"George, wake up.."
George slowly opened his eyes after being gently shaken awake by something. He found himself staring into the eyes of... Patches?
Surprised to find the cat there, he jolted backwards in surprise, which made the person behind him wrap his arms around an unsuspecting George even tighter.
"Ugh Clay, why is your cat third wheeling us?" George mumbled into the taller boy's chest after turning to face him.
Clay brought his hands up to George's head so he could run his hands through his hair, trying to smooth the Brit's horrible bed head somewhat. "Hey, your cat gets all of your attention when we cuddle on the couch sometimes, so don't complain."
"I am complaining though. And why do we have to wake up?" George asked as he nuzzled deeper to Clay's side.
"Because I made big plans for us today! I'm taking you somewhere!"
"I'm sure your plans are nice, but the nicest place I can think of right now is where I currently am." George said in full honesty.
"Oh come on now, we have to get up at some point!"
George just let out a muffled groan in response.
Clay sighed, but continued to thread his fingers through George's hair. "Okay, fine. Five more minutes."
Five minutes turned into two hours, but George was actually willing to get up and move when Clay woke him the second time. He got up and got ready for what he presumed was a date with Clay. The prospect excited him, since they hadn't gone out in awhile. At first they felt like no need, because they just enjoyed having the house to themselves.
Clay brought a huge basket out to the car as they went to leave, spoiling any hints of what they were going to do. George smiled nonetheless, excited to see what Clay had made for their picnic. They drove for a long time, filling the silence with constant and easy coming conversation. George was actually confused as to where they were going after a while- where in the world was Clay taking them?
Finally, Clay pulled into a small driveway that led them back to a small cove. There was no one else around.
"Woah, where are we?" George asked when he got out and started walking around the beautiful place.
"It's my spot." Clay said happily as he laced their fingers together. "I found this place a while back, and I come here to escape."
"This is amazing, thank you for sharing it with me," George said, giving the blond's hand a squeeze.
"I want to share everything with you, idiot," Clay said with a laugh. "Hey, come look at this!"
He led George over to a tree. Upon closer examination, George found a little smiley face carved into the trunk, clearly weathered over the years.
"I put that there four years ago. To mark this place as mine."
"Oh my god, this is like a time capsule!" George said in wonder, tracing his hands over the indentation.
"Yeah," Clay agreed, before turning to go start setting up the picnic. George went over to help, and found that Clay had definitely gone overboard.
"Clay, how are we going to eat all of this?" George asked.
"You underestimate my appetite George," Clay answered with a smirk.
Clay was right. All of the food was gone by the end of their hours sitting in the cove, sitting on the edge of the water and chatting. They had drawn in the sand, basked in the sun, and teased each other endlessly. A bright smile stayed on George's face through it all.
After a while, Clay dragged George back to the large tree with his signature symbol carved in the side.
"What are you doing?" George asked, giggling.
"You'll see, hold on. Don't peek." Clay demanded. George hummed in agreement and turned to watch the sunset over the ocean.
A few minutes later, he was turned around to see Clay's work. A simple C+G was now carved into the tree and the proud culprit of the carving was sitting next to it with a smile on his face and a key in his hand.
"This is our place now, George," Clay said sweetly.
"I love it, but it's missing something!" George said, grabbing the key from Clay after crawling over to the tree. He made Clay turn around as he encased the initials in a heart. Clay's smile grew impossibly wider when he saw what George had done.
"It's perfect now," George said, looking up at Clay with a smile. They were sitting across from each other, staring into each other's eyes.
"Just like you," Clay said, reaching up to grab George's chin.
"Oh, shut up!" George said as he felt his face go red.
"Make me."
In that moment, George could only think of one way to make the dumb boy in front of him shut up. There would never be a better time, a more perfect moment than this one. They were already so close too, both subconsciously leaning in as they admired each other.
So he took one final breath, and then he closed the distance between him and his soulmate, kissing him, really kissing him, for the first time.
And it was electric.
Clay kept his hands on George's face, and George brought his hands up to wrap around Clay's neck, messing with the ends of his hair. George parted his lips almost immediately, wanting more. God, why had he waited this long?!
