John saw Rodney before Rodney saw him. He stopped short and backpedaled into an alcove and waited patiently for McKay to make his way past him. Minutes went by but Sheppard never saw Rodney pass. Maybe he'd been called back to the control room.
The colonel leaned out, slowly, not wanting to reveal too much, and barely stretched his head beyond the corner wall.
"You are such a baby," Rodney said to him. John jumped in surprise and then sneered at his friend.
"Right," Sheppard said as he walked out into the open, his cover blown. "And what you just did was so mature."
"It beats hiding out. Couldn't find yourself a nice dark closet?" Rodney McKay asked as he walked side by side with John Sheppard.
"You know I don't like dark places," John replied wryly.
"Hm," was Rodney's only reply.
"Feeling better?" John asked. "You sound better." John continued the idle banter as they headed to the commissary.
Rodney returned a disgusted look. "You know that I am. You were in this morning's briefing. And you've been avoiding me ever since."
"I have not. And keep it down," John said in a hushed tone as they approached the commissary entrance.
"Keep what down?" Rodney asked with irritation. "What, I can't talk to you?"
John looked confused as he pondered the last couple of minutes. Okay, he had to admit it. He was acting weird. He had to keep reminding himself that only he and Rodney knew what was going on between he and Rodney. Well, not that anything was really going on between he and Rodney. Not really. Not yet. And actually, Carson and Elizabeth both knew that he'd spent some recent nights in Rodney's quarters. But that was strictly for 'medicinal purposes', as they say.
"Hello?" an annoyed voice asked as fingers snapped in front of his face. "If you're finished with your freak out, is it okay if we get some food? It's almost 2:30…"
"1430, Rodney. And it wasn't a freak out," John corrected.
"Whatever. To both," Rodney answered. "Hypoglycemic," he then reminded, pointing at himself.
That's right, like he could ever forget that. One more thing in the "con" column, John thought to himself as he reached for a tray.
They gathered their meals and headed to sit, silent throughout. Rodney purposefully sat opposite John, after a brief war over which of them would take a seat first.
"Baby," Rodney reiterated as he chomped on a pickle.
John looked down at his food. He really wasn't hungry. He looked up and watched Rodney chew; the man had his eyes closed – John was sure he would have heard moaning if they weren't sitting in a public space. It was as if Rodney's mouth was making love to that damned…
"Stop it!" Rodney demanded.
John jumped in his seat. "What?" he asked innocently.
"Stop over-thinking it," Rodney advised. "Eat," he instructed as he bit into his 'meat' sandwich.
John grabbed his PB&J and took a small bite. This wasn't going to work. It just wouldn't. If he was this distracted just thinking about possibly having a relationship with Rodney, how would he ever get anything done if he was…
"Aaarrrgh!" Rodney yelled. People at other tables turned to see what was happening.
"Rodney," John whispered, drawing out his friend's name in warning.
"Eat. Now," Rodney ordered firmly but quietly.
"Rodney, I don't think…"
"Fine." Rodney stood up, taking both trays and headed up to one of the commissary workers.
"Ellen…it's Ellen, right?" Ellen nodded. "Could you please wrap this up? It seems that Colonel Sheppard is having trouble concentrating on food or conversation. Apparently there's a new toy he's yearning to play with." He leaned in closer to Ellen and fake whispered, "Boys and their toys," and then continued louder, "It looks like I'm going to have to let him touch it if I ever want to sate my appetite tonight." Rodney turned to John and gave him a classic shit-eating grin.
John, for his part, stood silently, his mouth open. Rodney's grin faded slightly as he realized the look on Sheppard's face was more one of fear than of shock, or what he was actually going for: amusement.
Rodney turned quickly away from that vision and back to Ellen, took the packaged food and turned again to find John Sheppard gone. McKay hurried out of the room, at once relieved and irritated to find no one paying the least attention to him.
McKay caught up quickly to Sheppard as he headed towards…where were they going? He reached out, just touching John's arm and said, "Sheppard."
John turned around violently, shaking off Rodney's hand. "You are such an asshole," he whispered angrily.
They stood standing opposite each other, Rodney's arms loaded down with food. Atlantis personnel passed them by, though through their body language and stares Rodney knew that they could read that there was something amiss between the two men.
"That's not news," Rodney admitted. John was staring him down now. Rodney averted his eyes briefly, looking beyond John, then to his left and finally down at the packages in his hands. He finally looked back up into John's eyes and said, "I'm sorry. I…I wasn't thinking."
"No shit." John squeezed his elbow hard and said, "Come with me."
"Ow!" Rodney whined. "I bruise easily, you know." The look Sheppard returned was a clear warning…Rodney heeded it and kept his mouth shut.
They reached John's quarters with John nearly running to get in with Rodney following at a more normal pace. John thought the door shut, just barely giving Rodney enough time to get in before getting his butt bit by the door. He gave John a dirty look.
"Put that stuff down," John demanded.
Rodney frowned at the order, but complied. He turned to face John and found Sheppard grabbing his shirt, two-fisted, and pulling the startled scientist to him, enveloping Rodney's mouth with his own. The kiss was rough, passionate but rough. Rodney's nose was being smothering by the force of John's face pressing into his. He needed to breathe, but it seemed John had other ideas. The kiss was incredible, shockingly so, both in its simple acknowledgement of John's desires as well as in its brilliantly erotic execution. Unfortunately, the kiss was going on far too long…John had prepared himself by taking a deep breath. Rodney had not.
McKay pushed Sheppard away, regretting immediately the necessity. He pulled in a deep breath that resulted in a sustained bout of coughing. Though he had recovered from the awful illness of the last few weeks, the tissue in his throat was still tender and not fully healed. He had not been prepared for the force of air caused by the desperate breath.
It didn't last long, at least compared to other times during these last weeks, but it scared John Sheppard just the same.
"Shit, are you okay?" John asked, placing one hand warmly on Rodney's back, a glass of water in the other. "Should I get Beckett?" Rodney saw the same frightened face that he'd seen just a short while ago in the commissary.
"I'm fine. Give a guy some warning next time, will ya?" Rodney coughed a few more times and accepted gratefully the water that John handed him.
"Yeah. Warning. I'll think about it, Rodney." Rodney had the wherewithal to look chagrined, though the sad, puppy eyes and the fact that Rodney was still trying to catch his breath were conspiring well to do in John Sheppard.
"Sorry," Rodney offered.
"Yeah. Well. What the hell was that, anyway?"
Rodney shrugged his shoulders and admitted, "I thought you needed a kick in the ass. Actually, I knew that you did. I just…evidently I went about it in the wrong way."
"You're lucky I'm talking to you, let alone kissing you," John said as he took the glass from McKay and set it on the table.
"I think it's obvious that you find me irresistible," Rodney said, though he would be surprised if John couldn't read his mind at that moment which said, 'Dig that hole a little deeper, McKay'.
John Sheppard let go a laugh. "I must be smitten to put up with this shit." John put his arms around Rodney's waist, pulling him close.
"I'm a charming, handsome genius," Rodney taunted.
"That's true. And also arrogant, egotistical, cocky. Oh, and a real son-of-a-bitch." John's mouth ghosted up against Rodney's as he spoke.
Rodney pulled his head back at the last descriptive. He frowned a little, but then his grin grew to a wide smile.
"You like me, you really like me!"
"Shut up, Sally," he said, rolling his eyes and wondering for the hundredth time what he was getting himself into. "Kiss me," he added, giving Rodney plenty of time to catch a breath.
The End.