FIC: Suspension of Disbelief (6/?)
Name: Suspension of Disbelief
Rating: PG-13. Probably NC-17 for series, knowing me.
Fandom: Sarah Jane Adventures (also, Torchwood, Doctor Who)
Pairing: Clyde/Luke (or Cluke!). (Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys)
Characters: Sarah Jane, Rani, Maria, Carla, Martha.
Summary: Casefile fic. Set after series 3. The Torchwood team have just been for a visit when strange things begin happening around Sarah Jane’s house. Mr Smith is acting oddly and K-9 is... even more odd, really. And that’s not including Luke’s new quirk involving Clyde and unnecessary touching... The world is a strange place and it’s about to get stranger.
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of this.
Beta: skullgirl013
Author’s Note: Right. First off I want to say I come from the Supernatural fandom, in which shagging minors (as in minors shagging, not adults shagging minors... not that there’s exactly a dearth of this in the SPN fandom...) is practically commonplace. Secondly, I want to say that all the kids are at least 16 in this. Thirdly, I want to say, for crying out loud it is fiction. No one will ever be fucked during the writing of this fic. Fourthly I want to say again that they’re at least 16. If I’ve got my calculations wrong and in the time ‘series 4’ would be they’re not 16 then just go with me, yeah? And... they’re 16. Also: fiction. Right. Fic starts ... NOW!
Master List for this fic.
:D I'm doing well... 'nother chapter. Also; bunny. -nods- BUNNY! (Me? Insane? Noooooo...)
Chapter 6
Rani is sat cross-legged in front of Mister Smith, a notepad on her knees, talking to him. “And the year Henry II died, Mister Smith?” she says.
“Eleven-eighty-nine, Rani,” Mister Smith tells her.
She jots that down, then says, “And when did the black death reach England?”
“Two hundred and ninety-four thousand and twenty square kilometres, Rani,” Mister Smith says, promptly.
She blinks at him. “You what?”
“Thirteen-forty-nine, Rani.”
She stares at him. “And when did the first English newspaper appear?”
“Rainbows, Rani.”
She stands up and is about to say something when Clyde comes in with Luke and announces, grandly, “You know, it’s really bad to cheat on revision using an alien super-computer.”
“There’s something strange going on with Mister Smith,” she says. “He just told me the first English newspaper appeared in ‘rainbows’.”
“Maybe Sarah Jane put an anti-cheating thing into him,” Clyde says, with a shrug, walking up to Rani. Luke is suspiciously silent, but Luke’s behaviour is often suspicious, so it’s nothing weird really.
“Maybe,” Rani says, with a sigh. She puts her notepad down. “I just wanted to do some last minute revision for the last GSCE before summer, though.”
Clyde shrugs and sits down on the sofa. Luke sits down, awkwardly, next to him. Like a girl with a crush. Rani eyes him and sits down on Clyde’s other side.
“I’m starting to think life is only exciting when aliens are invading,” she says, with a sigh. “Oh, by the way.” She scratches her head. “I had an email from Maria. Did you know she’s thinking about coming over here during the summer?”
Luke finally speaks at this point. “She didn’t... say anything... about me... did she?”
Rani glances at him. “No, Luke.”
He nods and goes back to being completely silent, even as Clyde gives him a funny look.
“Anyway,” Rani says. “Did you know?”
Clyde shakes his head. “Nope. I’ll have to ask her about it.”
“Oh... maybe it was supposed to be a secret.” Rani puts her hand on her face. “Damn.”
Clyde rolls his eyes. “Come on, Rani. School?”
“Oh. Yeah.” She stands up, slipping her notebook into her bag and slinging her bag over her shoulder, following Clyde and Luke out of the attic.
*
Luke is acting... weird.
He’s sat opposite Clyde, as always, and Rani is sat next to him, and he keeps glancing up at his friend and then quickly busying himself with his food, which Rani swears is not that enthralling.
