Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Schlatt had always been a bit of a mess. He went to messy parties with even messier people. Specifically the group he filmed videos with, the self-appointed ‘Lunch-Club.’ He didn’t mind being a mess, not knowing what he did the night before, waking up in someone else’s room, he never really cared.

So here he is for what feels like the hundredth time, drunk and strung across his friend Charlie’s weird tree pillow. Laughing harder than he should at another one of Charlie’s bad puns.

They’re playing a game of jackbox and Schlatt can no longer keep the words in focus long enough to read. He ends up just typing in something random and lying down.

His turn comes around and everyone shoots him a concerned look when they see his submission. Ted nudges his shoulder.

“Schlatt what the hell does SRHBF even mean?”

“Figure it out Ted, I shouldn’t have to give you all the answers.” He pauses to think and everyone stifles a laugh but waits patiently to hear what else Schlatt is gonna say. “You’re smart, not smarter than me… but smart.”

“Smart enough to know Stal is a good music disc.”

“You take that back.” He goes to get up, his hand sliding across the floor. It’s harder to stand than it should be.

“Or what?” Ted gets up and crosses his arms, standing over Schlatt who’s still kneeling on the floor.

“I-I’ll fight you.” He reaches his arm out to try and push himself off the floor and sighs when he can’t do it. “Later. Is it always hard to stand? How are you doing it so easy? Is it the glass?” He reaches his hand up and grabs Ted’s glasses.

Charlie gets up off the couch next and takes Ted’s glasses from Schlatt. “Alright grandpa let’s get you to bed.”

Charlie helps Schlatt stand up and Ted puts his glasses back on and grabs his other arm.

“I’m not that old, I can-” He jerks his arm out of Charlie’s grasp. “I can walk.”

The shorter throws up his arms in mock defense and rolls his eyes, but stays close incase Schlatt does fall.

He manages to stay upright the whole two block walk to his apartment. Though he leans heavily on Ted.
He’s laughing at the way his breath clouds in the cold but stops when they start dragging him up the stairs. Schlatt hates living on the fourth story.

He loses his grip on the rail. “Charlie, Charles slow down I can’t- oh fuck.” He falls up the stairs.

Charlie realizes Schlatt is no longer behind him and hurries back to him, Ted just laughs from the top of the staircase. Doubled over while Schlatt glares at him.

“I hope you remember all this in the morning.”

He gets up with the help of Charlie and the rail before stumbling past Ted to shakily grab his keys out of his pocket to unlock the apartment door. Practically falling against it as it swung open.

He breathes out a sigh of relief, happy to finally be home. Smiling, he turns to the pair. “Same thing tomorrow night? I’ll bring… something, probably.”

“You won’t ever want to do that again when you feel the migraine from it tomorrow.” Ted laughs.

“Bull. Shit.”

Ted closes his door for him and Charlie hurriedly tells him to “Put a painkiller and some water by your bed! Sober you will be grateful!”

His friends can be a lot, but sometimes they give good advice. It’s usually a good idea to take Charlie’s advice, so he opens the cabinet for a cup.

He opens the fridge and pulls out the container of filtered water and, with minimal spill, pours himself a glass.

He wants to turn off the kitchen lights but with the way the wall was moving he wasn’t sure he should bother. Instead just opting to go to bed, throwing his jeans and shirt on the floor and practically falling on the twin bed he had stowed in the corner.

He finally gets comfortable when his phone rings from his jean pocket on the floor. Assuming it's just a spam call or Quackity wanting to do a late night stream, he leaves it to ring.

The problem is once the ringing finally stops, it starts again. Whoever this was must really need him.

So he gets up reluctantly and uncovers his phone from the pile on the floor. Answering it without even checking the ID. Which is never a good decision. “Mm’ hello?”

“Hi, this is the department of social services calling. Is this Mr. J. Schlatt?”

“Yeah that’s- uh me.” He drags his hand down his face in embarrassment. He really wasn’t in a good place to have a professional call right now.

“I’m sorry to call this late but we have custody of your toddler son, Tubbo Miller.”

“You got the wrong number, I don’t have any kids.” He sits on the edge of his bed, feeling nauseous.

“It’s your name in his files, and this is the number the mother gave us for you. I’m sorry if this is a bit of a shock but we need you to make a decision. Tubbo’s mother, Amy Miller can no longer maintain custody of the child due to severe negligence.”

He hasn’t heard from Amy in years. Not since they woke up in the same bed. Schlatt mumbles out a quick, “Hold on.” before going to vomit everything that could have possibly been in his stomach. Thankful the phone had a mute button.

