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Sun was humming as he was cleaning up around the pick-up area. It was calm. Quiet. A very peaceful evening to fix up the daycare. It had been a nice day with the kids, though there had been some strange things going on.
They had been very secretive for some reason. They had kept getting into small groups and whispering about something, crowding around one kid and looking at… something. Honestly, Sun couldn't manage to find out what they were doing. They were very sneaky about it and would scatter as soon as he got too close.
He only ever managed to catch a few words from them, some of which were 'Mirror', 'Shadows' and a whole sentence, 'They leave trails'.
It really confused him. He tried to ask about it, but they all either feigned ignorance or really weren't aware of what was going on. Sun didn't really want to press the issue since he hated to ruin their fun.
Moon only confronted them once, when he caught a couple kids hiding under a blanket and talking. Aside from that, he didn't get much of a chance to bring it up either.
But Sun had pretty much forgotten about it at that point, just cleaning up after the kids joyously.
"Oh no! Lianie forgot her teddy! Poor little lady! All alone here in the pizza 'plex without her human buddy. Don't worry, little friend! I'll take good care of you unti- huh?"
He stopped himself as he saw something laying under where the teddy had sat. It looked like a book. He reached out and picked it up, inspecting the cover.
"'Infamous Ghostories: That which Lurks in the Shadows'? This doesn't sound appropriate for a young, impressionable kid! This must have been what they were keeping secret from me! Who brought this?" He questioned as he continued looking over the book in disdain. He then glanced over at the Teddy in his other hand and it immediately clicked.
"Ah! This has to be her brother's book! I did see him a lot with the rest of the kids whispering. What kind of stuff does his parents allow him to even read???"
He decided it would be best to investigate this matter and opened up the book, checking the table of contents first before reading over a few stories.
*~*~*
Moon stood up and stretched as he was brought back online, having switched with Sun for control.
"Ah. That was nice. Hey, Sun! Are you in there?”
But Moon didn't receive a response. That was odd. Sun's status showed he was active. He should be hearing him.
"Sun! Hey! You there?"
'AH! MOON! S-Sorry! I got a little distracted! Ye-yes! Yes. I-I'm here!'
"What's with all that stuttering? Did something happen while I was offline?"
'N-No-Nope! Everything is ok-kay! I'm just fine, Moony!'
"... Uhu? If you say so" Moon quickly dismissed it and went to head out for patrol, but he stepped on something that got his attention.
He moved his foot and spotted a book on the floor. He picked it up and scrutinized the entire thing, confused.
"Is this a book of ghostories? Why is this here?"
'N-N-N-NO-NO IDEA!!! Someone must have forgotten it here!!! Hahaha!'
"... Sun. Were you reading this?"
'WHAAAAAAAT? PFFFFFT! NOOOOOOO!'
"... Sunshine…"
'... Alright, fine! But only because I suspect this is what the kids were hiding from us! I wanted to know what they had been talking about so it wasn't inappropriate!'
"Sunny. You know that you're really jumpy with this stuff. You shouldn't be reading these things and just let me handle it."
'I just wanted to make sure the kids weren't breaking the rules! I swear!'
"I know. But clearly you can't ha-"
"Alright Sunny! Time for your- oh. Moon. I forgot it was your time out."
Sun let out a scared shriek at the sudden voice cutting through their conversation. Moon groaned and turned around to the man standing in the door. Yosuke, their personal tech. He was specialized in their build, so he knew exactly how to take care of them. Physically and mentally at that.
"Hello, Yo. It's no problem. The only problem is Sun getting himself worked up with ghostories" he told the human as he held up the book and waved it around.
'MOON! DON'T TELL HIM THAT!'
"Ah. I see. Didn't think he'd be interested. Oh well. Mind if I work on you instead? I know it's probably patrol time, but I'll get it over with faster than you can say 'Skidaddle Skidoodle'."
"I'll hold you to that, or I might finish the rhythm~."
