crumbs and other imaginary things
[@crystalmagpie447 remember this? well uh.]
another shift at the pizzaplex had you hunched over, with only your dutiful mop as your crutch in your moment of reprieve as you looked over the now freshly cleaned floors. no doubt they wouldn’t stay clean for long, what with all the children that always seemed to leave some sort of mess in their wake, but you still prided yourself on a job well done. you managed to actually move your legs after a few moments of simply standing there; lifting up the mop to place it in a bucket of now browned water, and stepped one foot in front of the other with said bucket in tow, all the way over to the nearest janitor’s closet. you were more general staff, really, assigned to do any odd jobs over the course of your shifts; that was a song and dance already played out, though, no doubt.
there was a remark under your breath about how nifty the wheels attached under the bucket were, how much more efficient it was to be able to roll it over to where you had to store it, considering the alternative of having to lug something of its weight all the way over with only your average amount of arm strength instead. management said not to worry about emptying the water anywhere, so you rolled it into the dim space and promptly closed the door without much thought. you mimed the action of wiping your hands clean of the deed, and laughed quietly to yourself when you noticed the familiar gesture. there was almost nobody here, except for if you counted the wet floor bots, and you liked to count them in.
in fact, just before exiting the area, you made sure to pat the one guarding your work on the top of its little head with a smile. it didn’t say anything, really couldn’t, other than a soft whirr and a mildly harrowing stare into the very fiber of your being, which you took as some sort of acknowledgment. a wave goodbye to the bot, and you set off to where you usually did when you had extra time before you legally had to clock out. it really was automatic at this point, but maybe you’d take a quick detour.
“FRIEND!! HELLO! HI!”
you grinned at sun’s overexcitement, something that never seemed to fade with every time you gave the attendant a “surprise” visit, waving back while he opened the door to the daycare wider for you, “BUDDY!! HI! HELLO!”
the both of you laughed at each other, sun jingling along with you as you walked over to the trash can by the security desk, throwing away plastic while scrubbing at your mouth with your hand to rid of any residue from the self-indulgent treat. the animatronic tilted their faceplate a few clicks to the left in curiosity, and made a noise of mild disgruntlement at such a heinously vile act, “sunshine, i really DO think it would be best to use, oh i don’t know, a napkin? tissue?”
a pointed raise of your eyebrow, fold of your arms across your chest, and you rolled your eyes at him, “oh, come on!! what happened to “how was your day, bestest buddy”?? “anything interesting happen, my dearest perfect angel that is so cool and also amazing”??? huh?”
he shook his head at your antics, hands reaching out to carefully dust away crumbs that might’ve still been clinging to your lips, “hmm.. okay then! how was your day, dearest? anything interesting happen?? do tell!!!”
when he was satisfied with the cleanliness of your face, he pulled their hands back with a tap to the corners of your lips and a spin of his rays, miming out wiping his hands clean of the deed. it was just a bit to play along to, but it still made you oh so happy, beaming up at him, “alright, alright, i’ll spill the beans-“
his faceplate clicked back to place, and a giggle, “what beans?”
a breath, “expression! figure of speech! not actual beans.”
if a plastic face had the ability to deadpan, he certainly would be using it at the moment, “we know, friend.. do go on. were those chips good? did you work hard while also making sure to take breaks?? any-”
you raised a hand, as if to halt the sunny personality’s train of worries by simply waving, and he did fall silent for a moment, “woah, okay, wait- how did you know i got chips?”
their fingers twitched, you caught from the corner of your eye, and his voice lilted while he shifted his weight from foot to foot, “crumbs!! you were chewing something crunchy, and we caught a glimpse of the bag. gotta say!! we thought you could do better with your selection of snacks.. those are infamous for being disappointing!!”
urges to hide yourself up in the jungle gym were repressed very heavily, “oh, come on! you’re gonna be weirdly observant and rip on my lackluster taste?? fake friends… the both of you!”
there was a moment of hesitation, a hushed chuckle like that of listening in to another’s word, then he pressed their hand to their chassis in dramatized dismay, “GASP!!! US?! FAKE FRIENDS??? sunshine, we could NEVER!! i only… speak the truth! is that so wrong??”
“…what if i said yes?”
the pair of you snickered at that. hands of metal and plastic and silicone cupped your cheeks once more, thumbs dabbing at the outline of your lips, and you hummed. must not have gotten all the crumbs after all. he gave you a littler smile, voice surprisingly quieter than what you were used to from the louder of the two, “i would throw you out a window! now, i’ve already said “do tell” twice now, so it’d be a little redundant to say it a third, wouldn’t it?”
you pretended to think, “huh… i guess it could be, but we wouldn’t be able to know for sure. how about you try it again and see-?”
the sun gave you its most unimpressed expression.
