Fic: "Three May Keep a Secret" - SGA - S/B/Z
Title: Three May Keep a Secret
Pairing: Sheppard/Beckett/Zelenka
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1887
Summary: "Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead." (Benjamin Franklin) - Radek let's something slip.
Written for: Kyrdwyn who gave me the prompt "S/B/Z - outted"
Spoilers: none
Warnings: none
Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
- Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)
Carson pushed a few peas across his plate. “Is it me, or do you get the feeling Radek avoiding us?”
John took a sip of his coffee to avoid having to answer straight away. He’d noticed too, but he’d hoped that it was just his own paranoia. He set the mug down and said quietly, “It isn’t you.”
“You told him to meet us here for lunch?” Carson pushed his fork into a slice of cooked carrot and used it to mash the peas.
“Twice,” John said. He looked at his watch. He looked at his thoroughly unappetizing food and then looked at Carson. “Let’s go find him.”
They dumped their trays and headed for Radek’s lab. If he was working, and he’d lost track of time that would be one thing. If he was ditching them, they were going to find out why.
John stuck his head in and found Rodney under his workbench sorting some cables. “Hey McKay, you seen Radek lately?”
Rodney jumped at the sound of John’s voice, smacking his head on the underside of the table. “For the love of god would you announce yourself?!” he yelled as he backed out slowly, rubbing his head, his face bright red. He straightened up and took in the fact that Sheppard wasn’t alone. “No, I haven’t seen Zelenka. He took off about an hour ago. I thought he was going for lunch, but he isn’t back here yet. And who really needs a whole hour to eat lunch? I should think the two of you would have better luck keeping track of him than I would.”
“What’s that mean?” Carson asked.
“You know… the two of… well, the three of you… right?” Rodney suddenly looked like he wasn’t sure of what he was saying.
Sheppard tried to play it cool. “The three of us, what, McKay?”
Turning even redder, McKay stammered, “Uh… you know, I have a lot of work to do. So um… “ He gestured to the computer parts spilled all over the table.
John smiled. “Finish your sentence first. The three of us what?”
Rodney’s jaw opened and then closed with a click. There was a long pause before he said, “Maybe he was just winding me up. I mean, he… you… the three of you aren’t really…”
“Aren’t really what, McKay?” John let his tone rise just a little. He was going to get Rodney to say it if it took all night. Mostly because it was fun to wind Rodney up, but also a little to see if the clues he was getting were adding up.
Staring at the power strip in his hand Rodney said in a rush, “Radek said something today about being … you know… involved with both you and Carson. I said something about me and Katie and how he couldn’t seem to get a date so he said… you know…”
John raised an eyebrow in surprise. They’d never talked about keeping things strictly between them, but they had out of habit. After a second, he grinned. “Jealous?”
Rodney looked up at the two of them in shock. “Only in theory,” he said after a second. “You’re welcome to the both of them,” he said with a pointed glance to Carson who wasn’t doing anything to rescue Rodney from this awkward situation. “I mean, come on, who doesn’t fantasize about being with two people from time to time, hm?”
“I don’t,” Carson finally said from where he was still leaning on the doorjamb. “I don’t have to.” He grabbed John by the sleeve and dragged him out of the lab, giving Rodney a look that said Rodney could speculate as to where they were going and what they’d do when they got there.
Leaving the sounds of Rodney’s “Too much information, way too much information” echoing behind them, they headed for the transporter and John poked at the sector that would take them near Radek’s quarters. “So let me see if I have this figured out. Radek said something to Rodney, probably something he didn’t mean to and now he thinks that we - or more probably just me - is going to be mad at him, so he’s hiding.”
Carson nodded. “That’s how I figure it.”
“He’s so stupid sometimes,” John said leaning back on the wall.
Carson pinned him with such a look of incredulity that John visibly withered under the glare. “I’m sure it was a mistake, John! You of all people know how it can be dealing with Rodney McKay.”
“Huh? No! That wasn’t…” He shook his head realizing that he really should have finished that last though out loud. “I meant that he thought I’d be mad.”
Carson’s face softened. “Oh. It sounded like you meant…”
“Yeah,” John agreed as he stepped out of the transporter. “Come on, you have to keep me from saying anything else stupid.”
~~~***~~~***~~~
John debated ringing the chime, but decided in the end that it would be harder for Radek to throw him out once he was in than it would be for him to ignore the door chime. “Hey. You missed lunch,” he called out cheerfully as he barged in and sat on the edge of the bed near Radek’s feet.
Radek looked up from his laptop, not nearly as startled as John had expected him to be. John looked over his shoulder to where Carson was leaning on the wall near the door.
