Chapter Text
🔎 bars near me
Results near Elon, North Carolina
Chemistry Night Club
4.1 stars (729) • $$ • 0.4 mi
Nightclub • 267 Halls Oak Ave W
Dine-in • No delivery
The Oakhouse
4.7 stars (667) • $ • 1.5 mi
Bar and Grill • 887 North Ave
Dine-in • Takeout • Curbside Pickup
Flex
4 stars (909) • $ • 1.9 mi
Bar • 900 North Ave W
Dine-in • No delivery
As Sapnap grew older and understood that responsibilities would increase as he aged, he was under the impression that turning twenty-one was only supposed to be fun. There was no need for such misunderstandings to begin with. Even worse, it wasn't a silly misunderstanding that was just used for entertainment; it was confusing enough that he began to doubt everything he previously knew about himself.
The beginning of this misunderstanding was the moment Sapnap locked eyes with Karl Jacobs for the first time. It was Sapnap’s twenty-first birthday and he chose to celebrate alone at the famous Chemistry Night Club.
Sapnap is sitting at the bar of an ill-lit nightclub stuck staring at the condensation sliding down his empty glass, occasionally checking his phone just to look right back at his glass occupying melting ice. In a way, he’s proud of himself for finishing his drink of a poorly flavored tequila cocktail leaving his mouth tasting like nail polish remover and artificial grape (poor flavoring choice on his part, he realizes too late). He startles at the sudden, eager voice beside him. Sapnap turns towards the voice and lays his eyes on a soft face akin to a bunny.
“Sorry?” Sapnap says as he leans toward the bunny boy.
“I said you seem like you’ve had a rough day,” the bunny boy repeats. Sapnap agrees that he has with a laugh and a slow nod, turning back to his glass of almost entirely melted ice. “What’s your favorite drink?” the bunny boy yells over the music.
And Sapnap doesn't really know the answer, so he ponders for a moment. Then eloquently, “I don’t know. I just know I hated that,” he points to the glass. “Gross grape nail polish. And I guess I really liked this coconut malibu I tried once.”
The boy, hair in a mess of curls covering his ears calls out for the bartender and orders two malibu sunsets. Sapnap smiles genuinely, “I’ve never heard of that. I love sunsets.” The boy looks at Sapnap with eyes that say keep going. “They’re just… so pretty.”
The bunny boy hikes his leg over the bar stool and sits. “Yeah, I think they really are beautiful. Like you.”
Confused and a little flustered, Sapnap laughs and brushes the comment off. “Oh! Well, um. Thanks? That’s, uh, that’s real nice of you to say.” His gaze sets to his glass of ice again, strangely comforting in the way it contrasts his warm face. Before either of the boys have the chance to continue speaking, the drinks are placed on the table. The drink is pretty; layers of pink, purple, and orange blend nicely in the glass. Sapnap chirps, “wow, this is beautiful! Like, seriously this is the prettiest drink I have ever seen,” he takes a sip. “And it tastes so good holy shit.”
“I’m glad you like it,” the bunny’s grin is toothy and wide. “So, um… how long ago did you turn twenty-one, if you don't mind me asking. You just look really young.”
Sapnap breathes out a short staccato laugh, “Yeah. I turned twenty-one today actually.”
“Shit, really? Happy birthday!”
“Yeah, thanks.” Sapnap mentally curses himself and thinks why am I being so weird and awkward?
“Huh, that makes sense then why you look so young.”
“Well, how old are you?”
“Twenty-three. I turn twenty-four in a couple months though.”
“Oh, cool. Yeah, that seems about right to be honest.”
The boy cocks his head to the side inquisitively, “does it?”
“Yeah, I think so.” Sapnap blurts, “like, you have a baby face for sure, but you definitely dress like you would be much older.”
“Really? I dress that prehistoric?” Sapnap’s eyes widen but before he can say anything the boy lets out a laugh from deep in the bottom of his stomach and shrieks, “that’s so fucking funny holy fuck.”
“I didn’t mean it like that! You just have the style of a grandpa!”
“Holy shit, it gets worse!”
“Fuck, no I mean like a cool hip grandpa!” Sapnap laughs through his embarrassment, trying to find anything that will save him from further mortification. “You dress cool! Not like a grandpa that stomps around a Panera Bread swearing he will never come back because they up-charged his sandwich because he wanted an asiago bagel instead of the miche it comes on.”
The bunny boy scoffs lightheartedly, “that is like, so weirdly specific.”
“Yeah, sorry,” Sapnap shakes his head. “I used to work at a Panera and that is a real thing that happened, and of course, he was back a week later!” Both the boys chuckle awkwardly and sip their drinks.
The boy looks at Sapnap and asks, “so, what’s your name?”
“Oh, um– yeah. My name is Nick,” and as the boy starts to say his name is nice, Sapnap interjects, “I actually prefer to be called Sapnap, though. That nickname started when I was like twelve or something and it just stuck, so yeah. Call me Sapnap.”
