Five Nights at Sunny’s Ch 1: Living in the Sunlight
Nathan Hawkins decides to take the night shift at the Daycare within Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzaplex. The sci-fi lover has always had a soft spot for robots, and he loves staying up late to goof around at night. The sunshine animatronic is more than happy to have a new playmate! But there seems to be a darker side to him that he doesn’t want Nate to know about. But he’s so friendly! What’s the worst that could happen...?
Chapter One (You are here!) Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five
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Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizza-Plex had become quite the hotspot attraction for families all over the state. It was like a huge mashup of everything that made the 80s and 90s so great: Synth-rock, arcades, bowling alleys, go-karts, laser tag, dance halls, an overall retro aesthetic decked out in neon lights. Combined, of course, with cutting-edge modern technology. The “animatronics” that performed on stage and roamed the halls for fans to meet were far more along the lines of robots with advanced AI. They could carry conversations, give their thoughts and opinions, react emotionally. Though, that didn’t stop a good amount of people from finding them creepy and uncanny, especially since the place was crawling with rumors about murder and mishaps. The rumors didn’t deter a group of friends that had started frequenting the complex in their down time. Though they were easily in their early and mid-twenties, Nate Hawkins and Mina Tailor weren’t ashamed to let loose and have fun. Nate’s shameless love of all things nerdy and action-packed kept him frequenting the arcades and newly renovated go-kart racing; Mina’s inner Scene Kid phase ate up all the bright colors and punk-rock charm.
In the meantime, Nate had just recently quit his overly-demanding job at an auto-body shop, and he needed a way to make some extra cash for a little while. It just so happened that there were a few job openings at the Pizzaplex, mainly for night watch. The most prominent one was for a night guard position at the kid's day care. The robot attendant had apparently started becoming antsy at night, sneaking out and causing trouble for the other staff.
The images and giant statues of the Daycare's two robots had caught Nate’s interest whenever he walked by the area. Creepy. But also cool, just like all the other robots here. He decided to take the job, at least for the time being. He and his friends would be sad if he had to totally give up his late-night DnD sessions. But hey, it was just looking after a robot made to take care of children. What could go wrong?
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At midnight on his first night, Nate was directed to the small security office by the Daycare, following instructions to click on the large video thumbnail in the center of the screen titled 'Orientation'. The image of an unassuming staff member with a receding hairline appeared, giving a wave to the camera. "Hello...? Hello hello! So sorry that I can't be there to greet you in person. I'm out of town for a conference, but this video should help you get settled in." The man cut away to show two graphics of the jester-like animatronics. "Now, a lot of folks don't realize this, but Sun and Moon here are actually one in the same. Think Transformers, heh. Sun - aka Sunny, Sundrop, Sunshine, Sun-man, Sunrise, whatever you wanna call him... though uh, it should be noted that Sunnydrop is actually the name of his candy, not the animatronic, a lotta folks seem to get that mixed up... We tried branding it as Sundrop but we would’ve been sued by the soda company in a heartbeat...” He could already tell this guy was gonna be long-winded. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to listen to one of these every night for his training week.
“Anyways; Sunny is the default when the lights are on. When the lights go off, his sun rays retract, his clothing pattern shifts like one of those fancy holograph cards and shows off his glow-in-the-dark stars, his metal plating changes like those color-changing Barbie dolls... Super advanced stuff." The next slide showed various murals and cutouts of Sun around the pizzaplex, and a video clip of the robot skipping about in the daycare, playing tag with some of the young kids. "Sunny shouldn't give you too much trouble. He's probably my favorite ‘bot here aside from good ol' Freddy. He is a bit uh, hyperactive, his entertainment and companionship programming is cranked to max in order to deal with all those rambunctious little tykes. Might wanna make sure you have plenty of coffee in your system if you're gonna try to keep him entertained all night, haha. My recommendation is, try to keep him busy in your first couple hours, so that you can get your audit paperwork done in the third hour."
The next slide was similar, showing various depictions of moon. This time, though, it didn't show any imagery of the actual animatronic. "Moon is... well..." There was a distinct hesitation in his voice. "He can also be a bit much to deal with. It's typically why we don't turn the lights off in there. He's pretty good-natured, but he's programmed to make sure the kids have their nap-time, so he can come off as kinda imposing to the little ones. Tells them that the tickle monster'll get them if they don't go to bed on time, scoops em up and plops them into the little daycare cots, reads them bedtime stories, gives them Moondrop candy when they need to calm down. They’re just melatonin supplements, though there are some with light sedatives like pentobarbital and chloral hydrate that the parents gotta give a doctor’s notice for.” Oh, alright, well that doesn't sound bad at all. Kinda cute, actually. Though there was one word that caught his attention...
