Title: How Not To Be A Stalker

Author: B0gw0ppit

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my dog, my VW and my dreams.

Author's Note: I wrote this a while ago for a friend of mine but never bothered to publish it. I think it's ok though. Please review and let me know what you think.

There he was again, sitting in the same place, at the same consul, a small frown marring his boyish brow as he concentrated on his work. As Rodney watched surreptitiously, half hiding behind the door of Elizabeth's office, Chuck leaned over to another desk, his white t-shirt pulling tight across his chest. McKay's breath caught in his throat, and he swallowed roughly. Damn that boy was hot... Did he even realize it? Did he know just how many of the female contingent, as well as a fair few of the guys, made deliberate detours past the control room every day just lay eyes on him? Probably not. There was something so innocent, almost naive, about the young sergeant, something that had Rodney lying awake at night, wondering what it would feel like to touch him, to run his tongue along the line of his jaw, wondering how Chuck would react if McKay were ever to suggest such a thing.

He had taken to hanging around at lunchtime, checking to see when the tech took a break, then following him casually to the canteen. Rodney could be casual, he was the King of casualness when the need arose, and the need definitely arose when he hung around Chuck for too long, sometimes embarrassingly so. No one had noticed yet, at least Rodney didn't think so. He was pretty sure Sheppard would have said something if he knew, the way he had said something about that young marine Rodney had had the hots for a few months back. The scientist raised his hand gingerly to his chin now, as though the bruise was still there. Yep, way to go Sheppard, say it in front of the guy... really sensible.

A movement from the control desk brought McKay's attention back to the matter at hand, and he stiffened... quite literally... as the young sergeant rose from his chair, slinging his jacket loosely over his shoulder as he walked around the desk.

"See ya later Dan," he nodded to his nearest neighbor, clapping the guy on the shoulder as he passed him, "I'm going for some lunch."

Rodney's heart leaped to his throat, and he sidled out from his hiding place, following the young man down silent corridors toward the canteen. It always amazed him just how all these people, all the hundreds of new additions to the expedition, could still manage to be swallowed up by this vast city. You could walk for miles without seeing another soul, spend weeks in solitude if you should so desire. But Rodney did not desire that, no, right now he desired something quite the opposite. He desired company of a very specific kind... the company of one very young, very hot gate tech.

He licked his lips as he walked along, eyes on the ground in front of him as his mind drifted off into the depraved fantasy that was Meredith Rodney McKay's secret world. When at last he did look up, it was to find an empty corridor in front of him, no sign of Chuck anywhere.

"Damn it..." he muttered aloud, and stopped, looking round frantically, over his shoulder, down an intersecting hallway, but to no avail. His quarry had slipped away while he had been dreaming about all the things he wanted to do to him.

"Looking for someone?" The voice startled him, and he jumped, spinning round to come face to face with the man himself.

"What? Where...? Wh..." Rodney stuttered, "No..."

He felt his voice squeaking as he denied the obvious, frantically wondering just where the hell the sneaky little bastard had been hiding. He swallowed, blue eyes wide as they stared into the big brown innocent gaze of the sergeant. Chuck was wearing a sly, amused little smile, and he took a small step toward Rodney as the scientist backed away.

"Oh," came the reply, such an innocuous little word, but it had Rodney's heart thudding hard against the wall of his chest as Chuck took another step. "That's a shame, because I was kinda hoping you were looking for me..."

Another step, and Rodney felt the hard wall against his back.

"What? Wh... Why...?" he squeaked, pressing himself further back against the wall, his hands flat either side of him.

This was ridiculous! Why was he backing away? He wasn't dangerous...

But as he stared with all the intensity of a rabbit in headlights into those deep, dark, brown eyes, he saw a definite dangerous glint there, albeit an amused one. He gulped again as Chuck took another step forward, almost touching him now, close enough to feel his warm breath against his face.

"You've been watching me," Chuck stated, the tone of his voice sending shivers through Rodney's whole body as the tech leaned closer still.

Out of the corner of his eye Rodney saw Chuck's hands, his beautiful, artistic, dexterous hands, lean against the wall on either side of him, and he knew he was lost. He gulped and closed his eyes, breathing becoming shallow as he waited. Waited for what? Another punch? For Sheppard and co to jump out from an empty room and all have a good laugh at poor old Rodney who couldn't even stalk a guy properly? He didn't know. But he waited all the same.

"I thought maybe you might want something from me..."

That voice again, another shiver down his spine, even closer now, warm breath against his mouth, almost tasting him...

Then... then... He was gone. Nothing... no warm breath, no shiver-instilling voice, no long, slender fingers not quite touching his arms... Nothing.

Slowly, slowly, Rodney opened his eyes, and frowned at the emptiness before him. What the hell...? He pushed himself up away from the wall, and stepped out into the middle of the hall, spinning this way and that, then all the way around to see where he had gone. Nothing, he wasn't there. It was as if he never had been.

Rodney sighed, a heavy, defeated sigh, the breath he had been holding in anticipation leaving his body all at once. His shoulders slumped, and he turned to walk slowly back to the control room as Weir's voice came over the radio calling for a meeting. His mind was in turmoil. Had he dreamed it all? Had Chuck really been there? Or was it all just a figment of his highly over-stressed imagination, bringing all his pent up frustrations to the surface in one giant hallucination...

No, no, it couldn't have been that... It had been real... He had been real. Rodney had felt his breath on his face for God's sake!

He walked up the steps, hardly looking where he was going, and into the conference room, glancing automatically to his right as he went through the door. He was there, back at his consul, the little frown creasing that perfect brow yet again. McKay squinted at him for a moment, wondering, confused, and in that split second Chuck glanced up. Rodney blanched, and Chuck winked, slowly, deliberately, the sly little smile back on his boyish face for an instant before being replaced once again by that professional frown of concentration. McKay's mouth dropped open in shock, and he felt heat suffuse his cheeks.

"C'mon McKay! You catching flies?" A hand whacked him hard on the back and he staggered forward, blinking out of his reverie as Sheppard marched past him.

Blinking, jaw slamming shut so fast he bit his tongue he turned to say something, but thought better of it, and followed the colonel meekly into the room, glancing back over his shoulder just one last time.