Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The night is quiet when Sapnap leads Quackity through dense woods. In the far distance, Kinoko’s lights shine past some trees and their leaves. For some reason, Quackity feels uneasy; the forest is too dense around him and Sapnap’s walking is oddly paced. Looking back, he should’ve known something was up. Not that he blames Sapnap, or anyone, for that matter, anyone but himself.

As if Sapnap reads his mind, he sticks out his hand behind him, offering Quackity to hold it. He gladly accepts, it’s a reason to push down the discomfort and a good distraction. Sapnap is wearing gloves, and Quackity can feel the warmth through them. Not that he’d expected any differently, he’d missed it, though. He shortly smiles at the memory of Karl making the gloves after learning that Sapnap doesn't like the cold. He can handle it easily but prefers it if he doesn't have to. Quackity’s wings shift under his jacket.

Arriving at Kinoko, Quackity looks around in awe. The place is beautiful, regardless of it being completely empty. Besides a few fish in the small pond under the bridge, and the big pool in the middle, that is. At this hour, all animals are long asleep. As if to taunt Quackity’s thought, a frog jumps past his feet and croaks. The sound is extra loud now that everything else is dead quiet. If it weren't night, the lack of any sound would've been alarming.

A cat stares down at them from the 2nd-floor window of a tall building. Through the window, behind the cat, Quackity can see rows of books and an occasional candle held against the wall by a neatly formed piece of metal.

In front of what Quackity guesses is a public library, is a small town square. In the middle is a gorgeous blossom tree, and from the look of the glistening flowers, he assumes it's enchanted. Enchanted trees aren't uncommon, but he hasn't seen one in a long while.

Around the tree's roots, there's a big patch of grass, to give them the space they need. And at those roots, leaning against the trunk, is Karl. He's sitting there as if he's just as magical as the tree itself. To Quackity, he is. To Sapnap as well. Quackity notices because when he smiles at the sight of Karl, Sapnap squeezes his hand.

The book Karl's reading gets thrown shut the moment he sees them approach. He hastily puts it away in some kind of shoulder bag he's wearing. The bag's leather is damaged, and one of the corners at the bottom looks like it's ripped. Quackity hasn't seen it before, but it doesn't concern him. Literally and figuratively.

The look on Karl's face, however, terrifies him. It's hard to tell what he's feeling, but it feels like something worse than hate. Karl seems confused and scared, ready to jump at something and run away at the same time. For each step Quackity and Sapnap take toward him, Karl backs up.

When they're almost at the tree, and Karl is at the entrance of the library, Sapnap puts his hand on Quackity’s chest. He lets go of the other hand he was holding. “Stay here,” he whispers, “I’m gonna talk to him.”

Quackity is confused, he’s forgotten the signs of Karl panicking. He nods, though, and stays by the tree.

Sapnap walks over to Karl, who immediately turns to him. Quackity can hear Karl’s muttering. “Give me your bow,” he demands, and Sapnap glances at him puzzled. Quackity frowns as well. Karl isn’t one for violence, and to his knowledge, he’s never held a sword. He’s never had to, either.

After he’s steadied his grip on the weapon, he eyes Sapnap’s quiver with arrows. Sapnap follows his gaze and hands it to him. From that moment, everything happens too fast for any of them to process what’s happening.

Karl swiftly takes an arrow from the quiver, carefully holds it and draws the bow. He then turns slightly and aims at Quackity. Quackity’s frozen in shock, and barely hears Karl yelling at him to “turn around” and “fucking leave”. To prove his point, Karl fires an arrow at Quackity’s feet. It doesn’t hurt much, but the pain takes him out of the frozen shock.

As Quackity stumbles backwards, and eventually to the ground, Sapnap’s eyes grow wide. “Karl, stop!” he yells, trying to calm him down. He’s stuck between running to Karl to get him to stop, or running to Quackity to help him get away. Quackity, his brain selfishly supplies.

His mind is running at a hundred miles per hour as he tries to think of where to run to, the library, the woods on the side of the hill, or the woods way back, where they came from. The library is immediately turned down, they’d have to get upstairs and Sapnap doubts that Quackity can use his bleeding foot. He also doubts that he can carry him upstairs with the state of panic he’s in right now.

