Your Telephone Calls are my Favorite Place (Karlnap)

Twelve

Sapnap raised an eyebrow and stayed silent for a second before responding.

"So many compliments today, are you still half asleep or something?" 

Karl rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he flashed a cheesy grin and simply agreed. He looked around his room for any hope of a distraction, his thoughts interrupted by Sapnap's embarrassed tone.

"Chat, stop that. I am not blushing. Dream just refused to turn on the AC today." Sapnap said lowering his hat to cover his eyes, his pink cheeks still visible in his face cam. 

Karl stared at his screen in awe of the sight before him. "I made Sapnap blush,"  he thought. He was torn between wanting to tease him for it and wanting to throw more compliments his way to see him become increasingly flustered. All the progress Karl felt he made on getting over his best friend was quickly swept away. Feeling empowered from the situation, Karl decided to see what would get under Sapnap's skin.

"Can't I compliment you? Why don't you look up and give me a smile, it's the polite thing to do." Karl stated tauntingly, knowing only Sapnap would recognize how this connected to their conversation from the previous night.

Just as Sapnap was beginning to look up to flash Karl a sarcastic grin, Karl couldn't help but continue. 

"You know, if you look this handsome when I see you in England, I just might have to kiss you." Karl's tone was light hearted and this empty threat was very obviously a joke. That didn't stop the chat from exploding with comments about kissing, 'Karlnap', and Sapnap's growing blush. 

Karl gazed at his screen as his best friend's cheeks grew to an undeniable crimson color. He felt a mixture of pride and shame after the reality of the situation set in. Caught up in his fun, he had clearly made his friend uncomfortable, the guilt beginning to consume him. 

"Don't get my hopes up if you're not going to follow through." Sapnap finally responded. His face conveyed a smirk, but the look didn't carry to his eyes. It felt like the stream wasn't still going, that it was just the two of them. 

"I feel like we should give them some privacy or something" - $10 donation 

Neither one of them spoke as the automated voice read the donation aloud, breaking them from their stares. Unintentionally in unison, the two friends let out some feeble, half-hearted laughs to ease the tension that had built up. 

"Well, I think Karl and I made a lot of progress on today's stream. Our Minecraft house is looking almost put together! I think I'm going to log off now and call it a day! Thanks so much for all the donations and subs. And don't forget to stay tuned for our upcoming trip!" Sapnap rushed through his outro, Karl could tell he was eager to get off camera.  

Karl said his goodbye's to the chat, wondering if he was going to be ignored by Sapnap or yelled at by him. The chat box froze and the stream had officially ended. 

"Uh, um. I'm gonna.. head out.." Karl nervously said as he continued to rub the back of his neck, attempting to get the now sweaty hairs off his skin.

"You promised you wouldn't hang up on me anymore." Sapnap replied with a straight face.

Karl swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing.

"Plus, we need to talk." Sapnap continued, waiting for Karl's response. 

Karl debated his next line. Should he confront the elephant in the room head on or should he act oblivious? He decided to go with the latter. 

"Of course, man. What's up?" Karl asked with a sheepish smile. His attempt at oblivion clearly not up to Sapnap's expectations. 

"Care to explain whatever the hell that was?" Sapnap said. Despite his words, his tone wasn't sharp or cold. 

Karl let out a short sigh. "I thought when we talked last night you wanted me to be more receptive to this sort of thing. After the first few minutes of the stream when I realized how comfortable I was, I just." Karl let out another sigh. He pried his hand off his neck, once again causing his skin to become red and irritated. "I guess what I'm saying is I just wanted to give you the same slack you give me. Once I saw your reaction, I just got carried away. It was.. fun, seeing that reaction from you." Karl's voice softened at the end, feeling all the more shame after having to justify his actions. 

Karl was terrified to return his eyes to the screen, fearful of how Sapnap would be looking at him. 

"Stop avoiding me Karl." Sapnap said, breaking their silence. 

Karl returned his eyes to his screen, seeing a simultaneously upset and amused face staring back at him. Several seconds after Karl returned his eyes to the screen and Sapnap didn't continue talking, he decided to speak up. 

"I'm not avoiding you anymore." Karl said, his voice still surprisingly weak. He began rubbing the back of his neck again- a new habit since his hair is often up and he can't run his fingers through it. 

"Stop doing that, you're going to irritate your skin more." Sapnap's concerned voice filling the silence. Karl froze, reluctantly lowering his hand to his lap. Neither boy spoke for several minutes. Karl's stomach began to churn from his heightening anxiety. If he had gotten up at a decent time and ate something, he surely would have been sick from it at this point. 

"I'm not mad at you Karl." Sapnap eventually let out.

"You aren't?" Karl questioned, not believing what he was hearing. 

"No. I'm just. I don't even know how to describe what I'm feeling. Disappointed? Maybe?" Sapnap let out an audible groan.  "You know I'm no good at this stuff, Karl." 

Karl understood Sapnap was referring to identifying and discussing his feelings. He knew that Sapnap wanted to end the conversation, just leaving it at that. Karl couldn't accept this being the end though. He had to understand in what way his best friend was disappointed. Was he disappointed because Karl took the flirting too far while they were on a stream? Or could it be that he was disappointed that Karl was only joking about kissing him when they landed in England. He had to know, he couldn't live with not knowing if Sapnap returned his feelings. 

"Nick," Karl started cautiously. "You were disappointed.. in what way?"

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(1,088 words) Apologies for the cliffhanger :))