sga_flashfic | Friendly Persuasion, by billietallent (Harlequin challenge)

billietallent.livejournal.com posting in

Title: Friendly Persuasion
Author: billietallent
Rating: NC-17(ish)
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Notes: Unbeta'd, because I ran out of time. All mistakes are mine, gloriously mine. I'm new to the paddling pool, and I just couldn't pass this one up.
Summary: "He still wasn’t entirely sure why Great-Aunt Milly had left him her summer home, but he was starting to think it might have something to do with the fact that she’d never liked him that much."

Dr. Rodney McKay brought the rest of his luggage inside and dropped it in the middle of the living room floor. He did a slow turn, taking in his temporary lodgings. He sighed. “Geez, what a dump.”

He spent the rest of the day unpacking and discovering exactly how many things in the house had ceased to work correctly, which turned out to be quite a few. He still wasn’t entirely sure why Great-Aunt Milly had left him her summer home, but he was starting to think it might have something to do with the fact that she’d never liked him that much. He had assumed he’d only be here a few weeks, just to tidy up the house enough to sell it. Add some new drapes, or some paint or something. And if he managed to get some work done as well, hey, bonus. However, it was becoming increasingly obvious that the house needed a lot more work than that. After half an hour under the kitchen sink, mostly spent swearing at the plumbing, Rodney gave up. This was menial work, not something his delicate hands were designed for. He was going to have to hire someone to fix up this hell-hole before he could sell it. Yes, that was a good idea. Maybe he could go back to the little store where he’d bought his groceries and as the lady who’d helped him if she knew anybody. There had to be at least one handy-man or something in this town. Yeah, he’d go there tomorrow.

The next morning, Rodney crawled out of the ancient bed and attempted to make something resembling breakfast. Resigned to the fact that the range wasn’t working properly either, he settled for some toast and coffee. Thanking God that the toaster oven and coffee maker were a little newer, and thus still worked, Rodney decided to get some work done before he headed back to the store. He set up his laptops and threw himself into his work, as per usual, and in no time there were piles of papers strewn over the kitchen table. An hour later, there was a knock at the door. Annoyed at the interruption, Rodney whipped open the door. “Yes, what?”

“Most people say hello when they answer the door.”

Rodney glared at the lean, dark-haired man standing on his porch. “Yeah, well I’m not most people.” When the stranger just looked at him, seemingly a little amused, and didn’t say anything, Rodney rolled his eyes and relented. “Yes, fine, hello, can I help you?”

The stranger smiled ruefully, and held out the box he was carrying. “You’re Dr. McKay?” At Rodney’s nod he continued, “Elizabeth, from the general store, wanted you to have these. A few more things she figured you might need. And since I’m your closest neighbour,” he gestured up the low, sloping hill to where Rodney could just make out a chimney, “relatively speaking, I offered to bring it up to you.”

Rodney took the box, and glanced inside. A flashlight, some batteries and a few more groceries. Huh. Nice lady. He set the box down and looked back at the man, who seemed to be expecting a response. He nodded curtly, “Yes, well, how kind of you. Now, I really need to get back to work, so-” His brain poked him, and he suddenly switched topics. “Hey, do you know anything about plumbing?”

The stranger looked a little surprised at the sudden shift in conversation, understandably, since a second ago he was being told to leave in no uncertain terms. “Yeah, why?” He asked suspiciously.

Rodney’s face lit up.”Can you fix my sink? It’s....well, it doesn’t work.”
The stranger blinked, and seemed to consider this. He shrugged. ”Sure, why not, I’ll take a look at it.” Rodney moved to let the man pass, who stopped for a minute once he was inside. “My name’s John, by the way. John Sheppard.” He held out his hand.

Rodney gave it a perfunctory shake, and moved toward the kitchen. “Oh, yes, nice to meet you. I’m Rodney McKay, but then you knew that already. Now, the tools I found are right there, on the counter, and if you don’t mind, Mr. Sheppard, I’ll just get back to work while you look at the sink.”

“Call me John. And by all means, return to your work. It must be very important.” Rodney sat at the table and glanced back at John. The man looked serious, but there was a gleam in his eyes, and Rodney had the sneaking suspicion he was being mocked.

“Alright, John. And, yes, my work is very important.” He pointedly turned to the page of calculations he’d picked up and began studiously ignoring John.

John chuckled quietly and turned to examine the sink.