“Well, nice to meet you, Sapnap,” the boy’s hand extends and they shake hands like they’re both grandpas ordering asiago bagels at Panera Bread. “That’s very interesting, who was the person that gave you that nickname?”
Sapnap says in between sips of his drink, “my friend Dream did when we were like twelve and thirteen. I started calling him Dream when he called me Sapnap. It’s like supposed to be backwards for pandas kind of which was another one of my nicknames.”
“Aw, that’s so cute.”
Sapnap looks at his glass and smiles shyly. He isn’t exactly used to people talking to him, let alone basically flirting with him. He shakes his nerves off and asks, “what’s your name?”
“Karl Jacobs.”
“Ooh, I get a first and a last name, am I that special?” Sapnap jokes.
“You are,” Karl smirks, but not in a fuckboy kind of way, it’s more of a playful way. Almost flirty, but again, not flirty like a fuckboy, flirty like a guy who favors romance.
Sapnap stares through the shameless flirting. “Although, that doesn't seem like a first and last name. Two first names, more like.”
Karl voices a grunt that matches his cringing expression. “I wish I could say that was the first time I heard that. I used to actually be bullied in middle school because of that, funny enough. None of it really ever got to me though. I had other things to be bullied for too like people called me gay all the time, and yeah that definitely hurt after a while, but I became immune to it after a while.”
“Oh, God… I’m sure that, uh, would suck to hear… even if you aren’t actually gay… I’m sorry.”
Karl laughed under his breath. “Well, I am. Or I guess I am. I don’t really put a label on it. I just like who I like, usually men, sometimes not.”
“Oh. Yeah, sorry.”
“No, no! It’s chill.”
“Well, still it’s fucking horrible to bully a young kid for being gay. And your name is cute, I think. Really selling the whole Panera grandpa aesthetic,” Sapnap smiles and sips his drink again. He’s starting to feel looser as he lets the drink take control of him.
“Aw, thanks. I spell Karl with a K though, so I’m at least kinda cool. Or, more like I’m super duper cool and everyone wants to make out with me.”
“Dude, I’m pretty sure anyone that’s actually cool doesn't say the phrase super duper.”
“Maybe you’re right!” Karl picks up his glass and gulps the rest of his drink, leaving an empty glass. He shrieks a loud “WOO!” and sets the glass down. “I guess I’m super duper fucking cool then. That’s more like it!”
Sapnap laughs. He finds an instant connection with Karl; he can’t help but laugh like they’ve been friends forever. He feels like Karl feels it too. He flashes his teeth in a big grin.
“You have a lovely smile,” Karl says softly.
Sapnap raises his eyebrows in shock and laughs breathily. “Thanks, I guess.”
“You guess?”
“I don’t know,” Sapnap sips his drink again. “I usually don’t get complimented on my smile. Or on anything, really.”
“Well, I think you should. Your smile is beautiful.” They both smile at each other and Karl nudges Sapnap’s arm. “You wanna know what else I think?” Sapnap nods. “You’re so tense. Think too much, too. That mind in that pretty little head of yours is always moving. I have the perfect solution to that.”
“Oh, yeah? What would that be?”
“I think you need to be kissed.”
The shorter boy was taken aback, but smiled coyly; He just can’t stop smiling with Karl. “Do I?”
“Definitely.”
“Well, that sucks because I’m pretty sure absolutely no one wants to kiss me.”
“Oh, I’ll have you know I personally know someone who would like to kiss you very much,” Karl speaks effortlessly with a smirk, but again, not in a sexy fuckboy way, more like a cute, romantic way.
Sapnap becomes slightly confused and says, “who?”
“Me.”
Sapnap isn’t just slightly confused anymore, he is really fucking confused when Karl’s hands are in his hair and lips are touching lips. The shock is apparent in Sapnap’s expression; his eyes are still very much wide open and his mouth unmoving, but Karl kisses slowly, almost parallel to a question.
Sapnap’s response is relaxing his eyes secured shut and kissing back inquisitively. The pressure on his lips becomes too much as he backs away and starts to leave in a scanty panic. Karl wonders if he did something wrong as he reaches out for Sapnap instinctively. “Where are you going? Did I do something wrong?”
“I have a girlfriend,” is the best excuse Sapnap can come up with in his heightened state of disbelief, and that excuse is very much a lie; he and his girlfriend had broken up months prior.
“Oh! Sorry for assuming you were single. It’s just when people come to gay bars alone, they’re usually looking for… you know… something like this.” Karl’s hands gesture wildly in front of him as he scrambles for words, having no idea why he’s still talking.
Sapnap is now really, really super fucking confused. “What?” is all he manages to sputter.
Karl’s breath quickens shortly as he repeats, “what?”
