Fic: Under the Harvest Moon
Title: Under the Harvest Moon
By: starbuckssue
Pairing: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2260
Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own any of the characters in this story.
Many thanks to rabidfan and selenic76 for their helpful feedback, comments and suggestions.
Prompt: 50 Rodney and John are alone after an Athosian festival, still warm and mild from the Ruus wine we've heard so much about, doing what they do best. Inspired by 'Under the Light of the Moon' posted by Melagan
Written for: romancingmcshep 2014 - A John and Rodney Romance Fest
It was close to midnight of the second day of the harvest festival celebrations when Rodney made his way through the crowds of Athosian and Lantean revelers who were still singing and dancing around the fire.
The first and smaller of the planet’s two moons, Melised, had already reached its zenith, while the much larger Arised had only just appeared over the horizon, its light filtering through the small copse of trees at the edge of the Athosian settlement. At this time of the year it was close to the planet and would soon be dominating the horizon, bathing the proceedings with a wash of silvery light which would increase as the moon rose higher in its orbit.
Having helped out with gathering the harvest in return for a share of the crops, the Atlantis personnel had all been invited to share in the harvest festival. The three days of festivities had started at midday on Friday Atlantis time and ran until Sunday, which meant that all Atlantis personnel who wanted to take part in the celebrations had the opportunity of attending at least one of the days, leaving enough people in the City to deal with any problems which arose.
Richard Woolsey had attended the start of the festival on the Friday with Evan Lorne, Radek Zelenka and half of those in the city who wished to attend. They had returned late Saturday morning to allow for a brief handover before John, Rodney and the remaining Lanteans joined the festivities in the afternoon.
SGA-1 had started off the evening together, clustered in a small group at the edge of the tree line along with Kanaan and Amelia. During the evening the team had split, with Ronon and Amelia leaving to join in with some games and Teyla and Kanaan slipping off to enjoy some rarely-found time together. Earlier in the evening games and activities had been provided for Torren and the other Athosian children, led by a group of teenagers and the elder women of the settlement, they had finally been rounded up and bundled into bed, exhausted but happy after an energetic day of fun.
Left alone together, John and Rodney had relaxed into their usual banter, pointing out the various pairings they could see in the crowds or just sitting in companionable silence as they drank their wine, so used each other’s company that awkward silences were unknown between them.
Clutching the cups of Ruus wine which he’d just refilled, Rodney carefully skirted the milling throng around the fire, making his way back to where he’d left John. With all the people paired up he felt somewhat melancholy. Spending time alone with John was a double edged sword. Rodney loved every minute of time spent in John’s company but, at the same time, it brought home to him everything that he couldn’t have.
He’d admitted to himself a long time ago that he’d fallen for John in Antarctica and it wasn’t just the strength of John’s Ancient gene which had attracted him. He’d tried distracting himself by dating Katie and then Jennifer but neither relationship had worked out, which was hardly surprising when his heart lay elsewhere. It hadn’t helped that, with the exception of one night stands with Ancient or alien women, John had never shown any interest in dating anyone from the Expedition, always turning to Rodney and his team for companionship.
Atlantis’ Military Commander had been somewhat subdued over the past few days and Rodney thought he knew what the problem was. He didn’t usually take much notice of dates but an offhand comment from John following an email from his brother made Rodney realize that it was almost a year since the death of John’s father. After his return from Patrick Sheppard’s funeral, and after a few beers, John had surprisingly opened up enough to talk a little and Rodney knew that John had many regrets over his relationship with both his father and his brother. He didn’t know what had been in Dave Sheppard’s email but felt sure that it had something to do with John’s recent behavior.
Rodney sighed and stopped as he finally got to the other side of the camp where they’d been sitting. John was nowhere in sight, which was somewhat typical. Never really happy in the midst of large crowds of people he had a habit of wandering off to escape at events such as this.
Feeling mellow from the Ruus wine he’d already consumed, Rodney took a sip from his full cup, contemplating the escape routes John may have taken. Finally, he made his decision, taking another mouthful of wine before heading off through the small copse of trees to a small ridge overlooking the valley on the other side.
***
The figure on the ridge was easily seen as he left the shelter of the trees, silhouetted as he was against the rising moon. Rodney made his way up the ridge and came to a stop beside his friend, handing over the cup of wine.
“You found me.” John stated softly, taking the cup and wrapping both hands around the smooth wood as he took a sip.
