Breakage by Zinnith (PG)
This is for anyanka_eg and tonicollins who wanted cute, befuddled John. 916 words, unbeta'd.
Breakage
If there's one thing Rodney's learned after almost four years in the Pegasus galaxy, one thing he's come to rely on, it is that John Sheppard will always, always keep his cool. Nothing ever rattles him, not even Wraith queen interrogations or torture or imminent doom, he just faces it all with a shrug and a smirk and acts like it's just another day at the office.
It's actually a bit of a comfort. Rodney has been known to panic on occasion (and it's not a sign of weakness, just a perfectly healthy and normal reaction to the stress of living in constant mortal peril) and it's good to know that no matter what happens, John will keep a level head.
In Rodney's fantasies, it's always John in control and taking charge, gripping him tight and kissing him breathless. He spends a lot of time imagining it, usually up to the point where he either has to take a quick, cold shower or a long, hot one, depending on how much he has to do in the lab that day.
But when it finally happens, it's nothing like Rodney expected. It's not a special occasion, no big romantic event (not that Rodney ever pictured music and candlelight and things like that, definitely not), just an evening like any other. They get together in John's room after dinner to watch a movie and share the last of the beer smuggled in from the latest Daedalus run. They're sprawled out on John's bed with the laptop resting on Rodney's thigh and it's been a good day. No one's actively tried to kill them and there were brownies for dessert.
Rodney isn't entirely sure why he picks this particular evening to make his move. He's been harbouring this stupid crush for the past four years, ever since John sat down in the command chair at the Antarctic outpost and set his world alight with possibilities. If John had been someone else, someone less important, Rodney would have been flirting outrageously (and probably embarrassingly badly) with him from day one. He did try once or twice, but John just never seemed to catch on, and Rodney figured that since his relationships always crashes and burns anyway, he'd rather have John as a friend.
But then the hero on the screen drawls out a bad one-liner, and John laughs that dorky laugh of his and Rodney just can't help himself. He leans over, breath caught in his chest, and brushes his lips over John's. It's just a soft whisper of a kiss, an experiment of sorts, and everything stills, like a perfect moment frozen in time, before Rodney realises that John hasn't moved back and he hasn't punched Rodney in the face and maybe, maybe...
He sets the laptop aside and leans in again, licking along the seam of John's lips until they part and let him in. And John, John just melts, goes completely limp and liquid beneath him while emitting a little noise suspiciously close to a whimper.
Rodney pulls back a little bit and finds a deeply worrying look on John's face. It's an expression he's seen on very few occasions, none of them good. This is how John looks when he's drugged out of his mind, or too drunk to walk. Those usually sharp eyes of his are hazy and a little unfocused and his mouth has lost its perpetual smirk and gone soft and slack. His lower lip is swollen and wet, and as Rodney watches, John runs the tip of his tongue over it, a stunned look of confusion on his face. This isn't normal and Rodney's beginning to wonder if John might be running a fever, or if he hit his head sparring with Teyla earlier, or if he's allergic to Rodney's saliva or something. God, he hopes it's not the last option.
It takes several moments for John to notice that Rodney's watching him, and then his only reaction is a slow, slurred, "Wha'?"
"Are you feeling all right?" Rodney asks, reaching out to feel John's forehead and take his pulse. His skin is warm and his heart is beating a little fast. Maybe he is getting sick? Maybe it's some kind of terribly contagious space flu and now Rodney's got it too?
"Mmmm?" is John's response, followed by a languid, drawn out, "Yeeaah."
And that's when Rodney realises what's different. When John is drugged or drunk or sick, there's always a sense of discomfort to him, a tense little wrinkle between his eyebrows. There's nothing like that in his expression right now, just pure pleasure, open and relaxed, like the mask John usually puts up between himself and the rest of the world suddenly fell away.
"Oh god, I broke you, didn't I?" Rodney exclaims. He can't help but feel a certain amount of pride that he's the one who got to do this to John, put this look on his face. "I can't believe this, you never break, and I broke you with a kiss."
"What?" John mutters, frowning slightly before it gives way to a dazed smile. "Maybe a little. Do it again."
And there's really only one sane answer to that, so Rodney pushes John back onto the bed and plunges his tongue back into his mouth while he distantly thinks that this way is even better than his fantasies.
