Author's Note:
Hope you enjoy! Hehehe...
Chapter 132
Best Intentions
As they agreed to the conditions the deal fell into place and the tension flowed out of Ruby's body. They couldn't touch the bots. As long as Hedy kept to the deal.
The teens' eyes narrowed. Wait, did she have to be involved in the deal as well? She wasn't mentioned...so maybe not. She was probably fine as long as one of those idiots didn't offer her any and they couldn't be THAT stupid. Hedy wouldn't approve of that.
"You're a bunch of assholes." Ruby snapped, her anger still needing to be expressed. "Sounds like you're all more interested in enjoying yourselves instead of letting Hedy have the birthday she wants."
She turned her back on Alex and placed her hands on the stage as she breathed deeply to calm down. She met both Bonnie and Foxy's eyes and gave them a reassuring smile to calm them down.
Alex scoffed, "Jeez, kid. We're just messing around. Hedy knows that. She knows us."
Rena frowned as she pulled out the bottle and a bunch of red plastic cups. She wasn't sure she agreed with Alex. Then again she knew Hedy on a more intimate level than the others and she knew Hedy could be complicated. She wasn't 100% sure if Hedy was being her ultra responsible self and needed to relax a little, or if Hedy was really truly upset. She was acting too strange to tell.
"No shot glasses? Classy," Sullivan teased.
"Hey. Screw off. I paid for them, jerk."
Hedy muttered under her breath as Rena handed her a cup with an unsure smile.
"Happy Twenty-first, Hedwig!" Sarah cheered.
Hedy rolled her eyes. "Don't call me that. You guys care way more about this than I do."
"We just wanted you to have fun for once," Dave complained.
"Who says I don't have fun?"
"Seriously? Working here?"
"You guys have no idea," Hedy scoffed. She took too big a sip, too impatient to get this over with, and immediately started coughing at the burning in her throat.
Alex cracked up at Hedy's face.
"Gross. How much did you pay for this?" Hedy spat in disgust and eyed the color of the whiskey in her cup.
"The guy at the register said it was good," Sarah said. She took her own sip. "Ugh!"
"Yeah, right," Hedy sighed. She glared at the bottle. She glanced up at them. "Hey."
Rena shook her head and pointed to herself. "Designated driver."
Sullivan smirked. "Hey, it's your birthday present. You've got to drink most of it."
Dave, Django, and Alex ignored him and poured themselves some, though much less than Hedy got.
Hedy glared, "I'm not going back to the hospital because of fricking alcohol poisoning. "
Sullivan frowned and rolled his eyes. "Babe-Hedy. No one is really forcing you to drink half the bottle."
Hedy didn't say anything and downed the glass with a glare at him.
"Wow. Okay..."
Mike mumbled something as he gestured for a cup. "I'll help," he told Hedy. "Get it down to half right?"
Hedy nodded stiffly.
"Good thing we're here til six. Should be sober by then right?"
Hedy scoffed. "I wanted to work on Freddy's eye tonight."
"Can't you do anything but work," Alex moaned dramatically with a laugh. She didn't want Hedy to think she was actually nagging her. Yes, she maybe went too hard on the teasing sometimes but it was never malicious. "I'm sure it can wait. Hey, kid! Want some?"
Hedy snapped at her. "No. She's sixteen."
"So? She's safe with friends. We're not gonna let her do anything dumb."
That was it.
Hedy saw the Originals' eyes widen in alarm as they saw Ruby's expression. Of course everyone else missed it. But the way the teen stiffened sent all her warning bells ringing.
Oh shit.
The sixteen year old ripped away from the stage and stalked over, her glower actually breaking through to a few of the visitors. That wasn't a sulky teenager's expression. She grabbed the cup that Alex had been holding out in her direction, and to all the bots' horror, knocked it back in one shot. She grimaced in disgust at the taste but was too focused on her anger and irritation to pay much attention to it.
"No harm huh? No harm in getting your friend drunk at work on camera huh? No harm pressuring your friend into doing something she clearly doesn't want to do on her birthday huh? No harm in letting a minor drink on camera either? Oh a minor who needs to walk home too." She snatched the bottle away from a stunned Sarah and poured herself far more than a sip. "No harm in letting an orphan drink after all. Guardians are too busy with the other kids to notice. Oops, hope I'm not drunk and wake the kids up. Just got a new kid there last week. She's still struggling to sleep through the night." She knocked the drink back again. "But no fucking harm right? Great. You get to deal with the consequences you assholes." The unexpected swear almost had the bots jumping and Puppet's gaze was now focused on the night guard instead. They were going to have to deal with a drunk night guard. A SUGAR RUSH terrified them when it came to her. She caused mass chaos when she took COLD MEDICINE. And now she was drinking ALCOHOL?! The Toys slipped in their act a bit and looked terrified.
