SGA Fic: Bath Time

[pride_of_erin]

Hey look, I wrote SGA fic! I just couldn't let that bath comment go unnoticed ;o)

Title: Bath Time (McShep, PG)
Author: Erin
Word count: 3,000-ish
Summary: Missing scene from 5x03 ‘Broken Ties’. Rodney is determined to change John’s mind.
Disclaimer: Not mine, not for profit, yada, yada.



John walked slowly towards the infirmary, Tyre’s sword cold and heavy in his hand, not in any great hurry to have what would no doubt be the galaxy’s most uncomfortable conversation with Ronon. What the hell were you supposed to say to a team member after they were brainwashed by their greatest enemy and tried to kill you?

The sudden voice from his radio was a welcome distraction. “Sheppard?”

“What’s up, McKay?” he answered.

“Could you come to my quarters please?”

John instinctively looked around to make sure there was no-one listening, even though he knew this corridor was always empty by this time of evening. Jesus Christ, Rodney wasn’t exactly the most subtle person in the world, but even he was usually more discreet than this.

“I’m actually a little busy right now, McKay.”

“Yes, I’m sure your hectic schedule of beating up Marines and forcing Lorne to do your paperwork is simply hellish, but I have something to discuss with you that is actually, you know, important. So hurry up and get over here.”

Well, at least that sounded a little less suspicious to anyone who may have been listening in to their conversation. “All right, all right, I’ll be there in five.”

By the time John got to Rodney’s quarters he’d decided that if Rodney wanted sex tonight, he was shit out of luck – after spending the last few sleepless days watching Ronon slowly and painfully detoxing, he wasn’t exactly in the mood.

He found Rodney sitting on the end of his bed when he palmed open the door. Before John even had a chance to open his mouth, Rodney demanded, “So, what do you mean you wouldn’t take a bath with me?”

John’s mouth dropped open stupidly. That conversation in the mess hall seemed so long ago, it took him a moment to remember what the hell Rodney was talking about.

“Excuse me?”

“You said you wouldn’t take a bath with me, I was just wondering why. I mean, we shower together – what’s the difference?”

“Rodney, that was a week ago, and you’re asking about it now?”

“Well, I was little distracted by the whole Ronon thing, but now that’s taken care of I want to hear all about your aversion to bathing.”

John set Tyre’s sword aside, closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Rodney, it’s been a shitty few days. I’ve barely slept, I have to get up early tomorrow and I can feel a giant headache coming on – can we please not have this argument now? Or ever?”

“What argument? I’m merely asking a simple question.”

John set his hands on his hips. “We were in the mess hall. Where there were other people around. What was else was I supposed to say?”

Rodney smiled his most irritating smile. “Well, actually you didn’t have to say anything – I never said anything about wanting you in the bath with me. You were the one who brought it up, not me.”

"That –" John stabbed his finger in Rodney’s direction for emphasis before faltering, “is actually kind of true.”

“So, you would take a bath with me?” Rodney pressed.

“No, I wouldn’t.”

“Why not? You take showers with me.”

John sighed in defeat. Clearly, Rodney wasn’t going to let this go. “Showers are normal, they’re functional – you’re in there to wash or to fuck or do both. Baths are for kids. And two grown men in a bath is just weird to me.”

“We could fuck in the bath, you know.”

“Fucking in a bath tub seems like it would be pretty uncomfortable; too much work to be worth it. You know how naturally lazy I am.”

Rodney stood up and crossed the room to stand right in front of John. “You,” he said, stabbing his finger into John’s chest, “are being deliberately argumentative. Stop being a jerk and come take a bath with me.”

“Did you miss the part where I said it’s for kids?”

“Children may share baths, John, but believe it or not it’s also been known to be something that lovers do too.”

Something like discomfort must have flickered across John’s face because Rodney rolled his eyes and said, “Sorry, I forgot how disconcerted you get by any and all variants of the L-word.”

John closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to dampen down the feeling of almost panic that was creeping over him. The truth was he wasn’t even entirely sure what made him so uncomfortable about this whole idea, but… the thought of being naked with Rodney, without sex as the end goal; the thought of sitting so close together, warm and wet and slippery… it just seemed so … intimate. John was not a touchy feely kind of person – not at all. Of course, if he tried to explain all that to Rodney, he’d just come off sounding like a jerk. Well – more of a jerk.

“Look, Rodney, I was on my way to see Ronon – I gotta give him Tyre’s sword,” he said, jerking his head toward where the sword lay propped up near the door.

Rodney looked at the sword for a moment, before turning back to him, pressing his forehead against John’s. “Look, I know you feel like shit, okay? But you’re not the only one who’s had a really bad week. What happened to Ronon… it kills me too. And I’m not going to apologize for the fact that all I really want to do right now is sit in some comforting steamy water with my – with the guy who’s my favorite person in two galaxies and just forget that the rest of the universe exists for a while.”

