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Punz wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to seeing Karl in person. There was just something about it; the bright smile, the sparkling eyes, the way his hair tumbled over his forehead. When he got excited and bounced on his heels, he seemed to brighten the entire room. His giggles were adorable and his full laugh made Punz’s heart skip a beat in his chest. His voice was cute even when he was taunting Punz, trying to rile him up. It was something Karl always did, but he was pretty sure it was worse this time, Karl needling him with jabs and smirks whenever his attention strayed to Foolish or Sapnap for a few minutes too long.
It should’ve been infuriating. Should have been, but Punz found it hard to stay annoyed at Karl.
“Wait, Punz, I wanted to show you something before you went to bed,” Karl said, grabbing his arm as he was standing up from the couch. He blinked down at Karl, confused as the other shot a pointed look Foolish and Sapnap. It was getting late and all of them were down a couple of drinks, the alcohol affecting Karl and Sapnap more than it did Punz. Sapnap couldn’t stop giggling, clinging to Karl for most of the night in their usual cuddly manner. Foolish was more put together but still a little glassy in the eyes, laughing even more freely than he already did while sober.
Karl was… Karl, the only real signs of his inebriated state being the red flush in his cheeks and his increasing lack of volume control. If Punz wasn’t so close to him, he might not have even realized Karl was tipsy.
“Just me?” Punz asked, glancing back at their friends. Foolish grinned a little too knowingly and Sapnap started pushing him out of the living room, biting down his own smile. Punz just watched, a creeping sense of something filling his chest. He wasn’t an anxious person by nature but he was pretty sure he was nervous at the moment, nervous and excited and something. Maybe the alcohol running through his system made him twitchy.
“Yeah, come on, it’s in my office,” Karl said, grabbing him by the hand and pulling him down the hall. Punz heard the slightest sound of his best friends gossiping before the door swung shut behind them, leaving them in the darkened setup of Karl’s streaming office. It was only illuminated by the strip of LEDs behind his computer but his friend just walked through the room without bothering to flick on the lights, beelining for his desk. Punz followed at a slower pace.
Compared to the rest of Karl’s home, Punz felt the most at ease in his office, probably for the embarrassing reason that it was relatively barren. He had his fancy lights and cameras, his computer that Dream and Sapnap desperately wanted to update, and the noise paneling on his wall. There were two plastic replica swords resting against the wall, a keyblade from Kingdom Hearts and one that Punz didn’t recognized (he barely knew the keyblade, really, that reference was just crammed down his throat by Karl and Sapnap). A single squat end table sat underneath the noise cancelling panels and then Karl’s office chair sat askew in the center of the room, the wheels tangled in the bristles of the dark rug underneath it. The curtain that sectioned off the room was drawn to the side and Punz walked over to it, feeling the fabric while Karl looked around his desk.
“Don’t touch that, it’s a sensory nightmare,” Karl said without even glancing back and Punz huffed, rubbing his thumb over the rough cloth. It was thick, clearly a blackout curtain of some kind, and the texture was almost itchy under the pad of his finger. He didn’t really mind it though, letting it catch against his skin as he rubbed his thumb along it again.
“I like it,” he said and Karl scoffed.
“You’re insane for that one but I like you anyways.” Karl searched for another moment and Punz drifted closer, looking over his desk.
It was cluttered, covered in Monster cans and toys and what Punz was pretty sure was no less than three butterfly knives. He picked one up, flicking it open, and was relieved to see the training blade inside. Even if he was practicing, Punz didn’t particularly trust his friend with sharp objects. Karl let out a delighted hum and Punz looked back at him with a raised eyebrow as he scooped up a thin chain. Karl grabbed at him with one hand and Punz offered forward his left, letting his friend pull him closer as he dropped the knife. His grip was careful but firm, not the delicate touch Punz associated with him, but he couldn’t help but like it. It fit Karl more than his own imagination.
“I thought you’d look really nice in this bracelet,” Karl explained, letting go of Punz’s hand so that he could undo the clasp. He kept his hand aloft, missing the warmth of his touch after only a few seconds without it. It returned soon enough in fleeting glances, his skin tingling where Karl’s hands brushed against it as he pulled the bracelet around Punz’s wrist and fumbled to close it again. He stared down at his arm as if it wasn’t his own body, watching as Karl pushed back his sweatshirt sleeve and took his wrist in his hand, turning the bracelet so the clasp was out of sight. Karl didn’t pull his hand away after that, just admiring his own handiwork, and Punz peeked up through his eyelashes at his friend.
In the shadows of the recording room, only half of Karl’s face was illuminated, white lights cast across the soft curve of his cheek and sparkling in his eyes. His lips looked plump, almost wet as if he was wearing lip gloss, and he said something that Punz didn’t catch, too distracted by the way they moved. His eyelashes were dark against his pale skin, throwing gentle shadows across his sparse freckles, and when he looked back up, Punz felt like he couldn’t breathe.
“Huh?” he asked and Karl grinned, eyes crinkling in the corners. The LEDs deepened the shadows and Karl looked as if he was carved from marble. If it wasn’t for the warmth of his hand against Punz’s wrist, he almost could have thought that Karl was a statue, too beautiful to be anything but a piece of art.
“I said, do you like it?” Karl repeated himself, tapping against the bracelet to remind him of what they were talking about. “You can borrow it for the next few days if you want to.”
