Title: Mojave at Midnight
Author: amazonqueenkate
Pairing: Nick Stokes/Bobby Dawson
Fandom: CSI: Vegas
Theme: #30 kiss
Warnings: deserts and boy-on-boy sweetness.
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.
Author's Notes: 258 words of fluff. Please do not die of diabetic shock upon reading.

They kissed.

Under the perfect, diamond-studded desert sky, with the cold night air swirling the sand at their feet, they kissed in a way that defied all practicality, defied all rules and regulations, defied all the little "ifs" and "ands" and "buts" that held them back every other moment of every other day.

Nick knew, at that moment, that it would never be like this again. In a few hours, they'd be back in Vegas, back to all the codes of conduct and all the dubious glances from other directions. They'd be back to listening to whispers, to barely bumping elbows, to pretending like they didn't care when really, they cared too much.

That was their only crime, as far as he was concerned: caring too much. Caring too much for one another in a world that separated love into camps: "right" and "wrong".

But Vegas was a memory, far in the distance, and they were here now, with the universe-perfect desert sky and lips on lips, soft and sweet, here without a single thing holding them back or stopping them from being together. Without a single thing stopping them from just being.

He pulled away, briefly, their lips resting together but not pushing forward, demanding nothing and receiving everything in return. For a moment, the earth was silent, perfectly still, and he sighed deeply.

"Love you so much," he mumbled into the heavy, Mojave-at-midnight darkness.

Bobby's smile against mouth was desert-sun bright, even if he couldn't see it. "Love you too," he replied, and kissed Nick back.