Chapter Text
When you started work the next morning, the only thing at the forefront of your mind was getting to the bottom of this whole 'we're not allowed to call for an ambulance' business. The first person you wanted to interrogate about this matter? Sun. The problem was getting him in a private space to ask him about it. You didn't think it was a particularly good idea to talk about that sort of thing in front of guests. So that meant that you should talk to him before guests arrived, right? The next problem was knowing when Moon transitioned into Sun. You had done some research after work yesterday and discovered that they were two animatronics in one! In your eyes, it was an engineering marvel to have two personalities in one animatronic and you went down a long rabbit hole of videos that covered their creation. The most important thing you learned was that their personalities were light-activated. Sun came out when it was brightly lit and Moon came out when it was dark. Pretty straightforward and easy to understand. You knew that the lights were still turned off around 6 AM based on your encounter with Moon on your first day, but you decided to poke your head into the daycare just to be sure it wasn't a one-off type deal. Yup. Still dark and the doors were shut.
You poked your head in again at 6:30 AM while pushing a cart of supplies around to first aid stations. Stiiiillll dark.
At 6:50 AM you were beginning to get very anxious about talking to Sun before the daycare opened. You figured if you went in there and it was still dark you could wait around until the lights went on and talk to Sun before guests could make their way from the entrance. Except this time when you checked, the doors were wide open. The daycare was still pitch black, but someone had clearly opened them and you had a good idea of who that was. You slinked towards the entrance and stood a good distance away from where light met dark. In theory, even if Moon tried to lunge for you again he'd turn into Sun once he stepped into the light. It was a good plan if Sun wasn't like his counterpart. You really truly hoped Sun wasn't the violent type and was just putting on a facade in front of the kids. You reassured yourself by telling yourself that Sun didn't give you the same bad vibes that Moon did. It was rather curious to you that Moon could strike so much fear into you. You hadn't even met him yet when feeling his very presence triggered your fight-or-flight response. There was something very primal in you that told you you were the prey in that moment without even knowing who the predator was.
You reached your arm as far as it would go and knocked on one of the doors before quickly yanking it back. "Hello? Mr. Moon?" You called out, trying to adjust your eyes to see better in the dark. You stood there for a while, staring blindly into the darkness before giving up. You made to turn around when fingers curled and gripped the edge of the doorway. They clacked loudly in the deafening quiet. You stared at them, trying your best to remain calm. You always told yourself that you were the strong, fearless one, but the shiver that wracked through your body made you feel not so tough. Rather, pathetic actually as your eyes widened and your body tensed. You stayed frozen and watched as Moon's face slid into view, the rest of his body still hidden. His eyes were squinted, "You rang?" He asked, sleeping cap danging sideways. "Hi." You whispered to match his volume, "Do you remember me?" He gave you a playful 'Yeeessss' and slipped fully into view. He mimicked the pose he had when you first met: Back straight, head co*cked, and fingers twitching at his sides. "Oh, okay..." How were you supposed to hold a conversation when you felt so scared? Why were you even attempting to hold a conversation with him in the first place? Moronic curiosity? "Why did you do that? Try to attack me, I mean." Not one to beat around the bush, were you? He straightened his head up and shrugged his shoulders with his hands up in the air. A more, what you perceived to be, gentle smile graced his features, "Dunno. Just... felt like it." He let out a giggle that made you feel a little sick to your stomach. "Just felt like it?" You asked, "So, there was no particular reason for you to feel the need to attack me?" Very sociopathic of him. But if he was so empty inside that he didn't feel empathy towards others and made decisions to hurt others blindly, wouldn't you feel nothing towards him as well? Wasn't it a thing that people felt nothing in particular about serial killers when they met them? Or were you just trying too hard to psychoanalyze an animatronic you should probably stay the hell away from? Moon's face suddenly went slack and he grabbed both of the doors, "Closing time. Talk to you some other time." He smiled once more before abruptly shutting the doors in your face. "That wasn't very nice." You mumbled, but maybe you were expecting too much from someone who had previously tried to attack you. What exactly had you even been hoping to get out of the interaction? You were startled when the lights lit up in the daycare. You listened to the loud 'chunk chunk chunk' as each light turned on. You glanced at your watch. It had just turned 7.
