Chapter Text
When Multi showed Quackity his lab for the first time, neither of them thought very much of it. Multi’s plans were barely even sketches, nothing was established, barely anything was built. Only the reactor, not even working yet. It didn’t seem impressive, so he didn’t think anyone would actually be interested in his work. He didn’t show it to anyone besides his Polish friends, however, at that time, he wasn’t that careful with talking about it to people. Quackity was the only person he actually wanted to show it to. He didn’t know why, he just felt like he could trust him. Other people would probably say it was because he wanted to impress him, but Multi was sure he didn’t need to impress anyone other than himself. And Quackity was just Quackity, he was just there when Multi decided to show someone his work. Or at least that’s what he told himself. He didn’t think Quackity would ever come back to his lab, he had a lot of friends and other duties, so he would never waste time on someone like Multi. Besides, it’s a reactor, no one would want to be near it longer than necessary. People whispered about it, about the possible radiation, about this whole lab being weird and a place one should stay away from. But Quackity had never been particularly good at staying away from things he shouldn’t. So he came back.
Multi was working on building the special entrance to the lab when he heard the elevator going down.
“Ewron’s not here, you can go” Multi said, not really checking who actually walked out of the elevator.
“Oh wow, what a warm welcome. You treat every guest like that?” he heard and immediately stopped doing anything.
“It’s you.” Multi said after turning around to face Quackity so fast his neck hurt.
“Me, yes. Hello!” Quackity said, smiling.
“You shouldn’t be here. Why are you here?” Multi said, turning back to his work. What was he even doing? He couldn’t remember.
“Well, I am so might as well let me in.” He said as he started walking towards the doors and Multi, waking him up from a trance.
“Wait, wait, wait. The doors aren’t finished.”
“Oh? And what are you doing with them? Are they like special doors?” He asked, actually intrigued. That was weird.
“Well, you can say so, they are supposed to prevent the radiation from getting out of the lab. Also, there will be a decontamination area where all the radiation or other substances will be neutralized, so you don’t carry it inside or outside of the lab.” It was the first time he was explaining it to anyone because no one seemed to care before.
“That’s so cool.” Quackity said, smiling. “Show me more.”
No one has ever called his work cool.
“I can’t. It’s not ready. You can’t go inside yet.”
“Awesome.” He said, which confused Multi because he literally just refused to do what he wanted.
“What’s awesome?”
“You said you can’t let me in yet, not that it would never happen.” It was weird, why would he want to come back here, to the reactor, to him. He should probably feel a bit suspicious about his sudden interest, but Quackity had something about him that made Multi believe he was actually just curious.
“Right, whatever.”
“Yay! I’m good with watching you work on your doors for now. Can’t wait for you to show me other things, though.”
And so Multi did. It felt weird having someone so interested in his lab, the things he was building, and his research. He never had that. Not that he needed people to be interested in it, he actually preferred it the other way round, as his research wasn’t exactly the most humanitarian thing and the less people knew what he was doing in his cave, the better. But that didn’t apply to Quackity. And Quackity was asking questions. So many questions.
“What’s that?” he asked the day he was finally let inside the lab. It’s changed a lot since he first saw it a few weeks ago. The reactor was still not working, but Multi built so many other new things in the meantime.
“Something important” Multi answered. It’s not that he didn’t want to tell him, he just felt like it would bore Quackity. It was still strange that he was actually here out of his own will. He didn’t expect Quackity to keep coming back to him instead of spending time with other, more interesting people.
“Damn, that’s not vague at all.” Quackity said sarcastically, walking toward the monitor he asked about.
“It’s not meant to be explained to people who shouldn’t be here.” Multi said, because it was actually true. Quackity shouldn’t be here. Not only because he could tell everyone what Multi’s been working on, but because it was dangerous. Maybe not for now, as the reactor was still turned off, but in the very near future, it would.
“You’re really committed to this whole lonely mysterious scientist thing, aren’t you?”
Multi didn’t answer.
“Alright, fine, I’ll leave.” Quackity said with a sigh.
“You will?” He sounded way too disappointed. He wasn’t sure whether he was more shocked that Quackity finally decided to leave him alone or sad he gave up on him that easily. He didn’t want to admit it, but he liked having him around.
