P is for Punishment and Patterns and Patience
Title: P is for Punishment and Patterns and Patience
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis - AU
Series: Overs & Unders (#3)
Characters/Pairing: Sheppard/Lorne
Rating: R
Orientation: Slash
Word Count: 5,587
Prompts: Kink Bingo fill: "Penance/Punishment"
Angst Bingo fill: "Embarrassment"
Hurt Comfort Bingo fill: "Corporal Punishment"
“I heard you got hitched up,” Sumner drawled as Lorne entered the conference room for the morning staff meeting. The knowing look and grin on his face set Evan’s teeth on edge. He might have to work with the man, but he didn’t have to like him.
Evan nodded a greeting to Doctor Weir and slid into a chair as far away from his CO as possible. “I have taken on an under, yes,” he replied as he wondered how much Sumner knew.
“Man or woman?”
Apparently, he didn’t know too much, based on the question. “His name is John.”
Sumner nodded and looked away as McKay and Zelenka came in. Within moments, the conversation about Evan’s new status was forgotten and they were on to the business of the meeting. It was a little difficult concentrating, Evan’s mind kept drifting to thoughts about his new partner and what was going on with him now. John had been asleep when Evan had left for the staff meeting, he wondered what he would find when he checked in later.
What he found when he finally made it back to his quarters at a little before eleven hundred was John still abed. His new under was awake, blinking up at him as Evan walked in. “Really? I need to order you out of bed too?” The meeting had been aggravating and Evan was already at the end of his patience. “Come on, get up, go to the bathroom and get dressed.” He couldn’t leave John here, he’d have to take him to work. While John dressed, Evan paced out on the balcony, rubbing at his forehead, trying to brush off the lingering annoyance from the meeting. McKay and Sumner had gotten into another argument and the room had erupted into a shouting match, again. It had taken almost an hour to get back on track.
They walked to the mess hall and Evan handed John a tray and nudged him to the buffet line. “Take what you want,” he said quietly, for John’s ears only. “Standing order, eat what you want, when you’re hungry.”
He took coffee and a muffin and led John to a table by the door. John daintily picked at the scrambled eggs and near-bacon on his plate. He glanced up at Evan, an odd look crossed his face and then he put his fork down suddenly and crossed his arms, staring past Evan. “What?” Evan asked, but John wouldn’t look at him. Was this some kind of a test? Already? Heightmeyer had said to expect something like this, but already? Evan did not need this, not after the morning he’d just had.
Evan set down his coffee cup very deliberately and stared at John. “Finish your breakfast.”
There was no response, John continued to stare past him. He was pushing a button all right, in public, no less. “I said finish your breakfast,” Evan repeated in a warning tone. John continued to ignore him. Crap. Evan didn’t want a scene, and some of the marines around the mess hall were starting to notice he had company this morning.
He stood and picked up John’s tray, placing his coffee cup and unfinished muffin onto it. “Come on. Now.” He started away, but John continued to sit at the table, his arms crossed over his chest staring straight ahead. Returning to the table, Evan hissed in an undertone, “If I get to three, I will take you over my knee right here and now with everyone watching. One... two...”
John stood and followed before he finished saying ‘two.’ Relieved, Evan led the way back to his quarters. He set the tray on the table and turned to look at John. “I expect to be obeyed, without resorting to threats. “Go stand in the corner, forehead touching the wall, ten minutes for disobedience.” He pointed to the wall. It was a child’s punishment, but he wasn’t sure what else would be effective, he didn’t know John well enough yet, and there was all the luggage from his time with Maybourne to consider.
After blinking at him for a moment, John turned and went to where Evan was pointing and stood in the corner, his forehead pressed to the wall as ordered.
Evan sat and picked up his coffee and muffin, staring at John’s back as he washed down the dry muffin with the coffee, not really tasting anything. He pulled over his datapad and opened up his schedule, checking to see what could be shifted and changed for the day. He had an appointment scheduled with Zelenka. After this morning’s meeting, he really didn’t think it would be productive. He tapped his radio. “Hiya Doc, can we reschedule that meeting from 1400 today to Thursday? Cool, thanks. Nah, nothing else, tI’ll talk to you later.”
Glancing at John, still standing perfectly still, he checked his watch. “Time. Come here.”
John turned slowly and walked across the room to stand next to Evan. When Evan raised a hand, John flinched just before Evan stroked his shoulder and patted his arm. “Finish your breakfast.”
His under sat and pulled the tray over, scooping up his chilled eggs and bacon and eating quickly. Evan leaned forward on his elbows, something bothering him about John’s reaction a few moments before. “You thought I was going to hit you, just then?” John shrugged, then nodded quickly when Evan continued to stare at him. “I want words, John, talk to me when I ask you a question.”
“Yes, sir.”
He let the sir go for the moment since he was getting an answer. “Why? Your punishment was over.”
John shrugged again. “I thought you’d still be angry. You were angry, when you came back this morning.”
“Not at you, at someone else. I’m sorry if I was short with you.” Evan gulped down some more of his coffee as John finished his juice.
“You confuse me,” John said suddenly, looking down at his lap.
It was the first thing John had said to him that wasn’t a direct response to something Evan had said to him. Hoping it was a sign of progress, Evan asked, “How so?”
“You just do. Would you have really punished me in front of the marines?”
This was another damned test, whether John was doing it purposely or not. “I would. I don’t make idle threats.”
“So you’d kill me, if you said you’d kill me?”
“I’d never say that,” Evan replied instantly, “Because I’d never do that.”
John still wasn’t looking at him as he toyed with the fork on his tray. “Master always said it.”
Evan added a kick to the groin to the list of things he was going to do to Maybourne if he got the opportunity.
“I need to go to work John.” Evan had already figured out that he had to give his under choices, or John would stop and do nothing, caught in indecision. “You could stay here and rest, or read. Or you could come to my office and read or play computer games while I work. Which do you want to do?”
~*~
Choices, again. John pressed the heel of his hand to his eye as it began to twitch. He didn’t want to stay here alone. He wanted to be where mast... where Evan was. “I want to go with you.”
Evan clapped his hands and smiled. “Good. Come on then.”
They went to an office that had glass walls on two sides, looking out at the operations area of the Gate Room. When they went into the office, Evan pointed out a sofa by the wall and two chairs in front of the desk. He sat on one of the chairs.
Humming to himself, Evan opened a drawer in his desk and began digging through it. John had noticed that he did that a lot, his new over hummed, sometimes a tune, sometimes not. He pulled a datapad out of his desk drawer and held it out to John.
