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The two of them have always been just friends. Sure, maybe they flirt sometimes, but it's just something that close friends do. He knows that Sapnap will always have his back. He's loyal like that.
It wasn't until one night out at the bar that things escalated to an entirely new level.
The four of them, Dream, George, Sapnap, and Karl, all decided to hang out at a bar for a while and get a few drinks. Karl wanted to catch up with the three of them, but mainly Dream since he hadn't seen him in person for a long time.
The music was loud but not loud enough to take away from their conversation. The four of them talked about anything and everything that they could think of just like any group of best friends would. The four of them naturally got along so well, and it was always so much fun for Karl to be around them. "No, because George actually has zero rizz. Who was that girl that you were trying to flirt with at that restaurant that we went to last week?" George's face flushed completely red, and Karl urged Dream to continue telling the story. "It doesn't matter anyways. So we all sat by the bar while we were waiting to be seated, and there was this girl like two seats away from George that was sitting at the bar with a few of her friends. So George tries to make conversation with this girl, right? Talking about their favorite drinks and the music that they were playing in the restaurant. So at one point, this girl goes to the bathroom, right? And George turns to me, and he's like, I think this girl is really into me, I'm going to ask for her number." Sapnap started laughing a bit, and Dream started chuckling a little more as he continued the story. "So George is all hyping himself up, and one of the girl's friends comes over to us, and she's like so our friend can tell that you're into her, and she didn't want to give you the wrong idea. She's just not looking for anyone. And George is like oh okay yeah or some bullshit. The friend walks away, and Sapnap and I start dying laughing. Like I'm talking disturbing the restaurant type laughing." At this point, Karl was hysterically laughing at the massive L that George took when trying to talk to a woman. "George, oh my god that is so embarrassing!" George's face was burning red, and he shook his head at the three of them. "It's not even that funny. She just happened to not be interested, okay?" Sapnap rolled his eyes and leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees. "Oh come on, George, don't get all butthurt about the rejection. You should be used to it by now." Karl leaned into Sapnap's side as he laughed harder at George's misfortune.
The bartender brought a drink over to their table while they were all still laughing. "Which one of you is Karl?" He raised his hand, and she set the drink down in front of him. "It's from that young woman over by the bar." She walked away and he smiled cockily at his three friends. "Might want to take notes, George." When he turned to address the girl that bought him the drink, he completely froze. She side-eyed him and gave him that devilish little smirk that he had nightmares about for months after they broke up.
His friends noticed his obvious shift in attitude, and Sapnap laid a hand on his shoulder. "Karl...?" His eyes slowly found their way back to his friends, and he sunk back down into his seat. "That's her..." He mumbled in a hushed tone. "The girl that abused you for almost your entire-" His vigorous nod cut off Dream's question, but Karl still stared coldly at the drink that she bought for him. He could feel that dark past creeping up on him as he started having flashbacks about their relationship. "Alright, that's enough." Sapnap grabbed the drink angrily and stood up. Karl shook himself back to reality and looked up at him. When realizing that he was approaching his ex with the drink in hand, he jumped up and rushed over to stop him.
"Hey." He set the drink down in front of the girl, and she looked up at Sapnap. Karl cowered behind him a bit since he didn't reach him in time, and he was too afraid to go back to the table and leave him over here with her by himself. "Um, can I help you?" She flipped her long, blonde hair behind her shoulders and glanced at him over Sapnap's shoulder. "No, because he's not interested. Leave Karl alone." She simply scoffed at the comment and looked at Karl to say something. "You really need someone else to speak up for you? How far down did you fall after we broke up?" His heart sunk to his stomach, but Sapnap only perked up more at the challenge. "I came over here on my own. Karl doesn't need to ask me to stand up for him because he knows that I have his back no matter what." She looked back at Sapnap with an amused look on her face. "And who are you? His friend? Sorry, but friendships will never outlive my relationship with Karl." He grabbed Sapnap's wrist to try and pull him back to the table, and he looked back at him. "Actually, Karl is my fiancé, and I would appreciate it if you kept your dumbass away from him. He's mine." Hearing Sapnap claim Karl as his did something to him, and he smiled a little at him. "Let's go, babe. She's not worth our time." He grabbed his hand tightly and walked with him back over to the table.