"No worries about getting down to half. We'll get this pesky little bottle empty in no time." Ruby waved the bottle at them with a wicked smirk and angry eyes. Her step was a little unsteady already, her balance compromised. "And then I'm going to have the time of my life while you deal with the consequences. Such a fun word, consequences." She poured another cup while the group watched her, completely stunned by this turn of events. "Can't have you thinking you can do whatever you want now can we?" She locked eyes with the horrified Alex, her smile twisting just a bit, taking on a malicious edge as she downed her third cup. "Trespassing and then trying to mess with my bots? No, can't have that at all." She practically purred the last bit.
Suddenly the bat seemed a lot more menacing. There was just something a bit… unbalanced in her eyes now.
"Kid...okay.. slow down," Sullivan tried appeasing the teen, glancing at Hedy worriedly.
Hedy looked on with an unreadable expression, more because of too much emotion than a lack. Disappointment in her college buddies. Concern for Ruby. She oddly didn't seem outwardly worried about Ruby downing enough whiskey to possibly knock her out and send her to the hospital.
Mike stared wide-eyed and silently freaking out. The only reason he didn't do or say anything was that he was following Hedy's lead. Hedy knew Ruby far better than him after all.
The animatronics were watching Hedy, Foxy inches away from intervening. But Hedy wasn't yelling and she didn't seem fearful, just...sad.
Hedy wouldn't let Ruby hurt herself like this, they had to remind themselves.
"Slow down? Isn't this what you wanted?" Ruby asked, waving the bottle. "We're just having a little party, aren't we? So what if we break a few laws? Get a few people fired. Hurt a few minors? This is what you wanted after all isn't it? And it's all about what you want. Fuck what the actual birthday girl wants."
"Whoa whoa," Alex said, concerned and panicking. "That's not what I-" She was unsure though, the anger in the teenager's eyes scary. She really didn't see the problem. She was always careful. She was younger than this when she started drinking, but it was always in moderation and always while following the unspoken rules of drinking. Never leave your glass unattended, always keep it covered, don't mix certain drinks, that kind of thing. Alex trusted Hedy's perception of friends, so she would happily help a drunk Ruby the same way she would help any other friend.
"Ruby, stop. That's too much," Rena said, freaking out as to why Hedy hadn't stopped the teen. This was getting dangerous.
Sarah was silent, too scared to say anything.
"Not what you meant huh?" Ruby said, setting down the cup to pick up Betty. "I bet no one ever means for someone to get hurt. All fun and games?" She suddenly swung the bat into a chair, sending it to the floor with a loud crash as it folded upon itself, making Sarah yelp in fear. "What do you mean 'too much'? How much is 'too much?' I'm already not supposed to have any? What's a little more?" She swirled the bottle around about to drink some more.
Dave mumbled as he backed away, his instincts telling him to run but responsibility holding him in place. Django gave him a look, equally fearful, while the housemates shifted and stared.
Alex was broken from her confusion and fear as she stared at the unhinged teenager. She jumped and glanced up in fear as Hedy shifted in her chair.
"Ruby. That's enough," Hedy said.
She reached to take the bottle away, her voice shockingly hushed. But Ruby stood just out of reach with that look in her eye. They stared at each other for a moment. This was more than just Ruby's irritation and anger. She'd already been off all night. This was her issues with birthdays and dark memories finding a suitable outlet since she wasn't willing to take out her irrational anger on the bots or Hedy and Mike anymore.
Alex chuckled weakly. "Leave her alone Hedy. It...uh...looks like s-she can hold it." It was a joke. She wanted Hedy to take the bottle. Hedy knew that, but of course, it sounded terrible to those who didn't know how Alex processed things that scared her.
Sullivan nodded hesitantly, tense.
Hedy looked at them before turning back to the teen. "Ruby." It was a single word but it shocked them.
The college students shared glances. What on earth? They had never heard Hedy use that voice.
Hedy was so disappointed in her friends. They were doing such a terrible job at reading the situation and it was partly her fault, she knew. She was so used to putting on an act outside the pizzeria that they weren't sure what to do with her here. They really did mean well and she was touched at their efforts for her birthday, even if she didn't approve of the methods. This just wasn't the place for her outside life to get involved with.
Hedy shakily stood up out of her chair a few inches to gently grab the bottle from Ruby, one hand gripping an armrest for support.
She knew Ruby was faking it, though she wasn't quite sure of the methods. Ruby was trying to teach Hedy's friends a lesson, trying to scare them. But the night guard needed to calm down. She was scaring the bots.
Ruby was faking it, but unfortunately Hedy wasn't. Already too tipsy for her liking, she misjudged how much she could stand up, the few shots of whiskey already dulling her pain more than was safe.
