"Happy Valentine's Day," Todd rumbled, bursting into the Colonel's room.

"Unghhhh," is all Sheppard could manage, face buried in his pillow. Why did the Wraith have to be so loud?

"I see that our evening of drunken debauchery has yet to release you from its grasp, Sheppard," the wraith purred. "But I must say, it is a good look on you."

The suggestive tone broke the Colonel out of his stupor so he lifted his head to take stock of his situation. He was lying face down on his bed, head pounding, his room reeking of booze.

Oh. And he was naked.

A jumble of memories bombarded his mind; a combination of ruus wine and some local concoction, wandering around a night market, arm linked with Todd's, stumbling home through the stargate…

Oh, god. He truly hoped the fumbling demonstration of their mutual lust had begun after they made it to his quarters.

"Never fear, Sheppard. No one bore witness to our… activities... upon our return". As if reading his mind, the wraith consoled his lover. "And, in keeping with our arrangement, I returned to my quarters before sunrise."

"Uh, yeah… thanks?" he offered, dubiously, glancing at Todd.

"I then made quite the show of entering your feeding hall and querying your whereabouts. Upon receiving no reply, I promptly announced my intention to track you down and made my way here." The wraith was clearly proud of his ingenious charade

John could just imagine the farce that played out in the cafeteria. He shook his head at the wraith's conviction that he had successfully fooled anyone with his obvious pantomime.

"Well, Sheppard? Would you like to see your gift?" Todd's mischievous smile had his inner alarm bells ringing.

John twisted himself around to a seated position, wrapping the sheet around his waist. The Wraith was clearly amused by his attempt at modesty. Bit late for that now.

In one fluid motion, Todd removed his coat and laid it on the desk. Next came his shirt, belt and shoes. Unlacing his trousers had John wondering exactly what his gift might be.

The wraith stood in the centre of the Colonel's room in all his naked glory. He held his arms slightly away from his body, palms facing out, as if to present himself as the gift. Typical.

With a playful gleam in his eye, he slowly turned until John got an unimpeded view from behind. Those long, powerful legs, and that broad, muscled back made his mouth go dry. The thick mane of white hair and the line of bone spurs along his spine were both begging to be touched.

John's eyes took it all in greedily, following the familiar lines of his lover's tattoos as they arced and flowed down his back and onto the very top of his exceptional ass.

And there it was. His… gift.

On Todd's right butt cheek, just below a curled black tribal design that ended in a sharp tip that now looked like it was pointing to the newest tattoo in the wraith's impressive collection.

"A heart?!" Sheppard yelped in surprise. "You got a... red heart tattooed on your ass?"

The wraith looked over his shoulder at his consort, responding to the wrong part of Sheppard's shocking statement. "It is true; we Wraith do not use colours in our markings. It is considered… showy."

"Showy?"

"Yessss. Showy. Flamboyant. Ostentatious. Unnecessarily extravagant," the wraith intoned, whipping his hair around as he looked over his other shoulder.

"I know what showy means," John snapped. "I just… I mean… Why this tattoo? And on your ass too..."

At the sight of the wraith's frown, he hastened to add, "I definitely like the, uh, placement".

"As you are aware, I have very little space for more markings. This seems to be an area of my person that receives a great deal of your attention…"

The wraith trailed off, please to see John blush. He emphasised his point by flexing his hindquarters.

The human gulped.

The Wraith chuckled. "I have seen a number of your Earth humans with variations of this tattoo. Red hearts with names scrawled within. Dr McKay explained to me that it is a symbol of one's affection for another. A time-honoured gesture... of sorts."

Godammit, McKay!

John forced himself out of bed and stumbled over to Todd, who smirked over his shoulder at John. He watched as the human looked closer at the tattoo and saw the widening of John's eyes when he read his name written inside. Sheppard placed his hand on Todd's side and ran his thumb over the heart. The wraith shivered.

"You know, I'm flattered and everything, but," he couldn't help but snigger, "a red heart on a guy's ass? Well, I guess it's just a little—

"—careful, Shepparrrrd," Todd growled. "Need I remind you of the gift you so eagerly adorned for me?"

John's head snapped up and he locked eyes with the wraith. Fearful hazel eyes glared at amused yellow ones.

All at once John's ass started to throb. But like a dog chasing its tail, he just couldn't manage the right angle to see the damage. Grabbing the wraith's arm, he marched them both over to the full-length mirror on his closet door.

He just stood there for a moment, looking over his shoulder with growing trepidation at the white gauze pad taped to his left butt cheek. Not one to muck around, Todd reached across John's back, grabbed the corner of the gauze and ripped it off in one smooth move.

"Shit! Todd!" Sheppard yelled, glaring at his partner in crime.

Todd merely laughed and turned his back to the mirror. Looking over his right shoulder, he mirrored Sheppard's pose before angling his head to gaze at his reflection. "I'm rather fond of them."

Cue another flex. Oh, my.

John tore his eyes away from Todd's right flank and tried to mentally prepare himself as he looked over his shoulder once more. Starting with the wraith's ass, he took in the prominent red heart tattooed on the right cheek with "John" penned across it in looping letters.

