Heeeey I finally finished the first chapter of my superhero AU! I'm also going to be posting this on AO3 early with additional easter eggs! Mainly little messages you can decode
Tubbo flexed his fingers, double checking to make sure his new suit upgrades functioned and wouldn't have to worry about getting hurt. He took aim with his left arm at some old soda cans he had kept, and frowned when nothing came out of the small dispenser that was supposed to shoot out tiny darts. The brunet removed the armor piece from his arm and opened up the circuit board looking everything over and trying to figure out what was wrong this time.
Tubbo plugged the device into his computer and ran diagnostics, hoping to find out what the problem was. He had been out of action for a week now, and if he didn't get back out on the streets and start helping the heroes again he was never going to make a name for himself! Stupid weird electric villain frying his entire suit.
Suddenly, there was a very loud pigeon outside of his window cooing and ruffling their feathers trying to get his attention. Tubbo simply ignored the bird, focusing on his suit repairs. He then wheeled over to the wall next to his bed on his computer chair, knocking on it.
"Tommy! Your mail’s here!" he watched as the borrower poked his head out of one of the many secret doors in his walls and climbed out running across his bed and heading towards the window.
"It's early today! Have there been any big fights with the heroes and villains in town?" Tommy asked as he used a makeshift ladder to get up to the windowsill crawling out onto the flower bed and opening up the small container on the pigeon's back taking out his mail, he quickly came back inside climbing a short ladder up to one of the shelves that went halfway around Tubbo's room.
Tubbo unlocked his phone screen and started checking the news.
"Nope, there haven't been any fights between heroes and villains today. Maybe something else happened?" He reached up to the end of the shelf that hung over his desk as Tommy jumped off, into his hand.
Tommy started sorting through the mail with a small frown on his face as Tubbo carefully set him down next to the laptop. He let out a deep sigh his ears pinning against his head
"There are more missing people's posters… even worse they're all in green zones!"
"More missing borrowers?" Tubbo used one of the tweezers on his desk to carefully pick up one of the missing flyers, he grabbed his magnifying glass and started reading the paper over. "This is the 40 person? How are that many borrowers going missing and no one's found them?"
"Yeah- five more people just went missing in the middle of the night and no one has any idea what happened, it's starting to get more concerning considering they're going missing in green zones…and two of them were really close to where we are." Tommy continued to go through the other papers looking for some sort of good news and smiled "But! King Karl has finally green lighted adopting stray dogs into the colony in training them to help keep us safe from cats, so if these borrowers just got eaten and no one saw, hopefully people will stop going missing soon!"
'That doesn't really sound any better' Tubbo thought to himself as he went back to working on his suit, he aimed the robotic arm at the soda cans, and finally, one of the small darts that was loaded into it shot out hitting the empty soda can "Yes! Now I'll just have to do a test flight to make sure my wings still work then I can go on patrol tonight-"
Tubbo jumped to his feet as he heard loud screaming outside his bedroom window and the sound of cars crashing, he quickly ran over to the window poking his head outside, and gasped- it was that weird slime villain that had shown up recently! The brunet started suiting up quickly getting into his gear. He can do his test fly right now! Those people outside needed help!
"Tommy-" "On it!" Tommy quickly ran across the desk and climbed into a small hole in the wall disappearing, Tubbo quickly put his helmet on reassured that his small friend would be safe, and climbed out of his bedroom window onto the balcony. The brunette took in a deep breath and activated his wings quickly lifting off into the air, he hovered backward and then quickly took off diving straight towards the slime villain.
Tubbo switched out his antenna for his ram horns and slammed right into the slime villain's chest knocking him to the ground and away from some civilians he had cornered, he quickly backed away having his boots switched to their roller skates as the slime creature slowly got up. Tubbo smiled getting ready to ram into the slime villain again, he had his visor start running a scan on the creature trying to find his weak point.
The brunette jumped back avoiding the creature's slimy hand as it launched it towards him and let out a gurgling noise in annoyance, the slime creature grabbed a nearby bicycle and chucked it at Tubbo almost hitting him in the head. Tubbo's visor finally finished its scan and what it found concerned him.
'Weakness discovered. The small life form in the center of the creature's chest must be removed and the slime will start to lose its consistency' "What is the small life form?" Tubbo asked quickly dodging another bicycle that was thrown at his head 'It appears to be a borrower. No hybrid traits detected.' How the fuck did a borrower do Slime-kinesis!? Fuck could the poor guy even breathe in there!?
Tubbo pointed his right arm to the ground as a Long blade emerged from it and ran forward, slicing straight down the outside of the creature's chest and removing the flimsy fabric that wrapped around its chest, the blade quickly disappeared as he pulled his arm back and quickly punched right in the middle of the giant slime creatures chest. Tubbo pressed his feet against the flying creature's chest as he got a hold of the small borrower and started desperately trying to pull them out.
"Let. Them. Go." Tubbo demanded as he activated the boosters on his boots and sent himself flying backward from the slime as it started dissolving and slowly dripping into the sewer grates nearby, he held the borrower close to his chest as he tried catching his breath and the loud cheers of the civilians around him rang. When Tubbo heard the nearby police sirens he quickly took off into the air and started making his way towards Kinoko Park.
The brunette gently rubbed the borrower’s back with his thumb as they flew through the air trying to lose the cops. Tubbo really hoped the poor guy was still alive- prime he really hoped they were alive.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tubbo quickly walked down the street towards his aunt's bakery keeping his left hand in his pants pocket and resting his thumb on the borrower's chest so he could keep track of their breathing, he slowly opened the door making sure the bell attached to it didn't go off and started making his way upstairs. The brunette reached for the doorknob of his room as a hand reached out and grabbed his shoulder.
"Tubbo Underscore Fluff." Tubbo slowly turned his head, already cowering as he looked into his aunt Niki's eyes "Where the hell have you been? Hm? Did you by chance go outside to get a closer look at the villain that was out there today?"
"Whaaat? Mee? Pfff- no! No, I would never do that! That's so dangerous and I could get seriously hurt aND WHY ARE YOU PICKING ME UP!?" Tubbo started squirming as his aunt picked him up and started carrying him downstairs towards the kitchen, he spotted Fundy and Jack walking into the bakery also equally looking pissed off at him. Oh yeah, he's in trouble.
"Do you know how worried we were!? Jack and Fundy, we're running up and down the streets for an hour trying to find you!" Niki finally set Tubbo down in one of the stool chairs by one of the taller tables in the bakery "Now tell me the truth of where you were or I swear to prime above you will never leave this house again!"
Tubbo stared down at the ground trying to think of some kind of excuse but only had one idea come to mind, he took a deep breath and looked up at Niki "I did follow the heroes when they went after the slime creature…I-I just wanted to try and help…"
Niki pinches the brain over her nose looking away from Tubbo "Why do you have to be so much like her..?" She walked into the kitchen waving at Fundy and Jack "Make sure he doesn't run off while I make dinner, Tubbo you can head back to your room." Tubbo quickly stood up and hugged Fundy and Jack as an apology and then quickly ran up to his room, closing and locking the door behind him.
"Tommy, come out I need your help. I found a hurt borrower." Tubbo said out loud as he knocked on the wall behind his desk and carefully pulled the unconscious borrower out of his pocket, he grabbed a small pillow from his bed and set the unconscious borrower down on it as Tommy ran out of the walls with a Medicaid and started looking the borrower over.
"He seems ok, a few small bruises but besides that he's okay! Where did you find him?" Tommy asked as he started bandaging up one of the bigger bruises on the borrower's arm.
"You're not going to believe this big man but he was inside of that slime monster on the street earlier today, for some reason the slime was sticking together and using him as an anchor to stay solid." Tubbo explained as he turned on his laptop and activated the tracker on his gear he had ditched in the park, he reached into his drawer and opened a small bag of Cheez-Its putting them next to the small pillow Tommy and the mysterious borrower were. "Do you recognize that borrower at all? What if he's one of the borrowers that went missing recently?"
