[Stargate: Fiction] "United" [John/Rodney, G]
Title: United
Author: Ami Ven
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,900
Prompt: mcsheplets challenge #042 ‘pretending’
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing(s): John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Summary: Only married couples were permitted to enter the Temple of Union.
United
The people of M3X-957 believed that John and Rodney were married, mostly because that was exactly what John and Rodney had told them.
The planet had an Ancient outpost- as usual, the details in the database were essentially non-existent- but Rodney thought there was a high probability it had a ZPM. The natives were friendly, and perfectly willing to let the team explore what they called the ‘Temple of Union’. With only one stipulation: only married couples were permitted to enter.
John could practically see Rodney gearing up for a rant about backwater planets and ridiculous religious beliefs, so he said, smoothly, “Actually, magistrate, that won’t be a problem. Rodney and I have been married for a couple of months now.”
In the long moment that the scientist stared at him, John wondered why he hadn’t just said that Rodney was married to Teyla. Homosexuality wasn’t forbidden in the Pegasus Galaxy like it was a lot of places on Earth, but with most places valuing repopulation after Wraith cullings, it wasn’t very common, either. And he had no idea if Rodney was even willing to play house with him for as long as it took to find the ZPM in the Ancient outpost.
But Rodney just smiled and slid his hand into John’s, like it was something they did everyday. “We’re still not quite used to it,” he said.
The magistrate beamed at them both. “Ah, young love. You time in the Temple of Union shall be most blessed indeed.”
It took them three hours of coaxing to get the ten-thousand-year-old consoles back to operational, only to discover that there was, in fact, no ZPM. The station was responsible for regulating the unstable tectonic activity of the continent, and ran entirely on the planet’s own geothermal energy.
“I need another day, at least,” said Rodney, when a young local couple came to invite them to the communal supper. “Maybe two.”
After they had eaten, Teyla and Ronon went back to Atlantis with their preliminary data, while John and Rodney took up the offer of a village guest house. It was more of a cabin, really, just one large room. It also only contained one large bed, and John woke up early the next morning to find Rodney sprawled half on top of him, snoring softly in his ear. It was the best sleep he’d had since he’d woken the Wraith, and the next night, back in Atlantis, he stared up at his ceiling for hours before he managed to fall asleep.
The next few weeks were a blur of tedious missions and even more tedious paperwork, until Rodney suggested, hesitantly, that they should go back to M3X-957.
“The one with the geothermal stuff, where they think we’re married?” he asked, like he hadn’t been thinking about it almost non-stop since they’d gotten back.
Rodney waved a dismissive hand. “Yes, yes, I’m sure it still upsets your delicate sensibilities, but I’ve had the chance to put together some specialized equipment to gather more accurate data, and we’re the only ones allowed inside the Union Temple.”
“Temple of Union,” John corrected. “Yeah, okay. We’ll go.”
They went by themselves this time, and John spent his day fetching tools and moving equipment and activating things with his gene. Far too often, he found himself just stopping to watch Rodney work- admiring the shift of his muscles as he rearranged things, the twist of his lips as he scowled at uncooperative systems, the curve of his spine as he bent to open a tool case.
John had never fantasized about anyone like this, in a way that definitely wasn’t platonic, but wasn’t exactly sexual, either. He didn’t think he could say ‘no’ to sex if Rodney offered, but mostly he just want to be with him. To be complimented and insulted in the same breath, to distract him with chess matches and RC car races, to have that genius brain entirely focused on him.
“These all need to run overnight,” said Rodney, shaking John from his daydreams. “We can check the data in the morning.”
“Bright and early,” John agreed, mostly to annoy him.
He wasn’t disappointed, either- Rodney scowled, as he began packing up his tools. “No. This needs to run for at least eight hours to make sure we have a wide enough data sample. Maybe longer.”
