Chapter Text
"And here I thought I'd be the first one back."
Quackity didn't jump at the voice that seemingly spawned above him, but he did swear rather loud as he whipped around to see Karl, a sly smirk brightening his features.
"Weren't you spending time with Bea?" He scoffed lightly, pretending he hadn't just yelled in the middle of the quiet room.
"She was drawn away from my fascinating lesson by an older couple, planning something for tomorrow," Karl shrugged, "What're you reading now?"
"The Jungle," Quackity told him easily.
"Oh," Karl leaned down, pecking Quackity on the lips. Quackity heard the book shut quietly from where it was on the table, and he pulled away to give Karl a questioning eye, "It doesn't have the happiest ending."
"I'm used to bad endings."
"Well then it is my job to bring better endings your way," Karl hummed, before grabbing Quackity's shoulder, "I just remembered, I promised I'd show Ranboo the library! Is that alright?"
Quackity nodded, "Of course."
"We can go find him now before Sapnap returns! He's in the covered promenade at the moment, so it won't take too long," Karl heaved Quackity up from where he was sat, making his screech again.
"I could have got up by myself!"
"Boring," Karl sung, dropping Quackity on his feet.
"How are you so strong?" He groaned.
"Physical labour, baby!" Karl flexed his arms as if there was the slightest imitation of defined muscle on him, "Gotta have the best biceps to write thrilling romances, daring horrors, the usual, you know? Nothing on Sapnap, but still."
"Sure," Quackity shook his head, pulling the library doors open and walking towards the corridor through midship, "You alright with cutting through the first class room space to get there?"
"I'm always up for an adventure," Karl effused, grabbing his hand and entangling their fingers.
The corridor was magnificent, brightly lit with small chandeliers lighting the white wooden walls and patterned tiles beneath their feet. It was quiet, words muted behind stateroom doors and the tap of their heels the loudest thing as Quackity simply enjoyed Karl's company.
As they approached a corner, he could hear a few first class passengers walking towards them. Karl's eyes narrowed very slightly, looking around.
"I swear I've been here already..."
"Quackity?"
Quackity's heart plummeted to his feet as Wilbur and Techno were the passengers to round the corner. Because of course they just so happened to be in the exact same hallway of a nine deck ship at the same time as Quackity. Wilbur's eyebrows raised as his gazed flicked to Quackity and Karl's hands, still holding firmly to one another.
"What are you doing here?" Quackity scowled, taking a step back as Wilbur took the opportunity to step forwards.
"We could be asking you the same thing," Wilbur spread his arms wide, looking around. He held a shaving razor in his hand, blade encased in the handle, "This is the floor we sleep on after all. We were just going for a shave."
"Well, we were just passing through."
But Wilbur only moved closer, forcing Quackity to pull Karl back with him.
"Can't we have a civilised chat anymore?" Wilbur frowned, twirling the razor around in his fingers. It was a challenge. It irritated Quackity.
"No." He responded back succinctly, "And you know why."
"Why so cautious?" Wilbur leered, eyes sliding to Karl as if he were nothing more than an accessory to be discarded after being worn, "Your new little bed bug sure won't--"
"Don't call him that, you know his name. Or are you so small minded you've forgotten it already?" Quackity snapped back, leaning into Wilbur's space unexpectedly and dropping his voice to a hiss, "You know, it's still a double edged sword. Do you trust Technoblade to not to tattle on you to Philza?"
Wilbur paled minutely, but he kept his gaze fixed on Quackity, "You wouldn't."
"I'm only being cautious," Quackity pulled back into Karl's space. He flexed his free hand lethargically.
It drew Wilbur's attention. Quackity could see how the gold ring reflected in his eyes.
His mouth seemed to open in slow motion, with plenty of time for Quackity to make a decision. No thought was really put into said decision, but his mind was made up before Wilbur began to speak.
"And what of Schlatt?"
There were many ways for Quackity to answer. Schlatt was well, Schlatt was drinking, Schlatt had discovered why the British loved opium. Quackity didn't need to rise to Wilbur's bait.
Quackity punched him in the face.
