Work Text:
One:
There, in the flesh, was his infamous neighbour.
So that's Gatsby Nick thought. The Great Gatsby. Even from this distance, he looked deserving of everyone's attention.
"Hic!" Although there was no one around, Nick still blushed, taken unawares by the hiccup and putting his hand over his mouth. "Huck!" He frowned as his stomach lurched again; it must have been the champagne at Tom and Daisy's dinner, he was sure he hadn't had the hiccups for years. "Hiccup!" Immediately diverting into the kitchen for a glass of water, he was reminded of why he had always hated this facet of human weakness- his hiccups were always so loud! As soon as the next Hulp! had passed, he began to drink.
Once done, he waited with quivering anticipation, hand hovering over his chest and eyes on the clock. Only when a whole five minutes had ticked away did he begin to relax and prepare for bed.
Yet try as he might, thoughts of his neighbour lingered in the back of his mind all night long.
Two:
The ailment went unnoticed at first given that the both of them were in peals of laughter at some joke Jay had told which, in an objective light, was not at all funny, except to two men who had just survived being shot at as the finale of a very eventful summer.
"Now look what you've done," Nick chided, lightly punching Jay's arm as he carried on chortling. "You've- hic! Given me the- huck!"
The innocent, confused look on Jay's face was almost convincing, "Given you what, old sport?"
"Given me the h- hmnk! The hicc- hup!"
Jay's laughter was worth all the gold hairbrushes in the world, "Do you have the hiccups, old sport?"
Nick crossed his arms, "No." His chest jolted, but he kept his mouth firmly closed (in a pout.)
"Are you sure?"
He waited out the next hiccups, then said very quickly, "They're gone now."
"Really?" he sing-songed, grinning like a Cheshire Cat.
Nick found he could not summon up any feelings of embarrassment, so good was it not to see his friend pining for his cousin. "Yes- hicculp!" Cursing internally, he sucked in a breath and held it as Jay started laughing again.
As soon as he breathed out, "Hiccup!" Jay had mostly gotten his amusement under control by that point, though started to snicker. Nick pointed a warning finger at him. "That was the last- hulp! One more word, Jay, I'll- huckup!" His hand flew to his mouth, embarrassed as the latest hiccup erupted so loudly it nearly echoed. "Excuse m- hic! Hic-cup!" Hic chest jumped as he hiccupped twice in rapid succession and Jay finally lost it, slumping down sideways in his chair as he laughed at his misfortune, laughter growing at each new hiccup.
Nick sighed, hiccups coming more quickly now and simply let them happen without trying to hide. "Hup!" There were far worse things than a happy Jay Gatsby.
Three:
"Are you quite sure we're allowed up here, Jay?"
"Hmm. Quite sure, old sport. There's no need to worry."
There was, in Nick's humble opinion, a bit of a need to worry- it wouldn't do for Jay's new-found sparkling reputation to be tarnished by getting caught sneaking around some rich person's house. They'd made enough waves with Nick being his plus-one already, and he was dreading being the subject of the office tomorrow.
At least, he consoled himself, it gave him a chance to be alone with Jay. He didn't trust the nature of crowds now, after Wilson's attempted murder, nor did he believe (unlike his idealistic neighbour) that the attentions of these New York socialites weren't fickle and false. It was a sorry state of affairs when Nick could say he honestly trusted Meyer Wolfsheim more than any party guest in attendance tonight.
"Why are we sneaking around up here, anyway?" They could both ignore that he followed with little need for convincing, it was the decent thing to do.
"Not sneaking, old sport, observing. And the chit chat downstairs was most boring, you said so yourself. But the host is some chap Meyer suspects is of dubious character- I've often said you can tell an awful lot about a man from the contents of his... spare bedrooms."
Nick smirked and opened his mouth to reply, when a babble of noises sounded from the door. His clever comment was wasted as Jay turned at the speed of lightning and dragged them both to hide in the nearest closet. "I told you this was a bad idea!" he hissed, though most of it came out muffled in the shoulder of Jay's suit.
"Ssh!" he hissed, words whistling between his teeth. "They'll find us!"
Through the chinks in the wood, Nick could just make out the curvy figure of a buxom woman pawing at the thick black suit of an angular man. The closet did nothing to muffle her sultry teasing, "Aren't you hot, going around in that suit of yours, in this heat?... Why don't you take it off?"
How improper- oh. Oh. Try as he might, he couldn't shut his eyes and there was no room in the small space to turn his head away. Jay's mouth was already close to his ear, his exhales making Nick's head swim. "That's the Senator of New York!" exclaimed Jay feverishly. "And she's... I recognise her from the movies, old sport, I swear it. Oh, this could work out very well!"
