teacher's pet

could you take me back?

𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳

≛

karl walked further and further, for longer than he cared to think about, until he found himself so far from home that he hardly recognised the area.

in fact, for a while, he had no idea where he was. it wasn't until he walked a few roads down and spotted a sign with the name of the neighbourhood that he made sense of where he ended up.

karl almost worried himself with how far he had gotten, and the fact that the sky had already gotten dark.

and yet... he still didn't want to go home.

he knew he couldn't just stay outside all night, but honestly even that sounded better than having to go home and face the mess he surely made.

that's what led karl to call his english teacher, of all people, and try not to break down on the call as he asked for a lift, trying to explain that he had found himself on the opposite end of town, stranded and alone, late at night when the sky was already dark.

karl wondered if maybe he was starting to go a little delusional, when the concern showed by his teacher made him feel good on the inside, but then he started to think that maybe he wasn't the problem. maybe, for once, he should blame the people who made him find it rare to be cared for.

and then he waited. lucas made him stay on the phone, for the sake of karl's safety and his peace of mind, but they didn't talk.

in fact, no more words were uttered until almost twenty minutes later, when the older man pulled up to the curb opposite where karl was sitting on the pavement and said, "get in," before ending the call.

karl knows that lucas isn't angry, he is just worried, but there are still some unsettled nerves as he walks across the road to the car. though, maybe they are just leftover from the fight he had with his family.

his phone has been continuously buzzing and, for a long moment, he had contemplated picking up, but then he looked at the logs and saw that sapnap had tried to call a couple of times, and he had been so hurt that he left their worries unanswered.

he didn't even answer their texts, uncaring if they were worried for his life and safety.

he couldn't believe, after everything he had said, they had told sapnap.

karl climbs into the car, and he exhales a sigh of relief at the warmth in the vehicle, finding it heavenly in comparison to the chill night air outside.

"are you okay?" lucas asks immediately, and the question almost makes karl cry again.

he manages to swallow the tears, settling instead on a small shrug. he's not okay, and that's evident to both of them, but even despite everything he has a feeling of... peace. it's hard to place, but there was something like closure that came with telling his family what he really feels, even though he knows this is far from the end of everything.

"what happened?" lucas starts driving straight away, not staying parked while they talk, and karl assumes that the older man is just eager to get home again.