uncover ➳ nick robinson

nine ➳ real life

✦ CHAPTER NINE
REAL LIFE ✧
*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

brandon contemplated knocking on the door or not, unsure if it'd be okay if he simply walked in. he only knew nick for a day. there was no way they were close enough for brandon to let himself in.
oh, well.

brandon twisted the doorknob, surprised when it was unlocked. there was no sign of nick in the living room. he found his way to the stairs, and began climbing up them. he heard the sound of music coming from a bedroom, following where it was coming from.

he soon found the bedroom where nick was. leaning against the doorway, he watched nick, who was oblivious to the boy standing outside his bedroom.
nick was dancing on his bed, using what appeared to be a tv remote as a microphone, singing along to 'hard feelings' by lord.

nick was shockingly a good singer. he had on an old that's so raven hoodie and a pair of grey sweatpants, his hair looked a mess and kept falling into his eyes.
brandon almost felt overdressed in his pair of black jeans and blue t-shirt.

nick's words slurred and became a mumbled mess as he struggled to keep up with the chorus, a goofy grin on his face while he tried not to laugh. he was dancing terribly, worse than brandon's mom would. it was impressive that nick had managed not to fall off the bed yet. it almost reminded brandon of the karaoke scene nick had filmed for love, simon.

brandon didn't understand what seemed so captivating about this moment. nick didn't seem upset for once. there was no hidden sadness behind his eyes that he would try desperately to hide.

nick jumped off the bed, continuing to sing. he bumped into brandon, stopping completely, his face turning dark red.

"how long have you been watching?" nick asked, looking up at brandon.

"long enough." he replied with a chuckle.

"i hope you enjoyed my performance. next time i'll charge you."

"like prostitution, but instead, with singing. sounds legit."

"a million dollars per song. pay up." nick hiccuped.

brandon scoffed. "mhm, nice try." he stated. he grinned, an idea popping into his head. he picked up nick, carrying him upside down over his shoulder. nick was surprisingly lighter than he had expected, especially with him being taller.

"hey!" he protested. "put me dooowwwnnn!" he whined.

"nope." brandon retorted, walking back down the stairs.

"if you drop me you're so fucking dead!"

"i'm not going to drop you!"

"but, you could!"

"but, i won't!"

nick continued to whine as he hit brandon lightly on his back, struggling to get out of his grip. this caused brandon to roll his eyes when he reached the bottom of the stairs.

he walked into the living room and carefully set nick onto the couch. "what was that for?" nick asked, pouting and crossing his arms.

"i felt like it." he replied with a shrug.

nick sighed. "i'm sorry about the texts i sent by the way. i didn't mean to weird you out. i know we just met and it's weird for me to come off flirty."

brandon turned to look at him while he sat down. "you were flirting? if so, it was really bad."

"well...kind of. i don't know. i'm sick of being lonely, y'know? we got so close in just a day and i keep thinking it'll be like those movies." nick mumbled, resting his head against brandon's chest.

"nothing's ruining the friendship we're working on, so, maybe we shouldn't have this conversation." brandon said hesitantly, he didn't like how open nick was being. he didn't want to be his friend or be this close to him in such a short period of time. it needed to be longer, it shouldn't take a day for him to catch feelings. brandon hated the attachment issues he had.

"why not?" nick asked, now sitting up. "i idolized you during season one of thirteen reasons why and screamed at the idea of filming with you. you've been obsessed with me since disney. we're literally fanboys of each other. why do we keep denying that?"

"because, it makes it just that much weirder that we're friends."

"but, why?" nick insisted. he was starting to become irritated at the answers brandon was giving him.

"it just does!"

"why?"

"because, you're one of the main reasons i came to terms with me being gay and i used to dream of meeting you. now we're friends. it's messing with my head." brandon confessed, avoiding all form of eye contact.

"wait," nick said, piecing together what brandon had just told him. the alcohol was already starting to fade away and was being replaced with a dreadful migraine. "how did i make you realize you're gay when we didn't even know each other?"

"because, you're just...you're this completely stupid person who tries to hide how smart he really is. you smile when you think no one is looking at you and you sometimes look heartbroken. you're such a fucking dork most of the time who doesn't have a second thought of what he's doing. we know each other better than we let on, we just never knew each other personally and i think that's why we're so goddamn fucking weird around each other." he rambled on, finally feeling relieved having said all of that.

nick took a moment to process everything being said to him. it did make sense. the interviews he stayed awake at ungodly hours watching of brandon when he was just another celebrity to him. the fan edits and fanpages. it really wasn't false. he knew brandon's favorite color, movie, childhood memories, without ever talking to him about it. it didn't occur to him that maybe brandon knew the same about himself.

"y-yeah." he stuttered. "you're right. let's not make things weird, okay? i like you being my friend. i like having you there and i've already grown used to it. i don't want to lose that."

"you won't." brandon insisted.

"this is getting too sad. hold on, i'm putting on my music." nick muttered, grabbing his phone. he opened up youtube and turned back on the song by lorde.

"lorde? again?" the dirty blond questioned.

nick frowned. "shh, this song makes me happy." he stood up, brandon was about to do the same, until nick pushed him back down. "stay."

a look of confusion played on brandon's face.

nick pulled the coffee table away from the couch, and stood upon it when the first note of the song began. "hand me the remote."

brandon tossed nick the remote. nick barely caught it, nearly getting hit in the face. he glared at brandon because of this.

nick sang along dramatically, dancing along to the beat, causing his hair to look messier than it had before. "hold up, here's my favorite part-" he motioned for brandon to be quiet, even though he hadn't said a word.

brandon's eyes stayed fixated on nick. he seemed so happy, brandon feared nick's good mood would crash soon.

nick sang loudly to the bridge of the song. how did he manage to sound good when he was close to being off tune? everything about him in that moment was mesmerizing. how he got lost in the chorus, as if he felt the lyrics being sung. it was obvious it was more than just a song to nick.

the song all too soon came to an end, nick sitting down on the table, completely out of breath. he looked at brandon with a grin. "i feel like death now."

"you look like death as well."

"look who's talking."

"what's that supposed to mean?"

nick thought for a moment before saying, "actually, i have no clue. i ran out of comebacks."