Chapter Text
No.
Nope.
DEFINITELY not.
Sighing, you lay your head in your arms, giving your eyes a much needed break from staring at your laptop screen for God knows how long.
Finding a new job was much more difficult than the first time, even more so when they definitely were not only out of your preferred distance from your home, but even more so when you didn’t quite have the energy or talents required. You had recently quit your job, working retail at a grocery store; talk about terrible managers and coworkers, a double whammy alongside the usual grievances of customer service. It just was not worth sticking your neck out for them or the insanely low wage they were paying.
But, bills don’t pay themselves, and neither do college classes. Another reason for quitting in the first place: you had finally gotten into (or rather planned on going to) the college you had been eyeing for some years. Though, as of recently, you’ve just been aiming for a simple bachelor’s degree. Nothing too fancy, and whatever classes you could afford. And as of now, that was none of them (thank you, taxes).
You pull yourself up, rubbing your eyes with another sigh, attempting to think of a Plan B if jobs outside the apartment could do well. That is, however, until you start scrolling down the page again and find another potential candidate; a janitor position at Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex. Quirking a brow, you perk up a bit. You had heard rumors and various stories of that place, but mainly from parents complaining about the usual that you hadn’t heard already in retail.
That didn’t also mean that you didn’t know some things (when the hyperfixation hits, it hits). You remember hearing when the ‘Plex had burnt down just a few months ago, and even then the resurgence of Fazbear Entertainment before the fire had caused people to remember its rather “negative” public reputation. Though, maybe negative was being generous.
You shake your head again, but pull up the website on your phone as you turn your laptop off. Even if Fazbear Entertainment didn’t have the greatest reputation, neither did most companies anyways, and you had always wanted to check out a Fazbear restaurant since you were a kid. Bonus points for a wage way better than your first job as well as being a job you know you can do ($25 an hour? Sign you up).
Laying down on your bed, you start filling out the application almost mindlessly, still exhausted from trying to weigh your options of what to do if anything went wrong. You submit the application and lay back, before your mind begins wondering more fervently.
What would it be like to work in the ‘Plex? You knew its animatronics were incredibly popular and, based on stories you had heard, much more human than someone would expect. Would you get to meet Freddy Fazbear himself? Maybe the others in the band? You open your phone again and decide to play detective now, just to see what you were getting into (granted, if you were hired at all).
Various forums and news articles either sung the establishment’s praises or hated it to the core of the Earth. People either complimenting the main animatronics’ personalities and ones that make their days, or others complaining about them being dangerous machines. Zero middle ground so far.
One forum, though, piques your interest; one discussing the ‘Daycare Attendant’. What seems to be parents most likely talking about their children having nightmares of it, some with children who didn’t seem to mind but were still wary, and so on and so forth. You hadn’t heard of the ‘Plex having a daycare, though, in hindsight with maybe hundreds of kids coming each day there’d have to be toddlers just a little bit too young to be handled throughout the building. It doesn’t take long of scrolling through others before you realize an actual break from searching is necessary.
Humming, you set your phone to the side, already beginning to lean further into your bed-
And in an instant you’re taken off guard when it vibrates on your nightstand. Quickly moving your hands to pick it back up, freezing when you see an email from Fazbear Co.
Well, that was quick and weirdly timed.
You sit up fast as you open your email, the uncertainty if you had to start looking all over again for a job kicking in fast.
Hello [Y/N] [L/N]! After reviewing your application, we at Fazbear Entertainment believe that you are a perfect pick for CUSTODIAN. Please come to Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex on WEDNESDAY at 1PM for a tour, as well as receiving your security badge and uniform!
Welcome to the Fazbear family!
Almost instantly you go to let out a cheer of success before you quickly just fistpump the air excitedly. You really don’t want to spoil the moment by interrupting the neighbors, even if you weren’t sure if the walls were soundproof or not but hey! Look at that! First try for the application process! Weird that they weren’t asking for an interview, though maybe they were planning for it when you got there? Either way, it’s a start!
It’s almost 12:45 in the afternoon when you get to the Pizzaplex, making sure your email was opened on your phone in case you managed to find an employee or whoever it was that would be your tour guide. Sure you were a little less than 15 minutes early, but it felt terrifying trying to leave any later than at least 30 minutes before any scheduled time. You make it inside shortly only to then be assaulted by the bright colors and sounds of children's excitement.
