Chapter Text
Notes on Readerbot's speech patterns:
- "Word": Automated script
-"Word. Word. Word.": Mash up of scripts to form a sentence ((NOTE: Readerbot cannot and will NOT use this method of speaking with anyone else except around Sun and Moon))
- 'Word': Reader uses sign language or writes
“I know we usually go out during our dates, but… me and Sun have been thinking about trying something new.”
“?”
Their partner cocked their head cutely in question, Moon couldn’t help but let out a soft giggle. “I once heard that when it comes to dates, partners also invite each other out to hang out at their homes. A-And… they do whatever's fun that's not just limited to outside activities. Would you like to try that love?”
“...? But Daycare. Here. We do. Usual?” The staffbot made a questioning bleep and gestured with their arms out, flapping them. It took both Moon and Sun a few seconds to process and try to decipher the cryptic sentence that the other bot was conveying.
But thank god the both of them had years of experience from handling children that they’re able to understand most contexts or conclusions with the power of observation and critical thinking. It was one of the most important skills to have and was critical when it comes to those who struggle with communication or are nonverbal. It was one of the rare times where they were appreciative of their jobs that they could still connect and communicate with their lover.
If they still had their previous role. Before they were repurposed. How much of them would have stayed or changed…? Would they have even met them then?
In the mindspace, Sun had metaphorically tapped the other’s shoulder, “Ah, you know what? They’re technically right though. Daycare has been our ‘home’ since forever, not to mention that most of our dates have always been done here from their perspective.”
“I know, Sunny. Which is why I’m going to clarify, don’t worry.”
Moon gently wrapped their arm around the staffbot’s shoulder, causing the other to look up towards his face. “Well, yeah. Daycare is our ‘residence’ technically, on official paper anyways. But the both of us only saw this place as a workplace and not a ‘home’. I want to clarify that me and Sunny want to invite you to our room, our room is our real ‘home’... that’s why.”
The robot’s eyes shined in response, trembling with excitement as they leaned closer. It made Moon flush red and leaned back shyly in response. “You have. Room!? Where!?” In the map database the staffbot knows full well the info on the whereabouts of the Glamrocks’ rooms, they themselves have even driven by their areas during their shifts and had seen what they look like. Rooms decked out in fancy furniture and colorful lights and decorations, boldly showcasing their personalities. The staffbot wondered what Sun and Moon’s room looked like, from how long since they’ve known them the robot bets that their room would also be filled with an assortment of stylish furniture as well. Though there’s the question of why the robot doesn't have any information on the location of Sun and Moon’s room as well.
“Hehe, E-Easy there lovebug. We’re going to show you it today! But I want to warn you a little to not… get your hopes up too much.” Moon nervously scratches their cheek, “Compared to Freddy and the others’ rooms, ours isn’t all that impressive. It’s actually a small storage area where we rest, not an official room like the others…”
The lunar animatronic felt a smaller hand caress their hand that was resting on their lover’s shoulder. A silent reassurance was given to the daycare attendant when the staffbot grasped their hand gently and held on, meeting their eyes the robot had nodded.
It was okay.
There’s no judgment here.
Seeing the kind expression on their face made Sun and Moon relax their nerves a little. Taking a breath in, Moon figured out his next words; “When we learned about how couples show each other their rooms, it’s both a sign of affection and trust. A room or home is a place that shows the personality of the person who lives in it you know? Me and Sunny both discussed this for a while, and we wanted this because we… we wanted you to know us more and more. And we thought this would be a good idea since our relationship is doing well and we thought t-this would be a good step forward!”
Their lover’s eyes widen and begin to feel themselves overheat, feeling flattered when they hear the daycare attendants’ confession. With a gesture of hands, in sign language the staffbot replied graciously, ‘I am honoured.Thank you for trusting me.’
“Aww… of course! Thanks for trusting us too.” Moon smiles and gives off a playful wink, “Besides, I wanted to show you my collection of treasures, for all the times we’ve spent together scouring the lost and found we’ve never actually had the opportunity to sit down and play with them. I have cool stuff from even before we met too, don’t you want to see them~?”
They nodded vigorously.
That made the lunar animatronic laugh some more.
“Alright! Alright! To our room it is my dear~.”
Calling forth the cord and hooking it to their back, Moon holds their hands out and invites the other robot. “Come over here please. Hold on tight to me and I’ll carry you up to our room.” The staffbot in response had stared at Moon and then at the cord from the ceiling, staring apprehensively before slowly strolling forward and wrapped their arms around their waist. Moon stroked their back in comfort and encouragement.
“It’s okay love, don’t worry. We won’t drop you. We're a lot stronger than we look, we promise. Will you trust me?”
The nighttime attendant felt their partner nod in consent against their shoulder in their embrace, their arms tighten their hold and eyes nervously shut closed. With one last reassuring pat on the back, Moon also tightened their grip on the other and slowly ascended the both of them from ground; “Up, Up and away we go~.” sang the lunar animatronic playfully.
