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You stay silent as your guardian drags you by the arm to the daycare, hissing out their scolding to you. You didn't react well to the animatronic bear trying to hand you a flower. You got scared and cried, apparently embarrassing your poor guardian.
You don't even understand why they brought you here. You don't like such loud, scary places. It's too much, it makes your head spin and skin crawl painfully.
"I can't believe you. Do you even care about how that makes me look?"
They question you and you don't understand why they're so upset. You just dumbly stare back, shaking your head with a stoic face. They don't like that, the grip on your arm growing tighter. It hurts but you're used to it.
The daycare is bright and it makes you shift uncomfortably as your guardian drags you inside. It's empty, which you're grateful for. No loud sounds, no other kids to touch you and tease you. You want to stay with your guardian though and the urge hits you at once. The moment they let go of you to look for the attendant you wrap your arms around their body and cling.
"…Stay…" You whisper hopefully.
Almost immediately they lash out, shoving you. You hit the ground and your palms and butt sting from it.
"Don't try acting cute now! You ruined everything! I am so embarrassed of you!"
"Oh no! Little one, are you okay?"
You can feel tears of frustration burning in your eyes when you look up at the bright sun person. You stiffly shake your head, sniffing softly as you try to hold back your cries.
"It's okay, just a little accident!" The sun picks you up and you don't want set back down so you immediately cling to them. They don't disappoint, simply putting a hand under your butt to hold you while their other hand rubs your back.
"You can leave them with me, we'll have so much fun together!"
Your guardian stares back at you, clearly upset with your display of affection towards a stranger.
"…I'll be back for them at closing." No hugs or kiss from your guardian, they just turn to leave.
"Wait! Don't you want to say goodbye to the little one?" The sun kindly asks and you frown. You know they don't want to.
Your guardian scoffs, not even turning back to dignify it with a true response as they walk out.
The sun seems crestfallen for just a moment but it immediately switches back to their happy demeanor when they look at you.
"That is no problem, new friend! We'll just play together until they come back, right? It's just us right now though, maybe we'll get new friends later in the day! Can you tell me your name?"
You know your name. You want to tell them, they're nice and you like them. Even when you try to urge yourself to speak words don't come out. You just stiffly shake your head at them, looking away dejectedly. You know they'll be disappointed in you. You only just met them and already you're messing up.
"You don't want to tell me? That's okay! I'll call you new friend for now and as soon as I check your ouches you can write it down!" They offer, bouncing you gently on his hip as he walks. "To the first aid we go!"
You like being with them, they're nice and aren't even upset about your name. It makes you finally give a tiny smile, toying with the sunrays on their head while they walk. In the first aid center one of the staff bots scans you while the sun grabs band-aids for you.
"Hands please, new friend!" They prompt and you slowly put out your scraped hands for them to see. You're clearly nervous, used to your guardian poking and prodding any injury you get to scold you for being a baby.
They don't do anything of the sort though, wiping it down with a wet wipe before putting cream and a colorful band-aid on. "Doesn't that feel so much better? Boop, boop!" They tap your band-aids one at a time and you look down at your hands. When you do they gently tap your nose and you finally let out a soft giggle.
They seem happy with that, their grin feeling more genuine again. "Oh! Your name, new friend! Let's go to the arts and crafts section! I have so many crayons you can use! Or glitter pens! Or even markers! Oh, oh, oh, maybe fingerpaints? Do you like fingerpaints?"
They stand up and begin walking but you stay sitting. You don't want to go without holding them anymore. "Oh! Right! I'm sorry, new friend!" They rush back and make a big show of scooping you up, making you laugh again.
"You have a lovely laugh!" They praise as they walk, humming lowly for you. When they set you down this time it's at a colorful table and you gently run your hand over it. The sensation feels nice and you keep rubbing one hand over the table while they bring out the stationary supplies.
"Here we are! Now you can choose anything to write your name on the paper, okay? Choose your favorite color and I'll choose mine too! Then you write your name and I'll write my name! It's like we're telling each other a fun secret!"
You're happy enough that the hand rubbing the table begins tapping excitedly, nodding at them. You want to know their name, you like being with them. You've never been good at making friends but they understand you perfectly.
There are a lot of options though and you get a little overwhelmed, staring at them. You shakily reach out and grab a marker, choosing your favorite color from the pile. You use it to carefully write down your name, trying to do it as neat as possible to impress them.
"What a lovely name! Thank you for telling me, new friend!" Their praise makes you positively beam at them. They finally take a yellow marker and write under your name, "Sundrop".
"Sundrop! That's my name! You can call me Sun, Sunny, Sunnydrop, or even just friend! I like any of those but I especially love it when you call me your friend!"
You mouth out the name, gaining a little courage. You reach out to hold their hand, smiling again. "Sundrop." You say out loud this time and they beam back at you, picking you up with ease.
"Yes, Sundrop! You have such a nice voice too!" They don't pressure you to talk more and you can't control how happy it makes you. You begin tapping your hand on their shoulder excitedly.
"Okay, let's go play, new friend! Where do you want to play first? Point for me!"
The rest of the day is spent playing with Sundrop, lucky enough to have their undivided attention for the hours your guardian is gone.
You can't think of a single time you've had more fun than this. Even when you grow overwhelmed and come close to a meltdown they were able to soothe you, taking you to dimmer spots to calm down. They made sure you ate plenty, getting a full lunch and two snacks during the day.
When it finally came time to go they seemed a little sad again, kneeling down to speak to you while you wait for your guardian.
"Okay, new friend, your guardian should be here soon to take you home! I'm glad we got to play together all day though! Don't forget, you're such a good friend! Anyone will be lucky to have a friend like you! Be good and don't forget about Sundrop! I'll always be here, okay? Thanks for playing with me!"
You're a little sad but manage a smile through the welling up tears. "Bye, Sundrop!" You manage to tell them, getting another grin and a tight hug. It makes you squeal with laughter. Your guardian shows up not long after. While you're pulled out by your arm again you still turn back, grinning and waving goodbye to your best friend.
You never did see Sundrop again as a child, your guardian refusing to waste any more money on a trip you wouldn't enjoy. As sad as you were you never forgot them. They helped you open up to the other people in your life, the nicer ones. You started trying to help people like you, make sure nobody was ever sad or lonely.
It's been years since you've been here but you're hopeful. You applied here with the single thought of seeing them once more.
You walk slowly to the daycare, grinning to yourself. When you head inside it's just like you remember, making your heart pound as you go down the slide entering the actual daycare.
You hear them before you see them, looking up to watch them dive down into the ball pit.
Sundrop comes up from the ball pit and jumps up to greet you.
Immediately you see recognition flood their face and they're beaming back at you. "Look at you, new friend! You've gotten so big!"
Despite knowing you had work to do, you stayed as long as you could with Sundrop. The two of you had a lot of catching up to do.
When you finally got ready to leave for the night they grabbed you into a long hug, squeezing you tight. "I'm so proud of you, friend." They didn't let go when you began crying, just sat rubbing your back while you tried to pull yourself together.