Chapter Text
Sometimes George really hated his job.
That’s not to say that he hates baking, quite the opposite actually, he loved baking. Something about the satisfaction that came from making something sweet or something as simple as bread made the little mice in his head happy, and in turn, making him happy.
But what he hated , honestly fucking despised with his whole heart, was that sometimes, very rare times he likes to think, especially because he’s been doing this for a while; sometimes he fucks something up in a recipe. And sometimes that fuck up calls for him having to get his shit together and go to a store to get ingredients that he ran out of due to previously mentioned fuck up or just needed restocking regardless. And what pisses him off more -and probably to a unhealthy amount- is that certain ingredients, especially something like gluten free flour or a milk substitute, he can’t get ordered to the flat because the store didn’t do deliveries.
(To be clear, George isn’t upset at the store owner for not delivering, he isn’t a Karen even on his worst days. He just hates that every other store he gets his ingredients from don’t have this very specific flour he needs restocked, and the one just a short walk back to the house carries his favorite brand. George is picky about his ingredients and where he gets them from, sue him.)
That was just one of the few things George hated about his job though. The second thing he hated about his job was Valentine’s Day orders.
George was never particularly fond of the holiday, he felt a lot of the tradition around it was based off of capitalism more than it was for celebrating being in love with your significant other or partner. (This totally didn’t sprout from the fact that one of George’s exes dumped him only a day after Valentine’s Day a few years ago, that whole ordeal was a mess that never happened, you can’t prove shit.)
The Brit never liked the holiday all that much before, but ever since he started his baking business he’s started to hate it more and more each year. Somehow, some-fucking-how, out of almost any holiday he’s ever made a pastry or some kind of confectionery item for, Valentine’s Day has always been one of his most busy days of the year. So much so, that he has to close his ordering systems for up to a week in advance, just so he’d be able to make and get everything done by the time the day actually came about he’d have everything done. And it usually works, and George would close the orders and manage to have everything done by the time he needed to deliver everything.
So of course, something just has to get in the way of the yearly routine he’s grown so accustomed to. And of fucking course it was Sapnap that had to trade in one of the favors George owed him. The bastard knew all George wanted to do was sleep after finally getting The last of the orders delivered to his customers, and right after he finished dropping off the last order to the Uber Eats driver (thank FUCK he didn’t have to deliver things himself) he came out of the depths of his room and practically begged George to make him something last minute.
“Are you serious? Why couldn’t you have asked me this earlier?” The Brit complained, groaning as he rolled his eyes at his friend.
“I know, but I was busy with some stuff and didn’t have time to ask until now! Please George, just this once can you make me something really quick?” The ravenette begged, clasping his hands together and holding them out in front of him.
George brought a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose, sighing as he shook his head. “What do you even need anything for? You’ve never had a Valentine for basically the whole time I’ve known you.”
Sapnap’s cheeks dusted a light pink and he looked away from George with a pout, the brunette caught the action and immediately smirked, crossing his arms over his chest as he quirked an eyebrow at his slightly shorter friend. “Oh my god, you actually asked someone?” He lightly teased, watching the pout on Sapnap’s face deepen.
“Sorry sorry, let me rephrase,” George kept back giggles as he held out a hand, stopping the other from saying anything yet. “Someone finally asked you out?”
Sapnap’s face darkened and George cackled, shrieking slightly as he dodged attacks form his friend, ducking behind his arms as a barrage and light-handed fists hit against his forearms.
“FUck oFf!” Sapnap’s voice cracked as he continued his attack on George, only serving to make the brunette laugh harder.
It took a few moments of Sapnap ceasing his attack on George for the Brit to finally calm down, needing a few extra minutes to recover from his laugh attack.
“Really though, can you please just make one thing for me this once. Please?” Sapnap asks again when George has finally caught his breath. George considered his flatmate for a moment, taking in is stance and the little nervous twitches his hands were doing, as well as the light red still dusting his face.
George hummed in thought, pondering whether or not he would bend for him this once. But then Sapnap’ pulled something completely and utterly unfair on every level known to man, animals, and even machines, the bastard gave him puppy dog eyes.
God fucking damn it all.
And that’s how George found himself walking down the street to fetch fresh strawberries and raspberries from the little store by the house, instead of napping the day away like he could be doing. Damn him for being such a good friend and being weak against the puppy dog eyes. Damn Sapnap’ for pulling that shit actually, the asshole.
George be-lined it for the produce isle the moment he entered the store, almost jogging so he could get there a little quicker. After George had agreed to making the desert for Sapnap’s date -brownies with chopped up bits of strawberries and raspberries in them- the idiot had the audacity to tell him that they were going to be arriving to pick up the ravenette in about 4 hours. George can get brownies done in under an hour, granted, but remember when he was mentally complaining about certain special ingredients earlier? Yeah, its still relevant, because Sapnap specifically asked for the mix to be made with coconut flour instead of regular flour for literally no other reason than it tastes better.
Which is fair, but substitutes were usually for people with allergies or people trying to be healthy. George only agreed because he realized he didn’t have anymore coconut flour and he needed to get more, which thank God this store also carries, two birds with one stone thank fuck.
So as soon as George grabbed the strawberries and raspberries, he turned on his heel and was ready to run to the isle that had the flour on it so he could get back to the house and get the damn brownies done so he could sleep. What he forgot, or perhaps something he had missed or wasn’t counting on, was the floors being slippery. But as soon as he pivoted on the ball of his foot, his entire leg was shot back to the left a little bit, and George cursed as he braced himself for the harsh impact of hitting the floor.
But the impact never came.
