Atlantis Summer Camp: part 3/6
Title: Atlantis Summer Camp: part 3/6
Author: snowglow1275
Rating: PG-13 for this part (language)
Word Count: 17,396 total
Summary: AU where Atlantis is a summer camp and Rodney gets talked into being a counselor.
This is a slightly smaller chapter, it's also kinda angsty, but bear with me because it does get better.
Pairings/characters: Rodney/John, Jeannie/Carson, Sam, Tayla, Ronon, Zelenka/Lorne, Elizabeth, Jack/Daniel, and everyone else in the Stargate universe is fair game.
Authors Note: I've been working on this for a long time and have five parts already written but have found that I am not nearly done! Expect this to get very long. As always, helpful advice, insight, and critique is more than welcome. Please enjoy!
Beta: Thanks so much to the lovely momma_66 for being so wonderful and patient with me about this fic!
Disclaimer: Not my toys!
Part 1 Part 2
Once Rodney was out of hearing range Jeannie turned to glare at John, who was watching Rodney’s retreating form with his mouth hung open in shock.
“What did I do?” He asked defensively when Jeannie finally caught his eye.
Ronon leaned forward and swatted the back of John’s head.
“Ow! What was that, huh?”
“Idiot,” Ronon rolled his eyes.
“What the hell were you thinking, flyboy?” Wow, he must have really messed up because Sam actually sounded pissed and she usually avoided calling him that, she knew he didn’t like it.
“I dunno! He asked! I answered!”
“That was extremely rude, John.” Teyla had her arms crossed.
When did everyone turn on him? Everything was going fine then…well, he really didn’t know right now.
“Would someone just answer the goddamn question, huh, what did I do?”
Sam sighed, “think, John.” She sounded like she was explaining things to an extremely slow child, “We know some things about Rodney from Jeannie, we know he’s super smart, socially awkward, and skipped, like, all of elementary and middle school. We’ve all been there, not that bad, but still. You, especially, should have known better, John.”
Jeannie chipped in, “and I never really talked to Rodney about you guys so he doesn’t know that about you. Just think what your little rant, about a kid no less, would sound to an outsider, especially Rodney.”
John scrunched up his eyes a little bit, trying to think, then his eyes opened wide again and he let his head fall on the table with a loud thump. He really shouldn’t have needed that spelled out for him. He groaned then hauled himself back up, looking ashamedly into the faces of his friends.
“Damn.”
“MmHm.” Jeannie hummed in agreement.
“Do you think, will Rodney, um…”
“He’ll get over it. Just give him a chance to get to know you. You’re an idiot but we love you.” Everyone nodded at Jeannie’s words. “Give him a chance to cool off then maybe apologize?”
“Yeah, I guess I can do that.”
That seemed to clear things up alright. Jeannie started them all back on their project, taking Rodney’s list of names before John asked to help. They agreed to split the list. Teyla was still being a little over-polite and stiff but John knew that she would relax after she felt he had paid his dues.
The piles of decorated name plates were stacked neatly by cabin when Sam announced they should probably start heading to the Cafeteria. John and Teyla gathered the piles to put them into the appropriate cabins before leaving and Sam and Ronon helped Jeannie pack away the last of the supplies.
~*~
Carson cleared his throat. Nothing. He tried again. Still nothing.
“Uh, Rodney?”
No answer. He had been watching Rodney flit around the instruments and computers for the last 45 minutes and, despite how much patience as he had, he really wanted to get to dinner.
“Rodney, we should probably be getting off.” He tapped Rodney’s shoulder but only got a distracted grunt in response.
“Ok, well, I’m going to get something to eat…”
“Food?”
Carson chuckled, “Yes, Rodney, it’s time for dinner.”
“Oh, well why didn’t you say so? Let’s go.”
Carson didn’t answer, just let Rodney lead the way enthusiastically back to the cafeteria. All unpleasantness from the earlier dispute seemed forgotten as he rambled on jumping topics from programs he wanted to try back in the science lab to what kind of sandwiches they might have for evening meal.
When they were sitting down with the others Rodney sat as far from John as possible but otherwise seemed not to notice him. Jeannie and Carson conferred quietly before rejoining the conversation in which, this time, Rodney was wholeheartedly participating.
John, however, was not. He hadn’t said much of anything since he had realized his big mistake and he was now trying hard not to attract any unwanted attention from the man he had unwittingly hurt. He still didn’t know what to do. Jeannie had been so excited to have them meet and now? He had made a huge mess of everything. In the past two summers that he and Jeannie had been working together they had become good friends but she had never talked too much about Rodney. Then last summer changed everything.
