Accidentally Got It Right

Nick sat at his desk, one hand propping up his head as the other tapped his pencil, over and over on his notebook. He sighed and decided to take a stretch, arms out, groaning as he felt his spine crack.

"Woah, slow it down tiger. It's not even dark yet," he heard behind him. Nick spun around in his chair to find a smug looking blonde leaning on the doorway. He rolled his eyes, "Ha ha, Jeff. I was just stretching. And what are you doing here so early? I thought you had soccer practice."

Jeff shrugged off his blazer, "Captain's sick so the coach gave us the day off. You know. After he told us to run around the field a couple dozen times." Nick winced, "Need a shower?"

"Nah, I already took one. What are you doing there?" he asked pointing to the forgotten essay on the desk. Nick groaned again, this time out of exasperation, "Mr. Gaff gave us an essay to write. A five page romantic story with a twist. Something about Valentine's coming up or whatever. I've been trying to write this out for the past hour but nothing sticks."

"Write it out?" Jeff asked incredulously. Nick gave him a small laugh, "He wants a rough draft AND a final draft. I can't even think of an outline, much less a rough draft. I suck at this romance stuff."
Jeff gave him a leery grin, "Just write something from one our date nights." The brown haired boy felt his neck heat up and did his best to shake it off, "It's a romance assignment, not a porno."

Jeff frowned, "Hey, I'm plenty romantic." Nick snorted, spinning away which made Jeff hesitate, "Aren't I?"

Nick rolled his eyes, not caring that Jeff couldn't see him, "Jeff, you're idea of romance is pizza, a six pack of cherry soda and a marathon of Psyche re-runs."

Jeff pouted, "Psyche is an awesome series." But never the less, that got him to thinking. They've been going out for a while, almost a year in fact but they never actually "gone out." They've been friends for so long that adjusting to boyfriends didn't seem any different than what they've been doing before. They had fun together, they played video games together, ate together. The only difference now was that they made out with each other and sometimes slept in the same bed. But unless people really knew them, no one would suspect they were anything other than best friends. They didn't even hold hands in public!

Well that's it then. It was decided. Jeff was just going to have to be more romantic.

But...how? He didn't want to be lame like those really bad rom-com movies. He'll have to talk to an expert. Good thing he was still Facebook friends with Kurt. "Say, Nick, when do you have to turn in that assignment?" he asked as he quickly turned his phone on.

"Umm, about two weeks. Why do you ask?"

"Perfect," he whispered to himself as he clicked on Kurt's name and in a louder voice said, "Oh, just wondering." Nick raised a brow but said nothing. Jeff just smiled as he wrote out a question in Kurt's inbox. 'Nick Warbler, prepare to be swept off your feet.'

The next morning, Nick woke up to a strange, cold feeling. Mostly because he was alone in bed when he was sure Jeff had slipped in with him the night before.

'Hmm...he's never up before I am...' he wonders to himself. When he walked down to his class, students kept giving him strange looks, whispering to each other. He ignored them for the most part until he got to his classroom. As soon as he stepped in, everyone went deathly quiet before snickering amongst themselves.

"Alright, what's going on?" he asked the room in general. They all grinned and pointed to his desk. Following their line of sight, his eyes landed on his desk top and his jaw dropped. His entire desk was surrounded by flowers. Bluebells to be exact. All over his desk. On the chair, under the desk, everything covered with bluebells. The bell rang and everyone got to their seats except Nick who didn't know what to do. The professor walked in, took one look at his desk and raised a brow at Nick. "And what would be the meaning of this, Mr. Cabrera?"

He was at a loss for words, so Trent stepped up to save him, "It's not his fault sir. The desk was already like this when we walked in." The teacher sighed and sat down, "Well, we're not doing much today, unless you all haven't studied for your next classes?"

Everyone shook their heads. Of course they studied. "Alright, have at it then, I know you're dying to." The class cheered and started to go after the flowers. Trent offered his seat to Nick as he went to pick the flowers off the floor. The boys were having fun throwing petals around or talking about how they would send them to their girlfriends.

"But...who would do this?" Nick said to himself, trying to figure out who would send him heaps of flowers. Trent laughed, dropping petals in Nick's hair, "Well let's think. Who is madly in love with you at the moment and would most likely do something to show you that love?"

Nick waved Trent's hand away but didn't bother to take the petals out, "What? Not Jeff. He doesn't even like flowers." Trent rolled his eyes, "Yeah, but you do. They're bluebells, remember? Doesn't your mom have like award winning gardens or something? She always sends you flowers on your birthday but you end up giving them away except for the bluebells."

Nick scratched his head, "But that was a while ago...how would he remember that?" Trent shrugged, "Love makes us do crazy things."

"I don't think this was Jeff," Nick said, taking a stem and twirling it between his fingers. "Hold on, I found something," the other boy said, picking up a piece of paper that was on Nicks desk, hidden by the hundred of petals. Nick took the paper and unfolded it. "So, what's it say?" Trent asked. Nick frowned, "It just says, 'Forever Grateful.'"


