5 Facts About Rodney and How John Found Out About Them by Sara86 (backstory challange)
Title: 5 facts about Rodney and how John found out about them
Author: Sara
Pairing/Character: John/Rodney
Rating: Hard R
Summary: Title says it all, five facts about Rodney.
Word count: 1,643
Spoilers/Warnings: Grace under pressure, and only slightly for any other ep where Rodney's family was mentioned.
Disclaimer: Don’t own, don’t sue.
A/N: 5 things are unbelievably addictive. I don’t know how I feel about this one. I hope I’m not cutting the line too close for the back story challenge (3/5 isn’t too bad is it?). All feedback and con crit loved. Thanks to
kimberlyfdr for the beta.
Number 3 has accompanying art.
5 facts about Rodney and how John found out about them
1) There’s a cross hanging in his room.
John signaled the door. Again. “McKay!” he yelled through the closed door. “We’re gonna be late!”
The door slid open to reveal McKay standing there with one shoe in hand. “Just give me a minute,” he said, walking back in and leaving the door open. John took this as an invite to come in, so he did; cautiously not stepping on anything. He’d never been in here before, the room was a mess, and there were papers mixed in with clothes and equipment.
“Your room’s a mess, McKay,” John said.
“Oh please, you sound like my old girlfriend,” Rodney said from his place under the bed, trying to pull out the missing shoe.
A glint caught John’s eye, and when he took a closer look he saw that it was a cross on a silver chain, hanging off a nail that was hammered into a shelf.
“I didn’t know you were religious, Rodney,” John commented, putting his hand behind the cross and pulling it forward without dislodging it.
Rodney looked up to see what John meant and saw him looking at the cross. “I’m not,” McKay said, getting up with both shoes in hand now. “It was my mom's.”
2) His mom died when he was 14.
John had gotten shot; the idiot. They didn’t have a Puddle Jumper, so Ronon and Teyla had to run back to the gate to get help and Rodney was sitting in a damp cave trying to apply pressure to John's side.
“You are an idiot,” he told John, just so he knew where Rodney stood on this issue.
John gave a huff of laughter from his place on the ground and then winced. “That’s great, McKay,” he said. “I could die and you’re insulting me.”
“You are not going to die,” Rodney said.
“I have an arrow sticking out of my side. Sure, you cut off the long bit but it’s still an arrow, I don’t think you should be making any promises.”
“Fine,” Rodney replied, shifting his weight slightly, “let’s talk about something else.”
There was silence for a few minutes before John said, “Hey, Rodney.”
“Yeah?”
“How come you hardly ever mention your mom?”
“What?”
“Well, it’s always your father this, and your father that. He wouldn’t let you register your dog, he always sided with your sister, but what about your mom?”
“There’s noting much to tell,” Rodney said. “She died when I was 14. They were fighting and she went for a drive to calm down; crashed the car, left my dad to barely cope and me to take care of my sister.” Rodney gave a noncommittal shrug, like it was nothing.
There was a pause. “I’m sorry,” John whispered. “I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay,” Rodney replied. “It’s not like I go around advertising it. Besides, I turned out fine. I’m not the one lying on the ground with an arrow sticking out of my side.”
3) He’s claustrophobic because his dad used to lock him in the closet.
Atlantis had been having trouble with power fluctuations all day, lights cutting out and sections automatically locking down with no provocation. In fact, they were on their way to a locked section when their transporter broke down.
There was that normal bright light, but when it faded there was a shudder and it all went dark.
John thought open at the doors, but nothing happened.
“I don’t mean to worry you or anything,” he said to Rodney, “but the doors aren’t opening.”
“What?” Rodney shook his head. “That can’t be right. The transporters are supposed to be fine.” McKay pressed a few buttons, but the doors remained resolutely shut. He took out his tablet, which he never went anywhere without, and by its light John could see Rodney’s hands shaking, pressing commands and trying to get the door open.
“Rodney?” John asked. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Rodney said, voice going higher, close to panicking, “It’s just that the doors won’t open and this is Atlantis, damn it, this isn’t meant to keep happening!” McKay lowered the tablet and sagged against the wall to sit on the ground, tablet discarded. Rodney's hands locked around his knees as he tried to position himself into as small a shape as possible.
