Title - You Did What?!
Summary - Rodney has done something drastic. He and John have a little talk... drabble (353 words), very slight angst. Set mid-late S2.
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Rodney scratched absently at his chest and then his throat at the slightly parted V of his shirt.
John glanced across at him for interrupting the movie they were watching with the distracting rustling sounds. He raised an eyebrow and then turned back to the screen.
Out of the corner of his eye, John saw Rodney shrug a few times in discomfort and then rub the centre of his chest.
"Ants, McKay?"
"No no no. Nothing like that," was the reply, accompanied by more irritated scratching.
"Fleas then?" John placed his hands down on the seat and shimmied himself away from Rodney slightly.
Rodney glanced sidelong at him, one finger still poised over his blue zip up uniform shirt. "Erm, no."
John counted off options on his fingers, "Some kind of cream Carson gave you, a new allergy, a skin condition you want to spread around...?"
"I, uh..." Rodney looked away and mumbled, "I shaved it off."
John's eyes widened, "What?!"
Rodney's stuttering increased as his hands started wringing together. He carefully avoided both John's shocked expression and the movie that was now only background noise. "I- I thought... well it's my second date tonight with Katie. And, the last one wasn't so good. I thought, I'd shave off the hair, b-b-because all women like..." he trailed off as John's eyes bored into him.
John grimaced and patted his own well cultivated, hidden chest fur unconsciously. "Because all women like muscly hunks with smooth chests. All women like flowers and fluffy bunnies and only talk about makeup and handbags."
Rodney glanced up with such a terribly vulnerable expression that John couldn't help but soften his incredulous glare.
"I thought it was the right thing to do."
"Well, you'd be surprised."
Rodney looked away as he said offhand, "It's nice not to get it caught in the zip."
John winced.
"But I think I've got a rash now. And my chest's cold."
John smiled at him. "It'll grow back. Just give it time."
Rodney nodded and sat on his hands while they watched the rest of the movie. He couldn't help twitching a little.