Not to mention the GIANT Freddy Fazbear statue, gold and shining with the various light sources against it. Looking around a bit, you notice various gift shops to the sides, some with children and parents already inside either browsing or buying whatever merchandise of the day went home with them.
The entire area felt like an 80’s day at a mall, which you were dreading imagining just the concepts for in a board meeting.
Your attention is refocused when you see something move in your peripheral vision towards you; a STAFF bot, wearing a black cap and heading towards you. It pauses when it turns to you, staring.
“..Um… hi?” You wave at it. “I’m here a little early for the tour? And to get my things?”
You’re met with silence. It sucked a bit, not having a person to actually read their expressions, but maybe Fazbear Entertainment wasn’t taking any chances with whatever human employees they had, lawsuits and all.
But before you go to ask anything else, the bot seems to straighten up.
“Greetings, valued employee.” It says, unmoving. “Welcome to the Mega Pizzaplex! Your time working here will be challenging but just as fun as goes our business motto! Once the tour has finished, you will be able to access your schedule from the Fazbear App or Fazwatch given at the end, alongside your security badge and uniform!”
It doesn’t wait for an answer before it turns and begins to roll away, with you looking a bit confused before quickly moving behind it to keep up pace.
During the tour, and trying to at least imagine more life in the tour with the text to speech voice, the STAFF bot takes you to all the floors of the Mega Pizzaplex while overexplaining certain details of either their “state of the art technology and design” or of how “safe the Pizzaplex is to quench the worries of the public”. Yeah, with how huge the place was, no one would be able to get out of this maze even if they had anything to say.
Seriously though, the place is huge, and you wonder if the designers of the place just went wild or if the company was so desperate to just grab anything and everything that on paper makes a safe pizza place… mall.
Still, it was impressive for what it was worth. Not only from a company as troubled as Fazbear Co., but (based on the forums and newspaper articles) from various incidents rampant with missing kids? Awful, and definitely concerning, but impressive that they still bounced back like this and with such a huge establishment.
Everytime the bot pauses for a moment, letting you take in the surroundings or wherever it was it wanted you to look, you attempt to ask questions before it quickly moves on to the next spot. Guess it was one way of making sure things were still hush hush in some way.
Whatever way that was.
Another moment during the tour was when the both of you came to a stop, the bot gesturing to what seemed to be the Daycare, with you looking on in wonder at how the hell it was so huge. But, considering everything so far was huge already, you figured it might’ve been a way to get as many people into one area at once, rake in the cash then. You looked up at the massive statues, golden like the Freddy one in the entrance, but only two of them now.
One seemed to be a sun-themed animatronic, arms outstretched as if offering a hug. The other one, similar but with some differences like a bed cap you’d see in cartoons, and with its pose looking more.. Predatory? Like it was waiting to pounce on something, or someone.
With a look around, the similar complimentary theme shows up as you see various illustrations on the wall and posters of the surprise attendant. It was moon-themed, though in the cartoon style of the merchandise he seemed much more friendly and sleepy.
‘Sundrop and Moondrop?’ You quirked an eyebrow seeing the posters for what seemed to be the candy of the same names.
You hadn’t heard of a moon-themed animatronic on the forums. Though, if you thought about it, maybe it was just a marketing thing like skins for characters in certain video games. But, with the large statue by your side as you stared, it was probably a different robot altogether.
Picking up the pace to make sure you don't get left behind, the bot stops just next to a large slide opening to your right and a flight of stairs to your left.
“This is the Superstar Daycare, where children under the age of 7 may be taken to by parents until a designated time. Registration can be done online and at the desk.” It gestures vaguely in the Daycare's direction. “The children here are taken care of and attended to by the Daycare Attendant. The Daycare closes an hour before the Pizzaplex does.”
You perked up, as if only now you had registered the curiosity of what the Daycare attendant was like. You already suspected they weren’t human if the comments from parents weren’t enough, alongside the statues.
As the bot begins rolling off, you follow it some steps before stopping and glancing down at the tall glass wall encircling the play area, where parents (and now you) could take a look inside.
Might as well take the chance, agreeing with yourself that the STAFF bot would stop and wait for you once it realized you're gone.
You step down the stairs, moving to the glass and peering inside to get a better look at the area.
There are two massive play structures with a bridge connecting between them (though, comparatively to the rest of what you'd seen so far, definitely felt average or even small); a large ball pit lays to the side where the slide you had passed lead down into.
