A/N: Ladies and gentlemen: Niff is back! That's right! 100 percent pure Niffness! Except for blink-and-you-miss-it Blaine being whiny. Enjoy. You're Welcome.

Chapter Twenty-Eight:

"Sebastian slumped into Hunter's bed, wishing he'd taken someone's advice in his life and learned the female part to Baby It's Cold Outside. Ignoring the fact that he'd eventually have to get up and wash Hunter's sheets, he decided to go back to sleep, Blaine's singing still echoing in his ears."

Sebastian knocked on the door of Nick and Jeff's room. "Nick!" he yelled. The door opened, but it wasn't Nick, it was Jeff.

"Hi Sebastian," Jeff said. "Nick's waiting for you in the parking lot."

"Oh, awesome," Sebastian said. "You want to come with?"

"No," Jeff said quietly.

"Blaine and Hunter are watching The Little Mermaid if you want to join them," Sebastian offered.

"Nicky told me not to leave the room until he gets back," Jeff mumbled. "I'm grounded."

"Jesus, does he put a collar on you and make you sit in the corner too?" Sebastian asked, snorting.

"Only on the weekends," Jeff said, shutting the door before Sebastian could make some kind of remark about that. Sebastian just laughed and continued down to Trent's room.

"Trent!" Sebastian called.

"Come in!" Trent replied. Sebastian walked in.

"Keys, I'm going out," Sebastian said, holding out his hand.

"In my blazer pocket," Trent said. "You need gas, by the way." Sebastian fished his car keys out of the blazer hanging on the back of the door.

"You're a peach," Sebastian said. "See you." He left their room as well and continued outside. Nick was leaning against Sebastian's BMW. "So. A collar on the weekends…"

"No comment," Nick replied.

Jeff paced the dorm room waiting for Nick to get back. Nick was apparently going out to buy Christmas presents for Jeff, and Jeff was grounded for trying to take a sneak peek in the box Nick had already gotten. He was supposed to stay in the room until Nick got back, and then Nick would shower him with kisses, and they would probably take a shower, and have sex on every flat surface they could find. And then take a second shower. There was going to be a lot of showering.

Nick and Jeff were staying at Hogwarts – Dalton. Brain. Where even is?

Nick and Jeff were staying at Dalton over most of Christmas break this year, mostly because now that their parents actually knew they were a couple, they seemed insistent that they weren't allowed to share a room anymore, much less a bed. Jeff said he was obligated to go for Christmas Day, and Nick agreed he would go too, mostly because he didn't want to miss the Doctor Who Christmas Special, and the cable they got at Dalton didn't get BBC America, what a piece of shit.

Jeff sighed and paced back and forth. He checked the time. Five minutes. For real, it had only been five minutes since Nick had left. Being grounded sucks.

He couldn't leave the room, but could other people come over? Nick hadn't said. Jeff was grounded for real, no computer, no phone, just stay in the room and be good.

He paced by Nick's desk and decided, what the hell, to take a look through the drawers. That's right, they've lived together for four years, and Jeff had never thought to go through Nick's desk. The worst Nick could do was ground him some more, right? The top drawer was full of pens and sticky notes, and Nick's sonic screwdriver. Jeff was surprised he hadn't brought it with him, but maybe his baby was finally growing up. Jeff had always been more of a Harry Potter person, but he didn't dislike Doctor Who or Sherlock, besides that part where people always seemed to jump off roofs and there was a lot of crying involved for some reason.

The second drawer was just a bunch of paper, and Jeff was about to close it again without rifling through it when something caught his eye. It was an envelope – a large one, addressed to Nick with the return address from Harvard. Jeff picked it up and turned it over. Nick hadn't even opened it. Large envelopes usually contained welcome packets, this was undoubtedly one of those – Nick had gotten into Harvard and instead of telling Jeff or even opening it, he'd stuffed it in his desk without even looking at it. Jeff was suddenly overwhelmed by how much his Nicky loved him.

