Characters: Phil, Schlatt, Tubbo, mentions of Cara.
[Schlattdad au]
TW// mentions of abuse and neglect
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Third pov
Waking up to an intense ray of sunlight, Schlatt forcefully shut his eyes. He groaned in annoyance.
"Siri," he called. "close the blinds."
"I'm not sure I understand."
"Fuck you."
The throbbing headache he felt as soon as he sat up implied a huge hungover. He couldn't remember what happened last night but he knew it would all come back to him soon. Hearing a bottle crashing outside, Schlatt knew someone was still in his house. He opened his room door, about to yell at who he thought was an adult. However, he eyed a familiar little baby sitting on the table where a beer bottle had been.
"Shit, Tub- uh, Toby," Schlatt stuttered, running over to the baby to put him safely on a couch, away from the broken glass now scattered across the living room floor.
The baby cried at Schlatt's hold, making the older worried if any glass injured him. Instead, Schlatt noticed the bruises around the baby's arm and remembered his mother. Cara. She didn't necessarily love her biological son.
"Wait. What are you doing here? And why did I almost call you Tubbo?-"
The baby giggled enthusiatically, looking at Schlatt.
"Wha...Tubbo?"
The baby squealed with delight.
"I'm confused. Toby?"
The baby looked away.
"But that's your name."
After finding a loose note attached to the baby's diaper, Schlatt reads it aloud.
schlatt.
remember you told me you liked toby?
well you can keep him.
I guess you could call it a parting gift.
don't find me or I'll kill you.
oh also I took your wallet.
bye dickhead
- cara xx
He placed the note on the wooden table, pacing back to his room quickly after sternly telling Tubbo to stay. He went to grab his phone that sat idly on the bedside table. Running back to keep an eye on Tubbo, Schlatt called Phil.
"Hey, I'm streaming."
"Oh."
"What's up?"
"Nevermind, I'll text you. It's personal."
"Alright."
He clicked on Phil's contact, pressing the message icon. He eyed the time on his phone before typing out a message. 12:58pm, the time read.
meet me at Sam's Cafe And Bar in 10 mins
please be there this is important
Schlatt put his phone on the table, taking the baby to his room. He cried again when Schlatt carried him.
"I know, I'm sorry," he whispered and let the little one lay in his bed. "Please don't break anything, I'll be back."
With that, the older closed the door behind him and left to the shower. He was still hungover, just frustratingly more awake. He brushed his teeth harshly before splashing water on his face. He then decided he was too lazy to have a shower.
Scrutinizing the array of clothes in his closet, Schlatt picked out a dark green collared shirt with black jeans to wear. Again, he couldn't be bothered to iron them. He got changed, ignored the mess outside, took his keys and-
"Where's my wallet?"
Right, Cara took it. Schlatt sighed and went back to his room, seeing the baby wide awake where Schlatt left him. He pulled out a loose floorboard, taking one of many rolls of cash he had stored in there. Then, he left to meet Phil.
"Hey, mate!" Phil greeted, waving his hand so Schlatt could see him. "How's it hanging?"
Schlatt rushed over, pulling the chair back before sitting on it. "Shit."
The bartender passed him a beer.
"Thanks, Joe," Schlatt said before the bartender walked off.
"What happened this time?"
"I, uhm...I fucked up, Phil."
"Oh, damn. You never admit that. This has to be bad."
"It's horrible!"
"Tell me, then."
Schlatt eyed the shot glasses on the bar's counter. He chugged down all four within seconds.
"You know that wasn't for us."
"I already fucked up, nothing can get worse than that. Joe doesn't mind now, does he?"
"Sure," the bartender rolled his eyes at Phil and Schlatt.
"Schlatt. Come on, what is it?"
"Do you remember Cara?"
"Your mutual co-worker that turned into your best friend, then turned into a one-night-stand-"
"Yeah, yeah."
"What about her?"
"She has this one kid, Toby-"
"Tubbo."
Schlatt gave him a look, perplexed. How does he know?
"Oh, you were as drunk as a skunk," Phil smirked.
"What the fuck are you on about?"
"One day," Phil started, "you called me. Said you were babysitting Cara's kid but you got drunk and wanted me to take care of him. When I got there, you would go near his face and call him Tubbo and he would giggle. But when you called him Toby he wouldn't respond. You would always call him Tubbo when Cara's not there."
"I- okay, well, uh- She left him at my place. Told me to take him as a parting gift and to not find her."
"What?"
"He --- Tubbo --- had these bruises all over his arms, Phil. He would cry when I touched them, cry when I held him. I'm not the right fuckin' person to handle a baby, you know that."
"She abused him?"
"Hell yeah, she hated him so much. Left him alone half the time. I'm not surprised she did this, I just- don't know what to fucking do."
"Why can't you make a report to the cops?"
"Me, Phil? The one who lives in a dump, never shaves and has booze everywhere?"
"Yeah..?"
"They'd think I'm the one who abused him. They'll try looking for Cara and a few bad scenarios can go down. One --- they find her and she lies to them saying I kidnapped her precious darlin' and I go to jail, T-Tubbo suffers with her. Two --- they find her, she tells the truth and goes to jail but Tubbo's in foster care and might suffer other abusive families. Three-"
"You want to keep him," Phil muttered softly, trying to surpress a smile.
"Were you not listening to me?"
"You said "Tubbo suffers with her", "might suffer other abusive families". You want to take care of him, you're just scared."
"I- I didn't say some dumb baby suffering was a bad thing."
"You started the sentence mentioning "a few bad scenarios" that could go down if you made a report to the cops."
Schlatt sighed, the thought of all those bad scenarios making him sick. Maybe it was the shots of flat whiskey he downed making him feel sick. No, it can't be.
"I can't...take care of him, Phil."
"Schlatt, I've known you for 14 years. If anyone can bounce back up, it's you. You always make yourself comfortable in any enviroment if it meant someone would be happy."
"What does that even mean?"
"It means you got this. You can take care of Tubbo and you can call me anytime to help you."
Schlatt gulped, his lips touching the cold beer bottle as he drank some. Phil had a bottle too, but didn't sip it yet.
"Slow down on the booze," he told Schlatt, "you have a kid now."
They chuckled. "To Tubbo," Schlatt said, tilting his beer bottle to Phil's.
"To Tubbo," Phil repeated, clinking the tip of his bottle with Schlatt's before they both drank.
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schlattdad au part 2?
i need ideas for when Tubbo grows up, help and comment if you have any :')