Apologies were the hardest part of friendships.

The arguments were unnerving, crawled at your backside and then bit its large teeth into your flesh as you yell out all that's been bottled up in your chest for ages, in pain.

But apologies- Were something only the truest of friends could understand and go through with, even if they were hard.

"You shouldn't let a friendship go to waste after one silly argument." His mum had told him once upon a time. And George had agreed and still, he agrees.

Arguments had happened before.

And they will be forgotten after you apologise.

And that's what George did. He crawled back into Tommy's room and looked into Wilbur's eyes and told him everything that he shouldn't have done, and wrapped it all together in words that made the other give him a smile, stand up, and hug him.

"I'm sorry, Gogs. I shouldn't hold you back, it's just- really weird nowadays." George hugged him back and smiled.

"I know. Strange to see you taller than me, or Toms get famous out of nowhere, but it's life."

"Hell yeah," Tommy grinned from where he stood, arms crossed, at the doorframe with Tubbo at his side. "I'm the man."

Wilbur chuckled into George's shoulder before they both let go. "I'm glad that's sorted." Niki smiled from where she sat behind them.

"Group hug?" Tubbo opened his arms out and Tommy stuck his tongue out at him. "What, no- That's cringe."

"Yeah, Tubbo, that's really cringe." Wilbur spoke, coming up to hug the other anyways. Niki joined in, pulling George and eventually Tommy in too.

"I love you guys." Wilbur spoke when they were all piled around eachother. "Fuck off, Will."

"Yeah. I love everyone except Tommy," George smiled and Tommy processed to call him foul words that everyone laughed at. Even he did.

Again, they got out of the hug and let go of one another. "So, um, is everything alright?" Wilbur asked uncertainly. "If I'm allowed to ask, you don't have to answer."

George let out a sigh and pressed his lips into a thin line. Tubbo told the treacherous tale of tyranny and stupidity that they had both endured in for him when George had asked.

"Holy shit," Niki swore and looked up at George with a sad glow in her eyes. "Gogs, I'm sorry-"

"Talk to him, mate." Wilbur cut in, before turning back to the other. "Sorry, nickels."

"It's okay, Will." The two turned back to George who hid his face in his hands, in all the embarrassment this situation caused him. "It's just hard. I don't know if I can do it."

"What's holding you back?" Will asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"It's just awkward."

"We're not letting him and our friendship go to waste, are we? I say you talk to him. Try the library, or something. Coffee shops are also good." Wilbur noted before turning to Niki. "D'you think the bakery would be good?"

"I'm not talking him to the bakery." George shut the idea down before it was even uttered and the brothers let out a whine in retaliation.

"C'mon, we wanna have Nickels spy on you." Tommy spoke and George rolled his eyes, a playful smile on his face. "No, never."

"Nah, that places is important. That's where you two came out to us," Wilbur pointed to both Tubbo and George. "And it's just a cool place in general. Let's keep the trend going. Have important stuff happen there."

"That's where you came out too, right, Will?" Niki questioned and the man let out a laugh, before turning his head to Tommy's door. "Oh yeah! I wore that flag all around the house for an entire day. Hold on." He left the room and returned two seconds later with a flag with colours (black, grey, white, and purple) around his shoulders with a grand grin on his cheeks.

"You're one of the weirdest people I've ever met." George laughed as Wilbur ran head first into Tubbo's side before standing as tall as he was before, laughing along with Tubbo.

Tommy leaned on his bunk bed and held his head in his hands. "You fucking idiot."

"I think my way is the best." Wilbur placed his thin hand to his chest and Niki scoffed next to Tommy, grinning.

"You literally wore that around the house for an entire day. You even wore it outside." Tubbo laughed from where he stood and Wilbur leaned into his side, using his head as a sort of arm rest for his abundantly large hand.

"So, what do we say? All in favour of George going to the bakery and talking things out with Dream, say here." Everyone said 'here.'

"I hate you guys." George grumbled, obviously joking with the statement.

"We love you too, George." Niki smiled at him and George scoffed once more, smiling almost as wide as she was.

-

Clay waited patiently. Well- As patiently a pretentious boy like him could be.

Fingers were hitting the desk repeatedly in a quick motion, his knee bounded up and down in a rapid pace, a hand kept his chin up and his eyes were searching the door not too far away from where he sat.

George had called him yesterday. He didn't bare any hurt in his voice, and asked to meet him here. He hoped he wouldn't say anything his mind had been screaming for him to tell.

