Fire Meet Gasoline || Karl Jacobs

five

1 new discord notification

Karl looked down at his phone the singular spare minute he had while filming. They were all in the office after a gaming channel video, letting their eyes adjust to regular lighting rather than a screen. It took a bit for his headache to fade, but looking down at his phone only made it come back. Despite the ache in his eyes, he opened the discord notification and sighed upon seeing the name.

nad1a.gam3s
alex told me to apologize to you.

karljacobs
ok?
for what?

nad1a.gam3s
for last night ig
idfk
i dont fucking read minds

karljacobs
whatever
im busy
i'll look into accepting the apology when theres something you're actually apologizing for.

nad1a.gam3s
guess that was for nothing at all
i dont explain myself

karljacobs
that explains so fucking much
have a good day

nad1a.gam3s
wtf does that mean
whatever dont respond
your probably sitting with lana on your couch doing nothing anyway

karljacobs
im at work
pls just stfu and let me work
thanks

nad1a.gam3s
so youre not poor?
funny
you dress like you are

karljacobs
funny
you look like your blocked

you have blocked this user

Karl closed his phone with a deep exhale, gathering the attention of everyone else in the room.

"Everything alright?" Kris asked. She had a concerned smile on her face when speaking to Karl.

"Nadia?" Nick asked. Karl only nodded, leaning his head back on the couch and pinching his eyes shut.

"Wait, the girl who teases you relentlessly on streams?" Chandler asked, looking at Karl from his spot on the couch next to him.

"The one and fucking only. I just blocked her." Karl sighed. He lifted his head back up to see a concerned look from Jimmy.

"Well, you might have to unblock her." He said with a nervous laugh.

"What? Why?" Karl asked, his face paling at the words.

"Because she's in a gaming video we're about to film."

"Why is she fucking everywhere?" Karl asked, standing up and walking out of the room. He walked down the long corridor and into the bathroom. He took a minute to gather himself before exiting and walking back into the room. He quickly unblocked Nadia and set his phone face down on the arm of the couch.

"I didn't know, Im sorry. Alex will be there, if that helps any." Jimmy said, treading lightly on the topic.

"It doesn't." He sighed. "I'll survive."

"How bad does it get?" Kris asked, voice soft. Karl smiled, noticing how different she sounded to that of a year ago. He was proud of her.

"Pretty bad." Nick laughed nervously.

"Well, speaking of which, it's time to film again." Jimmy said, sending an apologetic look to Karl.

"Jimmy, it's seriously fine. This is work, I can be civil. I'm an adult, these things happen and you just have to handle them. Stop stressing." Karl laughed.

He stood after Jimmy nodded and stood himself. Chandler, Karl, and Nick all walked into their shared filming room. Well, Karl and Chandlers shared filming room. Nick sat on a couch behind the setups, scrolling through his phone aimlessly. They all joined the call, now waiting for Alex and Nadia.

"Hello?" Alex greeted as he joined the call. "Nadia's right behind me."

"Hi Alex!" Jimmy said excitedly.

"Hi Jimmy!" Alex said back with an excited laugh.

"Hello?" Nadia asked. Karl had never heard her speak in that tone of voice before and it shocked him.

"Nadia?" Jimmy asked, breaking Karl of his momentary lapse of judgement.

"That's me!" She said.

"Alright, let's get into it." Jimmy said before going on to explain the rules. The entire filming session, not one insult was thrown Karl's way by Nadia. No snide remark, no insult, no comment on his loud giggles. He almost forgot they hated one another.

Almost.

He was so fucking close to having a good moment.

It was just barely out of reach.

"Karl, before you leave can I have a word?" Nadia asked, voice sounding genuine.

"Yeah sure." He giggled. Everyone left the call and Nick left the room. Chandler stayed though, helping clean the office space a bit more.

"Why did you block me?" She asked almost immediately.

"I dunno." He laughed, being caught off guard by the question. "Was pissed."

"Can you not speak full fucking sentences?" She asked harshly, making his smile fall almost immediately.

"I'm not doing this with you. You have just proven why the fuck I'm going to block you again." Karl spat, unable to hold back his anger any longer. "Im not sure if your goal was to make me absolutely fucking hate you or what, but Im tired of playing the guessing game. You got what you wanted if that's what you were going for, Nadia."

Karl left the call and threw his headphones on his desk. He shut down the pc and monitor before standing up and walking out the door. His phone was vibrating in his pocket, but he was fucking tired of this shit. He wasn't doing it or putting up with it anymore. Two months of constant degrading is enough. His line's been crossed.

This is bigger than just getting along with her for Alex.

"I'm going home, Nick!" Karl yelled, grabbing his things and walking toward the exit. It didn't matter that he still had a whole day of filming left to do, he was fuming and done.

"Coming!" He yelled, running off after him.

"What happened?" Nick asked as he finally caught up with him once they reached the exit. Karl pulled it open and walked to his car, unable to focus on anything at the moment.

"Nadia's a fucking bitch." He muttered, unlocking his cat and getting into the driver's seat. Nick barely had enough time to buckle up and shut the door before Karl floored it out of there.

"Yeah, okay, I can see that." Nick said, voice raising in pitch as he grabbed the handle on the roof of the car.

"Im so fucking done Nick! Like I can't possibly do this anymore! She's so fucking annoying! She's absolutely insufferable! I even had a moment where I thought that maybe we could see past it! But no! She just can't get her head out of her own fucking ass!" He screamed, gripping the steering wheel so tight his knuckles were white. His eyes burned with unshed tears. He felt dramatic. He felt like his blow up was unnecessary. It was just a few comments. Right?