Fluff. Awesome niff fluff. The angsty demon parts will come right after chapter 18 I believe. Maybe after 17.
Enjoy :D
Chapter 16
Jeff swung their arms, just a little bit, happily strolling down the midway.
"That was good. My mom likes you," he said happily and smiled at him.
Nick smiled to himself, looking down at the ground for a moment, then back at Jeff as he started swinging their arms. He bit his lip nervously, "She does?" He didn't know why it was so important. It had never been important before, but this seemed like it was.
"Yeah. She does. I don't really know about my dad yet, but he doesn't not like you, so you're good. I mean, I don't know how people wouldn't like you," Jeff replied, and grinned at him.
Nick grinned. That was surprisingly reassuring. It had never been important, and the Jeff came into his life, and suddenly it was so important to have Jeff and everyone around Jeff liking him. He shrugged, "It's not that hard to believe."
"Did you want to go into any of the stores? Want a little magnet or a shirt or something?" Jeff asked, and glanced around at the little Pagoda shops around him.
Nick looked over at the shops, shrugging, "Is there anything you want to get?" He couldn't quite imagine what he'd need, what he'd bother keeping. He always traveled light. But then, he was planning to settle here for a while, so he couldn't be sure. He wasn't used to staying in one place for so long.
"Nah, I'm good for now. I mean, I might look into getting a Halloweekends hoodie, but I can wait for that," Jeff said, and shrugged.
Nick looked at the shops for a moment longer before leaning against Jeff, and swinging their arms, "We can always go later. I'm good like this for now."
"Okay. Normally if it's really hot, we go see the Snoopy on Ice show. Even if it's for little kids, and I've already seen it like a hundred times," he said, and chuckled, blushing a little. They could go ride Wicked Twister, and MaXair, and even maybe the Disaster Transport. It was a lame coaster itself, but had cool effects.
Nick smirked, nodding, "Makes sense. Yet more proof that you are in fact a little kid disguised as a teenager." He chuckled softly, nudging Jeff with his shoulder. He wasn't sure of exactly what they were meant to do next. There were so many options. He was so glad Jeff had gone enough times to have at least a basic plan.
Jeff laughed a little, "Of course," he said.
"Roller coaster or a haunted house? We've got three haunted houses we can go in up here, and three roller coasters," he said, motioning to the area around them.
Nick looked up ahead, tilting his head to the side in thought. Both were very good options, but he liked the idea of staying with Jeff like this, their fingers intertwined. "We could go to a haunted house, and then maybe another rollercoaster?" He knew they weren't even remotely scary, but holding Jeff's hand was definitely worth it.
Jeff nodded, "That would work. So the cliché dumb vampire one, a very dumb toy factory one, or an okay scary one called Eerie Estate?" he asked, naming the three haunted houses around them. Happy Jacks Toy Factory was terrible but babies peed on you at the end. Club Blood was a terrible house, but the strobe lights, and the black lights were cool.
Nick looked at the different haunted houses around them, biting his lip for a moment as he thought about the options. He didn't mind either way. It was all the same to him, really. Just people trying, and usually not really doing a great job of scaring you. "Which one's your favourite? We'll do that one."
Jeff bit his lip and looked around. He couldn't see Eerie Estate, it was hidden well, but they were in between the two not scary ones.
"Well I'd say that the Toy one is my least favorite, and Eerie Estate is the scariest, so we can just go through Club Blood now because we're so close. I hope strobe lights don't bother you," he said.
Nick simply nodded. He didn't really know the difference between any of them but the way they looked from the outside. He didn't know what he was supposed to expect, but he didn't think that mattered all that much. They were never really scary. He shook his head, smiling reassuringly, "Strobe lights are fine. I can handle that."
Jeff nodded and headed towards the small line. It was just going on dusk, and the Screamsters would come out in about forty-five minutes. He wanted to see the speech, so they could probably ride one roller coaster, and then go see that, and then just wander from there. Maybe go back to where Maverick was and go through Maniacal Mechanical Screamworks and Cornstalkers, along with his favorite, Terror Island.
Nick kind of loved how much Jeff knew about the place. He'd been there so many times, seen so many things that Nick hadn't. It was like despite their vast age gap, Jeff had lived so much more than him, and he was finally getting a taste of what really living felt like. He didn't think he'd ever feel like this, but he did, and he loved it.
"Some people get seizures from it, so just wondering," he said, and stopped behind the last person. There were black lights hanging from the ceiling in the line, and Jeff was glowing. It was always amusing to him.
