Holy Hell In Matrimony

Transcript

Holy Hell in Matrimony Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/41929545. Rating: Archive Warning: Category: Fandom: Relationship: Character: Additional Tags: Language: Series: Stats: Mature No Archive Warnings Apply M/M Dream SMP Alexis | Quackity/Karl Jacobs/Sapnap, Alexis | Quackity/Karl Jacobs, Alexis | Quackity/Sapnap, Karl Jacobs/Sapnap, Minor or Background Relationship(s) Alexis | Quackity, Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Karl Jacobs, Charlie Dalgleish | Slimecicle, Background & Cameo Characters Fake Marriage, Fake/Pretend Relationship, POV Alexis | Quackity, Alexis | Quackity-centric, Alternate Universe, Everyone is human but it's still based on their dsmp characters, Not RPF, Fluff, Light Angst, Enemies to Lovers, Between Sapnap and Quackity, Quackity has a one sided crush on Karl in the beginning, Everyone falls in love in the end, Happy Ending, Polyamory, Pining, Getting Together, Fluff and Humor, Canon Compliant, Making Out, There are some sex jokes but nothing explicit, Implied/Referenced Sexual Content, just in case tag, No Smut English Part 1 of Broken Wedding Bells Published: 2022-09-25 Completed: 2022-12-26 Chapters: 6/6 Words: 44441 Holy Hell in Matrimony by utlana (LatiasUT) Summary Quackity knows there's only two things that bring friends and enemies together, weddings and funerals. And Quackity's not about to fucking die just to get his business off the ground, so a wedding will have to do. Quackity is opening up his big shiny new resort, Las Nevadas, but with all the enemies he's made over the years, there is no fucking chance in hell anyone will show up on opening day. That is until, he comes up with the plan to pay his crush and his crush's fiance to have a fake poly wedding with him to bring a huge crowd to the grand opening. Everyone will show up (and hopefully get addicted to gambling on the way). It's the perfect plan and nothing can go wrong! Notes Long time no see. lol. I’m here once again with another wedding au, but this time it’s a fake wedding au, so that makes this one very different, okay! No, but seriously, I’m in love with this story. This is by far the best dsmp fic I’ve made and I really hope y’all enjoy it :) I came up with this idea because of Quackity’s most recent lore stream in the scene where only three people showed up to the opening of Las Nevadas. He asks about how they can bring more people in, and look, I saw the c!Quackity cosplay photos with the rings, we were all thinking this was going to be the very last c!Quackity stream, and a last chance at a karlnapity wedding. I thought he was going to say that they should have a wedding as an event to bring attention to LN. I’m so surprised no one else thought this, but I guess I have extreme karlnapity brainrot, which isn’t wrong to be fair. Anyway, I'll leave it there for now. Here’s an 8tracks style playlist for chapter 1 if you want to listen. I always have an artist/music style I like to listen to when I make my fics. And for this one, it’s Ginger Root and City Pop. So look forward to all the playlist! (I do make them for each chapter btw) Again, I hope you enjoy the fic!! See the end of the work for more notes Solve it and Now Quackity rubs his temples and reaches out for a bottle of ibuprofen in hopes of getting rid of this terrible headache. “Charlie, could you repeat that? How many people did you say are confirmed for the opening?” Quackity asks. He doesn’t want to know, but he needs to rip this bandaid now and get it over with. “Three Quackity!” Charlie has a big smile on his face. It's so sickly sweet, it almost makes him forget that is in fact, a very fucking bad sign. Instead of yelling or freaking out, Quackity elects to press his face into his desk, breathing in its wooden aroma. It’s not at all relaxing, but the pain of his nose flattened against it, kept him grounded. God he wishes this was a fucking nightmare. It isn’t fair to let all of his frustrations out on the only friend he had left. Charlie is just telling him the information he asks for. No, instead Quackity is faced with the loud and true reality that the opening of Las Nevadas is going to be a total and utter failure. He's been working on this all inclusive resort for over two years now and all he has to show for it are broken dreams and a whole lot of enemies. Quackity is starting to regret burning all his bridges so flippantly with his previous business partners and friends. But only a little and only because it’s hurting his business. Quackity is perfectly fine with just having Charlie around and he is more than Quackity could ever need. Well, what he would need in a perfect world where Las Nevadas isn’t dying before it ever opens. “Quackity?” Charlie leans over to look at him, probably puzzled to why Quackity hasn’t said anything in response yet. “Yeah, sorry I heard you Charlie.” Quackity picks himself back up to face the truth. “Are you sure the number is only three?” He asks, already knowing the answer. Look, he’s living in delusion here. “Yes, I have the official count here as well, if you want to see it for yourself.” Charlie hands Quackity a one page document that only has three bullet points on it. He refuses to look any closer at it, in fear he might cry. “Okay.” Quackity takes a deep breath in. It's time to stop with the self pity, and time to make a plan. There is no way he's going to let the most important project of his life fail, especially without a fight. “Charlie, we need ideas to get more people here.” Quackity stands up and pulls out the large white board already filled with scribbles from a previous brainstorming session. They have a little over a month to create a plan to make sure Las Nevadas doesn’t fail. God, he can’t believe he’s stooping so low to settling for ‘not failing’. But once they’re past this, Quackity will make sure Las Nevadas is the best one stop entertainment spot in the entire world. They just need to get over this little hiccup. “You got any suggestions?” Quackity asks. He’s still waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in and think of something creative himself. Charlie usually had a few good ideas up his sleeve Quackity could work with. “Well, you could always send out invitations to the people you already know,” Charlie says the obvious. Quackity previously was putting out online advertisements and email blasts to strangers, so he understands where Charlie is coming from, but Quackity can’t help but laugh. “Sorry to break it to you Charlie, but I fucking guarantee that no one I know would ever be willing to step foot in this place. They all fucking hate me for what I've done to them,” Quackity laughs again, but he doesn’t actually think it’s funny. He just wants to move away from the subject as fast as possible. “Have you tried apologizing to them?” Charlie means well and yeah, Quackity can admit that saying sorry could have helped, but now it’s too late, so that was totally off the table. Plus, just because he could, doesn’t mean he wants to. Quackity might be an asshole, but they were assholes too. No one Quackity’s ever known deserves an apology. “That’s definitely never going to fucking happen. Have I taught you nothing?” Ever since Charlie kind of showed up at Quackity’s doorstep a few years ago, he’s been training up Charlie as a protege. He was super fast to learn everything Quackity taught him, but apparently there were lessons that haven't gotten through his head yet. “Really? When did you teach me about this?” Charlie scratches his head. “It falls under the ‘all humans are assholes’,” Quackity reminds him. “So, are you saying that they’re the assholes or you are Quackity?” Charlie asks, for clarification and not at all maliciously. “Both.” Quackity isn’t about to lie and say that he didn’t deserve the way his former friends and partners treated him, but they deserved the way Quackity treated them back. It's equality. “Hm, so if that’s not possible, then maybe you could make some new friends,” Charlie suggests. To be fair, it isn’t a terrible idea. If Quackity could somehow meet new people and invite them to the opening, that could solve the problem easily enough. Too bad he isn't in the mood to suck up to strangers. “I don’t think that’ll work either,” Quackity admits. They go back and forth with other options to draw people into visiting Las Nevadas, but ultimately they fall short. The best idea they can come up with is offering free betting chips and tokens along with all the free food and drinks they're already going to provide. It isn’t complete, but it’s a start. Then Quackity decides to take a little break and the two of them would finish up their plans later that day. He's really in the mood to visit a certain someone right now. As Quackity walks downtown where all the local shops are, he's coming to terms with the next sleepless nights he’ll be going through. It’ll be really fucking annoying, but worth it. He’s used to no sleep, but it doesn’t mean he likes it. However, what he does like is the cute little bookstore in town, named Kinoko Books, and the store has an even cuter owner named Karl. Quackity had fallen in love with him at first sight. With Karl’s chocolate bouncy curls and his adorable giggle, how could he not just love everything about this man. Even when Karl's an asshole, he's cute about it. “Hey Quackity! How are you?” Karl asks him, as soon as Quackity comes through the door. It sounds so genuine, Quackity might start confessing his love. “Eh, not great, but I won’t bore you with the details.” Quackity doesn’t want Karl to worry about his stupid business decisions. “Okay, well I know I might not be all that informative about casinos and stuff, but I don’t mind lending an ear as a fellow business owner,” Karl offers. He’s completely stopped stocking books just to speak to Quackity and he almost believes that Karl means it and that it’s not just him being polite. “Um, yeah maybe later.” Quackity can’t look Karl in the eye. If he does, he might just give Karl his social security number and credit card details. From an outsider's perspective, Karl does seem like one of Quackity’s friends, but he isn’t delusional. The only reason Karl pays any attention to him is because of all the money Quackity spends in his shop. If someone actually pressed Karl, he would say he was friends with Quackity, but it’s not like they hang out outside of Kinoko. “Oh, yeah speaking of Las Nevadas! Quackity, I made sure to RSVP for the opening next month,” Karl smiles. Of course Karl was one of the three people who signed up. Quackity is certain he also only did it to be polite. Karl wouldn’t waste his time hanging out at a place like Las Nevadas. It isn’t at all his style. He was more of a quiet cabin in the woods type. The thought of Karl curled up and cozy by the fire, reading a book of poetry almost got him day dreaming of them spending a weekend like that together. Luckily, Quackity drags himself back to reality to continue the conversation. “Thanks Karl.” Quackity debates again if he should tell Karl about how terrible things have been with the opening so far, but maybe he can just tell him a little bit of what's on his mind. The last thing he needs is Karl thinking he’s a total loser. “Me and Charlie are trying to think up some ideas of how to attract more people, but I’m just taking a short break to visit my favorite bookstore,” Quackity says. “Aw thanks!" Karl smiles. "That makes sense though. Walking around does help with brainstorming.” And seeing a pretty face will hopefully give Quackity some inspiration. Or at least make his headache go away. He's given up on the pills. “Are there any new books in stock?” he asks, like he always does when he visits. Quackity without fail buys at least one book when he comes in. Hence why Karl is so nice to him. Quackity is a guaranteed sale when he comes through the door. “Hmm,” Karl puts his hand on his hip to think for a moment. “There’s a new cosmic type horror book that just came in that you might like.” “Sure, that sounds interesting,” Quackity says. Honestly it doesn't matter if it's a vegan cooking book, Quackity would agree to check it out and buy it. And to be fair, Quackity reads all the books he buys, but never finishes them. But it still counts okay. Karl tells him that the book’s about a small town that gets slowly taken over by an ancient creature. He assures Quackity that even though the plot sounds generic, the characters are where the book shines. Karl’s always been a good salesman, so of course Quackity agrees to buy it after his pitch. “I think you’ll really like it based on the books you’ve bought,” Karl says, wrapping up the novel. He puts it in a blue recyclable paper bag because Karl knows it's Quackity’s favorite color and puts a few sparkly stickers on it. Technically the stickers are for the children, but after Quackity jokingly complained before that he wanted some too, now Karl will always give him a couple. “Well, you’re really good at recommending books, so I’m sure I will,” Quackity smiles at him. Judging on the thickness of the novel, he might get about a third way through the pages before he ends up abandoning it. It’s never on purpose, but life just gets in the way and by the time he can read it again, he’s forgotten what’s happened in the parts he did read. “Aw you’re just saying that,” Karl giggles. And it gives Quackity life, so yeah, he might be saying that to make Karl happy, but also he does mean it. If he wasn’t so stupidly busy, he’d finish a book. Maybe after the success of Las Nevadas’s opening, he could finally take a break and just spend all day reading books in Kinoko. (Ha! Yeah right.) Then the bell of the door opening rings. Karl’s face lights up like the brightest star in the solar system and before Quackity has the chance to turn around, he knows exactly who it is. He holds back a groan, but when he does finally turn to see them, it’s the person Quackity hates the most in the entire solar system. “Sapnap!” Karl says running around the check out table to give his fiance a big hug and a quick peck on the cheek. Quackity wants to throw up. He’s never been able to understand how Karl could end up with such a no thoughts behind the eyes, meathead like Sapnap. It doesn't matter that sometimes he's cute because he was unemployed half of the time. Quackity could make Karl a thousand times happier than this fool, but Quackity is already desperate to stay in good standing with Karl, so he’ll continue to use all his acting skills to pretend he's fine with the guy. “I was just telling Quackity about how we were looking forward to the Las Nevadas opening.” Karl is talking about Quackity, but is staring disgustingly and lovingly into Sapnap's eyes. What's worse is that Sapnap has the same dopey look as he gawks at Karl. The one thing he can admit is that they are deeply devoted to each other. And now Quackity knows who person number two on the confirmed list is. Sapnap’s saying something to them, but Quackity’s refusing to listen. Whatever it is, he probably could pick it up from context clues. He’s not sure how he’ll be able to handle it when they do get married. Wait, marriage. A wedding. That actually could be it! And then Quackity says something completely unhinged, making the very terrible mistake of speaking before thinking. “How would you guys like to get married,” he says. "To me." Karl understandably looks at Quackity like he was speaking in an ancient alien language, like in one of his cosmic horror books. Sapnap, well, he just stares at him too. “Listen, I was telling Karl that I needed a big idea for my grand opening and I think I have it,” Quackity tells them. Quackity knows there's only two things that bring friends and enemies together, weddings and funerals. That’s why they were always so messy. Quackity's not about to fucking die just to get his business off the ground, so a wedding will have to do. And who better for Quackity to get married to than his long time crush and said crush’s fiance. He explains his ideas to them and first reassures them that it’s not going to be a real marriage. They’d have a huge ceremony and he’d invite a bunch of people he normally wouldn’t because it turns out, a lot of Quackity’s enemies are friends of Karl’s and Sapnap’s. Quackity does make sure to leave out calling their friends enemies, and uses the words 'former business partners' instead. “It’ll be a good excuse to dress up and drink. Plus, I’ll pay you guys,” Quackity says. He understands that there’s no reason that Karl or Sapnap would be willing to go along with his plan, but if there was ever a chance, the offer for payment would help. “Sorry Quackity-” “How much money?” Sapnap asks. “Sapnap!” Karl stares daggers at him, sensibly. There was no way Quackity himself would agree to something like this if he was engaged. “Karl, we need the money. At the very least, the shop needs it,” Sapnap speaks softly, but it’s still loud enough for Quackity to hear everything. The shop? Is Kinoko Books really in trouble? From what Quackity could understand, the shop is really loved by the community and never seems to lack a steady customer base. Quackity was actually thinking they could use the money for a real wedding after their fake divorce in a year after the ceremony. Quackity wants to ask Karl about it, but if he never mentioned it to Quackity before, he doubts he was ever supposed to know about it. Karl’s looking at the floor, not saying a word. Quackity wonders if it’s out of shame, but if he can help in some way to keep Karl’s face smiling, Quackity is going to do everything in his power to do just that. “How about this, think about the fake marriage and even if it doesn’t work out and in the middle of planning, you guys wanna back out, I’ll still give you the money,” Quackity offers. The three of them stay in deafening silence for what seems like years until Karl says “I-I guess we can at least consider it and see how we feel about it.” Karl still appears extremely uncomfortable about the whole thing, but Sapnap is acting very on board. And Quackity hates himself for creating this whole situation. “You both talk it over and let me know if you want to or not, but no pressure or anything,” Quackity forces a laugh and Karl at least gives him a little smile at that. “We’ll let you know Quackity,” Karl says. Quackity ungracefully lets himself out of Kinoko Books and says he’ll talk to them later. As soon as he’s out of sight from Karl and Sapnap, he grips his book tight and he curses to himself for even bringing something so stupid to Karl and putting him in such an awkward position. He is truly the fucking worst. Quackity spends the rest of his time doing basic maintenance around Las Nevadas, deciding to pick up on ideas for the opening tomorrow. He’s already ruined Karl’s day and didn’t want to ruin anyone else's. At this point, now he only has one person coming to the opening and he refuses to check who that person could be. It’s already been enough of a depressing day. Charlie has been friends with Quackity for long enough to know when he’s in a mood, so he leaves Quackity alone for the most part, only asking him questions if necessary. And after Quackity gets a shitty night's sleep, he checks his phone for messages and sees a text from Karl. He feels his stomach turn and he’s certain he’s going to puke. But he makes himself open it and reads it, but instead of it saying that he never wants to see Quackity again, Karl sent him a text saying he and Sapnap agreed to try the fake wedding with him. It takes him a few times of reading it to make it feel real. Quackity is going to marry (fake) Karl (and unfortunately Sapnap)! This makes Quackity leap out of bed to get ready for the day. He has a whole lot of wedding planning to do in the next few weeks and there's no time to waste. Trying Not to Think How it Felt Now Chapter Summary This fake wedding can be a sort of test wedding for Karl and Sapnap. They can do some trial and error for whatever ideas they already had. The two of them had been engaged for about two years now and so Quackity’s sure they had some suggestions in mind. In a way that’ll make Quackity’s life easier. He had given up on marriage a long time ago and doesn’t know what kind of Pinterest bullshit people do for their ceremonies these days and Quackity would like to keep it that way. Chapter Notes Hello people! I wanted to thank everyone who’s commented/kudos/reblogged my post on tumblr etc. Like I said in my author’s notes in the first chapter, I do feel like this is the best fic I’ve made so far, but I didn’t think the support would be so much so fast haha! I literally cried last week so thanks again! I hope you enjoy the chapter and here’s the chapter 2 playlist :) See the end of the chapter for more notes The three of them text back and forth in their group chat about the wedding. At first, Quackity isn't expecting them to want to be involved in the wedding planning at all. He understands if Karl and Sapnap only want to get a paycheck and then pretend like this wedding thing never happened. But to Quackity’s surprise, they seem eager to join in on the preparations. The more he thinks about it, the more it makes sense. This fake wedding can be a sort of test wedding for Karl and Sapnap. They can do some trial and error for whatever ideas they already had. The two of them had been engaged for about two years now and so Quackity’s sure they had some suggestions in mind. In a way that’ll make Quackity’s life easier. He had given up on marriage a long time ago and doesn’t know what kind of Pinterest bullshit people do for their ceremonies these days and Quackity would like to keep it that way. Quackity greets Karl and Sapnap at the entrance of Las Nevadas on Thursday afternoon, the only day Kinoko Books is closed. Karl’s dressed in a colorful button up, one of his favorites Quackity’s seen him in and he tells Karl as much. “Oh thanks! I thrifted it,” Karl smile beams. His happiness is always infectious. Quackity glances at Sapnap, just to see if there were any hints of him thinking Quackity is flirting with Karl. To be clear, he definitely is flirting, but Sapnap is happily smiling too, holding Karl’s hand. And yeah, Quackity would be grinning all doltish like that too if he was holding Karl’s hand. As the three of them walk to Quackity’s office, he gives them a quick tour of the place. Las Nevadas is theoretically ready and if Quackity hadn’t just fired his last construction guy, it’d be fully done. All the buildings are complete but the interior design needs to be finished. He and Charlie are planning for everything to be wrapped up in the next few weeks when the rest of the furniture is scheduled to come in. Quackity shows them all the different spots, the large outdoor stage, the restaurants, strip club, hotel and pool, and of course, the actual casino itself. “Are the machines working?” Karl asks. He’s looking at the flashing lights of one of the bright slot games. “Not yet, we’re still stress testing the electricity,” Quackity lies. He wants to keep Karl as far away from gambling as possible. The last thing Quackity needs is to cause Karl to get addicted and ruin his life. “I guess we’ll have to wait until the opening,” Karl says. “Yeah,” Quackity tries to sound genuine in his laughter. He’d have to keep a close eye on him on opening day. Then the three of them make their way to a large tower. For the visitors, it’s meant to be a watch tower to get a great view of the entirety of Las Nevadas, but for Quackity, it’s where he spends most of his days and nights, trying to get this place in order. They use the big meeting office with the nice leather chairs instead of his terribly messy personal working area. “Oh hi Quackity, Karl and Sapnap!” Charlie says as they enter the room. “Hey Charlie how’s it going?” Quackity greets him. “It’s been a while since you guys have seen each other right?” “I think it was probably the last time you two came to Kinoko together,” Karl reminds them. That was around two months ago, Quackity thinks. On a whim, Quackity had invited Charlie to come with him to the bookstore. They were having a bake sale and there was no way Quackity was going to miss trying Karl’s baking. Overall it was a nice trip and Karl was appreciative for their visit. However, the thought of Karl’s cookies haunted Quackity. Apparently Karl had switched the sugar for salt. Sapnap rushed to bake new one’s in time before everyone else showed up. So luckily Quackity and Charlie were the only ones that had to suffer their terrible taste. It was the perks from Quackity wanting to be the first ones at the store. “True and we tried your awful cookies,” Charlie reminds them. Quackity worries for a moment that Karl will feel ashamed about Charlie bringing up one of Karl’s failures so suddenly, but Karl giggles. “They were pretty bad huh. Luckily, Sap was there to bail me out.” He gives Sapnap that terribly sweet look, he wishes Quackity could see towards him, just once, maybe even as one percent of the love he shows Sapnap. “It was nothing, I’m just glad it worked out in the end,” Sapnap says, blushing. Quackity would say it’s sweet, but it’s Sapnap. It’s so annoying that Sapnap’s a good baker. The four of them sit around the big meeting table and Quackity gets his laptop prepared for the presentation and notes he’ll be taking. “You can help yourself to muffins and drinks,” he says, gesturing to the table. “I got chamomile tea for you Karl if you want that.” Quackity knows it’s Karl’s favorite. “Aw thanks Q!” Karl's happiness gives Quackity so much pride and joy. God he’s so weak for this man he literally could never have. At least he’ll have pictures of their fake wedding together to cry over after all of this. “Do you have peppermint tea by any chance?” Sapnap asks. “No, sorry.” Quackity unfortunately knows that it’s Sapnap’s favorite tea, because Karl told him and Quackity remembers every fact about his life he tells him, even if it’s about Sapnap. “I think we used to have some in a big assortment pack, but I don’t know what happened to it. Quackity and I don’t drink tea so it’s very strange” Charlie says. He looks like he’s thinking of possible reasons for the tea's sudden disappearance, but Quackity very much wants everyone to stop talking about tea. “Well let’s get started on this wedding planning shall we!” Quackity says, changing the subject as soon as possible. No one needs to know that he threw away the tea because it reminded him of Sapnap. To be fair, he didn’t think Sapnap would ever have a reason to be in Las Nevadas like this in the first place. He opens up his slideshow to pictures of the open concept chapel they’ll be having the ceremony in. It hasn’t been built, but because the wedding needed to take place so soon, they don’t have time to have a proper building. Quackity is desperate, but not enough to have one of the places in Las Nevadas not be up to code due to their deadline. From their reaction, Karl and Sapnap seem to be okay with having an outdoor wedding. “I was thinking we could have the ceremony at the pavilion chapel and the actual reception will be in the hotel,” Quackity explains, pointing to the architectural sketches coming through the projector. “But let me know if you want to do something different. I said this before, but I want you two to think of this as a practice wedding. Except there’s an annoying third wheel that doesn’t understand personal space.” They laugh at the joke, but don’t have any suggestions to add. Quackity shrugs and moves on. “I’m currently looking into a tailor to make our suits, but do you have any preferences on that?” he asks. Unfortunately Quackity cut all ties with his previous tailor after their falling out. “Eret might be able to make something,” Karl says. And of course it’s Eret, the very same former tailor. “I don’t know if they'll make something if I’m involved. I’m pretty sure Eret hates me.” They kind of sort of dated for a bit and after a big argument, that was the last time Quackity ever talked to them. “Oh right, Eret is your ex.” Karl covers his mouth. Quackity had only mentioned it in passing one time, so he isn’t surprised that Karl didn’t remember. “Look, I don’t mind if Eret’s willing to do it, but you’ll have to be the one to ask them,” Quackity says. If it doesn’t work out with Eret, he’ll have Charlie get a list of tailors in the surrounding towns. “So for the suits, do we want to do all black, all white, a mixture, or even a different color?” Quackity moves to the next slide with some example suits. Karl and Sapnap stare at the slide for a moment and then look at each other and then back at Quackity. “What?” He feels out of the loop and like they were just having some sort of telepathic discussion that they’re trying, but failing to include Quackity in. “Quackity, so the thing is,” Karl starts, he glances back at Sapnap maybe looking for his approval. “I know you’re saying that this is supposed to be a practice wedding for us, but we haven’t done any planning.” Quackity’s completely taken aback by this. They’ve been engaged for a while now and with how in love they are, he can’t imagine a day going by that they aren’t daydreaming about their wedding and subsequent marital bliss. He was certain the only reason they haven’t tied the knot was because of the money. “Haven’t you guys been engaged for over two years?” Quackity asks, still blown away by what Karl’s told him. “Yeah, but ever since the thing we did have made for the marriage burned down, we haven’t tried planning again,” Karl admits. Quackity knows Karl is referring to the DIY wooden Eiffel Tower they built when they had first gotten engaged, but it had been vandalized and scorched to a crisp. “It was kind of traumatic to be honest,” Sapnap says. “It was like a bad omen for the wedding.” Superstition isn’t a thing that Quackity’s ever considered in his own life, but he almost understands when people care for big life events like marriage. “So you guys don’t have opinions at all for the ceremony?” Quackity asks. It’d be kind of weird for him to plan this fake wedding by himself, but if he needs to, he’ll do it. He doesn’t want to traumatize the two of them if they were getting flashbacks to their previous planning attempts. “I don’t at the moment. What about you Sap?” Karl says. “Hm, for now no, but maybe later,” Sapnap leans back in the chair. “Well just let me know if you come up with something and I can add it. And don’t worry about the price tag. Whatever it is, we should be able to do it,” Quackity tells them. He’s not the richest person in the world by any means, but Quackity does have a lot of money and more importantly, he doubts Karl or Sapnap will request anything stupidly expensive. The money does remind him that he needs to pay the two of them. “Hey Charlie, do you have those checks that I told you to bring?” Quackity asks. “Yes, the checks for Karl and Sapnap.” Charlie pulls out two slips of paper and hands them both to their intended owners. “Thanks.” Karl’s frowning as he looks at the details of the check. “Hey Quackity, I think you forgot to write the dollar amounts on these,” Sapnap says, and even peaks at Karl’s identically blank check. “I didn’t,” Quackity smiles. Look, he doesn’t have any friends or people he cares about besides Charlie and his hopeless crush, Karl, so anytime he has the chance to flex his wealth, he does it. Whether it was buying a bunch of books he’ll never finish or giving his fake fiances anything they want. Even if one of his fake fiances is Sapnap. To be fair, Sapnap had his moments that in a different timeline, Quackity could find himself attracted to. “This is too much Quackity, we can’t take this.” Karl is looking a lot more distressed than Quackity is expecting. He was hoping for maybe a thank you, a bit of tearing up, and possibly a hug, but instead Karl seems almost angry. “Think of it as an early wedding present,” Quackity tries to convince Karl and Sapnap to keep the checks. “You guys are helping me commit borderline marriage fraud. It’s the least I can do.” He wants to mention that it’s for the bookstore too, but Quackity’s still sure that he wasn’t supposed to hear that conversation from a couple days ago. “Karl’s right Quackity, this is a bit much, even if we are criminals” Sapnap says, also frowning. Quackity sighs. There’s no way in hell he’s going to force them along in his scheme for nothing. He’s semi-frustrated with himself for making everything awkward once again, but this is something he refuses to budge on. “Look, keep the checks for now, and if by the time the wedding is over, you don’t want them, rip them up,” he says, coming up with a compromise. Sure Quackity can’t make them accept the money, but he’s sure that they’ll take it once they’re more comfortable with the idea. Maybe after a night’s sleep on it. Reluctantly, they both agree and put the checks away for now and Quackity goes back to his slideshow. The mood dampens for a little bit, but once they start talking about food and flowers, Karl perks up instantly and it gets Sapnap back in a good mood too. After they agree on Quackity’s choice of invitation, he tells them they’ll be sent out the next day. Meaning the wedding from this point is on. “Well, I guess that’s everything for now,” Quackity says when he gets to the end of the presentation. “There’s still going to be a few little things to ask you guys about, but I should be able to text or I’ll just visit you at Kinoko Karl.” “Sounds good. It’s weird, but I’m kind of excited for this fake wedding,” Karl says, smiling like normal again. “Me too,” Sapnap says. He reaches out to hold Karl’s hand and gives him another annoyingly loving gaze and of course Karl returns it. “To be fair, just because the ceremony itself is fucking fake, the rest of the fun stuff that comes with weddings is still included,” Quackity reminds them. “True and with yours and Charlie’s planning skills, I’m sure it’ll turn out great,” Karl compliments Quackity. It’s a sweet gesture, he just wishes Karl wasn't saying it while he was getting increasingly handsy with his fiance. “Aw, thanks,” Quackity says with a perfect smile, hiding his pain. Quackity and Charlie walk them back to Las Nevadas’s entrance and they make vague plans to talk soon. And when they're out of sight, Quackity groans loudly. “Are you okay Quackity?” Charlie asks. