I'm early! Due to other commitments tomorrow, there was no guarantee that I would be able to post as usual on Sunday, so I thought it was better to be early than late or never. In addition, I will be on holiday a week on Sunday, and so I am going to possibly make an additional post on Thursday next week, and Tuesday the week after. Anway, thanks as always for reading...

April Fool's Day 2016: Part I

The first day of April was traditionally a day for pranks; for jokes; for tomfoolery. It had been dreaded by the faculty of McKinley High and Dalton Academy in equal measure, and when it fell on a weekend, there was almost a collective sigh of relief that the whole thing might be mitigated slightly. Of all the young men that had walked the corridors of Dalton in recent years, it had been Nick and Jeff that had gained the title of arch-pranksters. In their sophomore year, they had caused chaos in a morning Warbler meeting by rigging the council table to collapse the moment that Wes used Mr Bangy to call the room to order, right onto the knees of the three councilmen. The fact that they had also liberally coated the underside of the table with strong glue, which then meant that the table bonded to their trousers had the vast majority of those gathered in the room howling with laughter. That was until Blaine had decided to get up and go and help them, and had taken the cushion of the couch he had been sitting on with him… Of course, the glue had ended up getting everywhere, and in the end, it was the two pranksters that had the most to regret. Whereas the rest of the room had been able to escape by slipping off their trousers or blazers, there was less they could do about the fact that, as they had not been wearing gloves, their hands were now stuck fast in their pockets…

In Junior year, they had managed to literally 'brick up' the door to Sebastian's dorm room during the night, and had done it so effectively that the other Warbler had been forced to shin down a drainpipe to get out of his room. The builders had to be called in to demolish the wall. The following year at Dalton had been quiet, for obvious reasons; and since leaving, other than gelatine in the sugar and an over sprung toaster, they had been well behaved. Which was why this year, the two had decided that it was about time they made up for it, and regained their title of 'Princes' of Pranks'. After much thought, they had decided to shake the foundations of the world around them by starting a rumour. They would let two people witness something first hand, and then watch as the gossip spread far and wide for a couple of hours before they set everyone straight. It was cruel; it was evil; but it should also be fun…

That Friday morning though did not see the young married couple be the first of their friends awake. That honour fell to Beats, who had other things on his mind. The last few weeks after all had been some of the hardest of his life so far. His stay in hospital after the unexpected visit from Mr Gilbert had not been long at all; he had been discharged the following day, into the supervision of his mother. His father had to return to Zanesville for work, but there was no such need for his mom. Flint had given up his room in the Princeton house temporarily, moving out to sleep on a camp bed in Ethan's room to give her somewhere to sleep, as she became a temporary live-in mom to the three young men. She had stayed for less than a week in the end, as Beats had recovered quickly, and was back in his classes by Wednesday, leaving his mother to disinfect the entire apartment. He had sat out his usual Friday night gig at the bar, but he had been back up on stage with his fellow Preppy Boy on the Saturday.

Outwardly, he was fine, and that was the impression that he had left with them all. He had not mentioned the fact that his vision remained blurry to his mom, his roommate, or the still guilt ridden Elliott. The latter was having a much slower recovery, and Beats did not want to increase the burden upon him. He knew that he should tell someone, but he did not want to have to deal with his friends fussing around him. In the end, he had been sitting alone one night, straining his eyes to try and read a text for school, when he had heard Wes' voice, and he knew then that the game of silence was up. Wes had made him a deal; he would read the relevant sections of the text out to him, as long as he went back to the doctors and told them the truth. His biggest concern once he had agreed was that the doctor in question would turn out to be Ollie Harwood, but as Wes had reminded him, he was very conscientious, and would respect his right to complete confidentiality.

