A/N: Hi kids, guess what? I loved my fic My Dark Side so much I decided to write more of it! In the form of NIFF GLORIOUS NIFF! Because I love me some Niff and I don't even give two squirts if you don't read this, because you know Niff is awesome so fuck you.
Anyway! I love the rest of you that weren't turned off by that disclaimer up there. You know I don't own Glee, and that Niff is canon and all other random things (because it is, don't you even argue) and, uh, this will follow the timeline of events as set forth in my fic My Dark Side which is essentially a canon-except-for-steroids-because-Blaine-transferred-back-to-Dalton!AU. I loved it too much, had to keep writing, couldn't stop myself. I'm on a Niff rampage. Enjoy, I Niff you all, and especially, leave me a review? For Nick and Jeff?
Warning: this is a Glee fanfic, there is hot steamy boy love, and bullies, and all kinds of crap, nothing worse than the actual show... except maybe some actual sex later on, not just some nose touching. Even though I love my Klaine nose-touching, this is Niff. Let's be honest with ourselves.
Also: Each chapter will begin with a quote from My Dark Side. As far as I've written, they're all from Chapter 21. If you haven't read that fic, do it right now because it is AWESOME.
A Thousand Years
or
I Niff You
by samlover14
Chapter One:
"Contrary to popular belief, Nick and Jeff had met as small children, even though they grew up on separate sides of the country. It was fate. The Duvals and the Sterlings both took the same cruise vacation."
"That's not the point, Nicky!" Jeff whined. "She's a girl, and there are no girls allowed in the fort." Nick shrugged at Jeff's twin sister, Sarah, who crossed her arms and stomped off. "Forts have rules. Rule number one is no girls allowed, sisters or not. It's like you've never played forts before. Where are you from anyway?"
"Texas," Nick replied. Jeff eyed him warily.
"You don't have an accent," Jeff pointed out.
"Nope," Nick said. "Maybe a little bit. Where are you from, you don't have an accent either."
"Ohio," Jeff said.
"O-hi-ooo," Nick sang. "Cool! Wanna know something?"
"What?"
"I know someone from Ohio!" Nick and Jeff laughed so hard they knocked over their fort. "Oh no!"
"Oh, well, I was bored of this anyway," Jeff shrugged. "Let's go up top and pretend to be pirates!" The two seven-year-olds raced up the spiral stairs to the top of the day care center on the ship.
"Wow, it's so blue," Nick said.
"Ahoy Captain Nick, what do you see?" Jeff asked his taller companion.
"Just blue, First Mate Jeff," Nick replied, looking down at Jeff. "Take the wheel!" Jeff grabbed the play ship's wheel on the wall of the ship near the window (they weren't allowed outside without supervision, they might fall off the boat).
"Sharks!" Jeff exclaimed. "Everywhere!" Nick rang the distress bell earnestly.
"We're in a boat," Nick said suddenly. "Do sharks still affect us?"
"Iunno," Jeff shrugged. "I'm bored of this anyway."
"Let's go swimming!" Nick decided. They ran off in another direction, and so it went on for days and days, then suddenly it was Friday afternoon, and the harsh reality sunk in: they would be headed back to opposite sides of the country in the morning.
"I don't want to go," Jeff said, hugging his knees in tight, leaning against Nick.
"We have to go home," Nick said.
"What if I never see you again?" Jeff asked. "I Niff you!"
"I don't know," Nick admitted. "But I Niff you too." He started to cry, even though boys weren't technically supposed to. "I don't want to go either."
"I think I might fit inside your suitcase, maybe you can take me home with you," Jeff said.
"No, you won't fit," Nick said. "And your parents would miss you."
"Oh, pff," Jeff said. There was a quick silence and Jeff started to cry too. And that's where their mothers found them, ten minutes later, leaned up against each other, crying silently.
"Boys," Mrs. Duval said (her accent was thick as hell). "Don't do that, what's the matter?"
"We don't wanna go!" Nick and Jeff sputtered at the same time.
"You both knew you'd have to go home eventually," Mrs. Sterling said.
"Not without Nicky," Jeff said, firmly, grasping Nick's arm for dear life. "I Niff him!" Their mothers looked at each other.
"How about we trade phone numbers and you can call each other on Sunday after we get home?" Mrs. Sterling suggested. This seemed to brighten Nick and Jeff up considerably and they ran off to play with something else.
"That's going to cost a fortune," Mrs. Duval sighed.
"As opposed to what?" Mrs. Sterling asked. "Jeff doesn't have many friends back home, I'd hate to see him throw this away. And I've never seen him this happy."
"You're right," Mrs. Duval said. "So where are you from?"
"Just outside of Cincinnati," Mrs. Sterling said. "You?"
"San Angelo, Texas," Mrs. Duval replied.
