Chapter Text
“And that’s why I think it’s better to have powers where water shoots out from my armpits, rather than fire shooting out from my butt.” Quackity says smugly, pointing proudly to his chest, as he declares his statement with full confidence.
What in the actual fuck is this conversation Katie’s having right now? Don’t get her wrong, she was normally up for silly debates like this. And she won’t lie, this is the exact type of conversation she’d chime in on.
However, she can’t engage further. Well, at least not right now if she wants to be able to finish the paper she has due by tonight.
Quackity, for once, was staying in their shared dorm room, chatting away and purposefully distracting Katie while she worked. He was on his bed, his head upside down as he lay on the bed’s edge. He was hugging a stuffed duck, his hair sticking up all over the place, as he stared back at Katie, anticipating her response with a smirk.
Annoying. She’s starting to rethink calling Quacks a fun roommate.
It wasn’t very often that Katie actually tried locking in on her schoolwork, and the exact moment she finally does, her roommate proceeds to ruin it? Great.
Quacks was a very mischievous, talkative brat. So this is what you get when you become roommates with someone a part of the debate team…Who is also pursuing a law degree?
Killing two birds with one stone. Gosh, someone should shut this guy up immediately.
She turns back to her typing, cutting her thoughts short as she tries to refocus her attention back on her schoolwork.
Unfortunately, Quackity continues, “What do you have to say about that, Katie? Your argument was actual ass. Having a butt that farts fire is a lame power.”
Katie, hearing the man’s diss, refocuses her eyes back to the other. She stares Quackity up and down and replies bluntly, “Oh yeah? Just say you want to be able to take it up your ass, without potentially burning the person you’re having sex with, Quacks.”
Failing to suppress his giggle, Quackity responds back, “Fuck you, Katie. That just proves my point even more! What if—” Tuning out her roommate’s loud voice, she stares at her laptop again for the umpteenth time as she continues to write. She still had another two thousand words or so to write.
As her roommate continues his neverending talking, she takes a deep breath and starts to contemplate. Man, she feels so overstimulated.
She needs to get out of this stuffy room.
She’s been staring at her laptop’s screen for hours.
And, honestly, she’s also really craving for a soda right about now.
Desperate to distance herself from her laptop, and even more distance from Quackity’s chatter, she makes her decision.
Sliding her chair out, Katie decides to take a quick break and stop by one of the vending machines on campus. As of right now, the time was 10:19pm. Her paper’s due by 11:59, it could probably wait right?
As Katie stands up and stretches her aching limbs, she breaks her roommate's talking as she says, “Quacks, I’m gonna go out and get some fresh air, I’ll probs buy a soda. While I do, can you go fuck off and bother Mr. J instead?”
“Hmph he kicked me out, and now you too! Why are you even going out when you have a paper due?” Quackity answers complaining, pouting as he gives a side-eye to his roommate. By this point, he was sitting on his bed, his arms crossed as he raised his eyebrow.
Katie goes and browses her closet for a jacket to grab as she replies, “You’re saying that as if you weren’t talking my ear off earlier. I’ll be quick, I just want to go grab a Mountain Dew, I won’t be able to focus ‘cause I’m craving for it.”
Seemingly changing his tune and dropping his pretend strict guy act, the man smiles sweetly as he uncrosses his arms and answers, “Okay, buy me a coke too while you’re at it.”
“Fine, but you better shut up though and let me work once I get back.”
No longer waiting or listening for the other’s response, Katie takes her keys and slips her shoes on. Reaching for the door handle, she opens the door and leaves.
As Katie takes in the cold air outside, she sighs as she takes in the silence. Only the sound of the tree’s leaves could be heard as she traversed the chilly night. It was quite nice, it felt like she could finally breathe again. The campus was so peaceful like this.
Inevitably, her feet carried her toward the other dorm building. There was a vending machine there if she’s not mistaken?
Normally, she would buy a drink in the vending machine that’s closer to her own dorm building, but she had honestly wanted to go for a walk before returning back to work.
Sue her, she wants to walk. She misses her daily night strolls, it’s been a while since she got to jog on campus. Gosh, she hates becoming busy.
Arriving at her destination a few minutes later, she catches a glimpse of the vending machine at the back of the building. She quicked her pace toward the vending machine.
Looking at the drink options available, Katie slots the bill inside of the machine. She presses the button to where the Mountain Dew option was, and waits for her drink to fall.
The whirr of the machine grew louder as it processed her order.
After a few seconds, Katie hears her soda fall and crouches down to grab it.
She hums a happy tune as she gets a hold of her soda. Shit, Quackity’s cola. She’d almost forgotten, she still had to buy that too. Navigating the buttons again, she scans for the coke option.
