Work Text:
"Seeya tomorrow, kiddo!" The daycare worker said as they waved to the little kid being escorted out of the daycare by their parent, locking the garage door behind them as they backed up against it, breathing a big sigh of relief. Another long exciting day finally out of the way they thought, walking to the fence just in front of the netting surrounding the daycare and looking into it, only to see their one and only coworker (or, coworkers?) cleaning up toys that had been scattered around.
The Daycare Attendant, also known as Sun and Moon... They had grown... concerned for the two of them as of late.
For starters, before the vacation they had taken the month before, they were already worried after Moon started acting more... volatile grumpy, but now they were down right distressed after seeing the log's they hadn't bothered to read while on holiday, saying Moon had been purposely scaring the kids. although all evidence says other wise, they thought it was surely just a misunderstanding, and if they talked to moon he would surely clear it up and explain what had really happened.
Not like they had gotten the chance to talk to him anyways, as Sun has started doing nap time himself, and has refused to talk about anything regarding Moon since they got back.
They dramatically sighed as they leaned their arms against the fence. Speaking of Sun, he has been acting weird as of late too, being ten times more irritable then usual, often snapping at the kids for the slightest offences. sometimes he'd get a little snippy, but when that would happen he would just let Moon take care of the kids for awhile while he rested in their shared headspace, but since he stopped letting moon come out he hasn't had any real breaks for a couple weeks now.
Even some of the kids had noticed something was different, often asking Sun when 'Mr. Moon' would come back, before Sun would quickly change the topic anyway he could.
as they moved away from the fence, they considered going down the slide into the daycare but they ultimately decided to take the employee entrance off to the side, as they knew they needed to have a talk with Sunny, and starting that conversation with a crash into the ball pit felt weird.
Finally inside the daycare, they walk up to Sun, who was currently sweeping the floors.
"Hey Sunny!" They waved to the tall animatronic, having to look up slightly to see his face, always stuck in that perpetual grin.
"Oh, hey..." Sun said dryly, giving a slight wave before going back to sweeping. The daycare worker looked down onto the floor. Ever since they came back from their vacation Sun had been uncharacteristically short with them, usually he's more than happy to gush about a piece of art given to him by one of the kids, or rant about a stupid thing one of the 'little troublemakers' did that day, leaving the other daycare worker unsure with how to speak to them.
After a short breath, and a bit of summoned courage they looked back up at Sun and said "Look, I don't know what's going on with you and Moon-" Sun visibly tensed at Moon's name- "but I'm getting a little worried..."
They walked up behind Sun and put a hand on his shoulder, but just as it made contact Sun let out a fake, barely audible gasp and turned to face you in order to speak.
"There's no need to worry about me" if he could emote he would probably have a solemn look on his face, suggesting by his tone of voice. "I'm fine." He said as he turned away again. The Daycare worker stood back a bit, shocked at his deeper tone. he almost sounded like a particularly cross Moon!
They stumbled with their words for a second, before saying "You know you can talk to me if something's going on, right Sunny?" They walked in front of him to try and gauge is reaction. despite his stagnant face they always seemed to know what he was feeling, it was one of the reasons you two get along so well... most of the time.
It seemed like he was having an all out war inside his head, trying to figure out if spilling the tea was really the best thing to do for him.
Eventually he spoke, "I'm just... sick of this"
"sick of it?" The daycare worker titled their head slightly "sick of what?'
"ALL OF IT!" Sun dramatically shouted, dropping the broom gesturing to the entire daycare. "IM SICK OF THIS BROOM, IM SICK OF THOSE TOYS, IM SICK OF THIS ENDLESSLY REPEATING MUSIC!" gesturing to the broom, a toy box off to the side and the speakers. "AND MOST OF ALL, I AM SICK OF HAVING TO CLIMB TROUGH THESE STUPID PLAYSTRUCTURES!!" he kicked the side of one of the slides, immediately regretting it as he held the foot he kicked with, hopping around on the other "YEOWCH!!!!!!!"
The daycare worker tried not to laugh but ultimately failed, laughing a bit under their breath as Sun flopped onto the floor, as they walked over to where sun had laid down and joined him on the floor, sitting upright.
