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The story started two days earlier.
It was Friday night, and they had all elected to spend it in an overcrowded and smelly frat house. Karl was pouring himself his second drink of the night — it was ten and he had just gotten there, hair done nicely and clothes far too neat for a dirty party. He had chugged his first drink — orange juice with a splash of vodka, though when he made it it turned out to be more so vodka with a splash of orange juice. His second would meet a similar fate.
He didn’t want to be at the party. He had other plans that night. He had a date with a guy in one of his Monday classes, dinner and a movie, something that was appropriate for a second date. But, it fell through. It was cancelled at the last minute, and instead of wallowing in self-pity in his dorm room, Karl forced himself to stumble down the block to the party that his roommate and friends had left for hours earlier.
His roommate, Sapnap, was the first to find him. He wasn’t wasted yet, but the liquid in his red solo cup was sloshing around as he wandered over to Karl, and the sharpie markings on his face definitely didn’t look like drawings he would allow when sober.
“Stood up?” he asked, and Karl nodded. Sapnap frowned a little and then went, “Well that’s okay, I never liked him anyways he was too loud and too annoying and-”
“You never met him.” Karl cut him off. He didn’t need Sapnap of all people to make him feel better. He followed Sapnap to their group of friends, all sat on the gross leather couches in the living room, playing a game of “who can get the singular pong ball they stole into the glass cup filled with water from where they are sitting on the chair”. Dream was apparently winning, though George and Quackity both begged to differ.
“You know, Karl, I’ve been thinking about why you keep getting stood up,” Sapnap said once they had both sat down on the couches. It was loud enough that it grabbed the attention of everyone, and Karl felt his face flush because of course everyone just had to know that he had been stood up on another date.
That was another thing. This wasn’t the first time Karl had been stood up by a date, and that explained why he wasn’t as shocked or as sad as he should have been. He was just used to it. For some reason, all the dates he went on just didn’t seem to work out. He would meet someone, they would go for dinner or to a party together and then they would end up at either of their places. But there was never a second date.
“You’ve been thinking about my dating life?” Karl remarked, which earned a few laughs from the group. Dream passed him the pong ball and he lined up his shot.
Sapnap paused for a second, his face flushing, but then he shrugged, “Not important. Anyways, I think I know the reason why all these guys keep standing you up.”
Karl rolled his eyes, “That is?”
“Maybe the reason why all these people keep standing you up is because you’re a bad kisser.”
He said it just as Karl took his shot. Karl missed.
The rest of the group burst out laughing even before Karl had time to process what Sapnap had just said. When he did, Karl narrowed his eyes, mouth falling open in offense as he stuttered out, “W-What?”
Sapnap shrugged, taking a sip of his drink before explaining, “I don’t know, man. It’s just a pattern. You go on these dates, hook up with someone, and then they stand you up. Maybe you’re just bad at kissing.”
At that moment, Karl probably should have realized that Sapnap was just teasing him and trying to get a reaction. But, he had always been a lightweight and the vodka was screwing with his perception. So instead of brushing off the comment with an eye roll to punch to the shoulder like he usually would, he took the comment personally.
“I’m a good kisser.” Karl huffed.
“Everyone always thinks they are.” Sapnap shot back.
Karl opened his mouth, trying to think of a comeback, but nothing came out. He pressed his lips together in a straight line and crossed his arms. Sapnap was wrong, there was no way in hell he could possibly be right. Yet, as the night went on it was all Karl could think about.
As the night went on, and more drinks were passed to him, Karl started to take those words as a challenge.
A day later, on Saturday, Karl was at another party. This time it was in a different house, not a Frat or Sorority, just a couple of roommates with the unfortunate luck of housing half the student body. It was a bit less loud than the party before, and a bit less crowded, though Karl was barely downstairs long enough to make a clear judgement.
Admittedly, he was a bit drunk, and he had something to prove, so the second he got to the party he didn’t waste a second finding someone to hook up with.