Children were playing inside the playpens, running across the mini bridge or wherever spaces they could reach inside of what you assume to be tag or just messing around in general. If you inched yourself, you can see a wide desk in front of a screen playing whatever ads were automatically playing, promoting the Sundrop candy from the posters from before. To the side (just barely seen from your vision), you can see small purple and lavender tables, where some kids are already sat down and drawing.
The small huff of air from you is the best you can do for a chuckle for now, watching with almost nostalgia. As much as you wanted to keep track with the tour (God knows you definitely need a map of the damn place just from the first few rooms), you attempt to look around for the Attendant.
Your curiosity was answered when you heard a loud squeal, and a kid - a little boy, maybe 5 or so - was scooped up by something inside one of the play structures. Tensing a bit, both from surprise of how fast the movement was and for the kid himself, you moved around against the glass trying to find either the kidnapper or the kid.
The other children noticed what had happened, and began squealing and laughing before running away. It seemed a new game was happening or maybe the real tag had started. It didn’t take much longer before you finally saw it, and holy SHIT-
It was the large, sun-themed animatronic, with pointed edges on the sides and top of its head to resemble cartoonish sun rays, which rotated in excitement as he held the child he had taken. Not to mention the get up, looking like a jester or clown- though maybe jester was a better word to describe it. The same exact one that the statue was modeled after.
You’re staring for a bit too long at it, mainly just taking it in that yes that is real, yes they made a fucking TALL animatronic for a bunch of kids, before zoning back in to realize that now even it was staring back.
Picking your jaw back up, now sheepish, you let out a startled laugh (unsure if it can even hear you through the glass). Purely out of habit, you hold your hand up for a wave.
Instantly it lights up and enthusiastically waves back, alongside the little boy it still holds in an arm.
You go to watch a bit longer before realizing that you are losing the tour bot. Hesitantly, you run back up the stairs, running off with another wave at the attendant and luckily managing to catch up with it before it rounded a corner.
The rest of the tour is uneventful, aside from almost getting run over by groups of kids at a time (good LORD there were so many kids). After a while, with every step you took it felt like you were going on a hike in the mountains, with the bonus of stairs going up to the other levels, and the ones going down when you were touring the employee tunnels.
The very last stop was the employee lounge, which sure saw better days. It tried to keep the appearance of at least attempting to be clean if it weren’t for the dust on the countertops and outdated merch inside boxes with various labels.
You let out a small yelp as the STAFF bot pulls over a box of your own. “Inside is your security badge, Fazwatch and uniform you are required to wear under company dress code. Your first day will start tomorrow at 5 PM. Fazbear Entertainment will email your tasks, or if you have the Fazbear App you may view your schedule there. Have a safe trip, and good rest of your day.”
Without hesitation it rolls away, leaving you in the quiet aside from the muffled music from the other rooms.
Sighing, and adjusting yourself to hold the box with a hand, you pulled your phone out, curious to see how much time had passed.
2 PM. Not long, thankfully for your legs, but definitely a lot shorter than what you would’ve expected had you come in completely blind.
With a huff, you take a seat on one of the chairs, a bit startled from how cold it was but you get used to it. You still had some time now until then, deciding there that maybe another walk through the place would be good. Not only that, but maybe you could find other employees you’d be seeing during your shifts.
After dropping off your uniform and (ridiculous looking) Fazwatch in your car, keeping your security badge in your pocket, you move back inside the ‘Plex to tour yourself all over again except now with your backpack in tow. You pause after entering the building, remembering the Daycare. Could you introduce yourself to the attendant? You didn’t doubt you’d be tasked with cleaning up that place at some point (both knowing the place and toddlers). Maybe you could introduce yourself to the Glamrocks while you were at it, thinking to yourself as you made your way to the Daycare. Though, with how popular they were, maybe you could hold off from it for some time after you had gotten used to the building itself.
It didn’t take long to get to the decorated area, now with yourself looking to really take note of the various merchandise of what seemed to be the attendants (plural). Where even was the other guy? Was it in maintenance or shut down?
You shake your head, you had time to ask questions later, instead moving back to where you had seen the animatronic before. Luckily there were tables around the area, and as to not let your legs ache any longer, you sat down to begin your lookout for it.
