Chapter Text
This was a hard decision to make, but the conversation was even more difficult to have. You’ve been putting this off for a month now, and the time had finally come where you didn’t have room to wait for yourself to be able to face your coworkers and friends you wanted to keep.
You pushed your way past the large double doors of the daycare, nerves all a flutter, crinkling the paper you had in hand. Your thoughts scrawled down to keep your words on track. You’d written down what you wanted to say to Sunny. You wanted to tell him before you put in your two weeks.
You had put off sending that email to management, still haven’t sent it, wanting to tell the others first. Why were you leaving the daycare if you loved working here so much? The pay was great. And your coworkers? You loved them.
But
that
was the problem.
You loved one of them too much to be around them anymore. It hurt being the only one who rarely got alone time with your favorite being in the world.
The others would always boast to you when Sunny would give them kisses and be so affectionate with them, but you only ever got hugs and barely any chances to talk with him one on one unless you were picking up someone else’s shifts. Even then he was so outwardly affectionate with the others.
It made you jealous, though not in a way that anyone could tell. It’s not like you had the balls to ever voice your feelings out loud. Especially to the other human co-workers who all loved the animatronic… Probably just as much as you did.
But it hurt being the only one to not get those affections, especially after your dumb heart decided to fall head over heals for the goofball.
You always were a sucker for the sweet ones. He was no different.
You ignored your feelings for the better half of two years, but slowly it started to eat away at you. You’d cry about it more times than was probably good when you were alone. It’s not like you could tell anyone about these feelings anyways.
The daycare was in full swing, kids running around having a blast as you made your way to the security desk, setting down your things and stashing the little note you had for when you finally talked to Sunny.
That you were gonna put in your two weeks. Not that.
he’d care that much. You were the one he interacted with the least, anyways. He’d give you his greeting hug and that was usually about it for most days.
“Hey! Did you check the group texts?” Alex asked before you could finish shucking off your jacket.
“Ah, no? What’s up?”
“Mel is running a fever and won’t be in today. Are you alright staying till close?” Alex held up their phone to show the group chat, not that you could read it from this angle.
Perfect, you could put off your tlk till clean up at close.
“Oh ya! That’s perfectly alright. I needed to talk to Sunny about something anyway.” You pull your chair over, sitting down.
“What do you need to talk to me about, Starlight?” You jumped slightly, your face falling before you could school it back into your usual smile. Sun was right at your shoulder, smiling wide with that familiar wiggle to his frame.
“Oh, hey Sunny!” Butterflies exploded around your insides, ones that would turn and rot something fierce once you left the plex doors. “Ah, I’ll tell you once the kids are gone. It’s kinda an important one…” You swallowed the lump of sour dread in your throat. He knew you wanted to talk. No going back now.
His expression was hard to read as his white gaze looked down at you and his hand on your shoulder twitched.
“Oh, a serious talk. Ok, Starlight. but if it’s really important please don’t hesitate to tell me! You’re important, Starlight!” He ruffled your hair and you held back the flinch at how deep those little words dug in. He no doubt was reading your distress through touch.
A child’s scream cuts the interaction short, though, sending Sunny off in a hurry to resolve the situation. You heaved a sigh, glancing over as you felt Alex’s eyes on you, worry evident. No doubt questions to come.
“Are you alright? A serious talk with Sun?” They asked, no doubt fishing to try and figure out what it would be about.
“I’ll tell you tomorrow… Or in the group chat. Maybe both. I just wanted to tell Sunny about it before anything else…” You trailed off, not wanting to give too much away. You liked Alex a lot too. Sure not to the point of crying over them like you’ve been over your stupid crush on a robot.
The rest of the shift passed quickly, Alex leaving on time and leaving you and Sunny in charge of handling the daycare and last minute pick-ups to come.
Soon you were standing next to Sunny, who handed the last little one off to their parents. You felt like you were gonna be sick. You really really didn’t want to have this talk, but it needed to happen. You couldn’t stomach the roller coaster of emotions this place caused anymore.
Finally alone, Sunny turned to you, hands clasped patiently in front of him.