On adrenaline, he moves away from Karl and runs to Quackity. Before he can decide on what woods to run to, though, Karl’s voice echoes through what Sapnap thinks might be the entirety of Kinoko.

“Don’t move!” he screams, a new arrow already aimed at Sapnap.

“Karl, what the fuck?” Sapnap yells back. “Put down the arrow!” he continues, and he puts another step closer to Quackity.

Quackity is watching the scene from metres away, his hands pushed tightly to his foot. He’s taken off his hat, likely to stop the bleeding. He looks at Sapnap, who’s still trying to shuffle to him.

“I said don’t move,” Karl repeats. He fires the arrow at Sapnap, who crouches just in time for it to miss his shoulder.

“Okay, okay!” he yields. He holds up his arms, shaken by the whole situation. Who knew Karl would have it in him to attack his partners. Who knew he was immaculate with a bow and arrow.

Sapnap’s breathing heavily, and for a moment, that’s the only audible sound. He’s staring at Karl, and Karl is staring back. Normally Karl is an open book, whereas now, Sapnap can’t even decide what the look on his face means. The silence breaks when Quackity starts sniffling.

Karl darts at him, aims another arrow at him again, and Quackity chokes out a sob. He pulls up his knees to hide behind them and puts one arm around his legs. The other hand is still on his foot, continuously putting pressure on the hat.

“Karl, put down the bow,” Sapnap pleads, his voice cracks. Karl eyes him for a second, before frowning angrily. He puts down the bow, slowly.

“You have no right to tell me what to do,” he starts quietly. It hits like venom, though. Sapnap had never meant to do anything but protect him and do good. Karl’s words sound like he’s never cared for Karl at all. Maybe that’s how he feels about it.

“Why would you bring him here, Sap!” Karl cries. “Why would you,” he repeats, and breaks down into tears. “Don’t you know what he did to me? Sap?”

Sapnap doesn’t know what to do, he’s struck between Karl breaking down in panic and rambling about things Sapnap doesn’t even know about, and Quackity being shot and being terrified. He’s never heard either of them wail in terror and pain like this.

“Karl, I- I’m sorry, I didn’t know you hated him,” Sapnap stutters, approaching Quackity further. “I’m sorry, Karl. I didn’t mean to. Can you- can you explain, maybe?” he swallows loudly.

Karl shakes his head and angrily wipes tears rolling down his cheeks. “You can help me understand and I can help you, Karl,” Sapnap attempts. He’s next to Quackity now, within arms reach. Quackity takes advantage of the moment of calmness to break off the arrow in his foot. Attempting to take it out entirely right now will do far more damage.

“Don’t touch him,” Karl is seething. “I don’t trust you, Sap. I can’t.”

“What? Karl, why?” Sapnap yells back at him. The wind picks up now and blows through all of their hair. “I don’t understand, please!”

“You brought him here, him. You’re a liar, don’t you see?” Karl’s chest is moving fast with his breathing. Karl raises his bow again, holding an arrow to the string.

Sapnap glances to his side quickly. “Get back, Q,” he whispers to him. “I have a feeling this is gonna go wrong.”

Quackity doesn’t think, only nods at his warning and tries to scramble to his feet the best he can. His brain is on autopilot and he’s barely taking note of what’s happening.

“I don’t know what happened to you, but I’ll figure it out,” Sapnap says while turning to Karl. “I’ll find a way to help you, I’m not leaving you behind forever.” It’s a promise he plans to keep. This isn’t the Karl he’s grown to like over the years, but it’s not the Karl he’ll be letting go of either.

“Do you know what happens to liars, Sap?” Karl asks him, clearly not moved by his words.

“I have a feeling I’m about to find out,” he mutters, mainly to himself.

The next moment happens in a flash of seconds. Karl points his arrow at Sapnap, and Quackity can already see it hit his chest. He can feel that everything, right at that moment, will come down to whether or not he acts. So he does.

