Finding Equinox
A Sun & Moon X Reader Story
Chapter One: Dawn of a New Day
Next
Word Count: 6363
Summary: You have a new job at the famous Fazbear Mega Pizzaplex! Surely this will be a normal retail job. Unfortunately, that notion is quickly disproved, as you find yourself severely underqualified for the position Fazbear put you in. But on the bright side, the sun-themed animatronic in the Daycare is nice.
Author’s Note: I’ve been talking about this fic for a while, now’s the time to post it. I’ve never written an X Reader fic before—heck, I’ve only used self-inserts a handful of times before. But I’ve been inspired by a lot of good fics I’ve seen centered around Sun and Moon, and I wanted to throw my had in the ring ^-^ This is going to be a longer series with a bit of a slow burn on the romance part. I mean, you gotta get to know the guys before you date them, right? I hope you all enjoy it, I’ve had a lot of fun writing this :D
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Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex. It sounded like something out of a children’s show. Some place where the characters would hang out in between going to school classes and fighting supervillains...or something. But no. It was a real place, a massive building that was a cross between a mall, a theme park, and a robotics lab.
It was also the site of your new job.
Honestly, you hadn’t expected them to actually look at your online application. Fazbear was notorious for using robots whenever possible, and you’d heard all about the Mega Pizzaplex’s STAFF bots. You weren’t really sure why they were hiring in the first place if the STAFF was oh-so amazing. But you needed a job to pay rent on your brand-new apartment, and your current one sucked. At least the Pizzaplex was willing to pay more than minimum wage. Surprisingly.
So, when they emailed you back with congratulations on getting the job, you snatched it up. Sure, it would mean commuting to the Pizzaplex outside of the city five days a week, but you liked driving. And you would be lying if you said you weren’t fascinated by working for the Fazbear Entertainment. The company that spawned a million ghost stories—not to mention multiple genuinely scary horror games. The legend appealed to you, as terrible as the rumors were.
Your first shift was on Monday, starting at 3pm. A decent enough time. It took a solid forty minutes to drive out to the Pizzaplex, though, and you weren’t sure if there’d be trouble getting in, so you left at 1:40. Luckily, the massive building—seriously, this was probably bigger than your college campus had been—had an employee parking lot nearby. You found a decent spot, then gathered your items for the day.
The email you’d gotten from Fazbear Entertainment said you were allowed to bring or wear whatever you wanted, as long as you acknowledged that Fazbear Entertainment wasn’t responsible for lost or damaged items. And you’d done your research on the Mega Pizzaplex shortly after getting the job. In accordance with your research, you put together a little Survival Pack:
Work uniform. It was really just a T-shirt with a logo on the front and back that read “Fazbear Entertainment Mega Pizzaplex Employee.”
Company-issued FazWatch. It had been sent to you in the mail along with the shirt, and looked a lot like some of the novelty toys that Fazbear sold. That wasn’t going to be confusing at all. But apparently it gave you security clearance.
Headphones. Connected to your phone via Bluetooth, so you could listen to music or a podcast while you worked, and hopefully drown out the sound of the large crowds that went in and out of the Pizzaplex each day.
Charger and portable battery. Headphones wouldn’t be much good if your phone died.
Sunglasses. Looking at the promotional pictures on the website, you knew that there would be bright light galore inside the building. And you would prefer to not have to stare at those for your entire shift. The pair you brought today were especially big, with round lenses that covered almost the entire upper half of your face.
Face mask. Just in case you needed to dull some strong smells or avoid breathing in any sort of particles.
Zip-up hoodie. Allowed the logo on the T-shirt to be seen. You hadn’t been sure if the Pizzaplex would be too warm or too cold, so you brought this just in case of the latter.
Backpack with packed lunch. Sure, the email said that food would be provided for you, but you’d been screwed over by messages like that before, so you brought something just in case.
With these powers combined, you gained the Ultimate Ability: Getting Customers to Leave You Alone Unless You Approached Them First.
