Challenge #196 ficlet: The Temporal Quality of Music. G. John/Rodney.
Title: The Temporal Quality of Music
Author: velocitygrass
Pairing: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Rating: G
Warnings/Content notes: ( skip) None of the standard warnings apply
Spoilers: none
Word count: 299
Summary: Rodney rarely takes the time to focus on nothing but music.
Note: Also available at AO3.
The Temporal Quality of Music
Rodney rarely takes the time to just stop everything else and focus on listening.
Music, as opposed to paintings or sculptures, requires the effort of spending that time. He's always loved music. The structure, the mathematical precision, the near infinite possibilities and the rules that govern if a combination of notes becomes a thing of beauty instead of just noise.
Like the universe, the vastness of those possibilities is not truly comprehensible. Space. The laws of physics. Thinking about them in an abstract way evokes the same feeling in Rodney as music. Awe.
And then there's John. Rodney nearly laughs out loud as his brain makes that connection. There certainly is a vastness of possibility. Rodney is glad that he finally realized it. And maybe it's the recentness of his epiphany that makes him compare John to music.
There's something powerful about falling so hard. As if falling in love is like being subject to a force like gravity. As if given the same circumstances the result is inevitable. But it's not like that. For years, Rodney had chosen a different note, a different rule to continue this melody.
There's nothing precise about dealing with humans, including himself, but like music out of the infinite possibilities of sound, sometimes something comes up that's not just noise. Something that's beautiful, almost incomprehensibly so, and awe inspiring.
John's smile, a hesitant touch, a not-at-all hesitant kiss. It takes more than a look to truly experience it. It takes time and effort. It takes stopping everything else for a moment. He'll get right to it after the last note has played.
Rodney rarely takes the time to focus on nothing but music. However, he does take the time to focus on John as often as he can.
Author: velocitygrass
Pairing: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Rating: G
Warnings/Content notes: ( skip) None of the standard warnings apply
Spoilers: none
Word count: 299
Summary: Rodney rarely takes the time to focus on nothing but music.
Note: Also available at AO3.
The Temporal Quality of Music
Rodney rarely takes the time to just stop everything else and focus on listening.
Music, as opposed to paintings or sculptures, requires the effort of spending that time. He's always loved music. The structure, the mathematical precision, the near infinite possibilities and the rules that govern if a combination of notes becomes a thing of beauty instead of just noise.
Like the universe, the vastness of those possibilities is not truly comprehensible. Space. The laws of physics. Thinking about them in an abstract way evokes the same feeling in Rodney as music. Awe.
And then there's John. Rodney nearly laughs out loud as his brain makes that connection. There certainly is a vastness of possibility. Rodney is glad that he finally realized it. And maybe it's the recentness of his epiphany that makes him compare John to music.
There's something powerful about falling so hard. As if falling in love is like being subject to a force like gravity. As if given the same circumstances the result is inevitable. But it's not like that. For years, Rodney had chosen a different note, a different rule to continue this melody.
There's nothing precise about dealing with humans, including himself, but like music out of the infinite possibilities of sound, sometimes something comes up that's not just noise. Something that's beautiful, almost incomprehensibly so, and awe inspiring.
John's smile, a hesitant touch, a not-at-all hesitant kiss. It takes more than a look to truly experience it. It takes time and effort. It takes stopping everything else for a moment. He'll get right to it after the last note has played.
Rodney rarely takes the time to focus on nothing but music. However, he does take the time to focus on John as often as he can.