Moon had adjusted you as to not put any unnecessary pressure on your ribs as you laid against him, head resting on his right arm as he cradled you close in his lap. He was cool and comfy, and compared to the usually stuffy Parts and Service room, it was relieving. The dim yellow light of the various lamps littered on desks and stands about the room didn't bother you while falling asleep. Regardless, your face was buried into his chest, so you wouldn't see any light through your eyelids anyway.
Moon took extra care to stay perfectly still, monitoring your heartbeat and breathing, noticing when you finally drifted off in his arms. He studied you, looking down at the visible side of your head below him. You were missing at least one earring, presumably both the Sun and Moon ones.
He thought for a minute, obviously tidying yourself up and putting on jewelry would've been the least of your concerns - you hadn't even brushed your hair before you left the house. Where were they? You had them on.. before being taken to the hospital.
He replays the memory of being tazed on the ground, electricity seething through his circuits as he struggled to move. For a split second as his eyes were open, he noticed you laying against the wall, the faint glimmer of metal visible as arcs of electricity glinted in the tiny reflection.
He's replayed the recording thousands of times already. He would've noticed the earrings if he wasn't so concerned with how horribly injured you looked. Plagued with the thought of If you had made it after they took you away.
Moon reaches over to the computer desk, not too far left from the cold metallic table he's sitting on. He grabs your bag, digging through it carefully as to not move you.
Metal brushes against his fingertips at the very bottom of the bag, and he gently feels over the shape.
He pulls out the earring, staring at it resting in his palm. They must've removed it during your stay at the hospital, luckily returning it in your bag.
He looks to you, then back to the Moon earring, a four-point star in the middle resting inside of the crescent.
He'll be able to press them through given his fine motor coordination, and that he does, deftly maneuvering his fingers to glide the small needle into the piercing, carefully and gently. It's through.
Sun's beckoning him to put in the sun earring he felt as well, but given your other ear is pressed against his arm, it'll have to wait. Sun pouts internally despite knowing it'd surely wake you, accepting his defeat.
He'd have to wait.
They'd have to wait.
Moon tried his best to find support against the floor, his claws digging into it as electricity seized his body to a stop. He needed to get up. Were you okay? They needed to fix this. He needed to fix this.
Flashlights shined upon him splayed across the floor, wires shooting into the silicone on his back when the last would run out of charge. Every moment in-between, he attempted to get up, even despite the agony he was met with from even the slightest movement they deemed threatening. Even falling limp to the ground after he would finish seizing from the shock was met with another wire digging into his back.
He wouldn't power off, not until they knew you were okay. They were taking you away, they couldn't let them.
Sun and Moon both are aware of the lengths the company goes to for cover-ups. It's a genuine risk you aren't being taken to be cared for, especially if you're still even alive, that is.
Claws dig into the ground once again, this time, rather than a wire impaling into his back, it's a knee. A very metallic, heavy knee.
Freddy grips Moon's head, forcing it to the ground.
"Moon! Stop! Just.. just stop.. it'll be okay. Please, just.. just hold still." The deep voice echoing from behind doesn't give him much of a choice.
Bellowing laughter teases him from the side, laid on top of the operating chair. "Ha! What'd I tell ya guys. It wouldn't end up any different! Just a few choice words, and ya kill your handler. It's a fucking classic. You will never change."
Moon growls against the cold concrete floor, his arms finally gaining strength against the ground, slowly lifting him up despite Freddy's full weight on his back.
Freddy claws open the plating on the back of Moon's head. "Monty! S-stop! You're making things worse! Please!" He presses Moon's face into the ground again, time running ever so thin as Moon further retrieves his leverage.
Chuckling. "Hah! Nitey nite, you cold fucking murderbot."
Freddy's finger retracts, and as soon as the prongs are exposed, he plunges them into the corresponding socket, sending a mostly harmless kill code to shut off the robot beneath him.
Freddy freezes as Moon falls limp beneath him.
It takes him a while to recover, finally standing over Moon, motionless on the ground.
Security guards are containing the room, discussing procedure with management over radio and detailing the situation as you're being carried out of the building by EMTs.
Freddy turns to Monty, holding a paw against his own head. "..What did you do?"
