Another week had passed, making it now two weeks since Nick and Jeff had accidentally kissed in Warbler practice, and the suggestive looks had finally started to die down. Of course, some of the boys that were closer to the pair still gave them grief about it, namely Trent and Kurt, but it didn't bother them. They knew the two dark haired boys were just being silly.
Friday Warbler practice was really being a drag, as it always was, because really, who didn't have somewhere they'd rather be on a Friday afternoon? Per usual, Nick and his blonde accomplice were stirring the pot that was Wes's temper. The Asian boy was really hoping the Uptown Girl incident would have deterred them from their goofy and disruptive ways for at least a little longer, but of course there was no such luck. The council had turned to each other in discussion about who they wanted to sing lead in You Give Love a Bad Name. Sure, Bon Jovi was a little weird for the Warblers to be doing, but they were just about out of top 40 songs. As the three at the desk mumbled importantly among themselves, the rest of the room did likewise. Turning to make an offhand comment to his friend, Jeff shut his mouth when he realized Nick was asleep. Frowning slightly, he raised an eyebrow at the sleeping boy, mischievous ideas creeping into his mind.
Man, he really can sleep anywhere, in a textbook, on the floor, and now during practice? How does that even work? Maybe he's built up an immunity to the gavel or something….I need to figure out how to do that.
He experimentally shoved Nick's shoulder, smirking when he didn't even stir. Shifting on the couch, Jeff moved to get a better angle on the brunette's body, trying to push him onto the floor. Trent snickered from Nick's other side when his efforts were unsuccessful. Frowning, he tried again, yelping when he found himself pinned sideways to the furniture under a very amused Nick. Deeming his efforts at escape useless, Jeff stuck his neck over the other boy's shoulder, fixing him with his best impression of Kurt's bitch face. Unfortunately, those expressions were a little less intimidating when you're very stuck under your best friend's back. Nick's face was the picture of innocence, like nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Trent hid his mouth in his hand, trying not to laugh and interrupt the spectacle on the other side of the couch.
"Is there anything I can help you with, good sir?" Jeff rolled his eyes, wriggling slightly to free a hand and brush his hair out of his face.
"Oh, no, nothing at all, sir, it's just that maybe I would like to spend rehearsal somewhere other than under you? D'you think that could happen, maybe?" Nick pretended to think for a second before shaking his head, grinning when the blonde pretended to spit out the hair that had tickled his face. "Yeah, as much as I adore the taste of your hair, I can't say I want to eat it for dinner. Thanks, though." His voice dripped with amused sarcasm.
"Anytime, mon ami. But, you may want to get comfy, because this is what you get for trying to push me into a table while I was sleeping. You may be a good dancer, but you can't really push stuff around." Nick was all too cheery about the whole thing, a problem Jeff was only too happy to fix. Shuffling around again to free his other hand, the blonde grinned evilly at his captor.
"Wait a second, I don't like that face, that's never a good face fo-AH, DAMMIT JEFF!" Nick's wary ramblings were quickly brought to an end as Jeff tickled him, which really only accomplished getting the blonde even further stuffed into the furniture. Stopping his attack, he tried to push Nick off him again, still unsuccessful.
"Ow, Nick, I still need my kidneys, thank you very much! C'mon, just let me up, I think internal damage is fair payment for a bad try at knocking you off a couch." When Nick pretended to think about letting him up, Jeff jabbed him in the side again, this time shooing him in the right direction. Peeling himself out of the leather furniture, he smirked triumphantly at Nick as Trent let out a snort.
"Sorry, sorry, you two just act like such a couple it's hilarious that you aren't actually together!" Some of the other Warblers, who'd also been watching them, giggled along with him. Silent messages flicked between the pair, and their incredulous faces were replaced by identical expressions of innocence.
"Why Trent, what would ever make you think we were a couple?" Jeff's long fingers casually twined with Nick's on the couch, both boys totally ignoring it and loving the fact that Trent didn't realize he was being messed with. "I certainly couldn't think of anything, could you, Nicky?"
Nick shrugged, taking his hand back and nonchalantly putting it around the blonde's waist. "Nope, nothing comes to mind." Trent just laughed and gestured vaguely at how they were touching.