“If you want me to, yeah. But I’ll be back, don’t worry. I won’t leave you.”
“Why?” Multi asked and he actually wanted to know why Quackity was so interested in everything about him.
“Because you look like you haven’t really talked to another person in a long time.” Quackity said, tilting his head with a smile, waiting for a reaction.
“I talk to people.” Multi answered defensively, though it wasn’t exactly true.
“Arguing with people doesn’t count.”
“Oh, that’s not what I…” He stopped when he saw Quackity’s expression and knew that whatever explanation he was about to say, Quackity wouldn’t believe him. “You shouldn’t come here too often.”
“I know, you said it’s gonna be dangerous so many many maaany times.” Quackity said, faking his annoyance.
“And yet you keep coming back”
“Exactly. Because I trust you.” Multi didn’t think it was smart, he didn’t even trust himself.
“Why? You shouldn’t” he said.
Quackity just smiled, waved and turned around. And he was gone.
He came back the next day.
And the day after that.
When Quackity said he wouldn’t leave him alone, Multi didn’t expect him to actually keep coming back to his lab every single day. At first, before he let him inside the lab, his visits weren’t regular, but there were still more days when he came to the Cave than when he didn’t. And then he started coming every single day. He kept asking questions about every single fucking thing. Most of them left unanswered, but apparently, he was too determined to keep annoying him to stop. Or at least it should be annoying.
“What does this do?” Quackity asked, walking around the lab, pointing at literally everything. It was actually kind of cute.
“Checks the temperature.”
“Cool, and that?” Multi didn’t know what’s so cool about anything in his lab, but he stopped questioning his opinions a few days ago.
“Stabilizes the output.”
“Interesting… And that?” He pointed at something in the corner of the lab.
Multi had to squint his eyes to look at what Quackity asked about.
“That one’s broken.” He sighed and turned back to the monitor he’s been trying to set up.
“Oh no.. it looks important.”
“It’s not”
“You sure? It really does look like…”
“Quackity.” He said and looked at him, probably a bit too harshly.
“Yes?”
“Stop talking.”
Quackity didn’t stop talking. Instead, he started walking around the whole lab humming some songs. And Multi was glad he didn’t actually stop talking.
“Okay, so will you finally tell what is this thing you’ve been working on this whole day?” He asked, suddenly appearing near the monitor, making Multi jump in shock.
“It’s supposed to measure the radiation levels.”
“Okay, so that’s actually quite important, right?”
“Without it, we won’t turn on the reactor. We need to control the radiation all the time, for it not to get out of hand, it would be extremely dangerous.” He saw how Quackity smiled after hearing the word “we” but decided to ignore it and the fact that it even slipped out of his mouth.
“Let’s say we would like to check if one of us is radioactive. Can it be used to do that?” Multi was actually surprised to hear a follow-up question like that. Maybe he should start answering in full sentences more often.
“Yes, I think it’ll be possible.”
“And what if we get radioactive?”
“I…” He didn’t know what to say. It’s not that he hasn’t thought of the possibility of someone being exposed to the radiation so much it would affect them. Of course he has, it’s just that up until now it was only him that could get affected by the radiation. And he simply didn’t care about that. He didn’t care if he got sick. But now Quackity could also be in danger. And that was scary. He didn’t want him to get hurt, especially since he wasn’t sure how exactly the radiation affects people. He really needed to start thinking about the cure.
“You won’t if you stop coming here after I turn on the reactor.” He answered instead.
“I told you I won’t leave you.”
You should, Multi thought.
“Then I don’t know.” He said honestly.
“Mhm…” Was the only thing Quackity said before he drowned in his own thoughts.
Days turned into weeks. And Multi got used to the fact that Quackity was always there. He seemed really determined not to leave his side. When they set up all of those radars around the lab, they even changed the settings so that not only would they ignore Multi but also Quackity because he was always there either way, so Multi thought it would be stupid for them to constantly send him notifications about Quackity being in the lab. Quackity almost cried when Multi told him about it and for the next few days couldn’t stop talking about how Multi trusts him the most. He was there when he finally turned on the reactor because, as he said, he couldn’t miss the most important day of their research. And it was, in fact, a really big day, they celebrated for hours with other Polish guys in their cave. They finished so late at night that they all decided to add one more bed in their cave for him. Quackity got along with them, in Multi’s opinion, he could get along with anyone. He was the kind of guy everyone wanted to be friends with. But for some unknown reasons he chose Multi and it seemed that nothing would scare him away. But even knowing that, Multi still didn’t want to risk it.
