Work Text:
"Can I sleep in here for a bit?"
Moon turned to look at them confused. Techie was standing in the cracked-open doorway of the Daycare, hiding partially behind the doors not unlike a child waking up a parent in the middle of the night. Not the normal imagery that one would associate with the stoic mechanic.
Techie wasn't normally someone who asked permission to do something. If they did, they were going to do it anyway, only wanting to learn if there were any problems or risks involved that they hadn't meticulously fussed over for hours on end. So, seeing Techie shifting nervously at the entrance to the Daycare, Moon was... curious to know what this was about.
"I thought you had said that you weren't allowed to sleep on shift," he recalled. "Did the rules change, or are you just bending them for your own whims again?"
Techie sighed and began to hunch in on themself. "Look, there isn't any explicit rules for on sleeping on the job - that's all tied to safety stuff with equipment and the specific work environment you're in - and I know management looks for any opportunity to call something as stupid as 'handwashing for more than 20 seconds' an unpaid break-- But that's besides the point-" They shake their hands in front of them quickly as if to shake off the tangent they were about to go on about the evils of corperations, Fazbear Entertainment, and the petty squabbles the company seemed to be oh-so focused on.
"I've been running on about two hour's sleep, which I know is bad so you don't need to tell me. All the maintainance jobs are complete, and I will just be sitting in Parts and Service on stand-by for if anything gets broken until my shift ends at noon. I'll have nothing to do until then, and I don't care if my pay gets docked for it. I just- I need to sleep." They stared up at Moon from under the brim of their hat - the image bringing to mind the distant thought of a particularly sad, wet, pleading puppy.
Moon walked over from where he was cleaning a particularly stubborn stain Sun had missed. He leaned into their face in the doorway, tilting his head with a sharp click. The mechanic's flinch doesn't go unnoticed. "Why don't you sleep in Parts and Service? No one bothers to go and you're there all the time anyway. Why go through the effort to come up here, asking if you can stay?"
Techie was quiet for a long moment. So long that Moon almost thought that they had actually accepted his argument that they were being stupid. He may be the Naptime Attendant, but that doesn't mean he would let any random Tom, Dick, and Harry waltz him and demand things from him. He may work for free, but he wasn't going to work more than he's worth. He owes that to himself at least-
"It's not safe..." If it wasn't for the gravelly tone, Moon wasn't sure he would have heard it. "I-I mean, its perfectly safe (or as safe as I could get it). But in my mind, it's- it's just not safe. Nowhere is."
Their hands fussed with whatever they could reach: their buttons, their collar, the brim of their hat, anything to help calm their rising fear. "I know its supposed to be fine - and usually it is - but I just can't stop thinking about things that happened before I started working here. The Pizzaplex has just such big rooms which is harder to see if something is there, and even harder to hide from it. There's too many places things can come from and there's no way to keep control of anything that could happen.
"I know I shouldn't be dumping this on you, its not fair on you. But, I just- I can't stop my brain from thinking about the worst that would happen and I just need somewhere that I can hide and-" Moon carefully grabs their hands to stop them from practically tearing their precious hat in two, doing his best to avoid touching it in case it would make them panic more thinking that he's taking it.
As much as he just wants to kick them out for wasting his time, as much as he wants to let them in to stop them from panicking so much, he just wants to understand why they're burdening him with their problems. They don't talk, not to anyone if it isn't about work. Techie had made it clear how much they despise every animatronic in this place with how much they flinch and worm themself away if they aren't actively repairing them. Yeah, they might talk to every animatronic with some amount of decency but they do that for every human that isn't Dave. So Moon just doesn't understand why they came to him. Why their shaking stops just a little when he's holding their hands. Why they haven't just barged into the Daycare like they owned the place and just sat themself on the floor to sleep.
"Why the Daycare? You've spoken in length about your safety concerns here, OSHA violations and the like. So, why do you insist on being here. It's not any more safe than the rest of the Pizzaplex."
Techie looks past Moon, further into the Daycare. Their eyes wandered over each detail as if they already knew the reasons why and the visual confirmation just instilled a small facet of confidence in them.
