Chapter Text
Sapnap stared up at the ceiling of the small dark room. The only sounds were the gentle breeze outside and Quackity’s soft snoring next to him. The dark-haired man was currently using his chest as a pillow while his arm on his other side was being held hostage by a mop of curly brown hair.
While on any other night, Sapnap would be completely content being used as a human body pillow, he was supposed to have already started his trek back to the lab two days ago. Somehow, Karl had convinced him into delaying his departure each time. He’d made it clear that he was going to be leaving earlier that morning and yet here he was. Sandwiched between two of the people he loved more than anything. It raised the question: how was he going to get out of this? He knew he had to leave now while they were sleeping. If he held off until they woke up, who knew if he was ever going to get himself to leave.
He began to wiggle his way around and slowly he managed to slip out from under Quackity. He was never more grateful that the man slept like a rock. Then with a gentle push, he was able to slip his arm out of Karl’s grip. As he climbed out of the bed, Karl stirred, causing him to freeze. Thankfully, he was close enough to Quackity to latch onto him. It wasn’t until he completely settle down that Sapnap let himself breathe. Finally out of the bed, he gave himself a moment to watch the two of them. If it weren’t for Tommy waiting for him, Sapnap wouldn’t dare leave them like this.
Karl was going to be fucking pissed when he saw him again.
He hadn’t meant to get attached to this place, least of all the two people in the bed. It was just supposed to be a simple scouting mission.
Around a year and a half ago, Dream had begun hearing rumors of the fast-growing commune nearby and it had made him nervous. He couldn’t risk people snooping and finding the lab. Even in an apocalypse, he knew most people wouldn’t understand the steps he was taking to figure out an actual cure. He’d recently caught Sapnap sneaking Tommy some treats when he was supposed to be receiving punishment for some misbehavior.
Dream had never liked the connection Tommy and Sapnap had., but when Sapnap was the only one who could actually get Tommy to willingly cooperate at times, Dream let some things slide. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to punish them for it later. So it became Sapnap’s job to find the commune. Tommy had felt so guilty when he’d come to say goodbye. Sapnap had to tell him multiple times that it wasn’t his fault. He knew the boy didn’t believe it, but he begrudgingly agreed. He left Tommy with a hug and a promise that he’d be back within a couple of weeks.
Two weeks went by with no sighting of this supposed “safest place on Earth”.
Two weeks of absolutely nothing but sunburns and walkers.
The guilt of leaving Tommy alone for so long was eating him up inside. He knew the boy had to be absolutely losing his mind with anxiety. He was prone to panic attacks and Sapnap was the only one who bothered to snap him out of them nicely. He just prayed Dream wouldn’t hurt the boy too badly while he was away. Every part of him was ready to call it quits but he knew Dream would become impossible to deal with if he failed. He would probably take away his time with Tommy for a while and make him go searching again. That reason alone was what kept him going.
He’d been wandering an abandoned city for a couple of days. He was tired, hungry full of concern for Tommy. It’s probably why he hadn’t noticed the hoard of zombies before it was too late. He had turned the corner and almost ran into one. He clamped his hand over his mouth to keep himself from yelling as he jumped back. The soft swaying and the lack of groans told him they must in sleepwalking.
Sleepwalking zombies was the best-case scenario if one were to run into a hoard of zombies. However, they were also the most unpredictable. The strange hibernation mode happened when the zombies hadn’t had anything to eat in a while. If one was lucky and quiet, the zombies would more than likely stay in the sleepwalking state. No one was quite sure what woke them up, however. Sometimes it was a loud noise, but sometimes it seemed like they could smell there was fresh meat nearby.
With them not quite aware of his presence yet, Sapnap did his best to silence his footsteps as he walked back the way he came. He had almost made it back behind one of the buildings when he heard it. It started out quiet but Sapnap could easily make out the rumblings of a car getting closer.
“Shit,” He hissed, pulling his rifle off of his shoulder. As he made sure the thing was loaded, he could see the twitching of a few of the zombies beginning to wake up.
Unfortunately for him, that also included the one closest to him.
The undead’s limbs flung lifelessly as it turned to face Sapnap. The creature only had one eye but the low snarl it let out told him it had already caught on to his scent. Without warning, it lunged at him. Not wanting to risk waking the entire hoard before he had a chance to run away, Sapnap chose not to shoot the zombie. Instead, he knocked it to the ground with the butt of his gun and took off running. The sounds of the car seemed to be getting closer. The low chorus of groans behind him told him more of the zombies were waking up. He really needed to get out of the open.
Just as he thought he was gaining some distance from the zombie behind him, he felt something grab his shirt. He turned and hit the zombie again with the butt of his gun. He wasn’t prepared for there to be a second walker there as well. He clenched his teeth as the creature managed to rake its nails down the back of his forearm and, without a second thought, he lowed the barrel of the rifle to the creature’s head and pulled the trigger.
