Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

     The first time it happened, they were taking a walk.

     It wasn’t a long walk by any means. Actually, it was their first walk since Karl’s heart attack. They were just taking it to make sure that he was alright—normally, he would be on his own. Of course, since watching Dream forcing air into their fiancé’s lungs hadn’t exactly been a nice way to end the party, they were allowed to be minorly overprotective.

     And it honestly wasn’t that bad, anyways. Karl certainly didn’t seem to mind, taking them to his favourite spots with bright grey eyes and an even bigger, softer smile. Holding onto one of both of their hands, he kept walking calmly. Every so often, he’d drop their fingers, point at something they were meant to look at. Within a second, though, he’d have their fingers back in his grasp, gently swinging his arms.

     “Oh, look, there’s a hummingbird!” Karl said, dropping Sapnap’s hand for a moment and then pointed. The others followed, smiling softly. There, among the branches of a spruce tree, was a little bright green hummingbird with a white patch on its belly. “Aw, it’s so pretty.” By then, Karl’s fingers had already locked around Sapnap’s again. Not that Sapnap expected him not to grab his hand again, of course he didn’t. Karl was a fairly touchy person.

     “You’re right, it is pretty.” Sapnap commented, smiling softly. Flashing a bright grin back at him, Karl dragged them on ahead a little bit faster. “Whoa, Karl, slow down!” Laughing, Sapnap glanced over at Quackity. His other fiancé was laughing and grinning as well.

      There were a couple times where they almost slipped on the pine needles under their feet, hurrying along the path with very little care. Laughing and cackling, they moved along as quickly as possible. Occasionally, Sapnap would see a glance of a deer leaping through the woods, sunlight flashing down on tawny-gold fur and snow-white flashes on the deer’s chest or tail.

      They came to a meadow, and all three of them paused. Tipping his head back, Sapnap took a long breath, closed his eyes and smiled softly. When he opened his eyes, he looked around. The mountains framed it almost idyllically. Against his legs, small yellow, purple, and pink flowers brushed against his cargo pants. The sky was a lovely pale, peachy-orange tone towards the sun itself, fading into a rare deep blue with little stars sparkling in the expanse. Wisps of clouds darted along as well, and Sapnap ran a hand along the flowers for a moment. So pretty. Definitely a nice place to head to. Along the edges of the field, he could see thick forests crossing the terrain.

      Taking another breath, he looked over at Quackity and Karl. In the sunset, both of them looked absolutely amazing , gold flashing down and catching on strands of their hair, making Karl’s look like a crown and Quackity’s like black gold. Something rich and undeniably valuable and beautiful .

      Smiling, Sapnap watched them both. They weren’t wearing their normal outfits, had gotten ready for the hike beforehand and then the picnic that they were going to have afterwards. Sapnap had maybe stolen one of Karl’s hoodies, a white one made of light fabric so he wouldn’t make it reek if he worked out too much, paired it with grey cargo shorts. Karl had a light brown plaid, a white t-shirt underneath, and jeans. Which was…probably the most basic outfit that Sapnap could have thought of, but somehow his fiancé pulled it off. And Quackity hadn’t forgone his signature beanie, obviously, because who would Quackity be without his beanie?

      Pausing, Sapnap glanced Quackity up and down. “Quackity, did you steal one of my shirts?” That had to be his shirt. There was no way Quackity owned one of those shirts. No way. Not in this timeline.

      Smoothing out the dark blue fabric—it was a graphic tee under a button-up that was probably Karl’s, and it looked pretty nice with the fluffy brown feathers sticking from Quackity’s back—Quackity grinned at him. The iridescent feathers of his wings glittered in the sunset like his hair, the white feathers glowing like snow. It was almost distracting enough to keep Sapnap from hearing what Quackity replied. Almost. But not quite.

      “Maybe it is. Can you blame me?” Laughing, Sapnap reached over with his free hand and then ruffled Quackity’s hair under his beanie. Squawking, Quackity shoved his arm and hair away.

      “Hey! Leave me alone!” Both of them suddenly seemed to notice a distinct lack of speaking from their third partner. Turning, they looked to Karl in concern. “Karl? You alright there?”

      Raising his head, Karl jerked and smiled at them. It seemed a little tight at the corners. Still, neither of them asked why. They ended up getting a little distracted.

      “Yeah, I’m alright.” Walking over, Karl hip-bumped Quackity, tucked himself into Sapnap’s side. “I love you two.”

      Immediately, Sapnap’s heart figuratively melted in his chest. “Aw, you’re so sweet.” He cracked, grinning. Leaning over, he gently kissed Karl’s hair. There was a soft laugh. Then, Quackity clapped his hands together.

      “So! Before you two start making out and I have to sit here watching my fiancés leave me out of the fun, let’s have dinner!” He pulled the picnic basket into view, and Sapnap laughed lightly. “I’m serious! We agreed that we would only kiss when it’s all three of us, and instead you just leave me out of it.” Crossing his arms, he looked to the side.