As she does, she then proceeds to feel a shiver run down the expanse of her back.
Something cold definitely touched her nape just now.
What was that? ‘Cause if that was a ghost, she’s booking it. Immediately.
Whipping her head around, she preps herself in a defensive stance and almost screams.
She stops though as she catches a sight of green hair and a familiar smirk.
It was Multi. Thank fuck.
Her hand then instinctively shot toward her chest as she shouts, “What the fuck was that for, Multi?!”
“Found you, Katie. That was so worth it to do! Your face right now—what the hell!” The ghost, who was in actuality just Multi, says as he lets out an amused huff.
“Why do I always end up getting terrified when I meet you! Can’t we just end up bumping into each other randomly and I don’t know, say hi like normal people! Why does the scenario always end up with me getting scared shitless?!” Katie says, semi-shouting as she asks.
“Legit thought a ghost’s hand touched me just now! Why was that so cold?”
“Well Katie, you better watch out for your surroundings more. That is what I was trying to teach you.” Multi waved his drink around before popping it open as he smiled at Katie. So, it was his drink that touched her then huh?
“Yeah, I don’t believe that for one fucking second.”
“Why? Is it that hard to believe that I care about your well-being Katie?” Multi asks, sipping.
“We barely know each other, so yeah. Definitely.”
“Nonsense. Anyways, why are you here so late? You do know that your dorm building has a vending machine that’s way nearer than here right?”
“Went to get some fresh air, I was working on my paper for so long and decided to take a quick break and go for a night walk.” The girl says, twisting her own can’s pull tab as she explains. She sighs and adds, “It was getting stuffy staying inside, it didn’t really help that Quacks was chatting with me either.”
“Should you be rushing it? When’s it due?”
“It may or may not be due, tonight at 11:59?”
“Katie, it’s 10:38. Is it a long paper or?”
“I would say, a bit. I need to write another two thousand words so…”
“Ehh it’s plenty of time I guess, once you get back you’d have to probably work on it immediately.” Multi replies as makes a so-so hand gesture, weighing the gravity of the situation.
“Yep, it’s totally worth it though, since I wanted to grab a soda. And speaking of, I see you’ve ordered the same!” Katie points to Multi’s own Mountain Dew.
“Yes, yes. Very good drink. Have you tried other flavors?” The man asks, curiously.
“Nah not really. You?”
“Some, yes. I should make you try a new one, sometime.” Multi says as he leans his body on the vending machine, slightly shaking his can as he stares at the other.
“You offering to pay?” Katie answers, fluttering her eyelashes.
“Well, let’s get you back to your dorm then, you’ve accomplished what you wanted to, yes?” Multi replies back, smiling.
Katie scoffs smugly as she says, “Well, that wasn’t a no.”
“Whatever, let’s go Katie. You’ve gotta hurry back if you want to finish. I’ll talk with you on the way back.” He gestures his hands towards the path, urging the girl to walk.
“Wow, such a gentleman! What’s gotten you so sweet today?”
“I’m very sweet, yes. Anything for the fucking princess. It’s 10:40, Katie.”
“Alright, alright! Let’s go Multi!”
As they walk back to Katie’s dorm, the two continue their chat. Still holding on to their matching Mountain Dew’s, they both laugh as their conversation drifts to ghosts.
Katie mentions that for a second time now, she has mistaken the other as a ghost for all of the times they’ve accidentally met. Multi finds the fact hilarious, as he laughs at Katie’s retelling.
Almost tripping at a rock, Katie pipes in and asks, “You keep laughing, as if you wouldn’t get scared too! Are you even good at shit relating to horror?”
Multi noticing Katie’s mishap, goes to slow down his pace and replies, “Nah, you won’t be able to let me play a horror game on my own.”
“Oh! You play games too? Then we’re definitely playing a horror game sometime.” Katie answers, eyes filled with excitement, then adds, “If not horror though, what do you usually play?” Katie stares again curiously, eager to know.
Nodding his head to Katie’s first question the man then replies, “Well, I play a variety of games. I’m up for any, honestly.” The man shrugs.
“Do you have a particular favorite game then? One that you always go back to?”
The man puts his finger on his chin as he thinks, “Hmm, I’d say that would probably be Minecraft.”
“Really? Wow, I actually didn’t expect that!”
“Was that an insult or?” Multi replies, eyebrows raised.
“No! Absolutely not! Your vibe was just giving more of someone that would play shooter games, I guess. Well, most guys I know are, so it was kind of an assumption.” Katie denies, as she hurriedly explains.
“I do play those. Minecraft is just one of my favorites though, I’ve been playing it since I was younger.”
Multi glanced towards a stray cat crossing the path.
