~~Few days later~~

Codie sits at her computer desk, chugging her 4th can of Coke. Ever since that night Gregory was over, she hasn't gotten more than a few hours of sleep. That nightmare has messed her up, bad. Too scared to even try to sleep, Codie has only slept when she passed out. That was last night.

She's determined to stay up this time, though. Sun has thrown her worried glances throughout the day but she ignored them. She doesn't need Sun or Moon to help her. She's an adult, dangit! The ginger keeps herself busy by playing Overwatch.

Meanwhile, Sun paces the floor as Moon watches from the bed. "I can see it in her eyes, Moon! It's those crazy eyes where a human hasn't slept in two days!"

"You know just by their eyes how long someone hasn't slept for?" Moon quirks his brow. Not even he could tell something like that.

Sun ignores him, waving his arms, "I just wish she would tell me what's wrong..." he sighs, despondently.

Moon frowns, hating to see his brother so upset. Before, he could only tell him words of encouragement in their head space, but now, he can physically reach out. "Sun... We aren't daycare attendants anymore... and she's not a child. She doesn't have to tell you, or me, anything."

"I-I know! I just...care about her."

Moon stands, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder and stopping his pacing. "And I'm sure she knows that, but she's just trying to be independent. It's probably a hard transition to move from a parents house. You remember how some of the Stars would full on sob as soon as their mom or dad left the daycare."

Moon's right. He's always right. But it doesn't stop Sun's worrying. He thought they were getting along great! He thought friends told each other everything! He just needs to be more insistent on getting her to let him help!

Moon sighs and leaves the room, noticing the Sun's telltale actions of being lost in thought. He's just glad he didn't tell him about that night when Codie screamed. He definitely doesn't need to know. That would make him even more worried and he doesn't want Codie to feel suffocated by Sun.

And the worst part? Moon knows what's wrong but he can't do anything about it. He knows how nightmares can be. He's made to help soothe the little ones when they had them, yet he was never able to. The kids were always too scared, well, except for the select few that actually liked and trusted Moon.

As he walks by her room, he hears her slurping her caffeinated drink and sniffing dejectedly. He sighs again and heads to the kitchen.

~~~~~~~~~~

Codie checks the clock; 12:59AM. Moon should be in their room and Sun is long gone in dreamland. Can animatronics dream? Codie shakes her thoughts, getting up and stretching. She has to work tomorrow...today and she figures she should try to sleep. Staying up this much can't be good for her but she can't help but get anxiety at the thought of that nightmare happening again.

The ginger sighs and goes about her routine of brushing her teeth and shutting down her computer. She gets in bed and tries to get comfy. She growls, her mind running a mile a minute and she can't stop thinking of bad scenarios.

'Maybe I should get Moon's help... Or maybe Sun wouldn't mind a sleepover... that would surely keep me up....'

Codie is unable to go through with any plan as her tired state sends her to sleep soon after.

~~~~~~~~

At 3:22AM a scream breaks out but it isn't Moon who hears it, Sun does. He wakes up with a gasp, eyes darting every which way. He sees his brother to his right, snoozing with his cord in. He blinks, wondering what had just happened when Codie cries out again.

Frantically, Sun throws his side of the blanket off, almost tumbling over in his haste when he reaches to yank his cord out. He's plenty charged anyway, they charge fast. He makes it to Codie's room in 3 long strides, throwing the door open. His eyes widen at the sight.

Codie hasn't been having nightmares.

She's experiencing sleep paralysis.

"Codie!" Sun cries, his interface scanning and assessing the situation immediately. He kneels down by her bed, hands hovering, unsure. "Codie! You're having a sleep paralysis episode, okay? Can you speak?" She replies in short, meek whimpers.

The girl's entire body is stiff. She can't move anything except her eyes. Said eyes blink rapidly at Sun. He whines at seeing the fear and anguish in them. As she lays there, Codie would do anything to speak back to Sun but her body won't listen to her and there's something in the corner of the room but she can't look away even though she wants to.

"Okay, okay," he panics, feeling powerless. This is Moon's expertise! But...he's actually never seen any of the children suffer from this. 'Think, Sun!' Codie starts to hyperventilate. "Hey! Sunbite! Over here! Look at me! Can you do that?" He tries to get her attention to focus on him, but she keeps looking to the corner of her room.

