Stay Inside (by my Side) : Gream/DreamNotFound

13. Extension

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"Why can't you just say it?" BadBoyHalo's voice came through the discord chat.

"I just can't say stuff like that," George replied, throwing a glance at Clay's back.

"He doesn't want it to be on the internet forever," Clay interjected, the character on his monitor fighting a zombie.

The Dream Team was just finishing up a livestream for Clay's twitch, and the topic of interest somehow came around to how George could never say the phrase that everyone begged him to say. The chat was exploding with "say it"s and various emojis.

"George," Clay egged him on, "I love you! Don't you love me?"

God, if only you knew, George thought as he bit his cheek.

"Bad loves you," he dodged, "isn't that enough?"

George was thankful that Clay couldn't see him since his back was facing the room, but he hid his face in his hands regardless. Pink overpowered the pale peach of his skin.

"George," Clay said, "you're going to make me cry."

"You're going to make him cry," Bad echoed and they both erupted into a fit of giggles.

"You're both so annoying," George laughed, wishing the conversation would move onto something else.

As the stream passed its two-hour mark, the boys decided to call it a day. They ended the stream by announcing a raid and sent their viewers over to a different creator before turning off their software.

"You're so sweet, George," Bad said. His voice came out of both George's laptop and Clay's headphones.

"Why is it that every stream we loop back to the 'I love you' stuff?" George shifted his position on Clay's bed.

"It's funny," Clay said, "and the viewers get a kick out of it."

"I get a kick out of it too," Bad said.

"I wish I could kick you out," George mumbled, earning a strict 'hey' out of Bad.

The interaction held no malice whatsoever. George adored being told that he was loved, he just didn't like returning the favour. It was way too intimate...

It felt different now as well, since before all this, when Clay used to joke around like this, George treated it as just that; a joke. Now, hearing him say that he loved him felt like a slap in the face. It felt great because it was all he wanted to hear from him, but it also sucked because he knew it wasn't serious.

George was lost in his thoughts and didn't notice Bad was logging off until he heard his name through the speakers.

"Bye, George!" he called.

"Bye," George smiled, "talk to you later."

At last, the room was quiet aside from the soft whirr of Clay's computer fan.

Clay spun around in his chair, facing George with a smirk and a raised brow.

"You never say you love me," he said accusingly.

"Because it's not true," George smirked as well, "I hate you."

"Augh- well-" Clay sputtered, leaning back in his chair, "you know what?!"

"What?"

"I love you enough to make up for you hating me. How's that?"

George was caught so off guard that he didn't have time to stop the involuntary giggle that escaped his throat. His brain couldn't come up with a single reply, so he just collapsed onto his elbow and turned to his laptop, a smile etched across his face.