John slipped his arms around his favorite person in two galaxies, feeling like a jackass. He hadn’t really considered Rodney’s feelings throughout this whole thing. Of course he’d been aware of just how worried Rodney was – his participation in the team’s constant vigil over Ronon in the isolation room was proof enough of that. But he hadn’t recognized this conversation as Rodney reaching out to him for support, which was fairly typical. Rodney may have been branded the insensitive one by all of Atlantis, but most days, John was just as bad with people.

He didn’t apologize – that wasn’t something they did. Same way the L-word wasn’t something they did. He just whispered, “Okay.”

Rodney pulled back and looked in his eyes. “Okay?”

John nodded. “Okay. But you’re not allowed to be smug about it.”

“Oh, please. When have I ever been smug about anything?” asked Rodney, maneuvering him towards the bathroom.

John just chuckled as Rodney quickly went about running a bath in the large corner tub. He raised an eyebrow though when Rodney dumped a third of a bottle of bubble bath into the water.

“Jeez, McKay, don’t you think that’s a little much? How many bubbles do you need?”

“What’s the point of having bubbles if you don’t have enough to last the entire bath?” replied Rodney matter-of-factly.

“Why do we need them at all?” asked John, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. “I mean they’re kind of …”

“Gay?” asked Rodney sharply.

“Actually I was going to say girly.”

“Don’t worry Lieutenant Colonel Macho, I promise this will be a very manly bubble bath. Now take your clothes off,” Rodney ordered.

John quickly complied, before he said something stupid again. Rodney’s eyes traveled appreciatively over his body as he exposed more and more skin.

“God, you’re hot,” Rodney breathed, “I mean seriously hot. You are by far the hottest person I’ve ever slept with, you know that right?”

“You mean the hottest person you’ve ever been lucky enough to sleep with,” said John, stepping into the bath and hissing a little at the hot water.

“And modest too,” said Rodney, stripping off his own clothes. “Although, that’s sadly close to the truth.”

Rodney climbed into the bath, shutting off the water as he did so. He settled across from John and the two of them proceeded to just stare at each other for a minute.

“This feels weird,” John said finally, “I told you this would be weird.”

And it was weird, re-adjusting to the long forgotten feeling of being immersed in warm, soapy water, squashed into a tiny space with Rodney, their legs tangled together awkwardly.

“It’s not weird,” said Rodney, “it’s pleasant. You’ve seriously never done this with anyone?”

“Are you kidding? I think the last person I shared a bath with was my brother.”

“Kinky,” Rodney grinned playfully.

“Don’t even go there – I was like four.”

The two of them sat in silence for a few moments, warmth sinking into their bones and bubbles tickling their skin. Finally it got too much for John.

“So, what do we do now?”

“You’re bored, aren’t you? Is that why you don’t like baths, because they’re not action-packed?”

“That’s rich coming from you. You’re the one who thrives on stress and would replace his blood with caffeine if he could.”

Rodney wagged a sudsy finger. “Sure, I’m never going to be one of those people who could spend an entire weekend just lying around in bed doing nothing useful, but even I can do the occasional half hour of quiet reflection.”

“Mmhmm.”

“Fine then,” said Rodney. He then proceeded to gather up a pile of bubbles in his hand and blow them directly into John’s face.

“Hey!” John exclaimed, wiping his face. Rodney just grinned at him expectantly. Oh, John decided, it was on. He gathered up his own handful of bubbles and blew them back at Rodney.

“Bring it on, pretty boy!” Rodney shot back, slapping the surface of the water to send a large wave splashing into John. John just laughed at Rodney’s attempt to sound intimidating and splashed him right back.

“Feel the pain, buddy – you’re goin’ down!” he trash talked, while Rodney laughed, presenting John the perfect opportunity to splash bubbles into Rodney’s open mouth.

“Blecch!” Rodney spluttered, spitting out suds. “You are so dead!”

From there it devolved into a full on splash fight, water and bubbles spraying violently every where. Water sluiced over the side of the tub, flooding the floor, while the two of them wrestled like children, splashing and grabbing and shoving; their laughter and curses echoing off the bathroom walls.

Finally, John managed to get into a position where he could push Rodney’s head under the water for a few seconds. “Whoo!” he said as he let him back up, “I win!”

“Oh, yeah?” grinned Rodney, flinging himself forward and sending more water splashing over the side. He ended up hovering over where John was slumped with his back pressed against the side of the tub; on his knees, straddling John’s legs, hands on either side of John’s shoulders, bracing himself against the edge of the bath tub.

“Hello,” Rodney murmured, his face close to John’s. John just looked at him – it was hard not to. The water on his Rodney’s face made his skin seem even paler and softer than usual; by contrast his eyes were even bluer, his lips pinker and moist. He’d pushed his wet hair back after being dunked and it looked different to what John was used to. Usually when Rodney’s hair was wet it was plastered to his forehead, not slicked back and exposing even more of the receding hairline that Rodney was so vain about. Not that it bothered John – as far as he was concerned, Rodney looked absolutely gorgeous. Although he’d never say that out loud, of course.