He’s coughing and wiping his mouth with a washcloth when he unmutes himself. Choosing to stay on the cold bathroom floor for the rest of the phone call. And maybe the night. “I- I yeah we- he’s my kid. I just didn’t know he was… born?”

“Then this is probably quite a shock to you.”

“Probably?”

“Let me tell you your options; we can put him in the system, until someone can adopt him. Or I can come over and we can discuss you getting custody. Neither of these choices make you a bad parent, and you don’t have to decide right now-”

“Are you fuckin’ kidding? I’m his, he’s my boy. I want custody, just tell me what I need to do.” He feels rude for interrupting her, since she sounds so nice over the phone.

“Sir, a toddler is a lot to take on. Not to mention he’s going to need even more care to help him recover from two years in a bad home. You should consider taking a day to think it over.”

“He’s my kid, just tell me what to do or sign. Please.” The back of his head collides with the wall and he closes his eyes. He has to at least try.

“I’ll come over in two days for a house inspection then. I’d advise you get supplies and start baby proofing the house till then. And don’t worry, most people in your situation do end up with custody”

“I can do that. Thanks.”

He can hear sniffling in the background, the lady’s voice getting further away as she shushes what Schlatt can only assume is Tubbo gently.
“I’ll send you a text confirming everything in the morning. Get some rest while you can, toddlers won’t let you.”

He laughs weakly, trying not to throw up again as he hangs up the phone and goes through his contacts to call Quackity. Though the younger played a loud and chaotic persona, he gave surprisingly good advice. And that’s what Schlatt needed right now.

Thankfully he isn’t streaming when he answers, as Schlatt doesn’t need the whole world knowing he has a kid when he hasn’t had time to process it himself.

“What type of shit do babies need?”

There’s a pause on the other side of the line, Schlatt holds the phone far away from him and waits.

“WHAT?” Quackity shouts, his voice breaking up through the phone.

“Apparently I’m a fuckin’ dad now, what type of shit do babies need?” He knows he should elaborate more but he's exhausted at this point.

“It’s way too late for this. I’ll be there in the morning, and you better explain yourself, Schlatt.”

“Let yourself in, keys are under the mat.”

“Spare no detail, I gotta know exactly how big Schlatt has a little kid.”

With that Schlatt laughs and hangs up without saying goodbye. Quackity never cared if he hung up abruptly.

He passes out on the bathroom floor, not even bothering to turn off the light.

Chapter Text

Schlatt wakes up to a pounding headache and a very unimpressed Quackity standing over him in the doorway.

“Schlatt.” Quackity turns off the light after seeing the other flinch at his voice. They’ve done this before, the whole waking up hungover Schlatt thing wasn’t new to either of them.

“Yeah?”

“Why the hell are you on the bathroom floor?”

He rolls his eyes and gets up with minimal struggle. Brushing past Quackity to his room. “Wouldn’t you like to know.” He knows he’s succeeded in deflecting the question when Quackity just laughs and drops it.

After he takes the painkillers by his bed and chugs the cup of water, he turns around and goes to the kitchen where Quackity is already pulling out the ingredients for pancakes.

Schlatt sits at the table, laying his head down and trying to block out the light. He swears he’ll never drink again but he knows it’s a lie.

“So what was up with that phone call last night? Were you just really drunk or did you seriously knock someone up?”

“No it was serious, he’s two and in foster care.”

“Damn someone hid a kid from you for two years? I’m impressed they didn’t say anything.”

He moves his arms away from his face and watches as Quackity dramatically flips one of the pancakes as high as he can. Cheering when it lands back in the pan.

“Holy fuck did you see that? I am so cool.” He looks away from the stove to smile at Schlatt, who tries to smile back but the headache makes it difficult.

“It’d be really cool of you to come to the store with me and help me buy baby shit.”

“Breakfast first, dad shit second.”

Quackity puts a plate down in front of him minutes later. Sitting down across from him and drenching his stack in syrup before sliding the bottle over to Schlatt.

“That’s so gross.”

“You’re fuckin’ gross.” Quackity laughs through a mouth full of pancakes.

Schlatt takes a few bites of his after putting on a much more reasonable amount of syrup. He’s not very hungry after last night.

So he leaves Quackity to finish his plate and goes to get ready. Grabbing his wallet and putting on his shoes, before waiting on Quackity to join him by the front door.

