One Year, Two Mismatched Men and Three Million Dollars 4/?

[gregisamazing.livejournal.com]

Title: One Year, Two Mismatched Men and Three Million Dollars

Chapter: 4/? (Previous chapters are found here)

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Alcohol is known to do some pretty dangerous things to men, but when Research Scientist, Greg Sanders and Professional Trainer, Nick Stokes meet one drunken night- neither of them knew that it’d change their lives forever. In this instalment they are about to try and work out the kinks in the relationship and clear the air with one of their previous partners…
A/N1: Thanks to all you guys that have left me reviews so far... I'm so happy to hear feedback!
A/N2: Ergh, I had other plot bunnies heist me half way through this chapter... Sorry about that; anyway on with the show!

Coffee normally made everything so much better in Greg’s world… But today it really wasn’t helping at all, if anything, it was making everything a whole lot worse. The aroma of his Blue Hawaiian was waking him up to the reality of the situation; there was no denying that he was tangled in a very messy web that could result in someone getting hurt. Sat in one of the corner booths in Starbucks, with Nick opposite him, made Greg wonder how on earth he’d be able to pull this off.

 

He sipped carefully at the coffee, the boiling liquid not affecting his asbestos mouth that could cope with high temperatures. If this had been with Archie, then this would be Greg’s idea of heaven… But Nick was definitely not Archie, not even in the slightest, so this was turning out to be his hell. Apart from having to stick a year with someone he didn’t know and having to pretend to be in love, he had to finish his relationship with the only person he truly cared about.

 

He was about to be upgraded to class A bitch.

 

What he couldn’t understand was how Nick seemed so calm about it all; how he wasn’t even concerned about breaking it off with his girlfriend. Greg didn’t get it. How could he be like that? Maybe it was because there was a lot of money involved and perhaps it was because Nick was so materialistic that he didn’t care about anyone involved in this, he only cared about the large pay-out at the end.

 

Greg couldn’t say he didn’t want the money, because that large a sum could really help with his life goals. He just got caught up in the money for a split second and he’d really screwed everything up. He’d overlooked everyone he would hurt, everything else he’d worked for in his life and he’d overlooked how difficult it would be to live a convincing charade.

 

He looked up from the murky depths of the coffee to look at the Texan who looked perfectly comfortable with the situation.

 

Seriously, how come this doesn’t bother him at all? It was him that went crazy earlier finding out he was in a gay marriage. Now though, he’s just taking it in his stride.

 

“How are we going to do this?” Greg asked miserably. “We need to work out a way of keeping our lives separate and yet together.”

 

“That’s easily done,” Nick sipped at his coffee. “You live at your place, I live at mine and we meet every once in a while to make it look convincing.”

 

That’s why he’s calm; he doesn’t quite understand what we have to sacrifice to get the money.

 

Greg was momentarily smug because at least he had thought beyond the money and was being realistic about how they’d have to acquire it. Nick was thinking this was all simple and really hadn’t thought logically about this… But then he realised where they were, and knew Nick’s reaction was certainly going to be explosive… He could risk yet another scene.

 

“We can’t do that. If we are being watched do you really think that we’d be able to convince them we are not living together because it’s more convenient for an ‘in love couple’ to live separate lives?”

 

Nick looked at him blankly, unable to define an answer to the rhetorical question he was posing.

 

“No Nick, we won’t. In other words one of us will have to move in with the other, we’ll have to live together, under the same roof.”

 

“No way am I moving.”

 

“That’s good because your place is bigger than mine, so it’s settled I’m moving into yours.” Greg could see that Nick was ready to protest to the idea so cut him off once more. “I’m going to have to move some of my things into your place and leave my house up for rent as furnished. Next we’re going to have to tell our friends and family that we’ve gotten married… Make sure everyone has the same story so it seems as if we’re not just mismatched and we seriously are in love. We can’t tell anyone the real story.”

 

“You’re crazy Sanders, I’m not telling anyone.” He hissed at Greg, visibly paler than he had been a few moments before. “No one is hearing about this. We’re not telling a soul.”

 

“And how do you plan on explaining that?” Greg asked pointing to the ring and Nick began to pull it off. “Technically that’d mean that you’re breaking up, and that means we fail.”

 

Nick stopped trying to pull off the ring and instead began to fiddle with it, his nerves evident, obviously only just realising what they had agreed to.

