Chapter Text
Eret’s castle is one of the longest-standing builds on the server. They like to joke it’s because of the decorations, but after Tommy had torn down several other pride-themed areas, Quackity doesn’t think so.
Call them what you will, puppet, figurehead— it doesn’t matter. Eret has power, plain and simple. No one dares touch their home.
Part of him has missed her all along. She was gentle with him, he never appreciated that enough. Sure, she'd pranked and sparred just like the rest of them, but her touch had always been soft when it came to him.
He didn't even realize it until he'd been trapped in Manberg with Schlatt, but on days when his fiancé would tell him how useless he was, he'd find himself thinking about her habit of leaving little reminders around the server for anyone that needed them: You matter.
A smaller, darker part, the one that looked at Schlatt and saw someone worth following, hisses that if he’d stayed with them, maybe he’d be in a position of power too, but he tries not to listen to it.
He doesn't regret that it ended between him and Eret. They were never in love, not really. If they'd followed through on the marriage it definitely wouldn't have lasted. It would've been fun, that much he's sure of, but something would've been missing.
Besides, he'd wound up happy eventually, and he reasons things had to go that way for him to end up where he is now.
Either way, he’s walking alongside the castle now, the tall stone walls bringing a sense of not-quite-comfort as he goes.
It’s been awhile since he last left Las Nevadas. He’s meeting Sam at the bank today, something about building costs, he honestly wasn’t listening too carefully, and he’d found himself here without realizing. He rounds the corner and spots a familiar figure further down the path, breaking him out of his train of thought entirely.
“No, no, not today, please,” he mutters, frozen in place.
But it’s no use: Sapnap starts walking faster when he catches sight of Quackity then breaks into a jog, barrels into him at full speed and tackles him with a bear hug.
“I’ve been looking for you! Where’ve you been, sunshine?" Sapnap rocks them back and forth a little, burying his face in Quackity's shoulder. "It's been so long!”
Quackity is barely listening, is in fact putting all his effort into willing away the tears beginning to sting. He wasn't ready for this.
“Whatever, it doesn’t even matter, I’m just so glad I found you,” he says. He starts trailing kisses down Quackity's neck.
Nope. No, he’s not doing this. They haven't spoken to him in months. He doesn't get to act like nothing's changed.
Quackity shrugs Sapnap’s arms off him. “What do you want?”
“What…?”
“Why were you looking for me?” he asks, bringing his guard back up.
His face drops. "Karl… forgot you."
That’s really not news. "You both did."
Sapnap shakes his head. "No, Q— they literally forgot you. They don't remember who you are."
"What?" How?
"Something's wrong with him,” Sapnap says. He starts pacing, like he always does when he’s upset. “I don't know what it is, he doesn't—"
"Sapnap, focus,” he snaps.
Sapnap stops in his tracks and looks up at Quackity, hurt.
He takes a breath and aims for a gentler tone when he speaks again. "You need to tell me what's going on. Has this kind of thing happened before?"
"No! Well, technically yeah, but it’s always been small shit, you know? Misplacing things, forgetting what day it was, or whatever. I never thought it would come to something this big, so either he's been hiding it well or this is the first time, and—"
If Karl really has forgotten him, and not just in a shitty-partner-that-ghosted-him way, then Quackity really doubts this is something new. Or something he can fix.
"What do you want me to do about that?" he interrupts, harsher than he intended. Sapnap flinches, and immediately Quackity regrets. He's never seen Sapnap react to anything that way.
"I don't know," he answers miserably. "I don't know. I'm just… Quackity, I'm scared."
Scared. Sapnap, scared. Quackity never thought he'd see the day. "If there's nothing I can do, then why are you here?"
"I…"
He can't help it. He pushes more, raising an eyebrow and saying, "Well?"
Sapnap’s eyes drop to the ground. "I missed you."
Quackity laughs. "You're a few months too late for that."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You two left me behind to fuck off and make your own country, and I had to find out from George. So I wanna know. Why are you just now looking for me?"
"I told you—"
"Uh-uh, try again. If you really missed me you woulda been here weeks ago." Months ago, really. "So why are you really here, Sapnap? And no bullshit this time."
