chemical bonds / 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥

ᶜʰᵃᵖᵗᵉʳ ⁹

                                      George's Pov:

      A light fog rolled over Brighton as we watched Wilbur hurry up his front steps. He turned at the door and waved back at us before stumbling with the keys a bit and letting himself in. I moved by hand down to shift the car into drive and we carried on through the narrow streets.

             "So am I going to meet your parents?" Clay asked eagerly.

             "Oh- I moved out, did I forget to tell you?"

             "Woah," his eyes widened a bit with the news but he then gave me a little smile, "big adult Georgie."

     I chuckled a little bit before fixing my eyes back on the road. It was another ten minutes before we pulled into my building's small driveway. In my peripheral vision I could tell Clay was staring at it, maybe judging it- but I tried to keep my eyes down and go to get our bags out of the trunk. 

     The building was old, the units had been renovated however it was still a 3 story walk-up. Completely wiped from a day of traveling I opened the door and flung myself onto the sofa. Clay stood in the doorway scanning the apartment. It must have been different from most of the properties in Florida. I had figured that my apartment, which was the entire attic, must have originally been the servants' quarters for the grand townhouse. I watched Clays eyes fall on the small brick fireplace. He made his way over and looked through various decorations and pictures.

            "Is that me?" He asked, pointing at a small framed picture I had taken last time I went to America.

      I hoisted myself up from the couch and walked over to him, "Yeah, I tried to get a bunch of photos printed when I moved in. Make it my space" I said as I gestured to the display.

    His eyes then fell on the small log pile I kept next to the fireplace.

          "Oh, do you want me to start a fire?"

          "No, no I can do it- if that's alright." He said with a half-smile.

     I nodded at him and went to place my things in my room. I sorted out the dirty laundry and then shoved the rest of my clothes back into the cluttered drawers. My gaming setup sat opposite the bed having taken its longest break yet over the past week. I walked over to it, turning on the monitor. A stream was past due. I stepped back into the living room where Clay was just standing up. A small flame crackled as it caught the logs. He stepped back, watching it with pride.

          "Listen," I said as I approached him, "would you want to do a stream tonight? It doesn't have to be big, it's just been a while so I thought..."

       His eyes lit up. "Yes, yes, please finally it's been so long."

      He rushed over to his duffle, still next to the door and pulled out a laptop.

          "It will work for tonight," he said, trying to sooth my skeptical expression.

         "We can set up your stuff in the other bedroom." I said as he tucked it back into the bag.

       He nodded and lugged it in, making the small bed squeak when he threw it on top.

       I had wanted to take Clay out to eat but we lost track of time, talking for hours as the flame devoured the logs. We wolfed down the Chinese take-away, trying to make our commitment of starting the stream at 9:00 PM.

         "Alright," I said, rising from the sofa, "I'm gonna head to my room and get started."

      He nodded at me still with noodles shoved in his mouth and scrambled to his feet. Taking a gulp he headed towards the spare bedroom.

       "See you in there," he said, giving me a salut before gently closing the door behind him.

     I leaned back into my desk chair. It felt good to be back, even if it hadn't really been that long. Clay, or Dream as I was about to have to call him- was already on the discord call when I arrived, along with just about everybody else. Even Tommy.

       "I'm just here to remind everyone's viewers that I'm alive despite the rumors," he said sarcastically.

       "There are rumors?" I said through a chuckle.

       "The 'rumors' are true," Sapnap piped in, "the funeral is on Sunday."

      We all erupted in laughter, chat and donations dragged the joke out over the next hour. For the most part we spent the night playing bedwars, winning all but two rounds. Eventually those of us who were left decided to rely on chat for conversation topics and mess around on a parkour server. I could hear a thud from the other room every time Clay failed a jump. For the most part Sapnap read us his donation questions.

                         | snapp1e_napp1e donated 10 dollars

                  hey sapittus !! have you ever read any fanfics about yourself, also can you say happy birthday madison <3

      He repeated the question to us, neglecting the birthday shoutout.

       "I mean sort of-" Sapnap began, "like if one of y'all sends me something or I see enough tweets about it I'll scan it."

      "Never forget SapnapxSchlatt." Clay added through hiccups.

      "Please forget." Sapnap said, I could see him on facecam covering his eyes with his palms.

     I cleared my throat before adding in, "I read the first chapter of Heat Waves because nobody would shut up about it but I can promise that's it."

      "Only the first chapter, George?" Clay said provokingly, "I know you read more than that."

      "Well I'm sure you did," I replied. I knew this was a dangerous game. He would fake flirt and I would laugh it off and overanalyze it later.

                        | ars0nistslu1laby donated 25 dollars

                well as they say 'yntbkshycryn' !! love you guys ;-)

    Clay attempted to splutter out the contents of his donation.

       "You mean 'You need to be kissed so hard you can't remember your name?" Sapnap replied immediately.

      "Excuse me?" I chimed in.

     "Both of you are so uncultured, it's a Heat Waves quote. Get with it guys." He said in a fake pretentious voice.

     "Listen," Clay started. I held my breath. "As flattering as it is, I think I might remember my name if George kissed me."

      Sapnap let out shrill laughter. I could hear Clay pushing on, reminding the viewers of how platonic things really were, but it was muffled out for me. I had handled this before, how did a week change so much? Here was a man separated from me by only a wall, making it painfully obvious he had no feelings for me. 

      I knew the type of reactions it would get me, but I didn't care. Without saying a word I swiftly logged off and left the call. With my room now in uncomfortable silence I could easily hear Clay's confused voice in the room over. It wasn't clear enough to know the exact words, but I could tell he awkwardly acknowledged it and ended his stream too. 

           Moments later there was a knock on my door. 

authors note: thank you all for almost 200 reads !! i'm anticipating maybe 2 or 3 more chapters so stick around, I upload about ever 3 days :) muah >:0