Honey and Milk

19: Mistakes.

George

"DREAM!" I fell back in my chair, groaning as I drug my fingers through my hair. I stared at the red screen before me, begrudgingly pressing the 'respawn' button and arriving in a rainy forest with, unsurprisingly, no items.

"You shouldn't have jumped, I told you I wasn't ready!" Clay laughed from beside me, having to press his head down to contain the fit of wheezes threatening to suffocate him.

Currently, we were playing a plug in where the block you are standing on loses gravity when you aren't crouching. We hadn't made it very far.

"I have nothing, we haven't even gotten iron yet!" 

We'd managed to find a slot in one of the computer rooms, fixing together a little set-up of cheap microphones and hooking our computers up to the larger monitors. It was in no way anything beautiful, but it was enough to create some sort of "voice reveal", and frankly, the game was much more fun.

Of course, even after the little session that had happened earlier, Clay managed to throw all sorts of flirty remarks and anything to get me to stammer or become too flustered to pay attention to the game. Damn his charm.

He had decided to go by his little nickname, "Dream", instead of revealing his true name. I couldn't really change the fact that my real name was already very prominent in my username.

"We'll get it eventually, sweetheart, just be careful and go kill some cows."

I rolled my eyes and shoved him playfully, turning back to the new task. "You know, I very much dislike you."

He gave a small smirk before responding: "Nah, you love me."

I scoffed, feeling the heat easily roll up across my face. "Definitely not."

"Mhm, sure. You tell yourself that."

I frowned, giving him another shove, this time with more force. "You're full of it."

He let out a signature wheeze, a noise that I have been able to distinguish solely to his contagious laugh, before returning to the game.

About half an hour more of playful banter and one-sided flirting before we realized that beating the game at our level was impossible and wrapped up the session. 

I plugged in a hard drive, exporting the newly recorded files, before leaning back in my chair.

"I've gotta hand it to you, playing one of the plug-ins fully was actually a lot of fun."

"Of course it was, especially since I was here." He gave a smug expression, copying my laid-back posture.

"You're so full of it. If you want me to get this video out soon, you better let me get to work or it'll end up being a month before my gorgeous voice hits the internet." I stood, gathering up my belongings.

"Aw c'mon George, you know I was joking." I almost missed the faint bit of sincerity, but still scoffed and turned my back.

"Hope you'll still have that confidence at the party!"

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Clay

I was sat on my bed, idly staring at the wall as my mind raced around in nauseating circles.

One second, I was filled with the dread of being seen in public with George. The next, I couldn't give two shits about being myself. Then, it was the self-deprecating thoughts and shame.

It didn't make any sense, throughout the weeks I'd known him, I never once saw him lose his cool around me, unless it was a blushing mess. He just didn't care. Didn't it scare him? The people staring, the whispers? What if I got kicked off the team for it? I was my parent's athletic pride and joy, it would crush them to hear I kicked off, plus the neglection from the source.