Cool autumn air occasionally whispers around you and Moon, fluttering your blanket and earrings in the wind along with Moon's nightcap and tattered neck ruffles.
He notices your breathing and heart-rate regulating itself as your body temperature drops. You're not cold, that's just what happens after falling asleep. Regardless, he forces his body to warm a little despite the dark blue moon-patterned blanket you're wrapped in. He'll micromanage every little detail that's in his control to make sure you rest soundly against his chest.
His sensors notice every little bodily change that correspond with you falling deeper into sleep. He is the naptime robot after all, it's naturally in his cuddle-bug programming to comfort you so. Mild touch aversion evaporates in your presence. With anyone else, the only reason he'd make contact was to hurt them. For you, he just wants to hold as close as possible.
Despite the crescent moon rising above the treeline off the edge of the roof, he only stares at it for a few seconds at a time before returning his small white pupils to you. You're snuggled up close to him, in-between his legs, on the metal vent, safe within his grasp.
His fans' whirring joins the symphony of leaves rustling and wind whistling, almost like white-noise purring. He gently, carefully plays with your messy hair as his other arm wraps around your tummy, holding you close like it's a possibility you could be ripped away from him.
He shifts his feet against the dark gravely rooftop surface, knees slightly bent, sheltering you from either side. He adjusts his posture and locks himself in place, knowing he'll be here for a while. His joints could rust for all he cared, time could stop and stay like this for millenia and there's no place he'd rather be.
Sun admires the way Moon uses their heating system rather than it involuntarily turning on in moments of fluster. It's like heat enveloping their entire body, emanating from his core. Usually Moon prefers to be cold, but for now, the crisp wind prickling his silicone skin is enough.
Minutes pass, and not that Moon hasn't had enough of savoring you below him, but he curiously observes the surroundings he was too occupied with you to notice.
His head turns in a 180, then 90. You're high up off the ground, and past the various roof-top machines, Moon studies the back of the neon sign advertising the Plex. On top, a few birds clutter in the crevices. He studies them as they rest.
Moon swivels his head to the least obstructed side of the Plex, and stares off into the city. He can faintly make out dual red and white lights moving along a stretch of road until they disappear behind a building. Under the moonlight, it's incomprehensible how large the outside is. He can see for miles, and it's never devoid of civilization. It's alive, despite the hour being that of rest. Moon grows a tiny bit uneasy thinking about how many people are out there, wide awake in the middle of the night, rather than sleeping like they should be.
"..Do you think we'll ever ever leave?"
Sun livens himself up within their headspace. Moon hums internally, taking a second to respond as his eyes refuse to leave the city lights peeking over the rooftop.
"..I don't know.."
"I..I very much so like it here, the children, but.. There's so much. And.. what if Sunflower leaves? Would we be able to follow?"
Moon swivels his head forward to look down at you. "..I don't know.. But, I don't think they'll leave us, Sunny."
It doesn't make him feel any better. "..I'm afraid they will have to. I.. I'm scared it'll happen again. The.. the dent.. in the wall.. next to their.. head. There.. there was nothing we could do.." He ruminates over the memory of Moon looking over at you, unconscious, as he was electrocuted repetitively.
Sun feels artificially sick. "..I'm glad I can't remember when I wasn't in control, b-but.. it doesn't make it less real."
Moon feels the same void in his core, tightening, dropping. "..Control chip.. They will be safe. They'll fix it."
Sun still doesn't feel better.
He wants it out. All the suffering it's caused. Their body not being their own. It's terrifying knowing under points of extreme stress, if he's not strapped down like in the U&R Module, someone gets hurt. It is the reason why Sun sometimes still believes his suffering during maintenance is necessary.
If he isn't strapped down, someone else gets hurt.
Even then however, Moon would get revenge for him. Despite everything recently, he still feels hopeless in preventing suffering, especially afraid of what might happen to you, and what already has.
As upset as it makes him to think about it, eventually, he's likely going to have to disclose everything to you. Everything.
All Sun knows is that it's been with him his entire life. Ever since their manufacturing.
They don't like to think about it. Sun still feels guilty for flooding Moon with the memories only he had to be burdened with. What Sun felt, what Sun saw, everything was shared with him. Moon's memories are absent. Only Sun retained his.
All up until they began to share the same body was the burden overlapped. From that point on, Moon would recover some of his own memories through Sun watching though his eyes while Moon was out. It wasn't different than what Sun experienced.
It wasn't pleasant, but in some rare occurrences, it was tolerable.
