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In Sapnap’s opinion, this was stupid. In George’s, Sapnap was stupid. In the eyes of the rest of the community, both of them were, quite frankly, stupid. The petty squabble had been lasting days, if not weeks, and it was getting progressively harder to work on community projects. The two had made it so when they unanimously decided not to speak to each other. The lack of communication was causing many to get unnerved, especially Dream. And, there is one thing that Dream hated more in the world: being a messenger. At first, he joked around, saying “don’t shoot the messenger,” as he reported to the two of his closest friends. But, as the days turned into weeks, Dream was beginning to worry.
The last time the two had talked had ended in an argument that left Sapnap breathing out smoke and George silent. Like always, the two of them were on opposite ends of the spectrum. George was typically outgoing, always joining in on childish fun to observe Dream and Sapnap fuck with someone’s shit. And Sapnap was always egging on George in that playfully way which somehow convinced George to actually join in on the pranks. So, as George continued to sulk silently, and Sapnap would rant violently, Dream found himself dragging the two to an empty field.
Which left them where they were at now.
“Dream, just give it up! Let’s just ditch this loser and go back home,” Sapnap almost whined at Dream. The desperation in his voice was sickening.
Dream had just finished setting up the tent under the shade of a tree, “Like I said on the way here, we’re not leaving until you and George talk about this.”
“Talking will do nothing,” George’s tone was sharper than the normal soft. Dream really missed the squeaky laughs that would grace his ears when George spoke.
Dream could almost hear the way Sapnap’s neck snapped as the man turned his head to his right to face George, “That’s only because someone doesn’t ever want to speak.”
George scrunched his nose, arms still crossed and not looking at Sapnap, “Because talking to the likes of you would be sickening to my reputation.”
“Your reputation?” Now, Sapnap had his full body facing George. His fists were shaking and the pent-up energy he had been saving was threatening to come out. “Gods, making you King was the worst decision known to man.”
“And you would have been a better choice?”
“Anyone would have been a better choice than some stuck-up posh twink!”
George’s eyes widened and he turned to Sapnap. His face was covered with a sneer, but his arms still remained crossed together, “Oh that’s low coming from the likes of you. You would have run the Essempi into the ground!”
“I wouldn’t have sent a child to exile!”
“He burned down my house!” he took a step closer, heterochromia eyes boring into Sapnap’s angry ones.
“That could have easily been replaced!” Sapnap’s stance widened, preparing for a fight.
“I bet you would have burned it down with him!” his arms dropped. It was like a moment of clarity, “You burned down my house with him!”
“And now you’re jumping to conclusions? Real petty.”
“I wouldn’t find it hard to believe you would have! You’ve always been such a destructive pig!”
“Pig? Really? Is that all you’ve got?” Sapnap snorted out soot. “Here you are calling me names, accusing me of things I’ve never committed, all because I made a stupid joke about your reign?”
George stared at him with anger Dream had never seen before, “Sapnap, you’re a bad friend.”
And that’s all it took for Sapnap to stop in his tracks. The two had gotten nearly nose to nose, but Sapnap was the first to step back. The anger that was in his eyes was quickly replaced with hurt. Water hurt the blazes, but that didn’t stop the way Sapnap’s eyes began to well with unshed tears. He didn’t even bother to hide the way the hurt crossed his features. George was quick to realize what he had said; his own anger dropped just as quickly as Sapnap’s. He reached out to his friend, “Wait-”
A hand stopped him. George blinked as he stared at the blaze’s paw. Sapnap looked away from George, opening his eyes to address Dream, “This was a mistake.”
“Sapna-” Dream attempted to stop the man, but Sapnap shook his head.
“No, just stop. I’m going home,” the blaze hybrid took out the prepped obsidian and quickly lit the hastily made portal. And he was gone in a blaze of purple particles.
The two of them stood there, staring at the swirling purple. The wind blew at Dream’s longer hair as his other friend sighed. Dream mimicked his friend, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. This had been an attempt to try and bring the two of them closer, and George just had to say that. Didn’t he know how much he affected Sapnap? No, because he was blinded by his own fury. Dream tried to remind himself of that, but it was becoming harder to watch his two best friends – brothers even – fight.
George lifted one of his arms, though keeping his elbow supported by his other arm, “At least I tried-”
Dream snapped, “No you didn’t.”
George closed his mouth and dropped his arm. He let out a noise of confusion, but quickly turned away. At this point, he was breaking relationships left and right. He couldn’t afford to lose Dream, too. He had to admit: he did get carried away with the insults at Sapnap. And, he was a bit mean when he called Sapnap a bad friend. But, a part of him still believes that what he said was true! Sapnap had been insulting him during their argument. Before that, Sapnap had been the one to always insult him, whether it had been jokingly or not.
