Fic: Secret Sundays (Post-Secret Challenge, Slash)
Title: Secret Sundays
Author: gemmi999
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: McShep!
Notes: This is IMAGE Heavy! All images are WORKSAFE, but still...not dialup friendly. All artwork made by Gemmi999.
Summary: Crack!Fic -- SGA has their own Post Secret board, and every Sunday new postcards go up...
It all started because Lorne had a little sister who enjoyed art. She enjoyed gossip even more, however, so when she discovered the Post Secrets website, she was instantly thrilled. She proceeded to save the most scandelous images to her harddrive, and once a month would email them to Lorne so he could appreciate them too, in the "wilderness, or wherever, that you are."
Or rather, it all started because Lorne was secretly an artist, and he enjoyed gossip just as much as his sister. Secretly, at that. So he decided to take the entire Post Secret idea one step further, and develop an Atlantis Secret message board. An actual message board, at that,with push pins and tape and a bit of corkboard so that Commander Weir didn't yell at him again for ruining the walls of the Ancient City with thumbtacks.
He labored over the entire process for many an hour, making sure it was in a dark enough hallway of Atlantis that the camera's couldn't be viewed later to see who posted what image. He recruited Heightmeyer to the cause, reasoning that a Shrink would love the idea of unburdening onesself without the inconvience of having to have the awkward conversations that would follow. And with Heightmeyer's assistance, Weir was an easy sale.
So, everything was running perfectly...he had the board ready to go live, the first postcard selected (Heightmeyer said one of her patients made it, and Lorne was inclind to leave it at that), and the glittery sign was complete. Phase one down--now Lorne just had to post the picture and wait for everyone to start doing the same.
So, the first secret wasn't exactly the sexiest, and most people looked at the entire project as a joke. McKay commented within Lorne's hearing that whomever was stealing office supplies obviously had no life, which made McKay feel infinitely better about himself. Sheppard looked at the board and just laughed and laughed, then muttered about missing post-its and the possible need to set up security around the file-folders.
Commander Weir just smiled as she passed the wall, and later suggested that Lorne put up some type of directions or mission statement for the board, because otherwise people wouldn't know that they should be creating secrets to share as well.
Lorne thought about it for an evening, and was about to do so when Heightmeyer pulled him aside with another postcard a patient had made. Apparentlly Heightmeyer was considering making it mandatory for various personal to create postcards as a type of independent therapy, and one patient had stepped up as a guinnea pig. Lorne just looked at the picture and then nodded--it was a little better than the first one, maybe people would be a little more receptive to the idea.
"You're not supposed to make it that obvious, McKay." Sheppard looked at his friend with exaggerated emotion. "We know that you had problems with your parents, and well, the secret was kind of easy to guess."
Rodney didn't bother looking up from his laptop, instead typing and murmuring "hmmmm" every couple of seconds to imply that he was listening.
"Seriously, McKay."
"I have no clue what you're talking about, Colonel. Nor do I want to find out--I'm currently very busy, and I would appreciate it if you could please leave me alone, or, failing that, be silent."
John shook his head and turned to leave the room. Knowing McKay, he really was busy trying to save Atlantis from something or other. He'd just have to show him.
That was when the physical message board became electronic, and everyone was emailed the newest secret within a couple hours of it having been posted. Always emailed from an anonymous address, with a tag on the bottom that suggested if anybody actually traced the email, they would be in for a world of hurt, curtesy of Ronon.
"I didn't write that!" John looked at everyone at the table, nodding frantically. "I really didn't--flying doesn't...well,".
"John," Elizabeth smiled at him, obviously trying to calm him down. "Nobody thinks its you. There are a lot of other people who fly the puddlejumpers, and..."
"Yeah right," Rodney cut in.
"But, I didn't make it! I swear!" John was beyond frantic now.
"Me thinks thou does protest too much," Rodney murmured under his breath. John sighed and banged his head against the table--people weren't going to believe him, anyway.
"Did you see it?" Rodney smiled at Sheppard as they passed in the hall. "Somebody thinks I'm cute."