At least she showed some remorse. The only technician they weren't afraid of - she at least.. said sorry. Her eyes that were always full of curiosity for them, suddenly full of grief as she approached them that day in their respective chairs.
At first whenever she was with them, it was tolerable, it was nice. She was the one that let Sun have paper, crayons, and scotch tape. Sun had something to look forward to. She was unusually kind. It was something he was entirely unfamiliar with, all he knew is that he liked it. He only discovered positive emotions after meeting her, followed by Moon.
It was so confusing when she hurt them.
They needed the spare parts from Moon's original separate body.
They redesigned Sun's, taking him apart piece by piece. Coding in new strings to link the two of them as they soldered together the motherboards and attached new pieces to allow swapping between him and Moon. At least he was powered off most of the time.
They weren't told what was happening, and the dread Sun felt watching her shut down Moon presumably for good was agonizing. She didn't explain anything, she barely looked at Sun while she worked. The regret in her eyes as she stared into his own that beckoned her for an explanation was too unbearable to experience again.
Betrayal.
Moon was lifeless in the chair next to him. He could only watch as everything that made him, him, was removed piece by piece until all that laid left was a bare endoskeleton.
Moon's faceplate, his clothing, ribbons, nightcap. It was wheeled out on a cart. The only thing she left was his motherboard and what contained his CPU.
They eventually shut off Sun's distressed voice box upon noticing hesitation from the technician.
His eyes told her everything she needed to know anyway.
"..I'm sorry."
And she powered him down.
It was so jarring at first, being linked. It hurt. It felt strange. They couldn't even communicate initially.
Thankfully Sun retained his memory, they would've likely had to relearn the agonizing process of coexisting all over again if whatever prevented his factory-reset didn't happen.
Maybe it was the glitch. It would be the first instance of it. Never during his maintenance did he black out, despite how painful it was. He just shut down as usual under the high stress load festering inside his head, nothing unusual like something fucking else taking control of his body.
After being melted together, the last time they saw her was a day before their transfer to the Plex. It seemed routine, although the camera's usually blinking red lights were absent.
It couldn't have been her.
She wouldn't.
She was nice.
She wouldn't do this to them.
Why would she?
Sun brushed away this thought many times before, only for it to resurface when they got close to anyone. It was too painful and confusing to ruminate over anyway.
Sun convinced himself time and time again that he was just broken. He believed it, but the alternative idea always cast a shadow in the back of his head.
When those memories were revealed to Moon however, he took it as a lesson.
From that point on, he made sure to keep his distance, even if that meant hurting anyone that came close. To protect him. To protect Sun.
He never regretted it, until you.
A strong breeze fluttering your hair and blue moon-patterned blanket jolted them out of the memories. Moon stared down at you, and relaxed.
He stared at you for a couple of seconds, recovering.
"..It'll be okay."
Sun shook away the nightmare he was sharing with Moon. He decompressed before returning to respond to Moon.
"..I-I hope so."
They sat in silence for a while, only observing you. It kept their mind from wandering, Sun micro-managing everything just as Moon was, telling him to tuck the blanket in some more, to fix your hair when the wind would mess it up again.
You grounded them.
Nothing behind them matters anymore. You're here. You've already fixed so much, and you'll fix this too. It'll be okay.
Moon's head oscillated side to side ever so slightly, gently swinging the tail of his nightcap back and forth as the wind played with it as well. It was therapeutic, focusing on you and his nightcap swaying, it helped him calm down from the thoughts he was lost inside of before you pulled him back. You, fast asleep, helped them without doing a thing. Just existing in his arms.
Sun was quietly humming the Daycare Theme in their headspace, pausing every now and then as he grew tired, the intervals between his hums becoming longer and longer. Their battery wasn't low, Moon forced them to charge when Sun wouldn't yesterday morning and the days before. They're both glad, since they'd likely let themselves run out of charge rather than wake you from resting so peacefully in their arms. Moon certainly would.
But they still grew tired. An unfamiliar exhaustion they've only ever felt once before. They were so comfortable, and the locks in place to prevent slouching made it feel like they were floating on air, and even if Sun had only echos of sensation, it was relaxing for both of them.
It was serene. Autumn air, you in their grasp, the crescent moon rising every so slowly as hours ticked by.
Bathed in starlight above, he chose to look down at the only light that mattered. His fingers adjusted slightly to squeeze a little into your sides as both his arms wrapped around you. He felt your shallow breath and each heartbeat that would pulse throughout your body. He counted the pattern, and slowly closed his eyes.
At 2am, they were just as unconscious as you were, under the stars and moon.