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just the normal problems,” Quackity tells him. Charlie is unfortunately very aware of his crush on Karl and consequential hate for Sapnap. “Are you perhaps having regrets about the fake wedding?” “No, it’s just going to take some time getting used to this new dynamic.” It’s not a bad question, but no, so far, it’s not a world ending regret. Yeah, maybe he should've written a dollar amount on the check to make things less awkward. But when he was writing them, he couldn’t come up with an appropriate number. It just made more sense in his head to have Karl and Sapnap tell Quackity how much they wanted. The whole ordeal was a reminder that he should think about the consequences of his actions. If only for Karl’s sake. Oh and Charlie’s if it applies. And he guesses Sapnap too, just so it doesn’t upset Karl. Quackity thanks Charlie for his work today and they call it a night. It’d be back to the regular Las Nevadas preparations the next day and Quackity’s already got a headache for all the work he needs to do. He prays he can get at least four hours of sleep before the cycle of endless labor begins. Quackity looks at his watch and confirms that he is definitely on time. He’s not surprised at all that Karl and Sapnap aren’t at the shopping mall yet. It’s normal for them to be late, so Quackity’s not worried at the moment. In about fifteen minutes he’ll call them. They were meeting for their appointment at a jeweler for their engagement and wedding rings. Karl made Quackity promise to not get them really expensive ones, but when he was talking to the clerk over the phone yesterday to book a time, Quackity may have gotten carried away about their ‘limited’ budget. He couldn’t fucking help it okay! When he was looking through the different styles of rings online, everything on the cheaper end was so ugly. Quackity doesn’t care if it’s not real, but there’s no way he’s going to wear ugly ass rings even if it's only for the duration of their fake marriage. That’d be at least a year, so it needs to be fashionable. In the few example images he texted, Karl and Sapnap approved. Also, Quackity already gave them permission to pawn the rings as soon as this whole thing is over. If he plays his cards right and sneaks in 14k gold rings to them, the payout will be a nice surprise. Although Karl will be mad and most likely try to give Quackity some of the money back. But that’s future Quackity’s problem. Present Quackity is fantasizing about having matching rings with Karl. Quackity pulls out his phone again, checking to see if he has any ‘omw’ text or something similar. Of course he doesn’t. Then he feels something hit his leg. He looks down and sees a small child, no older than three, looking up at him like they’re a hat’s drop away from crying. “Hey kid,” Quackity smiles gently at him and crouches down to their level. He must have gotten separated from his parents in the crowd of shoppers. “You lost?” he says, still not getting a response from the toddler. Quackity wonders if he can even speak yet. The kid’s wearing super cute little overalls and a backpack. It reminds Quackity if he wasn’t such an asshole he’d love the idea of having kids. But he knows if he ever did have a child, Quackity would completely fuck up his kid's life and they would turn out exactly like Quackity. And the world does not need more hims running around. The toddler is still staring into Quackity’s soul, not saying a word. He can’t tell if he’s frozen in fear or if he's just fascinated by Quackity's face. He does have a pretty gnarly scar running down his eye to his chin. And if there’s one thing kids are good at, is pointing out your biggest insecurities, even if they couldn’t talk. “My name’s Quackity, but you can call me Q if you want,” Quackity speaks slowly. The kid still doesn’t say anything, but at least he's not on the verge of tears anymore. And it makes Quackity a little grateful he has the scar. Usually kids are terrified of it, but maybe because he was so small, they can't comprehend a reason to be scared, only fascinated. “What’s your name?” Quackity tries again to get the kid to speak. He looks behind himself for a moment, and turns the backpack around to show Quackity the front. ‘Michael’ is sewn on it in yellow thread. “Michael’s your name?” Quackity asks him. And he only nods in response. “Let’s go find your parents Michael,” Quackity says to him, even though he’s not sure if he can understand him. Quackity reaches out his hand for Michael to take it, and surprisingly, he does. Quackity worries that whoever their parents are, aren’t raising them right. Stranger Danger and all of that. But also the kid’s like barely not a baby, so maybe it’s not the parents fault. Toddlers are particularly good at just wandering away if you don’t keep your eye on them at all times. But thank god it was Quackity who found Michael and not some creep. Hopefully this would be a good lesson for the parents, so this never happens again. The two of them slowly walk to the information desk so someone can make an announcement. When they get there, two people are manning the large table. Quackity tells them about Michael, and they blast it over the speaker system. Just in case, Quackity stays to wait for the parents and it isn’t long before someone comes running up to the table. “Oh thank god, Michael” a familiar voice says, totally out of breath. Michael lets go of his hand and runs up to a person Quackity used to know well. “Tubbo?” Quackity says, puzzled at him hugging his son tightly. “Big Q?” Tubbo says back, just as puzzled. He picks Michael up in his arms and if Quackity’s being honest, he doesn’t see the resemblance at all. “Hey, how are you?” he tries to be polite, at least for Michael’s sake. Quackity’s not about to start yelling at his dad just because they had a falling out months ago. “I'm doing much better now,” Tubbo answers, but doesn’t have even a hint of a smile on his face. He must still hold some animosity towards Quackity. He can’t blame Tubbo in the slightest. “Thanks for finding Michael, he ran off while I was trying to get us some food.” Tubbo turns his face to Michael who’s playing with his hair. And that’s when Tubbo’s face lights up at his child. He even gives Michael a quick kiss on the forehead. “Yeah, of course. I’m just glad to help. I didn’t even know you had a son.” Quackity wonders if his partner’s in the picture. He doesn’t see a ring on Tubbo’s finger. “To be fair we haven’t spoken in a while,” Tubbo shrugs. “It is fair. Any other big news I should know about?” Quackity pries with genuine interest. He still might have a little resentment for Tubbo, but that's a Quackity problem. Letting things go isn’t something he’s good at. His long term crush on Karl is example enough. “My husband died recently,” Tubbo drops this news on Quackity like it’s the daily weather report and now he is at a complete loss for words. “Oh, Tubbo. I’m really sorry to hear that.” He would say that he’s been there before, but Quackity’s only held animosity for his past partners, dead or alive. “Nah, it’s really not that big of a deal. Ranboo was super rich so we’re set for life,” Tubbo tells him. It’s troubling that he only mentions financial stability to his proof of being okay and not something like he’s in therapy. Not that Quackity’s in any position to judge. Quackity remembers Ranboo though. The man is, well was, quiet and had the backbone of an eclair, but overall was a good dude. Fuck, he wonders how he passed, but it’d be rude to ask. Maybe he could google search it. Someone that young dying must have made it to the news. “Speaking of husbands, I heard you’re getting married,” Tubbo drops the subject and Quackity gratefully changes the topic too. “I got the invite the other day, but I'm not sure if I can make it yet. Puffy and Niki are trying to convince me to go though.” Quackity actually ran into Puffy and Niki last week and they congratulated him on the wedding. He was never in terrible terms with either of them, but it was by proxy Quackity knew the two of them didn’t like him very much. But Niki is still good friends with Karl, so it made sense to invite them to the ceremony. They even chatted a bit like they were friends, just because he was getting married to Karl and Sapnap. It was then that he realized that this wedding wasn’t just going to help with the opening day of Las Nevadas, but his general status around town. Quackity knew Karl and Sapnap were well known and liked by the community, but just by association, Quackity might be falling into that category too. And by the time they get divorced in a year, Las Nevadas will be too big and popular for him to care about the fall out. They’d say it was an amicable split and that should soften the blow anyway. Once again, Quackity is reminded that this fake marriage is the perfect plan. “If you can’t make it, don’t worry about it. I imagine single parenthood is a lot,” Quackity says the obvious. Look, he’s not going to make a single dad show up to his fake wedding just to have a good chance of getting addicted to gambling. “Yeah, but Las Nevadas does sound fun. It’s Karl’s and Sapnap’s wedding too, so I’ll try my damnedest to be there,” Tubbo says. “Alright, but no hard feelings if you can’t make it. It sounds like you have a shit ton on your plate.” Quackity takes a moment to think if he truly does have any hard feelings towards Tubbo. A few months ago Quackity would have thought definitely and there was no way he’d even dream of apologizing to Tubbo. He would have thought how in the right he was for taking Tubbo’s actions as a threat towards him, but Quackity sees the single father and widower in front of him and wants to forget all of that stupid stuff and be friends again. “Tubbo, I’m sorry about what happened last year with the cookie shop and the whole thinking you were trying to take over my land.” Quackity tells him. Now that he thinks about it, it was Ranboo who was helping him at the time with the shop. Back then, Quackity had thought the shop Tubbo and Ranboo built so close by was meant to be a cover in order to spy on him in an attempt to eventually take over Las Nevadas, but it turned out he was just being paranoid. It wasn’t until he served the court documents to them that Quackity had found out he had run his friend's cute little shop into the ground because of his delusions. Tubbo rightfully stopped talking to Quackity after that. Until now that is. “Nah, don’t worry about it Quackity, that was like a lifetime ago,” Tubbo finally smiles at him. “To be fair, me and Ranboo were being dicks too. I’m sorry.” Maybe they could repair their friendship in this short conversation, but hopefully this would be the start. He does miss talking with Tubbo and he wouldn’t mind saying hi to Michael again. “If you ever are interested, I do have a restaurant that’s in desperate need of a manager. I know you're a rich single dad and all, but if that gets a little too boring let me know,” Quackity offers. He has no idea if Tubbo will seriously consider the job, but he does mean it. Tubbo understands how to run a food joint better than anyone Quackity's ever known. “Tell you what Big Q, if I decide to get back into the food industry, you’ll be the first one I’ll call.” Tubbo sounds like he’s truly going to keep his offer in mind, so Quackity does hope he'll get a call one day. Tubbo tells Quackity he better get Michael to bed for his afternoon nap, but says they should talk again soon. And it doesn’t sound like he’s only being polite. It gives Quackity the smallest amount of hope that this is all the start of a new net positive in his life. Chapter End Notes Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the chapter because this the closest to what I will say is ‘slow’ for the fic. I have chapter 3 finished and 90% of chapter 4, which is still my favorite btw. I don’t know if 5 or 6 will be able to top it, but we’ll see! Also, I added ‘canon complaint’ as a tag even though this is au because while I enjoyed the Las Nevadas finale, I didn’t like that the reason Quackity felt he needed to change his ways was due to an act of violence. I won’t turn this A/N into a small essay (there’s a really good tumblr post that critiques the finale if you want to read it. This is not my post also to be clear!), but I wished and wanted Quackity to change because of an act of love, and I’m not strictly talking romantic. I’ll probably talk more about this at the end of chapter 6 or something if I’m not exhausted by editing lol. Anyway, again thanks for reading! Consider leaving a comment, but as always, there’s no pressure :3 And if you don’t want to leave a comment here, consider leaving it on another fic you really like! I’ll see you next week!! Here’s my tumblr if you want to follow! If I Knew How Chapter Summary Then, Quackity feels something amiss and opens his eyes for a moment. Through the corner of his vision, he sees Karl, faced towards him. “Something wrong?” Quackity asks. Once again, he tries to calm himself down and is reminded that Karl does in fact want to get (fake) married to him and isn’t about to call off the wedding. “Uh, not wrong but.” Karl’s face is a soft pink and Quackity worries he’s getting a sunburn. “I was thinking.” Karl pauses again. “We have to kiss for the ceremony, right? Even if it is fake.” Chapter Notes I’m back and I’m only a little late lol! Thanks everyone for being patient and if you’ve noticed, I raised the rating to M. While there isn’t any explicit sexual content, I like to raise the rating just in case when I think it deserves it. If I’m being honest, it’s probably Degrassi levels of content, if you’ve ever seen that teen drama lol. If you’re worried about the contents of this chapter, I’ll put non-spoiler (well as nonspoiler as possible) warnings and marks where to start and stop in the ending notes. I have a bit more to say about future chapters in the ending notes, so please be sure to read those. I hope you enjoy this chapter because this is probably my second favorite chapter :) Here an 8tracks style spotify playlist for the chapter as well!! And thank you so much for everyone's support with comments and kudos, I really appreciate it!! See the end of the chapter for more notes Quackity makes it back to their meeting point and Karl and Sapnap are there waiting for him. He brings up seeing Tubbo and Michael briefly. Karl gets a little bummed out that he missed the pair and shows Quackity pictures on his phone of Karl holding Michael. They both have stupid big smiles on their faces and it’s so fucking cute, Quackity could die. Karl’s well read, funny, pretty and good with kids. It’s unfair. He wants to ask Karl to send the photo to him so that he can make a collage of just that picture pasted on a poster board that Quackity can use as motivation. But that would be creepy, so he doesn't. They make their way to the jewelry store and the clerk shows the three of them the ring choices Quackity picked out ahead of time. Unlike the wedding meeting they had before, surprisingly, Karl and Sapnap had some input on what rings they wanted. For their engagement rings, they choose simple gold rings, two for each of them, and one each for the wedding rings that they’d exchange at the ceremony. Those are also bands but with diamonds along its entirety. Quackity buys them as they are, instead of getting them perfectly custom fit. It hurts him a little to buy the rings like that, but he knows Karl doesn’t want him to spend a crazy amount of money, so he won’t. Karl and Sapnap try to peek at the price of the rings, but Quackity slides his black credit card to the clerk, not letting him even quote the total. The two of them frown at Quackity, and Karl makes him swear they’re not stupid expensive. Quackity lies and says they’re not. And to be fair, they aren’t as expensive as he’d imagine he would pay for a wedding ring. So from his perspective, it’s totally the truth. Yep. Once they’re done, Sapnap tells them he has to leave for his new temp job at a local bank, but says to him that Karl and Quackity should keep hanging out if they want. Quackity hops on the offer right away and invites Karl to Las Nevadas to check out their pool. “It needs someone to test it,” Quackity tries to entice Karl to stay with him. Whatever benefits this fake marriage is going to get him, he’s going to milk it for all it’s worth. “Hmm, okay I’m down,” Karl giggles. When Quackity’s in one of the changing rooms by the pool, he braces himself for seeing Karl half naked. Not that he’s going to lose it like a cartoon character with his eyes bulging, tongue hanging out when he sees Karl, but he also wants to mentally prepare himself so that Quackity’s eyes won’t start wandering around his body disrespectfully. “You alright Q?” Karl says outside of the door. Apparently he had lost track of time panicking over Karl, once again. “I’m fine, just give me a second.” Quackity looks at himself, adjusts his red swimsuit and fixes a few strands of hair. He takes a deep breath in, and opens the door. Karl’s standing there, pretty as expected. He’s wearing a blue open button up shirt that covers his chest (thank god) and his trunks are an ugly neon Hawaiian print that if it had been anyone else wearing them, Quackity would say to burn them immediately. But it’s Karl, so he pulls it off and Quackity keeps his mouth shut. “You sure you’re alright Quackity? You look a little pale.” Karl’s staring at him with genuine concern and Quackity takes the time to thank god that he’s able to hang out with Karl, like they’re actually friends. Like they’re actually fiances. He catches a glimpse of Karl’s hand and is reminded that he's currently wearing their rings. Quackity feels so light, he might start floating. He’s even allowing himself to think positive thoughts about Sapnap. Maybe Sapnap isn’t as annoying and terrible as Quackity initially thought, especially since he was the one who encouraged this hangout. And depending how he’s feeling later, maybe he’d invite Sapnap with them next time. “Nah, I’m fine. I’m sure the sun can help with that,” Quackity dismisses Karl’s worries, and he seems to believe him. They play around in the pool and Karl’s new objective involves splashing Quackity to the point of waterboarding him. He feels like he might die again, but literally. And when Quackity asks Karl to stop for a second, so that he can catch his breath, Karl does, but only for a moment before fully drenching him again in a wave of chlorine water. Then proceeds to giggle at him. “Alright, I think I need a break,” Quackity admits. At the very least he needs to get the pool water out of his eyes. “Aw, okay. I guess I’ll get out too,” Karl pouts. He tells Quackity he has a book to read while Quackity’s being boring or whatever. Quackity feels that he's used to Karl’s shirtless form and manages to keep his eyes to himself as he makes his way to the chairs that are lined up by the edge of the pool. This is as close to a day off as he’s getting, so he might as well get a little rest while he has the time. As soon as Karl leaves, he’ll have to get back to work. He lays down on one of the pool chairs, eyes closed, but definitely not taking a nap. There’s still way too much to think about in terms of the wedding and getting Las Nevadas ready in the upcoming weeks. God, he is so fucking tired. He wishes he could just enjoy having a relaxing moment with Karl, instead of living three steps in the future for every goddamn thing. Then, Quackity feels something amiss and opens his eyes for a moment. Through the corner of his vision, he sees Karl, faced towards him. “Something wrong?” Quackity asks. Once again, he tries to calm himself down and is reminded that Karl does in fact want to get (fake) married to him and isn’t about to call off the wedding. “Uh, not wrong but.” Karl’s face is a soft pink and Quackity worries he’s getting a sunburn. “I was thinking.” Karl pauses again. “We have to kiss for the ceremony, right? Even if it is fake.” Oh god, how could Quackity have forgotten about that. He’s been so elated that Karl agreed to this chaotic plan that he forgot how weddings even work. “Karl we don’t have to kiss or we could like, turn our bodies around and do a stage kiss or something,” Quackity offers. He knows Karl doesn’t want to kiss him and Quackity just wants this whole experience to be a good one for when he gets married for real. “No, I don’t have a problem with doing a real kiss. In fact, I actually brought it up to Sap and he’s cool with it too,” Karl tells him. Quackity takes a sharp breath in. Just moments ago he forgot kissing was a thing and now, he’s going to have the chance to kiss Karl for real. God, Quackity is a genius for this fake marriage idea. It’s still chaotic, but it was the good kind. And then the thought comes crashing down, because he remembers he needs to kiss Sapnap too. No, fuck it though, it’s still worth it. “Anyway, I.” Karl opens his mouth to say more, but it’s just silence. “Never mind, pretend I didn’t bring it up.” Karl lays back down and opens his book again. “If you say so,” Quackity shrugs. He’s happy and the thought of being able to kiss Karl is going to fuel him for weeks. And god when it happens for real, probably for years, decades even. “Okay fine! I was going to say that we should practice kissing!” Karl yells, face redder than ever. It takes Quackity a moment to process what Karl said so suddenly and loud, but now his heart is beating out of his chest. What exactly is Karl suggesting? “We should practice kissing?” Quackity repeats the words. His brain was already close to overloading before and now he’s just fried. “Yeah, so we have to make sure everything feels real or we might get in trouble. I’ve never kissed you before and it’d be pretty awkward for the first kiss to be on our wedding day, so I thought…we could practice.” Karl sounds quiet and unsure of himself. It’s cute and Quackity is very weak. And wants to kiss Karl very much. “Sure, we can practice.” Quackity’s heart is still beating like crazy and his face is probably as red as Karl’s now. “Like right now?” It’s only the two of them by the pool and the closest person, Charlie, was in the office across the resort. “Only if you want,” Karl shrugs. He’s trying to play it off like he’s not nervous or anything, but the shaking in his voice gives him away. “Okay,” Quackity similarly tries to hide his nerves and fully sits up. Karl’s still not looking directly at him and makes Quackity think for a moment they shouldn’t do this, but it was Karl who brought it up. Karl is only doing this for the money and wedding experience for his eventually real wedding, Quackity reminds himself. This doesn’t mean that much to him, he’s just feeling awkward about kissing someone that’s not his fiance or a person he has romantic feelings for. Their knees bump together as they’re facing each other now, and it causes Karl to giggle. It still sounds nervous, but not forced. “Let’s just do this quick and we can go back to reading books or whatever,” Quackity smiles at him, but in his mind, he’s gearing up to make sure this is the best kiss of Karl’s life. He wants Karl to never forget this moment, even when Karl and Sapnap are old and gray he’ll think back to this exact point and time. Karl nods and finally makes a brief second of eye contact with him. God, he has pretty eyes. Everything about Karl is so pretty, it isn't fair. Quackity closes his eyes, leans in, tilting his head slightly, softly holds Karl’s face and presses his lips gently against Karl’s. It happens for a second and is barely a peck, but holy fucking goddamn shit fuck it was so good. His senses were filled with just Karl and Quackity’s fully addicted. He opens his mouth to say Was that good? as a settle tease, but instead is met with a second kiss from Karl leaning back in. It shocks him still for a moment as he processes what’s going on, but when he realizes that this truly is a sign Karl does want to kiss Quackity, he relaxes and lets his mind bliss out. They part again, criminally too soon, but Quackity’s hand is still on Karl’s cheek. “Sorry, I kind of suddenly did that,” Karl puts his hand over Quackity’s, keeping it on his face. And now Quackity’s at a loss for words. He wants to ask for more, but he doesn’t want to ask, but he wants this so badly. “Don’t apologize,” Quackity says first. “It was good. You’re a good kisser.” He feels stupid for saying that, but it was the best he could come up with. “Thanks,” Karl giggles. He’s looking at Quackity again, more confident and refusing to turn his eyes away. “So was that practice enough for you or?” “We could use some more. Practice makes perfect right?” Quackity blurts out, not caring how fucking desperate he sounds to kiss Karl more. Karl nods in agreement. And that’s how Quackity ends up with Karl fucking Jacobs, half naked on his lap, fully making out with him. As soon as they started kissing again, the cute innocent pecks didn’t last for long. Karl gently pushes Quackity down in the pool chair as their lips move together. It’s warm, but not overly heated. Well, that is until, Karl fucking lifts his leg over Quackity to straddle him. They part their kiss for a moment so Karl can adjust himself to get comfortable on top of Quackity. He wonders for a moment if Sapnap would be okay with this. Sure he approved of them practicing, but Quackity isn’t sure if he’d be alright with…this. “This okay?” Karl asks him, looking already ravished. He’s still blushing like crazy and his normally neat curls are all over the place, maybe from just being in the pool or maybe because he’s getting lost in all of this too. “Yeah,” Quackity whispers so quietly, he can barely hear himself, but Karl is still so close, he’s sure he can hear him. “Okay,” Karl smiles and leans back in. Their lips come together again and Quackity’s brain goes to mush. It’s so fucking good, it hurts. He groans ever so slightly and can’t bring himself to be embarrassed. He’s got a lap full of Karl Jacobs, he's lucky he isn’t creaming his swimsuit. Karl’s tongue touches Quackity’s lips and he parts his mouth with no hesitation to make this kiss get even hotter. The now open mouth kiss was taking Quackity apart. He reaches to carefully hold the back of Karl’s head to get them closer. He needs this, he needs Karl in every sense in every way. Their tongues together, wet and hot and Quackity’s only thought is Karl. And god, when he hears Karl moan, Quackity’s certain his heart will explode. It doesn’t, but it does make his hands wander and Karl’s are too. They move from his head to his waist, to his hand, Quackity wants to map out his whole body and with Karl’s fingers gently playing with the waistband of his trunks, Quackity's pretty sure Karl does too. There’s a ringing noise on the table next to them, that Quackity thinks is just his imagination, but Karl parts from the kiss to look at its source. It’s Karl’s phone and Quackity wants to throw it in the pool so he can get back to putting his tongue in Karl’s mouth. “Hold on,” Karl reaches over to pick up the phone, but doesn’t move from Quackity’s lap. “Hey Sapnap,” he says into it. Normally Quackity would be thinking about how much he hates Sapnap right now, but the positive in the break of their making out is he gets a beautiful view of Karl’s face and red lips and the way he pushes his hair back, Quackity’s in love. “No, I was just making out with Quackity.” Karl says it like it's the most normal and expected thing in the world. It gets Quackity thinking that Sapnap really was okay with this all along. “Okay I will,” Karl giggles. Quackity can’t hear a thing Sapnap is saying on the phone, but it seems to be in approval. “Love you too, bye.” Karl puts the phone back on the table. “Sorry, he was just asking what I wanted for dinner,” Karl tells him. Quackity shakes his head. “Don’t worry about it, he’s your fiance,” he says, reminding himself. Karl might feel like Quackity's for a moment, but he really is engaged to someone else. And this little moment they have together kissing is just a moment. “Now where were we?” Karl tucks a curl behind his ear before leaning back to press their lips together again. At least the moment doesn’t seem over yet. And Quackity resumes letting himself be ruined by Karl. They don’t go further than kissing, but that's fine by Quackity. What Karl's willing to give him is more than enough. “I uh, well me and Sap will see you the day after tomorrow then?” Karl says at the entrance of Las Nevadas. His neck has a dark red spot blooming on his skin and Quackity prays it lasts for a while. Reminding Karl of this time they spent together. “Absolutely.” Quackity’s still feeling high from the whole thing. “Okay, bye then,” Karl gives him a quick hug and wave before heading home. Quackity sighs as soon as Karl’s out of sight. He closes his eyes and decides to just call it a day. There's no way he's going to be able to focus knowing he just made out with Karl. “Quackity!” Charlie comes into Quackity’s top floor suite, cheerful as normal and he braces himself for whatever Charlie’s about to tell him. He had been relaxing on his couch, reading through some work notes so that he can be fully prepared for tomorrow for a day filled with work and no fake fiances to distract him. What can he say, Quackity can’t keep from work even when he’s on break. “What’s up Charlie,” Quackity sits up straight. He sure it can’t be too bad, but if Charlie’s opted to see him face to face instead of just calling his cellphone, it must be important. “Sorry to interrupt you Quackity, but there’s an intruder,” Charlie tells him. Quackity pauses his initial reaction to panic and opts for asking some clarification questions before deciding if he should get his knife or something. There is no fucking chance in hell he's going to call the police. The local officers also hate Quackity, so they most definitely would leave him out to dry. “Is it just some drunk idiot wandering around or is it like a group of people with weapons?” he asks, praying to god it’s the first. It’s occasional, but curious randos would come to the unfinished and seemingly deserted resort to see what's going on. It's usually a quick conversation and yelling to get off his lawn to get them to leave. But considering the amount of people who hated Quackity right now, there's a small part of his brain that’s been preparing for the threat of physical payback that could arrive at any time. Even with his engagement and subsequent rise in general approval of his existence, it doesn’t mean that was enough to keep his enemies away. If anything, the wedding announcement may have reminded someone about Quackity, how much they despised him, and now they were looking for