6 Days
Karl spent several hours talking with his best friend. They worked on modifying their plans for his shortened stay, planned streams to do in the meantime, and just enjoyed each other's presence.
Once they ended the call, Karl finally got up and made his way to the shower.
"Stinky and needy? I picked a winner, huh?" Dream-Sapnap's chuckling voice replaying in his mind.
The rest of Karl's day was filled with editing the rest of his Tales stream, making a few halfway decent meals, and scrolling through Twitter.
Before Karl settled into bed, he peeked over his stairwell to stare at the surprise, still set up perfectly in his living room.
5 days
Karl and Sapnap were going to do a cooking stream soon. Karl changed into his black chef's outfit and began setting up his stream. He and Sapnap were going to do a challenge loosely based on the show Chopped, where they would each pick three ingredients for the other to incorporate into their dish.
Sapnap made a pasta dish with peas, taco seasoning, and tuna. His chat exploded as he was forced to try his dish, quickly resulting in him gagging and stepping out of frame to spit out the food.
Karl had made cookies with Swedish Fish, bananas, and chili powder. Karl also gagged after taking a bite, somehow managing to swallow. For his bravery, the chat had deemed Karl the winner of the challenge.
The stream ended and the two jokingly bickered about how the ingredients they chose were 'unfair' and they must have a rematch.
Karl stared into his living room as he continued to clean the mess he had made during the stream, admiring the Halloween and Sapnap themed room.
Their call soon ended and Karl was left alone with his thoughts, once again. Like last time, Karl decided to dive right into editing the stream, falling asleep at his desk as the sun began to rise.
4 days
Karl dreamt of Sapnap that night. He dreamt Sapnap had arrived and the two spent the entirety of the day watching horror movies in the tent, laughing, and trying out his new skateboard.
He left his room, staring longingly at the spare bedroom next to his, willing Sapnap to walk out and bump shoulders with him as they raced downstairs to make breakfast. He sighed at the sight of the neatly made bed, shutting the door.
Today was Karl's catch up day. He desperately needed to do his laundry and other household chores, as well as tackle editing the remaining portion of the cooking stream from yesterday. As he went through his daily mundane activities, he ventured out of his room once an hour to look at the living room, the only thing getting him through these long and uneventful days.
3 days
"Karl.. What the hell is all this?" Sapnap questioned awkwardly, gesturing to the living room.
"It's the, uh, the surprise I told you about it. What's wrong?" Karl responded quietly, avoiding the scrutiny is Sapnap's gaze.
"Nothing.. It's, uh, nice.. I guess. Seems like something you would do for a girlfriend though." Sapnap responded, stepping away from Karl's side.
Neither boy said anything as Sapnap slowly headed towards the stairs.
"Can you, uh.." Sapnap started, breaking the silence. "Put that stuff away? I'm going to go to bed, the flight was exhausting." Sapnap finished, not once turning around to face Karl. He continued up the stairs, Karl watching as he disappeared into the dark hallway.
Karl opened his eyes and sat up suddenly, gasping for air. He was covered in a cold sweat, his room still dark.
His breathing soon slowed as he processed that it was just a dream- a nightmare. Karl rose from his bed, still shaken from the dream. As he brushed his hair and teeth, washed his face, and showered, Sapnap's cold words stuck with him.
He avoided looking at the room next to him as he ate his breakfast, occasionally cringing at himself for going to such elaborate lengths for a friend.
Karl heard his phone ring the familiar song, Tongue Tied, but allowed to to go to voicemail. He was still hurt by dream Sapnap and he knew real Sapnap would be able to instantly tell he was off. His phone vibrate once in his hand, showing a notification of a text from his best friend.
I'm divorcing u
Karl smiled for the first time that day as he ready the goofy message from Sapnap.
I'm taking patches in the divorce
Karl continued to smile as he returned the banter. His smile faded as his phone began ringing in his hands again. Sapnap would be suspicious if he ignored his call again after answering a text.
"Hi." Karl said blankly.
"Hey dummy." Sapnap responded.
A silence fell between them instantly. Karl could hear the faint clacking of a keyboard in the background. Realizing that Sapnap just wanted company while he edited comforted Karl, knowing there wouldn't likely be much dialogue between them. Karl resumed eating his breakfast, enjoying their silence.
He glanced up one last time at the living room, still embarrassed, but less so than before.
"He won't actually react like that, right?" Karl thought to himself, taking the final bite of his breakfast.
"You haven't touched my surprise, right?" Sapnap broke the silence.
Karl instantly began choking on his food, coughing roughly as he slapped his chest. He was questioning everything, fully convinced his friend must be a mind reader. Sapnap had intruded his thoughts one too many times at this point.
"What the- what the hell man, are you good?!" Sapnap called through the phone.
Karl regained control of his breathing and took a large sip of his monster to wash down the lingering toast crumbs scratching his throat.
"I'm fine, just choked for a minute there. And, uh, yeah. Surprise is intact." Karl said, rubbing his chest where he had roughly hit himself, unable to break his stare from the living room.
"What made you choke?" Sapnap inquired.
Karl let out a nervous laugh. "I was actually, uh, thinking about how you would react to the surprise. I was just super caught off guard when you asked me if I had left it alone. I was debating on taking it down actually." Karl admitted.
"What? Why would you take it down?" Sapnap asked. Karl could hear that the keyboard had stopped clicking.
"Because of a stupid dream I had last night.." Karl muttered, hoping Sapnap would be satisfied with his honesty and drop it.
"What happened?" Sapnap questioned further, leaning back in his chair and away from his computer.
Karl let out a defeated sigh. "Nothing. You just, didn't like it." Karl said, refusing to give any further details.
"You're a dummy, you know that?" Sapnap said with a light laugh. Karl heard the clacking return.
"Why does that make me a dummy? Jerk." Karl responded, only half joking about the jerk comment.
"Do you really need me to explain?" Sapnap laughed, the clacking stopped once again.
"Apparently I do?" Karl answered, not understanding what was so funny.
"Oh, come on!" Sapnap was fully laughing at this point, beginning to annoy Karl. Once Sapnap came down from laughing he finished his thought. "I just mean, come on, how horrible do you think I am? I mean, the surprise could be a new pair of socks and I would be ecstatic! You're overthinking, whatever it is, I promise you I will love it."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah.." Karl responded, feeling embarrassed for being so worried.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Sapnap responded by mimicking Karl with a laugh. The silence resumed, only the soft sounds of the keyboard keys between them.
--------------------------
(1,264 words) Almost to 400 reads :))
YOU ARE READING
Your Telephone Calls are my Favorite Place (Karlnap)
RomanceKarl is finding it more and more difficult to hide his feelings for his best friend, Sapnap. He's willing to risk it all for his chance at love, but does he really understanding just how much he's risking?
