Work Text:
Not even an hour into the workday and Solar was already wringing the last lines of patience from his creaking personality chip.
He was excellent at being hard on himself and was his own worst critic, as any member of the celestial family was fond of telling him, but this time he didn’t feel too guilty about his lacklustre work performance. After almost a year of what Lunar called the Great Solar Bullshit Production – pining, secrecy, resisting strangling Bloodmoon and Lunar, disguising his yearning from Moon and repeatedly making a fool out of himself – he and Sun had finally fallen into each other's arms.
Sun insisted the credit went predominantly to him, and Solar couldn't really fault his logic. If the sunny-model hadn't stomped into the theatre to lay his wires on the line, god knows how much longer the Great Solar Bullshit Production would've gone on.
Solar would've been beside himself with delight just over finally knowing his affection was reciprocated - god forbid he got to kiss him. But it spiralled far beyond his wildest hopes and they ended up in Sun's bed, where he stayed all night long.
And the sex had been nothing short of fucking spectacular, in his not-so-unbiased opinion. But the night came to an end and life went on - In their case, that translated to the entire family piling into Sun’s bedroom and getting an eyeful (Solar wasn’t vengeful by nature but Bloodmoon was on his list) - and the workday rolling around again.
How the actual fuck was Solar supposed to be normal and concentrate on the tasks at hand when his head was so completely and utterly full of Sun? Sun in his arms, Sun tugging at his clothes - and other things - with careful, dexterous hands, Sun’s gorgeous golden construction, Sun’s voice hitching—
“Fuck,” he muttered.
“What? What did you just say?” squawked a woman surveying the pick-a-mix cabinet, glaring with affront, and Solar smiled ingratiatingly.
“Stuck,” he said, “The cash register’s stuck.”
The entirely un-stuck, innocent cash register creaked in protest as Solar made a show of yanking it free and cramming it back into place, but the woman sniffed haughtily and let it pass, so Solar considered it a fair trade off.
So far he’d managed to not screw anything up, but even with his legendary ability to drill down and focus, he couldn’t get his mind right for working the theatre desk. About 80% of his headspace was hopelessly hypnotised with memories of the night before, 15% stuck uncomfortably on Moon’s resultant freak-out and the remaining 5% eked feebly by for the task in hand.
As if by magic, his HUD shivered with an incoming message, and that work-focused 5% crashed spectacularly off the proverbial cliff as he realised it was from Sun.
Well, perks of being an animatronic – he could write, send and read messages hands-free.
Sun: hey Solar. how’s work going?
Solar: It exists. Unfortunately. Not that I’m not grateful for the work, I like being busy, but my head’s not in it today.
Sun: oh thank god I was worried it was just me 😅
Solar: Definitely not.
Sun: going to be a very long day
Solar: Unfortunately. Got a full house?
Sun: and the rest. Fazbear’s policy on accepting people who screwed up their bookings is going to send me to an early decommissioning. 3 extras today on top of an already full set - 3!!! and of course Moon’s mysteriously nowhere to be seen. so technically I’ve got 4 extra children to deal with I guess
Solar winced and dropped his head. By the time he’d left Sun’s room, following the golden animatronic’s heels with rumpled clothes and wonky rays, Moon had already ducked through the blue tunnel out of the way. A pair of red, steely eyes followed Solar unblinkingly as he crossed the common room to the ladder, but neither he didn't say a word. Solar was normally good at reading Moon, emotes enabled or not, but that blank stare was unnervingly impassive.
Deciding not upsetting Sun was more imperative in that moment than kowtowing to Moon, Solar followed the sunny-model’s lead into the Daycare. Maybe that had been a mistake.
Before he could begin to compose some kind of apology to Sun, feeling horribly responsible for making his job more difficult, Sun pinged a quickfire message. Solar could imagine his finger-wagging, sharp-edged voice as he read it, as if he’d sent a GIF of himself telling Solar off.
