Work Text:
You love clouds. You can’t see them from the daycare. It’s a given fact that you noticed on your first day. A small thing you tucked away in favor of following through on your responsibilities as a fellow daycare attendant.
However, as time passes on, the reminder comes back to the forefront of your mind. Especially as you grow closer to Sun and Moon. You wonder what it’d be like to share a piece of yourself with them in that manner.
Granted! The sky and clouds are meant for everyone! If they were to see both one day, you’d want it to be for themselves first and foremost. Still, it brings warmth in your heart at the thought of sharing that view with them.
All of which leads to several attempts at getting them to bend the rules to see it for their own sakes.
The first attempt should’ve been a given that it wouldn’t work, trial and error and all that. However, you are optimistic in the face of stubbornness, especially when it comes in the form of Moon.
“No.” He replies flatly at your suggestion.
“Okay, I figured you’d say that-“ You start off with your hands placed together in a placating manner.
“Which is why we’d only be six feet away from the opening as opposed to standing in the debris of construction.” You spread them out jazz style, shaky little movements and everything.
The opening in question was a single ceiling panel. Said debris was actually a few leftover supplies from patching the roof beyond. It was angled in a way that gave a small yet clear view of the sky.
The tarp placed over it flapped gently with the nighttime air. Teasing the sight of a cloudy evening with stars scattered in the mix. It’d be a perfect start.
He all but hums with suppressed mirth in his eyes, “I think you are forgetting one part that has yet to be mentioned…”
He tilts from where he’s suspended on his wire, close to you but far enough where you can’t flick him for his vague response. You place your arms together while lifting an eyebrow, gesturing him to continue.
His smile turns sharper as his pupils focus on you, “you said we, last time I checked, you do not have a wire of which you can use.“
He mimics your jazz hands from earlier, “plan failed.”
Before you can even think of a retort to that, he zips upwards and out of view, the sound of a bell ringing alongside soft laughter. Leaving you alone with playfully rolled eyes and a resolve to make the next step a better one.
The second attempt seemed simple enough. This time it would involve Sun. With about an hour left before the daycare closed for the day, you idly wonder what you could convince him with.
It’s as your eyes land on today's drawing session with the children, and the two kids left in both of your care, that a plan begins to hatch within your mind.
Isabella and Dominic. Twin toddlers. With a fondness for doodling the twin animatronics and their astrological counter parts. You call them over towards the security desk and whisper “inconspicuously” with one another when Sun makes his way towards you lot.
“Well, well well! What have we here? Two wayward kiddos and a fellow friend abandoning and leaving me to my lonesome!?” He emphasizes his point by dramatically placing a hand over where his “heart” would be while laying the other across the sun rays atop his head.
The children rush over to him in a fit of ‘no’s!’ and giggles. Sun lifts each one onto the crook of his joints, spinning them around for their dastardly crimes.
He stops just as suddenly and turns toward you again, “and don’t think you’re off the hook ether!” He declares alongside your name.
You give him a heart hand gesture in response to that. Which causes him to stumble (“stumble,” as if he would do so with two kids on him) and gasp dramatically before swiftly falling to the ground.
You laugh at that as your gaze slides back to the twins. They stare back at you from the play mats expectantly, awaiting your signal. You give them the awaited wink in response.
“Mr. Sun!” Begins Isabella, “Do you love the color of the sky?”
Okay, to be fair, you had to slip in a Tumblr meme. It was too perfect of an opportunity. While it didn’t directly correlate with clouds, the sky was the next best thing. Not to mention funny to at least you.
Best believe you’d scroll past that post quickly like no tomo rrow if it ever came across your dash again though. Granted, read mores are a thing now but would that even apply to an old post as old as tha-
“Hmm! I don’t know! I think it’d depend on… which one.”
You were in the process of taking a sip of water when he gave that reply, breaking you out of your thought process, leading you to choke and cough at his response.
You thought Moon was joking about the lack of internet restrictions they had. Clearly, the growth of AI never ceases to amaze you. The amount of loopholes that could entail alone.
Wait, does that mean they have a Tumblr account? Does that mean they’ve seen your Tumblr account? Does that mean they know about sans undertale-
A pointed cough is thrown your direction, and your attention is redirected to the scene in front of you again. Sun cheerfully looks back, no doubt to hide the amusement of catching you off guard.
There goes your tie breaker, you’ll have to update the streak on your memo pad once you have the chance.
Isabella nods in agreement of his answer when Dominic pipes up, “how do you feel about clouds?”
“Let me think, let me think…” He purposely taps against his faceplate while squinting at the ceiling, Isabella giggling at being jostled in the process.
“I like clouds! I like the designs you kiddos make of them. I like how they remind me of a certain special somebody.”
His eyes glance back at you at that last sentence, sending a flush of warmth across your face. The cloud themed book bag, pins across your collar, and ones you painted on your work apron stare back at you. Guilty as charged.
You hear the creak of the daycare’s doors open as the children’s parents come into view. Dominic is the first to wiggle out of Sun’s arms and dash towards them, Isabella following quickly after.
