FIC: The Bad Touch
Bad Touch
by Moodymuse19
PG
Mentions of Jennifer/Rodney. Pre-McShep if you squint.
Slightly cracky stuff totally and absolutely inspired by The Hug from the Goodbye Atlantis video. Here, have some visual aid. *points at icon* (Courtesy of berlinghoff79)
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Jennifer gets sick of it at the end of the second day.
Not that she mentions a thing about it, of course, because it's Jennifer, and the most she does is change the inflection on how she asks the question: "Seriously, how hard can it be to not touch?"
It's the sixth time in two days that John and Rodney have had to come to the infirmary for second degree burn treatment. Radek had been very clear: whatever the device on the flooded room of the west pier had done to them, it had somehow altered the electricity of their bodies in a way that didn't allow John and Rodney to touch. At all.
A slap on the head, a pat on the back, not even a tap on the shoulder through three layers of fabric; nothing allowed until the imbalance sets itself.
It seemed easy at first, a piece of cake. The imbalance wasn’t affecting their hearts, or how they were affected by the electricity in the air. It just affected them when they came into contact with the other.
John had rolled his eyes, Rodney had said he had better things to do. But then, after lunchtime, John pointed something out at Rodney, and tapped his hand to get his attention.
They both yelped, ended up with itchy red welts on their hands, and shrugged, and that was it.
When they went to the mainland, Rodney kept being his usual insensitive self, so John slapped him in the head. Rodney's hair and scalp was singed, John's hand ended up with a slight burn.
It just escalated from there.
Jennifer takes one look at them, sitting side by side on a gurney but four feet apart. Rodney's arm has an angry red mark, his shirt burnt in the shape of John's hand. John's hand looks even worse.
Rodney’s complaining about his shirt, his ruined shirt, how Colonel Hands-on had ruined one of his favorite shirts. John wants to tell him to just cut the sleeves off and stop complaining, Rodney had nice arms.
He doesn’t say a word, of course.
Jennifer sighs. "Seriously, how hard can it be to not touch for a couple of days?"
John and Rodney look at each other and then back at Jennifer. "It's... harder than it sounds," says John.
"Not touching each other?" Jennifer says, polite enough not to touch the ‘hard’ line with a ten foot pole.
Rodney frowns. "When you say it like that..."
Jennifer settles bandages and gauze between them and starts working on Rodney's arm.
"I keep slapping him a lot," says John, making Jennifer smirk.
Rodney continues: "And grazing, and grabbing, and slapping and knocking..." He frowns and looks at John. "What is that all about? Do you have a crush on me?"
John half laughs, half splutters, and is saved from answering by Jennifer, who laughs out loud.
And promptly realizes she screwed it.
"Why the laugh?" asks Rodney, indignant. "Why couldn't he hypothetically fall for me?"
Jennifer hurries with Rodney's arm and moves to bandage John's hand. "Oh, Rodney, I'm not saying that," says Jennifer, and John is kind enough to not mention she never looks at him.
Rodney leans back on his arms. "My girlfriend finds the idea of someone falling me hilarious. Great," he says.
Jennifer is still concentrated on John's hand. "Rodney, I don't find it hilarious, it's perfectly plausible," she says, finally looking at Rodney. "Just - John..."
"Why couldn't he?"
Jennifer looks at John's hand, at John. "I..."
John takes pity on her. "Rodney, knock it off," he says. "Admit it, doc," he says to Jennifer. "You've got no way out of it."
Jennifer finishes with John's hand and stands up. She sighs, shrugs. "When you're right, you're right."
John points at Rodney's arm with his bandaged hand. "We're good?"
Jennifer nods. "Yeah, it doesn’t look too bad; you can go back to work."
They jump from the gurney and start walking in the direction of the door. Jennifer's voice carries to the outside hallway:
"And stop touching!"
+
They do. Or they try to, at first: it’s easy to forget you’re not supposed to touch the person with whom you’re discussing Farscape or Doctor Who. But as the burn scars start piling up, Ronon and Teyla start meddling.
They purposefully slip between them whenever they are walking together, they relocate them whenever they are going for the same side of the table during meal times, they remind them constantly of the consequences of proximity.
Eventually, they catch on. John and Rodney stop touching altogether. They stop trying to step on each other's feet when Woolsey has them for too long at the conference room, they stop walking next to each other in fear their arms would graze, John stops slapping and grabbing, Rodney stops poking and holding.
Oddly enough, it seems to stop their bantering, as if it’s somehow linked to their physicality. They’re a bit more formal towards each other, as if sticking to their ranks and not their friendship.