“I take it you have not talked to Rodney this afternoon,” Radek sighed as he closed his computer and set it aside.
“Just left his lab, actually.”
Radek let out a huge sigh. “Then you know what I said.” Radek picked at the blanket under him.
“Not in so many words. Apparently whatever it was that you said, Rodney can’t seem to repeat back without blushing to death.” John smiled at him, hoping Radek would realize that he wasn’t mad. “And he’s jealous.”
Radek looked up at that, his eyebrows drawing together behind the rims of his glasses.
Carson finally moved from his place by the door and sat down on Radek’s other side. “’In theory’, he was careful to point out. He just wishes he had two people come home to. I almost said something about him not even having one, but I honestly don’t know where his relationship with Katie Brown is going and I don’t think I want to.” Carson looped his arms around Radek’s waist and hooked his chin over his shoulder.
Radek went back to picking at the light blue coverlet. “That’s how this all started. He was giving me far more details than I wanted about his love life… so to shut him up I said…” Radek glanced up at John, still clearly concerned that this wasn’t going to go well.
Carson squeezed him tight, “What did you say, love? Because John’s right. Rodney couldn’t repeat it.”
Radek scrubbed his hands over his face, pushing his glasses up on top of his head. “He was going on and on about his date with Katie last night and when he started getting dangerously close to telling me if that was her real hair color, I said…”
John squeezed Radek’s hand, the back of his fingers resting against Carson’s arm where it wrapped around Radek, keeping them all in contact. “Come on, this had to be choice if McKay couldn’t even say it back.”
Radek scrubbed his face again with his free hand. “I told him that if he didn’t stop talking I would tell him… exactly which one of us was on top last night, who was on the bottom and who was in the middle.”
Carson snickered against Radek’s ear.
“It gets worse,” Radek said morosely. “He didn’t understand. He was all, ‘what do you mean “in the middle”?’” Radek pulled his glasses down to look at John and then over his shoulder at Carson. “So I … told him.”
John couldn’t help it; he burst out laughing. “He didn’t understand? Oh god, I’m going to have fun with that one tomorrow.”
“I don’t think he was thinking like… I mean, what we have is a little - how do you say? - outside the box. As I began to explain he seemed to figure it out well enough.” Feeling awkward and frustrated Radek studied John for a second before just blurting out, “How can you not be angry at me for this?”
John wove his fingers through Radek’s. “Because this isn’t going to be a problem. We just happen to be the three guys in the whole city who value our privacy for one reason or another. I’m in the military, you grew up under Soviet Russia’s insanity,” he glanced up at Carson, “I’m not sure what your excuse is,” he looked back at Radek before Carson could say anything, “but just because we don’t need to get on the radio and make an announcement, doesn’t mean that I’m embarrassed to be with either or both of you.”
“This will cause you trouble, though, no?”
“Actually, no. First off, Rodney’s not going to say anything. Like I said, he can’t even repeat back what you said to me and Carson and it’s not like it’s news to us. Secondly, neither of you are under my direct command so there’s no chain of command or conflict of interest issues so there’s no reason for anyone to go squaking to the brass. And, for the same reasons, even if someone did, no one can ask me any pointed questions unless they have suspicion that I’ve done something inappropriate.”
“Just being here is ‘inappropriate’ enough in many people’s books,” Radek said, still not looking like he felt at all better.
John shrugged. “Screw ‘em. Seriously. It’s Rodney. He’s not out to get anyone in trouble. He’ll just eventually get over his embarrassment and make our lives living hell as he attempts to make witty jokes about it.”
“Still, I didn’t mean to.”
John pulled on the hand he held until Radek came out of Carson’s grasp and came up on his knees. He then moved his hands up Radek’s arms and held him in place and kissed him thoroughly. “I know. But it’s okay. Shit happens.”
Radek pulled his feet around to sit where he could lean on John’s chest. “I’m very glad you aren’t angry. I kept trying to tell myself that what we have is solid enough that you wouldn’t leave to make sure no one could prove anything, but… I worried.”
“It’s okay,” John said once more for good measure.
Radek was about to say something when Carson’s stomach gave a loud grumble. All three of them burst into laughter.
John kissed them both in turn before pulling himself up off the bed. “Let’s go do something about his stomach. We ended up skipping lunch too. And then we can come back here and think of something else you’ll have to explain to Mr. Limited Imagination tomorrow.”
Carson, who’d just pulled Radek in for a kiss, mumbled against Radek’s cheek. “I like the way he thinks.”
John slid up behind Radek, keeping him closely pressed between them both. “So, tomorrow morning, you want to tell Rodney that you got to be in the middle tonight?”
