Chapter Text
Karl actually really loves his job.
He gets to hang around cool people, wear clothes he actually likes to wear, and see his friends everyday, practically all the time. Not to mention on break he can get Taco Bell and Cinnabon without having to drive anywhere.
Karl works at a Hot Topic in his hometown’s mall. He dresses how he’d usually dress outside of a work environment, which is one of the many benefits of his job. He’s also been experimenting with his style constantly by checking out the clothes and jewelry when on break and buying the stuff himself (though he does get free stuff courtesy of his very nice manager, Bad). So needless to say, Karl enjoys working at Hot Topic, despite the minimum wage paychecks. But to be fair, he doesn’t really need the money that desperately as he’s just a highschooler using a side-hustle to save up for college and buy stuff that he wants whilst working on his independence.
Karl is organizing the bracelets when he hears the bell ring and whips his head around in surprise. It’s been quite a quiet day so far, pretty slow since it’s a Tuesday evening in the middle of February and there’s not as many teens filling up the mall like it does on the weekends. Karl gets ready to put on a cheery expression and a friendly tone to greet the customer.
“Hey welcome to Hot Topic-”
“Hey loser,” a voice cuts off harshly.
Quackity, he recognizes. He laughs lightheartedly at the off-handed comment. “Hey Alex, are you finally on break?”
The shorter scoffs making his way over to Karl, with what appears to be a black and white striped beanie that he swooped from the 20% off hat bucket in the front of the store clutched in his fist. “You know it. They finally let me out of that hell hole, even though there’s literally no one here today. Hey, should I buy this?”
He holds up the beanie right in front of Karl’s face, blocking his line of vision, Karl swats it away. “Yeah if you want to look like a bank robber from a cartoon,” he jests. Quackity throws a disgusted look his way, taken aback by the sudden sass. He takes a double-take at the beanie, eyes trailing from the hat, back to Karl, back to the hat. A defeated sigh escapes his lips.
“Yeah you’re right, it’s dumb,” he accepts, dejectedly tossing it ontop of the check-out counter. Karl is the only worker today, as no one else could take a shift at six pm on a weekday. Karl usually does his schoolwork when he’s not ringing people up or restocking the shelves or re-arranging the chokers so they are exhibited in rainbow order. Today he didn’t have any homework, so he was bored senseless. He’s secretly grateful for Quackity’s presence, as annoying as it is that he bursts in and insults him right off the gate. But he’d never admit that.
Quackity is his friend of four years, they go to the same highschool and have been attached at the hip since 7th grade. He works at the Spencers right next door, and Karl finds it absolutely hilarious that he works there. If people are afraid of Hot Topic, they would never even think about setting foot in a Spencer’s. It’s like Hot Topic on crack cocaine, at one point Karl was even fairly certain they sold crack there. On his breaks, Quackity would smoke or vape or take a swig of some suspicious looking energy drink chock-full of toxins that wouldn’t sit well with anyone with a normal digestive system. But Quackity is what he likes to call himself, “built different,” and Karl loves his absubirity.
One thing he doesn’t like about the fact he seems to be sucked into the cult-like store’s atmosphere is that gag gifts were very frequent, and one year for his birthday he was gifted a huge dildo that he unwrapped in front of his 85-year-old grandmother. It’s an understatement to say Karl was pretty peeved at his friend’s mischievous behavior that day.
“Hey so I’m fucking starving. Wanna grab dinner?” Quackity suggests, playing with the chains that dangle from the display. Karl runs a hand through his mop-like hair that he’s reluctant to get trimmed though there’s literally a hair-cuttery right outside of the mall. He needs to get around to that, especially since he has a friend who works there who can give him a discount. “Sure! I heard Wendy’s added some new menu item that’s supposed to be wild,”
“Wild as in, bizarre or like it has weed in it?” Quackity asks with dazzling eyes at the idea of getting zooted on a Tuesday night. Karl laughs at his stupidity. “As in it has mac and cheese in it,” Karl clarifies. The hope drops in Quackity’s face.
