Work Text:
Quackity raced down the path. He knew how bad it looked that he instantly reached the correct house, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. No one needed to know how many times he stood across from this house, praying he would eventually have the strength to knock.
It had been Niki, of course, who had shoved him in the direction of the city. Even without her doing so, Quackity would’ve shown up. The way she had described what was happening with Karl…..
Ignoring the thoughts of how badly they had left everything, and how even seeing them would break his heart more, he reached up to knock. His fist had barely touched the wood before it flew open, revealing a brunette.
“Oh Quackity, you’re here! Niki said she was going to get you.” George had a list in his hand, with his coat only on one arm. He looked frazzled, with a large bruise blooming across his jaw.
“George, no offense, but you look like shit.” Quackity frowned. He was nervous, worried about how the day would go.
“Yeah well, I’ve been kind of busy and your ex has a temper. Follow me, they are upstairs.” He turned, leading Quackity up to the room. “I’m going to go, let you guys have some time. I have to get some more food, I’ve had too many people dropping by.” Once he reached the bottom of the stairs, he stopped, “Good luck.”
Quackity was left alone.
His hand wrapped around the door handle, mind flashing back to the first night they had spent together once they were officially boyfriends. They had all laid down quietly in their room, eyes wide as they realized just how in love they were. They had whispered for hours, planning what they were going to do, and where they were going to go. They had been so very happy for far too short of a time.
He turned the knob, stepping into the room. It was a beautiful room, with large windows overlooking the city and a canopy bed in the middle of the room. A chair was next to the bed, with a black haired man watching over the bed.
Sapnap looked up, the fire in his eyes burning bright for a moment before going out completely. He bowed his head back down, eyes closing as he held Karl’s hand between his.
Quackity took another step in, gasping as he looked at Karl. He was pale, frighteningly so. “Oh my god, Karl,” Niki had told him how bad he was, but nothing had prepared him for seeing one of the loves of his life nearly ghostlike.
“Come here,” Sapnap whispered, never letting Karl leave his sight. Quackity reached Sapnap’s side and then stopped. Sapnap took his hand, wrapping it around Karl’s.
Karl’s hands were almost icy, causing Quackity to pull Sapnap’s warm hands back.
“How long has he been out?” Quackity whispered, as thought loud noises would wake up Karl.
“Two days, four houses, and twenty two minutes.” Sapnap dropped his head against their joined hands. “Sit, he needs you.”
Quackity sat on the edge of the bed, facing the headboard. The hand not holding the others’ traced Karl’s jaw, brushing the curls away from his forehead. “Niki said you didn’t know what happened.”
“George said exhaustion, Karl hasn’t been sleeping enough, as always. You know how he gets when he’s supposed to sleep in. Can’t do it unless someone’s with him. I can’t stay everyday, I have patrols.” The last part was spoken softer, as though Sapnap hated himself for it.
“Sap…” The other man sighed, wishing he had been there. He was beyond angry for being left behind, angry they didn’t love him enough to invite him to their new country, but he was glad he had been informed of the change.
“Are you staying for today?” Sapnap asked. He sounded weary, as though the answer was decisive to their lives.
“I’m staying as long as I’m allowed.”
~~~
Later that night, Sapnap and Quackity had fallen asleep multiple times, George checking in twice.
After some idle small talk, Sapnap asked, “Are you safe? I heard there have been some issues in Las Nevadas and Wilbur.”
“Mostly, there’s nothing quite like flirting with Wilbur for power. I am not sure what he thinks is going to happen between us, but whatever he has planned isn’t happening.”
Sapnap laughed softly, “As long as you are okay.”
“He thinks I don’t know about the TNT under the casinos. I am almost sorry to disappoint him.” Quackity shrugged, he had taken his tie off hours ago, fingers twisting in the silver chain he wore. He knew he couldn’t pull out the rings from where they rested against his heart in front of Sapnap, but the chain was grounding, pulling him back to the present.
“I think he’s used to disappointment, if not, he should be.”
The words were spoken about Wilbur, but Quackity couldn’t help but feel they were for him too.
~~~
The next day found them switching places, Sapnap laying next to Karl on the bed, while Quackity held his hand.
“You know, four days ago when we got up, he was acting weird. I had had a bad morning, patrols went badly. Karl walked up, wrapped his arms around me and told me not to worry, he would fix everything. The next day he disappeared for two hours. I found him nearly unconscious on the porch, and he whispered you would be back soon.” Sapnap looked at his ex fiance sadly.
“Why did you send Niki to get me?” Quackity laid his head next to Karl and his joined hands. “Why now, after all this time?”
“Because even though you walked away, I hoped you cared enough about us at one point to see him.”
Quackity was shocked, “I never walked away, you made a country and didn’t tell me. What did you want me to do, be happy about it?”
“Karl told you…. He invited you to join us and you never showed.” Sapnap was quiet, only his eyes showing the anger in his words.
“I promise you, Karl never invited me,” he was confused. Why was Sapnap so adamant he had been told?
“Oh god. I should’ve known.” Sapnap brought his hands over his face. “Karl’s memory loss, oh god Q. I should’ve known.”
