depths of despair

chapter two

hello! me again, hi. this might seem a little rushed, i gave myself the goal of writing around 3,000 words today, with the hope of keeping the chapters similar lengths and i did it! ( but at what cost ). i've been extremely sick since yesterday so my sincerest apologies if the quality has gone down since last chapter. i'm not very good at writing fluff, but i did my best to include some for yall, hope you enjoy!

nothing in this fanfiction is intended to romanticise or portray abusive relationships ( in this case, quackity/schlatt ) in positive light. i, myself have been through the same situation quackity went through in his past relationship, and i would never want to make anyone believe that shit like that is okay. if you feel as though i'm romanticising it, please let me know, because that is the farthest thing from my intentions with this story.
tw: none, stay safe!

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quackity stirred, sunlight washing over his face as he tugged on the blanket in his hands. he cracked open his good eye - his other still worked, but it hadn't been the same since...well, it was a long story, but the long scar running down the right side of his face forced him to tell it more often than he would have liked - and saw through the curtains that it was no longer three in the morning. as he groaned and stretched his arms, quackity estimated that it was around nine or so. his fiancees were no longer in bed, so it couldn't be that early, they slept in as much as they could, especially these days, when none of them were getting much rest at all.

rolling out of the empty bed, he breathed in the smell of syrup and butter. a small smile grew on his face, and he followed the homely smells to their small kitchen, where he found his loves, one flipping pancakes while the other stood behind him, arms wrapped around the cook's waist.

"sapnap, i'm trying to cook." karl complained, scraping the spatula against the pan as he attempted to flip the pancake, but failed, his movements restricted by the tight hug sapnap had him entrapped in. "but karl," sapnap pouted, resting his chin on karl's shoulder. "you're so warm, and cute, and snuggly." karl just laughed and shook his head. "oh, you big baby." he shook his head once more, and reaching up with his free hand, pat sapnap on the head, as if he were a dog. which wasn't too far from the truth.

silently, quackity slid into one of the stools by the countertop and observed his fiancees. in the soft light of morning, when presented with this simple show of domestic bliss, quackity's nightmares seemed insignificant. nothing was going to hurt him here, not when they were all together, so happy. he hummed a little, chest filling with warmth as he realised just how lucky he was, to be able to be with the people he loved. not everyone was so lucky.

sapnap must have heard him, for he let go of karl and turned to face his other, shorter fiancee. "mornin' darling. you doin' alright?" he questioned, concern washing over his features. quackity let out a little sigh as the spell was broken, and nodded. "yeah, i'm fine." and it wasn't a lie. he was fine. right now, no thoughts of schlatt plagued him. he had been stupid to be so panicked by his dreams last night. they were so insignificant, so irrelevant. schlatt was dead, long gone, he couldn't lay a hand on quackity ever again. and yet, quackity still let the man torture him, he still let schlatt win, every time, because he was a coward, scared of the dark and the nightmares it brought.

but it wasn't dark out, it was day, the harsh sunlight shone through their windows, bathing the small kitchen in light, and he was fine. he was safe.

"so, what's the plan for today?" he said, propping his elbows up on the granite countertop and resting his head on his hands, attempting to inject some liveliness into his words, so that karl and sapnap would actually believe he meant it when he said he was fine. karl was first to respond, using the spatula to slide pancakes onto three waiting plates. "not much. i figured we could just continue the work on kinoko kingdom for most of the day. oh, and tubbo has some supplies i need for the library, so when we have time, we can go and pick them up. i'm going to need help carrying everything. plus, i want to ask tubbo some questions about running a country, since he's the only one who really has any experience with that kind of stuff."