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"That's so fuckin' gay!"
The voice was one of the new Marines, fresh from the latest Daedalus run, and was loud enough to hear halfway across the Mess. He'd said it in response to something another Marine at his table was going on about, capturing an unexpected lull in the various discussions going on around the Mess. Ronon watched as Teyla rolled her eyes, but Rodney was frozen, his forkful of mashed tuttle root just an inch from his opened mouth. Ronon felt slightly uncomfortable for half a moment, then shook it off. He and Rodney's relationship was several months old, and a first for Rodney who'd come to Ronon's quarters one night babbling about society and expectations and continued to babble until Ronon leaned in and kissed him.
They'd been together ever since that night.
And though Ronon was quite comfortable, there were still times when Rodney wasn't quite comfortable in his own skin. Not that he would say it, because whenever he did, Ronon just reminded him that you love who you love, fuck those that didn't like it, and kissed the bluster out of him. But since he was currently in the middle of the Mess and sitting across from Rodney, he didn't really have that option.
Or did he?
He glanced to his left and found Sheppard starting to get up, but put a hand on his shoulder. More than likely to go reprimand the new guys. When Sheppard turned to him, Ronon shook his head, then got up. "Don't need you to fight our battle," he said, voice barely loud enough for the table to hear him. He stood, then walked over to Rodney's side of the table where he pulled two rings from where they were wrapped around one of the ends of his dreadlocks. He cleared this throat, and then went down on one knee like Sheppard had told him he'd done for Nancy. Suddenly the whole Mess was quiet. And though Ronon could feel his face flush, the look that Rodney gave him when he realized what was going on helped his resolve.
The whole thing took seconds. Seconds that Ronon knew would lead to a long, wonderful life with this wonderful, beautiful, frustrating man that had captured his heart from nearly the moment they'd met. And when Rodney said yes, he pulled Rodney into his arms, dipped him for a kiss, and then couldn't help but smile when Rodney playfully whacked him in the arm for the dip, complaining, "I am not a girl!"
"Kinda figured that out last night," he said, then kissed Rodney again.
Everyone sat back down, except for Ronon. "Well," he said, then squeezed Rodney's shoulders, "if you'll all excuse me, I've got some new recruits to train." He leaned down and kissed Rodney one more time for good measure, then started to walk away.
"Hey, Chewy!" Sheppard called after him. When he turned around, Sheppard said, "Don't send too many of 'em to the infirmary. Okay?"
Ronon just smiled. "No promises."