Gentlemen, I give you Niff

That last admission left Nick startled. Where had that come from? He would kiss Jeff? He wanted to kiss Jeff… Yes, he did want to. More than anything at that moment. He wanted to keep him around forever. He loved him as a friend, always had, but now he realised that there was more to it. Much more. He had always known it, deep down. And he had been too scared to do anything about it. 'Think about it, Nick' a little voice in his head said, 'When did you last have a girlfriend. Or even look at a girl and think she was nice? Before you came to Dalton, wasn't it?' His big worry now was what if Jeff didn't feel that way about him? What if he wanted them to stay as just friends? What if he went away to UCLA and found some surfer type?

He couldn't let that happen. He loved him. Always had. He wanted to open the windows and shout it out loud. All of this time at Dalton, they had just been close friends, when they could have been so much more, if only he had realised what he now knew. He wasn't sure if he was gay, or bi, or if it was just Jeff. All he knew was that he had wasted so much time. Jeff was gay; had come out to him just weeks into their friendship; it had never been an issue. Now, it was an advantage. Thinking back, he seemed to remember Blaine taking him aside once and hinting that Jeff really liked him. If he hadn't been so stupid, they could have had what Blaine and Kurt had, albeit hopefully without the messy break up and the slow reconciliation. Now, he just needed a way to tell him; to show Jeff just how much he meant to him. He realised that the perfect opportunity was available the very next day.

As Nick finally came to the realisation that he wanted to be more than friends with Jeff, the boy in question was on Skype with Kurt. Blaine had, of course, filled his fiancé in with all the details he had gotten from Trent. Kurt knew that Jeff would be taking things hard - he had after all been there himself, only for a far shorter time period than his friend. Blaine had come to realise that he loved Kurt in a few months, whereas Jeff had been waiting for Nick for nearly 3 years. Still, it had been an almighty shock that had jolted Blaine into the realisation - maybe, just maybe the thought of losing Jeff might do the same to Nick. He might always have said he was straight - but Kurt had never been completely convinced, mainly due to a serious lack of evidence.

"So, let me get this right. Nick sent you a text saying he wasn't going to Harvard after all and your plans for Yale are back on…that's a good thing, isn't it?" Kurt said to his friend, who was crying.

"It would be if I hadn't done something really stupid. He told me he had to go there, he had no choice and I was so angry, so upset…" Jeff paused to gulp down another sob. He looked up at Kurt, who nodded at him. "I might have told Yale that I was turning them down; and they might have given the spot to someone else."

"Oh, Jeff," said Kurt, "so now there is no way that you can go to Yale.."

"And he's giving up everything, probably going to destroy his relationship with his family and we still won't be together. So, I sent him a text telling him not to bother, that I have accepted UCLA, and he hasn't replied. I think that I have killed our friendship Kurt. I just have to accept that it is all over - in just over a week we will go our separate ways, and that will be it. I'll never see Nick again…" With that, Jeff burst into tears, and Kurt wished that he was in Ohio, not sat in New York.

"Look, don't talk like that. Call Yale, beg and plead - maybe the other person has rejected them and your place is still open. Find somewhere else nearby - I mean, did you only apply for the two schools?" Kurt smiled as Jeff stopped crying and looking up, began to shake his head. Maybe he had found a glimmer of hope for his friend.

The next day was a big one in the calendar at Dalton Academy. It was the second last Friday of the school year, and therefore the last assembly before graduation. It was the last time the current group of Warblers would sing together for the school. Nick stood in his usual spot, with only Trent between him and Jeff. He had spoken to Trent on the phone late the previous night - he was the only person that knew exactly what he had planned. His friend had been more than happy to help, his excitement clearly audible when he spoke. Trent had promised not to tell anyone else of Nick's plan, but he had broken his word. He knew that they had to have a permanent record of the moment, and that meant finding someone to film it. He knew who the best person for the job was, but that meant having to make a few sneaky calls. He was positive that he would be forgiven for his breach of confidence.

And now, the moment was here. Nick's palms were sweaty, and he had barely been able to sing. The final song over, Sebastian made his way to the front of the stage to speak. Tradition dictated that after the last assembly performance of the year, the head of the Council should address the school, but this year had to be different. Trent was the nominal head, but had decided to give the spot to Sebastian, to allow him to make an apology for the way the Warblers had let the school and themselves down. He was quite startled when he was suddenly dragged to one side by Trent. As he scowled at him, Trent whispered "Sorry mate, change of plan. Someone has something far more important to say." As confusion reigned on stage and in the auditorium, Nick took advantage; he grabbed Jeff and pulled him to the spot where Sebastian should have been standing.

