[Stargate: Drabble] "Unspoken" [John/Rodney, G]
Title: Unspoken
Prompt: writerverse challenge #18 random words (include 5 random words in a story)
Word Count: 804
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Random Words: mute, envious, miniature, romantic, memorize
Summary: Rodney loses his voice, but it’s John who can’t handle it.
Note(s): originally posted to the writerverse wv_library
Unspoken
At first, John thought it was hilarious.
Well, no, first he’d ordered the new lab sealed and hauled Rodney down to the infirmary. But after a thorough examination from Carson, John was beginning to see the humor.
Rodney was fine, Carson repeated. There was only a slight irritation to his throat, which was better to be left to heal on its own rather than risk further damage. The only condition was that Rodney would have to be completely mute for the next two weeks. At least.
“Oh, come on, McKay,” said John, to Rodney’s scowl, sitting on the gurney beside him. “It’s a little funny.”
Rodney huffed, voicelessly, and John rested a hand on his knee.
“Hey,” said John. “You’re fine. You’re gonna be fine. Two weeks isn’t that long, and you’ll be back to verbally assaulting your science team in no time.”
Rodney sighed and covered John’s hand with his own.
“That’s the spirit, buddy.”
Radek came by a few minutes later with a preliminary report on the device and a miniature white board. He didn’t have much on the device yet, but the furious squeak of Rodney’s dry erase marker eased the last bit of tension from John’s spine.
He started when Rodney poked him, hard, in the ribs and held out the white board.
Thanks, it said.
John didn’t want to think about how pale Rodney had gone when the device had dimmed again, or the way his wheezing gasps had sounded like he was dying. “Sure,” John said.
Woolsey sent a city-wide e-mail explaining the incident and asking for everyone’s patience. Rodney sent another one an hour later, warning everyone against using his voicelessness to their advantage on pain of endless cold showers.
The next day, John purposely hung around the labs longer than usual, just to watch Rodney fill the white boards with equal parts equations and ridicule. At least, he did until the sergeant on duty in the Control Room reported some strange energy spikes in the city power grid and they set about tracking their source.
John was almost grateful to be running patrols for the next seventeen hours, scouring the city in case a Wraith or other intruder was using the energy spikes for cover, so he had a reason to miss the Wonder Twins routine Rodney and Radek were working on. They’d already been able to finish each other’s sentences, but with Rodney unable to talk, they didn’t even bother with that, just pointed and snapped their fingers and got on to work.
It wasn’t that John was envious of Radek. He was one of Rodney’s best friends, after Carson and the team, but there had never been anything romantic between them. And for once in his life, John was completely sure about a relationship, about what Rodney expected of him and what he wanted. But when Rodney came back to their quarters, energy signatures figured out, almost three full days later, and tumbled into bed, John froze.
Normally, Rodney started talking the moment he came in the door, if not sooner, but tonight he was completely silent, and John didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t good with people- never had been, but unlike Rodney, he’d been able to fake it better- and he’d always appreciated Rodney’s blunt complaints. If John knew that Rodney was hungry, or tired, or frustrated, he knew whether to bring him dinner, or take him to bed, or offer distractions.
John didn’t realize how he’d curled around Rodney, hands twisted into his t-shirt, until Rodney struggled to sit up. “What?” he mouthed, clearly.
“Nothing,” John mumbled.
Rodney scowled, disbelieving. And, somehow, that completely normal gesture made something inside John snap- he pitched forward to rest his forehead against Rodney’s shoulder, voice muffled as he blurted, “I don’t know what you want.”
Rodney’s hands settled, tentatively, on his shoulders.
“I’m terrible at this, I told you that,” John continued. “But you tell me everything, Rodney, I never have to worry I’m getting it wrong.”
The hands pressed a little tighter, but John didn’t look up.
“I’m freaking out, okay? I miss your voice, and I miss you, and it’s not like you haven’t recorded yourself enough, even if I hadn’t pretty much memorized the sound of your voice… And instead of being helpful, or sympathetic, or just being there for you, I’ve been running all over the city, wallowing in my own- Hey!”
Rodney had smacked him upside the head, scowling again. He waited until John sat up again, then slid his hands around to the sides of John’s face, pausing again before kissing him, slowly. This was something they’d never needed words for, and John leaned into the kiss.
“I want you, John,” breathed Rodney, and then, they were both so breathless that neither of them tried talking.