The animatronics flew across the ballpit area until it led up to the castle platform entrance where they always made their grand entrance to the children every morning in the daycare. Once their feet landed on the platform, Moon gently placed their partner’s wheels down on the ground safely and the staffbot finally opened their eyes. Surprised, the staffbot in question looked towards Moon's face then backwards only to gawk at the height of the platform down to the ballpit below. “Woah.”
The bot snapped out of their surprise when Moon tapped on their shoulder to get their attention. “Here we are, this is our place. It’s a bit small, so watch your step.” Moon said quietly. Looking forward, the staffbot’s eyes land on the slightly dark entrance and with Moon lending his hand. He leads their partner inside the mysterious room.
What the robot found inside was completely out of their expectations. It was a bleak and bland backstage storage area, devoid of bright colors as the Glamrock rooms. And yet, strangely it doesn’t feel at all inhospitable, there was life and presence in it by the amount of stuff that was cramped in here. Plushies and toys were spread across the room, with fairy lights dim and bright enough for both daycare attendants to be active that decorated the walls. Along with an assortment of cute children’s drawings of Sun and Moon as well. All those knick-knacks added color and personality to the otherwise empty room. Although there was one surprising detail that the staffbot had never imagined about the daycare attendants at all.
'Kinda messy.' Their lover replied. For all of Sun and Moon’s constant talks of cleanliness, organization, and perfectionism. The chaotic mess of the room with various objects strewn about made the comparison almost too funny when the bot thought about it. It caused them to giggle while Moon coughed in embarrassment. “Ahem! For your information we did clean up before you got here. And it’s not messy, it’s an organized mess! It’s hard to bring any furniture up here so we had to make do ya know?”
The lunar animatronic leans down on one knee and dramatically presents one pile in the corner. “This is our comfy corner, high quality fazbear entertainment pillows and plushies make up this space and it’s my favourite place where I can relax and read books on.” Moon shuffles closer to their lover and whispers, “By the way little beep-boop, can you guess what our room has that the Glamrocks don’t?”
'…Privacy?'
“Ding, ding! Exactly. It’s free from prying eyes and all of our stuff is never messed with, most humans don’t even know this area either! So, it’s nice to have, and also…”
The animatronic wraps a finger around the staffbot’s arm wire flirtatiously. “Now that you’re here, we can both relax and do all the canoodling we want~! Don’t you think that’s nice~?” Moon chuckles mischievously when their partner starts to flush red, garbled noises crackling under their voice box trying to speak up.
“Th-That’s! Nice! N-Nice!! I like…! RoOoOm. Comfy. Safe!”
‘So cute…’ Both Sun and Moon thought.
Fawning over their shy lover, Moon planted a small smooch on their cheek. “Naughty bot… What sort of thoughts are going on in that head, hm~? Relax my dear, we’ll save that for another time when you are more comfortable and ready ok? Today we just want to have a date and have fun showing our collection to you. Sounds ok?”
Hearing those words their partner let out a sigh in relief and nodded in agreement. Receiving that response Moon went on to explain to the staffbot to stay put while they retrieve the items in question from the other room on the other side of the small entrance hole.
Their partner waved goodbye as Moon crawled into the tube and disappeared into the room. While waiting for the attendant to come back, the staffbot decided to busy themselves with admiring the rest of the room. Steering their wheels slowly, they leaned forward to look more closely at the children’s drawing for closer observation. But the bot was startled when they accidentally knocked over a hidden stack of boxes with their wheels. Letting out a worried bleep, they bent over to try and fix the mess.
Moving one box aside to grab at the other one that toppled over, the robot flipped the box over.
But they soon freeze in place, dark eyes staring blankly at the contents unveiled by the box in their hands.
‘What is this?’
The daycare attendant jerked up in alarm when they heard an audible crash from the other side of the room. Moon promptly dropped the objects gathered in his arms and began to quickly crawl back towards the tube entrance.
“H-Hey, are you ok!? Are you hurt-!”
Moon’s body froze.
His scarlet eyes widened in shock at the sight before them.
In the dark room stood their beloved staffbot standing stark still while holding the head of a mangled staffbot currently in their hands. The rest of the body for the broken staffbot was laid strewned about in a mess of scraps and wires across the floor with boxes collapsed over itself evident of the events that had occurred.
The lone staffbot twisted their head towards the attendant. Dark, eerie eyes barely being seen under the faint light glared back at Moon’s bright, red ones. Their blank faceplate bore no emotion to convey what they could be thinking at this moment.
It painted a horrific scene before the animatronic, their mind was filled with dread and fear. And this is because….
“NONONONO!!! WHY-! WHYISTHATHERE!?!? IDIOT! YOU IDIOT!?!!! WHYDIDN’TYOUCLEANIT!??! This isn’t supposed to happen!!!”
