They'd moved the coffee table out of the way, and set up the small couch before the TV. But only Greg currently sat upon it, half-naked and clad merely in a T-shirt and the plastic-coated cotton wrapped around his crotch. Nick sat on the floor, in perhaps a bit more reasonable attire—a baggy blue T-shirt and sweatpants to cover his similar wear below.

It wasn't very intense, not yet. Nor did they really compete, at least not so outright. They took turns, one letting the other play for a little while, as the remaining boy watched and taunted him. Or, in Greg's case, teased him. He crawled over onto his stomach, nearly half of him laying behind Nick. His face pushed into Nick's back and shoulder, letting the plastic ring attached to the shield before his lips jab Nick slightly.

“Hey.” Nick almost shrieked it, without managing quite the high pitch, as he twisted his shoulders in resistance.

“Mmm?” Greg moaned innocently as he rolled to his side. He let the smooth ring brush Nick's neck this time, and while cupping the opposite cheek whispered, “Yo' not gonna bea' me.”

“Knock it off. I didn't pull this crap on you.”

“Yuh huh!” Greg childishly shouted back. “You we'e 'ouching my co'tch.”

“Well... Aw, man,” Nick complained in a pouting whine urged on by the mocking song that signaled the end of his game.

“To'd ya.” Greg promptly twirled off the couch, landing with a soft thud. “My tu'n.”

“Unh uh. You screwed me up. I get at least another round.”

“No! You al'eady had yo' th'ee tu'ns!” Greg exclaimed, reaching over Nick's lap for the controller.

“No,” Nick responded, holding his arm out and away from Greg.

“Give it 'o me,” Greg ordered as he stood, crawling back up on the couch and practically falling over Nick to reach it. He grabbed Nick's arm, trying to pry it out of Nick's fingers, but Nick easily pulled it away and hunched over with the controller tucked into his lap.

“Fine,” Greg declared. He stomped over to the game consol and squatted beside where it sat on the floor. He then promptly switched out the old controller, plugging in a different, less technical version in its place.

But Greg had only just begun uncoiling it when Nick tackled him. “My turn. One more,” Nick demanded.

Greg shrieked a giggle, screaming “No!” as Nick's fingers assaulted the tender bareness beneath his white T-shirt. “S'op it! P'ease!” His giggles turned into pleading gasps and then begging, girly screams.

But they didn't even get the warning of a simple knock on the door, before the two came rushing in, shouting Nick's name in their alarmed confusion.

Nick turned around, wide-eyed and whispering, “Fuck.”

Greg jumped up and bolted down the hallway, directly into Nick's bedroom, swiftly closing the door behind him.

Nick watched him go, head flicking back and forth a couple times between them in conflicted bewilderment. “What- What are you doing?”

“We...” Catherine began.

“Uh...” Warrick finished.

“We just heard-”

Nick held up a couple fingers, ordering them to wait, and took off after Greg.

“Greg, open the door,” Nick insisted, a hushed—but at the same time loud—request, as he attempted to twist the locked handle for a second time.

After another few moments—time which Nick granted without complaint—Greg cracked the door open and hesitantly peeked between. Tears and the flush of panic had already broken his face.

“It's just me.”

Sniffling, Greg opened it just wide enough for Nick to slip inside, then promptly locked it behind him.

“Are you okay?”

“Why didn't you lock the door?!” Greg cried, a tear slipping from each eye only split-seconds apart, before being immediately wiped away.

“I-”

“Now they know,” he whimpered, collapsing to Nick's bed. “Shit.” And he surrendered to those humiliated sobs, using one hand to hide his eyes.

“Maybe they didn't see. Maybe they don't know.”

That hand dropped to allow Greg to stare up at Nick with critical appall. Of course they knew. And if they didn't, they'd figure it out.

“Well now, there's no need to get so upset just yet, Greg,” Nick said, sitting down beside him, and placed a kind hand on Greg's now covered thigh. But before Nick could go on, Greg immediately turned himself into Nick, suffocating his tears in Nick's T-shirt. Nick held him, clutching Greg's head as the other rubbed his back. “We'll just explain it to them.”

“Explain what?” Greg asked into Nick's chest. “They won't understand.”

“Well, we'll just tell them what you first told me. We were playing some games, didn't want to get up to break—it was just a convenience thing.”

“Wait...” Greg began, backing off and looking up with innocent criticism. “We will? But they don't know about yours.”

Letting his tongue push out to wet his lips, Nick thought for a moment, then looked straight into Greg's eyes. “We both were. Shouldn't be just you.”

A smile tugged at Greg's lips before the gasp of a lingering sob cut it off. “But... They were only one player games. We didn't really need to.”

