jumper fic, Messages
Title: Messages
Follows on from 'Heartless'
Rating: G? I think?
Words: 280
Warnings: none
Summary: David learns to hear Griffin's real meanings.
To most people, Griffin would seem harsh and uncaring, but most people didn’t spend as much time with Griffin as David did. David knew from the start that Griffin would never be one for gentle endearments and romantic gestures, and he didn’t expect him to change when they started sleeping together. Griffin was almost impossible to read, his words and actions guarded and convoluted, but David mastered it eventually. He learned to decode the twisted messages he sent, and what he found were the words of a scared, lonely, gentle man that David cared for more everyday.
It started when David saw the look of relief that accompanied his answer to the careless ‘still alive then?’ Griffin often threw his way, he realised it was Griffin’s only way of asking him if he was alright. After that it was like a dam had broken, and suddenly David heard the true meaning behind Griffin’s calloused, often cruel, words and actions.
‘Do you want a coffee?’ often meant ‘thankyou’.
‘Don’t cock it up’ was really ‘please be careful’.
‘You take everything too seriously’ meant ‘I didn’t mean what I said’.
And once, even, a tiresome rant about putting up with David’s bad habits and incessant chatter, quite simply meant ‘I missed you’.
The one that broke David’s heart only ever happened after sex, after Griffin had pushed away his lazy, post-orgasm affection, when he was close to sleep he would feel the tangled blankets tugged straight and pulled up around his shoulders by gentle, caressing hands. That one meant ‘I wish I could give you more.’
David was still watching for ‘I love you’, but he knew it would come, in time.
* * * * * *
Probably going to be a third where everything is resolved. That's just me, needs a happy ending. =)