Sun: I can feel you thinking about apologising. don’t. not your fault the superbrain’s got the emotional maturity of a toddler
The eclipse-model huffed a sad but fond little smile. Sun’s EQ was a thing of beauty and he didn’t get enough credit for it.
Solar: You got me there. Sorry. Shit. I didn’t mean to apologise. ...that’s also an apology. FUCK.
Sun: 🤣 🤣 🤣 question
Solar: Go on.
Sun: you’ve thought about this for a long time? what happened last night, I mean
Solar: That’s putting it mildly.
Sun: well ... ... ... I was wondering ... ... ... what other things have you thought about?
With an audible clockwork shreeeee, Solar jumped up ramrod straight, rays springing to their fullest extent and eyes flying wide before he tactically switched off his emotes.
Oh. It was one of those kinds of conversations.
Shit, shit, shit. The logical part of his personality chip trembled with worry even as the rest of it quivered with a truly inconvenient rush of arousal. He didn’t know what to say at times like these, though god knows he tried his best. After the great Foxy and Sun date disaster, Bloodmoon had taken obscene delight in changing Solar’s player name to TheReverseRizzler. Sun and Moon had been baffled. Lunar nearly coughed up a circuit laughing.
It had taken bartering a nanomachine upgrade to buy Bloodmoon’s promise of not doing it again.
On reflection, Solar thought he put up with more than his fair share of teasing in the chaos of the celestial cohort, but in his heart of hearts he wouldn’t trade it away for the world.
The message nudged insistently at his systems and he grimaced. Goddamit, he couldn’t take too long, or Sun might think he wasn’t into this. He was fairly confident Sun would never do it again if he decided he wasn't into it, but from the superheated, molten feeling deep in his belly, he was definitely into it.
What did he say? How honest was he? He didn’t want to frighten Sun off, but then again, the sunny-model had instigated the conversation, so maybe he was hoping for some level of intensity? Probably not coyness, Solar wouldn’t be any good at that anyway. But defaulting to his safety net of clinical bluntness probably wasn't the right tack either.
How the hell did humans manage this nonsense without sounding like complete morons?
Crossing his fingers under the desk and hoping for the best, Solar took a stab.
Solar: Well, for one, I’ve thought very unprofessional things about your skyhook.
As soon as he sent the message he wanted to kick himself. His very first attempt, and true to form, he screwed it up. He was supposed to be sending a suggestive message to his lover, not a work email. He had the bedroom chat skills of a vending machine.
Astoundingly, Sun got back to him with no hesitation.
Sun: oh wow. really?
Was that wow as in what-the-fuck-you-creep or yes-please-right-now? How was Solar supposed to know? He decided Sun wasn’t likely to laugh at him and pressed ahead.
Solar: Yes. Very much so.
Sun: I’m flattered 😘
Resisting the urge to bang his faceplate off the desk and managing to string sentences together to serve a customer, Solar relaxed a little. That worked. Sun was into it. Thank god.
Sun pinged him again as he rang up a paper tray of soggy nachos.
Sun: thinking practically...
Solar: Practical? That doesn’t sound like you, Sunrise.
Sun: excuse me how dare you 🤣 coming from the guy who gets weak in the knees for schematics and blueprints and spreadsheets
Solar: Fair point. What were you going to say?
Sun: the wire can hold me and Moon, we tested how fast it could do a circuit with us both once for fun. but with your heavy-duty mods not sure it’ll take the weight
Solar stifled a bark of boiling static, deactivating his blushing glow with a frantic ripple through his plating as heavy, aching code spooled down his belly and coiled deep below where his navel would be. He barely seized the latch of his modesty plate in time. Holy shit.
Sun: we could try though? would need to bribe the crap out of the computer and have a repair plan ready just in case. or a very good lie 😘
Solar: That wasn’t what I meant but holy shit I'm up for that.
Sun: oh GOD 😳 😰 sorry!!! what did you mean?
