Sloth Days, John/Rodney, SGA
Nov. 1st, 2007 08:57 amDesperate times call for desperate measures. I've signed up for
mini_nanowrimo, committing to a minimum of 100 words a day, every single day for November. I figure I can at least force 100 words a day out, right? Right? If this doesn't work, I'm going to be out of ideas. Wish me luck!
(Looks like it's working so far though. *g*)
Author: darkhavens
Title: Sloth Days
Fandom: Pairing: Stargate Atlantis: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Rating: G
Words: 500
Concrit: darkhavens @ slashverse.com. If you spot a typo, please feel free to tell me in comments. I want you to!
Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be. No harm, no foul, no money made.
Summary: Every now and then Rodney's brain refuses to reboot.
Notes: Written for
slashthedrabble challenge #142: Sloth.
When Rodney takes a holiday it's usually on sufferance, something he's ordered to do. On those occasions, his brain keeps whirring, overclocked and working on seven impossible things at once, theories and calculations churning away just below the surface.
But Rodney also takes Sloth Days, named by one of his long-forgotten room mates while he was studying for his second PhD. Sloth days are those rare days when Rodney's brain simply shuts down and refuses to reboot for twenty-four hours or so.
John likes to think he's learned most of Rodney's little quirks, but he doesn't know this one. The first he hears about it is when Rodney doesn't appear for the command staff power breakfast. When he asks why they're starting without Rodney, Elizabeth announces 'Sloth Day' like it's supposed to mean something.
John looks blank.
A strangely short and interruption-free power breakfast later, John carries Rodney's share of the tura fruit pastries and a vacuum flask of steaming black coffee back to Rodney's room. Elizabeth's description of her first experience of a Sloth Day back in Antarctica had been vivid and quite amusing, but John knew he'd never believe it until he'd seen it for himself - Rodney without his thick outer layer of 'Genius at work', without that constant buzz and twitch of vital energy.
Rodney, who is lying on his bed under a colorful Athosian blanket, fingers laced behind his head, his eyes tracking the ripples of light reflected onto the ceiling from the waves outside his window.
As John moves into his field of vision Rodney smiles, slow and lazy. "Hey."
John holds out the plate of pink puff pastries and watches, amused, as Rodney struggles to untangle his fingers and get them out from behind his head.
"Hey. So, Sloth Day?"
"Hmmmm."
Rodney takes the plate, slides it onto the bedside table and promptly grabs John's fingers and tugs, bringing him flush against the edge of the bed. When he stops moving, Rodney pouts and tugs again. John holds out the flask of coffee.
"This what you're after?"
Rodney sighs like he's just been asked to solve world hunger or orchestrate world peace before lunchtime. "Lie down already, you're interrupting the show. If you stare at it long enough you can almost feel the city rocking on the waves."
John allows himself to be tugged and shoved into place, and then used as a pillow.
"You know that we can't really..."
A finger is pressed against his lips.
"Just watch. It only happens when the angles are just right, and it never lasts more than half an hour, so until then just... hush, okay?"
They lie there, pressed together from knee to shoulder, watching the ripples of light slide across the ceiling and down the wall before vanishing into the shadows in the corner.
This version of Rodney is cuddly and adorable, but also quite unnerving. When John wakes the next morning to the sound of keyboard clicks and muttered curses, he's kind of relieved.
(Looks like it's working so far though. *g*)
Author: darkhavens
Title: Sloth Days
Fandom: Pairing: Stargate Atlantis: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Rating: G
Words: 500
Concrit: darkhavens @ slashverse.com. If you spot a typo, please feel free to tell me in comments. I want you to!
Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be. No harm, no foul, no money made.
Summary: Every now and then Rodney's brain refuses to reboot.
Notes: Written for
When Rodney takes a holiday it's usually on sufferance, something he's ordered to do. On those occasions, his brain keeps whirring, overclocked and working on seven impossible things at once, theories and calculations churning away just below the surface.
But Rodney also takes Sloth Days, named by one of his long-forgotten room mates while he was studying for his second PhD. Sloth days are those rare days when Rodney's brain simply shuts down and refuses to reboot for twenty-four hours or so.
John likes to think he's learned most of Rodney's little quirks, but he doesn't know this one. The first he hears about it is when Rodney doesn't appear for the command staff power breakfast. When he asks why they're starting without Rodney, Elizabeth announces 'Sloth Day' like it's supposed to mean something.
John looks blank.
A strangely short and interruption-free power breakfast later, John carries Rodney's share of the tura fruit pastries and a vacuum flask of steaming black coffee back to Rodney's room. Elizabeth's description of her first experience of a Sloth Day back in Antarctica had been vivid and quite amusing, but John knew he'd never believe it until he'd seen it for himself - Rodney without his thick outer layer of 'Genius at work', without that constant buzz and twitch of vital energy.
