Title: Just Dropped By…
Author: Dee
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 10542
Pairing: Gil/Nick
Characters: Gil Grissom and Nick Stokes
Warnings: AU and v.fluffy!
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: In my dreams they are like, totally mine!
Beta-ed: By podga and the mistakes will still be all mine for refusing to do as I’m told! Icon by me via a stokesgirl picture.

Nick was checking his finished article through when the doorbell interrupted him.

He wasn’t expecting a visitor, but he had a good idea about who it would be.

A look through his spy hole revealed that he’d guessed the identity of his caller correctly.  And not for the first time, he was perplexed.  He opened the door.

“Hi, Gris.”

“Nick, just dropped by.  You busy?”

“No, come on in.  You finished early.  Wanna drink?”

“A beer would be good, if that’s okay?”

“No problem, I’ll join you.”

“It’s a strange phenomenon, but whenever it’s your night off, it’s an easy shift.  It’s as if the perps wait for you to be on duty before they do the really bad stuff.”

As Nick retrieved a couple of bottles of Bud from his fridge, he knew he’d heard Grissom say that, or something like that, when he’d visited before.  When had he got into this habit of visiting, anyway? 

It started with the Ibbotson case.  His first day off after that case.

Returning to the living room, Nick saw Gil resting his hands on the back of the computer chair, peering at the on-screen article.

“What do you think?”  Nick handed Gil his beer and took a slug of his own.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry, but it’s the Ibbotson case, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, seemed like a good case to write up.  So what do you think?”

 

“The very best case for you.  I haven’t looked at more than a few lines, but I will if you want me to.  You should be fine, you write excellent reports and you’ve been published before, haven’t you?”

 

“Yeah.”   There it was again.  After years of ignoring him, Grissom was suddenly showering him with compliments.  It just didn’t seem right, somehow.  He took another slug of his beer.

“The JFC wasn’t it?  I usually submit my articles to them.”

“You’re a member aren’t you?”

“I am, a member, I've actually applied to become a fellow.  I’ll know about that next February.  I take it you’re not a member?”

“No.  I haven’t applied.”

“You should.  I can be your sponsor.  The AAFS is a creditable organisation to be part of…looks good on your CV.”

“My CV?  You think I’m looking for another job?”

“No, of course not…  Are you?”  Gil suddenly seemed unsure of himself

“No.”  Nick laughed at Grissom’s shocked look.

“You should keep a CV at all times anyway and keep it up to date and relevant…a living document I believe they call the procedure now.” 

“Are you thinking of leaving?”  Nick thought he’d put Gris on the same spot.

“No.  But I do keep my CV up to date; you never know what’s around the corner.”

“True enough.  You eaten yet?”

“No, I haven’t, I don’t suppose I should be having a beer on an empty stomach.”

“You wanna walk round to the diner?”

“That’d be good.  Now that you mention it, I am hungry.  Have you been up all night?”

“Yeah, when I've only got one night off it makes no sense to ruin my sleeping pattern.”

“Do you miss sleeping at night and working during the day?”

“It’s been so long…”  They’d abandoned their beers and Nick found a pair of deck shoes to wear.  “…I’m just used to it.  I like it in the summer, because it’s cooler to work, but it can be soul destroying in the winter when it seems just too dark and cold.”

“I know what you mean.”

Nick set his house alarm and they left for the diner.  Gil fell into step beside Nick.  Nick smiled to himself at Gil's uneven gait.  As if with each step he would bump into him; but he never did.  Hands in pockets as usual, too, like he was sauntering along when in fact he was moving quite quickly.  Nick counted that Gil took five steps to his own four.  So he was actually expending more energy than Nick.  His smile turned into a chuckle.

“Have I missed something?”

Nick had the good grace to be a little embarrassed. “No, no.  Just thinking.”

Grissom chuckled.  Nick felt guilty.

After they’d ordered breakfast Nick sat back in the booth and contemplated Grissom.  Grissom was watching something, someone, intently; Nick saw a middle aged man, as he glanced across the diner following Grissom’s line of sight.  But Grissom realised that he was under scrutiny and turned back towards Nick.  He took off his glasses and laid them on the table. 

“That guy has an OCD disorder.  It must be terrible to be so driven to need to do actions over and over again to gain some semblance of control.”

“I had an aunt.  It controlled her entire life from when she was a young girl. She had it real bad.  She never made it to a diner in her adult life.  She was my Daddy’s eldest sister. I hardly remember her, she lived with my grandparents’ Stokes and when they died, in the same year, she went into a home, but she died within a few months too…pneumonia…  But the family always said it was a broken heart, she just lost the will to live.”

“That’s very sad, Nick.  How old were you?”

“’Bout nine; yeah, I was nine.”  Nick was dumbfounded at himself.  He’d just revealed more about his family to Grissom, hell, Grissom of all people, than he’d done since he came to Vegas.

“I was nine when my Dad died.”

Nick knew this because Catherine had told Warrick and Warrick had told him.

“That’s very traumatic for a young boy.  How did you get by?”

“It was a terrible shock, and a really bad time, of course, but children are resilient…more resilient than adults.  Mom took it very badly, I mean, looking back through adult eyes, I think she had a complete breakdown.  Caring for me was the only thing that kept her going for many years.  She pretended he was still alive, I think, for years…”  Grissom looked as if the memories of what had happened troubled him. 

“I guess people were less inclined to get therapy then…and anti-depressants.”

“We couldn’t afford therapy and in those days it was just accepted that you got on with your life, regardless.”

“Yeah.”  Nick felt the familiar embarrassment of having a wealthy family. His aunt had been in an exclusive and expensive facility, but she’d still died.

“We’re being morbid and depressing ourselves.  We can’t turn the clock back, however much we’d like to.”

“No.  How often have we heard someone say, ‘if only I could go back…’?”

“Too often.  Here’s breakfast.  I wish I’d had the eggs now.”

“You want a side of eggs, honey?”  The waitress had heard him.

“No, thank you.  I have enough to eat as it is.”  He laughed.

“You can have some of mine; I’ll swap you for a patty.”

“Done.”

They ate in companionable silence and soon there were only scraps left on their plates. Grissom leaned back and cupped his mug of tea.  Nick had a juice.

“Gris, may I ask you something?”

“Of course you may.”  He laughed a little as if it was a ridiculous assumption that he wouldn’t respond to a question.  But he was staring at Nick now and waiting and that made Nick squirm.  He’d only just plucked up the courage to ask the question that had been on his mind since the first time Grissom had just dropped by.