He runs a hand through his hair. "I guess I wanted to see if I could convince you to come h— to visit Karl. See if that'd jog their memory at all."
"What's the point? He's already forgotten. You can too." Every word feels like a stab to the side, but he can’t stop.
"Quackity, please," Sapnap begs. He reaches out and takes his hand, drawing it to his own chest. "If you wanna be left alone that bad then— then I promise, you will be. Just… please. If you ever loved us at all, if we ever meant anything to you, please just do this one thing for me."
Against his better judgement, Quackity agrees.
Kinoko is beautiful, much as he hates to admit it. Foolish is an amazing builder, and even George's influence is present in the red mushrooms growing on several of the buildings. It's a perfect blending of Karl and Sapnap's tastes and it makes Quackity nauseous.
Sapnap leads him to a little house, cozily tucked away in a place Quackity never would've thought to look, which might be why it's located there.
They walk through silently until Sapnap pauses in front of a door.
"If he's anywhere, he's here," Sapnap says. “They spend all their free time in the library, lately.”
"What do you even want me to do?" Quackity asks, suddenly apprehensive. He hasn’t seen Karl in so long.
"Just… talk to him. Try."
"No promises."
Sapnap gives him a hurt look before pushing open the door, and there he is, illuminated in a sunbeam, beautiful as the day Quackity left him.
They're bent over a book, scribbling intently, hair hiding their face, but Quackity can already tell something's wrong.
Karl's always been on the thin side since he took this form, like he couldn't quite figure out what a human was supposed to look like, but he looks wispier than the last time Quackity saw him. As he lifts his head to greet them, Quackity gets a better look at him.
Still beautiful, Karl could never be anything other than beautiful, but gods do they look tired . Dark circles ring their eyes, eyes that are supposed to be bright and full of life that are instead dull when they meet Quackity's.
"Hey, babe," Sapnap says, like their boy doesn't look like a fucking ghost of himself. Of course, none of that is new to him. He's been with Karl the whole time, probably has a good idea of what's been eating at him.
He ducks down to kiss his fiancé in greeting. Karl giggles into it, and Quackity suppresses a grimace. He turns away, waiting for them to finish.
It's Karl and Sapnap, so unfortunately that takes a few moments. In the meantime, Quackity examines the shelf in front of him. There are books here he's never heard of, in languages he doesn't recognize. Where has Karl been getting these?
"So, uh. This is Quackity."
They've finally separated, Sapnap sitting on the edge of the table with Karl holding out a hand.
"Hey, nice to meet you!"
Quackity stares at Karl's hand for a heartbeat before shaking it. "Nice to meet you too, Karlos."
They don't react to the nickname, and Quackity feels a sharp pain in his chest. They really don't remember. He feels sick.
Sapnap drapes an arm around Karl's shoulders and looks between the two of them cautiously.
More than Technoblade making good on his promise, more than anything Schlatt ever said or did to him, seeing no recognition in the eyes of the person he loves (loved? He doesn't know anymore) hurts.
"What brings you to Kinoko?" Karl asks, oblivious. Quackity can only hope his poker face remains unmoved.
"I thought I'd show Quackity around," Sapnap answers. "Give him the official tour, y'know?"
How is this so easy for him?
Well. He’s not the one that’s been forgotten, is he.
"Ooh, have fun! I’ll be in here if you guys need anything, 'kay?"
That’s it, then.
Sapnap’s grin wavers, but Karl doesn’t catch it, already turned back to his desk. He drops a kiss on the top of Karl's head, lingering with his arms around them for a moment, before he straightens and walks toward the door like nothing's wrong.
"Nice meeting you," Quackity echoes over the ringing of his ears.
"You too."
Quackity vomits as soon as he leaves the library. Nothing comes up— he can't remember the last time he ate— but he's hunched over all the same, dry heaving until his eyes water.
Distantly, he's aware of Sapnap beside him, one hand on his shoulder and one on his back.
"What the fuck," Quackity chokes. "What the fuck, Sap, he really doesn't know who I am. How does he not know who I am?"
