Chapter Text
“Karl?” Quackity says across the cereal aisle.
And sure enough, there’s no mistaking that head of brown curls and bright colored coat, because as the man turns around, Quackity sees Karl's confused face, searching for the source of his name.
“Hey Karl.” Quackity repeats as he walks up to him, trying to put his best foot forward. After all, “It’s been awhile hasn’t it.”
It’s been at least five years since Quackity’s properly come back to Kinoko. Technically, he had been in town two weeks ago for Ranboo’s funeral, but Quackity avoided everyone as best as he could, focusing all his energy on organizing everything for Tubbo.
Quackity had seen Karl from a distance at the funeral service, but refused to say anything to him. He was there for Tubbo first and plus his full schedule made a great excuse to not have a potentially very awkward conversation.
Awkward is what random chance meetings at the local grocery store are all about.
“Uh, yeah man it has.” Karl has a bashful attitude Quackity’s never seen before. Even in elementary school, Quackity’s always known him as a super bubbly guy.
God, that must mean it’s Quackity's fault. Of course Karl doesn’t want to talk to him. Karl probably hates him after the shit that went down between them.
“I just wanted to say hi since I didn’t get the chance to at the funeral,” Quackity says, giving context for initiating this conversation that’s growing more uncomfortable by the second.
“Right, the funeral,” Karl’s face lights up at the memory.
Which makes Quackity wonder if Karl even saw him there in the first place. He must have known Quackity was attending. It was for his brother-in-law after all. Or maybe Karl thought so little of Quackity, that he didn’t even expect he’d show up.
It makes sense though, considering Quackity’s never come back to his hometown for any other reason. He even stays away during holidays.
“I’m actually going to be in Kinoko for a bit helping Tubbo with the burger shop. So if you come by, feel free to say hi,” Quackity offers, but considering Karl is looking around everywhere besides Quackity’s face, there’s no way he’ll take it.
“Absolutely,” Karl lies with an overly polite smile.
And Quackity can feel this conversation has come to its natural and awful end.
“Well, bye for now,” Quackity cracks a heavy smile. He imagines he’ll be playing this conversation over and over in his head, keeping him up at night while he’s trying to fall asleep.
“See ya,” Karl waves goodbye, and makes his way down the rest of the aisle.
As soon as Karl turns the corner, Quackity lets out a loud sigh and leans his head down. He really was hoping his first interaction with his old crush wouldn’t be so terrible. Good thing this trip would only be a couple weeks at most. He’s already missing the busy crowded life of Manburg.
Quackity looks at the list Tubbo texted him, and he heads over to the boxed pasta shelves for mac and cheese. He doesn’t really get how anyone enjoys that powdered shit, but he’s not going to argue with a widower in mourning who's suddenly entered single parenthood.
Plus the brand Tubbo wants reminds him of his other childhood friend,
“Sapnap?” Quackity whispers to himself as he sees a man with broad shoulders, black hair, and a headband holding his bangs back.
Quackity quickly turns around, not wanting a repeat of what happened with Karl. The shopping cart squeaks loudly as the wheels struggle to keep up when he attempts to escape.
“Quackity? Is that you?” Sapnap yells down the aisle.
Fuck. It’s too late.
He paints on his best fake smile before turning back around, pretending that he just wasn’t running away. And that he totally wants to have this exchange with his other old crush.
“Hey there Sapnap,” Quackity says, putting the emphasis on all the wrong letters.
“Hey Q, it’s been a while. Me and Karl saw you at Ranboo’s funeral, but you looked so busy, we didn’t get the chance to say hi,” says Sapnap. Unlike Quackity, he seems to actually want to chat.
He could still just be acting polite, Quackity reminds himself.
“I wanted Tubbo to take his mind off as much as possible so he could focus on Michael,” Quackity explains.
“That makes sense.” Sapnap frowns after hearing their names. “How are they doing by the way?”
Kinoko’s a small, tight knit community and having someone young like Ranboo suddenly pass away affects everyone living here in some form or fashion.
“Best they can be doing. Tubbo actually wanted me back for a few weeks to help organize the burger shop with tax season coming up,” Quackity says.
He’s not much of an accountant, but as a lawyer, he’s picked up on a few things. And with Ranboo being the one to take care of their finances in the past, Tubbo really needs the help.
