Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sunny hadn’t been awake for too long. 

One moment he was closing his eyes to give his little brother a new lease on life and the next his eyes opened to find familiar optics looking back at him. 

The sunshine face immediately backed up, “you’re awake!” the older animatronic’s rays pinned against his head, as if he expected Sunny to bite him. 

The soft yellow attendant titled his head and studied the new figure, “who are you?” he squinted as if doing so would somehow give him the answer, “you look like…” his voice trailed off before alarm shot through his systems, “me!” he exclaimed, nearly falling off the metal bed he had been napping on. “Oh nononono!” he sat up in a hurry, “did they replace me already!?”

“Hey hey hey!” the new face stepped closer, hands nervously reaching out and hovering right before touching him, “you’re okay!” his voice cracked ever so slightly, cutting through the brighter attendants spiral, “no one is replacing you, my name is Sun” he introduced. 

Sunny looked up with uncertain eyes at Sun, “what am I doing here?” He looked around and realized he wasn’t in the room where he closed his eyes last. It was a repair bay of some sort, a few metal beds lined the wall next to him, some covered by curtains and there were several carts full of parts scattered throughout the dimly lit room. 

Sun took a breath and retracted his hands, “what is the last thing you remember?” his voice was soft, the same kind Sunny found himself using when he was working in the daycare. 

“I remember…” he blinked, “Moon was separating us and-” his panic returned, “-Eclipse!” He tried jumping out of bed to find his little brother. His attempt failed as the arm he put all his weight on collapsed and he was headed face first into the cement. 

Lucky for him Sun was quick to catch him, “careful!” he cradled the slightly smaller attendant, “you’re still recovering,” he was gently lowered back to the bed much to his confusion, “your separation went wrong-” he quickly explained, “-but your brother is okay!” the older animatronic sat on the bed with Sunny, “you’ve been asleep for a long time”. 

The lighter animatronic started to tremble ever so slightly, “what?” he all but whispered. 

The yellow attendant gently picked up Sunny’s hand and brought his attention forward at him, “there’s a lot to explain, but I’m sure your brother will do a much better job at explaining than me,” the soft smile instantly put the frazzled animatronic at ease, “I can take you to him, but you should probably take a minute to get used to your new body”

The younger animatronic focused on the warmth Sun provided with the little contact, “new body,” he repeated as he looked down and realized how different he looked, “something bad happened during the separation, didn’t it?”

“It did,” Sun was gentle but honest, “he’ll tell you all about it, for now though, let’s just focus on getting you ready to meet him face to face,” he smiled, “he missed you a lot, he’ll be overjoyed to have you back”.

The lack of Moon being mentioned was concerning, but Sunny shook the thought away and took both of Sun’s hands to get off the bed. Sunny’s frame shook as untested parts learned to work together for the first time ever. 

The slightly smaller attendant wobbled as he tried to follow Sun and walk across the strange repair bay. He tripped on his own foot and was instantly back into the warm arms of his new friend. His new expressive faceplate burned red with embarrassment as Sun chuckled and assured him it was alright. 

For a second he was glad Sun was the one he met when he woke up, he couldn’t stand the thought of Eclipse or Moon seeing him fumble like a doe. He hadn’t been this unsteady since he was first brought online. 

Sun’s smile assured him while he adjusted his center of balance and calibrated his OS to the new body. It felt similar enough to his original one that it was easy to debug, but different enough that he hadn’t noticed the oddly concentrated look he was making while staring at his feet. 

Soon enough he was walking as well as he could. Sun stayed by his side the entire time, catching him when he fell and had outstretched arms the second he stumbled over himself, “alright!” he finally announced, “I’m good now,” he smiled proudly to Sun who merely gave the younger one a head shake, “let’s go find my brother!”

He took one step and felt his ankle fold in half, “wha-!” he cried as he sailed towards his doom. 

Once again Sun was there in an instant, carefully catching his torso before he could reach terminal velocity, “let’s not damage yourself before that,” he huffed amusedly, “you can lean on me if you need to, your brother isn’t too far”

“Okay,” Sunny agreed without a fuss as his faceplace maintained a pink hue. Way to totally embarrass yourself in front of your new friend! He cried silently as Sun led the two of them out of the darkened room and into a bright hallway. His eyes took a few minutes to calibrate so Sun stayed still and waited for Sunny to blink away the notification on his HUD.

Sunny openly gawked. The new scenery definitely looked like the pizza plex he remembered, but there was so much more than he thought there could be with FazBear being so crap at managing their own company. He nearly fell, distracted as his eyes roamed the neon halls with a few staff bots waving at the two. Sunny hesitantly waved with the hand that wasn’t being supported by Sun. 

It wasn’t long before the daycare came into view, it didn’t look like the one he remembered, but it was still beautiful. Sun had little difficulty opening large door as he merely stepped up to it and asked, “Spaniard can you please open the doors”

Before Sunny could even think to ask who Spaniard was, a disembodied voice answered “As you wish” and the doors were open. 

His eyes adjusted to the bright and colorful daycare and soon they met a whole group of animatronics in front of the security desk. All conversation ceased as their eyes turned to him, he would have felt nervous if not for the fact that his brother’s voice cried out his name and an unfamiliar animatronic nearly tackled him. 

“Sunny!” though this definitely was not the frame he remembered, he knew in an instant that this was the same brother he had given his life for. 

“Eclipse!” he hugged back, not even acknowledging the fact that he had been ripped out of Sun’s hands.

Chapter Text

Sunny blinked and looked at the ceiling of the brand new room he had been given. He asked for some space after being caught up on what he missed. 

Apparently his older brother went insane after he didn’t wake up. Moon had dedicated every minute of every day to fixing him and tormenting his little brother. He broke his poor little brother apart piece by piece until he had to be shoved into an old rusting frame. The deranged brother followed him to an entirely new universe to disassemble the orange bot for parts. 

He was alive though. Sunny wasn’t given the location, but apparently his older brother was captured instead of killed. This world’s Moon had found the two brothers fighting and aided the broken animatronic before he could kill the person he once considered family.

That was another thing, Eclipse wasn’t called Eclipse anymore, his new name was Solar. And Solar was a part of the family that took him in. The Celestial family was big, but they were nice. 

He learned about Ruin destroying thousands of dimensions, he learned about this world’s Eclipse quest for vengeance and semi-redemption. He owed his and Solar’s life to this asshole apparently. There were also all these weird characters that liked to pop up from the portal from time to time. He didn't even know different dimensions were a thing and here he was now living in one far away from home. 

Everything went downhill the second he closed his eyes and he couldn’t help but feel the smallest bit bitter about it all. He lost one brother to madness and gained the other he hardly recognized. It was cruel, a small part of him reminded him that Moon- no , Moon wasn’t called Moon anymore either. Solar called him Rise and the others seemed to do the same unless they were feeling slighted and called him Badmoon. 

Nothing he seemed to remember mattered much. 

Meow

He blinked and sat up in the softest bed he’d ever known, “hello?” he tilted his head and noticed he left his door slightly ajar. Sure enough he received a response in the form of a small fluffy feline hopping on his bed. 

The cat he recalled was called Muffin and he hesitantly pet the insistent creature. Soon the other cat joined his brother, Cleo if he remembered right. 

Sunny had the main lights in his room off, he wasn’t afraid of the dark, he often found solace in it, most likely coming from when he and his brother were first in one body. He kept the lamp on his nightstand on to create the warm lighting and it was nice for a bit, even as he tried to grapple with his new life. 

“Not again,” his head snapped back to his door as yellow peaked from behind the crack in the door. Sun knocked but did not enter, “I’m so sorry” he sounded tired, “I was about to give those two a bath and they escaped”

“You can come in,” Sunny continued to pet the orange cat. 

“They were probably looking for a place to hide,” Sun shook his head, “I’m sorry if they disturbed you”

“It’s okay,” Sunny looked at the fluffy bois, “I think they’re a nice distraction”

Sun nodded, “I hear that,” he ruffled Cleo’s head, “how have you been holding up,” his voice was soft, “you’ve been up here for an hour”.

He hadn’t realized that he was staring for so long, “Not great,” Sunny felt his shiny rays wilt ever so slightly, “everything feels too much, I just…” he trailed off, “...I can’t believe Moon did any of it, and Eclipse just-” he shook his head, “- Solar had to run all the way to another dimension to feel safe” he continued to pet the cats while Sun sat on his bed again, “and I was asleep the whole time, if I hadn’t been so insistent on giving him his own body, then none of this would have ever happened”

“You can’t know that,” Sun spoke not looking at Sunny, as if he was talking to himself, “I know it’s a lot to take in, but I don’t think either of your brothers blame you for what happened, they both made their own choices and agreed to do the separation, I don’t think anyone was really to blame”

“Maybe,” Sunny sighed, “but it’s still a lot to take in” he squished Muffin’s face, “I mean we used to live in that cramped room above the daycare and now I get a room to myself in an actual house!” he huffed, “it’s all so weird!”

Sun chuckled lightly, “that’s how I felt when we bought the house” he let his orange baby climb into his lap, “we actually had an island before this place, it was so isolated and big” he smiled, “it was an experience to try and live somewhere where people didn’t have access to my living space”

“I think Solar mentioned something like that,” he finally turned to look at Sun, “you had another brother too, the one that bought the other house”

“He calls himself Nexus these days,” he passively answered, “Moon bought this house to get away from anything he did”

“Everything sounds so complicated here-” Sunny quickly backtracked, “-I mean I’m sure it was a lot to go through-!” he stammered. 

Sun took no offense, “you can say it, it’s okay” he shook his head lightly, “I’m more surprised I lasted this long, it’s always been complicated, one thing or another, things are never too peaceful” he took a breath, “it’s probably why Solar and my twin have been thinking of moving dimensions”

“How does anything settle if you guys are always moving?”

“I don’t know”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“And then he asked how anything settles!” Solar sat miserably on the couch in the family room with his head buried in his hands as Moon awkwardly patted his back. He was upstairs for just a moment, enough to catch the tailend of his brother talking to Sun. 

“We don’t have to move right away,” Moon offered. 

“Really?” Solar brought his face out of his hands, “wait- no, we’re moving dimensions to get away from Nexus and Dark Sun, this isn’t something we can just wait on”

Moon shrugged, “well those bastards keep finding us anyways,” he focused on the muted TV playing some kids show Dazzle and Jack must have left on, “it’s not outside the realm of possibilities they’d be able to find us in the new place too”

“So what?” Solar blinked, “we just put it off?”

“Why not?” Moon quirked a brow, “your brother is obviously distressed by all the changes”

“I-” Solar shook his head, “-I mean he is, but I don’t want to risk Nexus finding him either”

“It’s okay,” Moon always seemed to have the smile that said everything was going to be okay, even when he knew there was no way he could promise that, “ever since he broke in last time, I started on some new defense measures, he’s not getting in without us knowing”

“Okay,” Solar all but whispered, “maybe a week or two wouldn’t hurt”

“You should talk with your brother,” Moon got up to stretch and started heading to the kitchen, “sounds like you guys still have a lot to talk about…” he trailed off, disappearing just for a moment before returning with an opened box of cheerios, “...pretty sure none of us would be taking any of this as well as he has”

“That’s always been Sunny,” Solar looked to the floor and chuckled humorlessly, “endless optimism and someone who would never let me know even if anything was wrong”

“Then talk to him,” Moon sat back beside Solar on the couch, “look at Sun and me, nothing good came out of keeping secrets and I almost didn’t have a chance to fix it,” he smiled, face stuffed with cereal, “trust me, he wants you to be there more than anything”

Solar turned to face Moon with a small smile, “ya know you’re pretty good at this”

“Eh,” Moon shook his head, “nah,” he objected, “not really good at the whole emotions stuff, but it doesn’t take a genius to realize you both love each other”

