𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃, dream

thirty two

as the night went on, the two boys, niki, and wilbur retired to their room. that left george, nick, clay, and meredith laying against the couch on the floor, mumbling nonsense to each other. meredith and george were both drunk, nick a little drunk, and clay just tired and delirious. this could've led to some bad decisions, but luckily, none of them ever even went outside.

"just got a good idea!" meredith sat up, slurring her words together slightly. she could take alcohol pretty well, so she wasn't as wasted as george. well, neither were really wasted, still being able to form mostly coherent sentences.

"what?" clay asked. he yawned, rubbing his eyes.

"let's play never have i ever!" she said excitedly.

"never have i ever?" nick asked.

"don't tell me you've never played it." she looked at him.

"i have, i have. why now? it's late."

"exactly." she triumphed. "we're more honest when it's late. i'll start. never have i ever...stolen something worth more than a bike."

clay put his finger down, laughing sheepishly. "long story. okay, never have i ever...bit someone!"

"what?" george asked, face contorting into a confused expression. "like, like chomped their ear off?"

"no!" clay chuckled. "like sexually, or something. i don't know."

meredith giggled. they turned back to the girl, seeing one finger down on her manicured hands.

"seriously?" nick inquired.

"you all really think that i haven't after all the jokes and comments i've made?" she said with a look that spoke, 'come on, it's easy to figure out.'

"true, true." he agreed. "clay's a lucky guy."

"what?!" clay yelled. "maybe never have i ever isn't a good idea."

"eh, maybe." meredith said, leaning her head back on his chest. his hands wrapped around her torso comfortingly, rubbing the side of her arm as she laid there. "clay?"

"yeah, meredith?" he glanced to his side, seeing george and nick fast asleep already.

"are we going to tell our fans about us?" she looked up at him. she placed a light kiss on his jawline, leaning more into his chest.

"i don't know. depends on what you want to do." he replied, leaning his head on top of hers.

"what if we just start posting couple-y stuff? never say it outright that we're dating but act like we are, then just nonchalantly say it on a stream or something?"

he laughed, "alright. that sounds good to me."

—

"christmas!!" tommy and tubbo yelled, jumping down the stairs to find the four adults sleeping on the living room floor. george was laying flat on his face, nick on his side, and clay and meredith were cuddling against the couch.

"for fuck's sake, does this always need to happen?" tommy complained, walking over to start kicking them with his feet. "wake up! it's christmas day!!"

"mm," nick groaned. "few more minutes, mom."

"do i look like your mother, nicholas." tommy questioned, bending down to look at him.

"if i squint really hard, a little." he replied. tommy scoffed.

"why can you never shut the fuck up?" meredith mumbled, waking up but staying in clay's arms. "my head hurts."

"my god." tommy whispered under his breath. "wilbur!! niki!! the kids need some help!"

"tommy, shut the fuck up." will called from behind his closed door. that only made tommy grumble more.

"it's christmas, you fucks! wake up! this is why you don't drink alcohol!"

"i don't drink." clay spoke up, arising from his sleep. "what's going on?"

"clay, please help us. your girlfriend and your buddies are still sound asleep, not mentioning wilbur and niki still in their room. go speedrun waking them up or something."

clay laughed, shaking meredith gently. she mumbled, "i think you're forgetting who has the world record here, tommy. it's me, i have the world record."

"yeah, okay. now get the world record for waking the others up." tommy said.

"i want to open gifts!" tubbo exclaimed. "so hurry up already!"

"memememe-meh." she mocked, getting up and dragging herself over to flop onto george and nick's bodies. "get up, losers. i might give you each a thousand if you get up right this second."

they both woke up quick as lighting. she laughed. "i said i might, not i will. don't owe you fuckers anything, haha!"

clay watched her in half confusion and half admiration as she got up fully charged and ready to go wake wilbur. it was intriguing, the way she rebounded and energized herself so quickly. it was as if she was used to it.

ten minutes and a lot of muffled yelling from meredith later, wilbur and niki were reluctantly coming down the stairs. will was very hungover, and niki was just tired. "alright!" tubbo clapped. "presents time!"

"okay, let's bring all the gifts in a pile and take turns opening them. youngest to oldest?"

"that's not fair. every time we do youngest to oldest you and nick are the fucking middle ones." wilbur complained.

"exactly." meredith nodded. "tommy! you first!"

"i don't like that i'm the youngest. anyway, this one is mine!" he opened his gift, revealing a can of coke and a red and white shirt. he stared at it while everyone else laughed, then lifted the shirt to see a brand new gaming headset. "no fucking way! i've been needing one!"

tubbo was next, opening his gift with delight. he yelled in joy when he saw the bee, and when he squeezed it, it had tommy's voice. "this is awesome! look, tommy!"

tommy smiled at him, confusing most of the others there at his display of niceties. "that is very cool."

niki and nick went, meaning it was meredith's turn. she opened her gift carefully, unwrapping the mediocre wrapping job around the box and lifting the cover to find a simple orange ring and a small paper underneath it. she glanced at him for a split second, seeing his face focused on her.

the small paper described the ring, in a way that swept her basically off her feet.

so, i know there shouldn't be any real giveaway about who gave you this present. so i'll try my best not to reveal it until the end when we all reveal it. this ring is for you, meredith. i had to ask wilbur for your ring size and he gave me a funny look, but i eventually got it and he helped me get the idea to get you this.

orange is your favorite color, favorite everything. you have an orange headband that you wear a lot when we facetime, your online name relates to the color orange, and it's a color that suits you. suits your personality. it's like fire, but it could also be compared to the sunset, a tangerine, the gentle leaves of autumn. i think that's exactly you. and as an added bonus, your birthstone is actually citrine, so i got you an orange citrine ring for christmas.

<3

she was uncontrollably smiling, and she slipped the ring on her left pointer finger along with her others. she tried resisting it, but she couldn't.

turning to the side, she tilted clay's chin toward her and brought him in for a gentle kiss, pulling back with a wide grin. "thanks, clay. this means more to me than you know."

"you mean more to me than you know." he smiled back.

"hey, you know this was from clay?!" tommy yelled.

"yes," she laughed. "i accidentally saw my name on the tag when i was getting the gifts last night."

"i'm glad you did. i don't know how long i could've kept that fucking secret to myself." wilbur said.