Well? Well? They were stuck here until these two strangers stopped... fornicating. Stuck here in this tiny, extremely small closet unable to move or make a sound. Or even untangle their limbs from each other's and stand side by side. All he could smell was mothballs and Jay's cologne, all he could hear was the heavy breathing of every other occupant in the room. All he could see was that.
Well my foot, he scoffed internally. Things could not get any worse.
He felt his stomach give an ominous gurgle. No, he prayed frantically, certain he had not imbibed any champagne or indeed any hard liquor yet that evening. Not now, no!
His prayer was too late and scarcely had he slapped his hand to his mouth when "Hmnk! " He had the hiccups. For the third time today. "Hmnk!"
"Shush!"
I can't help it! though he did not dare try to defend himself aloud. The next spasm sent him slightly off-balance, elbow knocking into the wardrobe wall, "Hmnk!" The sound made the man's head- the senator of New York's head- twitch, halting in his ministrations to the blonde. Another hiccup felt as though it would force his chest and head to switch places.
Silently- somehow- Jay's right arm carefully snaked its way over his shoulders and round his waist, as if an embrace- "Hmnk!"No, Nick realised, almost disappointed. To act as a- a makeshift cushion against his hiccups and stop him banging the closet and revealing their presence.
How undignified!
The couple returned to their love-making and Nick resumed hiccupping, burning with embarrassment. Jay leaned somehow impossibly closer and whispered light as air, words dropping between hiccups like counting beats between thunder. "Hold your breath?"
That must be the first time he hasn't called me old sport. "Hmnk!" He held his breath until he was certain he must be blue in the face. Jay, at least, looked rather impressed, gazing on expectedly in the low lamplight filtering through to their hideaway as he breathed out again. The moment swelled with hope.
"Hmnk!"
They deflated, or as much as was possible in the crowded space of their confines. "
Hmnk!" Nick pressed his free hand into his stomach, trying to at least stop his body from jerking around like a loon. "Hmnk!... Hmnk-UP!" He and Jay froze, but the two adulterers were too far gone to be distracted.
Jay relaxed, almost chuckling lowly, until he interrupted by Nick's next hiccup. "Does it hurt?"
Frowning, he pointed at his chest as it jumped for the umpteenth time.
He nodded.
Nick shook his head, "Hmnk!"
Jay relaxed again, still chuckling to himself and his arm still acting as a makeshift cushion, both of them watching as the couple finally finished, got dressed, then left the room through different doors.
"Well," he declared, stepping out of the wardrobe and beginning to fix his hair in the mirror as if hiding in a room was a perfectly natural act, "That was rather an adventure, hey old sport? And informative too! Wait until I tell Meyer all about this..."
Nowhere near as elegantly, Nick exited the wardrove and readjusted the hem of his jacket, wondering when they would be going home. He had just about enough of everything, today, and wanted the refuge of his tiny cottage.
"...But all that can wait- I spotted a very well stocked drinks cabinet on the floor below us. Derbeigh is infamous for his stash and I see no harm in indulging myself every now and then."
Nick tried to give an affirmative hum, "Hiccup!"
Jay broke off his spiel, looking the rather sheepish look of a man who had just hidden in a cupboard with another man, "And perhaps a glass of water for you, old sport?"
Nick nodded, certain his face could not get any redder. "Hic!"
Four:
"I thought you'd exited rather quickly after desert, old sport. Now I know why."
Nick, startled out of where he was hiding in a shadowy corner of the garden, looked up to see the host of the party himself standing over him. "Huck!" came the rather forlorn response. "Didn't w- hick!- I didn't want to- hup!- embarrass mys-elf in fr- uck!- in front of someone important. Huckulp! Excuse me."
"You're always excused with me, Nick. You know that." Jay hopped down the short stone staircase and huddled in the private corner next to him, lighting a cigarette. "And here I thought you'd sworn off the champagne."
He had, as a matter of fact. Which didn't explain the last twelve times he'd gotten the hiccups. Fortunately, he had yet to catch them at work.
Now that he had thought that, he probably would.
"I did." He muffled the next "Hic-ah!". "Perhaps- hulp!- maybe the pro- hic-culp!- the profiteroles just- hic!- aren't agreeing with me. Huckup!" Though he hadn't sensed any danger whilst picking up the delicacies being served at Jay's party that night, he had gone to the bathroom and whilst washing his hands the hiccups had struck again, making him cringe at his reflection in the mirror (which was probably worth more than his house and everything in it) and beating a quick retreat to his newfound hiding spot.