But, did this mean he was a bad friend too?
George shook his head, ignoring the puzzled look Dream was giving him. Without another word, George stepped through the portal as well.
It was another week before George began to actively seek Sapnap out. At first, he didn’t really know why. There was this guilt that continued to gnaw away at his gut and his chest felt like someone had strapped a twenty pound weight on it. Even his advisor had mentioned how he sagged. The worst thing was that Dream hadn’t visited either. That only seemed to make the weight worse.
At first, he tried to find Quackity. George knew that Sapnap and Quackity had been dating for a few months. But, Quackity said that Sapnap had stormed out of his nether portal and nearly glassed the desert before making his way to the cooler Kinoko Kingdom. Quackity had failed to mention that his relationship with Sapnap was polyamorous and that the leader of Kinoko Kingdom happened to be their third. So, when he was greeted by the other leader, a national scandal nearly happened in the public eye.
“You have some audacity to be here right now, King George,” Karl’s words were blunt but also piercing at the same time.
“King Karl,” George greeted formally while trying to seem polite. He eyed the citizens who were watching George’s unexpected arrival. “I was hoping to talk in private perhaps?”
“So you could save your ass from the press?” It seemed Karl did not care about professional conduct.
“Ahm,” George coughed and watched as the citizens began to whisper amongst themselves, “well, I was hoping to speak to General Sapnap.”
“And continue to berate my fiance about being a terrible friend? I refuse.”
The statement shocked George into silence for a moment. But, as quickly as it came, it was gone. George grit his teeth and let his composure slip, “Perhaps you should let him fight his own battles.”
Karl bristled, eyes widening ever so slightly and his back straightening. His lips quipped downwards, but he quickly replaced the frown with a neutral facade, “I would be careful with how you speak when you are on my lands.”
“Yet, you speak to me like a prude in front of your own citizens?”
George’s head snapped to the right as a sharp sting burst on his right cheek. The King had just slapped him! George’s guards, Punz and Captain Puffy, immediately took a step closer with Puffy drawing her sword with a slick sound. In complete unison, Karl’s guards did the same. What George was hoping wouldn’t become a political scandal was quickly escalating. He could practically smell the newspaper articles for tomorrow morning. But, as quickly as his own guards came to his aid, Sapnap seemed to make his own appearance.
“What is going on out here, Karl!?” Sapnap quickly rushed to his fiance’s side and seemingly purposefully ignored George.
“We were just about to be finished here, dear. Just head back inside. I’ll finish up with the scum,” the King responded, placing a light kiss on his lover’s hand.
“Karl, you’re going to cause a war,” Sapnap hastily whispered, but George heard it quite clearly. George could even say he agreed.
“Like I said, Pandas, I’ve got it handled.”
George coughed to grab the attention of the other two. He held a hand to his cheek still, but removed it to raise his chin to the other rulers, “Well, now that you are here, I still wish to speak with you, General Sapnap. Perhaps we could speak in private? I would hate to give more to the press.”
Karl seemed to grip onto Sapnap’s dress shirt tighter as if in a silent way to urge his fiance to say no. However, the other nodded to George’s request, “Let’s head to the Kingdom’s Library. It will be much quieter there.”
George nodded in agreement, waving off his guards. The last thing he wanted was to show he was nervous around Sapnap. Besides, it would be best to show to his friend that he was comfortable in Sapnap’s presence. So, he followed the general further into the territory until they were deep into the heart.
The library was grand. Perfectly preserved mushroom was used as the main accent piece against the waxed spruce wood. However, George could see the intricate detail of the wood by the way it was carved. It was absolutely stunning and most definitely a build designed by Karl. George could only agree that Karl was a master architect. Not only that, Karl was good for Sapnap; and, that pained him to say so.
George sat down on one of the plush seats in front of Sapnap. The other, having seemingly ignored the no smoking signs, pulled out a cigarette and lit it with a snap of his fingers. It seems Karl couldn’t break that habit. George looked down, keeping his hands clasped together tight. The way his nails dug into his skin was comforting, just like the cigarette smoke that wafted from Sapnap’s mouth.
“So,” it was a statement. There was no questioning waver or prolonged ‘o’ as Sapnap breathed out the smoke from the cigarette. He held it in between two fingers as he looked down on George with dull orange eyes.
“I came to apologize,” also a statement. A true one that took George well too long to figure out that’s what he wanted to say.
There was a pause before Sapnap broke it, “And?”
George’s throat seemed to constrict on him. He opened his mouth to respond, but only a small choked noise came out. He bit his lip, looking at the mahogany table in guilt. Why was it so hard to apologize? It was just a simple two word sentence. After, all this pressure on his sternum would dissipate. He didn’t have to repair this friendship, but he needed to apologize. Wait…did he want to repair this friendship?