The two of them worked silently on their separate projects for the next couple of hours, Rodney mumbling to himself and John occasionally swearing at the old plumbing. The first time he’d done it Rodney had snorted and muttered, “That didn’t work at all for me, I doubt it will for you.”

John had grinned at him. “Probably not, but it makes me feel better.”

Rodney had looked up, intending to respond, but John’s engaging grin made him swallow hard. He had smiled tightly instead and turned back to his laptop. He had finally had to admit to himself that John Sheppard was a particularly attractive man, what with his lean physique, interesting hair, and flashing eyes, but that didn’t mean he had to like that particular bit of knowledge. He had ruthlessly pushed that train of thought aside and doggedly returned to work.

Finally, John stood up and turned the tap on the sink. A steady stream of clear water issued forth and John smiled at Rodney. “There you go, all fixed.”

Rodney got up from the table and walked to the sink. “Excellent. Thank you. Um, if you wouldn’t mind staying another minute, I have something I’d like to discuss with you.” While he had been working, and studiously ignoring traitorous trains of thought that popped up when they shouldn’t, Rodney had come up with a possible solution to his repair problem.

John shrugged, looking curious. “What’s on your mind?

Rodney gestured to the sink. “Well, you’ve done such a good job here, and there are a million other things that need to be fixed before I can sell this place. I’m going to assume that you can do other kinds of work, not just plumbing related,” he glanced at John for confirmation and John nodded, “things that I have no...interest in doing myself. I’ll pay you, of course.” He waited for John’s response.

John stared at Rodney for a second, then looked around at the kitchen. “Well, assuming I take this job- and I haven’t said I will- it won’t be cheap.”

Rodney gestured impatiently. “Yes, yes, whatever it costs. And why wouldn’t you take it? Do you have something better to do?”

John laughed incredulously. “I might, how do you know? You know, you’re a very rude and pushy person.”

“Yeah, well, tact and patience wastes time. So?”

John sighed. “Well, as a matter of fact, I don’t really have anything better to do, so, yes, I’ll fix up the house for you.”

Rodney smiled smugly. “I knew it. Ok, you start tomorrow, bring any tools you need that I don’t already have.” This time, he stuck his hand out, and John shook it slowly. He tried to ignore the feeling of that warm hand in his, but failed miserably. Afraid that it might show on his face, he took back his hand and turned abruptly. “Alright then, see you tomorrow.”

John nodded and turned towards the door. “See you tomorrow, Rodney.” Rodney thought he heard a hint of amusement in John’s voice, but decided he’d probably imagined it. He bypassed the kitchen table and went into the living room to collapse on the sagging couch. Well, he’d found a solution to his problem, but he couldn’t help thinking that this solution may have in fact created a whole new problem. He shook his head. No, he’d just have to deal with it. Just ignore it. He could do that, of course he could. He had a few weeks to just work now, in a place that was relatively quiet, and he was determined to do so. He made a vow to not let John Sheppard’s presence distract him. Yes, he’d be fine.

His vow lasted until part way through the second day, when John came in from working in the backyard without a shirt on. John stood at the sink, gulping a glass of water, and Rodney could do nothing but stare for a full minute. He took in the broad shoulders tapering to the nice, lean waist, the lightly defined pecs and the flat stomach, all covered in a dusting of dark hair. Crap, he was in trouble. He shook himself out of his stupor before John could catch him, and realized that he couldn’t remember a damn thing about what he’d been working on. Crap, he was in trouble. He stared at his laptop, pretending to still be working. John finished his drink and, to Rodney’s dismay, wandered closer. “What are you working on, anyway?” He came around the table to stand next to Rodney. Rodney kept his eyes on the laptop and tried to sound normal.

“It’s complicated. And technically, it’s classified.” He closed the laptop, which, of course, left him with no other choice but to look up at John. Damn. “I’m an astrophysicist.”

John nodded. “Ah, ok. So, how’s it coming, whatever it is?”

John’s grin was open and friendly, and his half naked body was too close for Rodney’s comfort. Agitated, Rodney snapped, “It’s fine. Look, isn’t there something you should be doing? I’m not paying you to interrupt my work.”

It was obvious that John was trying to hide a smirk, and there was no mistaking the humour in his voice this time as he left. “No, of course not. See you later.” Rodney opened the laptop back up. He stared, not really seeing anything, at the screen and frowned. This was not good.

