nickngreg | n00b who brings fic (Reply)

Um, hi! *waves* I'm new here, but I love Nick/Greg. I come bearing fic.

Title: “Say Yes”
Rating: um… PG-13, for mentions of sex, drinking and swears?
Warnings: Domestic abuse (nothing graphic, all mentions)
Summary: This is how Greg Sanders meets his next-door neighbor…
Spoilers: None.

A/N: A little Nick/Greg thing that I wrote in about thirty minutes. I suck at writing Nick, so please don’t hit me too hard.

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to its respectful owner. I am making no profit off of this whatsoever.

I.

this is how greg sanders asked for help from his next-door neighbor

April Linnet is quite sure she’s never met her next-door neighbor before she heard him shouting outside his door. At first she thought he was fighting with someone and why he picked outside on a Thursday afternoon to fight was anyone’s guess, but she was just about to open the door and tell him to shut his fucking mouth when she saw he was drunk and tired and losing a fight with his front door.

“Hey, man, what’s going on?” she asks him, kneeling down.

He lets out a whine. “My door’s locked.”

“I can see that.”

“I left my other key at work.”

April raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry,” she comments dryly.

He takes her arm. “Can you take me to see Nicky?”

“Excuse me?”

Her neighbor’s head lolls to the side. “Take me… I wanna see Nicky.”

April sighs. No way in Hell she’s getting back to sleep now. “Okay. Where does Nicky live?”

II.

this is how nick stokes met greg sanders’ next-door neighbor

“Where’s Nicky Stokes?”

Nick blinks the sleep and sunshine out of his eyes as he peers at the woman in his threshold. She’s tall and leggy and pretty and reminds him of “Jolene” by Dolly Parton with her red hair, fair skin and bright green eyes. She looks as tired as he feels and he asks, “I’m sorry?”

The woman sighs, takes her sunglasses off her head and puts them in her purse. “Nicky Stokes? She live here?” She cranes her neck to look behind him. “My neighbor’s asking about her.”

“Uh, I’m Nick Stokes, but you must have the wrong address, ma’am,” Nick tells her politely, moves to shut the door, but she sticks her foot in the way, catching it with her shiny red kitten heels.

“Look, man, my neighbor was telling me to come find you, and I am, okay?” Her expression is fierce. “I drove all the way across town to find you.”

Nick coughs. “Okay. Where is your neighbor?”

She snaps her gum. “Passenger seat of my car,” she says, jerking her head at the green car in his driveway.

With a sigh, Nick walks over to the car and peers inside.

Greg’s asleep with his head leaning against the window and Nick snorts. It makes sense- Greg gave him the other key a while back and now Greg locked himself out of his apartment. He fights back a laugh.

“Does that belong to you?” April asks.

Nick snorts. “Yes. Thank you, ma’am.”

III.

this is how greg sanders befriended (and confided in) next-door neighbor

“So, how long’ve you and Nick been fucking?” April asks.

Greg chokes on his Chinese food, the sweet and sour pork nearly falling out of his mouth. “Excuse me?”

April flashes him a wry grin, a quirky half-smile that reminds him a little of Sara’s except Sara’s is prettier and not so predatory and she repeats, “How long have you and Nick been fucking?”

“Um…” Greg tries to remember if there’s a polite response to that question.

The woman sighs. “Oh, never mind,” she mutters and opens a Diet Coke, takes a long drink and offers him another Irish coffee.

April, Greg learned after she took him to Nick’s that day he was too hung over to breathe, is a dancer in a gentlemen’s club called Venus in Furs, just off the strip. She loves Audrey Hepburn movies and has a cat named Cat. Her boyfriend’s name is Cal and he sometimes likes to smack her around and no matter how much Greg tells her that she deserves better, she insists that Cal’s a good guy. She likes heavy metal and alternate rock, and right now they’re listening to Radiohead’s Kid A and Greg nods along with the music.

They’ve been hanging out for a month now, and this is the first time she’s brought up Nick, aside from when the three of them have hung out together.

“What gives you the idea that Nick and I are fucking?” Greg asks.

She flashes her grin again and states, “Oh, aside from seeing you jerk him off under the table at the restaurant five days ago? Nothing.”

Greg blushes. “You weren’t really supposed to see that,” he mumbles.

“And I doubt the people three tables down were, either, but that didn’t stop that woman from running to the bathroom,” April tells him.

“She said she had food poisoning,” Greg mutters.

April laughs. “But, seriously. How long have you two known each other?”

Fiddling with the handle of his coffee mug, Greg shrugs. “I dunno. Six years, seven months-”

“You don’t know then you spout it off the month you met?” April cuts him off incredulous. “You really are a piece of work, Sanders.”

Greg chuckles. “Sorry.”

“Have you told him you loved him, yet?” April’s green eyes are a little too predatory for Greg’s liking and he fidgets.

“What makes you think I love him?”

April snorts. “Are you kidding? The way you look at him says it all.”

The man sets his jaw. “And how do I look at him?”

With the same crooked grin, April sticks out her lower lip and opens her green eyes wide in an exaggerated imitation of Greg’s large, dark ones, trying to look as innocent as possible. “Like that.”

“So… I do stupid puppy-dog faces at Nick?”

Nodding, April drains her soda and slams the can down. “Pretty much.” She belches loudly.

Greg waves away the smell. “Charming,” he tells her. “But… I don’t really look like that, do I?”