The gunshot echoed throughout the empty city. Bits of zombie splattered themselves onto Sapnap’s clothing and skin. He had closed his mouth to avoid getting any of it inside him. So far they had only recorded transformations happening after a bite, but he wasn’t about to take any chances.
The one he had knocked to the ground was crawling to grab his leg. He’d already blown any sort of sound cover he had so he chose to blast its brains out as well. The second gunshot was followed by a brief moment of silence before he could hear the snarls approaching.
“Fucking hell…” He said through his teeth. He glanced down at his arm briefly to make sure it wasn’t anything to worry about yet. His arm was covered in blood but thankfully it wasn’t anything deep. The blood made it look worse than it was. After double-checking that he wasn’t going to die of blood loss, he continued to run down the street.
He needed to get out of the open but he also couldn’t risk the hoard trapping him in a building. Especially not one without any sort of supplies. Lucky for him, fate decided to be kind to him that day. The rev of an engine gave him pause as he turned to where the sound came from. A white jeep had turned down the street and was headed straight for him. He looked over at his shoulder at the hoard approaching behind him before turning in the direction of the jeep.
He just hoped they were somewhat friendly.
“Help,” He cried out, waving a hand in the air. The jeep came to a stop between him and the hoard. It held three other men. Two in the front seat and one in the back. The one in the back held out his hand to Sapnap as they jerked to a stop. The man’s very bright and very multicolored hoodie made him pause for a brief second. It was almost as if he had taken different parts of different hoodies and stitched them together. Which he probably did. It was the apocalypse after all. Jackets tended to be in short supply.
“Get in!” Sapnap didn’t have to be told twice. He grabbed his hand and allowed the man to pull him into the back. The sound of more gunfire came from the guy in the passenger seat as the man there popped off any zombie that got too close for comfort.
“He in?” The driver asked, glancing back. Sapnap couldn’t help but stare at the man’s long, pink braided hair. Who had enough care to dye their hair in a zombie apocalypse?
“Yep!” The man who helped him in said.
“Then let’s get the fuck out of here,” The man in the passenger seat yelled just before blasting two more walkers in the head. With a rev of the engine, the jeep sped back down the road and away from the zombies. As the snarls and groans disappeared, Sapnap let out a deep breath.
“Thanks for stopping,” He said. The man in the colorful hoodie smiled at him.
“What’s a handsome man like you doing out here all by yourself?” The man winked at him. Sapnap gave him a small smirk.
“Heard some rumors of a supposed commune out here that’s supposed to be the safest place in the world. I decided I wanted to see if the rumors were true. The place has been a bitch to find, however.”
“What’s your name?” The man in the passenger seat asked. He had a hand on his blue beanie the keep it from flying off in the wind.
“Sapnap.”
“Well Sapnap, you’re in luck. We know just the place you’re looking for. We were actually headed back there right now if you want to join us.” The man gave him a toothy grin.
“That would be awesome.” Sapnap didn’t show it but the relief at hearing those words made his body feel light. If they were telling the truth, he’d finally be able to get the information Dream wanted and get back to Tommy. The boy was probably worried sick. He wasn’t supposed to be away this long and he had no way of communicating with the lab out here. They probably were beginning to think he’d died. “What are y’alls names?’
“I’m Karl. The sexy man in the beanie is Quackity, and our lovely chauffeur is none other than Technoblade,” Karl, the man in the hoodie, said. He blew a small kiss in Quackity’s direction and Technoblade just let out a slow sigh.
“They always pair me with the love birds,” Technoblade said, tiredly. The other two just laughed.
*****
L’manburg had been a much different place than Sapnap was expecting. He was a little wary when he first saw the prison appear on the horizon, but he had to commend their setup. The walls were tall and very well guarded. Karl and Quackity brought him to the medical wing of the prison to get checked for injuries or bites. A lady named Puffy helped fix up his arm where the zombie had scratched him. Her skills weren’t quite on the same level as Ponk, the lab’s main doctor, but Sapnap was still impressed.
Quackity and Karl took him on a tour of the place and introduced him to the important people such as the Watsons, who were the technical leaders of the place. Phil and his wife Kristen gave him a very warm welcome. Sapnap was definitely not prepared for Kristen to hand him a small bag of basic supplies and a change of clothes. Their son Wilbur’s welcome wasn’t as warm but he seemed to be distracted with other things and then, of course, he’d already met Techno. Wilbur being Techno’s twin was still something Sapnap couldn’t quite wrap his head around to this day.
