Chapter 5 - In which Revivedbur almost dies a very lame death, and then subsequently gets bitches
POV: Quackity
“I’m assuming they don’t want us here anymore,” I murmured to Tommy, crossing my arms.
“Probably not,” he muttered back. “I’m gonna stay anyways. They’re my best friends.” He glanced at me apologetically. “But you should probably leave. Tubbo’s pissed off right now, so you should leave him alone for a while.”
I nodded in defeat. “Yeah, I figured.”
Without a word, I trudged up the staircase and out of the lab. As I walked to the front door, I spared a glance at the Beloveds. Tubbo was bent over his son’s body, tears falling onto the young boy’s corpse.
Ranboo was close behind him, rubbing circles in Tubbo’s back. Neither of them met my gaze, and that was fine with me.
Once I opened the door and stepped out, I was immediately hit by a cold breeze. Shivering, I pulled Revivedbur’s coat closer around me.
Oh, shit, Revivedbur.
Where had he gone? My thoughts started racing. It was freezing outside, and he didn’t even have the warmth of a coat to shield him from the winter weather.
Panicking, I raced through the snow, searching everywhere for a tuft of brown hair, a drop of blood, anything.
Snow began to drift from the gray clouds overhead. My breath steamed around me in the frigid air around me as chills ran through my body. If I’m already feeling the shock of being out in the cold…
I didn’t let myself finish the thought. I knew that if I even considered the possibility, I’d break down. Forcing back tears, I kept moving.
My outfit wasn’t made for Snowchester weather, and soon enough, the snow crunching beneath my feet found its way into my loafers and soaked my socks. Fucking typical.
I kept moving, exhaustion settling into my bones and making them feel heavy, as if I was bound in invisible chains that were dragging me towards the icy terrain around me.
Suddenly, after I had walked for what had seemed like an hour (at least I guessed ; my perception of time in this frozen wasteland was probably fucked), my foot hit something. I looked down to see a mound of snow that was taller than the surrounding area.
I crouched and gently used my hand to wipe away the snow, and I found myself looking at…an arm. The sleeve of a yellow sweater, dusted with ice and watery sludge.
Oh, God.
I brushed away the snow around it to find Revivedbur laying face up on the ground. His skin was covered in frostbite, his hair matted in a tangled mess with twigs and clumps of dirt and snow stuck in the cocoa-colored locks. His eyes were rolled up into his head, leaving only the whites visible. His arm wound had reopened, oozing crimson blood onto the ground. His glasses were cracked and unbalanced on the bridge of his nose.
My eyes grew wide, welling with tears. I sat on the ground, then pulled him up so his head was laying across my lap. Hand shaking, I brought two fingers up to his neck and felt around until I found the biggest artery. When his pulse weakly throbbed against my fingertips, I sobbed with relief. “Oh, thank God,” I sighed as tears flowed down my face and dripped onto his face.
I pushed his hair back and kissed his forehead. “Hey, you’re okay. You’re okay. You’re gonna be okay.”
I hadn’t been this way with someone since the last time I had helped Karl ground himself after time traveling. The comparison made me both joyful and sad at the same time.
I took off his trenchcoat and wrapped it around him, then I reached into the back pocket of my dress pants and pulled out the thing I swore to never use. The thing that I vowed would never be necessary.
I raised up the flare gun and pulled the trigger. Almost instantly, the light burst out and rocketed twenty feet in the air, taking the shape of the Manburg flag. The light cast a red haze on the icy valley.
Within a few seconds, a ghostly form appeared at my side. He had ram’s horns and was wearing a raggedy light blue sweater with baggy black pants. He smiled grotesquely, making his beard and mustache shift with the motion of his face. His yellow eyes had rectangular pupils that stared me down. His skin was gray, and he smelled like booze.
“Well, hey there, pumpkin,” Glatt grinned. “Need some help?”
“Just get me back to Las Nevadas, fuckface,” I growled.
“With pleasure.”
He grabbed my wrist and clutched a fistful of Revivedbur’s hair. I grit my teeth as he teleported us back to my country.
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POV : Revivedbur
I woke up in Quackity's suite. I was still freezing and somehow I wasn’t dead as far as I knew anyway. I struggled to move my head to the side.
“Q-Quackity?” I huffed quietly. I hated how weak I sounded. Maybe that’s how Quackity had felt when he had opened up to me the other day.
Quackity was sitting in the suite’s kitchen with his head lifted to the ceiling.
