I have not yet determined a name for this

~Chapter Three~ NIGHT ONE pt. 2

When he did come back, he was holding a small box in one hand, while the other was fidgeting with a fresh band-aid. His fingers were trembling lightly, I noticed, and I couldn't help but feel bad—that was undoubtedly my fault. "I'm really okay," I quietly said, but I was once again ignored as he knelt down before me.

"Band-aid, band-aid..." he was muttering as he set the box down at his feet, using both hands now to gingerly peel the wrapping from the underside of the band-aid, which was decorated in bright colors and Freddy Fazbear's face. Not wanting to worsen his distress, I sat still as he applied it to the sore and reddened bridge of my nose; the absolute gentleness of the act had my chest feeling strange. As he finished, he took a small, crouched step backwards to appreciate his handiwork.

"See? I'm okay," I softly assured him, my hands settled in my lap. "All better. Nothing to worry about."

"I...you're okay," he repeated, his tone still laced with the remnants of his distress. "You're...really okay?? I should've known better. I was too rough. Humans are fragile—"

I'm not quite sure what made me do it, but it was simply too difficult to watch the animatronic struggle like this, not after the surprising amount of fun we'd shared and the kindness with which he'd handled me. I reached forward and gently held the sides of his face, softly stroking the metal in a calming gesture.

"Seriously, I'm okay," I calmly stated, and Sundrop was no longer fidgeting, as though I was truly freezing him in place with my hold. "You didn't hurt me. You didn't do anything wrong. I promise."

There was a moment of silence following this, with eye contact held steadily between us, at least from what I could tell, while I continued to gently rub the sides of his face. He appeared calmer than I'd ever seen him so far, though I didn't yet know if this was a good thing. Finally, though slowly, he reached upwards to remove my hands. He lowered them, but didn't let them go entirely. "Ah...ah, I'm okay," he murmured. "Everything's...fine. I just lost myself, a little..."

"I know, it's okay," I assured him, offering him a warm smile; it was perhaps the most genuine smile I'd given him so far. "It was probably a good time for us to stop, anyways. I'm getting kinda tired."

As if something had just clicked, he snapped his head upwards in surprise, releasing my hands as some of his former energy returned to him. "Oh! Oh! Right, sleep—you need sleep!" I was the only one, clearly.

"If it's okay—I mean, I've been having a lot of fun, but it's late," I softly replied, having gotten a little too relaxed after being decked in the face with a plastic ball. "Though, uh, I don't know where I'd sleep, really..."

Sundrop began to look around frantically again. "Ah, ah, what's suitable..."

I released a light chuckle at his skittish behaviors, though I didn't want to rile him up again. "Anything's fine, really," I said, waving my hands dismissively. "I can actually sleep anywhere, I just wanted to make sure it's somewhere you're okay with. It's your daycare. I sleep on the floor at home sometimes." A strange truth, but a truth all the same.

"Oh, ah...here, how about over here?" He was pointing energetically towards one of the play structures, which had a large Freddy Fazbear plush situated just outside it. "Come, come..." Before I could even verbally accept, he was picking me up again, this time like he usually did, carrying me over to the spot he'd chosen.

He set me down just before the oversized plush, and I quickly lowered myself to the floor to sit and lean against it; it was admittedly quite comfortable, and would make for a fine place to rest for the night. "This is perfect," I said with a smile of gratitude, peering up at the animatronic who was clasping his hands together and looking down at me hopefully.

"Really? Oh, oh good! Good...you can rest there, as long as you need...maybe when you wake up we can play again, and I won't be too rough..." He was rambling to himself again, but he didn't seem overly distressed anymore, and that was relieving.

"I'll probably sleep through the night, at least mostly," I said with some slight disappointment; I wouldn't have minded playing again, if I had the energy. "But it's not like we can't do this again sometime. And you don't need to worry about being rough—again, I'm not a kid. I can handle it."

He was fidgeting with his hands again, unable to tear his pupilless gaze away from me. "Okay, okay...yes, that sounds...that sounds great," he replied, his voice rising in pitch a little at the notion. It was very much welcome this time; as long as he was happy again, though I didn't know why I suddenly cared so much. "Should I go? I don't want to keep you awake—oh, I'm not really suited for this..."

I released a lighthearted laugh at this; this guy was so fucking weird. Not necessarily in the bad way, I'd learned. "Nah, stay here. You can sit down too, if you want, though I'm sorry if it's not as comfortable."

The animatronic seemed startled by the invitation, something changing about his features again—now that I could properly sit and think about it, I realized what it was. I wouldn't have thought it possible beforehand, but he was blushing. This robot could blush. How surprisingly adorable. "I'll be fine," he suddenly assured me as he moved to sit down, though it was simply across from me at first, which was bound to make this weird and awkward.

"No, like—come sit over here," I playfully directed, patting the padded floor beside me. "Otherwise it'll just look like you're watching me while I sleep." I couldn't help but giggle at that one.

"Oh—right, right!" he replied, as though it were so obvious. "Are you sure this is okay? I've never done this sort of thing before...I'm really not suited for it..."

I didn't quite understand what he meant by that repeated statement, but I chose to ignore it for now. "Yeah, of course it is. I'd prefer you stay here," I assured him as he got settled, taking up pretty much all the space beside me without hesitation. He didn't seem to be aware of personal space, but in the moment, it didn't bother me at all. In fact, the closeness was appreciated, though I would look back and wonder on that later. We'd practically been enemies all throughout the day, so what happened?

Sundrop's face remained flushed as we sat there, side by side, until eventually, I began to slip into a light doze, and I ended up leaning lightly against his shoulder. He had been making occasional statements and asking questions until I was simply too sleepy to answer, and then he was startled into silence by my head against his arm.

He didn't move or adjust against it, but allowed it to happen as I drifted further into unconsciousness, and then I was out.