Author's note: So, this is now part of a series (taking place after "Mars Contemplates the Satellite Phobos (and Deimos. To a Lesser Extent). I have a few ideas for some other stories, but no promises about the swiftness of their possible completion. For this work, you need to have watched at least to the episode "Moon RETURNS?! In VR Chat" of the Sun and Moon Show that premiered on October… I think it was the 21st?


Sun should have expected something like this to happen sooner, but, in his naivety, he had hoped that, for once, management would pay less attention to the overall state of affairs in the daycare. But that was how it always went: When Sun and Moon were suffering and barely able to function as a singular animatronic? No help from management, and only the barest attention and fixes which amounted to using duct tape to plug up a faulty dam when parental complaints hit a certain threshold.

When Sun and Moon split up and needed double the supplies—such as outfits or more charging power being allocated to the daycare to account for the fact that there were now two animatronics working there in need of charging or changes of clothes to prevent biohazardous incidents when a kid inevitably threw up (or worse) on them? Again, no response until candy sales dropped for a week since the kids weren't begging their parents for treats due to having searched for and gobbled up all of Sun's hidden stashes of sundrop candies after his battery died midafternoon one day when Moon was too busy trying to decontaminate their clothing to ensure no one else caught the nasty stomach bug that led to the clothes becoming contaminated in the first place and, thus, wasn't around to give his brother the break he needed to take his turn on the charger.

When Sun and Moon were literally taken over by completely different people? And there was suddenly a third, incredibly bloodthirsty and violent animatronic running around on top of that? The two who had taken over pretty much balanced each other out to the extent that the level of parental complaints stayed more or less static, even though the animatronic they were complaining about was flipped from the usual one. So management didn't care. And apparently the only really noticeable effect the Blood Moon had on the place was a reduction in the rat population, and one would have to be crazy to complain about that, so no one did. …Or possibly there had been people who wanted to complain, if only about all the screaming, squeaking, and scrabbling noises resulting from the "hunts," but Blood Moon got the them first before they could. Either way, the result was that, once again, management did absolutely nothing.

But when Sun actually wanted management to stay away so that Moon could recover from his trauma and try and find his new equilibrium in peace while taking things at his own pace? Oh, management caught wind of that pretty quickly and demanded that Moon get back to work and stop being so "lazy," because "they couldn't afford to keep restocking his moondrops all the time" when he decided to pretty much exclusively use those to try and get the kids to take a nap, rather than any of his other tricks. Never mind the fact that it showed that management still wasn't even bothering to pay attention to what was going on, or else they would have realized that it was Sun burning through all the moondrops rather than Moon, since—thanks to management not doing anything about the Eclipse and Lunar situation back in October—Moon was physically incapable of doing his job some days, and Sun had to try his best to cover for him.

It wasn't that Sun minded doing that—not at all! He wanted Moon to be able to recover in peace, and to have the chance to think about his own needs for once in his life. It was just… well… he wasn't really good at a lot of the activities where a calmer presence was required. And while it wouldn't have necessarily have been a bad thing if naptime became a little bit of a misnomer in that no one was actually sleeping for it… when Sun was alone he kind of depended on that time where the kids were asleep and didn't need quite as much supervision to be able to do the daycare's other necessary tasks—like cleaning up, getting in a quick charge, monitoring security, or checking up on Moon. It was to the point where Sun really wondered how they'd managed to keep the daycare open and functional during the time he and Moon had been stuck together, since he was certainly finding it a near impossible task to do it alone now!

Then again, he supposed that even back then, he hadn't ever truly been alone.

In any case, this presented Sun with a conundrum: even on the days where Moon was able to perform some of his duties, he still wasn't well enough to do everything. Especially not things which required excessive movement. But Moon still needed to be visibly seen doing things in the daycare, if only until some of the heat died down. Or at least… someone who looked like Moon needed to be visibly seen in the daycare. Hence Sun's current situation of having to work alongside Lunar during opening hours for the day, both so that Sun had help in keeping things running smoothly and so management remained none the wiser about the fact that Moon still wasn't technically doing his job. Because despite the fact that Lunar physically could no longer stop glowing and wasn't even bothering to change his voice or general personality to more match Moon's, management apparently couldn't tell the difference. Or they just didn't care as long as their bottom line wasn't affected.

…Most likely it was that last one.

In all fairness, it hadn't gone too badly. Lunar had, technically speaking, run the daycare before—both when Eclipse was still actively around and even with Sun during that one week when Sun was unaware he'd stolen Moon's body. No, Lunar had done a textbook perfect job-even accounting for how confused and wary the kids were about what Lunar's presence signified (because, they, at least, actually paid attention and knew that neither Sun nor Moon had been around in October, despite how good at acting Eclipse and Lunar were, and so were worried that Lunar being in control meant that Eclipse might come back. Or that Moon—who was just as adored in the daycare as Sun, even if he would never believe you if you told him so—had finally succumbed to the "illness" that had been plaguing him recently and was going away forever.)

No, Sun's issues with Lunar had nothing to do with his work ethic, or the way he ran the daycare. Instead, it had everything to do with how confused and conflicted he felt about the animatronic himself. Sure, he had cooled down significantly when it came to Lunar's actions while working for Eclipse. He understood completely wanting to do things that made your brother happy, and getting to see Lunar actually act like himself amidst the daycare kids for an extended period of time, rather than trying to mimic Moon, really did hit it home how young of an AI Lunar was… as well as how much he'd grown and changed after being in full, pretty much 24/7 contact with basically only Eclipse, Monty, and the kids for a month. And while it was clear that a lot of that growth had brought Lunar a better degree of maturity and sense of self and autonomy… much of that "maturity" was really just defensive and coping mechanisms and came at the price of literally being beaten into him.