You shook the interaction out of your mind and held your ear to the door to try and listen for any movement inside before knocking once more. "Weeeellll, good morning! You're here rather early don'tcha think?" Sun sang as he swung the doors open wide, "Come in! Come in! I'm just getting ready for the little ones." He began busying himself with arranging the tables and laying out sheets of paper on them, "We're going to try word searches this morning!" You picked up one of the sheets and read some of the words the kids would be looking for, 'Pizza, Freddy, Roxy, Monty, Chica, Fun, Party, Sun, Moon, etc...' You started helping him lay out highlighters at each table, "Hey, while we're working, is it alright if I talk to you about something? I was hoping to ask before the kids arrived." Sun was suddenly right beside you when you turned around, hip co*cked and hand resting on the short table. It was a rather funny look to see him bent over so far just to lean on the table, "Of course! What's on your mind?" You found yourself having a harder time being as direct with Sun as you had been with Moon, "Well, um, you know how you told me yesterday that it's against the rules to call for an ambulance? What's up with that?" For some reason you felt a little embarrassed to tell him exactly what was on your mind and how angry you were over the rule, "I mean it just... it just feels totally irresponsible to not be allowed to call for one if there's an emergency." Sun sighed and straightened up to cross his arms, "And here I thought you had forgotten all about that nonsense! I should have known better that you wouldn't." He shook his head with a knowing smile. It was endearing, and yet at the same time you found it incredibly annoying that he was acting like he knew you so well already, "Don't you worry about all that! The rule's in place for a reason! Just follow them without question and you'll be fine!" Well, that response was even more aggravating. Follow the rules without question? You only followed rules if they made sense! You were about to protest when kids and their parents began to file in for check-ins. Sun held a finger up to silence you, "Just, mind me please, would you?" Snapping into what you'd call 'the perfect customer service personality', Sun bounded over to the growing group of families at the door.
"If you'd like to, you can use that tablet on the security desk to help me check folks in!" Sun told you and pointed over to the desk. Still a little steamed from your conversation and the unhelpful experience with Moon from earlier, you thought about ignoring his request and leaving but thought better of it and collected the tablet. There was a code to unlock it, but the admin code that Vanessa had told you about when she gave you your faz watch did the trick. You gave yourself bonus points for remembering the code. It didn't take the two of you too long to check everyone in. You did your best to deal with the parents who were in a rush to get off to work or enjoy the rest of the Plex with their older kids while Sun instructed the children who had already been checked in to store their items in the cubby and wait patiently. You said goodbye to the last of the parents, slung the bag given to you onto your shoulder, and Sun cradled their baby in his arms. She was the youngest of your group today. You waddled over to the fridge with the hefty bag in the little kitchenette area close to the bathrooms and first aid station to put the breast milk for her in the fridge. You made sure to properly label it with her name and the date. You wrote 'Roxanne Plummage' in the neatest handwriting you could with a sharpie. You wondered if she had been named after 'Roxanne Wolf' and almost hoped that wasn't the case.
"Okay! No fighting over the highlighters now! Where are our manners? Show me that you all can be good and share!" You heard Sun instruct when you made your way over to join the group. You walked over to a boy you recognized, "Welcome back, Cale! How're we doing today?" You asked and leaned over to see the progress he was making on his word search. "Fine." He told you, clearly too concentrated to be bothered with you. "Can you help me?" A girl beside him asked and tugged at your pant leg. You glanced at her paper to read 'Nyla' crudely scribbled at the top in Purple highlighter. "Sure sweetheart, what are you suck on?" You squatted down so that you weren't towering over her any longer. "I can't find this one." Her tiny finger painted with yellow nail polish pointed at 'Party'. You wanted her to get it on her own without giving the answer directly, "Well, something that helps me is looking only for the first letter of the word. So here, start looking for P's. Here's one.... Here's another." You pointed at any P's you saw in the word search and watched her continue to look for more without your assistance. "Oh! I found it!" She cheered and you cringed at her inability to draw in a straight line. You were sure if she went over it again anymore she'd rip a hole in the paper. You decided to step away from her to see if anyone else needed any help. You saw Sun cradling Roxanne in one arm and pointing out a word with the other for a little boy. Despite your annoyance with him, the sight made you smile. Damn anyone that said animatronics weren't good caregivers. The raw emotion and gracefulness you saw from him was otherworldly.