Sapnap gawks at the bunny-faced boy he kissed moments prior and suddenly the world around him came to a halt as he processed what Karl had just said. What did he mean they were at a gay bar? His eyes grow as wide as a deer in headlights when he once again shouts, “What?! I seriously had no idea this was a gay bar.”
Karl couldn't help but laugh hysterically when Sapnap said "I literally looked up bars near me and walked to the closest one!"
This is how a relationship begins; it always starts the same. Just a small interaction between two people is enough to build a connection–romantic or not. A look, a touch, a feeling... anything small will forge a bond between them like they're soulmates meeting for the first time after being separated from their past lives.
Sapnap immediately likes Karl, that is for sure, but what he isn’t sure about is if this is good for him to be talking to a random stranger who tried to make out with him just minutes earlier. He feels like he has had enough confusion tonight to last him a lifetime, so he decides on the best way to tell Karl he’s leaving.
“No, no, no, stay. I’m sorry for making things awkward. Let me buy you another drink and then I can drive you home. Still can’t believe you walked here, dumbass.” Karl argues playfully. Something grows inside Sapnap, akin to feeling like he has been challenged; he decides he is definitely going to leave, which is why he is perplexed to find himself sitting again with Karl with their second and third drinks.
Sapnap has never drank before—well, that’s sort of a lie. He has had beer before but hated it despite what he told his high school football bros. He has never had alcohol like this before; the alcohol that burns as it goes down and has a strange taste he can’t quite place. During a sip of the fruity cocktail, a sunset liqueur, Sapnap admits that he was lying and he doesn’t have a girlfriend.
“I’m not sure why I lied. I guess I was just… nervous?” Sapnap fixes his gaze on Karl and then as the bunny boy gazes back, eyes looking really at him, Sapnap’s eyes fall back to his glass, empty; how he has no idea as he thought he was just brought another one.
Sapnap is taken out of his mini trance when he hears Karl say he’s sorry. “Are you?” Sapnap questions in reference to the apology. There is no verbal reply from Karl, but no reply is needed as Sapnap realizes Karl isn’t looking into his eyes anymore and his gaze has lowered. Lower than his nose. He also realizes Karl must be looking at his lips because their bodies have turned towards each other and foreheads grazing ever so slightly. Sapnap realized they were close enough to kiss and missed the next phrase that left Karl’s lips.
Sapnap’s expression must be akin to a deer staring into headlights when Karl breathes, “you need to loosen up. Try not to be so worried and anxious,” The bunny says. “It’s okay to live a little, you know. You’ll never know what you like unless you try it!”
“What, try boys?”
Karl blinks followed by laughter, “sure, but I was talking about the dancing.” Sapnap fills in the blanks and realizes that’s what he must have missed. “And just life in general! Try new life experiences! Have fun, let loose. I want you to come dance with me.”
Sapnap's lowered head shakes in disbelief as the corner of his lip rises. He apprehensively looks toward Karl again and says, “I don't know how! ”
Karl stands abruptly with an understanding smile on his face that hasn’t left since their very first glance. “I can show you.”
It’s the music change when Sapnap falls onto his feet that changes Karl’s expression from polite boy-next-door to an absolute rabid animal, but it isn’t his own fault; his favorite song has just come on blasting through the DJ’s speakers. Sapnap’s hand is taken by the bunny as he is led to the middle of the dance floor. Sapnap expresses uncertainty but is once again met with a sweet and understanding expression from Karl. They scurry off to a more secluded part of the dance floor and Karl almost trips past people as his hands drag Sapnap across the floor at the speed of light.
One thing Sapnap has noticed about Karl is the permanence of his wide grin; he wears his smile everywhere. His demeanor beaming expansively as he contorts his body in a half-dance, half-crazed hop around the dance floor as wildly as he can. It almost looks like a bird attempting a mating call with an extravagant dance, but it was… something. Sapnap isn’t saying it’s endearing, but he isn’t exactly not saying that either.
Karl’s dance moves are not exactly the best thing anyone has ever seen, but it occurs to Sapnap that style wasn’t the point. The whole point is his new friend is having the time of his life, and Sapnap sees that. He’s overcome with joy as he smiles at Karl the widest he has in what he feels like is forever, and the bunny notices that as he stops hopping. The shorter boy’s breath hitches when Karl guides the bottom of his face into large and warm hands.
“Now there’s that gorgeous smile,” their second kiss isn’t as surprising as their first, but it’s just as encompassing. This kiss is all lips; it’s blunt teeth, raw emotion. It’s butterflies erupting from the lowest chambers of his stomach, creeping their way to his heart.
Twin spikes of tense arousal flood through his body as Sapnap tentatively kisses back. His eyes belatedly flutter shut as he enables himself to be devoured. The smaller boy feels what he believes to be electricity flowing along his fingertips into his core and out his lips, pouring directly into Karl’s mouth and through him. A steady flow of electric current rips through them both.
