Work Text:
This is the third time this week Karl has forgotten to put his nametag on his apron.
To be fair, he’s had other things on his mind. Exams for his final year of university are in less than a month. Work is busier than ever due to the influx of tourism in the city, thanks to the weather getting warmer. And, of course, there’s a new superhero-villain duo in town that’s making his job a lot harder.
Not his job at the coffee shop (at least, not yet). His secret side job, the sort of secret chaotic-good hero bit he has going on. His powers make it easy enough that no one even knows he’s there- he just stops time, slips in and changes things up a bit, and then restarts it again. But this superhero-villain duo is not as discreet. They’ve been battling it out across four cities, leaving destruction in their wake, before arriving here. Karl is not necessarily thrilled.
Sapnap and Fundy are both notorious masters of destruction. Sure, one of them goes by the name of ‘hero,’ but the burning buildings Sapnap leaves behind say something about chaos and inherent evilness. And sure, Sapnap usually stays behind to help clean up the messes his pyrokinesis creates, but Fundy does not, and no offense to him, but Sapnap really isn’t the best at getting rid of fire. He’s just good at making more of it.
So yeah, the two of them landing in Karl’s city makes things a hell of a lot harder. He’s spent the past four nights going around town and helping people as best as he can, stopping time so he can drag residents out of apartments buildings on fire, following the fighting around so he can freeze time and get people out before fireballs and mechanical monsters terrorize them any further, and then waking up after an hour or two of sleep and stumbling around campus in an attempt to make it to all his classes. Then, of course, scrambling to get to the coffee shop so he has enough money for said classes.
He’s eternally grateful for his roommates- Dream and George are the only people that know about his powers, and Karl’s intent on keeping it that way. They’re the ones that spent hours upon hours tinkering with his watch so he knows how much time has passed when he stops it, they’re the ones that have come up with excuses every time he ends up in the emergency room, they’re the ones that watch the city through the monitors set up in the spare bedroom and alert Karl to anything he needs to handle.
It’s George standing in front of him now, counter placed between them, telling him he’s forgotten his nametag again.
“I don’t care,” Karl says shortly, then backtracks immediately. “Sorry, didn’t mean to snap. It’s been-”
“A long few days, I know,” George nods sympathetically. “I’m sure your boss won’t mind. How much longer do you have left on your shift?”
“Like, three hours,” Karl groans. “Who knows what’s going to happen in that time.”
What he means is, who knows when Sapnap and Fundy are going to start their round of the day. Who knows if one of Sapnap’s hero friends will show up to ‘help.’ Who knows if Fundy’s equally-villainous family will arrive. Who knows what they’ll destroy, who they’ll accidentally kill. George grimaces.
“We’ll keep an eye on things,” he says. “Promise.”
“Thanks,” Karl says as he passes George the two drinks he ordered, probably for himself and Dream. “Text me if anything comes up.”
“I will,” George replies, and he waves awkwardly with his elbow as he makes his way out of the coffee shop. Karl leans against the counter and sighs, truly exhausted. His coworker, Quackity, approaches and leans next to him.
“Long night?” he asks, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
“Homework’s killing me,” Karl lies easily, whacking him on the arm to make him stop. “Nothing like that, Quackity.”
“I know, maybe it would help you de-stress if you got some action,” Quackity offers. “There’s a new guy in my comp class-”
“This late in the semester?” Karl says doubtfully. “I-”
It’s that moment that someone chooses to come shattering through the front window of the coffee shop. Karl and Quackity both yelp, their customers scream and go scattering back, and the man that just came flying in slides to a stop at the base of the counter.
Out of pure instinct, Karl freezes time. Everything stops instantly, all sound, all movement, and he’s left with nothing but the gentle hum of the in-between moments waiting in the back of his mind should he choose to reach out and talk to it. He carefully makes his way over the counter to see who it is that’s decided to disrupt his day. Based on the dark hair, the bandana, and the lack of a fox mask, it’s Sapnap.
He’s handsome up close, Karl thinks, then immediately chastises himself for that thought. One glance out the window shows that the mechanical creature Sapnap was fighting is going down into the building across the street. Karl makes his way over carefully- there’s no sign of Fundy, meaning it’s one of the remotely-controlled machines. Dream and George always talk about how Fundy’s a master of design, even though he’s a supervillain, and Karl can admire the intricate way the giant thing moves. He cannot admire the way it’s about to crash into the building and probably kill a bunch of people.
He picks his way through, making sure everyone is out, checking his angles to see just in case. Then he makes his way back to the coffee shop, takes his place behind the counter, and checks his watch- twenty-seven minutes. Not bad. Nothing he won’t be able to sleep off with a short nap later. He allows time to restart.