Her name was Cassie, she was one of the people who threw the party — which Karl could only tell because of the wall of photos hanging on the room they were locked in. She was beautiful, with long blonde wavy hair and bright blue eyes, and she kissed Karl with so much passion that Karl couldn’t help but wrap his arms around her tighter and pull her closer.
He wasn’t a bad kisser after all, if he was why would Cassie be kissing him? Obviously, Sapnap was wrong. Karl couldn’t wait to march downstairs after, a smug smile on his face as he rubbed it in his face. Not only the fact that Sapnap was wrong, but the fact that Karl managed to hook up with Cassie. It was surely enough to shut Sapnap up.
Karl flipped Cassie over onto her back, breaking their contact for a second to catch their breaths, and then he leaned down and connected their lips again.
He could practically imagine Sapnap’s shocked face. Or maybe Sapnap would be jealous. Karl wouldn’t admit that Sapnap being jealous put a smile on his face.
Karl felt hands rest on his chest, and then Cassie pushed him up. Karl quickly sat up, giving her a bit of space. Her face was unreadable, blank like she was bored.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine… it’s just-” she paused for a moment, deep in thought, before looking up at Karl and saying, “I’m sorry. You’re just really bad at kissing.”
Karl’s mouth fell open in disbelief and then his eyebrows furrowed in offense. It was almost a mirror image from when Sapnap had said the exact same thing, except this time he was more offended.
That’s how, two days after Sapnap said Karl was bad at kissing, and one day after it was proven to be correct, Karl found himself barging into Sapnap’s room.
He wasn’t exactly sure what his point was, but all he knew was that he was angry.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
Sapnap was sitting at his desk chair, leaning back with his feet kicked up and resting on his white sheets, and staring down at his phone as he scrolled mindlessly through Twitter. He didn’t even bother to look up as he said, “Ever heard of knocking, dipshit?”
Karl slammed the door behind him, hoping that the sudden noise would get his roommate’s attention, but Sapnap didn’t look up from the damn phone.
“You are unbelievable!” Karl groaned, running a hand through his hair. He marched over to Sapnap and snatched the phone from him and stepped back, which in hindsight was a bit crazy, but nevertheless, it forced Sapnap to look up at him.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Sapnap asked, furrowing his eyebrows as he parroted the question Karl had said earlier. His eyes trailed from Karl’s eyes down to his feet and then back up, face full of confusion.
Karl stood up straighter and crossed his arms, “I am not bad at kissing.”
Sapnap’s lips curved into a smirk and without missing a beat he said, “Cassie said differently.”
“You know about that?” Karl stuttered out. His shoulders dropped and the facade of confidence he had quickly disappeared. He was stuck standing in the middle of the room like a fool, and hoping to god that what Sapnap had said wasn’t true.
Sapnap pushed up from his chair and then he shrugged, “Dude, it’s Cassie Smith! Everyone heard about it. People who don’t even go here heard about it!”
“I’m not a bad kisser!” Karl repeated, “I was just distracted because of what you said! Why did I even listen to you anyways, what do you of all people know about kissing?”
Sapnap let out a breathy laugh and then he walked over to Karl, snatching the phone from the burnet with a force that caused him to drop his arms to his side. Without breaking eye contact, he leaned into Karl just a bit, just enough, and said, “Dude, I’m good at kissing.”
The way that he said “good” ignited something in Karl. It was something that was unexplainable. It was unfamiliar territory, he had never thought about Sapnap like that before, and yet the way that the air in the room shifted resulted in that being the only thing that Karl could think about. He was sure it had something to do with the way that Sapnap’s breath brushed against his lips, the feeling causing him to dig his nails into the palms of his hands. Which, unfortunately, did nothing to distract him from thinking about what Sapnap meant by good.