Walking in through the front entrance was easy. The logo on your T-shirt allowed you to skip the massive lines. You strolled right in through the glass doors...and stopped short. Wow. This place was...really, really cool. And funnily enough, looked a lot like the pictures on the website. You’d been half-expecting some Expectations Vs. Reality shit, but no. On the surface at least, this place was incredible.
Also very, very loud, and very, very bright. You mentally patted yourself on the back for thinking of your Survival Pack. You glanced around, unsure where to go, before calling one of the elevators. The email said to go to the atrium when you arrived. So, one short elevator ride later, you stepped out onto the center balcony, overlooking the massive neon-lit expanse of the Pizzaplex.
“Hello New Employee.”
You jumped at the sound of a robotic voice behind you. Spinning around, you saw one of those patented STAFF bots: simple robots with painted-on facial features and wheels for feet. “We are glad to have you here as part of the Fazbear family,” the voice continued. “Take a map.” The bot held out a folded sheet of paper in one of its clamp-like hands.
“Uh...suuuure.” You took the offered map. Surprisingly, your FazWatch beeped. You glanced at it and saw a notification, telling you that a map of the Mega Pizzaplex had been added. “Huh.” You looked back at the map in your hands. Yep, it was paper, alright. How did it connect with the watch? Or did the bot do that?
“Your company-issued Freddy FazWatch will alert you to any tasks you have to complete on your shift,” the STAFF bot said. “All tasks must be completed before ending your workday. New tasks can and will be assigned at any point during your shift. These tasks may include janitorial services, transport of goods from storage using the utility tunnels, animatronic maintenance and repair—”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“—and upkeep of devices such as arcade cabinets, musical equipment, and any internal systems of the Mega Pizzaplex. Remember to smile, you are the face of Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex.”
“Wait a minute, what was that second-to-last one?” you asked. But it was too late. The STAFF bot had already rolled away, and was hounding the incoming customers to “take a map.” You almost pursued it, but decided against it. The bot probably wasn’t programmed to do anything more than give you that introduction and map.
Still...was that really it? You weren’t going to have any training or anything? Were you even going to meet your supervisor? Did you have a supervisor? You stand there, confused, for a good few minutes, looking down at the atrium and getting in the way of incoming families. Well...guess you would have to make do.
You shuffle off to the side, pass through a few doors, and somehow end up in a gift shop full of kids asking their parents for plushies. Another STAFF bot behind the counter seemed to be handling the transactions, thank god. You’d manned the register before in other jobs, and it always made you feel awkward. Well, nobody was looking for you, so you take a moment to pull out your phone and put on your most energetic music, cranking up the volume until only the loudest of children’s screams pierced the barrier of sound. Then, you decided to check out this FazWatch.
The interface was easy enough to figure out. You had a tab for tasks, a tab for the map, and a tab to remind you of your schedule. It seemed you had a fifteen-minute break scheduled for six o’clock. You could also clock in and out from this tab. Right now, it was 2:50, so you tapped the “Clock In” button. Nothing wrong with being early, right? There was also a gear icon in the bottom left for settings, and a lock icon in the bottom right that told you your security level. It was Level Four...which seemed a little high for what the job description was, but you weren’t going to complain.
Now. Onto the tasks. Cleaning the glass in Rockstar Row...fixing a STAFF bot that some kids messed with...restocking the ice cream parlor in Bonnie Bowl with new ingredients...and a few other things. Most of it didn’t sound too hard, but you were a little worried about that STAFF bot. Sure, Fazbear liked to brag about how their animatronics were extremely advanced yet simple to use, but you didn’t think you were qualified to work on anything robotic-related. You hadn’t even taken any math classes in college.
Well. Better get to it. If that STAFF bot from before was right, new tasks could show up at any moment. You shouldn’t let them pile up.
Sure enough, all the tasks you’d been assigned were simple to figure out. The biggest obstacle in your way was navigating the damn Pizzaplex. The Faz-map on the FazWatch was Faz-awful. Terribly low resolution. This company was worth billions of dollars, but it couldn’t spare ten bucks for the map. And the paper map you’d been handed only showed areas customers were allowed to be in, it was no help for the employee-only parts. But once you figured out where you were going, it was just a bunch of manual labor. Even the broken STAFF bot only had its wheels jammed. Jabbing about with a screwdriver fixed it right away.
