Restart (SBI x reader AU)

Escapees

It started as a normal day, the day we escaped. I walked Tubbo to the bus stop down the road and waited there for a bit myself until my bus showed up. I talked to Gray, a friend of mine, on the bus, helping him finish a project. The day dragged on as usual, the droning voices of the teachers nearly putting me to sleep. When I finally got home, I helped Tubbo with his homework before getting on a Discord call with Gray to play Minecraft until around 8 PM, both of us getting off the server to do homework. I had an English project due tomorrow that I worked on for around an hour before moving on to a math page. 

As I listened to my Spotify liked songs on shuffle, I watched the clock tick by, wanting to get to bed before 10 PM.

That's when I heard the crash.

I confusedly pulled out my headphones before walking downstairs to find Tubbo, the remains of a shattered vase at his feet. He had a nasty cut on his left hand, indicating he tried to clean up the mess he made himself. His eyes were filled with tears, clearly scared of Schlatt. If he saw this, poor Tubbo would get more hurt than he already was. 

I grabbed his hand, pulling him away from the glass. We sat down across from eachother as I reached into my pocket to grab the first aid kit I had. As I began to wrap his hands, I said in a whisper, "Are you ok?" I got a small nod in return. Just as I was finishing his bandages and lightly kissing his hand, I heard Schlatt's feet pounding down the hallway. I could tell he was angry by the way he walked. As he came around the corner, I watched as he pulled off his belt, one loop at a time. He clearly knew it was Tubbo's fault, there was no use even trying to change his mind. He was very clearly drunk, I could smell the alcohol from here, more specifically beer. He also wasn't walking quite straight. He must have drank a lot of beer to get this drunk. He was an alcoholic, he had an extremely high alcohol tolerance. 

I stood, pulling Tubbo with me. As we stood next to each other, seeing Tubbo's fear in my peripheral vision, I made a vow to myself.

I'm never letting Schlatt hurt him again.

I looked him in his eyes, putting on a brave face, and nodded. He knew exactly what I meant. He copied me, blinking the tears from his eyes, trying his best to be brave, and nodded back. We turned back to face Schlatt, feeling much more confident. Then, nearly perfectly in sync, we bolted, one to the left, the other to right. We didn't have much room to run, as we were in the entry hall. 

I ran to the left. It had a little, short Ikea shelf that I remembered helping my mom put together. It had six drawers, only four of them open to Tubbo and I, the keys on a little necklace around Schlatt's neck. Three of those were empty, the forth containing a Bible. This man had the fucking audacity to abuse and neglect his children and still have a Bible right in his front entryway. The set of drawers was lightly decorated with a picture of Schlatt, my mother, and I and a few fake flowers. My mother was pregnant with Tubbo in the photo, not knowing she would die not two months later. Schlatt was smiling, genuinely smiling, something I hadn't seen him do in five years, since Tubbo was born. I was around 10 years old in the photo, excited about the prospect of a new family member. 

I remembered the day we took those photos. I was having so much fun talking to the people doing the photoshoot while the design people were getting my mom ready. Schlatt had already been finished with the design stage and was smiling softly at me, waiting for my mother.

I also remembered the day my mother died. She died in childbirth. She died giving birth to Tubbo. So, of course, he was blamed for her death. Schlatt was harsher on him and seemed to hate him because of it.

Anyway, Tubbo ran to the right, towards a coat rack next to the front door and the shattered vase. I heard Schlatt walking toward me and squeezed my eyes shut. Like a coward. Then I heard keys jingle. I opened my eyes to find him furiously fiddling with the keys, opening one of the restricted drawers. Then, to my horror, he pulled a small handgun, cocked it, and pointed it at Tubbo.   

Tubbo tried to run, but tripped, twisting his ankle. He cried out in pain and in fear as he backed to the front door. As Schlatt walked toward him, he squeezed his eyes shut, clearly prepared to die. At this sight, I had a surge of courage, running up to Schlatt, just screaming incoherently. I smacked the gun out of his hand and it went flying. I caught it in the air. I knew those agility classes would come in handy sometime. 

Schlatt grabbed me firmly by the wrist and pulled me to the ground, onto my knees. I threw the gun to the front door. Tubbo opened his eyes, grabbed the gun, shoved it in one of the backpacks next to the door, and immediately closed them again, seeing this sight unfold. Then Schlatt stomped on my hand with his steel-toed boots. I heard a crack and felt a surge of pain go through my hand and up my arm. I kicked at his shin, giving me enough time to escape. "Tubbo!" I screamed. He got the message, quickly scrambling out of his vulnerable position, grabbing his backpack. I grabbed my backpack and his wrist. That didn't help the pain in my hand at all. Luckily, it was my non-dominant hand, so I could still function somewhat. I opened the door quickly, barely letting Tubbo get out before slamming it behind us. 

I looked for a place we could hide, finding a large box. It had a few blankets in it. I remembered that it was from when we fostered a few kittens, just before Tubbo was born. I sat in the box, pulling him onto my lap and shut the flaps above us. I covered his mouth, finding that his face was wet with tears. I heard the front door open loudly, then I heard footsteps stalking toward us. A foot kicked at the box, just happening to hit my injured hand. I held the scream in my throat, not wanting to give us away. Then I heard the menacing pair of feet walk away, slamming the door. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and let my hand fall from Tubbo's face. I almost laughed in delight.

We did it. 

I could tell Tubbo was totally exhausted, even without seeing his face. "It'll be alright Tubs, you can go to sleep." He quickly obliged, surprising me with how quickly he managed it. 

That night, I fell asleep with my brother in my lap against the wall of a cardboard box, yet I felt safer than I had in years.