Hedy's head swam as she pried the bottle from Ruby's hand, Ruby letting her. Her weak legs and broken spine couldn't hold her up for more than a second with her balance already shot. Mike jolted forward to catch her but wasn't quite fast enough.
She lost her balance and hit the ground hard, frightening Ruby out of her anger for a moment. She knocked the breath out of her one good lung and landed awkwardly on an arm in a bad attempt to catch herself. Didn't break it though. Definite sprain. Great. She wheezed in pain and coughed.
Mike was right at her side and helping her up with Ruby, using one foot to pull her chair back over. "Hedy? Hedy, look at me. You okay?"
Hedy groaned. "I'm such a lightweight..." she muttered. She winced and sucked in a sharp breath, holding her chest.
Alex, not exactly a stranger to Hedy's occasional accidents, blinked. She had lost count of the number of times Hedy had stubbornly tried to be independent but ended up falling on top of her instead. Sarah, Rena, and even Sullivan had plenty of moments like that too. "Well, you're drunk," she chuckled, trying to make light, not realizing how much that fall had actually hurt.
"Shut up, Alexandria," Rena snapped. "Can't you see...!" She was cut off by a terrifying rattling.
Dave saw something move right out the corner of his eye.
He let out an earsplitting scream as the robot he flipped off in a bid to make himself feel braver launched himself at the man, making a frightening sound that resembled a staticky scream.
At the same time, Mangle lost it and jumped off the stage with her own screech. She almost looked like she was on all fours for the briefest of moments. She was the one rattling a moment before.
Dave frantically kicked Puppet off him in a clattering tangle of sharp limps and scrambled to his feet as everyone else freaked out, not sure what to do.
Foxy growled at Alex, jumping off the stage as she fell backward with a scream, tripping on the plastic bag the whiskey came in.
It was chaos for all of two seconds as the intruders screamed in shock and terror. Though oddly, no one really bolted for the door ahead of the others, subconsciously not willing to abandon anyone.
Hedy let out a sharp whistle with her fingers that seemed to grow louder as she drew it out until there was silence from the rest of them.
Rena stared at the scene frozen in terror as her ears rang, some part of her mind only functioning because Hedy wasn't freaking out. She looked at Freddy and squeaked at his hard stare.
Hedy stared at her friends and narrowed her eyes. "Get. Out. I'll see you tomorrow," she said it so simply as if she didn't have a metal pink and white fox standing beside her snarling at her friends.
"H-HEDY! What the..." Dave frantically pointed at Puppet.
"Dave, they are not going to hurt you. Get out."
"They might not but I will," Ruby muttered.
When there was no response, Hedy wordlessly held up the bottle and they could see it was more than half empty.
Hedy's friends had absolutely no idea what came over them. They just...left. Turned around and walked out, casting terrified looks back at the animatronics, still not sure what on earth just happened. Just that they felt like they almost died several times over in the last couple minutes.
Alex sputtered as she walked. "Hedy? What..."
"I'll see you tomorrow, Alex. Get home safe," Hedy said gently. "This is probably all just a weird dream."
Alex stopped herself, gripping the doorframe as Sullivan frantically called for her to get out of there. Sarah was holding her sleeve, tugging with wide, confusion laced eyes as if hypnotized.
"What...w-what did I do wrong...?" In her adrenaline and whatever sort of daze this was, she picked up that she was to blame, but she didn't understand how. It almost felt like she was pushing back against being put to sleep, except she was being compelled to leave the building.
"You're just not supposed to be here. Get home safe," Hedy said with kindness that Ruby and bots couldn't sympathize with regarding this particular human. Not after the things she said.
Foxy snarled at Alex again as she released the doorframe and ran after the others, dragging Sarah behind her.
Ruby let out an explosive sigh, crouching down next to Hedy and checking her over. "You okay? That fall looked like it hurt.'' The unsteadiness and slightly slurred speech was gone in an instant and the night guard was back to normal, if a little tense from anger still.
The other bots all hopped down from the stages and BB came running over in concern. The Toys looked anxious except for Mangle who looked as angry as the Originals. Puppet leaned against a wall, looking a little smug that he got to scare Dave like he did.
"You're not even a little affected by the drink are you?" Foxy asked, gaze on Ruby.
The teen shrugged. "I've got a ridiculous alcohol tolerance. My dad was the same. He could out drink anyone. Found out I inherited that tolerance when I was twelve. I've told you I was a wreck and an absolute nightmare of a kid at that point. Alcohol was the first thing I tried in my rebellion. Although that whiskey is almost as bad as the tequila I tried."
Ruby shuddered at the memory.
"I gave up on the idea when I could barely get a buzz." She glanced up at the disapproving expressions on the Originals' faces. "Hey I got better. Foul stuff anyway. Don't get what adults like about it."
She pulled a face before going back to checking Hedy's arm. "That's probably a sprain. Does anything else hurt? You were holding your chest?"