He swivels his head to look but doesn't see what she's seeing. He moves in front of her line of sight, kneeling again. "Hey, it's okay, focus on me, Sunlight. Look!" He spins his spikes. "Now take a deep breath, in for seven seconds...out for seven seconds. Look at me, copy me."

Codie tries her hardest, breathing in like he tells her, her heart steadily slowing down. They continue the technique for a bit until she can breathe evenly again. Sun holds her hand until the paralysis can pass.

As soon as Codie regains use of her limbs, she jumps out of bed, arms wrapping around the bot's neck as she sobs into his shoulder. Sun flinches, not expecting the reaction, but gingerly wraps his arms around her, placing his face in her hair.

"It's okay, you're alright..." he coos, rubbing his hand over her back.

"Sun?" she stutters, "Wh-what happened? Am I awake?"

"Yes, you're awake. Do you know what happened?" He watches her eyes focus.

"I, um, I had a nightmare..." Codie brushes her sticky bangs out of her face.

'She thinks these are nightmares...' Sun leans the girl back and tells her sternly, "Codie you just had a sleep paralysis episode."

"What? No, no I've never had those before. It was a nightmare. A recurring one..." She looks to the side, not meeting his gaze. He goes off explaining everything he knows about these episodes and finishes while watching her lip tremble in fear. "Are these going to keep happening?"

"I don't know, but to help, you do need a more regular sleep schedule, okay? Moon and I can help you with getting to sleep and waking up at the same time, hmm?" Sun suggests with a gentle smile.

'These animatronics have been nothing but caring and kind towards me and I've only known them for a couple weeks. I can already trust them with so much and I only feel like I've been such a burden as a roommate...'

Without speaking, she hugs the Sun again and nods her head into his shoulder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sun makes breakfast bright and early at a crisp 8AM, humming his old daycare tune to himself. He thinks back on the previous night, how horrible it was at hearing Codie's fearful cries. He never wants to hear those again, he'll make sure she doesn't have another episode!

Moon mocks a yawn, knowing it'll irk Sun. "Why am I up so early?" Sun huffs, serving his brother some food and sitting down across from him. He goes on and explains what happened last night as Moon listens intently, no hint of teasing. "I think a proper sleep schedule would be good for her, as well as your Moondrops."

"She can't take one every night, Sun, they'll lose their effect."

"Well, maybe...maybe on the nights she doesn't take one, you can stay with her?"

Moon gives him an unimpressed look, deadpanning, "I'm also not her personal sleep machine, Sun..." Sun sighs with a frown, and Moon mimics. "You know we're not here to care for her, right? We're her roommates."

"We're not roommates, Moonie! We're friends!" Sun insists with a pout. "I know you care about her, too!"

"I do, yes, but sometimes you can't help someone with every little thing. This isn't like the daycare. This isn't little children drama, this is something serious and besides helping with her schedule, there's not much else to do." Moon explains with his eyes closed. Upon opening them, his eyes soften at his brother's dispirited face. 'He really, really, cares for her, huh?' He ignores his aching, non-existent heart, as he thinks back on Codie's screams.

Her coming to him, (him!) in the middle of the night. Trusting him to help her. No fear, no wariness to being close to him. He realizes Codie cares for them as much as Sun does and...he really, really, cares for her too, doesn't he?

"But..." Moon continues, gaining Sun's attention, "We can do everything we can to help her through it, what are friends for, after all, hmm?" He smirks, happy at Sun's change of attitude. The solar bot jumps up and hugs the lunar one.

"Oh! I should go get her up! It's nearing nine! We agreed nine would be a good time, sometimes and I mean sometimes ten!" Moon chuckles. "And for your time, we thought ten or eleven would do. She is a night-owl and with her insomnia and anxiety it'll be hard as it is so no later than eleven!" Sun triumphs.

The bot looks down to his now cold food. He goes to save it for later, no sense in wasting the food he technically doesn't need but can't help but love to eat. Darn Chica and her introducing the two. He smiles at the chatter he can hear the two doing. He won't admit it out loud, but Moon's glad Sun talked him into moving in with a roommate.

