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There’s an effortless form of communication between them.
It’s not uncommon for Karl to fall into exhaustion when he gets overstimulated. A lot of the time, when it gets too much, he’ll hide under his blankets and ignore any notifications that filter through his phone.
This time isn’t irregular from the others.
“Kar?” Dream’s head pokes through the crack of his door, smiling fondly at Karl’s face poking from the blankets. “You okay?”
Karl simply shakes his head, opening up his blankets as a silent invitation. Dream immediately understands, laying down under the blanket and wrapping his arms around Karl’s waist. “Do you need anything?”
Karl simply grabs Dream’s hands and rests them on his lower back, shaking his head. “I’m okay, I’m just tired. I want to lay down with you.”
“Did something bring this on?” Dream rests a hand in Karl’s hair, scratching his scalp gently. Karl buries his face into the side of Dream’s neck, humming in response.
“Just Twitter shit again. I’m just tired of going on Twitter to talk about my community and seeing how much people hate me. I don’t understand what I did, Clay.” Karl’s fingers wrap into the fabric of Dream’s hoodie, and it breaks him.
“Oh, honey…” Dream presses a kiss to his hair, sighing softly. “That’s just how Twitter’s going to be when you’re a content creator. It’s not fair and it never will be, but it’s what we have to deal with.” Suddenly, the blankets seem to get too hot, and the clothes on Karl’s body seem to stick to his skin.
Karl kicks the blankets off of him, and Dream takes it as his cue to move his arms from around him. Karl mumbles out quick apologies, pressing his back against the wall. “It’s just not fair. Why do we have to be subject to this stupid shit? I just want to make people happy with what I do. I never used to get all this.”
“I wish I could fix it, Kar. I wish I could make everybody love you as much as I do, but I really can’t. The only thing
to
do is ignore it, and I know that’s hard. What I did was ignore it - I made some mistakes and indulged, but it only made it all worse. Please, try to lay off of Twitter, okay? I don’t want it to be any more harmful than it already is.”
Karl nods, though the frown is still prominent on his face. “You seemed to deal with it all so effortlessly.” He brings his knees up to his chest, resting his head down with a sigh. “I just wish I could do that. This is all so stressful and I honestly just want to feel safe in my community again - is that too much to ask for?”
“I definitely didn’t take it well. I lashed out a lot at people, and I definitely wasn’t professional about it - I overreact very easily, and it backfires on me. I just learned to shut my mouth and defend myself when I know I need to.”
Karl nods in understanding, putting his arms out for Dream. “I didn’t mean to dump this all on you. I’m just a little overwhelmed and don’t know how to handle it. I just want to stream and not be scared of people watching my every move.” Dream wraps himself around Karl, thighs on either side of Karl, and presses a kiss to his temple.
“You’re handling it well, I promise. Not saying anything about it will prove to be okay in the long run. It’s different when it’s really important - but they’re just doing it to be dicks right now.” Dream runs his fingers through Karl’s hair, pressing gentle kisses to his face. “Stream if you want - it doesn’t matter what people think of you, I promise.”
Karl smiles, turning his head to press a chaste kiss on Dream’s lips. “Thank you, I really needed that today. It’s just been bothering me really bad since I woke up - it was quite literally what I woke up to.”
“Fuck Twitter, honestly. If it wasn’t a huge part of my job, then I would delete it in a heartbeat.” Karl laughs at that, burying his head into Dream’s shoulder. “Can’t we like, retire or something? Can we get cooler jobs?”
“Retire?! Dream, you’re 22, the only thing you’re retiring from is adolescence.”
“You are
so
mean to me! I’m no longer defending you on Twitter!”
“What?!” Karl frowns at him, playfully hitting his shoulder. “You’re such a jerk, I’m leaking your face reveal! I’m leaking it!” He grabs his phone, opening Twitter with a wide grin.
“Karl!” Dream goes to grab for his phone, though Karl grabs his hand to keep it away. “Don’t you dare!” Karl posts a photo and it dings through Dream’s phone. It isn’t Dream’s face, of course - it’s an old photo of the two of them that shows Karl pressed against Dream’s chest and shows none of Dream’s face.
“Karl.” Dream gives him a worried look, clicking the Twitter notification - though his anxiety immediately ceases. “You are such a nimrod, what the hell!”
Karl smiles, wrapping his limbs around Dream and bringing him close. “I love you, you idiot. I’ll get off after that, I just like that photo.” He laughs, pressing a kiss to Karl’s forehead.
“Whatever makes you happy, Kar.”