      “Come on, Sapnap, we gotta make sure Quackity feels loved.” Karl joked, pushing away from Sapnap to stride over to their other fiancé. “Come on, Quack, you know we love you.” Resting his chin on Quackity’s shoulder, he looked at him with big, grey eyes. “You know that, right?”

      Quackity looked away. Still sitting back on his heels, Sapnap mused he was clearly dating two Disney princes. One of whom had duck wings and was just amazing, the other of which was stuck in his own sort of world with the ability to wield time itself. And he liked it that way. They were both amazing people he didn’t quite know how he ended up with but would appreciate having forever.

      If Tommy and Tubbo were around and heard him saying that, then they would call him a simp. And he would have deserved it, somewhat. Maybe he was being a simp. But he wasn’t sure he particularly cared, either.

      Settling down in a lower area of the grass, Sapnap laid back and stared up at the sky above him, smiled softly. Looking over at his fiancés, he grinned wider. “Both of you have pretty privilege, you know.”

      Throwing a hot dog at him, Quackity laughed and said, “Shut up, Sapnap.” He said, wrinkling his nose. Cackling, Sapnap sat right back up, looked over at them.

      “Come on, you know you love me.” He teased, leaning closer. Staring at him, Quackity snorted lightly. Looked over at Karl.

      “Do I love him? Do I really?”

      “Yes.” Karl replied. “Yes, you love him. And you love me. And we love you.” Shaking his head, he laughed, handed out some bags of chips. “You’re both idiots.”

      “Well, obviously. Karl, you have the only brain cell out of all of us.”

      “Quackity, aren’t you studying to be a lawyer?” Quackity shrugged, and Karl and Sapnap broke up laughing. “That is the worst way to answer that. Yes, you’re studying to be a lawyer.”

      “Shut up and eat your hot dogs.”

Chapter Text

      “Karl, you gotta keep your eyes open for me, okay?”

      In his arms, Karl wasn’t moving very much, which was terrifying. Glancing down, Quackity shifted his fiancé quickly. Then, he heard a soft mumble of, “I’m ‘wake.”

      “You need to open your eyes.” He urged. Slowly, Karl cracked his eyes open, looked up at him. There was a weak smile. He tried his best to return it. Still, he didn’t think that it worked, because concern crossed Karl’s face. “Karl, Karl, focus on me. Focus on me, love. Please?” Karl nodded. Wrapped his arms around Quackity’s neck. There was blood coating his chest and back, dripping from the arrows driven into his body, although he didn’t even seem to have noticed or cared.

      Beating his wings harder, Quackity stretched his feathers out. The primaries on his left wing brushed against a thermal, and he ducked into it. With a quick signal to Sapnap, who was galloping along below them on horseback, he ducked into it. Beneath them, trees shot by a few feet under his shoes. He ignored them, kept moving faster. Under him, blood dripped onto the ground.

      Ender give me strength, he thought to himself, looking through the mountains ahead. Above them, dark storm clouds began to form, piling up on top of one another. Already, he could feel the shift in the wind. We’re not going to make it in time. We’re going to have to bunker down for the night. Banking around, he looked back to Sapnap and then arced down towards the ground. Stretching his legs out and kicking them forwards, he landed with a slight stumble, caught himself as Sapnap pulled his horse to a stop.

      “What’s wrong?” He asked, holding onto the reins. With a snort, his gelding pawed at the ground, flicked black-tipped ears and snorted again.

      “I can’t fly in this.” Quackity lied. Ducking his head down towards Karl, who’d closed his eyes again, Quackity held Sapnap’s gaze. Hopefully, Karl was too out of it to protest, to see through the lie. After all, ducks could fly in the rain—Quackity was no different. “We need to bunker down for the night.”

      “Right, right.” Glancing around, Sapnap wheeled towards the caves. They ducked under the trees, and Quackity put Karl on the horse behind Sapnap. Touched his knee and looked at him in concern. Grey eyes met his own brown.

      “Quack?”

      “Just stay on, alright, sweetheart? Hold onto the saddle.” Quackity said. Nodding, Karl wrapped his arms around Sapnap’s waist, leaned into him. “I’ll go scout ahead.” He said, and Sapnap nodded. Turning, Quackity dragged himself away from the others. Something in his chest tore as he sprinted away, beat his wings and took off again.

      It took him a few moments to find a place. There was a cave, and he hurriedly went back to find Sapnap and Karl. As he did, the storm approached. He could hear the roar of the rain in the distance. As he flew, he glanced down at the others, banked around and landed again. Hurrying over to the horse, he took Karl from the saddle, started carrying him inside.

      About two seconds after Sapnap and the horse got inside the cave, the rain hit. It pounded down on the rock dust around them, forming mud within moments. Holding onto Karl, Quackity shifted him and looked down at his fiancé. “Karl.” He whispered. Blinking sleepily, Karl smiled at him. Quackity returned it, carefully settled Karl down on the blankets that Sapnap had spread out. “Hey. Take care of him for a moment.”

