He Taught me Love

Chapter 22

"Okay thank you, mom! We will talk soon- bye" George lowers the phone from his ear sliding the device back into his pocket.

He sighs collecting the last few papers from his desk neatly sliding them back into his bag "Are you ready to go Tubs" 

Tubbo looks up from his coloring book and nods "Why didn't daddy come to pick me up?" He asks zipping up his school bag

George picks up the boy placing him on his hip and explains: "Daddy had that meeting so you had to stay here with me later" "Let's go." he says. 

---(Back home)---

"And for the rest of the sweaters, we will have the same colors available to make things easier for the buyers" Clay finishes sliding his notes off to the side 

"That sounds good, Dream we’ll send that over to the warehouse and things will be rolling soon" A woman's voice comes from the other side of the call to his monitor.

It has been over two hours of discussing branding for his YouTube channel and Clay has become severely restless, his leg shaking under the desk and fingertips tapping along his thigh. He never enjoyed sitting in meetings for long periods at a time. "Thank you, Alyssa" 

"Of course Dream, we’ll end the meeting now, but I do have a question before you go" 

He internally groans the need for any type of movement scratching at the surface of his skin, but he still calmly responds with a patient "What's up?"

A small sigh follows -through the call Alyssa's words play through his headset "Twitter had been a lot since that once stream...what are you going to do about that it isn't best for the brand's reputation and even your own.” 

Falling back into his chair, Clay's thoughts arise, his head filled with possible answers. He has had many Twitter scandals behind his name attacking his career and rumors spread about him as a person, but this situation involves the man he loves. "I'm not sure," He says honestly, "I think the best thing is to just leave it alone don't feed the fire you know."

"Understandable" Alyssa nods "do what you think is the best Dream."

"Thanks, Alyssa, we'll talk again soon." 

Clay leaves the confinement of his office finding himself lured into the kitchen when he grabs himself a quick snack.

"Hey Clay'' Sapnap greets the ravenette sitting at the island laptop open in front of him "How was the meeting with Alyssa?" He asks.

"It was alright she just wanted more ideas for my merch and some other project I wanted to start working on” Taking an apple from the counter, he shines the fruit against his shirt and shrugs, "She and Callahan are concerned about the stream incident with George since it was trending on Twitter, but I assured them that it would pass like all the scandals on Twitter." 

Sapnap nods with a small chuckle "Yeah I saw some of the tweets people are crazy" 

Clay takes a seat next to his friend laughing along his side "Yeah some people just enjoy causing unnecessary drama… Anyways, what are you looking at?

"Oh, this...Karl and I were just looking at different schools to enroll Ranboo in"He explains angling the device so they both could take a better look.

Clay leans in reading off a few of the top schools on Sapnaps list, but his eyes catch a small detail shocking the blond eyebrows furrowed in a lack of understanding  "Sap you do know these are schools in London right?" Clay points out “Wouldn't you want to be looking at schools in Florida?”

Sapnap rubs his neck nervously as he tries to form the words "uh well..." He slides away from the friend's examining gaze "See the thing is, Karl and I-"

"CLAY WERE HOME" Georges voice breaks through the tension 

Sapnap lets out a relieved breath of air quickly closing his laptop shut "Oh look at that George is home" he announces "guess we'll have to talk later" Sapnap is gone in an instant disappearing from any more questions. 

Recovering from the confused state he had been left in, Clay calls back to his boyfriend until eventually, the brunette man appears in the kitchen corridor. 

"How was your day?"

George sighs, palms digging into his eyes “Exhausting. None of my students would listen today. My classroom is still a complete mess plus I have about a dozen stacks of papers and glitter-filled art to mark." 

Watching the way George's body almost drops at every movement, the slight baggage that rests under his eyes, Clay could see how drained his lover looked. "I'm sorry love. How about I run you a nice bath to help you relax a little. 

George nods "That would be nice" he tiredly smiles 

Standing Clay takes Georges hand and leads him upstairs to their bedroom "You go ahead and grab a pair of comfy clothes and I'll be right back"

Receiving a small 'Okay' Clay quickly goes to Sapnap and Karl's room knocking on their door.

"Oh Dream what's up" Karl acknowledges 

"Hey Karl George isn't doing too well right now and so I was wondering if you and Sap could watch Tubbo for a bit while he takes a bath. I would, but I don't feel comfortable leaving George alone right now" 

Karl quickly looks back into his room mumbling a few words to his husband before turning back to Clay with a smile. "Yeah no problem he can play with Ranboo I bet Sapnap needs a break from being an evil villain" he jokes. 

As Clay thanks Karl and Sapnap, he passes Tubbo over to make sure his son has everything he needs before returning to the bedroom, where he finds George on their bed wiping a few tears from his flushed cheeks.

"Alright, I'm going to get the water running. Do you need anything else?" He asks 

"Do you mind getting me something small to eat? I didn't have any time to eat today." George replies between sniffles 

Fulfilling the request Clay runs back to the kitchen taking out George's favorite variety of fruits, arranging them all into a bowl as well as filling a glass filled with ice-cold water and a blue metal straw. He brings everything back upstairs just in time for the tub to be filled perfectly.

"The bath is ready" Clay leads George into the master bathroom helping him strip from his clothes and slowly lowering him into the water "I also made sure to add some of your vanilla bubble bath and essential oils”

"Thank you Clay you are too sweet" George whispers eyes brimmed with tears as he takes the bowl of fruit and water from his boyfriend.

"Anything for you my love"