youth ❀ karlnap

that's your son

cw: deadnaming, transphobia

stay safe

❀ ❀ ❀

Things went up from there. The friend group woke up late the next morning to plates full of pancakes, and one-by-one they all slowly started to send their parents texts to let them know they were ready to come back home. Karl hesitated on his for a while, but he eventually sent his message, and his mom quickly responded by saying she was already on her way. Even though he was still sitting in the midst of it, he was already missing this. He missed seeing his friends all around him on the couch while Tommy and Tubbo played Minecraft on their phones in the middle of the floor. He missed his friends' laughing and cheering as midnight struck, he missed his hands on Sapnap's face and his lips against his own. He knew he wouldn't have that for a while now, but that was okay. As long as they still talked on the daily, he'd be fine.

By the time Karl's mom got here, Quackity had already left. His dad hadn't said much at all, just seemed to walk in and walk out. Quackity was suddenly sheepish and shy, laughing at awkward parts, and just giving everyone a wave as he left. Karl remembered him talking about his family quite differently than the rest of the friend group, and apparently they were halfway there to being like Karl's mother. But he said he wouldn't know anyway, because he was cisgender and straight, so his parents never had a reason to be mad at him about sexuality and gender identity. He had mentioned once that if he was anything but cis and straight, that they could've ended up being like Karl's mom. Ouch. At least he dodged a bullet there.

But Karl knew him closer than the others did, and he knew of the other types of struggles he carried with him since he was Mexican and his family moved here a few years ago. He was told that his accent used to make him a target and he'd often get harassed and bullied by people in the school. Although Quackity mostly liked to release his pain in the form of jokes, Karl was the one person he said he could be vulnerable with and feel safe about it, because they both lived among a system that worked against them, although in different ways. They mutually knew that in some aspects, Karl had a foot above Quackity, and in others, Quackity had a foot above Karl, so they often just sat together alone and shared the experiences the other could never fathom. Karl liked hearing a new perspective, and he used the knowledge to swear to be a better person than all of the people that made his friend feel bad.

He literally had a physical smile on his face as he thought about his very close friend, but the knock at the door drew him to reality. Wilbur had simply gotten up from his seat and opened it, and the room almost seemed dead silent as Karl's mom walked in.

He swallowed hard in his throat. Literally everyone here except for the young kids knew about her and how she treated Karl. He hoped they weren't giving her death stares.

"Hi," She looked over at Karl, beaming, and then proceeded to call him by his birth name.

In front of everyone.

Karl's jaw dropped, his heart thumping rapidly in his chest. He glanced over at Sapnap, feeling like he could just get teary-eyed. He saw some of his friends stiffen up. Even George looked like he was about to snap at her.

"Hey," Karl awkwardly got up, and pulled his backpack with his things in it over his shoulder. He didn't even try to make eye contact with her, because at this point it was disturbing. He couldn't believe she was doing this. Well, he could believe it, but it felt like his whole world was crashing down.

No one here except for Quackity and Sapnap knew that part of him. And now they all did.

"Oh wow, and these are all of your friends, too! Hi," His mom went to wave at all of them, seeming oddly cheerful after what she had just done. She looked to Wilbur last, who was still awkwardly standing at the door after she walked in. "Nice to meet you... ah?"