Your Telephone Calls are my Favorite Place (Karlnap)

Seventeen

(tw: blood)

"I guess what I'm saying is, last night made me realize.. Your telephone calls are my favorite place too, and I thought I might not get the chance to have another with you for weeks, if ever. So yeah, I might be acting a little too needy today, but I am. I need you, Karl." Sapnap finished, fidgeting with his hat nervously.

Crash

"Damn it." Karl grumbled to himself. As an attempt to look busy, he had pick up a small pickle jar he was getting ready to throw out. Once he heard Sapnap finish his thought his lost his grip, resulting in the glass shattering on his floor, pickle juice flowing out.

"Karl, what the hell? Are you okay? What happened?" Sapnap spoke, his voice concerned.

"I'm fine, I just dropped a glass and it broke. I'm sorry, I'm just kind of a mess right now." Karl said, collecting the large pieces of glass.

"Jesus Christ, how did you manage that?" Sapnap responded, a concerned tone still heavily weighing on his words.

Karl sighed, staring down at the growing mess he made. 'Had to be pickles. Couldn't have been an apple or literally anything else.' Karl thought to himself.

Karl stood up, grabbing a roll of paper towels off the counter and returning to the mess.

"I guess I just, wasn't expecting you to say that. I really just thought you were mad at me. When I read your text about getting a flight up here I had no idea you were actually looking them up. I'm just.. Sorry. I'm really- OW! Damn it!"

Karl, in the midst of his explanation, had cut his hand on a piece of glass he missed. He promptly stood up, clutching his hand to his chest.

"What now? What happened?" Sapnap pried, trying to understand how so many things were going wrong.

"Nothing, just a stupid cut." Karl winced as he looked down to see his hand dripping with blood, the shard of glass still lodged in his palm.

"Karl, come over and let me see. Knowing you, you'd probably need stitches but refuse to go to the doctor." Sapnap said, beginning to sound like a nagging mother.

"It's really," Karl grunted, pulling out the piece of glass, "nothing." He looked down to see his hand bleeding more profusely than before. He pulled his hand back to his chest as he began to feel queasy from the sight of his blood, the pancakes no longer agreeing with him.

"Karl, pull up a stool to the sink and run your hand under cold water." Sapnap ordered.

Karl didn't move, terrified he would either throw up or pass out if he saw his hand one more time.

"NOW Karl!" Sapnap reinforced.

Karl quickly followed the instructions laid out by his best friend. He winced as the cold water made contact with the cut, soon beginning to feel better as the blood was washed away.

Karl looked back at his phone and couldn't help but giggle at the increasingly concerned faces Sapnap was making.

"Oh, what are you laughing at, dumbass." Sapnap scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Sorry mom." Karl pleaded with a failed pout as he began laughing harder at the situation. Sapnap soon joined in laughing as well.

"It's a shame you ruined your pretty sweater though." Sapnap said, looking a bit disappointed. With his hand still running under the water, Karl looked down to see various blood splotches across his chest. Just the sight of opaque blood on his clothes made Karl feel a bit queasy again.

"Hey now, eyes on me." Sapnap said, trying to regain Karl's attention after seeing him shudder from the blood on his clothes. "Now, is your hand still bleeding a lot or is the water running clear?" Sapnap questioned.

"Uh, running clear, I think." Karl answered, inspecting his hand in the sink.

"Okay, flip your camera and show me the cut so I can determine if I'm going to have to force you to see a doctor or not." Sapnap continued. Although his college background was in computer science, Sapnap played football all throughout high school and college. Needless to say, he had learned a thing or two about assessing injuries on the spot.

Karl did as instructed and showed Sapnap the cut.

"Pff, that's nothing. So much blood from such a little scratch? Do you remember how to wrap your hand after you put the Neosporin and gauze on it? The way I showed you after you scraped up your knee in that hide and seek video with Jimmy?" Sapnap assured Karl. Sapnap felt much less stressed after seeing the cut was nothing worthy of an ER trip.

"Yeah, I think so. Just, watch me do it so I don't mess it up." Karl responded, not looking forward to the process.

"If you mess it up, I'll just fix it tomorrow." Sapnap said casually. So casually that Karl nearly missed it, beginning the process of dressing his wound. Karl paused after pulling the medical tape out from his first-aid kit.

"Wait. What do you mean you'll fix it tomorrow?" Karl questioned suspiciously.

A grin started growing on Sapnap's face.

"I only said that Dream wouldn't let me drive to the airport last night, not that he wouldn't let me buy a ticket." Sapnap couldn't hold back his smile any longer.

Karl became extremely flustered, unable to form words. He was simultaneously excited, nervous, horrified, ecstatic, and other emotions he was unable to identify.

Sapnap couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Karl, unable to speak, frantically looking around his kitchen.

"But, why? I mean, two flights in less than two weeks? You're going to be exhausted!" Karl finally managed to get out.

"My plan was always for us to fly out together. I was originally planning on surprising you at the airport the day of the flight to England. With everything going on I switched my ticket day from next week to tomorrow." Sapnap responded, eager to see his best friend's reaction.

"You're.. Really going to be here tomorrow? Like tomorrow? As in-"

"As in tomorrow, yes!" Sapnap cut off Karl from spiraling and let out another laugh.

"Oh my god, okay, yes, I can handle things last minute. That's me, Karl, the last minute guy." Karl rambled, standing up and returning to the mess still across his floor, making sure to be more careful this time. "Okay, so what time do you land?" Karl said as he threw away the last pickle juice-soaked paper towel.

"I land tomorrow night, around 9pm. It shouldn't mess up your Tales stream, I should even be able to still join you for it. The flight is only an hour and a half after all." Sapnap answered, proud of how well his last minute plan was working out.

"You're really coming tomorrow? You're not messing with me?" Karl asked, a smile slowing creeping on this lips.

"I'm really coming tomorrow." Sapnap stated, returning the smile.

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(1,143 words) We're finally getting somewhere guys, gals, and non-binary pals! :))