jubilee line (schlattbur)

i hate to see you leaving

it had been a few weeks since wilbur first brought schlatt back to what schlatt assumed was his house.

he hated seeing wilbur leave for las nevadas. it was almost every day. and as much as he disliked to admit it, schlatt got lonely. he missed having wilbur's company, especially as their rekindled friendship grew.

schlatt could now properly walk again. wilbur had asked schlatt if he wanted to leave because he could if he wanted, but he said no. schlatt wanted to stay.

and now, since he could walk, he had to do dumb exercises for his leg that wilbur had made up for him. he wasn't supposed to wander too far off in case his leg started hurting far from home.

but schlatt wanted to go far.

he wanted to go to las nevadas with wilbur.

he kicked his legs in the empty space, sat on the edge of a chair. wilbur emerged from the other room, his trenchcoat wrapped sloppily around himself.

he raised an eyebrow in suspicion as schlatt stood up, following him to the door. he turned around.

"what are you doing schlatt?", he asked, resting his hand on the doorknob.

"coming with you."

"hm, let me think about that. no", wilbur stated and left without another word. but schlatt followed.

"go back to the house."

"no."

"right now."

"nope."

"go!"

"you don't tell me what to do."

wilbur whipped around and grabbed schlatt by his chin, pulling him in close.

"oh, but i think i do. i can, and i will, so go back right now", he said through gritted teeth.

schlatt tried to pry wilbur's hand off of his face but it didn't work, and he sighed.

"fine..", he mumbled. wilbur smiled and let go.

"great. now, i'll be on my way."

schlatt waited until wilbur was farther away before continuing to follow him. and somehow, some reason, wilbur never looked back. thought that schlatt would actually listen.

guess he doesn't know schlatt very well. or he's overly self confident.

after a long time the great buildings of the nation rose up, the welcome sign in view. schlatt hid by a tree as wilbur reached the entrance. quackity was there, waiting.

"what takes you so long wilbur? how fucking far do you live away from here?"

"far enough so i have no association with you outside of work", wilbur said with a sly smile.

quackity rolled his eyes and turned around, gesturing to wilbur to follow.

"wait!" schlatt cried out, against his better judgement.

the pair whipped around, both with very different expressions on their faces.

"schlatt?!"
"schlatt!"

the same name spoken at the same time, different tones.

wilbur glared at him with such a look of hatred, schlatt shrunk down a bit.

"why are you here? i told you to go home!", wilbur demanded, having quackity's attention go from the ram to his egocentric companion.

"you knew he was back and you didn't tell me?! what kind of business partner are you!?", quackity now gave wilbur a taste of his own medicine with a homicidal glare.

schlatt slightly limped over to wilbur, latching onto him and looking up into his eyes. wilbur glared back.

"you can't make me go all the way home now, now can you?", schlatt asked, internally smirking.

wilbur sighed and clutched his face with his hand, dragging it down slowly, a look of exasperation on it.

"fine. you can stay."

"excuse me, what?!"

quackity stared at wilbur in shock. "he can't be here! make him go home!"

wilbur gazed at schlatt for a second longer before glancing at quackity. "he's limping, and i'm not letting him go back alone. what if something happens to him?"

quackity rolled his eyes. "you've gone soft, wilbur soot. soft for the wrong person."

wilbur glared at him and didn't get to ask what that meant before quackity went on.

"you may as well go home, because i'm really not in the mood to have that thing in my nation. so please leave."

wilbur stared at him in disbelief for a second before angrily picking up schlatt and carrying him off in the direction they came.

he wouldn't look at or speak to schlatt, which made the latter nervous and twiddle his thumbs.

"are you mad..?", schlatt finally spoke up quietly.

wilbur didn't respond.

"am i in trouble?", he asked.

"what do you think, schlatt? go on and take a guess"

"no?"

"guess again"

schlatt didn't respond, he just looked at the ground.

"look wilbur i'm sorry, i just didn't want to be left behind again. it's all day everyday, by myself, stuck in a little cottage. i hate to see you leaving, knowing i won't see you again until late at night", schlatt just began to pour.

wilbur glanced at him for a second before shaking his head and briefly looking up at the sky.

"look, i get that", wilbur said in a surprisingly soft tone. "i don't like leaving you behind earlier. but you saw how quackity reacted to you. i didn't want him knowing you were back. i'm- i'm scared for you."

"..scared for me?"

he hesitated. "yes."

"you really think quackity would..?"

"try to hurt you, yes. or get someone else to do it. he doesn't much like you and i'm trying my best to make sure you're safe and you stay that way."

schlatt went quiet, looking down again thoughtfully before looking back up into wilbur's eyes.

"i'm really sorry wil."

"i know, i know. now, let's get back to the cottage, and perhaps we can do what you want to do?"

schlatt smiled. "yeah, i'd like that."

wilbur kissed his forehead gently. "great."

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