Ficlet: Give And Take
Title: Give And Take
Author: eviltwin
Fandoms: Flashpoint
Pairing/Characters: Ed, Greg.
Rating: Gen.
Wordcount: 400
Summary: Prompt : Friendship (month-anniversary prompt @ flashpoint_sru). Greg finally works out what Ed gets out of their friendship.
Disclaimer: None of the following is true in any way, and no profit is made from this work of fiction.
Greg can look around the room and remember when he met each and every one of his team. He can remember when he realised what they had that was special, that was what he needed. He can remember when he started to trust them and when that trust turned into friendship and then, later, family.
It's easiest with Ed. He's known him for so long that you'd think the years would blur together, but they don't. Ed's always been there to steady him if he was in danger of falling back; it's the one thing that Greg is most thankful for, even though sometimes he still feels ashamed he needs it. The rest of the team; he knows he can count on them. As colleagues and friends. It's Ed that he feels he must rely on. He wonders what it is that he ever gives back. If there even is anything.
He asks Ed about it one night. Everyone else has gone, it's just the two of them looking out over the city and he asks Ed just why he's still there.
"I want to make sure you're okay," Ed answers, and that sounds honest because, really, it's been a brutish day.
"I'm okay," he says. "What about you?"
"I'm good."
"So go home, Ed."
He shakes his head and it's clear he won't leave until Greg is ready.
"How do you-"
Ed looks over at him and his expression halts Greg mid-question. He wanted to know how Ed knows that Greg still needs him there. And maybe this is what friendship is to Ed. Just giving, taking nothing back, and being there because he wants to be. Because he cares enough to be.
"Because I know you, Greg. I was there today, too. So tell me when you're really okay and we can both go."
And it's then that Greg realises what Ed gets out of this, out of him. Greg pours a little of his heart out each time he tries to talk someone down and he did that more than ever today. What Ed gets from Greg is the man himself. Not a boss, not someone he feels a duty to thank whenever his life is on the line and Greg diffuses the situation that put it there. He gets Greg, in all his broken half-glory, and it's a reflection on them that just that is enough.
end
Author: eviltwin
Fandoms: Flashpoint
Pairing/Characters: Ed, Greg.
Rating: Gen.
Wordcount: 400
Summary: Prompt : Friendship (month-anniversary prompt @ flashpoint_sru). Greg finally works out what Ed gets out of their friendship.
Disclaimer: None of the following is true in any way, and no profit is made from this work of fiction.
Greg can look around the room and remember when he met each and every one of his team. He can remember when he realised what they had that was special, that was what he needed. He can remember when he started to trust them and when that trust turned into friendship and then, later, family.
It's easiest with Ed. He's known him for so long that you'd think the years would blur together, but they don't. Ed's always been there to steady him if he was in danger of falling back; it's the one thing that Greg is most thankful for, even though sometimes he still feels ashamed he needs it. The rest of the team; he knows he can count on them. As colleagues and friends. It's Ed that he feels he must rely on. He wonders what it is that he ever gives back. If there even is anything.
He asks Ed about it one night. Everyone else has gone, it's just the two of them looking out over the city and he asks Ed just why he's still there.
"I want to make sure you're okay," Ed answers, and that sounds honest because, really, it's been a brutish day.
"I'm okay," he says. "What about you?"
"I'm good."
"So go home, Ed."
He shakes his head and it's clear he won't leave until Greg is ready.
"How do you-"
Ed looks over at him and his expression halts Greg mid-question. He wanted to know how Ed knows that Greg still needs him there. And maybe this is what friendship is to Ed. Just giving, taking nothing back, and being there because he wants to be. Because he cares enough to be.
"Because I know you, Greg. I was there today, too. So tell me when you're really okay and we can both go."
And it's then that Greg realises what Ed gets out of this, out of him. Greg pours a little of his heart out each time he tries to talk someone down and he did that more than ever today. What Ed gets from Greg is the man himself. Not a boss, not someone he feels a duty to thank whenever his life is on the line and Greg diffuses the situation that put it there. He gets Greg, in all his broken half-glory, and it's a reflection on them that just that is enough.
end