Sun’s screams overloaded their combined circuits to the point of hurting that Moon himself couldn’t think clearly or form a response. The lunar animatronic clutched their face as they were wracked with panic. Trembling, their frantic eyes darted back to their partner who was silently watching them.
No. No. No.
They need to fix this.
They have to!
Please don’t leave!
With a hoarse gasp, Moon bounded quickly towards the staffbot on all fours until they sprung up and grabbed onto their shoulders hard. Their chassis slamming against the other with a loud metallic clang and causing the staffbot to drop the robotic head in their hands.
“IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK! PLEASE!!!”
“...”
“I-I didn’t know it was there..! We just found it broken like that one day and kept it here to clean the hallways…!” Moon stuttered fearfully, he shoved his faceplate into their lover’s chest as his fingers clutched tightly onto their shoulders. Overwracked with guilt, the animatronic was on their knees and was begging desperately. For they fear if they let go, their beloved would decide then and there to leave them. Never to see them in the same light again, love becoming hatred towards them.
The lunar animatronic let out a strained cry in pain when a metallic hand gripped one of Moon’s hands. With a surprising amount of strength the staffbot squeezed tightly enough that it forced the other’s hand to loosen from their shoulders, to both the daycare attendants’ utter dismay the robot then promptly shoved the animatronic away from them to make space. The staffbot’s dark eyes, devoid of thought, made the slightest twitch; A flash of anger that Sun and Moon were able to decipher from their featureless face.
With a crackle, a staticky voice was let out of their voice box.
“Liar!”
The robot hissed angrily, still gripping hard on Moon’s arm they leaned down to pick up the broken staffbot’s torso. Pulling it up the staffbot shoved the corpse in front of their face and lifted up Moon’s arm at the same time. Causing Moon to panic more, leaning away in denial from what they are now confirming their suspicions. The staffbot wasn’t sure why or when this had started but for some reason the treatment between the Glamrock animatronics and staffbots had worsened. Before some of the Glamrocks would just ignore and neglect them, now they just began acting so aggressive that they even started manhandling them at the slightest inconvenience.
“Not Monty’s. Or Roxy’s. They. Bigger.”
“No! NO-!”
Upon closer inspection, the body was riddled with several dents and demeaning markings drawn in black marker as an act of vandalism on it. And worst of all, a multitude of scratch markings that had pieces of wire and metal were chipped off of it. But these weren’t any of the Glamrock’s doing, the robot was familiar with the ongoing treatment as a staffbot themselves and did all they can to avoid the same fate as all the others. Their methods left much rougher, deeper wounds that disfigured them completely beyond the point technicians can repair. But the biggest confirmation was that the scratch markings here were made by the same size as the fingers of the daycare attendant that the staffbot was currently holding onto. They hadn’t noticed this before until today, but the bot saw that the attendant’s fingertips had an uneven jagged-ness where it was originally blunt.
Originally not built with the capacity to harm, but later on had sharpened with a large amount of force used for something.
The staffbot didn’t know what to think or process these feelings, it just burned and overwhelmed all their systems. Several prompts popped up in their head, they wanted to scream, cry, or just run away. (Not like they can even do that, no legs after all…) Part of them even wanted to punch Moon’s face in retaliation at just how hurt they feel for this betrayal. But the staffbot held themselves from doing any of those things when they saw their partner was helplessly crying, their chest twisting in pain because they still loved them.
“Please…! Please don’t leave! We promise that we won’t do this ever again! I-I-! W-We can even be friends with other staffbots if you want so-!” Moon blabbered on, his voice cracking as the attendant was desperately making up excuses to keep their lover. The animatronic flinched when their lover dropped the torso with a loud clang and let go of their hand.
*CLANK!*
“Ah-!”
Moon gasped in alarm as the staffbot slowly reached up and pulled off their own hat from their head. Almost mechanically, the arm holding the treasured hat slumped down by their sides while the other arm was pulled up. One hand trembled as they made a pulling motion in front of their face and wiggled their fingers.
'Tell me why…'
Moon’s optics shrunk, understanding what their lover was asking of them. But how could they answer that? Moon and Sun argued inside their head.
‘Should we?’
‘Absolutely not!’
‘What do we do!?’
‘What should I say?!’
‘I don’t know…!’
How could they possibly explain to their beloved about all of the horrible destruction on the corpse back then? That they would learn that they are horrible, broken people? The thought of their beloved looking at them with disgust and fear was too horrible to think about. It was especially the case for Moon who was physically in the front at present, clutching his face in pain. In panic, he mumbled, “I… I… I’m sorry. I-I don’t…!”
The nighttime attendant tried, tried, tried so hard to explain. But the words couldn’t come up, he felt like he was choking. The despair, the guilt, and heartbreak was too much to bear, Moon didn’t want to be here in this situation anymore.
“Moonie! Hold on-!” Sun shouted in their mind.