"But you should know that after-hours, that programming goes a little haywire. Especially around adults. It isn't anything to worry about, of course! You see, all of our robots have security protocols to deal with would-be robbers, squatters, and other unlawful visitors. It usually entails knocking them out and dragging them to an office for holding until authorities show up. Don't worry, he won't knock you out when he sees your uniform," he tried to reassure with a laugh. "He just can't really fight off his programming telling him that lights off means bedtime. He scolds night staff all the time for working such late hours." Nate snickered to himself at the image of a grumpy jester in pajamas running around yelling at everyone to go to bed. "You're gonna meet him sooner or later, because all the power in the building gets diverted to the charging stations for about twenty to thirty minutes at the end of the night. It gives the other guys a quick boost to make sure they don't go dead. It used to be that the power would go off every hour for a few minutes, but guess they figured that was a little inefficient, and Sunny was getting frustrated with Moon draggin' him out of the Daycare every hour."
A short video clip showed an example of the pizzaplex powered down, and Chica and Roxy stepping inside the quick-charge stations. Nate could've sworn he saw a lanky silhouette dancing about in the background, with vivid red eyes peering out from its face... "Your best bet for making sure not to get on his bad side might be to just kinda... Play dead. Pretend you're asleep. And uh, better hope you're not ticklish," he gave a light-hearted laugh, with a twinge of nervousness. That sentence alone was enough to make Nate stiffen in his seat. "Wha — ??"
"Well honestly, both of em might try to get at you. They uh...show a lot less restraint around adults. They're good about stopping when you say the word 'Eclipse' though. Think it's a safety override precaution or something." Oh... Oh no. Now he was curious. He swallowed back a lump in his throat at the thought of being locked in a room all night with this supposed tickle-hungry devil. "Well, that's about all I've got for ya! If you have any questions, concerns or complaints, feel free to bring them to management. Just remember the waivers you signed when you were hired on, and uh, good luck!"
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Unlocking the side door into the daycare, Nate was greeted with a fun little jingle playing on the overhead speakers, and a very nostalgic sight that brought him back to his days of spending time at playgrounds and fast-food jungle gyms. The room was well-lit, with spotlights illuminating a large opening on a mural of a castle tower high up on the wall.
"Hellooo? Sunnyy? Sunny-man?" He called out.
It didn't take long for an answer; the golden-colored jester robot pirouetted out onto the ledge. "YA-HOO~!" He called out, before doing a swan-dive down into the ballpit below. Nate walked over to the edge, trying to follow the rustling lump with his eyes. "HEELLOOO~!" The robot burst out of the pit right in front of him. Nate couldn't help but let out a startled squawk, jumping back. Holy crap he's tall!! He easily could've been a little over seven feet. Seeing him up close in person was also quite a bit different than the images. The slow-blinking robot eyelids and wide, permanent smile were unnerving as hell. But...He was still pretty cute. He had spots on his face and nose that resembled large freckles, twinkling baby-blue, almost pearlescent eyes, a gap between his teeth where his face was divided by his crescent moon ‘mask’, and prominent rosy cheeks.
Sun just giggled. "Hehehe~! Are you my new night buddy?? Nice to meet ya, sunshine!" He took the brunette's hand in his own massive digits, shaking hard enough to jerk his whole arm up and down. "Oh I can't WAIT to have a new pal!! You're not one of the little guys, but I'm sure you still like to have plenty of fun, right??" He excitedly swayed back and forth. Nate was immediately won over by his cheerful - and maybe slightly obnoxious - demeanor. Not at all because he was reminded of himself; naah. "Haha, hey Sunny! The name's Nate. And heck yeah! You don't need to be a kid to know how to have fun. Everyone deserves to let themselves goof off every now and then, y'know?" "Yes, yes, exactly!! I’m glad you understand!” He giggled wildly. “Oh we’re gonna have SUCH a good time!! We can sing, dance, fingerpaint, tell stories, eat all the junk food we want!! There's only one rule here! Keep the lights onnn!!" He booped Nate’s nose. Though he kept his cheery cadence, there was a definite stern edge to his last word. “SO, whaddya wanna do first??” He kept his eyes glued to him expectantly.
