Disclaimer: I Don't own Doctor Who or any of the songs mentioned. If I did, well Wilf would have met 11 before he regenerated. :)
The next month was a whirlwind for John and Clara. The Doctor had made no attempts to repair his friendship with Amelia and to an extent Rory, Craig and Sophie. He knew that the couples needed space and time to adapt, and he was more than willing to give it to them. He instead chose to spend all of his time getting reacquainted with Clara.
Most days she would come to the shop and help out in any way possible. Granddad was happy because he could leave and spend the day having tea with Wilfred Mott, the grandfather of David's closet friend Donna. They usually spent time recounting old war stories or playing with Wilfred's telescope.
It was getting to the point where Granddad couldn't go longer than five minutes without making a smug comment about the two. Even a month later, they still blushed like the first night of summer. Even David joined in on the jokes when he came around to the shop. Which was somewhat often, with either Rose or Donna joining him.
John's other brother, Chris, had decided not to come home this summer, instead finishing his work in Africa. But that was a story for another day. So many days Clara and John ran around selves and played albums when no customers came around. Most shoppers were either old people who were friends with Granddad or younger children who were bored.
On particularly slow days, John would sit behind the counter with Clara and play guitar. She loved when he played The Beatles or The Strokes. The Impossible Girl's favorite song was I Want To Hold Your Hand by The Beatles and would faintly blush when John would make eye contact during the song. He would sing too, even though he thought he was rubbish. Clara would disagree but John wouldn't hear it.
That's one of the reasons John enjoyed Clara so much. She pushed him to try new things and get him out of his quiet shell. In the month that they had spent together, John has signed up to play in two coffee shops and with the permission of Granddad, holding an open mic night in the shop. He knows that it is weird for a bookshop to have one, but this shop is not an ordinary one. It was known for sponsoring small authors. Authors like Ellie Oswald, who wrote 101 Places To See, for her daughter Clara Oswald, based on her travels around the world.
Clara was shocked to find out it was Granddad who had become friends with her mum and provided enough money to have the book released. And John had convinced him to do it no less. Because of this Clara felt like she had another debt to him. John just seemed to come out of nowhere and do these incredible acts for her without asking for anything in return. But that made her feel worse. She left him when they were children and seemed to cause him so much grief that he rejected his own name. There was nothing she could do to make up for that in her eyes.
But John knew she felt this way and was trying to think of a gesture to disprove this. He did not care about what she did. In her position, he would have done the same thing. It might not have been the right thing to do, but it was in the past and couldn't be changed. So he would prove to her that he forgave her and that he was happy with her. He did not want an apology from her but just a companion. Because every lonely monster needed one. And he knew deep down what he was and was scared what would happen when Clara leaned the truth.
Today we find Clara and John in the shop, preparing for the open mic night. The foyer area was filled with tables and the stage was brought out. The one used for author visits and the like. John luckily had enough cables lying around the Tardis to make a functioning set. He had also brought down at least twenty different instruments, unsure of what people needed or were bring themselves.
"So are you ready for tonight John?" Clara smirked as John blushed lightly.
"The only reason I'm doing this is because you asked." John retorted.
"Sounds like I have you good and trained already." Another smirk.
"Granddad's sense of humor is already rubbing off onto you." John responded, sticking his tongue out like a child, causing Clara to do the same.
That was another wonderful part of the relationship of the two teenagers. They did the older age stuff, like go to movies and run the shop, but they still tried to make up for all the lost years and play like children. It wasn't uncommon to find them jumping on beds, playing tag in the shelves or going to the park and enjoy the swings.
"Well as this is all set up for tonight, I'm going to go home and change before the show." Clara said, jumping off the counter she had been sitting on.
"Do you want me to walk you home?"
"Down boy. I'll be back in an hour."
"Okay."
With that Clara went to John and hugged him tightly. Both knew they didn't want to split from each other but she needed to go. She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. John responded with a kiss on the top of her head. This was a normal parting gesture between the two of them.
Clara turned on her heels and began out the door slightly looking back at her Chin-Boy. The entire time The Doctor watched her and couldn't help but slump his shoulders when she disappeared from his sight. After turning the sign on the shop door to closed for lunch, The Doctor retreated up the stairs to take a shower and get ready for this evening.
"Oh I hate you sometimes, my Impossible Girl." Was the last mutter before he found himself preparing for the evening.
John sat on the counter, waiting for his Soufflé Girl to return when the shop bell jingled and in walked Granddad, David, Rose, Donna and Wilf. The group stared at John and all shared a knowing smirk.
"Where's your little girlfriend Dickey Bow?" Granddad asked, taking a seat in his old chair behind the counter.
"Granddad she's not my girlfriend. We don't snog all over the place like certain English majors." John shot back glaring between him and his brother.
David and Rose blushed bright red and turned away as Granddad and Donna laughed.
"Nice one, Space Gandalf." Donna finally said to John, after laughing herself out of breath.
"Not you too. I told Amelia I hate those nicknames." John groaned at Donna's words.
"Speaking of Amy, she told me you aren't talking to the old crew. Any particular reason?" Donna asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well in part I feel the new couples needed space and on the last day of classes Amelia said some things I did not appreciate. It's better if I give them some time to themselves. And I have Clara so it's not like I'm alone."
