Team Romance Extra!

[fluffyllama]

Title: Rooms
Author: velocitygrass ( interview)
Team: Romance (extra)
Prompt: Lost
Pairing(s): McKay/Sheppard, minor mention of McKay/Carter
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: none
Summary: He stepped out of the room, not willing to dwell on the fact that of course Rodney's sex fantasy would be Col. Carter.

And the final one! Thank you to our mystery backup for letting us post the extra stories she wrote for this prompt, and of course to all our backups for saving the day -- we look forward to thanking you all by name after the reveal!


"Okay, Radek. We'll go back now. Check if the energy consumption goes down again."

"Yes, Rodney," John heard Radek's answer over the comm. His voice held that slightly frustrated tone that he got when Rodney told him things even John would have known to do, but was too polite, or maybe it was smart, to point that out to Rodney. Not everyone thought it was fun to argue with Rodney.

John smiled and followed Rodney out of the room they had investigated. The energy consumption had spiked after they'd entered, but they hadn't been able to determine what the energy was used for. The room had stayed exactly the same.

There was something strange with the hall outside though, John realized now. Apparently Rodney had noticed, too, because John ran smack into him.

"Can't you watch where you're going?" Rodney sounded irritated, but his attention was on his Ancient analyzer.

"What would be the fun in that?" John said, looking over Rodney's shoulder. Not that the readings meant a whole lot to him, but it annoyed Rodney.

"Rodney? Col. Sheppard?" Radek sounded worried.

"It hasn't switched itself off," Rodney said into the comm.

"Rodney, John, where are you?" It was Elizabeth.

Rodney turned to John and John felt a small thrill because their faces were inches apart, but then Elizabeth's words sank in.

He straightened. "We should be on level three, just outside the room. Although the hall does look a bit different."

"You are no longer on our sensors," Elizabeth said.

Rodney's eyes widened, then he quickly walked off towards where they had come from that morning - and stopped just before going around the corner. When he turned around, corners of his mouth turned downwards, John knew they were in trouble.

Without asking he ran towards the other direction and sure enough the hall ended just around the corner.

"This hall is going nowhere," John informed the others.

He looked at Rodney and together they started walking back to the door through which they had come. They looked at each other and Rodney pressed the panel.

Nothing happened.

"Can you go back?" Elizabeth asked.

"Negative. The door doesn't open. Rodney is trying to see if something is wrong with the... crystals."

Rodney rolled his eyes, but resumed pulling out one or more and putting them back differently. "Have you checked for other energy spikes," he asked into the comm, pushing the panel once again without result.

"It is exactly same as before. I've activated the sensors for the other sections, but so far no results."

"I'm sending a team out to level 3."

"Okay, but tell them not to enter the room," John told Elizabeth.

"Of course."

Rodney pushed back the crystals in their original order and half-heartedly pressed the panel once again. The result was the same as every time before. "The door can't be opened."

"Have you tried to circumvent th-"

"No, I haven't! What a brilliant idea! Thank you so much for pointing that out."

John smiled. If he had to get lost exploring, he was happy it was with Rodney. There was no chance it would get boring.

"Do you have any useful suggestions?" Rodney asked.

There was a short silence.

"We will let you know if we have more information," Elizabeth said.

In other words no.

"There are nine other doors leading from the hall," John said into the comm, "I'm not sure if they'll work, but we should check them out. We will check in again in 20 minutes."

Rodney was already walking to the door closest to them, opposite of the one through which they'd come.

John took out his sidearm. Rodney did the same and let John open the door.

Inside there was a long table filled to overflowing with food. Behind him John could hear Rodney making some kind of noise. Then he was rushing past John and pointing his analyzer at the food.

"It seems to be real."

John could understand the doubt. Not only did everything look as if it came fresh from an oven, ice box or tree, this was for the most part Earth food. Turkey, spare ribs, he even saw a giant hamburger. This had to come from humans. Either Atlantis had been observing what had been brought with the Daedalus or it had gone directly to their minds.