“Really? When did you get back in town by the way?” Sapnap’s face lights up like a puppy, and it’s just as cute as Quackity remembers.
“Last night,” Quackity catches his own smile becoming genuine as Sapnap’s warm and bright personality starts melting Quackity’s body.
“Got it. Makes sense,” Sapnap says. “So you’re still living in Manburg?”
Quackity nods. It’s a valid question, considering he hasn’t seen Sapnap just as long as anyone else in Kinoko. Although, he’s been stalking Sapnap’s and Karl’s individual and joint Instagrams regularly, and unfortunately, he’s seen more than he’s ever liked to see from the two of them.
It does make him wonder if either of them have tried to do the same to Quackity. After all, social media stalking is a very normal hobby to have.
“Yep, I actually really like it there. Always something going on you know, unlike this place,” Quackity says, not meaning to degrade Kinoko or anything. He’s just stating facts and the fact is, this place is suffocating.
“Me and Karl have been once or twice. I couldn’t imagine living there, but it was nice,” Sapnap tells him, but Quackity already knows from the pictures he’s seen from a few years ago.
“Oh man, really?” Quackity feigns ignorance. “You should have told me, I would have shown you guys around.”
He wouldn’t have, but if they had told him about their trip, he would have said just the same to be cordial. Quackity maybe even would have given them a list of recommendations of must see places, but never actually join them. There’s no doubt it would have ended up phenomenally worse than what’s playing out in front of him now.
“Well, if we ever make it back out that way, we’ll let you know,” Sapnap lies.
Quackity knows he’s lying because how would he even contact him. He changed his number a while ago and he doesn’t have any public social media accounts. In a weird way, it’s nice getting confirmation that all of this is simply a nicety and that Sapnap surely doesn’t think about Quackity the way he thinks about him.
“Absolutely, I can bring you to all the best restaurants that those stupid internet tourist guides couldn’t show you,” Quackity tells him. It’s a nice fantasy to think about though. The three of them on a rooftop restaurant, sharing old childhood stories, and Quackity getting the chance to properly apologize.
Too bad it’s just a fantasy.
“I’m sure you mister big-lawyer-man could get us in the best places,” Sapnap pokes fun at him.
“Yeah, yeah.”
“I missed you Quackity,” Sapnap says without skipping a beat, unlike Quackity’s heart.
And Quackity’s not sure what to say to that. His mouth opens, threatening to pour out every secret about his never ending crush on Sapnap, but he’s trained enough not to say things he should keep locked in the back of his mind forever.
And luckily Sapnap doesn’t seem to care about his lack of words.
“I know you’ll probably be busy with taxes and all that, but do you think you’ll have time to hang out while you're in Kinoko?” Sapnap asks, or more like pouts.
It’s like he knows Quackity’s desperately trying to say no, but knows the exact face to make sure he can’t refuse.
“I should have some time,” Quackity says. He doesn’t outright say yes and break out his calendar right then and there, like he wants to, because it’ll give him the chance to say no later and come up with an excuse if Sapnap asks again.
“Awesome!”
And then Sapnap does something terrible.
He takes Quackity’s hand in his and Quackity gets to feel Sapnap's rough yet warm palm for the first time in years. The simple skin contact almost brings Quackity to tears and he hates himself for it. He can’t believe he’s such a sucker for a man.
At least he’s a sucker for Sapnap and not some other shitty dime a dozen guy.
“You gotta promise though. I know how you like to flake out on stuff,” Sapnap says, like he’s been reading Quackity’s mind the entire time.
Sapnap sticks his pinky out for Quackity to wrap his own around it.
Quackity almost scoffs at him, but has the decency to just stare at him with knit brows.
“Really?”
“Yeah really?” Sapnap looks at him with that stupid puppy dog look and Quackity knows it’s over. He guesses all his time at law school didn’t do him much good if he's getting himself into bad deals like this.
He concedes with a sigh, sticks his pinky finger out too, and adjusts his hand for them to seal their promise.
Sapnap smiles all big and happy, which makes the dumbass pinky promise worth it. Seeing his face in person is just so much better than through a photo reel. And way too effective.
“Okay, and you have to also promise to dress up nice too,” Sapnap adds while their fingers are still wrapped up together.
“What?” Quackity is starting to believe there is an actual motive for this plan of his. “Sapnap, this is sounding more like a date-”
“Sapnap? What’s going on?” Karl appears behind Sapnap like a poltergeist. His pointed smile looks more fitting for a creepy Halloween decoration than a pretty guy like Karl.
