sunset. /dnf/

thirteen

as clay paced his way around his room, he realized how stupid he would seem. it wasn't a date or anything, his friends would be there too so why was he so nervous? but the thought of george being there made his heart race more, and it made him want to at least look more presentable. "what's something good to wear?" he asked himself. clay began to rummage through his closet, looking for anything decent to wear. his fuzzy hoodie was out of the question, it was dirty and being washed. He came across this light blue hoodie with two white stripes on the arms. that's okay for now, clay thought, grabbing his black bandana, tying it around his neck.
pants weren't difficult to choose, he'd just go with black sweat pants. he smiled a bit as he looked at the bandana, adjusting it a tad. he usually would wear one but kids would tease him at school about being a robber or gang member, so he simply stopped wearing it. bandanas were his favourite, especially this black one his mom gave to him.

one last time after he'd gotten dressed, clay stared at his reflection and nodded to himself in half-satisfaction. he checked the time, his screen reading 5:27pm, readying himself to leave. he shoved his phone in his pocket, grabbed his backpack, turned off the lights and headed downstairs.

"hey mom." he smiled. "hi clay! where you heading?" she'd asked, obviously noting that he wanted to go out, standing by the shoe rack. "oh, my friends wanna hang out by the river again. we're going to try to have a fire too. if you're okay with that, that is"

her eyes looked troubled for a quick moment. "that's okay, please be careful though, there are some wack people out there and i dont want my little clayton hurt!" she said, making her voice babyish at the end. clay ran his hand through his hair, neck a little hot from embarrassment, but he shook it off. "alright, i'll be careful." clay said, grabbing his shoes from the rack. her mom perked her head up for a moment, catching his attention. "oh! and if-" he cut her off, knowing what came next. "and if i'm ever in danger, call you or 911." she chuckled lightly, giving him a pat on the shoulder. "text if you decide to stay overnight again." she cast a small joking glance at him before returning to whatever she had been doing. "see you clay!"

"bye mom!" he fixed the arms on his backpack before grabbing his skateboard, decorated in stickers of cutesy things like clouds, flowers, animals and so on. clay closed the door behind him, letting his hands loosen the grip on his skateboard. he let it hit the ground, stepped onto it and began his way to the river.

////

clay noticed a familiar tree, hanging over a pathway. he picked up his skateboard and unplugged the headphones. hearing the casual chatting of teens, he quickly recognized those as his friends. one voice wasn't very recognizable but he'd heard george and darryl. making his way down the path, clay noticed every eye was on him, since he'd made noise traversing through the leaves. "dream!" darryl smiled widely, waving at his best friend. clay let out a small laugh and silently waved back. he set his skateboard down next to a log, locating george after glancing around. "hi george." he felt his body heat up a bit. nick furrowed his eyebrows jokingly. "not even a hello from me? wow clay!" nick joked, earning laughs from the boys seated around him.
"you're so dumb." lightheartedly, clay muttered under his breath. george's eyes were torn off of george to look at an unfamiliar face.
he had glasses and dark-ish brown hair, a cream coloured hoodie with dark brown at the end. the hoodie had cat ears on it.
"oh! clay this is ant, or you can call him antfrost. his real name is andrew though." ant smiled and waved. "hi!" "and ant, i'm sure you've heard of clay, he likes to be called dream."
ant nodded, clay guessed the two were good friends.
"antfrost doesn't actually go to our school, he's a childhood friend of dreams and mine." darryl explained, patting ant on the shoulder, who was sitting next to him. "well. nice to meet you." clay smiled, ant returning the favor. "likewise."
clay felt his body heat up a little before realizing george had been staring, peering over his shoulder. the moment the two caught eyes, george snapped his neck back around to the rest of his friends, leaving clay to now be staring at the other boy.
george awkwardly looked back for a moment. "i, uh, like your outfit cla-  i mean dream." clay watched as the british boys face began to fade red, feeling his own do the same.
clay smiled widely, attempting to hide it. "thanks"

clay could hear snickering from his right, turning to see nicks gaze resting on the two.
"just kiss already" nick joked, earning laughs from everyone else, but two angry/flustered death stares from them.
"anyways!" george desperately tried to change the subject. "should we start the fire?"
ant and darryl nodded, as ant began to look for the fire starter. nick whipped his head up at ant, catching clays eyes for a swift moment. "oh, ant next time you should bring red! i'm pretty sure he was busy tonight, right?"
antfrost nodded.
"yeah. he would've liked to but said he had to babysit his sisters." he explained.
"ah okay, just thought him and clay would get along well."
antfrost stared at clay for a moment as he handed some twigs and the fire starter to darryl.
"you're right, they're both pretty similar." ant adjusted his glasses before sitting back down next to darryl.
////
(george pov)
regardless of the heat of the fire, george repositioned himself to be closer to clay, wanting to feel the warmth from the taller boys body.
hoping nobody would notice, george took his right hand and loosely wrapped it around clay's back, letting it rest on the log. clay quickly stared at him with an unreadable expression, turning his attention back to their friends conversations and the blazing fire.
"hey, i thought we could hang out on thursday? we could go to the movie theaters or something i thought. unless you don't want to or you're busy-" george asked, rambling on a bit. clay smiled brightly. "of course i'll go, don't worry i'm not busy. " clay kept their hushed tone, making sure none of the others would hear their conversation.
"..aaand that's why you don't give dream paint." darryls voice charmed on, pulling the two out of their conversation
"bad i swear to god if you told that story-"
"oops" darryl gave him a mischievous smirk.
"baaaaad!"
george looked intrigued. "huh?"
nick giggled, before raising his eyebrow. "weren't you listening?"
"not really, me and dream were talking."
"what about?" nick began to tease.
"stuff."
"stuff, is it?"
"mhm that's what i said."
"oh come on gogy wogy, you can tell me anything."
"don't call me that or else you won't be talking anymore. also no i can't, you can hardly remember to wear a belt, how am i supposed to trust you with any secret?" george retorted, playfulness hinting in his eyes.
nick placed his hand on his chest and gasped dramatically, as the teens around them went 'oooo!'
clay broke into a fit of giggles, leading into an infectious wheeze, causing george to laugh.
"i take all offense in that, george!" nick jokingly grunted.
"good, you should."
"i hate you."
"i hate you too" george warmly smiled.
ant grinned. "okay, okay break it up you toddlers"
george exhaled before turning back to clay. "so you're coming?"
"mhm."
"cool! i'll get the tickets ready when i can, but first we're gonna need to pick a movie." george said.
clay nodded. "i'll take a look at what they have when i get home"
"okay."
why did this feel so much like a date to george? he knew it wasn't but that excitement and the butterflies in his stomach tried to tell him otherwise.

if only it was a date.
but of course we're just friends.
he thought before gazing up at the stars.