Quackity jumps up, as well as his foot allows him to. With a strong pull, he manages to grab Sapnap’s waist and get him to the ground. Right on time to dodge Karl’s arrow. Karl is fast, though, and fires another arrow in no time.

The arrow hits Quackity right in the chest. Immediately, a horrible feeling spreads from the wound and he realises the arrow was imbued with a poison of harming. He looks up at Karl in disbelief, confused by the person standing in front of him. Someone he once knew, now clearly forgotten.

Karl stares at him with tears pooling in his eyes, lips bit open in fear. Quackity thinks that “mad” might be the best word to describe him now. Karl takes his final arrow of the night, Quackity knows that one will kill him. So when Karl lets go of the string and fires, he squeezes his eyes shut and screams.

Quackity jumps up and opens his eyes. Looking around the place grounds him, the blanket over him tells him he’s safe. He’s at home, in bed, it’s night. That’s the worst nightmare he’s had in years.

Chapter Text

Quackity jumps up and opens his eyes. Skimming around the place grounds him, the blanket over him tells him he's safe. He's at home, in bed, it's night. That's the worst nightmare he's had in years.

He blinks slowly, letting his eyes gaze over the contours of the room. Tonight, he's laying on the right side of the bed. It's the side that's on the opposite side of the room to the door. He takes note of his wings defensively being spread out and protecting his sides.

Laying beside Quackity is Sapnap, he has his back turned to him. The blanket is dipped in between him. Regardless of the blanket and the distance, he can still feel the other's warmth. It immediately reminds him of Sapnap's hands in the dream.

The next thing Quackity notices is the pounding migraine and the fact his feet are cold. He tries to place them against Sapnap's legs, as he knows he won't wake up from it. Sapnap is a deep sleeper.

Their room is silent, apart from the occasional wind blowing through creaks, and Sapnap’s soft snoring. Quackity is staring at the ceiling when he suddenly hears someone groan sleepily. It sounds like a half-awake sigh.

“Love?” Quackity whispers, in an attempt to get a reaction from either of the men. Karl hums a reply immediately. “I had a nightmare,” Quackity tries again.

“Hhm?” Karl spreads his arm, his hand looking for Quackity’s. Sapnap is in the way, though, so Karl carefully shuffles closer and lets his hand glide around his side. Quackity takes a hold of the hand with a smile. “About what?” Karl nearly mumbles.

“It was, uhm,” Quackity clears his throat. “It was about you and Sap, he was showing me around Kinoko as if I’d never been here, and you hated me. So much, that apparently, you-” he cuts himself off abruptly and sits up. Karl doesn’t say anything, as if not noticing the sudden halt.

“Buns?” Karl then asks, after a moment. He squeezes his hand.

“Yeah?”

“What happened then?” Karl slurs, Quackity can tell he’s dozing off.

“It’s- it’s fine.. Uhm,” Quackity turns to look at Karl through the dark. The window in the room sits at the head of their bed, so he can make out Karl’s silhouette in the bed. “Actually, can I lay with you on your side?” he asks.

Karl hums again first, then pulls his hand away. He looks over at the little clock on the bedside table to his side. “Hhm, no,” he yawns again. “Have work in’n hour or so and ‘m still tired.”

“Oh right,” Quackity breathes. He looks back at Sapnap, who’s still lightly snoring occasionally. He then shuffles back under the covers and shifts towards Sapnap. His head is on his pillow instead of his own, and his nose is almost pushed against Sapnap’s hair.

Suddenly, he feels Karl’s hand petting around to find his own again and gently accepts it. Karl mutters something, and Quackity has to give it a few seconds before he can process it. “I’ll protect you,” Karl sighs. “Fr’m your nightmare.” Before Quackity can answer, though, he can distinguish Karl’s snoring from Sapnap’s. Karl was fast asleep again.

Quackity sighs. He shuffles closer to Sapnap to spoon him, and carefully wraps one arm around his waist. “Can’t protect me from my nightmare if it was you in the first place, or if you’re asleep,” he mumbles.