Your watch sent you a notification to head to Roxy Raceway once again. Jeez, did most of the accidents happen early in the morning? You would've figured they'd happen later in the day when there were bigger crowds but it seemed most of your calls happened the first half of your shift. "Mr. Sun!" You called out, "I need to go take care of something in the raceway real quick!" He gave you a smile and a nod, "Okie dokie! Good luck and come back soon!" You gave him your promise and rushed out.
The raceway was still as loud as you remembered it. You searched around for what you had been called there for, "Hey! Nurse! Over here!" Someone called out. You pinpointed it to, someone you recognized immediately, Roxy and a little girl who was sobbing quite loudly. The two were covered in blue paint and, while Roxy looked terribly annoyed, she was still softly comforting the girl. She sighed and turned to you, "She got a hold of some paint somehow. They really need to lock those cans up." She growled, "Can you please help her clean up? I need to get this out of my hair immediately!" You nodded, "Yes ma'am!" While you were gently encouraging the girl towards the first aid station where you figured you'd have more privacy than the bathroom, Roxy stormed off in a huff. You grabbed a stool and rolled up a towel to be placed on the edge of the sink. "What's your name?" You asked her and squatted down in front of her, dabbing at the tears on her face. "Laura." She hiccuped out, "Do you think Roxy hates me?" She asked you, and with her permission, you lifted her up onto the stool, "No honey, she don't hate you. She just got a little overwhelmed is all. Sometimes we get upset when things are overwhelming, right?" You asked her and instructed her to lean her head back into the sink, resting her neck on the towel you had rolled up. She nodded her head, "Yeah." You began rinsing her hair with water and asked if she had any skin allergies before massaging shampoo from the cabinet into it. Her clothes and arms had paint splattered onto them as well, but you thought her hair to be first priority before the paint dried. You opened a package of fine-toothed combs and began easing the paint out of her hair. Once that was all settled, you wrapped her hair up in the towel and had her turn around on the stool, "Would you mind washing your arms off with this soap? I'm going to go see if there are any spare clothes around for you. Do you know what size you wear?" She got to work on cleaning her arms and told you she didn't. You guessed you'd just have to wing it. You stepped out of the station and found a staff bot that was cleaning up the paint can you assumed Laura had gotten into, "Hi! Do you know if there are any extra clothes for kids?" You asked and they pointed towards the Roxy Raceway gift shop near the entrance. You didn't really want to have to buy anything. Hopefully, they'd give it to you for free if it was for a guest.
Stepping into the shop, you were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of merchandise. Plush and headbands and stickers and magnets and snacks galore! You dodged customers and perused the wall of clothes. You grabbed a couple of shirts and pairs of pants that you thought might fit and stood patiently in line behind a couple of people at the register. Thankfully, the line moved as quickly as you had hoped for. "Hey there, Michelle!" You greeted the staff bot manning the register, "I have a girl who ruined her clothes with some paint. Can I use these to give her a change of clothes or....?" She grabbed the clothes from your hands and scanned them out before handing them back to you, "Thank you for your patronage. Would you like a bag?" She droned out. "Oh, yes, please! Thank you so much!" You chimed and rushed out of the gift shop back to Laura in the station. When you returned, she was pulling at her paint soaked shirt. "Okay! I brought a couple of different sizes in case one doesn't fit you." You told her and laid the clothes down on one of the chairs, "I'm gonna step out so you can have some privacy while you change. Would you mind putting your old clothes in this bag?" You held out the bag that the clothes were in to her. She nodded and you left the room, closing the door shut behind you. You stood guard at the door people watching and admiring the go-carts as they raced past. Laura knocked on the door when she was done and you opened it to see her sporting the fresh clothes you got her. You took the bag with her old clothes in it from her, "Now do you know where your guardians are or should I call for them?" She nodded, "My brother said he'd be at Chica's Cupcake Bakery." You knew that the bakery was on the same floor but were a little miffed that he had left her alone in the raceway where it was dangerous. Maybe it was because he knew Roxy would be looking after her. "Okay, let's go and see if he's there, and if he's not we'll page for him. Would you like to hold my hand?" She nodded once more and took her smaller hand in yours.
