Title: A Man Going Down
By: it-glitters
Pairing: Greg/Nick
Fandom: CSI: Vegas
Rating: PG-13
Series: 1) And Across Town, 2) Rough Start, 3) Simply, Words Stall, 4) Out to lunch, 5) It Ain't Pretty, 6) Crash, 7) A Man to Look After, 8) Sleep to Dream, 9) Whatever It Takes
Summary: Nick and Greg part ways.

***

Back at his apartment, Greg had thought he would be safe – but his mind was still running a mile a minute. There had always been an attraction to Nick – harmless flirting and fun over the years. But they were friends... and only friends. Greg had never been the one to do the whole friends, then lovers thing. But as he sat alone in his apartment, he wondered if he had ever had anything more than lovers.

Obviously, the most recent – Ally – had been a sex thing. And so had the one before that. And before that. He had tried to make it work, but his job had always gotten in the way. They would work during the day and he would work during the night. There would be those golden hours in the evening when they could be together, but that never proved to be enough when the going got rough.

And then there was the problem with the men. He had never been in a relationship with another man. He hadn't even ever had sex with a man – the sexual experience he had with members of the same gender was refined to jerk off sessions and them going down on him. He had never given head – only received – and he had never fucked any guy. And he didn't know how far Nick had been – or how far he would want to go.

And they were coworkers to top it all off. A quick getting-off session could have worked, but he heard Nick. He had heard the way he moaned his name. That wasn't just release. It was something beyond that. It was something that Greg wasn't sure he was ready to deal with.

An hour later, he was still lying on his bed. What bothered him most was that he could see himself being in love with Nick and that scared him senseless.

....

Nick strolled into work, trying to act like nothing had happened, but inside he felt like he was going to punch the first person that mentioned Greg's name.

"Hey, Nick!" Warrick was running up behind him. Nick knew that he would want to know about Greg.

"How's Sanders doing? I heard he got roughed up pretty bad."

"Yeah, he's alright." Nick said tersely.

"Something up, Nicky?"

"No." A little harsher than he had intended.

"Alright. Well, I'm with Cath tonight and you're with Griss and Sara, but you know – if you want to talk, I'll be around." He looked sincere and Nick could scare afford to lose another friend tonight.

"Yeah, I'll do that, man. Thanks. Just a lot of weird things going on – you know, the job, the danger." Unspoken words about being buried alive would silence Warrick for the time being.

"Yeah man, no worries, just call if you need."

....

Nick was distracted for most of the night. Grissom kept yelling at him to keep focused, but his thoughts kept drifting to Greg. He would be lying to say that it was a desire that he had had from the day he met Greg – but it was absolutely a desire he had since being buried alive.

He had been with men before – but with them it had always been about sex – all of his relationships had been with women. Even the relationships had been far and few between. He had been burned badly by Kristy – he had believed that she would have stopped hooking and gone back to college – that was until her pimp told him otherwise. That whole incident had more or less kept him off the dating scene. He had always found solace in his friends at work. Warrick was his partner always, but he had run off and married Tina - and their relationship had been semi-strained as of late. Sara had been drifting farther away from all of them in her own way. Catherine and him hadn't been right since she had been his supervisor, and Grissom, well... he never seemed to be up for human relations.

That had left Greg. Greg, who could always make him smile. Greg, who he could teach and delight with in new knowledge. Greg, who he had fallen for. And Greg, who he had ruined.

Before the case was finished he did something that he so rarely did... lied. He lied to his boss – he told Grissom that he was sick and asked if he could leave.

He hoped that he could find solace at home. He turned the key in the ignition and heard his cell beep – a text message alert.

'I'm sorry. I need to talk.'

It was from Greg.

***

Next story in series - Hold Me Tonight.