revenge. “Neither, it’s Fundy,” Charlie reveals. “I asked him what he was doing here and he wanted to talk to you.” Quackity breathes out in relief. He’s a terrible shot, and the idea of having to use a gun, knife, or any type of weapon is a terrorizing thought. Quackity has no idea what Fundy wants from him though. Last time Quackity saw Fundy was the day that he left Las Nevadas without a word, expecting to never see him again. “Did he say what he wanted?” Quackity stands up, and sets the documents aside. The strip club schematics will have to wait until he gets back. “Nope, he was very insistent that he wanted to speak to you.” Charlie doesn’t have any additional information, so Quackity isn’t sure what to think about Fundy’s sudden visit. What he does know is that Fundy’s not much of a fighter, so he shouldn't have to worry about being attacked and maimed. Still, Quackity makes sure his pocket knife is with him before he leaves just in case. Who knows, maybe Fundy used the last few months since Quackity last saw him to get buff and prepared to take Quackity out. Quackity asks Charlie to come with him, but only as back up if he needs it. When they make it outside, Fundy is sitting in the seating area for the outdoor stage as the two of them come up to him. And instead of looking fit and bulked up like Quackity fears, his appearance is much worse than he remembers. His skin’s pale and lifeless and there are dark circles under his eyes. Quackity wonders when's the last time Fundy’s slept. Not that Quackity has any right thinking that. The only reason people don’t comment on his exhausted appearance is because he hides it so well. If he’s always looking overworked, who'd be there to see him well rested. And who knew the last time that was. “Fundy, how are you?” Quackity chooses to be cordial. To be honest, he doesn’t think he can be mean to such a pitiful guy. Fundy might fall over if a strong breeze comes by. “Quackity, man it’s been a while huh,” Fundy stands up and smiles bright and happy. It feels genuine enough that Quackity’s pretty sure this isn’t the start of some trick. “It has, it has,” Quackity smiles back at him. He wants this conversation to end as fast as possible so he can get back to his lazy working. “So what’s up? What are you doing here?” “I, well, actually I kind of was just taking a little walk before bed and I ended up here. And when I ran into Charlie, I was thinking that it's been so long since we talked. I heard you’re getting married soon too. Congrats by the way!” Fundy rambles. It’s not really an answer, so Quackity prods more. “Thanks.” Quackity tries to remember if he sent Fundy an invitation. He'd made Charlie address all of the cards and envelopes. “Do you uh, need me to call Wilbur?” There’s no shot he’ll be calling Fundy’s dad himself, but Charlie could do it if necessary. Either way, Fundy clearly needed a long nap, a bowl of soup, and from the smell of him, a bath. “No thanks,” Fundy lets out a shaky chuckle. “I can’t even remember the last time I talked to Wilbur. He’s busy these days.” Quackity’s taken aback by this, and his eyes widened in shock. Wilbur didn’t talk about his son often, but when he did, it was with the fondness of a loving father. His affections towards his family was the only redeeming quality about the man. “Really,” is all Quackity has to say about the matter. He wonders what Wilbur's even up to if he’s left Fundy out like this. “If I can be honest with you Quackity. I’m kind of in between places right now, so I was hoping I could just crash on one of these benches here. Just for the night and I’ll be out of your hair before the sun comes up.” Fundy is manically gesturing at the seats of hardwood as he begs. Quackity’s heart cringes as he does. As much as he wants to kick Fundy out and send him on his way, Quackity just can’t do it. He sighs to himself and concedes to a guy that ditched him in the middle of building up Las Nevadas and who Quackity left threats on his voice mail to never come back again. At the time, Quackity thought Fundy had turned on him to join some other project. That’s starting to look less and less like the case. “Sure you can stay Fundy.” Quackity tells him. Fundy’s eyes light up and it contrasts so hard from the bags under his eyes. “Under the one condition, that you tell me why you left.” Quackity needs to know, even though he guesses that it's just the basic stuff. Quackity’s an asshole and a terrible boss. The only reason Charlie sticks around him is because he's used to Quackity’s asshole-ery. Fundy’s eyes dim again, when he hears his question. He clearly didn’t want to answer and geez, now Quackity’s feeling guilty. “Never mind, you can-” “No, I’ll tell you. It’s just a little difficult to admit,” Fundy is staring at the ground. “I left because I didn’t think I could live up to your expectations. I saw the way everyone was working so hard and contributing and I couldn’t keep up, so I left.” Quackity thinks back on those days. To what he would consider the golden days of Las Nevadas. When he had a well oiled machine of dedicated workers. Quackity knew he created a hostile work environment, with all the yelling and seemingly endless list of demands that needed to be finished. But seeing the consequences of his actions in front of him, in the form of a sad man, begging for the chance to sleep on a plank of wood, is really opening his eyes that he truly is the boss from hell. “Look Fundy, I’m really sorry about how things were before when you were working here. If it makes you feel any better, it’s just me and Charlie left. Everyone else fucked off too,” Quackity tells him, trying to comfort Fundy. There were some business partners he had that no matter what, Quackity wouldn’t be able to forgive, in fact, all they fucking deserve is a knife in the chest. Maybe not to kill them, but enough to make sure they never cross Quackity’s path ever again. Fundy does not fall under that category. Yeah, he left Quackity without a word, but a lot of people did. It doesn’t mean any of them should get stabbed for something that Quackity’s personality caused naturally. “Let me make it up to you. Not only am I going to let you stay here as long as you want, but you can post up in one of the hotel rooms,” Quackity offers. He is the one who stamped out Fundy’s bright potential by overworking and too many criticisms. Maybe it’s because he’s bone deep tired of everything and himself. Or maybe it’s because he’s made peace with the fact that Charlie’s the only person who can stand him. Or maybe it’s just because he wants another guaranteed person at the opening ceremony, but Quackity wants to fix this. “Really Quackity? You don’t have all of that, I promise I’ll be fine with the benches,” Fundy contends. “No really, I insist. Go rest and take a shower.” “Thank you so much man, I mean it!” Fundy lunges in for a hug, which Quackity wishes to high heavens Fundy had waited until after his shower to do. “You're welcome,” Quackity holds his breath as he pushes Fundy away from him gently. “This is the best day since Eret said they’d let me stay with them.” Fundy looks teary eyed and Quackity is confused. “Eret?” Why does Eret keep coming back up in Quackity’s life? “Yeah, after I couldn’t stay with Wilbur, I was going to stay with Eret, but that fell through too.” Quackity makes a note to talk to Eret about Fundy when he picks up the suits. As much as he had personal issues with Eret, they aren’t one to go back on their word. Whatever happened must have been miscommunication and he’s sure that if Fundy wants to take Eret’s offer, it’s still open. He wants to ask more questions about Eret or even Wilbur, but he’s probably brought up enough trauma today for Fundy. Quackity has Charlie show Fundy an open room and tells him to let Quackity know if he needs anything. As he walks back to his own suite, Quackity is starting to come to terms with something he’s been keeping just at the surface, but refusing to look it in the eye. His brain fills with a black fog that spreads in every inch of his mind and tells him how he can’t do anything right. Everything he touches turns to shit and the Las Nevadas opening is only the most recent casualty. Quackity is certain with Tubbo and Fundy as added examples, that this wedding is going to end up the same way as everything else he tries. The most he can do is put band-aids on his messes and hope he hasn’t damaged people beyond repair. For the first time, Quackity’s happy this marriage is going to be fake because then Karl and Sapnap will only have to deal with a piece of shit asshole like him for a set period of time. Once they are married, they’d do a few fake dates for a year, announce their divorce and that’ll be that. But he prays so hard, in some undeserved miracle, that this all won’t end in a terrible disaster. Or at the very least, from now on, he’s the only one affected by his endless fuck ups. Chapter End Notes Actual author’s note after the CW CW: Make out scene. If you want to skip it (before this are really G rated kisses and after I would say are more PG-13) Beginning Line: Karl nods in agreement. Ending Line: They don’t go further than kissing, but that's fine by Quackity. Spoilers in Ending A/Ns after the dots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thank you so much for reading this chapter and again for your patience. The last real time I updated this fic was on October 3rd… To be fair, I was sick for two weeks and even now my voice sounds like I’ve smoked twenty packs of cigarettes in one day… (It wasn’t Covid btw) The first cWilbur sighting in the story lol. He will be showing up again, and also, I don’t actually hate cWilbur and I think tntduo has its time and place, but not now or in this fic lol. Also as far as my feeling about Dream and everything going on, I don’t have a lot to say because I don’t want to touch it with a ten foot pole, but for now I’m still going to make DSMP content and not include him or his characters in my stories. My previous fics do have him in it, but I’m electing to keep the stories as they are. On a lighter note, for the next chapter, I’m going to try to post Saturday because trying editing on Sunday’s makes me depressed for some reason and then I just push it to Monday night. Also, it’s my favorite chapter up next so please look forward to it :) Thanks again for all of your support and I hope you have a great day!! Here’s my tumblr and I post updates for this fic and future ones as well! Consider leaving a comment on this fic or another fic you really like to pay your local fanfic author, but as always, no pressure <3 Lastly, here’s a really cute Karlnapity animation I saw on twitter. Has nothing to do with my fics, but it makes me happy. Btw, I only use my twitter to follow CCs and bands I really like, so I won’t advertise my twitter handle. With or Without Chapter Summary It's not just that Quackity’s ‘not a big fan of Sapnap’. He hates him. “It’s basically like us planning a big fun party together.” He really fucking hates him. “I uh, I’m excited to get married to you.” He’s going to kill Sapnap. “Wait, hold on. That came out weird, I just meant I’m excited for the reception party part.” The panic in Sapnap’s voice hits Quackity’s ears and it snaps him out of his hate stupor. At least enough to get a good look at Sapnap’s face. And fuck, his cheeks are flushed. Chapter Notes Hello! I told you I’d get it out by Saturday (please ignore that this chapter is out at around 1am on Sunday). As always, thank you so much for all the comments and kudos on this fic, it's really encouraging and motivating, so thanks again <3 I love this chapter so much and I think you’ll love this too :))))) Spoiler free as possible CWs are at the end of the chapter notes. As I said last week, it’s only for teen drama levels of romantic content, but the warning of where to stop and start are there if you need them!! Here’s a chapter 4 playlist if you want to listen and I’ll see y’all in the ending notes for some important updates! See the end of the chapter for more notes “So, what should I get started on Quackity?” Sapnap says, standing in front of him. He shifting from one foot to the other and Quackity’s not sure if it’s because he’s nervous or because he’s excited to have a job. It doesn’t matter because at the end of the day, he wishes Charlie was here. Instead, he's with Sapnap who’s temp job apparently just ended, although Quackity’s suspicious that he may have gotten fired. And Charlie’s out of town, picking up important materials for Las Nevadas and would be gone for a few days. Sometimes driving is faster and they don’t have time to waste at this point with Las Nevadas being an only two person project. Karl had told Quackity about Sapnap’s job situation at his visit to Kinoko this morning. Because of that, Quackity lost his mind, offered Sapnap a temp job at Las Nevadas, thinking it’d be a nice gesture towards the man he literally couldn’t stop thinking about. God, their kissing had completely taken over every single brain cell, not leaving room for anything else. Especially not for critical thinking and especially fucking not about how spending the next few days with Sapnap would be hell. “Really? You don’t have to do that!” Karl seems really surprised by the offer. In a dumb way, it hurt Quackity that Karl wouldn’t think he would help him in any form he could. But that was before his brain started working again. Maybe Karl can see through Quackity’s excellent acting skills (self assessed) and knows he’s not a big fan of his fiance. In retrospect, it makes Quackity worried that he might know how obsessed with Karl he is. Although, maybe that’s obvious too with all the books he’s bought over the years. At least it looks like Karl doesn’t care and doesn’t hate kissing him. And now Quackity really wants to kiss him again. Quackity presses on and makes the two brain cells that aren’t day dreaming about sticking his tongue in Karl’s mouth to tell him that Charlie's out of town, so Quackity can use the extra help. “It’ll only be until his new temp job starts in two weeks,” Karl tells him in more detail. And Quackity, being the very nice person he is, says he’ll even write Sapnap a letter of recommendation or be a reference for his next job if he needs it. Karl smiles extra big at that offer, but makes him promise not to pay Sapnap more than the eighteen dollars an hour the bank job was paying him. It disgusts Quackity that Sapnap’s being paid so little and wants to fight back on that pay rate, but instead he makes Karl promise him that he and Sapnap have to use the checks that Quackity gave them or he’ll have to pay Sapnap more. “But you better not fucking write one dollar or something ridiculous like that, or I’ll have to give you another check.” Quackity crosses his arms. He hasn’t forgotten about Kinoko Books being in trouble, even if Karl most certainly wants him too. Karl hasn’t mentioned the situation once since Quackity overheard it. “Fine,” Karl sighs, but agrees to use the check. “Ah, one more thing though!” Karl says, right before giving Quackity a quick peck on the lips. The short kiss stuns Quackity speechless. “Sorry, just wanted a little practice before you leave,” he winks. Quackity feels the blood rushing to his cheeks, stutters out an “it’s cool” and a “see you later” as he shuffles out of the bookstore. And he’s still thinking about the kiss as he’s staring at the new horror book he bought from the store, now back at his office. This one’s about a couple who finds themselves at the start of the apocalypse on the day of their wedding. A great omen to have on his bookshelf. “I guess I can find one of Charlie's lists. He usually does basic inventory things in the morning.” Quackity looks through his filing cabinets and pulls out the mostly useless pieces of papers. Besides Charlie, no one ever used the lists, even when Quackity did have a team. But Charlie says it keeps him on track and likes the order it provides him. It definitely doesn’t hurt to have them, so it's not like it bothers Quackity. However, it does mean that Charlie hands him papers everyday that he never looks at or uses. That being said, Quackity’s not sure why, but he can’t find himself to throw the lists away. Charlie tells him that he shreds the really old ones once a month per company policy. Quackity’s not sure what policy he’s talking about, but again, whatever makes him happy, Quackity’s not going to stop him. So now he has a whole office dedicated to holding unimportant documents, including a lot of the wedding planning ones for easy access. The actual classified stuff stays in his safe in his triple locked secret second office. “Here we go,” Quackity pulls out a blank checklist that at second glance has a ‘one of eleven’ written on the bottom right hand corner. He furrows his brow and goes back in to retrieve the rest of the pages. Quackity takes a third look to read it over, worried it’d be too difficult, but it seems easy to do. Although it's definitely too much for one day. It’s mostly made up of cleaning and organizing. “This is the list, but don’t worry about finishing it today,” Quackity hands Sapnap the document. So far, this makes Quackity realize he needs to give Charlie a raise or something. The fact that he’s able to finish the long list before noon is nothing short of impressive. Sapnap also is perplexed by the eleven page document, looking at the back and front of one of the pages. “Sure,” Sapnap says slowly, dragging out the word. He scratches the back of his head and flips through the remaining papers. “In fact, I’m prepping the karaoke rooms today so you can come with me and just work on that section of the list,” Quackity says, referring to the convenient breakdown in the document into the different parts of Las Nevadas. Sapnap seems fine with the plan and they make their way to the mostly finished building. While Quackity decorated as best he could, Sapnap got to work cleaning the place. Quackity isn’t a big fan of interior design, but he doesn’t have much of a choice when it’s just him and Charlie. And with the lack of use, a lot of Charlie’s time is taken by sprucing up the place to make sure when Las Nevadas finally opens, it’s not covered in a layer of dust like the ghost town it embodies now. Quackity worries that it’ll be awkward for him and Sapnap as they work on their own things in complete silence, so Quackity takes advantage of the speaker setup and plays some generic pop music as they do their jobs. But of course, Sapnap decides to ruin the stiff and Taylor Swift filled moment they were sharing together. “Hey uh, so how is Las Nevadas going? Is it almost finished?” Sapnap asks while he's moving a duster across the chairs. Quackity knows Sapnap doesn’t care about Las Nevadas. At least not the ins and outs of the construction. Plus, it’s not that interesting to begin with. “It’s going. All that’s left is moving furniture and things like that, but with it being a two man operation and now I have a whole ass wedding on top of that,” Quackity keeps light on the details. “We’ll get through it.” When Quackity looks up, Sapnap frowns at him. “What?” “I was just going to ask, if you wanted me to help move stuff. I’m pretty strong you know.” Sapnap flexes his bicep and Quackity admits to himself that Sapnap’s arms are quite…big. Quackity swallows hard. He’s definitely not going to give Sapnap of all people, the satisfaction of a compliment. “I’m sure you're busy with your endless temp jobs and spending time with your real fiance,” Quackity tells him. There’s no shot, Quackity’s going to drag Sapnap onto the Las Nevadas team. As much as Quackity jokes, he doesn’t hate Sapnap that much to make him do something so awful as that. Just enough to curse at him under his breath, maybe stick up a middle finger when Sapnap’s back is turned. Although, Sapnap did let Quackity make out with Karl. Okay, he’ll just keep to secretly cursing at Sapnap. “I’m not busy now though,” Sapnap points out. And it’s hard for Quackity to deny that, but not impossible. “I don’t want to break your back and be responsible for paying for your uninsured ass,” Quackity pretends to be focused on straightening a frame. It’s a brightly colored poster of slot machines and lights, that will hopefully convince a few people to waste their money on real ones. “Please, I get this ass is priceless, but I’m sure you, Mr. Blank Check, can afford to at least get it back in decent shape,” he winks. It’s fucking stupid. Sapnap’s fucking stupid. And Quackity’s fucking stupid. And now he’s thinking about Sapnap’s stupid ass. He very much wants to stop thinking about Sapnap’s various body parts. “Maybe later,” Quackity peeps, moving on as fast as possible. If Sapnap really wants to get all hot and sweaty moving couches in the hotel, who is Quackity to deny him that right. “After you're done with cleaning maybe.” Plus Fundy’s out with Eret, hopefully working things out over lunch so the hotel will be completely empty. Turns out, talking to Eret was easier than expected and Quackity was able to set up a meeting between the two. Quackity’s ‘maybe’s’ seemed to motivate Sapnap though and he picks up the pace, dusting, sweeping, and wiping the place down with haste. But he still insists on keeping up conversation with Quackity and continues asking him questions. And when they start talking about books, Sapnap brings up Simon Snow. “You like the Simon Snow books?” Quackity says. He’s not that surprised given it’s a super popular book and movie series, but there’s no book Quackity can imagine Sapnap taking the time to read. It just doesn’t seem his style to sit down and curl up in a chair, softly turning the pages of a book. “Yeah of course! I read them when I was younger. I’ve watched the movies more though,” Sapnap’s eyes are sparkling, surely on the edge of a passionate Simon Snow rant. And Quackity wants to hear it. The Simon Snow books were the first thing that he and Karl bonded over. Karl had acted a little embarrassed bringing up the YA novel when Quackity asked him what his favorite book was. But when Quackity told Karl it was one of his favorites too, Karl’s face lit up like the Fourth of July. They talked for a good hour that day in Kinoko Books, bonding over the gay wizard series. It’s one of Quackity’s best memories. Although kissing Karl might have replaced it. He’ll put it next to the day that he met Charlie. But as much as he wants to talk about Simon Snow, he can’t stop speculating about the bookstore. “Hey so, I know Karl doesn’t want to talk about it, but how is Kinoko?” Quackity hesitates a little to ask about the store, but he’s been wanting to ask for weeks now and never knew how to bring it up. It was Sapnap who had talked about it first. Even though it was a while ago, Quackity hopes he’s willing to give him some details. Sapnap freezes and his bright smile vanishes. His expression shows nothing and Quackity can’t tell if it’s because he’s thinking about what to say or if he’s shocked by the sudden subject change. Finally he sighs and says, “It’s not the bookstore, it’s me.” Quackity doesn’t understand. Was Sapnap lying before? “Kinoko’s fine profit wise. It’s actually the best numbers since the store opened,” Sapnap chuckles, but his eyes have a somber look to them. “But food and housing are expensive and we’re struggling a little right now. It’s-it’s not as bad as it sounds, we're making ends meet, but Karl already said if he needs to he’ll sell the shop in order to keep the house. The stupid house,” Sapnap laughs bitterly to himself. “And I can’t keep a job to save my life, so Kinoko’s been up against the chopping block. Well, it was before you,” Sapnap smiles. It’s definitely melancholy, but Quackity can see the bits of joy shining through. Quackity thinks back to all the times he’s showed up to the bookstore to see Karl cheerful and giggling like nothing was wrong and all this time he was struggling. Karl never even implied something was wrong. Quackity knows that they’ve never been close enough to be friends and share that type of thing, but he wishes Karl had said something earlier. Had Quackity known, he would have freely given Karl the money instead of forcing him and his fiance into this mess. Sure Karl absolutely wouldn’t have accepted it, but Quackity would have found a way to make sure he was taken care of. He’d buy all the books in Kinoko just to keep a smile on Karl’s face. “Yeah, well you're lucky my deal just fell into your guys’ laps,” Quackity jokes, but it hurts to say. He doesn’t want to think about it, but he really is taking advantage of these two people. And yeah, he’s not a big fan of Sapnap, but no one deserves to be wrapped in the mess that is Quackity. He needs to call this all off now. Quackity will cut his losses and figure something else out instead of a wedding. He’s a smart guy and when Charlie gets back, they’ll figure it out. Who knows, maybe he’ll get married to Charlie? “Actually we really are. This has been super fun hanging out with you Quackity,” Sapnap’s gaze goes straight through Quackity’s soul and holds it like it’s done nothing wrong. “Really, thank you Quackity. If you hadn’t suggested this fake wedding there’s no way Karl would have accepted the money. Me neither.” Quackity can’t bear to look at Sapnap any longer. He takes back what he thought. It's not just that he’s ‘not a big fan of Sapnap’. He hates him. “It’s basically like us planning a big fun party together.” He really fucking hates him. “I uh, I’m excited to get married to you.” He’s going to kill Sapnap. “Wait, hold on. That came out weird, I just meant I’m excited for the reception party part.” The panic in Sapnap’s voice hits Quackity’s ears and it snaps him out of his hate stupor. At least enough to get a good look at Sapnap’s face. And fuck, his cheeks are flushed. “To be honest I’ve been wanting to get to know you better, but I know you’re always busy with Las Nevadas. Karl gets to see you all the time, but I only get to when I happened to drop by.” And Quackity’s kept it like that on purpose. He knows Sapnap usually only has time to stop by in the evenings, when the store’s about to close and makes sure to walk Karl home as often as his jobs permit. It’s embarrassing how much Quackity remembers about Sapnap. If Karl wasn’t so disgustingly in love, maybe Quackity wouldn’t have to endure all this garbage. It’s not like Quackity can help it. Karl talks about Sapnap all the time. “Karl talks about you all the time, by the way. It made me a little jealous,” Sapnap reveals a fact that should be bitter, but he sounds…happy? “Don’t worry, I’m not trying to steal Karl from you.” And Quackity’s being honest. Yeah he and Karl had their moment the other day, but it’s all fake, for show and practice. He knows Sapnap makes Karl stupidly happy and Quackity’s no homewrecker. “Ha ha, no I meant of Karl,” Sapnap says matter-of-factly. Like Quackity’s supposed to understand what just came out Sapnap’s mouth. And just to be clear, he doesn’t. “Honestly Karl’s been underselling how nice and cool you are. And I know the plan is to get divorced after this, but I hope we can still hang out and be-” “Are you done cleaning!” Quackity cuts him off, yelling over his words. Enough! Sapnap needs to stop talking. Now. Forever. “I guess,” Sapnap shrugs and is acting like nothing is wrong. Like it isn’t visible from space that Quackity’s freaking out. They walk together to the hotel and from the outside, it’s sparkling, shiny and new. Inside, the lobby has a big fountain, currently running and the sound of softly flowing water calms Quackity's nerves a bit and he’s able to pretend that he forgot all the words Sapnap said before. Quackity briefly goes over the real possibility that he won’t be able to sleep tonight, as he goes over the memories of Sapnap's words forcing to replay in his mind like a shitty sitcom episode he has no hope of stopping. “Alright, so here’s the furniture. I guess we can start with one of the tables over here,” Quackity gestures to the organized but full area of desks, beds, chairs, and other assorted hotel appliances. At least the work can distract him for the time being. “This is a lot,” Sapnap looks over everything, and a lot is an understatement. Even if they start now, there’s no way they’d be able to finish moving everything today. Give him and Charlie a week though, and they’d complete everything. “Yep, no pressure to get this done fast,” Quackity shrugs. Sapnap rolls up his sleeves and Quackity is able to avoid his gaze and focus on the wooden table. The two of them lift one of the tables and Quackity can tell Sapnap’s carrying most of the weight. While Sapnap doesn’t show it on his face, Quackity knows how heavy the furniture should feel and right now it feels like he’s carrying a plastic card table instead of solid mahogany. Quackity’s not complaining, but he’s not sure if he should comment on Sapnap’s obvious strength or just keep quiet. He decides to shelve the idea for now, and if a compliment comes out naturally, he’ll deal with it. Sapnap still quite the conversationalist and brings up Simon Snow again and Quackity’s more than happy to talk about it. With breaks included, they get a lot of rooms fully furnished and ready to go for the opening. “I’m thinking we can be done for the day,” Quackity tells him. The sun is starting to set, and he doesn’t want to keep Sapnap here forever at the very least to get him away before Quackity says something stupid and more importantly, so that he can get back to Karl, who surely wants to see Sapnap. “Sounds good,” Sapnap nods. His sleeves are still rolled up, but he’s barely broken a sweat from all the labor and it makes Quackity want to work out more. And definitely not just want to continue staring at Sapnap’s exposed muscles. “Let me just file the checklist away for Charlie, I’ll get your money, and send you on your way,” Quackity reaches out to take the folded up paper from Sapnap. And yeah, not much on the actual list got done, but Quackity’s sure Charlie will be appreciative of the effort. He’s too nice like that. “And uh, good work by the way,” Quackity allows himself to tell Sapnap a mild compliment. And of course Sapnap beams like he's just been told he’s the best boy in the world. Quackity pretends like this doesn’t have any effect on him and that he’s feeling very normal right now. “Thanks, talking and hanging with you made it easy.” As much as Quackity hates to admit it, he did also have fun hanging out with Sapnap. Sure a lot of his jokes are stupid, but it’s stupid in an endearing way. And like the demons are taking over his mind, he’s starting to understand maybe what Karl sees in Sapnap. Not that he’ll say it aloud, he’ll just keep that in his head thank you very much. “Yeah, well, you still have all of this week and next week with me, so that’s plenty of time to turn that opinion around.” “Don’t know about that,” Sapnap chuckles. Quackity doesn’t let himself think more on the matter and tells Sapnap he’ll be back in a few minutes with his pay for the day. As he walks to his office, he wonders if he can slip more money then the meager eighteen dollars an hour he promised Karl he’d keep to. Sapnap probably wouldn’t notice and there’s a good chance Karl’s not going to double check Quackity’s math. So fuck it, he’ll make sure Sapnap gets a respectable days pay and no one will be the wiser. He opens the door to his office and immediately, Quackity knows something’s wrong. First, there’s filing cabinets open everywhere. And more importantly, he hears loud noises of shuffling and bumping of metal. And most importantly, two fully covered figures dressed in black suddenly freeze, staring back at Quackity, with ski masks on their faces. “What the fuck-” “Shit! Fucking grab him or something!” one of them yells at the other, frantically gesturing toward Quackity. The shorter masked person lunges towards Quackity before he has the chance to process and react to everything going on. Quackity’s grabbed by the arm and he tries to swing a punch, hit or do anything toward the masked person to get them off, but just ends up allowing his other arm to be grabbed as well. “Fucking let go of me,” Quackity worthlessly yells, now resorting to kicking the person. They had no indication of the kicks doing any real pain towards them. His mind is racing a million miles a second, but all he knows is he’s not going to die like a dumbass in his office, by masked cowards trying to steal god knows what from him. “Hey! Quackity what’s going on?” Quackity can hear Sapnap’s voice down