It's eight o'clock on Friday night when Daniel receives a text from Jonah. It's not very detailed but that's not to say that it doesn't grab Daniel's attention.

From: Mr Amazing

Come round.

Daniel isn't entirely sure what that invitation entails but he's sure as hell taking Jonah up on it. Ever since Daniel last went round to Jonah's things between them have been strange. There have been soft brushes of hands under tables during lessons and secretive glances over lunch but there's been no move to make anything that happened public.

Daniel knows that that's not the most important thing, but that doesn't mean that he's not slightly hurt that Jonah is intent on keeping this a secret. And so Daniel is determined that the two of them need to sort this whole situation out before it gets seriously out of hand.

To: Mr Amazing

Why?

Half an hour later and Jonah still hasn't replied so Daniel decides that he might as well just head over there. It's not the shortest walk but Daniel manages it in a reasonable time, tugging his jacket closer to his body as the cold breeze surrounds him.

Daniel can hear the music before he even sees Jonah's house. It's a thumping rhythm and for a brief moment Daniel feels like the ground is shaking beneath him. He knows his knock won't be heard over the noise but he tries anyway. When no one replies, he pushes the door open cautiously to reveal the chaos inside.

Jonah is nowhere to be seen but the corridor is crowded. Sweaty bodies pressed uncomfortably close to one another. Most are just talking, some dancing, and Daniel can see a couple making out in the corner.

Making his way towards the kitchen, Daniel keeps an eye out for Jonah. Already wanting to kill the boy for luring him here. Parties are not Daniel's thing, not that he's ever been to one before. But he can't imagine that it's a place he'll fit in, he's never been the most outgoing person ever and people being drunk can't help that situation.

It's Ruth that Daniel spots first, she's desperately trying to stop someone from doing body shots on the kitchen counter.

"Hey Ruth," Daniel says.

She looks up briefly when she hears his voice before looking back down and then doing a double take.

"Daniel?" She says, as if she's not sure it's really him. "Don't say you were in on this too?"

"In on this?"

"I got home from work ten minutes ago to find everyone crowded in the house, I'm going to kill Jonah when I find him."

"So I'm guessing you don't know where he is?"

"If I did then you'd be looking for a dead body."

Daniel lets out a nervous laugh.

"Well I'm gonna go find him," Daniel says, starting to back away.

"Tell him I'm looking for him."

"Will do," Daniel calls over his shoulder.

And so the search continues. Daniel is forced to push through throngs of people before he spots Jonah. The boy is stood on a table downing a row of shots as people stand and watch. Daniel isn't sure what's up but he's sure it can't be good.

Daniel isn't sure what to do. There's a possibility that Jonah wasn't even the one who texted him, and that scares Daniel more than it probably should.

"Jonah."

All it takes is the sound of Daniel's voice to make Jonah's head whip round in shock. He cocks his head to the side and stares for a few moments before hopping down off the table and making his way towards Daniel.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"I was worried you weren't coming."

To Daniel's relief Jonah's speech isn't that slurred just yet and so Daniel can actually understand what he's saying.

"What's with the party?"

"I wanted to have some fun."

"Ruth's pissed."

"She'll get over it."

Daniel is taken aback by that. He knows how much Jonah loves his sister. He knows this isn't how Jonah usually acts and there's definitely something up with him tonight, something Daniel can't really put his finger on.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"God mum I'm fine, come grab a drink."

"I'm fine thanks."

"Why are you so uptight?"

"I just don't feel like drinking."

Jonah cocks an eyebrow, places his drink on the table he's just stepped off of and tugs Daniel into the corner of the room.

"So what do you feel like doing?"

Their bodies are pressed so close that Daniel can feel Jonah's breath fan across his face. Daniel inhales sharply; he may have pictured situations similar to this, but definitely not quite like this.

"I don't know," Daniel replies breathlessly.

"Well I have an idea."

Daniel feels Jonah's fingers glide across his cheek. Feels the boy press his lips against his neck. Daniel is ever so aware of the people close by. He knows that they're out of the way; he knows that they're in the dark, but that doesn't mean that people won't see.

"Jonah."

Jonah removes his lips and stares at Daniel in confusion.

"People might see," Daniel says.

