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Happyfest Challenge Reminder
Hi, all! Remember that super awesome McShep Happyfest a bunch of you signed up for? Yep, that one. This is your friendly October reminder post, letting you know you have a little over three weeks until the November 1st posting date. Don't freak out, you can totally do this! We have confidence! And to encourage you, we're opening this post up for recs, cheerleading, idea-bouncing, and all that fun fest stuff. More about that at the end, though; first,chopchica and I have each come up with our top five fest-compliant fics to give you some inspiration and/or a reason to procrastinate. Fridays are made for procrastinating, after all!
Unamaga's Top Five
1. The First Pressing, by
There is absolutely nothing about this fic that I don't love with all my heart. There's so much darkness and potential darkness in canon that we never see dealt with, and this gives the team - Rodney and John especially - something so beautiful and alive to counter that it leaves me feeling so warm I go around for hours after reading with a big grin on my face. And that's not even mentioning the wonderful way she handles Rodney and John's relationship, which is just - ugh, so gorgeous.
“But the Wraith—” John says, breaking off when he realizes he doesn’t know how to demand a reason for her apparent lack of concern. He doesn’t know when he started thinking people had to justify being happy.
“The Wraith will come no matter what we do,” she says, and there it is, the inevitability he’s been waiting for, but it isn’t the same somehow and he looks at her for an explanation. She smiles at him, and it’s understanding and not at all unkind. “They hunger and they seek to destroy, but that is their choice, not ours. We cannot live our lives by what they have chosen. We still need to eat and live and love one another, dance and make music and laugh. Raise our children, harvest our crops. Celebrate every day we have.”
2. One Leg at a Time, by
I think the only way to sum this story up is: *snickers* The excerpt below is the beginning, and believe me, it only gets more fabulous from there. I have for many years been of the belief that everything always comes back around to pants; this fic proves me so gloriously right.
John Sheppard has learned a lot of things in his relatively short life, but there's only one thing he really knows, and that is that there are two kinds of people in this world: people who wear pants because they want to, and people who wear pants because they have to.
He hasn't made a study of who's who when it comes to this, but modesty aside, he's got a pretty good handle on it.
3. Advantage, by
Clever, completely absorbing, and incredibly hot; a triad of awesome. With a cherry on top. I love John and Rodney's dynamic here, the way they manage to snark at each other and need each other in the same breath. The aliens might have drawn attention to it, but they definitely did not make them do it.
"Let's not get hung up on details here," Rodney said, because how many interruptions could one conversation sustain? "The point is, the guards looked the four of us over and decided which one it would be to their advantage to, to remove from the negotiation, and they picked the major and slapped that slave-marking device on his forehead without asking anyone, and after that no one would listen to him. And they know something about Wraith strategy and tactics, but the other three of us don't have Major Sheppard's odd little knack for negotiation by randomness --""Hey," Sheppard protested.
"And so we got nowhere, revealed our presence, and showed them the gate and the jumper for nothing, and now Major Sheppard thinks he's my slave, and just please, please tell me you can undo this, Carson, because I can't have him tagging after me like an oversized kid brother --"
"Hey," Sheppard said irritably.
4. About a Lamp, by
I love, love, love romps like this, where the author seems to take genuine delight in inventing all of these Ancient gizmos and gadgets for the boys to play with, and flambeau uses that so well to advance the romantic plot line that my heart sings, okay.
The first night, Rodney rolled over in bed, put his arm around the warm body next to him, and went on sleeping.
The second night, he stirred to near-consciousness when someone curled up behind him and breathed into his shoulder, and he had to shift around a bit and scrunch the pillow to get comfortable.
The third night, an elbow in the ribs made him blink, and when he did, he saw a shock of dark hair over sharp, pretty features. "You're not supposed to be here," Rodney said.
5. Transference, by
I've seen this on ficfinders so many times I'm sure the entire internet has read it by now, but come on. Oblivious Rodney, sex, nonverbal declarations of intent - it's like wish fulfillment! How could I not include it? Happy sigh.
“Is it just me, or does this galaxy seem grabbier lately than usual?” asked Rodney as he paused to hoist a sagging John Sheppard more securely against his side. John just let his head loll onto Rodney’s shoulder by way of reply.
“Yes, yes, of course. Grabby McGrabby Pants,” Rodney agreed, gesturing to himself with his semi-free hand, the one holding John’s arm across his own shoulders. “But there’s getting the last donut through strategy, intellectual superiority, and the sheer logic of superior claim. And then there’s getting the last donut by luring it away from its teammates and plying it with drugged grain alcohol.”
“I am not a donut, McKay.”
Runner up: Slow and Steady, by
I've recced this before and I'll rec it again. It's too lovely not to! The ease of coming together, the simple prose and sweet dialogue - I think I can honestly say this is one of my all time favorites in fandom.
He had tensed and stayed tense for the next forty minutes until Rodney had said “Oh for chrissakes,” and had grabbed both of Sheppard’s legs, wrenching them up and sideways until they were across Rodney’s own and Sheppard was lying full length on the couch with his legs over Rodney’s and his head pillowed by the arm he’d been desperately trying to make a seat.
