Chapter Text
It had been killing Nick since he’d got up that morning, this crick in his neck, and nothing was getting rid of it.
He’d tried poking at it with his fingers, tilting his head forward to back and side to side, even did some stretches he hadn’t had a go at since Secondary School Phys Ed, but still that ache remained.
And Nick wasn’t someone who put up with annoying pains, he liked to get rid of them as soon as possible, so he asked his friends and none of them were any help.
They told him to go to a Physio, which he didn’t have time for, or a yoga class, which he wouldn’t be caught dead at in a million years.
It had given him an idea though, that last suggestion, which was how he found himself looking up Pilates moves on Youtube.
Most of it looked impossible, or at least far too much work, but after a few clicks Nick came across a video for beginners.
It was just a woman in her lounge, kids toys and the like scattered around behind her, but after flicking through Nick determined it would definitely be the one for him.
He turned the volume of his IPad all the way up, propped it on the counter, and took a few steps back to give himself some room.
At first it was just breathing exercises, stuff like fill your lungs, hold for ten seconds… and release,and that was all well and good. Easy stuff, stuff he could probably do in his sleep.
Then he was told to bend his head forward, put his hands in front of him, and roll his spine down until his hands were touching the floor.
It was pretty good, Nick supposed, but it wasn’t exactly doing anything for his neck.
His spine was feeling good, his calves were feeling quite warmed up from the stretching, but that crick was still bloody there.
He carried on with the stretches though, getting down onto the floor when he was told to, lying on his back and following her instructions when she said to stick your pelvis up high into the sky, but a sharp stab shot through his shoulder and he groaned out in pain.
All of a sudden there was the sound of a throat being cleared, and Nick dropped down to the ground in surprise, turning around to face the voice-clearer as soon as he could.
It was Doug, eyebrow raised, smirking as he asked “Am I interrupting something?”
Nick scrambled off the floor in embarrassment, wincing when his neck screamed out at him in pain. “No – I – I –“
“Is that yoga?” Doug asked, walking right by Nick to look at his Ipad.
“Pilates. Apparently there’s a difference.”
“And why are you doing Pilates?”
“Got a kink.”
Doug snorted “What?”
And Nick was quick to explain. “In my neck. I heard Pilates was good for your back, so I was doing some.”
Doug hummed, and his eyes flickered down to Nick’s toes then slowly made their way up to the tips of his hair.
Which made Nick feel hot all over, because he’d forgotten until then that he was still only in some cotton boxers and one of his round-the-house-only tees. It had Britney Spears on it, circa early 2000s.
It made him feel weak and embarrassed, considering Doug looked like he’d stepped straight out of a fashion magazine, so he managed to splutter “How’d you get in my house, anyway? And what are you doing here? Haven’t you got famouses to seduce or summat? I’m sure there’s people waiting to die over your face.”
“Not today, I had nothing to do and I was in the area so I thought I’d drop in. Some lady let me into your flat when she was taking out the rubbish.”
“Christ, that would be my cleaner. She’s gotta stop doing that. It’s incredible how many guys off the street she’s let in.”
“That how you get dates nowadays?”
“That’s exactly how, actually.” Nick laughed. “My cleaner isn’t only a cleaner, but an excellent matchmaker.”
Doug just grinned at that, and Nick breathed in deep and let it out and went back to poking at his neck because the breathing wasn’t doing a single thing to relieve his pain.
“Do you – well - I mean - I could give you a massage?” Doug stuttered, and Nick looked up at him in surprise.
He’d been groaning all week about his neck, from the moment he got into the studio ‘til he left it all his team heard was his whining, and yet none of them had offered to rub his shoulders. “You wouldn’t mind?”
A smile split over Doug’s face, sweeping away any anxiety that he’d had written on there, and he nodded his head vigorously. “Of course! I’m an excellent masseuse.”
“Just one of your twelve billion talents, I suppose?”
“Exactly.” Doug replied, still with that ridiculous grin on his face. Then he pat one of the kitchen stools with his hand, and Nick climbed on top of it. “Does it go any lower?”
Nick reached underneath for the lever, then pulled it so the seat dropped down a foot or so. “Better?”
Doug put his hands on Nick’s shoulders and gave a light squeeze. “Much.”
“Excellent.” Nick said, a bit too loudly, but who could blame him; it had all of a sudden got very awkward in the room now that Doug was so tentatively touching him.
“So – uh – where does it hurt, exactly?”
Nick poked at the spot with his pointer finger, and Doug was so quick to move his hands that their fingers touched.
Nick pulled his hand away far too quickly, but Doug didn’t comment on it; just got rubbing.
He was quite good at it, if Nick was honest. He pushed his thumbs right into the sore spots, rolling at the knots, pressing down on his shoulders and against the sides of his neck.
“How is it?” Doug asked, deep voiced and quiet.
“Amazing.” Nick groaned, eyes dropping shut. “You really are good at everything. Acting, massaging, having a face.”
“All the things that matter.” Doug replied, and Nick could hear his smile.
“Exactly.” Nick sighed, then Doug pressed hard on a particularly knotty area and Nick couldn’t contain his moan.
And Doug kept pressing there, moving his thumb round in circles, working at the knot, and embarrassingly enough it was getting Nick a bit turned on.
He could feel Doug’s breath against the back of his neck, the heat of his presence behind him, and those hands working wonders on his skin; it wasn’t hard for his mind to wander to thoughts of what Doug’s hands could also be good at.
Nick squeezed his thighs together, and his jaw clenched, and Doug said “Relax” all smoothy which didn’t help anything.
Nick cleared his throat and said “Right, I think I’m all cured now.” He stood up from his stool and turned around to give Doug a grin. “You got some magic hands.”
And then Doug was kissing him.
One second they were a foot apart, Doug looking up at him questioningly, then the next Doug was wrapping his hands around Nick’s shoulders and pulling him down so they could lock lips.
It was just a long press of lips at first, an obvious request for permission, but then Nick tilted his head and put his hand on Doug’s waist and pulled him closer until their chests were touching.
Nick could feel Doug’s stubble against his chin and he groaned at what was being done to his tongue, and Doug pulled back long enough to mutter “Wanted this for so long” before diving in to the kiss once more.
And if Nick’s mouth hadn’t been preoccupied, he would have said me too.