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Karl thinks that his biggest downfall is how easily he falls in love. He should know better, he really should know that getting attached to people who he'll eventually forget is awful and terrible, and that he should stop. Karl knows that he needs to stop falling in love, but he can't, and he doesn't really know if he even wants to. He sits across the table from Sapnap, or at least one of his ancestors. Sapnap's ancestors are all like him in the oddest way possible. All of them are attracted to fire and warmth, they're all full of light and life, they all laugh the same. Their eyes sparkle with the same determination that Sapnap's do, and they're all just as gorgeous as he is. They're beautiful, handsome, magnificent, they're perfect, every single one of them. Karl falls in love with every single one of them, and he doesn't know how to stop.
He doesn't want to stop. He puts down his cards, all aces, and watches as Sapnap's face lights up. His name is Mason this time around, but that's not really important. In the end, he's still Sapnap. He's got blue eyes, a little lighter than usual, his hair a bit more brown than normal. He's a bandit, he's cocky and strong-willed, and he laughs like he's got nothing to lose. He's a thief and a scoundrel and everything that Karl isn't, he's everything that Sapnap is. He's everything to Karl, he's perfect. Karl can't help but smile back at the man in front of him, watching as his eyes shimmer and sparkle. Karl is convinced that Sapnap and all of his ancestors and reincarnations have stars in their eyes, they surely have to. They're all gorgeous, every single last one of them is perfect and lovely and amazing, and there are so many words to describe them all that Karl really can't even say them all. There are far too many words to describe Sapnap, to describe him and his reincarnations. Far, far too many.
Karl knows that he needs to stop falling in love with them. He has to stop falling in love with Sapnap and his ancestors and his reincarnations, Karl knows that he has to stop. All it does is hurt him, and all it's going to do is hurt Sapnap. It's going to hurt the both of them, and Karl knows that. But he can't, he can't stop, no matter how hard he tries. It's so unbelievably difficult for him to stop falling in love, and Karl quite honestly doesn't think that he'll be able to stop. He never chose to fall in love with Sapnap. He never chose to fall in love with the man with brilliant blue eyes and the softest laugh in the entire world. Karl never chose any of this, he never really even wanted any of this. He never wanted to have to save the world and its people, he didn't want to have to give up his memories and his life for everyone else to survive.
Karl wanted to be selfish. He wanted to be selfish and keep himself sane and keep his memories and keep his life. He wanted to be selfish, he wanted to be free. He wanted to run from the Inbetween and everything else, Karl wanted to run and he wanted to take Sapnap with him. He knows that Sapnap would have gone with him if he just asked. If Karl asked him to run with him, Sapnap wouldn't even question it, he would do it. But it's far too late for that, and Karl knows better. He knows that he can't do that, he knows he isn't allowed to do that. If he ran, he would just be dragged back to this place, he'd be forced to do it all over again. Karl would be forced to save the world, and this time the world wouldn't be nearly as cooperative as it's being right now.
"You're good at this," Sapnap, Mason, tells him. His eyes shimmer a little, stars dancing in them. His lips tug up into a soft grin, and Karl watches as the man in front of him leans back in his chair, kicking up his leg to rest on top of the table between the two of them. All of his mannerisms are spot-on, they're just like Sapnap's. "I never expected some soft-hearted city boy to be this good at cards." Karl rolls his eyes, the words somehow endearing and fond as they're spoken. Even if they're meant to be taken as harsh and belittling, they're not. There's a part of him that wants to believe that just like him, every single reincarnation of Sapnap's falls in love with him. Karl thinks that it might just be hopeful thinking, but the more time goes by, the more reincarnations that he meets, he thinks that it might be true. He thinks that Sapnap's reincarnations might all fall in love with him, just like he does with them.