Sheppard was still painfully tense, but at least his bony elbow was no longer pressed into Rodney’s side.
Rodney felt Sheppard’s eyes on him and he fought the urge to smile.Chopchica's Top Five
1. With Intent, by
Why I love it: I think this is currently my absolute favorite fic in the entire fandom, bar none. Just thinking about it makes me want to wriggle like a happy puppy. The slow and steady way they come together! The teaminess! The warmth and jokes and intimacy! The *really freaking hot sex*! There is literally nothing about this story I don’t adore beyond reason.
It happens almost gradually. He's just sitting there grinning and watching Rodney reach across the corner of the table and drag his laptop over, watching him flip it open and wait for it to boot up, watching Rodney's grin slowly melt into a smaller smile, crooked and content, and it feels like the air is somehow thinner between them than it is in the rest of the room. Not suddenly, either, but like it has always been thinner; like all this time, all he had to do was stop working so hard at standing up, and he'd fall naturally in Rodney's direction.
Rodney glances over at him and takes a breath as though he's going to say something, but then doesn't. He just looks at John, still smiling, eyes warm, and John sees the lean coming.
John had seen an avalanche one time. He remembers the way the snow had shifted right before, like the mountain shrugged, how it had just rolled outward from a fixed point over long, slow seconds, powerful and unstoppable. He'd been in the air at the time, safe and snug in his Pave Hawk, but even knowing he was safe, he had stared, heart pounding and unable to look away. He remembers it as one of the most awesome - in the literal meaning of the word - things he has ever seen.
In a way that he can't actually explain, watching Rodney start to lean toward him feels just like it.
Then Carter says, "Okay, who's up first?" and Rodney turns back to his laptop.
Leanus Interruptus, John thinks ridiculously, and faces forward.
He's pretty much useless for the rest of the meeting.
2.Just Like Schrodinger’s Cat, by
Why I love it: If you haven’t been able to tell by now, my idea of an awesome happyfic is one where John and Rodney have been finding their way toward each other for a long time – where it’s inevitable, but they take their time and (usually) enjoy the journey. It takes some shocks for the two of them to end up on the same page, but they get there (and how!).
His mind slowly scrolled through all the times he’d found himself gawking at Sheppard like an idiot, after being positive he’d never lay eyes on him again. It wasn’t only that there had been far too many occasions when the burden of saving Sheppard’s life rested on his shoulders; over the past two years, Rodney had developed a connection to this man that went beyond simple responsibility or even friendship. Watching him sleeping peacefully now, Rodney was astonished to realize he could no longer imagine his life without Sheppard in it, and the knowledge frightened him, because Sheppard had a penchant for repeatedly putting himself in harm’s way. If Rodney was finally going to form an attachment to something other than his work, he’d have been better off picking a goldfish with a nasty habit of jumping out of its bowl.
The final triumphant strains of the movie’s closing sequence roused Sheppard, bringing him instantly awake. Before Rodney could pretend otherwise, Sheppard’s green eyes opened and caught Rodney watching him.
“Hey,” he said scratchily, by way of greeting. “Guess I slept through the movie, huh?”
I think I might be in love with you, Rodney thought, semi-hysterically. “Yeah,” he managed. “You didn’t miss much.”
3 and 4. Gift Horses and Careful Wishing, by
Why I love them: liketheriver is one of my favorite SGA authors (especially when she teams up with koschka and then my heart possibly explodes from glee). It’s John and Rodney at their sarcastic and emotionally stunted best. They take a while to figure it out, but it never gets to the point where I’m ready to just smack them over the head, and there’s *never* a Big Misunderstanding that separates them for more than two minutes (that would be an *anti* fic kink for me). There really isn’t much better than two guys doing their thing – until the day they clue in about what’s *really* going on.
Holy crap! Rodney was dressing like him. Rodney wanted to be like him. Rodney wanted to be with him. And that was… well, that was screwed up was what that was. Because Rodney was his teammate, his friend. His best friend. Probably the best friend he had ever had in his life. Hell, McKay had risked his life to save Sheppard’s ass on more than one occasion and John had done the same for him. They’d been willing to die for each other and that was more than he could say for anyone else he’d slept with.
But sex? With McKay? It wasn’t exactly something he had thought about that often. Sure there had been that one dream, and dream Rodney had been… wow. That frantic intensity John had seen the scientist display on more than one occasion when their lives had hung in the balance had been completely focused on various body parts in the dream… all of them belonging to John and all of them very happy with the attention.
Realizing he was smiling at the memory, Sheppard shook his head to clear it away so that the growing pressure in his pants didn’t start affecting his swing. Because it was just a dream. One he’d written off to post-mission stress. After all, John had almost died that time and Rodney had been the one to hook the harness around him so Ronon and Teyla could pull him out of that damn hole even while the man fought the shaking in his own hands and chanted under his breath about wide-open spaces. So it was natural, nothing unusual about being a little infatuated with the person that saved your life. Hell, patients did it with doctors all the time. Although, John had never fantasized about Carson… or Ronon… or Teyla. Okay, that was a lie, Teyla showed up a lot. But Teyla was curvaceous and exotic and unassumingly erotic. Teyla was also a woman and that pretty much sealed the wet-dream deal for Sheppard. But Rodney was… none of those things, that was for damn sure.
and
“McKay, if you would just eat dinner when everyone else does, this wouldn’t be a problem.”
