yo ????? fake dating karlnap au ???????????
unrelated i wanna kiss awesamdude so badly brrbrbrrr he is underrated brrrbrrrrbrbrr
fic title from ;; pools - glass animals
cw/tw ;; BRRBRBR mild homophobia from tha chat
pairing ;; karlnap [karl jacobs + nick/sapnap]
prompt ;; nick accidentally drags karl into a fake dating au, but they don't mind.
final word count ;; 1.7k
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it's supposed to be a chill stream with nick and sam, hanging on the smp and doing what they do best (in this case, it's being absolute morons), but of course, someone has to ruin it.
karl cackles hysterically when nick hops onto the crafting table in front of sam, covering his face in his hands so chat doesn't call him out for blushing. it's one of the things his viewers love to point out and clip, when his face flushes, sharing it in twitter fancams and posting it on tiktok for everyone to simp over. he doesn't mind it, of course, he just gets embarrassed by the compliments and the amount of images that are out on the internet.
"well," sam says, snapping karl from his black hole of a brain, "i guess i should be going now. it's sleepy time for me, and i gotta call my mom before i pass out."
"we'll see ya later, sam!" nick grins, and karl waves before sam leaves the game and disconnects from the discord call. nick's character turns to him in game, and karl chuckles, stepping back. "guess it's just me and you now, karlos,"
"no, don't make this weird-"
"get on the crafting table, karl." karl's face is red, so red, and he's sure sapnap can tell, because his chat certainly has. maybe he should just stop doing facecam streams. nonetheless, he complies with the request, hoisting himself onto the crafting table with ease, though he instantly backs off as soon as nick stands in front of him.
the familiar chime of nick's donation sound goes off, and karl stops talking, waiting for the dono to loud up so nick can read it.
"let me take you on a date and i'll show you a good tim-" nick cuts himself off, coughing into his sleeve, and karl can tell he's getting uncomfortable. to be honest, if he got a donation like that, it'd make him uncomfortable too, so he doesn't blame him. on top of that, he's sure the person who'd sent the donation is young, younger than nick, which just makes it all the more sickening.
"sorry for the person who donated this, i don't think," nick pauses and karl swallows thickly, wondering if he's going to come out and just say that he's uncomfortable, but what he says next makes karl freeze in his seat and the blood rush to his cheeks, his heart stuttering against his chest. "i don't think karl would be ok with that, y'know,"
the chat explodes.
emilywastakcn: DOES THIS MEAN
isathebest: KARLNAP CONFIRMED POG????
jazz_: WHAHHBTHBEBRBBRT this is poggers
tubbox: wOwh....... karl u say,,,,,,,
kyLe69: yallre gay? im unfollowing wtf. thats gross
despite all the good comments, that one makes karl look away from the chat. the mods delete the comment a brief moment after, but it's seared into his head, and he's sure there's more to come. twitter homophobes and dms on instagram and stan accounts being blatantly bigoted because they're in a 'relationship'.
nick's moderators turn the chat to emote only. karl laughs awkwardly and cards a hand through his hair, deciding to play along for now. they'll deal with it after the stream. "yeah, i don't appreciate you guys hitting on my bo- boyfriend." his voice catches, the words clogging in his throat, but no one seems to notice, much less care. nick laughs, but it's strained, and exactly eight minutes later, they both end their stream respective streams. karl sighs in relief, swiping a hand over his face.
"karl."
"nick."
"i didn't mean to- to put you on the spot like that." nick's voice sounds thick with emotion, like he's on the verge of crying, and all of a sudden karl wants to cry, too.
"nick, i- if it makes them stop, i'm happy to go along with it, y'know. i don't really care." he tells him, swiping a hand across his face, cheeks red. he's tired, sure, but they need to talk about it. he knows they do.
nick gives a watery chuckle, shifting audibly in his seat. "like one of those fake dating fanfictions?" he jokes, and karl giggles, nodding although he knows nick can't see him. "taking that as a yes and moving on - d'you wanna, like.. come up with a backstory? or something?"
