Author's Note:

Hey everyone! Sorry for the late upload. I currently don't have internet because of annoying companies not doing their jobs so I'm stuck with data and an uncooperative laptop. Hope you enjoy the chapter! This is the last one-shot for now.

Just answering a couple questions. One, the upload schedule when nothing is going wrong is every Monday and sometimes Thursdays if we're super productive. Two, someone asked about the discord. Just use the normal discord invite link and add b9kAt2m to the end.

One-Shot 8

Little Sister is Worse

Even if he wasn't hurt, Mike was still not the happiest about the ordeal with Jeremy. But he had other concerns too.

Mike wasn't sure if he was just overly paranoid after Jeremy's kidnapping and burial stunt (he was) but, well, he was kind of seeing Ruby all over the place lately.

Like, everywhere.

She just happened to be doing her homework and drinking coffee at that cafe he always went to.

She just happened to be in the park when he was passing through.

She just happened to be in the same convenience store, even though it was an hour away from the orphanage.

"You're being paranoid Mike. I know Ruby is intense, but we worked things out. She's not upset anymore," Hedy assured him. "She won't pull what Jeremy did. He's just unreasonable."

He also stole Mike's ice cream from his grocery bags, so the ex-night guard wasn't too thrilled with his kidnapper at the moment.

And yeah, he got where Hedy was coming from. Ruby did seem more upset that the whole thing had been kept a secret. She and Hedy had had a very emotional talk about it and they'd made up.

And her glares had stopped too.

As well as the threatening gestures.

But, Mike couldn't shake the feeling…The feeling that he was just prey being toyed with by a predator.

Then again, she never looked at him or seemed to notice him when he saw her out and about. So maybe it was all just in his head.

Just regular paranoia prompted by trauma.

Perfectly normal, right?

"Oh, um, oh dear."

His attention was drawn to the barista at the counter. He hadn't ordered his coffee yet with the place being so busy and he'd been studiously ignoring Ruby sitting at a table at the far side.

"I'm not sure…" the barista hesitated again. "Um, Mike? Mike...Shit?" She called, a flush crossing her cheeks as she said it.

A chill went down Mike's spine and he glanced at Ruby. She didn't look up.

After a moment of snickering from the other patrons, he finally went up to put the poor barista out of her misery. "I, uh, think that might be mine. But I haven't ordered yet?" he told her as she handed it over in relief.

Taking a quick sniff revealed it was indeed his order. And when the barista repeated it for him, it was correct right down to the one and three quarters sugar.

"Your friend paid for it. She seems sweet. Odd sense of humour though." She gave him a smile before moving to help the next customer.

Mike swallowed hard and glanced back at Ruby. She still wasn't looking at him, but suddenly she stabbed her pencil down sharply, impaling an empty cardboard coffee cup. A wicked smile crossed her lips.

Mike fled.

"Wait, because Ruby saw you at the cafe you were both at and bought you a coffee, you think she's out to get you?" Hedy asked skeptically. She was really starting to wonder if she was the only sane one of the night shift. She thought that was Mike's title.

"She knew my order Hedy! Perfectly! And you didn't see the way she stabbed that cup!"

Hedy sighed. "Mike. Ruby's actually pretty observant. She probably saw you make yourself coffee and remembered it. And she's always stabbing things. It's not necessarily directed at you."

"And the name?"
"Probably her idea of a nickname. Come on, cheer up. She's accepting you."
"I really don't think this is what you think it is," Mike muttered.

"Mike, Ruby is… she's not as great with the social thing as most. This could just be her way of extending an olive branch."
"With stabbing cups?"
"With coffee," Hedy stressed. "You guys don't have anything else in common really." She saw his expression and misread it. "That's a good thing, Mike. I'll be the first to say Ruby isn't always the best person. But she tries."

He really wasn't going to be winning this one. Ruby had been behaving perfectly well and Hedy seemed sure that Jeremy was the only one who was going to act out like he did.

