John and Rodney were sharing the same room and the same bed on a
mission to M38-359. They'd shared beds before, beds and tents and piles
of fur and on one memorable occasions all four of them had been offered
a hut so small Ronon couldn't lie down without curling up, and hadn't
that been fun because who knew that Ronon snored even more than John or
that Teyla was one of the most restless sleepers Rodney had ever been
in a bed with, which was saying a lot given he'd had this boyfriend who
routinely shoved him out of a king-sized bed while asleep, which, now
that Rodney thought about it really might have been something other
than restless sleeping.
For once, John wasn't snoring and Rodney
thought that maybe it was the lack of noise that woke him but whatever
it was, he went up on one elbow to look at John and the soft light from
the night lantern washed across John's face and sure, Rodney had
noticed before that John was good looking--hello, Rodney did have eyes
after all--but in the soft light, he looked young and oddly vulnerable
and so beautiful that it made Rodney's chest hurt and the last time
he'd felt like that was when he was quite small and watching Jeannie
sleep and he'd promised that he'd never let anyone hurt her, only look
how well that had worked out once she learned to talk and they became
experts at hurting each other. So, like he had with Jeannie, he leaned
over and kissed John gently and chastely and thought about how it was
so unlike him to admit that he'd die before he let anyone hurt John but
he really would and wow, he'd wanted John for so long but this was love
and love wasn't something Rodney McKay did very well at all because
people were complicated and confusing and mostly idiots as well.
And
maybe because his thoughts were spinning like hamsters on a wheel--or
as near as he could guess; he'd wanted hamsters as a child but Dad'd
said no--he let himself linger for more time than he should have and
John woke up with the funniest snort and Rodney laughed as he pulled
back but it was that nervous almost hysterical laughter of his that he
hated and really could the roof just cave in on him now please?
Their
second kiss happened when John reached up, curled his hand around the
back of Rodney's neck and pulled him back down. "Me too," John murmured
before kissing him and there was nothing light or chaste about that
kiss or any of the rest of the ones they exchanged that night.
-end-
Notes: For morebliss who asked for John and Rodney's first kiss in the first kiss meme. The title is from "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" by Ewan McColl--thanks debra_tabor. The version I know was sung by Roberta Flack, but it looks like everyone in the world has covered it, including Johnny Cash, ironically enough.
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