Now This is An Upgrade (Ratchet x Rodney)

Tangled Up

After Rodney helped Bigweld figure out a tie to wear, he decided to take the bus home. As he waited at the bus stop, Cappy tapped at his shoulder, getting his attention.

"Hi!" Rodney said. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Cappy said. "I was just wondering if you were doing okay."

"Yeah, I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me."

Cappy nodded though still looked sad. It had been almost a month or two since she and Rodney broke up, and she still felt kind of sad about it. Yet Rodney seemed to have moved on. It just made her feel bad. Was she really not the one for him?

Soon the bus came. Rodney got on and waved at Cappy. "Goodnight!"

"Bye," Cappy waved back sadly. As the bus left, she put on her epic wheelies and decided to follow it. If what Rodney said was true about Ratchet being at Aunt Fanny's then she had to see it for herself.

When it was his stop, Rodney got out of the bus and tipped the bus driver before walking up the street to Aunt Fanny's. Cappy was still a little ways away, but she knew the way, as she visiting Aunt Fanny a few times and stayed there with Rodney when they were dating. She slowed down to not be caught by Rodney, and watched as he went inside the house. She then skated over to the window and peered inside.

Rodney looked around the house. "I'm home!"

Piper popped out from behind the corner. "Hi Rodney."

"Hi. So where's Ratchet?"

Piper tapped her cheek. "Funny story," she said. "After you left, he tried to get back at us for defeating him and whatnot. To keep it short, he's a little bit...tangled up."

Rodney frowned and shook his head before following Piper into the next room. "What happened now?"

When he walked in, he let out a small gasp. On the ground in front of the couch was Ratchet, though he didn't look too good. His robotic limbs were all tangled together, like he was trapped. He looked like he wasn't able to move. Surrounding him were the Rusties with their hands on their hips, scolding him. 

Crank shook his fist in front of his face. "That's what you get for trying to take us apart, you metalhead!" 

Ratchet shook on the floor, cursing at the robots. When he saw that Rodney was there, too, he rolled his eyes. "Not you, too!" 

"Alright everyone, settle down!" Rodney said, dispersing the group. "Can anyone tell me what the meaning of this is?" 

"He chased Fender up the stairs and we were worried that he was going to attack him," Lug responded honestly. 

"Did he touch him, though?" he asked, more directly at Crank, who claimed that he was "trying to take them apart." 

Crank opened his mouth but didn't say anything. Diesel then came up and shrugged.

"Fender?" Rodney asked now. 

Fender tapped his itty bitty fingers together. "I mean, he didn't touch me," he confessed. "But he was about to! I was worried, alright?" 

Rodney sighed. "Come on, you guys. Go easy on him and give him a chance." He knelt down in front of Ratchet and helped him get his parts all together. "I know you guys are nervous, but he says he changed. Please trust him." 

Crank furrowed his brows. "Is this part of your act, too?" 

Everyone went silent. Rodney hid his panic under his confused expression. "Act? What act?" 

"Do you have brain loss Rodney? Because you just told us last night that you were pretending to be nice to him. Because you don't even trust him either. So why should we pretend to go along with your little act when we know for a fact that he's not trustworthy?" 

"Crank, no!" Lug shouted. 

"Stop!" Piper added. 

Rodney got scared now. Now Ratchet knew that he was lying to him. The turned around to see Ratchet looking very mad. Uh oh.