Archive of Our Own

“Well, now that everyone’s here, how about we do a fun little ice breaker to get to know each other!” 

The dreaded phrase no one wants to hear in a meeting. Much less in your new hire orientation. Unfortunately, these exercises were a necessary evil to endure. Still, despite the necessity, the group of new hires groaned. 

Among these new hires for Freddy FazBear’s Mega Pizza Plex was Claire. This would be her second job in child care, her first job closed down shortly after the Plex opened with their daycare services. Though she was deeply saddened that her original employer got shut down due to competition, she was excited to work in the daycare. Many of the kids she took care of at her old job transferred to this new daycare, so she should already have a good rapport with some of the kiddos. 

“Oh come on now, it won’t be that horrible,” Claire’s new boss, Beth, said with a chuckle. Beth was an older woman, the picture perfect Nanny type. She was a tall and plump old woman with shining gray hair neatly put up in a bun. “Let’s go around and say one interesting fact about ourselves! Let’s see…Claire, dear, how about you go first.” 

Claire wasn’t expecting to be called on first. She straightened up in her seat and cleared her throat. “Oh I um…Oh! I know. Okay, so my birthday falls on a technical holiday, April Fool’s day.” 

“Oh wow, talk about bad timing,” one of her new coworkers, Lyn, remarked. 

“Have you ever gotten pranked on your birthday?” Asked Liam, another new coworker. 

“Nope!” Claire explained, “I’ve made it a rule with my family and friends to not prank me on or before my birthday.” 

“And everyone follows that rule?” Asked another coworker, Tim. “Like, you’ve never even been pranked at your birthday party or anything?”

“Nuh uh,” Claire responded with a shake of her head, “Everyone has always been nice and respectful. I’ve never gotten pranked.” 

“What about a surprise party?” Beth asked, clapping her hands together, “That would be a fun little prank!” She giggled to herself. 

Everyone in the room laughed and giggled at that, agreeing that the only prank they’d want on their birthday was a surprise party. Next thing they knew, they were all talking about their birthdays and other tidbits about their lives. The group of new hires quickly formed a bond with little to no influence from Beth. 

“I hate to break up such wonderful progress,” Beth called over the chatting to get their attention, “But we still have to meet our most valued attendants! Come along,” she said as she stood. 

Most valued attendant? Claire questioned internally. Beth said she was the manager of the daycare, and that we were the first group of new hires to join. Who else was there?

“Everyone, I’d like you to meet one of our most important and valued attendants, Sun!” Beth said as she opened the large wooden doors of the secure play area. 

Before the group of new hires stood a tall Sun themed animatronic, standing a mighty 9’. He greeted the group warmly as his namesake. Beth practically gushed about Sun and his countless abilities and talents. 

“And what is the Sun without their Moon!” Beth said as Moon made his way over to the group. Once the second animatronic was introduced, standing slightly shorter than Sun but that was most likely due to his slouching, Beth began to gush about him as she did Sun. 

Both animatronics welcomed their new human coworkers with warmth and excitement. Soon the room filled with excited chatter like before and everyone clicked almost instantly, especially Claire and Sun and Moon. The moment Claire mentioned she previously worked with many of the kids in the daycare Sun practically exploded in excitement. 

“Oh now you’ve done it,” Moon chuckled. When Claire gave him a confused expression he explained, “Sun absolutely adores all of the kids, and will jump at any opportunity to gush about them.” 

“Like how Beth was just gushing about you two?” Claire responded with a smirk and a playful jab to his side. 

Moon blushed and looked away. He pulled his hat down over his eyes when Claire playfully elbowed him again. She worried she went a bit too far and was about to apologize when Sun put an arm around Moon and nuzzled his cheek. 

“Awww! Mooooonnyyy!” Sun cooed at their counterpart. 

“Moon gets a little shy when I talk so highly of them,” Beth whispered to Claire, suddenly at her side. 

Claire jumped and looked from her new manager to the attendants. She relaxed slightly, relieved to know it wasn’t necessarily something that she said to upset Moon. To be fair, though, if she were Moon she would also get flustered if someone mentioned how highly her manager talked of her. 

The next time Moon looked over at her he had a more relaxed smile on his face. Sun hadn’t left his side and they both had their arms around each other in a comforting yet relaxed embrace. Seeing the two animatronics hold each other made her question their relationship. Before she could ask about it Beth dismissed everyone to take care of the new hire paperwork that awaited them. 

Eh, oh well. I have plenty of time to find out…  

—

“Tooodalooo little ones!” Sun called out to the last of the kids for the day. He waved his hand in the air at them in an exaggerated manner. This always got a giggle out of the kids as they left, even the ones that expressed their dismay that they had to stop playing with Sun for the day. 

“Bye bye!” They called back. 

Claire sighed as she closed the door to the play area. The kids had been a real handful today. She attributed it to the warmer weather outside, but it could have also been the approaching spring holidays. Regardless, she was extra tired today. 

Moon noticed how Claire slumped against the door once it closed. He cooed teasingly at her, “Looks like someone could use a nap~.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled in for a side hug. 

“Ugh, don’t threaten me with a good time,” Claire responded. She hugged his torso and leaned into him, sighing as the animatronic rubbed her shoulders. 

Sun gasped and clapped their hands inches from their face, smiling as wide as they could. There were stars in their eyes as they thought about the possibility of Claire staying to spend time with them. “Oh!! Yes yes yes~! Stay stay stay!” They leaned down and put their hands on her shoulders. 

Claire snickered and patted their head, “Well, I would, but I have some things I need to take care of tonight.”

Sun pouted and put on their best puppy dog eyes. “Pleeeeaasseeee! Just a quick nap!” 

Both Claire and Moon chuckled at Sun’s plea. Before Claire could say anything more, Beth was calling for everyone to gather around the desk. 

