Title: Cherry Popping
By: saras-girl
Pairing: Nick/Greg pre-slash
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Greg is a man who likes to taste...
A/N: Just a little random fluff. Pre-Slash, heavy-duty flirting. Set S2 (because I love labrat Greg with the dark hair). This was inspired by a conversation I actually had with a co-worker :)

Greg leaned back in his chair and pushed off from his worktop with one foot, spinning round and round in his chair. Faster and faster. The glass walls of the DNA lab whizzing past him at a dizzying pace. Lab coat flapping behind him and arms outstretched theatrically. He closed his eyes against the spin and chewed lazily on the wad of gum in his mouth, breathing in deeply with satisfaction. Was there any better taste than cherry menthol gum? Well perhaps there was, but doubted he would be getting to find out any time soon.

He had been preoccupied with what Nick Stokes might taste like ever since the day they met. Greg was a man who liked to taste things. In fact, he thought it might be his favourite of the five senses. You never really had the true measure of something until you had had it in your mouth, surely. If he had his way…so many parts of Nick, only one tongue...where to start? Greg grinned and slowly poked his tongue out before withdrawing it carefully and blowing a huge pink bubble. Letting it snap and drawing the air-chilled gum back into the warmth of his mouth. He was starting to feel a little unsteady and reluctantly dragged his feet against the floor to slow the spin. Maybe Sara's results would be ready now.

"Hey, Greggo."

A familiar, low voice drew him out of his reverie and he opened his eyes. Grabbed the edge of the table for support as he looked straight into the warm brown eyes of the man himself. Standing in the doorway to his lab, or rather leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed casually, looking pretty damn fine. Greg snapped his gum again and drew himself closer to the table, shielding his lower half from the other man's gaze. Raised his eyebrows, inviting further comment. He was cool. Wasn't at all flustered by Nick's sudden appearance in that fitted black t-shirt and slightly too tight jeans. No.

"Will you teach me to do that?" Nick's smile was crooked.

"Do what? Spin in a chair? It's pretty easy, Nick. Even you can do it."

"Funny. I mean blow bubbles like that. I never could get it right."

Greg, inexplicably, felt his heart start to race at this admission.

"You don't know how to blow bubbles?" Slightly incredulous.

"No. I can't really snap my fingers either," Nick admitted, demonstrating ineffectually.

Greg grinned and snapped his fingers at shoulder height, whilst raising one eyebrow in what he hoped was an adorably devilish manner. And blowing another impressive bubble.

"Like this, you mean?"

"Are you making fun of me, G?"

"No." Yes! His grin widened.

Greg watched with interest as Nick unfolded his arms and took several steps forward so that he was now facing him across the worktop.

"So…are you going to show me?"

If Greg didn't know better he would have sworn Nick was flirting with him in that moment. He hadn't broken eye contact since he had appeared in the doorway and his voice was soft and teasing. Screw it, thought the lab tech, leaning across the uplit surface, arms crossed tight to his chest. He felt like flirting, even if it would never get him anywhere.

"Well…it's all in the tongue, really."

Nick's fingers inched forward a couple of inches on the glass surface.

"Oh?"

"Yeah."

Greg gulped, not daring to blink. Thanking any deity that might be listening that the table and his lab coat were there to conceal his arousal, now painfully apparent with the proximity of his crush.

"You see…I have a really long tongue, so…"

Greg opted to demonstrate rather than describe, poking his tongue out from between his lips and extending it as far as he could. Ignoring the voice in his head that was questioning the decision to show off his tongue to Nick Stokes in the middle of the DNA lab.

Was he going crazy or was Nick a little closer than he had been a minute ago? The worktop was still acting as a physical barrier between them, but Greg noticed with a sharp intake of breath that his colleague was now leaning so far forward that there were only inches separating his face from Nick's. His fingers were almost touching the white fabric of Greg's labcoat sleeves. Right, Stokes. Two can play at that game.

Something unmistakeable flared in Nick's eyes as he slowly drew his tongue back into his mouth. He was close enough now to smell his breath. Coffee. My coffee, he thought distractedly. Wondered how it would taste mixed with the cool cherry that tingled all over the inside of his mouth. What his warm skin would taste like. Warm, dry lips. Hot, wet mouth. Just for starters.

"Mmmhmm…" Nick's voice was reduced to a soft growl.

"So, yeah," Greg managed at last, trying to gain control over his breathing. "You just have to stick your tongue into it, and blow."

He demonstrated, slowly, making sure Nick could see every movement his mouth made. Never breaking eye contact. He knew his eyes were spilling out every secret he had by now but he no longer cared. They were so close now, each leaning in as if magnetically drawn to the other. Greg was grateful he was still sitting as he felt his knees turn to water. Even though no part of him was being touched, his skin was on fire. He didn't think it was possible to want another person so badly. His carefully created cherry scented bubble was almost grazing Nick's nose when he drew it back into his mouth with a sharp pop.

Lowered his eyes for just a second. Exhaled hard. Raised them back to Nick's, the contact searing as it was re-established. The older man's pupils dilated with what was now naked desire. God. Greg felt that if he stopped for just a moment to consider what was going on here, the whole thing would be pulled out from under him. He could smell his skin now, citrusy with a sharp tang of something else. Fear, maybe. Desire. Need.

"Want a go?" Greg managed finally, in an urgent whisper.

Nick's mouth ever so slightly open now. Fingers sliding across fabric, wrapping tightly around Greg's wrists. Jesus. Greg allowed his eyes to close. A whisper now. Nick Stokes was going to kiss him. In the lab.

When the connection was wrenched away from him before it had begun, he whimpered involuntarily. Eyes flew open. Nick was no longer leaning across the counter or touching him, but was standing with his back flat against the far wall. Breathing hard and trying not to look at Greg. What the hell?

Finally, he registered the disturbance in the shape of Sara Sidle, pushing the lab door open and stopping in front of him. She regarded him for a moment; a strange, unreadable expression flitting across her soft features. Greg pulled himself together with a massive effort and drew his face into a more welcoming configuration. He wondered what she was thinking. On the plus side, she hadn't seemed to notice Nick was in the room. After a moment, she smiled.

"Hey, Greggo, what do you know?"

Right. Of course. Her DNA results. What else?

Drawing his lab coat around himself protectively, he wheeled backwards on his chair to snatch the printout she wanted. Stole a fleeting glance at his Texan co-worker over her shoulder. He looked decidedly flushed now, and it was a good look on him.

He handed Sara her printout. Grinned with a pure, sparkling delight. Snapped a delicious cherry flavoured bubble.

"What do I know? A hell of a lot more than I did five minutes ago."

FIN