Harvard was Nick's dream school, it was all he'd ever talked about as far as college was concerned, and he was willing to throw that away for Jeff. Jeff almost opened the envelope just to make sure he was right, but something in the drawer caught his eye. Underneath where the welcome packet had been, there was another envelope – also from Harvard, this one was just letter sized, and also unopened. Jeff picked it up and held it up to the light and could just make out the words 'pleased to inform you' through the envelope. Jeff's suspicions had been confirmed, Nick had gotten into Harvard. What else was in this drawer?

A more thorough search of the drawer revealed that Nick had applied to several different schools early admission, and that he'd received his letters back from all of them – NYU, Northwestern, Yale, Princeton, George Washington, and a few schools in Texas near his parents' house. Not a single one of the letters was opened, but closer inspection revealed that he'd gotten into most. Jeff sighed. He hadn't heard back from anywhere yet, though he'd had a few dance auditions for various dance schools. He felt pretty good, and thought their chances of going to New York were pretty good. And, heck, if Kurt and Blaine were still broken up when they got to New York, they could get them back together then, though that was looking unlikely, as Blaine seemed to have an inability to not be touching Sebastian at all times, like he was afraid if he let go, everything would disappear.

Jeff knew what that was like. That's why the prospect of going to different schools was so scary for him. He didn't know what he'd do if he couldn't see Nick every second of every day. Jeff wasn't book-smart enough to get into any of the schools Nick had already gotten into, and Nick wasn't a good enough dancer to get into any of Jeff's dance schools.

If they truly wanted to be together, they would both have to compromise.

Jeff put all the paper back into the drawer, forgetting how they'd been stacked and not really caring. He couldn't even bring himself to open up the bottom drawer, but finally did.

Underneath a white envelope addressed to Jeff's parents, which Jeff realized with a pang was Sebastian's surrender from the year before, was a stack of what looked like journals and notebooks. Jeff took the top one out and opened it up.

The Journal of Copernicus Bradley Duval ~ January 14, 2003 ~ A Gift from Mama and Pop on your 8th Birthday

Jeff almost screamed from laughing so hard suddenly, his brain filled with so many thoughts about the name 'Copernicus' he couldn't think right. After the initial shock that he had never known that, he realized Nick had gotten this diary/journal/whatever just after he'd met Jeff over Thanksgiving when they were seven. He secretly wondered what Nick had said about him.

January 14, 2003 ~ Dear Diary, I'm eight years old today. Mommy got me this so I could write in it, I guess, but I want to talk to Jeff more than you. No offense. I talked to him yesterday, he said he missed me. And he also said he doesn't like chocolate milk. I DON'T LIKE CHOCOLATE MILK! Match made in heaven. See you tomorrow, Love Nicky.

January 15, 2003 ~ Dear Jeff, can I call you Jeff? I'm going to name you Jeff. I like the name Jeff. Jeff Jeff Jeff Jeff Jeff JEFF JEfF JeFF I could just write it all day long. He called again yesterday to wish me happy birthday. I can't believe he remembered. I can't wait until this summer when I can see him again and I can touch his awesome yellow hair. We can build a fort out back and throw rocks into the pond. I can't wait! Love, Nicky.

January 20, 2003 ~ Dear Jeff. Maybe If I pretend you can read what I'm writing here I'll feel better? I miss you. I know we were only there for a week (because mom keeps reminding me, she's such a party pooper) but I feel like we were supposed to be best friends forever and ever. I wish I could move to Ohio and live with you. I miss you. Love, Nicky.

January 29, 2003 ~ Dear Jeff. Mom grounded me from the phone for a week because the long distance bill was more than the more-gujde. [mortgage, Jeff thought and laughed, remembering Nick had told him that] I miss you. Maybe if I get really lucky, you'll be living in my diary like Tom Riddle? I'm not that lucky. I'm never that lucky. I met my best friend and it turns out he lives so far away from me that I'll never get to see him again. I miss you. Love, Nicky.