The stressful conversation was so overwhelming that it caused Moon to lock up, their scarlet eyes shutting off and their whole body tipped over. In response, the staffbot let out a worried bleep, and rushed over and quickly caught them in their arms before they fell over.
In a panic, the staffbot trembled as they shook the daycare attendant. They let out a worried whine trying to get some sort of reaction from Moon that they are conscious. But before their anxiety could fully take over their processors, the staffbot stiffened up when the attendant bolted up and sun rays had sprouted along the sides of their head.
“...!?”
“Sunbyte…”
A hand gently touched the staffbot’s shoulder.
Opening their blank white eyes, Sun was the one facing their partner now. Even with a static face, his eyes and body language conveyed a sorrowful expression, and overridden with guilt and fear. Sun felt their counterpart hiding in the darkest recesses of their mind, their presence almost completely obscured but watching from the sidelines now. Moon had forcefully ejected himself away from the front and prompted Sun to substitute instead, with their shared body Sun could feel just how scared Moon was currently feeling and was unable to confront the situation right now.
So, it was up to Sun now to handle this.
With an audible gulp, Sun whispered despondently. “Hey Sunbyte…?”
The staffbot replied by tilting their head questioningly.
“T-This is gonna be hard but… will you listen to everything I’m about to explain about us?”
The animatronic received a reluctant nod in response from their partner, but they held up a palm pausing them for a second. 'How is Moon?' They asked worryingly, after what just happened earlier the staffbot couldn’t help but blame themselves for hurting Moon like that.
Sun widened his eyes in surprise, before sighing. Ah, how was it possible that such a sweet robot still took the time and consideration to worry about them? Even Moon who was watching was surprised that their partner was asking about how they were doing, in all honesty both Sun and Moon wouldn’t have blamed them if they had cursed them out for how much they tried to hide away from them. They were used to others being angry at the mistakes they made.
But… this was different, they were different. It was almost scary in a way since they didn’t know what to do next.
Sun smiled anxiously, “...Moonie is okay. He’s still with us here. Moonie says he’s sorry that he left you like that, it was just overwhelming for him. So I'll be the one explaining, is that okay?” He felt a tap on their shoulder and was met with a pair of guilty eyes as the staffbot waved their hands in motion.
'I’m sorry too… for being so angry. But I still want to know…'
“I-Its okay… I know. As much as we hate it, you need to know. No… No point in hiding it anymore.”
While the animatronic gently held a hand of their lover’s in their own, Sun took a deep pseudo breath in and spoke.
The daycare attendant could barely remember just when this had all begun. It was from a time in the early days of the pizzaplex when Sun and Moon had recently been reassigned to daycare duty from being relocated from the theatre. They recalled it was a confusing and stressful experience at that time. Sun and Moon were completely unaccustomed to directly handling and interacting with children even if they were reprogrammed with the necessary protocols for the job.
They were actors for goodness sake! They were used to performing on a bright stage and being at arm’s length with their audience and just being admired from a distance. They would never imagine in their entire manufactured lives that they would be standing in a messy playroom with obnoxious, loud children scattering about!?
How did the higher-ups in the company expect them to know about taking care and discipling such small, unpredictable creatures when neither Sun and Moon have ever done such things before?
But who would ever listen to the complaints of an animatronic? Just a piece of Fazbear property is all that they see in front of them. So all they could do is grit and bear with it. But at least Sun and Moon knew as performers, they knew how to learn and adapt to the situation. Like improvising a scene in a script, they just need to practice and get used to the ‘role’ as ‘daycare attendant’.
Their strategy worked out in the long run since their reassignment, eventually they had learned and settled into their role successfully. Moon and Sun even regained motivation and fun working compared to feeling bitter about the job in the beginning. They found enjoyment with playing with the children, indulging in their optimistic energy and imagination. The animatronics enjoyed creating meaningful friendships and experiences from interacting closely with the kids compared to their old job.
But it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, you don’t do things perfectly on the job immediately. To experience a new job means that mistakes were bound to be made, depending on how severe it was Sun and Moon had to learn the hard way when it comes to paying the price.
When a child was having a tantrum because they weren’t allowed to have more than one Sundrop per day. They received a broken Sun ray when they tried to coax them to calm down that day.
Whenever cases involve a parent’s child, they needed to discuss the child’s naughty behaviour and the reason why they had taken disciplinary action to bring awareness to the parent on their future upbringing. But 60-70% of the time the parents refuse to listen to their advice and admit their own faults that the way they raise their child can be flawed. Moon was subjected to hours of screaming complaints from angry Karens along with threats of calling management.
Oh, but how could we ever forget the worst thing of all? It was the whole Fazbear management and the businesses’ human workers that they detested the most. The daycare attendants would always tremble at hearing the word “management” or “manager” whenever customers complained about them. And when they did actually call the manager they would then be dragged away to parts and service when the pizzaplex was closed for the day.
