Fic: Requited (Mcshep)
Title: Requited
Rating: G
Word Count: 600
Pairing: Sheppard/Mckay
Spoilers / ep. tags: none
Summary: All the ways it could have happened, and one way that it did.
Genre: First Time
Disclaimer: Neither Stargate: Atlantis nor any of its affiliations belong to me.
When it happened, it wasn’t epic. It wasn’t after falling through the gate, out of breath and sweating and just barely getting out of this one with their lives, while exhaustion made them weak willed and adrenaline flung them together like magnets. It wasn’t as John strapped himself in for a suicide mission because Rodney “just had to, god dammit, tell you that I love you and I don’t care if the whole world knows, because I can’t say goodbye to you with a handshake!” John didn’t throw Rodney up against a wall and kiss him roughly in a moment of panic with only minutes and Rodney’s brain between them and certain death. In Pegasus, panic and certain death are the only constants, so they hardly excuse or justify hot-blooded declarations anymore.
It wasn’t romantic either. There were no soft kisses while an alien sun set behind a waterfall. Rodney did not woo John by bringing him new Ancient devices to activate just to see the way his eyes lit up. John didn’t say, “Kiss me, Rodney. You’re all I’ve ever wanted and worth dying for too.” There were no love letters. They did not suddenly look deeply into each other’s eyes and think, this is it .This is the moment.
Aliens did not make them do it.
It was a day just like any other day. The other scientists had cleared out over the last hour, so the lab was empty, save for Rodney, when John wandered in. John leaned casually down onto his elbows next to Rodney at the work table and glanced at the simulations running on the laptop.
“All work and no play makes Mckay a dull boy.” John said.
“Sorry Colonel, but some of us have actual jobs in this city, like making sure it doesn’t sink into the ocean, or pump toxic gas into all the living quarters. We can’t all just play with the marines all day.” Rodney replied.
“Hey, I have a job.” John said.
“Getting beat up by Teyla is not a job, Sheppard. Fun to watch, sure, but not a job.” John snorted at that, but didn’t respond.
“Just remember, we have to go trade with the locals on MX3-417 tomorrow. We head out at 0700 hours.” John said.
“Yes, I know. That’s why I’m here, making sure the city doesn’t blow up while we’re off world and I’m not around to save it.” Rodney said.
“Well don’t stay here too late. You’re enough of a pain in the ass even when you get your beauty sleep.”
“And yet you’re still lost without me.” Rodney said, nonplussed.
“Whatever you say Mckay.” John rolled his eyes then pushed back from the table. Before turning to leave, he bent down and caught Rodney’s lips with his own. Rodney returned the kiss without so much as looking away from his computer. It was quick and chaste, comfortable like what you would expect to see between married couples - as if they had done it a hundred times before and would do it a hundred times again. Then John left the lab and took a transporter to the corridor with his personal quarters. He was nearly to his door when Rodney’s voice came over the radio in his ear.
“Colonel?” he said.
John tapped the earpiece and answered, “Yes?”
There was a moment of silence and then, “Goodnight Sheppard.” John chuckled once softly to himself as he entered his room.
“Goodnight Rodney.”