like real people do | dreamnotfound

20

20 - talk to me, boy.

~

clay, sapnap, techno, wilbur, niki and the young pair of twins sat on phil's living room floor, the pink haired boy and his sibling bickering at each other as they explored the nether (it was unusual for the two to cooperate with each other instead of competing with each other, niki found it amusing.). techno's eyes drift over the grey, vein-like marks crawling on clay's arm - but he doesn't acknowledge it. the latter, however, feels the pain, and at the same time - he feels george's thin, nimble fingers drift across his arm skillfully as he healed the almost withered flesh. "techno, kill the blaze, kill the blaze - it's gonna kill me!" clay yelled, "i have half a heart technO-"

techno wordlessly killed the blaze and handed clay an instant healing potion he got from a witch. "you suck." techno said, monotone. "shut up, you'll have to save me anyway." clay quipped back.

after finishing the game, the group just hung out and played uno from time to time - tommy's loud voice invading the small room, along with tubbo's light and soft laughter. "oh my gosh, clay, sapnap - you haven't met my boy yet!" wilbur perked up.

"who?" sapnap asked, looking up from his phone. clay did the same, tilting his head to the side in slight confusion.

"niki and i are co-parenting a boy, and you haven't met him yet!" wilbur reiterated.

"oh god, i fucking hate that thing." tommy mumbled, while tubbo just looked enthusiastic upon the mention of the 'boy'. techno sighed, it seems like everybody knows what niki and wilbur had in store except for clay and sapnap.

"wait, i'll bring him over." wilbur stood up, and ran to his house next door. niki giggled into her palms, this was going to be fun. when wilbur entered the living room, clay and nick were baffled - to say the least. perched around wilbur's shoulders, was a 6 foot long, bright blue, long furby with a yellow plaid underbelly and ears, its eyes were painted white, and a salmon charm hung on the friendship bracelet on his neck. "this is friend! niki and i made him!"

"holy fuck." clay mumbled, standing up and moving closer to inspect the monstrosity.

"i know right, i hate that thing." tommy looked up at clay.

"oh, tommy. don't say such rude things about friend!" tubbo mocked, tommy just laughed in response. techno doesn't even look fazed.

"i made the friendship bracelet." techno injected into the conversation.

"he's so beautiful." sapnap faux-sobbed.

"niki, niki. i have a suggestion, take it or leave it." clay called out to the small, blonde girl. petting the bright blue faux fur of the creature around wilbur's shoulders. "how 'bout, we give friend some arms with gold, spray painted artist hands."

"oh! that sounds good!" niki enthusiastically replied. clay held his palm out, 'wait' - a wordless request. clay rushed to his childhood bedroom and came back down with not one, not two, not even five - but eight, wooden posable artist hands. "clay why do you have eight-"

"some secrets, i can not spill." clay mumbled ominously, a smile threatening to show up on his face.

"god, wil. why'd you introduce clay to niki?" techno mumbled, "imagine the chaos they'd commit."

-

"hand over the spine, please." niki asked, not looking up from hand sewing the faux fur. clay placed the wooden, artist hand gently on the table and handed a spine over to niki. they all dissolved to silence, tommy and tubbo sleeping on phil's couch, techno typing up an essay and nick contributing wrong answers for techno to type in (which, the pink haired boy doesn't.). clay and niki were in his childhood bedroom, the windows open to let the paint fumes out, wilbur had just excused himself to go grab some food - giving niki an opportunity to talk to clay. "thanks." niki smiled, connecting the smaller spine portion to friend's main spine, and sewing the cloth around it. "i quite like your ear cuff, where'd it come from?"

clay stopped painting, friend's hands were painted black with gold fading from his fingertips. they'd also decided to add a third eye onto friend's forehead, the iris glowing gold underneath the light (it was mostly wilbur's idea, and the other two encouraged the chaos.). "i got it from a boy."

"hm, a boy?" niki hummed, "i assume you're not straight."

"yeah," clay chuckled, "i had a whole ass identity crisis when i was a teen. tech, wil, nick and dad were there for me. i appreciate them, so much." he continued, brushing the tiny paintbrush onto friend's fingertips, and sketching celestial motifs at the back of the hand. clay was quite the artist, and wilbur was thrilled when clay volunteered to work on friend with niki. "but yeah, this boy."

"tell me about him," niki offered, clay smiled, shaking his head.

"i talk too much." clay responded.

"i can listen." niki countered, and clay gave up.

"he was so beautiful. he had this mushroom sunhat thing, and whenever he doesn't have it on - a flower crown of honeysuckle, dandelions and lavenders sat on his scalp, he looked like a god - a fairy, i don't know," clay stopped, hand unconsciously coming up to touch the cuff resting on his ear, "i didn't care about most things - but when he offered to teach me how to make a flower crown? i said yes faster than nick shovelling nuggets down his throat."

"so fast, then." niki laughed, "it was scary -- he was choking and i thought he'd die. didn't expect techno to flip him upside down."

"it happens more than you think." clay said.

"now, back to the boy." niki encouraged clay to continue, and a smile ghosted onto his face.

"yeah, sure. his sun-kissed skin was lit up by the moonlight, we slow danced as a jukebox gently thrummed in the background. his lips were soft and plump, and his hair was a little curly and too fluffy for its own good." clay continued.

"fluffier than friend's fur?" niki asked.

"so much fluffier than friend's fur." clay confirmed "his chocolate eyes contained pockets of fantasies and fairytales within it, and i was badly hurt once - i've seen storm rage, and i've also seen spring arrive within those eyes. i just," clay stopped, sighing. "i feel safe with him."

"what's stopping you from going to him?" niki looked at clay, cutting the blue thread she was sewing friend's new arms with.

"i don't know where he is right now." clay sadly smiled at niki, and niki smiled back.

just watching this boy talk about his brother like the latter was the best creature to ever exist on this planet convinced niki, the pure love hanging loosely off of his words and etched onto his eyes. george did mention slow dancing with clay, so she knew that this blond was the one his brother fell for. and to be frank, niki wants nothing but george's happiness.

"what if somehow, i know where he is?" niki hummed, "i'd guess it's a george your heart is yearning for."

--

04/02/21