"... you alright now?" they asked him as sun sat up, scootching backwards to sit next to them. "no" Sun let out an artificial sigh "... you know I love the kids right?" he looked over to them "Sun, where are you going with this?" the worker saying as they looked at him curiously. "It's just, they can be sooo..." he stopped as he thought about his next words. "irritating?" "Annoying." Sun said matter of factly.
"They keep pulling on my back ring thingy and trying to make me eat glitter glue?" he turned his head to them "Like hellooooooooooooo, obviously the best tasting craft supplies would be the buttons!" They let out a little giggle at his sarcasm "nah, I think the best would be felt!" they replied back "Nuh-uh!" Sun crossed his arms "the felt is all icky and weird, buttons are smooth and glossy!" he cupped his own cheeks and turned his head a little "Yeah, but they're hard as hell to chew" they pointed at him "hmmm... got me there!" he let out a small snort as he laid back down, the daycare worker joining him on the floor.
The two of them enjoyed the comfortable silence surrounding them, just enjoying each others presence.
After a few minutes the daycare worker spoke up "I didn't know you've been that stressed" Sun looked at them with a face that somehow perfectly said 'really?' without saying it "I mean, I knew you were stressed but I didn't realize it was THAT BAD!" They briefly held their hands up as Suns head was placed back down.
"why didn't you tell someone? even if you didn't really want to tell me for whatever reason, I'm sure Moon would understand" They looked at Sun, as an air of melancholy and slight panic surrounded him.
"I thought I could handle it all on my own... guess I was wrong, huh?" Sun looked back at them, letting out a fake awkward giggling sound. "Y'know, you could've just turned the lights of during nap time and let Moon take care of the kids like usual!" they said.
"NO!" Sun sat back up looking back at them, hands clutched in front of him, artificially heavy breathing before taking a deep breath, wrapping his arms around himself and looking away "...that's not an option anymore"
"Why?" they sat up, crossing their legs. "Moons.. not himself anymore" Sun said like he was practically forcing the words of him. "He's been violent" Sun turned to face you again. "What? Moon's not violent? since when has Moon been violent???" They said with incredible concern and confusion etched on their face.
"I DON'T KNOW!" he yelled back, whipping his head towards them.
"...I'm sorry" Sun let out a small sigh "for yelling at you" he untensed a little "Ever since you left Moon's been saying these terrible things, threatening the kids, insulting me, and all other kinds of stuff!" he gestured his hands out. "I tried going to parts and service, but they just said it was probably just some small bug in a recent update, and that I was just 'exaggerating' " he made little quotation marks with his hands at that last part- "and that they didn't have the time! YAH HEAR THAT FOLKS! THEY APPARENTLY DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO FIX A GENUINELY DANGEROUS BUG! GOD!" He threw his hands in the air- "And NOW, I have to deal with the kids all day EVERYDAY, WITH MY BESTFRIEND WHO CAN'T STOP TELLING ME TO STRANGLE EVERYONE ON SITE!" he started hyperventilating, taking his arms down.
The daycare worker was distraught. How could the sweet caring Moon they knew possibly be acting like this? this is the same guy who likes reading bedtime stories, who's always singing lullaby's to himself while cleaning, who freaks out a little if his pillows aren't colour coded? how could that guy ever tell Sun to strangle someone?
"He doesn't even sound the same anymore..." If Sun could cry, he would.
They moved in front of Sun and wrapped their arms around him, giving him the best hug they could manage. Sun reciprocated, tightly wrapping his arms around them, sounding like he was crying, even though no tears came out from his eyes.
.....
"What does he sound like now?"
"...what?"
"what does Moon sound like now?"
Sun loosened his grip a little "..like if a goblin was a chain-smoker"
They both giggled a little, if a bit awkwardly.
"Sun." They said "I don't know what happened to moon, but what I do know is that I will do whatever it takes to help him. to help you. to help the both of you."
Sun sniffled a little "You really mean that?"
"Of course I do"
"...do you think we could just, stay like this for awhile? Please"
"... Ok Sunny"
and with that, they both squeezed each other harder, hanging on to one another.