Rodney crossed his arms as he stood between the two marines that were on patrol duty that night and had caught him breaking into the storeroom. Sheppard stood in a matching stance opposite him… although it was a little harder to pull of looming in sweats and a t-shirt. “Scientific advancement doesn’t have a nine-to-five job, Colonel.”
“No, evidently it has a nine-to-two-a.m. job. But that still doesn’t give you permission to break into the pantry any time you want.”
“So you’re going to throw me in the brig over a pudding cup?”
“Tempting as that may be, I kind of need you for the mission tomorrow. So, no, I’ll just put you under house arrest tonight.” He motioned a hand, in effect beckoning Rodney forward and dismissing the marines. “I’ll take it from here, guys. Come on, McKay, you’re going home.”
Rodney shrugged out of the grip John had on his arm as soon as the two guards were out of sight. “This is ridiculous. All I wanted was something to eat and it turns into the heist of the century.”
“Rodney, you have a stash of pudding in your room. Just eat that.”
“That’s for emergencies,” he defended.
“Yeah, pudding emergencies are a big problem around here. Enough to pull me out of bed to come bail your ass out of jail.”
5. When I’m 64, by
Why I love it: The future! THE BEST FUTURE EVER! Seriously, when I try to imagine the future John and Rodney deserve, this is completely and totally it. I love the way the past is interspersed with the present and the juxtaposition of John and Rodney finding their way toward each other in the past (why yes, I do have a kink) against the scenes of their current life of awesome awesomeness
“We can watch the seminar if you want,” John said. “Considering that I’m kind of stuck here and there’s at least one copy on your laptop by now.”
There were two actually, with three more on his external drives. Backing up important data was the duty of the conscientious scientist, after all.
“We don’t really have to,” Rodney said, feeling himself flush. “I’ve already seen it.”
“That’s okay,” John said, shifting his foot in Rodney’s lap with some purpose. “Watching you gloat kind of turns me on.”
Well then. “I guess I’ll be getting my laptop, won’t I?”
The corner of John’s mouth curved up and he shifted his foot again. Okay, so maybe the whole adoring wife thing was a little over-rated. Rodney didn’t even like wine all that much.
Rodney got up, replacing John’s legs on the couch carefully. He bent down and picked up the cold pack on John’s knee. It had, of course, gone completely room temperature. They could cross to distant galaxies in a matter of seconds and build weapons that destroyed planets with a thought, but they had yet to figure out how to make a cold pack that actually stayed that way. Given John’s strange confusion of physical activity with fun, they had to keep a supply of the things in the freezer.
“For the record,” he said, looking over the damage from John’s day out, “you are an idiot and very high maintenance. But I guess I am glad you don’t have tetanus after all.”
Runner-up: Streets in a World Without End, by
Why I love this: Oh, John! John, John, *John*! And *Rodney*! And the *future*! And they are so painfully adorable and moronic in their deep and passionate love that involves them living together for years and *never saying a word about it*. Seriously, I nearly cried when I realized this was a little to short to qualify for the rec post, and then
The next morning he tries it out in person, casually. Rodney, always late when there's a morning meeting, dumps the entire pot of coffee into his absolutely ridiculous thermos and heads for the door, two laptops and a bagel bouncing between hands. When he fumbles the door handle, cursing, John decides to drop the bomb.
"Have fun, McKay. Call me later," he smirks from the kitchen doorway.
Rodney, looking aggrieved, snarls, "Yes, yes, later," and jerks the door open.
"Love you," John adds, tone absolutely normal. Rodney just waves vaguely with his bagel, a bit of cream cheese glopping to the floor.
It takes twenty minutes - John's ashamed to admit he's timing it - before the phone rings. Rodney's voice is eager, all out of proportion to the subject. "Do you want to meet me at the SGC tonight, or should I come back?"
"Pick me up," John answers, lips twisting involuntarily into a smile. "There's this restaurant I want to show you."
"Okay. Um." John can hear Rodney bracing himself. "Love you. Bye." Click.
John laughs over the dial tone and rolls onto the bed, drifting back to sleep with Rodney's voice in his head.
Now. About that fun fest stuff. We're hoping to turn this post into a kind of fest in its own right. Writers are encouraged post snippets or "OH GOD I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WAS THINKING"s so that everyone else can bring out their pom poms and cheer them on. Happy fic recs, whether they be fest-compliant or not, are welcomed with open armed delight. And if you're having trouble finding a beta or you need someone to hold your hand, there are probably plenty of volunteers floating around!
And lastly: pimp this if you can! We don't know how all the participants got to us the first time around, but we'd like everyone to see the reminder. Here are two smaller buttons if you want them, feel free to hotlink. :D
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