sga_flashfic | Hide & Seek, by tigs (search and seizure challenge)

Title: Hide & Seek
Author: tigs
Characters: Zelenka, McKay, Sheppard
Rating: G/Gen
Disclaimer: So not mine.
Summary: A game of hide and go seek in the dark.

Author's Notes: Written on a whim this morning, because I felt like writing Zelenka. Far more 'search' than 'seizure'. Not beta'd.

There are many things that Radek expects to see when he walks into the dining hall in the middle of the night in search of a midnight snack: empty tables, a basket of cookies or rolls, whatever the cooks chose to make extra of that day, maybe someone catching up on their letter writing. What he does not expect to see is this: Rodney McKay diving behind the buffet table.

He hears the slap of skin landing heavily on tile, the muffled ‘oof’, and while he thinks that maybe he should just leave—because really, does he *want* to know?—he is already walking forward, taking a roundabout route between the tables. He moves slowly, quietly, because it feels like the thing to do, but before he can turn the corner of the buffet and ask Rodney what is going on, a hand wraps itself around his wrist, tugs, and the next thing he knows, he is on the ground, too.

Rodney does not give him the satisfaction of asking what is going on, though.

"Could you have tried to be any *less* stealthy?" he hisses even as Radek is getting his balance back, and Radek frowns at him, rubbing at his wrist. He opens his mouth to speak, but Rodney is not done yet. "Could you have tried to draw any *more* attention to the fact that you were *tracking* me across the room?"

Radek thinks about denying, about saying that really, he was in search of cookies and that everyone knows they are more likely to actually be on the plate if you sneak up on them, but Rodney is alternating between twitching and sitting very still, obviously listening.

"Like you are the definition of stealth yourself," Radek whispers back. "I walk into the room, take one quick look around, and then there, out of the corner of my eye, I see Dr. Rodney McKay, Mr. Ph D-times-two, diving behind the buffet table. Tell me, does this seem to be normal behavior to you?"

Rodney stops twitching and listening long enough to glare at him, and then he says, "I’m hiding from Sheppard."

Like that should explain it all.

Like he *regularly* spends his nights sitting on the floor of the dining hall hiding from the Colonel. Some of Radek’s skepticism must show in his eyes, because Rodney sighs and mumbles, "We’re playing hide and go seek."

"You and Colonel Sheppard," Radek says slowly, "are playing hide and seek. Please excuse me if I am asking a stupid question, but why?"

For a moment, he thinks that Rodney is not going to answer. That he is going to ignore the question in hopes that Radek will drop it, but before Radek can protest, or even open his mouth, Rodney hisses, "Shhh," and wraps a tight hand around Radek’s forearm. It is then that Radek hears the sound of someone walking down the hallway outside of the dining hall. They are quiet footsteps, stealthy, but they are there. They pause, and then there is the sound of another door opening, one that is not to the dining hall, and Rodney’s grip relaxes, and Radek lets out a breath that he wasn’t even aware that he was holding.

"He was telling Ronon and Teyla about it at dinner tonight," Rodney whispers, still managing to sound somewhat put upon. To give the impression that he is an unwilling participant in all of this, even though Radek knows him well enough to know that if he really was, he wouldn’t be doing it. That he would have complained until the Colonel begged him *not* to play.

Rodney continues: "He was telling them about all the fun he used to have in college, playing hide and go seek in the quad in the dark. And Teyla, I think, was the one who said that she would be interested in learning to play, and Ronon made some comment about how they’d had some training exercise back on his planet that sounded similar, and oh, yeah, did he mention that he’d been the champion of his unit? And then Sheppard asked me if I was in and I said no, and yet somehow, here I am."

This time, it is Radek who says, "shhh," because as he is speaking, Rodney’s voice gradually rises, and by the time he has finished his explanation, he is nearly speaking in a normal voice. Quietly for him, yes, but normal for anyone else.

"Yes, right, shhh," Rodney says, and then he draws himself up into an even tighter ball, pressing his back even more firmly to the buffet table as if that will negate the fact that he would have given himself away if the Colonel had been right outside their door.

In the ensuing silence, they hear the door down the hallway open again, and Radek feels Rodney freezing beside him, feels himself doing the same thing, despite the fact that he is not even playing. The footsteps are moving closer, and then they are at the door to the dining hall, because it is sliding open, slowly, loudly, and Rodney is burying his face between his knees. Radek can hear him trying not to breathe.