And the part of Sun that loved the kids, loved seeing them grow and wanted nothing more than to protect them… it ached at the realization of what Lunar lost, during that month. Of how much he'd had to hide, and how there wasn't anyone who could help defend him from Eclipse. Sure, there'd been Monty, technically, but there had also been an unspoken wall between them as well, since Lunar knew that even though Monty did seem to care about him, at least in terms of safety, and had never been outfight cruel to him… most of his actions were motivated by the desire to help Moon and Sun, rather than Lunar, specifically.

So, yeah—Sun was no longer all that mad at him for the Eclipse situation, and what Lunar did to him. No, what was causing more of Sun's issues was his feelings over what Lunar did to Moon—was technically still doing to Moon, even right at this moment. And even more than that was the way Moon was responding to the whole situation physically, with still suffering under the issues of phantom pains and lingering mental trauma and panic attacks, was the way he was responding emotionally—in that he basically wasn't. Yes, there was the lingering trauma of having been bodiless again, and of essentially being tortured for a month. But as far as Lunar's role in that was concerned? Moon pretty much just brushed it off. Like it didn't even matter. Or maybe even like he didn't get why it would matter.

After receiving a single apology, Moon had jumped into the idea of accepting Lunar as his brother with open arms like it was nothing, completely ignoring the fact that Lunar had admitted to deliberately causing some of his pain during October and he just seemed weirdly nonchalant about the whole thing. And Sun couldn't tell if that was just because Moon was too tired, wary, and worried about the physical pain he still felt, or the fact that not having a good working relationship with Lunar would just make things worse for him since they still shared a body, or if it was just that he really didn't care about the situation—and if that was the case, then Sun just couldn't understand why. And since he didn't know, it made Sun feel like he needed to pull double duty on holding onto some of that lingering anger and wariness about Lunar. For both his and Moon's sakes.

Of course, this sense of paranoia wasn't helped by the fact that something about Lunar had felt off to Sun all day. It wasn't just the fact that he was the one around and working—since, again Sun had already gotten a taste of that and was, in general, more used to seeing Lunar in willingly-given control as Moon tried to get a better handle on spending time in the mindscape in preparation for the extended talk the three of them still had to have. No, it was something deeper than that. Something that felt tied to that sense of maturity Sun had noticed, the one that had all but been forced on Lunar by Eclipse's machinations, and his own personal growth. Something that only seemed to come more into focus when he saw Lunar stand still…

And that's when it clicked for Sun—Lunar, for much of the day, had actually been standing still when not in the midst of an activity, despite the fact that every other time he'd seen Lunar in control before, he'd been a flurry of constant motion. Well. Except for one notable time, Sun supposed, but that one time was enough to send Sun into a nervous tizzy, counting down the minutes on the clock before the last kid left the daycare and he could demand some answers from Lunar—or even force him to switch back out with Moon, even if it meant Sun would then have to do all the cleaning up by himself. Because the only other time he'd seen Lunar this still was when Moon was panicking, caught in a flashback and thinking he was trapped in the mindscape, and Lunar was trying his best to make Moon relax and feel safe since he would equate Lunar's motionlessness with a cessation of the possibility of pain.

So, the very first thing Sun did when the daycare's doors closed on the heels of the last kid—before they had even fully closed, at that—was to whip around to face Lunar and frantically demand, "Is Moon okay right now?!"

Lunar actually seemed a little stunned by the question, his arm still frozen from where he'd been giving a wave—though a wave that was far more conservative than it should have been, coming from him—to the kids as they left with their parents for the evening.

"I mean… yeah…?" he finally answered, confused about what had Sun so frantic. "He's just been in there making more modules for your programming lessons later tonight. It's kind of boring, really. I'm glad I don't have to be out for that." Lunar actually perked up a bit, bouncing lightly on his toes—but, again, not nearly as much as was customary—as he started chattering about his own evening plans, since Sun actually seemed interested in what he had to say—which was a very rare occurrence. "Moon downloaded a new game for me last night! It's called West of Loathing. I don't really know what it's about, but Moon said he thought I'd enjoy the humor, and there's this DLC with spooky ghosts, and…"

Lunar continued to talk about the game—and for one who claimed not to know too much about it, he sure was still able to find a lot to say. But Sun was only half paying attention, working through other possibilities to find out why Lunar was moving in a way so out of character for him. If it wasn't anything to do, then maybe…

"What are your charging levels right now? Are your batteries okay?" Sun asked, accidentally cutting Lunar off in the middle of a tangent about… spittoons? For some reason?

Again, Lunar seemed very quizzical and confused by the line of questioning. But it seemed like a very reasonable inquiry for Sun—as much as Lunar had been out more recently, it had only been to do low-key things, like playing games or attempting to play the drums or make glowing plushies. …Or double checking for the third time that they had managed to separate all of Eclipse's disguised Tasers from the normal barrels and disarmed them before a kid accidentally got hurt. While Lunar obviously knew how to charge, he'd never been the one responsible for "topping up," as it were, since Moon retained primary control outside of one notable incident when one of their friends finally deigned to come visit them after October.

(And, yes, Sun did understand that a lot of them had their own things going on, and many of them had also needed to take trips to various Parts and Services departments due to injuries. And, yes, Monty had actually warned everyone to stay cautious around the two of them after Roxanne and Freddy's apparently disastrous wedding, but Sun was still very bitter about the fact that no one outside of Monty had even tried to help them. Not even in those early days, when they knew Eclipse was up to no good. And they apparently hadn't even known Lunar existed at all until that visit way after the fact!)

It wouldn't be too unreasonable to think that maybe Lunar had forgotten to charge earlier, or had maybe misjudged how much power he would need to last a full day—especially with how inconsistent Moon could sometimes be about how much he let their batteries run down. Except…

"I'm at, like, 80%," Lunar said, disproving that theory.

So if it wasn't Moon, and it wasn't the battery… then what was it? What was causing Lunar to act so strange?

"Are you… feeling okay, today? Lunar?" Sun asked in a last-ditch effort to figure out what was wrong.

