The gate opened with the QR code you were emailed. Neon graffiti and bright colors littered your view, the 80's themed music in the background as you slowly walked forward, taking in the sheer size of the place.

"Jesus fucking christ."

You're snapped out of scanning the entrance areas gift shops and gigantic stairwell when a segway-like robot suddenly appears in front of you, causing you to fall flat on your ass. Staring at you with it's unblinking eyes, it says in a monotone voice a little bit more professionally tuned than your roomba at home "Hi! Please take this map."

That.. wasn't a map. It was a baggy. Although orange with an electric blue lightning bolt on the front, it actually didn't look too cheap. It was fabric, pretty big too. Might consider taking it home with you to use occasionally if it's not, y'know, company property.

You hesitantly reached for the bag, and as soon as your hand had leverage on the two little straps, the bot took off elsewhere out of view.

Inside the bag, there was a map. There was also a Glamrock Freddy themed watch, and an employee badge.

Ah, so. You weren't meeting another human worker today, great.

Shuffling down your purple and dark blue bead bracelet, you snapped on the FazWatch, adjusting it, and turning it on. A message immediately popped up on the screen.

"Welcome, [Y/N] to the Freddy Fazbear Mega Pizzaplex! We hope you enjoy our complimentary FazBag, and please use the map to navigate your way to your designated work area. Have a great day!"

Mhm, taking the bag home. Got it.

Finally you made your way forward, scanning your badge at the gate, and moving through into the entrance area. It was massive. Gift shops on either side of you, a few food courts. It was so empty besides the occasional security bot or two, rolling around on their segway legs. The Pizzaplex doesn't open until 7am, and it's only a little past 4.

It seems the FazWatch automatically detects you in the building and clocks you in, so that's not to worry about.

Taking the map out of your new favorite bag, you study it for a solid minute or two. You noticed almost instantly the Daycare being up the stairs and to the right, down the massive hallway, but you got caught up in everything else.

It was massive. It had to have gone underground right? Or something. You still hadn't seen how much it extended backwards. Fuck you're going to have to tour this place when you get the chance.

With the music still playing in the background, you made your way past giant Glamrock Freddy statue, shiny and gold, reflecting off the shimmering neon lights as you walked to the right of it.

The stairs were grandeur, with fake palm trees lining the sides and escalators on the farthest ends, of course an elevator too in the middle.

Heading off to the right, you're tempting to go and explore some of the gift shops and food courts, but you're also a bit more interested in the animatronic you were about to meet.

The red double doors opened automatically, and you're greeted by a cute little SuperStar Daycare sign with a white background and rainbow stretching across the top, ending to the left with a gold star. The walls are brick and the floor has a pretty gray and purple looking geometrical pattern with stars here and there, although the colors are somewhat hard to make out with how dim it is. To your left there's some soda machines advertising FizzyFaz, presumably an energy drink. To the right are the bathrooms, and a bit past that is a mural of Sun, then Moon, although a lot more cartoonish and a little uncanny. To the left there's a little oasis type decoration area, palm trees yet again with lights strewn about. Before you know it, in front of you is a giant garage type door that you assume to be open during working hours.

Walking up to the card reader on the right of it, you scan your badge, and with some clanking and a motor running, the door opens. The first thing that catches your eye is the giant golden Sun statue. He's emoting with his hands in the air, looking towards the ceiling. His baggy pants and large hands that are actually reminiscent of the bot this time unlike the murals.

You saw basic parts of them in the blueprints, enough to paint a picture, but this was the first time you've actually seen what the bot may look like.

As you walked in, there was a cute little jingle playing in the background. It's oddly admirable. Cute.

To the left of the statue('s)? as you're now noticing another one behind Sun, there's some blue kid sized chairs and tables with two red sofas back to back. On the right is the long wooden desk stretching almost from one wall to the next, leaving only an itsie bitsie gate to move behind the counter. A TV screen above it advertises some candies.

Directly in front of you is a glass wall overlooking some play structures. The Daycare seems to be a bit below, and with the entrance to your left locked, you could easily just hop over. Surely you were allowed to, you work here now after all.

