"The Universe Is Shaped Exactly Like The Earth" by Minervacat (PG-13)

[rigel-7.livejournal.com]

Rec Category: John Sheppard

Pairings: John/Rodney
Categories: Atlantis, Character Study, John/Rodney, John/Rodney Friendship
Warnings: Slashy-esque
Author on LJ: minervacat
Author's Website: When The Floods Roll Back

Link: "The Universe Is Shaped Exactly Like The Earth"

Why this must be read:

John ended up in Atlantis by a quirk of fate. He sat in the chair of the Ancients in Antarctica and exchanged his relatively normal life for an existence on the edge of a knife in the Pegasus galaxy. This is a fic that explores the repurcussions of that choice on both himself and those around him.

This is a moving and insightful exploration of John as a character. I loved the tone and style that minervacat used throughout this piece. It's a fic that will stay with you for a while.

a teeny snippet

For the first time in his life, John saw a world beyond what was immediately in front of him.

Major, think about where we are in the solar system.

John almost dies on PX5-F43, the second month they’re in Atlantis, after taking an arrow tipped with something poisonous in between his ribs. When he wakes up, Rodney is sleeping in a chair beside John’s usual bed in the medical bay, and John’s chest aches like it’s on fire. He’s dying of thirst, he wants to puke, and he sort of wishes his mother was sitting in that chair instead of Rodney. Rodney is bound to say something caustic and biting about John’s apparent death wish, and John is too tired for that.

John twists, trying to get to the mug of water somebody’s left on the table beside his bed, but he only manages to knock the cup onto the floor and make the pain in his ribs scream even louder. He winces, and the mug bounces noisily where it lands, and Rodney wakes up. Rodney leans forward, elbows on his knees, and his face is a sea of worry, exhaustion and fear.

John knows all those expressions on Rodney’s face, he’s seen them before. He’s never seen them directed at him before.