“Well. I know you.” Rodney replied. “You were easy to find.”
“You always find me.” John said with confidence.
“You always want to be found.” Rodney countered quietly.
John dropped his head, his shoulders sagging. They stood there in companionable silence for a while, gazing down at the silvery river snaking its way along the bottom of the valley.
Rodney looked sideways at John, seeing raw pain etched on his features.
“What is it, John, what’s wrong?” He asked with a frown, placing a warm hand on John’s back. “Did you get bad news from Dave?”
“No, no. Not bad news at all.” John sighed. “He’s invited me to come and stay with him, Sarah and the kids at the ranch, over Christmas or New Year, or both if I want.”
“Hey, that’s a good thing, right.” Rodney said in relief. “Give you a chance to start over, to reconnect.”
“Yeah, but I’m not sure it’s such a good idea. It’s been so long since Dave and I have really spent time with each other. We’re almost strangers and I don’t want to spoil his family Christmas.”
“But you’re not going to get past that without spending time together.” Rodney said sensibly.
“Jeannie and I had the same problem, we still don’t get on all the time but although she was only on Atlantis for a few days we had time to catch up on the Daedalus on the way back from Earth. You only had a matter of hours with your brother after the funeral, that’s not nearly enough time.” He slipped his hand round to John’s shoulder, breathing a sigh of relief when John leaned into him rather than pull away.
“I don’t want to go alone.” John mumbled quietly, dropping his head onto Rodney’s shoulder.
Rodney stared down at John in surprise at the unusually demonstrative behavior. With most people he didn’t touch at all unless he was sparring with them. With Rodney he was a little more tactile but this was unusual behavior from John and Rodney wondered if John’d had more Ruus wine than he thought.
“You don’t have to go alone.” Rodney’s thoughts were whirring and he decided to take a chance. “Jeannie’s invited me to spend the holidays with her too, so why don’t we spend Christmas with one of our siblings and New Year with the other. That way neither of us will have to spend too much time one with either one of them but we’ll have each other there as a distraction.”
“You have the best ideas, Rodney.” John rolled his head so he could look up without lifting it from Rodney’s shoulder, a smile quirking on his face and his eyes glittering in the moonlight. “D’you think Jeannie would mind? Dave said it was okay to bring someone, they have plenty of room and they can afford it.”
“Jeannie adored you, she’d love it if I brought you for the holidays, and ditto, she said it was fine to being someone if I wanted to,” he took a deep breath. “And I do, want to that is, if you can put up with me for that long.”
“I always want to spend time with you, Rodney. I don’t care what we do, as long as I’m with you.” John whispered seriously, his lips so close to Rodney’s neck that he could feel John’s breath ghost across his skin. “Is there anything else you want?”
Rodney stared at him in surprise, thinking the worst but hoping for the best. Was his wish finally coming true? He took a deep breath before replying.
“You,” He whispered back, plucking up all his courage. “Everything.” He held his breath, pretty sure he was reading the situation correctly but so afraid of being wrong and losing the best friendship he’d ever had.
John’s face was open in a way it never usually was. His expression warred between fear, hope and love before breaking into a full blown smile at Rodney answer. There was so much affection in the smile that Rodney felt his heart race. He turned carefully, pulling John within the circle of his arms and brought his hand up to caress the side of John’s face, leaning forward to press a gentle kiss on John’s lips.
John melted into the kiss, his lips parting to allow Rodney access as the kiss grew more demanding, their tongues dueling as John briefly made an effort to take over before submitting and allowing Rodney to take control.
They finally pulled apart, breathless and laughing, wine spilling unnoticed from their cups.
“I’m not sure this was quite what Dave had in mind when he said I could bring a friend.” John said with a chuckle. “Mind you, when you sent Ronon with me to the funeral I think Dave was suspicious. I introduced Ronon as a civilian contractor. From the look on his face I’m not quite sure what Dave thought, maybe that it was some kind of code though he didn’t ask.”
“Jeannie will probably take you to one side and ask you if you’ve lost your mind,” Rodney said glumly. “Before trying to warn you what you’re letting yourself in for and asking if you’re sure you know what you’re doing.”
“Rodney, I’ve known you for five years, I know exactly what I’m getting myself into.” John exclaimed. “And it’s exactly what I want.” He explained more softly. “I wouldn’t be doing this, wouldn’t risk my career otherwise. Don’t look at me like that I haven’t any more to drink than you have and you know it, we’ve been together all evening. Hell, we’ve been together for the past five years, so if that doesn’t convince you nothing I can ever say will.”
