Almost Incognito

A/N: This takes place during the House of Cheats/House of Rumors episode, between when Fabian gives Nina his jacket and when they exit the attic, and then an alternate ending to that scene~

Nina was shivering out of fear and the fact that the hidden area of the attic wasn't heated made the shivering so much worse. Fabian stood up and Nina assumed that he was going to try to get them out of the attic. She stopped him by whispering, "Not yet."

Fabian didn't sit back down, though. Instead, he took his jacket off and draped it over Nina. She smiled at him and he smiled back. They heard the attic door close and Fabian stood up because he was already halfway up. He then offered his hand to Nina, who grabbed the jacket with one hand and took Fabian's hand in her other. Nina pulled the jacket properly over one arm, not wanting to let go of Fabian's hand. He released her hand and put the jacket on her other arm before taking her hand again. "Thanks," Nina whispered to Fabian.

"No problem," he replied, a slight smile gracing his lips. Their fingers were intertwined as Nina used her other hand to pull the locket out of her shirt, pressing it to the wall. She noticed that, once they entered the main area of the attic, Fabian became much less tense. Realizing that Fabian must have been freezing while they were in the hidden area, she blushed.

"Do you want your jacket back now?" asked Nina.

"No, you can hold onto it," smiled Fabian. Nina seemed to be in a hurry to get out of the attic. He wasn't surprised; the attic was a bit creepy after a while. But he held her back at the top of the stairs. "Nina...there's something I want to tell you. Here."

Nina turned to face him, and they just looked into each other's eyes for the longest time before Nina asked, "Well, what is it?"

Fabian snapped back into reality. "Well, um, I-I w-wanted to t-tell you that I..." He trailed off, unable to finish. Frustrated at himself for not being able to confess his feelings, he thought of the alternate way to tell her. Well, it's worth a shot...

Taking a long, unsteady breath, he leaned in, closing the space between the two teens. Nina realized what he was doing just as their lips met. Fabian released her hand to wrap his arm around her waist and put the other hand behind her head to steady her.

Nina felt Fabian let go of her hand and used that opportunity to put one hand on the back of his neck (which caused him to shiver out of pleasure) and lock the other in his hair, steadying the kiss as it continued.

Since it was Fabian's first kiss, he had no idea what to do after his arms were secure. He was running out of air, so he breathed through his nose, ever so slightly breaking the kiss. He felt Nina pull back slightly, and, being her best friend, he could tell that she was confused, not trying to break the kiss. He pulled her back to him.

After almost forty five seconds, though it felt longer to the couple, Nina found that breathing through her nose wasn't sufficient and she had to break away to breathe. Fabian must have been feeling the same way, because the second Nina broke away he was gasping for air. He loosened his grip on Nina's waist, though didn't completely let go. They stood there for what felt like the longest time, just gazing into each other's eyes and enjoying their presence.

Finally, Fabian felt like he had to say something. He was much more confident than he was before the kiss, mostly because Nina had been kissing him back just as passionately as he had been kissing her, so he was much more comfortable saying what he whispered next. "I wanted to tell you that I love you."

Nina laughed quietly. "I could tell. And...I think I love you, too."

Finally, Fabian let go of her waist and removed his hand from the back of her head. She almost fell over because she had been leaning backwards, completely relying on Fabian's support. However, Fabian's arms were immediately back around her until she was completely steady. She had already let go of his neck and hair (not voluntarily, but because she wasn't strong enough to hold on when she had almost fallen over).

Nina smiled as he let go of her. "Promise me that you'll always be there to catch me." She glanced down at the staircase of which they were at the top. "Especially if I'm about to fall down a flight of stairs."

Fabian silently laughed. "I promise."

They went down the stairs, hand in hand, and only released each other's hands when they reached the bottom so Nina could pick the lock open. He opened the door and looked to make sure Victor wasn't there. "The coast is clear," he whispered, turning back to Nina.

"Let's go," Nina replied after she locked the door behind them. The couple tiptoed out to right outside Nina and Amber's bedroom before bursting out laughing.

"My heart is still pounding," Nina announced, still whispering.

"Mine, too," replied Fabian, bending over slightly out of laughter so that their faces were only inches apart again.

"I hope I can sleep. Who am I kidding; I may never sleep again!" laughed Nina.

"Same," agreed Fabian.

"I can't believe we got away with it," mused Nina.

Fabian smiled and leaned in and lightly kissed her on the lips. "Night."

"Night," replied Nina, opening the door to her bedroom. She then realized two things. One was that she still had Fabian's jacket. Through the night's events, she had forgotten to give it back to him. Another was that Amber was awake and had been listening to her whole conversation with Nina.

"Can't believe you got away with what?" asked Amber. Just then, the blond noticed that Nina was wearing a strange sweatshirt that she recognized moments later as Fabian's. "And why are you wearing Fabian's sweatshirt?"

Nina blushed a dark pink. She had absolutely no response that could answer both questions at once, so she just kept quiet until Amber had thought up her own theory.

"Oh, my gosh. You and Fabian were on a secret date!" Amber squealed.

"No, no we weren't," Nina quickly denied, though her cover wasn't very good.

"Of course you were! You smell like him, you're wearing his jacket, and you're blushing! Not to mention that you said your heart was still pounding," accused Amber.

Nina sighed, unable to think of a good cover. "All right, maybe we kind of were on a date. But don't tell anyone. Not even he knew that it was a date. I didn't even know that it was a date."

Amber looked confused. "But, if you didn't know..." She shrugged and went back to bed, as Nina was already asleep.

The next morning, Amber ran into Mick before breakfast. "Oh, hi, Boo! Guess what I found out last night!"

"What?" asked Mick, hoping it was actually something important and not another "fashion emergency".

"Nina and Fabian are secretly dating!" squealed Amber.

Mick's jaw dropped. "No way! Nina and Fabian...oh, this is going to be good. I'll catch you later, babes." With that, Mick ran back to his and Fabian's room, where Fabian was practicing guitar. He ran in and, ignoring Fabian's protests, tackled and noogied him, inquiring, "So what's this I hear about you and Nina, then?"

"What, no!" replied Fabian. "Ah ha ha! Let go of me!" he demanded.

"Only if you tell me one thing," teased Mick.

"Fine, then! I'll tell you anything! Just let me go!" agreed Fabian. Mick released him from the headlock. The two boys arranged themselves to be sitting next to each other on Fabian's bed.

"Okay, here it is. Do you like Nina?" asked Mick.

Fabian's cheeks turned pink. "Well, I-I..."

"No need to say any more, mate. Your expression is enough of an answer for me. Good luck," said Mick, standing up and leaving to go to breakfast.

Oh, what have I done... thought Fabian.

~
Author's Note~
Okay, that was a really bad ending, but that's the end. Feel free to let your imaginations run wild with what comes next, because I ran out of brain juice! XD This is the first fanfic I've written in a long time, so bear with me here.