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1.
The first time it happens is after a party that Quackity hosted, creeping into the early hours. Karl definitely isn’t sober, but he isn’t high out of his mind either, buzzed just enough to be giggly. Gigglier than usual, at least. Sapnap, as far as Karl can tell, is stone cold sober - something about a test in the morning - and as he always is, he’s a gentleman.
“I can walk you home, it’s on my way,” he insists and Karl nods even though he knows that’s not true. “You shouldn’t be walking around like this. Come on, let me walk you.”
“Okay,” Karl replies, a warm blush reaching his cheeks when Quackity raises an eyebrow behind Sapnap’s back. He’s wearing the most shit-eating grin and Karl feels his skin burning, the sensation twisted and amplified by the drugs running their course. “Thank you. Uh, let’s go!”
He drags Sapnap out of the door and away from their friends’ teasing gazes, out from the cozy apartment and the long hallways and into the brisk night air. The sky is inky and deep, the clouds seeming to swirl, and he stops dead in the middle of the road to stare up at the blackness.
“Karl,” Sapnap says, amused and exasperated in turn, and Karl waves his hands up towards the endless void. There’s not a star in sight and somehow that makes everything all the more beautiful. The sky goes on forever. He feels like he’s drowning.
“Look at it!” Karl insists through a laugh and he hears the scrape of sneakers against concrete as Sapnap walks to his side. He pulls his gaze down to meet his friend’s, heart stuttering at the sight of charcoal dark eyes. Sapnap’s gaze is warm and it glitters in the street lamps and Karl exhales. “Oh, that’s where the stars are.”
Maybe he’s higher than he thinks because he can’t explain the way that Sapnap goes bright red and splutters out a laugh-filled, “what?”
“Your eyes, they have all the stars in them,” Karl informs him, all cheer and bright smiles, and Sapnap just flushes deeper and shoves his jacket into Karl’s arms.
“You’re going to freeze out here. Come on, get moving,” he says, physically pushing Karl until he hits the sidewalk and starts bounding down the street again.
Karl only lives a few streets away from Quackity, a mere ten-minute walk, and he wishes it was forty. He doesn’t remember the rest of the walk besides Sapnap’s hand on his back, nudging him whenever he took too long to stride down another block. The weight on his back is just as warm as Sapnap’s grins or his voice or the way Karl feels when they meet eyes. He looks up at the expansive night overhead again and suddenly, it’s an empty canvas, an unfinished symphony that holds nothing compared to the majesty in Sapnap’s gaze.
When he wakes up in the morning, he’s still wearing his friend’s jacket, nose buried in the collar. It smells like campfires and Karl’s favorite scented candle. He leaves it in his bed after that.
2.
The next time Sapnap walks Karl home, he can’t remember it, too drunk or high or crossed. He just knows he wakes up to a text from Sapnap saying he got home safe as well, his phone dying while Karl is curled up on top of his blankets. Sapnap’s hoodie is gone and there’s water on the nightstand, so he must have invited Sapnap in. He sends Sapnap a ‘thank you!’ text and vows to stay sober at the next get-together.
3.
Karl is not sober, but he’s much less drunk than Sapnap is, so he’s taking that as a victory. Sapnap isn’t quite swaying but he is staring out the window like the darkness holds all of the secrets of the universe and when Karl places his hand on his shoulder, he jumps like a cat confronted with a snake.
“Do you want me to walk you home this time?” Karl asks and Sapnap stares for a moment before giggling and nodding.
“You have a nice smile,” Sapnap says and Karl huffs a laugh, steering him out of Punz’s apartment. He ignores the catcall of a goodbye called after them, wrapping an arm around Sapnap’s waist as they walk down the hallway. He slumps into Karl’s side, warm and heavy, and Karl’s heart stutters in his chest.
The elevator smells loud and creeps slowly and Karl crinkles his nose as the doors close, reaching into his pocket. He pulls out his cologne, spritzing it into the air, and Sapnap leans against the wall to watch as he does a small circuit of the enclosed place. Karl isn’t sure that the thick scent of sweet oranges and grapefruit is any better than weed, but Sapnap is grinning and sniffing the air, so he caps the can and considers it a success.
“You smell good,” Sapnap murmurs and Karl feels his blood run warm as he nudges their shoulders together. Without a thought behind his eyes, he presses his face into Karl’s neck, inhaling slowly, and a shiver runs down Karl’s spine. “You always smell nice. I like it.”
“You can borrow my deodorant if you want,” he offers and Sapnap shakes his head.
“No, I want you,” he grumbles and Karl is pretty sure he’s on fire at that point.
Sapnap ends up with Karl’s hoodie that time, tucked neatly into bed. Sapnap wears it religiously and Karl never asks for it back.
4.
Neither of them are under this influence this time, which is good because they’re sitting together outside of their university and people-watching. For once, Sapnap seems more fidgety than Karl, playing with his hoodie strings while Karl slumps back against their bench. He ties them into a bow, then unties them, then forms a bow again. He’s halfway through a poor square knot when Tubbo and Ranboo come running by, calling hellos, and Sapnap jerks up to wave eagerly.
“You can go do something else if you want,” Karl says and Sapnap throws him a confused look. He’s untying his hoodie strings again. Karl wishes he was wearing his hoodie again, Sapnap wore it yesterday and Karl felt like he was to pass out when he noticed. “You seem bored.”
“A little bit,” Sapnap admits, “but I want to spend time with you.”
“Well, I can walk you back to your apartment,” Karl says and Sapnap smiles just a little bit. “We do always seem to be doing that.”
“Yeah, it’s annoying. I mean, like,” Sapnap fumbles, sitting up straighter. “It’s not annoying to walk you home. I just always wish I could stay.”
Karl blinks, processing, and Sapnap turns a bright red and looks away. Karl processes for another moment. Sapnap opens his mouth to speak again.
Karl blurts out, “we should move in together then! Then, then you can walk me home and we’ll still get to be together and… and yeah.”
Maybe the ending is lame but Sapnap breaks out into that wide smile that makes Karl’s head fuzzy and his heart grow tight. Karl grins back, just as sunnily.
5.
The first time Sapnap walks Karl home after they get a new apartment, a few months and two apartment leases later, they’re both tipsy and giggling like little kids. It’s almost 4 am and Dream finally lets them walk home after sobering up. By the time they reach their door, Karl feels both fine and incredibly drunk. He’s pretty sure that he’s just dizzy off of the sweet smiles Sapnap keeps throwing him. They make him feel higher than any drug.
“You know,” Sapnap says as he fumbles with their keys. Karl leans against the wall, watching his hands as they struggle to work. “Every time I walked you home, I was like- you know?”
“I don’t know,” Karl teases, and Sapnap huffs.
“I was always thinking about if I should kiss you or not,” he says and Karl’s heart starts pounding in his chest.
He darts his eyes up to Sapnap’s face and he’s looking back at him, flushed with a dopey grin. Karl lowers his gaze to his lips, pink and rounded, and he licks his own before he replies. “Well, you know, I wouldn’t have said no if you asked.”
“Would you say no now?”
Karl just rolls his eyes, grabs his hands to stop the fidgeting of keys, and kisses him.
After that, they end up falling asleep at 5 am, curled up in the same bed. Sapnap is wearing Karl’s hoodie again. Karl steals Sapnap’s in return.