Sooner than you thought, six o’clock approached, and with it, your fifteen-minute break. You were pleasantly surprised to see that you’d already completed all your assigned tasks. Maybe you could take a longer-than-mandated break. If you were really lucky, you might even be able to just chill for the rest of your shift.
You looked around. Your last task had been fixing a machine in customer service. Apparently a teenager stuck a magnet on it and completely broke it. Honestly, you hadn’t been sure what to do, so you just turned the machine off and on again. Surprisingly, it worked. Hopefully. You’d hate to make some other human worker—of which you had seen none the whole day—fix it. Now, you were standing near the elevators in the lobby, staring up at the massive golden Freddy statue. Customers were standing around, waiting for the elevators to arrive. A few little kids were looking at you, probably wondering why this strange person was wearing sunglasses indoors.
Alright. Logically, you should take your break in the break room. That would be great...if you knew where one was. In the three hours you’d been wandering around the Pizzaplex doing menial tasks, you hadn’t seen anything even like a break room in any of the employee-only areas. So...that left you at a loss.
A loud noise pierced the sound barrier you’d set up with your headphones. You jumped and glanced around. One of the kids waiting for the elevator was screaming and pulling against his mom, apparently scared of getting in the moving metal box. A few other customers were watching the scene. Some of them noticed you staring and stared right back. You quickly looked away, feeling irrationally guilty.
Ah, screw the break room. You just needed a place that was quiet and empty of customers so you could eat your lunch (dinner?) without any unexpected noises or staring families.
You looked around for an area without any people. Obviously, the lobby and main atrium were a no-go. What else was there? Gift shop, lost and found, daycare—daycare?
Partly out of curiosity, partly out of noticing nobody was heading that direction, you walked over to the big garage door. It opened on its own, doing that thing where the doors recognize your security level and let you in accordingly. You ducked under before it fully opened.
You found yourself in a long, wide hallway. The floor was a pattern of purple colors, while the ceiling resembled a night sky full of stars. There was a series of planters with palm trees—probably fake—and various decals on the brick walls. One was a rainbow logo with an arrow pointing further down the hall, reading “Superstar Daycare Pick-Up.”
While you could have sat on one of the planters to eat your lunch, you headed further down the long, wide hallway, wanting to see if there’s a better place at the end. You glanced around at the wall decals. They seemed to be advertisements for some sort of...candy? Sunnydrop Energizing Candy and Moondrop Sleepy-Time Candy, each featuring cartoon mascots styled after the sun and moon respectively. It was pretty cute, actually, but you couldn’t help but wonder what made this candy “energizing” and “sleepy.”
Drugs?
No, probably not.
But honestly given the rumors surrounding Fazbear Entertainment and child endangerment, you wouldn’t be surprised to hear they were putting something weird in the candies. Maybe too much of something that’s regulated for good reason.
The hallway ended in another one of those garage doors, decorated with a sun and moon motif. This also opened automatically, and you were immediately greeted by a pair of golden statues. Kind of like the one in the lobby, but much smaller. And instead of depicting any of the headlining Glamrock animatronics, these are replicas of some sort of...sun and moon...things. With puffy pants. Oh, wait. They were probably the same characters on the candy advertisements. Duh.
You stepped further into the room. There were a few tables and chairs here, and you took off your backpack in anticipation of sitting down for what must have been the first time in three hours. But before you did, you looked around some more. The area overlooked a larger playplace, walled in and with netting covering the top. You stared down at it. Looked pretty nice, honestly. You would have loved something like this as a little kid. But where was the entrance? There was a slide up here that leads down into the playplace (labelled “Slide Into Fun!”) but that doesn’t help with getting out.
Still holding your backpack, you pushed through the turnstiles and walk down the stairs to what must be the ground floor. More tables down here, sweet. And an oversized pair of wooden double doors. Good. That solved that mystery. With your curiosity satisfied, you sat down at one of the tables and pulled out your lunch.