"That's not what it says, McKay." John sighed. "It says they think you're an asshole."
Rodney sighed, "I am an asshole, Sheppard...but a cute one!"
That was when the postcards became more interesting. Lorne smiled to himself as he witness the buzz that was flying along Atlantis; people everywhere trying to figure out who exactly Sheppard had given a V.D. to, and which one in particular.
Lorne noticed that Sheppard spent most of the day in his office, hiding his face from the crowds, but that was price of posting secrets--things you didn't want people to know about you came out, an often in an unflattering way.
Oh well--it definitely made life more interesting, anyways.
After the newest round of pictures, Commander Weir implemented a new rule: all secrets needed to be approved by either herself or Sheppard before they could be distributed to the community at large. There were far too many circulating that seemed to paint the entire leadership team in a bad light, and some of them were doubtful in their truthiness.
For a little while, people respected the ruling, and no new postcards came out. People didn't want to admit to the secret, especially to a person with some authority over the entire community. But then again, it was awfully easy to simply create a new account and link it directly from Sheppard's computer, so people thought he had approved it when in fact he hadn't ever seen it before...
But nobody cared--the secret wasn't interesting in the slightest, and most people who watched Heroes seemed to have a genuine affection for the show. Rodney could be heard muttering "save the ZedPM, Save the World" under his breath occasionally, and other scientists got together on Sunday evening to watch it after the newest data burst from Earth came through--a couple marines back home had family who were willing to email them the torrents of the various tv shows every week.
During all of this, life in the Pegasus galaxy went on. Wraith attacked; wraith died. Occasionally people did utter idiotic things and got themselves killed. And then, a new post-secret came out.
Heighmeyer considered it a healthy step forward; that too many people had repressed the awful things that happened in Atlantis. She proposed a weekly memorial service to honor the people who had already passed. Weir thought that might be a little much, but she did approve the beginnings of a memorial wall--each person who had passed had their name painstakingly added to an ever expanding list that was posted for all to see.
The whole Post-Secret thing was considered much more respectable now, too, and people began posting serious things on an almost-regular basis:
"Did you see the latest secrets?" Rodney asked John as they sat down in the mess. "It's strange, two completelly different reactions to the same stimulus."
"God, Rodney..." John shook his head. "People are homesick, or they've accepted that they aren't going home."
"I didn't say anything bad..."
"You're right, you didn't."
"So," Rodney looked at John quizzically. "Have you posted one yet? Besides the one about flying, I mean."
"I didn't post that one," John recited from memory. He'd given up fighting that particular battle a few weeks earlier--getting upset gave Rodney far too much satisfaction.
"Yeah, well...I think you should."
John looked at Rodney for a second before nodding, once. "I'll post one, just for you."
"Thanks."
Four days later, John walked into the dining hall absentmindedly. He grabbed a tray and sat down by McKay, took a drink of orange (well, green something or other) juice and prompty choked on it when he saw the button McKay was wearing.
"Um," he paused, unsure of what to say.
"Oh," Rodney took something out of his pocket and handed it to John. "I'm, well, Katie Brown bought of bunch of these and started handing them out. I snagged a few for our team."
It was the pin--from his postcard. "Um," he tried again.
"Of course, she didn't get any with a Canadian flag, but I'm not upset about that. At least in my country I can get married if I want to, let alone wear a pride pin." McKay took a bite of his breakfast.
"Um," John tried one more time.
"I mean, it's absolutely disgraceful that the American Military has a problem with people being homosexual. Its one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard!"
John shook his head carefully before looking at the pin in his hand. It wasn't quite the same as the one from the picture, but it was close enough. He pinned it on carefully and tried not to gape as he noticed other people throughout the cafeteria wearing the same pin. Talk about solidarity.
"I thought you were going to post a secret," McKay looked at John, "not that I think who ever posted the latest one isn't brave, but where's yours?"
John took a deep breath before responding: "it is mine, McKay."
Rodney promptly shut up, but not before reaching out and holding onto Sheppard's hand, tightly. Nothing else needed to be said.
