A/N -- Hey guys…It's been a while, but I'm back. This is a companion piece to "Unpopular Boy" I hope that you enjoy the story and please rate and review, I would love it.
Disclaimer -- I do not own CSI…
Nick Stokes had always been a popular boy.
In elementary school he was always picked first for kickball, and he was invited to everyone's birthday parties. All of the teachers loved him as well, in fact everybody loved him, some a little too much. When he was nine she came. He didn't want to be popular anymore. He wanted to be the loner kid that no one would talk to so that he would be left alone. He wanted to scream and shout, but he couldn't because he was the good little popular boy.
In middle school , while all of the other boys started to notice girls, Nick started to notice other boys. He wasn't stupid though, he lived in Texas, he knew the "rules." He knew that he had to "date" girls, so he did. Then, when his best friend slept with a girl, Nick hated being popular. He was dating Cindy, and thought that they should tale it to the "next level" as well. The thought made Nick want to puke. At and end of the year party she got drunk and blacked out, so he lied to her. She believed him, and ended up moving New York a month later.
In high school things changed a little. Nick got his first boyfriend, his fellow football teammate, Seth. No one knew they were together, they dated cheerleaders to keep their secrets. They had decided to take vows of chastity to avoid having sex with their cheerleaders, but completely ignored them when they were together. Nick had never been happier than when he was with Seth.
In college boys and girls alike continued to fall all over him for his looks. He got into Texas A & M with Seth, they even joined the same fraternity. The two of them continued their trysts behind their "brothers'" backs. It was perfect, until Nick got injured in his Junior year. He could no longer play football, and he and Seth grew farther apart, and finally grew up. He turned to meaningless sex with meaningless people, and deep down in his heart he truly hated all of the people throwing themselves at him, he hated being the popular boy.
After Nick earned his BS in Chemistry he finally dashed his parent's hopes of him ever becoming a doctor, or some other respectable profession, by joining the force an becoming a Dallas cop. He was one of he best on the force, but he was constantly fighting his parents reputation, especially when someone he arrested was represented by his mother. He fell in lust with his partner, but was constantly reminded of his lack of a chance by the various clubs that he and the "boys" went to. At the insistence of the guys he started to date a "nice girl." They had been going out for six months when she told him she expected a ring within the week. His buddies all told him to do it, so he fled.
Nick chose to go to the Las Vegas Crime Lab. He was pretty far from home, but still close enough in case something was to happen. He went in for his interview nervous as could be, but he was immediately hired by Jim Brass and Gil Grissom, the supervisor and lead CSI of the nightshift in Vegas. It took a while to adjust, but he was almost immediately excepted by the two existing members, Catherine and Warrick. He got along with everyone there and fell into the practically reassigned role of the "Southern Playboy."
He adjusted the easiest as lab technicians came and went, being far less permanent than the CSIs for awhile. That was until David Hodges came to the lab as the new trace technician. He was a gigantic bastard, CSIs and lab techs alike tried their best to avoid him. At the beginning Nick was no different from the rest, he thought the man was an annoying suck up who lived for the approval of his superiors. Still though, Nick couldn't help but think that there was something different about David, something that drew him in.
One day Nick was working on a particularly difficult case, one that just wouldn't be cracked. He went to the trace lab to pick up some evidence that he had dropped up, hoping to get something from it. When David told him what the trace was Nick was ecstatic, it was the answer he was looking for. He smiled his big Texan smile and clapped Hodges on the back before running off to tell Grissom.
It was after that that Nick started to notice the change. David was being nicer to him. It wasn't a lot at first, just a smile with his results, but he was excited nonetheless. He started to flirt a little and was rewarded with the even greater attention of David Hodges.
Nick started to get frustrated after a few years, though. He and David had been dancing around one another for what seemed like ages. He was about to just ask David out, hoping he was interpreting the signals right when David beat him to it. Nick could tell that the older man was nervous when he asked him out to breakfast at the end of shift. He looked over at the lab tech and decided to take the biggest risk of his life. He leaned over until he was right next to David's ear and suggested, softly that they go to his palace for breakfast, instead of the diner. He felt David shiver next to him and took that as the indication that his next remark would be welcome. He leaned back in, and even quieter than before he offered to cook dinner as well, if that's what David wanted.
David spun around and looked at him with shocked blue eyes that bore into his own brown ones. David obviously saw what he wanted to because he smiled and nodded at Nick before going back to work. Nick smiled a giant Texan smile as he walked out of the trace lab.
The next day he came into work, still smiling, and for once he didn't mind that he had always been the popular boy.