“Alright everyone, gather round!” Beth called out as she stood from her seat at the security desk. She held her clipboard and donned her reading glasses. 

That morning she told everyone to stick around after the last check out as she had some things to review for the upcoming week. Although everyone was eager to go home after the long day they still gathered to hear what she had to say. By now they formed a tight bond and respect for one another, and they all greatly respected Beth. She was an amazing manager, so that wasn’t too hard, but…

“UGHH!” 

One of the newer hires, Tiffany, groaned loudly and dramatically. She was already halfway out of the large wooden doors of the play area when Beth had made the announcement to gather at the security desk. All it took was one look from Beth and clearing her throat to get Tiffany running back to the security desk. 

Unfortunately, or fortunately, however you’d like to look at it, Tiffany started working at the daycare around the time that Sun and Moon started to make their affections towards Claire more known and noticeable. This was unfortunate for Tiffany. She thought if anyone could get a robot to fall in love with them, it was her. According to her she could get any guy she set her sights on. She briefly thought to go for Liam, but that was quickly dashed when Lyn shot daggers at her when she decided to hang on one of his arms while he showed her around the Plex on her first day. There weren’t many others for her to target in the daycare as most of the other workers were women, but there was one tall, cute, and bubbly animatronic that caught her eye. 

Once she set her sights on them she pulled out all her usual tricks. Much like her attempt with Liam, it started out with her hanging on Sun at any chance she got. Anytime she could touch him, she would, even if it meant going out of her way. She would giggle at all his silly jokes and smile at him sweetly. She thought she was sly in her flirting with him and would often recruit the kids as well to help push them together. 

But her attempts were too obvious and over the top. Even the kids could tell she was trying too hard. Most of the other employees also caught onto this, including Sun and Moon. Sun was confused at first and misinterpreted it as Tiffany being overly friendly, but Moon was able to tell right away. Mostly because he could see just how cold she would act with the other coworkers, and because he witnessed Lyn staring daggers at Tiffany on her first day. Once Sun put it together, they became more uncomfortable with interacting with Tiffany, but felt they couldn’t just tell her to stop. Despite Moon stepping in and helping, Sun still had to endure the attempts Tiffany would make to get his affection. Sun was terrible at pushing her away, as they wanted to set a good example for the kids in handling tough situations and being nice to others. Tragically, this made for a few awkward moments where Tiffany thought Sun was returning her attraction. Even worse, the few times that Moon was able to step in and push Tiffany off of Sun were interpreted by Tiffany as Moon being jealous and wanting her as well. There was only so much Moon and the other workers of the daycare to do to mitigate this situation. There had been attempts to make Beth aware, but Beth brushed it off as well, saying that Tiffany was just being friendly and trying to foster a good working relationship between her and Sun. 

There was one person who was even more oblivious to what was going on: Claire. Mostly because Claire took her work seriously and focused on the kids, she didn’t pay too much attention to how her coworkers interacted with each other. It took several months for her to realize Liam and Lyn started dating, and she had walked in on them doing something in the employee locker room nearby! …She also needed them to tell her point blank they were dating, and for a while at that. So, due to her obliviousness, she didn’t quite see what was going on. 

Though she did start to wonder why Sun would always pull her into any game of house the kids insisted on playing. She also wondered why Tiffany would look so disgruntled once she joined the games as well. Claire chalked it up to Tiffany not liking the game and having also been roped into too many games. Which Claire could sympathize with, typical games of house were…repetitive. For some reason the kids always made her and Sun the aunt and uncle of the family. Or the occasional grandparents, seeing as Sun could muster up a rather silly grandpa voice. The kids would also make Tiffany the “annoying neighbor lady”, despite countless lectures from Sun about not calling people annoying. 

Why hasn’t Moon told Claire yet about what was going on? Well…that would require also explaining why Sun would cling onto Claire whenever they were trying to get away from Tiffany. While it doesn’t sound like a bad idea, he’d also need to explain why Sun mainly only went to Claire or himself when trying to escape Tiffany’s clutches. Which meant explaining that both he and Sun had feelings for her. A conversation they were both nervous to have with Claire, for fear it would ruin the friendship they developed. 

Claire fought the urge to roll her eyes at Tiffany’s antics. Instead she leaned more into Moon who stood beside her. The one thing that Claire had noticed about Tiffany was her attitude about work, which Claire did not appreciate. Claire was dedicated to her work, she enjoyed taking care of the kids. She was a hard worker and did her best to help her coworkers as much as possible. Based on what Claire saw, Tiffany was NOT a team player and often made things harder than they had to be. Regardless, Claire tried her best to give Tiffany the benefit of the doubt and was civil and polite with her whenever they worked together. She kept most of her thoughts and feelings about Tiffany to herself. From previous work experience she knew talking about her negative feelings about a coworker to her other coworkers was a one way ticket to shit storm central. She hadn’t even told Sun or Moon about her true thoughts and feelings, just to be safe. 

While she listened to the announcements from Beth regarding the rest of the week she felt the weight of the day settle on her shoulders. Man was she tired. Maybe she would take Moon up on the offer earlier to stay and take a nap with him…

“...and one last announcement regarding next week~!” Beth turned towards Claire with a big smile. 

This caused Claire to straighten up to attention and swallow the yawn threatening to leave her. Her eyes wide as she looked around, noticing her coworkers also looking at her. They didn't seem to know what was going on based on their confused faces. 

“Huh?! What?!” Claire asked as panic started to engulf her. 

Beth giggled at her reaction. “Someone has a birthday coming up next week! You didn't think I'd forget, did you?” 

“Birthday? OH!” Claire relaxed and ran a hand through her hair. “Yeah, mine is next week, that's right.” 

“OH!” shouted Lyn, “That's right! It's on April Fool's Day, right?” 

“Y–”

“OH YEAH!” exclaimed Liam, “That's right! That was your ice breaker thing!” 

