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The 6 months they had spent on Earth had resulted in daily meetings and multiple arguments on both sides about the future of the flying city currently sitting in the San Francisco Bay. It was 5 and a half months too long in Johns mind.
Of Course all of the Lantean personnel and military had fought for the return to Pegasus and they were backed up by the Pegasus natives that were on board when they had landed. General O’Neil and Colonel Carter were all for the city being returned and had fought for countless hours getting more superiors on their side, until finally they had gotten their way.
A month later and all of the repairs had been finished. Rodney had worked his team around the clock and had fired them all for incompetence at least once during that time, although suspiciously they all somehow still worked on Atlantis. Rodney had to acquiesce to John that having them around was easier than training a whole bunch of new scientists. John had just rolled his eyes and chuckled.
The Return to Pegasus was about as eventful and also boring as they thought it would be. At first everyone was super excited and the energy in the city was buzzing. Everyone was as prepared as they could be, manning their stations and ready for whatever was thrown at them. They were going home and nothing could dampen the feeling of joy. The cloak was over the city as John took her up and away, out of the Milky Way and back to New Lantea. Only those left from the original expedition were allowed to travel back on the city. The rest would be joining them through the Gate Bridge once they had landed and reestablished contact with Earth.
~~~~
2 Years later.
With the Wraith no longer a threat, 3 Full ZedPM’s connected to the city, 2 more spare and a way to recharge the drained ones, they were able to open up the whole city. Repairs had been made to any areas that had been damaged, living quarters had been upgraded and most of the original members of the Expedition had moved to what could only be described as Studio apartments. They had their own kitchenette and small living area.
With all of the extra areas of the city now open, they had taken all the refugees from culled planets that wanted to join them and integrated them into the city, Some had chosen to live on the mainland with the Athosians and some had opted to leave Atlantis after a while to settle on the worlds of trade partners offering permanent lodgings.
Nowadays off-world missions were spent trying to secure trade deals and still discover new allies around the galaxy, but it also left room for more social visits and a bit more down time.
“Good Luck Team, check-in in 2 hours” Woolsey said over the radio from his place in the Control Room.
He had remained the civilian commander of Atlantis when it was approved to return to the Pegasus Galaxy.
The team had been to this world a few times before, Known as Araviia, but the last visit was cut short by the team being recalled and they had promised to return in the near future to deliver the goods for trade and retain them as allies for the future. The Gate was in a low orbit around the planet and the planet itself had reminded them of country US or Outback Australia. It had a warm temperature year round and whilst their technology was basic in a lot of areas, they had put lots of time into their harvesting machinery and entertainment.
The Team took the Jumper through the gate and landed in an open space that was separated from the village by a small area of trees that were the beginning of the surrounding forest. It was only about 100 metres away from their agreed meeting point.
They cloaked the Jumper and walked the short distance on foot to the village. The Chief, Ziva, an older lady with long dark hair slightly peppered with silver strands and an open, motherly face, Her daughter Kya, a younger version of her mother with her dark hair in two long plaits with thin sweet smelling vines weaved through and draped forward over her shoulders, and a few of the locals were standing in a small group in discussion when the team approached.
“Ah! Our Lantean friends!” the Chief exclaimed once they were close enough “I welcome you back to Araviia. I hope this trip with be longer than our last meeting and I do hope everything is alright”
John Smiled at the Chief and nodded “It is good to be back, and thank you for your concern. It was minor situation dealt with easily but requiring the talents of Dr McKay here” John gestured over his shoulder to Rodney, who gave a half smile/smirk and a little wave.
Teyla stepped forward and offered the local greeting to Chief Ziva and Kya, who returned the gesture and offered the Athosian one in return. She had heard of the Araviian’s before and studied their greeting before the first meeting. They had appreciated the effort and requested she show them her traditional greeting in return. It had allowed for respect among them from the start.
“Thank you for understanding and welcoming us back to Araviia Chief Ziva. It is good to see you again.” Teyla smiled sincerely.
Ziva then turned to the rest of the team and shook their hands gently. She had been informed by Teyla that this simple Earth greeting was the most common and respectful one if she would like to greet them in such a way, if not, they were comfortable to offer the Athosian greeting.
“Of course my dear Teyla, we understand the need to care for your people. Please, come, we shall go somewhere quieter and more comfortable to talk and dine.” Ziva gestured further into the village and turned to lead the way.
All around them the locals were setting up various shelters, tables, benches and what looked to be a raised platform. Like a makeshift stage.
“What’s all this?” Rodney said looking up from his padd and gesturing wildly around. He looked a little worried, it looked like a harvest festival and gods know they could be an absolute drag.
Kya was by his side and had to move a step to the side to avoid his flailing limbs. “We are having a festival tonight. It happens twice a year. A night for everyone to celebrate and be free. It is the start of our 7 day rest period between harvests. There is a feast put on and lots of entertainment throughout the night, singing by the band and an area for dancing and some delicious drink mixtures.” She answered, pointing out areas around the place as she explained.
“Sounds fun” Ronon grunted from behind them, carrying 2 large bags of seeds they had gotten from another world. The seeds grow into small bushes that produce a bean that can be roasted over a fire and brewed into a coffee-like drink.
“You are welcome to join in the festivities after trade has been made. You can take the goods back home and invite your people to come back with you. It would give us great joy to entertain” Kya gleamed with pride at the idea of having a bigger event than usual.
In return for the seeds, in the future the Lanteans would be getting the roasted beans that grew as Rodney had made a strong point for their caffeine levels and although the taste was much sweeter than he liked, it was still better than no coffee. But for now, they were getting a part of the recent harvest. A large amount of fresh vegetables and some of the local spices used in the dishes they had tried on their first visit.
