teacher's pet

dress-up

𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳

≛

"who do you keep dressing up for?"

karl looks up from packing his bag, his brows furrowed as he looks back at sapnap. "can't i just look nice for myself?" he asks, maybe a little defensively.

"well obviously you can, i was just kidding," sapnap replies. "it was sort of supposed to be a compliment, actually."

the brunette looks back at his bag, reaching in and taking out his first draft for chapter one. he puts it down on his desk, glancing over at lucas. the older man is sitting at his desk, eyes on his computer with little interest to the students in the class, who are all getting up and on their way out, the school day finally over.

truth is, karl has put more effort into his appearance recently. he sees lucas for english every day, so sue him if he wants to look good.

not that he would tell sapnap that, though, considering the ravenette would just go and tell dream, who would surely have some choice comments to make.

"is that the chapter you sent me?"

karl nods.

"it was really good. other than the spelling mistakes," sapnap tacks on jokily, offering karl a playful smile.

karl just about manages to reflect the expression. honestly, he hadn't even wanted to share his work with sapnap, he was just so nervous about giving his first proper chapter to lucas and needed some reassurance first.

"i'm gonna get mister mcallister to check it," karl says, reaching down to run his hand over the messy sheets. karl has gotten better at referring to his teacher as lucas, but it still comes naturally to call him mister mcallister. though he supposes that's probably a good thing, because sapnap would be sure to ask questions if karl referred to the older man by his first name.

"good luck," sapnap mumbles playfully. karl sends him a questioning look, unsure of the reasoning behind the comment. "i don't know man," sapnap laughs, "he's either in a bad mood or he's just randomly decided to hate me because jee-sus," he drags out. "he's been so strict with me this afternoon."

karl can't help but wonder if it's anything to do with what he told their teacher. could lucas have a grudge against sapnap because of the way he betrayed karl and unintentionally turned his family on him?

surely not... right?

"i'm sure it'll be fine," karl dismisses with a shrug. "he likes me."

"must do if he keeps putting up with your impromptu meetings," sapnap smiles, no malice in his words. "how long do you think it'll take?"

"no idea, but you and dream can just go," karl answers with a shrug, adding a natural smile when sapnap looks almost concerned, "i think i'm going to head to the library, anyway."

"alright then," sapnap nods, pulling his bag onto his back. "i'll see you back at yours. you'll be back in time for dinner? only asking 'cause your moms definitely will."