Claire nodded and smiled as her coworkers began to recall the conversation. Her shoulders fell as she relaxed. She couldn't believe it was her birthday soon. Actually, it felt like she was still forgetting something. What–

“YOUR BIRTHDAY IS NEXT WEEK AND YOU DIDN'T TELL US?!” Sun exclaimed as they pounced on her. They grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her lightly, enough to be funny but not too much to make her dizzy. 

Everyone laughed at Sun's antics. Well, except for Tiffany, who glared over at Claire. It was no secret to most of the crew that Tiffany had set her sights on the animatronics. Though she mostly was set on Sun, she would settle for Moon if given the chance. She crossed her arms and turned to leave, but then stopped. A wicked smile took over her face as she turned back around. 

“Ohh you know what would be fun!” She announced to the crowd of coworkers. She clapped her hands together and approached the group. “We should prank each other! Ya know, ‘cause it's April Fool's day?” 

“There will be no pranking in the daycare,” Both Beth and Sun said in unison. 

A few chuckled at that, noting that they both had the same tone as they said that. Sun allowed Beth to take the reins of the conversation as they held onto Claire’s shoulders protectively. They inched closer to Moon as they held Claire, which confused her. It felt like Sun was both protecting her from Tiffany, but also trying to get as far as possible from the worker. 

“I don't want to see any pranking happen here! It would set a bad example for the children. Plus, we don't want anyone to get hurt.” Beth said matter of factly. Once she got a resounding agreement from everyone she left, giving one final serious look at everyone before leaving. 

“Well there goes any chance of having fun next week…” Tiffany complained loudly. She made her way over to the doors to make her exit as well. 

“Hey…wait a second,” another coworker, Em, said to the group, “I think I might have an idea, if you guys still want to do April Fool's day.” 

Everyone looked at her and waited for an explanation. A few others had also been disappointed to hear they couldn't do any pranks for the small holiday, and it seemed they genuinely wanted to have some good natured fun. Sun still gave a wary look, no doubt ready to call in Beth to put a stop to any nasty schemes. 

“Well, you know how for Christmas we do Secret Santa and pull names from a hat? What if we did that for April Fool's day?” 

The room was quiet while everyone thought that over. That…could work. 

“So, like. Whoever's name we pull, is the person we prank?” Asked Liam for clarification. 

“Yep! And that way anyone who doesn't want to be included would be able to stay out.” 

Claire sighed in relief. She wasn't the biggest fan of pranks but also didn't want to ruin anyone's fun. This would be a great compromise to get her out of the pranking. Thankfully Claire wasn't the only one that didn't want to participate in the pranking. Sun, of course, wouldn't want to participate. Neither did Moon. Along with a handful of others. It looked like it would be an even pair up, but there was one person missing from work that day that hadn't given their decision yet. 

“UGH! This won't be fair!” complained Tiffany. 

“Tiff, calm down we can–” Em tried to calm her down.

“NO!” Tiffany shouted. “This is a stupid idea! What if we don't have an even pair up, huh?” 

Liam and Lyn gave Tiffany a warning look. They stood by Em as she tried to deescalate the situation. Tiffany crossed her arms and looked away dismissively as Em talked, completely ignoring her. 

“Hey, birthday girl,” Tiffany said to Claire, interrupting Em, “Why don't you put your name in there, huh?” 

“Well I–” 

“Hey.” Liam said, standing between Tiffany and Claire. “She doesn't need to put her name in. I get that you weren't here for the explanation, but Claire doesn't do pranks on April Fool's day, since it's her birthday.” 

Tiffany scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Oh, so she can't break her rules for one year to–” 

“That's enough.” Moon said in a firm tone. He straightened his posture and looked down at Tiffany. He stood next to Liam and crossed his arms. “Claire doesn't need to get involved if she doesn't want to.” 

“Yeah!” Sun said behind Claire. Their grip on her shoulders tightened and they pulled her farther away from Tiffany. 

Claire jumped as Sun weighed in on the conversation, their sudden and loud voice behind her startling her. When had they gotten so close to her? And why were they holding onto her so tightly? She reached up and put her hands on top of theirs, squeezing back to help calm the animatronic. 

It was nice to see that her coworkers had her back in this situation, but she couldn’t help but feel awkward. Maybe she should join in on the pranking? Would that help de-escalate the situation? But she really didn’t want to get involved. Pranks were never really her thing. 

Maybe I should tell Beth. That might put a stop to this. 

While Claire debated internally what to do, Tiffany deflated in her approach. Seeing both Sun and Moon come to Claire’s defense so quickly, and seeing Sun hold onto Claire, made her blood boil and her stomach drop. She clenched her fists and crossed her arms. 

“UGH FINE!” She looked away from Moon and Liam. “Put my name in the stupid hat or whatever…” 

While Liam and Moon got on Tiffany’s case, the rest of the group had already put their names in a spare bucket and began to draw names. To make things fair, despite several protests from others, Em directed everyone to put their names back in the bucket so Tiffany could join. Like Em had tried to explain to Tiffany, they ended up with a perfectly even split so everyone had someone to prank. Em set up a special group chat for those involved in the pranks to share the results of the pranks on April Fool’s day. This way they could show off the successful and unsuccessful pranks without telling Beth. 

There was a group pact made regarding the pulling of pranks. For starters, no prank could result in the damage of property of the victim. So no pranks that meant messing up someone’s car. Secondly, the pranks had to be silly and fun. Nothing that would cause major distress, or impede the victim's work day. The pranks especially couldn’t cross over into work time, since they didn’t want Beth to be aware. With everyone, or almost everyone, in agreement of the conditions, the workers of the daycare disbanded and went on their way home. Including Claire, much to Sun and Moon’s dismay. She did promise that she would stay later another time, but she had some things to take care of at home and really couldn’t stay any longer. 

