1 am || dreamnotfound

thirty - six

as he sat on his phone, bear in his arms, there was a knock on his door.

"clay?" his father called from the other side. "mind if i open the door?"

clay hummed, indicating it as an invitation.

the door opened and clay's father sighed as he saw him. he came over to sit on the edge of the bed.

"so, the lady a few houses down told your mom and i that she needs a babysitter for her son, tommy, and we said clay would love to do it. and... it's a good thing for you, it'll do you good, so will you?"

clay stayed silent for a moment before answering. "i--sure, i'll do it."

his dad brightened. "perfect. you should be over there in a few minutes."

clay's eyes widened. "i— what the fuck? why didn't you tell me earlier! i need to shower and get dressed!"

his dad snickered. "watch the language, young man. now, i'll let you be."

clay rolled his eyes as he watched his dad close the door behind him. but, what clay didn't realize, was that his father finally had managed to get him to shower, even if it was quick, he still managed, and his father couldn't help but smile as he descended down the stairs.

—

clay scrambled to button his jeans and open the door to his room. hurrying downstairs, clay noticed  his dad leaning on the counter, sipping on a cup of coffee.

as he shoved on his shoes, he asked, "which house is it? specifically?"

his dad looked up. "sixth one down when you turn left."

clay hummed a 'thank you' and skittishly hopped out the door and onto his skateboard. he knew it wasn't far, but whatever.

as he slowed to a stop before the house, clay kicked up his skateboard and leaned it gently against the house. 

he rung the doorbell and waited, subconsciously fidgeting with his knuckles.

after a few seconds, the door swung open and a lady appeared before him, smiling widely. "oh, hello! you must be clay. come in, come in, dear."

clay couldn't help but mirror her smile because of her sweetness as he stepped inside, kicking off his shoes.

she led him to the kitchen with a gentle hand on his shoulder, and at the counter, sat a young boy—perhaps six— eating a sandwich.

"tommy! this is clay, he'll be babysitting whenever the rest of us are gone," the lady said and then quickly turned to clay. "god! i'm sorry, i forgot to introduce myself, i'm kristen and my husband's name is phil, but he's off at work."

clay's smile brightened. "no need to apologize."

kristen laughed. "alright, somebody should be home in around two hours. tommy can pretty much do whatever, as long as he doesn't get into any serious trouble. you're free to anything in the house as well."

"okay! thank you," clay said, waving as she walked back out the door.

curious, clay asked the boy, "do you not have any sibling las to watch you?"

tommy looked up from his sandwich, pouting dramatically. "i have older brothers... two of them... one of them is named wilbur but um, he has a lot of music classes so he's not home as much.

"and... and the other ones name is techno. he could stay home but he's always out with his friends so i kinda have nobody to watch me."

clay laughed at his pout. "well, once you finish your sandwich, you wanna do anything?"

tommy brightened. "can we play minecraft? on my xbox?"

clay quirked a brow. "you have an xbox?"

tommy nodded, grinning. "it used to be wilby's but then he said he wasn't interested anymore, so i got it!"

before clay could say anything else, tommy shoved the rest of the sandwich in his mouth and hopped out of his chair, but not before gripping one of clay's hands and dragging him into the living room.

well, at least it wasn't in his room.

tommy handed clay one of the controllers before turning on the xbox, happily getting on minecraft and loading in a new world.

"i really wanna speedrun! and beat the game! but i always die in the nether," tommy explained, frowning.

clay tilted his head. "y'know, i used to play minecraft, what if i help you beat the game?"

tommy's frown flipped into a smile. "yes! yes! but! i want to kill the dragon."

clay's heart cracked, he remembered when ally used to say that, when she couldn't beat the game.

"alright, c'mon let's get some tools so we can get some iron and into the nether," clay said, laughing as tommy eagerly began getting the materials.