The talks of future trade, instructions on the best growing conditions for the seeds and lunch had gone well. The food had been small in quantity but impressive on taste. It was explained to them that meals on the day of the festival were served small so there was plenty of room for the evening feast. Rodney and Ronon had both given disappointing grunts at that, but had eaten their share and not said a word more after a few stern looks from Teyla and John. They could always snack back in the city before they returned for the festival.
The team had been escorted back to the edge of the forest by Kya, she and Teyla taking the lead and talking the whole time. Kya had told Teyla that while there were no particular dress regulations for the festival, it was a chance to change their look and be free of judgment. Teyla had smiled and agreed that she would indeed wear some outfits she had not worn yet. She glanced over her shoulder and then smirked at Kya.
“I am not sure about that lot, do not be surprised if the look exactly the same later”
Kya tried to cover her laugh but John had caught the conversation and had raised an eyebrow at them.
They could think whatever they wanted, but John had a pair of jeans and a nice button down top. He didn’t wear them often and this would be a good opportunity.
They boarded the Jumper with their haul of fresh food and returned to Atlantis.
They didn’t have to go back to Araviia for another 3 hours. The post mission meeting with Woolsey took up 30 minutes. John was bored within the first 5 and had started trying to distract Rodney. He was using his pen and tapping out the word ‘bored’ every 3 minutes in Morse code against the desk. Then once Rodney had caught on to that and glared just before the next tapping started, he changed it to random words at either 5 and a half minute intervals, or tapping the end of the pen on his cheek and dragging down his neck.
Rodney had given him a confused glare but had then kept his eyes off John, very badly. John had caught him looking 3 times in the last 2 minutes of the meeting.
Rodney had gotten used to John being distracting years ago, but with the lack of daily threats, he had more time to pick up on them and that also unfortunately meant, he had more time to think about them. He had tried to push it out of his mind and just when he succeeded, John would saunter in and say or do something that just bought all of these feelings back to the forefront of his mind.
Rodney was a genius after all and had initially thought that after the repeal of DADT, and them not being in the Milky Way anymore, that John’s actions were flirting. But they never went farther than little teases and the normal banter so Rodney passed it off as John just being more comfortable and relaxed.
When they were finished in the meeting, John had gotten up and asked Ronon if he wanted to go do some sparring. Rodney had for a second felt rejected. John had been trying to get his attention all meeting and now didn’t even glance back at him on the way out. Rodney has work to do anyway and with John being this antsy, he guessed working off some energy with Ronon would be better than him annoyingly hanging around the lab.
“Does McKay know yet?” Ronon asked as he swung towards John. They had been sparring for a good half hour silently before Ronon knew John was sufficiently distracted and on the edge of exhaustion.
John dodged the oncoming attack better than he dodged having these conversations with Ronon. He always talked more when they were alone and sparring. Ronon had worked out that distracting John made him talk more openly. Although Ronon was a man of few words, he wasn’t afraid to let you know how he was feeling and he was slowly helping John unlearn all of the horrible sides of his upbringing with an overbearing, strict, unloving father. Ronon and John had gotten a lot closer after Johns father’s funeral. They had a unique friendship that was unlike one John had had before. He was able to open up to Ronon now, even once crying in his arms after drinking too much.
Ronon was now swinging mercilessly at John and John knew he wouldn’t stop until he answered him.
“No” John gritted out as he blocked an attack. “I thought he did for a bit but he never acted on it”
“Did you act on it?” Ronon backed off a little.
“He’s a genius! I thought I was being obvious and he would have said something or picked up on it and retorted in some way. He isnt exactly known for holding his tongue!”
“He isnt ‘pick up on body language’ smart” Ronon half chuckled as he threw a towel at John.
John gave a shrug and a downturn of his lips as a response.
They were walking out of the sparring room now and Ronon knew the conversation was over.
As they departed the transporter and went their separate ways Ronon couldn’t help but one last remark much to John’s annoyance.
“Dress up pretty tonight Sheppard”.
After a shower and an hour of fussing about in his room, changing into his deep purple button down, to the dark blue patterned one and back to the purple one again, he paired it with his black jeans. John was finally ready.
He sat at his desk and opened his laptop. Rodney and John’s new rooms were next door to each other but thanks to the city walls, he could barely hear noise coming from the other room. He had no idea if Rodney was in there or not half the time.
He opened the city chat they now had and opened his conversation with Rodney.
*
J: You have one hour to get ready
R: It will take me 5 minutes. I have important work to do here Sheppard!
*
John could practically hear the tone Rodney was using and imagine the annoyed eye roll he was receiving.
He left the laptop and went to find Teyla. She had mentioned Kanaan and Torren were doing an afternoon of crafts and she was excited their mission was finished in time that she could join them. She still made time for the team but her Partner and son were always included when they wanted to be and she made sure that she was with them more often than not.
John was welcomed into their living quarters by Kanaan and could see Teyla brushing sand off the floor around the table and Torren looking very pleased with his work. Torren noticed John and ran up to him excitedly.
“Uncle John! Look! I made you a picture” Torren smiled wide as he held up a large piece of board. It had sand covering half of it, glued on. The rest was painted blue. There was a bad wooden carving of a jumper glued to the blue bit and some cotton glued to look like clouds.
“Very cool Bud! Who carved the Jumper?” John tried to hide his laughter as he looked at Kanaan.
“I started it, but Torren wanted to finish it. I still won’t let him use the sharp tools”
“Well it looks great Torren. And when you’re older and your dad teaches you properly, I’ll show you some cool tricks to carve a ball into a sealed box. It’s something my grandfather perfected and taught me when I was little” He smiled down at the boy.
“Really? That sounds awesome!” Torren passed the artwork over to John and then ran off to another room.
“I will be getting ready soon. Meet you at the jumper in 20 minutes?” Teyla said as she joined them again.
“Yeah sounds good. Kanaan, will you be joining us?”
“I wish I could, but after running around with the kids today on the mainland, I am so tired. That child of mine has his mother’s energy” Kanaan smiled lovingly at Teyla and excused himself to find said child.
