Forget me not {DadSchlatt dsmp AU}

Debt

               If you were to ever gather the courage and have the right amount of audacity to ask Schlatt why he drinks as much as he does daily or ask where he got the habit from and/or how, he would either say it was because of partying so much when he was younger and it became a habit or that it was just for just because reasonings or maybe he would even just ignore your question all together with or without a middle finger because all of the excuses he would normally answer with were never the actual real reason why. He was being drowned by debt and can't seem to be able to unbury himself out of it and because of the stress of all that he turned to drinking as his coping mechanism. Sure it was not the best coping mechanisms out there, especially when in debt as alcohol definitely was no where close to cheap, but there really wasn't anything else that worked for him.

He has tried smoking before but that never gave him the full relief he wanted or needed. He still smokes every now and again though but that was only on really rare and stressful occasions, just because it didn't give him that full relief doesn't mean it didn't give him any relief at all. He has and will never dare to try anything with self-harm whether that be with him starving himself or actually causing harm to himself that wasn't internally. That kind of thing scared him because then he would be able to see the damage he was doing to himself. That was one of the last things he wanted to see. He was in denial about how much he was actually hurting himself because he needed to put on a brave face for his son, the light of his life and the only thing that kept him going at this point in time.

Speaking of his son, today Schlatt had taken Tubbo out for a father and son day out adventure. On these rare type of days, that seem to only happen once or twice a month or whenever Schlatt got enough money, the two would walk around the city, stop by to eat at whatever sit-down restaurant that was the younger's choosing, and then maybe stop by at some shops if they have anything interesting that caught one of their eyes and if Schlatt had any left over money from the day.

And so here they were now, walking down a slightly busy sidewalk while holding hand in hand with each other. They had just finished up their dinner at a restaurant of Tubbo's choosing and were on their way back to the comfort of their home when the two passed by one of the newer and freshly opened shops. The shop was a toy shop, filled with different action figures from all sorts of comics and movies, all types of games ranging from card games to board games and all the way to video games, and of course stuffed animals of all varieties. The one toy that caught Tubbo's eye the most was a big stuffed bee plushie that sat on one of the front window shelves for all to see. Bees have always been Tubbo's all time favorite insect, he could rant about them for hours on end if you allowed him so you can imagine his excitement when he first saw the stuffed toy.

He turned back to Schlatt and stopped walking as he tugged slightly on his arm, "Dad, Dad! Look at the bee," he said as he pointed over to the plushie to show his Dad what he was talking about.

Schlatt stumbled back slightly before stopping in his tracks and turned to look down at his son. He raised a brow before looking over to where he was pointing at and only now did he take notice to the new shop. He allowed Tubbo to walk him over to the window of the shop to get a closer look at the toy, smiling slightly at the boys excitement.

He turned and looked back up at the older with a big and excited smile, "Can I get it, please? Pretty, pretty please Dad?"

Schlatt hesitates for a second before looking back up to the toy, noticing that the tag on the bee plushie through the window and it read $38.99. He cringed at the price tag and reached into his pocket to check and see if he had that kind of money on him at that moment. Forty dollars just for a bee plushie? Do people just think that money grows on trees and is just there to grab? If that where the case then Schlatt's life surely would be a whole lot different and so would Tubbo's. He let go of Tubbo's hand for a moment so he could open his wallet, checking to see if he had any cash on him. To his surprise he did in fact have forty dollars in his wallet but he knew in the back of his mind that that forty dollars was supposed to keep them sustained for the next two weeks until his next paycheck.

He sighs and closed his wallet before placing it back in his pocket, glancing down to Tubbo as he took his hand again, "Let's go get a Bee plushie for you, yeah?"

The kid beams, smiling happily with a nod as his tail wiggled before turning on his hooves and leads the way right into the small toy shop. The shop's bell rang above the door as the two stepped in, alerting the cashier of their entry. Both said a quick hello with a wave to the cashier as they passed the counter, getting a quick and small hello back. They walked right over to the shelf full of bee plushies and Tubbo reached up to pick the one he wanted with Schlatt's help to get it down of course.

"Is that the one you want Bud?" Schlatt asks, looking down at him with a soft smile as seeing him happy made him happy.

He nods, looking up at him with a big bright smile as he hugged the toy close to his chest, "Mhm! This is the one I want to take home."

"Alright then, let's go pay then we can go back home," He said as he wrapped an arm around his shoulders to keep him close while walking over to the counter.

The lady at the counter smiled at the two, getting ready to check the two out as Tubbo placed the toy on the counter top, "Find everything you were looking for today?"

"Yeah," Schlatt answered with a nod, pulling out his wallet and pulled out one twenty dollar bill, two five dollar bills, and one ten dollar bills as the young lady rang up the total.

"You're total today is $38.99," She said before being handed the money, counting it out quickly before placing it in the register, "Thank you sir."

Schlatt smiled lightly as Tubbo took back the plushie, "Keep the change, have a good night miss" he said as he placed his now empty wallet back in his pocket and wrapped his arm back around Tubbo, turning on his hooves to leave the building.

"Thank you sir! You as well," She said as the two left, waving with a small smile before turning back to work on and help cash out another customer.

Tubbo started walking back home again beside Schlatt with a big smile as he tightly hugged his new toy close to his chest. Schlatt glanced down to the boy every now and again as they walked, smiling lightly at his son's happiness. If he was happy then so was he, even if he was left with an empty wallet.

Surely no amount of debt could stop him from making his son happy. Right?