      “Obviously.” Sapnap said. Forcing a teasing smile, Quackity glanced from him to Karl.

      “I was talking to Karl.” Sapnap scoffed lightly, shoved his shoulder. Laughing, Quackity got up and went to the saddlebags. Stroking the horse’s shoulder, he checked through for any sort of medical kit. There was one, thankfully. Good, good, we had something. Folding back the leather folds of his bracer, he scrolled down through his contacts to the most important ones.

      The first thing that came through was a suspicious, almost angry or frustrated groan. “Where are you, you—"

      In the middle of it, Quackity stepped in. Walking over to the edge of the cave, he reached up and leaned against the side of the wall. Taking a breath, he spoke, “Schlatt.” He must have let some of the pain into his tone. Immediately, Schlatt stopped talking. “Karl’s hurt.”

      There was a moment.

      Then, softly, Schlatt spoke. “How badly?” There wasn’t any joking to his tone. No, there was a serious side. Something that did a shocking amount of reassurance.

      Glancing back at the others, Quackity swallowed. Currently, Sapnap was trying his best to treat Karl’s wounds. Then, he turned back to look at the outside, crossed his arm over his chest and then looked out across the rain-swallowed forest. Dark shadows filled the gaps in between the trunks and the leaves, and he swallowed again. “There’s arrows in his back. Four or five, I think. More injuries on his chest, too. I don’t know how long he’s got.”

      “What are your coordinates? If you’re close enough to call, then we can get to you quickly.” Schlatt had a serious tone, definitely had something to say. Quickly, Quackity relayed it, and he heard shuffling on the other side and speaking. Quick, fierce orders and relaying of coordinates and other things. Then, there was rain thundering on the other side of the line. “We’ll be there in a few minutes. I promise.”

      “Thank you.” Glancing back, Quackity added, “I need to go and check in on them. Get some care for Karl.”

      “Of course. Stay safe.”

      “You too.” Quackity called off, then hurried over with the medical kit, returning the bracer to its original position. Crouching down by Karl’s side, he pressed down on his stomach a couple times. Sure, he wasn’t as good as Bad when it came to medicine, but he still knew some of what he was doing. Besides, it only took a couple of experiences to know what internal bleeding felt like.

      Swallowing, he glanced up at Sapnap, who currently had their fiancé’s head in his lap, stroking through his hair gently. “How bad is it?” Sapnap mouthed. Instead of voicing or mouthing, where Karl could see, Quackity tipped his head to the side. Sapnap swallowed, face paling slightly. Then, he dipped his head. “Hey, Karl, why don’t you talk about something random. You know, like, uh—hey, we went on a trip a couple days ago without you, when you were napping. What did you do while we were gone?”

      “Oh! Well, I started off with—” Karl’s voice trailled off, not physically but mentally. Quackity was focused more on treating his fiancé’s wounds. There was so much blood.

      Now, Quackity had seen a lot of blood. He and Phil and Tommy…well, they all…people like that generally had a bit more…blood than other people? Which did mean that they could bleed a lot more. Injuries could be slightly better or even worse. Sometimes, they would be completely fine, other times they would be almost completely fine before all of a sudden they collapsed and things were bad .

    Still, Quackity knew that Karl should not be bleeding that much. Pressing his hands to Karl’s stomach, Quackity took a moment and a breath. Okay, okay, Karl, this is going to be better. This is going to be better. I can fix this, I can fix this slightly.

      All of a sudden, he keyed in at the right moment. Bloody fingers settled on his wrist. Glancing over through blurry vision, Quackity met Karl’s gaze. “Guys?” Karl whispered, voice soft. Swallowing, Quackity looked at him for a long moment. Sapnap’s fingers were still curled in Quackity’s hair. “I love you.”

      And that was when Karl’s eyes rolled back in his head.

+++

      He didn’t remember what happened afterwards at first.

      Mentally, he did know that he had to do something , because Sapnap couldn’t have patched Karl together enough for him to survive until the others arrived. Dimly, he did know that Schlatt had to drag him away, remembered the man trying to calm him down. Still, his mind wouldn’t process, wouldn’t let him focus. Everything was a blur of motion. Then, they were home, and he was lying on bed staring at the ceiling fan as it idly spun by. Swallowing, he sniffed.

      Reaching up, he played with the rings sitting around his neck on a chord. They were from his fiancés, obviously. Karl had found the gemstones, and Sapnap had been the one to forge the rings. Originally, he’d been very embarrassed, said they didn’t look the best and swore that he’d be better by the time they forged wedding rings. Normally, it was a welcome weight on his chest. Something soft and gentle.

      Now, it felt like the mountains were crushing him underneath them, ripping the wind from beneath his wings and tearing his feathers from their places.

      Rolling onto his side, Quackity looked over to the other side of the bed. Sapnap was there, too, staring up at the ceiling with his legs dangling off the edge of the circular thing (it was that way for Quackity, because of his wings. He needed space). He took a breath, and Sapnap blinked. As Quackity watched, his okay fiancé seemed to…come back to himself, in a way. Blinked a few times, then tipped his head to the side. Meeting Quackity’s gaze, he smiled tiredly.

