Fifth Time's the Charm by Morena Donn (Amnesty 2008, Five Things Challenge)
Title: Fifth Times the Charm
Author: morena_donn
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard (with mention of canon het)
Word count: 2,100
Authors Note / Summary / Spoilers: An exploration of several onscreen kisses from Seasons 1 and 2 - plus one that happened off screen.
Thanks to brindel for the quickie beta
1) and 2), Rodney
Rodney wasn’t sure which was more disturbing: the fact that his first two kisses in the Pegasus Galaxy had occurred when he wasn’t in control of his body, of the fact that, of the two kisses, one with his *date* Katie Brown, the other with a very surprised Carson Beckett, the second was definitely better. It wasn’t that Rodney minded that Carson was male: he was a firm believer in to each their own. Man, woman, or rutabaga, a person’s sexual partner was no one's business but theirs, as long as it was consensual, although, come to think of it, it might be a bit difficult to get consent from a rutabaga. But that was beside the point. The point was that Rodney himself had never had the slightest interest in men, and he didn’t know why he had reacted as did. He wasn’t sure if he knew everything because he was a genius or was a genius because he had to know everything, but either way, he hated not knowing.
Had the second kiss been better because it was filtered through Cadman’s experience, and *she* wanted Carson? Was it simply that Rodney was comfortable with Carson, and the nervousness he’d felt around Katie had taken away from the experience? Or did he in fact have a hither to undiscovered preference for men? Rodney didn’t know and he hated that. So he set out to experiment.
1) and 2), John
John watched as Lt. Cadman seized control of Rodney’s body then kissed Doc Beckett, and winced in sympathy. Being involved in a kiss that was out of your control was not fun. He should know - he’d been there twice.
He wasn’t sure if Chaya had unintentionally lured him with some sort of weird Ancient pheromone, or if she’d actively seduced him with Ascended mind control, but he’d felt ... compelled .... from the moment he met her. The kiss itself hadn’t been bad, but was nothing to write home about. What stuck with him from the incident was Rodney’s reaction. Okay, maybe he had been driven by jealousy, but he’d been *right*, and John had treated him like shit.
John’s second Pegasus galaxy kiss had been even worse. Well, to be perfectly honest, it had been kind of hot, as his body continued to remind him at inopportune moments, but he’d been out of his fucking mind and had basically assaulted Teyla, spoiling what might have been pleasant, under other circumstances. It was probably just as well. Her graceful acceptance just went to prove what he’d always suspected, that she was out of his league.
3) and 4), Rodney
Cadman had used his body to make another date with Katie Brown, so Rodney figured he’d start his experiments there. It was the most excruciating date of Rodney’s admittedly somewhat limited experience. Katie’s imagination, helped along by Cadman’s outrageous behavior, had raised expectations that Rodney could never hope to meet, and her air of faint disappointment had him on edge all evening. To make it worse, he had to constantly watch what he said, as the slightest hint of the friendly insults and barbed comments he so enjoyed exchanging with Sheppard and Zelenka made her eyes fill with tears.
But, he had an experiment to conduct, so he did his best to stay awake despite the lack of mental stimulation, and when it was finally late enough for him to escape without insulting Katie, he drew her into a kiss. If anything, it was worse than the first, the one with Cadman in control. Katie seemed to sense it too, and she closed the door behind him with a sense of finality. Rodney was relieved. He generally didn’t waste much time worrying about other people’s feelings, but he’d been planning to make an exception this time. The fact was he’d *used* Katie to satisfy his curiosity, and he felt he owed it to her to let her down gently. However, it didn’t look like that would be necessary.
So kissing Katie without Cadman’s interference had been a complete and utter disaster. Score one for a hither to unknown attraction to males. Rodney supposed he ought to be upset about this: 38 was a bit old for such a revelation, and it didn’t say much about his observational skills. However, it did provide a reason for his dismal dating history, one he found much more palatable than the cutting and obviously *untrue* remarks made by most of the women he’d dated.
All in all, Rodney considered the experiment a success. He had a surprising but acceptable explanation for the puzzle of his reaction to the two Cadman-driven kisses, and he could return to business as usual. Or so he thought, until he found himself trapped in a jumper on the ocean floor, and the hallucination of Sam Carter blew his new theory out of the water, so to speak.