“So you did want me here?” All those nights, hearing Schlatt’s voice telling him how useless he was, how his fiances had never loved him, how he deserved everything.
“Q, we promised it was us against the world, not us against the world when it was convenient.”
That night changed both of their mindsets, though some things were still going unsaid. Sapnap didn’t bring up the silver chain holding his rings around Q’s neck just as Quackity didn’t bring up the deep scratches across the Quackity tattoo on Sap’s throat.
~~~
George came into the room, hours later, frowning. He dreaded what he had to say, especially once he saw the fiances. Quackity and Sapnap were laying on the bed on either side of Karl whispering quietly. Their joined hands rested on Karl’s stomach.
“Guys, can I speak to you for a moment?”
They both sat up, looking expectantly at their friend. They were hoping for good news, but due to George’s expression, they knew that wasn’t the case.
“If Karl doesn’t wake up soon, I don’t know what to do. At this point I’ve tried every healing potion we have. Since I don’t know what’s wrong with him, I can’t fix it. We could try taking him to Sam, see if he has any ideas, or we could ask Him….” George trailed off awkwardly.
“No,” The two men said together. “He doesn’t get to play savior.”
“Okay, I will ask Sam to come by later.” George had known even hinted at their former best friend had been risky, but he also knew Karl deserved a chance.
~~~
“I know why Karl kept disappearing.” Sapnap looked up at Quackity from where he was running his hand over Karl’s hair.
“You do?” Quackity looked confused. “How long have you known?”
“He wasn’t cheating on us like we thought.” He got up, and grabbed a book off the table in the room. He flipped through it until he found what he was looking for. “Look, who is that?”
It was a portrait of two young men, one had his arm around the other's shoulders. It was clearly a picture of Sapnap and Karl, though they were dressed formally.
“What do you mean?”
“Read the caption.” It read James and Karl 1860. He looked over the rest of the page, seeing an old west picture of the three of them. A few other pictures showed Karl in varying outfits with dates all throughout time.
“Sap, what? How is this possible?”
“Karl is a time traveler. He works for the Goddess Of Death, and she is using him to fix timelines.” At Q’s incredulous face, Sapnap sighed, “Dream XD is literally a god, this isn’t the weirdest thing on the server.” He paused, “Anyway, the day Karl left he promised he would fix what happened between us, and you would come home soon. He wasn’t unconscious immediately like I told George, he was delirious for a few hours. He screamed until he was hoarse, begging for you and I to save him. Oh god, Q. I can’t stop hearing him scream.”
Quackity jumped up, wrapping his arms around the other man. “He’ll be okay, he’ll be okay. Everything will be fine. It has to be.”
The reassurances fell short, causing them both to fall into heartbreak. Heartbreak for the time spent apart, heartbreak for the words not said, heartbreak for the fear of loss.
~~~
Once they had calmed down, they laid down on either side of Karl as had become ritual. The moon shone into the window, silver moonlight highlighting the fiances.
Hours into the night, Sapnap was awoken by muffled screaming. He looked quickly at Karl, seeing no difference. The sheet on Karl’s other side was warm but empty. He sat up looking around for his… Quackity. “Q? Are you there?” He got up, lighting a small fire in his palm to see better. “Q?” Finally he heard a soft sobbing coming from the small closet connected to the room.
Quackity was huddled over, holding his head as he sobbed. “Please no, Please not them, I promised, I promised I would help you if you didn’t hurt them.”
“Q? What’s going on?” Sapnap reached out, letting him decide when he wanted contact.
“He promised he wouldn’t hurt you, but Karl’s hurt and it’s my fault. If I had been better, had listened better, had followed orders better, he would be okay.” Quackity was shaking, hand wrapped around the only tie in the closet. It was purple and blue and had been Karl’s.
“Can I touch you?” Once he saw the slight nod, he cradled the other man close. “Oh my love, this isn’t your fault. Karl knew the risks, and yet he didn’t share them with us. You haven’t done anything but try to keep yourself safe. I love you, we love you, and you are safe.”
“Why did this happen to us Sap?”
“I don’t know love, I don’t know.”
~~~
Two days later, George stood at the bedroom doorway with Sam. The fiances were curled up next to Karl, having napped through the day.
“May I?” Sam asked before looking over Karl. He put his hand against Karl’s forehead and listened to his heartbeat.
Finally he looked up and said, “The Goddess has him for now, but she is slowly letting him come back to you. Give her some time and some prayers. She has been battling Dream XD for weeks now and is tired.”
“Thank you Sam.” They said at once.
~~~
Many prayers and hours later, Karl Jacobs opened his eyes for the first time in nearly a week. He opened his eyes to his fiances smiling over him.
“Welcome back to the living,” Quackity grinned as he hooked his chin over Sapnap’s shoulder.
“We missed you,” Sapnap laughed as Karl squeezed his hand back.
“Q, you’re back.” Karl breathed out, excited.
Sapnap climbed over Karl, laying down next to him, as Quackity did the same.
“I love you,” Sapnap whispered.
Karl grinned, “Always and Forever.”
Quackity reached over and grabbed their hands, “My loves.”