However.. That slide is literally telling you, "Slide into fun!" In big bold letters over a rainbow background.

Why not. You're pretty short as it is.

Before you know it, you're out of the winding slide and laying on your back in a ball pit.

The Daycare was fucking. massive.

"Holy shit."

Immediately, you hear a loud voice, however muffled, mutter "L-language!" from straight above you. You presume it's coming from the balcony, you presume it's coming from the Sun animatronic you've heard so much about.

The balcony is.. really high up. You wouldn't have heard it if you were still shuffling through the ball pit, but by now you had climbed up and were admiring the sheer scale of the place.

The balcony also has a castle tower-like cutout around the little bit of the entrance that's covered with curtains. There's also a metallic double ring of which the top of goes behind the cutout castle tower, and the lower half is occupied with a sun directly under the balcony, cute little clouds to match and everything. Looks like it rotates the sun behind the cutout, probably to reveal a moon? Look at you, so so smart.

Admiring the balcony and everything surrounding it, backing up a bit to get a better view, you accidentally walk into something, knocking it over, you check to see what it was, only being a few cutely designed circular paper boxes, but as you turn back, you see the animatronic peeking through the curtains. As soon as he notices you looking at him, he's gone.

Huh. So he definitely was not very comfortable around people. Adults, you correct yourself.

Would it be just his programming malfunctioning? You really should get hooked up to his head and rummage through it, but you kinda need him down here for that first.

"Hey, uh, Sun? Sundrop.. is it? Could you come down here please?"

It felt a little awkward, although he.. it was a robot. Damn you, already personifying it. But, from what you've seen already. It's.. scared?

You see it peeking out from the curtains, hesitantly awaiting your next few words cautiously.

"Sunny, I just wanna meet you, is that okay? I'm your new technician, or mechanic. Or coworker. I guess.. friend, if that's what you want as well. I'm gonna be here for a bit, I think it's best if we meet sooner rather than later, okay?"

He darts back into his room.

You sigh.

I guess it's not going to be that easy. But today is a work day afterall, and the daycare opens in.. checking your FazWatch, it's 5:14. The Daycare opens at 8am. Yeah. It's gonna be a bit.

You turn back around, noticing the other boxes stacked on top of each other around the very large and tempting looking jungle gyms, and stack the ones you knocked over accordingly.

You had no idea how the Daycare operates, so you suppose day one is going to be observing and learning. Reasonable.

You spend the next hour or so walking around the massive play area. Leaving out through the back doors, just to get a feel for the environment, then coming back in a little bit later. You swear you see a flash of orange, and your suspicions are confirmed when you notice the boxes you rearranged back up earlier are in a different order.

"Was my stacking not good enough? Darn, really thought I got it right." You jest. Making sure to turn the damn into a darn before it left your head and out your mouth.

The security desk is to your left, so you take a seat and admire the area yet again.

Two large jungle gyms, an enclosed bridge connecting them. Arts and crafts areas, comfy little beanbags in a few of the corners. A small little padded area with mats laid out. Cubbies that seem a little too high for kids to reach not too far away from you to the left. Only the walls looking down from the main area where you slid down the slide from are glass. The rest is cute blue walls with clouds on them here and there. You really wanna go down one of the slides in that jungle gym, but you'll save it for later.

Playing on your phone for the past few minutes, you briefly glimpse some yellow above it, peeking over the security desk. It's. A ray. You sit up a little bit, and almost fall out of the chair when Sun pops up dramatically, almost as scared as you were. Before you come back up from picking your phone off the (thankfully) padded floor, Sun is nowhere to be found.

It's 7am, announced by the intercom officially stating the Pizzaplex was open. Just one more hour and so would be the Daycare.

You spot a yellow-orange blur once more, He's.. cleaning. Although the playplace seems to be spotless, hes still squirming into the jungle gyms and wiping down every surface that's at least fifteen feet away from you. He doesn't seem to be paying much mind to you, prioritizing getting ready for the kids rather than his.. anxiety?

You sigh. You really hope by the end of today you can at least have a conversation with him.

