Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, nor do I completely own Nick and Jeff (although I'm pretty much creating their personalities myself since we haven't gotten to know them too well on the show).

A/n: So I was thinking about how to use this one, and I decided that birthdays would be the best use of this word. So… Happy Birthday Jeff?

Oh yeah, and thanks to everyone that's given me words so far… I still need some more, but I've gotten some really great ones. I may have to up the rating on this story, though, because one of my ideas based on the last word I was given is a little risqué for T…

Age

Nick had always been a big fan of birthdays, so he didn't really understand why Jeff wasn't excitedly anticipating his upcoming seventeenth birthday. Nick had turned seventeen the month before, and his parents had sent him money to throw a big party for all of the Warblers. But Jeff didn't seem to even be acknowledging the fact that his birthday was coming up.

"Jeff… you only turn seventeen once. Why aren't you more excited?" Nick walked over and sat on the foot of his roommate's bed. "Seriously, dude… your birthday is next week, and we don't have anything planned. We need to fix this, NOW."

"I don't want to talk about my birthday, Nicky. It's just another day… and seventeen really isn't that important…" Nick sighed, shaking his head as Jeff went back to his homework. He needed to come up with something, fast.

Nick spent the rest of the day running around campus, trying to get all of the Warblers in on his plan. Although Sebastian didn't seem to care (not that Nick really expected him to), the rest of the guys were definitely excited about throwing Jeff a surprise party.

A week later Nick was pulling Jeff down the hall towards the Warblers common room. "Dude, I'm really not in the mood to think about running for a spot on the council. I can't even get a solo… what makes you think that anyone would vote for me?"

"Because everyone in the Warblers likes you… and they know that you never give up. You're a natural leader…" Nick could see Jeff rolling his eyes at the thought as they walked into the common room. It was all decorated with streamers and the tables were loaded down with food.

"What the…?" Jeff began.

"SURPRISE!" All of the Warblers jumped out from behind various pieces of furniture, along with a few of Jeff's other Dalton friends, Kurt, and Blaine. Nick smiled at his roommate.

"We all wanted to do something for your seventeenth birthday… since you wouldn't make any plans for today, we decided to surprise you," Nick replied. He watched Jeff's face, but the boy didn't look happy. "You're not smiling."

"I'm not happy."

"But it's your seventeenth birthday…" Nick began.

"It's not my seventeenth birthday." Nick raised an eyebrow, half expecting the boy to continue until Jeff stormed out of the room. Nick turned back to the others, shrugging and starting to follow Jeff down the hallway.

"Dude… Jeff, what are you talking about?"

"I'm not seventeen today, okay? I didn't want to have a party because I'm sick of letting everyone believe I'm someone I'm not…" Jeff replied.

"Wait… so how old are you?" Nick asked. He stopped when Jeff did, waiting for an answer from the other boy.

"I'm sixteen today. I skipped fourth grade when we moved to Chicago… my parents decided to send me to Dalton because I was getting bullied about being so much younger than everyone else. I just… I didn't want to get made fun of for being some kind of freaky genius, so I let everyone else believe that I was the same age as you…" Nick shook his head, smiling.

"That's what this is about? Seriously?"

"It's not a joke, Nick! The guys at my old school treated me like shit because of my age…"

"Jeff… that was at your old school. No one at Dalton is going to make fun of you for being younger than the rest of the junior class. We might start bugging you for more homework help now that we know you're a genius and all, but we're your friends. Now come back to the party, and I'll take a candle out of the cake for you."

"Nick…"

"Jeff, let's just go have some food. All of the other Warblers are waiting for us… and we got a chocolate cake with caramel icing, your favorite." Nick walked over and took Jeff's hand. "Besides, sixteen is way more exciting than seventeen…"

"So… you're not mad at me for lying to you?" Jeff asked.

"Dude, age is just a number… no one really cares how old anyone is around here. Now, if we'd thought you were turning twenty-one and we'd gotten some alcohol, it might have been an issue."

"Wait… we're having a Warblers party and Sebastian didn't try to smuggle in alcohol? What's this world coming to?"