Mike was… well, Mike was worried. To say the least.

"Oh, fancy running into you here Mitch." Ruby was holding a frisbee in her hand, studying him.

She'd come out of fricking nowhere. He was in the middle of the park! How did she sneak up on him like that?!

"...Hey Ruby," he greeted when his heart calmed down a little and wasn't trying to jump out of his chest anymore. "Um, it's Mike."

"Hmm."
He squirmed under her stare. It wasn't one of her usual glares, and he couldn't read the expression.

"Um, you have a dog?" He tried to make conversation.

"No."
"Oh, but the...um," he faltered and gestured to the frisbee.

"Not for dogs. I'm working on my aim. I've knocked three people out so far."

"...Congrats?"

"I'm lagging behind my usual score."
"You do this often?!"

That was definitely illegal.

"When I'm in the mood."
"And no one calls the police?"
Now a smile slowly crept across her face. It wasn't a nice smile.

"Oh Mike. Didn't you know? My dad was a cop. The whole force is like my extended family. Like they'd actually arrest me. Besides, I'm good at hiding evidence. You know, the weapons, the blood, the bodies."

"Bodies?" Mike squeaked, once again reminded that Ruby was a bit more morally (dark) gray than he usually realized.

"Did I say that out loud?" Ruby mused, grin still in place.
Mike ended up backing away slowly and never taking his eyes off of her until he almost stumbled right into the street and its traffic. When he looked back from a hurried apology to an angry driver, Ruby was gone.

Mike wasn't hiding per say. He was just… in a place that Ruby was unlikely to be in. He'd never really enjoyed bars, but Ruby kept showing up at the cafes he frequented so…

He was nursing a beer and wondering what to do when faced with slightly homicidal little sisters of girlfriends when the bartender cheerfully greeted someone.

"Ruby! You haven't been by in a while!"
"Hey Niel. Yeah, been busy. You know how life is."

He chuckled. "Being a menace, are you?"
Ruby put a hand on her chest, acting mock-offended. "Me? Never."

Niel outright laughed. "Right. Try and not start a fight with a biker gang tonight though, would you? We just fixed that hole in the wall."

"Oh, for fuck's sake…" Mike mumbled as he leaned his head into the bar, pleading. He needed to quit procrastinating and find a new church.

Ruby didn't seem the religious type. Maybe he'd be safe from her there.
"I kinda liked the hole. It added character to the place." She smoothly slid into a seat at the bar, not even glancing in Mike's direction. "Oh, and could you pour some of the good stuff for my friend over there? He's going to need it."
She jabbed a thumb at Mike, eyes glinting.
All the people around Mike suddenly vacated their stools and moved to different parts of the bar.

What is this? An old western or something? Mike thought, taking a more resigned sip of his beer that suddenly didn't taste as good as it did a minute ago.

The bartender placed a glass in front of Mike, and the pity in his eyes didn't bode well.

"So what are you on Ruby's shit list for, son?"

It actually surprised Mike he even asked. Most of Ruby's "people" he figured were the more "ask questions later" type.

Ruby ignored them for the moment, focused on typing something into her cellphone.

"I'm dating the girl Ruby considers her sister," he sighed.

Niel winced. "Ouch. That the nice lady Ruby asked the gang to watch out for? They ah, discouraged, the streak of break-ins that was happening in a certain neighbourhood nearby."

Mike blinked. "Huh. Well, that's good. I hadn't heard of those."

"You wouldn't," he patted Mike heavily on the shoulder. "Ruby bribed the news not to mention it until it was dealt with."
The way he said 'dealt with' made Mike think those burglars hadn't made it to the police station.

"Oh, Mack!" Ruby suddenly sing-songed and Niel got very interested in cleaning the glass in his hand.

Mike sighed and turned to face Ruby. At least she wasn't pretending not to be stalking him now.

"Ruby," he greeted tiredly.

"We need to have a talk."

