Title: A Brief Interlude
By: Mickeylover303
Paring: Nick/Greg
Rating: PG
Summary: Nick often places his hands on his hips in response to much of what Greg does. But it's kind of hard to do so when you're not standing up.

***

"Hey." Greg jumped on the other side of the bed, fully clothed and smelling like chlorine as he landed on the mattress next to Nick, making the other man's body move slightly.

"Unh..." Nick grunted as he pulled the comforter over his head, turning to face away from Greg, who had supposedly disturbed his sleep.

"Like you've never indulged in the juvenile whim of jumping on your own bed." Greg put his feet up, kicking his shoes off as he lay on his stomach and rested on his elbows. "Plus, we're old enough we won't get in trouble for it." He softly poked Nick in the back of the head through the thick material of the comforter, frowning when the other man didn't respond. He bit his lip, deciding to dig his finger into Nick's skin until the other man turned around to glare at Greg.

Apparently, Nick didn't like being poked in the back of the head, which was nearly hairless because of Nick's most recent haircut that took place yesterday.

But Greg knew this already.

"I was sleeping." Nick was no longer embraced by the warmness that came from confining himself within the comforter. But he wasn't bothered by the fact.

Greg scoffed as he saw right through the lie, having seen Nick's eyes flicker beneath his eyelids. "Sure you were."

Nick turned his head into the pillow so Greg wouldn't see his smile. "Yeah, you caught me."

"Waiting up for me...there's the sap I know."

Nick ignored the bait, rolling his eyes and turning back to face Greg. He scrunched his nose as he finally noticed Greg's slightly damp hair. "You smell like chlorine."

"No," Greg mocked, smiling when he heard Nick suck his teeth. "Murder weapon was in the pool and Sara didn't want to get it. So, I did the chivalrous thing and-"

"More like she made you get it."

"You make it sound like I'm her subordinate-"

"Which you are."

"Which I am." Greg sighed as he overlooked Nick's taunt. He leaned further into his palm, squishing his cheek against it.

"But you called an hour ago...what took you so long?" Nick asked as he sat up, positioning his back against the headboard of the bed. The comforter slid away from his body, revealing his bare chest.

"I picked up some things from the store – your cereal included."

Nick raised his eyebrows at Greg's seemingly innocent display of charity. A year of living together and they still had...incidents concerning Nick's cereal. So, of course this was enough to garner Nick's attention and make him suspicious. "What's the catch?"

Greg didn't even try to deny the accusation implied within the question. "Here." He leaned down over the side of the bed and grabbed a bag on the floor, coming back up and placing it beside Nick.

"What's this?"

Greg shrugged. "Look in the bag."

"I don't think I want to - what are you doing?!" Nick asked frantically, scooting away from Greg's roaming hands, which had apparently removed the comforter from the rest of Nick's body.

Greg snorted in dismissal, as if it was the most obvious thing as to why he was trying to help Nick out of sleepwear that was really just a pair of grey briefs...which – in Greg's humble opinion – was probably the most boring article of clothing Nick owned. And considering how plain Nick's wardrobe was...that was saying something. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

Nick looked at Greg warily, making sure he was a safe distance from Greg's nimble fingers. He teetered on the edge of the bed, tightly holding on to his underwear by the waistband. As soon as he was sure Greg would stay on the other side, he opened his mouth to speak. "I can't take anything you do at face value...I know better than that."

Greg moaned impatiently, pushing the bag towards Nick. "Just look inside."

Nick reached into the bag. "I was going to...until you..." He trailed off, now holding a small package in his hand and looking at Greg with narrowed eyes. "This is a joke."

"Can you believe it was actually hard to find something in your size?"

"What do you mean my size?" Nick refrained from throwing the package at Greg, not sure if he was being made fun of or if Greg was just being Greg. He only had three colours of briefs: black, white, grey...and maybe blue, but he rarely wore those so they didn't really count. "I don't need any more underwear." He especially didn't need the kind of underwear he currently held in his hand.

"Yeah, but you don't have a pair of Superman underwear."

Greg watched as Nick opened the package to further examine the actual underwear. It was predominantly blue, with a thick, red waistline, which was parallel to the hems of the briefs. Connecting the waistline and the hems were two narrow red lines. And in between the two lines, centred in the groin area, was Superman's insignia – something Greg thought suited Nick perfectly.

Not to mention that it highlighted other aspects, as well.

"I can't believe this," Nick said, shaking his head as he ran his finger across the yellow and red logo on the underwear. He barely concealed a shiver when he felt Greg's fingers running along his thighs, continuing until they reached the hairs on Nick's stomach.

Greg stilled his hand when Nick grabbed his wrist. "It's not fair that you're not ticklish."

"But it will be when I remind you who is." Nick released Greg's hand, slowly moving his own away as soon as he was sure he got the message across.

Taking the threat seriously, Greg removed his fingers from Nick's skin without hesitation, licking his lips as he looked up at Nick. "So...you going to wear it?" He pointed to the underwear still in Nick's hand.

"What made you buy this...thing?"

Greg tilted his head, repositioning his head so that his chin was now resting on his palm. "Because you're my Superman."

Nick withheld from revealing the smile that was impending. "Greg..." It was one of those moments that was teetering on incredulous, where it seemed too good to be true and Nick was more than half-expecting Hodges to come through the door or for Hell to freeze over.

Something along those lines.

"It was either that or I'd make you wear the full costume with cape...Halloween's coming up next month."

Nick didn't even bother to respond, throwing the underwear at Greg instead. And though small, he did feel some sort of satisfaction when it landed on Greg's face.