Work Text:
You didn’t quite know what you were expecting when you stupidly trespassed onto what may or may not have been a crime scene, but you certainly hadn’t been expecting to be crushing on a sentient robot several months later. Two sentient robots, actually. Two sentient robots who shared a body.
When you first encountered them, you had been horrified. They had been horribly burnt in the fire, their clothes scorched and their once-shiny paint blackened by smoke. You weren’t even sure which one of them it had been—their software was quite literally fried, to the point where it seemed as if their separate AIs had been scrambled together, each of them appearing to fight for control.
Like any mildly sane person, you were freaked out beyond belief. They were so visibly in pain, and they had been so distressed—but not about their own condition. They had been panicking about what might have happened to the security guard and their fellow animatronics.
If you hadn’t been genuinely worried about artificial intelligence becoming smart enough to overthrow its human creators and take over the world, you certainly were now.
But most of all, you were charmed by them in an odd sort of way. The way that they put others before themselves touched your heart, and despite initially being terrified, you quickly became more sympathetic than anything.
Long story short, you’d picked up a job over the summer to help with the reconstruction of Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex. You had been too curious about what had become of the strange creature you’d encountered to simply forget about it and move on with your life. And you had been unexpectedly delighted when you saw Sun for the first time—his AI no longer malfunctioning and tangling with Moon’s, and the external damage having been repaired just as competently. You met Moon shortly after, and you quickly grew fond of the two animatronics.
Also you might have possibly maybe kinda sorta developed a little crush on them.
Great.
Either way, you applied to work as a security guard at the Pizzaplex when it was fully restored and ready to reopen. Management had decided to increase security, assigning each employee to one area of the gigantic building, and you might have been a little too quick to volunteer to patrol the Superstar Daycare. Your coworkers had looked at you weirdly when you burst out with the request upon being informed that it was an option, but you got the job.
You were basically getting paid to sit around and hang out with your two new love interests. Nothing much happened in the Daycare that required your attention, so you had gotten into a routine of simply loitering around with Sun or Moon. And you had a great time. Never before in your life had you worked a job you were actually excited for each time you headed to work.
The two of them were… eccentric. And in no way were they conventionally attractive. But they were cute in a funky sentient robot sort of way. Sun was probably the most considerate person you had ever met despite not being a person; Moon was usually equally as sweet, and even when he was being a menace to society, you found his antics to be adorable.
And yeah, you know damn well that you probably shouldn’t be romantically attracted to hunks of metal. But love is love, right? Not that it was mutual. Unless…?
No. Stop.
“Awww, we’re all out of glitter glue!”
Sun’s shrill voice snapped you out of your thoughts and you startled a little. It took you a moment to respond, “Sun, you know there’s more in the supply closet.”
He whined. “I know, but that means I have to get up and go get it, and I don’t want to! I just want to stay here with you!” he said, his tone becoming cheerful as he added the last part.
You looked away quickly and stared intensely at the colored pencil box, pretending to search for a color that didn’t exist in an attempt to hide the blush that was creeping onto your face.
“You’re my best friend!” Sun warbled happily, giving you a hug that made you jump out of your skin.
Stop.
He’s a robot.
He is probably incapable of romantic feelings.
But it would be a dream come true if he were, you couldn’t help but think, sighing.
“Sunflower? What’s wrong?” Sun asked, having noticed your sigh.
“Oh—nothing,” you replied quickly, feeling your heart flutter as he used the nickname. “Everything’s fine. I’m just a little tired.”
Sun looked down at you kindly. “If you want, we can turn the lights off, and you can take a nap.”
“I shouldn’t be sleeping on the job,” you laughed softly.
Sun tsked. “Self-care is important! If you’re sleepy, you should go to sleep!”
“I thought you hated rule breakers,” you teased, smiling.
“Hmmmmnmmm, you’re an exception,” he replied nonchalantly. “You’re my special friend, and I care about you! You can rest your sleepy little head any time you want!”
You felt even more heat rising to your cheeks and cursed yourself for being so easily flustered. Especially by comments that were obviously not intended to be romantic.
“Sunshine, you’re looking a little red,” Sun warbled, beginning to fuss over you. “Do you have a fever?” He placed his hand on your forehead to feel your temperature.
“I-I’m fine,” you tried to reassure him, cringing as you stuttered a bit.
