George is currently marching down the street, to the only tattoo parlor in the area, where the obvious culprit works. Karl trails behind him, only slightly afraid of the hideous expression George is shooting towards anyone who looks at him for a moment too long.
They reach the tattoo parlor and George slams the door open, shouting for Dream the moment he steps inside. He spots him leaning against a counter, speaking to another man, clearly on his break. Karl watches helplessly as George storms over to him, almost pitying Dream before he remembers he willingly tattooed a drunk man.
"Dream." George seethes. "I am going to kill you."
Dream looks up, a wide grin showing on his face as he catches sight of his boyfriend. Karl shoots Dream a sympathetic glance, he knows where this is going.
"Hey Gogs, what's up?"
"You know what's up." George pokes a finger into Dream's chest, and Karl has to avert his eyes the doesn't accidentally witness something he doesn't want to.
His eyes land on the other man who Dream was speaking to, and Karl doesn't recognize him, but he feels like he should. He seems familiar as he leans across the counter, his body language casual as he watches Dream and George argue. When the man's eyes flit over to him, Karl gives him a polite smile, and the man takes it as an invitation to siddle up closer to him and grin smugly.
Karl had absolutely no idea why this man is so smug, but something about the expression infuriates him, in a way much worse than any of George or Dream's teasing have before.
"Hi Karl," The man nearly sings, and he leans forward even more.
Karl leans back, because no matter how interesting that dark hair and dark eyes, and fuck, he had an eyebrow slit too, this man is still a stranger, and if the small bubbly irritation Karl feels at the pit of his stomach says anything about them, it's that they don't mix well.
"How do you know my name?" Karl crosses his arms, staring down at the man in question, who furrows his brows.
The man clearly snaps out of his gaze and reaching his hand out leisurely. "Sorry, Dream mentioned you a few days ago, I guessed."
"Mhmm," Karl says, unconvinced. He notices the man's eyes narrow and quickly copies him, so now the two are practically glaring at each other. Karl reaches his hand out and grasps the man's hand, which is annoyingly bigger than his despite the inch or two height difference Karl basks in. "Pleasure meeting you," He says dryly, watching the man's lips purse. "And you are?"
"You can call me, Sapnap, honey."
And Karl nearly faints right there and then, not because of this man's incredibly firm grasp and good looks, from the absolute atrocity that is his manners. He means, how can someone call another honey while they have no past relationship whatsoever. Plus, what kind of nickname is Sapnap .
Karl glares at Sapnap, Sapnap glares back.
Thankfully, George and Dream have settled out their argument before Karl can throw himself at Sapnap, and they leave the store, George mumbling quietly about how Dream apparently had a matching one, and now it was cute.
Karl rolls his eyes, wondering how someone could possibly be so whipped for a tattoo artist.
A week later, Karl agrees to tag along with him to a restaurant for a nice lunch, nice, that is, until Dream walks in with his great pall, Sapnap. Karl sighs inaudibly before smiling up at the two of them, ignoring Sapnap's cocky expression as he slides into the booth seat across from him.
And it doesn't take long for Karl to notice that Sapnap looks exactly how he would have imagined rule number 4, with his messily kept black hair, tied back unsuccessfully with a white headband, and his deep brown eyes that Karl could never look straight into, and that stupid, stupid eyebrow slit that infuriates Karl even more.
How dare this man steal Karl's type. How dare he embody it so well? And how dare he do it so smugly Karl wants to throw up his shrimp salad.
He doesn't know why, it's a gut feeling, he supposes, but this Sapnap is bad news, and Karl intends to stay out of his way.
Just as he's had that liberating thought, Sapnap hooks their legs from under the booth and grins at him from above it. Karl glares at him, which only makes Sapnap's grin bigger. He wants to pull away, but Sapnap hooks his other leg on Karl's other side, effectively trapping him in, all while continuing a conversation with Dream and George normally. Karl seethes in his seat.
It's official, Karl hates Sapnap, everything about him, and from the condescending look Sapnap gives him moments after, the feeling is mutual.
"I did notice," George starts after they leave the restaurant and head for their dorm, and from the teasing tone of his voice, Karl mentally prepares himself for torture, "On your little list, Nick fits all of your requirements."
Karl groans, at himself for making that stupid list, and at George for bringing it up for the umpteenth time.
"He's literally shorter than me," Karl says simply, and not just that, Sapnap definitely isn't smart or nice.
"Yeah but you love him!" George sings, and Karl shakes his head furiously.
"He's weird, I'm not a fan."
George snorts and leaves the topic alone, to Karl's utter relief.
YOU ARE READING
4 rules | karlnap
Fanfiction"He hates me," Karl says, feeling himself slip off into sleep. "He loves you," George finishes. After impulsively writing a checklist for a perfect boyfriend, Karl finds himself encountering a guy who is almost the exact fit. The catch? Sapnap is an...
