The One Where They Meet Online, Part Two (SGA, McKay/Sheppard, pg)
All information about the story can be found in Part One.
imagenius (22:06): No way!
imagenius (22:06): You're Abby?
imagenius (22:07): I'm not going to have to start reading them now, aren't I?
airforce1 (22:07): McKay, you don't have to if you don't want to.
airforce1 (22:08): But if you want to get in my pants faster...
imagenius (22:08): OMG
imagenius (22:09): If you're not serious, you'd better tell me now.
airforce1 (22:09): I'm serious, McKay.
airforce1 (22:10): I've only started writing for the Daily for the past six months.
airforce1 (22:10): That's not too many newspapers, is it?
McKay didn't answer for a while; John assumed he was looking up newspapers. John felt a pang of regret; McKay really thought Carter was hot. So, John tried something to get McKay's focus back on him.
airforce1 (22:12): Oh, and to answer your earlier question,
airforce1 (22:12): I'm watching Star Wars.
That got McKay's attention.
imagenius (22:12): Whoa, whoa, whoa. One head spinning detail at a time, please.
imagenius (22:12): Which one, and how far are you in?
airforce1 (22:13): Why, are you going to watch it with me?
imagenius (22:13): I'm gonna try.
airforce1 (22:13): Return of the Jedi. Leia's strangling Jabba with her chains.
imagenius (22:13): You know who'd look hot in that gold bikini?
airforce1 (22:13): McKay if you say my name, I'm going to strangle you via internet.
imagenius (22:14): Don't worry, I wasn't.
imagenius (22:15): Oh God
imagenius (22:15): I mean, not that you wouldn't, because you totally would.
imagenius (22:16): Oh God
imagenius (22:16): I mean, not that I've pictured you wearing the gold bikini, because that's just totally wrong.
imagenius (22:17): Oh God
imagenius (22:17): I mean not that you in a gold bikini is wrong, because it wouldn't be.
imagenius (22:18): Oh God
airforce1 (22:18): Okay.
airforce1 (22:18): I get it.
In reality, though, John was laughing too hard to type properly, which is why it took him so long to respond.
airforce1 (22:18): Who did you think would look good in a bold bikini?
When McKay didn't respond after a couple of minutes, John got worried. He didn't like being worried about McKay because it distracted him from the good parts of the movie. And John didn't like to be distracted when Yoda was dying, for Christ's sake.
airforce1 (22:21): C'mon McKay, you can tell me.
airforce1 (22:21): I won't get jealous.
Except John totally will.
imagenius (22:23): Um. Drew Barrymore?
airforce1 (22:23): Huh.
airforce1 (22:23): I guess she would.
imagenius (22:24): Wait
imagenius (22:24): Did you just agree with me?
imagenius (22:24): This isn't you getting mad because I'm attracted to another woman, and so you're agreeing with me but in that sarcastic way is it?
imagenius (22:25): My ex-boyfriend used to do that and it really confused me
Whoa.
airforce1 (22:25): Wait. Ex-boyfriend?
imagenius (22:26): um
imagenius (22:26): Yes?
And that cheered John up spectacularly.
airforce1 (22:27): Now who's turn is it to give a head spinning detail?
imagenius (22:27): But when I said 'head spinning detail,' I meant it in a good way
imagenius (22:28): Wait
imagenius (22:28): Does that mean you're okay with it?
imagenius (22:29): Oh God
imagenius (22:29): You're not one of those women who like to watch two guys together, is it?
imagenius (22:29): Because I don't think I'd be okay with that
airforce1 (22:30): No, McKay, I'm not one of those women.
airforce1 (22:30): I'm just happy for you.
airforce1 (22:30): Now, are we watching the movie?
airforce1 (22:31): Luke just found out his sister's Leia.
imagenius (22:32): That must've sucked
imagenius (22:32): One really hot chick who kissed you turns out to be your sister?
imagenius (22:32): I'd need therapy for life after that.
Watching Star Wars with Sheppard was fun, even though he thought he was in trouble a couple of times. Rodney had stuck his DVD into his computer and watched it while talking to Sheppard at the same time. Newton had even come by to watch with them, after he finished dinner.
They said goodnight after midnight, when the movie ended, and Sheppard said she had to sleep so she could go running with Jumper - what kind of name was Jumper, anyway? - in the morning.
Rodney went to bed too. After checking his mail, doing a couple more simulations, and checking calculations, that is.
John woke up a little earlier than usual and knocked on Ronon's door. "Ronon? It's John." John heard Tyre before he heard Ronon, and when the door opened, he was greeted by a hundred pounds of German Shepherd. "Hey, Tyre." John looked up to see Ronon smiling at him. "Hey, Ronon. Can I come in? I want to talk."
"Sure," Ronon said, going to his kitchen to finish making his breakfast. John and Tyre followed him. "Is this about McKay?"
"Uh, yeah. Look-"
"He thinks you're a woman," Ronon said. "You got breakfast yet?"
"Not yet. And yeah, he does. Look, do me a favour and just let him assume that, okay?"
"Over easy, right?"
"Yeah." John paused. "Look, Ronon. McKay's not my boyfriend or anything. I met him online while I was doing something for Weir."
"But you like him, right?"
"What makes you say that?"
Ronon glared at him; it was his c'mon-I'm-not-that-stupid glare. "If you didn't like him, you wouldn't be here. I usually wake you up." When John didn't say anything, Ronon changed the subject. "So, what's your newspaper thing?"
"Weir wants me to this thing at LantisLove because the owner, Oberoth-"
Ronon growled. "I hate Oberoth. You know he bashed my restaurant in that interview he did?"
"He bashed the Daily, too. I'm supposed to make him look bad."
"Whatever," Ronon grumbled. "You do what you gotta. Here's your eggs and toast."
"Thanks."
"You up for a couple more miles today?" Ronon asked, and John choked on his toast.
Rodney got to work earlier than usual because that day was the day the USAF from Cheyenne Mountain came by to check on their progress. General O'Neill wasn't too fond of Rodney, but he liked his work okay, but this meant that he couldn't sign on messenger all day.
Then, he thought he saw Sheppard a couple of times on base that day, but he figured it was just his mind playing tricks on him. He missed Sheppard a lot. He thought about sending an email, to apologize for not being on all day, but it wasn't like they had a date or anything and he reminded himself that Sheppard wasn't his girlfriend. Not yet, anyway. Things were looking up in that area, however, so he was happy.
He was tired when he got home from work. He had explain so much to too many people who didn't know what he was talking about that he just opened a can of tuna and went to bed. He could take a shower in the morning anyway.
John didn't get a chance to get online, either. After he answered the Dear Abby letters in the morning, the lunch date with second to last guy turned into a hostage situation, and John ended up helping get the guy, whose name was Michael, to calm down. As it turns out, he was high on drugs.
John spent the entire afternoon helping and getting interviewed by the police, and had to email his last guy for a rain check. He thankfully agreed to meet tomorrow.
It was still light out, only 5:35 PM, when he overheard one of the paramedics talk about the drug Michael was high on.
"Wait!" John said, coming over. "Did you say Michael was high on Wraith?"
"Yeah," the pretty blonde paramedic said, smiling at John.
"But I thought Wraith was a painkiller! How could it make him act like, like that?" John pointed furiously at the man, now in the back of a police car, who was glaring angrily at the officers outside.
"It's got some weird chemicals," the other paramedic said. He was smiling widely at John too.
