AN: This I had the toughest time with thus far. Hopefully it reads just fine.
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"Are you ready yet, Gregory?" Roxanne asked through her door. For a moment she gets no response.
"One more minute, this is harder than I thought it'll be!" She slumped against the wall, her foot tapping rapidly on the ground. With the restaurant having just opened for human staff once more, a suffocating sense of dread has blanketed over her.
'How would I hide him during the day now?'
She knew good and well that her curtain couldn't be drawn forever, they had a massive window for a reason, and now it was working against her for the first time since creation. Sure, she loved to show off her greatness, but that was when she didn't have anything to hide. She did come up with the one idea that could work, but not without some amount of risk, or annoyance.
'I sure hope they don't–'
"Okay, you can come in now!" She is startled out of her thoughts. Once recomposed she walks in. She sees the boy look upon himself with a faint smile on his face, which gives her a warm feeling in her chest.
"I see you are quite fond of them already."
"It feels so…" He rubs his hand down the sleeve, relishing every second of it.
"New?" He absentmindedly nods. "I'm glad that you enjoy it. I'll make sure to tell Chica next time I see her." She glances at the clock on her wall, showing that it is almost six. "Looks like we're going to be put to work soon."
"What does that mean for me? Will I stay here while all of you do your thing?"
"As nice as that would be, no. I don't think I can get away with having my curtains drawn two days in a row." She taps her fingers together nervously; this in turn makes the boy feel the same nervousness. "Don't worry though, I have a plan to keep you from being left alone.
"Then why the hesitation? Let's go!"
"Well…you'll have to stay at the daycare." He deadpans.
"Never mind, I'll take the risk and stay here." She shakes her head.
"That can't happen, there is nowhere to hide in here, and I'm sure you don't want to be all by yourself in the backroom, do you?"
"...No." He softly squeaked out.
"Hey now, none of that. This is only to keep you safe."
"But that place is anything but, especially the attendant!" The wolf tilts her head
"How? They wouldn't hurt a fly." He scowls.
"I'd like to see you run from that thing while shrouded in darkness with a dead flashlight!" Her eyes widened as she suppressed an annoyed growl.
'Oooooh. That bot can be such an idiot.'
"Okay, that's bad. But it's just a misunderstanding, Sun and Moon are literally incapable of hurting children." He raises a brow. "No, they can't. As annoying as they tend to be, they can't. Moon was only following his programming to put you to bed."
"'Put you to bed' she says."
"Oh please, there is no need to get so bitter. I know they'll decommission themselves before breaking the rules."
"The moon thing was very much trying to hunt me! All because he thought I shut off the lights!" The air gets increasingly frigid. Roxanne is convinced that he was just trying to say anything to avoid the daycare. But the misty look developing in his eyes felt a bit too real. She deeply sighs then gently continues.
"He dislikes rulebreakers, and the simple way to put it is that you were technically breaking his rule to be napping once the lights are out. As for the 'hunting' part, what were you doing the entire time?"
"Running away?" She suddenly gets a smug look on her face.
"Exactly, now I'm not trying to defend him per se, but knowing what to do once lights are out should keep him off your back, just follow his rules and you'll be okay. However If you are still so worried, I'll make sure to keep an eye on you throughout the day."
"How would you do that when you're so busy?" She only smirks.
"I have my ways." The child pouts whilst crossing his arms.
"Fine, don't tell me. I didn't want to know anyway." The wolf could only chuckle at his actions.
"You'll be alright, and if he does turn out to be hostile in the slightest," Her tone and expression suddenly takes a much darker turn. "He'll have a much bigger problem to worry about then his precious rules." She even unsettled Gregory.
"...If you put it that way, then I guess I have nothing to worry about." Her mood instantly reverts. The wolf glances at her clock, which puts her on edge once more.
"If you want to go through with this idea, you need to let me know now. The day is going to begin soon."
He doesn't want to be left at the mercy of the attendant, but what choice does he have at this point? He wanted–no, needed to stay. So he swallowed his fear for the time being, if only for the sake of retaining the only kindness he has ever been shown.
He reluctantly nods his head.
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The daycare lays barren with only its attendant to care for it. Not that he minded, if anything he prefers to keep to himself within the area, never really coming out to the main restaurant unless absolutely necessary. Adults tend to be too…intense. Especially with some of the more mature conversations he catches onto every now and again. Nope, he prefers to stay away from all that negativity.
Fortunately for him, the children he watches over are…mostly nothing but rays of sunshine. Even the more mischievous children end up being a joy to play with. Well, except for…one.
'Rulebreaker! RULEBREAKER!'
Never before had he encountered a child who oh so deliberately defied him. Going as far as to break one of the more important rules: leave the lights alone.
'Naughty boys must be punished!'