Of course Daniel doesn't care about that, and what he really wants Jonah to say is that he doesn't care too.

"Well we can go to my room then," Jonah replies.

Instantly the distance between them widens and Daniel feels his heart sink slightly. Jonah loosely wraps a hand around Daniel's wrist and guides him up the stairs past everyone else. Daniel notices the way that Jonah checks to see that nobody is watching, as if he forgot all about the others until Daniel pointed them out.

They make their way up the stairs quickly and as soon as Jonah manages to push the door open and Daniel is through, the door is slammed closed and Daniel finds himself being pushed down on the bed.

His fingers make their way into Jonah's hair and the moan that leaves Jonah's mouth at the gesture makes Daniel want to tug on it all day long. Daniel isn't entirely sure what's happening, but he definitely doesn't mind it.

xxx

Jonah can feel his skin brush against Daniel's, can feel the other boy's warm body even through all these layers of clothing. Jonah allows his lips to trail up Daniel's neck, occasionally leaving small reminders of the night's events. And Jonah can't help the small moans that he emits every time Daniel tugs on his locks of hair.

His arms are laid either side of Daniel's head, propping himself up so that he's hovering over the other boy. Jonah is surprised to find that this isn't much different than anything he's done before, except this time it's Daniel lying beneath him rather than some random girl and that only makes Jonah hurry up with his movements until he finally decides that it's time for him to lay his lips on top of Daniel's.

The kiss is fiery, passionate. A culmination of everything that Jonah has been keeping trapped inside. Jonah isn't sure what it is, but right now he knows this is what he wants, needs. It's like there's something inside of him telling him that if he doesn't do this now then he might not get another chance.

Of course his brain is fogged slightly by the alcohol, although Jonah hasn't had that much to drink. And deep down there's some confusion as to whether it's Jonah or the alcohol that wants this but right now Jonah is content to just press his lips against Daniel's once again. To feel the other boy writhing beneath him.

Jonah manages to balance himself on one arm and lets his other hand move slowly downwards. Let his fingers tug urgently on Daniel's shirt, pulling the other boy up towards him.

His tongue slips inside Daniel's mouth and they continue for a few moments before Jonah pulls back.

Daniel looks taken aback by Jonah's sudden desire to do this but he looks happy none the less. Jonah smiles lazily down at him.

"So do you have any idea what you want to do now?" He asks teasingly, his voice slow.

He watches as Daniel swallows, resists the urge to kiss him silly all over again. Instead Jonah does the one thing he knows will drive Daniel crazy. Raises his hand to brush his hair back and tugs his lip between his teeth. Jonah knows that he doesn't imagine the way that Daniel's hips raise upwards slightly at that moment.

"I've got a few thoughts."

"Care to share?"

"Or y'know I could just show you."

Daniel leans upwards and raises his hands to pull Jonah closer but Jonah moves himself away.

"Let me show you how it's done," Jonah murmurs.

He presses a kiss to the corner of Daniel's lips, so reminiscent of that first day in the park. And casually runs his hand up Daniel's arm.

Then their lips are being acquainted once again, this time sweeter, softer but somehow the urgency manages to remain. Daniel tastes of mint and lemonade, and soon that's all Jonah's senses can detect.

He finds his hand trailing to where Daniel's shirt is starting to ride up and Jonah's fingers trail underneath it, tracing patters onto Daniel's stomach as the kiss deepens. And their hips are pressed closer together once again.

Jonah removes his lips from Daniel's before leaning over so they hover over Daniel's ear.

"I think we should maybe get rid of this," he says breathlessly, tugging on Daniel's shirt.

Daniel looks back in surprise.

"Only if you're getting rid of yours too."

"Deal."

Swiftly Jonah pulls Daniel's t-shirt over his head and throws it onto the floor before beginning to unbutton his own.

"Let me," Daniel says.

Jonah pretends not to notice the way that Daniel's hands are trembling as he makes his way through the buttons.

As soon as Jonah's shirt joins Daniel's on the floor, the pair's bodies are pressed together once again. This time Daniel has moved to a sitting position with Jonah straddling him. Jonah can't help the way that his hips buck closer to Daniel's as they kiss. Can feel the way that Daniel is grinding right back. And Jonah can't help the way that his hands are running all over Daniel's chest, up to his shoulders so that he can tug Daniel somehow closer. Jonah feels that the only way they can ever be close enough is if their bodies merge entirely.

