[fic] Fearful | CSI | Nick/Greg
Title: Fearful
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,433
Fandom: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Characters/Pairing: Nick/Greg
Warnings/Spoilers: None really, but if you look closely enough, something of the movie 'Dead Silence'...oh, and some language
Disclaimer: Me no ownie...
A/N: I'm not allowed to watch horror movies with faerie_lullaby anymore, because she makes comments about men needing to be macho when they're afraid...and Nick always comes to mind lol
Normally, when Nick was handed a case, he went with it. It never mattered what it was, Nick was a big enough man to be able to handle what was thrown at him. Homicide, rape, child death. He’d done it all, and pulled out just fine.
Now, however, when he was handed his case slip, his face paled to a shade no one had seen before. Greg noticed it right off the bat, and glanced over Nick’s shoulder to see what was written on the sheet.
An old widow was found dead in her house, with only her husband’s vast collection of ventriloquist dolls. Greg figured it to be some sick prank by some dumb teenage punks. But Nick seemed...was that fear that was tracing the Texan’s every line? Greg smirked.
“Hey Gris.”
“Yes Greg?”
“Can I head out with Nick on this one?”
Grissom looked at Catharine, who he had planned to put Greg with. She shrugged and Grissom nodded to Greg. The young man smiled and clapped a hand on Nick’s shoulder in a reassuring way. Nick didn’t look the least bit comforted.
*
The moment they stepped into the dark and dinghy house, Greg could feel Nick’s presence hovering right behind him. Greg chuckled, knowing the reaction may have been subconscious, but enjoying it none the less. He had considered him and Nick to be good friends; he’d even venture to say they were close. Maybe not as close as Greg would have liked, but as close as people could get without being lovers.
Now there was a concept that could make Greg grin smugly and blush all at the same time. Being Nick Stokes lover was something reserved for dreams and story books, not real life.
Nick’s sudden tight grip on his arm made Greg remember where he was and what he was doing.
“What?”
“Stop.” Nick hissed, “Do you see that?”
Greg’s eyes followed Nick’s trail of sight to where a dummy lay on the floor.
“Yeah...it’s a dummy Nick.” Greg said with a smirk, pulling out of Nick’s grip. “Don’t tell me big bad Texas is afraid of...”Greg shuffled over and picked up the wooden doll, “Max.” He said, reading the name inscription on the back of its neck.
“Well, no...” Nick muttered, trying to recover from his lapse in macho. Greg’s grin widened and he slipped his hand into the dummy’s back.
“Aw, Nicky. I’m not scary, I just want to be your friend...” Greg said, moving the dummy’s mouth.
“Cut it out Greg.” Nick growled. Greg took a step forward, holding ‘Max’ in front of him.
“I’m not Greg, I’m Max!”
Nick’s eyes narrowed when Greg’s lips didn’t move. Greg fell into the act, and let the dummy move in a way that seemed realistic.
“Greg,” Nick warned again, taking a step back. Convinced that he had Nick thoroughly spooked, Greg took the dummy away and put if back on the floor where he had found it.
“Where did you---”
“My Aunt Nini was a ventriloquist, she taught me how to throw my voice like that. It was really a fun thing to learn.”
“It’s creepy as hell, don’t do it anymore.”
“Aww...Nicky...” Greg said in a mocking babyish voice, pouting at the older man. Nick frowned and Greg laughed.
“I didn’t think you were afraid of anything, Mr. Macho.”
“I’m not afraid. I’m slightly disturbed. I don’t understand why people find these things so fascinating, they’re fucking creepy.”
“Anything you say,” Greg shrugged. “Yellabelly,” he added with a snicker under his breath as he turned around. Nick snorted at the comment, but followed Greg. They had a job to do.
As Nick began to photograph the scene, Greg stood by his side and looked around. Then he looked down at Nick who was crouching to focus on something on the floor.
“So’d the ME take away the body already?”
“Yeah,” Nick muttered, his brow knitting in concentration.
“Kay.” Greg mused, looking towards an open door. He turned, curiosity overtaking him, and headed for it. Nick didn’t notice his young companion had left until he had looked up to ask him to take the camera.
“Greg?”