the hall and is relieved he at least won’t die alone. “Sapnap!” The moment Sapnap runs in the office he goes into action, grabbing the short man who still has a hold of Quackity, not pausing to ask questions or get a proper observation of what's going on. He manages to get Quackity freed in a quick motion, yanking the masked person away, but not before Quackity takes a nasty fall from suddenly being tripped by the masked man, maybe in a last desperate attempt to harm Quackity. “Ah!” is all that comes out of Quackity’s mouth as he hits the floor hard, and he’s too focused on the pain to get his brain lucid again. “Come on, let’s just go!” the taller man shouts and Quackity cracks open his eyes through the aching and sees shadows of two people rushing past Sapnap while Sapnap calls out after them to no avail. Sapnap looks out at the door and back at Quackity still laid out on the floor and decides to stay by Quackity. He’s not sure if he's happier that Sapnap didn’t just run after the thieves. “Hey,” Sapnap says softly as he leans down on the floor to reach his arms out and helps Quackity sit up. “Fuck, should we call 911?” Quackity shakes his head. “No cops, they won’t do anything. Plus there’s nothing important to steal in this office anyway.” The police aren’t a big fan of Quackity’s operation and in the past interactions with the authorities because of the constant fighting with his former employees, they grew tired of responding to the calls out to Las Nevadas. Quackity’s sure they wouldn’t do more than pick up the phone and do nothing after. Sapnap frowns. “You sure? Should I at least take you to the hospital, that fall was pretty gnarly…” He holds Quackity closer and his hand is slowly moving nearer down to his busted ankle. And that’s when Quackity’s mind snaps back to realize how close Sapnap’s leaning into Quackity’s personal space. And it needs to stop immediately. “No hospital. I can walk,” Quackity declares, as he pushes himself away from Sapnap. He can still feel his face is warm from whatever the hell Sapnap was trying to pull, in the form of helping Quackity. When Quackity attempts to stand on his foot, he feels a sharp pain in his left ankle. He refuses to yell out in pain, more on instinct of hiding any kind of weakness, but he especially doesn’t want Sapnap to know. God, the thought of being pitied by Sapnap of all people is so fucking embarrassing. Too bad it already seems like he knows something is wrong. Quackity glances at Sapnap’s reaction just for a moment, and he’s frowning, reaching out like he might touch Quackity again, but doesn’t follow through. “Are you sure?” Sapnap asks again. “You took a really bad fall before.” An irrational annoyance bubbles out of him, ready to burst in the form of yelling and telling Sapnap to just leave him alone threatens to come out, but Quackity grits his teeth and keeps it in. Quackity understands he just wants to help, but Quackity doesn’t need help. He doesn’t want to be anyone’s burden when he’s already the biggest burden to himself. He doesn’t want to share in that. “Yeah, I’m sure.” Quackity leans on his one good foot and figures he can limp out of here once Sapnap’s gone. He just needs him to leave so that he doesn’t see Quackity hopping around because he is certain Sapnap won’t leave if he does. He’ll wrap up his ankle once he’s in his room. “Go home to Karl, I’m sure he’s missing you,” Quackity tries appealing to his basic wants. Surely Sapnap’s endless love of Karl will get him to forget Quackity. “Karl’s actually at the store still, he’ll be fine. You on the other hand, I’m not so sure.” Sapnap’s almost smiling, but it’s like the worry in his mind for Quackity’s pitiful self isn’t letting him. And that’s when Quackity recognizes that face. It’s a similar one Charlie’s given him before. “You're not going to leave me alone are you,” Quackity asks. “Not until you're at least resting in bed,” Sapnap crosses his arms. Quackity sighs. “Fine. You have to promise not to make any comments about me walking or ask me if I’m okay every two seconds. Or touch me.” Sapnap frowns, but says “okay.” in the saddest tone of voice Quackity’s ever heard. God, he hopes Sapnap’s not about to start crying over Quackity’s twisted ankle. Quackity takes a few test steps, only lightly applying pressure to his injured foot. A thousand knives stab his ankle at the slightest press into the ground and it makes him wince. He refuses to look at Sapnap’s face, surely overly sensitive to Quackity’s reaction. He hobbles in silence, in a sort of half walk, half jumping move that he has to keep himself balanced and he makes his way through the door, starting the journey to his room. All the while, Sapnap stands behind him, and Quackity can feel his stare burning holes in the back of his shirt. But he sucks it up and if it makes Sapnap feel better to be a voyeur while Quackity wanders the halls like an injured fucking animal, who is he to judge? They walk in silence, but Sapnap does make a few involuntary noises of concern when Quackity loses his balance for a moment and almost falls over. Quackity can tell he wants to say something, maybe offer his shoulder to lean on while they walk together, but he’s figured out that’ll only lead to Quackity telling him to leave. And he's right. Quackity breathes out in relief as soon as they’re at the elevators. It’s not much further to Quackity’s suite and then he can ice and take care of his stupid foot. He enters the code next to the normal buttons, sending them to the top floor. It’s a bad idea, but Quackity lets himself look at Sapnap who’s also looking at Quackity, frowning still. “What?” Quackity knows the answer, but he feels like poking the bees nest, since it feels like a bees nest has made its home in Quackity’s ankle. “Do you…never mind,” Sapnap turns his face back to the now closed elevator doors. His eyebrows are tightly knit together. For some reason, this annoys Quackity even more. Maybe it’s the idea of Sapnap wanting to hide whatever true feelings he has, even if it is agitation, Quackity wants to hear it. Whatever malicious words he wants to tell Quackity, he can take it. “What? Just say it,” Quackity tells him. “It’s fine, let’s just get you in bed.” Sapnap’s voice is quiet, but it doesn’t hide the agitation in his words. Quackity still wants to know what Sapnap was going to say, but the elevator dings, opening up to their destination. So he allows the subject to be dropped, just this once. He starts limping towards one of the many couches in his living room, but feels his foot step on something that is very much not the wooden floor or rug and that causes him to lose the perfect balance he had up until this point. “Shit!” Quackity shouts out as he feels himself falling backwards. It’s only for a moment though because his back hits something warm and sturdy. “Gotchu,” Sapnap says, holding Quackity up. He’s looking down at him, smiling, waiting for Quackity to tell him he did a good job, like a fucking puppy. Quackity hates how much he likes the way Sapnap looks at him. Luckily the position they’re in is uncomfortable, so Quackity quickly re-balances himself and hops the rest of the way to the couch. “Thanks,” Quackity grumbles. “Of course.” Sapnap is beaming now, like he so fucking happy it really was worth escorting Quackity all the way to his room, just for a moment to be a hero for him. He can practically see his tail wagging “Are you going to bed?” Sapnap asks. He’s standing in the middle of the living room, waiting to see if his escort services are still needed. Quackity looks to see how far he’ll have to hop just to get to his actual bedroom. And then at all the papers and random articles of clothing strewn all over the place he’ll have to navigate like a minefield. It’ll be easier to just sleep on his couch. Now, he just needs to get Sapnap to leave. “Yeah, I’m just going to rest here for a second and then,” Quackity points to his room’s open door, as if it’ll make the lie more believable. “I’ll make my way there, so you can go now Sapnap. Thanks for your help even though I didn’t ask for it.” That makes Sapnap instantly go back to frowning. “Can I at least get you some ice for your leg before you kick me out,” Sapnap says, he sounds so out of patience for Quackity’s attitude. And Quackity can’t blame him, but he does want him to leave, so he’ll keep pushing until it happens. “I’ll get it, so you can leave. Thanks,” Quackity says again. He smiles, but it feels so fake on his own face, he doesn't think Sapnap will believe it either. “Quackity,” Sapnap groans and rolls his eyes. “Fine. I get it. I’ll leave. But for fucks sake, do you ever let anyone help you?” He says it with such force, Quackity imagines he’s been holding this in for a while. Quackity thinks about ignoring Sapnap’s words and telling him to leave again, but what the hell, he’ll give Sapnap a real answer. “No.” “Why?” “Because, I can do this myself. I’m not a helpless fragile damsel for you to save,” Quackity answers honestly. If he wasn’t so tired, he would have just continued lying, but he is starting to regret getting real with Sapnap. “Quackity,” Sapnap’s expression is softening again. He’s still not happy, but at least he doesn’t seem annoyed at him any more. He sits down next to Quackity on the couch. Not super close to make it uncomfortable, but it doesn’t mean Quackity doesn’t wish Sapnap was out of his suite so he could fend for himself like he's comfortable with. “I know you're not helpless. Anyone who’s met you for more than a second, knows you're not,” Sapnap says in his stupid soft comforting voice. “You’re super smart and strong and good at everything you put your mind to.” Quackity scoffs at Sapnap’s attempt to butter him up. Even though it’s definitely working. “Well, almost everything.” Sapnap backtracks, whatever he was about to say next would certainly be golden. “I’m an idiot, but I’m not stupid. I know the moment I leave, you’re going to stay on this couch for the rest of the night without icing or wrapping your leg or anything. So please Quackity, just this once, can you let me help you.” Fuck, now Quackity’s forced this man to beg to do him a favor. What kind of fucked up world has he found himself in. Well, one that somehow he’s convinced two men to fake get married to him, so there’s that. “Alright, fine. What do you want from me? You wanna carry me to bed and lick my fucking wounds?” Quackity bites, giving in. The faster Quackity gives Sapnap what he wants, the faster he can leave Quackity alone. Preferably forever. Sapnap takes a few seconds to think over how he wants to exercise his hero complex. “Yeah that sounds about right. Not the uh, literally licking part, but I would like to wrap your foot if you’d let me.” Quackity finally takes a look back at Sapnap, who seems mighty proud of himself for forcing his way into this situation. He nods at Quackity for good measure. “Ew, you better not have a fucking foot fetish or something. Keep that shit with Karl,” Quackity says. He braces himself for a longer night than intended with Sapnap. If this was a few weeks ago, he would have thrown up by the idea of Sapnap even being in his suite, but he guesses he’s just tossing all that away and letting him touch his feet. My how the mighty have fallen. “Yeah, yeah,” he says, notably not denying it. “Let me carry you now.” Sapnap stands up in front of Quackity, waiting for his permission to start getting in his personal space. Quackity wonders if he can draw this out longer, to avoid letting Sapnap touch him, but at this point, Sapnap isn't going to leave until this happens. And Quackity’s trying to keep the part of him that wants this too away, but he can feel it slowly dripping out. “Don’t drop me, or I’ll sue,” he says, without any real malice. Sapnap just nods again and reaches under Quackity to pick him up in one quick motion, and now Quackity’s body is pressed against Sapnap's chest. The sudden movement, while expected, still catches Quackity off guard and makes him dizzy. He keeps his surprise silent, as to not give Sapnap anything to comment on as Quackity's carried bridal style to his room. Quackity refuses to let himself think of anything other than wishing this could be over, in fear that he might let himself think any other type of thought. Especially a positive one. “Here we are,” Sapnap says, placing Quackity down, gently in bed. The action feels practiced and Quackity thinks he’s probably done this for Karl countless times before. Karl is a lucky man. No, wait! Quackity panics in his own thoughts. Sapnap’s lucky to have a lovely person like Karl to carry wherever he wanted, Quackity corrects himself. “Where are the bandages by the way?” Sapnap asks. “They should be in the bathroom.” Quackity points to the open door across from them. Sapnap gives him a thumbs up and says “I’ll be right back, with ice too.” And he leaves for the bathroom and it gives Quackity a second to collect his thoughts. He’s regretting everything and most importantly, his cursing those fucking dumbass thieves who broke in. It’s all their fault he’s in this position. Sapnap comes out with white bandage tape, puts it on the table and goes back out to the kitchen to get the ice. Quackity has a weird feeling bubbling up in him, but doesn’t know what to call it. The only and terrible thing that comes to mind is ‘Domestic Bliss’, but it can’t be that. Busting your fucking ankle and having someone forcing themselves to help you can’t be call that right? Quackity doesn’t allow himself to dwell on the matter more. “Okay I’m back for good this time,” Sapnap says, entering his room with a plastic bag with ice cubes in it. He sets that on the table too. He grabs the bandage tape and moves to sit on the edge of the bed. The mattress dips in a way he’s not used to. Sure people have been in and on his bed before, but not like this. “You want me to take this off or do you,” Sapnap looks at Quackity with his shoes still on. Apparently he’s been feeling so emotionally uncomfortable, he didn’t even have the chance to notice he's in bed with his fucking socks and shoes. “I’ll do it myself you freak,” Quackity removes them quickly as Sapnap laughs at him. He keeps his not injured foot's sock on though, to make it less weird. “It’ll be quick, I promise,” Sapnap says, unraveling the white tape. “You better, or I’ll kick you out,” Quackity makes another empty threat. True to his word, Sapnap’s fast and gentle as he wraps Quackity’s ankle. It barely hurts even when he moves his foot around to make sure the bandage is snug, but not uncomfortably tight. It makes Quackity wonder if he’s also had to do this lots of times with Karl. “You have a lot of practice with this?” he asks, genuinely curious. “I used to get in fights all the time, so learning basic first aid just came naturally,” Sapnap says, almost finished with the wrap. It surprises Quackity just a bit. Sometimes Sapnap could come off as an angry person, but more of a yelling type of anger. It’s hard to imagine him actually punching someone. Maybe that’s because he’s being so sympathetic at this moment. “Why’d you get in fights?” Quackity pries. Sapnap’s been quite the open book today, so Quackity doesn’t feel like it’s a breach of privacy. “I was young and dumb. I don’t do it now obviously,” Sapnap shrugs. He finishes with Quackity’s ankle and hands him the bag of ice to also use. It’s uncomfortably cold and Quackity wants to immediately take it off his foot, but knows he’ll get scolded by Sapnap, so he bears through it. Sapnap moves up to sit higher up on the bed, legs hanging off the side of the mattress. He doesn’t say anything for a moment, but he looks at Quackity like he might fall apart and break into a million pieces. Sapnap’s hero complex was glaringly bright. “Before I go, is there anything else I can help you with,” Sapnap asks, but he says it like he already knows the answer. And Quackity wants to say no, but he also doesn’t. He kind of wants to feed his hero complex, maybe because he’s currently looking like a sad puppy about to be abandoned by the curb. “You probably should go back to Karl,” Quackity reminds him. He must be done at Kinoko by now. “I already texted him I’d be late coming home,” Sapnap says. “Don’t worry I didn’t tell him you were injured. I wanted to, but I thought you’d get upset if I did.” Sapnap is lying for him now? What is going on? To be fair, Sapnap was correct in thinking that. The visual of both Karl and Sapnap fussing over him would have made him explode in embarrassment. “Thanks, I guess.” Unfortunately, side stepping in kicking Sapnap out isn’t going to work. “Also thanks for everything, but I guess I’m good.” “You guess?” Sapnap asks. Look, if Quackity is truly being honest with himself, he wants Sapnap to stay, because he doesn’t want to be alone. But he also wants Sapnap to leave because Quackity also wants to be alone too. It just makes sense. “Yeah, I guess, and I guess you can leave,” Quackity says sternly, but it’s just enough that it doesn't sound that serious. “Hmm, okay.” Sapnap says, even though he stays sat on Quackity’s bed. He’s probably trying to think of other things he could do for Quackity while he’s incapacitated. “What are you waiting for? A kiss goodbye?” Quackity tries to get Sapnap to leave again, before he starts suggesting he could help clean Quackity’s home or worse, Quackity asks him to just stay. “Huh? No.” Sapnap is jolted out of his thoughts. “But since you brought up kissing, Karl told me about you guys at the pool the other day.” Sapnap’s smiling as he brings up the day Quackity and Karl were practically dry humping each other while they made out on one of the pool chairs. Karl had insisted Sapnap was okay with it, but seeing it on his face is the first time Quackity believes it. “What, you want some too?” Quackity teases him. At some point they’d probably practice a quick peck or something. “Maybe.” Sapnap’s voice sounded particularly flirty, but it was obviously just a joke or at most, just a reference to the fact they will have to kiss eventually. But you know what fuck it. They were already in Quackity’s bed, he might as well give him a little kiss for the help he put in today. “Fine, just make it quick” Quackity makes it a whole thing, closing his eyes and puckering his lips. “Ha ha, no you literally just went through a whole ass traumatic experience. I’m not going to take advantage of you like that,” Sapnap says, making this way more serious than needed. “Sapnap, I appreciate your concern, I really do, but I promise, I’ve been through way worse shit than this.” It was true though. Some randos taking a few pointless documents and then proceeding to trip him is more comical than anything else. “Okay fine I’ll believe you. So do you actually want to kiss me right now or are you joking?” Sapnap waits for an answer and Quackity’s not sure how to respond. He doesn't know if he want wants to kiss Sapnap, but he doesn’t mind the idea in the slightest. “What I want is for our kiss to look real when we get married,” Quackity tells him. It’s an honest answer, not directly to the question asked though. “That didn’t answer my question Quackity. I’m looking for a yes or no,” Sapnap says, not satisfied with Quackity’s sidestepping. “Do you want to kiss me?” Quackity’s heart leaps out of his chest. It’s so unexpected, he thinks he might be having a heart attack. “Do you wanna kiss me?” Quackity asks back, refusing to answer. “Yeah.” Sapnap gives him a straightforward response. Quackity’s heart leaps again and now he’s just confused. Why did he say that? Why does he want to kiss Quackity? He doesn’t get it. Sapnap get’s to kiss Karl whenever he wants and can go home right now to kiss Karl silly and instead he wants to stay in his messy room and kiss him. “What about you?” Sapnap throws the question back to him again. Quackity thinks, no, he knows he should say yes, but his brain isn’t letting him form the words. Luckily, his body lets him nod as affirmation. “What, you're so nervous of me and my handsome manliness, you can’t give me a verbal answer,” Sapnap gave him a wicked grin. And Quackity hates it, he wants to kiss it right off his stupid face. “No, I’m just.” Quackity pauses to find the words, but fails so badly. He can’t stop thinking about kissing Sapnap. Once again the brainrot has won and Sapnap too.“Yes! Are you happy now?” “I am,” Sapnap’s still got a shit-eating grin on his face, but he leans in closer to Quackity and Quackity shuts his eyes before closing the gap between them. Their lips press together and it’s warm, it’s soft, it’s fucking saccharine. He's such a dumb fucking idiot for thinking he didn’t want this. And before Quackity has time to fully process the smell of smoky firewood, Sapnap moves even closer, cradling Quackity’s face, still kissing him. Quackity holds onto Sapnap’s arms, and he leans down in the pillows and silk sheets to the point that Sapnap’s practically on top of his body. They separate from their kiss, and Quackity can feel warmth radiating, but he can’t tell if it’s from himself overheating or Sapnap’s breath against his lips. They stay like that for a moment, wordless, looking at the blush, rosy on each other’s faces, waiting for the other to make a move. Quackity’s not sure if Sapnap was expecting to be on him like this, but Quackity isn’t complaining. He runs his nails up Sapnap’s forearms, to make sure his hands stay holding Quackity’s face. And right after reaches up for another kiss. It’s firm, but pliable like Sapnap would let Quackity do everything and anything to him. And god, Quackity feels the same. They move their lips together and he can’t help but let out little breathy moans. He’s not sure if Sapnap can hear him, but Quackity can hear the loud groan from Sapnap. Quackity takes one of his hands to move it up Sapnap’s back, across his neck, before reaching to his soft hair. That makes Sapnap groan again, maybe even louder than the first one. Their kiss parts again, and Sapnap’s panting. “Q, you’re gonna make me lose it,” his voice rumbles into Quackity’s chest. “Maybe I want you to,” Quackity’s voice slurs a bit, as he speaks. Fucking shit, hell he’s losing it too. “Fuck, okay, keep your mouth open for me baby,” Sapnap requests, sounding out of breath. It’s so fucking hot, Quackity’s whole body feels like molten lava and he's about to melt into Sapnap. He does open his mouth because he’d do anything for Sapnap if he kept calling him baby. Fuck. Sapnap goes back in for an open mouth kiss to get his tongue wrapped around Quackity’s. His mind is buzzing with pleasure and the previously quiet moans are freely spilling from his lips. Sapnap’s not in much better shape, making hot and heavy sighs into his mouth. His hand moves to his neck and tangles his fingers in Quackity’s hair. For a moment, Sapnap takes his mouth from Quackity, and Quackity is about to drag him back to his face again, but Sapnap had different plans, and as he kisses a trail from his cheek dragging his lips down to Quackity’s neck, stopping to plant his mouth there. Quackity’s breath hitches and when he feels Sapnap humming against his neck and sucking and tasting the skin there, he’s right back to being a moaning needy mess. He can feel Sapnap’s teeth just barely graze him and Quackity hiccups and curses under his breath. Sapnap wrenches his mouth away from Quackity’s throat, to give them a short break. Or at least what Quackity hopes is a break, because he is far from done with Sapnap. “You good?” Sapnap asks him, as if he isn’t the one with sweat damp hair pressed against his pink face. Quackity's probably down bad as Sapnap to be completely fair. “I’m good,” Quackity whispers, other than wanting to give Sapnap a bright red hickey too, he's perfect. “Now let me mark you ” Sapnap giggles, sounding winded. He leans down at a good angle for Quackity to plant his mouth, licking, and sucking on his neck. Quackity can hear the moaning from Sapnap’s throat and makes him feel pride that he’s making Sapnap feel so good. When Quackity’s sure he’s left a mark that’ll last at least a couple days, he lifts his head back up to face Sapnap’s again. “Hope Karl won’t be mad by that,” Quackity says, knowing there’s no way he could be. This is nothing worse than what happened at the pool. “Nah, if anything it might make him come back for seconds,” Sapnap smirks. Quackity isn’t sure what he was expecting Sapnap to say, but insinuating that Karl's free to make out with Quackity again is not it. They must have some sort of deal or open relationship thing going on. But it’s not Quackity’s relationship, so he won’t pry. “Maybe we should all get together like this,” Quackity suggests. The only way this would be better would be if Karl was here. “I’ll ask him,” Sapnap says, and he leans back down to Quackity’s face to resume kissing him. Quackity is going to reap the benefits of these kisses for as long as he’s allowed to. They keep making out, until their jaws are sore and Quackity’s feeling drowsy. Finally, Sapnap admits that he should get home to Karl, but he promises that he really will ask Karl for them to spend some time for kissing practice, as they’re calling it. He gets Quackity a fresh bag of ice for his foot and also makes Quackity promise to only walk on it if he really needs to. And just stick to desk work because “I know there’s no point in asking you to actually rest,” Sapnap accurately clocks him. Sapnap gives Quackity one last short kiss, but on his forehead this time. “I don’t want to get trapped by your lips,” he explains. It’s understandable, but Quackity still wishes he opted for his mouth. “Good night Quackity,” Sapnap says at his door. “Good night Sapnap,” Quackity wants to beg him to stay and have him invite Karl too. But he can’t because they’re not actually in love. This is all fake. It might be a lot of fun, but at the end of all of this, Quackity is going to be alone, like it’s always been. And he needs a healthy reminder of that. Sapnap smiles at him one last time and shuts the bedroom door. Quackity tries not to cry, or at least keep in the tears until after he can hear the elevator doors ring, dampened by the walls of his room. He plants his face firmly in the pillows and screams into them. “Fuck!” Chapter End Notes CW for making out, no actual sex happens or implied/referenced. If you want to skip though: Beginning: “I am,” Sapnap’s still got a shit-eating grin on his face, but he leans in closer to Quackity and Quackity shuts his eyes before closing the gap between them. Ending: He gets Quackity a fresh bag of ice for his foot and also makes Quackity promise to only walk on it if he really needs to. Actual A/N with spoilers after the dots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I’m so happy this chapter is finally out and I hope you enjoyed reading it!! This was the first chapter that I didn’t hate editing btw (because I hate editing soooooo much…). Next chapter, I’m giving myself two weeks to finish due to all the delays I’ve had in working on this, but I’m still very confident I’ll finish this story without any problems. If you want, feel free to leave a comment or at least on another fic you really like. No pressure of course!! Here’s my tumblr if you want follow me or send me a writing prompt. Also, here’s a really cute Karlnapity animation (not my art) that was created for Karlnapity month and if you haven’t seen it, you should see it :) Tell Me Again Chapter Summary “Hey Karl,” Quackity also wraps his arms around him. He’s not exactly used to the hugging thing Karl’s been doing every time they see each other, but nevertheless, Quackity likes it a lot. He could hug Karl forever. Sapnap’s looking at the two of them, smiling with a soft expression in his eyes, definitely intended for Karl, Quackity just happens to be in the crosshair. But then Quackity recognizes it’s the same look he gave him yesterday before he left last night and the one from this morning. Fuck. Chapter Notes It’s me on a Tuesday night/Wednesday morning and of course ao3 goes down the day I want to post lol Also this is the longest chapter so far... I swear I didn't mean for this to happen, but I guess it's good news for you guys haha Another small CW in the ending notes that you shouldn’t need if you’ve read the story without problems so far. Thanks again everyone for your support reading, giving kudos, and comments :) I appreciate you all so much and here’s a 8tracks Spotify playlist for chapter 5 if you want to listen! Thanks again <3 See the end of the chapter for more notes Quackity wakes up after a sleepless night and thinks over last evening's events. The blood instantly rushes to his cheeks. All he can do is hold his head and try to parse together his thoughts. He had made out with Sapnap, someone who he’s hated with all his heart since he met him. And now, does Quackity like him? Because who kisses someone they hate like that and as much as his brain, heavy with sleep, wants to deny it, the kissing was good, really good. Like if Sapnap asked to kiss Quackity right now, he’d say yes without question. Maybe it’s the same feeling that people have when they hatefuck? But unfortunately Quackity’s had a bit of experience with that, and whatever he has going on with Sapnap is completely different. When he thinks about Sapnap’s face, his stupid pretty face, Quackity gets a stomach full of butterflies, just like when he thinks about Karl. “Ugh,” Quackity face plants into his pillows. He really doesn’t want to admit it. Shit, a hatefuck would be so much easier to deal with. Quackity looks at the clock and realizes that Sapnap’s on his way and groans again. He slowly gets out of bed, carefully walking on his still very achy ankle. He gets dressed and checks his phone, praying that Charlie would be coming home sooner than later, but instead is greeted with messages in his groupchat with Karl and Sapnap. There’s one message from Karl telling Quackity to rest his ankle and hoping he gets better soon. Also promising to visit with a home cooked meal. That scares Quackity, not because Karl would be visiting or the confirmation that Karl now knows about Quackity’s injury, but that Karl can’t cook for shit. And while he was able to avoid the hospital with his ankle, if Quackity eats whatever Karl makes, the night most definitely will end with a trip to the ER. Luckily, Sapnap texts that he’ll be making the food, so Quackity’s worries dissipate immediately With at least part of his anxiety gone, Quackity laughs at the text, but he also sees the message from Sapnap, reminding Quackity to stay in bed and that he’ll bring Quackity whatever work he needs to him. Quackity wants to fight Sapnap on it, but it’s not worth having a different version of yesterday’s conversation again. Sapnap tells Quackity to text him what he needs and the elevator code. It’s still annoying, but there are some calls he needs to make and some numbers to crunch, so he lets Sapnap know what files to grab from his office. And it’s only a few more seconds before Sapnap texts back with a thumbs up emoji and that he’ll be there in about ten minutes. Knowing this makes Quackity feel like he needs to get ready, even if he’s just planning on staying in bed. When he hobbles to the bathroom, he sees how messy his hair is and his wrinkly clothes. Quackity straight up looks terrible, like he’s about to do the walk of shame. He quickly gets freshened up until he looks put together enough and hobbles back to bed so that he doesn’t get caught and scolded by Sapnap. Quackity lays down in his sheets, closes his eyes, and fuck, he’s thinking about kissing Sapnap again. He goes back and forth in enjoying the memories of last night and despising how much he liked it until he hears the ding of the elevator ring through his room. Quackity’s heartbeat starts speeding up and he feels like he might die. Over Sapnap of all people. It’s just Sapnap, Quackity reminds himself. There’s literally no reason to be nervous. “Hey Quackity!” Sapnap shouts before knocking at Quackity’s bedroom door. “Hey Sap, come in,” Quackity says as calmly as possible. There’s no shot he’s going to show any anxiety on his face or in his voice. He’ll keep it all crammed in the back of his head to be dealt with later. It’s the healthy thing to do. Sapnap opens the door slowly with a folder of documents in his hands and a huge grin on his face. “Morning! How are you feeling?” he says with a downright infectious happiness and Quackity's heart feels full, but light like it's packed with big fluffy clouds. “Morning, I’m alright.” Sapnap walks up to the