Moon wonders what they should do today. Maybe go somewhere all together? They haven't done anything like that yet. Sun comes back out, adorning a deep orange blush across his nose and cheeks. Moon quirks an eye in silent questioning.

"She-she called me Sunrise! She gave me a nickname!" he whispers, covering his eyes in embarrassment.

Moon tries to think of a joke but can't at the overwhelming joy upon his brother's face. Actually, no, his brother's joy hasn't stopped him from taking jabs at him and it won't start now. "My, my, aren't you just burning up!" he drawls, sharp teeth poking out.

"Sh-shut up!" He spins around and heads to his room, hearing Moon's cackles behind him.

"Bye, Sunny!" Codie waves as she passes him. He waves back with an excited farewell and a reminder to stay safe. "Bye Moon!" Before she can leave, Moon calls out.

"Hey! Where are you off to?" He hides his disappointment.

"Work!" she replies hurriedly, flashing him her phone, "I already got a batch, so I've gotta go!" Codie runs out just barely getting the door shut all the way. Moon sighs and thinks of what to do for the day.

~~~~~~~~~

Codie pushes her cart around her local Kroger store, humming to the songs she listened to in her car. She turns to go down to the toys, figuring she has the time to check for any Squishmallows. These stuffies are this girl's favorite to collect! She had so many but since she moved she only brought her 3 favorites, Ronnie, Malcolm, and Archie. Whenever she goes home, she can see her others, so she wasn't too upset about leaving them.

Codie gasps in delight, hurrying over at the selection of 'Mallows. She swears she's never this lucky at finding them and- 'OH MY GOSH!' She spots a pair that catches her eye, immediately deciding right then and there she's buying them.

Cruz and Boulder. The sun and moon ones! She's totally getting these for her friends. She places them in her cart and goes to finish her order. She does so without problems and loads her car, placing Cruz and Boulder in the passenger seat, excited at what the boy's reactions may be.

Popping in the address in her GPS, Codie drives off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sun and Moon sit at the kitchen table, playing The Game of Life, when Codie bursts through the front door. The two bots startle at the sudden loud noise, standing up from their seats in a split second, ready for anything. You wouldn't believe the amount of teenagers that tried to sneak into the daycare.

"Guys!" Codie pants from running up the stairs. She lifts a plastic bag up, smiling gleefully. "I bought you two gifts!"

Sun gasps, putting his hands to his cheeks. "Gifts! For us!?" Moon eyes the bag, wondering what she could have possibly bought him. He never gets gifts.

"Yes! Look, look, look!" Codie kicks her shoes off on her way over to them. First she pull out Cruz. "I hope you guys know what Squishmallows are or we can't be friends," she jokes, shoving Cruz into Sun's open arms.

"Yes! We do! Children brought them into the daycare alot! I just love them! They're so soft and squishy and I can't believe there's a sun one! Wow!" Sun holds it out, giggling and feeling the sunglasses on its face.

Moon can probably guess what the other one is, seeing the grey coloring past the thin plastic, but he's happy nonetheless at whatever you could have gotten him. "Here, Moon! This one is named Boulder! Also, Sun, yours is named Cruz!"

Moon smiles softly, running his fingers down the little details of the moon. Boulders dons a fuzzy sleep mask which makes Moon chuckle lightly, feeling the fuzziness. Codie watches his reaction, figuring with his smile he probably likes it, but the guy can be hard to read sometimes.

"Do you like it, Moon?"

Of course he likes it! He loves it even. So why can't he say anything to her? He stares at the gift she thoughtfully picked out for him. Him! Sun got gifts from the kids all the time. He can't remember a time where a child purposefully drew him, or made him something, just for him. Maybe, maybe a drawing would have the both of them, but never just Moon.

Sun worriedly glances at his brother, knowing what he's thinking of. After a few more seconds of uncomfortable silence for Codie, Moon speaks, albeit quietly. "I love it. Thank you." The girl releases the breath she didn't know she was holding, glad they liked their gifts.

"You're welcome! I gotta head back out, though. I got too excited to wait, so I had to come home and give them to you. See you guys tonight!" She leaves.

"Moonie? You alright?" Sun asks, placing a warm hand on his shoulder.

Moon's fans start whirring loudly at his thoughts, his systems working hard to keep him cool. "I think so..." he finally replies.

