Chapter Text
Solar was sitting at the security desks, working on another project, while Lunar and Eclipse were goofing off beside him.
Lunar was petting one of Sun's cats and Eclipse was staring at it with wide eyes, clearly already in love with the cat. They had finally gotten their new body, so they felt they were safe enough to pet the cat without hurting him, so Lunar had brought him over for Eclipse to meet. “Aw, he’s so cute!” Eclipse said enthusiastically as they stroked the cat's head gently.
Solar smiled, still typing away at the computer. Lunar nodded in agreement, before passing the cat onto Eclipse's lap, which rewarded them with an excited noise from them. Lunar looked over at Solar while Eclipse was occupied, humming quietly. “Hey Solar?”
“Yeah kid?”
“When’s your birthday?” Lunar asked, playing with the bells on his shoe’s absentmindedly. Solar was a little taken aback by this question, he thought for a moment, he actually didn’t know. “Don’t have one, why?” Both Eclipse and Lunar looked up at him, concerned expressions on their faces. “What?” He asked, looking back and forth from Lunar and Eclipse. “How do you not have a birthday? Everyone has a day they at least were built, or became sentient!” Lunar exclaimed, walking over to Solar and climbing onto the chair beside him.
“Uhm, I guess I just..don't remember the day I became sentient.” Solar said, rubbing his arm. Eclipse continued stroking the cat, sitting cross legged on the desk. “Even I remember my birthday, and I haven’t been conscious in my body for over 2 years.” Solar hummed, tapping at the table with his index finger. “Well it doesn’t really matter anyway, I don’t need to have a birthday.” Lunar looked at him as if he had just combusted.
“But don’t you want to celebrate your birthday?” Lunar huffed, crossing their arms across their chest. Eclipse nodded in agreement, “I mean, you do so much for everyone Solar dear, I think you deserve a day all about you.” Solar sighed, he didn’t believe that, he didn’t deserve anything. And he was still perfectly fine with that, besides, the day he gained sentience… was a day he’d rather forget.
“I’ll be fine.”
Lunar didn’t look convinced, he wasn’t going to give up that easily. “How about the day you came to this dimension?” Lunar suggested, looking at his wrist computer looking up the video of when he first arrived. They really needed to speak to the editor about filming and uploading their personal lives. “September 17th?”
Solar sighed, looking at his computer. Might as well Humor them. “Sure why not.” Lunar threw their hands in the air in victory.
Eh it’s fine Solar though. They’ll forget about it before next year.
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Solar yawned, sitting up in his bed.
He’d finally gotten a room after all this time, he had gotten one shortly after Earth and Lunars room had been renovated. It was nice to finally have a place to sleep. As well as a new paint job to make his body a little more appealing. He hated that old red and orange color so he opted for a lighter shade, with yellows and whites.
He got up out of bed, taking his charging cable out of his head before walking over to his computer, turning it on. He opened his emails to see a few from people around the pizzplex as per usual, saying something was broken. He’d have to fix that soon enough. He replied to the emails saying he’d be on it after hours and to keep the damaged item ready for him before he grabbed his “superstar daycare” shirt and goggles. He always wore them.
He left his room, shutting the door and turning off the lights before heading down towards the theater where he worked during the day. It was quite boring, but there wasn’t anyone else who would work there and everyone else thought he enjoyed it so they didn’t offer any alternatives. He opened up all the doors and locks, walking behind the counter and setting everything up there before sitting down and waiting. The daycare opened about 20 minutes ago so Sun, Lunar, Earth and Eclipse would be busy and Moon would probably be in his room working on something or watching anime. So Solar would have to sit with his thoughts for afew hours.
Only a few people dropped by within an hour. He knew that the daycare kids would be coming in to watch a movie at 2pm so he made sure to clean everything up after anyone was in there. He sat there waiting, fiddling with his rays when he heard a familiar voice pipe up. “Hi Sol’!”
