Waltz Tango Foxtrot

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Fanfiction
Title: Waltz Tango Foxtrot
Author(s): out_there
Date(s): April 2006
Length:
Genre: slash
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
External Links: online here

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Waltz Tango Foxtrot is a Stargate Atlantis John/Rodney story by out_there.

Summary

"Summary: Life is great for Dr Rodney McKay, a research theorist at Berkeley. He's managed to arrange it so that he sees students only rarely, and he's getting laid frequently by fellow MENSA member and ecology professor Christine. What more could a man want?

Unfortunately for Rodney, it turns out that Christine wants more. Faced with her demands that he learn to dance or she'll dump him, Rodney turns to John Sheppard: part-time dance instructor and full time bank-teller, with a dream of becoming a pilot.

John's supposed to be teaching him how to waltz, but Rodney's learning a lot more than that! But what will happen when the music ends?"

Author's Notes

"Originally started for the Harlequin challenge, but certainly not finished in time. It's an AU, so no spoilers. I completely blame Patrick Swayze and Dirty Dancing for this. Thanks to mecurtin for a careful beta and scribewraith for listening, prodding and offering editing solutions as I wrote. Without those two, this would be a lot shorter and make far less sense. ETA: also thanks to kmousie who has discovered my lack of knowledge when it comes to the possessive apostrophe.

ETA: Now also available in audio form, thanks to hack_benjamin22. How cool is that?"

Reactions and Reviews

Why this must be read: Stargate Atlantis lends itself particularly well to AUs. Talented authors seem to be able to transplant the characters into a variety of settings and keep the core characters essentially the same. I also like the subtle hint of WTF? in the title because if that's what you think of when you think John, Rodney and ballroom dancing, you HAVE to read this story. When the story begins Rodney has a girlfriend. A girlfriend who wants him to learn how to dance for an upcoming wedding (not theirs!). And being Rodney - and wanting to continue to enjoy the benefits of said girlfriend - he goes to the Pegasus School of Dance and meets John Sheppard, instructor extraordinaire. Rodney's not a natural at the dance, one might say, and so he signs up for extra lessons to help him. The result is classic McShep banter, a confused Rodney, break-ups, make-ups, and a make-you-smile ending. I think one of the reasons I like this so much is that it isn't 100% simple for the boys. There are screw-ups and miscommunications of massive proportions along the way, but that's so much in character, you'll sympathize. And you'll root for them to get through it and get back to the way things are supposed to be. Hot and happy. [1]

It's an AU. McKay's bullied into taking dance lessons. John is the (sexy) instructor. Seduction through dancing. Need I say more? [2]

It is clearly SGA AU rec day - in my defense, there are SO many good ones! Here we have John the hot, motorcycle riding dance instructor, and Rodney the heterosexual professor with two left feet. Think SGA meets Dirty Dancing - yum![3]

References

  1. ^ rec at Crack Van, January 2008
  2. ^ Rec50; WebCite, 2006
  3. ^ "Fanfic Rec: Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot (McShep, SGA)". Archived from the original on 2023-02-13.