The next few days passed uneventfully. John moved about the house, repairing things at what seemed to be an astonishing speed. The house workings just seemed to speak to him, something that Rodney was only slightly envious of. Eventually, after the last incident didn’t repeated itself in any form, Rodney started to relax. Yes, he would be fine.

Of course, that’s when the power decided to go out.

Rodney hadn’t noticed that the storm had picked up, hadn’t even noticed that it was now night, and the sudden eclipsing darkness startled him. He heard a curse from the basement, and then heavy footsteps on the stairs. John called out, “Rodney?”

Rodney got up from the table. “Yeah, I’m going to get that flashlight, just a minute.” He grabbed it from the cupboard, and went to where John had emerged from the basement. “Well, I guess we’re being forced to quit for the night.”

John nodded. “Yeah, no use trying to argue with Mother Nature. Hey, do you mind if I wait out the worst of it here? When it quiets down, I’ll head home.”

Rodney hesitated. Him and John, alone in the dark. This was so not a good idea. On the other hand...He looked out the window to the pouring rain, and he could hear the wailing wind. Occasionally, there was a crack of thunder and a burst of lightning. No, he couldn’t send anyone out in this, even if it was a fairly short walk. He sighed. “Yes, stay. I think the coffee should still be somewhat warm.”

After pouring both of them cups, Rodney lead them to the couch, and very carefully sat as far from John as possible. Which, give the size of the couch, was not far. Rather than leave the flashlight on for no real reason, John suggested they shut it off, in case they needed it later. Somewhat reluctant, Rodney pushed the button and plunged them into solid darkness again. They engaged in some stilted small talk, until John asked if it would be possible to get some lemonade to drink during the hot days, and Rodney had to explain about his severe citrus allergy, and that seemed to somehow break the tension. In short order, Rodney learned that as well as being an accomplished handy-man, John was also quite intelligent, well-read, and apparently had been a pilot before the Air Force had kicked him out for saving people. He found he was really enjoying the conversation, especially when he talked about his work, the parts that he could talk about, and found that John actually understood some of it. That didn’t happen very often.

Eventually, the conversation trickled off, and they were left silent in the dark again. The storm didn’t seem to want to let up anytime soon, and actually sounded like it may have picked up a little. John sighed. “Now what do we do?”

Rodney huffed in returned annoyance. “I don’t know, what do people usually do when they’re stuck in the dark with nowhere to go and nothing to do?”

John chuckled low, and the sound ran up Rodney’s spine. He shivered, then blushed as he realized the implications of his question. He was suddenly supremely glad it was dark. “Oh, come on, I meant besides that, and you know it.” He heard the rustle as John shifted on the couch, and then his voice came from slightly closer than it had before.

“I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

Rodney’s breath caught in his throat, and he froze. Did John just come on to him? “Wh-what?” he stammered, shocked.

John laughed again, and his hand landed on Rodney’s knee. Rodney jumped. “Come on, Rodney, I’ve seen how you look at me, how you react when I get too close. It’s no big deal. I’m interested, too, and it’s dark, and we have nothing else to do....” His had slid further up Rodney’s leg, and if his dick had perked up at John’s hand on his knee, it was now shouting its full approval of the current situation. Rodney tried to say something, but the ability of speech had been shocked out of him, and for a few minutes he was at the mercy of John’s onslaught. The man was certainly talented with his hand, and any minute now, John’s questing lips would find that spot behind his ear....Yup, there it was. Rodney groaned. John was rubbing his cock through his pants, and seemed to have taken a definite liking to his neck, and shit, this was going to be over real soon.

Suddenly, Rodney’s brain kick-started. He regained the ability to speak, and more importantly, his ability to think. He pushed John off of him, ignoring the pang of regret. “Wait, why are you doing this? Because you’re bored? Because there’s nothing else to do, and I’m the only one here?” Rodney was suddenly very angry. “Because you figured out that I’m attracted to you, and this seemed like a good time to take advantage of that?” He made to stand up.

John heard the movement and figured out his intentions, groping in the dark until he got hold of Rodney’s arm and pulled him back down. “How about none of the above?” John’s voice was quiet, but it had an edge to it. “Look, Rodney, I like you. I’ve liked you since I met you, ok? It just took me a little while to make sure you felt the same way.”