It still gave them whiplash sometimes when Ruby went from reckless teen to fussing sister. Normally when either Hedy or another co-worker got hurt she would glance at it and tell them not to make a big deal out of it since it wasn't broken. If she was in a good mood, she'd fetch the first aid kit. She'd never fussed over Hedy before though, hovering and in general acting like a younger sister would when her older sibling got hurt.
Hedy weakly chuckled. "I'm okay," she wheezed. "Just takes longer to catch my breath with only one properly working lung. Might have bruised my ribs, but I think it's fine now." She grunted, "I should get a cane..."
"...Or," Mike said, dragging the word out as he eyed her, only slightly annoyed in his concern. He didn't have a joke or pun for this. "Don't try to stand up when you're drunk."
Hedy flashed him a grin. "Aw. You're sweet, Schmidt. I do what I want, thank you very much."
"I'm a terrible influence." Ruby decided before studying Hedy's face. "Exactly how tipsy are you?"
BB had managed to get right up by her chair since he was the smallest and everyone was just used to shifting out of his way. He stared up at her in obvious concern.
Hedy scoffed as she settled in her chair, holding her wrist close to her chest. "Just enough to be giggly and more talkative and not realize my back was hurting. I'm not so drunk I'm going to start crying or ranting about why a platypus lays eggs."
"Heh. Yet you're just tipsy enough to say that," Mike laughed. He was a little buzzed too, but he didn't have nearly as much as Hedy
"And I never let myself get so drunk I can't function. I never let myself blackout either. That's dangerous and incredibly stupid," she assured, casting a mild glare out the door. She patted BB on the head and smiled at him. "I don't mind a few with my friends to relax and chat. But we better not be drinking just to drink. Hate that. Dad was an alcoholic before he died." She grimaced. "Ugh. Whoops. There's the talkativeness."
Ruby tilted her head slightly before shaking her head.
"I don't know whether to be relieved that I can't seem to get drunk or irritated," she admitted.
"Relieved." Every single bot said in unison, even Puppet.
The teen pouted.
"I can still get on a sugar high though. I can get this awful taste out of my mouth with cake!" with that she darted back to the cake with Foxy and Freddy right on her heels to try and stop her.
Goldy popped in above Hedy. "So what you're saying is we shouldn't ask any embarrassing and personal questions?" she asked with a mischievous smirk.
Hedy glared in betrayal. "I've got a little more self-control than that. Sullivan spent two hours and a bottle of wine on one of our dates trying to get me to tell him my real middle name since he couldn't believe 'Lamarr' was real and I didn't crack." Hedy froze and blinked at what she just said. "Oh, damn it!" She facepalmed.
"You dated that guy?" Bonnie was the one to ask surprisingly, raising an eyebrow.
Goldy on the other hand was laughing. "I didn't even have to ask anything!"
Mike frowned, just slightly.
"For a while," Hedy admitted, still glaring at Goldy. "It wasn't working. I couldn't talk to him and he picked up on it. He really is a good guy. This...was just a severe lack of awareness on their part." She glanced at Puppet and smirked just a tiny bit. "I saw Dave. You looked like you wanted to strangle him." She smiled but had a bit of guilt in her eyes. It was funny, only because she knew Puppet wouldn't hurt anyone, but she knew the fright was cruel to Dave. He probably thought he was actually going to die.
Puppet just huffed and crossed his arms. "He should learn not to make those signs in a children's restaurant. Doesn't matter if it's closed."
Most of the bots looked confused over what he meant except for Goldy. "He kinda did deserve it, Hedy. It was rude," she pointed out while the two pretended they weren't agreeing on something.
"I know." Hedy sighed. "I'm sorry about Alex, Bonnie."
The rabbit shrugged and looked away. "Not your fault."
The sour situation eased away easily enough, with everyone getting back into the party. Goldy spent most of her time trying to keep Hedy talking as the alcohol really hit.
They learned several things. That she hated geese with a passion, her favorite flavor of ice cream was coffee, she used to have an old cat named Sparkles, accidentally exploded her neighbor's lawnmower once, spent some of her teenage years in another country, and liked singing but thought she was tone deaf. And that she was ticklish on the back of her knees but nowhere else, something that made Ruby smile in a way that had Hedy regretting even opening her mouth. Several things she ended up spilling made her regret that.
Ruby had indeed followed through on her threat of a sugar high but Foxy and Bonnie were managing to contain the damage. And the teen was more bugging everyone else with her insanity in a kind of weird birthday present to Hedy.
Although she did bedazzle the back of her chair to say 'Birthday Girl'. That was really the extent to which she participated in the birthday part of the party.
Hedy and Mike were sitting off to the side laughing their heads off as Ruby danced on top of a table singing "Jump in the Line" at the top of her lungs after hacking the loudspeaker.