“Fine fine let’s just go,” he deadpans, scurrying away.
“Wait! I gotta lock up, let me talk to Bad,” Karl calls after, but he’s already half-way across the store heading towards the exit.
“Just meet me in the food court, last time I talked to Bad he lectured me about my ‘bad habits’,” Quackity air quotes before rolling his eyes at the memory. Karl giggles.
“He was right, you know!”
“Fuck off Jacobs!”
A crude gesture was sent Karl’s way before he disappeared into the mall hallways. He shakes his head at his friend’s playful antics and heads to the backroom where Bad was.
“Hey boss,” Karl greets. Bad is stacking boxes with Abba playing from the speakers of the room, he looks up from his task with a bright smile. “Hey Karl! You clocking out for the day?”
Karl sucks his tongue, he knows Bad doesn’t mind when he doesn’t stay for his full shift but he still feels a twang of guilt. “Yeah, is that okay? I can come back, just getting dinner,”
Bad softens his expression. “Of course Karl! You’re a hard worker, don’t come back, just enjoy the rest of the night. It’s slow today anyways,” he reassures, he grabs some packaging tape from the shelf and secures one of the boxes shut. Karl’s heart warms at Bad’s generosity and he’s internally lucky that his boss is so laidback, Quackity constantly complains about Phil being hard on him, but that’s only because Quackity can be a pain. And Phil is quite older than him, still seeing Quackity as a rebellious teen. Which he is, but Karl comforts the boy otherwise.
“Thanks Bad. Oh, and I can cover Punz’s shift on Saturday by the way, if you still need someone to,” he mentions. Punz told everyone he was going to visit family for a “family emergency”, but everyone could see right through that. Truthfully, he’s getting high with a friend. He told Karl he could trust him not to snitch, and Karl’s not a snitch, so he keeps his mouth shut. But he has nothing better to do on a Saturday night (it’s kind of pathetic, but oh well), so he thinks he can spend it chatting with people who wear bunny hats in public. Not that he’s judging, he’s definitely done that before.
Bad crosses his arms. “Oh you don’t have to do that Karl, I’m sure I can find someone else to take over for him,”
“No seriously it’s fine, I don’t mind working overtime. Saving up for more Yugioh cards anyways,” he presses on.
“You’re too kind Karl. If you insist, I’ll see you then,” he gives in. Karl nods and turns to leave with a ‘goodbye, see you Saturday’ and a gentle grin.
He’s sitting at a two-person table with Quackity with a 4-piece nugget carton in front of him, while Quackity is attempting to fit the mac and cheese burger in his mouth.
“Karl, you’re a work-a-holic. And you’re only seventeen. You’re not even in college yet, take a fucking break,” he mumbles through bite fulls of the mysterious sandwich that Karl was too weirded out about to order himself. Karl groans, he knows deep down that Quackity is right. He always is one-step ahead of everything at work, he finishes his tasks early, is never late, offers to take over people’s shifts when they can’t, and he locks up perfectly almost every time he has to. He doesn’t allow himself to think it because he thinks it’s rude but if there was an employee of the month he’s sure he’d be framed with a stupid thumbs up for every month he’s worked there.
Still, he persists. “No I don’t think so,” he shakes his head and his hair shags with it. “Just doing my best so I don’t get fired and can afford to go to college,”
He knows those excuses won’t convince Quackity, but he doesn’t want him to think he’s right. Their friendship is built on a foundation of competition and teasing. It should seem toxic and unhealthy, but it’s just downright entertaining. “Whatever man. You’re lying to yourself and your best friend. It’s your life I guess,” he shrugs.
Not lying to myself, just you. But whatever helps you sleep at night he wants to argue, but today is not that kind of day.
“So you’ll visit and keep me company on Saturday?” he says instead, eyes lighting up.
“Buy me a cinnamon roll and I’ll consider it,” he squints at the blue and white themed store across the food court and Karl rolls his eyes.
He ends up bribing him with the sugary treat anyways.
-
Karl is back behind the counter before he knows it.