Rodney’s first two Pegasus galaxy kisses had occurred without his consent. The third was a failure. The fourth didn’t really occur at all: it was all in his head. Never-the-less, it was the best of the batch, by far. This struck Rodney as both very unfair and very logical - after all, there wouldn’t have been much point in hallucinating a *bad* kiss.
3) and 4), John
John’s third Pegasus kiss was completely both under his control, and driven by circumstances. Teer wasn’t an Ancient, and she wasn’t ascended. He could have refused her invitation, but there didn’t seem to be much point. It looked like he was going to be stuck here for a very long time, and he was tired of spending the endless hours of meditation thinking about how much he missed Rodney and Teyla and the others. This would give him something new to dwell on.
He didn’t see the fourth one coming at all. For the first time since his capture, he was kinda glad McKay wasn’t there, because he really didn’t need to hear another Kirk comment. And then he’d been *really* glad Rodney wasn’t there, because the pushy woman was blonde, and Rodney would have been extremely jealous this time. And then his body took an interest in the proceedings and, okay, yes, sex with a princess of the people holding him captive probably wasn’t the best idea, but drawing negative attention could be even worse. These people were remarkably feudal, and not bowing to the wishes of one of the highest ranking among them could be dangerous. At least that’s what he told himself, as he let her have her way. And if Rodney McKay’s face flashed in his minds-eye as he came, it was only because he wanted his friend to come and rescue him already, before things got awkward.
5) Rodney
Rodney’s reaction to his hallucinated kiss left him more confused than ever. He needed to find a flesh and blood male, preferably one he didn’t know well, so he could rule out his being comfortable with Carson as the reason for that kiss being better.
For a while, he was too busy to devote much attention to his quest. And then, several weeks later, he was trapped in a small room with Colonel Sheppard - and without his laptop, or anything else to occupy his mind. Rodney spent the time considering and rejecting various men to involve in his experiment. No one seemed right. Around the third hour, he decided to ask Sheppard’s opinion. He knew he was taking a risk, but Sheppard was his friend, and he didn’t anticipate a horribly bad reaction. And besides, the man’s pacing was driving him nuts, and he figured that even dealing with an angry Colonel was preferable to being driven slowly insane by the man’s echoing footsteps, or dying of his own case of acute boredom.
Rodney stumbled his way through an explanation of what he wanted and why, anxiously searching Sheppard’s face for signs of disgust. Instead .... "Try me," he offered with a predatory smile.
Rodney couldn’t tell if he was joking, and really, getting hit wasn’t sounding so good. "I know you too well," he hedged. "That removes one of the variables. I need to know if nerves have anything to do with it."
"Ah, but you don’t know how I’ll react. That should make you nervous." Sheppard reached out and gripped his shoulders, hard. His smile had a dangerous edge, and Rodney had to steal himself not to flinch away. The smile faded, and the grip softened. "Anyway, I’ve been having a similar problem."
"Ah, come on, are you telling me Captain Kirk isn’t happy with his sex life?" Rodney asked, incredulous.
"Let’s just say kissing hot alien chicks isn’t what it’s cracked up to be." Sheppard answered. "So, I figure, why not give this a try?"
Sheppard’s hands, still on Rodney’s shoulders, began a motion that could only be described as a caress, so it was perfectly understandable that it took him a moment to come up with a reply.
"Because I like you, god knows why." Rodney began. Sheppard stuck out his tongue. Rodney shook his head. "Yes, well, improbable as it may seem, I enjoy your company and I don’t want to, to spoil our friendship," he continued, hoping that would be the end of it. Unfortunately, the other man was just as stubborn as he.
"Look, we try it once, and if we don’t like it we’ll never speak of it again," he insisted. "Relax," he continued, sliding his hands downward, circling his thumbs lightly over Rodney’s biceps. "I promise not to deck you, and if it turns out I enjoy it I’d rather no one else knew. I trust you."
Unable to refute the argument, and more than a little shaken by the look in Sheppard’s eyes when he’d made that last statement, Rodney conceded defeat. "If we’re gonna do this, I want to do it right," he insisted, setting his hands firmly on the taller man’s waist, feeling the heat of his body through his thin black shirt. Fast metabolism. No wonder he’s so skinny he thought absently, shifting his hands and spreading his fingers to adsorb the maximum possible warmth.
