Hello again ~
Second holiday week so yes, you get a Tuesday chapter :)
First part of Regionals is here, hope you'll enjoy it.
Oh! And, even though we're sliiiightly behind our timeline in the story, today is (this) Jeff's birthday, so give him some Nutella or cookies or condoms, idk, what you think he needs. XD
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or the many Doctor Who references I use in this story. (because mostly all my characters appear to have seen it more than I did after all). Also, I don't even own a jar or Nutella.
You make my dreams - Hall & Oates
(Is it you make my dreams or you make my dreams come true...?)
Chapter 12 – Bow ties and Hiccups
"So..."
"Yeah..."
"Um..."
"Hungry?"
He took the other half of the sandwich without questioning it and waited until the other had finished his glass of orange juice. Nothing had died yet, not even them; maybe they had a chance. At first, Nick thought they were headed for the garden or the cafeteria, but Jeff walked right past him and started ascending the stairs. Was he supposed to follow? Looking at the sandwich, he guessed so, but he couldn't be sure after four hours of sleeping.
"Can I come over?" Nick asked at the foot of the stairs, making the other turn to look at him.
"I thought you were," Jeff blinked behind his glasses and the other's body immediately eased up, a smile playing on his lips now. Come on, it's not that bad. See?
"Is this new?" he pointed at the flat screen once they reached Jeff's room.
The dorm was strangely empty, but it was understandable, since only the Warblers had been dismissed from class in order to prepare some more for the weekend's contest. Only the odds were in their favour that Wes was asleep for the day. Maybe he was saving his last breath for the next day, when they were still free of any classes; something was telling them they were not going to enjoy it even a bit.
Jeff glanced at the television, then got two cushions from a drawer. "Yeah," he smiled. "Wanna try it?"
"Does it have multi-player?"
"It should," Jeff fiddled with his controller, gasping in delight when his words had proven to be true.
For around ten minutes, they played quietly, each trying to find the rules of the game without looking over the manual. All in all, it wasn't that hard. Even Nick was able to score some points by the end of it. At least Jeff looks better than yesterday, he glanced at his right, at the blond's focused face. It was almost as if nothing had happened. Almost. Jeff finally paused the game.
"Sorry for not helping you yesterday," his gaze lingered a few seconds too long on the brunet's face. They both blinked. "During practice."
"Oh," Nick sighed understandingly. "It's alright. I actually managed the whole number on my own. Twice," he grinned, his heart growing a little lighter at seeing Jeff's face relaxing.
"You're going to be great," he said, looking a little too dreamily at the screen. It was getting close to lunch hour, but he guessed he was going to stay in the dorms a little longer. After that, he was going to practice his solo some more, at David's request.
Come on, Nick, just spill it out. He had already said it once. This is the least you can do. But Nick couldn't. He only gazed at Jeff as the blond refused to make eye contact yet and hoped that they will develop some psychic powers soon. Really, why did they usually seem to come when they didn't need them?
Too soon he had been to judge the Power, it seemed, as Jeff, a few thoughts later, gave distinct signs that he was about to talk. You'd better brace yourself, Nick, the brunet inhaled deeply, waiting for the other to find his words. Yes or No. Yes or no what? He was in no position to see things in black and white. Whether you like him or not, idiot, the voice rang again, for the first time causing a disapproving sound in his mind. Was his brain being finally an ally? It's Jeff, he managed to explain before said person shuffled again.
The blond looked at the floor in front of them, lighted by the spring sun outside. "Was yesterday foolish?" he might as well have whispered, as in a self-induced state of dreamland. He couldn't stay there for long, though.
Staring at his face as if waiting for him to shift his eyes and make contact, Nick shook his head a little too fast.
"I thought you should know. People can like you like that..."
In itself, that did make a little more sense, Nick thought, remembering the party. He knew he had been a little too careless with his words back then, but he had never expected them to affect Jeff. Well, you never expected him to like you either and look where we are now. True, but that didn't mean he had to like this atmosphere settled between them at the moment.
"Jeff..." he breathed out softly, hoping for eye contact but still not receiving it.
The blond hugged his knees to his chest loosely, still looking through his eyelashes at the floor, glasses not quite useful anymore. "I know..."
For the first time, Nick sighed loudly, startling him. "No, you don't..." his voice was soft and as amused as his grin.
Before he knew it, Jeff was pulled forward by his friend gently, but not mercifully ruffling his blond hair. The brunet held back only after hearing unmistakeable giggles coming from him.