Now he lay awake, the bedside clock telling him it was just after 4am. He had made several clandestine trips up to the city in the last few weeks, undergoing test after test as the doctors tried to identify what was wrong. He would get the final verdict at an early morning appointment today. The doctors had given him no clue as they had done their work, all telling him that they would have to analyse the data first, and then confer with their colleagues. In despair, he had stupidly turned to that mainstay of the medical profession, Dr Google, and had now decided that he was likely to go blind in the next few weeks, when his eyeballs exploded. That diagnosis had left him so terrified that Wes had turned up and given him a good talking to, before trying to calm his frayed and shattered nerves. He had also made him a deal; if he refused to confide in any of his friends, as he had urged, then Wes himself would accompany Beats to the hospital for the results. Beats knew that there was nothing that he could do to stop Wes coming along in any case, and so had agreed. As the rest of the world began to wake up, and think of jokes, Beats would instead be saying a string of silent prayers, hoping that everything was ok, and that whatever problem he had could be easily fixed.

It was the loud report of a door being slammed shut nearby that woke Mike Chang up from his sleep that morning. The noise reverberated through the entire loft, disturbing him from his slumbers. He groaned, and was about to try and shut his eyes again when he felt something land heavily on his stomach. He opened his eyes fully, and was greeted with a miaow from Caleb, a sound that seemed this time to echo with distress and pain. Mike sat up carefully so as not to disturb the cat, but as he did so, something crashed to the floor, causing him to sit almost bolt upright. Then, indistinctly, he heard the sound of raised voices. "What on earth is going on, Caleb?" Mike asked the unanswering cat as he gathered him up into his arms, then climbed carefully out of bed. He made his way into the hallway, and by the time that he was at the threshold of the living area, it was abundantly clear that his roommates were not having their usual happy morning - not by any means…

"Do you know, there are times when I wonder what on earth possessed me to marry you, Nick! You are so inconsiderate, so ignorant, so downright unkind to me!"

"Me, unkind and ignorant!? Just because I refuse to agree to some trivial, nonsensical whim of yours, you go stomping off in a childish temper tantrum, slamming doors and breaking things! I have to spend every minute of every day doing things your way, and the one time I stand up to you, and say no, you start to question the wisdom of our entire relationship? Well, let me tell you, at this precise moment, maybe you aren't the only one that is questioning why we got married, trust me on that!"

"That is such an unfair thing to say! I bend over backwards trying to keep you happy! I put up with so much rubbish from you as well, Nicholas!"

"Such as…?"

"Well, I never know when your asshole of a father might turn up and start abusing me again for starters!"

"Well, at least my father has never tried to kill you, which is more than I can say about yours! And trust me, Grace would never try and blackmail you into taking illegal drugs!"

Mike winced, and was about to step forward, to try and defuse the situation, when he jumped as he heard a glass shatter against the kitchen wall. "Well excuse me if my natural family isn't as perfect as yours, Nick! Do you think that I asked to have two psychopaths as relatives? How could you even… I hate you so very much right now!"

"Trust me when I tell you that that feeling is one that is definitely mutual right now, Jeffery!"

The sound of a resounding slap echoed through the loft, before Jeff hissed in a voice dripping with acid "Don't you ever… In fact, let's just get this over with once and for all. I don't want to be with you anymore! I can't do this; I can't be with someone so cruel and twisted; someone who would stoop so low! I suggest that you phone your precious perfect sister right now, because firstly, you will need somewhere else to sleep tonight, because you won't be coming within 100 yards of me; and secondly, because you will need a divorce lawyer and she might be able to recommend one!"

"Well, thank God you finally said it! It's a relief! I've wanted out of this charade for a while, and now I can blame you! I'll be gone before you come home tonight."

"Good!"

Fearing that at nay moment one of them would come charging out of the kitchen, Mike beat a hasty retreat to his bedroom with Caleb. He slumped down onto his bed and sat there, dazed, absent-mindedly stroking Caleb. He had to still be asleep. What he had just heard had to be a nightmare. Niff splitting up was just beyond the realms of possibility…

Had he lingered a little longer in the living room, he might have heard Nick's composure break, and him begin to giggle. The door slam had been deliberate, calculated to wake Mike up. Had Mike been thinking, he might have wondered how Caleb had got into his room, given that he had shut the door fast the night before, and he might have realised that one of the two young men had held the door open as the other shoved Caleb in. Nick and Jeff had known that Mike would come to see what was going on, and only once they had seen his shadow on the floor had they begun their well rehearsed argument. A taped slapping noise and a cheap glass broken had been the final part of their scheme.