"Oh crap," John said. That was the same drug Ford's new girlfriend had got him addicted to.
He drove to Ford's old place, but found the place deserted. He called Ford's cousin and grandparents, but they hadn't heard from him. Lara, Ford's cousin, said it wasn't unusual, since he used to do undercover work for the Daily, but John told her he was fired a couple weeks ago for drug use.
They went to the police station and filled out a missing person's file that night.
The next morning, John went running with Ronon as usual and went to work, as usual, but since the article on LantisLove was due the next day and he still had a guy to interview, he wrote as much as he could using the interviews he had, and decided to add more that night, after meeting with the last guy.
It was already way past noon, but Elizabeth let him go get a late lunch, since she knew about the crazy ordeal yesterday.
Ronon was closed in the afternoon but he was just getting ready for the dinner crowd when John called, so he let him in.
"You know," John said as Ronon made him a roast beef with everything. "I wanted to ask you about McKay. What's he like in person?"
"Annoying. Grumpy. Loud. Arrogant. Sarcastic. And that was just the first ten minutes."
John grinned. "So, almost exactly like he is online, then."
"I thought people were supposed to be nice online."
John couldn't stop laughing until Ronon gave him his sandwich and whacked him on the head with a spatula.
When John finished the late lunch, he went off to meet his last guy, who, thankfully, wasn't a druggie. The interview went smoothly, and John had six hours to incorporate the last interview into the rest of the article, which was plenty of time.
When he was done, he stretched and cracked his back, while Jumper came by to complain about the lack of food in the kitchen. He looked at the computer's clock. It was only 9:20 PM. McKay might be on.
Rodney had also had another busy day. An ex-cop named Kolya had broken in with a small group of people and taken Rodney hostage. Kolya was part of an underground organization called Genii, who believed that Rodney's science team was making some drug called "Wraith." Yesterday, after that man who was on Wraith held a coffee shop hostage, the Genii decided to take matters into their own hands.
Rodney tried reasoning with Kolya; obviously there was huge misunderstanding, because Rodney had never even heard of Wraith before, and Rodney's science team didn't make drugs, they made rockets for the military. But then, Kolya nearly stabbed him in the arm, and Rodney knew things weren't going to be easy.
Radek, who was late coming to work that day, called the police when he saw the front door was being guarded by people he didn't know, and for once in his life Rodney was thankful he worked so close to Cheyenne Mountain, because the Genii were taken care of five minutes later.
Teyla Emmagan, who owned Emmagan Enterprises, also helped in taking down one of the people from the group. Rodney had never met Teyla because she mostly travelled all over the world for corporate meetings, but once he saw her, he knew she had to be the owner of the company. Plus, it was pretty hot seeing her in a black bulletproof vest.
"Dr. McKay," she said politely, in her serene voice, "I am extremely sorry this happened to you today. If there is anything I can do for you, please do no hesitate to ask."
"No, it's okay," Rodney said, a bit dumbfounded. "I'll just take the day off.
"Please," she said, bowing a little, "as will everyone else."
And that's how Rodney spent his day with his cat. Well, he mostly slept, but Newton was right next to him the whole time. He woke up around dinner time, stomach rumbling. He ordered pizza and sat down to watch some TV when Sheppard signed on around 9:30 PM.
imagenius (21:22): Hi!
Rodney mentally smacked himself for sounding too eager.
imagenius (21:23): Um
imagenius (21:23): Long time no talk
airforce1 (21:24): Right, McKay.
airforce1 (21:24): Sorry 'bout that.
airforce1 (21:24): Busy couple of days.
imagenius (21:25): Hey, no need to apologize.
imagenius (21:25): I just
imagenius (21:25): You know
imagenius (21:25): Maybe
imagenius (21:25): Missed you
airforce1 (21:26): Yeah, I missed you too.
airforce1 (21:26): You know, I've been thinking.
imagenius (21:26): Oh that's good.
airforce1 (21:27): Shut up, McKay.
airforce1 (21:27): I've been thinking about us.
airforce1 (21:28): You want to meet soon?
imagenius (21:28): Ummm
Rodney looked down at Newton, who was purring in his lap. "Newton! What should I do?" Newton stretched and re-settled in a different position. Rodney assumed that was cat-speak for "Wait."
McKay was taking a really long time to respond, which made John worry. It wasn't that McKay wasn't interested in what he thought John looked like, so that wasn't an issue, and McKay liked him enough online, so if that was any indicator, they were already friends. But John wanted to move past the "You think I'm a girl" stage, and onto the "No, I'm really a guy and I think I might have a huge crush on you" stage.
imagenius (21:31): I think we should wait.
John just stared at the screen.
imagenius (21:31): I just need a little more time.
imagenius (21:32): It's just
imagenius (21:32): there's a lot of things to do at work
imagenius (21:33): and the military shut us down for the day, so we gotta work twice as hard to meet the next deadline
Wait.
airforce1 (21:33): The military shut you down?
airforce1 (21:34): You work at Emmagan Enterprises?
imagenius (21:34): Oh. Yeah, I do.
imagenius (21:35): Oh, right. You work for the newspaper, of course you know about us
imagenius (21:35): You know what? I think I may have seen you yesterday
John froze. Sam did go to EE yesterday to check out the new weapons the military were ordering from them. Crap.
airforce1 (21:26): That wasn't me.
airforce1 (21:26): I write for Dear Abby, remember?
imagenius (21:27): Oh, right
imagenius (21:27): Why would they send the Dear Abby letter writer to cover a military story
imagenius (21:27): Okay, so it wasn't you
imagenius (21:27): Looked like you
airforce1 (21:28): Yeah, there's a woman who kinda looks like me in Current Events
airforce1 (21:28): Look I gotta go.
John signed off, without waiting for McKay's response. That was really close, John thought.
The next couple of weeks went by like a blur. Rodney was working really hard during the day, and only talking to Sheppard for a solid ten minutes during lunch, and then right before bed.
Though, it sounded like Sheppard was busy too. One day, she was really happy, saying she got promoted to one of the writers, but when Rodney looked for her name in the paper, he only found a man named John Shelby, who wrote an article about men being stood up by their dates on LantisLove.
When Rodney read that article, he may have gotten a little freaked out, but Sheppard reassured him that she wasn't going to stand him up when they met.
Finally, the project for the USAF was done. Rodney had even calibrated the instructions so that the average rookie rocket specialist could operate it. So that night, to celebrate, he asked Sheppard out, properly. As properly as anyone could online, anyway.
airforce1 (19:11): Like, a date date?
imagenius (19:11): Oh, please.
imagenius (19:11): What are you, 14?
imagenius (19:11): Yes, a date.
airforce1 (19:12): I'm just making sure
airforce1 (19:12): I need to know if I should wear something sexy or something casual
imagenius (19:12): Um
imagenius (19:13): Whatever you want
imagenius (19:13): We could meet at Dex's Cafe
imagenius (19:14): I haven't been back since I first went
airforce1 (19:14): So
airforce1 (19:14): Something casual then
Rodney couldn't tell if she was pissed off or not, so Rodney continued.
imagenius (19:15): We could go out to somewhere nicer afterward
imagenius (19:15): Maybe?
airforce1 (19:16): No, that sounds fine.
airforce1 (19:16): How's tomorrow 6:30 sound?
imagenius (19:17): Sounds good.
No matter who will ask, Rodney will adamantly deny any victory dance he may or may not have done that night.