"Hmm let me go see!" Tommy climbed off of the pillow running over to the roll up drawer that had a small ladder inside of it and climbed up into his private investigating area, he went over to his small bulletin board with all the missing peoples' pictures and started trying to find a match between the mysterious borrower. Tubbo slowly lifted up the wooden frame that looked like other drawers on the dresser looking inside of Tommy's private room.
Tommy inspected each and every single missing borrower poster not finding a match for the unknown borrower, he walked over to the edge of his hidden room and shook his head looking up at Tubbo. "There aren't any posters for him missing, maybe he just fell into a bunch of weird slimy goo and gave it sentience?"
"I don't think that's how it works but it is a possibility, how long do you think he's going to be unconscious?" Tubbo asked as he looked over at the sleeping borrower, noticing as their chest started rising and falling a bit quicker than normal.
"Oh they're already awake, they're just pretending to be unconscious!" Tommy confirmed to Tubbo, noticing that he could also see the borrower's horrible attempt at hiding his panic, the two watched the borrower suddenly set up right, looking at Tommy like he was an absolute idiot.
"What the fuck are you doing kid-" the unknown blonde borrower asked squinting his eyes at Tommy.
"Have you not realized the two of us live together? Like we literally share this room together and obviously have known each other for a while?" Tubbo asked in a quiet voice, doing his best not to start all the borrowers.
"Shut it human, this is a discussion between borrowers!" The blonde yelled as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pair of handmade glasses that had a crack on one of the lunges, he quickly put the glasses on and slowly stood up on the pillow marching his way over to the ladder and climbing up into the small room Tommy was in.
Tubbo looked over at Tommy seeing if he needed any help and gave the brunette a thumbs up letting him know it was fine and it was okay if he left the room so they had some privacy to talk, Tubbo nodded his head and closed the small room off is he stood up and walked out of his room starting to head downstairs to see if dinner was ready.
Fundy stood at the bottom of the stairs holding a large and heavy looking double bag under his arm and having his usual annoyed look on his face, Tubbo reached the bottom of the stairs and held his arms out taking the heavy double bag.
"I didn't ask you to go get my gear…" Tubbo mumbled out as he looked down at the ground trying to avoid Fundy's eyes.
"Oh I'm sorry, do you want your stuff to get stolen? You know what kind of dirt bags would love to get their hands on equipment like that." Fundy stated as he crossed his arms glaring down at Tubbo "I agreed to keep this a secret from Niki and help you run around and pretend to be a hero but that doesn't mean I'm going to let you get away with being irresponsible."
Tubbo just rolled his eyes quickly, taking the double bag up to his room and placing it on The ground inside, leaving as quickly as he had reentered, he could hear the other borrower yelling at Tommy but knew his friend could handle it. He quickly made his way back over to Fundy glaring at him a little "Look I was a bit in a rush to get back here- plus I left it in Kinoko Park, literally no scumbags hang out around there so it would have been fine for a few hours."
"Yeah yeah sure, you still shouldn't be leaving your gear out in the open and random areas where people can steal it." Fundy started making his way towards the kitchen, obviously wanting to end the argument there, Tubbo simply grumbled to himself as he grabbed two plates out of the cupboard and handed one to Fundy. Man, sometimes he really didn't like his cousin.
"Tubbo- oh you're already down here that's good, help yourself to what's on the stove and come eat in the dining room with me and Jack." Niki said as she poked her head into the kitchen and then quickly headed back out to the dining room to eat her dinner, Tubbo patiently waited for Fundy to go and waited until he was out of the kitchen to reach back into the covered area, grabbing a much smaller plate.
Tubbo put a small bit of Tommy's favorite foods from dinner onto the plate and hid it behind the large sugar jar so Tommy could safely get the food and not be in danger of being seen, hopefully his friend would still have an appetite after being lectured.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" Charlie, the mysterious borrower from earlier, yelled at Tommy as he paced back and forth, absolutely flabbergasted and basically foaming at the mouth. "Are you stupid or something!? Did you hit your head and forget the ru-"
"No, I haven't forgotten the rules." Tommy started glaring at the blonde haired borrower and watching as he walked over and started yelling again.
"THEN WHY ARE YOU LIVING WITH A HUMAN!? A HUMAN OF ALL GIANTS! COULDN'T YOU HAVE AT LEAST CHOSEN A HYBRID!?" Charlie screeched as he took a few steps away from Tommy. It took in a few deep breaths trying to come down. "How long have you lived with this human? 2 years? 3 years?"
"More like 10 years now." Tommy started watching as the borrower slowly turned around and looked over at him absolutely horrified and disgusted.
"... Say psych right now there is no way you've lived that long with a human and you're not dead yet." Charlie stated as he walked over to Tommy and grabbed him by the shoulders "Tell me the truth right now kid this isn't funny."
"I am telling you the truth! Geez what is with you older borrowers and not listening to us younger ones it's sooo annoying!" Tommy complained as he pushed Charlie away and walked over to a small door opening it up and climbing into the walls, he followed the chalk symbols on the walls slowly making his way towards the kitchen and not really waiting for the older borrower.
Charlie didn't really say anything as they walked through the tunnels flinching a few times when you heard the other humans in the house laugh or talking a bit louder then the borrower must have not been used to, once they got to the kitchen Charlie walked out first forcing Tommy to stay in the walls a bit as he checked to make sure there were no humans there.
"...Tubbo is keeping them distracted for us we don't need to-" Tommy but suddenly stressed by the older borrower as he poked his head out from behind the sugar jar, man having this guy around was going to be a pain.
Charlie finally nodded his head deciding that it was safe and gave Tommy a thumbs up telling him that it was safe to come out now, the blonde rolled his eyes as he walked over to the small plate of food and started putting it into his bag knowing he probably wouldn't be allowed to just eat out in the open.
"I grabbed some food for you too so we can go, I'll show you where my home is in the walls." Tommy explained as he headed back into the walls and patiently waited for Charlie to join him, he watched as the borrower nervously checked to the door making sure it was properly closed and no one would notice the small cracks and lines that reveal the small piece of wood. This borrower definitely had some bad interaction with humans.
The two borrowers started walking down the tunnel traveling in silence until Charlie finally spoke up.
"...The human really does care about you huh? The food was hidden in a really good spot where we wouldn't be seen and there was way more than enough for at least four borrowers, do the other humans in the house know about you?"
Tommy shook his head as he rounded a corner and started climbing up an old rope ladder that led to the top floor, he went slowly making sure not to shake the ladder as Charlie started climbing up behind him. "Nope! He understands I don't really want to meet the other humans in the house, plus he understands pretty well why humans can't know about us existing so he's never really asked me to meet the other humans."
"Huh I'm surprised a human actually understands that…you got really lucky kid." The way Charlie said that made Tommy concerned, as if he knew from experience how some Humans could be.
"Yeah I did…have you ever known humans before-"
"No. I haven't." Charlie answered quickly, cutting Tommy off as they reached the top of the ladder and continued their walk towards the blonde's home, Tommy tried thinking of a new conversation knowing for a fact they weren't going anywhere with that.
"Do…do you have somewhere safe to go Charlie? A lot of the districts have changed in safety and there's been a lot of missing cases. I can help you get two Kinoko Park if you want to go there." Tommy asked as he held the curtain to his home open watching Charlie walk over to his kitchen table and headed into the kitchen grabbing two plates for their food.
Charlie didn't answer obviously deep in thought as he slowly started to eat once the plate of food was set down in front of him. Tommy sat down across from him as he also started to eat patiently waiting for an answer.
"...How many borrowers are missing now?" Charlie finally asked, looking over at Tommy.
"40 are missing now, 12 from red districts and 28 from green districts. Two recently went missing near here…" Tommy answered as he finished up his own food "There's no residue of them being eaten by cats or hawks and none of them were in areas where a frog could have gotten them, they've just completely disappeared without a trace."
Charlie took a deep breath and let out a long sigh "Ok…I'm going to help you find those borrowers."