Solar looked up to see Eclipse with their elbows on the desk head in their hands. “Hey ‘Clipse” he smiled, tapping at the desk.
Eclipse and him had gotten quite close over the past year, hanging out and talking quite a lot to the point they started to use nicknames. “How’s my favorite animatronic doing today Mm?” They said cheerily. Solar smiled widely, “I’m doing pretty good, you?” Eclipse’s rays spun in delight as they let one of their hands fall back down onto the desk. “I’m doing wonderful! The kids are all off for their mid day nap before half of them head home, so Sun said I could come up and say hello.”
Solar grinned widely at them, quite fond of all their little quirks and mannerisms. “Well I was getting kinda lonely up here, there's only been a few people up.” Eclipse nodded, their rays still fluttering happily. “Glad to be of service,”
Solar looked over at the computer at the desk, its screen had been glitching recently so he had to keep an eye on it. It was currently going in and out of files, opening random tabs and all around glitching out again.
“Stupid computer-“ he mumbled, hitting the side of the computer, but to no avail. He cursed under his breath, pulling the plug out of the PC before plugging it back in.
“Sorry, this computer keeps glitching out- La paix de la merde..”
“Language” Eclipse scolded, Solar kept forgetting Eclipse was programmed to know all languages, especially common ones like French or Spanish. Solar always seemed to default to French when he was stressed, he had no clue why. “Sorry, habit.” He sighed, hitting the side of the computer again. “I don’t think there’s any point in staying open if only the daycare kids are going to come up today, I’ll just come back at 2 to clean up for them.”
“Oki doki, can we hang out in the theatre then? Play Mario kart, OH or watch a movie!!” Eclipse said excitedly, their rays spinning. Solar chucked a bit, they were always so endearing it was hard to say no. “Okay, come in then.” He smiled, leading Eclipse into the theatre.
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The rest of the day passed by quickly, the kids had come down to watch a Movie and an hour later the daycare closed for the day, leaving Solar having nothing to do but go fix the broken machinery around the plex.
He stretched, his endo making a cracking noise, which everyone kept telling him wasn’t normal, but it was normal for him so he just ignored it. He grabbed his tool box from his room and made his way to Roxy raceway, before Lunar sped around the corner, blocking his path. “HI!” He said enthusiastically, waving his arms.
Solar stared down in amusement at the small animatronic. “Uh, hey Lunar, you need something?” He asked, readjusting his grip on his tool box. Lunar nodded, grabbing Solars hand and leading him to their room. “Yeah, I wanna hang out come on!”
“But I have to work Lunar-“
“To bad, so sad, it can wait.” Lunar said, leading Solar into their room, Solar was getting awfully suspicious at this point. “Okay- what-“ Lunar shushed him as they walked into their room which was pitch black.
“Lunar why are the lights off-“
Suddenly the lights came back on and he saw Earth, Sun, Moon and Eclipse all in the room with a small cake in the middle of the room. There were a few other snacks that Solar was fond of on the table as well, but it wasn’t anything too fancy. “Surprise!” They all said, Solar stared in disbelief, what was this for? What day was it? September 17th.. wasn’t that the day he came to this dimension. Wait- Lunar and Eclipse remembered that conversation. He had to say he had thought about it from time to time, wondering if they actually do something, but otherwise he completely forgot about it.
He was speechless, he put his tool box and walked over to the table, he really had no idea what to say. Luckily Lunar piped up, “you’ve been working so hard lately and I remembered that we gave you a birthday last year so I figured what better way to say thank you than a birthday party!” Solar stared at the cake for a few moments, it was a simple white cake with star sprinkles scattered on the top and pretty buttercream swirls. Luckily Moon had integrated a system to everyone that they could gain charge from food, meaning they could all eat, and food was now something they ate daily. Even if they had the option to just charge.
