STATIC

Mac wasn't expecting it. Then again, he was used to face the unexpected on a daily basis so he wasn't surprised either. It all started with that mission. Really, Mac had known Riley's secret for a few days (interesting how he had to be at an imminent life or death situation to bring up the topic).

The conversation had been revealing. He even surprised himself by sharing some of his own thoughts. Funny the way their reasons to have their relationships fail were totally opposite to each other. Later, imminent risk gone, none of them had mentioned it again. He was giving her privacy (or at least that's what he told himself).

Her words wouldn't leave his mind and each word felt like a cold shower in a winter morning. They just worked together? That annoyed him, although he couldn't blame her. There were eighteen months of silence in between them. Yes, that would inevitably change a relationship.

After that Mac made it a habit to text regularly, off work hours, to the whole team. He observed them more, knowing that this profession often drove them to bottle up their life issues during missions.

But then this thing happened.

It began at the team celebrations. Ever since Phoenix got back together after mission's ritual was a must. They'd go to Mac's apartment (he made an effort to keep it tidy, if only the main area), Desi wouldn't let anyone else but her ask for the pizzas (she got the role after everyone else cheated to bring their own favorite flavor to the party), Matty and Russ wouldn't stop bickering (Bozer called it the "Tell The Best Story and Win" segment), Riley would prep some music and Bozer would have the beer ready for the toast.

And after the toast they would hug. Fraternal, uncomplicated hugs. Mac didn't understand how it turned into a thing.

He didn't think too much when Riley happened to be the one he looked forward celebrating with. He didn't think too much of how good it felt. He most certainly didn't think too much when she didn't let go immediately (or how neither did he).

Oh, not thinking about it didn't equal to not noticing. Angus MacGyver couldn't avoid being observant. They'd sit next to each other and when Bozer told one of those jokes that had them laughing out loud, his body would use it as an excuse to come closer to her, he noticed. When he poured her a drink and their hands slightly touched, he noticed. When she walked away and his eyes followed her, he noticed.

It had to be a physical phenomenon. The thing. Mac would lay late at night thinking about what pulled him to her. He'd think about how his skin would tickle whenever she was around, as if all the atoms of his body rebelled against something he couldn't see. As if she had a magnet attached and he had a highly ferromagnetic object on him. Except they didn't carry anything, they were it.

But it also had to be chemical, Mac concluded, because how else could he explain that every time their skins came into contact this thing, this tingling, this magnetism grew stronger just like a reaction being catalyzed.

They were two charged individuals with their bodies accumulating a tension that could only be released when their magnetic fields were around each other's.

From then on when this thing happened, when she asked him to hold her keys for a second and his hand would instinctively search for hers, Mac would notice and he would revel in the experience of their static coming into life as he purposefully let his hand linger on hers./span/p

(In the boy scout reunion Mac gave them a whole lesson on electromagnetic fields and Lorentz's Law. He was inspired.)

Set after 4x05.