Title: Love Like This
Pairings: George/Derek, mentions of Derek/Meredith, George/Olivia
Chapter One: Anything-But-Pointless Moments in Stuck, Warm Elevators
Disclaimer: Don't own Grey's Anatomy, or Wrigley's Juicy Fruit Gum
Summary: Derek ignores Addison, George ignores Olivia, Meredith ignores everyone.
Derek Shepherd had clearly been crying. Meredith Grey, the one he loved, no longer loved him. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd, his wife, still loved him, but he no longer loved her. He was now alone in the world. Alone except for the hospital filled with doctors, nurses, and patients. They didn't count though, because they only knew Doctor Shepherd, not Derek.
Derek hit the down button beside the elevator and waited for it to arrive. The doors opened and Derek stepped inside. He suddenly heard a voice yell, "Wait! Hold the elevator!"
Derek pressed the door open button. The doors held themselves open. George O'Malley came running into the elevator. He was carrying a stack of charts that he dropped when the elevator started moving. He bent down and started picking them up. He suddenly couldn't see anything, as the lights had gone out and the elevator had stopped moving.
"Seriously?" yelled George. He looked up in Derek's general direction, where a flame appeared. It was from a lighter. George left the charts on the elevator floor and stood back up. He came to stand beside Derek. "Why do you have a lighter? You don't smoke."
"You don't know that," said Derek quietly.
George felt Derek was being rude, so he retreated to the opposite corner. The lights soon flickered back on, but the elevator still didn't move. George looked around. He picked up the charts and put them into a stack. "How long do you think we're going to be in here?"
Derek shrugged. George rolled his eyes and sat down on the stack of charts. "I have some Juicy Fruit. You want any?"
Derek nodded. George grabbed a packet of Juicy Fruit out of his pocket. He put a piece into his mouth and handed Derek a piece. Derek stuffed the wrapper in his pocket and started chewing the gum. Quietly, he said, "Thanks."
George nodded. "I hope we're not here all day. I know there are other interns, but what about your surgeries?"
"There're other neurosurgeons, O'Malley," said Derek quietly.
"What's your problem?" asked George, trying to sound as tough as possible.
Derek looked down at George and shrugged. "My wife loves me but I don't love her. I love Meredith but she doesn't love me. So I'm all alone. That's what's wrong with me."
"At least you don't have syphilis," pointed out George. "Olivia and Alex still both piss me off with that."
Derek nodded slowly. "You've been using a condom after that fiasco, I presume?"
George glared at Derek. He then looked at the non-moving doors and sighed loudly. "I would be using a condom if I was having sex. I wish I was like you. World-renowned neurosurgeon, great hair, handsome as hell, good-smelling. You get it."
"You do not wish you were me, George. My life isn't as great as it looks. Everyone expects me to be perfect on every surgery, just because I can remove a tumor the size of Alaska without dangering the patient in any way," explained Derek. "And with the hair, handsome, good-smelling thing, I didn't chose any of those things. Your hair's not that bad. Better than when you first got here. You're not ugly, and I'm sure you don't smell all too bad either."
"Thanks. But you still have Meredith," said George.
"I had Meredith," corrected Derek.
George nodded. After a moment of silence, he asked, "Do you have anything fun to do?"
"I have a bottle of water in my coat pocket and a bottle of aspirin in my pants pocket. Unless you want to commit suicide by popping too many aspirin, no, I don't have anything fun to do," said Derek. George didn't say anything, so Derek asked, "You don't want to commit suicide, do you?"
George laughed. "No. Of course not. I would never do that. Plus, if I wanted to commit suicide, I wouldn't pop pills. That'd take too long. I'd rather throw myself in front of a bus."
Derek laughed and shook his head. "You have some problems, O'Malley."
"I was just kidding. Get over it," said George, quite rudely. He soon smiled and laughed at himself. Derek laughed too. Derek then slid down the back wall of the elevator and sat down on the floor. George fanned himself with his hand. "It's really warm in here."
Derek nodded in agreement and pushed off his coat. Underneath, he was wearing a green flannel button-up shirt. He unbuttoned it and pushed it off too. He now wore a white undershirt. "I'm kind of glad I'm stuck in here. Too many surgeries to botch today."