The sun breached the horizon unbeknownst to either of you. It slowly rose as clouds rolled in from the east.
You're both startled awake as Sun's sensors pick up on the light level despite them being unconscious. A warm sunray against his sensitive exterior silicone briefly dragging Sun to the surface enough to provoke a transition.
Sun's eyes flip and adjust as his rays pop out one by one in a spiral, yellow flooding his body almost as fast as his pants and collar ruffles flick to orange-yellow. You slowly recover from the mechanical whirring that pulled you from your slumber.
Sun recovers first. "..Mmh, m-morning, Sunflower."
Your ribs ache, and you squeeze his hand wrapped around your tummy while you position yourself upright. "..Hah, hey. Were.. were you two up all night?" You rub your eyes a little.
You slowly turn to face him while repositioning the dark blue moon blanket to be over your shoulders, looking up to meet his eyes. His face is basked in pure sunlight, and he looks prettier than ever. You can't help but smile after a yawn or two.
He hesitates for a second. "..Oh, uh.. nono, we.. slept."
"Slept?" You relax between his legs, now facing towards him. Your neck feels a little funny craning it up this way.
He disconnects eye contact every so often, playing with his hands between you two. "Y-yes.. Slept. Like.. like humans do, yes."
You pause and given him an inquisitive look, still smiling. "..Do you dream..?"
He suddenly locks eyes with you, and grins a little. "..Only about you, little flower."
You exhale and roll your eyes. "..Uh-huh, very cute.." You pause. "..I dream about you two.. too.."
Dreams you don't think you'll discuss with them however.
"Mmh, Moon wants you to know.. this is only the second time we've ever.. slept. - On our own, that is! W-we.. dream sometime inside our pods.. but, we always have to be forced to.."
You reach for his hands after processing his words, grabbing one, ceasing their fidgeting. "..That's cute. You're cute. I'm glad I can help you sleep, Sunshine."
His rays stop in place for a second before resuming, facial expression a little flustered. "..Cute.. nonono, y-you.. you're.."
You reach up and adjust his collar ruffles, fingers gliding over the frayed fabric and intricate nano-wiring in-between.
"..I wonder if Wendy has your replacement clothing yet." He leans into your touch.
Tilting his head down further than it already is looking down into your eyes, he studies his pants. "..I guess we are a little ragged. That'd be nice, Sunflower, but.. it's only been a night."
You run your hands down his collar, along shoulders, tracing his arms all the way down until you can join your hands with him again. It sends electricity through his circuits the way your nails brush against his skin. "Seems like it's been longer."
"Not long enough, no.." He releases his left hand to adjust your hair that's been played with the cold morning wind a little too rough. He looks down into your eyes, noticing goosebumps prickling your skin as his sensors adjust to the finer details he intends to savor. Every moment with you is a new permanent photographic memory every couple of seconds. "..We should go inside, yesyes.. you're cold, Sunbeam."
Sun didn't really want to. He wanted to see more of the actual sun, but in his and Moon's mind, the sun and moon orbited around the earth - you. Despite their celestial theme, they're not very educated on space. They'd like to learn.
You inch closer to him. "With you I'm not. You're warm, silly."
"Mmh, that's why you have goosebumps." His fingers brush gently against your arm, intensifying the chills not only just provoked by the cool autumn morning weather anymore.
You giggle. "You're only making them worse, c'mon."
He whirs, and scoots back, releasing you from between his legs. He guides one over to one side of the vent, and gestures in a bow, one arm behind his back, his spare hand out awaiting yours. "I can make them better too, little flower."
You roll your eyes to mask the grin you wouldn't be able to get rid of even if you tried. You adjust the blanket over your shoulders as you take his hand, helping you up. Sun makes sure to collect your bag before leaving, it having rested all night at his side on the ground.
You two walk towards the roof entrance, gravely ground below you shuffling and crackling with each step. The sun shines in your eyes, and you only hold Sun close as you shut your eyelids, his eyes not as sensitive to the bright light. He's more than capable to guide you.
The door opens, unlocked as expected. He ushers you in before ducking below the doorframe to enter, it creaking shut behind the both of you.
You slowly descend while Sun follows behind you, about four steps at a time after you've taken around the same amount.
You're checking your watch for any messages, and you have a few. Most from Wendy, her sending you the program to operate Sun's control chip, along with Monty's that was added sometime during the week. The other message confirms Sun and Moon's clothing is waiting at the Daycare, Freddy having helped locate some in the warehouse inventory. She mentions if it wasn't for him, it'd be a few weeks before they could order some extras - which she's doing anyway for future preparation. She sent another message sometime late yesterday afternoon confirming she took care of Mimi at your place, fed, given water, patted, loved on. All that good stuff. She's the best.