“Now what was it you had wanted to talk to me about earlier, Starlight?” Oh boy. You had his full attention now, but you couldn’t meet his eyes as you played with your shirt hem.
“I- I, ah, wrote it out… let me grab my notes… so I don’t chicken out again.” You voiced, Sunny on your heels as you dug around your things on the desk and pulled out the paper.
“Again?” His voice raised an octave. “You’ve been wanting to talk to me about this for longer than today? Is everything alright, Starlight?”
Why did his genuine worry over your well being have to hurt so damn much? It wasn’t special to only you. He cared about everyone he worked closely with. You were his least favorite, anyways. Your eyes burned but you didn’t let anything show outwardly, keeping just out of Sunny’s reach so he couldn’t check your readings.
“Ah… ya, I’ve been putting it off for a while..” Now was the time for truth and honesty after all. You smoothed out the crumpled paper in your hand, taking a deep breath. “I wanted to tell you first… since arguably you’re the one that it’s going to affect the most…” your hands were shaking and the back of your throat was sour as you focused on the words on the paper. “I’m going to be putting my two weeks notice in… I can’t be a daycare attendant anymore…” you took another shaky deep breath, Sundrop making a noise but you pressed on. “I would still like to be friends-“
“That’s enough.”
Sunny’s stern voice came out, making you finally flinch. Yeah… His least favorite…. He didn’t have to pretend to be nice to you anymore. That thought stung, hitting deep.
“I think Moon can help you clean up the daycare tonight.” Sun turned away from you striding over to the light switch. Breaking his own rules. Just to get away from I.
“Wait, sun! I’m not-” The daycare went dark before you could finish and you could see the red glow from Moon’s eyes before he even turned to look at you. This? After Sun was always so strict about keeping the lights on.... You’ve heard about the things Moondrop has done in the past. He’s been deemed safe but still hasn’t been given his job as the naptime attendant back. He’s only a security guard now.
He was laughing as he took a step back from the light switch, then he slowly turned to face you.
“He… didn’t let me finish…” You whispered to Moon like he might spare your feelings as that abrupt rejection left you aching all over again, this time before you could make it to the safety of your car to cry.
Moon’s laughter fell short as his red eyes focused on you. No doubt wondering why you were crying and Sun had been the one to turn the lights off, not the timer set for after the plex is closed.
As if on cue, the overhead speakers announced that the Plex would be closing soon.
“Why are you crying?” Moon’s gravely voice asked, taking a step closer to you in the small space of the security desk.
“Sunny really does hate me….” You practically whimpered, tears rolling down your cheeks. You were expecting the rejection to come, but you didn’t think he wouldn’t let you finish. He wouldn’t even hear you out.
“Sunny…? What happened? Why are you crying, Starlight?” Moon approached you cautiously. You’ve met him only a handful of times before. He’s rough around the edges but still pretty funny in his own way. This was not a funny joke though.
You wiped at your face quickly, the stress and sickness boiling over inside your body as a sob broke out of you. Moons hands came to catch your wrists as you roughly wiped at your eyes. He replaced your shaking hands with his own, wiping the tears away more delicately than you expected.
“Tell me what happened.” He coaxed, voice soft like he was speaking to one of the crying children. You felt like an overgrown baby right now anyways.
“I… I- I... Read..” Your words failed you and you held up the note you were reading to Sunny before he cut you off. He was quiet, reading the note before taking it in one of his hands. His other still cupping your wet cheek.
“You’re… quitting?” Moon questioned after probably reading the note a few times over. You just nodded slightly. He hummed, the gears turning in his head before he shifted and pulled you into a hug.
Oh … Moon’s never given you a hug before. You were surprised, but took the comfort from him. He could probably feel how distressed you were when he touched you.
“Sorry to see such a pretty star go.” He hummed, holding you tighter as your arms tightened around him in turn. His hug wasn’t as toasty warm as Sunny’s but it brought some comfort.
Sunny hadn’t given you a hug yet today either… you had a feeling you wouldn’t be getting any more of his hugs anytime soon.