While the rest of the group spent the next week working hard at both their typical jobs and at planning pranks, Tiffany was scheming something horrendous. Although Claire hadn’t put her name in the hat, Tiffany decided to make Claire her target. Perhaps if she pulled a prank on her at just the right time, she could change Sun’s mind about her. The tricky part, however, would be pulling the prank in an area that Sun could see the immediate damage but also somewhere that Beth wouldn’t be able to see the prank. 

“Alright team, gather around,” Beth called out at closing once more. 

She looked worried and concerned about the announcement she had to make. While everyone gathered around the security desk, she kept checking her phone and the computer screen in front of her. Only once everyone was gathered around did she stand up to address the group of workers. 

“Okay, are we all here? Okay good, good. Um, so. I have some bad news for tomorrow…” she started to announce but trailed off when another message came through her phone. Her brow furrowed as she looked over the message, reading it to herself. 

Everyone was unsettled by this, as Beth was typically well put together and always had her announcements planned down to the T. Additionally, even on the toughest days with the most unruly guests, Beth always stood confident and positive. No matter the troubles the group faced, Beth never showed an ounce of worry or uncertainty. Right now, she showed both on her face. No one dared to speak until Beth was ready. 

“Sorry, everyone,” Beth said as she cleared her throat. She wiped her eyes and looked back up at the group, plastering on a smile. “I, unfortunately, will be out starting the end of this shift. I have some family concerns I need to take care of…” 

Sun and Moon both rushed to Beth’s side as she looked down again. They both put comforting arms around her, rubbing her back and asked if she was okay. In return she squeezed Moon’s hand and nodded, still looking down. After a few moments Beth was able to compose herself. Still holding onto the daycare animatronics, she finished her announcement. 

“I will be in touch occasionally through the group chat, but please only reach out if it is an emergency. These two will be in charge while I’m gone,” she said, motioning to Sun and Moon, “Please make sure to work with each other and problem solve as best as you all can. I’ll be back as soon as possible.” 

The group of workers exchanged worried glances and gave their condolences to Beth. A few helped to walk her out of the Plex, offering any assistance they could provide outside of work. The ones that stayed behind briefly talked about their plans for the pranks. 

“We should still keep the rule that we can’t prank during work,” Em brought up. 

Everyone nodded and agreed, a few confirming that their plans were already set in motion. The pranks would continue as scheduled. Sun made sure to loudly announce that they would be watching them all like a hawk and reporting and bad behavior to Beth. This got a few chuckles out of the group. While the group closed up, no one took notice of the absence of Tiffany. 

……………..

“Gooooood morning Sunshine!” Sun called out to Claire as she entered the daycare. They picked up Claire in a hug and spun around, catching the worker by surprise. 

“Ah!” Claire exclaimed as her feet left the floor. Though once Sun held her in their arms she quickly relaxed and giggled at the surprise. “Goood morning to you, too, Sunny!” 

Sun nuzzled Claire’s cheek as they held her. “Happy birthday to my favorite star!” 

There was a gasp at the wooden doors, followed by some whining, “Your favorite?! But I thought I was your favoriteeee!” 

Claire and Sun looked over to see a pouting Tiffany at the door. Clearly she wanted to be involved in this moment, as she crossed her arms and pouted. If Sun had actually liked her, they could have played into her whining. Or at the very least made light of it and said something like “You’re all my favorite!” to lessen the whining. 

But, sadly, Sun did not like her in the slightest. As if to emphasize this, Sun turned away and walked farther into the play area with Claire still in their arms. Claire snickered at Sun’s obvious dismissal of Tiffany. 

“Suuunnnieeeee waiiitttt!” Tiffany called out in a last ditch effort as she chased after the two. 

Claire was able to look back and see Tiffany chase after them, and the hook that quickly dropped from the ceiling and secured to Sun’s back. Sun wasted no time in leaping into the air and onto the balcony to their room. This caused Claire to giggle even more and hold onto Sun tightly. 

“Sunny, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you didn’t like Tiffany,” Claire joked with the animatronic. 

Moon chuckled as Sun stepped into the room and away from the balcony. “Is Sun finally making it obvious?” 

“Huh?” Claire asked Moon as Sun set her down. When she looked over at Sun their arms were folded and they were looking away. “Wait, do you actually not like her?” 

Sun looked back at Claire and then away. They cleared their throat and looked anywhere but at her. “I–well.” 

Claire tilted her head to the side and gave Sun a look of confusion. “You’re usually nice to her, though,” Claire looked back at Moon for confirmation, “Right?” 

Moon had put a hand over his mouth to hide his smirk and snicker. When Claire continued to look at him for a serious answer, he dropped his smirk and cleared his throat. “Sun…is not the biggest fan of Tiffany.” 

Claire thought for a moment and looked back at Sun. Maybe she could open up about her feelings about the coworker…

“Anyways!” Sun said, clapping their hands together, “Moony and I wanted to–”

“SUUUUUN! MOOOOON!” a coworker called from the daycare below. “WE NEED BOTH OF YOU AND CLAIRE DOWN HERE SO WE CAN OPPEENNN!” 

Sun deflated and groaned. Moon chuckled at this and scooped up Claire as he made his way to the balcony. 

“C’mon Sunny, let’s get to it,” Moon said. Then to Claire, “We had something for you, but it seems we don’t have enough time to give it to you before the work day starts.” 

Claire gasped, “Oooh what is it?!” 

“A super secret birthday surprise~,” Sun said and booped her nose. They giggled as Claire wrinkled their nose in response to the boop. “But that will have to wait for now!” 

When Moon and Sun stood on the balcony, they both held onto Claire and counted down for the descent. If they could do anything for her before the place opened, they could at least do her favorite thing, which was jumping off the balcony into the ball pit with her. 

“THREE!” Both animatronics shouted as they leapt off the balcony with Claire. 

