Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Glitter glue is so cool!” A young, blonde girl, no older then four squealed excitedly as she spread the yellow glitter glue across her piece of paper using her hands.

She was standing around a low table that had a large selection of art supplies on it. Ranging from glue, coloured paper, lots of different coloured pencils. 

“Why are you using the yellow one? The green is way better.” A brown-haired boy at the same table spoke up, holding a bottle of green glitter glue. 

“Green? Ew, no! Green is gross.” The girl spat out her tongue in mock disgust. 

“What?! No! Green is the best colour! Yellow sucks!” The boy yelled, becoming agitated.

“Yellow is way better then green!” The girl yelled back, getting agitated herself. “You’re wrong!”

“Do ‘ya wanna know what I think?” A cheerful, robotic voice asked, stopping the two from getting more upset with each other. The two children both giggled excitedly as they were picked up into two separate, large hands. 

“Sunrise!” They both cheered, looking up at the cheerful face of the Daycare Attendant.

“I think they are both lovely colours!” Sunrise swayed gently from side to side, enjoying the giggles from the two children as they enjoyed the ride. “I’m sure we can all agree that green and yellow are as good as each other, right?”

The two children hesitated to speak before the little girl spoke up.

“Im sorry Dave, I just really like yellow.” The girl apologised. 

“I’m sorry too, Jackie. Yellow is a nice colour.” The boy, Dave, huffed as he crossed his arms.

”So is green, I like using it to draw grass!” 

”Now isn’t that much better?” Sunrise gently placed the two back down on the floor. The girl, Jackie, gave Dave a hug, who returned it after huffing a little more. 

That glue was going to be a bother to get out of their clothes. Sunrise was just glad he wasn’t the one who had to do it.

“I’m glad we’re all friends again!” Sunrise cheered, hopping around the two. “Now, who wants to play tag?!”

“Me! Me!” Jackie and Dave raised their arms as well as a few other children that were close. 

“Alrighty! You all have a five second head start!” Sunrise announced. Not even a second later and the swarm of kids at his feet had run away, all in different directions. 

“One!” Sunrise spoke loudly, hopping from one leg to the other impatiently as he counted down.

A majority of children ran straight into the large play structure. 

“Two!”

Sunrise saw a few run into the ball pit.

”Three!”

He saw in the corner of his eye, a child running towards one of the corners of the play area. The child yelled towards two other kids about the game of tag before hiding behind some foam bricks.

”Four!”

The two children began running away, letting out squeals of delight.

”Five! Here I come!” 

Sunrise jumped straight towards the one hidden behind foam bricks, his current target as the child was one of the closest. 

“I’m gonna get ‘cha!” Sunrise hummed as he landed behind the child, hands reaching out slowly to grab the child. 

The kid squealed before diving out the way and joining the other two kids that were running. Sunrise laughed and chased after the three small children.

He had a major advantage over them that he didn’t like to use, he was much faster and could jump around to far and really high places. So he slowed himself down significantly, making it fair for the children.

The only time he ‘cheated’ was when he was getting chased by the child who was ‘it’ and he jumped to the very top of the play structure to tease them.

Sunrise caught up to the child in the back that wasn’t as fast as the other two.

“Tag!” Sunrise yelled as he picked up the child, who let out a small squeal of surprise before it turned into laughter. He spun them around in the air a few times. 

“Alright, boys and girls. Time to get going. Say your goodbyes to Sunrise.” The night guard, apparently early for her shift, spoke as she opened the large doors. Behind those large doors was several parents, waiting for their children.

There were also two teenage boys standing near the exit, whispering to each other. They were part-time employees that were just here for the money. Sunrise ignored them, not wanting to put himself in a bad mood around the kids.

“Looks like it’s home-time kiddos!” Sunrise announced, placing the child he picked up back onto the floor. Said child ran straight towards their mother, along with a few more children.

“But I want to stay here!” A young girl, Daisy, cried as she grabbed onto the fabric around Sunrise’s leg.

His smile spread wider but softer as he looked down at his favourite brunette guest. He held his hand out for her to take. “C’mon sunshine! Your mom has barely seen you today!”

Daisy blinked her eyes a few times before slowly letting go of his leg and placed her small hand on his oversized one. He wrapped his fingers around her hand gently and began leading her to the exit. 

Only a few steps were taken before Daisy asked to be picked up, which Sunrise did happily. Swinging her around in the air before holding her safely at his side.

”You know I’ll see you tomorrow, so why are you so sad about leaving?” Sunrise asked as he purposefully slowed his steps towards the exit. 

Daisy was a regular in Sunrise’s daycare. Over time, Sunrise and her had gotten close and became best friends. 

“I dunno. I miss you at night.” Daisy sniffled. Sunrise reached his hand up to wipe away a small tear that escaped from her eye.

“Ah, but I’m right with you! Remember the Sun plushie I gave you? Just hug that and it’s like you’re hugging me!” Sunrise smiled, making the tone comforting out for his voice box.

”I prefer the real thing.” Daisy spoke before wrapping her hands around Sunrise’s chest. Sunrise happily gave her a big hug back.

“Aww, I’ll miss your hugs tonight little sunshine. Say hello to your mom for me and I’ll be seeing you tomorrow!” Sunrise chuckled happily as he spun her around one last time before gently placing her on the floor. 

Daisy waved to Sunrise as she walked backwards and out the doors. Apparently she was the last one out as the doors began to slowly close.

Sunrise caught a glimpse of Daisy hugging one of her moms before they left his view. 

The door closed, a small clicking noise as it locked. The daycare was closed. 

For a second, the lights turned off and Sunrise jumped violently at his sudden lack of vision. A small shriek escaped his voice box, his hands reaching up to protect his face.

A gear behind his plastic face shifted and he held back the urge to yell even louder. It hurt. His face was hurting.

He heard the laughter of the two teenagers outside the door before the lights turned on again.

“Stupid jester.” He heard one of them say in the middle of their laughter.

“Haha… real funny boys..” Sunrise chuckled to himself, a chuckle that lacked his usual enthusiasm and happiness. The gear shifted back into place, but this time a small whine escape his voice box. 

The pain stopped after a few seconds and a sound mimicking a sigh left his face.

He wouldn’t let them bother him. Sunrise had a long time to get his daycare ready for tomorrow. There was work to be done, he could distract himself with it! 

”Sunrise?” A robotic voice called out from beyond the door. Was that? No way. No way was the Glamrock Freddy talking to him! Him of all animatronics! “Is everything alright? I heard a noise after the employees turned the lights off in there.”

“Yes! Yes! Everything is just fine! Just some silly joke those boys like to play! Haha!” Oh golly, that’s embarrassing. He didn’t want his first ever conversation with Freddy to go like this. He wanted to impress the other and make him laugh and happy!

Sure, he’s spoken to Freddy before but that was during hours and just a few words! This was after hours and full sentences! How cool is that?! 

This was so exciting! Could the two of them become friends?! That would be a dream come true!

“…I’m glad.” Freddy hesitated. “I was about to head back to help the S.T.A.F.F and employees close everything but I just thought I’d heck to make sure you’re alright.”

”Well that is lovely of you and I appreciate it and I hope you had a lovely day! I certainly did, so many lovely friends!” Sunrise swayed happily thinking about his children friends. “Unfortunately you just missed Miss Vanessa, but I’m sure she’ll be right back to help you get back to your area!”

“Oh that’s quite alright, I have my own personal pass so I can access most doors in the building.” Freddy explained with a small, friendly chuckle.

“O-Oh.” Sunrise glanced to his right, at the security desk before looking back at the door. He wasn’t allowed near that desk. He wished he could have something like that. “That’s really cool! So you can just go anywhere you want? Whenever you want?”

“Pretty much yes! The whole gang can. It’s great for hanging out and playing arcade games.”

Sunrise hadn’t heard of arcade games. He wondered what they were and how fun they were.

”What do you like to do? We don’t see you anywhere other then here. Surely you don’t stay in there all night.” Freddy asked.

”Oh no, no, no! I stay in here during all hours.” Sunrise explained. “I’m not allowed to leave. But that’s fine! There’s so much to do in here!”

”Oh, like what? Do you have another friend in there we haven’t met before?” Freddy asked, in a tone that Sunrise wasn’t familiar with.

”Nope just me! There’s a lot of organising, mostly the toys and then I have a lot of free time to just play!” Sunrise explained excitedly. He was finally sharing his routine with someone! This was so cool!

Freddy hesitated again. Was Sunrise doing something wrong? Was he annoying Freddy? Were those boys right when they constantly called him annoying?

“…Would you like a guest? I have to help the others close the restaurants but I can come back at nine or eleven to spend some time with you.” Freddy suggested and Sunrise could feel his foot tapping excitedly against the floor, quickly picking up speed.

”Wait, really? YES! I mean- If you’d like.. it would be nice to have some company.” Sunrise nodded vigorously, forgetting that Freddy couldn’t see him. 

”Of course. I’ll be back soon!” Freddy chuckled before heavy footsteps could be heard fading away. 

“Bye-bye!” Sunrise cheered, hopping around excitedly. He jumped from foam brick to foam brick, releasing the twitching in his joints.

Did he just become friends with Glamrock Freddy!? This was the best day ever! 

He was so excited to play with the star of the building!

Oh goodness! He had to make the place look presentable! 

Clean up! Clean up!

———

Sunrise sat cross-legged on his small balcony, looking over his daycare. 

Empty. Completely empty. 

That’s how it always was. Once the kids were gone, he was alone.

It wasn’t too bad! He could get a lot of stuff done! Like, cleaning everything up after the kids! Everything had to be clean! Clean! Clean!

Maybe that’s why he refused to let the S.T.A.F.F robots enter his domain, so he could clean it. He’s seen the janitors cleaning outside the net and they just make it look shiny. Sunrise could tell that it was still dirty.

Also the fact that they just mop one spot for several hours at a time.

After he got everything cleaned it was just a matter of waiting until Freddy arrived. He could clean again, reorganise all the toys, jump around the play structure to get more energised and then repeat.

Sunrise wasn’t in the mood to do any of that right now. It was past three in the morning and there was still no sign of Freddy. 

He could feel his smile slowly turning into a frown. Sunrise tried to stop it by pushing his cheeks back up. He tried for a few minutes before letting out a sigh and letting it drop, hands going limp at his side. 

It wasn’t going to work. Not until it was morning again and the kids came back. 

They always made him feel better. 

He knew Freddy was a good guy, he’s heard many kids say such nice things about him and the other animatronics that were around. He could only remember half of their names: Wolf, Chica and Gator! They sound lovely!

Apparently there was a massive spider animatronic that could play music! Sunrise would love to meet him one day! Hopefully.

Maybe he just got busy, or forgot! Many children forget their toys here all the time so it must be normal! Right? 

But they were robots. Surely a robot couldn’t forget, they didn’t even have a brain. They weren’t alive. So why did it feel like he was?

Why did he feel so happy when the doors opened and the children he loved was programmed to care for so much came in?

Why did the gears in his face hurt so much when they turn? Why did they turn in the first place? Why couldn’t he remember what happened when it turned dark?

Why was he afraid of the dark if he wasn’t alive? Why did he yell out in fear when one of the younger employees (knowing what it does to him) turned the lights off before leaving?

Was he just manfulctioning? He felt fine physically. But it hurt inside. It made no sense to Sunrise.

So many questions… but no one to ask. No one to help calm his thoughts. Could he even call them that?

“Sunrise?” The voice stopped him in his spiralling thoughts. Could it be..?

”I sure hope that you’re not too upset with me. I didn’t mean to be late!”

It was!