"Stop it, Nicky!" Jeff whispered. "If he comes back…"

"Then the game stops early. He won't though; I know Mike by now, he will be trying to work out what the heck has happened, and wondering if there is anything that he can do to pour oil on troubled waters. Find someway of helping us to sort our differences."

"You know, we could just have told him what we were planning, and got him to play along…"

"It's better this way, as we agreed. He will have a more believable reaction, and I'm sure he will forgive us, eventually…"

"I hope that is sooner rather than later, my love. Well, it is started now, so time for part two. It is time for me to storm out to school." Jeff paused to kiss Nick, who smiled. "I will send the text we agreed on to Brittany in an hour, ok."

"That's fine by me. Meanwhile I will go and grab that suitcase, then linger so that Sam catches me coming out of the door with it in floods of tears."

"Do you know, I think that this is our most elaborate prank yet - and at least this time, no glue is involved."

"It is - a great idea forged by two minds perfectly in sync," replied Nick. Jeff nodded, and went to crash about the loft for a while before he headed out to school.

In his room, Mike sat in silence, not listening, as tears streamed down his face. This was just so awful; he had failed them, and he had failed Wes. He should have seen the signs, done something to help them stay together… As his grief threatened to overwhelm him, he reached for his phone, and dialled the one person he needed to hear. If the whole world was going to fall apart, he needed someone to cling to, who would listen and help him survive. He needed Tina…

The young lady in question had been about to head out to an early morning class when her phone rang. She cursed at first, but then when she saw who it was, she could not help but smile. She had been thinking about him that morning, and he always seemed to have an uncanny knack of knowing exactly when to call. She picked up, said hi, and before he even had a moment to speak, she launched into a long spiel of all of her latest news. It was only when he did not reply that she realised that something had to be badly wrong. She had been walking along the street on her way to class, but now her footsteps slowed to a halt. She listened in silence as Mike finally spoke, and told her what was going on in New York.

"Are you sure? That is exactly what they said? That it was all over, and they could not even stand to look at each other anymore? Oh my… Mike, this is awful. We need to stop this! We need to sit them down and make them realise that they are meant to be together. I mean, if Niff can disintegrate, then what hope is there for anyone else! Mike, you need to grab them, bang their stupid heads together, then lock them in the hall closet until they see sense!"

"Tina, I can't do that, much as I would like to. It would be totally out of line…" Mike paused as a bang echoed through the loft. "Did you hear that? That was the front door being slammed shut, so that means that there is only one of them here now. I guess me and Caleb could go and talk to which ever of the two of them is still here, try to see if there is anything that could be done to prevent them splitting up altogether… I would ask Kurt, Blaine, or Wes to intervene in the situation, but they aren't allowed to interfere in these situations."

"Right, that's a plan. Go and find out who is still there, and talk to them! Make them see sense! Niff can't be allowed to die. It just can't!"

"I'll try my best, but I don't think that I am the right person for this job, but then again, who else is there right now? Ok, wish me luck! I hope that your day turns out better than mine, my love."

Mike rang off, leaving Tina in stunned silence on the sidewalk. She shook her head, then looked up - and saw, to her horror, that Jeff's cousin Flora had seen her, and was now approaching. 'Say nothing!' screamed the voice of reason in her head. 'It isn't your place, Tina Cohen-Chang!' Tina agreed, as she realised that the inner voice sounded a heck of a lot like an annoyed Kurt Hummel.

