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It’s cold on the night that Sapnap goes to the racetrack in his hometown for the first race of the season and, more importantly, the summer festival. He’s not used to it being this chilly at the beginning of June, but he walks through the entryway with the soft fabric of one of George’s hoodies hugging his frame a little more tightly than he’d like. He should have checked the weather while he packed for this trip back home, but he had managed to forget in the frenzy of a trip he’d only decided to book like three days ago.
He doesn’t really have much of a right to complain about wearing a hoodie that’s a size too small for him. George is housing him for the week with practically no warning and lending him the clothes he forgot to pack. Really, he owes him a lot.
“I can’t believe that you flew all the way back for this,” George huffs. “Since when do you even care about racing? I thought that was always a Dream thing.”
Sapnap thinks of long summers spent with a cold cup of lemonade in his hands and sunburn on his cheeks as he sat sandwiched between his two best friends. High school was a much simpler time, but that time is long gone. He tries not to dwell on it too much.
He’s here for a reason, though. A reason that has nothing to do with Dream and the summers he and George spent at his side. And, sure, Sapnap doesn’t give a flying fuck about cars beyond making sure he has enough gas to get to work, but that doesn’t matter.
Instead of getting into the truth of it, partially because he’s pretty sure George would think it’s stupid, he shrugs. “I just want to enjoy the festival. Besides, it’s nice to be home.”
Everything is a bit updated but, at the same time, it looks the same as it always did. He isn’t sure why he expected everything to be wildly different after only three years spent away, but he smiles at the familiarity when he sees vendors chatting enthusiastically in their stalls and little kids biting into big puffs of cotton candy that are like twice the size of their heads.
A lot of the people are the same too. He recognizes some people from high school milling about, catching up over bottles of beer that are dripping in condensation. Sapnap offers a polite wave, and they wave right back. Part of him is surprised that they remember him, even if he didn’t have a particularly large class. He wasn’t unpopular by any means but he tended to keep to his friend group when he was a teenager.
He looks past all those old acquaintances. In the crowd, he searches for a particular pair of soft brown eyes that have painted the back of his mind every night for the past three years.
On the night that Sapnap met him, it was hot and sticky. And, sure he wasn’t usually one to mind the heat; he wouldn’t have survived 18 years in this town if he was bothered by a few 100-degree days. But he wasn’t exactly a fan of the feeling of his shirt clinging to his skin and the fact that he probably had fucking pit stains right now even if he didn’t dare to look.
Truth be told, he didn’t even want to go to the festival. Sapnap thought racing was stupid, which was unfortunate seeing as the local racetrack was pretty much the pinnacle of entertainment in their small town.
But the thing was Dream wanted to go and he was Sapnap’s best friend, which meant that he had to go too. Dream had been almost like a brother to him over the past few months. Dream’s family had taken him in when his family moved to the other side of the state halfway through his senior year, so the least he could do was go to the stupid racetrack with him, even though he’d gotten more than his fill of cars going around in circles last summer.
George didn’t enjoy racing either but he seemed much more eager about a night out at the festival. He and Dream had been following each other around like lost puppies since prom and, even if they thought they were secretive, Sapnap wasn’t a fucking idiot. He just didn’t know why they insisted on dragging him here instead of just making it a date.
This festival to celebrate the opening of the racing season was probably the most exciting thing that happened in their podunk town. It was one long night of glittering fairy lights pinned to the roofs of craft and game stalls, overpriced food that probably had less nutritional value than eating a bowl of grease, and shitty fireworks set off over the lake.
That being said, it was the pinnacle of socialization for teenagers in their town especially, which Sapnap would usually consider an upside but he’d already said goodbye to all his classmates at graduation. He was kind of just counting the days until he got to drive across the country and finally start college. He cherished the moments he got to spend with Dream and George before they went their separate directions for the school year, but he didn’t really care much for the other people they went to high school with. He’d much rather be passing beers back and forth in George’s basement while Dream made fun of them for being drunk off their asses.