Radek grinned. “Perhaps I will just leave him to guess.”
Pairing: Sheppard/Beckett/Zelenka
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1887
Summary: "Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead." (Benjamin Franklin) - Radek let's something slip.
Written for: Kyrdwyn who gave me the prompt "S/B/Z - outted"
Spoilers: none
Warnings: none
Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
- Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)
Carson pushed a few peas across his plate. “Is it me, or do you get the feeling Radek avoiding us?”
John took a sip of his coffee to avoid having to answer straight away. He’d noticed too, but he’d hoped that it was just his own paranoia. He set the mug down and said quietly, “It isn’t you.”
“You told him to meet us here for lunch?” Carson pushed his fork into a slice of cooked carrot and used it to mash the peas.
“Twice,” John said. He looked at his watch. He looked at his thoroughly unappetizing food and then looked at Carson. “Let’s go find him.”
They dumped their trays and headed for Radek’s lab. If he was working, and he’d lost track of time that would be one thing. If he was ditching them, they were going to find out why.
John stuck his head in and found Rodney under his workbench sorting some cables. “Hey McKay, you seen Radek lately?”
Rodney jumped at the sound of John’s voice, smacking his head on the underside of the table. “For the love of god would you announce yourself?!” he yelled as he backed out slowly, rubbing his head, his face bright red. He straightened up and took in the fact that Sheppard wasn’t alone. “No, I haven’t seen Zelenka. He took off about an hour ago. I thought he was going for lunch, but he isn’t back here yet. And who really needs a whole hour to eat lunch? I should think the two of you would have better luck keeping track of him than I would.”
“What’s that mean?” Carson asked.
“You know… the two of… well, the three of you… right?” Rodney suddenly looked like he wasn’t sure of what he was saying.
Sheppard tried to play it cool. “The three of us, what, McKay?”
Turning even redder, McKay stammered, “Uh… you know, I have a lot of work to do. So um… “ He gestured to the computer parts spilled all over the table.
John smiled. “Finish your sentence first. The three of us what?”
Rodney’s jaw opened and then closed with a click. There was a long pause before he said, “Maybe he was just winding me up. I mean, he… you… the three of you aren’t really…”
“Aren’t really what, McKay?” John let his tone rise just a little. He was going to get Rodney to say it if it took all night. Mostly because it was fun to wind Rodney up, but also a little to see if the clues he was getting were adding up.
Staring at the power strip in his hand Rodney said in a rush, “Radek said something today about being … you know… involved with both you and Carson. I said something about me and Katie and how he couldn’t seem to get a date so he said… you know…”
John raised an eyebrow in surprise. They’d never talked about keeping things strictly between them, but they had out of habit. After a second, he grinned. “Jealous?”
Rodney looked up at the two of them in shock. “Only in theory,” he said after a second. “You’re welcome to the both of them,” he said with a pointed glance to Carson who wasn’t doing anything to rescue Rodney from this awkward situation. “I mean, come on, who doesn’t fantasize about being with two people from time to time, hm?”
“I don’t,” Carson finally said from where he was still leaning on the doorjamb. “I don’t have to.” He grabbed John by the sleeve and dragged him out of the lab, giving Rodney a look that said Rodney could speculate as to where they were going and what they’d do when they got there.
Leaving the sounds of Rodney’s “Too much information, way too much information” echoing behind them, they headed for the transporter and John poked at the sector that would take them near Radek’s quarters. “So let me see if I have this figured out. Radek said something to Rodney, probably something he didn’t mean to and now he thinks that we - or more probably just me - is going to be mad at him, so he’s hiding.”
Carson nodded. “That’s how I figure it.”
“He’s so stupid sometimes,” John said leaning back on the wall.
Carson pinned him with such a look of incredulity that John visibly withered under the glare. “I’m sure it was a mistake, John! You of all people know how it can be dealing with Rodney McKay.”
“Huh? No! That wasn’t…” He shook his head realizing that he really should have finished that last though out loud. “I meant that he thought I’d be mad.”
Carson’s face softened. “Oh. It sounded like you meant…”
“Yeah,” John agreed as he stepped out of the transporter. “Come on, you have to keep me from saying anything else stupid.”
~~~***~~~***~~~
John debated ringing the chime, but decided in the end that it would be harder for Radek to throw him out once he was in than it would be for him to ignore the door chime. “Hey. You missed lunch,” he called out cheerfully as he barged in and sat on the edge of the bed near Radek’s feet.
Radek looked up from his laptop, not nearly as startled as John had expected him to be. John looked over his shoulder to where Carson was leaning on the wall near the door.
“I take it you have not talked to Rodney this afternoon,” Radek sighed as he closed his computer and set it aside.