“That’s true. I guess in a way we have been dating for a while now, what with the movie nights, the cars, the chess, the sitting out on the pier.” Rodney said with a laugh before frowning. “But you never said anything before, didn’t even give any hint you were interested. So why now?” He huffed in annoyance.
“I was waiting for you to ask,” John said quietly, ducking his head shyly. “And I don’t want to be alone any more.”
“Oh you’re so the girl in this relationship!” Rodney exclaimed with a chuckle, dropping a soft kiss on John’s head. “Now are we going to stand here all night talking about it or are we taking this further, because I don’t know about you but I have something in need of a little attention!” He raised his eyebrows suggestively as he made a point of adjusting himself.
At John’s answering laugh, he grabbed John’s free hand and pulled him down the ridge and through the trees, shushing him as they got close to the camp and leading him around the back of the dwellings to where they had pitched their tent at the far edge of the settlement.
It didn’t really matter if they were seen; both the Lanteans and Athosians were used to seeing them together and no-one would have looked twice as they made their way around the edge of the camp. It was simply the fun and thrill of creeping around unseen, of this new chapter in their relationship and of what they were about to do which made them sneak around and hide. Their clasped hands couldn’t be seen from a distance in the darkness of the night but Rodney wasn’t sure that anyone would care if they were.
Finally reaching their tent they slipped inside, giggling madly. Rodney grabbed John to still him, taking the cups and placing them in a corner out of the way. Reverently, he removed John’s clothing before laying him down on the spread sleeping bags. Quickly, he stripped his own clothes before joining John, kissing him softly and slowly exploring and worshipping every part of John’s body before making love to him until they were both sated and sleepy.
Once they were cleaned up, thanks to Rodney’s everlasting supply of wet wipes, John curled around Rodney, leaning his head on Rodney’s shoulder and snuggling in close. “Hmm,” Rodney commented with a chuckle wrapping his arms around John. “Definitely the girl in the relationship.”
“Whatever.” Came the mumbled and sleepy reply from his shoulder.
Rodney lay there for a long time with a smile on his face, listening as John’s breathing evened out into a deep sleep.
End
By: starbuckssue
Pairing: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2260
Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own any of the characters in this story.
Many thanks to rabidfan and selenic76 for their helpful feedback, comments and suggestions.
Prompt: 50 Rodney and John are alone after an Athosian festival, still warm and mild from the Ruus wine we've heard so much about, doing what they do best. Inspired by 'Under the Light of the Moon' posted by Melagan
Written for: romancingmcshep 2014 - A John and Rodney Romance Fest
It was close to midnight of the second day of the harvest festival celebrations when Rodney made his way through the crowds of Athosian and Lantean revelers who were still singing and dancing around the fire.
The first and smaller of the planet’s two moons, Melised, had already reached its zenith, while the much larger Arised had only just appeared over the horizon, its light filtering through the small copse of trees at the edge of the Athosian settlement. At this time of the year it was close to the planet and would soon be dominating the horizon, bathing the proceedings with a wash of silvery light which would increase as the moon rose higher in its orbit.
Having helped out with gathering the harvest in return for a share of the crops, the Atlantis personnel had all been invited to share in the harvest festival. The three days of festivities had started at midday on Friday Atlantis time and ran until Sunday, which meant that all Atlantis personnel who wanted to take part in the celebrations had the opportunity of attending at least one of the days, leaving enough people in the City to deal with any problems which arose.
Richard Woolsey had attended the start of the festival on the Friday with Evan Lorne, Radek Zelenka and half of those in the city who wished to attend. They had returned late Saturday morning to allow for a brief handover before John, Rodney and the remaining Lanteans joined the festivities in the afternoon.
SGA-1 had started off the evening together, clustered in a small group at the edge of the tree line along with Kanaan and Amelia. During the evening the team had split, with Ronon and Amelia leaving to join in with some games and Teyla and Kanaan slipping off to enjoy some rarely-found time together. Earlier in the evening games and activities had been provided for Torren and the other Athosian children, led by a group of teenagers and the elder women of the settlement, they had finally been rounded up and bundled into bed, exhausted but happy after an energetic day of fun.
Left alone together, John and Rodney had relaxed into their usual banter, pointing out the various pairings they could see in the crowds or just sitting in companionable silence as they drank their wine, so used each other’s company that awkward silences were unknown between them.