"Please, sir! Spare my poor dick! My girth is all I've got!"
They both laughed before they headed for the repair room.
As they did so, Sun was scanning the area obsessively. He was very tense, trying to keep an eye out for any ghouls or geists. Then he thought he saw something moving in the shadows and he yelped loud enough to make Moon flinch.
"Sunny. What are you yelling about?" He asked, annoyed.
"Awe. What's the matter, Sunny? Saw a ghost?" Yosuke inquired light-heartedly.
'I-I just… thought I saw something moving. Thought it… might be an intruder.'
"He says he thought he saw an intruder. Sun, you're just worked up. It's fine. Ghosts aren't real!"
Moon let out a sigh and shook his head, thinking 'Why does he do this to himself?'
"Yeah! Ghosts aren't a thing! Those stories were either completely fictional or came about for other more logical reasons. They're just dumb stories! Don't even worry about it!"
Sun grew quieter and stopped talking. Moon shrugged, continuing into the repair area. Yosuke motioned towards the cylinder for him and he entered, sitting down on the operation table. The tech walked in after him and reached down towards the restraints.
'W-w-wait! D-Do… Do we HAVE to be tied down? C-can't we… be checked manually?'
"Sundrop. Come on. It's no big deal. Everything will be fine. Yosuke knows what he's doing."
"Aww. You're too sweet, Moonpie~"
Moon looked over at the human with a murderous glare, earning a casual shrug.
'But… I… isn't it… inhumane to have us bolted to a table? Like… like some misunderstood lonely person who people declared crazy and later came back to haunt the people who wronged them?'
"... … … Sun. Are you even listening to yourself? Us being restrained is to make sure we don't damage ourselves or anyone else if something happens to go wrong. They do the same thing with people who could risk harming themselves. It's for safety."
'... Um… I guess…'
"Plus, what are you worried about? That we'll suddenly turn into ghosts? It's fine. Just relax. Think about something nice. Like… maybe a green, dumb, strong animatronic with an accent~?"
'MOON!!!'
"Ha ha ha ha! Don't tease Sun. But yeah, just think about a cool memory with Monty or the kids and this will be over before you know it!" Yosuke cut in as he had gotten the last restraint on.
"Plus, I promise that next time I'll do it manually! Just for you, Sunny!"
Sun felt a little better after they both reassured him. Even Moon's usual teasing made him less worried about those scary stories he read. So he just tried to do as they suggested as they prepared for the check-up.
*~*~*
Later that night, things hadn't improved at all. Sun had been feeling very nervous about the tiniest of things.
He had been avoiding any and all mirrors around the daycare as he cleaned.
He skipped sweeping because he refused to go get the broom from the closet.
He was very hesitant about picking up their one marionette toy that they had.
He'd jumped at any little sound he heard. Whether it was just a staff bot rolling by or the vents making their usual occasional noise, he would yelp and leap into the high heavens.
Needless to say, he was unnerved.
But could he really be blamed?! Those stories were not kid appropriate! Not in the least! He even read a couple of swears and slightly too detailed descriptions of injuries. Not your run of the mill kids stories. Why would any of them have this, let alone be so interested in hearing about it!?
He just didn't get it! He felt awful after reading it! Everything reminded him of a story from the book. Even when he tried to focus on other stuff, he'd look up at a clown mask or something and squeak in terror. It made him feel so small and weak and… stupid.
Ghosts don't exist. Those stories are unrealistic. Why are you getting so scared by made-up stories? God, you're so dumb!
He sat down on the floor and whined in frustration. He felt a comforting sensation from Moon.
'Sunny. It's ok. You don't have to get so worked up. Try to think of nice things again. Think about the kids. Think about how much fun we had! Think about Monty and how nice he-'
Before Moon could finish, Sun gasped and shot up from the floor. It startled Moon a little, making the other robot look down nervously.
"S-sorry… I… I think I'm done working for today. I need to rest…"
'Ok… let's go back to our room then. We can draw a bit or something.'
