt with you! I was in a bit of a tizzy as I'm sure you could tell. My name is Sun!" You shook his hand and gave your name, "Nice to meet you Mr. Sun! And no problem about earlier, I totally get it. I was probably panicking more than you were." Feeling his hand in yours brought a certain amount of disassociation to you. It was soft and made of silicone and warm? It mimicked human skin but wasn't. It made your brain hurt to think about it too hard. You didn't get this existential about it when you had shaken Monty's hand earlier. Maybe you weren't even thinking about what Monty's hand had felt like at the time? "Well hey, I don't really have much to do around here until I'm needed for something. Would you like some help around here?" You asked hopefully, eager to have something to do. Sun gasped, bounced on his heels, and clapped his hands, "Oh, would you? I would appreciate that so much! I saw how well you did with Veronica so I know you'll do just fine! I can never get her to respond to me like you did." He tilted his head to the little girl behind you who was now fixated on the tangle. Your face flushed a little, "Oh, well, thank you! I used to be very uncomfortable around kids when I was younger so that means a lot!" You smiled brightly at him, "I just need to clean up the first aid station real quick and then I'll be back to help out." His smile matched yours and he nodded vigorously as you moved around him.
You were luckily very used to biohazards and bad smells because the vomit you cleaned up from the floor and exam table was heinous. You tried not to think about it too hard and just get the job done. Cleaning up didn't take nearly as much time as you had expected and were back in the middle of the chaos which was the daycare. You were about to ask Sun, who was stopping the two kids doing the puzzle from arguing over who was going to put in the last piece, what he'd like to have you do when a little boy who was drawing called out to you, "Hey!" You walked over to him and looked at him expectantly, "Cale said a bad word to me!" He pointed at another boy who had gelled back black hair and a Roxy shirt on. His face turned red, "No I did not!"
"Oh, no! What did he say?" You asked.
"I don't wanna say it. I'll get in trou-ble." He shook his head at Cale and stuck his tongue out.
"None of that now, darling." You lightly scolded the boy for continuing to tease the other who was clearly mortified at being told on, "You can tell me. It's alright. You won't get in trouble, I promise."
"Okay," He puffed his cheeks out to prepare himself for the horrors he was about to say, "He said 'shhh'."
You stared at him for a moment to see if he'd continue. Your face twisted up in confusion when he didn't, "You mean like 'sh*t'?"
"No! Like shhhh." He put his finger to his mouth and made a shushing sound.
Your face turned beet red, "Oh! Um oh um! It's not nice to shush people but it's not a bad word! Oh hey nice picture you got there okay bye!" You rushed away quickly. Could this day get any more embarrassing for you? You ran face-first into someone's chest. Yes, yes it could.
"Wo-oh-ah! Watch out there! You're lucky it was me and not a child!" Sun sang to you and held you by your shoulder. You could see his other hand was occupied by what looked like those gym class rainbow parachutes. "Since there are so many of you visiting today, who would like to try out a super cool experiment?" He called out to everyone while still holding onto your shoulder. You wondered how he knew how much force to apply when touching or grabbing people to not crush them. Many excited 'Me!''s and 'Yeah!''s echoed around the daycare, including your own. "Oh, awesome! I never got to try one of those in school!" You cheered.
Sun instructed all of you to push the tables and chairs out of the way and shook out the parachute so it lay flat on the ground. "Okie dokie! Everyone circle around the parachute and grab a corner. Everyone got a hold of it? Okay, lift up!" Everyone lifted the parachute high above their heads, excluding you and Sun since you were both much taller than the children, "Everyone, underneath and sit on the edge of it!" You all followed his orders and you giggled along with the kids, looking around at all of their excited faces and the pretty colors of the parachute above you. "Again! Again!" Someone cheered and the rest of you echoed it. You all did it a few more times before Sun quieted everyone, "Okay, who wants to hear a story?" He asked and clapped his hands together. You all cheered once more, "Okay! Okay! I can't tell it unless you're all verrrryy quiet. You wouldn't want me talking over you when you're telling me a story, would you?" After a big in-synch 'noooo', everyone quieted down to give Sun their attention.
