Title: Tick Tock
By: flipflopadd1ct
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Rating: PG
Summary: I'm thinkin' bout my doorbell, when ya gonna ring it, when ya gonna ring it?

***

Tick tock. Tick tock.

The clock on the wall seemed to echo Greg's uneasy heartbeat.

Nick would arrive at any moment. So Greg waited.

And waited.

Tick tock. Tick tock.

Greg Sanders liked to think of himself as a romantic.

Ever since high school, or maybe even junior high or earlier, Greg flirted with anything that walked. He did it for fun, for amusement, because he never knew what a little harmless courting could turn into. And sometimes, a simple wink and a joke would turn into more and just like that Greg would fall head over heels in love.

It happened more times than he could count.

And, too often, those relationships crumbled quickly to pieces. Most people would have eventually learned their lesson, but no: Greg was a romantic. He wanted nothing more than someone to share his entire world with – so he continued to flirt, continued to tease, continued to go too far.

When Greg fell for someone, he fell hard - he nursed a crush on the same guy in high school for four years. And when he signed on at the Vegas crime lab, and first laid eyes on Nick Stokes, Greg felt that familiar flutter in his stomach.

He'd spend the next couple years aching for Nick.

Greg had never fallen for somebody as hard as he had for Nick. Every shift, Greg prayed for a chance just to talk to him, or even see him. The sound of Nick's voice was all it took for Greg to shiver in the best possible way. A glimpse of him walking past the DNA lab and Greg would be a happy boy for the rest of the night.

Tick tock. Tick tock.

Nick appeared in every dream, in every lonely midnight fantasy. Every hour of every day, Greg was thinking of Nick. So Greg dealt with his crush the best way he knew how: he flirted.

And flirted.

He did everything but throw himself at Nick.

Luckily for Greg, his hard work paid off. He noticed certain things, picked up on certain behaviors. For example, Nick had a tendency to lean close. Real close. And Greg would lean right back.

Greg often wondered how he would ask Nick out. He felt like a teenage girl fretting over asking the cutest boy in school to the Sadie Hawkins, but then it just happened. Completely random, unexpected, totally out-of-the-blue, it happened. Greg asked him.

He asked Nick to join him for cappuccinos at the Coffee Cabana down the street. And Nick said yes.

Their "date" went well, and Greg surprised himself when he suggested heading back to his place.

And Nick said yes.

Nick had winked, said he would head back to his apartment first and grab a few things. Greg wasn't expecting that but he sure as hell was fine with it.

That left Greg sitting in his apartment, anxiously alone.

And waiting.

Tick tock. Tick tock.

***