 

“So what else will we need to do to make this convincing?” Nick asked, worried that he was going to have to give up something else that was more important than his reputation.

 

“Well most married couples live together, friends know about them, they go out together and they actually know each other.” Greg said, counting them off on his fingers.

 

“And children, most couples have a child.” Nick added, and then gulped when he realised he just suggested children. “No, bad idea.”

 

“They also don’t have other partners.” Greg sighed, looking back down into his Styrofoam cup. “We’re going to have to call a rain-check with our other counterparts.”

 

Nick looked back down into his coffee cup too, feeling guilty. Perhaps this whole thing was meaning that Greg was breaking up with someone that was truly going to be his soul mate, that’s why he was moping around. Nick didn’t want to be the cause of that because he wanted the money; his relationship was just another on a long list of failed ones, she wasn’t spectacular and he wasn’t going to be loosing anything. Maybe Greg was.

 

“We don’t have to do this whole thing if you don’t want to.” Nick offered, knowing that it was the right thing to do. But when Greg shook his head, he was really perplexed. “Seriously, if you don’t want to, we won’t. We can just walk away from it now.”

 

He shook his head again and even Greg was confused to why he was turning the offer down.

 

“I want to do this.” He spoke in a small voice, “It’s just… difficult.” He cleared his throat that was suddenly very tight. “I shouldn’t want to do this. I have Archie… But something inside keeps telling me to just do it, forget about everything else and just go ahead and live a charade for a year.”

 

If Archie loves me, he’ll fight for me. Then I can find out if this is it, if Archie and I are the real thing.

 

“You sure?” Nick asked again, just to make sure that Greg was behind the idea and was rewarded with a smile and a nod. “Fine then, don’t you think we should start setting this up?”

 

-------

 

The first stop was the estate agents to put Greg’s apartment up for rent, it’d provide Greg with another source of income whilst living this temporary life. He was slightly worried that he’d end up with a bunch of rowdy UNLV students that would destroy the place, but the agent assured them both he’d have a pleasant group of clients lined up.

 

The second stop was to Greg’s place so he could ready himself for a year at Nick’s. After over an hour and a half there, debating on what Greg would actually need, they walked out with the majority of his possessions. But the time there, Nick managed to discover more about his new counterpart; the number of science text led to the conclusion he was a scientist of some sort, and all the certificates and academic trophies led him to the conclusion that Greg was indeed intelligent… 

Nick was way in over his head.

 

-------

 

“This is the last of them.” Nick said, slamming his front door with his foot. “Everything you own is officially in my home.” He heard the snort of laughter, “I thought I told you to bring only the essentials.” He grinned, balancing the boxes in his arms, navigating towards the spare bedroom.

 

“I only have the bare essentials.” Greg said, smiling. “Your definition is just slightly different to mine.”

 

“You’re not kidding there.” Nick waltzed into the room, careful not to trip over the rogue boxes that littered almost every available surface. “Since when has the Encyclopaedia of Viruses, Bacteria and Micro-organisms been vital for survival?”

 

“Since forever, I’m prepared for chemical warfare this way.”

 

“I seriously hope you are joking.” He put down the boxes on the bed, the only surface that appeared to be free at that moment.

 

“I was.” Greg began to laugh at the suggestion that he was preparing himself for chemical warfare… That was so… Hodges. “I need them for work. Seriously, I’m not that weird.”

 

“Could’ve fooled me.”

 

He frowned, deciding to ignore that comment. Instead he pulled yet another box full of books and tried to figure out how he’d be able to cram them onto the shelf. Looking around the room he could already begin to tell that he did over pack, there was no way half of his possessions would fit in the room. Although he decided to withhold that information from Nick, just to avoid any further embarrassment.

 

“Do you need anything? Storage boxes? CD rack? Coat-hangers?”

 

“I could really use a CD rack if you have one going.” Greg said, remembering the amount of CD’s he had to store somewhere.

 

“I think I’ve got one in the closet, I’ll just go and have a look.”

 

Nick disappeared out of the room, leaving Greg to fight with the bookcase over how many books would fit onto a shelf. So far the total was eight, but he knew he’d have to fit at least three more on each shelf if he wanted to get them all into the case. He began to wedge another in place when he heard a sickening crash and watched on helplessly as the whole shelf gave way underneath the weight of the volumes.