“I want to go find decent seats,” Dream announced. “I know the race doesn’t start for like an hour but I don’t want to get stuck in the back, you know? You can mingle or whatever, though. George, do you want to come with me?”
George nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah. We can go find seats and Sapnap can enjoy the festival.”
Sapnap was like 99% sure that this was a clever ploy to go make out behind the stands. He didn’t appreciate being ditched, but he’d much rather entertain himself than watch his best friends kiss all night.
“Fine,” he told them. “I’ll meet you in the stands around the time it starts.”
The two of them ran off with matching grins, linking their pinkies because for some reason they were convinced that it was more discreet than just holding hands.
Sapnap jammed his hands into the pockets of his shorts and wandered back into the bustling hub of the festival. Maybe he’d buy himself food or something. His pizza delivery job was probably enough to justify spending ten dollars on a funnel cake.
He wished that Punz wasn’t out of town this weekend visiting his grandparents since he was basically his next closest friend. Sapnap hated being Dream and George’s third wheel and would have loved the opportunity to cling to his side and hang out with his friends all night.
Instead, he weaved through the crowd and tried to ignore the people from school that he didn’t particularly want to make small talk with. He was just going to get himself a snack and then play Geometry Dash on his phone for the next hour.
Lost in his thoughts, Sapnap ran straight smack into another body. He reached out his hands to steady the other person before he could fall to the ground.
It was Quackity, one of the guys that he graduated with but didn’t know particularly well. He was pretty sure that he was a friend of George’s from his brief stint in student council but Sapnap didn’t personally really know the guy beyond the fact that they’d shared classes throughout their time in school.
Sapnap hadn’t noticed this before, but Quackity was really pretty. His fluffy black hair was tucked under a beanie even in the unbearable summer heat. A few moles dotted his light brown skin and his deep brown eyes, nearly so dark that he couldn’t make out the pupils, were blown wide in something between shock and fear.
“I’m sorry,” Quackity muttered with a wince. “I should have been paying attention.”
He laughed. “No need to be sorry, dude. I wasn’t either. I’m Sapnap, by the way.”
For a few seconds, Quackity looked him over cautiously, but then he took a step back and held out a hand for him to shake. “I’m Quackity.”
A small smile curled at the edges of Sapnap’s lips as he shook his hand. So far, this was marginally less boring than playing games on his phone all night.
Sapnap pushes through throngs of people, looking carefully to see if Quackity is anywhere to be seen. He can see a little of him in almost everyone, when someone laughs a little too loud or smiles so wide their eyes crinkle shut. But he can’t find him and that’s the problem. On a planet with more than seven and a half billion people, there are bound to be countless people like him. But there’s only Quackity and he’s pretty sure that he’s not at this fucking festival.
It kind of makes Sapnap want to scream. He flew all the way home for this, chasing a stupid promise that he’d made on a whim three years ago and Quackity wasn’t even here. He was an idiot for thinking that he would be.
When you aren’t with somebody, it’s easy to forget that they’re changing too. It’s something that Sapnap has come to realize over the past few years. Every person wants to think that everything is going to be exactly the same forever because there’s nothing more terrifying than accepting that it’s impossible to remake your best memories. You have to strive to make new ones.
Besides, change is so much more palpable when your eyes aren’t fixed on it. Sapnap never noticed that he had been changing but now that he stands here, in the middle of a town he hasn’t visited in three years, he realizes that he’s not the same person that he was when he was 18. The engagement ring, a shining red ruby encrusted in cool gray cobalt, that’s wrapped around his finger is enough proof of that.
He thumbs over the gem and thinks about the man that gave it to him. Is he an idiot for flying all the way out here when he already had Karl waiting for him back home? It’s something that they’ve been discussing in-depth since the early stages of their relationship: Sapnap is a little in love with a boy from back home and that doesn’t change the fact that he was in love with Karl too. It’s okay for him to be here, to seek out his other love, because Karl knows that Sapnap loving another person is never going to burn out that eternal flame that burns between them.