For John, the past few weeks had been pretty hectic, what with being promoted and getting more exciting stories, and finding a replacement for the Dear Abby column. He had interviewed at least twenty candidates, but he was surprised at the last woman to come in for an interview.
It was Teyla Emmagan. Of Emmagen Enterprises. When John asked why she wanted to write for Dear Abby, she said she was doing it because she liked helping people. John had wanted to ask what she knew about her chief scientific advisor, but resisted the urge.
Plus, he had to get the whole 'Shelby' ordeal sorted out. He first adopted the name in his Freshman year of college, after his mother, Congresswoman Mary Sheppard, had become sick and died suddenly; he had hated the way people gave him pitying looks, and pats on the back. But now he just used it as a pen name.
That night, though, he was going to introduce himself as John Sheppard, and McKay would definitely freak out at first, and John would explain everything and kiss him and it would be a happy ending. Or, at least John hoped. In truth, John was pretty scared. Excited too, but mostly scared.
He got off work around 6 PM, said bye to Teyla and Lorne, and drove to Ronon's restaurant. Ronon, who heard all about the date that morning, beckoned John over to the counter. "You okay?" Ronon said, nodding at one of his regulars.
"Yeah, mostly," John said. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of short blonde hair and did a double take. It was Sam. She smiled politely at him before returning to her pie. John smiled back and looked down at his watch. It was 6:20; maybe McKay would be right on time.
But then John looked up in time to see McKay walk through the door; Ronon nudged him with a smile. McKay saw Ronon first and waved, saw John and smiled, but then his eyes went straight to Carter.
Oh God, John thought, right before the shouting started.
Rodney was heartbroken. Sheppard was so...amazing online and yet, when they finally meet in real life, she pretended not to be who she was! Who he was! What they had! Rodney cursed at his bad luck, and crossed the street to his car.
He put the key into the car door just when a guy called out to him on the street. "McKay!" a man with crazy hair shouted, jogging from Dex's Café.
Ronon gave him a glare when McKay left the building. John briefly apologized to Carter, who was also glaring at him, before running out to catch McKay before he drove away.
"How do you know my name?!" McKay demanded.
"You," John waved his hands and motioned toward Ronon's restaurant, "you said it."
"Oh!" McKay said, snapping his fingers rapidly. "Aren't you that guy who was talking to the owner?"
"Yeah," John said, smiling. "You know Ronon?" he asked, even though he knew the answer.
"Yeah," McKay said sadly. "Someone I thought I was in love with told me about it."
"Someone you thought you were in love with?" John echoed, his heart beating a little faster.
"Yeah," McKay said. "Anyway, what do you want?"
John picked an excuse from out of nowhere. "Can I interview you?" McKay raised an eyebrow. "You know that article that came out a couple of weeks ago, about those men that got stood up? I wrote it.
"I'm supposed to write a companion story, on guys who meet the girl but she isn't who they thought she was." McKay just looked at him blankly. "Well? What'd you say?"
"Sure," McKay said, eyeing John suspiciously. "As long as you don't print my name."
"Yeah, yeah, no problem." John held out his hand. "I'm John Shelby," he said.
"Rodney, Rodney McKay," McKay - Rodney - said, shaking his hand, and smiling.
John smiled back. "Do you want to go somewhere more private? I know just the place."
Rodney followed John to John's apartment. "You know," Rodney said, as they rode the elevator to John's floor. "When you said 'somewhere more private,' I kinda thought you meant a bar or something. Not your apartment."
"Nah," John said, winking at Rodney. "What's more private than someone's apartment? Though, I gotta warn you, I have a dog, and he doesn't like strangers."
Rodney nodded. "I have a cat who's the same way."
"Is that so?" John flashed him a gentle grin and Rodney was puzzled.
John opened the door, and a large dog came bounding out to meet them. "Jumper!" John said, and something in Rodney's head clicked, but he wasn't sure what it meant. Jumper sniffed Rodney, deemed he was okay, and they went in without a single warning bark. "That's weird," John said, "he usually hates strangers. Took him weeks to get used to Ronon."
"Really," Rodney said, looking down at Jumper, who was looking back at Rodney expectantly.
"He probably wants a treat," John said, going into the kitchen. "So, how did you meet this woman?"
"What? Oh," the interview. "She wanted to meet me actually."
"Really?" John said, coming back with a bone-shaped treat. "Through LantisLove, right?"
"Yeah," Rodney said, sitting down on one of John's armchairs. "I really thought it was love, too, which was pretty damn stupid of me."
"Hey," John said quietly, sitting on the coffee table. "It's okay, you'll find someone else."
"What?! I know that! I'm a fantastic catch."
John grinned brightly and chuckled. "Yes, yes you are."
Rodney eyed John skeptically. "Aren't you, I don't know, supposed to write this stuff down?"
"Oh I got it right here, McKay." John pointed to his head.
"Yes," Rodney said, "I'm sure your hair does wonders for you."
John laughed, a really horrible braying laugh.
"Oh my God!" Rodney said, "That's honestly how you laugh?"
It just made John laugh harder.
"Oh my God," Rodney repeated, "You're high right now, aren't you!"
John chuckled again, "No, I'm not. I'm just a little giddy right now. Look, I'm starving. Do you want something to eat? We could order Chinese."
Rodney stared at John suspiciously, but agreed that he was also hungry. "As long as it's not orange chicken. I'm deathly allergic to all kinds of citrus."
John smiled genuinely. "Okay, no orange chicken."
The pseudo-interview went pretty well, all things considering. John thought it was still too soon to tell him his real name, so he didn't give him his card. Instead, he asked for Rodney's number, and told him he'd be in contact. Rodney left around ten, and when John was pretty sure he was gone, John looked down at Jumper. "So? You like him?" Jumper seemed to nod. "Yeah, me too."
John, the hot journalist from Ronon's restaurant kept calling him, and it wasn't just for the article. He'd ask if he wanted to go catch a movie, or go to a hockey game, or even out to dinner. Sure, he would say it was for another interview, but after a while Rodney caught on that John kinda just wanted to hang out. Rodney didn't know why; John was obviously friendly enough to have his own friends and hot enough to get girlfriends.
To be absolutely sure, Rodney asked "Whatever happened to that follow-up article you were writing?" one night over pizza. They were at Rodney's apartment this time, watching Serenity, one of Rodney's favourite movies. John was sitting on the couch with Newton sleeping on his lap. Newton took to John right away, just like Jumper had taken to Rodney.
"My editor scrapped it," John said. "You don't mind, do you?"
Rodney knew he didn't mean the article, and said "No, of course not," and joined him on the couch.
"Oh God, I hate this part," John said, wincing when Wash died. "He was my favourite character," he whined. Rodney pretended not to care, but the next time John came over, they watched Back to the Future, even though Rodney hated it, because it was John's favourite.
It had been three months, two weeks and five days since they officially started to hang out in Real Life, and John was loving every moment of it.
He had already decided that at four months, he was going to tell Rodney the truth. It was going to be over dinner, at Rodney's apartment, so if Rodney wanted John to leave, he would. But when they hung out, John could already tell Rodney was thinking about Carter less and less, and that made John feel better about springing it on him.
So, a week later, John invited himself over, bringing a nice prime rib Ronon made with him. Rodney said he'd get the movie, which turned out to be Remember the Titans. When John raised an eyebrow, Rodney just said, "It's a good movie. And you like football, so."
John smiled, "Well thank you, Rodney, I didn't know you cared."
