talking to him

conceal don't feel

𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖌𝖊𝖗 𝖜𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘 𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖎𝖓 𝖆𝖚𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖗'𝖘 𝖓𝖔𝖙𝖊

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with his headphones on, karl is completely distracted from the world around him. all he has to do before he can leave work is finish proofreading a report about his presentation. he's been through it once, and now he has the file attachment open on the email he has to send it to, reading one last time before he can click the blue send button.

once that's done, he can go home and forget about work for the whole of next week as he and his best friends go on a short vacation to london. there is no special occasion, they all just discussed that they wanted to go there one day and, when quackity and sapnap's calendars lined up, karl suggested that he take time off to go.

it was sort of impromptu, considering it's not a national vacation or anything, but they have had it planned for over a month now so it isn't like they planned it ten minutes beforehand.

karl startles when a hand lands over his shoulder, quickly tugging his headphones down to sit around his neck as he spins back in surprise. he wasn't even listening to anything, he was simply using the headphones because they're noise cancelling. clearly, they work a bit too well, because karl had no idea that his boss had been quietly approaching.

"sorry, didn't mean to make you jump," he drawls, smiling slowly.

karl turns back to his monitor, trying to find the line he was just on. he clears his throat and mumbles, "it's fine," but doesn't offer the older man any more attention than that. finding his spot, karl continues to proofread for any errors he may have missed.

he angles slightly to the side when ryan leans over him, his godfather being too close for karl's liking. his head is hovering just above karl's shoulder when he asks, "how's work going?"

karl can feel the pull on the back of his chair where ryan is using it for balance as he bends over and all the closeness is making his stomach roll. "fine."

he clicks along to the next page of writing in the attachment and begins to read over it. karl prides himself in his work, but he is admittedly putting less attention on his proofreading with the older man so close. he's just skimming to get through it now, not wanting to be here any longer than absolutely necessary.

a long silence hangs between them for a few long moments as karl quickly reads over his work and his godfather stays hovering by his side. the brunette has gotten good at ignoring the older man but it would be hard for anyone to focus with someone breathing so close.

karl jerks away suddenly when lips land on the side of his neck, abruptly standing in place with no care for how his chair pushes back and hits his boss. "what the fuck?" he spits before he can think better of it, his hand shooting up to cover the side of his neck.

"oh, come on karl," the older man says with a laugh. karl leans over his desk to send the email without checking the rest, quickly logging out of his work desktop as ryan talks. "don't pretend like you haven't wanted this for so long, i can see it in your eyes."

karl doesn't even care if he just sent off a report with possible mistakes in, he just wants to get the fuck out of here. with his monitor shut down, karl grabs his few belongings and shoves them quickly into his bag.