Rodney yanked his arm away. “You...you like me? What kind of crap is that, you barely know me. And I know I’m not exactly a likeable guy.”

John grabbed his arm again. His voice had lost the edge, and had turned soft. “Hey, that’s not true. I do like you, just give me a chance-“

“No. Just..no.” Rodney was shaking his head, confused. Rodney hated feeling confused. He pulled his arm out of John’s grip again, and stood up. “This...isn’t a good idea. I’m....I’m going to bed. You can show yourself out when the storm dies down.”

“Fine.” John’s voice was stony now, and as Rodney crept carefully to his bedroom, he figured that he’d have to find a new handy-man the next day. He lay in bed, not sleeping until he heard the door shut in the wee hours of the morning.

He woke up earlier than he normally did, feeling like crap, and slumped in front of his laptop. He didn’t really accomplish much in the next few hours, his mind repeatedly drifting to the events of the night before. He was pretty sure he’d made the right decision, but then why did he feel so guilty? He kept coming back to one thing: what if John had been telling the truth? He was still skeptical; it was pretty hard to imagine someone like John Sheppard wanting someone like him, but.....He glanced at the images on his laptop. He knew for a fact that stranger things happened. He shook himself. He was missing a really important point, here. Wether John liked him or not was kind of useless information, seeing as how he couldn’t afford to get involved with him, anyway. He regretted the way it had happened, but stopping it then had still been the right decision.

He was surprised when John came in a little while later, muttering a curt “‘Morning,” before descending to the basement. Rodney sighed with relief. At least John was willing to continue working, and this also gave Rodney the opportunity to attempt to make amends of some kind.

Three hours later, John came up for a glass of water, and Rodney got up hastily to retrieve it for him. John nodded his thanks, and drained the glass. He turned to go back down, but Rodney stopped him. “Wait, I ..I want to say something.” John turned around, looking as serious as Rodney had ever seen him. “I’m....I’m sorry for last night. I shouldn’t have said what I did, I have a tendency to just speak without thinking it through,” John’s eyebrows lifted, “which I’m sure you’ve realized. Anyway, I’d like to just forget about it, and move on. You finish your work, I’ll work on mine, and we can be.....friends. Just friends.”

John’s expression had softened, but his voice still held a bit of an edge. “Alright. You sure this....friends thing is going to work? I’m skeptical.”

Rodney nodded firmly. “It will work, if we make it work. Yes.”

And it might have, if Rodney hadn’t once again acted without thinking.

After their talk, the next few days went by smoothly. Rodney was accomplishing more than he had expected to, and the list of things that needed to be fixed was dwindling rapidly, thanks to John. They were courteous to each other, and even had occasional moments of true camaraderie; John’s laconic sarcasm intrigued and amused Rodney, and Rodney’s snarkiness seemed to hold the same appeal for John, as odd as that seemed to Rodney. Everything was fine. And if there seemed to be a low hum of electricity between the two of them, well, Rodney ignored it. Same with the occasional flashes of something he saw in John’s eyes, usually during the times when they were getting along particularly well. Nope, those didn’t exist either. Everything was fine.

Until the night “fine” came crashing down.

Rodney had gotten up for a drink, and was contemplating making some supper for the two of them, when John appeared from somewhere in the house, apparently to get a drink, too. Rodney handed him a glass, and listed off supper options while he watched John drink. John had obviously been very thirsty, and as he set his glass down, Rodney noticed a few gleaming drops of water that had escaped and were resting beside John’s mouth. Completely without thinking, Rodney reached out and collected those drops with his thumb, bringing it to his mouth to lick clean. He froze when he finally realized what he’d done. He looked back at John to find those flashing eyes staring at him, darkened with lust. Oh, crap.

John grabbed his wrist, and Rodney hurriedly set down the glass in his other hand on the counter. He was babbling, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, that was dumb, I wasn’t thinking-”

“Shut up,” John growled. Rodney shut up. “My restraint has a limit, and you just hit it.” And with that, he slammed Rodney up against the refrigerator. Rodney groaned as John landed against him, and when John started in on his neck, look at that, instant hard-on. Rodney groaned again, but it was drowned out by John’s panting speech, “Do you have any idea how crazy you make me? I’ve been going nuts the past few days; every time you smile I want push you against a wall and suck you until you come,” Rodney moaned loudly at the image that created, and wrapped his arms tightly around John. Fuck it, he was going to do this. John was still talking against his neck, “And every time you say something rude and snarky, I just want to throw you down on that table and fuck you until you can’t talk.” Rodney whimpered. Oh, God. He could feel John slowly unbuttoning his shirt, pausing to stroke the revealed skin as he went, and his knees weakened. About the time that John got his shirt completely unbuttoned and bent to take a taut nipple into his mouth, Rodney was gasping for breath, and seriously thinking he might just pass out from the sheer pleasure.

