laminated lavenders | dreamnotfound

9

9 - friend

~

the four walked happily to the arcade down town, with the three taking tons of pictures and george just laughing at their silliness; stereotypical tourists. it seems like this small town george grew up in didn't change a lot, there were new establishments but the charm and the sparks george felt within his fingertips were still there.

george smiled at his friends, even techno - who usually had a poker face, was enjoying himself. they were making a silly vlog to send phil, making their dad smile was something they all collectively liked doing; granted, george and nick aren't phil's sons, but he did help them whenever they had mental breakdowns over their finals.

"arcade, pog!" wilbur yelled, dragging nick and techno inside the old place - nick was holding onto george, and in turn, wilbur indirectly dragged him along. "so, how does this work?" wilbur turned to george, looking down at the shorter boy, his curls bouncing whenever he moved his head.

"wait, i think i still have my old card." george mumbled, fishing through his wallet, which contained a faded polaroid picture of he and clay, with the blond carrying the brit in a piggyback ride; within clay's eyes were stardust, and his hair contained moonshine and pastel pink butterflies - the blond truly looked beautiful. "yeah, found it!" the short brit smiled, pulling out the old, plastic blue card with his name etched on the back and the arcade's name printed on the top, "you pay the dude in the counter and whichever amount you pay him will be loaded into the card as points - so, let's say the karaoke booth asks for 6 points, then if you use that booth then you'll be subtracted 6 points." george explained gently, handing the card to techno - who is arguably the most responsible out of all of them.

"oh, poggers!" sapnap cheered, pulling a 20 from his wallet, "here's my contribution." and after he handed techno the money, george and wilbur followed suit, with techno going last.

the four went up to the counter, where a guy in his thirties stood. he looked over at the men in front of him, and a flash of recognition passed through his eyes when he saw george. "george, you're home." he breathed, sam did witness george and clay grow up together, them singing in the karaoke booth and them playing ddr. clay even won george a medium sized pastel green teddy with a white belly and a blue ribbon tied around its neck, and they affectionately named it blob - george brings blob everywhere, he's always in the brit's backpack.

"sam! you still own this place?" george said, smiling widely at sam. the older man let out a hearty laugh, he did miss seeing the two - they were a sight to see, no fights or unreasonable arguments, just pure adoration circled around the two.

"of course, i built this myself." sam responded, "where's clay?" he asked, looking at the brit's friends and seeing the blond nowhere to be found.

george went silent at the question, colour draining from his face, nevertheless, he breathed, forcing a small smile back on his face. "i haven't seen him for a decade now."

sam nodded in understanding, taking the four boys' money and loading it into the card. when he was done, sam handed it to george with a thank you and a silent apology. george, techno, wilbur and sapnap rushed over to the karaoke room, closing the door behind them - wilbur's smile reached his smile when he saw the karaoke machine, the mic and the soundproofed walls.

"techno, grab the songbook and look for hayloft." wilbur turned to his pink haired twin, with the taller raising an eyebrow at the dark haired boy's weird ways - wilbur always sang hayloft whenever there was a karaoke machine around, "we're 'boutta wreck this place with awesomeness." he muttered, wrapping slender fingers around the mic and switching it on.

"george, sapnap - play the phantom guitars." he commanded, "we're performing a concert, baby!"

--

"george, oh my gosh! there's a little sheep here in your backyard!" wilbur yelled, crouching down to meet the little sheep, "hello, do you have a home?" the creature stared at wilbur with big, dark eyes, and nudged his hand with its head, "george i'll keep him!" wilbur yelled out, before turning to the sheep, "your name, is friend."

"what-" george looked out to the backyard through the kitchen's window, and wilbur was indeed with a sheep. "how will you bring it back home, wil, you're being impulsive."

they just got home, and they thought they were going to settle for a while after a hectic day of headbanging and playing air guitars, but no - wilbur just had to find a little sheep in george's backyard. but, it seems so normal that george wasn't even that shocked at the sight.

"no, i'll find a way." wilbur said, determined. smiling when the sheep sat beside his feet, "i won't leave friend here."

"oh god, george. don't tell me wilbur already named it." techno groaned, "what's worse is dad will be on board with keeping the sheep." he sighed, phil was rational, but at the same time, he was the kind of dude to support his sons' weird decisions.

"hey, this vacay just got more fun." sapnap grinned, "we're sharing george's house with a sheep." the youngest ran out through the backdoor to meet wilbur, both of them gushing over the small creature. "sally will find him adorable." wilbur cheered, talking about his red-headed girlfriend who doesn't like eating fish.

"we have to buy it food." techno mumbled, and george nodded in agreement. "wanna go out?"

"yeah, sure." george smiled, "i also wanna stop by somewhere." the brit mumbled, looking down the street through the window, seeing the blond's house. he hopes, he wishes, he prays to god that clay was still there, that clay has waited for him.

he'll come home, he'll come back to clay; clay was his home.

--

02/22/21 - first draft
03/09/21 - edited