“Why…why did you start visiting me after the Ibbotson case?”  There it was done and out in the open and if Nick was not mistaken (and he wasn’t), Grissom was blushing, just a bit, but definitely blushing.

“Oh.  Well.”  Grissom stopped and took a sip of his tea and his eyes looked down from Nick’s expectant face.  “I don’t know, really.  It’s just that that case sort of…defined you…in the lab.”

This was something Nick had never expected.  A Grissom not sure of what to say.

“That’s too ambiguous and you know it.”

“That’s it, there.  Nick, you wouldn’t have spoken to me like that before, would you?  Not exactly challenged me, nor exactly questioned my knowledge, my forensic knowledge, but you have an authority of your own now.”  Grissom had found his stride.

“It was major turning point for you.  Almost a rite of passage, although that’s been clichéd to death. On your own, going against the flow, knowing that there was something missing.  Your dogged determination broke a major paedophile ring in one night, when no one even knew or suspected it existed. 

“Your examination of the scene and the fibre analysis you did and then linked to the other unrelated cases was work of the highest quality and the one factor above all else was that you did it alone.  With everyone else out at that murder in Henderson, you had no one to check with or to bounce ideas off of, you just did it.

“Jim was really impressed you know.  When he told me how quickly you’d made the connections and proved the link, he was amazed.  You know what he said to me? 

“He said, ‘Gil, you hang on every word Sara and Warrick says and you trust Catherine with your life.  You’ve made Nick work twice as hard as anyone else and if that’s what you meant to do, then it’s paid off.  He’s the best you’ve got. I’d trust him with my life.’”

Nick was astonished.  He couldn’t speak.

“But you know what was far worse for me, Nick?  You know, don’t you?”

Nick shook his head.

“I didn’t intentionally work you harder or ever knowingly disparage your work.  Not intentionally, but that’s what I did.  Didn’t I?”

Nick shrugged this time.  He was having some difficulty taking in everything Grissom had just said. It was true, he wasn’t going to deny it, but to hear it from the horse’s mouth, well that was a first.

“Your question was, ‘why did I start visiting you after the case’?  I often go out with Jim and Cath for drinks.  I've been to a couple of games with Warrick.  Taken Sara and Sofia out to dinner, separately, of course.”  He paused to chuckle.

“But, apart from when we’ve had breakfasts all together, I have never socialised with you.  I have neglected you.  I don’t know why…

“Yes.  I do know why.  I’m ashamed to admit it.”  He stopped and took a deep breath.  “I didn’t think you were my equal, or perhaps more importantly, that you were capable of ever being my equal.  Sounds fucking pompous doesn’t it?  Makes me some kind of intellectual snob.  But it isn’t, it wasn’t that.

“I have thought long and hard, Nick, about this.  I think you are the epitome of everything I’m not.  Young, personable, empathetic, a jock, but a damn fine scientist.  I was young once…”  He chuckled, but it was humourless. “…but even Mom used to say I was born with an old head on my shoulders.  I’ve had great passions in my life, still have…primarily for all things entomological.  For the study of forensics, for truth and justice.  But I've never had the passion for life that you have.  You bring that passion to work, of course,  but it’s the way you are.  You don’t have addictions, you don’t need constant reassurance, and you don’t have to prove anything to anyone.  And yet I thought you did.

“I think I thought you had an easy life. Wealthy parents, a solid family based upbringing.  I lost sight of the fact you were a straight A student.  Even when you did good work I failed to praise you.  And that wasn't occasionally, that was all the time. 

“Well…I suppose you think I’m over overcompensating now, going from one extreme to another.  But honestly, Nick?  And I am being honest, now; I really enjoy visiting you and our talks and drinks, and now even a breakfast.”  Gil held his hands up to indicate that that was it, he’d finished.

“You really took Sara to dinner?”

Gil looked at Nick as if he’d grown two heads and then he laughed out loud.  A sound Nick had never heard before.

 

When he could, Gil spluttered.  “I’ve bared my soul to you…admitted seriously bad behaviour as your supervisor…and that’s all you can say?”  He laughed some more.

“I think I’m in shock.”

“Yeah, I can believe that.  I’m sorry, Nick.”

“About you taking Sara to dinner.  You see she’s never mentioned it, not once, and that’s the kind of thing she would tell me with a great deal of smugne… pride…get one over on me.  The other stuff…I’m gonna have to think about it.  If I’m honest, I like you visiting.”

Suddenly serious, Gil nodded at Nick.  “That’s good.  It’s a lot to take in.  About Sara.  I can’t really tell you about that, but I can say I don’t think we’ll be dining alone again.”

“Hey, no problem.  The really weird thing is I've never heard you speak for so long before.  You always seem to me to be speaking as little as possible, almost as if you’re actively trying to find the least number of words you need to say something.”

“My childhood.  Did you know that my Mom was deaf?” 

“No, I didn’t.”

“She could hear and speak until she was about seven, but then gradually became deaf.  She continued to speak, but when my father died…something within her died, too, and she was far less communicative.  I lived my home life in virtual silence for many years.  I could sign of course, but actual conversations were far and few between…”

“…I’m so sorry, Gris, I had no idea…”

“…please don’t be, it wasn't that bad.  It sounds worse than it was.  I was a studious boy and it was quiet, and I listened to the radio a great deal.  And I never got told off…it had its upside.”  He smiled at Nick.  “But I didn’t speak much outside of school, so my formative years were devoid of conversational skills usually learned in the home.  I think I've made up for it since.”

Nick laughed.  “My home was the opposite.  So many of us all talking, all at once, trying to get a word in edgeways, and I was always overlooked…the baby.  Used to make me so mad!  Then I’d get into trouble for sulking.  I couldn’t win.”

“It’s like we’re at the opposite ends of the spectrum.”

“Yeah, it is.  Sometimes I prayed…I actually prayed for silence.  You know I have five sisters?”  At Gil’s nod he continued.  “They used to scream and shout and argue.  And Momma used to let them…said it got rid of all the tension!  She was right, as it happened, they’re all are as close as close can be now.  My brother and I are the outsiders.”

“You brother’s older isn’t he?”

“Yeah.  Nearly seventeen years.”  Gil whistled softly.  “We’re not close.  We hardly interacted at home.  By the time I could talk, he’d left home.  It’s a shame, I would have loved a brother to play with, instead of being a play thing for the girls.  But we get on, all of us, it’s just that I’m not that close to Dan.”