“I- thank you..” He said softly, he wasn’t used to people doing things for him in return, Earth said it was something he had grown accustomed to from his dimension since he did so much for his Moon and got nothing but insults in return. He shuffled on his feet, not sure what to say, he wanted to cry, even though he couldn’t. “You didn’t have to-“
“But we did, and you deserve it, so just relax for a bit.” Moon said, walking over and patting him on the back. Solar smiled softly, this was nice, but he really should be working. They all sat down and cut the cake, talking and enjoying people’s company, but Solar was very antsy, as much as he loved the cake and enjoyed the snacks he kept thinking he should be working. His leg bounced up and down impatiently as he ate his cake, wishing his body would just let him relax for a little bit. This always happened when he was taking a break. Eclipse seemed to notice, placing a hand on his shoulder giving him a glance as if to say, “you okay?”. Solar nodded sheepishly, eating the last bit of his cake, feeling full.
Once all the cake was gone, Solar assumed they would all go and do their own thing but Earth handed him a card, it looked hand drawn, with everyone on it saying Happy birthday on the front. Solar opened it gently, reading the contents;
We know how hard you work, so we thought it would be fun to let you relax and eat cake! You deserve so much more than you were given before you came here and we hope this small party helps you see how much we care xx.
- Earth, Lunar, Eclipse, Sun, and Moon.
Solar could feel his hands shaking as he held the card, this meant so much to him. He didn’t believe he deserved this, but they still did it anyway, the fact they remembered was enough to give him a stupid grin. He took a breath before looking at everyone. “Thank you.. you really didn’t have to.. this means a lot.” Eclipse rested their hand on Solar’s arm gently in support, Eclipse could always see right through him. “Anytime Solar!” Earth said cheerily, before starting to clean everything up. “I hope you liked the cake, me Lunar and Eclipse made it.”
Solar nodded, smiling, giving a grateful glance to Eclipse. “It was really good. Thank you.” Earth nodded happily, glad he enjoyed it, before continuing to clean up the table.
Everyone quickly cleaned up and Solar again, assumed that they would all leave and do their own thing but they all stayed for a few moments.
“What would you like to do now Solar?” Sun asked, clasping his hands together. Solar paused, they were still going to spend time with him? He guessed he wanted to go fix the go carts in Roxy raceway..
“Uh, I still have to fix the go carts in Roxy raceway-“
“Did that for you.” Moon piped up, giving Solar a thumbs up. Oh, that was nice of him. He didn’t have to.. why did he? What benefit did he get out of that? Maybe he was just being nice. But did he deserve that? They all said he did. He pinched the side of his arm, quit spiraling idiot, he thought.
“Oh thanks, uh, I don’t know, what do you guys want to do?” Solar shrugged, the only things he really did was work, either at the theater, fixing things around the plex or working on his own personal projects. He liked to play video games sometimes, but he only ever played for a video or if Eclipse wanted to play Mario kart. “But what do you want to do?” Lunar asked, crossing their arms. Solar thought for a moment. What did he want to do?
Wait, did he not have any other hobbies besides working? What did he do for fun? uhh he played Minecraft with Lunar? Mario Kart with Eclipse.. that was it. “I.. don’t know?” He shrugged, hopefully they’d all leave it at that and leave him alone, he’d find something else to fix. “What do you do when you're not working?” Moon asked, looking kinda concerned.
“Mario kart” he said, pointing to Eclipse. Sun and Moon exchanged a glance. “Do you like playing Mario Kart?” Sun asked, taking a step forward. Solar thought for a moment. “I like hanging out with Eclipse? Mario karts fun. I fix things” He huffed, wanting to get the attention off himself. “I don’t really have many other hobbies.” He admitted, earning him a concerned look from everyone. What was the big deal about anyway?
