A/N- Sorry for this chapter. It's nothing more than a filler but I thought you deserved to see Clay and Hannah enjoying a bit of happiness.

Chapter 10

"It's about fucking time."

Clay looked up from his tray of food, gently pushing Hannah, who had been snuggling up to his side, away so he could stretch his back and look at Tony, who was giving the two of them a smug look.

"Huh?" said Clay.

Tony smirked and gestured to Clay and Hannah. "You two. It's all everyone's been talking about for the past week," he said.

Clay ignored the blush that was creeping up his cheeks and settled for rolling his eyes. "Seriously? Don't people have anything better to do than gossip?" he groaned.

"They're teenagers Clay. It's what they do best," said Tony, shrugging slightly as he sat down opposite them.

"We're teenagers too," Hannah pointed out.

"Let me rephrase. They're immature teenagers," said Tony.

"Who's an immature teenager?" asked Zach before he sat down next to Tony, Alex sitting on the other side.

"Apparently people find it hard to believe that Clay and I are dating," drawled Hannah.

"Fuck em," said Alex, and everyone laughed.

Clay noticed the flyer that Zach was reading and asked him about it.

"There's supposed to be a competition on Tuesday next week," said Zach. "Apparently we all have to dress up since it's Halloween and whoever is the best dressed wins."

"Sounds stupid," muttered Tony.

"Dude, who dress up like John Travolta every day. What are you complaining about?" laughed Alex.

"Good point, I'll just win dedication points."

"I reckon it sounds like a good idea," said Hannah. "I wonder who I'd dress up as though."

"I might go as the Flash," said Alex. "You know, blonde hair, good looks, etcetera."

"The Flash has brown hair," corrected Zach.

"Only in that stupid show," said Clay.

"Hey! That's a good show! Have you seen the latest season?" defended Zach.

"The whole lore is wrong. The Flash runs slow as hell and the plot's predictable!"

"Helmet, you're doing it again," said Hannah, grinning at Clay.

"Sorry," mumbled Clay. Hannah only laughed and kissed him on the cheek, which set Clay's heart racing. He still hadn't fully wrapped his head around the fact that he and Hannah were now dating. It was like a dream that Clay sincerely hoped he would never wake up from.

"I reckon you should dress up as Jon Snow," said Hannah all of a sudden.

"You know who Jon Snow is?" said Clay incredulously.

"Everybody knows who Jon Snow is Clay," retorted Hannah.

"No what I meant was, you actually watch Game of Thrones?" elaborated Clay.

Hannah responded with a roll of her eyes and a punch in the arm.

"Wait, why Jon Snow?" asked Zach.

"Oh come on! Don't you see it?" Hannah said in an exasperated tone. "Quiet, brooding, has a tendency to do the honourable thing at the expense of himself?"

"I get the quiet and brooding thing, but the hero complex?" questioned Alex.

"It's a thing only his girlfriend would know," said Hannah slyly.

"I do not brood," sulked Clay.

"Dude, you're doing it right now," pointed out Zach.

Clay huffed and folded his arms across his chest, and everyone laughed at him before they continued with their lunch.

oOoOoOo

"Are we seriously dressing me up like Jon Snow?" whined Clay.

He and Hannah had left school in her car when it finished, and now they were walking through the local costume store. Or rather, Hannah was pulling a reluctant Clay along while he sulked and complained about not wanting to participate in the competition.

"Yes we are Clay. And if I hear one more complaint out of you you're not coming over for dinner tonight. Mom's making butter chicken," threatened Hannah.

Clay quickly shut his mouth to stop the angry retort from coming out. He adored Mrs Baker's butter chicken. It truly was the food of the gods.

"AHA!" proclaimed Hannah loudly, pulling out a long, black cloak with black feathers. It was an almost perfect replica of the character's costume, complete with replica sword. Hannah shoved the costume into Clay's hands and pushed him towards the changing room with a superior look on her face.