Tommy's ears perked up at that as he slowly stood up a smile on his face and his tail flicking back and forth "You well? Oh my prime- are you one of the borrowers that went missing? You must be someone that wasn't registered-"
"There's 60 borrowers missing. I…I remember I was taken with 20 other borrowers, we were slowly collected over the course of a few days I think in a red district." Charlie explained staring down at the table and looking like he was pained to remember any of this.
Tommy gathered up the dirty dishes and started walking towards the kitchen "That sounds absolutely horrible…we should go report this to King Karl-"
"No!" Charlie yelled, quickly grabbing the blonde's arm and causing one of the plastic plates to fall to the ground "No. We can't tell anyone in the colony about this yet, if they find out someone is purposely capturing us they might send out more borrowers to investigate. I would just result in more people getting captured!"
Tommy shook his arm free from the borrower, his raccoon ears pinning against his head as he protested "But- but we can't just not do something! 5 kids were recently taken- kids Charlie!"
"Yes but if these people get their hands on more borrowers they might eventually find the colony. I don't fully remember what they did to me but they're the reason I was in that weird slime stuff, the best we can do is just gather evidence and find out what they're doing on our own." Charlie tried reassuring Tommy as he took the dirty plates from the kid and headed towards the small kitchen. "Please think logically about this kid, we can't risk more borrowers going missing."
Tommy stood in the middle of the dining room slowly making his way over to the door that let out Tubbo's room, he called over his shoulder saying that he was going to step out for a minute and find out onto the bookshelf right above his best friend's bed.
A few minutes later Tubbo thankfully came back into the room walking into his closet and quickly changing into his pajamas heading over to his bed and flopping down onto it, Tommy quickly jumped down from the bookshelf landing on a pillow right next to Tubbo's head and climbed up onto the human's forehead sitting down on it.
"You ok Tommy?" Tubbo asked as he did his best to look up at his small friend.
"No…can I stay with you tonight? The new borrower is going to be staying here for a bit but I kind of want to stay close to you with how many borrowers have been going missing." Tommy explained as he leaned over looking into one of Tubbo's eyes.
The brunette slowly reached up wrapping his hand around Tommy's abdomen and slowly bringing him down to his chest holding his clothes to it and slowly curling around the borrower, Tommy closed his eyes slowly starting to fall asleep.
"You'll be safe Tommy, I won't let anything take you from me." Tubbo said in a sleepy voice as he patted Tommy on the head "See you in the morning big man."
With that Tommy quickly fell asleep hugging one of Tubbo's fingers and genuinely feeling safe, well Tubbo slowly climbed out of his bed and got onto his laptop starting to do some research. He was going to keep his promise and make sure nothing could ever take Tommy from him.
Tubbo was never going to let anything else take his family from him.
Tommy already did that with Charlie on the OSMP, when he was like half size Tommy just cooed and awed at him.,, on my knees begging for soft G!Tommy content.,
MORE EVIDENCE THAT THIS KID CAN AND WILL AWE OVER TINIES! HE HAS ALREADY DONE SO
TOMMY SEES LITTLE PERSON AND IS IMMEDIATELY THE HAPPIEST PERSON ALIVE AND GOES THE SOFTEST POSSIBLE
There is a bee hive- and Tubbo absolutly loves to hang around the bees there, and on several occasions has made Tommy go inside to get bees.... Which doesn't always end well
At some point the zoo got a baby panther and Ranboo was able to name them Enderchest :3
There was only ever one time that Tommy was left completely alone at the zoo- and after that everyone regretted it as he lead an army of animals to "attack" the humans as a prank-
The biggest bonding experience Tommy and Techno have is sneaking into the polar bear exibit to cuddle with Steve and take naps (no Wilbur and Philza totally don't have pictures, what are you talking about- 👀)
None of the humans actually know about Tommy's Borrower tunnels, they just think that he's really good at hiding and getting around- until he tells Wilbur, to which the vet was very surprised that he was the first human Tommy trusted enough with this knowledge and not Philza
Although Wilbur loves Friend, and lines to hang out with Tommy- he does not want to be around both at once, not since that one time when Tommy fell down into her wool and got lost for an entire day-
When the holidays finally arrive, all the humans offer to let Tommy come home with them until they open the zoo back up- but he promptly declines, both not fully trusting them (the first time holidays time arrived) and not wanting to leave his home- so instead the humans show up at the closed zoo to celebrate with Tommy
Although Schlatt and Quackity lost one Borrower for their zoo- they soon gain another... two actually!!! Charlie and Sneeg- two crime Bois that are ready and reporting for duty to be the bestest spies!!!! >:3
In your Dads Troubles charlie and schlatt story, it was mentioned that charlie was introduced to the idea of being eaten when he walked in on schlatt eating tubbo, and i just wanna know- how did he react??
Like, did he freeze in shock? Did he faint?? Or maybe he screamed and started running for the tunnels?? Or less likely but even better, what if he started yelling and fighting schlatt to get him to spit tubbo out? Like im losing my mind over this, i have to know how they managed to explain that to him and how he had to cope with the idea that everything he thought was kind of sort of a lie.
- the-sussy-imposter2
OHHHH GOOD QUESTION
I think he would fight. He was raised with the very basic “be scared of humans” rule that all borrowers were, but unlike almost everyone in his colony, he never had a personal bad experience with borrowers. His first time meeting a human was Schlatt and Schlatt gave him a kazoo.
All this to say that his fight or flight when it comes to humans is 110% fight because he doesn’t truly comprehend how dangerous humans actually can be.
Charlie is also fucking feral. I like to imagine that before joining the colony in the apartment he was an outside borrower, the kind to physically wrestle a squirrel for an acorn. He has no self preservation. He is surviving on luck, upper body strength, and sheer stubbornness.
I very much think that Charlie would find some way to try and attack Schlatt; like i think he’d see Tubbo get swallowed (probably at night cause he likes to sleep in Schlatt’s stomach when it gets cold) and Charlie would lie in wait until Schlatt fell asleep then climb to his face to try and trigger his gag reflex. Then after that fails and he wakes Schlatt up comes all the kicking clawing and screaming about faking everything and killing his own son. And it’s effective, 1: because Charlie is crazed and 2: because he’s got the kind of tail that’s basically a 5th limb, so i imagine him carrying like a stick with it and just smacking Schlatt in the eyes lol.
Schlatt, to his credit, is smart enough to know that nothing he’s gonna say in that moment is gonna change Charlie’s mind and frankly he doesn’t wanna deal with Tubbo’s whining if he spits him out since he’s already asleep. So he does the next best thing and calls Quackity, telling him to get Tommy. I mentioned in like one post from 2 years ago that once, while Tommy was really tired, Tubbo kinda coerced him into agreeing to get nommed with him, and I think this whole situation would be after that happened. So Charlie gets jarred™ while Schlatt makes that call and starts putting neosporin on the scratches Charlie left.
Tommy eventually shows up and explains that not only is Tubbo fine, he actively seeks out getting eaten, and Tommy himself has been nommed multiple times and vouches for its safety. Charlie tries to apologize but Schlatt is more laughing at the absurdity of it and apologizing that he hadn’t told Charlie prior since he never knew how to bring it up. He brushes off the apology since if Charlie had seen that and chosen not to do anything, he probably would have been more upset. After all, he wants people around who care about Tubbo, especially other borrowers. He knows that he’s not everything Tubbo needs; he doesn’t know enough about his son’s species to teach him any sort of culture or how they navigate the world. Charlie does: he knows the rules of being an indoor and outdoor borrower, and he’s one hell of an uncle. Tubbo loves him, and Charlie clearly loves him back.
sorry i don’t have anything that new or special for vore day, but i do have a scrapped concept alt story for the most recent Schlatt and Charlie fic!
this is heavily unedited and ends where I gave up and kinda restarted, but a lot is still the same so i’ll mark where it’s different with *** at the beginning and end for those who don’t feel like re-reading this whole thing again lol
happy vore day y’all!
“I still don’t think it’s a good idea.” “I know, but, c’mon…we have to tell him eventually.”