"Well, I'm fine. Promise." Nick smiled reassuringly as they got into the line, chuckling softly as he noticed Jeff glow under the black lights. He caught Jeff's other hand, lacing their fingers together, and smiled brightly as him, "You look good with a glow. It suits you."
"Okay," he said happily and smiled at him. He looked down at his clothes, "I need a black light in the room then."
Nick chuckled, tilting his head to the side, "Having a black light in the room could be cool." He grinned, brushing his hands along Jeff's arms impulsively. He couldn't help but do even the simplest of things like that with him. It was like he was reassuring himself. Jeff was really there with him.
"You glow too," Jeff added, pointing at Nick's white articles of clothing, "I think the glow looks better on you."
Nick looked down at his clothes, then back up at Jeff, laughing, and shaking his head, "No way. You rock the glowing look."
Jeff laughed and moved up in line, waiting for the cue from the door man to go on through. This haunted house stayed the same every year, and was never really scary. Slutty maybe. The whole of it, just made him laugh and roll his eyes. When they got out, the sun had started to set more, and it was getting dark outside. "One more ride before the place gets scary," he said, and grinned at him before heading across the midway to the large yellow structure. This ride wasn't the best in the park, but he's never ridden it in the dark, so it'd be a fun new thing to try with Nick.
Nick grinned. He loved the sound of Jeff's laugh. It was so infectious. There was something about it that always seemed to make Nick so much happier than he was before. The haunted house really wasn't all that scary. None of them ever really seemed to be for Nick anymore. Not after all the things he'd lived through. He smiled when they got outside to the sun setting.
Following Jeff to the next ride, he sighed happily. It had definitely been one of the better days he'd ever had. Mainly because he'd gotten to spend most of it holding Jeff's hand.
The line wasn't too long, it normally never was. They stopped just a few people before being let into the station. Jeff leaned on the railing to look out into Lake Erie. This ride was right on the beach.
He chuckled a little bit, "I love how they change the buoy's to look like candy corn." It was so relaxing right now. The sun was setting and it was almost orange in the sky. They couldn't really see the sun, because it set in the West, but the sky was beautiful. The darkness added to it made it just seem like they took a vacation to the beach.
Nick followed Jeff to the line, smiling brightly. He leaned against Jeff's side for a moment, resting his head against his shoulder as he looked out at the water, smiling to himself. It felt so good to be together like that. So peaceful. He's never felt so peaceful in his life.
Nick looked up at Jeff, smiling fondly. He wouldn't have gotten to do or see any of this stuff if it weren't for Jeff. It was so small, but it meant so much to him that Jeff would share this with him. Leaning over, he pressed a kiss to Jeff's cheek.
Jeff beamed at him. "Even the screaming and the loudness of the roller coasters is soothing right now. Gosh this is amazing. I want to live this day over and over again," he said quietly, and moving forward a little in line.
He felt like right now would be the time to tell him he love him, but it seemed too soon. He knew that he did though. It wasn't fake though. He held his tongue for now. The time will come.
Nick smiled softly, nodding his head against Jeff's shoulder. He sighed happily, closing his eyes for a minute and just taking in the moment. Everything felt kind of perfect like that. He felt human. he felt normal, and he felt like he could spend the rest of his life with Jeff, and that was kind of scary, and thrilling at the same time.
Lifting Jeff's hand to his lips, Nick gently kissed his knuckles, "Spending time with you makes me really happy. Today's been amazing."
Jeff gave him a small smile and looking into his gorgeous eyes, "I'm glad I had the courage to talk to you that day. We still would have met, but I don't know if it would have been the same," he said quietly.
He wrapped both his hands around Nick's and held them together for a minute. It was strange how perfect they fit together, and how good that felt.
Nick grinned at Jeff's quiet words, shrugging, "You know, I probably would've stopped you, and tried to talk to you even if you didn't. I don't know what it is about you. You just keep drawing me in."
Everything around them seemed to melt away with that moment. It was just Jeff. Jeff was all that mattered. He was all that ever mattered, and he didn't understand why anyone could ever care about anything else, but it didn't matter so much, because he had Jeff, and he could call Jeff his if he wanted to, though he never much went for that whole 'his human' thing.
"Well good, because I happen to love where this has been going," Jeff said, with a teasing grin. It was almost time to go through the turnstile and pick a seat, but he didn't really want to move and ruin the moment. People behind them would probably start to get angry.