He felt embarrassed above anything else, as well as guilty for being sought out and being in to position to return to the posh party Jay was hosting. He didn't even bother holding his breath. "Hup! You don't have to- hiccup!- to stay with me, Jay. Hick! Go ba- hack!- go back to the p-hulp!- party."
He smiled wryly, ashing his cigarette into a nearby rhododendron, "So you can skulk here all night?"
"I was- hic!- I was going h-home- huckup!- soon anyway."
"Then I shall be the consummate host and walk you to your door, old sport." he stubbed out his cigarette on the windowsill, looped his arm through Nick's and started a brisk stride, making sure to keep behind the hedges to shield the two of them from view.
"Jay- hmnk!" Walking and hiccupping left little room for air and even less for talking. "This was- hiccup!- You said- hic!- this party was quite- hulp!- quite impor- huck!" Not to mention how ridiculous he felt, pressed up against Jay's side and hiccupping like a drunkard; the pleb to the modern day Eros. He would have sworn they could hear his hiccups all the way across the Sound. "Hic!"
They were still some way aways from his front door, though having left the World's Fair mansion a distance behind, but Jay stopped and grasped his shoulders firmly, seemingly uncaring that they jolted and spasmed every few seconds. "Nick, there's a hundred people on the guestlist, even more who've turned up, and perhaps ten of those people back there even know my first name. Please believe me when I say that I am very, very glad to walk you home. The friend that I have in you is a privilege none of them will ever understand."
Nick swallowed. "Hic! Lead on then."
Jay beamed, linked their arms together again and carried on towards the little cottage hidden amongst the trees.
Five
It really was a wonderful yacht, though Nick wasn't surprised- Jay had enough money to buy the whole of New York City three times over, of course he could buy a nice yacht.
He muffled another hiccup into his hand and resumed watching the gracious figure of his neighbour from the upper deck. Scarcely anyone else came up here, unless to jump into the water, but it was early on and no one had drunk enough yet to think that was a good idea.
Heavy footsteps sounded from behind, then Meyer Wolfsheim appeared, swaying with the motion of the craft and passing by Nick sitting on the floor with his legs hanging off the edge of the balcony as if it was perfectly natural.
Some time later he re-emerged, pausing and looking down at him with paternal amusement, "Are you drunk?"
He shook his head.
"Sea sick?"
He shook his head again, "Hiccup!"
He blushed, but Wolfsheim just threw his head back and laughed, already heading back down the stairs, "Ah, in my culture, that means someone is thinking of you."
The door clanged shut and his footsteps went the other way. Nick stayed stock still, listening and hiccupping tensely, until he was sure he was alone again. Sighing in relief, he turned his attentions back to Gatsby.
Plus One:
He was not nervous, tomorrow was simply going to be a daytrip to Coney Island between two good friends, celebrating the last days of summer.
So why was he nervous?
Swearing to himself, Nick pulled off his tie and tried another, then quickly discarded that too. None of them looked right.
If it was just a visit to Coney Island, why did his clothes matter at all?
Because it was a visit with Jay.
Immediately: "Hic!" Nick slapped his hand to his mouth and hiccupped again before he could even swear. Damnit. "Hilk!" There did not seem to be a day that went by recently where he didn't get the hiccups at least once, and he was fed up. There was never any exact cause and they were rarely short-lived- he had been more humiliated this last summer than he ever had been in his life. He held his breath and at the same time almost ran downstairs for a glass of water.
For all his hard work not to breathe until the glass was full, as soon as he exhaled, "Huckulp!" His curse word was cut off with another jerk ad he carefully drank from the wrong side of the glass instead.
"Hup!"
He tried again. From the other side of the glass.
"Hic-cup!" the recently-consumed water sloshed around with the movement and he rubbed his stomach, grimacing. Nick thought it must be something to do with all the rich food he had been eating lately, with all the parties and posh houses he had been invited and dragged to. That would explain why he could not stop getting the hiccups, though it did nothing to help him stop them now. Hopefully they would stop soon so he could get enough sleep before seeing Jay.
"Huck!" Defeated, he switched off the lights and went to bed, reasoning a lie down might help. His hiccups were deeper now, and quicker, and beginning to hurt.
The clock struck ten. "Hmnk!" They'll stop soon, he reassured himself, trying the old trick of rubbing his stomach again
The clock struck three. "Hic!" Nick was sure he'd go mad before daybreak.
The clock struck four. He began to pray he'd pass out. "Hulp!"