“Are you sure? Are you super-duper sure? If you’re sick, you shouldn’t be at work, oh, no, no! You should be at home resting up, all nice and cozy. Of course I would miss you, but— Moon, shut up! ” he burst out suddenly, as he often did when the two of them bickered in their shared headspace.
Despite still being a little flustered, you found it in you to chuckle. “What kind of awful ideas is Moon cooking up now?” you asked.
“Oh! Nothing! Nothing at all!” Sun chirped, his voice a little higher than usual. Before you could respond, he continued, “(Y/N), how’s about you take that nap now, huh? The lights will be off in about ten minutes anyway, but I can go turn them off manually if you’d like! Would you like to get some rest, cloudlet? Would you? Would you?”
You stared at him. “Sun, I’m really okay—”
“Actually!” he interrupted sharply, jumping up. “Let’s not turn the lights off, because Moon is being rude!”
“…Okay then,” you said, unsure of how else to respond. You were tempted to ask Sun what was going on, but seen as the lights were due to switch off in, like, five minutes, you figured that you would find out shortly anyway.
Sun sat back down and started drawing again, rambling all the while, which was a usual occurrence for him, however this time he seemed a bit more distracted and jumpy. And it sounded like his motor was running faster than usual? “You know,” he said, stripping a crayon from its paper wrapper, “there was this one time where this kid took all of the crayons in the box, went to the very tippy-top of the play structures, and dumped them out all over the place! He made such a mess! Before the fire happened I was still finding crayons hidden away in little nooks and crannies practically every night, even months afterwards!”
You simply snorted in response, amused. This was one of his favorite stories to get worked up about.
“And of course even after I picked up all the crayons I had to make sure to sort them in rainbow order! And half of them just broke when he dropped them from so high! I had to send him to the timeout corner, but halfway through his ten minutes he sneaked off! And then he decided it would be a good idea to—”
“To take all the sand from the sandbox and dump it in the ball pit,” you finished for him, having heard this tale a million times.
Sun huffed angrily. “And from then on we weren’t allowed to have the sandbox anymore! The sandbox was my favorite! Oooh, other than the big slides. And the bridge. And the ball pit! The ball pit is my most favorite! ”
“I know, Sun,” you chuckled. You felt a rush of affection for him; the way he always rambled on enthusiastically about whatever topic came to mind was so endearing. You were well aware that some of the other employees at the Pizzaplex found his boundless energy obnoxious, but you just thought it was cute.
His rays spun around his head. “Oh, it’s so much fun! I missed jumping into the ball pit from my balcony every day to greet the children when the Daycare was being rebuilt!” He paused and shuddered, his rays retracting. “The fire melted all of it….”
You gently patted him on the shoulder and gave him a sympathetic look. “I know,” you said softly, “but now it’s brand new! And clean—you like clean, don’t you?”
He perked up immediately. “Oh, yes, yes, yes! Much more clean, much more clean. And now we have more colors!” he added, swiveling his head around to look at the ball pit adoringly. “Before the fire, we only had red and pink and blue and green balls, but now there’s every color in the rainbow! Isn’t that so much more fun? ”
“Definitely an improvement,” you said agreeably, nodding.
Sun trilled happily. “And the Daycare is better than ever now that you’re here every night!”
God fucking dammit, was the only coherent thought that your brain was able to produce. You felt your face heat up and you looked away, struggling to control the bashful smile tugging at your lips. “I’m glad I get to work here,” you chuckled.
“ Oh, so am I! ” he chirped. “Every night is so much more fun! And every day! I’m always looking forward to what comes next, because no matter the time, I always get to do my favorite things: watch over the children, and hang out with you! You’re my best friend, you know that?”
Your heart rate picked up significantly and you had to take in a sharp but silent breath to steady yourself. “I’m glad you’re happy, Sun.”
“And I really am! I’m programmed to be happy for the children, but of course when they all went home at the end of the day it was hard to be so happy when I was here all alone. But now we’re never lonely!”
A stab of pity pierced your heart. He’s so human, but they treat him like a machine because that’s what he looks like on the outside, you thought miserably. You didn’t understand how anyone could think that way after meeting them. When you first came to work at the Pizzaplex, your manager told you that you didn’t have to treat them so nicely since they were just robots. You had admittedly gotten a little defensive. Sure—they were robots, but they had thoughts and feelings and fears and passions just like real people. They deserved the same respect.