John grinned, and picked up one of the toolkits. Eight hours of sleep sounded pretty good, after the last couple of weeks he’d had, and even better knowing that he’d be sharing a bed with Rodney. Usually, John was a light sleeper when they were off-world, waking up even earlier than he did on Atlantis, but waking up next to Rodney, still fast asleep despite the growing light, only made John roll over and close his eyes again.
Rodney’s experiments turned out to be long-term. They reset and the data compiled, overnight, every two weeks, and John tried not to be too eager in agreeing to go.
“We are the only ones allowed in the Temple of Union,” he told Woolsey. “And who else can put up with McKay that often?”
“Nice,” Rodney snapped, but it was missing the note of superiority his retorts usually had.
Rodney’s irritability continued until the end of the next week, even after they got to M3X-957 and entered the Temple of Union.
“Look, Sheppard,” he said, after a few minutes of weirdly awkward silence. “You don’t actually have to stay here and help me. You only have to stay in the temple as long as I’m here, and I’ve got a system pretty well worked out. Besides, we’re the only ones in here, so you don’t really have to play up the PDA until we’re outside again.”
“Oh,” said John. He hadn’t realized how much he’d been touching Rodney while they’d been here, simple thoughtless touches, but Rodney obviously had. John had been only too happy to keep up the ruse, to use every excuse to stay near to Rodney- but had he even considered what Rodney wanted? Apparently not.
“Sorry,” said John, softly. “I’ll, um… I’ve got a deck of cards, I’ll just play a few rounds of solitaire.”
“That’s fine, colonel,” said Rodney, already bent over an Ancient console.
John moved to sit against the far wall and spread out his cards. He lost every round.
Later that night, John hesitated on his side of the bed. “I brought my bedroll,” he said. “I can take the floor.”
For a moment, it looked like Rodney was considering it, then he shook his head. “You don’t have to. We’re both adults, right?”
“Right,” John agreed. But he didn’t fall asleep until Rodney gave a loud snore and flung an arm over his stomach.
When they got back to Atlantis the next afternoon, Rodney headed straight to his lab, leaving John to debrief Woolsey on their progress.
“Well, on that note, I have good news for you,” said Woolsey. “Our last group of new arrivals on the Daedalus included Dr. Scott Mathias, a geophysicist and, more relevantly, husband to Marine Sergeant Mary Clemens. Dr. Mathias and Sergeant Clemens will be taking over Dr. McKay’s research on M3X-957, so you will both be able to resume your normal schedules.”
“That’s great,” even as he felt his stomach lurch unpleasantly. “I’ll let Rodney know.”
Woolsey frowned. “I spoke with Dr. McKay yesterday morning before you left, so I could ask him to write up a report to pass along to Dr. Mathias about how far he had gotten in his research. I just didn’t know if Dr. Mathias would arrive on this trip, or have to wait until the next time the Daedalus came to our galaxy.”
“Of course,” said John. “I’m sure Rodney’s working on that report right now. If you’ll excuse me…?”
M3X-957 was on a different time zone than Atlantis. It had been midmorning when they’d left, but it was just evening here. Normally, John would have just stayed awake until he got over the ‘gatelag, but tonight he went to bed early.
Just how pathetic was he, anyway? Rodney was his friend, probably his best friend, and he didn’t need anything more from him. No matter how much he might want it. After his divorce from Nancy, John had thought he’d never want a serious relationship again, let alone get married. But only a few weeks- a few days, really, they only did this for two days every other week- of pretending to be Rodney’s husband, and John was ready for the real thing.
“Screw it,” he muttered, after hours of staring at his still-uninteresting ceiling, and rolled out of bed. Rodney was still his friend, and he could be thankful to have that much.
Rodney was in the lab, alone, when John entered and he looked up in surprise. “Sheppard. What are you doing here?”
John shrugged, trying for casual and mostly succeeding. “Couldn’t sleep. Hey, is that the data from the temple?”
“Um, yes. It’s still not enough to create an accurate map of this planet’s interior, but a few more months and we- I mean, Dr. Mathias- will be able to complete a simulation.”
“Then shouldn’t he be doing all of this?” John asked.