"I don't think this is the sort of thing that best friends do," Daniel whispers as Jonah pulls away to take a glance at Daniel.

"Screw best friends."

"Is that your life motto or something?"

Jonah finds it strange that the two of them can go from kissing to joking around in under a minute, he's never had anything like that with someone before but he's finding that he quite likes it.

"Nah," Jonah murmurs against Daniel's lips, "after all me and Harry never did anything like this."

"I think he would be the definition of a hypocrite if you did," Daniel points out.

Jonah can't believe Daniel is really talking about things like that at a time like this and so he raises his eyebrows and pouts.

"So are you going to shut up and let me kiss you or not?"

Daniel cocks his head as if he's thinking about it and Jonah's lets out a groan of frustration. Impatient he gives up on waiting for Daniel to respond and so just wraps his arms around the back of Daniel's neck and pulls the two of them together once again. Their lips move together in sync, bodies pressed so tightly together Jonah's not sure that anything could separate them.

And maybe this isn't the smartest idea Jonah has ever had. And maybe the party was an even stupider one. But Daniel always seems to know what to do to make Jonah feel better. And Jonah is just glad that Daniel has shut up now.

xxx

It's only when Jonah starts fumbling with Daniel's belt that Daniel stops to consider what the two of them are really doing.

After all Daniel is making out with Jonah, a drunk Jonah at that, in Jonah's bedroom with the rest of their school seemingly partying downstairs. This can't end well, Daniel knows that much and he's starting to think that maybe making out with Jonah in this situation isn't the best direction for their friendship to head in. There's no guarantee that Jonah will remember this in the morning anyway, and although Daniel isn't entirely displeased with the removal of clothing he knows exactly where this is heading and this is something him and Jonah seriously need to talk about before it happens.

"Hey Jonah," Daniel mumbles, lightly pushing against Jonah's chest.

Jonah detaches his lips from Daniel's and looks at him in confusion.

"I don't think, uhm, this, is a good idea right now," Daniel says looking down at where Jonah's hands are still resting on his belt buckle.

"You don't want to do this?"

Daniel is scared by the unemotional tone of Jonah's voice. Before Jonah had seemed like he wanted this, had seemed like he wanted nothing else but now that Daniel has pushed him away, Jonah seems to be running as far as possible.

"You're drunk," Daniel begins to explain, "I mean last week you were freaking out that we kissed, and now you're wanting to do god knows what with me. I don't want you to hate me in the morning."

"Fine," Jonah replies, and the harshness of his tone makes Daniel feel like crying, "I just needed a good fuck to take my mind off of things anyway."

"Jonah what's wrong?" Daniel interjects.

Jonah carries on as if Daniel didn't even speak and quickly removes himself from on top of Daniel and slowly moves across the room.

"I can get that somewhere else I'm sure," Jonah says shrugging.

He pulls his shirt over his head and turns to restyle his hair without even looking at Daniel.

Daniel is in shock, he knew that Jonah wouldn't necessarily be happy with Daniel's decision but he didn't imagine that he'd act quite so aloof as this. The night seems to have gone from amazing to horrific very quickly.

"Jonah, we can carry on."

"Evidently you don't want to."

"That's not what I said."

Jonah whirls around to face Daniel then, a cruel smirk spread across his face and Daniel resists the urge to recoil.

"Look Daniel, I told you, I just wanted a good, quick fuck. If you're not up for that I'll go find someone else. I don't want kisses, and 'oh my god we're such great friends'. I want mindless, mind-blowing sex. Are you up for that?"

Daniel wants to say yes so badly, but knows he shouldn't. Know that both of them would regret it in the morning.

"No," Daniel replies honestly, trying to keep his tone confident.

He half expects for Jonah's expression to soften. For the two of them to return to normal but Jonah simply sighs before making his way out of the room.

Daniel quickly tugs on his shirt and follows after him.