"I mean… I was," Lunar replied slowly, honestly starting to feel a bit disturbed himself, "but then you started asking all these questions, and now I'm kind of weirded out. You're acting strange. I don't like it."

"I'm acting strange?" Sun demanded, offended. "No, you're acting strange!" He started pacing in front of Lunar, trying to get out some of his pent-up frustration and nervousness. "Normally you're all… all energetic, and running around between different activities with your short attention span and—and just—" Sun turned to his fallback of random noises and handwaving, so unsure was he of how, exactly, to get his point across.

Lunar, for his part, just raised his arms in a calming gesture. "Okay, number one," he said, "that was kind of hurtful. Even if it is true. And number two, I really, really don't know what you're so upset about. Was I not doing enough with the kids today? Is that it? I thought I was doing okay…"

"No, it's—you were fine with the kids. Great, with them, even!" Sun stopped his pacing, immediately turning to reassure Lunar—because, again, just because the animatronic confused him didn't mean he wanted to be cruel to him, and Lunar honestly needed all the self esteem that he could get. "Especially at naptime! You really managed to strike the perfect balance of being warm and kind of comforting like you usually are while somehow managing to be still and fluid with your movements like Moon is so that the kids didn't get too distracted to—that's what it is!" he suddenly shouted, startling Lunar as the realization clicked into place.

"That's why your movements seemed so weird!" Sun continued, unaware that Lunar—was now even more confused than before. "It's because you were acting more like Moon. I mean—not exactly like him, and you were still moving a bit more than he tends to, but—but, wait, if you were trying to act more like Moon today, then why didn't you at least change you voice to match?"

"I mean… I wasn't really trying to act like Moon?" Lunar said. "Like—you said it yourself, I was being more… comforting, and stuff. And I know—Moon isn't bad. And I know he likes kids even though he denies it. But he still isn't really all that great at, like, actually showing that, a lot of the time."

"But—but you—" now it was Sun's turn to be confused. "But if you weren't trying to be more like Moon, and nothing is wrong with Moon, or with your batteries, or with you… then why aren't you moving around as much as you used to?"

"That's… oh. Huh," Lunar actually brought an arm back up to study it, flexing his hand a bit as he did so. "I didn't really notice that. But I guess… um, maybe it's just because I got used to trying so hard not to move, so that I wouldn't hurt Moon as much, that now I just kind of… don't really think about it and just do it? Or—or, I guess, don't do it?"

"Oh," Sun said, taking that explanation in. "I… I guess that makes sense?"

"Yeah," Lunar agreed, after a moment of awkward silence. "I dunno if it's permanent, though. I mean. I kind of hope not? It seems like it is for Moon, but—"

"Wait, what—?"

"—he also did it for a lot longer, so maybe it's just that it's going to take longer? And that's not even counting how my stuff might have messed that up even more, so—?"

"Wait, wait—no. Stop," Sun cut in more forcefully, actually going so far as to give Lunar a quick—but supremely gentle!—jostle to gain his attention. "Go back for a minute—what do you mean 'it seems like its permanent for Moon?' Moon's never… I mean, this current… situation… messing with some things aside, he's never been as free with his movements as you are. So—"

"Yeah, exactly," Lunar agreed. "He always had to worry about you, so he never really moved much. And I mean… I guess I don't really know if he wanted to, but…" his shoulders sagged, guilt creeping into his voice as he continued, "I mean I guess it doesn't really matter now either way, since even if he did want to, I kind of made it so he… can't. Or at least not until he figures out that painkiller thing you were talking about."


The conversation stuck with Sun for the rest of the day. When Moon came back out, and had to sit down curled in on himself for a bit, completely still and unmoving as he tried his best to wait out the migraine that was the side-effect of switching back out with Lunar. As he took his usual, shuffling steps when he made his way between the play structures, helping Sun look for any lost toys. The way he held himself while talking, using his hands and arms only to make deliberate gestures, rather than gesticulating more wildly, or just being overall fidgety, the way Sun did when it was his turn to talk. How he made very sure to survey his surroundings and plan which items he needed to bring with him to each activity, minimizing the amount of weight he would have to carry per trip, as well as how he could get away with taking the fewest number of trips.

And it all came to a head that evening, when Sun glanced over to where Moon was sitting next to him at the computer bay by the security desk while they worked on coding—Sun on the practice module Moon made him, Moon on… honestly, Sun wasn't sure what—and he saw the way Moon held himself so still even as his fingers flew over the keyboard. It wasn't the same stillness as that night he accidentally overheated himself, true, and there was a definite droop to his shoulders that showed he was relaxed… but still. Sun only knew it signified relaxation because he was used to Moon's body language. To anyone else, it would have looked stiff, like Moon was holding himself back for some reason. Tight as a bowstring.

And for the first time… Sun wondered if that was his fault.

"You know, you don't have to ask my permission to take a break," came Moon's voice, startling Sun out of his thoughts.

"I—wha…? Huh?" Sun spluttered, turning more towards Moon. His brother tilted his head at him, looking down where Sun had apparently been depressing the spacebar for the past few minutes before turning his eyes toward Sun again.

"If you're that distracted or bored or… whatever, you can just take a break. You're a grown bot—you don't need 'teacher's' permission to do things."

"Why don't you move more?" Sun suddenly blurted out, before burying his head in his hands at the embarrassment of not only having been caught staring, but also being so distracted that he didn't even try to think of a gentler—or at least more coherent—way to segue into discussing the topic that had been on his mind for hours now.

There was a pause, before Moon bluntly told Sun, "I have no idea what you're talking about, Brother."

"Sorry, sorry I…" Sun pulled his hands through his rays a bit, a nervous habit he'd developed, and then tried again. "So—I noticed something… different about Lunar today while he was working with me, and it got me thinking about—about some things."

"Uh huh… Okay… what was different about Lunar?"

"He doesn't… move as much as he used to? And… he told me that he thought it was basically a new habit of his? From when he was trying to not hurt you as much?"