Clutching the cups of Ruus wine which he’d just refilled, Rodney carefully skirted the milling throng around the fire, making his way back to where he’d left John. With all the people paired up he felt somewhat melancholy. Spending time alone with John was a double edged sword. Rodney loved every minute of time spent in John’s company but, at the same time, it brought home to him everything that he couldn’t have.
He’d admitted to himself a long time ago that he’d fallen for John in Antarctica and it wasn’t just the strength of John’s Ancient gene which had attracted him. He’d tried distracting himself by dating Katie and then Jennifer but neither relationship had worked out, which was hardly surprising when his heart lay elsewhere. It hadn’t helped that, with the exception of one night stands with Ancient or alien women, John had never shown any interest in dating anyone from the Expedition, always turning to Rodney and his team for companionship.
Atlantis’ Military Commander had been somewhat subdued over the past few days and Rodney thought he knew what the problem was. He didn’t usually take much notice of dates but an offhand comment from John following an email from his brother made Rodney realize that it was almost a year since the death of John’s father. After his return from Patrick Sheppard’s funeral, and after a few beers, John had surprisingly opened up enough to talk a little and Rodney knew that John had many regrets over his relationship with both his father and his brother. He didn’t know what had been in Dave Sheppard’s email but felt sure that it had something to do with John’s recent behavior.
Rodney sighed and stopped as he finally got to the other side of the camp where they’d been sitting. John was nowhere in sight, which was somewhat typical. Never really happy in the midst of large crowds of people he had a habit of wandering off to escape at events such as this.
Feeling mellow from the Ruus wine he’d already consumed, Rodney took a sip from his full cup, contemplating the escape routes John may have taken. Finally, he made his decision, taking another mouthful of wine before heading off through the small copse of trees to a small ridge overlooking the valley on the other side.
***
The figure on the ridge was easily seen as he left the shelter of the trees, silhouetted as he was against the rising moon. Rodney made his way up the ridge and came to a stop beside his friend, handing over the cup of wine.
“You found me.” John stated softly, taking the cup and wrapping both hands around the smooth wood as he took a sip.
“Well. I know you.” Rodney replied. “You were easy to find.”
“You always find me.” John said with confidence.
“You always want to be found.” Rodney countered quietly.
John dropped his head, his shoulders sagging. They stood there in companionable silence for a while, gazing down at the silvery river snaking its way along the bottom of the valley.
Rodney looked sideways at John, seeing raw pain etched on his features.
“What is it, John, what’s wrong?” He asked with a frown, placing a warm hand on John’s back. “Did you get bad news from Dave?”
“No, no. Not bad news at all.” John sighed. “He’s invited me to come and stay with him, Sarah and the kids at the ranch, over Christmas or New Year, or both if I want.”
“Hey, that’s a good thing, right.” Rodney said in relief. “Give you a chance to start over, to reconnect.”
“Yeah, but I’m not sure it’s such a good idea. It’s been so long since Dave and I have really spent time with each other. We’re almost strangers and I don’t want to spoil his family Christmas.”
“But you’re not going to get past that without spending time together.” Rodney said sensibly.
“Jeannie and I had the same problem, we still don’t get on all the time but although she was only on Atlantis for a few days we had time to catch up on the Daedalus on the way back from Earth. You only had a matter of hours with your brother after the funeral, that’s not nearly enough time.” He slipped his hand round to John’s shoulder, breathing a sigh of relief when John leaned into him rather than pull away.
“I don’t want to go alone.” John mumbled quietly, dropping his head onto Rodney’s shoulder.
Rodney stared down at John in surprise at the unusually demonstrative behavior. With most people he didn’t touch at all unless he was sparring with them. With Rodney he was a little more tactile but this was unusual behavior from John and Rodney wondered if John’d had more Ruus wine than he thought.
“You don’t have to go alone.” Rodney’s thoughts were whirring and he decided to take a chance. “Jeannie’s invited me to spend the holidays with her too, so why don’t we spend Christmas with one of our siblings and New Year with the other. That way neither of us will have to spend too much time one with either one of them but we’ll have each other there as a distraction.”
“You have the best ideas, Rodney.” John rolled his head so he could look up without lifting it from Rodney’s shoulder, a smile quirking on his face and his eyes glittering in the moonlight. “D’you think Jeannie would mind? Dave said it was okay to bring someone, they have plenty of room and they can afford it.”
