Chapter Text
Quackity has never known what he is. It's always been a constant question in his life, one he's spent countless nights pondering on without finding an answer. All he knows is that he is special, and the world doesn't favor special people.
He grew up on the streets, trying his best to get through the days while evading gangs and thieves. His ability to shapeshift certainly helped with that, and if he was ever cornered in some alley he'd simply transform into a cat and slink away.
He used to wake up each morning under his bridge in Essempi, wondering if this was the day that he'd be embraced by the cold arms of lady death. He would steal, lie, and abuse his powers just to survive until the night where he could retrieve back to the bridge, and hope that he wouldn't be murdered in his sleep.
It was first when he turned fourteen that he got off the streets, thanks to a man named Sam Awedude. Sam had seen him use his shape-shifting powers one day, and immediately been fascinated since he too was born "special". He was kind enough to take Quackity off the streets and offer him a place in his home, and he wasn't about to say no to an offer like that.
And it was because of Sam that Quackity was able to do what he always wanted to do, which was to take revenge on the world.
Sam's an odd being, with the green scale like skin patches that are placed on his body, and his ability to create explosions. Together with Quackity's ability to shapeshift, the two became a powerful force that the people of Essempi grew to fear. Quackity got to kill every single person who'd done him wrong, from cops, to gang members, to random thieves on the street.
But despite the fact that El Pato and The Warden were both criminals and murderers, Quackity wasn't fully a bad person, at least what he liked to imagine.
His boyfriends were the proof of that.
Quackity and met Sapnap at the casino that he works at when he isn't being a villain. Quackity was the dealer for one of the poker games for the night, and Sapnap had been by his table for the entire night just talking and flirting. It had been odd, since most people ignored his existence in favor of gambling away their life savings, but Sapnap only played two or three games, and spent the rest of the night just talking to Quackity.
The two of course spent the night together (Quite a lovely night he might add), and the morning after he met Sapnap's boyfriend, Karl. When he first locked eyes with the man he had been terrified that Sapnap had cheated, and that he was the cause that their relationship was ruined, but Karl didn't seem to mind him. He had been very sweet, and cooked Quackity breakfast while rambling about some old cartoon he loved.
When Sapnap got out of bed and found Karl making pancakes and scrambled eggs for a very confused Quackity, he simply smiled, kissed Karl on the cheek, and sat down next to Quackity to explain that the two had an open relationship, and were polyamorous.
And that certainly intrigued Quackity. So when he later found that Karl had slipped his phone number into his pocket while he wasn't looking, he couldn't help but text him.
And texting Karl turned into texting both of them, which turned into meeting up for drinks, which turned into dates, which eventually all led to Quackity leaving his and Sam's apartment to live with his boyfriends.
And he was happy! He truly was.
Sam had been a bit cautious at first since it might disturb with their business or might get them hurt, but he loved both Karl and Sapnap and invited them over for dinner as often as he could.
But he wasn't wrong when he said that it made being El Pato more difficult. He had to quit his job to make up for all the time he wasn't spending at home, which meant he had to steal more money than usual to make up for all the money he wasn't earning.
Fortunately, Sapnap and Karl didn't seem to suspect much. They had their own jobs during the day, and Sapnap visited his parents for dinner once every week, and Karl visited his brothers a few times each month.
A problem that did come up however was The Feral Four, a team of superheroes that rose up to fight back against him and Sam, and it truly was a fucking annoyance.
There was the leader, XD, a powerful deity that could create weapons and other material from thin air, with the added ability to fly and resistance to most attacks. Fortunately Sam's explosions was not one of those, so The Warden was usually the one who would handle him.
404 was what could best be described as a psychic, with his ability to read minds and remove senses from people. Fortunately, Quackity's ability to shapeshift made his mind too fluid to read, and Sam used his mechanical ability to create a device to protect his mind. The removal of senses was more tricky, but Quackity found a way around that too, as many animals lacked either hearing or sight, so he simply transformed into them and did what they did in those situations. Sam still hadn't managed to evade that one, but Quackity covered him for the most part.
Fireborn was a Pyrokenetic, able to create fire with just the snap of his fingers. His ability made him resistible to Sam's explosions, but he was weak to cold, which made him easy to handle with just a few of Sam's inventions.
Time Turner was the truly tricky one. He wasn't a physical fighter like XD and Fireborn, or even a psychological one like 404.
Time Turner could change the future, if it all didn't go according to plan. He could travel back fifteen seconds and warn everyone of what would happen, which meant that Quackity and Sam could try whatever they wanted and it wouldn't matter. They could never ambush the team, or kill one of its members, for Time Turner would just change their fates. Hell, Quackity had probably killed them multiple times and he would have no idea, since he has no memory of the changes. The only reason he knew of his ability was because overheard 404 talk about it to Fireborn once.