bed and gives him the folders. He’s still smiling, but his eyes dart around restlessly, like he's trying to find the words to say something else. “Need any ice or need me to wrap your ankle again?” he ends up asking. Quackity agrees to take the ice but compromises to re-wrap his ankle himself. Sapnap doesn’t object and seems fine with the arrangement. As Quackity fumbles with the bandage tape, they talk about Sapnap's tasks for the day and it consists of moving more hotel furniture and cleaning the office from last night's fiasco. When Charlie gets back next week, him and Quackity will reorganize the papers and figure out whatever dumb useless shit the thieves stole. Probably order a new security system too. “So for dinner,” Sapnap brings up. “Karl’s going shopping and he’ll be here after Kinoko closes. You know, as long as you’re still cool with it.” Quackity nods, trying to be composed. He’s imagining having the three of them enjoying a cute homey meal together, talking about their days like real fiances. Maybe they could even stay the night in his suite. Maybe not sleeping in his bed, he has a guest room after all. But hopefully as a joke, Karl would mention it and Quackity could play along until they just agree to fall asleep with him in his room. God, when did Quackity get so touch starved and desperate. Maybe he’s always been, but just never let himself think about it. And speaking of touch starvation, Sapnap’s still standing by Quackity’s bed reaching out with his hand, like he was going to touch Quackity, but aborts the motion, pulling his arm back to his side. “What?” Quackity asks. He really doesn’t know what he wants and guesses Sapnap is itching to redo the wrap around Quackity’s ankle. It seems and feels fine to himself, but he doesn’t doubt Sapnap’s worry could make him feel the need to do it for Quackity. “No it’s just,” Sapnap’s face is a soft pink as he turns his gaze away from Quackity. “I just was thinking about last night and got this stupid urge to kiss you again, but yeah… never mind.” Sapnap forces out an awkward laugh and Quackity can’t help thinking how cute and honest he’s being. It also makes him feel better that he’s not the only one obsessing over last night. “I wouldn’t mind a quick kiss either. Just promise me that you won’t trap me with your lips,” he says, mocking Sapnap’s words from last night. “Yeah, yeah.” Sapnap gently holds Quackity's face and presses his lips softly onto his. It’s warm and gentle, like a comfy blanket. It feels like home. The kiss is over way too fast, but Quackity decides to be understanding. They both have work today and they can always kiss later. With Karl there too preferably. Sapnap doesn’t say anything after the kiss ends, but just keeps looking at Quackity with this tenderness and desire he can’t quite grasp. It’s not heated, like he’s about to jump Quackity, but it’s some secret other thing. It reminds Quackity the way Sapnap looks at Karl. But what he does understand is that he likes it. He wants to be important to Sapnap even if it’s for this stupid fake marriage, and even if it’s temporary. “You uh, should probably leave and get started,” Quackity tells him. He doesn’t want to kick Sapnap out once again, but he reminds himself that Sapnap will be coming back. And there’s that silly thing about needing to work or whatever. “Yeah, I should. I’ll come back for lunch though. Gotta make sure you eat,” Sapnap tells him. Normally Quackity would be annoyed with the borderline babying going on, but the more it keeps happening the more he’s getting used to it. Quackity’s not sure how much he likes it, but at the very least, he doesn’t hate it and isn’t about to blow up with the idea of someone helping him, like he normally would. Quackity politely agrees to see him for their lunch break and Sapnap promptly heads out of the suite, leaving Quackity to revel in everything again. He takes a deep breath to calm his spinning head and then moves back in to work mode. Opening one of the many files Quackity requested Sapnap bring to him, he looks through the new reports for their guest list and it’s honestly looking great. The hotel is already filled for the weekend and there’s a wait list building too. The ceremony is a few weeks out and all that’s left is finishing the awning for the ceremony itself. At first Quackity had just him and Charlie to build it. It wouldn’t be difficult with it’s simple design, but now with Quackity being out of commission for at least a week, maybe Sapnap could pitch as well. He’ll have to ask him how much building experience he has. Quackity doesn’t want him to get hurt if he doesn't have any. However, there’s a second plan he has floating in his mind. He could hire an actual experienced architect. Quackity had already played around with the idea, calling around in the area, checking if there was anyone who could work on such short notice. All of them said that they already had prior contracts, but all had mentioned another guy they knew was free to take on new projects. It sucks that it’s none other than Foolish, the old Las Nevadas architect he had fired months ago. While Foolish had been a fantastic worker, putting up with all of Quackity’s bullshit, it didn’t stop Quackity’s constant paranoia and anxiety about betrayal at every corner. Charlie had almost been murdered by another former employee as payback in a violent response to what Quackity had done to that employee first. And look, again, Quackity wasn’t the greatest boss. And he might have destroyed said employee’s house to get them to work for Quackity in the first place. It’s a long and messy story, but Charlie shouldn’t have been involved in it. However, after all of that, Quackity didn’t have any room for trust beyond Charlie. And one day he snapped on Foolish, firing him on the spot for being a few minutes late. At the time, Quackity was convinced Foolish was planning on murdering him too. Of course now, he knows that it was probably traffic, but it was an intense time. Quackity has his phone in hand, ready to call Foolish, but not mentally. He wants to chicken out and wait until Charlie comes back home and have him do it instead. But that would risk the awning not being finished in time. The thought of them having to exchange vows under one of those cheap white Walmart tents people used for children’s park events, clashing with their perfectly tailored suits, makes him shiver. There’s no fucking way in hell he’ll make his fiances go through something so heinous. Motivated by saving their big day, he presses the call button on Foolish’s name and prays that his phone number is still the same. It rings only a few times before a familiar voice says, “Hello?” “Foolish, hey it’s Quackity,” he tries to sound cheerful and professional, knowing there’s a good chance he might just hang up right away. Quackity knows he would if he went through what Foolish did with him. “Hey yeah Quackity, what’s up how’s it going? I heard you’re getting married right. Congrats by the way,” Foolish says, fortunately not hanging up. “Thanks. Yeah, yeah I am super excited about it. Did you get the invitation?” Quackity may not have wanted to directly talk to the man, even at the wedding, but he had instructed Charlie to send invitations to everyone minus a very small list of absolute no’s, so quite a few of Quackity’s former employees were invited. His plan for the ceremony was just to duck and weave around anyone he didn’t want to talk to, but he’s starting to think it might be better to try to mend a few friendships in the process. At the very least it would be good for future business in Las Nevadas. “I actually did!” Foolish sounds excited. “Sorry I didn’t answer back yet, just been occupied with other stuff.” His excuse sounds fake, but it’s not like Quackity’s going to interrogate the man. “That’s fine. Just to let you know the hotel’s full though if you’re planning on staying the night. Someone else might let you room with them.” Quackity tells him. “But the thing is Foolish, I didn’t call you to talk about the wedding.” “Oh, then what’s up?” “I have a building project, if you’re willing to take it.” Quackity tells him all the details of the ceremony location and that all he needs to do is show up next week when Charlie comes back with construction materials and follow the blueprint they already had drawn up. He quotes Foolish an invoice, giving him a handsome salary for the project, especially considering it’s such short notice. “I know we haven’t had the best working relationship in the past, but I promise, I’ll stay out of your hair and whatever you need, just let me know and I’ll get it for you,” Quackity says, finishing up his proposal. There’s silence on the line, much longer than Quackity’s expecting and he glances at his screen, making sure that Foolish hadn’t just given up and ended the call. “Wow Quackity that’s quite the offer,” Foolish finally says. “I know this is on the spot, so if you want to think it over and call back, I understand,” Quackity adds. “Nah, I’ll do the job. I don’t have much going on anyway,” Foolish laughs, confirming what the other architects told Quackity before. “Can I ask why? I’m sure you’ve had offers for other projects,” Quackity just couldn’t wrap his mind around why such a talented guy like Foolish wouldn’t be employed at all times. Surely it’d be easy for someone like him. Oh god, is it something that Quackity did? Did he fuck up yet another person’s life? “I’m sorry by the way for how I treated you when you worked for me before,” Quackity gracelessly adds. “Huh? What’s with the sudden apology?” Foolish sounds confused. “I just wanted to say sorry, considering I was such an asshole to you. You didn’t deserve that, especially since you’re the reason half these buildings are even up,” Quackity reminds him. “Oh, well everyone’s an asshole sometimes. It’s fine. Water under the bridge,” he says, being way too nice. It makes Quackity want to curl up in a small tight ball when he thinks back to the terrible things he said to Foolish. Regularly mocking his pacifist ways and desires to retire quietly in his own home. “It’s been kinda rough in my personal life recently, so a little project like this might take my mind off of things,” Foolish admits. “Did you wanna tell me about it?” Quackity asks. He couldn’t be a proper friend to Foolish before, but he wants to do his best to make up for it now, even if only a little. Surprisingly, Foolish opens up to Quackity about his failing friendships and how pointless life had been feeling over the past few weeks. He keeps details vague, but by the time he’s done talking, Foolish says he’s feeling a little better. “I’m sure with time I’ll be okay,” Foolish still sounds cheerful and hopeful as ever. It seems genuine, but Quackity doubts it is, or at least fully. It's not like he would start crying over the phone. “A strong smart guy like you will bounce back in no time,” Quackity assures him. “Aw, Sapnap and Karl really must have softened you up Quackity,” Foolish chuckles. “Yeah, probably,” is as close Quackity can come to agree, lest he be forced into an introspective. Quackity tells him the date Charlie will be back, and with that, Foolish officially rejoins the Las Nevadas team. They end the call shortly after, promising to talk later. Quackity spends the rest of his morning reviewing other wedding and opening day details. Making sure things like the cake and catering orders were already put in. To be completely honest, not much needs to be worked on. Everything is in progress, and with Las Nevadas almost a hundred percent automated, they don't need many staff members. He is willing to hire people as needed, but at least for the opening, they were keeping it as simple but entertaining as possible. A few of the attractions would start up in the following weeks as Charlie and Quackity navigated a hopefully successful operation and they’d make decisions as they went along. Point is, Quackity’s not worried, in fact, for the first time in a while, he’s looking forward to the future of Las Nevadas. Time flies by though, and before Quackity knows it, Sapnap’s back in his suite asking him if he wants chicken or salmon for lunch as he pokes his head through the door of his bedroom. He eagerly waits for an answer and Quackity doesn't know what to choose. He wants to try all of Sapnap’s cooking. He’s already tried his cookies and those were amazing. “Could we do chicken for lunch and then maybe salmon for dinner?” Quackity compromises. “Hmm, I could do that,” Sapnap hums. “Or we can push the salmon until lunch tomorrow. I was talking to Karl and he might be down for some kissing practice tonight. We wouldn’t want to have fish breath for that.” Sapnap makes the ‘fuck boy’ face, biting his lip with one eye brow raised. It makes Quackity grimace. It’s funny, sure, but he also hates it. Genuinely. Sapnap laughs at Quackity’s face of disgust and asks if he wants to eat in the kitchen with him. And Quackity does, he’d rather not get food all over his bed and have the whole room smelling like chicken for the rest of the day. “Did you want me to help you?” Sapnap looks at him with anticipation in his eyes, so similar to the night before and with everything he’s been through, it won’t kill him to get a little help. “Sure, but don’t get any slick ideas about carrying me or some shit, I’ll just lean on your shoulder,” Quackity somewhat expects Sapnap to be a little bummed that he won’t get another chance to show off his strength. Instead, he looks ecstatic, patiently standing next to his bed, ready to support Quackity as he walks. He carefully gets himself out from the sheets and wraps his arm around Sapnap’s shoulder, taking in the scent of firewood again as he leans in, pressed against Sapnap’s warm body. Quackity can’t keep himself from thinking about how nice it would be to just cuddle up next to him and fall asleep. He almost starts grimacing at himself. Is Quackity just thinking whatever now just because he really likes making out with Sapnap and is throwing away all the artificial hate he’s held for years? God, past Quackity would kick his ass for how lame he’s become. “Can’t believe you’re letting me help you without a fight,” Sapnap understandably comments. Although he could have just done the polite thing, and kept it to himself. Quackity’s trying his best to not think of himself as weak for letting Sapnap guide him to the kitchen table. His busted ankle in a way is helping though because in a literal and visual sense, he is weak and there’s no point in denying that when he can barely walk to the bathroom by himself. “Well, keep bringing it up, and I won’t let you ever again,” Quackity bites back. But it seems like Sapnap’s quickly gotten used to this part of him too, seeing as he just smiles at Quackity before going back to the stove top. “I’m starting to think me kissing you has tamed you down.” Quackity’s cheeks heat up just a bit from shame mostly from the smile he can still hear in Sapnap’s voice. Although smirk might be a better description. “I’m starting to think you should shut up before I kick you out,” Quackity retorts. He might be fine with Sapnap helping him just a bit, especially while he’s injured, but he’s not about to confess his love to this man over grilled chicken breasts. That would be way too fucking much. What were they? Fiances in love? Sapnap does seem to lay off the teasing a bit as he finishes the meal for the both of them. As they talk while they eat, Sapnap let’s him know about the progress he’s made with the office. He shows Quackity a picture of dangerously high stacks of manila folders on the desk, but other than that, the floor looks spotless. “Good, uh, job,” Quackity says hesitantly. To be fair, this is what he asked Sapnap to do and it’s not like anyone other than Sapnap is going to be in there until Charlie comes back, so Quackity guesses it’ll suffice. He does worry it’s a paper avalanche waiting to happen. Sapnap doesn’t seem too concerned by Quackity’s tone of voice though and beams at the praise like the human embodiment of a puppy he is. And Quackity likes listening to Sapnap talk. He gets overly excited about things that don’t really matter, but sure as fuck sound like it. Sapnap even calls Karl for a little bit, and they facetime while he’s munching on a salad. “I’m really excited to see your place, Quackity,” Karl says, face skewed by the terrible angle the camera’s sitting at. Quackity looks over the still very messy room. Luckily the suite’s so big, it doesn’t look overly bad. “Well, I’m excited for you to be here,” Quackity thinks he can hop around and pick up a few shirts and papers from the floor and light some candles to make the place a little better before he comes over. Karl leaves the call though, to get back to stocking books and he promises to wrap up as fast as possible to head over to Las Nevadas as he says his goodbyes for now. And it’s actually Sapnap who eventually ends their little lunch together and says that he should get back to working on the furniture. Quackity’s surprised that Sapnap seems so eager to leave him and has the terrible urge once again to ask him to stay a little longer, but Quackity has work to do too and the faster he gets back to that, the faster time will go by and Karl will come over and they’ll have all night to waste together. “Sounds good,” Quackity’s voice cracks and worries it’ll give him away. If he was more honest with himself, he’d ask Sapnap to carry him to the hotel, so Quackity can watch Sapnap lift heavy things and he can occasionally (respectfully) ogle him. “You want me to help you back to bed?” Sapnap asks. “Nah, it’s fine. I want to work here anyway. My legs were getting cramped laying there for hours.” Sapnap shrugs and gets the remainder of Quackity's folders from his room for him and walks to the elevator, ready to return to work. “I’ll be back before you know it and with Karl too,” Sapnap waves at him for a very temporary goodbye. Quackity shakes his head, and pretends he’s not watching him go in the corner of his eyes. And then it’s Quackity’s favorite time of the day when he goes through Las Nevadas budget like a real ass accountant. It’s not that he needs to do much though. A dead rich husband does a lot for funding your dream project. To be honest, it’s more of him working on figuring out how much he can pay Sapnap so that he and Karl won’t get uncomfortable with Quackity (and eventually Foolish). Like his thoughts yesterday, Quackity’s certain that he can cram a few more extra dollars in Sapnap’s paycheck. Quackity finds it fun giving to his friends and the people he cares about, but it does make it less fun when he has to min max his gifts. His mind circles around back to having both Karl and Sapnap at his place tonight. He’s excited for the prospects of kissing them until he can’t anymore, even more than that, he wants to spend time with them, be close to them, and watch sitcom reruns on TV. Quackity hopes he can spend time at Karl and Sapnap’s too. He wonders if it’s homey and sweet like one of those interior design catalogs. He’s sure it’s better than the stupid expensive furniture Quackity picked out at random just to fill the room and at least pretend it looks lived in. He gets distracted by the imagined vision of a home that’s more than a place you sleep at night. And his mind is so engrossed that it looks like it's not much longer before Karl's suppose to arrive. Quackity figures he’s done enough official work and does his best being careful as he picks up all the random shit off the floor, stuffing it into his linen closet to be sorted out later. And now he’s sitting on the couch that faces the elevator door as he waits for one, but hopefully both fiances to show up very soon. His heart is beating stupid fast and he can’t help looking at his phone every three seconds. The message that Karl’s on his way, sent only five minutes ago mocks him every time he unlocks his screen. Quackity guesses that Sapnap’s waiting for Karl at the entrance to walk him up. Quackity taps his good foot and closes his eyes to try to calm his heart beating through his chest. It’s just his fake fiances. Who cares? They probably are only coming over to make sure Quackity isn’t dead before their fake wedding. But what if it isn’t just all fake. The thought intrudes in his racing mind, going in circles. From the point of knowing that Karl and Sapnap don’t care the same way that Quackity does. And then to the complete other side, that maybe they care and have real feelings for Quackity, then back again. Sure, maybe they don’t hate his guts and aren’t just doing this for the money, but it’s not like Karl and Sapnap are in love withSuddenly, the chime of the elevator rings out, shocking Quackity out of his stupor. “Quackity!” Karl yells out of the elevator before the doors fully open. He rushes through and practically launches himself into Quackity, narrowly missing his bandaged foot when Karl hugs him, now pinned on the couch. Not that Quackity would have minded all too much if Karl had accidentally hit it, Quackity would have simply bit down any noise of pain that wanted to come out of his mouth and he’d just pretend everything was fine. “Hey Karl,” Quackity also wraps his arms around him. He’s not exactly used to the hugging thing Karl’s been doing every time they see each other, but nevertheless, Quackity likes it a lot. He could hug Karl forever. Sapnap’s looking at the two of them, smiling with a soft expression in his eyes, definitely intended for Karl, Quackity just happens to be in the crosshair. But then Quackity recognizes it’s the same look he gave him yesterday before he left last night and the one from this morning. Fuck. Before Quackity can think about it anymore, Karl pulls back from his hug, to meet Quackity face to face, blocking Sapnap from his view. “Can I get a welcome home kiss?” Karl asks, already making a kissy face at him. “What does that even mean? This is my home?” Quackity says, just as banter. There’s no doubt he's going to give that kiss to him. “Welcome to your home then, whatever,” Karl whines. “Yeah, yeah,” Quackity says quietly, before giving him a short peck. It’s a simple kiss, but it still gets his heart racing. Karl giggles and slides right next to Quackity, their legs still touching. “Sapnap,” Karl beckons him over, “You too.” Sapnap’s still has a shopping bag in his hand, which surely has their dinner ingredients in it. But he’s still smiling brightly and reaches out to cradle Karl’s cheek in his palm before giving him a brief kiss. “Quackity too,” Karl tells Sapnap, and Karl throws a wink Quackity’s way. Quackity refuses to feel awkward about whatever Karl’s trying to pull right now and decides to lean into it. Fake it until you make it and all that shit. “Yeah, Sapnap, where’s my kiss?” Quackity can feel his voice shaking, and he hopes neither of them hear it. Sapnap's immediate response is in an eager press of their lips together. It’s gentle, but it still wrecks Quackity more than it should. But he’s in fake confidence mode while he’s floundering with these two, so he keeps it cool. “And there it is,” Sapnap says, briefly combing his fingers through Quackity’s hair. And Quackity breaks and his body betrays him as he feels his face flush and heart skip a beat by the simple action. And he hates not being able to control himself. And hates how much he kind of likes how easily he gets affected by what these two men do to him. So Quackity will let his guard down a little just this once. This is his home after all and he might as well take off his facade a bit. “You two are cute,” Karl makes eyes at them and Quackity shakes his head. “Y’all are cute too.” Sapnap's seemingly unaffected. “I’m gonna start dinner.” When Sapnap’s in the kitchen, Karl is still cuddled up next to Quackity, looking directly at him “How’s your foot?” “It’s fine, still can’t walk well,” Quackity sighs. “That sucks. Well at least Sapnap is here to carry you around,” Karl tells him. Quackity just laughs weakly and with a quiet “yeah”. Sure he wants to be carried around in Sapnap’s big dumb muscley arms, but even with Quackity's lowered guard, begging Sapnap for something like that would kill him. Give him a few weeks to get used to this, maybe he could see himself asking, in the right scenario. And hopefully not because his ankle is still fucked. Karl asks him about the break-in, using a delicate tone of voice, like he isn’t sure Quackity is fully comfortable about the subject. Quackity assures Karl that he’s fine and he doesn’t have to treat him with kiddie gloves. Karl still seems apprehensive about it, but Quackity retells the break-in lightheartedly with jokes and Karl relaxes. After Quackity changes the subject to Karl's day instead, they chat about new books that Kinoko received, and going over wedding details that Karl speaks excitedly about, which is surprising to Quackity. “How was Sapnap last night?” Karl has a smug look on his face. Quackity was expecting Karl to ask about it, but he’s definitely not prepared to answer. He’s not sure how honest he should be. Should he say that he had a great time making out with Karl’s fiance? That he can’t stop thinking about wanting to kiss Sapnap again? That he’s not sure how to admit his feelings for Sapnap now? “It was a good time. Would have been better if you were there.” Quackity does his best to keep it flirty and remove all the awkwardness that backs his heart and feelings with surface level truth. “Well, I’m sure that can be arranged tonight,” Karl whispers in his ear. Quackity shivers and he’s pretty sure Karl can feel Quackity’s trembling too because he giggles as he does. Karl moves on for now and they go back to idle conversation until Sapnap’s finished cooking. They decide to eat in front of the TV while they watch out of season Christmas movies, from Karl’s suggestion and love for the holiday season, even in May. “Can’t wait for you to see Karl when he’s in full Christmas fever mode,” Sapnap says. “Oh God, are you one of those people who start decorating the day after Halloween?” Quackity asks. “Hey Look, it’s not illegal to appropriately start celebrating the best time of the year because everyone else starts late,” Karl says in between bites. “But what about Thanksgiving?” Quackity brings up. Sapnap shakes his head with a frown on his face, which makes Quackity quickly realize he’s made a mistake bringing this up. “First of all, why can’t you do both? And B, who the fuck has Thanksgiving decorations?” Karl continues to go on a rant about how great Christmas is and that Thanksgiving is at most a preamble to the best holiday in the world. It does make Quackity laugh and in a quirky way, it is cute. But Karl could steal from a bank and Quackity would think it’s cute. It probably has something to do with his spellbinding giggles. They’re about half way through a cheesy hallmark romance film and Quackity sitting in the middle of Karl and Sapnap, comfortably warm and nestled between them. It makes him sleepy though and the calm nature plus the low stakes drama in the movie's plot cause's Quackity to drift off. And when his eyes reopen, the suns already coming up and Quackity’s face is pressed against a warm moving breathing chest. Yawning he looks up to see Sapnap’s still sleeping face. It’s peaceful and he wonders if he’s having a nice dream. Quackity notices that there’s a soft blanket over both of them, and more importantly, Karl’s body is right next to Quackity, his sleeping head also resting on Sapnap’s chest. He’s slept on this couch before so Quackity knows it’s comfortable enough to sleep on, but it’s still surprising that it happened. Especially with two other people sleeping with him. Quackity's let people stay over before, but the anxiety of someone simply being in his place kept him waking up during the night. He expected a similar result with Karl and Sapnap, but apparently Quackity was very wrong. Karl yawns loudly, still wearing his oversized hoodie that swallows his hands. His eyes blink open, still a little droopy though and he immediately smiles when he sees Quackity. “Good morning handsome,” he said quietly, in a voice laced with sleep. “Morning,” Quackity says back. “Sleep well?” “Yeah.” It’s been a while since Quackity’s slept through the night. Even when he's alone, he usually wakes up once or twice from all the stress he can’t get rid of even with everything going relatively well with Las Nevadas. If sleeping together with Sapnap and Karl would keep him this rested, he’d do this more often (or forever). “What about you?” Quackity asks back. “Really good. Sapnap makes a really good mattress,” Karl speaks from obvious experience. And Quackity fully agrees. The two of them don’t talk much, other than Karl letting him know he’ll have to leave soon to grab a change of clothes and head for Kinoko, but Sapnap and him were already planning on coming back again tonight for dinner. “As long as you’ll have us of course,” Karl says it in a way that he knows Quackity will say yes, and he’s right. “Yeah sure,” Quackity’s brain is halfway occupied by Karl's hand holding his, and the gold rings on his finger. He wonders if he’ll ever get used to it. Probably not. “Okay,” Karl says simply and they go back to comfortable silence as Karl gently squeezes Quackity’s palm, occasionally humming. The tune sounds made up, but it’s still nice. It’s not long after that Sapnap is roused awake too and asks to make breakfast for them before Karl has to leave. Quackity and Karl both lightheartedly argue with Sapnap that he’s not allowed to move, but eventually concedes. Karl helps Quackity to the table and Sapnap cooks something quick for them all. And as they’re kissing Karl goodbye, Sapnap's mentioning how he’ll meet Karl again after work, Quackity’s starting to get a better picture of what this fabled domestic bliss feels like. And he likes it a lot. And he puts aside the impending expiration date of this relationship far away in his mind. As close to not existing as Quackity can get. After Sapnap gives him the files he needs for the day, he gives Quackity a kiss too, and he heads out of the suite, getting back to work. In the silence and solitude of his place, Quackity feels...calm? He was expecting the opposite, considering that’s been his pattern since the beginning. But other than the looming end of their fake relationship, Quackity’s feeling secure and comfortable. And all he wishes is that it’ll last as long as possible. “Back to work,” Quackity says to himself, before flipping through documents. “Ah,” Karl makes an adorable noise as Quackity parts from his lips only for a moment. Quackity tries breathing normally, but nothing’s ever going to keep his heart calm, when he has Karl like this. Karl’s pouting as he's leaning back into Quackity’s face and as much as he wants to lean back in too, instead he denies Karl, pressing gently on his chest. It makes Karl huff, annoyed with pretty pink cheeks. “Hold on, just let me,” Quackity lifts Karl like he weighs nothing and grabs at the bottom of the material of his hoodie, around his waist. And yeah, Karl does weigh a little more than nothing, but Quackity's desire to get Karl on top of his desk to get a better angle to kiss him is fueling his adrenaline strength. Karl turns his attitude around and giggles the moment he’s sat down. His body is framed by the golden sunset piercing through the window just behind him. Karl looks like a perfect angel that Quackity desperately wants to take a bite of. It was Karl’s idea to drag them in this situation, piles of folders and Quackity’s busted ankle be damned, this is a great idea. Karl wraps his arms around Quackity’s neck to pull him in close again. And just when Quackity is going in to taste him, that’s when Quackity feels another set of hands take a hold of his hips. “Hey, move your arms Karl,” Sapnap says behind Quackity. He leans in further, pressing his body fully against Quackity’s back. He can feel the heat and pressure of Sapnap’s weight on him and wishes so fucking badly he had two mouths to make out with both of them at once. It’s so unfair of god to curse him like this. But Karl’s patiently waiting and willingly moved his hands, and now holding on to his back. It’d be rude not to give him a little something for his suffering. “Go on then, aren’t you going to kiss him again?” Sapnap leans in close, pressed against his neck, to whisper warm into his ear. Quackity is able to bite back a groan, but he can’t stop the goosebumps forming all along his nape and arms. At the same time he feels so