John knelt down beside him. Rodney was shaking all over, breaths coming in fast almost gasps, hyperventilating. When John touched him, Rodney flinched away.
John reached for his radio. “Elizabeth.” He hoped like hell it would go through.
“John? Where are you? I thought you and Rodney were on your way.”
“We were, but our transporter got stuck and Rodney can’t get us out.”
“Zelenka’s on his way, but all the doors are jammed. It may take some time, so you’ll have to sit tight.”
He looked at Rodney curled in the corner. “Just hurry.”
He knelt down beside Rodney again. What did Heightmeyer say? The 3 C’s? Contact, calm, and - he couldn’t remember what the last C was, but contact and calm, he could do that
“Rodney?” he ventured again, reaching out slowly to touch Rodney's forearm. “Rodney, I need you to look at me.”
Blue eyes darted out to look at him in the dark and for a moment it felt like John’s heart stopped. Rodney looked so young. John reached out and gently pried one of the hands free, holding it tight. He shifted and sat down next to Rodney, shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip.
“Just breathe deep, in and out,” he said. John really sucked at this, but he didn’t have any major phobias, except for the occasional bug, so he didn’t know what to do.
Distraction. That was the key.
“When you were in the sinking jumper, what did you think about?” John asked.
He thought he wasn’t going to get an answer, and was thinking of something else to say, when Rodney finally spoke up.
“Wide open spaces,” Rodney said, taking a shuddering breath. “Wide open fields. We used to have one really close by our house.” Rodney was starting to loosen just a little. “It had a playground that I used to take Jeannie to when we were kids, and there was a paddock on one side where she liked to feed the sheep. We’d always get home late, and my dad would blame me, and he’d lock me in the closet. I know, it sounds so cliché, but it was dark and I used to pretend I was still out in the field because I hated the closet. It was so small and... and cramped.” Rodney was starting to shake again, hand tightening.
“Tell me more about the field,” John said, thinking that if he could get his hands on the elder Dr. McKay, he wasn’t going to be accountable for his actions.
“It was always green, except in late January when it snowed, but the best time to go there was November. It was always too cold and all the mothers wouldn’t let their kids out, so it was always empty and we’d have the whole thing to ourselves. It would be cloudy and we’d run around trying to catch each other. It was nice, you know?”
“Yeah,” John said, even though he didn’t really, but he could almost hear their echoing voices.
4) He liked his showers nearly scalding hot.
It had been a successful mission, which was all that mattered. There had been a few conditions, but it was alright, now that he and Rodney are unofficially official. But, there had been body paint. Lots of body paint.
To celebrate the successful mission, John suggested they shower together, and if he had used the low growl that he knew would get Rodney to do anything then he wasn’t really to blame. They had just spent the last half day painting on each other, and Rodney’s skin seemed to be addictive.
So they went to Rodney’s room and jumped in the shower, but when the water got turned on, Rodney straight underneath, John couldn’t bear it. He put a hand under the water and pulled it out quickly.
“Jeez, Rodney, that’s hot.”
Rodney looked down at the paint running down his chest and stomach in rivulets. “You think so?”
“No,” John said, adjusting the water himself. “I meant the water's hot, and I really wanted to wash the paint off you myself.”
5) He has the constellation of Pegasus on his inner thigh.
Sixty-nines were fun, even more so with another man, because you didn’t have to worry about finding anything or keeping the tiny piece of flesh stimulated. They were the best with Rodney McKay, since everything you did got a reward. Rodney was vocal, even during sex. Moaning and humming in appreciation and it was any wonder John still had any brains left after he came.
He figured he should probably get up soon as he was probably crushing Rodney underneath him, but he was just so comfortable.
As his eyes drifted closed and open again, he noticed that Rodney had a few of spots on his inner thigh. Was that even possible? And if you connected them in your head they made a shape.
John finally got enough will-power to roll off and he used his momentum to get up, stumbling to the desk on shaky legs.
“Where you going?” Rodney slurred.
“Pen,” John replied, walking back with pen in hand, and set about joining the dots.
Rodney got up on his elbows. “What are you doing?”
“You have the Pegasus on your leg,” John said, showing Rodney the shape he’d drawn.
“Huh,” Rodney said, “well that’s not fair. You drew on me, I wanna draw on you.”
John held out the pen to him.
Rodney grinned wickedly and took it.