"Don't talk like that. You wouldn't botch your surgeries. You're Doctor Shepherd," said George, as if being Doctor Shepherd meant you never accidentally killed your patients.
"God, don't remind me," said Derek in a voice that was so quiet it was almost a whisper. "I told you, I'm not perfect. I'm not the god of all neurosurgery. I'm just a guy who lives in the middle of the woods in a tiny metal trailer. I should be jealous of you. You're the one who lives with Meredith. You get to see her as a person, and not just another intern. Why can't you people see Derek instead of Doctor Shepherd?"
"I kinda see both. Especially when you used to sneak out of our house in the mornings so we wouldn't find out who Meredith was having sex with," started George. "It's kinda the same with me, except different. With me, people see the George who is of Irish decent, who is nervous, and who might possibly be gay, instead of the George who cares for whoever whyever, who performed an open-heart surgery by himself in a stuck elevator, who wants to Meredith Grey to love him. See, the two Georges completely contradict each other. Irish people are always drunk, yet I never get hammered drunk. Nervous people are supposed to be jumpy and scared all the time, yet I performed a solo heart surgery, and I'm not freaking out right now. Possibly gay men wouldn't be in love with their female housemate."
"We're very similar, O'Malley. I never thought that was possible," said Derek. "Except I'm not of Irish decent, nervous, or might possibly be gay. People see me as the invulnerable Doctor Shepherd, when I'm actually just the very vulnerable outdoorsman Derek."
George nodded slowly. "I know exactly who I am. I'm someone no one else knows. I'm me. I'm not Bambi or 007 or Doctor O'Malley. I'm George O'Malley. Not their George O'Malley, my George O'Malley."
"Those are very powerful words, George," said Derek, surprised by the young intern.
"Thank you Derek," said George, smiling.
"So who exactly is your George O'Malley?" Derek asked after a few moments of silence.
George shook his head. Derek rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me then. I'll just assume you're that Irish, nervous, possibly gay doctor who is so vulnerable he should draw a bright red target on his forehead."
George sighed. "I know I'm going to regret telling you this, but you won't see the real me unless I tell you who he is. Well, my George O'Malley is someone who cares for everyone, no matter who they are or what they've done. He is secretly in love with his housemate Meredith Grey, but he could possibly find guys attractive too. He's nervous, but only when he's already afraid."
"Are you saying you're bisexual?" Derek asked.
"I guess I am," said George.
Derek nodded slowly. "I'm completely fine with that. I'm fine as long as you don't like me. That'd be really awkward. You don't like me, do you?"
George shrugged. "I'm not sure. You know, my best friend in high school told me he was in love with me and kissed me. I didn't completely freak out, but I didn't like it either. In high school, I was that first George O'Malley, the Irish, nervous, possibly gay. I had one friend, and everyone thought I was gay, just because I had a tendency to die my hair extreme colors every two weeks. I got into drinking at the age of fourteen. Showing my Irish ability for that, I got drunk often. I never told anyone that before."
"Wow. My high school experience was much less eventful than yours. Sounds like you were over-noticed. I was under-noticed. So under-noticed, in fact, that almost no one knew who I was. I just sat around, learned, did my work, and stayed quiet. After high school, I got tired of being that tall lanky kid with the glasses and the white guy afro, and I changed a lot. Not very exciting, but I've still never told anyone that," explained Derek.
George pulled on the collar of his scrub shirt. It was sweaty. "Is it getting hotter?"
"I'm fine personally," said Derek, looking at George. "You look like you're burning up. If you weren't so uncomfortable, you could take off your shirt."
"Who said I was uncomfortable?" asked George.
"No one, but I can kind of see it. I don't know why you're uncomfortable, but you don't have to be. I've seen you without your shirt before. Remember, the morning you found out you had syphilis?" Derek couldn't help but laugh at that last part.
George pushed his scrub shirt up then pulled it off over his head. Derek saw that George's chest and stomach were covered with shiny sweat. George sighed. "Thank God. So much cooler already."