"Wow," Mrs. Sterling said. Nick and Jeff whizzed by, pretending to be airplanes, circling around, and collapsing on each other in a fit of giggles. "This is going to be… complicated. I can already tell."
"Our sons staying friends over a thousand miles?" Mrs. Duval asked. "Yeah, it sure is. I suppose next summer we'll be deciding whose house they'll visit?"
"If they're still this thick? Absolutely," Mrs. Sterling said.
"Mine first, obviously," they both said at the same time.
"Talk about it over dinner?" Mrs. Duval asked. Mrs. Sterling nodded.
"Nick! Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick!" Jeff yelled. "Wake up!"
"I'm up, I'm up!" Nick replied. "What's the matter?"
"It's my birthday, you idiot!" Jeff yelled.
"Happy birthday!" Nick replied. "Are you one, are you two, are you three–"
"Stop it!" Jeff said. "You know how old I am!"
"Nine!" Nick replied happily, jumping out of bed so excitedly that he almost dropped his cell phone.
"Yes!" Jeff said. "Finally the same age as you again."
"Haha, but I'm still older!" Nick said, triumphantly, pulling on his socks with difficulty.
"I just wish you were here," Jeff said sadly, looking at the dining room of his house, dismally empty without his best friend.
"I wish I was there too," Nick replied. "I Niff you, though."
"Well of course you Niff me. I Niff you too," Jeff replied, indignantly.
"It's not fair, really," Nick said, "I wish I could move to Ohio. It's too hot here."
"How hot is it?" Jeff asked.
"Really, really hot," Nick said.
"It's supposed to be in the 80s today," Jeff said happily. "Mom and Dad are taking Sarah and I to the pool and I'm going to jump off the deep end."
"It's definitely already in the 80s here," Nick said. "Maybe I'll go swimming too."
"Aw, man, I want to go swimming in the pond at your house," Jeff groaned. "I miss you."
"I miss you too," Nick sighed, running his fingers over the blanket on his bed Jeff had given him the summer before. "How many more days is it anyway?"
"Fifty-Seven," Jeff replied immediately. "It's soon, and then you'll be here!"
NickyDuval: Jeff, where are you?
NickyDuval: Jeff!
JeffreySterling: Nicky! I got you something!
NickyDuval: Yeah, I got it already. My mom's pitching a bitchfit, says she doesn't want me talking to strangers on the internet.
JeffreySterling: Not strangers, just me.
NickyDuval: Yeah, whatever, same difference to her.
JeffreySterling: Did you get it all hooked up?
NickyDuval: Think so.
JeffreySterling: Turn it on!
Nick's face popped up on Jeff's screen, and Jeff smiled bright.
"Happy birthday!" Jeff exclaimed. "Fourteen, it's exciting, right?"
"It's scary," Nick replied. His voice sounded pitchy over the computer screen, but it was better than nothing. "It's like a whole new universe. Not to mention high school."
"High school's not until next year," Jeff scoffed. "Forget that. Let's talk about the killer fort I'm planning for us to play in this summer."
"Aren't forts sort of… childish?" Nick asked.
"Nicholas Duval, I am ashamed of you," Jeff said, "just because you're fourteen now, you're going to renounce the Niff pledge and become a grown-up?"
"No, I would never renounce the Niff pledge," Nick said, quickly. "Forts are awesome."
"That's what I thought," Jeff said.
"I missed seeing your face," Nick smiled. Jeff smiled too.
"I missed your face too," he replied. "See what I mean about my hair, though?"
"Well, yeah," Nick said, "you just need to… I don't know. Turn your head to the left." Jeff obliged. "No, the other left." Jeff turned his head in the other direction. "I dunno, I kinda like it. Wish my hair could do that. Every time it gets a little long, my mom buzzes it off."
"I see that," Jeff remarked. "You're practically bald, you nerd."
"Hey!" Nick said.
"Oh, shush, you Niff me," Jeff laughed.
"Yeah, I do. You Niff me too," Nick replied, smiling.
They spent almost all day every day on their webcams, talking to each other lazily at their desks. Jeff's grades started to fall, and he swore Nick had nothing to do with it (and he didn't, because they did their homework together on the webcam every night), but his parents still grounded him from his computer and Nick until his grades came back up.
Except that didn't help. His grades only fell further.
Without Nick, his best friend in the world, Jeff became depressed, holing himself up in his room with his guitar, plucking away at useless melodies. He slipped into the middle school emo phase everyone goes through. Even though he was the skinniest kid in his grade and obviously one of the most beautiful people on earth, his self-esteem took a plummet, hiding under baggy clothes and growing his hair out even farther to hide his face.
Three weeks since the last time he'd spoken to Nick, he got a letter from him in the mail.
Jeff,
I miss you. Are your grades any better yet? Probably not or I'd have heard from you, I guess. I miss you tons. Cameron and I are going fishing in the pond tomorrow, but I don't think we'll catch anything because it's winter still. It's not the same without you anyway. If I need to invoke clause 14 of the Niff pledge, please reply 'Orange' to this message.