Clay started to explore George's mouth with his tongue- he tasted like the fruit they had eaten earlier. The kiss was incomparable to any other, so perfect to George.
Like something out of a dream, maybe.
They pulled away eventually, both mutually agreeing that it was important to breathe at some point. Clay had red lips, flushed cheeks, and a wide smile on his face, breathing deeply as he stared at George with adoration. George wished that he could save the picture forever, frame it, show it off to everyone in the world. He was sure that he looked equally as wrecked, though.
After a bit, Clay turned and leaned back against the tree, gesturing George over to sit next to him. He scooched over immediately, settling into Clay's side.
"We should do that more often," George finally mumbled, breaking the comfortable silence between the two. The sun had been reduced to a silver, the sky getting darker by the minute.
"I'd like that," Clay said sweetly, leaning down to leave a kiss on George's forehead.
As they walked to the car, Clay said, "So, are you down for another adventure tonight?"
"Hmmm.. depends," George responded with a giggle.
"Okay, well the only reason I know about this place is because I used it to escape my house when I was mad at my parents or something like that. So naturally, my childhood house is just down the street. We don't have to go tonight, but my parents invited us over tonight for a campfire if you want to go. Don't feel like you have to! Just, I don't know, they're chill. So...?" Clay blurted out quickly, barely leaving George time to process what was happening.
"Really? You aren't messing with me?"
"No! I'm sorry for not telling you sooner too, I just didn't want you to stress and I-"
"Clay," George cut him off, and he stopped talking immediately. "It's fine. And yes, no time like the present, right?"
"So you want to go meet them?" Clay asked, relieved.
"Yes! Of course, why wouldn't I want to be able to say that I met Clay's mother?" He joked.
Clay rolled his eyes dramatically, and then walked away to get into the car. He left George there to laugh at his joke as he made his way to the car too.
The drive was surprisingly short, only five minutes or so. Clay pulled into the driveway of a nice oceanside house with beautiful landscaping and a tire swing in the front. They got out of the car and Clay led them around to the backyard, where two people were already sitting around a firepit.
"Clay! You made it!" George heard Clay's mom say as she stood up to greet her guests. She walked over to them, giving Clay a hug first. "Hey mom," he said with a smile. She was definitely not the source of Clay's height, but she was the source of his bright smile and endless freckles.
"And you must be George. Welcome to my home dear, I'm so glad to finally meet you! Clay talks about you alllll the time," she said teasingly, surprising George by pulling him into a hug as well.
"Oh really?" George said with a laugh. "You'll have to tell me everything! It's lovely to meet you as well, by the way."
"Mom!" Clay protested weakly.
"Oh hush, Clayton. Come George, let's sit down."
George shot Clay an amused look before turning to follow his mom. He just smiled and rolled his eyes, walking over too.
As he sat down, he spoke to Clay's father for the first time. "Hey George, it's nice to meet you finally." He said warmly.
"You as well!" George responded with a large smile. Clay sat down across from him, exchanging a quick hug with his dad before starting up a quiet conversation with him. He looked beautiful, illuminated by the warm glow of the fire.
George clicked with Clay's mom immediately, talking to her about her garden, and about Clay's childhood. He enjoying hearing about all of Clay's stupid childhood adventures, and she enjoyed recounting them. How he broke his arm after flying out of the tire swing when he was nine, how he was the stud of his pee-wee football team.
It was a wonderful night, and George was so happy that he had connected so quickly with Clay's mom. By the end of the night they had exchanged phone numbers, and she was promising to take George to this 'amazing place to get blowouts' at some point (Getting a blowout made George's head feel lighter and gave him infinite confidence- he wasn't afraid to admit that he got them on the regular).
By the time they left it was virtually the middle of the night, and George was exhausted in the best way. He slept on the way home, and let Clay carry him inside when they got home finally. When they were both finally settled in bed, George curled into Clay's side and fell into a deep sleep.
Falling isn't really that bad, If it's for you...
Your lips, your blush, your eyes, your touch
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hello guys! vote and comment please <3 this was actually so fun to write :D
random tidbit of the day- I wish that all of Olivia Rodrigo's songs weren't about breakups bc they r CERTIFIED BANGERS and I wish that I could use them here
word count -1767