Ways to Die in the Pegasus Galaxy, by Crysothemis (NC-17)

[incidental-fire.livejournal.com]

Rec Category: John Sheppard
Pairing: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Category: John Sheppard, slash, angst, first-time
Warning: Slash
Author on LJ: crysothemis
Author's Website: Chez Crysothemis
Link: Ways to Die in the Pegasus Galaxy

Why This Must Be Read:
One of my favorite types of John is oblivious!John, and this is a marvelous example of the angsty version. The basic idea is that John becomes (somewhat understandably) convinced that Rodney is interested in him, as Rodney starts to sneak into his bed to sleep after John's been injured. Of course, he doesn't reciprocate those feelings, because he's straight. Of course. However, after putting himself in danger again and again, for the sole purpose of "getting a snuggle" from Rodney, he finally starts to think that he might have those kinds of feelings after all. Then the question becomes, is Rodney actually interested at all? The characterizations are all very nicely done, and the sheer number of inventive ways the author puts John in harm's way is quite impressive.

The author also painted a cute piece of gen art, illustrating one of John's death-defying stunts. The author is one of those amazing people who is talented at both writing and drawing, and I highly recommend checking out both her fic and art if you haven't already.

The story has been read aloud by villainny, and she did a brilliant job of capturing John's ambivalence and confusion about his own thoughts and feelings, without feeling overdone in the slightest. It's posted here as an mp3 file, and here as a podbook, converted by cybel. The files are on general_jinjur's podfic hosting site.

Excerpt:
John turned his head to see Rodney lying next to him, face down against the corner of John's pillow, dead to the world. His arm felt warm and a little sweaty, and damn it, this was the weirdest attempt at seduction ever. All Rodney ever did was sleep, and, well, sure, he was kind of escalating the touching thing, but he was doing it when John was asleep, and how the hell had he managed to get in here and get in bed without making any noise? John was a light sleeper. He really was. Except, apparently, when Rodney was involved.

John sighed and reached for Rodney's hand. Rodney's arm was a dead weight, but he managed to shift it off of him and down onto the bed between them. Rodney was clearly not a light sleeper, because he never even stirred.

"Rodney," John said softly. Still, nothing. Great. "You know this is nuts, right? I can't . . . I mean, I don't know what the hell you think you're doing here, but I don't . . . I'm not . . . oh, fuck it."

John closed his eyes. Rodney's breathing was soft and steady, definitely still asleep. But if he couldn't say it when Rodney was sleeping, how the hell did he expect to be able to say it when Rodney was awake?

John sighed and plumped his half of the pillow. It wasn't like he couldn't sleep with Rodney here. That was . . . really surprisingly easy. He just had to close his eyes and let go.