From there the mechanics and programmers would always meddle with their systems to ‘fix’ whatever behaviour the customer from earlier didn’t like about them. They would delete old memories and previous core programming from their previous theatre job to make room in their storage to weave restrictive programming and protocols in replacement. Every trip they make to that place, some part of them gets destroyed as well. Moon and Sun always fear that one day they won’t recognize who they are anymore until they are nothing more than an empty husk that blindly follows orders to any human ‘coworker’ that desires to take advantage of.
It’s heartbreaking when the children get upset that they don’t remember a precious memory they made with them whenever their memories get wiped.
Eventually, these cases decreased in frequency once they got good at their jobs. They took pride in it, worked so hard at it since it was a necessity. They became so perfectly accustomed to the role that most people wouldn’t complain about their work. Except that made people start demanding more and more from them, more impossible tasks like they expect them to fulfill everything for them.
Sun and Moon suspect that some of these people just want to find a way for them to mess up, just so they have the excuse to complain and have their way with things. Because these people won’t shut up about them being machines as their one defining flaw despite all of their good work and have to live being scrutinized and alienated.
Such fear, malice and anger from humans was constantly directed at them every day. Yet the only thing they can do, just like their permanent static faces, they just grin and bear it.
Because of management, their freedom was restricted and they weren't allowed to leave the daycare except for Moon’s security patrol. On one such evening during patrol, they remembered it was after a stressful day in the daycare and Moon couldn’t help but skulk around the pizzaplex and brood that day. It was then he came across a group of human staff moving boxes to the storage room. Peeping out from one of the boxes were piles of damaged staffbot parts.
He didn’t know why, (neither of them do, it was Moon’s idea in the beginning) but something like impulse took hold of the lunar animatronic and he went ahead and snatched one of the broken staffbots while they weren’t looking. They wouldn’t miss it anyways.
To Sun’s confusion Moon had brought it back to their room.
“W-What are you doing?”
“Sorry Sun, it's just…”
Moon silently held the object in his hands. Even if it's just a torso, the staffbot was shaped humanoid enough to resemble…
“What the fucks wrong with you, you freak!?”
“Fucking robot!”
“You just can’t do anything right-!”
*CRACK!*
With a sickening sound, the lunar animatronic threw a hard punch into the staffbot that left a nasty dent in it. Moon eerily stared as chips of plastic and metal flaked off of the casing, bringing his hand up and flexing it.
“Moonie…?”
Sun called out to his counterpart worryingly.
“... I’m so sick of this!”
Moon hissed angrily as he threw another punch into the staffbot. He had imagined a nasty human worker that they encountered earlier in the day, and how much their hurtful words cloud his mind and how he just wanted to shut them up. Feeling the sting from his hands at the punch he did, he laughed mockingly.
“Hehe… it’s fine. It’s just a doll. I’m not hurting anyone…”
The daycare attendants had tried several methods to spend their free time, especially with stress management. Exercise routines, deep breathing, drawing, talking to each other, even punching a pillow didn’t compare to the sensation of smashing something hard and physical to receive the full brunt of their feelings. Seeing Moon act like this, Sun couldn’t help but reach out to him.
“Moon…”
“You can look away if you want, but don’t stop me.”
“... no that’s not what I’m doing.”
“Then…?”
Moon’s body shuddered as bright orange pigmentations covered half his body and little rays popped out of one side of their faceplate. The two AIs' thoughts and feelings synchronize into one being, activating Eclipse mode.
Sun whispered, “You’re not the only one who is angry, let me do it too.”
“Well, that’s fine then.” The other counterpart replied.
Letting out a sigh, Eclipse’s heterochromatic eyes glanced at the broken staffbot in their lap. Clenching both fists they continued from where they had left off.
They threw another hard punch.
*Crack!* (An eyeball popped out of the socket)
Why do they have to live like this?
*Clang!* (Ouch, the chest is completely dented in, bet that would really hurt a human)
They had no freedom, they had nothing at all. So why was it that those bastards keep taking more and more things away from them.
*Skreeetch!!!* (Oops, one of them decided to scratch them up now.)
Again, again, and again. Eclipse continued mangling up the staffbot, with all the pent up frustrations of both Sun and Moon’s combined and laid waste to it. They pictured themselves that they were fighting back against all those jerks until they were a bloody pulp, their hateful voices silencing with them.
With ferocity, they let everything out that they had hidden away. The sadness, the pain, and anger as they violently ripped the mechanical body to shreds. In this moment they truly turned into the mechanical monster that all of these humans had feared.
Until finally it was all over. Snapping out of their outburst they see their room was covered in a mess of scrap metal and wires, there was nothing left to destroy anymore. And with it the pressure in their chest had lifted a little, they actually felt better even.
The animatronic sobbed, and they cried their metaphorical hearts out.
At least here in their own private safe haven, it will be okay.
Tomorrow is another day.