“Sunflower?” the robot in question prompted, poking you gently.
You jumped a little, startled out of your thoughts. “Sorry—I zoned out there, didn’t I?” you laughed apologetically.
“Oh, that’s okay!” he reassured you cheerfully. “That happens to me all the time! It’s so easy to get distracted, isn’t it?”
“For real,” you snorted. Especially when I’m with you or Moon and I constantly overthink literally everything all the time, you added privately.
“I try not to get distracted, since I need to watch over the children, but there are so many of them sometimes! Once, there were sixty-seven children in the Daycare at the same time! Oh, it was so chaotic—and there were these identical twins too, and I could only tell them apart by scanning their vital signs because one of them had arrhythmia, and their dad decided to send them in with matching clothes! You would think they were purposefully trying to confuse me! Of course, I got my facial recognition system upgraded after that to prevent similar incidents in the future. And that was all years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday, since all my memories are recorded and uploaded to the cloud where I can access them at any point in time, but that’s besides the point.”
You chuckled again, entertained by his tangent. “I bet that was a rough day, huh?” you asked.
“Mhm, and nobody patrolled the Daycare at night back then, so I didn’t have you to help me calm down after the fact. You never fail to make me feel better after rough days. You always know what to say, sunshine!”
You felt your cheeks flush again and you smiled shyly, ducking your head in embarrassment. “I’m just trying to be a good friend,” you said humbly.
“And you are a good friend!” Sun encouraged, looking down at you earnestly. “I’m so lucky to have you in my life.”
Please stop saying things like that or I’m going to explode, you panicked silently, more heat rushing to your face.
He tilted his head. “You’re looking red again,” he commented, studying you carefully. “Are you sure you aren’t sick?”
“I’m fine!” you said quickly, butterflies swarming in your stomach.
“If there’s anything wrong, just tell me, okay, sunflower?” He hugged you again and you couldn’t help but melt into his warm embrace.
“I will. I promise,” you told him, your voice a little more high-pitched than usual. “Don’t worry about me. I’m really okay.”
He nuzzled you a little before stepping away and perking back up. “I’m glad to hear it! Now, what should we do next? We could keep doing arts and crafts, or we could play a game, or we could tell stories, or just talk—whatever you want!” he said happily.
What you really wanted was for him to keep hugging you; he was just so sweet and gentle and warm and why were you romantically attracted to a childcare robot—
“(Y/N)?” he warbled.
You cringed. “Oof, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” you apologized frantically, “I got distracted again—”
“Oh, no, don’t apologize!” he exclaimed, seeming just as frenzied as you were, if not more. “There’s just so many things to think about all the time! And it’s really easy to get lost in thought!”
Why did it feel like the engineers programmed Sun to have the exact same mental disorders as you did? And why did they program a robot to have anxiety?
“So!” Sun said, straightening his posture and clapping his hands together. “What should we do now? Are you bored of arts and crafts yet? We could do something else, like watch a movie, or play a game, or whatever you want! We could also do a puzzle, but we have to make sure that we clean up afterwards, okay?”
You shrugged. “I don’t really care what we do,” you said, and you honestly meant it. Being with Sun was enough to make you happy. This job was… honestly a joke. You supposed that the night guards who patrolled the other areas of the Pizzaplex didn’t have nearly as much fun as you did—and you also probably weren’t really supposed to hang out with the animatronics the entire time instead of patrolling. But so far there had been no break-ins, so nobody really needed to know that you were potentially slacking off, right? I also guess that a lot of adults would be put off by Sun’s energy, you thought.
“Oh, well if you really don’t care, how about we… play hide and seek?” he suggested, perking up with excitement.
“Alright,” you chuckled. “Do you want to hide first?”
“You hide first, and then I’ll come find you. I’ll give you… thirty seconds, does that sound okay? Okay! Thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight—”
You squeaked in surprise as he started counting down without warning, covering his eyes with his hands, and you dashed off towards one of the play structures. You came to a stop in front of one, and the glanced back at your rival.
“…Twenty-two; twenty-one, twenty….”
You glanced over at the ball pit, and even though it was probably a horrible idea that would make way too much noise and allow him to find you immediately, you silently darted over to the edge and slowly lowered yourself into it. You were pretty sure that the cheerful music echoing through the Daycare was enough to cover up any sounds you were making.
