Shot in Love and Crime (DNF)

Chapter 62: The mask

Dream POV.

I settled on the grass at the base of the trunk of the silverleaf maple tree beside George. He glanced over at me as I settled myself down but didn’t say anything, allowing his gaze to drift back up to the sky.

When he wasn’t paying attention to me I took my time to admire him. He was just as beautiful as he had always looked. The fluffy brown hair. The bright brown doe eyes. The unmarked pale skin. The million dollar smile. It was as though he was an angel, or even if he wasn’t one then he was at least made in the image of one.

We sat silently for ages, not saying anything to each other. The only noise between us being our breathing, and the quiet wisp of the wind brushing past and playing with our clothes and hair. I didn’t know what we should do, whether we should talk or if I should keep the silence as it was and just sit quietly.

After all of these years of waiting for him to return, he was finally back, sitting right beside me under the same tree that had been our special spot in our relationship. It felt sentimental. I looked over at him again, finally deciding to break the silence, mainly because I wanted to hear his beautiful voice again.

“So, did you enjoy your birthday today?” I questioned, causing him to look down from the clouds and over to me.
“Yeah,” he responded. “It’s been a lot better than some of my other recent birthdays.” He nodded. “Most of them just ended up with me having dinner at a restaurant with my mum.”

“So today was good then?” I continued, before hearing him hum constantly as a yes. He relaxed slightly against the tree, his arm brushing up against mine and sending a tingling running through my body.

‘You know what?’ I asked myself at that very moment as the brunette relaxed beside me. I am over this. I am over George not knowing who I am. I want to be able to hold him again, to be able to hug him and kiss him, and spend time with him. “I have something that I want to show you George,” I said, barely even registering the fact that the words left my mouth.

He blinked at me questioningly, not sure what exactly I was wanting to show him but immediately getting curious. “You want to show me something?” He repeated, seeming cautious as well as curious, as though he was worried I might be trying to trick him. “What do you want to show me?”

“Turn around first.” I instructed, not giving him any more details as to what was happening. “I won’t show you if you don’t look away for a minute.”
That seemed to confuse him, but he did as I asked and swivelled himself around, so he was facing away from me. “Now what?” He asked with his hands covering his eyes.

“Just wait a moment.” I told him, being careful not to let my voice sound too shaky as I lifted my hand up to the clasp holding my mask in place and beginning to fiddle with it to undo it. Usually it was a quick thing to do, but today my hands were coated with sweat and it took me a couple of tries to finally pry it off.

I sat with my hands holding the sides of my mask, my breath shaking as I did. Being cautious, I lowered the mask down onto my lap. “Okay,” I said quietly, “you can look back now.” George turned around, taking a moment as he took in what he was seeing in front of him. His ex-boyfriend, sitting beside him, with the mask of his kidnapper on his lap.

“Clay?” He asked, his voice just as soft as mine had been. “You’re…” He took a moment to look over the scene again. “You’re Dream?”
I simply nodded, not allowing my gaze to move off of his eyes. I didn’t say anything. There wasn’t much that I could say anyway.

Suddenly there was a sharp stinging on my cheek, causing me to reach up and clasp it as the aftershock of George slapping my face raced through me. “Look,” I began. “I know that you are probably mad at me because I am working for the mafia, but I just wanted to say that I was sorry. And I couldn’t go without being able to see you like this any longer.”

The brunette processed what I said before responding. “You think I am mad at you because you run a mafia?” He questioned. I didn’t get the chance to reply because before I could he continued. “I am mad at you because you didn’t tell me earlier. I’ve been wanting to find you for ages but apparently you’ve been in the office next door the whole time!”

“So you aren’t mad that I run a mafia?” I asked, wondering why he wasn’t focusing on that because I would have thought that that was the bigger issue.
“The shock wore off quickly.” He shrugged. “Besides, Karl told me you guys only kill people who deserve it, or people who owe you money. I can understand that.”

A small smile began showing at the corner of my mouth at what he said. “Plus,” George continued. “I’ve always liked bad guys.” He said, slipping closer to me and brushing his hand along my arm.

“Wasn’t I supposed to be the horny one?” I chuckled, my hand moving to brush alongside George’s cheek, but not moving any further than that in case I made him uncomfortable.
“It’s been seven years Dream. Things change.” He leaned in close to me and pressed a kiss onto my cheek.

“Well I don’t want it to change again, especially not after I just got you back.” I responded, slowly feeling bold enough to move my hands down to his waist. “May I?” I questioned as I began rubbing small circles on his skin with my thumbs. He nodded before we leaned close together and pressed our lips against each other.

Wilbur POV.

After tailing the car all afternoon from a distance, and waiting in the shadows at the edge of the clearing for the past several hours we finally got something useful. The mafia boss had taken off his mask, out in public, and now the two of them were kissing.

Because it was the first time that we had proof of what Dream looked like we took several photos with the camera that we had. Dozens of other photos had been circling the media in the past, showing men of all different ages, appearances, and ethnicities, but this was the first one that was definitely right.

I grabbed my police radio which was connected directly to Techno who was waiting back at the precinct. “We did it,” I claimed triumphantly, unable to hide the grin growing on my face. “I finally have photos of Dream without his mask on, now we just have to identify him!”
“Great,” Techno responded. “I’ll tell the Captain straight away.”

There was a moment of silence before I heard Phil’s voice on the radio. “So Techno told me you found Dream’s identity?”
“Not the identity yet.” I responded. “I have a photo, but now we can narrow it down until we get the ID. But there’s something else too.”

“What?” Philza asked, and I took a moment to look over the scene evolving in front of me, where the two people sitting on the hill kissed passionately before turning away.
“George has some kind of relationship with Dream,” I answered. “Which means we do not know if any of the information he has given us can be trusted.”

“It would make sense as to why the attempt to get Dream’s group when they were robbing gold didn’t work, he could have given us a fake route to watch.” Techno added on, having been listening quietly to what the Captain and I said to each other.
“That’s what I was thinking.” I agreed.

I had stood up and was walking back towards where my car had been hidden. “We’ll have to see if the mafia makes a move tomorrow though, if they do then we can make a move on them.” The two others both agreed with me before I turned off the radio, wanting to hurry out of the area since I was no longer hidden.
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1446 words

Dream and George kissing: 💏
Wilbur being a stalker, watching them in a bush: 👁️👄👁️📸