Solar: Don’t apologise – that’s living in my processors rent free now. I’m not kidding, I want to try that with you. I’ll run some calculations.
Sun: good to know. so … … … gonna tell me what you actually meant?
Solar brute-forced past the nerves vibrating in his wires and sent a reply.
Solar: Honestly?
Sun: always. but you don’t have to tell me if you’re not comfortable with it
Solar: … … … I want to hold your skyhook to keep you where I want you while I fuck you make love to you take you
Sun: 👀 oh wow 💛 🧡 ❤️🔥 yes please that too!!!
Solar: What do you think? You’d like that?
Sun: I think I would. how would you take me
Goddamit, Sun was actively trying to kill him - or at least short out his battery. Well, Solar was hardly going to back out now.
Solar: I'd be on my knees behind you. As hard and fast as you’ll let me.
Sun: ... ... ... concentrating is getting very very very hard right now
Solar: I can relate pretty hard too.
Sun: 🤣 🤣 🤣 get a grip on that hardware
Solar: I can’t right now, I’m at work. That’s the problem.
Sun: does it feel bad when that happens? I wouldn’t know
Solar: Your concern is very cute. It aches, I guess? It’s a good ache though. I can manually lock the panel and keep everything retracted. Got much more control than humans. You’d have to take me by serious surprise or rile me up really badly to bypass that.
He knew it was a mistake as soon as he pressed send, and Sun didn’t hesitate.
Sun: challenge accepted 😁
The eclipse-model chuckled quietly, busying himself with wiping the counter free of popcorn salt and sticky soda cup rings. Sun took a moment longer to ping him and Solar tilted his head when the message landed, rays flicking curiously. Sun's words felt weighted, unsure somehow, brimming with nerves instead of anticipation.
Sun: can I ask you something?
Solar: Of course. What’s up?
Sun: well ... ... ... I wanted to ask … … … you’re sure me not having a 🍆 doesn’t bother you? I get that might’ve been unexpected or not exactly what you wanted
Ah. Solar scoped the theatre lobby and growled. There were far too many customers to even consider ducking out to visit the Daycare, so he reluctantly applied a delay to the impulse to find Sun and hug him until the worry and nerves had melted away.
Unable to do much else, he sent a message, hoping his firm, heartfelt validation translated through text.
Solar: I feel like this is a conversation we should be having face to face, Sunrise. But in the meantime, did I give you the impression I was disappointed last night? God, I hope not – I’m sorry if I did, because the complete opposite is true. I got to make love to you, I was there with you, and everything else was just details. I did not and still don’t care what you’ve got, I’m just happy I got to be with you. And can’t wait until we do it again.
Sun: … … … really? you mean it?
Solar: Completely. I also happen to think that what you’ve got is perfection and felt like heaven. You’re amazing and so’s your—
He tailed off, uncertain what term to use. He tested a couple of words and deleted them all in quick order. Maybe he should use an emoji, like Sun did? A quick search immediately put paid to the idea – the semi-realistic cats were creepily reminiscent of Sun’s actual cats, and he couldn’t take the cartoon ones with exaggerated expressions seriously. Was he supposed to pick the smiling one or the one with hearts in its eyes?
He gave up and hoped the sentiment was strong enough stand on its own, making a mental note to ask Sun for his much more expert opinion on the matter later.
Solar : —You’re amazing. Seriously Sun, you’re beautiful and I’m so lucky.
Sun: ... ... ... thank you. thank you so much, that means a lot to me 🥰 you were incredible too. don’t know where you got that made but it’s very pretty. how the hell did you install that?
Solar: There’s no way to dress this up – KC.
Sun: 👀
Solar: Most awkward day of my entire life and I don’t recommend ever having claws that big anywhere near your pelvic plate no matter who they belong to, but worth it in the end.
Sun: 😨 yeah no thank you you’re 100 x braver than me
Solar: That’s definitely not true, Sunrise.
