Stealth. (FtM Karl)

Karl?

Trigger warnings:
-slight mention of unsafe binding

George's pov:

I grabbed a camera and sat down in photography, at the same seat as always to find that like yesterday, Karl wasn't in before me.
'Maybe he's just late again?' I questioned.

Today, photography wasn't the first lesson unlike yesterday, today it was third period. And I doubt that Karl had a whole day of free periods before this, I hadn't seen him anywhere around school.

All I could think about was the call last night, he was worried about Karl, he needed to make sure he was alright.
He had planned on asking him today, but coincidentally, no Karl appeared in the lesson.
His name was called on the register, no response.
He waited all lesson for him to appear and apologise with that bright smile of his, ask to be partners again since the camera was still broken, and just talk about stuff, hopefully get some answers.

But he never showed up.

After the lesson was my free period, so I decided to go up to the library again. I noticed a familiar dirty blonde pass me, we exchanged a glance and I smiled at his as I passed by.
'What is up with that smile?' I grinned, something about Dreams smile just always brightened my day.

Then I saw two other people I knew pass me, I remembered Karl mentioning that they knew eachother.
"Hey, Bad" I greeted, walking beside him and Skeppy.
"Oh! George, I was just about to look for you"
He announced, I gave him a confused look, "do you know where Karl is? I haven't seen him today."

"I was just about to ask you that same question..." I sighed, realising there was no hope.

"Oh... has he messaged you at all? I tried texting him earlier but he didn't respond." He stated, 'yeah of course, his stuff was taken away from him...' I remembered.

"No, I haven't. If I do, I'll tell you." I assured, I started walking back in the direction of the library, "bye Bad, bye Skeppy" and with that I was gone.

While walking up the stairs of the building, I felt my phone buzz, it was odd, the only people that messaged me were at school, and Dream and Sapnap were preoccupied by their current lessons.

'Maybe it's just spam or something...' I thought, but still decided to check.
It was a discord notification, and now more than ever, I was so glad to have downloaded it on my phone as well as my computer.
Because it was a message from Karl.

Karl's pov:

I snuck into my fathers room again and opened his cupboard to reveal my stolen technology. I grabbed my phone and opened discord, I went into George's dms.

George: hello?
George: Everything okay?
George: Karl??

He must've sent them after my father took them, and he seemed worried, he must've witnessed the whole thing.

George: can we talk at school? I'm worried.

Karl is typing...

Karl: hi, not in today, sorry you had to see that yesterday.

George is typing...

George: Karl! Hi!
George: I'm just glad you're alright :)
George: when will you be back?

I thought for a moment, it would take another month or so to get a new binder... there was no way I'd be able to miss that much school without getting a call home.

Karl is typing...

Karl: tomorrow.
Karl: I promise, we can talk then.

It took a while for George to respond.

George: how are you messaging rn? I thought your stuff was taken?

Karl: nobody's home, just letting you know I'm alright. Won't be able to message later though.

George: I'll catch you up tomorrow:) Bad is worried about you, you should message him.

I sighed, of course Bad was worried.

Karl: thanks, see you tomorrow.

I entered Bad's dms.
Bad: Are you not in school today?

Bad: George just asked if I'd seen you, he seemed worried, everything alright?

Karl is typing...

Karl: hey Bad, not in today. Don't worry about me I'm fine :)
Karl: I've messaged George, just woke up late.
Karl: I'll see you tomorrow.

I shut off my phone and sighed, 'how the honk am I going to come in tomorrow without a binder?' I asked myself.
I clicked my tongue and looked around the room. Nothing in here.

I placed my phone back in the cupboard and made my way to the bathroom where I opened the cupboard and pulled out a cuboid packet.

Third person pov:

It's bad, he'd heard the stories, he knew it wasn't safe, he knew the dangers.
But he had to do something.
Maybe he could do it in a way that didn't harm him?
He took the packet and went back to his room. He sat down at his desk.

'Ace bandages' it read. He opened it and pulled out the roll, inspecting it, he had never used them to bind before, or at all for that matter.
He placed the box in his drawer for tomorrow.

'Better than nothing I guess'

That was not a healthy way of thinking, knowing the consequences of his future actions.
Those words would soon feel like the worst mistake of his life.