THE MOON KNOWS | karl jacobs x reader

V

"It takes great courage to see the world in all its tainted glory, and to still love it," —Oscar Wilde.

Some days it's hard to wake up.  It's much more appealing to just lay in bed all day, surrounded by warmth and comfort and coziness, for hours at a time.  No worries in the world, no responsibilities, nothing.  Just me and my bed.

Today, however, is not one of those days.  Or rather Scooter won't let it be one of those days.  Scooter pounces on me, walking all over my chest and face, her paws pressing down into my cheek.  

     "Yeah, yeah, good morning Scoots," I groan.  I push her off of me and sit up in bed.  Scooter, of course, sees this as an opportunity to crawl into my lap and lay down.  I feel myself smile at her before leaning down to kiss to top of her head. 

I reach for my phone and check my notifications.  I have a few from Twitter, a few from Instagram, a few from Discord.  I open Discord to clear the notifications and respond to any direct messages from my friends.  I type a few quick replies before closing the app, only to be met with a red circle in the corner of my messages.  I open the app and it brings me to the conversation with Karl.

karl :]

hi :) 00:39

00:58 (y/n)! hi!
00:59 ooooooh wait its 1am, ur
probably asleep
00:59 sleep well :]

I smile at his texts.  Something about him is just so sweet and thoughtful and I just get an amazing feeling when I'm with him.  I think for a moment and then type out a message

good morning karl!! you're 10:31
right, i did fall asleep lol
how are you? :D 10:32

He's quick to respond, and I wonder how long he's been awake for.  We chat for a while, and he ends up asking me what I'm doing today.  I tell him that I have two classes from 11:00 to 12:30, and work from 1:00 to 9:00.  I ask him why, and he says that if I feel up to it, he would be at that spot by the lake tonight.  I find myself fonding at his words, he wants to see me again.  My heart flutters but I chalk it up to anxiety.  I type out a quick reply, letting him know that I will be there 100 percent.  I then turn off my phone and I begin to get ready for the day.

Classes were uneventful, just your typical lectures about the history of theatre and whatnot.  Work was the same, having to take orders from my dickhead manager as she sits in the break room doing fuck-all for her entire shift as my coworkers and I do all of the work that she should be helping us with.  But it's whatever, I keep my cool.

Finally it's time to clock out and I do so as quickly as possible.  I race home to feed Scooter her dinner before I make my way to the lake to meet with Karl.  The walk is familiar, and so is the silhouette of the boy sitting on the edge of the pier, tossing rocks into the lake.  I walk over to him and take my seat next to him.  He almost instantly leans to rest his head on my shoulders.  

     "Well, hello to you, too, Karl," I chuckle at his actions.  I feel the weight of his head be lifted off of my left shoulder and I look over to him.  He looks like a deer in headlights until he begins to speak.
     "I'm so sorry (y/n) I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, I'm so sorry-" he rambles on, immensely apologetic and remorse clear in his tone.  I place my arm around his shoulders and pull him back down.
     "No, no, no, Karl, I'm just teasing you.  I really don't mind at all."  Truth is that it actually felt really nice having his head on my shoulders, so now that I brought him back to this position I remain with my arm around him, and I rest my head on top of his.

We stargaze for a while and before I knew it, we were already chatting like we had known each other for years.  And it feels like that, too.  I feel like I know Karl, or at least know that we were supposed to meet.  I was never one to believe in fate, or destiny, or the universe being an all-knowing force.  But in this moment, I have such a strong feeling like Karl and I meeting was no accident.  And I am extremely grateful for that.