Title: A Sudden Shift
By: kelly-girl
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Rating: NC-17
Summary: An accident causes a change in Greg and Nick's relationship.

Greg’s fingers followed a drop of sweat as it trickled a path down the middle of Nick’s chest. He licked his lips when Nick moaned and thrust faster. The room was summer time hot, the air heavy with the smell of sex. The bed was a mess but Greg didn’t care. He only cared about coming and when he did, he gasped and luxuriated in the boneless feeling his orgasm gave him. He loved the flare of lust in Nick’s eyes. Greg lay back and enjoyed the aggressive way Nick moved in him. He smiled, smug and content when Nick came and stilled above him.

Greg sighed and unlocked his legs from around Nick’s waist. He felt Nick pull out then stop. Greg opened his eyes and saw Nick looking down, a frown on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Nick looked at him, worry etched on his face where moments ago there had been lust.

“The condom broke.”

Greg quirked one eyebrow up in surprise. “Well, we were going at it hot and heavy. If I had a chandelier in here, we would have been swinging from it.” His little joke didn’t make Nick smile. Greg frowned. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m clean, you’re clean, I trust you.” It was only the third time they’d ended up sweaty and limp in Greg’s bed but there had been a lot of foreplay to get them there. A quick flash of something crossed Nick’s face and Greg’s heartbeat picked up a rhythm that seemed to echo in his ears. Nick stood up and didn’t look at him.

“I know I’m clean Greg, but well, you get around don’t you?”

Greg shook his head in confusion. “You think I’m sleeping with someone else? That I let you screw me senseless then go hop in someone else’s bed?”

“No, I didn’t mean that. You’re just very free with your affections.”

The laugh Greg let loose was tinged with disbelief and bitterness. “Is that another way of saying I’m easy? That I just crawl into bed with anyone who flashes me a smile?”

Nick hesitated before he said anything, too long for Greg to believe what he said next. “That’s not what I meant.”

Greg got up and pulled on a pair of shorts. The room felt cold all of a sudden. He started pulling the sheets off his bed. They smelled like Nick and sex. “We can go get tested down at the health department or somewhere else. You pick a place and let me know.”

He heard Nick get dressed but didn’t look at him. The other times Nick had gotten dressed, Greg had fun trying to get Nick to stay undressed. He felt weird and his chest hurt. Maybe he was coming down with a cold. He put his sheets and a few more items in the washer and went into his kitchen to fix some coffee. He was off tonight but he didn’t want to get his sleep schedule messed up too badly. The soft thump of Nick’s shoes stopped right behind him. A hand on his shoulder had him swallowing a lump in his throat. Yep, he was coming down with a cold.

“I’m not saying you’d do something to endanger yourself or me intentionally.”

Greg shrugged off Nick’s hand before he finished his statement. “Whatever, Nick. Get back to me with the name of a place.”

After his front door closed, Greg buried his head between his hands. How could Nick think that he was sleeping with other people? Is that the impression he’d given him? All these months of subtle and not so subtle flirtations and this was what he had? Someone who was blind to how much this meant to Greg?

That Nick was hot enough to melt every brain cell in Greg’s head was beside the point. Hot was easy, but Nick was like climbing Mt. Everest. Getting to know him, really know him took effort and time. He was funny, smart and thoughtful. He cared about the same things Greg did. Nick understood when Greg got upset about little kids dying because people couldn’t be bothered to care enough. He shared Greg’s persistent need to find that one piece of evidence that could help get justice for someone whose life was snatched away. Nick got all of that and more.

Greg thought Nick might be the one and here Nick was thinking he was just a notch in Greg’s bedpost. Greg smiled sadly at the image of having a turnstile in his bedroom doorway. He needed to figure out a way to fix this, but right now he was too angry and too miserable to do anything but veg out in front of the TV. A little voice whispered in his ear that really, Nick should be the one trying to fix this.

The next work shift Greg sat in the locker room and changed clothes. Nick hadn’t called him and he hadn’t called Nick. It had been close a few times but he’d resisted. He smiled to himself. Farscape DVDs could cure almost any depression, or at least keep him from thinking about it.

Greg considered ignoring Nick when he saw him but instead gave him an absent- minded nod. Lady luck seemed to be on his side and he didn’t have to see Nick for the rest of the night. After work he did a little grocery shopping. Nick was sitting on his porch when Greg pulled into his driveway. Greg invited him in and put away his groceries while Nick stood there, silent and nervous. When Nick didn’t say anything, Greg looked at him. Nick looked like he hadn’t slept well. A gleeful voice in his head crowed “good.”

When Nick stayed silent Greg looked at him. “Did you come over here to accuse me of sleeping with some more people? Did you make a list?”

Nick winced and moved closer, his hands in his front pockets. “I’m sorry, Greg. I never meant to say you slept around or that you were easy to get into bed in the first place. I just thought you wanted to keep what we were doing light and friendly, kinda like friends with benefits.”

Greg kept still as Nick moved closer and said, “The problem is that I wanted more. As long as I could make myself believe that you were seeing other people, then maybe I wouldn’t get so involved with you that it left me stressed out when all this was over.”

Greg frowned. “Why do you think it’s all going to end?”

Nick shrugged. “It all ends sooner or later, Greg. Nothing stays the same.”

Greg let that go. It soothed him a little that Nick talked about being serious with him. Maybe between all the flirting they should have talked about what type of relationship they both wanted.

“Did you call a clinic to make an appointment?”

Nick shook his head. “That’s not necessary man. I trust you.”

Greg smiled but didn’t grab and kiss Nick like he wanted. “I think it’s necessary. I think it’ll be in the back of your mind and you won’t be able to let it go.” He sat down at his computer and pulled up the address for a clinic. “This place does anonymous testing and we can go tonight before work.”

He continued before Nick could say anything. “They can do a test for everything but you know as well as I do that anything concerning HIV won’t show up right away. We would need to go back in three months and get tested again.”

“You’d do that?”

Greg stood up and walked over to Nick. He kissed him lightly and placed his hands on Nick’s hips. “Yes, I would. Let’s clear up a few things. I’m not sleeping with anyone else. I don’t want to sleep with anyone else. I want a long-term monogamous relationship with you. One that will include little fights, big fights and make up sex that will have my neighbors calling the police. Is this what you want?”

The smile Nick gave him made Greg’s heart stutter.

“Yeah, Greg. This is what I want.” Nick pulled him closer and Greg shimmied against him and smirked.

“Great, I’d hate to have to hit you upside the head until you agreed.”

Later, drowsy with Nick lying next to him, Greg relaxed and let himself sleep. Their relationship had shifted to something else, something better.



*Three Months Later

Greg looked down at the small piece of paper. He looked at Nick and smiled. “Did you want to frame them?”

Nick slung an arm around his shoulder. “No smart ass. I told you we didn’t have to do this.” Greg bumped his hip lightly against Nick’s. “We did have to do it. Especially if we want to throw the condoms out.” He laughed at the look on Nick’s face. It was a mix of shock and lust. Greg strolled out to his car, safe in the knowledge that Nick was right behind him. He hoped Nick would be behind him later tonight. He sighed happily. Life was good. The shift their relationship had taken wasn’t bad either.


The End