When he gets to his room that afternoon, just before Warbler practice, he's yelps, almost tripping as he gets inside. "What the?!" His entire room was swamped with rubber bouncy balls. Just bouncy balls everywhere. "Dude! Where do you get those!" someone says behind him. Balls that had rolled out of his room were now being thrown around by the guys.

"Hey, can I have one?"

"Yeah, me too!"

"Uh, yeah...knock yourself out," Nick says, letting the guys dive into his room. At least he wont have to clean the place all by himself. Once the guys finally picked everything up and left, Nick was able to get inside and get ready for Warbler practice. Thankfully it was a casual day today and they could all wear normal clothes, rather than wear their uniforms. Thank you David for over ruling Thad on that count.

He sat on his bed when he noticed a piece of paper on his pillow. Picking it up, he found a couple of bouncy balls underneath that were left behind during the pillaging. On the paper it said, 'Forever Childlike.' Nick sighed, though he smiled fondly at the handwritten note.

Not that he didn't appreciate the flowers but what was Jeff up to? And why these little toys? "Childlike indeed. More like childish." Sighing once more, he looked down at the little toy on his pillow and didn't have the heart to throw them away but instead, putting them in the drawer of his nightstand.

At Warbler practice, it was all business and Nick didn't have time to corner Jeff and interrogate him about the flowers and the toys. He didn't have time afterwards either because Jeff ran out the room as soon as Thad and David dismissed them. Trent went up to him with a Cheshire grin. "What?" Nick asked warily.

"Don't be so suspicious. Jeff asked me to give you this," the other boy said, handing him a note. Nick read over it carefully while at the same time tried to keep Trent away. "Come on, what does it say?"

"Oh right, like you don't know."
"Nick! I am in shock! Don't you trust me?"

"As far as I can throw you," he responded, pocketing the note.

"Yeah, you're right. So, are you going?"

Nick rolled his eyes at him and began to walk out, with Trent next to him. The note said to meet Jeff outside his dorm room at seven and to wear semi formal clothes. "Yeah, of course. Don't follow us."

"Like I would. You guys are boring anyway."

Nick stopped walking, his eyes blown wide, "Boring!? What do you mean, boring?"

Trent blinked, skidding to a stop, "Well yeah. No offense but you guys don't really act like a couple, not even with us. We have to keep telling the new kids that you guys are together and not just really good friends. I mean, it's fine, that's your life and I guess PDA isn't really your thing but you guys are very conservative. The closest to a 'couple' thing you do is sit next to each other during Warbler practice or when we watch movies. But you don't hold hands, you don't even look at each other unless you're talking to one another. It's a very 'just friends' vibe we get from you guys. I think some of the Warblers were skeptical that you two are even together. The thing with the flowers this morning finally convinced them otherwise."

Nick was speechless. Were they really boring? He didn't think so, he thought he and Jeff were very...well, 'not boring.' They...did things in the privacy of their own room and have been together almost a year. And people still thought they were 'just friends?' Was this the reason why Jeff was acting this way all of the sudden?

"I have to go. See you Monday," the shorter boy said as he walked back to his dorm room. Fortunately, when he got there, there weren't any more surprises all over the room. He decided to take a shower before he met Jeff for...whatever it was that Jeff had planned. Now that he thought about it, this was probably the first time they did something like this, whatever this was. A date. A real date where it was just the two of them in public.

He put on a crisp cut blue button up and dark jeans. He wasn't sure what they were doing so he went very neutral with the clothes. At seven sharp, there was a knock on the door. He opened it to find---

No one. There wasn't anyone there but there was a note taped to his door knob. It said, 'Follow the lights. Gotta catch 'em all.'

"What?" he says to himself, looking around the corridor. And then he sees it, which makes him want to laugh himself silly. They were small, glow in the dark Pokemon toys that Jeff had taped to the stone wall. The first one was a Pikachu. There were about five of them down the corridor and Nick guess he had to take them all down before a teacher found them and writes up Jeff for defacing school property. By the time he gets outside, he had taken down about twenty little toys from the wall, all small enough to fit in his hands.

Finally he sees Jeff just outside the entry way. Laughing softly to himself, Nick waves his hands in his face, "And what are these supposed to mean, Jeff White?" The blond just grins widely. He takes the toys away and putting them in the basket he was carrying with him, he takes Nick's hand in his own. "All shall be revealed in due time, young grasshopper," he says in the worst Asian accent Nick's ever heard, making him laugh. Jeff leads them to a small hill just behind the school where a blanket was spread out, waiting for them.

"Jeff...what..." Jeff just hushed him by putting a finger to Nicks lips and pulling him down to sit. "Look, I know I seem weird doing all this today." Nick nodded, a bit too quickly which made Jeff swat at him before continuing, "I just wanted to show you how much you mean to me. And well...Valentines Day isn't too far away for me NOT to do anything special and besides, it would have been really cliche and sappy and you know I'm not that great at romance but I just wanted to show you that I can be sometimes and I really do love you and--"

Nick hushed him with his lips, smiling into the kiss. "I love you too," he said when they pulled away, "but you didn't need to do all this to prove it, though I do appreciate the gesture. But why all of the sudden?" Jeff scratched the back of his head, "Well, it kind of got to me yesterday. About how you said my idea of romance was just pizza and television. It made me sound like I didn't care, like I'm inconsiderate and that you don't mean anything. But I do care, I really do. I just wanted to show you."

