𝕊𝕦𝕘𝕒𝕣 ℍ𝕚𝕘𝕙 • 𝕂𝕒𝕣𝕝ℕ𝕒𝕡

Chapter 16: Almond Joys + Any Askers

Nick took the hoodie with a warm smile. He'd missed the soft garment. Karl continued to dig through the drawer of sweatpants. He quietly muttered an 'aha' before walking up to Nick. He held the baggy sweats up to the older boys waist.

"These should fit you," Karl gave him a closed eye smile.

Nick nodded and thanked the boy as his hands found their way to the bottom of his shirt. Without much thought he started to pull off the now only half drenched shirt. Karl slapped a hand over his mouth and squeezed his eyes shut, turning away from what he could only assume was a toned core from years of morning routine sports workouts. Nick stared in confusion, his torso half exposed, then it struck him. Karl was not an athlete. Karl wasn't used to people just changing in front of him.

"Oh my god I am so sorry!" Nick profusely apologized dropping the wet shirt. "I'm just so used to changing in front of people in the locker room. I am so sorry Karl," Nick hovered an apologetic hand over Karl's shoulder.

"N-no it's okay! Its okay!" Karl stuttered, muffled by his hand as he tried to cool down his red face. "I'll go change in the bathroom! You can change here!"

Karl snatched up his dry clothes and booked it out of his own room to the bathroom down the hallway. Nick stared after him, a look of amusement prominent on his face. He resumed pulling off his wet shirt, balling it up and placing it in his towel after he patted himself dry a bit more. He slipped on his blue hoodie, glad to have it back. He instantly noticed it smelt like Karl and Downy fabric softener. He pulled the hood in front of his face and inhaled deeply before smiling to himself. Next was the second worst part. Wet jeans. Nick pulled off the rough fabric from his legs, the noise of the denim was rough and enough to make him internally cringe. He wiped his legs down, careful to let his shirt fall out. That's when he remembered the worst part. His boxers were wet. He groaned and attempted to dry them off the best he could before he slipped on Karl's sweatpants. They bagged around his ankles slightly since Karl was taller than him ever so slightly and even these sweats were supposedly big on him.

Karl still hadn't returned so Nick took this chance to explore his room. There wasn't much, just his larger closet that was filled with sweaters, jackets, and t-shirts all hung up, some neater than others. A chest of drawers, with some of drawers open with pant legs hanging over them, and a shelf on the bottom that had a few pairs of sneakers, some slippers, and a pair of leather dress shoes in it.

The bed was half made, the main sheets folded slightly at the top over the pillow, which had half the cover coming off of it. A few throw blankets were sloppily thrown over on top. Nick smiled at the mess. The desk is what caught his attention next. The two monitors were asleep, the back lit keyboard breathed with a gentle glow as the rainbow colors faded on and off, the mouse following suit. The bags of almost empty sweets mixed with the newer bags. The trash can by the desk was filled with empty cans of Monster, Red Bull, and Arnold Palmer. Nick couldn't help but laugh.

He heard the door click closed as a more composed Karl leaned against it. The boy had on baggy camo print sweats that tightened at the ankles and a froh hoodie. He let out a breath before smiling at Nick. "Sorry about earlier, I totally overreacted," the boy chuckled nervously.

Nick shook his head and let out a small laugh too. Karl flopped on top of his bed. "So what do you wanna do?"

"Well don't you have a stream in," Nick dragged the last word as he shook his wrist so his watch gave him the time, "25 minutes?"

Karl jumped in his spot before groaning. He once again had promised a stream but not planned anything. "I don't have anything honking planned," he whined.

Nick sat on the foot of the bed as he thought about something to do. "Have you ever done a Q+A stream?"

Karl lifted his head in bewilderment, as he never had done anything of the sort. "No I can't say I have," He reached for his phone and opened twitter.