“Huh,” Sapnap quickly turns around to meet Karl’s gaze, clearly not noticing him coming up behind him either. “Hey Karl, did you know Q’s back in town? I was just talking to him about meeting up later.”
“Meet up?” Karl’s voice is stiff, despite its joyful tone.
“Yeah, I was thinking the three of us could catch up and have dinner or something,” Sapnap continues speaking, clearly not noticing Karl’s obvious desire to not be having this conversation. And the feeling for Quackity is mutual.
Karl’s staring daggers towards something in front of him and it takes Quackity a moment to realize him and Sapnap’s pinkies are still linked together and they're basically holding hands. He quickly retracts and puts his arm back to his side, hoping Karl won’t comment on it.
“What was that all about?” he asks with a pointed tone, and clearly today is just not Quackity’s day.
“What was what? The pinky promise? I was just locking Quackity into hanging out with us,” Sapnap has a proud smug look on his face. Quackity wishes he could appreciate how cute it is.
Karl shoots Quackity with an intense glare, daring him to say more, and Quackity is pissed. He gets not wanting to do this dumb fucking dinner date Sapnap’s trying to setup, but Karl doesn’t have to be an asshole about it. He can just say no and the three of them can move on and continue being people they used to know.
“Why would I want to hang out with him?” Karl says to Sapnap, still glaring at Quackity.
Fucking asshole won’t even use his name. And even though he’s getting angrier by the second, he’s determined not to blow up at Karl. He’s certain that’s exactly what Karl wants and Quackity's never going to give him that satisfaction.
There’s a lot of things Quackity’s not good at, but being stubborn is one of his best traits.
"He's our friend?" Sapnap says, still clueless to Karl and Quackity’s stare off.
“That was a pretty intimate moment for someone you would call a friend,” Karl bites.
And Quackity’s done. He doesn’t know what’s up Karl’s ass, but Quackity’s not looking to stick around long enough to find out.
“Karl you can just say that you hate me and we can move on man,” Quackity says, letting the petty side of him take over. It’s stupid, but that part of him doesn’t want Karl to have the last laugh.
“No one’s saying anything about hate. I just don’t like you hanging on my boyfriend is all.” Karl strikes an innocent pose, placing his hand on his heart.
Quackity can feel his eye twitch and he’s so close to telling Karl to fuck off and to go fuck himself.
But he still is in a public place, filled with people who are his old neighbors and classmates. Word spreads fast in Kinoko and the last thing he and Tubbo need is gossip about Quackity losing it in the pasta aisle.
Instead, he plasters on his second best fake smile.
“I wasn’t hitting on your boyfriend, but sure, whatever Karl. Won’t happen again. Bye.”
Quackity continues pushing his cart, grabbing the boxes of macaroni and cheese before getting out of Karl’s presence as soon as possible. He hears light protest from Sapnap, but Quackity still refuses to turn around. He’s not going to deal with Karl’s mood. That’s Sapnap’s job.
The entire time Quackity checks out at the store and on the ride home, he curses to himself and thinks of all the comebacks he should have said to Karl to get him to shut up and about embarrassing Karl in front of Sapnap.
It hurts to laugh about, but it’s funny how Quackity loved seeing Karl blush and now he wants to see it for a completely different reason.
He drives up to the large McMansion that is the Underscore-Beloved’s house and lets himself in, knowing that the door is unlocked. Quackity’s scolded Tubbo a thousand times before to lock the door, but there’s only so much he can do.
As Quackity walks in with as many grocery store bags as he can carry, he hears the pitter patter of footsteps and it’s Michael who’s greeting him first, coming from the next room over.
“Hey Michael,” Quackity says softly.
He waves as his only response and reaches his hands out.
“Oh, you wanna help me bring in the groceries?”
Michael nods, hands still out. It’s so cute that all the anger Quackity had built up, replaying the meeting he had with Karl, dissipates.
“Here, you wanna take this and put everything in the refrigerator?”
Michael nods again and Quackity carefully hands him a bag he’s pretty sure his little toddler arms can carry. Quackity only lets go once he knows Michael has a good grip on the handles.
“Where’s your dad by the way?” Quackity knows he must be nearby, but even when the two of them are in the kitchen, Tubbo’s nowhere to be seen.