warm he wants to peel everything off. “I was fucking getting there, but you started grinding into my ass,” Quackity tries and fails terribly at sounding irked, but the way his voice sounds out of breath, he might as well be moaning for how needy it comes out. Sapnap lets out a husky laugh that vibrates through Quackity’s body. “Don’t act like you don’t like it.” “I didn’t say I didn’t.” Karl grabs onto Quackity tighter. “Is anyone going to kiss me or you two just going to keep flirting,” he whines. "Sorry, sorry." Quackity finally gets back to putting his mouth right where it belongs, with Karl’s. They don’t bother with keeping the kiss innocent, and Quackity licks his way into Karl’s inviting mouth. He can feel Karl’s fervor, not just in the way his muffled moans reach Quackity’s ear, but in the way he grabs at his shoulder blades through the material of his shirt. It’s addictive, it’s life threatening, and he wants more. Quackity moves his hands up and down Karl’s thighs, just to see how much noise he can wrench out of Karl. And like the good boy he is, Karl gets more buried in the moment, getting louder still. A heated kiss is pressed onto Quackity's throat from Sapnap and it causes him to jump from the sudden touch. “This okay?” He asks so tenderhearted, like Quackity didn’t already give him full permission to ‘mess him up’ (Sapnap’s words not Quackity’s) before this ‘kissing practice’ session began. Quackity regrettably pauses his and Karl’s kiss to give Sapnap the record shortest “yeah” and dives right back into Karl’s impossibly warm mouth before he can even make a noise of complaint. Sapnap goes at Quackity’s throat like his neck is a syrupy treat, melting in the sun and to be fair, him being sandwiched in the middle of these two men, Quackity probably is. Teeth lightly scrape Quackity and Sapnap’s making sure everyone who sees him tomorrow knows how much fun he was having with his ‘fiances’ last night. Sapnap’s humming while he sucks on his neck, and Quackity can’t keep quiet even if he wanted to. Sapnap unlatches from Quackity though, just to whisper literal hot air in his ear. “Tell Karl it’s my turn for practice now.” It’s like a sexy sulking tone that turns Quackity on so much, he flies by the point of being embarrassed that he is. This time, he intentionally moves away from Karl’s face and perfect mouth and says, “Sorry, Sapnap’s begging for me.” “Hmm, fine,” Karl says with red lips. His eyes are half lidded with pupils blown out. And he’s whining a little, but he’s clearly ready for a break. Sapnap leans over Quackity’s shoulder and gives Karl a quick sweet peck, one that’s practiced and chaste. It contrasts so strongly with the way Sapnap turns Quackity’s face towards him for a deep messy open mouth kiss. Even though he knows it was coming, it still catches him off guard and he makes a muffled chirp, that he can hear Karl giggling at. Karl proceeds to run his fingertips underneath Quackity’s shirt, coming from the bottom and with an agonizingly slow pace moves his palms up. He very much is not wasting his permitted chance to mess Quackity up either. As Sapnap moves his tongue wet and good against his, Quackity’s desire makes his head spin. Quackity can’t take it all much longer, and not because it’s too much all at once. The twisting pain he has in his neck to do to enjoy this kiss gets to be too much, so he stops it. Unfortunately. Quackity tries to move in a way to keep Karl, still on him, hands rooted underneath his white button up, but it’s getting frustratingly difficult to do. He’s about to cry when Sapnap catches the struggle. “As much fun as this scene is, should we move to someplace a little more comfortable,” Sapnap says with a low chuckle. He looks at Quackity with affection, he’s so lost. His mind’s gone, floating in the clouds. What did Sapnap say again? “Do you boys want to move this practice upstairs?” Fuck. He wants to. He needs these two tangled in his sheets with him. “Sure,” Quackity says breathlessly as Karl's wandering hands hold his hips and Sapnap’s cradling his neck. “Yes, but you have to carry me,” Karl demands, kicking his legs against the desk. “I can do you one better than that.” Sapnap wraps his arm around Quackity’s waist, hoisting him in the air so suddenly, he lets out a shriek. However, when Sapnap grabs Karl in his other arm, he takes the lift like Sapnap’s not a total freak of nature suddenly holding two people, and stays perfectly calm. Don’t get it wrong, it’s hot, but also Quackity’s very scared of being dropped, unlike the last time Sapnap carried him. He holds on to Sapnap for dear life, while Sapnap and Karl laugh as they head for the elevator up to Quackity’s suite. Quackity’s on cloud nine and he doesn’t think he could be happier than this. Just this morning he woke up with the most perfect handsome fiances in the universe sleeping next to him. And yeah they didn’t do more than make out or whatever, but the near endless kisses and gentle touches felt more intimate than any recent sexual encounter he’s had. Not that he wouldn’t go further with Karl and Sapnap, but that would have to be a conversation for another time. Maybe tonight even. This morning Karl and Sapnap invited Quackity over to their place, Sap would drive him after work tonight. Quackity’s ankle is decent enough for him to walk short distances now, so they were celebrating that, according to Karl. Quackity’s pretty sure it’s just an excuse for him to visit, but Quackity’s not complaining. But for now, Quackity’s carefully walking over to the site of where the wedding pavilion will be, and where Sapnap’s clearing the area to prepare for the construction that’ll be taking place next week. It’s almost lunch time again, and Quackity was feeling well enough to whip up a quick stir fry for Sapnap as thanks for everything and putting up with Quackity's stubborn ass. He isn’t the greatest cook, but he’s competent enough around the kitchen to make basic dishes. “Quackity!” a voice yells from behind him. Quackity isn’t sure of the voice, but he knows it’s not Sapnap so that’s worrying enough on it’s own. “Quackity!” the voice says again. He can see two figures in the distance and finally he can make out who’s been calling his name. And god, he wishes he doesn’t. More than ever, Quackity wishes he had that new security system. Quackity exhales and walks in the opposite direction of Sapnap, even though it pains him, if he doesn’t deal with this guy now, it’ll only get worse. “Wilbur,” Quackity says when he gets close enough for him to just talk in a normal volume. “Hey Tommy,” Quackity also adds. He’s not sure why Wilbur’s dragged the kid here, but for Tommy’s sake as well, he’ll go through this shitty conversation and end it as soon as possible. Plus Sapnap’s lunch is getting cold. “Hey big Q,” Tommy looks happy enough to be here, so maybe he’s not at Las Nevadas against his will, or at least not fully. “Quackity, how are you man? It’s been a while since I’ve seen this place, it’s looking better than ever,” Wilbur smirks at him. And Quackity’s patience with this man has already gone down the drain. “Let’s just cut to the chase Wilbur, why are you here?” The last time Quackity spoke to Wilbur, it was only a few short steps of a screaming match as they argued in circles around each other, thinly veiled as an impromptu debate about…burgers or something. It’s been a while and whatever details about the stupid burger van Wilbur wanted to plant outside of Las Nevadas has practically disappeared from his memories because it wasn’t about the van, it was a ploy to get at each other’s throats. But Quackity doesn’t care about fighting Wilbur anymore. Before Quackity was lonely, bored, and broken from pain that kept coming his way, even if Quackity was part of the problem. Now, Quackity’s feeling better than ever, doing his best to forgive the people he’s hurt and getting married. He’s not the same Quackity that Wilbur knew. “Well Tommy and I were in the area and I heard you were getting married, but I couldn’t help but notice I never got an invitation. Didn’t know if it got lost in the mail,” Wilbur says. And Quackity can tell this is just a trap to get into fighting again. Wilbur must be really lonely and desperate if he’s come all this way to create a nothing burger to argue. And on top of that, bring Tommy along as a shield or as an unfit visual aid to why Quackity needs to be civil with Wilbur. “I didn’t,” Quackity says directly without room for any confusion. “Tommy has a plus one though, so I don’t mind if you want to tag along with him.” He does mean it. Wilbur’s an annoying thorn in his side, but he has the decency to keep basic manners in front of a crowd. He’s more of a fuck around in private type of guy. And Wilbur’s face drops, but he picks up his grin again with only a twitch of an eyebrow as a small but obvious sign of his irritation. “Can I ask why I didn’t get an invitation myself?” he asks, surely still in an attempt to start an argument. “Oh wow, look at this over here Wilbur!” Tommy wandered off from Wilbur’s side, pointing at the pool surrounded by palm trees. “Big Q, can we go swimming?” “Yeah sure,” Quackity shrugs. He likes Tommy and if letting them swim will get Wilbur off his back, he’s up for that. “Later Tommy,” Wilbur says sharply. “So, Quackity?” And Quackity still just wants this to be over as soon as possible. “Look I know we’re not exactly exes, but considering our history I honestly didn’t think you wanted to go. If you’re really pressed about it, I’ll get Charlie to mail you an invitation specially for you and I’ll even give it a little kiss and spray some perfume on it if it’ll make you feel better.” Whatever the two of them had was intense, but it definitely wasn’t romantic in nature. They were just two lonely people who disliked each other so much it was mistaken for passion. And after a long time separated from that point in their lives, Quackity knows Wilbur and him aren’t good for each other. “You should go find Fundy and make up with him instead of wasting your time here,” Quackity brings up his son. Fundy’s doing better with Eret, but Quackity imagines hearing from his biological parent would mean a lot to him. Instead of the biting response Quackity expects, Wilbur pulls out a cigarette, lights it, and takes a long drag. He exhales with a big plume of smoke before saying “Hello Sapnap.” Quackity whips his head around and sees Sapnap frowning looking back and forth between the two of them, trying to gather as much information as possible before going into action. “Sapnap,” Quackity can feel his muscles relax instantly when he sees his face though. “Tommy and Wilbur just came to check out the place” Sapnap still looks suspicious of the situation, holding Quackity’s hand when he gets close enough. The warmth spreads through Quackity’s body, comforting him. “Sure,” he says before leaning closer to Quackity and whispering “This guy bothering you?” It’s a relief to know that Sapnap has his back, even though parts of this relationship is fake, Quackity can tell by Sapnap’s tone of voice that he cares. It'd be hard to fake something like that, especially the way he moves his thumb up and down the back of his hand, trying to comfort Quackity in a situation that Sapnap interprets as stressful. “No I’m fine,” Quackity smiles and squeezes Sapnap’s hand. “I think Wilbur and I are done here. Unless you had something else to say.” Wilbur’s eye twitches again. Maybe he has more on his mind, but Quackity’s not in the mood to hear it. “No, I think I’ll be on my way for now, maybe I’ll follow your suggestion and give Fundy a visit. But I’ll still be expecting that invitation Big Q,” the arrogant look makes a return on Wilbur’s face. “Come on Tommy, we’re leaving.” “Aw really? I thought we were going swimming,” Tommy shuffles up to them, disappointed. “Look Tommy, if you ever want to come back, even with Tubbo or whoever, drop by and swim anytime you want.” And Quackity hopes Tommy can trust that he means it. He’d like the chance to reconcile with Tommy and his best friend Tubbo some more. Maybe even Wilbur too, if he ever calms down enough not to turn every conversation into a debate. “And say hi to Techno for me,” Quackity says, in reference to the other brother of Wilbur and Tommy. The very person who gave him the scar across his face. Yet another guy Quackity has too much of a rocky past with. “Sure thing,” Wilbur says, dropping his cigarette butt and stomping it out. “Bye for now Quackity.” With that, the two then head out of Las Nevadas and now it’s Quackity and Sapnap standing hand in hand watching the brothers fade in the distance. Sapnap’s still looking at him with concern, waiting for Quackity to say something and give him a clarifying comment on the situation. But Quackity just wants to move on from the past. “I brought you lunch,” Quackity shows him the bag in his other hand. “Oh thanks,” Sapnap says, suddenly not sure how to react, takes the bag with a blank expression. And Quackity can’t help but laugh at the absurdity this day has already brought. Or maybe it’s the only thing that’s keeping him from crying. Sapnap still looks confused for a moment, but starts breaking into laughter with him. “Why are we laughing,” Sapnap says, giggles still bubbling from his chest. “I-I don’t know,” Quackity admits. He doesn’t know what he’s doing anymore and all he really knows is that he wants to move on with all the pain in his life. He doesn’t want to end up like Wilbur, treading the same water over and over. “Let’s just go and eat,” he tells Sapnap, hand still in his. “Alright, sure. But would you tell me if something was wrong?” Sapnap asks. Quackity pauses, even though nothings wrong now, theoretically would he be able to express his feelings of concern to Sapnap or Karl? And looking in Sapnap’s eyes, he sees the future. A future with Sapnap and Karl, free from his shitty past. One that’s real and something that they can start by talking about it tonight. Maybe the wedding will be fake, but what they have doesn’t have to be. “Yeah, I will.” Chapter End Notes CW for making out again, technically no explicit sexual content Start: “Back to work,” Quackity says to himself, before flipping through documents. End: Quackity’s on cloud nine and he doesn’t think he could be happier than this. Real author notes after the dots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thanks for reading the chapter and now there’s only one more left!! It’ll probably take another two weeks or so, but after that, even though HHiM will be over I’m going to immediately start my Hallmark Movie style Christmas Rom-Com Karlnapity fic for December! (Can you believe 2022 is almost over ;-;) Look forward to the ceremony (finally lol) and feel free to leave a comment if you want, but as always, no pressure <3 Now I’m going to make some cupcakes and watch a bunch of movies for research :) (Also I might be posting a special something like an extra in the next couple of days, I literally have two full chapters of spin off content. It won’t be an official chapter tho) Nov 17th is also the day the fiances got engaged, so here's youtube video if you want to celebrate or cry or both Follow my tumblr for small updates and if you want send me any writing prompts No Matter What Our Hearts Will Bring Chapter Summary Quackity groans as he quickly presses the button on his car radio to change the station once again. Every single one seemed to be playing love songs, reminding him what day it is. It’s haunting him, like a shitty annoying ghost that’s taken over his car, trying to drag him back in. But it’s not going to work. Quackity’s already made his decision and no matter how much it hurts, he knows it's best for him and everyone. Even if it doesn’t fully feel like it right now. Chapter Notes Hello everybody, hope your holiday season is going well :) So I’m going to do something that I know I should do, but I’m still going to do it, apologize. Sorry this chapter came out so late!! I hope the 14.4k words will make up for my timing. I was just not in the best place mentally to be working on it and every time I looked at the chapter it was like pulling teeth to edit a single page of it. For several days, I was convinced that this chapter was trash and it stressed me out so much to even think about it in any way. (Sorry for the late comment replies as well btw). I don’t think it was an actual reflection on the chapter, but instead my mental state at the time. It took a little bit, but I’m feeling much better now and as I’ve been editing, I still wish I could make some changes, and I still might, but I think the message of the story overall wouldn’t be affected by what I do want to change, so I feel confident and putting the chapter as is. There might be minor changes in the next few days to earlier chapters, but nothing too much that you’ll really notice the difference. Anyway, I say this all to say, I like the finale and I think you’ll all like it too, if you’ve gotten this far. Here’s one final chapter playlist and I’ll see you in the ending notes! Thanks so much for your patience if you’ve been waiting for the chapter and I hope you enjoy!! See the end of the chapter for more notes ‘I feel like fallin’ in love’ Quackity groans as he quickly presses the button on his car radio to change the station once again. Every single one seemed to be playing love songs, reminding him what day it is. It’s haunting him, like a shitty annoying ghost that’s taken over his car, trying to drag him back in. But it’s not going to work. Quackity’s already made his decision and no matter how much it hurts, he knows it's best for him and everyone. Even if it doesn’t fully feel like it right now. As he’s speeding down the empty highway, Quackity wonders if it’s worth pulling over so he can properly connect his phone and blast his perfectly romance free city pop playlist. ‘My house. It’s so far from your one, hon.’ “Of course.” Quackity grinds his teeth to the lyrics. Maybe it’s actually god that’s haunting him, telling him exactly what Quackity’s sins are. And without his consent, Quackity’s mind is brought back to a night a few weeks ago. When he went to their house. Quackity had told Sapnap to go ahead of him, feeling way too nervous for his own good. He wasn’t sure what he might say to Sapnap in the duress on the car ride over to his and Karl’s house. It’s not like Quackity’s not use to being around Sapnap alone, but there was always the chance for escape if Quackity felt too uncomfortable in Las Nevadas. In a car, how could Quackity leave? Tuck and roll out the door? That would be kind of awesome though if he could pull that off. But he’d most likely break a bone and have no choice but to go to the hospital. That’s deterrent enough. So Quackity’s saving his body and bones by driving the fifteen minutes by himself and heads to the cozy neighborhood of his fiances. He’s never been on this side of town before. There wasn’t a reason for Quackity to go, at least until now. Quackity’s driving slow, making sure that he doesn’t miss their house, but also to observe the kids playing, people riding their bikes, or walking their dogs. Quackity grew up in cities most of his life and the white picket fence lifestyle never fit him. It’s too quiet and makes any noise you can hear that much louder. He doesn’t know how anyone can do it, but he can at the very least admit that the houses are cute. He imagines that during times like Halloween and Christmas, the neighborhood is lit up with holiday spirit. Quackity’s GPS tells him that the house is right around the corner, and he’s greeted with a simple brick house with a small flower garden in front of it. He remembers that Karl told him about planting it during one of his many visits to Kinoko. After he parks his car on the curb, Quackity walks up to get a better look at the colorful garden. Unsurprisingly, it looks even better up close. After delaying going up to the door for an appropriate amount of time, Quackity forces himself to ring the doorbell. He’d delayed the inevitable for long enough. The muffled doorbell rings out and a few seconds after that, the door opens to Karl’s smiling face and Quackity’s heart melts. “Quackity, hi!” Karl reaches out to hug him before Quackity can even set foot in the house. “Hey Karl,” Quackity says, hugging him back. And he’s so ready to die happily in Karl’s arms, but on top of that, Karl gives him a kiss on his lips that fills Quackity’s chest with butterflies. Karl giggles at him as he holds Quackity’s hand to pull him into the house. As much as Quackity wants to believe he’s able to hide how much a smile and little peck affects him, Karl’s giggles inform him otherwise. “How was work today?” Karl asks him a disgustingly domestic question. And Quackity loves it. “It was good. Charlie’s set to come home tomorrow, which means more work, but that also means we're closer to being done,” he explains. “That’s awesome Quackity. I’m excited for Las Nevadas to be finished,” Karl says, sounding genuine. Quackity’s starting to get comfortable believing that when Karl or Sapnap ask about Las Nevadas, they are actually interested in what Quackity has to say. He’s used to people listening to the updates only as a polite gesture and as a preamble to asking him for some dumb favor. It’s a day by day thing, but Quackity knows they care and he doesn’t need to be scared about that. “How was your day Karl?” Because Quackity’s in crunch mode, it’s been a while since he’s had time to visit the bookstore. God, he can’t fucking wait to be done with all this, so that he can go back to spending his mornings in Kinoko, chatting over horror books. “Boring, but that’s a good thing,” Karl shrugs. Quackity looks around the parts of the house he can see, the hallway, what looks to be a dining room and it unsurprisingly exudes a feeling of home. There are random little knick knacks maybe from vacations the two of them took together, or maybe from a local thrift store, and of course, a bunch of pictures hanging up on the walls. He hopes Karl and Sapnap will give him a tour. “Sapnap’s almost done with the steak,” Karl leads him, still holding his hand to the kitchen in front of them. The hearty smell gets stronger as they get closer. And yeah, it smells amazing. “Quackity, welcome!” Sapnap has a big smile on his face as they enter the kitchen, standing next to the sizzling stove top. “Hey Sap.” Quackity gets another warm sturdy hug and kiss from Sapnap. If he wasn’t blushing before, he is now. They talk pleasantly and Quackity makes sure to compliment the house and the garden. “We’ll have to give you the official tour after dinner,” Sapnap says and Quackity keeps in his bubbling excitement. Sapnap’s cooking is amazing as always and Karl and Quackity rush to clean dishes afterwards before they show off their charming little house. “So here’s our fish, Beckerson and Mars,” Karl points to the colorful fish in the tank that sits in their living room. “Aw, they’re pretty.” Quackity’s always wanted to have a pet. Specifically a horse, but there’s no way he’d have enough time to properly take care of it. He takes the time to look over every detail of the room, trying to commit it to memory. Quackity’s not sure why, but he has these intrusive thoughts that he’ll never have the chance to be here again. It’s so cozy and it smells like vanilla candles. Quackity can’t remember a time when he’s felt like this before. Quackity also finally gets a better look at the photos and most of them are understandably of Sapnap and Karl. But some of them have two other older men and a younger boy that Sapnap lets Quackity know are his parents, Bad and Skeppy and his younger brother, Eryn. As Sapnap talks lovingly about his parents, they sound like a cute couple. He talks about how Bad taught him cooking and self defense. And how Skeppy spoiled him rotten, giving him sweets behind Bad’s back and has always been a non-judgemental listening ear for Sapnap to talk to. And Eryn's currently living with Tommy while he's finishing his schooling since his dads travel so much. “Honestly they’re really goofy, but sweet. You’d like them,” Karl adds. Quackity doesn’t know much about Karl’s parents, but during a conversation at Kinoko, they bonded over their estranged families. “Yeah,” Quackity forces a chuckle. The tempting idea of a healthy family dynamic while he’s been in the best romantic relationship of his life (even if parts of it are fake), makes him want to meet Sapnap’s parents. But he’s not that delusional. There’s a good chance he’ll feel completely guilty lying to them. Sure the wedding guests were one thing, but the sweet unsuspecting parents of Sapnap is another. The wedding guests would have to deal with them for one day, Sapnap’s dads would want to stay involved. They’ll call them, come over for holidays, pester them about grand-kids. Fuck, why did that sound kind of nice, in the best terrible way. Sapnap says that they’ve been hiding the wedding and his dads are always traveling and stay off the internet for the most part, so there’s a super low chance they’ll hear anything. It’s for the better, but it does bum Quackity out a little. They tour Quackity around the rest of the ground floor and Sapnap shows off his extensive and not at all scary knife collection. Karl, on the other hand, shows him a bookshelf full of his favorite stories. Just with those two things, it makes their house more personal than Quackity’s own home has ever been. “Okay there’s not much up here other than the bedrooms and the bathroom,” Sapnap says as they stand by the bottom of the stairs. “You good to walk up?” Quackity hasn’t walked much on his ankle, especially up stairs, but he’ll lean on the banister and be fine. “Yeah, if it makes you feel better, you can stand behind me,” Quackity teases him. But Sapnap lights up, happy he can keep Quackity safe while he takes his time up the wooden stairs. When they get to the second floor, Karl points out the three separate bedrooms to him. “That one’s our room, then there’s the guest room,” Karl pauses, thinking maybe. “And uh, that room we just use for storage.” The room Karl is referring to is the farthest from the stairs. It’s an unassuming door, just like the ones before it, and yet, Karl is still staring at it, like there’s more on his mind. “It’s fine Karl, we might as well tell him about George,” Sapnap speaks up. George. Sapnap brings the name up like a ghost, or maybe a malicious spirit ready to attack if you speak it too many times. “George used to live with us, but he got really sick and now he lives in a long term care facility.” Sapnap speaks plainly and without any obvious signs of anxiety. “He’s my best friend.” Quackity’s not sure how to respond to this sudden information. “I’m really sorry to hear that Sapnap.” “It’s okay, it’s not like he’s dead or something. The doctor said that he’s probably going to live a long time and I still visit,” Sapnap is still talking so casually. But it’s about someone he loves and cares about. Quackity imagines that the three of them hung out all the time and now that he doesn't live here any more, it must have hurt. It probably still hurts. Sure George isn’t dead, but at times it might feel that way. “I kind of hoped he’d move in with us again someday. But it is what it is,” Sapnap moves on, understandably. The importance of the house dangles in the short but deafening silence. “Did you guys want to watch a movie or something?” Karl says, trying to move on too. Sapnap and Quackity agree and they gather a bunch of soft blankets and put on a random action film that Quackity couldn’t pay much attention to. There’s a part of him that’s thinking about what other important things that Sapnap and Karl haven’t told him about. Not that Quackity wants to pry, but he wants to know everything about them. Their happiest days, their worst days, and everything in between, Quackity wants to hear it all. At the same time, it’s not like Quackity’s told them about his traumatic shit, like Schlatt. Not that there’s much to say. Unfortunately their marriage was short, messy, and loud. A lot of people already knew their business. And then the other part of his brain is enjoying a bunch of buff men running from explosions. “Do you want to stay over?” Karl asks, but Quackity can tell from the smirk on his face, that he already knows the answer. Maybe Quackity would do a little back and forth with him, pretending he had to go, but he’s tired and he wants to cuddle with his fiances in their bed. “That sounds alright to me.” “Yay! Let me get some of my pjs for you to wear.” Karl hops on his feet and rushes to go upstairs. “Wait Karl hold on,” Sapnap gets up too. “I want Quackity to wear my clothes!” He runs after Karl and Quackity is left in the pile of blankets laughing to himself. He takes his time joining the two of them upstairs and walks in the open door of their bedroom. The room is of course smaller than his, but it’s well lived in and relatively clean. Only a few articles of clothing litter the floor. It’s much more organized than what Quackity’s used to in his own home. He sits on the bed as he eavesdrops on Karl and Sapnap bickering in their walk-in closet. “Okay, okay. Fine Karl,” Sapnap comes out first with a shirt and it’s of course in Quackity’s favorite color, blue. “Thank you,” Karl huffs and he has a pair of soft looking pants that have a bunch of gaming controllers printed all over them. “Sorry for the wait Q,” Sapnap and Karl hand him the clothes to change into. It’s a sweet amusing gesture. Quackity can’t keep his elation all the way in and a smile grows on his face. Quackity goes to the bathroom, changes, and looks at himself in the mirror. The shirt’s too big, but it’s good for sleeping in and the pants pool at his feet from Karl’s longer legs. It’s not going to win any fashion awards, but it’s comfortable. More importantly, it feels like a big hug from Sapnap’s smokey scent on the shirt and the sugary vanilla that Quackity usually smells on Karl is there too. It shouldn’t mix well, but god, Quackity can’t enough of it. If he didn’t know that Karl and Sapnap were waiting in the next room, he’d stay under this spell a little longer. But he steps back into the room and when Karl sees Quackity, he responds with a long drawn out “aw!” Sapnap, with soft pink cheeks, gives Quackity a thumbs up. “Ready for bed,” Quackity says, crawling under the covers. Usually Sapnap slept in the middle with him being the warmest and all, but this time, Karl and Sapnap lay on each side of him and Quackity’s not going to complain about that. Karl wraps his arm around Quackity’s waist and lays his head on his chest. Sapnap snuggles close to Quackity too. Before meeting these two, Quackity couldn’t exactly imagine himself invested in cuddling, sure he wanted to, but that was more or less in theory. All his past relationships sucked and were so devoid of any genuine and gentle physical touch, that if there was any, it would be enough to make Quackity think it could save the whole relationship. But now, after only a few days of sleeping in the same bed, it’s made Quackity addicted to cuddling. He’s not sure if he could ever fall asleep by himself now. “Good night Quackity,” Karl whispers sweetly. “Good night Sapnap.” “Night Q, Karl,” Sapnap yawns. And Quackity thinks this might be the best time to let them know how he feels. But what’s the best way to even do it? He of course went through a few ideas of expressing his emotions in his mind. Including just saying outright that he’s in love with them or maybe keeping it cute as saying he likes them a lot, or he could ask how they felt about getting married for real. Okay, maybe that last one would be moving too fast. “Quackity? You already asleep?” Karl asks. “Uh no.” Quackity pauses. Gathers his thoughts as best as possible and just decides to speak from the heart. How badly could he fuck it up? “I just uh, wanted to say how much you two mean to me. And that the both of you are one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I know this was a fake thing in the beginning, but I wanted to let you know that this isn’t fake for me anymore.” Quackity tries to keep his cool confident facade, but it fades as he lays all his cards out in front of Karl and Sapnap. “Quackity!” Karl drapes his whole body over Quackity to embrace him. “I love you.” Quackity’s heart leaps out of his chest. He feels faint. He must be dreaming. In fact, he’s pretty sure he’s had this dream before. “Sorry, is it alright that I said that,” Karl pulls himself up and leans over Quackity’s