It was a short walk to the bakery but having to lean over to hold her hand was really starting to hurt your spine. "Jamie!" Laura called as soon as you walked in and let go of her hand. She ran over to a long-haired boy sitting at a table sharing a cupcake with a girl. "Hey! What happened to your clothes? Why's your hair wet?" He asked her and held her gently by the shoulder, eyeing her new streetwear. You figured you should be the one to explain and stepped over to the group, "Hi! I'm the nurse here. We had a little accident with some paint. Here are her old clothes..." You handed him the bag and tried to ignore the girl with him who was glaring at you, "I got her all cleaned up. I hope you don't mind me getting her some new clothes." He rustled her hair, "You would get into trouble wouldn't you?" He turned to you, "Thank you so much for helping her! And no, I don't mind that you did that at all! Thank you! But um... how much do I have to pay for them? I don't really have a lot of money..." You waved your hands in front of you, "Oh no nothing! They're free!"
"Hey! Your mischievousness got us some free clothes!" He told Laura and laughed, "Well, we ought to get you home before you get into any more trouble." He stood up to leave when the girl next to him started to protest. "But Jamie! Seriously? What about our date? We JUST sat down!" Jamie looked at her a little offended but she continued, "Why did you even have to bring your little sister in the first place? I swear to god you care more about her than me!" He picked up Laura and held her to his chest with the bag of clothes clutched in his hand, "Oh! I most certainly do care way more about her than you!" He mouthed a 'thank you' to you and rushed out of the bakery. The girl let out an 'Ugh!' and slammed her hand down on the table as she stood, making it rock, "Thanks a lot!" She yelled in your face before storming out. Jesus.
You were making your way back to the daycare after cleaning up when a familiar voice called out your name, "Hey! Got any time for golf now?" It was Monty standing near a photo booth with a shiny golf club slung up against his shoulder. Sun wouldn't mind if you took a little extra time getting back, right? You shrugged with a smile, "Sure! Why the hell not."
You and Monty joined a group that consisted of three teenage girls and a young boy. The girls were hyping up the little boy and in some awesome goth getups, to which you complimented profusely. You had learned their names: Miranda, Ava, and Amelia, and the little boy was named Mason. He had been outcast from a birthday party and apparently taken in by the gang of girls. All five of you suddenly had the life mission of making sure he had the best experience possible. Even Monty, who you were sure was a master of golf, let him win like the rest of you. The girls took plenty of pictures of you all and made ticktocks (you asked for one of their numbers so they could send you all of them). You had a lot of fun playing with them and admiring all of the pretty scenery. The low lights, realistic foliage, even the giant gator heads that rose out of the water! It was the best putt-putt course you had ever been to, and you made sure to tell Monty so. It wasn't until the end of the game that you checked your watch, "Oh no! I bet Mr. Sun is pissed at me!" You cried and realized that he had pinged for you to go to the daycare several times, "Oh my god I hope I didn't just ignore someone getting hurt!" You ran to return your golf club and ball and Monty followed behind you. "Seriously? You're worried about the damn solar flare?" He asked and plucked the golf club out of your hand. "Solar flare?" You questioned. "Yeah. 'cause... 'cause you know, he gets all angry and fired up?" He justified, "Get it?" You stared at him confused, "Angry? I ain't never seen him angry. But I guess I haven't known him for very long..."
"Ohhh yeah all the time! That guy hates my guts." He waved it off with his hand, "Don't worry about him tho. He's all bark and no bite. And even if he was, he'd stand no chance against me!" He boasted. "Huh." Was all you had to respond with to that, "Well, either way, I promised him earlier that I would be back quickly to help him out! Thank you so much for the fun game!" You told him and waved to the group of teenage girls and Mason who had started on another course. You started jogging out of the golf course as Monty called behind you, "Yeah alright. Just be safe, you hear?"
