Because You Are Love (Karlnap)

Chapter 9 - That the universe is kind?

The sun had set about an hour ago at this point, the time nearing 8pm after entering the central standard time zone. Sapnap was still driving down the highway, his car on autopilot as he continued to skip through his playlist. He was regretting not adding more songs to it, already tired of his setlist.

Out of all the things that were weighing on Sapnap- the endless road ahead of him, knowing that Texas's border was only 30 miles away, the way his gas station snacks were no longer agreeing with him- the thing that was bothering him the most was that he still hadn't heard back from Karl.

It wasn't like Karl to go this long without answering, not to mention he hadn't even read Sapnap's message yet when it finally delivered a couple hours ago. In a small way, Sapnap was at least thankful for something to obsess over other than the fact he was only a couple hours from "home".

Dream's contact appeared over Sapnap's spotify, preventing him from skipping any more songs.

"Hey man." Sapnap sighed, putting the call on speaker and leaning back into his seat.

"You sound rough." Dream said bluntly. Sapnap scoffed, knowing that although Dream had no way of knowing it, it was true.

"You try driving for 12 hours and not feeling like-"

"20 hours in an old van! Up the east coast, that's a road-"

"Enough, enough! I get it, you know how I feel. I didn't say you didn't know, all I was saying is it makes you feel dead." Sapnap laughed, leaning forward and taking his car off autopilot. "And, hey- I haven't heard from you in five hours. So much for wanting to check in on me."

"Yeah, about that. I fell asleep." Dream laughed through a yawn, exposing that he really had been sleeping that whole time.

"Who even benefits from you and George being in sync? Neither of you are awake at normal hours anyway." Sapnap's laugh was cut short as the larger than life 'Welcome to Texas' sign came into view. Sapnap didn't even realize Dream had been talking until silence fell between them as he watched the sign approach until he inevitably passed it. He was officially in Texas.

"I'm guessing you just got into Texas, huh? I can feel the mood shift through the phone." Dream said in a much less joking tone now. Sapnap hummed in agreement, not seeing any point in denying his misery. "I don't know why you've been putting off going back, and I'm not going to ask, but it's just a week. One week and then you'll be driving back to the good ol' sunshine state."

"Yeah, just a week. I'll be fine, sorry for bringing down the mood." Sapnap apologized, focusing on the road ahead of him. It looked exactly the same as before he was in Texas, but just knowing he was there made his stomach churn.

"Don't worry about it. I'm surprised you're not on your nightly call with Karl. Or did you skip it since you're driving?" Dream asked, switching the topic. Again, it was Dream's desire to not talk about heavy topics, at least not for too long, that Sapnap was most thankful for.

"Shit. I completely forgot about it. He still hasn't texted me back from earlier, he must've forgotten too." Sapnap said in a somewhat disappointed tone. Now he knew something was definitely up with Karl. "Dream, I'm gonna let you go and-"

"Leave me for Karl. I'm hurt, not surprised, but hurt." Dream interrupted with a fake sniffle, pretending to cry.

"Save the dramatics for twitter. I'll talk to you later, man." Sapnap let out the last fake laugh he had in him before hanging up. He paused his music as soon as it started back up, pulling open Karl's contact.

With each passing ring, Sapnap could feel his heart sinking. Did he say something that upset Karl? Did Karl just have to go to Jimmy's and forgot to tell him? Oh god, did Karl get into some sort of acci-

"Hello?"

"Karl?"

"Uh, yeah. Hi. Can you hear me?" Karl answered tentatively. Sapnap wasn't positive, but for a split second it sounded like he could hear kids in the background. The laughter was replaced with an unfamiliar buzzing sound.

"Kind of- where are you?" Sapnap asked, unable to hold himself back. He would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't still curious about why Karl had stopped sharing his location with him.

"Uh, just, getting some fresh air is all. Where are you? Shouldn't you be home by now?" Karl answered. If the tentative tone Karl gave earlier wasn't confusing enough, he was beginning to sound even more nervous.

"Yeah, I'm, uh, just over an hour away. Nevermind that- are you okay? Why do you sound stressed?" Sapnap asked, deflecting the conversation away from himself. Talking to Karl was supposed to distract him from Texas, the last thing he wanted was to talk about it with Karl.

"No! I'm not- no, uh, I'm just tired is all. Long day, you know?" Karl responded with a very fake sounding chuckle. Sapnap wasn't sure what was wrong, but if Karl didn't want to talk about it, he wasn't going to push the subject.

"Oh, okay then. Uh, sorry I forgot to call at 8. I hope you didn't push off all your work because of me." Sapnap said sarcastically, trying to both change the subject and lighten the mood. He could feel the tension release from his shoulders once he heard Karl's genuine laugh through the phone.

"Ha- Well, let's just say I probably didn't get as much done as I should've." Karl laughed, sounding a bit more like himself. The smile was already returning to Sapnap's face, as he was picturing Karl probably laying in bed after doing absolutely no work.

"Well, I'm here now. Get out of bed and get over to your desk, chop-chop." Sapnap said with a laugh. Signs for cities that he unfortunately recognized were coming into view. Sapnap did his best to just look at the road, focusing on the call with Karl.

"I actually think I'll pass on doing work tonight. What if we just-" Karl paused, yawning. "Talk for a bit. You're almost here, right?" Karl asked. Sapnap let out a light laugh, recalling their texting conversation from earlier.

"I didn't actually drive north instead of west, you know. And since you're so snoopy, my GPS says I have about an hour and 40 minutes to go until I'm there." Signs for Houston, Texas read only 100 miles to go.

"Oh, yeah, that's what I meant to say. Guess I really am overly tired, huh?" Karl continued to let out small laughs through his words. "I just saw your text, tell me more about that Monster Ultra slushie machine and how it tasted." Karl's voice finally started to sound like he was relaxing into the conversation. Sapnap was still curious as to what had made Karl so nervous before, but again, he would never want to push Karl to have a conversation he wasn't comfortable with.

"Oh so now you wanna know? You didn't care like 8 hours ago when I texted you about it." Sapnap scoffed fondly, continuing before Karl could mistake him for being genuinely upset. "I didn't actually get it but I can imagine it tasted as weird as it looked."

The miles seemed like they were going by even more quickly now that Sapnap had Karl on the phone, keeping him company for the rest of his drive.

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(1,293 words) hi. im going to post a couple of chapters, keeping them more on the fluff side. i hope that some of you can find comfort and maybe some escapism in reading something lighthearted. give the people you love an extra hug today. rest in peace, techno. fuck cancer. 

i love you guys