"Yeah, and…?" Moon prompted, completely glossing over that mention of the agony he had endured in October, "It makes a lot of sense that would have happened, and would still be effecting him like that. Habits are hard to break once they've formed."

Sun gave a bout of nervous laughter. "Ah… Ah ha ha… Yeah, that's… that's the other thing Lunar said."

"…Go on," Moon prompted, despite the sudden ominous feeling beginning to envelop him.

"See, he said… he said that he thought that's why you don't move very much," Sun confessed. "Because you were always worrying about me, back when we were together, and…"

He trailed off, giving Moon the chance to interject… but Moon stayed silent.

"And… and, see, the thing is…" Sun began, unwilling to let the silence draw on, "I remember… you always said that part of why you wanted a body was so that you could do things, and I guess… I guess I never stopped to wonder how literal that was? Like… if it was just, like—like you just wanted to be able to do your coding or science stuff whenever you wanted to, instead of having to wait until the lights went out… or," he paused, again hoping Moon would interject, would tell him how silly he was being… but when Moon stayed silent, he had no choice but to press on, "or if it was more… literal. As in… as in you actually wanted to 'do things' as in… to just be able to move around more… spontaneously, or something."

Moon, again, stayed silent.

"…Do you want to move more?" Sun asked directly, timidly—dreading the answer. "I mean—ignoring the stuff right now. But, like… if October never happened. If—if Eclipse never came into the picture. Is that something that—"

"It's… it's not a matter of wanting," Moon finally said, his voice cutting through Sun's ramblings like a knife despite how quiet and hesitant it was.

"Then… what is it?" Sun wondered. "Why don't you move more?"

Sun could tell that, if he were able, Moon would be grimacing. But he did answer—in a fashion—after a moment's pause. "It's not exactly… nice, Sun," Moon warned his brother.

"I still want to know."

At Sun's insistence, Moon gave a resigned sigh. He pushed back from the desk a bit, spinning his chair to face Sun. "So," he began, after taking a moment to gather his thoughts, "You know my Whacking Stick?"

"That thing you used to threaten to hit me with every other day? The thing you used to carry around with you constantly until the parents voiced concerns about the possibility one of the kids would steal it and start beating me up like a piñata to force me to give them more sundrop candies—with the concerns not being over the inherent violence of such an act, mind you, but more over worries that, if they actually succeeded in doing that, their kids would either be in the middle of a sugar rush the next time they came to pick them up, or they would start racking up massive dental bills when the candy ruined their teeth?" Sun asked in a dry deadpan. "No, I have no idea what you are referring to, Brother."

Moon just shook his head at his brother's dramatics, giving a slight chuckle at the brief attempt at levity, before growing somber again and continuing, "Well, the 'Whacking' part of it was pretty much just a… cover story."

"A what now?"

"I mean, don't get me wrong—being able to whack people with it whenever I wanted to was a nice side benefit, but the name itself is… it's actually a slight mispronunciation. Rather than a 'Whacking' Stick… it's actually supposed to be a 'Walking' Stick," Moon admitted, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

Sun felt a numbness creep up his spine. "I don't… understand…"

"It's like… you know that off-balanced feeling after you've had a bunch of kids climbing on you as you ferry them to different activities?" Moon waited for Sun to nod—even though he could tell his brother wanted to shake his head in denial—before continuing, "Well. Imagine that feeling… except you've gone your entire life with a kid or two—or more—hanging off each of your limbs. Or—no, more than just your limbs. Like they were weighing down every fiber of your very being. And rather than just being passive, if slightly squirmy, passengers, they were intentionally filling their pockets with rocks to add more weight and doing their best to actively hinder your every movement."

That numb feeling in Sun's spine blossomed into full-blown, open horror, and he, for once, was speechless. Moon noticed his brother's distress, his faceplate twitching in the robotic equivalent of a wince, and he turned his chair slightly away so that he wouldn't have to keep looking at Sun and making his explanation any harder to continue than it already was.

"In the beginning, right after we split, I had a hard time gauging the amount of effort and force I needed to make even the slightest movements—let alone what I needed for the big stuff like walking. And that wasn't really helped by the fact that this body does legitimately require different amounts of force since it is slightly lighter than our original one—the one you're still in—since this one doesn't have your rays or my old knife arm installed. I spent… a lot of time feeling off-balanced and clumsy. Even dizzy, sometimes. …Kind of like now, actually, except without the phantom—"

"—And the stick helped with that?" Sun cut him off, knowing it was rude, but being unable to bear hearing about how much his brother had been struggling, all without his knowledge, and, therefore, without there being much of anything to help mitigate it beyond a simple stick.

"…Yeah."

"Why… why didn't you tell me?"

Moon shrugged. "I was… embarrassed? I guess? And angry, and…" Moon trailed off, sighing.

The embarrassment Sun could understand—the two of them liked to pick and tease at each other, and never passed up the chance for it. Unless it was something really serious, or which they could tell would cross an emotional line (Assuming they could even see the line, and weren't trying to hide it like Moon apparently had been doing with… a lot of things, Sun was finding out nowadays). But the anger? The reasons for that were less clear.

So, Sun asked, "You were angry? Why?" He tried to keep his voice steady to hide how wounded and heartbroken he felt about the entire situation—Moon had warned him, after all, and yet he still asked for this.

But that knowledge didn't do much to stop the obvious guilt from seeping into Moon's voice as he obliged his brother's curiosity. "I just… It was like even though I was free, I still wasn't really free," Moon explained. "It was like you were still controlling me, in a way. Especially because—" he cut himself off, obviously reluctant to reveal more. But then Sun reached out a hand and placed it on Moon's knee, giving it a gentle squeeze to encourage Moon onwards—even though he knew the probability was high that he was not going to like the next words that came from Moon's mouth.