"Expecto Patronum," Nick chuckled, touching their foreheads briefly and then getting back to his place.
For a moment, Jeff narrowed his eyes at him in wonder, then his smile came back as soon as it clicked. "Yeah, I really thought I'd never be happy again," he then shook his head to force his bangs to get out of his eyes, missing the look Nick was giving him.
If they could just end it at this without having more thoughts to come, it would have been so perfect. But they couldn't, no matter how much he dreaded the next. "I...um, I guess I should give an answer," it was his time to look at his feet now.
One-two-three, it was quiet. Nick raised his eyes to look at Jeff, whose expression was unreadable until his eyes landed on him again. "You can't give me something you don't have," he breathed out, a sad, small smile playing on his lips.
He knew that before you did, washed over Nick's thoughts as he bit his lip. That was true, but how could he agree without making it sound so harsh? He felt like there was an escape route, but he couldn't possibly reach it now.
He nodded. "I don't...yet."
Jeff pushed his glasses back on his nose and returned his eyes to the flat screen. "It's okay, it will pass," he retrieved his controller, waiting for Nick to do the same, but he didn't. He frowned; this was not the moment to get hopeful.
"I'll...," Nick started without knowing what he was going to say – if he was going to say anything at all – but then saw Jeff offering him the controller, poker-faced.
After staring at each other for a couple of seconds, the brunet leant it and placed a small kiss on Jeff's cheek, grabbing the controller before it had the chance to fall from his hand. He could almost see him counting to three before starting the game again, still trying to suppress a smile.
o0o0o
Two days can take someone very far. One can land in another country, get married, even save the Universe in two days. The Dalton Warblers, however, only got as far as the front schoolyard, exhausted after two full days of sleeping and practice (both can tire someone up) under the hawk eyes of their beloved council member.
"Look at them," Wes stood with his arms crossed over his chest, uniform immaculate while the others still lingered in shirts or hoodies, planning to get changed once they reached the location. David gave them a look and laughed at his friend as he gave him his backpack.
"Relax, Wesley, else you'll have a heart attack before graduating. Which, by the way, is in two months."
"Mediocre," the other stated, but his figure was evidently more carefree. "Okay, get a grip, you geese! Get in the bus already, it's late!"
"It's 7 am!" a few whined, the rest being too asleep to even do that.
"Exactly! You don't want to land directly on stage, do you? Get up!"
"Whoa, captain, such power," Thad laughed beside him, getting pleasure from the poisonous daggers that were thrown his way.
"You'll be first," Wes muttered, instantly having the other's face fall.
Thad scoffed and looked around. "You think I don't know? The way I had to hunt him down the hallways for a chance to practice...I only hope he remembers the lyrics," he narrowed his eyes at their ex-main soloist.
"He'd better, else I'll make sure it remains on his record. UP!" The council turned in place too and, after shoving the last few Warblers in the bus, got inside too.
o0o0o
"Wes! The rooms are too small!"
Right.
"Weeees! The beds are uncomfortable!"
Left.
"David! Tell Wes the balcony is too narrow!"
Diagon Alley.
"Thad, go away!"
Somebody pushed the teen outside of the room. He stumbled over a couple others back in the hallway. The few who were not complaining could barely comprehend how the hotel personel didn't pour gasoline on them and set them on fire yet.
"Wes! Do we really have to stay here?"
"The neighbours are too noisy, Wesley!"
And if the Warblers were bad on their own, it was nothing compared to how it was now, when they were sharing the floor with the other two music groups too. To add to that, none of them had settled in their rooms yet. Maybe the other private school, Eckhart Academy, was almost done, but that didn't mean its students didn't run up and down the hallway, looking for some mobile signal. Or whatever.
The ones from McKinley, however, were horrendous. Judging by the fact that they were the smallest group there – 12, added a member just to have the required number for the competition –, Wes had expected them not to be a problem. He was, in the end, mistaken. The Warblers had reached a total of twenty in the past few years and Eckhart was settled in three whole rooms and still made less noise.
"How are you coping?" David leant near Wes' crouching form on the floor where the boy was doing everything he could not to rip out his hair in that chaos.
"Like I'm dealing with twenty 5-year-old Hollywood brats. The usual," he groaned and grabbed his best friend's arm as he got up. "I want ten of you in each room," he raised his voice hopelessly in the noise, having only three or four people listening to him, then turned to leave. "I'll see if they can give us more rooms."