Sun didn’t message back straightaway and Solar frowned, the sparks pinging off the inside of his plating doing little to focus his squeezing code. Had he killed the mood by being too sappy? His theory that Sun was at least a little bit telepathic kicked into high gear as he got another message.
Sun: you sound incredible when you’re feeling good
It was so out of left field that Solar nearly fell over. Sun was almost organic in his ability to shift and change his voice and it left Solar on his toes. On a normal day he was loud, bossy and loquacious. He could also be gentle and soft-spoken for the kids, or when one of the family needed someone to talk to. His histrionics were legendary.
Solar now knew he was enchantingly soft-spoken during sex, which still made the eclipse-model feel like his circuits were going to fucking melt. And now it turned out Sun could ambush him with staight-to-the-point bedroom chat.
Deeply unfair, in Solar’s opinion. He loved it.
Sun: sorry, was that too much?
He scrubbed his vocal backlog in a mechanical throat-clearing of glitchy static and pretend to listen to someone complain about the price of a bag of sweets, hurrying to toss a message back.
Solar: Not too much. Tell me.
Sun: ... ... ... your voice goes super low and intense and rumbly, t hen higher and kind of desperate right before you finish
Solar: Is that a good thing?
Sun: 100% ❤️🔥
Solar: Well, you do these soft, breathy little noises that drive me absolutely insane. Now I think about it, they’re very good considering you don’t have lungs or a diaphragm.
Sun: put a pin in that for another time, sounds useful
Good fucking god, Solar was going to overheat. Or something important was going to fracture in his lower belly.
Solar: Duly pinning. I’m pretty sure there was some binary and static right at the end too.
Sun: I was having an orgasm I can’t be held responsible for my voice box not behaving
Solar: Did you know you get very polite when you’re having sex? It’s adorable.
Sun: shut up ... ... ... actually you can’t, because you get very chatty when you’re worked up 😘 don’t worry, it was super endearing and really hot
Solar: I aim to please. Go on then - your turn.
Sun: my turn what?
Solar: I told you what I was thinking about your skyhook. Your turn. What do you want to try? It’s only fair.
Sun: oh. that is only fair, let me think … … …
The smug little tease was 100% delaying to rile Solar up. Solar couldn't decide whether to be annoyed or delighted that it was working.
Sun: ... ... ... okay. I want to use my mouth on you, but flat noggin construction makes that tricky. not much real estate in this dinnerplate head
Solar: Oh god, you’re going to kill me. And you’re very creative, you’ll figure something out.
Sun: uh huh. you’re just smug because that’s not a problem for you
Solar: Damn right. I’m not going to complain because that was amazing. I don’t recall you complaining either.
Sun: that blew my mind a bit not going to lie. you sure you’ve never done that before?
Solar: Positive.
Sun:... ... ... maybe we should try again to be sure
Solar: Don’t threaten me with a good time.
Sun: I want you to wake me up doing that
Solar: Holy shit, really?
Sun: is that okay?
Solar: YES. Do you want me to warn you?
Sun: no thank you. surprise me
Solar: Consider it done. God, let this day end.
Sun: I know. your turn
Solar: Give me a minute, need to speak to a customer. Keeping my panel shut is actually hurting right now.
Sun: my bad
Solar : Don’t pretend to be contrite. I can feel how smug you are from here.
Sun: don't know what you're talking about 😁 😇
Solar: You’re evil. Hang on … … … I want to keep going until we trigger a soft reboot, we’re both numb and neither of us can walk.
Sun: oh wow - sounds pretty intense
Solar: It's just an idea, and only if you’re comfortable with that, Sunrise. You can always say no, you know? To be honest I’m down for anything you want.
Sun: lucky me 🥰 okay I’d be up for that. maybe once we’re a bit more practised? doesn't sound like beginner stuff
Solar: It’s a date.
Capacitors needling and aching and battery pulsing like he had a heartbeat, Solar waved a cleaning bot to the corner where someone had missed the trash and thrown a half-finished tub of popcorn all over the floor instead. He was far too distracted to be annoyed.