John chuckled and left back to his room.
*
J: 15 minutes
R: Important work happening
J: How important is it if you can respond straight away?
R: Genius. Duh. I have figured out how to multitask.
J: 13 minutes…
R: go away and ill be able to get more work done before we leave!
J: fine!
J: we are meeting at the jumper
J: in 11 minutes
J: 10 minutes
J: 8 minutes and about 23 seconds
R: SHEPPARD!
J: 7 minutes
R: FINE! I’m leaving the lab now.
R: do you know how annoying you are?
J: Yep.
J: 5 and a half minutes
*
John didn’t get any more messages from Rodney and wasn’t surprised that he came sauntering into the Jumper 3 minutes after everyone else had gotten there.
The back of the jumper was filled with extra personnel that were coming along and Lorne was in the other jumper with some more people.
~~~~
The empty trays of food were being cleared and the locals were beginning to move most of the tables out of the way to make the dancing area a bit bigger, Ronon and John and a few others helped as much as they could then excused themselves to join the rest of the team.
As they milled about at the edge of the crowd John was approached by 2 women and asked if he would like to join them for a dance. He nodded politely and escorted them to the dancing area that was surrounded by lights and benches. There were already many people scattered around the area dancing, talking, laughing and most importantly, drinking. The people were merry and the music, although not Rodney’s style, was creating a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere.
Rodney is standing with Ronon and Teyla on the edge of the dancing grounds about 5 metres away, he was watching the way John appeared to be teaching the small crowd around him some sort of line dancing, it went well with the music playing he supposed. 'You can take the boy outta the country (galaxy even) but can’t take the country outta the boy" he chuckled to himself. The song ended and as John turned to a single person to learn the local dance, he tuned in to the conversation of his team mates next to him.
"John seems to be enjoying himself, I wonder what the dance is called he was just showing them all, they seemed to be enjoying it. I would love to give it a try sometime” Teyla turned slightly to Ronon and was smiling
“Oh, of course! Here we are on another planet where the people find Sheppard charming and flock to him while we're all left on the sidelines to watch! I have more important things I could be doing! I could be examining all the ruins around here or actually running my simulations back in Atlantis! The food was nice and the alcohol is acceptable, but now I’m bored"
"You could go dance." Ronon grumbled from his position beside Rodney
Rodney threw him an eye roll and a look that said 'oh and who would I dance with?'
Ronon returned the glare and then softened his face “you could just ask someone" as Ronon retorted, he was approached by an older woman who requested a dance, Ronon took her offered hand and happily followed her to the dancing area. He enjoyed dancing and was keen to enjoy his night of new people that were old trade partners of the Satedans.
Ronon often surprised Rodney with how open he was about the things he enjoyed. Rodney wasn’t the kind to hide who he was but he also wasn’t always open about what or who he liked. He may not have been US military, but he worked around them enough to know that their backwards ways were ingrained into the many people he needed to protect him and getting on the wrong side of the wrong person, could be detrimental to his genius and many people would die.
Rodney sighed loudly at his internal argument as his eyes found John again; he was dancing with a new partner now, his fourth of the night so far. except this one was a man, he was dancing just as close to John as all of the previous partners had been and John didn’t seem at all as uncomfortable as Rodney thought he might be in this situation.
Teyla put her hand on Rodney’s shoulder, drawing his attention back to her.
"I agree with Ronon, you could ask someone to dance. It would help to relieve boredom I believe. I am going to ask the Chief if I may dance with her daughter, there are many couples dancing quite closely with members of their own gender and from previous trade with the Araviian I believe that this is a social norm here. I understand it is not always accepted where you are from, but I do believe that here it is a 'love who you love' type of acceptance. They are very open to all types of love.
I believe asking the chief daughter for a dance will show we are strong and willing to put in further time to get to know them" She looks toward the dancing area and notices John has stepped to the side for a break. She looks back at Rodney with a serious expression for a second and then schools her expression into one of fondness. She squeezes Rodney’s shoulder and turns to walk towards where the chief is sitting.
Rodney watches her walk up to the Chief and greet both her and her daughter with the Araviian greeting followed by the Athosian greeting. She is smiling and making conversation with them so easily and is soon being led by the chiefs’ daughter to the dancing area.
Rodney is too busy watching the way Teyla moves around the people with ease and is stopped every now and then by people wanting to dance with her or their future leader. He doesn’t notice John has approached him from the side until he hears a twig break and he is suddenly on alert. He turns suddenly to his left and already has his hand reaching towards his holster when he realised his holster wasn’t there and it was just John and he relaxes.
"Whoa Rodney, I appreciate your reflexes are getting better, but relax. Where here as guests and everyone is enjoying themselves." he stops just next to Rodney and turns towards the dancing area to watch the crowd.
"Didn’t feel like dancing McKay?"
"Not really, I haven’t had enough alcohol for that. You know country music isn’t really my thing and it’s not like anyone’s approached me anyway"
John turned his head just enough to see Rodney’s mouth was slanting downwards at the corner.
"Maybe because you’re standing well out of the way and in the dark giving off very 'I’m not enjoying this and don’t dance' vibes. Very off-putting to anyone that doesn’t know you McKay”
"Yes well, sorry to disappoint you Shep but we don’t all look like you and have everyone swooning!"
Rodney was glaring at the crowd now, he spotted the man that had danced with John earlier and glared a bit harder, maybe he suddenly developed laser vision in the last 3 seconds and would be able to burn him a little bit.
John was looking fully at Rodney now and saw the look he had on his face and his walls go up. John would have to navigate the rest of this conversation with Rodney carefully if he wanted to get his way. The amount of alcohol John had consumed would be a good cover for faking his level of inebriation and even though he didn’t feel particularly drunk, he could tell it was helping to make him a bit more bold than usual.
John had approached Rodney, but it was going to take some tactical words and body language to make the genius understand his intentions.