He struggles to fall asleep after that, as every other shadow looks like thin arrows pointing his way. The ones that don’t, look like creatures lurking at him. They look demonic, though very unlike the one currently wrapped in his arms. Very unlike their boyfriend that currently sleeps in the middle of the bed, while it’s very much Quackity’s turn to do so.

The three switch the spot in the middle every few days. That way, no one has to sleep on the sides for too long. Tonight should’ve been Quackity’s turn to sleep in the middle. He usually doesn’t care that much, but tonight, it comes as a welcome reason to blame his nightmare on.

Quackity clings to Sapnap tighter, his warmth reminds him of the dream again and he wishes he could forget about it already. The cold of the room feels uncomfortable against his back, and the blanket doesn’t fit around his wings the way he wants them to. Quackity gives up on sleep tonight.

Eventually, Karl gets up for work not 2 hours later. The faint light through the curtains makes everything in their room less demonic and arrow-like. Despite his eyes being closed, Quackity is still awake. He’d rather not bother Karl right now, so he keeps them shut.

Not much later, Quackity hears the front door close. Without any “goodbye” or morning kisses, Karl left early for work. Out of spite, Quackity gets up and gets under the covers on Karl’s side of the bed. He puts his head on Sapnap’s chest, as he’s laying on his back now.

The late morning sun greets Sapnap as he wakes up. Not only that, but also the weight of his fiancé's head on his chest. He stretches as well as he can without waking the other, and then carefully slips his head off his chest. With ease, he grabs his pillow and lets Quackity’s head rest on that instead. This way, hopefully, the lack of warmth won’t wake him up.

The glimpses of the sun through the curtains make Quackity’s feathers look golden, Sapnap reaches out to gently stroke them. He notices how the other starts smiling softly, even in his sleep.

Sapnap grabs the blanket and puts it over him, making sure his wings are correctly folded and the blanket lays around them comfortably. He then gets off the bed, gets dressed appropriately for a workday at home, and leaves the room after kissing Quackity’s forehead. He doesn’t have anything to do today, so Sapnap will just let him sleep.

Once Sapnap enters the living room, he begins his day of work at home. He’s an ore miner, but today is smelting day. Because he likes to do as much work as possible at home, he built a super-smelter months ago. It’s in their living room, behind a double wall that borders the fireplace.

He takes a few trips to the canopy next to their house to get all of the ores he has to smelt. Today's batch will be mainly iron, but he also has some ancient debris and gold left from last week. Hopefully, the surprise netherite will do well on this weekend's market.

Next, Sapnap makes a guess of how much coal he'll need and gets it from the storage room. The process of preparing and filling the super-smelter is tedious and takes a long time, but it's definitely worth it.

After that, he opens the door to the bedroom again. The super-smelter always warms up the house, and from the moment he knew that Quackity enjoyed the warmth, he kept the door open. Always after loading in all the coal and ores, because the materials make a lot of noise and he wouldn't want to accidentally wake the other.

All he has to do now is keep an eye on the furnaces and wait until every last bit is neatly melted into ingots. Quackity is still asleep, and the thought that their room will still be warm by tonight makes Sapnap grin to himself. He picks up a book from the small table next to the couch, plops down and continues reading where he left off a few days ago.

Around noon, Sapnap gets interrupted by the rambling of his stomach and makes his way to the kitchen. He fills the cattle on the stove with water and lights the fire. While the water for tea warms, he checks on Quackity.

The other is still sleeping, he's barely moved since Sapnap got up. His wings, however, lay slightly more spread out.

"Buns, are you up?" Sapnap speaks softly, not really wanting to wake the other.

Quackity groans and moves to his side. Sapnap leans down next to him and smiles. "I'm gonna have lunch, wanna join me?"

"Mhm," he grumbles and shakes his head. "I'm gonna sleep some more."

"Aight, you know where to find me when you do get up," Sapnap says. He leaves the room after giving Quackity a gentle kiss.

Chapter Text

Some time passes before Karl gets home from work. The sun shines its last rays when he opens the door, it lights up the hallway. Upon entering the living room and kicking off his shoes, Sapnap smiles at him.

“Hey love,” he greets and kisses Karl softly.