He had to make small talk with his fiancé, who looked at him like he was just— like he was some stranger—
He vomits again.
"I don't know," Sapnap says quietly. "I don't know."
He rubs soothing circles on Quackity's back as the dry heaves subside, murmuring quiet nonsense at him.
It’s okay is one of the things Sapnap is saying, and Quackity shakes him off.
"How in the fuck," he says, staggering away from him, "is this okay?"
Sapnap just stands there, wide-eyed. "I— It’s not, I know it’s not," he says, raising his hands. "I was just trying to make you feel better, alright? I’m sorry."
"Don't fuckin' say shit you don't mean."
He hates this, yelling at Sapnap and meaning it. It sucks. They’ve always been hotheaded, the type to bitch at each other over everything and nothing. Bickering was almost a love language for them, but this? Quackity has never once spoken to his fiancé like this, with so much venom dripping off his tongue, and he hates it. Every time he opens his mouth he can feel all the months of anger and hurt pouring out with no way to stop them.
For once, Sapnap doesn't let it get a rise out of him. He just takes in a deep breath and says, "Listen. If you wanna go back to— to wherever you’ve been, you can. You did what you promised, you came here and talked to him. It clearly didn’t work, so you can— you can leave again."
Sapnap is definitely not the kind of person to take this kind of shit lying down, so why isn’t he fighting back? What happened while he was gone?
"Fuck off, I'm not going anywhere until we figure out what the fuck is going on with Karl." The words are out of his mouth before he even registers he’s made the decision, but really, was there ever even a choice? Something is wrong with Karl, and if there’s any chance Quackity can help fix it, of course he’s staying.
Sapnap blinks. Evidently they were both surprised. "You sure?"
"It’d be a shitty country if I couldn't leave it unattended for awhile," Quackity scoffs.
Actually. It won’t be unattended. Charlie is there, with Wilbur. Foolish and Sam swing in and out pretty frequently, as do Purpled and Fundy. But explaining… all that to Sapnap right now is way more than Quackity feels like doing today. Or ever.
So he says, "I just gotta make a couple calls."
Sapnap eyes him as Quackity pulls out his communicator.
There are a few missed messages from Sam that he doesn’t bother reading. Instead, he shoots him a quick apology for the missed meeting and says something about being away for a few days. He debates for a moment before adding that he’s in Kinoko. Fundy, Purpled, and Foolish get something along the same lines, with less details. Them, he doesn’t have much of an obligation to.
Wilbur and Charlie, on the other hand…
He can't call his current partners in front of his ex-fiancé. He just can't. Quackity's pissed at Sapnap, sure, but he's not cruel. So he walks off in a random direction, putting some distance between them before making the call.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Wilbur."
"Quackity," he coos immediately. "Quackity, my boy, my baby, how are you?"
Quackity nearly drops his comm. Fuck Wilbur for getting to him like this, god. He used to be so stoic…
"So, hey,” he starts, pretending to be nonchalant. “Listen, some shit went down, with, uh—"
He can’t say it.
"With?" Wilbur prompts. He's patient now. Quackity still isn't used to the change. Back in the day, it was all pushing and prodding because he refused to wait around for people, but now? He gives Quackity so much space and time to sort out what he wants to say and how. It's unsettling, but in a good way.
"And I gotta handle it," Quackity says finally. He just can't explain it right now. "So I'm gonna be… gone. For a little bit. I don’t know how long."
"Everything alright?" He sounds genuinely concerned, the bastard.
Quackity surprises himself again by admitting, "No, not really."
Wilbur is quiet on the other end of the line. "It’s Karl and Sapnap, isn’t it?"
He's always been able to see through Quackity's bullshit. That much has stayed the same. "Things’ll be fine there," he continues, hoping Wilbur takes the hint. "Sam can keep shit on track and Prime knows Foolish will build for days without noticing I'm not around. I just… wanted to let you and Charlie know. Didn’t want you to worry."
"Aww, you love us."
"Shut the fuck up." He is so glad this is just a phone call, or he'd also be getting teased for the blush he feels creeping across his face. "Is Charlie around?"
