how to flirt: discussion questions

[aesc]

Flirting class offered to German computer geeks.

Questions for class discussion:
What are the odds Rodney ends up in this class, by one means or another? (sheafrotherdon credits this to Jeannie's interference)
What are the odds that the scruffy guy in the math doctoral program isn't in it, because he's absurdly hot and sucks in grads, undergrads, and faculty like an exceptionally disheveled black hole?
What are the odds that such a story will end happily?

In other news: I'm still about six weeks behind on reading and commenting, but I'm getting there ♥ Look out, inboxes of the world.

I also got caught up on SPN S4. Overall I like it--I'm quite enamored of Castiel (Misha Collins come to meeee...), but I really really really wish the writers would ease up on the bitch/skank/whore references to Ruby and other demons that are gendered as female. YES, we get it, women are demonic, horrible, and sexually promiscuous, you can stop now writers, kthx.

Also, my parents' computer is being whiny and not letting me download the last SGA episode. WTF COMPUTER.

Comments

[bitter-crimson.livejournal.com]

DESPITE HIMSELF AND THE FACT THAT HE ~KNOWS~ THIS FLIRTING STUFF IS ALL JUST A TRIVIAL DISTRACTION FROM HIS MORE IMPORTANT WORK IN PHYSICS, RODNEY CANNOT HELP BUT BE DRAWN TO REWRITING THE SUPPOSED "RULES" OF FLIRTING. ONE DAY, HE GIVES IN TO TEMPTATION AND STARTS UP A NEW LAB NOTEBOOK, WHICH HE HAS UNOFFICIALLY TITLED IN HIS HEAD, "THE JOHN SHEPPARD SCHOOL OF FLIRTING: A CASE STUDY." (HE IS STILL TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHERE HE IS GOING TO BE ABLE TO PUBLISH THE PAPER WHEN HE FINALLY COMPLETES IT.) AND HE KEEPS STUDIOUS NOTES ON EVERY POTENTIALLY FLIRTY THING JOHN DOES, AND SOMETIMES WHEN HE FEELS A MOMENT OF COGNITIVE DISSOCIATION WHERE HE REALLY CAN'T BELIEVE THAT HE AND JOHN ARE ACTUALLY TOGETHER, HE OPENS THE NOTEBOOK UP AND REREADS SOME OF WHAT HE HAS WRITTEN THERE AND THINKS TO HIMSELF, "WOW, THAT IDIOT REALLY ~DOES~ LOVE ME." [RODNEY: "THAT IS COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS, I WOULD NEVER DO SOMETHING THAT CHEESY. HMPH."]

THE HARD PART IS KEEPING JOHN FROM NOTICING THE NOTEBOOK. RODNEY ACTUALLY HAD TO DESTROY THE ORIGINAL COPY B/C JOHN BEGAN ASKING HIM WHAT HE WAS ALWAYS SCRIBBLING, AND NOW RODNEY TAKES GREAT CARE TO WRITE EVERYTHING IN THREE LAYERS OF ENCRYPTION.

(OF COURSE, JOHN DOESN'T LET ON THAT HE BROKE RODNEY'S ENCRYPTION SCHEME AFTER A WEEK AND A HALF. BUT JOHN, YOU SEE, KEEPS ALL HIS NOTES ON RODNEY'S FLIRTING IN HIS HEAD, SO HE CAN ACCESS THEM AT ANY TIME.)

[aesc.livejournal.com]

IN THE MOMENTS WHEN HE THINKS THAT MAYBE KEEPING A NOTEBOOK ON FLIRTING WITH JOHN SHEPPARD MIGHT BE A BIT TOO NEUROTIC EVEN FOR HIM HE REMINDS HIMSELF OF THE LONG, PROUD TRADITION OF OBSERVATIONAL AND EMPIRICAL SCIENCE, AND BESIDES HE'S SURE THERE'S SOME JOURNAL OUT THERE SOMEWHERE (MAYBE LIKE A PEER-REVIEWED VERSION OF VOGUE OR WHATEVER, OR MAYBE GQ) THAT WILL TAKE IT, COS IT'S ALWAYS GOOD TO HAVE ANOTHER PUBLICATION ON HIS ADMITTEDLY VERY IMPRESSIVE CV, AND MAYBE HE COULD EVEN WRITE A BOOK.

ALTHOUGH THAT WOULD BE A HORRIBLE IDEA, HE REALIZES, BECAUSE THEN OTHER PEOPLE WOULD START FLIRTING WITH JOHN, AND THAT'S ONE OF THE THINGS HE PUTS IN THE "POSSIBLE DANGERS OF ENLIGHTENING THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY AS TO THE PROPER METHOD OF FLIRTING WITH JOHN SHEPPARD" LIST. ONE DAY AFTER HE'S BROKEN THE ENCRYPTION, JOHN FINDS THE LIST AND TRIES TO FIND A WAY OF TELLING RODNEY THAT SOMETIMES THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY JUST ISN'T READY FOR CERTAIN DISCOVERIES.