Michael points up, which was Quackity’s first guess. He wants to yell out Tubbo’s name, but doesn’t want to scare Michael with a sudden loud noise. Quackity’s still trying to be as delicate as possible while he’s getting to know Michael more.
This is the first chance Quackity’s been able to spend a significant amount of time with Michael, but now, it isn’t due to Quackity’s personal allergy to Kinoko. Tubbo and Ranboo had only adopted him last year. It just sucks that this is how they’re starting their relationship.
Everything about Ranboo’s death fucking sucked.
“Do you know what you want to eat tonight?” Quackity asks. Quackity’s not the best chef, but with Tubbo cooking and managing the burger restaurant all day, it made him hate making dinner when he got home.
Meaning normally it was Ranboo’s job to make their meals, so now Quackity’s taking over.
Michael signs something with his hands that isn’t one of the basic words or letters Quackity learned. He focuses his mind, hoping that maybe the answer will come to him by some stroke of luck, but alas, it doesn’t.
“Sorry, I don’t know what that means,” Quackity admits. And it really hurts because Michael's face had lit up so bright when Quackity was able to sign a simple introduction when they first met during the funeral.
It doesn’t seem to bother Michael though and he goes back to the fridge and points to a package of plastic wrapped chicken.
“Chicken, we can do something with that tonight,” Quackity agrees. He also made a mental note to study sign language more tonight. “I’m going to talk to your dad. I’ll be right back.”
Michael simply nods and Quackity runs up stairs to let Tubbo know he’s home.
“Hey Tubbo, where are you?” Quackity peers through the stupid amount of doors in the house. He can’t understand how anyone doesn’t get lost in this place.
“I’m here Q!” Tubbo’s voice carries down the hallway, but could be coming from any of the rooms ahead of Quackity.
Luckily, Tubbo peaks his head out from a room five doors down from him and Tubbo beckons Quackity over.
“Hey Tubbo. Me and Michael just put up the groceries and I’m about to get started on chicken and rice.”
Quackity looks into the room Tubbo’s in and it’s filled with shelves and boxes. There’s everything from brightly colored toys, random articles of clothes, to black electrical cords and what looks to be computer parts.
“Sounds good. I was just trying to get some organizing done. I promise it’s not as bad as it looks,” Tubbo says, clearly aware of the mess in front of the two of them.
“Uh, sure. Just let me know if you need help,” Quackity offers. There’s a couple of stacked boxes holding on for dear life, ready to fall over at any second.
“Nah, I’ll be fine. Tell me when you’re done with dinner though.” Tubbo brushes it off. “Thanks by the way.”
“No problem. I guess I’ll get back to it.” Quackity takes one more look at the room, making a hundred percent sure that there isn’t anything he has to force his help on. But he can’t find anything that he knows Tubbo won’t immediately push back on, so he heads back to the kitchen, promising dinner won’t take too long.
A part of him wants to bring up seeing Karl and Sapnap at the store, but even with it being a borderline traumatic experience, he doesn’t want to talk Tubbo’s ear off with his own stupid personal problems. Tubbo’s undoubtedly way too busy parsing through old things that more than likely are Ranboo’s, to hear about Quackity’s old high school crush drama.
Back downstairs, Michael’s still there sitting and reading a picture book at the dinner table. His head barely reaches over it. Once he sees Quackity, he stops and gets down from the chair.
“Did you want to help with dinner?” Quackity asks, pretty sure of the answer.
And Michael nods again.
They make dinner in a silence that Quackity can barely stand, so he decides to play a random playlist while Quackity preps the kitchen and Michael stands on a little stool so that he can reach the sink while he washes the rice.
Quackity hums quietly to himself and thinks Michael could be humming too, but it’s so low over the running water cleaning the vegetables, Quackity’s not entirely sure.
Ranboo must have taught Michael a lot, Quackity thinks as he glances over Michael helping to prepare the food without being told what to do or asking for help. It’s impressive considering his age, but it makes Quackity want to ask how he’s holding up.
Quackity and Tubbo never had proper parents, so it’s hard to miss someone you never had in the first place. Tubbo says Michael’s seeing the school therapist, but never elaborated more on the subject.
Dinner is simple and easy, considering Quackity doesn’t know how to cook all that well and the three of them sit around the table for the meal. Tubbo tells Quackity about how he got a call from Michael’s school, saying he needed to be sent home early because he bit another student.