The screaming resumes, the movement continues, and Karl dives over the counter to Sapnap. He glances out the window and sees the crowd of people from the building across the street, looking around in confusion, then screaming as they realize what’s going on. Karl turns to Sapnap, who’s got a long line of blood trailing down his forehead, and grabs the towel from over his shoulder and presses it to the wound quickly.
“Thanks,” Sapnap says, barely sparing him a glance. “I’ve gotta get out there-”
“Yeah, go,” Karl agrees, mostly because he wants to get the hero out of his coffee shop, and gives him a little shove as he propels himself out the window. He stands up and Quackity is giving him a look.
“That guy took your towel,” his coworker says, and Karl groans. That’ll be coming out of his paycheck for sure.
Dream and George don’t believe him when he tells them what happened that night, but sure enough, the next day at the coffee shop the windows are boarded up and there’s spray paint on the wood reading repairs ongoing. Great. Now Karl won’t even have something to look at while he’s working. At least Sapnap and Fundy were relatively quiet last night, allowing him to almost get the recommended amount of sleep.
It’s nearing the end of his four-hour shift, where blissfully nothing has occurred, when something thumps against the boarded-up window. And then there’s a sizzling sound and the wood starts smoking, and Karl thinks, oh, great, here we go again, and then the window completely bursts into flames.
Karl stops time, grabs the fire extinguisher, puts it out, and then makes his way outside. Sapnap’s got both hands on the wood, backed up against it by one of those mechanical things, and Karl sprays the whole machine down with the fire extinguisher. Hopefully that’ll make it malfunction once time starts again.
Sure enough, there’s a crackling sound when he restarts things and Sapnap comes crashing through the window. The machine crashes onto its side on the street, thankfully not hitting any cars. Sapnap slides up against the counter again, and Karl sighs as he makes his way over it.
“Hey again,” he says, helping Sapnap up. “You alright?”
“Yes, fine,” Sapnap says. There’s a bandage on his forehead where the injury was yesterday. “I was going to bring your towel back, but I kinda lost it.”
“That’s fine,” Karl laughs. He peers out the window at the machine- people are gathering around it curiously now. It’ll probably blow up soon. He should take care of that. “Some fight going on,” he adds nonchalantly.
“Yeah,” Sapnap agrees. “I should probably get back to it- is there anything I could do to repay you? For helping me yesterday, and today?”
Karl shakes his head firmly. “I don’t need repayment.”
“Could I at least get your name, o kind citizen who helped me?” Sapnap asks jokingly. Karl glances down and realizes he isn’t wearing his nametag again. Maybe that’s for the better. He doesn’t need the attention that superhero-ism brings, he’s just fine staying in the shadows.
“Tomorrow,” he says. “When you inevitably come crashing through that window again.”
“Alright,” Sapnap agrees. “Tomorrow.”
And then he takes off. And it’s not that Karl wants his peaceful shift to be interrupted again, but Sapnap really is attractive, and Karl gets bored of the monotony of college life easily, and maybe this will be an adventure. The next three days, Sapnap comes smashing through the front window of the coffee shop, creating chaos, fighting monsters, and each time, he asks Karl for his name.
“Tomorrow,” Karl replies, each time, to the point where the sixth day Sapnap says,
“Hey, Tomorrow. I’m crashing your shift again.”
“Literally,” Karl snorts.
“I’m starting to think he’s doing it on purpose,” George says that night as they’re reviewing the damage from the day’s fight. “I think he just wants to see you.”
“What?” Karl says, feeling his face heating up. “No way, it’s-”
“I think you have a crush,” Dream says from his position on the couch behind them. “I think he does, too, and neither of you are going to admit it because you’ve never actually had a real conversation, and I think we should change that.”
Which is why, on the seventh day in a row, Sapnap doesn’t come smashing through the coffee shop window. Karl makes his way home a bit disappointed and not really knowing why, only to find the superhero sitting in his living room.
“Hey, Tomorrow!” he says brightly, and Dream and George exchange a knowing glance.
“What the hell is this,” Karl says slowly, throwing his bag down on the ground and running a hand through his hair. He checks quickly- no nametag. Good. He likes the little mystery game they’ve got going on.
“Did I not mention that Sapnap and I are old friends?” Dream asks. “We went to middle school together. And high school.” He’s got a shit-eating grin on his face. George looks like he’s trying not to laugh. Sapnap is just staring at him.
“No,” Karl says slowly, biting his lip to keep from crying, or screaming, or both. “You didn’t.”
“Oh, we were best friends,” Sapnap says. “Brothers, even. I’m glad you reached out, I was thinking about you.”