In fact, his food is mostly boring, and Clyde’s just his usual self - Rani even checks there’s no egg on his face or whatever might be on Clyde’s face - but Luke seems to find him fascinating.
“Is there something going on here?” she asks, after a moment, putting her plastic fork down and leaning back in her seat, arms crossed, glowering at them.
“No,” Luke says, a little too quickly.
“What would be going on?” Clyde enquires, completely confused.
“I don’t know. It’s just Luke’s acting weird, and Mister Smith is saying rainbows so...” Rani just shrugs. “I get the feeling I’m the only sane one around these days.” She sighs, leans forward a bit and stabs her food with the fork. “Well, and Maria.”
Clyde jumps on this comment like it’s water in the desert. “Aw!” he exclaims, in the most mocking tone he can grasp. “Do you have a crush on Maria, Ranikins?”
Rani glares up at him. “Get your pervy fantasies somewhere else, Clyde,” she says.
Clyde grins at her and makes an obscene gesture at Luke, which just passes straight over the confused boy’s head. “Huh?”
Clyde puts his head in his hands. “Luke. Next lesson; hand gestures and what they mean. “
Luke blinks at him in confusion and Rani puts an arm around his shoulder. “Don't worry, Luke, it took me a long time to learn them all, too. In fact, I still don’t know them all.”
Clyde holds up his hand, fingers parted down the middle, index and middle off to one side, ring and little finger off to the other and grins.
“That one I know!” Rani exclaims. “Live long and prosper!” She grins. “Star Trek with my dad has taught me well.”
“You watch Star Trek?” Clyde says.
Rani shrugs. “I don’t like it though, the aliens aren’t very realistic.” She takes a bite of her food. “So, do you two have plans for later?”
“Why would we have plans?” Luke asks, quickly.
“Dunno, you usually do.” She shrugs.
“Oh.”
“We don’t,” Clyde says. “Do we, Lukey?”
Luke shakes his head.
“I was probably just going to go hang out at his house.” Clyde shrugs. “That’s what I usually do when we don’t have ‘plans’.” He does the air quotes and Rani nods.
“I might join you, if that’s okay?”
Clyde nods. “Sure.” But Luke looks less impressed by the prospect, and Rani can’t for the life of her work out why.
*
Rani,
Turns out you don’t need to worry. I know what’s going on with Clyde and Luke. I can’t tell you, though, since I think they’d kill me for blabbing, but don’t worry! And if you look deep enough I’m SURE you’ll work out what’s going on.
It’s pretty obvious, actually, now I think about it. I think I was really dumb not to notice sooner! But, then again, you didn’t notice either, so maybe we both just didn’t... twig... you know?
Anyway, as for the summer; I’m really looking forward to meeting you, too! I have a few things I want to tell you about that you just can’t do over email!
Talk soon, Maria. xx
Rani pauses, tie half off, to read the email through once again, then just stands there in her bedroom. “What’s so obvious?” she wonders aloud.
“Did you call me, darling?” her dad says, poking his head around her door.
“No, dad, sorry,” she says. “Just... thinking out loud.” She smiles at him, pops her tie down on the bed and sits down at her computer.
Maria,
What’s so obvious? I don’t get it. Am I really that dumb I don’t get it? Give me a clue at least? We’re both their friend...
Something weird happened today. Clyde reckons Sarah Jane just installed an anti-cheating thing, but I’m not so sure. Has Mister Smith EVER given you false information? I don’t mean misleading I mean... wrong? He told me the first English newspaper appeared in RAINBOWS.
Did anything like this ever happen to you?
Can’t wait for the summer!
Rani xxx
She hits send and then wheels her chair across to the window, gazing out down to the street below as Clyde ambles up the driveway and greets Luke with a huge grin, which the other boy returns, beckoning him inside the house.
She does... not... get... it.
She considers, for a moment, Googling, ‘My two male best friends are acting weird, why?’ but she realises after a moment that she’d probably get a lot of hits, none of which would take hunting aliens into account.