The clock struck six. He could survive on only an hour or two of sleep. "Huck!" Nick pulled the pillow over his head, determined to smother himself.
***
Jay was in a very good mood as the clock struck eleven and he approached his neighbour's little cottage. And why not? The sun was shining, business was swell and he was about to go to Coney Island with his friend, what did he have to be unhappy about?
As he was climbing the steps up to the front door, he heard a muffled but tell-tale "Hic!" and could not restrain a smile. Nick's hiccups were endearing and his embarrassment over them even more so. He knocked on the door, prepared to say something teasing and then be on their way. "Hiccups again, old sport? I bet- Christ, Nick, you look terrible." Terrible indeed- he looked exhausted and wan, an expression on his face somewhere between and scowl and a grimace; Jay made to grab his shoulder but he dodged quickly out of reach on the pretence of shutting the door.
"Hmnk! You see how go- huck!- How good you look after- hiccup!- hiccupping for thir- hic!- thirteen hours."
Jay looked on in horror- he didn't think they could last that long, surely? But looking at his honest neighbour, he knew it was no word of a lie. He followed him into the parlour and sat next to him on the couch. "I suppose Coney Island is out, then?"
"You could still- hilk!- You could still go, Jay. Huckulp! Excuse me."
"Nonsense, old sport, of course I wouldn't go without you." Carefully, he leaned closer and started to rub Nick's back and shoulders in slow, soothing circles with one hand the way a friend would. The thin shoulders jolted under his touch. "I imagine they're starting to hurt by now."
Wilting lower in his seat, he wrapped his arms round his middle, "Slightly."
Jay was unaccustomed to feeling useless, "Would you like me to get you some water, old sport?"
"Hup! No, I f-feel- hic-culp!- sick."
He carried on rubbing his back, casting around for ideas... "Have you considered going to a doctor?"
Nick shot him an unimpressed look, "You don't- hulp!- You don't go to the- hic!- doctors just for- huckup! Excuse me. Hic! Not just for this- hick!"
He rolled his eyes, though he'd expected nothing less. "What am I going to do with you, hmmm?"
"Kill me."
"No," he drawled, tightening his arm round his shoulders in a half-embrace.
"Hmnk! I'd appreci- hup!- I'd appreciate it."
Jay laughed, partly because of the comment and partly because the last hiccup jolted his arm off Nick's shoulder and made it fall round his waist instead. Nick hiccupped hard, and without thinking Jay splayed his hand across his ribcage in sympathy. He started talking, mainly as a distraction for his long-suffering neighbour than any other reason, and for his part Nick sat listening attentively, hiccups so regular Jay could have set his watch by them.
They were sitting closer together now and halfway through a not-particularly riveting tale of a little city in Europe, their knees accidentally brushed together. Jay pretended not to notice, watching with fascination though as Nick did; watching as Nick's gaze fell on their still-touching knees, start to travel upwards and then quickly wrenched away to study the mantelpiece. Under his palm, he felt Nick hiccup again, then a second time quickly following that. And suddenly Jay understood. He stretched his fingers out slightly wider and at once "Hic-ah!".
He paused in the storytelling and peered over kindly as the next "Huck!" pierced the air. Nick's eyes had shut, face red with embarrassment. "Are you alright, old sport?"
"Fine- hic!"
"Seems like they're getting worse," he commented sympathetically, which was true, the hiccups were coming quicker now.
Nick nodded. "Huckup!"
"Are you sure you don't want anything?"
He opened his eyes, "I'm fi- hup! Fine. Hiccup!"
"You're sure?" Fine my ass Jay thought.
"Unless- hic!- you can make th- hulp!- make these damn hi- hilp!- hiccups stop for good... Hic-cup! And you can't- hip! I've already tried ev-hic!-ery thing. Hic-culp!"
Jay slid his arm- still round Nick's waist- lower, so his palm was on his stomach and jumped with the force of each hiccup. "I might have an idea, Nick."
He whipped his head up to look at him and Jay yanked him forward and kissed him before he could hiccup again. The hiccup, when it did come, was used as an excuse to deepen the kiss and if there were any hiccups that came after that, they were too wrapped up in one another to notice.
It was only what felt like an eternity later, when the kiss finally ended, did Nick break into a smile, "My hiccups are gone!"
"Oh?" Jay made a noncommittal noise- he had one thing on his mind right now and it certainly wasn't hiccups.
"Yes." Suddenly, he found himself with an armful of beaming, delighted Nick. "I don't think they'll come back, but you'd best kiss me again to be sure."