“I never wanted a sibling.  I was quite happy on my own…until Mom died and then I was all alone.”

“That’s sad.”

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, both contemplating their fates.  The waitress came over.

“You guys okay?  Need anything else?”

“Just the check, thank you.  I’ll get this, Nick.”

“You don’t have…”

“Yes, I do.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

They walked back to Nick’s house, much slower than they’d walked to the diner.

Nick was quiet; thinking over all the things Gil had said to him…and there had been a lot of stuff, years’ worth of conversation in an anonymous little diner.  And in those intervening years Nick had gone from being in awe of Gil Grissom, to trying to emulate him, to losing respect for him.  That Nick had thought that as he walked beside Grissom, surprised him.

But it had happened and he couldn’t deny it.  The constant scrutiny, or the constant disregard.  It seemed to Nick it had always been one or the other, at least since he’d made CSI three.  He’d made mistakes, but Gris had never taken him to task, face to face; he’d been quiet and disapproving towards him for weeks on end.

Nick knew very well that Gil had never treated Warrick with such disapproval.  Even when he was gambling.  He never did it to Catherine and she’d dropped the ball on more than one occasion.  And Sara?  Nick tried to stop himself going any further, it only made him mad, but he couldn’t help it.  There had been days, weeks even, when she’d been insufferable because her beloved Grissom had praised her work.  But something had obviously happened.  Maybe they weren’t sleeping together as he’d often imagined.

Was that all there was to it?  Gil had been jealous of his youth, his easy manner?  Thinking about it, it seemed a bit lame.  Gil needed Jim to put him right?  There must be more to it than that.  Everyone was younger than Grissom, except perhaps, Jim.  They were all much the same.  Good science grades.  They all got on with the job and the people…except Sara, of course.

Nick suddenly found himself on his own doorstep.

Gil chuckled at his shock.  “You’ve been deep in thought, I've spoken a couple of times and you’ve ignored me.”

“Oh, man, sorry.  Yeah, I’ve been thinking about what you said.  You coming in?”

“I was going to go.”

“Could you stay just a little longer?  I've got some tea if you want it?”

“I don’t need tea; of course I’ll come in, if that’s what you want.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Once inside Nick started pacing around his living room.  Gil stood and watched with a bemused expression.

“Gris?  Is that it?  You see it all seems a bit, I don’t know, almost convenient.  You didn’t like me because of my background…and yet you are the least judgmental person I've ever met.  It seems incongruous.”

“Really?  You think that?”

Nick had him, he knew.  There was something almost bland about the way he’d replied.   Behaviour completely foreign to Gil Grissom.  There was more to this.  If Grissom had been ignoring him that was certainly not the case with him.  Nick had studied every inch of Grissom and his behavioural patterns.  Nick was getting good at it; he'd turned it into almost an art form, studying what he said and how he said it.  He knew how Grissom would respond to a particular situation, how he would deal with people.  And although he wasn't entirely predictable, a pattern had emerged and it was quite reliable.

“I do think that.  There’s more to this.  I mean it may be how it all started, but for you to go on doing it for years, you must have realised before Jim told you…you’re a freaking forensic scientist at the top of your game.  Come on, give me a little credit; you’re actually treating me in the same manner… Nick doesn’t know squat.  The excuse will suffice for Nick.  Give it up Grissom.   The real reason.  The truth. “

Nick had been forceful and sarcastic, and he’d seen the colour drain from Grissom’s face as he spoke.

“Nick…I can’t.”  Grissom turned abruptly and as quickly as he could he was out of Nick’s front door, slamming it closed as he left.  Nick's eyebrows nearly met his hairline as he’d watched, stunned, as Grissom made his exit.

Nick went straight to his front window and peered out.  Grissom was standing by the driver’s door of his truck.  He looked as if he was leaning his head on the window, but it was the other side of the truck to Nick’s view.  Grissom then looked up and through the truck’s windows their eyes locked.  And then slowly, but surely, Grissom made his way back to the front door.

Nick moved and opened it for him and he walked into the living room.

“You see?  You’re even better than I said.  You’d have never challenged me like that even a couple of months ago. 

“I’ve been living a lie where you are concerned, virtually from the first day you walked through the doors of the lab.  If I had interviewed you, Nick, I wouldn’t have employed you.”  He put his hand up to silence Nick so he could continue.  “Not for the reason you think.

“Jim did speak to me about the Ibbotson case and he did say what I said to you…but more, much more.  And Sara, she didn’t tell you about the dinner for much the same reason.

“Jim has known for years that I’m gay.”  Now Nick’s eyes were about to pop out of his head.  “He’s known that I…wanted you from the moment I set eyes on you.  If I’d interviewed you, I would have kept you out of the lab, because I knew, I knew, what would happen.  I tried hard not to let it but there’s only so much a man can bear.  My defence mechanism was to keep you at arm’s length, to keep me sane and you safe. 

“But as Jim pointed out, it had just become embarrassingly obvious how badly behaved I was to you…and he was very surprised you hadn’t complained about me.  He said I must overcome my obsession and treat you normally and, above all, fairly.  And that’s what I've been trying to do; in my pathetic way I‘ve been trying to make amends and desensitise myself to you.  God, I sound like an adolescent.  I’m sorry, Nick, I’m truly sorry. I’m a fool.”

“And Sara knows?”

The question about Sara again took Grissom by surprise, Nick could see.  But he answered.

“You know very well what she’s been like, chasing me around the lab.  I had to tell her that she stood no chance, whatsoever.  It was a blow to her ego, but something she had to accept, it’s not like she could fight off another woman, I think she was actually relieved about that.”

“Are you okay with me now?”

Gil shrugged and smiled.  “It’s better.  I just have to live with it. I’m so very sorry, Nick, I really am.”

“You know I said my brother, Dan, and I didn’t get along and I said it was the age difference. Well, to some extent it is, but the major stumbling block to our relationship is the fact that I’m gay.”

 

“You’re gay.”   It wasn’t a question and Gris’ voice sounded flat and without emotion.  As if the information had drained him of energy.

“Yeah, weird isn’t it?  That I never realised you were gay, anymore than you did me.  You think we just got used to keeping the information to ourselves?  I have…and it sounds as if you have too.”

Gil laughed, but it was humourless.  More of a huff of air and he shook his head and sat down in the chair nearest to him.  He sat forward and rested his elbows on his knees and scrubbed at his face with his hands and then looked down at the floor.  Nick waited for a few minutes but Gil didn’t move, or speak.

“You okay?”

“No.”