The thought was slightly disturbing, but John's suspicions were confirmed when he saw one cherry muffin, sprinkled with a generous amount of chocolate flakes, just as his grandmother used to make for him when he was young.

"Maybe a VR," Rodney said, as if he could read John's mind.

John looked at him and suddenly panicked. What if he could read his mind here? Unerringly his mind filled with everything he didn't want Rodney to know about him, beginning and ending with his favorite sexual fantasy of Rodney above and inside of him. He flushed.

But Rodney just kept eyeing the food. John sighed in relief.

"We should check out the other rooms," he said hastily.

Rodney looked up, obviously loathing to get away from this sight. But then he perked up. "You're right. Let's check the other rooms." He quickly walked out.

The next room was just black.

"Sensory deprivation?" Rodney suggested. "Maybe to prepare for ascension."

"I doubt ascension is the goal of this." The hedonism of the first room certainly was nothing he'd associate with the Ancients.

"It could be an all-purpose entertainment center."

They went to check the next room. John just put his hand on his sidearm in the holster. He was reasonably sure now that they wouldn't find anything dangerous in any of the rooms.

When he opened it, his attention was drawn to a large bed at the center. On top of it lay one Rodney McKay. One, because John was fairly certain that the real Rodney was still behind him. Fake Rodney was wearing his civilian clothing and looking at John.

"What is it?" Rodney pushed past him and John looked from him to the bed, where fake Rodney didn't even blink and kept his gaze focused on John alone.

"Col. Carter?" real Rodney said next to him.

John turned to him, then to the bed, where there was no sign of Col. Carter at all. He took in the uncharacteristically warm colors of the room and the unheard of size of the bed and combined that with his image of fake Rodney and Rodney's image of Col. Carter.

All-purpose indeed.

He stepped out of the room, not willing to dwell on the fact that of course Rodney's sex fantasy would be Col. Carter.

"Colonel," Rodney called after him. "Where are you going? Maybe we could ask her if she has an idea to get out."

John turned around and just said "Rodney", hoping he wouldn't actually have to spell it out for him.

But Rodney only looked confused.

"I'm not seeing Col. Carter and that room is not for intellectual discussion," John said pointedly.

At last Rodney seemed to understand, because he looked back into the room and around it and when he turned to John again, he flushed.

John walked on without waiting for Rodney.

"So who did you see?" Rodney said, coming after him.

John stopped in front of the next door. "There are some buttons," he said because he certainly wasn't going to discuss this with Rodney.

"You don't have to say. It was probably Teyla. Or maybe Elizabeth. Or both of them!" He seemed to contemplate the last option, when suddenly his face turned sour. "Or Chaya," he mumbled.

There was a time, when Rodney's apparent jealousy made John happy and hopeful. However he'd learned since that it didn't mean that Rodney was interested in him, so it was frustrating him now. He almost wanted to point out to Rodney, that he hadn't once taken up Chaya's offer to visit her again, but he didn't think it would change anything expect aggravating Rodney. And in this case John wouldn't enjoy it because there was a high possibility it would lead to further discussion about half-ascended women throwing themselves at him.

"Buttons," he said again and Rodney finally turned his attention to them.

After running his analyzer over the buttons, Rodney pressed the first. It started to glow. He pressed the second and the first was switched off and the second glowed.

"Different options maybe," Rodney suggested.

They switched back to the first and went inside. It was the control room of an Ancient ship. In fact it looked very similar to the Aurora. John looked around, fascinated by the accuracy of it. This was so much better than any blueprint. He could walk around and sit down in the pilot seat.

When he turned around, Rodney was watching him with an indulgent smile on his face.

John smiled back. Even if Rodney didn't feel the same, he was glad to have him as a friend.

"Come on, Colonel. Hard as it is to tear yourself away, we should check the other rooms, before we check in again."