Schlatt doesn’t have a car since he doesn’t really need one, all his friends were in walking distance and his part-time job was only a block away. It’s times like this he wishes he did however, because Quackity was a terrible driver. He often wonders if that's why the younger one was studying to be a lawyer, to get himself out of traffic court.

After a car ride that only makes his headache worse, Quackity parks in front of a Target and turns off the engine.

They go to the baby section and Quackity immediately starts looking at all the clothes. Leaving Schlatt to grab the more important things.

He gets two sippy cups, and a pack of pacifiers. Did two year olds need pacifiers? Couldn’t hurt he supposes as he tosses the duck themed ones in the cart. He picks out anything with ducks on it, knowing it would make Quackity happy.

Sure enough, the duck does the same. Coming back with duck covered baby towels and little overalls with a duck on the front pocket.

“It’s necessary that a toddler has duck clothes, trust me on this one Schlatt.”

“The overalls are really cute, but I don’t think that’s true.” Quackity puts the outfits in the cart and runs off again to get who knows what. The sizes range slightly because they’ve never seen Tubbo which means Schlatt is sure he’ll be back to return some of this. He hopes he doesn’t have to return it all.

He picks a crib that matches the dark wood of his own bed and dresser. Before going to look for some small sheets and blankets. It got cold in his New York apartment.

Quackity brings back a few more outfits and some toys that didn’t seem too noisy. Schlatt grabs a minecraft bee on their way to the front of the store as a welcoming gift for the kid.

“Oh god it’s gonna look so bad if I have to return all of this.”

“Relax man if we build that whole ass crib they’re gonna hand you the kid immediately. What other qualifications could you possibly need?”

Schlatt scoffs and pushes him gently, keeping one hand on the cart as they wait in line. “I’m pretty sure there’s more to toddlers than sleeping, like eating and… shit.”

“Whatever smartass, help me put all this on the conveyor.”

They do just that, leaving the box with the unassembled crib in the cart, no way were either of them picking that up. Schlatt pays and they load it all into Quackity’s car with minimal argument.

The two manage to bring it all into Schlatt’s apartment with two trips, Quackity is put incharge of the toys and Schlatt is in the open kitchen washing out the new utensils.

Once he’s finished with the last sippy cup he goes to take the box with the crib into the extra bedroom but is stopped by Quackity putting a hand on the box.

“Nope, that’s my room now. The crib goes in yours.”

“Quack you don’t live here dumbass.” He sighs, dragging a hand down his face.

“I’m moving in, I’ve decided.” Quackity starts pushing the box across the hall to Schlatt’s room.

“Where’s my say in this?”

“You gonna say no?” Quackity looks back at him with the most smug face ever, as if he knows exactly what Schlatt will say. He always does.

“I don’t think I’ve ever said no to you actually. Even though that usually ends badly for both of us.”

The ram rolls his eyes and Quackity makes a tsk sound with his tongue, Schlatt running ahead of him to try and clean up his room before they put more in it.

Neither of them were great builders, their minecraft bases could attest to that. So after several youtube videos they finally manage a base.

“Can’t you call, a- a crib builder or something?” Quackity sighs and lays down, making a big show of dropping the screwdriver in his hand.

“Do you want a drink? We only have the rails left and that seems simple enough.” He gets up with a grunt, flinching when his knee pops.

“Do you have caprisuns?” The duck pops back into a sitting position at the promise of a drink.

“If you didn’t finish them last weekend then yeah.” He leaves Quackity and pads out to the kitchen, grabbing alcohol for himself and a caprisun for Quackity. Their drink choices were one of the several things that made them so different. If they could refrain from arguing in front of Tubbo, their differences might make him a balance of the two.

Schlatt hoped the kid would catch on to their good traits. Though sparse, Schlatt and Quackity had at least a few the toddler could copy.

Do toddlers even copy people?

He tosses Quackity the caprisun and sits down, trying not to spit out his drink when Quackity punches the air because the flavor is his favorite.

They manage to finish the crib after another hour and two drinks later, well, Schlatt does. Quackity passes out on Schlatt’s bed 30 minutes in.

So he pushes the crib against the wall across from his bed and flops down next to Quackity, causing the younger to startle awake and hit Schlatt on the chest.

“What- Oh, you’re done?”

“Yeah, no thanks to you.” He teases.

“Oh fuck off! I need extra sleep so I can pass law school.”

They laugh and Quackity lays back on the bed, shoulders pushing against Schlatt.

“Thanks.” He blurts out, and immediately cringes at how genuine he sounds.