The smile returned to Sunrise’s face as he looked down at the large robotic bear, standing at the entrance. Freddy came! He was here!

He kept his promise and visited him. 

Chapter Text

“FREDDY!” Sunrise shouted from the other side of the room, rapidly waving both his arms at Freddy in a huge wave. The bells around his wrists rung with every wave.

Freddy looked around the area, confused to where the voice was coming from. Sunrise laughed at his confusion, the laughter helping Freddy to finally spot the Daycare attendant. 

“Sunrise! What are you doing up there?!” Freddy exclaimed, quickly running over to the edge of the ball pit.

“I’m so glad you’re here!” Sunrise cheered, oblivious to the other’s concern. He happily hopped from one foot to the other. “I have so many games we can play together!”

“That is not a safe place to be! How’d you even get up there?!” Freddy continued. “How do I get you down?”

Despite the last question being directed towards himself, Sunrise beamed as he was excited to show off. 

He wasn’t allowed to do this in-front of the kids as it was a ‘bad example’. Which Sunrise could understand, but it was still really fun! It was disappointing that he couldn’t share it with all his little friends.

”It’s simple!” Sunrise explained before placing his hands together above his head. He let out a ‘Woo-Hoo!’ before jumping off the small platform and head first into the ball pit.

Plastic balls flew up when he sunk through them.

”S-Sunrise!” Freddy yelled out, his voice laced with concern and panic as he quickly stepped into the ball-pit. 

Sunrise held back his childish giggles in order to sneak up on Freddy. He paused for a moment when he finally heard Freddy’s tone.

Wait, Freddy was upset? But, he was fine! He did this several times a night! The other shouldn’t be worried! This was a place for happiness and fun!

…

Was Freddy actually concerned it was it just apart of his programming?

Sunrise shook his head, not wanting the scary thoughts(?) in his head when he was about to have the best night ever.

He moved quietly, trying to not make himself feel too guilty and how worried Freddy was, through the ball-pit until he was behind the large bear. 

“Gotcha!” He shouted as he launched himself out the ball pit and onto Freddy’s back.

He was fully expecting the two of them to fall forwards but surprisingly, Freddy could easily manage the extra weight on his back. He’s never met anyone stronger then him before! Or maybe they had similar strengths?

Freddy, if he had a human heart, would’ve had a heart attack from the fright he had just received. He leaned forwards, hands on his knees as he took a moment to recover. A wire might’ve snapped somewhere but he wasn’t sure.

“Oh golly, I didn’t scare you that much, did I?” Sunrise asked, quickly jumping off of Freddy’s back and moving to be infront of him. “Are you alright?”

Oh how embarrassing! He thought it would only be a little fright! 

“No, no! Don’t worry, I just wasn’t expecting you to be right behind me. That was one of the best frights I’ve gotten in a while.” Freddy chuckled, stepping out the ball-pit and holding his hand out to help pull Sunrise out. “That was very impressive!”

Sunrise stared at the hand for a moment before taking it. A smile spread back onto his face as he was easily pulled onto the soft ground.

He’s… never had anyone help him out so easily before. It honestly surprised him how strong Freddy was. 

There was one time where all the kids in the daycare worked together to try and lift Sunrise. They failed in the end but they were very determined, the whole ordeal lasting nearly an hour before Sunrise quickly changed their minds to play hide and seek.

Even employees had a very large struggle with getting Sunrise to move somewhere and keeping him still.

Now Sunrise and Freddy stood face to face. Well, chest to face. Freddy was really tall, something Sunrise never noticed before. 

Were the rest as strong or as tall as Freddy? Or maybe they were even stronger? Or was this just the strength of every animatronic? Why was Sunrise so small in comparison?

Could Sunrise lift Freddy? He was pretty positive he could, he could hold about ten kids while still staying safe. He refused to carry any more as one of them would for sure get hurt. 

How many animatronics could he hold? He could balance very well, even being able to balance on one finger; so balance wasn’t a problem with him. How many animatronics were in this building altogether? How many new friends could he make if he was allowed to leave the daycare?

Did Freddy’s eyes glow? That was so cool, but why? How bright? Sunrise liked the shade of blue around Freddy’s eyes, did it have a name? It was it a mask and not attached to his face?

So many questions! 

“Sunrise?” Freddy asked, an eyebrow raised. It knocked Sunrise out of his small trance, quickly realising that he had just been staring at Freddy for a full minute. “Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself jumping into the ball pit?”

”Nope! I’ve had loads of practice with my landings! I’d call it one of my many talents!” Sunrise spoke in a proud tone, placing a hand on his chest with a puffed-out chest. 

“That would’ve been nice to know before I watched you disappear in there.” Freddy chuckled. 

“I’m very sorry about that! I was just so excited to finally see you again!” Sunrise hopped in place, his excitement building up once more. “Oh, I came up with so many activities for us to do together!”

He grabbed Freddy’s hand and pulled him over to a low table that was surrounded by very small plastic chairs for the young children.

”We can make all sorts of pictures! I have glitter glue, paint, coloured pencils and googly-eyes!” Sunrise explained excitedly, holding up each item when it was mentioned. “I have so many stories to tell while we draw, I’m sure you do too!”

Freddy was about to speak but Sunrise unintentionally interrupted him; the bear animatronic had to move his head left and right to keep up with how much Sunrise was swaying. “Or! If you’re not one for art, I have many games we can play! I think you’re too big to go into the play structure but we can find a way to play hide and seek! Why are you so tall? How strong are you? Oh- how high can you jump? I also have other games we can play like tag! How fast are-“

“Woah, woah. Let’s calm down a little, please.” Freddy spoke, gently placing his hands on sunrise’s shoulders to calm down his aggressive swaying.

Calm down? Yeah. Yeah! Sunrise could do that! But he was so excited, it was hard!

He just wanted to jump around to let out this packed up feeling. A feeling that felt like something was to explode out of him, but that explosion never came

“All that sounds great. But there’s no need to rush, we still have a few hours before the doors are open again.” 

“Oh… yeah. You’re right, you’re completely right! I’ve just never had anyone to spend time with during the night!” Sunrise nodded, looking away from Freddy when he saw the worried expression on the other’s face. “There’s so much to do!”

“What do you mean by that?” Freddy asked, noticing how the other looked away and furrowed his eyebrows.

“I mean that I have a lot planned for my first ever night-playdate!” Sunrise slipped out of Freddy’s hold and held up an image he saved from a child that had left it behind today. It was of a kid, presumably the one who made it, holding friends with Freddy. It was drawn as well as a four year old could draw.

“Look! My kids love you, I have a lot of these if you want to go through them! I’ve kept them in a safe place!” Sunrise nodded, hiving Freddy the picture before starting to hop from one foot to the other to keep his energy high. ”Or we could do it later, like you said, we have a few hours.”

Freddy let out a small sigh, his ears lowering a little before he let a small smile spread over his face. It seemed like he wasn’t getting a  proper answer to his question; he wasn’t asking about Sunrise’s plans. He wasn’t going to push either, instead, he would just have fun with his new friend.

“You wanted to show me some drawings? I think that’d be a nice place to start.” Freddy smiled, looking down at the drawn image in his hands once more before looking at Sunrise.

“Yes! Yes!” Sunrise nodded vigoursly. “Wait just a moment!”

Not even a second later, Sunrise was skipping over to the ball-pit. He stopped at the edge, crouching down before launching himself in the air and landing on the same platform and skipping into a room in the wall. 

Freddy watched the animatronic jump with wide eyes. Well, that was his question to how Sunrise got up there answered.

———

6 AM. 

“Thank you Freddy. For keeping your promise.” Sunrise spoke, his tone the calmest it had been the whole night. 

He stood in front of the open doors, leading to the rest of the Pizza Plex. Freddy was standing just a step outside of the doors. 

“I had fun.” Sunrise smiled. 

“So did I, thank you for letting me come in. I can see why the younger kids love coming here so much.” Freddy smiled, a comforting one that Sunrise was starting to like.

”Of course! You and your friends are always welcome! As long as they stick to the rules!” Sunrise clapped cheerfully.

“I’ll let them know.” Freddy spoke before wrapping his arms around Sunrise, pulling the smaller into a hug. “I’ll see you again tomorrow night.”

Sunrise froze. His hands twitched before they quickly wrapped around Freddy, hugging tightly. “Tomorrow. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He nodded slowly in the hug, gently rubbing his cheek against Freddy. Freddy was so much softer then Sunrise had imagined.

No more words were shared as Freddy stepped back from the hug and began walking away, waving over his shoulder. Sunrise just watched him, stepping backwards when the doors closed so he wouldn’t get caught outside the daycare.

The doors clicked when they fully closed but Sunrise couldn’t bring himself to look away just yet.

Freddy was coming back?

Sunrise couldn’t believe it. His foot began tapping rapidly before he started bouncing in place. 

Freddy was coming back! 

This was amazing! Sunrise couldn’t wait to see his new friend again! Hopefully Freddy would arrive earlier then before so they could spend more time together! 

Oh golly, he wasn’t asking for too much was he? He hoped not. Who cares?! Freddy was coming back!

Sunrise let out a small, excited squeal before he began rapidly hopping around the entire daycare. He made a small mental note to himself as he passed the table where he and Freddy sat at (the image of Freddy struggling to sit in one of the seats was still very funny to Sun) to re-organise everything.

Freddy had refused to let Sunrise clean up all by himself and helped clean the table; the pictures they made together safe in Sunrise’s room.

However the organising wasn’t up to Sunrise’s standards, but Sunrise kept quiet about it. He wa a just thankful that Freddy wanted to help him clean, he wasn’t going to ask for more.

Oh, Sunrise finally had new stories to tell the kids! They were going be so happy to hear that Sunrise hung out with Freddy Fazbear!

He couldn’t wait to see all his little friends! Oh, there was so much to be excited about!

His excitement was cut short when the lights suddenly turned off. He let out a small scream as he crashed into the floor, missing the foam brick he was originally aiming for in his shock.

A gear started shifting in his head, making him let out another yell.

Stop.

Make it stop. 

It was so dark, he couldn’t see.

He wrapped his hands around a sunshine ray around his head (the triangles), gripping into them harder when another gear started turning.

Lights on! Turn the lights on!

Please!

It hurts!

The lights slowly turned back on, row by row.

“Haha! Morning Jester!” The voice of one of the teenage boys called out from beyond the closed door. It was followed by laughter from the culprit and his friend.

“V-Very funny boys!” Sunrise let out a small, weak laugh. Once the gears shifted back into place, Sunrise let go of the grip on his own head. 

He sat there for a moment, staring at the floor. Thankfully he revived no injuries from the small fall but it still hurt. 

Sunrise quickly changed his mind, not wanting the boys cruel jokes to ruin his happy mood. 

It was going to be a good day. He was sure of it.

He hoped Freddy had a good day.

Chapter Text

“Where did you disappear to last night?” Chica asked as she lifted up a table and moved it from the outside to the inside of the restaurant. Where the table once was, a janitor robot got busy cleaning the floor. “We couldn’t find you.”

”I didn’t tell anyone?” Freddy asked before letting out a small chuckle and picking up another table. “Sorry about that. I was at the daycare.”

“The daycare?” Chica asked with a raised eyebrow, placing chairs onto the table upside down. “What were you doing there? Is there some arcade game there we didn’t know about?”

“No, no. Even if there was, I wouldn’t say.” Freddy gave Chica a quick smirk before he slipped back to his regular smile. 

If you’re ever wondering who has the highest scores on any of the arcade games, it’s always one of the animatronics, using a human name as a disguise. One high score belongs to Vanessa but the rest are spread amongst the animatronics. 

