Title: You're My Hill to Die On (Cowards Sequel) Part 1 of 7
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Nick/Greg Slash
Word Count: ~1580
Warning: : Sexual Content, mentions of Violence and NonCon, Mean people
Disclaimer: This story is complete fiction. They don't belong to me - I just play with them a little.
Summary: After everything they worked through to finally be together - will a visit to Nick's childhood home be the one thing they can't overcome?
AN: As I'm writing the "Visit the Stokes" chapter of the Last Chance Series, I keep slipping into the Cowards universe. This tells me a couple of things: 1) I'm obviously not done with the Cowards version of the boys, and 2) I can't write the Last Chance visit to Texas until I write the Cowards visit to Texas. So...that's the plan. I have a completed a transitional chapter of Last Chance that I'll post in a few days, but until this one is out of my system - the rest of that one will have to wait. This one won't take long though - it's obviously all ready to get out of my brain! I hope you Cowards readers enjoy it.
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"Did you pack a nice tie?"
Greg looked confused. "I didn't even pack a dress-shirt, why would I pack a nice tie?"
"What if we go to church or a nice restaurant or something?" Nick asked anxiously.
"Will we?" Greg was starting to sound a little nervous himself. "I thought it was just a family holiday with lots of food and drink and Stokes of all shapes and sizes. Does that tradition include church and fancy eateries?"
"I just think we should be prepared." Nick stepped to Greg's closet to look through his nicer clothes. "Here." He tossed Greg a pair of black slacks and a jewel-toned blue shirt. "Pack your paisley tie and we're all set."
"No jacket?" Greg asked as he searched his top drawer for the tie.
Nick's hands snaked around his waist as Nick embraced him from behind. "No, I don't want it to look like you're trying too hard."
Greg leaned into Nick and sighed. "You're putting a lot of pressure on this, Nick. Are you sure you want me to go this time?"
"Yes." Nick kissed Greg's temple and the jagged scar that would never go away. "My parents invited you."
"I know, but you've been really freaking out for like weeks and at least one of your sisters practically begged you to 'spare the family' of my presence...so it's okay if..."
"Greg." Nick interrupted. "You're my family too. You're more than family. - you're home to me now."
Greg spun around in Nick's arms and kissed his lover. "I'll never get tired of hearing that."
"I'll never get tired of saying it." Nick's lips stayed achingly close to Greg's. "Now finish packing se we can go to my place and get some sleep before shift."
Greg grinned into Nick's kiss. "Sleep?"
"Eventually." Nick felt himself respond to Greg's innuendo immediately. Does he even know what he does to me?
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Two hours later they were laying in a sweaty heap in Nick's bed. Nick was laying on his side, curled around Greg with his head resting on Greg's chest.
"You're so good at that." Greg said while his fingers combed through Nick's dark hair.
Nick smiled into Greg's skin. "Which part?"
"All of them. You fuck like a rock star. You give amazing head. And you're the wildest bottom I've ever topped."
"I'm not a bottom, I'm..."
"I know, Honey, you're versatile." Greg quoted using his fingers.
Nick pinched the skin on Greg's inner thigh. "Well, I am."
"You can say that again!" Greg agreed. "I love having sex with you. Almost as much as I love you when we're not having sex."
"Well, bask in the glow, Greggo." Nick's said. "Because we won't be having any sex in my parent's house."
"We'll see about that." Greg teased.
Nick lifted his head so he could make himself very, very clear with direct eye contact. "We won't be having sex in their house, G. I mean it."
"Three whole days?" Greg whined.
Nick laughed at the pitiful look on his boyfriend's face. "I think we can survive three days, G."
Greg just looked at his boyfriend for a few minutes. Nick could see the wheels spinning. "What about the barn...stables...wherever your people keep their livestock?"
"They don't have livestock. Livestock implies animals that you eat, they have horses." Nick corrected. "And no."
"The woodshed?" Greg bargained.
Nick shook his head with a smile. "There is no woodshed. Why the hell would there be a woodshed?"