Fortunately, it took fifteen seconds for his powers to recharge, so he couldn't just travel back hours by using his powers multiple times in a row.
Still, it was a pain in the ass, and the stress was starting to get to Quackity. Hiding his other life from his boyfriends wasn't helping at all either, and more than once had he contemplated ending things between them just so things would be easier for him.
But then Sapnap would grab ahold of his waist and pull him into his lap on the couch just for a cuddle, and Karl would curl up beside them with his enchanting smile and babble about something he'd read in some random history book while Sapnap cuddled his neck, and Quackity knew that it would be impossible to let go.
But as much as he'd like to call it quits on being El Pato, he knew he was in too deep for that. Not that Sam would be angry about it, he would want Quackity to be happy after all, but he was afraid of what the Feral Four would do.
Because if he would disappear off the face of the earth, it would surely raise suspicion with the four, and since they didn't have to deal with El Pato and The Warden's constant attacks, they would surely look into what had happened and who the two actually were. And if they would manage to trace it back to Quackity, then the life he'd built with Sapnap and Karl would be over.
"But it does make sense!" Karl shouted from the kitchen. Quackity closed their apartment door silently so they wouldn't notice he'd gotten home, just out of pure curiosity of what the argument was about.
"No it doesn't! The mom would have recognized her! Or Jessie would have pointed it out!" Sapnap argues back, and Quackity can't help but grin. The amount of times he has come home to them arguing about some kids movie is one too many times, but it's always as endearing.
"Jessie was traumatized, maybe she suppressed the memory! And the mom might have forgotten!"
"It was her favorite toy, how could you just forget something like that?"
"Arguing about Andy's mom again?" Quackity entered the kitchen to find Karl cooking some form of meat sauce, while Sapnap was sitting by the table with a pout on his face.
"It's the same hat, it can't be a coincidence!" Karl said, flailing his arm that wasn't holding the wooden spoon he used to stir.
"You can't base a theory on a hat!" Sapnap exclaimed, and Quackity laughed as he sat down on the chair opposite of him, "Help me here Q!"
"Oh I am staying out of this," Quackity snorted, "I know better than to argue against Karl when it comes to Pixar."
"Because I'm always right!" Karl exclaimed, his eyes gleaming beautifully.
"Yeah yeah," Sapnap grumbled, "We need to rewatch those movies soon, then you'll see though."
"As if!"
"Guys!" Quackity interrupted, trying his best to sound stern but it was difficult with how much he was laughing, "Calm yourselves, we don't want another Cars 2 incident."
"Fine!" Karl groaned, though his sour mood was short lived as he soon turned to Quackity with a smile, "You working tonight?"
Quackity sighed, "Unfortunately," It wasn't a complete lie. He would work, just not at the casino. Still, he did feel terrible every time, especially considering what he was actually doing.
"Well," Quackity yelped as Sapnap lifted him out of his chair, too deep in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed him moving, "We're just gonna have to enjoy our precious Quackity time as much as we can, right Karl?"
Karl giggled lightly and walked over to the two, standing on his tippy toes so he could kiss his elevated boyfriend on the nose, "Of course! Besides, it gives us plenty of time to rewatch Toy Story, so you can finally see that I'm right!"
Quackity groaned at his boyfriend, but the smile did not leave his face. In fact, it remained there while they waited for Karl to finish his cooking (Quackity still sitting in Sapnap's lap because he refused to let him go), while they ate the mediocre at best cooked food, and while they chilled in the living room, Karl sprawled over them with his head in Quackity's lap and his legs laying over Sapnap's.
The entire thing felt so domestic. Peaceful. Normal.
Which was why it almost hurt when the illusion shattered by a single text from Sam, asking him to get ready.
"Who's that?" Karl asked, looking away from the movie that was playing, trying to get a peak on Quackity's phone screen.
"Someone from work, I gotta get going," Quackity sighed, deliberately hiding his screen so his boyfriend wouldn't see his Sam's name on the display. It had almost become second nature at that point to hide his phone from them, and he was still surprised they hadn't picked up on it yet.
"Aw," Karl pouted, looking up at Quackity with his deep brown, almost purple shaded eyes, "Do you know when you will be back?"
"Knowing my boss? No fucking clue man," Which wasn't a lie. When he still worked at the casino, his boss would always either keep them there as long as he possibly could, or let them leave after just a few hours. It had always been inconsistent, and it was not something Quackity missed from his job.
Karl sat up straight so Quackity could stand up, but before he even managed to take one step he was pulled back down by Sapnap, which left him sprawled over him at an odd angle.