By the time you reached the daycare, your face was flushed and your scrubs were all out of order, "Sorry! I'm here! I'm here! What's the emergency?" You called out, but when you looked around, everything seemed fine. Sun was standing with the kids sitting around him with his arms crossed and a very serious look on his face. It looked like they had been in the middle of storytime. "Why don't you all go and make yourselves busy in the play structures, hmm?" He coo'd to them, clapping his hands together with a shallow smile. They all gave him the okay and cheered as they ran for the tubes and slides. The serious look on his face returned as he walked over to you. You were suddenly very nervous. Your talk with Monty was giving you vivid images of Sun losing his sh*t on you for taking so long. He stopped in front of you and crossed one arm over his body with the other propped onto it and a finger to his mouth, "Hmmm." He hummed. You were sweating. "I hope whoever you went to take care of was on the verge of death for you to have taken that long and ignored my pings." You were f*cking swimming in sweat, "Oh.. oh um... well you know I just uh," Drowning in it, "I'm so sorry! I stopped to play a game of golf with Monty and some kids!" His face turned even more sour. Dear god, what was he, your dad? Why did you feel the need to please him so bad? To keep his respect and not get in trouble with him? "I'm so so so sorry I missed your pings! I swear I didn't even hear them! Is everyone alright? Who got hurt?"
He leaned forward to get in your face and put his hand on his hips, "Shirking your responsibilities to play with the gator? Really? I thought you were better than that! Well, it's about time for your lunch anyway. Might as well go now. I have things covered here. Clearly!" He let out a 'hymph' and left you to join back up with the kids. The immense disappointment you felt in yourself was almost too much to bear.
You decided to sit in your car with your lunch to try to compose yourself and have some relief from the stimulation inside. You really weren't one to play hooky on the job, but wasn't making guests happy part of your job? Or was that just an excuse? Or were you really not mad at yourself and only upset about disappointing Sun? You knew it was pretty bad that you had ignored the notifications on your watch, but you swore you hadn't even heard them! If you had heard them you would've been rushing to the daycare immediately. There were just so many noises in the golf course that you couldn't even hardly hear yourself think. You looked at the settings on your watch as you chewed to try and see if there was a way to turn up the volume on notifications. There wasn't. Not that you could find at least. You even tried looking up the faz watch and found a few Reddit threads about how to use them that weren't very helpful. You sighed and melted into the seat a little. You'd have to go back in there and face Sun, wouldn't you? Maybe he didn't want to see you again today. Or maybe not showing back up would make things worse. You groaned and sighed and rubbed your hands along your face. You scratched roughly at your neck. sh*t, you were just so damn uncomfortable. You thought back to your conversation with Monty about Sun. He didn't exactly seem pissed, but maybe he was just hiding it very well around the kids. He gave more of the 'disappointed dad' vibes. You hoped that Monty had just been being dramatic. Him telling you to be safe when you left for the daycare didn't exactly settle too well in your stomach.
Walking back into the building had been hard enough, but ending up right in the middle of angry birthday partygoers made things worse. There were kids wailing and tugging on the clothes of a very angry woman who was yelling at some poor staff bot, "Are you stupid? I reserved a party room for us TODAY! Check again! The name is Bailey. B. A. I. L. E. Y." She yelled. "The party room reserved under the name Bailey isn't scheduled until next Wednesday." The bot replied and you snuck around the group as best you could. You were rather glad you didn't have to be the one to deal with angry guests, but you did feel a little guilty for not stepping in to help the staff bot. You had had enough arguments for today. You had just made it to the daycare when you were alerted to another task assigned to you. You considered it your saving grace until you saw Sun glaring at you as you slowly backed out, "Sorry! Trying not to shirk my duties!" You sassed to him, only to immediately regret it at his deepening frown and rush out. You headed to Kid's Cove to find that what you were needed for was a minor bruise on a kid's elbow. All you had to do was console him and apply a cold compress. Although you regretted thinking it, you wished it had been something more serious that would take up more time. You meandered around for a while, hoping to find something else to do before you had no reason to not go back. Oh! That kid just fell! Maybe he needs hel- nope he's fine. Sprang right back up like it was nothing. Bastard. Someone called your name.