Before you know it, the daycare is open. Just for good measure, you wrap your security badge around your neck using the provided lanyard that was also conveniently in your baggy.

It takes a bit for kids to start pouring in, after about thirty minutes, there's seven if you counted correctly. Sun is playing hide and seek with them, it's cute. He's crouching around in a low jog, wobbling left to right, occasionally shooting you a quick glance before pulling away even quicker. His voice is boisterous and loud. Expressive and playful. You would've put money on it after how he acted with just you here, he'd be just as skittish, but he was a ray of sunshine. Bouncing off the walls faster than the kids could compete. Cartwheels here and there, jumping into a twist and a flip. He's extremely acrobatic, and the kids yell in excitement every single time he does something obnoxious.

There are a couple dozen kids here now. Sun skips his way over to a specified area to the opposite end of the play area where the security desk was at.

"Now kids!" He shouts. "Pretty pretty pretty PRETTY please gather around! To start the day we must stretch away!"

The kids make their way over to him, apart from a few stragglers which he finds immediately and herds to the front of the room, suspiciously making his loss at finding a few kids in hide and seek earlier a little less believable.

You decide to hop up from the office chair you've been sitting in, and make your way to the front of the room as well. Leaning on the side of the play structure, a couple feet away from Sun, he looks at you for a bit longer. You give him a warm smile, but he turns back to the children and positions himself facing opposite to the ballpit, and towards the rest of the room.

"Now now, pretty pretty please, make some space! Make some space! We need to make sure not, NOT, to accidentally bump into our friends next to us when we do our morning stretches!" He emotes stretching his arms out, and the kids do the same, adjusting themselves if they're in arms reach of another kid, until they're all messily lined up, but far enough to stretch without touching eachother.

You didn't really notice it earlier, but, Sun is massive. Has to be at least eight feet tall. He moves so fluidly, you wouldn't expect him to tower over everyone that much.

"Now everyone, spinny spin spin your arms in a circly circle as I do!" Sun begins to rotate his arms and the kids follow, him counting down from fifteen, getting louder the closer he gets to 0 until he stops and claps. "Very very very VERY well done everyone! You all did sososo good!"

"Now, we're gonna try to touch our tippy toes, make sure to beeeennndddd your knees if you have to, okay?!" He reaches down to his toes expressively, like he's going in for a dive, before stopping his hands at the tippy top of the bells at the ends of his elf shoes and fiddling with them. He makes sure to go from having straight knees, to bending them noticeably, probably not to pressure the kids into straining themselves.

He does a few more exercises, ushering in kids that slide into the ballpit to join them midway through. Once he's all done, he announces that they get free time as a reward for doing oh so so so so well, and off the kids scatter like mice.

Sun stands there observing them for a second before turning to you. He doesn't look away, and you smile at him again before giving a shy wave. "..What? Should I join in next time?" you remark as he tilts his head slightly in response, his rays rotating separately. He still doesn't look away like you expect him to for a couple more seconds, but eventually jolts to jog away once he hears commotion in another direction.

Ah, a kid fell. You follow.

The floors are padded, but they're not completely super duper safe, in this rare case, this kid was an olympic athlete running super fast, until he skidded across the ground and carpet burned his knee on the mats.

You hurriedly rush to the security desk, grabbing the first aid kit you noticed when playing on your phone, and make your way over to the left of the play area corresponding to the desk. Looks like he was trying to do laps the poor boy. Usually Sun would've stopped him, but you entranced him for a bit.

Before you could pull out some band-aids, sun had already created one from behind the kids ear, soothing him, he puts the band-aid over his knee, places his finger on his mouth, and animates it twirling until it meets the kids now band-aided up knee, If that's a word. "Poof" He says, "Alllllllllll better, Elian!" making sure to drag out the L while wiping off the kids tears. The kid looks up at sun before hopping up and giggling away, seemingly towards the arts and crafts table while a few others dissipate out of the area where the commotion had occurred.

