Title: Covered in Cappuccino
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Ryan Wolfe
Series: 1) Catch Me I'm Falling, 2) Sparks, 3) Holding Steady, 4) More Than Ready, 5) Talk About It, 6) Confessions, 7) Fate's Plan, 8) Exposed, 9) A Matter of Feeling, 10) Loving Every Minute of It, 11) Street of Dreams, 12) One of Our Own, 13) Cold Storage, 14) Life Or Death, 15) Hole in My Heart, 16) Someone To Pull the Trigger, 17) Every Beat of the Heart, 18) No Promises, 19) Perfect Morning, 20) Everything Works If You Let It, 21) Dark To Light, 22) Into Temptation
Fandom: CSI: Vegas/CSI: Miami
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: Mentions of rape.
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Greg Sanders or Adam Ross, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Greg leaned back in the padded booth at his favorite café with a sigh, stretching his lean body as he looked over at his boyfriend. It had been Ryan's first night back at work, and neither of them were any the worse for wear after the long night shift.

He had been worried that Ryan's first day back might be awkward or uncomfortable, but no one seemed to want to bring up what had happened, and Greg was thankful for that. Ryan didn't need to think about it or have to relive that day; it was better put into the past.

Of course, it was mandatory that he talk to a psychologist. Any time something traumatizing happened to someone on the team, Catherine insisted that they see a doctor; Greg thought it was a good idea, and that he might actually want to talk to one himself.

Could he bring up the subject of his long-ago rape with a complete stranger, and tell them that he worried it might cause problems in his relationship with Ryan? Of course not, Greg told himself scornfully. It wasn't as though he could tell anyone that he and Ryan were involved.

Greg sighed, shaking his head and looking across the table at Ryan as his boyfriend came back from the mens' room and slid into the padded booth opposite him. "I think today went pretty well, considering that nobody wanted to talk about everything that's happened."

"I didn't expect them to," Ryan told him with a shrug. "I'd have been more worried if they had tried to bring it up. It's not something I want to talk about at work. I can talk about it with you -- but it's going to be another matter to get it all out to a shrink, even though I have to."

"I was thinking that maybe I should -- but that's probably not such a good idea right now," Greg said, his gaze meeting Ryan's. "I'd probably do something stupid like letting it slip that we're seeing each other, and then we'd both be in a lot of hot water."

Ryan arched a brow, leaning across the table to look into Greg's eyes. "What, we're just 'seeing each other'? How about being madly in love and wanting to spend all of our lives together?" His knee pressed against Greg's under the table as he reached for his boyfriend's hand.

"Okay, okay," Greg laughed, letting Ryan twine their fingers together as their hands rested on the table top. "That's probably what I'd end up blurting out, knowing me. And one of us would end up having to switch shifts if people knew about that. I don't want that to happen."

"Neither do I," Ryan said softly, squeezing his hand. "If it did, then I'd just worry about you all the time. I want to be able to have your back, Greg. It's way too easy for the tables to be turned on us when we're out in the field. I'd freak out if anything happened to you."

"Nothing's going to happen to me," Greg murmured, returning the gentle squeeze and hoping that he was telling the truth. He knew all too well how easy it could be for the unexpected to happen; he'd had concrete proof of that when Ryan had been kidnapped.

"We'll just have to make sure that we don't let anything slip," Ryan said, releasing Greg's hand as their waitress came to the table. After they had placed their orders, Ryan looked across the table at Greg with a curious expression as she left.

"Cappuccino?" he inquired, a small smile curving his lips. "I wouldn't have thought you were a cappuccino type of guy, babe. I had you pegged for regular coffee. But definitely not decaf." He folded his arms across his chest, leaning back and regarding Greg. "You have odd tastes."

"What's wrong with cappuccino?" Greg asked, sounding a little defensive. "It tastes better than plain old coffee. I get enough of that when we're working at the lab. When I go out, I like having something a little more .... I don't know, cosmopolitan, I guess."

"Cosmopolitan?" Ryan laughed, shaking his head. "Most people would say 'girly,' but I can go with your word. I think it's cute that you drink cappuccino. It's .... refined. You're not one of those guys who has to prove his masculinity by doing things like drinking black coffee."

