[fic] Taking Tea (SGA/B&B)
TITLE: Taking Tea
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: (Stargate: Atlantis/Bruno & Boots) An outtake from the sequel to Godforsaken.
14 Valentines: Reproductive Rights
NOTES: Godforsaken is the non-McKay And Mrs. Miller-compliant story where Rodney is the uncle of Bruno Walton (of Gordon Korman's Bruno & Boots stories). I'm working on a sequel, but I don't think it'll be done in time to make 14 Valentines, for which I am very sorry. This is an outtake from that story. Many, many thanks to cincodemaygirl, who is betaing the thing with superhuman patience.
John isn't really sure how they got here.
Okay, not neurotoxin not-sure, but the kind of not-sure that he's pretty sure everybody experiences when faced with Rodney McKay in his natural habitat. He's seen the blank look Elizabeth gets sometimes when Rodney's explaining something in his lab, and John's sure he looks the same, here in--again, not sure how they got here--in the sitting room of the headmaster of Rodney's high school, staring down at a plate of delicate cookies.
Mrs. Sturgeon pours the tea.
John makes the requisite small talk--oh, yes, lifelong Air Force, work with Dr. McKay, sadly it's all classified or I'd tell you all about it, really it's a lovely place--and Rodney manages to steamroll over the conversation, gesturing with his full teacup and asking about the various new facilities (John, having been treated to Bruno Walton's Greatest Hits in the car, suspects Rodney just wants to see Sturgeon keep a straight face when he talks about the pool). It all feels so oddly familiar.
The previous headmaster, Sturgeon tells them, finished his tenure at Macdonald Hall just as Rodney was graduating.
"Oh," Rodney says. "The fireworks. Right."
John takes a sip of tea (black tea, just tea, and he doesn't really like it but let's be polite here) and nods his okay at Rodney. "Well, I can't say I never set anything on fire in high school."
"In my defense," Rodney says, and takes a sip, "it was only what I considered would be a fitting sendoff for the man," and John realizes what they're doing--they've done this a million times, sat with strangers and shared a cup. By rights the others should be here, Ronon perched on the damask couch and Teyla leaning forward and saying warmly, "This is an excellent tea--may I ask if it is grown by your people?"
John smiles and goes for the cookies, and even though he knows Rodney mentioned the lemon thing, and knows the headmaster's wife isn't going to try to kill Rodney, he tastes carefully and nods at Rodney and is so, so not going to ever let this go.
***
(Later, at a mostly-empty Burger King somewhere in one of Canada's prarie provinces, John unwraps his burger and picks it up and puts it down and carefully doesn't take a bite, keeping up a steady conversation, until Rodney says, "Aren't you going to--oh. Oh, you bastard--"
Rodney pelts him with fries while John just laughs and laughs.
"Regained ability to plot against me, let me see if that's on Carson's list," Rodney grumbles, when he's exhausted his supply of deep-fried projectiles.
John just smirks at him, and lets him steal his pie.)
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: (Stargate: Atlantis/Bruno & Boots) An outtake from the sequel to Godforsaken.
14 Valentines: Reproductive Rights
NOTES: Godforsaken is the non-McKay And Mrs. Miller-compliant story where Rodney is the uncle of Bruno Walton (of Gordon Korman's Bruno & Boots stories). I'm working on a sequel, but I don't think it'll be done in time to make 14 Valentines, for which I am very sorry. This is an outtake from that story. Many, many thanks to cincodemaygirl, who is betaing the thing with superhuman patience.
John isn't really sure how they got here.
Okay, not neurotoxin not-sure, but the kind of not-sure that he's pretty sure everybody experiences when faced with Rodney McKay in his natural habitat. He's seen the blank look Elizabeth gets sometimes when Rodney's explaining something in his lab, and John's sure he looks the same, here in--again, not sure how they got here--in the sitting room of the headmaster of Rodney's high school, staring down at a plate of delicate cookies.
Mrs. Sturgeon pours the tea.
John makes the requisite small talk--oh, yes, lifelong Air Force, work with Dr. McKay, sadly it's all classified or I'd tell you all about it, really it's a lovely place--and Rodney manages to steamroll over the conversation, gesturing with his full teacup and asking about the various new facilities (John, having been treated to Bruno Walton's Greatest Hits in the car, suspects Rodney just wants to see Sturgeon keep a straight face when he talks about the pool). It all feels so oddly familiar.
The previous headmaster, Sturgeon tells them, finished his tenure at Macdonald Hall just as Rodney was graduating.
"Oh," Rodney says. "The fireworks. Right."
John takes a sip of tea (black tea, just tea, and he doesn't really like it but let's be polite here) and nods his okay at Rodney. "Well, I can't say I never set anything on fire in high school."
"In my defense," Rodney says, and takes a sip, "it was only what I considered would be a fitting sendoff for the man," and John realizes what they're doing--they've done this a million times, sat with strangers and shared a cup. By rights the others should be here, Ronon perched on the damask couch and Teyla leaning forward and saying warmly, "This is an excellent tea--may I ask if it is grown by your people?"
John smiles and goes for the cookies, and even though he knows Rodney mentioned the lemon thing, and knows the headmaster's wife isn't going to try to kill Rodney, he tastes carefully and nods at Rodney and is so, so not going to ever let this go.
***
(Later, at a mostly-empty Burger King somewhere in one of Canada's prarie provinces, John unwraps his burger and picks it up and puts it down and carefully doesn't take a bite, keeping up a steady conversation, until Rodney says, "Aren't you going to--oh. Oh, you bastard--"
Rodney pelts him with fries while John just laughs and laughs.
"Regained ability to plot against me, let me see if that's on Carson's list," Rodney grumbles, when he's exhausted his supply of deep-fried projectiles.
John just smirks at him, and lets him steal his pie.)