“Right.  So…”

Gil sat up and looked at Nick.  “For Christ’s sake, Nick.”  He started to shout and then stopped and held up his hand.  “Sorry.”  He took a few breaths and started again.  “For years Nick, years, I have tried to distance myself from you.  In the process I have abused and ignored you at work.  And you’re gay.”

“I’m sorry.”

Gil jumped to his feet and did shout at Nick’s apology.  “It’s not your fucking fault!  Don’t apologise to me, for me!”

“Okay, okay, but calm down, you’ll stroke out.”  Nick was shocked at Gris’ sudden anger.

He calmed down a little as he replied to Nick. “If I hadn’t have been so…so anal about my privacy…and I’m not ashamed of being gay, but it’s no one’s business but mine.   If I had been more open maybe you could have confided in me.”

“And…  What would that have achieved?  If you still wanted me, how could that have changed things?”

“You’re right; it wouldn’t have, would it?”

“I wouldn’t have expected my supervisor to ask me out on a date, or anything.”

“No.  No, of course not.”

“This has been quite a morning hasn’t it, and it’s not even half over yet.”  Nick was nonplussed at how the events of the morning had unfolded.

“It has.  It’s out in the open now.  I feel better for that; I’m still sorry for everything.”

“At least I know why.  I would never have complained about you, you do know that don’t you?  I’ve learned everything from you and in some ways, you know, your…errr…behaviour has kinda spurred me on.  I think I would like it if you’d sponsor me to become a member of the AAFS.”

“Of course I will; apply on-line and give them my name as your sponsor.  I’d better get going now.  Thank you, Nick, for…understanding, I suppose.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve still got to wrap my head around it, but it explains a lot of stuff.”

“I know.  I’ll go then.”

“Okay.”

Grissom seemed to hesitate for just a moment but then moved over to the door and with a quick backward glance at Nick, he left and closed the door behind him, without slamming it this time.

As soon as the door closed Nick let out a huff of breath.  The morning and its revelations had been an eye opener for him.  Gil Grissom had told him about his Mom.  Then he’d apologised.  Then he’d been angry and then he’d been truthful.  And now he was gay.

Nick sat down in a comfortable chair and leaned  back to think about it all, then jumped back up and retrieved a liquor bottle from a cupboard and a glass from another.  His Daddy always said, ‘drink a good whiskey out of a good glass and it’ll always taste its best’.  So he poured a generous amount of his Midleton Very Rare into a Waterford whiskey tumbler.  He silently toasted his sisters for their birthday presents to him before he took a sip.

He then sat down again and started thinking about Gil Grissom’s revelation.  He had to be honest with himself.  He had never for one moment thought that he was gay.  Never.  No one really talked about their sex lives in the lab.  Well they didn’t to him and he never talked about himself either.  He’d never mentioned a girlfriend to anyone, but there was that poor girl, Kristy.  That really had been an anomaly; she was hot, he was horny and it was any port…  Poor girl didn’t deserve to die though, whatever her intentions.

But,  he wasn’t actually that active on the gay scene.  He was always busy with work, with hobbies; his bird watching, his hiking, his paragliding, his sketching, the gym   He smiled  to himself as he took another sip, it was little wonder he was always tired.  There was the fruit loop, the club scene, and he’d done most of them at least once and Gypsy more than a few times.  He’d never met, or even seen anyone he knew from work; maybe , whoever they were, stayed clear of the gay zone.  But he’d met a few guys over the years, a few one night stands and a couple of guys that had been more…but not for that long.

And now Grissom had been right under his nose all this time.  But what did that mean?  He’d never entertained any fantasies about him.  There was that one disturbing dream he’d had where Grissom had invited him to The Domain and then tied him up, but he hadn’t hit him, it was someone else and he couldn’t see who, but Grissom was there.  Watching.

That was the full extent of any fantasy regarding his supervisor.  He was too busy trying to keep his head down and out of Gil’s way to imagine that he actually sucked cock.  Nick laughed.  He had a sudden imagine of Grissom doing exactly that, lecturing him on the best position to adopt, the use of lubrication, the angle of his hand and correct administration of the tongue.  Telling him where he was going wrong.

As he laughed, the whiskey warmth in his stomach gravitated downwards and he felt a heat in his balls, he squeezed his ass muscles and his dick responded with a twitch. That was a first - a Grissom induced hard-on.

Nick swallowed the last of his whiskey and screwed his eyes up at the sudden onslaught.  When he opened them, his eyes were watering.  His sister, Caroline, always said he was a lightweight drinker.   But then the whole family was in comparison to her; she could do tequila slammers like a pro, and Nick had been bitten on more than one occasion. 

He took his glass into the kitchen and rinsed it out, he wasn’t going to use his dishwasher for any of his best cut glass.  He then made sure his work on the computer was saved and turned it off.  In his bedroom, he closed his windows and drew the black-out curtains across the window.  His bedside lamp gave the room a warm glow.  He undressed and erection forgotten he went to the bathroom, took a piss, washed his hands and cleaned his teeth.  Then he did his new cleansing routine.

His sister, Jennifer, had given him the Clinique range for men for his birthday, and he’d been very good and cleansed his face, toned and then moisturised before he went to bed.  He stared at his face.  It didn’t look any different; maybe it felt a bit softer after he shaved but that was about it.  His wrinkles looked as if they were there to stay. 

He wondered if Grissom did the same, but then laughed at his own image in the mirror.  There was no way Grissom would do it…but then he was a gay man, nah, didn’t make any difference.  Greggo and Hodges used stuff, and they were pretty straight, odd, he nodded to himself, but straight.

When he climbed into his bed and smoothed the cool sheets around him, he thought about Grissom again.  Today had been a very interesting day and going to work tonight would be the first time he could remember  that he’d go in and not be frightened…no, he’d never been frightened of him, that wasn’t the right word…apprehensive, that was better, about how Grissom would treat him at any particular time.  It would be a very interesting shift

He sighed and snuggled down the bed and was soon asleep, dreaming of Caroline making him drink tequila slammers out of one of his best tumblers with Jennifer and Melissa holding him up and squealing with laughter.

 

Nick slept soundly and awoke moments before his alarm sounded.  He could taste the whiskey and his mouth tasted sour.  And then he remembered Gil Grissom.  Gay. 

He heaved himself out of bed and made his way to the bathroom, turned on his shower and waited for it to heat up.  He jumped in a little prematurely and he shuddered, dramatically, under the still cool water.  He turned the heat up and washed his hair and then soaped himself down and paid particular attention to his dick.  He was soon hard and he used his soapy hand to smooth his skin and tug and twist as he became harder.