There was no answer and Nick quickly stood. He scanned the room for possible places the playful CSI could be hiding, until his eyes fell on the open door. Nick placed the camera on the floor and cautiously headed towards the doorway.
“Greg?” he called again, tentatively poking his head through the door. Still silence, and no sight of the unmistakable frosted tips. Nick stepped into the room. For a moment he thought he heard a snicker, and he frowned.
“When I find you...no one else will be able to,” Nick threatened.
He liked Greg, really he did. He was fun to be around, easy to talk to, and knew all the right things to say to cheer Nick up when he wasn’t in the best of moods. Nick knew they’d become close friends during the years Greg had been a lab rat. He was overjoyed to get to work with him out in the field now. Somewhere along the way, the quirky and bubbly personality of Greg had won his heart over.
Not that he’d ever actually admit that, since Greg was too far out of his league.
But back to the matter at hand. As much as he liked (and possibly even loved) the flamboyant CSI, he was quite willing to murder him. Nick hated showing his weakness, but to have them exploited like this was more than he could stand.
He looked around the room for any more hiding places, but other than an ancient loveseat that was raised off the floor enough for Nick to see there was nothing there, the room was empty.
Slowly he made his way to the window and looked outside. The house dynamics didn’t make sense to him. This room should have lead to another, by the looks of it, but there was no door. The house stretched on past the walls of this room, and he couldn’t recall seeing any other doors.
As Nick moved to turn, hands grabbed onto his hips, followed by a loud “Boo!”
Nick yelped, turning and shoving his assailant away from him. Greg fell against the wall in a giggling fit that just couldn’t be stopped.
“Jeezus Greg! What are you tryin’ to do? Give me a heart attack?!” Nick yelled, his Texan accent coming through heavily, which only spurred on Greg’s fit. The young CSI slumped to the floor, holding his sides.
“Sorry...” Greg choked out between mouthfuls of air, “So...so easy!”
He was lost in a new fit of giggles. Nick fumed as he waited it out, crossing his arms and frowning.
When Greg finally caught his breath and regained his composure, Nick was well on his way to planning out how to hide the body when he was through killing him. Greg slid back up the wall, pushed away and straightened himself out.
“I was behind the door,” he said, before Nick could ask. The ghost of laughter still made his lips twitch, and Nick couldn’t remember frowning so much.
“Sorry,” Greg said again, but Nick only shook his head and turned back to indicate to his findings.
“There’s more to this house.”
“Huh?”
Greg moved to Nick’s side, looking outside. To get a better view of how far the house stretched, he leaned over and pressed his shoulder against Nick’s chest.
Nick’s mind raced, his heart fluttered. It was one of those moments Greg had every once in a while. Completely innocent, simply curious, he would lean over, towards or into Nick and Nick could never quite bring himself to pull away even though he knew he should. Thankfully there was no one around them this time and he didn’t have to worry about odd questions.
“I wonder...” Greg mused, pulling away from Nick and jolting him from his thoughts. Nick almost blushed, but cleared his throat to regain composure.
“Wonder what.”
“Well, I read this in a book once,” Greg said, looking towards the far wall. “It’s dark in here, and the wallpaper is vertical strips, perfect for a simple illusion to trick the eyes.”
He moved forward, towards the old and tattered couch. He continued talking, mostly to himself, working out the logic in his theory. “Who keeps a single couch in a room that is cleaned but never used? It’s not even pushed against the wall,” he muttered, moving behind the couch. He glanced up at Nick, his eyes flitting playfully as they locked with the serious brown tones of his partner.
Then, with an equally playful grin, he turned and vanished behind the stripes of the wall. Nick cocked his head, brows knitting together once more in confusion, before moving forward to see where Greg had gone to.
“Greg?”
Nick caught up to the smaller man, who turned and placed a hand on Nick’s chest. Nick looked from the hand to Greg’s face. It was one of those rare moments where Greg was serious, and it made Nick’s heart beat just a tad faster.
“What is it?”
“Sometimes people have hidden rooms full of dolls...extremists and whatnot.”
“I’m not afraid Greg,” Nick growled. He flicked on his flashlight and pushed ahead, “Follow me.”
Greg had to lean against the wall to keep his knees from giving out as he swooned. Whenever Nick asserted his dominance with him made him melt into a pile of goo. He only took a second to recover himself before following behind Nick, perhaps a little more closely than needed.