Karl let go of his hand immediately, in fear or shock, Quackity didn't care. He was seething as Wilbur grabbed his mouth, howling in pain. Breathing deep, Quackity shook his fist, surprisingly numb after the direct hit. It had been too long since he'd punched something.
Wilbur didn't take long to recover, wiping the blood from his split lip and glaring at Quackity. It wasn't the first time they'd faced off, Quackity remembered, and it probably wouldn't be the last.
"It's like that, is it?" Wilbur muttered, voice thick with scorn, raising his own fist to fight back.
Quackity dodged it easily, taking the opportunity to elbow Wilbur in the gut, delighting in the groan he received in response. He didn't expect, however, Wilbur to grab his hair, pulling his face back up again.
That appeared to kick Karl into action, grabbing one of Quackity's arms to try and pull him away from the fight, but Wilbur stayed steadfast in his hair and Quackity was too focused on the sting to notice anyone but Wilbur.
"Since when do you fight dirty?" Quackity coughed as he brought a knee to Wilbur's groin, heaving a sigh as his hair was freed, though his collar was grabbed by the same hand near instantly.
"Since someone taught me how to," Wilbur hummed, bringing their faces close and taking the opportunity to knock their foreheads together, making Quackity woozy enough to be bodily turned out of Karl's grasp.
Quackity was pretty sure Wilbur was trying to trying to slam him on the floor, but instead he crashed into another, much bulkier body. Techno, who had been standing off to the side and watching as his brother fought another man, happened to be in the way of Quackity and the floor.
Being an Olympic fencer, Techno's reflexes were stupidly fast.
Being on his way to shave, Techno had a razor in his hand.
For some gods unknown reason, the blade was out.
A blinding pain ran through the left of Quackity's face.
And the world stopped. Quackity felt all three pairs of eyes burning into his skull as he fell onto his ass with the momentum that hitting Techno had generated. It was silent as he stared at his hands, feeling even dizzier than the smack to the head had already made him.
The floor looked kind of... fuzzy. But that couldn't be right, because it was tile and hard beneath him, not carpeted. His right eye felt a lot stronger than his left. He blinked.
A drop of ruby red blood fell onto his ring.
He screamed.
And like that the world started up again. The Minecraft's, realising the fact they'd just caused a potentially fatal injury, glanced at each other before booking it down the corridor they'd come from, probably afraid of the price on their reputation if they were found at the scene of a bloodied man with Techno holding a bloodied razor. It was never meant to be this serious, and they were abandoning before someone heard the commotion outside of their stateroom and felt the need to check.
Karl, adversely, was on his knees in seconds, attempting to put pressure on the wound and slow the flow of blood. There was a lot of blood, and it was ruining Karl's yellow shirt. All it did was make Quackity wail louder.
Karl, comprehending that Quackity needed medical assistance now but wasn't going to be moving by himself any time soon, took the right of Quackity's face into his hand, smearing blood on that half too. Quackity continued to sob, but Karl spoke to him slowly, hoping he'd hear and understand him through the pain.
"Shhh, shhh Q it's gonna be fine," He breathed, watching as Quackity's eyes - eye, actually, Karl couldn't see the left through the blood - found his, and a microscopic bit of tension drained from his body, although he continued to hiccup through his tears. Karl shifted his arm under Quackity's shoulder, narrating every move he made, "We're just gonna stand up, alright? We've gotta get you to the hospital."
Karl thanked every god he could think of that he recalled walking past the hospital when they'd escaped the stuck up first class dinner, being on D deck, and began lumbering towards the elevators. The corridors were blissfully empty, and Karl prayed they didn't run into anyone as they went.
"You're doing so good, so good Q, well done," He mumbled, staggering as Quackity fell faint against him, "No, no, no, come on, just a little farther."
Despite himself, Quackity managed to laugh, "I don't have a father."
"And I had two mothers and my aunt," Karl huffed, "And look at me go."
"Look at you go," Quackity slurred before a fresh wave of tears overtook him, "Thank you."
"This is the bare minimum, Q," Karl murmured quietly as they stopped in front of an elevator, waiting for it to come to them, "I'm sorry."
"'S not your fault."
"That's not what I was apologising for," Karl said simply. Quackity didn't respond, just kept crying.