“I don’t know how to work these,” John said, turning it over in his hands. Evan circled the desk and tapped a finger on a button. John pressed it and waited as the screen began to flash.
A menu came up and Evan pointed to an icon. “The city’s intraweb library can be accessed here. Just touch the screen.” Within a few minutes, John was scrolling through the books available on the system. He was so engrossed in what he was doing that he hadn’t noticed Evan move away to the other side of the desk. He picked a book that he had started to read a while ago, before Maybourne, and never finished.
He read for a while as his over worked quietly at his computer across the desk from John. It began to grow noisy in the rooms adjoining Lorne’s office, an argument broke out and people were shouting and waving their arms. Evan ignored it, but John couldn’t concentrate on what he was reading.
“You okay? That’s normal stuff, you can ignore it,” Evan said as the argument continued.
He tried, but then it spilled into Lorne’s office. The two loudest men barged right in and tried to get Lorne in on the argument. Not wanting to be in the middle of it, or be in the way, John quietly stood and moved around behind Evan’s desk, standing against the wall. He kept his eyes down, focused on the datapad in his hands as the argument raged. Someone else came in, a woman joined in on the yelling, trying to get the others to calm down. The loudest one suddenly went quiet, John looked up and saw the man storm out with the woman trailing after him.
“Evan...” a man with an accent said, gesturing towards John, who quickly looked down again. It wasn’t any of his business. He shouldn’t be listening.
“John, this is Radek, he’s a friend.”
“Hello, John,” Radek said.
Unused to being directly addressed by anyone that wasn’t his over, John looked over at Evan in a panic. “You can talk to Radek.”
“Hey,” John replied quietly, looking up at the man. He had a Czech flag on his uniform sleeve, which explained the accent.
“Well, I will go and see if I can mitigate the destruction in the lab. It was nice to meet you, John.”
“Bye,” John said as Radek jogged out of the office.
Evan came back around his desk and threw himself into his chair. “Some days, I wish we didn’t have scientists, ya know? And Sumner just won’t let me shoot them.”
He didn’t know, he had been a pilot back before Maybourne and had not dealt with scientists, but he just nodded. As Evan went back to work, John slid down the wall, pulled his knees up to his chest and resumed reading from the datapad. The rest of the afternoon passed without incident. They ate in the mess hall again and then went back to their quarters.
When Evan came out of the shower, he asked John if he played chess and they spent the rest of the evening playing until it was time to turn in.
~*~
The training schedules were a mess, requiring a good deal of Evan’s concentration to sort out. He had been in the midst of it the day before when the nonsense from the morning staff meeting had spilled over into the middle of his day in the form of an irate Doctor McKay and frustrated Radek. He was glad when Weir turned up and distracted Rodney.
He’d been worried when Radek had drawn his attention to John after the argument, but his new under had responded to Radek and seemed okay. The rest of the day had gone smoothly, much to Evan’s relief.
John was sitting quietly in the chair in front of Evan’s desk, reading as Evan worked. Making a mental note to talk to Heightmeyer about finding stuff for John to do to pass the time, Evan went back to sorting out the training schedules.
There was a tussle outside the office door and Sergeant Wils appeared, dragging a pair of privates in by the shirtsleeves. The accusations started to fly and it got loud very quickly, sending John fleeing to safety behind Evan. After Evan let out a sharp whistle and barked a few orders, dismissing them all, John slumped against the wall in relief. He slid down the wall to sit on the floor, as he had the day before. This time, he moved a bit closer to Evan’s chair.
“You okay?” Evan asked and John nodded, although Evan could see by his eyes that the conflict had upset him. His under went back to his book so Evan decided not to push the issue. A few minutes later, Evan sensed movement beside him and then felt the heat from John’s body as John scooted over to lean against his knee. He was trembling slightly. Crap. He glanced down to see that John was still reading from the datapad, he had his head bent and thumbed to the next page.
Deciding not to draw attention to John’s apparent upset, Evan slid his hand over and stroked John’s head lightly. Gradually, he stopped trembling and Evan relaxed enough to go back to his scheduling mess. He withdrew his hand, though he would occasionally reach down and touch John’s head now and then when John leaned into him, seeking comfort. He finished with his scheduling and was ready to move on to the offworld field reports.
Something about the situation was bugging Lorne. He twisted slightly in his chair and reached down to grasp John’s chin lightly, pulling his face up. “You aren’t a puppy. You’re cute and all that, but you aren’t a puppy. Do you really need to be right here?”
“Please?” John asked, nodding.
“Give me a good reason,” Evan wanted John to work through his issues, the more he articulated, maybe the more it would help.
John chewed on his lip. “I feel comfortable here. It’s not so open.” He looked over the edge of the desk at the glass walls. “It’s open out there.”
Okay, yeah, Evan could understand that, he worked in a fishbowl. “Are you comfortable on the floor like that?”
His under nodded. “Yeah. You feel safe.”
How could he deny the guy a safe place, with all the other crap he was dealing with? “Okay. If you want to stay down there, then suit yourself.”
“I could...”
John bit his lip nervously as he slid his hand up Evan’s thigh. Evan caught his hand and gave it a squeeze. “No. Not here. Not on duty. That’s for playtime.” He turned fully in his chair and faced John, leaning on his elbows as John gave him a confused look. “Playtime, John. Sex is for play, not for punishment or anything else. For fun, okay?”
“You confuse me.”
“So you’ve said. I’m sorry. You’ll get used to me.” Evan held John’s chin and smiled at him, then stroked his face before he let him go and turned back to his work. John leaned against his leg again and gave a contented sigh.
Later, John tugged on his pants leg and Evan glanced down. “Could I read about the city, instead of fiction?”
Evan held his hand out for the datapad and scanned through the database to find the unclassified reports that all the scientists and military in the city had access to. “Exploration reports and most of the away mission reports are in that file. There’s some interesting stuff in there about the puddlejumpers, Radek and Lieutenant Markham wrote up some of the early reports and tests when we first got here.” He handed the pad back to John and John grinned at him. As expected, when Evan peeked to check, John had gone straight to the report on puddlejumpers.
There was a rapping at the door frame about two hours later and John stiffened against him. Evan dropped a hand to his head and scratched his scalp as he looked up to see Kate Heightmeyer standing there. “Hi Doc.”
“Did you leave John alone?” she demanded, coming into his office.
Evan tilted his head in John’s direction. “Nope.”
She walked to the side of the desk and leaned over to look down at John. “Hello, John. Wouldn’t you be more comfortable on the sofa?”
“I’m good.”
“He’s good,” Evan echoed as Kate straightened up and gave him a questioning look.