He hadn’t really meant to tell them, but then he hadn’t really been trying to hide it either, and he just let slip one night to all of them about the last disappointing relationship he had been in. John had said ‘he’ and, well, that got everyone’s attention, and he’d had to explain, of course, and before he really understood the depth of what he’d just given away he’d outed himself. Not that he would admit that he really cared about how they felt about his sexuality, but he’d been unbelievably relieved when none of them had minded. He couldn’t say they hadn’t treated him differently, but it wasn’t in a bad way. The girls didn’t think of him as a womanizer anymore, and that was good, but the guys didn’t shy away from him either so John had slowly begun to believe that this was one place he was actually accepted as himself.
Another thing that had happened was how much Rodney entered conversations. Jeannie started telling them more about him, well, specifically telling John more about him. She even got really excited about having them all meet him. She’d winked at John about that. Maybe that’s when he had finally gotten it. She was trying to set him up with her brother! He’d just been getting used to the idea of being accepted but to know someone who was actually trying to pimp her brother out to him was just too strange. Most people didn’t want their family anywhere near him; he’d learned that the hard way.
But despite his initial reluctance he found himself actually wanting to meet Rodney and even participating in conversations with Jeannie about him. John had been looking forward to meeting Rodney just as much as Jeannie had been looking forward to introducing them. And he blew it.
He’d been so nervous he was afraid to look at Rodney for too long when Jeannie had introduced them. He wanted to impress Rodney and act cool about it but all he’d accomplished was looking disinterested. Jeannie had made a point of telling him as much.
And of course he’d known that Rodney had a hard time at school, worse even than he had, and he knew he was a science geek. John liked science geeks. He hadn’t even considered how what he’d said about Kavenagh could have been transferred to Rodney. Kavenagh and Rodney were nothing alike. He’d barely met Rodney, in person at least, but he knew that much. So did everyone else. He just wished Rodney knew.
John was picking at his food, not really eating, and for once nobody questioned him about how he was feeling. They could probably figure it out. He chanced a glance up at Rodney, watching how animated he was. His fingers danced as he spoke, his mouth half full of sandwich, and his eyes sparked an electrifying blue with the intensity of a good conversation. His gaze was roving the others faces as they contributed. Back and forth then down to his plate to get another bite of food then repeat. But he spotted John’s eyes on him and their gazes met. John looked away, too ashamed and uncertain of what to do, and when he looked back up Rodney had turned back to the conversation.
He’d had enough. The room quieted as John heaved a heavy sigh and stood up. His head was bowed and he didn’t meet anyone’s eyes as he said his good nights and left them all there while he made his way back to his cabin and bed for an early night. He might even get some sleep.
~*~
Rodney was trying to loose himself in conversation, and doing a pretty good job he thought, but his mind and eyes kept being drawn back to the dejected-looking man at the end of the table. He was still upset, telling himself he had every right to be mad. But he was finding it increasingly difficult to not feel guilty about yelling at John. His eyes caught John’s but that didn’t last long as John guiltily looked away. Rodney watched as he made an escape, slumping dejectedly out the doors.
Jeannie leaned closer, placing her hand gently over his, “You two gonna be alright?”
Rodney only gave a small crooked half-smile and a one-shouldered shrug. She patted his hand again but left it at that. He was grateful the others didn’t comment when he pulled out of conversation and fell silent. He fell into his own thoughts, letting the other’s words wash over him but not really hearing and allowed himself to be dragged along when they all rose to leave.
He was brought out of his thoughts by a strong hand placed gently on his shoulder. He looked up to find they had arrived back at the cabins. Jeannie and Carson stood facing him.
“Will ye be alright, lad?”
Rodney nodded, giving them both an exasperated smile, “Yes, yes, you two, I think in can manage to make it to my cabin and go to sleep on my own.”
“Alright, Rodney, we’ll see you tomorrow for breakfast, ok?”
“Yes, breakfast, got it.”
Jeannie gave him a hug, “Tomorrow will be a lot of fun.”
“If you say so,” he laughed, trying to lighten the mood again. He wasn’t as fragile as they were treating him now.
“Good night, Jeannie, Carson.”
“Aye, good night.”
“Night, Rodney.”
He didn’t wait for them to leave before heading to the cabin. He hadn’t had a chance to unpack or really settle in earlier but he really just wanted to sleep now so he pushed his bags off and flopped down.
His last thought before drifting off was that despite the whole ‘John’ thing he had made a friend, maybe more than one, and was at the beginning of what he was sure would be exciting. Rodney decided that it had been a pretty good day, in fact.
Part 4