The three landed in the ballpit safely, all giggling with glee after the landing. Both Sun and Moon still held on tightly to Claire, Sun nuzzling her cheek and Moon resting his chin on top of her head. They weren’t letting go of her like they normally did after they jumped in the ball pit. 

Just as she was about to question this, she looked in front of her to see her coworkers lined up, holding a happy birthday banner. 

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” everyone shouted. 

Claire was too stunned and overcome with emotion to speak. She never had this amount of attention on her birthday at previous jobs. As (happy) tears welled in her eyes, she turned and hid her face against Sun. Sun picked her up and walked out of the ball pit, rubbing her back in a soothing motion. 

Once out of the ball pit, some of her closest coworkers crowded around her to make sure she was okay. As her coworkers fretted over her, a certain coworker watched in jealousy and plotted against her. 

………….

“Alright, I’m heading to lunnnchh!” Claire called out to her coworkers as she gathered up her wallet and phone for her break. She was excited for her break today, since she’d get a special meal from her favorite counter in the food court. 

“Have a good break Sunshine!~” Sun called out just before being tackled by several children. “ACK!” 

Claire snickered as she left the daycare, watching while she walked as several children overtook Sun. The entire morning had been filled with children “pranking” Sun by hiding and jumping on him, yelling “APRIL FOOLS!” every time they jumped him. Of course, they wanted to pull other pranks, but both Sun and Moon had confiscated any pranking tools upon drop off that morning. Following this, Sun gave them a lecture about the dangers of pulling pranks and that there would be no pranking each other. When the kids threw a tantrum over this, Moon came up with the compromise that the kids could “prank” him and Sun that day as much as they wanted, just not each other or the other workers. Thus ensured the endless “pranks” pulled on Sunny. 

As Claire walked to the food court she checked the pranks group chat. Several good pranks were pulled on her coworkers and many of the pranks were captured on video. Though she wasn’t one to participate in pranks, she enjoyed seeing the occasional prank video. 

“Pffft! I can’t believe Em fell for–” Claire started to comment as she watched one video of Em while entering the break room. 

She had been so focused on her phone that she didn’t notice that the break room door had been propped open instead of being closed like normal. As soon as she pushed the door open, a waterfall of dirty water fell over her. Soaking her outfit and ruining the carefully chosen meal on the tray she balanced on one forearm. The tray quickly went off balance and managed to also spill her food all over her front. The cherry on top was the bucket landing on her head, obscuring her view. 

“AAAHHHAHAHAHHAHAHA!” Cruel laughter filled the room. Even if Claire couldn’t see at the moment, she knew that laughter belonged to Tiffany. 

Once she came to her senses, Claire grabbed the bucket and tore it off her head. She looked over at the source of laughter to see Tiffany standing there with her phone pointed at her. Tiffany was almost doubled over clutching her sides in laughter. 

“OMG YOUR FUCKING FACEE BAAAHAHAHAHA!” Tiffany continued to howl with laughter. 

Claire couldn’t think straight. She felt incredibly humiliated. Without thinking, she chucked the bucket as hard as she could at Tiffany. Whatever deity watched over Claire must have been on her side, as the bucket landed a square hit right to Tiffany’s face. There was a * dunk!* as the bucket hit, quickly followed by loud obnoxious crying. 

Claire didn’t wait around to listen to her coworker cry from her retaliation. She turned and bolted out of the room. Her instincts kicked in as her brain shut off. Running on autopilot, she ran to the nearby staff locker rooms. Did she have a spare uniform? Maybe. Doesn’t matter right now. What mattered was getting out of these clothes and into the shower. 

She was so focused on getting to the locker room that she ran right past a concerned Moon. 

“Starlight what–” Moon said as she ran past. “Wait!” 

Tears welled in her eyes as she barely registered that Moon saw her. Her vision tunneled as she got closer to the sanctity of the locker room. She tuned out as much of her surroundings as possible, seeing as she had to run past a few workers of the plex and a few guests. Not bothering to register if those she passed showed concern or if they found her predicament as funny as Tiffany had. 

As she finally crossed through the doorway of the locker room, her feelings really caught up to her. She closed the door behind her and sank to the floor. The sobs she had been keeping inside bubbled up and begged to be released. Just as she was ready to let it out there was a thunderous bang at the door. 

“CLAIRE!” A desperate voice boomed from the other side. “Claire, are you okay?!” 

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” Claire quickly yelled back. She didn’t entirely mean it, but her emotions were running high and she couldn’t think straight. It was a knee jerk reaction. 

There was a brief silence, then a quieter and more concerned tone, “...Please, starbunny, I want to help…”

Claire choked out a sob, quickly falling apart and crashing into reality from her dissociation. She came undone, unable to hear anything more from Moon on the other side of the door. A wave crashed down onto her, forcing out all of her emotion. She didn’t care who heard her on the other side of the door, hell, maybe she could use more witnesses to report this to Beth. 

FUCK TIFFANY! THAT FUCKING BITCH! Claire thought to herself as she cried. I’ve always, ALWAYS, been nice to her! No matter what! And this is how she repays me?! FUCK HER!  

As soon as Beth gets back, she would be reporting Tiffany and demanding Beth fire her! Hell, Claire probably had other examples of poor behavior she could bring up to Beth to support her claim. And maybe she could even get Sun and Moon to–

*Knock knock knock* A soft knock penetrated her spiral. 

“Bunnybee?” A different voice, this time Sun. They waited for a moment, then added, “Can you open the door, please? I have something for you to change into.” 

Now that she had calmed down a little bit, Claire started to come to her senses. She went to wipe her face on her arm but stopped, not wanting to dirty her face more. Forgoing that, she stood up and cracked open the door just enough for Sun to hand her a plastic bag from one of the gift shops. She quickly took the bag, muttering a small ‘thank you’ as she accepted the bag. 

“Take your time cleaning up,” Sun said in a low, soothing tone, “We’ve got things handled in the daycare, there’s no need to rush back. I’ve put some shampoo and soap in the bag too, so you can take a shower to feel better.” 