With a sigh, she relaxes back into her desk chair and examines the pictures lining her walls. Half of them are photos of her mom, her dad, Clyde, Luke, Sarah Jane and, yes, at least one of Maria. The other half are drawings, expertly sketched by Clyde.
She loves them and falls asleep gazing at them every night. They’re her family, proudly displayed on her wall.
But she doesn’t get them. She grabs a pillow off her bed and throws it at the section of the wall with a big photo of Clyde and Luke displayed upon it, the two boys stood, happily, with their arms around each other, grinning like maniacs.
“I don’t understand you!” she growls.
*
“Are you okay, Rani?” Sarah Jane asks, walking into the attic to find the girl sat on the sofa, legs tucked up underneath her, head in her hands, glaring at the far wall.
“Yep,” Rani says, popping the ‘p’. “Perfectly fine.”
Sarah Jane puts her bag down, walks across and sits next to her. “And you being fine is why you’re sat up here on your own while Clyde and Luke do revision downstairs?”
Rani sighs, sits up a little more and says, “I just...” She trails off. “Never mind.”
“You just what?”
“Nothing. It doesn’t matter.” She puts her head in her hands, then she looks up at Sarah Jane. “I have these two friends, at school. We hang out sometimes. But they’ve been acting kind of funny recently... like, the one keeps looking at the other when the other isn’t looking, and I can’t work out what’s going on...”
Sarah Jane chuckles. “Sounds like your friend fancies your other friend, Rani.” She smiles. “I’m surprised you couldn’t figure that out yourself.”
Rani shakes her head. “No, I don’t think so. They’re both... well, they’re not into each other.”
Shrugging, the older woman says, “Well, that’s just my opinion.” She stands up. “Fancy some tea?”
Rani smiles. “Sounds good.” She stands up too and trails after Sarah Jane as the reporter descends the stairs and walks into the living room, smoothly retrieving the TV remote from the arm of the chair and turning off the TV.
“Mum!” Luke complains.
“This doesn’t look like revision,” Sarah Jane tells him, with a smirk. “Which is what you said you were doing.”
Luke looks sheepish. “We did loads... but then Clyde wanted the TV on and...”
Clyde smacks Luke around the head. “Don't grass on me!”
“Grass on you?” Luke says, confused.
Clyde puts his hand on his face. “Tell on me. Grassing on me means... Oh, never mind.” He stands up, picks up the books from the floor and says, “Let’s go finish this off in your room. Away from the television.”
Sarah Jane nods. “What a good idea.” She moves to one side as Clyde makes to go through the door and she looks at Rani and Luke . “Come collect tea for the three of you and you can take it up with you.”
“Okay, Mum,” Luke says, jumping up from the sofa and casting a wistful look at the decidedly blank TV.
*
When Rani and Luke walk into Luke’s bedroom a few minutes later, Rani with two trays, Luke with one and a hand free to use on the door handle, Clyde is spread out on Luke’s bed, books everywhere, appearing to be jotting something down.
However, upon closer inspection, Rani notices that what Clyde is actually doing is sketching Luke’s fish tank, the one his mum got him when he asked for a pet.
“That’s not revision, Clyde,” she says, in a sing-song voice.
Clyde glowers up at her. “Nor’s that.”
“This is food,” she says, sitting down on the floor with the two trays nicely balanced. She wafts one under his nose and grins. “Unless you don’t want it...”
“It’s food. Course I want it!” Clyde drops off the bed onto the floor next to Rani and Luke sits down next to him, graceful as ever. “Give!”
“What’s the magic word?” Rani demands.
Clyde glares at her. “Chinese burn?”
Rani rolls her eyes and gives him the tray. “You’re so ungrateful.”
“Thank you,” Clyde says, with a grin. He shuffles a little further away from Rani and closer to Luke as he starts eating. “I think I did too much revision,” he says, after a moment.
“There’s no such thing as too much revision, Clyde,” Rani tells him, licking grease off her fingers.
“No, no, I think you’ll find there is. Too much is when old information starts falling out the back of your brain. For example; I’ve forgotten the colour of Sarah Jane’s eyes.” He nods.