Now realistically, he would never harm a kid. Not on your life, not on his life. The program urges him to issue a report to the parent(s) of the child should such a situation ever come, with a temporary ban for good measure. Thankfully he never had to call it quits on a kid, he couldn't even comprehend how it would have felt.
So when he encountered this kid after hours…he was essentially left to fend for himself when it comes to protocol. No parent, no guardian, no nothing. So what is he to do? Right away he decided to behave like it was a normal day. It's just one child, what could possibly go wrong? Only everything.
What was supposed to be an improvised play session turned into an exhausting chase. Between the constant messes he made and the bobbing and weaving within the playground, The bot surprisingly couldn't keep up with the slippery little kid. Once the lights came back on the attendant felt that enough was enough and banned a kid for the first time. They could only hope that security wasn't too harsh on the boy.
However, despite everything the child did, if he came back, the attendant would still give him a second chance. After all, kids will be kids.
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"I guess this is really happening." Gregory muttered as the daycare entrance got closer.
"Don't be a drama queen, that's my job." He crosses his arms with a 'hmph'. "Is there anything else you need before we separate? Or something you want to say? Now is the time."
"...I think I'm still banned from the daycare." Roxanne comes to a dead stop, Gregory tenses. Turns out it was not out of any form of anger or sadness like he expected, but rather because she found it really funny. She outright giggles uncontrollably at the thought of the daycare attendant finally meeting his match in the form of her little pup.
"N-Now that is something I didn't expect. You're such a gremlin, I love it."
"You…do? I thought you would be upset."
"Nononono, never. My only problem is that I never got to witness it. I bet that would have been something to see."
"Well, I don't think it is that big of a deal. I've been banned from plenty of different places already. Not that it ever stopped me." He mutters the last part to himself.
"Whoa, you get around then, don't you?" He shyly nods his head, not at all proud of the restrictions he obtained.
"It certainly made things harder." His downtrodden expression sends a message to quickly change the subject.
"I'll make sure they'll always accept you. Whenever the gang and I do our jobs, he'll always be ready to take up the mantle of caretaker." 'I won't give him a choice.'
By now they have reached the rather large door of the daycare. Gregory is hoping that there would be animosity between him and the attendant. He would hate to lose his best chance at staying because of something he didn't even do. The silence makes the knock sound so much more ominous than it had any right to be.
The door suddenly opens not long after, with a rather lanky animatronic emerging from within.
"Roxanne!?" He notices the precious cargo she's holding next. "Boy from the other night!? What are you doing here!? You should be at home with your family!"
'It seems the attendant has moved on.'
"Sun, I don't have much time left, so let me get straight to the point. I need you to watch over this child for me. And this must be done without the human staff interfering at all. Can you do that?" Her tone left no room for argument, so being the ever so intelligent robot he was. He argued anyway.
"N-Now wait just a moment there! This goes against all kinds of–" He stops when her eyes start to glow, which is accompanied by snarl. "...I guess there is an exception for everything."
"Good." She faces Gregory, now completely calm. "Remember, this is only until I can come up with a better solution." She hugs the boy, then motions for the surprised attendant to take hold of him, to which he wordlessly obeys. Her attitude towards Sun suddenly softened. "Something you should know now is that he can't walk. Please…keep Gregory safe while I'm away."
"...I will. You can count on me."
Satisfied for the time being, she hurries back to her room. The boy stares longingly even after she disappears from view. Sun retreats back inside his daycare, the child still hasn't made any moves or even sounds. He places the kid on a nearby bean bag chair, then speaks first.
"Well this is certainly the most unique morning I've ever had. Not that it's a bad thing! I love a good bit of randomness to my day! Don't you?" Gregory looks off to the side, avoiding Sun's lifeless gaze. "Shy one, aren't you?" He digs around in his pockets, then pulls out a chocolate bar to hand over. "Can we start over? As if we never met?"
The child is a bit surprised that it was the attendant to make a peace offering, but he knows not to look a gift horse in the mouth. So he accepts.
"Thank you. I suppose that would be nice, but honestly, I want to pick up where we left off. Starting with what I wanted to say much earlier than now." He takes a bite out of the bar to build suspense for Sun. "...I didn't touch the lights."
"Well if you didn't, then who did?"
"I have an…idea, but they're not important to me right now. I just want the day to be over with." Sun observes the kid's person, he wants to believe that nothing about him has changed, but…
"What happened?"
Gregory thought long and hard about what he should come back with, and Sun patiently waited for an answer. That he is grateful for.
"Too much. That's what. I was in over my head, and I paid the price for it. Still am." He twitches his bad leg.
Not really a good answer, so Sun decides to press just slightly.
"Do you want to…talk about it?"
"...I guess so, if it helps you understand, then I'm all for it."