"Of course I am," Karl shoots back, picking up the deck of cards again, shuffling them in his hands. He learnt how to shuffle from Quackity, who learnt how to shuffle from Schlatt. Karl silently thanks the god that he doesn't really believe in that he hasn't met any of Schlatt's reincarnations. From what he's seen, they're all the same - evil and drunks and abusive pieces of shit with no good, redeeming traits. Some of them don't start off like that, most of them are good people with hearts of gold, right up until they're not. All of Quackity's reincarnations are just like him, it's almost terrifying. They're all loud and they laugh like no one is laughing. They're always happy and full of life and joy, but they're not naive or dumb. They're smart, full of wisdom and suspicion, but they never really show it. "For a bandit, you're pretty well spoken."
Sapnap grins at him, his eyes lighting up nearly immediately, more so than they already were. "Well, obviously. It's to pick up cute city boys," Sapnap pauses, raising an eyebrow up to his hairline, his lips tugging up even more. He narrows his eyes playfully, his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth. "Oops. Did I say that out loud?" Karl rolls his eyes, unable to keep his own smile off of his face. His chest hurts and aches, but in the best sort of way. It's a familiar, endearing pain, one that he feels every single time Sapnap says something stupidly fond like that. "You should buy me a drink, city boy. I think that you'd like me better drunk. I'm less of an asshole."
Karl smiles, leaning back in his seat, tilting his head back a little. He looks up at the ceiling, watching as orange lights dance just out of the corners of his eyes. Everything in this bar is warm and familiar, it makes him feel like he's at home. Even though half of these people aren't good people, most of them are his enemies, most of them hate him in the present world, it still feels like home. "I think I like you enough as you are, Sa-" he pauses, biting down so hard on his lip that he swears he tastes blood. Right, Sapnap doesn't exist in this timeline. Well, he does, Karl thinks. He just doesn't have that name, not yet. "I think I like you enough right now, Mason. I think you're pretty.." he trails off, smiling as he leans forwards again. He holds out six cards, beaming at the man in front of him. "I think you're pretty."
"Do you, now?" Sapnap grins at him, taking the cards from his hand. "I think you're awfully cute, city boy. I think that you and I could get along pretty easily, don't you? I think that we should.." he smiles, giving Karl a sort-of half shrug that sends waves of nostalgia washing through his body. Sapnap does that same thing. Even though Sapnap is Mason and Mason is Sapnap, it still never fails to surprise Karl just how much Sapnap's reincarnations and ancestors are like him. It's almost eerie, really. "Let's make a deal, Karl. If I win this, I want a kiss from you," Sapnap pauses, grinning, mischief sparkling in his eyes. "Don't matter where-"
"Ew," Karl grins back at him, his heart leaping up to his throat. "How about on the cheek?" He offers, looking down at his cards. Once again, the universe has given him all aces. Sapnap isn't going to win this match, and he never will. The universe seems intent on making sure that Karl wins every single card game that they ever have. And while that's both hilarious and endearing to him, it's sort of sad. That he'll always end up winning. It feels like an omen, it feels like the world is trying to tell him something.
Karl decides that he's just not going to listen to the universe.
"Which cheek?" Karl sighs, but he can't keep the grin off of his face.
"Tell you what, Mason," he beams, tapping his knuckles against the table. "How about if I win, you have to kiss me?" He offers, raising an eyebrow. He raises a finger up to his cheek, tapping the side of his face a few times. "Right here. How's that sound? Is that a good enough deal for you?" Sapnap beams at him, so brightly that it really could, honest to god, rival the sun in all of its glory. Sapnap in general, Karl thinks, could rival the sun. "I'm not offering you anything more than that."
Sapnap nods, looking pleased with that deal. "You got it, city boy. Now, you want to go fir-"
Karl puts his cards down, reveling in the shock that splays out across Sapnap's face. His eyes widen, comically, just like they always do. He bites down on his lip, drawing his face into a tight scowl half a moment later. "I win," Karl grins, resting his head on his hand, fluttering his eyelashes at the man in front of him. "So. My prize?" Sapnap blinks at him, narrowing his eyes in that stupid, playful way that he always does.
"You're a goddamn cheater, Karl Jacobs."