After a brief talk of his intentions for L’manburg and what the purpose of the commune was, they had given him a room and showed him where he could take a shower. The next day, he ran into Quackity and Karl again. Karl couldn’t keep his hands off of him while Quackity made various disarming comments and told him that he’d save his ass any day. Sapnap asked if they had any children's books he could steal and the rest is history.
“You’ll come visit next time you’re in the area, right?” Karl had grabbed his hand before Sapnap could walk out the gate that first time. He could see the blush forming on Karl’s cheeks and gave his hand a squeeze.
“I don’t see why not,” Sapnap laughed. The way Karl and Quackity’s eyes lit up at his response was enough for him to make sure he came back to visit. Now that he knew where L’manburg was, he could make it a much faster trip the next time. The lab was really only about a week's journey away from the place. Sapnap had just been going in all the wrong directions before.
(If he had almost broken his hand by punching the wall after learning that, no one had to know.)
“We’d better see that ass of yours soon then,” Quackity yelled as Sapnap started to walk away.
“You wish you could see this ass,” Sapnap called back to them.
“See you, handsome!” Karl giggled as he waved goodbye.
After that, Sapnap did his best to visit at least once every other month. Sometimes he got lucky and was able to visit sooner. The guilt of leaving Tommy almost stopped him each time but the thought of them waiting for him with a kiss on their lips pulled him back. They didn’t ask questions and never tried to pry into things. He was thankful for that. He wasn’t sure what they would do if they found out where he came from. Just another thing to add to his list of things to be guilty of. So he allowed himself to fall into the delusion of being just a normal ass dude who just wanted to kiss his normal ass boyfriends. Not someone who worked at a shady-ass lab doing shady-ass tests on an immune ten-year-old kid.
Watching them sleep peacefully as he slowly moved to pack his things, he couldn’t help but think about how much they’d love Tommy. Karl would sit down and read him any book his heart desired and Quackity would get him to cause all sorts of mischief just to make him laugh. If only Sapnap wasn’t such a coward. Maybe he could’ve gotten Tommy away from all the pain. But Dream promised they were close to a cure and he knew if Dream caught any sort of idea that he was planning on breaking Tommy out, he’d kill him and make Tommy watch.
He shook those traitorous thoughts from his head and continued to shove his stuff back into his pack. Once that was done he stood up, threw on some clothes, and moved to grab his rifle that he kept next to the door. The sound of shuffling behind him caused him to pause. A pair of arms wrapped themselves around his waist as a sleepy Karl stuffed his face against his neck. His breath was warm against his skin.
“You were supposed to stay asleep,” Sapnap said softly. Karl groaned and held him a little tighter.
“You were trying to leave without saying goodbye,” Karl muttered grumpily. Sapnap closed his eyes and took a breath.
“I was supposed to leave two days ago,” Sapnap said with a quiet laugh as lifted a hand to run it through Karl’s hair. Karl melted into the touch, almost purring at the attention.
“How about you just don’t go?” Karl asked, peppering small kisses onto Sapnap’s skin. Sapnap knew what he was trying to do. It had worked the past couple of days, but he had to keep his resolve.
“Trust me, if that were an option, I’d choose it in a heartbeat,” Sapnap said, apologetically. Tommy needed him. Sapnap had already failed him in too many ways. He couldn’t abandon him as well.
“Well make it a fucking option.” Karl squeezed him even tighter.
“It’s not that simple.”
“So you say.”
Sapnap turned in Karl’s grip so he could face one of the people he loved so much. Cupping Karl’s cheek in his hand, he pressed their foreheads together before moving to kiss Karl. The kiss was slow but that didn’t stop Karl from gripping Sapnap’s shirt and pulling him as close as possible. They broke away a bit breathless and rested their foreheads together again.
“I love you, but I still have to go,” Sapnap said. Karl huffed and finally pulled back.
“Fine. I’ll allow it this time.” Karl crossed his arms over his chest, pouting slightly. “But I better get fucking flowers next time you visit.”
“You want flowers?” Sapnap snorted. “Alright. I can get you flowers.” He lifted the strap of his rifle over his shoulder before moving forward to give Karl one last quick kiss. “Give Q a kiss for me.”
“He’s going to be so mad you left without saying goodbye. Might want to get him flowers too.” Karl gave him a smirk.
“Somehow I doubt that Q wants me to get him flowers,” Sapnap chuckled. As he opened the door he turned back to Karl and sighed. “I love you.” Karl’s eyes filled with a sort of sad longing that almost made him drop his shit and hop right back in bed.
“I love you too. You better come back soon.” Karl’s voice was soft but it was all Sapnap could hear as he nodded and closed the door.
*****
He traveled back to the lab as fast as he could, taking as few breaks as possible. Usually, when he made the journey it took him about a week to get back and forth between the lab and L’manburg. This time, it took him about five days, and he was exhausted. He approached the old, abandoned-looking building that served as a front for the lab. People would see it, see nothing worth salvaging and move on. What they didn’t notice was the secret set of stairs that led into a deep basement bunker that had been transformed into Logsted Laboratories.