"But, I mean, come on, nothing? You expect me to believe that nothing's going on with you two? Please, you two give love a bad name if you aren't together already." Wes's bored voice interjected, which was probably good; both Nick and Jeff were trying really hard not to laugh at their friend's inability to see a joke.
"Trent, they're messing with you. Like they do every week, isn't that right?" Jeff tried to disguise a laugh as a sneeze.
"Don't act like you don't like it, Wes, we keep you young, remember?" Wes just narrowed his eyes, telling them to shut it for what must've been the 17th time that day. "Alright, alright, we'll back off….if it'll get it out of here sooner." Jeff muttered the last part under his breath, forcing Nick to pass off his laugh as a cough. He raised his free hand in surrender, which seemed to please the council well enough. Jeff shuffled out of Nick's embrace, watching the council as they seemed to interrogate him with a look. Nick stared at his hands, desperately trying to shove away that mysterious feeling he always got when the blonde would separate himself from him.
Shut up, brain, I don't need this right now. I don't care how well he fits up against me, this is not the time for resounding internal conflict.
"If no one else has anything to say, we'll get back to business. The Bon Jovi lead will go to Warbler Jeff, despite his disruptive practices. I think that's the last thing on the list, so you all may now feel free to vamoose." David grabbed the gavel before it hit the table, earning a few groans from those who'd already made to leave.
"Hey, calm down, y'all are actually gonna want to hear this one. Warbler party with the Crawford ladies Saturday night, you boys in?" Expressions of boredom perked up at the word "party," nodding their approval vehemently. "Alright, tomorrow night, at that shack we call a gym, and don't try to scare the lovely ladies away this time, Kurt, not all of us are gay." Kurt smirked, but nodded. Last time the Crawford show choir had joined them for a party, they didn't seem to accept the fact that Kurt really was gay, so he may have exploded a little bit. "That's it! Scurry on, then." The resounding crack of the gavel released the tired boys. Jeff jumped up, his dark green eyes flashing with excitement.
"Ooh, finally, another chance for me to get you drunk and in that tree! I'd been wondering when the next party would be, I've been coming up with all kinds of ways to get Nicky to commune with nature a little bit. Don't give me that "nature hates me" crap, enough alcohol can fix any relationship, even your sucky one with Mother Nature." The blonde pulled his reluctant friend off the couch, absentmindedly keeping their fingers loosely laced together as they headed back to their room. Nick laughed, peering out one of the many windows at the monstrosity that dared to call itself a tree.
"No, Jeff you are definitely not gonna get me up there. Seriously, I'd like, light the school on fire or something."
Jeff's argument was cut off by Trent crashing into the two from behind, slinging his arms over their shoulders. They jumped, and then just stared quizzically at the boy's excited face.
"HA, I knew it! You two are a thing! I totally called that like three weeks ago, FYI." Trent was loveable, but his over-the-top-ness didn't always jive.
"What the heck, Trent, we're not together. We really were just messing with you earlier, I promise."
Trent was undeterred, circling around so he was in front of the two, stopping them in their tracks. Crossing his arms over his chest, he just raised an eyebrow at their hands, which were still lazily linked together.
"Then what is that, then?"
The pair sprung apart like their hands had been lit on fire, awkwardly staring at their feet and flushing dark red. Trent just looked at them knowingly, somewhat shocked when Nick actually wasn't too embarrassed to speak, his tone sending a clear come on, you know better message.
"Trent, you know we do stuff like that all the time, don't blow it into something it's not."
Judging by Jeff's awkward shuffling and staring at the ground, Nick could tell he really did not want to be there having that conversation. Trent didn't seem like he was going anywhere without a satisfactory explanation, so he improvised.
"Look, if you want a story, go ask Blaine, I think he has an imagination. Seriously, man, don't go making stuff up in your head, that's like, never worked out for anyone." Flashing an all-too-cheery smile at Trent, Nick took the blonde's hand again and tugged him off towards their dorm hall. Seeing Trent mosey off in the direction of the dining hall, they both relaxed a little bit. The walk back to the room was quiet, but not awkward. Walking hand in hand around campus was something they did with surprising frequency, and the other boys were used to it by now, not that anyone was milling around school at five on a Friday afternoon.