Nick bit his lip, trying to stop himself grinning. He loved where things had ended up going for them, even if it hadn't really been that long. Jeff was amazing. By far the most amazing person Nick had ever met, and he could definitely get used to spending all this time with him.
"Come on, I hate to do it, but we have to move," Jeff said, and kept his hand locked with Nick's and left the rail to go inside the station. He didn't really care where they sat on this ride. It made some people sick to sit in the front, so he just headed for 'near' the back. Whichever line was shorter.
"I like this one. It's pretty fun," Jeff said, and looked at Nick. The squealing sound it made when it was launched was pretty annoying, and when it rushed passed you, to go backwards again a few times, it added to the thrill.
Nick sighed sadly, nodding, and moving with him into the station. The day had been amazing merely because he'd gotten to spend it with Jeff, and it was still kind of surreal that Jeff wanted to spend all this time with him. No one ever really wanted to spend this much time with him before, except maybe Janine. "I'll have to trust your judgment, huh?"
"It's not totally awesome, but it's fun. Kind of scary in the way that's like, 'oh god the whole structure's going to fall down' way," he said, sparking a chuckle, "It's obviously not going to. There's policies and crap about that. They wouldn't let people ride something unsafe, but the thought's there."
Nick chuckled, listening to Jeff talk. He loved the way Jeff got just a little bit excited about everything he said, the way he smiled. That was such an infectious smile. He didn't know what it was about it, but Jeff was really good at making him smile like that. "I think you know more about roller coasters than anyone I know. At least, in this place, anyway."
Jeff shut his eyes and tried to hide his laughter, and the blush, "Weirdly, yes. I'm just crazy," he said, and rolled his eyes.
The rush of air from the train moving passed them, flicked Nick's hair in his face, so Jeff gave him a soft smile and brushed it away gently.
Nick looked away for a moment, smiling softly before looking back at Jeff, "That was really cheesy, you know that, right?" He chuckled.
"It was cheesy, but it needed to be done. I don't think we have enough cheesy in our lives. We can use some," he said, and kissed him once quickly on the lips before heading through the open gates to the train.
Nick didn't miss Jeff's blush, causing him to grin. "But I like that you're crazy." He laughed softly, shrugging his shoulders. He never really had any cheesy moments in his life before, and now he had Jeff, it seemed to be happening more and more often for him. Not that he minded. No, it was kind of thrilling to know he could do cheesy things with Jeff.
"Jump high, or you'll crush your balls," he said, and then mentally smacked himself. That was not something you say to your boyfriend like that. "I should rephrase that.." Jeff added, and turned around, laughing.
Nick raised his eyebrows at Jeff's words before shaking his head and laughing. He wrapped an arm around Jeff's shoulders, leaning in to kiss his cheek, "You really are crazy."
Jeff watched for his reaction, and shook his head laughing, "No really, the little crotch part is high up, if you don't jump up high, you'll land right on it," he said, grimacing at the first time he rode this one. It was an inverted coaster, so the seats were attached from the top, and they were quite high up, because they didn't raise up or the floor didn't lower.
He hopped up, making sure to take his own advice, before looking to Nick before pulling down the harness part.
Nick looked up at the seats, laughing as Jeff explained it, and watching him for a moment, before taking his advice as he pulled himself up to the seat, and pulled down the harness. It wasn't that high off the ground, really, and it didn't take much effort to get up without hurting himself. He looked over at Jeff, grinning, "That wasn't so difficult."
Jeff rolled his eyes, "You just got lucky, considering you're short," he said and winked at him, teasing a little. He latched the little clasp on the side of the harness, and sat forward, waiting for the clear to get launched.
Nick scoffed, raising his eyebrows at Jeff, "Oh please. That was not luck, that was skill, and I am not that short!" He laughed, rolling his eyes when Jeff winked at him. He smirked, looking over at Jeff, "Yeah, I'm definitely not short. You're just too tall."
It was a shorter ride, only really going back and for up about 6 or 7 times. It was pretty high, and twisted as well. The sound of being launched added to the thrill as well. It was a wailing sound of the hydraulics and sounded pretty cool actually.
The ride was short, but fun, though all the rides had been fun, really. Though they didn't seem as fast as they probably should for someone like him. He loved it nonetheless, and it added to the thrill that Jeff was right there beside him.
Jeff laughed and unhooked the seat when it slowed to a stop, and waited for them to get released before jumping down to the ground, waiting for Nick before heading out the exit ramp.