Monty bellows before letting his head fall back against the chair. "They should've been scrapped long ago, maybe this time you'll do something about it."
He stares at Monty, every robot in the capsule motionless until Freddy turns back to the Daycare Attendant.
"..They haven't had an incident in a while, only until you started instigating things, Monty. They.. they were okay.."
Monty snarls in preparation for venom begging to seethe out his voice box. "..They killed that bot Bonnie and them were fixing up. They put that security guard in a fucking coma. I don't even know what happened to Avery, but I don't think it's a fucking coincidence the same day Avery had to work on them, he disappeared. No one has made it more than a week with those heaps of scrap, including the engineer they just probably killed. Bonnie and I tried to help them, and only minutes after he hooked up to them, I.. I fucking had to.. God fucking dammit Freddy, you were close with Bonnie, you should be pissed. It's time for this to stop."
Freddy looks to the floor, his knuckles would be white if they weren't metal. He stares at Moon.
"..It's.. It's not their fault.."
Monty scoffs. "Keep telling yourself that. Maybe it'll bring back the people they've hurt. The people they've killed."
Freddy pauses for a few seconds, before metallic thumping against the concrete floor fades as he presses through guards, exiting the room.
The lights overhead illuminate Moon in a rare spectacle of him not surrounded by darkness. Two technicians lift him off the rack, accidentally dropping him violently to the ground initially before collecting themselves and dragging him to the capsule..
Wendy wrings her hands together nervously. "..Careful, please. Management still wants them operational for the Daycare."
One of the technicians remarks something about it being fine as they adjust the straps to Moon's frame, securing him in place.
His eyes were empty and lifeless, the souls that resided within might as well be dead while they're not powered on.
Wendy paces back and forth in the center of the room in front of the pod. The techs finish their preparations, and one attends to the control panel outside.
The doors slam and seal shut, despite a glass window being shattered and absent, still yet to be replaced from where Sun broke through.
Wires fall from the ceiling in eager response to a few buttons pressed. Small arms adjust to the animatronic in the chair, plugging themselves in as power courses through Moon's systems once again.
They light a spark in the animatronic, akin to being in a coma so they can run diagnostics before switching him on entirely. Nothing seems to be the matter besides basic errors popping up regarding physical injuries on the rudimentary diagnostic program. One tech communicates with the other holding the binder, writing something down in response.
They press a button, and flood him with energy.
The second his eyes turn to white, the transformation takes place in a blink of an eye. Moon is thrown out of control as Sun takes the reigns.
Moon's nightcap retreats as Sun's rays pop out in a sudden wave wrapping his faceplate clockwise, a few of them that were previously bent and unable to fully retract into Moon's faceplate completing their extension quicker than the rest.
Sun attempts to move his limbs, but nothing budges. He looks down at his body, his baggy pants and chest compressed with straps restraining him tightly in the dreadfully familiar environment he was promised he'd never have to be strapped down in again.
He tugs before noticing a familiar face behind the one tech operating the capsule and the other shuffling pages in a binder.
His voice box glitches for a second, him pausing to adjust.
"..W-Wendy..? F-friend.. oh.. A-are they okay..? W-what happened to them? Where are they!?" His neck tenses attempting to press his head up in urgency.
Wendy steps forward, a somber expression painting her face. It looks wrong to have something so humanoid strapped down like this.
She sighs. "..Sundrop, they're in the hospital. We think they'll be fine. For now though, how are you feeling?"
The technician looks up from his binder towards Wendy. "We're good to escort it back to the Daycare, nothing seems to be the matter internally, and we can't keep it here since some of the others need routine maintenance."
She ignores him as Sun struggles for words.
"I..-I.. Nonono.. I don't.. I don't know. I couldn't.. W-Wendy, p-please, I-I don't.. I don't wanna be here.." He balls his fists and frantically motions his fingers in desperation to any movement he's currently capable of.
She positions herself in front of the broken glass window looking in to assure him. "It's okay, you'll be back in the Daycare in no time, we just had to make sure you're-"
The technician operating the panel interrupts her. "You don't need to talk to it like that. It's just programming - probably to be less uncanny to kids given how scary he already looks physically." He smiles at how absurd it is to comfort a machine.
Wendy abandons her attempts to soothe Sun, crossing her arms. "..Alright, just.. get the guards down here to escort him back."