Karl, in what he hoped was reassuring, rubbed his hand gently up and down Quackity's side, letting him cry out as he bled against Karl's shoulder. The fabric had almost immediately soaked through, but Karl didn't mind. He didn't need to be worried about his shirt.
"Karl? Quackity?"
Dread rising in his stomach, Karl turned his head at the voice, coming face to face with Bad, who was trying to somehow gawp reservedly at the scene before him. Karl felt Quackity slump against him even further.
"Mr Halo, sir," Karl tried to smile, but he was sure it was more of a snarl. It wasn't purposeful, but the adrenaline of the situation was catching up to him and he was even less concerned about civility than he usually was.
"What happened?" Bad spluttered, racing forwards and looping his arm under Quackity's, relieving some of the weight from Karl.
"I fell," Quackity mumbled.
Bad didn't look like he believed him, but had the decency not to say anything. Just as well, it would be difficult to create an excuse for the spat Quackity had been having, especially since he was the one who initiated it.
The elevator grates finally opened, a blinking bellboy moving aside to let the three of them in. He didn't ask questions, just started the elevator up as quickly as possible as Karl instructed they be taken down a level.
They travelled in silence, the only noise being Quackity's mewls that painted a picture of pure agony. He hadn't stopped gushing blood, and Karl was beginning to become severely distressed as they reached the hospital's doors.
The doctor took Quackity off their hands the moment they arrived, leading him into another room without much communication. Karl was silently thankful he didn't have to explain the fight to them as he found a place to sit, sighing heavily as he brought his hands to his lips, reciting a short prayer. Now all that was left to do was wait.
Wait with the torment in his mind and Bad.
Bad did not sit down. He stood before Karl, staring at the door Quackity had been taken through. When he spoke, he spoke to Karl.
"Sapnap is going to marry when we touch down in New York."
Karl licked his lips, forgetting he had blood on his hands. He grimaced, "So is Quackity."
"Quackity is different."
"How?"
Bad took a handkerchief out of his pocket, wiping what he could of Quackity's blood from himself as he explained, "Sapnap gets attached to those he likes very quickly. Granted, it doesn't happen often, but I know him well enough."
"And what exactly makes you so sure Quackity is different?"
"Everybody and their mother knows about Quackity," Bad scoffed, staring at the bloodstained handkerchief, "He isn't one to stay committed, not when the house of cards starts tumbling. Sapnap, on the other hand, will stick with things until their bloody end. I can't let him become so entangled with you that he forgets his duty."
Karl sneered, leaning back in his seat as he wiped his hands on his trousers, watching as Bad's eyes tracked the movement where they stained. Once he was done, he crossed his arms, where blood still stained his sleeves, "What the hell, man?"
"Language."
Karl ignored him, "He's his own person. I can't control my wiles."
"This marriage is crucial for the future of our company," Bad spoke in an even tone, but his eyes sparked with the same fire Sapnap smiled with, "He has been trained for this his whole life, and you will not get in our way."
"Have you ever considered putting people's lives ahead of your profits? Looked past your own nose?" Karl scorned, venom dripping from his words, "It's no wonder Sapnap wants to spend all his time with us if this is what the upper class is like."
"I only want what is for the best--"
"You think this is for the best? You think Sapnap is happy about you forcing him to marry?" Karl, admittedly, knew he was pulling at straws. After all, Sapnap hadn't explained his situation to Karl, so he had no idea if he would be happy. But by the way Bad's lips twitched down, he could guess he'd hit the nail on the head.
"He is content."
"But not happy?"
There was a moment of silence before Bad spoke again. The engines whirred in their silence.
"But not happy."
Karl exhaled, realising belatedly that he'd begun to lilt forwards as he berated Bad. He fell back again, staring at the ceiling to avoid Bad's gaze.
"It's just for the voyage," He assured quietly, "I'm not in love. The other two aren't either."
"Sapnap will be happy in New York," Bad replied back, just as quietly, and sounded more as if he were attempting to convince himself than Karl.
"If you say so, sir."
Bad turned to the door that would lead him back to the main body of the ship, but didn't start walking. He simply stared at it for a few moments, then frowned again.
"I only hope that I am making him happy," He muttered the next part lower, as if Karl was not meant to hear it, "I hope I'm making him proud."
