Arts & Crafts by Kueble (Post Secret)
Title: Arts & Crafts
Rating: PG?
Pairing: McShep
Word Count: 1429
Summary: Heightmeyer set up a post secret board.
Notes: I'm just posting the story here with links to all the postcards that I made for it. If you'd rather read it with the postcards inserted in the story, I put it up in my journal that way.
With Images
When Heightmeyer had sent out the memo, Rodney thought this was going to be a bad idea. Now that he stood in front of the message board full of postcards, he seconded that thought. The good doctor had claimed that if the residents of Atlantis used their creativity to make up postcards that held their deepest secrets, then a lot of tension and worry would be released. Instead, it turned out that the staff was severely lacking in their arts and crafts skills. It took Rodney a week to come down to the abandoned corridor - Heightmeyer had said secrets should be posted in privacy - and finally tack up his own handmade postcard.
Maybe Heightmeyer had been on to something. The sight of his secret mixed in with all the others did make him feel a bit better. He glanced over the rest of the secrets, eager to know what everyone had to hide. The first postcard made him squeak and vow to keep a closer watch over his beloved coffee mug. It had to be one of his scientists, but he couldn’t figure out which one. Miko did have an alarming tendency to get his fresh coffee, but he chalked that up to her not so secret and terrible grade school crush on him. He really had to start attracting better people, or at least people of the proper gender.
The next one was obviously made buy one of the military personal on base. All of the scientists had too much technology lust over the Ancient technology. Granted the marines were great when the Wraith were around, but they tended to think that every Ancient device was designed to blow up in their hands or give them herpes. In fact, Sheppard seems to be the only one who actively searches out new gadgets to turn on. Perhaps he should stay away from the cool Ancient toys and try turning on one of the scientists instead.
Lt. Colonel John Sheppard had his own flock of flyboy groupies on the message board. It seemed for every postcard that showed some kind of disdain or fear of Rodney there were two proclaiming their love for John. Then there was the one that could have represented half the men in the city. Seriously, how did he do it? Rodney wondered what it would be like to run his hands through that carefully crafted hair and mess it up a bit. He glanced around, making sure the hallway was still empty before adjusting himself and glancing back at the board.
There were only two more postcards that Rodney couldn’t match with a person. The first one freaked the hell out of him, and apparently whoever posted it. Heightmeyer had her work cut out for her if that person ever came forward. The other one brought up a slew of memories he’d prefer not to think about (Ford). Ford hadn’t really followed anyone around the way he bounced behind Sheppard. Perhaps they had a thing going on? Ford always seemed to have a permanent need to please John, so it was plausible. Besides, Rodney didn’t see a postcard that fit John yet, so it could be him. Damn.
Caron’s was pretty easy to figure out, as it was true. Granted, the conditions under which the oath was broken were spectacular and wouldn’t have been an issue on Earth. Still, Carson had to be going through a lot of mental shit right now. Rodney made a mental note to spend more time with him before moving on.
Katie Brown’s postcard was an abomination and should be taken down before everyone else on Atlantis figured it out. What kind of dare is that? Apparently the botanists were either juvenile or sadistic. Katie hadn’t even been a good kisser. Cadman was probably in on the whole thing as well. And yeah, Rodney was totally gay, but did that have to be announced to the entire city? Atlantis was still a very militaristic operation, and Rodney didn’t need to give people more reasons to dislike him.
He rolled his eyes at Elizabeth and Zelenka’s. Those two were moving at glacial speed, even though they obviously both felt the same way. Zelenka obviously wasn’t going to do anything until Elizabeth gave him some kind of sign, and the woman was probably thinking too hard over the issue. Sure, she was in command and had a busy and hectic life, but so did everyone on Atlantis. If there wasn’t hope that she could maintain a relationship, there wasn’t much hope for anyone. Rodney would have to bring up the fact that Elizabeth was almost as fluent in languages as Dr. Jackson sometime soon. He wasn’t match-making; he just needed Zelenka to stop humming sappy love songs under his breath while they worked. It was getting damn annoying.
Teyla and (surprisingly) Ronon had also joined in on the mental postcard activity. They were both a bit sad, but as soon as Ronon got his head together, everything would be fine. It was obvious that the man still didn’t feel like he belonged. Rodney would point Teyla to the board later. She was smart enough to figure out what she had to do. Hopefully it would end with a more civilized Ronon and a less forlorn Teyla. Rodney feared she and Elizabeth would start having wistful girly chats about how tragic their love lives were.
“Already put yours up?” Rodney jumped at the sound of John’s voice from behind him. Why did the man have to be so damn stealthy?
“What? Oh, yes,” Rodney cringed, realizing that if he could figure out which postcard belonged to each member of Atlantis, then John certainly could, too.