"Jump in the line, rock your body in time. OKAY! I believe you," she crowed in an awful Cuban accent while Freddy wasn't sure whether to groan at her terrible singing or laugh. He was a bit worried about the table collapsing under the abuse of Ruby stomping to the beat.
Toby just stood staring, wet lime green paint still dripping to the floor. He looked pretty done with everything.
Not even Mangle had escaped this time. She was slathered in orange paint and confetti. She didn't seem to mind though and sang and danced along, accidentally flinging droplets of still wet paint when she spun around.
"Shake! Shake! Shake, Senora! Shake it all the time."
Mike smirked as Hedy cackled in amusement and sang along.
He stood up and Hedy looked at him in confusion.
"May I have this dance, birthday girl?"
Hedy stuck her tongue out at him. "Mike what the heck are you-M-MIKE!" she squealed as he suddenly stooped down and picked her up bridal style. He was stronger than he looked.
Hedy shrieked, half-laughing as she wrapped her arms around his neck in fear. "Don't drop me!"
"I'd never drop you," Mike assured, almost insulted by the notion as he spun around, eliciting another shriek from a suddenly dizzy Hedy. He laughed at her glaring at him.
They were both pretty drunk no matter what they claimed. It was wearing off steadily but lasting longer than either expected.
Hedy wondered if she could blame the building for dragging it out but couldn't think of any reason why it would.
Mike grinned as he stepped and spun, not as fast as the other's of course, but stayed pretty on point with the beat regardless. He somehow didn't fall over even if his balance was a little shot.
Hedy smiled at him. The rest of the pizzeria seemed to fade for a moment.
"Hey, Hedy?" Mike whispered, his cheeks a bit flushed from the alcohol.
"Hmm?" Hedy said, her voice dropping to match his, arm still around his neck to keep from slipping out of his hold. Her sprained wrist was bandaged so she remembered not to put as much weight on it.
"What kind of music do ghosts like?" he asked sincerely.
Hedy's face twisted in confusion, not able to catch up to the words for a moment. She blinked, caught off guard. "...what?"
"Soul music."
Hedy started and glared at his smug grin. "Are you kidding me, Mike?" Hedy groaned. "No! That's awful."
Mike cracked up at her reaction and kissed her lightly on the lips. Just a little.
Hedy snickered and kissed him back, hard.
"Mhhm?!" Mike asked, a little taken aback by the bluntness.
Hedy then pulled back to look at his gleeful eyes with a short laugh as she tilted her head and wiped the traces of lipstick she had bothered to wear that day off his lips with her thumb.
Mike, not willing to let Hedy win on this front, kissed her on the nose in retaliation in stubborn defiance.
It helped that she couldn't exactly lean away very much to escape.
She glared at him but he just smirked back, both of them a little flushed in the face and neither sure if it was the fading buzz or their hearts speeding up.
The rest of the room had long ground to a halt suddenly and Ruby actually stumbled and fell off the table. Foxy just barely managed to catch her in his own shock. The music kept going while the bots looked at each other in bewilderment. Even Puppet was caught off guard, staring at Hedy and Mike as they continued dancing without realising the effect they'd had on the room.
Mangle blinked wide eyes and looked at the rest of the Toys. Toby was spluttering silently while Teddy and Chi looked shocked.
A small part of Ruby was cackling at their expressions because they looked like kids who'd just seen their parents kiss for the first time. The rest of her was trying to figure out how the hell she'd missed this? And why were they hiding it? And did she need to give Mike a nice long threatening talk about hurting Hedy- woah, hold up, since when did she put Hedy in the 'family' category in her head? She knew she called Hedy her sister sometimes but this was the first time she was reacting the same way she would for Foxy or Bonnie.
Foxy glanced at the mildly freaked out night guard in his arms.
She was clearly going down some weird thought rabbit hole and wasn't likely to come back anytime soon.
Looking up at the Originals, Bonnie caught his eyes and shrugged. Their reaction was more muted compared to the Toys. It was a bit weird but not completely out there.
Freddy seemed to be trying to figure out if they'd started acting differently recently while Chica was silently cooing.
Goldy...well Goldy was recording the entire thing with a kinda evil look on her face. She probably started the second Mike picked Hedy up.
Spring just looked confused in general, but more over why everyone had frozen.
Eventually, since no one else seemed like they were going to say anything, except for Toby who looked really close to a temper tantrum, Foxy decided to.
He shifted the internally freaking out teen in his arms and cleared his throat.
"So...something ya want to fill us in on you two?" He asked, exaggerating his toneto get their attention.
Mike almost tripped as he suddenly stopped and both he and Hedy froze.
They stared at each other for a moment, silently freaking out as they remembered where they were.
Hedy stared at them with wide eyes, somehow even redder in the face, her arms still clasped around Mike's neck. "Uh..."