Even if Karl doesn’t care, even if he knows he’s enough, Sapnap feels kind of bad. He’s come out here to chase a love that probably doesn’t exist anymore when he could be back home with him instead. Quackity probably doesn’t care about him anymore but Karl does. Why does he have to go chasing his own disappointment?
He forces himself to acknowledge that Quackity probably changed too. A guy like him probably has someone at home to hold him, somebody leagues better than the piece of shit he’d dated in high school. Quackity probably found his happy ending and had no reason to go and chase the past.
“Buy me food,” George says from beside him, staring down at his phone as he absently scrolls through his Twitter feed.
Sapnap nearly jumps. He forgot that George was still at his side. The last time they were here, George had someone else to spend the evening with. Now, the two of them just have each other.
He contemplates denying George’s request. The food here is expensive and Sapnap’s already blown a fair amount of cash on a last-minute plane ticket.
At the same time, he realizes that he’s not the only person being flooded with memories of past summers here. As much as this festival makes him think of Quackity, he’ll never forget the time that he spent here with Dream. Falling out with Dream had been something that really hurt him but Sapnap knows that George’s messy breakup with him was probably just as bad if not worse.
The least he could do is buy George a fucking hot dog or something as a thank you for him putting up with having to return to a place that reminds him of his ex just because Sapnap’s a stupid hopeless romantic.
“Sure,” he says, pulling George over to the main concessions stand, half-expecting to bump into somebody along the way.
Sapnap and Quackity ended up splitting a funnel cake. Neither of them wanted to fork over the money for an entire one and both of them seemed to be wandering the festival alone. Besides, Sapnap felt kind of drawn to him. As much as he’d left his graduating class behind him, there was something about this guy that he barely talked to that intrigued him.
Or maybe he was just super pretty.
The two of them wandered over to the stands, which were just starting to fill up with people awaiting the start of the race. Dream and George were still nowhere to be seen, so Sapnap dragged Quackity up to the very top of the stands, where they could be alone for a little while longer.
“Do you go to a lot of these races?” Sapnap asked him.
Quackity shrugged. “Not really. I’m not really into the whole car thing. You?”
“Not willingly,” he laughed. “My best friend is super into this sort of thing so I just kind of got dragged along. But he’s off somewhere with my other best friend since they’re fucking obsessed with each other these days.”
He nodded and looked off toward the track. “I don’t really get it that much. Like they just drive in circles over and over. There’s not a ton of thrill in that for me, you know? Like, I like driving myself, but racing takes out everything I love about it. I like the exploration and relaxation of it, rather than the repetitiveness and competition that comes with racing.”
Sapnap nodded. He liked driving because it was what gave him the freedom to leave this dumb town when he wanted to or go to George’s place whenever he wanted. Racing didn’t seem like it offered that same freedom. Though, maybe it did to the people who valued it.
He knew that Dream liked racing because he was competitive. He liked that there could be a little bit of competition in everything and that the entire fate of a race could come down to a few split-second decisions. Sapnap was pretty sure that he wanted to race himself someday, even if his parents didn’t exactly approve.
“Why are you here if you don’t like it?” Sapnap asked after a moment. He was here for Dream, but Quackity must have his reasons too.
Quackity froze up for a moment, his shaky hands setting the piece of funnel cake that he’d picked up back on the greasy paper plate.
“It’s a big festival,” he said finally, not meeting his eyes. “I’m leaving for New York next week. I need to give this town a decent goodbye.”
“New York?”
“I’m moving to Columbia early for a summer program,” he explained, finally looking at him with an intense gaze. “I’m going to be studying political science there next year.”
