fic: Wrong Kind Of Guy - Part Twelve, PG-13 [COMPLETE]
TITLE: Wrong Kind Of Guy - Part Twelve
SUMMARY: He was definitely her kind of guy.
CATEGORY: AU, shermer_high AU
RATING: PG-13
NOTES: And we're finished! I'll put together a 'all chapters in one post' shortly and link everything together.
Part Eleven
Wrong Kind Of Guy - Part Twelve
"How the hell does John know how to do the salsa?" Rodney asked while Ronon and Miko went to get drinks.
The school gym was festooned with streamers and balloons and music blared from the speakers set up around the room. Elizabeth shifted in her chair to find the familiar, lean figure out on the floor, making faces at Teyla, who'd agreed to partner him for this dance. "Maybe Chaya taught him," she said, shrugging.
Rodney's sideways glance was exasperated. "If Chaya had taught John, she'd be out there dancing with him, not glaring from the sidelines." He tilted his head. "And is it just me, or are Teyla's legs really--"
"Rodney!"
"Okay, okay, I'm just saying she's got nice legs! It's not like I'm, you know, ogling or anything."
Elizabeth shook her head. Guys! Not that there wasn't enough of Teyla's legs showing to make ogling an automatic reaction for most guys. The short, layered skirt had serious slittage - not Elizabeth's style, although it looked good on Teyla.
Mark Lorne had looked distinctly smug for most of the night, although right now he was sitting at another table with his friends, watching Teyla and John's dance through narrowed eyes.
"Chaya certainly hasn't looked away since the dance began," Carson said dryly, flicking a peanut across the table. "I get the feeling she doesn't exactly trust Teyla."
"Hah," Rodney snorted. "It's not Teyla she should be worrying about!"
"John wouldn't cheat," said Carson, frowning.
"No. But if we lived in Germany, he'd flirt with anything that had a feminine pronoun."
Carson made a sound that was halfway between a choke and a laugh, and Elizabeth bit back a smile. Rodney had a point.
She leaned back in her chair and let her eyes drift over to the drinks table, where the tiny Japanese girl was tugging on Ronon's sleeve and pointing something out to him further along the table. He said something and grinned, and Miko nodded and went over to whatever she'd been pointing out to him.
As if suddenly aware of her gaze on him, Ronon turned and flashed her a quick smirk. She rolled her eyes in reply, but looked away with a flush and a smile.
Carson was regarding her with amusement, and she flushed harder, but grinned back.
The last few days since the park had been good. There hadn't been sight or sound from Kolya since Friday night, and while there were rumours all around the school, none of the nine students in the know had said anything about the meeting or Ronon's offer.
Elizabeth was relieved. The last thing she wanted was to see Ronon in trouble.
So far, nobody from Shermer had been injured or caught in the crossfire yet. In spite of the announcement on Wednesday afternoon, the gang activity seemed to be relatively low-key - nobody Elizabeth talked to had seen anything of it at all.
Then again, maybe she was asking the wrong people.
At any rate, John seemed to have levelled whatever issues he had with Ronon - other than that Elizabeth liked him. It probably helped that Chaya had decided to take John in hand and was being quite possessive about him. The word that came to mind was 'clingy', but 'inseparable' worked, too.
Elizabeth hoped she wasn't as clingy around Ronon; she doubted she was, but it gave her a slight discomfort to see the other girl fawn all over John. A few months ago, that might have been her.
Now, Elizabeth was very glad it wasn't.
Her parents seemed okay with Ronon. The invite to dinner had come around again - a little more insistent. This time, Ronon had accepted. So it didn't go quite like clockwork, but there'd been no screaming, no deaths, and, most importantly, no dragging their daughter aside to ask if she'd lost her mind.
A plastic cup was set on the table in front of her. "Drinks," Ronon said, carrying four cups filled with soda. "Miko has the peanuts."
Miko set the bowl of peanuts down and put a cup down in front of Rodney. Then she sat down beside him and looked hopefully at the otherwise oblivious boy.
"Oh, good." Rodney peered at the drink. "You're sure this didn't touch the lemonade?"