She tilted her head in confusion and then sat on the edge of the chair John had abandoned earlier. “I was hoping to talk to John.” Evan again tilted his head in John’s direction, which made the doctor frown. “In my office.”
“John, do you want to go with Doctor Heightmeyer?”
“No. I’m good here.”
“He’s good here.”
“You aren’t helping, Major.”
“If my under is comfortable and feels safe, it is my responsibility to ensure that continues. You’re welcome to talk to him here.” Evan crossed his arms and stared at her, hoping she didn’t fight him on it. Aside from sitting on the floor pressed against him like a pet, John was more animated and vocal today than he had been the previous day, he was comfortable and that’s how Evan wanted him.
Kate sighed heavily. Then she stood and kicked off her heels and circled the desk, sinking down to sit cross-legged a short distance from John. Letting his hand drift down to touch on John’s head and then his shoulder, Evan asked him, “Do you want me to stay?”
John reached up and quickly clasped his hand before letting go. “Yes. Please.” Evan took the datapad from him and set it on the desk.
“I’d like to do a few image tests, if that’s all right, John?” When John nodded, she pulled out a datapad and queued up her test and handed it over to John. “That’s pretty self explanatory, just do whatever you can,” she ignored Evan and smiled at John.
Going back to his own work, Evan tried to ignore what was going on beside him on the floor. Elizabeth Weir walked past the office and cocked her head oddly at the sight of Kate Heightmeyer sitting on his floor. From her vantage point, she couldn’t see John. Evan pushed back from the desk. “Excuse me, I have to go for a minute or two. I’ll be right outside if you need me.” John watched him leave but didn’t seem panicked.
He went outside and drew Elizabeth by the elbow until they were out of hearing range of his office. “I know this looks odd...”
“To say the least, Evan.” They had been on a first name basis for quite some time. When her under had died and she’d needed someone to talk to, they had fallen into an odd friendship.
“I have a new under, he came on the Daedalus. There are a few issues to work through, Kate is helping with that.”
Elizabeth nodded. “I see. Kate did come to me about an under that needed some special handling a few days ago. I didn’t feel up to it myself. It’s too soon for me. I’m glad she went to you. How is it working out?”
“Hard to tell. Tricky, touchy. I’m constantly questioning if I’m doing the right thing.”
She reached over and patted his arm. “You have good instincts, Evan. Trust them. I came by to ask if you wanted to come to a movie night, but if your hands are full...”
“Actually, I think that would be good. What time?”
“2000. Kate is looking your way, you might want to get back in there.”
Kate was actually frustrated. “John doesn’t want to do the tests.” Evan smirked at her expression, she looked like a little kid down there on the floor.
“John?”
“They’re stupid.”
“Maybe to you, but they help Kate.”
“No. No more. I don’t want to talk to her anymore.” John had slid back away from Kate and practically threw the datapad at her. Kate looked at Evan helplessly.
Crap. Was this John pushing again, testing the boundaries, or was it something more serious? How should he handle this? He couldn’t just cuff John upside the head and order him to talk to the shrink. He sighed. Maybe he could talk John around this mood. “You’re being rude and childish, John.”
~*~
He was frustrated. Kate made him feel like a little kid. Her questions made his stomach hurt, and she’d waited until Evan was out of the room to start asking them. He wanted Evan to come back and sit close again. It was stupid, that he felt safe with Evan, he hardly knew him, but he did, Evan was comfortable. Confusing, but comfortable.
Evan was being so calm, how could he be so calm? In the past, when he’d been rude, he’d been punished immediately. He had been slapped, kicked, punched or beaten. He’d been beaten several times when Maybourne had not liked his answers or his tone of voice. Maybe John was such a horrible under he didn’t deserve punishment? The question came out of nowhere. He couldn’t stop thinking about it and he soon began to believe it. He was exactly what Maybourne had said he was, useless and stupid and weak. He didn’t even deserve the effort of Evan’s attention to correct him because he was too useless to make it worthwhile.
Angry, he shoved the datapad aside as Kate tried to give it to him again. He didn’t really mind Kate very much, but at that moment, he wanted to be away from her, and away from the big glass walls with everyone looking, the strangers everywhere. He wanted to be somewhere dark and safe and alone.
He looked up at Evan, who had his hands on his hips as he looked down at John. Could he convince Evan that he was worth his time? How? He didn’t know what to do. Kate just wanted to talk and play games on the datapad, Evan was the one he needed to prove things to. John glared at Kate until she stood up and pulled Evan aside, whispering to him as they both kept looking at him. He was in trouble again, he knew it.
His over rubbed a hand across his face and then said sharply, “John, I’m going to give you to the count of three to apologize to Kate, or I will take you home and you will be punished.”
He wanted to go home. Home was safe, away from the strangers on the other side of the glass. Crossing his arms over his chest, he looked away to the far wall, refusing to speak as Evan counted off to three. He wasn’t afraid of punishment, he was used to it, it couldn’t hurt him anymore, it was a fair trade for getting out of here.
“Right, have it your way. C’mon, or I’ll drag your pants down and do it here,” Evan called from the doorway.
Climbing to his feet, John gave Kate a wide berth as he followed his over out into the corridor. His bravado fled once they were out of the office and he moved to press against Evan’s side. Evan didn’t say anything the whole way to their quarters, he marched along silently, his lips pressed tightly together. He didn’t look John’s way either.
When they got inside, Evan stared at him for a long time, until John squirmed from foot to foot. “You did that deliberately, to get out of talking to Kate. It worked today, but it won’t the next time.” Evan said, but there was no anger in his voice. “She’ll meet you here for appointments from now on. And you will talk to her, whether you want to or not. She is here to help you, John.”
John gave a brief nod, he knew that, in his head. But she’d made him angry today.
“You disobeyed me again. Fifteen minutes in the corner, and a spanking. Go.” Evan waved at the corner and John went, pressing his forehead to the cool wall. A spanking? What was he, five? He hadn’t really thought Lorne was serious about the earlier threat. Sure, like a spanking was going to be a big deal. John snorted.
When his fifteen minutes were up, he turned to see Evan sitting on the chair from the desk. “Come here.” John walked to his side. “Drop your pants.”
Blushing, John undid his belt and unzipped his jeans, He slid the denim and the cotton boxers down. Evan gave him a glance and then patted his thigh. “Down.”
Really? Again, was he five? Maybe this was one of Lorne’s things? Maybourne had things he liked to do to John. He sighed and went to his knees and then bent over Lorne’s lap. A spanking? Maybe he really wasn’t worthy of a real punishment.
