Jonah Clarke Is Victorious

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Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to  for always leaving great comments, seriously, they're amazing. Now I'm really excited to see your guys' reaction to this chapter and just a warning, it may be a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions. All I ask is that you don't hate me at the end of it. Love you guys


Daniel can feel his hands shaking and can feel a layer of sweat beginning to form all over his body despite the fact that it is March, and therefore Daniel should be freezing his ass off.

He runs through the steps in his head like some kind of mantra. Knock on the door, say hello, try and get through the day without falling apart. It sounds simple but Daniel is convinced that it can't possibly be.

Daniel's knock is tentative, and quiet. Possibly too quiet, and so Daniel knocks once again, shuffling from foot to foot in anticipation.

The door is quickly flung open to reveal a girl staring at him with an excited expression on her face and a grin that Daniel instantly recognises as being identical to Jonah's on her face.

"You must be Daniel," she beams.

Daniel is so taken aback by her enthusiasm – and the fact that both of the Clarke siblings seem to be happiness personified – that all he can do is nod and look gormless. Ruth doesn't seem to notice though and instead gestures for him to follow behind her. Daniel watches in awe as she skips down the corridor, her dirty blonde hair bouncing in its ponytail.

"Jonah's said a lot about you," Ruth tells him, "and so when he said he'd invited you round I made him promise to let me meet you. He's in the shower right now, so I guess I get to interrogate you as well."

Ruth must sense the look of distress on Daniel's face as she lets out a small giggle.

"Sorry," Ruth says, "Jonah tells me I have a terrible sense of humour. Do you want anything to drink?"

"Please."

"Coke okay?"

"Fine thank you."

"And polite as well, Jonah really did well finding you."

Daniel really does try to stop his cheeks from blushing but his attempts fail and he can feel his entire face beginning to heat up. Ruth may notice but she doesn't mention it, instead she leans over and ruffles his hair before reaching to grab a glass from the cupboard behind him.

All of Ruth's actions seem to be accompanied with chatter, endless questions and explanations and embarrassing stories about Jonah to the point where Daniel is surprised to find that he's been here for quarter of an hour already and despite the fact that he is yet to lay eyes on Jonah, he still feels strangely comfortable here.

The sound of footsteps on the stairs warns Daniel of Jonah's imminent arrival and Daniel turns to the doorway with a goofy smile already on his face. The smile slips as soon as he lays eyes on Jonah.

Jonah doesn't seem to notice him at first and so Daniel has time to drink him in. His hair is hanging from his forehead in wet curls, and a pair of boxer shorts are hanging loosely on his hips. Daniel feels his breath catch in his throat as he tries to tear his eyes away from Jonah's chest, but it's difficult. Because Daniel is starting to find it hard to distinguish between his friendly feelings for Jonah Clarke and his potentially something a little bit more feelings towards Jonah Clarke.

Surprise crosses Jonah's face when he sees Daniel.

"Shit," he murmurs, and Daniel notices that Jonah is refusing to meet his eye, "I thought I had another half an hour."

Daniel can't even reply. He just stares at a point on the wall just above Jonah's head.

"I guess I better go get dressed," Jonah says, rubbing the back of his neck which only serves to make the boxers begin to slip ever so slightly lower, not that Daniel notices or anything.

Daniel nods and keeps his gaze away from Jonah who stands awkwardly in the middle of the kitchen for a few moments before departing with a wave.

Ruth has been watching the entire exchange with a bemused smile on her face.

"Y'know I think you're the first person that's ever managed to make my brother speechless," Ruth comments when Jonah is out of earshot.

Daniel looks up at her in surprise.

"I'm sure that's not true."

Ruth just hums in reply, giving no sign as to whether she disagrees with Daniel or not.

Conversation seems to dry up after that, Daniel is so preoccupied with reliving every single of that awkward moment that he finds it difficult to keep up with Ruth's conversation. After a while he gives up, letting her chatter away and making noises of agreement every so often. When Daniel has exhausted the memory of Jonah's tanned chest his gaze flickers around the kitchen from his perch on the countertop. Every single part of the kitchen seems to exude money, from the shiny slate grey coffee machine that sits atop one of the counters to the array of magazines and newspapers that are scattered actors the tabletop. Daniel had heard rumours about Jonah's wealth, but only now is he realising how true those rumours are.

