toxic | dnf ice skating AU

the plans

"one and two and three and jump!" puffy calls from the side of the ice rink.
george jumps into the air, spinning rapidly yet only to fall to the ground. "fuck," he curses under his breath.
"good shot, george! your best attempt yet!" she shouts, waving him over. george skates over to his coach and stands by her, ready for post-practice feedback. "your triple axel is looking good, probably won't be able to include it in your upcoming routine, but the one after that is definitely on the table. hockey team is gonna be here soon, you might want to put your shoes on," she says, patting him on the back as he walks off the ice.
as george was unlacing his skates, he feels a vibration come from his bag. curious, he grabs his phone out of his bag.
'sooty foot: HELLO GEORGE DO YOU WANT TO HANG OUT TOMORROW WITH ME'
'sooty foot: SOME OTHER PPL MAY BE THERE LOL'
he looks at his and breathes out a laugh. in response he texts,
'what time lol'
he sets his phone down and begins to put his shoes on. then the dreaded noise comes into his ear, the ice rink doors bust open with teenage hockey players. he quickly puts his skates into his bag and slings his bag over his shoulder while also grabbing his phone.
george begins to walk past everyone, when his spots clay. he carried a large bag and a hockey stick, but wore a white tshirt and thick black sweatpants. so simple yet something about it made him feel something. he turned forwards and started to walk to his car.
"hold up!" he hears a yell from behind. george turns around to see clay running up to him, t-shirt on in the pouring snow.
"huh?" george shouts in response, stopping. clay catches up to him and smiles, catching his breath a bit.

"hey! sorry- i wanted to catch you before you left. what are you doing tomorrow?" he asks, goosebumps forming on the cold boy's arms.

"oh uhm," he thinks. panicking, he says. "nothing really,"

"cool, do you want to hang out? we can chill at my place or do whatever," clay offers
"isn't your sister and like- family gonna be there?" george asks, realizing his sister and clay's sister were friends and would probably talk about them.

"nah. kylie is going out to the movies and staying at a friends house. my mom and dad are going to a party way out and won't be home till at least 2am.. or won't be home till noon,"

"oh- hah. ok. what would you wanna.. do?" george asks, a little nervous.
"well i mean-" he starts.

"clay get your ass in here we're starting!" a black haired male with a bandana on yells, peaking through the front door.

"i'll text you, sorry!" clay says. turning and jogging back to the entrance.
"bye..!" george calls after him, a bit nervous.

he gets into his car and doesn't wait for it to warm up. as he's driving home, george looks at his phone during a red light.
"fuck.." he breathes out, looking at a text message popping up.
'sooty foot: Around 12:30 ish.'
he replies, 'what are we gonna do'
'sooty foot: Go to the mall, hang out at my place. The usual.'

'cool. idk if i can make it but i will try'
'sooty foot: Sounds like a plan, Gogy!'

george continues to drive through the pouring snow. is he really gonna ditch his friends for some stupid boy? he sighs. on one hand, he's been friends with these people for years- but they could always reschedule, none of them ever have anything going on. on the other hand, he just met this guy- but he doesn't know if he'll be busy or have any free time like this again.

george gets home and flops on the living room couch.
"george?" his mom calls from the kitchen.
"hi mom," he calls, flipping his head to the right instead of being face down.
"how was skating?"
"it was alright," he responds.
"that's good," she says. he can tell she sounds tired or something. maybe anxious, but she's almost never anxious- always very laid back.
"say, what do you want for dinner?" she asks.
"food." he responds, getting up and walking to his room.

any conversation he's ever had with his mom is always awkward and a little sad. she just seems emotionally distant- like that robot mom from the umbrella academy. of course he'd never compare her to a robot, but she just seems very quiet all the time. the entire house is quiet all the time. all you could ever hear was music from stella's room, youtube or gaming from his room, and the faint sound of pots or pans in the kitchen.
george hops up on his bed and sighs, staring at his ceiling. he looks around his room and grabs a book from his side table, 'romeo and juliet'. he has to read it for his english class but reallt he hates the idea of the book. it seems so stupid to be so in love with someone that as soon as they die you kill yourself. yet it's happened so many times in the past, and for what reason?

maybe he was over thinking it, but all of shakespeare's plays seem a little stupid to him. shakespeare himself seemed stupid to him.

george tosses the book onto the ground across his room and rolls over and under some blankets. he doesn't care to take off his clothes and goes to bed, feeling stressed and slightly in pain for no reason at all.
he was just in a mood that confused him. george usually wasn't ever confused, he seemed to always have an acute knowledge of what was going on around him. but lately everything seemed jumbled around.

george closes his eyes and pulls the blankets over his head, crumbling into a fetal position and drifting off to sleep.

...

he feels a vibration that awakens him slightly. then another. then another.

george groans and feels around for his phone. upon finding it, he sees the time.
"1:09 AM"
what the fuck.
he looks at his notifications and sees that none other than clay is texting him.

'clay :) :hey, sorry for the late text. hockey ran late and i low key forgot LOL'
'clay :) :anyways, if you're free around noon tomorrow we can hang out at my place and just chill i guess.'
'clay :) :play COD or minecraft or something- bake. idk just whatever.'

george thinks for a moment.

'you said your family's gonna be out all day/night right?'

'clay :) : yup'

'do you wanna meet up with me and some other friends and hang out and then we can go back to your place after and hang there'

'clay :) : totally. sounds good :D'

huh. wilbur and clay both use the same face emoji things. that's funny.

'see ya then. i'll pick you up around noon.'
'clay :) : it's a date!'

" it's. a. date. " george reads aloud. of course he was talking about the day scheduling and not a romantic setting because that'd be weird but still.

(A/N: sorry for not uploading a lot. been rlly unmotivated and low key suicidal lately. will get back to updating soon)