John followed Rodney obediently. Outside, Rodney walked to the next door.

"What about the other options?" John asked because it stood to reason that those were other ships, maybe small, fast ones.

"Let's check the other rooms first. Maybe you're lucky and we'll never get out of here. Then you can spend the rest of your life flying." Rodney turned to look at the sex room. "Or other things."

John ignored that and went to the next door. There were buttons next to this one, too. He pressed the first and they went inside.

It looked like a cave. It was dark and John's eyes had just adjusted when he saw a Wraith coming towards them. Rodney was already opening the door and John pushed them both out and swung the door shut behind him.

"What the hell?" Rodney asked.

They looked at each other, then John pressed the second button. Rodney looked very uncomfortable, but they went inside again and this time it looked like a cell. There was a chair in the middle with manacles for hands and feet. When a grim looking person came towards them, they scrambled out again.

"Fight simulation?" Rodney asked, his voice a bit more high-pitched than usually.

John nodded vigorously. Not necessarily because he agreed. But the idea that the room might have a similar function as the sex room was something he didn't need to associate with Ancients. Even if he was beginning to think this might have been the experiment of a single person who had operated without the approval of the rest.

The rooms after that were less disturbing. There was one with a giant fitness machine, or at least that was what it seemed like to John. Then there was a library, in Ancient, something that Rodney had named an Ancient soap opera and finally another room with options, the first of which was a quiet beach and the second of which was a meadow.

When they checked in with the control room, there were no news. The marines had opened the room without entering and found it empty. Radek hadn't been able to locate them.

"We could be in stasis, hidden in the room," Rodney pointed out.

"Then how could you communicate with us?" Radek asked.

Rodney thought about that for a moment. "An interface that translate what we would say into actual signals."

"Why would the stasis chambers be hidden?"

This time John answered. "Maybe this was a secret lab. I don't think this kind of... research was sanctioned by the Ancients."

"We'll send out teams with sensors," Elizabeth said.

"Maybe only the main sensors were overridden," Radek added.

"Okay. In the meantime I'll see if I can somehow find another way to open the door and Col. Flyboy here can check all options of the flight simulator."

John grinned. He patted Rodney on the back and then went off to do just that.

The second option was a puddlejumper. John was pleasantly surprised to see how accurate the simulation was. It could be a helpful tool for others learning to fly. Maybe he should test it on Rodney to see how it worked for people who only had an artificial gene and weren't quite as comfortable with it.

When he got out, Rodney wasn't at the door anymore.

John told himself not to worry. Chances were Rodney had gotten hungry and went to his personal buffet just one door away. But there was just the full table and no Rodney. He tried to reach him via comm, but that didn't seem to work inside the rooms.

He went into the hall again and asked Elizabeth, "Has Rodney checked in with you?"

"No, why?"

"I just can't see him at the moment. He's probably in one of the rooms. I'll check in when I find him."

The next room that he checked was the library. But Rodney wasn't in there either. Nor was he in the dark room or any of the others. Eventually there was only the "fight simulation" and the sex room left and John really doubted Rodney had gone to train fighting a Wraith.

He was torn between making sure Rodney was okay and interrupting his fantasy sex with the incredible Col. Carter and letting him enjoy this.

When Elizabeth asked if he had found Rodney, John decided to go in.

He shielded his eyes, because as much as he enjoyed the idea of a naked Rodney in the throes of ecstasy, he really didn't need to see him having sex with Col. Carter. He listened, but it was quiet.

"Rodney," he asked carefully, still not looking.

"Yes, Colonel." He didn't sound mad, so John looked up and found Rodney watching him from the middle of the room.

"Oh, I thought you were..." He trailed off. "I've been looking for you. I wanted to test the simulator with you."

"Ah, there you are," Rodney said from the door and John turned around and stared at him, then at what he now realized was fake Rodney once again.