This was his morning shower, so he wasn’t going to do anything elaborate. He pumped harder and faster and was soon about to come; as his ass cheeks clenched and he steadied himself with his free hand on the shower tiles he saw Gil Grissom, in his mind’s eye.  Looking over his glasses at him and smiling a very knowing smile.  If he’d been in the shower with Nick, Nick would have scored a direct hit and given him a facial.

He leaned forward and rested his forehead on the tiles while he caught his breath. When he’d recovered sufficiently to stand without the help of the wall, he started to worry.  Was this going to be a problem?  Why did he suddenly imagine Gil on his knees?  Why had he just thought of him as Gil after years of calling him Gris, or Grissom?  What about the revelations after breakfast?  Were they going to make a difference?

They would, he decided.  But it would surely be for the better.  He wouldn’t have to worry about second guessing what mood Gil would be in when he went into work each day.  Gil again?

He finished his shower and rinsed the wall down, (Gil's face) just in time before the water started to cool.  He towelled himself dry and then shaved, noting that he had a least one more wrinkle than he had before he went to bed. 

He ate a bowl of cereal and drank a juice and made sandwiches for his break.  He was ready to go in under an hour and would be early for work.  Didn’t matter, it would give Gil, Gris, a good impression.   Better not accidentally call him Gil, especially in front of Sara.

Sara!  He’d forgotten about her.  It was a huge fillip for him to know that he stood more chance of sleeping with Gil than she did! 

Whoa…

Sleeping with Gil?  Where did that come from?  It didn’t matter where it had come from, it was true.  And what’s more Gil had told him that he…  Nick squinted into the distance to remember Gil’s exact words. Gil had said…‘m y defence mechanism was to keep you at arm’s length, to keep me sane and you safe’.

That implied that given the chance Gil, Gris, would definitely sleep with him.  Not Sara, him.  It implied that he sent Gil wild with passion…okay, lust.   But he was his supervisor.  Yeah, he was.  Nick was ready to drive off to work, but he stayed sitting in his quiet truck for a few more minutes, contemplating.

Contemplating.   That’s what he was doing, contemplating whether he should give Gil the come-on.  It would surely be a dead cert.  There was no way even Supervisor Grissom could resist him, if he’d been lusting after him for years and then found that he was within easy reach.  Maybe not too easy, though.

Nick fired his engine and turned up his radio and sang along to an old Monkees song.  He knew the words…that was embarrassing.  But he was a believer, there was no doubt of that.  He believed he’d have Gil Grissom, in the biblical sense, before the week was out.

He didn’t plan anything; he would just see how things developed over the coming days and go with the flow.

At the lab, he got ready in an empty locker room and then went to the evidence layout room to have a look at the photographic evidence of their latest case, still pinned to the wall boards; see if anything jumped out at him, and ‘no’, he told himself, that didn’t mean Gil.  He chuckled, but then got serious.  He must call him Gris or Grissom and not Gil.  Not Gil, especially not Gil.

If he was hoping for an epiphany in respect of the visual evidence, he was disappointed.  There was nothing more that he could see.  He heard voices in the corridor and saw Catherine and Warrick making their way to the briefing room.

He followed them.  Sara and Greggo were already seated.  Sara, even knowing what she knew, still took the seat next to Gi…Grissom.

“Hi y’all.”  Nick drawled in his broadest Texan accent.

“Hi back at ya!  You seem in a good mood.”

“Well Catherine, what is the point of being miserable?  We see enough of it in our work and I’m going to make an effort to be more agreeable in future.”

“You already are the most agreeable dude I know.  So what’s with this?”

“Hey, man.  I have to have a reason to be a nicer person?”

“You’re being nicer, Nick?  What’s brought this on?”  Gil’s entrance took Nick’s breath away.

In the moments he took to recover he noticed that Sara had immediately noticed a shift in Gil’s manner towards him.

“I was just saying, Gris, that we deal with a lot of misery but that’s no reason for me… err…us, to be miserable too.”

“You’re right, of course, but then you don’t strike me as being a miserable person anyway.  Of course, everyone is affected in some way by the day in day out, death and destruction that we have to deal with, but it’s well worth us all remembering that we need to be able to divorce ourselves from the reality of our work, and try to keep it in perspective.”

Good old Gris.  He could always be relied upon to lecture and it had taken the heat off Nick.  Warrick, Greggo and Nick had all caught each other’s eye, and Nick knew their humour was just bubbling under the surface.

But then Grissom excelled himself.  For the first time in a very long time he paired himself up with Nick.  Just the two of them.

If anyone was surprised they didn’t show it, but Nick was convinced the event had not passed Sara’s notice.  He was right.  The briefing room emptied and Nick was left alone with her.

“So you get to go to the murder with Grissom?  You’ve just become flavour of them month.  Why do you think that is?”

“Excuse me?”

“He’s been ignoring you for years and in one night he agrees with something you said and then pairs up with you, and you don’t think that’s odd?”

“He hasn’t been ignoring me for years; I don’t really know what you’re talking about.”  He did, but he wasn’t about to admit it and it was none of her business anyway.

“Come on, Nick, I've seen you when he’s spoken to me and you’ve been standing next to me and he’s  ignored you.  I am an investigator.”

“So you are, but it may have escaped your notice that some of us can get on with the job without the necessity of constant approval.”   That stung her, and Nick was instantly contrite. “I’m sorry Sara, but we obviously see this from different angles.”

“Nick, Grissom says will you get a move on.”  Greggo called from the corridor as he passed the door.

“I gotta go; but Sara, get over it.”  Nick knew from her look that that was the very last thing she was going to do.  Was she putting her knowledge to good use and coming up with the correct conclusion?  He didn’t know, but he thought he’d better be careful.

 

They were in Grissom’s truck and they’d both been quiet since they’d left the lab.  Nick was thinking about Sara and wondering if she would come up with the solution.  She was right, she was an investigator and she was very good.  It was a logical step to take.  She knew Gil was gay.  Grissom starts taking an interest in Nick.  Nick looks happier than he has in a long time.  Ergo, Nick is gay.  Perhaps Sara still harboured secret designs on Gil?  Thought that she may be able to chip away at his homosexuality and make him straight.  It wouldn’t be the first time a woman had tried that.

“You’re quiet.”

“Yeah.”

“Any reason?”

“No, not really.”

“You’re not going to tell me then.”