Naturally, the moment that Flora said hello, Tina felt obligated to tell her absolutely everything she had just heard from Mike…

When Jeff had walked out, closing the door with such a crash that Nick jumped, the latter took a deep breath, and pulled out the chopped onion that he had brought with him into the bedroom from the kitchen. Sure enough, his eyes began to tear up as they always did; a quick glance at the mirror showed him that the look he had been hoping for had been achieved. It was all just a matter of timing now. From careful observation, he knew that Sam left for his Friday classes at the same time each and every week… His case was already 'packed' and his whole appearance was grief-stricken and dishevelled. He left more quietly than Jeff, virtually tiptoeing out, knowing that Mike would try and talk to him, and after his lapse in the kitchen, he did not think he could maintain the charade under close scrutiny. Once out of the door, he paused, and smiled inwardly as more or less on cue, he heard the sound of Sam's footsteps as he made his way down the hall towards the door in the loft across the landing. As the door opened, Nick was kneeling down, pushing the spare door key underneath his own front door; he sniffed loudly as he got back up, and picking up his case, started to walk away sadly, purposefully ignoring Sam. He had heard him call out his usual cheery "Hey Nick!" but he did not respond, just hunched his shoulders and sniffed loudly once more. He would take his suitcase to college and place it in the cloakroom there until his first class was over - and then he would take it to the library, and return all the books he had placed inside it…

When Nick failed to reply to his usual greeting, something that he had never failed to do before, Sam paused on the landing, pondering what was going on there. They had all heard the door being slammed with force earlier in the other loft, and they had all been surprised, as that was totally unlike either of the two husbands or their roommate. His curiosity got the better of him, and he dismissed his original thoughts of chasing after Nick, and decided instead to ask Mike if he knew what was going on. He knocked on the other door, and it was opened in seconds by a white faced Mike. He was carrying Caleb in one hand, and was staring at the key lying on the floor as if his heart was broken by it. "Mike, is everything ok? Nick seemed a bit off this morning as he left, and you look so pale - you're not coming down with a virus or something?"

"Niff are getting a divorce. They had a huge fight, and Jeff stormed out… I was going to try and talk to Nick, but as I psyched myself up, he must have snuck out…"

"He was carrying a suitcase," said Sam, his voice reflecting the devastation that Mike's first few words had caused. "I can't believe it, but that kind of proves that it is true. They really are on the rocks…."

"This is Nick's door key, Sam. He can't be planning on coming back…" Mike had tried to stop his tears, but now he started to sob. He felt at a complete loss, as if there was an aching hole in his soul.

Sam steered him back into the loft, and made the decision there and then to skip his first class that morning. Santana had already left; he would send her a message and ask her to explain why he wasn't in school. That of course meant telling her everything. She would find out soon enough in any case; everyone would. After all, this had implications for one thing that linked them all - the Spotlight. Nick and Jeff had a joint share; if they did divorce, then what would happen with that? If they couldn't stand being together any longer, then there was no way they could both be partners, and that would affect all of them.

Unaware of what was going on back in Bushwick, the day was proceeding as normal for Nick and Jeff. The latter had made it on time to his first class, and was busily drawing today's subject without a care in the world. So engrossed was he in his task that he forgot that he had been supposed to send a text to Brittany, in which he would tell her that he and Nick had made up after their fight, and everything was ok. He knew that Sam and Mike would have told someone, and they had both assumed it would be the one other person around in the loft. It had not occurred to either of them that Mike would turn to Tina, nor that Sam would ignore the young lady in the loft and turn to Santana. If he had sent the text, though, Brittany would doubtless have asked about the fight, and the good news would have been put into circulation. As it was, she would not find out until it was much too late…

Within half an hour of Sam speaking to Santana, the news had begun to spread, not so much like ripples in a pond, but like a full grown tsunami. When Sam had confided the news to Santana on the phone, she had been in the company of Mason and Marley. Sebastian was busy with his practical tests with Madam Tibideaux, so was not present, which was unfortunate, as he could easily have stopped what happened next. As Sam spoke to Santana, her face fell enough the other two immediately picked up on the fact that something was wrong, and she felt she had no option but to confide in them, leaving them both as devastated as she herself felt. After all, Nick and Jeff were the last people in the world that they would ever have expected to break up. Only last week, they had been their usual, happy selves after all…. Of course, Mason shared his news with Roderick and Jane. Marley had no intentions of passing the information on, but then Kitty called her, and before she knew what she was doing, she was telling Kitty every devastating thing that she had been told. She was every bit as shocked as the others, and hanging up on Marley, she called Artie to tell him. He just happened to be at the diner that morning, talking with Michelle about the filming of his Dave and Sebastian themed film. His mouth had dropped open with surprise; Michelle had asked why, and so he told her straight, also realising the implications for the diner. Of course, Dani heard every word too. So it was that by the time that Santana called Brittany to break the news as gently as possible, she had already heard over the grapevine, and was distraught.

