Nobody Gets Me (FoolishGamers x OC)

scheme

Noah's POV

Another day, another long stream. I am extremely tired, having barely slept last night from the excitement of finding out I'm having a daughter.

I am going to be a girl dad. That's crazy.

I have pictured it all in my head and, honestly, it makes sense to me. She will be just as into the Buckeyes as I am. But, more importantly, we will have the strongest father-daughter bond. I will give her all of my love. I cannot imagine not having loving parents, and I really don't have a clue what that was like for Belle, to have a Dad that hates her just because she exists. Thinking about it today has made me want to know about her full past. I know the bits and pieces, but the puzzle is not full.

I know Annabelle won't talk about it, since her Dad is still on the loose after all these months. We don't know where he is, and it stresses her out. I don't want her to stress. It's bad for her and the baby. I'm trying my best to help her, but in the end I find myself stressing over her stress levels. I just don't want to her to have any complications.

But I know someone who might give me a glimpse into the past.

"Schlatt, what do you want from Chipotle?" I ask, coming down the stairs.

"I'm ordering from Taco Bell," he responds, lounging on the couch. It's just the two of us in the house tonight. Alex is doing god only knows what, and Belle is hanging out with her friends. The perfect opportunity has risen, and I told him I wanted to talk.

I sit on the couch opposite of him, putting my Chipotle order in for delivery before I set my phone down next to me.

"How are you doing?" I ask, awkwardly trying to make conversation with the brother of the girl I got pregnant. We don't have conversations often unless Belle is around, or to make fun of Alex when he wakes up in the morning. I've never seen anyone look worse after they wake up.

"Let's not make this weird I know you want something out of me," Schlatt quickly responds.

"Yeah you're absolutely right. I just wanted to ask a few questions about you and Belle's childhood..."

"What childhood? Neither of us had one," Schlatt quickly responds, "and why aren't you asking your girlfriend about this?"

I find myself stuttering a bit, "Well— you know, Belle is so stressed, with your father still on the loose and I just don't want her—"

"I'm not going to tell you Belle's story," Schlatt interrupts.

"I wouldn't expect you to."

"Okay, then what do you want to ask me?"

I pause a bit, crossing my arms, thinking about how to word what I want to ask. "What were you exposed to? Like from your father?"

"Nothing. I was an angel to him. I got yelled at a lot, sure, but I was treated well by my father. I just always knew what he was doing to Belle was wrong."

I nod my head. I'm just trying to get a better understanding. Belle refuses to tell me anything, unless I force it out of her. I know I don't have to force it out of Schlatt.

"Our father is a piece of shit, as you know," Schlatt says, "Addicted to painkillers, almost always drunk."

"I knew that part."

"He hated the fact that his wife died the day Belle was born, so almost 23 years of hatred towards his own blood has just become who he is."

"Belle had told me one time, back in New York, that you saved her life," Belle and I were having a picnic early on in our relationship. We were just talking about our families. It was such an upsetting contrast between the two of us. My parents, especially my mom, is as loving and supportive as they can be. Belle has a dead mom and a father who resented her, hated her. But the one person she did have is her brother.

"Yeah. Multiple times. The first time ended up being when we were taken away from him. The second and third were with Grammy."

I nod, wanting to leave that piece of information at that. "So why do you trust me with her?" I ask.

"It's easy. She's Annabelle when she's around you. She's Annabelle when she's around me. She's Annabelle around Alex. She's not Anna around us."

"I mean, I can't imagine life without her now," I say to him, "And I lived through a life without her for a while."

"I mean, at least now you trapped her, she can't leave now."

"I did not trap her!" I exclaim, "I didn't! It was a surprise! I didn't—"

"Calm the fuck down, I'm just joking," Schlatt says, laughing.

"If anything she baby trapped me, she was the one getting drunk and talking about babies all the time," I joke. Annabelle would smack me if she was here.

"That is really all that drunk Belle does," Schlatt agrees, "But when she was little she had a baby doll. It went everywhere with her until our father, in his infinite wisdom, gave it away."

"How do you remember all this stuff?"

"It's really hard to forget."

I nod my head slowly, going over to the door once our food had arrived. I hand Schlatt his food and sit back down on the couch with my bowl.

"Thanks for having me live here, by the way, I don't think I ever really thanked you for the opportunity."

"It was all a part of the plan," Schlatt said.

I raise an eyebrow, "Plan?"

"An elaborate scheme."

"Scheme? So I was a part of a scheme."

"Yeah! Yeah. You know, I wanted Annabelle to leave that idiot. She wasn't going to say no to me, so when I reached out to you saying I have an open room, I knew exactly what I was doing. I knew Belle would fold."

I smile, giving a chuckle, "God damn, Schlatt... you're a genius."

"Oh I know. Anything for Belle. And this shit stays between us."

I quickly nod, "Of course. Anything for Belle."