Solar: Is there anything else specific you want to try?
Sun: everything
Solar: That’s flattering but not that useful, and you know it. Still, never let it be said I can’t follow instructions … … … done. Sharing the file now.
Sun: … … … oh my god is that a spreadsheet?!?!
Solar: Yes.
Sun: named ‘Solar Model Construction Synthesis Masterlist v1.0”
Solar: Also yes.
Sun:... ... ... Solar, there’s a dedicated column for feedback and notes. you want to project manage our sex life with agile sprints?
Solar: Iterative improvements are important.
Sun: 🤣 🤣 you’re a gorgeous nerd. what about tonight?
The pressing, nagging ache behind the plating under his waistband twisted a little unpleasantly and Solar groaned as the unhappy thought needled its way into what had been a distractingly pleasant fog of fantasy and imaginings. The medley of glorious planes of golden plating, dazed pearlescent optics and the sound of roaring fans was pierced with scarlet eyes and the memory of his best friend’s outraged demand for him to get out of Sun’s bed. The indignant forbidding of anything more.
Solar: I’d love to.
The response was so fast it almost gave Solar whiplash.
Sun: sounds like there’s a “but” coming … … … oh for gods sake is this about my over-built child of a twin brother? I don’t care, I'm sorry but I just don't care
Solar whirred unhappily, clawing at the sweetly desirous coil of code as it slipped away in the face of Moon’s ire, which he knew would be waiting for him back in the tower. And he’d inevitably ruined the moment.
Sun: wait, I’m so sorry Solar! I didn’t mean to sound like I’m not taking your feelings about this seriously, I am, I swear. your feelings mean a lot to me … … … I’m just not taking his feelings about this seriously. we’re consenting adults and frankly it’s none of his goddamn business. it’s not our fault he short circuited and decided to start an incident instead of just leaving like a normal person
Solar: I’m going to be honest. I wanted to curl up and die. And I was kind of angry at everyone too. I get it could've been so much worse but...
Sun: only kind of angry? I was am furious. so embarrassed. Bloodmoon’s going to get it in the casing for that. but Moon’s freak out is his problem, not ours, and definitely not yours
Solar: Thank you Sunrise. But I want to try and deal with this myself if I can. I owe him that much. But I promise I’ll tell you if it doesn’t improve – is that fair? Honestly I’m low key concerned I’m going to be banned from the Daycare tonight.
Sun: if he values his construction he won’t dare. besides I have equal administrative power and can rescind those bans
Solar: What about the computer?
Sun: I checked. they were serious about ordering the soundproofing. I can’t believe I’m saying this but the computer ships us
Solar: So does Lunar. He’s been a smug little gremlin about it for months and it’s going to be a relief to pretend to not notice his endless puns and barely disguised sex jokes.
Sun: … … … oh OH ReverseRizzler I get it now 🤣 🤣 🤣 you're very patient with him and the twins
Solar: They're endearing in their own troublemaking kind of way.
Sun: I told Earth a while ago if I'm being honest. I was getting kind of low keeping how I felt to myself. she was super nice about it
Solar: She’s nice about everything.
Sun: that’s true. I don’t know how we managed without her to be honest
Solar: Me neither. KC knew. Somehow.
Sun: of course he did - probably smelled our non-existent robotic hormones or saw it in some zen out of body meditation or whatever it is he does
Solar: No idea. Point is the only person who didn’t know was Moon.
Sun: that’ll be part of the reason he’s being so pissy about this. how can someone be that intelligent and also so stupid all at once
Solar: I worked pretty hard to keep it from him.
No message came back and Solar winced.
Solar: I’m sorry Sunrise.
Sun: … … … it’s okay. I just feel bad you thought you had to do that. and actually I feel bad for me too, maybe that's selfish but it's honest
Solar: Moon worships the ground you walk on. You know that, right?