[hilarytamar.livejournal.com]

Please tell me you both accept bribes. And then tell me what I need to send and where.

[bitter-crimson.livejournal.com]

I LIKE COOKIES! LOL

[hilarytamar.livejournal.com]

What kind and where? *readies cookie tin & packing supplies*

[bitter-crimson.livejournal.com]

HAHA, WELL, I THINK WE HAVE ACTUALLY FINISHED FOR NOW, SO I'M GOOD. *POINTS DOWN* ;D BUT THX FOR THE THOUGHT!

[bitter-crimson.livejournal.com]

AFTER A FEW MORE ADDITIONS TO ~THE LIST~ ("J.S.'S UNDERGRADS ALL FLUNK OUT OF MATH AND BECOME ENGLISH MAJORS DUE TO INABILITY TO CONCENTRATE ON PROOFS"; "ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF IN PHYSICS DEPARTMENT BEGIN POISONING R.M.'S COFFEE IN ATTEMPT TO SECURE J.S. FOR THEMSELVES") RODNEY BEGINS TO BELIEVE MORE AND MORE STRONGLY THAT PERHAPS HE SHOULDN'T CONTINUE TO PURSUE THIS AVENUE OF RESEARCH AFTER ALL. HE WRITES IN THE NOTEBOOK LESS AND LESS FREQUENTLY UNTIL FINALLY HE ALMOST FORGETS ABOUT IT, TUCKED AWAY IN THE BOTTOM OF ONE OF THE DRAWERS IN HIS OFFICE DESK.

THEN, ONE DAY RODNEY ENTERS HIS OFFICE TO FIND THE NOTEBOOK, ~THAT NOTEBOOK~, SITTING OPEN ON HIS DESK IN HIS LOCKED OFFICE, AND IMMEDIATELY PANICS. HE RUSHES OVER TO THE NOTEBOOK AND SEES, IN CRISP GREEN INK AND A FAMILIAR PENMANSHIP, PRINTED ON A NEW PAGE:

HOW TO TELL IF J.S. IS SERIOUS ABOUT FLIRTING
SUBJECT IS FLIRTING WITH DR. R.M.

CASES IN WHICH BEHAVIORS WHICH HAVE BEEN AS IDENTIFIED AS FLIRTING IN J.S. ACTUALLY MEAN NOTHING
EVERYONE ELSE

AND, RODNEY VOWS THAT LATER, HE'S GOING TO DEMAND TO KNOW HOW JOHN BROKE INTO HIS OFFICE, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, ~BROKE HIS ENCRYPTION~ (WHICH, YEAH, RODNEY KNOWS JOHN'S KIND OF A MATH WHIZ AND ALL, BUT REALLY, ~THREE LAYERS OF ENCRYPTION~, AND MAYBE THIS SHOULDN'T TURN RODNEY ON AS MUCH AS IT DOES), BUT AT THE MOMENT (RODNEY AND JOHN SOMEHOW BOTH SQUISHED TOGETHER ON THE NARROW COUCH IN JOHN'S OFFICE, PANTING HEAVILY INTO EACH OTHERS' MOUTHS), HE'S OBVIOUSLY GOT MORE IMPORTANT WORK TO DO.

(AND PERHAPS, YOU KNOW, THIS COULD LEAD TO A FUTURE WORK: 1001 WAYS TO MAKE JOHN SHEPPARD ORGASM. NOT THAT HE WOULD EVER DREAM OF PUBLISHING THAT ONE, AHEM.)

[aesc.livejournal.com]

LATER, AFTER RODNEY HAS SCARED OFF THE SIMPERING UNDERGRADUATE WHO KNOCKED ON JOHN'S DOOR ASKING ABOUT NEXT WEEK'S EXAM AND IS MASHED UP AGAINST JOHN ON THE INCREDIBLY NARROW COUCH, STICKY AND DELIGHTED WITH JOHN AND THE WORLD IN GENERAL, HE DOES ASK ABOUT THE ENCRYPTION AND IF JOHN KNEW HOW INCREDIBLY HOT THAT WAS, AND JOHN SHRUGS IN THAT ALSO MADDENINGLY HOT WAY OF HIS AND SAYS, WELL, I KNOW YOU LIKE MATH... AND I DON'T DECRYPT JUST ANYONE'S STUFF, YOU KNOW.

AND RODNEY HAS TO PUSH HIM BACK DOWN INTO THE COUCH AGAIN, AND SOMEWHERE BETWEEN JOHN'S TONGUE IN HIS EAR AND JOHN'S HANDS DOWN HIS BOXERS, DECIDES HE MIGHT JUST COMMIT HIS NOTEBOOKS TO POSTERITY.

[bitter-crimson.livejournal.com]

(I THINK THAT IS A GOOD ENDING, Y/Y?)

P.S. I LOVE YOU :D

[aesc.livejournal.com]

(I THINK SO YIS!)

*HIGH-FIVES YOU!*

[pollitt.livejournal.com]

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

You both are FANTASTIC. FANTASTIC.