[Stargate: Drabble] "Fixing Things" [John/Rodney, G]
Title: Fixing Things
Author: Ami Ven
Prompt: writerverse phase 21, challenge 37 prose format
Word Count: 793
Rating: G
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing(s): John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Setting: part of my Lantea Fire Station AU verse
Summary: “There is absolutely no way you are going up in that.”
Fixing Things
“There is absolutely no way you are going up in that,” said Rodney, and John felt his heart plummet.
John wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting when he’d asked Rodney to come with him to Lantea’s tiny airstrip, when he’d opened the door of the storage shed to show Rodney his plane, but it wasn’t that he’d hear Rodney say the same words, in the same tone, that Nancy had used when he’d first shown it to her - the plane had been gleaming and new, then, like their marriage and he should have seen her response for the warning sign it was.
He’d left the Air Force to try and save his marriage, but he hadn’t wanted to give up flying altogether. John had done his research - the Cessna Skyhawk was the safest civilian model in current manufacture, but Nancy had been insistent. The disappointed look he’d gotten from her after the first time he’d taken the plane up had been bad enough. After the second, she’d gone to her mother’s for a week. After the third, he put the plane in storage, but it hadn’t been enough. John hadn’t even been surprised when Nancy handed him the divorce papers only a few months later.
John took a long shaky breath, totally unprepared to answer Rodney but knowing he had to - when he realized the scientist was still talking.
“Is there an owner’s manual? No, never mind, I’ll find it online. But there are a few things I can see already. I mean, the wheels are completely flat, for a start. And that is definitely rust, Sheppard, don’t you try to tell me otherwise. Actually, I don’t like the look of this entire support strut, regardless of the rust. I think I have some titanium piping leftover, maybe that could-”
“You want to fix it?” John interrupted, his voice hoarse.
Rodney blinked. “Isn’t that why you brought me out here? Because I know you know that one of my PhDs is in mechanical engineering.” He paused, fidgeting with the hem of his lurid Hawaiian shirt. “I mean, I’d understand if you’d rather have an aeronautical engineer look at it, but…”
“You want to fix it,” John repeated, slowly. “So I can fly it.”
“That is generally the idea of planes.” Rodney squinted at him. “Are you okay?”
“I’m great!” laughed John. “I’m… I love you so, so much.”
He pulled Rodney into a deep kiss, and the scientist melted against him for a moment before pushing him gently away.
“Seriously, Sheppard, are you okay? Maybe I shouldn’t let you go up in that thing again until you’ve been to see Carson…”
John frowned. “Again?”
“You own a plane and you’re not flying it?” said Rodney. “That’s it, you are going to Carson-”
“I have been flying,” John interrupted. “Just not this plane. The guys in the amphibious rescue unit let me use their sea-plane to keep up my qualifications, and they keep me on the books as a backup pilot to boost their safety record.”
“But you own a plane,” Rodney said, in an odd tone of voice. “And you don’t fly it.”
It took John a moment to realize that he’d said it the same way he’d repeat it if someone said the earth is flat or coffee is not a food group, or something else he knew was laughably untrue.
“Rodney,” he began. “I… my ex-wife, she thought it was too dangerous. I won’t say that was what broke up our marriage, but it definitely didn’t help. And I couldn’t…” He touched the nose of the plane, gently. “I didn’t want to fly her again until I could do it right.”
“Okay, one,” said Rodney. “Air travel is actually much safer than any other method, statistically speaking. And, two, you run into burning buildings. Flying a plane is definitely safer than your day job.”
“I didn’t become a firefighter until after the divorce,” said John.
Rodney blinked at him. “I am so glad your ex-wife was an idiot.”
“What? Why?”
“Because otherwise, she’d have been smart enough to keep you and we wouldn’t have met.”
“Yeah,” John agreed, smiling. “I guess that’s true.”
Rodney smiled back for a moment, then frowned. “Did you want me to actually fix your plane? I couldn’t quite tell if-”
John cut him off with a quick kiss. “I would love for you to fix my plane.”
“Good. That’ll save some time, because I’d have to give it a going-over anyway, before I let you take me up with you and-”
He was cut off with another kiss, more forceful this time.
“What?” Rodney demanded.
“I love you so much,” John said, and when he kissed Rodney again, the scientist didn’t argue.