February 14, 2003 ~ Dear Jeff. Happy Valentine's Day. Mom says I can't call you to tell you that because she's waiting for a very important phone call and also apparently you don't tell that to other boys? But I got valentines from everyone in my class even the boys so now I'm confused? Anyway, I made you a paper heart and mailed it to you, so hopefully you get it. I miss you. Love, Nicky.

It felt sort of private, going through Nick's old diary, but they were letters addressed to him, why shouldn't he read them? He flipped to somewhere in the middle of the book.

September 12, 2007 ~ Dear Jeff, you know what sucks? The seventh grade. I don't know if I told you, but I had to switch schools this year because of redistricting and so the school is different and there are these bizarre rules like you have to shower after gym class and the guys all talk about these girls I've never met and how they want to get with them. I don't even know what that is. I'm calling you later, I promise, I just have to find what Mom did with my cell phone. She says I'm not allowed to go on the internet on it. Well, she should have told me because nooo one told me so how was I supposed to know? I hope you're doing okay. Seventh grade SUCKS. Missing you already, Nicky.

September 28, 2007 ~ Dear Jeff, there's a girl in my class who keeps looking at me and I think she likes me but I don't like her and I don't know what to do about it and I don't really know if I should ask you about it? I can't call you today anyway because Mom says I have to look after Cameron until the babysitter gets here and apparently that means I shouldn't be on the phone with you. Are your parents this difficult? I just want to hear your voice. And see that big smile on your face. Missing you, Nicky.

Jeff noticed. It was subtle, but he had noticed. When had Nick stopped signing with 'Love, Nicky'? He flipped through pages and pages and pages and finally found the entry.

December 2, 2005 ~ Dear Jeff, Mom gave me a weird talk today about birds and bees and the word love and how it's only for family and women that I want to marry? I thought I loved you, but I guess I don't. I wish you were my family. Actually, I wish I belonged to your family, because then I would be with you every second of every day. If there was ever a way your parents could adopt me, I would totally be on board with that. Love—No. Missing you a ton, Nicky.

Well, if Nick's mother wasn't the most uptight person in the whole universe. No wonder Nick hadn't wanted to tell his family and never wanted to go home. No wonder Nick had been so confused about his sexuality. Heteronormativity was the worst. Jeff hadn't had it much better, but he and his sister had always gotten talks together, so his parents had always used vague language like 'the person you decide to spend your life with'. Now that he thought about it, with his parents' reaction to him telling them he was gay, in a relationship with Nick, and planned on spending the rest of his life with him, he wondered if his parents hadn't actually meant it more like that. The person you decide to spend your life with. Jeff liked that, he would definitely be using that with their children. God knows how they would get any, but that was something for later.

Jeff's curiosity got the better of him and he turned to the very last page of the journal.

March 6, 2011 ~ Dear Jeff, I'm in love with you. I'm going to kiss you later, because you have to be in love with me too. I might die if you're not. Seeing you with Chris was the worst torture you could ever put me through. Fuck it all, I'm just going to tell you how I feel and you just HAVE to love me back. Please, please, please, please love me back. Please love me back. Love, Your Nicky.

Well.

There was a knock on the door and Jeff jumped a mile high, trying to get the journal back into the drawer as quickly as possible.

"Jeff?" came a quiet voice from outside. It was Blaine, not Nick. Jeff breathed a sigh of relief, realizing Nick probably wouldn't have knocked. He got to his feet and answered the door.

"Hi," Jeff said. "Can I help you?"

"Can I come in?" Blaine asked. Jeff nodded, opening the door wider to allow Blaine entrance. "Kurt's not coming for Christmas."

"I'm sorry," Jeff said. Really he was.

"I like Sebastian," Blaine continued.

"Yeah, I worked that one out," Jeff replied.

