Chapter Text
His eyes were the first thing that he noticed.
Sapnap was leaning against the kitchen counter talking to Dream, a bottle of beer in his right hand and his phone in his left one. The music was loud, beat coming through the speakers and reverberating against the walls, but even that seemed to dissipate as a boy he hadn’t seen before entered the room. It was almost as if every single one of Sapnap’s senses took a step back to let everything in him zero in on the stranger. Dream’s voice faded with the music, the crowd outside the door seemed to not matter, and his hand stopped before he could reach his mouth with the bottle. He was mesmerized.
The light in the kitchen was dim, the single lamp on the ceiling not strong enough to light up the whole room. But Sapnap felt as though the light wasn’t needed anyway, not when the boy who had stepped into the kitchen had eyes so bright they seemed to light up every single corner.
A nudge against his foot woke him up from the daydream state he seemed to have entered. Dream was looking at him with a raised eyebrow, a suspicious look on his face as he smirked at Sapnap. He shrugged, Dream knew him better than anyone, there was no point in denying that he was intrigued by the stranger at the door.
“Hi, Karl,” Dream said, startling Sapnap into looking at him again.
“Dream, hello.”
If Sapnap had thought that Karl’s eyes were bright, then he hadn’t been ready for the light beam that was his smile. It was happy and carefree, pretty on his face and inviting. It made Sapnap want to talk to him, make sure that that smile never left his face and that he was the reason behind it.
“I haven’t seen you in a while.” Dream moved from the table where he was leaning and stood in front of Karl.
“I’ve been busy with some projects. Classes are hard this semester.”
Karl shrugged and smiled at Dream before moving his eyes behind the tall boy’s shoulder, locking on Sapnap. They held eye contact for a few seconds, Sapnap trying to keep a grip around his emotions so they wouldn’t flow free and spill all over his face. The silence stretched out as they stared at each other, curious gazes and interested expressions. Sapnap felt his face heat up at the thought that Karl’s head could be full of thoughts similar to those in his own head.
“This is Sapnap,” Dream’s voice broke through their haze. “I don’t think the two of you have met before.”
Sapnap ignored the cocky grin on Dream’s face and took a step forward, closer.
“Hi,” he said, for lack of anything better.
“It’s nice to meet you.”
Karl’s voice was velvet, soft as it brushed Sapnap’s ears. Sapnap wanted to drink it in, he wanted Karl to talk for hours and to never stop listening to him.
“Have you seen George?” Dream asked Karl. “He arrived before us and I haven’t seen him yet.”
“He was with Quackity in the living room last time I saw him,” Karl smiled again and Sapnap wanted to do something dumb like reach forward and trace his smile lines.
“I’m going to find him,” Dream nodded and left the kitchen before either of them could say anything or offer to come with him.
Sapnap wasn’t sure if he should thank Dream or curse his name.
“So, you’re Sapnap,” Karl wondered out loud, opening the fridge and taking out a bottle of apple cider. “George and Dream talk about you sometimes.”
“That’s me." He took a gulp of his drink while trying to come up with something more to say. The last thing he wanted was for the conversation to end and for Karl to leave thinking he was boring and never talk to him again. “Though, I would take anything they have said about me with a grain of salt.”
“They haven’t said anything bad,” Karl reassured. “Do you know where the opener is?”
Sapnap reached a hand behind his back and felt around for the object he knew he had put there after he and Dream had opened their own bottles. In a bold move that made him almost not recognize himself, Sapnap grabbed Karl’s wrist and brought the hand that was holding the bottle closer to himself.
Karl stumbled a little, surprised a the sudden tug on his wrist and looked up at Sapnap’s face, watching with crimson cheeks as Sapnap opened his bottle for him. Karl’s eyes were locked on Sapnap’s, beautiful under the low light, standing out against his bright face. His pink lips were parted in surprise and Sapnap wasn’t sure which part of his face was more captivating.
“Thank you,” Karl breathed out.
Sapnap didn’t want to ever look away.
***
The way he moved was hypnotizing.
Karl wasn’t what Sapnap would call a good dancer. He moved in a clumsy way, feet shuffling around the place and arms moving in unpredictable ways. There was nothing coordinated about the way he danced, but that didn’t make him any less fascinating.
Sapnap and Karl had left the kitchen after they finished their drinks and Karl had immediately walked to the side of the living room that was serving as the dance floor. He had attempted to pull Sapnap with him, but he wasn’t having it. He was terrible at dancing and he wasn’t about to embarrass himself in front of Karl.