Despite all this Daniel can't say that the house appears particularly 'friendly'. In fact a single picture of Ruth and Jonah stuck to the fridge appears to be the only sign that anyone lives here at all, and that it's not just some display home for people to contemplate buying. And Daniel has been here a good half an hour at least, and he's yet to see any sign of Jonah's parents despite it being a Saturday afternoon and Daniel is shocked to realise that Jonah's parents are never really brought into conversation. He seems to love his sister, but his parents are nothing more than fleeting comments before the conversation is swiftly changed.

It's only when Daniel hears footsteps thundering down the stairs once again that he is shook out of his thoughts.

He plasters a grin on his face and desperately tries to clear this mind of any thoughts of a topless Jonah Clarke.


xxx

Jonah isn't sure why he's nervous, but it seems to have something to do with the boy sat as far away from him on the sofa as possible.

But he shouldn't be nervous, and Jonah reminds himself of that as he grabs the remote off the coffee table and quickly brings up Sky Sports.

"So who's playing?" Daniel asks Jonah.

It takes Jonah a few moments to work out what Daniel is asking; his brain seems to be distracted. Focusing on the way that Daniel looks like he belongs on Jonah's sofa, as if he's always been there.

"Arsenal and Sunderland," Jonah says. "Do you want anything to eat?"

Jonah doesn't even wait for Daniel to reply; instead he hurries into the kitchen and grabs some snacks and a drink for himself before heading back towards Daniel.

Any sensible person would have done it in two trips, but Jonah is rarely ever described as sensible and so he desperately tries to balance the selection of food and his drink as he opens the door. He surprisingly manages it, but placing it all down on the coffee table seems to create a task of its own. Jonah thinks he's got away with it and then his glass tilts dangerously in his hand and before Jonah has a chance to stop it, the liquid is splattered all over Daniel and Jonah can do nothing but stare open-mouthed as it spreads across Daniel's shirt.

"Shit, I'm really sorry."

"It's fine."

"No, I should have been more careful. I'll go grab something for you to wear."

Jonah hurries out of the room once again, and tries not to question his behaviour today. Because Jonah Clarke is never nervous, is never clumsy, and most definitely never fucks up quite as spectacularly as he did just then.

When he returns Jonah finds that Daniel has already removed his shirt and promptly covers his eyes before turning around and walking backwards towards Daniel, stretching his hand out behind him.

"Thanks," Daniel says and Jonah feels the material leave his hand.

After a few seconds Daniel clears his throat and Jonah takes that as a signal that it is okay for him to turn around.

Jonah is surprised to find that the sight of Daniel stood in one of his flannels makes his breath catch in his throat. Jonah knows that it shouldn't, but there's something about the way that the flannel doesn't quite fit Daniel right that makes Jonah think about the boy in ways that he probably shouldn't.

"You know usually when I lend people clothes they look massive on them," Jonah comments, taking a seat on the sofa once again.

"That's because you're a giant," Daniel points out.

"You're taller than me."

"That's because I'm a gianter giant."

"I don't think gianter is a real word."

"Shut up Jonah."

Jonah tries to conceal his smile and instead focuses his attention on the television, the commentary team are still the main focus telling Jonah that the match is yet to start and so he turns his attention back to Daniel. He is surprised to find that Daniel is already looking at him.

"So who are we supporting?" Daniel asks.

"I'm supporting Arsenal," Jonah replies, "as I always do. But you can support whoever the hell you want."

"I might support Sun – what was it again?"

"Sunderland," Jonah sighs.

"Right. Well I might support Sunderland just to annoy you."

"Go for it, just don't expect much."

Daniel does not reply, but Jonah sees Daniel shake his head out of the corner of his eye.

"So remind me how the game works again," Daniel asks after a few moments.

"I can't believe you don't know the rules of football," Jonah says, he tries to sound exasperated but fondness seems to slip into his tone.

"Whatever," Daniel replies, "are you going to explain the rules or not?"