“Why have you even been trying to remember the colour of Sarah Jane’s eyes?” Rani demands.
Clyde colours. “No reason.”
“If you fancy Sarah Jane,” Rani says, “Luke’ll have to beat you up.”
“Luke? Beat me up? Have you seen him in a fist fight?” Clyde reaches around Luke and grabs both his wrists, making his hands do pathetic punching motions against his will while the tray tips, unsteadily, upon his lap. “Pathetic!”
“Get off,” he grumbles, shrugging Clyde away from him, turning beet red.
“No need to get huffy,” Clyde retorts. He looks at Rani. “And I don’t fancy Sarah Jane.” He rolls his eyes.
“So you say,” Rani tells him.
Clyde flicks ketchup at her.
“Hey!” she shouts.
Clyde chuckles and Rani flicks ketchup back at him. It spatters all over his clean white school shirt and his black trousers.
“Mum’s going to kill me!” Clyde exclaims. “She only washed these yesterday.”
“You shouldn’t flick ketchup at a girl, then,” Rani says, smugly.
Clyde glares at her and gets up. “Luke, can I use your bathroom and wash these off?”
Luke nods. “Sure, Clyde...”
“Thanks.” He looks down at himself then says, “Can I borrow a pair of trousers so I don’t end up stood in your bathroom half-naked and have Sarah Jane walk in on me?” he says, awkwardly.
Luke gestures at his chest of drawers. “Right over there,” he says.
“Thanks,” Clyde repeats. He runs across, grabs a pair of trousers and then promptly sheds his own. Rani looks away, quickly, stifling a giggle behind her hand.
“I’m wearing undies,” Clyde says, with a grimace. “You’re such a girl.”
“I am a girl,” Rani tells him.
Clyde rolls his eyes, shimmies into Luke’s trousers and says, “I’ll be back,” before he runs from the room.
When Rani looks back around at Luke, he’s staring at his feet, cheeks the colour of tomatoes. She blinks at him. “Luke, you okay?”
He looks up, but he’s still blushing. “F-Fine.” He pauses. “Do you think Clyde fancies Mum?”
“Aw, Luke.” Rani giggles a little. “Don't worry. I was only kidding. I don’t think he fancies Sarah Jane. I was just teasing him.”
Luke nods. “Okay. That’s good.”
“Why is tha-” Rani breaks off, all the pieces falling into place, and jumps up. “Oh my god!”
Luke looks up at her. “What?”
“You fancy Clyde!”
“Wh-what?!”
“You fancy Clyde! Luke! Why didn’t you tell me?!”
“Shh!” Luke jumps up, too. “Be quiet!”
“Oh my god!” she exclaims again. “She was right! It is obvious!” She claps a hand over her mouth. “How long have you fancied Clyde for?” she says, muffled.
“...I don’t know,” Luke admits. “A few days?” He pauses. “Possibly forever?”
“Oh! That’s so sweet!” Rani pauses. “I thought you liked Maria?”
“Maria?” Luke looks confused. “I was partially created from her DNA.”
“So...?”
“I thought incest was a crime?”
Rani blinks. “I never thought of that before.”
Luke nods.
“So... Clyde, huh?” Rani says, after a moment.
“You can’t tell him!” Luke exclaims. “Promise me you won’t tell him!”
“I won’t, Luke, I swear,” Rani tells him, hands held up in surrender. “But you should.”
Luke shakes his head. “Clyde likes girls. Clyde doesn’t like... me.”
Rani sighs. “Luke...” she begins, but then the bedroom door slams open and Clyde storms in, shouting, angrily, “Oh my god!”
Luke stares at him with big bug eyes. “W-what?” he stammers.
“Rani, you destroyed my trousers!” He glares at Rani, then looks between them both. “Err...” He blinks. “Did I miss something?”
*
Maria,
I WORKED IT OUT.
Luke fancies Clyde, right?
It was obvious, you’re right.