“Well, what do you usually do at night? Do you have a routine?" "Well!" He clapped his hands together. "I always gotta start by making sure everything's cleaned up nice and tidy," he patted the top of a nearby tower of squeaky cylinder barrels. "Then I go up to my tower and and spend time looking at all the wonderful drawings that the kids give to me! We can do that later though, I'd rather spend time with you!" He hopped in place. "OH-! And later, I like to take a stroll around the Pizzaplex, say hi to everyone, maybe play some of the arcade games. And it's really fun to mess with the STAFF bots, they can barely tell their left from their right and it's funny to make them spin around like confused Roombas, hahaha~!" He cackled into his hand. Welp, the orientation video wasn't exaggerating. His energy was on par with Mina’s after loading up on sugar during one of her late-night dance parties. "I gotta be sure to recharge a couple times at night though! You'll know when I'm runnin' low on juice when I staaarrtt taalkiiinngg liiike thiisss..." He dragged out his words and slowed his voice in a comical drawl, sagging his arms and head... Before popping right back upright. "BUT that's about all! It's your first night here so I wanna do whatever you wanna do!"
Nate snickered to himself. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t that creepy. He was adorable in a manic kind of way. "That all sounds good to me! Well, you probably know this already, but I do need to get paperwork done and do some cleaning and routines outside the daycare.” "Ughh, yeah I knooow," Sun groaned and rolled his eyes. “I don’t get why organics gotta have all the boring jobs.” He chuckled and gave a shrug. “Yeaah, super lame, I know, haha. I can’t imagine taking care of a room full of kids is easy though. Not a lot of humans would envy that position.” Sunny just puffed out his chest proudly. “Well I was built to keep up with ‘em! I got an energy core like no other! Want me to prove it to ya~?” “Oh yeah?” He raised an eyebrow. “And how’re you gonna do-” "TAGYOU'REIT!" Sunny gave him a tap on the shoulder before cackling and taking off, merrily skipping away.
Nate blinked hard. Was he seriously about to play tag with a robot in an empty kid’s daycare while on-shift? ...Absolutely. “Oh you’re ON!” Luckily for him, he was pretty fast on his feet. He managed to catch up to Sunny before the bot clambered up one of the slides, tagging his leg before darting off. They kept up the back-and-forth tag for a little while, and Nate nearly tripped over one of the squeaky barrel towers, accidentally knocking them over. Sunny shrieked. “Nono NO be careful of those!!” He ran over to quickly stack them back up with an exasperated sigh. “Ohh what a mess, which one was the bottom, which one’s the top?!” Nate was a bit taken aback by his mini panic. “Uh, sorry, Sunny, I didn’t mean to--” The moment he re-stacked them, the bot acted like it hadn’t even happened. He responded by reaching out to tag Nate again. “Don’t worry ‘bout it, sunshine! Just don’t do it again, or else~!” He wiggled his fingers playfully. Nate did everything to keep the yelp from escaping his throat. “G-Gotcha, I’ll keep that in mi-” He took off running, shouting back behind him. “Well hurry up, you’re it!!”
After Nate tagged him back again, Sun ramped up his efforts. He eventually corraled the night guard over toward the ballpit; he'd either have to jump in, or swiftly turn around and attempt to duck past him. But he didn't leave him any choice. Instead of just tagging him, Sunny effortlessly scooped him up in his long arms and tossed him into the ballpit, making him shriek. "TAAAG~!" He burst into loud squawking laughter, slapping his knee and doubling over. "HAHAHAAA I gotcha good~!!" "UGH- SUN!!" Nate scrambled out of the pit, but he couldn't even act fake-annoyed, bursting into a fit of giggles. "Okahahay okay, that was a good one, but do that again and I'm pulling you in with me!!" Still giggling and snorting at his successful prank, Sunny reached down to help Nate out, grabbing around his sides. "Hehehe, okayokay, deal--" "WAGH-!" He couldn't stop the yelp that escaped him when he felt those metal fingers prod at his sides. "Oh-! You honked!" Sun tilted his head at him, starting to set him down on his feet. Nate quickly tried to save face, but he could feel the blush quickly creeping up to his cheeks and ears. "Y-Yeah, you just surprised me, that's all, I-I'm not used to being picked up like thahahat-!!" Another chuckle slipped out, just from the close proximity of his fingertips near his armpits, making him wiggle more.