"I don't know what to do," Blaine said.

"Weren't you and Hunter watching a movie?" Jeff asked.

"Finished it. He's packing to go home," Blaine said. "What should I do?"

"You should find out how Sebastian really feels about you, and if you feel the same way, and I literally cannot believe I'm saying this, you should go for it," Jeff said.

"What, you suddenly like Sebastian?" Blaine asked with a snort.

"Sebastian and I are friends," Jeff said. "I mean, we've done some stupid shit, but we've come this far."

"I still love Kurt, though," Blaine said.

"Maybe you always will," Jeff said. "I don't have much advice to give. Nicky was my first love and we're going to be together for like a thousand years."

"But what if you weren't?" Blaine asked.

"Not possible," Jeff said with a shrug, shaking his head.

"I used to think it wasn't possible for Kurt and I to ever not be together," Blaine said. "What makes you and Nick so different?"

"We just are," Jeff said.

"That's so helpful," Blaine said, rolling his eyes.

"Nick and I have known each other, been in love with each other, and essentially been each other's soul mates since we were seven years old," Jeff tried to explain. "It doesn't matter what happens because we will always be together."

"What if Nick cheated on you?" Blaine asked.

"Why would he do that?" Jeff asked, frowning.

"What if you're both at college next year, and Nick's feeling alone and worthless and he ends up in bed with someone else?" Blaine asked.

"Nicky knows feeling alone and worthless is my job," Jeff said.

"Okay, then, what if it was you?" Blaine asked.

"No offence here, Blaine, but I know better than that," Jeff said, with just a hint of ice in his voice. "I learned my lesson a long time ago, and I am never going to let anyone or anything get in the way of that. If that's how you feel about Kurt, you have to show him that. If it isn't, then it's probably not going to work out. Sorry, that's the way it is, get over it." There was ringing silence while Jeff fumed and Blaine thought over what Jeff had said. Then without saying a word, Blaine put his arms around Jeff and gave him a very big hug. Jeff returned the hug with a sigh. "Whatever happens, Blaine, it'll be okay. No matter who you end up with, or what happens between you and Kurt or Sebastian, or anyone else. You're young, follow your heart, okay?"

"Yeah," Blaine said. "Thanks Jeff."

"Thank you too," Jeff replied.

"For what?"

"Everything," Jeff said with a smile. Blaine left the room after that.

Jeff thought his own advice was surprisingly helpful. He and Nicky were going to be together for literally ever. Smiling to himself, Jeff began pulling DVDs off the shelf, ones he wanted to watch over vacation. About an hour later, another knock on the door.

"Just come in, it's unlocked," Jeff called.

"Sebastian just texted me, he says they're just going to be like another hour and they'll be back," Blaine said.

"Thanks, Blaine," Jeff said. Blaine left again. One more hour. One more hour. This was the worst sort of torture ever.

Curiosity got the best of Jeff again, and he opened that third drawer of Nick's desk again, this time pulling out the notebook under the journal he'd already looked through.

On the first page was written:

The Everything Wedding Notebook of Copernicus Bradley Duval and Jeffrey Sage Sterling

Jeff choked on air. Firstly, he still wasn't over the fact that Nick was short for Copernicus. Secondly: THE EVERYTHING WEDDING NOTEBOOK ?! ?!#!?Q?WQ?W!? ~WD asoasjdkljasdaguipoi;ajlskdsad

Jeff flipped the pages. There were pasted pictures of different tuxes, and several pages of the right wording for the invitations, and pictures of floral arrangements, and even one very tastefully sketched picture of what the wedding hall should look like, that seemed like Nick had drawn it himself. Somewhere in the middle, Nick had evidently made a list of the songs he wanted to play at the reception.

At the very top of the list was:

A THOUSAND YEARS ~ CHRISTINA PERRI

That song had just come out. Like, very recently. The first time Jeff had heard it was when they'd gone to see Breaking Dawn Part Two with Sebastian, Blaine, Trent, and Hunter. This wasn't an old notebook. This was a current notebook. Nick was planning their wedding as they lived and breathed. Jeff scanned down the rest of the songs.