“Hey,” Karl smiles back and gently rubs his cheek. After a moment, he lets go of Sapnap and sets down a few shulker boxes on the table, then looks around the room. “Where’s Q, is he okay?”

Sapnap shrugs, "No clue, he's been sleeping all day." Karl frowns.

"I went to check up on him around lunch and he said he was gonna sleep some more," Sapnap elaborates. Karl hums.

Only now, he takes off his jacket. It's immediately followed by his sweater and he puts both on the kitchen table. "It's so warm in here," he comments.

"Yeah," Sapnap chuckles. "I've been smelting since this morning."

"Ah, that explains," Karl smiles.

He's about to take a glass of water when Sapnap stops him. "I made tea, if you want some? It's probably gone cold by now, but I know you don't really mind."

Karl doesn't reply for a second and then turns to Sapnap. "I would like tea, actually." He looks around the counters, Sapnap holds up the tea can in the corner where the fridge also stands.

Karl walks over to him and Sapnap fills his glass for him. He kisses him and mumbles "thank you, sugar." Then, he takes a sip of the tea, followed by a few gulps. Karl indeed doesn't mind his tea cold. If anything, he thinks he might like it better that way.

The can is now almost empty. "I'll make some new tea for Q," Sapnap decides. "And for myself, 'cause I don't know how you drink that stuff cold." Karl snickers.

While Sapnap cuts up some fresh ginger and fennel for the tea, Karl wraps his arms around him from behind. He rests his head on his shoulder.

"What kind does Q like again?" Karl wonders, softly mumbling against Sapnap’s shoulder.

Sapnap hums and reaches for one of the cupboard doors. He pulls out a little box with liquorice wood. "This," he says, and holds it up by Karl's face for him to smell.

"Ah, ew, right. I don't get how you two drink tea that sweet," Karl huffs.

Sapnap shakes his head. "I hope you realise that the tea you just had was the exact same," he snickers.

"Nope, you're lying," Karl just says. He presses his face into his neck again.

While Sapnap continues cutting up the ingredients, Karl's hands slowly move to his stomach. Until they reach underneath Sapnap's t-shirt and the man yelps loudly.

"Let go of me! Your hands are so cold, what the fuck, Karl," he complains.

Karl removes his hands and giggles, "consider it karma."

Moments later, Quackity walks through their bedroom door. He wipes his eyes and then stretches his arms above his head. While doing so, he notices Karl.

"Hey buns," Karl greets him. Quackity walks over to the kitchen. "Hey," he hums. He cleans sleepy dust from his eyes while yawning.

“How was work?” he asks Karl and kisses him softly. Waiting for his answer, Quackity moves to Sapnap to kiss him as well.

“Was okay, not a lot of fish today,” Karl tells him. He gestures to the 2 shulker boxes on the kitchen table and explains, “George still let me take some though.”

“Bro, I’m craving some salmon, I’ll be honest,” Sapnap comments.

“You’re in luck,” Karl grins. He clicks open one of the shulker boxes to reveal at least 3 salmon. They’re not cleaned up yet, but Karl can easily do that. He’s tried to teach Quackity, he doesn’t like the smell of raw fish being gutted. He’s also tried to teach Sapnap, but he’s hopeless.

“Let’s go!” Sapnap yelps. His arm gently lays around Quackity’s shoulders and the other lets his face sink into Sapnap’s chest. When he notices, Sapnap moves his other arm around him as well, holding Quackity tight.

“You feeling okay, buns?” Karl asks him when observing them.

Quackity nods his head, still holding onto Sapnap. He then turns his head to the side, “yeah.”

Karl frowns. “Are you sure? You look a bit.. Sick,” he elaborates.

“Oh no, no,” Quackity breathes. “I just.. Didn’t sleep a lot last night.” He smiles weakly.

“Oh. Oh!” Karl perks up. “Right, because of the nightmare?” he asks, and Quackity confirms by nodding again. Sapnap looks at him glooming as well.

“But I said I’d protect you,” Karl says, he mainly means it as a joke. Maybe not entirely as a joke, maybe he’d want to protect him sometimes.