"Basically the teams both want to kick the ball into each other's goals, if they get it in, they score, it's all pretty simple."

"But what's offside, and like I don't understand the difference between..." Daniel says but he is quickly interrupted.

"Woah, Danny-Boy, don't run before you can walk. I'll explain those as the match is going on, else you'll confuse yourself before we even start watching."

"But won't you get annoyed about me asking questions while they're playing?"

"No Daniel, so long as your questions aren't stupid."

"I'll try my hardest."

"You better," Jonah says teasingly, "else wise this is only going to be a onetime thing."

"Are you suggesting that this might become a regular occurrence?" Daniel asks.

"Well there's a game every Saturday, so if you enjoy it who knows?"

"I'd like that," Daniel says.

"You've not even watched a match yet," Jonah points out, "you might hate watching football."

"I'd still like to come round anyway," Daniel whispers.

Jonah watches as Daniel's cheeks flush red, and he can't help but allow his own face to heat up too.

"I'd like that too," Jonah whispers back.

Jonah isn't sure what is happening. Why either of them are whispering or why the conversation between them seems to be flitting from awkward to comfortable every second but he strangely doesn't mind it. There's something about chatting with Daniel that stops Jonah from caring about anything else, and that scares him slightly. And so Jonah is going to ignore it.

"How about we make this interesting?" Jonah says.

"What kind of interesting?" Daniel sounds distrustful of the idea and Jonah can't say he blames him.

"A bet kind of interesting."

"I'm not running down your street naked."

"Not what I was going to suggest, but thanks for contributing."

"Oh," Daniel says, and Jonah senses a trace of embarrassment, "that's what Isaac usually suggests."

"You people are weird," Jonah says teasingly, "I was more thinking that the person who supports the team that wins gets to text whoever they want from the other person's phone."

"I have a bad feeling about this."

"Is that a no then?"

Jonah watches as Daniel ponders over the idea for a few moments, biting his lip between his teeth a sure sign that he is deep in thought.

"Oh fuck it," Daniel says after a while, "I'm in."


xxx

Ten minutes into the game and even Daniel can tell that he is going to lose the bet. In fact, Daniel is pretty sure that even he could play better than they seem to be doing, but he still holds on to the hope that they can miraculously pull it together for the rest of the match.

Three minutes later the first goal goes in, and Daniel resigns himself to the idea of Jonah having access to his phone.

To be perfectly honest Daniel thinks that Jonah's celebration almost makes Daniel 'losing' worth it (although Daniel would like to point out that technically he's not losing as he's not actually playing). Jonah jumps up from the sofa – nearly causing a repeat of the spillage earlier – and proceeds to run around the room like a crazed maniac until play resumes. He tells Daniel that's a victory lap, Daniel reminds him that Arsenal haven't won yet. Jonah just laughs.

"So what is the offside rule?" Daniel asks after a few moments. "Because neither team seems to understand it."

"Basically when you pass the ball to the player they must have at least two players from the other team behind them," Jonah explains, "typically this includes the goalkeeper so you've got to be in front of one defender."

"And why are they so shit at sticking to it?"

"Because players get caught up in the moment Danny-Boy, and also people can mis-time their runs."

"I think I can take a guess at what that means but I'm not going to ask for clarification."

Daniel watches as Jonah grins and begins to shake his head at Daniel.

"Good plan, now shh, things are happening."

Daniel fixes his gaze on the TV screen and is pleased to find that he actually does have a vague idea of what's going on. Not that he understands when Jonah asks the referee if he needs glasses five minutes later, because clearly he would be wearing them if he did, but then again, maybe Daniel will pick these things up as he goes along.

"What do you think?" Jonah turns to Daniel and asks at half-time.

The expression on Jonah's face is one of pure joy and Daniel wonders if it is mirrored on his own. Not that he finds the game of football all that interesting – although it is tolerable – but rather because he likes sharing things like this with Jonah, things that clearly mean a lot to the other boy.

"I can see why you like watching football," Daniel replies.

Jonah's smile widens slightly and Daniel considers leaving his comment there.

"I mean Arsenal have a really cute team," Daniel continues teasingly.

Jonah sighs but Daniel can see that he is smiling none the less.