Rani. xxxxxooooo
Rating: PG-13. Probably NC-17 for series, knowing me.
Fandom: Sarah Jane Adventures (also, Torchwood, Doctor Who)
Pairing: Clyde/Luke (or Cluke!). (Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys)
Characters: Sarah Jane, Rani, Maria, Carla, Martha.
Summary: Casefile fic. Set after series 3. The Torchwood team have just been for a visit when strange things begin happening around Sarah Jane’s house. Mr Smith is acting oddly and K-9 is... even more odd, really. And that’s not including Luke’s new quirk involving Clyde and unnecessary touching... The world is a strange place and it’s about to get stranger.
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of this.
Beta: skullgirl013
Author’s Note: Right. First off I want to say I come from the Supernatural fandom, in which shagging minors (as in minors shagging, not adults shagging minors... not that there’s exactly a dearth of this in the SPN fandom...) is practically commonplace. Secondly, I want to say that all the kids are at least 16 in this. Thirdly, I want to say, for crying out loud it is fiction. No one will ever be fucked during the writing of this fic. Fourthly I want to say again that they’re at least 16. If I’ve got my calculations wrong and in the time ‘series 4’ would be they’re not 16 then just go with me, yeah? And... they’re 16. Also: fiction. Right. Fic starts ... NOW!
Master List for this fic.
:D I'm doing well... 'nother chapter. Also; bunny. -nods- BUNNY! (Me? Insane? Noooooo...)
Chapter 6
Rani is sat cross-legged in front of Mister Smith, a notepad on her knees, talking to him. “And the year Henry II died, Mister Smith?” she says.
“Eleven-eighty-nine, Rani,” Mister Smith tells her.
She jots that down, then says, “And when did the black death reach England?”
“Two hundred and ninety-four thousand and twenty square kilometres, Rani,” Mister Smith says, promptly.
She blinks at him. “You what?”
“Thirteen-forty-nine, Rani.”
She stares at him. “And when did the first English newspaper appear?”
“Rainbows, Rani.”
She stands up and is about to say something when Clyde comes in with Luke and announces, grandly, “You know, it’s really bad to cheat on revision using an alien super-computer.”
“There’s something strange going on with Mister Smith,” she says. “He just told me the first English newspaper appeared in ‘rainbows’.”
“Maybe Sarah Jane put an anti-cheating thing into him,” Clyde says, with a shrug, walking up to Rani. Luke is suspiciously silent, but Luke’s behaviour is often suspicious, so it’s nothing weird really.
“Maybe,” Rani says, with a sigh. She puts her notepad down. “I just wanted to do some last minute revision for the last GSCE before summer, though.”
Clyde shrugs and sits down on the sofa. Luke sits down, awkwardly, next to him. Like a girl with a crush. Rani eyes him and sits down on Clyde’s other side.
“I’m starting to think life is only exciting when aliens are invading,” she says, with a sigh. “Oh, by the way.” She scratches her head. “I had an email from Maria. Did you know she’s thinking about coming over here during the summer?”
Luke finally speaks at this point. “She didn’t... say anything... about me... did she?”
Rani glances at him. “No, Luke.”
He nods and goes back to being completely silent, even as Clyde gives him a funny look.
“Anyway,” Rani says. “Did you know?”
Clyde shakes his head. “Nope. I’ll have to ask her about it.”
“Oh... maybe it was supposed to be a secret.” Rani puts her hand on her face. “Damn.”
Clyde rolls his eyes. “Come on, Rani. School?”
“Oh. Yeah.” She stands up, slipping her notebook into her bag and slinging her bag over her shoulder, following Clyde and Luke out of the attic.
*
Luke is acting... weird.
He’s sat opposite Clyde, as always, and Rani is sat next to him, and he keeps glancing up at his friend and then quickly busying himself with his food, which Rani swears is not that enthralling.
In fact, his food is mostly boring, and Clyde’s just his usual self - Rani even checks there’s no egg on his face or whatever might be on Clyde’s face - but Luke seems to find him fascinating.