Charlie sat on Schlatt’s living room table, the human leaning his head on his palm to be at a closer level to the borrower he was talking to. This was the same conversation they’d been having on and off for months now: should Ted be let in on the secret that Charlie wasn’t human. Obviously, there was a clear answer for them: eventually. Now, when ‘eventually’ actually was…that was a different problem.
“Do I need to remind you what happened the first and only time you met him in person?” Schlatt asked, to which Charlie just groaned. “You have to bring up the fish thing every time, don’t you? Cause yeah, I remember almost drowning, thank you very much.” “It’s more so the principle that he would throw you out a fuckin window, but you get my point. He clearly doesn’t see you as a person.” As much as Schlatt always hated to think about that, it was something him and Ted could never agree on. Ted was of the opinion that borrowers were basically just bipedal rats, and nothing Schlatt had done to convince him otherwise had worked. “But what if I changed that?” Charlie challenged, standing to pace the space in front of Schlatt. “He knows me, he’s known me for years. We’re friends, fuck, I’d say the three of us are best friends! There’s no way he’d just forget all of that the second he sees what height I am, right?” He finished, looking up at Schlatt with something akin to fear. Like he wanted Schlatt to tell him he was right, that it would all work out. But he couldn’t, because didn’t have an answer to what Ted would do. Schlatt sighed. “Honestly, I don’t kn-“
The doorknob to the apartment shook. It was locked, Schlatt always locked it when it was just him in the apartment. Schlatt and Charlie froze. Was Quackity trying to get in? Cause he wasn’t supposed to be home for a good few more hours, hence the door being locked. They were both absolutely silent, waiting for any confirmation that it was their mutual friend, until they heard a few utterances of cursing from behind the locked door.
“God fucking damnit, where are the keys Schlatt gave me-“
Ted.
~~~
Shit, shit. Schlatt’s had totally forgotten he gave Ted a space pair of keys for when he was visiting. Fuck, fuck, what the fuck should he do with Charlie? He heard the key turn in the lock. All of the borrower tunnels were too far away for the remaining few seconds he had till Ted walked in. There’d be no disguising that he was talking to Charlie. Charlie, who was part of a species that Ted believed couldn’t talk. He wouldn’t be able to explain himself. He heard a creak as the door started to open. Did he have a pocket? Shit, no, he had a crew neck and the pockets on his jeans were too tight and small for Charlie to fit in. There was only one other option he could think of. Fuck. Charlie, like him, had been frozen from shock this whole time. That would probably make this easier. He quickly lowered himself down and tried to grab Charlie to shove him in his mouth. *** “Schlatt!” He heard Ted shout, and suddenly, without warning, Charlie moved. Frantically, almost blindly running at him with no warning and accidentally hitting his hand in the process, and everything went to shit. ***
~~~
Oh no. Speak of the devil. Ted. God dammit, why did he have to show up right when he and Schlatt were talking about him. And why did Schlatt even give him a spare key? He heard the key turn in the lock. Ok, fuck, how the fuck was he supposed to get out of this one? He didn’t have time to run, he wasn’t naive enough to believe that. And contrary to how often he joked about the window thing, it was actually a pretty horrifying experience that he would not like to relive.
He heard a creak as the door started to open.
Shit, what should he do? What could he do?! He was out in the open, nowhere to run and nowhere to hide unless Schlatt had pockets or- wait. Schlatt. Schlatt…himself could be a place to hide. He’d seen Tubbo do it, that had been a long fuckin conversation after walking in on that, but it was safe. Probably a hell of a lot safer than being anywhere near Ted. But was he really willing to end up down his best friends throat? “Schlatt!” He heard Ted shout and, apparently, he was.
***
He broke free from his panicked state and immediately sprinted towards Schlatt, planning to climb his shirt to his mouth and just hoping to god Schlatt would get the hint. However, he apparently hadn’t noticed that Schlatt had the same idea as him. “Schlatt?” Ted asked. Charlie ran full speed smack into Schlatt’s hand that had apparently been reaching to pick him up, practically flipping over it by accident and smacking sideways into Schlatt’s mouth but not quite at the right angle to fit in it.
The door clicked closed, Ted was in the room with them.
Schlatt barely caught him, but Charlie had barely realized he’d almost fallen, continuing to claw desperately towards his hiding spot. He was in full fight or flight mode now, and nothing was gonna break him out of it until he knew he was away from Ted. Schlatt used one hand to keep Charlie from falling and the other to try and shove however much of Charlie he could into his mouth.
“Are you ok, man?” Ted asked, coming closer.
After Schlatt finally managed to finally get some of Charlie in, Charlie triggered his gag reflex by accident, causing Schlatt to have to shove the rest of the borrower into his mouth despite being unable to breathe so that Ted wouldn’t see him, and Charlie to be sent down head first and still mostly dry.
***
~~~~~
“Schlatt!” Ted yelled, running over to see Schlatt holding his throat, unable to breathe. Oh thank god Schlatt had been facing away from the door throughout all of that. Ted went to wrap his arms around him to perform the heimlich, but Schlatt was thankfully aware enough to push him away at the last second. Unfortunately, that move sent Schlatt crashing into the floor. Ted rushed over again, worry plastered on his face as Schlatt held up a hand, signaling to stop. So, Ted did just that, running off to do god knows what. *** Schlatt, meanwhile, could feel Charlie get stuck just a short way before he stopped blocking his windpipe. Schlatt pushed at his throat, swallowing frantically, pounding at his chest, anything to get Charlie down faster. He didn’t realize just how much…bigger Charlie was than his son. Charlie was a grown man, and tall by borrower standards, too. Compare that to Tubbo who was short by all standards and Schlatt realized he may have bitten off more than he could chew. Charlie, to his credit, also seemed to be trying to help by attempting to squirm his way down. Schlatt’s doubted this was any more fun for the borrower than for him. The difference was that Charlie could breathe [probably] and Schlatt could not. Or, well, he hoped he could.
It was when Schlatt was starting to black out that Ted came back with a glass of water, not even giving Schlatt time to process it before forcefully opening his mouth and pouring it down his throat, giving Schlatt the ability to swallow Charlie down farther and finally unblock him from his windpipe. Schlatt fell to the ground again with a gasp, trying to drag as much air into his lungs as humanely possible. He placed a hand on his chest and finally, fucking finally, felt Charlie make his way closer towards the stomach. He dissolved into a coughing fit on the floor, Ted slowly lowering himself to sit next to him. Schlatt wasn’t even gonna try to explain anything to Ted yet, though. Not until Charlie ended up where he needed to be and he could stop worrying.
He did his best to keep a poker face while he felt a much heavier weight than usual drop into his stomach. He really hadn’t thought about how much bigger Charlie was than Tubbo, but it was more noticeable now than ever. He was expecting to feel Charlie sit up or reposition himself, but…nothing. Schlatt only had time to worry for a second before he was snapped out of his shock with a hand clap onto his shoulder, snapping his attention back to what was happening on the outside. *** “Schlatt, you with me, man?” “..Yeah! Yeah, I’m, uh, I’m fine.” Right, he had an act to put on for Ted. “What the fuck were you choking on?” “Oh nothing, so, what brings you here?” Schlatt asked, trying to redirect the conversation. He didn’t know what excuse he would use for that shit show if he needed one, but he doubted he’d be able to convincingly lie to Ted about it with Charlie right there listening. But it wasn’t like he could say the truth. ‘Sorry about that Ted, I was choking on our third podcast member because he’s scared you’ll hurt him but don’t worry, he’s in my stomach now so he’s safe from, again, exclusively you.’ Yeah, no.
“Well, I came over to surprise you. Didn’t think you’d almost die or something.” Schlatt chuckled a bit in response. “Yeah, well, I didn’t expect anyone to break into my apartment.” Schlatt stood, silently thankful for Ted helping him up as he adjusted to the added weight in his middle. *** He felt Charlie sway a bit as he stood but other than that, again, nothing. He resisted the urge to press in on himself to feel for anything, even just breathing. He couldn’t break character yet; he had to assume Charlie was playing it safe by just not moving. “You down here for any reason other than to scare me half to death?” Schlatt said, pacing over to his fridge under the guise of grabbing food while he silently felt for any signal from Charlie now that his back was turned to Ted. “Yeah, actually.” Ted said, leaning against the counter that separated the living room from the kitchen.
