CSI Nick/Greg opinions

[inmyriadbits]

Reading some comments on a N/G post-Grave Danger piece, I noticed someone saying that she thought it pathetic that so many of the N/G slashers were trying to come up with explanations for why Greg was so calm during the search for Nick. I can see what she means, since I sometimes think that slash fans are reading too much into subtext myself. However, in this instance, I would love to see a Greg fic that dealt with this. It wouldn't even have to be slashy (I prefer pre-slash fic for N/G anyway; while Domestic!N/G can be wonderfully cute and reminds me why I would like the characters to get together in the first place, I think the theory that Nick and Greg have been together all along is just too much of a stretch for canon). I mean, it's obvious that everyone was worried about Nick (and why shouldn't they be? He's so lovable), but they generally kept their cool because they had to work. However, I would say that Greg was the most calm of them all, which is very uncharacteristic. Usually Greg wears his heart on his sleeve, so the fact that every single character except Greg had at least one moment when their professional exterior cracked tells me that an explanation is necessary, and not just for slashers. Even if you see the two just as friends, which they obviously are, the utter lack of emotional response from Greg is still weird--he should be worried sick, and I'm sure he was, but he didn't let it show. And that makes me curious.

This sort of connects; I am annoyed by stories that explain this dynamic away with (essentially) "I love him, therefore I am worried." It's partially the amateurish lack of the show-don't-tell principle, and partially the failure of the author to really get inside the character's head. Emotions don't follow such a linear path; some people would react by focusing on the guilt of an argument that wasn't fully resolved, or a comment left unsaid, or the little things that would no longer exist when that person is gone--the scent of their hair, the sound of their laugh, the way they make their coffee by ripping the tops off three sugars at once while being careful not to spill a single crystal. Also, people don't usually talk about big ideas or emotions as easily or as eloquently as the characters in some fics do. Learn to write dialogue, people! Or at least have the character struggle to figure out the thoughts in their own head, because life is confusing and messy and everyone's point of view is limited.

/end rant