Chapter Text
Beep beep beep!
After smacking your hand on your alarm clock to silence it, you blink groggily and stifle a yawn. Autumn makes itself known as you toss your bed covers aside, the chill evident in the air even inside your small apartment. You wrap yourself in a blanket before proceeding to the kitchen.
Rewinding your cassette player, you start your usual morning routine you’ve carefully cultivated the last three months since coming to Crescent city. After pressing play, you hum along to Wham!:s ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’ as you pour water into your coffee maker. Snapping your fingers to the beat with your right hand, you catch the two golden-brown slices of toast jumping out of the toaster with the other.
A breakfast later, you transfer the cassette to your Walkman and lock up your apartment. Just like every morning, you wave to your elderly neighbor Lorraine walking her dog as you exit the apartment building. The small fluffy dog barks at you, but you pay it no mind. Fumbling with the keys to your vespa, you get on the scooter and head off to work.
When you turn onto the main road slicing through the city, the cassette track playing switches to the Beach Boys’ cover of ‘California Dreamin’. The road is busy, but thankfully there is no jam. The cold air smells faintly of donuts and car exhaust. On the horizon, the sun is slowly rising, painting the sky a gradient from pastel blue to pink behind the cityscape.
As a gigantic roadside sign towers ahead, announcing the location of a roller rink, you steer into the driveway. Driving past the guest parking lot and rounding the corner of the establishment, you turn off the ignition as you claim your regular space in the employee parking lot.
Twirling your keys around your index finger, you open the back door and head inside. A wave of hot air and greasy hamburger-smell hits you as you do. Further inside, you hear the fizzling sound of the fryer from the restaurant kitchen, along with the whirring movement of staff bots. The sound and smells grow more distant as you make a left and head to the employee locker room, unlocking your designated one.
You deposit your helmet in the locker and secure your nametag to your windbreaker. Flicking the thin piece of plastic displaying your name along with the roller rink’s ‘Party Planet’ logo, you then slam your locker shut and pocket your keys.
The arcade is empty as you walk through it, the teenagers usually inhabiting it still asleep at home. Empty, except for the janitor. You nervously eye the robot on the other side of the arcade, hesitating whether to greet him or not. Moon pays you no mind, as always, fully engulfed in his task of repairing the innards of a claw machine.
His parachute pants almost blend into the similarly patterned arcade carpet where they are sitting against the neon decorated floor. The sight reminds you of a chameleon blending into its natural habitat, wishing to not be perceived. Moon’s unconventional headwear bears a similar pattern. You’re unsure how else to describe it other than an unholy crossbreed of a nightcap and a regular cap, sporting a visor and a draping cloth ending in a cyan planet-shaped bell. In other words, a fashion abomination rarely parallelled even in the 80s. The signature polaroid camera he normally always carries with him on a strap around his neck has been put aside, instead resting on the cleaning cart, on a shelf by the ‘banned board’ plastered on the side of the cart’s garbage bin. On the board, the polaroid pictures of past unruly guests hang like wanted posters, all banished by Moon for breaking the rules one time too many.
You cringe as you remember the last (and only) time the two of you ever exchanged a full sentence with each other. Since then, you’re rather convinced the space-themed robot hates you. You consider whether to approach him or not again.
Still, you don’t want to be rude. Fighting every reflex in your body to sneak through the arcade, you approach him and wave, even though he’s turned away from you and partially inside the chassis of the claw machine. “Um, good morning!” You awkwardly manage.
The janitor startles at the noise, accidentally banging the top of his faceplate against the roof of the subject he’s repairing. He pulls himself out of the machine, and the white halo pupils in his harsh red eyes move to stare at you. Not returning the greeting, Moon merely hums, as if to ask what you want. As if his sharp gaze is burrowing through your very soul, you feel like there are spiders underneath your skin. You make a small, involuntary sound reminiscent of a whimper and quickly walk away in the direction of the actual rink. You embarrassedly put your Walkman headset back on. Yep, he absolutely does hate you.
“Morning friend!” A chipper voice greets you from behind the roller skate rentals desk as you come within view. Moon’s opposite in every sense, down to the name, perks up as he sees you, mechanical sunrays spinning excitedly. Behind him, innumerable pairs of roller skates are ordered by size in all thinkable color combinations. And unthinkable. This is the 80s after all. You smile, relieved to see a friendly face.
“Good morning Sun!” You call out, and the brightly yellow robot easily swings his legs over the counter, jumping over it and skating up to you. He picks you up by the waist and spins, something that scared you to death the first time you met him. You’d never seen a robot before besides in movies back then, and the idea of being held by one had been absolutely terrifying. Now… It felt like the most natural thing in the world. Comforting, almost.
“Now let’s get you into a pair of skates!” Sun proclaims, letting you down and moving his hands to his hips. You groan as the robot skates circles around you, his hands casually in the pockets of his acid-washed jeans and purple-pink windbreaker flowing from the movement, all while grinning from ear to ear. Well, would be if he had ears.