“Hey,” John murmured back and leaned in to kiss those wet, pink lips. Rodney made a soft sound as he kissed back, pressing his chest against John’s, the water warm and slippery between them. John ran his hands up Rodney’s broad back, feeling the heat radiating from his damp, smooth skin, and up to Rodney’s head, running his fingers through that wet hair. Rodney’s right hand moved up to cup John’s cheek and his soft, clever tongue made his way into John’s mouth. John returned the favor, keeping the kiss slow and soft and almost drowsy. Whether it was the warm water or the stress of the past week finally catching up with them, John didn’t know, but this kiss was one of comfort, not sex.

Rodney was the one who finally pulled away, settling himself against John’s chest, cheek pressed against John’s collarbone, one finger reaching up to draw patterns in the tiny bubbles clinging to John’s chest hair. Rodney had always had an odd fascination with his chest hair; John figured it was because he didn’t have all that much of his own. Or maybe he was still getting used to the idea of hairy chests instead of soft breasts, but John wasn’t about to ask.

“So – not such a bad idea then?” Rodney asked quietly.

“I thought we agreed you weren’t going to be smug about this,” John murmured, closing his eyes and resting his chin on the top of Rodney’s head.

“I’m not being smug, I’m just saying I was right. It’s not smugness if it’s true.”

John just smacked him lightly on the back of the head.

Rodney continued to swirl white suds through John’s dark chest hair. “Well, for the record, I’m feeling much better. So, you know – thank you. I guess.”

John gently squeezed the arm he had around Rodney’s shoulders and said, “It’s been really, really lousy week.” Which was the understatement of the year, but Rodney nodded.

“At least Ronon’s awake and back to himself now though.”

“Mmm,” John agreed, “But I still have no idea what I’m going to say to him when I see him.”

“You haven’t seen him since he’s been lucid? I thought you went there after the briefing with Keller. Why haven’t you seen him?”

John squirmed uncomfortably. “Like I said, I don’t know what to say to him.”

“Well, the answer to that’s fairly obvious – don’t say anything. Just go in and do the whole stoic, I-forgive-you-but-I-still-feel-weird-around-you macho thing you do so well. He’ll understand – he’s Ronon.”

“Maybe,” John sighed.

“So where did you go after the briefing?”

With the whole bath thing going on, John had almost forgotten the one piece of good news he’d heard all week. “Teyla wanted to talk to me. She’s made up her mind and is requesting to be put back on active duty.”

“Really?” Rodney lifted his head and looked excitedly at John. “That’s great news! For a while there I was starting to think she wouldn’t come back.”

“Yeah, you and me both, buddy.” John tamped down the instinctual feeling of panic he got whenever he considered losing one of his team, one of his family.

Rodney settled back against John’s shoulder. “Are you feeling any better?” he asked.

John chuckled. “Yes, Rodney. You were right and I was wrong, okay?”

“That’s all I needed to hear.” John could hear the smile in his voice.

They both fell into silence again, relaxed and warm and content. Minutes stretched on and on, and damn but this did feel good. John was actually on the verge of dozing off, when Rodney suddenly jerked upright.

“Oh, my God, yes of course – laptop, laptop, where’s my laptop?” he babbled.

“Rodney?” John asked, trying to shake off the sleepiness.

“The equations I’ve been working on all day,” said Rodney impatiently, “I just realized – it’s so simple – it was staring me in the face – laptop! No, tablet! Go get my tablet, it’s on my bed. Quick, quick!” he snapped his fingers.

“So, I take it bath time’s over,” John drawled, stepping out of the tub and grabbing a towel.

“Hurry! I can’t lose this train of thought!” yelled Rodney, in full scientist mode, all thoughts of John and baths forgotten.

John retrieved the tablet and passed it to Rodney who was still sitting immersed in bubbles. “You know you could have gotten out of the bath,” he said as Rodney started tapping frantically at the screen.

“Can’t move, can’t talk, gotta get this down,” Rodney chanted, working feverishly.

John just shook his head at his workaholic scientist, and dried off and got dressed again. By the time he was done, Rodney was still frantically working at his screen, muttering to himself under his breath.

“I’m gonna go see Ronon now,” said John.

“Mm,” said Rodney, as though he’d pretty much forgotten John was there.

“Are you going to stay in there all night? You’ll turn into a giant prune.”

“Mm, yes, okay,” Rodney said distractedly, clearly not paying any attention to what John was saying.

And maybe some people would be offended at being so rudely brushed off by their… favorite person in two galaxies, but John just found a warm feeling blooming in his chest because this was Rodney. Part of who Rodney was, just like the part that had sought out John when they both felt like crap and offered comfort in his own clumsy, Rodney-esque way. And John would never change a thing about him.

He also figured he’d never get such a perfect opportunity to let Rodney know that. So he bent down, kissed the top of Rodney’s head and whispered, “I love you.”

“Yes, love you too,” said Rodney mindlessly, focused on the numbers scrolling down his screen.

John grabbed Tyre’s sword and walked out of Rodney’s quarters silently. He was halfway down the hall before he heard the spluttered, “Wait - WHAT? Sheppard!”

John just laughed and continued on his way to the infirmary. The sword still felt cold and heavy in his hand, but at least his heart felt a little lighter.


- End.