Title: Atlantis

Author: Tonia Barone

Rating: Adult for, well, adult situations. Or, well, implied situations.

Spoilers: Defiant One, duh

Disclaimer: Gods, I wish they were mine. If so, not only with the following be actual canon, it would have had screen time and it would have been a helluva lot longer and with a HELLUVA lot more detail of the smutty kind.

Notes: Thanks ever so to jakisbishlygay for the beta and everyone else for not killing me in the meantime.

Summary: Heart-to-snark and fourteen and a half hours until they get home.

Rodney rolled his eyes upon seeing he'd be following Lieutenant Ford "Real subtle, Sheppard."

John grinned over at him from the navigator's chair. "I thought so."

Chuckling even as he glared, Rodney pointed out, "No you didn't. I've seen you do subtle, Major."

"You can call me John, you know." Said man was very carefully not looking at Rodney.

Rodney was quick to correct the course change caused by his jerking of the controls. For once John made no mention of the swerve from the set course. Surely he imagined the tone in the Major's voice. Sorry, John's voice.

John's voice was now amused as he gently poked Rodney. "Rodney? Don't tell me I finally found a way to shut you up."

"Of course not." /Atlantis, does this thing have an auto-pilot/

Of course, Protector. A moment's pause, then: It is done, Protector.

/Thanks, Atlantis. And don't think you're off the hook about explaining that name thing./

She was definitely amused, if her 'voice' was any clue. Of course not, Protector. How could I forget--you only remind me every five minutes.

/Only five? Must be slacking./ Rodney tuned out the chime-like laughter of Atlantis in favor of turning his chair to face John's. But John of course, being the smart man he was, had already sensed something was up and was already facing him. Rodney pre-empted John by saying: "Auto-pilot."

This seemed to surprise John, which in turn surprised Rodney. Didn't he and Atlantis have some sort of twisted love affair?

John obviously thought they had because he glared up at the ceiling for a period. Another moment where John was obviously chastising Atlantis for holding back on him passed. Then John turned to Rodney and gave the scientist an indecipherable look. "Rodney? Call me John."

Rodney licked his lips; aware of the growing tension between them but unsure if he should do anything. So he decided to 'go with the flow'. "John."

The smile John gave him upon hearing his name caused pleasant shivers throughout Rodney's body. "See? Now that wasn't so hard, now was it?" Then John shifted in his seat and winced, grabbing his ribs.

"John!" Rodney was out of his chair and kneeling in front of John before he even finished speaking. "I thought Teyla wrapped your ribs!"

John nodded. "She did. Just moved wrong is all." He smirked at Rodney. "So all I have to do to get you to say my name is be in pain?"

Rodney feverently shook his head. "NO!" He realized he shouted and ducked his head. "That is," He stopped suddenly, obviously rethinking what he was about to say before continuing, "uh...no. You don't need to be in pain for me to say your name." Rodney raised his head to look John in the eye. "In fact, I'd prefer it if you were never in pain."

When John smiled, Rodney could feel his heart actually skip a beat. "I'll try not to get hurt, then."

Rodney hesitated only a moment before reaching for John's hands. "I was scared to death when you said you were hit." One of his hands ghosted over the bandage on John's left arm. "That was an insane thing you did, not to mention idiotic and completely unnecessary!"

---

Seeing the fit Rodney was working himself into, John squeezed the other man's hands. "Rodney, I'm okay. And you're wrong. If I hadn't gone after that Wraith, it would have had more time to work on the jumper."

"But Ford--"

"But nothing. We didn't know when help was coming or if it would get there before night fell. Rodney, I found a patch of snow in the shade of a rock. There is no way we would have survived without shelter."

Of course Rodney protested this. "The Wraith ship would have been good enough. There must be a sheltered room somewhere."

"And where do you think the Wraith would have gone when the sun went down? We would have been sitting ducks, Rodney." That John was the most battle-experienced of them went without saying.

Even Rodney couldn't argue with that logic. "No, I guess we would have been, you're right." The scientist then glared at John. "But did you ever think that maybe I didn't want to die alone? That maybe, just maybe, I might have wanted to say goodbye?" Though his eyes spoke of much more.

It was the look in Rodney's eyes that finally pushed John to move. Despite the looks and tender touches up to that point, he had no guarantee Rodney actually returned his feelings; at least, not until now he hadn't. The look Rodney was giving him could be no less than love, surely.

So with this in mind, John leaned forward slowly, in case he was wrong, and pressed his lips to Rodney's. At worst he expected a punch, at best perhaps a returning pressure on his lips. What he got was...

...nothing.

Heart heavy with disappointment, John pulled back. He was just about to make excuses when his head was grabbed between two large, yet gentle, hands and the lips, as tart as the citrus their owner was allergic to, smashed against his own. After a moment of surprise, John's hand reached out to glide along Rodney's cheek, moving back until he had a firm hold on the nape of the other man's neck.

The position was awkward for both men--Rodney because of the angle he had to hold his neck and John because of the stress on his ribs--so it was little surprise when John pulled back a short eternity later.

"Well," Rodney said as he licked his lips, hands still framing John's face. He gave John one of his crooked smiles. "That was..."

"Yeah." John smiled back at Rodney as his thumb stroked Rodney's cheek. "Why haven't we done this before?"

Rodney leaned into John's touch, eyes closing as he answered, "Because we are the epitome of stupid."

John licked his lips as he leaned towards Rodney again. "Works for me." And as his lips once more touched the ones belonging to the man he loved, John's only regret was that his injuries forbade them from getting too physical.

Thank god his hands weren't broken.