Quackity’s immediately distressed from hearing that, not able to imagine such a quiet and well mannered kid like Michael ending up in a situation like that.
“The other kid deserved it though,” Tubbo says between bites of food. “Michael told me that he was making fun of him for not talking.”
It still didn’t make it right, is what Quackity wants to say, but looking at Michael’s cute little innocent face, yeah the other kid did deserve to get bit. At least Tubbo says that he told Michael next time to instead report any bullying to his teacher or at least let him know.
That makes Quackity more comfortable to have a concrete example of Tubbo being a good parent. He had gotten married so young and adopted Michael so soon after his marriage, Quackity wasn’t sure if they’d be up to the task, but considering what he’s seen so far living with the two of them, it turns out there was nothing to worry about in the first place.
At night, in the guest room, Quackity sits in an expensive armchair to call Charlie up, his best friend and law firm partner back in Manburg. Charlie’s bright and cheery as normal, and it brings Quackity’s mood up. Better yet, he’s finally able to vent about Karl being a complete and total asshole.
“He was staring at me like he was trying to shoot lasers out of his eyes and kill me!” Quackity has to stand up and start pacing around the room as soon as he peels back the fresh memory.
“I’m sorry to hear about that Quackity. But what about Sapnap? Do you think he still wants to spend time with you,” Charlie asks.
“Doesn’t matter, because I’m pretty fucking sure if Karl sees me with in six feet of the guy, he’ll find a way to kill me for real,” Quackity responds. And okay, maybe Karl won’t kill him, but he’ll probably punch him in the face. He’s seen Karl get in fights before. It was rare, but having Karl’s fist break his nose is not something Quackity wants to experience first hand.
They talk a little more about Karl, but Quackity starts getting sleepy from getting so worked up and he has to start parsing through TubBurger receipts tomorrow. Seeing the mess that is Tubbo’s closet today, is not making Quackity hopeful this will be an easy job.
He tells Charlie he’ll talk to him again later and that if anything important comes up to call him right away. Quackity might be on this family emergency slash tax side project, but he’ll be home back to their office soon enough and being updated on everything in Manburg is just as important.
Quackity’s already contemplating everything he’ll have to work on immediately once he gets back home. But for now, he studies up with his sign language videos until he’s too tired to keep going.
The next day at the burger shop, Quackity spends most of it in the back office that’s surprisingly well organized. Quackity can tell that it’s all thanks to Ranboo. As much as Quackity loves his brother, he knows Tubbo’s weaknesses well, and there’s no way Tubbo had anything to do with the perfectly filed paperwork.
But as Quackity pulls everything out he needs for their taxes, he’s starting to realize something really important. And it really seems like-
“Hey Big Q,” Tubbo knocks on the open door. “Someone’s here to see you.”
Quackity raises an eyebrow at that. He tries to think of who in Kinoko would willingly come to visit him. Maybe Tubbo mentioned that Quackity is in town to an old neighbor and they want to say hi.
His imagination couldn’t prepare him for who it actually is.
“Quackity, hey again.”
It’s Sapnap and he’s looking shockingly unbothered.
Quackity frantically looks around, worried Karl is around the corner, ready to punch him in the face.
“It’s just me,” Sapnap forces a painful sounding chuckle.
“Oh okay, uh so what’s up?” Quackity tries to relax, but still feels tense in the shoulders. Just because Karl isn’t here, doesn’t mean he feels much better about talking to Sapnap.
“I really wanted to apologize about what happened at the store yesterday,” Sapnap says.
But Quackity just shrugs. “It’s not your fault.”
“I know but, Karl shouldn’t have said that stuff to you. And-and I know that this doesn't make it right, but I needed you to know there’s a reason for the way he was acting,” Sapnap explains a little more.
“That’s not necessary Sapnap. Let’s just pretend this whole thing never happened.” Quackity is not interested in hearing any excuses for Karl’s actions. In fact, it’d be great if he could never hear about Karl ever again.
“Well okay. Can I at least take you out tonight as an apology. I promise Karl won’t be there,” Sapnap offers.
Quackity instantly wants to say no. He just wants to do taxes and spend time with his family.
…but
“And Karl’s okay with that?”