“I think I’m just going to go take a nap or something, maybe find something to fix.” He mumbled, trying to casually leave the room. No one stopped him, but Earth and Lunar exchanged some concerned looks, and Eclipse followed him, running after him in the hallway. “Solar!” They called, making Solar turn around on his heels. “Uh, I have something for you, if you want it?” Eclipse said politely, taking a small box out of his chest hatch. Solar looked at the box, it wasn't very big, but it was wrapped in a light yellow wrapping paper with a small orange ribbon. His favorite colors. He looked up at Eclipse, who was shyly looking at their hands. “It’s not much, but I wanted to make you something to show how much I care.. but if you don't like it, that's fine, I can take it back.”
Solar smiled, taking the box and carefully unwrapping it, and opening the box gently. In it were two simple necklaces with charms on both. One had a simple Sun charm, and the other had another Sun but instead it had Solars colors on it, with small painted goggles like the ones he wore on his head everyday on it. They both had small intricate details that made them very beautiful. He almost broke into tears at the sight. Eclipse made these for him? They made them especially for him? He picked up the Sun necklace, rubbing thumb over the front gently, admiring the details and designs.
“I know you said you miss your Sun sometimes, so I thought you might like something to remember him by.. it’s okay if you don’t like it.” Eclipse said softly, shuffling on their feet. Solar took a breath, trying to hold back a sob, putting both the necklaces on, making sure they were both fully visible, the sun one was shorter than the Solar one so you could see both clearly. He looked up at Eclipse, smiling widely. If he could cry, he probably would be, but then again, he was very good at looking like he didn’t care. He did that almost naturally at this point that everyone just thought he didn’t care at all. Eclipse could see through him though, for some reason always being able to tell what Solar was feeling.
It would be annoying if it wasn't helping him mentally.
Solar didn’t know what to say, the card was more than he could have ever wanted but a handmade gift. That was something else entirely, he didn’t know how to say thank you. A hug? Oh he really wanted to hug Eclipse, but he’d always avoided physical contact, even if he craved it at times. His hands twitched nervously, wanting to reach out and hug them but something was stopping him. He fiddled with the necklace before speaking again.
“Thank you..”
His voice sounded small, it was unusual. Considering his voice always sounded monotone and bored. Something he had to pick up back in his dimension to make himself less noticeable. Eclipse tilted their head, Solar always melted when they did that. Solars hands twitched again.
Fuck it.
He grabbed Eclipse and gave them a hug, hiding his face in their shoulder in slight embarrassment. Eclipse must have known this was coming, they were ready, patting his back gently and hugging him close. Solar squeezed them a little bit before backing out of the hug. He would love to just keep hugging them forever, but showing affection, and emotions in general were quite difficult for Solar. Luckily Eclipse understood. They always did.
Eclipse smiled brightly at him, they were obviously glad he liked the gift. Solar could feel his internal fans whirring, he quickly said goodbye before walking as casually as possible back to his room. God why’d I do that, he thought.
Despite how awkward he felt, it was nice to have some physical contact rather than the occasional side hug and arm touch. This one felt more real. Corny, but true he supposed. God that felt wrong, but right? Ugh you fucking weirdo.
Why am I even overthinking this?
He quickly shoved all thoughts to the back of his mind, entering his room and looking through his emails again. All the broken machines and work around the plex had been done by Moon. God dammit Moon. He must have done it while he was hanging out with Eclipse. Eclipse was a distraction. Fuck. Now what was he supposed to do? Charge? He groaned, opening his laptop and sitting on his bed. It was already 7pm. The day was over. No more work to do. He opened YouTube and just started to watch some videos he skipped on the Sun and Moon show. Occasionally watching some from the Lunar and Earth show. He clicked on the one from when he played Amanda the adventurer with Earth, he only got through a few minutes before cringing at the sound of his own voice. And the fact he kept bringing up food.
God he was weird.
He closed his laptop, hopping off his bed and grabbing some scrap metal from his work bench. He started fiddling with it and welding pieces together with the small flame that came out of his forefinger. Somehow he ended up making a shark, Eclipse likes sharks. He put aside, grabbing more metal and making a small star, before sticking it to the side of his computer. Nice.