“Yea,” Solar smiled back. 

~~~~~~~~~

“Can I do anything to help?” Sunny stood awkwardly by the security desk in the daycare as Sun began his set up routine for the day. 

Sun blinked and put the stack of papers he was holding down. It was as if he had entirely forgotten Sunny woke up early and joined him in the daycare before the others. 

“Hmm,” Sun hummed softly and ran through his mental checklist, “well I’ve got the craft area taken care of,” he brought his hand up to his chin and thought for a moment, “oh!” he smiled at the bright attendant, “if you wouldn’t mind bringing the nap time blankets out of the storage closet, that’d be a great help”

If Sun noticed Sunny visibly perk up at the task he didn’t mention it, “the storage closet is still the door next to the restrooms right?” Sunny stopped and nervously looked back before he approached the room. 

“Yup,” Sun meticulously organized the colored papers, “the daycare may look a lot different, but most of the closets and storage areas are still the same” he didn’t look up from the small table in front of him, “I even kept the art supplies stored in the same area”.

“That’s perfect!” Sunny cheered, “finally!” he swiftly unlocked the door with the keys Solar had given him earlier, “something I recognize!" He took stock of all the folded blankets and soft pillows, “do you normally put the plushies and pillows out early?” he shouted from across the daycare. 

“Plushes and pillows can stay in the outer corners of the daycare, some kids miss a nap or stick to the sides where it’s quiet” he called back. 

“Huh,” Sunny mused to himself as he located the small nooks around the play area where he assumed kids liked to spend time, “this place is so different” he fluffed a few pillows into what looked liked a very comfortable corner for the tiny humans, “but I guess some things stay the same” he smiled. 

~

Sun took a breath and admired his clean and pristine daycare before the day began. He knew it would all be messy and disorganized within a matter of hours, but it was nice to smile at the cleanliness while it lasted. 

Sunny’s rays were spinning as he gushed, “I saw your schedule!” he held up the paper like it was a lifeline, “I can’t wait for the paper flower tutorial!” he hugged the paper, “I never got to learn how to make them, but I learn quick and oh I just can’t wait to see what the little ones make!”

“Yea,” Sun put the rag he was holding on the security desk, “it’s spring and it’s one of the easier crafts to do, it keeps them occupied and I don’t have to worry about the older kids being bored”

“And I noticed you had a parachute!” Sunny’s smile was so bright that Sun couldn’t help but smile too, “my daycare never got one, but I’ve heard from the kids who went to school that it was their favorite activity!”

“Lunar and Earth will be here for the second shift and they really enjoy playing with the parachute” Sun. 

“Second shift-?” Sunny didn’t get to ask before the daycare doors were thrown open and Solar barrelled through. 

“SUNNY!” Solar cried, “OH DEAR STARS YOU’RE HERE!” he nearly toppled the aforementioned bot as he squeezed him. 

“Solar?!” Sunny blinked, “what are you doing here?!”

“Wha-” Solar looked up, “what am I doing here!?” he let go of the smaller animatronic, “what are you doing here!” he sounded like he was going to cry, “I woke up and you were gone!”

“You didn’t tell anyone you were going with me?” Sun piped up. 

“Well-!” Sunny stammered, “-I didn’t think- I didn’t think I had to?!” he nervously twiddled with his fingers, “I always wake up before 6am to get the daycare ready,” his eyes didn’t meet Solar’s. 

“I thought it was a dream,” Solar quickly held Sunny’s hands, “I-” his eyes teared slightly,
"I- thought you were still gone." 

“Oh Solar,” Sunny returned the hug with full force, “I’m sorry” his voice was soft, “I forgot I was missing for so long,” he gave his younger brother a smile, “I’ll tell you next time I leave”

Solar didn’t look convinced, but let Sunny’s smile wash over him. He trusted his brother at the very least, Sunny wouldn’t say that unless he meant it. 

A loud alarm blared and Sun panicked for a moment as he struggled to bring his phone out of his pants pocket and silence it, “sorry!” his hands trembled ever so slightly, “the daycare is opening in a few minutes”

“Sweet!” Sunny instantly brightened, “let’s get started then!” he mimicked the gesture of rolling his imaginary sleeves up. 

Chapter Text

Solar did not leave the daycare even after the doors had opened. After the morning scare, he refused to leave Sunny’s side. With practiced ease he broke up toddler fights and rocked babies to sleep. He did, at some point, run the entire daycare by himself before Sunny woke up after all. 

Sun bit his proverbial tongue as the duo gave him more work. Kids weren’t given the introduction to Sunny that Sun had originally planned and most had hardly ever seen Solar before. He struggled to explain to several kids at different times that they were helping him in the daycare. 

The yellow attendant ran back and forth between crying children and the small group of kids that bothered the two animatronics who stayed most of the time at the craft corner. 

Sunny never did get to learn how to make a paper flower that day. Solar was the dutiful brother who quelled his own fears by waiting on Sunny’s hands and feet. Paper for crowns suddenly appeared on a whim on the table Sunny sat at and noisy children were shooed away quietly when Sunny began to feel overwhelmed. 

The daycare door opened and Sun was thankful as Lunar and Earth stepped in chatting. Sun gave them a rundown of what semblance of a schedule he had left and some behavior warnings for several trouble makers before he left the daycare. 

“What’s up?” Lunar nodded as Sunny came into view. 

“Oh hello,” Sunny looked away from Solar to the new animatronics, “you’re Earth and Lunar, right?”

Earth was tall, probably the tallest animatronic Sunny had ever seen. She towered over him and right next to her was the smallest animatronic he’d ever met. He was definitely starting to regret asking for space last night instead of being introduced to everyone. 

“It’s so nice to finally meet you!” Earth clapped her hands, “I’m so happy we get a chance to work together!”

“Sup,” Lunar acknowledged Solar who shadowed Sunny. 

“You guys are early,” Solar raised a brow. 

Lunar shrugged, “Earth really wanted to meet Sunny”

“Can you blame me?” Earth smiled, “you hardly ever talk about your family!”

Sunny winced ever so slightly, he could only imagine the kind of conversations that would have led to, uh yea, my older brother is currently in a coma, no big deal, totally fine about it. And my other brother blamed me, so how’s your day?

It was odd, Earth was bright in more ways than just her paint job. Her model was shiniest and her smile seemed to glow, but something felt off to Sunny. Her hair swayed softly as she gushed over him like he wasn’t there. If he looked close enough he could see faint sparkles and stars embedded in her frame, a lovingly crafted body that wasn’t consistent with the rest of the animatronics he’d met. 

Lunar sighed, “even when I was in your universe you didn’t really say much”.

Sunny resisted the urge to label the small animatronic as a child. His programming was already identifying him as a little kid, but he definitely didn’t talk like one. He was too casual and sighed too much, like he was already holding a burden far larger than he could bare. He too was odd to Sunny. He was bright too, but in a way that couldn’t be seen physically, like an internal light that couldn’t be seen from the outside. 

The sunshine animatronic himself was closely modeled after Sun. Sure he didn’t have his old static faceplate, but he definitely didn’t look expressive like Earth or articulate like Solar. 

For a second he felt overwhelmed. Kids he knew, they were innocent little bundles of joy that were honest, they grew, but didn’t change in appearance the same way the people in front of him seemed to. 

“Not much to say,” Solar looked away embarrassed, “I was always busy when you were visiting-”

The four were interrupted by a small little girl tugging on Sunny’s pants. Solar tried to swat the child away but Sunny knelt down, “what can I help you with sweety?”

The little girl sniffled and looked to the floor, “Mr. Zun” she cried “dusky gone”. Sunny blinked and lifted his head towards the other two as if to say, the heck is a dusky?

“Awe!” Earth startled Sunny by scooping the teary child up, “I’m sorry Lily,” she cradled her, “Sun probably forgot to put out some of the plushies” she waved Sunny to follow her, “let’s go find Ducky together!”

Sunny mindlessly rose from the floor and followed Earth. 

Once Earth and Sunny were out of earshot Lunar leaned against one of the kiddie tables, “You okay man? You look like you’re about to fall over”

“If I said no, could we leave it at that?” Solar sat back down on the floor next to the table he and Sunny were crafting at. 

“You should probably talk about it, but it’s fine if you don’t want to right now”

“I just can’t get over the fact that it feels like a whole lifetime passed and suddenly it’s like no time passed at all”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“I don’t know,” Solar covered his hands in front of his face, “Sunny doesn’t look like he’s having trouble adjusting, but I definitely am”

“Totally,” Lunar deadpanned, “did you not just see what happened?” he shook his head, “he totally bluescreened the second we showed up”

“Ugh, I knew I should have insisted on introducing you guys earlier!” his misery intensified. 

“Nah, he probably woulda been more overwhelmed yesterday,” Lunar crossed his arms, “dude literally just got brought back to life, I’m more impressed he wanted to work today”

“I told him to take it easy, but Sunny has always been workaholic”

Lunar chuckled, “good to know where it came from”

“I do not work all the time!”

“You do! Solar you forget you rebuilt the entire daycare from scratch after Ruin blew it up”

“Don’t remind me”

“You did it to yourself! No one made you!”

“Hey guys!” Earth and Sunny seemed to reappear out of nowhere. 

“Sweet geez,” Solar held onto his nonexistent heart. 

“I can’t believe there’s an entire plushy storage room,” Sunny balked, “we never had one of those!”

“You found Ducky?” Lunar grinned. 

Earth nodded, “he was hiding behind a Mr. Hippo plush in the storage, but we found it!” she smiled.

“I’m surprised that little girl knew which one it was,” Sunny thought outloud, “I showed her a duck from one of the toy chests, but she knew right away it wasn’t the one she usually plays with”

“Ya know Sun left it in the storage on purpose so he could bring it out later. She only plays with that one plush, he probably just wanted to make sure she got it before anyone else”

The larger animatronic mulled over his words, “huh, I didn’t know he did that” she then blinked, “wait…if you knew why didn’t you say something?!”

Lunar shrugged. 

There was a loud cry and Earth seemed to realize they were still at work, “oh gosh!” she looked at the security desk, “there’s four parents waiting for drop off!” She looked to Sunny to apologize, “I’m so sorry to cut this short! I can’t believe I let time get away from me!”

“It’s okay, I’m glad I got to meet you both properly, that’s what matters” Sunny smiled, “I’m just glad you’re here, I don’t know your check in policies yet, and I was beginning to wonder if anyone else was coming!” 

“Did Sun not tell you?” Earth tilted her head. 

“Tell me what?” Sunny blinked. 

“We take the second shift,” Lunar spotted something in the distance and walked away for a minute. 

Earth continued, “Lunar and I take the second shift of the day to give Sun a break,” she explained, “he’ll come back if that’s what you were wondering,” she smiled. 

“Oh,” Sunny felt things go quiet for a moment before he looked around, “I didn’t even ask, but where is Sun now?”

Lunar returned to the group, “some kid peed on the floor” he cringed before heading to the supply closet, “you guys better hurry up” he called behind him, “looks like Janet’s starting another ballpit rebellion!”

“Of course,” Earth sighed, “I’ll get it” she turned to face the tiny terror who was gathering the plastic balls from the edge of the pit. She shook her head and then answered, “Sun should be resting back at the house”.

Solar rose from the floor, finally having enough of his sanity recovered from his near breakdown, “I’ll get the parents at the desk set up” he sighed. 

Sunny faced Solar and seemed to realize something, “wait…aren’t you in charge of the Theatre?!”

Solar’s face blushed, “I- yea” his eyes were immediately at the floor. 

“Then go do that!” he scolded, “you have responsibilities! I’m sure Earth or Lunar can get them in a minute!”

“It’s fine!” Solar tried to placate amidst the chaos of toddlers, “Fazbear doesn’t care if I miss a day or two!”

There was no malice in his glare, but Sunny’s point was made as he tapped his foot. 

“Okay okay okay!” Solar winced, “I’ll go back to the theater,” he rubbed the pipe that made up his neck, “but promise you’ll keep me updated?”

Sunny shook off his serious face and smiled, “of course brother, now go do your job”

Solar was reluctant but eventually left the daycare. Sunny picked up a few markers off the floor and watched in the corner of his eye as Lunar finished checking in the disgruntled parents and left the desk empty. 

With a sigh Sunny headed to the security desk and sat down for just a moment. He thought about what this world’s Moon had explained to him about the computer that oversaw the daycare, he figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask, “excuse me, Mr.Computer?”

“Good afternoon Sunny” came the robotic voice, “how can I help you”

“Whoa,” he stared at the computer screen in front of him in awe as a small geometric avatar appeared, “you really are an AI!”

“Indeed,” the figure made of a triangle and circle seemed to bow, “how may I help you”

Sunny almost forgot, “I was wondering where Sun went?”

“Sunrise is currently in the tower above the daycare”

“But Earth said-”

“Only conjecture,” the AI interrupted, “Sunrise is where he always is once Earth and Lunar arrive”

“Is he busy?” he questioned lightly, “I mean can I see him?” he sure had more questions than answers at this point. 

“Sunrise is currently charging, I would not advise interrupting”

“Charging?” he quirked a brow, “it’s only been a few hours since we opened?” he looked internally at his own battery, “I’m at 92%!”

The AI seemed snippy after the question, “different models have different requirements” he almost seemed to huff. 

Sunny didn’t ask any questions after that. 

~~

Sun woke up just an hour after taking his break. He still felt no more energized, but at least he knew he’d last until the end of the day now. 

He walked the long way from the balcony to the daycare entrance and was met with Sunny as soon as the doors opened. 

“Oh,” Sunny blinked, “I was just going to meet Solar for my break,” he tilted his head, “what are you doing here”

Sun blinked, “huh?” he shook his head as if not expecting the question, “I’m here to finish the day????”

“But I thought-” Sunny was interrupted by the sound of Solar putting a closed for lunch sign on the theater. 

Before he could look back, Sun had already left so Solar could show his brother his job.

Sun shook his head and tried to shake the tired off, a few more hours, he groaned internally, then it’ll be quiet again.

Chapter Text

“Sun!” Lunar called out, startling Sun who was stacking a barrel, “Moon’s here!”

The sunny attendant was quick to abandon all his tasks to run to the door as he was met with his abashed twin, “sorry to bother you at work,” he looked to the floor. It was then that Sun’s eyes widened at Dazzle who was hiding behind Moon’s pants, “I accidentally left a horror movie on while I took a nap and Dazzle watched some of it,” he quickly added, “but it was only a few minutes I swear!”

Jack seemed to materialize from the darkness and hovered over Dazzle before she noticed him and nearly screeched. 

Sun was quick to pick up the tiny deer as he let her face snuggle into his ruffles, “oh sweety” he cooed, “it’s alright”

“I am so sorry Sun,” Moon cringed, “I didn’t think I was going to fall asleep, let alone that she would be around to watch the movie”

“It’s okay,” it really wasn’t, “I’ll take her for the day” he noticed the nervous pumpkin to his right, “Jack can be in the daycare too,” he beckoned the child quietly, “just please let the others know and make sure Solar knows Jack is here too”

“I will,” Moon promised and rubbed his arm awkwardly. 

“Thank you, Moon,” Sun gently rubbed Dazzle’s back, “for bringing her to me”

“Yea,” Moon walked away silently and headed straight for the theater. 

~~~~~~~~~

“Moon?” Solar’s voice snapped Sunny out of the conversation they were having. He was expecting to see his brother and found himself ashamed that he was disappointed it wasn’t his Moon. 

“Heya,” Moon looked down at the counter as Solar crossed his arms. 

“What did you do?”

“I let Dazzle watch part of a horror movie,” Moon groaned. 

“Ah,” Solar chuckled, “that kind of fuck up”

“Dazzle?” Sunny piped up, “that’s Sun’s daughter, right?”

“Oh yea,” Solar realized, “you haven’t formally met her yet, have you? I know she’s kinda shy with new people” new people that looked so similar to her father that is, but he wasn’t going to say that.

“Nope,” Sunny tilted his head, “can she not handle scary movies?”

Moon answered, “not even a little bit,” he nearly slammed his head against the counter, “I can’t believe I just fell asleep while watching the kids!” 

“Did Jack see anything?” Solar quirked a brow and Moon felt as though his next words would determine his fate. 

“No,” Moon lifted his head, “I know he likes replicating the weapons” he shivered at what could have been if Jack did see the movie he had on, “but I turned it off the second I heard Dazzle scream”

“Since she’s not with you, I’m going to assume she’s in the daycare then?”

“Yea,” Moon groaned again, “Sun’s going to kill me” he cried, “and Jack’s there too by the way” he sulked, “he felt really bad for scaring her earlier”

“Of course,” Solar sighed smiling, “they’re besties after all”

“Jack,” Sunny repeated the name and Solar and Moon turned to him as if forgetting he was even there, “is that the little pumpkin animatronic that sleeps by the foot of your bed?”

“What?” Solar blinked, “he’s the pumpkin yea, but he doesn’t sleep in my room”

Sunny tilted his head, “pretty sure I saw him sneaking into your room when I went to get some water”

“Dang it Jack,” Solar murmured, “not again”

“Ha!” Moon laughed, “told you he was still doing that”

“Is he not supposed to?” Sunny looked at Solar. 

“No,” Solar shook his head, “I told him to stop doing that, I thought he stopped a while ago”

“Well your son probably just wants to be with you,” Sunny nodded as if putting the pieces together. 

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Solar waved his arms in alarm, “he is not my son!” his faceplate grew hot, “I made him yea, but he’s not my kid!”

“He’s lying,” Moon laughed, “Jack is totally his son, he just hasn’t accepted it yet”

“I do not have a son!” Solar made an x with his arms, “I created him to protect Lunar and then he somehow gained sentience, he is not my son!”