Rodney paled. "Yes, well. Now you do."
John grinned shyly as he helped Rodney set up in the living room. "Ronon made mashed potatoes and Mac 'n' Cheese too."
"Mmmmm," Rodney hummed happily.
They finished dinner, and the movie, and John was getting ready to go when he finally got the courage.
"Rodney, I need to talk to you. Okay, I wasn't entirely honest with you at the beginning."
"Oh my God," Rodney said, "I knew it was too good to be true."
"What?"
"You're writing an exposée on Emmagan Enterprises, aren't you? You were using me to get close to Teyla, aren't you?"
"No, let me finish!" Rodney frowned and waited. "Shelby is my pen name," John said, taking a deep breath. "My real last name is Sheppard."
"Wait."
John did.
"You're Sheppard?"
"Yeah."
"You. You're Sheppard. The Sheppard that I chatted with."
"Yes, Rodney."
"But, Sheppard's a girl!"
John sighed, "My editor made me pretend to be a girl online, so I could get the interviews for the LantiLove article."
"Then where did you get the picture of the hot chick?"
"She's an editor for one of the sections of the Daily."
Rodney didn't speak, but his eyes flickered from one idea to the next. "So, so, so what. You, you wanted to be my friend so that you could laugh at my pain?"
"No, Rodney, I-"
"Then what? You became by friend out of pity? You felt bad?"
"No, Rodney-"
"Just get out."
John didn't question it, because he had never seen or heard McKay so angry, not even when they argued. "Okay," he said, and left.
Rodney was absolutely livid. Not just because John lied to him, or that he kept it from him or even that he got his heart broken, but mostly because he should've saw the signs: the dog named Jumper - it was only after John left that Rodney remembered the dog's name from the IM conversation; Ronon and Dex's Café - Rodney was pretty sure John was the only one friends with the scary looking man; Working for the Daily, in the Local section - there were only four reporters working in the Local section, Rodney later found out, and only one had a last name remotely close to "Sheppard".
Really, Rodney should've seen it. He was just too blinded by the attractive man who wanted to hang out with him.
John called him a couple of days later, and left a message on Rodney's cell, apologizing. He left a message with Rodney's secretary and another message on Rodney's home phone. A couple of days after that, the same pattern.
Rodney never returned the calls, but he listened to every single message, refusing to admit to himself it was because he missed John's voice.
"Rodney," John said tiredly on the phone. "It's John. Again, I'm sorry. If there's anything I can do-" He stopped and sighed. It was the second message he left that day and knew he was probably being a little bit crazy. "Okay, I get it. I'll stop calling." He hung up, angry at himself for not telling Rodney sooner. Maybe, if they started out screwed up John wouldn't have all this hope built up.
But then, a couple of days later, there was a knock at the door. John had just gotten back home from a long day at work, and was about to take a shower. He thought maybe it was the guy down the hall, who complained that Jumper was howling, or maybe it was Ronon, who often got locked out of his apartment and waited in John's for the landlord to open it for him. He wasn't expecting Rodney.
"Rodney," John said, wanting to put his arms around him.
"Oh thank god you're okay." Rodney said, pushing in. "Were you sick? I thought maybe you were sick."
"No, Rodney. I'm fine," John crossed his arms; he was very confused, and he didn't like being confused. "Why are you here?"
"I thought you were sick," Rodney repeated. "But obviously, you're fine. You didn't call yesterday; why didn't you call yesterday?"
John tried to hide a smile, but ultimately failed. "I said I was going to stop trying."
Rodney frowned. "Because you stopped caring?"
"Because you never returned my calls!"
"Oh. Right." Rodney looked uncomfortable. "Well. It's not like I wasn't listening to them."
"Oh."
"Yeah." There was an awkward silence; John didn't know what this meant, but there was his hope flaring again. "Right, so. I'll see you," Rodney mumbled, brushing past John toward the door.
"Wait," John said. Rodney turned around, and John had his hands on both sides of Rodney's face pulling him into a kiss, wanting this to mean the same thing to both of them. John let out a happy sigh of relief when Rodney responded right away, hands going everywhere.
When they pulled apart, they were both panting. "Oh," Rodney said, looking at John for confirmation.
"Yeah," John said.
"So, you," Rodney said.
"Yeah," John repeated. "And you, too?"
"Obviously," Rodney said, rolling his eyes.
Months later, after Rodney moved into John's apartment (John argued it was because his apartment was bigger, and that it was closer to Emmagen Enterprises anyway, but Rodney knew it was because John refused to move away from Ronon), and Newton got used to sharing a bed with Jumper, the landlord decided to have a house-warming party for the two of them. Rodney didn't like parties all that much (he had a bad experience in college that involved his new car, a girl he really liked, and throwing up) but he liked food and barbecues and beer, so Teal'c, the landlord, agreed to have a potluck barbecue.
It was open to the whole building, of course, because Teal'c was too nice for his own good sometimes, but the tennants also invited a lot of their friends, families, and co-workers over. An hour into the celebration, and the party was in full swing. He met a man named Carson who lived on the second floor and introduced Rodney to haggis, and a woman named Jennifer who lived on the seventh floor and offered to petsit if they ever needed one. Even Radek came; he met John's friend Lorne (or was it Bourne? Rodney was never quite sure) and the two of the were currently drinking together at the makeshift bar.
Rodney was in the middle of arguing with a man named Daniel over the uselessness of archaeology when Teyla and John appeared out of nowhere. Daniel rolled his eyes and disappeared when Rodney stopped mid-sentence. "And, Teyla, you know Rodney," John was saying, as they approached him. "He works at your company, but he's also my boyfriend." John smirked at that last word and Rodney thought, He really is a fourteen-year-old girl.
"Ah," Teyla said, "so you do know each other."
"What?" Rodney squeaked, vaguely aware that this woman signed his checks.
"Nothing," she said mysteriously, a smile slyly streching across her face. Rodney looked at John, but John looked just as confused as he felt. Then, Ronon came over, asked her to dance, and swiftly whisked her away.
"What?" Rodney repeated. John just shrugged.
And then, John spotted Sam. He wasn't 100% sure why she was here or even how she knew about it, but he didn't want to go through that again, so he grabbed Rodney by the elbow, getting an "ow!" from him, and trying to escape to somewhere quieter.
Unfortunately, Sam found them. "John," she said politely, "And this must be Rodney. Nice to see you again, Rodney."
"Umm," John said. "Rodney, this is Samantha Carter. She's the editor for Current Events at the daily. Sam, this is Rodney McKay. My boyfriend and Chief Scientific Advisor to Emmagen Enterprises." John may have puffed his chest out slightly, but he couldn't help it.
"Hm. You know, now that you aren't some evil bitch who turned me down in front of a restaurant full of people," Rodney said, "you're pretty hot." Sam is a bit outraged, John could tell, but then McKay barreled on. "I mean, not that you weren't hot before, I'm sure you were, but now that I'm seeing you in a different light, I can tell that now."
John raised an eyebrow. And maybe he pouted, but just a little. Rodney noticed.
"Oh please, John, like that's actually going to work on me." Rodney rolled his eyes. "You already know you're hot."
John just smirked, and before Rodney could say another snarky comment in return, John captured his still moving lips in a deep kiss.
The couple only broke apart when Sam cleared her throat. "Don't mind me, I'll just be over there," Carter said, rolling her eyes and walking off to talk to another group of people from the paper.
John grinned. "Now, where were we?"
