Your Telephone Calls are my Favorite Place (Karlnap)

Three

"Your telephone calls are my favorite place." Karl continued softly, anxiously waiting to hear his best friend's reaction.

The line remained silent for several tense seconds.

"Are you streaming again or something? Trying to give the fans some bonus 'Karlnap' content?" Sapnap responded wearily. His confusion still evident but a small chuckle embedded within the sentence as a vain attempt to lighten the mood. 

For the second time in one night- one phone call- Karl felt another piece of his heart crushed by the weight of their conversation.

He knew he should just agree, saying he was trying to get his reaction for a snapchat or something. He knew exactly what he should say but the fire in the back of his throat was screaming to speak the truth.

"Not for the fans, just for me." Karl stated blankly. He feared if he allowed himself to express any emotion then the floodgates would open, then there would be no turning back. 

After several moments of silence, Karl couldn't bare it any longer. His burning cheeks, his sweating back, the heater that was still blazing. He suddenly became aware of all the things he forgot when Sapnap called. The warmth spreading over his entire body, his exhaustion, the long hairs tickling the back of his neck with sweat.

Karl let out a deep sigh, "I'm going to head to bed. It's pushing 2am and I have a lot of work to do these next weeks to prepare for the trip so, yeah.. goodnight.. Sapnap." He trailed off at the end feeling the overwhelming silence from the other end of the call.

With still no response, Karl lowered his phone to hang up.

"You say my calls are your favorite place, yet you want to hang up?" Sapnap finally responded cautiously.

Karl's heart felt like it was getting whiplash from Sapnap. One second he's making his heart beat out his chest, the next it's stopped in it's track. Unsure of how to respond at this point, and still feeling the exhaustion, Karl decided to surrender his sincerity for the night and stick to what he's best at, exaggerated flirting that can only be taken as a joke. 

"Well, I'm going to shower and then sleep, so if you want to stay on the phone for that then it sounds like you just might be simping for me." Karl said with an obvious taunting tone to compensate for the serious tone he used previously.

Sapnap let out an audible laugh, wiping away all the tensions from the previous conversation. Karl felt both suffocated from his inability to speak the truth and like he could finally breathe again knowing he could post pone it to another day. 

"Well, I definitely don't want to hear you singing in the shower, so I'll pass on that" Sapnap responded, his laugh still evident in his words.

Karl's heart felt warm hearing his best friend laugh, a smile beginning to form on his face once again. 

"But call me when you get out of the shower. I'm going to be up all night editing my stream for YouTube and it's nice just knowing you're there with me." Sapnap responded so casually that Karl wondered if he had any idea how much power his words hold over him. 

"Fine. Simp." Karl responded with a giggle, wanting to keep the light hearted mood he worked so hard to bring back.

As Sapnap let out a few small chuckles, Karl could perfectly envision him smiling ear to ear and shaking his head while looking down. Sapnap hated being called a simp by anyone except for Karl, a little fact Karl was all too aware of, abusing his privileges whenever he could. 

"Okay, really now, I'm getting in the shower and hanging up. I'll talk to you soon!" Karl didn't even try to hide the excitement in his voice. He promptly hung up and spun around in his desk chair. 

He always felt a rush of giddy joy when he got off the phone with Sapnap, this time especially since Sapnap was the one to ask for him to call back.

Springing up to take a shower, Karl continued to replay Sapnap's laugh in his head. As he got in the shower, he put on his playlist, specifically starting with their song, Tongue Tied. 

The lukewarm water felt amazing against Karl's sweaty skin. If it weren't for his impending call with his best friend he would've stayed in the shower another twenty minutes. As he rinsed the body wash off his now goosebumps covered body, he fantasized of a world where Sapnap was in the shower with him, washing the small of his back with a washcloth and kissing the back of his neck. This one intrusive thought returned all the heat to Karl's face and body. He did his best to brush off the thought as he rinsed the conditioner out of his long hair.

The thought refused to leave his mind though, still lingering as Karl slipped into sweatpants and one of Sapnap's t-shirts he left behind one trip. 

"Shit.." Karl muttered to himself as he fell into bed. He put an arm over his eyes as if it would prevent him from seeing this shower scenario. 

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(865 words)This is so much fun to write :) I hope you are enjoying!