Sun suddenly shuttered and wrapped his arms around himself, feeling this chill of dread creeping up his endo. He shook his head and just walked towards the exit.
"I think I'll… take a walk."
'Ok… I'm still here though. If you need anything, just say so.'
"Thank you, Moon" he sighed sadly and continued out of the daycare and into the rest of the pizza 'plex.
*~*~*
Chica hummed giddily as she walked with her boxes of stolen pizza towards her room, as happy as a girl can be.
"Oh boy! I can't wait! Roxy is going to love these ones! I even found a leftover meat lover's pizza and those are rare !" She chirped to herself and lifted the lid of the topmost box, grinning brightly.
Then her attention was pulled away from her find by some low muttering further down rockstar row. She came to an immediate halt and remained extremely quiet, trying to hear what it was.
"... So… can't… I mean, the kids didn't even seem fazed, so me getting this scared is so embarrassing!"
She perked up, recognizing that voice right away.
Sun? What's he doing here?
…
… Hmmm… seems like Sleuth Queen is on the case~
The chicken snuck as quietly as she could towards the nearest hiding spot, watching as Sun slowly came into vision.
"Moon was right. I should have known better than to read it. I should have been smarter than that. I shouldn't even bother him about it! He's probably charging or… busy doing other important stuff."
She leaned over and looked at him suspiciously, wondering what the context for all this was.
He read something that scared him? And did he say… Moon's busy? That doesn't make any sense! Is he referring to someone else?
She watched as he wandered closer to her, head tilted downwards towards the floor. He looked… ashamed.
Awe. Poor guy.
Then she saw him stop and look around nervously, scanning to see if anyone was around. The Glamrock quickly pulled back behind her hiding spot. When the coast was clear, she peeked out again and saw Sun approaching one of the green rooms. She moved out more to get a better look and saw it was-
… Oh my god. Oh my god! He's going to Monty's room! I knew it! I knew there was something going on! So he got scared and came running to Monty? Daaaw~. That's so sweet~!
Sun let out a small whimper, staring up at the door in front of him displaying a silhouette of the gator the room belonged to. His nerves were skyrocketing and he just stood there and fiddled while debating whether he should bother him or not.
He might be busy… he might not want to be disturbed. I'm probably intruding. I should go.
But he didn't. He remained in place and just stared like a deer in headlights. He couldn't just stand there like a log, he had to do something! So he gathered up his courage and lifted his hand, hovering it in front of the door.
Right at that moment, he heard a loud, angry growl along with a shattering crash. It scared the living daylights out of him. He let out an even louder shriek and stumbled backwards onto the floor.
"WHA-!?! WHO THE HELL IS THERE?!? WHAT DO YA WANT?!"
I made a mistake! I made a mistake! I made a HUGE mistake!
He quickly scrambled to get back to his feet so he could run away back to the daycare. He should have never bothered him!
Oh no! You can't run away, Sun! Monty wouldn't be mad at you! Just talk to him!
Chica couldn't bear the thought of Sun being too scared to talk with his own boyfriend when he was down. He should feel safe talking to him!
So, she took matters into her own hands. She cleared her voice box before letting out a spooky whistle, hoping it would be enough to at least distract him from leaving.
As the daycare attendant got back to his feet, he froze completely at the sound of some strange whistling. That definitely sounded like a ghost! It had to be one! He just knew it!
"Seriously! It was just one broken vase! Ya don't gotta get-" before the gator could finish whatever he was going to say, he suddenly found his chest getting tackled by a tall, shivering animatronic right as he opened the door. He just stared down at him in bewilderment and stuttered incoherently.
"Bwah-! I- what- SUN?! Wh-what are you doing here?" Is what he said. What he thought was:
FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK!!! WHY?! WHY DID HE HAVE TO COME TODAY?! I JUST BROKE A VASE ALL OVER THE FLOOR!!! SHIIIIIIIIT!!!