“Not much to tell.  Do you think Sara still thinks she has a…chance, with you?”

“She hasn’t.”

“I know you say that, know that.  But does she know that?”

“I couldn’t have been blunter.  Has something happened?”

“Not really.  But she questioned why you agreed with something I said and why we’re now going out to a scene together.”

“You’re joking?”

“No.”

“Jesus, Nick, have I really treated you that badly that everyone knows it?”

“Well…yes and no.”

“What does that mean?”

“You know you have treated me badly.  That’s a fact and you’ve acknowledged it.  I don’t know about the others so much, they’ve never said, but where you’re concerned, Sara studies you and your interactions…minutely.  You must know that?”

“Must I?  It’s that bad?”

“It’s always been the same, I thought you knew.”

“I knew, that’s why I told her, but maybe I underestimated the extent of her…”

“…obsession?”

“It’s as bad as that?”

“I’m probably exaggerating.”

But there was one thing that Nick was certainly not exaggerating, and that was Grissom’s, Gil’s, relaxed manner with him.  There was, without a shadow of a doubt, something more relaxed, something more…   He didn’t want to think that it was intimacy; that Gil had suddenly gained some form of intimacy with him.  But the word most accurately described Gil's manner since they’d been in the truck together.  Sharing their thoughts, even if they were about Sara.

“Nick?”

“Sorry, I was thinking.  What did you say?”

“Are you okay?  You’ve been distracted, now and this morning.”

Nick laughed.  “Don’t you think I deserve to be?  I’ve learned a lot about you in twelve hours.”

“Do you accept my apologies?”

“Yeah.  Yes, I do.”

“I’m thankful for that, at least.”

Gil smiled at Nick and Nick looked back at him and smiled too, suddenly struck at just how blue Gil’s eyes were.  He’d never noticed the intensity of the blue before.

They‘d stopped at a red light and a sudden horn blast from behind made them both jump a little.  Gil smirked at Nick and pulled away.

They sat in silence again for a few minutes.

Then Gil spoke.  “You know this morning you said knowing that we were gay wouldn’t have changed anything?  That you wouldn’t have expected me to ask you out on a date because I was your supervisor?”

“Yesss.”  Nick was being cautious.  “Why, would you?”

“Have asked you out?”  Grissom was smiling as he watched the road ahead.

“Yes.”

“Honestly?  I don’t know.  But you would have been in danger; I’m sure I really wouldn’t have been able to keep my hands off you.”

“What about now?”

“Now?  This minute?”

“No, not this minute; now, after all these years.”

“You’re older now, we’re both older now.”

“Huh.  You like young men…”  Nick’s remark was sarcastic.

Gil was immediately defensive.  “…no, really, really I don’t, but you were exceptionally beautiful and looked so young and needed someone to take care of you.  I was younger too.”

“That figures, we’re aging at the same rate.”

“Yeah.”  Gil laughed at Nick’s astute observation.  “We are.”

“Exceptionally beautiful?  But I’ve aged badly and I’ve lost my looks, is that what you’re saying?”

“No, I’m not, you know you haven’t.”  Gil had immediately picked up on Nick’s teasing tone.

“Would you like to go out on a date?”

“Yes.”

“But you’re my supervisor.”

“Yes.  Does it bother you?”

“Nope?  You?”

“No.  The rules actually forbid it, but I’m a lot less anal about little things like that now.”

“Right.  What shall we do?”

“Now?”

“No, man, don’t be obtuse.  For a date.”

“A meal?  A movie?  Both? “

“We’ve been out for a meal…okay, breakfast, but it was a meal. “

“Are you saying it could have been our first date?”

“Yeah, retrospectively.”

“And it’s not like we’ve got to get to know each other, because it’s been years already.”  The teasing tone was being reciprocated.

“And you have been visiting me regularly.”

“I have.”

Nick laughed.  “So we’ve already had our first date.  What next?”

“Another date?  One where we know it’s actually a date.”

“Okay.  A movie?”

“Is there anything you want to see?”

“Not at the moment.  You?”

“No. “

“Not a movie then.”  Gil was smiling broadly.

 Nick was considering his options.  “You want to come over to my place again, after shift?”

Gil pursed his lips.  “That’d be good.”

“Maybe we could watch TV…find a film or a game.”

“Maybe.”

Nick smiled and caught his own expression in his reflection in the passenger door window.

He felt Gil’s hand on his thigh and looked down on it as it rested there, before covering it with his own hand, and squeezing it, just lightly.

Nick realised that his earlier thought about having Gil before the week was out was ridiculously over estimated.  He glanced over at Gil, who was concentrating on his driving, despite one of his hands being otherwise occupied.

Nick’s social life had been pretty much stalled for a long time…months, even years, if he was honest with himself.  And now, in the matter of a day, not only his social life but his work life too, had been transformed.  He had no idea what was going to happen but he was sure he was going to enjoy himself and hope that the consequences would be manageable.

The murder was messy and bloody and processing the scene took all of their energies for the rest of the shift, but by the time they called it a day, Vartann had two men locked up and it was on its way to being a slam dunk case.

Gil met Nick as he was making his way back to his office; he stopped and spoke quietly to him.

“I’m going home first.  Shower.  Change.”

Nick’s expression remained admirably neutral as he nodded once and then moved on.  No one would have guessed the nature of the exchange, not even Sara.

Nick left the lab and went straight home and showered.  He decided he would jerk off again.  He figured he was horny enough to have no problem getting it up again…should the need arise.  He chuckled as he stroked himself under the hot water and imagined Gil doing exactly the same.  He was looking forward to seeing what the man had to offer.  He hoped he wouldn’t be disappointed, but something told him he wouldn’t be, and he grew harder and harder under his expert hand.  The thought of Gil's hand on his own dick made him groan and his hand tighten, he used the fingers of his left hand to rub against his asshole and as he imagined Gil's hands doing his dick and his ass he splashed his load on the wall of his shower cubicle and nearly choked as he gasped in some of the water cascading over him.

That hadn’t ended too well as the residual pleasure was overtaken with him spluttering and trying to clear his throat.  He should be more careful.  He cleaned himself and his wall, again, and then stepped out of the shower.  As he towelled himself dry he felt his chin, trying to decide whether he should shave again.  But his beard growth was slow; he’d never grow a luxuriant beard.  He was pleased that Gil was going through one of his beardless periods.  He wasn’t a fan of bearded men.