Dropping their soon-to-be-neglected homework on a bed, Jeff immediately ditched his blazer and tie in the pile of uniform pieces, which only seemed to grow these days. Nick stared contemplatively into hyperspace.
So…if there's legitimately nothing going on here, then why did we both freak out when Trent suggested there was? Wow, I really kinda wish that kiss hadn't happened in front of the guys. Not in front of an audience, that's fine….wait a second, where did that come from? God, brain, just make sense for a second, please? Moving on….I better apologize for Trent…Jeff probably knows he was just being himself…whatever.
"….Nick? What'cha thinking about?" Blinking back to reality, Nick found two curious green eyes peering at him.
"What? Oh, yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about how off Trent is, thinking we were a couple, you know?" Awkwardly, he stared at his shoes while fiddling with a button on his blazer, missing the momentary disappointment that flashed across Jeff's eyes. Quickly stuffing that feeling back where it came from, Jeff grasped his friend's shoulders, making him look up at him. He hesitated for a second, seeing a weirdly familiar expression in the other boy's deep brown eyes, but shook it off when it vanished just as quickly as it had appeared.
"Yeah, it's okay though, it was just Trent being himself."
See, he does get it.
"So….are we still good?"
The glowingly real smile Jeff saw was response enough to know that Trent hadn't driven an awkward stake between them. Nick's arms wrapped around his waist, and Jeff felt the familiar warmth of his best friend envelop him as they hugged, both boys seeming to lose track of time. Sometime later, Nick set his hands on the blonde's hips, gently pushing him back enough to leave a single, soft kiss on his cheek. Sighing happily at the feeling of just being this close to another person, Jeff rubbed his nose against the other boy's cheek before extracting himself from the embrace.
God, Nick…..
….no, we're just platonic. Shut up, teenage brain, I don't need your input.
Brushing a nonexistent hair out of his face, Nick smiled again at the blonde before slipping away, muttering something about homework before the party tomorrow. Humming affirmatively, Jeff fished his iPod out of a drawer, replacing it with his white uniform shirt. Throwing on Nick's fight club sweatshirt, he flopped down on one of the beds, Maroon 5's Misery playing from his headphones, thinking about how ironic it was to have a fight club sweatshirt. Of course, the only words printed on it were "FIRST RULE OF FIGHT CLUB: Don't talk about fight club," but still, it seemed kind of silly to advertise something illegal.
Whatever. I just know I'm never getting one of these….who knew Blaine packed such a punch? I swear, though, Nick's gonna hurt himself down there…or someone else, more likely. As Flint was so nice to point out on Monday, he does have some firepower on his side…OKAY, that's enough, Jeff, just think about cheese or something random….hey, if you thought of cheese while someone was taking pictures of your brain, would it be smiling?
Nick falling on the bed next to him startled the blonde out of his thoughts. Looking him up and down, he raised an eyebrow as he realized what Jeff was wearing.
"Did you seriously join fight club and not tell me, or is that mine?"
Jeff flipped onto his stomach, showing the "DUVAL" printed across the back. Nick laughed, picking up the other headphone dangling from Jeff's head. "Good, you wouldn't last a second down there, as we've already seen." He winked playfully at the blonde's indignant expression, which soon faded to resignation.
"Yeah, I know, I think I'm just gonna stay with the dancing thing, it's less painful."
Nick breathed a laugh, digging an obscenely thick Trig packet out of his French textbook, quickly absorbed by the equations that really made no sense to anyone else.
Not ten minutes later, Jeff was asleep, face buried in his arms.
Finally being able to sleep in on Saturday was awesome, but it made the party seem to come even quicker, much to Nick's dismay. He loved parties with the Warblers and the Crawford girls, but was a little apprehensive about Jeff's promise to get him in on the drunken dare record. Resigning himself to whatever the night would hold, he flipped up the volume on their iPod speakers, the sounds of the Wicked soundtrack filling the room as he fished around for clothes that weren't part of the uniform.
