For mi Rakelita.

[tempered-rose.livejournal.com]

Title: Day And Night
Characters: Gary Neville/John Terry
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Gary over thinks things at times.
A/N: For one person, miss_black91 , because 1. I promised. 2. She loves them. 3. Why not? 4. I love you bb even if you made me write this



More people would say Gary Neville was a bastard than those that would say he was a sweetheart. He himself would call himself a bastard. He knows from the bottom of his heart that he is an insufferable, incorrigible, Scouse-hating, impatient, jerk that has hardly any patience for himself and his own faults, all others be damned.

Gary isn’t perfect. He knows it and the world knows it. He’s not the most handsome guy to ever walk the Earth, but nor does he claim to be. He calls things as he sees them and shines nothing up for anyone. He’s rough, crude, and sometimes flat out nasty. He wears his heart on his sleeve with pride and does not care what anyone else thinks of him.

But John? John was the opposite.

Johnny cared about people, cared enough to make them smile when they felt bad. And while he too showed his emotions, they were the pleasant ones. He laughed and smiled openly, even cried in front of thousands. He cared what people thought of him, cared enough to try and change himself to a small degree if it would please someone else.

John knows Gary’s faults, knows them more than he would like to admit sometimes. But that doesn’t stop him from thinking that deep down, deeper than the hard prickly shell that Gary exposed to everyone that there was something loveable in there.

The obvious would be that John loved Gary’s passion and desire for things. He loved the way Gary would growl in anger or frustration; it would often lead to rough sex and that was something John never turned down. Johnny loved Gary’s sense of humor, though sometimes it was rude. He loved to laugh and Gary made him laugh sometimes.

Then there were the nights like this; the nights where it was quiet, save only their breathing.

John’s head rested on Gary’s naked chest and listened to the steady heartbeat as well as the rhythmic breathing. The air was cool on his skin as the sheet lay only around his waist. Gary’s fingers trailed lightly down his back before moving up again slowly, a habit John wasn’t sure Gary was aware of.

John loved these moments.

During the day Gary may seem untouchable, unapproachable. Sometimes he was. But at night? Like this? It wasn’t the case. He was more human, more considerate at night and in bed than he ever was. Perhaps it was the darkness or perhaps it was the lack of audience, but at night Gary Neville became human again.

Daylight hid the truth from both of them, though it lurked in the sun’s shadows. Three words separated them as well as the emotion that brought the truth to the surface. It was known between the two of them, but they never dared speak it. Revealing the truth in the daylight would take away the shields that they built around themselves to protect them. They were distinctly Blue and Red, Londoner and Manc in the sunshine.

But in the darkness, it could be screamed and there would always be an echo. The darkness revealed the truth and kept the secrecy away. Darkness protected them, night’s silence gave them shelter.

Deep in his heart, Gary knew that he loved John day and night. But he would never admit it to himself.

It was only at night, under the blankets and in the quiet with John’s head on his chest, did he ever murmur the words faintly. They were quietly spoken in a whisper so that Gary wouldn’t let the truth of them effect his carefully organized structure of being a bastard. But John heard them. He would smile into the skin that was his pillow and whisper the words back as he pressed little kisses to Gary’s chest.

I love you.