"Moon! You're warming up, are you sure?" Realization dawns on Sun's face, his worried frown turning into a knowing smirk. "Ohhhh! Awwww, Moon! You're blushing! It's okay! This is your first gift, it's normal to be embarrassed!"

"I'm not embarrassed!" he defends, shocked at the accusation. Sun ignores him, skipping to their room to place his new item in the perfect spot.

"Come on, Moonieeee! I know where to put our gifts!" he calls out, teasing. Moon grumbles but relents, following his brother.

He looks down at the stuffie again, a smile on his face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Boulder and Cruz sit on Sun and Moon's little counter in their walk-in closet as Sun tidies the area around them, making sure they don't fall. This way, both of them will see the plushies whenever they go in there!

Sun wonders if Codie has any of her own! He should ask when she gets home! He checks the clock and decides they have a couple more hours until he should start dinner, so he goes into the living room. "Hmmm..." he narrows his eyes at the TV stand, debating on watching TV or maybe playing a game. 'Moon probably doesn't want to play anything right now, though.'

Maybe they should get some game consoles? He's seen little kids with hand-held ones before, but only a couple of times. Codie might know some good ones! Or maybe he could check online for some?

Sun pulls out his phone, dialing Codie's number. "Hello?" Codie answers.

"Hello, Sunshine! May I use your computer? I was thinking of maybe purchasing some stuff for the apartment!"

"Yeah, sure! Hey, it's your day to make dinner, right?" Sun hums. "Do you know what you're making?"

"I was thinking of Chicken Parmesan!" Honestly Sun has just been craving marinara sauce.

"Okay! Sounds good. I'll be heading home soon, so I'll see you tonight!"

"Okay, bye bye!" Even though Sun's on the phone, he waves as he says goodbye. The phone clicks off. He skips over to Codie's room and heads in. He tries but doesn't fit into her computer chair, so he kneels down to be level with the monitor.

He starts searching up game consoles for sale and what comes up are the latest ones, such as the Xbox and PS5. He whistles, "Those are spendy!" He modifies the search to say 'older game consoles'. He gets listings from a website named 'Ebay', showing some older consoles like the Wii, and the GameCube. "Golly, there's so many to choose from! Maybe I should wait for Codie..."

Though, the bot isn't even sure if he should get anything without Moon's input, but Moon has been very indifferent towards games lately and Sun would love to get him back into them! He remembers when Moon would play on a certain handheld alot back at the daycare.

They had this security worker introduce him to the Nintendo 3DS and Moon loved it. The security guard was a rare one that actually enjoyed spending time with the two. More so Moon as he was a night guard. But, one night, as Moon waited for him to join him to play together, the worker never showed.

Moon would wait every night, clutching his DS in his hands as the one he thought was a friend never showed back up. Turns out, the guy left without notice, leaving and never coming back for work. When the brothers heard, Moon shoved his DS in a box and never touched it.

And while Sun tried to console and comfort him, Moon refused to play, even for himself.

It's been a while though, and Sun would love to try again and get Moon to love games like he used to.

He'll ask for Codie's advice later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Codie arrives home as soon as Sun sets the table for the three of them. Sun greets her happily and sets down glasses of juice. "Smells good! Lemme go put my stuff down," Codie tells him, walking to her bedroom and placing her bag and keys on her bed.

When she comes back, Sun is sitting and blowing on his food. "Sit, sit!" He motions to her chair which she takes a seat in.

She takes note of the empty space. "Where's Moon?"

'Probably moping...' "Oh I think he's reading a book!" Before Codie can get up to offer to go get him, Sun stops her and says, "I actually have to talk to you! Without Moonie."

She makes an 'O' with her lips. "Yeah what's up?"

"I was wanting to get a game console for the apartment, and I looked some up on your computer earlier but the newer ones were super spendy!"

"Mhm," Codie swallows her bite, "Those are definitely too much money. Plus, I have a Switch! I left it at my parents' house, though, because they were in the middle of a game. But I can see if I can get it back?"