"Is this the part where you have people toss me into a box and mail me to Hawaii?"
Ruby actually cracked a smirk at that.

"Tempting, but Jeremy already did the whole symbolically killing you thing."
Mike shuddered at the reminder and also made another mental note to talk to Jeremy about the fact that he had claustrophobia. He was pretty sure the cop didn't know.

"No, we're really going to talk right now," Ruby told him. "I'm pretty sure Jeremy wouldn't be able to get through an entire conversation with you yet without threatening bodily harm."
"And you can?" he asked skeptically.

"I put my emotions away in a box so for tonight I can."
Despite how strange that sounded, Mike got the feeling that she actually meant it. She was a lot more calm now than she had been any other time he'd seen her.

"Alright," he agreed reluctantly. "Then… talk?"

"You do know why Jeremy and I are doing what we're doing right?"
"You don't want Hedy to get hurt."
"In a nutshell," Ruby nodded. "But I think you need some backstory. You know that Michael almost killed Hedy. Jeremy was only a teen when that all happened. He's pretty good at acting like a rational human, but that kind of thing leaves scars. And they show whenever Jeremy goes complete overprotective asshole in Hedy's defence. You know when he first found out about Hedy's job he broke every traffic law so he could get to Freddy's faster? Even though he was still terrified of the animatronics. He wasn't acting like a cop then, he was a scared older brother. And then later on, he made the decision to try and burn Springtrap to ash to get rid of Michael, with Spring as collateral." She paused. "I haven't actually forgiven him for that yet. But I do understand it better now. Because later that same night Michael almost killed Hedy. I'm the one who found her and there… was a lot of blood."
She paused again and sipped on some water, looking carefully neutral as Mike tried not to react too much. Hedy had told him about what happened. "I lost it the next night. I did some stuff I'm not really proud of. Because I care about Hedy and I'm certainly not right in the head. I can admit that. Things seemed alright for a while and then I had the whole coma thing and when I wake up there's this random guy that everyone loves at the pizzeria."

A flash of emotion broke through the neutral expression, just a slight downward twist of her lips.

"I don't like change. Never have. Whenever someone new arrived at the pizzeria I didn't treat them great. I outright hated Hedy in the beginning. The Toys also got a lot of shit from me although most of it was provoked. I'll admit that some wasn't. Jeremy also got targeted. Then while I'm still dealing with all this fantastic remembered trauma, it turns out that you've been dating Hedy in secret. And fuck, I hate secrets. I hate keeping them and and I hate them being kept from me. I get that they're sometimes necessary but at the same time, I don't see why this was a necessary secret."
For the first time Mike wondered if Ruby had been faking all that hurt before.

"I'm a mental mess," Ruby admitted. "The coma opened up some raw wounds. So currently, I'm channelling that all at you. It's not fair, it's not right. I get that. But I'm still going to do it. Because if I do nothing I'm going to snap. The shovel talk is a pretty selfish concept don't you think? It's more about the person giving the talk getting satisfaction or feeling like they did something than about the people dating."

She thought for a moment before shrugging again. "Ah well. Whatever it is, it's still happening. Just thought I'd actually explain why since Hedy seems to actually really like you. And I get this annoying guilty feeling when I think of ruining that happiness. So you're going to have to bear with me while I finish off my own, pretty dramatic shovel talk."
What could Mike really say to that?

"Thanks for the warning?"

The next week or so, Ruby kept up with her stalking routine and even though Mike knew it wasn't real now, she could still be suitably terrifying when she wanted to be. A joke about his and Hedy's honeymoon's destination (mostly made to mess with Jeremy who turned green at the thought) prompted another of Ruby's passive-aggressive moments.

"Hmm," Ruby hummed thoughtfully. "What about the jungle? Getting married in the Amazon could be cool."
Mike was almost certain he got pitying glances from the Originals and Goldy while Puppet might have been trying to stifle an actual laugh. It was hard to tell when the thin bot had little facial expression.