You ate peacefully, unbothered by any customers or tasks, completely content to sit here and avoid the possibility of being stared at. Your music blared in your ears, so you turned it down a bit, since it didn’t need to be as loud in this quieter area.
While you sat there, you wondered if you’d ever get to meet any of those famous animatronics Fazbear was known for. They’d been completely absent so far; you hadn’t even seen them in their rooms when you cleaned the glass on Rockstar Row. Strange. You knew the Pizzaplex had closed for a while about a month ago—something that was heavily complained about on social media. The official excuse was “maintenance” and “upgrading systems,” but it had all been very vague. Even the email you got upon hiring hadn’t said much. It was very mysterious. Maybe something happened during that time it was closed, something that put the animatronics out of commission, but Fazbear decided to reopen without the animatronics anyway. You wouldn’t be surprised.
Once you were finished, you checked the time on your phone—surprisingly, the FazWatch didn’t have a space for the time. 6:08. Huh. Speed-eating, hell yeah. Now, with some time to kill before your break ended, you put your lunch bag away and stood up.
Movement flickered in the corner of your eyes.
Your head whipped towards it. Where did that come from? Was it...inside the playplace?
You approached the wall cautiously, peering through the glass at the play area. At some point during your break, someone had shown up inside there. Or...maybe it would be more accurate to say something. Your wondering about the animatronics must have called to the universe, because now there was one only twenty feet away from you.
The animatronic had its back turned to you, but you recognized the design immediately. It was the same as the golden statue on the floor above. Tall, with long limbs and a circular disc of a head, triangular metal bits jotting out from the side to imitate sunrays. Puffy striped pants and frills around the waist and neck made it look like a clown or jester. Currently, the animatronic was fussing with a stack of toy barrels, bent over and carefully nudging them. Which was a little strange. The barrels were already perfectly stacked.
For a moment, you just watched, intrigued. This wasn’t like any other Fazbear animatronics you’d seen pictures of. It was much thinner and lacked an animal theme, but also...well, its colors were a bit duller than you were expecting. Especially for something themed around the sun. You would have expected bright colors, like the candy advertisements, but instead it was all pale yellows and grays, with darker reds and oranges in the pants and frills. Maybe all the animatronics weren’t quite as colorful as their ads depicted.
As you continued to stare, the animatronic stood up straight, putting its hands on its hips and nodding. It spun around...and immediately stopped when it caught sight of you through the glass wall.
“Oh. Uh...” You were once again surprised by the inaccuracy of the decals on the walls. Yes, the animatronic had a sun for a face, divided in half with one half looking like a crescent moon. But unlike the ads, the animatronic’s eyes were just blank white. No pupils to be seen. It was a little unsettling, but you got over it. Slowly, you raised a hand and waved. “Hi,” you say, feeling awkward.
To your surprise, the sun animatronic immediately jumped into the air and began waving back enthusiastically. It followed this up with several excited gestures, even doing a little dance where it hopped back and forth on its feet. You couldn’t help but smile; something about this was endearing. But as the animatronic continued to gesture, you realized it was probably talking to you.
“Oh! Hang on.” You dug into your pocket, pausing your music on your phone and taking off your headphones. Now you could hear ambient music playing from overhead speakers: a catchy, bouncy tune that was fitting for a daycare. “What were you saying?” you asked.
The animatronic had paused for a bit while you rooted around in your pockets, but once it had your attention again it instantly resumed its excitement, waving its hands back and forth and rotating its face—rotating its face?! Yep, surprisingly, that circular plate of a head could rotate all the way around. That was kind of cool. You wondered how it worked. But, sadly, you still couldn’t hear anything. Was this glass soundproof?
You glanced at the big wooden double doors, but then hesitated. Pulling out your phone again, you watched the time change from 6:11 to 6:12. Then you checked the FazWatch on your wrist. No new tasks had shown up...You wouldn’t have any work to do until one appeared. And that might be a while. You considered it...and then muttered “Why not?” under your breath and walked over to the doors.