"Long ago, there lived a mother, brother, and sister. One day, the mother went to help at a party. 'Watch the house well and I will bring you both some delicious pancakes and rice cakes,' said the mother. The brother and sister thought of rice cakes and waited for their mother. It became dark in the mountains. The mother was hurrying home worried about the children when a dark shadow appeared. It was a scary tiger! The tiger said, "I won't eat you up if you give me a rice cake." The mother gave the tiger a rice cake but the tiger kept asking for more and more, again and again." Everyone ooh'd and ahh'd at the right moments and you were rather impressed with how well behaved they were being despite how they were acting earlier.
Your day was going by without a hitch by the time it was time for your lunch break. Sun had finished his story and after cleaning up, you had all moved on to trying to master origami. A sweet girl gave you a mangled up, what you assumed to be, flower. Sun was helping the kids set up cute Sun and Moon themed tents for nap time as you were leaving, "Okay, I'll be back soon! Do you want me to bring you anything back?" You called to him. "Hmm? Oh no, thank you! I can't consume anything!" He reminded you. Oh, that's right, you thought, f*ck that was super embarrassing of you to forget that. You wondered if he ever envied others for getting to eat, or if he never really thought about it much because he had no concept of what that would be like. Either way, you were starving and booked it for the food court.
When you were just about to finish your meal, your faz watch alerted you that you were needed in Roxy Raceway. You cleaned up and headed to the second floor to see what you were needed for. After navigating through the raceway and cringing at the loud screeching of tires and delighted shrieks, you found a staff bot posted up next to a woman consoling a boy on the ground. He was clutching his leg and assuring her that he was fine. He seemed rather annoyed at her coddling. "Hi! Is everything alright?" You started with and briefly acknowledged the staff bot rolling away who you assumed had been the one to ping you. "Oh, can you please help him? His leg is all messed up!" The woman cried to you. "Mom! I'm fine! I don't need help! See?" He growled and shakily stood up. His leg looked like it had bad road rash. "One of those nasty boys bumped his gocart over and he skidded across the track!" She whined out, "Oh my god, and your arm too! You didn't tell me your arm got hurt!" He tried to hide his arm but you saw that it was about in the same state as his leg before he could. "Well, it'd be a good idea for me to clean you up even if you are alright! Wouldn't those wounds getting infected now would you?" You asked him with a smile and he huffed, too macho for his own good. "No, we wouldn't!" His mother agreed and tried fixing his hair only to have her hand slapped away. You led the pair to the first aid station by what looked to be a mini mechanic shop and instructed to boy to hop up on the exam table after fitting it with clean paper. "What's your name, honey?" You asked while pulling out your old friend, saline pads. "Devin, and I ain't your honey." He said grumpily and crossed his arms. "Don't be rude!" His mother scolded, "Oh, and I'm Sharon." You hummed and pulled on sterile gloves, "Oh no, that's okay! If he doesn't want to be called something then I shouldn't call him that." He perked up slightly at your words, more than likely not used to being heard, "I'm gonna clean your wounds with this saline, is that alright? It won't sting like alcohol pads do." He nodded and you gently began cleaning up his arm. His skin was pretty torn up now that you were close to it. They should really have kids wear protective clothing on those things. Sharon asked you about the difference between using alcohol pads and saline pads as you worked on cleaning his arm and leg. You applied some bacitracin and pulled out some light gauze before pausing, "Will you guys be staying for a while longer or be doing anything else today? I don't want dirt to get in your wounds but I would also advise letting them breathe without bandages." Sharon shook her head, "Oh no! We're going straight home! I don't want any more accidents!"
"But moooom!" Devin whined. They continued to argue as you saw them out and cleaned up the station. You looked at the time on your watch, "Oh jeez. I hope Mr. Sun isn't wondering where I am."
...