"Useless. I tried. This is all they've got for us," David smiled a little at the mad crowd.
Very few people knew what they were doing in that hallway full of bags and luggage (seriously, who brought luggage for a two-day trip?), but the council members could see some of their group being pushed in their two assigned rooms by Nick and Mark, their freshman beatboxer. While the latter was taller than most of them and could make himself clear regarding his intention of clearing the way, Nick had some trouble not being squished by the ones he had supposedly told to get inside a room, any room.
Three doors closed with a loud clank and then a fourth, but this one with less luck, as it had been opened again with the same force. Well, at least the Eckhart students were safe now. This remained between Dalton and McKinley now.
"Excuse me, but we were here first," a short girl made her way towards Wes and David, who were still staying out of the mess. "And we need that room," he pointed, her tone a little too dramatic for the boys to keep a straight face, at the door in the far left of the corridor, the second one appointed to them.
"All rooms are the same," Wes raised an eyebrow at her, hands in his pockets as she frowned.
"You don't understand," she inhaled, an involuntary smile on her lips as she spoke slower. "We need that room. I need that room. It's good luck if you see the sunrise before a competition."
The two exchanged a look, then returned their eyes to her. "Then we're fortunate we got it first," David grinned without expecting her fiery gaze afterwards.
"This is war," she closed her hands in fists and stalked off, mumbling. "As if Rachel Berry needs luck to win this competition."
"What was that?" Thad appeared with Trent behind the other two and looked at the girl's figure returning to the bedlam.
David laughed. "Rival wanting to duel for our room. We would've showed her, but we felt pity."
"Yeah," Wes breathed, advancing towards the crowd. "Lucky she was cute," he barely mumbled, but his three friends hadn't missed it and exchanged a look.
o0o0o
"Well, this is weird," Aaron looked at the piece of paper stuck to the front door of the auditorium
Nick tilted his head. "And here I thought I understood wrong."
"I thought they were only going to have the ending ceremony in a different day...So, still day two?" the taller blond glanced at his with grey-blue eyes.
The brunet nodded. "Still day two. It will all depend on what the other teams decide. Whether they leave their winning performance for the second day or not." To say he was nervous was a big understatement. He was frightened.
"What do you mean?" The quick turn of the other soloist startled Nick. "You're our second weapon. The only bad thing that can happen to us in day two is being beaten by the judges for not using you sooner."
"If you say so...We'd better get going, they're getting ready for their first number," he pointed at the students of the other Academy running past them in flows of dark, creamy materials. Maybe they were hoping to get bonus points for their costumes.
"See, another stupidity!" Aaron threw his hands in the air, following the shorter Warbler. "They make us take turns for each song now!"
o0o0o
How to knock someone off their feet in three easy steps. No, scratch that, one was enough. When he had first accepted being there to help them, he had expected something like handling water bottles or snacks, not almost two dozen blazers thrown on him.
"Miles, are you okay?" Jeff grabbed two of them, just enough to see his friend's irritated eyes.
"Exquisite," he grumbled in the fabric and was just on his way to pour the rest of the clothes on top of the blond when the same one gave the blazers back, almost making him fall on his back. "Jeff!"
"Sorry, Wes is calling!" the blond said from a distance and ran to the group of people getting ready for their performance in a few minutes.
How could they not have a clothes hanger behind the fudging scene? Looking around, the redhead only saw the other two teams, strolling around like peacocks, a couple of occupied couches and a few girls from Eckhart having their frilly clothes fitted. Was that velvet? It was pretty.
And talking about that... He tilted his head out of the mass of blazers in his arms and gazed at the one taking care of said clothes. They brought a designer with them? What is wrong with the world? However, at a closer look, the one who was carefully pinning the colourful ruffles with ball-point needles proved to be no older than him or the others.
One dress done, that short-haired girl got up and glanced for the briefest second at him or through him. Either ways, he felt the need to look away. Bad choice, he drowned in material and, to add to that, had missed the double take of the girl at the same time.
"Need a hand?" The voice was unknown, but sounded safe, so he looked at its source, finding a pair of dark brown eyes.
"U-Um..."
Tongue tied, he simply balanced the blazers some more until the girl took half of them in her arms and made him follow her to a hidden place behind some ceiling-high panels. Drama club? Well, they were in a school.
