Pure Bodies and Clean Hearts by Speranza (Virgin Challenge)

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

Title: Pure Bodies and Clean Hearts (26k)
Author: Speranza
Pairing: McShep
Summary: John gets a do-over.

Thanks to shalott, giddy, and res for beta beyond the call of duty.

Comments

[nestra.livejournal.com]

God, yes, the years had passed while Rodney had been working; the stream of time had dragged Rodney down and battered him against its own sort of rocks, and now it had brought him to John, gasping for breath and brand new.

*speechless with love*

[fairestcat]

GUH.

God, only you could make them all virgins and yet make it strangely believable.

[dogeared.livejournal.com]

Oh oh oh, I love John's fierce and overwhelming joy, and the stream of time had dragged Rodney down and battered him against its own sort of rocks, and now it had brought him to John, gasping for breath and brand new is just so lovely.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

and God, Rodney loved him, Rodney would have sex with him and still give a damn about him tomorrow--and that thought drove him to lift his mouth off Rodney's and fumble blindly for his wrists.

It's as if he had a second moment of rebirth right then.

Yes.

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

The ending was absolutely adorable.

[ladycat777.livejournal.com]

I love the thought of all of them being virgins -- and John's giddy happiness as he's made new again.

And, of course, sex that leaves me breathless. Thank you!

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

omg...leave it to you to take a difficult concept (how to get folks in their thirties to still be virgins) and turn it on its head. i loved the making him a virgin again moment only to sdquee in delight about all the others not *needing* it!!!

and the john/rodney scene was marvelous, the best i love you i think i've ever read, hostile, annoyed, both in giving and receiving...

i loved the style you chose here, all lush and beautiful and your language is like the currents that are dragging john along...

thank you!!!

[amalthia]

I really liked this. :)

[farwing.livejournal.com]

This is extremely awesome and interesting and hot.

Mispronunciation Award

[wordwitch.livejournal.com]

And the first thing I thought on seeing your title was Ces is writing The Professionals fic now???

OH well!

[kimberlite.livejournal.com]

He was careening through the water at top speeds, and he tried to be really alive to it, because this might be his last wild ride, and there were worse ways to die. He'd always wanted to go out flying--doing barrel rolls at enough Gs that he'd black out before he crashed-- but this was pretty damn close.

Wow -- that was quite a ride. Loved how John thought about vertical bearings and other pilot stuff. Very cool how alive he felt in the water and then how new and sensitized afterward. Poor Rodney, attracting the wrong type of attention, but yay for happy (and hot and funny) endings. :)

[rae-fa.livejournal.com]

Oh that was really good! From John drowning/being born again, to not being able stay a virgin for very long...to the sex (which was very hot!)

Fantastic!

[panisdead.livejournal.com]

Awwww. I was almost sorry to see the Virgin Warrior Guild despoiled; that would have made great comic book. Teyla and Ronon will have to recruit. :)

[kylielee1000.livejournal.com]

I think this is the summary, really: God, yes, the years had passed while Rodney had been working; the stream of time had dragged Rodney down and battered him against its own sort of rocks, and now it had brought him to John, gasping for breath and brand new.

This bit ties in the water and the renewal, which are great themes here. I liked that the renewal was hard, because it should be.

[sp23.livejournal.com]

"Meanwhile, you were a virgin for, like, three hours," Rodney said.

Hee! Yeah, that virginity thing just couldn't stick on John. *g* Really enjoyed this.

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

Great story. I was also skeptical about their process, but you did a very believable job at painting John's transformation. Love John and Rodney at the end.

[corinna-5.livejournal.com]

I love the fact that you made Rodney a believeably non-pathetic virgin, and I loved John's rebirth completely.

[mutecornett.livejournal.com]

Years of memories seemed to be slipping away--some vague flash of losing his virginity on a basement sofa, fading snapshots of three-day-pass love affairs, the back seats of cars, grimy men's room doors. Now, there was only the cramped, dark tent, Rodney's hands tenderly sliding over his bruised and scraped skin, Rodney's mouth, wet and soft against his.

I really, really love that part, and I love *how* you made John a virgin again, not by physically erasing his virginity but *emotionally*, by making him so aware of life for the sheer pleasure of it through his nearly dying, like a teenager, and by having this new love thing with Rodney sort of blot out the past. I'm not making any sense, but I just really, really liked that.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

This was wonderful, wonderful, and absolutely the perfect thing to read tonight (and pretty perfect in general). I so want John to have that second chance, and be able to connect with people, really--and not just with Rodney (though there was some glorious connecting with Rodney in this story), but with the whole team, which you show here, beautifully.

[porntestpilot.livejournal.com]

Wait, are they going to get kicked out of the sacred forest now?

Oh man, Rodney, yeah, I didn't even think about that second thing, but eww. Damn. This was amazing per usual. Nifty idea too.

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

Adorable! And I love the metaphor.

[wildmachinery.livejournal.com]

and God, Rodney loved him, Rodney would have sex with him and still give a damn about him tomorrow

omg so much love.

[sffan.livejournal.com]

Awesome story. The sex scene was lovely and warm.

[oxoniensis.livejournal.com]

A baptism into virginity - you made it work so very well!

[lillian78.livejournal.com]

I was hesitant to put anything else in this category before but I will now..your fics are officially better than chocolate