The sensation of the kiss mixed with the alcohol has his brain itching; he feels serendipitous, almost like he is melting. Each breath they take is quicker and quicker as they rush to fit their lips together again. Karl’s hum reverberates against tight lips. Sapnap’s mind fucking shuts down as his mouth slacks unlatched, and Karl wastes no time licking his way in to taste a little better. Karl’s tongue acquaints itself rather hastily, knocking past his teeth and onto the roof of the hard palate.
The kiss is no less than dizzying—bewildering. Sapnap swoons with an overwhelming sense of shaky unsteadiness; he reels from kissing while under the influence.
Karl staggers backward with a grip latched onto Sapnap’s collar like his life depends on it. Their feet knock into each other as they bump into other humans and random objects, but they don’t pay any active attention to anything but each other.
All it takes is a few drinks and a couple of kisses before Sapnap unearths himself leaning on the dirty door of a graffitied bathroom stall, hands still desperately weaved into the thick fabric of Karl’s shirt. Their mouths open in unison while Karl pulls himself upright to kiss Sapnap impossibly harder.
The kiss is a push and pull—they ebb and flow together.
Karl’s hand slips down from his neck to his back, then brushes against the loose fabric of the shirt. He dips inside where his hand meets bare skin, right on the small of Sapnap’s back. It sends an electrifying chill up Sapnap’s spine which resonates with a hum in his skull. He feels like he is drowning-–drowning in Karl and drowning in a puddle on the floor. His body feels no less than a stiff pudding or jiggly jello; his hands begin to numb.
He is overwhelmed. In every sense of the word.
Sapnap’s thoughts—or lack thereof—halt when Karl speaks, “Are you– is this okay?” Sapnap nods. “Okay… Are you sure? I mean, I know you said yes when I was leading you back here and everything but I just wanted to be sure. I thought it would be better to have a little bit of privacy.”
Sapnap forgets how to breathe momentarily. “I… I don’t really know. What to say.”
Karl takes a small step back but keeps his hands on either side of Sapnap’s cheeks. “I just wanna make sure you’re comfortable with me. I don’t wanna do anything you aren’t comfortable with.”
There’s something about Karl that Sapnap just can’t put his finger on. He has never met someone and immediately felt so comfortable with them like that before. Karl is like a Studio Ghibli movie. Or more like the music from the films. He perfectly embodies the whimsical strings in “Merry-Go-Round of Life” or the comforting hug “One Summer’s Day” seems to give. Karl is sweet dissonance. He’s the leading tone resolving to home in the most uplifting way. He is augmented thirds and diminished fifths.
Sapnap’s face melts into an affectionate smile. “I’m fine,” he says. “We’re just going a little too fast and I don't think I can keep up and I don't even really know what I’m doing. And I think I’m a little drunk.”
Karl laughs a sweet melody floating through the sky. “Yeah, maybe you are drunk. Let's slow down, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
The gap is closed as Karl’s head dips in to place another soft kiss on Sapnap’s velvet lips.
He opens his eyes to see Karl’s half-lidded ones peeking at him. “Do you wanna get out of here?”
Sapnap must have looked horrified because Karl had to sputter a hurried "oh, I mean like—fuck. I’m sorry that came out wrong. I just meant we could maybe go somewhere that isn’t fuckin’ crowded and loud but NOT my apartment or anything-“
“It’s okay,” a faint smile flickered across Sapnap’s face like a hologram. “I’m sorry for freaking out, I guess.”
“No, no don’t apolog-“
“We can go anywhere you want.”
Eyebrows climb towards Karl’s hairline. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” spills from the younger boy’s lips.
Karl simpers, “okay. Well, would you wanna uber to get food and sober up or something?”
“Sure, where do you wanna go?”
“Um,” Karl pauses to think for a moment. “How about Waffle House? I think that’s probably one of the only places open right now.”
Sapnap grimaces but tries not to let it show too much. “Um, yeah. That’s fine, I guess.”
“Cool, sounds like a plan to me,” he says as he grabs his phone from his back pocket. He flicks wildly, opening his phone and quickly searches for the uber app. He suddenly bolts upright, “shit! Let me pay my tab really quick. Did you have one before I bought you drinks?”
“Yeah, I did. I’ll pay for that after you pay for yours.”
Karl calls over the bartender with a lopsided grin, “hey, can I pay for the tabs under Karl and Nick really quickly, please.”
“Hey! I’m gonna pay for mine!”
A playful scoff exits Karl’s lips, “no, no! I insist, birthday boy.”
Sapnap wrinkles his nose while Karl pulls out five or six twenties and tells the bartender to keep the change.
Shocked, Sapnap swallows and asks, “how much was the bill?”
Karl shrugs, “I’m not sure, I didn’t even look, to be honest. It was probably around 60, I think?”
“Dude!” Sapnap exclaims. “You just tipped, like, over 50 percent, I think!”