THE END
Current Mood:
cold
Prompt: writerverse challenge #18 random words (include 5 random words in a story)
Word Count: 804
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Random Words: mute, envious, miniature, romantic, memorize
Summary: Rodney loses his voice, but it’s John who can’t handle it.
Note(s): originally posted to the writerverse wv_library
Unspoken
At first, John thought it was hilarious.
Well, no, first he’d ordered the new lab sealed and hauled Rodney down to the infirmary. But after a thorough examination from Carson, John was beginning to see the humor.
Rodney was fine, Carson repeated. There was only a slight irritation to his throat, which was better to be left to heal on its own rather than risk further damage. The only condition was that Rodney would have to be completely mute for the next two weeks. At least.
“Oh, come on, McKay,” said John, to Rodney’s scowl, sitting on the gurney beside him. “It’s a little funny.”
Rodney huffed, voicelessly, and John rested a hand on his knee.
“Hey,” said John. “You’re fine. You’re gonna be fine. Two weeks isn’t that long, and you’ll be back to verbally assaulting your science team in no time.”
Rodney sighed and covered John’s hand with his own.
“That’s the spirit, buddy.”
Radek came by a few minutes later with a preliminary report on the device and a miniature white board. He didn’t have much on the device yet, but the furious squeak of Rodney’s dry erase marker eased the last bit of tension from John’s spine.
He started when Rodney poked him, hard, in the ribs and held out the white board.
Thanks, it said.
John didn’t want to think about how pale Rodney had gone when the device had dimmed again, or the way his wheezing gasps had sounded like he was dying. “Sure,” John said.
Woolsey sent a city-wide e-mail explaining the incident and asking for everyone’s patience. Rodney sent another one an hour later, warning everyone against using his voicelessness to their advantage on pain of endless cold showers.
The next day, John purposely hung around the labs longer than usual, just to watch Rodney fill the white boards with equal parts equations and ridicule. At least, he did until the sergeant on duty in the Control Room reported some strange energy spikes in the city power grid and they set about tracking their source.
John was almost grateful to be running patrols for the next seventeen hours, scouring the city in case a Wraith or other intruder was using the energy spikes for cover, so he had a reason to miss the Wonder Twins routine Rodney and Radek were working on. They’d already been able to finish each other’s sentences, but with Rodney unable to talk, they didn’t even bother with that, just pointed and snapped their fingers and got on to work.
It wasn’t that John was envious of Radek. He was one of Rodney’s best friends, after Carson and the team, but there had never been anything romantic between them. And for once in his life, John was completely sure about a relationship, about what Rodney expected of him and what he wanted. But when Rodney came back to their quarters, energy signatures figured out, almost three full days later, and tumbled into bed, John froze.
Normally, Rodney started talking the moment he came in the door, if not sooner, but tonight he was completely silent, and John didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t good with people- never had been, but unlike Rodney, he’d been able to fake it better- and he’d always appreciated Rodney’s blunt complaints. If John knew that Rodney was hungry, or tired, or frustrated, he knew whether to bring him dinner, or take him to bed, or offer distractions.
John didn’t realize how he’d curled around Rodney, hands twisted into his t-shirt, until Rodney struggled to sit up. “What?” he mouthed, clearly.
“Nothing,” John mumbled.
Rodney scowled, disbelieving. And, somehow, that completely normal gesture made something inside John snap- he pitched forward to rest his forehead against Rodney’s shoulder, voice muffled as he blurted, “I don’t know what you want.”
Rodney’s hands settled, tentatively, on his shoulders.
“I’m terrible at this, I told you that,” John continued. “But you tell me everything, Rodney, I never have to worry I’m getting it wrong.”
The hands pressed a little tighter, but John didn’t look up.
“I’m freaking out, okay? I miss your voice, and I miss you, and it’s not like you haven’t recorded yourself enough, even if I hadn’t pretty much memorized the sound of your voice… And instead of being helpful, or sympathetic, or just being there for you, I’ve been running all over the city, wallowing in my own- Hey!”
Rodney had smacked him upside the head, scowling again. He waited until John sat up again, then slid his hands around to the sides of John’s face, pausing again before kissing him, slowly. This was something they’d never needed words for, and John leaned into the kiss.
“I want you, John,” breathed Rodney, and then, they were both so breathless that neither of them tried talking.
THE END
Current Mood:
cold