Well, it's Niff week :)

Sooo you guys can have this one too ~

Thank you for reading.

Stray from the path

"Nickolas, don't go too far!" his mother's voice barely reached him as he sprinted on the gloomy, stone-paved streets.

Low rainy clouds were hovering over the small German town, making the occasional tourists hide themselves in cafes or inns. They were just running from the cold weather, after all, but Nick wasn't going to have any of it. He had been confined for way too long on the plane and then on the train that had brought him and his parents here.

And so here he was, using the town as a labyrinth for his 7-year-old mind and not fearing for even a second that he could get totally lost. His parents always found him back home, so they were going to do just the same over here.

That certainty faded a little when the clouds bumped into each other and a cold, heavy-dropped rain started pouring over him. The small stone houses didn't offer him any reassurance, with their closed doors and drawn drapes. He was no longer in the commercial area and the narrow street was awfully empty.

Raising his eyes to the ashen sky, Nick bit his lip hard as he felt that dreaded pain in his eyes, the one he always tried to avoid nowadays. As a few more drops hit his face, he stifled a sob and glanced down at his already muddy little sneakers. A sharp shiver ran through his small body as the wind started blowing and he hid himself in the niche of a doorstep.

He was a little kid, cold and hungry and alone in the street, why didn't anyone come to help him? No longer holding back his salty tears, Nick hugged himself tighter in his thin, dark green jacket. The squeak of a door two houses down the alley startled him and he jumped out of his hiding place, going to the place emanating warm, yellow light.

Holding his breath against the wind, he locked eyes with a blond boy standing in the doorway. He could smell cinnamon rolls from inside and his tummy squirmed.

"What are you doing there?" the blond asked, still holding the door open to look at him.

At least this boy spoke English too; Nick sighed, but couldn't articulate anything in that rain. The other glanced back in the house, apparently making sure that whoever was there was still busy and gestured rapidly at Nick.

"Come on, quickly!"

He didn't need to be told twice, so he hurried inside, his sneakers squeaking on the wet stones on the street; then, he had been pushed directly in a clothes hanger, the rest of him being hidden from view by the other boy's figure. They were lucky they were seemingly of the same age.

Big chocolate eyes stared straight into his as the blond put a finger across his mouth and hissed. Nick wasn't going to make a sound, especially now that he could see the figure of a woman, much like the bakers from the town's centre, walking around the other room, handling dough.

Afterwards, one moment he felt a small, warm hand in his and the next he was in something that looked like a cupboard. Luckily, it seemed larger than Harry's, so Nick had some room to trip over his feet before falling face-down on an old couch. Before he had the time to look up again, however, the blond engulfed him in a big, soft, warm blanket, hugging him clumsily in his attempts to cover all of him.

"I'm Jeff," he said while their noses were almost touching.

"I'm Nickolas," he hid his hands in the blanket. "Nick." He never liked the longer one; it made him sound like his grandpa.

"Do you like hot chocolate?" Jeff looked around himself in a hurry, testing for unwanted sounds. Nick would have done so too, after such a successful rescue mission.

The dark haired boy nodded, feeling very small in the yellow fabric cocooned around him. And that was it: Jeff was gone in a second. At least he had left the lights on, Nick bit his lip as a few drops fell off his hair on his face. Then the other was back again and Nick could smell the delicious drink he held in the mug in his hands.

"I'm only allowed to have one a day," Jeff explained as he held the cup out to him, whose frozen hands received it gratefully. It was tastier and sweeter than the ones he had at home. "What were you doing outside?" Jeff asked, holding his head in his hands, his feet crossed on the couch.

Nick looked from his drink to the boy and back again and his good boy trait forced him to share the chocolate. Jeff did not refuse it, as he had hoped a little. "I'm lost," Nick explained in a small voice, looking in shame at his feet.

"I got lost too, when I first came here," Jeff said instead of laughing at him and he gave the mug back. He had a small creamy moustache from the drink and the other smiled once he saw it. "Mum brings me here every spring. Where do you stay?"

"I don't know. I told you...I'm lost," his brows furrowed at the overuse of the statement. He was too big to get lost already.

"We can look for your parents together." Jeff sounded as if he wasn't doing that for the first time. Nick wondered. "But we should wait for the rain to stop first."

He agreed. It wasn't as if he was all too eager to be back in the cold. Also, his mother was going to be mad at him for sure after this and he didn't like seeing her like that. He wondered if he could at least keep the blanket. It was comfy.

"Do you want to play Monopoly?" Jeff was now balancing himself on a cushion, retrieving a big, colourful box from the top shelf on the wall. Nick nodded, got off his shoes and raised his feet on the couch, waiting for Jeff to prepare their game.

Disclaimer: not owning Glee or Germany and that town does not exist. Think of Austria and Salzburg, for a better idea.