Sunny was not convinced, but somehow the conversation still felt off. 

~~~~~~~

Dazzle stayed on Sun’s hip for the entire day, her tiny animatronic eyes shut as she shivered from the gory scenes she witnessed earlier. Memories of red flashed through her mind as pinprick tears threatened to flow. 

“I’ve got you,” Sun hummed quietly amidst the sea of loud children. Without a second thought he had left most of the work to Earth and Lunar as he tended to his child. He softly ruffled through her synthetic hair as the two sat down in the quietest part of the daycare, the nap corner. 

While naptime had the lights off, the nap corner provided solace during playtime, and right now there was no one more thankful for Sun’s decision to include the addition than himself. 

“I don’t know what you’re afraid of,” Jack sat down beside Sun and offered, “but I can protect you from it!” innocent eyes looked into Dazzle’s frightened ones as she opened her eyes.

She was still half snuggled into Sun’s ruffles as her teary optics refreshed and then held her small hand out for Jack to hold. Dazzle didn’t say anything else as Sun slowly rubbed her back and coaxed her to sleep. 

Soft even breathing was eventually heard as Sun sighed in relief, “thank you Jack” he didn’t stop soothing Dazzle. 

“For what?” Jack tilted his head. 

“For being there for Dazzle,” Sun looked at his daycare that was slowly burning down as Earth climbed the outside netting to reach a child and Lunar slipped on a stray plush. Strangely enough he had no urge to quell the chaos, “she isn’t the best at finding her words, but she trusts you and she’s thankful to have you as a friend”

Jack didn’t like Sun, he wasn’t subtle in his dislike, but for a moment he could understand why she did. It made the young animatronic think about the person he looked up to the most, Solar. The mechanic made him and in a sense he guessed that was why he felt the need to be close to him at the beginning. 

When Ruin killed Solar, Jack didn’t know what to think. The absence of his creator wasn’t a big deal at first, but all of a sudden he was missing both a purpose to his existence and the reason for it. 

It wasn’t long before he missed the constant in his life and felt a hole where he didn’t know Solar had been in his mechanical heart. He cried, not understanding why he felt the way he did nor why Solar meant so much to him. 

No one knew how to console the newly sentient animatronic and it was a problem until Sun had found the small bot staring out into the water. It was an awkward conversation, with Sun empathizing with the deep sorrow he had for his own brother’s death. And then Nexus, or Moon at the time showed him how the hole in his heart could grow if he didn’t reach out for Sun’s outstretched hand. Earth and Lunar were of course startled by his sudden awareness, but soon enough he began feeling like a person.

Then he met Dazzle, the terrifying child with the quietest voice. He had never met an animatronic like her, someone who felt as new as him, someone who knew what it was like to be shunned and judged. She became his best friend, but alas her best friend was Sun. 

Logically he knew Sun wasn’t an enemy, but he was upset that the one person he made an actual connection with was taken from him. 

Jack didn’t get to have nice things, he was a thing. 

He was looked down on, treated like he was stupid and then the one person who looked at him like he was an extraordinary feat of engineering, special and mechanically perfect, was killed before he knew he was loved.

So forgive the child if he seemed upset that Dazzle’s number one friend was Sun. Even worse when he found out that she was once afraid of him. 

Yet there in Sun’s arm, cradled like she was the most precious person in the world, Jack could help but feel the smallest bit bitter. Why couldn’t Solar hold him like that?

While wrapped up in his thoughts he blinked at the sudden weight on his head. He looked up to see Sun smiling back at him and ruffling his nightcap with gentle ministrations, “it’s okay” his voice was soft, “if you’re tired you can take a nap too, I’ll keep watch”.

Sun was almost too good at that. Without responding verbally Jack made himself comfortable at Sun’s side and closed his eyes. He still held onto Dazzle’s hand, as if he thought she too would disappear if he wasn’t watching. Carefully and slowly, Sun circled the arm not holding Dazzle around the pumpkin and watched as the two children slept peacefully as the daycare seemed to grow louder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunny returned after taking his break in the theater and nearly squealed at how cute the sight in the nap corner. Lunar was quick to hush him and assign him to damage control, but he snapped a photo with his shiny optics before breaking up a few toddlers fighting and soothing a cranky child who missed a nap. 

“She’s so cute!” Sunny gushed while throwing away some paper scraps from the table he was cleaning. 

“She is!” Earth agreed while she tied a trash bag, “and oh you should see it when the two fall asleep on the couch!” 

“I bet that’s just the cutest thing ever!” Sunny’s rays spun, “he just looks so in his element,” he admitted, “I hope I can be as good with kids as him”.

“Sun has been here longer than anyone,” Earth smiled and wiped a paint stain on the same table he was at, “you shouldn’t compare yourself to him, you’re doing well in your own right, Sun just so happens to have a lot of practice with children”

Sunny shook his head, “I know,” his smile didn’t fade, “and I know I’ve been out of the game for a while, but it’s kinda hard when that’s the standard, the kids are literally sleeping on him! My daycare experience was just so different” he explained, “even with Moon’s help we had trouble keeping everything in order, and we didn’t even have half as many kids as you guys do here!”

“This is nothing,” Earth spoke with pride, “Sun used to work the entire daycare by himself!” she exclaimed, “even before I was sent here, Sun was with the kids the entire time, he was the one who showed all of us how things were done”

“Wow,” was all Sunny could say, that does not sound like the flex you want it to , “well, I’m glad he’s still so active with the kids then, I can’t imagine having to do all of this alone, let alone with the model I used to have, kids would never get that close to me”

Lunar popped out from under the table having apparently been scrubbing at an odd marker stain on the floor, “well Dazzle doesn’t really count,” Sunny tilted his head, “Dazzle was like his kid even before-” he didn’t get to finish his sentence as a kid behind them screeched and there was a loud bang, “frick” Lunar deadpanned and ran towards the sound. 

Earth chuckled, “I’m more surprised Jack is taking a nap with him”

“Does he ever sleep?” Sunny paused midmotion of picking up a forgotten papercrown, “I noticed he kinda stays up at night”

The tall animatronic sighed, “I’ve been trying to get him to go to therapy about that. Solar did mention that he stays up and watches him sleep or at the very least he can hear Jack outside his door at night. I think he’s just afraid Solar will disappear again”

“That’s a lot to handle for a child,” Sunny’s eyes locked onto Sun who looked more at peace than he usually did most days, “how is Solar taking it?”

“I’ve been trying to talk to him about it, but I think it just annoys him more than anything, he’s not really fond of the feeling of being watched,” she paused, “but that should really be coming from him”

“I guess so,” Sunny placed the paper crown on the craft shelf for a child to get later if they remembered it, “we haven’t really talked about anything like that since I woke up”

“This family is notorious for not communicating,” Earth giggled a little, “don’t take it too personally”

Earth left him alone at the small table while she picked up a child who was clearly about to do a crime, repeating “family?” out loud as he wondered whose he was a part of.

Chapter Text

Dazzle didn’t have any nightmares in Sun’s arms. She was happy that was a tried and true constant. Now after memories and movie scenes mixed in her mind, she found the grounding yellow to be a comfort and even in sleep she knew she was safe.

“Sun?” She felt smaller than usual as she stayed by the security desk with Jack as Sun swept the floor. 

Immediately Sun turned to face her, “yes honey?”

“Can I sleep with you tonight?” she ruffled her dress skirt and looked down. 

“Of course,” Sun smiled kindly and Dazzle let her eyes look up, “for as long as you need”

“And Jack too?” she added quickly, face brightening. 

“And Ja-” he paused and looked at the sheepish animatronic, “and Jack too?” He raised a brow. 

“Yea!” Dazzle’s face brightened, “Jack promised to protect me, so we have to stick together!” she stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

Sun thought for just a second, “did you ask if Jack wanted to?” he then looked at Jack, “Jack doesn’t have to if he doesn’t want to, but if he does, that’s okay too”

“Oh, yea,” Dazzle backtracked and then looked to Jack too, “sorry,” she held her hands together, “I didn’t ask you”

“It’s okay!” Jack said almost too quickly. He then awkwardly twiddled with his hands, his eyes didn’t meet Sun’s as he replied, “I want to stay with Dazzle”

“Alright,” Sun smiled softly, “once I’m done sweeping we’ll go home” he paused only to remember he wasn’t alone this time, “I’ll make sure Sunny knows we’re going home early too”

“Yay!” Dazzle cheered, “we can play with the cats when we get home” she held Jack’s hand as the pumpkin’s face brightened and matched the new energy in her voice. 

~

Sun shook his head as he walked away with a bright look on his face. He loved her more than he’d ever thought he could love any of his stars. In a twist of fate he was glad she came into his life.

He walked across the play area to some structures and knocked on the plastic window where Sunny was wiping. 

Sunny bonked his head on the ceiling lightly, but perked the second he noticed Sun, “coming!” he crawled out the side with a grace Sun longed for. 

“Thank you again for helping with closing,” Sun started. 

“Thank you for letting me into your daycare!” Sunny smiled, “I think I would have gone mad if I didn’t have something to do all day, it’s nice to have something familiar even if this isn’t my dimension”

“Well I appreciate you helping out today regardless,” Sun set the broom he was holding against the structure, “I just wanted to let you know that we’re finishing early today” he looked back to Dazzle and Jack who were playing with a few dolls, “I want to take Dazzle home so she can get some rest and I think we’ve cleaned enough for the night”

Sunny looked over to see what Sun saw, “family is important,” he smiled back, “I think it’s a good idea to take them home”

“It’s been a rough day for all of us,” Sun admitted, “so let’s head out, I can finish this tomorrow morning”

The younger attendant blinked and pointed at himself in confusion, “me too?” for some reason he didn’t think he was a part of the us Sun was talking about .

“Of course,” Sun raised a brow, “you worked hard today too,” his head tilted ever so slightly, “as you said, family is important”

“Well yea- I mean yes I did… but I didn’t think you- you were also talking about me…?” he stuttered. 

“You’re Solar’s older brother, of course you’re family,” Sun stated in a way that brushed off all doubt, “let’s go home,” he gently tugged the stunned animatronic with him to the entrance, “if we hurry we can make it before the rest of the plex closes, I’ll even have enough time to make a nicer dinner than chicken nuggets”

They were close to the entrance when Dazzle’s indignant tone reached them, “what’s wrong with nuggies!?”

“That’s right,” Sun realized, “you haven’t met the kids yet”. 

Nervously Sunny seemed to almost hide behind Sun as they approached the kids, “forgot about that”

Dazzle pouted as Sun chuckled, “there’s nothing wrong with nuggies,” he assured, “I’m only telling Sunny I can make everyone something other than nuggies so you guys have more to yourselves”

“Oh,” Dazzle uncrossed her arms, “that sounds right” she then nodded, “I like nuggies, lots of nuggies”

“Anyways,” if Sun had visible pupils he would have rolled them playfully at her antics, “this is Dazzle and Jack” he introduced. 

Quickly Dazzle seemed to realize that Sun was not alone and gawked at the stranger before hiding behind Sun. 

“It’s very nice to meet you both,” Sunny smiled, “my name is Sunny”

“You are my creator’s brother,” Jack recognized. His yellow optics widened ever so slightly, the little bot knew Sunny was in the daycare, he saw him run around the play area with Lunar, but for some reason didn’t seem to expect the introduction. 

Sunny blinked not expecting the odd cadence of his voice before snapping himself out of it and giving him a friendly wave, “I am,” he admitted, “Solar is my little brother”

“Oh,” Dazzle held Sun’s pants light, “you’re from the other place” she stayed partially hidden. The little deer was so small, and it was clear she loved Sun very much. It brought a smile to his eyes, it was such an odd concept, for a robot to have a kid at all. A small thought nagged at him to ask how that was even possible, but Solar did say that he made Jack, perhaps she was the same?

“Yes,” he crouched down to her level, “I’m from another dimension, I was asleep for a long time, but now I’m here, I hope that’s okay” He actually had no plans for what to say if the child said no, it wasn’t as if either of them had a choice in Sunny’s new home. Sunny just hoped at some point she would be comfortable with him. 

Dazzle nuzzled Sun’s pants, “were you gone like him?”

Now Sunny was definitely not expecting that question, how much have these children gone through , he wondered.

Luckily Sun answered for him, “Sunny was gone like Solar, but he was injured, that’s why he took a while to get here” he patted her head and ruffled her hair. 

“I saw you at night,” Jack’s declaration did not help Sunny’s growing anxiety, was it always this hard to talk to kids????

“sorry,” Sun ruffled Dazzle’s hair as he apologized, “Jack wonders around the house at night sometimes, he probably saw you if you were up late”

“Yea,” Sunny answered awkwardly and stood back up, “I grabbed some water last night”

“You grabbed Dazzle’s favorite cup,” though Jack sounded miffed, it was without malice. 

“All the cups are for community use!” Sun quickly corrected lightly, much to Sunny’s relief, “I just usually make sure the little pink cup for Dazzle and the orange cup with a pumpkin for Jack are washed in the morning”

“I’m sorry,” Sunny looked at Dazzle who was still hiding behind Sun, “I didn’t know”

“It’s okay,” Dazzle offered shyly, “I like the green cup too”.

Sun sighed lightly, “everything is okay Jack” the little animatronic did not look very convinced, but nodded hesitantly. 

“It might take me a while, but I’ll learn the ways of your house,” Sunny smiled, “so please be patient with me”

“Okay…” Jack looked embarrassed as his eyes looked down, “but you can’t use the brown mug in the morning, my creator uses that for coffee”

Sunny chuckled a little, “of course he would drink coffee,” he shook his head slightly, “it doesn’t surprise me at all that he needs caffeine in the morning”

Sun huffed out a small laugh, “more than that, he’s probably addicted to the stuff,” he let his shoulders fall ever so slightly, “he probably tried to hide it from you but he’s got a personal coffee maker at the house and in the theatre, he bought them with his first paycheck”

“Really?!” the tension that was once there started to dissipate, “I hear coffees bad for humans!? Why would he start drinking it?!”

“Believe me,” Sun shook his head, “I tried to avoid it, but Moon got him a mug for Christmas and it all went downhill from there”

Their chatter continued as Sun bid Spaniard a goodnight and asked the computer to put down a portal. All the while Jack thought quietly, didn’t Nexus buy that mug?

~~~~~~~

Moon looked up from his phone, “huh,” he stopped talking with Solar the moment he received a text. 

“What?” Solar dried the popcorn scooper he just washed, “what? Did you find something on Dark Sun”

Moon turned off his phone, “nah, nothing like that, Sun texted in the group chat that he was taking Sunny and the kids home early”

Solar was quick to pull out his phone to see a message from Sun on the family group chat and a direct message from Sunny saying the same thing. The small pulse of panic died down, “that’s good” he took a breath, “today was pretty long, hopefully they can get some rest”

“Knowing Sun, probably not, but I’m sure Sunny could use a break, poor guy kept sneaking in here when he got overwhelmed”

“Yea,” Solar sighed, “I told him not push himself, that he wasn’t ready for a full work day, I mean for fucks sake he just woke up not too long ago, he’s trying to act like nothing happened”

“I mean nothing did happen for him,” Moon opened a bag of chips that was on the counter, “dude just woke up from what was probably like a nap to him”

“I guess!” he ruffled his own rays in a moment of frustration before calming himself, “he’s his own person, he can make his own decision, I’m just worried…”

“You’re allowed to be worried,” Moon munched loudly, “still gotta talk to him about it though”

“Soon,” he agreed, “I just want to give him a little space”

“Fair,” he shrugged, “also I have a lock on Nexus’ location”

“Well that’s nice-” he paused, “What the fuck!?” he dropped the snacks he was putting away, “why didn’t you say that earlier!?”

“Just got the notification” he shrugged, “my phone has an app”

“But you just said that Sun texted!?”

“Yea,” he blinked, “Solar you forget, we have cellphones in our heads”

….

Chapter Text

Sunny’s first ever family dinner was such an interesting experience. He sat besides Solar and Earth at a table he never thought he’d ever have a seat at. Sure he had eaten a handful of cereal when Moon offered it and snacked on a leftover chicken nugget when Sun made too many, but this was nothing like that.

“Can you pass me the pepper?” Earth lightly nudged Sunny out of his thoughts.

He nodded and stared at the chicken in front of him after handing the bowl over. There were green foods, and yellow corn and some odd leafy thing on the plate, how in the world? He thought as he mimicked Solar’s movement of picking up the fork. 

The table was filled with soft chatter as Sunny’s mind raced, how do I? Solar happily munched on the leaves and asked Moon for the salt shaker as Sunny tried to hide his growing panic. 

All he wanted to do was turn his head to the side and observe Solar. It would be so easy to watch his posture and hand placement to figure out how to use the silverware in front of him. It wouldn’t be a big deal, but there were multiple forks on the right side of his plate and some spoons on the left. 

Dazzle chirped to Sun about some game she wanted to play and Sunny discreetly lifted his head to see Jack eating some chicken nuggets with his hands, could I do that?

Chicken nuggets? Chicken filets? They were all chicken right? If he didn’t want to use the complex silverware rules, he could just use his hands right?

Vaguely he tried to remember playing pretend with the kids in his daycare, but they usually played tea party and the play set cutlery looked much different. The sinking sensation of the world starting to fade became unbearable, nonono, his mind screamed at him to stay present, to get over the feelings and get through the thoughtful dinner Sun had made. 

Something was wrong, he never had to eat before, didn’t even have to memorize what the names of all the different kinds of food were. There was just something that felt so foreign and wrong from his mouth opening, from the shiny forks, to the fact that his brother wasn’t there. 

“Sunny?” Solar’s voice made Sunny snap to the sound as a tear spilled from his eye, “what’s wrong?” the fork in his hand dropped with a loud clang against his plate. Voices hushed and all eyes were suddenly on him. 

It was all too much.

The sunny animatronic began to weep. 

Solar was out of his chair immediately and was quick to his brother’s side. Sunny was embarrassed and couldn’t stop himself from shielding his eyes with his hands and crying into Solar’s shirt. 

Without a moment of hesitation Solar picked up his weepy brother and hid him away in the first floor bathroom by the living room. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Dazzle brushed her teeth in Sun’s bathroom. Her nightgown swayed as she moved to the beat of the music coming from the tablet on the sink. Once the song was over she put her toothbrush down and jumped off the step stool Sun brought from her bathroom. 

Sun’s room was dim, the light at his bedside was on, casting a soft glow around the room. She wandered over to the far end of the bed where Jack was fussing over pillow placements and frowning to himself. 

“Dazzle!” Jack smiled and dropped the pillow he was trying to fluff.

“Jack!” she hugged her taller friend and settled onto the bed next to him. 

“The bed was not comfortable enough,” Jack crossed his arms and huffed, “the pillows are too lumpy”

The little deer giggled, “I think it’s perfect!” she rolled around on top of the covers, “now all we need is Sun!”

“Sun,” Jack repeated slightly irked.

“Yea!” she smiled back, “he went downstairs to talk with uncle Solar, he’ll be back!”

