Karl Jacobs x Reader

Family Divided

I went ahead of Karl as he closed the door, and was greeted by four furry shapes as they wrapped themselves around my legs. I bent down to pet the cats. Midnight, Sparky, Grey, and Milo. The first three had been the boys' cats for a while, and Milo was the newest member. He was Maitland's cat, and Maitland was Bailey's girlfriend. Bailey and Maitland were in the kitchen cooking something, and they waved a greeting at me as I stood.

I'd been at the boys' house a few times, and they all knew me well. I'd become friends with Maitland and Jordan, who was Ethan's girlfriend, and it was like I was a part of an extensive family. Karl invited me to his room, and I followed. We popped in upstairs to see Ethan and Jordan, who were live streaming on Twitch. We said hello, waved at the camera, and then headed to Karl's room. Once we got there, Karl disappeared to his closet, then reappeared a moment later with a light blue hoodie on. He'd pulled the sleeves partially over his hands, and I felt a little flutter as he flopped down on his bed and I slowly sat down on a chair nearby. I couldn't help but feel my heart melt a little. He looked so cute this way.

There was a bit of an awkward silence as we both idly looked at our phones. "Do you want to maybe livestream?" I asked in an attempt to break the silence. Karl shook his head as he looked up at me. "I'm too sad for that," he said. "maybe tomorrow." I nodded. I noticed Karl looked more upset than I thought at first as he tossed his phone down and stared at the bed. He had a sort of lost expression. I hesitated a moment before getting up and going over to lay beside him on the bed. He didn't flinch or move away, so I guessed he accepted my motion.

"I'm sorry you lost again," I murmured softly. "But I'm sure you'll win something soon!" I tried to sound encouraging. Karl gave me a weak smile. "Easy for you to say Y/N. But I'm more worried that all these challenges will start to damage our friendships. I actually sort of hated Chandler after the island, and now too." He looked at me with a partially distraught expression. "I'm sure it won't," I said slowly. "Jimmy's done challenges like this a lot, and it hasn't caused drama yet." Karl didn't quite look convinced at this.

I felt his leg lightly brush against mine as he shifted position. My heart did a little jump at this, and it started beating a bit quicker. I felt a bit of comfort at the sensation. I hesitated slightly, before ever so gently resting my head on Karl's shoulder. I was feeling extremely tired, and I was quite comfortable. He didn't move, so I just assumed he was okay with it. Eventually, my tired eyes drooped closed…

The next thing I knew, I was being nudged gently, and a voice was saying, "Y/N, wake up." I opened my eyes to see Karl sitting beside me on the bed, with early morning sunlight peircing through the window. At first I was confused as to why and how he was in my room, until I realized that *I* was in *his*. I sat up quickly. "Oh my gosh I must have fallen-" but Karl raised his hand to stop me. "It's okay, Y/N. I don't mind." I relaxed slightly, but then stiffened again. "But my parents. They didn't know I w-" Karl stopped me a second time. "I'd got Bailey to tell them after I noticed you fell asleep. They were okay with it." I relaxed again. "Oh. Okay."

I noticed Karl had changed sometime since last night, because he was wearing a different shirt, and plain black cloth pants. His brown hair was messy, partially covering his hazel coloured eyes as he gazed at me. "Do you want some food?" He asked softly, and I nodded, realizing how hungry I was. We both got up, and I reached to my pocket for my phone. When I looked at it, I saw it was already 9:30AM. I must have been more tired than I'd thought.

We headed out to the living room, where Ethan, Bailey, Maitland, and Jordan all were. "Morning, sleepy heads." Maitland greeted us as Karl headed to the kitchen and I joined Maitland on the couch. "You all must have done a lot yesterday," Ethan commented. "You were asleep for so long. We all woke up about an hour and a half ago." I rolled my eyes at Ethan, but I was smiling as I said, "At least we got some actual work done." Ethan gave me the fake offended look, as Bailey and Maitland giggled at my comment.