Unlike the garage doors leading to the daycare area, these wooden ones didn’t open automatically upon your approach. For a moment, you worried that your security level wasn’t high enough. But then you grab the handle of one of the doors and pull, and it opened without resistance. Well...without much resistance, at least. It was still a very big door, and you grunted with exertion as you gradually pulled it open.
The moment there was enough space, you slipped through, letting the door slowly shut behind you. You coughed, waving your hand in front of your face as dust floated through the air, and then pulled on your emergency face mask. Good thing you’d thought to bring that. The overhead music was even louder inside the playplace, looping along, echoing through the completely empty area.
Well. Almost completely empty.
“Hello new friend!” The sun animatronic from earlier appeared in front of you, grabbing your upper arms and lifting you off your feet. “It’s so good to meet you!”
“Holy shit!” you yelped.
“Sorry!” The animatronic instantly let go, and you fell to the floor, jolting at the one-foot drop. It backed up a bit. “It’s just so exciting to see someone new!” Even as it continued to talk, it couldn’t stay still, bouncing on its feet and fidgeting with its hands. “We can color, play hide and seek, order pizza and eat until we can’t anymore! It’ll be so much fun!”
“I—okay, uh, yeah.” You reached up and massaged the spot on your arm where the animatronic grabbed you. Its grip hadn’t been too tight, but the metal hands made it feel much worse. “Uh...Who are you, by the way?”
“My name is Sun!” The animatronic said cheerfully. “But you can call me Sunny or Sunshine or whatever else you want! And what’s your name, new friend?”
You gave it—him?—you’re going to go with him—your name, and then moved on. “Yeah, I, uh...I’m glad to meet you, too, dude. I-I just started working here. I, uh...haven’t seen any other animatronics yet.”
“Oh, it’s your first day?” Sun gasped, despite not having the breath to do it properly. “And I’m the first one you’ve met? I’m so honored! A-are you here to help reopen the daycare?!”
“Um...nnno.” Sun instantly deflated. Guilt curled around your stomach. "S-sorry. I didn’t even know we had a daycare until now. I just kinda wandered in ‘cause I didn’t see anyone else heading over here. Uh...but! It’s really cool that we have one!” You put a happy spin in your voice, trying to cheer Sun up. Though you weren’t sure if it’ll work on an animatronic...
It worked. Sun perked up. “It is really cool! The Superstar Daycare is the bestest place for all the little ones to play and have fun!”
“Yeah, it looks nice.” Though, now that you were actually in the daycare...you noticed just how empty it is. There was quite a bit of dust in the air, and a visible layer of it over on a nearby desk. And besides the occasional stack of toy barrels, there was nothing on the ground. You gave Sun another look. Close up, you realized that his colors aren’t naturally dull. Instead, the paint on his body was chipped and faded, covered in a layer of grime. What did he say? ‘Are you here to help reopen the daycare’? How long has this place been closed?
“Of course it looks nice! I keep everything nice and orderly!” Sun stood to the side, holding his arms out in a ‘Look at this!’ gesture, indicating the entire playplace. “See?”
“Yeah, I saw you messing with some of these barrels through the glass,” you said.
“Yep! It’s important that everything’s just right! Very important, ho ho ho!” Sun laughed. “Oh, but where are my manners? What would you like to do, new friend? I-I have puppets, and paints, and all sorts of supplies!”
“Well...” You checked your FazWatch. No new tasks had shown up, but... “Um. Sun. You know I’m...on the clock right now, right? That means I might have to leave to do something at any moment, and eventually I need to clock out and go home...”
“Oh.” Again, Sun’s posture slumped a little. “No, I...I know, new friend. I-I just thought I’d offer.” He tapped his fingertips together, looking down at the ground. “You don’t have to stay, but if you want to, we can do anything you want! I-I promise it’ll be fun! But it’s up to you.”