“Not now, Revivedbur. I’m-“ He stopped. I noticed his eyes widen and his head whipped around to face me. “Oh, thank fuck.” Then he ran to me. “I thought I had lost you.”
I shivered. “I feel like shit.”
“Yeah as you should, dumbass. You could’ve died!” Quackity raged worriedly.
“I-is it just me or are you actually worried about me?” I raised a frozen eyebrow.
Quackity was silent. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
I froze and looked at the ceiling. “That’s s-something,” I chuckled.
Quackity fell to silence again.
“H-how’d you even get me here?” I asked.
“That’s not important,” he said quickly.
“Should I be w-worried?” I raised an eyebrow.
“No,” Quackity folded his arms. “Anyway… what happened?”
“It’s s-stupid,” I sighed “I-I was walking when my lungs turned on me. I was struggling to breathe and the cold was a bit much. I fell to the ground and p-passed out,” I explained, then exhaled when I realized that it took up much more strength than I had intended. My breath quickened and I began to panic.
“Calm down.” Quackity grabbed a wet towel. “You’re going to be fine,” he told me.
I exhaled slowly. “T-Thank you, Q,” I smiled.
He turned red, and I chuckled softly at his flustered face.
Quackity turned away.
“He’s just a bit flustered, Wil. Pay no attention to him. He’s also a little mad at me,” a horribly familiar voice said from the other side of the bed.
I turned to face the voice with my insane eyes blazing.
“J-Jschlatt,” I hissed.
Quackity’s chair hit the ground.
“Close, it’s Glatt now,” ‘Glatt’ said smugly.
I growled.
“Ok, Glatt, you can go now,” Quackity said nervously.
“Eh, I think I might stay a while,” Glatt shrugged and pulled up a seat.
I stared at him intensely. “Why are you even h-here?”
“Quackity called me,” he shrugged.
My eyes relaxed and were replaced with betrayal. “Why d-did you call him?”
“I- I needed help to get you back. And he can teleport so…” Quackity said guiltily.
I looked back to Quackity. “I-I understand but can’t he l-leave now?”
“Ugh, fine, I’ll go, party poopers. But I will be back,” Glatt huffed and promptly vanished.
I blew a raspberry as he left. “Asshole.”
Quackity chuckled. “He’s a bitch, but at least he saved your life.”
“You literally could’ve called Ranboo and I’d be fine,” I told him.
“Don’t you remember?” Quackity looked at me in surprise. “Ranboo’s
mourning. I couldn't ask them to do something for me when they had
just lost their son.”
“Oh, y-yeah,” I sighed as the image of Michael’s corpse was replaced in my vision. “Oops…”
Quackity sighed. “Well, the funeral is in a few days. Wanna come?” he asked.
“Why? T-Tubbo said he didn’t want anything to do with me and he looked like he meant it. B-But when he said he didn’t want anything to do with you, he seemed more unsure.” I turned away.
Quackity was silent as if he was remembering what Tubbo had said.
We sat in awkward silence until I started to cough. “Shit.” I pulled my hand from my mouth and blood was covering my hand.
Quackity glanced at it in surprise. He quickly pulled out a potion. “It might be a side effect from almost dying of hypothermia. Here,” he said, handing me the potion.
“Oh really? I had no idea,” I said jokingly but then I smiled in gratitude and drank it. Instantly I felt a lot better.
I sat up slowly and glanced at my shoulder, which I hadn’t realized felt different until I moved my arm. “The hell?”
“Oh uh yeah… Tommy made it,” Quackity explained.
It was a blue bandage with half a Las Nevadas and L’manburg flag in a heart.
I blushed at the symbolism. I was thankful the Lmanburg half was smaller than the Las Nevadas half, I didn’t want a reminder of ‘my’ country right on my shoulder.
“I didn’t know he could sew,” I looked at Quackity.
“Well, he takes therapy from Captain Puffy. So,” Quackity explained.
“Oh yeah,” I murmured. “How long was I out?” I asked him.
Quackity was quiet. “A while.”
“How long is ‘a while’?” I pressed.
“A little more than a day,” he said after a few seconds of silence.
“What?” I gasped then gripped my head in pain.
“Uh, are you alright?” Quackity gasped.
“Oh no, I just almost died from hypothermia and was passed out for a day. Then I got to see my old worst enemy again which made me so happy! I just love to have a reminder that I owned an entire country but because of that same enemy, had it taken away from me!” I said sarcastically. “But I’m doing great, thanks for asking.”