"I meant what do you think of the game Daniel?"

"It's slightly confusing, but I'm picking it up. I still think that these people get paid an extortionate amount of money though."

"Please don't use long words when we're watching football," Jonah asks.

"I didn't use long words."

"You used the word extortionate."

"I guess it is pretty long."

"Not as long as my – "

"Jonah!"

"Sorry Danny-Boy," Jonah says with a wink, "but I couldn't just let the opportunity pass by. And I know what you mean, everyone thinks they get paid too much, but I like watching it anyway."

"I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it, I'm just making a point."

"Well make your point later, when I'm not too busy being amazed by Sanchez's dribbling skills."

"Which one was he?"

"Oh my god Danny-Boy, were you even watching?"

"So who's your favourite player?" Daniel asks, deciding a change of topic seems necessary right now as Jonah looks like he is about to go on a long lecture about the importance of Daniel paying attention to shirt numbers.

"Well Sanchez obviously, but I seriously think Giroud is underrated, he is seriously impressive sometimes."

"Is he the really cute one?"

"Daniel!"

"Like you haven't been ogling the cheerleaders all of half-time," Daniel says teasingly.

"You got me," Jonah replies, "but I mean come on have you seen them?"

"Wrong audience Jonah, I bat for the other team remember."

"Why does it have to be about teams?"

"Don't tell me that we're about to have some deep debate on a Saturday afternoon cause I'm nowhere near prepared."

"Seriously though," Jonah tells Daniel, "I mean you can recognise a good looking member of the female species and I can recognise a good looking member of the male species so why does you 'batting for the other team' matter, why are there different teams? Why are we opposed? I mean surely you being gay means more girls for me, and therefore I should want you on my side."

"It's just a metaphor Jonah."

"Yeah, a fucking stupid one."

"You're an idiot."

"No you're an idiot."

"How old are you? Four?"

"Four and a half actually, get it right," Jonah says, "god it's like you don't even know me Daniel."

"Sometimes I wish I didn't," Daniel murmurs.

"What did you just say Danny-Boy?"

"Nothing."

"It better have been nothing, or have you forgotten what an awesome best friend I am?" Jonah asks.

"I haven't forgotten, don't you worry."

"Then tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"What an awesome best friend I am."

"You're an awesome best friend Jonah Clarke," Daniel says.

"Come on now, I think you can do better than that," Jonah tells Daniel.

"Jonah Clarke, you are one of the most awesome people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing and I'm honoured to call you my best friend, oh wise and honourable one," Daniel replies before pausing briefly, "was that good enough?"

"A bit over the top I think, but I guess it will have to do."


xxx

The match is over and Daniel is starting to look ever so slightly scared. Jonah can't say he blames him, with a five-nil score line there's no denying who just won the match, and so Jonah's sights are set on Daniel's phone, his mind puzzling over who to text.

"Hand over the phone Danny-Boy," Jonah says calmly.

Daniel doesn't reply, but Jonah notices that he slowly edges further towards the other end of the sofa, Jonah follows his movements, there's no way he's letting Daniel get away.

"Hand it over," Jonah says once again.

Daniel shakes his head, holding his phone over his head. Jonah reaches out to grab it, but it is just beyond his grasp. It reminds Jonah just how much he hates Daniel being taller than him, it means he can exploit Jonah's shortness to get out of bets, and that's just not fair in Jonah's opinion.

"Hand it over," Jonah repeats.

Jonah's frustration is only increased when Daniel lets out a little giggle and extends his arm even higher.

If this gesture is meant to deter Jonah then Daniel is about to be surprised, because Jonah is determined, he won this bet and so he wants to claim his prize.

Jonah reaches over Daniel, angling his body so that he edges slowly closer to Daniel's hand. There's still a small distance to go. Jonah tries to stretch his body further but quickly realises that he won't be able to get any closer from his current position. And so Jonah swings his leg across Daniel's lap and reaches upwards. Daniel seems to be so preoccupied by Jonah's movements that he offers no resistance when Jonah takes the phone from Daniel's grasp.

At first Jonah finds this strange, Daniel has been so opposed to the idea of Jonah getting a hold of his phone after all. And then he realises the

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