What Makes You Beautiful ~ One Direction
Animal ~ Neon Trees
Teenage Dream ~ Katy Perry
Take Me There ~ Rascal Flatts
Perfect ~ P!nk
Uptown Girl ~ Billy Joel
Drops of Jupiter ~ Train
Silly Love Songs ~ Paul McCartney
The Longest Time ~ Billy Joel

The list went on and on, over both sides of paper. Nick had obviously given this quite a bit of thought. He turned more pages and found a guest list that Nick had already apparently decided on, which of their friends would be given invites, which of his relatives he thought should come, and then Ask Jeff about his relatives at the bottom. Jeff laughed.

More pages, more and more pages, pictures, a drawing of a wedding cake, the pros and cons of bowties vs. ties, the pros and cons of vests vs. cummerbunds, honeymoon locations, it went on and on.

Near the back of the book which was just about filled, Nick had written something that looked like a poem. Jeff thought it was wedding vows. Things were scratched out and rewritten in several different places. Then Jeff's heart stopped. The last few lines:

People say that we're young and we don't know, we don't find out until we grow
I know we're still in high school, but I also know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you
Jeffrey Sterling, will you marry me?

Oh My God. This wasn't wedding vows, this was Nick's proposal. He was planning to propose, and soon, by the look of it. Jeff slammed the notebook shut and put it carefully back in the drawer, breathing heavily. He didn't know why it was such a big deal, he knew they were going to be married someday, but it brought his heart a-flutter thinking about Nick picking out rings, or wondering what to – Oh my God, that's where he must have gone with Sebastian today, to pick out a ring. Jeff started hyperventilating.

He reached for a water bottle, trying to calm himself down. This seemed so real. Nick really, really wanted him forever and ever and ever.

Holy God.

Oh.

My.

God.

At that exact second, the door burst open and in walked Nick, whistling something to himself, carrying about a jillion packages, all of which seemed to be pre-gift wrapped, to prevent Jeff from peeking in them. He dumped them all unceremoniously on the bed, while Jeff struggled to his feet.

"Hey baby!" Nick said, reaching out to put an arm around Jeff and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Have you learned not to go snooping through other people's stuff?"

"Yes," Jeff choked out. "Definitely yes."

On Christmas Eve, around two-thirty in the afternoon, Nick and Jeff were violently banging on the door of Sebastian and Blaine's room, intent on taking them to Breadstix. Sebastian came to the door in a sheet.

"What the hell?" Sebastian asked. Nick and Jeff bounded into the room, opening the curtains, to reveal a bright sunshiney day.

"Get up, you can't spend Christmas Eve in your room," Nick said. "Where's Blaine?"

"Probably halfway to New York by now, I'd imagine," Sebastian said. "He went to see Kurt."

"Good," Jeff said. "They need to get back together."

"Thanks for the support, as always," Sebastian said, rolling his eyes, and making to get back in bed. "Why are you here?"

"You have to get out of this room, you've been in here since Friday when we got back from shopping, and quite frankly, it's starting to smell too much like our room," Nick said. "We're going to Breadstix because the Apocalypse didn't happen, and Sam invited us, because he got married, and we're putting on a concert, and anyway, you're coming with us."

"No offence, but I don't like Sam, or particularly either of you right now, so I think I'll pass," Sebastian said.

"I don't think I asked," Jeff said. "Come on, get dressed." He began throwing several items of clothing out of Sebastian's closet at him.

Trent and David met Nick, Jeff, and Sebastian at Breadstix. They lived nearby, and were going to accompany Nick and Jeff with their concert Apparently they were a group. Sebastian sat with Sam and his girlfriend (not wife cuz it turned out they weren't really married), not by choice, as the other four sang through a bunch of holiday themed songs.