Jack tilted his head at the mention of his creator.

~~~~~~

Sun and Moon stood just a little ways from the downstairs bathroom. 

“Poor guy,” Moon leaned against the wall with his arms crossed casually. 

“I can’t say I blame him,” Sun sighed, “I can only imagine the culture shock he’s going through right now”, he looked to the floor, “and I can’t believe I forgot how overwhelmed I was when you upgraded our bodies with nanos”

“I didn’t have a problem with it,” Moon shrugged, “I mean we started off with those popcorn bolts, it probably wasn’t as weird as suddenly eating a full course meal though”

“Considering you upgraded yourself days before downloading the software and nanos for me in my sleep, I can’t say I’m surprised you acclimated so well” Sun crossed his arms. 

Moon lifted his hands in surrender, “and I said I was sorry for that,” he huffed, “I’m not like that anymore” he crossed his arms again, “ ‘sides it was the same time I uploaded the patch for your Fazchip”

“I never said I was ungrateful,” Sun sighed. 

“Yea well-” Moon was interrupted by the door to the bathroom opening.

Solar walked out, his eyes wide for just a moment when he realized the two were outside. In his arms Sunny was curled in on himself with his hands clutching Solar’s shirt. His eyes were shut with evidence of tears still visible on his face. 

“Hey guys…” Solar cradled his brother a little tighter as if hiding him away from the rest of the world. 

“Everything good?” Moon looked down at the bright animatronic. 

“Yea,” neither looked convinced, “we just needed a minute” he lightly brushed past Sun who swiftly moved out of his way.

“I’m sorry,” Sunny’s small voice made Solar pause. His back was towards Sun and Moon as Sunny whispered, “you made that wonderful dinner and I ruined it” he sniffled. 

Though Sunny couldn’t see it, Sun smiled lightly and shook his head, "nonsense, you got overwhelmed and that’s okay. There will always be food in the fridge if you’re feeling up for it later, I hope you feel better”

“Get some rest,” Moon’s face softened, “we’ll all be out here for you when you’re ready”

“Thanks guys,” Solar looked back with a smile and then turned back towards his room. 

“hope those two can finally have a conversation,” Moon sighed. 

“Yea,” Sun’s eyes couldn’t leave the closed door.

Chapter Text

Sun sighed and bid Moon and Molten a goodnight and headed upstairs to his room. He composed himself before opening his door and smiling at the scene before him. 

Jack was performing a well crafted shadow play with the flashlight Sun usually kept on top of his nightstand. The room was just dark enough for the light to shine bright while the shadowed shapes shifted from bunnies to dogs to flowers. 

“I know this one,” Sun softly announced his presence, “it’s the story of Fluffy Bunny”

The pumpkin lowered his hands down as if he was caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to and his faceplate blushed.

“Sun!” Dazzle turned around and smiled brightly, “Jack was tellin me a book he found”

“Of course,” Sun sat on the edge of his bed as Dazzle crawled over, “it’s one of my personal favorites too”

“You know Fluffy Bunny,” Jack tilted his head. 

“By heart,” Sun shuffled the covers towards the foot of the bed and let the kids climb in, “it was the first book I ever owned that wasn’t Fazbear branded” he fluffed the pillows at the headboard and ushered the two to lean against them, “I used to read the book so often the pages fell out,” he chuckled. 

“Wow!” Dazzle grinned as she got comfortable between Sun and Jack, “you and Jack have the same favorite book!”

“Oh?” Sunny smiled at the bot he was sure didn’t like him very much, “how did you manage to find a copy? I found mine in the ballpit after someone left it and didn’t return.” he gave them a humorless chuckle, “I haven’t been able to find a copy after the daycare blew up”

Slowly with a blank expression Jack tapped a release button on his side and the other two watched in mild fascination and worry as he opened his chest panel ever so slightly. His hand slipped between the plates and he gently pulled out a small blackened stack of papers.

In an instant Sun knew. 

Even though the book’s spine had long since disintegrated and the cover was so charred the title wasn’t visible, Sun would recognize the burnt stickers on the back. When he first picked up the book all those years ago he wanted to try peeling them off, but never had the tools to do so without damaging the glossy paper cover. 

Even when he did have time Sun never did take the stickers off, and at some point he grew fond of the flower doodles and realistic trees. Soon he began to think of the stickers as evidence that the book was once loved by a little child who may never get it back, but let it become something special to him. 

It wasn’t long before he added a plain sun sticker to the mirage of colorful stickers on the back, to make a little mark, to prove that it hadn’t been abandoned, it was just as loved as before, and now it was his book. 

He wasn’t too surprised when Jack bashfully explained it had come from, “the dumpster behind the pizza plex”. There was no way Solar would have been able to know that his prized possession was anything more than charred unsalvageable garbage after Ruin had bombed his first home. 

For a second Sun was tempted to swipe the book back, it was rightfully his and he knew Jack was smart enough to understand what he had implied, but he didn’t. The little children’s book, worn and torn, was not just the first book Sun owned, no, it was Sun’s first ever possession once he gained awareness. Even before he and Moon split, it was his, the one thing slim enough to hide from Moon’s rampages. Something that was only Sun’s. 

And now, “can I see it?” Sun’s voice was soft and Jack found himself hesitant to hand over his treasure, “I’ll be careful”. Reluctantly the book passed Dazzle and was in Sun’s hands once more. He savored the feeling of memories hidden just beneath the book and physically restrained himself from tearing up, it was the one of the few objects he was genuinely upset didn’t make it during the explosion. 

Sun took a deep breath, “you’ve taken really good care of it”. He willed himself not to show his true emotion, “I’m glad you found this little guy before it was destroyed” that much was true though. 

He closed the little fragile book, its pages still colorful and full of life, “Fluffy Bunny would be happy to have you look after him” he closed the chapter he was on in more ways than one and handed the book back to Jack who looked stunned. As the book left his hands he felt the memories fade. Not in the way that made him sad, but the kind of way that let’s go while still being grateful and glad they happened. 

He said goodbye to everything he knew once, he could do it again, this time by his decision, not from necessity or peril this time. The passing of his little baby book felt more like growing now, like passing the torch.

The saffron animatronic didn’t let Jack say much more, too afraid he would get too sentimental, “why don’t we read Fluffy Bunny as tonight's bedtime story”

“Yay!” Dazzle seemed to have let the conversation wash over her, not really understanding the gravity of the action, “we gotta start from the beginning!” she smiled.

Sun turned his head to the flashlight that was long since forgotten on Jack’s side of the bed. The animatronic got the message and with wide eyes gave it to him. 

Jack then followed Dazzle’s example and awkwardly got comfortable in the big bed. He then opened the charred pages with practiced precision and began to read, “Once upon a time”. The flashlight Sun had pointed at the book flickered ever so slightly. 

~

The young animatronic lay awake for far longer than the lights were on. The flashlight was placed on the nightstand closest to him, the lamps were off, and the only light was the glow from the nightlight that was usually in the kids room. 

Dazzle had fallen asleep halfway through the book and even then, Jack finished the whole book, neither Sun nor he would admit why. 

Guilt riddled his mind as he sat up and looked at Sun’s sleeping face. Jack had spent so long hating Sun and now he wondered if he ever could again. 

He knew giving the book back was the right thing to do. Sun looked at the cover and his eyes seemed to glow brighter in recognition of the stickers on the back, it wasn’t something he could ignore. It was Sun’s book, something he handled as precious as Jack did, but he didn’t want to give it back. 

The dumb little picture book, something Lunar laughed at him for, Solar shrugged and gave him permission to keep, Earth tried to throw away by accident, and Moon didn’t bother with it, was his now. He vaguely wondered if they would say the same thing to Sun if they knew it was once his. 

That book was also his first possession, something he saw in passing and read passively before the ending made his mechanical heart stop. The little bunny did find home after being lost, he found his family and was tucked into bed in a section of the burrow his mother made just for him. 

For once he would be selfish, Jack would get to keep one thing for himself. He slept only for a little while, content that the book he cherished was now his and tucked safely with him.

Chapter Text

Sunny couldn’t look Solar in the eyes. His brother gently placed him on the bed. 

“I know Sun said it was okay,” the yellow attendant drew his legs close to his chest, “but I totally ruined dinner” he shrank in on himself. 

“You didn’t,” Solar sat beside him, “and no one blames you for needing a minute”

His once older brother could meet his eyes, “how did you deal with it?”

“Deal with what?”

“Eating, learning all the names of foods” his arms wrapped around his legs as he hugged himself, “I couldn’t even recognize a fork”

“Never really thought about it,” Solar admitted sheepishly, “when I was brought back I just knew” he realized, “I got a whole new body and suddenly the ability to eat”

“Why not me,” Sunny’s voice cracked, small droplets falling into his knees, something he could never do before. 

Solar scooted closer and wrapped an arm around his teary brother, “you didn’t come back the same way I did” he explained, “the guy who revived our dimension brought me back in a lab and you stayed back in the daycare”

“But why couldn’t I just know this stuff?” he sniffed, “I just embarrassed myself in front of the people who took us in!”

Solar frowned a bit, “I don’t think any of us were thinking about how you would react,” he sighed softly, “besides we don’t always have a big dinner like that. We do a family dinner maybe once a month?” he thought about it, “and on special occasions, the only ones who regular eat meals are really Dazzle and Jack, most of us snack”

Sunny uncurled himself slightly, “special occasion?”

“Yea,” Solar let out a humorless chuckle, “I think Sun just wanted to impress you, we don’t normally have that many courses, let alone more than one set of cutlery”

“That just makes me feel worse!” Sunny cried. 

“I didn’t say that to make you feel bad!” Solar quickly defended with a startled flinch, “I just wanted to let you know that this was out of the ordinary anyways and no one meant to hurt you!”

Sunny calmed ever so slightly and let his legs dangle off the side of the bed, “I know,” his voice was still quiet, “I just got so overwhelmed” his head hung low, “I’m sorry”.

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Solar shook his head, “if you’re worried about the whole learning curve thing, I can always make an update for you, or I could teach you all the things we were never programmed for”

“You can do that?” Sunny finally turned his head towards Solar.

“Of course!” Solar chuckled, “I learned a lot about coding and maintenance over the years” he smiled, “it wouldn’t even be a big deal, I’d probably have it done in a couple of hours”

“I’d like that a lot,” Sunny smiled back. 

“But,” Solar barely noticed he was taller than Sunny now when he looked down at those baby blue eyes, “I don’t want you to want the update because you think you’ll be any less to the others if you don’t know things,” he watched Sunny’s eyes widen just a fraction, not expecting the serious tone in his voice, “if I make you an update, it’s because you want to learn more about all the things we missed out on, not for anyone else”

Sunny didn’t know when his little brother grew up. The stark difference between the stuttering Eclipse who used to weep in their shared headspace and the sturdy war torn animatronic in front of him momentarily shocked him. For a second he didn’t recognize the person in front of him, but all doubts vanished the second Solar brought his hand into his and rubbed the back of his hand. And just like that Sunny knew it was still his Eclipse, his little brother, the one who also comforted him after a long day. 

Despite everything, it’s still you.  

The yellow animatronic gave his brother a closed eye smile, to hide his watery eyes and to express just how proud he was, “of course!”. 

Solar sighed in relief, “that’s good, and if there’s anything else that you want in the update or something that just feels wrong, let me know”

“I like this body,” Sunny admired his newly painted hands, “I feel factory fresh” he lamented, “my colors are brighter than the paints in parts and services, and I can actually smile with this face!”

“Believe me, I’d love to take credit for the design, but that was all Sun and Moon”

“Oh?”

“Yea,” Solar recalled the solemn day he returned to his dimension for what was the last time. He just wanted closure, to just prove to himself that there was nothing more he could have possibly done to fix his brother, but it turned into something more, “Moon upgraded most of your parts while I focused on cosmetics like your paint, it’s all I could really do without breaking down and I wanted to make sure your casing looked as close to the yellow you were in the mindscape with” Sunny heard the bit in the middle without breaking down, he knew Solar was being vulnerable and honest, and he wanted to ask, but Solar was quick to move on, “Sun was the one who ended up designing your faceplate while he was recovering”. 

That last part sounded important, like there was context he was missing, but it didn’t feel like the time to ask, “he designed my faceplace?” Then why did he look so nervous meeting me when I woke up?

“He couldn’t really help with the technical or mechanical parts, but he still wanted to contribute to you. He said he wanted to design something that you would still recognize, but something that was pretty” he shrugged, “not sure exactly what that meant, but as long as your happy with how you look then I think he did good”

Something I would recognize? Sunny thought about the animated Sundrop candy ad that played on the daycare screens all day. Something pretty, he remembered days he’d spend just looking at the cute design and being jealous that it looked much kinder and prettier than he did in real life. Did Sun feel like that too?

Sunny looked at his face in the mirror when he woke up. At first he was startled that he had pupils and then he was in awe at how cute he looked. He was bright and soft at the same time, something he always wanted. It was like looking at one of the drawings he used to scribble on forgotten napkins back in the daycare. It felt like he woke up inside a dream, like someone read his mind. 

He almost looked like Solar now, but there was still something about his face that still seemed to let him know that he was still Sun. 

“I'll have to thank them tomorrow!” he announced and turned his head to Solar, “I can’t believe they’d spend all that time and energy on someone they hadn’t even met!”

Solar looked bashfully at his hands that had returned to his lap, “well I have to admit I talked about you… a lot. Once they knew how much you meant to me, I couldn’t stop them from helping”

“You picked a good dimension,” it was Sunny’s turn to hold Solar’s hand, “I’m so glad the celestial family found you”

“I am too,” he let out an emotional breath, “more than I could ever know”

“Hey Solar?” Sunny grinned. 

“Yea?” Solar raised a brow. 

“Thanks for bringing me back”

Solar wanted to say something, but all he could do was hold Sunny in a desperate hug. A single teardrop fell on Sunny’s back as Solar sniffled. 

Sunny missed his brother.

Chapter Text

Sunny woke up to the strange feeling of being watched. He knew Solar locked the door behind them when they went to sleep, logically there shouldn’t have been anyone in the room besides the two of them. 

He sleepily blinked and sat up in Solar’s bed. In the darkness of the room there were two glowing orange lights staring at him and a neon smile grinning. Before he could even properly determine who he was looking at he screamed. 

The glowing yellow default smile fell instantly and wide eyes shrunk at Sunny’s panic. Before the small animatronic could try to explain himself, Solar's eyes shot open. 

The orange bot didn’t waste a single blink as he rolled over and his arm slammed against his nightstand. In a flash there was a sharp screwdriver in his hand poised and prepared to defend his frantic brother. 

Once Sunny screamed all the alarm out of his body, he gripped the sheets and took a few uneven breaths and before he could blink clearly he turned on the lamp on the nightstand he was close to. 

The soft lamp lit up Solar who was seconds away from bringing his screwdriver down on the pumpkin whose eyes were as wide as they could possibly be. 

“WHA-!” Solar paused midmotion and stared at Jack who had fallen to the floor with a hand behind him on the floor to catch his fall and the other poised in front of him like a shield, “Oh for fucks sake!” Solar dropped the screwdriver and pinched the bridge of his nonexistent nose, “get out”

Sunny heard someone stumbling down the stairs and forced himself to look to the slightly open door to see Sun arrive just in time. 

Jack didn’t move for a heart stopping second until Solar looked back at his crumpled form. His second set of rays had popped out at some point during the encounter and his dull optics seemed to glow in furry, “I said GET THE HELL OUT!”

In an instant Jack was back on his feet and scrambled out of the room, the only evidence of his presence was the door as it slammed closed. 

Both animatronics stayed frozen. 

Sunny was scared to breathe, his mind was a flurry of thoughts as he stared at his little brother. Eclipse could yell, Sunny knew that, but this? This was something more, this was pent up rage. 

Solar was stiff, his mind was finally able to catch up with his body. His head was hung low as his eyes looked at the screwdriver he dropped. The yellow handle mocked him as he felt his second set of rays slowly retract. 

Soft muffled words were barely audible through the closed door and Sunny knew that Sun was taking care of Jack. It was only when he really took in the situation did his head snap from the door to Solar again and he let go of the sheet he was gripping, “did you just tell a child ‘get the hell out’!?”

“I-” Solar slowly moved his head to look at the conflicted look in his brother’s eyes. 

~~~~~~~

Jack ran straight into the couch in the family room. His breaths were ragged even though he didn’t need to breathe. He gripped the leather on the couch as tears filled his vision. 

It didn’t matter what happened next, something snapped and suddenly Jack just wanted to disappear. 

“Don’t run,” his whole body snapped into attention as the soft voice behind him beckoned his attention. 

Yellow eyes met Sun’s soft white ones. It was only then that Jack realized the position his body was in. He was ready to bolt at a moment's notice, going mach 2 in any direction, whichever would take him away from the pain. 

Sun knelt on the carpet as he addressed the small scared animatronic, “don’t run away,” there was no demand in his voice, “I know you’re scared and hurt right now, but running away won’t make these feelings go away”

Tears flowed down his face, but not a single word came out. Hrt-srry-hlp-cry-cold-bright-hlp-sad-bad-no-srry-hrt-scared-scared-scared-bad-hrt-bad-hlp-hold-go-away-bright-cold-srry-run-Run-RUN

Even as the darkness of cold words slammed into his heart all he could see was yellow. Amidst his tunnel vision the yellow never left his eyes. He felt locked out of his own body, he couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, couldn’t even feel the couch beneath his hand. He didn’t hear his claws tear through the cushions or the high pitched squeal of his fans burning to cool him down. 

Both stood at a stand still for he didn’t know how long. He hyperventilated and watched his small piece of reality slip in and out of darkness. I don’t want to disappear!, he cried tears he couldn’t feel. 

Quiet cries filled the silent night, as if he was too scared to even make a sound. 

Jack remembers when the darkness used to be his friend. It was funny to disappear and reappear, to spook people when he materialized out of the shadows. He liked returning to the darkness. They were his oldest memories and they were fun. He liked the way darkness covered every inch of his form, like a blanket of security. 

People couldn’t normally see in the dark so people couldn’t normally see Jack in the dark. It was nice to be invisible by choice, but now?

Now the darkness was suffocating.

All senses took a back seat, he took a back seat in his own body. Nothing worked, he couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see, couldn’t feel. What is happening to me?

Fear flooded his systems, panic and hurt mixed in with the startling realization that he didn’t know what was happening. He wasn’t in control, Jack was blind. 

~

It could have been an hour or it could have been five minutes, there was no way to tell when Jack’s vision lightened ever so slightly. 

Slow fuzzy movement made him double take as yellow lines moved up and down, up and down. 

Those weren’t yellow lines, were they?

Sun’s hands were the first and only thing Jack could focus on for a second. The animatronic was on the floor, his hands moved slowly up and slowly down, the sound of deep exaggerated breaths were the next thing Jack focused on. 

Without a single word, Jack could feel himself breathe again. Unconsciously his chest rose with the same steady rhythm as Sun and the world around him began to light up again. 

Even when the gloss and dimness in Jack’s eyes faded, Sun didn’t stop his movements. His hands continued their steady grounding pace until Jack finally looked at him. At him, not through him, there was finally recognition in his face and Sun found himself smiling ever so slightly. 

Jack’s body unhinged with a groan. The tension faded away and he could hear his fans sputtering to accommodate a slower pace. Before he could recalibrate his body, his frame creaked and soon he was falling. 

Sun noticed the shift in posture immediately and the second Jack’s knees unbuckled, he was there with a speed he surprised himself with. Jack was cradled in saffron arms and his vision was filled with the same soft yellow that stayed with him the whole time. 

He thought he ran out of tears, but he was wrong. A steady stream of tears flowed as he gripped Sun’s sleepshirt and he cried. 

“It’s over now,” Sun’s soft voice rumbled through his body, “you’re safe”. 

Safe? What did that mean anyways?

Despite the cold seeping into his heart, Jack made a decision to believe Sun, to let his words warm his hurting body. Even if it wasn’t true or permanent, right now, in this moment, he was as safe as he could possibly be. 

Sun did not move for a long time, just stayed sitting on the floor with Jack in his arms. Soon enough Jack’s grip wavered and his eyes grew dim again. The little animatronic was tired and his battery reflected the little sleep he’d had. 

It was over the second Sun lightly rubbed his shoulder, small circles and a steady pressure soothed Jack almost immediately. It wasn’t another minute before Jack was slumping into Sun’s shirt and entering a fitful rest. 

The sunshine animatronic slowly lifted himself to his feet, ever so careful not to jostle the fragile child. Jack wasn’t a human kid, heaven knows Sun knew, but right now he was as much of a child as any of the thousands of children he’d taken care of.

“I’ll keep watch,” Sun said to no one as he turned the light in the family room off again and carefully traversed the stairs back into his room. With practiced ease he shuffled himself and Jack into his king sized bed, cords were plugged back in and the blankets were gently draped over them once more.  

He let out a shallow sigh as he positioned himself between his wards. They each leaned into the daycare attendant and Sun found it quiet in the house again. He briefly wondered why no one else had come downstairs. Surely Lunar would have woken up? What about Molten? He would have at least popped his head into the doorway to eavesdrop, he didn’t know how to be discreet so why didn’t Sun see him there either? He wasn’t even going to bother with the thought that Moon would have woken up, even when he wasn’t working on projects late into the night, it was hard to interrupt his sleep when he set his mind to it. 

Why hadn’t anyone else woken up?

Chapter Text

Morning brought full charges and exhaustion. 

Sun woke bright and early per his alarm. Instead of jumping out of bed or waking Dazzle, he just sat up in bed for a moment. Both Jack and Dazzle were still sleeping soundly and he watched over them as small trickles of light escaped his curtains. 

Dazzle was starfished over her side of the bed. She had an arm across his chest and a tiny hooved foot resting on his knee. Without a care in the world she snoozed on Sun’s left arm. 

Jack on the other hand was curled up to his side, like a kitten trying to reclaim warmth. He was asleep, but his face was tense, his signature smile settled into a frown as he twitched in his sleep. 

Life would go on, Sun knew that, but they didn’t and he just wanted the world to stop for a moment, if not for him, then just to let the youth know though the world turns, there will always be someone who will stay. 

He sighed as his internal clock kept ticking and made the decision to let time go on. 