“Is there something going on here?” she asks, after a moment, putting her plastic fork down and leaning back in her seat, arms crossed, glowering at them.
“No,” Luke says, a little too quickly.
“What would be going on?” Clyde enquires, completely confused.
“I don’t know. It’s just Luke’s acting weird, and Mister Smith is saying rainbows so...” Rani just shrugs. “I get the feeling I’m the only sane one around these days.” She sighs, leans forward a bit and stabs her food with the fork. “Well, and Maria.”
Clyde jumps on this comment like it’s water in the desert. “Aw!” he exclaims, in the most mocking tone he can grasp. “Do you have a crush on Maria, Ranikins?”
Rani glares up at him. “Get your pervy fantasies somewhere else, Clyde,” she says.
Clyde grins at her and makes an obscene gesture at Luke, which just passes straight over the confused boy’s head. “Huh?”
Clyde puts his head in his hands. “Luke. Next lesson; hand gestures and what they mean. “
Luke blinks at him in confusion and Rani puts an arm around his shoulder. “Don't worry, Luke, it took me a long time to learn them all, too. In fact, I still don’t know them all.”
Clyde holds up his hand, fingers parted down the middle, index and middle off to one side, ring and little finger off to the other and grins.
“That one I know!” Rani exclaims. “Live long and prosper!” She grins. “Star Trek with my dad has taught me well.”
“You watch Star Trek?” Clyde says.
Rani shrugs. “I don’t like it though, the aliens aren’t very realistic.” She takes a bite of her food. “So, do you two have plans for later?”
“Why would we have plans?” Luke asks, quickly.
“Dunno, you usually do.” She shrugs.
“Oh.”
“We don’t,” Clyde says. “Do we, Lukey?”
Luke shakes his head.
“I was probably just going to go hang out at his house.” Clyde shrugs. “That’s what I usually do when we don’t have ‘plans’.” He does the air quotes and Rani nods.
“I might join you, if that’s okay?”
Clyde nods. “Sure.” But Luke looks less impressed by the prospect, and Rani can’t for the life of her work out why.
*
Rani,
Turns out you don’t need to worry. I know what’s going on with Clyde and Luke. I can’t tell you, though, since I think they’d kill me for blabbing, but don’t worry! And if you look deep enough I’m SURE you’ll work out what’s going on.
It’s pretty obvious, actually, now I think about it. I think I was really dumb not to notice sooner! But, then again, you didn’t notice either, so maybe we both just didn’t... twig... you know?
Anyway, as for the summer; I’m really looking forward to meeting you, too! I have a few things I want to tell you about that you just can’t do over email!
Talk soon, Maria. xx
Rani pauses, tie half off, to read the email through once again, then just stands there in her bedroom. “What’s so obvious?” she wonders aloud.
“Did you call me, darling?” her dad says, poking his head around her door.
“No, dad, sorry,” she says. “Just... thinking out loud.” She smiles at him, pops her tie down on the bed and sits down at her computer.
Maria,
What’s so obvious? I don’t get it. Am I really that dumb I don’t get it? Give me a clue at least? We’re both their friend...
Something weird happened today. Clyde reckons Sarah Jane just installed an anti-cheating thing, but I’m not so sure. Has Mister Smith EVER given you false information? I don’t mean misleading I mean... wrong? He told me the first English newspaper appeared in RAINBOWS.
Did anything like this ever happen to you?
Can’t wait for the summer!
Rani xxx
She hits send and then wheels her chair across to the window, gazing out down to the street below as Clyde ambles up the driveway and greets Luke with a huge grin, which the other boy returns, beckoning him inside the house.
She does... not... get... it.
She considers, for a moment, Googling, ‘My two male best friends are acting weird, why?’ but she realises after a moment that she’d probably get a lot of hits, none of which would take hunting aliens into account.