She also dropped by a box she labeled as 'slumber party necessities.' No idea what that means, but guess you'll find out.
You want to text her back and thank her for yesterday. It was stressful for everyone involved, and you really hope she's doing okay. For now though, you're distracted.
"..Hey, good news, Freddy and Wendy got you guys some spare clothes." You smile, looking back at him as much as your chest would allow.
"..Oooooh! New.. new clothes. We haven't had new ones in sososo long.. nono." He fidgets with the fabric on the sides of his pants.
"..Don't you need to wash them occasionally..?" You turn off the watch and continue making your way down the flights of stairs.
"..Oh, yesyes, of course. They are very washable, b-but we usually just use the showers in the bathrooms.. or sinks. Soap works veryvery well, yes, and we've learned how to remove sososo many stains all by ourselves!"
He sounds proud, and it's only confirmed when you turn the bend to go down another flight of stairs, he's expressing a cute emote of his hands on his hips, chin high, hoping you'll notice.
You giggle, before pausing to think.
"..You have showers here..?"
"Mhm! In case the kids get a little too messy, nono, sinks are not very efficient, and we're programmed with all childcare needs!"
You're silent for a second or two longer. "Guess that makes sense.."
You pause.
"Are.. you two waterproof, do you know..?" You make your way down the final flight before the exit door into the maintenance tunnels.
"Oh, of course! One hundred per-cent water resistant! No liquids get in.. nor out, no mess, nono, that'd be very bad!"
Besides their saliva, apparently.
"Besides your saliva, apparently."
You freeze in front of the door, processing you just said that.
You're about to continue out the door like you didn't say anything whatsoever, but Sun's faceplate appears upside-down in front of your face, his hands on your shoulders preventing you from taking another step as he leans over and in front of you.
"Mmmh, nope! No saliva gets out, nor in any place not meant for it!" His faceplate spins to face rightside-up in front of you. "Not unless we want it to.." He watches smug as your eyes widen and cheeks flush with pink.
You look away for a second before your eyes return to his lips. "..Mhm."
His saliva enters a place not necessarily intended for it. You'd continue to be curious about why exactly they gave a robot a working mouth if you weren't so focused on kissing him. Maybe to simulate better emotion via smiling and whatever else? Maybe to taste and eat stuff to help kids feel comfortable enough to eat with them during snack time? You can imagine Sun attempting to assure a kid that whatever snack they have is good by eating a little themselves and gesturing approval. Maybe Moon wrapping his tongue around that churro wasn't just to fluster you.
You wonder if they can taste.
You wonder if they'd know what orange juice tastes like, since that's exactly what Sun tastes like right now.
Your hands play with his rays, their spinning stopping suddenly as he feels your fingers searching for one.
His hands slowly rub down your shoulders, tracing their way to your sides as he pushes you back into him. You feel his chest vibrating a little as fans spin internally, and since his flexibility isn't an issue, you can be in whatever position you want.
His hands meet your sides and you practically shudder to match his vibrations.
Eventually, he pulls away. Of course your saliva strings in-between the two of you as his hands cups your chin. It's a little strange given he's literally upside-down in front of you with his face spun rightside-up, but it worked. It worked really well. He uses his other hand to wrap the saliva around his fingers, using his thumb to wipe away your lips and clean them of the mess.
You catch your breath as the heat in your chest and tummy subsides, releasing your hands from his head and rays to wipe away at your lips foolishly thinking he'd miss a spot. He didn't.
He smiles, eyes half-hooded as he pulls away a little, still looking down at you, rays resuming their dance.
"..No saliva gets any place we don't want it, Sunflower, nono."
His faceplate spins back to it's correct position as he stands upright again. One of his hands hold your shoulder as the other opens the door in front of you.
You're speechless, but he doesn't seem to mind. The old door creaks open and you both enter into a more secluded part of the maintenance tunnels. Sun had been hesitant to guide the both of you to the area last night, but you were insistent.
You turn, and jump noticing Roxy standing to you and Sun's right.
Her arms are crossed, and she's staring down at you, occasionally flicking her eyes up to Sun who's smiling above you. You feel his hands sneak their way onto your shoulders.
"..Uh, hey.. Roxy. What are you doing down here?"
She squints. "You're not scheduled for today. What are you doing here?"
You're trapped between two animatronics, and the blush that was once subsiding returns a little as you attempt to hide it. "..Just.. exploring. I-I can be here if I want to be, my schedule is worked out with Wendy and management is fine with it."
