"Come on Fundy, you're going to be late!" Wilbur shouted up the stairs, anxiously messing with his hair. Sometimes he thought he was more anxious about Fundy being late to school than Fundy was, and it was times like these that felt like it was being proven to him. "FUNDY!!" Wilbur shouted.
"I'm coming, geez!" His son's tiny voice replied as his little six-year old footsteps tapped down the stairs.
Wilbur examined his son's outfit, trying to determine if he would be warm enough. Fundy had on a puffy black coat and orange mittens that he loved because he said they reminded him of his ears. Which to be fair, was a great comparison, the mittens and his oversized fox ears did happen to be the same color.
Fundy's large, fluffy tail swished behind him, hitting against his pink backpack. "Are we leaving?"
"Sorry, just making sure you'll be warm enough," Wilbur said with a smile before heading for the front door, Fundy's little footsteps following behind him.
"Today can you meet Tubbo's dad? Tubbo asked me to come over tonight but he said his dad wanted to meet you first," Fundy said.
Wilbur looked back at his son's grin, his sharp canines poking his bottom lip innocently.
Wilbur opened the front door, stepping outside, making sure Fundy was outside as well before shutting and locking the door. "When did Tubbo ask you to come over?"
"Yesterday!" Fundy said proudly. He didn't have many friends at school. "I told you but you were too busy."
Wilbur winced. Now he vaguely remembered Fundy ranting about his new friend as Wilbur made dinner. "Right, sorry kiddo-"
"It's ok!" Fundy hopped into the car, settling himself into his car seat as Wilbur got into the front, adjusting his wings to fit comfortably in the car. "So can you meet his dad?"
"Yeah, of course. When's he usually at the school?" The car rumbled to life. Wilbur winced as he set his hands on the freezing steering wheel.
"Well he comes to pick up Tubbo an' since we're in the same class and stuff, I see him sometimes because sometimes he picks up Tubbo after you get me."
"You're rambling, bud," Wilbur reminded him, smiling at Fundy's inability to stop talking. "Alright, here's this? I'll come to get you and if Tubbo's dad is there, I'll meet him. If things go well, I'll talk to him about you going over there tonight."
"Yay!!" Fundy shouted, squirming happily in his car seat.
***
Miraculously, Wilbur managed to be ready and in the car at the right time to get his child. Oftentimes he was late because he was working or doing other things around the house, which was why he was surprised to hear that usually Tubbo's father showed up after him.
Wilbur couldn't help but feel mildly anxious as he neared the school. He had never really liked meeting or talking to other people, his social anxiety usually got to him. But this was for Fundy's sake. The kid was almost worse at making friends than Wilbur, so if he finally had the chance to go over to someone's house, Wilbur would make fucking sure he would be able to go.
Today was the rare occasion that Wilbur was able to see parents with their kids walking through the parking lot to their cars. Wilbur parked and got out of the safety of his car, anxiously fluffing his wings.
"Oh, hey Wilbur!" A slightly familiar voice said.
Wilbur looked around quickly, finding the source of the voice. "Oh, Charlie! Hi!"
Charlie was almost as anxious socially as Wilbur, though Wilbur wasn't sure why. He was funny, and nice, and had a great family that was never gossiped about. (Though Wilbur wasn't around other parents enough to know what they gossiped about.)
Charlie pushed his glasses up his nose with a small smile. "How are you?"
"I'm alright, thank you," Wilbur said, returning the smile before giving a small wave to Charlie's shy kid. "Hi Juana."
Juana waved back, hugging onto her dad's leg.
"Look, Charlie, I'd love to hang out longer but I've got to go get Fundy," Wilbur said regretfully, returning his attention to Charlie.
"You're good, I've got to get her home anyway. Bye Wilbur!" Charlie said, taking Juana's hand.
"Bye Charlie." Wilbur smiled, waving again.
As he headed to the school, he fluffed out his wings again, this time out of pride. He had talked to someone and he survived! Sure, it had been a short conversation, but it wasn't something he did every day.
The classroom was still full of kids by the time Wilbur showed up, though most had gone home. Fundy was seated on the carpet in the middle of the room. His coat was off but his mittens were still on. Another boy his age was sitting next to him as they played with those large legos. The boy was a brunette, his hair so long it fell in his eyes, with the tiniest goat horns poking out of his hair, and fluffy goat ears.
Wilbur walked over to his son, kneeling down. "Hey Fundy."
"Papa!!" Fundy shouted, hugging Wilbur tightly, almost making him lose his balance. "This is Tubbo!"
Tubbo gave a wave, grinning. Did this kid even have eyes behind all that hair?