John’s tongue darted out, wetting his lips, and Rodney was hit with a sudden desire to know if they were as soft as they looked. He licked his own lips and tilted his head. That was all the invitation John needed. One hand drifted up, coming to rest on the nape of Rodney’s neck as John ducked his head, bringing their lips gently together.
And yes, they were soft, and a little rough, and slick in the center where his tongue had touched. Rodney teased that spot with his own tongue, and John’s mouth opened eagerly beneath his. Rodney had never really seen the attraction of French kissing - it seemed so unsanitary - but this, this was worth exposing himself to a million germs. John’s tongue was warm and supple, and its touch sent shivers coursing through his body. Tentatively, he brought his own tongue into play, and that felt even better. Feeling suddenly lightheaded, he leaned back against the wall - which promptly gave way, sending them tumbling into the hallway.
5) John
John was in the middle of experiencing a very satisfactory, one might even say world shaking, fifth-kiss-in-the-Pegasus Galaxy, when the world (or at least the wall) *did* move, and his partner stumbled backwards. He somehow managed to twist and crouch, getting one knee down and catching Rodney before he crashed to the floor. It left them in a rather compromising position, which wouldn’t have been a problem, except that they were no longer alone. A quiet cough sounded, and John looked up into the inscrutable face of his second in command.
"Nice catch, sir." Major Lorne said, deadpan, before turning to Radek Zelenka, who was kneeling in the midst of impressive array of tools. "See, I told you they’d come out when they were good and ready. You really didn’t need me to play pack mule."
Zelenka murmured something in reply, which John didn’t catch, being too busy radioing Elizabeth, telling her that he and Rodney were fine, and being ordered to the Infirmary, ‘just in case’.
They were soon cleared, with Carson stating, with the air of someone expecting to be ignored, that they were ‘in no worse shape than usual’ and suggesting that they get some rest. Rodney, predictably, began to argue that he was far too important to waste time resting. John just smiled, hauling him out of the Infirmary by his wrist. He had no intention of resting, either, but he *did* have some plans that involved Rodney and a bed.
Author: morena_donn
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard (with mention of canon het)
Word count: 2,100
Authors Note / Summary / Spoilers: An exploration of several onscreen kisses from Seasons 1 and 2 - plus one that happened off screen.
Thanks to brindel for the quickie beta
1) and 2), Rodney
Rodney wasn’t sure which was more disturbing: the fact that his first two kisses in the Pegasus Galaxy had occurred when he wasn’t in control of his body, of the fact that, of the two kisses, one with his *date* Katie Brown, the other with a very surprised Carson Beckett, the second was definitely better. It wasn’t that Rodney minded that Carson was male: he was a firm believer in to each their own. Man, woman, or rutabaga, a person’s sexual partner was no one's business but theirs, as long as it was consensual, although, come to think of it, it might be a bit difficult to get consent from a rutabaga. But that was beside the point. The point was that Rodney himself had never had the slightest interest in men, and he didn’t know why he had reacted as did. He wasn’t sure if he knew everything because he was a genius or was a genius because he had to know everything, but either way, he hated not knowing.
Had the second kiss been better because it was filtered through Cadman’s experience, and *she* wanted Carson? Was it simply that Rodney was comfortable with Carson, and the nervousness he’d felt around Katie had taken away from the experience? Or did he in fact have a hither to undiscovered preference for men? Rodney didn’t know and he hated that. So he set out to experiment.
1) and 2), John
John watched as Lt. Cadman seized control of Rodney’s body then kissed Doc Beckett, and winced in sympathy. Being involved in a kiss that was out of your control was not fun. He should know - he’d been there twice.
He wasn’t sure if Chaya had unintentionally lured him with some sort of weird Ancient pheromone, or if she’d actively seduced him with Ascended mind control, but he’d felt ... compelled .... from the moment he met her. The kiss itself hadn’t been bad, but was nothing to write home about. What stuck with him from the incident was Rodney’s reaction. Okay, maybe he had been driven by jealousy, but he’d been *right*, and John had treated him like shit.