A peanut bounced off his forehead, tossed by Carson. "Rodney, when a girl hands you a drink, you say 'thank you' and drink it."
"And then go into anaphylactic shock when--"
"Rodney!"
"Oh, all right, all right. Thanks, Miko."
The girl blushed all over her face. Carson glanced at Elizabeth and rolled his eyes, then arched an eyebrow when Ronon leaned over and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
Elizabeth turned to Ronon. "Hm?"
"McKay's always this stupid?" His voice was a deep, low hum that sent shivers down her spine.
"Well, not stupid exactly..." Elizabeth protested. Ronon gave her a look and she sighed. "Just oblivious."
"Uhuh." Ronon glanced around the room, his eyes resting on John and Teyla out on the dance floor. Elizabeth followed his gaze.
"John hasn't been causing you trouble or anything?"
Ronon turned towards her, a little surprised. "Nope."
"Good."
She didn't need to look at him to know that his eye narrowed fractionally. "Did you tell him not to?"
"I told him he was an idiot," she said candidly, hoping that he wasn't going to take offence for what she'd said. "No, actually, I told him he was a bastard."
That brought a short chuckle. "I thought you defended your friends!"
"Only when they're not being idiots," Elizabeth retorted, and he laughed again and rested an arm around her shoulders, casually comfortable. In response, she leaned back against him, and levelled a narrow-eyed gaze at both Rodney and Carson when they regarded first her, then Ronon, and then her again.
The music finished with a flourish, and almost immediately moved into the next song. Couples came off the floor, laughing and chatting, and the students who'd been too scared of looking silly during the salsa dance went back on.
Elizabeth's eyes tracked over to her friends. John was saying something to Teyla - evidently annoying enough to gain him a smack on the shoulder, before she rolled her eyes and walked off towards Mark without a further word. John watched her go, a smug little smile on his face until Chaya fronted up to him, head tilted challengingly. Elizabeth watched as John kissed the Venezuelan girl, slung a casual arm around her waist and sauntered off towards the drinks table.
A month ago, she'd been angry because John had casually assumed Teyla would want to come to the dance with him.
So much had happened in a month. And Elizabeth was glad it had happened. Even the bits with Kolya - because without Kolya, she'd never have noticed Ronon at all.
Everything happens for a reason.
"Wishing you'd gone with Sheppard?"
She glanced over at Ronon and answered easily. "Nope."
He looked as though he wanted to believe her, but wasn't entirely convinced it was the case. Elizabeth sighed to herself.
Boys!
"Want to dance?" Ronon indicated the floor. More pleased with this question than the last one, Elizabeth put down her cup and took his hand in her own.
She let him take the lead after a few steps, rearranging their hands and following him out to the floor.
Once there, Elizabeth put her arms around Ronon's neck and let him slide his hands around her waist so their bodies were barely touching. She wasn't comfortable with attaching herself to him like a limpet - and she doubted he'd want that either.
Elizabeth wasn't sure what the music was, only that it was nice. Ronon had a pretty good sense of rhythm, and she was enjoying the warmth of his hands on her waist and the scent of him in her nostrils. In his neat white shirt with the high Turkish collar that didn't quite disguise the tattoo at his throat, he looked good enough to eat, too.
"So what did your parents think of me?"
In the dimmed-down lights of the gym, Elizabeth grinned. "They let me come to the dance with you." Not that they could have stopped her.
"Nice of them." She could feel the laughter in his chest.
"If they didn't think you were okay, Dad would have been a lot worse," she said.
Ronon looked wry. "There's worse?"
His expression made her laugh. "Worse," she affirmed.
Considering Elizabeth's dad had been very much into the heavy-handed, name-dropping, unsubtle hints kind of behaviour during dinner - thankfully mitigated by her mom's calm politeness - she could imagine that Ronon might have a touch of apprehension.
A glimmer of a smile touched his mouth. "Right. Consider yourself dumped."
"Dumped?" In spite of the obvious teasing - his hands were quite firmly locked in the small of her back - she couldn't help the stutter of fear his words gave her. Then her eyes narrowed. "In order to dump me, Ronon, we'd have to be going out first."