- fin -
Breakage
If there's one thing Rodney's learned after almost four years in the Pegasus galaxy, one thing he's come to rely on, it is that John Sheppard will always, always keep his cool. Nothing ever rattles him, not even Wraith queen interrogations or torture or imminent doom, he just faces it all with a shrug and a smirk and acts like it's just another day at the office.
It's actually a bit of a comfort. Rodney has been known to panic on occasion (and it's not a sign of weakness, just a perfectly healthy and normal reaction to the stress of living in constant mortal peril) and it's good to know that no matter what happens, John will keep a level head.
In Rodney's fantasies, it's always John in control and taking charge, gripping him tight and kissing him breathless. He spends a lot of time imagining it, usually up to the point where he either has to take a quick, cold shower or a long, hot one, depending on how much he has to do in the lab that day.
But when it finally happens, it's nothing like Rodney expected. It's not a special occasion, no big romantic event (not that Rodney ever pictured music and candlelight and things like that, definitely not), just an evening like any other. They get together in John's room after dinner to watch a movie and share the last of the beer smuggled in from the latest Daedalus run. They're sprawled out on John's bed with the laptop resting on Rodney's thigh and it's been a good day. No one's actively tried to kill them and there were brownies for dessert.
Rodney isn't entirely sure why he picks this particular evening to make his move. He's been harbouring this stupid crush for the past four years, ever since John sat down in the command chair at the Antarctic outpost and set his world alight with possibilities. If John had been someone else, someone less important, Rodney would have been flirting outrageously (and probably embarrassingly badly) with him from day one. He did try once or twice, but John just never seemed to catch on, and Rodney figured that since his relationships always crashes and burns anyway, he'd rather have John as a friend.
But then the hero on the screen drawls out a bad one-liner, and John laughs that dorky laugh of his and Rodney just can't help himself. He leans over, breath caught in his chest, and brushes his lips over John's. It's just a soft whisper of a kiss, an experiment of sorts, and everything stills, like a perfect moment frozen in time, before Rodney realises that John hasn't moved back and he hasn't punched Rodney in the face and maybe, maybe...
He sets the laptop aside and leans in again, licking along the seam of John's lips until they part and let him in. And John, John just melts, goes completely limp and liquid beneath him while emitting a little noise suspiciously close to a whimper.
Rodney pulls back a little bit and finds a deeply worrying look on John's face. It's an expression he's seen on very few occasions, none of them good. This is how John looks when he's drugged out of his mind, or too drunk to walk. Those usually sharp eyes of his are hazy and a little unfocused and his mouth has lost its perpetual smirk and gone soft and slack. His lower lip is swollen and wet, and as Rodney watches, John runs the tip of his tongue over it, a stunned look of confusion on his face. This isn't normal and Rodney's beginning to wonder if John might be running a fever, or if he hit his head sparring with Teyla earlier, or if he's allergic to Rodney's saliva or something. God, he hopes it's not the last option.
It takes several moments for John to notice that Rodney's watching him, and then his only reaction is a slow, slurred, "Wha'?"
"Are you feeling all right?" Rodney asks, reaching out to feel John's forehead and take his pulse. His skin is warm and his heart is beating a little fast. Maybe he is getting sick? Maybe it's some kind of terribly contagious space flu and now Rodney's got it too?
"Mmmm?" is John's response, followed by a languid, drawn out, "Yeeaah."
And that's when Rodney realises what's different. When John is drugged or drunk or sick, there's always a sense of discomfort to him, a tense little wrinkle between his eyebrows. There's nothing like that in his expression right now, just pure pleasure, open and relaxed, like the mask John usually puts up between himself and the rest of the world suddenly fell away.
"Oh god, I broke you, didn't I?" Rodney exclaims. He can't help but feel a certain amount of pride that he's the one who got to do this to John, put this look on his face. "I can't believe this, you never break, and I broke you with a kiss."
"What?" John mutters, frowning slightly before it gives way to a dazed smile. "Maybe a little. Do it again."
And there's really only one sane answer to that, so Rodney pushes John back onto the bed and plunges his tongue back into his mouth while he distantly thinks that this way is even better than his fantasies.
- fin -