Fic: Comfort by lavvyan (Spoilers for Kindred pt. 2)
A short episode tag of the John/Rodney variety I wrote for zinfic. Contains very minor spoilers for the Kindred episodes, as well as for everything that came before.
~~~
Rodney has seen John hug. What's more, he's heard the woman scientists in his lab talk about it: the way John had frozen when Elizabeth had hugged him in the gateroom, the way his hands had hovered in the air when Teyla had done it in the corridor in front of his quarters. You could arm the man to his teeth, and yet Colonel Sheppard would never be more helpless than when someone tried to give him comfort, or draw comfort from him.
It's the reason Rodney hadn't hugged him when John's father had died. It had been hard enough to train himself to a more physical kind of friendship than he had been used to; to accept John's slaps on the shoulder and Ronon's bone-crushing displays of affection and Teyla's forehead resting against his own. He doesn't want to reach out to John and have his touch be unwelcome.
But this, now... John so full of grief and anger and guilt... Rodney cannot help himself. Perhaps it's the way Jeannie's been training him, but he does associate hugs with comfort now; with closeness, friendship. He wants John to have that, to wipe that terrible expression off his face. Things are bad enough right now. He needs John to not be this brittle, brooding figure.
So he hugs him.
For a moment, John is every bit as stiff and unyielding as Rodney had feared he would be, and wow, this is going to be awkward. No sooner than Rodney thinks this, though, John... relaxes. Lets out a sigh and melts against Rodney, arms coming up around Rodney's back, nose mashed against Rodney's neck as he breathes in deeply. Rodney mirrors the pose, John warm and real and startingly familiar against him, reassuringly there. It feels... surprisingly good, actually, and Rodney can feel some of the tension that has built up in the last few days bleed away.
He doesn't know how long they are standing there, holding on to each other and giving just as much as they're taking.
It's long enough.
~~~
Rodney has seen John hug. What's more, he's heard the woman scientists in his lab talk about it: the way John had frozen when Elizabeth had hugged him in the gateroom, the way his hands had hovered in the air when Teyla had done it in the corridor in front of his quarters. You could arm the man to his teeth, and yet Colonel Sheppard would never be more helpless than when someone tried to give him comfort, or draw comfort from him.
It's the reason Rodney hadn't hugged him when John's father had died. It had been hard enough to train himself to a more physical kind of friendship than he had been used to; to accept John's slaps on the shoulder and Ronon's bone-crushing displays of affection and Teyla's forehead resting against his own. He doesn't want to reach out to John and have his touch be unwelcome.
But this, now... John so full of grief and anger and guilt... Rodney cannot help himself. Perhaps it's the way Jeannie's been training him, but he does associate hugs with comfort now; with closeness, friendship. He wants John to have that, to wipe that terrible expression off his face. Things are bad enough right now. He needs John to not be this brittle, brooding figure.
So he hugs him.
For a moment, John is every bit as stiff and unyielding as Rodney had feared he would be, and wow, this is going to be awkward. No sooner than Rodney thinks this, though, John... relaxes. Lets out a sigh and melts against Rodney, arms coming up around Rodney's back, nose mashed against Rodney's neck as he breathes in deeply. Rodney mirrors the pose, John warm and real and startingly familiar against him, reassuringly there. It feels... surprisingly good, actually, and Rodney can feel some of the tension that has built up in the last few days bleed away.
He doesn't know how long they are standing there, holding on to each other and giving just as much as they're taking.
It's long enough.