Where You Want To Be (by semivowel) (M)
Jun. 28th, 2025 01:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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stargateficrecShows: SGA
Rec Category: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Characters: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard, Ronon Dex, Teyla Emmagan, Carson Beckett, Elizabeth Weir
Categories: M/M
Words: ~13,000
Warnings: no AO3-type warnings apply
Author on DW: n/a
Author's Website: semivowel on LJ
Links: part 1 on LJ & part 2 on LJ
(backups on Wayback) part 1 & part 2
podfic by constance_b on the Audiofic Archive
Why This Must Be Read: This is a classic, but it's never been reccd here and might be a bit overlooked as semivowel's fics are only on LJ. It's from John's POV as he finds himself increasingly attracted to Rodney after an AMTDI ceremony. There are adventures, and missions gone wrong, and through it all John pines and gives Rodney mixed messages and denies himself. But fear not, it all comes right in the end! A great read, and the podfic's also excellent.
The Ktalti have a plant the biochemists are convinced they can use to synthesize high strength narcotics – something close enough to the opioid family. It’s a pretty little weed with pale blue flowers, growing wild all over GTW-441. The Ktalti are more than happy to give it to them, nothing required in return. There’s just the matter of the welcoming and friendship ceremony.
No sooner are the words out of the mouth of the Ktalti magistrate, than Rodney can be heard muttering, “Of course, a ceremony. I’m sure it won’t involve anything humiliating or painful or morally objectionable.”
Teyla talks over him, taking the magistrate to one side to politely enquire as to the specifics of the ritual, but there’s a tension in her voice. Ronon begins idly playing with the knife on his belt loop. They’ve all grown wary –understandably so—of alien initiation rites, not always as innocuous as advertised.
John just keeps smiling, one hand on his P-90, wondering what the Ktalti will ask them to do, and whether or not it will be too much to ask. On TLI-398 he had had to sacrifice something that resembled a goat, but with sweet, sad eyes that he still can’t forget. But on PRQ-943, the Mapathans had just held their hands and chanted for an hour, then given them bushels of a green, nutty-tasting grain in exchange for the repair of some of their steam-powered farming equipment. On LXW-122, Ronon had shot a flaming arrow through a hoop. For the Birnai, Teyla had sat still while something like a five inch scarab walked the length of her body – John had had to look away before it even made it past her knee. For the promise of a leaf that could be brewed into a mild stimulant, they had each of them donated a teaspoon of blood, taken from the left palm, and dripped onto the yellow earth (“Believe me, Colonel, I’d probably be willing to part with a lesser used toe for the chance at something stronger than Athosian tea.”).
But the Furulians had demanded a display of leadership that involved beating his people. On RVR-355 they had wanted children, or the chance to make them. The Pritam had a nasty game of Russian Roulette with a poison arrow. The DanDa required a marriage alliance. The Jab had wanted to keep Rodney for a month.
They had walked away –or, when necessary, run away—from those planets, from the chance for salt, industrial grade alcohol, unrefined naquadah ore. John liked to think that there were certain things he wouldn’t do, but he wasn’t so naïve that he didn’t realize that the stakes kept changing. And the bar kept lowering.
Rec Category: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Characters: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard, Ronon Dex, Teyla Emmagan, Carson Beckett, Elizabeth Weir
Categories: M/M
Words: ~13,000
Warnings: no AO3-type warnings apply
Author on DW: n/a
Author's Website: semivowel on LJ
Links: part 1 on LJ & part 2 on LJ
(backups on Wayback) part 1 & part 2
podfic by constance_b on the Audiofic Archive
Why This Must Be Read: This is a classic, but it's never been reccd here and might be a bit overlooked as semivowel's fics are only on LJ. It's from John's POV as he finds himself increasingly attracted to Rodney after an AMTDI ceremony. There are adventures, and missions gone wrong, and through it all John pines and gives Rodney mixed messages and denies himself. But fear not, it all comes right in the end! A great read, and the podfic's also excellent.
The Ktalti have a plant the biochemists are convinced they can use to synthesize high strength narcotics – something close enough to the opioid family. It’s a pretty little weed with pale blue flowers, growing wild all over GTW-441. The Ktalti are more than happy to give it to them, nothing required in return. There’s just the matter of the welcoming and friendship ceremony.
No sooner are the words out of the mouth of the Ktalti magistrate, than Rodney can be heard muttering, “Of course, a ceremony. I’m sure it won’t involve anything humiliating or painful or morally objectionable.”
Teyla talks over him, taking the magistrate to one side to politely enquire as to the specifics of the ritual, but there’s a tension in her voice. Ronon begins idly playing with the knife on his belt loop. They’ve all grown wary –understandably so—of alien initiation rites, not always as innocuous as advertised.
John just keeps smiling, one hand on his P-90, wondering what the Ktalti will ask them to do, and whether or not it will be too much to ask. On TLI-398 he had had to sacrifice something that resembled a goat, but with sweet, sad eyes that he still can’t forget. But on PRQ-943, the Mapathans had just held their hands and chanted for an hour, then given them bushels of a green, nutty-tasting grain in exchange for the repair of some of their steam-powered farming equipment. On LXW-122, Ronon had shot a flaming arrow through a hoop. For the Birnai, Teyla had sat still while something like a five inch scarab walked the length of her body – John had had to look away before it even made it past her knee. For the promise of a leaf that could be brewed into a mild stimulant, they had each of them donated a teaspoon of blood, taken from the left palm, and dripped onto the yellow earth (“Believe me, Colonel, I’d probably be willing to part with a lesser used toe for the chance at something stronger than Athosian tea.”).
But the Furulians had demanded a display of leadership that involved beating his people. On RVR-355 they had wanted children, or the chance to make them. The Pritam had a nasty game of Russian Roulette with a poison arrow. The DanDa required a marriage alliance. The Jab had wanted to keep Rodney for a month.
They had walked away –or, when necessary, run away—from those planets, from the chance for salt, industrial grade alcohol, unrefined naquadah ore. John liked to think that there were certain things he wouldn’t do, but he wasn’t so naïve that he didn’t realize that the stakes kept changing. And the bar kept lowering.