"Clara has been around an awful lot hasn't she? Doesn't she has a room here now?" Rose asked, looking to mess with John.
"Yeah. Granddad offered her one so didn't have to make so many trips over on days we run the shop." John muttered trying to hide his face behind his hair.
"Oi'! John what do you plan on performing?" David questioned, feeling bad for his brother.
"I'm not sure yet. I was think The Beatles or something."
"For your Clara by chance?" Granddad asked.
"She not my Clara. We're just friends okay! It doesn't matter because she doesn't like me in that way." John exploded and left the group wide eyed as he retreated up the stairs to the Tardis.
"I'll go and talk to him." David finally said, after minutes of silence.
"John are you okay?" David asked, knocking on the door.
There was no response.
"I'm coming in John."
"What do you want David?" John questioned as he sat on the small sofa.
David sat down next to his brother and began softly. "Sorry about what just went on. We were only playing around. I also want to know what you meant by it doesn't matter."
"Clara and I are just friends. I'm her best friend. She doesn't see me as a potential boyfriend. So I won't try and mess up what we have."
David couldn't help but chuckle at this.
"What so funny?" John demanded.
"It's just you sound like I did when I was younger. John I felt the same way about Rose and because I waited, I almost lost her. I don't want you to go through the same thing. I know it's scary but you need to address your feelings to Clara. It isn't fair to either of you to hold them in. And something tells me she might just say yes." David told John, feeling like a big brother in the moment.
"But if she says no, won't we break apart as friends too?"
"Maybe, maybe not. But do you want to look back years from now when Clara is dating someone not you and regret not taking the chance? I can't make you do anything but remember John, I was in the same situation you're in. It seems to be this families curse."
"Okay David. Thanks for being here. I don't know what I'd do without." John smiled and gave his brother a quick hug.
"Of course I'll be here for you, you daft giraffe. Now let's pick what you should perform. Just the two of us. Okay?" David replied, hugging his brother back.
"Sure. I want to play something I haven't preformed for anyone before. I was thinking What You Know by Two Door Cinema Club for an opening song." John said, looking at the sealing in contemplation.
"That sounds good. Something light and upbeat to start the show. Okay so what about during intermission?" David asked, nodding in agreement.
"What about that Ben Howard song Rose and Clara asked me to learn? The Wolves is its title. You know with the almost angry sounding lyrics to it."
"That sounds good. Rose will be in a good mood after that. You know how she gets when you play for her. Thank god for Clara or I might have to worry about you stealing her from me." David laughed with John at the joke.
"And I know what's last, but I am not telling you. It'll be my little secret. Is that fine with you David?" John questioned.
"Sure. As long as you know what you're doing. And come on, we should head down. I'm sure Clara will be here any minute." David winked and then ran as John jumped to tackle him. The whole time David laughed with a flustered John on his tale.
When the two made it down stairs, they found Clara who had been waiting for them. She was in a flowery red dress and boots with her hair pulled into a styled bun. John couldn't help but blush and stare at her.
"You look beautiful Clara."
"Thanks Chin-Boy." She blushed back. "You're looking handsome too."
John was in a pair of dark jeans, his usual boots, a white button down shirt, black waistcoat and a crooked black tie.
"Thank you Clara."
"Well let's just fix one thing." She said and moved over to him, straightening out his tie.
"Thanks." Was all he could mutter.
As the two engaged in conversation, the others just laughed at their behavior. At the moment, they had a pool of who would kiss who first. David, Donna and Wilf were guessing Clara while Rose thought John. Granddad was guessing that John would slip, fall and kiss her by accident.
"Well it seems like the crowd is all here so maybe we should begin." Wilf suggested and John made his way to the stage.
"Okay can I have you attention please? I'm The Doctor and I along with my friend Clara are the ones who thought that this would be a fun idea. So I'll be starting the show off and then we'll welcome anyone who wants to come up. Don't forget, the registers will be open all evening and we have snacks, drinks and deserts for sale. Thank you for your time and I'll see you all in five when we start." John exclaimed which was followed by a cheer.
He moved around the stage, picking up his guitar and began to tune it to the right key. His eyes watched the little leaf on the first fret and smiled. Clara had drawn it a week before and John was happy that his instrument was now complete.
With a deep breath John made his way to the front of the stage and looked out to the crowd. His eyes met Clara's and a wave of confidence washed over him. He was doing this for her and that gave him the nerve to perform.
Letting out that deep breath, he nodded his head and the lights dimmed for the first song….
Authors Notes: SO I AM PROUD OF MYSELF! TWO CHAPTERS BEFORE THE NEW YEAR! I hope you like this chapter. And now two questions. Would you like to see the lyrics of the songs sung by John next chapter or not? And I'm thinking of creating a fanmix to go along with this story. Is anyone interested in that?
Next I want to give shout outs to VivaciousReader'sLove and Lauren for the best reviews of chapter three. I'm glad the hand holding and such was appreciated. I was trying to capture that chemistry Clara and 11 have on screen and one of the basic gestures in their relationship is the simple, physical things like the hand holding, kisses on the cheek and head and just touching in general. It the kind of thing I want to share with someone one day.
Finally I hope you liked the way David and John interacted. I always kinda felt like David Tennant and Matt were kinda like brothers. Like Matt out of know where calling David for advice and the like. But I'm sure that never really happened. It will always be my headcannon though.