Serendipity (Karlnapity Fantasy AU)

Chapter 8

With each passing second, Quackity found it harder and harder to keep his eyes open. He was lucky that Karl accompanied Sapnap today and he didn't have to worry about having Karl with him. Now he was sitting next to George, who was talking with Professor Skeppy and Quackity, who was trying to look as awake as possible. He had long forgotten about the topic of today. He was glad to know what class he was in. A mistake was that he allowed himself to close his eyes for a short moment, because after 5 minutes a hand hit the table next to him, waking him up.

"Wha...Hello?", Quackity's head went up and he looked into the annoyed eyes of Professor Skeppy.
"Quackity. Please go to Professor Awesamdude," he was annoyed, but in a softer and more understanding voice, he added, "call in sick and get enough sleep.

Quackity nodded and packed up his things. He was amazed at the sudden understanding of his professors. As he left the room, Tommy called him a "Bye, sleepy Q!" and he made his way to Sam's office. Even though it was rude to call him by his real name, Sam was not a teacher to Quackity but a confidant. He knew he could tell sam most of his worries and they would be safe with him there.

~~~

"Why did you fall asleep in class, Quackity?", Sam was standing at the window, he had turned his head to Quackity, who was sitting on Sam's chair and rubbing his eyes.
"I'm just having trouble sleeping at the moment...", Quackity answered.
"Could it be that the nightmares from the past are catching up with you again?", Sam murmured and Quackity had to think of Wilbur.
"Yes, you could say that.", Quackity put on a tired smile.

After a long and tiring conversation with Sam, Quackity slowly closed the door behind him, a sleeping potion from Sam was in his right hand. Sam had excused him for the rest of the day and although Sam had told him not to drink the potion until he was in bed, he gulped it down immediately and placed the bottle next to the door of Sam's office. Where he would sleep, he didn't know, and if he fell asleep in the hallway, he felt more comfortable with that than anywhere else at the moment.

While he was dragging himself across the hall, he suddenly saw Wilbur coming around the corner. He could not afford that right now. Startled, Quackity stopped and felt panic rise in him as Wilbur walked determinedly towards Quackity.

The hands were clenched into fists and the jaw was tense, the eyes shining with anger.
"You're so dead, Quackity!" growled Wilbur and before Quackity could react to run away, he was held down by Wilbur. With momentum, he was pinned against the wall.
Again, Quackity thought annoyed. When Quackity didn't respond, Wilbur lunged and punched him in the face. Quackity staggered at the surprise hit and struggled to stay conscious for a moment.

"I sure hope you have an explanation for my chemicals being gone, or you're going to get worse," Wilbur whispered in his ear, bringing a shiver down his spine.
"What chemicals?" asked Quackity, and was instantly brought down with a kick to the shin. Fuck! That bastard, Quackity thought and hissed in pain. His face and leg throbbed with pain.

"Don't fool around. These are highly dangerous bottles and they are forbidden for us. They were in my closet and now they're gone and you're the only one who has access to our room. Where are my chemicals, Quackity?" hissed Wilbur, leaning down to him.
"I really don't know," Quackity croaked, and Wilbur groaned in frustration. Slowly he looked around, making sure no one else was in the hallway.
"If I find out you had anything to do with this, you're dead," with those words, Wilbur turned and stomped off across the hallway in a huff.

~~~

Quackity hoped that no one was in the room when he entered with a swollen eye. The punch would almost certainly result in a black eye and he would prefer to ice it, but the urge for a familiar place to sleep with no bad memories associated with it was greater. When class was over, he would quickly disappear from Sapnap and Karl's room. Making up an explanation why he was in his old room, he could think of after he was asleep. He quickly closed the door behind him and sucked in the familiar scent of the room. The room was quiet and Quackity was at peace until he heard the soft sniffling of a person. On Karl's bed sat a huddled ball of blankets leaning against the wall and quietly sobbing and making sniffing sounds.

Of course, he is here crying, Quackity thought. Sapnap had mentioned that he was having problems with his memory and was increasingly staying away from class in the afternoon and suffering from headaches. Each time, Quackity was glad Karl didn't have his breakdowns in class and Sapnap had to take care of it. But apparently today Quackity was the first to have to take care of him.

Do I have to?  he thought annoyed and was about to leave the room when a distressed whimpering stopped him. His heart ached at the sound and to his surprise and displeasure, he felt the need to comfort him. Why was it so hard to be an emotionless asshole?

He cursed the universe and forced himself to walk toward the bed. Karl was wrapped in blankets, only his tear-stained face visible with his tousled brown hair hanging wildly in his face. Quackity's hard gaze softened as it met with Karl's sad look. Sighing, he climbed onto the bed next to Karl, leaning against the wall and the thick wall of blankets beside him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked quietly. Karl next to him slowly took the blankets off his head that were just wrapped tightly around his body and shook his head. Quackity nodded in understanding and looked at his bed on the opposite side. He would have preferred to cry as well, because not only did his injuries hurt him immensely, but so did his heart. He winced when a hand gently ran over his cheek. Karl had discovered the injury and carefully freed himself from his cocoon to examine it.

"What the hell are you doing?"
"Does it hurt?" was the only answer from Karl. At that moment, Quackity couldn't hold back any longer. He nodded while tears ran freely down his cheeks. Karl almost certainly meant the injury, but the question made Quackity break. Thus, he had punished Karl with dislike and said horrible things to Karl, he still cared about Quackity's well-being. He didn't deserve that.

"Can I ask you something, Quackity?" asked Karl in a trembling voice. He was still gently stroking the Duck Hybrid's cheek. Quackity nodded, still reeling from the stitches in his heart and the sleeping potion from Sam.
"Can I have a hug?"

Quackity held his breath in shock. A hug? Why would he do that? He couldn't even remember the last time he had gotten a hug and now someone he barely knew was going to hug him. Even Sapnap, to his knowledge, had never hugged him because it never went further than falling asleep leaning back to back. Anxiously, Quackity nodded and tentatively opened his arms.

And so Karl fell into his arms and at that moment, when the weight of Karl and his blankets made him lie down on the bed, Quackity thought of letting go. For a brief moment, he was able to take advantage of that warmth and forced affection. To comfort each other for a short time, they took advantage of each other, even though days before they had been fighting. A yawn crept up in Quackity and he was tickled by the strands of hair falling into his face from Karl. He sank his face into Karl's tousled hair and closed his eyes.

The whole time he had slept badly, his body had been so icy cold. Sapnap had asked him several times before the fight if he was all right and if Wilbur was also a good roommate. Quackity wished he had chickened out earlier and jumped over his pride, because the moment he lay in bed with Karl and was enveloped in a comforting warmth, the world wasn't as cold and gray as it had seemed in the morning after all. How would this have ended if Quackity hadn't been so jealous and stupid?