It had been a few days since he had joined Ronon for the early morning run. Since then he had been seeing a lot more of Ronon than before. They just seemed to be in the same places at the same time. He reminded himself that even though the city was large, the expedition members inhabited a relatively small area and he was bound to run into the same people all the time. He wasn't complaining about Ronon's presence however, the guy was, despite being physically intimidating, relatively easy to get along with. Truthfully Ronon didn't talk very much and therefore it was hard to get on his bad side. So Lorne was not surprised to see Ronon approaching him with a food-laden tray from across the commissary.
"Hey Evan." Ronon greeted, sitting down on the other side of the table.
Lorne looked at him over his fork full of rice. "Hi."
Neither of them spoke again as they ate. The conversation, if you could call it that, had deteriorated into a semi-awkward silence in which Lorne couldn't help but wonder why Ronon wasn't sitting with his teammates who were a few tables over. He didn't ask, but just watched as the Satedan slowly cut his pork roast into neat little squares.
He thought Ronon kept glancing up at him, but he was probably imagining it. The silence was becoming unbearable when Lorne started on his cheesecake. Not being able to stand not talking any longer Lorne asked, "How did the briefing about the trade negotiation with the Belkans go?" Ronon looked sheepish for a moment, but the next minute it was gone, he had probably imagined that too.
"It was boring. I'm not really good at negotiating; I'd rather just shoot them."
Lorne had no trouble believing that. He tried to identify with Ronon telling him that he too was often tactless.
"You have a lot of insight." Ronon answered. Lorne didn't know what had prompted this but took the compliment anyway. "I mean you get on people." Lorne knew what he had meant to say but couldn't help but be a little taken aback at how it had come out. "I mean," Ronon gestured with his hands "you're nice." Ronon looked extremely flustered and Lorne felt sorry for the man who was now staring at his hands.
"Thanks…" 'I think', he finished in his head. They both smiled at each other.
"Do you… um…" Ronon looked just as uncomfortable as he had a moment ago. "Want to spar later?"
Lorne agreed, but with reservation, he had seen what Ronon was capable of. Of course, he could teach him that sweet move to disarm opponents.
XXXX
For the third time that day Ronon had lost his train of thought. That morning he had put his shirt on backwards, only noticing when he had sat down for lunch. Later during the briefing about… well he wasn't sure what it had been about, he hadn't been paying attention. He'd been caught up in thoughts of a pair of gentle brown eyes. And now as he spooned yet another helping of rice onto his already rice-piled plate, he realized he had, once again, been thinking about something other than the here and now.
One of the chefs was giving him a puzzled look as he finally put down the rice server. Ronon glared at him, satisfied when the chef cringed and took a step back. His eyes swept the room, searching. He found his teammates quickly and was about to head for them when he spotted someone else not far away and changed directions.
"Hey Evan."
"Hi," Evan said giving him a quick smile.
Ronon couldn't think of anything else to say and remained silent. He wondered if Evan was getting tired of his company, as over the past few days Ronon had taken every opportunity to be near to him. Taking meals at the same time; working out at the same time; he had even repressed his anti-social personality long enough to sit through a showing of Black Hawk Down in the lounge. All so he could sit next to Evan on a couch, hoping that maybe they would brush elbows. And now he couldn't keep his mind off the man, his eyes, his hands, the funny crinkles he got around his eyes when he smiled… The situation was reaching critical and yet all he could do was sit in silence, carefully and deliberately cutting up his meat. Teyla had told him that bad table manners were a turn-off and he wasn't taking any chances.
Suddenly Evan asked about the briefing that day. Ronon's knife slipped on his plate and made a rather unpleasant scraping noise. He didn't look up immediately, knowing there was embarrassment written on his face. But he grappled for control of his features and answered, "It was boring. I'm not really good at negotiations; I'd rather just shoot them."
Evan answered with what Ronon took to be an understanding look, "I know what you mean. My mom always said I lacked a certain amount of tact."
"You have a lot of insight." He knew that didn't make a lot of sense and tried again. "I mean you get on people." Ronon winced; he had not meant to say that. "I mean," he faltered feeling extremely foolish, "you're nice," he finished lamely. He wanted to say something more elegant than that, but didn't dare open his mouth again.
"Thanks." When Ronon finally pulled his eyes back up to meet gentle brown ones he found Evan grinning at him and couldn't help but smile back.
Ronon felt the urge to ask what he had wanted to ask for a week and he felt as if it was one of those 'now or never' type of deals. "Do you…" he was having trouble speaking again, "want to spar later?"
Evan agreed, but he looked reluctant and Ronon wondered whether he really wanted to or was just being polite. Maybe Evan was getting tired of his company after all?