This time though, thankfully, Quackity sticks with him the entire time and keeps him entertained. He tells dirty jokes and shows him stupid memes to keep him from regretting overworking himself. He needs the moral support, because Saturdays are always busier than Tuesdays for obvious reasons.
When he’s done ringing up a lady who bought five different kinds of My Chemical Romance t-shirts, he thought she would be the last to come in. He thought wrong. Oh so wrong.
Because just as he was counting the cash, ready to call it quits at 9 pm (as they close at 9:15), the bell chimes and he internally groans.
“Hello welcome to Hot Topic-”
“Hey Karl,”
Aaand it’s Punz. He gives a small grin at the boy in an oversized black hoodie coupled with tons and tons of chains around his neck. “Hi Punz, are you back from your family emergency already?” he taunts.
The dirty blonde rolls his eyes. “Yes, is Bad here?” he questions, moving his head around to check if he’s anywhere to be seen. Karl scoffs at how obvious he is about being such a liar. “No, he left earlier. You’re good,”
“Thanks man. Dude you can come in!” Punz shouts from over his shoulder. Karl’s face twists in confusion.
“Who are you talking to-”
Before he could finish his sentence, a brunette pops in the door frame with pine green eyes and a dark red sweatshirt. Karl’s heart pangs. Who is that? he finds himself wondering almost instantly. He’s pretty, like almost overwhelmingly so. His hair is the slightest bit curly, more of a wavy type, and it’s tucked tightly underneath his black baseball cap snug on his head. His face is a bit scruffy, like he just shaved an oncoming beard, and he’s just really good-looking. Handsome boy, very attractive the words ring in his ears. He snaps out of it and returns to lock contact with Punz so he’s not caught staring at this mysteriously charming stranger.
“Oh this is my buddy Sapnap,” Punz explains. Sapnap looks over to meet eyes with Karl and smiles sweetly, Karl melts within the sudden attention of the gorgeous man. “Or Nick, I guess. But no one calls him that,”
Karl waves, and he returns it, a bit shy. “Hi, I’m Karl,” Karl spurs at last.
“I know, Punz talks about you quite frequently. Nice to meet you,”
Punz talks about him quite frequently. Can’t be anything good. Sapnap must thinks he’s a fucking loser, working on a Saturday night instead of doing what they were doing. He cringes at the thought of Punz complaining about work and his name slipping from his slips when a joint lays between his fingers.
“Anyways I know we close in like fifteen but Sapnap wanted to look around. I’ll even help lock up,” Punz continues. Quackity glances up from his phone, now aware of what is happening in front of him. “Hi I’m here too!” he perks up, suddenly craving validation from Punz, for some reason.
“Hello Quackity, got any food?”
“Only using me for food now eh?” Quackity nags. “All I’m good for. You’re gonna have to start appreciating me more often Punz,”
“Yeah yeah whatever,” he brushes off light-heartedly.
Sapnap is looking at the anime merch collection with a gleam in his eye, he turns to Quackity inquistely. “How much are these?”
Quackity snaps his head over and offers a lazy shrug. “Dunno,”
“Don’t you work here?” Sapnap asks with a weird certainty.
Quackity exaggerates his laugh. “Nahhh, just keeping Karl company today. Work at the Spencer’s next door,”
Karl watches in absolute horror at the scene unraveling in front of him. He’s not entirely surprised that Sapnap thinks he works here. Quackity is wearing all black, has smokey eyeshadow protruding from under his eyes and looks like a rejected member of Pierce The Veil. He could be a Hot Topic employee if he wanted to, but Spencers was more of his schtick. Sapnap goes red at his mistake, and Karl’s heart melts a bit.
“Oh,” he sighs. “Whoops, sorry,”
Somehow, the minutes pass without Karl making a fool of himself in front of Sapnap. It must be his lucky day. Because usually when he finds someone cute, everything goes wrong. His limbs become weightless, he trips and falls over air, his words come out all scrambled and jumbled like a jigsaw puzzle. He finds the reason this isn’t happening is because he’s actively avoiding him as he searches around in the store, browsing the anime section and the plushies. He nudges Quackity, whose eyes are trained to his phone screen.
