SGA:Checkmate:Conversion
Title: Conversion
Series: Checkmate ‘Verse
Author: Beadattitude
Pairing: John/Rodney
Rating: FRA, this chapter
Length: ~500
Beta: carolyn_claire
Warnings: Animal transformation, angst, schmoop, romance
Author's note: This story precedes Conflicted, Comfort and Conviction.
~~
Conversion:noun: an event that results in a transformation
~~~
It had been a long afternoon after a longer morning - departmental meeting day, joy, joy, joy - and Rodney couldn’t find John. It wasn’t as if he needed John for anything, particularly….Rodney just liked to know where he was. Sometimes. Particularly since he was so small.
John wasn’t in any of his usual places; not supervising Teyla’s training sessions from the seat by the window, not playing some hair-raising game with Ronon and the marines, he wasn’t making sure the engineering department was not on the verge of blowing them sky high and he certainly wasn’t curled up in his box on Rodney’s lab bench.
It was not the first time Rodney had thought about modifying a radio for cat ears, but John got freaked out by the tiny little microphone brushing his whiskers and Rodney laughing at the resulting contortions John used to get it off…yeah. They weren’t going to be trying that again anytime soon.
Rodney really shouldn’t have compared it to the time he tried to put a leash on Schrodinger. At least, not aloud.
John had stalked off to the conservatory, where he got hit broadside by the automatic sprinklers. His bad-day pouting funk was epic. So epic that it lasted through to the next morning when Rodney - sleepier than usual because someone kicked in his sleep and when called on it, stomped off to the laundry hamper - was reading some science department reports while having breakfast, missed his mouth, dumped his eggs in his lap, jabbed himself in the face with his fork and turned his coffee cup over. John didn’t - couldn’t - laugh, but Rodney could tell by his smug expression and his ear-shattering purr that he was doubled over laughing on the inside.
Thinking about it wasn’t helping Rodney’s mood.
Of course John was the very last place Rodney looked; his quarters. He was stretched out, belly up and paws dangling, drowsing in the afternoon sun. He turned his head and gazed fondly at Rodney, drunk on sunshine.
For a moment, Rodney could see John’s long, lanky, black-uniformed body as clearly as if he had transformed right then, see him squinting in the sun and smiling his slow, warm smile. Stuff like that had been happening all week, little things John did that reminded him of, well, John.
Made Rodney see John. He’d been doing it all week and hadn’t realized what he was...that he...of all the stupid...
Between one blink and the next, John was a cat again, drowsy and ridiculous and so blissed out he could barely keep his eyes open.
“Go back to sleep,” Rodney whispered, not trusting his voice.
John nestled back down into the t-shirt Rodney had slept in last night and twisted slightly to get more sun on his belly.
Rodney went to the bathroom and washed his face, avoided his own gaze in the mirror, and somehow made it to the balcony, where he watched the sun begin its slow descent.
~~~
Conflicted
~~~
Series: Checkmate ‘Verse
Author: Beadattitude
Pairing: John/Rodney
Rating: FRA, this chapter
Length: ~500
Beta: carolyn_claire
Warnings: Animal transformation, angst, schmoop, romance
Author's note: This story precedes Conflicted, Comfort and Conviction.
~~
Conversion:noun: an event that results in a transformation
~~~
It had been a long afternoon after a longer morning - departmental meeting day, joy, joy, joy - and Rodney couldn’t find John. It wasn’t as if he needed John for anything, particularly….Rodney just liked to know where he was. Sometimes. Particularly since he was so small.
John wasn’t in any of his usual places; not supervising Teyla’s training sessions from the seat by the window, not playing some hair-raising game with Ronon and the marines, he wasn’t making sure the engineering department was not on the verge of blowing them sky high and he certainly wasn’t curled up in his box on Rodney’s lab bench.
It was not the first time Rodney had thought about modifying a radio for cat ears, but John got freaked out by the tiny little microphone brushing his whiskers and Rodney laughing at the resulting contortions John used to get it off…yeah. They weren’t going to be trying that again anytime soon.
Rodney really shouldn’t have compared it to the time he tried to put a leash on Schrodinger. At least, not aloud.
John had stalked off to the conservatory, where he got hit broadside by the automatic sprinklers. His bad-day pouting funk was epic. So epic that it lasted through to the next morning when Rodney - sleepier than usual because someone kicked in his sleep and when called on it, stomped off to the laundry hamper - was reading some science department reports while having breakfast, missed his mouth, dumped his eggs in his lap, jabbed himself in the face with his fork and turned his coffee cup over. John didn’t - couldn’t - laugh, but Rodney could tell by his smug expression and his ear-shattering purr that he was doubled over laughing on the inside.
Thinking about it wasn’t helping Rodney’s mood.
Of course John was the very last place Rodney looked; his quarters. He was stretched out, belly up and paws dangling, drowsing in the afternoon sun. He turned his head and gazed fondly at Rodney, drunk on sunshine.
For a moment, Rodney could see John’s long, lanky, black-uniformed body as clearly as if he had transformed right then, see him squinting in the sun and smiling his slow, warm smile. Stuff like that had been happening all week, little things John did that reminded him of, well, John.
Made Rodney see John. He’d been doing it all week and hadn’t realized what he was...that he...of all the stupid...
Between one blink and the next, John was a cat again, drowsy and ridiculous and so blissed out he could barely keep his eyes open.
“Go back to sleep,” Rodney whispered, not trusting his voice.
John nestled back down into the t-shirt Rodney had slept in last night and twisted slightly to get more sun on his belly.
Rodney went to the bathroom and washed his face, avoided his own gaze in the mirror, and somehow made it to the balcony, where he watched the sun begin its slow descent.
~~~
Conflicted
~~~