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Clay was tired of school. His neck hurt from craning it up at the board, fingers were sore from holding pencils in a death grip, and his jaw was tense; a side effect of clenching it during the AP stat test he’d taken the period before. Only his masochist of a teacher would give a test the day before winter break started.
Clay had begun the day happy and full of hope, and honestly it had been a good day before the stupid exam. He knew that he would be in a shitty mood for the rest of the day, or at least until his plane took off for Colorado later that evening.
“Come on man, stop sulking. I’m sure you did fine.” Nick clapped Clay on the shoulder reassuringly, but all Clay did in return was let his forehead fall to his desk with a bang.
“I bombed it. I absolutely did. There’s no redeeming me-” He spoke into the table, eyes stubbornly shut. The drone of other students in the room began to pick up- the teacher obviously had nothing planned for class that day, so it seemed Clay would have a good amount of time to wallow in self pity.
“Hey Nick- what’s wrong with Dream?” Karl’s familiar voice appeared to his side, the sound of him pulling up a chair accompanying him.
“Don’t call me that right now, I don’t deserve it.” Clay continued on. Dirty blonde hair slightly cushioned his head as he began to lightly bang it on the desk in frustration. “I’m an embarrassment to my family and the friend group. I’m probably gonna have to quit the football team, and I’ll end up living on the streets for the rest of my life.”
“You’re so dramatic.” Nick grumbled, putting a palm between Clay’s forehead and the hard surface of the desk. He groaned in exaggerated agony but left his forehead resting in his best friend’s hand.
“Nick, what did you do?” A new voice joined the fray after a few moments of the two of them teasing him, making Clay’s head shoot up so fast there were spots in his vision.
“I didn’t do anything!” Nick defended, voice getting higher. Karl giggled a bit. “You need to fix him, George. You’re probably the only one who can.” A light blush was already beginning to form on his cheeks- Clay absolutely was sure of it. God, it was kind of embarrassing that one stupid sarcastic short guy could turn him into a pile of mush without even speaking to him directly.
George pulled a chair up to Clay’s desk in the small space Nick and Karl made, now sitting directly across from him. The shorter’s dark hair was neat, save for a few strands that fell onto his forehead. His smile was bright, and his cheeks were red from the cold outside the math building.
Clay’s boyfriend was so fucking cute.
“Well, are you gonna share?” George raised an eyebrow, a smirk adorning his lips.
“I just bombed McAllister’s test last period and I think this is the end of my academic career.” Clay said.
“You realize that you always say you’re gonna bomb and then you get like, a 93 or something.” George deadpanned. Clay scoffed jokingly at the accusation, then narrowed his eyes at Karl, who was very obviously trying to stifle his laughter. Technically George was right, but this time he actually felt like he failed. Maybe.
“Dreamie-poo is the biggest fucking drama queen I’ve ever met in my life.” Nick laughed. The blush on Clay’s neck began to travel upwards.
“Aw come on, he’s probably just sad that he’s not gonna see Georgie for two weeks after today.” Karl teased lightheartedly. The football player’s eyes drifted to George, who had a mischievous glimmer in his eye.
“Yeah, he wishes.” Clay replied, but honestly there wasn’t much behind the statement.
It was true- he was going to miss George. So fucking much. Keeping them a secret was tough enough when Clay got to see him every day and kiss the shit out of him the second they were alone together, but not being able to complain to Nick and Karl and Darryl the entire trip about how badly he missed his Georgie and the way he smelled and the way his lips felt was going to be a huge challenge. To say he was obsessed with his secret boyfriend was an understatement. Clay wanted to show him off, let the world know he was taken.
But then again, it was technically his fault that they were secret in the first place.
Six months ago when they had finally confessed their feelings to each other, they’d had to have a difficult conversation. Clay had immediately wanted to go public, but George was a bit more nervous. Even though all of their friends were accepting and probably even expecting them to get together, not everyone in the school felt the same way. And since Clay was on the football team, George wanted to spare him any bullying or harassment from his teammates for his sexuality. So yeah, it sucked, but if it made George more comfortable, then Clay was happy to oblige.
They realistically could’ve at the very least told their friends, but no matter how much they both loved Karl that man couldn’t keep a secret if his life depended on it. And if they told Nick there’s no way the news wouldn’t somehow slip out either. So they stayed in quiet agony, slipping into alcoves during passing periods to share a kiss, and making out under the bleachers after Clay’s football practices. There was a thrill to it, but they both knew that the most thrill would come when they could finally walk the halls together hand in hand like every other couple.
“Listen, as long as you don’t break your neck going down that one run- what was it called, psychopath?” George looked to him for confirmation.
“That’s the one.”
“Yeah as long as you come back home to me with no broken bones, I will be content.” George smiled warmly at Clay, their eyes locking for much longer than a normal pair of best friends would. Nick cleared his throat, trying to get back to the conversation.
“Well anyway you can’t be depressed right now. Darryl is about to come around with the candy cane grams!” Karl bounced around in his seat, giddy with excitement. Nick shoved him softly with his shoulder, a soft grin on his face. Right on cue, the door to the classroom opened, banging into the wall behind it.
“Darryl!” The teacher scolded.
“Sorry!” Clay perked up once again at the sound of one of his oldest friends entering the room. Darryl was a senior, and it would be their last Christmas together before he left for college.