I don't want to be your friend anymore.

The words would surely shatter him whole.

He looked up when the door opened, a bell ringing at it's departure to signify that someone had arrived, oh, had he arrived? Had he brought news of fortune for a life that he so wanted to grasp or did he bring news that would terrify him forever and forever more?

Oh. It was him.

He was as common as any other person within the establishment, yet he was different. He seemed to grow brighter in the lights attached to the ceiling above more than anyone else.

His hair was ruffled and his white glasses sat on his nose as they always had. His clothes were fine- A stripped shirt under a black jacket and cargo pants, anything that a teenager would wear on no-uniform day.

His head turned around to face the walls of a place he had probably been to before (For Niki was the one to greet him when he sat down.) and his eyes soon connected with his.

For a moment, he stood struck.

The next, he was walking over.

Clay's emotions went rampid, scattered like a bunch of tiny bugs crawling through a garden, and he forgot to bid his friend a kind greeting when he approached.

"Hello." George attempted a smile but Clay continued to stare at him, as if he was speaking alien. "Oh," He sprung himself back into reality and shook his hands, which continued to shake even when he placed them under the desk. "Hi, um- Sit down, I saved a spot for you."

"Thank you." George replied and sat down next to him, pushing his glasses up his nose. He turned to glance at him after the matter. "You've been here before, right?"

"Hm? Oh, I have. Yeah, Sapnap's been too." Dream responded and looked down at the table before shifting to look at the employees tending to customers, ordering their foods and beverages before bringing them what they had asked for beforehand.

"So, about that- night." George started and Dream's heart crashed to the pits of hell, Tartarus. It was so bad that even Hades couldn't grasp his soul and take him to whichever faction he deemed fit, he went there himself and chose a closed prison, banging his head against the bars for all eternity.

Speak, boy, speak. "I'm sorry," He began, and once he did, he wouldn't stop rambling. "I shouldn't have- I should've asked, I shouldn't have just done it, I was being an idiot. I can't excuse what I did, and I know you might not want to be friends anymore but.." He trailed off.

He couldn't continue. How could he? Explain how the words he had expressed through a silver kiss that would strike a dagger through his skull if George uttered words he needn't wanted to hear- Stop.

He's got a right to speak. If he doesn't want to be friends with you, that's fine. That's fine. That's fine. That's fine. "I- I overreacted. I just- I didn't want to be used. Past relationships I've had have been- unsuccessful to say the least. It's been bad. I thought you were just experimenting on me and you were going to do something, but I had to realise that wasn't who you were as a person. And I forgot." He said, truthfully.

He rubbed a thumb over his hand, staring down at them. Clay desperately wanted to grasp at them and hold them and bring warmth to once cold fingers- But he stopped himself.

"What made you want to talk?" Clay dared to ask and George let out a sigh, a small smile crawling on his face. "I did some thinking. And I realised- I wouldn't mind being in a relationship with you. It'd just be really weird."

"Publicity." Clay spoke, looking down at George with a small smile crawling over his face. George wants to be with me- Hey, what about everything else? You're famous, remember? "Fuck."

"Mhm." George answered and Clay let out a sigh, before letting his head fall back. "Fuck. Why can't I just be with you and not have all these stupid complications?"

"It'll never be that easy, Clay." George warned and Clay let out a sigh, collecting himself and his next thoughts before opening his mouth to voice them.

"I just want to be with you like real people do, is that too much to ask? Why can't I take you on cheesy dates and not have the world look at us?" Clay placed his hand next to George's. The boy in question didn't turn away. "Why can't I just tweet about you and not have people wonder about who you are?"

"I don't think they'd like you dating a boy." That's it. He's had enough. Clay couldn't take it anymore, and before he could think about the weight of his words, he spoke. "I'm Pan."

George looked at him. Clay didn't regret those words and instead felt a proud feeling wash over him. Fuck Harry and all his stupid rules, like he'd ever want to be fucking straight for his entire life.

"Oh," George furrowed his brows. "But-"

"I had to sign a contract with the rest of the band to hide any homosexuality within the group, at least that's what Harry said. So now everyone on the fucking planet except you and the rest of the band, know that I'm gay."

"But-"

"Sapnap, Karl and Q are dating and oh, guess what? Bad and Skeppy are too. Bleh- Fuck being straight." Clay ranted and placed his hand on top of George's, crawling his fingers through the gaps of George's.

