Fic: Everybody Here Is Out Of Sight; John/OMC
Everybody Here Is Out Of Sight
One-shot
Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate Atlantis or any of its characters or plots. I mean no infringement, this is for personal benefit only.
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing: John/OMC
Word count: 655
Rating: PG
Summary: That really cliché story of overhearing two people in love that you didn’t know were in love. Because I’m awesome like that.
Prompt: 17- SGA, Elizabeth Weir, moonlight
Author’s Notes:
- For stargateland Day Six
*****
She’s walking quietly around the City‘s piers. It’s night, and the moon shines bright overhead, but it’s warm enough that she doesn’t need a jacket. They’ve been on Atlantis for three years, and it’s still so overwhelming to realize that this is the City of the Ancients.
There are some chairs out towards the end of the pier, and she takes one, turning it sideways so that the ocean is to her right and the City is to her left. It’s beautiful at night and she wants to soak up as much of it as she can. The sound of the waves wash over her and the smell of the salt in the air makes this feel like home.
A movement catches her eye on one of the City’s balconies. The balcony is dark, but she’d know that silhouette anywhere. Right as she’s about to offer John a wave, another person steps out, a man. It’s not Rodney, or Ronon, she squints a little to try and make him out better. It’s too dark and she can’t. She can hear them, though, and feels a bit like an eavesdropper, despite being here first.
“Long day?” the unknown man asks.
“Yeah,” John answers. “You?”
“Yeah. At one point McKay started yelling at people in French, though, so that was pretty entertaining.”
“What’d he say?”
“The English translations leave something to be desired,” the man answered. “But basically, we’re all morons in any language.”
John laughs softly and Elizabeth watches as the other man wraps his arms around John’s waist from behind. She covers up a gasp as John leans back into him.
“Did you eat dinner?” John asks.
“I had a late lunch. You?”
“Didn’t even have that.”
“You need to eat more, John.”
“And you need to nag less, Joel,” John returns with a smile in his voice
There are two Joels in the City. One is twenty-two, and a Marine, and the other is closer to John‘s age. There’s no doubt that this is the latter. Joel Murphy is a scientist in Rodney’s department who specializes in Puddle Jumper technology. Elizabeth has always found him pleasant to work with.
“It’s not nagging if I care.”
“It’s nagging if the caring isn’t about my sanity,” John answers. It sounds like an old argument and Elizabeth wonders who wins it. She’s not betting on John.
“We should get dinner.”
“And dessert?” John asks, there’s a definite salacious tone in his voice.
“I’ll share yours.”
“A few more minutes out here first. It’s been a really long day.”
“Want me to stay tonight?”
There’s a long pause before John answers, “Yeah.”
They fall quiet, just watching the ocean, and Elizabeth hopes that neither of them see her. She’s at a slight angle from them, and it’s enough that they’d have to almost turn around to see her.
John breaks the silence first. “Dinner?”
“Mm-hmm,” Joel answers. “Kiss first.”
John doesn’t answer, but then Elizabeth supposes that there aren’t any words needed to fulfill that request. They leave the balcony, and Elizabeth, presumably headed for the mess hall.
She wonders how she missed this and tries to think back and see if she’s ever seen the two men together. From the sound of things, this isn’t a new development.
Elizabeth feels sad for them, that they have to hide in dark balconies and shadows. John deserves to be happy, and so does Joel. And maybe they’re happy as they are, but Elizabeth thinks there’s ways to be happier.
In the morning she’ll send John an approval for moving to the new set of quarters that Dr. Langman’s team had found a couple of months ago. They‘re larger, and built for families, and more importantly, no one else lives there.
For now, though, she listens to the ocean and enjoys the City and hopes, maybe just a little, that it can bring her someone like it brought John.