Quackity huffed. “Gee, sorry for asking,” he said, sitting back down in his chair after pulling it back off the floor.
I sighed regretfully. “No, no, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have blown up at you. You saved my life, if anything I should be thanking you,” I said seriously. “So… Thank you, Quackity.”
Quackity smiled and turned red.
“You get flustered really easily, you know that right?” I told him.
“What? No I don’t!” He turned even more red.
“Calm down, I think it’s cute, loverboy,” I chuckled, remembering our earlier conversation.
Quackity looked like his face was about to start burning.
“So, anytime you wanna take me up on that date?” I raised an eyebrow.
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POV: Quackity
What in the actual motherfuck just happened?
One minute, I was walking up the stairs to my suite, and the next, I was getting ready for a date with my former enemy.
What the hell?
Don’t get me wrong. I was absolutely thrilled to be going on a date with Revivedbur. I didn’t stop blushing for ten minutes after we had that conversation. But I couldn’t help the fact that I was super nervous.
I had actually decided to wear something outside of my usual outfit : I had a brand new white button up shirt underneath a suit jacket. A navy blue tie dangled from my neck. My dress pants were cuffed and tucked into my black combat boots that barely covered my knees. I had tried to comb my hair back (emphasis on the word “tried”), and now I was sitting on my bed, staring down at my callused hands.
Am I ready for this?
The second-guessing thoughts had been ringing through my head all day, but now, minutes away from heading to where Revivedbur and I were meeting up, they were stronger than ever.
I took a deep breath and pushed myself to my feet.
Let’s do this.
About fifteen minutes later, I was walking to the field that I used to have my therapy sessions with Puffy at. Revivedbur decided it was perfect after I mentioned it to him. It was a beautiful, open field with green grass swaying in the gentle breeze. Flowers and dandelions were scattered here and there, and fuzzy little bees lazily flew from flower to flower.
I stopped walking just for a second and took a deep breath. Now, this is perfect.
I scanned the field until I saw Revivedbur waving me over with a scarred hand. I practically sprinted over to him, trying my best not to step on any of the bees buzzing around my feet.
When I finally got over to Revivedbur, I quickly composed myself and put my hand out for a handshake.
“Hi, I’m President Quackity HQ, but you can call me Quackity or just Q,” I introduced myself teasingly.
After recovering from his initial confusion, he took my hand and grinned. “Nice to meet you, Mr. President. I’m Former President Wilbur Soot, but you can just call me Revivedbur, Wilbur, or Wil.”
We shook hands, then I let my arm return to my side. Revivedbur did the same.
“So, I see you brought the picnic stuff?” he asked.
I blinked. “Oh, shit, yeah. Forgot about that.”
I unlinked the picnic basket from the crook of my arm. It was a pretty small basket, and the first thing I pulled out was a blanket. It was patterned with the old flag of El Rapids. “It was the only picnic blanket I could find,” I told Revivedbur apologetically.
“No, no, it’s fine,” Revivedbur reassured me, waving the apology off.
I spread out the picnic blanket, letting the conversation die for a second. Then, I set out food and drinks.
“I hope you’re good with sandwiches,” I said, looking up at Revivedbur.
“Yeah, that’s fine,” he replied, sitting criss cross on the blanket. His seating position made me huff with amusement.
“What are you, a fucking kindergartener?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
He flushed with embarrassment. “Fuck you, this is a perfectly acceptable way of sitting,” he snapped back, no real anger in his tone.
“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” I snorted, unwrapping the sandwich and freeing it from its Saran-wrapped prison. “Well? Eat.”
Revivedbur blinked, then slowly reached his hand down and picked up his sandwich. After he got the wrapping off, he turned it to the sides, as if he was inspecting it.
“I’m not gonna poison you,” I said, rolling my eyes.
He shrugged. “I never know with you.”
I wheezed out a surprised laugh, then took a bite of my sandwich.
The ham was nice and juicy, and the cheese melted in my mouth. The lettuce provided a crisp texture to contrast the chewy bread tying the whole meal together.
“Goddamn. Where did you get this meat?”
I looked over to see that Revivedbur had finally taken a bite of his own sandwich. His eyes had gotten wide, pupils expanding as they looked down at the breaded meal in his hand.
“You know, your pupils get bigger when you’re looking at something you love,” I grinned.