Mike blinked. "...this just kind of...happened?" he said with a nervous laugh. He glanced at Hedy nervously. He murmured in a frantic sing-song voice, "I thought you were going to tell them."
Hedy shrugged with a sheepish smile. "I wasn't sure how to bring it up. Um...S-Surprise?"
The Toys really had no idea how to take it. Teddy made a couple attempts at saying something before giving up and simply staring at them again. Toby looked on the verge of yelling something but he didn't know what. Mangle and Chi just looked a little lost and confused.
BB tilted his head adorably at them. The Originals were getting over the shock of the moment by then and Spring still looked like he didn't get it. Foxy glanced down at Ruby who was now death glaring Mike for some reason. Like, the death glare she reserved for Puppet. Not the regular death glare.
Clearing his throat again he pointed up when Hedy and Mike looked at him. Goldy grinned from behind the camera she had trained on them.
Hedy gasped. "GOLDY!" she snapped, "Mike put me down!" There was a paintball gun next to her chair and she was getting that camera one way or another.
"Yeah, uh. No can do," Mike said, shifted as her weight began to put a strain on him. "Ruby looks like she's going to kill me."
Hedy glanced at Ruby and felt a little chill at the look in her eyes. She was suddenly worried for Mike.
"You cannot use me as a hostage!" Hedy yelled, squirming, knowing Ruby wouldn't care too much if Mike was using her as a human shield.
The night guard hadn't used up all her arsenal for the night and Hedy figured Ruby wasn't too pleased with her either.
A growl came from the night guard's throat and suddenly she tried to get out of Foxy's hold, mind apparently made up about something.
"Let go Foxy!" She snapped as the bot held her back.
"No can do. What are you mad about?" The fox sounded a bit confused but wasn't willing to let Ruby at Mike when she was this angry.
"I don't know!" Ruby snapped. "But I'm still going to beat him up!"
"She's making even less sense than usual." Chi muttered.
Toby was still struggling to express himself in words. He was currently shifting between horrified, angry and petulant expressions.
He found himself glaring at Mike.
"Oh boy. What did I do?!" Mike asked. He actually set Hedy down but was now crouched behind her chair. Several of the Toys and Ruby were glaring at him.
Hedy stared at them. "You know those movies where a single parent gets remarried and either the stepparents are evil or the kids just don't like them?"
"NO! What kind of movies do you watch?!"
"I think..." she smiled slightly. "You're the evil-stepdad in this scenario."
"What?!"
"Or they're just a bit jealous. And very overprotective." She tilted her head and smiled.
"I'm not jealous," Toby finally snapped. "This is weird. You're not supposed...I don't...It's gross! He's weird! You're weird. What's going on?"
"You're not supposed to t-to date!" Teddy complained, the word sounding gross to him. "Y-you're Hedy. You don't..." Teddy shook his head and shuddered, while Chi exploded into a rant, but her high pitched voice spoke so fast it was hard to tell what she was saying so they had to ignore her.
Mangle muttered something and pouted.
"Okay," Hedy sighed. No one was making any sense. They just could never imagine her dating and weren't sure how to process that. It probably wasn't Mike specifically they were upset about, but here he was, "What's your complaint?" She continued to glare at Goldy warningly and picked up the paintball gun pointedly.
Ruby always put salt in the paint nowadays.
"Makes you actually seem like a grown-up," Mangle said, actually having a reason. "It's disturbing. I don't like it. I like Mike though."
"Oh thanks," Mike said sarcastically, then ducked back down with a yelp.
Spring was resigned to his confusion. Someone would explain to him eventually why the Toys were being weird…
Goldy disappeared with the camera and it's footage. There was no getting it back out of her poster without her bringing it out.
Ruby growled again and Foxy slipped Betty out of her hands and passed it wordlessly to Freddy. The teen was still glaring at Mike. She seemed frustrated with herself for being angry though and wasn't really listening to Hedy.
"It was a bit unexpected but it's not all that weird." Bonnie spoke up with a shrug. Chica nodded in agreement. "You two are cute together."
Ruby's growl intensified.
Hedy mildly glared at Ruby. "Ruby, stop it. Seriously."
Chi trailed off into muttering while Teddy and Toby just pouted and Mangle tilted her head.
"Yeah, you're right," she admitted. "They're adorable."
"Mangle," Hedy whined.
Mike cracked a smile, though he still cast the growling Ruby a cautious and slightly terrified glance.
Ruby huffed, now in irritation and crossed her arms, not looking at either of them. She was definitely sulking and the Originals weren't really sure why. She didn't seem angry with Hedy, only Mike. And they couldn't figure out why she was upset in the first place.
Heck Ruby didn't seem to know why she was upset. Which made it even worse since that further soured her mood.
The ghosts had been oddly quiet through the entire event, horrified. They had come back to hang around quietly after the other people left.