"So you're not straight?"

"Not in the slightest." Clay stuck out his tongue at him and George let out a chuckle that nursed Clay's burning lungs back to health.

"I- I'm so sorry." George laughed and placed a hand to his mouth to stop himself. Clay scratched the back of his head and grinned back at him. "Hah, it's fine."

"I wish I knew," George laughed and it got Clay to let out a chuckle aswell, laughing at the stupidity of reality. "Fuck."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you." Clay apologised, watching their hands intertwined with one another. George let out a sigh but the smile still remained. "I should've. But I was scared."

"Of people finding out?"

"Kinda."

"They won't. We'll keep us a secret." George whispered, moving his face closer to Clay's to entangle themselves even more then they had beforehand.

"Yeah." A grin grew on his cheeks. "Yeah. A secret. Nobody's gotta know except us."

"Nobody's gotta know except us."

"I still wanna tell people about you, though." Clay sighed, resting his chin on his palm.

"We'll tell more and more people once we get more comfortable. You could tell Sapnap."

"Will you tell Wilbur?"

George paused for a moment, and the next, he fisted his hand and let in a breath. "I don't know."

"I'll tell Sapnap. You can tell Wilbur."

George chuckled. "If I tell Wilbur, Tommy'll get to know. D'you want to tell him too?"

He nodded, grinning. "You can tell the whole gang. If you'd be fine with me telling mines?"

George nodded, smiling. "That works."

The two stared at eachother for a long while before they broke their stare, still swaying in the song of love. "So, where do you plan taking me on a date?" George stared up at him with intent and Clay grew red, making him chuckle.

A smirk poisoned his smile and he was looking at George with a weirder tone. "Where'd you like to go, Georgie?"

"Don't call me that."

"I'm planning it right now." Clay closed his eyes, grinning. "It'll be amazing."

"Let's get something. Do you like muffins?" George asked, and the two dove into a conversation headfirst, discussing sweets and pastries and drinks.

They decided on blueberry muffins and milkshakes, giggling and ranting, arguing about books with titles so majestic they'll be remembered by future generations that won't exist the way they will.

They were having a fun time, speaking like idiots with a high IQ, intellectuals that knew noting about the world around them.

It was fun. It was calm. It was nothing they had never experienced before.

Unluckily for Niki, she couldn't see it from afar.

"What're they doing?" Tommy's voice seethed through the phone and Niki let out a sigh, holding the phone in between her shoulder and ear, placing muffins in a box for a customer who watched from afar.

She cursed in her mothertongue as Tommy's infuriating questions clashed with her ear drums, and once she had given the box away to the customer and she had taken another order, did she reply to the others.

"Tommy, will you please quiet down! I'm trying to work!" She snapped, beginning to take out bread from the heaters, placing them on a counter before her.

"What're they doing?" Tommy said, seconds later and Niki snapped his name once more in outrage. "Okay, Okay. Sorry. Sheesh."

"Well, when you ask me a million questions, what do you expect me to do?" She hushed and could hear the other grumble on the other side.

A new voice appeared, just as idiotic as the last. "Hey Nickels, you still going to move in? 'Cause I could give you my room and then I'd move in with Gogy so you could have your own privacy."

A smile fell on her lips and she sighed, "Will, we'll discuss it when we get home. I don't mind sharing a room with George."

"Yeah, but- You need privacy, y'know."

"Yeah, cause you're a girl." Tommy said outright. "And we're boys."

"That hasn't stopped us from being friends for more than a decade, has it?"

"Oh my gosh, Niki." Niki turned away from her work and watched as her co-worker strode up to her and gripped her arm, her eyes shinning like millions of glinting lights in the night sky.

"Um- Can I help you?" Niki asked rather awkwardly but she still held onto her.

"I think I just saw Dream." She gasped and removed her hands from Niki's arm.

Oh George, Niki thought as the girl dragged her to the front of the shop and pointed out the man laughing with George like he was an animal in a zoo.

A voice nagged in the back of her mind. You can't let their date be ruined, can you?

"Do you think I should go say hi? I'm so nervous-"

"Leave them. They're not like animals in the zoo that you can point and laugh at." She spoke and stepped back from her. "There's work to be done, isn't there?"

Then she turned to the back where her work resided and continued.

"That was sick, Nickels."

"Thank you, Tubbo."