"Geez Jeremy. Why can't you be as supportive as Ruby is?" Chi huffed. "She's even got ideas for their honeymoon! Is the jungle nice?"

Mike took a moment to consider how almost none of the bots had been thrown off by his remark of him and Hedy getting married.

"I think it's pretty," Ruby stated with a straight face.

"And filled with poisonous snakes," Freddy muttered under his breath.

"I think it's not friendly to wheelchairs," Hedy cut in.

"Another excuse for you to pick up physical therapy," Jeremy muttered through his teeth, torn between the familiar argument with Hedy and not wanting to think about her getting married.

"Like you'd let something like that get in the way of a good wedding day," Ruby sniffed haughtily.

Chi cooed, Chica fell for it briefly too, and Hedy had to soften a little at the words. Ruby could be sweet when she wanted to be. (Which was not now, not that Hedy knew.)

"It was nice knowing ya," Foxy clapped a hand on Mike's shoulder, nearly knocking him over.

Well, at least he knew that not everyone was falling for Ruby's act. The Originals and Goldy knew. Puppet knew, and Jeremy probably did too.

However, these were all people who were more likely to let the teen get away with it than not. Either out of an overwhelming fondness for her, the entertainment value, or in Jeremy's case, revenge.

But Hedy's obliviousness was stressful as hell.

During their next date, Mike truly thought he was safe.

Ruby didn't do anything where Hedy could see, so the bookstore was safe. Right?

They had split up, browsing the bookshelves. The idea was that they were supposed to each look for a book the other would like. Hedy really had picked up on his secret nerd side. Took one to know one. He needed to get back into reading anyway.

He was so distracted by searching for something Hedy would find interesting, that he didn't see the danger coming until it was too late.

"Miles."
"Oh come on, it's not that hard to remember Ruby," he groaned.

Ruby smirked.

"Ah but this is more fun, Manny."

He sighed in defeat. "Alright. What next?" He asked.

"Oh not much Mildred. I think I've rather made my point, haven't I?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Yes, she and Jeremy both had made their points very, very clear. He was dead if he screwed up. How much it would hurt would just depend on which one got to him first.

"Then why are you stalking me in the bookshop," he whined. "Hedy and I are on a date this time." He gestured randomly in a direction he thought Hedy might be.

Ruby's grin widened. She was starting to remind him of the Cheshire Cat now.

"I'm so glad you asked Mitchill. I only have one final threat to offer before I back off. I'm not willing to risk making Hedy unhappy so this is actually going to be my last one." Her smile was unnerving and her eyes manic.

"I won't kill you. I won't maim you or mail you to some far off country. I'll make your life miserable Mike. This was all just a taste of what I will do if you treat Hedy badly. I'm not talking about if you break up. If you two find out you're not compatible and end things, then whatever. That's life. But if you hurt my sister, if you treat her badly, if you intentionally act like an ass to her, then I will make you regret it."

The teen finally stepped back. "I respect you Mike. I kinda like you too. You're a decent guy and you treat the bots right. But Hedy's my family. We clear?"

He was a bit surprised that she admitted to liking, and even more surprisingly, respecting him. "Uh, yeah. Crystal. I think we were clear when you stabbed that pencil into that cardboard cup."

She gave him a grin. "Oh but where would the fun be in stopping at that? Treat my sister right Mikey. You're actually kinda cute together. But I'm still going to act like I hate every second of it. What else is a little sister supposed to do?"

She started to wander away but paused at the end of the row of shelves.

"Oh, by the way. The only people allowed to screw with you are Hedy, Jeremy and me. And the bots of course. Anyone else? And there'll be problems."
She shot him a dark smile before walking out of sight.

Mike made a mental note to never let Ruby meet his family face-to-face. It could only be a disaster and possibly a bloodbath of passive aggressive hatred (if Ruby behaved). A moment later he realised Hedy was partially right. Ruby had a weird way of welcoming him to the family. There was something...comforting… about her backwards threat.