"Here," Rodney said as he kissed John again.
imagenius (22:06): No way!
imagenius (22:06): You're Abby?
imagenius (22:07): I'm not going to have to start reading them now, aren't I?
airforce1 (22:07): McKay, you don't have to if you don't want to.
airforce1 (22:08): But if you want to get in my pants faster...
imagenius (22:08): OMG
imagenius (22:09): If you're not serious, you'd better tell me now.
airforce1 (22:09): I'm serious, McKay.
airforce1 (22:10): I've only started writing for the Daily for the past six months.
airforce1 (22:10): That's not too many newspapers, is it?
McKay didn't answer for a while; John assumed he was looking up newspapers. John felt a pang of regret; McKay really thought Carter was hot. So, John tried something to get McKay's focus back on him.
airforce1 (22:12): Oh, and to answer your earlier question,
airforce1 (22:12): I'm watching Star Wars.
That got McKay's attention.
imagenius (22:12): Whoa, whoa, whoa. One head spinning detail at a time, please.
imagenius (22:12): Which one, and how far are you in?
airforce1 (22:13): Why, are you going to watch it with me?
imagenius (22:13): I'm gonna try.
airforce1 (22:13): Return of the Jedi. Leia's strangling Jabba with her chains.
imagenius (22:13): You know who'd look hot in that gold bikini?
airforce1 (22:13): McKay if you say my name, I'm going to strangle you via internet.
imagenius (22:14): Don't worry, I wasn't.
imagenius (22:15): Oh God
imagenius (22:15): I mean, not that you wouldn't, because you totally would.
imagenius (22:16): Oh God
imagenius (22:16): I mean, not that I've pictured you wearing the gold bikini, because that's just totally wrong.
imagenius (22:17): Oh God
imagenius (22:17): I mean not that you in a gold bikini is wrong, because it wouldn't be.
imagenius (22:18): Oh God
airforce1 (22:18): Okay.
airforce1 (22:18): I get it.
In reality, though, John was laughing too hard to type properly, which is why it took him so long to respond.
airforce1 (22:18): Who did you think would look good in a bold bikini?
When McKay didn't respond after a couple of minutes, John got worried. He didn't like being worried about McKay because it distracted him from the good parts of the movie. And John didn't like to be distracted when Yoda was dying, for Christ's sake.
airforce1 (22:21): C'mon McKay, you can tell me.
airforce1 (22:21): I won't get jealous.
Except John totally will.
imagenius (22:23): Um. Drew Barrymore?
airforce1 (22:23): Huh.
airforce1 (22:23): I guess she would.
imagenius (22:24): Wait
imagenius (22:24): Did you just agree with me?
imagenius (22:24): This isn't you getting mad because I'm attracted to another woman, and so you're agreeing with me but in that sarcastic way is it?
imagenius (22:25): My ex-boyfriend used to do that and it really confused me
Whoa.
airforce1 (22:25): Wait. Ex-boyfriend?
imagenius (22:26): um
imagenius (22:26): Yes?
And that cheered John up spectacularly.
airforce1 (22:27): Now who's turn is it to give a head spinning detail?
imagenius (22:27): But when I said 'head spinning detail,' I meant it in a good way
imagenius (22:28): Wait
imagenius (22:28): Does that mean you're okay with it?
imagenius (22:29): Oh God
imagenius (22:29): You're not one of those women who like to watch two guys together, is it?
imagenius (22:29): Because I don't think I'd be okay with that
airforce1 (22:30): No, McKay, I'm not one of those women.
airforce1 (22:30): I'm just happy for you.
airforce1 (22:30): Now, are we watching the movie?
airforce1 (22:31): Luke just found out his sister's Leia.
imagenius (22:32): That must've sucked
imagenius (22:32): One really hot chick who kissed you turns out to be your sister?
imagenius (22:32): I'd need therapy for life after that.
Watching Star Wars with Sheppard was fun, even though he thought he was in trouble a couple of times. Rodney had stuck his DVD into his computer and watched it while talking to Sheppard at the same time. Newton had even come by to watch with them, after he finished dinner.
They said goodnight after midnight, when the movie ended, and Sheppard said she had to sleep so she could go running with Jumper - what kind of name was Jumper, anyway? - in the morning.
Rodney went to bed too. After checking his mail, doing a couple more simulations, and checking calculations, that is.
John woke up a little earlier than usual and knocked on Ronon's door. "Ronon? It's John." John heard Tyre before he heard Ronon, and when the door opened, he was greeted by a hundred pounds of German Shepherd. "Hey, Tyre." John looked up to see Ronon smiling at him. "Hey, Ronon. Can I come in? I want to talk."
"Sure," Ronon said, going to his kitchen to finish making his breakfast. John and Tyre followed him. "Is this about McKay?"
"Uh, yeah. Look-"
"He thinks you're a woman," Ronon said. "You got breakfast yet?"
"Not yet. And yeah, he does. Look, do me a favour and just let him assume that, okay?"
"Over easy, right?"
"Yeah." John paused. "Look, Ronon. McKay's not my boyfriend or anything. I met him online while I was doing something for Weir."
"But you like him, right?"
"What makes you say that?"
Ronon glared at him; it was his c'mon-I'm-not-that-stupid glare. "If you didn't like him, you wouldn't be here. I usually wake you up." When John didn't say anything, Ronon changed the subject. "So, what's your newspaper thing?"
"Weir wants me to this thing at LantisLove because the owner, Oberoth-"
Ronon growled. "I hate Oberoth. You know he bashed my restaurant in that interview he did?"
"He bashed the Daily, too. I'm supposed to make him look bad."
"Whatever," Ronon grumbled. "You do what you gotta. Here's your eggs and toast."
"Thanks."
"You up for a couple more miles today?" Ronon asked, and John choked on his toast.
Rodney got to work earlier than usual because that day was the day the USAF from Cheyenne Mountain came by to check on their progress. General O'Neill wasn't too fond of Rodney, but he liked his work okay, but this meant that he couldn't sign on messenger all day.
Then, he thought he saw Sheppard a couple of times on base that day, but he figured it was just his mind playing tricks on him. He missed Sheppard a lot. He thought about sending an email, to apologize for not being on all day, but it wasn't like they had a date or anything and he reminded himself that Sheppard wasn't his girlfriend. Not yet, anyway. Things were looking up in that area, however, so he was happy.
He was tired when he got home from work. He had explain so much to too many people who didn't know what he was talking about that he just opened a can of tuna and went to bed. He could take a shower in the morning anyway.
John didn't get a chance to get online, either. After he answered the Dear Abby letters in the morning, the lunch date with second to last guy turned into a hostage situation, and John ended up helping get the guy, whose name was Michael, to calm down. As it turns out, he was high on drugs.
John spent the entire afternoon helping and getting interviewed by the police, and had to email his last guy for a rain check. He thankfully agreed to meet tomorrow.
It was still light out, only 5:35 PM, when he overheard one of the paramedics talk about the drug Michael was high on.
"Wait!" John said, coming over. "Did you say Michael was high on Wraith?"
"Yeah," the pretty blonde paramedic said, smiling at John.
"But I thought Wraith was a painkiller! How could it make him act like, like that?" John pointed furiously at the man, now in the back of a police car, who was glaring angrily at the officers outside.
"It's got some weird chemicals," the other paramedic said. He was smiling widely at John too.
"Oh crap," John said. That was the same drug Ford's new girlfriend had got him addicted to.
