Nick lay on his back on the floor, reading the book he held above his head. Of course he had finished his homework already, he didn't need much time or effort to do it, he was a genius and always had it done in no time.

Jeff envied his best friend so much. It always took him ages before he got anything done concerning school work. He sat on his bed, which was the one against the back wall, underneath the window and next to the desk, books spread over his lap, and his physics book on his lap. Even though he had read the text over five times already, he had no idea what it was about, he simply didn't understand.

Just when Jeff was about to read it for the 6th time, Nick rolled over on his stomach and started talking to him. "Can I try something on you ?" he asked while he dangled his feet in the air. "It's an experiment."

Jeff looked up and stared at his roommate. "Uhm, depends on what it is." Of course he was suspicious, he knew Nick way too well, the boy loved pulling pranks on unexpected moments. There was a long history of those, but one day Jeff was going to get him back.

Nick read his mind. "No, I'm not going to hurt or irritate you." He jumped up on his feet and walked to Jeff's bed. "It's meant as a friend-thing. It would really help me if you let me." He said while he shoved some of Jeff's books aside and sat down in front of him.

Jeff studied Nick's attitude, he still didn't trust the situation. "And it's not meant to make me roll over the floor from unstoppable laughter, does not involve green hair-dye, accidentally breaking my phone, hacking into my computer and sending creepy emails to my mother, pizzas in my bed or waterproof markers ?"

"No," Nick grinned, slightly satisfied. "but I'm proud you remember all these."

"In that case, yes. What do I have to do ?"

"First, you have to promise me you promise me you will not stop seeing me as your best friend, and you will not tell anyone. And it would help if you let me finish my actions, but if you want me to stop, feel free to slap me."

Jeff didn't have the slightest idea where this was going. "Okay, I promise." he said while he raised an eyebrow.

"Good. Now, just sit there and if you want to, close your eyes."

The last thing Jeff saw before he closed his eyes, was Nick's smile. He felt weight shifting on the bed and heard Nick sigh. "You know I trust you right now, don't make me regr-" Jeff was cut off by a pair of soft lips on his'.

Nick had bent over and closed his lips over Jeff's. He wasn't sure about was he was doing, but he needed to do this, he had to figure this stuff out for his own and Jeff's sake. He needed to be sure he wasn't just making things up because Jeff was closer to him than anyone ever had. Maybe he had been confusing the best-friend feeling for love, because he had never had a girlfriend or been in love, so he had no idea what it felt like. But now, the moment their lips met and he felt a flutter in his stomach, he was absolutely sure he wasn't mistaken. He was in love with Jeff. The same Jeff who he always pulled pranks on, the same Jeff he had shared a dorm with and had been his best buddy from the day they started at Dalton, which was about three years ago.

Jeff was completely surprised by this action and shivered, not knowing if this was a good shiver or a bad one. It would be a bad sign either way, because if this was a good shiver, it meant he had feelings for his best friend, and that was not a good sign because nothing could ever happen between them, right ? He had always been straight, and so had Nick, right ? But why was he kissing him now ?

His stomach felt like it was filled with sparkles that slowly moved to his brain to take away the confusion. He leant a little bit deeper into the kiss, but not too far, otherwise Nick would notice.

After a couple of seconds just sitting there with their lips against each other's, Nick slowly moved his lips and felt Jeff's mouth open a little. Did that mean .. Did that mean he was allowed to go further ? He didn't know the slightest thing about kissing, but he took this as a yes and carefully gasped for more of Jeff's mouth and let their tongues meet.

Every move was slow and soft, but it was enough to make Jeff's head spin, whether it was in confusion or something called 'love'.

Their mouths gasped for the other's and their tongues brushed against each other. Nick had to suppress the urge to wrap his arms around Jeff's neck and pull him closer, and his heart seemed to pound out of his chest. This was his best friend for goodness sake, he couldn't show too much of his feelings. Jeff would still think this was just an experiment, like he told him, and everything would go back to normal. That is, if he stops now. This was just a one time thing, to see what he was going to do next. Just stop now, Nick, stop.

Nick got himself together and pulled back. Even though the kiss lasted for only twenty-five seconds, it was enough to produce more thoughts in this little time than they had done in their entire lives.

Okay, Jeff can't know anything, when you open your eyes, be cool, this was just an experiment. Tell him what you were going to tell him in the first place. Ignore your feelings and use your brain. Just be cool. When he opened his eyes, he saw Jeff staring at him with a flushed face.

The sparkles sank back to Jeff's stomach, and all there was left in his head was confusion, and a bloody lot of it. What was all this ? What was Nick trying to achieve with this action ? He was absolutely sure his face was bright red right now, what if Nick noticed? You need to cool off, Jeff, just be who you were before this happened. Be your cool self, who you used to be.

"What's wrong ?" Nick asked him.

Jeff tried to sound as calm as he could, which seemed to work. "Where was that for ?"

Nick shrugged coolly. "As I told you, it was an experiment."

"For what ?"