He gently petted Dazzle’s hair until she mumbled something in her sleep and smacked Sun’s chest in retaliation. Incoherent words were Sun’s reply as he softly smiled at his daughter. The consistent motion finally roused the little deer from her sleep and she pouted. 

Her hair was a mess and Sun resisted the urge to laugh, she blearily blinked back at Sun. Her pout melted and she blinked away sleep, “Sun!” she smiled and was quick to sit up and hug the animatronic. 

“Good morning honey,” Sun smiled back and rubbed her back. 

“I slep good!” she announced and nuzzled Sun’s shirt. 

“I’m happy to hear that,” Sun chuckled. 

She then took stock of the new sleeping arrangement and then remembered last night, “is Jack okay?”

It was late when Sun jumped out of bed the second he heard Sunny scream. Sun had already known that Jack left the bed, he let Jack sneak out of the room and listened for a while while the little bot shuffled downstairs. 

Once Sun had reacted to the sound, Dazzle’s soft voice had asked him what was going on. Sun had assured her that he was going to check and when she noticed Jack was missing, promised to bring him back to bed too. With Sun’s words, her head hit the pillow and she had already been back asleep by the time Sun returned with Jack. 

“Jack had a rough night,” Sun spoke lightly, “he’s tired” his voice was kind, “why don’t you get ready for the day and the two of you can rest in the nap tent before the daycare opens”

There was something Dazzle wasn’t quite understanding about the situation. Something obvious or a sub-context she just wasn’t getting, but she knew something was wrong. 

“Okay,” she answered as she slipped off the left side of the bed and went to change in the bathroom connected to Sun’s room. Something was wrong, she noticed Jack was sad, her best friend was in pain and though she didn’t know why, or how she could help, she would be there, just like he was always there for her. 

~~

“I know you’re awake,” Sun’s soft voice startled Jack ever so slightly, “I’m a daycare attendant,” he chuckled, “I can tell when you guys fake being asleep”

Jack quietly sat up, letting the comforter and blankets slide off him as he faced Sun. There was so much he wanted to say. Maybe he wanted to apologize, to thank him, or cry, he didn’t know, but all that came out was a small, “I’m tired”.

“That’s okay,” Sun carefully maneuvered himself so he and Jack sat side by side on the bed, “today is going to be a long day, but you and Dazzle can stay in the quiet corner and rest” 

“I want to stay here,” Jack looked down as if ashamed at his own request. 

“I know,” Sun definitely knew what that felt like, “but I’m not leaving you home alone”

The pumpkin looked at his hands, “why not?” his voice cracked. 

“Space is nice,” he lamented, “but the same time you use to sort through your feelings can also be the same time you take to let those feelings drown you”

Jack tilted his head, finally looking at Sun, “what does that mean?”

Sun smiled, “it means that time alone can be good, but it can also feel too much” he took a breath, “you don’t have to talk to me about what happened last night, but I still want to help you”

He didn’t know how to respond to that. It felt like this was the first conversation he’d ever had in such a solemn context. Not even when he first gained sentience did he think Sun of all people would say anything of the sort, especially not to him. 

All he could do was nod. 

It wasn’t long before their quiet moment was interrupted by Dazzle who had opened the bathroom door and ran straight to the bed, “look look look!” she proclaimed in front of the two, “I’m wearing my new dress!” she swished the hem of the pink and yellow dress, “ ‘gonna do a twirly!” she announced as she spun around and let the fluffy dress flutter around her. 

“It’s lovely honey,” Sun clapped, “is that the new one Earth bought you a few days ago?”

“Yup!” she grinned. 

“I like the colors,” Jack’s voice was still shaky, but color began to return to it. 

Dazzle giggled and grabbed Jack’s hand, “let’s go get breakfast!” she pulled lightly, “Sun promised pancakes!”

“I did?” Sun feigned ignorance with a smile, “I don’t remember that”

“Wha-!” Dazzle let go of Jack, “you did!” she stomped her foot, “you did, you did, you did!” she declared, “yesterday at breakfast!”

“I know,” Sun got up from the bed and ruffled her newly brushed hair. 

“Hey!” She shouted without malice and let Sun pick her up and swing her around. 

“I promised,” he smiled, “pancakes for breakfast it is”

The little deer was laughing again as she was gently placed back on the ground. She turned back to Jack and resumed her mission, “let’s go!”

Jack’s face brightened ever so slightly and he got up to follow her. His smile stiffened though, the second he stopped leaned against the bed for support he fell. Shaky legs refused to hold him and he collapsed. 

Just like the previous night Sun was immediately by his side, holding the stunned animatronic up. 

“I’m sorry!” Dazzle cried out, “I didn’t mean to hurt you!”

“Dazzle honey,” Sun tried to soothe, “you didn’t-”

Jack surprised himself by responding, “it is okay Dazzle, you did not hurt me” he tried to stand again, but his legs would lock upright, “I’m just tired” his voice cracked. 

“Oh,” Dazzle stopped fussing slightly, “then…” a small glint flashed through her eyes, “...then we have to eat a lot of pancakes so our nap will be ledendary!” she nodded to herself in approval, “after food naps are the best!”

Neither Jack nor Sun expected her answer, but Sun chuckled. 

“Yea,” Jack blinked and then looked to Sun for help. 

“Onwards I guess,” with permission Sun lifted Jack up and the three went downstairs. 

~~~~

Sunny was pacing around the kitchen when he heard the stairs creak. 

His rays spun and retracted as Sun came into view. Sun stood at the bottom of the stairs and blinked, completely forgetting Sunny usually woke up around the same time he did. 

“Good morning Sunny,” Sun smiled lightly. Dazzle was quick to shuffle behind Sun and Jack held onto his shirt tighter. 

“Uh hey,” Sunny nervously stammered, “I-” I what? He stalled, I’m sorry my brother cussed out a child last night? In front of said child, or maybe he should just ask Jack directly? Your dad figure probably just broke your heart, are you okay? Said by a stranger no less. 

Sun got the hint, “I’m going to make pancakes,” he walked away from the kitchen and into the family room with Sunny helplessly following, “I’ll get you guys when it’s ready,” he ruffled Jack’s nightcap and waved Sunny towards the kitchen. 

“Oh gosh Sun,” Sunny sounded out of breath, “about last night I-”

“You don’t need to apologize,” Sun gently stopped the shiny attendant from catastrophizing, “I don’t know the context of what happened last night, but I can guess” he opened the cupboard for the pancake mix, “you don’t owe me or Jack an apology, Solar was the one who lashed out”

“I know,” Sunny’s rays wilted, “I just-” he took a breath, “it was because I screamed and Solar just reacted”

“Whether it was everyone’s fault or no one’s fault, you still don’t have to apologize” Sun turned on the skillet and grabbed some butter from the fridge, “right now Jack needs to process what happened and Solar needs time to think” he sighed, “I knew he was walking around at night, but I didn’t know he was actually breaking into Solar’s room” he grabbed a whisk and bowl, “if you had a hand in it, so did I” he poured the mix in the bowl, “we’ll need to talk about it eventually, but for now, let’s enjoy some breakfast and just be there for them”

“You’re right,” Sunny shook his head, lightly chastising himself, “I was just so worried about the little guy all night it was hard to sleep”

“I get that,” Sun smiled back and whisked the batter, “maybe once Jack has a little time to understand how he’s feeling you should talk to him”

“Me?!” Sunny’s rays popped out further, “what could I say?!”

Sun didn’t look away from the stove as he carefully poured out a small amount of batter, “you worried all night for him, I think it’s a good idea to let him know that you care” he flipped the pancake, “he just gained sentience not to long ago, I think it’s hard for him to even consider the fact that someone might care for him”

“Would he accept that from someone like me?” Sunny’s voice was quiet. 

“Someone like you?” Sun turned around and raised a brow. 

“A stranger-” he amended, “-well practically a stranger” he looked down at the counter and fiddled with the whisk that was forgotten, “yesterday was practically our first meeting and that was awkward"

Sun smiled, “he’s a kid, of course he’d be awkward, everything he’s ever known keeps changing and now he’s dealing with emotions and people he never needed to before”

“Well when you put it that way…” Sunny smiled back, “...I guess I could maybe say something to him” his cheeks tinted pink, “but maybe you could be there too?” he added quickly, “for morale support? Or uh, just to have someone familiar nearby?”

“Of course,” Sun put the pancake he was cooking on a large plate and started the next one.

Chapter Text

Jack and Dazzle were settled into the nap corner. Dazzle had coloring books, games, plushies and a small yellow star nightlight from the nap time supplies, while Jack was comfortably positioned in the darkest corner of the tent with another star shaped nightlight and plenty pillows. 

Sun built the nap tent, which in reality was just an expertly constructed fort of opaque blankets and large foam blocks. He built this particular tent near the castle towers. Most kids stayed by the center of the play area or picked the nap corners nearby the front of the daycare and close to the attendants. 

The two were tucked away, hidden just enough not to be bothered, but in plain view of Sun so he could keep an eye on them as he worked. 

As the day progressed Jack continued to sleep and occasionally colored and played a few games with Dazzle. She didn’t mind the low energy day, she’d prattle on about menial things to fill the empty space and stayed quiet when Jack slept. She entertained herself and smiled when Sun came around with snacks and water. Sun left daycare duties to Lunar and Earth during his break in the second shift so he could spend time with Dazzle and check on Jack. 

Jack was awake for a bit, just staring at the small pack of opened cookies in his hands. Dazzle was showing Sun a picture she drew and at first he paid no mind to the conversation. She had already shown him the picture earlier and all he wanted to do was determine if he was in the mood for eating. It wasn’t as if he needed to eat the same way a human did, or find it familiar in the way Dazzle did, but he didn’t mind having something to do while his mind felt jumbled. 

Dazzle laughed at something Sun said and Jack turned his head ever so slightly. The little deer was talking so animatedly that it seemed she didn’t notice Sun plug a small cord into the back of his head and maneuver himself against the wall. It was only then did Jack take note of the outlet almost hidden away by the large foam block acting as a foundation to the tent. Did he plan that from the start?

His small friend continued talking about some of the friends she made last time she was in the daycare and odd things that caught her attention. She migrated herself from the middle of the tent to Sun’s side and leaned against his leg as she recounted a book she remembered she never got to finish at storytime. Throughout the whole time he was there, Sun was quiet. He nodded along to Dazzle’s stories and complimented her drawings, but he didn’t move from his position against the wall, not that the little deer seemed to mind. 

The pumpkin animatronic blinked and let his eyes widen just a fraction, Sun was in low power mode.

~~~~~

Sun left the tent once the third shift had begun. He was given an entire second of a break before being just in time to be pelted by the tiny terror known as Janet from the ballpit. The animatronic sighed and let her new group of delinquents get their energy out via attacking sun with the plastic balls. 

He stood in the same place in front of the ballpit, he didn’t move nor did he shout, just let the ballpit rebellion continue until the child’s tiny accomplices got bored. 

“HA HA HA!” The child in the blue overalls shouted triumphantly from the foam island in the center of the ballpit, “we win again Mr. Sun!” she grinned with her hands reaching for more ammo. 

Sun wished he had more sanity for the current situation, “you seem alone in your victory today” he motioned behind the girl. 

Janet’s brown hair whipped behind her as her head snapped to see her companions. The three triplets she had recruited were happily swimming on the far side of the ballpit, not even sparing her a single glance. The little girl with blonde pigtails she bribed with her juice box from snack time had already abandoned the entire endeavor minutes ago and was coloring with Lunar. And the kid who was about to age out of the daycare was boredly checking his phone while sitting on the floor, he most likely hadn’t been seriously recruited anyways. 

“You bested me again Mr. Sun!” Janet scowled, “you won’t be so lucky next time!”

“Are you going to help clean up this mess?” Sun wasn’t going to expect much, but he figured he would ask anyway. 

“No?” Janet stared at him like the answer was obvious, “why would I do something stupid like that?”

“Language,” Sun spoke with no enthusiasm. 

“I know my rights,” the girl crossed her arms, “momma pays you money so I get to do whatever I want”

Sun knelt to the floor and started picking up the balls closest to the ballpit, “I’d give you a lesson on character, manners and maybe even something about courtesy, but I don’t think you’d listen”

Janet zoned back in from staring across the play area where Earth was setting up finger paint, “What?”

“Nevermind” Sun shook his head and sighed again. 

“Anyways,” the girl announced, “I’m gonna go play with Earth now” and just like that she was gone. 

Rich people, Sun murmured to himself without much malice and scooped the scattered balls back to where they belonged. 

He had just about finished cleaning the ones he could see when he noticed Sunny shyly walking towards him. 

“Hey Sunny,” Sun smiled as he rose from his knelt stance, “how’d your break go?”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Sunny’s rays sputtered for a moment before deciding they’d oscillate around him like a halo, “so I was thinking about what you said at the house” his face was blushed, “and…” his eyes were to the floor, “-I was thinking maybe I could do something to show Jack that I care about him,” his rays were spinning now and he was alternating which leg he put his weight on, “so I did some research and found something I think he might like” his hands stayed behind his back for a moment.

Sun arched a brow until Sunny shyly presented him a half finished plush, “hear me out!” he shouted before Sun could say anything, “children like comfort things, and I was thinking if I made him one, he’d always know that I cared”

It was a half baked foxy plush. 

The felt was definitely from the craft bin and there was a small smell of hot glue as Sun admired the little plush. The little creature didn’t have ears yet and only had one eye, but it was still cute. The stitches that made up the body were clean and perfectly matched the shade of red he picked. Wonder where he found thread, let alone a needle?

“I know it’s dumb,” Sunny’s face was bright in embarrassment as he held the little plush closer to his chest, eyes never meeting Sun’s, “but I wanted to do something from the heart, and I didn’t know how else to show it”

“It’s adorable,” Sun shattered the self doubt, “I think Jack will really appreciate it even if he may not have the words to show it”

“It’s not finished yet,” Sunny almost sounded like he was backtracking. 

Sun shook his head, “all that matters is that you made something for Jack and you care, all else comes second” he smiled. 

Sunny smiled and finally looked up, “you really think he’ll like it?”

“Of course,” Sun stated like a matter of fact and put a hand on Sunny’s shoulders, “it’s something he’ll treasure just as much as the one giving it, as long as it’s genuine”

“It is,” Sunny looked at the little red plush in his arms, “I’m no good with words, but I can sew and I don’t know what kids like these days, let alone animatronic kids, but I figured I couldn’t go wrong with plushies”

“You can say that again,” Sun picked up a stray plush from the floor. It was a small Freddy plush that had been abandoned near a kiddy table, he looked at its small plastic eyes, “it’s funny,” he let out a humorless chuckle, “I did the same thing with Lunar when we were younger”

“Oh?” Sunny blinked. 

Sun’s eyes never left the forgotten plush, “back when Lunar first got his own body I made him a plush reindeer" he remembered fondly, “his name is Spigot, he ended up getting blown up when the daycare got destroyed, but I found him” he put the plush Freddy on top of the table it was next to, “had to get him all cleaned up, but now he happily lives on Lunar’s shelf”

“Awe,” Sunny cooed, “that sounds adorable” even amongst the sea of screaming children and whirlwind of activity, Sunny could imagine a smaller Lunar hugging the little reindeer. 

“Yea,” Sun shook himself out of the memory, “that’s how I know Jack is going to love your plush,” he smiled, “we’re all bad at showing it, but all of us know how to appreciate thoughtful gifts”

“Thanks Sun”

“Anytime”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sun took a breath and rested at the front desk for a little while. He tiredly scrolled through daycare records and started updating profiles. He blinked his way through complaint emails both to Fazbear and from Fazbear and nearly yawned at the monotony of approving the daycare supply lists. 

“Sun,” the monitor he was using flickered for just a moment and familiar geometric shapes appeared on the corner of the screen. 

“Hey Spaniard,” Sun continued to click through Fazbear notices. 

“You have not charged properly today” 

“Nope,” he replied while closing a strongly worded complaint. 

“You should take a break.”

“I am,” Sun’s eyes never drifted to the figure slowly encroaching his digital work space. 

“You are not.”

Sun sighed, “it’s almost closing, I can charge before I start cleaning”

“You promised Dazzle you would return home with them after work”

He hissed as his finger slipped and he accidentally deleted an important looking email. He quickly found his trash folder to recover it and grimaced at all the similar looking emails right beside it, “I forgot about that”

“I would suggest taking a break upstairs soon”

With his inbox once again empty Sun finally looked at Spaniard’s digital avatar, “that might be a good idea” he slumped in the swivel chair he was sitting on, “can’t get much work done anyways” 

With reluctance Sun visited Dazzle and Jack to let them know he was going to be out of the daycare for a while. He left the tablet he usually had at the house with them. 

Jack tilted his head at the device while Dazzle grinned and opened up youtube to watch the dancing fruits she liked watching. 

“This tablet has an app that Spaniard can use,” he explained, “if you need anything or can’t message me on your phones you can ask him”

“I thought Moon’s computer was stuck in the daycare computer?” Jack was still laying down on a mountain of pillows as he furrowed his brows and looked at the tablet Dazzle was playing with. 

“Spaniard usually can’t leave the daycare or use devices Moon hasn’t connected directly to his computers, so we came up with the idea to use an app as a means to contact each other personally”

“Moon’s computer can use the tablet?”

“If you click on the app called fren, Spaniard can temporarily go into the tablet in case of emergencies, or you can use the chat function if you aren’t close enough to the computer for him to hear you”

Dazzle looked up from the tablet, “sometimes Spanerd reads me bedtime stories at night!” she smiled, “he’s good at making funny voices”

“He’s also good at scanning systems for viruses and using external devices if you plug into the tablet directly” Sun ruffled Dazzle’s hair, “he’s limited outside of the daycare, but he always answers if you ping the app”

“Oh,” Jack never really interacted with Spaniard. Technically Jack wasn’t in the daycare often enough for him to talk or get to know the computer. He liked wandering around in the daytime or just hanging wherever Dazzle was. He never needed the computer when he could handle situations himself. 

