Burning Love | Sapnap x Karl Jacobs (Demon AU)

Cooling Coffee

I'm Karl Jacobs, an ordinary 22-year-old man, living in a one-bedroom apartment in NYC and working in a generic office for a generic big company. I lead a simple life. And part of that simple life was my afternoon snack break at my favorite coffee shop in the whole city. 

I walked into the cafe like any other Thursday afternoon, and the barista on deck recognized me as a regular, "Hey Karl! Your usual?"

"Yessir!" I said happily. I knew this barista too. She had started working here three months ago, her name was Niki and she was studying political science. 

"Of course!" Niki said, ringing up my order. I paid, and Niki gave me the receipt and started my order. 

I took another look around the room. It was almost empty, aside from three people. Two of them were regular customers like me, but the third that had just walked in caught my attention. 

I had never seen this man before. He was a few inches taller than myself, quite muscular, and had wavy black hair held back by a white headband. (yes I know Karl is taller irl but just roll with it) He was wearing black jeans and a white shirt with an image of a flame on it. He was currently waiting for Niki to come back and take his order. 

Normally, a new customer would be nothing out of the ordinary. But...this time, I was intrigued. It could be because of the way the man held himself, or how his gaze swept around the room with such intent. Or maybe he was just drop-dead gorgeous. 

"Hello, how can I help you?" Niki said, addressing the man.

"Uh...some coffee please. Black," the man said. 

Niki pressed some buttons on the cash register. "That'll be $2.50. Could I have a name for the order, please?" she asked. 

"Sa--uh, Nick," the man said, handing her a five-dollar bill. 

"Okay, coming right up!" Niki said, giving Nick his change. 

I continued to steal glances at this man--Nick--when he wasn't looking. Something about him just prevented me from taking my eyes off him. Once or twice, there might have been a time when Nick looked in my direction, in which case I would quickly avert my eyes to some of the minimalistic artwork on the walls. I hoped Nick hadn't caught on. 

"Karl?" Niki's voice disrupted my thoughts. She had my coffee and scone ready. 

"Thanks, Niki!" I said, taking my order from her and grabbing a straw for my frappuccino. 

I sat down in my usual spot: A small table right next to the window. I took the scone out of the package and continued to sneak glances at Nick. 

Soon, Niki called his name, and Nick came to get his order. It was a simple cardboard cup with black coffee in it, wisps of steam rising from it. I had expected Nick to get a little cardboard jacket for his coffee to protect his hands, but he didn't. He simply picked up the cup with his bare hands and immediately took a sip. 

I knew that this place always served their hot coffee hot. It was nearly impossible to drink it straight away without burning your tongue. And here Nick was, downing a sizeable sip without so much as flinching. Well, I guess it isn't that strange, I thought. 

Then I saw Nick walking towards him. I internally panicked and looked into the swirling vortex of brown liquid known as coffee. I heard a chair squeaking on the floor. 

I looked up. Nick was sitting down right in front of me. 

"H-hi," I said to him. 

"Hello," Nick said, "Your name is Karl, right?"

"Y-yes," I said, remembering that Niki had said his name and it wasn't strange that Nick knew it, "You're Nick, right?"

"Mhm," Nick said, "Nice to meet you."

"You too."

Silence. I took a bite of the scone while Nick took another sip of his scalding hot coffee. 

"So," Nick began, "What do you do for a living?"

"Oh, I work in analytics. For a merchandizing company," I said, "What about you?"

"Acting."

"Oh! Have I seen you in anything?" I asked, trying to rack my brain for Nick's face. 

"N-no, I haven't been getting anything. Maybe a community play here and there, but nothing substantial," Nick said. 

"Ah. I've heard the industry's been tough lately," I said, trying to find an in for a conversation. 

"Yeah," Nick said. Both of us went quiet as the awkwardness set in. Nick took another sip of his boiling hot coffee.

I asked what I had been wondering about, "Isn't that coffee really hot?"

"Yeah, I'm glad they serve it that way," Nick said. 

"No, I mean isn't it burning your tongue off?"

Nick licked his lips, "Not really?"

"It usually takes a few minutes for it to cool off enough to drink it."

"Oh. I guess I just have a high tolerance for heat?" Nick guessed. 

"I guess so," I conceded. 

"So, uh, what do you do for fun?" Nick asked. 

"I play tennis. And video games. I play a lot of video games."

"Sounds fun."

"What about you?"

"Oh, I uh...play football sometimes. But usually I just hang around with friends."

"Football like American football, or like soccer?"

"American football. Sometimes we don't follow the rules though. We kinda just mess around and have fun."

"That's the best way to play sports," I agreed, "I've played a lot of tennis with weird rules. Like King of the Court, Around the World, you know, that kind of stuff." 

I continued talking about tennis, and Nick listened to me intently, occasionally explaining some of the variant rules for the football games he plays with his friends. 

In the middle of a sentence, I heard the sound of my phone's alarm going off. 

"W-what's that?" Nick asked. 

"Oh, that's my alarm. I gotta go back to work," I said. 

"Oh," Nick sounded disappointed. 

"C-can I have your number? So we can maybe meet again sometime?" I timidly asked. 

"Ohh...I...uhh...just got a new phone. So I don't quite remember my number. And I don't have it on me," Nick said. 

"I'll just write mine on a napkin," I offered, taking a pen out of my messenger bag and scribbling my number onto a nearby napkin, then sliding it across the table to Nick. 

"Well, text me!" I said, waving goodbye and walking out the door of the cafe. 

"Bye!" Nick said, waving as well.  

I made my way back to the office building, which was only two blocks away. I had excitement in my stride, more than most days. I felt happy. I was confident that Nick would text me back soon. 

I had been wanting to get into a relationship for a while now; I just hadn't found the right person yet. But Nick seemed perfect, with the way they got along. 

Almost too good to be true. 

Hello! Welcome to my newest story! I'm Vine, and I have a shit upload schedule but I pride myself with writing high-quality stories. Karlnap is one of my favorite DSMP ships so I wanted to write about it. I highly appreciate feedback and comments from readers, so let me know what you all think! I do try to read most of the comments. 

If you like this story, check out my others! Have a great day/night. 

Word count: 1231