Still, even with the encouragement it took Moon a few moments to gather his thoughts. "…I get where Lunar is coming from, you know? When he said that keeping still had started to become a habit," he finally, softly, continued. "Because… a big part of why I got so angry was that I kept forgetting we weren't really connected anymore. That my having so much trouble with basic movements had nothing to do with you trying to fight for control, and my successes weren't affecting you in any way. But I still found myself holding back, sometimes—often to the point of self-sabotage, even. And it wasn't… it just wasn't fair."

That last word was spat out with a venom that actually startled Sun with its intensity to the point he flinched back in his chair a little. Moon, unfortunately, noticed this, and slumped back in his own seat, utterly drained.

"…But that just made me even more mad at myself," he finally continued, "because what right did I have to complain? It's not like I was actually being harmed by any of that. Not like you'd been. Even when I was clumsy, and almost falling over, I had the stick to help me stabilize. It was annoying, yes, and I hated it—and I hated being stuck together, but… I hated hurting you even more. I never wanted to, nor liked hurting you, even before we started trying to cooperate, so why… what right did I have to—"

"—Moon," Sun cut in, pulling him out of his spiral. He went so far as to grab Moon's faceplate, forcing his brother to maintain eye contact to ensure that his next words were heard—and, with any hope, internalized and understood. "Brother. It's okay to feel things. It's okay that you were angry, no matter what exactly your reasoning was. It's okay to feel like things were unfair to you. Because they were unfair! To both of us! Just because you weren't 'physically' hurting the way I was—Oh, and, by the way, dizziness like you were describing is very much not okay even if it isn't exactly 'painful.' But… anyways, physical pain or no, that doesn't mean you weren't hurting emotionally. Your bad experiences are just as valid as mine were and are. Understood?"

Sun waited for Moon to nod—as small and reluctant a nod it ended up being, indicating that Moon was just going along with what Sun said to placate him, rather than because his brother had actually succeeded in getting through to him. But it was a start, at least, and he gave Moon's knee another gentle squeeze as both reward and reassurance. He also gave his brother a few moments to digest and contemplate things before prompting him, "So, when did you stop needing the Whacking—Walking?—Stick so much? Because, I mean… you kept it pretty close to you for quite a while before deciding it could just be a conversation piece decorating your room."

"As far as for its original purpose goes?" Moon clarified.

"Yeah."

"Um. Well," Moon seemed reluctant to answer, and Sun got a sinking feeling that he wouldn't like what his brother had to say. That theory was only confirmed when Moon finally admitted, "You know how you talked about us holding hands during that Deltarune episode? And how you kind of implied to the fans that it was for your own benefit? Well, it was really… the other way around. Mostly."

A beat of stunned silence. Then, "Brother. Brother, that was almost an entire year after we split!" Sun burst out.

"I mean—to be fair, by that point I was mostly fine and was just using you as a crutch for my worst days," Moon said in a rush, trying to reassure his brother and downplay the situation.

But Sun wasn't having it. "Still! An entire year! And—" Sun's mental math caught up to him and brought him to another crushing realization, "—And we recorded the Deltarune episode months after Management told you to lay off the stick when kids were nearby! And you did, even though you still needed it to help with—with basic functionality for moving around? Without even really complaining all that much?!"

Moon had no response, other than to look away, shamefaced.

When it became clear to Sun that Moon wasn't going to give him a real answer, Sun resorted to pleading with his brother, giving a tiny, anguished, "…Why…?"

That did it for Moon. He gave a quick glance at Sun, but found he still couldn't bear to look at the sadness and disappointment in his brother's face—still easily visible despite the ever-present smile both brothers were forced to wear—and quickly looked away again before confessing, "…July 16th."

Sun flinched. Despite now knowing what happened that day, and who was really to blame, that date still sent a pang of pain through his processors whenever it came up in conversation. In fact, knowing what happened almost made things worse, considering how tenuous the whole Blood Moon situation still was, even though they'd found a way to keep him placated. …Mostly. Still, along with the usual pain, this instance of hearing the date also brought about feelings of confusion, as it seemed to be a non-sequitur.

"What?" He asked. "I don't understand…?"

"It—okay," Moon gave a little huff, trying to get his thoughts in order so he could explain his internal logic in a way Sun could make sense of. "So, you know how I wasn't exactly… around for that 'incident' until after Blood Moon did that whole… thing?"

"Yeah," Sun nodded, following along so far. "You'd stepped out because—I remember, you said it was because you were having a little trouble with the new body, and wanted a little alone time to help get used to—Oh," it suddenly clicked for Sun, and he sat up a bit straighter. "You went out to get some practice with, like, walking and stuff, didn't you?"

Moon nodded, though he still kept his gaze averted from Sun. "Yeah," he confirmed, "I figured I could do something like that every couple of days to try and, you know, speed the process along without anyone getting suspicious. And, I mean… I kind of did eventually do that with the whole dimension-hopping thing, once I figured out how to open portals. But… as far as back then? I just… I mean you clearly needed more support than I did, at the time, and it just seemed… easier? I guess? To just play up the 'side benefits' aspect of the Whacking Stick and then pass off any moments of clumsiness and, like, all those times I knocked over your barrel towers as being deliberate attempts to antagonize you rather than the accidents they actually were.

"And I mean… it was nothing you weren't already used to from when we were still stuck together, and I figured it would be a good distraction from the whole… thing, and… well, based on this current conversation, it seems like it worked?"

There was no response from Sun. At first, Moon thought it was just because his brother needed time to digest the revelations he'd just dumped on. But, eventually, the awkward and, frankly, miserable, silence got to be too much for him. He finally looked back towards his brother… only to see Sun staring kind of vacantly off into the middle distance.

"…Sun?" Moon asked, hesitantly reaching out a hand. But to Moon's alarm, right before he made contact Sun just… slumped. Face buried in his hands, and shoulders shaking.

Moon jolted forward a bit. "Sun?!" he called, his voice taking on something of a frantic tone. "Hey, B-brother? I—I didn't mean to—!"