Suddenly, John’s head came back up, and he captured Rodney’s lips in a hard kiss. Rodney slid one of his hands into John’s spiky hair and held on for dear life. John was like the storm from the other night, no end in sight and getting wilder. He pulled back from Rodney again to stare into his glazed-over blue eyes. “I want...I need to fuck you. Hard and fast and now.” Rodney whimpered again. John appeared to make an attempt to reign in his raging libido, and he added, “If...if that’s not something you want, then-”

Rodney was already nodding, “No, that’s...that sounds good. Totally on board with that idea.”

John grinned ferally, grabbed Rodney’s arm and started propelling them to Rodney’s bedroom. “Good.”

Once there, everything seemed to speed up for Rodney. Suddenly he was naked, then John was naked, and oh, that was good. Then he was on the bed with John’s hands everywhere, touching him all over, and that was great. Then John was asking him if he had lube, yes, there in the drawer, and then there was a finger in him, and oh, that was fucking fantastic. He was so hard, and panting, and rambling things he couldn’t even understand, though John was grinning at him in wonder, so some of them must be good, and then John added another finger and brushed against his prostate, and Rodney almost went into orbit. At least, that’s what it felt like. Then, the fingers were removed, and Rodney whimpered at the loss, but John was asking him about condoms. He shook his head. “No, I don’t have any, I didn’t think I’d need them.”

John clucked his tongue in mock annoyance and reached for his jeans. Pulling a condom from his pocket, he grinned smugly. “You should always be prepared for any situation.”

Rodney sat up a little. “Where you expecting this to happen, or do you always carry condoms in your pocket for random sexual encounters?” He tried to hide the mild irritation in his voice, but didn’t quite succeed.

John laughed as he settled back on the bed. “Relax. If you must know, I’ve carried one since the day I met you.” He shrugged. “Call it wishful thinking.”

Rodney smiled, incredulous. “You are weird. I was so rude to you that day, and you wanted to sleep with me, even then?”

John grinned, sheepishly. “Yeah.” He lay back down beside Rodney, and began to play with his peaked nipples.

Rodney moaned at the sensation “Hey, whatever makes you happy, I guess.”

John licked at his neck. “You make me happy.”

Rodney pulled John’s head up to kiss him. “Same goes for me.” John grinned, and slid his hand down to grasp Rodney’s cock. Rodney gasped, and they were off again. When John finally put the condom on and slicked himself up, Rodney felt boneless, and like he’d been hard for hours. Maybe he had. He’d lost track of time. John slid into him carefully, his eyes on Rodney’s face for sighs of pain or discomfort, but he’d done an extremely thorough job of preparing him, and all Rodney felt was intense pleasure. John slid all the way in, and Rodney moaned, loudly. “Oh God, John, that...that’s good. Yes. Now.” John started to move, and Rodney wrapped his legs around John’s hips. “Come on, hard and fast, like you said, now, oh, god, yes!”

John slammed into Rodney, panting and cursing, and he reached down to bring one of Rodney’s hands to his cock. “Do it, I...I want to see you...oh, god, Rodney.”

Rodney took his cock in hand and stroked in time with John’s thrusts, fast and rough, four times, and then he was coming, shouting loudly. John pounded into him once more, then he too was crying out and collapsing over Rodney, the two of them lying in a panting, sweaty heap.

Afterwards, John got up and got a cloth to clean them up with, and then they lay curled up together, talking about everything, and nothing. During the conversation, Rodney learned how much John wanted to fly again, and well after John had finally drifted off to sleep, Rodney’s brain was churning. He wondered if the SGC needed a good pilot. General O’Neill was good at seeing people for who they really were, and if there was anyone who would scoff at a court-martial for saving lives, it was him. And hey, if this Atlantis expedition worked out.....Well, maybe they’d need pilots, too. Yeah, he’d make the call in the morning. Smiling smugly, Rodney slept.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Nine Inch Nails - Closer