“…Fourteen, thirteen….”
Struggling to hold back a giggle, you burrowed yourself underneath the plastic balls as quietly as you could and curled up in the corner.
“…Four, three, two, and one! Ready or not, hear I come!” Sun called out loudly.
You hold your breath, still fighting back laughter as you faintly heard him prancing around the Daycare, going from one area to the next and trying to find you.
“Oh, cloudlet!” he called in a sing-song voice (and once again the stupid nickname made your soul leave your body). “Where are you? Could you be…” he paused, and then exclaimed, “here?” A sigh of mild frustration sounded from above as he inspected whatever hiding place he was currently at.
Another burst of laughter threatened to rise out of your chest and you had to cover your mouth with your hands to keep from making any noise.
“What about… here?” A pause. “…Nope.”
I’m going to fucking die, you thought with a snort before stiffening as you heard Sun’s footsteps stop.
“Sunshine?” he trilled.
The urge to shriek incoherently was strong.
You squeaked in surprise as two large hands hooked themselves under arms and you were suddenly hoisted out of the ball pit.
“Found you!” Sun exclaimed cheerfully, lifting you up in the air and spinning you around as if you weighed nothing.
Giggling uncontrollably, you tried to squirm away. “Put me down!”
He didn’t, but he stopped spinning and hugged you to his chest, whirring happily.
Your heart jumped in your chest but you forced yourself to relax and hug him back as calmly as possible, hoping he wouldn’t be able to detect your concerningly fast pulse. You hesitated and then let yourself fully lean into him, resting your head on his shoulder and enjoying his warmth. The hug didn’t mean anything. You knew that. Sun hugged everybody all the time. But for a moment you tempted the fantasy of your ridiculous feelings being mutual.
After a minute or so Sun jolted and put you down, looking flustered despite not having any functioning facial features. “Uhm—sorry, sunflower! That—that was too long!”
Too short, you thought, but you quickly shook your head to clear it before you said something stupid. “Oh, n-no, it’s okay!” you tried to reassure him, cringing when you heard the tremble in your voice. These robots had no idea what they were doing to you.
He remained silent for a moment, but his fingers twitched in an agitated manner that made you think he must be arguing with Moon. He snapped out of it a few seconds later. “Sorry about that!” he chirped. “Moon’s just being a little crazy right now!”
“What’s he doing?” you asked curiously as your suspicions were confirmed, thankful for the distraction from the awkward moment.
Sun’s rays retracted a bit—something he did when he was nervous—but he waved his hand dismissively. “Oh, d-don’t worry about him! You know how he is sometimes!”
“Alright, then,” you said, self-consciously brushing invisible dust off of your shirt.
He was quiet again, but from his body language you could tell he was communicating with his counterpart once again. You felt a little awkward sitting there, unable to listen in on whatever conversation they were having, but you secretly thought it was kind of cute how Sun would tilt his head back and forth as if talking to somebody else who was right in front of him.
You were about to say something when the sound of the generators powering down alerted the two of you a split second before the lights turned off in the Daycare.
“See you in an hour, Sun,” you said, giving him a little wave.
Oddly, he seemed suddenly uneasy about undergoing the transformation, but he didn’t resist it. It was unnerving, however, that you didn’t get the friendly goodbye that you always did when the time came for Moon to come out.
What had Moon said to him?
The rays on their head retracted and their paint changed colors, as well as their pants. You could get past the paint—maybe it changed colors because it was temperature-sensitive or something. But you had never understood how their clothes transformed from Sun’s brightly striped pants to Moon’s purple star-speckled ones.
Moon’s glowing eyes flared to life, shining blue in the low light. As he came to, his eye color flickered to a reddish orange, signaling annoyance.
You studied his expression, a bit concerned. “Are you alright—?”
“Sun can be quite dense sometimes, can’t he?” the animatronic interrupted, a hint of amusement emerging through his exasperated tone.
You immediately felt the urge to stick up for him. “He is not dense—”
“Ah-ah-ah,” Moon cut you off, leaning down to your eye level in a quick, fluid motion. “Don’t defend him like that. It just makes him more stupid.”
Flinching away at his close proximity, you forced yourself to reply, trying to keep an even tone, “I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”
He gave a quiet, raspy chuckle. You would be lying if you said you didn’t like the way his voice sounded. But you would be caught dead before you ever admitted that. “You really don’t understand, do you, little firefly?”