" Noooo," warbles Charlie's voice on the other end. "I am definitely not around."
He can practically picture them; Wilbur lounging around as he talks, Charlie pressed into his side as he eavesdrops. He wants to be there with them, wants to go home and be held until he forgets about mushrooms and libraries and forgetting.
"Hey, slime."
"Quackity!"
He hasn’t even been gone a day and he already misses them both a stupid amount. How did Sapnap and Karl do this so easily? How did the ache stop long enough for Karl to forget?
Quackity shakes himself. He's having a conversation, here.
"Hi, buddy. I’m guessing you heard all that?"
"I did," he admits. "What are you handling?"
"Nothin’, just… got some stuff to take care of, is all. I’ll be home soon, okay?"
"Home," it repeats cheerfully. "Okay!"
"Okay," Quackity echoes, smiling. He looks up to see Sapnap is headed towards him. Shit. "Okay, I gotta go. I’ll try ‘n call you later, or message or something. I love you," he says without thinking, and Sapnap freezes.
"Love you," comes from both Wilbur and Charlie on the line before they hang up, and Quackity is standing there like a deer in headlights, communicator still held to his ear.
Sapnap stares at him.
The silence is broken by the door to the library closing.
"Whoa, what’s up with you two?"
They both turn to see Karl a few yards away, arms full of books.
Quackity is first to move, mask slipping into place like it’s nothing. He straightens and tucks his comm back in his pocket, smooths his shirt for good measure. "Ah, nothin’. Actually, we were just thinking of going for a walk around the kingdom." He walks over to Sapnap and gives Karl his best casino smile, hating how fake it feels. "Sap said he’d show me the sights, after all, didn’t you?"
He elbows Sapnap, maybe a little harder than necessary, and the other man jolts. "Uh, yeah! You wanna join us, Karl?"
Karl agrees, and it takes all of Quackity’s nerve not to throw up again as the two of them lead him around the nation they built without him, hand in hand.
His comm buzzes a few times as they walk, but he ignores it in favor of making small talk with Karl again. It still hurts like hell, but Quackity has always had a masochistic streak and he'll push through it if it means getting to be around Karl again.
Karl, who earnestly tries to get to know everyone they meet. Which means dodging a lot of questions about his personal life, and after they ask if there's anyone special in his life, flashing their engagement ring— ring, just one, it's supposed to be a pair, where is the other half?— Quackity can't handle it anymore.
He mumbles a shit excuse, something about needing to pee, he thinks, and bolts.
There was a bench overlooking a pond somewhere, he thinks, and he aims himself in that general direction. He thanks Prime, XD, and anyone up there that might be listening when he sees it, and collapses onto the bench as soon as he reaches it.
There was this whole routine in one of Karl's books, something with numbers and counting and breathing. Sapnap found it after Quackity had his first anxiety attack in front of them, had spent hours and hours doing research, determined to figure out ways to help him through. He's not quite there, but it helped him regardless.
In a sick little twist of irony, Quackity has forgotten it.
He calls Wilbur instead.
"Miss me already?" he answers, sounding smug.
"Karl forgot me."
"What?"
"When I called earlier, it was— Karl doesn’t remember who I am."
Silence. Then: "Well, shit."
"Yeah, Wilbur," Quackity says, slightly hysterical. "Shit."
"I mean, do you know for sure? Maybe it’s—"
"My fiancé doesn’t know me," Quackity says emphatically. "They looked at me earlier, and it was like I was— like they were looking at anybody else, he wasn't even wearing my ring. I don’t— Wilbur, I don't know what to do."
"Oh, baby," Wilbur breathes. "I'm so sorry. Are you— well. Obviously you're not alright. Is there anything I can do?"
Turn back time, Quackity thinks, but that's impossible. There's really nothing. "Sapnap thinks we can fix him," he says instead.
"…Maybe you can? I can ask Phil if he’s come across anything like this before," he says, earnest. "Or you could talk to Foolish, maybe? They’re both pretty old, there must be something."