"If I slept in the far back," they pointed to one of the faux-castles near the ballpit, "then I would be hidden from immediate sight. I would be able to see the rest of the Daycare and if something was to approach. There's only one door here after all. And if I couldn't see something approaching, then I can at least hear it," they looked over to the ballpit. Moon agreed that just moving just one of the plastic balls would be loud enough, let alone moving through the entire pit to reach the back structure. "And if anything did approach, then I could run to the play-structures. I could lose it if it took chase, hopefully long enough to reach the doors..." They fell silent once again.
That was it? Techie's reason to be here at all was because they could hide and run? How strange that the stoic mechanic who reacted to violence and near-death with nonchalance and manic giggles was afraid of monsters in the closet.
So what did that make Moon?
He looked down at the tech, who looked like they were still standing only because of Moon's hold on their hands, and he sighed. Their idea wasn't exactly fool-proof, but if it disuaded their fear, he could respect the effort and thought.
"You can sleep here, I guess. Just don't disturb me." He moved away from the doorway and Techie quickly shuffled in with a quiet "thank you."
As they wandered over to the concealed area they had pointed to, Moon decided to go to the cubbies and collect a blanket and pillow for them. He had to move some of the lost toys out of the way and reorganise the shelf until he found a blanket big enough for the adult to nap with. But, when Moon wandered over to the technician, he found them already curled up against the wall in what looked like a quite uncomfortable position. Their eyes snapped up as he approached, their gaze flickering between his face and the bundle of fabrics in his hands.
He gestured the blanket and pillow towards them. "Thought you'd might want something softer to lie down on."
"I've slept on worse, but thank you." They untangled themself easily from their position as Moon passed them the pillow and draped the blanket over them. He watched them settle again until they stared at him. He called down his wire and left without a word.
-
30 minutes since he left Techie to rest, he heard shuffling and quiet snuffles from their corner of the Daycare. He abandoned cleaning the grubby table that still had paint stains from a few days ago to see what was going on. His quiet padding across the floor only betrayed by the tipped bells that rung with the slightest movement, but Techie didn't seem to wake.
In fact, when he peered into the dark corner, they had seemingly cocooned themself into a tight ball, their face mostly hidden from the combination of their hat and the blanket pulled taut around them. A quiet whimper and a mumbling of a tune Moon didn't recognise emitted from the technician's throat. A nightmare. Perhaps something related to what they said they had been trying to avoid. It didn't matter, Moon could feel the itch of his programming to fix the problem, to get them to settle and sleep.
He crouched beside them, trying to figure out the best course of action. He... didn't know them well enough to understand what to do here. Moon didn't think waking them up would be a good option. He had already done that before when he thought it would be a good idea to scare them after they fell asleep in Parts and Service, and that got him a punch to the face that Techie had repaired 20 minutes later. Plus, they had proven to be fairly touch-adverse if keeping their distance from everyone was any indication. But... they had calmed down earlier, so maybe they weren't as adverse has he'd been left to assume.
Slowly, gently, he rested a hand on their shoulder. They seemed to still, but they were still so very tense. Moon began to whisper assurances, gentle reminders that they were safe, protected, cared for - just like he did for the little ones. Techie loosened their hold on the blanket only a little before they curled towards the animatronic, their head softly resting against his knee. Moon wasn't satisfied however. Their face still tight with stress. So Moon began to hum.
It was a soft and tentative tune, one that he tried to let follow the technician's own humming. Soon, slowly the tech began to relax. They curled in more towards the soft fabrics draping his legs as they hummed right along side Moon's own tune.
The animatronic gazed down at them, realising for the first time that maybe there was a reason they acted the way they do. Their insistence on safety, their fears when others are in harm's way. The disregard for themself in the same situation. Moon didn't know how to feel, but he knows that they could take better care of themself. Maybe they didn't allow themself to have that luxury. He knew the feeling well...
Moon adjusted his position to sit down next to them, rubbing his thumb along their shoulder. He could feel Sun's annoying approval at the back of his mind and he groaned.
Guess he's play guard dog for the rest of the night.