The music floated in to the shower, where Jeff started excitedly singing along to Dancing Through Life. The blonde was almost overly hyped for that night; he was determined to either get Wes to do something stupid, or get Nick to embarrass himself in the tree like everyone else had. Still humming with Christopher Fitzgerald, he stepped out of the shower, grinning at how the steam and foggy mirror made his reflection super weird. Pulling on a white v-neck and dark blue jeans, he shook water out of his hair like a puppy, laughing to himself when he saw how it stuck out in random directions. Leaving it, he waltzed out of the bathroom, joining in on A Sentimental Man. Jeff's voice faltered for a second when he caught sight of Nick, who was fiddling with the undone buttons of a black vest. The dark red shirt underneath it clung to his torso like the blazer never could, and it took Jeff a second to find his words.
"Hm, looks like someone's out to get some Crawford ladies, huh?" Jeff wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at Nick, who grinned back.
"Oh, right, 'cause they'll definitely be all over me with the rest of you little vultures there." He peered in the little mirror on the wall, finger-combing his hair to one side. Jeff slid up behind him, clasping his hands across Nick's surprisingly firm middle.
"Oh, don't worry, I think Nicky's gonna have some fun at this party, don't worry." He winked at the brunette in the mirror, who stopped fixing his hair and spun to face Jeff, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I swear, Sterling, I am not ending up in that tree tonight. If I have to stay away from anything alcoholic for the next twelve hours, I will do just that, because there's no way you're gonna get me on Youtube doing something stupid with that monstrosity." Jeff pretended to look intimidated, shrinking back slightly, but keeping his arms where they were.
"Fine, if I promise not to tape anything you may or may not do tonight, will you at least try to have fun? For your favorite blonde?" He pouted slightly, knowing his puppy dog face was all it really took to win Nick over. This time was no different; Nick's threatening eyes were replaced by smiling ones.
"Alright, I will, but just because it's you! Don't think this gives you a loophole to just pass off the camera to someone else, cause that's not what I meant." Jeff frowned at his opportunity being taken away.
"Fine, I promise no one will be taping you tonight. Happy?" Nick reached up and kissed the blonde's forehead.
"Yes. Now go fix your hair…I don't think you'll be picking up any girls if you look like you just stuck your finger in an electric socket." Jeff just rolled his eyes at his friend's grimace at the state of his hair. Releasing the brunette, he set off to find a shirt in one of their horribly disorganized drawers, settling on a light blue plaid button-down. Returning to the bathroom, he set to the arduous process of smoothing his wet, spiky hair down, mind drifting to what loopholes he could slip by a soon-to-be very drunk Nick.
Even from a distance, the two could hear loud bass beats pulsing out of the practice shack, which was conveniently near the empty classroom halls, away from where anyone annoyable would be. Slipping in through the cracked back door, it took a second for them to see anything through the white lights flashing in time with the music. Once his eyes adjusted, Nick saw Blaine and Kurt making their way through the sporadically placed people. Surprisingly enough, Blaine already looked slightly impaired; an illusion that was only made worse by the red plastic cup in his hand and the way he shamelessly looked the two up and down, raising an eyebrow approvingly.
"Nick, Jeff! We were wondering when you two would show up! We've been telling the ladies all about you, so it looks like you already have a little fan club going." Kurt's dainty eyebrows wiggled suggestively, nodding at a group of three or four girls across the gym. Nick sheepishly waved to them, noticing how they already had that predatory look that teenage girls get when combined with alcohol and talented, attractive guys. They giggled and turned to each other, murmuring excitedly. Jeff was too busy staring at the ceiling, trying to see if whatever lived up there had decided to hang out for the party. Apparently not.
"Um, thanks, I guess? We're gonna go start drinking, and see what happens from there….if this guy can bear to stop looking at his precious roof ghosts for a second." Jerked back to earth, the blonde replied adamantly.
"I swear they're not ghosts! Something does live up there, I've seen it before!"
"Mhm, sure, maybe I'll see it once we've been drinking for a few hours." Nick still wasn't convinced there was any kind of life that would willinglytake up residence in the dilapidated shack, but if past experiences were anything to go by, enough liquor sure would make him see it. "C'mon, let's get started on that." He tugged a still indignant Jeff towards the drink table, using his promises of life in the ceiling as an excuse not to meet the eyes of any of the girls whose gaze had locked on them.