"What did I ever do to deserve you?" mutters Quackity. "I’m calling you, a wreck, about problems my fucking fiancé is having, and the first thing you do is offer to help."
"What kind of man would I be if I didn't? He's your fiancé, love." His tone is light, but Quackity knows him well enough to tell something's off.
"I… You know I still wanna be with you, right?" he says, quiet. "Charlie, too. I-I'm not leaving you guys for them."
Wilbur laughs. "Quackity, darling—" Quackity's heart flutters at the sheer amount of love in his voice, and he's again so glad this isn't a video call. "—we are literally in a polyamorous relationship right now, as we speak. I'm not upset that you still love him, you know? Either of them."
Right.
"I know that," he mumbles, and Wilbur laughs again, fonder this time.
“Have you… talked to them about us? Or, well. Sapnap, at least? Updated him on what you've been up to?”
When did his life become a fucking rom-com?
“Sapnap doesn't know shit about Las Nevadas and I'm keeping it that way,” he says immediately, then sighs. He can't keep doing this. “That was mean, I'm sorry.”
“You're under a lot of stress, Q. It's understandable that you'd lash out a little, but I appreciate your apology.”
As much as he wants to stay on the phone, he knows sooner or later one or both of his ex‐fiancés is going to stumble across him, and a repeat of earlier is the last thing he wants.
“I should go. They're gonna wonder where I went.”
“Do you have a plan?”
“No,” he admits. “Sap doesn't have one either. I think he was so convinced just seeing me again would snap Karl out of it that he forgot to think about what might come next.”
Wilbur hums thoughtfully. “Are you gonna stay with them?”
He really isn't gonna drop this one, huh. Quackity honestly can't tell if Wilbur means stay with them here or stay with them period. Either way, he doesn't know.
“It's alright if you do, love."
Of course his answer would work for either.
“Shut the fuck up," he shoots back. He closes his eyes and takes a few calming breaths. Fuck. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry. That was shitty, and I shouldn't be snapping at you like this. Things are just… complicated, right now. I doubt they'd want me, even if Karl were back to normal.”
“You don't know that, sweetheart." He's so goddamn soft with Quackity. "They wanted to marry you, once. That doesn't just go away."
Quackity knows that better than anyone, with two failed engagements under his belt and two more potentially on the way.
“I miss you,” he finds himself mumbling. He doesn't want to think about them. He has Wilbur right here, someone that wants him now. That's enough.
“I miss you too," he laughs. "Come home soon, okay?”
Home. He swipes a hand over his eyes. “I'll try.”
“Go on and find Sapnap and Karl again,” Wilbur instructs. “I'll visit Phil and have a chat with him, see if he knows anything.”
“I will.” He sighs. “Thank you, Wilbur. For— all this.”
“Yeah, 'course. Love you,” he says, and Quackity has to squeeze his eyes shut against the tears that return.
“Love you too.”
He gives himself thirty seconds to cry before forcing himself to regain his composure and heading off to find them.
They're on the bridge along the border, Karl pulling faces at Sapnap as he takes photos of the two of them against the sunset. Quackity is really going to have to get a grip if he wants to be able to be around them enough to help. So he takes a deep breath, and when one doesn't work, six more, and walks over.
After that day, Quackity begins to master the art of avoidance. He never lets Sapnap catch him alone, because the idea of having the Wilbur discussion with him is not one he likes to think about.
It's been about a week and a half by the time he finally corners Quackity in the room he's been staying in. He hasn’t let himself think about being in a guest room in the place his fiancés intended the three of them to live. Being here only works if he doesn’t.
He's sitting at the desk idly sketching out a blueprint for a tower when Sapnap opens the door.
“Who was that you were you on the phone with last week?”
Right off the bat then, huh. “Your mother,” Quackity responds without missing a beat.
He crosses his arms. “You know what I mean.”
“I really don't, Sapnap,” he says, keeping his tone even. The vice grip he has on his pencil might be giving away how less-than-chill he is, but there's always a chance Sapnap hasn't noticed it.
“You said 'I love you'.” Sapnap steps in and closes the door behind him.
