A/N: And we're back! After the brutality of the UCN (which absolutely will be back in the future), it's time we go back to more relatively mundane affairs for a little while. I need a break from massive events anyway.
I'm not writing this chapter because of the coronavirus epidemic that's wreaking havoc, but I would advise everyone to be careful regardless. It sounds like things could get really nasty if they haven't already, and I hope you all remain safe and healthy.
Fiamma: I don't mind you using my chapters for inspiration, though it goes without saying that you shouldn't make things too similar to the point that you could be accused of copying.
Guest: No, you can't honk Gabe's nose. Heck, I'm not even sure you could ever honk the original Freddy's nose to begin with. Sorry.
Guest: I have an idea for Mr. Hippo's speech that you may see in the next UCN chapter.
Sweeting: That's not a bad idea!
Guest: I'll mostly use the original kill lines, though I'm not sure what I'll do with the "One Who Must Not Be Killed" references yet.
Fake Slim Shady: If Phone Guy does appear, it won't be the actual person himself.
Rockstar Ballora: The only Nightmare children so far are Plushtrap, Balloon Boy, and the Freddles. I am not gonna have a chapter based on Into the Pit (I haven't even read it yet tbh). And the Nightmares absolutely can love, their loyalty to each other as a family is one of their most defining redeeming qualities (and one of the things that makes them infinitely more respectable than William Afton).
Guest: Nightmare Mangle doesn't exist (at least not yet).
Chapter 98 – Sick Day
There was a bit of a routine that ran in the household whenever Mike didn't have something special planned for the ghosts on any given day. He would generally wake up somewhere from 7 to 9 AM, go down to eat his breakfast, and either get to work on some unknown adult activity that the ghosts wouldn't pretend to understand or join them in whatever fun they took part in for the day. On occasion, he'd sleep in for an extra hour or so, and his kids had long since learned to give him some space whenever he wanted to snooze a little longer.
So when he still hadn't left his bedroom by 11 AM, the ghosts immediately knew that something was wrong.
"Dad still hasn't come down yet?" Liz asked the question that everyone was thinking.
"No…" Susie shook her head worriedly. "He's never woken up this late before."
"Something's not right," Jeremy muttered. "Dad should have been down here like an hour ago."
Charlie stood up from the couch. Even though none of the ghosts could technically "sit" on the couch like a living person would, there was something about going through the mannerisms of normal, living beings that just felt right to them. "Let's go check it out," she decided.
The ghosts floated in the air, through the ceiling and into the hallway of the second floor. Since none of them could knock on the doors, Gabe opted to slowly approach the door to Mike's bedroom. "Dad?" he called out.
"Urrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…." a faint groan emanated from inside the room. The ghosts gave each other worried looks and floated through the door and into the bedroom.
Mike was laying on the bed, fidgeting and buried under the covers. He had grabbed one of his pillows and was using it to cover his forehead. As they watched, the man coughed and sniffled, before letting out another groan. It was abundantly clear to everyone there that he was not in good shape.
"Oh my God, dad!" Cassidy exclaimed as they all rushed to his side. "Are you all right?"
"Fucking…dammit…" Mike growled in response, his voice hoarse and scratchy. "I can't believe…I've gotten sick. I've never…been…this sick…in years. Fucking…flu…"
"You're sick?" Susie asked worriedly. "What happened?"
"I don't…know…" Mike muttered. "It's…that point…of the year…flu season. Must have…gotten it…from some…random…person…" He finished off his sentence with another bout of coughs. "Ughhhh…my head…and my body…both hurt…like hell."
"Shit…" Fritz breathed. "Dad, we'll take care of you!" he promised.
"No doubt about that!" Jeremy immediately agreed. "We'll have you back on your feet in no time!"
Mike let out a weak smile. "Thanks…guys…" he replied gratefully. "At least…you can't…get sick…cause of me."
"You know, when you take out the extremely messed up circumstances for how we became ghosts, there's actually a lot of positives," Gabe mused. He gave the others a determined look. "Let's get to work, guys!"
"We can't just go around doing whatever!" Liz protested. "We don't know what we're doing! We need to think of a plan!"