THE END
Current Mood:
working
Author: Ami Ven
Prompt: writerverse phase 21, challenge 37 prose format
Word Count: 793
Rating: G
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing(s): John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Setting: part of my Lantea Fire Station AU verse
Summary: “There is absolutely no way you are going up in that.”
Fixing Things
“There is absolutely no way you are going up in that,” said Rodney, and John felt his heart plummet.
John wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting when he’d asked Rodney to come with him to Lantea’s tiny airstrip, when he’d opened the door of the storage shed to show Rodney his plane, but it wasn’t that he’d hear Rodney say the same words, in the same tone, that Nancy had used when he’d first shown it to her - the plane had been gleaming and new, then, like their marriage and he should have seen her response for the warning sign it was.
He’d left the Air Force to try and save his marriage, but he hadn’t wanted to give up flying altogether. John had done his research - the Cessna Skyhawk was the safest civilian model in current manufacture, but Nancy had been insistent. The disappointed look he’d gotten from her after the first time he’d taken the plane up had been bad enough. After the second, she’d gone to her mother’s for a week. After the third, he put the plane in storage, but it hadn’t been enough. John hadn’t even been surprised when Nancy handed him the divorce papers only a few months later.
John took a long shaky breath, totally unprepared to answer Rodney but knowing he had to - when he realized the scientist was still talking.
“Is there an owner’s manual? No, never mind, I’ll find it online. But there are a few things I can see already. I mean, the wheels are completely flat, for a start. And that is definitely rust, Sheppard, don’t you try to tell me otherwise. Actually, I don’t like the look of this entire support strut, regardless of the rust. I think I have some titanium piping leftover, maybe that could-”
“You want to fix it?” John interrupted, his voice hoarse.
Rodney blinked. “Isn’t that why you brought me out here? Because I know you know that one of my PhDs is in mechanical engineering.” He paused, fidgeting with the hem of his lurid Hawaiian shirt. “I mean, I’d understand if you’d rather have an aeronautical engineer look at it, but…”
“You want to fix it,” John repeated, slowly. “So I can fly it.”
“That is generally the idea of planes.” Rodney squinted at him. “Are you okay?”
“I’m great!” laughed John. “I’m… I love you so, so much.”
He pulled Rodney into a deep kiss, and the scientist melted against him for a moment before pushing him gently away.
“Seriously, Sheppard, are you okay? Maybe I shouldn’t let you go up in that thing again until you’ve been to see Carson…”
John frowned. “Again?”
“You own a plane and you’re not flying it?” said Rodney. “That’s it, you are going to Carson-”
“I have been flying,” John interrupted. “Just not this plane. The guys in the amphibious rescue unit let me use their sea-plane to keep up my qualifications, and they keep me on the books as a backup pilot to boost their safety record.”
“But you own a plane,” Rodney said, in an odd tone of voice. “And you don’t fly it.”
It took John a moment to realize that he’d said it the same way he’d repeat it if someone said the earth is flat or coffee is not a food group, or something else he knew was laughably untrue.
“Rodney,” he began. “I… my ex-wife, she thought it was too dangerous. I won’t say that was what broke up our marriage, but it definitely didn’t help. And I couldn’t…” He touched the nose of the plane, gently. “I didn’t want to fly her again until I could do it right.”
“Okay, one,” said Rodney. “Air travel is actually much safer than any other method, statistically speaking. And, two, you run into burning buildings. Flying a plane is definitely safer than your day job.”
“I didn’t become a firefighter until after the divorce,” said John.
Rodney blinked at him. “I am so glad your ex-wife was an idiot.”
“What? Why?”
“Because otherwise, she’d have been smart enough to keep you and we wouldn’t have met.”
“Yeah,” John agreed, smiling. “I guess that’s true.”
Rodney smiled back for a moment, then frowned. “Did you want me to actually fix your plane? I couldn’t quite tell if-”
John cut him off with a quick kiss. “I would love for you to fix my plane.”
“Good. That’ll save some time, because I’d have to give it a going-over anyway, before I let you take me up with you and-”
He was cut off with another kiss, more forceful this time.
“What?” Rodney demanded.
“I love you so much,” John said, and when he kissed Rodney again, the scientist didn’t argue.
THE END
Current Mood:
working