One dark brow arched. "Really?"
"Yes."
"I see." He fell silent for a few beats, then bent and kissed her on the mouth, too fast for her to do more than open her mouth in surprise.
It was light, no tongue, but definitely a kiss. And quick. There was no time to respond, much as she wanted to.
Around them, the other dancing students giggled and wolf-whistled. Elizabeth glanced over her shoulder at a particularly piercing whistle, and glared at Laura Cadman, who was being unsuccessfully shushed by Carson.
Then she looked back at Ronon.
"So are we going out?" He spoke lightly, but there was a touch of tension in his voice.
Elizabeth put on a thoughtful look, and toyed with the strands of hair at the nape of his neck. "Do it again and I'll think about it."
This time, she was ready when his lips touched hers, and her hand slid up into his hair, making sure he didn't pull away too fast. She was going to enjoy this - even if it meant making a scene. Ronon was a surprisingly good kisser, too. Gentle but firm, not sloppy or pushy, and not inclined to stick his tongue in just because she opened her mouth.
When they broke apart, Elizabeth could feel the flush all the way across her shoulders. And he looked a bit flushed as well. Self-consciously, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Yes."
"Yes?"
"Yes, we're going out."
Ronon smirked and his hands eased her in just a little bit closer. "Good to know."
Elizabeth let herself relax against him. She was pretty sure she was grinning back at him like some kind of lovestruck idiot girl, but right now, she couldn't care less.
The rest of the night passed like a dream. Elizabeth danced with Ronon and several other guy friends, submitted to the teasing of her classmates in the restrooms, and told Teyla to stop smiling at least five times before the end of the night.
And she kept the silly grin all the way back to her place when he got out of the car to see her up to the door.
"Do you expect to be invited in?" The question came out more archly than she'd intended, and Elizabeth flushed a little although he probably couldn't see that in the porch light.
"I get invited in?" Ronon countered, but shook his head with a faint grin. "I think one dose of your parents is enough for the night. Give them time to recover."
Elizabeth grinned. "Give them time to recover? You sure you aren't scared?"
"Maybe a bit." He tilted his head, still smiling. "You'd be scared if you were me." His hands were slipping around her waist again, though, so she ignored the insult to her parents - not that they weren't scary sometimes - and reached up to brush her fingers over the skin of his throat.
The silence elongated, seeming to spread to cover not only them but also the street and neighbourhood beyond.
There was a moment when everything seemed breathless, and Elizabeth felt more than a little shy; then Ronon bent down to her and she completely forgot shyness.
His lips paused about an inch away from hers, and a noise of exasperation escaped her as she closed the gap. Elizabeth felt his laughter, and knew that she was smiling in spite of the fact that their mouths were very busy.
Ronon was a really good kisser.
She could get used to this.
A rustle in the bushes broke them apart, but a moment later, one of the neighbourhood cats strolled out from behind a bush, quite casually, and Ronon glanced at the door. "You should go inside."
"Uhuh," she said, and kissed him briefly on the mouth one more time, just because. "See you Monday?"
He shrugged as one hand caught hers. "It's school." Then he grinned at her, winked, and walked away.
Elizabeth shook her head as she opened the door, but paused to wave at him as he drove off. And when she went inside, she was smiling.
He was definitely her kind of guy.
- fin -
FINAL NOTES: Whew! 35,000 words to another Liz/Ronon crackfic AU! I think it's time to start writing the serious fic again...
I have sequel ideas, but I think that they'll just remain ideas for the moment. I really do want to write more 'sane' fic (for a given value of 'sane') and I can't do it when I'm putting all my energy into crackfic. However, at some point in the future, I may put out some shortfics from this AU. We'll see.
At some stage, I will probably also be laying out some of the thought processes that went on behind this story, why I put people here, why I juxtaposed characters, the hints about them that don't get explained in the story...mostly just for the sake of showing off. :) The infodumping you do when you're not really infodumping.