"Don't leave," Sapnap whined, burying his face in Quackity's neck. Karl quickly caught on to what he was doing, and started planting kisses on Quackity's jaw, which left his entire face red.
"Guys stop," He laughed, struggling to get out of Sapnap's grip, "I'll be back in a few hours."
"Too long," Karl murmured.
"Okay, guys," Quackity finally managed to wiggle his way out of Sapnap's grasp, and the ravenett was left pouting on the couch, "I'll be back later, just cuddle each other while I'm gone."
Karl let out a final whine, but neither complained anymore. The three simply said their goodbyes, and Quackity was out the door.
"Look look look!" Sapnap pointed at the TV screen, where the end of the second Toy Story was playing, "She would have said something, but she doesn't! That means the mom is not her previous owner."
"Oh please," Karl scoffed, "It's been a while, I'm sure the mom looks different from how she looked as a child. I mean, do you look the exact same now like you did when you were ten?"
"Karl, when I was ten I looked like a demon made of molten lava, of course not," Sapnap chuckled.
"Fair enough."
Sapnap sighed, leaning his chin against the top of Karl's head. While enjoyed spending time with Quackity, it was different with Karl. He could be more honest with him about his past, and he didn't feel so guilty all the time.
The two had thought many times about telling Quackity about their roles as Time Turner and Fireborn, but each time they had decided against it. It was to protect him, he assured himself, to keep him safe.
Because Quackity didn't deserve to be thrust into that world. He deserves to be happy and carefree, and not have a single bad thing happen to him. And that wouldn't be the case if he involved himself in Sapnap and Karl's business.
Plus, the image of someone like The Warden or El Pato using him to get to Sapnap was something that had kept him up more nights than he could count, and he'd spent many hours just staring at Quackity while he slept, taking in all of his features.
"Thinking about telling Q again?"
Sapnap looked up and met Karl's knowing gaze, first then realizing that the end credits had been rolling for a long time and that he'd probably been zoned out for a while.
"How'd you know?" He asked
"You always have that look in your eye when you do," Karl replied, smiling lazily, "A look of love and yet guilt, affection yet regret, adoration yet utter despair-"
"Okay, I get it!"
"What I mean is, you look happy because it's Q, but sad because we have to lie," Karl leaned his head on Sapnap's shoulder so his purple-toned brown eyes were just inches away from his own.
"Can you blame me though?" Sapnap looked down, unable to meet his boyfriend's knowing eyes, "And you're sure you couldn't just...try?"
Karl sighed, "I'm sorry, but it's too risky Sappy. My powers aren't meant to be used in excess, it could harm me if I tried. Plus, we don't know what would happen, I mean I only have fifteen seconds, and if I would miss that mark then it would be over."
Sapnap sighed and pushed his face forward, rubbing his nose against Karl's cheek in comfort. He had come up with the idea a few months prior. They would tell Quackity about them, then if he reacted negatively then Karl would simply travel back fifteen seconds and act like it never happened. Karl had said no to the idea because it would be a very risky move as his time travel affected his memory because of the multiple timelines that were easy to mix up.
Their moment was ruined by a sound coming from Karl's phone, more specifically the sound that's used when Dream contacts one of them.
"Tell him that he and George can handle it," Sapnap grumbled, and Karl laughed as he leaned away. The smile that spread across his face quickly disappeared though. "What is it?" Sapnap sat up straight, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.
"Las Nevadas," The time traveler mumbled, "They're attacking Las Nevadas Sapnap," Karl's eyes shot up, the panic in them clear as day, "Quackity's in danger."
About an hour earlier
"And we're totally sure about this?" Quackity turned towards Sam, and although he could only see part of the Hybrid's face because of his gas mask, he could still his face had started border lining on annoyed.
"It's fine Q," The two were on top of one of the many tall buildings in Essempi, overlooking Las Nevadas casino, Quackity's old place of work. While he did credit it for helping him find Sapnap and Karl, he does not have many fond memories of the place. In fact, the only thing he had to look forward to was his friend Charlie, who he lost contact with a while ago.
"It's just-" Quackity cut himself off with a sigh, "There are good people who work there Sam, people with hopes, families, and other loved ones."
"There are good people at every place we attack, Q," Sam put a hand on his shoulder, probably to comfort him, but the affect was kind of ruined by his dark threatening eyes, cat-reptile like appearance, full body of armor and four arms, but Quackity had gotten used to his normal appearance over the years. "That's just how life works. There are good people who want to do whats right, and then there are bad people like us who destroy that."
Quackity winced at his words. Sam had never been one to sugarcoat things, his forwardcy was simply a part of his charm, but it wasn't always helpful.
"Just...hold back on the explosions."
"I'll try."