The room was full of people, a sea of dancing bodies moving and bumping into each other. Sapnap was leaning against the wall, eyes locked on Karl as he danced. The wall was vibrating against his back with the bass and his heart was beating with it. Karl was walking towards him and Sapnap didn’t even have it in him to pretend like he hadn’t been staring at him this whole time.
“Come dance,” he yelled over the music.
Sapnap shook his head.
“Please?” Karl grabbed his arm and looked at him with a smile and a pleading expression.
“I don’t dance.”
“Chad also didn’t dance until he did.”
“Who’s Chad?”
Karl blinked at him, eyebrows furrowing in contemplation.
“You’ve never watched High School Musical?”
“Should I have?”
“Yes.” Karl punched his arm gently. “You have to watch it. I’m going to make you watch it. With me.”
Sapnap felt his lips twist in a smile, Karl wanted to hang out with him after the party and there was not a single thing that would ever make him miss the opportunity to spend more time with the boy that had walked into his life without any warning and now wouldn’t leave his head. Whatever it was that Karl wanted to do, watch a movie, go to a café or even run a few laps around town, Sapnap would do gladly.
“It’s a date,” he said.
His breath hitched once he realized what he had said. It was a normal way to reply, but saying it to Karl felt different from saying it to Dream or George when they were planning something to do together. Saying it to Karl felt more real, it had different connotations and, although Sapnap was pretty sure that Karl was on the same page he was, it was still nerve-wracking to watch Karl’s eyes roam his face as he processed the words Sapnap had said.
“It’s a date,” Karl smiled at him, soft and happy before his lips flickered into a smirk. “On one condition.”
Sapnap raised an eyebrow at him.
“What is it?”
“Dance with me.”
"Why do you want me to dance with you so bad?"
"Because I want you to loosen up. You look so tense," Karl teased, hands coming up to rest on Sapnap's shoulders and squeezing them. "It's a party!"
Sapnap sighed and straightened up from his position. He couldn't say no when Karl was looking at him all excited and smiling and promising him a date. It was unfair how affected he was by someone he had met barely one hour ago.
"Come on."
The hands left his shoulders and Sapnap didn’t even have time to prepare himself before Karl’s left hand was sliding down his arms, leaving his skin tingling for more, and grabbing his own hand. He felt his breath stutter as Karl squeezed his hand and pulled him along to the dance floor.
Sapnap let himself be dragged along. Foolishly, he thought that he would let Karl drag him anywhere.
It wasn’t fun to have people he didn’t know pressed against him, but Karl’s smile was beautiful and more than enough to make up for it. Karl danced around him, carefree and unrestrained. He grabbed Sapnap’s hands in his and made him move a little with the music, prompting him to loosen up and enjoy the moment without caring about anyone else but him.
Karl laughed, high pitched and dazzling, as Sapnap twirled him in the little space he had, almost making him bump into the two girls who were standing closest to them. Karl apologized to them even though he looked anything but regretful, eyes full of mirth when he turned back and twirled Sapnap too.
There was something incredibly freeing about dancing under the colourful lights of a house party with a boy he had just met. Something incredible ethereal about the way Karl laughed and smiled and looked at Sapnap in a way that no one had looked at him before. He never wanted this moment to end, never wanted the song to finish and to let go of Karl’s hands. He wanted to be close to him, to look into his eyes and to make him laugh as if they were the only people in the world.
He wanted Karl to want the same things.
***
Karl’s voice was his favourite soundtrack.
In the week that Sapnap had known Karl, they had been on the phone together for more hours than he could count, than he cared to count. Any free time they had, they would send each other a message and if the other could, they would jump to a call and stay there for hours. It was a routine Sapnap had never had with anyone else, but one he had gotten used to so quickly and wouldn’t trade for anything.
He would never grow tired of hearing Karl talk about what he was doing, about things that he liked and what he was passionate about. His voice would get higher-pitched, he would talk faster, excited. Sapnap could sit for hours listening to him without getting tired. Karl’s voice in his ears was a song he could never get tired of, no matter how many times he listened to it.
“How did you meet Dream and George?” Karl asked.
It was late at night. After dinner, Sapnap had sat in the living room with Dream and George, the tv as background noise while they wrote down a grocery list for when they went shopping the next day. It had already been hours since then though, and the three of them had already moved to their bedrooms and closed their doors. Now, Sapnap was laying on his bed, eyes heavy with sleep as he and Karl went into the second hour of their phone call.