"You know Rodney, they may be a bit behind even Earth in the way their technology works, but I’m sure you could rig up some sort of plug that would allow us to connect to the various speakers around the area. We could play them some of the music from your laptop." He smiled enthusiastically and hoped Rodney would pick up on the use of his first name he only used when it was just the two of them hanging out.
John had developed subtle ways of letting Rodney close to him, ways that would seem normal to an outsider but to a genius, would show he was opening up and letting the other man know he cared.
Rodney mulled over Johns words, his mind already working on a way to connect his laptop up. He would need to see if there was even anywhere for a connector to be plugged in and if such a cable existed, how he would connect it to the laptops output cable. His eyes widened and he started snapping his fingers close to John’s face, before pointing at him and smiling.
"I’ll need to have a look at the system, but I’m sure I’ll be able to work it out" Rodney was already heading towards the Araviian sound system.
John followed and once he was close enough could hear Rodney talking to the person that appeared to be the bands tech person. She was smiling and happy to share a spare cable.
John stayed where he was and kept an eye on Rodney, he knew it wouldn’t take long before Rodney would be heading back to the jumper to make a cable and grab his laptop.
He followed Rodney to the Jumper as he passed and watched him set out all the spare cables they had that could be spared. 5 minutes later a cable was plugged into his laptop and he smiled up at John.
"Okay I think it’s ready to test, it’s not the best but it should allow a decent sound output."
He opened up the music player and the music files and started creating a playlist of various genres, Johns contributions were all country music and by the time he'd asked Rodney to add a third Johnny Cash song Rodney was starting to catch on.
"Oh! No way! You’re not Gonna make ‘em listen to a whole Johnny Cash album are you? I draw the line at subjecting them to that!"
"It’s Walk the Line Rodney" John winked at him and continued on "you can’t play Cash and not include that one"
"Fine, then I’m adding Icelandic Blues Rock to the mix" Rodney retorted with a small chuckle to himself. He was expecting the look he saw on Johns face and decided to give him a teaser of a song.
John screwed his face up and expected some folk song to start playing. Instead as Rodney pressed play to give him a sample of the music, he was treated to a decent guitar riff and a good beat.
Rodney stopped the song after about 35 seconds and smirked at John. He added 2 more of the bands songs to the playlist while it was playing.
"Think you could dance to that flyboy?" Rodney quipped to shut John up. John half glared back, but his heart wasn’t in it, he recognised the song by the couple of seconds he'd heard and thinks he might enjoy keeping that to himself. He replayed the tune in his head and smirked as he came up with a couple of moves he could adapt to most beats just by speeding up or slowing down the movements.
"Come on Rodney, add a few more different styles and let’s head back". He stood and walked to the end of the Jumper ramp. After a minute Rodney joined him laptop and makeshift cable in hand and they started their short walk back to the side of the area the band was playing in.
"Let’s go, but you approved this choice of songs so if it ends up in a fight or we offend anyone, it’s on you"
"Sure buddy" John smirked.
He didn’t think they would offend anyone and was sure that if they did it wouldn’t be anything that couldn’t be explained back into a calm and amicable state, but he was glad to keep his gun on him all the same. You couldn’t be too prepared on away missions and the locals hadn’t seemed to take any offence to him and Ronon remaining armed.
The band had finished playing live and there was a system not unlike a 80s style tape deck, but with what definitely looked nothing like a tape, playing prerecorded music through the surprisingly good speaker system.
The girl Rodney had gotten the cable off earlier was still there and smiled as they approached.
"Hello. Were you able to use the cable? I have spoken to the chief and we are excited for you to share some of your music with us." She looked genuine with a smile that reached her eyes and only get more excited as Rodney gave her a brief explanation of what he had done and how he had created a playlist of various music to play for them.
"I have. Thank you ahh... "
"Lahn"
"Lahn, Well I’ve created it like this it should be easy for you to use" He explained showing her how to press play, pause and skip on the laptop. Being the genius he was he had created a small program that would run in the background and prevent the user from accessing anything but this music list on the computer until he had put in a special command code.
"If you’d like to stop at any point, you just press the stop button at the end of the song and unplug our cable to plug yours back into the speakers. I won’t be too far away if you have any problems come and get me and I’ll help you out" Rodney gave her quick smile and nodded towards John.
"Right, now that’s sorted I want another drink. I’m parched"
John nodded at Rodney, smiled at the girl who was too focused on the music to notice, and then headed in the direction of the one table with alcohol on it. It had been moved slightly away from the crowd so they were able have the first drink on the sidelines and watch how people reacted to the first Earth song they heard.
Rodney remembered the Chief talking quite a bit about love and the importance of it in their village and recognized that a lot of the songs they had heard whilst there had focused on love of all kinds. Love between family, two people, friends and community. While he found it all a bit too touchy feely and annoying, he knew that they would appreciate Earth songs with a focus on love. He included a few that didn’t centre around it or had a focus of broken love too, but all up, was pleased with the varied selection he'd put together and John had agreed.
Love Will Keep Us Together by Captain & Tennille started playing over the speakers.
John’s eyes found Teyla in the crowd and saw her singing along instantly. One of the scientists she had gotten to know well on Atlantis had shown her the song and she enjoyed the soft sound and sweet lyrics. The chief was nodding along from her chair on the side of the crowd. Various Atlantis couples were dancing and singing to each other and including the locals in the dancing.
Lieutenant Sloan was one of the newer additions to the Atlantis Expedition but had grown up a dancer and had discipline in his blood from that. He happily taught the locals some traditional dance moves that were good for couple’s dances and John could see his influence on some of the dancing happening around him.
John and Rodney moved to one of the bench seats further around the dancing area and sat down with their drinks.
As the song finished everyone looked happy and a few people approached the Lanteans and expressed their joy at learning new music and moves.
