aesc: (Default)
aesc ([personal profile] aesc) wrote2007-04-28 11:57 am

.ficlet: Lenses - McKay/Sheppard

McShep. Totally [livejournal.com profile] dogeared's fault for making me fangirl over Rodney in glasses.

For which, see also this.

Part of Nantucket!verse. Featuring bespectacled!Rodney and dirty!John.


John's spent the last two hours gardening. Not so much "gardening" as "weeding," because their backyard is a haven for every dandelion seed in on the Atlantic coast. He's also spent the last three hours not seeing Rodney, two of those because Rodney had gone into town and one because Rodney's been in hiding since returning.

Rodney had refused, flatly and incontrovertibly, to let John go with him to the optometrist's that afternoon, and when he had gotten back, had vanished somewhere--not easy, considering how big (or not-big) their house is.

John had tried to point out that Rodney really only needs glasses for reading, but Rodney had looked at him and said "Yes, and that's like saying I only need my lungs for breathing," which is true enough, John supposes. A book, a journal, his laptop... If it has words or numbers on it, Rodney will probably read it. Even in bed John feels like text, Rodney's eyes blue and bright and focused, reading him while his fingers track over John's body to mark his place.

There's a lot more tied up in Rodney's new pair of glasses than resentment over growing older. John's seen one picture of Rodney's parents, both of them wearing hideous (even by seventies standards) clothes and glasses with formidable black frames, a reminder in faded colors that Rodney has a set of genes without happy memories attached. Rodney's five in that picture, as pugnacious and irritated then as he is now, but with a lot more hair.

Clicketyclicketyclickety comes from the kitchen, which means Rodney's come out of hiding, probably driven to it by boredom. John gives him a few minutes before stripping off his gloves and wandering, very casually, inside.

Bright spring sun gives way to the shade of their kitchen, a moment to adjust and when John blinks away shadows, there Rodney is, bent over his laptop and typing away like a man possessed, and light from the screen catches and bounces off the lenses, limns the slim metal frame.

John swallows.

Rodney looks up. The patterns of light change, bending to match the curvature of glass.

"What?" Spiky and impatient, and Rodney's mouth is thin with it.

"They look nice." John gestures vaguely at Rodney's glasses.

"Oh." Spikiness and impatience vanish as Rodney blinks at him, takes a second to assess John's sincerity, and then turns back to his laptop with a shrug and satisfied nod, as though he knew all along how good he looks in glasses, which is so profoundly untrue. "Well, thank you."

"You're welcome." He does look good. John takes the six steps necessary to cross the kitchen and bends over Rodney, hands sliding along the broad, flat arc of Rodney's shoulders, down his arms to brace his weight on the tabletop, bracketing Rodney's suddenly-stilled fingers. There's dirt in John's fingernails, despite the gloves, bracelets of it around his wrists. Rodney points this out.

"Hm." John noses the small, soft place behind the fold of Rodney's right ear, pushing at the temple piece where it hooks over. Rodney makes a humphing noise that might have been "Sweaty," or something else entirely. "They make you look smart," he says to the curve of Rodney's neck, the hint of vein and tendon riding beneath the skin.

"I don't need the help," Rodney tells him, but tilts his head and leans back anyway, and the sun through the kitchen window catches in metal and glass, in Rodney's smile.



ETA: And I have added "rodney mckay's glasses" to my interest list. Yes, I am that obsessed. Don't look at me like that.

[identity profile] dogeared.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 04:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh my god, oh my god *keeeeens* oh this is so my kryptonite. :">

Even in bed John feels like text, Rodney's eyes blue and bright and focused, his fingers tracking over John's body like marking his place AFSDA:FSLSKF:JLSF *flails* oh that's completely beautiful, and Rodney's five in that picture, as pugnacious and irritated then as he is now OH WEE RODNEY, and weeding, and John's dirty hands, and sliding along the broad, flat arc of Rodney's shoulders eeeeeeeeee.