Evan wrapped one arm over John’s waist to hold him in place. “I really expect to be obeyed, John.” He brought his palm down, hard, against his bare skin. Damn, it stung! “If I say I’m going to do something, I do it, you need to believe that.” Another wallop, in the same spot as the first, with more force behind it. John shifted forward this time. “Please don’t push me in public again.” Another hit, same spot, and there was heat on his ass now. John let out a small grunt. A fourth hit and a fifth and suddenly a spanking was not quite as ridiculous as it had seemed earlier. “I don’t like being embarrassed, and I get the sense that you don’t either.” Another hit and John hissed at the sting and tried to shift forward and away, but Evan’s arm held him tight so that he couldn’t move too far. “But trust me, I have no problem sitting down on the Gate Room stairs and doing this if you push me to it.” The eighth smack hurt, it seriously hurt. Worse than that, he was embarrassed that it hurt. He felt tears gathering at the corner of his eyes as Evan hit him again.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he whispered after another stinging hit landed. “Please stop.” As soon as he said ‘stop’ Evan pushed at him until he slid to his knees on the floor. He looked up to see Evan watching him, with no sign of anger or rage, as he expected to see. “I’m sorry,” John whispered.
“Okay. I know you are. Come here.” Evan opened his arms and John hesitated for a moment and then went to him, pressing against him as Evan rubbed his back. “I know you are.” John didn’t realize he was making noise until Evan started to make shushing sounds as he stroked his hair and rubbed his back.
“Sorry,” John whispered, closed his eyes and sagged into him.
Evan’s lips brushed against his forehead. “What a mess,” he whispered. “Right now, I think I could kill the people that did this to you.” And John knew he didn’t mean the spanking, he might be messed up, but he understood that much. Evan held him for quite a while, until John stopped shaking and his ass stopped throbbing.
He pushed away from Evan and looked up at him sheepishly. “I made you leave work.”
“Nothing that won’t keep.” Evan waved a hand dismissively. “Why don’t we see about the barber? We missed your appointment, but he’ll probably take you anyway.” John nodded and stood, Evan held his arm to keep him steady as he pulled up his pants.
~*~
While John was getting his hair cut, Evan commandeered a computer and shifted his workload around. He called Markham and asked him to cover his training class with the new arrivals so that he could avoid his office for the rest of the day.
“I’m afraid there isn’t too much I can do with it,” Frank the barber said as he shook out the cloth that had been tied around John’s neck. “Boy’s got a ton of cowlicks. Best to just go with it.”
John looked ten years younger without the heavy veil of dark hair hanging down in his face. He was running a hand through the short spikes on his head, smiling slightly. He caught Evan’s eye in the mirror. “I look like me again.”
“Glad to hear it,” Evan laughed. “I have one more thing to do before I can knock off for the day, come on.” He couldn’t help but notice that John wasn’t slouching and his chin was higher, his walk more confident as they left the barber. Chalk one up for a good haircut.
He had to go down to the supply depot and sign off on some stuff that had arrived on the Daedelus. He watched John out of the corner of his eye as he walked through the cases of ammo, running a hand over the labels. He handed John the datapad and said, “I’ll call off the numbers, you mark them with the stylus.” Working together, they quickly had the requisition checked over.
After that, they went to the mess hall to have a meal. Evan gave John a considering look when they got to the door. “You gonna give me a problem?”
“No, sir.”
“Good.”
As they sat picking at their meatloaf and mashed-not-potatoes, Evan said casually, “ We’ve been invited to a movie tonight, you up to it? Maybe seven or eight people, nothing formal, just a video on one of the overheads.”
“Do you want to go?”
“I usually do, this is the group of friends I hang out with in my off time.”
John swallowed and nodded slowly. “Okay.”
“We’ll leave if you’re uncomfortable, you just let me know.”
“Okay,” John agreed more readily with a nod.
~*~
After the spanking, John had expected Evan to be angry, or ignore him. Instead, he was acting as if nothing had happened. It was the same as the day before, when he’d been sent to the corner. Once it was done, it seemed to be done and over with, with no residual consequences. Again, Evan was different than any of his previous overs.
He didn’t know what had come over him when Evan had pushed him off his knees. He’d never fallen apart like that after a beating from Maybourne. It wasn’t as if Evan had really hurt him either, his ass stung a little but that was all. And the hugging. John didn’t think he liked to be hugged or held, but it had felt okay. It had been a lot like he remembered from when he had been a kid. It was just a hug, Evan hadn’t demanded anything beyond that.
That was confusing him, his new over had barely touched him at all. He had turned down John’s offers of sex twice already.
“Do I disgust you?” he blurted as the door of the transporter closed behind them.
“What? No! What would make you think that?” John continued to stare at the floor, embarrassed by his outburst. “John?” Evan prompted.
“We’ve been together two nights and you haven’t touched me.”
Evan sighed and leaned against the wall. “I’m giving you time to settle in, that’s all. I can wait, John. You’ve got a lot on your plate already.”
Surprised at the answer, John looked up and stared at Evan. He had expected to be taken that first night. When Heightmeyer had explained about finding someone in Atlantis that agreed to take him on as an under, he thought the sex was the reason. It had been Maybourne’s reason, and before him it had been the reason of every other over he had been involved with.
The transporter door opened and John suddenly didn’t want to get out when Evan did. “I... can I just go back to your quarters?”
Turning back, Evan gave a shrug. “Not up to it?”
“I thought I was, but... strangers.” Strangers in close company, watching him. He shuddered and Evan reached out and patted his shoulder.
“No big deal. We can sit on the bed and watch something on the laptop. Do you like Godzilla?” Lorne pressed a button on the wall. He didn’t seem upset by John changing his mind literally at the last minute like he just did.
“Mothra?”
“I think I’ve got that one. I also have a bag of Twizzlers stashed. We’ll have our own movie night, and maybe catch the next one with the gang.”
He really wasn’t bothered, John realized as he followed Evan through the door and watched him set up the laptop. Without waiting to be told, he stripped down to boxers and t-shirt as Evan did. That seemed to please his over; Evan smiled when he saw John taking off his jeans.
Climbing up onto the bed, he gingerly settled down beside Lorne as the movie started. Slowly, he relaxed against the pillows, chewing on Twizzler nuggets as Evan offered him the bag. The movie reminded him of rainy days with his friends as a kid, happier times, before he’d gotten involved with Todd and screwed up his life. John made it through one whole movie and part of a second before he dozed off, waking briefly when Evan nudged at him to get under the covers.