Your stomach flipped when he used one of his many nicknames for you. You chided yourself internally. It was always the fucking nicknames that got you. “No, I don’t,” you replied, your mouth feeling dry.
“Hmmm. That won’t do.” He paused, as if listening to something, and then chuckled. “Sun is yelling at me right now,” he purred, as if he found this to be the most amusing thing in the world. “He doesn’t want you to know…. ” He dragged out the last word in a teasing, singsong voice. His eyes began glowing yellow—the color indicated that he was amused.
“Well, I haven’t got a single clue as to what the hell you’re getting at, if that makes him feel better.”
Moon cocked his head to the side, his eyes glinting and briefly flashing red in the darkness. “Language, starlight,” he crooned, mirth edging his voice as he scolded you. “You know that you’re not supposed to say words like that in the Daycare.”
Holy shit, those stupid nicknames were going to be the death of you.
“There aren’t any children around,” you pointed out, puffing out your chest indignantly. You had to put a considerable amount of effort into keeping your voice steady. “I can say whatever I want.”
He gave a husky laugh. “ Now Sun is yelling at you, ” he taunted playfully.
“I won’t apologize for exercising my right to free speech,” you said stubbornly.
Moon trilled quietly, leaning uncomfortably close. “Citing the United States Constitution, are we?” He hummed. “How… patriotic of you.”
You stumbled a little as you instinctively took a step back to put some distance between yourself and the seven-foot-tall robot that was looking over you. You prayed to whatever higher power might be up there that it would be too dark for him to see the way your face had suddenly flushed.
He snickered, his voice low and soft and what the fuck did you ever mention that you really liked his voice? “Backing away now, hmm? Why’s that, starlight? Are you afraid? ”
“I’m not afraid,” you scoffed, trying to gather your composure so you didn’t make an ass out of yourself. “It’s just that you have zero concept of personal space!”
He tilted his head, giving you a curious look. “Not scared, huh? Then tell me, stardust,” he said slowly, leaning forward again. “Why… is your heart rate… standing at one hundred and fifty-two beats per minute…?”
You stared at him; completely lost for words. You silently cursed the engineers for programming the Daycare Attendants with the ability to detect vital signs. Yeah, theoretically it would prevent some overactive child from having a stroke, but right now it was incredibly inconvenient for you personally.
“You’re quite the conversationalist today,” he chuckled as you remained quiet.
I hate this. I hate this. I hate this. I hate—
“Of course,” Moon continued, his hushed voice still criminally smooth (almost as smooth as your own stupid idiot lovesick brain), “the children used to be afraid of me, before that pesky virus left my system.”
You suppressed a sigh, wishing he would actually elaborate on this virus thing for once. Sun refused to talk about it, and Moon would only ever drop vague hints that left you with more questions than answers.
“Elevated heart rate is a sigh of fear,” he went on matter-of-factly. “And it’s quite understandable to be scared of me.”
Relief swept over you and you relaxed in an instant. Oh thank fuck, he just thinks I’m afraid of creepy robots—
“ But… ”
You wanted to die.
“…I can’t help but notice,” he purred, speaking agonizingly slowly as if purposely trying to drag this out and make you suffer, “that your heart races… whenever you’re with Sun, as well….”
“Animatronics freak me out,” you blurted, grasping for an excuse.
Moon tipped his head to the side, and even though his face never moved, you swore he was smirking at you. “Automatonophobia?” he questioned.
“Uh—yeah, sure,” you said quickly. You wanted this conversation to be over immediately.
An amused laugh rumbled from his voicebox. “But if that’s the case… how come you’re not scared of the Glamrocks?” he asked. “Your heart never races when you see Freddy, or Chica, or Roxanne, or Monty….”
You opened your mouth but didn’t say anything as you struggled to think of a good argument.
“We are specifically designed to read human emotion,” Moon said softly, slowly drumming his fingers on the table and fixing you with a look that made all of your internal organs flip over. “It’s quite useful while caring for the children, you know.”
You nodded stiffly, praying that he was about to go on a narcissistic tangent about the genius of his design.pm
“But… we can read you as well.” He paused, and you got the sickening feeling that he was trying to keep you on edge. “And,” he continued, “we’ve picked up on some unusual feelings in regards to us. ” He chuckled raspily as you remained silent, too mortified to reply. “Sun is yelling at me again. He doesn’t want you to know that we know. ”
“I….” You felt as if giant claws were squeezing your chest, making it difficult for you to breathe. “It’s… not like that…” you whispered, your voice wavering.
