I had a buddy last year who would do that. Like call, say "I have a question... No wait we gotta smalltalk first" and I would say ask right away that's fine. So when he noticed I was ok with that, he started to talk what he really wanted to talk about. We had wonderful conversations about life, death, depression, love, magic and religion, the value of sex in our society, and oh my god it sounds pedantic as fuck but I swear it was just so nice and refreshing.
If I'm being honest, when I personally say I hate small talk, I mean that I don't enjoy frivolous conversations with people that I don't want to speak with in the first place, it doesn't mean I want a deep discussion either. I'm fine with small talk when it's someone I am interested in speaking with. Maybe that's just me and my anti-social tendencies.
Sit in companionable silence, head on each other's shoulders, feeling each other's warmth, and knowing even without words that we are telling each other that we'd trade the world to spend five minutes with them.
People underestimate the comfort of silence. To not feel pressure to fill the void with inane chatter. There's nothing worse than someone who talks just to hear themselves talk.
Me : Hi honey, how's your day been?
Her : Ugh, analysing the postcolonial perspective of Brexit.
Me : Backrub?