After that a new routine was formed between them. Moon or Sun would take turns blowing off stress at the dead of night when work ended once a week. When the object was completely broken, they would clean it up and dispose of it until Moon gets the chance to grab a new broken staffbot to take back to their place. It felt shameful for them to have these destructive tendencies but at least this way they won’t have to hurt anyone, because that’s not what they truly wanted. They didn’t want to be monsters.
Recounting the tale, Sun audibly swallowed. He fidgeted with the bells on his wrist as he looked at his partner anxiously. Waiting for some kind of response from the silent staffbot.
Slowly, those dark optics flickered. And the staffbot slackens in resignation. The next words that they replied with shocked both Sun and Moon.
'I see. Then I’m glad I make you happy as your next one.' They signed, their featureless face conveying a bittersweet expression. 'I do not have the right to be angry, because my purpose has always been to assist others. Even you.'
“Wha… What are you saying? We would never hurt you dear!” The solar animatronic gaped.
“I’m fortunate. To be cherished.” Chills ran down their spine when their lover held their hand and patted it gently. “Can’t blame you. Thinking that. Can’t hurt S.T.A.F.F bot. Without feelings. First place.”
This is incomprehensible. Why is their beloved acting like this?
“Sunbyte, you're different!”
The staffbot sadly smiled. Picking up a small, nearby whiteboard they noticed on top of a small table. They wrote a reply.
'I know. Doesn’t change what I am. But what ‘I’ am is a mistake, ‘I’m’ not supposed to exist in the first place. And my own petty pain can’t compare to yours, if I can be your doll that eases your loneliness then I’m glad to do so. So long as you still have need of me.'
Reading the self-deprecating words, Sun snapped furiously at the staffbot; “HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT ABOUT YOURSELF!?!? NO! NO YOU’RE NOT OUR TOY! YOU’RE OUR BELOVED-! You’re-!?” He choked on sob, chest flaring painfully on the emotions that were boiling over inside. “Not a replacement for anything… So why? For what we have done, you could easily leave us in this situation.”
Their lover looked away shamefully, letting out a soft bleep. 'Sunny, where else could I go? There’s a reason why the thing about me has to be kept secret from everyone else. Or else I would be scrapped. The only time I could be ‘me’, the only time I was happy was when I was with you guys.' Giving the daycare attendant the whiteboard to read it, the staffbot had wrapped their arms around their shoulders in an embrace.
“Love me. Play with me. Break me. If you want. Just don’t throw… me away.”
“…!”
Sun and Moon both let out a loud gasp when their partner squeezed their arms closer and heard a crackling, static voice near their audio receiver. “ I am staffbot. Have nothing. Can’t give you. Real happiness.”
No.
That wasn’t the truth.
“They’re wrong.” Moon chimed in, watching the scene through Sun’s eyes. “Tell them, tell them our true feelings.” Feeling the other’s presence, Sun allows their counterpart to control one of their hands as they hold their partner’s face together. To show that both of them were present here.
“Silly bot, what are you saying? You already have.”
“???”
“We love you, but I guess we never told you why we did, huh?”
Receiving a reluctant head shake for no, Sun caressed their lover’s cheek thoughtfully. Humming as Sun and Moon browsed through their memory files, for the precious scenes that they shared with their darling.
“Do you recall our first meeting? For us, we could never forget that~. You were so entertaining to watch.”
Reminiscing, the daycare attendant replays the image in their mind as they narrated. That big, colorful room to host that unforgettable birthday party for a young girl. How Sun flitted to and fro entertaining the kids at the party and making sure no troublemaking occurred.
While playing a group game with the children, the first instance that he had ever taken notice of the staffbot was when Moon made a comment on it.
“Is it just me? Or is that staffbot acting a little weird?”
“Weird, Moonie?”
Cocking his faceplate a little, from the corner of his eyes. He spots the robot in question. But the thing was just mopping the floors like usual, doesn’t seem unusual…
“Wait, what…?”
On closer inspection, the staffbot’s body was moving unnaturally. Like they were moving in some strange rhythm with no music, hearing a vague beep they glanced down and noticed that one of the wet floor bots was also there.
The little floor bot was following the movements of the mop that the staffbot was holding. Jerking left to right following the rhythmic movements of the staffbot like they were… playing???
“Mr. Suuuunnnn??? What are we playing?” The animatronic flinched as one child called out to him. Oops, got distracted. Chuckling nervously, Sun tore his attention away from the odd scene and focused on corralling the children for the next activity.
Now he would’ve put aside his curiosity just like that, if it weren't for the amount of times that both he and Moon kept catching the strange quirks the random staffbot was hiding away from the humans.
Things like how it petted the wet floor bot like a puppy after it was done mopping. Or how it aggressively used a cloth to clean a stubborn stain on a table like it personally offended them. Heck, while hiding behind a wall Sun could see them peeking out and stiffly clapping their hands during the Happy Birthday song with the rest of the guests.