“They won't know that.”

Greg wiped his eyes again. Nick started rubbing his back again.

“We should probably get out there, catch 'em before they take off with the wrong idea in their heads. You gonna come out with me too, hun?”

Greg took a breath and a moment, staring down the floor. “I guess.”

“You don't have to.”

“No, I will.”

“Okay.”

Upon arriving in the living room, they felt both relieved and disappointed to find Warrick and Catherine still standing there

Nick spoke first. “We-”

“Nick, Greg—you don't have to explain,” Catherine cut in. “We were just passing through, about to break for lunch and thought we'd see if you were up to anything. Then we heard somebody scream and...”

“We're sorry,” Warrick said. “We'll just take off now.”

“No. No, we came out to explain, and that's what we're gonna do. Now I don't want you leaving here thinkin' the wrong thing.”

“Nick, it's none of our business,” Catherine insisted. “We should have called before stopping by.”

“True, but still, let me explain. Me and Greg here were just playing some video games, and...well it can get pretty intense, and neither of us has the patience to wait for the other to use the bathroom, so...this was the solution to our problem.”

“Wait,”—Warrick's eyebrows twitched briefly—“you're wearing a diaper, too?”

Nick looked away, almost appearing to pout as he avoided a blush.

Then Catherine proposed, “Really? Can we...see it?”

Nick looked back up, eyebrows crumpling. “You're serious?”

Catherine shrugged with a half frown in her casual suggestion. “Well I already saw Greg's little bottom scampering down the hallway. I'm just curious about you. That is, if you're actually wearing one, and not just saying so for Greg's sake.”

Sighing painfully, Nick glanced at Warrick and came to regret it as that burning blush finally crept up his neck. Still, he lifted his T-shirt half way up his dimpled abdomen and pushed the front of his pants down to reveal the puffy whiteness at his crotch.

“It's cute,” she said with a smile that hinted at a smirk. Then both she and Warrick looked to Greg.

He looked down, instantly shy. “I already took mine off.”

“So you guys were…using these, right?”

“No. No, I didn't say that. It was a just-in-case, to free us up from distraction, that's all.”

“You're not going to tell anyone, are you?” Greg asked, his soft brown eyes like a wounded teddy bear's.

“Hey man, what's your business is your business. It's not our place to go telling anybody,” Warrick said.

“Really, don't worry about it, Greg,” Catherine assured. “Nick's the one I never supposed was so kinky.”

“Hey, this has got nothing to do with 'kink',” Nick sternly responded. “I told you why we were doing this—convenience, that's all.”

“Mm hmm.” She lifted an adult-sized NUK pacifier from the coffee table. “And what's this?”

Nick shook his head, attempting a look of innocence through his obvious guilt. “It's not mine.”

“But didn't Greg have one in his mouth when he ran away?” Warrick pointed out.

“It's good for- I mean, I don't-”

Catherine held up her hands. “We don't need to know. I'm just proud of ya, Nicky,” she said, patting his shoulder.

Nick looked down, clenching his jaw. His face was on fire now. He knew what she was referring to. His open cynicism to her, that he wasn't like those people. He was normal. Not everyone is some weirdo pervert, and especially not Nick. He just couldn't get it through his head, not that day, despite Catherine's subtle suggestion that maybe not all of them are 'weirdo perverts'. Maybe some of them are still 'normal' people, just like him. But he wouldn't know until he'd been open enough to try it. It just wasn’t until Greg that he could understand...

So of course Catherine also knew that Nick got something more from it. Warrick probably knew, too. It was their job to know. To read the environment and pick up the subtle clues that average people couldn't. They probably even knew that he and Greg were more than just “friends.”

“We should probably be getting outta here now,” Warrick once again suggested, already heading toward the door.

“Hey now, first I just want to make this clear—no jokes about this, okay? No hints or teasing or anything, not here, not at work, not anything, okay?”

“I know, baby. Nothing to crap yourself over.”

Catherine couldn't help the snicker that snuck from behind her tight-lipped smile.

Greg just looked even more scared.

Nick's jaw clenched, eyes sparking with angry frustration. “Hey, I don't do that. Now I mean it, Warrick.”

“I know, I know,” Warrick said, eyes still bright with amusement. “I'm sorry, man. But you know I just had to take the shot while I had it. Come on, you know you'd do the same thing.”

Nick shook his head in protest but let his silence admit the possibility.

“Don't worry too much about this, Greg,” Catherine said, touching his arm. “I thought you looked adorable.”

Greg looked down with a blushing smile.

“Seriously, guys, nobody will hear anything from us. We saw nothing,” Warrick insisted, opening the door this time.