And when Nick stopped in his tracks, Greg walked into him.
“Nick?”
In the small space of the hall, Greg couldn’t see around the larger man. So he held onto Nick’s shoulders and bounced up to his tippytoes to see what made him stop so abruptly.
It was a room about the same size as the one they had left, but the walls were filled with shelves of porcelain dolls and ventriloquist dummy’s.
Greg could feel Nick tremble only slightly. He dropped back down and let go of Nick.
“You need to leave?”
“No...” Nick said. He cleared his throat again to steady his shaking voice. “No.”
Greg smiled at the resolve in Nick’s voice the second time. He patted the man’s broad shoulders.
“Let’s go then.”
Nick moved forward, and Greg squeezed around him to get in front of him. He thought it was awfully adorable that Nick was afraid of something he found so generic. Then again, he’d grown up with dummies, Nick hadn’t.
Because Nick did seem afraid, even though he was so determined not to show it, Greg felt the need to protect him. He laughed mentally at the thought. Him, protect Nick, who was almost twice his size.
While he ventured closer to study the walls of dummies, Nick stayed very close to him. Greg leaned in close, to study one of the dolls that caught his interest. He pulled out his flashlight and held it up, blowing away some of the dust that had settled.
“It looks like there’s blood on this one...”
That set Nick off. He trembled, and when he spoke, his voice shook.
“Great, this is just out of a movie. The dummies killed the husband and then they went after the wife after she hid them away, and now they’re going to come after us and---”
“Nick, calm down.” Greg said softly, turning around and taking Nick’s hand in his, “There’s no such thing as living dummies...well, unless you count Ecklie, but we’re not going to go there.”
Nick grinned a little, and Greg beamed.
“There’s the Texas I know and love.” He said, pulling Nick back towards the hidden hall, “The blood was probably transferred from the woman’s murderer, or maybe something older. The dummies didn’t kill anyone.”
Nick was grateful for Greg’s jokes and logic. It was only after he calmed down did he realize Greg was holding his hand. He could feel the blush creeping up his neck. He looked down at their hands, and Greg did the same. When Nick looked back up, Greg was smiling sheepishly. He released Nick’s hand and backed off a step.
Without Greg’s reassurance, Nick could feel the fear creeping up on him. He glanced up and made eye contact with one of the dummies. He looked back at Greg, reaching out and pulling him close, holding him in a tight embrace, letting his eyes shut and hide in the crook of Greg’s neck.
Greg was taken off guard by the move, but was quick to wrap his arms around Nick in return, rubbing the Texan’s back.
“I’m sorry, it’s a stupid, illogical fear, but it’s been hanging around since I was little,” Nick murmured.
“It’s cool,” Greg said, leaning his head against Nick’s, “’Sides, I like hugs...”
He shuffled their feet and turned them around so that Nick’s back was to the dummies and he wouldn’t be able to see them again.
“Maybe you should wait out in the other room. I should collect any dummies with blood on them, you know, just in case.”
“In just a minute...”
Greg grinned and rubbed Nick’s back for a couple more strokes.
“If I didn’t know you any better, Mr. Stokes, I’d say you wanted to cuddle with me.”
“Would it be so horrible if I did?”
Greg was, for once, shocked to silence. Had he heard that the right way? He couldn’t have, his brain probably switched around the words.
No, switched around the sentence made no sense unless it was said almost completely in reverse.
“No, it wouldn’t.”
He could feel Nick’s arms tighten just slightly in a protective manner. Protective and cowering, a complete contradiction. It was so Nick Stokes.
Greg laughed and placed a kiss on the side of Nick’s head.
“You’re so weird,” he purred, “Guess that’s why I like you so much.”
He struggled and pulled out of Nick’s grip.
“Now go back to the other room Nicky, I’ve gotta grab those dummies.”
“Right, yeah. Sure thing Greggo.”
Nick peeled himself away from the warmth and comfort of Greg and slipped around him, without a glance back. Greg couldn’t help but laugh at the man, before turning to inspect the other dummies.
He wasn’t sure what sort of agreement he and Nick had just made, and he was too amused by Nick’s stupid fear to really think about it.
