Catch of the Game

5- Heartbeat

TW- Influence of alcohol 

After about 10 minutes of carefully watching the sick boy sitting in front of him, Karl starts to relax. The noises of the party were almost entirely gone now. With one final check with Sapnap, Karl stands up and goes to look downstairs.

He walks down a few stairs and sees Dream trying to herd the last few people out of the house, picking up random bits of garbage on his way. George sits on the bottom stair with his head in his hands watching. Karl sits beside him.

"Hey, are you doing ok?" He asks.

"Yeah I'm fine, just kind of shitty and drunk." The front door closes one last time. "Dream cleared everyone out of here so fast, I don't know how he did it."

"Yeah he's good." Karl agrees.

Dream walks over and sits down on the floor in front of them. "I'm glad I asked Sapnap if we could stay over earlier cause I'm assuming he's in no condition to be making decisions right now."

"No he is definitely not." Karl says in agreement.

George lets out a yawn. "Are we in the guest room?" He asks.

Dream replies, "Yeah I think so. I would say I'll sleep on the couch but it's a bit of a mess so we'll have to share if that's alright."

George just nods and yawns a couple more times.

"Karl, do you want to go take care of your designated drunk and I'll handle mine?" Dream asks, standing up.

"Yep, sounds good. I'll go drag him into bed."

Karl goes into the bathroom to see Sapnap standing and drinking water. He definitely doesn't look very good, but it's an improvement from before.

"Hey." He says weakly, trying to wave at Karl.

"Hey, let's go get you in bed now ok?"

Sapnap takes a couple steps forward before falling into Karl's waiting arms. And to think a second ago he looked almost sober.

Sapnap sat down on his bed with a loud thump and patted a spot next to him for Karl to sit down on. Karl closed the door, giving a quick smile to Dream who was dragging his own drunk person down the hallway.

Sapnap leaned against Karl the second he sat down. Karl ran his hand through Sapnap's hair so it wasn't as stuck to his forehead with sweat. It was kind of cute though, somehow. Sapnap closed his eyes and let out a sigh at the sweet gesture.

"Hey Karl?" Sapnap says quietly. He lifts his head off Karl's shoulder to look at him. "Am I your friend?"

"Yes! Of course you're my friend, Sap."

"But am I you're beeeeessssst friend?" He says with a giggle.

Karl laughs. "Yeah, I think you are Sapnap." Karl smiles. His best friend.

"Well you're my best friend. In the whole world ever."

Karl laughs again. "Oh come on. What about Dream? And George?"

Sapnap ponders for a minute. "Well then, you're my favourite best friend, Karl."

Karl's heart flutters. Sapnap leans his head down onto Karl's shoulder again, his hair brushing against Karl's collarbone.

"Thank you Sapnap. That means a lot to me."

"Also you're, like, really hot."

Karl lets out a loud laugh. "I'm what!?"

"You're hot. And handsome." He considers for a moment then nods. "Really handsome."

Karl feels himself blushing deeply and tries to will it away, but it doesn't leave. "Oh umm, I think you're really handsome too. Now you should try and get some sleep before you say anything else that's dumb."

"That's not dumb, it's the truth." Sapnap says in a huff.

"Alright let's get you into bed now." Karl eases the boy upright until he is sitting on his own.

Sapnap flops down and haphazardly throws the blanket over himself. Karl giggles and reaches over to fix it. Sapnap wraps his arms around Karl and pulls him into a hug. "Very handsome. Don't forget it." And with that, he places a hand on the back of Karl's neck and kisses him on the cheek.

Karl somehow becomes an even deeper shade of red from before, and goes to try and set up a bed on the floor beside Sapnap.

"What are you doing?" Sapnap asks, watching Karl trying to find a blanket.

"Just trying to make it comfortable to sleep down here."

"Just come on the bed?"

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Oh, alright." Karl starts to climb over Sapnap who grabs him and pulls Karl on top of himself, with Karl's head on his chest. "Ummm, you sure about this?"

Sapnap just holds him tighter and promptly falls asleep. Karl finally agrees and wraps his arms around Sapnap, falling asleep listening to the smaller boy's heart beating.