Chapter Text
Once the sun had fallen, the pizza plex was reduced to a barren and quiet landscape. Such a lonely environment felt like something akin to the shells of an abandoned home; all memories distant and quiet, the only lingering resemblance being the scent of latex and the remnants of grease that had escaped the chambers of their respective boxes. The only life that scurried along the polished tiles of the establishment were curious, personified segways that moved in linear; sometimes taking a moment to swirl on an axis as the light thumps of their wheels crossed the tile boundaries and sediment echoed softly against the walls. As hard at work as these robots were, there was nothing but a faint hum that resonated within each of them; gears whirring with no hope of slumber or anything of the sort. Eternally they work, eternally they roam, eternally they shall seek the lost ones who need guidance. The stars had been put to sleep for the night, hoping they may awaken the next day to repeat their glamorous yet static routine. It was a dismal future they had yet to fully realize, albeit satisfied in the moment with their intended purpose despite their previous friends that had never made the cut.
Among the melancholy darkness of the Plex, an aura of light remained lively through a gate on the first floor, dust creating a ray that beckoned mystique to the atmosphere. The contrasting theme was of utmost invitation to those who might’ve walked past. Yet, no one came to disturb the solemn tranquility that radiated from the LED lights. Within this curious chamber, play still reigned despite the desolate circumstance just beyond their walls. It was as though no time went forward nor ceased for anyone, playtime was permanent in such a place where one’s sole company would be the technicolor play area and friendly faces that loomed just below the makeshift cloud lights above.
Stirring under these, a friendly and scrawny fellow scurried around picking up the remnants of childsplay that remained. Despite how mundane and dull the task was, the amber fellow seemed to relish any active moment; as long as he remained in constant motion, the sun would be satisfied. Lucky is he, the one who would constantly fall in love with the world and all its wonders and glory; with a smile like that, many would go on to be inspired by such a way of life. His rays would remain stationary some moments before sporadically turning, abruptly ceasing once more; this motion would repeat any time he found something new to pick up. His trick was to pretend that the items and various messes were playing a game of hide and seek; each item he put away would give him imaginary experience points, leading up to his reward at the end. His reward, to him, would be more play time. It was the best way to distract him from the distressing mess in front of him
“Ooh! I almost missed this one!” The sunshine jester proclaimed, gracefully swiping an arm to pick up a ball that was led astray from the pit, winding his arm a few times like a cartoon before tossing it back into the pit. Upon impact, however, the fiery man received a not-so-inanimate noise in return.
“Ow—! Sun! ”
Rising from the ballpit, massaging his forehead, was his slumberful brother; it was likely he was hiding just under the surface of the ballpit to escape the merciless light that hung above like searchlights, disturbing all who dared to cross their path. He wore a very annoyed expression, a face that wasn’t too uncommon nowadays as he often found it difficult to keep up with the energetic nonsense around him at all times. His eyebrow twitched as those candied-crimson eyes focused on the striped friend before him. However, it was hard to take that face seriously when the point and bell on the end of his hat would fall in front of his face. Had it not been for unfortunate timing, he might’ve been more enthusiastic. What could’ve been wouldn’t matter, however, he was already squinting and shielding his eyes from the lights above.
“Oop—! I’m so, so, sorry, brother!” Sun bounced over as though gravity itself had no effect on him, frantically moving his hands in a concerned and fretful manner. This, however, was quickly replaced by a more stern finger wave and upright position. “Though you should know better than to lurk in the ballpit like that! Why, you could get stuck! Or— or maybe I would’ve hopped in without seeing you and BLAMO! Off with your head! Or—”
“Silly Sunny, the chances of that are next to none.” Moon let out a soft sigh, making an attempt to steady his tone rather than argue. Sure, he was irritated that his nap was interrupted after a long day of work but he didn’t have to make it Sun’s problem. After all, he didn’t know any better. “I get it, I get it…” he glanced around before looking back at his brother, his teeth parting for a gentle yawn. “How do you always have so much energy? Aren’t you ever exhausted after work?”
“What work? It’s all play in our day!” Sun lifted his palms and shook them lightly in a jazzy manner, smiling widely as he tilted upon one leg. However, despite his words, he was almost as tired as his short-tempered brother. The servos within the thin casing on his legs sputtered for a moment, becoming unresponsive and causing him to fall; a yelp escaped his mouth as his arms flailed about.
Moon watched his brother drop to the ground, unfazed. It wasn’t that he didn’t care, just that the soft ground below them was designed to absorb any impact that might harm the little ones should they have disobeyed their orders and climbed on the outskirts of the jungle gym around them; there was little cause for concern. Moon’s eyelids slowly closed and reopened, sluggishly processing what happened in front of him for a solid minute before lifting an arm to help him back up. Sun scoffed and made an attempt to scramble to his feet.
“Thank you, brother, but I got this! I’m as energetic as—” He had misplaced his foot, letting out a small gasp as he felt the foot in question escape from beneath him. He squeezed his eyes shut, expecting to be met with the cold and soft ground beneath him. However, no such thing came; he had opened his eyes to see his brother looking back at him, gently holding onto him to ensure he wouldn’t fall again.
“Ever?” The blue jester finished for him in a nonchalant, passive tone.
In return, Sun grinned anxiously, embarrassed at being caught in his own fib twice. When he rose, he shook his head spastically.
“No, no, no! You got it all wrong. Maybe I’m a little tired but…” His head went side to side, looking at his own palms as though his next words would be between his fingers. He then pointed accusingly at Moon. “I’m doing better than you! You hardly do anything all day, you just put the kids to sleep.”