"Liz is right," Charlie agreed. "Let's all do different things. Susie, Cassidy, and I should start making breakfast for Dad since he can't do it himself today, and the rest of you guys should look up how we can cure Dad of his flu or whatever the heck it is."
"Sounds like a plan!" Jeremy answered in acceptance, as did the rest of the ghosts. Susie, Cassidy, and Charlie floated back down through the floor and into the kitchen, while the others collected their laptops and returned to the living room.
"Did you seriously try to phase through the floor while you were holding our laptop?" Liz asked incredulously as Fritz showed up later than the others, looking incredibly sheepish.
"….shut up," the former Foxy inhabitant muttered, earning some snickers from the others. The levity quickly died down, however, as the kids got to work looking up how to cure the flu. All of them were incredibly thankful that they were now well-versed in looking things up on the Internet, especially when compared to two years ago when they didn't even know what the Internet was.
"Well, it definitely sounds like flu, all right," Fritz mumbled as he read through the symptoms on Google. "Fever, cough, headache, body aches, it's all there."
"I mean, it could also be common cold," Jeremy pointed out. "But yeah, the whole muscle aches thing makes me think it's more flu too."
"So how do we cure this?" Liz asked worriedly. "I don't want Dad to be sick…"
Gabe typed in a few words on his computer and read through the screen. "Okay…there's this thing called Tamiflu. It should help with Dad's issues and make him feel better faster."
"Great!" Fritz cheered up instantly. "Let's go get some and give it to dad!"
Jeremy looked at it again and shook his head. "Small problem, Fritz…" he muttered. "That's a prescription medicine. We have to get it from a doctor, it's not just something Dad's going to have lying around in the house."
Fritz snorted. "Well forget that, then!" he scoffed. "We can't call a doctor, we're a bunch of kids! They wouldn't take us seriously!"
A small smirk appeared on Gabe's lips. "I like how the first problem you point out about us calling a doctor is the fact that we're kids and now…you know…ghosts?" The brothers and Liz chuckled for a bit, though they sobered up. "Unfortunately, either way, you're not wrong. We can't call the doctor to get some Tamiflu."
"Okay…" Liz sighed. "Anything else we can do?"
Jeremy read some more and smiled in relief. "Actually, yeah. And it isn't that hard, either," he reported, turning his laptop to show them. "I guess all we need to treat him is bed rest, fluids, some medicines that anybody can get, and…" he peered at one of the lists. "Something called a throat lozenge? And what do they mean by fluids exactly?"
"Fluids probably means water and orange juice or something along those lines. And a throat lozenge is a candy that helps makes sore throats less sore," Gabe explained. "Dad HAS to have these somewhere...right?"
"Probably," Fritz agreed. "I mean, he's so well prepared for everything else…"
"My guess would be the kitchen," Liz suggested. "There's a lot of stuff stored in those cupboards. Plus we can check up on how Charlie, Cassidy, and Susie are doing!"
"Good idea!" Gabe praised. The four ghosts quickly stood up, leaving their laptops on the floor, and flew over to the kitchen. Even before they entered the room, they could already hear crackling coming from the stove, a sign that the girls were making breakfast for Mike.
"Make sure you don't heat it for too long or they'll get burnt and everything will be ruined!" Susie was instructing Cassidy.
"I know, Sus!" Cassidy retorted sulkily as she flipped one of the pancakes over.
Charlie looked up as she felt the boys and Liz enter. "Did you guys find anything?" she asked immediately.
"A couple of things," Gabe replied. "We can make sure he gets plenty of water and orange juice, and make sure he stays in bed until he gets better."
"That sounds easy enough," Charlie commented. "Anything else?"
"Uhhh…there's a few medications we can give him, I think?" Jeremy added, raising an eyebrow. He looked at the medication list again and frowned. "Decongestants, cough medicine, something called…non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs…what the hell is that even?" He stared at the name. "I couldn't even begin to tell you whatever the heck that is if I tried."
"It's something called Ibuprofen," Charlie clarified. At the confused and unimpressed look from the former Bonnie inhabitant, she made a face. "Yeah, medicine names are weird. Just look for something called Advil."
"Gotcha," Liz confirmed as she and Gabe began to rifle through the cabinets. As they searched, Fritz glanced over at his other sisters.
"How's the breakfast going?" the former Foxy inhabitant asked. "It smells great!"
