Chapter Text
When Schlatt was revived, it was a hell of a commotion, and Quackity didn’t know how to feel. It had been some sort of last resort from Dream, getting the feared tyrant on his side. And it had worked for a few seconds while Schlatt was still getting over what had happened. People were practically frozen in place, like someone had hit pause on them all. Dream gloated, as though no one would dare attack him with Schlatt at his side.
Until Schlatt actually punched him, giving the others a chance to finally take care of Dream once and for all. The revival book disappeared into the air, leaving no question on what to do with it. After that, the attention focused on the newly revived man, and most people were pretty divided on what to do with him. Some wanted him dead, some wanted him to just leave, others wanted to give him a chance. Quackity had finally stepped in, and offered Schlatt a place to stay. He was plenty grateful, but couldn’t say a word of thanks before Quackity was walking away, not wanting to part through his feelings at that moment.
When back at Las Nevadas, Quackity gave him a job, a simple waiter at one of his restaurants, put him under supervision, and let him go. Quackity had the manager on speed dial, and one of his coworkers reporting to him everyday after his shift ended. He wasn’t going to just let Schlatt completely loose, the man had been a tyrant. There was no telling what could happen if he lost his temper.
Wilbur, of course, went out to spy. He didn’t order anything, didn’t want to go in and manage to cause an argument, so he simply observed. And what he saw was actually quite surprising. Schlatt was serving customers to the best of his ability, even biting his tongue when they sassed him.
“Shit, really? I would’ve expected him to get alcohol somehow and start cursing out customers.” Quackity huffed out with a laugh. It was a little hard to believe. Schlatt, holding his tongue when someone was being rude to him? Practically unheard of. Wilbur, who was behind Quackity with his arms around his shoulders, smiled with him, before replying.
“Well, limbo changes a man. I remember, back then, that he had some sort of never ending whiskey bottle, and he had to drink to actually stay less drunk. Whenever he was around, he had to take giant gulps to keep any sort of conversation with me. I would imagine anything becomes tortuous if you have to do it long enough. Wouldn’t blame him if he never wanted to touch hard liquor again.” Wilbur informed him. Quackity took that into consideration. Drinking alcohol to get less drunk? And having to do that for years, just to hold a conversation? That truly could be torture, even for the alcoholic Schlatt.
Going out again, Wilbur had been intent on getting Schlatt as a server, see how he would react, how they both would react. Quackity thought it was gonna be a disaster. Why wouldn’t it, their last proper interaction outside of limbo was probably some sort of threat. They would probably start arguing, Schlatt was an extremely argumentative person.
Long mornings, whispered apologies and soft kisses, promises to be better, silent understandings that he can’t
~~~~
So, Schlatt… was still processing.
It had happened all fairly quickly, in his defense.
He was just in limbo, deciding if it was worth it to take another sip of whiskey to stay sane, or let himself get drunker and drunker. Then suddenly, he’s being revived, he’s more sober than he’s been in fucking years, and he’s shown like some sort of final threat to the people in front of him. Dream had revived him… as a show of power? Intimidation? He still wasn’t sure, but Dream had immediately told him how
“I revived you!”
“I saved you!”
“Let’s work together, shall we?”
And other shit he didn’t feel like recalling. He had gotten up after a few seconds, cracked his knuckles, made a much better decision, and punched Dream in the face.
It was really funny, everyone would admit it.
Dream had been caught off guard, and swiftly dealt with. The stupid revival book disappeared, so, of course, he was the next thing to deal with. People were angry, wanted him dead again, which he can’t really fault. Others were less… trigger happy, and just wanted him to go far away and not come back. A minority were merciful, and wanted to actually give him a chance, which he was fully confused about. He had literally been a dictator, that’s not someone you give another chance.
Then Quackity stepped in to silence the argument. Magnificent golden wings, his adorable stupid beanie, a gorgeous red suit with suspenders, and a large scar over half his face. Mostly everyone expected him to decide death for the former tyrant as one of the people that was right in the crosshairs of his wrath.
But… he didn’t.
Instead, putting him on a sort of probation, giving him a place to stay, a job even. He had been struck into incredulity, unable to speak. He was actually being spared? By Quackity if all people?
And when had he gotten so hot scary?
And that lead him to where he was now. Getting ready for his next shift. At his job. That Quackity had given to him. Without a catch. Seemingly out of the kindness, or atleast pity, of his heart.
Was he blushing? Shit
Yeah, even after all that time in limbo, he still hadn’t really gotten over his feelings for his ex-husband. Quackity had been the last thing he had seen before the heart attack took him, so it was easy to just… think about him.
And the conclusion was that Schlatt had been a bad husband. Big shocker.
So now that he was back, he wasn’t going to try anything. He wanted to, he wanted to win Quackity over again. He wanted to be able to wake up to him again, this time fully sober and not struggling with a hangover. But he wouldn’t. Quackity would probably hate that, and probably rescind his protection, leaving the ram to the wolves.
So no. Unless Quackity showed any interest first, then Schlatt would leave him be, however reluctantly. He would go to his job, see what normal life he could live, and be as happy as he could be.
Then Wilbur Soot showed up at the restaurant he worked at, asking for him as a server.
Fuck