I Love You/I Hate You

≧Chapter 16≦

           Gavin sat at his desk, Nines leaning on it beside him. Gavin was playing on his phone as he didn't really have any work to do. "Come on, boys!" Tina said, walking to the breakroom with Chris. Nines and Gavin got up, following them. They got their coffee and stood by their table. "Okay, have you guys heard of all this graffiti popping up everywhere? Like yeah, this city has quite a bit of graffiti, legal or not, but it's the same design on different buildings, like it's someone's tag." Gavin and Chris shrugged. "Yeah, I heard of that." Nines said. "Of course you did; you have all the news right there." Gavin pointed to his head. "Some of us don't really pay attention to that stuff." He looked at Nines. "Obviously." Nines smirked. Tina giggled. "Okay, but the thing is, this person is sneaky. They haven't been caught, not even by a security camera! So no one really can catch them. Even if we do get a suspect, we don't know if it's right or not." Tina huffed. "We used to graffiti stuff too. So I have to admit, their tag is pretty, but it's my job to stop them now." Sje continued. "Oh how the tables have turned." Gavin responded. Tina giggled. "We might have to have officers keep an eye out and drive around the city." Chris sipped his coffee. "Yeah. Which will be so much fun for me." Tina pouted. "And depending on how this situation goes, maybe even us." Gavin added. Nines sent a picture of the graffiti tag to Chris and Gavin. They looked at it. "Okay yeah, I agree with Tina. It's pretty." Gavin responded. Chris nodded. "Maybe they can use this artistic skill for something other than illegal graffiti. There are some places that would love to see that art on something if asked." He looked at the other three. "That is if they can get out of jail." Gavin responded. Tina sighed. "Yeah." Nines was going through the reports about the graffiti. "I'm assuming Fowler already knows?" He asked. "Yeah." Tina looked at Nines. "We should leave this up to him. For now, just do as he says." Nines looked at Gavin. "Why are you looking at me?" Gavin glared at Nines. "Because you have a tendency to run off and do things on your own." Nines answered. Tina and Chris chuckled. "I have to agree with that." Chris responded. "Me too." Tina laughed. "Screw you all." Gavin pouted again. "Only upset because you know we're right." Tina kept teasing him. "I hate it here. When can I go home." Gavin looked at the clock on his phone. "Still won't be able to escape me considering I live with you." Nines smirked. "I'll leave you here." Gavin looked at Nines. The others giggled. "You love us!" Tina smiled happily. "Sadly." Gavin whispered. "Sadly?" Tina playfully punched his shoulder. "He still admitted it." Nines looked at Gavin. "I'm going back to my desk." Gavin grabbed his coffee and walked away. "Our desk." Nines started to follow Gavin. Tina and Chris giggled.

Gavin had stopped on the way home to get a carton of cigarettes. Nines waited outside in the car. He looked out the window, seeing some teens running into an alleyway. He ignored them, seeing Gavin walk out of the store. Gavin got in the car and put the carton in the backseat. Nines looked back at the alley those teens had run into. "What are you so interested in?" Gavin asked. "Nothing." Nines looked at Gavin. Gavin nodded before starting to pull out of the parking lot. "Okay." He said, starting to drive home. Once they got home, Gavin put away the cigarettes and got on his laptop. Smokey jumped onto the couch, laying beside Gavin. Nines put his hand in front of Smokey, expecting her to hiss at him or something, but instead she started to sniff him before letting him pet her. Gavin watched as Nines petted her, shocked that she finally let him. "Either you actually gained her trust or she's being nice because she's about to pounce on you." He chuckled. Nines rolled his eyes. He sat beside Gavin and Smokey, looking at the laptop. Meanwhile, those teens Nines had seen were hiding in the alleyway still. "Clara, where's the bag?" One of the boys asked. He had a cigarette in his hand. "I don't, Jesse. If I remember correctly, I told you to get it because it's at your house." Clara looked at him. "Oh, oops?" Jesse shrugged. "Go get it, maybe?" Clara leaned against a wall. "Yeah yeah. I'm going." Jesse put out the cigarette and started to walk away. "I'll go with him." Another girl stood up and started to follow him. "Make sure we didn't forget anything else, okay?" Clara asked. "I will!" The girl smiled, following Jesse out of the alleyway. Clara sat on the ground against the wall. She looked up at the sky that was slowly turning into night. She heard a car driving by. She looked over at the road, seeing the self-driving car. She grabbed her phone and started scrolling through social media. Once the other two came back with everything, she stood up almost immediately. "Took you long enough." She teased them. "Shush." Jesse pouted. "Lets get this over with and get home so we don't get caught." The other girl spoke, giggling at Jesse. Clara opened the bag and grabbed spray paint. "We'll make your store look pretty!" The girl smiled. Clara and Jesse rolled their eyes. They both thought it was cute, though. They got the cans ready and started spray painting the wall, drawing designs and their tags on it.