“He didn’t let me get to the part about wanting to stay friends… I even brought you guys one of my old tablets so we could keep in touch..” You mumbled against Moon’s chassis, closing your eyes in the dark as Moon comforted you. “I just- I can’t keep working here… it’s too overwhelming…” You confessed, spilling your heart out to Moon, you had hoped Sunny would be asking these questions and pushing you for answers maybe. But he didn’t need to hear anything else but that you were leaving.
“I’m sure Sunny won’t stay mad for too long…” Moon soothed, leaning around slightly and grabbing something from the desk. “Blow.” He instructed, holding a tissue to your nose.
A small smile broke through your heartache. Moon definitely was treating you like one of the upset kids, but you didn’t fight it and blew your nose into the tissue. His fingers pinching lightly around your nose before withdrawing and tapping the tip of your nose.
“Better?” He asked, carefully stepping out of your hug. You nodded, not really, but the initial reaction was done and you were already starting to shove it down into a bottle. Something to deal with later. When you were alone again.
“I’ll be fine… Ah, help me find a flashlight so I can help clean up?” You asked, changing the subject before you said anything else about your feelings. That was a slippery slope after all.
“Hmmmm.” Moon hummed, but it sounded like he pulled open one of the drawers. The cold of a metal flashlight greeting your hand soon after.
“Thanks… Sorry… It seems you're stuck with me tonight….” You probably didn’t need to apologize but it felt right. You were a mess right now and he’s been forced to deal with it.
“No need to apologize. It’s Sunny who made the choice to run away.” Moon said, walking off as you turned on the flashlight careful to night blind him with it. “ I’ll talk to him later.”
“You don’t have to. It’s not like he liked me all that much before now….” You sighed, making your way to the supply closet to grab things to restock now.
“...What makes you say that?” Moon questioned somewhere out of sight. You grabbed an arm full of things, holding the light in your mouth. Making noise to alert Moon that you would respond when able.
You set the things on the floor, taking the flashlight out of your mouth.
“We just weren’t… or aren’t as close as he is with the others. I got stuck working mid shifts, so he’s always busy when I’m here. Only on days like this when I’m covering for someone else do we have a chance to talk.” You said, jumping slightly when Moon materialized behind you, putting things on the higher shelves you struggled to reach. “Thank you.”
“Did you share these thoughts with him?” Moon asked, looking down at you. You met his gaze, shaking your head as you looked away.
“No… it’s not like it would have changed anything? Just make him feel bad…. I didn’t need him worrying about something he can’t fix.”
“You tried to fix it.” Moon said more than asked, restocking the shelves up with you.
You sighed, again shaking your head.
“Not really…? It didn’t seem like that big of a thing… '' His hand was on your shoulder, no doubt catching you in your lie. Well, half-lie…
“Naughty Starlight, are you lying to me?” He scolded, looming over you as he snickered.
“You and me both, but it’s not like those changes would have been able to fix anything…” You sighed. Moon tried to be spooky, but he was also being a bit too comforting right now for his sinister air to hit right.
“Does it have to do with why you're quitting?” He asked, he was certainly asking the right questions to get to the root of the problem.
You sighed again, running a hand through your hair.
“No?” His hand tightened on your shoulder, a wordless scolding. “It’s stupid, and I don’t want to bother anyone with it. It’s no one else’s problem but mine…” You huffed, shrugging off Moon’s hand. You knew you were getting worked up again.
“I guess- I guess I was just hoping to talk it over with him, ya know? But well, he didn’t want to…” You cleared your throat, realizing your volume was getting a bit loud. “Sorry… That you’re having to deal with this.” You sighed, groaning at how stupid you felt.
“I don’t think Sunny would think your feelings stupid. definitely bothered now .” Moon brushed his fingers under your eye to wipe another stray tear from your cheek. You pulled away from the contact.
“It’s my fault, not his. It’s my mess…” You groaned, taking a few breaths to calm back down. “It’s not something you should be dealing with either. I’m sorry you're having to be stuck here with me.”
“Don’t apologize.” The words were curt, but then he softened again., “Though your feelings are hurt right now, I'm glad to get this chance to talk with you. It’s not very often I get to talk with our Starlights.” Moon took your hand, leading you back closer to him. Your cheeks flushing for a second as he started to lead you off in a little dance to the music over head.