“Cool,” John nodded, holding up his own. Rodney couldn’t’ see the image, and John made no move to actually hang it up. Instead, he studied the board for a minute. Rodney took a deep breath, considered running away in a manly fashion, and then studied John.
“Ok, got it,” John smirked, turning to face Rodney.
“They’re secrets,” Rodney growled, “You can’t possibly know who goes with what.”
“You’re not the only genius on base, Rodney,” John laughed then began pointing at the postcards, “Weir and Zelenka are completely mad for each other, as are Teyla and Ronon, who should start using those table manners.. Katie Brown is obviously a bitch, and Caron’s is pretty obvious. Whenever you figure out a new piece of Ancient technology, you act like it’s Christmas morning and your favorite team just one the Stanley Cup, so that one’s not you. I don’t think you ever had a thing with Ford. Heightmeyer’s going to have a field day with whoever’s attracted to the Wraith. You obviously don’t want to piss in your own coffee, so it’s got to be this one.” His hand wavered over the postcard of John’s photo. “I mean, you might just want my hair, but I’m thinking it’s more than that. Plus, you’re one of the few people around here with access to my personal file.”
“That’s completely ridiculous,” Rodney stammered, “I, uh, there was this scientist who wants you. So I might have helped with out by letting him look into your file so that he could, uh, get the picture.”
“You just decided to give someone top security clearance because they have a crush on me?” John raised an eyebrow skeptically.
“I, uh, yes. You know how much I love to thwart the regulations,” he let out a forced laugh, hoping John didn’t realize how flushed he was getting.
“Me too,” John smirked, and then pushed Rodney against the corkboard. He held onto his own postcard with one hand, and brought the other one up to cradle Rodney’s head. Rodney sighed when John’s lips pressed against his, opening his mouth under the assault of John’s tongue. The kiss was rough and fast and over far too soon. Rodney couldn’t contain a small whimper when John pulled back.
“Oh,” he said, looking hopefully up at John.
“Yeah,” John let out a breath, “Oh. Meet me in my room before dinner.” He leaned over and stole another quick kiss before letting go of Rodney. He reached over and hung up his postcard, wiggled his eyebrows at Rodney, and walked off.
Rodney kept leaning against the board until he could no longer hear John’s soft humming. Then he looked at the board, snorting when he saw what John had hung up. Maybe Heightmeyer wasn’t so bad after all.
Rating: PG?
Pairing: McShep
Word Count: 1429
Summary: Heightmeyer set up a post secret board.
Notes: I'm just posting the story here with links to all the postcards that I made for it. If you'd rather read it with the postcards inserted in the story, I put it up in my journal that way.
With Images
When Heightmeyer had sent out the memo, Rodney thought this was going to be a bad idea. Now that he stood in front of the message board full of postcards, he seconded that thought. The good doctor had claimed that if the residents of Atlantis used their creativity to make up postcards that held their deepest secrets, then a lot of tension and worry would be released. Instead, it turned out that the staff was severely lacking in their arts and crafts skills. It took Rodney a week to come down to the abandoned corridor - Heightmeyer had said secrets should be posted in privacy - and finally tack up his own handmade postcard.
Maybe Heightmeyer had been on to something. The sight of his secret mixed in with all the others did make him feel a bit better. He glanced over the rest of the secrets, eager to know what everyone had to hide. The first postcard made him squeak and vow to keep a closer watch over his beloved coffee mug. It had to be one of his scientists, but he couldn’t figure out which one. Miko did have an alarming tendency to get his fresh coffee, but he chalked that up to her not so secret and terrible grade school crush on him. He really had to start attracting better people, or at least people of the proper gender.
The next one was obviously made buy one of the military personal on base. All of the scientists had too much technology lust over the Ancient technology. Granted the marines were great when the Wraith were around, but they tended to think that every Ancient device was designed to blow up in their hands or give them herpes. In fact, Sheppard seems to be the only one who actively searches out new gadgets to turn on. Perhaps he should stay away from the cool Ancient toys and try turning on one of the scientists instead.
Lt. Colonel John Sheppard had his own flock of flyboy groupies on the message board. It seemed for every postcard that showed some kind of disdain or fear of Rodney there were two proclaiming their love for John. Then there was the one that could have represented half the men in the city. Seriously, how did he do it? Rodney wondered what it would be like to run his hands through that carefully crafted hair and mess it up a bit. He glanced around, making sure the hallway was still empty before adjusting himself and glancing back at the board.