Ronon starts spending more time with John, Rodney with Teyla.
On the fourth day, something on the very end of the Southwest pier explodes and all radios stop working. People run around filling the hallways shouting to make themselves heard. It’s chaos.
John sends a team of marines to check on a possible attack; Rodney sends a team of scientists to check on a possible self implosion.
Rodney's team ends up winning - a malfunction and a silly scientist had combined to make the explosion happen. Rodney has to walk all the way from the Southwest pier to the armory to meet John and fill him in on what they had discovered,
"So, no attack?" says John as he put a P-90 back in its place.
"No, just good old earth idiocy," says Rodney, walking out of the armory and already thinking of everything he would say to Dr. Rivas once he found him.
John shrugs. "Aw, gotta love the classics, Rodney," says John, slouching finally after two hours of tension.
Rodney nods. "It does beat having the Wraith on us."
"Sometimes," says John, slapping Rodney on the back and going in the opposite direction Rodney was going to have his men stand down.
Rodney smirks, walking on to berate the idiotic person who had - Wait a minute.
John turns around, frowning, as Rodney turns around.
"Did I just...?" says John.
"Yes, you did," says Rodney, twisting around to check his shoulder.
John looks at his hand, pristine save for the old marks - nothing new. "And it didn't hurt."
Rodney nods. "I think it might be finally over. Radek studied the device, he did say it would correct on its own, and it's been -"
But then, in an unprecedented fit of normalcy, John Sheppard hugs someone.
He smiles as Rodney talks, walking forward and surrounding Rodney with his arms, one hand patting his back as Rodney hugs back; they sort of rocked a bit, both grinning.
And then something explodes again.
Rodney sighs and lets John go. "Hugging later, I have an idiot to scream at"
John decides he needs to see that. "Sure, it's what you're best at," he grins as he follows him.
"Oh, thank you," says Rodney, pretending to be miffed.
John lets a second go by. "That and the hugging," he says softly.
Rodney grins and points at him, poking his arm. "I heard that, and I'm going to tell everyone!"
John rolls his eyes as they get on a transporter. "Nobody will believe you."
"I have witnesses. One fourth of the city were in that hallway with us."
"Maybe I’ll buy them off," shrugs John as they approach the explosion site, walking side by side, arms touching all the while.
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by Moodymuse19
PG
Mentions of Jennifer/Rodney. Pre-McShep if you squint.
Slightly cracky stuff totally and absolutely inspired by The Hug from the Goodbye Atlantis video. Here, have some visual aid. *points at icon* (Courtesy of berlinghoff79)
+
Jennifer gets sick of it at the end of the second day.
Not that she mentions a thing about it, of course, because it's Jennifer, and the most she does is change the inflection on how she asks the question: "Seriously, how hard can it be to not touch?"
It's the sixth time in two days that John and Rodney have had to come to the infirmary for second degree burn treatment. Radek had been very clear: whatever the device on the flooded room of the west pier had done to them, it had somehow altered the electricity of their bodies in a way that didn't allow John and Rodney to touch. At all.
A slap on the head, a pat on the back, not even a tap on the shoulder through three layers of fabric; nothing allowed until the imbalance sets itself.
It seemed easy at first, a piece of cake. The imbalance wasn’t affecting their hearts, or how they were affected by the electricity in the air. It just affected them when they came into contact with the other.
John had rolled his eyes, Rodney had said he had better things to do. But then, after lunchtime, John pointed something out at Rodney, and tapped his hand to get his attention.
They both yelped, ended up with itchy red welts on their hands, and shrugged, and that was it.
When they went to the mainland, Rodney kept being his usual insensitive self, so John slapped him in the head. Rodney's hair and scalp was singed, John's hand ended up with a slight burn.
It just escalated from there.
Jennifer takes one look at them, sitting side by side on a gurney but four feet apart. Rodney's arm has an angry red mark, his shirt burnt in the shape of John's hand. John's hand looks even worse.
Rodney’s complaining about his shirt, his ruined shirt, how Colonel Hands-on had ruined one of his favorite shirts. John wants to tell him to just cut the sleeves off and stop complaining, Rodney had nice arms.
He doesn’t say a word, of course.
Jennifer sighs. "Seriously, how hard can it be to not touch for a couple of days?"
John and Rodney look at each other and then back at Jennifer. "It's... harder than it sounds," says John.
"Not touching each other?" Jennifer says, polite enough not to touch the ‘hard’ line with a ten foot pole.
Rodney frowns. "When you say it like that..."