John’s second Pegasus galaxy kiss had been even worse. Well, to be perfectly honest, it had been kind of hot, as his body continued to remind him at inopportune moments, but he’d been out of his fucking mind and had basically assaulted Teyla, spoiling what might have been pleasant, under other circumstances. It was probably just as well. Her graceful acceptance just went to prove what he’d always suspected, that she was out of his league.
3) and 4), Rodney
Cadman had used his body to make another date with Katie Brown, so Rodney figured he’d start his experiments there. It was the most excruciating date of Rodney’s admittedly somewhat limited experience. Katie’s imagination, helped along by Cadman’s outrageous behavior, had raised expectations that Rodney could never hope to meet, and her air of faint disappointment had him on edge all evening. To make it worse, he had to constantly watch what he said, as the slightest hint of the friendly insults and barbed comments he so enjoyed exchanging with Sheppard and Zelenka made her eyes fill with tears.
But, he had an experiment to conduct, so he did his best to stay awake despite the lack of mental stimulation, and when it was finally late enough for him to escape without insulting Katie, he drew her into a kiss. If anything, it was worse than the first, the one with Cadman in control. Katie seemed to sense it too, and she closed the door behind him with a sense of finality. Rodney was relieved. He generally didn’t waste much time worrying about other people’s feelings, but he’d been planning to make an exception this time. The fact was he’d *used* Katie to satisfy his curiosity, and he felt he owed it to her to let her down gently. However, it didn’t look like that would be necessary.
So kissing Katie without Cadman’s interference had been a complete and utter disaster. Score one for a hither to unknown attraction to males. Rodney supposed he ought to be upset about this: 38 was a bit old for such a revelation, and it didn’t say much about his observational skills. However, it did provide a reason for his dismal dating history, one he found much more palatable than the cutting and obviously *untrue* remarks made by most of the women he’d dated.
All in all, Rodney considered the experiment a success. He had a surprising but acceptable explanation for the puzzle of his reaction to the two Cadman-driven kisses, and he could return to business as usual. Or so he thought, until he found himself trapped in a jumper on the ocean floor, and the hallucination of Sam Carter blew his new theory out of the water, so to speak.
Rodney’s first two Pegasus galaxy kisses had occurred without his consent. The third was a failure. The fourth didn’t really occur at all: it was all in his head. Never-the-less, it was the best of the batch, by far. This struck Rodney as both very unfair and very logical - after all, there wouldn’t have been much point in hallucinating a *bad* kiss.
3) and 4), John
John’s third Pegasus kiss was completely both under his control, and driven by circumstances. Teer wasn’t an Ancient, and she wasn’t ascended. He could have refused her invitation, but there didn’t seem to be much point. It looked like he was going to be stuck here for a very long time, and he was tired of spending the endless hours of meditation thinking about how much he missed Rodney and Teyla and the others. This would give him something new to dwell on.
He didn’t see the fourth one coming at all. For the first time since his capture, he was kinda glad McKay wasn’t there, because he really didn’t need to hear another Kirk comment. And then he’d been *really* glad Rodney wasn’t there, because the pushy woman was blonde, and Rodney would have been extremely jealous this time. And then his body took an interest in the proceedings and, okay, yes, sex with a princess of the people holding him captive probably wasn’t the best idea, but drawing negative attention could be even worse. These people were remarkably feudal, and not bowing to the wishes of one of the highest ranking among them could be dangerous. At least that’s what he told himself, as he let her have her way. And if Rodney McKay’s face flashed in his minds-eye as he came, it was only because he wanted his friend to come and rescue him already, before things got awkward.
5) Rodney
Rodney’s reaction to his hallucinated kiss left him more confused than ever. He needed to find a flesh and blood male, preferably one he didn’t know well, so he could rule out his being comfortable with Carson as the reason for that kiss being better.
For a while, he was too busy to devote much attention to his quest. And then, several weeks later, he was trapped in a small room with Colonel Sheppard - and without his laptop, or anything else to occupy his mind. Rodney spent the time considering and rejecting various men to involve in his experiment. No one seemed right. Around the third hour, he decided to ask Sheppard’s opinion. He knew he was taking a risk, but Sheppard was his friend, and he didn’t anticipate a horribly bad reaction. And besides, the man’s pacing was driving him nuts, and he figured that even dealing with an angry Colonel was preferable to being driven slowly insane by the man’s echoing footsteps, or dying of his own case of acute boredom.
