"Nick?" Jeff calls, knocking on his bedroom door as he opens it, peeping round into the empty room.
"Jeff! I'm in the shower!" There's a pause. "Stay out there..."
"I'm not a creeper!"
"Yeah, whatever!"
Jeff laughs, placing the bag he's carrying onto Nick's bed.
"I'm just leaving clothes for tonight, ok?"
"Why?" Nick yells, spluttering a little on the water from the shower.
"You'll see!" Jeff yells back, slipping out of the door.
A few hours later Jeff's standing in front of Nick's door once more. He smoothes his hair down across his forehead a final time, then knocks. Nick opens the door, mouth dropping open when he sees Jeff.
"Potter." Jeff says in his very best British accent, maintaining his steely look for as long as he can before grinning. He spins on the spot, arms flung out to show off his Slytherin quidditch robes. "Do you like them?"
Nick laughs, crossing his arms over the chest of his Gryffindor ones.
"They're... they're awesome, Jeff! I just don't understand where you got them!"
"Surely you've learnt by now, Potter," Jeff says, taking his hand and pulling him out of his room, "I have my ways."
Nick rolls his eyes, smiling as he pulls the door shut behind him, walking hand in hand with Jeff down the corridor, raising his eyebrows when they stop outside Kurt's bedroom.
Jeff knocks, waiting, bouncing on his toes, glancing at Nick with a grin.
"Double date." Jeff grins, yelling in excitement when Kurt's door finally opens and Blaine and Kurt pose in front of him, Blaine in yellow and black and Kurt standing with his hands on his hips in blue and bronze.
"Look at you two!"
"Look at you two you mean!" Blaine laughs, "Draco and Harry, together at last!"
Jeff grins, pulling Nick close and wrapping his arm around his waist.
"Cedric and..." Nick raises his eyebrows at Kurt questioningly.
Kurt turns to Blaine. "Um..."
"Roger Davies, obviously!" Jeff and Blaine chorus.
"Oh, obviously..." Kurt rolls his eyes at Nick, smiling.
The four of them walk down the corridor, Jeff and Blaine in front, chatting excitedly about the showing of Goblet of Fire they're going to, Jeff whispering to him about his plans for his and Nick's final date. When they reach the bottom of the stairs Jeff takes Nick's hand again and they walk, the four of them, in line, each of them resplendent in their house colours. Waiting for them all, leaning up against the wall by the main door, is a broomstick.
Nick's eyes widen and he runs forward, picking one up in his hands and studying it, grinning.
"Firebolts... Jeff... where did you..."
Jeff spins round, pointing dramatically at Blaine.
"He did it!"
Blaine shrugs with a smile, grabbing one of the brooms and tossing it to Kurt before taking one himself. Jeff takes the last one, then puts his arm around Nick's waist, steering him out of the door and out to Kurt's car, pulling him into the back seat the moment Kurt unlocks the door.
"Come on, Davies! Let's go!" Jeff yells out of the window, laughing. He turns to face Nick, biting his lip.
"So, Potter. How about a ride on your -"
"Please don't finish that sentence." Nick laughs, covering Jeff's mouth with his hand.
Jeff flicks his tongue out to lick across Nick's palm, grinning cheekily when Nick pulls a face, wiping his hand down the front of Jeff's robes. Kurt and Blaine finally get into the car, Kurt smoothing his hair back into place, Blaine a little breathless. Jeff raises his eyebrows, mouthing to Nick.
"Some people..."
Nick laughs, smiling sweetly at Blaine when he turns to look at them over his shoulder. Jeff leans through into the front, grabbing Kurt's iPod and cycling through the songs until he reaches the Lion King soundtrack, putting it on and turning up the volume.
They pull into the field that's serving as a car park for the open air showing just as Jeff and Nick burst into fake tears for the end of 'Can You Feel the Love Tonight', collapsing into giggles.
"I feel like we're the parents and they're the two kids in the back..." Kurt says, cutting the engine and climbing out of the car, straightening his robes. Blaine scrambles out, grabbing his broom and the bag containing blankets and cushions.