"Hi Tubbo," Wilbur said, returning the kid's smile. "You're the one who invited Fundy over?"
Tubbo nodded happily. "Mhm!! My daddy said he could come over tonight but only if he met you first."
"Is he going to be here anytime soon?" Wilbur asked, though he didn't know why he was asking the kid who was bound to be as clueless as he was.
"I dunno, he usually gets here after everyone else is gone. He gets very busy at his job," Tubbo said, with a hint of pride.
"That's alright then, I'll hang out with you guys, if you don't mind," Wilbur offered.
"Yay!" Fundy cheered. "We're building a house, wanna help?"
"Of course I wanna help," Wilbur said, sitting on the floor fully so he wasn't uncomfortably crouching.
Just as Tubbo said, his father was the last to show up.
Wilbur was too busy helping Fundy build a car out of large legos to notice when he finally showed up, but Tubbo hopped up and ran over. "Daddyyy!!"
"Ayeeee, hey kid!" An adult voice replied.
Wilbur looked up, almost freezing in his tracks. Tubbo's dad had picked up his son, holding him on his waist. Like his son, he looked to be a goat hybrid. Or was he a ram? Wilbur wasn't sure.
He had large horns that curled around soft, brown ears that were threatened to be taken over by his long, wavy hair. It was being held back by a black headband, but a few strands had escaped and curled across his forehead. His ram ears were pierced with gold hoops and studs, gold chains attached to the hoops hung down from his ears, hitting gently on his horns. Wilbur thought that his mutton chops were an interesting choice but definitely fit his style.
Fuck. He was kinda hot.
Wilbur stood up, almost stumbling. His wings fluffed again, this time DEFINITELY because of anxiety.
"Hey!" He said, pretending that the man in front of him wasn't attractive as all hell. "You're Tubbo's dad?"
"Sure fuckin' am," Tubbo's dad said with a grin. He had sharp canines. Now that Wilbur was closer, he realized that he also had the faintest hint of freckles and his eyes were a soft, deep brown.
FUCK. HE WAS KINDA HOT.
"I take it you're Fundy's dad, then?" Tubbo's dad asked. He had a New York accent that clung to his words slightly. He adjusted Tubbo on his hip as he spoke.
Wilbur nodded, his wings automatically puffing out again. "I'm Wilbur."
"Nice to meet you, Wilbur. I'm Schlatt."
Somehow, Wilbur managed to have a normal conversation with Schlatt, and was now in his home. Dear lord, someone help.
Tubbo and Fundy had run upstairs to play in Tubbo's room, leaving Wilbur and Schlatt downstairs alone. They were both leaning against the island as they talked, like super cool adults.
"So... If you don't mind me asking," Schlatt started, a shy smile creeping onto his lips, "how come you're a bird hybrid and Fundy's a fox? What's his mom?"
Wilbur cringed at the mention of Fundy's mom. "Fundy's mom left about six years ago, she was a fish hybrid, though it was more of a recessive gene. My theory was that she was actually cheating on me because of how little Fundy looks like me."
Schlatt's nose scrunched up. "Oh- Wait, you said six years ago?"
Wilbur nodded, deadpan.
"Isn't Fundy six?"
Wilbur nodded again.
"She left after he was born?" Schlatt sounded offended on Wilbur's behalf.
"A month after, yeah. There's a reason I don't talk about her with him yet," Wilbur let out a bitter laugh.
"My girlfriend left me shortly after Tubbo was born too, actually," Schlatt admitted.
Oh my god does this mean he's single?? Dear lord, please make him single.
"Oh, I'm sorry. So you've been raising Tubbo by yourself?" Please say yes, please say yes, please say-
"Yeah," Schlatt said sadly. "I'm too busy with him and work to find anyone else."
"Me too!" Wilbur said, before realizing he sounded too enthusiastic.
HOLY SHIT HE WAS SINGLE, WILBUR WAS GONNA-
No, don't finish that thought.
"ANYWAYS," Schlatt said abruptly, standing up from his leaning position, "I had the thought that I could make cookies or something?"
WHY. GOOD GOD. WHY WAS HE SO ADORABLE LIKE ACTUALLY.
"I'll help!" Wilbur said with a small smile.
"Oh, you would?" Schlatt seemed almost as eager as Wilbur.
"Of course, I don't want to make you do something alone when I can help," Wilbur said. He was telling a tiny lie though. He wanted to help solely for the excuse to be in the same room as Schlatt for as long as he could be.
The smell of baking cookies drew the two boys out of Tubbo's room, their matching footsteps hopping down each stair.
Schlatt and Wilbur sat in the kitchen, keeping an eye on the oven.