Even though his expression didn’t change from a smile the whole time he talked, he looked and sounded so dejected that you immediately felt bad. Could an animatronic feel sadness or was it just a programmed response? Well, either way, your heart was too soft to just ignore him. “Hey, I didn’t say I was going to go right now,” you said, giving him a smile. “I have some free time to hang out.”
“Really?!” Sun looked up. “Oh wow! That’s great news, friend!” He jumped into the air, arms outstretched towards the sky in excitement, and landed with a solid thump! “We’re going to have so much fun! What do you want to do? I can go get some toys—oh, you’re probably a little old for them, though. I also have arts and crafts supplies, like fingerpaint and glitter glue! Or we can play games! I know a lot of different ones!”
“Um...yeah, sure, I’m down for some arts and crafts,” you said. “But nothing too messy. Do you have, like, markers or colored pencils or something?”
“Hmm, I don’t know. I’ll go check!” With that, Sun spun around—quite literally, his torso and head rotating 180 degrees before his legs caught up with the spin—and skipped off. He was gone before you could even say anything.
You blinked in surprise. What? Where did he even go? “Uhh...okay, then. I guess that’s how superheroes do it.”
With nothing to do but wait, you give the playplace another look, walking around some of the play structures. There was a ball pit. Sweet. Part of you was tempted to jump right in, but there could be anything hidden in there, bugs or worse. If you were a kid, though, you wouldn’t have hesitated. The play structures themselves were pretty sturdy, despite the daycare being closed for god knows how long. It would probably be a bit cramped for an adult like you, but again, as a kid you would be all over them. Stacks of toy barrels were all over, which you avoided touching due to how concerned Sun was over keeping things orderly.
Other than all that, the only thing of note in the daycare was the big desk by the wooden door. You wandered back over, stepping behind it. The dust on the surface looked even thicker up close, though there were areas that weren’t as dusty. Most notably around a small Freddy Fazbear head that looked like it was supposed to hold something. That was a little weird...why that specifically? And not something like the computers or drawers?
“Oh, new friend? I-I don’t think you’re supposed to be behind there.”
You looked up. Sun had returned, carrying a big plastic box and a stack of plain white paper in his arms. He was standing some distance away from the desk, bouncing in a more...anxious way than before. “I’m not? Why not?” you asked. “I’m staff.” You pointed at your shirt for emphasis.
“W-well, um...” Sun paused. “It’s...just for security! And I don’t think you’re security, you would have a different uniform if you were.” He laughed, but it sounded a bit strained.
You raised an eyebrow. “For security? Really?”
“Yep.” Sun’s bouncing grew faster, his mechanical joints making a clacking—and jingling?—sound. “And we don’t really need the desk, anyway! We can just sit on the floor and draw!”
“The floor’s soft,” you pointed out, glancing down at the mats that covered every surface.
“We can use the box!” He shook the box he was holding. Something inside clattered against the plastic sides. “If we just...stay out here.”
You stepped out from behind the desk, noticing the way Sun stopped bouncing the moment you did. Something behind there was making him nervous. There was no doubt about it. “Are...you okay?” you ask slowly.
“What do you mean, friend?”
“I mean, like, do you have deskophobia or something?” You raised your hands. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not gonna go back there if you don’t want. I just want to...be sure. That everything’s good here.”
“Oh!” Sun sounded pleasantly surprised. “Thank you for your concern, friend! No, I’m not afraid of the desk. I’m just...not allowed to go back there. A-and we can’t spend time together if you’re hiding behind the desk!”
“Huh. Okay, then.” You nodded, but there was clearly something more going on. Sun was scared of you being behind the desk. Was there something back there that he didn’t like? Well...this wasn’t the time to bring it up. You didn’t want to give a robot a panic attack. “Alright, we’ll just sit down here then.” You lowered yourself to the floor, sitting on the soft mats.
“Alrighty!” Sun sat down across from you, folding his long legs and setting the plastic box and paper in between the two of you. He took the lid off the box, revealing its contents: a mismatched assortment of markers, pencils, and crayons, colors and brands all mixed together.
“We’ll have to dump these out if we’re going to use the box as a table,” you said.