Sun huddled up against him and whimpered quietly, not daring to look around for whatever made that sound before.
"M-M-Mont… Monty I'm scared! I'm sorry that I'm bothering you with something so stupid! You're probably in a bad mood and I'm just here making it worse with my wimpiness!" He started rambling while covering his face, pulling back away from him.
Monty snapped out of his panic and looked down at him. He really looked scared over something. Did someone say some stupid shit again?! Would he have to finally commit manslaughter?! Just thinking about it got him all riled up again.
Then he remembered Sun was currently crying and he stopped stewing in rage for a moment.
"Hey! Hey… it's cool. Don't worry about it. Didn't I say you're always free to drop by? I ain't goin' back on my word now! What scared ya?"
The taller animatronic turned away from him, looking very ashamed of himself for bothering Monty at all.
"I… i-it's… I just…"
"Hey… it's ok, Sunny boy. Let's head inside n' talk about it, sounds good?"
Sun nodded in response, allowing Monty to wrap an arm around his back and lead him inside.
Chica grinned brightly from her hiding spot, happy that that actually worked.
I just looooove a good romance~. Hope I can have one someday…
"There we are! Um… sorry about… the shards. I… accidentally knocked a vase over. Now, just make yerself comfy and tell me what happened."
Monty helped Sun over to the couch while minding the pieces of ceramic, sitting him down carefully. Sun let out a soft sigh, shifting nervously on the spot. He really didn't want to tell him. He'd think he was being stupid or overdramatic or a cry baby. Just that thought had him regretting his decision and wanting to run away as fast as he could. But Monty let him in. It's too late now.
"Whoa! Hey! You good?" Monty suddenly said as he sat down beside him, putting a hand on his back and rubbing it casually. Sun must have visibly gotten more upset. That just made him even angrier at himself. He just wanted to disappear!
"I… I… I… c-c-can't…"
"Hey… hey. It's good, Sunshine. Ya don't gotta tell me right now. Just… take a minute to vent. Uh… literally, that is. Blow off some steam and cool off. It's fine."
God. Monty was so kind and thoughtful. He really knew exactly what to say and do to make Sun feel better. He didn't deserve someone as wonderful as him. Someone who tries so hard and-!
"Actually! Hol' on a sec! Wait right here! I'll be back!" The gator suddenly exclaimed as he pushed himself up from the couch and rushed over to the maintenance door. He walked inside and Sunny watched it close behind him.
What was that all about? What has him running for the hills? Did I scare him off with my silence? Did he have to charge?
He didn't have to ponder on it much longer as Monty soon came right back. He walked in with a pile of fabric in his arms and wandered right back over to Sun, swearing softly at the odd shard stabbing his foot.
He sat down again and unfolded the fabric, revealing it to be a blanket. It was downy and had an autumn themed leaf pattern on it. Before he could ask about it, he found himself already wrapped up in it.
"There! Snug as a bug in a rug… or however the rhyme goes!" He chuckled and pat Sun on the back, grinning proudly at him.
The daycare attendant looked at him for a moment before settling down against his side, wrapping the blanket further around himself.
"... Thank you, Mont. This… really helps… more than you realize."
"Eh- no problem, Sunny boy! Whatever ya need! Feel better?"
"... Yeah. I think I'm able to talk about it now."
"Alright, go ahead."
"So… it's dumb, really. But… in the daycare, after the kids left, I found a book that I suspect someone brought in and was showing the other kids in secret. It was a book of ghostories. I… I was really stupid and decided to check how bad it was, just so I knew the extent of the problem."
"Mhm." Monty didn't make a comment, just a noise to confirm that he was listening.
"And… and… the stories were… so awful! They were a lot more graphic than necessary and talked about some real scary stuff! It was really not kid appropriate! It… It even got me scared…"
Sun hid himself in the blanket, too worried about Monty's reaction to look. He shivered lightly and closed his eyes.