Karl said nothing, watching with an unusual stoicness about him. It felt weird set on his face, being so expressive all the time.
Bad turned his head to him one last time, and there was something softer about him. Karl didn't trust it.
"You looked good in the suit at dinner. Refined, almost as if you belonged there," He shrugged, looking back to the door, "But I suppose looks can be a little artificial... A person can't be defined without character," He began to walk towards the door, "I hope you are truly happy by the end of this journey, Karl."
Karl's eyes followed Bad as he crossed the room. He was reaching for the doorknob when Karl called out to him.
"If you see Sapnap, tell him we're here."
Bad didn't look back, but Karl heard a quiet "okay" and then he was gone.
And Karl was left alone to his thoughts.
It was a short wait, but the new silence drowned Karl. His thoughts twisted with darker and darker scenarios each minute, hope fading at the quiet room Quackity had been led into. No news didn't mean good news, after all.
Eventually, he pressed his trembling hands between his knees to quell their shaking, eyes laser focused on the door in preparation for bad news.
When the door did open, the doctor stood alone. Their face was grim as they looked at Karl.
"Are you Schlatt?"
Karl startled, "What? No."
The doctor relaxed minorly, "He passed out before I started his stitches, but kept muttering- begging for a 'Schlatt' to stop, that he hadn't done anything wrong."
Karl's heart ached, "Can I go in and see him, please?"
He almost jumped up when the doctor stepped aside, allowing him access, "He's still unconscious, but he's stable. The face bleeds a lot when cut, so it probably looked worse than it was."
Quackity lay in a hospital bed, tucked under a thin sheet, his chest rising and falling steadily in such a way Karl could have almost convinced himself that he were asleep, if it wasn't for the bandages wrapped around his face, leaving only his right eye and cheekbone in view. Karl would have been worried about how Quackity was breathing if it hadn't been clear that he was.
"Oh, thank gods."
"He will likely be blind in his left eye," The doctor explained from where they stood at the door, giving them space, "Whatever sliced through him went pretty deep."
"...Oh."
"He'll need bandages for the rest of the voyage, and some time after that. Do you live with him?"
Karl's eyes flicked to the right, "Ah, no. We just met a few days ago."
He couldn't fight the feeling he was being judged, "But you will look after him until New York?"
"I will," Karl promised, a fiery passion igniting in his words. He'd never been so sure of anything in his life, Quackity's safety and comfort his number one in that moment.
The doctor was quiet for a moment, but eventually smiled, "I'll be outside if you need me. I assume you want to stay with him?"
"More than anything."
Karl was sat by Quackity's side before the doctor even left the room. He stared at his unconscious form for a few seconds and then reached for Quackity's hand from where it lay atop the covers. And Quackity lay still, cold in his grasp.
Karl doubled over onto the bed so his head lay next to Quackity's shoulder.
Took a few deep breaths.
And started sobbing.
"What the- what hell is going on, Quackity?" He cried, gripping Quackity's hand tight, "I don't live this kind of life."
Karl knew he wasn't a pretty crier. His face scrunched up, and his nose dripped and mixed with his tears. He still cried plenty often, but he didn't like crying in front of people, no matter if they were conscious or not.
"I'm worried about you, Q," He sniffed, but it did nothing for the snot soaking into the bed, "I don't get worried. I adore, and then I move on."
Ocean liners provided a wide array of people for him to sweep off their feet for a few days when he felt like it. He couldn't put a name to any face he'd been with before, but he knew with his entire being, that he would never forget Quackity or Sapnap.
Of course his romance on the Titanic would be anything but normal.
"I adore you," He whispered, "I adore you, and Sapnap, more than anyone I've adored before."
He knew he bore his heart to a hand that could not accept it.
"I don't know what I'm doing, Q," He admitted quietly, "I run into things headfirst, I don't plan this far ahead."
He began to curl back into his original sitting position, wiping at his cheeks with his non-bloody shoulder so he didn't need to let go of Quackity. The man was still passed out, cold.
A high pitch keen broke into the air, and it took a second for Karl to realise it was him who'd made the sound, bringing Quackity's hand to his lips, kissing it softly to try and sooth Quackity. He had no idea what was going on in his mind, but Karl wanted to protect him either way.