Hell, even DJ Music Man has the highest score on one of the machines. Freddy himself was currently trying to beat the highest score on one of the most popular shooter games. So far, Chica had the number one spot.

“I was hanging out with Sunrise.”

”Who?” Chica asked, before speaking again, snapping her fingers a few times as she thought. “Wait, that’s the uh.. Daycare Attendant, right?”

”Yeah.” Freddy nodded, smile growing at the fond memories from yesterday between himself and Sun.

”Oh, what’s he like?” Chica asked, leaning forwards on an empty table to get comfortable. “I’ve never actually met him.”

“Well, he’s incredibly friendly, very energetic - I have no idea how since I didn’t see a charging station in there. He absolutely adores children, which I find very sweet.” Freddy spoke with a big smile, pretty fond of the little guy.

”But I think he gets really lonely during the night.”

”What makes you say that?” Chica asked, resting her head on her hand. “He sounds lovely, who wouldn’t want to spend time with him?”

“He was really excited to see me, he even said that he’s never had anyone to spend time with during the night. He’s also the only animatronic in there. By the sound of it, Vanessa doesn’t pass by there very much. And none of us go there after hours.” Freddy continued speaking when he noticed Chica wanted to say something, saving her the breath. “I know what you’re gonna ask, but he can’t come to us. For some reason he’s not allowed to leave the daycare.”

Chica looked away for a few seconds with furrowed eyebrows, drumming her finger tips against the table. She pushed herself up from the table, looking back at Freddy. “Are you going back tonight? If so, can I come?”

———

Today was one of the best that Sunrise has had in a while. His little friends were ecstatic at learning about his activities with Freddy and he was just as excited to tell them all about the previous night. He even gave them a little show of the pictures Freddy made. 

Sunrise’s favourite of the drawings, was the one where Freddy drew Sunrise. The quality of the drawing was similar to the children as Freddy didn’t draw much, close to not at all. But it was Sun’s favourite because Freddy drew a few small stars next to him. 

Sunrise noticed Freddy ‘sneakily’ taking a drawing that Sunrise made and putting it somewhere. Freddy had turned away so Sunrise couldn’t see where it was stuffed. The drawing was one of the two of them holding hands with the words ‘best friends’ above them, horribly written and nearing incoherent symbols.

Sun’s hand writing was horribly bad, never being able to get better no matter how hard he tried. His drawing skills weren’t all too great either, similar with his handwriting, he could just never figure out how to draw better.

He was very flattered at Freddy taking the drawing. He knew he was a good artist, just in his own way!

Anyway- it was the first story time they’ve had in a while where Sunrise didn’t have to make up something to entertain them. He was still very good at that.

He’s made up many stories of heroes, princess, princes, royalty, dragons and other mythical beings becoming friends and resolving their problems together peacefully! 

There would be no fictional fighting or killing in Sunrise’s daycare!

And the stories weren’t even the best part! For the first time ever, Sunrise was excited for it to be night! He was, of course, sad when all the kids left but that sadness was soon replaced with excitement when he remembered Freddy.

But, he couldn’t help but feel… anxious. He didn’t understand why, but he started to doubt that Freddy was coming.

Freddy kept his promise last time, so what did he have to worry about? Even if Freddy didn’t promise that he’d be back today, he would still come right?

It wasn’t a promise but it sounded like one, and you never break a promise! Who knows what could happen?

Sunrise has never broken one and intends to keep it that way! He wasn’t going to find out the consequences of breaking a promise. 

Was he being… what did the employees call it again? Over dramatic?

Surely not. He was Sunrise, not over dramatic. He couldn’t help if his thoughts ran out of his control. Could he call them thoughts? Or just things he was programmed to think about? 

Oh jeez, here comes the scary thoughts again…

That’s what he thought ten minutes ago, and now here he was; laid on his back at the top of one of the play structures, staring up at the ceiling. He was counting the squares in the net, distancing himself from the ‘scary thoughts’. 

He had reached forty-six before he started again when a thought interrupted him. It was a small challenge he made for himself, to see how far he could go without thinking about anything other then the squares.

Squares were pretty cool, you could use them to help you draw houses! But Sunrise couldn’t help but prefer triangles and circles, you could make his face using just those two! Sunrise had always found that cool.

“Sunrise!” The shock of Freddy’s voice caused Sun to flinch, sitting up straight and sending his face spinning a few times. It only stopped when Sunrise reached up to his head and grabbed on to a few spikes to make it stop moving. 

He took a moment to respond, letting the dizzy sensation to pass before he even tried to move. He’s learnt from that mistake, his excitement at hearing his new friend inspired him to forget that lesson and he was on his feet.

“Freddy!” Sunrise gasped, as he turned around to look over at the entrance, where Freddy was. He swiftly jumped down from the play structure and quickly hopped over, tripping over himself a few times but catching himself before he fell. “I’m so happy to see you! Again!”

”I’m happy to see you too!” Freddy smiled warmly, hands extending towards the other every time Sunrise tripped, as if he would run over and catch him. 

”I forgot to do this last time so, here you go!” Sunrise smiled wide as he wrapped his arms around Freddy’s chest. He waited a moment for Freddy to wrap his arms around him.

”A hug? I made sure to give you one last time- Woah!” Freddy yelled out when he was suddenly picked up. He let out a few more yells, which Sunrise giggled at, as he was swung around by the smaller animatronic. 

That was one of Sun’s many questions answered, Freddy definitely weighed more then the kids, but not too much. Sunrise could definitely lift at least two Freddys. The question remaining was, just how many could he pick up at once?

“I’m sorry! I wanted to do it yesterday but I must’ve gotten distracted!” Sunrise giggled, putting Freddy down gently after a few more spins.

”That sure was.. an adventure!” Freddy chuckled, taking a moment to regain his bearings. Freddy would need to move around more in order to keep up with the shorter. Freddy noticed that Sunrise was trying to find a negative or positive reaction to the hug, so he spoke again. “Y’know I wouldn’t mind a hug like that again.”

The smile on Sunrise’s face widened and he began to hop in place excitedly. “But of course! Only those hugs from now on, they’re my speciality!”

“He’s adorable!” A female robotic voice squealed. 

Sunrise blinked. Someone else was here?

He leaned a little to the left in order to look past Freddy, eyes widening slightly when he saw Chica. Glamrock Chica. 

“Hello! We haven’t properly met, I’m-“ Chica spoke, waving.

“Glamrock Chica!” Sunrise squealed, quickly skipping over to her. Chica was here! Oh goodness! Sunrise was not prepared for two stars to be in his daycare tonight! 

She was taller then him too, which Sunrise was starting to think was a bit unfair. He wanted to be tall too!

”I’ve heard so much about you! It’s an honour to finally meet you!” Sunrise cheered, enthusiastically shaking her hand. 

“I’ve heard such nice things about you from Freddy, it’s an honour to meet you!” Chica smiled wide, stars in her eyes. She removed her hand from the handshake and placed them under Sunrise’s arms. 

Sunrise let out a small, squeak before he was lifted in the air by Chica. It was definitely a new feeling, but not one that was unwelcome. Is this how the kids felt when he picked them up? 

This was awesome! Not only did he have to do nothing, it was.. comforting! 

“You’re so much smaller then I thought you’d be!” Chica cooed. “I’ve only seen you in posters but you’re so much cuter in person!”

Sunrise felt his cheeks warm up, he hoped that wasn’t some kind of malfunction. “Thank you, you’re too kind.” 

“You’re so much cooler in person!” Sunrise smiled, happy to pay back with his own compliments and thoughts. “Your outfit is so cool, I love the shade of pink! And those things around your legs, I have no idea what they are, but I love them! They’re so pretty! You’re so pretty!”

”Thank you! They’re called leg warmers!”

They were already best friends. They didn’t care what anyone said, best friends.

“She wanted to come along and meet you, I hope that’s alright.” Freddy spoke up, standing next the the two of them. 

“Is it alright?” Sunrise repeated, finally being put back down on the floor. “Of course it is! Everyone is always welcome, as long as they’re not rule breakers!”

“I have no intention of breaking a single rule! You can trust me, I’ve never broken one!” Chica promised, which Freddy gave her a doubtful look over Sunrise’s shoulder. 

”Really? Me neither!” Sunrise began hopping from one foot to the other. He was enjoying the conversation but he was getting bored of standing around. 

“Do you perhaps have any drawings you’d like to show Chica, Sunrise?” Freddy spoke up. And that started their long night of activities. 

When 6AM came nobody noticed, too immersed in playing pretend. Sunrise was assigned the role of the awesome, heroic knight saving Prince Freddy from the evil captain of the pirates, Chica! He was in the middle of bringing Chica onto the good side before her faz-watch beeped. 

It was a voice message from Roxy, who apparently preferred that over texting. Sun wondered why. 

“I don’t know where you two are but you better get your butts up here! None of us want you dying on stage in the middle of a performance!” The voice message spoke, in a bossy tone.

Sunrise was fascinated by her voice, Roxy sounded so cool! Nothing like he had imagined! She sounded like one of the voices he would give to his imaginary story characters.

He was stuck between assigning her the role of either the cool, egotistical villain or the super cool female main character. Maybe he should ask the kiddos that have seen her before, they would have a better impression of her then he did! 

Other then being mesmerised by Roxy’s voice, he was very concerned about her phrasing. He practically screamed when he heard the word ‘dying’. 

He didn’t want Freddy or Chica to die! He wanted them to live and be happy! They were gonna die and it was all his fault for keeping them there for too long!

The two animatronics were quick to reassure the crying- yes he started crying- robot that Roxy didn’t mean it like that. 

Freddy referred to him as ‘superstar’ which especially helped to calm him down. 

And that’s how Sunrise learned that the other animatronics got their energy from re-charging and that Roxy was referring to their battery dying and not actually them. What a  relief that was! 

That was also how Freddy and Chica learned that Sunrise didn’t need to re-charge as his battery was powered by kinetic energy.

Sunrise didn’t know much about kinetic energy, so he just explained it as he gets his energy from moving around, which is why he does it so much. It was just a plus that it was really fun.

Before Freddy and Chica left, he gave the both of them a big, spin hug. Chica enjoyed it a lot, as well as Freddy, now that he expected it. He made sure to give them another squeeze before the doors closed on them. 

Chica said that she would come by again sometime, which made Sunrise overwhelmingly happy. He had two animatronics that enjoyed spending time with him! Plus, they were the stars of the whole pizza-plex!

He now had more stories to tell the children! Oh goodness, how could he forget? He needs to get the daycare ready!

———

Freddy didn’t leave just yet, instead he stood outside the doors, arms crossed. 

“Freddy?” Chica asked, tilting her head slightly as she looked at her friend. “I thought we were leaving.”

“We are. You can go on ahead, I need to do something first.” Freddy gave Chica a smile before looking away again.

”Alright. I’ll save some pizza for you. That’s if there’s any even leftover.” Chica shrugged, slowly walking backwards. She turned on her heel and began walking away. “I’ll meet you outside our rooms!”

Freddy waved his goodbyes to Chica before standing there for another minute. He had heard a lot of giggles and small, happy squeals from inside the daycare that put a smile on his face.

Once two familiar employees entered the corner of his vision, he took two steps to the left. His back was now covering the small electrical panel on the wall. 

His smile lowered to one that was friendly, just losing the small cheerfulness it had.

Freddy avoided eye contact for now but noticed how the two hesitated to approach before just continuing.

“Good morning boys.” Freddy greeted once the two boys had gotten closer. The teenagers were surprised to see Freddy here at this time. 