“Jeannie adored you, she’d love it if I brought you for the holidays, and ditto, she said it was fine to being someone if I wanted to,” he took a deep breath. “And I do, want to that is, if you can put up with me for that long.”
“I always want to spend time with you, Rodney. I don’t care what we do, as long as I’m with you.” John whispered seriously, his lips so close to Rodney’s neck that he could feel John’s breath ghost across his skin. “Is there anything else you want?”
Rodney stared at him in surprise, thinking the worst but hoping for the best. Was his wish finally coming true? He took a deep breath before replying.
“You,” He whispered back, plucking up all his courage. “Everything.” He held his breath, pretty sure he was reading the situation correctly but so afraid of being wrong and losing the best friendship he’d ever had.
John’s face was open in a way it never usually was. His expression warred between fear, hope and love before breaking into a full blown smile at Rodney answer. There was so much affection in the smile that Rodney felt his heart race. He turned carefully, pulling John within the circle of his arms and brought his hand up to caress the side of John’s face, leaning forward to press a gentle kiss on John’s lips.
John melted into the kiss, his lips parting to allow Rodney access as the kiss grew more demanding, their tongues dueling as John briefly made an effort to take over before submitting and allowing Rodney to take control.
They finally pulled apart, breathless and laughing, wine spilling unnoticed from their cups.
“I’m not sure this was quite what Dave had in mind when he said I could bring a friend.” John said with a chuckle. “Mind you, when you sent Ronon with me to the funeral I think Dave was suspicious. I introduced Ronon as a civilian contractor. From the look on his face I’m not quite sure what Dave thought, maybe that it was some kind of code though he didn’t ask.”
“Jeannie will probably take you to one side and ask you if you’ve lost your mind,” Rodney said glumly. “Before trying to warn you what you’re letting yourself in for and asking if you’re sure you know what you’re doing.”
“Rodney, I’ve known you for five years, I know exactly what I’m getting myself into.” John exclaimed. “And it’s exactly what I want.” He explained more softly. “I wouldn’t be doing this, wouldn’t risk my career otherwise. Don’t look at me like that I haven’t any more to drink than you have and you know it, we’ve been together all evening. Hell, we’ve been together for the past five years, so if that doesn’t convince you nothing I can ever say will.”
“That’s true. I guess in a way we have been dating for a while now, what with the movie nights, the cars, the chess, the sitting out on the pier.” Rodney said with a laugh before frowning. “But you never said anything before, didn’t even give any hint you were interested. So why now?” He huffed in annoyance.
“I was waiting for you to ask,” John said quietly, ducking his head shyly. “And I don’t want to be alone any more.”
“Oh you’re so the girl in this relationship!” Rodney exclaimed with a chuckle, dropping a soft kiss on John’s head. “Now are we going to stand here all night talking about it or are we taking this further, because I don’t know about you but I have something in need of a little attention!” He raised his eyebrows suggestively as he made a point of adjusting himself.
At John’s answering laugh, he grabbed John’s free hand and pulled him down the ridge and through the trees, shushing him as they got close to the camp and leading him around the back of the dwellings to where they had pitched their tent at the far edge of the settlement.
It didn’t really matter if they were seen; both the Lanteans and Athosians were used to seeing them together and no-one would have looked twice as they made their way around the edge of the camp. It was simply the fun and thrill of creeping around unseen, of this new chapter in their relationship and of what they were about to do which made them sneak around and hide. Their clasped hands couldn’t be seen from a distance in the darkness of the night but Rodney wasn’t sure that anyone would care if they were.
Finally reaching their tent they slipped inside, giggling madly. Rodney grabbed John to still him, taking the cups and placing them in a corner out of the way. Reverently, he removed John’s clothing before laying him down on the spread sleeping bags. Quickly, he stripped his own clothes before joining John, kissing him softly and slowly exploring and worshipping every part of John’s body before making love to him until they were both sated and sleepy.
Once they were cleaned up, thanks to Rodney’s everlasting supply of wet wipes, John curled around Rodney, leaning his head on Rodney’s shoulder and snuggling in close. “Hmm,” Rodney commented with a chuckle wrapping his arms around John. “Definitely the girl in the relationship.”
“Whatever.” Came the mumbled and sleepy reply from his shoulder.
Rodney lay there for a long time with a smile on his face, listening as John’s breathing evened out into a deep sleep.
End