The Sarah Jane Adventures fic:
Pairing: Clyde/Rani
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, belongs to the lovely people at BBC Wales
Summary: It's that time of year again! It's the Park Vale Sixth Form Christmas Ball and two members of Sarah Jane's gang want dates, but the problem is, it's with eachother.
I'm assuming Clyde and Rani were in their second year in sixth form in Series 4, so Luke was with them for the first year... or did Luke do all his A Levels whilst doing his GCSE's? Whatever it may be it doesnt matter just pretend they are all together. I initially intended for this fic to be uploaded during the week leading up to Christmas but i've had a terrible flu virus thing, i'm on day 10 and counting and i'm still feeling ill, so i couldn't upload it sadly. But i hope you all had a wonderfully Merry Christmas! So here it is finally, hope you enjoy it! :)
Christmas Ball
"No, no, no. I'm not going. No!" shouted Clyde as he, Luke and Rani entered into the attic. Clyde flung himself on the red leather sofa, whilst Sarah Jane turned around from her desk, a bemused look on her face. Luke and Rani trying their hardest not to laugh at their friend.
"What's going on?" Sarah Jane asked, keen to know why Clyde seemed to be so stressed about something.
"Please don't talk about it again!" Clyde said, burrowing his face in his hands.
But Luke had other ideas "Rani's dad just announced to the whole of sixth form, that we are having a Christmas Ball and we all have to attend. It'll be a very formal thing, we all have to wear suits and dresses and there will be lots of dancing."
Clyde groaned, causing all the others to laugh.
"What's wrong Clyde? It's a Christmas Ball, sounds exciting!" Sarah Jane looked thrilled.
Clyde stared at Sarah Jane, aghast "It means we are not only being forced to dress up in Mickey Mouse suits, but we have to go through the humiliation of finding dates and most importantly of all we have to dance!"
Rani giggled "Oh come on Clyde, it's all a bit of fun."
"And what's a Mickey Mouse suit?" Luke asked.
Clyde shook his head and produced a smile "It's an expression Lukey boy; don't worry no actual Mickey Mouse suits involved."
"Good, you had me worried there for a minute" Luke grinned, coming to sit down on the sofa with Clyde.
"Still, Rani's right Clyde" Sarah Jane said, as she got up and put a book away on the shelf "It will be fun. When is it?"
"Last day of term, so we've got a month to prepare" Rani said, with a beaming smile "Sarah Jane, do you want to come with me and mum to help me pick out my gown?"
"Oh I'd love to Rani!" Sarah Jane replied, enthusiastically "What colour were you thinking?"
"Oh god here they go" Clyde rolled his eyes, getting up and grabbing Luke by the arm "We need to get out of here before they start asking us our opinions on dresses."
Luke laughed as he let himself be dragged out of the attic, as they headed down to the kitchen.
...
It was the weekend before the Christmas Ball. Luke and Clyde were hanging out in the living-room of 13 Bannerman Road, playing on a games console, when they saw Sarah Jane pull up outside the house.
"Look they're back" Luke said, enthusiastically "Come on" he got up off the sofa and headed outside, Clyde hot on his heels.
Sarah Jane got out of the car along with Rani and Gita.
"So did you get a dress?" Clyde asked, folding his arms to try and keep himself warm.
"The rather large bag is a bit of a giveaway, Clyde" Luke said, causing them all to laugh, before he could continue "You going to show us then, Rani?"
"Not a chance" Rani replied, a cheeky smile on her face, as she closed the car door.
"You wait till you see her boys" Gita said all too keenly "She looks stunning!"
"Mum!" Rani complained, blushing at the attention.
"Shame she hasn't got a nice young man to appreciate it though."
"Right, that's it, I'm going!" Rani stormed off back to her house, leaving Gita following in her wake. And rather stunned looks on Clyde and Luke's faces.
"Blimey, and I thought my mum was embarrassing!" Clyde chuckled, as they headed back indoors.
"You should have heard her in the dress shop" Sarah Jane said, as they entered into the attic "Saying how Rani was going to be belle of the ball, she was the princess but without her prince charming."
"Oh god" Clyde laughed, sitting on the wooden steps "Poor Rani."
"Well maybe Clyde should be her date?" Luke suddenly suggested.
Clyde froze for a second, before frantically turning around to face his best mate, panic stricken.
"Where did that come from? Why would I want to be Rani's date?"
Luke looked at Clyde with a questioning air "Well, have you got a date?"
"No" Clyde replied, bluntly "But I could get one, easy."
"Oh yeah, sure you could" Luke raised his eyebrows at him.
Clyde rolled his eyes "And what about you, brain box, have you got a date?"
"I don't need a date, I've volunteered to help Mr. Chandra with the drinks and buffet. I'll be too busy."
"Seriously?" Clyde laughed "Oh Lukey boy, why did you do that?"
"Well I think that's a very lovely thing to do Luke" Sarah Jane came over and kissed her son's cheek "I'm very proud."
"Thanks mum" Luke smiled, before turning to address Clyde's problem "So, if you don't have a date, you can ask Rani."