He drove to Ford's old place, but found the place deserted. He called Ford's cousin and grandparents, but they hadn't heard from him. Lara, Ford's cousin, said it wasn't unusual, since he used to do undercover work for the Daily, but John told her he was fired a couple weeks ago for drug use.
They went to the police station and filled out a missing person's file that night.
The next morning, John went running with Ronon as usual and went to work, as usual, but since the article on LantisLove was due the next day and he still had a guy to interview, he wrote as much as he could using the interviews he had, and decided to add more that night, after meeting with the last guy.
It was already way past noon, but Elizabeth let him go get a late lunch, since she knew about the crazy ordeal yesterday.
Ronon was closed in the afternoon but he was just getting ready for the dinner crowd when John called, so he let him in.
"You know," John said as Ronon made him a roast beef with everything. "I wanted to ask you about McKay. What's he like in person?"
"Annoying. Grumpy. Loud. Arrogant. Sarcastic. And that was just the first ten minutes."
John grinned. "So, almost exactly like he is online, then."
"I thought people were supposed to be nice online."
John couldn't stop laughing until Ronon gave him his sandwich and whacked him on the head with a spatula.
When John finished the late lunch, he went off to meet his last guy, who, thankfully, wasn't a druggie. The interview went smoothly, and John had six hours to incorporate the last interview into the rest of the article, which was plenty of time.
When he was done, he stretched and cracked his back, while Jumper came by to complain about the lack of food in the kitchen. He looked at the computer's clock. It was only 9:20 PM. McKay might be on.
Rodney had also had another busy day. An ex-cop named Kolya had broken in with a small group of people and taken Rodney hostage. Kolya was part of an underground organization called Genii, who believed that Rodney's science team was making some drug called "Wraith." Yesterday, after that man who was on Wraith held a coffee shop hostage, the Genii decided to take matters into their own hands.
Rodney tried reasoning with Kolya; obviously there was huge misunderstanding, because Rodney had never even heard of Wraith before, and Rodney's science team didn't make drugs, they made rockets for the military. But then, Kolya nearly stabbed him in the arm, and Rodney knew things weren't going to be easy.
Radek, who was late coming to work that day, called the police when he saw the front door was being guarded by people he didn't know, and for once in his life Rodney was thankful he worked so close to Cheyenne Mountain, because the Genii were taken care of five minutes later.
Teyla Emmagan, who owned Emmagan Enterprises, also helped in taking down one of the people from the group. Rodney had never met Teyla because she mostly travelled all over the world for corporate meetings, but once he saw her, he knew she had to be the owner of the company. Plus, it was pretty hot seeing her in a black bulletproof vest.
"Dr. McKay," she said politely, in her serene voice, "I am extremely sorry this happened to you today. If there is anything I can do for you, please do no hesitate to ask."
"No, it's okay," Rodney said, a bit dumbfounded. "I'll just take the day off.
"Please," she said, bowing a little, "as will everyone else."
And that's how Rodney spent his day with his cat. Well, he mostly slept, but Newton was right next to him the whole time. He woke up around dinner time, stomach rumbling. He ordered pizza and sat down to watch some TV when Sheppard signed on around 9:30 PM.
imagenius (21:22): Hi!
Rodney mentally smacked himself for sounding too eager.
imagenius (21:23): Um
imagenius (21:23): Long time no talk
airforce1 (21:24): Right, McKay.
airforce1 (21:24): Sorry 'bout that.
airforce1 (21:24): Busy couple of days.
imagenius (21:25): Hey, no need to apologize.
imagenius (21:25): I just
imagenius (21:25): You know
imagenius (21:25): Maybe
imagenius (21:25): Missed you
airforce1 (21:26): Yeah, I missed you too.
airforce1 (21:26): You know, I've been thinking.
imagenius (21:26): Oh that's good.
airforce1 (21:27): Shut up, McKay.
airforce1 (21:27): I've been thinking about us.
airforce1 (21:28): You want to meet soon?
imagenius (21:28): Ummm
Rodney looked down at Newton, who was purring in his lap. "Newton! What should I do?" Newton stretched and re-settled in a different position. Rodney assumed that was cat-speak for "Wait."
McKay was taking a really long time to respond, which made John worry. It wasn't that McKay wasn't interested in what he thought John looked like, so that wasn't an issue, and McKay liked him enough online, so if that was any indicator, they were already friends. But John wanted to move past the "You think I'm a girl" stage, and onto the "No, I'm really a guy and I think I might have a huge crush on you" stage.
imagenius (21:31): I think we should wait.
John just stared at the screen.
imagenius (21:31): I just need a little more time.
imagenius (21:32): It's just
imagenius (21:32): there's a lot of things to do at work
imagenius (21:33): and the military shut us down for the day, so we gotta work twice as hard to meet the next deadline
Wait.
airforce1 (21:33): The military shut you down?
airforce1 (21:34): You work at Emmagan Enterprises?
imagenius (21:34): Oh. Yeah, I do.
imagenius (21:35): Oh, right. You work for the newspaper, of course you know about us
imagenius (21:35): You know what? I think I may have seen you yesterday
John froze. Sam did go to EE yesterday to check out the new weapons the military were ordering from them. Crap.
airforce1 (21:26): That wasn't me.
airforce1 (21:26): I write for Dear Abby, remember?
imagenius (21:27): Oh, right
imagenius (21:27): Why would they send the Dear Abby letter writer to cover a military story
imagenius (21:27): Okay, so it wasn't you
imagenius (21:27): Looked like you
airforce1 (21:28): Yeah, there's a woman who kinda looks like me in Current Events
airforce1 (21:28): Look I gotta go.
John signed off, without waiting for McKay's response. That was really close, John thought.
The next couple of weeks went by like a blur. Rodney was working really hard during the day, and only talking to Sheppard for a solid ten minutes during lunch, and then right before bed.
Though, it sounded like Sheppard was busy too. One day, she was really happy, saying she got promoted to one of the writers, but when Rodney looked for her name in the paper, he only found a man named John Shelby, who wrote an article about men being stood up by their dates on LantisLove.
When Rodney read that article, he may have gotten a little freaked out, but Sheppard reassured him that she wasn't going to stand him up when they met.
Finally, the project for the USAF was done. Rodney had even calibrated the instructions so that the average rookie rocket specialist could operate it. So that night, to celebrate, he asked Sheppard out, properly. As properly as anyone could online, anyway.
airforce1 (19:11): Like, a date date?
imagenius (19:11): Oh, please.
imagenius (19:11): What are you, 14?
imagenius (19:11): Yes, a date.
airforce1 (19:12): I'm just making sure
airforce1 (19:12): I need to know if I should wear something sexy or something casual
imagenius (19:12): Um
imagenius (19:13): Whatever you want
imagenius (19:13): We could meet at Dex's Cafe
imagenius (19:14): I haven't been back since I first went
airforce1 (19:14): So
airforce1 (19:14): Something casual then
Rodney couldn't tell if she was pissed off or not, so Rodney continued.
imagenius (19:15): We could go out to somewhere nicer afterward
imagenius (19:15): Maybe?
airforce1 (19:16): No, that sounds fine.
airforce1 (19:16): How's tomorrow 6:30 sound?
imagenius (19:17): Sounds good.
No matter who will ask, Rodney will adamantly deny any victory dance he may or may not have done that night.
