#happychica

[theoriginalladya]

All's Fair - Chapter 4: Quoting the Morning

All's Fair

Part of the Mass Effect/WWII series, Romance & Resistance, a collaborative series of fics featuring @happychica's John (Shepard) Smith and my Lachlan (Shepard) Berger.

Chapter 4: Quoting the Morning

Excerpt:

Lachlan stirred as John combed his fingers through that hair, which teetered on the edge of being too long.  Buried his nose against John’s chest before shifting to brush a kiss over his collarbone.  Tugging playfully at the thin white cotton of his nightshirt as a horse might search for more oats.

The morning ritual complete, sky blue eyes peered up at John, framed by lashes as pale as his hair was vibrant.  “Mornin’.”

“Morning,” John returned.  His hand continued its path, undeterred by the happy hum as Lachlan moved so that he could rest his chin on a bare forearm, returning John’s lazy smile.

“I know that look,” Lachlan said, voice sleep soft.  “What’s got you up and thinkin’ so early?”

“Just wondering if you love me,” John said.  He smiled at the look of sudden wakefulness in that so recently relaxed face and threw his man a bone.  “ For there are none of my uncle’s marks upon you. ”

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[illusivesoul]

People you'd like to get to know better

Was tagged by @likeyua @mxanigel and @marythegizka Thank you :)

I'll tag @ziskandra @thessiansunfish @messydiabolical and @happychica. Only if you feel like doing this, of course.

My answers to the below prompts are below the cut!

Three Ships

Last Song

Last Film

Currently Reading

Currently Craving

.

Three Ships

Also going to use the idea of an OC and canon list :)

OCs: Serena Brosca x Leliana

Manuel Rodriguez Shep x Cortez

Maiteh Lerras and Renata Barkas (da ocs)

Canon Characters: Leliana x Wynne

Aria x Jack

Blackwall x Ser Barris

Last Song: Nothing Matters - Dinner Party

Last Film: Avatar The Way of Water

Currently Reading: I Love You... But I Am Happy Without you - Jaime Jaramillo

Currently Craving: The cold. Summer is killing me lol.

[ghostxofxartemis]

I would love to know more about Leah Shepard. She seems a little prickly, but who doesn't love a grumpy OC?

Hehe she is the grumpiest of grumpy Shepards and I will die on this hill.

Leah is my Colonist/Ruthless Shepard. I know, cliché background. She wasn't always grumpy. She used to be so down to earth, she'd always have that smile that would brighten everyone's day. She was a happy-go-lucky kind of gal. She knew what she wanted, she wanted her own ranch and teach children how to ride horses.

Her and her BF Adam were household names, everyone knew they'd end up together, marry, have a household full of kids.

Then the attack happen, and she lost everything, everyone.

She hears them before she hears the gunfire go off. She hears a grunt and sees her mother falling next to her.

"Mom!" She pauses in her tracks before backtracking and bending down next to her mother. Hannah is clutching at her wound, shaking, the blood seeps through her fingers. There's so much blood. "Mom please get up!" Leah cries.

Hannah's white shirt now stained red, "Leah, take your brothers and go." Her breath is ragged, she struggles to speak. She places her hand on Leah's cheek. "Do what you can to survive. Protect Mickey and Daniel."

“Mom! Please, you have to get up! I can’t do this alone!” Leah places her hand over her mother’s.

Hannah wipes the tears from her daughter’s face smearing some blood on her cheeks at the same time. “Go, Leah. I love you,” are her last words she says before life slips away and her hand slumps to the ground from Leah’s cheek.

“Leah! We have to go” Michael pulls at Leah’s sleeve.

She places Hannah’s hand on her mother’s chest before stumbling back to her feet and taking Michael and Danie by the hand, leading them away. Their breath is raspy as they run as fast as they can but Daniel’s asthma slows them down. “Mickey keep going! Head to the cliff and then make for the cave!”

“What are you doing?!” He demands, turning to look at his big sister. She shrugs the backpack off and helps Daniel shrug into the straps.

At some point she'll even witness horrible things happen to Adam and his family, that haunt her for a very long time. She'll wake up in the middle of the night with cold sweats after this.

But it's also the lost of her siblings that haunt her.