But hey, if he ever wanted to coax the bigger man into a cuddle, he knew where to turn.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,433
Fandom: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Characters/Pairing: Nick/Greg
Warnings/Spoilers: None really, but if you look closely enough, something of the movie 'Dead Silence'...oh, and some language
Disclaimer: Me no ownie...
A/N: I'm not allowed to watch horror movies with faerie_lullaby anymore, because she makes comments about men needing to be macho when they're afraid...and Nick always comes to mind lol
Normally, when Nick was handed a case, he went with it. It never mattered what it was, Nick was a big enough man to be able to handle what was thrown at him. Homicide, rape, child death. He’d done it all, and pulled out just fine.
Now, however, when he was handed his case slip, his face paled to a shade no one had seen before. Greg noticed it right off the bat, and glanced over Nick’s shoulder to see what was written on the sheet.
An old widow was found dead in her house, with only her husband’s vast collection of ventriloquist dolls. Greg figured it to be some sick prank by some dumb teenage punks. But Nick seemed...was that fear that was tracing the Texan’s every line? Greg smirked.
“Hey Gris.”
“Yes Greg?”
“Can I head out with Nick on this one?”
Grissom looked at Catharine, who he had planned to put Greg with. She shrugged and Grissom nodded to Greg. The young man smiled and clapped a hand on Nick’s shoulder in a reassuring way. Nick didn’t look the least bit comforted.
*
The moment they stepped into the dark and dinghy house, Greg could feel Nick’s presence hovering right behind him. Greg chuckled, knowing the reaction may have been subconscious, but enjoying it none the less. He had considered him and Nick to be good friends; he’d even venture to say they were close. Maybe not as close as Greg would have liked, but as close as people could get without being lovers.
Now there was a concept that could make Greg grin smugly and blush all at the same time. Being Nick Stokes lover was something reserved for dreams and story books, not real life.
Nick’s sudden tight grip on his arm made Greg remember where he was and what he was doing.
“What?”
“Stop.” Nick hissed, “Do you see that?”
Greg’s eyes followed Nick’s trail of sight to where a dummy lay on the floor.
“Yeah...it’s a dummy Nick.” Greg said with a smirk, pulling out of Nick’s grip. “Don’t tell me big bad Texas is afraid of...”Greg shuffled over and picked up the wooden doll, “Max.” He said, reading the name inscription on the back of its neck.
“Well, no...” Nick muttered, trying to recover from his lapse in macho. Greg’s grin widened and he slipped his hand into the dummy’s back.
“Aw, Nicky. I’m not scary, I just want to be your friend...” Greg said, moving the dummy’s mouth.
“Cut it out Greg.” Nick growled. Greg took a step forward, holding ‘Max’ in front of him.
“I’m not Greg, I’m Max!”
Nick’s eyes narrowed when Greg’s lips didn’t move. Greg fell into the act, and let the dummy move in a way that seemed realistic.
“Greg,” Nick warned again, taking a step back. Convinced that he had Nick thoroughly spooked, Greg took the dummy away and put if back on the floor where he had found it.
“Where did you---”
“My Aunt Nini was a ventriloquist, she taught me how to throw my voice like that. It was really a fun thing to learn.”
“It’s creepy as hell, don’t do it anymore.”
“Aww...Nicky...” Greg said in a mocking babyish voice, pouting at the older man. Nick frowned and Greg laughed.
“I didn’t think you were afraid of anything, Mr. Macho.”
“I’m not afraid. I’m slightly disturbed. I don’t understand why people find these things so fascinating, they’re fucking creepy.”
“Anything you say,” Greg shrugged. “Yellabelly,” he added with a snicker under his breath as he turned around. Nick snorted at the comment, but followed Greg. They had a job to do.
As Nick began to photograph the scene, Greg stood by his side and looked around. Then he looked down at Nick who was crouching to focus on something on the floor.
“So’d the ME take away the body already?”
“Yeah,” Nick muttered, his brow knitting in concentration.
“Kay.” Greg mused, looking towards an open door. He turned, curiosity overtaking him, and headed for it. Nick didn’t notice his young companion had left until he had looked up to ask him to take the camera.
“Greg?”
There was no answer and Nick quickly stood. He scanned the room for possible places the playful CSI could be hiding, until his eyes fell on the open door. Nick placed the camera on the floor and cautiously headed towards the doorway.
