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lunarmoves · 7 days

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you were used to slipping into the daycare unnoticed for your lunch breaks.

it was easy to crack open the giant castle doors and beeline straight for the security desk amongst all the running and laughing of children. they never paid you any attention unless they were either on their own or looking for trouble. you didn't mind, of course. you were just another face in an endless crowd of faces and it was what you preferred.

today, however... today was different.

the moment you stepped through the doors, lunch bag in hand, you heard a few kids exclaim loudly. now, that typically wasn't unusual, but what was unusual were their pointed stares in your direction and sly smiles. you raised an eyebrow at a small group of children who were closest to the doors, and they all shrieked with laughter at your look and scattered deeper into the daycare.

weird, but they were kids, so 'weird' was an understatement.

you shrugged it off easily and made your way over to the security desk to plop yourself down on the spinning chair. your lunch was deposited lazily atop the surface in front of you—in front of a dusty old computer that took a million years to even turn on—and you rummaged around for your sandwich. pulling it out, you unwrapped it and leaned back in your chair to do a bit of daycare observing.

you paused, sandwich halfway to your mouth.

you were... getting quite a bit of stares from the children today, it seemed.

they weren't even surreptitious about it. children never were. their wide eyes peeked at you from over shoulders and behind slides. you stuck your tongue out at a little girl holding a plush of roxy, and she giggled before turning on her heel and making a run for a playpen. you surveyed the daycare for a bit, then hummed. you couldn't see sun anywhere. you wondered what he was up to.

for all the stares you were getting, none of them really approached you. which was fine. it just made eating your food a little awkward. a majority lost interest in you eventually, but there were still a handful who looked like they were debating coming up to you or not.

where the hell is sun? you questioned again as you finished off your sandwich and started on a bag of chips. it was not like him to leave you hanging around on your own—especially with how short your break was. you squinted your eyes and peered about, moving in your chair as you tried to see if he was hiding out anywhere.

mmm, not by the ball pit nor the drawing tables. what about in the— there! behind one of the playpens. you caught a glimpse of two wide, white eyes from around an edge before they disappeared. immediately after, you could hear a chorus of giggles and a few kids peeked at you from the same spot. ah. they were scheming. typical.

you rolled your eyes in good nature, then leaned back in your chair. there were a few shhhs and hushed laughs from the same direction. sun was probably telling a story or something. maybe somehow roping you into a quick game—it wasn't like he hadn't ever done it before.

there was a tug on your shirt. glancing down, you were met with the tiny figure of a kid probably no older than five. they looked up at you in mischief, looking over their shoulder a bit like they were trying not to get caught.

you leaned over your chair's arm. "yes?"

"i have a secret to tell you!" they blurted out in a stage whisper. they wiggled slightly in place like they wanted to run around but was forcing themself to stay.

"oh really?" you grinned and spun around slightly so you could lean in closer. "can i ask you a question first?"

they hummed and looked over their shoulder again, then back at you with wide, imploring eyes. "okay, but really fast!"

"do you know why everyone's been staring at me, hm?"

they jumped slightly, waving their hands out by their sides. "oh! oh! that's my secret!"

you tilted your head in intrigue, then offered the kid your ear so they could whisper into it. "alright, what is it?"

they giggled quietly, then raised themself up on their tip toes with a hand cupped by their mouth to shield it. "mr. sun has a crush!" their breath tickled at your ear.

you leaned back and raised an eyebrow down at them. curiosity gripped at your insides firmly. you weren't sure how that was related to your question. "really now? who is it?"

they grinned slyly at you—missing front teeth and all. "it's—"

"riley! what did we say about going behind the security desk?!"

sun popped up from the front of the desk—limited by his protocols—and leaned over to look down at riley with a forced smile. they shrieked and spun on their heel to run away deeper into the daycare. sun's face plate spun as he followed them with squinted eyes, but before he could give chase, you spoke up in amusement.

"you've been busy, i see," you said, and sun turned back to look at you with his head tilted. you made a vague gesture around the daycare—where the kids were rather obviously staring at you and sun. "care to explain?"

he made a sound like he was torn. then a yellow finger pointed at you.