“Sun, you know just as much as I how energetic they get.” He groaned, furrowing his eyebrows with the tip of his fingers. “My time is spent trying to keep kids quiet and chasing them down. In turn, sometimes they pull pranks and they need discipline. On top of that, doing the same old routine at the theater has gotten rather dull.”
Sun thought for a moment, heeding his brother’s words. In the theater, the celestial brothers would often get into costume and put on a show for the kids. Despite the differences in story and characters, the roles were still pretty much the same; nothing too complicated or different as the facility intended. Sun would always play the hero of some generic fairy tale while Moon would typically be the trouble maker. However, since there were only two of them they had to resort to theater tactics akin to that of ancient greece; utilizing backdrops, props and costumes to fulfill the story. While the two truly enjoyed putting on shows, it had become repetitive and exhausting. Sunrise had never truly thought about whether or not he desired to shake things up, he hadn’t taken the time to realize the lake was beginning to run dry. More so, he regretted his impulse to one up the tired Moon; sometimes he’d forget to think before speaking and he worried he’d accidentally hurt his brother; though Moon always took great care to be patient.
“...I’m sorry brother, I should’ve been more considerate. I didn't mean it—” His rays retracted as he held his arm, spine bending forwards in a slouching position. Sun was always the more expressive one.
Moon looked at his gloomy Sun before his vaguely disgruntled expression softened. He placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder, smiling softly despite the exhaustion in his eyes.
“Hey, it’s alright, I already know.”
There was a fleeting silence before Sun practically pounced on the starry jester, rays twirling in a steady motion as his arms embraced Moon into a grand, warm hug. Moon froze, a bit startled by the action but quickly adapted and slid his arm from his shoulder to around his torso.
“Aw, Moony, you’re far too patient and good for this world!” Sun bounced a bit before quickly retracting himself, adopting a more determined and thoughtful stance. Even his expression looked stern. This, however, was hard to take seriously given his demeanor. “But you’re right, brother! We’ve fallen into a routine that grows more stale by the minute! I’m sure even the kids would appreciate something new and I know you better than anyone else, Moony. I just know you can’t stand repetition! And I know just how we’re going to do it!”
Moon let out a sigh of relief, having previously convinced himself that Sun would be disheartened by his complaint from earlier. “Right, make new games and—”
“—A role swap!” Sun bounced happily as he waved his jazz hands in the air, the way the light reflected off his surface made it seem as though he were radiating light himself.
Moondrop looked onward at his brother, dumbfounded by his decision. It was at that moment he considered that, maybe, just maybe his brother had gone mad. A role swap? What was he thinking? The two had very different strategies and personalities fit for their respective jobs, having such a drastic change seemed like a slippery slope from here. Moon is sensitive to light, Sun usually falls drowsy under the dark’s influence. Moon prefers the quiet and can’t stand it when the children are rowdy whereas Sun would be just as reckless and rowdy as the little ones. On the other hand, maybe a change in perspective would be the start of something new yet interesting. Moon, however, sensed shortcomings before they had even begun.
“A role swap?” Moon crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. Though skeptical, he figured he should at least head his brother’s words out.
“Yeah! It’ll be fun!” His fingers balled into fists, lingering just below his chin as he figuratively (and literally) beamed; the sunny jester was leaning close to him. “I know you’re skeptical— But— Hear me out! The kids will get to spend some better time with you and I can be devious and criminal for once!” Sun hunched over, his fingers curled and spread out as if he were plotting something of utmost sinister malice; even his grin became gnarly and wide.
Moon raised a fist to his mouth, stifling a chuckle. It was hard for even Moondrop to take his brother seriously; all he could imagine was Sun trying to do something evil and accidentally being helpful or silly in the long run. What was he planning? Tying him up with balloons or dragging him into the ballpit for one of his warm hugs? Sun, however, noticed regardless of his efforts.
“What’s wrong? Don’t believe me?” He stood up straight, his arm crossed and his head tilted ever so slightly backwards as though he were offended.
“Can’t say I do.” Moon simply shrugged as he addressed his brother. “I mean… You cringe at the mere sound of the word…” Moon leaned in and glanced around to make sure no late night staff were present to hear the foul, cursed incantation that was about to slip between the teeth of this lunar celestial. “ Fuck .” He was almost immediately met with a mighty, holy bonk of discipline from his brother.
“Language! ” Sun shrieked as he shook his brother silly before abruptly letting go, placing one hand on his hip while the other waved a finger. “Honestly, how do you get by with such impulsive nonsense?”
“I could say the same for you.” Moon smirked smugly as he lightly shifted his hat back in place, the bell falling in front of his face once more. Sun let out an offended gasp.
“Know what? Fine, how about a challenge? We both try each other’s role for a week. First one down has to wear the dunce hat!” From seemingly nowhere, Sun pulled out a shoddy paper cone hat that was haphazardly glued together with what appeared to be purple glitter glue. Scrawled in a messy, diagonal fashion with a sharpie of some sorts was ‘BIG MEANIE >:(‘ , a typical message from his dearest brother; his most beloved. “And you better have a good time, or else!”
“Or else what?” Moon drifted over to his brother, his entire head spinning for a moment before landing on a slightly tilted position, almost as though he were mocking him and trying to intimidate him. Sun was silent for a moment before he booped his brother’s face.
“You won’t be able to leave the pillow corner and that’ll be final! Final! ” he stomped his foot for emphasis like the drama king he was brought up to be. Moon couldn’t help but entertain him.
“My my, what a sinister haze you have cast upon me!” He put his hands up in defense for a moment before snapping into a pointing position. “Bet you twenty faz-coins you wouldn’t last playing the trouble maker role.”
Sun immediately mirrored his position. “You’re so, so, so on!”