“Greg?” he called again, tentatively poking his head through the door. Still silence, and no sight of the unmistakable frosted tips. Nick stepped into the room. For a moment he thought he heard a snicker, and he frowned.
“When I find you...no one else will be able to,” Nick threatened.
He liked Greg, really he did. He was fun to be around, easy to talk to, and knew all the right things to say to cheer Nick up when he wasn’t in the best of moods. Nick knew they’d become close friends during the years Greg had been a lab rat. He was overjoyed to get to work with him out in the field now. Somewhere along the way, the quirky and bubbly personality of Greg had won his heart over.
Not that he’d ever actually admit that, since Greg was too far out of his league.
But back to the matter at hand. As much as he liked (and possibly even loved) the flamboyant CSI, he was quite willing to murder him. Nick hated showing his weakness, but to have them exploited like this was more than he could stand.
He looked around the room for any more hiding places, but other than an ancient loveseat that was raised off the floor enough for Nick to see there was nothing there, the room was empty.
Slowly he made his way to the window and looked outside. The house dynamics didn’t make sense to him. This room should have lead to another, by the looks of it, but there was no door. The house stretched on past the walls of this room, and he couldn’t recall seeing any other doors.
As Nick moved to turn, hands grabbed onto his hips, followed by a loud “Boo!”
Nick yelped, turning and shoving his assailant away from him. Greg fell against the wall in a giggling fit that just couldn’t be stopped.
“Jeezus Greg! What are you tryin’ to do? Give me a heart attack?!” Nick yelled, his Texan accent coming through heavily, which only spurred on Greg’s fit. The young CSI slumped to the floor, holding his sides.
“Sorry...” Greg choked out between mouthfuls of air, “So...so easy!”
He was lost in a new fit of giggles. Nick fumed as he waited it out, crossing his arms and frowning.
When Greg finally caught his breath and regained his composure, Nick was well on his way to planning out how to hide the body when he was through killing him. Greg slid back up the wall, pushed away and straightened himself out.
“I was behind the door,” he said, before Nick could ask. The ghost of laughter still made his lips twitch, and Nick couldn’t remember frowning so much.
“Sorry,” Greg said again, but Nick only shook his head and turned back to indicate to his findings.
“There’s more to this house.”
“Huh?”
Greg moved to Nick’s side, looking outside. To get a better view of how far the house stretched, he leaned over and pressed his shoulder against Nick’s chest.
Nick’s mind raced, his heart fluttered. It was one of those moments Greg had every once in a while. Completely innocent, simply curious, he would lean over, towards or into Nick and Nick could never quite bring himself to pull away even though he knew he should. Thankfully there was no one around them this time and he didn’t have to worry about odd questions.
“I wonder...” Greg mused, pulling away from Nick and jolting him from his thoughts. Nick almost blushed, but cleared his throat to regain composure.
“Wonder what.”
“Well, I read this in a book once,” Greg said, looking towards the far wall. “It’s dark in here, and the wallpaper is vertical strips, perfect for a simple illusion to trick the eyes.”
He moved forward, towards the old and tattered couch. He continued talking, mostly to himself, working out the logic in his theory. “Who keeps a single couch in a room that is cleaned but never used? It’s not even pushed against the wall,” he muttered, moving behind the couch. He glanced up at Nick, his eyes flitting playfully as they locked with the serious brown tones of his partner.
Then, with an equally playful grin, he turned and vanished behind the stripes of the wall. Nick cocked his head, brows knitting together once more in confusion, before moving forward to see where Greg had gone to.
“Greg?”
Nick caught up to the smaller man, who turned and placed a hand on Nick’s chest. Nick looked from the hand to Greg’s face. It was one of those rare moments where Greg was serious, and it made Nick’s heart beat just a tad faster.
“What is it?”
“Sometimes people have hidden rooms full of dolls...extremists and whatnot.”
“I’m not afraid Greg,” Nick growled. He flicked on his flashlight and pushed ahead, “Follow me.”
Greg had to lean against the wall to keep his knees from giving out as he swooned. Whenever Nick asserted his dominance with him made him melt into a pile of goo. He only took a second to recover himself before following behind Nick, perhaps a little more closely than needed.