For John, the past few weeks had been pretty hectic, what with being promoted and getting more exciting stories, and finding a replacement for the Dear Abby column. He had interviewed at least twenty candidates, but he was surprised at the last woman to come in for an interview.
It was Teyla Emmagan. Of Emmagen Enterprises. When John asked why she wanted to write for Dear Abby, she said she was doing it because she liked helping people. John had wanted to ask what she knew about her chief scientific advisor, but resisted the urge.
Plus, he had to get the whole 'Shelby' ordeal sorted out. He first adopted the name in his Freshman year of college, after his mother, Congresswoman Mary Sheppard, had become sick and died suddenly; he had hated the way people gave him pitying looks, and pats on the back. But now he just used it as a pen name.
That night, though, he was going to introduce himself as John Sheppard, and McKay would definitely freak out at first, and John would explain everything and kiss him and it would be a happy ending. Or, at least John hoped. In truth, John was pretty scared. Excited too, but mostly scared.
He got off work around 6 PM, said bye to Teyla and Lorne, and drove to Ronon's restaurant. Ronon, who heard all about the date that morning, beckoned John over to the counter. "You okay?" Ronon said, nodding at one of his regulars.
"Yeah, mostly," John said. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of short blonde hair and did a double take. It was Sam. She smiled politely at him before returning to her pie. John smiled back and looked down at his watch. It was 6:20; maybe McKay would be right on time.
But then John looked up in time to see McKay walk through the door; Ronon nudged him with a smile. McKay saw Ronon first and waved, saw John and smiled, but then his eyes went straight to Carter.
Oh God, John thought, right before the shouting started.
Rodney was heartbroken. Sheppard was so...amazing online and yet, when they finally meet in real life, she pretended not to be who she was! Who he was! What they had! Rodney cursed at his bad luck, and crossed the street to his car.
He put the key into the car door just when a guy called out to him on the street. "McKay!" a man with crazy hair shouted, jogging from Dex's Café.
Ronon gave him a glare when McKay left the building. John briefly apologized to Carter, who was also glaring at him, before running out to catch McKay before he drove away.
"How do you know my name?!" McKay demanded.
"You," John waved his hands and motioned toward Ronon's restaurant, "you said it."
"Oh!" McKay said, snapping his fingers rapidly. "Aren't you that guy who was talking to the owner?"
"Yeah," John said, smiling. "You know Ronon?" he asked, even though he knew the answer.
"Yeah," McKay said sadly. "Someone I thought I was in love with told me about it."
"Someone you thought you were in love with?" John echoed, his heart beating a little faster.
"Yeah," McKay said. "Anyway, what do you want?"
John picked an excuse from out of nowhere. "Can I interview you?" McKay raised an eyebrow. "You know that article that came out a couple of weeks ago, about those men that got stood up? I wrote it.
"I'm supposed to write a companion story, on guys who meet the girl but she isn't who they thought she was." McKay just looked at him blankly. "Well? What'd you say?"
"Sure," McKay said, eyeing John suspiciously. "As long as you don't print my name."
"Yeah, yeah, no problem." John held out his hand. "I'm John Shelby," he said.
"Rodney, Rodney McKay," McKay - Rodney - said, shaking his hand, and smiling.
John smiled back. "Do you want to go somewhere more private? I know just the place."
Rodney followed John to John's apartment. "You know," Rodney said, as they rode the elevator to John's floor. "When you said 'somewhere more private,' I kinda thought you meant a bar or something. Not your apartment."
"Nah," John said, winking at Rodney. "What's more private than someone's apartment? Though, I gotta warn you, I have a dog, and he doesn't like strangers."
Rodney nodded. "I have a cat who's the same way."
"Is that so?" John flashed him a gentle grin and Rodney was puzzled.
John opened the door, and a large dog came bounding out to meet them. "Jumper!" John said, and something in Rodney's head clicked, but he wasn't sure what it meant. Jumper sniffed Rodney, deemed he was okay, and they went in without a single warning bark. "That's weird," John said, "he usually hates strangers. Took him weeks to get used to Ronon."
"Really," Rodney said, looking down at Jumper, who was looking back at Rodney expectantly.
"He probably wants a treat," John said, going into the kitchen. "So, how did you meet this woman?"
"What? Oh," the interview. "She wanted to meet me actually."
"Really?" John said, coming back with a bone-shaped treat. "Through LantisLove, right?"
"Yeah," Rodney said, sitting down on one of John's armchairs. "I really thought it was love, too, which was pretty damn stupid of me."
"Hey," John said quietly, sitting on the coffee table. "It's okay, you'll find someone else."
"What?! I know that! I'm a fantastic catch."
John grinned brightly and chuckled. "Yes, yes you are."
Rodney eyed John skeptically. "Aren't you, I don't know, supposed to write this stuff down?"
"Oh I got it right here, McKay." John pointed to his head.
"Yes," Rodney said, "I'm sure your hair does wonders for you."
John laughed, a really horrible braying laugh.
"Oh my God!" Rodney said, "That's honestly how you laugh?"
It just made John laugh harder.
"Oh my God," Rodney repeated, "You're high right now, aren't you!"
John chuckled again, "No, I'm not. I'm just a little giddy right now. Look, I'm starving. Do you want something to eat? We could order Chinese."
Rodney stared at John suspiciously, but agreed that he was also hungry. "As long as it's not orange chicken. I'm deathly allergic to all kinds of citrus."
John smiled genuinely. "Okay, no orange chicken."
The pseudo-interview went pretty well, all things considering. John thought it was still too soon to tell him his real name, so he didn't give him his card. Instead, he asked for Rodney's number, and told him he'd be in contact. Rodney left around ten, and when John was pretty sure he was gone, John looked down at Jumper. "So? You like him?" Jumper seemed to nod. "Yeah, me too."
John, the hot journalist from Ronon's restaurant kept calling him, and it wasn't just for the article. He'd ask if he wanted to go catch a movie, or go to a hockey game, or even out to dinner. Sure, he would say it was for another interview, but after a while Rodney caught on that John kinda just wanted to hang out. Rodney didn't know why; John was obviously friendly enough to have his own friends and hot enough to get girlfriends.
To be absolutely sure, Rodney asked "Whatever happened to that follow-up article you were writing?" one night over pizza. They were at Rodney's apartment this time, watching Serenity, one of Rodney's favourite movies. John was sitting on the couch with Newton sleeping on his lap. Newton took to John right away, just like Jumper had taken to Rodney.
"My editor scrapped it," John said. "You don't mind, do you?"
Rodney knew he didn't mean the article, and said "No, of course not," and joined him on the couch.
"Oh God, I hate this part," John said, wincing when Wash died. "He was my favourite character," he whined. Rodney pretended not to care, but the next time John came over, they watched Back to the Future, even though Rodney hated it, because it was John's favourite.
It had been three months, two weeks and five days since they officially started to hang out in Real Life, and John was loving every moment of it.
He had already decided that at four months, he was going to tell Rodney the truth. It was going to be over dinner, at Rodney's apartment, so if Rodney wanted John to leave, he would. But when they hung out, John could already tell Rodney was thinking about Carter less and less, and that made John feel better about springing it on him.
So, a week later, John invited himself over, bringing a nice prime rib Ronon made with him. Rodney said he'd get the movie, which turned out to be Remember the Titans. When John raised an eyebrow, Rodney just said, "It's a good movie. And you like football, so."
John smiled, "Well thank you, Rodney, I didn't know you cared."
Rodney paled. "Yes, well. Now you do."
