Clay couldn't breathe. George was coming to Florida. George was currently on a plane to Florida. George was currently on a plane to Clay. George was coming to Clay.

George couldn't be coming to Clay. No. Damien would definitely find out that George was coming to Clay. What if he did something to George? Clay wouldn't be able to live with himself if Damien did something to George.

Would Damien do something to George? He probably- No. No, he definitely would. Clay had to stop George. How? Damien would let him talk to George to tell him not to come, right? Maybe?

But Clay didn't want to tell him not to come. Clay really wanted to see George. He could explain himself if he saw George. He could hold George and tell him he loves him and ask him not to move on to Ophelia. But if George comes, he could get hurt.

Would Damien hurt George? Clay didn't know. Damien didn't like not getting his way. Damien did what it took to get what he wanted. Damien might hurt George.

But Clay had already hurt George, emotionally at least. Clay had already hurt George. Clay had hurt George. Clay had hurt George.

Clay was spiralling out of control and Keres could see it on his face as clear as day. They had gone to the park, just Clay and Keres, in an attempt to clear their minds after a relatively sleepless night. Ever since the day Clay had confided in them, they had all decided it was best to stay together and each slept over with Clay and Vincent - they had the space to spare anyways. But their company didn't always help to quell Clay's darkening thoughts.

They had left early, while the grass was still cold underfoot, and barely said a word as they sat side by side, nursing their wounds. Clay's phone had buzzed a unique tone - George's tone - and he had pulled it out to read the messages as they came through. From then, Clay had become unresponsive, staring wide eyed at the screen and struggling around increasingly shortened breaths.

Keres didn't know what to do. She'd never dealt with a panic attack before, none but her own. She desperately tried to recall the last time someone had helped her through one and what they'd done. She distantly remembered what her ex used to do and, in a moment of sheer desperation and panic, forgot all else.

Clay was snapped back to reality by a pair of soft lips on his. They were there for the barest moment, awkward and not quite right, before Keres pulled back with wide and teary eyes.

"What did I just do?" She whispered, shocked and disappointed in herself. Did she not think of George? Of where they were? Of who may have seen? Of how Clay would have felt?

"Oh gosh.. I was- I was just trying to help. You were having- having a panic attack and," She shuffled further from Clay, who watched with equally wide eyes. "I remembered that- that my ex used to do that to bring me back when- when I was being hysterical." She clutched tightly at her arms, wishing to disappear into her warm yellow cardigan and never resurface.

"I- I wasn't thinking... I just wanted to help.. oh gosh, I've ruined everything, what about George? What if someone took a picture? George will be so upset, it's all my fault.. you must hate me." Keres lifted a hand to the base of her throat, nails digging in to the pale skin. Clay reached over to stop her and Keres flinched back, raising both of her forearms to cover her head and ducking, body trembling.

"..Please don't hurt me.." She whispered in a broken tone.

"I'm not.. I'm not going to hurt you, Keres. Please calm down.." Clay murmured, reaching for her once again but slower this time, fingers splayed. Keres shook her head, flinching when Clay's hands rested on her shoulders but not moving away from them.

"You shouldn't.. you shouldn't be comforting me. You just had a panic attack and I- I made it worse by kissing you and now- now I'm being selfish and-" Clay shushed her quietly, bringing her into his arms with little argument from her.

"Come on, lets go to the others." Clay decided. This wasn't a conversation for the world to bear witness to.

////:\\\\

@DOTDUpdates
@DreamWasTaken and @KeresHexxOff finally official??
[an image taken from behind Dream. It's clear that he and Keres are kissing.]
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retweets      likes
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@luciddreamer
Wait, I thought he was dating the streamer? George? Did something happen? Or were they just shipped? I'm so confused
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@StanDOTD
Took them long enough. Waiting for the wedding 😌
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@Hexxed
I thought Dream was in love with George though???
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     @Sapnap
     So did I.
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     retweets      likes

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"What happened?" Darryl asked the moment they walked through the door. Clay gently pushed Keres towards Darryl, who opened his arms to take her in. They walked towards the sitting room, Zak quickly making his way to Darryl and Keres' side with a look of concern. The moment Vincent looked up from his phone, Clay knew that he knew as well.

