#hard to gauge whether Rodney is being oblivious or pining in this scene

[escriveine]

Stargate Atlantis 4x05 Travelers

TL;DR: John flirts outrageously; Rodney observes intently. And I love these two obliviots.

Look, I hardly know where to start unpacking all this. The team is reunited, after having thought they lost John twice. They're bonding over a shared meal, as they so often do, but Rodney has clearly rushed through his food - not even finishing everything - just so he can watch John. We don't see Rodney's face here, but here's the thing: he's not moving. Consider what a rare thing that is: Rodney holding still and giving his full, undivided attention to someone. And all that pyroclastic intensity is currently focused on John.

And what does John do? He outright flirts with Rodney. It's not a subtle, blink and you miss it thing, either. He puts on a little performance for him, eating with care and deliberation, groaning with the sort of satisfaction you can easily imagine coming from Rodney during a good meal, or from a happy partner during sex, all while staring back at Rodney. Then the fucker WINKS at him, saying "That's good." In case Rodney somehow missed it.

Rodney's mouth runs on auto-snark, as per usual, but John just keeps eating and talking. And we know it's for Rodney's benefit because he then looks Rodney square in the face and says he's really beginning to appreciate what he has. Not in spite of his adventures with Larrin and crew, but because he was forcibly separated from Rodney. (And his team, and Atlantis, and non-reconstituted food, but come on, now, those are just the plausible deniability, the fig leaf our emotional turtle can hide behind if challenged.) And, just for the record, John specifically told Larrin in the previous scene that he was not asking her out to dinner.