“What?” he whines. Karl shushes the boy, who’s loudness is especially loud as he can practically feel Sapnap’s glare burn through his skull at the sound. “What?” he repeats, softer this time, almost a whisper but not quite. He’s not sure Quackity is capable of being that obedient.
“Have you met him before?” he asks. Quackity raises a brow in uncertainty. “Who? Punz?”
Karl wants to facepalm so badly, but he refrains from drawing any unwanted and unnecessary attention. “Sapnap! You doofus,” he hisses harshly.
“Ohhh,” he drags in realization. “Yeah a couple of times actually. He’s friends with Dream and George,”
“The couple that we ran into at Baskin Robbins that were making out by the coffee machine?” he recalls. He doesn’t even want to go over how casually he says the ridiculous sentence.
“Yes the horny Baskin Robbins guys!” he smizes in remembrance. Him and Quackity laughed so hard after they left. “Dream works at the Yankee Candle and George at the Bath and Body Works. Sometimes when you aren’t working I stop by and ask if they makeout just anywhere or just in Baskin Robbins,”
“You’re an idiot, they must hate you,” Karl says. Quackity raises his shoulders and lets them fall as he giggles. “Not really, they have a good sense of humor. And I met Sapnap when he was buying a pumpkin candle while talking to Dream one time,” he further expounds. Karl smiles at the sentiment, Sapnap likes fall scented candles. Just like him. Quackity’s demeanor shifts as he spies at how Karl’s face lit up at the story, and realizes just why Karl is so curious about the guy. He shoots an incredulous look.
“Don’t tell me you fell for the guy-”
“Not so freaking loud, he’s right over there,” he urges, side-eyeing Sapnap who’s examining a mug.
“You fall for every guy who dresses decently, I implore you to find better taste. Raise your standards higher. The bar is on the fucking floor,”
“You’re telling me you don’t find him attractive?”
“I’m not saying that I’m just saying that if he’s friends with Punz-”
“-His expectations are already low for friends, I might have a chance if they are the same for relationships,” Karl points out. Quackity opens his mouth to debate that, but he tilts his head and wags his finger. “You have a point,”
Karl secretly grins at his mini-victory of the argument, and he returns to counting the money in the cash register. Moments pass before he can’t help but peek a glance over at Sapnap, who’s hosting a staring contest with a rack of jeans that hang above his head on the wall. His eyebrows knit into a frustrated look as he stands on his tippy toes to try and grab a hanger. And it’s adorable to watch, but Karl takes pity on him and makes his way to the other side of the counter.
“Need some help?” Karl assumes, leaning his elbows on top of the glass of the work surface. Sapnap is slightly startled at Karl’s offer, but he obliges.
“Ah can you-” Sapnap signals over to jeans with his head, his voice is deep and raspy, but coated with bashfulness And oh my god Sapnap is too short to reach the jeans. Karl wants so badly to laugh, but that would just be too mean. And Sapnap’s face turns a shade of pink, he would feel embarrassed for the guy if he didn’t look so incredibly precious when he blushes.
“Oh yeah, no problem,” Karl says nonchalantly. He makes way over to the jeans and reaches up so his hand is leveling with the rack. “What size?”
“Uh I don’t know, medium?”
Karl laughs, but Sapnap doesn’t. Oh, he wasn’t joking, now Karl feels foolish. “Jeans don’t work like that here. But here-” Karl grabs a pair that would translate to an average men’s medium size and hands it to him. “This should be your size,”
Sapnap offers a kind smile in return. “Thanks,” he breathes. Their hands slightly brush against one another’s fingers when he retrieves it and Karl tries no to overthink the fluttering feeling emitting from within him. He can pick up the scent of weed from him, but it’s faded. Like he sprayed something on him to try and mask the smell. He finds it strangely endearing that he actually cares whether or not he reeks of the stench. Unlike Punz, who just struts around with the skunk odor chasing after him in his trail. Karl so desperately doesn’t want the discussion, if you can call it that, to end there. So he opts for small talk.