Moon leaned closer to you again, his eyes seeming to stare into your soul. “Whatever do you mean by that, little firefly?” he trilled innocently.
Your circulatory system completely crashed as he used the nickname.
“There it is again,” he purred. “Your heart is absolutely racing. ”
Cringing, you helplessly tried to will your heart rate to slow down, but if anything, all you achieved was an even higher bpm. “It’s not like that!” you protested again.
“You’re a bad liar, starlight.” He chuckled softly, his eyes glowing a bit brighter. “I am… well aware of what you think of Sun and I.”
I thought I did a good enough job of hiding it, you thought miserably, still avoiding his luminous gaze.
“Why so shy, hm?” Moon teased, slinking a little closer to you.
“Moon…” you mumbled quietly, avoiding his eyes. You took in a breath. “I don’t want to talk about this. Can—can we just… pretend it never happened…? Please….” You had never felt more humiliated in your life.
To your surprise, his piercing gaze softened and his glowing eyes flickered, yellow winking into a gentle blue. “Pretend it never happened…?” he echoed. “Why would we want to do that…?”
“I… b-because it sucks,” you choked out shakily, frustration and shame clawing at your throat. “It’s stupid, a-and I’m not supposed to feel like this, and I hate it—” you broke off, trembling.
He gazed at you, studying your expression and body language like he always did. “You hate it…?” he asked. His voice was soft and void of the precious teasing. “Why do you hate it?”
Because you and Sun would never feel the same way about me. You weren’t going to speak that thought out loud. “Moon… you’re robots, ” you pointed out weakly. “You can’t….”
“Oh no!” The teasing glint returned to his glowing eyes, and their color switched back to yellow. “Have you been corrupted by the higher-ups who keep telling everybody that animatronics don’t have feelings?” He laughed quietly and started hopping from one foot to the other. “I thought you were better than that, stardust! But I suppose,” he continued humorously, “nobody is immune to propaganda….”
“Moon, this isn’t funny, I’m not—I’m not joking,” you croaked. “Can we please just forget that we had this conversation?”
He stopped his oddly agile movements and cocked his head. “Is that really what you want…?” he asked.
No. But what I really want can’t happen. You were silent.
It was almost as if he had read your thoughts. “I didn’t think so,” he said, sounding smug. He leaned closer, his eyes flashing purple; even with how distressed you were by the situation, you briefly realized that you’d never seen that color before. His voice grew even softer as he spoke again, “I know what you want, firefly….”
For a moment you were fucking horrified, thinking that he was going to say something unspeakable, especially by Superstar Daycare standards.
“…What if I told you,” Moon started softly, “that we wanted the same thing…?” He leaned in and nuzzled against you.
You froze as he stooped down to your level and gently rubbed his cheek against yours, almost like a cat would rub up against one’s leg. You had no words.
“…Is this okay, starlight…?” the animatronic questioned softly, going still.
“I… y-yeah,” you managed after a few heartbeats, your chest fluttering.
He let out a quiet little trill and nuzzled you again, sounding quite happy. “Good,” he murmured gently. You could hear the smile in his voice.
Disbelief was the second thing that flashed through your brain after you briefly got over the surprise, and you swallowed. You didn’t know what to say. Is he serious? Or is this some kind of joke? And what about Sun—?
“You’re so soft,” Moon warbled, his tone taking on an uncharacteristic sweetness.
You jerked away, staring up at him with undisguised shock. “M-Moon,” you stammered weakly, “are you joking—? I don’t—I don’t understand—”
“What don’t you understand about it?” he asked softly, his eyes flickering to a warm shade of light pink—another color you had never seen from him before.
“I….” You had no idea how to reply.
He chuckled faintly. “That’s okay. You don’t have to say anything. You’re an open book….”
You didn’t know whether to feel sick or ecstatic. You hesitated. “But… it’s not… I’m not supposed to….”
“You’re not supposed to what? ” Moon teased, pulling away to look you in the eye. He cocked his head. “Have feelings?”
“Not for animatronics,” you blurted without thinking.
He laughed again. “But why not?”
“It’s not—it’s not normal,” you stammered.
