The Wary

Teyla and Ronon were in the gate-room, watching two young Marines organize a pile of gear and supplies that had just come through.

"There is something about those two..." Teyla said hesitantly.

Ronon nodded, "I hear they're brothers."

Teyla shook her head, "They do not look much alike."

Ronon shrugged, "It's what the other Marines say."

Teyla glanced at Ronon -- he was closer to the human warriors, "What else do the Marines say about them?"

A smile quirked across Ronon's face, "They're something called, 'stone-cold motherfuckers'."

Teyla cocked her head as she glanced back at the two Marines, "I assume that phrase is not literal?"

Ronon shook his head, "It's like 'bad-ass'."

Teyla sighed and said, "Just as odd. So I can assume those two are highly experienced warriors?"

This time Ronon hesitated before answering, "They're just out of training, but the other Marines are... careful... around them."

"Why?"

Ronon glanced at Teyla, "Maybe -- like you -- they've got a feeling."

Teyla nodded. Then she began walking towards the two Marines. Ronon didn't follow, but he found himself automatically shifting his posture slightly. He was more balanced now and his hands were closer to his weapons without being obvious about it. His eyes seemed to wander somewhere neutral, but his attention was actually still on the two Marines and Teyla.

As Teyla approached the Marines, she suddenly realized that they were completely aware of her approach. In fact, if she had to make a guess, they had also been aware that she and Ronon were watching them. That was a useful talent -- and rare among newly-minted warriors.

"Do you have the cargo manifest?" Teyla asked. Her voice wasn't friendly, but it wasn't crisply authoritative either. She wanted to see their reactions to an unspecific approach.

Neither Marine came to attention when she spoke, which was fine given the indeterminate nature of Teyla's rank. Teyla noted that both men had name tags on their jackets that read, "Winchester".

The taller of the two was actually the younger brother if Teyla had to make a guess. He nodded and said, "Yes, ma'am." Then he grabbed a clipboard and handed it to her. The shorter of the two paused in what he was doing and didn't bother to hide how he carefully examined Teyla's face and body. Teyla ignored that. If she were to get angry at every man -- particularly the young Marines -- who gave her a speculative glance then she would never get anything done.

Flipping through the papers of the manifest, Teyla said conversationally, "You two were just assigned here?"

"Yes, ma'am," said the taller brother with the pleasant, personable, hopeful smile of polite young man talking to a pretty woman. The shorter brother's eyes narrowed slightly for a split-second and then he went back to obviously checking out Teyla's curves in the guileless manner of a far more direct kind of man. Teyla knew instantly that it was an act. Both men were suddenly quite wary and were being careful.

Teyla handed the clipboard back to the taller Winchester and said, "Welcome to Atlantis. Good hunting"

The taller Winchester blinked for some reason. Then he recovered, keeping the stars in their eyes the weren't real and replied, "Thank you, ma'am."

The older Winchester just smiled, but his eyes were now cold and hard and mysterious.

The two Marines went back to work. Turning away, Teyla caught Ronon's eyes. He raised an eyebrow interrogatively. Teyla made an uncertain sideways motion with her head.

Everything was quiet in the gate-room, but nobody was fooling anyone.

Arthur only joins glee club because Morgana blackmails him into it. He has no idea why she would purposefully engineer them spending more time than necessary together, but he assumes it's because she'd readily breathe the same air as him if she could watch him dance and sing like a monkey. That's probably Morgana's idea of fun, Arthur thinks darkly, as he slouches in one of chairs at the back of the room. She'd waxed on about Arthur having a decent voice, how glee club was desperate for more male vocalists, and how 'wonderful' its members were, but Arthur knows his half-sister had just wanted to make him squirm.

So imagine Arthur's surprise when he realises, after a few months enduring the company of the pathetic losers in glee club, that he actually enjoys singing.

"Hey Arthur," Gwen says as she takes a seat in front of him, a faint blush colouring her cheeks. Arthur flashes her a smile, wondering not for the first time how his witch of a sister has the nicest, sweetest girl at Camelot High for a best friend.

Arthur is thumbing boredly through his phone when someone collapses into the chair next to him. He doesn't need to look up, or even acknowledge the bright reds and blues in his periphery, to know who it is.

"I just haven't met you yet!" Merlin croons into Arthur's ear, and Arthur feigns a wince of disgust.

"Still telling yourself you can sing, Merlin?" he drawls.

"Still telling yourself you're attractive and intelligent?" Merlin pipes back as Mr Aglain walks in. To Arthur's horror, Merlin licks a long stripe up Arthur's cheek before bounding off his chair to the front, shouting, "I have a song, Mr Aglain!"

Arthur's horror intensifies tenfold when he catches Morgana's stare, eyes bright with knowing smugness, having watched the entire exchange. He can practically hear her mocking: Shagging the cute blue-eyed new kid, I knew you weren't as straight as a fiddle, brother dear.

Arthur has to clamp his jaw into a lock and turn away. As Merlin launches into a rendition of his latest favourite song, Arthur reminds himself that nothing is fact until proven or stated so, and if Morgana's expecting a confession any time soon, she's going to be waiting a long time.

THIS PROMPT IS PERFECT. I need this fic like, BURNING. Not sure if you're on tumblr, but that have this prompt in gif form. :DDDDD

Edited at 2013-01-07 08:59 pm (UTC)