An abnormally thin girl in black skinny jeans and a tight, dark blue t-shirt stood at the table, peering at them over the top of a plastic cup. Meeting her thickly lined, ice-blue eyes, Jeff flashed a smile, filling a cup with some mysterious mixture of whatever Wes could successfully bogart from the nearest gas station. No one really knew how strong any of the drinks were, and the variations always made for an interesting night. Nick purposefully kept his gaze on the table as the girl strode over to Jeff, trying to keep himself under the radar. Hearing more giggles from the same flock of girls, he looked up at them, laughing internally when his half-smile made one of them almost blow her drink out her nose.
Hey, Thad was right, faking awkwardness at the beginning does knock them over…
Taking a swig of the night's drink, he made his way over to them, the sharp bite of alcohol overriding any apprehension that had been lingering in the back of his mind.
Two hours and many liters of alcohol later, Jeff sat against a wall of the gym, talking to the girl from the drink table. Her name was Sadie, he was pretty sure of that. They'd been talking about a plethora of different things, the most recent of which being how her choir had a fit when she decided to dye the ends of her long black hair bright blue. Shuffling closer to the blonde, she held the colored hair up against his shirt, long fingers trailing on his chest.
"Hey look, it's almost th'same color as you…your shirt, I mean…" Her words slurred together slightly, which was becoming exponentially more prominent as time passed.
"Oh yeah, lookit that, that's pretty nifty…" Sadie nodded, dropping her hair, but leaving her fingers on his chest, curling them slowly as if to undo one of the buttons. Even in his drunken stupor, Jeff shuffled uncomfortably.
Wait, what? Usually I'm like celebrating if one of the girls will just talk to me, so why do I want her to not do that?
Peering around the room, his gaze locked on Nick, who was sitting on one of the old couches, the four girls from earlier still clinging to him like a flock of geese. Seeing his escape, Jeff jumped on it.
"Hey…I'm gonna go…talk, that's what it is, to that guy…I'll get back to ya later?" Her disappointment was obvious, but missed by the blonde, who was already on his feet and trying to make a straight line over to the couch. Nick saw him on his way, and motioned for Jeff to come sit next to him. Flopping ungracefully on the seat, Jeff looked around the circle of girls whose foggy eyes were now scouring him appreciatively. Nick slung an arm around his shoulders, kissing the blonde's cheek in greeting.
"No we're not together, that's jusss what we do, right, Six?" Jeff nodded, grinning wolfishly at the girls, who either had an expression of confusion or blankness. "Oh right, Jeff, this is Natalie," a short-haired Indian girl, "Tessa," a short, falsely tanned girl with obscenely long brown hair, "Jamie," a long-legged Asian, "and….Micaela." The last girl, a blonde cheerleader-type, snorted and rolled her eyes at Nick's trouble with her name. Jeff opened his mouth to say something, but the music ending and Wes's unforgettable drunken yell of "TRUTH OR DARE, Y'ALL!" forced him to close his mouth. Some of the girls looked disappointed, clearly put out at the lack of time they got to spend with the blonde Warbler.
A small circle of Warblers remained on the floor of the gym another hour later; most of the Crawford girls had split around their curfew. Jeff didn't think they'd make it back anyway, they were too wasted to make any trip in a normal amount of time. So, that left the Warbler guys sprawled in a circle, still going at Truth or Dare. Up until the girls left, the dares had mostly been weird things like running outside screaming obscenities, stuff of that sort, but now that the drinks were settling in and the pressure of having girls around was lifted, the challenges turned a lot more characteristic. Kurt and Blaine had been dared to go to one of the bathrooms and switch shirts, but that had been twenty minutes ago and they hadn't come back yet. No one really noticed, and the few that did didn't care. Nick was mostly tuning it out, as no one had targeted him yet, but Trent's inebriated voice made him pay attention.
"Nick, hey! NIIIIIICK! I…gotsa dare for you…" The evil glint in the other boy's eyes made the brunette a little nervous, but the copious amounts of alcohol in his system forced him to just go with it.
"Alright, whaissit?"
"I want you…..to go climb the big tree! You know, the reeeeeeeeealy huge one?"
"I gotchu…but no, I'm not gonna climb the big tree, that like…never goes well for anyone…..what else d'ya got?"
Trent thought for a second, before a realization hit him and an even eviler expression slid onto his face. Nick groaned internally.