      He didn’t look good. Sure, he didn’t look bad . But there was a difference between bright, fiery, passion-driven Sapnap when he was cheering with his friends and celebrating dumb things, and then…this. Yes, he could feel things. But looking at him in pain, when he was hurting because someone he cared about and cherished was hurting, too…it hurt. It hurt so much, and Quackity reached across the bed.

      Sapnap shifted, propped himself up on his shoulder. Taking Quackity’s hand, he rubbed his thumb over the knuckles. “Hey.” He said, softly. Lifting Quackity’s hand to his mouth, Sapnap gently kissed the back of it. Smiled at him, softly.

      Quackity returned it willingly. Not easily. But willingly. “Hey.” He whispered. Sniffing, he reached up with his free hand, scrubbed a hand over his face. Then, Sapnap shuffled over.

      “Come here.” He said, even though he was moving over. Draping an arm over Quackity’s waist, he waited for a second, let Quackity grab onto him and pull him close before hugging him back. A few gentle kisses were pressed into his hair, and he sniffed again. “It’s okay, it’s okay. He’ll be alright. He’s in good hands, Bad knows what he’s doing. You patched him up so he could make it, you did great.”

      “What if I didn’t do enough?” Fingers combed through his hair, smoothed it back from his face. Looking at him, Sapnap smiled gently. It didn’t have its usual sunlight, didn’t have the same warmth, but it wasn’t down. Less like bright sunshine with no clouds, and more like a partly cloudy late spring day. (It wasn’t the first time Quackity had thought of him like that. If Sapnap was the sun above his head, then Karl was the wind beneath his wings. He could survive without one but he didn’t want to, and life without both was just…wrong, somehow. He could live like that, he had lived like that, but he didn’t know what he was missing until he had it. He was still a whole person. All of them were their own people, and that wouldn’t change. But there was something…something just right about having his fiancés at his side.)

      “You did great, Quackity. I promise, you’ve done everything you needed to.” Sapnap swore, and there was just such a determined phrasing to it that he just knew that Sapnap was right.

      “Okay, okay.” Quackity whispered, burying his face in Sapnap’s chest and clinging to his jacket. “Okay.” Sniffing, he closed his eyes. Sapnap’s hands ran up and down his back, into his wings to preen his feathers a bit. They probably needed it, they were dirty and gross and needed a cleaning.

      At first, he didn’t think that he would ever be able to sleep.

      Within a few moments, he was pretty much out (which he really should have made a joke about, but he didn’t have the consciousness to).

Chapter Text

Damnit

      It’d been a few days since Karl’s injury.

      Which mostly meant that he was curling up with Sapnap and Quackity on the couch. Which they all liked. Obviously, or else they wouldn’t be curled—some things were just obvious and didn’t need to be stated, so really things needed to move on beyond just not assuming things or whatever. Quackity needed to stop being a noodle and realise that his fiancés could cuddle with him on the couch and that was fine. All that was fine. They did it because he liked them and they liked him. He didn’t need to have a constant mental “hoo dee hoo what if they don’t like me” Sims sort of “what is going on in this conversation”.

      It was a good question. Sometimes Quackity didn’t understand himself either. Besides the point. He was with his fiancés, on the couch. They were watching a movie. And they were going to have a good time about it too! Doing it? How would one even—

      Damnit, Quackity, focus on your fiancés we talked about this! Thought about it! Whatever, just do it! Focus! He yelled at himself mentally, clapping his figurative hands in front of his figurative face. Sometimes he wondered if he was ADHD. Maybe he was.

    Or maybe he was just him, he wasn’t sure if he minded that.

      Also, his ribs hurt. They weren’t meant to do that. Ribs were not meant to hurt, they were meant to…protect lungs. And hearts. And other mushy internal organs and stuff because humans and humanoids were pretty squishy as it came to…beings. Like, Skeppy didn’t really have to worry about being squished except with his squishy…human bits? Did that make sense?

      An elbow to the side brought him out of his distracted state. Glancing over, he met Karl’s gaze. “What are you thinking about? You have that look.” He commented, grey eyes a soft blue in the light shining from their TV. Currently, they were watching some random documentary that Quackity didn’t actually care all that much about. It was one Karl had seen and wanted to watch though, about one of the animals responsible for some of the most zookeeper injuries.

      Yeah, they were watching a documentary on zebras.

      Since Quackity wasn’t particularly interested in watching the murder Oreo horse’s life, he had spent most of the time dozing off with his chin on Karl’s shoulder or just spacing out with Sapnap’s fingers in his hair. Which was nice. Probably just a bird hybrid thing, though that didn’t change it. Just explained it.

      Yawning, he looked around. Sapnap was looking at him with a soft smile, too. He didn’t seem interested in homicidal tiger donkeys, either. “Well…do you really want to know?” Quackity asked, glancing to the side.

      “Uh, yeah. You’re my fiancé. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to know.”