Okay now what. Is working all he did? Jeez Earth was not wrong about him needing a healthy stress outlet. God damn it. He looked over at the wall beside his bed, it had posters and pictures all over it with hanging lights that Earth got him to make his room “more complete” as she put it. He had to admit they were quite nice. He did a lap around his room. Then again. Then again, before flopping face first into the bed.
Then he heard a knock on the door, he sat up slowly before walking over to the door opening it. Moon was there. “Uh, hi.” Solar said, his voice flat. Moon had his arms crossed over his chest, an expression Solar couldn’t read on his face.
“Solar I think we need to talk about.. we’ll you.”
Solar blinked, had he done something wrong, was he being kicked out? Was Moon mad, was everyone mad? Did he forget to fix something? “Did I do something?” He said, Jesus his voice was just as monotone when he was panicking. Moon shook his head. “Usually Earth does this sort of thing, but I thought I’d come do it myself, we all think.. your uh.. mental health, isn’t doing very well.” Moon said simply. Oh, Solar knew what the expression was now. Concern. Worry even. Solar blinked.
“I’m fine, but thanks.”
Moon sighed, ready to fight him for this. “Okay Solar, I need you to tell me one of your hobbies that doesn’t include helping other people or working.” Solar thoughts for a moment. Simple enough,
“I play Mario Kart.”
“When Eclipse plays with you.” Moon answered, what was that supposed to mean, yeah he played with Eclipse, he liked hanging out with them and Mario Kart isn’t fun without other people. “I play video games.” He said, desperate to get his point through.
Moon tilted his head. “You play video games when one of us asks you to, Solar all you do is work, you hang around and have conversations with us but.. you're not really there. “
He’s not wrong. Solar always tended to check everything about the situation and try to create the perfect response and body language for the situation, always overthinking what he said, as well as worrying that he should be working. He had to say, he was doing better mentally now that he had other people with him to hang out with. Had his experiences in his old dimension messed him up that much?
“I’m just bad at showing my emotions.” He stated, it was the truth, he was very bad at showing emotions or affection. Or even accepting it for that matter. Moon took a breath, “I just wanted to let you know we’re all here if you need to talk. You haven’t vented about your experiences in your dimension since you got here and afew people have noticed, from.. signs.. that it’s eating you up slowly.”
Solar paused again, it must have been Earth, she was designed to basically be a therapist to everyone and herself. But Moon isn’t wrong, he thinks about what he did to his Sun daily, even if it wasn’t technically his fault, also the fact his Moon wanted to scrap him.. and how he left the only person in his dimension that he cared about to die. Yeah sometimes if Moon raised his voice a little bit too much he’d get a small, meaningless, flashback.
No biggy.
And the fact that half the people he considers family are traumatized by another version of himself, even with a different name and slight change in appearance, his voice remained the same. So he kept it low and as monotone as possible, as less threatening and intimidating as possible.
But that didn’t mean he was unwell mentally, right? Right.
“I appreciate the thought Moon, but I’m fine, I swear, I enjoy working.” Solar insisted, putting as much genuine tone in his voice as he could manage. Moon didn’t look convinced, but he sighed, giving up. “Okay Sol, if you say so. Just.. please come talk to someone when you're ready?” Solar nodded, waving Moon off as he left down the corridor. He closed the door gently before walking over to his bed. He should probably go to bed now. Nothing else to do.
He hopped onto his bed, fiddling with the charging cable as he tried to find the port at the back of his head, eventually plugging it in before kicking off his shoes, leaving his goggles on his bedside table and taking off his “superstar daycare” shirt as not to dirty it. He gently took off his necklaces, rubbing his thumb over them gently for a moment before hanging them beside his bed carefully.
He lay back down getting comfortable before slowly powering off into rest mode.