“ALRIGHT, alright!! pFFT- hAha, i’ll tell!!! okay, so…”
“… and then i had to clean that s- dookie!! that dookie up! not literally dookie, it came out the kid’s mouth, but uh… it sure could’ve passed from smell alone…..”
it was maybe ten minutes till you had to formally end your shift for the day, and you were somehow always surprised at how fast your extra time passed with the daycare attendant. you hadn’t spent the whole time talking about your experience through the day, as you could never remember things people asked of you to remember in the moment they did, so your ever-understanding friend had initially done a majority of the talking. describing the itinerary he had planned for the children today, how it all went mildly off-track and some improvisations had to be made, all while you helped clean up any stray toys or such still left skewed about the space. in the comfortable silence that followed, you blurted out pieces of your own activities until they finally formed the solid timeline of your day, if not broken up by a plushie-throwing battle momentarily.
the sun had set a half of the time through, though, and now you were in the company of the moon, who hummed along to your musings, “that’s disgusting. genuinely vile.”
there was no doubt a grimace painted across your features, and he seemed to laugh at the picture, “it really was! sucked. awful.”
he made some elaborate show of swimming through the air on his back, with only the cable hooked to their back piece, supporting their taunting frame, “sucks to suck, loser. you probably smell like it. take a shower, stink.”
you frowned up at him from where you walked along the hallway, sniffing at your clothes before letting your steps fall a little heavier, “shut up!! i was gonna anyways!”
the cord gave no audible indicator of the lunar dingdong gliding to hover over you with a playful grin, “stop stomping then, bozo. throwing tantrum. stinky stinker.”
“i am not!! you’re just being a jerk.”
you cringed, while moon’s smile only seemed to widen. you definitely sounded kind of whiny; you both knew that, so you switched it up with a drawn-out sigh, “ANYWAYS!! i’m gonna have to clock out soon, so don’t miss me too much while i’m gone, a’ight?”
you were steadily approaching the exit now, and the moon dragged itself along by the tether still for a quiet moment, before snorting with the barest trace of a crackle from their voicebox, “couldn’t care less.”
although, when standing in front of the shutters, he ruffled your hair a bit with a titter filled of mischief, then smoothed it back down to a poor imitation of how it looked before as he lowered himself to your standing when you complained lowly. you rolled your eyes at him, huffing, “wow, you guys really are fake…”
moon gave you a disgruntled mumble as a reply at first, before it raised to a decibel that was actually possible for humans to hear clearly, fingers wandering to trace spirals into your temple, “yeah, yeah- sooo unreal, this is all a dream. wake up. wake up. wake up. wake up.”
you breathed a laugh that went strictly against the bit, face twisted in an unwitting smile, “wake up? i would think you’d be telling me to sleep, instead. isn’t that kinda your whole thing?”
the bot fell silent for a moment, tracing out as many bumps and ridges and shapes he could of your face, like the imprinting of a memory as cool fingertips ghosted over the seam of your lips. it was a little strange, but it still relaxed the muscles in your face as he reached up slowly to brush away a fallen eyelash with a plastic knuckle, then seemed to regain his voice, “sleep. sleep. sleep. sleep. sleep.”
that finally made you cackle, and moon squeezed your cheeks lightly with eyes that wished to crinkle in mirth, letting their silicone palms slip from your jaw with a final couple of taps from thumbs to the edges of your mouth, “you’re such a weirdo, dude.”
this time he rolled his eyelights instead, the cord clipped to their back pulling taut as their smile seems a little less carved in, and he’s watching you from a bird’s eye view once more, “sure… uhuh.”
you fished out your keycard, still grinning as well, “you really are, i swear! gonna dip now, though. see you when i see you!!”
card swiped and shutters lifting, you waved to the moon as you stepped out, it reciprocating a reflection of the farewell for the night, “later, weirdo. stay safe.”
you shouted back an affirmation, and all you got in reply was the tinkling of bells.
you were glad they were salvageable.
well, you honestly were infinitely more grateful that they as a whole were salvageable. the bells were just a nice bonus. you flicked one tied to their wrist again, smiling a little to yourself.