Sapnap didn’t think he’d ever met someone who seemed this unexcited about going to an Ivy League school. Even if Quackity’s expression oozed confidence, there was a little bit of shakiness in his words that forced that mask to fall away.
“You don’t want to go,” he inferred.
“It’s an excellent opportunity.”
Sapnap stared intently at him for a moment.
Quackity sighed. “Do you ever feel like your future isn’t really your own?”
The festival is crowded and they showed up a bit late, so George and Sapnap are sitting up near the top of the stands, sandwiched between a mother tending to three whining kids and an old man who seems to be fully asleep.
He doesn’t mind it as much as he would have a few years ago. Events like these bring all sorts of people together. He’s not bothered by them because he knows that they’re no different from him, not really. He was a kid crying in the stands once and George might just fall asleep in the stands anyway. They’re all the same when it really comes down to it.
Part of Sapnap expects George to strike up some sort of conversation with him. Neither of them really care much for these things so he’d been assuming that they’d just talk through the race if he didn’t run into Quackity.
But George is silent. He stares down at the track as the cars line up behind the starting line with a slight sag in his shoulders. There’s something in his eyes that seems almost regretful and Sapnap almost wishes that he hadn’t dragged him here.
There’s a cheer as the lights above the starting line light up red and the cars zip off, startling the man sitting next to George awake. The announcer is saying something but Sapnap can’t hear it over the pure glee emanating from the crowd.
George frowns and shifts uncomfortably in his seat.
Sapnap turns his attention to the track and watches the cars zip around it, still all riding up on each other in a struggle to pass to the front of the pack. He still doesn’t really understand the appeal of it. He feels almost as if he’s sitting in traffic just looking at the cars near the back struggling to push through.
All at once, the memories hit him. He thinks about sitting in the front with Dream’s arm over his shoulder as he explains which racers to look out for this season and points out whichever underdog he’s really into. He remembers staying the whole time, even when the crowd has started to dissipate, and sharing a small bowl of crappy nachos with cheese that tastes almost like plastic with his two best friends.
Dream was supposed to be his brother. Even though they hadn’t gone to the same colleges, he had always expected their friendship to hold as strong as it always did. But now Dream’s off in some big city, sitting in a fancy car in a speedway much grander than this one and forgetting the best friends that he hasn’t bothered to call in over two years. They were supposed to build some sort of epic future together, but he’d set off on his own instead.
He understands why George is quiet now. The memories are almost suffocating. This place feels almost like a monument to the person that they both lost and George doesn’t have that small feeling of hope that Sapnap does today. George doesn’t have someone like Quackity to meet here tonight.
“I miss him too,” Sapnap says after the cars begin to loop around for the third time. “When I flew home for this, I didn’t realize how much it would remind me of him.”
“Then why are we even here?” George’s voice cracks slightly as the words spill out. “If it’s not about Dream then why are we at this stupid racetrack.”
The way that George’s lips curl around Dream’s name makes it feel almost like it’s a swear word. It’s like all the adoration that he once had for him has been torn away and all that remains is cold bitterness. Sapnap isn’t fooled. He knows that George still loves Dream because he loves him too.
“The last time I went to this festival, I met somebody,” he admits. “Do you remember Quackity from high school?”
George turns toward him with a confused look in his eyes. “I didn’t know that you even knew him.”
“I didn’t really,” he tells him. “Just for a night. But fuck, it was an amazing night.”
As the cars zipped by, Sapnap and Quackity talked about the future. The stands had filled out and Sapnap’s friends were seated somewhere on the other side of the track but the two of them stayed up near the top, talking about their lives.
Quackity had a boyfriend. It was something that had shaken Sapnap to his core when he’d first heard it. Because what was he doing sharing a funnel cake with a taken man? Not that sharing a snack at a festival was necessarily something romantic. He’d just kind of meant it that way when he bought it. Maybe that was dumb. They’d only just met.