But Sun cut off his babbling and attempts at apology, silently raising up a single finger in that universal "give me a moment" gesture. So, Moon settled back in his chair, his arm lowering and his hands coming to clasp in his lap, silently waiting until Sun was ready. The two of them spent a while like that, thoughts and emotions churning uncomfortably in their minds, until the silence was broken by Sun's shuddering exhale. Moon flinched at the noise, watching apprehensively as Sun took a few shaky, broken-sounding simulated breaths as he dragged his hands down his face before using them to press down on his knees and lever himself back up to sitting straight.

Moon stayed silent as his brother studied him, the slight twitching of his rays indicating that he was still deep in thought. Then, slowly—like he was wary of startling him—Sun reached out his hands toward his brother. One went to clasp Moon's hands, and the other went to lightly cup Moon's faceplate. That hand gave Moon's cheeks a few gentle brushes with his thumb, ensuring he held Moon's attention while trying to offer comfort and apology for the uncomfortable conversation to come. Only then did Sun speak.

"I know… I know you don't like to tell me upsetting things," Sun said. "I know that, for all you like to antagonize and tease me… you only do it to—to try and downplay the big stuff, the actually upsetting stuff… so that you don't end up hurting me. But… Brother," his thumb on Moon's cheek stilled and the hand holding Moon's gave them a squeeze. "I don't think you realize just how much it hurts me when I see how much you're struggling, and find out just how much of your own hurt you try and hide from me."

"I—"

"No," Sun cut his brother off, moving the hand that was cupping Moon's faceplate so it covered his mouth. Despite that not technically being the place Moon's voice issued from, the gesture itself was indicative enough that Sun wasn't going to tolerate any sort of interruptions until he'd said his piece—especially when those interruptions were likely going to take the form of yet another apology or attempt at brushing off his issues as being less important than Sun's. "Just let me talk for now, okay?" Sun asked, voice so, so gentle, like the one he used to soothe upset kids in the daycare. He waited for Moon to give a nod of agreement, and then moved his hand from his mouth to join the other in clasping Moon's, still joined in his brother's lap.

"We didn't really get a chance to address that whole 'I was a cancer' statement you made, right before October," Sun began, giving Moon's hands another comforting squeeze when he felt his brother flinch at the reminder of that horrible time, and the painful things he'd thought and said before running off. "We didn't really have the time for it, or the opportunity, but… now we do. So… we're going to talk to about it.

"I need you to know—I never thought of you like that," Sun said, his voice sounding fierce in a way Moon had never heard from him before. "You were never anything less than a brother to me. Even—even when it was more of an 'in name only' kind of thing, during the worst of our fighting, or… or when the situation and feelings involved in that whole relationship were as complicated as what's between us—well, I guess, more between me—and Lunar right now… I never hated you. The situation itself? Yes! A thousand times! But you? Never. Never ever."

Sun had to take a moment to loosen his grip on his brother's hands, so tightly was he squeezing them in his desperation to make Moon understand and value himself. It was to the point where he worried about accidentally damaging them, so he switched to rubbing small, comforting circles on their backs as he continued, "I'm sorry—so, so sorry—for my part in all that. For… for making you feel like I blamed you, or like you deserved to be punished for things outside of either of our control. And for making you carry so much of the burden—too much of the burden—that comes with keeping us safe. It—you know, I liked being able to just… let you take control on that front, since you always just seemed so… so smart and competent! Way much more than I ever felt! And it always made me feel so safe, and… and so loved, knowing that you were there, and that you had a safety net ready to unfurl for every situation. You've always been a good brother. But… I haven't been.

"And, yeah—" Sun shook his head, rushing to continue his thoughts before Moon tried to break in with any denials or his own attempts at comforting his brother—because as much as Sun might have wanted them, the fact that Moon was so ready to rush in when he was the one currently in dire need of support and comfort was kind of the entire reason Sun needed to have this conversation with him in the first place. "—some of that was because you were deliberately hiding things from me. I'm not trying to absolve you of that mistake, or the fact that you really do need to work on your abysmal communication habits. But my point, is that I'm just as bad.

"Yes. I was going through a lot after July 16th, and then that whole entire… deal with Eclipse and the… running from the government and the… Roxanne… things," Sun paused to give a shudder at the memories. "But you were too," he quickly rallied. "And I have no excuse for not noticing that—or at least for not thinking things through enough to realize that you had to have been struggling, just like I was. I should have put my foot down ages ago and insisted we actually talked about things when you kept insisting that I 'didn't need to worry about it.' Even if it got uncomfortable, even if it ended up dissolving into a shouting match… like I already told you, just now, your bad experiences and mine are equally valid. And that means it's okay to let me share some of the burden. In fact, it's not fair to me if you don't!

"You said you didn't feel like you were a brother to me, before? Well, that's probably because part of being brothers—real brothers—means letting your brothers be brothers back. And that is just as much on me as it is on you. Not realizing what you've been going through, and not telling you sooner how important this is to me—how important you are to me—sooner? That's a major failure on my part."

Sun could feel Moon's hands trembling with some repressed emotion where they lay in his own, his fingers having ceased their ministrations at some unknown point during his impassioned speech. He squeezed them again—making sure to be gentler, this time—until he felt them go still and calm once more. Then, "…I'm trying to work on that, now," Sun said, quietly. "I know I'm not perfect at it… I know I can't always tell what you need, and I don't always get it right, but… I want to be better. So… so I need you to let me, okay? And to, like, actually tell me when you're struggling—before it gets to a point like now, where everything is just this… this total mess."

There was a brief pause, and Moon almost said something, but then Sun cut back in, deliberately taking on a lighter tone of voice, with, "You know how I feel about messes."