at first the ribbons had been scorched of ash and blackened from fire, but you had cleaned and learned to stitch, so they now looked as good as new. maybe the two found peace in the fact as well, but you could never truly know what went on in their head at any given moment. only guesses, really. lots of guesses nowadays.
guesses such as who was sitting next to you at the moment. who? sun rays were out, nightcap pinned, staring at you. it was useless to have the television on, really as no one watched whatever was playing, but you still observed the light bouncing off the walls with a very real interest.
there was a painfully long stretch of silence, and though you didn’t have a clue as to whether they felt as uncomfortable as you did, you still struck up conversation. the animatronic seemed eager to listen to whatever it was you finally took a deep breath to say, eyes glued to your face as you sighed heavily, “uh, sun… moon..? are you okay?”
the static laced through their words was a lot more noticeable, fingers in their lap spasming as if indecisive, “yes!! yes, all is well, friend!! we’re alright. you alright, tv too loud? all good?!”
so, your friends weren’t quite themselves, were they? were they? you reached over to the remote on the table, switching the television off with the press of a button, while the animatronic observed after your every move. you turned to them a little more after that, and held out your arms with an unsure grin, to which sunrays extended to stab through the poor nightcap further, “i’m all good! don’t worry, buddy… do you uh, want a hug?”
there was a moment of hesitation, like their body was held back by something, yet their faceplate was lit up with a sort of unbridled joy that had your smile widening, “YES!! yes, yes!!! that would be nice, mhm. can we?!”
you raised a brow, teasing, “i’m literally the one who asked, guys. of course.”
very soon after saying that you were gathered in arms and cradled close, high pitched laughter and mumbles being whispered as you wrapped your limbs around them, still jittery hands rubbing circles into your back. digits trailed and traced up your spine, ghosting over notches of vertebrae like second nature, and you squeezed them closer still. a laugh escaped you too when you felt cold fingers trail to your upper neck and draw shapes on your cheeks, pulling your head gently to face their faceplate. rays retracted to be able to rest on your shoulder, eyes still staring at you as their plastic plated fingers brushed over your mouth, the barest of pressure to make the skin give before their line of sight finally drifted to what they were doing.
it was like lightning struck their servos, making them sit rod straight with sunrays ripping up the hat more as they flared and spun like the blades of a fan, making you wince at the future stitching project. it was like they were trying to avoid any physical contact with you now, despite you still very much being spread on their lap, and you were mildly surprised they hadn’t chucked you across the living room from the force of their jolt, “wh- are you okay?? what happened?!”
they seemed like you when you reflected on an embarrassing memory from elementary school in the dead of night, and you had to choke down a wheeze that would’ve been at their expense, mortification hidden behind the same hands that had so affectionately held you, “OH MY GOSH. WE’RE SO SORRY- sorry- WE DIDN’T EVEN ASK!! WE’RE HORRIBLE!!! fakest friends. HOW COULD WE?? horrib-“
you furrowed your brows, leaning forward to pry their hands from their face, which they probably let you from how easy it was to move them. you then replaced their hands with your own, making sure to keep eye contact while they stared into yours, lightly brushing thumbs over the designs carved onto their faceplate, “ALRIGHT, NONE OF THAT!! i don’t know what you’re freaking out about, but you’re not bad buddies at all! like, if it’s about the whole touchy-feely dealy, then you guys are fine!!! more than fine, really! don’t you think i would TELL you to stop if i got uncomfortable?!”
there was a moment of quiet, and hands that were hovering at their sides drop down to the couch cushions, “uhm.. yeah, guess so. are… are you sure, though??! can we-“
your hands found theirs in a slightly annoyed resolution, lifting them to your face to press from the palms to their fingertips to your mouth, effectively killing any words left in their voicebox. you swore you maybe heard the air conditioning kick up speed in the silence, and when you moved on to their metal knuckles, one of them breathed out static, “star, we get it..”
you huffed at them, pausing to stare at their unreadable expression, “YOU BETTER!! AND ALSO YOU’RE NOT FAKE!! now come on, can we get back to it??? the back rubs were especially nice..”
there was hesitation again for a moment, but then they snickered something that was an overlap of the two you knew and loved, and digits traveled over your skin. you sighed in contentment, sinking into their hold while hugging them close to you once more, squeezing when a hand came up to card through your hair, “aww, friend!!! …spoiled.”
you went to yap an objection, but any fight left you when they rested a faceplate with retracted rays back on your shoulder, tracing stars into the corners of your lips. you simply flicked the bells tied to their wrist absentmindedly instead, happy.
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