“Just left his lab, actually.”
Radek let out a huge sigh. “Then you know what I said.” Radek picked at the blanket under him.
“Not in so many words. Apparently whatever it was that you said, Rodney can’t seem to repeat back without blushing to death.” John smiled at him, hoping Radek would realize that he wasn’t mad. “And he’s jealous.”
Radek looked up at that, his eyebrows drawing together behind the rims of his glasses.
Carson finally moved from his place by the door and sat down on Radek’s other side. “’In theory’, he was careful to point out. He just wishes he had two people come home to. I almost said something about him not even having one, but I honestly don’t know where his relationship with Katie Brown is going and I don’t think I want to.” Carson looped his arms around Radek’s waist and hooked his chin over his shoulder.
Radek went back to picking at the light blue coverlet. “That’s how this all started. He was giving me far more details than I wanted about his love life… so to shut him up I said…” Radek glanced up at John, still clearly concerned that this wasn’t going to go well.
Carson squeezed him tight, “What did you say, love? Because John’s right. Rodney couldn’t repeat it.”
Radek scrubbed his hands over his face, pushing his glasses up on top of his head. “He was going on and on about his date with Katie last night and when he started getting dangerously close to telling me if that was her real hair color, I said…”
John squeezed Radek’s hand, the back of his fingers resting against Carson’s arm where it wrapped around Radek, keeping them all in contact. “Come on, this had to be choice if McKay couldn’t even say it back.”
Radek scrubbed his face again with his free hand. “I told him that if he didn’t stop talking I would tell him… exactly which one of us was on top last night, who was on the bottom and who was in the middle.”
Carson snickered against Radek’s ear.
“It gets worse,” Radek said morosely. “He didn’t understand. He was all, ‘what do you mean “in the middle”?’” Radek pulled his glasses down to look at John and then over his shoulder at Carson. “So I … told him.”
John couldn’t help it; he burst out laughing. “He didn’t understand? Oh god, I’m going to have fun with that one tomorrow.”
“I don’t think he was thinking like… I mean, what we have is a little - how do you say? - outside the box. As I began to explain he seemed to figure it out well enough.” Feeling awkward and frustrated Radek studied John for a second before just blurting out, “How can you not be angry at me for this?”
John wove his fingers through Radek’s. “Because this isn’t going to be a problem. We just happen to be the three guys in the whole city who value our privacy for one reason or another. I’m in the military, you grew up under Soviet Russia’s insanity,” he glanced up at Carson, “I’m not sure what your excuse is,” he looked back at Radek before Carson could say anything, “but just because we don’t need to get on the radio and make an announcement, doesn’t mean that I’m embarrassed to be with either or both of you.”
“This will cause you trouble, though, no?”
“Actually, no. First off, Rodney’s not going to say anything. Like I said, he can’t even repeat back what you said to me and Carson and it’s not like it’s news to us. Secondly, neither of you are under my direct command so there’s no chain of command or conflict of interest issues so there’s no reason for anyone to go squaking to the brass. And, for the same reasons, even if someone did, no one can ask me any pointed questions unless they have suspicion that I’ve done something inappropriate.”
“Just being here is ‘inappropriate’ enough in many people’s books,” Radek said, still not looking like he felt at all better.
John shrugged. “Screw ‘em. Seriously. It’s Rodney. He’s not out to get anyone in trouble. He’ll just eventually get over his embarrassment and make our lives living hell as he attempts to make witty jokes about it.”
“Still, I didn’t mean to.”
John pulled on the hand he held until Radek came out of Carson’s grasp and came up on his knees. He then moved his hands up Radek’s arms and held him in place and kissed him thoroughly. “I know. But it’s okay. Shit happens.”
Radek pulled his feet around to sit where he could lean on John’s chest. “I’m very glad you aren’t angry. I kept trying to tell myself that what we have is solid enough that you wouldn’t leave to make sure no one could prove anything, but… I worried.”
“It’s okay,” John said once more for good measure.
Radek was about to say something when Carson’s stomach gave a loud grumble. All three of them burst into laughter.
John kissed them both in turn before pulling himself up off the bed. “Let’s go do something about his stomach. We ended up skipping lunch too. And then we can come back here and think of something else you’ll have to explain to Mr. Limited Imagination tomorrow.”
Carson, who’d just pulled Radek in for a kiss, mumbled against Radek’s cheek. “I like the way he thinks.”
John slid up behind Radek, keeping him closely pressed between them both. “So, tomorrow morning, you want to tell Rodney that you got to be in the middle tonight?”
Radek grinned. “Perhaps I will just leave him to guess.”