“I’m glad, too,” Dream agrees. “You cool if he stays for dinner, K- Tomorrow?”
“Yep,” Karl says, gritting his teeth. “That’s fine. I’m going to go- change.”
He makes his way to his bedroom, closes and locks the door, and then screams into his pillow.
Dinner is uneventful, thankfully, until Dream offers for Sapnap to stay for movie night. Sapnap agrees immediately, and Dream and George smash themselves together on the loveseat, leaving Karl and Sapnap to sit awkwardly on either end of the couch.
And then Dream and George claim they’re tired halfway through the movie and go to their room to ‘sleep,’ and thank God there’s a guest over because Karl knows what that means, and Sapnap pauses the movie and turns to him.
“Did you really not know that Dream and I know each other?” Sapnap asks, and Karl shakes his head.
“I had no idea,” he replies. “Did you know Dream and I were roommates?”
“Not until I got here and saw that picture of the three of you. I went, ‘Oh, that’s Tomorrow,’ and then they refused to tell me your name.”
“Good,” Karl says. “If you want my name, you’re going to have to earn it.”
“Oh, really,” Sapnap says, raising one eyebrow. “That sounds like a challenge.”
“It is. Maybe I’ll tell you tomorrow.”
“I can live with that,” Sapnap says easily. They spend the rest of the night talking, and Karl’s careful not to reveal too much, and by the time they realize what hour it is it’s way too late for Sapnap to be getting home.
“I’d offer you the spare bedroom, but we don’t really have one,” Karl says sheepishly.
“That’s alright,” Sapnap shrugs. “I’m used to going around at night anyways.”
“Where have you been sleeping? You haven’t been here for long.”
“Just- around.”
Which is Karl’s cue to offer his own bed, saying he’ll take the couch, and Sapnap insists on himself taking the couch since it’s Karl’s apartment, and thank God he doesn’t question why they have a third bedroom but no spare room because Karl doesn’t really know how to explain the six monitors and the wall of newspaper clippings about mysterious occurrences that were all him that Dream proudly insisted on putting up, other than something about being obsessed with the mysterious superhero and streaming about it, or something.
Sapnap ends up taking the couch. And then he takes it the next night, and the night after that, and it’s getting harder for Karl to hide the whole superpower thing and also to hide the ever-growing crush he’s developing on Sapnap. They go out twice, once with Dream and George, once on their own, and it feels distinctly like a date. Sapnap’s in citizen clothes, and he calls Karl ‘Tomorrow’ the whole time, which is why, when the kidnapping comes, Karl really isn’t expecting it.
Of course, he could get out of it easily, the mechanical monsters snatching him off the street and carting him back to Fundy’s makeshift lair. But he kind of wants to see where this is going to go, so he lets it happen. Fundy gives him a whole villain speech about how he’s the love of Sapnap’s life (they’ve known each other for three weeks) and how Sapnap will surely come to save him and fall right into his trap.
Sapnap does come to save him, and does not fall into his trap. He manages to avoid the trap, fight it off, untie Karl, and then go back to fighting Fundy, and Karl sees Fundy grin through the punches as a machine approaches behind Sapnap.
And Karl stops time, takes the mechanical creature down easily, and then restarts it. Fundy stares at him in shock, and Sapnap turns back and sees Karl standing over the destroyed machine, and lets Fundy slip through his grasp.
“He’s getting away,” Karl says weakly.
“You have superpowers,” Sapnap responds.
“Surprise?” Karl says.
They have a long conversation after that, on the walk home. Karl tells Sapnap everything except his name, and Sapnap nods in understanding, and when they’re finally standing outside the apartment door, he says, “Sorry for not telling you.”
“Sorry for getting you kidnapped,” Sapnap replies. “Why didn’t you escape? You know you could’ve.”
“I wanted to see what you would do,” Karl replies, grinning.
“Oh, yeah?” Sapnap asks, and he leans a little closer. “And what did you think I would do?”
“Rescue me, hopefully,” Karl replies.
“Well, I did… can I get your name now, Tomorrow? I think I’ve earned it at this point.”
“Sure,” Karl replies with a laugh. “You can have my name now. It’s Karl.”
“Karl,” Sapnap says with a nod, and Karl has never loved his own name more than when it was rolling off Sapnap’s lips. “It’s nice to meet you, Karl.”
And he reaches down, takes Karl’s hand, and presses his lips to Karl’s knuckles. Karl can feel his whole face heating up, and Sapnap grins at him, and Karl grabs him by the collar and pulls him inside the apartment.
The next week, the veteran superhero Sapnap and supposed-newcomer Tomorrow formally arrest Fundy and then introduce Tomorrow to the world.