 

“I think I’m gunna need a new one.”

 

Meanwhile Nick was having worse luck trying to find the CD holder. He realised exactly why he avoided going into the cupboard at all costs- it was where he shoved things that no longer worked or he didn’t need. He pulled back yet another piece of carpet, sneezing at the sudden dust cloud it brought up.

 

“I think I’m gunna have to clean this all out.”

 

--------

 

Ten minutes later Greg was still fighting with the room about whether all his belongings would fit and where they’d go, but so far he was failing badly. It was the room 2 and Greg zero. The bookcase had finally won after yet another shelf collapsed and sent the books raining to the floor- The Guide to DNA catching Greg nastily on the back of the head. After that he decided that trying to store some of his items in the closet, which he discovered was jammed and after fighting with the door had tripped over a box and fallen backwards. He’d decided that this room was conspiring against him. Now he was doing the relatively safe option, unpacking his clothes… He couldn’t really hurt himself with fabric… Right?

 

He heard a clattering at the doorway, but didn’t need to look up to see it was Nick, returning from his quest to find a CD rack.

 

“I need a new bookcase.” Greg began; his back towards the door. “I broke that one; it wasn’t very stable if you ask me. And the closet is stuck, I can’t get it open. Would you try?”

 

“Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my boyfriend’s house!?”

 

Greg spun around to face the angry woman stood in his bedroom doorway, rather stunned at her sudden appearance.

 

How the hell did she get in? And where is Nick to help me out!?

 

“Answer me!” She snarled, her eyes narrowing behind her glasses. Greg gulped, what was it with him being faced with angry and violent people today? The brunette did look rather vicious to Greg, not in an ‘I could easily kill you’ way but in an ‘I can seriously pull a lot of your hair out and scratch you’ way. He looked down at her nails, yeah, they were definitely scratching material.

 

“I’m Greg.” He said, putting his jeans in the drawer and stepping away from her. “And I can explain everything.”

 

“You better explain and fast.” She said, still scowling at him. “I’m not in the mood for this.”

 

No kidding. Greg thought to himself bitterly, assuming that she was fresh off a plane and exhausted. Her clothes were rumpled, there were shadows beneath her eyes and her hair was falling out of a messy bun and probably all she wanted to do was curl up with her boyfriend and sleep. That’s not happening anytime soon.

 

“Hey Greg, I found you a CD rack, but it needs a good clean. And I found some other… Shit.” He trailed off seeing his girlfriend stood in the doorway, glaring at him. “Mandy, what are you doing back so early? I thought I said I’d pick you up if you gave me a call.”

Greg let a sigh of relief escape his lips, thanking his partners good timing.

 

Nick was trying to decide whether Mandy was actually glaring at him... After a few minutes debating he decided she was definitely glaring at him, and still eyeing up Greg at the same time. He couldn’t tell whether she was angry or confused, she was wearing one of her passive expressions that were always unreadable.

 

Am I in trouble or what? He thought to himself, Hang on, am I in trouble? What a stupid question! I am in a hell of a lot of trouble.

 

“Nicholas, what’s going on here? And why are you covered in dust?”

 

Nick looked down at his shirt, and sure enough he was covered in cobwebs and dust and he was in no doubt he probably looked a little worse for wear. That would raise a lot of questions in Mandy’s mind… Not all of which he could actually answer.

 

“I was looking for something in the cupboard.” Nick said, brushing himself off, causing him to sneeze again. “I just need to put it in Greg’s room if you don’t mind. Then we can talk about this.”

 

He carefully walked passed Mandy, never taking his eyes off her afraid that she could possibly jump him at any moment. He entered the room to find his partner frozen in place- much like earlier that day. He couldn’t really blame Greg for the reaction though; they were both intimidating people.

 

“Here you go.” Nick said, smiling reassuringly at his friend placing the stand down beside him. “I think you should start unpacking them now.” He hinted ‘subtly’. Greg nodded, understanding the message and immediately scuttled off to busy himself sorting CD’s. “I think we should take this conversation somewhere a little more private.”

 

“Good idea.” Mandy said, giving Greg one last glare on her way out.

 

Settled a few minutes later in the kitchen, Nick made sure there were no sharp objects anywhere close to hand, rather afraid of what could happen if there were. He certainly didn’t intend dying at such a young age.