With polite pleasantries and goodbyes done, they go as soon as they came. Once again leaving you and Sun alone for the day. You move towards the play tables to finish cleaning out leftover glitter glue when he steps in front of your view.
“Are you trying to warm me up to the idea of sneaking off with you to go cloud watching?” He stage whispers this while leaning down close to you.
“Depends, is it working?” Hands clasped together, sweetly blinking back up at him. You are nothing if not unabashed in the pursuit of your goals.
He softly bops you on the nose for that. Fair. You’re known to be a playful menace when you want to be. Before he can pull away, you grasp his hand in yours, eyes noting the surprise coloring his features when you do so.
You refocus your gaze on his hands, “I think of you as special too. The both of you. I think of my love for the clouds and how fitting the sun and moon would eclipse that.” You hear a stutter come from his voice box before pressing forward.
“I think of how much of the world I’ve seen and how much you know of it without being in it. I recognize how that could be a touchy subject within and of itself.”
You feel his other hand hold the side of your face, causing you to stutter before continuing to voice your tangent of internal dialogue that’s been building up for the course of months.
“I want to be respectful of boundaries and when the both of you tell me no. With that being said, I want to encourage you both to say yes more often. Even when it’s not approved in the eyes of another.”
You turn your eyes upward to meet his. His face expression is carefully neutral, but his eyes look almost dazed as they meet yours. You move a hand to hold onto the one he’s holding you with, the other is still interlinked with yours.
“With that being said… Yes, this is my way of trying to warm you up to the idea of sneaking off with me to go cloud watching.” Your mouth turning into a quirked grin as you finish speaking.
Like a spell being unbroken, Sun straightens back up away from you. Letting go of the hand that held your face and the other one that was intertwined with yours in the process.
He quickly returns to his usual state, “well! What lovely words you’ve shared with me today. If I were human, I’m sure I’d have tooth rotting cavities from how sweet you’re being!”
He moves to head towards the play tables as you had done before, when he stops mid walk. His foot landing gently on the padded floor. Tilting his head back slightly, he regards you from the corner of his eye.
“Thank you for your sincerity… we’ll consider it and your offer.” He casts another tender look your way before walking forward again.
The plan was to initially invite him out and convince him to peek out of the fire exit with you. The semi spilling out of your guts wasn’t part of the design, but a win is a win.
It wouldn’t have worked out anyway considering that said fire exit is currently blocked off. Shaking your head free of these thoughts, you move to join Sun on the next task.
The third attempt is actually when you’re at your place. It’s your day off and you’re currently messaging Sun and Moon. The one thing, the one thing you didn’t have to convince them much of was to accept a tablet of yours. For emergency communications sake of course.
Which quickly turned into kicks and giggles. Grainy pixelated pictures of memes being sent on your end, (Some data plans sucked no matter how much someone paid for it, Moon).
Long paragraphs of text being sent from Sun, (Honestly the Karen’s are out to get me today, like when-).
With the occasional quip and short comments made by Moon, (Imagine getting offended by an animatronic. Could not be me. Oh wait, Sun counts. Now Sun is trying to convince me to let him take over the keyboard).
After some bantering and negotiating (as well as bribing) towards one of the engineers from parts and services, you were able to get the tablet upgraded to allow it so that both twin animatronics could contact you. And you with them. Regardless of who was in control at the moment.
So, you’re currently messaging them when it’s brought up again.
Cloud ☁️: Oouu you want to break the rules and go see the nighttime sky sooo bad.
Sunbeam ☀️: Sounds like something you’ll have to bring up to Moon directly! Alas, I am a humble prisoner in the midst of our mind for now.
Cloud ☁️: You could always try to convince him anyway! :(
Moonlight 🌙: Sun is right. I am torturing him as we speak. How dare you suggest he even consider the idea of trying to convince me of something.
Sunbeam ☀️: Currently experiencing the pain! The horrors!
Cloud ☁️: Nooooo!
Cloud ☁️: How could I turn my two dearest friends against each other… Clearly, I spoke too hastily…
Sunbeam ☀️: (Besides! We want our first time seeing the sky to be with you. :)
Moonlight 🌙: Oh, now he is speaking on my behalf.
Moonlight 🌙: … He does have a point though.
Cloud ☁️: :D
Sunbeam ☀️: With that being said! We do have to get going soon. Apparently, a late night trip to parts and services has been scheduled for us.
Moonlight 🌙: I would say on the plus side, no security rounds tonight, but I hate parts and services.
Cloud ☁️: Is there any particular reason why you have to go to parts and services? Did something happen?
Sunbeam ☀️: Oh, we’ve been having glityagwbwwksk-1922&3!33&:2’
Moonlight 🌙: What Sun means to say is, we’ll tell you in the morning. You have to go to sleep.
Moonlight 🌙: Have a goodnight.
Sunbeam ☀️: Rude Moon. Sleep tight! See you tomorrow!
Cloud ☁️: ?
Cloud ☁️: Okay, see you both tomorrow. Good luck with parts and services.
The fourth attempt-
It’s been weeks since everything’s changed. They never did tell you why they were sent to parts and services that night. When you did clock into work the next day and ask about it, Sun gave a strained smile and shook his head.