I Niff you.
Nicky.
Jeff smiled, putting the letter on his dresser. His good mood only lasted until he got to school, though. There was a second reason Jeff was depressed, the original reason his grades had dropped: bullies at school. A rumor had gotten around to the school, and he'd been going through a lot of hell, pushed against lockers, fights on the athletic field during recess. He'd silently suffered through bloody noses and more bruises than he could count.
So what if he liked boys instead of girls? Who cares?
He didn't even know how the kids at school had even found out. He'd never told anyone, not even Nick. Not because he didn't feel comfortable telling Nick, he just didn't realize he had to. Not for the first time, Jeff wished his best friend lived nearer him.
It's not like Jeff had ever been popular, he'd had one, maybe two friends since kindergarten, but he more knew who they were than really knew them personally. He knew everyone at school's names, the way you do when you go to school with the same people for years on end, but it wasn't the same.
When Jeff got home that afternoon, he composed a letter to Nick.
Nick,
Orange.
I Niff you too.
Jeff.
He folded up the piece of notebook paper, stuffed it in an envelope, quickly addressed the letter to his best friend, slapped a stamp on it, and put it in the mailbox at the end of the street. Walking back to his house from the mailbox, Jeff got accosted by two guys. They shoved him rudely, and he limped the rest of the way home. Finally, his parents seemed to notice something was up, but Jeff insisted he'd just tripped. They dropped the matter.
Four days later, Jeff came home with more injuries, he said he'd fallen down the stairs.
Two days after that, he was hurt so badly, the school nurse called his mother to pick him up from school. He still maintained it was nothing.
The day after that he finally wound up in the hospital. When he came to, who should be at his bedside but his best friend, smiling down at him.
"Nicky," Jeff breathed.
"Hi," Nick said.
"I'm dead, then," Jeff said. "If you're here."
"Nope," Nick replied. "I'm really here."
"You're really here," Jeff repeated.
"Clause 14," Nick said. Jeff sighed, a smile on his features again finally. It felt like years since he'd smiled, really smiled.
"I Niff you," Jeff said, tears leaking out of his eyes, he was so happy.
"I Niff you too."
"Mom and Dad are sending me to a boarding school," Jeff said, laying down on the grassy hill.
"Sounds like fun," Nick said, lying down next to Jeff. The stars were just starting to emerge.
"Yeah, I think it will be," Jeff said. "The school has a zero-tolerance harassment policy, so at least I'll be safe."
"Well, that's the most important thing," Nick said. "Hey, maybe my mom and dad would let me go there if it's a boarding school."
"Yeah!" Jeff exclaimed. "Oh, please, please, please." He spotted the first star in the sky. "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight!" He squeezed his eyes shut and wished with all his might. Nick looked over at his best friend and sighed. What he wouldn't give to be with him every day.
"It's a long shot," Nick said. "My mom's…"
"Psycho?" Jeff supplied. "Yeah, but she'll let you. It's in the stars now."
"There ain't nothing prettier than a Texas sky, is there?" Nick asked, looking up at it.
"Sure there is," Jeff smiled.
"Like what?" Nick asked.
"Nah, can't say," Jeff laughed. He shot a sideways look at Nick. Like you, he wanted to say, but… they'd have plenty of time for that later, when they were going to the same high school and saw each other every day.
It took a lot of convincing, even after Jeff went back home to Ohio, but finally Mrs. Duval relented and called Dalton Academy to enroll her son. Nick had decided to surprise Jeff with the news.
Jeff dropped his bags on one of the beds in the room second to the end of the row on the third floor. It looked like his roommate was already there and unpacked. He wasn't surprised. A lot of students came from far away and had been moved in for days.
"Hello?" Jeff called. "I'm Jeff Sterling and I–" His roommate emerged from the bathroom just then. There was no word for the emotion Jeff felt then. Happy didn't even begin to cut it. He smiled the biggest smile he'd ever smiled and ran forward to hug Nick. "I can't believe you here!"
"You better believe it," Nick grinned. "Four years of this, and you won't be able to get rid of me."
"I Niff you so much," Jeff cried, hugging him even tighter.
"I Niff you more," Nick replied.
A/N: Leave me a review. :( I miss having my inbox filled with emails from you awesome people. And also read my other stuff and review that because then I'll have jillions of emails! (If you like Niff my fic Sunshine of the Group isn't awful. And if you like Seblaine, My Dark Side and It's a Shittacular Life aren't too bad either. And if you like Huntbastian, then I'm not sure why you're here, but I have tons of Huntbastian stuff too, for instance Dude Looks Like a Lady quite possibly may be the best thing I've ever written until I started writing this, and maybe even then. Is it bad that I'm obsessed with my own oneshot?)
Samantha.