Half an hour passed. Karl stayed in the same position, Quackity's hand held to Karl's lips as he watched for any sign Quackity was in some sort of pain. None came, but he didn't wake up.
Karl wondered if Schlatt would help rewrap Quackity's bandages. He didn't seem like the type.
The thought wasn't allowed to fester in his mind, not when Sapnap arrived almost immediately after Karl thought it. Karl heard him before he saw him, the crashing of a door being thrown open, then the heavy thud of footfalls and a frantic voice asking for Quackity outside.
Despite himself, it drew a smile onto Karl's face as the door to the room he was sat in was thrown open, Sapnap panting as he rushed forwards before gracefully collapsing into the seat on the other side of Quackity. He mirrored Karl's position as he clung onto a hand before letting it drop back to where it had been lying originally.
If Quackity's hand was cold to Karl, it must have felt freezing in Sapnap, Karl thought vaguely.
"I thought you'd ditched on me," Sapnap muttered gently, eyes firmly set on Quackity's bandages.
"I'm offended you think we have the capability," Karl admonished playfully, his lips twitching in some attempt of a smile.
"What happened?"
"Q got into a fight with Wilbur. Got pushed into Techno and his shaving razor went," Karl swung a hand in imitation, "It wasn't on purpose, but. It cut pretty deep. I think it'll scar."
"Bastards," Sapnap spat, "I saw them just fifteen minutes ago, socialising as normally as ever. I thought they were purposefully ignoring me. Said Wilbur's split lip was from chasing Fundy into the bedpost."
Karl's stomach rolled with the knowledge. Did the Minecraft's actions hold so little consequence that they were able to parade around as if they hadn't just permanently altered a person's life?
"Are you okay?" Sapnap's voice snapped him out of it.
Karl blinked, taken aback for a moment before he mustered up, "Yes? I'm not the one who's in the hospital bed."
"But you saw it happen," Sapnap shook his head, his attention now solely on Karl, "And you brought him here. I'd be forgiven for thinking you were the one that stitched him up, with the amount of blood on you. It can't have been... fun."
Karl felt his heart warm hot enough to melt. He swayed unsteadily at the sudden rush of emotions clogging his head, building up behind his eyes in particular.
He began sobbing again.
Sapnap was by his side within a second, warm hands accompanied by soft kisses washing away tears. Karl wondered if his heart was trying to escape his rib cage by how fast it was beating.
"I'm sorry," He sniffled, scrabbling to push Sapnap's face away to hide his own, "You don't wanna see this."
"Don't tell me what I want," Sapnap grinned lopsidedly through Karl's fingers.
"You're... I don't--" A fresh wave of wails ripped out of Karl's throat, and Sapnap held him close, whispering sweet nothings and soothing him through it.
A puddle grew on Sapnap's shoulder, the salty tears mixing with the dried blood smeared across Karl's face darkening the black of Sapnap's suit, but Karl was far past caring anymore. He could cry in front of these two. Sapnap was holding him.
The cries ebbed away naturally over time, but when Karl pulled away, Sapnap still smiled at him, holding him with the same reassurance in his grip as always.
"Why do you care so much?" Karl asked before the words could properly formulate in his mind. He winced, but made no attempt to correct himself.
Sapnap shrugged, unfazed, "Skeppy said I have a big heart."
"I don't know who this 'Skeppy' is, but he's right."
Sapnap smiled gently, "He would have loved you. He was always one for an adventure," He glanced over at Quackity too, "He would have loved Quackity too."
"Is he who I have to thank for the passenger who dragged Q around to find me? Who's willing to spend time in third class spaces with me?"
Sapnap chuckled, nodding, "I was taught to be a gentleman. I'll want to do whatever makes you happy."
A warm feeling bubbled inside of Karl's gut, looking at where Sapnap still knelt on the floor before him. It would be so difficult to leave them once the voyage was over, he already knew.
The only indication that Quackity was waking up was that his breath became shorter, and then his eye flew open. He thrashed about for a moment before he turned to face Karl, and the fight left him instantly.
