Work Text:
“Whatcha doing?”
Rodney spent about 0.33 seconds programming the angle of the curve to the point, silently cursing Sheppard and his blatant ignorance of do not disturb signs, and turning the crystal in his hand another five degrees. He needed the angle and curve to be right.
“Most people see signs like the one on the door and turn around,” Rodney replied, then cursed aloud when Sheppard strolled from the doorway into the room and loomed over his shoulder.
“Lucky for us, we don’t pay attention to signs.”
Rodney huffed and hunched over the computer and pulled the crystal closer, he needed the light from the Ancient device and could only keep the crystal so close.
“So,” John leaned even closer until Rodney could feel warmth pressed against his back and John’s breath on his neck, “Whatcha doing?”
“I’m working,” he replied, then sat up and frowned when John didn’t back off, instead he dropped his hand to the other side of Rodney.
“Mmm-hmm, on what, McKay?”
He ignored the hot breath against his ear, and the goosebumps that shivered down his spine.
“On work,” he replied and hunkered down, his lower back twinged from the angle. Stupid colonels and their blatant ignorance of personal space. He felt the chill immediately when John pulled back and then return when he replaced his hand at Rodney’s side for his hip.
“Whatcha working on, McKay? I’ve heard rumors ranging from an Ancient laser to a new coffee machine to a device that will turn off someone’s hot water by being in proximity.” John reached across him and took one of the crystals Rodney had yet to get to, held it to the light. “This doesn’t look like a coffee machine.”
Rodney set the crystal he was working on on the device, careful to keep the angle where he’d remember it, and finally turned to John. “Because it isn’t. Now, anything else, Colonel?”
John leaned closer, used one of his legs to pull one of the stools close and sat next to Rodney. “Nope.”
Rodney sighed and pulled the crystal from John’s hand. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re an annoying man child?”
John grinned, used both legs to pull Rodney’s stool closer to him, “Nope. But I think I said something similar to you this morning when you pulled me from my meeting with Lorne and Simmons because you needed help.”
Rodney sniffed, “It was important.”
He felt his resolve melting when John pulled him closer, hand tight around Rodney’s waist, and took the crystal back. “It was to go over jumper plans. So, whatcha doing’, McKay?”
He leaned back, knowing John would keep him upright, “Working on a snowflake program.”
John nodded and held the crystal up, Rodney tilted his head and moved John’s hand so that it caught the light in the Ancient device. “Snowflake program, huh? Is that code for something?”
“Yes, it’s code for snowflakes. Teyla has never seen them, not like we have in Canada, and I thought…” he trailed off on a shrug and straightened. He then the dimmed the lights, turned them both so that they were shoulder to shoulder and looking over the small open space of his lab, then he started the program. Almost instantly soft blue light gleamed from the corners of the room and small snowflakes, varying in shapes and sizes and rotations, began to fall from a slowly growing cloud. He grabbed one of John’s hands, held it palm up and they watched a snowflake drift down.
“Cool,” John whispered and pulled his hand close. Rodney knew what he would see: a unique snowflake, hexagonal shape with crystalline lines pulling from the center.
“Yeah,” Rodney breathed, he reached back to stop the program then stopped when John grabbed his hand.
“Play it again, Rodney.”
Rodney smiled, used his Ancient gene to lower the temperature, and started the program again. “It’ll be finished by morning,” he promised.
“It’s perfect,” John said quietly, eyes glued to the gray blue cloud and the falling snowing stars. They stayed like that, shoulder to shoulder and thigh to thigh, for far too long and watched small snowy Earth-like flakes fall to the ground.