Tears welled in Claire’s eyes for a second time. Sun’s words and actions were so touching, and exactly what she needed in this moment. She regretted sending Moon away. Hopefully he didn’t take it too personally…she would have to talk to him later for sure. 

“Thank you, Sunny,” She said a bit louder. She closed the door and turned towards the showers. Setting the bag down on a nearby bench, she began to strip and start one of the showers. A nice, long, hot shower is exactly what she needed right now. 

Surprisingly no one came into the locker room while she washed up and changed. All for the best for Claire. She needed to be alone to process what happened. And time to calm down from the initial rage she felt from the encounter. The warm water certainly helped to calm her nerves and ground her. The shampoo and soap Sun gave her must have been part of a birthday present, as she was certain that there was no way they could have gotten it so quickly. Plus, both products were from her favorite shop for fancy soaps and lotions. It was exactly what she needed after having disgusting mop water poured over her. 

With her shower done she looked through the bag again and pulled out the change of clothes. Inside the bag was an exclusive pair of pjs that hadn’t been released to the gift shops yet! The set included a pair of pj pants that were soft and silky that featured the pant patterns on Sun and Moon’s pants, one for each leg. The top was split horizontally with a soft yellow on the top and a deep blue on the bottom. The graphic in the center was a circle with the top having triangle rays to show the sun and craters on the bottom for the moon. On the top there was a chibi version of Sun smiling and ready to play, the bottom had a chibi Moon laying on their back with their legs crossed and their hat partially covering their sleeping face. 

“So cuuutteee!” Claire squeed at the clothes, especially the graphic. She admired it for a few moments and then recalled that she would be returning to work for the rest of the day. “Wait, I can’t wear this! I–” 

* Knock knock knock* A soft knocking at the door interrupted her worrying. She looked over at the door and down at herself, which was still clad in a towel. 

“Uh! Uhm! D-Don’t come in!” She called out anxiously. 

“Claire? It’s Em.” 

“Oh!” Claire crossed the locker room and leaned against the door. “What’s up?” She asked through the door. 

“Are you alright in there? Moon sent me to check in on you,” Em replied, her voice a little quieter. “We…heard what happened to you earlier in the breakroom…” 

Claire took a deep breath and sighed. “I’m…doing better now that I’ve had a shower. But uhm…” She looked back towards the bench where the pjs laid. 

“Good! Good, I’m glad you’re feeling better! The shampoo and soap were from Liam and Lyn,” Em responded with a smile to her voice, “The Pjs were courtesy of Beth. She knows you’re Sun and Moon’s biggest fan and thought she’d grab you a pair before they hit the shelves.”  

Claire blushed and cleared her throat. “Right, about that…Um. How–” 

“Oh, don't worry about getting back to work,” Em quickly cut in, “Just get changed and let me know when you're ready.” 

“What?! But–”

“Don't make me come in there!” Em said in her stern voice she used with the kids. When Claire squeaked at this she giggled in return. “Just get dressed, alright?” 

“Al-alright…if you say so…” Claire responded. She really hoped she wouldn't have to be around anyone in these clothes. Not that they weren't cute, she just didn't want to be in her pjs at work. It felt weird. 

A little bit later, after she finished getting changed and cleaned up her things, there was a soft knock at the locker room door again. Claire hesitated, unsure if she should open the door or talk through it. 

“Pssst, Claire,” said the voice on the other side. 

“Sun?” Claire said through the door. 

“Are you all squeaky clean and dressed?” They asked. 

“Yeah, I'm all good. Though, I'm not sure that I want to be around the kids in my pjs…” She replied sheepishly. 

“You put them on?! Let me see, let me see!” Sun said, suddenly pushing the door open and eagerly entering the locker room. 

“Hey wait–!” Claire said as Sun let themselves into the room. She backed up and allowed the bubbly animatronic to enter. Once they were inside she quickly closed the door.

Sun's eyes sparkled as they laid eyes on Claire and her new outfit. They gasped, then squealed and jumped up and down as they took in the sight. 

“Oh my STARS! LOOK AT YOU!”

“Sun! Keep your– AH!” Claire tried to quiet Sun so as to not draw attention to the locker room when she was suddenly picked up by the jolly yellow giant. 

Sun picked her up and spun around with her in the air above their head. They didn't spin too much, so as to not make her dizzy. Then they held her close in a tight hug and nuzzled their face against her cheek. 

“You look so so SO cute and cuddly! Oh this is perfect!” Sun continued, not stopping at all for Claire to speak up. “We just started nap time. I came to get you and bring you up to our room to hang out until the end of the day– if that's okay with you?” The animatronic looked at Claire with worry and concern. 

Claire held onto Sun, their comforting hold helping to piece her together fully. Sun was always physically affectionate with her, but it seemed they were…more affectionate right now. It didn't feel the same as it normally did. Was she reading into it too much? 

“Oh! Um,” Claire mentally shook away her thoughts and focused on the present, “Yeah, that sounds good to me. Actually, that sounds exactly what I need right now…” 

“Perfect!” Sun adjusted his hold on Claire to be more comfortable then left the locker room without further delay. They held a finger to their lips for a moment and spoked in a hushed tone, “We have to be super quiet, Moony is working his magic right now with getting the kids to sleep.” 

Claire nodded in understanding and made a motion to zip her lips. “Got it, though I doubt it would be too hard to get the kiddos to sleep considering all the “pranks” they've pulled today,” She said with a smile. 

Sun slumped and stopped themself from groaning, “Tell me about it. Moony actually suggested I take a good long break considering all the pranks I've had pulled on me today. So adding you into my break time is exactly what I need, too.” 