Sun stands back up from where he was bent down, you were closer to him than ever before, and he looks at you. You have to crane your head upward about 45 degrees just to meet his gaze, His mouth shifts, and his pupil-less eyes produce eyelids above them, just enough to express well enough a somber smile.

"..Hey, bud. You.. are you okay?" You ask.

You can barely notice his eyes looking down towards the first aid kit, and then back up to you. He reaches for you. You don't move.

He slows down before lightly gripping your sun earring for a few seconds, and then letting go to fidget with his hands and shrink his rays a tiny bit, backing away before disappearing behind the corner of the jungle gym.

You see him again at the arts and crafts table with some kids. You feel kinda awkward being in a room full of children playing in the biggest jungle gym known to mankind, but you walk on over anyways. Hopefully you're distinguishable from a child (you are, you're not that short).

Some kids are drawing rainbows, some mice. some a very very tall house, and you make sure to compliment them all. "Woah! I don't think I've ever drawn a house that big! You've got some talent huh?" You boist to the boy in the bright orange T-shirt. Sun is across the table drawing with them, only occasionally looking up to you while you're not looking at him.

"Yea!" The kid happily agrees, and you make sure to point out how pretty the clouds and sun are in the sky not covered by the skyscraper- uh, house. It is actually pretty neat, he has it three dimensional and everything.

"Hey sunny, you mind if I make something too?"

He looks up.

"I know I'm not a kid, but do you think that's okay? You're the boss here after all. I won't do anything without you letting me know you're okay with it, okay?"

He freezes for a second. "O-oh of..of of COURSE friend! Please! Go on right ahead! I'd love love love LOVE to see what you create!"

You grant him another warm smile, and he fidgets again.

It's been hmm.. you'd say 45 minutes, you're about done. It's gonna get messy and you'll have to go wash your hands here in a second.. although you would have to anyways even if you weren't about to cover your palm in paint.

You make sure to get clear of the kids, finding a table without anyone at it. You set your little art project down, and pick out a cute color of paint that's going to be layering your hand here in a second. You make sure to brush it evenly all across your palm and fingers. Very cold, very wet. Generous with the amount to make sure it's perfect, you're ready.

You press your hand into the circle, your fingertips about an inch away from the edge. Either your hands are small, or the circle you made is pretty big. Thick construction paper helps keep it from soaking through, and when you're satisfied with the pressure, you lift up, and take it to the security desk to dry while you head to the bathroom to clean up your mess.

Your hand is still a little stained when you get back, but it wont stain anything else so no biggie. Not that the paint is hard to clean off, you just didn't do a very good job.

Admiring your work, you tuck it carefully under some folders that are already there at the desk. You noticed Sun didn't really come anywhere near you, so you kinda do hope it is a surprise now that you're pretty sure he didn't see it.

That's where it sits until about 12pm. You're trying to reach a bit of a stopping point, where Sun isn't bouncing off the walls either playing with children or straight up just avoiding you, but it seems that time isn't coming anytime soon.

And suddenly, there's the Sun, hesitantly looking downwards at the other side of the security desk, but not at you.

"H-hey friend.. Y-you.. Oh I'm sososososo sorry but, could you please please please leave? You-you need to go.. please."

Oh.

"Sun, what? What do you mean? Why do.. Why do I have to go? Are you upset with me? If you are.." a pause. "I want to know why so I can hopefully fix it."

Silence.

"I can't leave, buddy. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, but I have to stay. It's my job, and besides, I'm very worried now."

His rays are almost fully retracted when he finally looks up to you.

"Please."

He's literally shaking now. It actually does send chills down your spine. What was he so worried about? Was he afraid of you? A panic attack? Can.. can machines get those? Fuck.. no, it's wrong to label him as a machine. He's.. definitely a bit more of a person than some other people you've met.

You check your watch, you have four more hours until you clock out. 11:59.

"I have just almost exactly four more hours until I clock out, okay buddy. I promise then I'll leave, but for now I wanna know what's upsetting yo-"

The lights shut off. The sun hanging at the bottom of the balcony, attached to it's spinning wheel begins to revolve along with the clouds. Out comes the moon, and it glows.

"Please. Leave."