"I see. So that's why yer here? So ya boy can protect ya from any ugly ghoul?" He asked light-heartedly and gave a flex, so he could show off how strong and capable he was of fighting these ghosts.
Sun peeked out surprised and stared in confusion.
"What??? You're… you're not mad? You're not going to make fun of me for being scared of fictional ghosts?"
"'course not, Sunshine! I'd never! And besides, it's not dumb to be scared! Even if ya know it's fake, doesn't mean it ain't scary. If someone was standing on the sturdiest bridge ever, they could still be scared of it collapsing. Fears don't freaking make sense!"
Sun was stunned into silence. That… was very true. It was a very insightful view on the whole situation that Sun hadn't thought of before. It… made him feel better. He relaxed his body a bit and leaned against Monty.
"Wow… you're so smart."
Monty looked over at him, shocked by that out of nowhere, never heard of statement. "S-sm-mart? Me ???"
"Mhm. I never thought of it like that. It's not weird to be scared by things that aren't realistic. Feelings don't care about logic. That… really makes me feel less stupid about it."
"... … … Heh. Heh heh! Glad my method helped! Didn't expect to be called smart for it!"
"But you should be! It was very smart! You really know more than you're giving yourself credit for."
"It's just that… ya know, I'm known as the dumb big tough guy, not the smart guy. I don't really hear that a lot."
"That's nonsense!!! You should be hearing it all the time! You know so many things. I'm impressed by all the stuff you tell me about that I've never heard of before! You know just what to do and say to make me feel better! You're not just smart…"
At that, he gripped a hold of the gator's face and pulled it closer to his own to make sure he had his full attention.
"... You're brilliant! "
"..."
Monty felt his body heat up as he was taking in the compliment. It was a lot to process. Added with the fact that their faces were so close, he was having a hard time processing anything. He just stared at Sun's sweet face in awe.
Seems Sun was in the same boat as him, pretty much spellbound by the prolonged eye contact they had. He was gazing into his magenta eyes like they were jewels. But they were even better than that.
The two robots just sat there in silence, completely swept up in the moment to think about how close they were getting. But unfortunately, they didn't get much farther than that, as a loud noise coming from outside made Sun yell in fear and grip onto Monty's arm. That snapped the Glamrock out of whatever spell he was put under and he looked very flustered.
WHA-WHU-WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?!
Did we… almost… N-No! No way! Sun was probably not thinking the same thing I was! He was probably just thinking that I was staring at him like a creep! Come on, Montgomery! PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!!!
Sun was hiding his face on the other's shoulder, not wanting him to see any possible changes in his expression. He was very good at picking up on small details like that.
Why did I DO THAT?! I almost lost control and-and GHA!!! I just stared like an idiot! I'm so weird!
"... H-Hey… It's cool. If a-any ghosts try to stir some shit up, imma kick their asses!"
"... Really?"
"Y-yeah! Of course I would, Sunny!"
"Y-you… You'd kick ass for me?"
"I-" Monty only got out that much before his brain caught up with him and he fell completely silent.
"... Did you just say 'Ass'?"
"... M… maybe…" the tall robot shrank together while trying to hide himself in the blanket, looking very shy but also giddy in a way.
"... Marry me?"
"Huh?"
" WHAT??? NAH! I DI'N'T SAY 'NOTHIN'! AH THINK THAT WUZ 'NOTHER GHOST!"
Sun peeked out from under the blanket and started giggling at his suddenly increased accent, something that tended to happen when he got really nervous.
He nuzzled up to him and held the blanket comfortably around himself. He felt way better, despite that little mishap. It's fine. It was just an awkward moment. No harm done.
Monty looked down at him and grinned a little, wrapping an arm around his back and patting his arm.
"Stay fer as long as ya like. Like the Ghostbusters said: I ain't afraid of no ghosts! Come at me, bruh! Th-that… that wasn't part of the quote."
Sun laughed out loud at his joke, making the gator laugh along as they just sat and chilled together on the couch. It was very comfy. Especially with someone by their side.