"I might be," Karl tells him, beaming. "But I think you don't really mind, do you?"
Sapnap smiles, crossing his arms against his chest a second after he puts his cards down. It's a terrible hand, there's no way in hell that Sapnap ever though he was going to win with that hand. "No, I don't think that I do. You sure you just want me to kiss you on the cheek, Jacobs?" Sapnap asks, quirking up an eyebrow. "I think that I'd like to kiss you somewhere else on your face. Somewhere a little lower than your nose."
"My chin?" Sapnap laughs so hard that he nearly keels over, and it makes Karl's heart soar, it makes his entire world spin around him. It makes him so unbelievably happy. "Where were you thinking, S-" he internally curses, swearing at himself over and over again for getting the name wrong. "Where were you planning on kissing me, Mason?" Sapnap sighs, tapping his fingers against the table, pretending to be deep in thought. "If you don't hurry up and say a part of my face that you want to kiss, I'm going to assume to want to kiss that guy over there." Karl points at Techno, whose current occupation is the Sheriff of this town. Sapnap laughs, clapping his hands together.
"That guy? Dear god, Karl, my standards are a little bit higher than that, holy fuck," Sapnap grins at him. "I want to kiss you on the lips. I can't believe I have to spell it out for you, Jacobs. You just like making me do that, don't you? Does that fuel your ego, making me say things? Does it put you on a power trip?"
"It does," Karl confirms, even though it really doesn't. He thinks it's funny. Sapnap always teased him about being unable to put what he wanted into words, and now Karl's finally got the chance to do it back to him. "So, Mason. You gonna kiss me, or not?"
Sapnap sighs, dramatically and huffy, just like normal. He's always like that, he's always been like that. He'll always be like this.
"I guess I will," Sapnap beams at him, leaning forwards. "A shame that there's no romantic music or candles, or something like that. Kind of lackluster, of you ask me-"
Karl breaks the gap between them, knowing damn well that that's exactly what Sapnap wanted him to do. He feels Sapnap smile against his lips as they kiss, he feels himself smile, too. He always smiles whenever he's with Sapnap. Karl kisses him, and Sapnap kisses him back, and it's just like normal. It doesn't matter that Sapnap's name right now is Mason, it doesn't matter that they're in a bar in the past, none of it matters.
It doesn't matter, because Sapnap is still Sapnap, and Karl is still in love with him.
Karl pulls back a second later, breathing out. Sapnap beams at him, his eyes sparkling and shining, filled with stars and with love and with light and with life.
He's perfect. He's always perfect.
"That was.." Sapnap grins, ducking his head. He raises his hand, rubbing the back of his neck, flushed. "Nice. That was nice."
"Was it?" Karl grins, breathless as he always is. "Maybe I should do it again." Sapnap laughs, sounding breathless and happy and warm. His laugh is always warm, everything about him and all of is reincarnations is warm. They're always so full of warmth and of love, it's nearly unbelievable. Karl doesn't know how it happens, he really doesn't, but he would never ever change it, even if he were able to.
"Maybe you should," Sapnap breathes out, wide-eyed and beaming like a madman. "I think you should. You know," he leans forwards, eyes sparkling. "Maybe you're the real thief."
"And why's that, Mason?"
Sapnap grins.
"'Cause you've just stolen my heart." The words are enough to make his heart soar, catching in his throat just like it always does. Karl grins back at him, wondering if Sapnap knows just how much Karl loves him. His reincarnation definitely doesn't, but Karl would like to think that somewhere deep inside of Mason's chest, he knows. Even if they've just met, even if Karl has to leave soon, he thinks that Mason knows. Sapnap's reincarnations probably know. If Karl always falls in love with Sapnap, then Sapnap always knows. Surely.
"Let's play again," Karl smiles. "And if you win, I'll kiss you again."
"You're on, Jacobs."
And just like that, the world is perfect.
Just like that, Karl has fallen in love with Sapnap once again.
Just like that, history has repeated itself.
Just like that.