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“Didn’t we already have this conversation?” Ronon grumbled, moving to dodge around Sheppard in the narrow corridor.
“Then I guess we’re gonna have it again,” Sheppard said, stubbornly blocking Ronon’s path. Again.
“Whatever.” Grinding his teeth, Ronon folded his arms and stared Sheppard down instead.
Or tried to, anyway. Glaring at people usually worked a whole lot better than this.
Sheppard refused to back down; just glared right back and didn’t move. “We’re not going anywhere. Not until you promise you won’t keep taking off on your own like that anymore.”
Ronon shifted on his feet and shrugged. “Why not.”
“Because—” Sheppard snapped; then clenched his jaw and took a deep breath before continuing, voice a little softer but still tight and tense. “Because you’re part of a team now. I know you were alone for a long time, but you’re not anymore. You have people who count on you to back them up. People you can count on to back you up, too. If you’d let us.”
Ronon raised a deliberately skeptical eyebrow. He still couldn’t figure out why Sheppard was making such a big fucking deal of it all. “So this is you backing me up, huh.”
“Damn it, Ronon, you know damn well that’s not—” Sheppard cut off, lips pressed into a thin line. “Okay, you know what? Fine. Forget it. Go ahead, run off alone and get yourself killed for no fucking good reason, if that’s what you want!”
Ronon glowered. The whole thing was making him feel… defensive. Twitchy. Guilty.
He didn’t like it.
“I’m more likely to get killed looking after everyone else than I am on my own,” he snapped, getting louder himself. “We both know it. And what the hell would you care if I did, anyway—”
“Because I care about you, you big, dumb, gorgeous fucking idiot!” Sheppard yelled, voice echoing in the empty hallway.
Ronon blinked into the sudden silence, anger evaporating. Sheppard’s eyes widened in shock and he turned beet red, mouth opening and closing soundlessly a few times.
“So…” Ronon finally said, lips twitching in a little smirk of understanding. That made more sense. “There something else we maybe need to have a conversation about?”
“Nope. We are not gonna talk about that.” Sheppard spun on his heel and stalked off down the hallway.
Grinning, Ronon loped easily after him. “Oh, we are definitely gonna talk about it.”