Naturally, Hedy didn't spot the teen once.

He could relax. Finally. Sort of. Ruby was a possible sociopath, but he didn't think she was lying about being done with him (for now). So he let his guard down. He should have known better.

It was at the pizzeria. He was just coming back from fixing the generator. The thing was old, and he cussed out the manager for being so cheap he didn't want to replace it. It had been failing more often. Luckily this time it just looked like someone had left the gas cap off and it ran out of fuel early.

He thought he was getting used to being pulled/shoved into dark places and/or jumped but he still yelped as something stronger than he looked grabbed Mike and dragged him into a room he was fairly sure wasn't there a moment ago.

"There are several hidden rooms in the building," Puppet said conversationally as he shoved Mike into a chair. It skidded back from the force a little. "Hedy was using this one when she was playing mastermind during Ruby's coma."

"Oh really…'

"Hm." Puppet had his back to him as he arranged bottles and cans on the small table in the hidden room.

"Uh… Mari just so you know-"

"Puppet. You don't get to call me Mari," Puppet corrected coldly.

Mike stared. "So...um… Puppet, I was under the impression you and the other bots weren't too bothered about...you know… Hedy and I."

"Really? Hm. I'm rather good at keeping my opinions to myself, if I do say so."

Mike shut up, very concerned with Puppet's tone. And the spare suit lying on the table.

Mostly the suit. It was one of Bonnie's.

Shit. He wouldn't…

Fuck.

He didn't even notice the black thing lying next to it.

"I never really understood some humans' infatuation with each other," Puppet said dryly. "Romantic love and such. I suppose we just aren't built that way."

Mike nodded even though Puppet wasn't looking at him. He was 80% sure Puppet was just putting on a show and Mike was a bit more curious where this was going than he was reasonably afraid.

"However, we aren't oblivious and I am aware of things like broken hearts, unfaithfulness, etcetera..." Puppet said. "I don't believe I need to go into detail about how much I care that Hedy remains safe and unhurt. It's the least I can do to atone for past mistakes. I shouldn't need to tell you how much you will regret it if you hurt her. I do have a body count, if you remember. Unlike Ruby. To my knowledge, she doesn't actually have blood on her hands."

He turned around and Mike stared at the paintbrush, dripping with white paint.

"Uh...Puppet?"

"Hold still, Schmidt."

"Mike?"

Of all the more "harmless" things that could be done to Mike, Hedy was not expecting them to come from Puppet of all people. Some part of her truly (guiltily) expected Mike to show up with a couple of broken fingers one day, horrible as that was.

She did not expect Mike to walk into the main room, after leaving to fix the generator and being gone for a while, wearing a black full-bodysuit with white paint on his face, purple tear streaks, and red circles on his cheeks, lipstick, and black around his eyes. She especially did not expect Mike to wordlessly cross the room as everyone stared, perplexed and maybe a little horrified while he climbed into Puppet's box and closed the lid, keeping it cracked a little.

Puppet appeared in the doorway a moment later, somehow looking very smug.

Hedy glared at him, ignoring Jeremy cracking up as he tried to hide his face behind papers and Ruby snickering with Goldy as the bear reviewed her camera footage of Mike walking in.

"Mike, you don't need to stay in there," Hedy said, both confused and very worried about his claustrophobia.

Mike cracked the lid open and it took everything Hedy had not to laugh.

She covered her mouth.

"Yeah...uh… I'd rather get this over with. Puppet's just going to do it again if I come out before six."

"Very true. Shut up Schmidt. You're supposed to be a mime."

"But you're not a mime!"

Mangle finally died at that and cracked up laughing along with most of the room.

"Mari!" Hedy said, the confusion coloring her scold.

"At least I didn't put him in a suit that will actually kill him, Hedy. Just my suit, with a little creative liberty."

"Marionette!"