“Yeah.” Sapnap draws out the vowel like he’s going to elaborate more, but he doesn’t. Quackity wonders if he had to strike up some deal with Karl for him to agree.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea Sapnap.” Quackity’s honest. He can’t think of anything positive coming from hanging out with Sapnap. The worst part is, Quackity would have wanted to, but Karl’s changed all that.
“But Quackity you promised,” Sapnap says in a teasing voice. “Don’t worry I’m joking. I get it. I wouldn’t want to hang out either if I was you.”
Sapnap’s smiling, but his eyes have a watery look as if he could cry at any moment. If Quackity didn’t know any better, he’d think Sapnap is doing this on purpose to manipulate him.
“See you around I-”
“Wait no,” Quackity inhales, cursing at himself for being so weak. “Fine, we can hang, I guess. I did make a promise.”
Sapnap frowns and his mouth hangs open, surprised that Quackity changed his mind.
“Really? You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Sapnap says. And it’s sweet really that Sapnap actually never puts pressure on things his friends don’t want to do.
“No, I want to,” Quackity smiles, telling the truth.
“Okay, if you say so,” Sapnap barely turns his frown into a smile. It’s still like he’s leaving room for Quackity to change his mind.
They exchange their current numbers, although Quackity recognizes that it’s still the same one Sapnap’s had since middle school. It’s comforting having a reminder that some things don’t change.
The two of them make plans to meet up at a local bar, even though Quackity doesn’t really drink. He’ll just order soda if he has too.
They say bye for now and Quackity’s left with a much lighter heart and now burdened with overthinking about what he’s going to wear tonight. Didn’t Sapnap say he needed to dress up yesterday? Maybe it doesn’t matter anymore, considering they’re going to a bar.
Over paperwork, Quackity mentally combs over the clothes he brought for the trip and thinks his black sweater might be better than the blue one he has on now. He tries to convince himself that it really doesn’t matter and that Sapnap won’t even notice so what’s the point.
Still, he wants their meetup together for the first time in years to be good.
Because despite everything, he missed Sapnap too.
After his day in the office, Quackity knows that he needs to talk to Tubbo about his tax situation. He knows it’ll be an awkward one though so he’ll push it off maybe until one of the days the burger shop is closed.
The salt crunches beneath Quackity’s tires as he drives to the little local bar in Kinoko. It’s pitch black on the narrow roads before he gets to one with actual street lights. Quackity always hated how stupid icy everything gets in Kinoko winter weather and doesn’t let himself go over twenty miles an hour in fear that his car will start sliding or worse, a deer pops out of the thick forests surrounding him and causes him to crash.
He’s starting to regret agreeing to this meeting and wishes he had more of a backbone to these types of things. By which he means Sapnap.
Quackity does decide that he’s already come this far and he already told Tubbo he’d be out for an hour or so, so it’d be stupid of him to go back now.
The parking lot of the bar is also dimly lit with little snowflakes that look more like dust falling under its pale light. And the neon sign above the door looks as shitty as Quackity remembers, looking more like the word ‘pube’ with the attempt of a fancy font on the ‘b’.
Quackity turns off his car and thinks to himself, he still has the chance to run away. He could say he got sick or something. Considering how cold it got here and how it never stops snowing, it’s not like Sapnap would question it.
No, he has to do this. Quackity feels this way before he ever does something social. By the end of every party or similar gathering, he doesn’t regret going. Maybe it’s not the most fun he’s ever had, but it’s not the disaster he makes it out to be in his head.
Quackity sends a quick text to Sapnap, telling him he’s here with only an ‘omw’ as the most recent message from Sapnap.
But as he gets out of his car, a large red pick up truck pulls into the parking lot too and Quackity can spot Sapnap through the windshield window.
He waves, wondering if Sapnap can see him in poor lighting, but Sapnap turns his face to Quackity standing outside of his car, and waves excitedly to him. Quackity feels warm and wonders the last time he felt this way.
Sapnap hops out of his car and jogs over to meet Quackity.
“Hey, you made it!” Sapnap’s face is a little red from the cold.
“Yeah, why did you think I wasn’t going to?” Quackity asks.
Sapnap shrugs.
“Like I said, before. You like to flake.”
Quackity rolls his eyes, even though it’s true.
Sapnap takes one look at Quackity’s car and whistles.
“The lawyer business must be going well huh?” he comments.
