stargateficrec | Able to Fly by bussaiko (R)

Show: SGA
Rec Category: Alternate Universe
Characters: Rodney McKay, John Sheppard, Teyla Emmagan, Ronon Dex
Pairings: John/Rodney
Categories: Slash, Alternate Universe, Haunting, Adventure
Warnings: None
Author on LJ:

busaikko
Author's Website: AO3 profile
Link: Able to Fly

Why This Must Be Read: In this story John and Rodney meet when they're both kids. Well, sort of. Rodney's a kid. John is a ghost of a kid haunting a comic book. And he can drip water all over the floor, but he can't speak so that Rodney can hear him. Busaikko creates a fascinating world in this story, where magic is studied instead of science and the Stargate doesn't connect to other planets, but to the Other Side. Rodney and John's friendship is fun, their dedication to each other true to the show. But this isn't really a coming-of-age story, at least not entirely. There are a lot of things I could say about this story, but mostly it's a well-written, interesting read that hints at things, but never quite prepares you for what comes at the end.

The kid waved to get Rodney's attention, and then pointed from the sticker, to his chest. Rodney frowned, which earned him an impatient roll of watery eyes, and then another, slower round of pantomime. Then the boy shoved one hand into his pocket, pretended to pull out a wallet, and started counting out invisible coins.

"Urgh!" Rodney yelped as comprehension hit, dropping the comics and scooting away until his back hit the closet door. "Dead kid comics."

John Whatever crossed his arms and glared at Rodney. Then he pointed at the comics and himself, and raised his arms up, hands droopy, in a fairly good impersonation of the kind of ghouls who chased Scooby-Doo all the time, except they were never really from the Other Side. Usually they were just greedy people in rubber masks.

Rodney's heart was still pounding, and all the hair on his arms was on end, and his mouth was dry, but he tried to give John a smile anyway. "Haunted comics," he corrected himself. He looked at John, who had wet hair and had gone to his eternal unrest in a baby-blue polo shirt with the collar turned up, like a model in an Eaton's ad. "You're not scary enough to make my sister cry." He tried not to think too hard as he picked the comics up, gingerly. He spread them out on his desk so he could dry them, even though it was probably a waste of drying powder, and he'd have to make more, and he'd spent most of his money on comics.

With a put-upon sigh, he started his research, interrupting himself every few minutes to dry whatever John had dripped all over.

Rodney tried a few intermediate household enchantments, but what worked on polyester and dirty dishes was ineffectual on ghosts, apparently. He had to go all the way down to the creepy unfinished basement to borrow his mother's besom cast-iron cauldron. He used up some of the best elements in his alchemical kit in order to brew first a powerful dessicant, and then with a display of confidence he didn't actually feel, he went through the thirteen steps of Curse Breaking from his mother's copy of the Modern Women's Compendium. John jumped over the broom obediently as directed, even though he got confused when Rodney told him to face the east. Rodney half-expected John to vanish as soon as the enchantment terminated with a subtle but pervasive whiff of sulfur, but instead John just gave him a thumbs-up and grabbed a Berni Wrightson issue of Swamp Thing from the desk.

"I'm not feeding you," Rodney announced as John stretched out on the bed and flipped the cover open. Rodney felt like had lost control. John should be more grateful. "And you have to not be boring. Or stupid."

John looked up through a heavy fall of hair that looked, now that it was dry, like someone had stuck a bowl on his head and chopped around it. He held up one hand and made the okay sign, and went back to reading.