Cassidy grinned at him. "Yep!" she declared. "We're making pancakes, eggs, and sausages for him! All the things Dad needs to enjoy a great filling breakfast!"
"Don't forget the orange juice," Susie added as she went to the refrigerator to fill out said glass. "And maybe another cup with water just to be safe. Cause fluids."
"I've got the medicine!" Liz confirmed, taking out a small bottle and shaking the pills inside. "How much do we need to give him?"
"I'll take care of that," Charlie offered, holding out the bottle. The orange-haired ghost girl gave it to her, and Charlie read the label. Nodding in understanding, she took out a pill and laid it on a napkin, before doing the same with a throat lozenge that her sister gave him shortly after. "I don't know if Dad has any decongestants around," she admitted. "We'll have to ask him about that."
Cassidy flipped her pancakes one more time, and to her satisfaction both sides of the pancakes were golden-brown this time around, signaling that they were ready to be served. "All right, the pancakes are done!" she declared as Jeremy took out some syrup. Cassidy moved the pancakes over to the prepared breakfast plate as Jeremy poured the syrup on them. "Be sure you don't put too much!" she cautioned.
"I know, Cass," Jeremy rolled his eyes. "I'm not Fritz."
"Hey!" Fritz squawked in outrage as his siblings laughed. "In all seriousness though," he mused as the girls finished up the rest of the breakfast, "we really should do things like this for Dad more often. We don't do this nearly enough."
"That's a good point, honestly," Susie agreed. "We have to take care of Dad like he takes care of us, especially once he gets older or when things like this happen."
"I'm sure that we'll have plenty of opportunities," Gabe assured them as the girls finished making the breakfast and setting up the medicines. Once they were done, Charlie telekinetically lifted up the tray. Ghost or not, they would have to be extremely careful not to spill or drop the breakfast they had prepared, and Charlie's naturally careful nature and increased mastery over her powers compared to her siblings would minimize any chances of a disaster. The ghosts left the kitchen and floated up the stairs, spreading out and giving the breakfast tray plenty of space.
Once they were outside Mike's bedroom again, Liz called out to him. "Dad? Can we come in?"
"Yeah…sure...urrrrgh…" Mike groaned in reply. The ghosts pushed the door and open and floated in the room, Charlie at the center of them with the breakfast plate.
"Surprise!" the ghosts declared happily. "We made breakfast for you!"
Mike's eyes widened when he saw the plate. "Holy…crap…guys!" he exclaimed in between coughs. "You didn't have…to do this…for me!"
"You've been taking care of us so well for the past two years," Charlie calmly answered. "We'd be terrible kids if we didn't do the same thing for you whenever you got into some trouble like this."
Susie smiled at her father. "We wanted to do this, Dad," she added reassuringly. "We wanted to make you breakfast, and we had a lot of fun doing it. I hope you enjoy it!"
Mike reached out towards the plate, grimaced slightly at the aches in his muscles. The ghosts winced at the uncomfortable expression on his face, but fortunately it seemed that the pain in his body didn't seem to have actually affected his physical strength in any way. The man took the pray and moved it in front of him on the bed (with Charlie stabilizing the tray just in case Mike's strength failed him), cut open a piece of syrup-drenched pancake, and brought it into his mouth.
The kids waited in anticipation as Mike chewed the pancake, and even before he swallowed it his eyes lit up. "Oh my God!" he exclaimed. "This tastes…absolutely…amazing!" he praised, earning delighted grins from Susie and Cassidy. "How did you…make something…so delicious?"
The two girls shrugged, trying to contain their sheer excitement at having earned their father's praise. "We just try our best, like we always do for you!" Cassidy replied happily.
"Well…I'm definitely…going to…take my time…enjoying this!" Mike promised. As he moved the fork to try some of the scrambled eggs on the plate, Jeremy stopped him.
"Hold on, dad!" he cautioned. "There's something else you should do first." He pointed to the two glasses of water and orange juice, as well as the Advil and throat lozenge pills laying on a napkin in front of them. "Take the medicine and drink first before you finish up with breakfast," Jeremy suggested. "That way it'll make your throat feel a little better."