God damn it. “Why do you care?”
Sapnap makes a frustrated noise and tugs the chain around his neck from under his shirt. “Why do you think?”
A pair of rings dangle there, familiar as the day Quackity gifted them.
(His own are stashed in a drawer in his office. He took them off the day he found out about Kinoko and hasn't touched them since.)
He carefully sets the pencil down before he meets Sapnap's gaze. “What, those? They mean something to you?”
Sapnap's eyes flare. “You know they do.”
“Coulda fooled me.”
There's so much anger lingering after being left behind that's had nowhere to go until now, and it comes out every time he's alone with Sapnap. Never in a constructive way, of course. Never in a way that gets to the truth of why he's so upset. He learned a long time ago being honest about what bothers him will only make things worse for him when in the long run it gets ignored.
“If all you're gonna do is fight with me, why are you even here, Quackity?” Sapnap asks, sparks drifting from his clenched fists.
Sapnap would never hurt him. Sapnap is his fiancé, kind of, and even if they're fighting, Sapnap hasn't and wouldn't ever put his hands on Quackity. He tells himself this, like he has every time they've argued seriously, but the scared animal of his body still has him suppressing a flinch. Karl's grounding techniques don't always work.
“You asked me to be," he says once he's steeled himself. "I have a country to run, shit to build—”
“Are they in that country? Whoever you were on the phone with?”
“Fuck off—”
“No, I wanna know.” He moves closer and leans down, hands on the desk. It smokes a little under his touch. “Are they? You keep talking about how we forgot about you and left you behind. How long did it take for you to replace us?”
“I didn't fucking replace you! I could never replace you two, asshole, it's not my fault you fucking left me!”
Oh, gods. It came out unintentionally, and he feels unsteady after finally admitting it.
“Why does this matter so much to you, anyway?" Quackity mutters, finally looking away. Sapnap is going to leave, he's going to give up on him and go back to Karl and leave Quackity here alone. “Don't you have more important things to worry about?”
“I'm worried about you.” Sapnap sighs. The heat coming from his hands subsides and he lets go of the desk to cross his arms. “I love you. Jackass.”
Quackity huffs out a laugh. "Right."
“I do," he insists, like it should be a given. Quackity knows he means it, of course he does. He kept the ring, after all, and he wouldn't be here fighting if he didn't give a shit. Still, deep down he's unconvinced.
"There's… so much we need to talk about, and fix, but that doesn't change anything for me, Quackity. You're still—" He looks down and sighs. "You're still our ducky."
It's such a stupid nickname.
"If you've moved on— if you don't want that anymore, if you don't wanna be with us, that's fine." It doesn't look fine. Sapnap has always been a terrible liar, that much hasn't changed. "But you should know where we stand. I'd still marry you, and I know Karl would too. If you'd have us, anyway.”
It would be so easy. He just has to reach out, tell Sapnap he never stopped loving them for a moment, promise he’s never going to leave them again. The words just won't come out. Why can't he do this? What's wrong with him?
He says nothing.
“…Okay then.” He turns to go.
“Wait."
The word comes out involuntarily, and he's not sure what to say next. All he knows is he has to keep Sapnap here, has to try, or he really will lose them.
Sapnap is still, though he's facing away.
“I don't… want to be mad at you," Quackity gets out, haltingly. It feels like pulling teeth, but he has to do this.
“But you are.”
“And I didn't… mean to leave.”
“But you did.” His tone is— angry isn't the right word for it, and neither is sad. He falls somewhere in between, but somehow neither. Quackity used to be able to read him so well.
"Yeah. That's about the size of it.”
“So… what do we do now?”
We.
Quackity takes a deep breath and screws his eyes shut. “Would you stay with me?”
“What?”
“Just for a little while," he rushes. Now that he's started, he can't stop. "Stay with me. I-I know you have to go back to Karl, I just…" He's been homesick for months. No matter how upset he is about everything, Sapnap is right. He still loves them both, and all he wants right now is to be held by his fiancé. "Please.”
Nothing.
And then… a hand on his shoulder.
He opens his eyes to Sapnap kneeling beside him.