He didn’t want to believe what Sapnap had said, because it was Sapnap of all people. Deep down, Karl knew that all Sapnap wanted was a reaction; for Karl to jump back with a bright red face, flustered as he stumbled to collect his words. He didn’t get that. Karl’s face was red, but the desire to know if Sapnap was lying or spitting the truth held him in place, lips pressed together in a straight line, daring to move forward.
He wasn’t thinking clearly — not since the moment he walked into the room, and as his eyes trailed over Sapnap all he could think about was doing something so incredibly stupid.
“Teach me.” Karl breathed out, not as a question or a suggestion, but as a command. He looked directly into Sapnap’s eyes as he said it, and even though it was barely above a whisper, the way that Sapnap’s eyebrows raised indicated that he had definitely heard it.
“Teach you?” Sapnap repeated, a playful smile creeping its way onto his lips. There were the smallest traces of a chuckle as he then said, “You’re not serious.”
“I am,” Karl said, lifting his chin up.
“You’re not.” Sapnap deadpanned.
Insistent, Karl stepped forward, “If you’re so good at kissing… then teach me.”
As those words slipped past Karl’s lips, something changed, shifted. He felt a proud smirk ghost over his lips as all traces of playfulness quickly dissolved from Sapnap’s face. It seemed to be the exact right thing to say. Sapnap stood there quietly, eyes tracing over Karl, conflicted.
Karl made the decision easy for him.
He brought his hands up to Sapnap’s chest and placed his palms flat against him. The fabric of the T-Shirt set him on fire, burning Karl’s skin, but he didn’t pull away. Maybe it was the universe’s way of telling him that it was a terrible idea — but he ignored it. Instead, the fire only beckoned him closer. Instead, he leaned forward and ducked his head to the side, lip’s just barely brushing against the other boy’s ear as he whispered— begged.
“Kiss me.”
Sapnap’s hands grasped roughly at Karl’s hips, fingers digging into the soft skin just above the top of his jeans and pinkies looping through the belt loops to bring him closer. Then quickly, effortlessly, his lips slammed into Karl’s with a force that made Karl let out a small gasp.
Sapnap tasted like chapstick and bagels. It should have been a horrid taste and just Karl found himself deepening the kiss because he couldn’t get enough of it.
It wasn’t like Karl had thought it would be — he was too stubborn to admit that it was good. Sapnap was intoxicating and as his lips moved against Karl’s, the brunet found himself aching for more. His hands trailed up the other boy‘s body, fingers tangling in the loose T-Shirt fabric, and then lingering on his shoulders with hesitation. Then Sapnap’s teeth grazed against his bottom lip and it set something off within him, causing him to wrap his arm around the other’s neck and pull him down, pull him closer, and deepen the kiss.
But just as he did, Sapnap pulled away, resting their foreheads together and catching his breath, “So that’s your problem.”
“What?”
“You’re too fast about it.” Sapnap mumbled, “You need to do it more like this.”
That time Sapnap leant forward and pressed their lips together slowly. In every sense of it, it was different.
Sapnap’s hands moved up from Karl’s hips, resting on the side of his face instead and pulling him closer. The touch was gentle, painfully slow, and yet the contact drew sparks to the surface of his skin and it seemed that all the air had escaped his lungs.
It tore Karl apart.
Their lips slotted together perfectly moved together in a rhythm that seemed so natural. Karl found himself quickly to be impatient. He sped it up. He pulled Sapnap closer.
Sapnap pulled away and forced him to move slower, and then he parted just briefly to whisper, “Savour it. Slow it down.”
Karl nodded slightly and pressed their lips back together. This time Karl took the lead, and Sapnap graciously allowed him.
Karl had kissed a lot of people — almost too many people. None of those kisses were quite like that one though. Kissing Sapnap was something entirely different, something entirely new.
Sapnap’s tongue gently ran along Karl’s bottom lip, the sensation sending a jolt through the brunet's body and making his breath hitch in surprise. Sapnap took it as an opportunity, taking the kiss further. Karl had lost his lead, Sapnap had regained it, and neither of them stopped to complain. Something about it seemed right.