The news from Artie had left Dani and Michelle devastated, both of them wondering exactly what had gone wrong so quickly and so disastrously between the two young men they were both heartily fond of. Artie did not join in their discussion; he wheeled himself to a quiet corner and shed a few tears; like Mike, he felt real pain at the prospect of Niff being over. In the end, he called Kitty back, and asked her to join him for lunch at the diner, along with a spot of brainstorming. He refused to believe that the marriage in question could not be saved. He couldn't help but think that their might be something that could be done to keep the two of them together; there had to be, as the prospect of having to potentially pick a side horrified him.

Sam had made the mistake of telling Rachel; after she had blurted it out to Brittany and left her in tears, she had tried to pass the news on to Cooper, but he wasn't answering his phone. She came to the conclusion that he had to know in any case, as after all, Nick's sister was his fiancée. Instead, without bothering to check on the time she made a call that woke Mercedes up in L.A.

After barely a moment of polite chat, Rachel told her all that she knew about the situation from Sam, albeit with a small number of embellishments of her own for good measure. After all, the only reason that she could think of for the sudden and total collapse of one of the most stable relationships that she knew was cheating; one of them had to have been cheating. Half awake in L.A., Mercedes had her doubts about that, but the news, if true, was devastating. Worse, she knew that the moment Rachel rang off, she would be obliged to pass the news onto David and Thad - and the tale she had to tell was going to hit those two every bit as hard as the loss of Kurt, Blaine and Wes. Niff was the stability, the happiness that had emerged from the rubble of the hard times at Dalton, and had shone out like a beacon of hope; if its light had now been extinguished…

Dani meanwhile had concluded that she had to let Elliott know, and had left him shocked to the core. He in his turn had sent a message to Beats, asking him if he knew anything about it all; the disjointed reply that he got back on his phone a few minutes later told him that his boyfriend had not. As for Beats, his mind was elsewhere, and he could not handle one more bit of stress that day; he did not call Flint, just forwarded Elliott's message to him, in the hope that he could try and work out why the two sunny boys of the Warblers had just split apart….

Rachel had gone on to call Burt after she had hung up on Mercedes; he would want to know, she had told herself, because he took a keen interest in the welfare and happiness of all the friends that Kurt had known. On top of that, he had once said that he loved those boys like they were his sons. His initial reaction to Rachel's news was disbelief, but the problem was that the damage had already been done. He had out of habit put her call on speaker phone in his office, and she had blurted it out just as the door had opened, and Trent and Rory had walked in. Rory had promptly burst into floods of tears, whilst Trent had frozen in shock, but then in the back of his mind, something told him that it could not be right. Something was off. If they had been in trouble, they would have confided in him - Jeff in any case, and he had heard absolutely nothing… Then he saw the calendar on Burt's desk, and the light dawned upon him. He took Rory into his arms as Rachel ranted on, and pretended to be as upset, just to get her off the phone. Then he would point out his suspicions. His only hope was that if he was correct, that the reactions of everyone else would be as understanding as his own; he couldn't help but think that this prank, if it was one, had got way out of control…

In Princeton, the only conclusion that was drawn by the two former Warbler's there was the bad one. Having come to terms with it themselves, Flint proceeded to tell Mitch in Boston, just to tell someone, whilst Ethan had called Drew, letting his phone ring until he answered. Neither of the two of them wanted to be the one that had to tell Thad after all…

As it was, Thad would end up hearing the news from two people simultaneously. As Mercedes was breaking the news on the phone, he received a text from Ollie - he had found out when Michelle had told him, and suggested he should maybe break it to his brother… Thus, in less than two hours from the moment that Nick walked away from the loft with a suitcase, the news of the demise of the couple called Niff had gone from coast to coast.