"...Waaaait a minute. Is someone tiickliiish~?"
He immediately felt butterflies of dread well up in his stomach. He knew that question had sealed his fate. "W-Wha?! Nooo nono not at aAAAGH-HEHEHE!!" Sun didn't allow him the chance to finish before giving soft, rapid-fire squeezes up and down the brunette’s sides. He instantly burst into giggles, folding in on himself. "Ohhh that's so CUTE! I love when you organics have these giggle-buttons~!" The bot snickered impishly, skillfully flurrying his dexterous fingertips over his belly, playing his ribcage like a piano. He kept his touch gentle, but fast-paced. "GAAH-HEHEHEH!! NAAaa-hahaha stahahaha-!!" Nate tried to shield his torso with his arms and swat his hands away, looking away shyly and shutting his eyes, stumbling back more. Sun wasn’t deterred, taking a step forward, leaning in very close to loom over him. "Coochie coochie coochieee~ You have such a handsome laugh, sunshine~! It brightens up my day! Er... Night!" The cooing and punny compliments just made him whine and blush brigther, growling in his laughter. "RRrrhh-heheheh Staahahap-hahahaha!!” He tried to shove his arms away. Eventually, his staggering back caused him to stumble and fall. Thankfully the floor was very plush.
Instead of helping him up, Sun immediately knelt down over him and used one of his large hands to keep both of the night guard’s arms above his head. He raked his fingers down the hollows of Nate’s armpit, before wiggling them back up and around in circles, switching to the other side to repeat the process. “Heeheehee, you’re so wiggly, like a little ferret~! Tickletickletickleee~!” Nate practically squawked, his laughter having gone up a few octaves; he had now become very flustered by the attention, his cheeks and ears burning, shaking his head back and forth. “NAAHH-HAHAHA SUNNYY-HAHAHA!! STAAAHAHAHAPP!!” A playful glint appeared in the bot’s eye. He scooted himself down, and quickly grabbed Nate’s ankles the moment he attempted to scramble backwards, yanking off one of his shoes and socks. “I spy some cute little piggies~” He cooed, fluttering his fingers very close to the ball of his foot. Nate yelped all the louder and frantically tried tugging his ankle away - though he couldn’t hide the shaky grin creeping up on his face. “NOO nonono don’t even THINK about it-!!” He knew he could probably break away if he’d tried hard enough. But this wasn’t exactly a terrible situation to be in... Sunny didn’t listen anyways. He raked his fingers down his soles and up again, flurrying them over his toes. “Heeere, piggiepiggiepiggieess~! Heeheehee!!” “NOOO-HAHAHAHA SHIIHIHIHIT SUHUHUNNYYYEEE-HEHEHEHE!!” He flailed in the robot’s grip, hiding his face shyly, trying to curl his toes down.
Sunny let out a loud offended gasp. “LANGUAGE, young man!!” He promptly took off Nate’s other shoe and sock, holding both his ankles with his large hand and flurrying his fingers back and forth between each foot rapidly. “NONON-NAAHH-HAHAHA OKAHAHAHAY OKAYY I’M SORRYYY-HEHEHEHE!!”
When the bot finally decided the brunette had enough, he let go, scooting up to sit next to him. Nate laid sprawled out on the plush floor, his face red as a beet, panting for breath for a few moments. “How ya feelin’, sunshine~? Sorry I got carried away, you just looked so CUTE laughing like that~!” He giggled, petting his head. “Y-Yeah yeah, I’m fine... But you’re a total jerk,” He stuck his tongue out at him. He just snickered and gave an exaggerated shrug. "What can I say~? I could do that alllll night~ OH, wait, you know the magic word, don'tcha?" "Magic word? ...You mean Eclipse?" "Yep, that's the one!!" "Sooo you do this often enough to need a safeword?" He teased. Sunny snickered sheepishly. "Yeaaah, kinda," he shrugged. "I never get carried away with the little guys, they're too fragile and I don't EVER wanna make em feel uncomfy. But you adults and 'big, tough' security guards are just too much fun to turn into a giggly mess!!" He chuckled, though his laugh had a very sly edge to it. “Anyways!! Let’s do something else!” He hopped up, helping Nate to his feet after he put his shoes and socks back on. “What else d’you like to do?”