"No!" Clyde stressed "I'm not going to ask Rani."
"Aw why not?" Sarah Jane asked, seemingly curious "I'm sure she'd love it if you asked her."
"Because it's Rani" he said this as if it was unspeakable to even contemplate the idea "I would rather go with a girl I like."
"But you like Rani" Luke stressed.
"As a friend."
"But you like like her though."
"How do you know that I like like her?"
"Because I know" stressed Luke "You once said to never admit to a girl you like, that you like her, because you like her. But you like her, so tell her."
Sarah Jane looked baffled, and that is quite an achievement for someone who fought aliens on a regular basis.
"I'm going downstairs, this is all too much. I'm ordering us pizza for tea, your usual Clyde?"
"Yeah Meat Feast please" Clyde smiled, as Sarah Jane left them to it.
As the boys continued to debate Clyde's feelings towards their female best friend, Rani herself headed back over to 13 Bannerman Road, greeting Sarah Jane in the hallway.
"Hi Rani, I'm ordering pizza, do you want to join us?"
"Oo yes please. Actually would you mind if I stayed here this evening, mum and dad are going out tonight and I don't want to be stuck at home on my own?"
"Of course. You can sleepover if you want, and we'll have a night in the four of us, pizza and a movie, that sound good?"
"Yeah that sounds great, thank you! I'll text mum let her know what's happening" as Rani reached for her phone in her pocket she asked "Are the boys upstairs? I'll drag them to Blockbusters."
Sarah Jane smiled "Yeah in the attic, I must warn you though, Clyde is still not happy about this Ball he hasn't stopped complaining since you left."
Rani rolled her eyes and laughed "I'll sort him out, don't worry" and she headed upstairs.
Upon reaching close to the attic door, Rani could hear them talking, and something Clyde said stopped Rani in her tracks. They weren't exactly talking loudly but she could clearly hear their voices from the other side of the door. She stood quietly on the other side, listening to their conversation.
Clyde sighed "Do you really think she'd say yes if I asked her to this Ball then?"
Luke's eyes lit up "Aha so you do like her, I knew it!"
"That's not helpful" Clyde said, sounding mildly annoyed.
Luke, recognising Clyde's tone, thought it better not to tease him so much about this, it was something that clearly bothered him.
"Yes I'm almost certain she would say yes if you asked her. She's nuts about you, you're a perfect match."
Rani had no idea what girl they were referring to, but the mere suggestion of Clyde asking out another girl in their year, made the jealously bubble up inside Rani. She decided not to let it get to her, and she opened the attic door.
"Hey Rani" Luke greeted her happily, Clyde also giving a smile, just glad she hadn't heard their earlier conversation.
"Hi...oh Luke, I almost forgot" she came over and kissed Luke's cheek, much to the stunned look from Clyde. "Dad just told me about you offering to volunteer at the Ball, thank-you for doing that. Dad has been trying to get someone to help for ages, but no one has wanted to."
"I wonder why" Clyde sniggered, Rani looked sternly at him.
"Anything I can do to help" Luke smiled.
"It's a shame some of us aren't as generous with our time when it comes to school" Rani directed this at Clyde, who was quick to come to his self defence.
"Uh, I think I'm generous enough with my after school activities thank-you Rani."
Rani raised her eyebrows "Yeah, at after school detention."
Luke laughed, but Clyde still replied honestly "Still an after school activity though."
Luke continued to laugh and Rani couldn't help doing the same. Clyde had managed to win the argument on a technicality. No matter how hard she tried, Rani could never stay annoyed at Clyde for long, his pitiful attempts at humour always won her round in the end.
"Anyway, we're having pizza and a movie tonight so we're going to Blockbusters...come on."
At hearing this Luke jumped up off the sofa quickly, ready and eager to start enjoying the evening with his friends. Clyde was much more reluctant to go outside in the freezing cold, but it didn't take long for Luke and Rani to persuade him to go and they pulled him off the sofa. Leaving the house together, wrapped up in their winter essentials and taking the short walk into town.
..
"Seriously, how bad was that?" Clyde said, as Sarah Jane had got up off the sofa to take the DVD of 'War of the Worlds' out of the DVD player.
"It wasn't too bad" Luke pointed out "You're just comparing it to what we do to save Earth."
"Too right I am. If it had been us, we would have sorted them out no problem. I would have Clyde-inated those tripods!"
The others laughed and Rani rolled her eyes, before taking a sip of her coca-cola.
Sarah Jane smiled at them all "Right it's getting pretty late now; I'm going to head off to bed. You can stay up a bit longer if you want."
"Mum" piped up Luke, sitting up properly on the sofa "Can Clyde sleepover tonight too? Please."
Clyde beamed excitedly at the thought and Sarah Jane was only too happy to oblige.
"If you want to" she smiled at Clyde "But check with your mum first."
"Already on it" Clyde said happily, rushing out of the room with his mobile to his ear. Sarah Jane leaving with goodnight wishes as she left Rani and Luke in the living room.
Rani quickly took the opportunity to grab the last slice of pizza, knowing full well it was Clyde's last piece.