“I…” really wanna kiss you. “Yeah, yeah, I like it. Thank you.”
“You haven’t even looked at it,” he teased and Punz blushed, dropping his eyes back to his wrist with a frown.
It did look nice, glinting even in the low lighting of the room. Karl didn’t wear bracelets very often, favoring long sleeves and rings, but Punz recognized it as one he had worn before. It was a flowing chain of gold, almost woven together, and Punz turned his hand to watch how the shadows danced along it. Karl slid his hand up to lace their fingers together, the cool metal of his rings biting into Punz’s skin, and he smiled at the familiar feeling. He murmured, voice scratchy in his throat, “it’s really pretty. Thank you, Karl.”
Karl shifted in surprise, subtle enough that Punz wouldn’t have noticed if they weren’t so close together, and when he looked up at him, his eyes were wide. Punz tilted his head and Karl let out a nervous giggle, shaking his own dismissively.
“God, don’t talk all low like that, I’ll start swooning,” Karl said and Punz could tell from his tone that he was only half-joking. He was sure that if they weren’t in darkness, he would be able to see him blushing.
“Sorry, baby.” Punz winked and Karl jerked away with a louder laugh, whirling around to get some space. Punz smirked, leaning against Karl’s desk and watching in amusement as Karl grabbed his keyblade and started swinging it in frantic movements. He cleared his throat and in a normal voice, asked, “are you good, dude?”
“You are so- you-“ Karl tossed his keyblade to the side and covered his face with both hands, screaming into his palms. Punz startled, letting out a laugh before he could suppress the sound, and Karl dropped his hands. “I said don’t be hot and then you called me baby?! Fuck off, dude.”
“I was just teasing, don’t flip,” Punz replied, biting his lower lip to fight down another laugh, and Karl groaned. He picked up his keyblade, propping it back up against the wall with a pout, and Punz rolled his eyes. “Don’t be such a baby and maybe I won’t call you one.”
“Oh, so it was an insult and not a pet name?”
“I don’t see why it can’t be both.”
Karl turned slowly back to him, still wearing that pout that made his lips look even prettier than they already did, and Punz opened up one arm. Karl slouched over, collapsing into Punz’s chest, and he pulled him in for a cozy hug with a grin. He buried his face into Punz’s sweatshirt, muttering something into the soft fabric, and Punz rubbed his thumb in circles against the back of his shoulder.
“What was that?” Punz asked and Karl said the same thing again, still muffled by the sweatshirt. “You’re gonna have to stop talking directly into my chest for me to hear you.”
Karl pulled back with a huff and Punz’s throat tightened when he realized they were only a couple of inches apart. He could make out the subtleties of his face this close up, the soft peach fuzz on his cheeks and the stray hairs of his neat eyebrows and the subdued lines on his lower lip. The light danced across them as he spoke again, “I wish you weren’t kidding.”
Punz’s brain stuttered with that same queasy feeling he had earlier in his stomach, anxious and excited and what? “What?”
“You need to get your ears checked,” Karl said, an unsure look flitting across his face before he covered it with an easy grin. He started pulling away and Punz tightened his grip, holding him in place. “Punz?”
“I wasn’t- Well I was- Hm.” Punz clicked his tongue, taking a slow breath to stop the stumble of his words. It was hard to focus when Karl’s face was so close to his own. He closed his eyes. “I was kidding, but I don’t have to be. If you’re interested, I mean.”
He was pretty sure there was no way to misinterpret I wish you weren’t kidding, but the long silence he was getting in response was questioning that. Maybe he was more intoxicated than he thought. His grip on Karl loosened, hands retreating, when there were suddenly lips crashing against his own. Rings pressed against his cheeks as Karl grabbed his face, making him jolt before melting into the embrace. His hands fell down to his friend’s waist, digging his fingers into the bunched up fabric of his oversized button-up, and Karl pulled back with a gasp.
“Huh,” Karl said, blinking, and Punz snorted.
“I kiss you and your only response is huh?”
“Actually, I kissed y- mmph.” Karl’s hands slid down to Punz’s shoulder as Punz kissed him again, returning it with a happy hum. After a moment, he pushed him back by the chest, frowning. “You can’t just kiss me in the middle of a sentence, that’s like, misogynistic.”
“I’m misogynistic for kissing a man in the middle of his sentence?” Punz asked, his flat tone not matching a large grin he wore, and Karl rolled his eyes.
“I think it’s more that trope in general-” Karl’s hand snapped over and covered Punz’s mouth before he could lean in again. “Stop that!”
Muffled, Punz replied, “but you’re so pretty.”
“And you’re so annoying.” Karl grinned and shook his head, a subtly flustered look that made Punz’s heart trip over itself. Karl’s free hand landed on his wrist, tucking his thumb underneath the chain bracelet. “And also pretty. You’re also pretty.”
“Thanks.” His face was warm and his skin was electric where Karl’s fingers touched it. “Do you, um, wanna go on a date sometime?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he wanted to kick himself. Karl’s face twitched as if he was trying very hard not to laugh. “No, I’m just kissing you because I wanna fuck with you, obviously. Yes, Punz, I’d love to go on a date with you.”
“No need to be a bitch about it, baby.” Punz jutted out his lower lip and Karl rolled his eyes. In the darkness of the streaming room, he was more beautiful than ever, and Punz brought their lips together again.