"Would you relax?" Nick said with a hint of exasperation in his voice as Jeff pulled his hood over his head to hide his bleach blond hair. "Nobody from Dalton even goes to these football games," he added, squeezing Jeff's hand reassuringly before Jeff pulled it away.
The blond sighed as he and Nick sat down on the bleachers just in time to see the halftime show. Heads Will Roll and Thriller together, performed by people dressed as zombies. Jeff and Nick exchanged a look, grinning. It was going to be a rocking mash-up. They stood up during the performance, grinning as they watched the people from McKinley dance and sing. When Jeff finally noticed a familiar face in the crowd, he gasped, sitting down right away and tugging Nick down with him. "Blaine's here! With Kurt," he mumbled.
Nick sighed, taking Jeff's hand and resting their foreheads together. "I don't get why you don't want to come out to the guys. We go to Dalton, it's not like they're going to treat you any differently," he murmured. "You might get asked out more…but you're mine." With that, he kissed Jeff lightly, smiling.
Jeff broke the kiss after a moment. "We shouldn't…Kurt got shoved out of this school because of the homophobes," he whispered, squeezing Nick's hand.
"No one is going to notice us. Not right now, anyway," Nick promised. "But just…tell the guys. I know you're paranoid, but they're not going to hate you. I swear," he murmured, kissing Jeff's cheek after he turned away.
"I'll," Jeff began, hesitating and not meeting Nick's eye. "I'll think about it." Nick merely nodded in response, squeezing Jeff's hand soothingly.
They made it through the rest of the game, with Jeff describing to Nick just what was going on. They left a few minutes early, positive that McKinley was going to lose because Jeff swore up and down that there was a slim chance that anything that would affect the outcome of the game would happen.
They were just outside the gates when they heard an all-too familiar voice ask, "Spying?"
Jeff froze, dropping Nick's hand as they both whirled around to come face to face with Kurt and Blaine. Jeff shoved his hands in his sweatshirt pocket, biting his lip and let Nick take over. "Actually…" he said, glancing over at Jeff before he continued, "Yes. We were."
"You're out of luck," Kurt retorted, clicking his tongue and shaking his head fondly at his friends. "You witnessed the football players with the glee club, and good luck telling them apart."
Blaine shook his head, a smirk forming on his face. "You weren't spying. You're a bad liar, Nick." Said Warbler blushed and ducked his head. Blaine glanced between where Jeff's hands were in his pocket and where Nick's was dangling by his side. "You're on a date!"
"No, we're not!" Jeff and Nick said in unison, exchanging a look.
Kurt turned to Blaine and gave a sweet smile. "Me thinks the gentlemen doth protest too much," he hummed.
Blaine smiled at Kurt's comment before he angled to get his friend's eye. "Jeff…can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked softly, all hints of teasing disappearing from his voice ask he spoke.
Hesitating for only a moment, Jeff nodded, letting Blaine lead him away from Nick and Kurt to a relatively more secluded area. "What's up?" he asked, leaning against one of the metal pillars supporting the bleachers.
"Tell me honestly," Blaine said, looking at Jeff with pleading eyes. "Because I'm your best friend, please, be honest: Are you and Nick dating?" Jeff bit his lip before he nodded again, pulling his hood up again, because it was how he hid himself, left over habits from his old school, and the fact that having the hood up hid the bruises on his neck made him feel like nobody knew about his past. One look at the bruises and it was quite clear. "That's great. How long has this been going on?"
Jeff shrugged, ducking his head as a faint blush spread across his cheeks and a small smile. "Coupla months," he mumbled, "But you can't tell anyone," he added quickly. "I'm not ready…Thurston got me sort of scarred."
Blaine held up both hands in surrender, pulling Jeff away from the pillar. "Have you sung together yet?" he asked as Jeff shook his head.
"I'm walking away now," the blond said, rolling his eyes and building up his courage before he went right up to Nick, grabbed the ends of his scarf and used them to tug his boyfriend closer, kissing him without caring who saw. Kurt gasped and Blaine wolf-whistled. As Nick and Jeff laced their fingers together, they broke the kiss and started back for Nick's car.
Over his shoulder, Nick called, "Bite me, Anderson!"
