“Hey Lorne!”  Sheppard came around the Corner and into the mess, stopping just short of the table Evan currently occupied.  He looked around the cafeteria, then, satisfied with the mostly empty area, pulled out a chair and sat down opposite of Lorne.

Evan himself had barely looked up from his lunch. John always made himself comfortable wherever he was, he didn't need Lorne to acknowledge him to know the other man was welcome.

“Did you hear about Bergeron and the other Marines from his crew trying to set up a Christmas tree in the Gate room?” Sheppard grinned and leaned forward against the table, his boot brushing up against Evans’ own. 

He’d like to think that John wasn’t doing it on purpose, but really he knew the Colonel to well, he craved contact, even something so small as this, and if Lorne was truthful with himself, he’d come to enjoy it as well.  He smiled in spite of the sounds of what was most assuredly a disaster he would be cleaning up.  “What have they destroyed now Sir?”  With Marines it could be anything from exploding tree’s to tying up Walraven and making him the star ontop the tree.

“Na, apparently the not-tree they picked up from P3X-whatever turned out to be a bit.. carnivorous.”

Evan blinked.  “It tried to eat them?”

Sheppard grinned even more, if that were possible.  “Yea, from what I hear it was pretty funny, Peterson was up on a ladder with a jackboot santa ornament when the tree decided it was lunchtime. 

“Was he hurt?” Lorne asked.

“Only his pride.” John laughed as he stole a piece of blue grape from Evan’s tray.  “It took Sergeant Scalzie and Herara plus half of Botany to get him out.  When they did, well, lets just say he was lucky it wasn’t cold in the gate room.” 

Lorne laughed and pushed back his chair, picking up the nearly empty tray and setting it in the out slot, with Sheppard following leisurely beside him.  “What happened with the tree?  Scalzie light it up?”  He knew the Marines operated on a ‘kill us, kill you’ mandate, and the enemy being a tree probably wouldn’t change that.  He’d done his fair share of Marine babysitting, just last week Lt. Morane’s crew had decided to turn a hallway into a slip and slide.  With targets.

“Bergeron wanted to, but Carter said no.  They had the whole thing carted down to Botany with an escort of Acid welding plant dorks.  They sound way to excited about the whole man-eating plant thing in my opinion.” 

“Scientists.” Evan said, as the rounded the corner to his room.  He smiled, Sheppard had brought them there without him noticing, and was now smirking a him, doing that suggestive lean against Lorne’s door frame he pretends he doesn’t know that he does.

 “So….”

 Evan rolled his eyes and stepped into his room.  “So…” He heard John follow him in, the door close, and then the sound of the privacy lock engage.   Two arms moved around him and into his front pockets, and John rested his head against his shoulder. 

“I’ve got some free time just now, you want to make out?”  John asked, and squeezed in flush against him, eliciting a happy sigh from Evan.  He turned around and pressed a soft kiss to John’s lips, feeling the smile against his own.  He really had work he needed to do, but as John pushed up against him, he couldn’t help but think it could wait.
It’s Christmas.