Nick couldn't help it and kissed him again. Jeff may be a lot of things but he was far from inconsiderate. In fact, Jeff was the most thoughtful person he knew. A little absent minded at times but he meant well. "Message received," Nick whispered against his lips, giggling as Jeff played with the hair at his nape.He yelped slightly when Jeff pulled him all the way down so he laid on top of him. Not that he minded much but a warning would have been nice. He lets it slide and nudges Jeff to keep scratching his neck like that because it feels so good and he could just sleep there, who cares that it was chilly out. Jeff was enough to keep him warm.

But a thought popped into his mind, "Wait, I get the bluebells but why the bouncy balls? And the notes?" The dark haired boy pulls up a bit to look at Jeff who just blinks up at him.

"Did you forget how we first met?" he asks. Nick frowns, "Jeff, that was like...ten years ago." The blond shook his head, "Doesn't matter, I remember. It was at grocery store in Columbus. I remember seeing a tiny kid crying outside in front of one of those toy vending machines. I came up to you and asked why you were crying and you said that machine ate your quarters. Me being the cocky kid I was, thought I was strong enough to just kick it and the toy would come out. Well, it was a really crappy machine so when I kicked it, all of the bouncy balls came tumbling out of the thing. We got in so much trouble with the store manager but you were really happy that I really didn't care that my mom grounded me for a week. I was so happy when I found out we went to the same school."

Nick stared at him in awe and was just silent. Jeff, who had looked so confident was slowly starting to feel a bit uncomfortable at the stare. "I--I know it's a bit cheesy but I thought you would have remembered and it would be romantic...I--" For the third time that night, Jeff was silenced by a pair of hungry lips and Jeff was quite alright with that. Nick pulled away for just a moment to say, "Let it be known that Jeff White is the most romantic sap to ever walk the Earth and I love him regardless," before continuing to kiss him senseless.

After an hour of making out under the dark sky and having their picnic (pizza and cherry soda but Nick wouldn't have wanted it any other way) they laid together on the blanket and watched the stars slowly come out. It was all very calming and so relaxed. Unfortunately, a thought kept niggling Nick's mind. "Say, Jeff, can I ask something?" Jeff, who had his eyes closed hummed in a questioning manner. "Do you think we're boring?" That got him to open one eye, "No and I have the hickeys to prove it. Why do you ask? Do you think we're boring?"

Nick squeezed Jeff's waist, "No, it's just something Trent said this afternoon. About how we're so conservative. That we give a 'just friends' vibe. Are we really that bad?" He felt more than saw Jeff shrug, "Well, we're no Kurt and Blaine. They flirted harder than any other person I've ever seen. And that was before they got together. I don't think we're boring, I just think we're so used to each other that it doesn't seem like we're dating because, really, we already were. Even before we knew we liked each other." Nick smiled softly, chastely kissing Jeff's jaw because that was a great answer.

"But it still kind of bothers me that people don't think we're dating. People will think you're available and that is definitely not on with me," Nick muttered. Jeff nodded, thinking the same thing but in reverse with guys or girls hitting on his boyfriend, when he got an idea. "Say...we can always make sure people will know we are dating. If you don't mind a little PDA." Nick looked up, "No, not really. What did you have in mind?" The glint in Jeff's eyes set off warning bells in Nick head, which he quickly decided to ignore.

--a couple of weeks later--

Trent stood in the doorway of the Warbler practice room looking annoyed and a little green in the face. "When I said you guys were boring, I didn't mean that gave you permission to christen every room in the bloody school!" he yelled. Jeff and Nick ignored him, continuing their make out session on the couch in the far side of the room. David walked in next, patting Trent's shoulder, "Just leave them alone. I'm sure it'll pass in a couple of more weeks." Flint came in next and groaned, "This is the second time today I've had to see this show. Someone change the freaking channel!"

Nick and Jeff just ignored them all and continued their session until David and Thad called the Warblers to order. It was their own fault for not believing them. Then again, believing was seeing. They pulled themselves together, Nick brushing Jeff's hair back into place and Jeff straightening Nick's tie for him. While Thad went through their set list for Regionals, something they all already had planned out but Thad insisted on going over again and again until it was burned into their brains, Jeff nudged Nick with his shoulder. "So, what did you get on the assignment?" he whispered. Nick raised a brow, "The story for English?" Jeff nodded. "I got an A."

Jeff let out a quiet whoop and smiled widely, "That's great! What did you end up writing?" Nick kept his eyes up front but his lips twitched, "About a boy who was so bad at romance, he accidentally got it right."

Jeff gaped a little before nudging him again. Nick laughed softly, nudging back before reaching out and lacing his fingers with Jeff's. Jeff leaned back on the couch and smiled. He was so glad he got it right.