      “Well…what does Skeppy do about his squishy bits?”

      Both of them looked at him in confusion. “Squishy bits?” Sapnap echoed, and Quackity nodded.

      “Rib cages protect us, but…does Skeppy even have bones?” All of them paused, and he was pretty sure that Sapnap kind of paled.

      “What does he do?” He wondered. Suddenly, Karl’s arms around Quackity’s waist tightened, like they did when he was in pain. Freezing, Quackity glanced over at him in concern. Something was quickly washed from Karl’s face, and he smiled. It didn’t reach his eyes.

      “I love you.” Tipping his head back, Karl looked at Sapnap and softly added, “Both of you. I love you so much. So, so much.”

      Smiling, Sapnap moved his hands to rest them on Karl’s sides, kissed the top of his head a few times. “We know that. I love you, too.”

      “Hey, don’t leave me out of this!” Quackity joked. Under his hands, he could feel some of the bandages wrapping around Karl’s stomach. There was a pause, Sapnap picking up on both Quackity and Karl’s reactions as they tensed up. Karl lifted his head, glanced down at the injuries. Swallowing, Quackity pulled away, sat back on his heels and picked at his nails.

      “Hey.” Moving, too, Karl gently touched Quackity’s wrists and stopped him from hurting himself. “I just realised I never said thanks. You saved my life.”

      “I didn’t do enough.” Quackity mumbled, staring down at his hands. “You shouldn’t have gotten hurt in the first place.”

      Karl’s fingers twined with his. Leaning in, he pressed his forehead to Quackity’s. “Sometimes these things happen. Besides, if I remember,” he leaned in and kissed the tip of Quackity’s nose, softly added, “I threw myself into the fight. Not like you could have done anything to stop it.”

      “But I could have. I’m a fighter. I could have done something ,” Quackity replied, sniffing. Reaching up, he paused. “Sorry, I—I must have ruined movie night.”

      “Hey, no you didn’t.” Quackity glanced up at Sapnap. Then, he cleared his throat.

      “Why don’t we get something to eat, huh? I’ll make food. Sandwiches sound good?” Sapnap asked. Nodding, Karl paused the movie, then dragged Quackity with him to the kitchen. Sapnap started making sandwiches.

      Look, there wasn’t anything wrong with sourdough peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. But also…something was just yelling at Quackity that no, he really couldn’t eat that sandwich. Which he did manage to hide it. After all, Sapnap had made him food, he wasn’t just going to point-blank refuse . Something about it was just… off to him.

      Oh, just suck it up. Quackity mused. Taking another bite, he fought back the instinctual wing twitch. Mostly because he didn’t want to bat Karl next to him on accident. But also because then Sapnap would pick up on it and he didn’t want to make him upset (he’d seen what happened when he made people upset, it wasn’t good it wasn’t good he didn’t want to upset Sapnap even though they wouldn’t react like that they never would, they loved him too much—)

      “Quackity, are you alright?” Sapnap asked. Jerking, Quackity glanced over. “You’re doing some…” Sapnap made a motion with his hands. “Like something’s up with the food.”

      “Nothing’s wrong! Everything’s fine. See?” Quackity took another bite of sandwich. He couldn’t hide the little wing twitch that came from that. Immediately, Karl and Sapnap glanced between one another. Reaching over, Karl touched his wrist, leaned in slightly when Quackity glanced at him.

      “We’re not mad, Quackity. Promise.” Karl swore, and Quackity swallowed before looking down at the table. “Hey. I love you.”

      Quackity nodded, let Karl pull him into a side hug.

Chapter Text

      It was early morning, and Sapnap stirred to both his fiancés on top of him.

      So, pretty much a normal morning. Quackity’s wings were thrown across both of them, and over the whole bed, too. Said owner of the wings was currently snuggling into Sapnap’s collarbone. Karl was already settled. With a low sigh, Karl shuffled about a bit and then hummed lightly. When Sapnap looked down at his face, Karl was smiling.

      This was one of the moments that Sapnap loved to be in. When he was with the people he loved. Anyone he loved, sure. But especially his fiancés. They were everything to him, everyone he needed, and just…everything to him. If someone hurt them, well, then…he would break them in half. He knew, deep down, if someone hurt him they would do the same. Of course they would. They loved him just as much as he loved them, they just weren’t like him when they did it. He was just…Sapnap. And that was how he worked, he loved with everything. He did with everything. He did the Mnahunts, he did the acting, he loved and spoke with everything that he had in him. Everything he was and everything that made him, well, him.

      So moments where he had the chance to relax, to just exist and be… he valued them. There weren’t quiet moments in Manhunts. There weren’t quiet moments in their acting, it was always one thing after another in both times. When he could curl up with his fiancés, stay there with them, yeah, he appreciated it. Loved it. It was his moment, it was something he loved. Moments where he could run his fingers into Karl’s hair or Quackity’s feathers and listen to them just breathing. Even if Quackity was snoring like he was sawing wood, and even when Karl talked in his sleep. Or when Quackity chirruped loudly. It happened, actually. It happened a lot. Something that Phil did, too, the chirruping. But honestly, Sapnap was okay with that. It was just one of Quackity’s natural quirks, and Sapnap loved that about him.

