"So-" Zak started as soon as they'd climbed into the tour bus.

"No." Clay finished, slumping into one of the booths and dropping his head to the table.

"Oh come on, you gave him your favourite hoodie. That might be common for you Americans but where I'm from that usually means more than 'I thought he was pretty'" Vincent pushed, crossing his arms.

"Fine." Dream said, lifting his head to look at Vincent with a deadpan expression. "I thought he was pretty and funny." He stated before dropping his head back to the table with a painful thump. Darryl winced.

"Alright, it's late, give him a break." Darryl insisted lightly, placing a comforting hand on Clay's shoulder. "We should all get some rest and in the morning, if Clay wants to, we can talk about George." Darryl gave Clay's shoulder a comforting squeeze before ushering Zak and Vincent away towards the bunks.

Clay stayed where he was for a moment, face down. He'd only known George for a few hours now, why was he so upset by the thought of never seeing him again? He could blame the off mood on the loss of his hoodie but anyone could tell that it was more than that.

Clay wasn't sure whether he genuinely didn't know why the loss of George upset him so much or whether he simply didn't want to admit it, even to himself.

Clay barely remembered going to bed that night. Nor did he remember dragging himself out the next morning and back to the same position in the booth from last night. Maybe he didn't actually move at all. No, he had to have moved, he was in pyjamas now.

"Hey," Darryl's voice was soft as he slid into the booth opposite Clay "how are you holding up?" Clay sighed.

"I'm not gonna lie, Dar..." Clay lifted from the table again, eyes cloudy "it hurts." Darryl's eyes were filled with sympathy as he slipped from the booth to sit beside Clay with a mumbled 'oh muffin'. Clay almost immediately leant into his side.

"I don't get it, I've only know him for a few hours, it shouldn't hurt like this..." Clay said, squeezing one hand around his own wrist.

"Hey, look at me." Darryl said softly, poking Clay's cheek. When Clay looked to him, he continued. "How long did you know me before that night?" Darryl asked, knowing Clay would know what night he was referring to. Clay looked away.

"We'd only spoken, what, twice? And yet you got in a bar fight for me. All because my band were bums and some people didn't want to take no for an answer." Darryl nudged Clay gently. "And look how far we've come."

Clay knew Darryl was right: this had nothing to do with time. Clay was just using the excuse to hide. He sighed, dropping his head to Darryl's shoulder.

"I'll never see him again.." Clay's voice was muffled by the fabric of Darryl's bedshirt but was still easily decipherable. Darryl tilted his head to rest on top of Clay's.

"Maybe. Or maybe you will." Clay opened his eyes to see Vincent standing a few feet away and briefly wondered how long he'd been there for. The thought was quickly overruled as Vincent's words sunk in.

Clay tilted his face so that he could speak without it being muffled. "What do you mean?" Vincent took the booth opposite them.

"You know there are more ways to talk to someone than face to face, right?" Vincent asked, patiently. Clay looked confused for a moment. Vincent placed his phone on the table and Clay's eyes widened for a second. And then he deflated again.

"How am I even going to find him though? Just search 'George' and hope for the best?" Clay grumbled and Vincent rolled his eyes.

"I said I wouldn't say anything until I had to but that was before I knew you'd be this hurt," Vincent said before typing something. He placed the phone back on the table and slid it over to Clay, open on someone's twitter.

"That's his friend, Sapnap. He's a streamer. Apparently George doesn't stream but he's on Sapnap's streams a lot." Clay picked up the phone and scrolled. The most recent post was from last night that read 'home safe! I'll probably make a thread about what happened tmrw'.

"How did you find this?" Clay asked, scrolling some more. Sapnap talks to Wish_I_Was_The_Disco a lot... is that George?

"I knew from the moment you shook me in the dressing rooms that it was more than just 'he was pretty'" Clay chuckled out 'that sounds wrong' and Vincent rolled his eyes. "So I got Sapnap's twitter while you were busy with George. George doesn't know, I don't think." Clay nodded, pulling out his phone.

"Wait, George doesn't know?" Clay asked and Vincent shook his head. "I have an idea." Clay stated, lifting his head from Darryl's shoulder.