“Hmmm,” Nate held his chin in his hand. “Well, usually my friends and I watch movies or play video games at night.” “OH, we could use the TV!” He waved Nate over to follow him to a large flatscreen on the wall. “They tried adding games and movies for the kids a while ago, buuut DVDs and game controllers kept getting broken or going missing, haha... So now the adults are in charge of what the kids can do on the TV. But you can find the movies under the security desk! I’m not allowed to go behind there, so..” “Really? Seems kinda mean to keep them from you.” “Ehh, it’s not really any fun to watch or play stuff alone, so it doesn’t matter either way,” he shrugged. “What kinda movies do ya like?” After Nate found the cabinet drawer full of movies and games, he started shuffling through them. “I kinda like a bit of everything. Action, fantasy, sci-fi, thrillers & horror...” “O-Ohh, I see, heh,” the jester laughed nervously. “Well! We don’t have anything too scary or graphic for the little ones, but-! Hopefully you’ll find something you like!” Nate eventually settled on Tangled, holding it up to show him. “How ‘bout this? One of my friends looks just like one of the main characters.” "OOH, yes, I love that one, it's so pretty!!” He ran over to the TV area and started collecting some nearby cushions to pile up, while Nate put in the blu-ray.
Nate was impressed that Sun was actually able to stay somewhat still during the movie. He'd shift between laying on his stomach while kicking his legs behind him, then sitting cross-legged, then pulling Nate into his lap to rest his chin on his head, leading to him trying to squirm away. He laughed obnoxiously loud at some of the jokes - which in turn just got Nate laughing harder over things he didn't find as funny before. He never missed an opportunity to point out how he was the real star of the movie and liked to picture that the Sun Festival was for him. ”I don’t like her,” Sunny hissed at Gothel’s song. “Parents shouldn’t force their kids to live in fear all the time. She’s not even her real mom, she’s an impostor!! No-one deserves to be cooped up their whole lives...” For a moment, he sounded a little melancholy. Nate was impressed; for how childlike the robot was, he seemed pretty insightful too. He cheered right up and sang along with "When Will My Life Begin" and "I’ve Got A Dream", hopping up to put on theatrical improv dances right along with the characters. And sneaking in a quick tickle-attack on Nate at the ‘tickling the ivories’ line. He wasn't the best singer, he missed a few notes and sounded a bit like a rasping parrot at times. But Nate didn't mind, singing right along with him. The cheeky robot found plenty more opportunities to sneak in more quick tickle-attacks.
Despite not being able to physically cry, he let out prominent sniffling, blubbering sounds at the lantern scene and the song “I See The Light,” leaning his face against Nate and hugging him close. And Nate, in turn, barely managed to contain his own waterworks. Sunny applauded at the end of the movie, and Nate glanced up at the cuckoo clock on the wall, seeing that it was already 3am. "Oh shit-” Sunny gasped and covered his mouth with his large hand. “Language!! Or I’ll hafta reprimand you again~!” His other hand fluttered its fingers against Nate’s ribs. “MMPH-HAHAHA!” He yelped and wiggled, pushing his hand away. “W-whaahahat, I can’t even swear after-hours?” “Now now, Mr. Nate, you should leeeaaddd by exaammmp-p-pllee--” his voice suddenly slowed as if he was lagging out. “Ohhh no, I should re-re-re charrggeee,” his head twitched a little, and he covered his eyes and face in embarrassment. Nate just snickered and started to stand up, tugging his arm to try and help him up. “Go do that, then! I need to start doing my night audit stuff, so I’m gonna walk the halls first.” "Aww, okayyyyy," Sun whined, staggering to his feet to go to his recharging station. "But promise you’ll be back!!"
Nate felt a little relieved to have a little time away from the hyperactive bot. He didn't dislike his company at all; he was adorable, and the brunette was a pretty high-energy person himself. And the incessant tickle-attacks weren’t exactly unappreciated. But having to keep up with the energy of a clingy curious seven-foot-tall puppy every night might get to be a bit much. It might even be nice to have a break with the mode that would demand him to go to sleep. Which got him thinking... Sun hadn't even mentioned Moon yet. The training video led him to believe they were two separate personalities. But maybe they were still the same, just with alternate appearances? Was Sun aware of Moon at all, or did they just appear with seperate programming?