“That’s okay, as long as we clean it all up after!” Sun didn’t hesitate to tip the box over, spilling coloring supplies all over the floor. “Here, you can use this! I’ll use the lid.”
“Okay, if you insist.” You laughed a little, doing your best to keep the various supplies from rolling too far away.
Silence fell for a while as you’re quickly sucked into drawing. It had been a while since you’d drawn for fun, outside of an art class. It was nice to doodle whatever you wanted. Sun was quiet as well, except for a slight jingling sound that you soon realized came from bells tied on ribbons around his wrists. He went through a lot more paper than you did, only spending five or ten minutes on each page.
Eventually, you noticed he wasn’t coloring anymore. You looked up and saw his face leaning over you, looking at your own drawing. “Oh fuck!” you gasped, surprised. “When did you get here?!”
“Um, friend, I-I was nice about it before but language like that really shouldn’t be used in the daycare,” Sun said.
“Even when there’s nobody else here?” you muttered under your breath.
“Even then!”
“Oh. I-I didn’t realize you could hear that.” Great, now you’re embarrassed about sassing the daycare animatronic. “Anyway, uh. Sorry. You just surprised me, leaning so close.”
Sun immediately leaned back, quick enough that you were mildly surprised he didn’t fall over backwards. “Oh I’m so sorry! I should have realized. I just wanted to get a better look at your art. You’re a very good artist, friend! That’s a wonderful drawing!”
“Haha. Thanks, dude.” Your face grew a little warm. That sounded like the sort of compliment someone would give a little kid during crafts time in school. But hey, Sun was probably programmed for interacting with small children, so you didn’t pay it much mind. It sounded genuine coming from him, not condescending like it might coming from another adult. “It’s just doodling.”
“If that’s just doodling than your other art must be amazing!” Sun leaned a bit forward again. “I really like this one.” He pointed at a drawing of a flower you’d done in one corner of the paper. “And this one!” Now he pointed at a sketch of a person, smiling and waving in another corner.
“Daw, stop it, Sun. You’re so sweet.” You laughed a little bit. “I’m just practicing poses and colors and stuff.”
Before Sun could say anything else, an intercom overhead crackled to life. “It is now seven o’clock. The Superstar Daycare is officially closed,” said the familiar voice of the announcer. “The Daycare lights will be turning off in five hours. Have a wonderful day here at the Freddy Fazbear Mega Pizzaplex.”
“Seven o’clock? Really?” Surprised, you checked the time. Seven o’clock indeed. You’d been sitting here for forty-five minutes. It hadn’t felt like that long at all. More importantly... “Wait, isn’t the daycare already closed? I mean, hadn’t it been closed for a while? What’s up with the announcer?”
“Oh, don’t worry about that, friend,” Sun said. “That always happens at this time! It’s just a scheduled thing! Yes, the daycare has been...closed for a while...but it might open again soon! You have to be prepared. A-and don’t worry about the lights going off! They don’t turn off anymore.”
“I...wasn’t really all that worried about the lights turning off, but thanks,” you said slowly. “My shift ends in two hours, anyway, so I wouldn’t be here long enough even if they did.”
“Good!” Sun sounded oddly...relieved? “The lights have to stay on.” His peppy voice suddenly became very serious. “On. On.”
“Okay, okay. You’re really serious about that, aren’t you?”
“It’s very important,” Sun added, still in that grim tone.
You blinked, confused. You’re about to ask him why it was important when you’re interrupted by a quiet ping! sound, followed by a voice coming from your wrist that said, “New task added!”
“Huh?” You lifted up your arm, looking at the FazWatch. Indeed, a new task had just appeared. A few machines in the East Arcade had run out of tickets and needed refilling. “Oh shi—shoot.” You stand up, only now realizing the pins and needles in your legs. “I have to go.”
“Already?” Sun stood up as well, much more fluidly than you did. “But you haven’t been here that long!”
“I know, I know. I’m sorry.” You bent over and started putting the coloring supplies back into their box. “But you know what they day. Duty calls, and all that. Call of duty. Call of Duty Shooter Man.”