Karl was the one to pull away. Not because he wanted to, but because he needed a breath. He stepped back slightly, enough so that he could stare into Sapnap’s eyes, to see what the other boy was thinking. Though, they were dark and unreadable.
“Was that slow enough for you?” Karl asked.
It took a moment for Sapnap to catch his breath before he mumbled out, “It was okay.”
“What?”
“Could be better.”
This time, Karl didn’t respond with a shocked “What?”. This time he said, “How.”
Sapnap connected their lips again.
It took Karl by surprise, because it was no longer slow, no longer careful. This time it was faster, and Sapnap kissed him like he had never been kissed before. Karl barely noticed that Sapnap had started to push him back until his back pressed hard and flat against the closed door. Sapnap pressed against him roughly, one hand on the door for support and the other trailing down to Karl’s jaw, gripping it and holding it in place.
When Sapnap pulled back that time, Karl whimpered at the loss of contact. The noise slipped out so quickly that he couldn’t stop it, and his eyes widened in shock and embarrassment. Sapnap only laughed at that. Karl sucked his lip between his teeth, and then Sapnap wasn’t laughing anymore.
It only made a pit grow in Karl’s stomach, a newfound desire. This time not to learn how to kiss, but to prove that he was good at kissing. He wanted to prove that Sapnap had been wrong the entire time.
He kissed Sapnap that time with as much confidence and passion as he could, and it took Sapnap by surprise, making him step back just a little but not enough to disconnect their lips. Karl took that to his advantage, pushing Sapnap back until he was sure the back of his calves touched his mattress.
But then Sapnap grabbed onto his hips and quickly flipped them around, causing Karl to fall onto the bed and for Sapnap to fall after him. The position was weird, but that didn’t seem to matter to either of them as Sapnap’s hands gently trailed up Karl’s shirt, hooking on the collar and using it to pull the brunet closer.
Daringly, Karl let his own hands trail under Sapnap’s shirt, the warm skin burning him as he dared move further up. His nails were just long enough that they lightly scratched over the skin, leaving small white trails that would soon turn red. They wouldn’t last long — Karl had to hold himself back from making ones that did.
Sapnap’s hand snuck around the back of his head and threaded into his hair. He tugged on the strands interlaced between his fingers, and Karl moaned. Soft and desperately, and that was when the reality of the situation hit Karl over the head.
They were friends.
They were friends and they were kissing.
They were kissing in Sapnap’s room, on Sapnap’s bed.
They were kissing, in Sapnap’s room and on Sapnap’s bed, and Karl never wanted to stop.
Karl pulled away then, pushing Sapnap up and off of him.
If he didn’t, he would have taken it much further.
“Are you… okay?” Sapnap asked, “With this?” he clarified cautiously.
“Yes.” Karl breathed. Yes, he was okay with it, “I’m more than okay with it.” That was the problem.
He shouldn’t have been okay with it.
It scared him, the way that he so easily bent to Sapnap’s will and easily let the other take control of him; without hesitation, without even a second thought. It scared him because of how fucking good it felt.
But that was not what truly terrified him — what really did was the way that Sapnap was looking down at him, lips in a frown, eyes soft and full of concern. It terrified him because it filled his chest with butterflies.
It was wrong.
They were friends. It was wrong to kiss him. It was wrong to want to kiss him.
Then, Sapnap leant down again, lightly pressing their lips together with a soft hesitation, and that contact made all of Karl’s worries disappear.
The kiss was short, too short. Sapnap pulled away and got up, wandering over to his desk like nothing had happened at all, and leaving Karl laying there.
“I think that’s enough practice,” Sapnap said, tone devoid of emotion.
Karl leaned up on his elbow, trying to gain some composure despite his cloudy head. He watched as Sapnap cleaned things at his desk, shuffling his pens around and collecting the loose notepaper scattered around. It was a distraction, he was distracting himself from something, and Karl ached to know what was going on in that pretty head of his.