After running his checks on the nearby door locks, he went back into the daycare. Sunny was just a few feet away from the door, rocking back and forth on his heels. The moment he saw Nate, he bounded over and picked him up to give him a spin. “YAYY you’re baaack!!” ”WAHH-!! Of cohohourse I’m back!! I said I’d come back!” Nate gave him a playful shove when he was placed back down. ”Hehehe, I knoow I know! I’m just all juiced up now and ready to roll!! So hurry, go do your papers n’ stuff!” Sun skipped over toward the security desk area. Following him closely, Nate decided to use the opportunity. “Hey, Sunny?” “Yeees?” “Can you tell me a little about Moon?” “Uh— ...” He paused on the spot, and for the first time, his cheery disposition seemed to make way for nervousness, tapping his fingertips together. “I-I’d rather not, haha... He doesn’t like me talkin’ too much about him to new people.” ”Oh, okay, that’s fair,” Nate shrugged. “I’ll just talk to him myself, then.” “U-Uhh, he won’t wanna do that, either...” He just seemed even more nervous. “H-How ‘bout you just get your dumb work stuff done? Then we can play more!!” How weird... Both the manager and the robot seemed like they had something to hide about this nighttime counterpart. He decided not to pry, though. He went to the security desk to work on the paperwork. It was mostly just logs of events that happened throughout the day; He did a lot of filing like this back at the auto shop, so he got the gist of it pretty quickly.
The jester didn’t really appreciate the lack of attention. After ten minutes or so of him keeping himself entertained on the jungle gym, he cartwheeled over and placed his hands on the desk, looming over the night guard. "Heyyy, Natey, are ya done yet??" Nate gasped and jumped at his imposing figure over him. "Ah-! No, not yet, dude." "Are you almost done?" "I think so! I'll let you know when." He was answered by the disheartened jingle of bells as he shuffled away. Ten minutes passed, another ‘THUD’ as the bot slammed his hands on the desk, making Nate yelp. He snickered at the reaction. "Aaaaare ya done yet?" "Don’t do that, you brat,” he stuck his tongue out at him, which just made him let out another gremlin giggle. "And no, not yet; Gimme ten more minutes, okay?" "Okaaaayyy," he whined, slinking away again. Five more minutes passed. "Naaaate I know you said ten minutes but I thought maybe you got done early!" Nate rolled his eyes and shook his head, trying not to laugh. It was difficult to stay annoyed at him; It was in his programming to be this wired up after all, and he also wondered just how lonely he probably got at night. “Suuunnn, I’m not done yet,” he gently reprimanded. “I don’t wanna rush it and do something wrong. I know it’s boring, but I gotta get it over with.” “Okayyy I’m sorry,” Sunny scooted back. “I’m just excited!! I haven’t had a night buddy since…Well, since the last one a couple months ago,” he scratched his cheek. “He quit because he said the night shift here was…Too much for him,” he chuckled nervously.
“I see...” Nate let out a big loud yawn, rubbing his eyes. "Ohh, man...” "Uh-oh, someone getting sleepy?" Sunny ruffled his unkempt hair. "Here, I got something that'll help!" He rustled in his pockets to take out a couple hard candies with a sun pattern on the wrapper. “Oh? Thanks!” He took it, starting to unwrap it. It looked a bit like a lemon toffee. "It isn't caffeine, is it? It’s a bad idea to give me caffeine this late..." "Oh heavens no!!" Sun wheezed. "I'd NEVER give caffeine to kids! Nahh these have stuff like, potassium, vitamin B and D, serotonin... All good stuff! All good for you and gives a great energy boost! Plus, they taste like bananas and lemon!"
After Nate had finished his paperwork, he did start to feel a bit perked up. He wasn’t sure if it was a placebo, but he decided to humor the robot while he still had a second wind. He was definitely going to have to start bringing some of his own games for the jester to play to keep him distracted. For now, they settled on the default Wii Sports games. Which, to Sun, were just about as fun as anything else. He cheered and jumped for joy whenever he won a round, but also quickly turned to give a show of good sportsmanship to Nate. ...And occasionally snuck behind him to attack him with tickles to try and mess him up. The Wii games easily ate up the remaining hour...