The End Originally posted at http://rinkafic.dreamwidth.org/
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis - AU
Series: Overs & Unders (#3)
Characters/Pairing: Sheppard/Lorne
Rating: R
Orientation: Slash
Word Count: 5,587
Prompts: Kink Bingo fill: "Penance/Punishment"
Angst Bingo fill: "Embarrassment"
Hurt Comfort Bingo fill: "Corporal Punishment"
“I heard you got hitched up,” Sumner drawled as Lorne entered the conference room for the morning staff meeting. The knowing look and grin on his face set Evan’s teeth on edge. He might have to work with the man, but he didn’t have to like him.
Evan nodded a greeting to Doctor Weir and slid into a chair as far away from his CO as possible. “I have taken on an under, yes,” he replied as he wondered how much Sumner knew.
“Man or woman?”
Apparently, he didn’t know too much, based on the question. “His name is John.”
Sumner nodded and looked away as McKay and Zelenka came in. Within moments, the conversation about Evan’s new status was forgotten and they were on to the business of the meeting. It was a little difficult concentrating, Evan’s mind kept drifting to thoughts about his new partner and what was going on with him now. John had been asleep when Evan had left for the staff meeting, he wondered what he would find when he checked in later.
What he found when he finally made it back to his quarters at a little before eleven hundred was John still abed. His new under was awake, blinking up at him as Evan walked in. “Really? I need to order you out of bed too?” The meeting had been aggravating and Evan was already at the end of his patience. “Come on, get up, go to the bathroom and get dressed.” He couldn’t leave John here, he’d have to take him to work. While John dressed, Evan paced out on the balcony, rubbing at his forehead, trying to brush off the lingering annoyance from the meeting. McKay and Sumner had gotten into another argument and the room had erupted into a shouting match, again. It had taken almost an hour to get back on track.
They walked to the mess hall and Evan handed John a tray and nudged him to the buffet line. “Take what you want,” he said quietly, for John’s ears only. “Standing order, eat what you want, when you’re hungry.”
He took coffee and a muffin and led John to a table by the door. John daintily picked at the scrambled eggs and near-bacon on his plate. He glanced up at Evan, an odd look crossed his face and then he put his fork down suddenly and crossed his arms, staring past Evan. “What?” Evan asked, but John wouldn’t look at him. Was this some kind of a test? Already? Heightmeyer had said to expect something like this, but already? Evan did not need this, not after the morning he’d just had.
Evan set down his coffee cup very deliberately and stared at John. “Finish your breakfast.”
There was no response, John continued to stare past him. He was pushing a button all right, in public, no less. “I said finish your breakfast,” Evan repeated in a warning tone. John continued to ignore him. Crap. Evan didn’t want a scene, and some of the marines around the mess hall were starting to notice he had company this morning.
He stood and picked up John’s tray, placing his coffee cup and unfinished muffin onto it. “Come on. Now.” He started away, but John continued to sit at the table, his arms crossed over his chest staring straight ahead. Returning to the table, Evan hissed in an undertone, “If I get to three, I will take you over my knee right here and now with everyone watching. One... two...”
John stood and followed before he finished saying ‘two.’ Relieved, Evan led the way back to his quarters. He set the tray on the table and turned to look at John. “I expect to be obeyed, without resorting to threats. “Go stand in the corner, forehead touching the wall, ten minutes for disobedience.” He pointed to the wall. It was a child’s punishment, but he wasn’t sure what else would be effective, he didn’t know John well enough yet, and there was all the luggage from his time with Maybourne to consider.
After blinking at him for a moment, John turned and went to where Evan was pointing and stood in the corner, his forehead pressed to the wall as ordered.
Evan sat and picked up his coffee and muffin, staring at John’s back as he washed down the dry muffin with the coffee, not really tasting anything. He pulled over his datapad and opened up his schedule, checking to see what could be shifted and changed for the day. He had an appointment scheduled with Zelenka. After this morning’s meeting, he really didn’t think it would be productive. He tapped his radio. “Hiya Doc, can we reschedule that meeting from 1400 today to Thursday? Cool, thanks. Nah, nothing else, tI’ll talk to you later.”
Glancing at John, still standing perfectly still, he checked his watch. “Time. Come here.”
John turned slowly and walked across the room to stand next to Evan. When Evan raised a hand, John flinched just before Evan stroked his shoulder and patted his arm. “Finish your breakfast.”
His under sat and pulled the tray over, scooping up his chilled eggs and bacon and eating quickly. Evan leaned forward on his elbows, something bothering him about John’s reaction a few moments before. “You thought I was going to hit you, just then?” John shrugged, then nodded quickly when Evan continued to stare at him. “I want words, John, talk to me when I ask you a question.”
“Yes, sir.”
He let the sir go for the moment since he was getting an answer. “Why? Your punishment was over.”
John shrugged again. “I thought you’d still be angry. You were angry, when you came back this morning.”
“Not at you, at someone else. I’m sorry if I was short with you.” Evan gulped down some more of his coffee as John finished his juice.
“You confuse me,” John said suddenly, looking down at his lap.
It was the first thing John had said to him that wasn’t a direct response to something Evan had said to him. Hoping it was a sign of progress, Evan asked, “How so?”
“You just do. Would you have really punished me in front of the marines?”
This was another damned test, whether John was doing it purposely or not. “I would. I don’t make idle threats.”
“So you’d kill me, if you said you’d kill me?”
“I’d never say that,” Evan replied instantly, “Because I’d never do that.”
John still wasn’t looking at him as he toyed with the fork on his tray. “Master always said it.”
Evan added a kick to the groin to the list of things he was going to do to Maybourne if he got the opportunity.
“I need to go to work John.” Evan had already figured out that he had to give his under choices, or John would stop and do nothing, caught in indecision. “You could stay here and rest, or read. Or you could come to my office and read or play computer games while I work. Which do you want to do?”
~*~
Choices, again. John pressed the heel of his hand to his eye as it began to twitch. He didn’t want to stay here alone. He wanted to be where mast... where Evan was. “I want to go with you.”
Evan clapped his hands and smiled. “Good. Come on then.”
They went to an office that had glass walls on two sides, looking out at the operations area of the Gate Room. When they went into the office, Evan pointed out a sofa by the wall and two chairs in front of the desk. He sat on one of the chairs.
Humming to himself, Evan opened a drawer in his desk and began digging through it. John had noticed that he did that a lot, his new over hummed, sometimes a tune, sometimes not. He pulled a datapad out of his desk drawer and held it out to John.