Clay grunted in annoyance but obliged her anyway, closing the door behind him. It took Clay several minutes to get the entire costume on, what with all the belt buckles, buttons and the long cloak he kept getting tangled in, but he finally got it on right. He looked in the mirror and Clay had to admit, he looked pretty good, even to himself. He looked like he had walked straight off the set of the TV show, though he possessed a lack of facial hair and long, curly locks.

When he walked out of the changing room still in the costume, Clay instantly saw the barely concealed lust in Hannah's eyes. If it took him wearing a ridiculous costume just to get her to look at him that way, then that's exactly what he would do, Clay thought to himself.

"What do ya think?" asked Clay smugly.

"I think you look fucking hot," breathed Hannah, her voice coming out in short breaths.

"I feel like a knight wearing this," said Clay, brandishing the toy sword like and actual weapon.

"You mean man of the Night's Watch?" said Hannah.

"Whatever. Anyway, what are you dressing up- oh shit," swore Clay when the sword flew out of his hands and smacked another customer on the back of the head. The lady gave Clay a dirty look as he apologized over and over again when he walked over and picked the sword up, his face turning red with embarrassment.

Behind him, Hannah was laughing uproariously, clutching her stomach as stitches began to cramp.

"Seriously, how can you ride a bike without falling off?" asked Hannah when her laughing had subsided to giggles.

"I don't, remember?" said Clay, pointing to the bandaid that still covered his forehead.

"Oh that's right. We'll just have work on your eye-hand coordination skills then."

"Geez you're a supportive girlfriend," grumbled Clay.

"Sorry babe. But it was funny," said Hannah, still giggling.

"Whatever. Now before I was rudely interrupted by myself, what are you gonna wear?" said Clay dryly.

"I'm not sure," said Hannah. "I was thinking of going as a dinosaur or..." began Hannah.

"Whoa wait up," said Clay, startling Hannah. "We're not doing this together? Surely there's got to be another Game of Thrones costume in here!"

"Do you see any other Night's Watch costumes around here?" argued Hannah.

"Women don't join the Night's Watch," Clay reminded Hannah, "if I'm Jon Snow, you'll have to be Ygritte."

Clay turned away from Hannah and began rummaging through the clothes' racks, his eyes scanning for anything that resembled a suitable costume.

"Here we are," he finally said, pulling out a medieval-styled dress.

"That's not what wildlings wear," said Hannah.

"Couldn't find any," replied Clay. "Besides, you look more like a princess than a savage."

"Hey those savages are badass," said Hannah, a scowl forming on her face.

"Forgive me, milady," said Clay, bowing low to Hannah. She laughed at his antics and gave him a look of adoration, which made Clay's blood go hot with desire. He quickly closed the gap between them and summoning up his courage, he placed a lingering kiss on Hannah's lips.

He tried to pull away, but Hannah grabbed the hairs on the back of his head and pulled him closer, deepening it. Clay's heart felt like it was threatening to burst out of his chest as he placed one hand on the small of Hannah's back, the other reaching up to cup her cheek. They probably would have continued, had they not been startled by the sound of clearing their throat.

"Excuse me Lord Commander, but this is a family store," said the shop assistant grumpily, though there was a hint of mirth in his tone.

"Right. Sorry," stammered Clay, pulling away from Hannah while he felt his face warm. Hannah looked rather smug as she walked into the changing room with the costume Clay had handed her, while Clay went into another room and took off his costume. He left the room then and walked over to the counter and hired out his costume, then went back to where the changing rooms and wait for Hannah.

She came out wearing a stunning pale blue dress that brought out the icy blue of her eyes. The sleeves were short, barely covering her shoulders. The seams of the dress were lined with gold and it hugged her waist, bringing out her natural curves. Her forearms were covered in silvery-plastic braces to cover the scars on her forearms. Where it hugged her waist, the dress fanned out and swayed when Hannah twirled around, Clay was pretty sure he had never seen a lovelier sight in all his life.

"Might want to clean that drool that's coming out of your mouth Helmet," Hannah said dryly, snapping Clay out of his stupor. Clay reached up to wipe away the offending drool, only to find his chin was dry. He gave Hannah a dirty look, which she promptly ignored.