Mike poked his head out again. "Seriously though, am I done with the hazing? If it was anyone else, I would have called a lawyer the first time I got shoved in a box. I've got more self worth than this. I get the message for fuck's sake!"

"I'm so sorry, Mike," Hedy said sincerely.

Mike stared at her. "Hedy, I love you a lot. Like, enough to make up for this craziness." He dramatically stuck out a striped arm to point at Jeremy. "You, however, are an asshole and a sociopath sir!"

Jeremy sniffed. "How's this? I will publicly apologize for symbolically murdering you when it's my turn to give a speech at your wedding so long as you continue to treat my sister right."

"Deal. Shit, Jeremy, save the malice for Michael, why don't you?!" That was also directed to Ruby but Mike decided to let her get away with her innocent act. She'd been surprisingly restrained. He knew she could have done something like mailing him to Hawaii if she felt like it.

Everyone startled as the building rumbled approvingly.

Jeremy's eyes widened. "Wait, that counts?"

"Yep," Hedy and Ruby both said as Mike whooped, muffled by the box as he ducked back inside.

"Stop Mike Abuse! Stop Mike Abuse!" Mangle started chanting.

Mike interrupted from inside the box. "But you guys have to admit. I make this look work way better than Puppet does."

Goldy cracked up laughing as Puppet crossed his thin arms.

Mike caught Jeremy after shift. He still was dressed as Puppet and Jeremy wasn't sure he was able to take the fellow ex-night guard seriously.

"Jeremy. Hey, Jeremy wait."

"Schmidt. I need to get to work. I have an important case-"

"Yeah yeah I get that. I just got to clarify something. You and Ruby can't be abusing me all the time, you know. Ruby said she'd stop and I put up with the coffin and the threats and the-the everything for Hedy and because I was actually kinda expecting it, but you aren't going to drag it out. I know I don't look it, but I really do have more self respect than that."

Jeremy paused. "I got my point across. Ruby got hers. You're fine. Just take care of Hedy." It seemed to physically pain him to say that.

"I know. I know. Look, I gotta tell you." Mike made sure he had Jeremy's eye contact. "The coffin thing really freaked me out. I would have been fine if you just left me on the side of the road, but I got an...issue with small spaces. After my week as a night guard-."

"Oh. I see," Jeremy shifted, Mike seeing him try to hide the guilty expression and keep his neutral glare. "Fine. I'll apologize for the coffin. I didn't realise..." He paused, his glance away very telling as he shifted uncomfortably again and tried to hide his suddenly guilty expression. "I'm sorry...But...ah... I'm still leaving the rest for your...your…"

"...Wedding…"

Jeremy groaned and ran a hand down his face.

"You're really messed up about this," Mike said.

Jeremy raised his hand and shushed him. "Look. I'm overprotective. But you would be too if your little sister was almost gutted a-and...who knows what else by a monster like Michael. I don't think straight when it comes to Hedy."

Mike nodded. "You need therapy, Jeremy…"

"I'll take it up the day I can talk about all this without losing my job and ending up in a mental hospital," Jeremy deadpanned, but there was a pained sincerity in his voice. "I'll see you later...Mike." He suddenly paused. "If you have a problem with small spaces, why did you get into Puppet's box?"

Mike shrugged. "I kept it cracked open so I could see out. I just don't like enclosed spaces. And I figured Puppet wanted his turn, so I gave it to him. He's a lot like you, you know. He needs to feel like he's protecting someone."

Jeremy stiffened and made a face, not pleased about the observation or comparison.

"Also," Mike continued. "It was either that or I wear this thing for two days and I'm not going home to my shit roommates or out in public looking like Puppet's gangly ass so it was an easier choice."

"...You should wipe that makeup off."

"Will do..."

Mike sighed as the older man left. This family had more problems than his, but at least they based their actions out of love and over-the-top protectiveness. It was a huge step up from the stifling environment he grew up in.