There were only two more postcards that Rodney couldn’t match with a person. The first one freaked the hell out of him, and apparently whoever posted it. Heightmeyer had her work cut out for her if that person ever came forward. The other one brought up a slew of memories he’d prefer not to think about (Ford). Ford hadn’t really followed anyone around the way he bounced behind Sheppard. Perhaps they had a thing going on? Ford always seemed to have a permanent need to please John, so it was plausible. Besides, Rodney didn’t see a postcard that fit John yet, so it could be him. Damn.
Caron’s was pretty easy to figure out, as it was true. Granted, the conditions under which the oath was broken were spectacular and wouldn’t have been an issue on Earth. Still, Carson had to be going through a lot of mental shit right now. Rodney made a mental note to spend more time with him before moving on.
Katie Brown’s postcard was an abomination and should be taken down before everyone else on Atlantis figured it out. What kind of dare is that? Apparently the botanists were either juvenile or sadistic. Katie hadn’t even been a good kisser. Cadman was probably in on the whole thing as well. And yeah, Rodney was totally gay, but did that have to be announced to the entire city? Atlantis was still a very militaristic operation, and Rodney didn’t need to give people more reasons to dislike him.
He rolled his eyes at Elizabeth and Zelenka’s. Those two were moving at glacial speed, even though they obviously both felt the same way. Zelenka obviously wasn’t going to do anything until Elizabeth gave him some kind of sign, and the woman was probably thinking too hard over the issue. Sure, she was in command and had a busy and hectic life, but so did everyone on Atlantis. If there wasn’t hope that she could maintain a relationship, there wasn’t much hope for anyone. Rodney would have to bring up the fact that Elizabeth was almost as fluent in languages as Dr. Jackson sometime soon. He wasn’t match-making; he just needed Zelenka to stop humming sappy love songs under his breath while they worked. It was getting damn annoying.
Teyla and (surprisingly) Ronon had also joined in on the mental postcard activity. They were both a bit sad, but as soon as Ronon got his head together, everything would be fine. It was obvious that the man still didn’t feel like he belonged. Rodney would point Teyla to the board later. She was smart enough to figure out what she had to do. Hopefully it would end with a more civilized Ronon and a less forlorn Teyla. Rodney feared she and Elizabeth would start having wistful girly chats about how tragic their love lives were.
“Already put yours up?” Rodney jumped at the sound of John’s voice from behind him. Why did the man have to be so damn stealthy?
“What? Oh, yes,” Rodney cringed, realizing that if he could figure out which postcard belonged to each member of Atlantis, then John certainly could, too.
“Cool,” John nodded, holding up his own. Rodney couldn’t’ see the image, and John made no move to actually hang it up. Instead, he studied the board for a minute. Rodney took a deep breath, considered running away in a manly fashion, and then studied John.
“Ok, got it,” John smirked, turning to face Rodney.
“They’re secrets,” Rodney growled, “You can’t possibly know who goes with what.”
“You’re not the only genius on base, Rodney,” John laughed then began pointing at the postcards, “Weir and Zelenka are completely mad for each other, as are Teyla and Ronon, who should start using those table manners.. Katie Brown is obviously a bitch, and Caron’s is pretty obvious. Whenever you figure out a new piece of Ancient technology, you act like it’s Christmas morning and your favorite team just one the Stanley Cup, so that one’s not you. I don’t think you ever had a thing with Ford. Heightmeyer’s going to have a field day with whoever’s attracted to the Wraith. You obviously don’t want to piss in your own coffee, so it’s got to be this one.” His hand wavered over the postcard of John’s photo. “I mean, you might just want my hair, but I’m thinking it’s more than that. Plus, you’re one of the few people around here with access to my personal file.”
“That’s completely ridiculous,” Rodney stammered, “I, uh, there was this scientist who wants you. So I might have helped with out by letting him look into your file so that he could, uh, get the picture.”
“You just decided to give someone top security clearance because they have a crush on me?” John raised an eyebrow skeptically.
“I, uh, yes. You know how much I love to thwart the regulations,” he let out a forced laugh, hoping John didn’t realize how flushed he was getting.
“Me too,” John smirked, and then pushed Rodney against the corkboard. He held onto his own postcard with one hand, and brought the other one up to cradle Rodney’s head. Rodney sighed when John’s lips pressed against his, opening his mouth under the assault of John’s tongue. The kiss was rough and fast and over far too soon. Rodney couldn’t contain a small whimper when John pulled back.
“Oh,” he said, looking hopefully up at John.
“Yeah,” John let out a breath, “Oh. Meet me in my room before dinner.” He leaned over and stole another quick kiss before letting go of Rodney. He reached over and hung up his postcard, wiggled his eyebrows at Rodney, and walked off.
Rodney kept leaning against the board until he could no longer hear John’s soft humming. Then he looked at the board, snorting when he saw what John had hung up. Maybe Heightmeyer wasn’t so bad after all.