After drying himself off, he had to make a decision about what to wear, if he was lucky, and he was certain he would be, he wouldn’t be wearing them for very long.  He chose a pair of his favourite CK’s, a faded pale pink, long sleeved tee, and some very old and worn jeans.  He went bare footed as he mostly did at home anyway.

He tidied up a bit, but his place was pretty tidy anyway, if he hadn’t learned to be a tidy kid he’d have lost his possessions to his sisters, or the housekeeper, who would dump anything left lying around.  He’d done more than a few dumpster -type dives in the trash in the yard, forced by his sisters to retrieve stuff they’d left lying around and lost.  As he got older he used to charge them to do it, knowing they would never get their hands dirty.  Maybe that was when he’d become used to bad smells and handling unsavoury stuff.  What was it Gil called it?  Desensitised.

He checked his computer and answered a few mails, and then decided he should eat something.  He was checking his fridge when the doorbell rang.  He closed the fridge door and took a deep breath and made his way to the door, unhurriedly and calmly.

He opened it to find Gil smiling at him and holding out a Ben’s Bagels paper bag.

“Nick.  Just dropped by…you busy?”

 

Nick took the bag of bagels and smiled as Gil walked past him into his home.

It was just over twenty four hours since the last time Gil had just dropped by.  Nick dropped the bag on the table by the door and moved right up to Gil and stood looking at him and smiling.

 Grissom was looking at him with a serious expression.  And while Nick was considering what his next move would be, Grissom stepped closer to him, took his face in his hands and kissed him.

A gentle kiss and Nick smiled at the feel of Grissom’s lips against his own lips.  He slipped his arms around Gil's waist and simultaneously pulled him to him as he moved slightly forward to make full body contact.

The kiss became harder and wetter as both men opened their mouths to the other’s tongue.  One of Gil’s hands slipped around the back of Nick’s neck to hold him in place and his other hand lay on his shoulder while his thumb caressed Nick’s neck.

He pulled away and leaned his forehead against Nick’s.

“God, Nick, I've wanted that for sooo long.”  He pulled back a little and looked at Nick, both hands on Nick’s shoulders and both thumbs caressing his neck.  “You really are exceptionally beautiful…even after all these years!”  He chuckled and pulled Nick into a tight bear hug, surprising Nick with the strength of it.

Nick dropped his head into the crook of Gil's neck and found how perfectly it fitted there.

Gil pulled back and they kissed  again.  A heated kiss that seemed to make Nick’s body ultra sensitive.  Their gasping for air made them both groan and snort, but neither man had the will to pull away.  Nick’s need for more oxygen got the better of him, and he pulled away so they could both gasp for air.

Nick could feel Gil's erection through their clothes, he nibbled the skin of Gil’s neck and then he rolled his hips against Gil’s body.  Gil shuddered and dropped his hands to Nick’s ass cheeks to pull him even closer and then they were grinding their crotches against each other.

Gil’s hands pushed Nick’s tee up his body and Nick felt those hands on his bare skin.  Gil was alternating between smoothing his skin and kneading his ass.

Nick’s hands fell down to Gil's ass and the feel of them in his hands made his dick harden more.  Gil had a much more substantial ass than his own, it was solid and muscular.  Nick pulled back from his ministrations on Gil's neck and looked at him.

“You wanna go to bed?  Or the couch?  The floor?”  His Texan drawl sounded like gravel in his own ears.

“The floor.  The floor…if I was twenty years younger.  I think bed, Nicky, what do you say?”

“Yeah.  You haven’t called me that for years.”

“You’ve always been Nicky to me.”

“In my head you were always, Gris or Grissom, until last night when you suddenly turned into Gil.  This way.”  He pulled Gil by his hand.

“When last night?”

“You wanna know the truth?”

“The whole truth and nothing but the truth.”

“In the shower before work.”  Nick chuckled as he led Gil into his bedroom.

“Really?  Really?” 

“Yeah, really.”  They’d arrived by Nick’s bed and he turned around and slipped his hands under Gil’s jacket and pushed it off.  Gil shrugged it off and let it fall to the floor behind him and he grasped Nick’s tee and lifted it up and over Nick’s head.

The undressing stopped while he took a few moments to assault Nick’s nipples.  Nibbling and licking first one and then the other, while Nick stroked his fingers through Gil’s curls.  He loved the soft feel of the curls; he often wished he had curly hair.  His breath kept catching in his throat as the pleasure of Gil’s mouth and tongue on his skin and the pressure of his erection in his jeans made them way too tight for comfort.

Without disturbing Gil he undid the buttons on his jeans and hooked his fingers in his jeans and boxer briefs together, pushed them both down and released his grateful dick.  In response Gil dropped to his knees, and holding onto Nick’s ass cheeks with both his hands, stared at Nick’s dick, oozing a little fluid, before slipping his mouth over the wet head. 

Nick gasped and his legs, particularly his knees, went weak.

“Man, oh God!”  He could feel Gil’s tongue lapping around his head and slit and heard Gil growl deep in his throat.  “Man…Gil…stop.  Come on.”  He prised Gil’s head away from his dick and manoeuvred it upwards until their eyes met.

“Clothes… off.  I want to join in.”

“Nick…”  Gil sounded exasperated.  But he used Nick’s arm to help himself to his feet.  He kissed Nick and Nick became aware of the intoxicating and very erotic taste of himself on Gil’s tongue.  After a few moments Gil pulled away.  He undid a few buttons of his shirt and pulled it, and his tee, over his head while Nick unbuckled his belt, undid his pants button and unzipped.  Gil toed off his shoes and then pulled his pants and briefs off in one go…staggering a little as he lost balance.  Nick sat down on his bed to pull his jeans off and then had his first view of Gil’s erection.

He reached over and smoothed the hot and silky skin with his fingertips, making it twitch appreciatively.  It was about his length but was maybe a little thicker, uncut…he smiled up at Gil as he pushed the foreskin back and further exposed the deep red head.  It was darker than Nick’s and appeared more menacing.  Nick smiled at the dick and then Gil; this was turning out to be great.

Gil bucked his hips towards Nick and Nick responded by leaning forward and taking the dick in his mouth, pushing his mouth down and using his tongue around Gil's foreskin and slit.  He then drew back and, sucking as hard as he could, he pulled the dick and Gil towards him.

Gil groaned as Nick’s mouth let him go with a loud plop.

“Tease.”

“I try.”

Gil sat down beside Nick and took off his socks and threw each of them across the room.  He then lay back on the bed and patted the bed beside him.  Nick smiled and joined him, and for several minutes they kissed and licked and sucked and touched and tugged at each other’s bodies.  They both made little noises and groans.

