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The day was coming to an end as orange hues began to bleed over the blue sky. The sun lowered itself in the horizon, leaving those of the world to flee or embrace the growing darkness. One who seemed to embrace it was a dark haired avian who stood in the large windows of a building. It was uncommon for him to indulge in such simple behaviors but he had grown to appreciate them. Especially since he's always thought big for himself. After a harrowing incident had brought him down from his high horse, he searched to better himself and live the life he had left out in peace. Taking small moments to appreciate the little things. He had been leaving his office when he stopped to enjoy the sunset. After what seemed like forever, the large light had flicked out as smaller ones switched on. The orange hue let a darker blue take over, along with its little suns to decorate the sky. The golden winged avian exhaled softly before continuing down the hall. He might as well leave for the day since there was no reason to stay in the vacant building any longer. Maybe he'll go see if he could find any of his crew to spend time with since he was attempting to make amends to people. He already spent many days with the certain totem demi-god and creeper hybrid since they had been re-building the nation's highlight builds after they had been destroyed in the "incident" together but the two had dismissed themselves for other affairs. A traitor had been snuffed out and was probably no longer an option. Said traitor had taken another member of the crew with him and basically disappeared without much of a trace.
Which left one person left.
As the avian exited out the front doors of the building, he pulled out his communicator. He scrolled through his contact icons until a pixel fox icon popped up. He clicked on the call icon and awaited for a response. The device ring echoed through as he made his way down the concrete path. Since the sun had disappeared, the streets were light with artificial light from lamps and lanterns. The once busy streets were seemingly deserted as the darkness settled in. His communicator stopped ringing, so he tried again to call the person. He allowed it to ring in his hand as he took in his surroundings more. Though lamps were evenly spaced out on the path, they were dull enough to bring the other forms of illumination to life. Such as a bright sign with a very provocative figure of a woman on it hanging above a double door entrance building. The sign read: “The Drunk Ram Club '', while red & white lights surrounded it. The golden winged avian has spent a lot of time in that club for the sake of a change in atmosphere. The energy was upbeat and the drinks were intoxicating, so much that you would forget most of one's sorrows. A temptation began to grow on him as he felt attracted to the entire building. Yet not for the reason who would normally be. The upbeat music that would usually be playing had softened to slow jazz and the lines at the entrance were nowhere in sight. It was calmingly inviting and what was in a docile state. He looked both ways on the path before crossing the road towards the building. Just a few drinks wouldn’t hurt, since he needed a way to relieve some stress.
He pushed the doors open since the guard at the door was long gone. The area was light with fainting and flashing blue lights as the jazz music reverberated off the enclosed space. The sweet smell of flowers entangled with the bitter scent of alcohol and sweat. The population of the club was very little, leaving what seemed like two or three drunkards blacked out at tables, a lone pole dancer who was preparing to leave, and the bartender watching over someone at the bar. He squinted his eyes at the person before realizing who it was. A ginger & white haired fox man slumped over the countertop. His bushy tail sweeped gently across the dark floor as he swirled his finger around the tip of his glass.
It was just the person he was looking for.
The dark haired man placed his communicator back into his pocket as he made his way over to the fox man. He sat in the bar stool on the fox man's right before asking for a hangman's blood in old fashioned glass. The bartender nodded before walking away. It was only then when the ginger acknowledged his presents.
"Quackity?" muttered the fox man, looking up from his glass.
"Hey Fundy, didn't expect to find you here at the club. Thought you would have gone home to that kid of yours by now" greeted the avian, as he turned to face him.
"Yogurt? Oh, Hbomb is babysitting him right now. I needed some time to myself" replied Fundy, as looked down at his glass once more.
"So you came to the Drunk Ram?" uttered Quackity.
"Yeah, I need something to keep my mind distracted for a while" nodded Fundy, as picked his glass to take a drink from.
As he did so, Quackity took in the ginger's appearances. The familiar white freckles danced across his nose, though his face looked a bit puffy as if he had been crying. Eye bags sat loyally under his eyes while what looked like light mascara smudged against his face in a tear like direction. The white streaks amongst the orange hairs were a bit more prominent and some fell into his face. His large black tipped ears were almost constantly pinned down to his head. Instead of the common white work top with tie, a familiar black jacket was across his body as his matching hat sat on the countertop. His posture was far from straight up and all confidence the fox man had was gone. Overall, only two words came to Quackity’s mind as he looked at him.
Pathetic.
And Sad.
Fundy was sad right now and it gave him a pathetic look.
Yet it was something the avian could empathize with. Because he, himself, was a pathetic and sad man.
The bartender returned with his order and placed it in front of him before he started to speak.
"Has something happened?" asked Quackity, as he accepted the glass.
"A Lot of things happen, Q. Be more specific" remarked Fundy, holding his glass out for a refill.
"To you then. What has happened to you? I know you aren't much of a drink since you tried avoiding becoming like the people you hate"' restated Quackity, pointing to his glass as the bartender.
"So I must ask you. What drink have you had while you've been here?" He inquired.
The fox man furrowed his brows as he looked away from the dark haired man. Though he wasn't dismissing his question, more of sitting on it. Like one would sit on sweet glass.
"Well, I had the hard stuff earlier. Such as whiskey and vodka. Really wasn't in the best state" informed Fundy, as he tapped his clawed finger on the table.
"Did you have another nightmare?" questioned Quackity.
"Well yes but that was after I blacked out here. Something happened earlier today." claimed Fundy, as his tail curled around his stool.