When he looked back to real Rodney, he saw his eyes widening. "Me?"

"Uh," John said dumbly. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be.

"You're seeing me?" Rodney repeated his question.

John quickly turned around. He had to get out of there. He left the room and, once outside, spoke into the comm, "Elizabeth, I found him."

"I... wow," Rodney said following him.

John went towards the flight simulator without thinking. He pressed the second button and went inside. Rodney followed him.

"That's really surprising," he continued. "I never would have thought. I mean, seriously, of all the people... you chose me."

John sat down in the co-pilot's chair and pointed at the other seat. It was probably best that Rodney got it out of his system and then they could both forgot this had happened.

"You could have had Teyla," Rodney said and John had to resist the urge to hit his head against the console of the jumper.

Why had he been so stupid? There'd only been one person in the room. Of course it had been fake Rodney, even if he wore his uniform then. He'd never hear the end of it.

At least, John noted with a bit of relief, Rodney wasn't disgusted by him. In fact he almost seemed excited about the idea. Of course this would feed Rodney's ego.

"Sit down," John said.

Rodney did, but kept talking. "I really didn't expect that you'd fantasize about a guy. All those women that throw themselves at you. Hmm, I guess that's just them and not you. Although you went willingly enough with Chaya." The corners of his mouth turned down. Then he relaxed. "And even if you are into guys I would have thought Ronon. He's hot in an Neanderthal kind of way."

Okay, maybe letting Rodney just talk was not a good idea, because if he ever had to discuss Ronon's relative hotness with him again, someone would die.

"Just shut up and try to fly a straight line."

Rodney started to fly, but quickly turned to John again. "You never said a word."

John sighed loudly.

"There was never a hint," Rodney continued. "Or was there? Did I just not see it?"

"Could we not talk about this?" John asked and he couldn't believe that he had to tell Rodney that. It should be obvious enough in the situation. And Rodney was a guy. How hard could it be to just pretend it had never happened.

Apparently very hard.

"I won't tell anyone of course," Rodney said as if that was what had bothered John. Although he supposed he should be glad about it since it didn't look like Rodney was going to stop anytime soon. "I'm just shocked to be honest. Is this... was it just coincidence, maybe because we got lost together, or do you regularly think of me when you..."

John stared at him. Then he got up and walked out.

He couldn't believe Rodney. John had imagined the moment when he found out. Whether it was a truth serum or a drink too many at a harvest festival or Rodney somehow finding out about the tape of Rodney in that tiny ritualistic outfit that John kept hidden on his laptop. His worst case scenario was Rodney never speaking to him again and leaving the team. His best case scenario was Rodney being understanding and remaining friends with him as if nothing had happened. Okay, his really best case scenario was Rodney flinging away all his clothes and jumping him, but in any case there was no scenario in which Rodney tried to talk the thing to death.

Rodney followed him out of the room. "I know you don't have to answer me, but since the cat is out of the bag, I'd just like to know how the room came to the conclusion that it would be me that you'd like to... you know... have sex with."

"You're right. I don't have to answer and I won't," John said, turning to Rodney and then back. He randomly punched a button on the relaxation room and entered it. It was the meadow.

He lay down in the grass, nervously eyeing the door in the field. When it didn't open again he sighed in relief.

He closed his eyes for a moment breathing in the fake fresh air and listening to the fake breeze. Then he heard the door opening and steps in the grass.

"I don't want to embarrass you. I'm... flattered. I just really need to know-"

John had enough. He opened his eyes. "Why? Why do we have to talk about this? What possible use could any discussion of this have? What do you want to know? That it's you? Just you and always you? Will that be enough for your ego?"

"Is it?" Rodney asked quietly. "Just me?"

John jumped up, really angry now. He didn't care that Rodney recoiled. This was the most humiliating thing that had ever happened to him and he couldn't believe that Rodney, that his friend would keep making it worse, just out of some perverse curiosity.

