He's being courted. Bobby wants to call it 'pursued' or 'chased', but he's worked in law enforcement for too long, so 'courted' it is. At first, he didn't even notice. Outwardly, nothing had changed. Nick was the same warm, friendly guy he'd always been, dropping off bullets with a quick smile and a bit of extra twang just for kicks. Bobby hadn't realized a thing until one of the other techs had groused that Bobby got all the good bullets when Nick was the one delivering them.
"What?" Bobby had been seated at the microscope, comparing striations on .45 caliber bullets. The other tech, Jack, had repeated himself.
"Whenever Nick's the one to drop off bullets, he gives you the fun ones. What's up with that?"
"He doesn't-" Bobby had stopped and thought for a minute. He'd gotten the .38 with the nick in the side, the hand-poured rifle bullets, and the oddly-shaped buckshot. All gold to a tech. All from Nick. Bobby had shrugged at Jack. "I dunno. Maybe he likes my technique."
"Maybe he's your boyfriend."
Bobby hadn't bothered to respond. Jack's tone was one of fake-annoyance. He'd made a mental note to pass along one of the cool bullets to Jack and gone back to his microscope.
But now, here he was again, standing in the lab with an odd bullet. This time it's the color that's weird. The bullet is purple, and Nick wants to know if there's such a thing as special-order ammunition. Bobby puts the evidence envelope on the counter and cocks his head at Nick. There's no one else around for a moment, so Bobby just goes for it.
"You keep giving me the interesting bullets."
"You like interesting bullets." Nick's grin is as friendly as ever, but his hand drops to his side and manages to brush Bobby's on the way. Totally innocent, except for Nick's raised eyebrows.
"Well, I appreciate them." Bobby raises his own eyebrows and pushes at Nick's shoulder with a grin. "Now get out of here. I've got work." He doesn't miss the pleased smile on Nick's face, and he enjoys the way it makes him feel like he's really done something great.
"You want to grab breakfast after shift?" Nick leans next to the door, half-turned to leave. "Find a place with steak and eggs?"
Steak and eggs isn't something anyone else on the team eats on a regular basis. Steak and eggs means guaranteed alone time with Nick. Bobby nods. "Sure. Meet you in the locker room?"
"See you then." And Nick's gone, a wave over his shoulder his last communication as he hurries down the hall.
Bobby puts the purple bullet next to his microscope and decides that Jack can handle it. He needs something interesting in his life. Bobby's got enough interesting to last awhile.
end