Title: Silver Lining

Word Count: ~400

Notes/Disclaimers: I own neither BBT nor SGA, nor any of their respective characters, and I actually have a good deal of affection for Sheldon – I just don't think the Atlanteans, and Rodney in particular, would share my feelings.

* * *

"Well, that's just absurd! Surely you know that would cause a cataclysmic system melt-down? I'm sorry, but what exactly is your PhD in, again? Engineering?"

Miko was staring meekly up at her lecturer, looking equal parts polite, confused, frustrated, and homicidal.

Or maybe that last one was just Rodney projecting.

Watching the scene from across the lab, Rodney gritted his teeth. The fact that he had not yet snapped and painted the walls red with the esteemed Doctor Sheldon Cooper's steaming entrails was, he felt, a testimony to his self-control. The man made even Kavanagh seem like a paragon of friendly good will. In his defence, Cooper never seemed to act out of malice. On the other hand, he really didn't need to – he fully was capable of being a pedantic , self-righteous ass without even trying. It was just an inborn talent or something.

Worst of all, the man was right. He was almost always right. Sure, he wasn't in McKay's league – no one was, except maybe Samantha Carter, and even then only maybe – but he was at least on Zelenka's level. Which meant McKay actually had to listen to his smug lecturing, lest the obnoxious little twit actually make a point about something life-saving and/or -threatening.

The man's voice rose along with the density of casual insults in his lecture. Miko was beginning to look increasingly pained, and Rodney was beginning to risk doing serious damage to his molars. Entrail painting. Entrail painting was beginning to sound increasingly more viable.

Cooper paused to draw breath, and Miko seized her chance. "Very important meeting with Doctor Zelenka – simply cannot delay –" Babbling excuses, she made her escape. Passing Rodney as she fled the lab, Miko shot him a sheepish yet friendly sort of smile – the sort of smile that, Rodney realised, he'd never once received prior to Cooper becoming an unpleasantly permanent fixture of their lives. Come to think of it, Ronon and Teyla had been a lot friendlier to Rodney, too. And Elizabeth had stopped twitching when he said particularly inconsiderate things. Most of Atlantis had been treating him less like a social leper and more like an amusing eccentric, actually.

Huh.

Well, the man was sort of a genius – Rodney supposed entrail-painting would just have to wait for another day.