“He-” Rodney began, then sighed. “I couldn’t sleep, either.”
“It’s probably the ‘gate-lag,” suggested John.
Rodney closed the lid of his laptop with a sharp snap. “I’m sorry,” he said, furiously. “Is that what you want to hear? I put you in a position you were entirely uncomfortable with, and I’m sorry. I tried to explain to the village elders, or whoever they were, that Earth people weren’t usually big on open displays of affection, but apparently, they didn’t apply that to you. So, Mathias and Clemens can finish gathering the data, and you don’t have to spend another minute pretending to like me.”
It took John’s brain a moment to make sense of that. “Rodney, I do like you.”
“I know you do,” Rodney sighed. “We’re friends. But that still doesn’t mean you should have to pretend to be something you’re not, just for me.”
“But I’m not pretending!” John protested. “Rodney, I’m- I sleep better when you’re with me.”
Rodney blinked at him. “You do?”
“Much better.” John reached out, to slide his fingers slowly around Rodney’s wrist. “I wasn’t pretending, not for a minute. I was giving in.”
“Right,” Rodney scoffed. “I’m just so irresistible that you couldn’t help-”
He broke off as John kissed him, long and insistent, until they both needed to break for air.
“Sorry,” breathed John, when Rodney just looked at him, wide-eyed. “Sorry, I-”
This time, he was the one interrupted with a kiss. “You idiot,” laughed Rodney, continuing to kiss him between phrases. “I thought you weren’t interested. I thought you were straight. I thought I was taking advantage of you, to keep making up new readings to need so we’d have to keep going back!”
John frowned. “The readings are fake? Rodney…”
“No, no, the readings are real,” the other man assured him. “They just didn’t have any purpose, at first. But I actually figured something out about the geothermal energy, so when we send Mathias and Clemens-” He broke off, frowning. “If we send them…”
“Let them go,” said John, leaning in to kiss him again. “I’ve had enough of pretending.”
Rodney grinned. “Me, too.”
THE END
Current Mood:
admired
Author: Ami Ven
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,900
Prompt: mcsheplets challenge #042 ‘pretending’
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing(s): John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Summary: Only married couples were permitted to enter the Temple of Union.
United
The people of M3X-957 believed that John and Rodney were married, mostly because that was exactly what John and Rodney had told them.
The planet had an Ancient outpost- as usual, the details in the database were essentially non-existent- but Rodney thought there was a high probability it had a ZPM. The natives were friendly, and perfectly willing to let the team explore what they called the ‘Temple of Union’. With only one stipulation: only married couples were permitted to enter.
John could practically see Rodney gearing up for a rant about backwater planets and ridiculous religious beliefs, so he said, smoothly, “Actually, magistrate, that won’t be a problem. Rodney and I have been married for a couple of months now.”
In the long moment that the scientist stared at him, John wondered why he hadn’t just said that Rodney was married to Teyla. Homosexuality wasn’t forbidden in the Pegasus Galaxy like it was a lot of places on Earth, but with most places valuing repopulation after Wraith cullings, it wasn’t very common, either. And he had no idea if Rodney was even willing to play house with him for as long as it took to find the ZPM in the Ancient outpost.
But Rodney just smiled and slid his hand into John’s, like it was something they did everyday. “We’re still not quite used to it,” he said.
The magistrate beamed at them both. “Ah, young love. You time in the Temple of Union shall be most blessed indeed.”
It took them three hours of coaxing to get the ten-thousand-year-old consoles back to operational, only to discover that there was, in fact, no ZPM. The station was responsible for regulating the unstable tectonic activity of the continent, and ran entirely on the planet’s own geothermal energy.
“I need another day, at least,” said Rodney, when a young local couple came to invite them to the communal supper. “Maybe two.”