Ok, Schlatt kept his eyes on the oven. Wilbur couldn't take his attention off the other dad even if he wanted to.
The sound of two little boys running into the kitchen finally snapped Wilbur's eyes away from the ram, sending him crashing back into reality.
"Heyyy you two!" Schlatt greeted, his warm eyes looking away from Wilbur as he turned to look at the kids.
"Are those for us??" Tubbo asked in his high voice, looking excited. Wilbur still couldn't see his eyes.
"Nah, Wilbur and I were planning to eat them all, sorry bud." Schlatt grinned, turning back to Wilbur, sending an explosion of butterflies through his stomach. "Right, Wilbur?"
"But papaaaaa..." Fundy whined, his ears starting to droop.
"He's joking," Wilbur laughed, standing from the table, moving to pick up his pouting son.
"Are you?" Tubbo looked up at Schlatt, and although his eyes were not visible, Wilbur could tell he was making puppy eyes.
"Of course Tubs, you think I'm not gonna save any for you?" Schlatt comforted his child, rubbing the top of Tubbo's head to mess up his hair.
Now his eyes were visible. They were lighter than Schlatt's, almost yellow, and very large.
Later, once the two kids were eating their cookies in the living room, Schlatt leaned his elbows on the table, his eyes flicking up to look at Wilbur before looking back down to the table.
"Everything alright?" Wilbur asked, mimicking Schlatt and setting his own elbows on the table.
"Of course," Schlatt answered, one of the chains in his ears tinking against his horn as he looked up again. "I was just wondering..."
Wilbur waited, hoping it didn't look like he was staring.
"Would you maybe want to get coffee or something sometime? I don't know many people in town and-" Schlatt muttered, suddenly nervous as if Wilbur was going to shoot him down in the most brutal way possible.
Wilbur almost blushed, his wings fluttering behind him in excitement. "Oh-! Yeah, of course, that sounds really nice..."
"Really?" Schlatt lit up, his eyes almost glowing.
Fuck, he was really cute.
Wilbur nodded with a gentle smile. "I don't have a lot of friends either, I work from home and don't get out a lot.."
"Well... in that case, wanna meet up tomorrow after the kids go to school?" Schlatt asked, rather shy. His pointed canines bit onto his bottom lip nervously, digging into the skin.
"That sounds great," Wilbur said quietly, feeling almost as shy as Schlatt sounded.
"Here, would you give me your number?" Schlatt looked like he might have been blushing as he handed Wilbur his phone.
Wilbur smiled to himself as he typed his number into Schlatt's phone before handing it back. "Text me whenever."
"Thanks-" Schlatt sounded mildly surprised that Wilbur was expressing interest in talking with him, nonetheless hanging out with him.
Wilbur thought it was adorable.
Wilbur was on the verge of getting lost in Schlatt's eyes again before realizing just how dark it was outside. Quickly he checked his watch, wincing as he realized how late it had gotten.
"Oh shit, I gotta get Fundy home-!" Wilbur let out a surprised laugh, standing up. "Sorry-"
Schlatt looked at the time too, his eyes widening in surprise. "Oh sorry, I didn't know it was so late-"
Wilbur collected Fundy surprisingly easily, probably because the two boys had passed out on the couch with chocolate smeared on their faces.
Wilbur held his son's sleeping body close to his chest as he stood in front of the door. "You're still up for hanging out tomorrow?" Wilbur asked nervously.
"Of course," Schlatt smiled, looking hesitant. Like he was still surprised that Wilbur enjoyed talking with him.
Wilbur opened the door one handed before turning back to Schlatt with a smile of his own. "Thanks for tonight, it was really fun." Then, risking everything, he leaned over and pressed the tiniest kiss to Schlatt's cheek.
The ram hybrid froze as Wilbur left, turning and giving a wave as he walked to his car. Finally Schlatt waved back, his cheeks glowing red.
"He's cute..." Wilbur muttered to himself as he buckled the still sleeping Fundy into his car seat.
The second he got home and put Fundy to bed, Wilbur curled up on the couch, holding his phone away from his face like it was about to blow up. On the screen was the text he was debating sending to Schlatt. He really wanted to keep talking to the ram, but he didn't want to seem clingy or desperate.
After a moment, he decided fuck it, and sent it.
Hey, it's Wilbur :)
If you're up for it, how about instead of just hanging out tomorrow, we make it a date? if not that's cool too and you can ignore this text and never talk to me again if you want.
Less than a minute passed before Schlatt responded.
No fucking way i was just about to ask you that actually
Wilbur could hardly wait for tomorrow.