A Beautiful Lifetime Event by shallot

[zvi-likes-tv.livejournal.com]

A Beautiful Lifetime Event by astolat. Nearly 30,000 words of John, Rodney, and their kid. Eventually, they have sex.

The thing I appreciate about this story is that it does for me what the show has not done, which is put McShep in a situation that is fraught and only experienced directly by the two of them, so they are forced to uniquely rely on each other and, in the fullness (very, very full) become lovers because they mean more to each other than anyone else in the world. Also, since they are de facto married, most ladies won't want to sleep with them.

To my mind, John and Rodney on the show don't exhibit anything like the particular relationship that would lead to them becoming lovers. Half the time, I'm not entirely convinced they're friends. I'm sure they like each other, but is it any more than someone cool at the office?

In this story, because John and Rodney live together and have to relate to each other over the daughter they love to pieces, the story brings the heightened emotional life that allows them to eventually get with the getting on.

The thing I can't figure out though is whether or not I think it takes too long to get to that sexual place. Like, on the one hand, people don't switch sexual orientation on a whim that much. And the John and Rodney in this story are pretty clearly straight. Like, even after they have sex with each other, still basically straight, just monogamous with a person who happens to be male. On the other hand, hello, slash story presented in slash fandom, that hand has been dealt before.

No actual conclusion here, just thought I'd throw that out and see what people thought.

Comments

[tafkarfanfic.livejournal.com]

This story bothered me deeply. The part where John gets a girlfriend, and Rodney basically guilts him into dumping her, bothered me on a number of levels. It seemed to say that one can't be a responsible parent AND have a relationship with someone other than the other parent. After that part, I couldn't finish the story; I was too upset for words.

[neth-dugan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it wasn't so much that he had a girlfriend, it was that he went to her after a mission and not his daughter. Which resulted in his daughter being scared to death that something had happened to him, and no one could contact him, which meant said daughter couldn't even hear his voice to reasure herself that he was fine.

Given the type of work John does, how dangerous it is and the like, that's fairly reasonable. And Rodney getting pissed off about John scaring his kid also seems reasonable.

That's what it was about, not the having a girlfriend thing.

[tafkarfanfic.livejournal.com]

It seemed forced to me - it seemed like the author was SPECIFICALLY forcing a situation where John would have to choose between his new relationship and his old "family". It also seemed ridiculous that John and Rodney couldn't have an adult conversation about it. That was the point beyond which I could not read, because the story had lost me.

[neth-dugan.livejournal.com]

That's a good point, I supose. But, they needed a major conflict at some point. Something to show them that they were actually married and what they meant to each other at that time.

And, true, they probably should have had a more mature conversation. But Rodney was rather upset over his kid being scared like that, John was probably upset that he'd scared his kid and pissed off Rodney. And both of them are strong willed people, and can be stubborn. So it's not unbelievable that it'd take them a bit to sort it all out. But, they do, and it doesn't take that long.

[amalthia]

Strangely the part that I re-read the most in this story is that fight and just reading Rodney's reaction brought tears to my eyes. BTW...i've seen a lot of "adults" fight over the dumbest things so I wan't at all shocked or surprised by their argument and how it turned out.

I think it was an issue that had to be addressed at one point or another. And I think it worked out. A lot of parents stay together because of the kids. It's not that far-fetched. It doesn't hurt that John and Rodney respect and like each other as people. I've seen people stay together with far less than that.

I really loved that line when John realizes he can't take Hypatia away without realizing what it was doing to Rodney...or something like that. I really felt the emotions reading the story.

don't get me wrong, if the two guys hated each other, argued all the time, or whatever I'd be all for them splitting up and sharing the kid because no kid needs to see that kind of relationship.

Basically, I don't think the author specificaly forced the situation. I imagine that if this was real life the issue really would have come up eventually.

[carolyn-claire.livejournal.com]

it seemed like the author was SPECIFICALLY forcing a situation where John would have to choose between his new relationship and his old "family".

I think she was, I think she was wanting to make that happen to forward the plot and the relationship, yeah. She wanted that "hey, actually, we're married" realization to happen, so she created the dramatic revealing moment. But I can see how it might seem uncharacteristic of Rodney to react that way (though, as I said, I have mom-sympathy so I could go with it.) And I thought she was having them play it out more like a jealous, insecure reaction in a more romantic relationship (which I know not everyone would feel, but I think a lot of people would and do) so that we see what's going on, and what's coming, we clue in to what's actually developing between them before the guys do. That's how it struck me, but, then, I love the relationship angst like a big ho, which you know about me. *g*

[carolyn-claire.livejournal.com]

I thought the issue was that Rodney was insecure and felt he'd be displaced if John developed a serious relationship with a woman, that he would become a non-live-in parent, which he didn't want to be. He didn't want to move out, and I don't think either of them considered a three- or four-way living situation doable. They both felt that, if they weren't willing to change the current situation, didn't want to split their home into two, they shouldn't develop relationships outside of the arrangement that could only go so far, that could never be more than recreational.

[tafkarfanfic.livejournal.com]

And that's exactly what bothered me! How many parents are there, out there in the world, who aren't married to the parent of their child, where both parents are still involved with the child - plus the NEW SigOs of the parents also become involved in the child's upbringing? A lot; heck, I'm one of the few people I know of my age and younger who has only two parents, both original. (Well, one now, but death kind of gets in the way of some things.)

Two reasonably mature adults would have been able to come to some solution, and to me it would have been much more interesting if they HAD come to a solution. I was baffled by the fact that John's new girlfriend didn't even seem to interact with the kid at all - that in itself seemed way out of character, because he seemed to be deliberately avoiding having the two interact. Then the resolution of that plot thread - John abruptly dumps the girl - disturbed me, because there was no effort in finding a solution that would work for all concerned. (Why couldn't they just move into the quarters next door?) And the fact that John now CAN'T have a relationship - well, it leaves him with only Rodney as an option, and that felt like prison sex to me, like he was pretty much forced into the relationship. And the fact that John didn't seem to have any resentment about the whole situation just made me shake my head in disbelief. The whole thing smacked of a situation in which they should have seen Kate Heightmeyer in order to negotiate a reasonable answer for all concerned.

Also, Rodney insisting that John can't have another relationship because they have a *baby* - it made me think of all the teen mothers I knew growing up (and I knew a lot - I was the only female in my social group sophomore year of high school who didn't get pregnant and quit school) who got pregnant in order to keep their boyfriends tied to them. And that also really bothered me.

All in all, it felt like a very young view of the way relationships should work. Meh.

[carolyn-claire.livejournal.com]

I dunno. I sympathized with Rodney, some. The idea of becoming the non-custodial parent in a split--the baby would stay primarily with John because of the affinity--wouldn't appeal to me at all. I wouldn't go into that amicably and reasonably, I wouldn't be an adult about it. If my husband wanted me to move out and be a non-live-in parent of my baby daughter so he could comfortably have a relationship with someone else (and this isn't taking into account my relationship with him, this is about my relationship with my kids) I'd tell him to go to hell and/or over my dead body. Nobody separates me from my children, to even as nearby as next door. I was thinking Rodney was feeling similarly strongly about the idea.