He headed down and made it through security quickly. He was kind of a big deal around the place. If people didn’t know who he was, they were either new or a spy. More likely the latter because they didn’t recruit people that often. Dream didn’t want the knowledge of what they were doing to get out. Because of that, only a few people were even allowed to set foot outside the lab after they joined.
Once he cleared security, he quickly dropped all his stuff back off in his room and proceeded to head straight to Tommy’s room. Unfortunately, the screaming made him stop. George’s lab was much closer to his room than it was to Tommy’s and Sapnap knew that sound anywhere. He all but ran into George’s lab, slamming the doors open in the process. The sight made his heart drop.
Tommy was sitting on the floor in the corner of the room, tears streaming down his face while Dream crouched in front of him with an iron grip around each of his wrists. Tommy tried to pull his arms away, shaking his head and pleading with Dream. When Sapnap burst in, George just looked over at him with an irritated expression.
“Fucking finally,” George muttered. Sapnap could barely hear him under Tommy’s panic.
“P-Please, Dream… I-I-I don’t… I don’t… It hurts… Please…” Tommy’s breathing was erratic, making it hard for the boy to speak. He needed to get it steady before he passed out.
“You’re going to stop crying, sit in the fucking chair and let George run his test.” Dream’s voice had a dangerous tone to it. Tommy’s head started shaking faster as he gasped for air. Dream then dropped one of his wrists and raised a hand to strike the boy.
“Dream! Stop!” Sapnap rushed forward before he could follow through. Dream’s masked face snapped around to face Sapnap, who dropped to his knees next to the two of them. “I’ll get him to calm down.” Sapnap had to use everything inside him to keep his voice calm. Dream stared at him for a moment before throwing Tommy’s other arm out of his grip and standing up.
“S-Sapnap…” Tommy gasped as Sapnap gently grabbed his hands and began rubbing circles over their backs. “I don’t…” He started to plead again but Sapnap shushed him softly. Unfortunately, there was no getting out of whatever George planned for Tommy, but at least Sapnap had made it in time. At least he could be there for this one.
“I need you to breathe with me, Toms. Can you do that?” Instead of answering, Tommy let out another choked sob as Sapnap began taking some exaggerated deep breaths. “Just follow my breathing, buddy.” He placed one of Tommy’s hands against his chest so he could feel Sapnap’s chest rising and falling with each breath. Tommy managed to finally take in one shaky breath and then a second. They continued that until Tommy was able to breathe mostly normally again. Sapnap muttered little bits of praise as he slowly got control over his lungs.
“Good job, Tommy,” Sapnap said. “You ready to sit in the chair now?”
“I don’t wanna. It hurts, Sapnap,” Tommy leaned forward to sob into Sapnap’s shirt. Sapnap wrapped his arms around the boy, trying to keep himself from crying with him. Tommy needed him to be strong. He needed Sapnap to be certain this was all for the greater good.
“I know, but George needs to run his test. I’ll hold your hand the entire time though. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Promise?” Tommy asked, his voice soft and raspy from all the screaming.”
“Promise.” He gave him a comforting squeeze before picking the boy up and bringing him to the chair. Sapnap cringed as George immediately started buckling him into the restraints.
“Is that really necessary?” Sapnap asked, even though he already knew the answer. George raised an eyebrow and his dumb question.
“I’m injecting him with the zombie infection and it’s going to hurt like hell. He knows this and you know this,” George said simply. Tommy whimpered at the statement and Sapnap was quick to give his hand a little squeeze. “I’m going to do it in his already bum leg so that way if it does more damage, it’s already in a damaged area,” George said as if it should’ve been a comforting statement but it just made Sapnap pause.
“What if it makes it so he can’t use his leg at all?” Sapnap asked with concern. He glanced down at Tommy whose face seemed to be blanking out like it would when he started to dissociate. As much as he knew a ten-year-old shouldn’t have to deal with dissociating, Sapnap was glad he was more than likely no longer paying attention to the conversation.
“Then he can’t use his leg,” George shrugged, uncaring. Sapnap really wasn’t surprised by that action. He couldn’t remember the last time George cared about anything other than his science or Dream.
“Can we get this over with already?” Dream interrupted impatiently. He had pushed his mask aside at some point and Sapnap couldn’t help but shiver at the cold look in Dream’s eyes. He turned back to Tommy whose eyes were opened but stared at nothing. Using his free hand to stroke his tangled, blonde locks, Sapnap nodded to George.
“Just do it.”
George inserted the needle into the kid’s leg and Sapnap braced himself for more screaming.