"Well.." Nick tried to remember what he was going to tell Jeff before he kissed him. "As you may know, I have never had a girlfriend, so I thought I might be gay or bi or whatever you like to call it, I just mean I thought I might be interested in guys. Just something to do with my sexuality and curiosity." He gave Jeff a look as innocent as he could.

Jeff looked a bit horrified and confused.

"You're not grossed out, are you ?" Nick asked hastily, afraid he had messed up everything.

"No ! No, don't worry. So this was to sort out your sexuality ?"

"Hmhm." Nick nodded.

"And .. ? Sorted it out yet ?"

"Not completely. But it definitely helped a bunch. Thanks." Nick patted on Jeff's leg before he jumped up from the bed. "Sorry by the way, I probably should've announced what I was about to do."

"Yeah, if you're planning on doing this again, that might be a good idea." Jeff bit his lip and an awkward silence fell. Jeff was the one to break it. "Also, could you help me with physics ? I don't understand a word from what I'm reading." He pointed at the book.

"Depends. What is it about ?"

"Electricity."

"That's one of the easiest things ever !" Nick exclaimed happily before he plopped down next to Jeff. "Tell me what you don't understand."

"Uhm, basically everything." Jeff sighed, not talking about physics only.

"In that case, I shall start at the beginning. An atom exists of.."

From that moment on, Nick's voice was practically unheard by Jeff. His thoughts were in a total different place. Actually, they weren't. They were right here, on his own bed, with Nick, but in a slightly different position. He wanted to kiss Nick so bad, but it had all been an experiment. He pinned his hopes on nothing but insecurities. Nick hadn't done this to see if he liked him, it was meant to find out if he liked boys in general, and even that he didn't know for sure.

He stared at Nick's lips that recalled the memory of being kissed by them, and he started to feel warm on the inside again. Nick stared back at him and smiled. ".. okay ?" Nick finished his talk.

Jeff had no idea what Nick had been talking about. "Uhm, no, not really. Explain it again ?" he muttered.

And Nick started to explain again. Jeff wondered how Nick could be so calm about this and how he could concentrate on something else than what happened just a bit earlier.

What Jeff didn't know was that Nick used this opportunity to distract himself from what he felt. Nick wasn't that strong at all, but this seemed to work for him as long as he kept talking and didn't look at Jeff all the time.

The more Nick talked, the more Jeff missed, the more he thought about what happened and what was going to happen in the future, and he found himself in an impossible situation. It was clear nothing could happen between them, and it frustrated Jeff immensely. Tears were burning behind his eyes even though he tried to keep calm. He didn't want this, he didn't want any of this ! He just wanted his life before all this back, his earlier self, his earlier best friend who was now his crush. He just wanted to move on. He was overreacting, this was just because he was in an all-boys-school, it messes up your hormones. Get yourself together Jeff, you're not a kid anymore.

"Jeff ?"

He jumped up when he heard Nick saying his name and quickly wiped the tears away with his sleeve. "Yeah ?"

"Are you crying ?" Nick knew it was a stupid question, of course he was crying.

"I'm just really frustrated I still don't get this stuff." Smooth excuse Jeff, he thought to himself.

Nick nodded. "Well, that's enough of that for today then." He closed Jeff's book. "We'll continue some other time. Let's go to bed." Well, that sounded very suggestive. "To sleep. Let's go to sleep I meant." He added quickly.

Jeff pretended he hadn't noticed and agreed. He was really tired after all.

"Just for the record, what would you call this, what we did earlier this evening ?" Jeff asked fifteen minutes later, when they both lay in their own bed.

"I would call it .." Nick turned around to face Jeff even though he couldn't see him because it was dark. ".. an experiment to help me and has no effect on our friendship." He had to lie, this whole thing that happened had only made his feelings for Jeff stronger. Now he would want to kiss Jeff for the rest of his life, knowing he couldn't. Of course this would affect their friendship. How could he have been so stupid do give in ?

"So no feelings whatsoever ?" Jeff asked.

Nick nodded and pulled up the blanket a bit more. "Exactly." He felt a sting in his chest saying this. It hurt him to lie to his best friend, especially about things like this.

"So you're saying you didn't even feel the smallest butterfly or spark in your stomach ?" Or electricity in your lips, or a tinkling just beneath your waist, or an unbelievable lust to do this again ..

Nick laughed quietly, being too worried about his own feelings to notice what Jeff was trying to say. Of course he felt the things Jeff mentioned (and more), but there was no way Jeff could ever know. He would think he was a creep, and he would lose the only person he ever cared about this much. "Of course there was tension, but that's with every kiss, right ?" he didn't even know what he was talking about, he had never kissed anyone before, so how could he possibly know ?

Jeff seemed to overlook this detail. "Right. Well, I'm glad I could help." Jeff swallowed. That was all he needed to know for now. From this moment on, he would pretend this hadn't happened and would deny all feelings for Nick, they'd go away eventually. When you wake up tomorrow, you'll have forgotten everything. "Goodnight Nickers." He whispered.

"Goodnight Jeffers."

What did you think ? Good, bad, any ideas for improvement ? (:

Also, a big thanks to my beta-reader Lizzie, you rock !