They just looked very grossed out, Ginny making a childish grimace while Felix mimed puking.
Benji was silently staring at Mike and Hedy, upset but unsure why. He figured he just was mad Hedy was in love with a night guard. Ex night guard. He suddenly wanted to kill Mike even more, even if he wasn't the night guard anymore.
The chimes went off, startling an already tense Mike while the girls didn't even flinch.
"Oh. Six. Good morning!" Hedy chirped, making a mental note to tease Mike about his horrible timing to the others at a later date. He literally asked her out hours after everything settled down and Ruby had appeared from the hospital. A freshly paranoid and traumatised-by-Ruby manager even walked in on their conversation in the hallway, although she doubted the panicked man knew what they were talking about, now or then, too preoccupied with the "ghost" they stared at over his shoulder. "Thank you for the party everyone. It was amazing." She smiled sweetly, clearly grateful for the thoughtfulness even if the theme was too young for her. She seemed unfazed by the earlier interruption.
Ruby pushed whatever was bothering her aside for the moment. The bots that had helped with the party were looking pleased at the compliment and she didn't want to sour that.
"Time flies when you're having fun I guess." She glanced at her watch in mild surprise.
"Only you find your sugar rushes fun," Freddy grumbled softly but she just flashed him a grin.
Mike laughed nervously in agreement.
Hedy smiled at Freddy. "I'll get your eye finished tonight, okay? Just don't bump into anything."
Freddy smiled at her and nodded. The Originals were a lot better about her repairing them lately. They also followed instructions like that a lot better than the Toys did.
Well, except Foxy. Foxy was just a nightmare patient in general. But apparently he'd been that way from day one so it wasn't about her anymore. He just didn't like repairs and was a little too reckless during the day like a certain night guard.
Hedy and Mike were still a little tipsy when they decided it was time to leave, but they wordlessly decided it was best to hang out in one of their cars in the parking lot and chat until it was safe to drive instead of sticking around and running into the cleaners who might ask questions.
When the three humans walked outside, Hedy teasingly laughing as Mike desperately tried to keep her between him and Ruby, they weren't expecting more people in the nearly empty parking lot.
Ruby stiffened as the door swung closed behind her and squinted as the adults hurriedly stood up from the curb.
"Hedy we..." Sullivan started.
"What the hell are you assholes still doing here?" Ruby snapped, her mood immediately soured again.
Hedy grabbed her sleeved and shot her a warning look, her head suddenly clear for some reason. She suddenly didn't feel drunk at all and looked back at the restaurant doors dubiously. "Have you guys been out here all night?" she asked, perplexed.
Ruby looked murderous but surprisingly did back down, crossing her arms and settling for glaring at them. Well, she wasn't glaring at Mike anymore at least. She shifted slightly and impatiently tapped her foot as the three employees stared at the group.
"W-we couldn't get back in..." Alex mumbled.
"None of us," Rena said. "It sounds crazy. It was like we couldn't even touch the door." She shuddered. "And I started to feel sick..."
Hedy didn't respond, but she didn't seem surprised at the description.
"We wanted to apologize," Alex interrupted. "I don't...I don't get what you were so upset about. I...I thought you were just joking around at first."
Sullivan shifted as Alex trailed off. "Hedy...you were...different. We just wanted to do something nice for you."
Dave mumbled. "Still freaking out about the moving robots, by the way."
Django was quiet as was Sarah surprisingly, they looked worried and a bit pale.
"Are they...alive?" Django finally spoke up, awe dripping from his voice.
"...yes," Hedy said sternly, ignoring the others' apology for the moment.
"But...that's impossible," Alex said with a wavering voice. "They were just standing there? Watching us? Surely they can't be that advanced?"
"Yeah," Mike said, crossing his arms as well.
"Then that urban legend," Sullivan said cautiously. "About the night guard position being cursed. You're here so that's not actually true, right?"
"That's not something you have to worry about," Hedy said. "Look, you guys just shouldn't have been here. If you caught me outside, I wouldn't have minded hanging out with you." She was still reeling from the fact they were sitting in the parking lot all damn night just to speak with her.
"My bots. Fully alive. They had to stand there listening to you talk about how Hedy probably took them apart regularly." Ruby growled out, green eyes trained on them. She was still angry about the whole situation and very clearly not even tipsy like they'd thought earlier. "You completely deserved the scare."
She ignored the fact that she was basically approving of something that Puppet did. She also ignored the scolding look Hedy sent her.
"And I'm still mad that you thought it was okay to give alcohol to a minor," she added. "If I was anyone else that would have resulted in a hospital visit probably." She was mostly glaring at Alex now.
The others had earned some points with their apology but she was still upset. It wasn't her call on what to do though. They were Hedy's friends.
If they weren't she would have done a lot more than scare them.