He tried to talk, or at least, from the noise he made, he sounded as if he were trying to talk before he realised his mouth was covered. He turned his head from Karl to Sapnap, who had remained by Karl, confusion glazing over his eye, and Karl practically jumped as he reached into his pocket, retrieving his notebook and charcoal to hand over to Quackity.
"You won't be able to talk for a while, not with that bandage on. You can use this in the mean time!"
Quackity looked blankly at the book, then to Karl, and then to the ceiling. When he did move, it was slow, and it took a moment for Karl to realise he was trying to sit up, and he and Sapnap rushed to assist him, adjusting pillows and giving him as little work as possible to be as comfortable as possible on a stiff hospital bed.
An exasperated sniff was their only response, but Karl just rolled his eyes as he propped Quackity against the wall. The book was taken off him shortly thereafter, and both Karl and Sapnap watched with baited breath as Quackity scribbled something down.
'Where are we?'
Sapnap glanced at Karl, Karl glanced at Quackity. When he spoke, his voice was still hoarse from crying.
"What do you last remember?"
'The fight.'
Quackity's handwriting was slanted, refined in a way that, if Karl didn't know better, he would think Quackity had been taught how to write from a young age. Maybe that was on purpose.
"You're not missing much," Karl sighed, "We're in the hospital, Q. Techno did you dirty."
'I can't feel my face.'
"Probably a numbing agent," Sapnap hummed, "I don't think you'd want to be able to feel your face right now."
"You'll get a cool scar out of it," Karl offered, which got a pause before Quackity picked up the notepad again. It's an agony watching him write, then scribble it all out, then start writing again.
'I don't want a scar.' He finally showed them. 'Schlatt already says enough about what I look like.'
A silence immediately suffocated the room. Sapnap, equally as lost for words as Karl, glanced between the book and Quackity for a moment before turning on his knees to face Quackity completely.
"Run away with me." He said resolutely, grabbing Quackity's hands. The book fell from his fingers as his eye widened and he stared as if Sapnap had suggested they kill Schlatt rather than run from him. Sapnap held Quackity's gaze, a hard, truthful glint about them, "Karl, you can come too."
"What?"
Sapnap took a deep breath, letting go of one of Quackity's hands to take Karl's, a fierce sincerity burning in his eye, "Run away with me. Leave the life you both are going to live and we can start anew."
Karl's mind immediately crumpled into a turmoil, a bowl of salt and sugar and sand and water, a melting pot of cold silicone. His face, he knew, shone with his uneasiness, but Sapnap looked as undeterred as before.
"But... But what about--"
"Do you have someone waiting for you- to give you a happy life?" His hands grasped together, begging, "Please, I can give it to you."
"You can't promise that," Karl breathed, and from the corner of his eye, he could see Quackity hunched over the notebook, scribbling as quick as he could.
"What if I could? I could get Bad to help, I could get money from--"
"No!" Karl recoiled despite Sapnap staying back, and his hands shot up to his head, fingers tangling with his hair as he tugged as hard as he could, tears beading in his eyes as Sapnap spoke, "No! You can't do that!"
"Do you not want to?" Sapnap asked in a quiet voice, sitting back on his haunches.
"You can't do this!" Karl screeched, voice full of vitriol, rocking back and fro with his hands still entangled in his hair, "No, you can't do this, please."
"Why?"
"Sapnap, please."
Sapnap appeared to physically deflate, nodding as his face fell into his hands. Quackity continued to write.
"I'm sorry."
"...It's okay."
A gentle hand took one of Karl's wrists, letting him adjust before letting it detangle itself and fall to Karl's lap, then repeated with the other. Instead of letting it fall like the other, Sapnap turned the hand to kiss its palm mildly. Karl watched him vacantly, fingers twitching lightly against the other man's stubble.
"Bad told me," He mumbled, "You can't uproot your life, abandon your company, your allyship, for us."
"I would though. I promise," Sapnap hummed against his hand.
"You can't."
"But I would."
Karl leant forwards, kissing Sapnap's forehead.
"You don't need to."
Sapnap looked like he wanted to say something else, but Quackity turned the book to them, a page of black scrawls from where he'd started writing and hurriedly changed it. Karl would have cringed at the waste of charcoal if not for the only legible word at the centre of the page, stark and large inside the mirage of scratch.
'No.'