Greg made a face, wrinkling his nose and rolling his eyes. "I hate black coffee," he said in a disparaging tone. "And what do you mean, I have odd tastes? I'm with you, aren't I? That should prove to you more than anything else that I have supremely good taste."

This time, it was Ryan's turn to roll his eyes. "Are you sure you don't need glasses, babe?" he asked with a wry laugh. "I'm not bad, but I'm nothing compared to you." His eyes met his boyfriend's again, his smile softening. "I'm the one who has really good taste in men."

A pink blush crept into Greg's cheeks at his boyfriend's words; he dropped his gaze to his hands, fidgeting a little as he did so. He'd never been good at taking compliments; he was too used to being the "ugly duckling" that he'd felt he was during his childhood years.

He was spared having to reply to Ryan's words by the return of the waitress; she handed them their drinks, looking at them expectantly as though she thought they would order food. But they both declined and shook their heads at her; neither of them was hungry.

"We'll probably regret not getting something to eat by the time we get home, y'know," Ryan told Greg as he stirred sugar into his coffee. "We'll both be hungry by then. And I'm betting we'll end up making pancakes -- or going somewhere else for breakfast."

"Nah, I don't think I'll be hungry," Greg told him, shaking his head as he lifted his coffee mug to his lips. "I'm just kind of sleepy. I want to curl up with you and fall asleep for the whole day. With no nightmares and no disturbances. At least not until it's time to walk Wolfie."

"I'll keep the nightmares away, baby. I promise. I'll try my best, anyway," Ryan said softly, his gaze not straying from Greg's face. "If you want to curl up in bed after we walk Wolfie, I'll stay there with you all day. I can't think of a better way to fall asleep than with you in my arms."

"Neither can I," Greg said, setting his coffee mug down on the table. Ryan had to hold back a soft laugh; his boyfriend was now sporting a foam mustache, and not bothering to wipe it away. He wanted to reach for his phone, to take a picture of Greg and immortalize the moment.

Instead, he rose halfway to his feet, then leaned across the table and licked at the foam adorning Greg's upper lip. He barely heard the other man gasp softly; when he pulled away and sat down again, Greg's eyes were wide, his lips parted, his breath coming faster than normal.

"I couldn't resist that," Ryan whispered by way of explanation. "You just looked so adorable with that little foam mustache, and it was practically begging to be licked away." In truth, he really didn't know what had made him lick the foam away; he hadn't really thought about it.

He simply hadn't been able to stop himself. There was something about Greg that made him do spur-of-the-moment things like that, things that he would never have even considered with anyone else. Greg touched his heart and soul in a way that no one else ever had.

It was getting harder for him to keep his hands off of Greg whenever the two of them were alone; even if they were working, he always wanted to be close to his boyfriend, to reach out and touch Greg, to assure himself that the man he loved was there.

He'd never been like that with anyone else he'd been involved with in the past. There had never been this overwhelming need to touch them, to be close to them, to reassure himself that they were actually real. There were times when being with Greg still seemed like a dream.

If this was a dream, then it was the best one he'd ever had, and Ryan never wanted to awaken from it. He reached across the table for his boyfriend's hand again, covering those long, slender fingers with his own and squeezing gently as he spoke, his voice soft and husky.

"I'd like to take you home and lick you all over," he murmured, keeping his voice low so that no one around them would hear. There was no one near, but he didn't want to take any chances. "You don't even need to be covered in cappuccino for me to do it."

"You can cover me in cappuccino any time you want," Greg whispered back, his gaze locked with Ryan's. "But it might get a little messy. We could always get in the shower to wash off whatever your tongue doesn't catch. Does that sound like a plan to you?"

"It sure does," Ryan said with a laugh, sliding to the end of the booth and getting up, then holding out a hand to Greg. "I think we need to get home right now and start working on that. The sooner, the better. I've got a few ideas up my sleeve already."

"Oh, you do, huh?" Greg countered as he stood up, reaching for his wallet. "Don't worry, I've got this," he told Ryan, shaking his head. "You paid for dinner last night, remember? It's my turn. And two coffees are a lot cheaper than a pizza and breadsticks."

"I'll consider you letting me lick you all over as more than enough payment," Ryan whispered into his ear as they headed for the door, both of them walking a little faster than normal, eager to get out to the car and hurry home as quickly as they could.

***

Next story in series - Worth the Wait.