“I don’t know how to work these,” John said, turning it over in his hands. Evan circled the desk and tapped a finger on a button. John pressed it and waited as the screen began to flash.
A menu came up and Evan pointed to an icon. “The city’s intraweb library can be accessed here. Just touch the screen.” Within a few minutes, John was scrolling through the books available on the system. He was so engrossed in what he was doing that he hadn’t noticed Evan move away to the other side of the desk. He picked a book that he had started to read a while ago, before Maybourne, and never finished.
He read for a while as his over worked quietly at his computer across the desk from John. It began to grow noisy in the rooms adjoining Lorne’s office, an argument broke out and people were shouting and waving their arms. Evan ignored it, but John couldn’t concentrate on what he was reading.
“You okay? That’s normal stuff, you can ignore it,” Evan said as the argument continued.
He tried, but then it spilled into Lorne’s office. The two loudest men barged right in and tried to get Lorne in on the argument. Not wanting to be in the middle of it, or be in the way, John quietly stood and moved around behind Evan’s desk, standing against the wall. He kept his eyes down, focused on the datapad in his hands as the argument raged. Someone else came in, a woman joined in on the yelling, trying to get the others to calm down. The loudest one suddenly went quiet, John looked up and saw the man storm out with the woman trailing after him.
“Evan...” a man with an accent said, gesturing towards John, who quickly looked down again. It wasn’t any of his business. He shouldn’t be listening.
“John, this is Radek, he’s a friend.”
“Hello, John,” Radek said.
Unused to being directly addressed by anyone that wasn’t his over, John looked over at Evan in a panic. “You can talk to Radek.”
“Hey,” John replied quietly, looking up at the man. He had a Czech flag on his uniform sleeve, which explained the accent.
“Well, I will go and see if I can mitigate the destruction in the lab. It was nice to meet you, John.”
“Bye,” John said as Radek jogged out of the office.
Evan came back around his desk and threw himself into his chair. “Some days, I wish we didn’t have scientists, ya know? And Sumner just won’t let me shoot them.”
He didn’t know, he had been a pilot back before Maybourne and had not dealt with scientists, but he just nodded. As Evan went back to work, John slid down the wall, pulled his knees up to his chest and resumed reading from the datapad. The rest of the afternoon passed without incident. They ate in the mess hall again and then went back to their quarters.
When Evan came out of the shower, he asked John if he played chess and they spent the rest of the evening playing until it was time to turn in.
~*~
The training schedules were a mess, requiring a good deal of Evan’s concentration to sort out. He had been in the midst of it the day before when the nonsense from the morning staff meeting had spilled over into the middle of his day in the form of an irate Doctor McKay and frustrated Radek. He was glad when Weir turned up and distracted Rodney.
He’d been worried when Radek had drawn his attention to John after the argument, but his new under had responded to Radek and seemed okay. The rest of the day had gone smoothly, much to Evan’s relief.
John was sitting quietly in the chair in front of Evan’s desk, reading as Evan worked. Making a mental note to talk to Heightmeyer about finding stuff for John to do to pass the time, Evan went back to sorting out the training schedules.
There was a tussle outside the office door and Sergeant Wils appeared, dragging a pair of privates in by the shirtsleeves. The accusations started to fly and it got loud very quickly, sending John fleeing to safety behind Evan. After Evan let out a sharp whistle and barked a few orders, dismissing them all, John slumped against the wall in relief. He slid down the wall to sit on the floor, as he had the day before. This time, he moved a bit closer to Evan’s chair.
“You okay?” Evan asked and John nodded, although Evan could see by his eyes that the conflict had upset him. His under went back to his book so Evan decided not to push the issue. A few minutes later, Evan sensed movement beside him and then felt the heat from John’s body as John scooted over to lean against his knee. He was trembling slightly. Crap. He glanced down to see that John was still reading from the datapad, he had his head bent and thumbed to the next page.
Deciding not to draw attention to John’s apparent upset, Evan slid his hand over and stroked John’s head lightly. Gradually, he stopped trembling and Evan relaxed enough to go back to his scheduling mess. He withdrew his hand, though he would occasionally reach down and touch John’s head now and then when John leaned into him, seeking comfort. He finished with his scheduling and was ready to move on to the offworld field reports.
Something about the situation was bugging Lorne. He twisted slightly in his chair and reached down to grasp John’s chin lightly, pulling his face up. “You aren’t a puppy. You’re cute and all that, but you aren’t a puppy. Do you really need to be right here?”
“Please?” John asked, nodding.
“Give me a good reason,” Evan wanted John to work through his issues, the more he articulated, maybe the more it would help.
John chewed on his lip. “I feel comfortable here. It’s not so open.” He looked over the edge of the desk at the glass walls. “It’s open out there.”
Okay, yeah, Evan could understand that, he worked in a fishbowl. “Are you comfortable on the floor like that?”
His under nodded. “Yeah. You feel safe.”
How could he deny the guy a safe place, with all the other crap he was dealing with? “Okay. If you want to stay down there, then suit yourself.”
“I could...”
John bit his lip nervously as he slid his hand up Evan’s thigh. Evan caught his hand and gave it a squeeze. “No. Not here. Not on duty. That’s for playtime.” He turned fully in his chair and faced John, leaning on his elbows as John gave him a confused look. “Playtime, John. Sex is for play, not for punishment or anything else. For fun, okay?”
“You confuse me.”
“So you’ve said. I’m sorry. You’ll get used to me.” Evan held John’s chin and smiled at him, then stroked his face before he let him go and turned back to his work. John leaned against his leg again and gave a contented sigh.
Later, John tugged on his pants leg and Evan glanced down. “Could I read about the city, instead of fiction?”
Evan held his hand out for the datapad and scanned through the database to find the unclassified reports that all the scientists and military in the city had access to. “Exploration reports and most of the away mission reports are in that file. There’s some interesting stuff in there about the puddlejumpers, Radek and Lieutenant Markham wrote up some of the early reports and tests when we first got here.” He handed the pad back to John and John grinned at him. As expected, when Evan peeked to check, John had gone straight to the report on puddlejumpers.
There was a rapping at the door frame about two hours later and John stiffened against him. Evan dropped a hand to his head and scratched his scalp as he looked up to see Kate Heightmeyer standing there. “Hi Doc.”
“Did you leave John alone?” she demanded, coming into his office.
Evan tilted his head in John’s direction. “Nope.”
She walked to the side of the desk and leaned over to look down at John. “Hello, John. Wouldn’t you be more comfortable on the sofa?”
“I’m good.”
“He’s good,” Evan echoed as Kate straightened up and gave him a questioning look.
