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hearing whimpering and sniffling at 2 in the morning from your room is the last thing moon was expecting tonight.
moon has been sitting on the couch in the living room, watching reruns of degrassi for the last hour or so. at around 11, you had told sun that you were going to lay down, but needed time alone. he respected that, of course. so when lights turned off at midnight and they switched to the lunar animatronic, he decided to just sit down on the couch and switch on the tv, open hbo max and play the first thing under “continue watching”. after hours of binging the show you were also binging the other day (moon has to remember to put the episode back where you left off), he starts to hear a cry coming from your room. at first, he assumed it was nothing. you’ve told both celestial bots before that they need to stop being so worried about you and assuming the worst. so, maybe you were playing on your switch, or maybe you had a runny nose that they didn’t detect today. but then he heard the noise for an extended period of time. something was wrong. the animatronic gets up from the couch and when they walk to your bedroom door, they give a quiet knock. you go quiet, trying to keep the noise hidden so that they don’t worry about you. that only seemed to have worried moon more.
“y/n, are you okay?”
no response.
“y/n. i hear you crying.”
knowing you can’t really hide anything from the robot, you mumble an okay to give permission for him to enter your bedroom. so that’s what he does, slowly. he peeks his head in and when he sees you in the dark with his night vision, knees to your chest in the corner of your room, he quickly steps in and shuts the door. the moon shines through the thin curtain, giving the room a light glow. the long legged animatronic takes a few steps to reach you and he sits in front of you, crisscrossed. you look away and avoid his gaze. with a sniffle, your mind wanders off and tears start to fall again. reaching your hands up to your hair, you start to tug on it roughly, pulling two handfuls. but two cold metallic hands pull your hands away, then lightly jerk you closer to him. you finally look up and make eye contact with moons glowing red ones. you let out a sob and leap into his arms, shoving your head into his neck. their hands hold onto your waist, holding you still as you vomit words out.
“i can’t keep doing this, moonie. i don’t know how much longer i can keep going on, it just feels like… there’s no progress. i can’t defend myself, i can’t talk for myself, i can’t love myself. i’ll never be who i truly wish to be. i shut myself out from you, from sunny, from my friends, my family. all i think about is past trauma and what he did to me. all i think about is those disgusting hands touching parts they shouldn’t have. about how and why i can never appear the way i wish to,” sniffle, “all i think about is that my body isn’t the shape it’s supposed to look. i look in the mirror and i cry. i cry, and i just want to throw something at it. i think about you, sun, about us . how you chose me as your forever, but you could have chosen literally anyone else better. i’m not worth your time. you could’ve chosen someone prettier, more handsome. someone who has their life in order. am i doing something wrong? why had the universe cursed me with these feelings? every day, i make jokes about killing myself, but i'm just projecting how i actually want to do it. i stopped looking both ways while crossing the street, i stopped caring about speeding while driving, i think about overdosing or self harming again. i-“
you stop to breathe. you let out a deep breath you didn’t realize you were holding. you pull away, about to continue your tear-stained vent to your robot friend, but he puts up a finger to your lips. their permanent smile softens as they slowly shift you into their lap. with your arms still around them, one arm holds your neck and the other above your leg. both animatronics have heard you sing and hum this song when you’re small, so moon starts to hum a song to you and rocks you back and forth like a baby to try and calm you. you whimper out a sad noise, deciding to continue your vent, but not fast. you go into detail as your lunar friend still hums.
“it just feels like i’m not getting better mentally. i’ve been too scared to try and find a therapist, and i know when or if i do find one i’m going to have to find another one to help me with my identity and health issues. i… i shut myself out from you. from sun, when i get like this. and i know it hurts your feelings. i don’t like it, excluding you and never telling you how i feel. but my brain likes to convince itself that you don’t care, or- or that i’m a bother so i never bring up my feelings into conversation. i hate being a mood ruiner, a debby downer. the root of most of my trauma draws back to… him, when i was a kid. he may not not know it, but i think about it so much. so MUCH and he doesn’t even know..”
you feel your eyes start to get heavy with moons vibrating chest, he's still humming.
“moon, why did you choose me? as your forever partner? i have so many flaws and stuff wrong with me, yet you both decided to stay my friend and even move in. why? why was it me?” you cry out. your grip on the daycare attendants neck ribbons tighten.
he only hums the song. he listens to every word you say, yet hums the song you love.
he stops humming and speaks out.
“we chose you because you’re you, and no one can be like you. you are the reason we are here today. you are the reason we would wake up and get out of bed if we could. you’re special, you’re loved. you are our sky, our star. we were so drawn to you when you worked at the daycare. something in us just kept telling us to be with you, to be your friend. we love and care for you more than we do ourselves. you are the most human human we know and it’s extraordinary . there’s no one else quite like you, and we wouldn’t have it another way. you are our eternal partner, our forever.”
you feel sleepier. warmer. comfier. calm.
small.
moon just stares into your eyes, watching your eyelids blink slowly. he knows. he stands up with you still in his arms and walks to your bed. you (somehow) bought an alaskan king sized bed after the mega pizzaplex burned down for you and for whenever the celestial bots would want to lay in bed with you. being as the boys were over 7 ft tall, you both would be a lil comfy. and when you get small, you could have as much fun as you wanted on this big GIANT BED! so moon sets a knee on the bed, does a little roll with you, then sets you down in the middle of the bed, to which you give the tiniest giggle and lay on your side, and he grabs two stuffed toys from the edge of the bed: the last sun and moon plushies from the plex. outstretching your arms for them, he hands them to you with a soft hum.
you cling onto them as if they were your whole world.
(because they are.)
fun fact: moon may not have his wire to lift him in the air anymore, but he and you bought rope one day, stuck a few to the ceiling of your bedroom, and he taught himself corde lisse. being as he’s already a silly jester who is flexible, he got used to it and he always hangs on the rope from the ceiling when he misses the cord, and when you’re small and he wants to give a show.
so when you hear the robotic hum of the song you love, your eyes widen and you look to see the lunar bot hanging from the rope with the glow in the dark stars and moons on the ceiling. if you were a cartoon, your eyes would have sparkles and hearts around it.
days pull you up just like a daffodil
uprooted from its garden
they’ll tell you what you owe, but know even so
rises the moon
you whisper the words and watch moon's little performance. how the rope can hold his weight is unknown, but you both love it.
you’ll
be
visited by sleep
i promise you that soon the autumn comes
to steal away each dream you keep
breathe
breathe
breathe.
as moon finishes the last hum of the song, he’s upside down and slid himself down the rope above your bed, right above your face. he softly leaps onto the bed with his arms and cradles you into his arms. he whispers to your head that lies on his chest.
breathe.