The tech smiles. "It. Try not to get attached, dunno if it's gonna be decommissioned still. And yeah, sure."
She feels uneasy at how she's expected to interact with the robots here. Freddy seemed really nice, and it's never been hard to treat them any less human than the people around her. Regardless, she submits, and only smiles in response to Sun's "..T-thank you." as he passes by. Guards equipped with tasers escort the tall, noticeably uncomfortable, nervous animatronic to the Daycare - keeping their distance behind and in front of him.
Sun didn't like being out the following days, allowing Moon to usually be in control. Even if Sun did want to come out, Moon was hesitant to let him given as soon as he entered his room, he hurt himself in response to the constant aching realization they might have actually lost you for good this time, and there was absolutely nothing they could've done about it. He ruminated on how you felt, how hurt you must be. It only intensified the urge to grab at his rays to mark himself as a reminder to never let that happen again, despite how little control they had over the situation. How they're unsure if they can prevent it in the future.
Moon didn't let anyone inside of the Daycare. He wanted to scorch the place down to the ground with him in it, only coming to his senses knowing he'd be taking Sun with him, along with all the hope his companion still somehow held. Even Wendy respected the boundary after Moon grabbed a guard's arm, throwing him out the doors the second he stepped through. She only had the courage to confront them given the lights were on.
Being updated on your condition, handing over the plushies to Wendy to deliver to you, you texting them in attempts of reassurance, Wendy letting them know you miss them. None of it calmed the guilt festering within them. They didn't believe they had the right to even think about you.
If only they fought harder. If only Sun told you sooner. If only they weren't so afraid of losing you. If only you didn't get this close in the first place.
It was agonizing just to exist.
It's agonizing knowing it could happen again.
Moon studied your breaths as you laid fast asleep in his arms. He watched how your chest rose and fell so close to his own. He made very sure to not move you an inch, making sure your torso wasn't twisted in any way that would affect your ribs and their healing process.
The hand that wasn't supporting your back left its place wrapping your thighs which were draped over his own, the bells at the end of the ribbon wrapping his wrist refusing to ring at his command. He slowly lifted his hand up, and right back down to gently touch his fingertips against your warm shirt, just over where your heart was beating ever so softly. He felt the atria each time it would contract, followed by the ventricles pumping blood to the rest of your body. He adjusted his hand to match the rhythm of your breathing, as to not lose nor apply too much pressure when it'd rise and fall.
He'd study you for a while, savoring the fragile little human in his arms, fast asleep. He'd occasionally brush the side of your temple, feeling how soft hair would give way to him tracing the side of your face to above your ear. He loved how he adorned you further with the earring he made. As long as you wore those earrings.. or had their bite marks.. you were theirs.
They'd do anything to keep it that way.
The soft whine of fans from the ventilation units above was interrupted for the first time in about an hour as the doors to the room opened, light seeping in before darkness took back its place as Freddy let the door close behind him.
Moon's white dots pierced the autumn pumpkin-orange colored animatronic, stopping him from taking another step.
"Shhh."
Freddy notices you in Moon's hold, not initially realizing due to the dim light and size difference, he could've mistaken you for a pillow or something.
Freddy quietly steps towards the table Moon and you reside together, stopping just a few meters away.
Moon makes sure to lower his voice to a whisper, only comprehensible to animatronic ears.
"..What do you want, Freddy?" His nightcap's tail sways as his faceplate subtly spins, observing intentions closely.
Freddy's eyes scan Moon, tracing a light blue horizontal beam down both of you, mostly to assure you're only asleep, and not hurt. Moon almost flinches at the sudden flash of light before assuring you're still resting.
Moon looks to Freddy, warning him with a bitter expression. "..Do not wake them."
Freddy complies, lowering his voice to a similar whisper. "..We don't have to do this now, but we must talk about your.. actions."
Moon refuses eye contact with him. "It was not Sun."
Freddy clasps his hands together, almost hesitant. "..And.. and what about the people you have hurt, Moon?"
Silence.
"What did you do to Avery? To the others that just.. left one day."
Silence.
"..I don't know everything, but.. I'm sure there are other things that must be addressed. The engineers were just doing their jobs, Moon. You-"
Moon's head snaps to Freddy, drilling into his eyes with blinding white. "They hurt us. That will not happen again."