He liked having him around, for once, he didn’t feel lonely. Quackity would always come to his lab, walk around looking for changes, and when he got bored, he would lean against a wall or bring a chair and sit beside a working Multi. He asked questions, so many questions. And Multi started patiently answering every single one, sometimes stretching the explanation longer than he probably should have. But that wasn’t the most surprising thing, it was the fact that Quackity listened. Not the way most people listen, out of politeness, nodding their heads but forgetting everything the second a conversation is over. Quackity listened to everything, followed along, asked relevant questions, remembered details. He would sometimes even drown in his own thoughts and think about a solution to some the problems. Sometimes, a few days after talking about something, he would storm into the lab, screaming that he has an idea. He would always praise Multi, always look impressed and interested in everything he was doing. Multi needed a lot of time to get used to it because no one had ever admired his work this much before.
The lab felt different with him there. Less empty, less quiet. Quackity would always bring something with him, either some new food he got from places constantly opening in town or a radio, so they could sing songs while working. Sometimes, when he got bored and tired from being in the lab until late at night, he would walk up to Multi still working on some papers and put his head on his shoulder from behind. The first time he did it, Multi didn’t know how to act, so he just froze. Quackity then laughed and said “I’m recharging my energy levels from you”. Then it became normal for them.
“Go home.” He said to Quackity, feeling his whole weight on his back and shoulders like a heavy backpack.
“I told you, I won’t leave you.”
“Then at least go to sleep.” Multi said still calculating some equations.
“How come you’re never tired. You barely even sleep. Like, I literally cannot remember the last time I saw you close your eyes for more than 5 seconds.” Quackity said, pulling away from him and sitting on a chair.
I don’t sleep. Multi wanted to say.
“I just don’t need to, I guess.”
“You’re so cool. Why am I always tired then…”
He was, in fact, getting tired quicker than before. It must be the lack of sunlight in the cave. Multi thought.
They would talk about literally everything. Quackity had something in him that made Multi want to open up for the first time in his life. He found himself talking more, not just about the reactor, but about the theories, the failures, about the frustration of being so close to the answer and being unable to figure it out.
“There’s something wrong with it.” He said one day, looking at the reactor. “The radiation output isn’t consistent. It goes up randomly and I can’t predict it.”
“Maybe it’s reacting to something from outside?” Quackity suggested.
“I’ve checked all external variables.”
“Maybe you just missed one?”
“I didn’t. You don’t just miss such important details.” He said, pinching his forehead.
“You sure about that?” Quackity raised an eyebrow.
Multi hesitated, it wouldn’t be like him to miss things like that. But to be fair, he was getting distracted more often these days.
Talking with Quackity was easy, comfortable. When Multi thought they had gone through every topic in the universe, Quackity surprised him by asking a question he would’ve never even thought of. Multi was wondering if this was how it was like to have a friend. He asked Quackity about it one day and he got so offended by the implication that Multi might have even thought for a second that they weren’t that he didn’t say a single word for a few hours. At some point, Multi forgot how it was like before Quackity stepped into his lab for the first time. In some weird way, they were compatible, they had the same sense of humor, they could argue about some stupid things only to burst into laughter a few seconds later, they could talk for hours and hours, never getting bored of each other. And maybe Quackity was a bit of a distraction for him, but Multi wouldn’t change it for anything. He filled his days with warmth and laughter, something he never thought he would experience. He taught him how it was like to be cared about.
He thought that maybe, just maybe, if he met Quackity earlier in his life, things would be different, he would be able to change and this could actually become something that up until now he never allowed himself to even think about. And even though it couldn’t, he didn’t want to lose Quackity. Which is why he couldn’t tell him everything. Maybe it was a bit selfish, but he wasn’t the most moral guy either way. And he wasn’t gonna test how much evil Quackity would be able to tolerate. That’s why he never told him about his true goals, about the actual reason he built the reactor. He told him as much as he could for it not to sound weird. It’s not like he lied to him, he just didn’t tell him everything. He told him about wanting to provide cheaper energy to the islanders, about using the radiation to fight with creatures. But he didn’t tell him he wanted to create a virus to control everyone on the island. He told him that he would need to eventually test the radiation on someone.