face, he’s smiling, but his voice is shaking. Maybe Quackity should feel a bit bad, but instead he can’t keep from thinking how hot it is and that he wants to kiss the fuck out of him. “Yeah, I-I, me too,” Quackity wants to say those three words. He really does, but not now. “Really?” “Yeah, for a long time,” Quackity tells him. He wants to tell him the whole story. The story about by chance, he passed by the bookstore he’s seen so many times, but on that day, through the window, he saw the most beautiful man in the world. Only to have the best conversation about their favorite gay YA novel. “Me too,” Karl's face relaxes and there is nothing but love in his voice and eyes. How did Quackity end up so lucky? Was he about to die? To be fair, he still hasn’t proven that he’s not in a dream. “Sapnap and me both liked you for a while too,” Karl admits. Which is jaw dropping. Both of them? Quackity turns his head to the side and sees Sapnap quietly observing them. “It’s true,” Sapnap says. “Why didn’t you say something before?” Quackity asks. “Didn’t think you’d respond well to having an engaged couple tell you that they wanted to date you.” Quackity thinks about what he would have done if Sapnap and Karl had confessed. To be honest, he might have gone along with it, just to be with Karl. And then Sapnap’s unrelenting caring nature would have broken him down. So they would have ended up in the same place. All in bed together, like the way it’s always meant to be. “I think we would have worked it out,” Quackity says. Both Sapnap and Karl laugh at him though, in disbelief. “I’m telling you, we would have,” Quackity asserts. “I don’t know about that, but we’re good now. Right?” Karl says, still giggling. Quackity wants to fight back some more, but also he has a good feeling things are gonna get a lot hotter in a few moments and he doesn’t want to ruin that. Maybe later he’ll playfully debate with them about it. “I love you Quackity,” Sapnap takes Quackity’s hand in his and brings it to his lips. “I do too.” Quackity wants to reach out and kiss Sapnap’s face, but Karl’s still holding him hostage, boxing him in with his arms. Not that he’s complaining. And he’s really not complaining when Karl takes the first move to press his lips on Quackity’s. And while he’s drowning, heart beating too fast, he can hear Sapnap next to him. “Karl,” he groans. The two of them part from the kiss just as quickly as it starts. “Sorry, sorry I stole your moment, but he was just too cute. I couldn’t help it,” Karl moves back to Quackity side, making room for Sapnap to ravish him with kisses. Or at least that’s what Quackity hopes is the plan. “Q, come here,” Sapnap gently turns Quackity’s face towards him again to give him exactly what he’s needing. Their kiss feels like just the beginning of not just this night, but hopefully the real start of them. The three of them make the best use of the night, kissing and saying ‘I love you’, maybe too many times. But Quackity doesn’t know if it is or even cares. Getting the proper amount of sleep is for losers and people who don’t have fiances to kiss until the sun comes up. ’I can't stop the loneliness’ ’Koraekirezu kanashimi ga tomaranai’ Quackity starts up the car again and has a big exhale out. Finally, some good music. He starts pulling back on the road, no longer tormented by preachy love songs telling him what to do and how to feel. Quackity’s the driver of his own journey now, who cares about love. “Hey Quackity.” “Ah!” Quackity slams the breaks, luckily still out on an empty, car-less road. A chill runs down Quackity’s spine when he recognizes that voice. But it can’t be. It literally couldn’t be him. He’s dead. Quackity saw him die with his own eyes. Quackity saw the doctors remove his heart. Quackity saw his body put into the ground. But when Quackity flicks his eyes up to the mirror pointing back to his seats, sure as fuck, it’s him. “Hey pumpkin,” Schlatt says behind him. And Quackity chooses to ignore him. Whatever this is, a ghost or a terrible stress induced hallucination isn’t worth paying attention to. But he can feel the prickling start of sweat forming on his forehead. “Oh okay, you're not going to answer. Well I know you can hear me,” Schlatt is wearing the same perfectly tailored black suit he always wore. In fact, he looks exactly like the last day Quackity saw him alive. Except for the pale gray skin, this can’t be anyone but Schlatt. “Where are we going by the way?” Quackity stays focused to getting back on the road and turns the music up, trying to drown out everything else. “Look sugar plum, I understand you're not going to speak, but listen. I want you to know I support you in this.” In what? Quackity thinks. Being a terrible person and coward. Although Quackity knows Schlatt, so that’s probably not wrong. He’s becoming more like Schlatt by the second. Maybe that’s why his mind created this terrible vision. “Remember what Bad and Skeppy said about you and me. I know it hurts to hear, but were they wrong?” Quackity grits his teeth and swallows his will to scream at ghost Schlatt. He’s right though and Quackity can’t fault Schlatt for that. “Hey uh Quackity, I have something I need to tell you.” Sapnap’s standing in front of him, while they wait for Charlie and Foolish to get here and finally start on this pavilion. He looks reluctant to speak, and Quackity thinks Sapnap must have broken something again. “What happened? Did you knock over another vase?” Quackity asks. It’s not a big deal though, he’ll just buy another. “No, no.” “Then what. Is it another George text?” Ever since Sapnap told him about George, he’s been showing him the little conversations they have (with George knowing of course) and the stupid jokes they’d tell each other. Sapnap even said George wanted to meet Quackity some time soon. George knows about the fake wedding, but also that the relationship they have now is real and he wants to know the guy Sapnap and Karl fell for. “No, it’s uh. Let me just say it. I accidentally told Bad and Skeppy that we’re getting married. And now they’re coming to the wedding,” he frantically blurts out. Quackity just sighs. He already knew this was a possibility “It’s fine Sap,” Quackity pats his shoulder. “It’s not a big deal, so don’t worry about it. Other than finding them a room it should be fine.” “They’re also coming home early from their trip and want us to have dinner at their house,” Sapnap adds. Okay, that actually might be bad. They’ll make it work though. It’s not like they’re not in love with each other. What’s the worst that could happen? “I don’t know. That sounds kind of fun,” Quackity smiles, but Sapnap still looks confused and worried. “You sure you really want to go? I can make up an excuse.” “Really. Plus you hyped them up so much, I don’t see why not.” Sapnap looks over Quackity, maybe trying to find if he’s hiding his feelings. But this time he’s not. If anything, he’s hiding his hopes of wanting to be on good terms with Sapnap’s dads. He wants Bad and Skeppy to like him and maybe kind of sort of possibly think of him as their son. He definitely won’t say that part aloud. And that’s how Quackity finds himself again at a home that’s not his, nervously playing with the pasta on his plate, slowly eating because he's not sure if his anxious stomach can handle it. It tastes really good though and Quackity makes sure to compliment Bad’s cooking. “It’s pretty fucking hot that you can cook so well.” Is Quackity’s attempt at a normal compliment. So. Quackity is having the small problem of flirting by accident. He doesn’t mean to, but it’s like fight or flirt. He can hear Karl stifling a laugh while Quackity makes the most awkward eye contact of his life with Bad, who still hasn’t responded, not even calling out his cursing like he’s done all night, and just blinks at him. “Uh, that came out wrong. I meant the pasta’s hot in temperature which makes it taste so good,” Quackity shoves a fork full of food in his mouth to shut himself up, at least for a second. So far this might be the worst reflex flirt he’s had tonight. This is worse than when Quackity asked Bad out on a date when he first introduced himself. “Oh, okay. Thank you Quackity,” Bad’s smile is beaming, believing the cover up. His smile reminds Quackity of Sapnap’s and he wishes that was reassuring enough to calm him down. “I can’t cook for shit, so I’m glad Bad’s around,” Skeppy says. Quackity’s not sure why, but he’s not nearly as nervous around Sapnap’s other dad. Maybe it’s because Skeppy’s more laid back and doesn’t call him out for cursing like he's his high school teacher. “Skeppy! Please don’t curse at the dinner table,” Bad predictably says. “Right, sorry.” Skeppy must be so used to this by now, it doesn’t faze him. Quackity, on the other hand, is still desperate to get on their good side. Skeppy he’s not too worried about at this point into the visit. According to Sapnap, Skeppy taught him to curse to freak Bad out when he was just a little kid. So that made Skeppy cool in Quackity's book. “Well you told us how you all met, but Quackity, I had a few questions for you,” Bad says. When Bad asked about it early into dinner, Karl took the reins, expertly weaving lies and truths into a believable meet cute story at Kinoko and an engagement epilogue that included finding the drawn out blueprints for their wedding ceremony location as the way Quackity proposed. A part of him wishes it had been that straightforward and that they avoided all the uncertainty in feelings and one sided love that Quackity had been suffering with for so long. But at the same time, Quackity wants to believe this all happened for a reason and at the end of the day, he does have Karl and Sapnap for real, so who cares. “Shoot,” Quackity winks. And immediately wants to apologize, but doesn’t get the chance to before Bad springs a question on to him. “Well, I was doing some research about Las Nevadas and your background and I found something interesting.” Quackity prepares himself for what Bad is going to bring up. It’s not like he has much to hide. There’s probably a few police reports on Las Nevadas, but it was nothing major or something you wouldn’t see at any other resort. “I saw that you were married to J Schlatt, before he passed away of course.” Quackity tenses up and his mind goes blank. “Dad!” Sapnap stands up, bumping the table. “What the fuck? Don’t answer that Quackity.” He wants to be angry too, blow up in a slurry of curses and insults, but Quackity knows Schlatt too well and understands why Bad would mention his dead husband. Quackity might be an asshole, but in retrospect, he’s not sure if Schlatt’s ever loved anything other than himself. In their marriage, Quackity poured everything into that relationship until he was empty and all he had left for it was a shitty husband and a shot up self esteem. After he died of a heart attack, Quackity slowly but surely came to realize the only good thing Schlatt ever did for Quackity was die and leave him with a shit ton of money. And sure the scars were deep, but time heals all wounds and Las Nevadas served as the perfect therapy as Quackity finally had the chance to truly make something for him by him. “Sapnap, it’s fine,” Quackity takes Sapnap’s hand. His eyes soften at the action, but not by much. Sapnap still looks more than ready to continue fighting. And that does bring a lot of comfort to Quackity. “Quackity…” Sapnap says achingly soft. And Karl takes Quackity’s other hand. His smile looks pained too. They both have heard everything about Schlatt and are already too familiar with his antics. The subject of trauma came up a lot more naturally than it has at this moment. Before, Quackity kept it streamlined, listing the kind of bullshit he went through with Schlatt. The night he told Karl and Sapnap everything, ended with warm tea and cuddles. And he was glad he told them and felt the same way as when he told Charlie years ago. Obviously this with Bad is different. He wants to know that Quackity’s not some sort of criminal that will make two people he cares about mysteriously die from a heart attack. This, unfortunately, is not Quackity’s first rodeo. “He was my shitty husband who died because he drank too much. I was young and dumb when I married him.” Quackity interrupts Bad and Skeppy yelling whispers at each other, like the rest of them couldn’t make out what they were actually saying. “Honestly I didn't think I’d ever want to fall in love again, let alone get married, but Sapnap and Karl mean the world to me. And I'd do anything for them.” He’s not sure that’ll be enough for Bad, but Quackity doesn’t care. He has everything he needs, he doesn’t need Bad’s approval, even if he wants it. “I…see.” Bad speaks slowly, but calmly. “I’m sorry I brought up Schlatt so suddenly. That wasn’t fair of me. I don’t know you well, but with how much my son and Karl care for you, I’d really like to. If you’re willing of course.” “Yeah, I’d like that too,” Quackity smiles, but he’s also thinking about the wedding again. Other than that small Schlatt sized hiccup, the rest of the night goes smoothly. Apparently the thought of Schlatt kept the flirts from coming out of Quackity’s mouth too. Bad and Skeppy tell stories about Sapnap and bring out the endless photo albums of him as a little baby and kid. George and Karl are also in a lot of them. And there’s pictures of Eryn too. Quackity’s smiling, but the guilt is creeping up. And no, it’s not over something stupid like Schlatt. But every time the wedding is brought up, he can’t stop himself from thinking about how they’re fooling Bad and Skeppy. Bad still might have his suspicions about Quackity, but he loves Sapnap and Karl. Maybe they could let them into the secret like George. But no, because Bad would definitely hate him for that. Ugh. Quackity thinks to himself he'll bring it up with Sapnap and Karl on the ride home. Except, when they get in the car, after goodbye hugs, the two of them seem to catch wedding fever from talking about it all night. Sapnap asks Quackity when the final suit fitting is and Karl wants to know if they can have a date at the restaurant catering the wedding. Quackity is hit with the understanding there’s no way to stop the wedding now. And when they’re sleeping together, piled in Quackity’s bed, for the first time he doesn’t feel comforted with them by his side. He’s scared. But maybe it’s just cold feet. Quackity will push through and by tomorrow, surely things will feel better. No wait. Schlatt’s decided to shut up for a bit and is now only humming to the music as Quackity continues to drive. Thinking back, yes the conversation with Bad was uncomfortable, but they ended up working it out. Maybe Bad and Skeppy don’t hate him. They were understandably wary of the new sudden guy in their son’s and his fiance’s life, but at the end of their first meeting, things had smoothed out. More importantly, this ghost Schlatt lied. Just like the real Schlatt and Quackity can’t help but cackle at that. What the fuck is this even? Some sort of fucked up version of a Christmas Carol, but for his wedding? He prays that no other ghosts are planning to visit while he’s driving or he’ll end up in a car accident. “Honey, do you know where we're headed to yet?” Schlatt unfortunately decides to speak again. And unfortunately it’s a good question. But do you need to know your destination if you’re running away? It’s just a week before the wedding and Sapnap and Karl are more excited than ever. While Karl’s normal is always high energy for even mundane tasks, Sapnap won’t stop telling Quackity he can’t wait for the ceremony. And even more, George was able to get clearance from the hospital to attend the wedding which added to Sapnap’s excitement. It had been a while since they had hung out in person. “Quackity, look at the lilies!” Sapnap says, while they pass by the nearly completed wedding pavilion. In the little pond surrounding it, the flowers are already blooming in reds, purples, and blues. Their theme colors. “Yeah, they’re really pretty,” Quackity stares as the lilies float and gently move in the breeze. “Really pretty,” Sapnap says, but he’s no longer looking at the flowers as he looks directly into Quackity’s eyes. Quackity giggles. “Are you serious right now? That’s so fucking cliche.” He gives Sapnap a pathetic shove that doesn’t even manage to move Sapnap's sturdy body. “What? It’s true though. You’re very pretty and so is Karl. My two pretty fiances.” He smiles, so proud of this fact. “Well, you make pretty fiance number three.” Sapnap responds by giving him a tight hug and a quick kiss on the head. “I love you,” he murmurs, head still leaning against Quackity’s. “Me too,” but Quackity feels his heart rotting from the inside out. It wants to tell Sapnap and Karl that he needs to call the wedding off. That he can’t keep lying like this anymore. The truth is that he cares for the people in his life now. He doesn’t want to fuck up all the relationships that he’s taken the time to mend in these past weeks. At the same time, he doesn’t want to hurt the two of them by canceling everything. So he pushes all the thoughts to the back of his mind to be dealt with later. After all, they have a suit fitting to attend. When the three of them go to Eret’s, Quackity takes the time to ask about Fundy, fully because he’s interested in the guy’s well being, and not because Quackity needs a distraction from the wedding looming over his every move and thought. How soon is the wedding again? Quackity can’t help but think. Oh fucking christ, it’s this Friday. Apparently Fundy is chilling at Eret’s place for now while he recovers from roughing it for so long. He’s doing better, according to Eret, and is even sleeping pretty well. Wilbur and Fundy have talked a few times since he moved in, but there’s a long way to go before their relationship can be mended. It does make Quackity happy that Fundy’s life seems to be back on track. “Okay Quackity, your turn,” Eret beckons him over to the second room. Karl comes out of the room too, bouncy and excited about how his suit has turned out. Even though their wedding isn’t the most traditional ceremony, they were still keeping up those superstitious traditions like how they’re not allowed to see each other's suits before the wedding. It’s not like any of them are blushing brides wearing a big puffy wedding dress, but Quackity’s sinking heart needs to avoid as much unlucky shit as possible. The room they walk into has a huge mirror in the front and a door leading to the changing area in the back. Eret hands him the suit and Quackity smiles his perfectly fake smile and thanks him before putting it on. As he does, he refuses to look directly at himself in the mirror and fears he might have a panic attack at the sight. He shouldn't be doing this. He should be talking to Karl and Sapnap about canceling the wedding. Maybe they can just have a normal party instead. They can find some sort of excuse once his head’s out of a tailspin. A clear headed Quackity could have it all make sense. They can even still use the suits Quackity thinks, justifying his reason for still being here. “Quackity, I know we’ve had our ups and downs, but I’m really happy for you,” Eret says as they make last minute adjustments to his suit. “Thanks, I’ve been the happiest I’ve felt in years,” Quackity says, not lying. Sure the wedding is causing him to panic, but when he thinks about the love that he has for Karl and Sapnap, his heart calms and his body feels warm and comforted just by the thought alone. “It's a bit surprising it took me getting married to do it, but I’m glad we don’t have to avoid each other anymore,” Quackity adds. Eret laughs at that, hopefully not picking up on how Quackity’s back to panicking about the wedding. When they're done, Quackity returns to the main lobby, and Karl’s sitting there with a big smile on his face that makes Quackity’s heart skip a beat. Sapnap had to head out early when Foolish needed help to finish building the pavilion in order for it to be completed in the next two days. But the three of them had a great lunch earlier at the fancy restaurant catering their wedding as requested by Karl. They thank Eret for their hard work and Eret let’s them know they’ll be at Las Nevadas the morning of the wedding to drop off the suits. Quackity just nods like everything’s perfectly fine. “I don’t wanna go back to Kinoko, I wanna hang out with my fiances,” Karl pouts, as he hangs on his arm. “Who’s going to stop you from playing hooky? You're your own boss.” “Yeah, but I got a new shipment today and I have to put everything away,” Karl explains. And knowing how much Karl lacks in organization skills (he’s seen the mess that’s Kinoko’s storage room), Quackity understands. “Alright. Did you want me to walk you back to Kinoko?” Quackity offers. Karl nods in response and they walk hand in hand to the bookstore. “I love you Quackity,” Karl says, out of the blue. Quackity’s not used to this. In his past relationships, even if they were at the ‘in love’ stage, speaking about love was never as frequent as with Karl and Sapnap. And he really likes it. He likes that the moment that he has a tingling of doubt, a simple ‘I love you’ takes all those worries away. “Me too.” Quackity just hopes he can get over his emotional constipation to say it aloud too. And Karl and Sapnap are angels with their patience, never once asking why he’s never fully said the three words. “I’m so excited about Friday Quackity and seeing all of us in our suits. Everyone’s going to be so jealous of how handsome and amazing we are,” Karl smirks. And Quackity stays mute. He wants to spill everything and break down to Karl about all his fears and anxieties, but Quackity’s spent too long hiding, honing his acting skills too well. So he laughs instead, agreeing with him. Quackity goes back to Las Nevadas, and works with Charlie as they organize all the permits for Las Nevadas, making sure they’ve crossed all the t’s and dotted all of the i’s. It’s separate from the ceremony preparations that he’s shoved onto Foolish. He’s not sure if he can handle seeing anymore red, purple, and blue. At least Charlie’s in such a good mood after coming back from his work trip. When Quackity told Charlie that he and Sapnap tried to use his checklists and even filed them, he was ecstatic, even considering the half destroyed state the office was still in. “By the way Charlie, thanks for everything. I don’t think Las Nevadas would still be standing without you,” Quackity tells him. Charlie needed to know how much he cares for him. “Of course Quackity! What are friends for?” Charlie smiles. “We’re in this together, Quackity.” “Yeah, succeed or fail, we’ll have each other.” Quackity can’t keep from thinking how much he loves Charlie. Without him, Quackity would have completely lost his mind. Charlie is better than any family he’s ever had and Quackity will be forever grateful for that. He just wishes they had found each other sooner. The next few days fly by filled with wedding plans, errands in town, and running into former employees and friends. He talked to Sam, someone who was with Las Nevadas from the beginning and Quackity had seen him at the bakery. Punz and Purpled, other former employees of his, he saw hanging out with each other by the flower shop. Quackity groveled the best he could, letting them know that he understood how much of an asshole he had been to them. It was a little awkward, but they accepted his apology and even said they were excited for the wedding and congratulated him. He wishes he was feeling half as positive about the wedding as everyone who Quackity came across. Then, it’s Thursday, the day before the wedding and he’s standing in front of the pavilion, fully built and ready for tomorrow. Foolish is there, waiting for verbal approval from them. ”But would you tell me if something was wrong?” Quackity remembers what Sapnap asked. Foolish takes pictures of Quackity, Sapnap, and Karl standing under the cover of the impeccably made wooden structure and Quackity's heart is beating through his throat. He can’t look at anything other than the floor and directly into the phone that’s in Foolish’s hand. Quackity stands in the middle while Sapnap and Karl wrap their arms around his waist and Quackity does the same. Their touch burns through his clothes, threatening to leave a mark he can never escape from. He can’t breathe. He’s breathing too much. The touch that he felt so much comfort from is killing him. And there’s a numb feeling that drapes over his body and expressions. Something that seems to be working too well as not a single person has shown a sign that they notice something’s wrong with him. Quackity smiles politely, he kisses them sweetly for another photo, and keeps his feelings buried so deep, he can’t recognize them himself. After Karl takes one last photo as a selfie so that Charlie and Foolish can be in it too, they head off in their separate directions for a good night’s sleep before tomorrow’s big day. They thought about doing some sort of bachelor party, but Quackity lies, saying that he isn’t interested in going to a strip club and wants a good rest. He plays it off even further and says that they should visit one together in the future. Karl and Sapnap giggle at him. Karl’s going back to his house and Sapnap is going to his dads' because according to them, it wouldn’t be fair if they don’t fall asleep together. It almost brings Quackity to tears, but more importantly, it makes him feel hopeful that after this terrible wedding, he’d be fine again. And one day, they can get married for real and they can do this all over properly. It’s a nice daydream and Quackity will hold on to it as long as he can and prays it’ll get him through tomorrow. “Love you Q,” Karl says with a kiss. “I love you,” Sapnap gives him a kiss too. “Me too. Both of you,” Quackity tells them. It’s the last chance he has to suggest they cancel, but he can’t bring himself to do it. They’re too far deep into the plan and now that they’re away from any wedding specific stuff, Quackity’s feeling better. Their kisses do wonders for his anxiety and he wants them to stay, quietly enjoying each other’s presence. But he can’t even manage to say that. Quackity thanks Foolish and Charlie for their hard work especially with today being like a soft opening as the guests are checking into the Las Nevadas hotel. And that part at least pulls positive thoughts out of Quackity’s mind. He goes back home to his empty suite, takes a shower, and lies in bed struggling to fall asleep. But he thinks about his lovers and hugs his pillow tight, pretending he is cuddling with them and sleep slowly but surely washes over him. Quackity wakes up to his annoying and cheery alarm that rings out from his phone. He promptly turns the noise off and sits up in bed. My weddings today And Quackity’s feeling…good? It surprises Quackity so much that he’s not dying to get this all over with, that he goes over all his worries. Like he’s drinking poison, Quackity tries to guilt trip himself by thinking about lying to Bad and Skeppy, Tubbo, Fundy, Foolish, and all the other people he’s made up with in the past few weeks. But even then, he still feels fine. In fact, Quackity’s excited. If the three of them are in love, basically live with each other, and are planning a future together, what difference does it make if the papers are fake. And then Quackity does something he hasn’t done in a really long time. He fully opens the blackout curtains in his room. The light pierces through, blinding him for a moment, and then he’s hit with everything. It’s still early in the morning and there’s already a few people walking around and all of Las Nevadas is covered in their wedding colors. Quackity can’t help but smile and think how great everything has turned out. He does shut the curtains again though because while the clear weather is great for a wedding, it’s too early for the bright light of the sun. Quackity checks his phone and has a couple messages from both Foolish and Charlie to call them when he wakes up. He does that and luckily it’s nothing immediate. They ask a few clarifying questions about where things should go and what to do with them. Normal working stuff. He tells them he doesn’t really care where the cake is, as long as ants don’t get to it and that he’ll be at the hotel in about an hour. There’s a handful of unread messages in Karl’s and Sapnap’s group chat that he has with them and they’re full of I love you’s and excessive heart emojis that fill him with stupid amounts of happiness that makes him think fuck it. And Quackity types out ‘I love you’ and hits send before he can think about it. He might not have the confidence to say it, but typing it is a good start. It’s only a few seconds after the message, a bunch of hearts fly through the chat and Quackity giggles to himself. Both Karl and Sapnap demand to speak to him over the phone. “That I love you was for me right?” Karl asks. “No it was for me. Tell him Quackity!” Sapnap says. It’s silly the way they jokingly argue and most importantly it makes Quackity feel loved. “It was for both of you dumbasses,” “But you were saying it to me first,” Karl insists. Quackity just lets them bicker to themselves before they understandably have to get ready. And get married. They both say their goodbyes and I love you’s and after a ‘me too' from Quackity, he’s back to sitting on his bed, alone but feeling grateful for everything. It’s not much longer before he heads to the hotel with Charlie letting him know that Eret’s dropped off the suits. They converted conference rooms for the three of them to get dressed and ready for the ceremony. Sure Quackity could have stayed in his suite, but he liked the idea of them all being under the same roof. When he gets to the lobby, a few guests say hi and ask how Quackity’s feeling. He's able to tell the truth, that he's a bit nervous, but overall ready to get married. And as he’s going up the glass elevator, he sees a familiar person with chocolate locks and a bright block colored hoodie making his way through the hotel doors. At first Quackity doesn’t think Karl will see him at all and is content smiling to himself as he simply observes, wondering what’s on Karl’s mind. But like he feels Quackity nearby, Karl looks up to the elevator and his eyes light up when he sees Quackity. He waves frantically and blows him a kiss. Quackity gestures to catch it and after makes a heart with his hands. It looks like Karl’s mouthing the words ‘I love you’, but now he’s already at his floor and can barely see him from the lobby. Quackity waves back anyway and leaves to go to the conference room. Even though it does pain him a little when he turns around. When he gets into the room, there’s a standing mirror with his suit hanging on it. Quackity strokes the fabric and while he’s not the religious type, he thanks god that he’s come back around to the wedding. It was a good idea from the beginning, he reminds himself. Not only is Las Nevadas full of people on opening day, but he got two lovers out of it. Quackity’s not sure how, but he’s become the luckiest person on the planet. Once he’s changed he waits for Charlie to knock on the door and they talk about current logistics. “So once everyone’s seated, You, Sapnap and Karl will walk up together, we’ll do the vows and then party time!” Charlie tells him. “Sounds like a plan,” Quackity nods. He’s still feeling good, regrets far away from his mind, but he is itching for something to calm what nerves he does have. “Hey Charlie, I wanna grab something from my car really quickly. It'll be like ten minutes. Do we have time for that?” Charlie looks at his watch and back at his clipboard. “Sure Quackity! We have quite a bit of time before the start of the ceremony.” “Cool. Just text or call if you need something before I get back,” Quackity says, before heading out. He chooses to go down the stairs and out one of the side doors of the hotel, not exactly in the mood to talk to everyone. Quackity will have plenty of time to chat with people later. When he gets to his car, Quackity sits in the driver’s seat and opens the glove box pulling out a lighter and a mostly full box of cigarettes. He hasn’t smoked for a super long fucking time, around when he cut things off with Wilbur, but every now and then he still likes using the vice to gain some peace. Quackity lights the cigarette, turns the car battery on and rolls down the windows. He’s not sure if the nicotine is actually helping or if just having