He quickly recovers from the lesser than quiet words he let slip, assuring you're still fast asleep via your steady breathing and pretty little eyes, deep in rest.
Freddy's arms cross. "I know they can be mean, but that's absolutely no excuse to.. to hurt them."
Moon looks at Freddy inquisitively for a few seconds. "..Physically. Hurts."
"What?"
Moon's gaze is relinquished from eye contact, staring into darkness. "..We.. we made it very clear.. but no.. nonono, they do not listen. Not to me, not to Sun.. The only thing they understand is pain, so pain is how I communicate to them from now on.."
Freddy is silent for a minute, processing the information he should've already had. If only Bonnie got to tell him in time.
"..Moondrop.. The rest of us do not hurt unless it's something quite traumatic, nor do we during maintenance. I did not know this. I.. I'm sorry.. Why haven't you told anyone?"
Moon seethes anger into Freddy's eyes through his own. "Sun begged. No one cared. Just doing their jobs."
Moon turns his focus to you as you adjust yourself closer to him, just barely asleep.
Freddy picks up on the tension as Moon's eyes shoot back up after confirming you're not awake, staring into Freddy, nonverbally demanding him to leave.
Freddy picks up on the tension, turning himself towards the door.
He stops, paw on the handle, it half open ready for him to walk out.
He looks at Moon, ears drooping.
"..I'm sorry."
He leaves following the whisper, light escaping with him.
You're soothed fully back to sleep as Moon recovers from the confrontation. He wants you like this in his arms just a little longer.
Just a little.
You hear a beep as your wrist vibrates.
You adjust your arm reflexively, before intending to fall back asleep.
Yet another beep followed by vibration disturbs your rest again.
Unfortunately, this time you come to your senses. It feels like it's been a little longer than you intended to sleep. You forget where you're laying and shoot your head up a little too quickly.
You wince as your ribs sting, relaxing back to your original position as you wait for the pain to fade.
"..Mmmh, I can silence the watch for you. Permanently if you'd like, Limelight."
You blink your eyes, focusing up to the large animatronic looking down at you.
You smile as his white eyes meet yours, noticing him not being able to help the faint grin that arises as he studies you.
"..Mhmm, and.. were you gonna wake me up eventually..?" You adjust your wrist to turn on the watch.
"..Maybe." His faceplate spins a little as his smile grows.
"..Uh huh." You open up your notifications, finding two texts from Wendy.
Wendy
Hey! So, Freddy texted me, and I wanted to relay it to you. He brought up Sun and Moon's sensory interface, and them being able to experience pain and all. He just wanted to see if I could do anything about it. If you want, you can come up to my office and discuss any maintenance and/or protocols to make sure they don't have to hurt again. It's really not right they had to go through all that. I'm so sorry. It seems the pain comes in addition to their sensors generally being sensitive as to be gentler with kids, given the Daycare and all. It wasn't concerning to whoever installed the automatic maintenance software in the U&E capsule, and I guess it's not mentioned explicitly in any of their documents or blueprints, so.. no one knew. We'll change that, just lemme know when you get the time.
Wendy
Also! Hope you two.. three are getting along well too! Definitely seemed like it lol. They really did miss you though, and I noticed a difference almost immediately when April and I came to check up on yall lol. Be safe, good luck with the repairs! If you need anything lemme know.
You hum as Moon adjusts you to sit further upright in his lap, back to him as he rests his head on top of yours. You take his hand into your own. "You really let me sleep for four hours, huh Moonlight."
He smiles as his large hand dwarfs your own, wrapping around it with ease. "Mmmhm, you must've been quite comfortable to sleep that long, hmm?"
You roll your eyes, and he reaches his other hand to meet the earring you didn't yet feel attached. You meet his hand to confirm the presence, feeling past his fingertips, both touching the same metal. "W-wha.. how'd you get..?" You pause to think. "..Well.. yeah. Guess I was pretty passed out."
Before you can protest, he adjusts you ever so carefully to face him, lifting you with ease, and before you know it, you're straddling his lap, still having to look up at him as he relaxes his hand behind your back.