“Freddy, hey. What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in your room or something?” One of the boys asked. 

“There’s still an hour before opening, I was just taking a stroll. Don’t let me distract you from your jobs.” Freddy nodded to them. He read their name tags and stored them in his memory. ‘James’ and ‘Oscar’. 

He had a feeling we would need to remember those two for later on. Both brunettes, James with blue eyes and the other with brown.

”Uh yeah.” James nodded slowly, nudging Oscar with his elbow before they started walking away from the daycare entrance. Freddy heard them mumbling to each other, but it was incoherent enough that he couldn’t understand them.

Freddy didn’t move until they were out of sight, and once they were he left the daycare and headed towards the elevator. He needed to re-charge and then get ready for the day.

Sunrise might not admit it, but it was obvious that he didn’t like the lights off. Freddy assumed it had something to do with him being a sun animatronic, but that didn’t matter to him. 

All that mattered was that he would help Sun to keep his rule from the outside. If he didn’t, then he would be failing his job at keeping his kids safe.

Chapter Text

Sunrise moved his arms up and down rapidly, the bells ringing loudly and catching the attention of nearby kids.

”Everyone, attention please!” He called out, catching the remainder of the kids’ attention. The doors to the daycare opened behind him revealing a few adults standing there.

“It’s time for a few of you to go home, and for the rest, it’s time for lunch! I hear the nice dinner staff have made small pizzas in the shape of animals!” Sunrise excitedly announced, clapping his hands together.

He stepped out of the way from the door, allowing the stampede of cheering children to pass by. There were a few slower kids, who were the ones going home, near the back. 

The leaving children quickly stopped at Sunrise to give him a hug before going to give their parents a hug and leaving. 

Sunrise waved them all goodbye before they left his sight. A little girl came back into his sight, she looked like she was looking for something. Or rather someone.

It seemed like he wasn’t the only one who noticed a certain someone wasn’t apart of the crowd. 

Sun walked away from the door and towards where he saw the missing child last, and sure enough, she was still there. She was kneeled on the ground, drawing on a piece of paper at one of the colouring tables.

He skipped the rest of the short distance - because why not, skipping was fun - and stopped right behind her. He gently tapped on her shoulder, finally pulling her attention away from her drawing.

*Hello, Ruby!* Sunrise used his hands to sign to her, crouching down to her height. Ruby smiled and waved back. 

*What are you drawing?* He asked, looking at the picture over her shoulder. Ruby’s expression turned to excited as she read Sun’s hands, picking up the drawing and handing it to Sunrise. 

*It’s Ella, my best friend! I wanted to give it to her before lunch!* Ruby signed her response once her hands were empty. 

Sunrise looked down at the drawing in his hands. It was a crayon drawing of Ruby and her best friend, the little girl that was heading back to the daycare, holding hands with little hearts around them. 

*It’s beautiful, she’s going to love it. You can give it to her now, it’s lunch time!* Sunrise explained as he handed her back the drawing. Ruby looked surprised for a moment before looking around at her surroundings in the now empty daycare.

Sunrise gave a small chuckle, patting Ruby’s head gently before standing up. He held out his hand to her, which she quickly took.

They walked for a couple seconds together to the daycare’s exit before Ruby let go and sprinted to the little girl, Ella, standing there.

*There you, thought you were behind!* Ella signed to Ruby once Ruby ran over to her. Ella’s sign language wasn’t as good as Ruby's or Sunrise’s as she was still learning, she was better at understanding it though.

*Sorry, I was finishing your drawing!* Ruby signed in response before holding up the drawing so her friend could see it. 

Ella stared at the drawing for a few seconds, when Sun got closer he could see that she was tearing up. Ella quickly wrapped her hands around Ruby, who happily did the same.

*Thank you, keep forever.* Ella signed with a huge smile on her face, wiping at her eyes. Ruby smiled wide before taking Ella’s free hand and walking with her out of the daycare for lunch.

Sun watched the interaction with a smile, watching the two disappear from his sight when they ran towards the cafeteria.

It reminded him how happy he was when he received permission to actually be able to teach the little ones how to use sign language, more specifically ASL.

They were such fast learners and Ruby, who was already fluent due to her being deaf, was his little assistant. She was lovely, Sun adored her. Just like all the other kids.

The daycare was accessible to all children, no matter their ethnicity or if they had any disabilities, past injuries or any other difficulties; Sun was prepared. And he was ready to support them.

———

“To your left Chica!” Sunrise yelled out before he threw the ball in her direction.

“I got it!” Chica yelled back, moving to her left with her arms out stretched. She took a few steps backwards before catching the ball. She let out a short cheer before throwing it towards Freddy. “Catch!”

Freddy took a few steps backwards, almost tumbling over his own feet trying to get the ball, but he thankfully caught himself. Sunrise saw Freddy’s head twitch, but shrugged it off as something from Freddy almost falling over.

Chica was too busy laughing at Freddy to have noticed it. Freddy had missed the ball saving himself and now had to do the walk of ‘shame’ to get it again.

”You must be getting old, can’t even catch a ball!” Chica laughed, placing a hand on her hip.

”I’m the same age as you, jerk!” Freddy snapped back playfully before going back to search for the ball.

The playful tone was missed by Sun and he furrowed his brows. Why did Freddy just insult Chica? Surely Chica was joking, right? He never thought he would hear Freddy say something like that.

“He doesn’t mean it.” Chica spoke up, suddenly next to Sunrise. She must’ve noticed his confusion.

“He doesn’t? But then why did he say it?” Sunrise asked, looking up at Chica. 

“I guess it’s just our sense of humour?” Chica shrugged, giving Sun a pat on his shoulder. “We all do it, none of us gets offended by it or anything.”

“I don’t get it.” Sunrise looked back at Freddy, trying to make it make sense. Freddy was looking around a few foams bricks for the ball.

”Let me put it this way, sometimes I call Freddy ‘Dummy’ or ‘idiot’ but in reality he’s one of the smartest animatronics I know.” Chica attempted to explain. “It’s like a nickname but take away the mean and spiteful intentions behind it.”

”Oh, I think I understand now.” Sunrise nodded slowly, glancing back up at Chica, who had a small, warm smile across her beak. “And they know that the bad meaning is gone, right?”

”Of course. We’re a big family, we wouldn’t do anything to intentionally hurt each other. We… have our moments where not everybody is happy but we work on that together to help each other. At least, that happens most of the time.”

“That’s wonderful, I’m happy for you all! I wonder what it’s like to have a family.” Sunrise wondered out loud, looking back over at Freddy, who was still wondering around looking for the ball.

Was the daycare that unorganised that Freddy couldn’t find a ball? He would have to fix that later, not wanting to waste the short amount of time they had left together before it was six am.

Sun missed the confused expression from Chica. 

“There it is!” Freddy finally spoke up, as he approached the security desk.

Oh.

Oh no. 

Not there… Why did it have to roll behind there of all places? And why was Freddy still going towards it?!

“Freddy, stop!” Sunrise yelled, quickly jumping over and grabbing Freddy’s arm before he could step inside of the desk.

”Sunrise? Is something wrong?” Freddy asked, concern on his face as he looked down at the smaller animatronic.

“We can’t get the ball.” Sunrise frowned, pulling on Freddy’s arm to get him away from the desk.

”Why not?” Freddy asked. He wanted to keep Sunrise calm so he allowed himself to be pulled away. 

“The security desk. We’re not allowed near it!” Sunrise explained. He finally let go of Freddy’s arm when they were a good few metres away from the desk.

“Really? But the other security guards don’t care that much if we’re in their stations.” Chica spoke up, having walked over to the two. “I always go to Officer Stacey’s station whenever I need a break.”

“Really?” Sunrise asked, surprised as he tilted his head. “The security guards in your area sound lovely!” 

“What’s the security guard here like?” Freddy asked. 

“There’s two that work here, I’m not really sure when their schedules are because one of them only really shows up when he wants to; his name is Officer Andrew. The other is pretty much his substitute, but he’s lovely.” Sunrise explained, pausing for a moment as he remembered a few incidents with Andrew.

It was probably best to stay vague. The security guards did their job well so why should Sunrise ruin it? 

“You should be entertaining those brats, not me. So just keep them away and we’ll have no problem.”

”You’re right, I apologise. I promise I’ll do my job better, but please don’t call them brats. They’re all little angels.” 

“I don’t care. Get lost back to your job, there’s one over there eating glue.”

”Huh? Oh no, Darren! We don’t eat that!”

“I try to keep the kids away from him as he’s.. not too fond of the little ones.” Sunrise fiddled with the bell around his wrist, finding comfort in the familiar sounds it made.

Freddy and Chica exchanged a concerned look with each other. 

“Officer Alex is like his opposite! He loves to help out if needed, he’s very friendly. I’ve met a few of his children and they are just wonderful!”

“You’re Sunrise, right?”

“Correct! And who may you be? I don’t believe we’ve met before.”

”I’m Alex, the new security guard. I’ll be working with you.”

“New? Has Officer Dave left?”

”No, he’s just not here right now. That’s all I’ve been told at least.”

“I see. Well, it’s wonderful to meet you! I’m excited to be working with you, I can’t wait to get to know you better!”

“Likewise.”

Sunrise’s smile slowly widened as he remembered the fond memory. If only Officer Alex was full-time. Sun didn’t want to be mean or anything but he preferred Alex way more then Andrew. 

Their first interaction was rather amusing to Sun, as Alex had trouble believing that Sunrise wasn’t just a guy in a suit but an actual robot!

Oh boy, it was suddenly quiet in the daycare. How long had it been like that? How long was he distracted in his own thoughts? 

“Freddy! Chica!” A female robotic voice called out from behind the closed daycare door, shattering the silence. “Where are you two? I’m not wasting anymore of my time trying to find you both!”

That… that was.. Roxy! Roxanne Wolf! There was another animatronic outside of his daycare! Oh goodness, this was so exciting! Sunrise could already feel himself starting to hop in place, unable to control his excitable emotions. 

“Oh my goodness, that’s Roxanne!” Sunrise squealed excitedly, his past thoughts easily forgotten.

Freddy and Chica both looked at each other in silent agreement before looking back at Sun, who was now hopping from one leg to the other.

“We’ll continue this conversation another time, is that alright with you Sunrise?” Freddy asked, placing a hand on Sun’s shoulder. 

“Oh? Yeah! Of course, that’s perfectly fine!” Sunrise nodded, distracting himself with the thought of meeting Roxy to block out the small dreadful feeling creeping up on him.

Freddy gave him a big smile before walking over to the door and placing his hand on the security card scanner next to it. A loud click came from the doors before they slowly swung open, revealing Roxy.

The first time Freddy did that, it amazed Sunrise. How had Freddy been given security access? He wasn’t allowed near the security desk so he wouldn’t accidentally get that kind of power. 

He didn’t want to admit it, but it made him a little jealous.

Sunrise hopped over so that he was next to Freddy, unable to stop himself from hopping up and down in the spot. He heard Chica giggle next to him.

“There you two are! Monty and I have been looking for you both for ages!” Roxy sighed, tapping her foot impatiently with her arms crossed. 

The first thing that Sunrise noticed about Roxy was her hair. He loved the neon green highlight at the front; he found it a nice contrast to the grey and black hair down her back. Speaking of that, there was so much!

Sunrise had never seen this much hair before, it was so cool! He wanted to touch it, with her permission of course. How soft was it? Was it similar to the hair on her tail?

Sun could practice so many hairstyles with Roxy’s hair! He already knew how to do braids after trying it on many of the kids’ hair!