Schlatt hummed to pretend he was paying attention while pressing into his stomach a few quick times. Short short long. Long long long, long short long. ‘U-O-K-?’ He knew Charlie could translate it, he was the one that taught Schlatt Morse code. He was waiting for two taps back; their signal for yes. Hell, he’d even take one tap for no, something. Hopefully, Charlie would get the hint that it was ok to move. He’d respond. He would know he was fine, Ted didn’t suspect anything. But if he didn’t respond for much longer, they’d have a very different problem on their hands.
“…Schlatt?” Ted questioned, again snapping Schlatt out of his worries again. Right. The act. “Sorry, must’ve zoned out,” Schlatt responded, grabbing a bottle of juice out of his fridge and turning back to Ted. “What were you saying?” “I was saying I’m here for a reason. You’re not the only one of my friends in the area, but surprise! I’m staying down here for a few months to do content!” Ted looked to Schlatt expectantly, and Schlatt did his best to ignore the sinking feeling he had about Charlie and be happy for Ted, but he was sure his smile looked forced. He grabbed a few glasses and filled them. “That’s great, man! Sounds like it’ll be fun.” “That’s the goal.” Ted answered, taking a sip of his. “Do a couple collab videos, some vlogs, it’ll be sick-” “Mhm.” Schlatt responded while Ted continued talking, taking a drink of his own. Final test. If this wouldn’t get Charlie to do something, anything, then something was wrong. He waited a few seconds, even taking another drink, until-
Something. Quick, barely there. Schlatt couldn’t even be sure he hadn’t imagined it, but then there was something else. Movement, fucking finally. He tried communication again; Short short long. Long long long, long short long. He waited a few seconds, up to a minute, until, finally…he felt two weak taps back. ***
~~~~~
*** Charlie woke up bleary eyed and nauseous, his head pounding like he’d been hitting it against a wall. He was also in complete darkness, though even if there was any light, he doubted he’d be able to see much with how unfocused he could tell his eyes were. Not having his glasses didn’t help. Shit, where were his glasses? He reached out to the ground beside himself, searching the surroundings only to finally register the weird feeling of the floor and the fact that he was in a puddle of liquid up to his chest. Oh yeah, and the minute movement of the space around him as he touched the ground. He shifted himself more into a sitting position and felt around on the other side of him, finally finding and grabbing his now goo covered glasses. The place moved again, and now the walls started to press in, splashing the liquid up around him. Really, that should have scared him a lot more than it did, and probably would have if he hadn’t immediately recognized the communication attempt. “You ok?” Schlatt was asking, and Charlie could have laughed at the absurdity of it. Schlatt. Right, that’s what was going on. He was inside his giant best friend. He got stuck headfirst down Schlatt’s throat, he must’ve passed out from the blood rushing to his head before he ended up here. And ‘here’…was the stomach. Holy shit, he was actually in a human’s stomach, something a few years ago he’d have only thought possible in the horror stories he’d been told as a kid. How the hell was this his life.
Still, though, he wasn’t dead. He wasn’t in any danger, didn’t need to worry about getting seen. He…was ok. A lot more ok than he thought he’d be. Migraine ridden, blind, wet, and uncomfortably humid, of course, but ok nonetheless. So, he tapped back twice, leaning forward to the wall where the pressing from Schlatt had been coming from in order to better hear whatever conversation was happening outside.
~~~~~
Charlie was ok. Holy fuck, Schlatt could have cried with relief. He didn’t kill his best friend, that was a weight off his shoulders. “I did want to talk with you about something though, just to get your opinion on it.” “Sure, what’s up man?” Schlatt said, attention fully on Ted for the first time in this whole conversation. “It’s about Charlie.” ***
Schlatt froze, and he could feel Charlie tense up. “Uh…what about him?” “I just, i don’t know…it’s hard to explain.” Ted frustratedly motioned with his hands and tried to explain more before sighing. “Did i do something wrong?” Ted said, a genuine look of confusion and hurt in his eyes. “Everytime we talk, it’s fine. We’re friends, and we have been for a while, and I know he’s on the same page as me. But any time I ask him anything vaguely personal, even if it’s just shit like his hair color or mcdonald’s order or fucking anything, it’s like we’re back to being strangers. Like I don’t have the right as his friend to know shit like that. The only thing I know about him is his first name and honestly? It wouldn’t even bother me if he wasn’t so close with you.” Schlatt hadn’t expected that, and from what he could tell of Charlie relaxing and moving forward to hear more, he hadn’t expected it either. “Ted, you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just…well, for one, Charlie has known me for a lot longer than he’s known you. Of course he’s more comfortable with me. But it’s not that he doesn’t trust you or anything. I promise he considers you one of his best friends. Even when it’s just us talking, he’s never said anything about you that would imply anything else.” “It’s not that I don’t believe that, but I just…sorry, maybe I’m being selfish here. If he doesn’t want to meet me it’s not my business to pry, it’s just something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently.” Ted finished, staring down at his hands. Schlatt…wasn’t sure where to go from there. He felt horrible for keeping such a massive secret from one of his oldest friends, especially about something that’d clearly been causing so much inner turmoil, but he couldn’t betray Charlie like that.
“Schlatt, can you hear me?” Charlie suddenly interjected. Schlatt tapped twice for confirmation and Charlie continued. “Ok, then i’m gonna need you to repeat after me, got it?” Schlatt tried not to let the confusion he felt read on his face for Ted to see, but he tapped twice again anyway. He sat in silence for a few seconds before Charlie took a deep breath and started talking.
“But, y’know, Charlie and I were talking about doing something with the podcast soon. We were gonna bring it up to you later, but since you’re in town we could move it up.” Schlatt repeated, and Ted looked up, puzzled. “What were you thinking?” Charlie paused again breathing deeply, though Schlatt could feel his tail swaying in anxiety. However, when he finally spoke up, his voice read nothing but confidence. “We were thinking we could do a few in person recordings.”
Schlatt froze. Had Charlie said what he thought he said? No way in hell was he serious. “Repeat it, Schlatt. I’ve thought it through, i mean it.” Holy shit he was serious. And so, he repeated. God, he wished that Charlie had been able to see the look of utter shock on Ted’s face. “You’re joking.” He said, and Schlatt shook his head while waiting for the next prompt. “Charlie wants to meet you, he’s just…afraid he won’t live up to your expectations.” Schlatt repeated, and Ted scoffed. “Please, that’s the least he should be concerned about. At this point the guy could be a serial killer and I’d still be thrilled to meet him.” Schlatt could tell when the truth hit him fully, because Ted’s expression brightened tenfold. He looked like he’d just win the lottery. “I just, I can’t believe it! Holy shit, I’m gonna meet the Charlie Slimecicle!” “Yeah, me either.” Charlie sighed and Schlatt repeated, though he said it for both of them.
***
After some more casual conversation about Ted’s plans and ideas for the newly decided live podcast recording, Ted finally said goodbye, promising to let Charlie know how excited he was. Schlatt let out a breath of relief he didn’t even know he was holding when Ted shut the door behind him. He turned and leaned back against the door. “Holy shit that was stressful.” “You’re telling me,” Charlie responded, “at least you didn’t pass out during that.”
“You passed out?? Is that why you weren’t responding???”
“Yeah but I’m fine though.” ***
Schlatt facepalmed, sliding his way down the floor into a sitting position. Charlie felt his own stomach drop at the action, the feeling finally making him fully process what they’d done. “So…” Charlie started, lightly kicking at the wall in front of him. “This is weird.” “Very.”
Silence.
“Why the fuck did you do that??” Schlatt asked, and Charlie groaned, pushing his glasses into his face with the heels of his palms. “I don’t know, dude, I panicked! I just…” Charlie sighed, dropping his hands. “He deserves to know. And no better time than the present, I guess. Besides, I have actually been thinking about it. Maybe if he takes it well, we can make it public and some fans will be able to see that we borrowers aren’t what they think we are.”