He stares down at you, reaching his free hand up to hold the side of your face. "..Didn't even have to suffocate you this time, Starlight. Progress."
You exhale sharply, your body suddenly hot against his cool aura surrounding you. After everything they still make your tummy feel weird. "Y-yeah? Well.. I.. I think progress would be considered kissing me without suffocating me.."
He smiles as he leans closer, savoring the widening of your pretty little eyes. "..You're so very lucky your ribs are broken.."
He carefully leans you back into his arm as he presses forward, lips meeting yours as they collide and overlap. Your chest lightens as he presses his tongue past, feeling your lips as much as he can before meeting your tongue.
Your saliva quickly thickens in correspondence with the heat rising up from your core. Face, neck, chest, tummy..
Your arms wrap around his back and head, pulling him closer to you.
You only notice yourself shamefully pressing firmly against his leg when his hand leaves your face, tracing itself down your body. His fingertips press against your chest, claws unfortunately retracted, finally reaching your tummy.
Your stomach jumps like you're falling on a rollercoaster, electricity emanating from your tummy as he presses against it.
You pull back for air, only for a second as you look into his eyes and fall forwards for more.
His hand reaches around the bottom of your shirt, slowly maneuvering his hand under as your body pulses with goosebumps in response to his hands increasing in temperature against your bare skin.
He bites at your lips, holding you close as his tongue obscenely explores your mouth, hands trickling up your side, under your chest, only to slide his fingertips back down, enticing a shiver from you.
You're both very aware of how recklessly you're teetering on the edge, a threshold centimeters from being crossed. All on top of the metal table in the dimly lit Parts and Service room, making out with your robot boyfriend as you thoughtlessly press yourself forward and back against his leg, leaning yourself into his hand exploring your torso and lower tummy ever so dangerously.
His tongue slowly retracts out of your mouth, hand hesitantly tracing its way out from under your shirt. He looks into your pleading eyes, swollen lips. That pitiful expression, he savours his and your own saliva still sticking under and around your mouth. He's so grateful he can save this moment, pixel for pixel.
Sun questions why Moon stopped, a little bit too excited and eager. He would've let it continue, but unfortunately, Moon is out. He has patience enough to shatter the line inside of simply crossing it, and this isn't the ideal environment quite yet. He'll surely get another chance anyways, your expression as he's pulled away assures him of that.
You press your head to his chest in defeat, just as aware of how far you two would've gone if it continued.
You wipe away saliva with your sleeve, catching your breath while you're at it.
Still pressed to his chest, he presses his hand against your back, the other gently playing with your hair.
You breathe. "..Moon.. we should.. get ready.."
He hums.
You sigh. "..Just gimme a minute."
A minute, nothing more.
You're not gonna fall asleep again.
It takes every ounce of will and energy in your body to lean back as you request for him to help you down.
You sigh as you walk over to the computer chair and sit. "..Is.. Is Sun okay with this? I'm going to be looking around in his code, just to try and get a general idea of what we're dealing with."
Moon stares into space as he communicates with Sun in his head briefly.
"..He's ready. Mmh, as long as there are guards and someone to flick the switch if something goes wrong, yesss."
You bring up your watch. "Okay, I'll get Wendy. If you could get the lights, please."
You delay your text as you watch Moon mess with the breaker box, before he looks at you and waves.
"..Later, Limelight.." He flicks.
You watch closely in the second it takes for Sun to transform to assure everything is working properly after you repaired them, also out of admiration.
"Sunflower!" Sun snaps into control and immediately wastes no time closing the distance between you two.
You giggle at his animated little movements, trying your best to squint and watch as your eyes adjust to the light. "Hey Sunshine, I missed you!"
He crouches in front of you. "Oh yesyesyes, it's been sosososo long, oh gosh." He quickly redirects his attention to your bag, frantically digging through it for something.
He pulls his hand out in a flash, holding the cute sun earring between his fingertips. "Can I can I can I!?"
You smile after laughing for a second. "Of course, go ahead. Just be-" You don't have time to say gentle before the earring is precisely pressed through the piercing, Sun already pulled back to admire you, excited hands fidgeting as his rays spin in glee.
You let him get it out of his system, if there's an end to his energy after Moon being out for just a few hours, it's definitely not close to running out anytime soon. Not that you don't adore his vigor, you just need to reply to Wendy.