      He loved them both, if he hadn’t made it obvious enough.

     Reaching up, Sapnap ran a hand along Karl’s spine. In sleep, Karl hummed lightly, shifted a few times at the touch and then hummed again. His arms tightened around Sapnap’s middle.

      Golden sunlight burst in through the gaps in the curtains, showered down over them. It made them both look as precious as the day when they had been on their picnic hike. And Sapnap was all too glad for it. So pretty. He mused, smiling and running his fingers into Karl’s hair.

      There was another hum. Then, Karl’s eyes fluttered open. He tightened his arms around Sapnap’s waist, stretched slightly. Looking up, he met Sapnap’s eyes. “Hi.” He murmured. Grinning, Sapnap reached up and gently touched Karl’s cheek, rubbed a thumb over his face.

      “Morning.” Sapnap hummed softly. “How do you feel?”

      “My shoulder hurts.” He mused softly. Reaching up, Sapnap prodded his shoulder with his free hand.

      “This one?” Karl nodded. Delicately, Sapnap started rubbing his shoulder, easing out one of the knots. “That definitely seems to hurt. Like, a lot.” As he rolled his shoulder, Karl sucked in a breath as there as a low pop . “Oof.”

      “Yeah.” Shifting, Karl glanced over at Quackity. His hand came up to gently rub at Quackity’s wings. There was a soft chirrup in his tone, and he fluttered his wings in his sleep. Which he also currently had his beanie on. In his sleep. He was wearing a beanie, in bed, with his fiancés. Probably not comfortable? But like…if he was wearing his beanie, then obviously he was comfortable. So it was good.

      A long yawn shook Karl, and Sapnap grinned at him for a moment. Watched as he moved about a bit and then slowly pushed himself up. “Nope, no. You’re not getting up.” Wrapping his arms around Karl, he pulled him back down, started kissing his hair. There was a soft squeal, and then Karl started lightly pushing at him in the way that meant not to stop, but still had that light sort of banter to it. Natural relationship things, understandably. Obviously.

      Kissing his hair, Sapnap kept laughing. Karl chuckled, too. Beside them, there was a low hum and Quackity raised his head sleepily. Leaning over, he pressed his head to Karl’s shoulder while the others remained still. Then he laid back down, kissed Sapnap’s neck. “Just don’t have too much fun without me. I’m going to go make breakfast.” He mumbled. Then, slowly, he dragged himself out of bed and then headed into the kitchen.

      Snorting, Karl dropped his head down into the crook of Sapnap’s shoulder and neck. “As if.” Laughing, Sapnap rubbed his arms again, started massaging his shoulder. “I love you.”

      “Sure, sure.” Sapnap teased, kissing his hair. Mumbling, Karl shifted a few times. “Keep saying that.”

      “No. I love you.” Karl said fiercely, pushing himself up on his elbows and looking down at Sapnap. There was a sort of…look on his face. Touching the side of Karl’s face, Sapnap paused and studied his eyes. A soft frown pinched his eyebrows, and he paused.

      “Karl?” He asked, suddenly wondering if something was wrong. There had to be something wrong. Something was different. Something was off . Sucking in a breath, he opened his mouth to speak. To say something , because he knew there was something up.

      Quackity interrupted.

      “Hey!” Poking his head in, Quackity announced, “Come get some food. Stop having fun without me. Karl, kiss. Now.”

      “What? What about me?” Sapnap cracked as his fiancés shared a kiss. Glancing back at him, Karl snorted and then ducked into the kitchen, added a soft “I love you” to Quackity as he went.

      “You don’t deserve my kisses. You’re the one who started it." Quackity mumbled, arms crossed. Turning on his heel, he ducked into the kitchen. Sapnap laid there for a moment. Sighing, he dragged himself out of bed and into the kitchen.

      Karl was leaning against the counter in the kitchen. He couldn’t see where Quackity was, so he guessed that maybe he was in the bathroom. Still, Karl was leaning against the counter, and that wasn’t normal. There was an odd expression on his face, too, like a moment before. Frowning, Sapnap looked at him.

      “Karl?” Sapnap asked. As soon as Karl had turned to him, he froze and blinked. The pained look was quickly erased, almost to the point Sapnap wasn’t sure he had even seen it. “Are you alright?”

      Smiling, Karl replied, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Chapter Text

     Quackity could put up with a lot.

     He could put up with rude people and rude comments. Trolls and haters. Hell, he’d lived with a horrible partner for a long while, he knew he could put up with some regular bullshit. He could handle himself, he could handle it.

     But just because he could put up with it didn’t mean he had to. Eventually, he would have to draw the line. Whether the other person liked it or not, and whether he liked it or not. And this?

     This was the time for a line to be drawn.