Johnny Cash played next. Ring of Fire
John closed his eyes and focused on the song, he wasn’t sure about this one going on the playlist at first, but it was still about love, how much it can hurt to love, but how much it can transform you too. It was one of Johns favourite. He related it back to his own pain in love and how he is better now because of the love he has in Atlantis.
Rodney was looking at John, studying his face. He could see the pain and the joy fighting for dominance. That mix of two opposite emotions and they were so subtle that he doubts anyone else would be able to tell. The slight tug at the corner of John’s lips threatening to break out into a smile but never quite making it. The tightness around his eyes, like tears are threatening to well up and fall if he were to allow that emotion to take the forefront. Rodney couldn’t tear his eyes away, he wanted to see John properly show both of these emotions and he wanted to be the only one to see them. He wanted to help John through the pain and he wanted to laugh with John until they couldn’t breathe and... He wanted John.
"...Fuck" He said quietly to himself and forced himself to look back towards the crowd before John caught him staring.
The song is coming to a close and Rodney knows what’s coming next, he put it on as a little bit of a joke amongst the Lanteans, but also an in-joke between him and John.
Counting Stars - OneRepublic
He focused on the Lanteans in the crowd and waited for the various groans of annoyance. He didn’t get as many as he had hoped for but he definitely thought the alcohol consumption and the good atmosphere had damped the annoyance they would normally express.
John and Rodney had been sitting on the pier one night after a few too many drinks and talking about the stars, John had started counting the stars and Rodney had started singing the song to him. Both of them had erupted into a fit of giggles and sung more of the song than either of them would admit to knowing.
They had realised that too many of the lyrics had related to their time in the Pegasus galaxy and had jokingly adopted it as an anthem.
"No more counting dollars we'll be counting stars. Seems true about Pegasus hey McKay"
"Everything that kills me makes me feel alive. Way too close home with that lyric"
"Lately I’ve been losing sleep, dreaming about the things we could be...hah" John had said that one so quietly and Rodney hadn’t heard it properly over his own laughter. And John was not
forthcoming in repeating it. So Rodney left it and they had another drink and moved on to talking about more random thoughts that came to their inebriated brains.
Rodney finishes his drink and stands up
"Alright Cowboy, almost time for you to have another dance I think" Rodney was looking down at John
"I’m not dancing to this Rodney" There it was again, John using his first name. He had done it a few times tonight but Rodney hadn’t brought it up. He thought if he did, John might stop and he didn’t want that.
"No, I’m sure they are only dancing" He points over his shoulder to the few people "because they are drunk, most people took it as an excuse to get another drink or have a rest. But that song I played in the Jumper is up next and I wanna see you dance to something that isnt country" He gave his smug grin and thought he had won.
Until John drained his drink, sat the mug down on the bench and stood eyeing him. John kept eye contact as he smirked and walked past Rodney and into the crowd that was starting to form again.
Rodney hadn’t planned on dancing at all unless some pretty thing had asked him too and he had a few more drinks in his system. If he was going to make a fool of himself, he certainly wasn’t going to do it this sober. But John still hadn’t looked away.
No Good - Kaleo
The guitar started and John immediately smirked. Rodney was in trouble now.
The rest of the crowd were in couples or small groups jumping around to the beat, a few people dancing in a more couples style letting the beat control the rhythm of their movements.
John had dropped his gaze to the floor and started with a few steps to each side to get into the groove and wait for the beat to drop. With the drop of the first beat into the song he jumps a bit and lands with his legs in a slightly wide stance, knees bent a touch, just enough to allow him to sway his hips a bit too each side. He looks back up at Rodney now and winks as the first words are sung.
'Can’t fight the temptation, when you feel the vibration'
Rodney was so fucked!
He was holding Johns gaze. He should look away, but if he wasn’t looking at his face he'd look at his hips and there was no way he was getting caught doing that. His throat was so dry he wished he hadn’t finished the drink in his hand because he could really use an excuse to look away right now.
John had lost the smirk and his expression could only be described as alluring right now because damn was Rodney hooked, he didn’t notice as Ronon came up behind him, took the glass out of his hand and gave him a firm but gentle shove toward John. Inertia did the rest of the job for him and once he had started moving forward, he didn’t stop until he was right in front of John.
John smiled over Rodney’s shoulder at Ronon and then reached out his hand to grab Rodney’s and pull him that last step to be close enough that Johns solo dance became a couples one.
John grabbed Rodney’s right hand with his left, lifted it over his head and spun Rodney around so his back was now against Johns chest and he could lower their arms and have his wrapped mostly around Rodney’s torso while keeping their hands clasped, he placed his right hand on Rodney’s hip and used slight pressure to encourage Rodney to sway along with him and move his hips.
Rodney’s face had gone red and he was definitely not drunk enough to deal with this.
'Wow I sound like an alcoholic right now, but I really need a drink. No I really need John to do that again' he thought as John pulled Rodney as close as possible and doing what could only be described as grinding against Rodney. He loosened his grip and spun Rodney back around so they were standing face to face with almost no distance between them still. Rodney couldn’t believe this was happening. John was carefree and enjoying himself and enjoying being close to Rodney in such a physical way out in the open. All he wanted to do was lean in the smallest amount and kiss John but what if that made John back off? What if it was too soon? What if John was just teasing Rodney again?
John pulled Rodney close and said into his ear "stop thinking so much Rodney. Enjoy the dance" he brushed his stubbled chin against Rodney's cheek as he pulled his head back. One arm was resting on Rodney’s shoulder and his hand lightly grasping the back of Rodney’s neck. His other hand had returned to Rodney’s hip.
"You know Rodney, I know how to dance properly I don’t just line dance. I know how to lead and get my partner to enjoy themselves even if they don’t know the steps. It’s all about subtle body movements and pressure against different areas to get you to move the way I want.