She tilted her head in confusion and then sat on the edge of the chair John had abandoned earlier. “I was hoping to talk to John.” Evan again tilted his head in John’s direction, which made the doctor frown. “In my office.”
“John, do you want to go with Doctor Heightmeyer?”
“No. I’m good here.”
“He’s good here.”
“You aren’t helping, Major.”
“If my under is comfortable and feels safe, it is my responsibility to ensure that continues. You’re welcome to talk to him here.” Evan crossed his arms and stared at her, hoping she didn’t fight him on it. Aside from sitting on the floor pressed against him like a pet, John was more animated and vocal today than he had been the previous day, he was comfortable and that’s how Evan wanted him.
Kate sighed heavily. Then she stood and kicked off her heels and circled the desk, sinking down to sit cross-legged a short distance from John. Letting his hand drift down to touch on John’s head and then his shoulder, Evan asked him, “Do you want me to stay?”
John reached up and quickly clasped his hand before letting go. “Yes. Please.” Evan took the datapad from him and set it on the desk.
“I’d like to do a few image tests, if that’s all right, John?” When John nodded, she pulled out a datapad and queued up her test and handed it over to John. “That’s pretty self explanatory, just do whatever you can,” she ignored Evan and smiled at John.
Going back to his own work, Evan tried to ignore what was going on beside him on the floor. Elizabeth Weir walked past the office and cocked her head oddly at the sight of Kate Heightmeyer sitting on his floor. From her vantage point, she couldn’t see John. Evan pushed back from the desk. “Excuse me, I have to go for a minute or two. I’ll be right outside if you need me.” John watched him leave but didn’t seem panicked.
He went outside and drew Elizabeth by the elbow until they were out of hearing range of his office. “I know this looks odd...”
“To say the least, Evan.” They had been on a first name basis for quite some time. When her under had died and she’d needed someone to talk to, they had fallen into an odd friendship.
“I have a new under, he came on the Daedalus. There are a few issues to work through, Kate is helping with that.”
Elizabeth nodded. “I see. Kate did come to me about an under that needed some special handling a few days ago. I didn’t feel up to it myself. It’s too soon for me. I’m glad she went to you. How is it working out?”
“Hard to tell. Tricky, touchy. I’m constantly questioning if I’m doing the right thing.”
She reached over and patted his arm. “You have good instincts, Evan. Trust them. I came by to ask if you wanted to come to a movie night, but if your hands are full...”
“Actually, I think that would be good. What time?”
“2000. Kate is looking your way, you might want to get back in there.”
Kate was actually frustrated. “John doesn’t want to do the tests.” Evan smirked at her expression, she looked like a little kid down there on the floor.
“John?”
“They’re stupid.”
“Maybe to you, but they help Kate.”
“No. No more. I don’t want to talk to her anymore.” John had slid back away from Kate and practically threw the datapad at her. Kate looked at Evan helplessly.
Crap. Was this John pushing again, testing the boundaries, or was it something more serious? How should he handle this? He couldn’t just cuff John upside the head and order him to talk to the shrink. He sighed. Maybe he could talk John around this mood. “You’re being rude and childish, John.”
~*~
He was frustrated. Kate made him feel like a little kid. Her questions made his stomach hurt, and she’d waited until Evan was out of the room to start asking them. He wanted Evan to come back and sit close again. It was stupid, that he felt safe with Evan, he hardly knew him, but he did, Evan was comfortable. Confusing, but comfortable.
Evan was being so calm, how could he be so calm? In the past, when he’d been rude, he’d been punished immediately. He had been slapped, kicked, punched or beaten. He’d been beaten several times when Maybourne had not liked his answers or his tone of voice. Maybe John was such a horrible under he didn’t deserve punishment? The question came out of nowhere. He couldn’t stop thinking about it and he soon began to believe it. He was exactly what Maybourne had said he was, useless and stupid and weak. He didn’t even deserve the effort of Evan’s attention to correct him because he was too useless to make it worthwhile.
Angry, he shoved the datapad aside as Kate tried to give it to him again. He didn’t really mind Kate very much, but at that moment, he wanted to be away from her, and away from the big glass walls with everyone looking, the strangers everywhere. He wanted to be somewhere dark and safe and alone.
He looked up at Evan, who had his hands on his hips as he looked down at John. Could he convince Evan that he was worth his time? How? He didn’t know what to do. Kate just wanted to talk and play games on the datapad, Evan was the one he needed to prove things to. John glared at Kate until she stood up and pulled Evan aside, whispering to him as they both kept looking at him. He was in trouble again, he knew it.
His over rubbed a hand across his face and then said sharply, “John, I’m going to give you to the count of three to apologize to Kate, or I will take you home and you will be punished.”
He wanted to go home. Home was safe, away from the strangers on the other side of the glass. Crossing his arms over his chest, he looked away to the far wall, refusing to speak as Evan counted off to three. He wasn’t afraid of punishment, he was used to it, it couldn’t hurt him anymore, it was a fair trade for getting out of here.
“Right, have it your way. C’mon, or I’ll drag your pants down and do it here,” Evan called from the doorway.
Climbing to his feet, John gave Kate a wide berth as he followed his over out into the corridor. His bravado fled once they were out of the office and he moved to press against Evan’s side. Evan didn’t say anything the whole way to their quarters, he marched along silently, his lips pressed tightly together. He didn’t look John’s way either.
When they got inside, Evan stared at him for a long time, until John squirmed from foot to foot. “You did that deliberately, to get out of talking to Kate. It worked today, but it won’t the next time.” Evan said, but there was no anger in his voice. “She’ll meet you here for appointments from now on. And you will talk to her, whether you want to or not. She is here to help you, John.”
John gave a brief nod, he knew that, in his head. But she’d made him angry today.
“You disobeyed me again. Fifteen minutes in the corner, and a spanking. Go.” Evan waved at the corner and John went, pressing his forehead to the cool wall. A spanking? What was he, five? He hadn’t really thought Lorne was serious about the earlier threat. Sure, like a spanking was going to be a big deal. John snorted.
When his fifteen minutes were up, he turned to see Evan sitting on the chair from the desk. “Come here.” John walked to his side. “Drop your pants.”
Blushing, John undid his belt and unzipped his jeans, He slid the denim and the cotton boxers down. Evan gave him a glance and then patted his thigh. “Down.”
Really? Again, was he five? Maybe this was one of Lorne’s things? Maybourne had things he liked to do to John. He sighed and went to his knees and then bent over Lorne’s lap. A spanking? Maybe he really wasn’t worthy of a real punishment.
