Monster ultra

2.

The evening light filtered through the gaps in Karl's blinds, an orange glow contrasting against its surroundings. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Karl sat up in his bed and pushed away the duvet. The cold crept in quickly as Karl hadn't bothered to put on any clothing before slipping into a nap. Swinging his legs over the side of his bed, his feet touched the carpeted floor. Karl stretched his arms with a yawn; his rest had been good.

The brunette grabbed the nearest sweater- the soft baggy grey one he had been wearing earlier- and some plaid pyjama trousers. As he pulled them on he felt a slight ache in his rear, his face reddening slightly, although he ignored it and stood up. His phone notification light was on, beckoning him to spend some time scrolling twitter however he only looked briefly at some texts before pocketing the device.

Karl left his room and took the few steps necessary to reach the living room. The kitchenette was visible from the hallway entrance as was the glass sliding door that led to the tiniest balcony Karl had ever seen. It was a wonder there was room to stand on it and claim that you were in a different area. It was mostly used for decoration; Dream had made a habit of buying plants for it. The two that were currently there appeared a little bit sad, clearing they hadn't been watered in a while. Dream had not made a habit of watering them. The only person he had ever seen watering the plants had been George, drunkenly at 3 am. Karl couldn't say whether the current plants were the same lucky ones that had garnered such attention.

Sapnap was sitting on the couch that was situated in the centre of the room. He was on his phone with his legs crossed over and propped up on the coffee table. In one hand he held a can of diet coke. 'Not a monster,' Karl noted and then paused briefly to wonder why he thought about it. At that point, Sapnap noticed him.

"Oh, hey."

"Hey," Karl replied, still standing in the entranceway.

"I got the groceries," Sapnap said, glancing back to his phone.

"Cool," Karl walked to the kitchenette before grabbing a glass and running some cold tap water into it, "do you want a glass?"

Sapnap held up his diet coke without replying.

"Ah." Sipping his glass, Karl leaned against the island and toyed with a pen that had been left there. A yellow plastic duck sat at the corner of the island atop miscellaneous papers. 'It wasn't a very good paperweight,' Karl remarked to himself. He was sure Patches would be along soon enough to send the countertop into disarray.

"Domino's tonight?" Sapnap's question broke Karl out of his thoughts.

"Yeah, sure," Karl hummed, "shall we put on a movie?"

"Something crap?"

"Yeah."

Without replying, Sapnap grabbed the TV controller and opened up Netflix.

"Should we order some for Dream and George?"

"Nah, they're having dinner at Dream's parents'."

"Oh I hadn't realised that was today," the room was quiet for a moment. "Will they be back later on?"

"Probably."

Karl smiled. He was glad Sapnap hadn't made a big deal of what had happened. The atmosphere was nice despite being very slightly stilted; Karl had imagined much worse.

"There's another pack of monsters in the fridge," Sapnap said casually.

Karl faltered and almost dropped his phone. "Thanks," he managed to say as he resumed navigation to Domino's website.

The silence resumed briefly before Karl asked, "The usual?"

"Yeah," Sapnap said without much thought as he studied the options available on Netflix. After a few seconds, he seemed to actually pause to think about it. Turning around, Sapnap leaned on the back of the couch and looked at Karl. "Extra garlic bread?"