Afraid of The Dark

While Stacey was Gone

A/N ))  

No one asked for this except for one person.  You lucky ass motherfucker <3

Gods, I was going to kill Stacey.  While I've explained the birds and the bees to small children, I never thought I'd ever have to explain to an eight-foot-tall robot designed to care for children.  You think he'd know this.

"Haven't the children ever asked you about this?" I asked, "Surely you have an answer to give."

He said, "Nope!  I just tell them I don't know."  

Now that was smart programming.  Maybe I could tell him the same.

"I'm sorry, Sunny.  I just don't know how," I lied, shrugging my shoulders to sell it.  Please fucking believe me.  I don't want to start a perfectly good day like this.  I don't think I could enjoy my lunch break in the same room as this guy for a while after telling him.  Who knows how he'll react?

"That's not true!  Miss Stacey said it's your area of expertise," he brought up.  That wasn't what she said, but I could tell he wasn't going to let me go.  My face heated in embarrassment.  

Fuck you, Stacey.  May the copier jam the fuck out of those coloring pages.  

Could I tell him one of the more infantile ways?  

"So, there's a stork-" 

Sunny waved me off, sensing my bullshit.  

"Storks can't build children! They lay eggs, silly," he teased me.  He knew the story then.  Dammit.  

"What have the children told you?" I asked, wondering how big the boundaries were.  I wanted to know how much I had to explain for it to make sense.  

He thought about it for a minute.  The silence made me want to rip my brain out of my skull.  Maybe then he wouldn't ask me ever again.

"They mentioned that mommies and daddies make them.  You know, mothers and fathers.  I never knew how though.  Children are such complex things.  I don't know how people without skill in engineering could ever make them!" he told me.  

A part of me was relieved to know the children weren't capable of telling him in detail.  This explanation, however, was too close to the real one for me to go around it.  I just needed to simplify it in a very pure way.  

I could do that.  I've explained this dozens of times.  I just hoped he didn't ask too many questions.  

I took a deep breath, exhaled, and looked to the huge sun plated face staring at me.  

"All that happens is that the father gives some of his cells to the mother.  She incubates it for nine months.  That's what makes a kid."  YES! A PERFECT ANSWER.  Nice job, Y/N.  You did good.

"Like a bird?"

I stared at him blankly.  Please, stop with the questions.  

"Kind of.  The egg stays inside the mother, though."

That should do it.  That should be the last thing.  Where was Stacey?  Where are those damn kids?

"So, how does the father give the cells?" he asked.  I must've been the shade of a ripe strawberry.  Could this dude please stop?  I'm begging.  Help.  Anyone.

How the hell do I even answer this?  Sunny's attention never strayed from the conversation.  His pre-shift chores were done, and the kids aren't here yet.  

"Moon, stop laughing.  I'm trying to listen," I heard him whisper.  So that motherfucker knew and still made me be the one to explain it to him.  I tried thinking of ways to piss him off later.

"Well," I started, not knowing where I was going with this, "It's contained in a liquid that the father produces."

Was there not a better way to put that?  

"Liquid?  Like Fizzy Faz?" he asked.  WHAT THE HELL, MAN??  

"No... It's more like," I looked around for something that wasn't what I was describing, "This."  I picked up a bottle of plain glue.  That was similar, right?

Sunny looked confused.  His head tilted to the side.  I assumed he didn't like plain glue.

"So, it's like glue?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Stacey enter the room.  Thank fuck-

I ran over to her, wanting to hug her for showing up when she did.  I didn't.  She didn't deserve it for what she's done.  

"So, where are those coloring pages?" I asked, wondering what she's been up to.  She just shrugged her shoulders and took a sip of a soda I didn't see when she walked in.

"Copier broke."

A/N ))

714 words.  Short one.  I'm sorry of you wanted more.  I've been busy today.  I hope y'all are doing okay.