Rodney, who is lying on his bed under a colorful Athosian blanket, fingers laced behind his head, his eyes tracking the ripples of light reflected onto the ceiling from the waves outside his window.
As John moves into his field of vision Rodney smiles, slow and lazy. "Hey."
John holds out the plate of pink puff pastries and watches, amused, as Rodney struggles to untangle his fingers and get them out from behind his head.
"Hey. So, Sloth Day?"
"Hmmmm."
Rodney takes the plate, slides it onto the bedside table and promptly grabs John's fingers and tugs, bringing him flush against the edge of the bed. When he stops moving, Rodney pouts and tugs again. John holds out the flask of coffee.
"This what you're after?"
Rodney sighs like he's just been asked to solve world hunger or orchestrate world peace before lunchtime. "Lie down already, you're interrupting the show. If you stare at it long enough you can almost feel the city rocking on the waves."
John allows himself to be tugged and shoved into place, and then used as a pillow.
"You know that we can't really..."
A finger is pressed against his lips.
"Just watch. It only happens when the angles are just right, and it never lasts more than half an hour, so until then just... hush, okay?"
They lie there, pressed together from knee to shoulder, watching the ripples of light slide across the ceiling and down the wall before vanishing into the shadows in the corner.
This version of Rodney is cuddly and adorable, but also quite unnerving. When John wakes the next morning to the sound of keyboard clicks and muttered curses, he's kind of relieved.
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on 2007-11-01 09:36 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-01 10:14 pm (UTC)I have visions of Elizabeth learning about Sloth Days at Antarctica, when Rodney turned out one day and announced he was going topside to watch the penguins. :P
(I love Gibbs too. *g*)
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on 2007-11-01 01:01 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-01 10:14 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-01 02:05 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-01 10:19 pm (UTC)The idea of a powered down Rodney intrigues me, and the thought of John trying to deal with something that far out of his normal experience, well, that amuses me no end.
Love the icon. I want one that looks like that but with a little arrow pointing to the gap between the Johns and the legend 'Insert Rodney here'. :P
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on 2007-11-02 01:03 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-02 01:09 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-02 10:41 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-03 02:54 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-01 02:40 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-01 10:21 pm (UTC)Thanks!
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on 2007-11-01 04:16 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-01 10:21 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-01 04:25 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-01 10:30 pm (UTC)Rodney's brain has the same self-preservation instincts as Rodney has, it just has to apply them differently. *g*
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on 2007-11-01 04:45 pm (UTC)"This what you're after?"
Rodney sighs like he's just been asked to solve world hunger or orchestrate world peace before lunchtime And that would totally freak out John. A Rodney NOT demanding coffee?
Lovely
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on 2007-11-01 10:32 pm (UTC)Thanks!
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on 2007-11-01 07:14 pm (UTC)Oh, and, yeah, Sloth Day, too!
Soothed hugs,
H.
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on 2007-11-01 10:42 pm (UTC)I'd completely ignored the fact that Atlantis is a floating city.
I really started thinking about it after the takeoff and landing sequences, all that water and motion and light. They're just floating out there, untethered, and even though the city must weigh a bajillion tons, I bet there's still that tiniest sensation of motion. :D
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on 2007-11-01 08:27 pm (UTC)Lovely. Love Sloth!Rodney.
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on 2007-11-01 11:36 pm (UTC)I had to google for the pic - heee! So cute! Thank you. :D
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on 2007-11-01 09:36 pm (UTC)John allows himself to be tugged and shoved into place, and then used as a pillow.
Where can I get one of those pillows? >.>
♥
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on 2007-11-01 11:38 pm (UTC)Thankee, baybee. I want a matching set - a John pillow and a Rodney pillow, they're both eminently cuddlable. (Hush! :P)
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on 2007-11-02 12:16 am (UTC)(Here via mini_nano. Nice first day's work. :))
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on 2007-11-02 12:29 am (UTC)The thought of an offline Rodney was what inspired this. That and John's confusion and possible panic when he encountered him.
And thanks for following the link from mini_nano. I haven't managed to write anything much for months no matter what i try, so I'm hoping the comm gives me the push and encouragement I seem to need.
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on 2007-11-02 04:46 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-02 08:34 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-02 09:39 pm (UTC)Just lovely.
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on 2007-11-03 02:46 am (UTC)Thanks!
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on 2007-11-02 10:38 pm (UTC)~Alice~
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on 2007-11-03 02:47 am (UTC)Thanks!
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on 2007-11-03 05:15 am (UTC)I like that John is a little uneasy about it all.
:)
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on 2007-11-07 08:07 pm (UTC)John just isn't used to Rodney being so easy-going unless he's been fucked into passivity. *g*
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on 2007-11-05 02:06 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-07 08:09 pm (UTC)