Shot in Love and Crime (DNF)

Chapter 52: Birthday plans

George POV.

“Blue looks so good on you.” Karl complimented as he painted my nails daintily. With one of his hands he was holding mine steady under the bright light beaming from his desk lamp, the other hand painting a second layer of white nail polish, painting careful patterns overtop. We were sitting on the floor but neither of us minded.

There were also boxes of half eaten fast food, neither of us could agree on what to get so we just ordered a bunch of different items off the menu from multiple places. For twenty minutes we sat by the window of the mansion overlooking the driveway, waiting for all the food to arrive for us to feast on.

Karl managed to swipe Dream’s card to pay for it, and then slip it back into the blond’s wallet before he noticed, seeing as he was buried neck deep in paperwork. It might be days before Dream checked and found the money gone at all, but he already has more than enough.

Both of us had been acting like teenagers, reminding me of how sleepovers used to go in high school with Clay and Nick and Alex. As I examined Karl’s face I couldn’t help but wonder about his past, after he knew so much about me.

While he painted my nails and the two of us had a movie playing in the background we just chatted. Occasionally the two of us fell into silence when Karl needed to concentrate on more intricate details of the designs he was painting, or we grew quiet and turned our attention to the screen when we saw or heard something interesting.

Most of the time though I just kept looking over the features of the other brunette, silently wondering what he was like when he was a kid. I had been curious about a lot of the people who worked here and how they came to this job, but especially Karl and Bad because they were so unlike members of the gangs and mafias I saw on TV.

“How did you come to be here?” I questioned quietly. The taller brunette had been focusing on the screen and glanced over at me when I said that.
“What did you say George?” He responded. “I couldn’t hear you.”
“I was just wondering how you came to be here.” I repeated. “How’d you get into the mafia?”

“What brought this curiosity on?” He asked in response to my question. “I didn’t think that you’d have any interest in the mafia.”
“It’s not the mafia that I’m interested in.” I told him. “Just wondering why you would be in the mafia since you are so nice. You look like you could be a model or something.”

“Well thanks,” Karl cooed, a grin growing on his face at the compliment. “But how do you know what the mafia is like? Is it all based on movies and books?”
“It might be,” I answered honestly. “I just don’t think that someone who likes nail polish, movies, and shopping would be into all this crime stuff.”

The brunette chuckled half-heartedly. “I was dragged into this by my family, kind of like how you were, except instead of my father owing money my father worked for Dream’s parents.” He explained to me, causing me to listen intently. “When I was a kid my father taught me how to pick locks and use guns and stuff so I could have his job, but I wasn’t really into it.”

“That doesn’t explain why you are here,” I responded, adjusting myself slightly so that I was more comfortable when he continued.
“Yeah,” he huffed. “At first I hated the thought of ever hurting anyone. I met Sapnap a couple of years ago, he formally introduced me to Dream and I found out a couple of things.”

“What did you find out?” I asked. “It must have been really good since it convinced you to join the mafia.” Listening to Karl talking felt like I was a kid listening to a bedtime story.
“Well both Sapnap and Dream told me that the only people they kill are either bad people or already owe us money, and so I thought we were a little bit better.”

I nodded in acceptance. ’At least this mafia has some kind of moral code’ I said to myself internally, before realising what I just said. At the end of the day they were still part of a mafia, meaning that they still killed people and stole stuff and kidnapped people. Heck, I was one of the people kidnapped.

A debate fired up inside of me, where I was trying to decide if this place was better than a regular mafia or not. Because on the one hand Karl claimed they only killed people who deserved it, but on the other hand they were still a mafia.

It didn’t even occur to me that Karl had moved over to the bed again, sitting on the end of the bed and grabbing one of the half-eating boxes of food, beginning to eat some of the stir-fried rice that was in it, not caring that it was already going cold. He was glancing over at me, probably wondering why I was still kneeling on the floor.

Since by this point I was noticing the floor getting uncomfortable I stood up, heading over to the bed to sit beside Karl. The entire time I was being mindful of the wet nail polish on my hands, being careful not to smudge it anywhere as Karl had gone on a huge rant while painting the first coat when I brushed the back of my hand against his desk, which he swiftly wiped clean.

“So,” Karl began, turning to look at me as I made myself comfortable, keeping my hands resting on my legs so they didn’t brush against anything. “Clay mentioned something about it being your birthday next week, so what do you want me to get you?”

“You would consider getting me something for my birthday?” Was my response, surprise and confusion lacing my voice. “But why?” I continued on.
“Why not?” He replied, a bright grin on his face.”Birthdays are the best. Besides, you’ve been through a lot and presents and cake can cheer everyone up.”

His logic made me chuckle, but I nodded in understanding at what he had told me. “I don’t really want anything.” I responded, which was half true. I wanted quite a lot of things, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to get any of them. I wanted out of here, for instance, but that wasn’t going to happen. And I wanted to see Clay again, but I didn’t know how likely that was either.

“Oh, okay then.” He seemed disappointed at my answer, but I ignored what he said. Then he perked up again, “well what do you want to do for your birthday? We could go to a restaurant, or the movies, or a theme park!”
“Usually I just get food with my friends,” I answered.

“We could do that!” The brunette smiled.
“But we already order food all the time,” I reminded him after he spoke. “Heck, we have food that we ordered sitting in front of us, that could probably feed us for a couple of days.” Karl giggled as he glanced around to the food I motioned to.

“Maybe I could organise for Clay to be there,” he hummed lightly, making a light blush wash over my face. Although, I wasn’t against the idea. Karl could see that and a smug grin on his face before looking over at the movie.
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1294 words

Just a filler chapter, nothing too special besides some bottom bonding