Title: Work Meetings
Pairing: Stephen/Connor/Nick
Rating: PG
Word Count: 800
A/N: For the timesforthree prompt 'Meeting Friends', and varietypack100's 'friends'. Fluffy.
Summary: Nick has to take Stephen and Connor to a gathering of his colleagues.

The clock on the wall ticked menacingly, counting off each passing second; on the floor, Nick's footsteps matched it as he paced back and forth with growing frustration. Stephen watched him idly, trying not to imagine the gruesome fate that Connor was going to land himself in if he didn't get downstairs pretty soon.

"We're late, aren't we?" Nick said, and though his voice was rough and his face was harsh, Stephen sensed that he was simply nervous.

He stood up from the couch and moved over to Nick, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry; they won't care."

Nick shot him a sideways look, which might possibly have been a glare. It was hard to tell with Nick, sometimes. "Stephen? I'm taking not one, but two boyfriends to meet my colleagues at a work gathering that even I don't want to attend. Being late isn't exactly what I'd call an ideal start, would you?"

Stephen smiled, arms moving around Nick's waist as he leant his chin on his shoulder. An annoyed flicker featured on Nick's face, but it faded fast. "Nick, you're worrying over nothing. If we're late, no one will notice. It's just been ten minutes so far."

"Ten minutes?" Nick said, grabbing Stephen's arm to look at the black watch on his wrist. When he saw the time – nearly eleven minutes now - he tried to dart over to the stairs, apparently ready to yank Connor down by his hair if he had to, dressed or not.

Stephen smiled, arms tightening around Nick's waist to stop any possible homicides. "Calm down, Nick. I'll go and get him."

Nick grunted, a sound that was thousand times more terrifying than a troop of storming dinosaurs, so Stephen was quick to pull away and head for the stairs. Connor had better have a good excuse, otherwise Nick was actually going to kill them both.

"Sorry we're late," Nick said as he walked into the hall. Inside, there was the usual gaggle of stuffy teachers and lecturers – more woolly jumpers and sets of glasses than should ever have been gathered in one place. Stephen would never stop being alarmed when he came to these things, feeling out of place in his leather jacket.

Of course, it was worse now; before, he'd been to these meet-ups as Nick's lab assistant. Now he was there as a 'partner'.

He glanced over to Connor, who looked absolutely terrified. Judging from the critical looks they were receiving from the other members of staff, Stephen couldn't really blame him.

They moved forwards initially, but then hung back while Nick reluctantly circulated and socialised with the others. Stephen could tell, just from the forced look of his smile that he doubted anyone else had picked up on – except, perhaps, Connor of course – how much Nick hated this.

Still, it had to be done if they wanted their department to get any of the extra funding they needed. Research into the anomalies didn't come cheap, especially without the government on their side any more. Frankly, Stephen was constantly paranoid that some Captain Ryan clone was going to appear and take Nick out at any moment.

"So, uh, these things?" Connor asked, leaning over to talk to him and just him. "Are they always like this?"

"Like what?"

"Boring. I thought this was supposed to be where the lecturers let their hair down," Connor said; he sounded disappointed. He'd probably been expecting pole dancing and strip clubs. Poor guy.

Stephen smiled and brushed two fingers over Connor's clothed elbow. "Connor, this is them letting their hair down. Look at Nick – he's actually talking to someone without being rude. That's some sort of miracle."

Connor mumbled an agreement, and they fell silent for a few moments more. In front of them, the crowd of stuffily dressed people continued to mingle and circulate. Leaning against the wall, Stephen found himself longing for another dinosaur or predator to appear.

Connor gave a world-weary sigh. "It's still boring."

Stephen nodded. "Yep. I had to go through it myself last year." And hadn't that been fun? Standing around, with women twice his age trying to chat him up. It hadn't been the high point of his professional career.

Then again, sulking in a corner with Connor wasn't the high point of his romantic life either.

Connor grinned, and nudged at his side with his elbow. "Hey, least you got me this time," he said, all teeth and dimples.

Stephen chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, I think that's a good thing," he agreed, before leaving the corner to go and join Nick's side, in an attempt to provide the moral support that they'd been brought along for.

He tried not to laugh again when he heard Connor's indignant, "Hey!", from behind him.