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Quackity rode Ossium into the winds, into the sunset. Through trees and forests, he scavenged for a certain kingdom he needed to find. He had no idea where it could be, but clues and talk from others guided his way there.
All he felt in his heart right now was determination. Hope. Possibly love, but he would settle on that later.
A speckle of warm light seeped into his vision, correcting his worries. He was here, this was the place. He got off of Ossium, petting her mane and settling her lead down to the nearest fence. It gave him a second to admire, to look at the place he was in.
Oh, by the gods it was beautiful. Far more than by his word could achieve.
Flowers decorated the country like snow, edging a comforting glow to the lanterns and light around it. Tall wooden buildings, as tall as life could make it decorated the circle of grass rounding the city. There was a bridge, and a small lake he could spot, with lily pads and flowers.
Then he was reminded, wow , this could have been his. It could have.
But, it maybe, just maybe, still can.
He spotted a medium sized building that looked as if it was made of a mushroom. In fact, it was a mushroom! He gasped.
There was a large red door, and a lantern on the front. A sign hung above the doorway, reading: ‘ Karl, Sapnap’s and’ followed by a scribbled out writing, a name he couldn’t read. Huh.
Now tiredly, he knocked on the door, feigning out his last hope. Now he started to ponder. What if they completely rejected him? What if this was all for nothing, now they truly didn’t love him anymore? He could only imagine behind that door, his lovers loving without him, happily. He shivered.
He could hear shuffles of mumbling, then steps of feet on the opposite side of the red door in front of him. It opened with a creak.
The man standing at the door looked just as shocked as he was, still in motion. Quackity smiled. He opened his mouth to speak, to spit apologies, compliments, flirts, but instead he felt the feeling of bile and lack of water. He blinked, seeing grainy vision and random spectacles of color.
He could now feel his energy waning out. Very quickly. Begrudgingly, he had underestimated the span of the trip beforehand. It had been a spur of the moment decision after all. The journey had been incredibly long.
In a last-given effort, gave one quick wave, then passed out, falling into the not-so-stranger’s arms.
————
Man. Karl’s life was weird. One second he was having a calm, quiet day, writing in his journal. The next second, he was cradling some random stranger in his arms, who had just passed out right in front of him.
Stranger? No. That didn’t feel right.
He decided to call over Sapnap. He was currently sleeping in their shared bedroom, snoozing the day away. Noticeably, he had been sleeping in more frequently since his visit to Las Nevadas, or whatever Sapnap called it. Anytime Karl pawned the question to him, he wouldn’t answer. He decided to not question any further.
Karl laided the sleeping body onto their living room couch, threw a blanket over them just in case, and headed up to their bedroom. The blanket had been hand made just by him, made during the construction of Kinoko to busy himself.
“Sapnap? Sapnap?” He said, trying to shake his fiance’s body awake. “Darlin’, there’s someone here. Wake up.”
“Whu-What?” Sapnap grumbled as his eyes fluttered open. “Someone here?”
“Y-yeah. He passed out right in front of me.” Karl chuckled, rubbing his hands behind his back.
“What?” The fire hybrid said, extremely startled by his words, now fully awake. “Do we know him?” He chuckled.
The time traveler paused on his words for a moment. He blinked.
“You might.”
“You-you might? What does that mean?” Sapnap said, smiling as Karl dragged him by the arm, leading him to get up and go down the stairs. He groaned, laughing. “Your grip is killing me hun, what’s all the hold u-“
Sapnap’s eyes went wide, seeing the beanied-figure laying on their couch. He looked to Karl, them both standing before it all.
“Wh-What.” He would've screamed at the sight given the chance, if the poor lad hadn't been asleep.
“Yeah...Do you know who he is? He passed right into my arms, I didn’t want to leave him out in the cold!” Karl said, in the most seemingly innocent voice ever.
“Karl...we talked about this…” The fire hybrid said, pinching his nose bridge. Memories of late night talks, of weak, gesturing remembrance pulsed through Sapnap’s head. He was pissed.
“...We did?”
“Karl. That’s our fiance. Quackity…does that ring a bell?”