Darryl walked in with a big tupperware container filled with ziploc baggies containing the candy cane grams sent to people in that classroom. Clay honestly expected to get quite a few- not that he had a big ego or anything. For some reason there were a lot of random girls into him: he didn’t ask for that. George was playing with his fingers nervously across from him; Clay shot him a confused glance.
“What’s wrong?” He asked, letting maybe a bit too much affection and care seep into his tone.
“Uh, nothing. Don’t worry about it dweeb.” George tried to deflect with a sarcastic grin, but it didn’t reach his eyes- he was definitely nervous about something.
“Don’t worry George, I’m sure there are plenty of people in the school wanting to profess their love to you through a candy cane gram.” Nick remarked, earning himself a smack on the arm from Karl.
“Don’t be so honking mean.” Nick pouted and rubbed his arm. “I- I’m sorry I didn’t mean-” Karl’s voice changed from annoyance to concern as he reached out to console his friend, who instantly bursted into laughter.
“God Karl I’m just messing with you, it’s okay.” He chuckled. Clay rolled his eyes at his two friends just as Darryl approached their group.
“Hey guys!” He greeted. “I can’t stay or anything buuuut here’s your candy canes!” The excitement in his voice filled Clay’s heart with joy- Darryl was truly one of the best people he’d ever had the pleasure of knowing.
“You’re the best, you know.” George said as he was handed a bad laden with a handful of candy canes. The older’s face lit up in a bright blush.
“Aw, stop you flatter me, you muffin.” He said. Darryl handed bags to Nick and Karl, then last but not least, was Clay’s. He could’ve sworn he got a wink when the bag was placed in his hands. “I gotta run, I’ll see you after class!” He said, then rushed back out the door.
The room was buzzing with people talking about who got a gram from who, and how many each person received. Honestly it was just a popularity contest-
And Clay guessed he must’ve been pretty popular.
All of the rest of his friends had maybe five, almost all coming from each other, but the blonde had at least fifteen candy cane grams in front of him, all ranging from “ Honk you Dreamie ” to “ Sasha has a crush on you- anonymous ” Clay ignored the messages like that last one; they made him kind of uncomfortable, especially because George was picking each up to read them after he was done with them.
“Damn Clay, didn’t know playing football automatically cancelled out the fact that you’re a fucking NERD!” Nick exclaimed, earning himself a dirty look from the teacher. “You’re getting hella bitches now. Just wait until they find out you spend the rest of your days playing minecraft with George.”
“Shhhh you’ll blow his cover.” George said weakly. It was obvious he wasn’t too happy about his boyfriend receiving declarations of love through candy canes.
Slowly the pile trickled down until there was one gram left. Clay picked it up, ready to read yet another message from some freshman girl who really ‘wanted to get to know you better, ’ but did a double take at the words on the little slip of paper.
Scribbled down in George’s messy scrawl was a short note that made Clay’s heart leap in his chest. ‘ I want people to know about us. I don’t care what they say- and if you feel the same, let’s do this. I love you, Clay .’ His eyes instantly shot up, meeting nervous brown eyes.
“Are you sure?” He asked carefully. Nick tried to take the paper from Clay’s hand, curiosity piqued.
“Sure about whaaaaat?” Karl asked, putting his chin in his hands to stare expectantly at the pair.
“100%” George confirmed,, his face breaking out in a wide grin. Clay took absolutely no time to think about what he was going to do next- he just leaned over the desk, grabbed George by the shirt collar, and pressed their lips together.
The room almost instantly went silent. Clay sat back down, letting go of George whose face was so red it might as well have been a tomato. His heart fluttered when the brunette’s smile lit his face and he ran a thumb across his bottom lip.
“I-” Clay looked between Nick and Karl- the first of which looked completely unsurprised, whereas the other’s jaw was hanging open, eyes wide with shock. “We’re dating.”
“We see that, boys.” The voice of their english teacher cut through the room. Clay’s face burned- he could tell she was repressing a smile as she spoke. “Please keep the PDA out of my classroom next time?”
“Yes ma’am.” George looked absolutely mortified as he answered. Nick bursted out laughing, and slowly the rest of the room’s occupants joined in, then went back to their own conversations. Clay didn’t miss some of the glances that were thrown his way; some looked judgemental, but most of the people who looked their way seemed happy for them.
“Karl you owe me ten bucks.” Nick said, reaching out his hand expectantly. Karl grumbled while pulling his wallet out of his back pocket.
“I didn’t think that bet was actually real …” While the pair were bickering, there was a buzz in Clay’s pocket. He noticed that George had his phone out, looking at him expectantly.
He pulled his phone out, looking at the messages on his lock screen with curiosity.
King Gogy: ‘ I know how much you wanted to be public, and honestly I wanted it too. I was in my head and thought that people would pressure you into leaving, and that scared me.’
‘But you’re not scared anymore?’
King Gogy: ‘Not at all. I want everything that comes with you, including a mistletoe makeout when you get back from Colorado .’
Clay reached across the desk and took George’s hand, squeezing it tightly. Today was a good day, a day that would go down as one of the best of his life thus far.
His phone pinged again.
He slammed his head back down on the desk.
‘ Your AP Stat grade has dropped to an 85’