Ficlet: P is for Precocious (G, Jonas Alphabet Soup fic)
My (belated) contribution to Jonas Alphabet Soup. A mere 377 words, and gen of course.
P is for Precocious
"...Dad was kind of lost for words by that point, you know, so he threw up his hands and stalked - well, limped - away. Mark had come out to see what all the noise was about, and he just looked at me, and shrugged, and said, 'Well, he wanted to teach you to drive'."
The others chuckled, and Sam poked at the fire with the stick in her hand, grinning.
"So you were a speed demon from an early age," said Jonas. It wasn't often that his team - and he was only just beginning to think of them as 'his' - talked about personal history. But tonight they were relaxed, lubricated on alien booze and recent success, and talk around the campfire had gradually drifted to adventures in their younger years.
"Oh, yeah," said Sam. "Always." She glanced sideways at him. "What about you, Jonas? We've heard about Teal'c and his little crush-"
"It was not-"
"And the Colonel's experiments in the judicious application of high explosives," she carried on, ignoring Teal'c's protest. "What did you get up to when you were a kid? What were you like?"
Jonas stared into the fire, a million memories running through his mind. "Precocious," he said, eventually. The Colonel huffed a laugh, and when Jonas gave him an enquiring look, he shrugged.
"Not really a surprise," he said.
"Yes, well. Um, I suppose I was considered geeky - although that doesn't have quite the same connotations on Kelowna. I liked to read, and my family always believed that books were the best gifts. A friend and I used to have reading competitions. When I was fifteen, my parents petitioned for me to have access to the university's library. I'd, um... kind of read everything in the school library by then." He smiled, remembering. "That was a great day. I remember walking in, and seeing all these books - wall to wall, floor to ceiling. They seemed to stretch on forever, more books than I could ever read..."
When he surfaced from the memory, the other three were looking at him with varying degrees of amusement.
"You're weird," said the Colonel, but the words were without malice. Teal'c nodded.
Sam reached up and ruffled Jonas's hair. "Welcome to the club," she said, smiling.
---
END.
P is for Precocious
"...Dad was kind of lost for words by that point, you know, so he threw up his hands and stalked - well, limped - away. Mark had come out to see what all the noise was about, and he just looked at me, and shrugged, and said, 'Well, he wanted to teach you to drive'."
The others chuckled, and Sam poked at the fire with the stick in her hand, grinning.
"So you were a speed demon from an early age," said Jonas. It wasn't often that his team - and he was only just beginning to think of them as 'his' - talked about personal history. But tonight they were relaxed, lubricated on alien booze and recent success, and talk around the campfire had gradually drifted to adventures in their younger years.
"Oh, yeah," said Sam. "Always." She glanced sideways at him. "What about you, Jonas? We've heard about Teal'c and his little crush-"
"It was not-"
"And the Colonel's experiments in the judicious application of high explosives," she carried on, ignoring Teal'c's protest. "What did you get up to when you were a kid? What were you like?"
Jonas stared into the fire, a million memories running through his mind. "Precocious," he said, eventually. The Colonel huffed a laugh, and when Jonas gave him an enquiring look, he shrugged.
"Not really a surprise," he said.
"Yes, well. Um, I suppose I was considered geeky - although that doesn't have quite the same connotations on Kelowna. I liked to read, and my family always believed that books were the best gifts. A friend and I used to have reading competitions. When I was fifteen, my parents petitioned for me to have access to the university's library. I'd, um... kind of read everything in the school library by then." He smiled, remembering. "That was a great day. I remember walking in, and seeing all these books - wall to wall, floor to ceiling. They seemed to stretch on forever, more books than I could ever read..."
When he surfaced from the memory, the other three were looking at him with varying degrees of amusement.
"You're weird," said the Colonel, but the words were without malice. Teal'c nodded.
Sam reached up and ruffled Jonas's hair. "Welcome to the club," she said, smiling.
---
END.