It didn’t take long, again, before you found it. It was eagerly moving around the area, where a majority of the kids were sitting at the tables, with mini painting kits on some tables and clay on the others. Arts and crafts, it seemed. One of them, a little girl with pigtails, held up her page and rushed to the attendant.
Its rays spun around, crouching down and seemingly talking with her. Perhaps praising her, you imagined. It gently took the page, moving to a bulletin board with other pieces of drawn art, sticking it in one of the only empty spaces left. Though that seemed to spark everyone else wanting to be on the board, and soon the attendant was flooded with children still drawing, or those that were playing with clay scrambling to get paper and paint. You laughed a bit watching the scene play out, it felt like something out of a cartoon.
Taking a look around the rest of the area, you noticed that besides a couple of employees working the gift shop, Lucky Stars, it really was just you watching everything. Which only made you fucking hope that you didn’t look like some creep because honestly who wouldn’t seeing some random adult with no kids looking inside. Though perhaps you’d get mistaken for a parent? Immediately pushing that thought away, shaking your head, you got up.
Was the anxiety of getting wrong impressions on Day 0 already getting to you? Maybe.
Did you still want to stay to fill in the curiosity eating at you? Yes.
In the end, you opted that you’d make yourself known to it when the daycare was closed. It would be rude to interrupt its work now.
Looking at your phone again, it was only 2:15. Maybe you could pass time now that you had your notebook with you. At least if adults or parents came in and saw you, clearly not a threat or creep, you wouldn’t be questioned for hanging around the area.
That was until your stomach started rumbling. You hadn’t eaten anything since this morning while anxiously waiting for the clock to tick down. With a sigh, you got back up and made your way to the Atrium, deciding to quickly get lunch and come back to where you had sat.
Today had plenty of surprises though.
Making your way to the nearest food court, just settling on getting a salad to make sure you at least wouldn’t be starving, you were too spaced out to realize it until it was too late; bumping into someone. But with how fucking hard it felt, falling on your ass, it seemed you bumped into a wall oh god fuck-
“Oh gosh! You okay there, chickadee??” a voice said, and immediately you perked up before going wide eyed.
Glamrock Chica had worriedly held her hand out to you, brows furrowed nervously. Admittedly it took you a second too long of staring in shock before you took her hand, giving an apologetic smile.
“Y-Yeah! Yeah, yeah, I’m- I’m good-” you say as she carefully hoists you up, almost yelping what the hell kind of strength did she have? “Sorry! I just wasn’t paying attention-”
Chica smiles back, less nervous now,”It’s alright, don’t-”
Then she paused, and almost immediately you grew tense at how abrupt it was. But it didn’t take long before she perked up, letting out a gasp and hopping from one foot to the other.
“You’re the newbieeee!! Oh it’s been so long since they’ve hired anyone!” she squeals, scooping you up into a tight hug. Which you were losing oxygen fast with how tight it was. “Oh, finally someone to talk toooo- oh! Before I forget!”
Mercifully, she sets you down, giving you a breather from feeling like your body would snap in half.
“I’m Chica! It’s so nice to meet you, Y/N!” She introduces herself. Though you quirk a brow; you weren’t wearing your badge on you, and you definitely didn’t have your uniform.
“Uh.. nice to meet you too, Chica.” You smile a bit. Still confused, you decide to press. “How did you know-”
“Know your name?” She finishes your sentence then laughs, ”Your file, silly. We can access employee files as soon as they’re put in the system! Helps us know who works here and stuff.”
Ah. That made more sense. If anything, you couldn’t help but be fascinated that these guys were capable of doing it at all, or even having this much personality for a robot.
“Anywho,” Chica steps to the side and begins walking where she had originally been headed. “Sorry for leaving so soon, I’ve got parties to party and pizza to eat~ Come talk and gossip with me soon, newbie!”
The both of you wave your farewells to each other, before you also move to continue on to get food. Absolutely still reeling back from that conversation; holy shit?? Obviously she was off to her green room, but still you hadn’t expected interacting with any of the band members until maybe sometime this week! Perhaps if you got lucky you’d bump into the others-
Actually, you think, on second thought maybe not something as embarrassing as that felt.
You end up taking your salad and water bottle all the way back to the Daycare, taking small bites if you could help it. Still seemed to be as excitable as when you were just here before literally bumping into metal. Sitting down at the table you were at before, now you actually let yourself start eating, watching the inside all over again.