~~
A couple of weeks later, John wokeup to find this in his in-box.
Author: gemmi999
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: McShep!
Notes: This is IMAGE Heavy! All images are WORKSAFE, but still...not dialup friendly. All artwork made by Gemmi999.
Summary: Crack!Fic -- SGA has their own Post Secret board, and every Sunday new postcards go up...
It all started because Lorne had a little sister who enjoyed art. She enjoyed gossip even more, however, so when she discovered the Post Secrets website, she was instantly thrilled. She proceeded to save the most scandelous images to her harddrive, and once a month would email them to Lorne so he could appreciate them too, in the "wilderness, or wherever, that you are."
Or rather, it all started because Lorne was secretly an artist, and he enjoyed gossip just as much as his sister. Secretly, at that. So he decided to take the entire Post Secret idea one step further, and develop an Atlantis Secret message board. An actual message board, at that,with push pins and tape and a bit of corkboard so that Commander Weir didn't yell at him again for ruining the walls of the Ancient City with thumbtacks.
He labored over the entire process for many an hour, making sure it was in a dark enough hallway of Atlantis that the camera's couldn't be viewed later to see who posted what image. He recruited Heightmeyer to the cause, reasoning that a Shrink would love the idea of unburdening onesself without the inconvience of having to have the awkward conversations that would follow. And with Heightmeyer's assistance, Weir was an easy sale.
So, everything was running perfectly...he had the board ready to go live, the first postcard selected (Heightmeyer said one of her patients made it, and Lorne was inclind to leave it at that), and the glittery sign was complete. Phase one down--now Lorne just had to post the picture and wait for everyone to start doing the same.
So, the first secret wasn't exactly the sexiest, and most people looked at the entire project as a joke. McKay commented within Lorne's hearing that whomever was stealing office supplies obviously had no life, which made McKay feel infinitely better about himself. Sheppard looked at the board and just laughed and laughed, then muttered about missing post-its and the possible need to set up security around the file-folders.
Commander Weir just smiled as she passed the wall, and later suggested that Lorne put up some type of directions or mission statement for the board, because otherwise people wouldn't know that they should be creating secrets to share as well.
Lorne thought about it for an evening, and was about to do so when Heightmeyer pulled him aside with another postcard a patient had made. Apparentlly Heightmeyer was considering making it mandatory for various personal to create postcards as a type of independent therapy, and one patient had stepped up as a guinnea pig. Lorne just looked at the picture and then nodded--it was a little better than the first one, maybe people would be a little more receptive to the idea.
"You're not supposed to make it that obvious, McKay." Sheppard looked at his friend with exaggerated emotion. "We know that you had problems with your parents, and well, the secret was kind of easy to guess."
Rodney didn't bother looking up from his laptop, instead typing and murmuring "hmmmm" every couple of seconds to imply that he was listening.
"Seriously, McKay."
"I have no clue what you're talking about, Colonel. Nor do I want to find out--I'm currently very busy, and I would appreciate it if you could please leave me alone, or, failing that, be silent."
John shook his head and turned to leave the room. Knowing McKay, he really was busy trying to save Atlantis from something or other. He'd just have to show him.
That was when the physical message board became electronic, and everyone was emailed the newest secret within a couple hours of it having been posted. Always emailed from an anonymous address, with a tag on the bottom that suggested if anybody actually traced the email, they would be in for a world of hurt, curtesy of Ronon.
"I didn't write that!" John looked at everyone at the table, nodding frantically. "I really didn't--flying doesn't...well,".
"John," Elizabeth smiled at him, obviously trying to calm him down. "Nobody thinks its you. There are a lot of other people who fly the puddlejumpers, and..."
"Yeah right," Rodney cut in.
"But, I didn't make it! I swear!" John was beyond frantic now.
"Me thinks thou does protest too much," Rodney murmured under his breath. John sighed and banged his head against the table--people weren't going to believe him, anyway.
"Did you see it?" Rodney smiled at Sheppard as they passed in the hall. "Somebody thinks I'm cute."
"That's not what it says, McKay." John sighed. "It says they think you're an asshole."