Now, Claire knew she was favored by Sun, but she didn’t know that she was that special. She had spent some extra time after her shifts hanging out with them and Moon from time to time, helping each other relax after a busy stressful day with the kids. Both attendants were physically affectionate and encouraged Claire to cuddle with them when they would hang out. But as far as Claire knew, it was all platonic. Not that it was a bad thing! …She just secretly hoped there were deeper feelings at play. 

While Claire thought this over, Sun successfully snuck them up to their room. Only once they lowered Claire onto the pile of pillows and blankets did she come out of her thoughts. She only had a moment to register her surroundings before Sun cuddled up to her. The animatronic laid down on top of her, wrapping their arms around her and squeezing her tightly. Their face buried in her chest. They sighed, despite not needing to breathe, in content. Claire smiled and snickered at them. She wrapped her arms around them and gently rubbed at Sun's rays. 

“Mmmm,” Sun hummed at the soothing action. 

One thing Claire learned from hanging around Sun was that their rays could be super sensitive, and the kids often irritated the appendages throughout the day. Not on purpose, mind you, they just tended to grab at them a lot. No doubt today was a terrible day for Sun with all the sneak attacks. Judging by Sun's reaction and how their body melted at the sensation, Claire had made the right decision to give them a good rub. 

“Poor Sunny bunny,” she cooed as she continued to gently massage the rays, “Too many pranks pulled on you. So terrible.” 

Sun nuzzled against Claire and squeezed her. They grumbled in agreement, which was closely followed by a satisfied sigh. Their hands grabbed fistfulls of Claire's shirt and held on tightly, as if afraid that if they let go that Claire would disappear into thin air. 

The two laid there for what felt like hours, neither saying much. Claire occasionally cooed at Sun in response to their sounds of content and pleasure. The weight of Sun on top of her, along with the firm grip around her, helped Claire calm down and relax from her own distress from the prank played on her. Those cute, satisfied sounds from Sun also helped ease her distress. Maybe she should talk about what happened with Tiffany? Or did Sun and Moon know? Wait, they totally knew. But should she talk about it? She didn't want to stir up any more drama than there already was…

A light jingle of bells from the balcony brough Claire out of her thoughts. Both she and Sun perked up and looked over to see Moon quietly stalking over to them. 

“How are we doing up here?” Moon asked in his low, raspy voice. He crouched down to be at eye level with both of them. His face painted with concern and care. The nap time attendant reached out and gently cupped the side of Sun's face plate, giving his partner a soft smile. 

Sun hummed and leaned into the touch, causing Moon to chuckle. They blinked slowly at Moon, like a satisfied and comfortable cat. No words came from them, too relaxed to form a response.

“Well, Sunny seems to be doing better,” Moon said with a smile. “How are you doing, starbunny?” Moon turned his attention to Claire, his brow furrowed in concern. Using his other hand he reached out and gently brushed some of Claire's hair out of her face. 

Moon's touch was so incredibly gentle, almost afraid of shattering Claire to pieces where she sat. The simple gesture also contained so much love for her, it caused tears to well in her eyes. Especially once she started to recall how harsh she was earlier towards him. 

“Oh! No no no, shhh, none of that now,” Moon cooed at her. Using his thumb he wiped away a tear that dared spill over from her eye. He sat down and awkwardly side hugged her, rubbing a hand up and down her arm. 

“I-I'm suh-sorry,” Claire stuttered, “About earlier.” She sucked in a deep breath and tried to fight off a sob bubbling up in her chest. A tear escaped her eye and she quickly scrubbed it away. 

Before she could even blink two arms scooped her up. No longer was she trapped under Sun, instead she found herself held tightly to Moon’s chest. One large hand holding her head to his chest. Soft kisses feverishly embracing the crown of her head. 

“There is nothing you need to be sorry for,” Moon said in a soft, firm voice. His grip tightened on her, his own tears falling from his eyes. “You’ve done nothing wrong, my sweet starlight.” 

The fierceness of the hold coupled with the desperate voice of Moon encouraged Claire to break a second time that day. But this time, she had someone to keep her together as she shattered. Huge, emotionally charged tears fell down her cheeks as she gripped the animatronic back as tightly as she could. A choked sob broke free from her throat, the cork that kept her emotions bottled up suddenly exploding from her. The earlier crying session in the locker room seemed trivial compared to this one. Maybe it was because she had someone to hold her, to tell her it was okay, that she would be okay, that allowed her to fully express herself. 

“I’m here, starbunny,” Moon said, hugging her and rocking side to side, “I’m here. You’re safe, I won’t let anyone do something like that to you ever again.” 

While Moon held her he continued to shower her with gentle words. In between those gentle words he pressed earnest kisses to any part of her head and face he could get his lips on. His hold is just tight enough to give a soothing pressure, but not tight enough to be suffocating. He wiped away tears as best as he could, kissing her face softly as he did. 

Eventually Claire calmed down to a small sniffle. How long had she been crying? How long had they been up here? She didn’t know, and didn’t care to know. At one point she was aware that Sun had left them, returning down to the daycare below to finish out the day. The sobbing tired Claire out, and she felt the pull of sleep tug at her gently. Especially with how comfortable she felt cuddled up to Moon. 

*Thump!* *Jingle-jingle* The tell-tale sound of one of the daycare attendants landing on the balcony crossed the room. 

“How is she doing?” Sun asked softly as he approached. They knelt down and lovingly caressed Claire’s head. 

Claire stirred and groaned. She rubbed at her eyes and blinked herself awake. How long had she been asleep? It felt like a really intense nap.

Moon chuckled, “I’d say a bit better now.” He rearranged her in his arms as he sat up. “How was the rest of the day?” 

Sun sat down and smiled fondly at Claire, then leaned over and gave Moon a quick peck on the cheek. “Smoothly, for the most part.” 

“Is everyone gone for the day?” Claire asked. 

“Yep, including employees,” Sun said as they crossed his legs to sit. Then he frowned, “I…canceled our plans for the evening…” 

“Plans? What plans?” Claire asked, now more awake and alert. She looked at Moon, who had a melancholy smile. “What did you guys plan today?” 

