Chapter Text
The large automatic doors of Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex slide to life and you are immediately assaulted by the greasy smell of stale pizza. Sticky children run past in a whirlwind of color as they speed toward what you assume is the main atrium. Surprisingly, you’ve never actually been here. Sure, as a kid your friends would go on and on and on about, ‘Did you see Freddy’s performance on saturday?!’ and ‘Did you hear Monty after the show? Sounded like a stampede in his room!’. Honestly, you couldn’t have cared less. I mean, you were happy that your friends were happy, of course, who wouldn’t be? But you were more than content to stay home with your books instead of heading into the boisterous ‘Mega Pizzaplex’, whatever that was .
Right now, however, you were mostly unprepared for the scene that awaited you inside and, slightly cursing your younger self under your breath for not having the courage to venture into a place like this, you step inside. The doors slide shut behind you and you jump at the loud intrusion of sound. Laughing, crying, and was that screaming?? could be heard from further in. Slowly wandering, you make your way to the ticket booth on the right. Waiting your turn in the line, because of course you have to make it as awkward as possible, you finally make your way to the front.
“Hi, one ticket?”
“Um..no actually, sorry, um…” You didn’t quite know how to word it. “This is my first day, um…I work here.”
The woman behind the desk looks at you a bit strangely. “You…waited in the line to tell me you worked here?”
“No! Well, I guess I…uh, yes. Yes I did.” She looks at you again, with the same expression. Great, now she thinks I’m a massive idiot . “I mean…” you take a deep breath, trying to backtrack, “I- um…I don’t quite know where to go. I’ve never… uh, been here before.”
This time she looks a little bit more sympathetic. Emphasis on the ‘little bit’ part, you note. “Alright, hun, what department did you get hired for?”
“The um, the daycare?” Honestly, you didn’t even know there was a daycare until you applied. You just needed a job really really badly. So it was a little surprising when you got hired as a daycare assistant. Without so much as an interview. You would think that they would need to carefully pick someone out if you were supposed to be working with children: making sure you aren't dangerous, maybe? A child murderer, perhaps? The company seemed to have issues with that in the past. Surprised as you were, you weren't about to look this gift horse in the mouth.
“The daycare is up the stairs right by the elevators to the atrium, and take a right. You can’t miss it.” So those do go to the atrium. You file that information into your brain for further use later. “Did someone give you an employee pass?”
“No, not yet.” An employee pass? They hadn’t told you that you needed one of those on the phone. Ah, well. Probably just a bit of negligence on the part of whoever hired you.
The woman pulled out a small keycard and swiped it on the card reader by her computer. “I’ll just need a bit of information from you and you’re all set to head on in.” She asks for your name, home address, and whatever other information she deems pertinent.
"Alright, here you go!” She cheerily hands you the card and you drop it in your bag. “You’re all set to make your way to the daycare. The attendant there should explain how everything works.” She smiles at you and you thank her and turn to leave. Glancing at the decorations as you walk, you can’t help but notice the level of detail that goes into a place like this. If it was huge out in the lobby, you wondered how big the atrium would be. You could explore some other day; right now, you had a shift to get to.
You found the big doors that said ‘SUPERSTAR DAYCARE PICK-UP” in big colorful letters. This must be it, you certainly didn’t see any staff entrance around here. You’d have to ask this ‘daycare attendant’ when you got in. You pulled open one of the doors and … this still didn’t really look like a daycare to you. A large elaborate fountain stood to your left and to your right, a large mural pointing the way to the daycare. Following the arrow, you spotted other murals around featuring a sun themed character and a moon themed counterpart. You found yourself in yet another large room with a huge golden statue sat in the middle of the same solar themed characters. Various memorabilia surrounded the room from shirts with the daycare logo, to plush toys of the sun and moon. You knew there were a ton of different animatronic characters at the pizzaplex, even if you hadn’t met them, so assuming these ones were a part of the daycare seemed like a good assumption to make. Wandering around a bit more, you eventually made your way to a stairway and at the bottom, a couple of large wooden doors. This must be it . You brace yourself and push open the doors.
A barrage of overwhelming sights, smells, and sounds wash over your senses. The daycare is disgustingly bright with a rainbow of colors pouring in from every direction. Small children run through the giant play structures surrounding the inside. A couple more sit quietly at a small table to the left doing … some sort of arts and crafts activity. Looks like macaroni art. You jump as a loud voice pulls you out of observation mode.
“Rule breakers!! Please stop running, it’s against the rules!!! Stopstopstopstop!!”
That must be the daycare attendant! They sound a bit stressed. I should go help out. You look around for the source of the voice and start to follow it through the daycare. Forward, to the left, now up? Little farther…
“AHHH, LOOK OUT!!”