"Congratulations." Zak yawned as he walked out from the bunks.

Clay was too busy trying to remember the password to his stan account to care.

"Are you going to tell us the idea or what?" Vincent asked, placing his elbows on the table. When Clay has finally gotten in, he grinned and looked up at Vincent.

"I'm going to follow him on my stan account so he doesn't freak out or anything and delete things." Clay stated, searching Sapnap's account.

"So you're going to... stalk him?" Vincent asked at the same time Darryl asked "You have a stan account?"

Clay pointed at Darryl and replied "Yes." before pointing at Vincent and replying "No."

"So you plan to talk to him?" Vincent asked, surprised. He shuffled so that Zak could slide in next to him. Clay hesitated before answering with another, guilty "No."

Zak, Darryl And Vincent shared a disappointed sigh.

"Ssssshhhhh, Sapnap posted." Dream replied, clicking on the first photo and zooming in on George.

Dream moved through the thread, stopping on a picture of George laughing and dancing. He zoomed in on George's face, a fond smile forming on his own.

"Did you just screenshot George laughing?" Zak asked around a mouthful of cereal and Dream let out a flustered 'No!'. He had just screenshot it.

"You're a mess." Vincent mumbled as he screenshot the group photos.

"It's sweet!" Darryl defended. "Let Clay yearn if he wants to." He stated innocently.

"I'm not yearning." Clay grumbled as he moved onto the next: a video. Clay couldn't help but laugh. George had actually dried his hair with a hand drier moments before they'd met. It looked so soft as well!

He smiled when he reached the heart pose, cooing over George's pink cheeks. Technically, I caused that. Clay thought, smugly.

He paused a little longer on the King's carry photo. From where George was knelt over to fake pray to Zak, his shirt had slightly rising up. Clay felt his cheeks warm at the thin strip of George's exposed back.

He scrolled a few more to the meme photo and felt the blush spread as he remembered the feeling of George in his arms. Seeing it now, it did look funny but Clay had been much too focused on not panicking to enjoy the comedy of it.

He smiled as he moved to the next photo. George's basic white bitch pose. Dream chuckled, distantly wishing he could post about it to tease George.

Then was the masquerade picture and Clay was sure every inch of his skin had warmed red. He subconsciously lifted a hand to his cheek, feeling the ghost of what once was. George's hand had been cold but impossibly soft.

Clay felt his heart stutter as remembered the gentle way George had cradled his face, eyes warm and fond. He realised now that he'd leant into George's hand subconsciously, despite its temperature.

He had let his eyes flutter closed for a second and leant against George's palm. There's no way George didn't notice that.

Clay dropped his head to the table again with a painful thump. Vincent laughed.

"Maybe I am yearning a little bit..." Clay mumbled into the table.

"You saw the video then." Vincent more stated than asked. Clay nodded. He turned his head to press his cheek into the table.

"His hair looked so soft too, I can't believe he'd just dried it with a hand drier." Clay mumbled.

"What?" Vincent asked, looking confused, before he realised what Clay was referring to. "No, the other one." He said. Zak and Darryl had given up trying to talk to Clay and Vincent and were having their own conversation.

"Other one?" Clay asked, looking at his phone again. Sure enough, there was another video to end the thread. He lifted off the table to watch it.

Sapnap likes taking things when George isn't looking. Clay registered as the video opened on a figures back. It was George. Clay could tell from the hair, the height and the fact that he was wearing Clay's hoodie.

Clay's eyes widened as he realised what the video was of. He watched as video-Clay's arms wrapped around George. He remembered the indescribable feeling of hugging George.

He stared for a moment at the way George fit in his arms and felt something tug at his heart. Video-Clay pulled George in tighter and Clay remembered the way George had let out a little sigh. It didn't show in the video but Clay wouldn't forget any time soon.

Unbeknownst to Clay, Vincent had been recording his reaction. He ended the video as Clay groaned, slouching himself out of the booth and onto the floor, hitting his head on the table on his way down.

That's going to Sapnap. Vincent thought.

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This is... all over the place... bc I kept having... THOUGHTS >:(

Slightly longer! :D

Feedback is welcome and appreciated!!

~Dandelion