He nodded, taking another bite of the sandwich and humming pleasantly.
“The meat we get from pigs that we raise in Las Nevadas. Only the best. They’re cared for and nurtured their entire lives in a safe, healthy environment.”
Revivedbur frowned. “But don’t you hate Techno?”
His reasoning made me bark with laughter. “Dude, my rivalry with Techno doesn’t affect the way I treat all pigs. Just like my admiration for you doesn’t affect the way I think about everyone else you know.”
He paused, sandwich inches away from his mouth. With his free hand, he pushed up his glasses. “What do you mean, your admiration for me?”
I flushed bright red. “Shit, did I say that? I didn’t say that. You must be hearing things because I certainly didn’t say that-“
I was cut off as Revivedbur laughed. It wasn’t a condescending laugh or a mocking sneer. It was a genuine laugh, one that I hadn’t heard since the days of Pogtopia. The thought made my heart race.
“It’s so cute when you go red like that,” he chuckled. “Reminds me of how Tommy looks when he gets angry.” He set his sandwich down on his plate and leaned close to me, grin stretched across his lips. “Are you angry at me, Q?” he teased.
“No,” I huffed, face still flushed.
Then, he did something that I would never have expected in a million years for him to do. He leaned closer, putting his right hand on the back of my head. Then he pulled my face closer to his and pressed his lips onto mine.
Heat bubbled in my chest as I felt my pulse speed up. My head buzzed with an energy that I couldn’t quite name.
He held it for one breath. Two breaths. Three-
Then as suddenly as it had happened, he pulled away and dropped his hand. His grin was wider than I had ever seen it.
“How about now?” he whispered.
My eyes were wide, my mouth slightly agape. I could almost feel the blush painted across my cheeks.
“No,” I responded quietly, a smile spreading across my face. And as I looked into his deep brown eyes, the eyes of someone I had sworn to despise, I felt weak. But it felt good. Good to be loved. Good to be seen. Good to finally have someone again. It felt so damn good to have this feeling again.
“Sorry I didn’t ask,” Revivedbur said suddenly, drawing me back out of my thoughts. “I probably should have. If you’d prefer to have me give you the heads-up in the future, just tell me and I’ll-“
I cut him off by cupping my hands around his cheeks and kissing him again. His eyes widened with surprise.
I held it for one breath. My eyes fluttered shut.
Two breaths. Revivedbur was still stiff with surprise.
Three. I noticed that for once, he didn’t smell like cigarette smoke. He smelled like freshly cut grass and lavender.
Four. He finally melted into it, throwing his arms around my neck and leaning closer.
Five.
I pulled away, beaming at him. “You dumbass,” I smiled. “Asking is for cowards. Didn’t you know that?”
He seemed at a loss for words. “What the hell…” He trailed off, shaking his head with a grin. “Did it hurt when you fell?”
I scrunched my brows together, tilting my head to one side. “Fell when?“
“When you fell from heaven, of course,” he grinned back at me.
I blinked. “Are you calling me the devil?”
“Yup,” he confirmed. “And I find that hot as fuck.”
Blush returned to my face. “R-Revivedbur-“
He held up a finger, cutting me off. “Call me Wilbur,” he smiled. Then he reached over and opened the guitar case that I somehow hadn’t noticed until that moment, pulling out a perfectly polished guitar. “Now, wanna hear a song I wrote for you?”
My eyes widened.
“Huh?!”
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POV : Revivedbur
Quackity’s eyes had gone wide.
“You wrote a song? When did you even find the time?” he asked me.
I blushed. “I- I actually wrote it a while ago. I always play it when I’m alone. I did… practice in front of the burger van a few times and got feedback from Ranboo and Tubbo, but…” I stopped mid-sentence as I realized I would never get advice or friendly chats from Ranboo anymore. Tubbo and I never really had one on one conversations, but it had been all three of us at some points. “I just practiced by myself for a while until I felt confident enough! But I never did so now my fingers hurt,” I chuckled nervously and stretched my hands as I lifted my guitar into a playing position.
Quackity turned pink. “W-what’s it called?’ he asked.
“Uh, it’s stupid but… Backyard Boy. And now that I think of it, you don’t even have a backyard!” I laughed again.
Quackity smiled anyway and said, “I love it. I can’t wait to hear it.”
I blushed even harder and exhaled to push the flusteredness away. “Alright… here it goes.”