As he does, Radek stares at him. Thinks that this Rodney, hiding here, is really not the same one that came through the Gate nearly two years before. He knows that Rodney has changed, of course, because even if he had not noticed the changes himself, many people have commented on it, to Radek and to each other behind Rodney’s back. Yes, he is more adventuresome. Yes, he seems to have grown accustomed to the trips off world. Two years ago, though, Rodney would no more have played a game of hide and seek in the middle of the night than, well, he would have regularly spent time outside of work with people who were not scientists.

Two years ago, Rodney would not have been *asked* to play a midnight game of hide and seek and that, perhaps, is the biggest change of all. Somehow, he has gone from being one of the least sociable men that Radek has known, to, well, having friends in many high places.

And Radek is one of those friends, which is why he does what he does next. He pokes Rodney on the shoulder, and when the other scientist turns his glare on him, Radek mouths, "I have a plan." He raises his fingers to his lips, to show Rodney that he should remain quiet.

Then, he turns and shifts so that he is on his feet, and he fiddles with his shoe laces, and when Colonel Sheppard steps inside of the room, calling, "Anyone in here?" that gives Radek the perfect opportunity to poke his head up above the table and say, "Yes? I am here?"

Radek becomes the target of a flashlight beam then, and he blinks many times in the brightness of it before the Colonel points it off to the side of the room again.

"Dr. Zelenka," Sheppard says, drawls. "What are you doing up and about?"

"I am tying my shoe," Radek says, as he stands and reaches for one of the few that remains on the plate on the buffet table. "And also getting cookies. I have been up for too many hours, and I need nourishment in the form of sugar if I am to finish the equation that I am working on tonight."

Sheppard laughs and says, "Understood." A pause. "You haven’t seen McKay around anywhere in here, have you? We’re playing a little game of hide and seek and, well, it seemed to me that he’d think the mess was a good place to hide. That way he wouldn’t starve if it took me too long to find him."

Beside Radek’s leg, Rodney twitches, but he manages not to make any noise. Radek tips his head to the side, as if thinking, absorbing, and then nods gravely and says, "Yes, yes, I did see Rodney a few minutes ago."

He tries not to wince at the sudden vice-like grip that is wrapped around his ankle, smiles benignly through the pain. "I was on my way here and I saw him duck in to a storage closet. Possibly the one where the chocolate flavored MRE’s are kept. Would you like me to show you where it is?"

The Colonel stares at him for a moment, obviously not believing him, and then he says, "Okay, yeah. Sure. That’d be great."

"Good, good. Let me just finish tying my shoe," Radek says, "and then we shall go."

He bends down again, fiddling with his laces, and says under his breath, barely speaking at all, "After I get him to leave the room, go into the kitchen. There is an empty cupboard under the sink. He will not find you there."

Rodney nods, his eyes wide. Then Radek stands again, says, "Good, now I shall not trip over my laces while going down stairs. Is good, yes?"

"Yes," the Colonel says, laughs, and even as Radek moves out from behind the buffet table, grabbing another cookie, he sees Rodney starting to move. He joins the Colonel by the door, escorts him out of the room, and points in the direction of the ‘supply closet’ that he saw Rodney hide in, hoping to keep the Colonel’s attention diverted long enough for Rodney to get through the door and into the kitchen.

A moment, that is all he needs, and it is all he has, because the Colonel says, "You know what? You go on ahead, Dr. Zelenka, check it out. I think there are just a few places that I want to check out in mess first, if you don’t mind. Not that I don’t believe you, of course, but—"

"Of course," Radek says. Then he gestures back at the dining hall. "Please, look. You will not find anything." If Rodney followed his advice, anyway, the Colonel won’t.

And he doesn’t, because a few minutes later, the Colonel is back, empty handed and giving Radek a look that is more than confused. Like he is sure that Radek is lying, and doesn't know why he appears to be wrong.

"You were saying something about a supply closet?" the Colonel asks, finally, and Radek nods. Yes.

As they walk away, Radek imagines that he can hear Rodney’s sigh of relief behind him. He says, "Did I mention that I was a champion searcher in the game of hide and seek when I was a young boy?" He does not mention that he was a champion hider, too.

End.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

oxoniensis.livejournal.com

(1) I love having more Zelenka fic.

(2) I love to see the team off duty, interacting and even playing.

(3) I loved this!

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