How long could he get the braid? Could her hair even be braided? It was so messy, it kind of bothered Sun. But she suited messy hair, which conflicted him. How could something that was messy look nice?

He was brought back to reality when he noticed that Roxy said something to him. Freddy and Chica were now outside the daycare, standing at Roxy’s side. They must’ve been talking with each other while Sunrise was stuck in his mind.

“Who the hell is that?” Roxy asked, looking over at Sunrise. The choice of words threw Sunrise off guard; all his questions and other things he wanted to say quickly slipping out his mind.

“Oh goodness- that’s is uh.. some pretty foul language..” Sunrise chuckled nervously. How was she allowed to say those words?

He hoped that this was only an after-hours habit. Oh goodness, how bad it would be for the children to be learning such bad words at such a young age. “But uh, I’m Sunrise! The Daycare Attendant! It’s-“

“I’m sorry what?” Roxy asked with an amused expression. “Did you just say that ‘hell’ is a curse word?”

”Yeah! It’s not a nice word to say, especially around kids!” Sunrise explained. If it was a child who said it or a parent or employee he would’ve scolded them.

However, this was Roxy, someone he had only heard about in stories and in pictures around his daycare. He couldn’t tell her off, she was one of the four stars of the pizza plex! Someone like him had no right to do that!

“He’s a Daycare Attendant Roxy, that’s apart of his programming. Don’t be rude.” Freddy scolded his friend, along with a small elbow shove.

“What? You gotta admit it’s funny! Right Chica?” Roxy asked, chuckling. There was no response from Chica, who was just staring at the floor blankly. 

“Chica?” Roxy asked again as she waved her hand infront of Chica’s face. 

“Huh?” Chica blinked, looking up at Roxy.

“You spaced out, are you alright?” Roxy asked.

“Yeah, I’m all good. Must’ve had a small glitch because my vision was turning kinda purple.” Chica shrugged, letting out a small nervous laugh. 

“That happened to me when I powered on today. I forgot about it until now.” Freddy spoke up, placing a finger on his chin as he thought. 

“Me too, but it’s probably not important.” Roxy shrugged it off. “Anyway, I’ve already messaged Monty that you guys were here- of all places. I can tell he’s going to get a laugh out of it.”

“Is he coming here to meet us?” Freddy asked, rolling his eyes at Roxy’s remark.

“Are ‘ya kidding me? He wouldn’t be caught dead here!” Roxy laughed. “Speaking of, I’ve spent way more then enough time here. Let’s get going.”

“Oh, are you all leaving?” Sunrise spoke up, gently swaying where he stood at the door of the daycare. He questioned what Roxy meant by ‘wouldn’t be caught dead here’ but didn’t linger on it for too long. 

“It is getting close to 6am.” Freddy mumbled, before speaking up. “Why don’t you come up with us? I know you’re not allowed to leave the Daycare but it would only be for a few minutes.”

“Oh goodness no! I couldn’t do that.” Sunrise firmly shook his head no. 

“I would walk back with you so you wouldn’t get lost.” Freddy offered. He wanted to try and get Sunrise out of the daycare. Who knows how long he’s been locked away in there, this would be a good opportunity for him to explore.

”Nuh-uh! That’s against the rules, I could never break a rule!” Sunrise shook his head again, going as far as to cross his arms in an attempt to look like he had some authority. 

“If I had been given some dumb rule that kept me inside some place I would be breaking it whenever I could.” Roxy spoke. “You can’t seriously enjoy being in there all the time?”

”Oh but I do! There’s so much to do in the daycare, there’s a lot of arts and crafts related activities I do all the time! I practice my puppet shows and…”

Sunrise’s sentence died off when he saw Roxy imitating a yawn. The thought that he was boring the other with his interests got rid of his excitement quite quick.

Freddy noticed almost immediately and shoved his elbow into Roxy’s side, a little rougher this time.

“Ow! What’d I do?” Roxy asked, giving Freddy a small glare.

”Don’t worry, Sun! We won’t tell anyone, it’ll be our secret!” Chica encouraged. “I have so much I want to show you if you really haven’t left the daycare before!”

“I…” Sunrise’s words failed him as he looked back down to the floor. 

He couldn’t do this, it was against the rules! He wasn’t allowed outside the daycare, no matter how much he wanted to leave sometimes. He couldn’t. 

But… what if he did? 

His eyes followed the line that separated the two floors. One blue and cushiony and the other hard and shiny with a black and white checkered pattern. 

He’s always wondered what that material would feel like on his feet. Something rougher and not soft. What was that like?

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if it was only a minute. 

His foot lifted up and passed the line. 

NO!

Sunrise flinched and used the same foot to take a step backwards. Away from the exit. Who said that?

He mustn’t. What role model for the kids would he be if he broke his own rules? He didn’t say that.

Who’s there?

“Superstar?” Freddy was at Sun’s side within seconds when he saw the shorter flinch. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing! I’d just rather stay in here.” Sunrise quickly shrugged it off, looking up at the three animatronics. He noticed the two confused faces on Chica and Freddy. Roxy, however, looked unimpressed. 

Sunrise felt himself shrink under her… unkind gaze. He’s had a few parents and employees look at him that way, and they never bothered him (that much) because he always had the children’s overjoyed faces to keep him happy.

There wasn’t a happy face in sight, and that made him feel like a failure.

”What a waste of time.” Roxy muttered under her breath. They all heard it. Chica shot her a disapproving look and Sun didn’t see Freddy’s expression. “Whatever, I’m going to go back to Monty and re-charging. Join us whenever you’re done.. here.”

Roxy waved over her shoulder as she walked away, mumbling to herself. “Can’t believe they were hanging around in this baby place.”

He did something wrong. She didn’t say goodbye to him, he messed up! What did she mean by baby place? It was a daycare, was she expecting something else? Does she know what a daycare is? How could he improve for the next time they see each other? 

An apology gift for displeasing her? What would she like? She’s so cool, what do cool people like?

Would she even come in this direction again? Will she avoid the daycare forever?

“Ignore her, she’s normally like this when you first meet her, she’s really a sweetheart. She’ll fall in platonic love with you soon enough.” Chica reassured.

Sunrise looked up at her worried face - he didn’t want her worried, she should be happy - and gave her a smile. 

“We should get going as well. It’s been a blast hanging out with you again!” Chica smiled, stepping into the Daycare and holding her arms open for a hug. 

Sunrise quickly skipped over and wrapped his arms around Chica in a big hug. Chica returned the embrace and gently rubbed her cheek against Sunrise’s forehead, being careful to avoid the rays coming from his head.

Freddy joined in, wrapping his arms around the two of them. He smirked before lifting the both of them up, gently swaying them side up side. Sunrise giggled the whole time before the two of them were let down.

That was a lot of fun, he hoped to get more hugs like that, that was awesome! Sunrise had a great day and Freddy and Chica made it better by hanging out with him during the night! The end of the night was a bit of a bummer but Sunrise just focused on the parts that he enjoyed the most.

Freddy and Chica headed outside the Daycare once more, waving at Sunrise as the door slowly closed. Sunrise gave them a big smile and waved enthusiastically, sad to see them go but excited to see them tomorrow night.

The smile fell from Sunrise’s face the second the doors closed. He turned around and took slow steps away from the door.

“I heard you.” Sunrise spoke, his own voice unnerving him. He didn’t like how serious he sounded, he didn’t like being serious. It was stressful and scary.

”You stopped me from leaving, you know I heard you.” He needed to know who that was. He’s had his own voice in his head lots of times, but that wasn’t him.

”Who are you?”

…

“Please say something.”

…

”I don’t want to be alone…”

…

The daycare would open in a few hours. He should get ready.

The lights didn’t turn off again.

Chapter Text

It had been a week since Roxanne came to visit, and since then he hasn’t seen a single glimpse of her; other then the posters around the daycare. He was sad when she never came back. He had made a gift for her to apologise… for what he did. He still wasn’t sure what he did wrong.

It was a struggle to find a gift for the wolf animatronic. He had no idea what any of her interests were other then racing, but due to his limited space, the same space that didn’t exactly have a lot of open space for races, he couldn’t appease to that interest. So he settled for a nice little hand drawn picture of her with the words sorry written underneath. 

During the week, Freddy and Chica visited him like normal. Once even showing up for a quick visit during opening hours! That was such a cool day, all the children were overjoyed to have Freddy and Chica join in with their usual games and activities, even though they didn’t stay long.

There were the odd nights when they didn’t show up but they made sure to let him know beforehand so he wouldn’t be disappointed when nobody showed up.

The nights when they did show up were some of the best nights of the week! However, during those visits he had heard Freddy and Chica complain about the same ‘purple glitch’ a few more times. Personally he hadn’t been experiencing anything of the sort and couldn’t offer any advice other than going to the technician. 

Which they had. They all had apparently, multiple times. But they had always gotten the same response that nothing was wrong with their code. Nothing they could find that would’ve been a cause for concern. 

Eventually it had escalated from their visions to small twitches or jerky movements that they couldn’t really control. The lack of control really shone through when Chica had apparently almost smacked Sunrise in the face. 

Sunrise had moved out of the way to pick up a pen that had been dropped onto the floor right as Chica’s arm had jerked out to the left. Right where Sunrise had been standing. Sunrise wouldn’t have realised what almost had happened if Chica hadn’t apologised.

Overall, the purple glitch didn’t seem to be too much of an issue. Freddy had told him that they were going to the technician again the next night and weren’t going to leave until it was fixed. They had repeatedly told Sunrise that the glitch was nothing to worry about; there was no pain and it was just a small inconvenience. 

So Sun didn’t let himself worry about it. He wasn’t knowledgeable about technical stuff other than how his own body functioned, mostly. He trusted his friend’s judgement, they would all be fine! 

Sunrise would trust his friends in a mechanical heartbeat! No hesitation! There was absolutely nothing to worry about! 

The start of the day had been the usual, parents dropping their kids off before they left to do some errands or go to work. It was also a Saturday, which meant that the daycare was only going to get more full when parents, who don’t have work, bring their children to play and get out of the house. 

Busy days were some of Sunrise’s favourites. He was built with the intention to be able to manage a large quantity of kids at a time. Thankfully, the daycare had a limit as to how many kids could be with Sunrise at once. This was to prevent overcrowding and reduce the risks of any accidents, as much as he’d like to he couldn’t be everywhere at the same time. Days like these definitely kept Sunrise busy!

He truly did love kids, and being surrounded by them left such a lovely warm feeling in his chest. Hearing their laughter, helping them accomplish tasks and just knowing that he was helping to raise them in some way always left Sunrise feeling prideful. That he was fulfilling his purpose.

Of course there are times where he would still get overwhelmed, a group of mischievous kids causing trouble until they got sent into time-out, multiple kids climbing up the walls of the play structure or kids who constantly wanted his attention and got in the way of him trying to play and care for the other kids. In those moments he would normally get them all to play a big game together, though sometimes that wouldn’t work.

It was especially bad when he would have a child present who required Sunrise’s full attention during their stay. The daycare was accessible to all and he had the knowledge to take care of any and all children, and that was a promise.

Of course he could multitask and take care of the child in need and the other children but it got especially difficult with the children who demanded his attention and tried to take him away from the child who needed it most.

It was always a relief when those situations ended positively, which they all did. All it took was an explanation and some encouragement for the other child to play with another child who also had no one to play with.

As the day continued on into the afternoon, the daycare’s capacity was getting close to its limit, a small number of the amount of children that had been checked in, hovered at the side of his vision. The day had started off a little slow, Sunrise had the privilege of getting to spend time with his usual little friends that came in for their fun weekend, like Daisy, but it had started to pick up around lunch time and there were no signs of slowing down just yet.