“Do you wanna tell her, or should I?” Moon said, gently rubbing Claire’s back. He looked between her and Sun. 

Sun looked away in thought, then sighed. “We…had a surprise party planned for you after work.” 

“WHAT?!” Claire exclaimed, sitting up on her knees and looking from Sun to Moon. 

Sun giggled, as did Moon. They reached out and patted Claire on the head. “We had it planned for a while now, but we figured with what happened today we would postpone it and have a party on a different day.” 

“We figured today was a bit much, and you’d want to actually enjoy the party,” Moon added, wrapping his arms around her middle. “I could tell you needed some good rest after what happened earlier…” 

Claire looked down and nodded, the memories bubbling back up. She shook her head to dispel them. “Yeah…I’m…not entirely sure I’d enjoy a party right now…” 

But then she remembered what Sun said earlier, about a surprise. She looked back up at him with sparkling eyes. “Wait! What was the surprise you had for me? Was it the party?” 

Sun blinked at her, then recalled what she was talking about. They laughed, then slapped their knee and stood up. “Oh stars! I had almost forgotten!” 

As Sun stood up and walked across the room to the tunnel in their room that led to their more private room, Moon adjusted his hands to cover Claire’s eyes. This took her by surprise and she jumped and instantly went to remove the hands. 

“Ah ah ah~, no peeking~,” Moon chided in her ear. 

Claire shivered at Moon’s tone and teasing comment. Something stirred inside her, a blush spread across her cheeks. She huffed, but kept her hands on top of Moon’s. Just to hold onto them. Maybe for comfort, maybe just because. She wasn’t entirely sure which. 

Moon chuckled at Claire’s reaction and nuzzled her cheek. “Poor starbunny, we’re soooooo mean to make you waiiiitttt~.” 

Once again, that voice did something to Claire. She squirmed in his lap and crossed her arms. The blush on her face deepened. Sun better hurry up! 

“Alright sunbeeeaammm, hold out your hands,” Sun said as they returned to the room. They gently supported Claire’s outstretched hands with one of their hands, and placed a small box with their other hand. 

“Can I open my eyes now?” Claire all but whined. 

Something had changed in the air, it felt charged with anxious energy. Although Moon had tried to ease the atmosphere with his teasing, she still felt the suspense build up until it was palpable. She firmly held onto the box, noting that it was a small and thin square box. A fake ribbon on it, not necessarily securing it. She waited for the okay to start opening it. 

“Hmm I dunooooo, maybe we should make you wait a biiiittt longer~,” Moon teased again, this time nuzzling Claire’s neck. 

“Eeep!” Claire said with a startling jump. The nuzzling had tickled her, causing a grand reaction of bringing her shoulder up to protect her neck. 

“Ah!” Sun exclaimed as the box flew into the air. Claire heard a thump! , no doubt Sun diving to catch the box. 

“Moon!” “Moony!” Both Claire and Sun scolded the lunar caretaker. 

Moon chuckled nervously and removed his hands from Claire’s eyes. “Sorry, sorry.” 

Now that she could see, the first thing she saw was a disgruntled Sun. Their eyes focused on Moon. They had on that same face they used to scold the kiddos for doing something bad. She looked from him to Moon behind her, who wore a sheepish and guilty look. She giggled, nearly forgetting about the surprise. 

“Here, sunbeam,” Sun said, their expression softened as they reached out to take one of her hands and placed the box in them once more. 

Claire looked down at the sparkling purple box, her earlier inspection held up to what she saw. There was a little tag on the box. Eagerly she flipped it up to reveal what was written. In beautiful handwriting (Sun’s), it said ‘Happy Birthday Claire!’. She smiled and gently popped the top off the box. 

“Oh my stars,” Claire gasped. 

Inside was a beautiful necklace with a pendant that had a combination of the Sun and the Moon. The gemstones match the hues of both their name sakes and the animatronics. To the untrained eye it just looked like a regular necklace, but the gemstones were very real and very expensive. As she looked at the necklace in awe and slowly looked up at both animatronics, Moon’s hands reached around her to lift the necklace from the box. As he did so, Sun brought her attention back to the lid of the box, where a small card was stuck to it. They removed the card and placed it in her hands, taking back the box. 

Claire looked at the small card, noting it was home made. Two chibi caricatures of Sun and Moon adorned the front, posing to form a heart. Inside the card was a special message: 

“ Dearest Claire, 

Ever since you graced our presence we have been in love with you. Would you do us the honor of going on a date with us, and possibly becoming our partner?” 

Then, below the message, “ no pressure, we’re okay with whatever you decide and will love you all the same <3”. 

Was this really happening? Or was this another prank? It couldn’t be, could it? Sun and Moon would never be that cruel! …right? 

One hand instantly glued itself to Claire’s mouth, holding in a gasp of surprise. Tears welled in her eyes once more, this time out of happiness. She slowly looked up at Sun, who looked at her with hope and anxiety. 

“W-well, sunbeam? What–” 

“Are you two serious?” She asked, cutting him off. “This isn’t a joke, right? You’re both being serious?” She asked again, looking back at Moon. 

Moon smiled and nodded, “Not a joke, starlight. 100% serious.” 

Claire looked back at Sun, who echoed Moon’s statement. She looked between the two, then at the necklace. Moon held it out for her and offered to put it on for her. She nodded and swallowed as it was clipped around her neck. 

“I…yes!” She suddenly exclaimed, diving forward to hug Sun. “Yes yes yes!” She continued as she hugged the animatronic tightly. 

Sun froze for a moment, then returned the hug. Moon quickly closed the gap and hugged the both of them. All three of them exchanged happy and nervous laughter, which quickly changed over to giddy giggling. 

This was the best birthday EVER. With many more amazing birthdays to come.