Jeff's day had started out okay, but by lunch it was just down right terrible. He was fighting with his teachers, fighting with his fellow Warblers. Nothing was going right for him. So he decided when he got home he would pull out his old friend razor and try to take the edge off for awhile.
That's exactly what he did. He was excited to hear that Nick wouldn't be back in their room for a couple hours. Jeff hadn't been alone and able to cut for over a week and it was starting to really get to him. He could feel his arm itching to be cut and see no new scars and it was bugging him. He had no clue how he had made it this long. Sure since he had made it over a week, he could try to quit, but he would miss it too much.
When he walked in his room he got straight to work. He dropped his bag on his bed and walked to the bathroom to take out his box he kept hidden under the sink. He lifted the lid in front of the mirror and smiled as he saw all his blades, safety pins, and gauze. Everything he had depended on for years, and still does. He picked up his favoured blade and set the box on the counter. He took a step back and slid against the wall until his reached the floor.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw that he hadn't closed the washroom door. He made quick work at getting it closed and returning to the position he was previously in. He moved the blade between his fingers and actually started to debate on whether or not this was a good idea. He shook his head as if to erase the thought and put the cool blade against his wrist, not putting pressure, just setting it there.
He sighed in content and pushed the blade down with just enough pressure to start to draw blood. He had forgotten how much he enjoyed this. Jeff smiled and dragged the blade across his skin, leaving a trail of crimson behind. When he pulled the blade out, he felt his phone vibrate. He didn't think anything of it though since he was so busy. He left his phone in his pocket, letting it vibrate twice more, and drew another line across his wrist.
After about half an hour, Jeff had 5 new lines in total, and probably about 8 texts. He had placed a little towel under his arm to let it catch any of the dripping blood, but it had turned almost completely red. He leaned his head back against the wall and sighed. When he felt his phone vibrate for the tenth time, he had enough. He took it out and saw all the messages were from Nick, the most recent saying that he was on his way to the room.
Jeff's eyes widened in horror and he quickly stood, with difficulty, and moved to the sink to rinse his arm off. He turned on the water and started to move it across his skin when he heard the door to the room open. "Jeff?" he heard being called.
Jeff's eyes widened and he bit his lip, "Yeah, Nicky?" Jeff couldn't hear what Nick was doing, but he was worried he was going to come in.
"You okay? I've been trying to talk to you for almost an hour."
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be out in a minute, okay?"
"Yeah. I'm gonna put on The Avengers."
"Okay." Jeff called. He finished rinsing his arm and had already begun wrapping it in gauze. When he finished with the gauze he looked in the mirror for a second to recompose himself, missing the drop of blood that somehow got on his neck. He walked out of the room to see Nick sitting on his bed, already into the movie with Red Vines. "Hey, Nicky." he said as he walked to his own bed and sat down.
"Hey, Jeffy." he said as he reached for another Red Vine and stuffed it in his mouth."Red Vine?" he asked while holding a piece of licorice across the room.
"Why not." he smiled and reached for the candy. Nick turned and smiled at him. His smile dropped slowly when he saw the scarlet on his neck. "Jeff, what's on your neck?"
Jeff put the candy in his mouth and moved his hand to his neck and pulled it away to see what Nick was talking about. When he saw crimson across his fingertips, he froze with his eyes wide. "What's on your neck, Jeff?" Nick repeated while sitting up on his bed.
When Jeff still sat quiet Nick stood up and moved to in front of him and reached for Jeff's hand. Jeff tried to pull away but he knew Nick was stronger than him and he would just end up hurting himself more if he tried to get away. Nick lifted Jeff's sleeve to his elbow and gasped at the already blood soaked gauze. "Jeff." he said breathlessly. He looked up at Jeff with tears already threatening to fall. "Why, Jeff?"
Jeff couldn't look up at Nick. It would pain him too much to. Instead he kept his gaze on the blood stained gauze. "I'm sorry, Nick." was all he said.
Nick dropped Jeff's arm and moved to beside his bed. "Jeff, you've told me you're sorry, dozens of times. I'm tired of your apologies but nothing more."
Jeff stared at his arm and moved to pull his sleeve down."What are you saying, Nicky?"
"I'm saying I'm done, Jeff." Nick was tired. Tired of Jeff's random bursts of anger, tired of him making new scars, tired from all the stress Jeff was causing him. All in all, he was tired of Jeff. "I'm not your Nicky anymore."
"What?" Jeff's voice broke as he raised his head. Why was Nick saying this? Jeff couldn't believe he was hearing it. "Nicky, I'm sorry. Please don't do this." a tear made it's way down Jeff's cheek.
"I'm not your Nicky, Jeff. So stop calling me that. I'm gonna talk to Wes tomorrow. See if I can bunk with him for a while and then you can be here." Nick walked to his wardrobe and started to pull his blazers out and drop them on his bed.
Jeff stood up and walked to behind Nick, "No Nick, you don't mean that. You need to stay here. I need you-"
"Apparently not as much as you need that!" he interrupted while pointing in the direction of Jeff's forearm. "I'm tired of this, Jeff. You promised me you would stop, but look! Your arm has red gauze on it. I don't need to look under it to know what that means!"
Jeff started to sob, unable to hold back. He moved a hand to Nick's shoulder, "please don't do this, Nick. Please, I'm begging you." Nick shook his shoulder to make Jeff let go.
"No, Jeff. I'm done. I'm going to Blaine and Kurt's tonight since they're just next door and then I'll probably stay with Wes' after that." Jeff went back to his bed and sat down with his head in his hands. They were in silence as Nick worked on packing and Jeff sat there sobbing.
When Nick was done, he put his bag over his shoulder and moved to beside Jeff. He placed a hand on his shoulder, "Goodbye, Jeff."
Jeff put his hand over top of Nick's and leaned his head against it. "I'm sorry." Nick pulled away and moved to the door. The door opened and closed, "goodbye, Nick."