Karl brushes the air as he grins and says, “what? I like to tip good. Plus, he deserves it for having to watch us flirt all night long.”
“I did not flirt with you.”
“Well, I think you did. Or you at least liked it when I flirted with you.”
Sapnap’s expression quickly shifts, confused yet amused. “You were flirting with me?”
“Um... Yeah?” Karl’s body collapses inward. “I’m pretty sure that was obvious after I kissed you.”
“Well, yeah… But I don't really remember you flirting with me.”
“Yeah? Did I kiss you so hard you forgot?”
An electric bolt shot up Sapnap’s spine, somewhat of a recurrence. He was stunned, to say the least, and as he was about to muster up a reply, he heard a phone chime.
“Is the uber here?” Sapnap receives a nod.
They saunter past the patrons of the bar and exit through the main door. The crisp end-of-winter air nips at their skin immediately. Sapnap regrets not bringing a jacket with him now; he forgot that it’s usually colder during the evening hours.
"Hey, um…” Sapnap begins, “do you think you can not flirt with me while we’re in the Uber? Don’t want it to be awkward."
Karl giggles, "Why would you ask me to do the impossible? That’s like asking me not to breathe." He climbs into the Uber and greets the driver.
“Hi!” Karl says while throwing his leg into the backseat.
“Hi, Karl?” The Uber driver asks.
“Yeah, that’s me.”
“Nice to meet you, boys.”
“Same for you! Thanks for driving us!”
“Well, it’s not like I’m doing it for free!” the Uber driver laughs along with Karl. “I hope you don’t mind if I play some music.”
“No no, that’s fine! Play anything good!” Karl says with another drunken giggle.
“Any requests?” The Uber driver asks while she pulls up Spotify before they start driving.
Karl thinks for a second. “Hmmm. How about One Direction?” he says as a joke and he laughs again, smiling wider than usual.
The Uber driver scoffs, “good lord, I don’t think I’ve heard anyone over 13 years old say that.” She laughs but puts it on anyways playing into the joke. “Niall was always my favorite!“ she says.
Something warm and soft slips into Sapnap’s hand and he realizes it’s the bunny boy’s hand. Karl blurts, “oh yeah, Niall is my boyfriend’s favorite too.”
Sapnap snaps his head in Karl’s direction at lightspeed, eyes wide and doll-like. The look the younger receives is a mixture of muddled perplexity paired with intense eyes that say ‘just please go along with it’ .
Bewildered, Sapnap simpers nervously and says, “yeah, but I don't really like One Direction as much as Karl does.”
“Yeah, One Direction was one of my favorite bands when I was a teenager.”
As the Uber driver turns onto another street, she says, “I have a twelve-year-old at home that just got into One Direction because of her new obsession with Harry Styles.”
“Aw,” Karl grins, “that's so cute!”
“Yeah, she’s adorable. She will seriously listen to Harry Style’s entire discography while in the shower. After about an hour, I’ll have to go in there and tell her she’s been in there way too long!”
This catches Sapnap’s attention. “Oh my god, I used to be that way with Elton John when I was a kid.”
Karl’s hand travels from Sapnap’s hand to his thigh as he leans in closer and murmurs, “oh really? that's cute.”
Sapnap stares intently at the hand resting on his upper thigh as he whispers, “shut up, oh my god.”
A sweet scoff is heard from Karl’s lips displaying an ostentatious smile. “What?” he breathes as he pokes either side of Sapnap’s cheeks.
The uber driver beams softly at them through the rear-view mirror as she pulls up to Waffle House. She speaks, “have fun on your late-night date boys. Stay safe.”
In unison, Karl and Sapnap say “thanks!” and as they both exit the car, Karl hands her a ten-dollar bill from his wallet and says “thanks for playing One Direction.”
She cocks an eyebrow but looks delighted as she thanks him.
When the car pulls off back onto the main road, Sapnap comments, “you must be made of money if you can afford to tip that good.”
Karl laughs nervously and mutters, “yeah, something like that.”
With questioning eyes, Sapnap looks at him hoping for elaboration, but when he is met with dismissive silence he decides not to push. His new friend obviously doesn’t wanna talk about money, and considering they just met Sapnap knows he doesn’t owe him any explanation.
The boys walk up to the door of the Waffle House and make their way inside through the entrance and into the restaurant. They choose to sit in a booth in the corner away from everyone else. However, there aren’t too many people inside. There are just a few regulars and some bikers that Sapnap doesn’t recognize.
Karl looks around for a couple of moments until he grabs a menu and speaks, “I haven’t been to a Waffle House in years. I used to love eating here with some friends in high school after tennis games and shit. I used to live, like, less than a mile away from one when I lived in Portland, so my friends and I would walk there at like midnight and stay until almost three A.M. sometimes.”
“Really?” Sapnap gawks. “High school? Did your mom know?”
