Shaking || karlnap

1. the arrival

Excitement rushed through the small boy as he eagerly waited for the sound of his doorbell. After countless months of planning, Nick was finally arriving.

Despite the excitement being the only thing fueling his body, he raced to the door at the sound of the bell.

He rushed over to the door, a wide grin immediately dominating his expression as he looked at the shorter male in front of him. Without any words being exchanged, Karl immediately hugged the male who chuckled in return as he wrapped his arms around Karl.

Nick hugged him, holding Karl's small frame against himself, "You looked shorter in all those Mr. Beast videos," Nick teased. Yet although Karl was taller than him, he still felt small and fragile in his arms.

After so many video calls and joined streams, Nick had always been observant of how the other seemed to slowly be shrinking yet it seemed even worse having him standing not even a foot away. Having him so close meant that Nick could see how his collarbones stuck out and how fragile and delicate he seemed. He couldn't help but to be curious about what was hiding under the large sweater Karl had on.

However, right now Karls' bright smile spreading to his misty eyes, distracted Nick from asking about it.

"It feels so unreal that you're actually standing right in front of me," Karl grinned as he playfully picked up Nick's hat, "And I can't believe how short you are."

"Oh shut up," Nick said with an eyeroll although the wide smile on his face proved that the banter didn't really bother him.

"You must be tired," Karl said taking a seat on the bed once he had helped Nick settle into the guestroom, "I know I'm always tired when I get off planes."

The digital clock next to the bed already read 23:00 but Nick seemed wide awake, "Eh, I had a nap on the plane actually, I wanted to be awake when I got here."