Work Text:
“Marry me?” Sapnap asked suddenly, breaking Karl’s attention from his laptop where he was diligently writing a paper that was due in only 30 minutes.
“What?” Karl asked, snapping his head towards his partner who had been sitting with him in the uncomfortable library chair, watching as he worked his hardest to pull all
of his attention to make sure the paper would at least be to the minimum standard.
“Marry me.” Sapnap said, though this time it was a statement rather than a question.
“Marry you?” Karl asked, his eyes flicking to the time on his laptop screen, before back to his partner who had seemingly lost his mind.
“Yeah.” Sapnap said as if it was the simplest thing in the world, causing Karl to let out a laugh and lean back into his chair, running a hand through his fluffy hair. “We already wear rings, it’s not like it would change anything.” Karl laughed again, this time quieter and breathier, showing just how interested he was in this conversation, even if it seemed to others like he was brushing it off.
“That’s different, Sap. Marriage is a whole different ball game.” Karl said, letting his hands drift from the keyboard, knowing this was a serious conversation. His paper could wait, but this conversation couldn’t. “It would change everything.”
Sapnap thought for a second, his eyes wandering over Karl’s face, taking note of every freckle and the way the bright blue light from the computer seemed to make the bags under his tired eyes look bigger than normal, but Sapnap wouldn’t change this moment for the world. You can see your partner vulnerable 100s of times, but sometimes, a moment that isn’t even serious sticks with you more than anything else ever could.
“What would it change?”
“We wouldn’t be able to just… leave anymore. It’s a serious thing.” Karl said, looking at Sapnap’s loving eyes. “It would mean there is no way out anymore.”
Karl had thought back to the first years of their relationship where Sapnap wouldn’t even allow a hug in public, let alone anything more personal to them. Sapnap had seeked an out then, and Karl had respected that, allowing him to leave under the pretense of this was just a stop in their life, not the final person they would be with forever.
Karl also remembered when Sapnap came back, begging him to let him in again and that he was ready to do all of the things that the relationship required. He remembered how the progress was slow but it was still progress. It started out with hugs after football games and escalated to a quick kiss and then it escalated to them being like any other couple at their school, perfect and happily in love with one another, not wanting a single thing but time together. Karl never wanted Sapnap to feel trapped like he had before, always leaving a space open for him to escape from but now he was asking to close that gap permanently.
“I don’t want an out. I want to be with you.” Sapnap said, lacing their fingers together and bringing Karl’s up to his mouth, pressing a soft kiss against his hand. Karl looked at his partner with tired eyes, not knowing what to do anymore.
He loved him more than he knew what to do with it. The man sitting besides him was his whole world, the person he often thought about building a future with. He had thought that eventually, they would break up and Sapnap would forever take a piece of Karl with him wherever he went, but now he wasn’t asking for just a piece of Karl, but his whole being.
“Are you sure? I can’t… I couldn’t not have you again. If you left, it would just be completely out of luck for me. I wouldn’t know what to do without you-”
Nick let out a loud and heartfelt laugh, gathering the attention of the few other people who had stumbled into the library and had long forgotten sitting in the worn out, black leather chairs that the school had purchased when it first opened. The people turned their attention back to whatever they were doing before allowing the couple back into their own little world where nothing but the other one mattered.
“Karl, if I didn’t love you with my entire being, I wouldn’t be sitting in a quiet, freezing, college library with you at 11:45 on a Sunday night to make sure that you got this paper turned in. I want nothing more than to have you in my life at every turn and to have stupid little fights with you because you won’t tell me what you want for Christmas or we can’t decided on if we want kids or not- or whatever other little things that there to fight about. I want it all and I want it all with you. I won’t leave. I have never been more sure of anything in my entire life.” Karl looked up with watery eyes, making the blue of them stand out even more in the dark room. “So I will ask again. For the final time, marry me?”
Karl looked at Sapnap who had pulled a small box out of the pocket of his jacket. When he opened it, there was a little black ring that would match everything he wore no matter what with a little red flame on it. When Karl had the chance to better examine it later, he would see that their initials had been carved onto the inside.
Karl nodded slightly, a single tear running down his cheek only slightly before Sapnap could wipe it away with his thumb before connecting their lips. “Jesus, you picked the time I needed to be analytical and focused to do this.” Karl said, laughing as he pulled away, wiping any remaining tears from around his eyes. Sapnap laughed and shrugged his shoulders, sliding the ring up Karl’s left handed ring finger.
“I have had that ring made since our Senior year of high school. I figured that it was time that you got to wear it.” He said, gently squeezing his lover's frozen hands, cold from when they were typing just 15 minutes ago. “Hurry up and write your paper. This place is freezing.” he said, resting his head against his lover’s shoulder who only laughed and nodded his head.
In conclusion, Karl wrote out properly. My partner just proposed to me and I am too happy to finish writing this depressing ass paper. So in conclusion, unlike Guy Montage, Romeo and Juliet, or whoever else listens to what people don't. I am going to have a great night with my fiancé, so this should be fine for now.
“So you will marry me though?”
“Jesus Christ, yes! I will marry you!”
------Bonus-----
Dear Mr. Jacobs,
Congratulations on your engagement. I must say that this was a much needed pick me up in the middle of grading my papers and this reminded me of my own husband at home. Thank you for reminding me what it is like to be young and in love.
Thank you,
Professor J. Schlatt
P.S. I will be gracious enough, due to your new proposal, to accept the conclusion of your paper by Friday. Have in me before I have to ruin a perfectly good paper. Enjoy your newly refreshed romance.