 

“What’s going on here?” Mandy asked drumming her nails on the countertop. “I thought you said you weren’t going to let out the back room.”

 

“I didn’t.” Nick admitted.

 

“Then why is that, George person moving into your back room?”

 

“Greg.” He emphasized the name. “And he’s moving in because…” He stammered, trailing off. He wasn’t intending to be honest with anyone- he was intending to say that he was married but leave out the who- he couldn’t considering Mandy had stumbled into the domestic scene.

 

“Why, Nicholas?”

 

“Because…” Not brave enough to quite say the words he gestured to the ring on his hand. But Mandy looked blankly at it, not seeing the relevance. He took a steadying breath, “I’m married.”

 

Slowly all the colour drained from her face and she looked close to passing out as the truth hit her.

 

“But, you’re not… I didn’t think… You can’t be… But… Married… Him?”

 

“Yeah, I guess.” Nick shrugged, looking at the startled woman. “I didn’t think I was either, but, I met him and the rest is history.”

 

“When?”

 

It was only understandable she wanted to know; but he couldn’t exactly say since last night. They had to make this believable, and people didn’t fall in love overnight.

 

“A couple of months.”

 

“You were seeing him whilst seeing me!” She shrieked wildly, “I thought we were in a committed relationship. You were seeing him! A man, whilst seeing a woman! I was being your beard? How dare you!”

 

Before Nick even had time to register the softness had morphed into anger he felt the palm connect with his cheek, and the stinging sensation that quickly followed. He was startled by that, he really didn’t think she’d lash out like that, Mandy had always seemed so harmless. But then again, he’d never cheated on her, or got married behind her back before- desperate times could push women to the edge.

 

“I can’t believe this Nicholas! You will live to regret the day you did this to me!” She warned, before heading out of the door leaving the house with a loud thump.

 

Greg emerged from the bedroom right at that moment, to see Nick sat there clutching his cheek and gaping, still in shock.

 

“Women, eh?” Greg quipped lightly, “They’re way too dramatic if you ask me.” He paused for a minute, sitting in the seat that Mandy had just vacated. “Sorry.”  

 

“It’s not your fault.” Nick said slowly, realising that the other was actually feeling guilty for something he didn’t do. “I suppose I should have expected that. It’s not everyday a woman finds out her ‘long term’ boyfriend is ‘gay’.”

 

Greg laughed.

 

“She’s one lucky girl.”

Comments

[jayceepat.livejournal.com]

I am so enjoying this story. It's just AU enough to be outrageous and yet it's funny because I can imagine both Nick and Greg reacting this way. The only thing I'm having a problem with is Nick's materialistic attitude towards the money. I don't feel that fits the character of Nick Stokes as we know him from the series BUT since this is not canon, I'm more than willing to suspend belief and go with your plot; especially when it is so hilarious.

I gather that you are not USA American only because of some of your terminology. It's good, it just adds that extra little AU tone to the story.

[gregisamazing.livejournal.com]

Nope, not from the US... I'm a UK-er so some of the terms happen to be UK-ish... My bad xD

Is Nick materialistic or not? Is he actually worried about the money or is there something else he's worried about and putting the charade up that it's the money? 0_0

Thanks for reviewing!

[(Anonymous)]

I like how quick this is moving, like Nick being so honest too, I feel bad for him.

I'm so an angst about Greg's bf talk, I did like Archie, but in no way as much as I like Nick, really don't think A is the right one for Greggo, NOooooo.

[gregisamazing.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I wouldn't want it to be too slow moving... Well, at least here I'm trying to get it moving at a fast enough pace to make it so people get involved with the story... So they can follow the 12 months... Or maybe 12 months...

Thanks for the review, and the boyfriend talk should be coming in the next chapter! Stay tuned xD

[mickeylover303.livejournal.com]

They're already becoming comfortable with each other. That's really sweet.

“It’s not your fault.” Nick said slowly, realising that the other was actually feeling guilty for something he didn’t do.

That's my favourite line. Of course it compliments the not falling in love overnight. You can definitely tell there will be a progression in their relationship.

[gregisamazing.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you enjoyed this part... I think it's best that there's a friendship forming... After all, they're stuck together for 12 months (perhaps) and falling in love over night totally wouldn't be right!

Thanks for the review!