Rodney still couldn’t speak. John had fried the part of his body responsible for speech and oh boy was he going to pay for that later. Rodney realised his hands were resting on Johns chest. It would be so easy to push John away before this went any further. He could give John the out and then they could act like it was just the song and the earlier teasing making them dance like this. It’s almost over and then they can find different dance partners.
The song came to an end but instead of letting Rodney go, John shifted and put one of his legs between Rodney’s legs and pulled him close again. He started swaying to the next song and singing along to the lyrics.
Rumour Has It - Adele
Rodney could see John subtly searching the crowd, he thought he was looking around to see who might be staring at their unusual closeness but when he spotted his target he smirked an evil look Rodney had never seen before, he followed his eye line and realised John was looking (more like glaring) at Keller, but he had turned back to look Rodney before she could spot them. They had never really spoken about Rodney’s break up with Jennifer but it was obvious now that John had wanted this song on the playlist for selfish reasons.
Rodney’s eyes widened and he stared straight at John
"John"
"Was wondering how long it would take for your genius to catch on" John gave a slight laugh as he responded and let go of Rodney just enough to step back and walk back to the bench they were on before. He sat down and stared up at Rodney.
"You watched me with her for so long John" Rodney looked hurt and slightly angry.
"What was I meant to do Rodney? Tell you 'oh hey don’t be with her because I’m jealous?' I couldn’t do that. You were happy and distancing myself was easier than telling you the truth and losing you completely"
Rodney rolled his eyes "really didn’t think pining from afar was your style"
"I don’t pine!"
Rodney scoffed in response. The crowd behind him cheered at something someone had done and it pulled Rodney back to alertness of their surroundings
"Look John I don’t think this is the place to have this discussion. Let’s enjoy the rest of the night and maybe have another dance or two along the way. With some others too, I know Nutbush is on the playlist somewhere and I know that Australian scientist Kendall… Keating… Keanu?"
"Keith" John corrected
Rodney clicked his finger and pointed at John "Yeah that one! They taught the dance to you and Teyla and anyone else they could so we're definitely all getting up to do that one!" Rodney broke into a laugh and John joined in and nodded in agreement.
"Okay Rodney but just know I do want to continue this conversation. I’m not really a talker but..." he shrugged off the end of the sentence with a put upon sigh.
Rodney gave a slight chuckle again because that response was just so John. He placed his hand on John’s cheek. "We will. I’m gonna go find Teyla and see if she wants a refill and maybe a dance."
"Okay. I’m gonna chill here for a bit" John smiled up at Rodney and placed his hand over Rodney’s on his cheek. He moved it to his lips and gave a light kiss to the palm before letting go. Rodney smiled sweetly and turned to find Teyla.
Rodney detoured to see Lahn and check on his laptop. He had no doubts his program was working fine but there was no harm in making sure.
"Hey Lahn, everything going okay?"
"Oh doctor! This is some very good music. Everyone is really enjoying themselves"
"Yes I’m glad I was a bit nervous about the type of music to include. Well I’m going to go and have a chat to a few people. Oh do these speakers go up any louder? You may want to turn them up a little when this song is about to start. We have a dance that goes to this one and there’s usually lots of laughing and jumping involved"
"Oh thank you for telling me! I will make sure sound is loud and I watch the dance"
Rodney smiled and wandered off again, Teyla was sitting with the chief’s daughter and a few others. Ronon was drinking at the drinks table with a few of the village security and looked like he had found some new drinking/ sparring buddies for future trips back to this world.
"Hey Teyla, I think Nutbush is going to play in a couple of songs. I think the Lanteans should put on a show"
"Oh Rodney that is a great idea! I shall talk to the others and make sure they are all ready!"
"Great! Come on lets round everyone up" Rodney bounced off to find Keith so they would know to be at the front for people to follow in case anyone forgot the moves.
The song before Nutbush was coming to an end so Lahn paused the music like Rodney had showed her and caught Rodney’s eye.
He smiled and fussed about making sure that all the Lanteans were on the dance floor. Teyla had explained to the chief that they would like to perform a dance for the Araviian's that some children on Earth learned during schooling but was enjoyed by adults at many big social gatherings such as weddings, parties and festivals.
Once everyone was there and all of the village locals were scattered around the edges to watch, Rodney gave Lahn a thumbs up and she turned the speaker up and pressed play on the song.
They started off clapping to the beat of the song and encouraged their audience to join in so they felt part of the experience. The dance consisted of various steps that were just repeated throughout the whole song. It really was quite simple but it was fun and sometimes messing up and having a laugh at yourself was the best part of it.
Half way through the song a few of the Lanteans went out to grab some of the locals and let them join in. It was an easy dance to learn and the dancers changed direction often enough that there was always someone in front of you to follow if you got lost.
By the end of the song almost everyone was dancing and a lot of laughter was filling the area. Lahn had joined in next to Rodney and was really enjoying herself so Rodney went and turned the speakers down just as the next song was about to play. Lahn joined him soon after and immediately hugged him. Rodney was surprised but hugged her back. She was a bundle of energy that seemed to really enjoy her technology and he could tell she would probably pick things up in the lab quicker than half of the trained scientists.
They spoke for a while and she told him about how she had come up with the recording player machine that they had been using earlier when the bands had stopped playing live. She was smart in a different way to most of the other Araviian's and often called upon by her peers to help with various problems around the village. Rodney was fond of her and could see her as a protégé if she would like to join them in Atlantis and be willing to learn. Lahn was interested but unsure about leaving her people; she had not travelled far and enjoyed working solo on projects most of the time. Rodney could understand that and said the offer still stood if she changed her mind in the future. He smiled at her and looked back out over the various people still scattered about.
A lot of the Araviian's had started to return to their homes and most of the Lanteans had taken the Jumpers they’d arrived in, and returned home.