“I don't wanna be mad at you,” he repeats, staring. They haven't been this close in so long. Quackity can't stop looking at him, trying to rememorize every detail of his face.
“I know, baby." Sapnap cups his cheek, forgiveness in his eyes, and Quackity crumbles. “I know.”
Things are better, after that. Or, as ‘better’ as they can be, with Karl’s memory still on the fritz. But they’ve come to an unspoken agreement, Quackity and Sapnap, to shelve their (many, many) issues until they can sort out Karl’s.
He knows, now, that Sapnap is still on his side. That he’s still willing to try , even after the way Quackity has been treating him. Even if he's not sure he deserves it. It helps.
So does calling Charlie and Wilbur every night, after he's sure Karl and Sapnap have gone to bed. There's no word from Phil, and if Quackity were a religious man he’d pray that it’s only because he hasn’t found anything helpful yet. As it is, he just hopes Philza isn’t opposed to doing a favor for the man that tried to kill his best friend.
The school Fundy set up (Fundy is maybe not the best choice to be a teacher, but better him than Foolish, in Quackity’s opinion) is doing well, and Charlie has been learning about—
"Concepts, Quackity from Las Nevadas, the likes of which I have never conceptualized!"
Quackity smiles. He doesn't mind being called that anymore, not when Las Nevadas has come to be synonymous with Charlie and home. "Oh, yeah? Tell me about ‘em."
"Things like money, and gender—" Well. Maybe Fundy is qualified— "Quackity, do you know how many genders there are?"
"I do." He doesn't.
"So many!" it laughs. Charlie carries on with everything Fundy's been teaching him, and Quackity dutifully listens, wishing he could be doing this in person, with a lapful of slime instead of sitting in bed alone in the spare room of a place that he could've called home.
"How are things with you? Did you fix your time traveler yet?"
"My what?"
"Karl Jacobs," Charlie replies, like it should be obvious.
It is not obvious.
"Karl… is a time traveler?"
"I think so! Unless someone that looks exactly like them has been randomly appearing and disappearing at major historical events for centuries and centuries, which could happen! You never know, w—"
Time travel? Fucking time travel? "Slow down, slow down. Karl is a fucking time traveller."
"Yep!"
Quackity takes in a deep breath through his nose. He loves Charlie. He really does. But the number of times it's sprung something like this on him is a little concerning. "And you have known this fact about him."
"I have."
"And you never thought to tell me about it, is that what I'm hearing?"
"Whoops!"
Okay. Alright. Jesus Christ.
Even before they separated, Quackity had figured out Karl was keeping something hidden, but never in a million goddamn years would he have guessed fucking time travel.
He's gotta find Sapnap.
"Charlie, I'm gonna have to call you back, okay? I gotta— Shit, I gotta go."
The slime apparently doesn’t register that anything’s wrong, because he chirps, "Okay! I will talk to you later, Quackity!"
"Okay, I love you. Talk to you soon."
"Love you too!"
He hangs up and messages Philza before scrambling out of bed:
TIME TRAVEL
"Fucking time travel?"
"That’s what I said!"
He found Sapnap in the kitchen, scrubbing out the sink. He still cleans when he's stressed, and Quackity is definitely adding to that with this news.
Sapnap straightens now, wiping his hands on a dry towel. "How the fuck did you come to that conclusion?"
Hm. Maybe telling him about Charlie before literally right this moment would have been smart.
"Okay, stick with me here," he begins. "I found a slime… guy, in the walls of my restaurant a few months ago. It turns out he’s, like, hundreds of years old, and has somehow been around for a fuckton of important things in history, and apparently he’s seen Karl at. A lot of them."
"What the fuck."
Quackity’s comm buzzes.
???
"Philza," he explains, showing Sapnap the screen. He puts his hand over Quackity's to steady the device. "Wilbur, uh. Did me a favor and asked Phil to do some research on memory loss. I just told him about Karl."
Sapnap steps back, frowning."Wilbur? Quackity, you can’t owe him anything, you know what he’s like!"
