Category: Strictly Slash
Characters: Rodney/Radek
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: None
Beta'd by rosewildeirish and elven_wolf. Good stuff is their fault, errors and blunders are all my own.
Dedicated to spubba who goaded me into this through her prolific use of chibis, and drawings of Radek stomping madly on all the little people.




Time, such a funny thing. Sometimes it stands still, other times it races by, and when you add in space-time all sense of order and reliability just flies right out the window. Unless, of course, you’re the smartest man in two galaxies; if you are him, it all makes perfect sense and reacts exactly the way it is supposed to react. Except when it doesn’t.

Tonight, for some reason, time was doing its best to crawl along at a pace resembling that of a snail. Every time Rodney looked at the clock on his notebook screen the readout was the same, even though he was sure at least an hour had passed. His fingers flew over the keyboard, starting a diagnostic on the machine; convinced that the clock had stopped. Then the numbers rolled over, another minute had passed, and he sighed. It wasn’t time that was crawling; it was his perception of time that slowed it down. The realization did little to appease his growing frustration though, and fidgeting was sure to commence shortly.

Sure enough, within moments he was pacing the lab; door to storage shelves to work table to computer station and back to the door. It was like being in an endless loop with no clear way to interrupt it, and his hands insisted on touching everything he passed. He was on perhaps his fifth circuit of the loop when the lab door opened and the reason for the time dilation field that surrounded him entered the room.

Rodney stopped his endless pacing, coughing once to clear his throat and jutting his chin out in that pugnacious way he had, while crossing his arms over his chest. “It’s about time you decided to make an appearance. I was beginning to think you’d finally admitted you weren’t quite smart enough to understand my theories and decided to stay away to avoid utter humiliation.”

Radek walked directly to his work station, refusing to rise to the bait. “I am two minutes late Rodney. I was detained in the corridor by Colonel Sheppard. He wanted to know why you were in such a bad mood.” A smile played at the corner of Radek’s mouth, though he tried his best not to let it show. “I told him he must be imagining things; your mood is no worse than usual.”

Rodney’s mouth opened and his hand came up, one finger raised; but a moment later his mouth snapped shut and his arms were once again crossed over his chest. He shifted his weight from the right foot to the left, arms uncrossing to tug at his shirt, then crossing once again. “Well, whatever the reason, punctuality is important and it’s an affront to my sensibilities that you would waste my time waiting for you when you know I’m waiting.” He stopped suddenly, as though realizing that statement made no sense. He hated when his brain worked faster than his mouth. His thoughts always made perfect sense, but in the transition to speech something seemed to get mangled. It was a curse he wasn’t sure he could ever learn to overcome.

The smile Radek had been fighting was now close to defeating him completely, but he managed to get it under control before turning to face the man across the room, his own arms crossed in an unconscious mirror image. “I take it back, your mood is worse than usual. Did the Colonel find an error in your maths again? Or possibly the cafeteria has run out of coffee?”

Radek knew exactly what had Rodney so out of sorts, but they seemed to be working their way up to a fine argument so he chose to pretend he didn’t. Their last argument, the previous evening, had ended with unexpected – though not unwanted – results, and Radek was hoping for a repeat performance. Of course, since that argument and its aftermath were probably what had Rodney so agitated to begin with, the outcome might be different. It was a chance Radek was willing to take.

“Of course he didn’t find an error. He has never found an error. His maths only work if you assume the equation is base two instead of base ten…” The diatribe stopped abruptly as Rodney finally spotted the grin Radek had been trying so hard to hide. “You’re doing this on purpose.” The glare he sent to the other side of the room would have quelled lesser men, but Radek was up to the challenge. If anything, it just made him smile more.

“Rodney, if you wish to discuss what happened yesterday, we will discuss it. You do not need to fight with me to talk to me. We are grown men, supposedly intelligent; we should be able to have calm, rational discussion even when the topic is a difficult one.”

“There is nothing to discuss. And suggesting that I would pick a fight with you just because of a little…” He waved his hands around rather than have to actually say the words out loud. “…well, that just proves that you’re not as intelligent as you think you are.”