Surely Jonah can't be serious? Of course Daniel knows that Jonah is by no means a poster boy for abstinence but Daniel is sure that he didn't imagine what's happening between the two of them. That he wasn't the only one who felt something more than lust when the two of them were kissing.

"Jonah!" Daniel calls the other boy's name but Jonah doesn't show any sign that he heard Daniel's voice.

Daniel can feel his heart drop.

The pair are making their way down the staircase, past couples that are heavily making out, past a group of unruly teenage boys playing drinking games leant against the banister. Daniel keeps on calling Jonah's name but it's no use. Jonah is refusing to turn around; refusing to acknowledge him and it feels like Jonah is becoming the old Jonah all over again.

The thought makes Daniel's heart clench. He can't bear for that to happen.

Daniel is surprised to find that Jonah makes his way into the kitchen area. Is even more shocked when Jonah grabs a bottle of vodka off the counter, pours himself five shot glasses and downs them all one after another. And all Daniel can do is stare open mouthed as he watches Jonah Clarke fall to pieces in a way Daniel has never seen him do so before.

A brunette girl saunters into the kitchen and smiles coyly at Jonah.

"Hey Clarke," she says, "fancy a repeat of last Friday night."

It takes Daniel a few moments to piece it all together. Jonah drunk calling him last week. What the brunette really means. It seems it always ends this way. Daniel gets closer to finding out what Jonah really wants, and then Jonah runs off to fuck the closest girl.

Daniel feels his heart physically ache.

Daniel wants Jonah to say no, part of him thinks he might. And then Jonah looks over the brunette's shoulder, locking eyes with Daniel and smirks.

"That'd be great," he announces, loud enough for Daniel to hear, "just give me a minute."

Jonah makes his way over to Daniel and Daniel feels himself refuse to exhale.

"Are you really going to stick around?" Jonah asks.

Daniel desperately tries to hold onto the edges of his breaking heart.

"Are you really going to hook up with her?"

For a minute Daniel thinks that he sees the corner of Jonah's mask slip and then an apologetic expression crosses Jonah's face.

"I'm sorry," Jonah says, "but I can't be that person you want me to be. I'm not a good guy, I'm not good with commitment and I'm not good at not hurting people. I can't do you. She's easy, I can fuck her and not have to worry about how she feels the next morning. I can't do that with you, and I just can't do this," Jonah gestures between the two of them, "anymore. It's fucking exhausting."

As Jonah walks away, Daniel is left to stare at the shards of his heart scattered on the floor.

xxx

Jonah hates himself. He's not entirely sure what the hell he's just done but he knows that it was unbelievably stupid.

And now the girl from last Saturday night is leading him up the stairs, Daniel's nowhere to be seen and all Jonah can think about is how majorly he's fucked up. How there's nothing he can do to fix this.

Jonah hates himself when he's drunk, hates the way he says stupid things without a second thought, things he doesn't really mean, or at least not quite like that.

It's the rejection that made him lash out. Jonah knows that's a stupid reason, but it definitely stung. Jonah has spent the last few days trying to decide if he likes Daniel, he never considered the idea that maybe Daniel didn't like him anymore but it was pretty clear when Daniel pushed him away that that was the case.

And Jonah's not entirely sure how all his words came out, but he can't imagine it was good. Jonah curses the fact that his feelings are so difficult to explain, after all how can he help Daniel to understand them if Jonah himself has no idea what they are? All Jonah knows is that he's tired. Tired of pretending to be someone else, and tired of trying to figure out who he really is. Tired of tiptoeing around whatever the hell is happening with Daniel and tired of trying to figure it out.

Jonah is tired of thinking, tired of not knowing what the hell is going on anymore and stupidly he thought alcohol and getting frisky with Daniel was going to help with that. And look how well that all worked out.

Jonah can feel lips on his neck and arms on his shoulders. Yet another decision he has to make. On the one hand this is easy, this is simple, Jonah knows exactly what rules he has to follow, there's no reason for him to get confused. But Jonah also knows that this isn't really what he wants. That's the thing, it seems that Jonah knows what he definitely doesn't want, but he doesn't really know what he wants to replace that with.

"Stop," Jonah pushes the girl away lightly; his back pressed against the wall.

"What's up?" She replies. "Don't say you don't want this."

"I don't" Jonah