It was so distracting, they almost couldn’t keep a straight face at all while doing their job. It…It was so weird and cute???
But what really captured their attention on the little staffbot was when the whole cake mess had happened. Little brat was running around with a cake slice in their hands and ended up splattering the poor bot in the face with it. Sun couldn’t help but feel sympathetic for the pitiful robot and quickly stepped in to reprimand the kid. (Seriously, why couldn’t their parents teach them better manners???)
While Sun was busy distracting the kids, Moon cackled inside their mind when they were tapping into the security cameras to watch the room.
“Sun! Sun! You have to see this! Look at what that little robot is doing!”
“Wh-What now?!”
Sun glanced back, watching as the staffbot subtly pretended to mop the floors as they inched their way across the tables. They gawked in horror as they realized just what they were planning as the staffbot grabbed the kid’s labeled soda and shook it.
“Ooohhoho~! Naughty~!!! We have a little prankster here, that brat is gonna get messy~!” Moon incited mischievously, Sun can picture the absolute shit-eating grin that he would have plastered on his face. The animatronic couldn’t help but groan quietly, “Ughhhh…. No, nononono! But I have to be the one to clean up the mess. A-And it’s a kid-!”
“Sun.”
“What?”
“Brats are a different case, you know as well as I do how much of a headache he’s causing both of us. Besides, it's just a harmless prank.”
“Ugh, fine!” Being twisted up by guilt and responsibility with his feelings of mild vengeance; Sun reluctantly agreed with the other counterpart and didn’t interfere with the devious prank. And so they anxiously waited, anticipating the events that would unfold at this moment. Until finally, the kid reached over to grab his fizzy faz…
And it ended with a pop.
With a splash the kid was soaked in sticky soda, their face flushing red in embarrassment in front of the other guests until their parents had to come over and try to clean them up. Well, it was satisfying that the kid got their just desserts for misbehaving and knows what it feels like to be treated the same way the staffbot was but that wasn’t the main reason.
It was actually because of that same staffbot that they’ve been staring at this whole time that this happened. Watching them cheer in victory, as they pumped their fists up in the air excitedly like it was the biggest achievement ever made. The way they reacted in their way of enacting justice was pulling a simple, ordinary prank.
It was so stupid! So utterly petty! And so, so silly!!!
Just like the soda popping out of the can, the daycare attendants’ chest fizzled and bursted. And they couldn’t help but laugh uncontrollably, a real genuine one in a long time. When was the last time they felt such joy and happiness? All that stress and sadness they kept inside them was all blown away and it was all because of this strange, little staffbot.
Feeling this way, Sun and Moon knew they just had to know more about this animatronic, and they didn’t want this chance to slip away from them. Seizing the opportunity, they took the chance to talk with them.
After that party where they met, Sun and Moon’s lives have never been the same since. A new bond was formed, different from children’s and also different from the scripted programming with the Glamrocks. Something completely new with another like-minded adult individual that they created all by themselves.
“My dear, you’ve been the best thing that has happened to us. Your kindness, your ingenuity, and all of the things that make up ‘you’ we fell in love with all of those things.” Sun praises affectionately as he presses a kiss onto their partner’s hand, making them flustered in response.“But most of all, we admire how you’re just you being yourself and giving it your all for even the mundane things, just like you we could be our true selves and be happy together with you.”
At the animatronic’s confession, the staffbot looks back up to Sun’s eyes with a faint hope in their gaze. Before they hesitated, gesturing with their hands, 'But wouldn’t a human be better? They know more things than what I have to offer…'
“Ahh!!! Come on! You idiot!”
“!?@#($@!!”
Unable to listen anymore, Moon suddenly takes control over Sun and switches their bodies again. Startling the staffbot at their outburst as the lunar animatronic hugs them tightly, then drags the poor robot down with them to collapse onto the huge pile of pillows. The nighttime attendant’s partner lets out a series of bewildered noises as they find themselves completely trapped within Moon’s arms and red optics staring back at them as they lay on the bedding.
“Wow, seriously Moon? First you pulled yourself away and forced me to do all that talking and now you suddenly decided to come back? Rude.” Sun mocks disgruntingly, clicking their tongue inside their programming as Moon grumbles in response to the jab.
“Look, I’m sorry for bailing earlier, but I… I couldn’t take it when our beloved was talking like this. I just wanted to step in and do something to help…”
“...Well, I understand. So I’ll let you off for now. Right now, darling needs both of us.”
Moon resolves themselves as they bring both hands to cup their lover’s face to calm them as they garnered their attention. He gently calls out to the staffbot.
“My lovebug.”
“???!!!”
“Even if we do make nice human friends. They can never, ever replace the experiences we shared together with you. Since meeting you, you have taught us how to make living fun. And you know what? I just realized we’ve changed for the better too.”
“...?”
