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Alex jolted upright, his heart racing as he glanced quickly at his surroundings. The lights were dimmed, indicating it was after the daycare had closed for the day. They relaxed slightly, no longer having to worry about one of the kids coming over to him and asking why he was so shaken up.
He was happy he was an animatronic now, he could spend all of his time in the daycare, and didn’t have to worry about aging and having to leave, but the process had been less than pleasant.
His memories of it were slightly blurry, the blood loss likely having something to do with that, but the amalgamations shrieks were ingrained in his mind, replaying over and over in Alex’s mind anytime he closed his eyes. Having to relive the creature shoving him into the suit as he slowly bled out. None of his cries for help being answered, his newfound family of animatronics just out of hearing distance.
The sound of jingling broke through Alex’s thoughts as his brother appeared in his field of vision.
“Good morning sunflower! How was your- hey, hey what’s with the long face, are you alright, no of course not. Can I hug you? Is that okay?” Sun rambled quickly, concerned for his younger brother, desperately wanting to help.
Alex nodded and Sun quickly wrapped their arms around Alex. Rubbing circles on the others back in an attempt to calm him. They stayed like this for a few moments before Sun spoke.
“D’you wanna tell me what happened Sunshine?” They spoke softly while running a hand through Alex’s fur.
“Wasn’t anything, just a stupid nightmare” Alex mumbled, embarrassed that he’d gotten so worked up by something that wasn’t even real
Sun quickly sent a message to Moon, they were much better at comforting the kids after they had nightmares.
“I’m sorry Sunflower, do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really” Alex responded, he knew that Sunny felt guilty for not saving him, and didn’t want to make them feel worse by letting him know he was still affected by the incident.
“Hey Starlight, I heard you had a nightmare, is it alright if I hold your hand?” Moon asked, waiting for permission before taking Alex’s hand in his own.
“Sunshine, I need to go get something, is it alright If I leave for a moment?” Sun asked gently.
“Yeah of course, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you stay” Alex quickly apologized not wanting to waste his brother's time.
“You’re not making me do anything, I just want to make sure you’re okay” Sun said before gently letting go of Alex before sending a glance to Moon and leaving the nap time area.
A couple beats of silence passed between the two as Moon gently stroked Alex’s hand with their thumb. Alex’s resolve cracking as they leaned against Moon.
“God, why am I so weak Moon? I don’t understand, it was a good thing it happened, right? Why can’t I just move on? Why can’t I get it out of my head, why won't it just shut up, I’m so sick of hearing its screams on loop.” Alex mumbled into Moon’s shoulder.
Moon wrapped his arms around Alex, holding him tightly.
“Little star, you aren’t weak at all, it’s okay to be hurt, you’re allowed to not be strong
all the time. It’s okay ” Moon spoke gently while gently running their hand through Alex’s fur.
They stayed like that for a while, Moon gently holding his little brother and humming a lullaby.
Sun came back to the nap area a while later carrying a plate of peeled oranges,
“Hey Raindrop, Sunflower, wanna watch a movie? I brought oranges.” Sun asked his brother before sitting down next to them on the cloud shaped couch.
Moon glanced down to see Alex’s response and was greeted by a small nod.
“That sounds wonderful Sunny” Moon responded.
After hearing Moon’s confirmation, Sun placed a well worn DVD into the player across from the couch, starting the movie before sitting with their siblings.
Alex completely relaxed into Moon letting his eyes rest while the Ponyo intro played, softly luring him back to sleep.
“Sleep well shooting star” Moon whispered while pressing their forehead to Alex’s.