Luke noticed and raised his eyebrows "Rani, he will go mental!"
Rani giggled "Well he left it unoccupied, it's his own fault."
By the time Clyde had returned back to the room, full of energy with a bright smile on his face, Rani had finished off the pizza. And it didn't take long for Clyde to spot the notable absence of his last pizza slice, in the empty pizza box lying on the coffee table.
"Right who was it? Who nicked my last slice of pizza?"
"Don't look at me!" Luke laughed, as Clyde had been looking at him in a suspicious manner. He then focused his attention on Rani who tried to remain calm but then she burst into giggles.
"It was you?" Clyde asked, shocked.
Rani continued to giggle and Clyde was having none of it, despite trying not to laugh himself.
"Right, you, I'm going to get you for that!" he rushed to the sofa and began tickling Rani who could not stop laughing, and screaming.
"Luke, do something!" Rani screeched.
Luke chuckled "Sorry Rani, you made your bed! Talking of which, I'll get the sleeping bags and stuff and bring them down here, won't be a second." He got up off the sofa, and added as an afterthought, as he laughed at seeing his two friends wresting eachother for tickle dominance. "Try not to kill eachother while I'm gone!" he grinned before leaving the room.
For Clyde and Rani it was a full on tickle war and so far Clyde was winning, until Rani somehow managed to get the upper hand. She grabbed both of his wrists and pushed him down onto the sofa.
"Rani, pack it in!" Clyde laughed "Come on this isn't fair, you took my last slice!"
Rani chuckled "You're not going to begrudge a girl one slice of pizza are you? Surely not?"
"Well if I had seen a girl, I would have let her have the last piece."
Rani raised her eyebrows "Why you little...that's it, you're going down!"
"I'm already there" Clyde pointed out.
The two of them suddenly became serious. Realising they had stopped the tickling a minute or so ago, and Rani was now sat on Clyde, pinning him down. They gazed at eachother intently for a matter of seconds until they heard Luke rushing back down the stairs and they frantically moved away from eachother, now sat as far apart from eachother as they could be on the sofa.
"Right here's the sleeping bags" Luke announced, carrying two in his arms, "Anybody fancy watching another film?"
"Okay, but first I'd better go and quickly grab some stuff from home" Rani said, getting up off the sofa "See you in a minute."
"Yeah me and all" Clyde complied "And no more sci-fi films Lukey boy, how about a horror film?"
"Rani hates horror films" Luke reminded his friend.
"She stole my last pizza slice!" Clyde reminded him, grinning "Looks like we can't all get what we want tonight."
Luke rolled his eyes and laughed, and for the second time in the past few minutes he heard the slam of the front door.
Much to Clyde's disappointment, Luke didn't pick a horror film, but instead went for Sherlock Holmes. Clyde and Luke had changed into their pyjamas and had set out the sleeping bags. Whilst Rani had gone to put her pyjamas on, she came back wearing hot pink pyjama bottoms and a white vest top with a pink heart on the front.
She smiled at the boys as she came back into the room "So which is mine then?"
Clyde eyed Rani's attire, but quickly turned his attention to their sleeping arrangements.
"Well Luke has already bagsied the sofa, so we've got the sleeping bags."
"Unless you want the sofa?" Luke was quick to offer.
"No, no the sleeping bag is fine" Rani smiled "So, what film are we watching?" she asked as she got into one of the two sleeping bags on the floor, whilst Clyde got into the one next to her and Luke got on the sofa.
It was fair to say all three teenagers were knackered, and it didn't take long for Rani to fall asleep halfway through the film, not long followed by Clyde. Upon noticing this Luke switched all the electronics off and he too fell asleep.
...
The next morning Luke woke up facing the back of the sofa; he turned over under the blankets and saw his two friends in their sleeping bags below him on the floor. A little smile graced his face, as he saw that the two of them had fallen asleep with their sleeping bags very close to eachother. They were sleeping facing eachother and at some point during the night they had joined hands.
Luke sat up on the sofa and carefully stood up and walked out of the room, he headed into the kitchen to see Sarah Jane at the cooker frying some bacon and eggs.
"Morning mum."
"Morning Luke" Sarah Jane smiled "Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah pretty well, is that for all of us?" referring to the breakfast food.
"Yes, if you'd like some. Are Clyde and Rani awake yet?"
"No not yet, they seem pretty happy where they are" he gave a bright smile, sitting down at the table and began buttering some toast.
Sarah Jane chuckled "I know, I checked in on you all when I woke up" she smiled curiously at Luke "Have they talked to eachother about how they feel?"
Luke shook his head "No, both too stubborn I think."
Sarah Jane smiled before asking "Can you wake them up please Luke, food is pretty much ready."
Luke went back into the living-room, and shook his friends gently to try and bring them out of their unconscious states.
"Clyde, Rani, mum's done breakfast" the two friends groaned which made Luke laugh "Come on, you can be all lovey dovey later."
"What do you mean, Luke?" Rani asked, both her and Clyde opening their eyes properly to see they were facing eachother, their faces a rulers length apart, and then they looked down to see their hands joined together.