Anyway, thanks for reading, bearing with me, leaving feedback, comments, love, squeals, and exclamations of delight, and for offering suggestions - it's all been very muchly appreciated and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
SUMMARY: He was definitely her kind of guy.
CATEGORY: AU, shermer_high AU
RATING: PG-13
NOTES: And we're finished! I'll put together a 'all chapters in one post' shortly and link everything together.
Part Eleven
Wrong Kind Of Guy - Part Twelve
"How the hell does John know how to do the salsa?" Rodney asked while Ronon and Miko went to get drinks.
The school gym was festooned with streamers and balloons and music blared from the speakers set up around the room. Elizabeth shifted in her chair to find the familiar, lean figure out on the floor, making faces at Teyla, who'd agreed to partner him for this dance. "Maybe Chaya taught him," she said, shrugging.
Rodney's sideways glance was exasperated. "If Chaya had taught John, she'd be out there dancing with him, not glaring from the sidelines." He tilted his head. "And is it just me, or are Teyla's legs really--"
"Rodney!"
"Okay, okay, I'm just saying she's got nice legs! It's not like I'm, you know, ogling or anything."
Elizabeth shook her head. Guys! Not that there wasn't enough of Teyla's legs showing to make ogling an automatic reaction for most guys. The short, layered skirt had serious slittage - not Elizabeth's style, although it looked good on Teyla.
Mark Lorne had looked distinctly smug for most of the night, although right now he was sitting at another table with his friends, watching Teyla and John's dance through narrowed eyes.
"Chaya certainly hasn't looked away since the dance began," Carson said dryly, flicking a peanut across the table. "I get the feeling she doesn't exactly trust Teyla."
"Hah," Rodney snorted. "It's not Teyla she should be worrying about!"
"John wouldn't cheat," said Carson, frowning.
"No. But if we lived in Germany, he'd flirt with anything that had a feminine pronoun."
Carson made a sound that was halfway between a choke and a laugh, and Elizabeth bit back a smile. Rodney had a point.
She leaned back in her chair and let her eyes drift over to the drinks table, where the tiny Japanese girl was tugging on Ronon's sleeve and pointing something out to him further along the table. He said something and grinned, and Miko nodded and went over to whatever she'd been pointing out to him.
As if suddenly aware of her gaze on him, Ronon turned and flashed her a quick smirk. She rolled her eyes in reply, but looked away with a flush and a smile.
Carson was regarding her with amusement, and she flushed harder, but grinned back.
The last few days since the park had been good. There hadn't been sight or sound from Kolya since Friday night, and while there were rumours all around the school, none of the nine students in the know had said anything about the meeting or Ronon's offer.
Elizabeth was relieved. The last thing she wanted was to see Ronon in trouble.
So far, nobody from Shermer had been injured or caught in the crossfire yet. In spite of the announcement on Wednesday afternoon, the gang activity seemed to be relatively low-key - nobody Elizabeth talked to had seen anything of it at all.
Then again, maybe she was asking the wrong people.
At any rate, John seemed to have levelled whatever issues he had with Ronon - other than that Elizabeth liked him. It probably helped that Chaya had decided to take John in hand and was being quite possessive about him. The word that came to mind was 'clingy', but 'inseparable' worked, too.
Elizabeth hoped she wasn't as clingy around Ronon; she doubted she was, but it gave her a slight discomfort to see the other girl fawn all over John. A few months ago, that might have been her.
Now, Elizabeth was very glad it wasn't.
Her parents seemed okay with Ronon. The invite to dinner had come around again - a little more insistent. This time, Ronon had accepted. So it didn't go quite like clockwork, but there'd been no screaming, no deaths, and, most importantly, no dragging their daughter aside to ask if she'd lost her mind.
A plastic cup was set on the table in front of her. "Drinks," Ronon said, carrying four cups filled with soda. "Miko has the peanuts."
Miko set the bowl of peanuts down and put a cup down in front of Rodney. Then she sat down beside him and looked hopefully at the otherwise oblivious boy.
"Oh, good." Rodney peered at the drink. "You're sure this didn't touch the lemonade?"
A peanut bounced off his forehead, tossed by Carson. "Rodney, when a girl hands you a drink, you say 'thank you' and drink it."