John grinned shyly as he helped Rodney set up in the living room. "Ronon made mashed potatoes and Mac 'n' Cheese too."
"Mmmmm," Rodney hummed happily.
They finished dinner, and the movie, and John was getting ready to go when he finally got the courage.
"Rodney, I need to talk to you. Okay, I wasn't entirely honest with you at the beginning."
"Oh my God," Rodney said, "I knew it was too good to be true."
"What?"
"You're writing an exposée on Emmagan Enterprises, aren't you? You were using me to get close to Teyla, aren't you?"
"No, let me finish!" Rodney frowned and waited. "Shelby is my pen name," John said, taking a deep breath. "My real last name is Sheppard."
"Wait."
John did.
"You're Sheppard?"
"Yeah."
"You. You're Sheppard. The Sheppard that I chatted with."
"Yes, Rodney."
"But, Sheppard's a girl!"
John sighed, "My editor made me pretend to be a girl online, so I could get the interviews for the LantiLove article."
"Then where did you get the picture of the hot chick?"
"She's an editor for one of the sections of the Daily."
Rodney didn't speak, but his eyes flickered from one idea to the next. "So, so, so what. You, you wanted to be my friend so that you could laugh at my pain?"
"No, Rodney, I-"
"Then what? You became by friend out of pity? You felt bad?"
"No, Rodney-"
"Just get out."
John didn't question it, because he had never seen or heard McKay so angry, not even when they argued. "Okay," he said, and left.
Rodney was absolutely livid. Not just because John lied to him, or that he kept it from him or even that he got his heart broken, but mostly because he should've saw the signs: the dog named Jumper - it was only after John left that Rodney remembered the dog's name from the IM conversation; Ronon and Dex's Café - Rodney was pretty sure John was the only one friends with the scary looking man; Working for the Daily, in the Local section - there were only four reporters working in the Local section, Rodney later found out, and only one had a last name remotely close to "Sheppard".
Really, Rodney should've seen it. He was just too blinded by the attractive man who wanted to hang out with him.
John called him a couple of days later, and left a message on Rodney's cell, apologizing. He left a message with Rodney's secretary and another message on Rodney's home phone. A couple of days after that, the same pattern.
Rodney never returned the calls, but he listened to every single message, refusing to admit to himself it was because he missed John's voice.
"Rodney," John said tiredly on the phone. "It's John. Again, I'm sorry. If there's anything I can do-" He stopped and sighed. It was the second message he left that day and knew he was probably being a little bit crazy. "Okay, I get it. I'll stop calling." He hung up, angry at himself for not telling Rodney sooner. Maybe, if they started out screwed up John wouldn't have all this hope built up.
But then, a couple of days later, there was a knock at the door. John had just gotten back home from a long day at work, and was about to take a shower. He thought maybe it was the guy down the hall, who complained that Jumper was howling, or maybe it was Ronon, who often got locked out of his apartment and waited in John's for the landlord to open it for him. He wasn't expecting Rodney.
"Rodney," John said, wanting to put his arms around him.
"Oh thank god you're okay." Rodney said, pushing in. "Were you sick? I thought maybe you were sick."
"No, Rodney. I'm fine," John crossed his arms; he was very confused, and he didn't like being confused. "Why are you here?"
"I thought you were sick," Rodney repeated. "But obviously, you're fine. You didn't call yesterday; why didn't you call yesterday?"
John tried to hide a smile, but ultimately failed. "I said I was going to stop trying."
Rodney frowned. "Because you stopped caring?"
"Because you never returned my calls!"
"Oh. Right." Rodney looked uncomfortable. "Well. It's not like I wasn't listening to them."
"Oh."
"Yeah." There was an awkward silence; John didn't know what this meant, but there was his hope flaring again. "Right, so. I'll see you," Rodney mumbled, brushing past John toward the door.
"Wait," John said. Rodney turned around, and John had his hands on both sides of Rodney's face pulling him into a kiss, wanting this to mean the same thing to both of them. John let out a happy sigh of relief when Rodney responded right away, hands going everywhere.
When they pulled apart, they were both panting. "Oh," Rodney said, looking at John for confirmation.
"Yeah," John said.
"So, you," Rodney said.
"Yeah," John repeated. "And you, too?"
"Obviously," Rodney said, rolling his eyes.
Months later, after Rodney moved into John's apartment (John argued it was because his apartment was bigger, and that it was closer to Emmagen Enterprises anyway, but Rodney knew it was because John refused to move away from Ronon), and Newton got used to sharing a bed with Jumper, the landlord decided to have a house-warming party for the two of them. Rodney didn't like parties all that much (he had a bad experience in college that involved his new car, a girl he really liked, and throwing up) but he liked food and barbecues and beer, so Teal'c, the landlord, agreed to have a potluck barbecue.
It was open to the whole building, of course, because Teal'c was too nice for his own good sometimes, but the tennants also invited a lot of their friends, families, and co-workers over. An hour into the celebration, and the party was in full swing. He met a man named Carson who lived on the second floor and introduced Rodney to haggis, and a woman named Jennifer who lived on the seventh floor and offered to petsit if they ever needed one. Even Radek came; he met John's friend Lorne (or was it Bourne? Rodney was never quite sure) and the two of the were currently drinking together at the makeshift bar.
Rodney was in the middle of arguing with a man named Daniel over the uselessness of archaeology when Teyla and John appeared out of nowhere. Daniel rolled his eyes and disappeared when Rodney stopped mid-sentence. "And, Teyla, you know Rodney," John was saying, as they approached him. "He works at your company, but he's also my boyfriend." John smirked at that last word and Rodney thought, He really is a fourteen-year-old girl.
"Ah," Teyla said, "so you do know each other."
"What?" Rodney squeaked, vaguely aware that this woman signed his checks.
"Nothing," she said mysteriously, a smile slyly streching across her face. Rodney looked at John, but John looked just as confused as he felt. Then, Ronon came over, asked her to dance, and swiftly whisked her away.
"What?" Rodney repeated. John just shrugged.
And then, John spotted Sam. He wasn't 100% sure why she was here or even how she knew about it, but he didn't want to go through that again, so he grabbed Rodney by the elbow, getting an "ow!" from him, and trying to escape to somewhere quieter.
Unfortunately, Sam found them. "John," she said politely, "And this must be Rodney. Nice to see you again, Rodney."
"Umm," John said. "Rodney, this is Samantha Carter. She's the editor for Current Events at the daily. Sam, this is Rodney McKay. My boyfriend and Chief Scientific Advisor to Emmagen Enterprises." John may have puffed his chest out slightly, but he couldn't help it.
"Hm. You know, now that you aren't some evil bitch who turned me down in front of a restaurant full of people," Rodney said, "you're pretty hot." Sam is a bit outraged, John could tell, but then McKay barreled on. "I mean, not that you weren't hot before, I'm sure you were, but now that I'm seeing you in a different light, I can tell that now."
John raised an eyebrow. And maybe he pouted, but just a little. Rodney noticed.
"Oh please, John, like that's actually going to work on me." Rodney rolled his eyes. "You already know you're hot."
John just smirked, and before Rodney could say another snarky comment in return, John captured his still moving lips in a deep kiss.
The couple only broke apart when Sam cleared her throat. "Don't mind me, I'll just be over there," Carter said, rolling her eyes and walking off to talk to another group of people from the paper.
John grinned. "Now, where were we?"
"Here," Rodney said as he kissed John again.