Moon gave you even less to work with. You weren’t even finished with your question before he used the wire to carry himself away.
From then on, things took a turn for the worse. Sun began to withdraw himself. Moon's role was limited to that of a security personal. Which led to rarely seeing him at all. Neither of them responded to your messages anymore.
Which led to you finding out the news on television. Of all places. You don’t even watch TV, but you needed some kind of background noise at night to help you sleep and muffle the thoughts in your mind.
Your shoes slap against the sidewalk as you run towards the burned down pizzaplex. Only mere sections of the building remaining, if anything at all. You know that it, too, will fall down eventually from the weak foundation.
Which means you have to act quickly.
As you duck past the barricade tapes, thoughts rush past your mind. You should’ve received a work email before finding out a day later. You should’ve kept messaging them even when you knew they wouldn’t respond. You should’ve pressed harder for an answer back in person. You should’ve convinced them to go cloud watching with you.
You should’ve said I love you. One last time.
By the time you come back to reality, you’re standing in front of the daycare entrance, or what would’ve been the daycare entrance. Tears streaming down your face, you rapidly brush them away.
You have to focus and stay present; you have to do it for them.
You scream out their names. You go through any debris that you can easily lift up and pull away. You fight the sob building up in your chest in favor of pressing forward, just a little bit longer. You are patient even in the face of adversity. You are nothing if not diligent in the pursuit of something you want.
However, even you have your limits. It’s as you’re ready to crumble onto the ground right then and there that you hear something. And it hears you.
It’s the chime of a bell.
Dashing and stumbling forward, you make your way over to the sound. It’s near the security desk. You begin to make out a familiar outline amidst all the rubble and cry in relief at the sight of them.
Landing roughly in front of them, you hold their faceplate delicately with your hands. The damage on their body looks extensive. Almost beyond repair. Their clothing is tattered in some areas, burnt in others. Sun’s rays are jutted out halfway with Moon’s nightcap out on the other end.
You know this must be painful for them, but they look back at you with nothing but adoration in their eyes. “You came.”
You would’ve replied with a “you called,” hit them with that Sandman reference. Because seriously, who are you without your sincerity in the midst of sorrow. But you’re too busy crying.
They lift up their hands to hold your face just as gently. Wiping away the tears from your cheeks, leaving soot trails in their wake instead. After the tender way they care for you, they begin to speak.
“You know… We can watch the clouds together now… Maybe even the stars too… We didn’t want to look above us once we noticed that sections of the roof were missing…” They pause before continuing once more.
“We promised ourselves that our first time looking at the sky would be by your side…”
You gently bop your forehead against theirs in response to that. The Sun and the Moon. The Eclipse in your sky. Not even a stormy cloud of bad experiences and hurt feelings could ever cover your love for them.
You should be worried, terrified even, that this is your last moment with them. But you’re not. You have a promise to fulfill. Hand in hand, you lay down beside them and stare up at the dawn breaking sky together.
You don’t count your attempts anymore. You don’t need to.
“So, you took us home in your car?”
“I know, right? In this economy? Apparently the pizzaplex was willing to pay big bucks for putting up with the likes of you both. Wonder why. Not that it matters anymore.”
You’re currently working on the last touches of Moons clothing in your bedroom with Sun while explaining the story of what happened after that night.
Sun and Moon did wind up shutting down shortly afterwards to conserve the last bit of their energy. You spent some time dragging them to your car and called up your engineering coworker-turned-friend to see if they could help you out with the repair process.
In spite of the moments of panic and spiraling worries, you’ve always made it a point to see things through to the end.
It took a few weeks to fully get both in order again. It was all worth it at the sight of them regaining functionality once more.
As you finish sharing the last details, a peaceful quiet falls over the both of you. Sun and Moon had already shared their side of the story. About the virus and the effects thereof. What happened as a result of these things. It being the reasoning for them pushing you away.
You know it will take time, and open communication and honest effort, for it to heal. For all of you. But you believe that this thing can be done, that your being there for one another will help soothe it.
Sun hums before tapping your knee, you look up from where you sit against your headboard, scissors clipping the last thread in place.
“We have decided on our favorite optical illusion in clouds recently. It’s called the Solar Halo!” He drums his digits excitedly against your knee before moving on.
“It’s a ring or light that forms around the sun or moon as the sunlight or moonlight refracts off ice crystals present in a thin veil of cirrus clouds.” Speaking enthusiastically, he uses his other hand to gesture with explanation.
“We like it best because it can be seen with both the sun and the moon. And it requires clouds to be done!” He ends the statement with jazz hands, shaky little movements and everything.
A lump wells up in your throat. You set down the scissors and put a hand against your mouth to better compose yourself. Oh, he is turning you into such a sap with the smallest of things. The biggest of things. You love it. And you decide to tell him so.
“I love you. I’m grateful to have you in my life.” A simple yet true message. You hope that he understands this, most of all. Moon too. You have a feeling that you’ll have all the time in the world to keep expressing it.
Sun sets the clothing aside and pulls you into a hug right then and there. You know that he has the same feelings too. That the both of them do. And that they, too, will keep telling you as such.
“I love you too.”