Their beloved widens their eyes at Moon’s words, with a gentle expression the animatronic laces his hand with theirs before answering the unspoken question.
“We have never destroyed another staffbot since we’ve met, to the point that we completely forgot about that thing in our room. It's… a step towards progress, and we still don’t exactly see the other staffbots as equals compared to you. But your presence was a really big positive one that we didn’t need to resort to such violent methods anymore. It’s all thanks to you that we healed.”
The staffbot trembles in astonishment, as if they couldn’t believe their own hearing they squeezed the other animatronic’s hand seeking confirmation.
Moon nods, “Yes, me and Sun won’t ever mistreat another staffbot ever again we can at least guarantee this. But we’re both sorry for what we did in the past. Will you… Will you ever forgive us? Will you watch over us as we try to become better people and stay?”
As he said these words, their partner’s eyes glimmered with emotion. Moon gasped as the bot embraced him back in reciprocation, with a soft whisper in their voice box; “Apology accepted. Forgive. Will stay.”
“Love you.”
“I-I… We love you too…”
If they had the ability to cry, Moon and Sun would be leaking tears when they heard their beloved’s answer. The daycare attendant and the staffbot quietly cried in comfort with each other on the soft pile of old, fluffy pillows and ragged plushies as they cuddled. After some time, the staffbot timidly taps a finger on Moon’s shoulder, he responds by opening his optics tiredly.
He sees their lover bring a hand up to place on top of their chin and signs, 'Thank you both for letting me see your room. For sharing it with me, I’m glad I got to learn more about you both.' The staffbot twiddles their thumbs shyly, 'That must've been hard to talk about earlier, but all I really wanted was to hear the truth and your true feelings. I don’t think I can bring myself to ever hate you two…'
“Ah…” Moon and Sun felt their chest twist and spark with so much emotion in their machinery. A room was a reflection of oneself. What decorates the walls and floors tells so much about the personalities of its owners, especially its hidden secrets that were never shown to the rest of the world. It was home to the daycare attendants that they built so that they have a safe place to return to away from judgmental eyes. To show their room to another person was daunting, it would mean sharing their vulnerability. They’ve always asked themselves, ‘How did we ever get so lucky to meet someone so wonderful?’ Their beloved not only patiently listened, but they willingly accepted all of them. They accepted not only the good parts that they’ve shown, but they also acknowledged the bad and shameful parts of them too. And their partner decided that they will still continue to love them even then.
Moon couldn't help but chuckle, “Heh… Not exactly what we had planned when we decided to do this, but you're welcome. And… Thank you for accepting us.” The lunar animatronic nuzzled their forehead affectionately against the staffbot’s, earning a giggle from the cute robot. Moon opened his eyes but squinted in mild annoyance when Sun spoke up and reminded him of an earlier conversation. Something that was concerning the staffbot in question.
“Honey… I wish you wouldn’t talk so badly about yourself ever again.”
Their lover looks away guiltily, which makes Moon sigh sadly at the display.
“Don’t blame yourself and thinking your own feelings are invalid.”
“...”
“I know it won’t be easy. But we hope that whenever you start having such thoughts again, we hope that you can try to talk to us about it before it spirals. We are always open to listen and support you, just like you have done for us. Can you promise us you’ll do it?”
At Moon’s words the staffbot’s eyes wavered, emotionally overwhelmed as they planted their face against the attendant’s chest and curled their body into them to embrace them closer. They let out soft crying noises into their chest, the night time animatronic felt their head nod affirmatively. “...Will. Try.”
“It looks like it’ll be hard to convince dearest that they aren’t worthless Moonie.”
“Seems so Sunny, but let’s all take it one step at a time. So that all of us will become better and live happily in the future.”
“Hehe! We’ll just have to remind our dearest that we love them every time.”
Moon smiled as he caressed their partner’s back in comfort. For the rest of the night, the pair of animatronics cuddled and whispered sweet nothings to each other in comfort as they talked about all the special and mundane things in their lives and their future together.
A child once told Sun and Moon that they resembled a sunflower and a moonflower, how their mom explained to them how the two flowers would bloom in the sun and moon light respectively. It got them thinking one day, that if they were to compare their lover to a flower…
It would actually be a daffodil.
An ordinary wild flower comparably inferior to prettier flowers. Even considered a weed to most people. It is not a special flower at all.
But they were like a single, lone daffodil that sprouted in the cracks of a concrete pavement that Moon and Sun came across. It bloomed stubbornly and persistently with such life, it enamored them. So they took the daffodil with them.
Nurtured it, cared for it. Gave love to it.
There are times where they would come across a beautiful, colorful garden full of flowers of people. Even if they appreciate its lovely scent, nothing comes close to missing the unique scent of the daffodil that they cherished all along.
Because it's the one flower that they gave the most attention for a long, long time. The daffodil is the flower they chose to keep and say that it belongs to them.
Their beloved is their irreplaceable treasure.