Taking out your notebook and pencil, you decided to doodle and wait for the minutes to slip by. Or at least attempted to do so. Your mind had drawn to a blank. How ironic for mindless drawing. You take another bite of the salad in frustration.
But even then, you started thinking about just why you were so interested in meeting the attendant- well, attendants at all. You had always liked space, the various colors of the galaxies always made the artist in your heart swell with fascination and wonder. Maybe it was because it wasn’t anything that, from your knowledge, Fazbear Entertainment had done? You had known for some time now they were in for a quick profit (definitely still were if the merchandising and lack of human employees so far) and animal mascots.
Or maybe you were just high on excitement of being somewhere interesting and new. For once not with the usual retail or corporate bullshit job, but somewhere genuinely exciting and new. Granted, that was only if Fazbear Entertainment had a choke hold on the animatronic and pizzeria business, which admittedly these past few years they slowly were.
With an amused huff, you glanced up to the statues, still peeking out from your view below. You knew what to draw now.
“Hello?”
You were immediately taken out of your focus, head whipping up to find where the voice had come from.
Your eyes quickly settled on a woman, roughly your age (maybe mid to late 20’s? Definitely older than a teenager at least). She had auburn hair tied up into a bun, hazel eyes, outfit similar to the one you had just received. Ah, an employee. And one that wasn’t another STAFF bot!
You give her a polite smile,”Hi, can I help you..?”
She hums, looking between you and your bag,”Are you here to pick one of the kids up?”
Quickly you shake your head,”Ah- no, no, sorry! I was just hanging around the area, and wanted to introduce myself to the attendant since I’ll be working here.”
Almost instantly the woman perks up, a small shine in her eyes as she lets out a sigh,”Oh thank god, we’ve been needing newbies for weeks.” She holds her hand out to you. “I’m Juniper, nice to meet you, newbie.”
You shake her hand as you give her your name, before you both pull back. Juniper gives you a big smile, and if you look closely enough you can see what looks to be dimples in her cheeks.
“I’m Daycare security, sometimes I help out Sunny in there with the kids but he’s pretty much got it handled as is.” She says as she turns to look into the glass.
“Right, right…” You think out loud with a hum.
Juniper gives you a laugh, raising a brow at you, ”Well thank god you aren’t some creep or anything.” She then moves to sit in the other empty seat, glancing at your notebook. “Oh! You’re an artist?”
“I am, yeah-” you say as you slowly fumble to cover up the page with your arms. At least she was being tame with it, in comparison to other people immediately trying to grab your notebook to see what you had doodled. “I was just passing the time, waiting for when the Daycare closed or… maybe if the attendant had a bit of free time before I tried to talk with it-”
“Him.” She corrects you, which startles you a bit but you nod.
“With him, try to talk with him.” You correct yourself, making Juniper’s thin line lips curve back into a smile.
“Well that’s nice, it’s been awhile since Sun’s had new friends- or.. guess new people in general that aren’t kids.”
You raise an eyebrow at that,”Not even new employees?”
She shakes her head,”Nope. Zilch, nada. Management’s been replacing any position here that’s non essential with STAFF bots, a whoooole mess of layoffs over the past couple months even before the Plex burned down.” She rests her head in her hand. “But! Speaking of positions, what’d you get hired for?”
“For a custodian,” you say matter of factly. “Only opening I saw that was available.”
“Ah, so you’re taking over for Chuck.” She hums. “He got laid off almost a month ago, management told him that he just.. wasn’t needed anymore.”
Good lord this was a lot to take in, and totally didn’t make you worried over being replaced within a month, maybe even a week (it did). Fuck, what if you barely got through your first day and they just decided you weren’t worth being paid for and lose your job??
Juniper notices the pause and quickly adds,”Hey! At least if they hired you at all, that’s good!”
You sigh, and lay your head in your arms,”But didn’t you say they’ve been laying off people they could replace with robots.”
“Yeah, but, think about it like this.” She’s panicking a bit at calming your nerves, which at the same time does and doesn’t work. “If they hired you, that means that they can’t rely on a janitor bot to take on full custodial stuff! Besides, you can probably reach places where those things can’t get to anyways, so it’s a win win!”
She did make a point. Kind of. Still didn’t make sense why they wouldn’t just let the one before you stay instead of going through the trouble of getting a new one anyways. Though, then again, corporate never made any goddamn sense when it comes to decision making. You decide to just let her have this, straightening up in your seat to look down at your doodles in the notebook.