He let go of his hand when they sat back down and wrapped his arm around him instead. He scooted slightly closer to him, and he pulled him in the rest of the way so he was leaning against him again. He felt safe when Sapnap kissed his temple, and Dream and George looked at them like they were crazy. "What happened while you guys were over there?" George asked with a small chuckle. "Karl is my fiancé, and you both are going to act that way until we are back home later." He was so confident in his decision, and Karl beamed at the idea of being his fiancé in real life.
Throughout the rest of their time at the bar, Sapnap was very loving and attentive to him in a way that overstepped any of their other flirtatious bits. If Sapnap would get up to get another drink, he would always ask him specifically if he wanted anything, and he would substitute babe in place of his name which gave him butterflies. He would do little things like rub the back of his hand with his thumb or rest his hand on his thigh to ensure him that he was safe with him. He even went as far as kissing Karl on the cheek a couple of times throughout the rest of the night.
Sapnap held his hand when walking out to the car and even opened his door for him. It was all very sweet, but he was a little sad knowing that this "bit" was almost coming to an end. That thought was quickly shaken from Karl's mind when he grabbed his hand and rested their hands in his lap. He was a little confused about the attention, given his ex was nowhere around when they were driving, but he definitely was not complaining.
All four of them headed inside, but Karl kind of lingered behind for a moment. He was a little sad that they were back home and he knew the reason why. "Hey, what's wrong?" Sapnap's eyes were full of concern, but he wouldn't dare tell him why he was upset. "It's just lingering from earlier with... you know." He took a step closer to Karl and wrapped his arms around him. "Hug it out?" He chuckled because he was already hugging him when he asked that. "I don't know if you can... you're not my fiancé anymore," Karl said it as a joke, but he kind of wanted to see Sapnap's reaction to that. He could maybe judge where they stand based on how he reacted to that.
He smiled a little at Karl when he pulled away, and he noticed that his hands lingered around his waist for a moment. "Who said you're not my fiancé anymore?" He was a little bit confused about what Sapnap was hinting at because of what he said at the bar. "W-well, you did... you said that we need to continue it until we get home." He shook his head slightly and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "That's not what I said." Karl furrowed his eyebrows a little and thought back hard to what he said at the bar.
'Karl is my fiancé, and you both are going to act that way until we are back home later.'
And that's when he realized the intentions behind Sapnap's words. Karl was still careful though because he wasn't confident about what he was feeling. "You said that you both are going to act... like you were only talking to Dream and George." He rose his eyebrows a little like he was waiting for him to say something else, but Karl wanted him to connect the dots for him just in case he was wrong. "And I was really careful about the way that I phrased it."
Dream and George came up from the basement to check on the two of them since they didn't follow them downstairs. "Hey, fiancés! We're hanging out downstairs." They both looked over at George when he yelled at them, and Sapnap waved them away. "Fuck off, you two. We'll come down in a few minutes." Dream's eyes grew wide, and they both started laughing. "Fine, whatever."