As Quackity talked more about his boyfriend, Sapnap found that he didn’t feel that bad anymore. Schlatt was some douche from the next town over. He’d dragged Quackity here because he wanted to gamble and then had ditched him as soon as they walked through the gates.
The more that Quackity talked about his boyfriend, the more Sapnap didn’t give a shit about the fact that he’s been flirting with the guy’s boyfriend. Schlatt was a piece of shit. Quackity deserved somebody that cared about him, not someone that dragged him along with his every whim, neglected him constantly and talked down to him like a goddamn child instead of treating him like an actual partner.
Quackity deserved so much better but Sapnap couldn’t tell if that sentiment was coming from a place of anger or jealousy. He suspected that it might be a little bit of both.
“Schlatt is a charismatic guy with a big personality. When he started paying attention to me, it made me feel like I was the most important person in the fucking world,” Quackity admitted to him, gazing down toward the track. “Now he just makes me feel small.”
“Do you love him?”
Quackity was quiet for a moment, clearly considering his question very carefully. He got the sense that it might be something that he hadn’t thought about in a while.
“Not anymore,” Quackity said finally. “I did love him once but that feeling has been gone for a long time. It’s really hard to love someone once you realize they never actually gave a shit about anything but the power they hold over you.”
Gently, Sapnap reached out and ran a comforting hand down one of his tense shoulders. “You deserve better than that, Quackity.”
For a moment, he leaned into his touch, but he jolted away after a few seconds. “It doesn’t matter. We’re going to New York together. I can’t just give up a future at fucking Columbia because my boyfriend sucks. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices for success.”
Sapnap frowned. “Being with a guy like that shouldn’t be the sacrifice you have to make.”
Quackity closed his eyes. “He’s not that bad. I’m being dramatic. I’m always overdramatic about shit like this.”
Even though the words themselves bled confidence, the shaky voice he delivered them in was riddled with insecurity. It sounded almost like a mantra that Quackity was telling himself rather than him trying to convince Sapnap.
“You’re not overdramatic,” he told him. “You feel how you feel. You’re deserving of real love, Quackity. That’s not something that you can get from him.”
It was something that he could get from Sapnap. They’d only just met but he already knew that he could fall in love with him if he was given the chance. Quackity was beautiful and funny and clever and intelligent. Only a monster could spend more than five minutes with him before starting to fall a little bit in love.
“It’s harder than you think,” Quackity said. “I can’t just leave him. Not now-” he shifted his focus up to Sapnap’s eyes, “-even if I want to go after something better.”
George lets Sapnap tell him all about his night with Quackity and, as he does, time starts to slip away. He has so much to say about one little night, the only one that they ever spent together, and George is willing to just listen.
After he’s done, George hesitates for a moment before speaking. “You know, I think about that last summer before uni sometimes too. Especially now that we’re back at this stupid speedway.”
“I’m sorry.”
He shakes his head. “Don’t be. As much as it hurt when I first got here, after hearing about your story I actually think it’s probably good that I’m here. I’ve been trying so hard to forget but sometimes it’s better to actually embrace those memories and try to process things properly.”
Sapnap nods. He thinks it makes sense. Sometimes when you get a cut, you have to take off the band-aid and expose your wound to the air to make it heal faster. He supposes that emotional wounds are probably the same, to some extent.
“Have you come to any profound conclusions?” he asks.
George laughs but nods his head all the same. “I have, actually. I guess that I’ve always been so bitter when I thought about this place because I thought that thinking about those memories again would be like rehashing our breakup. But now that I think about it, I realize that I’m just as happy being single.”
He raises his eyebrows. Sapnap never thought that he’d hear George say something like that. Until they broke up, Dream and George had been absolutely inseparable and, when things started going downhill, George had cried on the phone with him almost every night. To this day, Sapnap considers Dream and George soulmates. They’re like two pieces that were made to fit together, even if someone threw away the puzzle. But somehow, George was able to move on anyway.
“I thought you loved him,” he says because he doesn’t know how else to reply.
