Work Text:
Whenever Sundrop speaks they stay so animated, always moving. It makes the bells on their wrists jingle and its one of your favorite sounds. You can't help but to start stimming excitedly to the sound, bouncing on your heels while your hands lightly slap against your thighs.
You never knew people thought this to be strange so when an older child comes up to you, you don't stop.
"What are you doing?" They ask you in a way that sounds confused but you don't mind. You were always told by your guardian lots of people won't understand but that isn't always a bad thing. You just had to teach them sometimes.
"I- I'm too happy, so I have to move! Sundrop says when I'm too happy, it just spills out!" You giggle excitedly at the memory, figuring this new person would think it's funny too.
Instead they begin laughing, pointing at you and calling their other friends to look at you.
"Look at this! What are they even doing? That’s so weird, who does that?"
You don't fully understand why it made you feel bad but a pit of bad feelings begins settling into your stomach. You stopped bouncing, stopped stimming as you stared back in confusion.
They finally tell you, "You're weird! You should play somewhere else!"
Of course, Sundrop hears this and leaves behind the crafts they were working on to handle the problem.
"Woah, woah, woah! I hear friends not being very nice friends!" Sundrop sadly speaks, hurrying between you. "New friend, this is my very good friend and they are very special to me. I don't like it when my friends are hurtful to each other… Please be nice to all of the other friends in the daycare!"
They turn back to you, offering out their hand. Your throat is burning when you take their hand, trying to choke back tears as the two of you walk somewhere else. You don't understand why they said that or what it really meant. All you really know is it felt… bad. Really, really bad.
The moment you're alone together, you fall into a full meltdown Sundrop knew you'd have one. They walked you to a dim spot in the play area, muffled enough you can't hear all the other kids excitedly playing with each other.
You sit down and the tears began flowing immediately, ugly sobs leaving you as your bury your face into your knees. Your hands make tight little balls, hitting against your head as you try desperately to self-regulate.
Having spent plenty of time with you by now, Sundrop knows how to help.
"I know, little starshine, I know…" They coo in a comforting voice and then their arms are wrapping around you. They tighten around you, compressing and making you relax some.
You cry onto them for a little while until you finally calm down some, reduced to soft sniffles and then finally just hiccupped breaths.
They let you go with a gentle smile that always fills you up with warmth and confidence. You wipe your eyes, managing a little smile back.
"Are you ready to go back and play, little one?"
They softly ask, running their hand through your hair comfortingly. You nod slowly, not wanting to take up any more of their attention. It'd be bad if someone else was upset and couldn't get comforted after all…
They go out first and you follow after, taking their outstretched hand to help you climb out of the tunnel and back into the center of the room.
At first Sundrop plays with you only. The two of you begin building a tower of blocks, the taller it gets the harder it becomes to reach.
"Sunny, can you-"
"Consider it done, starshine!" They pick you up with ease, it makes you start giggling excitedly.
You carefully put the final block on the tower, a proud grin on your face. "It's done!"
"You did a great job, lets carefully take it-"
You grin at them, you can't resist but to push the tower over when you're sure nobody else was around.
"Oh no! Clean up, clean up! Starshine, you tricked me!" They whine insistently as you begin laughing again, once more you start stimming with your hands. When you calm down some you help them clean it up.
"I'm going to go play with our other friends, do you think you'll be okay by yourself? I promise to be just a call away if anything happens!"
You knew they'd have to go eventually but you still feel a little sad. You nod at them though, offering a small smile.
"Okay, bye, Sunny! I promise I'll be okay!" You really, really want to make them proud of you.
With that in mind you go back to the art table, sitting down to draw a picture of you, Sundrop, and Moondrop. You know it will definitely make both of them happy and that will for sure make you feel better about today too.
Before you even get started that child from earlier is back. You assume they're here to apologize or maybe just play with you so you look up, staring back at them.
"Do you want a crayon? We can color pictures together-"
"I don't want to play with a reta-"
You're in shock even as Sundrop hurriedly stops them from saying the word. You know what they were going to say. You've only ever heard it said by your other family members, when your guardian told them you had autism they had said it.
It felt even worse now, a sinking feeling settling into your stomach.
"You cannot say those mean words in this daycare!" Sundrop finally manages to get out of their own shocked stupor, moving their hand off the child's mouth.
"I… I am afraid you will have to leave the daycare and play somewhere else. I will be taking you to the nice guard and she will call your guardian to come get you…" They sound so upset.
"Whatever! I don't wanna play with dumb people like them anyways!" The other child is taken away by Sundrop.
Still you just sit there, staring blankly ahead. They were gonna call you the mean word again. Is that what everyone here thinks of you? The other kids are always extra nice to you, is that only because they thought you were a stupid kid?
Does Sundrop think of you like that?
