Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, nor do I completely own Nick and Jeff (although I'm pretty much creating their personalities myself since we haven't gotten to know them too well on the show).
Jeff couldn't help but be nervous; they had been rehearsing for weeks, but lately things hadn't been going that well with their routine. And this was Regionals – if they didn't win, most of the Warblers would leave Dalton without ever getting a Nationals bid. Which would be a first in over a decade. It was nerve-wracking to think that they might actually leave this competition and have an entire class of Warblers never compete with them again.
The worst part was that Jeff could tell Nick was even more worked up than he was; Nick was lead soloist for the competition – a spot that had been returned to him after the group had turned against Sebastian due to the whole slushy incident with Blaine – and Jeff knew that the pressure was getting to him. Jeff walked over to the other boy, gently putting his hands on Nick's shoulders and squeezing softly. Jeff was surprised when Nick jumped, pulling away from him quickly. "Hey… you need to relax. You can do this."
"I'm nervous…" Nick whispered. Jeff could see that his hands were shaking, and he leaned in and pressed a quick kiss against the other boy's lips.
"You're going to be fine… you're going to go out there and be amazing, because that's what you are. And we're going to win this thing."
"We didn't win last year, and Blaine's better than I am…"
"We tied McKinley at Sectionals last year, and we would have beaten them if the judges at Regionals hadn't felt threatened by Kurt and Blaine's duet. We can beat them, and we can do it without Blaine," Jeff replied. Jeff looked up as they were announced, gently prodding Nick out onto the stage behind the curtains to start.
Things were going well, but Jeff could tell that something was still off with Nick as they started their second song – Nick's solo. The boy's hands were shaking as he walked up to the microphone that was set up at the front of the stage, and Jeff could hear Nick's voice cracking as he started the song. It didn't last long; two bars in Nick stepped back from the microphone and quit singing, swaying dangerously for a moment before he collapsed to the floor with a sickening thud. Jeff didn't even think as he rushed forward, pushing past several other Warblers and dropping to his knees next to the dark haired boy.
"Come on, Nick… look at me…" Jeff gently slapped the side of the other boy's face – the way he'd seen in movies – and prayed that Nick would just wake up and look at him. Jeff wasn't sure what was going on around him; all he knew was that he couldn't get Jeff to wake up and that terrified him. He watched as Thad ran up, loosening Nick's tie and checking his pulse on the side of his neck. It took a lot longer than Jeff would have liked.
"I can barely find his pulse…"
"Has someone called an ambulance?" Jeff asked.
"Trent's on the phone right now." Jeff nodded, holding onto Nick's hand and pushing the hair out of his face. He had to admit that he was relieved when Nick's eyes started to open slowly. "Oh thank God…"
"Jeff? W-what happened?"
"You fainted…" Jeff began.
"I have to get back up… I have to finish…" Jeff ignored Nick's attempts to sit up, doing his best to keep his boyfriend lying down so that he didn't overexert himself. Nick didn't seem to have enough strength to do anything other than lie there. Jeff looked up as a man sat down on the other side of Nick.
"Son, can you tell me your name?" Jeff glanced up at the man, who was looking down at Nick intently.
"Nick…"
"Nick, I'm Dr. Edwards… is it okay if I take a look at you while we wait for the ambulance?"
"I-I'm okay… I d-don't need an ambulance…" Jeff winced at the way Nick shivered.
"You just passed out in front of a few hundred people… I just want to make sure that you're going to be okay," the doctor replied.
"Just let him check you out, Nick… they're probably going to take you to the hospital anyway," Jeff replied. The boy closed his eyes, and the doctor picked up Nick's wrist and tried to find his pulse.
"Nick, does anything hurt?" Nick shook his head, without opening his eyes. "Has he been sick? Does he have any health problems you know of?"
"Just some allergies," Jeff replied.
"Has he eaten today?"
"I know he ate breakfast… he said he was too nervous to eat lunch, though." Jeff watched as the doctor felt Nick's forehead. "Do you know what's wrong with him? Is he going to be okay?"
"I don't know… they'll have to run some tests at the hospital to determine what's going on." Jeff nodded, stroking the boy's hair as the paramedics finally came onto the stage. It wasn't until they arrived and made Jeff back away that he actually noticed that most of the people in the auditorium had been ushered out. Jeff bit down on his thumb as the paramedics worked, inserting an IV line into Nick's arm and loading him onto the gurney to be taken to the hospital.
"Jeff…" Jeff immediately took Nick's hand when the boy called out for him. "Don't leave me…" Jeff glanced up at the paramedics, who nodded at him.
"I'll stay with you for as long as they'll let me, okay?" Jeff smiled as Nick nodded and closed his eyes again. Jeff wanted more than anything to make whatever was going on better.
A/n: So I know that I normally put these at the beginning of a chapter, but this time I decided to put it at the end. Partially because I wanted this to be a bit different than my usual stories, and partially because it makes more sense here considering the fact that I normally write these notes last anyway. I hope you enjoyed this chapter… if you're reading my Niff drabbles challenge story you probably have some idea of where this is going already, but I hope you'll stick around anyway!