Sundrop x Reader

Chapter 1

"Hello Dave" I said when I walked into the Pizza plex building and saw him nearby the main employee entrance. It was 1 hour before opening, exactly the time convenient for last minute touch ups, repairs and adjustments before hundreds of kids start rushing in.

"Good morning Y/N" Dave responded, continuing to think deeply about something written on his checkboard that he always carried with him to make sure he wouldn't forget anything. He was so deep in thought that he didnt even look at me when I approached him.

"Whats going on?" I asked. Seeing him so worried made me feel a bit uneasy.

"Several employees called in sick last minute today, and I dont know how to make it all work without them. There is a 30 kid birthday party booked at the Daycare at 3 pm. And then one of the main judges for todays costume competition at 5 pm cancelled" he seemed stressed

"Well" I hesitated "What am I supposed to do today?" I asked awkwardly. I have been working here for about 2 weeks - still very deep in my 1 month training period. After all, the place was huge and every employee had to learn to fit into multiple jobs to fill in the gaps. All the way from day and night guarding, animatronic cleaning and supervision, and hopefully, one day being in charge of setting up and taking care of all the parties happening around the Pizza plex. That part was what I was looking forward to the most.

Dave looked at me for a while still deep in his thought.

"Actually" He started, finally raising his eyes to look at me.

"Can you do face painting for children?" he asked, scratching the back of his head with his right hand.

"Well - I used to take art classes, but I never really tried face painting in particular." I answered caught off guard.

"hmm, I have some practice sheets in the back, follow me." He said and started speedwalking to the staff rooms behind the Daycare area. I followed him, trying to orient myself to not get horribly lost in the future - the staff rooms were hell! Endless corridors with storage units and offices - like a maze wrapping around the cool, colorful interior made for guests.

He rummaged through a large storage unit in the main daycare office. I looked around, holding my bag close to my chest in an attempt to relieve at least some of my anxiety.

"Ha! here it is!" Dave smiled, pulling out a stock of papers and a bright blue craft box. I gulped loudly when he dropped it all on the desk, gesturing for me to sit down. I did so slowly, looking at the papers in front of me. The papers had outlines of children's faces. He pushed them towards me.

"Let's try this out then. Can you paint me a tiger?" he opened the craft box, revealing a plethora of face painting equipment. I gulped again and took a brush into my anxiously shaking hand.

"Well I really have not done anything like this before" I dipped the brush into orange paint

"Wait - here." Dave pulled out a portfolio of reference images.

"You can just replicate these, no need to exhaust yourself by making up custom designs."

"Thanks" I replied, feeling a bit calmer about my task. I flipped through the portfolio until I stumbled upon a good tiger reference and then I got to work. Dave watched closely as I worked. His breathing down my neck made me feel nervous again.

"This is looking great!" he said, watching my work with relief in his voice.

"Can you try to do more? I need to tend to some more things but I will be back. If you could cover the Daycare party that would save me a hell lot of trouble!" He laughed a bit. "So get comfortable, and also, please keep an eye on the Daycare while you are here, we are quite understaffed - as you have probably already noticed - and more kids are pouring in day after day." He chuckled uneasily once more before shuttiing the door as he left the room.

"Alright". I sighed in relief, leaning back into the chair when he left. I flipped through the portfolio again looking at all the photos of smiling children with colorful drawings on their faces.

"At least I have time to prepare this time" I told myself and got up again to look around a little bit. I have been briefly introduced to the Daycare on my second day here but basically just through an open door.

The office had a big one way window above the entire Daycare area, I could see a balcony underneath me and seemingly endless jungle of playgrounds and ballpits. The floor made out of colorful foam tiles to make sure nobody gets hurt. I also saw a couple of circular kids tables with pencils and papers set up on them just waiting to be used for arts and crafts. I smiled for myself and turned around to face the office again. The room was a little dark. On the left side, from my point of view, was a red door and some storage units, in the middle a desk now covered in art supplies and a computer placed in its right corner. On the right side was a small kitchen, just a few cubboards a microwave and a kettle. All the way in the back was a door probably leading to the staff bathroom.

"Nice" I smiled and sat down again. " I supposed it wouldn't mind working at a place like this" and with that thought I got back to painting kids faces with bright paint and glitter.

After about 30 minutes I finished painting 4 faces and Dave knocked on the door which startled me a little bit.

"How are you doing?" he asked looking over my shoulder to examine my work.

"That's pretty good" he patted my shoulder a few times.

"You got the job kid and if you manage the Daycare well for the rest of the day - along with face painting at the birthday party at 3 pm, well, maybe this will be your office for a while" he scribbled something on his checkboard - clearly in a much better mood than when I first saw him in the morning.

"Thank you!!" I looked at him dumbfounded, I've been scrubbing bathrooms and desinfecting the food corners for most of the past 14 days. And I kind of expected to be doing that for quite a while into the future before being able to move to a more responsible job. I was so excited! No way I am letting this opportunity slip!

"I will do my best! thank you!" I turned to him to express my gratitude.

"I hope so - I will check up on you by the time the party starts - if you need anything the Daycare animatronics will help you out - there is also an instruction file in one of the drawers, so please check that out before going down to the Daycare. It also has a checklist... it is a bit of a level up from your previous tasks, but I have to take care of a ton of different crap so I really hope I can rely on you!" He looked me with a serious tone in his voice.

"Of course! I will make sure to be as precise as possible." His serious tone almost made me feel like I should be saluting right now - thankfully I didn't. He looked at his watch.

"I really need to go now though so see you later! If something goes wrong you can call me on the walkie talkie! See you later" he shouted after me as he walked out of the door.

"Later" I waved as the door shut close.