The weekend had passed pretty much without incident, only the occasional raising of an eyebrow or cheeky wink when one of the Warblers saw Nick and Jeff together. The pair laughed it off for the most part, adamant that it was an accident, and really didn't mean anything. Still, that tiny feeling of I-don't-even-know-what lingered in the back of Nick's mind, which made for some unnecessarily awkward moments. Nick usually wasn't an awkward person around his partner in crime, so it stood out even more when he got flustered, like when Jeff walked into him straight of the shower one morning. He'd instinctively grabbed the blonde's sides to keep them from ending up on the floor, but the feeling of Jeff's muscles flexing under his fingers combined with the early morning fog that impeded his brain, resulting in a mumbling, bright red Nick. Jeff chalked it up to one of the many things they'd been brushing under the carpet these days.
The council had suddenly decided to revamp the dances for almost all of the numbers, requiring the group of boys to spend their Monday afternoon in the shack that used to be the Dalton gym. Wes had convinced the headmaster to keep it standing so the Warblers would have an onsite venue to learn dances. They'd do it in their normal practice room, but the furniture made it hard to dance as a group. So the rundown little building had been kept standing, even in its pathetic conditions. The air conditioning was broken, and Jeff swore he saw a hawk living in the rafters at one point….no matter what was living there, it really was a pitiful excuse for a building. But, it was stable (usually) and had enough room to fit a group three times the size of the Warblers.
Needless to say, no one really wanted to be spending their homework time learning dance moves in the sweltering area. It didn't take long for their body heat to warm the place up like a sauna, and the number of shirtless guys increased steadily with the temperature. Jeff had even caught Flint checking Nick out at one point, to which Jeff responded with a raised eyebrow and mouthing really? at the other boy. Flint just turned redder than a tomato. Wiping the sweat off his face for what felt like the millionth time that day, Jeff just shook his head, letting his mind wander as his body went through the moves.
Hey, can't say I blame him, Nick's got a pretty good gun show going on over there….oh, stop it, he's your best friend, you don't get to think about how ripped he may or may not be….well, there goes that. I guess not much falls under the category of "awkward" anymore, seeing as how I freaking kissed him in front of the guys…oh well. They can think want they want, we're just friends. Inseparable, joined at the hip, partners in crime, you know, all that good stuff.
"….Jeff? Hello? Earth to Six?" Blinking out of his thoughts, Jeff found himself sitting on the ground against the wall, apparently being talked at by Nick.
Hm, not like Wes to give us a break…when did I even walk over here, anyway?
"Yeah, sorry, I zoned out, what?"
HEY. None of that. Keep your eyes on his face, stupid.
Nick grinned, the corners of his bright brown eyes crinkling slightly. "Yeah, I saw that. I was just asking if maybe you wanted to hang out tonight? I mean, we haven't had one of our famous floor-disrupting musical nights in a while…" It was Jeff's turn to grin, thinking about how many times their very irritated floormates had burst into their room at 2am as they belted out I'm Alive from Next to Normal, complete with reprise. Continuously undeterred, their movie nights had quickly become infamous among those in close proximity to their room.
"Yeah, man, that sounds awesome! I'll go loot the kitchen for food whenever we're done here. If we're ever done here, that is." He grimaced as Wes stood back up, motioning for the rest of the group to join him. They were already sweaty and tired, you'd think he'd have realized that nothing ever gets done when you have a sizeable group of strongly willed performers going against you…but of course, Wes didn't give a flip.
So after they'd been released, Jeff had looted the kitchen as promised, returning triumphant with a box of chocolate cupcakes, redvines, some mysterious kind of potato chips, and a two-liter of Coke. His spoils had been deposited gracelessly on his bed as the blonde ducked into the shower, still sticky from their quasi-boot camp afternoon. Nick was asleep on the floor, face in a textbook, when Jeff had come in, but the sound of his roommate dropping something in the shower woke him up with a jolt. Realizing where he was after a moment, he stared at the bathroom door, like it was capable of talking back.
"Dammit, Jeff, way to wake me up with a heart attack, thanks!" His voice overflowed with sarcastic irritation. A laugh snuck out under the steamed up door, followed by the squeaks of water valves being turned off and a dripping wet blonde boy poking his head out the door.
"Oh, come on, at least you're up now! There's a trick to everything, Nicky, that's just how I like to wake up people who fall asleep on their French homework." He slipped back inside with a wink, leaving Nick to scoop the papers back into his bag. They almost never did homework on movie days, claiming it took up too much time and energy. So, they chose to ignore it completely.
"I prefer to call it learning by osmosis, débile." Jeff sauntered into the room again, towel wrapped around his waist as he tried to look offended.
"Wait, what was that?" Laughing, Nick fell back on his bed, raising an eyebrow at his blonde friend.
