Dan had stopped Claire when she'd tried to go into the kitchen to talk some sense into Jones, and he'd been right, Jones needed caffeine in his system in order to properly absorb information. And he was much calmer now that he was sitting wedged up against Dan on the couch with his second mug of coffee cradled in his pale hands.
"Well," Dan sighed gruffly. "I suppose it's out now. At least we don't have to try and figure out a way to, you know, come out." Jones huffed what might have been a laugh through his nose but his expression didn't change. "They could have been less brutal about it, though, I suppose."
"They could have been a bit more fucking accurate about it, though," Jones countered, slurping his coffee noisily. "Fucking wankers! Is this your leaving present then? You resign and they decide to smear us both in their shit rag?"
"But you are- I mean I saw-" Claire began, but swallowed what she'd been about to say when Jones looked up at her with angry fire in his blue eyes.
"These photos yours then?" he spat. "I did wonder. Some houseguest you are."
Claire was going to defend herself but couldn't. Jones had given her a place to stay, had helped clear most of Dan's junk out of the bedroom so she could use it, had been relaxed about the rent and never complained when she yelled at him or Dan, or even when she used all the hot water. He'd been cheerful and downright accommodating and when Dan had been hurt he'd been the one to organise things and call their parents to let them know what had happened. While she'd been sitting uselessly by Dan's bed watching the idiots who he hated coming to visit and laugh, Jones had been chatting with doctors and the hospital psychologist and getting Dan discharged rather then kept on suicide watch. And in return she'd unwittingly helped Jonatton Yeah? ruin Dan's life.
"They're not all my photos," she mumbled, trying not to sound sulky. "And the ones that are Jonatton must've stolen from my phone when I went to the loo."
"You were out with Jonatton Yeah?" Dan's voice was heavy with scorn and Claire nodded without looking up. This was very much like being a kid again and being told off by her parents for making up stories at school.
"I thought he was trying to help. He asked how Jones was doing, as your boyfriend, and I laughed and told him that Jones wasn't anyone's boyfriend and that you weren't gay but then... I got to thinking about it, and..."
"You snuck in and took photos of us? And showed them to Yeah? You're as bad as Barley," Dan sneered.
"I am not!"
"No, you're worse!" Dan bit back. He opened the hated magazine again and laid it out on the table so that she had no choice but to see the photo's she'd taken spread out in front of her. "At least Nathan would have used these to make a profit. You sold us out for free!"
She didn't have a response for that and the three of them looked down at the pictures like witnesses to a robbery gone wrong who just couldn't stop staring.
Even though their, well, their... 'bits', Claire's brain provided, were not in shot, it was obvious at a glance that the two men in the photos were naked and engaged in some rather carnal acts, and that the two men were Dan and Jones. It'd only been a blowjob but somehow the way the photos had been arranged made it seem like something very intimate, or maybe that was just because it had been something intimate. Claire didn't really want to dwell on it.
Jones snorted and put his mug down pointedly over a picture of his face before wriggling his shoulders against Dan until they were very much in each other's space.
"I hate this. See, it's alright when I call myself gay," Jones frowned, his voice speeding up as his frustration increased. "Cos I know what I mean. I can say I'm a bit gay, or queer or poofy. And I know what I mean. It's different when they write it like that. Like it's an insult. Makes my blood boil."
"But you are-" Claire started to ask but Dan gave her another warning look.
"Bisexual," Jones replied. "Always have been. Always known it. Girls are hot, guys are hot, people who can't be contained by gender binaries are hot."
"Well, in that case, what I think you're trying to say is that you're pansexual-"
"I'll pick my own labels, thanks," Jones shot back and Claire's mouth shut with a click of her teeth at his bluntness. Jones wasn't usually so blunt, or so talkative, then again, he wasn't usually so angry either, and Claire shifted back to lean against the wall, trying to show that she was willing to give him some space.
Jones nodded to her, like he understood the body language, and took a deep breath before continuing.
"I got nothing against people using whatever label makes them comfortable, but I'm bisexual. It's what I am. Getting called gay is... annoying."
Dan nodded and leaned in to place a kiss against Jones' temple. It was unlike anything Claire had seen her brother do before and he gave her a look that was tired and guarded when he realised she was looking.
"And this ain't even the worst of our problems," Jones grouched, slipping his hand onto Dan's leg and gently massaging the muscle above the plaster.
"It's not?" Claire ventured when Dan didn't speak and Jones didn't offer anything further.
Jones grabbed up his coffee mug, draining the dregs slamming it back down before looking at her. His eyes were still angry but incredulous too, as if he couldn't understand why he needed to explain, or how the sister of his Dan Ashcroft could be so thick.
"They've made Dan look like a kiddy fiddler, Claire. Like a pedo. They've published my personal details and made me look like a little abused dolly."
Claire tried to look understanding but the more she looked through the article, the more questions she had herself.
"Well, it is a little unorthodox, don't you think?" she asked in a calm and sensible voice but Jones just shook his head vehemently, letting his hair flick about his face like an angry child.
"It's not, it's fine, it works! You don't get it, Claire. This ain't just outing someone against their will. This is slander. This is serious... And it's gonna ruin everything."