Telling him about Wilbur before literally right this moment? Would have also been smart. He watches Sapnap start pacing.
"It’s not like that," he says hastily, typing out a quick clarification to Phil. He really doesn't want to go into the details of the past few months of this relationship with his ex(?)-fiancé.
"What do you mean?" he says, frustrated. "He’s not the kind of person to take favors lightly, you shouldn't—"
"It's fine, we're—" Shit. Okay. There technically isn’t a word for it, and right now is really not the time to start spiralling about labels, but the look on Sapnap’s face says it all.
"You’re fucking Wilbur?"
"No!" he hisses, flushing. This is going so far off the rails, it was supposed to be about Karl, and finding a solution— "Would you keep your voice down?"
Sapnap ignores him. "What the fuck, Quackity, he’s dangerous!"
"I’m dangerous! Besides, this isn’t about him, and if he can help—"
"He blew up a country!"
"His country," Quackity counters. "And it’s not like it was the first or last time that happened, either. Dream did way more damage, anyway, and you sided with him—"
"—Yeah, with the help of Philza. Who is helping you because…?"
"Because he loves his son, and—"
"And what, his son loves you?" he says sarcastically.
Quackity watches Sapnap’s face as the pieces fall together and tries not to wince. He knew from the moment he set foot into Kinoko that this was coming sooner or later; he'd just been banking on it being later.
"Oh my god. He does." He stops pacing and stares. Quackity shifts uncomfortably. "It was him on the phone, wasn’t it?"
His silence speaks volumes.
"How did you— When did—"
"Is everything okay?" Sapnap’s head whips around so fast it’s comical.
Karl stands in the doorway. "I heard yelling," he says, stifling a yawn. "Are you guys fighting?"
They still look rough, and Quackity wants to kiss the worry off Karl's face, hold them and play with their hair until they fall back asleep like he used to, but he knows he can’t anymore.
Sapnap, who can do all of those things, says, "No, no, everything’s alright. You can go back to bed, babe."
Karl's eyes narrow. He might be losing his memories, but he is and has always been sharp as a tack. Lying to him won't get Sapnap very far.
But Karl trusts his fiancé, maybe more than he should. So when he sighs and says "You gonna come with me?", it isn't a surprise.
"I'll be there in a bit, okay?"
Watching the way he holds Karl feels like an intrusion; Quackity looks away for what feels like the thousandth time as they kiss.
"We can talk about this later," Sapnap says after Karl's out of earshot, carefully keeping his tone low. "Time travel, Wilbur, all of it. All of us."
Quackity nods. He feels like he's in trouble, somehow, which is ridiculous. If anyone should be in trouble right now, it's Karl, for keeping such a huge secret from them. But it's Karl, and he doesn't think he or Sapnap could be genuinely mad at him.
"For tonight, just…" He sighs and drags a hand down his face. "Come here."
A startled laugh comes out before Quackity can stop it. "What?"
"You heard me." Sapnap holds his arms out expectantly.
Quackity goes, because what else is there to do? He tucks his face against Sapnap's chest, breathing in his familiar scent. He’s missed this so much, the feeling of Sapnap’s arms around him, the way he holds Quackity so tight, like he’s strong enough to put all his broken pieces back together.
"Why…?"
"Because I love you, dummy."
"Even after— Even if—"
He presses a kiss to the top of Quackity's head. "Yes. I love you, and that's not going to change. Like I said, we've got a lot of shit to work through, but I'm not gonna stop loving you in the meantime, alright?"
"Okay."
"If…" He trails off for a moment, then sighs. "If you wanna be with Wilbur too, that's fine. Just… you gotta talk to me, Q. When you went radio silent for all that time, it was— It was hard. With you gone and Karl off fuckin' time traveling, apparently, it's just been me here. It sucks."
"George is around," Quackity mumbles, but he knows it's a weak defense.
"George isn't my fiancé," Sapnap reminds him. "Besides, he spends all his time with XD lately. When he's awake, anyway."
"What? Fucking Dream XD?"
"Apparently. He wanted to be friends."
Of fucking course George managed to pull a god. Of course.
"What the fuck."