     Crossing his arms, he looked down at Karl. His fiancé was sitting on the couch, staring down at the floorboards. A freshly sutured cut stood out against the pale skin of his cheek. The sutures themselves were courtesy of Niki. Meanwhile, Sapnap and Quackity had worried themselves half to death waiting for their fiancé. At a dinner they’d been planning for months. That Karl just…hadn’t shown up to at all.

     Because he was time travelling. The one and for all, constant thorn in Quackity’s side. The storm on a wedding day. Karl valued his fiancés, sure. But clearly, clearly, he valued his time travelling over them.

     Which made the way he was acting so much more infuriating. First off, he’d stressed out Sapnap, which wasn’t okay. Then, he’d skipped out on their dinner with no previous warning. He’d just acted like that was okay for him to do, like it was okay for him to just bolt on them with nothing else. No further warning. No warning at all, actually. Just his own selfishness and harsh treatment and just him being an ass. And he didn’t care! Or he did care, because he got caught.

     Neither of them had talked for the better part of fifteen minutes.

     It had just been awkward silence. Them staring at one another. Or really, Quackity and Sapnap looking at their fiancé, and Karl staring at the floor like if he blinked it would drop out from under him. Nothing more, nothing less. Just that. No words, no sound. Taking a breath, Quackity decided he’d just about had it. It was time to break the silence, break the stupid ice and keep moving. Keep going. Do something about this very obvious problem that they had, because someone needed to do something and clearly Karl wasn’t going to do it.

     “Karl, this isn’t working.” He finally said. Immediately, grey eyes snapped to his own dark ones. Steeling himself, Quackity squared his shoulders. He won’t hurt you. He’d never hurt you.

     Well…except when he has. But that’s on accident. It better be.

     “What?” Karl asked, softly. He sounded like his heart was breaking. Honestly, if Quackity hadn’t seen him when they filmed some of the Tales from the SMP, then he would probably have assumed that Karl was showing his emotions. He usually was an emotional man. But now…Quackity wasn’t sure. He couldn’t be sure, but he did know he was in no way a fan of that. No way in hell.

     “It’s not working. We’ve been planning this dinner for months, and you totally ditched us. You could have given a warning or something.” Stepping forwards, Quackity kept talking. Gestured with his hands a little bit, and he kept talking, “Look, Karl, I understand that you’re too stubborn to give up your time travelling, but could you at least take how we feel into account? Instead of just running off every couple of seconds and just—“

     On his wrist, Karl’s watch suddenly went off. Almost guiltily, he ducked his head. Quackity sighed. “I-I’m sorry. I love you, I really do, I just—I need to go.” He said, looking up at them.

     Turning away, Quackity said, “Just go. We all know you’re going anyways.” He braced his hands against the desk sitting against the wall. It was one they had all used at some point or other. Heat flushed to his face, and he tucked his wings closer around himself and rubbed one of his arms. Behind him, he heard footsteps cross to him, and Sapnap touched his shoulder gently. There were more footsteps, and then there was a pause before Karl turned and left.

     Holding onto the chair pushed into the desk, Quackity sucked in a breath through his mouth. Slowly, he breathed out, shoulders and wings shaking. “Hey, it’s okay.” Sapnap whispered, taking his hands. Carefully, Sapnap pulled him over to the couch, sat down with him and held onto his shoulder for a moment and then rubbed his shoulders and back. “It’s okay.”

     Immediately, Quackity burst into tears.

     Sapnap held his hand, rubbed his fingers and palm gently. “It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s going to be alright, Quackity.” He reassured softly. Sniffing, Quackity rubbed at his face. “Hey. Hey. It’s going to be alright.”

     Quackity leaned into him, closing his eyes and trying not to cry harder.

+++

     It was much later when Karl limped back into the house.

     Currently, Quackity and Sapnap were curled in bed with one another. Holding a hot chocolate Sapnap had made for him (because he was upset, of course Sapnap would make him a hot chocolate to help him), Quackity looked up. Sapnap followed his gaze and smiled weakly. For a moment, Karl just stood there. He swallowed and then took a slow breath.

     “Sapnap, can I have your help?” He asked, voice slightly slurred. One of his hands was propping himself up. The other was wrapped around his ribs. Looking over, Sapnap kissed the side of Quackity’s head.

     “I’ll be right back, love. Promise.” He whispered. Nodding, Quackity looked down to the hot chocolate. Meanwhile, Karl was stumbling out into the living room. “Get on the couch.”

     “Mhm.” Karl mumbled, lying down with closed eyes. Fetching the medical kit, Sapnap returned to crouch down at Karl’s side. He rucked up Karl’s shirt, pressed his hands onto his fiancé’s ribs. “Ow.” Karl mumbled.

     “What happened?” Sapnap asked, glancing over at him. There were more bruises marking his cheeks and neck. They were very clearly from fighting. Actually, Sapnap was pretty sure he could see the imprints of fingers and he knew Karl. He may be ditching dates, but he would never cheat.