Something slams hard into your body and you fall forward with a thump. A mangled nest of limbs, you groan into the brightly colored carpeting that was now tickling your face.
“I’m so so SOSOSOSO SORRY!!!” Someone lifted you back up off the ground by your armpits and dropped you unceremoniously back on your feet. “Are you okay?? I hope I didn’t hurt you, friend!!!”
You dusted yourself off and looked up at the very very very tall pers- uh…animatronic sun?
“Uhhh…” You stated smartly.
“Oh no!! Did I break you??? Please say I didn’t!! Pleasepleaseplease say you’re okay!! ohgoshohgosh OHGOSH -”
“I’m okay! I-I’m okay. Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting you to be … a robot?” Was that the right term? Is animatronic a better term? Oh no, it’s quiet, is it mad? Can it get mad, does it have emotions? Does it- he? They? Thoughts swirled in your head within seconds of meeting this new individual and you had no idea how to handle it.
Oh! Ohohoh!! I’m so glad you’re not hurt, new friend!” It looks you over for a second, before speaking up again. “I haven’t seen you before, are you here for a pickup or a dropoff? I don’t see any little friends with you and it’s a bit too early to pickup…?”
“Oh! Oh, no no, I’m not here for that,” you waved off his question easily. “Actually, I’m the new daycare assistant. It’s nice to meet you,” you say, standing up a bit straighter and holding your hand out proudly.
He looks to you, then your hand, then back to you. Back to your hand. That grin is starting to get a little unnerving. “…Oh? Ohohoh!! They hired me a helping hand for the daycare? Oh, what wonderful news! It does get a bit hectic in here sometimes! My name is Sun! Or Sunny! Or Sundrop or SunriseorSunnydropor-“
“I’ll just… call you Sun,” you said, effectively cutting him off. Sun just smiled at you. Not that he could do any different. “The person over the phone who hired me mentioned a ‘daycare attendant’ but I guess I assumed they would be…a human?” Was that rude? “Sorry, what I meant was-”
“Oh, no worries! I completely understand, friend! Must’ve been a shock when you saw me then! No worries, no worries at all! Here, let me show you around!”
A large yellow hand pulls you out of your thoughts and starts to drag you all around the daycare. Tripping over your feet, you rush to keep up with the energetic bot and find yourself standing by the craft table while Sun wrangles up the children.
“Alright my little sunflowers, we have a new friend that’s going to be helping out here!” He spoke in a loud singsong voice and wrapped his arms around your shoulders. “Say hello to Mx. ______!”
Children gather around the two of you and shout a loud ‘hello’ in unison. You smile and greet them, introducing yourself. “I’m so happy to be here and get to know each and every one of you!” Some children giggle and wave at you, while others, seemingly uninterested ones, start to wander off with their friends.
Sun turns back to you and grabs your hand once more. “If you’ll follow me over here, we can get you clocked in and ready to start!”
—_—_—_—_—_—_—
The first half of your day went easier than any other first day you’ve had. Sun, with her exuberant personality and childlike charm, made it exceedingly easy to get an understanding of the daycares inner workings, although you often had to stop and refocus her attention on the situation at hand. You hadn’t quite realized how deep the animatronic AI went and working with one up close, even for just a couple hours, you could really see how similar Sun’s personality was to a real human. She even gave you her pronouns, finding that she uses any/all. In certain instances, you could see how this could unnerve some people, and seeing how easy it was to obtain this job, you figured that most previous employees in your position had left feeling shaken at the thought that an animatronic could have similar feelings to a human. You’ve always had an interest in AI and a slight enthusiasm for programming, (and by that, you’d taken a class or two in college, nothing major) and you were excited to get to work alongside what was often praised as some of the most advanced tech in the world. Although, now that you thought a bit more on it, you weren’t sure if you were as keen as you were when starting to call the animatronics “tech”.
Your watch beeped, letting you know that break time was up and forcing you out of your thoughts. Getting up, you quickly tossed your garbage and excitedly left the break room. When you walked back into the daycare, Sun seemed pretty busy entertaining some kiddos with a spaghetti strainer on its head. Giggling quietly, you clocked back in and wandered over to where they were. He turns to look at you as you arrive.
“Friend, you’re back! How was your break? I missed you, did you miss me? didja? didja didja ????”
“Sun! I was only gone for half an hour,” you tease. Sun’s rays and faceplate spin quickly, dropping the spaghetti strainer from its head and landing on the carpet with a slight clang! Sun clasps his hands together and remarks about the time.