Jennifer settles bandages and gauze between them and starts working on Rodney's arm.
"I keep slapping him a lot," says John, making Jennifer smirk.
Rodney continues: "And grazing, and grabbing, and slapping and knocking..." He frowns and looks at John. "What is that all about? Do you have a crush on me?"
John half laughs, half splutters, and is saved from answering by Jennifer, who laughs out loud.
And promptly realizes she screwed it.
"Why the laugh?" asks Rodney, indignant. "Why couldn't he hypothetically fall for me?"
Jennifer hurries with Rodney's arm and moves to bandage John's hand. "Oh, Rodney, I'm not saying that," says Jennifer, and John is kind enough to not mention she never looks at him.
Rodney leans back on his arms. "My girlfriend finds the idea of someone falling me hilarious. Great," he says.
Jennifer is still concentrated on John's hand. "Rodney, I don't find it hilarious, it's perfectly plausible," she says, finally looking at Rodney. "Just - John..."
"Why couldn't he?"
Jennifer looks at John's hand, at John. "I..."
John takes pity on her. "Rodney, knock it off," he says. "Admit it, doc," he says to Jennifer. "You've got no way out of it."
Jennifer finishes with John's hand and stands up. She sighs, shrugs. "When you're right, you're right."
John points at Rodney's arm with his bandaged hand. "We're good?"
Jennifer nods. "Yeah, it doesn’t look too bad; you can go back to work."
They jump from the gurney and start walking in the direction of the door. Jennifer's voice carries to the outside hallway:
"And stop touching!"
+
They do. Or they try to, at first: it’s easy to forget you’re not supposed to touch the person with whom you’re discussing Farscape or Doctor Who. But as the burn scars start piling up, Ronon and Teyla start meddling.
They purposefully slip between them whenever they are walking together, they relocate them whenever they are going for the same side of the table during meal times, they remind them constantly of the consequences of proximity.
Eventually, they catch on. John and Rodney stop touching altogether. They stop trying to step on each other's feet when Woolsey has them for too long at the conference room, they stop walking next to each other in fear their arms would graze, John stops slapping and grabbing, Rodney stops poking and holding.
Oddly enough, it seems to stop their bantering, as if it’s somehow linked to their physicality. They’re a bit more formal towards each other, as if sticking to their ranks and not their friendship.
Ronon starts spending more time with John, Rodney with Teyla.
On the fourth day, something on the very end of the Southwest pier explodes and all radios stop working. People run around filling the hallways shouting to make themselves heard. It’s chaos.
John sends a team of marines to check on a possible attack; Rodney sends a team of scientists to check on a possible self implosion.
Rodney's team ends up winning - a malfunction and a silly scientist had combined to make the explosion happen. Rodney has to walk all the way from the Southwest pier to the armory to meet John and fill him in on what they had discovered,
"So, no attack?" says John as he put a P-90 back in its place.
"No, just good old earth idiocy," says Rodney, walking out of the armory and already thinking of everything he would say to Dr. Rivas once he found him.
John shrugs. "Aw, gotta love the classics, Rodney," says John, slouching finally after two hours of tension.
Rodney nods. "It does beat having the Wraith on us."
"Sometimes," says John, slapping Rodney on the back and going in the opposite direction Rodney was going to have his men stand down.
Rodney smirks, walking on to berate the idiotic person who had - Wait a minute.
John turns around, frowning, as Rodney turns around.
"Did I just...?" says John.
"Yes, you did," says Rodney, twisting around to check his shoulder.
John looks at his hand, pristine save for the old marks - nothing new. "And it didn't hurt."
Rodney nods. "I think it might be finally over. Radek studied the device, he did say it would correct on its own, and it's been -"
But then, in an unprecedented fit of normalcy, John Sheppard hugs someone.
He smiles as Rodney talks, walking forward and surrounding Rodney with his arms, one hand patting his back as Rodney hugs back; they sort of rocked a bit, both grinning.
And then something explodes again.
Rodney sighs and lets John go. "Hugging later, I have an idiot to scream at"
John decides he needs to see that. "Sure, it's what you're best at," he grins as he follows him.
"Oh, thank you," says Rodney, pretending to be miffed.
John lets a second go by. "That and the hugging," he says softly.
Rodney grins and points at him, poking his arm. "I heard that, and I'm going to tell everyone!"
John rolls his eyes as they get on a transporter. "Nobody will believe you."
"I have witnesses. One fourth of the city were in that hallway with us."
"Maybe I’ll buy them off," shrugs John as they approach the explosion site, walking side by side, arms touching all the while.
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