“Depends on what kind of day it is. Have you told him you love him yet?” She pops a cube of green pepper into her mouth delicately, chews and swallows.

In an effort to avoid answering that bomb, Greg shoves an egg roll in his mouth and chews and chews, ignoring April’s piercing stare. After realizing the egg roll would not last more than an hour, he swallows with difficulty. “What?” he asks.

“I asked you a question.”

“Really? I thought I already answered.”

April smiles. “So, what’s your answer?”

Damnit, she’s good. “Uh…”

“I’ll take that as a ‘no’.”

They go back to eating in silence.

IV.

this is how greg sanders made a deal with his next-door neighbor

The instant Greg knocks on April’s door, he knows something is wrong because she doesn’t answer the door right away. He doesn’t hear a, I’m coming, Jesus fucking Christ! from inside or Nine Inch Nails blasting or anything.

After three minutes, April opens the door a crack and looks out before letting him in. “April, what happened?” Greg asks, all concern and worried eyes.

“Nothing,” April tells him. He can tell she just got out of the shower because she’s wearing a white robe with her long hair in a white towel, but her eyes are red and her nose is bleeding. There’s a cut on the bridge of her nose and she has bruises forming around her neck and a black eye blossoming around her right eye. She puts on a CD- Elliott Smith’s Either/Or and starts to cry.

Greg sits down next to her. “Did Cal do this to you?” and he already knows the answer. She gathers up Cat, burying her face in his dark fur, not answering. “I swear to God, April, I’m about to kill that motherfucker.”

“He’s a good guy,” she whispers before she starts bawling. “No, he’s not. He’s really not. But if I try to break up with him, he’ll kill me. That’s why I’ve got these.” She shows him the marks on her neck. “That’s what I was doing. I tried and he-”

Gently, Greg puts his hand on her back. “April, you can’t let him do this to you.”

She snorts, doing that ‘no one understands me’ laugh and headshake and says, “Like you’re in any position to give me relationship advice. Besides, I’ve broken up with him before, but he just kept coming back.”

Greg straightens. “Okay, April. I’ll make you a deal. I’ll tell Nick I’m in love with him and you break up with Cal.”

“Nice try, smart guy, but if I do that, I might as well beat myself to death,” April snaps.

“I’ll be there. And Nick and Sofia and Sara. I can get you help, April. If he tries anything, we’ll get him,” Greg tells her.

April looks at him, apprehensive, before she grins and looks like the April he knew a month ago. “You’ve got a deal, Sanders.”

Greg steels himself because he and Nick have a “date” tonight and, oh, God, did he really just do this? April goes into the bathroom, and he listens to the music. When he was younger, he looked to music for guidance, but he’s not sure if he should be taking advice from Elliott Smith who stabbed himself in the chest twice and spelled his name wrong on the suicide note.

The song is “Say Yes” and Greg listens to the lyrics. “I'll probably be the last to know, no one says until it shows and you see how it is. They want you or they don't, say yes.”

Oh, God, please say yes, Nick, he thinks.

V.

this is how greg sanders tells nick stokes he’s in love with him because of his next-door neighbor

He waits until after the sex (which was fantastic, amazing) to tell Nick.

Nick is half-asleep already, some of his dark hair in his deep eyes and, God, Greg adores him. He’s smiling a little and Greg draws little patterns on Nick’s back. Nick’s smile widens and he stretches. “Hey, you,” he murmurs.

“Hi,” Greg says and continues to draw on Nick’s back with his fingers.

Then Nick’s brow furrows and he draws Greg closer. “What’s wrong, Greggo?” he asks, all caring and soft and loving. He drops a kiss on Greg’s wild dark blonde hair.

Greg shrugs. “Nothing.” Then, “Cal beat up April again.”

Nick sighs. “Jesus.” He presses his face in Greg’s hair. “Is she okay?”

“Aside from getting the shit kicked out of her by her boyfriend? I think so.”

With his face still buried in Greg’s hair, Nick mumbles, “Poor April. Is that why you’re so different?”

“No. Well, yeah. Sort of. Um… Cal beat up April again and we talked and…” He can’t do it. Oh, God, this hurts because Greg always feared rejection and, even though his quirky demeanor was anything but a façade, he was so scared of being turned down that he feels his throat tighten.

Nick’s arms close around him. “And…?” he prompts.

“Well, you’re going to liquefy my internal organs if you hold me any closer,” Greg begins, “And… and I love you?”

It comes out as more of a question than a statement, but he can feel Nick’s breath, hot against the back of his neck and then Nick’s faint, “I love you, too,” coupled with kisses pressed to his hair.

VI.

this is how greg sanders saves the life of his next-door neighbor

“I see her,” Greg whispers to Sofia. The blonde nods when she sees the tall, dark-haired man with tattoos and a goatee approach the redheaded woman on the street.

None of them can hear what the couple is saying, but all of them see the smack and the redhead fall and Sofia runs over to Cal, her gun out. Sara follows with Greg behind her as they help April to her feet.

“You okay?” Sara asks, brushing dirt off April.

She nods. “I’m fine, thank you.” Then she gives Greg her nicest smile when she sees Nick over with Sofia. “Thank you, Greg,” she whispers.

Greg grins at her and then feels Nick’s hand at the base of his neck and squeeze. “No problem,” he reassures her. “It was no problem.”

fin