Chapter Text
You’d loved staring into the sky for as long as you could remember.
You’d been a young teen when you learned the term “Objectum '', and had taken the term and ran to the hills with it. Computer boards, Laptop casings, and telescopes were your lovers of choice, and when given the chance you cherished every circuit board you could get your grubby little hands on. They weren’t actually lovers, more cherished friends who were positively gorgeous, but they never held a candle to the stars you grew to adore.
You fought tooth and nail as a child to go to a summer camp that would let you near the kinds of equipment you dreamed of; Telescopes, supercomputers, the like. You saved up your hard earned allowance for months to go. Of course, they didn’t actually let you touch any of that, but they let you play with the more replaceable pieces while the workers did the fancy stuff, and they introduced you to another Lover-not-Lover of yours.
The Sky. A gorgeous collection of every concept humanity has dared to keep in its white knuckle grip to pass along. Every creature, fiction or real, every person of myth and legend, every worshiped god, was either kept in humanities skies or preserved forever with its names for the planets. It was a goddess blessing the earth with its own thoughts, a permanent message to everyone who had ever stared up at the sky that millions of years ago the pinch point human they might have all came from looked up there too, and may have seen the same stars. An unending pile of the most gorgeous collection of impermanence to ever exist, so long lasting it’s Tuesday was hundreds of human lifetimes. If a star could speak, a human might spend their lives trying to decipher just the way it bats its lashes. But oh, how gorgeous those lashes would be…
Conceptum hadn’t been on your list priorly, but suddenly you were digging through as many books as you could over it all. Most of it was the same thing over and over, but each new piece was a miracle to find. The history of each major constellation in horoscopes… the main stars seen in areas with high light pollution… the etymology of the words humans have used for the sun… it was all just so gorgeous.
All of this to say, it was a fairly normal occurrence to be lounging outside a random building looking up.
It was daytime, and you were sighing wistfully at the baby blue sky in between patches of clouds. Your family, having wanted you to come to attend a relatives birthday party, had long since given up on bringing you inside without food or anything else that appealed to bribe you. They made too many jokes about you and the animatronics for you to feel comfortable looking at the robots, and you didn’t care to see the mistreated swaths of arcade machines inside the death trap they called an arcade. You had walked outside to find something to do, and with nothing else available you were sitting in the grass, staring up at the sky on one of the very few places fazbear didn’t own the rights to charge you for sitting in: the outside.
You hadn’t really noticed the little lights blinking around you, but someone else had apparently noticed you there from the inside. A robot, wearing a hood and a little attached cape, was walking towards you from a distance. You hadn’t wanted to assume they were walking towards you, but it became clear after a while that's their direction, so you stood up and turned to talk to them.
“Hello?” You called, wanting to know why they were walking towards you before they got there. They seemed to not want that though as they continued walking, just now at a more casual looking pace.
Once they got close enough to talk comfortably, you looked nervous and the bot looked more curious than anything, “Hello! Why are you out here?”
Well shit, it's the feds. “...I have a ticket to the ‘plex. My family is inside, I just don’t like the crowds. …Please tell me I’m allowed to sit out here.”
The bot looks relieved, and smiles and nods, “Oh! No problem at all then! Just needed to make sure you weren’t doing anything shady. …You aren’t doing anything shady, right?”
You shake your head no, wanting to not get in trouble, but also not upset the bot by being too serious with the joke presented, “No si- ma… Not at all. No plans for trouble, just… waiting for it to get golden hour.” You look back up at the sky and smile a bit, wanting to rave a bit out how pretty it is but… not wanting to get hate crimed either. You can picture the headline now, Local weirdo wants to kiss space, knocked on their ass by robot! Absolutely great, wonderful. …What were you doing again?
You finally look down from where you had been staring up into the sky blankly, and realize that A, you had been staring up at the sky like a weirdo, but also B, the robot had begun looking up at the sky as well. They were looking up with an almost fond look in their eyes, and were staring at one spot in particular. You look up and realize the clouds have cleared enough to reveal more of the darling blue sky, and as it grew closer to golden hour it was darkening enough to show a handful of bright stars. You can spot Vega, and if you squint past the clouds you can also see Deneb and Altair as well forming the summer triangle. The bot must also be enjoying the sights then.