Until Sun suddenly let out a gasp, and looked over to the cuckoo clock: 5:35am. "Wait- Mr. Nate, how late are you staying again??" "You don’t have to call me Mister, it feels weird,” Nate chuckled. “And till 6am. I have the overnight shift, at least for now. I don't think I can handle more than a couple weeks of staying up that late.." "Ohhhh dear," Sun scratched behind his head-plate. "Moony's gonna come out soon..." "Oh! Yeah, I know, the guy on my orientation video told me about the power going off." Sun let out a nervous laugh. "Y-You might wanna leave for the end of your shift then, I don't want you to get freaked out..." Nate raised an eyebrow. "How come? He's not a bad guy, is he?" "Ah- No, nono, not really!" Sunny shook his head. "He's just...He scares a lot of the other staff, his idea of playtime isn't everyone's cup of tea, and he can be a real jerk about it..." He sighed. "I just want your night to end without any trouble, so you really should go!!" He started trying to push Nate toward the exit doors.
Everything he said just made Nate want to meet this other version all the more. He was too curious for his own good. But he just took Sun's hand, trying to give him a reassuring smile. "Hey; I appreciate you looking out for me, but I promise I'll be fine. I'm gonna have to meet him sooner or later if I'm going to be working here, aren't I?" "Well... Yeah, I guess you're right, and he wouldn't wanna be left out..." With that, there was a huge metallic droning overhead as the lights in the building powered down. It wasn't completely pitch-black, as the ceiling was illuminated by star-like LEDs, including hundreds of glow-in-the-dark stars and planets; like the kind he used to have in his room as a kid. "HGKH-" Sun let out a grunt. "J-Just don't say I didn't warn you!!" He staggered and took a knee on the floor, and his head flopped over, like he'd just passed out on the spot. His body started quietly clicking and whirring; his triangles retracted, and sure enough, Nate could swear he saw the fabric of his outfit shift. A mechanical 'arm' even popped up from inside him to place a night-cap on his head.
"Hello...? Moon...?" He shined his flashlight on the robot.
He was answered by a deep, gravelly, outright villainous chuckle rumbling from the robot's metallic chest. The sound immediately sent chills up his spine... As did the voice. It wasn't the same cheery energetic cadence anymore; it had shifted to a deep, raspy growl.
"Naughty, naughtyyy...." He slowly lifted his head. Nate was taken aback to see that his pearly eyes were now illuminated a piercing red. "It is way past your bedtime, young man..."
"U-Uhh...H-Hi, Moon..." He gulped hard and took a step back, his eyes wide as saucers. What the hell was up with this guy?! "I-It's my job to be up this late, y'know... I'm h-here to keep an eye on you and the day care!" He stood up to his feet and took a couple slow, stalking steps forward, his round head tilting way over to the side; before 'tsk-tsk'ing at him, waggling one of his long digits in front of his face. "Silly boy...We don't need a night guard here. We can guard the daycare juuust fine on our own~"
His voice absolutely oozed with mischievous intent; as if he was a cartoon supervillain. He was freaking terrifying. And Nate couldn't stop the shaky, nervous smile creeping up on his face. Not wanting to come off as a scaredy-cat, he took a deep breath and tried to manage a show of bravery. "A-All right, then..." He folded his arms, looking up to glare the robot straight in the eyes. "What're you gonna do about it?" Moon stiffened, seeming taken aback by the show of bravery. Before he responded with an even louder amused laugh. "Hmhmhhehehehe...I think that kind of attitude.... needs to be punished~" He extended his fingers, wiggling them dangerously close to his sides.
That's all it took for the brunette to bolt the other direction. Moon immediately gave chase, that raspy, gremlin-like cackle echoing out into the huge empty daycare. Nate attempted to duck behind the cage-like structure of one of the jungle gyms, keeping an eye out for the piercing red eyes and glowing stars. Ohcrapohcrapohcrap-!! he wheezed quietly to himself, feeling his heart pounding in his chest. "It's time for beeddd~!" Moon called out in a singsong voice, tiptoeing closer, looking right at him from between the jungle gym bars. Nate yelped and made a break for it. "No it isn't! I HAVE to be awake!!" "Says who~?" He started clambering up the sides of the jungle gym like a spider monkey. "You're in MY domain now, and you'll listen to MY rules~" He tried to reach an arm in between the bars to take a swipe at the night guard, still wiggling his long fingers. Nate shrieked and hurriedly climbed up to the top of the steps. He did a double-take when he saw what looked like a power generator in one of the cubbies off to the side. What the hell was that doing inside a kid’s play structure?!