“Really? Well, you’ve talked to the right person. You’re looking at the expert right here!” Katie mentions smugly, as she puffs her chest out, hands on her hips as she declares this.
She was in fact, not good and was lying through her teeth. She was absolutely shit at Minecraft.
“Really? You also played since you were younger?”
“Nah, I just started recently actually. My brother was the one who got me into playing it.”
Ash, her younger brother, was a huge minecraft nerd.
After asking Katie numerous times to give it a try since he wanted to play with her, she eventually caved. She had to admit, it was actually a fun game to play.
She had even managed to beat it too, despite lacking in Minecraft skills. It was a dare though, so she did have to. She earned 10 bucks from Ash because of it.
“Then, we should definitely play. It would be nice to play more games once break arrives, it’s so busy, Jesus. So, what games do you play?” Multi sighs, as he’s reminded by his busy schedule. Returning back the other’s question, he anticipates her reply.
“Chemistry’s crazy. I’m sure you’ll do fine though.” Multi definitely looked like the studious type. “As for the games I play, I love games like Fortnite and in general, horror games.”
“I see. Fine, we’ll play horror games sometime.” Multi states, hesitating. He clearly gets scared easily yet he still proposes…Oh, she’ll definitely take his offer on that.
“Alright you said that, no takesbacksies!” Katie says, huffing an amused laugh.
As the two near Katie’s building, the two stare at each other as they come to a halt. Both cans now empty, the two throw their sodas in the nearest trashcan.
Katie’s really starting to regret not finishing her homework now. She should have instead finished it then dipped to buy a soda. It would’ve been nice to speak more with Multi, what was she thinking?
“So, before I leave, I wanted to ask, why were you outside again?” Trying to stall, Katie asks the other as she prepares to leave.
“Similar to you, I had decided to go for a walk. Although, truth be told, I had been stuck in the lab all day. I may have also returned to my dorm to find Ewron sneaking in three cats. I’m very allergic and I kept sneezing.”
“What. Are you okay? Can you breathe?”
“I can. Fortunately, I just continually sneeze.” The man replies, making a sweeping gesture.
“Well, that’s good then.” Sighing, Katie adds, “It seems like I have to get back to my paper then.” Staring at Multi filled with dread, she prepares to make her leave.
“Yep, you should finish. It’s 10:58 now. You have an hour left.” Multi mentions, looking at his watch. He looks back to find Katie pouting.
“Fine, I’ll go and take my leave now. Thank you for walking me back Multi! I enjoyed our talks.” She really did appreciate him walking her back. He hadn’t needed to.
As Multi thinks of a reply, his lips open and close as he settles with the reply, “No problem. Goodnight Katie! See you later.”
Preparing to walk back the other way, Multi turns. Before he could take another step though, Katie says his name again. “Multi, wait! We can’t see each other later if I don’t have your contact now won’t I?” The other girl says, smiling, as she asks for the other’s number.
Surprised and taken aback, the man looks back and his eyes dart from the girl and the wall. He then says, “No worries, I’ll give it to you. Can I borrow your phone, please?”
Exchanging numbers and socials, the two wave their goodbyes to each other as Katie enters her building. Scratching her head, she contemplates. Man, why was that kind of embarrassing? The vibes felt off somehow. Well, she was just grateful, at least now she’ll actually be able to bother Multi now. She forgot to ask for his number or socials before, after all.
Inputting her floor’s level on the elevator, she crouches down as she stares at the profile picture Multi has on his Instagram. He looked great, his style was very cool. Scrolling further to some other posts, she sees a picture of his dog. So cute.
Scrolling at that same post, she sees a video of Multi interacting with the same pet, whose name was apparently Nacho. That’s adorable, what the hell?
As the elevator comes to a halt, it finally dings as it opens. Katie then realizes that she has reached her destination. Closing her phone and standing up, she dusts her pants as she grabs her keys inside her pocket.
Walking the halls towards her room, she finally unlocks the door. Taking her shoes off, she remembers the homework she still has to finish.
“Katie, my coke! Give me!” Reminded by Quackity’s voice, she quickly realizes.
Shit. She forgot to buy the cola, Multi had distracted her.
“Bad news, no cola.”
She rushed towards her desk then proceeded to open her laptop.
“Aw man, what? You took so long! Keeping me waiting and shit.” Quackity says as he lightheartedly scoffs, complaining.
“Sorry dude. Okay, shush now I’m going to have to speedrun this assignment.” Katie replies absentmindedly as she finally focuses on her assignment. 11:05, she had to double time.
“Ugh, goodluck. I’m gonna go to sleep now, I just finished my readings since you didn’t want to talk to me.” Quackity replies back, whining as he lays down on his bed.
That was the last thing Katie hears as she continues her homework.