"How on earth is anyone supposed to get through these vast amounts of work, seriously?", Jeff asked, trying to find his way around the work.

"Well, if you had started a little bit earlier you would not sit here right now. You could come and cuddle.", Nick said smirking.

Jeff hit Nick with the second last paper he had to hand in by the next day. He was only a few pages away from finishing his work for half of the year. Jeff knew by now that Nick was one of the few people that didn't put off their work and he had already finished and proof read any paper he had to do, as well as having done all his manual work. Jeff adored this kind of enthusiasm and consistency, especially, because he was belonging to the majority of people starting in the last possible moment. He was amazed at how far he had come in the last week, having finished the heaviest load of work he ever done. "I know, I'm stupid, but we will be able to cuddle for as long as you want from tomorrow morning, okay? I need to finish this and then we have all time in this world.", Jeff said, giving Nick a quick kiss on his cheek and going back to work fast, typing at high speed.

Nick frowned ,"You know that that will be all the time, till infinity don't you?", he said grinning.

Jeff stopped again for a moment, then he smiled, "I have no problem with that whatsoever." Nick hugged him and Jeff had to remember how important it was what he was doing, to get back to work.

The next morning, Jeff had really finished at the last moment and had printed the paper out, only minutes before he had to leave. Nick had made him breakfast to take with him, while he ran to campus, handing in the paper just a few minutes before the deadline.

He and Nick enjoyed the free time. They were both revising and working at the same times every day, so they could make the best out of their free time together and they used it on their favourite museums, movies and concerts. One night they were sitting in front of the TV, Nick had cooked some fried rice and they both finished their plate when Nick spoke up. "Jeff?"

Jeff still felt this little electric shock down his spine, when Nick started talking. "Yes, love."

Nick grinned. "Well, we have some more free time, don't we."

Jeff was confused, what did Nick try to talk about? "Yeah, we do...", Jeff said slowly.

"You know, on Wednesdays and Fridays a supervisor is at my school, and we are allowed to practise... I need one more patient for my records for one of the tasks and I thought I could give you a good cleaning and a quick exam and...", Nick said, sounding excited.

Jeff froze. That had been the reason why he had hesitated dating Nick. He knew that the day would come where Nick would try convincing him to do this. He had dreaded the day Nick would find out about his fear and his abstinence of the dentist and he would be even more convinced of giving Jeff a check up. The worst thing was, Jeff knew that he had a problem on more than one tooth. From what the could see in the mirror he knew that he had at least three cavities and from the occasional waves of pain he was pretty certain that he had at least two other problems. And the last thing he wanted was for Nick to find out. But he had figured out a plan for this situation from the moment they had met. Jeff knew that it would only be a matter of time, till Nick found out about his phobia, and it had been going fine for longer that he had expected, but now the dreaded moment had come. "Ahm... I think we should not do this...", Jeff said, leaving a pause.

Nick took his hand. "Jeff, are you scared?", Nick asked and Jeff blushed. This was going as expected.

Jeff nodded. "A little. I am just not to confident on dentists, Nick. And I think I am not too keen on you doing it." Jeff knew that he would hurt Nick with the lack of believe in him. What he also knew was, that it was rubbish. Nick was great at what he was doing, he was close to finishing his third year of dental school and Jeff would hate it with every one. He would freak out, not dependent on their level of education. But he hoped it would be a convincing reason for Nick to bag off.

Nick nodded understandingly. Jeff felt bad. He made Nick believe that he did not have trust in him, even though that was more than untrue. But he knew that it was the easiest way. At least for now. "Okay...", Nick said, "I will find someone else."

Jeff wished he could help Nick. But this was not a situation in which Jeff would be a good help. Not this one.

I will tell you a secret, Jeff will not be able to hide forever :D

Well, you knew that, didn't you? I hope you like how it turned out, I enjoyed writing this chapter :)