It was Freddy, "Hello again! I apologize for not talking to you more the day before!" His ears fell slack and his hands began to fidget, "I was just so upset over being responsible for Breelyn's injuries..." He trailed off and you decided to console him before he could wallow in shame any further. You figured that was a common theme for him, "Oh hey! No problem at all! I wasn't bothered or anything. And hey, it ain't your fault. Things happen. Kids fall. The world moves on." He smiled kindly despite clearly not agreeing with your words, "You're right. Anyway, my name is Freddy! It's a pleasure to be able to work with you! So many of my friends have told me about how well you do your job!" He shook your hand and this time you tried to pay attention to how another animatronic's hand felt in yours, wondering if you'd experience the same dissociation you had with Sun. No. Maybe you were just used to the feeling by now. His hands had soft silicone pads on them and sharp claws that grazed your skin gently without doing any damage. "Oh um! That's awesome! Thank you! It's great to work with you as well!" Your watch played its notification jingle. Seeing that it was from the daycare, you frowned deeply and cringed. "Oh is Mr. Sun calling for you?" Freddy asked, "You best hurry. He's a rather impatient fellow, isn't he?" His smile and happy tone, despite seeming genuine, contradicted his words. You nodded and swallowed, waving goodbye as you separated from him like it'd be your last goodbye on Earth.
Trying to decide if you should continue antagonizing Sun or not, you settled on trying to make things up to him gradually, "Hey! Did someone get hurt?" You asked in the sweetest voice you could muster when you entered the daycare. Customer service experience, don't fail you now! "Oh! No!" Sun said with his back turned to you and was leaned over a girl who was trying her damndest to color in the lines. You saw the baby, Roxanne, fast asleep in his arms when you joined him by his side, "But you pinged for me?" You questioned and were responded to with a short and, very fakely, sweet, "Yep!" Cool. You were both pretending to be nice and okay with each other. Passive aggressiveness had never been your favorite, "So, what for?" You absolutely f*cking hated this beating around the bush sh*t. Why were you even entertaining him at this point if he was just going to continue to be sh*tty with you? "Just was making sure you hadn't forgotten about little ol' me!" He stood straight up and stared down at you. "Nope! I was just busy!" Two could play at this being short with each other bullsh*t. Were you being petty? Yes. Did you feel bad about it? Slightly. You left him to help a kid add stickers to a card for his mom and felt Sun's eyes on your back the entire time.
The rest of your shift was probably the most awkward experience of your life, and you were a pretty awkward person so that was saying a lot. You and Sun danced around each other, making sure to blatantly ignore the other, and only interacting if it was needed. You were organizing some craft supplies when your shift ended and you wondered briefly if you should say goodbye to Sun or not. You decided it'd probably be a good idea even if you were both pissed at each other. What if you died on the way home and never got to make up with him? Would you ever make up with him? You had only known him, what, two days? That wasn't exactly enough time to lay out a strong foundation to get through arguments. "Mr. Sun?" You started as gently as you could, "I'm leaving for today. I'll uh, see you tomorrow. Maybe things will have cooled off by then and we can uh, talk." You frowned and left without a goodbye from him, but saw what you thought to be regret on his face. Or maybe that was just your hopeful thinking.
You kept your head down all the way to the entrance and accidentally ran into someone. Oh! It was Sebastion! The nurse that took over your shift and had been rude your first day, "Oh! I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" You asked. "Sorry! When you're talking could you face me? I have a cochlear but it's more helpful for me to understand what you're saying if I can read your lips." He explained to you and your face flushed. Oh my god! This entire time you thought he was being rude to you but he actually just couldn't hear you? You made sure to face him fully, "Oh! I'm sorry! I was just apologizing for running into you. Are you alright?" You tried to think back on your crude understanding of sign language and signed, 'I'm sorry.' He laughed, "You really need to practice some more on that ASL, but don't worry about it! I don't really ever use it myself. But thank you, yes I'm alright. I'm Sebastian! Oh, and I'm sorry but I don't shake hands, I don't like to be touched if I can help it." He held his hands up and away from you. "Oh, no problem at all! I would hate to make you uncomfortable or anything!" You gave him your name and explained that you were the first shift nurse, "Have any good tips for me?" He was about to respond to you when the faz watch on his wrist vibrated, "Sorry, but I need to go take care of this. But give me your number and I can totally give you tips!" Excited to finally have someone who would willingly help you with your job, you typed your number into his phone. Maybe he could help you with the volume control on your watch since he had his set on vibrate. "I'll let you go! It was awesome getting to meet you! Talk to you later!" You said your goodbyes and left work that day actually feeling pretty alright.