And when Nick stopped in his tracks, Greg walked into him.
“Nick?”
In the small space of the hall, Greg couldn’t see around the larger man. So he held onto Nick’s shoulders and bounced up to his tippytoes to see what made him stop so abruptly.
It was a room about the same size as the one they had left, but the walls were filled with shelves of porcelain dolls and ventriloquist dummy’s.
Greg could feel Nick tremble only slightly. He dropped back down and let go of Nick.
“You need to leave?”
“No...” Nick said. He cleared his throat again to steady his shaking voice. “No.”
Greg smiled at the resolve in Nick’s voice the second time. He patted the man’s broad shoulders.
“Let’s go then.”
Nick moved forward, and Greg squeezed around him to get in front of him. He thought it was awfully adorable that Nick was afraid of something he found so generic. Then again, he’d grown up with dummies, Nick hadn’t.
Because Nick did seem afraid, even though he was so determined not to show it, Greg felt the need to protect him. He laughed mentally at the thought. Him, protect Nick, who was almost twice his size.
While he ventured closer to study the walls of dummies, Nick stayed very close to him. Greg leaned in close, to study one of the dolls that caught his interest. He pulled out his flashlight and held it up, blowing away some of the dust that had settled.
“It looks like there’s blood on this one...”
That set Nick off. He trembled, and when he spoke, his voice shook.
“Great, this is just out of a movie. The dummies killed the husband and then they went after the wife after she hid them away, and now they’re going to come after us and---”
“Nick, calm down.” Greg said softly, turning around and taking Nick’s hand in his, “There’s no such thing as living dummies...well, unless you count Ecklie, but we’re not going to go there.”
Nick grinned a little, and Greg beamed.
“There’s the Texas I know and love.” He said, pulling Nick back towards the hidden hall, “The blood was probably transferred from the woman’s murderer, or maybe something older. The dummies didn’t kill anyone.”
Nick was grateful for Greg’s jokes and logic. It was only after he calmed down did he realize Greg was holding his hand. He could feel the blush creeping up his neck. He looked down at their hands, and Greg did the same. When Nick looked back up, Greg was smiling sheepishly. He released Nick’s hand and backed off a step.
Without Greg’s reassurance, Nick could feel the fear creeping up on him. He glanced up and made eye contact with one of the dummies. He looked back at Greg, reaching out and pulling him close, holding him in a tight embrace, letting his eyes shut and hide in the crook of Greg’s neck.
Greg was taken off guard by the move, but was quick to wrap his arms around Nick in return, rubbing the Texan’s back.
“I’m sorry, it’s a stupid, illogical fear, but it’s been hanging around since I was little,” Nick murmured.
“It’s cool,” Greg said, leaning his head against Nick’s, “’Sides, I like hugs...”
He shuffled their feet and turned them around so that Nick’s back was to the dummies and he wouldn’t be able to see them again.
“Maybe you should wait out in the other room. I should collect any dummies with blood on them, you know, just in case.”
“In just a minute...”
Greg grinned and rubbed Nick’s back for a couple more strokes.
“If I didn’t know you any better, Mr. Stokes, I’d say you wanted to cuddle with me.”
“Would it be so horrible if I did?”
Greg was, for once, shocked to silence. Had he heard that the right way? He couldn’t have, his brain probably switched around the words.
No, switched around the sentence made no sense unless it was said almost completely in reverse.
“No, it wouldn’t.”
He could feel Nick’s arms tighten just slightly in a protective manner. Protective and cowering, a complete contradiction. It was so Nick Stokes.
Greg laughed and placed a kiss on the side of Nick’s head.
“You’re so weird,” he purred, “Guess that’s why I like you so much.”
He struggled and pulled out of Nick’s grip.
“Now go back to the other room Nicky, I’ve gotta grab those dummies.”
“Right, yeah. Sure thing Greggo.”
Nick peeled himself away from the warmth and comfort of Greg and slipped around him, without a glance back. Greg couldn’t help but laugh at the man, before turning to inspect the other dummies.
He wasn’t sure what sort of agreement he and Nick had just made, and he was too amused by Nick’s stupid fear to really think about it.
But hey, if he ever wanted to coax the bigger man into a cuddle, he knew where to turn.