When you came back to the daycare you saw Sun passing out what looked to be prepackaged kid-sized meals. As you got closer you saw pepperoni, cheese, crackers, carrots, grapes, and fizzy faz. Basically glorified lunchables. "Weeelllll, I was wondering where my little helper had gone off to!" Sun said cheekily as he finished laying out the rest of the meals. "Yeah sorry! Got caught up in Roxy Raceway." You told him and eyed a kid sticking carrots in his nose. A little girl screamed from beside him when he shot them back out at her. Sun swiftly pulled his chair back and switched him with the boy next to him, "Ah! Go carts are just so fun! Did ol' Roxy get a little rough with one of the youngin's again?" He had an uncomfortable looking smile on his face. "Oh no, I don't think so. I didn't see her there at least. Some boy got bullied by some teens and got hurt. Not too much of a biggie." You assured him and found that the chairs were too small and uncomfortable for you. You settled for sitting criss-cross on the ground at a table occupied by three girls. One of them was trying to convince the others that her dad was, in fact, a vampire. "See? Look! My teeth are sharp!" She pointed at her canines and the other girls were adamant that she was lying. "No way! That's cap!"
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
"What is cap?" You asked, confused. The three girls stared at your intrusion. "Sorry, but cringe people are NOT allowed at this table." One of the girls said, crossed her arms, and suddenly the other two were acting as her posse and mimicked her with similar snotty faces. If question marks could pop up above your head, you're sure they would. "Cringe? Cringe! Oh I am NOT cringe. I am so hip with the kids." They scoffed at you and laughed. One girl co*cked her head at you, "Oh yeah? Skibidi toilet."
"Yo, what language are you speaking? Speak American lady." You told her. Goddamit, you knew slang but what the hell was that nonsense? Apparently, your conversation had piqued the interest of a boy from the table next to yours. You recognized it as the boy from before who had shushed the other boy. Cole? No Cale. "Hey!" He poked your shoulder and you tried your best not to grimace at the cheese that spewed out of his mouth, "Do you like skibidi toilet? Do you have it on your phone? Can we watch it?" He gripped onto your sleeve and tugged at it. Sun, who had been watching the whole interaction entirely amused, picked him up and set him back in his chair, "Now now, we don't need to be bothering them during snack time. You need to eat to have the energy to play more later!" He patted his head and all while standing in the same spot, his entire body leaned over to you and he conspiratorily whispered, "He has an unhealthy obsession with that. You'll get used to all of their lingo eventually." He patted your head as well and went to clean up a spilled over fizzy faz can.
After snack time, you all played tag (which you totally crushed everyone at), hide and go seek (which you miserably failed at), and helped kids figure out paint daubers while you played bingo. You won a Freddy plush! The rest of your shift flew by with all of the fun activities and before you knew it, you were seconds away from trekking into overtime territory. "Oh sh*t!" You exclaimed when you saw your watch and dropped the marker that had been in your hand. "Language!" Sun scolded from across the table and caught the marker before it could mark up the table. "Oh!" You covered your mouth and blushed at the fact you used profanity in front of young children again. Luckily they all seemed emersed in their drawings. "I'm so sorry!" You stood up and picked up the drawing you had been working on, "My shift is already over! I should probably clock out before I get into trouble." You unlocked your watch and punched out while Sun led you to the door. "Oh my, already? Time certainly did fly by today!" He said and you focused maybe a bit too hard on his hand on your back. "Yeah definitely! Today went by much quicker than it did yesterday. I hate being bored." You separated from him when you both reached the door, "Thank you so much for letting me join you guys today! It was so much fun! I'd love to do it again sometime! That is, if you don't mind? You can tell me if you do, I won't be mad!" You rambled out, really hoping that you'd get another opportunity to spend your shift at the daycare again. "Of course! I had a lot of fun as well! And the kids loved you!" You weren't sure whose smile was wider, yours or his. "Awesome!" You cheered and began heading out, "I'll catch you later Mr. Sun! And thank you so much again!" You waved behind you and he reciprocated, "Bye-bye now! See you tomorrow!"
Tomorrow? Sure. You could do tomorrow.
As you reached your car in the parking lot you realized something, "f*ck, I forgot to ask him about the ambulance rule."