He dared himself to think that maybe Sapnap had come to the same realization that he had.
Karl sat up, pressing the palms of his hands to the warm bedsheets, and then he said, “I think there’s still more to learn, don’t you?”
Part of him hoped that it would get a reaction out of the other, but it didn’t. Sapnap just chuckled, “You’re funny.”
“I’m serious.” Karl shot back. He shocked himself with how quickly the words came out, and so he backtracked, “What am I doing wrong?”
“Nothing,” Sapnap mumbled, throwing a used pen into the garbage below him.
Karl stood up, “What?”
Sapnap shrugged but didn’t give an answer. Karl crossed his arms, confused.
“What do you mean by nothing…” Karl pressed.
“I don’t know!” Sapnap groaned, it caught both of them off guard.
“What do you mean by nothing, Sapnap,” Karl repeated.
Sapnap turned around his face blank, a clever disguise to hide any emotion he was feeling. He walked back over to Karl, stopping only a few inches away, “Karl… I-“
Karl cut him off by connecting their lips again, an action that was so sudden that it caught Sapnap off guard and Karl by surprise. Karl didn’t even have time to register that he did it, but then there they were, kissing. It was different from the others, this time it was soft and gentle and full of emotion.
Sapnap pulled away, just barely and just enough that their lips still brushed as he whispered, “I was just trying to get a reaction out of you. I didn’t think you were bad at kissing — you’re good, Karl, you’re so fucking good.”
“Then why can’t I ever get a second date?” Karl sighed against the other’s lips.
“Maybe because you’re dating the wrong people.” Sapnap hummed.
Karl scoffed and the two of them pulled apart. He crossed his arms, “And who would be the right people.”
“Me.”
It was strange how such a simple word made the world shatter around both of them. Sapnap didn’t break eye contact, and Karl forced himself to look back at him, and then suddenly everything started to make sense.
“You.” Karl’s arms dropped to his side.
He paused for a moment, and the room drifted into silence. He had never thought of Sapnap that way before, but that wasn’t to say that it meant he saw Sapnap as just a friend either. To him, Sapnap had always just been Sapnap. The guy who made sure he went to parties and socialized, and who always threatened to kill Karl’s dates after the brunet got stood up. Sapnap has been a constant in his life, someone who never failed to make him laugh, and who always challenged him with his quips and jokes.
The more he thought about it, the more he realized he should have pieced it all together a lot sooner. How offended he got when Sapnap said he was a bad kisser. It wasn’t because it hurt his ego, not entirely. It was because it was Sapnap who said it, and that was why he was hellbent on doing anything to prove him otherwise.
Then, the last piece connected, and Karl’s eyes widened.
“Cassie said I was a bad kisser.”
“Cassie doesn’t know anything-”
“All I could think about was you. When I was kissing her… I was distracted because of you.” Karl exclaimed, the pieces seeming to fit together perfectly, “I was a bad kisser, but only because you psyched me out.”
The confession brought a satisfied smirk to Sapnap’s lips, “You’re an idiot.”
“I’m an idiot?” Karl gasped, hand clutched to his chest, dramatically.
“You barged into this room and asked me to teach you how to kiss.” Sapnap said, “Yes, you’re a bit of an idiot.”
“But you’re the nimrod who agreed to kiss me.” Karl shot back.
Sapnap’s hand found its way to Karl’s cheek, “You made it hard to say no.”
Karl found himself leaning into the touch. It was unfamiliar, the feeling that gathered in his chest, but it wasn’t a bad feeling at all. It was just the opposite. It gave Karl anxiety, made him want to pull away, and yet at the same time it only made him crave it all more.
“This is all new,” Karl muttered.
“It is.” Sapnap smiled warmly, “But we don’t have to figure it out right now. We don’t need all the answers.”
“We don’t?”
“No, I just need one answer.”
Karl raised an eyebrow, an amused look on his face, “And that is?”
“Can I kiss you again?”
“God, yes.”