"I want everyone to hear this," began Nick. The hubbub of noise that had started as Trent shoved Sebastian died down. The latter looked at Trent quizzically, at the sheer excitement on his face and realised that something he had never thought possible was about to happen. Nick continued to speak to a now silent hall. "This week has been the worst of my life. I nearly lost the most important person in the world to me. He's been my best friend and my constant companion since my first day here. My father's actions and my own weakness made him move away from me. He told me last night that he is going to be going to college in LA next year, even though I have sorted things out so that I can go to Yale with him as we had planned, not Harvard as my father wants. The only good thing that has come out of all of this is that I have finally realised exactly something that I have been in denial about for a long time - I know now exactly what I want for the rest of my life. To start with, I'm hoping to change Jeff's mind about going to LA by doing one little thing…" With the eyes of the whole school upon them, he suddenly grabbed Jeff by the lapels of his blazer, and pulled his slightly terrified friend towards him. Then Nick kissed him. At first Jeff was frozen with shock, but then he relaxed and fell into the kiss, which became more passionate as the gasps from the rest of the school grew.

"Finally," said Sebastian. "It's taken him long enough to realise something that even I saw on my first day here. The sexual tension between those two has been unbearable for a long time. Who are you texting?"

Trent replied, with a grin, "Wes. To tell him that he owes me $50. As do David, Thad and Flint. It's the easiest money I've ever made. Plus I might have arranged for us to have a little video made as documentary proof that we finally have Niff." He pointed down to the back of the room where Sebastian spotted Blaine standing behind his friend Artie, who was filming the stage. A room where the noise was starting to rise once more. Where the Principal sat looking more and more shocked. To a Blaine that was gesticulating wildly at them.

That was when Sebastian and Trent noticed that things were getting a lot less family friendly on the stage. Nick's blazer was lying on the floor where it had been pushed off by Jeff, whose tie was loose. As Nick began to push Jeff's blazer off, and Jeff made to start unbuttoning Nick's shirt, Trent and Sebastian realised that it was time for them to drag their two friends to a more private spot. It wasn't an easy task by any means, given that they refused to let go of each other, even for a second. Blaine dashed forward, smiling at the flushed Principal, and grabbed the two discarded blazers. Eventually they managed to shove them into the senior commons, where they fell onto a couch, still joined at the lip. They would remain that way for several minutes longer, until they both finally realised that they were no longer in the auditorium.

"So," began Nick, "are you going to ditch UCLA and come to Yale as we had planned? To share a dorm room with me….as my boyfriend…"

"I'd love too, but I can't," Jeff replied. Nick looked back with surprise. "After what you said to me on Monday, I thought that the only way I could deal with it was to get as far away from you as possible. I decided that if I went to UCLA, I could find myself some nice surfer dude and forget about you. I had heard that Yale has a very large gay community, and I had no doubt I could be happy there. But with you only two hours away, I'd have just ended up pining. So I called them on Tuesday and turned my place down. They told me if I did, then it wouldn't be available if I changed my mind." Nick looked back at Jeff with a face etched with misery. He could see tears starting in his eyes. "So, all in all, we'll just have to go for our third choice…"

Nick's face was suddenly filled with hope. "Columbia? I did get an acceptance from them, and from what you are saying I guess you did too?" Jeff nodded. "And if we go there, we are in New York…"

"And then you will be able to see Kurt and me!" said Blaine, who had entered the room quietly, and so gave both boys a start. "Klaine and Niff in NYC - does sound like it might be fun…"

By this time both boys had jumped up to hug Blaine, who informed them why he was there, and what he had been doing at Trent's request. He wound them up slightly by saying that Artie had had to stop filming because it was heading down the road of becoming a XXX rated film. Nick blushed and Jeff hung his head, both knowing that the Principal would be wanting to see them at some point. They remained silent when Blaine told them that the video had already been forwarded to the rest of the Warblers so that those that had already left Dalton could witness the moment. Right on cue, Nick's cell phone began to buzz; he opened it up to reveal a text from Wes which simply said "At long last! :-)" Jeff had also received a message, this time from Kurt which simply said ":-) No more calls saying why can't he see I love him. So happy for you xx" He could only smile at that. He had got the man of his dreams at last. Now came the hard part - keeping him with the conflict that would happen with their parents.