Sun: … … … yeah I know. doesn't mean he gets a casting vote on who I sleep with
Solar: Of course not. I just don’t want to get into a fight with Moon if I can help it. For your sake, his and mine. Maybe not rubbing this in his face will help.
Sun: 🤬
Solar: I’m not saying we should hide what we have, Sunrise. I don’t think I could anymore, and you’re my priority. With every wire I’ve got, I swear. But Moon matters to me and I want to give him a chance to calm down instead of forcing the issue, at least for a day or two.
The connection went quiet. Solar rubbed his face and sent a single word.
Solar: Please?
He could practically feel Sun’s servo-deep sigh from through the walls between the theatre and Daycare.
Sun: okay we can do that. he doesn’t know how lucky he is to have a friend like you. don’t worry, he’ll get over it. he’d better. tonight we’ll wait until everyone’s gone to bed and be reasonably subtle about it. we can turn down our voice box volume again. I'd probably do that anyway until the soundproofing comes in actually, it's only fair to Moon and the computer and whoever else is sleeping over
Solar: We both know Moon’s definitely going to try and wait up.
Sun: oh god you’re right. well he’s welcome to try, if he thinks he can out stubborn me on this he’s going to be disappointed. if he busts out a shovel talk or tries to ban you from my room I'm going to lose it
Solar: We could give him some space and go to mine instead?
The eclipse-model realised what he’d sent a split-second after the message whisked away and cringed, gritting his teeth. Goddamit, he shouldn’t have offered that. His “room” was a corner in his workshop, tucked away in one of the un-used theatre backrooms. A mattress on the floor, one pillow, one blanket, and nothing else. Not exactly a love-nest to be proud of, certainly not something he could see Sun melting into.
But Sun leapt onto the idea before Solar could fathom some kind of excuse.
Sun: that’s the obvious solution, why didn’t I think of that? I’m a moron
Solar: You’re not a moron, and you don’t have to. Sorry, I sprung that on you. No pressure.
Sun: no, sounds great! I’ll be over after clean up if you don’t have any other plans?
Hopeful, libidinous code started piling like desirous Tetris behind his pelvic plate again and Solar couldn’t help but grin to himself, feeling just a little giddy and proud at the idea of taking Sun back to his bed. Maybe he could convince him to really tug on his rays this time, leave him with the kind of ache that lingered for days. Scratch a thing or two off the list.
Solar: I do have plans. Luckily they involve you and not much else.
Sun: they sound like good plans. need me to bring anything?
Solar: Just yourself. And a full battery.
Sun: ❤️🔥 I’ll sneak in some extra charge during naptime. oh god, got to go - one of the kids has learned fun new non-Daycare approved words and is teaching the others. it rhymes with “duck”
A gravelly chuckle caught in Solar’s voice box and he span his faceplate to try and get his emotes back under control.
Sun: oh and now there’s also “duck my life” and “duck this bit” and “duck you”. t he conversation with their guardian later is going to be fun. k ill me now
Solar: Count down the hours and I'll try and make it worth the wait. Tough breaks though, better you than me. Good luck.
Sun: ugh. have a good day though! better than mine at least
Solar composed another message but hesitated over sending, whirring uncertainly. Was it too soppy? Solar didn’t mean it in a mincing, flowery way - he meant it earnestly, steadily, honestly. Would Sun parse that out?
Fuck it. Today was a day of firsts, after all.
Solar: I can’t wait to see you, Sunrise.
Sun: me neither, Solar. we should’ve done this a long time ago, shouldn’t we?
Solar: God knows we have enough to deal with in the here and now. So while I agree with you, let’s focus on tonight instead?
Sun: I like your thinking. see you later Solar 🥰 🥰
Solar: See you later.
Blowing warm, prickling air out through his vents, Solar shook himself and braced for the outpouring of customers from the finished show.
Then he remembered his room was a catastrophic bombsite of a mess and wondered if anyone would notice if he escaped to frantically tidy up before the end of the day.