With a sigh, she relaxes back into her desk chair and examines the pictures lining her walls. Half of them are photos of her mom, her dad, Clyde, Luke, Sarah Jane and, yes, at least one of Maria. The other half are drawings, expertly sketched by Clyde.
She loves them and falls asleep gazing at them every night. They’re her family, proudly displayed on her wall.
But she doesn’t get them. She grabs a pillow off her bed and throws it at the section of the wall with a big photo of Clyde and Luke displayed upon it, the two boys stood, happily, with their arms around each other, grinning like maniacs.
“I don’t understand you!” she growls.
*
“Are you okay, Rani?” Sarah Jane asks, walking into the attic to find the girl sat on the sofa, legs tucked up underneath her, head in her hands, glaring at the far wall.
“Yep,” Rani says, popping the ‘p’. “Perfectly fine.”
Sarah Jane puts her bag down, walks across and sits next to her. “And you being fine is why you’re sat up here on your own while Clyde and Luke do revision downstairs?”
Rani sighs, sits up a little more and says, “I just...” She trails off. “Never mind.”
“You just what?”
“Nothing. It doesn’t matter.” She puts her head in her hands, then she looks up at Sarah Jane. “I have these two friends, at school. We hang out sometimes. But they’ve been acting kind of funny recently... like, the one keeps looking at the other when the other isn’t looking, and I can’t work out what’s going on...”
Sarah Jane chuckles. “Sounds like your friend fancies your other friend, Rani.” She smiles. “I’m surprised you couldn’t figure that out yourself.”
Rani shakes her head. “No, I don’t think so. They’re both... well, they’re not into each other.”
Shrugging, the older woman says, “Well, that’s just my opinion.” She stands up. “Fancy some tea?”
Rani smiles. “Sounds good.” She stands up too and trails after Sarah Jane as the reporter descends the stairs and walks into the living room, smoothly retrieving the TV remote from the arm of the chair and turning off the TV.
“Mum!” Luke complains.
“This doesn’t look like revision,” Sarah Jane tells him, with a smirk. “Which is what you said you were doing.”
Luke looks sheepish. “We did loads... but then Clyde wanted the TV on and...”
Clyde smacks Luke around the head. “Don't grass on me!”
“Grass on you?” Luke says, confused.
Clyde puts his hand on his face. “Tell on me. Grassing on me means... Oh, never mind.” He stands up, picks up the books from the floor and says, “Let’s go finish this off in your room. Away from the television.”
Sarah Jane nods. “What a good idea.” She moves to one side as Clyde makes to go through the door and she looks at Rani and Luke . “Come collect tea for the three of you and you can take it up with you.”
“Okay, Mum,” Luke says, jumping up from the sofa and casting a wistful look at the decidedly blank TV.
*
When Rani and Luke walk into Luke’s bedroom a few minutes later, Rani with two trays, Luke with one and a hand free to use on the door handle, Clyde is spread out on Luke’s bed, books everywhere, appearing to be jotting something down.
However, upon closer inspection, Rani notices that what Clyde is actually doing is sketching Luke’s fish tank, the one his mum got him when he asked for a pet.
“That’s not revision, Clyde,” she says, in a sing-song voice.
Clyde glowers up at her. “Nor’s that.”
“This is food,” she says, sitting down on the floor with the two trays nicely balanced. She wafts one under his nose and grins. “Unless you don’t want it...”
“It’s food. Course I want it!” Clyde drops off the bed onto the floor next to Rani and Luke sits down next to him, graceful as ever. “Give!”
“What’s the magic word?” Rani demands.
Clyde glares at her. “Chinese burn?”
Rani rolls her eyes and gives him the tray. “You’re so ungrateful.”
“Thank you,” Clyde says, with a grin. He shuffles a little further away from Rani and closer to Luke as he starts eating. “I think I did too much revision,” he says, after a moment.
“There’s no such thing as too much revision, Clyde,” Rani tells him, licking grease off her fingers.
“No, no, I think you’ll find there is. Too much is when old information starts falling out the back of your brain. For example; I’ve forgotten the colour of Sarah Jane’s eyes.” He nods.
