Title: Discovery
Author:
velocitygrassPairing: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Rating: G
Warnings/Content notes: (
skip) None that I'm aware of
Spoilers: through season 4 (though set in the future)
Word count: 469
Summary: Their long friendship is a good, solid basis for the new turn their relationship took, but sometimes John wonders what it would have been like if they'd done it the "normal" way.
Note: I don't mention them by name, but Dave's daughters are the ones from my personal canon for him: Susan and Claire. Not that it's important to anyone other than me ;)
Discovery
They've known each other for such a long time. It's not something he's aware of most of the time, but when they visit his brother and he sees his eldest niece, hardly able to walk when he left for Antarctica, beginning to be vaguely woman-shaped, it reminds him just how many years it has been since that fateful day when he first sat down in the chair and heard Rodney McKay's voice.
Their years together-as friends-make most things easier. There are no annoying habits that suddenly come to the surface after moving past the first kiss and the first sex. At least none that John hasn't known about for years. Just like Rodney knows and accepts that John has a hard time expressing his feelings with words. They knew exactly what they got into when they took this step.
Their long friendship is a good, solid basis for the new turn their relationship took, but sometimes John wonders what it would have been like if they'd done it the "normal" way. If they'd met, started flirting, started dating and then took it from there. He cannot imagine what it would be like to talk to Rodney and discover new things about him every time they saw each other. But he thinks it might have been exciting.
It's not that they don't have anything new to explore. Rodney's body, while not completely unfamiliar before, had always been off limits to touch. Now there's nowhere that Rodney won't let him map with his fingers or lips. It's amazing, every time.
So he tries not to think about what they might have missed. He's grateful for what they finally have. He doesn't consider their many years of friendship a waste, even though Rodney called it that in frustration when it first became clear how they felt about each other. It's part of their personal history, like his black mark or his failed first marriage or Rodney's falling out with his sister.
But still...
Rodney's been arguing with John's younger niece, who's normally quite shy but soon took to Rodney like all of John's family, but now he's looking at John as if he knows he is thinking too much. One side of his mouth curves up in a smile.
John's heart skips a beat. It's their private smile, one he associates with evenings on the couch before Rodney reaches out and kisses and touches him. But as Rodney turns his attention back to John's niece, John realizes it's apparently Rodney's public smile for him too. At least one of the public smiles.
That realization is new and exciting, and John can only wonder what else he might have missed and what more there is to come.
As he walks over to them, a wide smile spreads over his face.