"T-thanks..." he managed to get out when he had his hands free, having dumped the clothes in an old armchair. "Ah!" his eyes widened once they reached her face. Designer girl, designer girl, abort, abort. Why was she still standing there? Why was she smiling? Why did she help him? "Why...," he gulped, their eyes still locked, "do you look like Carey Mulligan?"
She laughed. That was good, right? It was good when a girl laughed, right? He was so dead. Still staring at her, he clenched and unclenched his hands, a thin layer of cold sweat present on them. Couldn't she see he hasn't talked with a girl in God knew how many years? He was a geek for a reason. Oh, God and she's pretty...
She extended a hand, oblivious. "November, nice to meet you," she grinned.
"March...MILES!" he grabbed it without thinking and was surprised at the force with which she shook it while still chuckling.
"Here for help too?" she released his hand and put hers in the pockets of her black shorts. No, he was definitely not going to lower his eyes. He was just going to stare at her face and...bow tie until she left. No harm done for Miles that way.
"Y-yeah, kind of," he rubbed the back of his neck. At least she was shorter than him.
There! She did it again. That smile... "Me too, just in case. I made the costumes," she tilted her head towards her colleagues.
"Really?" he goggled from her to the glee club and only now saw how detailed they were. "That's...amazing."
"Thank you," her eyes wrinkled when she grinned. When did he start being so observant? "I guess it's a pretty useful hobby. What do you like to do?"
"What?" he blinked one too many times.
"I'm just curious," she shrugged rocking on her feet.
Bad question, was the only thing he could hear in his mind. "Not much...reading, playing?"
She took a long gulp of air in her lungs. "Reading's exhausting! I like it! Where do you like to read? Attic? Library? Classroom?"
Why was she so excited? It was only him, after all. Something in the Universe was wrong that day, Miles thought. "Um...my room, mostly. It's more quiet."
"Our school has a HUGE library in which I think I found a few secret passages," she grinned. "But, you know, it's mostly like Silence in the Library," her eyes twinkled at his acknowledgement.
"OhmyGod," escaped him maybe a little too quickly and she giggled before rearranging her dark-green and white bow tie.
"Bow ties are cool."
"Oh, my God." He actually put his hand over his mouth this time and stared for a long time at her, his blue eyes seemingly getting lighter. Then, a waving hand caught his attention. "Shit! Ah...sorry. I gotta go," he waved clumsily and hurried towards his colleagues, listing in his head all the reasons why the former meeting didn't, in fact, take place.
o0o0o
"Jeff."
Come on, it's only three people between us. The presenter had chosen to make his speech, not at the beginning of the competition, but now, exactly before their first number. They were a little cramped too, waiting to get up on stage, but this was the only song all of them were going to perform together. After a few years in which they had trouble directing their constantly growing numbers of people, they had finally got to the point when they only rarely sent more than twelve people on stage. Quality over quantity.
"Jeff!" he raised his voice once the applause began and the blond finally looked at him. Oh, wait... "Glasses?" he blinked, only now realising that his friend missed them.
"Contacts," Jeff mouthed, grinning, then clasped his hands together. Right, there was the danger of them breaking up there, taking into consideration their choreography.
"Good luck," Nick smiled right before they were called. Without sparing any other word, the blond winked and hurried to his place on the stage, behind the drop curtain.
What's with all these people? Nick blinked when the curtain was raised. There were undoubtedly a lot more than the year before. Who knew? Maybe glee clubs were getting popular again. The Warblers stood behind, starting the song without moving. From the corners of his eyes, Nick could see Thad and Aaron staying on opposite endings of the stage, hidden from view. Any minute now. Go.
"What I want you've got and it might be hard to handle," Aaron strolled on the stage, getting quite a few acknowledging claps (one ought to have that after being lead singer for close to three years). "Like the flame that burns the candle; the candle feeds the flame."
As he was in a constant wonder at how easy it suddenly was for him to respect each step, Nick could see the others moving, perfectly synchronized with each other. Thank God. Yeah, because otherwise Wes was going to kill them with all the spoons he could find in the hotel's cafeteria.
"What I've got's full stock of thoughts and dreams that scatter. You pull them all together and how I can't explain," Thad got on the stage too, fully focused despite all his earlier complaints (which they were sure had settled a record in their club's activity), and joined Aaron at the lead while the rest of them continued the dancing and singing.