After they had eaten, Teyla and Ronon went back to Atlantis with their preliminary data, while John and Rodney took up the offer of a village guest house. It was more of a cabin, really, just one large room. It also only contained one large bed, and John woke up early the next morning to find Rodney sprawled half on top of him, snoring softly in his ear. It was the best sleep he’d had since he’d woken the Wraith, and the next night, back in Atlantis, he stared up at his ceiling for hours before he managed to fall asleep.
The next few weeks were a blur of tedious missions and even more tedious paperwork, until Rodney suggested, hesitantly, that they should go back to M3X-957.
“The one with the geothermal stuff, where they think we’re married?” he asked, like he hadn’t been thinking about it almost non-stop since they’d gotten back.
Rodney waved a dismissive hand. “Yes, yes, I’m sure it still upsets your delicate sensibilities, but I’ve had the chance to put together some specialized equipment to gather more accurate data, and we’re the only ones allowed inside the Union Temple.”
“Temple of Union,” John corrected. “Yeah, okay. We’ll go.”
They went by themselves this time, and John spent his day fetching tools and moving equipment and activating things with his gene. Far too often, he found himself just stopping to watch Rodney work- admiring the shift of his muscles as he rearranged things, the twist of his lips as he scowled at uncooperative systems, the curve of his spine as he bent to open a tool case.
John had never fantasized about anyone like this, in a way that definitely wasn’t platonic, but wasn’t exactly sexual, either. He didn’t think he could say ‘no’ to sex if Rodney offered, but mostly he just want to be with him. To be complimented and insulted in the same breath, to distract him with chess matches and RC car races, to have that genius brain entirely focused on him.
“These all need to run overnight,” said Rodney, shaking John from his daydreams. “We can check the data in the morning.”
“Bright and early,” John agreed, mostly to annoy him.
He wasn’t disappointed, either- Rodney scowled, as he began packing up his tools. “No. This needs to run for at least eight hours to make sure we have a wide enough data sample. Maybe longer.”
John grinned, and picked up one of the toolkits. Eight hours of sleep sounded pretty good, after the last couple of weeks he’d had, and even better knowing that he’d be sharing a bed with Rodney. Usually, John was a light sleeper when they were off-world, waking up even earlier than he did on Atlantis, but waking up next to Rodney, still fast asleep despite the growing light, only made John roll over and close his eyes again.
Rodney’s experiments turned out to be long-term. They reset and the data compiled, overnight, every two weeks, and John tried not to be too eager in agreeing to go.
“We are the only ones allowed in the Temple of Union,” he told Woolsey. “And who else can put up with McKay that often?”
“Nice,” Rodney snapped, but it was missing the note of superiority his retorts usually had.
Rodney’s irritability continued until the end of the next week, even after they got to M3X-957 and entered the Temple of Union.
“Look, Sheppard,” he said, after a few minutes of weirdly awkward silence. “You don’t actually have to stay here and help me. You only have to stay in the temple as long as I’m here, and I’ve got a system pretty well worked out. Besides, we’re the only ones in here, so you don’t really have to play up the PDA until we’re outside again.”
“Oh,” said John. He hadn’t realized how much he’d been touching Rodney while they’d been here, simple thoughtless touches, but Rodney obviously had. John had been only too happy to keep up the ruse, to use every excuse to stay near to Rodney- but had he even considered what Rodney wanted? Apparently not.
“Sorry,” said John, softly. “I’ll, um… I’ve got a deck of cards, I’ll just play a few rounds of solitaire.”
“That’s fine, colonel,” said Rodney, already bent over an Ancient console.
John moved to sit against the far wall and spread out his cards. He lost every round.
Later that night, John hesitated on his side of the bed. “I brought my bedroll,” he said. “I can take the floor.”
For a moment, it looked like Rodney was considering it, then he shook his head. “You don’t have to. We’re both adults, right?”
“Right,” John agreed. But he didn’t fall asleep until Rodney gave a loud snore and flung an arm over his stomach.
When they got back to Atlantis the next afternoon, Rodney headed straight to his lab, leaving John to debrief Woolsey on their progress.