Micheal leads the way, having gained some distance while Leah picked up Daniel. Leah keeps an eye on him while she follows behind. When did Daniel get so big?! She swears just yesterday she hadn’t had this much trouble giving him a piggyback.

Her legs burn as she runs. She picks a point of focus, trying to ignore the pain as she keeps running, pushing herself to go to her limits. Her breath is ragged and her lungs burn as she tries to inhale oxygen.

She hears more gunfire from behind them and Micheal falls seconds later.

“Nooooo! Mickey!” Leah cries and runs to him.

She takes a knee beside him rolling him onto his back. Blood already stains the grass around him. His blue eyes stare up at her, lifeless, a hole in his forehead.

She muffles her cries by covering her mouth with both hands.

“Lee-Lee?”

Daniel’s worried cry snaps her back to reality. Getting to her feet she continues to run for the cliff.

These snippets are just very rough draft of what I'm working on for her Mindoir story. But this is part of the reason she's so grumpy. She pushes everyone away because she fears another situation like this. Getting too close to others means more ways of getting hurt. Have her enemy use people she loves against her in order to blackmail and get what they want. If she doesn't have anyone close then there's nothing her enemy can use against her. This way, she can make the hard calls, like sacrificing her whole team on Torfan to kill the batarians and save a colony. She had no feelings for her team so they couldn't be used against her.

Even her team on the Normandy, she refuses to let her self get close to them. And that's why she's mad about having feeling for Kaidan, she let her guard down. She's mad at herself for failing on keeping her word.

Not only is she mad at herself for falling in love with Kaidan, but she's terrified of what could be done to him, to lose him. Cerberus putting him in danger on Horizon is exactly what she feared and do on Horizon, in her universe, she's the one to push Kaidan away. She'll hurt him the only way she knows how and is to confirm her working with the enemy. By everyone thinking he hates her, she's able to keep him safe. Although it pains her, it's better than feeling like she died on Mindoir all over again. She would rather live knowing he hates her than live knowing that she was responsible for his death.

The Alliance trained her to be a weapon and that's what she sees herself as now. Lee-Lee died on Mindoir with her family, she's Commander Leah Shepard now. The girl she once knew is dead. A ghost that walks the field of the dead.

[lyrishadow]

Thankyou to @happychica for the gift!! I think i forgot to post thanks here!

Holiday Harbinger Gift Exchange

For @lyrishadow!  Something sweet and a little bit silly, to start the new year bright <3

Title: The Right Fit Relationship: mshenko, Joker/EDI Rating: T (maybe - Shepard’s a flirt) Summary: Shepard isn’t the sort of guy who wears a suit; they never fit right anyway.  But the wedding’s going to start any minute, and he’d promised to behave on their special day.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/36448519 Thanks to @masseffectholidaycheer for organizing this exchange!

[theheroofoakvale]

a gift commission for @happychica from @bardofheartdive 

[guchaigue]

commission for @happychica 😊

[swaps55]

Hey Swaps, i’m writing this from whatever levels of consciousness i’ve transcended to having read lichrally all of your works several times now 👁 🧘‍♀️💕

I can’t wait for whatever you have in store next, but in the meantime, any ficrecs for my ratchet mshenko idiots in love craving soul?

Aaaaaaaah, that's amazing!!! The LEAST I can do to reward you, since I cannot physically hand you a cookie, is to give you some recs!!

This is by no means a comprehensive list, and I know as soon as I post it I will remember half a dozen I should have included, but here are some mshenko fics that I love!

One-shots

Mako, by @pigeontheoneandonly. (This is one of my absolute favorite shorts)

The first time I saw Shepard die, the Mako fell over a cliff. 

Touching Bottom, by stone_in_focus. 1,916 words, Teen and up. Kaidan has a conversation with Samara.

Maybe this time around, you'll get it right.

Greenstick Fracture, by spicyshimmy. 6,250 words, General Audiences.

Post-ME3 space husbands. Shepard gets a chance to bond with a son he loves a hell of a lot more than he understands, and they both share some of the same scars. Also, Shepard wears dad plaid.

For a Single Yesterday, by @makoparkingonly. 5,826 words, General Audiences (Note: this fic is BEAUTIFUL, but it is not a Shepard Lives story)

“You have to be fine,” he says, but doesn’t put in the message. He sticks it in the outgoing queue. No hails from Shepard before they’d escaped the local cluster. No telling exactly what that wave of green energy had done, if there had even been any ships able to go back and look for him.

