everything i wanted- DNF Fanfiction

~ Crush Culture ~

After their shower, George mentioned that he wanted to wear some of Clay's clothes. When met with the obvious question as to why, he just said he wanted to.

George rummaged through Clay's closet for a shirt, pausing when he noticed a small latch. It looked like a door. He looked down the hall, seeing that the bathroom door was still closed. He slowly pulled on the latch, revealing a dark room. He pulled on a string that was connected to a bulb. His jaw slacked as he looked at the pin board in front of him.

He gasped quietly, covering his mouth with one hand as he stepped into the cubby, his hand trembling as he picked up a photo on the ground. There were many and even more in shoe boxes on the ground. He felt like throwing up, jumping when he heard footsteps behind him. "George." He turned around, tears brimming at his eyes.

"I- I can explain, I swear." Clay took a step towards him, causing George to fall and drag himself backwards further into the closet. "What the hell is this?" His voice was shaky. Clay could've shed tears just by listening to the weakness in George's vocal chords. "I'm... I'm not well and its- it's a trauma thing. That's what my therapist-"

"You've been... stalk- stalking me?" George swallowed the lump in his throat mid sentence. Clay squeezed his eyes shut, wishing this was another one of his nightmares. He opened them back up, slowly bringing himself to his knees with his head down. "I'm so sorry..." George sat there, looking around and covering his mouth once more. "God, Clay..." He winced at his name being said with such sorrow and disgust.

"How..." George let out a choked sob, breathing in quickly. "How long have you been doing this?" Clay shook his head slowly, tears falling into his lap, "...since we met." George let out another sob. "Why?" Clay looked up at the ceiling, pursing his lips inward as his throat burned from holding back tears. "Uhm," he wiped his cheek, his words coming out in trembles, "I just... I don't know. I tried to stop— I really did— but I couldn't. I just couldn't, I don't know why."

George stood, holding his arm, "I want to leave." Clay stood slowly, looking at George before moving out of the way of the closet. George hurried down the stairs, Clay following him. "George please, I still— please don't go." George stopped at the door, bowing his head, "I can't deal with that. That's... wrong. It's sick. You're sick."

Clay nodded slowly, rubbing his eyes, "I know, I know. God, I know." George opened the door and quickly left, leaving Clay by the staircase. Alone. He slid to the floor, sobbing into his folded arms.

———————————————————-

George slowly opened the dorm door, tears still streaking down his face. His hair was messy from running and his eyes were bloodshot. Karl got up off the couch, "George? What- what happened?" George started to cry again, slowly stumbling towards Karl. He rushed to George, guiding him to the couch and pausing his movie. "Talk to me, what happened?"

"C-Clay, h-he was stalking me." Karl was taken aback by his response, confused. "What? What do you mean, aren't you guys dating?" George shook his head. He wiped his face and took a deep breath. "I mean, we made it official yesterday but then I saw..." he bit his lip before taking a deep breath, trying not to cry again. "He has this little cubbyhole with... pictures and notes. All about me."

"That's... what? Really?" Karl put his arm around George as he nodded. "I asked him how long he'd been doing it and he said since we met. That's like, almost a year, Karl." George sighed shakily, "I asked him why and he said it was trauma? I- I know about his past and it's bad but that's so fucked up-" Karl bit the inside of his cheek, "Did he... do anything to you?" George shook his head, "That's what doesn't make sense."

"He treated me so well. He was never too obsessive and didn't try to control me so I was just- I was just so surprised. He didn't act like how you'd think a stalker would. I... oh god." George whined softly, causing Karl to hold onto him tighter. "It's okay. Jesus, I never would have thought he'd do something like that." George shook his head, "I liked him so much, Karl. I actually considered having a long-term relationship with him."