“Do I have to?” You whine, quietly envying the programmed skill of Sun’s smooth roller skating movements, your friend making it look like the easiest thing in the world. Hint - for you, it was not.
“Friend, you have to practice!” Sun argues, his circling coming to a stop in front of you as he moves his weight from the wheels to the toe stops. “Or do you want to be an embarrassment to Party Planet forever?” He quickly adds, faceplate tilting and eyes morphing into satisfied crescents.
You sigh in defeat. “Ouch! …No.”
“That’s the spirit!” Sun cheers, finally happy with your answer. He dives behind the rentals counter, picking out your regular roller skates from behind it and returns triumphantly, holding them by their laces. Grumbling, you take a seat on a nearby bench shaped like a colorful block and change into the skates. Immediately, you feel unsteady as you try to stand, arms waving wildly to regain balance.
“Don’t worry friend, I got you!” Sun assures as he grabs your hands and leads you to the closest entrance to the rink. Stepping over the small threshold, the two of you enter the hardwood floor of the rink. The robot helps you get a solid grip on the boards surrounding the rink before he continues to the middle of it on his own.
“Sun!” You call after him, struggling not to fall despite your iron grip on the boards. “You can’t just abandon me here!”
“Don’t be so dramatic darling!” He responds, building up his momentum and zooming past you as he skates backwards with a smug grin on his faceplate. Circling back around, he skates over to the DJ booth located on the north longside of the rink. Thanks to his inhumanly long and thin arms, Sun easily reaches inside under the glass screen and pushes the stylus of the vinyl player in place. Turning it on with a click, music starts playing from the speakers.
Swaying from side to side to ‘Two of Hearts’ by Stacey Q, he returns to you. “I can’t believe you thought I’d leave you stranded here all alone.” Sun holds out a segmented robotic hand towards you. The fact that he does so slightly out of reach does not escape you. Fine, you’ll bite. He squints devilishly as you take a shaky step in his direction, practically launching yourself to grab onto his hand.
“I bet you think this is so funny.” You deadpan as Sun pulls you along as he begins skating around the rounded rectangular rink with you in tow.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean, friend!” He replies, barely containing a laugh as his faceplate does a complete rotation. You give him a look of disbelief before stumbling. Returning your eyes to focus on where you’re placing your feet, you try to mimic the way Sun’s feet are moving.
Your subconsciously intertwine your hands deeper with his for support. When you realize it, you let go as if his metal hands burned you. The separation causes you to trip forwards, landing on your hands and knees on the polished hardwood floor. Sun skates up to you, making a ‘tch’-ing sound to mock you lightheartedly.
You notice his pink roller skates stop at the edge of your field of vision as you brush yourself off. A hand under your chin takes you off-guard as he tilts your face upwards. “Haven’t you learned anything friend? Keep your eyes on me, not your feet.” He speaks in a teasing manner, faceplate shadowed from the lights overhead. “It will help you keep your balance.”
Nodding embarrassedly, you turn your face to the side as you feel your face flush. Three months ago, you’d never even seen a robot. Now, you’re beginning to grow concerned you might be falling for one.
Your cheeks burn as Sun cheerfully pulls you to your feet, mind spinning a thousand miles an hour.
“Oh, you alright there? You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?” Sun looks you over, concerned by your sudden silence. “Does it hurt if I do this?” He asks, carefully putting pressure on the kneecap that first hit the ground when you fell.
“S-Sun, I’m alright!” You guarantee him, heart skipping a beat as he leans in close to scan your face for signs of pain.
“Ahem. Customer.” A quiet, raspy voice interrupts the two of you after mimicking the sound of clearing one’s throat.
You and Sun turn to look at Moon standing by the edge of the rink, currently squinting at the two of you and gesticulating towards the entrance, where a family of four have just entered the lobby.
“Oh! Good morning!” Sun’s customer service protocols quickly kick into action, and he zooms towards the lobby to greet them, leaving you on the rink. You struggle over to the edge of the rink, breathing a sigh of relief as you finally reach it. Though, noticing Moon still staring at you, you tense up nervously. He says nothing as he turns his heel and pushes his cleaning cart in the direction of the restaurant. You slouch in place. He really does hate you.
Understandable, considering what happened the one time you two spoke to each other.
Taking a deep breath, you mentally prepare yourself for another day at Party Planet and inch yourself back to the rentals desk, forcing a smile. As Sun has finished renting out skates to the family, the four of them skate past you, entering the rink as you exit. Even the five year old has more skill on the skates than you do, you realize begrudgingly.
“Friend, this is no time for slacking on the job!” Sun jokes as he tosses you your regular shoes from the rentals desk, and you catch them with a thankful look. Swapping out skates for sneakers, you rejoice in being free of your wheeled prison. You throw the accursed objects back in the corner they came from as you join Sun behind the counter and grab some skates from the box of broken ones.
The two of you idly chit chat as you reattach wheels, tighten bearings and replace frayed laces, waiting for the rush of customers usually arriving around lunch. Another fun day at the Party Planet roller rink awaits, what could possibly go wrong?