"That would be wonderful! I also looked up some older consoles, such as a Wii. But that's not all. I was hoping you could help me re-introduce Moon to games?"

"Moon's a gamer?" Codie asks excitedly. She didn't pin Moon as the 'gamer' type.

"Well...he was..." Sun goes off telling Codie about what happened. "And I just wanted him to enjoy games like before."

Codie frowns, eyebrows furrowed in sadness for Moon. "I'll totally help...but if he doesn't want to touch his DS anymore, how can I get him to play the Switch?"

"I have a plan!" Sun smiles, leaning in to whisper it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Moo-oon!" Sun sing-songs, opening the bedroom door. Said bot looks up from his book, eyes lidded. "Dinner! I made your plate and everything! Go eat!"

"I'm not really hungry..." he replies. Sun scoffs.

"You can't be hungry and you can't not be hungry." Moon stares, unimpressed. "Oh, please! I made Chicken Parmesan!" Sun begs.

Moon sighs, relenting, "Fine! Don't touch my book, though. Wait, you already ate?" He stops, hand on the doorknob.

Sun tilts his head. "What makes you say that?"

"You have marinara on your face..." Moon points out.

"Oh geez!" Sun runs to the counter with the sink in their closet. He wipes his face and then begins to enact his plan. With Moon out of the room, Sun digs through his boxes. "Aha!" He pulls out Moon's blue 3DS, wiping the top off of dust.

He places it on the counter and heads back out to the dinner table. When he enters, he sees Codie chatting up Moon as he eats. Behind Moon's back, Sun gives her a thumbs up, his spikes spinning. She subtly nods back. "How was the food, Moonie?" Sun asks, startling the bot when he quickly puts both hands on his shoulders.

Moon turns his head and glares at his brother. "It's fine, Sun, what are you doing?" His optics narrow in suspicion. His brother has been acting weird.

"So whatcha doin' tonight, Moon?" Codie gets his attention, throwing her napkin on her finished plate.

Moon hums, putting his cheek in his palm, "Probably finish my book. Why?"

Codie shrugs, "Just curious." The lunar bot thinks nothing of it and clears his and Codie's plate, ignoring her protest of doing it for herself. Sun stays back with Codie as Moon retreats back to his room. "You found it?" She looks ups up into Sun's eyes.

"Yup! It's on the counter. You know what to do?"

"Psh, yeah!" Codie waves him off and leads the way to his room. She enters and flops onto their bed, having been told by Sun to do so, of course. Moon jumps in surprise. He moves his long legs out of the way. 'What the heck is this girl doing?'

Sun walks in behind her, giggling behind a hand. "Did Sun put you up to this, Codie?" He murmurs, going back to his book. Codie turns to lay on her back, looking at the bot sheepishly.

"Whaaaaat? Nooooooo?" He looks up over the book, red eyes peering into her green ones, unconvinced. He then glances to Sun who pointedly turns away. "I haven't really been in here much and I wanted to see whatcha guys have!"

"Not much. Knickknacks from the daycare and such. Necessities such as clothing." Codie groans at the boring answer, earning a smirk from the nighttime animatronic. "Sorry, no skeletons in these jester's closet, Starlight."

The ginger shoots up at the nickname, eyebrow quirked at Moon's wide red eyes. He did not mean to say that out loud! Before either could say anything about it, though, Sun breaks the silence with an animated, "Awwww that's such a cute nickname! I like Sunlight and Sunbite, personally."

The two blush and look away from one another. Remember what she was doing, though, Codie hops off the bed and goes into said closet. "I'll be the judge of whether or not you have skeletons!"

The ginger sees some boxes on the shelves and some shirts on hangers, nothing too special. Then she spots the planted 3DS. She gasps loud enough for the two to hear, picking up the device and waving it in front of Moon.

"Moo-oon! I didn't know you played the DS! I love the DS! I have so many games on mine! What do you play?" She hops back onto the bed excitedly, sitting criss-cross and looking at the bot expectedly.

Moon's eyes widen at the sight of the shiny hand-held, darting from it, to Sun's knowing yet blank eyes. He growls. "Yeah. I used to. Not anymore."

Codie flinches at the growl, not expecting it, but continues, "Um, well..." she fidgets with the DS, "do you maybe...wanna play something?" Moon studies the girl's face. He thinks about it. Thinks about letting go of the past. Thinks about those games he left behind. But then he thinks of that security guard. Thinks of how it was their thing. They played together. They showed him how.