     “Got into a fight. Got grabbed by the throat and thrown around. Hit a wall.” Karl explained, voice hoarse and crackling. Clearing his throat, he took another slow breath. Gently, Sapnap started treating the injuries. Iced the bruises, cleaned out the scrapes and a few minor cuts. Checked on the neck injuries. “I promise I didn’t cheat.”

     “I didn’t think that you did.” Leaning over, Sapnap kissed his forehead gently. Delicately, Karl grabbed onto his wrists.

     “I love you.” He whispered. Looking down, Sapnap smiled at him. His mind went to Quackity, crying in their bedroom. Worried that he had done something had wrong. Worried that it was his fault Karl didn’t want to be with them anymore. Do you?

     Still, Sapnap’s only response was to kiss his forehead, tuck the blankets around Karl’s body, and leave him on the couch. Then, he went back to Quackity, who was still sitting there. Sniffing and crying and altogether looking like a mess.

     “Is he okay?” Quackity asked. Sinking down on the bed beside him, Sapnap nodded. Leaning over, he kissed Quackity’s temple, felt him lean into him and sigh.

     “He’s alright, he’s out on the couch.” There was a nod. “Come on, let’s get you to bed. You can check in on him in the morning, you need some rest, too.” Nodding, Quackity moved.

     “I love you,” Karl had said. Glancing back at the door, he sighed and shook his head.

     Things would be okay one day…right?

Chapter Text

      “I love you.”      

      They were watching a movie again. Sitting in their pyjamas, in their living room. On the couch. Karl had his head in Quackity’s lap. Sapnap was leaning into Quackity, playing with his fiancé’s fingers for the moment. Pausing, Quackity looked over at Sapnap. Concern flashed across his face.

      “Karl, why do you say that?” Quackity asked. Pausing, Karl turned to look at him. “Every once in a while, you just…randomly say that you love us. Not that I don’t love it. I love it, it’s so sweet. I’m just confused—what’s the reason?” As he spoke, he kept petting Karl’s hair delicately.

      For a second, Karl paused. He seemed to just be thinking. Rolling to his side, he stared out across the floor. Reaching over, Sapnap paused the movie so they could talk. Blinking, Karl looked at the wood planks. He didn’t seem fully there. Not dissociative, just…like he was thinking. Somewhere in the past, if that made any sense.

      Then, he swallowed. “Do you remember when I had that heart attack? At the party, when I collapsed and Dream had to do CPR?” Both of them exchanged glances, and Quackity ran his fingers through Karl’s hair gently.

      “Yeah.”

      “Sometimes my chest hurts.” Karl mumbled. Pulling his knees up to his chest, he inhaled and continued, “And I don’t want to—I don’t want you to think that I don’t love you if the last thing we said was like…an argument or something like that.”

      Quackity looked at Sapnap, who looked like his entire heart had just broken in that moment.

      “I-I don’t—I know you want me to stop time-traveling. But I don’t have a choice, I never have. But it gives me the chance to help you.” Karl whispered, tiredly. “And I know that it’s not fair to you to die but I don’t think I could live without you. And I think I can afford to be a little selfish sometimes.”

      Gently, Sapnap stroked his hair. Quackity leaned in, kissed the side of his head. “I love you, Karl. You know that, right?” Sniffing, he pulled his knees up to his chest. Rubbed at his eyes. “Hey, hey, hold on. Ssh, it’s alright, it’s alright.”

      “I can’t stop the time travelling.” He whispered, repeating himself. Shaking his head, he kept talking, “I can’t. I’m sorry, I can’t, I can’t stop they won’t let me they won’t let me .” He started crying. Glancing at Sapnap, Quackity winced. Then, he pulled Karl up into a hug, held onto him.

      “It’s okay, it’s okay. I don’t blame you, I don’t blame you. It’s alright.” He whispered. Gesturing to Sapnap, he beckoned him over.

      “Hey. Hey, come here.” Sapnap joined the hug. Between them, Karl shook. Buried his face into Quackity’s shirt and shook his head. “It’s alright, it’s alright. I love you.”

      “We both do.” Quackity murmured. “We both love you, we’re not going to stop just because of your whole time travel thing. I’m sorry if we made you think that. I’m sorry if I made you think that. Can you forgive me?”

      “Yeah. Yes.” Karl whispered, and Quackity looked nervously to Sapnap. Their fiancé just kept crying and he didn’t know what would help . Stroking his hair, Quackity kissed the top of Karl’s head. The whole while, Karl was just holding onto him. Holding onto them both , actually. “Yes, Quackity. Of course.”

      “Can you forgive me?” Sapnap asked softly. Looking at him, grey eyes searching his for a moment, Karl nodded and smiled tightly. “Alright. Why don’t we all keep watching the movie, get some rest? Or you two can watch the movie, I’ll go get some food.”

      “Sure.” Quackity said. Wrapping his wings around Karl as Sapnap pulled away, he ran his fingers into Karl’s hair and kissed his head. “You’re one of the best things that’s ever happened to me, Karl. Do you understand that?”

      “Yeah.” Ducking his head, Karl smiled lightly. “Yeah. I do.”