Word Count:
557
Rating:
PG.
Category:
Friendship with a touch of angst.
Story Status:
Complete
Summary: Two
men with two different childhoods, and yet in some ways, not that far
apart.
Spoilers:
The following story is based on two photos from GateWorld
for
the episode 'The Prodigal'.
Written for the SGA_flashfic
Kidfic challenge - - sga_flashfic contains gen, ship and slash fics.
Beta:
Thank you to Jayne Perry for the beta-reading.
Cars
By Leesa Perrie
Two radio controlled cars speed down the hallway, a rematch for their
interrupted race of the week before. Two grown men, military
commander and head of science, playing like overgrown kids.
It's
part of their charm, they would say if challenged. And a
really
cool way to relax, one would add.
Not that anyone would bother to challenge them. Not even
Woolsey. Childish though it might seem to him, he understands
the
need to kick back and relax, even if he wishes they'd be more mature
and civilised about it.
The race is on, as yellow car gets the lead, again, and beats the
yellow and red flamed one, though not by much.
Sheppard scowls. McKay crows.
They race again. And again.
This is fun.
----------------
When John was ten, his parents bought him a radio controlled car for
his birthday, after he had gone on and on and on about it for weeks
before. It was cool and fast and fun to drive, but he had no
one
to race against. Dave thought it was stupid, he certainly
didn't
want a car of his own, let alone to race John's. But then,
Dave
was weird sometimes.
There were other kids from time to time; cousins, children of his
parent's friends or influential contacts, but being home schooled by a
paid tutor didn't work well for socialising. Not when his
parents
wouldn't let him mix with people below their wealthy status.
Of course, not one of those other kids brought a car with them when
visiting, and no amount of begging for a second car he could lend them
got him anywhere with his parents. He had one, he didn't need
another and besides, they believed there were far better toys for him
to play with.
So he built the car an obstacle course and convinced himself that it
was more fun this way.
He never really believed it, though.
----------------
When Rodney was ten, he built himself a radio controlled car from an
old battered toy and second hand electronics. He was proud of
his
accomplishment, even if it didn't look new and shiny and wasn't all
that fast, and couldn't take corners all that well. It was
his,
made with his own hands, with his own intelligence, and that was all
that mattered.
He wished he could race it with someone else, but knew it would never
win. Besides, Jimmy had gone to Winnipeg, his father taking a
new
job there, and no one else in Rodney's class liked him.
The kids that lived on his street weren't any better, either.
So he turned his attention to making another car; a better, faster
car. And another and another, until he'd built the best radio
controlled car that he could.
He still had no one to race it against, so he built himself a course
with obstacles to avoid and told himself it was enough. It
was
fun. And he'd made it all by himself, which was more than
most
kids could do.
But deep inside he knew it wasn't as much fun as if he had a friend to
race against, and in the end he abandoned the car and moved on to other
things, other projects, other toys.
----------------
Two radio controlled cars speed down the hallway.
Two grown boys.
Two dreams come true.
The End