Moon couldn't help but give a snort—an inelegant, choked, and teary one, but a snort nonetheless—at that bit of humor. But it was just such a Sun thing to say, and Moon hadn't realized how much he'd needed that—how much he'd just needed that reminder that his brother was his brother and could always bounce himself back from the toughest of situations, even without Moon having to egg him on—until that moment. Moon felt some of the tension lift from his shoulders, tension he hadn't been consciously aware of until Sun pointed it out, and sighed the exhausted sigh of one who knew they'd done a hard day's work and were ready for a well-deserved rest.

"…Okay," Moon promised, his voice weary—yet still lighter than Sun had heard from it in a long time. "I…I'll try to be better at that, too."

Sun gave a sigh of his own. "That's all I can ask."

"…I love you, Sun."

"Love you, too, Moon."

The two brothers sat like that for a bit, drinking in the shared warmth and comfort, before Sun cleared his nonexistent throat. He dropped Moon's hands, bringing his own back up before clapping them together. "So! That being said," he began, his voice extra cheery as he tried to shift topics, "is there anything you feel up to sharing right now? Any burdensome secrets you want to get off you're your chest, or struggles you're currently facing that you need help with?" he asked. "Even if it isn't something we can fix immediately, I'd still like to know!"

"Heh," Moon chuckled at his brother's antics. Then he gave it a moment of serious thought. "I guess… as far as the whole 'movement' thing goes," he finally decided on, bringing things full circle back to the inciting question that started it all, "I don't really… know if I would 'prefer' moving more… spontaneously, as you said? Like… I guess it was kind of interesting to have to imitate the kind of motions Lunar would typically make back when I was tricking Eclipse at the end, there. But it was also… weird? Probably because I didn't really have a 'choice' in the matter—so it was kind of sort of—but at the same time, not really?—like that whole 'lack of freedom' feeling I mentioned earlier. And, honestly? I don't really see a way of figuring out that sort of 'preference' one way or the other until I can—no, until we can—find a solution to the whole phantom pain issue.

"But… in the meantime… I kind of would really like it if we could figure out a solution to my whole 'balance and walking' problem." Moon admitted, filling Sun with a sense of pride that his brother was actually trying—was letting his walls down and offering Sun the chance to help. But he didn't want to spook Moon out of this moment of vulnerability, so rather than commenting on it, he simply gestured for Moon to continue his thoughts. "Honestly," Moon obliged, "it gets really boring to have to basically just wait it out in bed. Like—don't get me wrong, it's gotten a lot better since you did that whole… redecorating thing with the stars and the radio and stuff. But it's still a little… eh…" he trailed off with a tiny shrug and a few unhappy, grumbly noises.

"Yeah, that… that makes sense," Sun agreed, not taking any offense. He rubbed his chin in thought. "I don't mind helping you get around—actually, I love that you actually let me help you with that, even though I hate the fact that it's necessary—but that's not always possible when we've got kids to supervise. And it wouldn't really be fair to you to have Lunar completely take over your role while we figure out a solution… oh! Wait!" Sun exclaimed as the obvious solution metaphorically smacked him in the face—followed swiftly with a literal smack by his open palm. "Why not just use your Whacking Stick again? You know… for its original purpose?"

"That—it… um," Moon gave a few false starts, seeming oddly uncomfortable, before saying, slowly and almost delicately, "Bearing in mind that I am doing my best to acknowledge your point about needing a better balance between prioritizing my own needs with those of my brothers? The… connotation with the name and cover story I gave to the Whacking Stick are likely a bit too ingrained at this point for Lunar to be comfortable with it being near him in any capacity aside from just seeing it where it usually hangs on the wall. And—" he hastily continued, before any of Sun's complicated feelings about the animatronic in question could bubble up, especially considering Lunar's role in inadvertently helping to cause the physical issues he was about to discuss, "I don't think I can really handle gripping onto the sort of shape the Whacking Stick has at its tip for the necessary length of time I would need to if I wanted to use it as a walking aid. My hands… they're what usually have the worst of it when it comes to the phantom pains. I think it's because fidgeting with them was pretty much the only way Lunar could manage to keep the rest of himself still, back when the spell was in effect?"

Sun made a mournful sort of noise—he knew just how important Moon's hands were to his work. To coding, and running experiments, and playing games for the channel. But, again, he didn't want to ruin any of the progress Moon had made thus far on letting himself be vulnerable and open to help. So as much as he wanted to say something—though he wasn't quite sure what that 'something' might be—he stayed quiet. Only giving a small apology for the interruption before urging Moon to continue.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to completely break Moon of his old habits, as he immediately gave into his first instincts of comforting Sun. "It isn't that bad," Moon tried to reassure him, his faceplate twitching when he realized that he just did what Sun had asked him to try not to do. He couldn't exactly take it back, though, so instead he just tried his best to salvage the situation and explained, "I mean, it's not… great—but I'm able to forget about it a lot of the time when I'm doing things like coding or experiments. Partly because I just really enjoy doing those things, but I think another part is because Lunar wasn't really interested in any computer stuff outside of gaming? Like—even when it came to getting Blood Moon a body, that was still mostly Monty doing the technical stuff. So it doesn't really spark the negative connections that are the cause of those phantom pains, most of the time."

Sun was quiet for a moment, wrestling with his emotions and what he wanted to say. On the one hand, he was kicking himself for causing that little backslide in Moon's progress. On the other hand, he knew that it was going to be really hard for Moon to kick those habits, and he'd already made amazing progress. And on a third, non-existent hand, he still wasn't entirely sure how he felt about the whole Lunar situation in general, particularly because of the way Moon tended to downplay the consequences of what Lunar did to him, inadvertently or not—and knowing what he knew now, Sun wasn't entirely sure if that downplaying was due to any specific high opinions Moon may or may not have had on Lunar, or if it was due to the low opinions Moon apparently held about himself.

In the end, Sun just tried to keep as much of his discomfort out of his voice as he could and settled on a neutral "That… makes sense." He drummed his fingers on his lap for a bit, trying to come up with another solution. "Okay, so if the Whacking Stick is out… what about a different sort of mobility aid?" he suggested. "Like… I dunno. An actual walking stick? Or a cane?"