Reluctantly moving his gaze, he realised he couldn't even see his reflection. Shuffling to the side, he had to press up against the wraith who gleefully slung his arm around John's waist and pulled him in tighter.

There, resting cheek to cheek was his own symbol of affection. A matching heart, only hot pink this time. And where Todd had gone with a sophisticated cursive for his chosen font, apparently John just wanted 'TODD' emblazoned in bold, block capital letters. Well, fuck.

He was so entranced by the candy-pink spectacle that he barely noticed Todd removing his hand from his side and bringing it back across his body to stroke the colourful design.

He met the wraith's suggestive leer with an intent look of his own, turning his body and moving in. Hips pressed together, he slid his arm under Todd's and let his hand rest on the red heart. The wraith gave the pink heart a squeeze as he grinned smugly down at him. The human smiled gamely and leaned in to plant a searing kiss on the wraith's lips.

John flexed his own hindquarters and declared, "No regerts, I guess!"

Todd just shook his head in amusement at his silly human, right before grabbing John's hips, spinning him around and pinning him up against the mirrored door. Growling low and loud, Sheppard could feel the rumbling where the wraith's chest pressed up against his back. The vibrations seemed to rush straight to his groin where his hot, throbbing cock was trapped against the cool mirror.

Todd's hard desire was clearly evident against the heart tattoo on John's ass. The wraith moved his hips so that the wet tip of his impressive length slid across John's skin and settled in the cleft at the base of his spine. John managed to wrestle his arms up along the mirror above his head so that his palms could lie flat against the surface and he could push back against the wraith.

Todd wasted no time and began thrusting between John's cheeks, one hand twisted in the unruly black mop of hair, the other reaching down to grasp himself. Knowing that John would still be loose and pliant from their lengthy, rough sex the night before, Todd once again changed the angle of his hips and in one swift move, plunged his cock deep inside John.

"Godammit! Fuck!" The sudden intrusion was not unwelcome, in fact, John revelled in the burn as he felt Todd everywhere inside him. He rested the right side of his face up against the chilling surface of the mirror as Todd's hand moved to his left hip, pushing himself even deeper.

"Move," he begged. "Now. Please."

Over his left shoulder he could see the wraith flashing a devilish grin. "Firsssst..." he whispered. Removing his hand from the man's hip he pulled his arm back and whipped it forward, landing a searing slap right on John's tattooed ass.

John hissed in surprise, lost for a moment in both pain and pleasure. When he came back to himself, panting breaths fogging up the mirror, he distracted Todd by writhing up against him. The wraith closed his eyes and threw his head back, not noticing the Colonel's right hand slide down the mirror and move around his back. John's hand grabbed the wraith's tattooed ass cheek, digging his fingers in and eliciting a rough snarl.

Sharp teeth clamped down on his left shoulder, threatening to break the surface of his skin. John locked eyes with Todd's reflection in the mirror. He could see the wraith's nostrils flaring and the heaving rise and fall of his powerful shoulders.

"Do it," John managed to ground out. The wraith's eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't indulged in this particular act with Sheppard, always just managing to hold himself back. He took in the sight of the Colonel's boneless body propped up against the mirror, held in place by Todd's forceful initial thrust. The human was only just managing to keep his left hand against the mirror, now collapsed there up to his elbow. Todd positioned his offhand against John's, holding his hand in place against the mirror. He lowered his feeding hand from the man's hair.

From John's position, he could only just see the wraith's hand snaking around his waist, lowering to wrap his long fingers around John's dick. All he could do was moan his appreciation.

But Todd paused. John met his eyes once more in the mirror. "Do it," he demanded.

With that, Todd sank his teeth into John's shoulder and set a punishing rhythm slamming into him from behind and pumping his fist up and down. The intense heat of Todd's cock deep inside him and the friction along his own cock, paired with the cool bliss of his body up against the mirror, left John barely hanging on for the ride.

He hardly registered his mounting rapture, he was just so overwhelmed by pleasures thrilling his senses. The orgasm slammed into him, taking his breath away and whiting out his vision. He threw his head back on Todd's shoulder and cried out. Todd, still clamped to his lover's shoulder, had been unable to tear his eyes away from John's reflection, watching the muscles in his abdomen clench as he spurted his release up the mirror. The sight of John lolling back against his shoulder, absorbed in the moment was enough to bring the wraith to his own climax. Releasing John's shoulder he surged forward, bringing his forehead up against the mirror as he bucked one more time.

Soft groans came from John and sated hisses from Todd as they stood there trying to catch their breath. Todd lapped at the sensitive wound he'd left on John's shoulder as John lifted his head to bring his face back against the cold glass surface.

Removing himself from John left him sliding down the mirror, so Todd went with him, curling around him on the floor. Their eyes met in the reflection. They looked sufficiently debauched, tangled there around each other. John's right hand was somehow still grasping at the wraith's red heart tattoo. He murmured, "maybe there need to be more tattoos in our future."

"Or just marksss, Shepparrrd," Todd purred, one hand resting on the pink heart tattoo, the other stroking the teeth-marks on John's neck.