“5, 6, 7, 8,” I counted. “Dance with me in my backyard boy! Looking super fire in your cordaroy~ Drive me round the block, we can go in a loop. And we’ll turn the volume up on some good boy band tunes!” I paused my singing a played my guitar alone for a few seconds until smiling, and continuing.
“Love to feel the fresh air, I can feel your eyes stare,” I looked to Quackity to see him beaming at me with warmth. I returned the look. “And I’m not gonna lie, I feel a little bit scared. My heart is on wings, I’m living in dreams, and at the top of our lungs, we sing~!” I strummed by guitar and picked at the chords making a sweet melody.
And I sang some; Da da da da da da’s and Quackity hummed along to the melody.
“Everything is perfect,” I sang and returned to the da’s.
“All our words were worth it!”
“Da da da da da da,” Quackity and I sang.
“Dancing around like a clown at the circus,” I sang softly and let Quackity take the last round of da’s.
“Backyard boy, you make me nervous!”
“Dance with me in my backyard, boy! Looking super fire in your cordaroy~” I sang as Quackity got up and started to dance to the soft melody, lacking a partner to dance with. “Roll the windows down, let the bass drop low, and everybody’s talking but I don’t wanna know.”
I strummed my guitar until I was dragged to my feet with my guitar still playing and my feet moving without my control. I felt myself dancing with Quackity as I continued my song.
I smiled. “Feel the fresh air, I can feel your eyes stare. And I’m not gonna lie I feel a little bit scared.” We danced around each other’s feet and I blushed when Quackity began laughing with joy. I felt myself start to laugh. My laughter mixed with my song, making it as happy as could be. “My heart is on wings, I’m livings in dreams and at the top of our lungs, we sing~!”
And we both repeated the da’s and the brief words as we felt the song come to an end.
“Backyard boy you make me nervous!” We both sang loudly. And then, we didn’t mind that no one was around to see us. We laughed about no joke, we danced to no music, and no one was there to ruin our mood.
We slow danced around each other to the sound of bees buzzing and birds singing. Somehow, I had put my guitar down near our picnic, and had danced a while away from it. But neither of us cared as Quackity wrapped his arms around my neck, and my hands wrapped around his waist as our faces drew closer and closer.
Quackity stood on my feet as our foreheads met and our lips touched with soft fondness that would make magazine couples stare on in envy.
We danced with our arms around each other for what felt like hours, until I realized the sun had gone down and fireflies were dancing with us, caught in the unheard song.
Quackity and I looked to the night sky without letting go of each other.
“Wow, when did it get so late?” Quackity gaped.
“Is that really a bad thing? Look around,” I gestured to our surrounds, the flowers practically glowed with pollen and fireflies. The bees had returned to their hives for the night, and the birds had flown to their nests, while me and Quackity stayed and danced the day away. And the fireflies had come out to join us.
Quackity smiled as he admired the sight. He leaned on my chest and sighed. “I love this.”
I smiled and put my hand on his head. “I love this, too.”
We both walked back to our picnic with our hands intertwined and hearts flying into the night sky.
We arrived at our blanket to see that ants had taken what remained of our sandwiches that we had forgotten about. We looked at each other and the same thought crossed our minds.
Quackity and I laid down on our blanket and the night sky rolled out before us as the stars twinkled into existence.
“You can’t see stars like this in Las Nevadas, huh, Q?” I looked at him.
Quackity was silent. “I guess not,” he said wistfully.
I looked back to the sky. “It’s so beautiful. Just like you,” I smiled.
“Oh come on!” Quackity laughed, turning sunset red in the otherwise dark night. “Well, how about this? You are as beautiful as the night sky,” he said.
“Isn’t that basically what I just told you?” I grinned.
“Oh fuck off!” he said with no real anger in his voice. A smile was plastered on his face. And it refused to be wiped away. “I just worded it differently!”
I chuckled and we returned to the silence. But we didn’t care. The silence was beautiful and peaceful.
Suddenly, Quackity scooted closer to me and laid his head on my chest.
“Can we stay for a while?” he asked me with sleep in his tone.
“I don’t want to leave, either,” I sighed and placed my arm around Quackity.
I looked down at Quackity to see he had fallen asleep on me. His arms laid on my chest in small relaxed fists. And his head sat over my heart. I smiled and put my hand on his back and rubbed small circles into the smalls of his spine. Much like I had done that night in his suite. I hummed my song as eventually even I fell asleep.
💙💛💙💛 🖤💙🖤💙