Sun’s face rotates a bit to the side, perhaps confused by your last remark. “Well, do you have to go right now? We can keep coloring! Or if you want, we can do something else!”
“It’s tempting, but I really shouldn’t.” You sighed.
Suddenly, Sun reached forward and grabbed your arm. “A-are you sure? I have more crafts supplies! I-I can go find them!”
“Jeez, dude, be careful with the grabbing!” You pulled your arm away, discreetly looking down at the spot where he grabbed you to check if it left a mark. Luckily, it didn’t.
“I’m sorry!” Sun retracted his arm, stepping backwards. “I-I’m really sorry.” He put his hands behind his back, as if to show that he wasn’t going to try again. “Heh. O-of course, you probably have...very important technician things to do. Go ahead. Sorry.”
“...wait, what?” You weren’t sure if you heard him right. “What do you mean ‘technician things’?”
“Well...because you’re an animatronic technician,” Sun said.
“I’m a what?!”
Your shout echoed in the empty daycare, but you didn’t care much about your volume at the moment. You weren’t supposed to be a technician! You weren’t remotely qualified for that! That wasn’t even the job you’d applied for! How in the Fazfuck were you a technician?!
“Did you...not know that, friend?” Sun asked hesitantly. “I-I mean, it’s possible that you were incorrectly entered as one in the database! Or that my scan was wrong!”
“Your scan?” you asked absentmindedly, more concerned with the whole technician thing.
“We automatically scan any face we see!” Sun said proudly. “That way we can identify a child’s registered guardian and also any staff members with their information in the company database!”
“Right. Okay, that makes sense.” You looked down at the FazWatch again. “Oh my god, is that why my security level is so high? Because it thinks I’m supposed to work on the animatronics? Ffffffrick. Frick, man.”
“Friend, are you...alright?” Sun asked. “Is there anything I can do?”
“No. Thanks for offering, though.” You rubbed your eyes, suddenly feeling tired, and pulled off your face mask. “I’m just...going to go.”
Sun said nothing. When you looked up again, he was staring at you, perfectly still with his shoulders hunched. He seemed tense.
“I’ll come back,” you reassured him. “If not after I take care of this, then tomorrow. I have another shift at the same time, I can stop by to visit.”
“Promise?” Sun asked.
“Promise,” you said, smiling.
“Oh that’s great, friend!” Sun clapped his hands together, the motion accompanied by jingling bells and metallic clanking sounds. “I’ll be prepared next time! Oh! Do you want to take your drawings with you?” He bent over, carefully picking up your arts projects from the floor and holding them out for you.
“Sure.” You took the offered pieces of paper. “Thanks, Sun.” After a moment’s pause, you turn around and head back to the big wooden doors. “Well. I’ll see you later, then.”
“See you later, friend!” Sun waved cheerfully as you pushed the door open and headed out.
Unfortunately, you were not able to return to the daycare before the end of your shift. After you’d refilled the arcade machines with tickets, two more tasks had appeared, instructing you to fix the lights in El Chip’s and clean a whole crowd of STAFF bots that had been attacked with cake at a kid’s birthday party. And after that, the tasks kept coming. You barely managed to finish them all before it was time to clock out at nine o’clock.
You wanted to stop by the daycare before heading home—which surprised you. Sun had really made a strong impression, for you to already be attached. But it was going to be a long drive back, and to be honest, walking around late at night made you pretty anxious. Even if it was just a short way from your car to your apartment. You didn’t want it to be any later than it already was.
Still, you felt bad just leaving. So you quickly ran back to the daycare area, stopping by just long enough to peer through the glass walls into the playplace. Sure enough, Sun was there, fussing with the stack of toy barrels again. He quickly caught sight of you and waved. You waved back, then pointed to the side, indicating you were leaving. It was hard to tell from this height, up by the “Slide Into Fun!” slide, but it almost looked like Sun’s shoulders slumped. Was he disappointed? Well shit, now you just felt worse. You waved harder, then slowly backed away and disappeared.
You’d make it up to him tomorrow.