You sit back down, but this startles the bot. You hold your hands up in surrender, but after a moment the bot just moves to sit by your side. It’s awkward, but you both get lost in the sky again after a little while. The clouds slowly begin to part more and more, and the needed rain seems to dissipate in favor of framing the sky like the heavens attempt at a fluffy picture frame. Golden hour finally hits, and it’s 8gorgeous. You have no idea how your family has been inside for this long, but you're adoring the view. When you turned 18 your uncle bought you a nice telescope with a fancy traveling case. You only brought it on camping trips and such, but you wished you brought it today. The weather was perfect, like the clouds themselves were parting for something to view it all
You and the strange bot sat there in peace for a bit, before you finally turned towards them and began talking, “What’s your name?”
They had apparently been quite lost in thought, and jumped a little when you began talking. They bounced back though, and the big happy smile on their face felt a bit rehearsed, “I’m Lunar! What's yours?”
You wave your hands a bit, trying to decide on giving the bot your name, when you look up again and begin gaping a little, “...Holy shit. Hey, hey. You can see scorpio and hercules right now!”
At the word Scorpio they whip around, seemingly looking for a person, but you grab their shoulder and point them skyward, and they relax a lot more. You’re curious, but don’t ask. Instead you guide them towards the various constellations, “...That's Scorpio, and that's Hercules, both are very rare in the summer months, and oh!! I think I can spot Pollux- er, that's the brightest star in gemini-”
“I know.” they respond, looking up fondly at that one.
You look up, trying to decipher their expression, “...Is that one your sign? Or just a favorite?”
They look flustered for a moment, but looks away and speaks just as cheery, “Just a favorite! I don’t really have a sign… I, uh, took several months to be coded and such. …not quite there yet…”
You hum, trying to think of a suitable option for the bot. You bolt up suddenly, and begin looking through your phone for something. The bot finds this interesting, and looks over your shoulder as you look for their star sign, “Machina Electrica. It is technically visible during December, but it’s no longer considered a constellation as the committee of astronomers deemed it too faint to be a true one. But it is there! So… uh…” you lose steam rapidly, and feel like a complete idiot by the time your ramble is done. You avoid their eyes, trying not to find out if they thought that was offensive or just lame.
You do have to look up eventually though, and you realize they have moved to face you with the most amazed eyes you have ever seen. They look at you for a moment, but make a hand motion to continue. You begin rattling off everything you know about Machine Electrica, and its sister constellation the Officina Typographica, or the printing press, and all the other machine based constellations. They move closer and closer, until they are holding down your priorly rapid moving hands with their own as they lean over to listen to you. It does something for you, with you not being used to having someone so attentive over your hobby.
They look back at the sky and straighten up, and you worry they’re bored now until you feel them make themselves comfortable on your shoulder and the wall and begin pointing up at clusters of stars, and asking questions. They’re all surface level things, so very few require you looking it up. The two of you sit there for a good long while, with Lunar leaning in as the time passed and you slowly getting comfortable with the bot as well.
By the time it was proper darkness and you were spotting the lighter stars the bot had damn near snuggled up to you, and you were sitting side to side pointing things out in the darkness. For a person so unaware of things like “when is that one (gemini) visible” it knew a lot about some of the rarer things. Like knowing that Taurus was oddly likely to appear recently due to some odd weather patterns astrologists had been looking into, and that Gemini had been appearing repeatedly in Utah during times it wasnt typical for it to be. They talked like they knew the information personally, as if the scientist who found it out had gone on a lunch date with them moments after the discovery. It was deeply interesting to you, and you got a fluster everytime they pointed out something you didn’t know and gave this big, much more genuine smile.
The two of you fell into a mild silence eventually, and it was… oddly calm. You normally disliked random strangers, but you just… had a sense about this person. “...Is it weird if I said that I feel like I know you somehow?” Oh dear god, why did you say that?
They turned to look at you confused, and you began moving around the only hand they hadn’t captured on their own, “Well- it's just- …Do you ever really love a topic, and just… start to associate that with a person? I feel like that, but almost… for longer?”
They look at you confused for a moment before shock and wonder spreads across their face, and they begin to quietly grin, “...You associate me with space?”
You nod awkwardly, and they seem overjoyed at the idea. They flap their hands and make an odd rumbling noise, talking as they do so , “I… I really like space. I have since I… I have for a very long time. I… Became friends with some people who gave me the same feeling, and it was very special to me. I didn’t even realize how special it made me until I connected the dots fully on why they felt so familiar, and… thinking that you feel like that for me means alot to me.”
You feel seven flavors of anxiety suddenly, feeling like somehow this has turned into every romantic rejection you have ever received or given. Why did that come across so… romantically? Why was the bot acting like you confessed your love?? Somehow despite having never had a crush on the bot before this very moment you were scared they would turn you down and walk away.