You
hey. yea ill definitely have that talk with you, but for now, no one is touching them except me. also, i do need a favor. im gonna look through sun's code and i could use some backup. guards maybe, and someone to wait at the light switch just in case something does trigger.. if you can arrange that asap thatd be perfect. thank you Wendy.
You press send, and it's not too long after she replies confirming everything will be ready in about half an hour. You spend the time questioning Sun about their access to the internet given Moon's comment explaining how he knows how your contract is illegal.
"O-oh, well.. there's.. there's a reason why we're not really allowed behind the security desk anymore! W-we can't just access it just from our heads, nonono.."
You poke fun at the implications of why he was banned from computers, what he might've searched unless human daycare attendants prohibited him from being behind the desk just because they could..
It's not long before the doors to the room open, and in comes Wendy along with about two guards.
She smiles on her way over to you as you open up the necessary programs on the computer. "Hey! So, I hope we're enough. Tasers worked last time, and I'll be by the lights just in case."
You look up to her after everything is ready. "Yeah, I think it'll be fine. I just wanna get a general idea of what we're dealing with for now. Shouldn't trigger anything, but.. y'know. Just in case."
Wendy notices Sun's nervousness overhearing their conversation as he's sat on the table behind them, and she walks over.
"..Oh, Sun. It'll be fine. We've got more than enough precautions, bud."
He pouts, but finds some comfort in knowing she'll be by the lights to turn them off if anything does go wrong. Turning off the lights worked before, it'll work again "O-okay. Okay.. I-I hope so."
One of the guards near the door scoffs, then smiles as you're getting the necessary cable and attaching it to the corresponding computer port. "Sorry, but why'd they give a robot anxiety? And isn't it supposed to be in the pod?"
You pause in your tracks as you focus your attention to him. "..Just. Do your job and I'll do mine."
Sun watches nervously as the guard adjusts his posture and crosses his arms. "Hey, I'm just saying. It'd be a lot easier if that thing was in the pod. It simulates emotion, you don't have to pander to it."
"It'd be a lot easier if you'd shut the fuck up."
Silence.
Wendy has covered her mouth, the guard next to the smartass watches his expression intently, and Sun is in pure shock, frozen awaiting for something to alleviate the tension.
You sigh. "You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. I'd like to do my job now."
You adjust the cable in your hand and walk up to Sun, prompting him to lower to your level so you can access the panel on the back of his head.
Your face is a little warm, and you have no idea where that confidence came from, but you, Sun, and Moon have had enough shit recently, and you're getting tired of it.
Sun pouts as you flip open the panel. You reach for his hand and squeeze it as you plug the cable in very carefully. "Sunny, it'll be alright. Promise."
You turn to Wendy. "Can you.." She smiles and proceeds to head for the light switch.
You catch a glimpse of the guard's face sneering in your direction as you soothe Sun a little further, rubbing your thumb on the top of his hand it can reach, while the other glides along a ray before you hesitantly pull away, still attending to Sun.
"..If you wanna stop at any time, we can. Okay?" His blue eyes watch you in a worrisome glint that your heart can't help but ache over.
"..O-okay, Sunflower. I trust you."
You turn slowly, taking a step towards the computer.
Smartass for whatever reason pipes up again. "..Are you seriously risking everyone's safety by letting that thing be worked on while unrestrained? Is this procedure? It's a machine, why are you soothing it?"
Sun sulks, and your knuckles whiten.
You're debating whether you should actually let loose, and everyone in the room is awaiting the decision.
You snap. "..If you don't like it, you can leave. Actually, go ahead. Leave. Complain to management for all I care, but talk shit about them again and I'll show you exactly what my procedure entails. Please, fuck off. I'm tired of your shit dude."
Wendy snickers behind him, covering her mouth as the guard's eyes widen in shock, before quickly scrambling for a more modest expression that doesn't make him look like a complete dumbass.
He stands there for a little too long, and you're about to encourage his exit, until the guard next to him escorts him out of the room for you.
You sigh before relaxing into the computer chair and awaiting the tolerable guard to return.
Everything's ready.
You'll figure this out.
You'll fix this.
You'd do anything for them, and you're far from being done proving it.