“Okay little friends, it’s two o’clock and you know what that means!” Some children groan while others start racing towards a darkened room in the back, exclaiming about naptime.
Naptime, huh?
You hadn’t noticed the dark room earlier but it made sense, since sleeping under those harsh fluorescent lights can’t be easy. You swoop down, sweeping the strainer from off the floor and placing it in the bin by the kitchen playset. Sun beckons you over and opens a closet that sits by the nap room.
“Here, friend! Help me grab some blankets and pillows for our little sunflowers!”
You nod and grab a stack of them, exiting back into the nap room. Children swarm around you like locusts each reaching for a pillow and a blanket. Sun enters, their arms full of pillows and blankets and- wait. That’s not Sun. You gape at the new animatronic as he does his part in handing out pillows and blankets, a chorus of ‘thank you’s’ ringing out. He turns to you when he’s done.
“Hello, little star. My name is Moon. Pleasure to meet you.” He leans down and scoops your hand into his, bringing it to his faceplate and making a mock kissing noise. Ooooooh’s from the children ring into your ears and you blush, guiding your hand back down to your side.
“Uh… nice to meet you, Moon.” Well, that explains the moon counterpart you’ve seen. “Where, um… where did Sun go?”
“They’ll be back when naptime ends, don’t worry about them,” Moon states cryptically, its smile almost mischievous. Wondering what he meant by that, Moon moves on and turns to the children. “What story shall we read tonight? Snow White? Rapunzel? Maybe The Princess and the Frog?”
Thirty or so small voices ring out in the darkness, shouting different story titles. A loud voice picks up from one child. “Mr. Moon, you said I could pick the story today, remember?”
“Oh, of course Anthony, how could I have forgotten! Which story would you like to hear?”
“ … I’d like The Princess and the Frog, please,” Anthony answers back. Some shouts of joy as well as groans of disappointment could be heard from the kids at his decision.
Moon tuts at the groaning children. “Now, now, don’t be like that. The Princess and the Frog is a great choice.” Watching as the kids get settled under their blankets, Moon pulls a book from the shelf and drops cross legged onto the carpet below. A music box starts playing from somewhere and Moon begins to read as you sit down next to him. Moon’s deep, soothing voice coils around your eardrums nicely.
As the minutes pass, you notice children starting to fall asleep, and, to your horror, you also find your own eyelids growing heavy. Shaking your head awake, you glance over at Moon who had since stopped reading, noticed the sleepy children dozing off. It glances at you, and you blush.
“I’m sorry,” you whisper. “I didn’t mean to nod off!”
Moon stares at you. That unending grin is unnerving. He starts to giggle quietly at you. “There’s no problem, little star. Sleep is good for you.”
“Yes, but not during work hours,” you tease back.
Smiling and softly chatting, you and Moon watch the children until nap time ends. A soft chime comes from Moon’s chest cavity. “The alarm that tells us nap time is over,” he explains at your confused expression. You nod and head over to where the children are peacefully sleeping, feeling a little bad as you and Moon start to quietly shake them awake. You help Moon and the children take their pillows and blankets back out to the supply closet.
Most of the children seem to be wide awake by now and start to run back out to the main area.
“No running, please! We don’t want anyone to fall and get hurt, do we?” Moon shouts after them. You quickly follow the hyper children, making sure none have fallen on the way. A loud voice rings out from behind you.
“Hello, children! Who wants to play tag?”
Sun juts out from behind you following a chorus of children exclaiming their joy. Bewildered, you turn to Sun. “Where on Earth did you come from? Wasn’t Moon just behind me?”
Sun pauses and starts to giggle. “Oh, he didn’t tell you? He only comes out at night! Or, to be more specific, he only comes out in the dark.” Your perplexed expression becomes one of astonishment.
“Oh! So you’re out when the lights are on and they’re out when the lights are off!” Of course, you mentally curse yourself for not understanding earlier, it’s so obvious.
Sun turns back to her many charges and leads them into a game of tag, dragging you along to play too.
—_—_—_—_—_—_—
The day went quickly and you learned a lot from both Sun and Moon on how the daycare is usually run. You spent the final two hours at the security desk checking out kids when their parents came to pick them up. When you finished, you thanked Sun, and told him to thank Moon as well, for helping you so thoroughly on your first day. Sun exclaimed about how it was no problem and that it was so excited for a new helper in the daycare. You smiled and helped it clean up the scattered toys and wipe down the tables, making sure everything was as spotless as possible. When you finished, you waved and said your goodbyes to Sun, who seemed almost sad to see you go. It made you promise to come back tomorrow and you agreed eagerly.
You had a relaxing ride home and went to bed with the hope that tomorrow would come quickly.