“Very sorry we bothered you,” Catherine called as they finally disappeared.

Once the door finally clicked shut, Greg dashed over and locked it behind them.

Both of them stood there, trying to avoid eye contact as they attempted to process the events of the preceding fifteen minutes.

When their eyes met for longer than a few seconds, Nick forced himself to say, “At least she thought you were cute.”

“Yeah?” Greg said in a sighing, forced laugh. “And you?”

Nick gazed thoughtfully, arms folded over his chest. “Nah. She just said it of the diaper to thank me for showing her. I don't pull it off nearly as well as you do. I bet even Warrick thought you were cute,” Nick said as an arm curled around Greg's shoulders.

“Well I think you look cute. You might think you don't look it, but you still act like a little boy.”

“No I don't.”

“Come on, Nick. How many times has Grissom scolded you for whining? And you always pout.”

“I do not.”

Greg only responded with a soft, pleased smile, before letting his head rest against Nick, body yielding into him as Nick's arms came completely around. “I'm sorry.”

“For what?” Nick seemed genuinely confused, and just as genuinely concerned in Greg's guilt-ridden apology.

“Getting you into this. If I had just kept it to myself, then-”

“Then we wouldn't have this. I like it, Greg. Yeah, I'm embarrassed about it, but I guess it's just one of those things you should be embarrassed about. Ya know? At least for the sake of self-preservation. But I'm not ashamed. Not anymore; not with you, Greg.”

Though Nick couldn't see it, he felt the warmth of Greg's smile, and the genuine affection in his tightening embrace. “I never thought I could share it. I never thought anyone would understand.”

“But I thought you had friends. You said-”

“Not like that. I mean share, like this. For real. I never thought I'd find anybody who would experience it with me. I mean someone like you. Somebody already in my life, who I wouldn't have to work into the rest of it and hope they liked me beyond this...'fetish'. I thought it would be just me. I thought I'd always have to be afraid.”

“I'm afraid.”

“Yeah? But you just told Warrick and Catherine-”

“Not for me.”

Greg waited, righting himself just enough to read Nick's eyes.

“I'm afraid you'll let this get to you. I'm afraid that you'll be on edge at work and that it'll interfere with your job. But mostly I'm afraid that you'll feel ashamed. And that you'll continue to feel that wave of humiliation whenever you see them.”

Greg sighed. “I am humiliated. I don't know what else to feel. They're so far into my professional life, I... I was so terrified when you ran away after that first time, Nick. I thought you thought I was sick. It crushed me. But now, if the whole lab hears of it, especially Grissom...if he thinks that, that I'm sick too, then...”

“He wouldn't. You know that, Greg. Remember how he was all into that bondage and domination stuff? And Catherine practically admitted to me she's into, or at least open to, some pretty freaky stuff. As for Warrick and Sara...well, I don't want to know. But they all know how to look beyond that stuff and respect people's personal lives. Even if they know, it doesn't change anything. Well, so long as Hodges doesn't get a holda it, of course... Besides, you've already admitted to that latex fetish. Now that is weird.”

“You realize this is coming from a man in a diaper.”

“Hey now,” Nick grinned. “Don't you think it's about time we get you back in one of those?”

Greg glanced at the recently-locked door, then back to Nick. “The back door is locked, right?”

“Yes, Greg.”

He smiled, working his hand into Nick's and walking back to the bedroom with him. He pulled his pants back off and waited for Nick, like always, in the middle of his bed. It was kind of nice, actually—this opportunity to do it all over again. To have Nick's affectionate touch and attention in this naughty sort of innocence once more. Nick seemed to take a little extra time, too, working in the light amount of lotion and baby powder, his eyes smirking with mischievous amusement at Greg's resulting arousal. Still, he didn't touch Greg there, and simply wrapped him up again before placing the kisses he so cherished upon Greg's belly and upwards. Their lips met, and so did the rest of them. Nick pushed himself into Greg, enjoying the pressure below, as their kiss above intensified.

Though Greg whimpered when half of Nick left him, only to settle in a semi-wrap just above and beside him, the protest was fleeting, as he found Nick's resulting embrace just as satisfying.

“The game's still waiting for us,” Greg half-mumbled in his contentment.

“Mmm,” Nick purred into the crook between Greg's neck and shoulder. “And it's still my turn.”

“Nuh-” Fingertips quickly crept up the tender skin below Greg's T-shirt, causing him to gasp. “Okay, it's your turn.”

Nick smiled into the kiss he placed upon Greg's neck, his fingers opting to rest in a gentle clutch of Greg's side.

They laid there, in the secure warmth of each other for a good few minutes, before Greg whispered his soft, honest, “Thank you.”