"I don't know." Greg smirked. "Don't they need a place for the wood they use in the kitchen fire pit where they cook their bar-be-que beans? Or whatever it is cowboys eat after coming in from the range."
"That's just wrong, Greg." Nick chuckled and playfully smacked Greg's thigh.
"Can we make-out?"
"Nope."
"Three days?"
"Yep."
"Seriously?"
"We'll have plenty of sex at the hotel to make up for it." Now it was Nick who was bargaining.
The hotel was Greg's idea. When his parent's invited Greg to the week-long holiday gathering, he insisted that he would leave early to give the family a few days with all the members present and accounted for.
Nick just looked at him, blinking in disbelief as they sat in front of empty cereal bowls. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying you can drop me off at a hotel near the airport and enjoy your family without me making it awkward - so your parents can have all their kids there." Greg explained.
"But they invited you. For the whole week."
"I know. And I appreciate them for that." Greg moved to sit on Nick's lap. "I would be more comfortable knowing they had options."
It wasn't lost on Nick that Greg still found it impossible to refer to Nate - by name or by association. "You're amazing."
"Yeah." Greg smirked.
"You're not staying alone in a hotel for two days." Nick insisted.
"Nicky, please don't argue..."
"I'm staying with you." Nick interrupted. "It'll give me a chance to give you the tour-de-Nick and I'll still be able to stop by the house for a few hours during the day."
"You wouldn't rather be with your family for the whole time?" Greg asked.
Nick nodded. "I do want to be with my family. You're my family, too."
Greg could only smile and kiss. Nick could tell he had just made his boyfriend very happy.
"I'll agree to your terms if you also promise to grope me in the car when we're taking the tour-de-Nicky." Greg looked smug. "It's so hot to think about getting a hand-job in front of the high school where a picture still hangs in the hall of you making a touchdown?"
Nick laughed groggily. "You're twisted,"
Greg yawned. "You love it."
"Yeah." Nick agreed as he nuzzled into Greg's shoulder and fell asleep.
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As the flight attendant announced initial approach to DFW, Greg woke up his slumbering lover with a feathery kiss on the neck. Nick startled and jerked away. "...the hell, G?"
"Just waking you up." Greg watched his boyfriend blink himself awake with an angry scowl on his face. "You need to get your stuff put away."
Nick looked around and saw that the other passengers were dutifully preparing for landing. "Oh."
"What was that all about?" Greg asked.
"I already explained to you, no physical affection." Nick focused on winding the headphone cord around his I-pod instead of looking at his boyfriend.
"You said no sex, snuggling, or making-out at your parent's house." Greg said bitterly. He still wasn't happy about it. "We're on a fucking plane, Nick."
Nick could hear the hurt feelings underneath Greg's words. "There could be people who know my parents on this flight."
"So." Greg wasn't clear on what the problem was.
"I don't want them to hear from a friend that they saw their son mackin' on some dude on a plane." Nick explained.
"I'm not some dude, Nick." Greg sounded offended. "I'm your boyfriend."
"Okay. I'm sorry it came out that way. What I mean is, I want to be respectful of where my parents are at with all of this. They are trying really hard to be accepting and I don't want to blow it by embarrassing them." Nick tried to clarify. "It's already hard enough on everyone with the whole Nate situation. Sometimes you got to pick the hill to die on, Babe."
That felt like a punch in the gut to Greg. Nick was minimizing something that Greg will never completely recover from and he was making Greg feel like he was in some way responsible for the discomfort they were all sure to feel over the next few days. It was hard to get a handle on, because Nick had never been so frivolous about what his brother had done.
Nick could see it in his eyes - Greg was not impressed with the metaphor. He leaned into Greg's personal space a little and tried to smooth over his faux pas. "Please understand this, Greg. I love you. So much. I want them to love you. Let's ease into it, okay?"
Greg would rather deny it than feel it, so he simply nodded and agreed. "Okay."
TBC