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“Is this really necessary?” Nick drops a tea bag into his water, watching as the color changes.
“Yes, of course it is Old Sport,” he responds, frantically pacing around the room. “Every single arrangement is necessary for everything to go right.”
Gatsby sits down on the couch and twiddles his thumbs, his eyes darting back and forth between the front door and the window. “Perhaps she won’t be coming,” Gatsby murmurs to himself as Nick sets down a cup of tea in front of him. “You’re kidding, right? It’s still twenty minutes before the agreed time.”
Nick sits down next to him, taking a sip of his own tea. Gatsby shakily grabs his cup and pretends to take a sip of the earl grey before standing up. “This was a bad idea,” he says.
Nick sighs and grabs Gatsby’s shoulders, forcing him back down. “No,” he scolds.
“You said that last time, too. Sit down and wait; she’ll come.”
Gatsby gulps loudly, twiddling his thumbs faster. Nick looks out the window to see the beautiful rays of light shining through.
“Yes, but,” Gatsby begins.
“This time it’s… different. Much, much different, Old Sport.” Gatsby stands back up, needing to move around. “What if… what if she yells at me? Perhaps she may even slap me! I do deserve it, but… Oh, God. What am I going to do if she never wants to talk to me again?” Gatsby exclaims nervously.
Nick looks at his friend with concern and sets down his tea cup. “Gatsby, calm down,” he responds, standing up. “I’ll be right here, I’m sure she won’t do anything drastic, Plus, she agreed to this meeting, didn’t she?”
Nick smiles as Gatsby stops pacing, slowly nodding his head. “Yes… Yes she did, didn’t she…?”
The dirty-blonde looks down at the ground heaving a sigh. “I’m so fucked…” Gatsby mumbles.
“Pardon?” Nick looks at Gatsby, cocking his head to the side.
“Apologies, I said I’m glad I’m not soaked! Remember last time? With all the rain?” Gatsby laughs boisterously and nervously.
Before Nick could respond, a sputtering of a car could be heard outside. Gatsby immediately stiffens up with an ‘eep’ and sits on the couch, taking fake sips from his cup.
“I guess I’ll get the door,” Nick sighs.
The brunette opens the door, watching as Tom helps Daisy up to the door. “Hello, Nicky!” She sings happily. Nick opens the door, letting them inside. Tom nods in Nick’s general direction as Daisy hobbles her way into the living room.
“Well,” Tom starts. “Shall we head into the kitchen?”
“Yeah,” Nick nods. “I don’t want to interrupt those two.”
The two men walk into the kitchen as Nick pours some tea for Tom. “Thanks,” he says as Nick hands him a glass. “Don’t mention it.”
The two stand in awkward silence, sipping tea and trying to overhear the distant conversation they swore they didn’t want to be a part of.
“Why did Gatsby want the meeting here? If he wants to talk so badly, he should just invite us over to his house.” Tom mentions, grunting.
Nick shakes his head. “Maybe he thinks it’s cozier here? I really couldn’t tell you.” Nick scoffs a bit. It’s been a month since summer and now he has to deal with the drama Gatsby constantly has AND work. It was already stressful enough without having to work full shifts everyday.
“Seems like Mr. Gatsby has been taking a toll on you!” Tom laughs, punching Nick’s arm. Nick winces and chuckles. “Yeah, I guess so.”
A loud crash could be heard from the living room, alerting the two men.
“DAISY!”
“GATSBY?”
They shout, running into the room as fast as they can.
Gatsby, completely flushed red, stands over a broken tea cup with an angry Daisy. “I will NEVER love you!” She shouts, struggling to stay standing. “After I took a bullet for you? You expect me to apologize? Are you out of your mind?”
Daisy turns around and locks eyes with Tom. “Come on, Tom! We’re leaving!”
“HA! You don’t have to tell me twice!” Tom immediately starts preparing to leave as Daisy turns to Gatsby.
“Daisy, please–” The blonde tries to beg.
“NO,” Daisy interjects.
“It’s done. We’re… we are done, Jay.”
Daisy turns back to Tom, walking away. “And thank you, Nick. I appreciate the kindness.” She gives Nick a peck on the cheek before heading out of the house.
The two stay in silence as minutes pass before Gatsby collapses on the floor, covering his face with his hands.
“Oh, God DAMNIT!” He shouts, banging on the floor.
Nick quickly grabs a dust pan and runs over, lifting Gatsby up.