"yeah, sure!" karl shifts forwards, closing out of twitch and leaning back in his gaming chair. "can we.. take a little break from streaming? not for too long, but.. it'll be stressful."
nick breathes out in relief. "i was gunna say. i don't wanna stream anytime soon, but i'm happy to just talk to you if you want, y'know. i feel like it's going to be too overwhelming to stream soon, for me and for you, so,"
karl's face flushes again. he bites back a dopey smile and covers his mouth with his hand; it's like nick is purposely trying to make heat rush to his cheeks and surprised, happy giggles slip from his mouth like warm honey, sticky and sweet.
they talk for hours and hours on end, coming up with a basic plot for their "romance" (though nick spends most of that time flirting with karl, since now they need to "be more believable, sell the fact that we're a couple,"), but he's satisfied with it nonetheless, shifting once more in his gaming chair. karl briefly makes the mistake of turning on his phone to check the time, and, feeling overwhelmed at the twitter notifications that flood his screen, turns his phone off and slides it away from him.
"sapnap," he calls, voice strained, to which an affirmative hum is received, "would you mind just.. talking to me for a while? i know it sounds odd, but i'm not really feeling like talking and i wanna stay on call with you."
"oh- of course, man! anything in specifics or just ramble?" karl hums softly in response, shrugging, and even though nick can't see him, he gets the jist. "alright, bet."
and when nick starts talking, karl's racing mind calms, and everything seems as if it'll be alright in the end.
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the terminal is colder than he realises, leaving goosebumps across pale skin and a chill running through his spine as he obtains his suitcase from the baggage claim. he pays no attention to it, however, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet and looking around for familiar chestnut hair and the stupid headband he always wears, the black dream hoodie he promised he'd wear so karl can easily find him and that beautiful smile karl's fallen in love with.
he remembers the day nick made him promise something stupid, something that failed so incredibly soon within their endeavour. he laughs softly at the memory, nick's sweet, sugary voice playing on loop in his head.
maybe he's in deeper than he'd initially thought, to be honest.
"one rule about this fake dating thing," nick says, his tone jovial, "is that you just can't fall in love with me, got it?" karl simply laughs and brushes it off, promising that he wouldn't, that he can't, and nick cackles. "better not, karlos!"
well, that didn't go so well, did it? karl broke that promise within a month. i mean, how could he not fall in love with nick? nick, with his sweet voice and pretty eyes, his sense of humour and the way he loves calling karl petnames, his acceptance to pretty much anything and everything, how he's always there for karl, at any time. it's impossible to not break the promise, and even if he wanted to not fall in love, it would've happened either way.
karl has accepted it at this point; he's balls deep in love with nick.
karl sits down in one of the chairs, knees bouncing up and down, heel colliding with the smooth floor of the airport as he waits. he's tired of standing up, tired and jetlagged and his phone is almost dead, so it's not like he can listen to music or watch youtube, so he's also bored.
his head drops against his chest, and he snorts and sits up straight, shaking away the sleepy haze that clouds his mind. he's supposed to be looking out for nick, not falling asleep whilst doing so. he yawns, covering his mouth, eyelids fluttering, and once he's done, nick is staring down at him with a warm, beaming smile, hair tousled and held back, their hoodies matching, and karl's heart skips a beat.
"hey, angel," nick says, and karl stops breathing momentarily. he looks up at nick with stars in his eyes and his heart in his lungs, chest rising and falling heavily as he struggles to reel himself in from the surprise of an unexpected petname. he stands up and chuckles softly, wrapping his arms around nick with an excited laugh. "you're here, karl!"
"i am here," karl grins, ruffling the shorter's hair, "of fucking course i'm here, nick, wouldn't miss this for the world."
even though, at the end of the day, their relationship is fake, karl feels like it's real. nick makes him feel like it's real. when nick leans up to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth, when he reaches over to pull karl closer, to thread their fingers together, when he looks up with that seraphic smile that karl has fallen so hard for, he thinks maybe, just maybe, there's a chance nick loves him back.
and he's content to smile down at the alluring, enthralling man beside him as they walk, the notion that nick loves him enough to keep him content and untroubled for now, and until the rest of time.