However, he didn’t tell him that one day, when Quackity didn’t visit him, he kidnapped someone to extract their DNA for his research. He told him about the secret fake village that he built, that it was a place for people who accidentally got exposed to the radiation and needed to be isolated. He didn’t tell him it was a place where he wanted to put people and experiment on them. He didn’t tell him that the thing he always wanted, or at least what he thought he wanted, was power. Before Quackity, everything he did, everything he has ever worked on was motivated by the need of control and power. Up until recently, he didn’t care about anything other than his goals, he was willing to sacrifice everything to achieve them. But now, Quackity was the only thing he would never be able to sacrifice. He was the only good thing in his life and he would rather die than do something bad to him.
Quackity didn’t notice when things started to change. It was small at first, nothing suspicious. A cough, a headache, a strange fatigue that stayed with him even after a full night’s sleep. He brushed it off, never told Multi about any of it.
But Multi noticed. Of course he did. He noticed everything.
“Are you sick?” Multi asked one day, glancing at Quackity.
“What? No, I’m just tired.” He waved him off.
“You look worse than usual.”
“Wow. Okay, thanks.” Quackity said, acting offended.
“I didn’t mean…. whatever.”
He didn’t push. To be honest, he brushed it off at first, too. The lab wasn’t exactly the healthiest place to hang out. There was no fresh air and practically no sunlight. No wonder Quackity felt a little off after spending most of his time here. But the symptoms didn’t go away. In fact, they got worse. Quackity’s cough became more frequent, when he stood up too quickly, he had to hold on to something not to fall. And instead of avoiding the cave, he was staying there even longer.
“You’re shaking.” Multi said, looking at Quackity’s hands.
“I’m fine.” Quackity said, hiding them behind his back, smiling at him.
“You’re not.”
“I said I’m fine.” He said, dropping the smile.
Multi stared at him, trying to figure out what was wrong with him.
“You shouldn’t spend so much time in the lab.” He said, coming back to the monitor he’s been working on.
“So you don’t want me around anymore?” Now Quackity sounded like he was actually hurt.
“That’s not what I meant.” Multi said, turning back to him, stretching his hand toward his shoulder to console him. Quackity didn’t let him.
“You sound like you do” Quackity said and Multi dropped his arm.
“Quackity, you know I didn’t mean it like that. But you know this place isn’t safe.” He said with the softest voice he could muster.
“It wasn’t safe the first time I came here either.” Well, it was true.
“It was different.”
“How so?” Quackity asked, crossing his arms.
“I didn’t expect you to keep coming back.”
That, for some reason, made Quackity smile. Multi really loved when he smiled.
“Well, that’s not really my problem.” He said and winked at him. Fucking winked at him.
Multi watched him sitting on his desk, swinging his legs and realized how much he was going to miss him when he finally decides to leave him. He didn’t want to think about it for now. He was sure it would happen sooner or later, though. But he decided to cherish those moments with Quackity as long and possible. However, he didn’t think the breaking point would come this quickly. He really thought they had more time.
A few days later, when he was studying all the radiation output data on the monitor, he remembered the question Quackity had asked him about it a few weeks ago. And that’s when it hit him.
“Quackity?” he called.
“Hmm?” he asked, putting another cookie in his mouth. “What?”
“Could you come here for a second?”
He sprinted to him with the biggest smile on his face, probably thinking he was about to be useful. But Multi didn’t feel like smiling, honestly, he’d rather cry looking at him now.
“What’s up? Something’s wrong?”
“Sit here, please.”
“Okaaay, so mysterious. I’m excited.” He said, putting himself on the chair.
Multi was really about to start crying. He wanted to be wrong so much.
Multi connected the monitor’s sensors to Quackity. And then he turned on the monitor. And then his heart dropped. Everything lit up. It’s not that he was right, he wasn’t. Because it was way worse than he thought.
“It’s you.” He said with a shaky voice after a while of not being able to say anything.
“What?”
“You’re… like a walking reactor.”