Finite Simple Group (of Order Two)

John was getting desperate.

He and Rodney had had fights before, but not like this. Granted, it had been a spectacularly reckless stunt on his part. One could call it suicidal, and not be too far off. Sure, him going on collision course with the Wraith mothership had seemed like the only option at that time, and it had all worked out in the end through the timely intervention of the Daedalus.

But he knew, even at the time, what it was doing to Rodney. And he hated himself for doing that to him.

So he had the utmost understanding when Rodney told him he needed time. He would have even understood, if Rodney never talked to him again outside of a professional setting.

That didn't mean it wasn't killing him inside.

And what was worse, he could see it was killing Rodney too.

This called for desperate measures.

John tapped his headseat to a new channel. "Radek, come in."

"Zelenka here."

"I need your help."

John hadn't been this nervous in a very long time.

It was not the same as going into battle, there the adrenaline kicked in, and he didn't have time to stop, and worry.

But this was about feelings, and he never had been great with speaking about them.

Good thing he didn't actually have to speak this time.

He thought open the door to Rodney's lab. He knew Rodney was alone at this time of the night. He tended to work long hours anyway, and Radek had made sure to herd all other scientists to dinner earlier. And that they wouldn't be disturbed this evening.

Rodney didn't look up from his three laptops when John entered, too immersed in his work.

That worked out well for John, actually, as he had a little time to prepare.

He had his guitar with him (which had earned him a few curious looks on his way, but he had ignored them), and now put the strap around his neck. The familiar weight helped calming him down a little.

John took a stance a few feet away from Rodney's desk, so that he'd be in perfect view when Rodney looked up.

Okay, here goes...

He took a deep breath, and began to sing. Rodney's head snapped up, his eyes wide in astonishment, but he didn't interrupt, which was a good sign in John's book.

The path of love is never smooth

But mine's continuous for you

You're the upper bound in the chains of my heart

You're my Axiom of Choice, you know it's true

But lately our relation's not so well-defined

And I just can't function without you

I'll prove my proposition and I'm sure you'll find

We're a finite simple group of order two

John saw a little smile tug on the corner of Rodney's mouth, and felt encouraged to go on.

I'm losing my identity

I'm getting tensor every day

And without loss of generality

I will assume that you feel the same way

Since every time I see you, you just quotient out

The faithful image that I map into

But when we're one-to-one you'll see what I'm about

'Cause we're a finite simple group of order two

Rodney's tense form had relaxed considerably by now, and he was listening intently.

Our equivalence was stable,

A principal love bundle sitting deep inside

But then I drove a wedge between our two-forms

Now everything is so complexified

When we first met, we simply connected

My heart was open but too dense

Our system was already directed

To have a finite limit, in some sense

I'm living in the kernel of a rank-one map

From my domain, its image looks so blue,

'Cause all I see are zeroes, it's a cruel trap

But we're a finite simple group of order two

Rodney's eyes were warm by now, and John felt his hopes rise tentatively.

I'm not the smoothest operator in my class,

But we're a mirror pair, me and you,

So let's apply forgetful functors to the past

And be a finite simple group, be a finite simple group,

Let's be a finite simple group of order two

I've proved my proposition now, as you can see,

So let's both be associative and free

And by corollary, this shows you and I to be

Purely inseparable. Q. E. D.

John played the last chord, suddenly feeling awkward, and anxious again. He couldn't look away from Rodney, though. Hope and fear of rejection were battling in his chest.

Rodney stood up, and walked around his desk to him, coming to a stop directly in front of him.

"All right, you big dork. I can't say you're forgiven, because you're not. But I get the message."

And then he gently cupped John's face, and drew him close for a kiss.

John kissed back tentatively at first, but when Rodney ran his hands through his hair, all bets were off.

They finally came up for air an indeterminable time later, and John rested his forehead against Rodney's.

"Thank you."

"Yeah, well, see if you'll thank me in a few days, because I have very clear expectations of how I want you to grovel. With flowcharts."

John laughed softly, and pressed another quick kiss to Rodney's mouth. "I'm looking forward to it. Wanna get out of here?"

In response, Rodney took his hand, and led him out of the lab.

This fic was inspired by the beautiful song "Finite Simple Group (of Order Two)" by Kleinfour. You can see it on their youtube channel, just search for the title.

I made some minor changes to the lyrics John sings to fit his situation better.

Thanks for reading, I hope you had fun.