I Spy a Liar

Chapter 12: Love or Hate?

Sorry this so short and late!

Tw: Mentions cheating, discussing crushes, denial and hatred of romantic feelings

A hushed beep sounded, the click of an unlocking door right after, the wood of the Tech room's wall sliding open to reveal a brunette, who stepped into the room and shut it right after. He smiled at the blonde and brunette staring at a large screen to his left, smiling at him as he walked in.

"Hey George." Karl smiled, waving at him before turning back to the screen displaying many different images of places, most centred around a tall pink haired boy. George waved back, coming up behind the two and placing his hands on the back of Dream's chair, peering at the footage.

"Hey," He smiled, smiling at Karl standing beside him. "What are you guys doing?"

Karl nodded at the screen in front of them, pointing at the man sitting in different places, a bar, an arcade, a playground and many more. "That's Techno." He pointed, George nodding to suggest he was following. "Dream was going through old footage and recently saw that he leaves the estate a lot to go on excursions, so were figured we could start tracking them, maybe find a pattern, and then follow him."

"Sounds good." George hummed, looking down at Dream who was peering up at him, then turned back to the screen in a hurry. "Any ideas on what the first one will be?" He asked, eyes flicking between footage.

"Probably an arcade." Dream responded absently. "I'll stay back and keep an eye on the cameras." George nodded, rubbing his thumb across the fabric of the chair.

"I can stay with you," George offered, looking back down at him. "Keep you company?" Karl let a smile peek his lips, watching the two converse.

"Great! I'm glad you two can keep each other company!" Karl smiled cheekily, eyeing Dream's sudden dedication to his work, spotting the red tint covering both their faces, pulling a face at George as he glared at him, annoyed at what he was hinting. The brunette rolled his eyes at his attitude, giving an excuse of making sure the youngest trio in the group hadn't killed each other (or more, Tommy hadn't killed Ranboo with Tubbo eagerly watching).

As the door shut, the lock clicking once again, Karl turned back to Dream, who had began typing into his computer with recordings of the mission. "Do you like him?" He teased, poking his friends arm. A red hue began to cover his cheeks and the typing became furiously faster as he coughed to cover the reaction.

"Do you like Sapnap?" Dream asked back, earning an annoyed look from Karl who furiously shook his head.

"Do you really think I could like that bastard again?" He scoffed, crossing his arms, and hugging them close to his body. Dream nodded, fingers stilling on the keyboard as he thought about what to respond, looking over at the brunette beside him with a sigh.

"It sometimes looks like Sapnap still does." He finally responded, turning his chair around to face Karl, who scoffed and threw his hands up in the air.

"He was the one to cheat! Do you not remember that?" Words were hissed with hurt, the man beginning to pace his way around the room in annoyance, glaring at the dirty blonde. Dream hesitated, glancing over at a smaller laptop positioned on the surface beside him, which was half tilted shut, a colourful projection of an Instagram timeline, displaying an old photo blurrily visible. He didn't show it to the other though, instead just asking;

"Do you really hate him though?" A ballpoint pen was fidgeted between his fingers as fidget, watching the brunette halt his pacing and glare at him. A scoff passed Karl's lips as he remained motionless, looking at the carpeted floor as a distraction.

"Of course," He whispered, flooding the events of the night of their break-up to anger himself once more. "How could I not?" A frown settled on his face; eyebrows furrowed close to the other.

"There's a fine line between love and hate Karl," Dream reminded him softly, gentle concern etched onto his tanned face, smiling at him kindly. "And sometimes - sometimes -it seems you mix them up."

The roll of chair wheels broke the silence filling the room after as Dream moved back to face the desk with the camera screens, continuing with his work as Karl stayed in the same place.

Feelings that had been shoved out of the way for the respect of the mission and those apart of it bubbled in the back of his mind as a reminder that they were still there. He'd been getting better at ignoring them, getting better at controlling his emotions at accidental touches, getting better at controlling his face when the raven-haired so much as looked his way.

He'd gotten so much better at these things that he'd thought they'd gone away, slipped under the radar for long enough they were just gone. He wished they had. It made life so much easier not to have to worry about such a thing.

He hated the man, he truly did, and had every right to. Sapnap had cheated on him. That was enough to want to brick his window, egg his house, their house.

But feelings were still there. Faint ones, but they existed.

He took a breath and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before turning back to Dream, determined to finish the work he started. The word's lingered in the back of his mind as they set back to planning, scoping out locations with intrigue.

Maybe Dream was right.

~~~

Is Dream right? You don't know. Karl doesn't know. I do though :D

Also, quick clarification (I feel like I do this every time I release a chapter, but oh well) this book is set in a different universe/city/place. The city is made up, the schools are made up etc.

The one-shot of how the Bench Trio escaped the SBI mafia will be up on my one-shots book soon, I've just been heavily procrastinating everything, so go check that out👍

I recently got approved to join ao3 (turns out it's way easier than everyone made it out to be) so I might start posting this there as well, I'll let you know the details when I do