However, it all changed when several employees and parents stormed into the daycare. A uproar of angry chatter, loud and hysterical crying followed the large crowd. Several parents entered with a crying child in their arms or holding their hands.

The loud volume had startled Sunrise and several of the children that were sat in a group watching his puppet show. The scene at the entrance of the daycare was not a pretty one and Sunrise was quick to abandon his role of puppeteer to offer some comfort to some of the startled children.

”It’s okay everyone. It’s just a little loud noise.” Sunrise spoke in a gentle and soothing voice, wrapping his arms around his little friends and gently rubbing their backs. As much as he didn’t want to leave them, it was obvious the employees over by the entrance were struggling to manage both furious parents and devastated children.

“Hey Josh?” Sunrise caught the attention of a particular young boy, who was rubbing the back of his friend next to him. “Would you like to continue my puppet show for me? I’d really appreciate it!”

”Really?” Josh brightened up nearly instantly, rapidly nodding his head. He quickly made his way to the small stage Sunrise had created for puppets, but not before pulling along his friend. His friend was more hesitant but Josh’s enthusiasm was quickly rubbing off on him.

“Thank you, Sunshine! Alright everyone. Josh is going to finish the show for you all! How about some of you help him?” Sunrise suggested, which interested many of the huddled children.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can. I’m going to help over there, you know where to find me if you need me.” Sunrise instructed, smiling when they all nodded in agreement and turned back to Josh and his friend, who now had puppets on their hands. 

With one problem solved, Sunrise quickly made his way over to the.. much bigger problem. 

His first urge that he gave into was to immediately comfort the closest child to him. He used kind, calm words to soothe the child’s crying and fear. Why was he so scared? It had worked for a few seconds before he had broken down crying again and he ran away to find his parents.

Sunrise quickly realised that there wasn’t much he could do if he didn’t know the cause of what had happened. Find the cause and then he could find the best way to comfort them! Quickly finding the nearest employee that wasn’t dealing with an angry parent, Sunrise gently tapped him on the shoulder. 

“Excuse me.” He caught the employees attention, who looked both stressed and anxious. Sun crouched a little to reach his height, he must’ve been a teenager. “Can you tell me what happened?”

The employee couldn’t even respond back as an angry mother suddenly started shouting at him. The same mother had pushed a little girl, who was sobbing uncontrollably, into Sun’s arms.

”O-oh!” As soon as the girl was in Sunrise’s arms he immediately got to work hushing her, he would just have to improvise. “Shh, shh, it’s okay sunlight. Everything is alright.”

The angry tone of her mother right next to them wasn’t helping to calm down her daughter, so Sunrise took a few steps away from her. But it seemed everywhere he went there were more people; the counter in the corner of his vision increasing rapidly as he collected the face recognition scans of guests as he walked around.

None from the crowd had checked-in to the daycare. This was completely against protocol and the usual rules of his daycare, but what could he do? His superiors were all running around trying to fix the problem, which he still couldn’t figure out what it was.

Sunrise could only do so much to enforce his rules himself, the ability to ban any children from the daycare hanging over his head. A privilege he’s only had to use a few times, and each time he dreaded. And he couldn’t just ban the whole swarm, there had to be another solution. As much as he disliked the idea, it would have to be a solution he wasn’t going to be able to come up with.

He gently bounced her in his arms, a hand on her back, rubbing up and down. The little girl, who he learned was called Grace after a scan, had her small arms wrapped around Sunrise’s chest. Her face buried into Sunrise’s shoulder as she sobbed, starting to hiccup.

“That’s it, let it out. It’s all going to be okay. I promise. Don’t forget to breathe, can you do that with me? Just match my breathing with yours, okay?” Sunrise instructed before taking a deep, exaggerated breath in, holding it for a few seconds before exhaling out. 

Being a robot, Sunrise couldn’t actually breathe, but he could mimic the movements and the sound of breathing almost perfectly. After a few more fake breaths, Grace started to follow his lead. The first breath was shaky and she couldn’t hold it in without hiccuping. But after a few more attempts she did it successfully. 

“There you go. You’re doing great, Sunshine, I’m so proud of you.” Sunrise smiled, keeping his voice calm despite his relief. Grace was starting to breathe much better and much easier, no more hiccups to interrupt her.

Suddenly, Grace was pulled from his arms, to the surprise of the robot and the little girl.

“Grace, honey, we’re leaving now. Say goodbye to… that.” The woman spoke, who Sunrise instantly identified as Grace’s mom. It didn’t look like she was very fond of animatronics.

“B-but-“ Grace stuttered, looking up at her mom and back to sun. 

“It was lovely meeting you Grace. I hope to see you again soon.” Sunrise gave the little girl a smile, hands interlocking with each other. 

”Ha! You’d be lucky if we ever come back here again!” The mom laughed, turning around and taking long steps out of the daycare.

“B-bye Sun-man..” Grace frowned as she looked over her mom’s shoulder while being carried away. Grace gave a small wave, Sunrise made sure to return it before they went out of sight. 

What on earth was going on? Why was that mother so upset? Why were so many children upset? Why did it hurt cause an uncomfortable sensation in Sun’s chest at just hearing the cries? What had happened?

“Oi! Jester! Do your job and calm these kids down!” Oscar shouted at him as he speed walked past him. The poor teenager must’ve been incredibly stressed.

“O-oh, right! Of course! Right away!” 

———

Today, was not a great day. Not a complete failure but not a success either.

The daycare had kept growing more crowded as more and more parents brought their kids along so they could go and complain about what had happened. The maximum capacity had been reached a long time ago but it wasn’t something that could’ve been fixed. 

Sunrise had tried telling his human co-workers that no more children could come into the daycare as it was too full but he either got ignored or dismissed. Telling him that he’d ‘just have to deal with it for now, there’s bigger problems to deal with’.

Sunrise had quickly learned what the big problem was, not from the employees but from the children he helped comfort. 

Freddy had suddenly shut down on stage, right just as the glamrock’s concert was about to go into its first song of the afternoon. He was twitching on the floor before the show was shut down. Roxanne and Chica were at his side after he fell while Montgomery was standing in front of the three.

Sunrise assumed that he was attempting to block the audience’s view of the scene. But it seemed Monty’s attempts were proven futile as the child, who was explaining what happened to sun, was overwhelmed by the screams and cries of other children. Originally the little boy was just confused as to what was going on but had started to panic as those around him also panicked.

That panic quickly grew into fear as his older brother, who had been stood next to him, thought it was a good idea to tease him and say that Freddy had died. It took a lot of reassuring but eventually Sunrise had calmed the child down enough that he could go and comfort another one.

It was a repeat cycle of reassuring a child, even groups of children at once, and moving on to help another one calm down. Reassurance was one of Sunrise’s specialties, but he was having problems with keeping himself reassured. 

Was Freddy okay? What happened to him? Where was he now? Getting repaired Sunrise hoped! Were the others alright? Was the collapse caused by the same purple glitch he had told Sunrise not to worry about? Were the other three in danger of collapsing also?

Sun had a job to do and couldn’t dwell on his thoughts questions for long. He was immensely relieved to learn that the Pizzaplex would be closing much earlier than normal, refunds given out to all adults that were in the building at the time of the collapse.

The large crowd that had invaded the daycare had swiftly made their leave, most complaining the whole time about how ridiculous the situation was. Sunrise knew that they had a right to be angry but he just wished they wouldn’t be so colourful with the words they used. He had to make a quick lesson about how some words were not okay to be said until the children were adults and understood what they meant. 

Parents had to be called to pickup their kids, which took another hour for everyone to be picked up. Arrangements had to be quickly made for some parents as they were either at work or doing something really important and couldn’t pick up their kid.

Understandably most of them were frustrated or annoyed but they seemed to be able to control themselves and not lash out. Sunrise made sure to thank them all for their co-operation and apologise for the inconveniences it caused.

Once the daycare was closed, Sunrise was left on his own. He had been hoping that he would be able to quickly catch the attention of a passing by employee to ask about Freddy, or anyone. Or at least ask them to find out something, they usually had ways of contacting others fast. He’d take any kind of information at this point.

But none had came by. 

In fact, the last employee he saw that wasn’t a parent was the one that was waiting for the last parent to leave before closing the door to the daycare. The sounds of keys jingling and the turning of locks. 

Yes, the Mega Pizzaplex was closed but everything usually got locked down an hour or two after as the employees had a few last duties to complete before they were done with their shifts. He learnt that from Officer Alex.

The only other sighting of another person was Officer Vanessa, but even that was brief. He had climbed up into the net to catch her attention when he had heard someone approaching.

However, she looked busy, like she was looking for something, so he didn’t bother her but there was something.. different about her. He just couldn’t place his finger on it though. 

Maybe she was just tired and had a rough day getting some sleep. It couldn’t be easy being a night guard for a whole building by yourself.

He silently wished her good luck for the night before climbing down the net and getting started on tidying up.

”Clean up, clean up.”

———

It had taken hours to get the Daycare back into Sun’s standards of cleanliness. 

There were so many dirty footprints on his mats from the large crowd! How dirty were the floors outside his daycare that it left such a mess?!

It had taken an hour alone for Sunrise to be completely sure that he had found all of the nasty footprints and got rid of them. 

He wouldn’t even get started with his rant on the trash that was left behind! It was frustrating going around picking up food wrappers that he knew parents had left behind! And he knew it was the parents because all the wrappers were found at the entrance!

He thought that because they were adults they would’ve been more respectful! There were trash cans in so many places!

Sunrise had been moving non-stop all day, so much so that his joints had started to ache. Most likely from over-usage. But he still had a lot of work to do, like collect up all the pictures and put them in his special picture room for safe keeping!

It was more of a lighter job so he took his time collecting up the pieces of paper and storing them away securely. He liked having things to do, even if they were really small or didn’t matter too much. It kept him distracted from his mind recollection of the day. 

Sunrise was all too aware that he wouldn’t be getting any visitors tonight. 

He kept his hope optimism high that any minute now Freddy and Chica would walk through that gate. That Freddy was better than ever, all of them were better! Maybe even Roxanne would be there! Or if he was lucky, Montgomery! He still had yet to meet him, he’s heard so many things about him!

If only he had a way to be able to contact them. That would be nice. He would say hello to Freddy and Chica, wish them both a good morning every time the sun rose! Be able to talk to them whenever he wanted. He would’ve been able to message Roxanne an apology for what he did. Introduce himself to Montgomery! 

No, wait. First impressions were always better in person. They would have to meet in person for the first time, no mistakes this time!

A notice appeared in Sunrise’s vision, startling him out of his thoughts plans.

>Motion detected, Slide Entrance.

That’s… never happened before. 

Chapter Text

The slide entrance was very popular amongst the children at the daycare. So much so that it was very common for him to have to go and stop children from going the wrong direction. Children were just so eager to slide back down that they want to climb back up as quickly as possible. The more daring kids climbed the outside of the tube.

Outside was the most dangerous, several times he has had to catch children who were adventurous enough to climb the outside and fall. Thankfully there have been no injuries other then a few scrapes or friction burns the children received from the initial fall. He always has an eye on the slide, just in case.

Sunrise has seen teenagers slide down with their younger siblings or when they thought no one was watching. That wasn’t a problem or anything, the daycare was open to all ages (within reason). 

An adult could come in with their child until the child was confident enough to be without their guardian- even if that didn’t happen often and it was up to Sunrise to cheer them up and comfort them. He’d have to be the one to introduce the child to the daycare.

