Chapter Text
‘Hey, Lu, just checking in. Love you 💛’
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He scrolled up a little ways through the private messages. When was the last time his little brother had messaged him? When did he last initiate a conversation? In fact, when was the last time Lunar said he loved him, too?
He gave up as he scrolled more than two months back.
It was fine.
Lunar had been having a tough time, he reminded himself. He shouldn't be so fixated on something so small, so insignificant. Lunar hadn't even really hurt him, anyway. He was overthinking things, and he was making it about himself. That was awful of him. He needed to be there in case anyone needed him, not sitting in the living room, looking through old memory or communication files, feeling sorry for himself.
He had things to do, probably. The house was clean, but there was something else that would crop up. It always did. He needed to be ready to skirt the perimeter of the newest danger, nudging his loved ones back upright with careful, subtle words and soft touches. Everyone was on a hair-fine trigger, and with Earth taking the brunt, that left Sun to handle the peripherals and internal management.
The Daycare was still open, which sucked up the majority of his daytime hours. Without Earth or Lunar, it fell back into Sun’s lap to manage the entirety of the play place again, open to close and beyond. That was alright. He had done it before, he would do it again. The back to back workdays were a bit overwhelming, more than a bit stressful, but Sun could weather it. Fazbear Entertainment was as strict as it was insensible, after all - being down two on their roster had impacted the workload, and Sunny was the brightest face to push it off onto.
It took Moon little time to realize what was going on, and he’d threatened to close the Daycare indefinitely unless the company allotted Sun at least two days off a week. Schedule subsequently updated, it left the solar model with time he… frankly didn't know how to fill.
Earth and Monty had found their comforts in each other. Relearning how to navigate the world around her was taxing enough for his sister, and he was beyond grateful that she had somebody at her side amidst it all, even if he still struggled with reservations about the gator. Similarly, Solar and Moon spent every waking moment available pouring over schematics, options and research for their younger sister. More often than not, the duo would be out painfully late and asleep when Sun had to get up and leave for work - assuming they’d even come home that previous night.
Sun and the kids were flying it solo, for the time being. This weekend, one of the very few where everything was calmer, where the biggest rush had since passed, he was completely alone. Dazzle and Jack were out with KC for a little vacation, and Sun was sitting on the couch, limbs curled awkwardly beneath a blanket with two heated little furry bodies rumbling away against him.
He was supposed to be doing… something. What that was, exactly, he was at a loss for. The house was clean. He’d already called KC to talk to the kids and hear about their day. Moon and Solar hadn't called him with any news - no news is good news with them - and Earth was having a… decent day today - not good, but not exactly bad either. He had done all of the chores. He just had to wait. He had to do something, anything, to alleviate the buzzing beneath his casing. He needed to get up, clear his head.
Everything just felt so… heavy.
Big.
Bigger than he could shoulder, bigger than he was.
The buzzing was almost… nice, he thought. Comfortable. Safe.
Cleo shifted with a yawn, pushing his way up to nuzzle and rub his forehead against Sun’s faceplate before trying to groom him. Muffin, meanwhile, made biscuits over his thighs contentedly with a chirp and playful nip. A wordless hum pitched akin to a coo escaped the solar model's chest, and he snuggled back eagerly, eyes drifting shut as he simply breathed.
The blanket over his senses seemed to push down down down, pressing scattered systems into sleep. The taxing input load minimized across his processor. The imposing threat of the world seemed to slowly dissolve away, gently and steadily, into a gossamer film of spun sugar and silken threads. The sharp edges of his mind felt pleasantly dulled, the looming anxiety simmering to something slightly more manageable. Like sand through a sieve, pieces seemed to tumble through while others lay suspended safely above. For the first time in quite a while, Sun actually relaxed.
With the worries flung just far enough back, he did not hesitate to give into the sleepy urge to lie down, snuggled up and comfortable. Cleo curled happily at his neck, purring loudly as he absently groomed each ray with painstaking diligence. Muffin, meanwhile, only moved to form a loaf atop the daytime bot's abdomen, curling into a nap of his own beneath distracted petting. Despite the lack of finely-tuned coordination, Sun's hand was gentle as he returned the affection easily, the other lifting as he absently bit at the bell on his wrist. Lulled into a warm and blessedly content trap, he quickly dozed off with his feline friends.
He would not remember to make a note to ask about the fuzzy feeling.