It was a few moments later when Karl joined us, setting a medium-sized plate of nachos on the coffee table in front of us. "Nachos for breakfast?" I questioned as the others all instantly started eating. Bailey nodded to me. "We never have a proper breakfast," he said through a mouthful of nachos. "It's always the strangest things." I shrugged as I started eating as well, with all of my good friends.

After we'd finished eating, I sat back on the couch, to immediately be greeted by two sets of paws walking over my legs. Milo and Midnight had come to say hello. I pet both cats simultaneously, before a wall of fluffy fur suddenly appeared in front of my face. I looked up to see Karl had placed Grey on me from behind, and Maitland had just picked up Sparky and put him ontop of me as well.

Now surrounded by soft coats and rumbling purrs, I laughed slightly in happiness as Karl flopped down on the couch beside me. I heard Ethan and Bailey laughing from where they were on the opposite couch, while I tried to poke my head above the surface of the sea of cats. When I'd finally managed to get the cats off of my face so I could see, I saw all the boys, plus Mait and Jordan, looking at me smiling.

"Dorks." I muttered as I quickly detached the almost sleeping cats from my sweater and leggings. Just then, my phone buzzed. I looked at it, and it was my mom texting me. When I opened the text, I saw her message to me. **Hey Y/N. I know you're at your friends' house. Just want to let you know it's probably a good idea to just stay away from home for a little while. Maybe come back later tonight.**

I felt my heart drop a little as I read this. My parents had a history of getting into bad fights, and they would usually advise me to stay out for a while if it happened while I was out. I barely even took notice to my surroundings as I stared at the message, until I felt someone tap my knee gently. I looked up to see that Bailey and Maitland had gone who knows where, and Ethan and Jordan were doing something in the kitchen. Karl was still sitting beside me on the couch, one leg tucked beneath him as he faced me. "You alright, Y/N?"

I slightly nodded before I shrugged, then shook my head. I showed Karl the text from my mom, and explained what it most probably meant. "You could just stay here for the day if you wanted," he said after I finished. "and I could drive you home after." I looked at him with a soft expression. "You don't have to do tha-" I tried to say, but Karl raised his hand to stop me. "Shush. Yes I do. Trust me." I fell silent as I nodded a thanks.

The next few hours were spent mostly hanging about, playing with cats, listening to music, and worrying about what my parents had gotten into this time. It was around 6:00PM when my phone buzzed, and I saw my mom had texted me again. I put down the cat toy I'd been holding to look at the message. **Things got worse this time. Worse than usual. If you want to come home you can but I can't guarantee it's going to be pleasant or enjoyable. If you don't come back, let me know at least.** I felt myself going into stress mode as my anxiety kicked in.

I quickly got up, going over to the nearest resident of the house, who happened to be Maitland. I quickly told her the scoop, and she was quick to say, "You're staying right here. You can always stay here however long you need." I quickly talked to Jordan and all the boys, and they also all agreed to me staying. However, I did know that I wouldn't be able to stay the night in what I was wearing. I'd have to go home to get a new change of clothes. I mentioned this fact to Karl, and he agreed to drive me to my house.

So we got into his car, and he started the drive to my house. I was frankly nervous to go there. I was afraid of what I'd see or hear when I walked inside. I was quiet the entire way to my house. Once we got there, I looked out at the tiny, single floor run-down little thing. I hesitate before opening the door. I felt a hand on my arm, and turned to see Karl giving me an encouraging expression. He knew a little bit about the situation with my parents, and knew that I was scared to go inside. "It'll be fine," he said gently. "You'll only be in there for a few minutes." I nodded slowly as I got out of the car and headed up the walkway to my house.

As soon as I opened the door, I listened for the sound of shouting, banging, or anything at all. But I didn't hear any of it. I slowly closed the door, and walked into the kitchen. I didn't see anyone there. I headed into the living room. There was no one there. Finally, I made my way to my own bedroom. I figured maybe my parents had gone out. But that theory was quickly slapped down when I heard footsteps, and turned to see my mom standing in the doorway. She appeared to be crying, and I felt my heart jump as I looked at her. "Mom, are you okay? Where's Dad?" I asked her. She gave a sigh before responding. "He left," she said simply. "Packed his bags, and walked out."