This can't be good.
"I want you….to make out with Jeff!"
Knew it.
Anyone who wasn't paying attention now was, intently so, as Nick looked around for his blonde friend, who was emptying the dregs of their mystery beverage into his cup. Turning back to Trent, Nick shook his head.
"Hell no, man, you know I won'do that."
"Well iss'either you make out with that guy, or you go get your fine ass into that tree, so wha'ss it gonna be, white boy?"
Jeff was standing over them, curiously looking down at the group. "Wha's Nicky have to do or else he gets in the tree? He knows I want him to get in the tree."
Nick stood up, facing the blonde with his body but keeping his eyes trained on Trent. "I really hate you right now, you know that?" Trent winked, laughing into his hands. To Jeff, he explained "He wants us to make out, or I have to go in the tree." Jeff grinned stupidly, setting his cup on the ground.
"Well, Nicky, I said I wouldn't make you go in the tree if you don'want to…at least I think that's what I said…so wha's it matter if we jus'kiss a little?"
Ignoring Trent's excited, fangirl-ish snorts, Nick raised an eyebrow at Jeff, the tiny part of his brain that was still sober reminding him it wouldn't be good to just jump your best friend. "You're sure, blondie?"
Jeff giggled at the name. "Hehe, blondie, I like that one….bu'yeah, I don'care, and c'mon, Nicky, you know you want some of this!" Still grinning drunkedly, Jeff put his arms around Nick's neck, bringing them closer so their chests almost were touching. Before he knew what he was doing, Nick found himself attaching their lips together with a soft growl, lacing one hand into his friend's hair and resting the other on his hip. Totally tuning out the whistles and applause from the equally impaired boys on the ground, Nick's breath caught as he felt Jeff's lips move against his, parting slightly. The sober part of his brain was quickly overridden as that nameless feeling he'd been pushing away all week flared up rampant, taking over his brain and his actions.
Oh god, someone definitely has a video recording right now….oh well…wait, why does this feel so good? Come on, Nick, its Jeff, get this under control or he'll never stop giving you crap about it…
Again, the voice of reason was quickly silenced as his tongue nervously traced Jeff's bottom lip. An unwelcome moan snuck out of the brunette's throat at the taste of his friend, which spurred their audience into more excited noises. Sighing, Jeff allowed Nick's tongue to slide into his mouth, melting into the other boy's frame as the tongue traced the roof of his mouth.
It's just a dare….he's just doing this because he doesn't want to climb the tree….this doesn't mean anything….
…..then why does it feel like it does?
Jeff's thoughts were interrupted (welcomingly so) when Nick released him sometime later…neither one of them knew how long they'd been locked together. The blonde searched his friend's brown eyes, glad that the kiss had temporarily counteracted how much he'd been drinking. Nick cleared his throat awkwardly before meeting Jeff's gaze for a split second, then turned back to the circle. The fleeting second was enough for Jeff to know that Nick's muddled mind had been on similar tracks as his.
Doing his best to clear his racing thoughts, Nick turned back to the circle and flashed a triumphant smile, taking his place on the ground again, joined by Jeff a moment later. "Looks like I'm not gon'be the one in the tree this time, eh Trent?" Trent just grinned like an idiot, looking impressed, slowly nodding at the two. Blinking, he turned his attention to David, startling the rest of the guys back to their fuzzy, alcoholiv earth, with a loud "TRUTH OR DARE, DAVID?" Nick stared at his hands, unable to meet the green gaze he felt boring into the side into of his face.
That was…..interesting. Awesome, I mean? No, no no no no no, not awesome, definitely not enjoyable, it's Jeff, not awkward but not good…
….oh lord, no…
…I'm in love with my best friend.
….the plot thickens ;) so was it the booze, or was it real? You'll have to wait and see, lovelies!
Special thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter: justsayyou'llstay, CheekyBrunette, and fearofpainteddevils. (If I missed you, I'M SORRY, I promise I love you just as much :D)
Edit: wooooo just went back and read through it! So if you're just dropping in, you have nothing to worry about! If not, then neither do you, cause I just messed with how stuff was phrased. No big plot changes, don't worry :)
So, if you want, leave a review, if not, I just hope you liked it! Have a magical day, y'all :)
