Work Text:
Cloud hasn’t been active for very long. Little more than a month, in fact. But within that time, they’ve learned a lot and also had a lot of questions.
They know they were programmed to care for infants. They know they were a daycare attendant.
They knew things that weren’t programmed in them, like their gender and pronouns.
But they didn’t know much either. What makes someone your friend, what romance was, what happened to their coworkers to make them so solemn some days, and what the hell goes on in the pizzaplex.
There was only so much observation that one can do.
Cloud didn’t know exactly when someone becomes your friend and what leads up to friendship. The only person they knew was their friend was Earth, and that was because they had asked and she accepted.
They considered Mars their friend, but they’ve never checked. Maybe Mars considered them a friendly acquaintance.
They thought Lunar also was their friend, since they’ve used that title and weren’t corrected, but honestly everything with Lunar was confusing, and they never knew what Lunar was thinking or wanted.
They were starting to figure some things out about him, though.
The way his voice wavers when his boundaries are being pushed, the way his voice pitches up when he’s in genuine fear, and the way he gets loud when he’s being dramatic for the sake of the kids.
They even knew that he would either make himself the butt of the joke just to make people feel better.
It sort of made them upset, seeing Lunar drag himself down so much.
They were able to eventually have a conversation about him.
Lunar agreed to try better, but after the conversation, Cloud still had a weird pang in their chest. One that started the moment he started talking about relationships.
They chalked it up to them feeling bad for him.
That was until that worker got a girlfriend.
Cloud had no idea what the worker’s name was. From what they’d heard, it was Y/N, but they had no idea if that was true. All they knew was that Lunar probably hung out with them just as much as he did with them.
What made them irritated was their girlfriend.
She had no business being so rude to Lunar.
Cloud supposed maybe that was a part of relationships, to be protective and jealous of the people around your partner, but they’ve never witnessed it around Harvest, Chico, or Earth.
It made them mad. It was a surprising emotion, especially since it wasn’t for themself, but for Lunar.
Lunar looked so upset, and Cloud felt the powerful urge to chew the blue-haired girl (Hatsune Miku?) out for being so rude without reason.
When the situation resolved itself, however, Cloud took a moment to reassess the emotions they were feeling. The emotions that certainly weren’t just friend-like, based on Earth and Lunar’s relationship.
Then, they went over to Sun and Moon’s house with Lunar and were told to babysit for them.
They did enjoy the situation, watching the chaos the children got up to with Lunar. They knew Lunar was in no real danger, nor was he genuinely upset.
That was until he started sinking.
His voice had pitched up right before he submerged, and that already set off alarm bells for them, but they rang more as Lunar stayed under the water without attempting to surface.
They had jumped in without a second thought to help Lunar, getting their clothes wet in the process.
They didn’t care much; it wasn’t like they weren’t used to their clothes getting soaked, but their oil and artificial adrenaline didn’t stop even after Lunar reassured them that he wasn’t truly scared.
The signs were all there, but they didn’t want to question him in front of the children. Putting him on the spot was more likely to make him deflect.
Not even three days later, the human worker they had went through another situation.
Andromeda (another person they still weren’t sure if they were friends with) had been manipulated, making her aggressive, unsettling, and just downright terrifying.
Cloud had tried their best to hold her down while Sun tried to trap her, but to no avail. Then Lunar practically sacrificed himself.
Their non-existent heart dropped down to their stomach when Lunar uttered the words, “I’m dating them.”
They thought briefly, No, he can’t be, before common sense kicked in and they realised he was trying to get Andromeda off of their coworker’s tail.
Then he was being chased, fully with the end result of dying.
Cloud had been panicking, begging Sun to do something, although their tone came out too flat, even for their liking. They were pretty sure that Lunar was starting to rub off on them when they said “Ref, do something,” instead of anything worthwhile, like a scream of “Lunar! Please don’t die!”
Then, Andromeda was fixed, and Lunar started singing a Christmas song.
They started singing along, far too used to Lunar’s shenanigans by now, when Lunar stated something that they still weren’t sure they heard correctly.
“God, you complete me.”
It was a simple sentence, and frankly, probably a pretty normal sentence to say whenever someone joins in on his bit, but it still gave them a weird fluttering feeling.
“What?” Cloud had asked, not believing their audio receptors.
Lunar had simply blinked at them with his blue star-like eyes, repeated them and turned away.
Cloud had a hard time turning off that night.
Then, when that disgusting blue creature (they were starting to hate him with as much hate as they could possibly muster) killed Lunar, they heard that creature refer to Lunar as the human coworker’s “boyfriend”.
They tried to keep their tone as level as possible when they asked the human, “You guys are dating?”
They must’ve succeeded when no one questioned them, and the horrible tightness in their chest lightened when the human shook their head.
They had no idea how to describe their feelings in any way but “Love”. It certainly wasn’t something they felt for Earth or anyone else they worked for, only Lunar.
So, when they charged for that night, they stopped to think about how they’ve felt for the past month.
They noted the feelings they’ve felt for Lunar. That they were unique to Lunar and Lunar only.
They loved it when he made jokes, they liked the bits he did, where he had that stupid smirk on his face or when he pulled out a beard from his pants or even when he just did a backflip. It was charming to them.
They understood why the others were tired of it, but Cloud found themself looking forward to Lunar’s bits every time they hung out with him.
They loved it when he sought them out. He’d go out of his way to speak to them, to make sure they were included. He’d ask him mundane questions. “How’s the weather?” and stuff like that, just so they didn’t feel left out.
They loved more things about him: how, despite his jokes, if someone expresses a boundary, he makes sure not to cross it. His love for his dog, his weird enemy-friend relationship with Dazzle, and how he’s always there when someone needs to talk to someone.
All of those made Cloud feel lightheaded in a good way.
But then they thought about how they felt with Lunar around others.
They weren’t jealous, not really. They were fine with Lunar hanging out with others. They hung out with them too, after all.
It was when it came to that human employee. Every time someone calls them his partner or him their boyfriend that makes their chest tighten and ruins their mood instantly. They knew it wasn’t the human’s fault, but they couldn’t help it.
Especially when other people made it Lunar’s problem. Making him put himself in danger to help his friend, almost getting himself killed or being ridiculed or called names because of it.
The longer Cloud thinks about it, the more screwed they think they are. They’re not even sure if they’re “attractive” to Lunar.
But, well, they’ll be there for him, and if he ever wants to be more… they wouldn’t be opposed.