"Keres and I went to the park early this morning to just breathe since we hadn't slept well." Clay began, sitting on the arm of the couch. Vincent was sat beside him and Darryl next to Vincent, Keres curled in his arms. Zak sat on the other arm, one arm around Darryl's shoulders and the other rubbing circles into Keres' back.

"George texted me while we were out. He's coming to Florida with Nick, Ophelia, Jethro, Clark and Geo - I think his name is Geo, it's not in his twitter tag - right now. No doubt that they're on the plane." He explained, Vincent displaying George's last tweet after a moment of scrolling. Zak and Darryl looked between Clay and the screen with equally surprised faces.

"I freaked out and broke down because of what Damien might do to George and Keres tried to comfort me." He continued and Keres shook her head, clutching Darryl shirt between her fingers and pulling back enough to speak.

"I kissed him. I just wanted to help, I thought- I thought it might help him get over- not get over but- but distract him from George so he'd calm down... I'm so stupid, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Darryl shushed her and Zak brought one hand up to brush back her hair.

"You were trying to help me, Keres." Clay assured and Keres continued to shake her head as she buried her face back into Darryl's chest, repeatedly murmuring the word 'stupid'.

It took a few moments to calm Keres down enough for her to speak again. Clay waited until her breathing had evened in order to ask the question that was settled in the back of his mind.

"Why did you think I was going to hurt you?" Clay asked, quietly. For a few long minutes, it seemed Keres wasn't going to reply. Then she took a shaky breath.

"When I was younger, there was a boy." She began, knowing they deserved the truth. "I was thirteen, he was seventeen but I never minded. I was at the age where it was more uncommon to like than hate yourself... and he thought I was beautiful."

"He was nice and charming. He made me laugh. My friends all said that it was weird, that I was so close with him, but he said it was fine. He said that age was just a number. We were friends." She chewed at the inside of her cheek, lacing and unlacing her fingers.

"Then he wanted to be more than friends. I said yes, he was kind and made me feel pretty when nothing else did. Things were amazing for a while, it was my first relationship and he knew that so he was doing everything to make it seem perfect. My friends all tried to tell me that it wouldn't be like that forever and that he was bad news. I didn't listen and, eventually, he told me to stop talking to them because they'd only try to bring me down. I listened to him."

"It was fine again, a little lonely with only him but fine none the less. But then.. he started asking for things that I wasn't ready for and.. he'd get upset when I said no. He said that no one would be able to love me like he did. He wasn't charming or kind or nice at all when he was upset. He was loud and mean and.. violent." Darryl gently rubbed circles into the base of her back again.

"He never left marks where people could see them. He was smarter than that. And he knew that, without all my friends, I had no one to tell. No one but my father." She sniffled softly and Vincent stood to grab her tissues.

"I remember coming back from my boyfriend's after staying the night two years in to the relationship and just.. just crying into my fathers arms. I told him everything about how stupid I had been. About everything he said and did to me. My father told me that he wasn't angry, that my boyfriend was wrong and that he'd save me." She gratefully took the tissues from Vincent.

"We moved to Florida and my father invited me to come to church with him. I wanted something, anything, to believe in so I went along. It helped. It really helped. I learnt that God has a plan for us all.. that it wasn't my mistake or fault that got me into that relationship and that.. that I had hope for the future. Because God was watching over me and he had a plan."

"It was at church that I made my first friend since my ex had taken them all from me, I think his name started with a C. He was loud but.. he spoke softly around me. Like he knew and like he understood. He was the one that set up my twitter for me, where I found George. He disappeared one day, which really hurt, but George was there for me." She looked pained again.

"I'm so sorry, Clay. I'm so sorry." Clay shook his head and reached a hand out, slowly and clearly, to rest on her forearm.

"It's okay. I'll find a way to explain to George." He reassured, swiping his thumb back and forth over her forearm. He struggled for a second with whether or not to ask his question before deciding he needed to know. "Would you kiss me again?"

There was no hesitation before Keres shook her head negative. "No. I wasn't thinking when I did. I wouldn't do it again." Clay nodded, relieved.

He really needed to think of a way to talk to George.

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1.8k words

Keres makes an oopsie + backstory.

[drops this and sprints off to the horizon so you don't yoink my kneecaps]

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