“For what?” Quackity moves to lie on his side, facing Schlatt.

“What do you mean ‘For what?’ For helping me with this baby shit!”

“The baby should be the one to thank me for not letting you kill him somehow.”

Schlatt scoffs and pushes him off the bed, Quackity letting out a surprised yell as he falls on the small space between the bed and the crib. Schlatt’s room really wasn’t made for two.

“Goodnight Q, don’t let the bedbugs bite.”

“You have bedbugs?”

“It’s just a say- just go to your room, we have to be up too early for me to deal with this.” Seriously why did the email say the social worker would be here at 7am? He was lucky Quackity didn’t have class tomorrow.

He hopes they pass the inspection, they did not just build that crib for nothing.

Chapter Text

Schlatt wakes up to the smell of smoke. He’s fairly confident Quackity did something stupid to set it off but he still hurries to check. He needed to be awake anyways to finish baby proofing the apartment for inspection.

The ram confirmed his suspicions when he saw Quackity in an apron he didn’t even know he owned waving away smoke coming from a pan with something so burnt Schlatt couldn’t even tell what it was.

“Y’know just knocking on my bedroom door would wake me up, no need to try and burn the damn apartment down.”

“Who knew following Ranboo’s cereal video could go so poorly?”

“That was CEREAL?” Schlatt turns back to his soon-to-be shared room, it was too early to figure out how his friend managed that. Though he’s sure there’s a good story behind it.

He gets dressed and goes to clean up the living room, Quackity focusing on trying to fix whatever crime he committed in the kitchen. They talk while they pick up, Quackity telling him what was happening in law school and Schlatt telling him about how he fell up the stairs.

“You fell UP the stairs?”

“Yes, up the stairs. Do you even listen to-”

They freeze when there’s a knock at the door. Quackity going over and shoving him towards it with a whispered “Charm her.” Before the duck makes himself scarce but thankfully, still in sight if Schlatt should need him.

He opens the door, and looks up at the woman who he assumes is the same one over the phone and steps aside to let her in.

“I’m Leslie, we spoke over the phone, yes?” She holds out her hand, shifting her clipboard further into her side.

He stares at her outstretched hand for maybe too long before realizing he’s supposed to shake it. “Yeah, I’m Schlatt that’s- that’s Alex.”

“Do you want something to drink?” Quackity asks from the kitchen, opening several cabinets looking for the cups. He opens Schlatt’s liquor cabinet and freezes, looking back at him sheepishly mouthing ‘sorry.` towards Schlatt

Schlatt tries to laugh it off, turning back to Leslie who just checks something off on her paper.

“Put a lock on it and you’re fine.” She keeps walking around, telling them a few things they might want to do. Things neither of the boys would’ve thought of like covering the open outlets.

She finishes looking around and all three of them sit at the kitchen table, the social worker passing over a custody form and a file.

“By signing this you’ll be granting custody of Tubbo, the form just needs you to promise you’ll put him in a school and allow the system to make house visits.” She passes him a pen while Quackity takes the manila folder and opens it.

“So Ms. Leslie, tell me what I’m looking at here.” Quackity has his nose almost touching the paper trying to read the small text. At the top is a small black and white photo paper clipped to the page.

“It’s nothing bad, as you can see it’s not very full. Just a few notes about his behavior and his birth certificate.” She reaches over and points at the section labeled ‘Additional comments’ “We’re not sure if he can speak, he has screaming fits over seemingly nothing, and is incredibly shy.”

“What do we do if he really can’t talk?” Schlatt pushed the forms back to her, scooting his chair towards Quackity so they could look at the file together.

“You won’t need to worry about that, he’s been through a lot. He most likely just needs some stability. Somewhere where he feels safe enough to express himself.” She puts the now signed form on her clipboard and stands up. “He just needs someone to make him feel loved, then if that doesn’t work we’ll talk about speech therapy.”

Quackity takes the small photo of Tubbo and puts it on the fridge. “Oh my god Schlatt he has little horns!”

Schlatt walks over to the fridge to get a closer look. Sure enough, even though it’s the grainiest picture he’d seen, the horns were clearly poking through the toddlers head. A hand in his mouth and wide eyes looking right at the camera, the resemblance was there.

“Poor kid, must’ve hurt to get those so early.” It hurt him to know he wasn’t there to help his kid through the painful process of growing horns.

“Remember in middle school when I had to bring you your homework because your horns were always hurting?”

“Don’t remind me.” He shuddered at the thought. He’d rather have a migraine everyday then ever go through the pain of growing horns again.

