AT LEAST IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU // Dream X Reader

19

It couldn't have been a coincidence, right?

It made too much sense for Clay - first, you're talking about love and how he just knows he'll fall in love with someone when he sees them, and then the next day he takes a picture of the notebook he was using last night with that caption - when you know you know. Then, he points to where he knows you'll be sitting right as he sings the line 'you know I'm falling for you'. That, plus the fact that he was known for being cryptic within his fanbase... it made too much sense. 

So, feeling emboldened by the buzz of energy in the air of the stadium, you decided you would ask.

You climbed down from your scaffolding seat and hopped to the ground, making your way through the after-show chaos. You could see where the boys were - they had just come off stage, and Clay had pushed his mask up to wipe the sweat from his forehead. 

You followed Myra through the throng of crew members until you reached the boys. She immediately jumped onto Nick, clinging to his back like a koala. He smiled, reaching around to ruffle her hair affectionately. 

"You did great." Myra said. 

"Mmm, so did you." Nick said, spinning around so that he could properly wrap Myra up in his arms. 

Something about watching them made the growing determination in you fire up even more - that could be you and Clay if you had read the signs right, and worked up the guts to ask him about it. Instead of just sitting on the bus roof as friends, it could be more. Of course, this could all also go terribly wrong, and it really could have been a coincidence and just the choreography, and that Instagram post could have been about something else entirely. But, you had to try.

You turned to Clay, nerves flaring in your stomach. "Yeah, you sounded really great."

"Oh, you thought so?" Clay said, smiling that golden smile that made your heart melt. "I've always wanted to do that song with Myra, I'm glad you thought we did well."

The determination that you had been feeling beforehand faded away quickly, but you forced yourself to open your mouth again - you needed to know if you were interpreting these signals correctly, or if they were signals at all. "Clay, I had something I wanted to ask you."

His eyebrows rose slightly. "Oh. Sure, go ahead-"

"Dream!"

His eyes snapped up as someone called his name, and Clay rapidly pushed his mask back down over his face. In the same moment, he stepped around you so that you were behind him. You turned around, confused , only to see two girls with concert passes around their necks, gawking up at him excitedly. 

"Oh my gosh, Dream!" One of them squealed, rocking on her feet excitedly. "We're, like, your biggest fans!"

"We came back here to find you and tell you that we think you're so amazing!" The other said. 

"Oh, wow, that's crazy." Clay said, the switch to his 'I'm greeting fans' voice obvious. "Hey, I really appreciate you guys wanting to say hi, but I don't think you're really supposed to be back here right now-"

"We totally think that those guys who accused you of being a corporate stunt are assholes." One of the girls prattled on, completely talking over Dream. "They were so out of line with that, it's like, who even accuses somebody of that these days, you know? Like every single k-pop band that people stan isn't corporate these days-"

"Yeah, yeah." Clay tried again. "Totally get it, and thank you again-"

"And it was so cool that you wrote 7.5 trillion in retaliation." The other girl chimed in. "It's definitely my favorite one on this album, and that it sounds more like your older stuff-"

You turned your head, catching George's eye and glancing to where Clay was still talking to the girls. He watched for a moment, his eyes widening as he realized what exactly was happening, and then he was gone, hopefully to get someone who could help. 

The girls were prattling on and it was obvious Clay was mildly uncomfortable - he was standing too stiffly, and his smiles were forced - but it was clear the girls didn't notice and/or didn't care. You stepped out from behind Clay to say something, only to have two sets of bright eyes catch on yours.

"Who's that?" One of the girls asked excitedly, looking at you. 

Clay went from mildly uncomfortable to not-so-mildly uncomfortable in a split second, stepping in front of you again. "Look, you guys seem really nice, but you can't really be back here-"

"Are you a roadie?" One of the girls asked, zeroing in on the pass on your lanyard. "That's so cool! Does that mean you get to see all the behind the scenes-"

"Really." Clay tried again. "You guys should go back and find your parents, they're probably looking for you-"

It didn't matter what he said though, because George had returned with someone from the security team. The girls were escorted back out into the venue without much of an issue, and the moment they were gone, you could see Clay visibly relax. He turned to you, a tired smile on his face. 

"Sorry about that." He said. "What was it you wanted to ask-?"

"Clay, we should go get our mics unhooked and take our costumes off." George said, drawing his attention. He looked torn as he looked back to you, obviously waiting for you to speak. 

"It's okay." You said. "Um, I'll just ask you later. It's not super pressing or anything." 

Clay smiled, heading off with George. "Catch you later then!" He said, seemingly unbothered again. 

You watched him go, that confident feeling draining from you every step he took further away. Even if those fans hadn't interrupted, you probably would have chickened out. And really, what were you even going off of? Two things that probably weren't even related to you? It was probably better you hadn't asked.