“So, you’re the reason I’m working today?” Karl starts. Sapnap’s face coats itself in some form of guilt.
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I told him we could do it another time but he didn’t really want to work today anyways,” he apologizes. Karl didn’t mean for it to come out like he’s actually pissed about it, so he shakes his head vigorously in an attempt to save Sapnap from blaming himself any further.
“It’s okay, I’m not actually mad. I actually offered to take over his shift. I wasn’t forced or anything. And to be completely honest, I had nothing better to do anyways,” he admits sheepishly.
“Well that’s okay, I admire that you help people out like that. Especially dumbasses like Punz,” Sapnap says, nodding over to Punz who is swinging a baseball bat around, almost knocking some cups over. Karl chuckles and eases, “Yeah well, I got to look out for the idiots that work here,”
Sapnap smirks at the taller and for a split second, he thinks he might be able to read the lovey dovey eyes he’s throwing his way. “So how do you know Punz? Does he go to your school?”
“Ah nah. I met him here actually, I work at the Zoomies across from here,” he responds. Karl tosses a shocked glance over in disbelief. “Really?”
“Mhm,” he hums. And Karl’s head is spinning in circles.
All this time, Sapnap was just 50 feet away.
This cute boy with some light freckles and big sparkling green eyes was so close yet somehow so far. They haven’t bumped into each other once, not crossed paths, it’s almost mind-boggling because the mall isn’t that big as the town it’s located in is small and tight-knit. All this time, he could have just moseyed himself into a Zoomies and been greeted with Sapnap. He believes if he thinks about it too much he’ll find himself wallowing in sorrow. He could have met Sapnap sooner, and damn he wished he had.
“That’s crazy,” Karl finds himself replying.
“Yeah, I actually like working there. It just suits me, you know? Like I skateboard and stuff and I just like the overall vibe,” he prods on. And yeah, Karl knows exactly what he means. “God I sound like an ass, but you seem to be really committed to working here. I take it you like it here too?”
“Ha, you can say that,” Karl looks around the room in satisfaction. “I get what you mean, this place suits me too,” he scans his hands, fingers riddled with rings and nails painted red and black.
“Sick nails,” Sapnap compliments, noticing them, he takes his hand to look at them closer. Karl feels his cheeks heat up. He dares to break his consciousness from his hands to Sapnap and the way his eyes trace over the colored nails, immersed. “You should paint mine sometimes, they look like shit right now and I think black would be good. And you seem to talented, or at least better than if I tried,”
Karl pales at the idea of him painting Sapnap's nails. Close in touch, him failing to focus and concentrate with the other staring at him and all. He doesn’t know if he’d survive that.
“Yeah sure,” he complies. Though the chances that he’d actually find himself in a situation where he goes through with it is very slim. Sapnap grins wide at his words. “Cool, I’m gonna buy these. Can you check me out?”
Karl nods and they head over to the counter, and his heart beats a little bit faster than usual.
-
Karl is getting his haircut, finally.
Niki, his hairdresser, is softly humming along to the song on the radio sweetly. He finds it endearing, her love of cutting hair. She seems really passionate about it, though it’s expected since she went through the whole barber school process. Niki is a family friend. Their moms have been best friends for as long as he remembers his mom retelling the same highschool shenanigans stories on repeat like a broken record. Their moms have been through a lot together, to an extent where he wouldn’t be completely surprised if they admitted to having been dating each other at one point. They were, and still are, that close.
“So,” Niki says, breaking the silence. “What’s been going on with you? Besides growing out your thick and luscious curls,” she interrogates as he watches the hair fall on the ground in the reflection of the mirror.
“Nothing really,” he tells, only half lying. He fiddles with his rings, his hands are peeking out from under the apron Niki put on for him. It’s the same apron everytime, his favorite one. It’s a deep purple with white stars all around scattered diligently. He likes the way it looks draped across him when he studies Niki as she snips away, carefree. “Just work, and stuff,”
“Ah, work and stuff,” Niki repeats mockingly. “So Quackity came in yesterday”
Oh shit, he ran his mouth, didn’t he?
