Title: Once Upon A Time
By: ullman
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not Mine

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Once upon a time there was a little boy, living in Dallas, Texas, with his parents, his five sisters and one brother. He loved his family very much and all in all he would say he was pretty happy growing up. Of course he wasn't happy all the time, but ignoring the bad things, like the rest of his family successfully did, helped him in pushing back any negative memories. Maybe deep down the boy knew he couldn't ignore the bad stuff all his life but right then it didn't seem to matter.

The boy grew up to be an honest, hardworking, loyal young man who managed to reach most of the goals he had set for himself. But none of those goals ever seemed enough to please his loving family. For a long time he kept trying, wanting to be whatever it was they were expecting him to be. They never told him though and at some point he knew he had to give up trying. But he didn't, instead he pushed himself a little more. And it hurt, just a little, to be a disappointment to his family, but he decided to ignore it.

He moved away, applied for a job in another state and he could still remember the happiness he felt at getting the job. The joy not shared by his family but he knew that they would be proud of him when they'd come over and see how well he was doing. How he was trying his best. But they didn't fly in and after a while he decided to focus on other people. His boss, for example. He tried his hardest to impress the man, hoping to get even the smallest sign of approval. It was frustrating him, a lot more than he'd ever admit to himself, but he tried to ignore it.

His parents stopped calling after a year, and it wasn't their fault because he knew he had failed once again, had disappointed them as usual. And his boss hardly ever spoke to him anymore, but he couldn't blame the guy for ignoring the ignorant. And at some point he couldn't even remember what the goal was anymore. It didn't stop him from giving his all. He kept pushing himself. But he couldn't ignore the pain any longer.

Walking into the lab he suddenly felt like he could sleep for a thousand years and he was reaching the point where he seriously considered doing so. Because it didn't seem to matter anymore, nothing he ever did seemed to make a difference. People liked him, he knew that, but he wanted more. Respect and approval. The man smirked at that thought, shaking his head when the lab technician raised his eyebrow questioningly. The other man told him the results would take a little longer and he decided to sit down for a minute. He needed a break.

Waking up, he blinked lazily as he tried to remember where he was, and when his eyes focused on Greg he smiled a little. Surprised to see a smile on the other man's face as well, not that the man never smiled at him, it was the sweetness of that smile that surprised him. More than the fact that he'd fallen asleep at work, something his family wouldn't approve of, much less his boss. And yet that didn't seem to bother him all that much right then, because with one smile Greg had reminded him of what his true goal had been all along. Love.

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