“I’ll bring him by tonight if that’s alright with you?”

“That’s great, we’ll be here.” Schlatt walks her to the door, they add each other into their respective contact lists before she’s headed back down the apartment stairs.

“She can have him here by tonight? Wow, same day delivery.”

“Didn’t you know? CPS is partnered with Amazon these days.”

“Wait, really?” Quackity slams the fridge closed and looks behind him towards Schlatt.

“No, not really, Dumbass.” Schlatt shakes his head and goes to put Tubbo’s file in the designated important stuff drawer. He hears Quackity shuffling behind him, zipping up his bookbag.

“Oh. Well this dumbass needs to go to class.”

“You’ll be done by tonight right?” Of course the duck would fail to mention he had law school today. Schlatt feels a surge of guilt when he thinks about how much stress he must be causing Quackity. He’s already balancing streaming and school, now Schlatt’s gone and dragged him into this mess as well.

“ ‘Course I will be, gotta meet my new godson.” Schlatt hands him his glasses and he’s out the door with a wave and another promise to be home to see Tubbo tonight.

Schlatt sits on the living room couch, editing a video on his laptop. His hands itch for a cigarette but he really doesn’t want a social worker to smell that on him. That’d be responsible of him, right?

He finishes a new jackbox video and passes out on the couch, only to be woken up by Quackity tossing his unreasonably heavy backpack at him. He wheezes and throws the backpack off his stomach, the books inside hitting against each other with several thuds.

“Judging by how you're sleeping right now, I guess Little T isn't here yet."

"We’re not calling him 'Little T' it doesn't even make sense. It implies there's a big T and last I checked there's only a big Q and a Big man. No T." He sits up fully, putting his elbows on his legs and leaning into his hands. He feels the couch dip as Quackity sits next to him.

"When he's big, he'll be big T, but right now he's little. So… little T."

"I'm not calling him that."

"Suit yourself."

He keeps his eyes closed, and listens to the sound of Quackity turning on the television. He never knew what the duck would play, it was always something different and usually chaotic.

The sound of one of Quackity's intros begins to play and Schlatt laughs and pushes a smug Quackity off the couch.

"Give me that remote, you've lost youtube privileges."

Schlatt leans over the couch and reaches for the remote the now floored Quackity is keeping away from him.

"My videos are not bad, and I will in fact be showing Tubbo every single one of them as soon as he gets here."

He pins Quackity's right arm and grabs the remote. He starts to laugh when he falls off the couch, joining Quackity between the coffee table and the couch.

He grips the remote tightly, careful to keep the remote close to him so the duck couldn't snatch it back. They're both sitting on the floor, facing each other with their knees against the couch base.

It's one of Quackity's older videos, Schlatt lets it play.

Another roblox raid video is about to begin when there's a knock at the door. Schlatt turns off the TV and brushes off his clothes before rushing to answer.

"Hello again." He smiles when he sees the face of the same woman that had come by earlier. He looks down and his eyes widen when he sees Tubbo.

The toddler was dressed in an oversized green button down that- from the looks of it, was buttoned by the boy himself given that it's uneven. Everything looks so big on him and his hair is a mess. There's a red pacifier in his mouth and he's looking at Schlatt with wide brown eyes.

He's handed a black garbage bag. "What- why did you bring up trash? The bins are outside."

"It's not trash." Leslie nods to Tubbo. "It's his belongings."

Quackity comes up to the door. He looks at the trash bag and then to the toddler. "I mean, not what I was expecting but really what was I thinking? Not like he'd have a suitcase."

Schlatt takes the makeshift bag and sets it against the crib in his room.

He walks back out to see Leslie now holding Tubbo against her hip talking to Quackity.

The duck is nodding very seriously and copying the way the woman has her arms. Schlatt is confused about what they're doing till she carefully passes Tubbo to Quackity. His smile reaches his eyes when he manages to not drop the boy.

Tubbo doesn't seem as happy to be held, he's leaning away from Quackity and reaching for Leslie. Whining, and clearly very nervous.

Schlatt couldn't blame him, Quackity wasn't known for being careful with anything. He'd be nervous too in the toddler's situation.

"Careful with my kid, I don't want him to get dropped and then never want to be held again before I even get the chance." He walks past Quackity and Tubbo, headed towards the door. Leslie follows him.

“If it’s too much, you can always give him up.” She looks so serious Schlatt can’t look her in the eyes anymore. “Do what’s best for him, don’t let pride keep him somewhere that isn’t meeting his needs.”