"Yeah, Rodney, just you, although I couldn't say why at the moment. Why don't you go and fuck Col. Carter?" He left the room and slammed the door behind him.

Outside he didn't know where to go. He was lost somewhere in a hidden hall in his own goddamn city. And in this moment he wished it was with anyone but Rodney. He considered going into the sex room, just to spite Rodney and to get a chance to fuck him, even if it wouldn't really be him. But he couldn't bring himself to do it.

So he went back into the simulation of the puddlejumper and just sat down and tried not to think at all.

When he came out an hour later, Elizabeth had no news. She asked how Rodney was. John told her he'd check on him.

So he went through the rooms again, this time only quickly looking inside so that it couldn't happen that Rodney switched rooms while he was inside one. After a quick check of the fight room, he found himself once again in front of the door to the sex room.

He didn't go inside this time. Instead he sat down opposite of it, waiting for Rodney to come out.

It didn't take very long and John managed to hardly think about the fact that the man he... wanted was in there with the woman of his dreams. Maybe it was just sex for Rodney. And even if it wasn't, it wasn't as if it mattered who Rodney wanted instead of John.

Rodney came out, looking positively debauched. His hair looked wild, his lips red and swollen and there was a hickey on his neck above his collar. He was startled to see John sitting on the floor. John closed his eyes.

"He's fine," he said into the comm.

"The energy consumption has dropped significantly," Radek said.

John and Rodney looked to the entrance and the panel was glowing now. "It looks like we might be able to leave now."

John got up and quickly walked there, hearing Rodney's steps behind him.

"Wait," Rodney said.

John took a deep breath. It wasn't Rodney's fault that he didn't feel the same.

"What?" John asked tiredly, turning to Rodney.

But Rodney just looked at him for a moment, then leaned forward and kissed him.

John kissed back automatically, because he'd wanted this for so long. Their mouths opened up and the kiss deepened and it was perfect, except... he pulled back.

"Rodney?"

"It was you, not Col. Carter," he said, pointing back at the door to the sex room.

John didn't know what to think. He really wanted to believe that, but he'd heard Rodney say her name when they'd first entered. Loud and clear. "Why did you say it was her then?"

"I didn't. Oh, you mean that first time. Yes, it was her then, but not now."

John nodded. He understood. When Rodney had found out that John was interested in him, he'd suddenly found he'd be interested in that, too. What wonders the actual possibility of something happening could do. It was just convenient for Rodney, but even so John wasn't sure if it wouldn't still be enough for him.

"Really," Rodney said, obviously noticing that John was not exactly convinced of his sudden change of mind.

"We should get back," John said because he didn't think he could make a decision now.

"It was her because I force myself not to think of you that way," Rodney said. John tried not to hope, but he listened and Rodney continued. "When I first saw you in Antarctica I thought of no one else. But then you became a member of the expedition and I was on your team and we became friends. I had no reason to believe you'd ever be interested in me, so I thought it would be safer to just think of you as a friend, to not fantasize about the things I wanted to do with you." He absent-mindedly stroked his hickey.

John processed all of this in his mind, unable not to believe in what he desperately wanted to be true. He stared at Rodney's fingers on his neck.

It didn't matter that it had been a fake John that had given Rodney the hickey. Rodney was his and John felt a surge of jealousy and pulled Rodney into a hard kiss before sucking on the red bit of skin on his neck, turning the hickey even darker.

Rodney whimpered and John smiled, pulling back and leaning his forehead against Rodney's. He couldn't believe that this was finally happening, when he'd stopped hoping quite a while ago.

"I'm glad I got lost with you," John said quietly.

"Yes, let's never do that again."

John laughed. Then he straightened himself and removed his arms from around Rodney.

He tapped his earpiece. "We'll come out now." When he touched the panel, the door opened.

They looked at each other, their hands quickly brushing against each other, and stepped through together.