Your Telephone Calls are my Favorite Place (Karlnap)

Eight

Karl pulled back into his driveway, snacking on the stray fries left in his fast food bag. 11:29pm. Karl regretted postponing editing his video, but his stomach was grateful to be fed.

As he fumbled with his keys at the door, juggling his phone, wallet, fast food garbage, and leftover soda, his phone began to ring. His normal ringtone blared loudly as he entered his house. Knowing it wasn't Sapnap, he allowed it to go to voicemail. 

He was interrupted in throwing away his trash by his phone ringing once again, this time deciding to check who it was.

Jimmy:     Answer          Decline

Knowing this was probably work related, Karl answered the phone, mustering up an enthusiastic, "Hello Mr. Beast!" Karl never knew if Jimmy was recording or not and he preferred friends called him Mr. Beast in videos for editing purposes. 

"Karl! We're live and I'm here with Chris who has chosen to call you in his time of need. He has $1,000 on the line. The question on the table is: What did Sapnap go to college for?"

Karl chuckled through the phone at the sheer stupidity of the question.

"Come on Karl, you're the biggest Sapnap simp I know! You have to answer this correctly for me!" Chris pleaded. 

Karl let out a somewhat shameful sigh, because he, in fact, did know the answer.

"He went to school for computer science. It was a community college back when he lived in Texas. I hope you get some extra cash for the bonus info!" Karl said, laughing at himself for having such pointless information locked away in his memory.

"THAT'S CORRECT! Thank you Karl for being Chris's phone a friend, see you next week buddy!" Jimmy yelled through the phone. Karl could hear Chris and the other team members cheering in the background. Karl also heard Chris yell a cheesy heartfelt thank you to him, professing how much he loved Karl. Karl enjoyed his time with the Mr. Beast team. They were all very affectionate people and he thrived off the physical touch and words of affirmation. 

Karl finished cleaning up his mess from his fast food and sat down on his couch, still not ready to begin editing his video. He decided his last act of productive procrastination before surrendering himself to editing would be taking a shower. Just walking up to the bathroom Karl found himself nervous, afraid of what powerful intrusive thought would enter his mind this time.

The night had become quite cold and Karl wanted to enjoy a steaming shower. He decided it would be best to rush and sing along loudly to his music, trying his best to not give his mind a moment to wander. 

He stepped out of the bath, towel wrapped around his waist with wet hair lingering on his neck, and stopped his music. Karl walked slowly to his room, knowing he had no more distractions from editing his video. He slipped on a fresh pair of sweatpants and looked longingly at Sapnap's shirt before throwing it in the dirty laundry pile. 

Instead, he opted to stay topless, his skin still steaming from his hot shower. He pulled up his desk chair and began editing his video. Not even thirty minutes into editing, feeling defeated, Karl laid his head down on his desk, unintentionally falling asleep.

Take me to your best friend's house, I loved you then and I love you-

Karl grabbed his phone and answered it, knowing Sapnap was on the other line.

"Hello.." Karl mumbled in his sleepy voice.

"Oh, sorry. Did I wake you?" Sapnap responded concerned.

"What time is it?" Karl asked ignoring Sapnap's question, too tired to lift his head to look at his computer or phone. 

"It's just after 3am." Sapnap said, a tinge of regret in his voice. Sapnap knew how messed up Karl's sleep schedule was, often pulling all-nighters to get his work done. It was an unspoken rule that if Karl was actually sleeping, no one should wake him up. 

Sitting up and getting reoriented with reality, Karl stretched his hands over his head and let out an audible yawn.

"I'm sorry, go back to sleep. I'll talk to you tomorrow." Sapnap said hurriedly. 

"No, it's okay. It's actually good that you called. I fell asleep while editing our stream and I really needed to get that done." Karl reassured Sapnap. He hoped Sapnap wouldn't feel guilty for waking him, he never wanted to make Sapnap do anything but smile.

Karl listened to Sapnap's voice as he began talking about the events of his day and how he was also currently editing a video. Karl wasn't listening too closely at the words Sapnap was saying, he was just enjoying the sound of his voice. Karl began to shiver and suddenly became aware of how cold he was. He never put on a shirt after his shower and he had turned the heater in his room off before his stream. Karl began to stand so he could put on a sweater. His wet hair, once warm from his shower, now felt like ice being poured over him.

"Karl, are you good?" Sapnap asked after hearing quiet shuddering and rustling around.

"I fell asleep at my desk after my shower without a shirt on, I'm freezing. I'm just getting dressed and putting my hair up, don't mind me." Karl assured Sapnap.

"You're going to get sick if you do that." Sapnap stated, a bit of worry woven into his words.

"Nah, nah, I'm fine don't worry about me!" Karl said with a forced smile to help his words sound more cheerful.

The two fell into a comfortable silence as Karl begin editing his stream again, trying to find where he left off.

"So, you're wearing your hair up again?" Sapnap asked quietly.

Karl debated on making a comment like 'only because you called me handsome with it up' but feared another tense late night conversation. Deciding to keep things light, Karl simply said, "yeah, keeps it out of my face, you know?"

There was a slight pause in Sapnap's response, giving Karl a bit of anxiety. He didn't think there could have been any flirtatious confusion in his response.

"I like being able to see your face, you should wear your hair up more often." Sapnap eventually responded, the loud sound of his keys clacking in the background. 

--------------------------------

(1,044 words)