Sunrise couldn’t be surprised with the teenagers actions. Even though they acted older than they were sometimes, deep down they were still children at heart. Sun couldn’t go down that particular slide but he has been down the other, smaller slides attached to the play structure. They were always a joy to slide down but he does wish he could at least once try the bigger slide. If only the entrance wasn’t outside his daycare.

That slide has been used an unknown amount of times, surprisingly not once needing repairs or replaced but Sun was expecting that day to be coming soon. If he had to estimate a number, he’d say least a hundred times a day the slide was used.

But not once has Sunrise ever received a notice for someone entering the slide. Since when was that something he could do? What other security sensors did he have that he also wasn’t aware of? How long have they been active for? Where were they?

…

Who was setting off the motion sensor?

Sunrise quickly placed down the stack of papers he was carrying on a nearby table and rushed to the entrance of his room, almost tripping over his own legs but quickly catching himself. Someone was in his daycare! After hours no less!

Could it have been Freddy? Or Chica? Or another animatronic? He was hoping so! Not only would he love to see them right now, he would prefer to see them in his ball pit than some unknown human. No unauthorised people were to be on the premises, Sunrise had no access or ability to get in contact with anyone.

If this was an intruder there was nothing he could do, he wasn’t built or programmed to deal with those situations. During open hours, if anything like that were to happen then his goal would be to protect the children.

Sunrise leaned forwards, over the edge of his balcony and just in time to see a small child come out of the slide and disappear into the ball pit in a small eruption of plastic balls. Not even a second later the child was back on their feet and pushing themselves through the sea of plastic.

It was a young boy, around the age of ten or eleven and he was wearing a blue shirt. Sun, no matter how hard he tried, could not recognise the boy; and he never forgot a child’s face. Even with a not-so-thorough scan of the boy’s face, Sunrise could still not recognise him.

Why was this child not in his memory bank? How was he not in the pizza plex’s database? Where was his guest profile? How on earth did he end up here? Was there a missing child report that he had missed? No, no. Sunrise always checks those and he was one hundred percent positive this wasn’t the case. But then that raised another question, why hadn’t anyone reported this child missing?

Almost as if the boy could sense he was being watched, he stopped walking and looked around at his surroundings. The boy was shaking. The poor thing, he was terrified!

Understandably so, in an unfamiliar place, seemingly alone. No family or friends. Sunrise couldn’t let that go unanswered! No soon-to-be friend was allowed to be scared in his daycare. 

“Ho, ho, ho!” Sunrise cheered out, announcing his presence to the little boy, before placing his hands above his head and diving into the ball pit.

The dive did not give the reaction Sunrise had intended.

”Hellooo!” He greeted loudly, emerging from the plastic balls and picking up the kid with him. 

The kid screamed.

The scream caught Sunrise off guard. He had almost dropped him, but thankfully caught him again before he disappeared into the ball pit again. 

“Hey, hey! It’s okay! Im sorry!” Sunrise was quick to try and fix his mistake, his rays sinking halfway into his head. The poor child was kicking and screaming, Sunrise had to hold him further away to avoid being kicked in the face. He definitely should’ve known better, surprising an already terrified boy. What was he thinking?! “I didn’t mean to scare you, I’m so terribly sorry!”

It took a few more words of regret and apologies before the boy stopped screaming and squirming, slowly realising he wasn’t in any immediate danger. He was staring at Sunrise with wide, scared eyes, as if trying to figure out when the other would strike.

“I’m your friend and I want to help you!” Sunrise explained as he began making his way out of the ball pit, easily moving through the balls.

Sunrise scanned the boy’s face again, assuming that it was the angle he had initially scanned him with that was the problem. Unfortunately, he got the exact same results as before. This boy didn’t exist in any system Sunrise had access to.

The sun animatronic took this as an opportunity to get a good look over the young boy. The boy was so… messy! His hair looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned or combed in weeks, Sunrise felt that he could be able to smell the boy from across the daycare.

Not only his hair hadn’t been cleaned in a long time, it didn’t look like he had had any showers or baths recently. Or at all this past month! 

His legs were littered in small scrapes, dirt and bruises, as well as his arms, and Sun didn’t want to imagine what the rest of the boy looked like. He was getting more and more concerned as he noticed more and more.

A bandaid lazily put on his cheek that Sunrise knew wasn’t even covering anything. He assumed it was supposed to be for the small scratch an inch away on the same cheek.

Seriously, who was taking care of this kid?! They were doing an atrocious job!

He was skinny, too! Far too skinny for someone his age. When was the last time he ate? There were so many questions Sunrise wanted to ask him, but he had already frightened the child once and he did not want to overwhelm the poor little guy. 

“How did you end up here little friend? Your guardian should’ve collected you a looong time ago!” Sunrise spoke, gently placing the boy onto the soft ground. Sun crouched down to his height, allowing them to be at equal eye level. 

The boy just stared at Sunrise, eyes frantically looking around them before unwillingly sticking onto Sunrise. He didn’t look willing to talk. That’s alright, Sunrise has met many children who were scared of him at first, all it took was time and they would be friends soon enough. “What’s your name?”

A little too much time had passed with no response and Sunrise was about to move onto another topic, hoping that would urge a response instead. But he couldn’t even get a word out before the boy finally spoke up, “Gregory.”

”What a lovely name! I’ve only ever met a few Gregory’s.” Sunrise let out a small chuckle. He held out his hand to Gregory, offering a handshake. “My name is Sunrise, but I get called a lot of alternatives: Sun, Sunny, Sundrop, Sunnydrop. It’s whatever you prefer!”

“…Okay.” Gregory slowly reached out towards Sunrise’s larger hand. He hesitated a few times before actually accepting the handshake, all the while Sunrise was patiently waiting. He was happy to go at the pace Gregory preferred, the warm  smile never dropping from his face.

Sunrise’s grip was gentle around Gregory’s comically smaller hand as they shook hands. He then gently cusped Gregory’s hand with both of his as he softened his tone.

“Now, what are you doing here? It’s very late, unless, you’re here for a slumber party?” Sunrise asked, adding some excitement to his tone, attempting to help calm Gregory’s fears. “Is your guardian around somewhere or are you all alone? Slumber parties are always better with more people.”

Gregory seemed conflicted, opening and closing his mouth a few times. It was an expression Sunrise was very familiar with.

“You’re not going to be in trouble, Sunshine.” Gregory’s stiff posture melted at the nickname, tears building up in the corners of his eyes. “I want to help you as much as I can, but I can’t do much if I don’t know what’s going on. Could you help me out, please?”

“I-I didn’t mean to-“ Gregory rapidly blinked, trying to get rid of the tears. But when that didn’t work he pulled his hands away from Sunrise to wipe at his eyes.

“I just- I didn’t want- I just wanted to be somewhere warm but then I got caught and chased-“ a small sob ripped itself out of Gregory’s throat, forcing him to pause for a moment before continuing. 

“I hid inside of Freddy until he found me, he’s been helping me but I keep getting chased by the others and that security lady and rabbit lady-“

A huge wave of relief had swept through Sunrise at the mention of Freddy. His friend was fine and was even helping Gregory! What wonderful news! But.. where was he? 

Who was chasing Gregory? Could it be the S.T.A.F.F bots? It would make sense, they wouldn’t recognise Gregory and assume he was an intruder. They weren’t exactly the most friendly looking animatronics. Sunrise assumed that Vanessa was trying to help the boy but he was too scared and kept running away from her. 

Also, Rabbit lady? Sunrise was confident that the Pizza Plex did not have a rabbit animatronic. Did he see Roxanne or Chica and mistake them for a rabbit?

He also took a silent mental note at how Gregory was avoiding answering any questions relating to any kind of parental figures.

“Then Freddy told me to come here because it was safe and that he would meet me when he could because we got separated and then-“ Gregory cut himself off again as more sobs broke free. But this time it didn’t look like he could stop them, as if he had been holding them in for a long time.

“Shh, shh…” Sunrise quickly pulled Gregory into a hug. With his arms wrapped around the small child he could feel just how malnourished he truly was. But, one problem at a time.

“It’s okay Sunshine, everything is going to be alright.” Sunrise could feel Gregory wrap his own smaller arms around him, gripping onto the fabric around his neck, face pressing into Sun’s chest.

“It sounds like you’re having an awful night, but not to fear friend Gregory. I will do everything that I can to help out.” Sunrise spoke confidently as he gently rubbed circles into Gregory’s back. 

“Unfortunately I’m not permitted to call anyone but when our friend Freddy gets here we can ask him to call someone to help you. How does that sound? Good?” Sunrise asked, feeling Gregory nod against him. Sunrise stood up, taking Gregory with him.

”Wonderful! I don’t believe that he will take too long, but I’m always prepared for when I have to wait. So,” Sunrise approached the closest table. “How does arts and crafts sound? I have all sorts of coloured pens, googly eyes and, my personal favourite, glitter glue! Do you like glitter glue? I do!”

“Glitter glue..?” Gregory seemed confused, moving his face away from Sunrise’s chest to look up at the animatronic.

”Sunshine, you are in for a wonderful surprise!” Sunrise’s smile widened, taking a seat cross-legged on the floor and pulling a plastic chair closer so he could place Gregory on it. 

“It’s clear glue that has glitter in it! It comes in all sorts of colours!” Sunrise excitedly explained as he pulled out several bottles of the substance. “You can use it like regular glue or you can use it to draw stuff! It makes it extra shiny!”

Gregory looked interested, reaching out and grabbing the blue coloured glitter bottle. 

———

It was twenty minutes later when they had received a message from Freddy on Gregory’s faz-watch that he was outside. 

During that time, he and Gregory had been making a small row of pictures that were moved to the side to dry. Mostly with glitter glue after Sunrise’s encouragement. A small, empty bag of Sundrops, Sunrise’s signature candy, sat not far from Gregory. 

There was no other food around in the daycare, it wasn’t the preferred option due to it not being all too healthy, especially this late at night- but he refused to let a malnourished child sit there with a seemingly empty stomach for any longer. Gregory ate them in record time. 

Sunrise had been enjoying his time spent with Gregory, he had been leading the conversation with Gregory speaking up whenever he felt like it. Gregory had calmed down significantly compared to how he was when he first arrived, but it was obvious that the poor boy was still really stressed.

Unfortunately it didn’t seem like Sunrise could help ease his stress further. Perhaps another friendly face would help him? It would certainly help calm Sunrise, who had a growing feeling suspicion that something was wrong. 

He had no idea what it was. Gregory wasn’t the cause, Sun was confident with the fact that the people at the pizza plex could help him get where he was supposed to be. It was something else, and it was frustrating him that he couldn’t find out what it was.

Freddy had arrived before his thoughts could have dived deeper in to that rabbit hole. Sunrise was overjoyed at hearing’s Freddy’s voice through Gregory’s faz-watch, he had to quickly catch up to Gregory who had sprinted towards the large door almost immediately. Through the very small crack, Sunrise could see Freddy! Not very well but that was definitely him! 

Who else would it be?

Then a problem arose when Freddy had asked them to open the door so he could come in. He even mentioned that the coast was clear, which Sunrise did not think was needed. The pizza plex was a safe environment!

Gregory had looked up at him, expecting Sunrise to open the door. 

“I- uh…” Sunrise slowly turned his head to look at the security desk. One of those buttons would open the door and reunite him with his best friend. But he wasn’t allowed near the desk. “Is there a way that you can open it from that side perhaps? You’ve opened the door by yourself every time you come over..”