Rodney slowly turned down the music and let it play softer while a few people packed up the mugs and trays scattered around. He thanked Lahn for the use of a spare cable and removed it from his laptop and the speaker and gave it to her. promising to bring more music next time and maybe they could figure out way together that they could swap music files so they had them to listen too when they weren’t all in the one place. Lahn liked this idea and thanked Rodney for his help and kindness. She packed up her equipment and headed off home.
Rodney grabbed his laptop and walked over to join his team where they were saying goodbye to the chief’s daughter.
He smiled politely and followed his team back to their Jumper. They were the last Lanteans left and were more than ready to get home and got to bed.
"Uh John, are you sure you’re okay to fly?" Rodney suddenly thought maybe being drunk interfered with the ATA gene and his usual anxiety started to overtake the good mood he was in.
"Relax Rodney the last drink I had was before we danced and that was over an hour ago. And I only had 3 drinks the whole night. I wouldn’t be flying if I thought there was any risk“ he gave
Rodney a sincere smile which calmed him down and then proceeded to fly the short distance to the stargate.
~~
Back in Atlantis the team cleared out the weapons they had kept in the Jumper just in case and reminisced about the evening’s events until they were out of the transporter and had to go their separate ways down the corridor to their rooms.
Teyla gave all of them the traditional Athosian greeting and bid goodnight. Ronon clapped Rodney and John on the shoulder and gave a bit of a happy sounding grunt and a nod "tonight was good" and then left. John and Rodney continued down the corridor further.
When they got to Rodney’s door John could see that he was shifting uncomfortably and his thinking face was proving to John that all sorts of things were going through his head.
"Just spit it out Rodney" John said in a kind, but slightly exasperated way.
"Hmm? Oh I was just thinking about Lahn"
"Oh, Should I be jealous?" John tried to make it come off as sarcastically as possible but Rodney still picked up on the slight truth behind the tone.
"Not like that John! Don’t be moronic. I was thinking about a way to transfer our music to their platform so they can keep some to listen to without my laptop being held hostage"
"Oh, Cool, do you think we could get some of their music too? It was nice"
"Duh. Genius here remember" Rodney said as he pointed at his head and grinned.
"Oh I don’t know about that" John stepped closer and Rodney stepped back until his back was against his door. John braced one hand on the wall beside Rodney’s head and the other on Rodney’s hip as he stepped into Rodney’s space again. Rodney’s breathing became shallow and before he could recover and retort to John about doubting his genius, John leaned his head to the side of Rodney’s, breathed out onto Rodney’s neck and in a low rough voice said
"I think a genius would have kissed me by now"
Rodney squeaked. It was an entirely involuntary sound and he would never admit to anyone that that sound had come from him, but right now he was too focused on John nuzzling his neck and rubbing small circles on his hip with his thumb. And when had John slipped his hand under his t-shirt?
“As much as I’d love to continue this, I have done way too much dancing and after two days of full on missions, I hate to admit it, but I need to sleep.” John steps back just enough to give Rodney a sweet and chaste kiss.
Before Rodney has time to react, John has stepped out of his reach and with a soft “Goodnight Rodney” and is starting down the corridor to his own room.
Rodney desperately wants to follow him and continue kissing, that small taste got to his head more than all of the alcohol he had consumed tonight, but like John his body was tired and he made his way into his room, stripping off on the way to the bed, falling into it and drifting off to sleep with thoughts of John going through his mind.
When he woke late the next morning, Rodney was a bit groggy, that Araviian liquor was a bit stronger that what he usually drank. He looked around and remembered the events that led him to being naked in his bed with clothes strewn everywhere. Although it wasn’t the way he had hoped, he was alone and sweaty and not because he’d had a night of amazing sex with his best friend. Rodney scrunched up his face a bit at that thought. Was it weird to be thinking of John like that when he had so openly expressed interest? He decided getting up and having a shower would help to clear his head and maybe he could solve his other problem while he was in there. He may not know how to think of John now but he did know that his body’s reaction was very obvious in the way it wanted John.
Coffee. He needed Coffee! But Shower first, and then sorting out the hard stuff. He would rather be working on his problems in the lab. At least he knew how to solve those.
He set his coffee machine so he would have a pot of coffee waiting for him and went to the bathroom.
Stepping into the shower Rodney thought back to the night before. John looking so care free, and then seductive when he was dancing. He was dancing for Rodney’s attention and he got it, when he was tucked into John and had so much of that body pressed up against him.
Rodney had been soaping himself up and his body had become increasingly more responsive with every caress accompanied by a memory of Johns hand or leg or face in that spot. The feel of John nuzzling into his neck, Johns hands on his upper arms and sliding down over his pecs and torso, finally coming to rest on his hips as he pulled Rodney’s hips closer and onto his thigh.
Rodney was too old to come in his pants, but it had been too long and he did think if that song had gone on any longer last night, then he may have.
His hands had slid to cock now and he was letting his mind wander to what may have happened if they weren’t so tired last night.
______
“You’re right John. A genius would have kissed you by now but the way you were dancing with me earlier has short circuited my brain. I’m losing IQ points every time I’m around you and its worse when your thigh is...ugh…doing that” John lifted his heel so his thigh slid and pressed more against Rodney’s growing member.
John stopped his kissing Rodney’s neck and fixed him with a smug look “okay ill stop”.
“Don’t you dare!”
Rodney got his hand from his side to the back of Johns head with lightning speed and brought their lips together in a bruising kiss. All of the pent up passion from the night was put into the kiss, like if he didn’t show John how much he wanted this then he would stop.
Suddenly they were in the room and hungrily undressing each other. John looked delicious and Rodney wanted to explore every inch of his best friend and know him like no one had ever know him before. But there was plenty of time for that later. Right now they were both so wound up that they just needed to get off.
Rodney slowly walked backwards towards the bed, it was hard with another person attached to him but slight awkwardness was better than letting go. When the back of his legs hit the side of the bed, he pulled John down on top of him. John lay between Rodney’s legs and used his arms to hold the most of his upper body weight, whilst also using it as leverage to be able to roll his hips against Rodney. The mix of John’s lips on his, swallowing his moans and the sudden skin to skin pressure in such a sensitive area was too much and Rodney was breathing harder, gripping John’s hips hard and shuddering with the force of his own orgasm.