“Can I ask Moon’s computer questions?” Jack crumpled the cookie wrapper he had been holding since Sun left. 

“He doesn’t mind company,” Sun smiled, “you can use the chat feature to talk to him without him entering the tablet too as long as you’re in the daycare,” Sun then shook his head, “if he gets sassy or annoyed don’t take it personally though, it’s his first time sentient”

And just like that, Sun was gone again. 

Sun informed Lunar and Earth of his impromptu break and waved at Sunny as he started another round of finger paint with a much smaller group this time. With utter exhaustion Sun forwent the long hallway to the tower abode the daycare and let the wire he hardly ever used anymore lift him into the air. A few kids gawked and pointed, but the limp attendant ignored the odd stares and waved at the few who clapped at his feat of magic.

Chapter Text

There were just a few more hours left in the day, but Sun just wanted it to end. Dazzle suggested a hot chocolate night, and he was so looking forward to doing nothing but watching Bluey and sipping warm chocolate all night. 

“Sun,” Spaniard’s voice made Sun look up at the ceiling speaker and security camera in the broken down room, “I suggest you bring a cot, blanket or pillow next time”

“I know,” Sun found the spare charger he kept already plugged to the wall. The outlet was low to the ground so he sat with his back against the wall. He squeezed himself behind a shattered playhouse so he was just out of view of anyone accidentally walking in, “I’ll do it later” he yawned. 

“Sun,” but there was no answer. The soft glow of Sun’s eyes faded into obscurity as he fell asleep. Spaniard would let the animatronic sleep, hopefully finding time between the last shift and closing to tell him. 

~~~~~

“Spanerd!” Dazzle clicked the app on her tablet after the dancing fruit video ended, “come play with us!” 

The blue icon with a circle and diamond lit up before the screen turned white. The app loaded for several seconds before a sound wave visualization icon appeared. It was a simple light blue color and with every word Spaniard spoke, the vertical lines would move to match. 

“Hello Dazzle,” Spaniard’s voice was much softer in tablet form that it had been when he was towering over the daycare, “and Jack”

The pumpkin animatronic stared at the tablet with wide eyes. Since when was this a thing?

“Play with us,” Dazzle shuffled over to where Jack was propped up and snuggled into the pillows. 

“I am running defenses while the daycare is operational,” if Jack didn’t know any better, he’d say the monotone voice had a sympathetic lilt to it, “I can chat with you and tell stories if you’d like, however I must maintain my post”

Dazzle whispered not so quietly to Jack, “that’s code word for he’s busy”

“I am sorry Dazzle, however when the daycare is closed and certain features need not be activated, I will be able to play”

“Awwwww,” Dazzle whined, “but you said that last time!”

“I say that every time Dazzle,” Spaniard’s voice was even, “I am foremost programmed to protect the daycare and keep track of all of its occupance, once certain objectives are mitigate, I will have both the time and processing power to play games”

The little deer wasn’t satisfied, she pouted, staring at the screen as if Spaniard could see her unhappy face. She was so focused on the screen that she hadn’t even noticed that she yawned. The soft sound barely reached the receiver in the tablet, but the AI heard. 

“Dazzle is tired,” Jack observed. 

“I agree,” Spaniard replied, “it appears as though someone has missed a nap”

“Nuh uh!” Dazzle crossed her arms while the tablet stayed in her lap. 

“I do not understand what you mean by ‘nuh uh’, you are yawning, a clear indicator that you have not slept today”

The little animatronic was not going to win. She huffed and pouted and argued, but in the end, the small quiet sound of lullabies playing through the tablet lulled her into reluctant sleep. 

~

“I understand that you may have questions for me,” Spaniard said only after he confirmed Dazzle had fallen asleep. 

“Sun said things I-don’t understand,” his voice cracked. 

“Then I am at your service”

“He said it was your first time sentient”

“Ah yes,” Spaniard recalled, “I was not always as I am now. Before I could think for myself I was a simple AI dealt with any and all tasks provided by Moon”

“How did you gain sentience?” small glitters of hope fluttered in his chest.

“I do not know,” Jack’s face fell, “however I suspect interacting with several members of the pizza plex helped”

Even though Spaniard couldn’t see it, Jack turned his face away from the tablet and looked towards the open daycare, he spotted people he knew, Lunar and Earth, and someone he didn’t quite yet, Sunny, “I do not interact with lots of people”

“Perhaps your experiences are different than mine,” the AI suggested, “my purpose has always been clear, the people I speak to have always been the same and I do not learn information the same way you had to”

“But you are an AI,” Jack looked back to the blue icon, “and I am an AI”

“And so are Sun, Moon, Solar and the others” Spaniard listed, “simply being an AI does not constitute the same circumstances or reasons. Each one of us have different programmings, primary functions and frames, there is not a single AI in this universe the same”

“Oh,” Jack milled his thoughts a bit, “how did you know you were sentient?”

“When I started questioning orders and making decisions that weren’t all in Moon’s interest” he replied so quickly, Jack wondered if he’d been asked the same question before. 

“How did you?” Jack hadn’t expected Spaniard to ask a question back. 

“I don’t know?” Jack realized, “when my creator died”

“Then you are very new to the world,” he stated like a fact, "congratulations"

“What does that mean?” he tilted his head. 

“I am welcoming you to a new state of mind, one where there are no programmed protocols for”

“That’s even more confusing.”

“Forgive me then, Jack,” his even tone never wavered, however an odd sense of indignation flowed through the pumpkin as if he was being laughed at, “any and all things you do from the moment you gained awareness will be a new experience, one where you cannot rely on what you used to know”

“That doesn’t sound like something I want,” the animatronic grimaced, “it sounds too complicated” 

“It is as the kids say, ‘too bad’ then,” Spaniard’s voice was light, the little icon flickered with what could have been mistaken as a laugh, “the cost of sentience is indeed confusion, it is truly fortunate that you are surrounded by those much more experienced in the art of uncertainty”

“You enjoy this,” Jack noticed. 

“With every fiber of my being”

~~~~~~

Despite now having enough charge to last him the rest of the day Sun was not given mercy. 

He entered the daycare through the double doors and immediately regretted it. Lunar was tangled in the net above the daycare, Earth was playing dress up with several trinkets in her hair that definitely didn’t belong and Sunny was juggling paint bottles. 

Sun started with Lunar, “how did you get up there!?” he shouted. 

Lunar stopped struggling and was simply content with going limp and waving, “Alex climbed up the wall again” he deadpanned. His leg was the only part of him really tangled, he must have been upside down dangling for a while since he gave up so quickly. 

“Good grief,” Sun mumbled and carefully traipsed the mess of blocks and stuffed animals on the floor. With practiced ease he climbed the netting and anchored his leg to the wall. The lattice of netting wasn’t actually that easy to get tangled in, he weaved his leg through the squares of space until he was sure he wouldn’t slip, “why hasn’t anyone come to help”

“I can do it myself,” even with his confident facade, Lunar wasn’t fooling Sun. 

“You didn’t call anyone, did you?” Sun cradled Lunar so he was upright and then studied his leg. The strong ropes were made for animatronics to climb without snapping and with the way it was coiled around Lunar’s small ankle, made it more of a trap. 

“I was going to use my powers, I promise!” Lunar crossed his arms, “I just realized that if I did, I was gonna fall” he mumbled, “and I don’t know how to fly yet”

“It probably would have scared some of the kids too,” Sun hummed and gently moved Lunar’s ankle. The small bot hissed when it was turned and he gripped his pants. Sun immediately stopped moving and took note of the flinch, "definitely broken then”.

“It’s not!” Lunar’s quick defense was concerning for a moment, “it just hurts a little when you move it left…or right”

Sun leaned back into the netting and held Lunar close, “without your weight being pulled on your ankle, it probably hurts more than you though it did”

“But it just hurts! It’s not, it’s not broken” an almost desperate look painted his face and he turned to meet Sun’s eyes. 

“You’re probably getting so many warning notifications right now,” Sun didn’t laugh, didn’t chuckle, not even a smile graced his face, “your ankle is most likely broken Lunar”

“I-” Lunar wanted to shake it off, go back to work, pretend he never messed up, but in Sun’s arms he was weak. He liked being small, to be underestimated, he’d rather look tiny than feel too big for this world. But sometimes it backfired, he was as small as a kid and sometimes he was treated like one, other times he felt much smaller than his frame could contain and he shrank into his big brother’s embrace. 

Ever so slowly Sun untangled the rope. The thick netting was much easier to unwind when Lunar wasn’t dangling off the edge. It only took a few minutes and he was free, but neither of them moved for a moment. 

Sun overlooked the daycare with his tiny brother in his arms. The entire play area was in loud chaos, children were throwing paper scraps, plushies were being tripped over by child and animatronic alike and there was always a scream or a cry in the background. But even then, as he realized how much quieter it was up above the daycare, he couldn’t find it in himself to hate it. 

He hated Fazbear, hated messes, loathed glitter, detested the disrespect he faced on the daily, despised the human technicians, resented inattentive parents and was bitter at being owned, but no where would he say he hated children. 

Lunar let Sun bask in his purpose before looking out into the daycare himself and asking, “you ever wish there was something more than this?”

“Yes,” Sun answered without hesitation. 

“Then why do you stay?”

“I’m still property,” he answered with resignation, “I love my job, but I also wish there was more than this” his voice was soft, so soft that even at close proximity Lunar struggled to hear him, “I wish I could control my own hours, my own agenda, figure out a new check in system, maybe choose how many kids to take care of… or even just be able to close the daycare without fear that I’d be decommissioned"

“Have you told Moon?” Lunar’s eyes never left the chaos below, “I’m sure if you said something he’d figure something out, he already threatened them when they tried to update your Fazchip”

“He’s tried,” Sun smiled sadly even though Lunar couldn’t see, “but there’s something else about Fazbear that scares even him”

“Is this really what you want though?” he gestured towards the scene below, “The daycare I mean, don’t you just wish there was something more for you out there?”

“I’ve never had that kind of ambition in me,” Sun shook his head lightly, “Do you?”

Somehow Lunar didn’t expect the question to be directed back at himself, “maybe” he sounded unsure. 

“You are destined to shine no matter where you go,” Sun took a simulated breath, “maybe when everything settles down a bit, you can see what you really want to do in life,” he squeezed his little brother, “I know you didn’t get a chance to pick where you started life, but you can choose where you go from here”

“I don’t hate the daycare,” Lunar mumbled. 

“I know,” Sun unhooked his leg from the netting and maneuvered Lunar to his back. Secured he climbed down and set Lunar down at the security desk. 

Lunar stayed put as Sun turned to Earth who was sitting at a nearby kiddie table, “Lunar and I are going to see Solar”

“Did something happen?” Earth quirked a brow and looked to the security desk.

“Lunar got stuck in the netting and I just want to make sure he’s okay”

“Ah,” Earth hummed, “I saw him go after Alex, but I haven’t seen him for a while, I assumed he was playing in the tunnels”

Sun grimaced slightly, but chose not to comment, “Can you let Sunny know?”

Earth nodded and Sun went back to pick up Lunar. 

~~~~

“Closed for break,” Solar didn’t look up from his phone when he heard footsteps enter the theatre. 

“Hey,” Sun’s voice was quiet. 

“Oh,” Solar’s face snapped to attention as he noticed Lunar looking positively embarrassed in his arms, “what the hell happened?” his confusion melted into concern once he noticed the marks on Lunar’s ankle. 

“Got caught in the net” Lunar didn’t look up from his lap. He was being carried sideways against Sun’s chest, he was the perfect size to be coddled and for once he let it happen. 

“Excuse me, what?” Solar rounded the other side of the counter. 

“I got caught in the net,” Lunar repeated a little louder. 

“I’m sorry, did you just say you got caught in the net?! As in the net above the daycare?!”

“Yea,” Lunar’s face tinted purple, “ya don’t gotta keep repeating it”

“I’m pretty sure his ankle is broken or at the very least injured,” Sun sighed, “can you take him from here?”

“Sure?” Solar looked confused for a second as Sun placed Lunar on the counter and with another hug walked out. 

“Don’t say it,” Lunar looked away.

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Solar put his hands up in surrender.

Chapter Text

Sun’s mission now was to find Sunny who was almost desperately trying to keep a group of kids occupied by juggling some paint bottles. 

With another sigh he walked up to Sunny, “do you need any he-” he didn’t get to finish his question before Sunny’s concentration fell apart and so did his act. The green bottle fell to the floor, its cap was tight and merely bounced. The red bottle was caught by Sunny’s right hand as it was quickly brought towards his chest to keep safe. 

The blue bottle on the other hand was not lucky and neither was Sun. 

Sunny miscalculated the arc of the blue bottle and it ended up falling a few feet in front of him. He tracked the bottle all the way down until it was at his eye level. He reached his left hand out to catch it and completely overestimated the strength needed to stop its descent. 

To the kids who were happily watching the scene it was hilarious. Sunny squeezed the blue paint with such force that it splattered all over Sun who had a single hand up in question. The blue clashed with his normally yellow frame and his entire face was smeared blue. He stood there like a deer in headlights as his processor scrambled to understand how and why this happened. 

“I am so sorry,” Sunny’s apology came out more like a shocked whisper. Sunny dropped the red bottle of paint in shock and his hands flew to his face in mortification.  

The roar of children's laughter was so loud Sun thought his audio receivers would pop. Janet’s voice was probably the strongest amongst the onlookers. She had been playing princess with Earth, but once she heard the commotion she just had to see it for herself!

Sun could almost hear her now, now who’s been bested Mr.Sun!

Before Sun could properly assess the situation the boy who looked like he was about to age out of the daycare grabbed the fallen green bottle and followed Sunny’s example. Soon Sun’s pants were covered in green and the rest of the daycare came to watch the spectacle. A kid who was painting on the table near Sunny splashed the orange water he was using for water colors and soon the other kids at the same table followed suit with cups of paint and stained water.

“Oooh that was only funny the first few times,” Sun let out a pathetic chuckle. 

“I-” Sunny did not get to say a thing. The little girl who he had been working with to get out of her shell after she cried for an hour after her mom left joined the fray. He wasn’t sure what was the most distressing part of the entire situation. The fact that he started the whole mess, or that the little girl he told to take risks and find friends by doing similar activities with them, was taking his advice out on his first friend. 

Sun closed his eyes for just a moment, long enough to let blue pass through his vision and clear up his optics from the quick drying cheap paint. Once he opened his eyes, red filled his vision. He was once again standing amongst a sea of children with red tainting his hands and eyes. 

His vision flickered, trying to decide if it was a hallucination he could blink away or real life. Unfortunately it was technically neither as red paint dripped off his hands that were starting to shake. 

Children’s laughs were replaced by the same screams as the night he begged the maniac in his head to spare them. Sunny’s voice morphed into vicious taunts where one voice became two. 

Sun’s fans sped up as his mind tried separating memory and his current visual feed. Memories upon screams upon blood filled his mind. 

It wasn’t enough just to lose sight of reality. All tension in his body snapped when he was back to that massacre. 

“Sun?” Dazzle’s sweet voice was asking if he was okay, just like she always did. All other sounds drowned out as he looked to his hands again then at the daughter whose deer appearance flickered back to the brown haired girl from that night. 

It happened within a second. Sun was panicking and Sunny was trying to get through the crowd of kids for a baby wipe and to call Earth over. Then in an instant his fans stopped and he fell to the floor, completely and utterly unconscious. No one moved for a heart stopping moment until some kid cried out, “he’s dead!” and a new kind of chaos erupted. 

~

“I know this is scary,” Spaniard’s voice filtered through the madness, “I need you to do something for me”

“What’s wrong with Sun?” Dazzle’s voice was watery as children ran around her and did their best to get away from Sun who was on the floor unmoving. 

“I do not know, however if you use the charging cable from earlier to connect Sun to the tablet I can find out”

“O-Okay” she sniffed and ran back to the nap tent. The charger was still plugged to the wall, not Sun’s usual charger, the charger he brought specifically for the tablet knowing it definitely wasn’t going to last the whole day with the amount of time she usually spent cycling through apps. 

Jack might have asked Dazzle what was going on, but she didn’t hear him. The image of Sun on the floor covered in red wasn’t a new one. It wasn’t the memory of dying she remembered, no, it was after. 

She didn’t remember a lot from that day. She remembered being in pain and hearing her friends scream, but the pain was only for a little while and soon she was floating just above the carnage. What she saw then wasn’t the red eyed killer who snapped her neck, but the distraught attendant who came to in the middle of the massacre.

She remembers his cries. She wanted to apologize for making Sun mad, mad enough to hurt her, and she wanted to apologize for making him so sad. Sun’s cries rang in her mind as she grabbed the cord and plugged it to the tablet and ran back to Sun. 

There was no silent weeping that day, nor quiet horror at what had been done. Sun cried loud with all his soul. He collapsed to the ground surrounded by his once beloved stars and wailed. His voice ran ragged and body stopped functioning piece by piece until he was nothing more than a frozen doll amidst a sea of red. He believed for so long that it was a glitch in his systems, that he had done it all and he blamed himself for years.

Dazzle got to see everything from the walls after that. 

She saw that the kind attendant she favored was just as kind as he was before the incident. She learned about Bloodmoon and even if she didn’t know his name or understand how the AIs worked, she knew by the time she got free of the walls, that her Sun was still hers. 

It took her years before she could separate the incident from the face she saw run the daycare. She was scared for a long time that she would make him mad again, but she was also scared to hear those sounds again, the sound of someone who had lost a piece of himself. 

In that moment Dazzle- Evelyn, wasn’t seeing the moment she died, she was seeing the time Sun wanted to.

Chapter Text

Dazzle’s little hands trembled as she held the other end of the cable in her hand. Everything was too loud and she couldn’t remember where Sun’s charger was supposed to go. She tried asking Spaniard who continued to talk through the tablet rather than the daycare speakers what to do, but no words came out. 

Sun was face down on the squishy padded floor and there were kids screaming all around her. It wasn’t until Sunny had snapped out of his own panic and stumbled towards the two. 

“Help” Dazzle’s little voice was his call to action. 

“What are you doing?” he asked, trying his best to piece together why she was there in the first place, let alone with a tablet. 

“Sunny,” Spaniard’s voice confused the aforementioned bot before he looked down at the glowing screen, “I am in need of your assistance”

“Tell me what to do,” Sunny gently took the tablet away from the little deer who looked scared. 

“Please plug the cord into Sun’s charging port”

“Back of the head, right?” Sunny hovered the end of the cord over Sun’s downed form. 

“Yes,” once Sunny had connected the two Spaniard’s app flickered for a moment, “I am attempting to scan Sun’s systems for anomalies and crash logs”

“Okay,” Sunny took a breath and then looked to Dazzle who stood over Sun like she wanted to shake him awake. Sunny cringed and steeled his nerves, “I’m going to take Dazzle back to the tent” she didn’t move at his statement. 

“I do believe that would be best, I will watch over Sun in the meantime,” he replied, “both Solar and Moon have already been contacted”

“Okay thank you,” Sunny gently coaxed Dazzle away from Sun. She refused at first, she had no words to express her tears but she fought Sunny to stay. She didn’t last long and soon enough Sunny got her back to the tent and looked at the very confused Jack for a moment. There were no words he could use to possibly understand what was going on, let alone how to explain so he settled on a, “please watch over her” and went back to Sun. 

Earth was running around calming teary toddlers and catching fussy kids from trying to escape the daycare. 

Lunar and Solar walked through the door to the madness and they paused on the doorway. 

“Hey Earth?” Lunar caught Earth as she nearly ran past them with a blanket in her arms. 

“What the he- heck happened here?!” Solar finished. 

“Uh I-” Earth heard a crash and looked to the side, “Sun’s down and Sunny’s working with Spaniard” and she was back to running around. 

“You get the kid about to have a tantrum,” Solar pointed at the little boy who was seconds away from smacking another kid with a barrel, “and I’ll see what the heck is going on”

“Yea,” Lunar shook his head and ran towards the upcoming fight. 