Schlatt wonders if this woman was just that good at reading people or if she gives this speech to everybody. He lies through his teeth when he tells her he’d never be too proud to make the right decision. Everyone who has ever met him will tell you he thinks only with his ego.

She leaves, and as soon as he closes the door he lets out the breath he was holding and goes back to the kitchen.

“He’s light, I read that two year olds were hard to carry.”

“Maybe you’re just strong.”

Quackity readjusts so Tubbo is further up his hip. “You know that’s not true. Should we be worried he’s this light?”

Schlatt reaches his hands out, Quackity awkwardly passes Tubbo over to him. He’s no longer whining but rather is just staring at them both with wide eyes.

“Hey buddy, I know it’s a lot to take in.” He pats Tubbo on the back. “What about some dinner? Get you weighing more with a grilled cheese.”

With the help of Quackity they get Tubbo situated in the tiny booster seat. The duck sits next to the boy, handing a small stuffed animal to keep him occupied while Schlatt cooks.

He makes one for each of them and adds some fruit on the side, setting it down in front of the two before going to sit across from them.

Quackity cuts Tubbo’s into smaller bits while the toddler watches with his hand in his mouth. When Quackity finishes he takes his hands away but Tubbo makes no move to eat on his own.

Schlatt and Quackity exchange a look before the duck picks up a small piece and brings it up to Tubbo’s mouth. Gently prying the toddler’s hand away from his mouth.

Tubbo refuses to eat it. Turning away and putting his hand back in his mouth.
“I promise it tastes better than it looks, I only burned it a little bit.” Schlatt encourages him, before reaching over and taking a small piece of Tubbo’s sandwich and eating it. “See? Now you.”

Tubbo smiles a little but continues to suck on his fingers instead. Quackity and Schlatt continue eating thinking of what to try next. He didn’t want to force the kid to eat it, maybe he just didn’t like that food. Kids can be picky.

“What about some juice? Or-or some apple slices?” Quackity finishes his sandwich and goes over to the fridge taking out an apple and a caprisun.

“Quackity is offering you one of his favorite drinks, you should feel honored Tubs.” Maybe the little ram does, it’s hard to tell what he’s feeling when all he does is stare.

The apple is sliced and placed infront of him and Quackity opens the caprisun before his phone rings. “It’s Karl, I forgot I’m supposed to record with him today. Shit, hold on you two.” He goes to his room, leaving Schlatt alone, sitting across from his kid.

He stares at Tubbo, leaning back and folding his hands on the table. They stare at each other for a moment before Tubbo takes his hand out of his mouth and starts to cry.

Schlatt walks over to him and picks him up out of the seat. “No no no don’t do that don’t uh- don’t cry please?” He bounces him and pats his back but it doesn’t seem to help. The kid buries his head on Schlatt’s shoulder and sobs, and Schlatt cringes from the feeling of his slimy hands on his arm and the noise.

“Oh my god, Quackity!”

Quackity rushes out and relaxes when he sees there’s no danger. Besides the idiot in front of him. But he’s more of a danger to himself. “Maybe he’s bored? I’d cry too if I had to just sit and stare at your ugly face.”

“Bro what the fuck?”

“Just put on some of those weird kids youtube videos! Babies cry, Schlatt. It's like- 90% of what they do.”

And that’s how Schlatt ended up on the couch, watching one of those baby sensory videos with a sniffling toddler who still hadn’t eaten a damn thing.

There’s a rainbow bouncing across a black background with some soft music and for a moment Schlatt finds himself just as glued to it.

Tubbo’s hand is back in his mouth and Schlatt notes he needs to get him something to chew on later, but for now, the poor kid needs a tissue. He leans over to the coffee table to grab one, careful not to disturb the toddler who is currently clinging to his side like a koala.

He wipes his nose, with thankfully no protest from Tubbo. Before taking another tissue and gently wiping the tear tracks away. “It’s gonna be okay, it’s- it’s okay kid.”

Tubbo puts his head against Schlatt's side, and Schlatt props his feet up on the coffee table. Getting comfortable before leaning his head back on the couch.

By the time Quackity was done recording with Karl, which was quite the struggle to do on his laptop, Schlatt and Tubbo were both asleep on the couch. He considers waking them up, but he really didn’t want Tubbo to cry again. So he brings the untouched fruit over to the living room and turns off the TV before bringing his laptop out to the couch and editing quietly next to the two.

He calls it a successful day, after all everyone was alive, right?