“Oh he did?” Karl murmurs, looking down at his feet trying to hide whatever may display on his cheeks that gives anything away. “How short did he get it cu-”
“Who’s Sapnap?”
Fuckkkkkk.
Karl sighs and tips his head back into the chair as Niki cleans her scissors, stuck with clumps of his hair. “I don’t even know, one of Punz’s friends. He came into the store yesterday,”
He could tell Niki knew by the gleam in her eye that there was more to the story than just that. “He said you had googly eyes for him. Are you gonna ask him out?”
Karl scoffs at that. How the hell would that work out? He just strolls into a Zoomies, buys something he doesn’t really want, compliments how cute he looks and then asks for his number? Like Karl is as suave to pull that off without completely messing it up. And it’s not like Karl has the courage to say more than a sentence at a time to the boy without his tongue getting tied up in tangled knots. He’s always been that way with crushes, just admires from afar and never engages. It’s strictly hypothetical, he lets the crushes stay crushes and is sufficed with the fact the two of them will never exceed anything beyond shifty-eyed strangers or friendly acquaintances at the furthest.
“Yeah, no. Thanks for trying to get me to spill my guts though,” he spews sarcastically. Niki giggles softly and gets back to trimming the ends.
“Of course! What are friends for?”
A couple of minutes later, spent laying in silence and contemplation of whether or not Niki was going to comment further, Karl’s hair is done. He stares back at his reflection in contentment at the length, finally the unnecessary hair that was pricking the back of his neck and way out-grown bangs he had to move out of the way every other second is gone. Not gone exactly, just resting on the ground in a pile beneath his dangling feet on the high chair. Niki always raised the chair higher for him so he isn’t uncomfortable, which is the most considerate thing to do.
“It’s great Niki, thank you,” he says with much gratitude pouring out of him. He’s always thankful for her amazing skills and her always knowing exactly how he likes it. It also saves him from spending more than he needs to, and awkward conversations that barbers strike up with him when he just wants to be in and out as soon as possible. It’s quite the opposite when it comes to getting his hair done with her though, it’s always a pleasure with Niki. She beams as she lowers the seat to the actual height and whips the apron off of him. He shakes his curls around and they bounce playfully, returning to it’s coiled positions just above his ears.
“Handsome boy,” she says and Karl leaps to his feet and takes a curtsey and a bow. She giggles at the absurdity and Karl soon joins in. They head to the register and he gives a twenty dollar bill but she shakes her head in refusal. “On me,” she adds. Karl pushes, “No way, take it,” he waves the bill frantically inches away from her nose, she scrunches her face like the money physically disgusts her.
“Karl come on, just let me cover it. It wasn’t much anyways,” Niki persists. “It didn’t even come out to twenty, it was more like fifteen because you didn’t get a wash,”
Karl whines and throws his head back dramatically. “Fine,” he huffs and Niki punches in the air, successfully winning the tug-of-war that was the whole ordeal. “But I’m making it up to you,”
“How about you ask Sapnap out?” Niki suggests, eyes sparkling with achievement.
Karl tsks, moving his head from side to side in a slow, border-line agonizing manner. and Niki drops her head in her hands. “No, but nice try,” he puts his twenty back in his wallet and slips it back in the pocket of his jeans. Niki feigns a shot to the heart and places a helpless hand over her head like she’s about to pass out, Karl rolls his eyes at the actions.
“But, I can buy you a coffee after your shift?” Karl proposes instead. Niki replaces her gloomy complexion with a smiley one when the topic switches to coffee. “Yes, yes I forgive you for all your sins Jacobs,” she rambles.
“That’s what I thought,” Karl grins. “Caramel macchiato?”
“You know it!”
So Karl buys Niki a coffee, and luckily for him she shuts up about Sapnap the rest of the time they hang out. But it’s not long before he pops into Karl’s head, taunting him silently.
It’s going to be a rough couple of days.