“Well, on that note, I have good news for you,” said Woolsey. “Our last group of new arrivals on the Daedalus included Dr. Scott Mathias, a geophysicist and, more relevantly, husband to Marine Sergeant Mary Clemens. Dr. Mathias and Sergeant Clemens will be taking over Dr. McKay’s research on M3X-957, so you will both be able to resume your normal schedules.”
“That’s great,” even as he felt his stomach lurch unpleasantly. “I’ll let Rodney know.”
Woolsey frowned. “I spoke with Dr. McKay yesterday morning before you left, so I could ask him to write up a report to pass along to Dr. Mathias about how far he had gotten in his research. I just didn’t know if Dr. Mathias would arrive on this trip, or have to wait until the next time the Daedalus came to our galaxy.”
“Of course,” said John. “I’m sure Rodney’s working on that report right now. If you’ll excuse me…?”
M3X-957 was on a different time zone than Atlantis. It had been midmorning when they’d left, but it was just evening here. Normally, John would have just stayed awake until he got over the ‘gatelag, but tonight he went to bed early.
Just how pathetic was he, anyway? Rodney was his friend, probably his best friend, and he didn’t need anything more from him. No matter how much he might want it. After his divorce from Nancy, John had thought he’d never want a serious relationship again, let alone get married. But only a few weeks- a few days, really, they only did this for two days every other week- of pretending to be Rodney’s husband, and John was ready for the real thing.
“Screw it,” he muttered, after hours of staring at his still-uninteresting ceiling, and rolled out of bed. Rodney was still his friend, and he could be thankful to have that much.
Rodney was in the lab, alone, when John entered and he looked up in surprise. “Sheppard. What are you doing here?”
John shrugged, trying for casual and mostly succeeding. “Couldn’t sleep. Hey, is that the data from the temple?”
“Um, yes. It’s still not enough to create an accurate map of this planet’s interior, but a few more months and we- I mean, Dr. Mathias- will be able to complete a simulation.”
“Then shouldn’t he be doing all of this?” John asked.
“He-” Rodney began, then sighed. “I couldn’t sleep, either.”
“It’s probably the ‘gate-lag,” suggested John.
Rodney closed the lid of his laptop with a sharp snap. “I’m sorry,” he said, furiously. “Is that what you want to hear? I put you in a position you were entirely uncomfortable with, and I’m sorry. I tried to explain to the village elders, or whoever they were, that Earth people weren’t usually big on open displays of affection, but apparently, they didn’t apply that to you. So, Mathias and Clemens can finish gathering the data, and you don’t have to spend another minute pretending to like me.”
It took John’s brain a moment to make sense of that. “Rodney, I do like you.”
“I know you do,” Rodney sighed. “We’re friends. But that still doesn’t mean you should have to pretend to be something you’re not, just for me.”
“But I’m not pretending!” John protested. “Rodney, I’m- I sleep better when you’re with me.”
Rodney blinked at him. “You do?”
“Much better.” John reached out, to slide his fingers slowly around Rodney’s wrist. “I wasn’t pretending, not for a minute. I was giving in.”
“Right,” Rodney scoffed. “I’m just so irresistible that you couldn’t help-”
He broke off as John kissed him, long and insistent, until they both needed to break for air.
“Sorry,” breathed John, when Rodney just looked at him, wide-eyed. “Sorry, I-”
This time, he was the one interrupted with a kiss. “You idiot,” laughed Rodney, continuing to kiss him between phrases. “I thought you weren’t interested. I thought you were straight. I thought I was taking advantage of you, to keep making up new readings to need so we’d have to keep going back!”
John frowned. “The readings are fake? Rodney…”
“No, no, the readings are real,” the other man assured him. “They just didn’t have any purpose, at first. But I actually figured something out about the geothermal energy, so when we send Mathias and Clemens-” He broke off, frowning. “If we send them…”
“Let them go,” said John, leaning in to kiss him again. “I’ve had enough of pretending.”
Rodney grinned. “Me, too.”
THE END
Current Mood:
admired