"Oh, nothing, just that you devez faire attentionen classeau lieu de dormir." His grin spread up to his eyes as Jeff tried to figure out what on earth the other boy was saying. Eventually, the blonde gave up, rolling his eyes as he rummaged through a random pile of what he hoped was his clothes. A few moments later, he crashed on the bed next to Nick, his face slightly obscured by the hood of his Dalton soccer sweatshirt.
"Oh, Nick, as much as I adore hearing you totally show me up in a foreign language, isn't it high time we started interrupting other people's lives?" A mischievous twinkle crept into his dark green eyes. Nick's face was pretty similar; they both loved pissing off an entire floor. They considered it a sort of accomplishment, really.
"But of course, my dear Six, I've been looking forward to this all day! I put in The Sound of Music; I think Kurt's been a little more snappy these days, don't you think a wee bit of poking fun at his name would loosen him up?" Jeff breathed a laugh at his numerical nickname; "Three" and "Six" were the only words that Nick and Jeff, respectively, had said to Kurt at his first audition. For some reason, the small boy thought it was funny and took to calling them that, and of course, the rest of the Warblers got on board as well. Reaching over the side of the bed, he tossed the packet of Redvines over his shoulder, laughing at the surprised snort from his roommate as they hit him in the face. Snatching a cupcake, the blonde curled up into Nick's side as he always did, biting back a silly grin when he felt the other boy's arm wrap protectively around his waist. Flipping back his hood, Jeff fixed his gaze on his roommate again, feigning seriousness.
"Let's do this."
The pair broke into giggles at the same time, which really only served to make them laugh harder. An irritated thump on the wall from next door shut them up, finally pressing play on the title screen that had been waiting impatiently as they cackled.
As he settled into Nick's familiar warmth, Jeff soon discovered that he actually was tired from the practice he hadn't paid attention to. Licking the remnants of his cupcake off the corner of his lips, the blonde put an arm across his roommates' stomach and nuzzled into his chest, sighing contentedly. If he was a little less sleepy, Jeff would have felt the momentary tension in Nick's frame as he shifted. Instead, he felt the low rumblings of the other boy's breathy laugh and the vibrations from his voice against his ear.
"A little sleepy there, are we?" His voice was quiet, but his amusement was still obvious. Jeff turned to meet his brown gaze, armed with a sassy remark, but forgot it when he realized just how close their faces were.
Woah, I never really realized how big and brown his eyes are…I guess cause they kinda shrink up when he laughs or smiles…god, his face is so close, I just want to….I just want to remember what I was gonna say, that's it…
Quickly catching himself, he hid his moment of disorganization, hoping the boy he was wrapped up against didn't see it. "Hmm, not really, I mean, six hours of class plus three more of dance boot camp always gets me energetic." The way his words slurred together in a tired mumble didn't help his attempt at staying awake. A small half-smile tugged at a corner of Nick's lips.
"Oh I know, I feel like I could go and bike across all of Siberia right now if I really wanted to." Jeff rolled his eyes, but couldn't help smiling a bit at his sarcasm. Nick just shrugged in response, so the blonde turned his dwindling attention back to the screen. The soft, steady rhythm of Nick's heartbeat quickly entranced him near to sleep. Before his tired brain let him pass out, however, one thought pushed to the front of his mind. Pressing his nose into the other boy's hard chest, he mumbled incoherently into his gray t-shirt, the movie all but forgotten.
Nick stifled a laugh, hoping the movement of his torso wouldn't disrupt the blonde. Subconsciously, he brushed Jeff's hair out of his closed eyes, resting his hand on Jeff's cheek as he softly spoke into his ear.
"Jeff, I'm sure you just said something super interesting, but I do regret to inform you that my ears aren't in my sternum." The sleepy boy grinned, raising his head up in a way that suggested it took much more effort than it actually did.
"I said, I love you, Nick. And I love sleeping on you. You're really comfy, kinda like a really big teddy bear…except you don't squish when I squeeze you…" He trailed off, tightening his grip around Nick's middle, relishing the warmth that seemed to spread all around him.
Yeah, I could get used to this…..
Wait, what?
Nick smiled down at the boy whose pillow he'd become. Not that he minded, they pretty much always fell asleep like this during a movie night. His slurred speech was as endearing as always, and it never failed to make Nick think about how the blonde would be when he was drunk….not drunk like he got at Warbler parties, but really wasted. For some reason, that thought was always amusing to him. Pushing it aside, he linked his hands together around the other boy's waist, totally enveloping him as Jeff tried to pull himself closer. Nick whispered his response, half expecting him to already be unconscious.
"I love you too, Jeff…." Without even thinking about it, he pressed a soft kiss into his light blonde hair. A corner of Jeff's mouth slid up into a smile as his breathing evened out, signaling that he really was asleep. Nick's own sleep-muddled mind finally processed what had just happened.
I love you, Nick.
I love you, Jeff.
…..what?
I love fluff, just in case you couldn't tell :)
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