“I’ve known Dream since we were little.” His sheets ruffled under him as he shuffled to get comfortable. “He hit me in the head with a ball in middle school and we’ve been friends since. We only met George when we started uni here.”
Karl laughed, loud at first and then abruptly muffled.
“What?” Sapnap chuckled.
“He hit you with a ball and you decided that he would be your best friend?”
“Well, I guess I did.”
“You’re so dumb.”
Stupidly, he thought that the word ‘dumb’ sounded more fond than insulting when it came from Karl. He pretended for a second that Karl was next to him with his soft eyes and lovely smile, laugh louder without the interference of a phone, making fun of him for being friends with someone after getting hit in the face with a ball. Maybe Karl would reach out with his hand and shove Sapnap’s shoulder, maybe he would ruffle his hair. Maybe Sapnap could be the one reaching out and poke Karl’s cheek.
“And you keep talking to me despite that.” Sapnap rubbed his eyes.
“Hmm,” Karl hummed in agreement.
“You must like me a lot then. If you think I’m dumb but still talk to me.”
“I do like you a lot.”
Sapnap smiled, a warm feeling settling over his body at hearing Karl’s candid words. They had come so effortlessly as if they were so clearly true that there was nothing he could do other than set them free and let Sapnap hear them. They spread like a fire inside his chest, a flame that ignited and he couldn’t see every dying out.
“I like you a lot too," he said, words cutting off with a yawn as he felt his eyes close.
He wouldn’t mind hearing Karl say those words to him every day for the rest of his life.
***
Spending time with Karl had quickly become his favourite thing.
“Karl is coming over.” Sapnap opened the fridge and pretended like he wasn’t feeling Dream and George’s stares burning the back of his head.
“What are you guys going to be doing?” George asked after a beat of silence.
Sapnap grabbed a bottle of orange juice and closed the door. He turned to the two of them and rolled his eyes at their matching smirking faces.
“How is that any of your business?”
“No reason,” Dream grinned. “Can’t we be curious?”
“Can’t I have guests?”
“Of course, you can. We just want to know if we should leave the house empty for the two of you.”
Dream wiggled his eyebrows at him. George looked like he was struggling not to laugh and Sapnap wondered, not for the first time, why he thought that sharing a house with them had ever been a good idea.
“You guys are terrible.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
Sapnap ignored him and left the kitchen, pretending not to hear the barking laughter he left behind. They could laugh all they wanted. Karl was coming over and that was all that mattered, his roommates could have their fun. He would get back at them some other time, he wasn’t the only lovesick fool in the apartment after all.
Not even 15 minutes later, the sound of the doorbell sounded through the house and Sapnap jumped out of his bed, rushing to the door. He wasn’t fast enough. By the time he got to the door, Dream and George were already opening it, grins that promised mischief on their faces.Sapnap should have told Karl to meet up at his house.
“Hello, Karl,” George was saying while Dream closed the door behind them.
“Hi.” Karl smiled at them, shuffling on his feet and pulling his sleeves over his hands.
He was beautiful. Wearing a jean jacket over a colourful jumper that made Sapnap want to take him into his arms and give him the biggest of hugs. Never let him go. But he also looked nervous between Dream and George, who were still grinning at him like idiots, and Sapnap hurried over to get him out of that situation.
“Karl,” he said, annoyance slipping away as Karl turned to look at him with bright eyes.
“Sap!”
“So, what are you guys going to be doing? I asked Sapnap earlier but he refused to answer me.”
Sapnap turned his head sharply to glare at Dream. His friends were getting a kick out of making fun of him, especially now that it was in front of Karl, and he didn’t even want to think what they would say if he and Karl stood near them for much longer.
“We’re going to watch High School Musical,” Karl told them, seemingly not noticing the twin teasing expressions.
“High School Musical?”
“It’s a great movie,” Karl defended. “And Sapnap never watched it before, so I have to change that.” He aimed the last part directly at him and Sapnap didn’t want to ever look away and break the eye contact.
“Let’s go to my room?” He asked.
“You’re going to your room? I thought you were staying in the living room,” George sounded genuine, but Sapnap had known him for years, he knew better than to think it was an innocent question. The only thing George wanted was more material to tease him.
“You guys are annoying,” Sapnap told him. “I don’t want to deal with you and neither does Karl.”
Karl looked like he was going to talk, probably tell George and Dream that he didn’t mind their company and even invite them to watch the movie with them. Sapnap couldn’t have that. He didn’t want his friends to tease him, but, above all, he wanted to spend time alone with Karl with no one to interrupt them.