"Well, what do you think?" she asked expectantly.

"I..." was all Clay could say.

Hannah's face fell. "Is it really that bad?" she said, disappointment in her voice.

"No! Wait... you look amazing!" Clay said quickly, hoping that Hannah believed his sincerity. Thankfully, she seemed to believe him and sighed in relief.

"Great, now let me get out of this thing so we can get out of here," she huffed.

"Can I watch?" joked Clay.

Hannah seemed to consider it, but shook her head. "Maybe next time Helmet," she said coyly, giving Clay a suggestive wink which made Clay's mouth go dry and the blood rush down. Shit. Think of something else before she comes back and sees, Clay thought desperately. Dead puppies, drowned kittens, giant spiders, Donald Trump!

oOoOoOo

Clay was sweating like a sinner in a church by the time he finished walking from his house to Hannah's while wearing the stupid black costume. Whose fucking idea was it for me to wear a black medieval costume in California?!

At that moment Hannah walked out of the front door of her house, wearing her medieval dress. Unlike Clay, she looked completely comfortable in her costume, but she looked hesitant to even be seen.

"I think this was a bad idea," she said after giving Clay a kiss on the cheek.

"No shit. I swear I'm sweating the Dead Sea under all this black," groaned Clay, and Hannah grinned at his joke. Though in Clay's mind, he wasn't exaggerating at all.

"Let's go before somebody sees us," urged Hannah and she grabbed Clay's arm to pull him along, but Mrs Baker's voice stopped them.

"Hannah dear wait! I need to get a photo of you two!" she called out, practically sprinting out of the house with a camera towards Clay and Hannah.

Beside Clay, Hannah groaned loudly and he smirked. Though deep down he was feeling much the same.

"Come on, strike a pose!" encouraged Mrs Baker as she brought the camera up to her face.

Clay pulled the fake sword out of its sheath and lifted it above his head, like a knight ready to bring the weapon down on someone's head. Hannah had dipped down into a curtsey, and then she grabbed the sword out of Clay's unsuspecting hands and pretended to cut his head off. Clay went along with it and contorted his face into a look of horror, which apparently looked ridiculous because both Hannah and Mrs Baker burst out laughing.

"Alright, have fun at school! And take lots of pictures!" said Mrs Baker excitedly, waving out to them as they walked down the street towards Liberty High.

Clay could practically feel the nervousness pouring off Hannah like waves, and she was doing that thing where she kept fiddling with her bracelets whenever she was nervous.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said quickly, but Clay wasn't buying it.

"You're doing that thing when you're nervous," he pointed out.

"Ugh fine! I'm just feeling a little self conscious right now in this costume," said Hannah bitterly.

"Why? From a distance it looks like you're just wearing a normal dress," said Clay, raising both his eyebrows in confusion. "I'm the one who's wearing a black cloak and a sword buckled to his waist, I'm pretty sure people will be giving me the funny looks," he added in an attempt to make Hannah feel better.

It was one of the things that Clay hated the most about what happened to her. Before her suicide attempt, maybe even earlier than that, Hannah was this impenetrable pillar that Clay looked up to because Hannah never let anything faze her and she wore flowery dresses and shirts that made her stand out in the crowd.. Now, she was extremely self-conscious of her appearance and any insult would be enough to make her cry. She now wore plain shirts and jeans, though the denim jacket that she constantly denied was her favourite was the only piece of the old Hannah Baker left.

Luckily, it seemed Clay's words were enough to comfort her and she gave him that smile that Clay swore she only gave to him. "True, you stick out like a sore thumb," she said sarcastically. "But what if people start making fun of what we're wearing?"

"Then I'll strike them down with my sword," said Clay with forced bravado and arrogance. "None shall insult my lady while I stand!" He drew his sword and twirled it around rather impressively.

"Wow, you're actually really good with that. Where'd you learn?" complimented Hannah.

