teacher's pet

the words i didn't say

𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳

≛

karl spent the last four hours following sapnap around their local mall whilst the ravenette tried to find a present for dream since their one-year anniversary is coming up.

well, okay, in all honesty, at least an hour and a half of that time was spent in a pizza restaurant, wasting time on their phones and making good use of the free drink refills. but still.

usually, doing things like this would make karl's days feel slow and long. doing anything that concerns dream and sapnap as a couple drains him, but his mindset is slightly better today.

though that's only because the entirety of his thoughts are flooded with memories of his kiss with lucas, and the laughs they'd shared afterwards, and the way the older man had driven him home with his hand on karl's thigh.

there has been some reluctance, of course, and a lot of unnecessary apologies from lucas, thinking he was doing something wrong or forcing karl into something, but reassurance from the brunette made sure that they were okay.

lucas had been worried that karl felt pressured into their... relationship (unlabeled), and karl had to reiterate that it wasn't like that in the slightest.

he understands why lucas has his concerns, because his role as a teacher and his age means that he is perceived to have authority over karl, which comes with power, and there are scenarios in which a younger person would go along with advancements because they think they have to.

this is not one of those scenarios, as karl has promised wholeheartedly to his teacher.

karl glances over at sapnap as they make their way out of the mall, his gaze dropping to the bag in his friend's hand that holds the hoodie and belt that he bought for dream. he plans to print out some cute pictures too, but karl would rather not be involved in that part of the ordeal.

he'd rather not be involved in any of it, really.

karl wants to tell sapnap about the kiss, but he is so torn.

he's torn over the obvious things, like wondering if sapnap would disapprove or whether he would get excited like karl, feeling like he's living in some crazy movie. and worrying his friend would think it's wrong and report them.

but, in all honesty, those concerns are sort of right at the back of his thoughts.

he's much more busy thinking about his withered trust for his friend, and the greater likelihood that sapnap would tell dream, rather than anyone else.

and karl would rather die than let dream know. he can only imagine all of the things his brother would have to say about it, and none of it would be good. dream would find bad things to say no matter what, because shaming karl means bringing himself up, however involuntary it may be.

then, of course, dream would tell their moms, and that would be categorically catastrophic, so he'd rather avoid that if it's possible. his moms knowing would lead to things that karl doesn't even want to think about – things which society would prefer, like lucas losing his job and karl being forced into therapy he doesn't need. but this is karl's life, not theirs, and he doesn't want them to make his decisions for him.