What A Wonderful Nightmare

Sleepless

TW: mention of cigarettes? (just adding this to be safe)

About a week had passed since that night. The trauma. The nightmare. The kiss. George had a nightmare almost every night since then. Clay would stay awake every night to make sure he would be able to wake George up before the nightmare got bad. He would pretend to fall asleep before George, but to stay awake would dig his nails into the palms of his hands, leaving small crescent shaped markings that got worse every night. Once George would fall asleep, Clay would make himself a cup of coffee and wait until it was time to wake up the brunette. They usually happened around two or three in the morning, leaving Clay with about four hours of sleep a night. They had returned to school only two days after the incident at George's old house, meaning they had to wake up pretty early. Once Clay would wake up the smaller boy, he would hold him, kiss his forehead, tell him he's okay, and then watch as the boy he held drifted back to sleep. That was his cue to do the same. The two boys hadn't discussed the kiss with one another or anyone else. It also hadn't happened again. Clay wasn't even sure if George remembered it happened. George had just woken up from a nightmare after all. It was a Tuesday morning now, and the two boys were preparing to leave for school

Clay's POV

"Sapnap's running late, something about a flat tire. We will probably miss our first class or two." George said as he hung up the phone, looking up at the blonde boy with tired eyes. 

"We should just.." Clay yawned, covering his mouth with his hand. "..not go today."

"Are you okay? Clay? You look absolutely exhausted." George's eyebrows furrowed, showing his concern for Clay. 

"I'm okay, Georgie. Just a little tired." It was a lie, staying up every night was a huge drain of energy for Clay.

"Why don't you go take a nap, I'll make some breakfast and wake you up in time to eat it before Sapnap get's here. Like I said, it'll probably be quite awhile. We gotta go though, I've already missed a lot lately." George placed his hand on Clay's arm, massaging the blonde's muscles with his thumb.

"I like that idea. Thank you George." Clay yawned again before giving a sleep smile to George. Clay began to make his way to the couch, he felt more comfortable sleeping near George now, even if he was the only one sleeping. Just as he was about to lay down, George ran over.

"Wait!" George stood on his tippy toes, placing a soft kiss on the taller boy's cheek. "I hope you can get some sleep before we go. Here's a blanket as well." George shoved a green knitted blanket into Clay's arms before quickly walking away to the kitchen.

Wow. He remembers. He really does like me.

"Georgieeeeee!" Clay called out, wanting more attention now that he got a small sliver of it.

George returned to the room, sitting on the couch where Clay's feet were and placing them on his lap. "Yes?"

"Can you..stay next to me until I fall asleep?" Clay made a puppy dog face, something he normally wouldn't do but he was exhausted and he was craving even the smallest amount of affection from the British boy.

"Okay ba- Clay." George blushed at his almost slip up.

"Were you about to call me baby." Clay started wheezing, waking him up more so than he was before. 

"It's not funny Clayyyyy I didn't mean to!" George was blushing even brighter at Clay's reaction.

"You're so cute when you blush George oh my god." Clay was still wheezing, but it was calming down now. He laughed for a whole minute longer before letting out a sigh, signaling the end of his outburst of laughter.