"When I was a kid, I used to spend most of my weekends watching Lord of the Rings nonstop. The afterward I would run around the backyard with a stick and pretended to be a king or Jedi knight," said Clay, sighing as he remembered his childhood. "After a while, you learn some pretty sick moves."

"Wow, you really are a nerd," laughed Hannah.

"You've said that to me before," replied Clay, grinning.

Hannah nodded her head as a wistful smile came on her face. "I have, haven't I?" she said quietly. "Well, you've just gotten even more adorable to me."

"There's that word again."

Hannah rewarded his comment with another dazzling smile as she laced her fingers with his. They laughed and joked around right up till they walked through the school parking lot, and joined the swarm of teenagers going this way and that. A good many of them were wearing costumes, some simple, some just plain outrageous.

"Nice costume, Jensen!" somebody called out from the crowd of students.

"Way to go, Lord Commander!"

"Winter is Coming!"

"What the actual fuck is going on?" said Clay, astounded at all the compliments coming his way.

Hannah giggled. "I told you everyone watches Game of Thrones," she laughed.

"So you did," said Clay, grinning widely.

Hannah stopped walking suddenly and looked ahead of them with a stunned look on her face, before she burst into laughter.

"What is it?" asked Clay, feeling slightly embarrassed at the sight of his girlfriend buckled over with uncontrollable laughter.

"It... look over... there," wheezed Hannah, pointing in front of her.

Clay obliged and scanned the crowd ahead of him, his eyes resting on Courtney Crimsen.

"Courtney? What's so funny about what she's wearing?" said Clay, feeling thoroughly confused then.

"She's dressed like... like... Katy Perry!"

"And?"

"Cause she kissed a girl... and she liked it!" Hannah kept laughing, and Clay could see tears running down her cheeks as she clutched her stomach.

"Very funny Han," drawled Clay with a roll of his eyes.

"I god! I need to pee!" guffawed Hannah.

"Alright, let's go then Miss Chuckles," said Clay and he led her inside, where he gave Hannah a kiss on the cheek before heading over to his locker, leaving Hannah to find the bathroom by herself.

The mass of students shifting near Clay was making him sweat even more than before, and Clay was seriously hating it. Fuck Jon Snow, he thought bitterly. He managed to grab his books and stuff them in his bags, then turned around and saw Zach, Alex and Tony chatting together down the hall, so he decided to head over to them, waving at Sheri as he walked by.

"Lord Commander," said Alex in a stiff tone. He was dressed up in a Flash costume, as he had promised the other day. It looked a little tight, what with the fake muscle bulges.

"Great. We can add that onto the list of nicknames I'm slowly accumulating," said Clay sarcastically, earning a laugh from the other boys.

"Dude, aren't you feeling a little hot in that?" asked Zach, who was wearing swimming shorts and a pair of goggles and snorkel over his head.

"A little hot is a severe understatement," said Clay. "I have no idea how Hannah talked me into wearing this."

"Because she's your girl, and you do look pretty badass," commented Tony, who was wearing his usual white t-shirt, leather jacket and denim jeans.

"Fair point," conceded Clay.

"Oh come on! That's not dressing up, that's taking my style!" yelled Tony suddenly, looking around Clay's shoulder.

Clay turned around to see Justin and Jessica wearing a similar style to Tony, but Justin was wearing a mullet wig and Jessica with a blonde wig. Unfortunately, they were practically humping each other in the hallway and leaning against the lockers, much to the discomfort of a poor freshman who was desperately trying to push his way past them to his locker.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to go vomit," said Alex bitterly, and he left the boys by themselves.

Clay suddenly felt somebody jump on top of him and wrap their arms around his neck. Clay didn't have to see the person to know who it was, and his face broke into a smile when the person placed a kiss on top of his head.

"Have a productive bathroom trip?" asked Clay once Hannah swung around to his side to look at him.

Hannah grimaced. "Gross, only you would ask me that Helmet," she said.

"It was an honest question. You did say you had to-"

"Alright that's enough of that conversation!" Hannah said quickly before turning to Zach and Tony. "How's it going fellas?"