Almost immediately, however, a noise goes off in front of you, making you jolt and look back up. Juniper looks down at her watch (sorry, her Fazwatch), and lets out a tired groan, dramatically slouching.
“My alarm.” She explains as she stands up, fixing her hat. “Sorry, newbie, my break’s done. However!” she adds, winking at you. “Because you’ve been nice company and seem like a good kid, I can let you visit with Sun for a bit right now if you want unless you’re stubborn about meeting him after hours.”
“Oh! Yeah! I’d appreciate it, Juniper.” You quickly close your notebook, putting your things back in your bag and standing. “I promise I’ll just be in and out.”
She gives you finger guns,”Hey it’s no problem! Besides, better now than never, yeah?”
The both of you move to the large wooden doors, Juniper giving you one last look before she pushes one open, opening enough to let you inside. The daycare, now that you’re standing in it, is so much bigger than looking in on it from the outside. You didn’t get a moment to take in the surroundings before an excited gasp and voice dragged you back.
“Ms. Anderson!! Welcome back! And is that a new friend I see??”
Before you realized it, you were then being loomed over- oh what the fuck HE IS HUGE-
He had an entire- maybe good three feet over you (8 ft tall?) and was already bursting with enough energy to power an entire building. His rays spun excitedly around his head, almost providing the both of you a soft breeze like a fan. You didn’t realize how much you were staring wide eyed up at him until you heard a noise to your side from Juniper.
“Sun, remember, go easy, okay?” She laughs. “Not everyone’s used to you, remember?”
The attendant nods, you note how he seems to retract in on himself, keeping his hands close to his chest as he fidgets. “Yes, yes, yes, of course! So so sorry, new friend!”
Immediately you stammer out, waving your hands with a nervous smile, ”Hey, it’s no big deal, big guy. Don’t worry about it.”
Maybe not a big deal, but holy shit was this even more to take in. Why the hell was he so tall?? To give people like you a heart attack??? The designers must’ve had a field day designing and making him if that was the case.
The longer you stare and take in Sun’s appearance, you notice small details; it did not seem like he’s been cleaned in some time, at least a month, you can see specks of what looks to be a footprint mark on his chest. You also notice just how most of his body was a bit dull from whatever grime was never cleaned off of him, alongside specks of what looks like.. glitter? A couple of marks that seem like paint, which you already can count on if he’s working with so many kids a day for hours on end.
Sun’s faceplate clicks to one side, then to the other, like he’s inspecting you in return. “Enjoying the view, new friend?”
That's enough to make you jolt back to reality, “Fuck-”
“Language!” He shakes his head and wags his finger at you, the grin on his face feeling… smug somehow. “Bad language is not permitted in the daycare, little friend!”
You laugh, nodding your head, ”Right, sorry big guy, was just lost in thought. Didn’t mean to stare.”
Looking around a bit, seeing Juniper head over to a large desk to your left, seemingly on the computer looking at something, you beam up at Sun and hold your hand out. May as well make sure you do introductions right if being chastised for bad language wasn’t already a swell start.
Sun seems to perk up more, and after you give him your name, he goes to open his arms before quickly pulling back before he can. Was he going to give you a hug? He takes your hand in both of his, easily engulfing it with just one of his own, before shaking happily.
“It is such a wonderful, wonderful pleasure to meet you!! It’s not very often I meet new friends like you!” He beams brightly, you’re sure if he could he would glow. “I hope we become the very bestest most amazing friends!”
The energy is still way high off your charts, but you can feel yourself slowly (slowly) becoming accustomed to it. With another beam of your own and a nod, you pull your hand back to cross your arms, ”I hope the same, Sun. It’s nice to meet you too!”
Before either of you could make another word, a loud cry sounded throughout the whole area, making you both turn to its direction. Sun, seemingly already knowing the implications, quickly booked it over to the maker.
“No, no, no, what did we learn about gluing our hands together?!” He calls out as he made his way to a child.
It was adorable, really.
You chuckle, before moving over to Juniper. Looking over her shoulder, it seemed she was watching security cameras of, based off of the grainy quality, the daycare. Tapping her shoulder to get her attention, you gesture to the door.
“It was nice meeting you guys, but I’ve gotta be heading out.” You tell her. “Gonna head home and get ready for tomorrow.”