But they left him. They vanished without so much as a goodbye. But Codie, Codie's right here and wanting. Wanting to share a similar interest with him. He's not blind, he knows how much she likes her video games. He's certainly seen her play a variety of them in passing her doorway.

Maybe he should. But if he goes back into his game file... No he can't, not yet.

"M-maybe later..." he whispers, gingerly taking his device from her small hands. He stares down at it for a second before leaning over and putting it in his nightstand drawer.

Codie deflates, saddened by her friend's apparent pain, but relents. "O-oh, yeah, sure. Sorry..." Sun frowned, he thought his plan would have worked! Moon likes Codie so why doesn't he want to play with her?

Codie figures she should probably leave, so she does so, shutting the door softly. She heads to bed with a sigh. She hoped Sun's plan would have worked but she didn't consider Moon's feelings and for that, she feels awful. She won't give up, though, Moon deserves to be happy doing what he loved. So, she'll try to help in any way.

'Shoot, it's ten fifteen, I should get to bed.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The solar bot continues to stand where he's been during the whole ordeal, fidgeting with his hands, not sure what to say as his brother glares at him. "I know you planted it, Sun."

"Well..."

"No, Sun! I told you I didn't want to play it anymore! Then you go and place it out so Codie would see it, knowing she likes video games!" Moon throws his arms out.

Sun stomps his foot. "But you need to! Moon you love playing that thing! You loved it so much you wouldn't even let me play it! And we shared everything!"

"I said later."

"You said maybe later and that means, for you, never." Sun points at him.

Moon looks away, huffing and crossing his arms. Sun sighs. He knows this is hard for his brother. Not once did anyone give Moon the time of day. Then Matt came along. He was young, chipper and open. He liked Moon's design and personality from day one. He brought in his extra 3DS one night and introduced Moon to Animal Crossing New Leaf.

Moon was in love with the game. He would always ask to play, ask questions about the game, what else does he have. Matt would always laugh and excitedly tell him more. Sun thinks Moon just held onto the companionship more than the game and is now associating video games with his friend who vanished with no warning...wait.

"Moon... Are you worried Codie will leave?" Sun whispers.

Moon looks to his brother sadly before looking back down, hands in his lap. "I...no...maybe? Everyone leaves at some point, Sun... It's just me and you. It's always been..."

"You're afraid she'll leave? Codie? Moon, come on, Sunbite wouldn't do that. And you shouldn't be afraid to call her nicknames, too."

"Nicknames mean attachment, Sun, and I don't like getting attached. You've seen what happens."

"Matt was a security guard, Moon! Codie if our roommate and friend! She wouldn't just up and leave. She lives here for stars sake!" Moon stays silent so Sun continues. "If you'd just talked to her... You could even have a new, better, video game buddy..." he ends softly.

He's right. His brother couldn't be more right. What's wrong with him? Getting attached to the first person that told him the time of day and then shutting everyone out when they left? He likes Codie, a lot. And she likes them- him, too. "Yeah," he rubs a hand down his face, eyes tired. "you're right, Sunny..."

Sun smiles, happy to finally get through to his brother. It's a lot easier when you're talking from a shared headspace.

"I'll...ask her tomorrow." Sun hoorahs hugging his brother. Moon smiles.

Sun stands up, jabbing a thumb behind him. "Perfect! I'm going to go see if she needs some help getting to bed and I'll be back."

Codie is in bed when Sun knocks. She tells him to come in. "Hey, Sunny," she smiles tiredly. "Sorry I couldn't help with Moon."

"No! Nononono! You're totally fine, Sunshine! Not your fault, not at all! Moon just had that bad experience, you know? I'm sure he'll come around. I know he would just love playing with you. Me too! I always watched Moon play, but never got to, myself. So...I would love to play something! Maybe you can teach me!"

Codie giggles, glad her blanket hides her pink cheeks. Is she going to blush at every nickname? "Yeah, that would be really fun! Also," she wiggles uncomfortably, "You think this will work? I-I really don't want another episode..."

Sun pats her head. "If you'd like, I can stay with you until you fall asleep?" He smiles down at her with care in his eyes.