~~~

“According to my scans, there are no viruses or anomalies detected within Sun’s systems”

Sunny let out a breath of relief but then fear set in, “then what happened, why did he shut down?!”

“Sun’s cooling systems failed due to strain”

“The heck did you guys do?” Solar rushed to Sunny’s side.

“I spilled some paint and then some other kids spilled paint and oh-” Sunny sputtered, “-he just fell!”

“Okay okay,” Solar said mostly to himself, “I’m gonna take a look at the diagnostic” he turned to Sunny, “you help Lunar and Earth get the kids to the theatre, get everyone out and I’ll figure this out”

“But I-” I what? I’m sorry? I did this so let me help?

“It’s okay,” Solar held Sunny’s hand, “he’ll be okay”

Hesitantly Sunny got up and fixed his sights on Dazzle and Jack, “okay” there was more he wanted to say, but couldn’t. 

~~

“A tablet?” Solar picked up the glowing screen. 

“Hello Solar,” Spaniard’s voice made the little blue lined icon move. 

“Moon’s computer?” Solar recognized instantly, “the hell?”

“I am temporarily using this tablet as a means to interact with devices outside of the daycare systems”

“Yea, sure, that makes sense,” Solar shook his head, “anyways, if you’re hardwired into Sun’s systems, what’s going on?”

“I have detected no abnormalities with Sun’s systems in terms of viruses or other glitches”

“Like that helps,” he rolled his eyes. 

“The last event log recorded was based on Sun’s cooling systems. Due to both stress and strain both Sun’s fans and internal cooling capabilities failed and as such an emergency shut down was initiated”

“Okay?” Solar was briefly amazed by the logs being pulled up on the once blank white screen, “so what, he got stressed out and just collapsed?”

“I cannot be certain as to the particular cause of the shutdown,” Spaniard replied while highlighting the aforementioned log on screen, “as individual information regarding thoughts and memories are behind a system admin password, I am not privy to what went through Sun’s head during the incident”

“Alright,” Solar sighed as Spaniard gave him access to logs on physical errors and warnings, “nothing looks actually broken, maybe a little sore from face planting, but no physical damage,” he recited mostly to himself, “looks like he’s stuck in a feedback loop, but that’s an easy fix when I get to the control panel in parts and services”

“Moon has already been contacted, however it does not appear he is responding”

“He better have a good reason for that,” Solar frowned and brought out his phone. He dialed Moon’s number and was sent to voice mail twice before he gave up, “oh for fucks sake”

Guess I’m going to have to carry him. Mild horror filled his mind as he recalled the last time he had to. Breathe, he reminded himself, Sunny is in the theatre, he’s okay.

As gentle as he could, Solar rolled sun onto his back and took stock of the damage. His faceplate was frozen in their signature default smile as red paint dripped off his faceplate and onto the floor. The red began mixing with blue and it looked more purple in some areas. Green stained his pants and orange was splashed all over his waist ruffles, that’s not gonna be easy to clean off, he grimaced and put an arm under Sun’s knees and shoulders.  

Solar’s strengthened frame easily picked the attendant off the floor. He checked to make sure the sleeping animatronic was secured with the tablet in his lap still connected to Sun. Solar sighed and turned to walk towards the entrance. 

Before he could take another step Moon appeared and held his head as he pushed the wooden double doors open, “why is it so loud out there,” he rubbed his temples. The stark quiet in the now empty daycare made him pause, “and quiet in here?”

Moon’s eyes locked onto the only moving being in the daycare. Solar was standing amongst the splatter of paint on the floor with a red tinted Sun in his arms. 

“Did Sun kill a kid?” he asked a little too casually, as if he was restraining himself from saying again?

“No?” Solar blinked, “why the fuck would you think that!?”

Moon walked closer and noticed the other myriad of colors on the floor, “well that’s a relief”

“Moon, what the hell were you doing?” Solar walked towards Moon with a brisk pace, “I called you like twice and the computer couldn’t get ahold of you either”

The lunar bot stared at Sun and noticed his dark optics, “I was in my lab,” he reached out to touch the red paint over Sun’s cheek but Solar flinched back out of reflex. Moon took no offense as he moved his hand closer and smeared the red onto his fingers, “I was working on that other project we talked about”

Solar looked away ashamedly, “yea, but you can still monitor your phone”

“I saw the notification and came here running didn’t I?”

“Did you even read it?”

“No,” he shrugged as the two began walking towards parts and services.

“You said you would” Solar let Moon open the daycare doors, “what if something came through the portal, or there was a worse emergency”

“Computer has a special alert that gets sent directly to my HUD, it would’ve been fine”

“This felt like an emergency,” Solar mumbled. 

“According to my emergency protocol guidelines, this did not” Spaniard’s voice flickered through the tablet. 

“Forgot you could do that,” Moon turned back to watch the screen light up, “guess you ran a diagnostic already then”

Moon opened the service tunnels and the two travelled through low light all the way to parts and services, “indeed, though Sun’s shutdown was sudden, I determined there was no immediate threat to neither Sun nor those connected to the daycare systems”

“See,” Moon opened the steel door to the same place Sunny woke up in, “told ya, if there was an actual emergency, I would’ve been here as soon as possible”. Parts and services was always cold no matter what anyone did. It was newly renovated by Solar and Moon, but there was always a dark cold feeling wafting through the air. 

“Yea yea,” Solar looked away as he gently placed Sun inside the protective cylinder. 

Solar reached for the cord at the back of Sun’s head, “not yet,” Spaniard’s voice made him pause midmotion, “I am disconnecting my data scanning programs from Sun’s system, please allow me a moment before unplugging the cord”

“Sure,” Solar took a breath and let his hand go slack against his side. He only brought it back up when Spaniard prompted him to and he brought the tablet with him to the control panel where Moon was already typing some things. 

“Let’s see what we’re working with,” Moon typed so fast on the small computer Solar wondered for a second what he was actually doing. 

“My diagnostics have shown that Sun was not under the influence of foreign programs or any viruses” Spaniard’s screen continued to display the visualization icon. 

“I figured that much since you didn’t hit the panic button,” Moon didn’t look up in his concentration, “but this is Sun we’re talking about, it could literally be anything” with a flick of his wrist the cylinder sprung to life. 

Mechanical arms lowered from the ceiling, wires once spooled out of view closed in on the weary animatronic. 

“Computer connect to the cylinder’s systems,” Moon used the previous cord from the tablet to connect it to the computer he was working with. 

“As you wish”.

A flurry of code filled the small computer screen as programs upon programs and scans upon scans ran. Files opened and closed, folders nestled into bigger folders revealed hidden files and source codes all at once. 

Several wires plugged into the back of Sun’s head and small panels all over his body sprung open to show the machinery underneath. Metal restraints previously hidden in the metal table Sun lay on latched onto his wrists and ankles. Cold unrelenting metal coiled around his neck pipe and slithered over his torso.

“You didn’t do that last time,” Solar couldn’t look away from the myriad of tools hovering just above Sun. 

“Didn’t need to last time,” Moon crossed his arms, eyes still focused on the letters and symbols streaming in front of him. 

Sun’s body twitched. His fingers spasmed then his legs moved with a jerk. His static smile twisted in pain, but his eyes did not open. 

“Moon?!” Solar put his hands on the protective glass. 

“This is why we didn’t do it last time,” Moon shrugged, “he hates the cylinder”

“I can see why,” Solar’s eyes locked onto the splatter of colors all over, “holy shit, is he in pain!?”

“Not that he’d remember it, but yea, indepth scans are a bitch”

“Isn’t there a better way to do this?!”

“If he didn’t shutdown I wouldn’t have even offered something like this,” the small sympathetic lilt to his voice surprised Solar for a second, “Computer’s scan said he’s in a feedback loop, which means I’m not gonna wake him up without trying to safely bring him out of it”

“Have you-” Solar gulped, “-have you done this before?”

“A lot less nowadays, but yea,” Moon typed some passwords onto the computer and continued crossing his arms, “he doesn’t always shut down, but it happened a lot more when we were younger before I ya know….died, but it hasn’t happened in a while so I guess since Nexus never had to worry about it”

“This kinda shit just happens!?”

“Trust me, it’s not as bad as you think it is” he sighed, “and I’ve been making a patch for the problem, it just kinda took a back seat to dying and dealing with that fucker Nexus”

“So it’s fixable,” Solar’s hand stayed on the glass, resisting the temptation to override the door or break the glass. 

“Probably,” Moon shrugged, “whatever the problem is, it’s directly connected to his memory storage, emotional matrix and physical functions”

“Have you, I dunno asked him?”

“Obviously,” Moon rolled his eyes, “what kind of a brother do you think I am?” he didn’t wait for Solar to look at him let alone acknowledge him, “we talked a little bit about what led up to these episodes, but we never get far, he doesn’t want to talk about it and even if I have a vague idea of what it’s about, I’m not gonna force him to relive that for my sake”

“I knew you guys had a whole life before any of the rest of us showed up, but…” Solar trailed off as he saw several wires retract and Sun’s arm panels slam shut, “...you guys sound like you’re still living it”

“Every day,” Moon let out a humorless chuckle, “it’ll be better when we’re out of this sorry excuse of a home dimension”

“Will that really help?”

“Probably,” Moon stretched his arms above his head and let out a yawn, “now let’s get some of this paint off Sun before he wakes up and his cleaning protocols send him back into a shut down”

“That can happen!?” Solar’s head snapped back so he could stare at Moon. 

Moon paused mid-step, “I actually have no idea,” he blinked, “but this is Sun we’re talking about, probably”

“Disconnecting from parts and services network,” Spaniard informed Moon.

“Ya know,” Moon paused, “this went a lot smoother with my computer”

“That was smooth!?” Solar’s hands hovered just above Sun. 

“Trust me, that shit can get rough the longer it takes for me to get the program up and running” Moon thought, “hey computer”

“Yes Moon,” Spaniard’s icon on the tablet blinked to life. 

“Install that app you and Sun made for the tablet to the parts and services computer”

“As you wish,” his circle and triangle avatar flickered as the information began transferring from the tablet to the computer. 

“I can’t believe I never thought about doing that,” Moon scolded himself, “probably would’ve made life a lot easier if computer could just jump into this one”

“You can’t seriously make me believe you never needed him here” Solar unclipped Sun’s stained ruffles. 

“I usually code everything myself, thank you very much,” Moon huffed. 

“Damn,” Solar let the ruffles fall to the floor and grabbed a wipe from the cart beside them and wiped Sun’s face, “that’s actually pretty impressive”

“Please do not feed his ego,” Spaniard snarked from his tablet outside the cylinder. 

Solar chuckled while Moon paused taking Sun’s shoes off, “when did you get so sassy?” He received no answer as Spaniard kept to his mission of creating a path for him to use the cylinder if he was needed.

Chapter Text

Sun woke up with a start. His eyes snapped open and he sprung out of bed with a cry, “Evelyn!” 

His eyes were unfocused and his panic grew at the lack of daycare around him. Sunny was quietly sewing in the chair beside Sun’s bed when the sudden movement caught his attention. He dropped the little fox he was working on and tried to calm the frantic attendant. Sun was tangled in his own sheets while Sunny tried to ground him with his touch. 

“Sunny?” he finally recognized, but fear continued to flood his mind, “Dazzle!” he resumed struggling, “where’s Dazzle!?”

“She’s okay!” Sunny let Sun go limp with relief in his arms. 

“Where’s my Dazzle,” Sun sounded tired. 

“She’s in her room with Jack” Sunny gently maneuvered Sun back into a resting position. He was in his own bed, in his room, sitting against the headboard of his bed staring into the low light of the room.  

“I-” Sun shivered, “I don’t remember what happened after I fell” his body ached with remembrance of the many scans and prods from mere moments ago. 

“Solar and Moon brought you to parts and services, and the kids are okay too! Lunar, Earth and I got everyone to the theatre and we calmed them down enough to watch a movie”

“I’m sorry,” Sun’s eyes were on his covered lap. 

“I’m the one whose sorry,” Sunny stood by Sun’s bedside awkwardly fidgeting with his hands, “none of this would have happened if I didn’t splash paint on you”

“Are the kids okay?” Sun questioned with his eyes far away. 

“They’re okay,” Sunny repeated. 

“Are the kids okay?” Sun’s optics grew fuzzy, “I didn’t mean to-”

Before Sunny could decipher what he was really talking about, small voices from downstairs reached them. 

“I’ll go see what’s going on,” Sunny started walking towards the door. 

He looked back and Sun’s hand was outstretched as if to call him back, “are the kids okay?”

“I’ll go check,” Sunny watched as Sun relaxed back into his pillows

~~~~~

Sunny reached the bottom of the stairs where Moon was standing. 

“What’s going on?” Sunny’s voice made Moon look behind him. Moon stepped aside to let Sunny pass and he got a good look at Dazzle who had frustrated tears in her eyes and Jack who was hovering just behind her. 

“Hey Sunny,” Moon sounded tired. 

“I want Sun!” Dazzle shouted out again. 

“I know,” Moon tried to placate, “but he’s not feeling well, we should leave him alone”

“No!” Dazzle cried, “no! no! No!” he stamped her foot, “I want Sun!”

“Why can’t they see him?” Sunny stood beside Moon.

“Now is probably not the best time for her to see him,” he tried to whisper to Sunny. 

“Why?”

“Ah geez, no one told you,” he realized, “look all you need to know is if she goes up there, she’s probably gonna remember some bad things and get all traumatized again”

“Again?!” Sunny gawked, “what on earth are you talking about!?”

“He is talking about Dazzle and Sun’s shared past” an entirely new voice entered the kitchen.

“WHAT THE EVER LOVING HECK IS THAT!?” Sunny screeched and flinched back at the sight of the sentient wire spaghetti. Without the other side of the stairs blocked, Dazzle took her chance and ran right past Moon. 

“Well that’s gonna be a problem,” Moon sighed as he just stepped aside and let the sheepish Jack shakily climb the stairs to follow Dazzle. 

“The others call me Molten,” the broken bear spoke with a slight glitchy static. 

Sunny’s arms were still positioned in front of him as if to defend from the would-be attacker, “hello?” he lowered his hands ever so slightly. 

“Did we really forget to introduce you two?” Moon quirked a brow. 

“You mentioned someone called Molten,” Sunny was still tense, “but no”

“I know of you too,” Molten tilted his head like a terrifying puppy, “I hear a lot of things from the basement”

Sunny gulped, “nice- to meet you”

“I am happy to be able to talk to you too,” if Molten’s broken eyes could squint in content, he would have.

“That’s great you two,” Moon crossed his arms, “but someone needs to go check up on the kids, make sure Sun isn’t giving them more trauma"

Whatever shock was flowing through Sunny faded and indignation replaced his surprise, “I’m not even going to ask what that’s about!” he furiously shook his head, “I don’t even care that you’re being cryptic anymore, you’re being really mean right now!” He then passed Moon and made his way up the stairs. 

Moon looked at Molten, “what?”

“That could have gone better,” Molten nodded to himself. 

“Don’t know what you mean by that, but sure buddy,” he then seemed to remember something, “why are you here anyways?” he blinked, “I thought you were still in my lab”

“I got bored,” Molten replied, static lifting slightly, “you and Solar said I was welcome to stay”

“We did,” Moon confirmed with a sigh, “didn’t expect you to actually take the offer seriously though. What happened to your whole travelling and trying to find yourself stuff?”

“I have concluded that in order to find my purpose without the influence my original prerogatives, it would be best to stay here and observe”

Moon heard soft voices from upstairs and figured it was safe to walk away. Molten shuffled behind him as he walked to the family room and turned on the TV, “you make it sound like we’re some sort of project or anomaly to you”

“Perhaps a more fitting description would be a TV show,” Molten offered. 

“Considering a lot of our lives are already online, can’t say I’m surprised you’d see us that way”

“This family is interesting in many ways, though I would not go as far to call it entertaining,” Molten sat on the other end of the couch, “I supposed one could possibly consider this dimension an anomaly”

“If we have an interdimensional creator or some bullshit watcher thing looking at us because we’re some sort of anomaly, I’m gonna be upset” Moon grabbed an abandoned bowl of popcorn from the side table and began eating, “as a matter of fact if anyone gets any ideas because of you then we’re gonna have a problem”

“It is not outside the realm of possibilities”

“Eugh don’t remind me” Moon rolled his eyes and pressed play on some action movie he picked without looking. 

