Nicky looked up from the patch of daisies in the meadow that he and Rod were frolicking in,

"Rod?"

"Yes Nicky?"

"I have something to tell you... I've wanted to tell you for a real long time but...,"

"Yes?"

Nicky bit his finger and turned away, "No! I can't!" he cried.

"You can! You have to! What is it?" shrieked Rod as he grabbed Nicky and shook him by the shoulders, "Say it for the two of us!"

Nicky brushed a hair off Rod's face, Don't be shocked by what I'm about to say - ,"

"Happy Birthday Rodney!" Rod was abruptly awoken by a hug/strangle from Nicky and the smell of burnt toast.

Rod sighed, just another untrue fantasy...

"Oh Nicholas, you shouldn't have," Rod said theatrically.

"Well I did, and don't call me that!" he grumbled.

"Well then, don't call me Rodney," Rod replied with a yawn.

"I made you breakfast and a card!" Nicky bubbled with glee and shoved a tray at him.

"Oh Nicky," Rod was touched; he ignored the charcoaled toast and took a sip of coffee, "You really shouldn't have," Yuk! It was vile! It bared no resemblance to his elegant Nescafe! What had Nicky done to his dearest friend? "Say, have you ever made coffee before?"

"Nope!" Nicky beamed proudly, "I've never really liked it myself, actually," he admitted.

To stall another sip, he opened the card which had two cheeses on the front; one had a very dignified, wise expression and had "mature cheddar" written under it, the other was pulling a face and sticking its tongue out with "immature cheddar" as a caption. Rod chuckled and opened it to find the companies message ("Have Edam Gouda Birthday!") and "Love Nicky xoxoxoxoxo!" written in his roommate's messy handwriting.

"Gee, thanks Nicky," he said and then, "I've got to get ready for work," shoving the tray aside and leaping away from the "coffee".

"Aw, it took forever to work out how to make that coffee! I had to grind the beans and everything!" Nicky lamented.

"Beans? But we only have powder…," Rod wondered aloud, the only beans in the house were…, "Nicky, were they in the bottom cupboard?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so, why?"

"Those were kidney beans…"

"…,"

"Honey I'm home!" Rod announced as he entered the apartment after work, it was weird how this phrase had become part of his routine, so much so that he did it almost subconsciously, and yet, he suddenly wondered what life would be like if Nicky really was his "honey". He couldn't explore it deeper as Nicky emerged from the bathroom and replied,

"Good day at the office, dear?"

"Same old," Rod sighed, unwilling to follow through the whole act, he felt very tired and very old. He plopped onto the couch and kicked his shoes off.

Nicky landed next to him and began bouncing up and down until Rod was forced to pay him some attention.

"What?" he snapped, Nicky was acting like a child, while Rod seemed to age a decade at each birthday, Nicky only got more immature and childlike, did he age backwards or something? Thought Rod as he glared at Nicky's hyperactive grin.

"Dontcha want your present?" he asked coyly.

"No,"

"Aw, don't be such an old man! C'mon, get changed!"

"Why?"

"For the party, duh!" Nicky squealed and dragged him up and shoved him into their shared bedroom.

Rod emerged a few minutes later in his "Every Day Suit".

"Aw, can't you wear something a bit more informal?" Nicky whined and shoved Rod back in.

"Informal, ok, I could do that…," he inspected his admittedly formal wardrobe with despair until he had a brainwave. He went over to Nicky's area and picked a pair of jeans off the floor. Good, jeans were informal, especially creased worn "Nicky" jeans. He was about to venture back to the formal side and add a shirt and sports jacket when he had an idea.

"Hey Ro-," Nicky's eyes bulged, "Um, Rod… why are you wearing my clothes?" He stared at his favourite jeans, converse and orange hoodie, he'd seen them a thousand times but never on Rod!

"You said to be more informal," stated Rod with a grin, even his hair was messy and tousled and he was wearing his contacts, all that was missing was green skin and a five o'clock shadow.

"Yeah, but I… I mean, you didn't… huh?" It was just so weird seeing Rod so… not Rod. He was like the anti Rod… he was like Nicky… but he was Rod…

"Well?" Rod asked, "When's the party?"

"Uh, I just gotta get changed…," two could play this game.

"But you've had all day to get dressed!" Rod complained in a very Nicky like manner.

"Uh, this shirt doesn't go with my eyes," he muttered and sped into the room.

Rod could hear all kinds of bumps and bangs and cursing coming from the room and he started to get a bit worried that some of the chaos might spread to his side. Eventually Nicky strutted out into the living room and posed for Rod.

"Nicky!" he gasped, he was wearing the same "Every Day Suit" that he'd earlier deemed unacceptable, Rod's discarded glasses and he'd somehow managed to gel, blow dry and style his hair up into a bit of an exaggerated version of Rod's pointy 'do.

"Come on, we're gonna be late," Nicky said wagging his finger and doing his best Rod impression.

AN: Hey hey hey, not your average Q fic, eh? I might make it a one-shot but it'll most likely be expanded by tomorrow (I just have to squeeze the rest of the gang in! Stay tuned!

ps I'm not exactly the worlds most esteemed expert on coffee... I just like the advert for Nescafe with George Clooney getting hit with a piano, so if theres some special name for coffe powder or if Nescafe only uses beans or whatever, just keep it to yourself and feel smug

oops, forgot the disclaimer

Disclaimer: I don't own Nescafe, Rod, Nicky or George Clooney or his advert (but the plot's mine! what I finds I keeps!)