"But, your cord? And don't you sleep early?" Codie asks, concerned.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head about me, Sunbite." He silently laughs at her reactions to his nicknames. He's going to have to use them more! "Just go to sleep and I'll be right here." How can she deny the Sun's smile? Codie nods, snuggling to her bed further. While she gets comfy, Sun sends a ping out to Moon to let him know what he's doing.

And with Sun's comforting presence, with the added, occasional, head rubs, Codie falls asleep quicker than ever.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It takes Moon a couple days to gather the courage to ask Codie about her DS. Curious as to what games she has. "Oh, I have a bunch! Mario Kart, Kid Icarus, Animal Crossing, Mario Party and that's just to name the ones on the top of my head," she says, pulling her system out. It's larger than Moon's, being a sleek black XL version. "What did you play?"

He gapes at the amount she has. He wishes he could have gotten more besides the one. "I only have Animal Crossing... I was thinking about...maybe resetting my town."

"Oh! Yeah!" Codie agrees wholeheartedly. This seems like an appropriate first step to letting go of the bitterness Moon holds. "I'll reset mine, too! That way we can start anew together!"

Moon nods, smiling at his friend's kindness. The two open their hand-helds, the top crackling at the action. They start their games silently and get into the beginning where they name the towns and characters. "I just named mine Moon, what did you name your person?" Moon asks curiously, leaning over to look at her screen.

Codie chuckles, shifting her position on the bed and shows him. "I named mine Fiona and the town's going to be called Far Far Away." She bursts out laughing at her joke while Moon stares at her in a trance. Her eyes twinkle as she laughs and Moon doesn't ever want to stop hearing it.

"What's so funny?" he asks as she finally relents, wiping her eyes.

"It's from a movie! Have you never seen Shrek!?" Her eyes grow wide as she stares at his crescent face. Moon nods, not recalling ever even hearing of such a title of movie. "Oh man, okay. Some time, we'll watch it all together okay?"

"That sounds nice," he grins back, sharp teeth on display. Codie inspects them for a moment, not out of fear but out of a weird interest for them. They're so unique. Not even animals have this sharp of teeth. Why was he designed with them? She's got so many questions. Would it be rude to ask a sentient AI about their design? She's not sure.

"Anyway," the ginger brushes a hand through her unruly hair, looking at Moon's DS screen. "What's your town?"

Moon shows her but looks away, saying, "Erm, I just called it The Daycare."

"I like it! It's very you," she assures him. He doesn't need a silly name, just something that speaks to him, really. "Do you miss it?" She leans sideways, her shoulder touching Moon's arm.

He looks down at her, gazing into her lush green eyes, smiling softly. His mind drifts to his old home. "Sometimes," he admits. Codie nods and the two fall into a comfortable silence as they start their new towns and begin the game.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm still mad you got Lucky." Codie pouts as she makes her character run around town, shaking trees.

"I don't understand why he's so good?" Moon turns in confusion, lifting his hat back over his eyes when it falls.

"Well, they don't do anything special, but Lucky is so cute! I'd love for him in my town, that's all. I got stinky Soleil. She's mean." Moon cackles. Who knew his roommate...friend was so invested in little game characters.

The two continue to play until both have paid off the first loan to build an actual home instead of living in the starter tent. The human glances up to her computer monitor, taking note of the time; 4:32. She yawns, saving and quitting the game before setting he 3DS down. Moon follows suit.

"What's Sun been up to? I promised him I'd show him some games."

"I'm not sure," Moon replies, stretching when he stands up. His joints pop after being stiff for so long. "What games?"

"I've been thinking hard the past couple days about this and...it's called Kindergarten!" Codie announces joyfully, sitting at her computer desk and pulling up Steam. The lunar bot tilts his head, leaning against the back of the chair, watching as Codie pulls it up. He smirks, crossing his arms and then laying them on top of her head. "Hey!" She flails, trying to get him off her. He doesn't budge so she huffs and relents.

"So there is a game about preschool education?"

"Eheh, not exactly... Go get Sun and I'll pull the game up!" She shoos him off. As she does so, Codie suddenly hears a loud squeal.