“There’s glass on the floor,” Nick explains.
“Oh, who cares?” Gatsby sighs. “It’s no use, Old Sport. She’ll never love me again… That cursed Tom has her wrapped around his finger.”
“There you go blaming others again,” Nick mumbles, rolling his eyes.
Gatsby raises his brows in shock as Nick starts to clean the glass from the floor. “I beg your pardon?” Gatsby asks as Nick throws out the glass. When the brunette turns around, looking confused, Gatsby elaborates. “What do you mean by ‘blaming others’, Old Sport?”
Now it was Nick’s turn to raise his eyebrows. “Oh,” he begins. “I wasn’t aware I said that out loud.”
Nick shrugs and returns to Gatsby, putting his hand on his shoulder. “You keep blaming anything and everything else except yourself when something with Daisy messes up,” Nick shakes his head, crossing his arms. “Maybe she just… doesn’t love you. There’s plenty of people around that will love you for who you are, James.”
Gatsby’s face reddens as he hears his real name. He lightly shoves Nick away, looking to the side. He forgot he told Nick all about that… Wait, why did he tell Nick all of that?
“Right, of course, of course… Perhaps I…” Gatsby’s thoughts travel over to Nick. He’s been there through it all. He’s been the one to course correct him, even if he never listened.
Gatsby quickly shakes his head, purging the thoughts from his mind. “Perhaps I need another lovely woman to set my sights on.” Gatsby starts to devise a plan as Nick shakes his head, disgruntled.
“No, no! Just… let it happen naturally. A forced relationship doesn’t do you any good.”
“What about you and Jordan?”
“Jordan and I broke up.”
“Oh.”
Gatsby looks down at the ground where tiny shards of glass lay. “Apologies about the cup, Old Sport. It really was a lovely cup.” Nick looks down and scrunches his face. “It’s alright,” he responds, cleaning up more shards. “I have plenty more. They aren’t as expensive as you think.” Gatsby coughs awkwardly and nods his head.
The blonde sits on the sofa, looking at his unbroken cup. “Today could not have gone any worse.” Unfortunately, it got worse. The two men hear lightning crash from nearby and a sudden storm or heavy rain starts to drench the outside world.
The two of them stay quiet as the thunder roars, knowing exactly what's going to happen. “Well, it seems like I have to sta–”
“Don’t finish that sentence.” Nick groans.
Jay looks at the small fireplace and begins to rearrange the flowers to get out of the way. If he was going to be an inconvenience, the least he could do is make sure he doesn’t commit arson.
“I’ll get a fire started,” Gatsby says. Nick thanks him, telling him where the firewood is.
“Time for the makeshift bed again,” Nick says aloud, heading to his room. Gatsby has been recently spending more and more nights with Nick since the Incident. So far he’s spent a total of 20 consecutive nights at Nick’s, which is strange, considering it’s only been a month.
‘There’s no way he’s actually been spending that much time here, right?’ Nick thinks to himself, setting up the bed and adding onto his ‘Gatsby’s Here’ counter.
Originally it was a funny joke, but recently it’s becoming more of a reason to send Gatsby to a therapist.
Nick heads back downstairs and sees Gatsby resting by the fire. His suit is draped on the sofa, leaving him in his undershirt and pants.
Nick tosses his suit jacket next to Jay’s and sits down next to him, listening to the thunder.
Nick takes a deep breath in and out. He enjoys the peacefulness of the rain hitting his window as the fire crackles beside them.
On the contrary, Gatsby sits there, restless. The blonde takes nervous sips from his new tea cup. He pushes another one towards Nick, who gladly accepts it, relaxing.
“What if I never love again?” Jay asks on the brink of tears. “She was the only one I’ve ever had… I’m completely alone.” Nick gives an annoyed glare towards Jay.
“Completely alone? There’s absolutely no one to help you?”
Gatsby looks at Nick with a confused look on his face before widening his eyes. “Oh, no, no, Old Sport! I just mean as a relationship! Of course I have you. I…always have… you…” Gatsby looks into Nick’s eyes, admiring how well the fire illuminates Nick’s best features and how dazzling his eyes look.
“...Are you alright, Gatsby?”
Nick asks, feeling a bit uncomfortable with the amount of staring happening.
“Y-yes, quite,” he responds, breaking eye contact.
Gatsby stares back into the fire, longing for the passion he once had for Daisy.