"Good," was all Zach said.

"Pretty good, I finished my homework for once," said Tony, grinning widely.

"Oh wow," said Hannah, her eyes widening. "Is that a once every few weeks sort of thing for you?"

"Try every few months. At this rate I'll be kept back a year, or worse, summer school," said Tony with a shudder.

"Oh no, we can't have that!" mocked Clay.

"I know right? Like who thought it would be a good idea to have school during the holidays?"

"Thanks Obama," muttered Hannah.

Just then the bell rang for classes and the group split off to attend their various subjects. Clay had biology with Zach, so he went with the tall Asian boy, while Tony escorted Hannah to her class.

Much to Clay's relief, the biology classroom was air conditioned, so he didn't have to suffer through the whole thing. Of course, that good luck was ruined when he had P.E. straight after, and he had to remove the cloak and the sword in order to move around properly, not that it mattered seeing as Clay was extremely uncoordinated to begin with and he sweat up a storm anyway.

Lunch time came around, and Clay was adamant that he was not going to sit outside on the usual bench, and instead convinced everyone else to sit inside the cafeteria where it was cooler.

"Bro, are you okay? You look like you might be about to have a heart attack," said Zach.

"Oh no I'm fine thank you. I've always wanted to get rid of this excess fat I've been carrying around," said Clay dryly.

"But you're skinny?" said Zach as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Dude, he was being sarcastic," said Alex exasperatedly.

A light seemed to flicker in Zach's brain and he grinned sheepishly. "Oh, right."

Tony could only shake his head and grin down at his lunch.

Hannah appeared then and sat down next to Clay and practically slammed her tray onto the table, making everyone else jump in surprise.

"I can NOT believe that fucking asshole!" hissed Hannah.

"What's wrong?" asked Clay, frowning slightly in concern.

"Mr-fucking-Porter, that's what's wrong!" Hannah practically growled. "He called me into his office second period and wanted to have a chat to see how I was going. Like all of a sudden he cares about what I do with my life!"

"What did you say?" asked Zach.

"I told him he's a terrible guidance councillor and to go fuck himself."

Clay choked on his sandwich and Hannah had to pat him hard on the back to get him to stop.

"You what?" he said in surprise.

"I told him to go fuck himself," repeated Hannah. "Seriously Clay clean your ears out."

"But-but... you told a teacher to go..."

"Oh come off it Clay, the guy deserved it," said Alex. "I mean, we all deserve to go fuck ourselves for what we did to you, Hannah, but it is mr Porter's job to help people going through shit."

"Thank you Alex," smiled Hannah.

"Okay, okay I get it," conceded Clay. "But still, you swore at a teacher?'

"You're such a nerd Clay," laughed Tony.

"But he's my nerd," said Hannah in such a sappy tone that all the guys gagged in response. Hannah only laughed and leaned into Clay's side, but immediately pulled away with a look of disgust. "What the hell Helmet? Are you keeping a swimming pool under that cloak or something?"

"I blame you for making me wear this, you know," argued Clay.

"Oh shut up. You know you look cool in it," snapped Hannah in a loving way.

Clay couldn't really argue with that.

"When are they announcing the winners?" Alex suddenly asked.

"Next period. Everyone's going down to the gym to see the finalists," said Zach.

Just then a petite freshman girl walked up to the group of juniors nervously.

"You guys are in the finals," she squeaked.

"Excuse me?" asked Clay.

"You, her, him and him are in the finals," said the girl a little louder this time, pointing at Clay, Hannah, Zach and Alex. "Mr Porter wants you guys to stand in the middle of the basketball courts with the rest of the finalists." And with that, the small girl walked as fast as she could away from the older kids.

"Well fuck," swore Hannah.

"You said it," agreed Clay.

"Come on guys, it'll be fun!" said Zach in an attempt to lighten the darkening mood.

"Easy for you to say. You're in the limelight all the time!" said Clay loudly.

"You just need to get out of your comfort zone and stop being so sullen," said Alex, letting out an exaggerated sigh.