"Well, well you," Aaron twirled once (what was with lead singers and twirling), "You make my dreams come true!" Well, at least he was good. Very good, Nick corrected himself. There was no use in denying it.
"Well, well, well you," Thad, for one of his first performances as a main singer, was doing extremely well and the energy he was producing was strangely catching to the public. "You make my dreams come true!"
o0o0o
Fifteen minutes later, they were back where they began. Even the pauses were longer now: they still had 10 minutes to go until it was their turn. The second and last song of the day followed and it wasn't such a pleasure for all of them.
"Man, listen," Miles sat down near Jeff on a low, gym bench and flailed incessantly.
"Can't, Miles," his friend muttered, looking straight ahead with serious eyes and holding his breath without the other knowing.
The ginger shook his head. "No, you have to listen...there's this girl– Oh, God, can you even believe I'm saying something that starts with 'there's this girl'? So, earlier–...Jeff, are you okay?"
Still not moving, the blond shook his head, a tint of pink reaching his cheeks.
"Should...Should I get Nick?" Miles looked panicky around and then Jeff jumped, looking with big, fearful eyes at him.
"Why should you get Ni–hic," he covered his mouth with both hands and hid his face in his knees.
The other's hand hovered over his friend's back, uncertain of what was exactly happening. However, than only lasted until Jeff's body shuddered with another small 'hic' and he laughed, causing him to raise his head again.
"'S not funny," he managed to say before stifling another one and closing his eyes. When he opened them again, his friend was already gone and he groaned. Oh, well, tried to, until another of those bastards was caught in the way. Hic.
"Jeff?"
He cracked an eye open at that voice, leaning back on the wall behind him. Miles had been clever not to come back with Nick. Or not. Didn't he say something about a girl just before?
Jeff simply gestured at his figure before shuddering again. Despite his pleading look, Nick really couldn't suppress his smile as he drew closer, examining his friend's face. He knew what the problem was: a few more minutes until their performance meant a few more minutes until Jeff had to sing. This had to be dealt with very quickly.
"Hiccups?" Nick asked and Jeff whined hopelessly. Hic. "Well, let's see. Have you held your breath?" Jeff nodded. "Drank water?" Same. "Drank water while holding your breath?" the brunet was growing more and more amused and his friend narrowed his eyes menacingly. Hic.
"Nick...soon," Jeff stared with frightened eyes at the stage door.
Hic. Okay, he had to be sombre for a few moments. "If only we could find some sugar around here...Stick out your tongue," he suddenly commanded and Jeff stared at him with wide, glasses-free eyes, nevertheless conforming.
He stayed like that more than a minute without it having any effect. What was this, anyways? He hadn't had hiccups since forever. Why now? Why him? Why wasn't it stopping? Pulling his tongue back, he groaned again, hitting the floor with his feet. Oh. Nick was there. Don't act like a 3-year-old, Jeff.
"Inhale and release your breath reaaaally slowly," Nick crouched in front of him, looking calmly at his face. Well, at least one of them was calm now. It didn't work, however. "Okay," the brunet got up again and came closer. "Close your eyes." Hic.
Fair enough. Jeff did and waited a few seconds before undapper thoughts hit his mind. Oh, God, please tell me it's not a shock therapy. He could only think of one thing and the fact that Nick now touched his face didn't help at all. But then he felt pressure against his eyelids and relaxed. Unless Nick had some bizarre way of kissing, he was safe. You did NOT just think that.
"White specs?" the brunet asked, still pressing with two fingers against his eyes. The other nodded and the pressure was lifted. "Open your eyes, but wait a little..." As soon as Jeff opened his eyes and blinked rapidly, Nick's face grew a little paler. "Oh, God, please tell me you weren't still wearing contacts and I just...are you okay?" he spluttered very fast, taking a place on the bench, at his left.
"No, it's...it's good. I took them out, they were uncomfortable," he blinked some more and then looked around. "Is there still time?" Nick only smiled. "What?"
"Nothing. It's stopped, that's all," a grin spread across his face and then it hit Jeff too. "But no, we've ran out of time. Let's go," he grabbed his sleeve and made their way to the stage.
Shameless Weschel.
Shameless subplots.
A special batch of cookies for NiffLover396 who seems to be enjoying this very much XD.
The next chapter is supposed to be brought in on Saturday...if I start working on it again. Oh, well...
Next chapter (!) ...er...Saturday. XD Yeah...Saturday...
Thank you ~