~bonus short scenes that got cut lol~
“What’s it…what’s it like in there?” “Excuse me?” Charlie asked, mildly shocked by the question. “C’mon man, you’re like the third or fourth person to ever be in there, and one of those people goes in on a practically daily basis and doesn’t ever want to explain why. You can’t blame me for being a little bit curious.” Charlie sighed dramatically. “Fuck if I know dude, I can’t see shit and I’ve been here for like 20 minutes. I…the walls are weird? The texture is weird. Same with the floor, I can’t stand up at all. It’s small and cramped and realistically would be a claustrophobe’s worst nightmare. I can’t, like, fully splay out or anything, but I can reach out and touch the walls and ceiling without fully extending any of my limbs.” “Really? Cause Tubbo can’t do that, is he really that much smaller than you?” “I guess,” Charlie shrugged, Schlatt feeling the motion against his stomach.
“He’s pretty short, he is just a kid.” “Yeah, I’m not used to…I don’t know how to explain this other than that you being bigger and heavier than Tubbo makes a big difference, y’know?” “Bigger than you thought?” “Definetely,” Schlatt sighed. “Not like I had much time to think about it, though.”
~~~
“Now uh, if you don’t mind..can you, uh…” “Oh yeah, right, totally,” Schlatt said as Charlie felt him stand up. All of a sudden the space around him pushed in on itself and he was shoved back into the humid and tight throat. He made it back into Schlatt’s mouth and was quickly removed and set on a counter with a dry rag. Charlie took it with a quick thank you as Schlatt leaned back against the counter. “Y’know Tubbo’s gonna bug the shit outta you once he realizes you’ve been eaten, right?” “Oh god don’t tell him-“
Holy fucking shit the Dad’s Troubles AU story?? That i’ve been teasing since January??? It’s finally done??????
this took so fucking long that i’m debating posting an alternate and an extended unedited version that’s how many times i’ve written and re-written this thing.
anyway without further ado, the posts you’ll need for the context of this story are here and here, and the art teaser is here (if you’ve been keeping up with the Dad’s Troubles AU since 2022 you probably don’t need the context lol, but it has been a while so they’re there for whoever needs a refresher)
@quotethemenevervore (sorry if that’s the wrong account to tag btw) you seemed very excited for this story so i figured i’d tag you lol
tw: soft, safe vore, panic attack ig???
“I still don’t think it’s a good idea.” “I know, but, c’mon…we have to tell him eventually.”
Charlie sat on Schlatt’s living room table, the human leaning his head on his palm to be at a closer level to the borrower he was talking to. This was the same conversation they’d been having on and off for months now: should Ted be let in on the secret that Charlie wasn’t human. Obviously, there was a clear answer for them: eventually. Now, when ‘eventually’ actually was…that was a different problem.
“Do I need to remind you what happened the first and only time you met him in person?” Schlatt asked, to which Charlie just groaned. “You have to bring up the fish thing every time, don’t you? Cause yeah, I remember almost drowning, thank you very much.” “It’s more so the principle that he would throw you out a fuckin window, but you get my point. He clearly doesn’t see you as a person.” As much as Schlatt always hated to think about that, it was something him and Ted could never agree on. Ted was of the opinion that borrowers were basically just bipedal rats, and nothing Schlatt had done to convince him otherwise had worked. “But what if I changed that?” Charlie challenged, standing to pace the space in front of Schlatt. “He knows me, he’s known me for years. We’re friends, fuck, I’d say the three of us are best friends! There’s no way he’d just forget all of that the second he sees what height I am, right?” He finished, looking up at Schlatt with something akin to fear. Like he wanted Schlatt to tell him he was right, that it would all work out. But he couldn’t, because didn’t have an answer to what Ted would do. Schlatt sighed. “Honestly, I don’t kn-“
The doorknob to the apartment shook. It was locked, Schlatt always locked it when it was just him in the apartment. Schlatt and Charlie froze. Was Quackity trying to get in? Cause he wasn’t supposed to be home for a good few more hours, hence the door being locked. They were both absolutely silent, waiting for any confirmation that it was their mutual friend, until they heard a few utterances of cursing from behind the locked door.
“God fucking damnit, where are the keys Schlatt gave me-“
Ted.
~~~
Shit, shit. Schlatt had totally forgotten he gave Ted a space pair of keys for when he was visiting. Fuck, fuck, what the fuck should he do with Charlie?
He heard the key turn in the lock.
All of the borrower tunnels were too far away for the remaining few seconds he had till Ted walked in. There’d be no disguising that he was talking to Charlie. Charlie, who was part of a species that Ted believed couldn’t talk. He wouldn’t be able to explain himself.
He heard a creak as the door started to open.
Did he have a pocket? Shit, no, he had a crew neck and the pockets on his jeans were too tight and small for Charlie to fit in. There was only one other option he could think of. Fuck. Charlie, like him, had been frozen from shock this whole time. That would probably make this easier. He quickly lowered himself down and tried to grab Charlie to shove him in his mouth.
“Schlatt!” He heard Ted shout, and suddenly, without warning, Charlie moved.
Frantically, almost blindly running at him with no warning and accidentally falling past his hand and into his mouth, and everything went to shit.
~~~
Oh no. Speak of the devil. Ted. God dammit, why did he have to show up right when he and Schlatt were talking about him. And why did Schlatt even give him a spare key?
He heard the key turn in the lock.
Ok, fuck, how the fuck was he supposed to get out of this one? He didn’t have time to run, he wasn’t naïve enough to believe that. And contrary to how often he joked about the window and the almost-getting-eaten-by-a-fish thing, it was actually a pretty horrifying experience that he would not like to relive, thank you very much.
He heard a creak as the door started to open.
Shit, what should he do? What could he do?! He was out in the open, nowhere to run and nowhere to hide unless Schlatt had pockets or- wait. Schlatt. Schlatt…himself could be a place to hide. He’d seen Tubbo do it, that had been a long fuckin conversation after walking in on that, but it was safe. Probably a hell of a lot safer than being anywhere near Ted. But was he really willing to end up down his best friends throat?
“Schlatt!” He heard Ted shout and, apparently, he was.
He broke free from his panicked state and immediately sprinted towards Schlatt, planning to climb his shirt to his mouth and just hoping to god Schlatt would get the hint. However, he apparently hadn’t noticed that Schlatt had the same idea as him.
“Schlatt?” Ted asked.
Charlie ran full speed into something jarringly warm and wet. The change in…well, everything environmentally made him yell, as any and all light was suddenly stripped from him.
The door clicked closed, Ted was in the room with them. Thank god they’d been facing away from the door.
Charlie felt himself be thrown backward in the dark space, losing his balance as one of his arms caught in something that started to pull him down.
Oh fuck, that was weird, but it was fine. He wanted this, he decided to do this, he…he was getting eaten. It’s fine. This is fine, it’s Schlatt for fucks sake. And yet, the part of his brain that hadn’t quite registered that the “getting eaten” thing was actually his plan, told him to fight, to try and free his arm from the throat that threatened to drag him deeper into the giant.
“Are you ok, man?” Charlie heard Ted ask from beyond the closed teeth around him. He was getting closer.
The darkest split a bit, and something else entered the mouth with him for a moment. He couldn’t see well enough through his spit covered glasses and small amount of light what they were, but he guessed pretty immediately when they got a grip of his torso and started to shove him down the esophagus. Fingers. Schlatt pinned Charlie’s free arm at his sides and shoved more of him down.
The fingers retracted from the mouth when only his legs remained out of the throat. He felt the environment around him change and realized what was happening. His struggling increased tenfold, kicking desperately at the teeth and gums around him to no avail, as the giant swallowed one last time and sent him fully into the throat.