But Gil was getting serious; he pushed himself virtually on top of Nick with a leg between his legs.  He kissed Nick forcing his tongue along Nick’s tongue and drawing it back.  He chewed on Nick‘s lips and then moved down his body using his tongue and teeth and lips to taste, to nibble, to suck.

Once more Gil found Nick’s dick and licked it and sucked on the head, tea bagged his balls, and then licked his way behind and down to his ass.  Holding Nick’s ass cheeks apart he licked at the hole.  Nick’s ass involuntarily rose from the bed, and Gil had to relinquish his hold of the ass to hold Nick’s hips still.

He pulled back up and smiled a wet smile up at Nick.

“You a top or a bottom?”  Gil's voice was almost slurred.

“I do top, but mostly I’m a bottom, you?”

“I do bottom, but mostly I’m a top.”

“Pretty perfect.  Supplies are in the drawer.”  Nick nodded at one of his bedside tables.

Gil leaned over and opened it up and took out a bottle of lube, hot to touch, and a foiled condom.

He put them beside him on the bed and then moved onto his knees between Nick’s legs.  Nick spread his legs and held them up and apart.  Gil leaned over him and pulled a pillow from the top of the bed and pushed it beneath Nick’s ass as Nick raised it off the bed.

“You know this is way better than I ever imagined.”

“I aim to please.”

“You do, Nicky, you do.”

Gil leaned over him to capture his mouth in a kiss and as they kissed their dicks fell into place beside one another, rubbing their smooth skins together.  Gil pulled away again and as he sat back he caught both dicks together and gently tugged them a few times as Nick’s hand joined his.

He left Nick’s hand on his own dick as he pulled back and reached for the lube and poured some onto his own hand and then plastered Nick’s ass with the immediately warmed fluid.  He looked directly at Nick as he pushed a finger into Nick. Nick had no problem with the intrusion and after spreading the lube inside Nick, Gil added a second finger and then a third.  Nick was bearing down on the fingers and his dick had remained hard.  He was not a novice. 

Nick felt Gil pull his fingers out of him and watched as he tore at the foil of the condom with his teeth and within moments was rolling it onto himself.  Nick took his legs again and held them up and spread out.

Gil positioned his dick and started pushing.  It slid in easily and Nick could feel the extra heat of the lube, and Gil, as he pushed into him.  Gil rocked backwards and forwards a little so that Nick could grow accustomed to the size.

But as Gil pulled away and was about to push back in again he stopped and with his eyes screwed shut and his teeth clenched, he took several deep breaths before speaking.

“I don’t know whether I can last very long.”

“It’s okay, we can go again.” Nick didn’t want to wait; he wanted Gil all the way back inside him.

“Huh.  I’m not that young.”

“You’re not that old, either.  You should have jerked off earlier.”

Gil smirked.  “I did.”  And the irony wasn’t lost on Nick.

Nick couldn’t help it, he started with just a little chuckle but before he knew it he was shaking with laughing.  He’d dropped his legs and Gil fell out of Nick. He looked down at Nick, annoyed, but couldn’t help being caught up in the moment and he too was soon laughing so much he fell down onto the bed beside Nick as they shook with laughter.  For several minutes neither man could do anything and both of them lost a little their hardness.

Nick was still laughing as he looked at Gil lying beside him, but then stopped and stared at Gil.  How on earth had he never noticed how handsome he was?  Those intensely blue eyes he’d only noticed for the first time last night, and the smooth, unblemished and tanned skin, and the wonderfully curly hair, greying at his temples.  This was a guy he could have fantasised over and yet he never had.

Suddenly serious, he leaned over and kissed Gil, pushing him onto his back and moving on top of him. He glanced down at Gil and saw that the condom was still in place. He sat back on Gil and then holding Gil's dick up straight, he started to lower himself onto it, as it very quickly hardened.

“No, no, Nick, I’ll have even less control…”

“Fuck control, I want you.”

He eased himself down.  Gil had prepared him well and the thickness was not a problem, but a pleasure; stretching Nick open and making his nerve ends tingle with the almost pain that was such pleasure.

When he had Gil completely sheathed within him he looked down at Gil.  His eyes were open but were unseeing, his lips slightly apart as he panted.  Gil’s eyes then focussed on Nick’s.

“Y’ are… I ha…  Goddd…”

Nick leaned over and kissed him deeply.  The change of angle made Gil’s erection rub against Nick’s prostate and he pulled away from the kiss to gasp at the electrical shocks shooting up his spine and low in his belly.  He started rocking a little against Gil; it made them both groan.  His prostate was being rubbed with each movement; he then started moving up and down on Gil's dick, but keeping the same angle.  It was just too good to lose.

Nick eyes widened and he realised that he was going come; neither he nor Gil had touched his dick but he could feel his balls tightening and heat in his ass was spreading to his belly and his thighs.  His breathing speeded up and he could feel the sweat prickling, as his upper body flushed.

Gil knew.  He knew what was happening and started rocking up against and in Nick, faster and faster and then Nick was spurting up and along Gil’s chest.  Three long hard spurts and then a series of aftershocks. Nick grabbed his own dick to prolong the pleasure as Gil held onto his thighs, losing his own rhythm as he ejaculated, his upper body leaving the bed at the force of it.  They were quiet orgasms; it seemed neither man had the energy to call out.

They were still, apart from their chests heaving at the exertion.  It took a few minutes but Nick started to pull away from Gil and Gil quickly grabbed the condom that was slipping off with Nick.  He held it while Nick pulled off and slumped onto the bed.  He then removed and tied it and held it up and looked at Nick.

“Not moving.  Can’t move.”

“Sling it over the side, man.”

So he did. They lay side by side, both staring at the ceiling and then Nick closed his eyes.  He was thinking that he’d just experienced one of the best fucks of his life.  And where did it come from?  He smiled to himself at his pun.  This thing was big.  They’d connected in just a day after years of…conflict?

“Are you asleep?”  Gil whispered.

“No.  You?”  He whispered back.

“Yeah, I talk in my sleep.  Nick, that was… ”

“…I know.”

“Do you think that…this…could go somewhere?”

“Yeah.  You?”  Nick smiled, mostly to himself.

“Yes.  I do.”

“We could see how it goes.”

“That sounds like a plan.”  Gil sounded very serious.

“It does, doesn’t it?”

“Do you know that old Dinah Washington song, ‘What a difference a day makes’?”

“I do now.”

The End