"I'm trying to stay in character," said Clay, scowling at the two boys. Hannah too looked, and probably felt even worse about being the centre of everyone's attention.

"You okay? We don't have to go if you don't want to," said Clay reassuringly, wrapping a protective arm around Hannah's shoulder.

"I think I'll be fine as long as you're with me," said Hannah, looking at Clay with those pale blue eyes, and he couldn't help but smile at her words.

"Welp! It's been fun hanging with you guys but we should really get to the gym before we get crushed by Comic Con 2017!" Alex suddenly said very loudly, slapping his hands on the table with a slightly panicked expression on his face.

Clay felt confused at Alex's sudden change of behaviour, but he saw Hannah roll her eyes at the blonde boy's antics. They all stood up as a group and headed left the cafeteria towards the gym. For Clay's sake, they avoided the outside routes and kept inside.

When they got to the gym, they saw that it was already half-full with students and teachers alike, all of them excited to be seeing who might win the dress-up competition. There were other finalists there as well, including Justin and Jessica. Zach gave the others an apologetic smile and to go stand with Bryce and Montgomery, who were dressed up similarly to Zach.

Tony too split off from them to go sit in the stands, leaving Clay, Hannah and Alex to stand awkwardly in front of the rapidly growing crowd of students. Hannah's grip on Clay's was vice-like, and he had to repress a wince that would surely convey his hurting.

Mr Porters stepped forward then and gave what was sure to be a rousing speech, but Clay wasn't paying attention. Instead he was focussing on Hannah, who was giving Mr Porter a look of pure loathing, and Clay was surprised that the guidance councillor hadn't combusted into flames yet.

"... Clay Jensen and Hannah Baker, for their stunning medieval cosplay!" finished Mr Porter, extending his hand towards Clay and Hannah.

"What?" said Hannah, looking at Clay, who could only shrug in confusion.

"You won," said Alex in his trademark dry tone, shoving the two towards Mr Porter.

The two teens shuffled awkwardly to the centre of the gym, where Mr Porter reached out his hand to shake theirs'. Clay accepted, albeit grudgingly, while Hannah just glared at Mr Porter's hand until the man dropped it, instead choosing to join in on the applause.

Clay had never been celebrated like this before. For a stupid competition? Maybe he should join in on more of these things. In a rare display of courage, Clay let go of Hannah's hand and drew his fake sword, thrusting it into the and letting off a loud bellow. This made the students go wild, them all joining in on Clay's battle cry, and even some of the kids who brought props of their own mimicked Clay's action.

Laughing, albeit feeling immensely embarrassed, Clay looked behind him towards Hannah, who was shaking her head in embarrassment, but the look of utter endearment on her face made Clay's heart pound against his ribcage, and he knew that she loved him just as much as he loved her.

oOoOoOo

"What the fuck?" exclaimed Clay.

Hannah had just walked out of the girl's bathroom wearing a completely different outfit than the one she had entered in.

"What? You didn't think I would wear that dress all day, did you?" said Hannah sarcastically.

She had exchanged her costume in favour of a long-sleeved maroon shirt and jeans, and Clay had to admit he would miss the dress she wore before.

"Well..." said Clay.

"Did you bring anything else to change into?"

"Ummm..."

"Jesus Clay what would you do without me?" Hannah remarked with a roll of her eyes.

"I have no clue," admitted Clay.

"You're just gonna have to suffer the consequences of your actions," said Hannah unsympathetically.

"Hannah," whined Clay, drawing out the name.

"Nope! Sorry, this is your own fault and I shall have no part of it!" said Hannah before she turned her back on him and walked down the hall.

Clay followed her and grumbled, "You could have a little more sympathy for a protector of the realm."

"I have no sympathy for idiots."

"Touché."

Clay quickly caught up to Hannah and took her hand in his own, grinning stupidly at her.

A/N- Okay this chapter was very fluffy and sappy and probably my longest chapter. 12 fucking pages. Anyway hope you enjoyed that lightheartedness!