"And then go into anaphylactic shock when--"
"Rodney!"
"Oh, all right, all right. Thanks, Miko."
The girl blushed all over her face. Carson glanced at Elizabeth and rolled his eyes, then arched an eyebrow when Ronon leaned over and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
Elizabeth turned to Ronon. "Hm?"
"McKay's always this stupid?" His voice was a deep, low hum that sent shivers down her spine.
"Well, not stupid exactly..." Elizabeth protested. Ronon gave her a look and she sighed. "Just oblivious."
"Uhuh." Ronon glanced around the room, his eyes resting on John and Teyla out on the dance floor. Elizabeth followed his gaze.
"John hasn't been causing you trouble or anything?"
Ronon turned towards her, a little surprised. "Nope."
"Good."
She didn't need to look at him to know that his eye narrowed fractionally. "Did you tell him not to?"
"I told him he was an idiot," she said candidly, hoping that he wasn't going to take offence for what she'd said. "No, actually, I told him he was a bastard."
That brought a short chuckle. "I thought you defended your friends!"
"Only when they're not being idiots," Elizabeth retorted, and he laughed again and rested an arm around her shoulders, casually comfortable. In response, she leaned back against him, and levelled a narrow-eyed gaze at both Rodney and Carson when they regarded first her, then Ronon, and then her again.
The music finished with a flourish, and almost immediately moved into the next song. Couples came off the floor, laughing and chatting, and the students who'd been too scared of looking silly during the salsa dance went back on.
Elizabeth's eyes tracked over to her friends. John was saying something to Teyla - evidently annoying enough to gain him a smack on the shoulder, before she rolled her eyes and walked off towards Mark without a further word. John watched her go, a smug little smile on his face until Chaya fronted up to him, head tilted challengingly. Elizabeth watched as John kissed the Venezuelan girl, slung a casual arm around her waist and sauntered off towards the drinks table.
A month ago, she'd been angry because John had casually assumed Teyla would want to come to the dance with him.
So much had happened in a month. And Elizabeth was glad it had happened. Even the bits with Kolya - because without Kolya, she'd never have noticed Ronon at all.
Everything happens for a reason.
"Wishing you'd gone with Sheppard?"
She glanced over at Ronon and answered easily. "Nope."
He looked as though he wanted to believe her, but wasn't entirely convinced it was the case. Elizabeth sighed to herself.
Boys!
"Want to dance?" Ronon indicated the floor. More pleased with this question than the last one, Elizabeth put down her cup and took his hand in her own.
She let him take the lead after a few steps, rearranging their hands and following him out to the floor.
Once there, Elizabeth put her arms around Ronon's neck and let him slide his hands around her waist so their bodies were barely touching. She wasn't comfortable with attaching herself to him like a limpet - and she doubted he'd want that either.
Elizabeth wasn't sure what the music was, only that it was nice. Ronon had a pretty good sense of rhythm, and she was enjoying the warmth of his hands on her waist and the scent of him in her nostrils. In his neat white shirt with the high Turkish collar that didn't quite disguise the tattoo at his throat, he looked good enough to eat, too.
"So what did your parents think of me?"
In the dimmed-down lights of the gym, Elizabeth grinned. "They let me come to the dance with you." Not that they could have stopped her.
"Nice of them." She could feel the laughter in his chest.
"If they didn't think you were okay, Dad would have been a lot worse," she said.
Ronon looked wry. "There's worse?"
His expression made her laugh. "Worse," she affirmed.
Considering Elizabeth's dad had been very much into the heavy-handed, name-dropping, unsubtle hints kind of behaviour during dinner - thankfully mitigated by her mom's calm politeness - she could imagine that Ronon might have a touch of apprehension.
A glimmer of a smile touched his mouth. "Right. Consider yourself dumped."
"Dumped?" In spite of the obvious teasing - his hands were quite firmly locked in the small of her back - she couldn't help the stutter of fear his words gave her. Then her eyes narrowed. "In order to dump me, Ronon, we'd have to be going out first."
One dark brow arched. "Really?"