"I'll go get a good spot" He yells, running off toward the screen.
Kurt laughs.
"Three kids..."
Jeff holds the door open for Nick, handing his broom to him before taking his other hand, pulling him off to where Blaine's waving from a pile of pillows, Kurt following behind them. They spread out across the blankets, Kurt and Blaine snuggled together, Blaine resting his head on Kurt's chest, Jeff and Nick both lying on their fronts, propping their heads up with their hands.
Jeff glances over at Nick cautiously before slipping his leg over Nick's, wrapping their ankles together. Nick smiles, changing which hand's holding up his chin so he can reach over and intertwine his fingers with Jeff's. Jeff leans over to whisper into Nick's ear, but the words are lost in the cheer as the Warner Brothers logo appears on the screen and Nick grins excitedly.
"Jeff... calm down..."
Nick's stroking a sobbing Jeff's hair, his arms wrapped tightly around him. A few people heading back to their cars look over at them as Jeff gives a particularly loud sob.
"They were going to win it together!" Jeff whimpers into Nick's shoulder, sniffing. "For Hogwarts..."
"I don't under... Jeff, you know what happens, why are you so upset?"
Jeff sits up, wiping his nose on the back of his hand, eyes red from crying.
"He was such a brave Hufflepuff..."
"and you, Malfoy, are an awful Slytherin." Nick says standing and pulling Jeff up to his feet.
"Shut up, Potter." Jeff laughs, hugging him.
The field around them has almost cleared; even Kurt and Blaine have gone back to the car to wait for them. Nick takes Jeff's hand, walking with him back to the car park, waving when they see another Harry and Draco. Kurt's sitting in the driver's seat flicking through a magazine that's propped up against the steering wheel, while Blaine attempts to fold the blankets back into the bag and get them into the boot of the car.
Nick twists round to face Jeff, placing his hands on his shoulders.
"Wait here."
He kisses Jeff's cheek before walking over to Kurt, speaking to him for a moment before turning back, laughing at Jeff standing with his fingertips pressed against where Nick'd kissed him.
"You get to sit shotgun!" he calls over to Jeff, who immediately runs round the car and climbs in, grinning.
Nick smiles, pulling the door shut behind him as he gets into the back of the car, dumping his bag onto the floor by his feet. Blaine climbs in next to him and they start to head for home, music playing softly through the speakers as Kurt and Jeff talk in the front seats. Nick stares out into the darkness for a while, before his head starts to loll against the cool windowpane and the mumble of conversation lulls him to sleep.
"Wake up, you sleepy head..."
"Rub your eyes, get outta that bed..." Nick replies automatically, still half asleep.
He shakes himself awake, looking up at a smiling Jeff.
"Are we back?"
"Kurt was nearly falling asleep, so we're swapping. Up up!"
Nick laughs, unbuckling his seatbelt and climbing out of the car, trailing after Jeff into the gas station they've stopped at. Jeff buys him a coffee from the machine and it's only when they're all back in the car and Nick's taken a few sips that he's actually awake. Blaine smiles at him briefly before looking back at the road.
Nick turns to look over his shoulder, smiling fondly at Jeff, who shifts in his sleep as if he knows he's being looked at, his thumb slipping into his mouth as he snuggles further into the seat.
"Jeff -"
"- sucks his thumb, I know" Blaine laughs softly, glancing in the rear view mirror. "Kurt sleep shops..."
Nick laughs, sipping his coffee. They drive in relative silence for a while before Nick works up the courage to speak.
"Blaine... why are you doing all this?"
"By all this, I figure you mean the Firebolts?"
Nick nods.
"They must have been really expensive..."
"You're my friends." Blaine says simply, looking out at the road again.
"No, really, Blaine, why?"
Blaine laughs, his gaze flicking from Jeff in the mirror to Nick.
"I've always secretly shipped Drarry."
A/N - Hey! I'm genuinely amazed at how much people are liking this! Just a quick question for you, you can answer it in reviews or on tumblr or wherever, but yesterday someone asked me about maybe doing a podfic for Lonely Side... would any of you be interested at all? I'm just curious, to be honest...
Thanks!
L