Rodney stumbled his way through an explanation of what he wanted and why, anxiously searching Sheppard’s face for signs of disgust. Instead .... "Try me," he offered with a predatory smile.
Rodney couldn’t tell if he was joking, and really, getting hit wasn’t sounding so good. "I know you too well," he hedged. "That removes one of the variables. I need to know if nerves have anything to do with it."
"Ah, but you don’t know how I’ll react. That should make you nervous." Sheppard reached out and gripped his shoulders, hard. His smile had a dangerous edge, and Rodney had to steal himself not to flinch away. The smile faded, and the grip softened. "Anyway, I’ve been having a similar problem."
"Ah, come on, are you telling me Captain Kirk isn’t happy with his sex life?" Rodney asked, incredulous.
"Let’s just say kissing hot alien chicks isn’t what it’s cracked up to be." Sheppard answered. "So, I figure, why not give this a try?"
Sheppard’s hands, still on Rodney’s shoulders, began a motion that could only be described as a caress, so it was perfectly understandable that it took him a moment to come up with a reply.
"Because I like you, god knows why." Rodney began. Sheppard stuck out his tongue. Rodney shook his head. "Yes, well, improbable as it may seem, I enjoy your company and I don’t want to, to spoil our friendship," he continued, hoping that would be the end of it. Unfortunately, the other man was just as stubborn as he.
"Look, we try it once, and if we don’t like it we’ll never speak of it again," he insisted. "Relax," he continued, sliding his hands downward, circling his thumbs lightly over Rodney’s biceps. "I promise not to deck you, and if it turns out I enjoy it I’d rather no one else knew. I trust you."
Unable to refute the argument, and more than a little shaken by the look in Sheppard’s eyes when he’d made that last statement, Rodney conceded defeat. "If we’re gonna do this, I want to do it right," he insisted, setting his hands firmly on the taller man’s waist, feeling the heat of his body through his thin black shirt. Fast metabolism. No wonder he’s so skinny he thought absently, shifting his hands and spreading his fingers to adsorb the maximum possible warmth.
John’s tongue darted out, wetting his lips, and Rodney was hit with a sudden desire to know if they were as soft as they looked. He licked his own lips and tilted his head. That was all the invitation John needed. One hand drifted up, coming to rest on the nape of Rodney’s neck as John ducked his head, bringing their lips gently together.
And yes, they were soft, and a little rough, and slick in the center where his tongue had touched. Rodney teased that spot with his own tongue, and John’s mouth opened eagerly beneath his. Rodney had never really seen the attraction of French kissing - it seemed so unsanitary - but this, this was worth exposing himself to a million germs. John’s tongue was warm and supple, and its touch sent shivers coursing through his body. Tentatively, he brought his own tongue into play, and that felt even better. Feeling suddenly lightheaded, he leaned back against the wall - which promptly gave way, sending them tumbling into the hallway.
5) John
John was in the middle of experiencing a very satisfactory, one might even say world shaking, fifth-kiss-in-the-Pegasus Galaxy, when the world (or at least the wall) *did* move, and his partner stumbled backwards. He somehow managed to twist and crouch, getting one knee down and catching Rodney before he crashed to the floor. It left them in a rather compromising position, which wouldn’t have been a problem, except that they were no longer alone. A quiet cough sounded, and John looked up into the inscrutable face of his second in command.
"Nice catch, sir." Major Lorne said, deadpan, before turning to Radek Zelenka, who was kneeling in the midst of impressive array of tools. "See, I told you they’d come out when they were good and ready. You really didn’t need me to play pack mule."
Zelenka murmured something in reply, which John didn’t catch, being too busy radioing Elizabeth, telling her that he and Rodney were fine, and being ordered to the Infirmary, ‘just in case’.
They were soon cleared, with Carson stating, with the air of someone expecting to be ignored, that they were ‘in no worse shape than usual’ and suggesting that they get some rest. Rodney, predictably, began to argue that he was far too important to waste time resting. John just smiled, hauling him out of the Infirmary by his wrist. He had no intention of resting, either, but he *did* have some plans that involved Rodney and a bed.