"I got a letter from Slime, or Charlie as you've named him. I thought it was odd until it was who the letter was written" he explained, resting his head on his hand.
There was a pause in the conversation. It seemed Fundy was trying to keep his composure. Quackity wasn't much of an emotional comforter but he hesitantly placed a hand on the fox man's shoulder.
"The letter was from Dream, shockingly. I never expected to get a letter from his sorry ass but here I am." sighed Fundy, as he reached his hand into his pocket.
A crumpled piece of paper was revealed from the pocket and was unrolled to reveal sloppily written words in dark green ink.
"It's basically a shitty celebratory letter because today was, or would have been, our wedding anniversary. A pathetic apology for something that happened two years ago and an awful way of showing his 'devotion' " the ginger reported, as he handed the letter to avian.
"It shouldn't have upset me as much as it did but it already hasn't been a good week" he added, watching as the bartender returned his glass.
"So you tried drinking your sorrows away?" questioned Quackity, as his eyes landed on the poorly drawn heart.
"Yes, but it only made things worse considering my life before I started working for you in Nevadas" sighed Fundy.
A silence hung between the two of them after that statement. The jazz music was still playing around them but it seemed to slow the world down as the duo were losing themselves in the conversation. Quackity swirled around the cubes of ice in his glass while Fundy slowly sipped from his. They both were very aware of how shitty things were before Las Nevadas was even an idea. The fox man was raised in a time of warfare, lived under a tyrant rule, went through the grief of losing his mother & later his father, was basically abandoned by his family, was forgotten by all his friends after their country was destroyed and just became the butt of everyone else's joke for entertainment. To throw a romance that was treated as joke into the mix, can really fuck somebody up. At Least with the aftermath it felt like a joke. The letter in hand wasn't really concrete evidence that the fox man's ex partner really cared for him. Though Quackity’s life has led a different road than Fundy's, they shared many experiences. Especially when it comes to love.
"I'll have to agree with you on that one. Life was shitty after Doomsday" remarked Quackity, as he took a swig from his glass.
"No one really could agree on anything and blame was being thrown at every one. People went their different ways and found their places somewhere else or with others that they could somewhat agree with" he uttered, as he shook out his tensing feathers.
"When there is no place to call home, you are just forced to either find a new one or make one. Which is one of the reasons I built Las Nevadas." he proclaimed.
"Especially that garden venue over by the hotel. A wedding venue, actually" he added, with a slight scoff.
"You said you were going to marry Sapnap and Karl there, right?" inquired Fundy, one ear twitching upwards.
"Was going to marry" corrected Quackity.
"From all the relationships I have been in, I thought the one I had with them would be the one to last. Last long enough to prepare a life for them here" he expressed, as he reached for the hanging rings on his neck.
"But I still haven't learned my lesson. Some things don't last with some people" he remarked, dryly.
"Sapnap visited one day and brought me to the kingdom that he and Karl ruled over, along with George. Everything was so pretty and huge. Better than anything I could have provided them." Quackity stated.
"When I was able to speak with Karl, he was different. He seemed more hostile compared to the last time we spoke and more skeptically. That led to a big argument with him and how everything we ever had meant nothing. As if we had no history at all" he uttered, his voice quivering.
Another patch of silence. Quackity stared into the ice in his glass, seeing his reflection in it. He could tell Fundy was giving a look of empathy but also curiosity. The avian cleared his throat as he tried to get his thoughts back in order.
"What I'm trying to say is, I feel your pain. Your feelings have been played with for so long. To the point where the one time you feel validated and you are being acknowledged, you put all your emotions into this one thing. Just to find out it meant nothing to them." explained Quackity.
"And when you react to it, you are turned into a joke once more. It didn't matter to them yet it was everything to you" he included, his voice growing shake.
"So to me, and I'm being as honest as I can right now, that your feelings matter to me. I know how you feel and I would go and try to beat Dream' teletubby looking ass" proclaimed Quackity, as he placed his hands on the fox man's shoulder.
Silence accumulated the two for a short moment. Then Fundy lifted his hand and placed his hand on Quackity's ,as his dark amber eyes grew shiny with tears.
"Thank you Q. I accept that your feelings matter as well and I wish I could say the same thing in return for trying to get revenge on those who hurt you" replied Fundy, as his brows wilted.
"Then instead of seeking acts of revenge, since we are both very vulnerable at the moment, let us do something else" remarked Quackity, as he reached over for his glass.
"What are you having right now?" he asked, gesturing to the ginger's glass.
"Hm? Oh, Arise My Love. It was one of the cocktails I had at the failed wedding" hummed Fundy.
"Then I shall have one too" claimed Quackity, looking towards the bartender.
They nodded in response before going off to create the drink. The duo watched patiently as they watched the skilled drink maker shake and pour ingredients into the drink mixer. Once finished and freshly poured into the glass, Quackity shakily stood to his feet and lifted his glass into their air.
"I am, Quackity HQ. A man who has been doomed to eternally failed love and being a horrible person. Tonight I shall be taking you, Fundy Soot, as a companion of forlorn life and to attempt to stay at each other's for as long as well both shall live" declared Quackity.
"And I am Fundy Soot. A man who lives as a forgotten child and the victim of every sick mockery. I accept you, Quackity HQ, as a companion of a shared forlorn life" replied Fundy, with a weak smile.
"To the Never-Weds" spoke Quackity.
"To the Never Weds" nodded Fundy.
With that, the two hooked their arms together and drank from their respective glasses. A promise yet a not promise made in the middle of a night club. As soft jazz music began to drown the drunken duo laughter as they talked about everything to nothing into the night.