___
Rodney came back to reality. The shower wall cold against his back as he leant back on it trying to catch his breath. He finished his shower, and dried himself in a blissful post orgasm haze.
When he came out of his bathroom, he headed straight for the kitchenette to grab his coffee he could get 4 cups of coffee per pot. But there in the pot, was only half the amount of coffee that should have been there. He looked around and saw a steaming full mug sitting on the small 2 person dining table, next to an empty cup. Rodney made his way over and saw that the other cup had indeed had coffee in it and was still hot to touch.
Someone had been in his room drinking HIS coffee while he had been in the shower.
“OH SHIT” Rodney realised that whoever had been in his room would have heard him in the shower. But only one person would be able to break into his room unannounced and that was
John… Oh gods John had heard him wanking in the shower. He was pretty sure he had moaned Johns name at some point.
Why would John leave though? Did he realise that last night isn't what he wanted and he was just caught up in the atmosphere of the festival when he had told Rodney he wanted him.
He panicked and went over complicated problems in his head while getting dressed and heading out to meet the team for breakfast.
When he got to the mess, Ronon and Teyla were already sitting at their usual table with breakfast in front of them. John wasn’t anywhere in sight and he began to feel a bit uneasy again. He gave a little wave as he passed the table and went to get himself a decent serve of food. He was starving and needed to replenish his energy.
“Good Morning Rodney” Teyla smiled at him as he took the seat next to her and diagonally opposite Ronon. He smiled at her in return, nodded to Ronon and started shoveling food in. as soon as John walked in he briefly looked up and coughed as he saw the smirk directed at him for the briefest of flashes.
“Are you okay Rodney?” Teyla asked with mild concern
*cough* “Yeah just breathed in as I went to swallow” *cough*
John had only grabbed a cup of coffee and was sliding in next to Ronon and opposite Rodney. He fiddled with the cup and glanced over the rim at Rodney every time he took a sip, all the while maintaining his usual laid back demeanour and making casual conversation with the team. They had a meeting with Woolsey soon and then had the rest of the next 2 days down time.
Teyla had planned to go back to the mainland with Kanaan and Torren to spend some much needed quality time with her people and was trying to ensure Torren grew up knowing both the Lanteans and his own ancestors.
Ronon had planned on joining her on the Jumper over. He had made quicker friends with the Athosians than the Lanteans and had spent lots of time helping build things on the Mainland.
Throughout the meeting Rodney only focused when it was his turn to talk, he got swept up in his long winded ‘I’m a genius and you aren’t’ explanations of the current simulations that were happening in the lab, and even managed to respond normally to Johns sarcastic interruptions.
Woolsey dismissed them but asked the CSO and Military commander to stay back. With a pointed glare to John and Rodney
“Right go enjoy downtime. I know Teyla and Ronon are going to the Mainland, but if I found out that either of you are working and it’s not an emergency, then I will get Carson to administer a sedative and force you to rest”
Rodney rolled his eyes at Woolsey trying to be forceful. He lacked a bit of the sternness behind his voice that Elizabeth or Sam had, but the Lanteans still respected him for the position he had.
John gave Woolsey a half smile and nodded.
“Come on McKay, I think it’s about coffee time anyway”
John turned and walked out of the conference leaving Rodney stammering and watching him. It only took a few seconds for Rodney to recover and catch up to him.
Rodney followed him into the transporter and back out into the corridor of their living quarters. They walked to Rodney’s room in silence and once the door closed behind then, John leant his hip against the bench in the kitchenette and just smirked at Rodney.
Rodney was used to John being in his living space and helping himself to the drinks, taking up half of the couch and making himself at home, but this he wasn’t used to. He knew John had been flirting with him all morning but didn’t know if it was just to embarrass him as pay back for the embarrassing things he’d heard this morning.
“So did you enjoy your coffee this morning?”
Rodney lip slanted downwards and before he could think any more he started rambling on at his normal speed that most of the time only Radek could follow. But after this many years around him, John was getting used to it.
“Look John I’m sorry about what you might have heard this morning, I won’t do it again and if you can just pretend you didn’t hear it then we can go back to normal after an acceptable period of being awkward around each other, and then there’s no strain on the team. Oh unless you want me off the team now. I save everyone’s life more often than I’d like us to be in danger so I guess I’m more use here than off world anyway but I have also helped off wor...”
“Woah Rodney what are you talking about?”
“Um. This morning, I thought you heard me in the shower and left because of it”
John pushed off the bench and took a careful step towards Rodney. He was smiling but his eyes had some worry to them.
“I didn’t leave because of what I heard”
“You didn’t?”
“Well, I mean I kind of did.”
Rodney’s hurt at the response was short lived as John stepped forward into Rodney’s space and ran his hands from Rodney’s upper arms down to his hands; he grasped them and brought them around his waist. He slid his hands back up Rodney’s arms and draped them around his neck. Their faces now inches apart. Rodney’s breathing has gone shallow and he almost can’t stand being this close
“I had to go but only because I was seconds away from coming in there to watch the show. If I’d done that we wouldn’t have made that meeting.”
He raised his hand to rest on Rodney’s cheek, it was gentle and sweet, unlike the look in Johns eyes and the hips pushing against him which were demanding and turning Rodney on very quickly.
“Rodney once I have you, I’m not going to be able to pull myself away for a while”
Rodney’s brain finally catches up and it’s like he’s suddenly realised this is real, John wants him and OH! he basically publicly claimed Rodney last night.
Rodney is pulling John in at his hips and tilting his head slightly to the side to capture his lips in a hungry kiss.
Rodney thinks to himself
‘This is so much better than my imagination’