Karl replies, “yeah, she knew. She didn’t like that we went so late but she knew.”
“Wow. Lucky.” Sapnap scoffs, “my mom is so strict. She always has been. And she still is, to be honest.”
“Really? Then how is she letting you stay out alone tonight?” and as Sapnap starts to reply, their waitress appears at the table and greets them.
“Hey, y’all!” Sapnap immediately recognizes her. “It’s nice to see two young faces here for a change! How are y’all doing tonight?”
“We’re amazing! How are you?” Karl replies.
Their waitress says, “doing as best I can workin’ the night shift.” She laughs lightheartedly. “What can I get you two to drink?”
“Orange juice, please,” Karl replies. “Oh, and I was gonna ask, do you guys have iced coffee here by chance?”
“No sweetheart, we don’t. But I’m gonna be completely real with you. We’re about to make a fresh pot so what we have right now is almost cold. I can see if I can pour it over ice for you.”
“Yes please, that would be amazing! Do you have any flavored sweeteners or just cream?”
“We just have cream.”
“Okay, then I will take that iced coffee with cream and sugar please.”
“Sure thing sweetie!” their waitress says without having to write anything down. She turns her attention to Sapnap. “Nick baby, do you just want apple juice or your special coffee?”
Karl hears this and tilts his perplexed head in wonder as Sapnap replies, “I’ll take apple juice on ice and also hot coffee with extra cream, please. And could you bring a hot apple juice too and fill the coffee only halfway in the mug?”
“Sure thing. I’ll be right back with those.”
“Thanks, Pamela,” Sapnap smiles at her as she wanders back behind the counter. He turns back towards a super confused-looking Karl.
“You’re on first name bases with our waitress?”
“Yeah. I used to come here a lot. Like, every single day.”
Karl is wide-eyed as he replies, “seriously? I mean, I used to love this place, but I don’t think I could come every day.”
Sapnap smiles, but hidden underneath is a sadness like when a child lets go of his balloon and it starts to float away. It’s like a depth of sorrow that grows with you. “Yeah,” Sapnap starts. “I stopped coming though. I’m surprised Pamela didn't say something.”
“Aw. Why’d you stop coming in?” Karl glances over the menu and absentmindedly fidgets with the laminated edges.
“Well,” Sapnap pauses. Then, “I don’t know. No reason, I guess.”
Karl glances up to read his expression. He observes that hint of sadness. He doesn’t fully believe he is telling the truth, but he doesn’t press further. Pamela comes back with the drinks and asks if the boys know what they want to eat yet and Sapnap says, “give us just a couple moments, please.”
Pamela smiles and speaks, “okay babe, just holler when you’re ready.”
Karl looks at Sapnap’s two apple juices and half-filled coffee mug and asks, “okay. Now, what the hell is this then?”
Sapnap shakes his head yet smiles and says, “okay, well… when I came here a lot, I used to try putting a lot of things in coffee because I absolutely hated the taste but I needed the caffeine because I had school and homework to stay away for, so one day I mixed apple juice and coffee together and I really liked it. So now it’s like one of the only ways I actually drink coffee.”
Karl just stares and matter-of-factly says, “I need to study you inside a lab.”
Sapnap raises his eyebrows in shock and whisper-shrieks, “fuck off! It’s good, okay! And let me just say, orange juice and coffee is the worst combination of all time!”
Karl fake gasps as he dramatically brings his hand to his chest and speaks, “how dare you!” and just to be a drama queen, he takes a sip of his iced coffee and orange juice right after another. He tries to hide the disgust on his face, but cannot commit to that because the taste is just that rancid. “Okay, maybe you’re right.”
They both bust out laughing with heads thrown back and arms clutching their stomachs. Sapnap notices crinkles form on either side of Karl’s eyes, and he feels a tear fall down the side of his face from pure glee. “Holy fucking shit, I don’t think I have cried from laughter in, like, fuckin’ years bro.”
Karl’s laughter simmers down, but his permanent smile stays. “Bro? Did you just bro-zone me?”
Sapnap’s face lights up like a neon sign. “I thought we were bros!”
“I thought we were more than bros?” Karl tilts his head and jabs his foot into Sapnap’s in a playful way.
Sapnap felt a flush flowering on his cheeks. He thinks it must be from the alcohol, nothing else.
But, Karl notices the blooming blush he feels responsible for, and he lowers his gaze to his lap as he smiles to himself. “Well!” he shakes his head and fixes his gaze back onto the boy in front of him, “let’s look at that menu before Pamela comes back and we still haven’t decided.” He lifts the menu into his grip again as he scans the options heedlessly.
“Oh, I already know what I want.”
Karl raises his head up from his menu. “Oh?”
“I get the same thing each time,” Sapnap says as he shifts on the booth seat. “I get the angus patty melt with either hashbrowns or a peanut butter and chocolate chip waffle.”