Across the table, Sapnap was practically crushing the cigarette between his fingers. He sucked another drag of the nicotine, feeling the burn in this throat as he held the smoke. He knew his friend’s quirks. They had grown up together after all. So, him watching the way George was crumbling hurt. Yet, he couldn’t seem to pull himself to stop watching. George had hurt him. All that Sapnap had ever tried to do was to be a good friend. Sure, he did play pranks and tell harmless jokes – which the whole reason they had this argument was because of a joke George had taken too seriously. Still, Sapnap still tried. George saying that his attempts failed, crushed him. So, sitting there and watching George hurt was a bit of payback even if it hurt him too.
Sapnap checked his watch, taking a final drag from the cigarette. Even though there was a no smoking rule, Karl had placed ashtrays on the tables. He leaned over, snuffing the bud. The movement seemed to startle George out of whatever mind games he was playing with himself. Sapnap, eager to try and get George to actually speak, stood and lied, “Alright, I’ve got a meeting to attend to.”
“Wait!” George had reached across the table and grabbed Sapnap’s sleeve. “Wait, please.”
Sapnap stalled, breaking the neutral facade he had on for just a moment. Seeing the desperation in George’s mismatched eyes almost had him on his knees. But, just as quick, he steeled over again. George had hurt him, and it didn’t seem like he was going to apologize. Sapnap bit the inside of his cheek as he looked down at his friend. Should he really give the other a chance?
“George, if you’re ju-”
“Let me speak!” George yelled, gripping Sapnap’s sleeve harder.
Sapnap snapped back, “I have been!”
“Well…” Sapnap had him there. “Look, Sapnap…This isn’t really easy. And, honestly, I don’t know if I truly am sorry for what I said.”
Sapnap’s gaze seemed to harden more, which, in turn, made George rush to continue, “Just let me continue. What you said to me really hurt me. I will admit, what I said – me calling you a bad friend – was intentional. At that moment, I wanted to hurt you. I wanted you to feel the way you hurt me.”
“But, you won’t say sorry?”
George huffed, “If you’d let me finish,” the brunette finally released Sapnap. A sweaty palm brushed his hair back as the man stood. “Like I said, I don’t know if I can say sorry. At least, not for everything I said. Some of what I said was true. I can’t say sorry for the truth I did say.”
Sapnap glared, “All you did say were insults.”
The brunette grimaced, “Yes, you’re right, I did say a lot of rude things. That I am sorry for. But, before that, before the fight in the plains, we talked-”
“Argued.”
“-argued, okay, we argued about my reign as King. I am trying Sapnap, I am. I am trying to do what is best for the community, and honestly, having a pyromaniac who jokes around and takes nothing seriously is not a good look. It makes you look like a child, and I know you’re not.”
“Yet you call me one?”
“Sapnap please!” George leaned back in his chair, a hand on his forehead. “I am not trying to say that!”
“But, you are implying that.”
George groaned, “Sapnap!” the other closed his mouth. “Okay, maybe that was a bit rude, but I don’t know how to word it any differently. The public was starting to become uneasy. A lot of people were speculating that you had turned on me when Tommy burned down my home. That’s why I had to exile him, to keep you safe.”
Now it was Sapnap’s turn to remain silent. The raven haired man finally sat back down, a sigh escaping from his mouth. To be frank, Sapnap never cared enough to check the news. In fact, he tried to ignore it completely. But, he wasn’t a fool. He knew that some things he did were for stupid, idiotic fun. Most were downright destructive. He knew that his pranks weren’t harmless, and they were eating at his reputation within George’s kingdom. It was one of the main reasons he went to Karl. So, now that George had explained his side, it was like a gloomy fog was lifted from his mind.
“Oh.”
George looked at his friend with concern, “I am sorry though…for calling you a bad friend. You’re not, truly.”
Again, Sapnap couldn’t respond, so George continued, “You’re a good friend, Sap. I…I just got heated. Like I said, I wanted you to hurt like when you said I didn’t deserve to be king.”
“I guess I should apologize for that too,” Sapnap started. “It wasn’t right for me to express my anger that way. So, I’m sorry too, George.”
There was another moment of silence, before Sapnap spoke up again, “So…I guess we should probably put out the dumpster fire the press is starting?”
There was a laugh from the other, “I can smell the headlines now: ‘Kings duel over General Sapnap’.”
Another snicker, but this time from Sapnap, “Yeah, we should probably go pay them off or something.”
“With who’s wallet?”
“Your’s obviously,” Sapnap shrugged.
“Well, I refuse.”
“You’ve seduced a god. I think you’ll be fine.”