She tilts her head and her hair follows, the green top adjusting as she stills. "Yeah. That leads up to the roof, genius, I'm aware. Did you get out? Did.. he.. get out?"
She stares up at Sun while he cranes his neck down and meets her gaze. "Oh friend, yesyes, I was surprised too! It seems our restrictions don't apply vertically, nono!"
She steps back a little, looking at you. "..Well, at least you two are getting along well it seems.. don't see that too often."
Her eyes flick to the door you just exited out of and you swear they glint and something flashes over them. You remember Sun's comment at one point of her having x-ray vision, and your heart jumps.
You stagger to catch your breath and release a response to avoid awkward silence any longer. "Y-yeah, yeah. We're fine. Uh, we gotta get back to the Daycare, so.."
She rolls her eyes. "Uh-huh, go on ahead. It's just a little strange to see a technician.. comfortable.. around.." Her expression by now is almost pitiful.
Sun's smile falters above you, and his pseudo-confidence finally fades as he reserves himself a little.
You notice his grip on your shoulders weakening. You look to Roxy. "Well, most techs here aren't very kind. I'm sure you know that. See ya later, Roxy."
She scoffs. You reach up and take his hand off one of your shoulders, holding it before guiding him past Roxy. You don't look back, but you can feel her gaze boring into your back, straight through Sun.
You're about to round a corner until Roxy collects herself. "Ignorance is bliss. There's a lot you're unaware of, smartass. Save your skin."
You hear Sun's head whir backwards and him mumble as she stomps in the opposite direction. You catch a glimpse of her tail disappearing around a corner as you round yours.
You sigh. "..Sorry, Sunny. She doesn't seem very nice."
There's silence as you continue down the hallway a couple of steps.
Sun's hand weakens its grip on yours. "..She's right."
Your teeth clench. "..No, she's not. I'm perfectly okay with you two, we know how to avoid the glitch, and-"
You both stop as you feel his hand stationary. "Nonono, we.. we should've told you sooner. We could've kept you safe, b-but. We were soso afraid of losing you, Sunflower. Selfish.. w-we got you hurt.."
"Sun.."
"A-and, no.. you don't.. you don't know everything, no.. Me.. Moon.."
He flinches as Moon beckons him to quiet. "..Bad.. bad things.. hurt.. not even those that hurt us, nono.. M-Moon.."
You turn and squeeze both of his hands in yours. "Hey, calm down. Okay? There.. there'll be a time and place to have this discussion. I know enough about you, I know I care about you, I know you care about me. That's all that matters now."
He slouches down, eyes glued to the ground.
You step forward, releasing his hands to wrap yours around his tummy. "..We've had enough stress recently. We don't have to worry about any of that now. Everything is okay, everything will be okay. I'll make sure of it, promise."
You hold him until he calms. You pull away after letting him rub your back and glide his hands through your already messy hair. You take his hand again. "C'mon, let's get to the Daycare. You've got new clothes and Wendy got me whatever 'slumber party necessities' means."
He seems to lighten up after that. "Oh!? S-Slumber party..!? Oooh, yesyes, let's go! Pleasepleaseplease, come on!"
You giggle as he alternates to either of your sides, sometimes circling around you while guessing what Wendy could've got you. He freezes for a second after his dozens of guesses, you almost run into him before he jolts back to life.
"We.. we can give you a tour too like we wanted sometime! Sunflower! W-we can give you a tour! You.. you've barely seen even a quarter of the Plex, yesyes.. oh, sososo exciting!"
A wide smile is glued to your face. His energy is refreshing.
You grab his hand again that was released for him to pace around you, him pausing his orbit. "Mhm, we've got all day, Sunshine. Saturday, and it's just the morning. Hopefully I can get started on the anti-virus, but.. I'm sure we can have a little fun before then. Let's just get your new clothes first."
His eyes widen and you swear his pupils grow. He smiles wide as he bends his knees to be closer to you. "Really!? Oh, Sunbeam, sosososo many ideas.. need.. need a list, yes.. w-we should hurry, the Daycare is only a couple more steps away, come on, come on, we have to find out what Wendy got youuu~!"
He'd carry you if you ribs weren't fucked up. "S-slow down, Sunny. My legs aren't as long as yours. We'll get there."
He whines, but finds comfort in playing with your hand, walking at your side. Slowly but surely, you make your way to the Daycare maintenance tunnel entrance.
Slowly but surely.
You hope you two will get a break. You need it.
Slowly but surely.