[Stargate: Drabble] "Common Solution" [John/Rodney, G]
Title: Common Solution
Author: Ami Ven
Prompt: writerverse phase 23, challenge 30, prompt 18 down to the nubbins
Word Count: 517
Rating: G
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing(s): John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Setting: part of my Two Gentlemen Verse (Victorian AU)
Summary: “It’s sweet of you to wait up for me.”
Common Solution
Before he began to share lodgings with Rodney, John had not considered himself a particularly tidy person.
In the Army, he had followed the letter of many regulations only as far as he was required and stretched the spirit of many more. As a civilian - and a bachelor - his habits were lax, but he did maintain a certain level of cleanliness.
The same could not be said of Rodney.
It wasn’t so much that he didn’t believe in cleanliness - on the contrary, Rodney regularly took the time to give a thorough scrubbing to objects John hadn’t thought of as particularly dirty, such as their dining table or lavatory sink - but that his brain was just too busy with science to bother with everyday trivialities like dusting shelves or sorting papers. Mrs. Beckett, the wife of their friend, a physician who lived in the adjoining townhouse, provided their meals, so they did not employ a housekeeper or any other permanent servants.
Which left John as the one responsible for receiving their correspondence, caring for their home, and purchasing the supplies necessary for their everyday lives. And as he was employed as a police detective, that meant there were sometimes days or weeks that he was on a case and no one was keeping up with anything at all.
Such as today, apparently.
If he had been living with anyone else, John would have returned home to a dark and quiet apartment at three hours past midnight, but Rodney was prone to fits of science that continued long past normal human hours. John had only just noticed a light burning in Rodney’s study when the man himself appeared.
“Nubbins, Sheppard!” he said, without any kind of greeting. “Nubbins, all of them!”
John smiled. “It’s sweet of you to wait up for me.”
“What? I wasn’t - I am not - Nubbins, Sheppard!”
“So you said.” John took off his overcoat and hat, and hung them by the door. “Is that some new insult for the other so-called top minds of our age?”
“What?” Rodney repeated. “No, no, my chalk, Sheppard. How am I supposed to have astounding scientific breakthroughs with all my chalk used to nothing but nubbins?”
“No one would suggest it,” said John.
When he was in this sort of state, most people found Rodney to be highly frustrating, but John had been amused by Rodney’s abrasive moods from their very first meeting, and had only grown fonder of him since.
“But,” John continued. “At this time of night, the shops are all closed. I’m sure you could use a break from all your hard work, and I could use some relaxation after closing a long and difficult case… it seems to me that there is a common solution.”
“It’s always about sex with you,” Rodney mumbled, even as he dropped the tiny piece of chalk he’d been brandishing into the tray for incoming mail and sneaked a hand under John’s suit jacket. “Why do I put up with you?”
John leaned in to kiss him, long and deep.
“Ah,” said Rodney, when they broke for air. “That’s why.”
THE END
Current Mood:
working
Author: Ami Ven
Prompt: writerverse phase 23, challenge 30, prompt 18 down to the nubbins
Word Count: 517
Rating: G
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing(s): John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Setting: part of my Two Gentlemen Verse (Victorian AU)
Summary: “It’s sweet of you to wait up for me.”
Common Solution
Before he began to share lodgings with Rodney, John had not considered himself a particularly tidy person.
In the Army, he had followed the letter of many regulations only as far as he was required and stretched the spirit of many more. As a civilian - and a bachelor - his habits were lax, but he did maintain a certain level of cleanliness.
The same could not be said of Rodney.
It wasn’t so much that he didn’t believe in cleanliness - on the contrary, Rodney regularly took the time to give a thorough scrubbing to objects John hadn’t thought of as particularly dirty, such as their dining table or lavatory sink - but that his brain was just too busy with science to bother with everyday trivialities like dusting shelves or sorting papers. Mrs. Beckett, the wife of their friend, a physician who lived in the adjoining townhouse, provided their meals, so they did not employ a housekeeper or any other permanent servants.
Which left John as the one responsible for receiving their correspondence, caring for their home, and purchasing the supplies necessary for their everyday lives. And as he was employed as a police detective, that meant there were sometimes days or weeks that he was on a case and no one was keeping up with anything at all.
Such as today, apparently.
If he had been living with anyone else, John would have returned home to a dark and quiet apartment at three hours past midnight, but Rodney was prone to fits of science that continued long past normal human hours. John had only just noticed a light burning in Rodney’s study when the man himself appeared.
“Nubbins, Sheppard!” he said, without any kind of greeting. “Nubbins, all of them!”
John smiled. “It’s sweet of you to wait up for me.”
“What? I wasn’t - I am not - Nubbins, Sheppard!”
“So you said.” John took off his overcoat and hat, and hung them by the door. “Is that some new insult for the other so-called top minds of our age?”
“What?” Rodney repeated. “No, no, my chalk, Sheppard. How am I supposed to have astounding scientific breakthroughs with all my chalk used to nothing but nubbins?”
“No one would suggest it,” said John.
When he was in this sort of state, most people found Rodney to be highly frustrating, but John had been amused by Rodney’s abrasive moods from their very first meeting, and had only grown fonder of him since.
“But,” John continued. “At this time of night, the shops are all closed. I’m sure you could use a break from all your hard work, and I could use some relaxation after closing a long and difficult case… it seems to me that there is a common solution.”
“It’s always about sex with you,” Rodney mumbled, even as he dropped the tiny piece of chalk he’d been brandishing into the tray for incoming mail and sneaked a hand under John’s suit jacket. “Why do I put up with you?”
John leaned in to kiss him, long and deep.
“Ah,” said Rodney, when they broke for air. “That’s why.”
THE END
Current Mood:
working