Quackity huffs amusingly, “yeah, dumbass, and you were asleep literally seconds after that.”

“Sorry,” Karl mumbles. He joins them near the counter and hugs Quackity. “It’s okay, love,” Quackity whispers to him. Karl kisses his head.

“Buns?” Sapnap speaks up after a moment. Quackity hums in question, prompting Sapnap to continue talking. “Why didn’t you just wake me up?"

Quackity takes a moment to think before he replies. The reason he didn’t wake him up was that he already felt guilty for waking up Karl. Besides, Karl is a light sleeper, so waking up Sapnap only would have woken him as well.

“‘Cause you were sleeping,” he figures. “You’re horrible when you get woken up, I’m not gonna risk that for a stupid nightmare.” Quackity snorts lightly, making sure that they know it’s all meant light-heartedly.

Sapnap still scowls, he hates not being able to be there for his fiances. He’s had too many situations where he left people behind or did less than he could and he never wants to risk that again.

He mumbles something that Quackity can barely hear and then says, “what was it about? Your nightmare?”

Quackity swallows and starts explaining. He tells his fiances about the way Kinoko looked at night, about the cold. His breath hitches when he thinks back to how furious Karl was and how he screamed at him in terror. Karl gently takes his hand when he gets to that part.

Sapnap’s eyes widen at the part of his dream where Karl shoots Quackity. His mouth falls open when he hears that Karl shoots him as well. While Quackity keeps talking and sniffling, the other 2 hold onto him. They gently comb through his hair with their fingers and rub his back just as gentle.

“I’m sorry, buns,” Karl mutters. “I didn’t know.”

Quackity smiles at him, “it’s fine.”

“No, it’s not, you were scared,” Karl argues. Sapnap looks at him with wide eyes again. “I just realised Q was sleeping on the outside.”

Karl frowns at that, “I thought you were in the middle.” He turns to Quackity. “Ah fuck, you’re right. I’m so sorry, buns, I didn’t think about that when I woke up.”

“It’s fine, I promise,” Quackity repeats, now chuckling.

“Can I make it up to you?” Karl asks.

Quackity groans, “there’s nothing to make up for.” He drags out the ‘o’.

“Yes, it is,” Karl fusses, copying Quackity.

“Fine, fine,” Quackity gives in. He smirks at Karl, “make me dinner, then, pretty boy.”

Karl looks at him amused and nods. “Hhm?”

“And maybe a piece of that cake,” Quackity adds, grinning.

Sapnap perks up and jumps in front of Quackity. “Ayo?” he yelps. “Stop flirting without me!” Karl just snorts.

Quackity places his hand on Sapnap’s cheek, “sugar, we can flirt later all you want.” In a matter of seconds, Sapnap is blushing. Quackity kisses him gently.

“How is this any better?” Karl complains jokingly. “Without me, buns?” he says as he gets behind Sapnap and wraps his arms around him. “Sugar?” he then asks, and on his turn, he kisses the man as well.

Making dinner goes smoothly, especially because everyone helps. Karl filets the salmon while Quackity cuts and prepares some vegetables. While Karl cooks the fish, he bakes some potatoes. Sapnap makes sure the table is set for three and there’s fresh tea.

Quackity talks a lot during dinner and it immediately makes Sapnap and Karl feel better. They wouldn’t want anything less than for him to feel comfortable, to feel like he can talk to him. Quackity also thanks him for making his favourite kind of tea.

Later, when the three go to bed, his fiances ask Quackity what’s best to prevent nightmares. He figures that sleeping in the middle will help a lot. So they move around the pillows and Quackity gets under the blankets in the middle.

Karl falls asleep first, seeing that he's had a long day. He’s spooning Quackity, holding onto his waist, but when he dozes off, the other turns his face to him. Quackity puts his head next to Karl’s, on his pillow. He falls asleep like that, listening to Karl’s breathing.

Sapnap stays awake for a bit longer, wanting to make sure he’s the last one to nod off. He makes sure the blanket keeps all three of them warm and then cuddles into Quackity. Sapnap makes a note of how nice his hair smells and kisses his head before closing his eyes.