"Good idea," Mike nodded gratefully, earning another smile from the former Bonnie inhabitant as he put the Advil in his mouth and downed the glass of water, before doing the same with the orange juice. He sighed contentedly and gave his children the familiar grin that they were so used to seeing, one that clearly showed his gratitude through the confidence and nonchalance with which he usually handled life. "Ahhh…that feels so much better already," he sighed contentedly. "You guys have no idea just how much better I feel after seeing how much you guys care for me."
"Aww, dad…" Susie floated onto the bed and lay down on it next to her father, making sure that she was completely intangible so that she couldn't accidentally knock the breakfast tray out of her dad's hands and make a mess. Once the ghost kids realized that it was safe for them to do so as well, they joined their father on the bed, snuggling and cuddling up close to him. They could feel Mike's warmth despite their lack of a physical presence, and for them that was more than enough. "We love you so much, dad!" the former Chica inhabitant finished once the whole family was settled in.
Mike smiled gently at her and leaned down to kiss his daughter's forehead. "And I love you guys just as much," he murmured back, stopping his meal just long enough to go through the motions of either planting a kiss or affectionately rubbing the heads of his children. For several moments, the family laid on the bed in silence, the kids watching Mike consume the breakfast that they had so thoughtfully prepared for him. Once he had finished, Mike returned the tray over to his children, and the moment Charlie had cleared it from the bed, he fell back onto his pillows and sighed. "Urrrrgggghhhh…I'm gonna be stuck here for a while, aren't I?" he asked rhetorically.
"We'll take care of you, dad!" Gabe resolutely promised. "We'll do this every day if we have to until you get better!"
"Absolutely!" Fritz agreed.
"It's the least we can do!" Liz asserted.
Despite his discomfort and poor health, Mike grinned at his children, his eyes shining with love and appreciation. "You guys are the best kids a dad could ask for!" he declared. Joyful expressions broke out at his proclamation, but before they could move to hug him again, he broke out into a fit of coughing that turned their happiness into concern instantly. "Dammit…" he muttered.
"I think you need some of that bed rest we looked up earlier," Jeremy suggested.
"Probably," Mike admitted, letting out an exasperated groan. "Ugh, it's gonna be so boring here til I get better. That's what really gets me, more than the actual being sick part."
"Well, we can always just gather around the bed, take out a laptop, and watch a movie or watch you play a game or something," Gabe suggested.
Mike thought for a moment. "That's…not a bad idea, actually," he decided. "One of you, go get one of your laptops and…"
The man never finished his sentence, for at that moment a cell phone started ringing and interrupted whatever he was going to say. Liz floated over to the bedstand, picked up Mike's cell phone, and handed it to him. "Hello?" Mike called.
"Hey, Mike!" a very familiar woman's voice answered back.
"Oh, hey Melody!" Mike replied, before breaking out into another fit of coughing. On the other end of the phone call, Melody immediately picked up on her friend's uncharacteristic illness.
"Are you all right, Mike?" she asked worriedly. "You don't sound right."
"I somehow got sick with the flu or some shit like that," Mike grumbled. "I still can't believe it, I haven't gotten sick in years!" He immediately brightened. "But the kids made me breakfast this morning, so it's not all bad!"
"Aww…" Melody cooed. "That's so adorable! It's still unbelievable how much you guys love each other."
"I know, right?" Mike asked happily. "So, anything I can do for you?"
"Well, it kinda sucks that I'm telling you this now when you're sick, because I actually do have a rather important reason for calling you," Melody admitted.
"Oh?" Mike raised an eyebrow. "I'm listening."
"It's the Rockstar animatronics," Melody explained, the excitement clear in her voice. And the Schmidt family would quickly understand why with her next few words. "They're fixed up and ready to go."
/
A/N: Because sometimes we just need some cute, fluffy, light chapters in between all the darkness, action, intensity, and/or violence. I need a break from writing really long and detailed chapters if I don't want to suffer from burnout (which would help absolutely no one).
As you can guess, Melody has finished repairing the Rockstars, and they'll be back in the hands of the Schmidts soon enough. Which means that, yes, another One Night at Mike's chapter will be here very, very soon.
For those of you who were hoping for another UCN chapter, don't you worry. There will be more to come for sure, more ways for William Afton to suffer. The Nightmares will make sure of it.
That's all for now. Hope you guys enjoyed!