Rodney sighed, "I am an asshole, Sheppard...but a cute one!"
That was when the postcards became more interesting. Lorne smiled to himself as he witness the buzz that was flying along Atlantis; people everywhere trying to figure out who exactly Sheppard had given a V.D. to, and which one in particular.
Lorne noticed that Sheppard spent most of the day in his office, hiding his face from the crowds, but that was price of posting secrets--things you didn't want people to know about you came out, an often in an unflattering way.
Oh well--it definitely made life more interesting, anyways.
After the newest round of pictures, Commander Weir implemented a new rule: all secrets needed to be approved by either herself or Sheppard before they could be distributed to the community at large. There were far too many circulating that seemed to paint the entire leadership team in a bad light, and some of them were doubtful in their truthiness.
For a little while, people respected the ruling, and no new postcards came out. People didn't want to admit to the secret, especially to a person with some authority over the entire community. But then again, it was awfully easy to simply create a new account and link it directly from Sheppard's computer, so people thought he had approved it when in fact he hadn't ever seen it before...
But nobody cared--the secret wasn't interesting in the slightest, and most people who watched Heroes seemed to have a genuine affection for the show. Rodney could be heard muttering "save the ZedPM, Save the World" under his breath occasionally, and other scientists got together on Sunday evening to watch it after the newest data burst from Earth came through--a couple marines back home had family who were willing to email them the torrents of the various tv shows every week.
During all of this, life in the Pegasus galaxy went on. Wraith attacked; wraith died. Occasionally people did utter idiotic things and got themselves killed. And then, a new post-secret came out.
Heighmeyer considered it a healthy step forward; that too many people had repressed the awful things that happened in Atlantis. She proposed a weekly memorial service to honor the people who had already passed. Weir thought that might be a little much, but she did approve the beginnings of a memorial wall--each person who had passed had their name painstakingly added to an ever expanding list that was posted for all to see.
The whole Post-Secret thing was considered much more respectable now, too, and people began posting serious things on an almost-regular basis:
"Did you see the latest secrets?" Rodney asked John as they sat down in the mess. "It's strange, two completelly different reactions to the same stimulus."
"God, Rodney..." John shook his head. "People are homesick, or they've accepted that they aren't going home."
"I didn't say anything bad..."
"You're right, you didn't."
"So," Rodney looked at John quizzically. "Have you posted one yet? Besides the one about flying, I mean."
"I didn't post that one," John recited from memory. He'd given up fighting that particular battle a few weeks earlier--getting upset gave Rodney far too much satisfaction.
"Yeah, well...I think you should."
John looked at Rodney for a second before nodding, once. "I'll post one, just for you."
"Thanks."
Four days later, John walked into the dining hall absentmindedly. He grabbed a tray and sat down by McKay, took a drink of orange (well, green something or other) juice and prompty choked on it when he saw the button McKay was wearing.
"Um," he paused, unsure of what to say.
"Oh," Rodney took something out of his pocket and handed it to John. "I'm, well, Katie Brown bought of bunch of these and started handing them out. I snagged a few for our team."
It was the pin--from his postcard. "Um," he tried again.
"Of course, she didn't get any with a Canadian flag, but I'm not upset about that. At least in my country I can get married if I want to, let alone wear a pride pin." McKay took a bite of his breakfast.
"Um," John tried one more time.
"I mean, it's absolutely disgraceful that the American Military has a problem with people being homosexual. Its one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard!"
John shook his head carefully before looking at the pin in his hand. It wasn't quite the same as the one from the picture, but it was close enough. He pinned it on carefully and tried not to gape as he noticed other people throughout the cafeteria wearing the same pin. Talk about solidarity.
"I thought you were going to post a secret," McKay looked at John, "not that I think who ever posted the latest one isn't brave, but where's yours?"
John took a deep breath before responding: "it is mine, McKay."
Rodney promptly shut up, but not before reaching out and holding onto Sheppard's hand, tightly. Nothing else needed to be said.
~~
A couple of weeks later, John wokeup to find this in his in-box.