You hesitated before giving in, letting the tall animatronic lead you around in a dance. Distracting you from the negative emotions swirling around busy in your head.
“I don’t like seeing you so sad…” Moon voiced, spinning you in a twirl. The spin making you stumble slightly, to the point Moon had to catch you, snickered at your startled expression.
“How kind of you.” You gulped and held onto him tightly as he dipped you. Keeping you close to him, your feet leaving the floor in his hold. He chuckled low.
“Are you questioning my sincerity, Starlight? Naughty naughty.~” He mused, starting to puppet you around in the dance. Your feet no longer allowed to touch the floor as he picked up the pace of his steps. You couldn’t help but crack a smile and soon you were laughing as he spun around with him. Lost in the moment, Moon was doing an excellent job at distracting you.
Once he finally set you down you were a little breathless and a little more star-stuck, laughing a bit as he booped your nose with his finger.
“Come visit me even after your two weeks are up?” He asked, releasing your hands as he stood over you. Something that once upon a time might have made you uncomfortable.
“Ah… oh yeah. I’d love to.” You shook off the giddiness, replaced with a good peaceful feeling. “Speaking of which… I set up the tablet for you and Sun… So you can reach me.I set up a discord and a few games I thought you guys might like… And a few charging cords in case one breaks so you don’t have to….” You trailed off as you looked back toMoon. His head tilted a little too far to one side as he stood back where your dancing stopped..
“You got
us
a tablet?” He questioned. “ Not just Sunny?”
You nodded back confused.
“Ya? I want to stay in contact with both of you. I know I barely have the chance to talk with you but you're nice when you're not actively being an ass?”
“ Language Starlight.” He scolded, coming to follow you as you dug through your bag to take out the little offering of your old unused tablet and the five cords you’d gotten for them.
“Sorry, but you have to admit. You can be a butt.” You teased, holding the tablet up to him. “The passcode is just 12345. You can change it if you want.” He took the tablet, looking at the case, a ouija board-esque casing on the back.
“Hmmm? Spirit board?” He questioned.
“Oh ya… Sorry I didn’t get you guys a different case… You can look for one you guys like and let me know. I’d be more than happy to get you something you’d like better.”
He studied the tablet, turning it on and unlocking it. You shifted and sat yourself up on the security desk. Moon glanced at you as you, narrowing his eyes before going back to whatever he was doing on the tablet.
“Discord?” He asked, pulling it up.
“Mhmmm, aside from texts and phone calls that’s usually the best way to reach me… You can add the others onto your friends list too. I-I already added myself to your friends list… You don’t have to talk with me if you don’t want to though…” Your mind suppliedyou with the memory of how clipped Sun had been…
“I just…. Thought I’d offer it up.” You mumbled, looking away from Moon to play with the flashlight in your hand.
Your phone buzzed in your pocket, making you a little confused. You pulled it out.
Thank you Starlight .
Moon had sent over discord to you. You smiled up at him.
“It’s getting late. The shutters will be closing soon. You should get home, Starlight.” Moon directed. You sighed and nodded.
“Ya… You're right. I would rather like to sleep in my own bed. Try to not share the tablet with the kids, ok? They might break it and I don’t really have the money to get a new one.”
“We’ll keep it safe.” Moon soothed, setting the present down and grabbing your jacket for you, holding it up to help you get it on.
“Thank you, Moon.” You took the offered help, shrugging the jacket on and looking up at him. “And thank you for cheering me up. It’s appreciated more than you know.” You voiced. He nodded with a hum, walking with you out of the daycare with all your things.
“Leave the note you wrote for Sunny here.” Moon instructed pickpocketing the paper from you. “ I’ll make sure he sees it.”
“Oh… ah… alright, but I don’t want to make Sun even more upset then he already is.”
“He’ll have a while to calm down before you’re back tomorrow.” Moon ruffled your hair before opening the daycare door for you. “Off with you before you get into any more trouble, Naughty Starlight.” He teased, shoving you out the large double doors of the daycare unceremoniously and locking the doors behind you.