talking to him

the end of this era

𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖌𝖊𝖗 𝖜𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘 𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖎𝖓 𝖆𝖚𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖗'𝖘 𝖓𝖔𝖙𝖊

</3

despite still being sniffly with their colds, the trio spent their last half day in england out and about, trying to cram in anything that they might've missed while rotting away in bed.

they'd started out with a hotel breakfast, since it was all-inclusive, and karl and quackity had the time of their lives talking sapnap into eating all the weird food options like black pudding and a foul-smelling mint sauce. the ravenette had acted as though it was an awful experience, but he kept going along with their requests and tasting things anyway. karl thinks he just did it to keep them amused, but who is to tell what goes on in his boyfriend's mind?

they'd spent the rest of the morning sightseeing like proper tourists and talking purposefully loudly because it was funny to watch the englishmen glare in response to their accents. turns out there aren't many interesting sights to actually see in london, not unless you care about history, so they ended up utilising the views as photo opportunities more than anything.

quackity had used his tiktok to find them a cute café, which they'd had to brave the underground tubes to get to, and they had ordered way too much food and shared it all because none of them could decide on just one thing. it felt domestic, but karl supposes that feeling is probably natural to them after living as a trio for so long.

after that, they ended up heading back to the hotel to finish packing up. quackity, at that point, took charge of everything once more and went into mom-mode to ensure they didn't leave anything behind, even when it was obvious that they had all the essentials.

karl noticed over the past few days that quackity gets more particular when he is sick. he keeps things more orderly and needs more control than usual. he's been triple-checking everything obsessively as though something awful will happen if everything isn't perfect.

quackity does the same when he's having a bad day, karl knows from experience, and he can't help but find the behavior interesting. it's always been somewhat of a tell for the ravenette: if he's over-cleaning, he's probably sad about something.

or stressed. or angry. or frustrated. or, apparently, ill.

even after they all left the hotel room and made their way for the elevator down to the lobby, quackity had to go back in and look once more. of course, he found nothing, but karl didn't mind if it meant the ravenette would have peace of mind.

sapnap, on the other hand, was getting visibly frustrated with their friend's obsessive behaviour, though he didn't make any comments. karl wasn't sure that quackity noticed, since he was too busy being an organisation freak, but the brunette could see sapnap's patience whittling every time quackity went over the same spot.

now, the three boys are at the side of the road. sapnap is piling their suitcases into the back of a taxi whilst quackity has already climbed into the front seat and is currently discussing the fastest route to the airport with their driver, as if he has any knowledge of london traffic.

"you okay?" karl asks as sapnap packs in the final bag. the ravenette nods, but doesn't offer a verbal response before tugging down the trunk. "you seem stressed."

"he makes me feel stressed when he keeps going over things," sapnap answers with a shrug. "call it second-hand stress, or something, i don't know."

"i don't think he can help it," karl defends his friend, even though sapnap isn't being unkind.

the ravenette simply raises one brow at karl, as if to say sure, and then climbs into the back seat of their taxi. karl follows, scootching in beside his boyfriend and pressing their legs together as a sign of silent comfort. sapnap has no right to get antsy with quackity, but it also isn't nice that he's evidently stressed out too, and karl wants to help alleviate that.

"all ready?" the taxi driver asks, his eyes finding karl's in the front mirror.

"yep!" the brunette chirps, nodding. he is glad that sapnap doesn't notice how quackity uses the wing mirror to check that everything has definitely been taken off the sidewalk, because he has a pretty big suspicion that being second-guessed would be sapnap's snapping point right now.

the car engine rumbles to life and they take off down the london roads - though, of course, they don't get very far considering the heavy traffic and careless pedestrians walking out onto the road. still, it was this or ride a tube with their stuff to leave central london, and none of them were willing to do that.

especially not with quackity acting so pedantic.

karl glances over to see sapnap scrolling on his phone. the ravenette's leg is bouncing on the spot, a clear indication of his restlessness. "did you finish your book?" he asks, wanting to distract sapnap's thoughts from wherever they are right now.

"yeah," the ravenette nods. he clicks off his phone and puts it down in his lap but offers no more explanation as he stares out the front windshield.

sapnap and quackity are best friends, just like karl and either of the others, but they are much more prone to butt heads and this is often why. something happens, quackity gets obsessive, it stresses sapnap out, who then loses his patience, and bam! shit hits the fan.

their arguments are only ever slight and they get over them after some time apart, but it's always sucky when karl has to act like the middleman. none of them ever talk about their fights but, when it's something recent, karl knows that they are both always waiting to see if he'll take an unofficial side.

"how was it?" he asks, "did they get their happy ending?"

sapnap turns to face karl, his lips tipping up into an amused smirk. "i don't wanna talk about it," he replies light-heartedly, and karl can't help but giggle.

"that's a no then."

sapnap shakes his head to himself and looks forward again. "should've trusted the title," he mumbles playfully. "i set myself up for failure on that one."

karl responds with an amused scoff before leaning into his boyfriend's space. sapnap accommodates the shift by wrapping his arm around karl's back and the brunette lies his head down on the other's shoulder.

they hold each other like that, in the back of the taxi, and karl's gaze falls out the window to the streets whirring past. to the people living their lives. he shifts to look at quackity, who is sitting in the front seat looking finally relaxed, like he knows everything is okay from now on out.

he can't help but think about how little desire he has to go back to work.

it doesn't just make him feel sad to think about, it feels daunting. karl gets a sense of anxiousness in his stomach and it weighs on him like a bag of sand. it's like he can feel the energy draining out of him the longer his mind settles on the subject of returning to work, and all the good from the past few days starts to feel so far away.

even their perfect morning seems like a world apart.

it almost makes him feel sick, just knowing that he has to go back.

</3

little filler chapter!!

not a super interesting one but it gives some insight to q's ocd which, as most of u will know, becomes much more important in the second book after this one...

anyway, love u mucho!!

-kit