You don't want to know. You're so upset and frustrated you run away from the art table and go hide in the same place Sundrop took you earlier.
You don't want to face them now. You curl up, hugging your knees. The sobs leaving you are harder than earlier, raw and echoing in the play structure.
"Friend?" You hear Sundrop calling you through the play structure tunnels and it doesn't take them long at all to find you.
They frown at you as they come through the tunnel into your spot.
"Oh no… No, please don't cry, little friend…" Sundrop's voice is so quiet as they come to sit beside you, wrapping an arm around you.
"I'm sorry. That wasn't right of them at all… That was… That was a very bad word of them to say, little friend… I know your feelings are hurt. I'm sorry, I should have told them to leave from the start. Sometimes even big friends like Sundrop can make a mistake and do the wrong thing. Your other friends though, they are very worried for you. You don't have to go see them yet though, if you don't want to."
You don't talk, just continue shaking and crying into your knees.
Sundrop doesn't dare push you to talk, just rubs your back and lets you cry until you're ready.
It feels like hours until you're ready to talk but finally you speak up.
"Sunny, my heart hurts…" You softly inform, wiping your eyes and looking up.
Sundrop gives you a patient smile, holding out their arms. You crawl into their lap, sniffling softly as they rock you.
"My heart hurts too, little friend. It is very sad when someone says hurtful things to us, isn't it? They have been banned from the daycare though, so they will not be back to say anything hurtful to you or any of our other friends. Would you like to go visit our other friends now?"
You stiffly nod against their shoulder, not unlatching yourself. Not a problem for Sundrop, they are excellent at climbing out of the play equipment with children latched onto them. They just keep one hand on your back as they carefully crawl out.
All the way until naptime you're together, checking on the other children together and playing together. When naptime comes along you dread it, still not feeling as good as you did earlier.
Moondrop comes out with a full understanding of what happened though, coming to you directly. They kneel down, offering a kind smile.
"Sunshine, would you like to help put the other children to nap today? You can hand out blankets while I hand out pillows."
You feel incredibly relieved, a sense of pride filling your chest at the thought of helping them.
"Yes, I want to!" You hold their hand still, setting blankets out where Moondrop sets a pillow.
When you're done, Moondrop walks you into a far corner from the napping children. You sit in their lap, trying desperately not to think of what happened earlier.
"Sunshine… Do you want to talk about what happened earlier?" That hushed voice brings you back to it, a frown coming to your lips. You just shrug. You really don't know if you do or not. It won't go away but it makes you sad to think about it still.
A low hum leaves the animatronic behind you.
"Well… maybe I could tell you my secret? I have one that makes me sad too."
You look up at them, a little worried about what could possibly make someone as strong as Moondrop sad. "Yeah, you can tell me… Sundrop says it's good to talk about your feelings…"
Moondrop chuckles at this, nodding his head.
"Yeah, it is good to talk about your feelings, sunshine. Well, Sundrop and I try really hard to be friends with everyone but there are still some mean people out there. Even towards us. Some of the guards and even a few of the other animatronics say a lot of mean things about us."
You're shocked that anyone could not like your best friend.
Moondrop continues, "They call us names, say we're weird, they've called us that word too. It… It hurts our feelings too. We get sad about it. It's okay to be sad, that's what I'm trying to say. Do you understand, sunshine? It's okay to be sad. People can be really hurtful but it's okay. You have lots of friends here who love you, even if some mean people say things that aren't nice."
You don't know why it makes you start softly crying again but it does. You don't want to be alone this time, you wrap your arms around them. The crying feels good this time because you feel not alone.
When you finally stop crying this time you're ready to lay down and Moondrop agrees to lay with you. They sit with you, rubbing your back until you fall asleep.
When naptime is over Sundrop returns and you're able to smile again. "Sunny!"
Sundrop is filled with relief at you smiling, grinning back as they pick you up.
"Starshine! Did Moondrop talk to you? Do you feel better?"
You nod quickly, grinning as you kiss their cheek. "Thank you, Sunny! I love you!"
Sundrop is beyond happy to hear that, squeezing you tight.
"I'm so happy, starshine! You did amazing today! I can't wait to see you next time, I promise we'll have an even better day!"
When your guardian finally shows up you say your goodbyes to all your other friends in the daycare, hugging Sundrop one last time before you finally leave.
As you walk out, you begin rambling.
"I did- I did really, really good today! Sunny and Moon said so! I was really brave! A-And I know that it's okay to cry and feel sad cause even Sunny and Moon feel sad! Did you know that? I didn't know they could ever feel sad!"
Your guardian nods along, smiling gently back at you. "That's amazing! I'm so proud of you!"
You can't stop talking about Sundrop and Moondrop even on the drive home, too excited to go back tomorrow.