“I do,” he replies. “I always will. Our relationship was the most intense thing that I’ve ever experienced in my life and, even if the downfall was horrible, I wouldn’t trade the time we spent together for anything. But I can look back at that time with fondness and still appreciate the person I am now. I’ve grown since then, and I’ve grown fine with being alone. I have my friends and that’s all that I need. I can have my happy ending without him and he can have his without me. I’m surprisingly okay with that.”
Sapnap realizes that he feels as if he’s in a similar place in regard to his friendship with Dream. A part of him will always hate him for walking out on the people that were meant to be family to him, but he doesn’t have the energy to be upset about it anymore. There’s so much other shit in his life that he can focus on, stuff that he’s so goddamn grateful for.
Then he wonders if he needs to let Quackity go too. Was there any use in dwelling on one amazing night from three years ago? Surely, Quackity is off somewhere living out his own happy ending. He’s probably changed as much as Sapnap has since their night together and found the same happiness that he has.
Sapnap has found his happy ending too. He has Karl, who he’s going to marry someday, and he has George, the best friend that he could ever ask for. That’s enough. He doesn’t need to uproot Quackity’s life to make his own even better. He doesn’t need to hold onto the past.
He still hopes that he encounters Quackity again, whether it’s tonight or somewhere down the line, but he finds that he’ll be happy even if he doesn’t. As much as he doesn’t want to give up, he still knows that sometimes it’s okay to move on.
At the end of the festival, there was always this huge firework show that the town set off over the lake that’s next to the speedway. As a child, Sapnap had always thought it was magical, bursts of burning colors lighting up the night sky. As he’d grown older, they’d grown less interesting to him. They weren’t half as good as the fireworks they set off on the 4th of July and watching them just meant being stuck at the speedway for another hour before going home.
But now, standing next to Quackity, he could see some of the magic in them again. There’s a world of color in every burst and he can see those burning reds reflected in Quackity’s soft brown eyes as he looks up with a soft smile curving at the very edges of his lips.
So much of the future is uncertain and frightening, but it seemed as if both of them were able to find some delight in the present even if it meant watching a cheap firework show while packed into a crowd of people.
Sapnap’s gaze turned down to Quackity’s hand, which was tapping gently against his side to the rhythm of the song that was faintly playing over the loudspeakers.
In a stupid split-second decision, Sapnap reached out and grabbed it.
Quackity’s head whipped toward his in surprise but, after a moment, his expression softened and his shoulders relaxed. He turned his attention back to the fireworks as he laced their fingers together.
“I’m leaving for New York in a week and I have a boyfriend,” Quackity reminded him. “As much as I’d love this thing to work, I’m just not in a place where I can try a relationship with you right now.”
Still, he didn’t make any more to drop Sapnap’s hand. Tonight came with a time limit, and the end was rapidly approaching. They both wanted to savor every last second of it.
“What about later?” he asked. “If I gave you my number, would you call me when things are different?”
For a moment, Quackity was quiet, but he shook his head. “To be honest, Sapnap, I think that if I had your number, I wouldn’t be able to resist texting you. I’m not going to cheat on my boyfriend, even if he does suck, and I’m not ready to break up with him yet. Maybe after I get to New York, things will be different but even after I do end things, I think I’m going to need some time to figure shit out.”
Sapnap paused. “How long?”
“Excuse me?”
“How long?” he repeated. “You said that you need time before we can try something, so how long do you need?”
Quackity frowned. “I have no clue. There’s just so much to figure out right now.”
He considered it for a moment. Even if Quackity broke up with his boyfriend in a month, he would need more time to process it. Plus, they were both going to be getting adjusted to life at very different colleges. But maybe if they chose a time far enough out, they could reconnect when they’d grown up a bit more. And, sure, maybe that meant that they wouldn’t end up together, but it would give them a chance to try the thing that they couldn’t do right now.
