Oh Nice!! What a good addition to the list 😁
John sat down with his tray of food and glanced around the small mess hall. It must have been an off hour for eating as it was mostly empty. Given how far underground the arctic base was, John had no idea what time it even was or what meal this counted as.
The location was different but the food was the same. Even being part of a top level secret project didn't save the cafeteria from serving bland, basic food. Just as he was about to dig in, a tray was set down firmly across from him.
Accompanying said tray was Dr. McKay--or at least John was fairly sure that had been his name they had yet to be properly introduced.
"I just sat down! That's it! That's the first thing you say? You activated the most powerful piece of Ancient technology we have and you say 'I just say down'. Do you have any idea what a waste of a reaction that was?"
"Uh," John blinked at McKay, taken aback by the aggressive and headlong start to a conversation.
"And who are you anyway, Major? Why are you out here? You're stationed at McMurdo right? No one ends up there without having pissed someone off. You better not have anything on your record that would prevent you from being part of our team. We need you here, you're joining the expedition. They did invite you, didn't they? They better have."
He finally petered out and John was genuinely impressed with the amount of words the other man had gotten out in a single breath.
"Well?" McKay demanded, frowning and crossing his arms.
Shaking his head John laughed softly and held out his hand. "Hi, I'm Major John Sheppard."
"Well, normally people say hello and introduce themselves when they meet someone. And since we'll be working together--because yes, they offered me a position here--it would be helpful for me to actually know your name," John explained, to the other man's confused look.
"Oh, I ah… right," McKay said, cheeks brightening with color. "Dr. Rodney McKay," he said, grabbing John's hand and shaking it firmly. "Hello."
John smiled as he let go of Rodney's hand. The scientist’s cheeks were still tinged pink with embarrassment and it was a cute look for him; brought out the color of his eyes.
"Nice to meet you Rodney, I think. We're gonna have fun working together."