They shifted awkwardly, Alex wincing. "I didn't think...I was your age when I first started drinking. It was...fine. I never got hurt. But I'm sorry, this wasn't meant to turn out like this."
Hedy glared at her. "I know 'everyone' does it, but it's still not okay."
"I didn't think you'd..."
"No, you didn't think. I've never been in an position to care about a minor drinking but now you know I do not approve. Especially at. My. Job." Hedy sighed. She knew why her friends were at such a loss. "I'm very sorry, guys," Hedy said, guilt tinging her voice. "I'm sorry you didn't know me well enough to know this wasn't okay for you to do."
"You're sorry?!" Sullivan said. "Hedy, what are you talking about? We didn't mean to..."
"Let me finish," Hedy said, "There's a lot I can't tell you, but you need to understand that I'm not always who I really am with you, okay? I have a very complicated life and it's not something I want to drag any of you into. I'm touched in more ways than I can express that you guys even took the time, in the middle of the night, to try to wish me a happy birthday. And then stayed four hours out in the cold to say sorry when you're not sure what you're sorry for. But you got mixed in with my...my other life and I'm not okay with that."
They stared at her stunned.
"You..." Sarah said, clearly hurt. "You don't think you can be yourself with us?"
Hedy shook her head. "I'm sorry, Sarah. I really am. It's just... you really wouldn't understand."
"Try us!" Sullivan said, worried about her.
Hedy glanced at Alex and felt a lump in her throat at her friend's expression. Alex looked close to tears at the thought that Hedy didn't trust any of them. Didn't trust her.
She didn't know how Hedy felt about their friendship, but Hedy was one of her closest friends. She told Hedy… well, she told Hedy practically everything, when she could get a hold of her. She wasn't the type to get jealous easily, but seeing how Hedy trusted the kid Ruby more than her definitely stung.
"I can't. It would scare you," Hedy said, her voice calm but her heart twisting. She knew she was being hurtful. But she didn't feel like she had a choice in the matter. She loved these people. She didn't want them getting hurt. She wasn't sure how, but she didn't trust the universe and this place to give her and Ruby peace. Something might happen, eventually. Michael. The kids. Who knows?
"You freaked out when Puppet jumped you. And panicked when the rest just moved and glared at you." Ruby cut in before they could protest further. "That's normal for us. Hedy's been dealing with Puppet's jerkiness for longer than I even have. Trust me, you can't handle the rest."
She'd calmed down at least and was trying to help Hedy explain. If a little rudely.
"You don't need to worry about me," Hedy said. "This is who I am and as much as it sucks and hurts, I need you guys to stay apart from it."
"But..." Alex started.
"I need you guys to be my normal life," Hedy said pleadingly and much kinder, "I need you to stay away from this place and be the normal world for me. That means not coming here and not getting involved with my workplace in the middle of the night. Daytime is a different story."
Sullivan waved his hand at Alex who was about to argue. "Heds...are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm not, but I can't have you worry about that," Hedy replied honestly.
He stared over Mike's shoulder at the silent building. Suddenly he cracked a weak and somewhat disturbed grin. "This why we broke up?"
Mike blinked. Wait, how much of a rebound was he? When did Hedy break up with this guy?
"Among other unsustainable reasons," Hedy deadpanned.
"Figures," he grunted. "Okay. Fine. Don't tell us. But I'm here if you need anything."
The others looked unsure but Rena sighed. "Me too."
"Yeah..." Sarah said as the others nodded slightly.
Alex shifted on her feet. "Want to go watch a movie tomorrow?" she spoke up, almost hesitantly.
"Sure. As long as it's in the afternoon."
"Ooh! I wanna come," Sarah said, forcing a smile.
"Hey! I'm only paying for my ticket and Hedy's," Alex snapped.
"You don't have to-" Hedy groaned and facepalmed. "Alex..."
"You want us to be your 'normal life' right?" Alex said with air quotes. "Well, normal friends buy birthday-friends presents. Like movie tickets. So tough luck, Heds. Let me do something nice for you?"
Ruby stayed quiet while she watched the friends work it all out. She understood what Hedy meant, by needing that normal life. The Orphanage was her normal life and without it she'd probably have been consumed by her work at Freddy's. As much as she loved it, she knew it was probably a bad thing.
That didn't mean that she liked these people though. They were annoying. As long as Hedy was happy though she'd behave. Luckily she didn't have to be around them after this. Hopefully.
As Hedy said goodbye to them and the three employees walked towards the mechanic's truck where Ruby would peel off to head home, the teen paused thoughtfully.
"Hey Hedy?"
"Hmm?"
"Does Jeremy know you're dating?"
The way she froze was all the answer Ruby needed. The teeager pulled her phone out of her pocket and started running.
"Jeremy? You won't believe what I found out tonight!"
"Ruby!"
Mike paled.
The night guard cackled. She felt better now.