They just laughed though, and seemed to be blushing quite a bit. Ah. perhaps you weren’t doomed quite yet after all. They seemed to be thinking of something, and they raised a hand to one of the constellations you were talking about before, “Castor is finally out. So are the rest of Gemini.”
You look up to look, and are amazed to realize that without your telescope several of the stars normally dimmed by the atmosphere were much more visible tonight. You itched to breathe the moment and grab your camera, but you just leaned into the bot again. “...Such a perfect night.”
“Huh?” they replied.
You keep your eyes on the gorgeously twinkling stars, “...Tonight is the best night I’ve seen for looking at the sky in years. It's like the sky is laying them all out for us… if you weren’t here I'd be trying to set up an impromptu photography setup to take long exposures of them all. “
They look flustered and turn away. You worry for a moment you offended them, but they turn back very awkward looking, “Maybe… Maybe the person who controls the weather just… really enjoys us having a stargazing session.”
You laugh hard, looking back at the stars, “Maybe. God knows if something like that existed though we’d just be blimps on the radar. I gave up trying to get good luck from ‘The person who controls the weather’ years ago… But maybe. It’s never no afterall…” You turn to look at them with a smile, “Maybe it’s aliens!”
You wanted it to land as a joke, but they just look slightly sad as they look back up at the sky, “...Maybe you're the nicest person the person who controls the weather has met in a while. Not many people like the sky this much.”
You look back up, still anxious from it all, “Yeah… maybe.” you hum for a moment, before turning to look at them, “I bet the sky loves you lots and lots. A robot who goes outside each night to stargaze… you must be a one in a million treasure.”
They light up bright baby blue, and turn to calm their flushing cheeks from where the teal accenting on their faceplate spreads across their face and down into the very small section of exo revealed by their ribbon-y collar, “Space- Space doesn’t like me.”
You laugh and nudge them, wanting to play them at their own game, “Oh come on! You live basically forever compared to humans. I’m sure your it’s favorite of all time! Besides, just because I know all the names and stuff doesn’t mean I win! You… You're really sweet and all that…” you lose steam again, this time more from flustering yourself, “...Space would be really lucky to have you.”
They look back at you surprised and very flustered themselves. Very quietly, they mutter something under their breath. You lean in and ask them to repeat that, and nervous eyes appear from the cliff formed by their downward facing hood, “You… Space. Space probably wouldn’t mind sharing. If you… wanted to be lucky to have me. Also.”
They’re waving their hands around after a moment, trying to explain themselves and say that it’s so fine if I got it wrong, really you wouldn’t be the first person i’ve messed this up with! When you lean forward just a hair, and they calm and slowly lean forward just a bit too.
The plastic of their faceplate is slightly cold from the night air when you meet them in the middle, and they jump back almost startled afterwards. You startle from them as well, but you start laughing when they begin pinching themselves and feeling their face to check if they are awake.
You lean in again to plant a kiss on their cheek, getting a good handful of the softness of their hood, and pull out some scrap paper from your ticket inside to scribble your name and number on to hand to the bot. They grab it with wide eyes, and you wink at them as you stand up and begin brushing yourself off, “Sometime when you're done with whatever you and space are doing, give me a call! Maybe we can have another stargazing date!”
You walk off, trying to look cool before you explode, but apparently Lunar lost that internal battle before you did. Just before you exited earshot you heard him jumping up and down excitedly, giving out loud yells into the night sky about it all.
Your family had been waiting for hours, it turns out, and you didn’t notice their messages for long enough that there were only two buses home. It was worth it though, and you ate the punishment with a giddy smile and a promise made by a nerdy robot outside a random amusement complex.
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It was a sweltering hot July day, and Lunar was sick of being told to jump into the pond-lake thingy. It was a pool of water, and there was a crap ton of algae at the bottom that Castor blamed him for, saying the lightning had hit the water and killed the algae’s natural predators. Hence, why whenever he swam back to the top his feet were stained green.
It was still quite the nice day for training, and pollux loudly announced they were going somewhere again today. Castor made a fake annoyed noise of them being interrupted (It was time for them to stop anyways, he had learned that he never meant it when he complained like this) and Lunar let out a cheer for the distraction. They were almost done getting their things before teleporting when Pollux piped up, “Who was the human you were sitting with the other night?”
Lunar turned a bit red, before turning with his best attempt at being serious, “A good friend. …Very good friend.”
She giggled, and the Castor didn’t seem to react much to it all. They all moved closer together, and the moon got flustery at the proximity. Pollux caught on, and grinned at him, “Probably shouldn’t be getting so flustered when you’ve got a new ‘very good friend’.”
They shrugged, “They agreed to share.”