George slid down the wall and sat down beside Derek. "How much longer do you think we'll be in here for? Feels like it's been about an hour."
"I think it's been at least that much. How long does it take to fix a broken-down elevator? Seriously. I mean, you think it wouldn't be that hard, but what do I know? I'm just a neurosurgeon."
"Lie," uttered George. "You're not 'just a neurosurgeon'. You're Derek Shepherd, the very vulnerable outdoorsman, the guy who lives in a tiny metal trailer in the woods. You also have great hair, a very handsome face, and you smell very good."
"Thanks George," said Derek quietly, less than convinced. He sighed. "I'm actually really comfortable right now. I could just fall asleep on the spot. But I'll stay awake to see if you do freak out after all."
"Gee, thanks," said George sarcastically.
Derek nodded and picked up George's scrub shirt. He held it out in front of him. "How the hell did you manage to sweat so much. It's not that hot in here."
George shrugged. "I guess I'm just a sweaty person."
"I would say that I didn't think you smelled too bad, but I'd be lying, because you probably smell like sweat right now," said Derek. "Am I right?"
George smelled his armpit. "Yep. Sweat."
Derek nodded. "Your hair's not that bad either, and you're handsome in that little kid, puppy sort of way. Like a teddy bear or something."
George laughed softly. "Did you just call me a teddy bear?"
"I think I did," said Derek. He hit the back of his head against the wall once. "You know, I heard somewhere that at one point or another, every guy thinks he's gay. My time for that was when I was about thirteen years old, before I moved and no one knew who I was. I had this best friend who looked kind of like you. I was completely wrapped up in him, but I never let him know that. I did everything he told me to do, every single time. It was really wrong, but I couldn't not listen to him. I think I was in love with him, now that I remember."
"Let me guess, you've never told anyone else that," stated George.
"Correct," said Derek. "The only reason I told you is that you look a lot like him. I never noticed how much you and him look alike until I got stuck in this damn elevator with you. Now he's the only thing I can think about. I actually named my teddy bear Jimmy after him."
George laughed. "You just called me a teddy bear."
"See, that was me remembering him," said Derek. He stood up and leaned against the wall. He turned sideways and hit the wall. "I wish we could just get out of this damn elevator. I can't stand it anymore."
"Am I really that boring a person?" asked George.
Derek looked at George. "No, it's not you. It's just, I feel awkward now that I've told you all these things about me. Like, about me liking Jimmy and calling you a teddy bear because you look like him. I just feel really uncomfortable now. I just wanna get away, before something that I regret happens."
"What are you talking about?"
George was now standing less than a foot in front of Derek. Derek could hear his heartbeat in his ears. He stood up straight, put his hand on George's back, and kissed him. George was surprised at first, but then gave in. Derek's hands moved to George's shoulders. Derek brushed his fingers up and down George's chest and stomach. George was soon pushed against a wall. Derek held George against the wall by his hands. He started kissing George's neck. George shivered despite the warmth of the elevator.
"Derek," whispered George. "Derek. Derek!"
Derek stopped and stepped back. "What is it? What's wrong?"
George looked down at his pants. He had an erection. It was pressing forward on the material of his scrub pants, creating a huge bump. "I have an erection."
Derek laughed. "I made you horny?"
George nodded. "Damn it."
A jerking caused Derek to fall backwards into the opposite wall. The elevator had started moving again. George pulled on his shirt. "Damn it, what am I going to do with this?"
George indicated his erect penis. Derek shrugged. "I have no idea. Think of something unpleasant. Think of surgery, but not the kind that you get that rush in. Think of a surgery that you wouldn't want to be in. Usually helps me keep it down."
George laughed and thought of his first surgery, the terrible one that got him the nickname "007". Surprisingly, his erection disappeared. Just in time too, because the elevator screeched to a halt and the doors opened. Derek grabbed his shirt and jacket and stepped out of the elevator. George grabbed his hand. "Wait."
Derek turned around, and George kissed him. Derek smiled. "Thanks. For everything."
"Yep. You too," said George.
Derek turned and walked down the hallway. George watched him, smiling brightly. Amazing how much could happen with two completely different people when you were stuck in a warm elevator.
[Review!]