"later!" he rushed out, then moved his finger to tap at his wrist. "your break is up and i have a little rulebreaker to catch. come back later, okay friend?"

and then he left, shouting riley's name out as they laughed and tried their best to avoid him to no avail. you shook your head, then swept up all your garbage into your bag before heading back to work.

riley's words lingered in your mind and made something odd twinge in your gut.

later came quickly.

you made your way out of parts 'n services at the end of your shift and back up towards the daycare. by now, most of the kids would be checked out. you waved at a few other staff and eventually slipped into the daycare, where you spotted sun rushing about in his post-shift cleaning spree.

"oh! you're here!" he caught sight of you immediately, slowing down to a stop. you made your way closer. "hello, friend!"

"heyo." you stood at his side with your hands in your pockets. you had to crane your head back to meet his gaze. "everything go smoothly today?"

"yep yep!" he spun a red ball on his index finger, then threw it over his shoulder so it landed in the ball pit a distance away. he seemed to grimace. "for the most part."

"about that," you drawled, something sly making its way into your voice. that strange feeling in your gut had persisted and you did your best to ignore it. "a crush, huh?"

his rays retracted a bit, his smile pulling down in a glower. "so riley did tell you." it was more of a statement than a question, like he knew the answer anyways.

"yeah." you watched him carefully, his hands moving to wring themselves together as he hunched forward. he couldn't quite meet your eye.

he scowled off to the side. "i should ban them myself."

you let out a pfft and bent down to pick up a stray moon plush laying on the ground. you ran your thumbs over its soft cheeks. "aw, don't be like that. they're a kid. they all can't keep secrets for shit."

"language!" sun automatically chided you, but you waved him off and headed over to the toy bin to toss the plush into it.

"soooo," you started, partially glad you had your back turned to him at the moment. "who is it?"

tick. "what do you mean?"

"who's your crush?" you asked curiously and turned back around. loose-limbed. nonchalant. you tried not to ponder over the implications of a robot having such emotions. it made you feel strange in a way that wasn't entirely negative.

sun stared at you, rays tick-tick-ticking slowly around his head. his fingers twitched. and when he spoke, it was in a confused, quiet voice. "...they didn't say?"

you huffed. "you interrupted before they could." you walked closer to sun so you could poke him on the arm. "so? spill the beans!" you forced a cheeky grin onto your face. "who is it? come on, you can tell me. promise i won't tell anyone." it was like each word you spoke was a small stab into your gut and you couldn't tell why.

sun only looked at you—incredulous, almost, but not quite. his head cocked to the side. you waited patiently, willing yourself not to waver or back down.

eventually, he seemed to force himself back into action. he continued to pick up stray toys. "hmm! i don't know, friend! do you think you're at a high enough friendship level to find out?"

was he seriously teasing you right now?

you scoffed, but let yourself fall willingly into banter. "okay, fine, don't tell me. have you told them at least?"

sun made a thoughtful sound, halfway bent down to grab a toy train. his gaze lingered on your own. there was something to it that you couldn't quite place. "nope! don't plan to, either."

"well, why not?" you asked confusedly. you followed after him like a duckling trailing its mother. "don't you wanna know if they return your feelings?"

"something tells me they don't." sun sighed—a tint of something longing at the tailend of his artificial breath.

you frowned. "well, why do you think that?"

sun shot you a look, then gestured down at himself. the bells attached to his wrists jingled with the motion. "my dear, look at me! why would they?"

you only stared at him. "i... don't see the problem?"

sun stared back at you. it was quiet. very, very quiet.

"you are quite strange, friend," he replied after a moment, his rays spinning around slightly.

"thanks? i guess." you scratched at your head. this was... weird, wasn't it. "that still doesn't answer my question."

"nothing to answer!" he sing-songed out and turned on his heel to finish up around the daycare.

you groaned. there was something causing you to press—something that prevented you from letting go of the topic. "come on! you can tell me! friend to friend. why really won't you tell them?"

sun sighed, and you could tell the precise moment when he gave in to your insistence. "there is just no swaying you, is there? fine."

you watched on as he rolled back his shoulders and turned around. faintly, you could see white pupils over a backdrop of grey. locked unrelentingly onto your form in a half-lidded gaze.

"i just don't think," he said in a low, low voice that made your breath get caught up in your throat, "they'll quite like what i want to do to them."

and then he smiled, teeth jagged like the edge of a serrated knife.