"Yes."
"I see." He fell silent for a few beats, then bent and kissed her on the mouth, too fast for her to do more than open her mouth in surprise.
It was light, no tongue, but definitely a kiss. And quick. There was no time to respond, much as she wanted to.
Around them, the other dancing students giggled and wolf-whistled. Elizabeth glanced over her shoulder at a particularly piercing whistle, and glared at Laura Cadman, who was being unsuccessfully shushed by Carson.
Then she looked back at Ronon.
"So are we going out?" He spoke lightly, but there was a touch of tension in his voice.
Elizabeth put on a thoughtful look, and toyed with the strands of hair at the nape of his neck. "Do it again and I'll think about it."
This time, she was ready when his lips touched hers, and her hand slid up into his hair, making sure he didn't pull away too fast. She was going to enjoy this - even if it meant making a scene. Ronon was a surprisingly good kisser, too. Gentle but firm, not sloppy or pushy, and not inclined to stick his tongue in just because she opened her mouth.
When they broke apart, Elizabeth could feel the flush all the way across her shoulders. And he looked a bit flushed as well. Self-consciously, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Yes."
"Yes?"
"Yes, we're going out."
Ronon smirked and his hands eased her in just a little bit closer. "Good to know."
Elizabeth let herself relax against him. She was pretty sure she was grinning back at him like some kind of lovestruck idiot girl, but right now, she couldn't care less.
The rest of the night passed like a dream. Elizabeth danced with Ronon and several other guy friends, submitted to the teasing of her classmates in the restrooms, and told Teyla to stop smiling at least five times before the end of the night.
And she kept the silly grin all the way back to her place when he got out of the car to see her up to the door.
"Do you expect to be invited in?" The question came out more archly than she'd intended, and Elizabeth flushed a little although he probably couldn't see that in the porch light.
"I get invited in?" Ronon countered, but shook his head with a faint grin. "I think one dose of your parents is enough for the night. Give them time to recover."
Elizabeth grinned. "Give them time to recover? You sure you aren't scared?"
"Maybe a bit." He tilted his head, still smiling. "You'd be scared if you were me." His hands were slipping around her waist again, though, so she ignored the insult to her parents - not that they weren't scary sometimes - and reached up to brush her fingers over the skin of his throat.
The silence elongated, seeming to spread to cover not only them but also the street and neighbourhood beyond.
There was a moment when everything seemed breathless, and Elizabeth felt more than a little shy; then Ronon bent down to her and she completely forgot shyness.
His lips paused about an inch away from hers, and a noise of exasperation escaped her as she closed the gap. Elizabeth felt his laughter, and knew that she was smiling in spite of the fact that their mouths were very busy.
Ronon was a really good kisser.
She could get used to this.
A rustle in the bushes broke them apart, but a moment later, one of the neighbourhood cats strolled out from behind a bush, quite casually, and Ronon glanced at the door. "You should go inside."
"Uhuh," she said, and kissed him briefly on the mouth one more time, just because. "See you Monday?"
He shrugged as one hand caught hers. "It's school." Then he grinned at her, winked, and walked away.
Elizabeth shook her head as she opened the door, but paused to wave at him as he drove off. And when she went inside, she was smiling.
He was definitely her kind of guy.
- fin -
FINAL NOTES: Whew! 35,000 words to another Liz/Ronon crackfic AU! I think it's time to start writing the serious fic again...
I have sequel ideas, but I think that they'll just remain ideas for the moment. I really do want to write more 'sane' fic (for a given value of 'sane') and I can't do it when I'm putting all my energy into crackfic. However, at some point in the future, I may put out some shortfics from this AU. We'll see.
At some stage, I will probably also be laying out some of the thought processes that went on behind this story, why I put people here, why I juxtaposed characters, the hints about them that don't get explained in the story...mostly just for the sake of showing off. :) The infodumping you do when you're not really infodumping.
Anyway, thanks for reading, bearing with me, leaving feedback, comments, love, squeals, and exclamations of delight, and for offering suggestions - it's all been very muchly appreciated and I'm glad you enjoyed it!