He had been looking forward to this moment ever since they had planned on watching the movie together. The only thing going through his head were images of sitting next to Karl on his bed, legs touching as they watched the movie. Looking over and seeing Karl’s focused face. He wanted to experience everything he had thought about and he would be damned if he let Dream or George ruin it for him.
Sapnap reached out a hand and grabbed Karl’s, firmly pulling him along to his room.
“I’m sorry for them.” Was the first thing he said once they were in his room and the door was closed. “They like to be annoying.”
“I don’t mind,” Karl laughed, pulling his jacket off and looking at him in question.
“You can put it in my chair.” He pointed at the chair by his desk.
Karl put the jacket over Sapnap’s chair as he grabbed his laptop and set it in the middle of the bed.
“You can get comfortable, I’m going to get some snacks for us. If George hasn’t eaten them all yet.”
Karl chuckled and Sapnap left the room, heart beating fast at the thought that Karl was in his room and was going to watch a movie with him.
“Already left him alone in your room?” Dream asked.
His roommates were sitting in the living room with the tv on, some action movie playing.
“I hate the both of you,” he said, shaking his head and trying not to seem amused.
As aggravating as the two of them were, he still loved them. And he knew that they would never do anything to ruin a chance he had with Karl. Or anyone else he liked for that matter. Teasing each other and making fun of each other was just part of their friendship at this point.
He went into the kitchen and grabbed the bag of gummy bears he had left on the table and returned to the living room, eager to go back to his room and finally spend some alone time with Karl.
“Have fun with your boy,” Dream called out.
“You too,” he grinned at the two of them and turned around, not wanting to see their fumbling responses.
Karl was already sitting on his bed when he got there. His legs were stretched out in front of him, he had taken off his sneakers and his socks were red with yellow polka dots. He had his phone in his right hand, the left one absentmindedly playing with the collar of his jumper. Sapnap wanted to lay next to him, pull him closer and cuddle with him while they watched the movie, maybe stay like that even after the movie ended.
“I’m back,” he said. “And I brought gummy bears.”
"You spoil me," Karl laughed but made grabby hands for the bag.
Sapnap threw the sweets at him and sat down on the other side of the bed, close enough so that it wasn’t awkward, but far away enough so that they weren’t touching. He wanted to sit closer, but the last thing he wanted was to make Karl uncomfortable in any way.
He put on the movie and settled back against the headboard, taking a few gummy bears for himself when Karl offered him the bag. The movie started off slow with snow on New Year’s Eve and basketball and books. Then, there was the first song and Sapnap watched from the corner of his eye as Karl mouthed all the words to ‘The Start of Something New’.
“How many times have you watched this movie?”
Karl turned his head to look at him, a sheepish smile on his face.
“Too many?” He worded it like a question and raised his hand to mess with his hair. Sapnap wanted to touch Karl’s hair too.
“I guess I’ll have to catch up if I want to sing the songs with you.”
“You want to sing the songs with me?”
Sapnap wondered how Karl could think, for even a second, that he would lie to him, or that he wouldn’t want to have fun with him. Singing with Karl to a movie that he clearly loved seemed like a dream to him. If he had to learn the words to every single High School Musical song, then so be it. The reward seemed to be much bigger than any work he would have to put in.
“Of course. Teach me the words and we can have a karaoke party. Just like Troy and Gabriella.”
“Does our karaoke party end the same way as theirs?”
Sapnap turned sharply to look at him. The sound of the two main characters in the movie singing ‘What I’ve Been Looking For’ sounding through the room.
Karl’s eyes were bright with the reflection of the movie, focused entirely on Sapnap’s face. His smile held promises that Sapnap couldn’t quite comprehend yet, but didn’t want to look away from. Karl was a book he never wanted to end, the song he played on repeat.
He already had Karl’s number, but he wanted the implication of what ending up like Troy and Gabriella meant. Ending up together, having Karl in his arms.
The song came to a stop, the last piano key ringing out, and Sapnap smiled at Karl.
“If that’s what you want, I would want nothing more.”
The distance between them felt pointless at that point, the gap he had been careful to create as to not make Karl uncomfortable felt unnecessary. He wanted to be closer, feel the other’s body against him. And, from the way Karl was looking at him, he could guess that the feeling was mutual.
He put an arm around Karl, bringing him closer so that their sides were pressed together. Karl laid his head on Sapnap’s shoulder and Sapnap laid his head on his.
He never wanted to move again.