“Unfortunately not. I am experiencing many glitches and I have lost the ability to open some doors in the pizza plex.” Freddy explained and Sunrise could hear a hint of annoyance in his voice. Could those glitches be related to Freddy collapsing earlier? But Sunrise thought Freddy had been sent to be repaired?

“I hate to ask this of you Sunrise but could you go into the security desk and let me in? I know you are not allowed, but I can’t get in. This will be the only time I‘ll ask you to break a rule.”

”I-I..” Sunrise anxiously rubbed his hands together. It would only take a few seconds, he could be in and out. Only Gregory and Freddy would know he broke a rule. But he would also know. Could he handle the guilt of breaking a rule knowingly? 

This was very important though… They couldn’t help Gregory if the door was closed.

“You’re taking too long!” Gregory’s impatient voice brought Sunrise’s attention back to him. He looked over at the security desk, where Gregory was standing on the chair and looking over the button panel. 

“Gregory! Friend, you’re not allowed to be in there!” Sunrise panicked, quickly running around to the front of the desk, where he was closer to the kid but not inside the area.

“Well someone has to do it if you won’t!” Gregory huffed, one hand reaching out and taking the security pass and the other pressing buttons. 

He had only pressed a few buttons, the music of the daycare stopping and starting again, before he got annoyed and pushed his hand down into the button panel. 

The computer screens turned off, several different songs were playing at once, the large screen behind Gregory turned off as well as the lights. 

The lights turned off.

“No, no, nonononononononono-“ Sunrise muttered, his rays sinking halfway into his head as he stumbled backwards. Panic filled his systems, he had to get Gregory to turn the lights back on before it started- too late.

The pain started as a banging in his head, the gears already starting to turn, hands coming up to clutch at his face and rays. A pained yelled uncontrollably ripping itself from his throat. 

“Lights on!” Sunrise yelled. 

”Gregory! What did you do?!” Freddy’s panicked tone could be heard from somewhere.

”What’s happening?!” Gregory’s scared voice spoke up.

His feet were moving on their own, moving his body backwards and smacking into stacks of barrels.

Clean up! Lights on!

No!

W-What?

NO!

Who- who was that? Who was saying that?!

That wasn’t Gregory! It wasn’t Freddy! Who was it?!

DON’T LET ME OUT, PLEASE!

”Lights on!” Sunrise found himself shouting, in a tone he wasn’t even aware he could make. Demanding and pained.

”Superstar open th…” The sound of static drowned out the noises of his surroundings, but not being loud enough to get rid of the voice or his own pained noises.

I DON’T WANT TO HURT HIM!

Who ever was speaking was beginning to become incoherent to Sunrise, but he could still hear them. Why won’t they stop? What were they even talking about?

For the love of whatever-who-even-cares, could someone just turn those damn lights back on!? 

Make the pain stop! 

Make the voice stop!

Please!

PLEASE!

”LIGHTS ON!” 

All at once everything stopped as light flooded Sunrise’s vision. Quickly his vision cleared up and he could see the colourful floor under him through his fingers. The pain stayed for a few more seconds as the gears yanked themselves back into their original place.

Sunrise saw that he was shaking as he pulled his hands away from his head. He couldn’t stop it, no matter how much he wanted to stop shaking his body wouldn’t listen to him. The lights being off never made him feel this bad before, but then again he’s never had a voice screaming in his head to add to his panic.

I-I’m sorry-

“Sunrise! Are you okay?” Freddy asked, Sun almost didn’t hear it, the mysterious voice catching him off guard. He had expected it to disappear like last time. When Sunrise looked up from his hands he could see Freddy was behind the security desk, the doors to the daycare now open. When did that happen?

“You- you turned the lights off…” Sunrise gasped out. He was overheating- why was he overheating? He had to replicate breathing to help get air into his vents to cool his body down, the fans in his body weren’t enough.

”Sun! I tried to get in as fast as I could, I turned the lights back on but, are you okay?” Sunrise could hear Freddy ask and when he blinked Freddy was right in front of him.

He should be happy, Freddy was here. Freddy helped him, and he was going to help calm Sunrise down. But Sunrise didn’t recognise anyone friendly. 

Freddy, Gregory… they broke the rules.

Rule-breakers. Rule-breakers! 

“Rule-Breakers!” Sunrise shouted, forcing himself to his feet. He hated the sight of Freddy backing away from him. They were supposed to be friends.

All he wanted to do was run to Freddy and cry. Cry into his chest while being hugged. Being hugged. That had never happened until Freddy. Sunrise always gave hugs to smaller people, but had never received an embrace like that before.

In the moment he was too happy and distracted that he actually made friends with one of the stars in the pizza plex that he didn’t realise how nice the hug was compared to the ones he gave out. He didn’t realise how much Freddy’s and Chica’s hugs meant to him now that he wanted a hug. How they actually returned the same love that he gave into his hugs, sometimes even more. He knew now, and right now he craved that affection. 

“You-You two are banned from the daycare! Get out!” Sunrise continued to shout, pointing towards the door while he continued to approach them.

He watched the painful sight of a frightened Gregory running towards Freddy and frantically scrambling into his chest cavity. He was scaring the child! But he couldn’t stop himself, they were rule breakers! They had to leave immediately!

They.. they hurt him! They broke his most important rule!

”Sunrise- please! It was an accident, Gregory didn’t mean to! Let me help calm you down!” Freddy tried to reason, but Sunrise couldn’t and wouldn’t listen. He was hurting and he wanted Freddy to help make it go away! 

“You’re banned! Banned! Leave!” Sunrise had forced Freddy to take several steps backwards out of the daycare. There was a crack in the wood of the door. What had they done to his door?!

Freddy was outside now, continuously pleading with Sunrise to listen. Sunrise wanted to but he couldn’t. He was still shaking, he was confused, he didn’t understand what was happening! He didn’t feel as if he could control himself.

Sunrise reached out and grabbed the doors, pushing them closed while muttering “Rule-breakers.” Over and over again.

Freddy put his hand on the door and pushed back, stopping Sunrise from fully closing it. “Sunrise! Listen!”

Sunrise felt his rays sink further into his head, a wet substance running down his face. He couldn’t close the doors, he couldn’t muster up the strength to push against Freddy. 

So he did the only thing he could. “SECURITY ALERT! SECURITY ALERT! WOO! WOO!”

The hurt and panic on Freddy’s face was going to be something that would haunt Sunrise. The bear animatronic backed away from the door, the sounds of another animatronic’s heavy footsteps getting closer.

Sunrise closed the doors before Freddy’s face could be burned into his vision any more. He collapsed against the door, his forehead pushing itself into the wood, his legs connecting with the soft floor harshly. He pushed his hands against the sides of his head, blocking out the noises from the other side of the wood.

What a disaster! He was no longer overheating, but Sunrise felt exhausted drained. His battery was full which made no sense. How could he feel fatigued if he wasn’t low battery?

He needed to do something, get his mind off of what just happened. Looking away from the door, he could see the piles of barrels he had knocked over. 

Clean up! Clean up!

Letting his body move on autopilot, Sunrise watched as he pushed himself up off the floor and swiftly walked over to the mess. He watched his hands pick up barrel after barrel and stacking them on top of each other. Just like how they looked earlier.

As he moved onto the second stack of barrels Sunrise finally felt his head start to clear. The reality of what just happened setting in.

He just banned Freddy. He BANNED Freddy! One of the two people in the pizza plex that considered Sunrise a friend! He banned him.

But he had to, right? He broke a rule- well, technically Gregory was the one to break a rule. The poor boy was so scared, Sunrise scared him! That went completely against his programming!

But it was also part of his programming to ban anyone who turned the lights off. The other rules were much lighter with consequences, time out or a scolding. The lights were a serious offence in comparison to the other rules. 

It was a rule all the daycare employees get drilled into them. The first time that the two teenage employees turned the lights off Sunrise had given them a good scolding through the net. Even then he could see that they weren’t taking him seriously.

Somehow he had convinced himself that they were just young and didn’t know just how badly turning the lights off effected Sunrise. Why did the dark hurt him in the first place?

Gregory was younger than the two teenagers. He wouldn’t have known about the light rule, Sunrise had never told him. But he should’ve never been behind the security desk, he was just a child. That was Sunrise’s fault for not keeping a close eye on him. 

The stack he was building fell over again, his shaking hands accidentally knocking it over. Sunrise looked at his hands before attempting to stack the barrels once more. Just like before, they fell over when he reached the third one.

He was doing it right. He was sure he was doing it right. Why were they falling over?

He wiped at his eyes, an attempt to get his hands to stop shaking and to clean his face. He was still crying, only making him rub his eyes more to get rid of the tears. If he had skin he was sure he would’ve rubbed his eyelids raw to try and get himself to stop. 

What was wrong with him? He must be experiencing some kind of glitch, just like Freddy was.

BANG!

Sunrise screamed, wrapping his hands around himself. The loud noise had came from the daycare’s entrance.

“What-“ Sunrise looked at the door with wide eyes. The normally stable and clean door now had several cracks running through it.

BANG!

What was happening?! Who was doing that?!

Sunrise briefly considered that Freddy was the one behind it but he quickly dismissed that idea. Freddy would never do something like that, neither would Chica. The S.T.A.F.F weren’t strong enough to even be able to do such severe damage.

BANG!

A green claw punched its way through the wood, leaving behind a big hole. Another hole quickly followed as another green claw forced its way in. 

Sunrise quickly crouched behind the stack of barrels, it being the closest thing to him that he could hide behind. There was only one animatronic that was green, that he was aware of. Montgomery Gator.

Sunrise wanted to stop him, try and reason with him and find out why he was breaking his door! But he couldn’t move. He was terrified. Sun had never experienced anything like this before, what was he even supposed to do?

Montgomery’s strength was not what Sunrise was expecting at all! Those green claws came back, grabbing onto the wood and pulling chunks off. This continued until there was a big enough hole for him to fit through. 

“M-Montgomery?” Sunrise squeaked out, cowering behind the stack when the gator animatronic looked over at him. He stared for a few seconds, Sunrise feeling small under his gaze, before he moved towards the security desk. 

This wasn’t at all how Sunrise had imagined their first meeting. He was expecting them to be able to talk, Sun could give him a tour of his daycare and offer a seat so the two could make something!

What was he even meant to say? What was Montgomery going to do to him?

No, that was ridiculous! What was Sunrise even thinking? Just because Montgomery forced his way into the daycare didn’t mean he was here to hurt him… right? 

“W-Wait a second..” Sunrise spoke up when he realised where Montgomery was. He was where Gregory was only a few minutes prior. What did Montgomery need from behind there? Was it that important he had to break Sunrise’s door?

The gator reached towards the button panel. Sunrise felt his fear grow as he realised what Montgomery was doing, but he really hoped he was wrong. He really wanted to be friends with Montgomery, the animatronic sounded really cool from what he was told.

“Wait- wait! Montgomery please don’t-“ 

Monty, NO!

The lights turned off. Sunrise looked up in horror at the pitch black void above him. 

“No! Why would you-“ Sunrise’s words were stuck in his voice box when he looked back at Montgomery. The animatronic was staring at him, purple eyes glowing in the dark, under his sunglasses. 

Was there something wrong with him? Is this why Gregory was so scared? Why was he doing this?

It was a repeat from only a few minutes ago, Sunrise clutching at his head as he was once more overwhelmed with pain. The last thing he saw before his vision went was Monty turning away and leaving, the wood crunching under his feet.

”W-Wait! Don’t go! Please!” Sunrise begged, falling to his knees. “Help me! Please! Turn the lights back on!”

Monty!

“Come back!”

I’m sorry Sun!

”Please!” His body hit the floor.

I didn’t want this!

”NO!”