The shiny blue corvette definitely stands out in Kinoko normally, but especially in the mostly empty parking lot, it’s like an expensive ugly pimple.
Quackity only bought it to fit in with his other fellow lawyers. He wasn’t the biggest fan of people making fun of his shitty but reliable Toyota Camry. A part of him does wish he didn't sell it, so he could have a second discrete car.
Instead he has to pretend to be proud of this worthless status symbol.
"It's going," Quackity responds. "Just let me know if you want a ride."
It comes out more suggestive than he means, but whatever. Sapnap doesn't seem to notice.
"Are you serious? Because I'm going to keep you to it," Sapnap says with genuine interest.
"Sure," Quackity doubles down.
But he doesn't let himself fantasize about the two of them driving way too fast on an empty road, laughing too much, and hearts pumping. And definitely doesn't think of a man with dark brown curls sitting in the car with them.
Like the start of a bad joke, the two of them walk into the bar.
Even though this is the first Quackity's been of age to step inside, it has the exact outdated interior that's never tried moving out of the eighties he expected from passing by the building so many times as a child.
The soft country music that fills the place is just loud enough to hide whatever conversations the few people sitting at the scattered tables are having.
It's a perfectly shabby place to talk over drinks.
"I like your sweater," Sapnap compliments Quackity once they take their jackets off.
"Thanks," Quackity says, caught a little off guard. He wants to say something nice about Sapnap's comfy looking striped sweater too, but gets interrupted by Sapnap.
"What do you want to order? I'm guessing you've grown out of shitty beer," Sapnap references how they would steal Bud Light out of their parents fridge.
At the time, Quackity wasn't even able to get mildly buzzed off the stuff it was so bad.
"Just get me whatever you're getting, as long as it's not just plain whiskey or something," Quackity says.
He doesn't really drink much in the first place. He has the occasional glass of wine, but he's not about to force down whatever spoiled grape juice this place has to offer.
Sapnap gives him a thumbs up and comes back shortly with a rum and coke for them each.
"So Quackity, tell me about the lawyer business? Do you like, take on cool criminal cases?"
"Nah, I do corporate law so it's mostly contracts and making sure CEO's don't end up in jail with their business deals. Pays well but it's not that interesting," Quackity explains plainly. No one actually cares in detail about how he keeps billionaires out of trouble.
"Oh I never even thought about that. I guess companies do need lawyers for those types of things," Sapnap says.
"Sorry I'm not like one of those Law and Order attorneys on TV," Quackity admits, mostly joking.
"No, it actually makes me feel a little better. I've heard of lawyers getting shot at or killed if the case goes wrong," Sapnap points out.
And Quackity's not sure how likely that would happen even if he did practice criminal law, but he appreciates the concern regardless.
"Well I'm glad to clear that up for you. I hope that'll keep you from staying up at night worrying about me," Quackity jokes again.
"I don't think that's possible. I always worry about you, Quackity."
Sapnap's words shoot straight into Quackity’s soul.
And Quackity chokes on every word he planned on saying next. Because what the fuck?
"Really?" Quackity's voice sounds unnaturally high pitched. He hides his embarrassment behind a few sips of his drink.
"Yeah," and Sapnap's previous words continue to stay heavy in the air.
But Quackity feels like he's soaring.
"I uh, I always thought about reaching out but I never knew how to do it," Quackity confesses. He was convinced that Sapnap wouldn't want to hear anything from him. Turns out it wasn't Sapnap Quackity needed to be concerned about.
"Me too, to be honest. I kinda thought you forgot about us," Sapnap says in a sheepish tone.
"No," Quackity accidentally responds louder than he meant. "I could never forget you two."
He needs Sapnap to know that because the past may make Quackity bitter, but that could never take away from the happy memories he has of them. Quackity doesn't like to think about it now, but he was in love with both of them and no amount of time would take that fact away.
Even a shitty argument in a grocery store couldn't rip those memories of love out of his soul.
Sapnap's frowning at Quackity though, but he thinks it can't be a reaction to Quackity's words.
"So Karl," Sapnap cradles his half empty cup. "Again, I'm really sorry about what happened yesterday. And I want you to know, if Karl was in a better state of mind, he'd apologize too."
"What do you mean?" Quackity has a bubbling anger that's threatening to come out at the sudden subject change and mention of Karl's name.