“Quackity...Quackity…” The time traveler tapped his fingers on his chin, trying to remember.
Glimpses of warm yellows, blue, of sunlight smiles on a tilted sky frame seeped into his mind. Nights jumping on balconies, in underground venues, in snowy high mountains flashed his brain. Before Kinoko. Before everything.
“Q...Q..Quackity!” He screamed, finally revealing his revelation.
“Yeah.” Sapnap tiredly exclaimed. He was too tired for this. Until, they both heard a shuffle of noise.
“Oh wait…I probably...shouldn’t have yelled....” Karl said, shrinking in on himself.
Sapnap could see the avian blinking his eyes, fingers grabbing in reflex. Karl and Sapnap looked at each other.
“Oh shit.”
_______
Quackity slowly blinked his eyes open, grasping for warmth in the covers above him. He took a small whiff. The air smelled different, it felt... clean. Not to say that the air wasn’t fresh, it was factory but it was smoke filled and metallic. Aromas of blood littered the country like wildfire.
First thing he knew, this wasn’t his home. Second thing, who the hell made these blankets? They were extremely comforting, and soft too.
He was extremely close to drifting immediately back to sleep, until he heard shuffles of talking in front of the bed, no, couch as he felt it’s softness.
Quackity had never jolted up so fast from sleeping ever in his life. He nearly banged his head on the armrest of the sofa, sitting himself up to hear what was all the commotion, and more frankly, who?
He ignored all other surroundings. As far as he knew, there were two silhouettes of people looking at him, but he couldn’t make them out properly. He squinted, trying to see through his good eye.
When that didn’t work, he needlessly rubbed his eyes, trying to pull the grimes of slumber far away from his brain. Now he could see.
Who were these people? Whose house was he in? He looked back up to the silhouettes. They were slowly approaching him.
Oh?
O- Oh.
“What the FUCK? ” He screamed, his immediate first reaction. All the last 30 minutes came back rushing to his head like a bug, like a parasite to it’s host. He was terrified.
He was incredibly stupid, and terrified.
He threw the covers off, and bolted for the door.
“Nope not this time-“ Sapnap screamed as he went to block off the doorway, running at a faster pace that not even Connor could best.
Before Quackity could even come close to the handle of the entrance Sapnap slammed his body on it with all his might, facing Quackity. He looked tired, stunned. He could see purple spots grow from the under of his eye.
“Sapnap get out of the way. Please.” Quackity could hear how his own voice trailed off at the end, needed rest still screaming inside his brain. He stumbled against the hard wood floor.
“No.” The fire hybrid said firmly, eyes wide. He stood his ground, leaning all his body weight on the red wooden door, creaking it.
“Sap I swear to God I will- will-“ Before he finished his sentence, he crashed forward into Sapnap’s body. The other quickly caught him, confused. Perhaps the 3 hours of sleep per day, insomnia, and large consumption of alcohol and cigarettes caught up to him. Oops.
He wasn’t unconscious, but he was extremely tired. He attempted to get up and pull himself from his fiance’s grasp, weakly punching at his chest. He failed. He hadn’t been eating much either.
“Sapnap- Sapnap let me go please-“
“Why’d you even come here in the first place if you weren’t going to talk to us?” Karl said from behind, still standing near the couch.
“It was a stupid idea- I shouldn’t have came here now if you would please let me go-“ He even tried to claw at the doorway, flapping his wings to pester Sapnap away but the other was too strong. He kept a strong grip.
He fought against the other’s body until he physically couldn’t. In the end, he ended up returning the embrace, holding Sapnap as if the wooden floors below him would betray him and crumble down. He sobbed, he cried.
“P-Please.”
“Are you ready to talk now?” Sapnap said to him as he looked up with puffy eyes. He raised a eyebrow.
Quackity weakly nodded.
Sapnap strongly bridal-style carried the avian to the couch, setting him down before sitting down beside him. Karl followed suit.
Sapnap awkwarly started. “So, uh- why’d you come here?” He reached for Quackity's hand, gently squeezing it.
