old fashioned || karl jacobs x reader

18: pink + white

hella sorry for this super delayed chapter but thank ya for all the reads and support :) love you guys <3

The night before our plane, I laid across the couch in his office while I watched Karl stream. He figured he should push one stream out before we left for the week. Little colorful snakes spun around his screen as he hummed quietly along with the music playing in his ears. Laid across the familiar loveseat, I watched as he streamed on his alt, his channel where he explicitly wanted to be more relaxed.

I laid back, scrolling through my phone thoughtlessly while basking in the soft notes that harmonized with the music in his headphones. Donos popped up on his screen, which he would smile at and reply to gently. His sweatshirts sheltered his body perfectly, hands covered to the knuckles in the material and keeping his whole body warm.

I wanted to steal him away seeing how comfortable he looked. My arms wanted to wrap around the circumference of his body and I wanted to lay my head against his chest, hearing his heartbeat subtly against his rib cage. My fingers would play with the fabric beneath their tips while staying perfectly engulfed in his warmth.

But, I stayed on the couch, watching him be with his chat while aimlessly moving around a colorful snake and muffled music emitting from his headphones. He looked perfectly at peace, unalarmed and blissful.

"No, thank you," he laughed quietly to a question from his donos, "I'm not really looking for anyone to date at the moment."

My eyebrows stitched together and my attention was grasped from my phone. I watched as his eyes flashed over to me for a moment, jaw agape as words teased the back of his throat but never escaped.

"Umm, I saw some people weren't comfortable with me being asked on dates so," he let out a soft, nervous breath, smile anxiously pulling at his lips, "let's just have a good time, alright everyone?"

I felt bad for a moment there, even with the glance he had given me. My mind felt full as it tried to decode what he had suggested with that flash of his eyes and the words he had said to his chat. He was popular, I knew that, so there were just always going to be weirdos along the way. The response he gave to the question though, given his actions, felt strange to me. Why did it shoot sparks in me when he said he wasn't looking to date? And why did those sparks burn brighter when he looked at me?

There had to be a reason behind his word choice, I surmised. If he had never looked to me, catching me and suggesting something with those eyes, I wouldn't have thought anything behind the response. But the look gave it all away. I didn't know what it meant, or maybe I didn't want to accept that I knew what it meant.

He continued to play as if nothing happened, as if his words hadn't stunned me for a moment. My phone had fallen from my face while I kept my entire focus on him as he played his game. Nonchalantly, he continued, softly nipping at his bottom lip in concentration while still humming along. I felt far away on the couch even if I were only a few feet away.

Carefully, I brought myself from the sofa and to my feet. The chair I had used to sit in on his streams before was nestled into the corner of the room from the last time I used it. Taking the back of the chair, I dragged its wheels over to Karl's side and sat beside him wordlessly. As my presence came next to him, his attention shifted and his face flushed slightly.

"Hey," he greeted me as his snake dissipated into glowing orbs, "what's up?"

I shrugged, leaning my elbow against the arm of my chair. "Nothing," I replied softly.

To make room for me in the facecam, he scooted over and pulled the arm of my chair so both of us could equally be in frame. A small smile spread across his round lips as he clicked off the home screen and started a new game.