"Karl got in a really bad car accident about a year ago. He was in the hospital for a while and has a lot of memory problems now,'' Sapnap drops everything in front of Quackity.
Quackity opens his mouth, expecting the words to come to him, but it doesn't.
"What I'm trying to say is that Karl didn't mean what he said. I'm of course not saying it was okay what he did, because it definitely wasn't, but I needed you to know it wasn't out of nowhere," Sapnap explains.
The anger simmer back down, and what anger is gone is replaced with worry.
"How is he now? Has he been getting his memories back?"
Quackity couldn't believe that no one ever told him about this. It never came up with whatever thread thin connections he did have to Sapnap and Karl over the years.
"Physically, he's fully recovered. Brain wise, he still has selective memory loss. The doctors said that they might never fully come back," Sapnap continues.
Quackity scoff because of fucking course things would end up this way.
"So Karl's brain chose to forget me," Quackity says, but with no malice. His life feels like a living curse half of the time, so yeah, it's not that surprising.
"No, it's not like that, Quackity!" Sapnap exclaims, crabbed sparks in his eyes. "He- he forgot a lot. It was just me, George, and Tina he could remember. Everyone else came back slowly after he left the hospital and started seeing our friends in person again. And I stupidly assumed he remembered you too."
Quackity can see exactly where Sapnap's going with this and no, he's not going to do it.
"I'm not going to hang out with Karl just so he can maybe remember me," Quackity says, refusing to put up with any bullshit Karl would certainly spit out at him.
"I wouldn't ask you to do that." Sapnap's always been bad at hiding his emotions and the obvious disappointment that he's trying to cover with content is not an exception.
At least Quackity knows he won't ask again because he could unfortunately see himself being worn down to say yes. But only because it's Sapnap.
"I really felt like you deserved to know what was going on," Sapnap reiterates.
"Well thanks for telling me," Quackity says. And he does mean it because even though Karl obviously hates him, Quackity at least knows why and that's closure. And closure equals healing and he knows that from the cover of a self help book he saw one time.
Sapnap awkwardly moves the conversation along and they talk more about work and taxes. Truly riveting stuff, but Quackity's a sucker, so when he gets to hear about Sapnap's computer repair business he runs out of his garage, Quackity admits it is actually interesting.
Plus he's always loved listening to Sapnap ramble about the things he's passionate about.
"Speaking of ram, I probably should head home. I gotta get up early to ship out some parts tomorrow."
Quackity looks at his phone and it's nearly midnight, so he agrees.
The two of them only had a drink each that they finished a while ago, so Quackity feels fine to drive and Sapnap looks sober enough too.
They drag their feet though as if they are a bit tipsy, but Quackity just wants to hear Sapnap's voice a little longer. Quackity's not sure the next time he'll be able to experience it again.
But standing next to Quackity's car, Sapnap asks, "Do you want to do this again sometime?"
Quackity's not sure why this shocks him, but maybe all of his knowledge about 1099 forms really was interesting enough for Sapnap to want seconds.
"Sure, I'd like that," Quackity grins, but forces it to be a small one. He doesn't want to come off desperate.
"Great! I'll text you later and we can figure something out," but Sapnap's smile is big and unafraid. It shines like the night stars he can never see in the city.
Sapnap doesn't start heading to his truck though and he takes turns leaning more on either leg, probably thinking how to say what's on his mind.
"What?" Quackity finally prods.
Sapnap suddenly stands up straight and asks, "Can I hug you goodbye?"
Sapnap's face is red and it's so fucking cute.
"Sapnap, didn't realize you turned into a 'where's my hug' type of guy," Quackity teases.
"No, I just didn't want to assume," Sapnap says, face still red.
"I'm joking, I'm joking," Quackity giggles and he reaches out for a hug.
Sapnap wraps his arms around Quackity and the crinkle of their coats rubbing together reminds Quackity how warm Sapnap must be, even if he can't feel it himself.
The embrace does come to its natural and perfect end. And now they actually have to go home.
"I'll see you later Quackity," Sapnap waves at him, body finally turned towards the direction of his parked truck.
"Bye Sap," Quackity says and he opens the door of his car to convince himself to sit in it instead of continuing to ogle at Sapnap.
Once Sapnap's out of the corner of his eye, Quackity straps himself in the car and turns it on, brushing his hand through his hair, accidentally knocking the beanie off of his head.
Oh boy does he have a lot to tell Charlie.