“How about three years?” Sapnap asked finally. “At this very festival in three years, we can meet up again and catch up. Then if we both want it, we can give a real relationship a try. If we’re happier without it, we can be friends and get some closure to whatever this is.”
Quackity chewed on his lip, likely thinking about Sapnap’s proposal, but eventually nodded. “In three years. Yeah, I can do that. But don’t fucking forget. I hate being ditched.”
Sapnap laughed. “I would never forget you.”
He squeezed Sapnap’s hand tightly for a moment. “It’s a deal, then. I’ll see you again in three years.”
As the fireworks go off over the lake, George rests his head on Sapnap’s shoulder. He’s so happy that he brought him here with him. Even if he is feeling slightly heartbroken right now, he has his best friend and he knows that everything is going to be alright.
“I’m sorry that he didn’t show up,” George whispers.
“It’s okay,” he replies. Surprisingly, it’s not a lie.
He hopes that Quackity forgetting about meeting him here means that he’s found something better. Maybe he’s in love with someone wonderful or has the internship of his dreams this summer. He’s probably off being successful, and Sapnap’s able to find some comfort in that. He was in a rough place the last time they talked but Sapnap wholeheartedly believes he’s found his way to a better life. Because one night with Quackity was enough to know that he was in a place where he was ready to break away from his boyfriend and build a better life for himself.
Eventually, the fireworks end in a big grand finale and, in a moment, the excitement dies down. People talk quietly as they march back toward their cars and Sapnap and George take their time making their way back to theirs.
He’s happy that he flew back here even if it was a bust. He thinks that he’s learned a lot about himself just from reflecting on it. He’s ready to go back home to Karl, to their apartment with a few fish and a cat. This place will forever be a piece of his life but it’s not the entirety of it.
But when they step back toward the entryway, Sapnap freezes.
Standing below the entrance, lit up by the light blue light of the neon sign with the name of the speedway emblazoned on the top, there is a man leaning against a pole with his hands in the pockets of an oversized jacket. Hair that’s a little bit longer now is tucked under a New York Mets hat, and the hood of his jacket is pulled over it.
Quackity scans the crowd eagerly and the very moment their eyes lock, Sapnap feels a jolt of electricity sizzle down his spine. He’s just as beautiful as he was the night that he met him.
Sapnap frantically pushes his way through the crowd, leaving a smiling George behind, and hugs Quackity tightly when he finally reaches him.
Quackity lets out a gleeful laugh as he slowly squeezes him back, tucking his head into his neck ever so slightly.
“I thought that you’d forgotten,” Sapnap admits as they break apart.
He can’t stop smiling. Part of him can’t believe that Quackity is actually her, but, he’s so happy that he is.
“I’d never forget you, idiot,” he replies with an unshakable grin. “My flight got delayed so I didn’t get here until the fireworks started going off. I figured I’d find you at some point if I waited here.”
“Do you still have a boyfriend?”
Quackity snorts. “Nope. I cut that asshole loose the second we landed at JFK. What about you?”
He holds up his hand and points to the ring. “I have a fiancé now but he knows about you. He knows why I’m here.”
“And why are you here?” He raises a playful eyebrow.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Sapnap asks. “I’m here for you.”
Quackity reached up and cups his chin, gently thumbing across his stubble. “And what are you going to do about that?”
Sapnap grabs his cheeks and pulls him into the kiss that they weren’t able to share three years ago. Quackity laughs as he kisses him back. It’s more thrilling than flying down a track at hundreds of miles per hour and more magical than the best firework show that he’d ever seen. It’s him and Quackity and like three years of buildup and he thinks that he’s never felt like this in his entire life.
When they pull away, he can’t stop staring at him.
Both of them have changed so much and maybe that’s a good thing. Sure, their first night together had been one of the greatest nights of Sapnap’s life, but just looking into Quackity’s eyes, he knew that there were so many even better nights ahead.