“I said this earlier, but I’m sure you’ll find someone, Gatsby. One day you’ll find someone who loves you for who you are.” Nick says, watching the fire crackle before him.
“And will she be there for me no matter how many times I annoy her?” Gatsby asks.
“Of course she will.”
“And if I require her assistance?”
“She’ll give it unconditionally.”
“And if I want him to take care of me?”
“He’ll gladly– wait, what?” Nick snaps back to reality, glancing at Gatsby.
The blonde has been staring at him for quite some time now.
“Yes? Is there a problem, Old Sport?” Gatsby quickly breaks eye contact, staring into his tea.
“What do you mean ‘him’?” Gatsby looks up, eyes widened.
“What-whatever could you mean, Old Sport?” Gatsby feigns ignorance, laughing it off.
Nick opens his mouth to argue, but decides to close it. He knows Gatsby well enough now to know he’ll try to gaslight Nick into thinking it was never said. Strangely, this isn’t Nick’s first rodeo. Gatsby has mentioned ‘he’ or ‘him’ when speaking about love a number of times, but it never fails to catch Nick off guard.
‘He’s been so focused on Daisy I never thought he could fall for men… No, I’m still sure that can’t be it, right? He probably just wants me to take care of him.’
“Well, I’m sure that if you had a male friend that allows you to stay at their house despite yours being a few minutes away, he would be glad to take care of you.”
“Oh? He is?”
“Indeed. He has a lot of useless people,” Nick points at all the plants he’s taken care of after Gatsby “gifted” them to him. “So what’s one more?”
Nick laughs as Gatsby recoils.
“Right… I am pretty useless, aren’t I?” Jay looks into the crackling fire, tracing the rim of his tea cup. “All I’ve done since coming here is make a mess of things. I’m probably not wanted here, am I correct, Old Sport?”
Gatsby gives Nick a sad smile, leaving a pit in Nick’s stomach. The idea of Gatsby not coming over anymore terrified him more than it should have.
“I was joking, Jay,” Nick explains, scooting closer to the dense rock of a man.
“You’re not useless to me. I wouldn’t have thought about starting a fire and I enjoy your presence.” Nick smiles, putting down his tea cup and brushing his hand against Gatsby’s.
Jay blushes from the movement and takes it a step further, interlocking Nick’s hand in his. “You really don’t see me as useless?” Gatsby asks softly, his façade slipping.
The brunette widens his eyes before bringing Gatsby’s hand up to his mouth. Jay feels the softness of Nick’s lips against his rough skin as they stare in each other’s eyes, the fire accentuating every perfect feature of each individual. After a minute or so, Nick lowers Jay’s hand down, scooting closer.
The two of them know they want the same thing, but understand how wrong it is at the same time…
As Jay leans closer, Nick turns his head back towards the fire and sighs. “We should focus on relaxing,” Nick says, grabbing his tea cup.
Jay quickly leans back to where he was prior and nods. “Agreed, Old Sport,” he responds, his usual voice returning.
Nick frowns, missing Gatsby’s normal voice and stands up. “I’m going to get a blanket,” he says. “It’s still a bit chilly and I have a feeling we’ll fall asleep down here.” Gatsby nods, despite feeling muhc more hot than the latter.
Gatsby hums a romantic tune until Nick comes back with a blanket, wrapping it around the two of them. The two men get closer, cuddling one another.
Jay leans his head on Nick’s shoulder as they watch the fire and listen to the rain slapping the house. “This is relaxing,” Jay says, his façade melting the longer they stay there.
“Yeah,” Nick adds. “It’s comforting.”
“I wish we could do this everyday.”
“Hm,” Nick ponders for a moment. “It wouldn’t be so special if this happened everyday, though.”
Jay looks up at Nick and smiles. “I didn’t think of it like that,” he responds. “I’ll definitely be remembering this night for a long, long time, Nick…”
Jay snuggles up closer to Nick, who sets his tea cup down and snuggles closer to Jay in return. “I will too, Jay. I will too.”
The two men stay there for an hour until Gatsby starts ranting about being unlovable by any women, much to Nick’s dismay.
The two discuss what can be done to find a new girl for Gatsby to flirt with as the awkward, love-tension lingers in the air.
By the time the two fall asleep, Gatsby can’t help but have dreams about the two being passionate with one another. Nick was no exception to these types of dreams as well.
Hopefully one day the two will be able to confess the feelings lingering in the air.