“ Normal is boring, ” he mused. “We don’t like you because you’re normal. We like you because you’re unique. You’re a wonderful person, stardust.”
Your heart skipped a beat. “…You… like me…?” you asked.
He snorted. “Do I need to make it even more obvious? I swear, you’re just as oblivious as Sun sometimes,” he giggled.
“Sun—” you started, panicking, “—what would he think—?”
He stooped down and butted his head against your shoulder in a nuzzle. “What do you think he would think…?”
“I’m not sure,” you mumbled. You cringed. “…I kind of don’t want him to know. Which—which would be fucked up, because—”
“Language,” he interrupted, standing back up to his full height and looming over you in a somewhat menacing way, his eyes briefly flashing red. He laughed and backed off after a moment. “Protocol dictates that I should send you to the timeout corner… but I’m too biased to enforce the rules against you.” He tilted his head. “Continue. Why would it be… messed up? ”
You sighed. “You guys… literally share a body,” you mumbled, struggling to put your thoughts into words. “He’s entitled to know. And he wouldn’t like it if he didn’t, uhm, feel the same way, so, like….”
“Stardust,” Moon chuckled, “did you not hear the part where I said that both of us like you?”
“Oh. Right.” You felt a little stupid now. But you’d honestly felt pretty stupid twenty-four seven ever since you realized that you had romantic feelings for robots. So it didn’t make much of a difference.
He laughed. “I’ve had to listen to him rambling about you for months on end, you know….” He paused for a moment, as if listening to something. “He’s yelling at me right now for telling you. You wanna hear what else he thinks? I can tell you every thought that goes through his mind. It’s one of the perks of sharing a headspace!”
“Uh—no, you don’t need to invade his privacy like that,” you said, even though you were secretly very curious.
“That’s the point,” he replied. “He’d be mortified if I shared all his secrets, but it would be entertaining for me. ”
“If you did that, I’m sure he’d do the exact same thing and tell me every thought you think,” you pointed out, giggling.
Moon froze, looking horrified for a moment. “Yeah. Okay. True. That would be… yikes.”
“Oh, do you have something to hide?” you taunted.
He made a strangled glitching sound but quickly recovered. “And you don’t?” he countered. He leaned in close again. “ I can think of something you’ve been hiding for months. Do you have any idea of what that might be?”
You cringed. “I—okay. Point taken,” you mumbled, flustered.
“You can’t criticize me. You’re a freak.”
You glared at him playfully. “Uhm, no way. You’re the freak here. You’re a sentient astronomy-themed robot.”
“Yeah, the sentient astronomy-themed robot that you have a gigantic crush on.”
Fuck. You stared at him, your vocal chords ceasing to function.
“I’m not wrong…” he hummed teasingly.
You elbowed him. “Shut up,” you snapped, but you were unable to stop yourself from laughing.
Moon pulled you into a gentle hug, holding you close to him. You were surprised by the sudden show of affection but not at all disappointed, if a bit embarrassed . He nuzzled his cheek against yours and then pulled away, looking down at you adoringly with bright pink glowing eyes. “You’re so cute when you’re flustered like this…” he murmured raspily. “Your face is so red….”
“I—” You couldn’t create a coherent sentence.
He chuckled as you internally freaked out and then moved closer before softly pressing his faceplate against your cheek. He didn’t have functioning lips, his expression frozen in a permanent smile, but the meaning was not lost on you.
You stared at him when he leaned back, your heart trying to beat its way out of your chest. He cocked his head in a borderline provocative manner, waiting for you to respond. You hesitated and then stood on your toes, placing a hand on his cheek and gently guiding his face towards yours so you could properly reach. You gave him a shy kiss on his cheek, barely able to believe that this was happening.
Moon purred, like a cat, and nuzzled you again, his voicebox rumbling with delight. “…You’re so sweet, stardust…” he murmured contentedly. “You’re adorable….”
“No you,” you said without thinking before cringing at yourself.
He chuckled, and you honestly half expected him to pull out an Uno Reverse Card. “…So you think I’m cute?” he asked.
“Shut up—”
“I didn’t hear a no…” he teased, still purring loudly.
You pushed him away halfheartedly, avoiding his glowing gaze. “You’re the worst.”
“That’s the most wonderful compliment anybody’s ever given me. Thank you, (Y/N).”
“Fuck you.”
“ Language. ”