Radek shook his head and turned back to his computer. He was starting to get angry now. Rodney’s ways were amusing up to a point, but the line between amusing and irritating was a fine one, and it had just been crossed. “Fine. There is nothing to discuss. I am an idiot for thinking that possibly you had enjoyed yourself as much as I had. I will not be stupid enough to think such a thing again.” He stabbed at the keys on his notepad, bringing up the data analysis they had agreed to work on this evening. At the time they’d discussed it he’d thought the arrangement was merely a reason to be alone together. He still believed that had been the original intent, only Rodney’s outsized brain had spent too much time dwelling on the matter and had turned something easy and uncomplicated into a problem of insurmountable proportions.

When Radek turned away, Rodney’s face fell. He might be the smartest man in any given situation, but he was also the least able to hide his emotions. They showed on his face as clearly as if he’d spoken them aloud. This is not how he intended for this evening to progress, but he was incapable of letting Radek be right. If Radek hadn’t guessed the problem from the outset, he wouldn’t have been so belligerent; but the infernal Czech had to go and steal his thunder and that put him in a decidedly put upon mood. That was why he’d started the fight. Now he had to figure out how to fix it. He was even worse at apologizing than he was at letting someone else be right.

“Yes, well, I never said you were stupid. Just that you weren’t as smart as you thought you were.” He coughed again, realizing that statement hadn’t come out quite how he’d intended it to. But it was too late to take it back; he’d just have to try again. “These ah…these readouts are showing a spike whenever something of our technology tries to interface with the technology of the city. I want to isolate the cause and see what we can do to minimize the power usage.” As he spoke he filled two coffee mugs, and then crossed the lab to place one next to Radek’s hand. He then pointed to the graph on Radek’s screen, acting as though the previous exchange had never taken place.

Radek took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He knew the coffee was the closest thing to an apology he was likely to get, and while it frustrated him, trying to change Rodney’s nature would be even more frustrating. They spent the next several hours analyzing data and experimenting with different means of interfacing technologies, the earlier argument forgotten in the face of their synergistic work methods. It was very late in the evening, and nearing the end of another spectacular argument over the best way to modulate power usage when things turned tables on them once again. Rodney had just delivered an insult so vile that Radek had turned purple in the face and was advancing on the other man, poking him firmly in the chest while returning the insult in quick, staccato Czech.

Instead of backing away, Rodney stood his ground, continuing to hurl insults until their eyes met and his mouth went dry. A distinct sense of déjà vu swept over him and he swallowed thickly, licking his lips, the long list of insults forgotten. Radek seemed unaffected as yet, and continued to punctuate his curses with jabs at Rodney’s chest. In one swift movement, Rodney grabbed the hand delivering those jabs and leaned down, stopping the flow of curses with an intense kiss. It took Radek a moment to get with the program, but once his brain managed to switch gears, he took to the new sequence of events with great fervor.

The next few minutes were lost in a frenzy of searching tongues and groping hands and sweat slicked skin. Rodney found himself being pulled to the nearest lab bench, not precisely unwilling, by calloused hands that knew exactly where to touch to draw his attention. When coherent thought finally returned, Radek was flat on his back on the table with a look of near ecstasy on his face while Rodney leaned over him. Spit was not the best lubricant, but Radek didn’t seem to mind and the tight heat that welcomed him ensured Rodney didn’t mind either.

His body found a rhythm, almost of its own accord, and Radek matched him thrust for thrust. A hand moved between them, hard knuckles replacing the smooth erection that had been sliding along his skin just a moment before, and he placed his own hand above Radek's squeezing tightly and increasing the pace. The build up was surprisingly slow, compared to the heat of the argument that had precipitated this, but it gave Rodney the chance to savor something he was sure he wouldn't get another chance at. And in spite of the slow climb, it was still over too quickly. The moment of complete mental breakdown, of excruciating release was something Rodney craved, something he needed, and as he relaxed onto the soft, and equally spent body beneath him, Rodney was almost disappointed that it was over. Time just seems to fly when you're having fun.

They lay tangled for a few moments before Radek pushed him aside gently. “Tomorrow, can we please argue in your quarters? The table is giving me bruises.”

x-posted to wondergeeks and tajneinformace