"You know what?" Nick asked the room at large. "I have this song that I sing sometimes, but… it's not very Christmas-y. So, we sorta Christma-tized it for you." Jeff began plunking out a melody on his guitar. Several of the girls in the room squealed. "Yep, yep, we're all very big Directioners, and this one's for you, Jeff." Jeff smiled.

It's Christmas time, and girl, you're fine
And I hear Jingle Bells in my mind

Trent joined in too.

They say your name, and sleigh bells rang
Girl, you don't need any gifts, they don't mean a thang

All four of them were singing now. They were probably the biggest dorks ever.

You see me under the mistletoe
So come on and kiss me cuz, girl, you know

Baby you light up my world like nobody else,
The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed
And when you smile at the ground, it ain't hard to tell
You don't know, you don't know you're beautiful

[If you haven't seen this video, do it immediately, it's the cutest thing. Make sure you watch the long one, because at the end Riker doesn't see Curt's hand for a high five and everyone in the audience is like REJECTED! And Curt's all like *hurt puppy* and then Riker comes back and gives him his high five and omg it's hilarious. And Titus's garland suspenders CAN YOU NOT? Okay. Just watch the vid. It's called 'What Makes You Beautiful (Holiday Edition) – Riker, Curt, Dom and Titus']

Ever since Jeff had accidentally peeked at Nick's journals, he'd been expecting Nick to propose to him every second. He thought, for some reason, Nick would do it there, onstage, tonight, because Nick was just sort of spontaneous like that.

But he didn't.

Eventually, Nick and Jeff took Sebastian back to Dalton, then packed their things and headed for Jeff's parents' house outside of Cincinnati. Nick didn't propose on Christmas Day, but they did watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special cuddled on the couch together, and Nick cried his eyes out. They exchanged gifts, nothing special, but nothing mundane, just things they'd said they'd wanted when they were at the mall together, or while watching TV.

Nick didn't propose on New Year's either. The Warblers that were back from vacation gathered in the common room (which is different than the practice room, and is actually in the dorm building, because it has a TV and how else are they going to watch Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin Eve 2013 with Ryan Seacrest?), and exchanged more gifts. Sebastian, and this was incredibly sweet of him, had gotten a canary for Trent. Trent had taken it the hardest when Mr. Puss had eaten Tweets, as he'd been the one taking care of him most of the time. Trent named him Sunny and promised to keep him far away from Mr. Puss.

Blaine had brought everyone souvenirs from New York, little pins with the 'I heart NY' on them, to remind everyone where to look if they needed him the next year. It was a very emotional night. Then bands started playing on TV, and Sebastian and Jeff taught Blaine the Glad You Came dance, and Nick and Jeff goaded Hunter into performing an encore performance of Whistle. Nick had muted the television while Bieber sang Boyfriend, instead joining Blaine for a rendition that Blaine had come up with of Justin Bieber's Boyfriend mashed up with Britney Spears's Boys. It was great, but Nick didn't propose.

It was driving Jeff crazy.

Was he going to propose? When would he ever propose? Now? Later? Tomorrow? Graduation?

Days passed, January came and went, Sebastian and Blaine finally admitted they were dating, but Nick still didn't propose.

A/N: Yay? Yeah? Yay.

So um. Warbler yearbook. Says 'Nick Duval' and 'Jeff S. Sterling'. My mom and I once made a list of hilarious names we could name kids and then call them by perfectly normal nicknames, and Copernicus was one of mine? Also stemmed from that bit at the end of Boy Meets World where Feeny calls Cory Cornelius and Cory goes Shh! Not even Topanga knows that!

So yeah? Yeah. Has everyone learned their lesson about how snooping pays off? I think Jeff has.

Samantha.

Next time: Valentine's, Kurt, and a wedding?!
Later: Regionals! and also Fight club, maybe, i dunno, I'm still writing it. but Regionals!