I'm Sorry, Kid ~ Dadschlatt AU

{16}

Days and days passed, and there was no word from the Pogtopia 'citizens' to the outside world. Nobody in Manburg heard anything for days from them, even Technoblade. Especially Technoblade.

The lack of contact worried Schlatt, to an extent. Sure, it was really fun; knowing how he'd begun to tear that family apart, one person at a time. Phil was gone, it was Techno's turn to be excluded from the rest. Eventually Wilbur would go, and Tommy, and Tubbo would be left, would have to come home to his father for good.

Tubbo.

"Fuck, I coulda killed the kid!" Schlatt exclaimed to nobody in particular, kicking at the leg of his office desk, which made the quiet sound of splitting and splintering in response. More money to be spent, soon. It could wait.

His plan failed. Split the family, Tubbo comes back for shelter. He'd come back to him, and they'd talk the events through, and it'd settle. All would be okay. Father and son, side by side, together again. Like it was 16 years ago, like how it was meant to be.

"But ya fucked it up, time and time again." Schlatt told himself out loud, his back sliding down the wall, "you failed him in the past. Now you came back, made a poor attempt at rebuilding your relationship, and now? Now you scared him away again. He hates you. You tried to order his fucking execution! No, no - you did order the execution, and it worked. Now the kid's with the other 'family' again, and you're alone again..."

The soft clink of metal upon wooden floor. Gulping.

The child was gone, now. Safe in the warmth of a trustable, responsible, smart guy, and his kids. The times of father and so bonding, of playtimes and naptimes...they were gone. Just like that...at the fault of the father himself. 

The usual routine continued, though. He would continue to drink and gamble and scam his way through the days, except it felt wrong. There was a hole. He knew it was the loss of his child, of course he did. But it still felt just as wrong. Despite only being small and a little shit at times, the child meant the world to him. Schlatt was lost without him.

And he was just as lost now. He had genuinley befrended Tubbo, for a lack of words, and he felt the bond begin to respark between them.

But he fucked it up again.

Forcing Technoblade to kill off Tubbo wasn't the smartest choice, looking back on it. His attempt to separate that family ended up with him losing his son again, most likely. Just when Tubbo had found out about the father situation, when they were spending so much time together.

"You idiot." he told himself, wiping his mouth clear from the slight spillage of drink that trickled down his chin. He sat staring at the desk, then the bottle top, then the empty bottle in his hand. "Why do you do this to yourself..." Schlatt asked, the threat of tears holding strong in his throat and behind his eyes.

Suddenly, there was three knocks on the office doors. "Schlatt?"

It couldn't have been, no way would he come back...