After they disappeared downstairs, Sapnap grabbed Karl's hand and pulled him into the living room. "Karl..." He was looking at him very seriously, and it was making him quite nervous. "I don't like serious Sapnap." When Sapnap dug his hand back into his pocket, he pulled out a small box, and Karl's heart leaped into his throat. "Oh my god, Nick..." He covered his mouth with his hand as Sapnap knelt down on one knee. "Karl..." Karl shook his head and grabbed Sapnap's wrist with his free hand. "Nick, be serious. You're not actually..." He laid his free hand on top of the hand covering his wrist and shrugged his shoulders up to his ears. "Karl, you're one of my best friends, and after today, I think that there could honestly be something here. We already know so much about each other, so I would rather just skip to the step that matters the most to me. Karl, will you marry me if a relationship between us ends up working out?" Sapnap was so ridiculous with his long proposal, and it made Karl laugh. "Of course, I will." He opened up the box, and there was a beautiful gold ring with three purple diamonds embedded into the ring. "Holy shit, Sapnap! Are those real?!" He bit his bottom lip and slid the ring onto his ring finger. "Yes, they're real, dumbass. It's a real ring." He was speechless, to say the least. Purple diamonds were some of the rarest gems in the entire world, hence the most expensive. There was also the matter of when he got the ring. "How did you find the time to get this if you only thought about this tonight? I-I don't get it." Did Dream and George somehow have enough time to run out and find this exact ring while he was talking to Sapnap out by the front door? There was no way.
"I custom ordered it after we got engaged on the smp. I wanted something real for you if we ever had a wedding." Karl's face flushed, and he laughed at how insane that sounded. "You are actually ridiculous. You got a real, customized engagement ring for a Minecraft wedding?" He pulled him close and kissed his cheek. "Well, I was going to let you keep it after the wedding, so it was worth it." He still sounded so ridiculous, but it was so fucking cute.
Dream came back upstairs, and Karl jumped away from Sapnap when he heard Dream's footsteps. Sapnap immediately caught Karl's wrist when he jumped away, and he pulled him up against him again. "What, are you ashamed to be with me or something?" He was so taken back by the way Sapnap held onto him that he could hardly respond. It was basically just a series of stuttered sounds until he was finally able to mumble "O-of course not!"
Dream cocked his head slightly as he approached the top of the stairs. "Are you guys coming downstairs...? What happened?" Karl was a little nervous to say, but Sapnap just seemed so enthusiastic about their brand-new relationship. "So, I actually proposed to Karl with the ring that I got for him ages ago. Remember the one that I bought after we got engaged on the server?" Dream's mouth dropped open, and he rushed over to them. "No fucking shot. The purple diamond one?" Karl giggled when Dream seemed to take more interest in the ring than in Sapnap's actual proposal. "You're not surprised about the proposal?" He looked up at the two of them and shook his head. "Obviously not. As a queer man, I know what crushing on a man looks like. I just wanted you guys to realize it on your own." Sapnap playfully swung at his shoulder, but Dream ran back downstairs before he was assaulted. "George! you owe me ten bucks." Karl laughed loudly, now knowing that Dream and George bet on some form of the proposal.
After Dream had disappeared downstairs, Karl caught Sapnap looking at him with those adoring eyes that made him melt inside. "'Don't give me bedroom eyes right after you propose to me." He looked down at Karl's lips, and he knew exactly what Sapnap was thinking.
He met him halfway when he leaned in to kiss him, and he tangled his hands in Sapnap's hair. His hat came loose on his head and fell to the floor, scaring Karl enough to get him to pull away. His cheeks were dusted a light pink, and he started to bend down to get his hat. Karl snatched it off the ground before he could and stuck it on his own head. He ran his hand through his hair nervously, but Karl wanted his hat to stay off so he could play with his hair. "You're so handsome." He ran his hands into the back of his hair and closed the gap that formed between them when he picked up his hat. They were very happy with each other.
He leaned in to kiss Karl again, and he smiled a bit when he leaned in, going limp under the feeling of Sapnap's lips against his. He pulled away after a few short moments and grabbed a fist full of his hair. "I love you, Nick." He smiled at the use of his name and ran his hands up and down Karl's arms. "Let's get you comfortable on a couch, cutie." He moved his hands from his arms down to the bottom of his waist, and Karl blushed badly under the contact. "Maybe I'll get comfortable on your lap or something." He ran his hands down his arms from his hair, and he grabbed one of his hands. "Whatever you want, kitten." He kissed Karl's cheek once more before they headed downstairs to hang out with their friends for the remainder of the night.