The brunette blinked open his eyes, eyes still wide with shock and slight fear of falling to the floor, and was met with sight of the floor being nowhere near him. It took him a moment of staring at the floor in shocked confusion before he felt the arms around him, one wrapped around the front of his torso while the other was holding onto his right arm.
What?
“Are you alright?” The smooth synthetic voice he’s grown used to asked, coming from his right where George now realizes his right shoulder was pressed against the chest of his android.
George looked up and to his right, and was met with the equally concerned and slightly stoic face of Clay. Oh, yeah. Sometimes George forgets he’s here, always following him about and making sure he’s alright. He honestly has no idea how he forgets the Android is here, its like having a giant as a companion, or a really tall and clingy dog.
It took far too long for George to realize he hadn’t responded, having gotten lost looking into the annoyingly realistic green eyes, embarrassingly long in the Brits opinion. It was the slight downturn in Clay’s eyebrows and the LED on the side of his head swirling blue and yellow that managed to break George out of it, righting his footing and clearing his throat as he used the android to steady himself as he felt heat rising up his neck.
“Uh- yeah, I’m alright.” He finally answered, looking down to see that he somehow managed to not drop the little plastic boxes of fruit in his hands. “Floors just slippery is all.”
Clay considered him for a moment, as if he was trying to gauge whether or not the human was telling the truth, and after a moment he seemed satisfied enough with his answer to give a little nod and a small smile.
“Alright then. Maybe this time we mind the wet floor signs so you don’t end up almost falling over again, yeah?” The android suggested, a light teasing playfulness lacing his synthetic tone as he chuckled.
George just rolled his eyes, feeling some of the heat from his neck rise to his cheeks. He didn’t even see the wet floor signs. “Yeah yeah, whatever. I just need to get the flour then we can go.”
The android nodded again, still smiling at George as he gestures for him to go first. “Lead the way then.”
====================
George managed to get all the way back home before he had another fainting spell, just barely having put everything he bought on the counter before Clay came up behind him and caught him before he fell.
It was another one of those times where the android couldn’t help but stare at the human as he waited for the brunette to regain consciousness, carefully watching the way his eyes faintly flutter behind eyelids. It has been around four months since Clay has been active and helping George, and in those four months he noticed that his assistance seemed to be greatly inproving George while he works and while he gets other things done, and he doesn’t have any brusies from falling to the floor anymore either.
The LED on the side of his head lights up, the blue swirling around as he processes the amount of time that has passed since George lost conscious, the brunette should have about three and half minutes left before he woke back up. That’s good, Sapnap is starting to get jittery and nervous about the brownies not being done by the time he’s going to get picked up.
But something different happened this time. George woke up before the time in Clay’s systems reached two minutes. It wasn’t comepletely unusal for George to wake up a few minutes before he normally did, but it was still something worth noting since it was Clay’s job to keep track of everything.
The LED swirled again as Clay watched George’s eyelids flutter open, looking around in a bit of a dazed fashion before eventually looking back up at the android.
George was used to waking up in Clay’s arms at this point, but something he wasn’t entirely prepared for was the way the Android was just- staring at him, as if trying to piece together a puzzle he found interesting. He was never looking directly at George as he waited for him to come back to, always waiting until George was at least mildly functional before attempting to say or doing anything. But this time Clay was looking right at him, as if trying to understand him without asking him anything. It was odd.
But then the android smiled, that same little smile he always gave George when he would wake up from a fainting spell, and the Brit felt heat traveling up to his face almost immediately.
“Good morning George,” The Android greeted, just a touch softer than usual. “You were out for around thirteen minutes this time around. Are you feeling dizzy or lightheaded?”
George shook his head, blinking a few times as he lets his brain fully kick in before he speaks. “No, I’m alright.”
“That’s good to hear.” Clay nods with a smile, helping George get steady on his feet again so they wouldn’t have a repeat of what happened at the store, one hand gentle held against George’s back while the other gently held just above the human’s wrist.
“If you’re feeling well enough to, it would be a good idea to start on the brownies now. Nick is starting to get anxious.” The android informs, and George nods, immediately going to start on the mix.
At some point, George called Sapnap in to help, getting him to chop the strawberries and raspberries, as well as a few other things while George worked on the mix. It was mostly because he needed the help, but also to help Sapnap get rid of some of his anxiety about the brownies not being done in time. Although he didn’t get to help much, the idiot was fucking around and being stupid and eneded up slicing his finger open, that’s when Clay had to step in and help.
He bandaged Sapnap’s finger and finished chopping up the fruits for him so it wouldn’t happen again. George can feel in his bones that Clay now also doesn’t fully trust Sapnap with knives, and he internally nods at that.
When the brownies are done, because George is nice and a good friend, he takes out a little heart shaped stencil he has, and he dusts the top of the brownies with powdered sugar, a little detail he knows his friend has always loved.
George can be really nice and considerate when he wants to be alright? Shut up about it. (He totally doesn’t feel a little warm inside when Sapnap hugs him tightly after seeing the added surprise, don’t be silly.)
So with Sapnap’s desert out of the way, and about thirty minutes worth of the ravenette asking him which outfit looks best on him (trick question, the answer is all of them), George was finally released and immediately went to go flop on the couch, his favorite napping spot.
Right as the Brit was getting comfortable, he felt something jump up onto the couch, and when he peaked his eyes open he could see Patches cautiously walking along his legs up to his torso. George didn’t move, watching with bated breath as the kitten stretched and curled up on his tummy, smiling as she got comfortable and settled with a little yawn. This was the first time she’s ever actually come to him willingly, and that thought made him really happy.
‘This was a pretty damn good Valentine’s Day,’ He thinks, and then he lets sleep take him.