"Moon said you're gonna show me a game!?" Sun runs in, jumping up and down in excitement. Codie laughs, trying to calm the bot down.

"Now now! Don't break anything, silly! Come here!" Sun bends down and looks at the monitor, a colorful title screen stares back at him, pixelated children and adults scattered around. Big letters spell out Kindergarten on top, a bright red apple behind it.

"Oooooo! This looks fun! Please tell me I take care of the children!" Sun shakes Codie in her seat by the shoulders. Moon looks on from the bed, a smirk on his face as he lies down against the headboard.

The ginger debates on if she should tell him a bit of the game first, or let him go in blind. She brushes her hair, her fingers pulling out strands of red. She winces but then plays with the strands. "I'm not gonna tell you anything, Sunny, you just have to play and find out!" She stands up, discarding the hair she had in her hand and joins Moon on her bed.

She lays back up against the headboard next to Moon, not quite touching him. When Sun looks at her with uncertainty, she motions to sit and play. "I-I don't exactly fit in your chair, Sunbite..." he laughs awkwardly, as if ashamed of his large frame.

"Oh...I'm sorry I didn't even think of that..." Codie berates herself, trying to think of a solution. Moon frowns down at her, placing his large hand on her head. She stops mumbling to herself and looks up into his eyes, mouth open.

"Don't fret. He didn't mean it like that. Not many human things can fit us," he tells her softly. He then looks up to his brother, who is wringing his hands nervously. "Sun, want to grab a kitchen chair?"

"O-oh! Yes! Good idea, Moonie!" he exclaims as he speed-walks out of the room. Codie sighs in relief at the solution, still feeling a bit guilty at being inconsiderate of their size.

"Stop over-thinking, Starlight. I can see it in your face." The human flushes, averting her gaze and picking at a string on her comforter, a smile adorning her face.

Sun comes back and jovially sets the chair down after moving Codie's. He grabs hold of the mouse and clicks 'Start game'. "Oh! I play as a little star! How cute am I!?" The Sun gushes at his character, moving him around the room after Codie tells him how to.

After Sun checks out the room, clicking on anything he can interact with, (which is practically nothing since he doesn't have any collectibles yet) he finally clicks on the little piggy bank. Curiously, he wonders why he would need to pull cash out, but takes all $5 of it anyway.

After that, he finally exits and the scene changes to the courtyard of the school. "Alright! I'm at school now, I think!" he says out loud, milky-white eyes scanning the area. He coos at the cute little pixelated children. As soon as he moves his character, though, the bully, Buggs, opens a chat box.

*I smell money...*sniff*... Yeah, someone is definitely carrying more than $3.00 around.*

"Oh yes! I added five dollars to my person!" Sun says happily. Buggs then walks up to him.

*Hey kid, you carrying any cash?*

Sun hums, looking at his options of yes or no. Codie stifles a giggle behind her hand, earning an amused but confused glance from Moon. Sun clicks yes, obviously, as he's a bot of telling the truth!

*Excellent. Give me half or I'll split your empty skull with my foot.*

Sun gasps loudly, taken aback at the profanity the kid just said to his kid. "I will not give you my money!" He makes a show of clicking the 'No way!' option.

*Look kid, I don't have time to argue this with you. Give me half or you're dead meat!*

This time, Moon snickers at the total shock in Sun's voice when he reads Bugg's line out loud. "Give him some money, Sun," Moon chuckles.

"Moon!" Sun turns around with a mock glare. "This is my money, thank you! This child needs to get his own."

"It's a game! What's the worst that can happen?" Moon fires back. With a huff, Sun clicks the 'Go make your own money!' option.

*Don't say I didn't warn you!* Buggs starts hitting Sun. The main character immediately gets a black eye from the continuous assault. Sun starts pressing WASD rapidly in a panic, trying to move his person away from the bully. The only option for Sun is to click the 'Uh-oh.' button.

As soon as he does so, however, Buggs kills Sun, pixelated blood spurting out. The 'You Died' screen pops up a second later.

Seeing this go down, Codie bursts into manic laughter, clutching her stomach at the look on Sun's face when he slowly turns around to stare at the two. "Pfft..." Moon snorts, mostly looking at Codie as she has her laughing fit. Soon, Sun joins in, the sheer absurdity of this game is hilarious!

He's still appalled with it though.