~~~~~
“Schlatt!” Ted yelled, running over to see Schlatt holding his throat, unable to breathe. Ted went to wrap his arms around him to perform the heimlich, but Schlatt was thankfully aware enough to push him away at the last second. Unfortunately, that move made him send himself crashing onto the floor. Ted rushed over again, worry plastered on his face as Schlatt held up a hand, signaling to stop. So, Ted did just that, running off to do god knows what. Schlatt, meanwhile, could feel Charlie get stuck just a short way before he stopped blocking his windpipe. Schlatt pushed at his throat, swallowing frantically, pounding at his chest, anything to get Charlie down faster. He didn’t realize just how much…bigger Charlie was than his son. Charlie was a grown man, and tall by borrower standards, too. Compare that to Tubbo who was short by all standards and Schlatt realized he may have bitten off more than he could chew. Charlie seemed to be helping it go faster somewhat by squirming his way down, though he doubted it was on purpose. Though maybe this was a thought he could have later since at the moment he was very focused on not choking and dying on his best friend.
It was when Schlatt was starting to black out that Ted came back with a glass of water, not even giving Schlatt time to process it before forcefully opening his mouth and pouring it down his throat, giving Schlatt the ability to swallow Charlie down farther and finally unblock him from his windpipe. Schlatt fell to the ground again with a gasp, trying to drag as much air into his lungs as humanely possible. He placed a hand on his chest as he finally, fucking finally, felt Charlie make his way closer towards the stomach. He dissolved into a coughing fit on the floor, Ted slowly lowering himself to sit next to him. Schlatt wasn’t even gonna try to explain anything to Ted yet, though. Not until Charlie ended up where he needed to be and he could stop worrying.
He did his best to keep a poker face while he felt a much heavier weight than usual drop into his stomach. He really hadn’t thought about how much bigger Charlie was than Tubbo, but it was more noticeable now than ever.
Immediately he felt a flurry of movement from his stomach, limbs flailing and Charlie trying to get accustomed to whatever it was like in there. Schlatt squeezed his stomach in so Charlie wouldn’t trigger something audible that he’d have to make an excuse over, but quickly found that the borrower’s whole frame was shaking.
Schlatt only had time to worry for a second before he was snapped out of his shock with a hand clap onto his shoulder, snapping his attention back to what was happening on the outside. “Schlatt, you with me, man?” “..Yeah! Yeah, I’m, uh, I’m fine.” Right, he had an act to put on for Ted. “What the fuck were you choking on?” “Oh nothing, so, what brings you here?” Schlatt asked, trying to redirect the conversation. He didn’t know what excuse he would use for that shit show if he needed one, but he doubted he’d be able to convincingly lie to Ted about it with Charlie right there listening. But it wasn’t like he could say the truth. ‘Sorry about that Ted, I was choking on our third podcast member because he’s scared you’ll hurt him but don’t worry, he’s in my stomach now so he’s safe from, again, exclusively you.’
Yeah, no.
“Well, I came over to surprise you. Didn’t think you’d almost die or something.” Ted said, and Schlatt chuckled a bit in response. “Yeah, well, I didn’t expect anyone to break into my apartment.” Schlatt stood, silently thankful for Ted helping him up as he adjusted to the added weight in his middle. He felt Charlie sway a bit as he stood, though there was significantly less fighting back on Charlie’s end at the movement. Thank fuck. “You down here for any reason other than to scare me half to death?” Schlatt said, pacing over to his fridge under the guise of grabbing food while he silently felt for any signal from Charlie now that his back was turned to Ted. “Yeah, actually.” Ted said, leaning against the counter that separated the living room from the kitchen.
Schlatt hummed to pretend he was paying attention while pressing into his stomach a few quick times. Short short long. Long long long, long short long. ‘U-O-K-?’ He knew Charlie could translate it, he was the one that taught Schlatt Morse code. He was waiting for two taps back; their signal for yes. Hell, he’d even take one tap for no, something. Hopefully, Charlie would get the hint that he was ok.
“…Schlatt?” Ted questioned, again snapping Schlatt out of his worries again. Right. The act. “Sorry, must’ve zoned out, what were you saying?” “I was saying I’m here for a reason. You’re not the only one of my friends in the area, but surprise! I’m staying down here for a few months to do content!” Ted looked to Schlatt expectantly, and Schlatt did his best to be happy for Ted, but he was sure his smile looked forced. He didn’t know if it was his worry for Charlie or just the direction the conversation was headed in, but he had a sinking feeling in his gut that he knew wasn’t Charlie’s fault. He did his best to ignore it. “That’s great, man! Sounds like it’ll be fun.” “That’s the goal.” Ted answered. “Do a couple collab videos, some vlogs, it’ll be sick-” “Mhm.” Schlatt responded while Ted continued talking, tapping out the morse again. And again. And again for good measure. If this wouldn’t get Charlie to do something, anything, then something was wrong. He waited a few seconds before beginning the pattern again with more force, starting to wonder if Charlie had just passed out at that point, until-
Something. An arm or leg or something kicking out where he’d been pressing in, hard, and he recoiled his hand away immediately with a wince of pain. Charlie packed way more of a punch than Tubbo or Tommy did, that’s for damn sure. He wanted to try communication again, though he was smart enough to realize that his physical gestures were not appreciated in the slightest. So he did nothing and waited. He waited a few seconds, maybe even a few minutes, until, finally…he felt two weak taps back.
~~~
Falling headfirst into the pitch black stomach of his best friend was about as pleasant as Charlie expected it would be.
Immediately almost all of his senses were absolutely fucked, the wetness and humidity of the air around him clinging to his skin and fogging his glasses. The spongey walls around him gave way far too easily for him to properly get his balance, and he kept face planting into the bottom of the organ every time he tried to right himself. There was also liquid up to his waist (water, spit, he didn’t know, nor did he care to at the moment) which he kept almost fucking drowning himself in since he couldn’t stay upright long enough or see enough to figure out which way was up, down, forwards, backwards-
The walls suddenly pressed in on him, making Charlie squeak in fear almost inaudibly, pinning him in place thankfully right side up and out of the water, and he realized he was shaking. Why was he shaking? He was fine, he knew that, he knew that, why was he scared? He trusted Schlatt, this wasn’t even the human’s idea, it was his, he chose this.
The walls slowly began to release their hold on him as his thoughts started to suffocate him more than the stomach could ever.
Why, why the fuck was this so awful for him? He was safe, safe, he knew it was safe, he’d seen this happen a hundred times.
The walls began to press in periodically.
He’d willingly hung out with Schlatt and Quackity both when he knew that they had Tubbo inside. Tubbo was fine then, so he’s fine now. Science. Logic. He was safe. He wasn’t food. He wasn’t food.
short short long
Schlatt cared, cared enough about his safety to let him use his body as a barrier between him and someone who could hurt him. Would hurt him. His body. His giant, dangerous body that had been able to swallow him. His body that could kill him at any moment.
long long long
But he wouldn’t. Schlatt cared. He wasn’t food. He was safe. He was safe. Safe within his human friend. Safe from his human friend. Guarded inside a creature that could kill him from a creature that could kill him.
long short long
But his human friend wouldn’t kill him. But his human friend would, almost did, kill him.
The walls were still closing in on him.
Fuck. No, wrong human, Schlatt wants to protect him. Schlatt is his friend. Ted is his friend, their friend.
The walls are closing in periodically. Again and again.
He’s suffocating.
Ted would, almost did, kill him. He almost drowned, was almost swallowed, if it hadn’t been for Schlatt. He was almost swallowed. He was almost swallowed. He was swallowed. He was swallowed, he had been swallowed-
Something pressed in on the stomach again hard enough to force the wall to make contact with him, and in his hysterics Charlie kicked it as hard as he could manage, hearing a sharp hiss of pain be sucked into the lungs above him. Fuck. No, fuck, what is he doing? This is Schlatt. Schlatt. Schlatt, who’s never been anything but good to him, who’s treated him with nothing but respect despite what he was, who raised a borrower child and did a damn good job of it, too. Why…why was he acting like this? He trusts Schlatt, he’s literally thrown his life into Schlatt’s hands more times than he can count, why…why was this so much more difficult?
