The Railroad

Chapter 24

Laughter danced through the clean kitchen that was open to the living room. George was sitting on the counter while Karl cleaned up his hand, and Quackity stood a little ways away, trying to distract the brunet from the pain.

He hadn't wanted to admit it to Dream, but the wound was really beginning to hurt, so he was grateful when the taller brunet offered to fix him up. Also, it was nice to catch up with his old friends. Whatever strike of luck that had fallen upon them to bring them together again, he didn't care.

"How did you guys wind up here? And with another boyfriend," George asked, finally giving up on withholding his curiosity.

"This is actually Karl's hometown," Quackity explained. "When we learned a wall was being built here after the war, this is where we flocked. I don't know if Cl- or Dream told you, but Nick was in the war. He ended up losing his leg, and this is where they sent him afterwards."

"I was his physical therapist," Karl interrupted. "He wasn't doing too well, coping with it all, but luckily I was able to help him." He paused to giggle a little. "He immediately developed a crush on me, much to Quackity's annoyance, but of course I was still dating him. One thing led to another, and, in a very complicated process, we all realized that we liked each other, and then all started dating."

"We were also able to bring joy back to this place. We weren't always this happy, you know."

"That's sweet," George commented. "Maybe you could fully explain the story to me one day?"

"Of course!" the taller brunet chirped, clearly excited by the prospect. "Once you've taken care of what you need to take care of, we can have a sleepover here and all three of us can tell you the story from each of our perspectives."

"I'd love that," George said, smiling warmly at his friends.

"Now that we've told you a bit about what's gone down with us, I wanna hear about you and Dream," Quackity said, voice teasing.

"Ugh, I don't want to talk about this with you guys," George groaned.

"Too bad, you have to, hermano. It's only fair."

"Well, as I told you he was the coyote who got me here. I thought he was cute from the beginning, I suppose, but I didn't begin to register what my feelings were until after we ran into Corpse for the first time. I decided to keep it to myself, but then, I left out how we kissed after Corpse attacked the second time."

"What?!" both boys shrieked simultaneously, beginning to smother him with questions.

"See I knew this was gonna happen," George laughed, answering a few of the questions (minus the one when Quackity asked if he and Dream had... yeah) when the door burst open.

Karl yelped, George's head shot up, and Quackity quickly regathered himself from laughter. Dream and Nick were standing at the door, out of breath and eyes frantic. George raised an eyebrow at the blond before realizing that someone else was behind them. He was a few inches taller than Dream - a hard feat to do - and stood nervously, shifting his weight back and forth on both legs.

"We gotta hide, George."

~~~

"Ranboo?!"

"Do I know you?" Ranboo asked.

Dream took off his mask, causing the boy to gasp as he recognized his old friend. As he stood there in shock, the ravenette looked back and forth between them, confusion taking the expression of the moment.

"Do you two know each other?" he asked, disbelieving.

Their answer was embracing in a hug where Ranboo was actually towering over the coyote.