Karl thought he could hear Sapnap's heart break with how fast his face dropped. Quackity's eye stayed steadfast on Sapnap's face, watching as his hands dropped to the floor in some effort to support himself, head hanging with them as he evidently tried to hold himself together.
Quackity flipped a page. There were more scribbled out phrases too, but one stood out, just like the last.
'I would, I promise. But, realistically, no.'
"Realistically?"
'Schlatt could track me easily by name. I'm more-' He scribbled the last part out, 'We wouldn't get far, with him waiting for me at the docks.'
"Oh."
'Sorry.'
"Nothing for you to apologise about." Sapnap reassured, although he seemed to be saying it more as a front as he sat back again, brushing off his hands from where they'd lay on the ground. He sighed, looking away, "It's just... I've never loved anyone like I've loved you two. I don't want to give all of this up when we arrive in America."
A jolt ran through Karl. That was his luck, telling Bad that Sapnap didn't love him only for him to declare the L Word less an two hours later. What irony.
"What the hell, you sap."
'Sap-nap' Quackity wrote, and the crinkle in his eye gave away the grin on his face.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sapnap snorted, instantly slipping into the immediate lighter atmosphere that settled in the room.
"Suits you, you know," Karl brought a finger to his chin, as if he were considering it and Quackity made a noise in his nose that sounded like he was trying to laugh, "Sapnap."
"Me."
"You."
'You're my favourite Sapnap out there.'
Sapnap spluttered, "Q, is this payback?"
Quackity shrugged, and Karl smothered a grin watching the two of them. If he looked past the whole 'love' thing, this was fun. They were fun. He liked being around them more than usual. A whizzing sense of calm filled him whenever he was around them, a quiet adrenaline fueled his actions whenever they spoke.
"Sorry to interrupt," A voice came from the door, and all three turned to the doctor, poking their head in, "I need to check Quackity's condition, then I'll be out of your hair again."
"Oh, of course!" Sapnap and Karl watched as the doctor began to unpin the bandage, staying right beside Quackity's bed.
The cut looked... okay, if Karl was being honest. It didn't look good, but he'd expected it to look worse, after everything. It had started to scab already, and the stitches were holding together.
His eye looked the worst. Can't stitch through an eye. It had stopped bleeding, but it looked.. wrong. Paler already, the eye and all its surrounding area was swollen badly, near closing it despite Quackity's best efforts to keep it open. He opened his mouth to try and talk, but the doctor only held up a hand, instructing him not to speak for the benefit of the stitches in his lips.
Karl didn't realise he was holding his breath until the doctor repinned the bandage. He exhaled slowly, refusing to look away from the freshly wrapped face and at the eye that gazed back at him.
"Can you breathe okay?"
Quackity nodded, keeping his eye on Karl and Sapnap. The doctor, noticing they weren't necessarily needed, slipped out of the room again.
'How do I look?'
It was definitely going to scar. There was no way a wound that looked like that wouldn't scar even in the best conditions - and Karl couldn't imagine that living with Schlatt would be the 'best conditions'.
"You look absolutely ravishing, enchanting, and every other word to describe a charming young man like yourself," Karl said immediately, moving from his chair to the bed, pushing his way next to Quackity, "As exquisite as a early spring morning, as divine as--"
"As captivating as a bird in flight!" Sapnap interrupted, butting his way onto the bed on the other side of Quackity, "Really, more gorgeous than words can describe."
'Sapnap.'
"Yes, dearest," Sapnap bat his eyelashes playfully, earning a shove that almost had him tumbling off the bed.
Karl took the right of Quackity's face before he could pick up the pad again to retort back at Sapnap, being very careful to avoid where the wound ran through. Tilting his head gently, Karl kissed where he assumed Quackity's lips were, then to the right some to make sure he didn't aggravate any stitches.
"You look just as striking as usual," He assured while Sapnap jumped at the chance to copy Karl, pressing kisses sensibly to Quackity's face, "I wouldn't want to spend my time with anyone less than perfect, and you," Karl poked Quackity's chest while the bandaged man pushed at Sapnap's chest with a huge amount of lackluster, "Were a real good catch, Q."
"We literally caught you- ack!" Sapnap whined from his spot on the floor, "It was a joke!"