Karl scrunches his nose, “first, that patty melt sounds fuckin’ disgusting. I didn’t even know they had things other than breakfast here, and second, that waffle sounds amazing .” He really emphasized amazing.
“Dude,” Sapnap scoffs. “Don’t you fucking dare disrespect the patty melt. I love the patty melt. Texas toast is the reason I live and breathe,” he says very seriously which results in them both laughing uproariously with Sapnap covering his mouth to suppress how loud he was and Karl slamming his hand on his own thigh.
Pamela appears again once their laughter has subsided. “Have you decided what y’all want?”
Karl wipes his face out of sheepish embarrassment from being a little too loud. He breathes in and out then replies, “yes, ma’am!”
“Oh sweetheart, you don’t have to call me ma’am. What can I get you?”
Karl nods as he looks over the menu one last time and says, “um, could I get the All-star breakfast please with scrambled eggs, hashbrowns and bacon.”
“Sure thing hun,” she says without writing the order down, instead making a mental note. “White, wheat, raisin, or pecan bread?”
“Oh um, white, please.”
“Do you want any toppings on that waffle?”
“Chocolate chips, please.”
“Okay, great.” She shifts her gaze to Sapnap now. “Nick, did you want that patty melt today?”
“Yes,” he nods.
“Hashbrown or waffle?”
He ponders for a moment and the corners of his lips raise once he has made his decision. “Why not treat myself with both! Today is my birthday, after all.”
“It’s March already?!” She exclaims. “Well, I’ll be damned! Happy birthday, sweetheart! Now tell me, did we turn twenty or twenty-one? My old lady brain can’t remember.”
Sapnap shakes his head and giggles. “Twenty-one!”
“Aww, you’re so grown up! I remember when you first started coming in here at… what? Eighteen? Nineteen?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“Aw, goddamn! I am so happy I got to see you today! I really missed seeing you come in after… well… you know-“
“Yeah,” Sapnap cuts her off. “I hope I’ll come in more.”
“You better! Now boys, let me get these orders in for you, and I’ll be back to check up on you later.”
The boys both thank her as she walks off and starts shouting out their orders to the chef. Karl glances over at Sapnap knowing something must have happened based on the conversation he just listened in to, but he can tell Sapnap doesn’t want to talk about it.
Karl shifts from side to side thinking of what to say now. “Well… you do know I’m gonna have to try that waffle, right?”
Sapnap's previously somber expression lights ablaze. “What?! You have your own!”
“Well yeah,” Karl sweeps his feet under the table in the pattern of a rainbow, “but I wanna try it with the peanut butter chips!”
Sapnap places his fingers on his forehead and rubs out of feigned frustration. “Why didn’t you order it like that?!”
“Because I don't know if I’ll like it!”
Sapnap rolls his eyes into the back of his head like a drama queen. “Fair enough, I guess.”
Karl looks at him the same way he has been all night and says, “so. I guess this is the part of the date where you tell me about yourself.”
Sapnap gawks, “date? What do you mean?”
Karl places his arms criss-cross on top of the table in front of him. “Yeah, I mean this does kind of seem like a date.”
“Fuck off, dude,” he shakes his head with a restrained smile and places his hands atop his thighs. “And fuck you for implying I would take someone here on the first date. Just so you know, I would take a first date somewhere a little more romantic than a fuckin’ Waffle House.”
Karl grabs Sapnap’s hands from under the table and says, “oh, so you’ll take me somewhere nice next time?” He tilts his head innocently.
Sapnap pushes his hands away and laughs nervously. “No, idiot.”
Karl simulates sadness with a pout but can’t help but grin a little bit. “Oh, come on now, am I only good enough of a date to take to Waffle House?”
“This is not a date! Get that through your thick skull, Jacobs.”
Karl grabs Sapnap’s hand again softly. “You remembered my last name?”
Sapnap doesn’t immediately let go this time. “Oh, well, yeah I guess.”
“That's sweet. Kind of seems like something someone on a date would do.”
Sapnap rolls his eyes with a scoff and drops Karl’s hand again. “Oh, come on. To be fair, I wasn’t even sure that was your last name.”
“Yes, you were. Now you’re just backtracking.”
“Oh my god, that isn’t true at all!”
Karl giggles and tries to hold Sapnap’s hand once more, but Sapnap once again doesn’t fully pull away. He even starts to rub his thumb against the side of Karl’s soft hand. Karl climbs on Sapnap’s side of the booth and fully clasps their hands together, woven like embroidery thread on a friendship bracelet.
Sapnap jitterily tries to push him away as he says, “what do you think you’re doing, Jacobs?!”
“I’m just trying to make sure you don't run away and lie to me about having a girlfriend again.”
Sapnap’s eyes grow in size. “I won’t run away,” he admits. “And we are not going to be those people that sit on the same side of the booth!”
