The Dream Case || Dreamnotfound

19

The next morning, a van drove them out to George's friend's place.

George was stuffed between Clay and Alex as they all rode in the back of one of the police station's vans. It was cramped; ten people sat in the back. Karl, Alex, Clay, Sapnap, and George, plus the five guards were all coming along.

They stopped outside Luke's building. After not much convincing, George got Luke to allow them to rent the whole place for a day so they wouldn't be bothered by anyone.

All ten of them hopped out of the van and George greeted Luke, "Good morning! Thank you for letting us have the place for the day!"

Luke grinned, but his grin faltered at the two cuffed prisoners dressed in bright orange and the five towering guards. He said nervously, "Woah, George, when you said your 'friends' were coming over I didn't think you meant these kind of friends."

George frowned. "It's okay, right?"

Luke shook off his nervous expression and shrugged. "I guess, just make sure that they don't break anything."

"They won't," George assured him.

He talked with Luke for a moment longer before Luke said he had to go. George said goodbye and led Clay and the others to the training gym. They entered and George locked the doors, giving the keys to the guards.

George knew that Clay and Sapnap weren't going anywhere, but he still did it anyways to put the guards at ease. The guards uncuffed Clay and Sapnap and took posts by the doors.

George turned to them, "Alright! What are we doing first?"

"I, for one, won't be doing anything," Karl said. "I'm just here for moral support."

Clay snickered and nudged George's side. He muttered, "More simply put, he wants to ogle Nick while he trains."

George let out a light laugh and watched Karl take a seat on the edge of the training gym. Since it was down to the two field teams, they split up like how they were going to do for the mission. Sapnap and Alex went to one part of the gym― the part closest to Karl― and Clay and George went to the other.

George flexed his newly freed arm. His doctor had removed his cast last night and George remembered how much he enjoyed feeling the air on his skin.

Clay watched George for a moment and asked, "How does your arm feel?"

"Sensitive," George admitted, "it's been a while since it's felt anything other than plaster, but other than that, it feels great."

"Sensitive?" Clay asked with a raised eyebrow. He dragged a light finger up George's inner forearm and George shivered. Clay laughed softly, looking at George with caring eyes.

"Hey!" George blurted, "Guess what!"

"What?"

"No, idiot, you're supposed to guess," George teased.

Clay pouted, "Oh please, just tell me George. I'll do anything."

"Anything, you say?"

Clay laughed and nudged George's side insistently. George sighed. "I was just thinking and you know how I said you were the villain?" When Clay nodded George said with a smile, "You can be the superhero now! We're going to get the bad guy and save your sister, so you're the superhero."

Clay shook his head. "I'm not a superhero."

"You're my superhero."

"I'm your superhero? How?" Clay asked, giving George a skeptical look.

"You make me happy."

Clay smiled, biting his lip as something similar to adoration sparked in his eyes. He murmured, "Okay, I'll be your superhero."

George giggled, beaming at Clay. Clay shook his head with a smile, "Alright, that's enough stalling. We actually need to train."

~

Hours later, George was sweaty and tired. Clay had taught him new defensive moves as well as some offensive ones. The time spent had been effective and the group was currently eating lunch.

George bit into his burger angrily, glaring at Sapnap after he had made a crude joke about him and Clay. Clay just laughed, teasing, "Oh Sap, since when did you have such a dirty mind?"

Sapnap grinned devilishly and finished off the last of his burger. "Comes from years of experience with... never mind, I'm not going to finish that."

George scoffed, rolling his eyes. Alex stood up abruptly, pushing back his chair and saying, "Alright, lunch time over, let's get some more training in."

"Why do you want to train so much?" Karl asked.

Alex put his fist in his palm and said with a devilish grin, "'Cause I wanna kick the shit out of Wilbur. And the only way we'll do that is if we're ready."

Alex walked away from the lunch table, heading for a punching bag in the corner of the gym. Sapnap grumbled and ate one last fry before getting up. He ruffled Karl's hair before striding off after Alex.

George raised an eyebrow and Karl clamped his mouth shut, a blush spreading across his cheeks. He didn't hear Clay get up beside him as he teased, "Karl? Something you want to tell me?"

Karl shook his head stubbornly and Clay snickered, tugging on George's arm. He said, "C'mon George, stop teasing Karl. Let's go. We gotta get some more training in, 'cause I know for a fact that your punches need better work."

George glared at Clay, following him around the gym. When they were at a far enough distance, George gave Clay's shoulder a light shove. Clay turned around with a teasing grin and pushed George's shoulder lightly.

George rolled his eyes and stuck his foot out, catching Clay off guard. Clay fell backwards onto a mat. His hand grasped for anything to grab, finding George's shirt and pulling him down with him. George fell on top of Clay with a heavy 'oof'. His hands braced against Clay's chest, feeling a rumble of laughter come from below him.

"Aw, look what you did, Georgie," Clay teased, his eyes bright and alive with mischief.

"That was your fault," George muttered with a smile as he sat up. "You grabbed my shirt."

"For balance!" Clay protested.

"That's a shitty excuse."

Clay's eyes were fond as he looked at George from the ground. He raised an eyebrow. "Excuse? Are you implying that I'm lying?"

Liar.

That word flashed in George's mind and his smile faded instantly. He looked away from Clay and stood up quickly, brushing off his pants. He turned away from Clay and ran a hand through his hair with a long exhale.

Clay got up from behind him and asked, "George? Are you alright?"

George dragged his lower lip through his teeth, hating himself for the uncontrollable thought that popped into his head. He swallowed and muttered, "Yeah, I'm alright." He cleared his throat, not turning back to Clay. "I, uh, I just had a thought.... it doesn't matter though."

Clay walked in front of George's and lifted his chin with gentle fingers. George blinked back tears as he looked into Clay's soft eyes. Clay murmured, "It's okay, you can tell me what's on your mind."

George shook his head. "It doesn't matter, Clay, I can trust you. You won't lie to me anymore."

Clay looked between George's eyes. After a moment he wrapped his arms around George, pulling him to his chest. Clay's nose rested in George's hair as he spoke in a reassuring whisper, "I'm not going to lie anymore, George."

"You promise?" George mumbled weakly into Clay's shirt.

"I promise."

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a/n - sorry for the short chapters, but you guys have two, so eat them

BYE <3