Evan wrapped one arm over John’s waist to hold him in place. “I really expect to be obeyed, John.” He brought his palm down, hard, against his bare skin. Damn, it stung! “If I say I’m going to do something, I do it, you need to believe that.” Another wallop, in the same spot as the first, with more force behind it. John shifted forward this time. “Please don’t push me in public again.” Another hit, same spot, and there was heat on his ass now. John let out a small grunt. A fourth hit and a fifth and suddenly a spanking was not quite as ridiculous as it had seemed earlier. “I don’t like being embarrassed, and I get the sense that you don’t either.” Another hit and John hissed at the sting and tried to shift forward and away, but Evan’s arm held him tight so that he couldn’t move too far. “But trust me, I have no problem sitting down on the Gate Room stairs and doing this if you push me to it.” The eighth smack hurt, it seriously hurt. Worse than that, he was embarrassed that it hurt. He felt tears gathering at the corner of his eyes as Evan hit him again.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he whispered after another stinging hit landed. “Please stop.” As soon as he said ‘stop’ Evan pushed at him until he slid to his knees on the floor. He looked up to see Evan watching him, with no sign of anger or rage, as he expected to see. “I’m sorry,” John whispered.
“Okay. I know you are. Come here.” Evan opened his arms and John hesitated for a moment and then went to him, pressing against him as Evan rubbed his back. “I know you are.” John didn’t realize he was making noise until Evan started to make shushing sounds as he stroked his hair and rubbed his back.
“Sorry,” John whispered, closed his eyes and sagged into him.
Evan’s lips brushed against his forehead. “What a mess,” he whispered. “Right now, I think I could kill the people that did this to you.” And John knew he didn’t mean the spanking, he might be messed up, but he understood that much. Evan held him for quite a while, until John stopped shaking and his ass stopped throbbing.
He pushed away from Evan and looked up at him sheepishly. “I made you leave work.”
“Nothing that won’t keep.” Evan waved a hand dismissively. “Why don’t we see about the barber? We missed your appointment, but he’ll probably take you anyway.” John nodded and stood, Evan held his arm to keep him steady as he pulled up his pants.
~*~
While John was getting his hair cut, Evan commandeered a computer and shifted his workload around. He called Markham and asked him to cover his training class with the new arrivals so that he could avoid his office for the rest of the day.
“I’m afraid there isn’t too much I can do with it,” Frank the barber said as he shook out the cloth that had been tied around John’s neck. “Boy’s got a ton of cowlicks. Best to just go with it.”
John looked ten years younger without the heavy veil of dark hair hanging down in his face. He was running a hand through the short spikes on his head, smiling slightly. He caught Evan’s eye in the mirror. “I look like me again.”
“Glad to hear it,” Evan laughed. “I have one more thing to do before I can knock off for the day, come on.” He couldn’t help but notice that John wasn’t slouching and his chin was higher, his walk more confident as they left the barber. Chalk one up for a good haircut.
He had to go down to the supply depot and sign off on some stuff that had arrived on the Daedelus. He watched John out of the corner of his eye as he walked through the cases of ammo, running a hand over the labels. He handed John the datapad and said, “I’ll call off the numbers, you mark them with the stylus.” Working together, they quickly had the requisition checked over.
After that, they went to the mess hall to have a meal. Evan gave John a considering look when they got to the door. “You gonna give me a problem?”
“No, sir.”
“Good.”
As they sat picking at their meatloaf and mashed-not-potatoes, Evan said casually, “ We’ve been invited to a movie tonight, you up to it? Maybe seven or eight people, nothing formal, just a video on one of the overheads.”
“Do you want to go?”
“I usually do, this is the group of friends I hang out with in my off time.”
John swallowed and nodded slowly. “Okay.”
“We’ll leave if you’re uncomfortable, you just let me know.”
“Okay,” John agreed more readily with a nod.
~*~
After the spanking, John had expected Evan to be angry, or ignore him. Instead, he was acting as if nothing had happened. It was the same as the day before, when he’d been sent to the corner. Once it was done, it seemed to be done and over with, with no residual consequences. Again, Evan was different than any of his previous overs.
He didn’t know what had come over him when Evan had pushed him off his knees. He’d never fallen apart like that after a beating from Maybourne. It wasn’t as if Evan had really hurt him either, his ass stung a little but that was all. And the hugging. John didn’t think he liked to be hugged or held, but it had felt okay. It had been a lot like he remembered from when he had been a kid. It was just a hug, Evan hadn’t demanded anything beyond that.
That was confusing him, his new over had barely touched him at all. He had turned down John’s offers of sex twice already.
“Do I disgust you?” he blurted as the door of the transporter closed behind them.
“What? No! What would make you think that?” John continued to stare at the floor, embarrassed by his outburst. “John?” Evan prompted.
“We’ve been together two nights and you haven’t touched me.”
Evan sighed and leaned against the wall. “I’m giving you time to settle in, that’s all. I can wait, John. You’ve got a lot on your plate already.”
Surprised at the answer, John looked up and stared at Evan. He had expected to be taken that first night. When Heightmeyer had explained about finding someone in Atlantis that agreed to take him on as an under, he thought the sex was the reason. It had been Maybourne’s reason, and before him it had been the reason of every other over he had been involved with.
The transporter door opened and John suddenly didn’t want to get out when Evan did. “I... can I just go back to your quarters?”
Turning back, Evan gave a shrug. “Not up to it?”
“I thought I was, but... strangers.” Strangers in close company, watching him. He shuddered and Evan reached out and patted his shoulder.
“No big deal. We can sit on the bed and watch something on the laptop. Do you like Godzilla?” Lorne pressed a button on the wall. He didn’t seem upset by John changing his mind literally at the last minute like he just did.
“Mothra?”
“I think I’ve got that one. I also have a bag of Twizzlers stashed. We’ll have our own movie night, and maybe catch the next one with the gang.”
He really wasn’t bothered, John realized as he followed Evan through the door and watched him set up the laptop. Without waiting to be told, he stripped down to boxers and t-shirt as Evan did. That seemed to please his over; Evan smiled when he saw John taking off his jeans.
Climbing up onto the bed, he gingerly settled down beside Lorne as the movie started. Slowly, he relaxed against the pillows, chewing on Twizzler nuggets as Evan offered him the bag. The movie reminded him of rainy days with his friends as a kid, happier times, before he’d gotten involved with Todd and screwed up his life. John made it through one whole movie and part of a second before he dozed off, waking briefly when Evan nudged at him to get under the covers.
The End Originally posted at http://rinkafic.dreamwidth.org/