Mau Loa Means the Time We Have, by Gaia. (PG-13)

[thady.livejournal.com]

Rec Category: AU
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard
Category: AR, Rodney McKay, John Sheppard, earthside
Warning: none
Author on LJ: gaiaanarchy
Author's Website: none, as far as I know.
Link: Mau Loa Means the Time We Have

Summary: AU in which John never gets to Antarctica. He and Rodney meet anyway. On Hawaii.


Why This Must Be Read:

This story blew me away when I first read it, and I've since re-read it a couple of times. It has wonderful character development and I love the interaction between John and Rodney. My heart breaks for both of them.
I love how the story plays out and I realized what happened to Rodney only at the end of it.

There are three other stories written in this 'verse:
Goodnight, Chesty, Wherever You Are,
Ho'i Hou Ke Aloha and
Moose (although this is Emmagan/Everett).

Since the author left LJ, I don't think there'll be more.

John would notice him even if he weren't the only person he's ever seen sitting in the middle of a dance club reading a physics journal. Techno music throbs in the background, the lights from beneath the dance floor flashing, too much cologne drowning out even the thick scent of the ocean breeze. This guy looks completely out of place.

He's normal enough - short hair, a ski jump nose, a short-sleeved button down shirt, conspicuously plain in the land of loud print and Ray-Ban glasses, and the most beautiful blue eyes John had ever seen, rising in a flash to take John in from across the dance floor before darting back to the journal in his hands. But the fact is that you don't see people like him in clubs like this. It's a young crowd - barely legal twinks and gym-rats on 'I'm too pretty for college' vacation. John himself almost feels old, but the surf has been kind to his six-pack and people have always said that he looked younger than his years.

John isn't intending to go over there, not really. He always comes to this particular bar on this particular beach for a single reason - to pick up a quick, meaningless screw. He comes here when even looking out at the crash of the waves on the shore sounds like screams and gunshots. He comes here to send a big fat fuck-you to the bastards that sent Jake on that mission and then damned John for caring enough to fix their mistake. John comes here to forget all the complicated things in his life, and if this guy is anything, it's complicated.

But John has also been known to put the curiosity in the dead cat, so at the second appreciative look the guy gives him, he has to smirk wantonly back. Hey, in bars like these, it's practically required. But when the guy looks flustered and goes back to reading instead of watching John cross through the sweaty bodies grinding on the dance floor, John's not put off. In fact, he's even more intrigued.

Comments

[fishbaum.livejournal.com]

Wow. I've been reading pretty voraciously in SGA for about a year or more, and never saw this one before. Blew my mind. Fantastic story -- can't decide whether to re-read it right away, or jump to the others you mention in the series.

Thanks for turning me on to this one!

[thady.livejournal.com]

Thank you for letting me know! And yes, it's a very engaging story. :)