It's a few weeks later and the two boys are tucked up under a blanket watching Aladdin. Nicky didn't used to like it that much, but it's JJ's absolute favourite and he actually kinda likes it now. Nicky doesn't care what they watch really, he just likes that he's watching something with a friend. JJ's bobbing his head along with the music and Nicky giggles quietly, pulling the blanket up to his nose to try to muffle it a little bit more.
It doesn't work and JJ hears him and grins and before he knows it, Nicky's pulled up onto his feet and they're dancing and singing along to A Whole New World. They both know all the words, Nicky singing Aladdin's part and JJ singing Jasmine's as they rush around Nicky's bedroom pretending to fly on a magic carpet.
Nicky's surprised how much more fun it is to sing with someone else, and JJ's as good at singing as he is, the two of them bouncing on the bed, JJ circling round him with the blanket until they're both entirely tangled in it and they fall with a bump onto the floor, just about managing to get out the last few words of the song.
The TV clicks off, and JJ's suddenly very quiet and very close and Nicky feels just a tiny bit nervous.
"You and me. Because I'm your best friend, right?" Nicky asks quietly, and although he's pretty sure of the answer, he just wants to make absolutely sure that they're friends, that this isn't something he's made up in his head and JJ's not really his friend at all.
JJ nods solemnly, blond hair falling in front of his eyes as he tugs at the blanket wrapped around Nicky, eventually freeing him. They sit for a little while, just looking at each other, JJ taking in Nicky's dark hair, that little flick at the back that always seems to escape his mummy's attempts to keep him neat and tidy, the bruises across the skin of his shins where the boys at school trip him up. JJ wishes he could stop them but he knows that he can't.
Nicky is the one to break the comfortable silence as he nudges JJ, snapping him out of his daydream.
"Why is Aladdin your favourite? I mean, I thought you liked Timon and Pumbaa the best."
JJ bites his lip as he considers his answer for a little bit, fingers fiddling with the hem of his t-shirt before he starts to speak.
"I do like Timon and Pumbaa the best of everything, but I really like how, in Aladdin, he has all these... big dreams and it doesn't matter than he's kinda poor and that it's all in his head because he absolutely knows he'll get them." JJ hesitates, looking at Nicky, then starts speaking again, "Then there's this... genie, this awesome guy who's his best friend ever and he's magical and he makes everything Aladdin ever wanted come true and then Aladdin does the perfect thing and sets him free because they're best, best friends and... and no one wants their best friend to be sad and trapped..."
Nicky's looking at JJ like he's never seen him before. He seems so wise, so grown up for a six year old, to know all of that about a cartoon that Nicky only really watched for Abu the monkey, before him and JJ were friends anyway. He's suddenly very glad that his mummy said JJ could stay over because all he wants to do is watch Aladdin over, and over and over and over again until he knows every word. Even though he doesn't quite understand why JJ loves the genie so much, that's exactly what they do, curled up on the sofa until they fall asleep.
When Nicky wakes up the next day, he's curled up in his bed, the sheets pulled up almost over his head. His daddy must have found him asleep on the sofa and carried him into bed. Nicky smiles, and snuggles a little closer to the pillow he has his arms wrapped around, before realising that the pillow's wriggling back at him.
He blinks, trying to clear the sleep from his eyes, starting back when he sees that it's JJ he has his arms tight around, his front pressed against JJ's back. JJ's giggling as he wriggles backwards, edging Nicky closer and closer to the side of the bed until he's pressed up against the wall, trapped between the blue wallpaper and JJ's pink pyjamas.
Nicky grins and is unable to stop himself laughing as JJ collapses in a fit of giggles on the bed, rolling around and clutching his stomach, his blond hair messy from sleep. JJ eventually stops and sprawls back out across the sheets, looking up at Nicky where he sits against the wall with the blankets pulled up over him.
"Let's stay like this forever, k?"
Nicky nods, but he knows that the weekend's nearly over, and soon he'll have to go back to school, back to sitting alone in the classes they don't share, back to trying to avoid the other boys at recess and lunchtime.
Suddenly JJ's hand is in his, and they're running down the stairs for breakfast, all thoughts of school banished from Nicky's head. After all, they've still got a whole Sunday to play.