"A cane…" Moon repeated slowly, mulling the idea over. "Yeah, that might work. Maybe something like—" he abruptly paused, tilting his head as if listening to something—or someone. "Something like the cane from Willy Wonka?" he said, as if repeating someone else's words, with a confused lilt to his voice. Sun was also slightly confused, but before he could express that confusion audibly, Moon snorted in amusement.

"Oh," he said, humor in his voice. "The actual cane from Willy Wonka."

This, of course, clarified nothing for Sun. "Uh… Moon?" he asked. "Do you maybe want to share that thought with the rest of the class?"

"Ah, sorry," Moon said, shaking his head a bit and bringing his attention back to Sun. "Lunar just said that I should use the cane from the Willy Wonka movie. As in, go and steal—and, yes, specifically steal it, rather than try and purchase it legitimately—the actual cane Gene Wilder used and claim it for my own. Something about it making the most sense, as my using moondrops as the go-to method to put kids to sleep means that I am a 'Candy Man' like Willy Wonka is?"

There was a beat in which Sun contemplated the merits of attempting to get a facial upgrade that it would allow his eyes to twitch, just for such moments as these. "Oh," he finally said, his voice sounding rather strangled. "So… Lunar was just… listening in on this conversation, was he? How… how long has he been doing that?"

"I mean. Basically the entire time. Especially during that part where you all but admitted that you thought of him as your brother."

Sun was not going to touch that right now. "Okay, well," he said instead, "in that case, does Lunar have any ideas that are a little less… I don't know… illegal?"

Moon snickered at Sun's discomfort, then quieted down and tilted his head again to listen to Lunar—despite technically not needing to, since Lunar was talking directly inside his mind. "Okay," he relayed after a moment of listening, "he says—what? No! That's so lame, why would I tell him that?"

Sun's own head tilted, in his case from amusement at just how offended Moon sounded by whatever Lunar had suggested. "Oh? So he does have one?" Sun asked.

"Yeah, but it's lame," Moon insisted, not liking the unmasked glee in Sun's voice.

"Oh, but that's all the more reason to share it, Brother!" Sun insisted. "That way we can endeavor together to make it a little less lame!"

Moon leaned back in his chair, groaning, before ultimately relenting. "He thinks I should play DDR."

It took Sun a moment to parse the acronym, but when he did, "He wants you to play Dance Dance Revolution?" he squeaked with barely suppressed laughter, trying to be sympathetic to Moon's distaste but finding the situation too hilarious to pass up the chance to tease him a little. "Sure, I suppose it's a bit 'old school,' but that hardly makes it lame, dear Brother!"

"You know I hate rhythm games!"

"Yes, but Brother—my dear, sweet Brother—what better way to practice repetitive movements? Just think about it: the colorful, flashing, glowing lights… the upbeat music… the helpful voices tracking your progress and encouraging you every step of the way…"

"…And sounding extremely condescending whenever you miss a step…" Moon grumbled under his breath.

"Oh, come on!" Sun said, elbowing his brother gently in the side. "It could fun! At least think about it?" he pleaded.

Moon made a few growling, discontent noises before grumbling out, "Well, either way, that would definitely set off some of the bigger phantom pains if we don't figure out that 'painkiller' solution first—and in order to do that, you need to get back to practicing your coding. You've had a long enough break, and you're the one who insisted you wanted to learn this stuff, so get back at it!"

"Of course, of course, Brother," Sun readily agreed, turning his chair back to face the computer screen in front of him and not bothering to hide the grin in his voice that perfectly matched the one on his exterior. The computer screen had, by this point, fallen asleep, and as he jiggled the outdated, external mouse to wake it back up, he kept half a metaphorical ear on the conversation Moon appeared to have gotten into with Lunar. Or at least the part of the conversation he was actually privy to, considering that he couldn't exactly hear Lunar's responses.

"And this is something you should probably know too, Lunar, so put down West of Loathing for a bit and pay attention."

"…"

"Yeah, well I find DDR to be boring, but something tells me that I'm still going to be forced to play it at some point in the near future, so turnabout is fair play, Little Brother!"

"…!"

"Oh, I'm sure the novelty of me calling you that will wear off enough one day that it will no longer act as the 'magic words' to get you to pay attention to what I say, but that tone of voice sure implies that day isn't today, now is it?"

"…"

"Mm-hm. Yeah, yeah… but you know, coding really is useful. Like—get good enough at it, and you can even design your own games—

"…? …!"

"—Oh, so now you're interested? Pay attention, then. I'm going to load up one of the easier modules…"

Sun left the two of them to it and focused on his own module. For all that Moon sounded a bit annoyed at their little brother—and, yes, Sun admitted it, despite all the complex feelings he had about him at the moment, and despite not yet being ready to vocalize the claim or even have that promised talk just yet, Lunar was his little brother, just as much as he was Moon's—he knew that Moon really did enjoy teaching coding, and found it a fun challenge to make the process interesting enough to capture even the most wandering of attentions. Lunar would pick up on things quickly, Sun was sure, and soon enough Moon would get the chance to lose himself in one of his favorite hobbies as he designed more intricate lessons and helped the two of them learn. Maybe even to the point of branching out and teaching them about some of his other passions. Much as Moon might deny it, he was always at his best when he was trying to teach, or nurture growth—in both himself and in the others around him.

There was a thought, there, to be examined later, in regards to what the future of the daycare might look like when the three brothers were more settled, and had gotten that chance to talk. When the past didn't hurt so much to think about, and they were making strides for the future. But for now, in the present, Sun just relished the peaceful atmosphere, and the lightness and happiness in Moon's demeanor now that he'd been able to shed some of his weight and worries.

And Sun promised himself that he'd do whatever it took to make sure Moon stayed that way.