Title: Jello
By: Verisimilitude
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Rating: PG-13
Disclamer: I do not own CSI. I'm making no money from this, not as if anyone would pay for my stuff anyway.
Summary: The boys have an interesting conversation in the lab.

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The entire crime lab was filled with the horribly loud noise of battery-operated power tools as electricians ripped out the ceiling in the hallway to work on the lighting problem. Some faulty wiring had been bought on sale and now it was costing a fortune to have it all ripped out and replaced after the lab had spent nearly four hours in darkness. Now the lights were back on, for the most part, but the noise was still making it impossible to talk to each other without yelling. Clearly, not much work was getting done that night.

As Nick walked down the hall, annoyed by the noise of the electricians so close by he noticed his boyfriend, Greg Sanders, walking towards him. Well, not exactly towards him, as Greg hadn't noticed Nick yet. The young man's eyes were slightly downcast as everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at him.

They had a good reason to stareâ-Greg was wearing nothing but a red, yellow and blue bathing suit. A bathing suit and some strange gooey substance that certainly didn't count as clothing. He looked good. Damn good. And the girls in the lab were all giggling and staring. Even Catherine and Warrick looked up from their experiments to watch Greg go by. In his wake, comments about his great ass were mixed with those of people amazed at the scars on his back from the explosion. As Greg was unaccustomed to walking around the lab in a state of undress like that of his current one, not many people had seen the scars Nick knew so well. Greg, usually so full of confidence, seemed acutely embarrassed to be so blatantly on display as he walked in Nick's direction; to the locker room, Nick supposed.

"HEY G." Nick yelled to Greg over the incessant buzzing noise.

"OH, HEY" Greg yelled back.

"WHAT'S WITH THE..." Nick used both hands to gesture to Greg's attire, or lack thereof.

"GRISSOM NEEDED A GUINEA PIG, I GOT VOLUN-TOLD" he explained.

"WHAT ARE YOU COVERED IN?" The strange gooey substance was even more noticeable close up. Greg really was covered in itâ-all over his bathing suit, body and all through his hair. It seemed sort of...green, maybe.

"JELLO"

"WHAT?"

"JELLO! YOU KNOW, LIKE THE STUFF YOU EAT." Greg yelled over the noise making hand gestures that Nick assumed was supposed to be someone eating jello with a spoon.

"WHAT FLAVOUR IS IT?" Nick asked, ever the practical man.

Just then, the noise stopped. But not before Greg had begun his answer to Nick's question and thus shouting to the ears of the entire lab:

"WHY DON'T YOU LICK IT OFF ME AND...Find...out..."

Everyone heard. Everyone. The electricians, Catherine, Warrick, Mia, Jacqui, Hodges. Everyone. Even in his office Grissom heard it. Sara was in there with him and she heard it too. It was unmistakably Greg's voice telling Nick to lick him. Greg was standing in front of Nick in a lab made almost entirely of glass. There was no hiding what had just happened either from a visual or auditory stand point.

Greg went bright red; he had never been more embarrassed in his life. Merely walking down the hall being stared at was nothing compared with this. He didn't mean for everyone to hear it, he barely even knew he was saying it. God, why didn't he think before he spoke?

At that moment, Nick leaned forward slightly, looked Greg straight in the eye and replied in a clear voice that carried to the ears of all the people who had been so shocked moments before, "I don't like jello, Greg".

Greg stared back at Nick, mouth opening and closing a few times at what Nick had said. Not the words themselves, but at the admission to the whole lab of his liking Greg. Nick hadn't hidden their relationship like he had countless times before. They both had hidden it-it's what they agreed upon. But it was always for Nick's comfort not Greg's. He didn't know what to say to this sudden shift in where they stood as a couple, but he regained his normal composure enough to grin conspiratorially, wag his index finger slightly in Nick's direction and say, "Good to know".

Greg then walked around Nick, never touching him and headed towards the showers to wash off the jello. Nick continued walking to the break room for coffee; that was his original plan before he ran into his boyfriend. In the lab, gossip mills began running at full speed and Catherine held out her hand palm upwards so Warrick to pay her $50 for losing their bet.

***