“I-um.” The duck hybrid could feel embarrassment mold into him, recalling that he had come here on impulse. He really hadn’t planned anything to say, he assumed the words would flow through him. They didn’t. Karl and Sapnap anxiously stared at him, awaiting his response.
“I guess I came here to apologize, to say sorry.” He paused. “Now, I’d guess, well, more expect you guys to just-kick me out I guess. Fuck-I’m sorry for everything, for what I did to you Sapnap, for leaving you guys just alone, just-“ He sobbed harder than ever before, new tears replacing dried old ones.
Karl and Sapnap were quick to be in his embrace, offering affirmations and apologies. It all faded foggy and thin through his head, he was very lightheaded.
“J-Just, why did you leave me? I mean I couldn’t help feel like I deserved it, or that I didn’t expect it coming because I did , but wh-why?” He said, talking through tears.
“We didn’t mean to leave you duckling,” Karl muffled, face buried in his dress shirt. “It was too dangerous in El Rapids, with all the honkin’ Eggpire stuff that went on.”
“Yeah but-you guys didn’t even tell me it straight! I was worried sick! And you still Sapnap, you didn’t even give me an answer when I asked you. Just “he can be like that” bullshit, man.”
The two didn’t seem to have any definable answer, simply wrapping their bodies around their fiance harder. “We’re sorry.” They said, somehow in unison. They continued more affections, more words of love.
Quackity sighed. “Please don’t leave me again.
I love you guys so much but I’m just scared. This shit I can’t just forgive you guys about.”
“How can we make it up to you?” Sapnap questioned.
“Just keep on lovin’ me more.” The avian smiled, giving them a smile they hadn’t seen in months. The two nearly pummeled Quackity into the couch in a hug, leaving Quackity doozy again.
“S-shit.” He said, dazy.
“What’s wrong? Did we hurt you?” Karl anxiously said, lifting his hands away from him. Q quickly took them back and wrapped them around him.
“No I just-the sleepiness is coming back. I haven’t slept properly in like, 3 months.”
Karl looked comically personally offended at that.
“We’re getting you that bed then! Sapnap! Let’s go!” He yelled partly giggling, scooping up their fiance into his arms. Quackity buried his head into the curl of Karl’s neck. He smelled of candies and flowers, nature and all of that shit. Comforting. Sapnap got off the couch and followed their direction.
The three made their way to the bedroom of the mushroom house. The whole house was perfectly Karl-esque, all whimsical and funky. Random flowers, misplaced photos, and everything else decorated the house. In his sleepy vision he could even make up a few albums with his face in it.
As they got to the bedroom Quackity took note of his less-more than casual dresswear. Karl was easy to fix that, giving him one of his shirts. Yes Karl was taller and a larger hybrid, and the shirt felt very oversized on his small duck body but, who was he to complain? It was comforting anyways.
Karl pushed Quackity into the bed, dropped himself, and then dragged down Sapnap with them. The pillows felt a little too soft, and the bed made just too much creaking as he laid back. But even his house back in Las Nevadas, no creaks and firm pillows, couldn’t live up to the sense of overwhelming warmth and comfort he felt in this bed. He was home.
Sapnap pulled up the blankets below them, opting to cover them in warmth as well as his demon hybrid heat.
“Isn’t it morning?” Quackity pondered.
“Well you seem knocked out of your guts, Q, might as well join a soldier.” Sapnap responded as he wrapped an arm around the avian. “It’s okay, if you wanna look around here more we can go later, it looks better at dusk anyways.”
Karl mumbled in agreement. Quackity sheepishly nodded. “We can talk everything out tomorrow too. For now, we sleep. Okay Q?”
“Yeah, I’m good with that.” He said, placing a small kiss to the fire hybrid’s forehead. “I love you, Sap.
He reached his backway around and planted a small peck on Karl’s cheek. In the corner of his eye, he could see the brunette flush. He giggled. “I love you too, Karl. Love both of you dumbasses.”
They only responded in kisses, giggles, and cuddles.
Maybe everything before, in past was wrong, depressing, and absolutely batshit crazy-
but maybe, just maybe-
With these fools by Quackity’s side, it might just make everything good again. For the better.