“Why have you even been trying to remember the colour of Sarah Jane’s eyes?” Rani demands.
Clyde colours. “No reason.”
“If you fancy Sarah Jane,” Rani says, “Luke’ll have to beat you up.”
“Luke? Beat me up? Have you seen him in a fist fight?” Clyde reaches around Luke and grabs both his wrists, making his hands do pathetic punching motions against his will while the tray tips, unsteadily, upon his lap. “Pathetic!”
“Get off,” he grumbles, shrugging Clyde away from him, turning beet red.
“No need to get huffy,” Clyde retorts. He looks at Rani. “And I don’t fancy Sarah Jane.” He rolls his eyes.
“So you say,” Rani tells him.
Clyde flicks ketchup at her.
“Hey!” she shouts.
Clyde chuckles and Rani flicks ketchup back at him. It spatters all over his clean white school shirt and his black trousers.
“Mum’s going to kill me!” Clyde exclaims. “She only washed these yesterday.”
“You shouldn’t flick ketchup at a girl, then,” Rani says, smugly.
Clyde glares at her and gets up. “Luke, can I use your bathroom and wash these off?”
Luke nods. “Sure, Clyde...”
“Thanks.” He looks down at himself then says, “Can I borrow a pair of trousers so I don’t end up stood in your bathroom half-naked and have Sarah Jane walk in on me?” he says, awkwardly.
Luke gestures at his chest of drawers. “Right over there,” he says.
“Thanks,” Clyde repeats. He runs across, grabs a pair of trousers and then promptly sheds his own. Rani looks away, quickly, stifling a giggle behind her hand.
“I’m wearing undies,” Clyde says, with a grimace. “You’re such a girl.”
“I am a girl,” Rani tells him.
Clyde rolls his eyes, shimmies into Luke’s trousers and says, “I’ll be back,” before he runs from the room.
When Rani looks back around at Luke, he’s staring at his feet, cheeks the colour of tomatoes. She blinks at him. “Luke, you okay?”
He looks up, but he’s still blushing. “F-Fine.” He pauses. “Do you think Clyde fancies Mum?”
“Aw, Luke.” Rani giggles a little. “Don't worry. I was only kidding. I don’t think he fancies Sarah Jane. I was just teasing him.”
Luke nods. “Okay. That’s good.”
“Why is tha-” Rani breaks off, all the pieces falling into place, and jumps up. “Oh my god!”
Luke looks up at her. “What?”
“You fancy Clyde!”
“Wh-what?!”
“You fancy Clyde! Luke! Why didn’t you tell me?!”
“Shh!” Luke jumps up, too. “Be quiet!”
“Oh my god!” she exclaims again. “She was right! It is obvious!” She claps a hand over her mouth. “How long have you fancied Clyde for?” she says, muffled.
“...I don’t know,” Luke admits. “A few days?” He pauses. “Possibly forever?”
“Oh! That’s so sweet!” Rani pauses. “I thought you liked Maria?”
“Maria?” Luke looks confused. “I was partially created from her DNA.”
“So...?”
“I thought incest was a crime?”
Rani blinks. “I never thought of that before.”
Luke nods.
“So... Clyde, huh?” Rani says, after a moment.
“You can’t tell him!” Luke exclaims. “Promise me you won’t tell him!”
“I won’t, Luke, I swear,” Rani tells him, hands held up in surrender. “But you should.”
Luke shakes his head. “Clyde likes girls. Clyde doesn’t like... me.”
Rani sighs. “Luke...” she begins, but then the bedroom door slams open and Clyde storms in, shouting, angrily, “Oh my god!”
Luke stares at him with big bug eyes. “W-what?” he stammers.
“Rani, you destroyed my trousers!” He glares at Rani, then looks between them both. “Err...” He blinks. “Did I miss something?”
*
Maria,
I WORKED IT OUT.
Luke fancies Clyde, right?
It was obvious, you’re right.
Rani. xxxxxooooo