Juniper gives you a smile, tired but well meaning, and gives you a thumbs up. “See you whenever then, kid.”
You return the thumbs up, before adjusting your bag-
Actually. Now you’ve got an idea.
Setting your bag on the desk (making sure to be a distance from Juniper to not disturb her), you take out your notebook and flip through it to find the doodles you had made of Sun and the moon themed attendant. Maybe you could ask Juniper about where he could be before you left, just to get the whole picture. Carefully, you tear out the page, making sure the edges were as straight as they possibly could be without finicking with them further. While you put the notebook back in, you call out to Juniper one more time.
“Actually,” you start out. “Two things.”
“Shoot for it.” her eyes don’t leave the screen, but she does slightly tilt her head to show she’s listening.
You gingerly hold the page, looking down at it before sliding it over,”Can you make sure Sun gets this? I think he’d like a little welcoming gift from me.”
Juniper looks over, before lighting up and cooing, taking the page,”Oh these are so cute! You were drawing him already?”
“Yeah, while I was waiting.” You rub the back of your neck, turning your glance back to Sun who was now playing a game of tag with the kids.
“Well, I’ll be sure to let him know it’s from you.” She grins. “He’ll love it.”
You can’t help but grin back,”Hope he does.” You clear your throat immediately after. “Second thing, I swear this’ll be it. So there’s Sun, and out there there’s another statue of.. Another attendant? Where are they?”
It takes you off guard how she freezes, her eyes flickering to you in shock in comparison to a few seconds ago. You go to tell her it’s fine to not answer before she sighs, much more exhausted and rubs the bridge of her nose, leaning back in the chair.
“Hoped you wouldn’t ask..” you hear her mumble, which sends off red flags. You quirk a brow at her before she continues. “How about… I'll tell you later when we’re not in the Daycare? I can give you my number if you wanna talk outside this 80’s nightmare.”
“Is.. it a sore topic?” You ask, and Juniper just gives you a ‘so-and-so’ gesture.
“It’s complicated, even I don’t know all of it with how things have gone down.”
She grabs a sticky note and pen, writing down her number before handing it to you. As you take it, her smile comes back.
“You head out now, you’ll need the energy for when you’re officially on the clock.” She turns back to the monitor, signaling an end to the conversation for now.
You can’t help but give her a look for the sudden cryptic vibes but you simply hum as you put the note in your pocket. Then again, it did at least seem like some strange situation, a bad topic. With not a lot of things left to do, you get your things and slowly move to the doors, giving everything one last look.
Sun seems to notice, his head tilting up to your direction (perhaps thinking a child was trying to leave or a parent was here), before his smile.. drops? Oh no, that’s a pang in your heart, how does he go from looking like such a jolly dude to looking like you just kicked him to the streets. You give him a smile back, watching as he already moves to meet you at the door.
“O-Oh- you’re leaving already?” Oh god his voice even sounds dejected. His rays seem to shrink on themselves to reflect his emotions if his expression wasn’t enough. “But you just got here!”
“Sun, hey..” You put your hands on your hips, keeping your voice low to see if it helps. “I gotta head home, buddy, I need to make sure I’m ready for my first shift tomorrow.”
“But your shift isn’t for another 11 hours!” He whines, which makes your heart hurt more. Who programmed dejectedness into the robot??
“Sunny, I’ll be back tomorrow. I promise.” Without thinking, you hold your hand up towards him. “I’ll try to come in early to see you, okay?”
That seems to lift his spirits; he takes your hand with both of his again, rays out and spinning excitedly as he bounces from one foot to the other. “Yes, yes, yes, of course! Promise, hm? We’ll hold you to that!”
‘We’?
Before you can ask what he means, he lets go of your hand and begins to bounce back, waving rapidly at you. “Goodbye then, Sunshine!! Excited to see you tomorrow!”
The whiplash almost makes your neck crack, but you wave back with as much enthusiasm as you can from it, ”See you later, Sunny.”
Finally you exit the Daycare, closing the door carefully behind you before you let out a deep sigh. Well, that sure was… something. You never really considered (at least since meeting Chica) how they can simulate such a wide range of emotions- you were thinking about it again, c’mon, of course they could! But the way his voice and rays shrunk before you, scared that you weren’t coming back- well, you were a bit of a softie, but this was downright heartbreaking to watch.
With another sigh, you slowly pick yourself up and begin walking to the exit.
What had you gotten yourself into?