Oh, I have SUCH love for them getting older (I was just gazing happily at Joe's gray hairs the other day)—asdf;lsakj *loves this completely*

*goes back to polishing furniture in a daze*

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 04:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh my God, if there were ever an episode or a photo or SOMETHING with Rodney wearing glasses, his orangefleeceDOOM!vest with a blue shirt underneath, and those lovely butt-enhancing BDUs, I would die. I would just up and die from spontaneous estrogen-related combustion. I WOULD DIE, I tell you.

As it is, I tried to fit in lots of AFSDA:FSLSKF:JLSF kryptonite: glasses, dirt, shoulders, little!Rodney, a dash of angst, domesticity, and sweaty kissing at the kitchen table.

*loves this completely*

*hearts* Yes, well, it's still your fault. :D

[identity profile] ruggerdavey.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 04:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Glasses!fic! Rock!

[identity profile] jmchau.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 04:43 pm (UTC)(link)
thanks for that

[identity profile] chebonne.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 05:00 pm (UTC)(link)
*flails*

*flails some more*

yeah, I got nothin'

*flails yet again*

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 05:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Hee! You're welcome :)

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 05:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Hurrah for glasses!fic! Because you can never have enough hot four-eyed men XD

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 05:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Hee! *wriggles happily*

[identity profile] solvent90.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 05:10 pm (UTC)(link)
*weak noise* Oh, that just has everything. I'm caught, right now, on five year old pugnacious Rodney - *explodes with awww* - but also, also spiky impatient Rodney in glasses adgkjfkhjfdk and John nosing at glasses and just your phrasing, The patterns of light change, bending to match the curvature of glass, the hint of vein and tendon riding beneath the skin. Lovely.
ext_2087: SGA (Default)

[identity profile] tharaist.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 05:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Mmm... Glasses!

[identity profile] sloganeer.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 05:19 pm (UTC)(link)
OH, I have a long-standing boys-in-glasses kink, and this. Oh, and Rodney with his "I don't need the help" and John with his nosing and Nantucket! I am done for the day.

[identity profile] lilithilien.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 05:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Even in bed John feels like text...

I feel like such a geek because this line KILLED me! As does the thought of Rodney at five, pugnacious and irritated with lots more hair. Heh!

Fantastic story!
ext_1175: (Default)

[identity profile] lamardeuse.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 05:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Even in bed John feels like text, Rodney's eyes blue and bright and focused, his fingers tracking over John's body like marking his place.

My god, that's an utterly beautiful sentence. Love this.
siria: (Default)

[personal profile] siria 2007-04-28 06:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Rodney's five in that picture, as pugnacious and irritated then as he is now, but with a lot more hair.

Oh, this is possibly the best description of a wee Rodney I've seen yet. And Rodney in glasses! ♥

[identity profile] chebonne.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 06:06 pm (UTC)(link)
And I can't stop staring at your icons, both of them. Broad shoulders and hips that would make any sane woman blush... mmmmmmmmmm....

[identity profile] beadattitude.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 06:20 pm (UTC)(link)
You have the most beautiful turns of phrase. :;squeals softly::

[identity profile] lucythedragon.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 06:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Specs!fic! XD

I really enjoyed this.

[identity profile] madeline871.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 06:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Leave it to John to make Rodney feel better. *sighs*

[identity profile] ruggerdavey.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 06:48 pm (UTC)(link)
No, you really can't. :)

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 06:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much! And yay for teh specs!

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 06:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! It helps, writing about beautiful things :)

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 06:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Mmmmmohmygodyouricon.

I really need screencaps of that episode, yesyes I do.

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 06:52 pm (UTC)(link)
*explodes with awww*

Hee! I can't imagine Rodney as being anything other than pugnacious and impatient *g*

And thank you! *wibbles happily*

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 06:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much! I like the image of "reading" bodies, especially when they're poetry, like John's.

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2007-04-28 06:54 pm (UTC)(link)
I feel like such a geek because this line KILLED me!

It is for geeks everywhere :D

*snargle* Thank you!

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