“Oh god,” Karl’s hold on his hand loosens. “That’s horrible,” he immediately crosses to the other side of the table, back to where he was originally seated. They laugh with each other again—they just can’t seem to stop laughing. Maybe Sapnap subconsciously misses the warmth of Karl’s hand because he looks around and once he sees surprisingly no one is paying them any mind, he reaches for Karl’s hand and the warmth. Karl’s breath hitches in the back of his throat at the contact. He laces their fingers together again.
With a small laugh, Karl peers across the table with a lovestruck gaze. He doesn’t know exactly if what he’s feeling is platonic or not—he thinks it’s too early to really tell—but he knows with absolute certainty that this guy he has just met is going to become a very important part of his life if he hasn’t already. He knows Sapnap is special in some way or another, and they don’t have to be necessarily romantically involved for that to be true (however, that is starting to seem like a bonus).
They’re taken out of that moment when the clank of their plates of food is heard being placed on the table in front of them. Sapnap immediately retracts his hand out of fear and Karl pouts a little, but quickly smiles at Pamela and says, “thank you so much, this all looks so amazing!”
“Of course boys. Holler if y’all need anything and I’ll just let you guys eat and chitchat. I’ll bring the bill in a little while. Is it gonna be on one or separate tonight?”
Sapnap says, “separate” at the same time Karl says, “together.”
The younger boy squints at Karl as he says, “together is good.”
Pamela smiles and nods. “Okay, great. Holler for me if you’d like refills or anything,” she glances at their more than half-full glasses as she turns to go behind the counter to ring that group of bikers up.
Sapnap continues to squint at Karl. “You are not about to pay for drinks, Uber, and dinner.”
Karl tears off a large bite of his crispy bacon and chews a couple of times before saying, “what if I was gonna ask you to pay for my meal?” with his mouth still full of bacon. He chews a couple of more times before he giggles and swallows. “Of course I am, today’s your birthday silly.”
Sapnap grabs his phone out of his pocket and raises it up to his face. As the screen illuminates, he checks the time out of spite. The time reads 1:27 A.M. Sapnap sweeps his phone in the air—almost dropping it into Karl’s plate—and says, “well, as of an hour ago, it isn’t my birthday anymore.”
Karl looks at the time but is distracted by the lock screen. He sees Sapnap holding what looks like to be a black cat. He smiles and says, “I don't care what time it is! I met you when it was your birthday, so I will pay for everything tonight! And maybe forever if you let me,” he adds hastily and regrets immediately.
“Where did you get all this money from?” Sapnap asks impulsively. “Are you a rich boy using daddy’s money or are you trying to be my sugar daddy?”
Karl’s mortification dissolves into laughter at Sapnap’s question. “It’s literally just drinks and dinner, it isn't that big of a deal!”
They devour their meal and in between bites Karl tries both of his drinks at the same time again, forgetting how fucking awful the combo is. After a few moments of messing around and almost throwing food at each other like gremlins, Pamela brings the check over and says, “well boys, you sure do look stuffed. How was it?”
They both wipe their mouths and say, “it was so good” in unison. Karl reaches into his pocket to grab his wallet.
Pamela smiles broadly and goes to lay the ticket down, but Karl stops her mid-air and hands her a 50 dollar bill, and tells her to keep the change. At first, Sapnap is shocked, but then he realizes this just must be something Karl always does. He sort of feels bad, but he is genuinely so curious about how he has so much money to tip everyone that well.
Pamela raises her eyebrows in shock and shakes her head and says, “baby, that’s super sweet, but are you sure? You look like a college student, I wouldn’t want you using all your spendin’ money, angel.”
“Keep it! That’s all yours. Thank you for taking amazing care of us tonight. We will be sure to only come back when you’re here!”
Pamela laughs sweetly, “well, that is super sweet of you angel. Thank you so much. What’s your name, sweetie?”
“It’s Karl with a K.”
“Well Karl, it was very nice to meet you, and it was so good to see you again, Nick! I missed seeing your sweet face in here every day. I hope life has been treating you better, baby. Thank y’all so much for coming in tonight, y’all enjoy the rest of your night.”
Sapnap grins as she saunters off to the register. He looks at Karl again and sees him on his phone double-clicking his power button. He puts two and two together and figures he’s ordering another Uber. “I love her so much,” he eventually speaks, referring to Pamela. “I really missed her.”
“Yeah,” Karl agrees, finishing up the ApplePay and checking the arrival time of their uber. “She’s awesome.”
As the boys get up to leave Waffle House, Karl grabs Sapnap’s hand and they walk out through the exit as their Uber approaches to take them back to Karl’s car.
Pamela finishes up ringing their bill and stuffs the excess tip into the pocket of her apron. She glances over to her coworker and gets her attention. “Remember when Nick used to come in here all the time with Abby? I think we will be seeing a lot of Nick and his new boy.”
She says this in a hushed tone under her breath, “Nick and Karl. Cute couple.”