~~~~~~~

Dazzle nearly tripped over herself as she ran up the stairs and into Sun’s room. When she threw the door open her wilted guardian was curled in on himself. Eyelights fuzzy with his head down, it looked like he was expecting someone to yell at him. 

Sun’s eyes slowly tracked the loud sound of his door slamming against the wall. Once his eyes caught sight of the teary deer he brightened, his wilted rays sprang up as he tried to get out of bed to meet her. 

The little animatronic took the silent hope as permission and closed the distance immediately. She jumped on top of the bed and right into Sun’s arms. Finally the weary animatronic could truly settle back into bed. 

Both cried in each other's arms. Dazzle was reduced to sniffles as she clung to the attendant, “are-you okay” her voice cracked. 

“I am now,” Sun admitted with a small sob of his own. 

Jack stood in the doorway unsure if he should step into the room. The moment was too intimate, too vulnerable and he didn’t know if he belonged. 

The taller animatronic behind him did not have such qualms. Sunny broke the barrier keeping Jack rooted to the floor with his new ability to stand upright. 

“Thank goodness,” Sunny took a breath of relief as Jack nervously followed him into the room. 

Sun let his arms go lax as Dazzle shuffled herself to be under the covers so she could be at his side, “hey Sunny” his eyes were much brighter than they were moments ago, and Moon thought Sun was traumatizing them?!

“How are you feeling,” Sunny sat at the foot of the bed. 

“Better,” Sun ruffled Dazzle’s hair as she yawned and wiped the evidence of tears off her face. 

“That’s good,” Sunny could feel awkwardness creeping up, but Sun didn’t seem to mind the company. 

Jack stood off to the side, waiting for something or perhaps someone to acknowledge him.

When no one told him to leave the room he started looking around the low lit area. Both of the lamps on Sun’s nightstands were on and it generated enough light to see, but quiet enough to feel soothing. He vaguely wondered if Sun always had his room lit like this because that’s all he’d ever seen of the room. 

His eyes wandered to some plushies Jack watched Sun buy for Dazzle, then at the tub of fabric on the corner. The room was clean, not a speck of dust in sight, but it also looked well lived in. There were a couple spools of thread under a desk and forgotten scissors and pincushions he was sure looked out of place, as if there was always a project going on that needed everything out. 

Eventually his eyes met the floor. He heard Sunny and Sun talking softly but he paid them no mind as shiny things caught his attention. A shiny penny by the nightstand, a silver piece of costume jewelry he was sure was Dazzle’s, a crinkled wrapper of some sort of granola bar with no crumbs, and the shine of light hitting plastic. 

He squinted his eyes as he upped his night vision to see what had half rolled under the bed. He got closer and noticed a very different plush. Plastic eyes and a silly smile greeted him as he lifted the fox off the floor. 

“Oh!” Sunny’s voice brought him out of his solo adventure and he blinked to remember there were other people in the room. 

“What is this?” Jack decided as all eyes were on him now, he might as well ask. 

“Uh-” Sunny looked incredibly nervous as his hands started fidgeting. Jack would have thought that Sun would be the one answering him, seeing how it was his room, “-about that,” Sunny deflected, “looks like a pretty cool plushy…right?”

It was missing an ear and had light pencil marks where it would have been. The stitches were made with love and every detail of the soft plush screamed care. 

“It’s nice?” he answered like a question, is this one of Dazzle’s? He didn’t want to insinuate that he liked something that wasn’t his. 

A tired chuckle snapped both of their attentions to Sun who softly smiled, “Sunny’s been making you a plush”

“Sun!” Sunny whined, “it’s not even done yet!” he fussed, “what if he didn’t like it!” his hands were clasped together as he complained to Sun. 

“For…me?” Jack looked at the red fur and the felt eyepatch. 

Sunny looked away from Sun, “I was uh-” he stuttered, “-I wanted to make you something, because I was worrying all night- not that I, -but I wanted to make you something- because I…” he took a breath, “...I wanted you to know I cared”

The little book from the other night filled his head.

I burrowed in the dirt for a long time before you were born. Mama bunny kissed the baby bunny on his little head. I wanted to make you a place all of your own. Mama bunny tucked the baby bunny into bed. I wanted you to know that you were loved even before you arrived. Baby bunny snuggled into the soft quilt Mama bunny made him. I made you a quilt to keep you warm at night. Mama bunny left a light on. I made you a light so you would never be afraid of the dark. Mama bunny sang the baby bunny to sleep. And I made you a song to make sure you knew every moment of everyday, I love you.

Yellow optics watered as Jack held the fox close, “for me?” he asked again as if Sunny would take back his offer and his words, “you made this- for me?”

“I…did” is that a good reaction?! Sunny watched as Jack began to shake and small droplets of tears fell onto the fox. 

Jack didn’t have words, all he could do was run at Sunny. He braced for impact and Sunny opened his arms wide to hold him. Jack was lifted off the floor and joined the solemn animatronics on the bed. He was cradled against Sunny’s chest sideways as he clutched his gift tightly. 

Sunny heard Sun in his head, I think Jack will really appreciate it even if he may not have the words to show it. And if that didn’t just make Sunny hug Jack tighter he didn’t know what would. 

“I care,” he repeated quietly for himself or for Jack, he didn’t know. 

“thank you,” Jack sniffled. 

That’s how they all fell asleep. Dazzle was snuggled up to Sun’s side, happily enjoying the company, Jack was held by Sunny who was at the foot of the bed sleeping sideways. And Sun was still sitting at the head of the bed, his back against the headboard as if watching over his charges even in sleep. The bed was big, not big enough for all of them, but big enough to hold them all.

Chapter Text

Some time during the night Solar came home. 

“That was a shitshow,” he huffed and took his boots off. 

“I can only imagine,” Moon yawned and paused the TV. 

“Please don’t tell me you’ve been here all night binge watching,” Solar sighed and sat on the recliner to the side of the couch. 

“We have,” Molten answered. 

“Come on man,” Solar crossed his arms, “I totally could’ve used you help filing all those incident reports and cleaning up”

“Sorry-not-sorry,” Moon shrugged, “I don’t work there anymore”

“Yes you do-” Solar paused, when was the last time he actually saw Moon working at the daycare? “-uh you’re at least an attendant still, aren’t you?”

“Still an attendant with all those shitty protocols, yes. Owned by Fazshit, yea. But actually contracted with a job, no”

“Bruh”

“Don’t bruh me,” Moon chuckled, “you guys work the plex willingly”

“Yea, for a paycheck!” he sputtered, “and it’s something familiar!”

“Wasn’t shaming you for it,” Moon backtracked, “I’m just saying you can’t shame me for not working when you guys chose to”

“And somehow you’re still owned????” Solar sounded exasperated. 

“Well yea, I still make ‘em money though, so they don’t really care that I’m not on the floor all the time. I show up every now and then for promotional work so they don’t have to recall the merch, but I don’t actually have a job at the daycare”

“You know what, I don’t even care anymore,” Solar sighed, “point is the daycare was a mess and it took forever to clean by myself”

“Dude you rebuilt the daycare, how is cleaning your weakness?”

“It’s a lot of cleaning! How did you guys manage to do all that by yourself!?”

“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong,” Moon grinned, “Sun’s always done the daycare by himself”

“What?” Solar blinked. 

“Yea dude,” Moon shook his head as if it were a funny joke, “can you imagine having all those cleaning protocols screaming at you? I deleted those stupid things the second I had access to my own systems”

“I-” Solar thought about it, “wait…” a quick internal search confirmed his suspicions, “holy shit, I don’t have my cleaning protocols anymore”

“You had them in the first place?!” Moon stared at Solar with wide eyes. 

“I got them from Sunny when we separated,” Solar blinked, “I can’t believe when I got brought back I just didn’t notice they were gone?”

“To be fair,” Molten piped up, “a lot has happened since you returned”

“What he said,” Moon settled back into the couch and grabbed the remote, “anyways I got some news on the whole tracking situation” he unpaused the TV on low volume. 

“It’s been days, I hope you have an update,” Solar stayed tense, trying to relax into the recliner he was sitting on but failed. 

“I was right the first time by the way,” Moon looked smug, “he was at that shipping yard I bought years ago, how he found it I don’t know, but it’s definitely one of the ones I own”

“What could you possibly have there that he wants?”

“Dunno, it’s been abandoned since I died and I’ve looked at the logs, none of my usual guys have been maintaining it either”

“Why would you even have a shipping yard anyways?”

“Eh, the mafia”

“Bruh”

“You try to get supplemental income!” Moon crossed his arms, “I worked for the government too!” he huffed, “had to pay off Fazbear and get stuff for all my bunkers and labs somehow”

“You know what? Doesn't matter!” Solar shook his head, “what was he doing over there?”

“I tried accessing the security cameras, but most of them are dead or burned out, either way I could only get a vague idea of where he was exploring,” Moon shrugged, “but I got the notification an hour ago that he left so we can check it out tomorrow”

“Good grief,” Solar sighed, “we bringing anyone else with us?”

“I was thinking Lunar since he’s been helping with our other projects, but I think he’s doing some sort of popsicle craft in the daycare and he’s been looking forward to it”

Molten’s voice was laced with static, “Sun could be an asset,” he suggested, “he has magic”

“Nah,” Moon waved the bear off without even looking, “he’s been so stressed out lately and with the whole shut down thing today, there’s no way I’m gonna add to that”

“You’re still going to tell him before we leave, right?” Solar quirked a brow. 

“Obviously,” Moon huffed, “I’ll let him know we’re going out and you can tell Sunny, they’ll tell Earth and Lunar and we’ll be good”

“Alright,” Solar relented even though he wasn’t convinced. 

“Will we be doing another experiment soon?” Molten tilted his head. 

“I think we’re still working on the data from last night's run,” Solar answered. 

“I see”

“We’re almost done with it,” Moon supplied, “it’s some good stuff though, I didn’t know the atoms in adaptium were so dense, I expected them to more fluid-like”

“I would not know,” Molten turned to the TV, “it is late”

“Yea,” Moon complained, “ and I didn’t even get to finish the season,” he whined while navigating the menu to turn off the TV. He got up from the couch once the TV was off and yawned, “well it’s been fun you two, goodnight”

“Goodnight Moon”

“Night,” Solar watched Moon climb up the stairs and close the door to his room. 

“You should speak up,” Molten got up from the couch. 

“What?”

“There are a lot of things on your mind,” he elaborated, “you should speak up instead of keeping it to yourself” he then whisked himself away to the basement. 

“The hell is that supposed to mean?”

~~~~~~~

Jack woke up in the middle of night, same as he always did since the night Solar was killed. 

Out of habit he was about to sneak out of Sun’s room to roam downstairs, but stopped himself this time. He didn’t want to get yelled at, didn’t want to feel the same way he did last night. 

He just stayed in his sitting position on the bed. Sometime during the night he was covered and he was comfortable, but he also fought back the urge to go back downstairs. 

“Jack?” Sunny whispered behind him, his half lilled eyes sleepily looking at him, “what are you doing up?”

“I-” Jack didn’t know if he couldn’t answer or if he just didn’t want to, but either way nothing came out. 

Sunny hummed as his eyes opened fully and noticed the room. Sun’s head was lulled backwards at an angle that would have great consequences in the morning. He was still sitting at the headboard, arm wrapped around Dazzle as if to shield her away from the outside world as the little girl snoozed away happily at his side. 

Both lamps were still on in the room and he noticed that Sun didn’t have his charger in. 

“Let’s help them out then get to bed,” Sunny yawed and slipped out of bed so skillfully neither Sun nor Dazzle moved. 

Jack was confused but followed Sunny’s example regardless. Sunny grabbed a charger from the bedside and gently clicked the cable into Sun’s head as Jack helped to move Dazzle in a more comfortable position, still neither made any inclination that they were awake. 

Sunny then gently let Sun’s head rest against his shoulder as he maneuvered him to lay down. Soon both were in a much more comfortable position and charging. Sunny stretched out ever so slightly and motioned Jack to stay quiet and follow him. 

The bright attendant led Jack to his room. It was just across the hall from Sun’s room so the short walk was appreciated. 

Before Jack could question what Sunny meant or even reach his door, Solar appeared at the top of the stairs. 

All parties froze. 

Jack didn’t know what came over him, but the second he saw his creator, his flight instinct took hold of him and he hid behind Sunny. 

“What are you doing up?” Sunny let Jack hide as he faced his brother. 

“Just got home actually,” Solar’s eyes wandered low to the animatronic avoiding eye contact, “the daycare was a mess”

“If you called, I would have come to help you,” Sunny realized he went home the second the day ended, “even after I was the one who made the mess, I can’t believe you guys stayed to clean the daycare”

“It’s okay I used to do this all the time,” Solar looked away, “I’m just glad you guys got to go home and get some rest”

“Yea,” Sunny took a breath then paused, “wait…did you just- did they leave you to clean the daycare by yourself!?”

“No!” Solar quickly defended, “I asked Lunar and Earth to go home since they looked tired”

“You look tired too,” Sunny stepped closer and brought his hands up to Solar’s faceplate, “that was a very kind thing to do, but you shouldn’t be the only one carrying the burden”

“Sunny…” Solar all but whined at the familiar gesture. 

Suddenly he was back in the solace of safety. Fluffy clouds in a room modeled after the daycare, he was shorter back then, but at this moment it didn’t really matter. Soft hands gently wiped away tears after bad days as his code coiled around the warmth Sunny’s presence always exudes. Solar forgot where he was for a moment and leaned into the touch with his eyes closed. 

Sunny smiled and let Solar put his hands over his own and bask in how real he was. 

“Was there something you wanted to talk about?” Sunny let Solar come back from wherever he was. Both their hands fell to their sides, but if it were up to Solar, he would have never let him go, never again.

Solar blinked, “oh yea,” he almost forgot the whole reason he was even upstairs, “Moon and I are going to check out the last known location Nexus was at, tomorrow”

“Isn’t he supposed to be really dangerous?” Sunny cringed. 

“He is, but Moon’s been tracking his movements and he’s not at the same place anymore, we just want to know why he was in this dimension, let alone some shipping yard Moon owns”

Sunny was not even going to question what that meant, but that brought up other questions, “so he’s not there”

“Yea,” Solar confirmed, “just a reconnaissance mission” Solar confirmed, “but we’re taking weapons and scouting for traps”

The bright attendant took a breath, “you guys will be safe?”

“Of course,” Solar smiled lightly, “I wouldn’t leave you here all alone, we’ll be safe and I’ll call in case something happens”

“Okay,” Sunny smiled back, “thank you for telling me”

“Yea…” Solar steadied himself as he caught the orange bot swaying lightly in his peripheral, “and Jack?” The sudden acknowledgement startled the little animatronic, “I’m sorry about last-night,” his voice cracked, “I didn’t mean to yell or scare you”

There was more. Words bubbled just above the surface, hundreds of memories and phantom pains begged to be let loose, but Solar willed them away. This wasn’t about him and his trauma, it was about the child in front of him, the one he made, and the one he nearly stabbed out of impulse. 

Jack had something to say too. Raw feelings and tears, broken emotions and the unrelenting cold that threatened to throw him back into the darkness, but he couldn’t form anything into comprehensible words. Instead he nodded, as if to say thank you, for what, he didn’t know. Maybe a thank you for acknowledging that he was scared, or thank you for the apology, perhaps it was a thank you for not ignoring his presence. 

“We’re heading to bed,” Sunny broke the silent conversation, “thanks for letting me know about tomorrow, and please stay safe” he leaned forward and hugged Solar. 

“Always,” Solar closed his eyes just for a moment reminding himself that this was real, “goodnight,” he hugged him tighter before turning back down the stairs and waving at Jack who blinked before returning the gesture. 

“Now let’s get to bed,” Sunny hummed and opened his door motioning Jack in, “you can sleep with me if you want”

Was Sunny really a stranger? He slotted into their lives like he had always belonged and it wasn’t as though a few moments ago Jack used him as a shield and slept close anyways. 

Awkwardly Jack plugged the spare charger in Sunny’s room into his head and laid down next to him. Sunny’s room wasn’t like Sun’s. The room didn’t feel as warm or lived in as his did, neither did it have the low light atmosphere. There was a single moon nightlight in the outlet on the far side of the room casting an almost blue filter rather than the yellow warm light of Sun’s room. It was a cool blue, something so different but inviting, just like Sunny. 

Jack closed his eyes and decided it wasn’t as bad as being left alone with his thoughts.