His attention was quickly brought back to his predicament by a loud THUD above him. The bot glared down at him with his Terminator eyes, letting out another mad, raspy cackle. He squawked again and quickly tried to clamber down the nearby tube slides before running across to the other play structure, still overcome with adrenaline. He remembered what the video had mentioned: Just play dead. Yeah, right!! There was NO way that was gonna work. Besides... It’d be no fun if he just gave up on the chase. Not that he’d admit that, of course.
Twenty minutes came and went quickly. He’d begun to familiarize himself with the layout of the jungle gyms. ...Sort of. At the very least he’d found three of those generators by now. "Hidey-hide... I will find you~"
"Come out, come out, wherever you aaaare~"
Every one of the jester bot's devious cackles and playful taunts sent shivers up his spine, and a thrill of both terror and anticipation.
And finally, he caught up. The next time Nate tried sneaking out from behind a solid wall, Moon took a flying leap at him, getting a death-grip around his ankle and pinning him to the floor, latching his hands onto the flailing night guard’s sides and rapidly wiggling those long, dexterous fingers. He screamed, right before bursting into frantic, elated laughter. "GYAAH-HAHAHAHA SHIHIIHIT NOOOHOHOHO!!" He thrashed, shoving at his arms, trying to clamp his own arms to his sides, wiggling back and forth like a fish on land. Unlike Sunny, this alter ego showed zero restraint. It's like he already knew to drill rapid circles into his target’s sides and hip bones, and dig into his quivering belly with all ten digits, to really get him going. “NOOOO-HAHAHAHA MOOHOOHOON PLEEEHEHEHEHEASE!!” Moon laughed right along with him; A smug, sinister laugh, pleased with himself for reducing his target to this state. "Hehehehe, tickletickletiiickle~ This is what you get for breaking the rules~" "I-I'M NAAAHAHAT BREAKIHIHING THE RUHUHULES!! I’M DOING MY JOHOHOHOB!"
But before he could get too carried away, or carry on the 'punishment' any longer... The lights powered back on. "HHRGHK--" Moon grunted, stopping mid-attack to shield his eyes from the light, then plopped on top of Nate like a deadweight. "Oof--" Thankfully his tall metal frame wasn't much heavier than his friend Inzi. The bot shifted back to Sunny again; he gasped and popped his head up. "Nate!! Are you okay??" He scrambled to get off him and help him sit upright. "Well you're still in one piece, so that's good, hahaha.."
Nate was still a little frazzled, his heart rate calming down, his face still red as a tomato. "Y-Yeah, I'm uh, I'm good..." He cleared his throat. "J-Jeez, he really goes after people, doesn't he?" "Yeaaah, he... He really doesn't like it when the night staff isn't in bed, heh.." "So I've heard.." "He can get very carried away, but-!! You know the magic word so that'll help!!" "I mean..." Nate shuffled a bit. "It’s not like I can’t handle it..” He cleared his throat, once again trying to put on his brave face. “I have intense tickle fights like that with my friends all the time. And they’re not exactly...y’know, not fun or anything..”
"Ooooh," Sun covered his mouth like a kid who just watched someone get in trouble. "You'd better hope Moony doesn't hear you say thaaat... But I mean, if you're sure, then I guess I can't really stop him~" he snickered, helping Nate to his feet. Well that was sure a quick change of heart. "If you knew the worst he was gonna do was uh... That... Why were you so worried? Why'd you insist on me hiding from him?" “Well, I just... I didn't want you to get the wrong idea about him. About us.." Sun twiddled his fingers. "I-I know he can be pretty scary, but he means well, and... After the incident, he really doesn't like security guards. He doesn't trust 'em. And it's been a lot harder for people to trust us, so we both agreed it might be best if he just... lays low, y'know?" Though he tried to sound optimistic, Nate picked up on a twinge of sadness. "Incident...?" "UHH, don't worry about it!! It’s almost the end of your shift, yeah? Better get all cleaned up and ready to go!” Nate just let out a loud yawn in response. The night had really caught up to him and he was beginning to feel like he'd collapse at any moment. Sunny offered him another one of his candies, before scooping him up in a big, tight spinning hug.
“Byeeee!! I can’t wait to see you again tomorrow night!!”
Mina and Jamie picked him up at 6am, practically having to carry out their loopy, exhausted, flustered friend, wondering just what kind of shenanigans he’d been up to all night. This was going to be a very interesting night shift.