something to fixate on is doing something for him. But he simply sits in the car, not listening to music, only the light breeze and the far off noise of a properly crowded Las Nevadas to fill the air. He closes his eyes for a second, taking everything in and “Fuck it.” Quackity turns the key and the car’s engine roars to life. He scans the area, making sure no one’s around to see him and he promptly drives off. He needs to get out of here. “I thought you loved them,” ghost Schlatt says in Quackity’s back seat. “And yet you’re running away.” Quackity grits his teeth. This time, unfortunately, Schlatt’s telling the truth. Quackity thought he had beaten the fear of lying in front of everyone, but everything hit him all at once and he knew he couldn't think about it any further. And now that he’s driving to nowhere, with city pop music blasting, trying to cover all his guilt, he can at least admit it’s not much better. Should he go back? He’s only been gone for about half an hour. The ceremony doesn’t even start in another two. Quackity can be back, no one would be the wiser. “Why is that Angel?” God, Quackity really hated that fucking name. Too bad that’s too good of a question to ignore this time. What is he afraid of? Being judged by everyone? Quackity’s lived his whole life being judged. Maybe getting another scar on his eye? At least that’s a real reason. “Do you think that they don’t actually love you?” Schlatt says, looking at the rear view mirror. But Quackity knows that’s a complete lie. Schlatt needs to get better material than that to get under his skin. “In fact, maybe they hate you. They only stayed around your flatty patty ass for your money.” His tone is biting. And Quackity breathes in deep, keeping himself calm. Schlatt’s not worth losing anything over, especially his temper. “And I’m not just talking about Karl and Sapnap.” Quackity can see in his mirror that Schlatt’s moving closer to the front seat and leaning in. “Charlie too,” he whispers. Quackity whips his head just to tell Schlatt to shut up for a second, so he can get back to driving again, convinced that it doesn’t count as losing his temper. “Would you just-” But nothing is there. He continues to stare, looking around the car seats, expecting Schlatt to be hiding on the floor or something. Completely confused and sure he’s losing his mind, Quackity turns back around only to be face to face with not the open road, but instead many many trees. “Ah!” Quackity tries slamming on his breaks before running right off the road into the forest. Quackity feels the bumps of the uneven ground and flashes of green leaves and brown branches before everything goes black. He hears ringing, that must be coming from his head. Quackity doesn’t want to open his eyes, in fear he might come face to face with god or the devil, or even worse, Schlatt again. Even though Quackity can properly feel all his body parts, he’s scared he might have broken something. Maybe his leg is twisted up and bent and he can’t feel any pain yet because of the shock. But then as the ringing becomes a bit more clear, Quackity notices it. It’s his phone. He hadn’t recognized the melody at first. Quackity had only turned it off of vibrate this morning in case someone really needed to get a hold of him. Quackity still doesn’t want to open his eyes and be forced to view his consequences, but he pulls the phone out of his suit pocket, eyelids still shut tight. “Hello?” Quackity answers in a normal voice, like nothings wrong at all. “Quackity!” And it's Charlie’s voice that comes through the speaker. “Hey Charlie what’s up?” Quackity wonders if he passed out for a while and missed the ceremony. Or maybe it’s happening right now and everything's about to hit the fan. “Just wanted to let you know everything's running smoothly. The catering has just arrived and we're on schedule for the ceremony to start in about an hour,” Charlie says. Quackity sighs and thinks about how jealous he is that Charlie’s so carefree. And also not in a car accident on the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere. “Cool. Thanks for the update Charlie.” “And thank you Quackity for your hard work on the success of Las Nevadas’s opening.” Charlie says, leaving Quackity even more dazed. “Well it was only possible with your help.” Quackity would have given up a long time ago if Charlie wasn’t by his side. He didn’t even want to think about where his life would be without Charlie. “Maybe, but you’re smart Quackity. You would have figured something out.” Quackity laughs at that. “You need more than smarts to run a business. You need a workforce or at least people who put up with your assholery. And you’ve done more than that Charlie. You’re practically an angel for all this shit I’ve put you through.” “But Quackity, aren't you always saying everyone’s an asshole? In a way, if everyone’s an asshole, who is an asshole? So you shouldn't be so hard on yourself all the time. Or at least on your wedding day,” Charlie lectures him. Charlie has a bit of a point, maybe Quackity can turn off the self pity for today. Well, as long as his car can handle still driving. If he’s lucky it’s just a fender bender and he’ll be able to send the car off to the mechanics and pretend like this little joy ride ever happened. “And I’m sure Sapnap and Karl feel the same. They’re always saying nice things about you, even when you’re not in the room,” Charlie says. That’s embarrassing, Quackity thinks. They can’t even hide their love for him, even when he’s away. How pathetic and so relatable. “You know, I don’t think you ever saw it, but I was the third person on the original guest list.” Charlie reveals. “I love you Quackity and so do a lot of people. They might just not know it yet.” Quackity doesn’t believe what Charlie said, but he wants to. Somewhere along the way this stupid fake marriage plan turned into a redemption tour for all his fuck ups and now he’s reconnected with people he hasn’t seen for months, and on top of that, he has two real lovers now. “I love you too Charlie,” Quackity holds back the tears that threaten to come out, remembering he has a car accident to assess and then, he can get to crying. Quackity lies and says he’s in the bathroom right now, but he’ll talk to Charlie in a little bit and ends the call. He takes a deep breath in, and slowly opens his eyes. Instead of being face to face with a tree or staring out of a cracked window, he’s back to being parked on the side of the road, everything appearing in perfect shape. Quackity scrambles to unbuckle his seat belt and circles around his car, looking up and down for any damage that should be evident. Instead, it’s spotless and in perfect condition, just like when he left earlier before. He even checks the time, and sure enough, it’s only been thirty minutes since he left. Which then means, what the fuck happened? He must have fallen asleep. Had a shitty dream about Schlatt and the accident was all in his head. Just in case though, “Schlatt, if you can hear me, leave me the fuck alone. There are people who love me and I love them and you can’t hurt me anymore.” Quackity yells out on the empty road. “Fuck you, you piece of shit!” Quackity gets back in the car and drives back to Las Nevadas, a little more careful than normal. He doesn’t want to get in a real crash. He sneaks back up to the conference room and texts both Sapnap and Karl to come in as well. Quackity needs to see them and most importantly, talk to them. After a few minutes, they both come in with a hug and kiss for Quackity. Although Sapnap hesitates to kiss Quackity because of the ‘bad luck’, but Karl doesn’t seem to care at all and after seeing the two of them lock lips, it makes Sapnap feel ‘left out’ and goes back in for one too. The whole thing leaves Quackity’s stomach aching from laughing and feeling like an idiot that he thought he couldn’t speak to these idiots about his idiotic problems. The three of them sit down while Karl’s leg is wrapped around his, and also hangs off of Quackity’s arm. Sapnap chooses to be more polite and holds his hand. “I have something really important to tell you guys,” Quackity says. He’s ready to spill his guts, even if he’s a little scared. It’s fine though, a little bit of nerves keeps you on your toes. “What is it duckling?” “Tell us, tell us.” And Quackity does. He tells them everything from the beginning. About how he already was in love with Karl, but ‘hated’ that Sapnap kept them from ever being together. He tells them even after he fell for them both, he had fears that they didn’t love him the way that he loves them. And he tells them how in the past few days he’s been feeling guilty about lying to everyone he’s made a good effort to heal his broken relationships with. “And also your dads,” Quackity adds. “Oh Quackity,” Karl wraps his arms around him. “Thank you for telling us.” “Yeah,” Sapnap nods. “Quackity can I tell you something too,” Karl leans his head on Quackity’s shoulder. “Hm?” “I know you’re worried about deceiving everyone, but even if it came out today that it was fake, I don’t think people would care that much. They’d probably be a little confused and get a decent laugh out of it.” Quackity can’t wrap his mind around the idea of such a mild reaction. “How upset would you be if something like that happened to you?” Karl asks. And to be fair, he’s never thought about it. If Quackity found out he went to a fake wedding, as long as he still got free champagne and cake, he wouldn’t really care. If anything, it might make the whole thing more interesting and a fun story to tell people about. “I guess I wouldn’t be,” Quackity admits. “See, now no more worrying! Let’s get drunk, eat some good food, and dance a lot okay?” Karl says. So Quackity decides he’ll give it a go. Plus everyone is already here. What would be the point of continuing to worry, especially if he’s the only one doing it. “I’m glad I didn’t actually run away?” Quackity says without thinking. “Wait, what?” “Huh?” Quackity jovially tells them about how he drove off before without a plan and unsure if he was coming back. Sapnap and Karl don’t seem as amused though, but Quackity assures them it was probably cold feet or some shit and he’s feeling much better after talking to them. Karl sighs and Sapnap still has a frown on his face, but they agree to believe him, but also make him promise to tell them if he’s feeling anxious again. Before they go back to their respective rooms, Quackity reassures them again that he’s not planning on running away, and he’ll see them both at the altar. Once they’re in separate rooms again, they still text and send each other too many heart emojis and stupid pictures. The entire time, Quackity feels light as a feather. It’s the best he’s felt in the past few days, like when he first realized how in love he was. He doesn’t even feel nervous about being in front of everyone. Not that he tends to be anyway. Soon enough, there’s a knock on the door before Charlie opens it and asks if he’s “Ready to go?” Quackity nods and takes one last look in the mirror, fixing his hair, straightening his bow tie, and he pins on the little red, purple, blue flower lapel and smiles big when he sees the colors. “Ready.” The two of them walk down to the lobby and Karl and Sapnap are waiting there for him. He feels crazy that every time Quackity gets to hold their hands, he thinks he’s in heaven. Quackity takes the time to take a proper look at their perfect suits too. The fact that they’re all so handsome will make everyone ogle and jealous. “You didn’t run away again?” Karl jokes. “Of course not. I don’t think I could run away from you two handsome men if I wanted to.” “And to be clear, you don’t want to right?” Sapnap asks, with a nervous smile. “Yeah, I don’t.” And Quackity doesn’t think he’ll ever think about it again. They walk out the door and as they get closer to the small bridge over the water, surrounded by people sitting in white folding chairs, the wedding march tune gets louder. Without much contribution from Karl and Sapnap during the planning phase, they chose a lot of default wedding options. Quackity is starting to regret it, wishing this wedding had turned into something real, like what they have now. It’s alright though, if (or more like when) they actually get married, they’ll do just that. The crowd stands up as they make their way on the bridge with the music finally finished when Charlie and them take their place for the ceremony to begin. Quackity even sees George sitting in one of the front seats. “Everyone, we are gathered here today…” Quackity can’t pay attention to Charlie going through the standard ceremony words because he’s mesmerized by the two loves of his life. Luckily they seem to be making eyes at him too. Karl is giggling quietly to himself, bringing his hand up to his mouth. Sapnap's eyes look wet though, like he might cry at any moment. Quackity hopes he doesn't, because if he does, he’ll start crying too. “Stop the wedding!” a voice yells out from the seats. It snaps Quackity out of his love stupor and he looks over to see two people standing up and starting to walk up the aisle. “You were supposed to wait until he asked about the objections,” Punz sighs next to Purpled. “What the fuck is going on?” Quackity asks. Punz holds up a manila folder and waves it around for everyone to see. And then things start to click. “I’m sorry to announce, but this whole marriage is a scam,” Punz turns to face the crowd. “So you two were the ones who broke into my office?” Quackity asks, and he doesn’t understand why. He talked to Punz and Purpled just a few days ago and everything seemed fine. “Yeah, me and Punz couldn’t help thinking it was a little suspicious that up until recently, everyone hated you. And now, you have two fiances? Things just didn’t make sense.” Purpled adds. “So you thought that was reason enough to steal some useless pieces of paper?” Quackity’s really not sure what Punz and Purpled stole, but he’s not giving them an inch. “Pieces of paper that mention how this is all for show, if that’s what you mean by useless,” Punz pulls out one of the sheets. “I have copies to pass around, if anyone wants one.” Quackity’s now trying to figure out how to get these two to sit back down before it gets out of hand. He’s not in the mood to deal with this bullshit right now when this is supposed to be one of the best days of his life. “What do you want? We're in the middle of a wedding if you can’t tell.” Quackity hopes that he can talk to them later, maybe over cake. “Admit that this is all fake and that you're doing this for taxes or whatever dumbass reason and apologize. And don’t try to lie. Charlie’s not even ordained.” Quackity curses to himself, wishing he had done a better job at covering it up. He was never expecting anyone to scrutinize the ceremony like this. “Punz, Purpled can we just-” “Quackity come here for a second,” Sapnap interrupts him with a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry everyone, we need to talk for a moment.” There are murmurs from the crowd and the four of them walk behind the pavilion. “Look, I have an idea. Quackity.” Sapnap looks back and forth between him and Karl. “Let’s just get married for real.” “Huh?” Quackity’s mind is racing so fast, he can’t even comprehend what Sapnap’s suggesting. “Bad’s ordained. We can just say Charlie lost his voice and have my dad do the vows. We love each other for real, so why don’t we just make the wedding real too.” Sapnap explains the plan so plainly, it’s smacking Quackity silent. “Sounds like a plan to me,” Karl shrugs, he says just as plainly. “Are you guys serious? You’re fine with getting married just like that? I thought you said people wouldn’t care if they found out the wedding was fake?” “But we’re already here and in love. Why shouldn’t we just do this?” Sapnap gives Quackity that overly sweet puppy-dog look that he’s way too weak for and Quackity knows it’s over now. “Fuck it, fine. I guess we’re getting married!” Quackity throws up his hands in faux annoyance. “Yay!” Karl’s jumping up and down, clapping and cheering. “Go get your dad Sap and sorry Charlie. I guess you’re out of a job,” Quackity jokes. Luckily, Charlie doesn’t seem too upset, and Quackity still asks for him to stay standing with them. They make their way back up in front of the crowd while Purpled and Punz look like they’re getting ready to pass out copies of god knows what they stole from Quackity’s office. “Everyone, thank you for your patience. Charlie’s throat is sore, so we’re going to have Sapnap’s father, Bad, finish the vows for us. Bad’s also ordained, and you can google that by the way,” Quackity announces to the crowd. “Okay, so what the marriage is technically real? But it’s not like this still isn’t some sort of scheme.” Punz says. “What the fuck is that suppose to mean? We’re in love. Who the fuck cares?” Quackity responds. “Just let them get married, so we can get to the alcohol and gambling!” A voice yells out from the crowd and Quackity recognizes that it’s Connor, someone who’s really only an acquaintance to him, but Quackity’s glad he’s here now. And the rest of the crowd grows agitated too in the delays and yells similar things to move the wedding along. “Guys, this whole thing is a trick to get you here and waste your money away at slot machines!” Punz desperately tries to get the crowd on his side, but they’re not having any of it. And their yells only grow louder. “Fine, fine!” Punz finally backs down and him and Purpled return to their seats. “Okay we good to get back to the ceremony?” Quackity asks. The crowd all claps like a bad fake story in a social media post and the three of them go back to their positions, now facing Bad. “Quackity, do you take Sapnap and Karl-” “Actually Bad, is it alright if I say something first for my vows,” Quackity interrupts. Originally, they weren’t going to say anything out of the standard, but considering everything they’ve been through, even just counting today, Quackity can’t just keep it in. “Go ahead,” Bad nods. Quackity clears his throat. “I didn’t think I could fall in love again before I met you two and my life has become infinitely better. You’ve made me better and I-I love you both so much.” Quackity fumbles a bit, but finally he’s able to say the words aloud. It surprises Quackity even. “I love you Quackity. I love you Sapnap. Let’s be in love forever.” Karl says, with the biggest smile on his face and eyes full of hearts. “Karl and Quackity, I promise I’m going to do everything I can do to protect and love you both forever. I love you.” Sapnap has a few tears coming down his cheeks and it’s bad because now Quackity’s choking up. He needs Bad to speed up the rest of this shit fast so he can kiss his husbands. Charlie hands them the rings and they exchange them while Quackity pretends he’s not crying. “I now pronounce you husbands. You may now kiss the grooms!” Bad says. Quackity and Karl take turns planting a kiss on Sapnap first, face still a little damp from happy tears. Karl and Quackity kiss and as the crowd roars in applause once again, they are now officially married. Quackity now has not fake, but two real husbands he’s in love with and he doesn’t think he could be any happier than in this moment. They laugh, still a bit teary eyed, holding each other close for just a few more moments as if there is no crowd and it’s just the three of them, so in love and full in the understanding that they’ll never be alone again. As much as Quackity wants to get away now and make out with his husbands privately, there’s still the whole wanting his grand opening to go well and they have to cut the cake so people can eat it and other bullshit like that. So while they’re giving each other loving touches and kisses, they do all the rest of the wedding stuff as fast as possible, so everyone can get to eating at the buffet, drinking champagne, and most importantly, gambling. Instead of joining in, Quackity, Karl and Sapnap hold each other in the hotel ballroom, swaying to the music, never taking their eyes off of each other. “Can we go to Hawaii or something for a honeymoon?” Karl asks. They hadn’t planned one due to the original understanding that the wedding was fake, but now that by law all they needed was an ordained person to declare them as husbands, that’s all out the window now. Quackity’s not surprise these two men made him do something he would have never imagined in a thousand years he’d do. “Hmm, maybe.” Quackity will have to hire a few more people to make sure Las Nevadas runs properly without him. Charlie is the best second in command he could ever hope for, but if the resort stays as popular as he’s expecting, the place will need the added manpower. “Please Quackity, I wanna honeymoon with you and Karl,” Sapnap practically begs. And it’s so unfair because how is Quackity supposed to say no to that. “Alright, alright. We’ll do something,” Quackity says, giving in. When they’re sitting down, feeding each other food from their plates, still in their own world, “Quackity, can I speak to you for a moment,” Wilbur says walking up to their table. Sapnap’s big beautiful smile instantly turns into a grimace and Karl holds Quackity’s hand a little tighter. “Guys it’s fine, I’ll be right back” Quackity says softly. It’s cute how protective they are of him, but he can hold his own. “Yeah sure Wilbur.” A part of Quackity’s brain does regret getting up to walk outside with him instead of just staying comfortable with his husbands, but Quackity’s feeling extra charitable today, plus Wilbur looks more like a wet cat than normal, even dressed up in his suit. “What’s up?” he says, watching Wilbur light a cigarette. He offers Quackity a smoke too, but he passes. Quackity’s pretty sure his smoking days are behind him. “I’m sorry Quackity. About everything. I’m not sure how obvious this is, but you were the only person who made me feel alive at the time. The closest person I could call a friend and I fucked it up with whatever ego driven pseudo sexual rivalry we had going on.” “If it makes you feel better, it’s not like I was stopping it either. I fucked up too. I was an asshole and I’m sorry too Wilbur.” Quackity isn’t about to let Wilbur take all the credit for the toxicity they had towards each other. And maybe they could never be proper friends, but hopefully they can stay respectful from now on. “I think this is the first time I’ve seen you properly happy. And I’m happy for you man,” Wilbur pats him on the back. “Thanks.” They stay silent for a little and Quackity takes the chance for the first time, to watch Las Nevadas in full swing, with people walking around chatting with each other. “Wilbur!” Tommy’s voice carries through the busy crowd and Fundy and Techno are with him too. “You and Fundy made up?” Quackity asks. “Yeah It’s probably for the better if he stays with Eret, but we’ve been trying,” Wilbur tells him. “Come on! We’re going to do karaoke!” Tommy is still waving frantically. “You better go then.” Plus Quackity’s ready to go back to Karl and Sapnap. “And tell Techno, I said hi.” Yeah, he’s the man who gave him a big ass scar on his face, but the past is in the past. It was pretty stupid of him to go along with a dumbass duel with Techno of all people, when he can barely hold a knife properly. He wanted to prove himself to everyone that he wasn’t weak and that he was the most capable motherfucker around, but it turned out all he really needed was love. Yuck, Quackity thinks, in the best way. “Of course.” Wilbur gives him a little smile before joining his brothers and son. And he hopes that Wilbur’s life improves too. And maybe they’ll both be able to move on from the shit they’ve created in their lives. Quackity sighs to turn around just to be face to face with Punz and Purpled. “Are you fucking kidding me,” Quackity says. He just wants to go back to feeding Sapnap and Karl strawberries. “Hey Quackity,” Purpled says. “I don’t have time for whatever gotcha interview you have. I’m sorry about destroying your house Purpled I mean it and I’m sorry Punz for my bullshit too. Now can I get back to my husbands?” Quackity starts walking away, not interested in what they had to say in response. “Hold on, just listen,” Purpled says. Quackity sighs and regrettably stops walking. “Hurry up.” “Are you actually in love with them?” He pauses and wonders what’s the fastest way he can end this conversation. “No actually. We just did it for ‘taxes’ and we’re just being disgustingly romantic with each other for show.” Purpled looks confused, unsure how to interpret his words and Punz just looks like he doesn’t want to be here. And that makes two of them. “I’ll tell you the truth,” Quackity thinks it doesn’t matter now and maybe if he does tell them what happened, they’ll finally leave him alone. “It was fake in the beginning, but then we did fall in love. Simple as that.” Neither of them respond to that either. “Are we good now?” A deep gravelly cackle comes out of Punz’s mouth that Quackity could barely tell is a laugh. “I guess we have to be.” “Or you could just follow me around, waiting for me to mess up again to get revenge,” Quackity tells them. And it honestly sounds like something he would have done before the engagement plan. “And just for the record. I hope you don’t. Not for my sake, but for yours. I promise, revenge isn’t worth it. It doesn’t feel as good as you think it will.” Quackity finally gets his chance to walk away, but leaves them with one more thing. “Go get a hobby and find some people who truly care about you.” He still doesn’t hear a response from either of them, but he prays the message came across well. He truly doesn’t want them to waste their life with something stupid that past Quackity would have done. As soon as Karl can see him through the entrance of the ballroom, he waves him over. Sapnap reacts too and starts mimicking Karl. Quackity can’t help but giggle at that. These two really are his home. “Quackity, Quackity!” Karl says after the two of them pause peppering him with kisses. “Sapnap and I made a list of stuff we should talk about now that we're married. Technically we probably should have discussed these things before, but better late than never.” Quackity looks at the scribbles on the napkin a little worried what kind of deep personal questions they were going to ask. “They aren’t that bad. I promise,” Karl says, noticing Quackity’s unease. “Yeah, they’re more like exciting ideas for the future than anything else,” Sapnap backs up Karl’s words. “Alright shoot. What’s the first one?” “Okay, kids? Do you want them?” Karl asks something that is much less lighthearted than he suggested they were going to discuss. He was kind of hoping he’d be able to talk about sharing finances. Karl’s bookstore will be saved and he could permanently employ Sapnap as a bodyguard or something. “Um.” Unsure of what to say, Quackity looks around and sees Tubbo and Michael dancing with each other. And Tubbo looks up, mouth moving and talking in the direction of no one, as if he’s holding a conversation with a ghost. It’s a bit weird, but maybe it’s Michael’s imaginary friend or something. It doesn’t change the fact he’s got a cute kid. And Quackity wants a cute kid too. Maybe even a couple. And with Karl and Sapnap with him, and a little more time to solidify their marriage, he’s pretty sure the three of them won’t fuck it up. “Nevermind, it’s not a big deal,” Karl says, a little flustered. “No, no. It’s a good question.” Quackity assures him. “Yeah, I want kids.” Karl's face lights up and Sapnap’s does too. Apparently they weren’t expecting him to be so straightforward about the wanting kids question. And now everything's about kids. Like how many? “Two or four,” Karl says, because if they have three, one of them will feel left out. How soon? If they’re living in two places, where will they stay? What age should they adopt at? “Unless one of us has something they want to reveal?” Sapnap waggles his eyebrows. “What do you mean by that?” Quackity asks. “Well,” Sapnap leans in like he’s about to tell them a secret. “I mean, have any of us tried to get pregnant?” “Shut up,” Quackity gives him a playful hit, while Karl giggles. “What! I’m just saying maybe we should give it a shot. As in one of you.” Sapnap shrugs. Quackity responds by throwing a strawberry at him and then Sapnap starts throwing some back. Karl joins in too after catching a stray hit. When they run out of strawberries, they decide to call a truce on the fight and put the talk about kids on hold for now. “Minus possible baby making activities tonight,” Sapnap makes his intentions clear. Quackity chooses to ignore him, definitely not because he might be interested in that too. Later, Quackity is finally properly introduced to George who’s equal parts a goofball and sleepy, yawning between words. But Quackity likes him a lot and hopes they can hang out again. George doesn’t stay too much longer, worried he’ll fall asleep, but before he goes, they have Skeppy take a picture of them and Charlie. And Quackity’s already thinking about where to hang it up. After George is gone, Quackity’s forced to talk to more people when he’d rather be alone with his husbands. But as soon as he gets out of a very awkward and romantically charged conversation caught between Foolish, Sam, and their mutual friend Ponk, Quackity’s ready to leave as soon as possible. “Hey Charlie, me and my husbands are gonna get out of here. Do you mind taking care of wrapping the rest of the wedding stuff up,” Quackity requests. “Sure thing Quackity.” Charlie gives him a thumbs up. “Thanks,” Quackity says before going in to steal Karl and Sapnap away from Niki and Puffy. He whispers in both of their ears about wanting to go home and then lies to everyone else that they have to take more pictures, so they need to leave for a bit. Once they’re away from the crowd, they walk quietly in the night occasionally bumping into each other, bodies way too close to walk normally. But Quackity’s not going to give up feeling the heat of Karl and Sapnap just because he’s tripping over himself. “Wait, Quackity, Sapnap I have an idea,” Karl says. “Can we stay out a little longer?” They gather a few blankets for the cold desert air and a bottle of champagne for the three of them to pass around as they lay down, trying to see the stars that barely pierce through the lights of Las Nevadas. But they don’t mind because their love shines enough for what the night sky lacks above them. Quackity wants to stay like this forever. Perfectly in love with Karl and Sapnap, on top of having the best friend a person could ever ask for, and a successful business. But he’s not naive. The ghosts of his past and worries of the future might haunt him, but he’ll get through it. They’ll get through it. “I love you,” Quackity says with ease for the first time. “Love you too,” Karl looks up at him, head resting on his lap. “Love you both so much,” Sapnap’s sitting behind Quackity and leans over to give them a kiss each. Chapter End Notes So this is it for the main story and I really hope you enjoyed it :) I have a couple one shots I want to write soon in this universe though. They’ll be in Perfect in Purgitory if you want to check the first chapter out now. (I have a secret oneshot that’ll be under the anon tag just like the first one, if you’ve seen it. So keep a look out for a similar story to that). And I did promise a Hallmark style Christmas fic. And since Christmas is kinda over, I’ll just make it a general winter fic lol. That’ll be out sometime in January. Thanks so much for reading and sticking around and I hope to see you in the next fic! Bye for now!! Feel free to follow my Tumblr for updates or if you want to send me a writing prompt! End Notes Thanks for reading and I hope you liked it so far! I have about half of the fic finished and the second chapter is fully written. So hopefully it’ll be a weekly update (you should deffo comment to help me stay motivated tho, no pressure tho). Also, sorry for the Sapnap hate! I will make it up to you, I promise! The Sapnap hate is based on a Quackity and Karl clip I saw on Twitter btw. Here’s my tumblr if you want to request some fic previews or send a prompt request. I am so excited for you guys to see the rest of the fic, so thanks for taking the time to read it up to this point! The rating will probably go up in chapter 3 btw, but there won’t be any explicit sexual content in the story. I’ll see you next week :3 Please drop by the archive and comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!