Fuck, focus on the task at hand. Deep breaths. 4, 7, 8. Again, 4, 7, 8. Charlie forced himself to think of the things around him. Liquid, heat, the weird spongey walls that had been caving in. There’s a good place to start. With the fog of his hysteria clearing, Charlie tried to remember what the pattern of the walls pressing in was. Short short long…long long long…long short long. Charlie let out a breathy, humorless laugh. “You ok?” Schlatt had been asking. He suddenly felt a little bit dumb for his panicked state earlier.
Struggling to push himself to what he was now sure was the front of the stomach with his legs still weak from fear, he settled himself against the wall to better hear exactly what was going on outside. Finally, he answered Schlatt’s question by tapping back twice, letting the human know he was ok, even if the shaking hadn’t quite let up yet. He laughed to himself again, this time more genuinely, as he heard the immediate sigh of relief from above him.
Yeah, he was sure he was safe.
~~~
Charlie was ok. Holy fuck, Schlatt could have cried with relief. He didn’t hurt his best friend, that was a weight off his shoulders. “I did want to talk with you about something though, just to get your opinion on it.” “Sure, what’s up man?” Schlatt said, attention fully on Ted for the first time in this whole conversation. “It’s about Charlie.”
Schlatt froze, and he could feel Charlie tense up. “Uh…what about him?” “I just, i don’t know…it’s hard to explain.” Ted frustratedly motioned with his hands and tried to explain more before sighing. “Did i do something wrong?” Ted said, a genuine look of confusion and hurt in his eyes. “Everytime we talk, it’s fine. We’re friends, and we have been for a while, and I know he’s on the same page as me. But any time I ask him anything vaguely personal, even if it’s just shit like his hair color or mcdonald’s order or fucking anything, it’s like we’re back to being strangers. Like I don’t have the right as his friend to know shit like that. The only thing I know about him is his first name and honestly? It wouldn’t even bother me if he wasn’t so close with you.” Schlatt hadn’t expected that, and from what he could tell of Charlie relaxing and pressing closer into the front wall of his stomach to hear more, he hadn’t expected it either. “Ted, you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just…well, for one, Charlie has known me for a lot longer than he’s known you. Of course he’s more comfortable with me. But it’s not that he doesn’t trust you or anything. I promise he considers you one of his best friends. Even when it’s just us talking, he’s never said anything about you that would imply anything else.” “It’s not that I don’t believe that, but I just…sorry, maybe I’m being selfish here. If he doesn’t want to meet me it’s not my business to pry, it’s just something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently.” Ted finished, staring down at his hands. Schlatt…wasn’t sure where to go from there. He felt horrible for keeping such a massive secret from one of his oldest friends, especially about something that’d clearly been causing so much inner turmoil, but he couldn’t betray Charlie like that.
“Schlatt, can you hear me?” Charlie suddenly interjected. Schlatt discreetly tapped his stomach twice for confirmation and Charlie continued. “Ok, then i’m gonna need you to repeat after me, got it?” Schlatt tried not to let the confusion he felt read on his face for Ted to see, but he tapped twice again anyway. He sat in silence for a few seconds before Charlie took a deep breath and started talking.
“But, y’know, Charlie and I were talking about doing something with the podcast soon. We were gonna bring it up to you later, but since you’re in town we could move it up.” Schlatt repeated, and Ted looked up, puzzled. “What were you thinking?” Charlie paused again breathing deeply, though Schlatt could feel his tail swaying in anxiety. However, when he finally spoke up, his voice read nothing but confidence. “We were thinking we could do a few in person recordings.”
Schlatt froze. Had Charlie said what he thought he said? No way in hell was he serious. “Repeat it, Schlatt. I’ve thought it through, i mean it.” Holy shit he was serious. And so, he repeated. God, he wished that Charlie had been able to see the look of utter shock on Ted’s face. “You’re joking.” He said, and Schlatt shook his head while waiting for the next prompt. “Charlie wants to meet you, he’s just…afraid he won’t live up to your expectations.” Schlatt repeated, and Ted scoffed. “Please, that’s the least he should be concerned about. At this point the guy could be a serial killer and I’d still be thrilled to meet him.” Schlatt could tell when the truth hit him fully, because Ted’s expression brightened tenfold. He looked like he’d just won the lottery. “I just, I can’t believe it! Holy shit, I’m gonna meet the Charlie Slimecicle!” “Yeah, me either.” Charlie sighed and Schlatt repeated, though he said it for both of them.
After some more casual conversation about Ted’s plans and ideas for the newly decided live podcast recording, Ted finally said goodbye, promising to let Charlie know how excited he was. Schlatt let out a breath of relief he didn’t even know he was holding when Ted shut the door behind him. He locked it immediately and turned to lean back against the door. “Holy shit that was stressful.” “You’re telling me.”
Schlatt facepalmed as the weight of what he’d just signed on to doing hit him, sliding his way down the door into a sitting position. Charlie felt his stomach drop at the action as well. “Sooo…” Charlie started, lightly kicking at the wall in front of him. “This is weird.” “Very.”
Silence.
“Are you ok?” “Huh?” “Are you ok.” Schlatt repeated. “…yes.” Charlie answered,not exactly confidently, but surely. “I am now, at least. I just…panicked. It’s fucking weird in here and I just- it just took me a bit to handle it, I think. To get over myself cause I know it’s safe and I trust you. It’s just that the idea of getting eaten has been drilled into my head as ‘horrifying and deadly’ for so long that I just lost it for a bit. Fun part of being raised by a traditional colony, am I right? Sorry for kicking you, by the way.” “Don’t worry about that, man.” Schlatt responded, lightly pressing in on his stomach as if asking Charlie if he was ok with contact now. When he didn’t get a negative response from Charlie, he pressed a bit harder and began rubbing where he felt his friend. “I can’t even imagine what you’re feeling like right now. I mean, getting swallowed whole? By a creature over ten times bigger than you? That sounds downright fuckin terrifying. That’s some hollywood horror movie bullshit. I don’t even want to imagine what me choking on you felt like from your point of view. I have the easy job, you got eaten alive, you have every right to have panicked. But…I am glad you trust me that much.” “Thanks, cause I do. And for the record; i’m feeling wet. Very wet and sticky and I can just tell that my fucking glasses are fogged up even though it’s dark enough that i shouldn’t care, but i do.” Charlie complained, making Schlatt laugh.
More awkward silence.
“Why the fuck did you do that??” Schlatt asked suddenly, and Charlie groaned, pushing his glasses into his face with the heels of his palms. Despite the lack of clarification, he knew exactly what Schlatt was asking about. “I don’t know, dude, I panicked! I just…” Charlie sighed, dropping his hands. “He deserves to know. And no better time than the present, I guess. Besides, I have actually been thinking about it. Maybe if he takes it well, we can make it public and some fans will be able to see that we borrowers aren’t what they think we are.” “And if he doesn’t?” “I…I don’t know.” Charlie admitted. “I want to think that he’ll try to change how he thinks of me for the sake of our friendship, but I truly just don’t know.”
“Well, I’m behind you, whatever happens.” Schlatt said. Charlie smiled. “I know.” he answered, confident and happy in knowing that he truly did believe that.
This is all for the Flubber AU cause i still care about that one a lot, i’ve put a lot of time into re-writing it, but i realized i’d never get to actually talk about the au if i didn’t post.
Originally I wanted to write it part-by-part and post the character once they showed up so i didn’t spoil it, but now i’m just gonna post the cast line up because my wip list is too long as is (not to say i’ll never write for this au again, i will, but rambling is easier than making a story lmao) (+ if i ask you guys then i know what you care about and wanna see written most)
anyway full cast lineup in height order!! There’s plenty of characters here i’ve never posted or even hinted about, they’ve just been on the back burner for years, so please ask questions!! I love to talk i love to talk so much!!!
(btw i drew this back in January, so that’s why he’s™ there. He’s in one of the stories in this au already, so y’all know what his deal is, but I’m replacing him in the story with Dream so if you wanna ask questions about the Tommy’s older brother character ask about Dream 👍)