Not knowing anything is the most frustrating thing of all.

There’s no telling how long it’ll be before they’re connected to any kind of network again, if ever. Maybe he’ll die of old age on this planet while Shepard searches the galaxy for them. At least Shepard would have survived to search.

Trikalon, by @dandenbo, 1,146 words, Mature.

Kaidan takes care of what's underneath the armour.

Long Fics

Soldiers Heart, by Lemon. 72,182 words, Mature.

When the battle is over and the war is won, the soldier puts down his gun and returns to the life he had before; a life of peace and remembrance. But what happens to those who can't let go? Whose peace never comes and whose remembrance brings only pain and suffering?

Shepard struggles to regain his sense of personhood after years of constant warfare, his life irreparably damaged by what he saw and did. But all is not lost-- not when he has the strength to ask for help.

Heavy Fire, spicyshimmy. 58,955 words, Mature.

Earthborn Shepard never makes it into the Alliance. Merc life suits him just fine, as does teaming up with C-Sec officer Garrus Vakarian every now and then. And then he meets Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, poster boy for doing things by the books. 

Alke, by @mallaidhsomo. 52,766 words, Explicit. (One chapter away from being complete!)

The Butcher of Torfan. Frankly, Eric Shepard liked the nickname.

A Crystal Hewn from Stone, by @happychica. 476,150 words (series), Explicit. (Note: I have not read all of this, but I know just how talented happychica is, and zero qualms recommending it)

Giorraíonn beirt bóthar - Two People Shorten A Road, by @theoriginalladya, 186,364 words (series), Mature.  

Stories involving the life of Commander Caleb Shepard. Earthborn. Sole Survivor. Infiltrator.

[ao3feed-mshenko]

Physical Intimacy

by happychica

A collection of moments, ranging from sweet to sexy, inspired by various October prompt lists. All chapters tie into the A Crystal Hewn from Stone series.

Words: 1134, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Series: Part 9 of Curated Affection

Fandoms: Mass Effect Trilogy, Mass Effect - All Media Types

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/F, M/M

Characters: Kaidan Alenko, Male Shepard (Mass Effect), Jack | Subject Zero, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, Samantha Traynor

Relationships: Kaidan Alenko/Male Shepard, Jack | Subject Zero/Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, Jack | Subject Zero/Samantha Traynor

Additional Tags: Established Relationship, Canon Compliant, Destroy Ending (Mass Effect), Anal Sex, Clothed Sex, Flirting, Tuchanka (Mass Effect), Earth, Normandy-SR2, Dirty Talk, Sex Toys Under Clothing, mention of past dubcon, Blow Jobs

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/42066396

[hail-libertas]

Do you know any good mass effect fanfic?

To be honest the only mass effect fanfic I read is kaidan and Shep lol. So if you like them here’s some of my favs that are currently being worked on

In him he trusts by avaya

The choices we make by happychica

Anything mallaidhsomo writes

After the Crucible by urdnotflexthejedibard (you’ll need a lot of tissues for this one it’s super emotional lol)

Some that are done

Downtown Eastside by lemon_sprinkles (alternate verse and SO good)

Soldiers Heart verse by lemon_sprinkles (very heavy, read the tags before reading)

There’s also one more but I for the life of me cannot find it.

[urrone]

ten fandoms. ten characters. ten tags.

Tagged by @screwyouflightlieutenant​!

Tagging: @miniature-space-hamster​ @happychica​ @pigeontheoneandonly​ @survivethefeels​ @swaps55​ @ziegenkind094​ @liminal-zone​ @painterofhorizons​ @stumblingoverchaos​

1. Mass Effect - Garrus 2. Dragon Age - Varric Tethras 3. The X-Files - Dana Scully 4. Julie and the Phantoms - Luke 5. Lord of the Rings - Samwise Gamgee 6. Teen Wolf - Stiles 7. Star Trek - Spock 8. Star Wars - Jyn Erso 9. Stargate Atlantis - Rodney McKay 10. Once Upon a Time - Hook/Killian Jones

[theoriginalladya]

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit!

Not a new story, but I thought I'd reshare the story I had an absolute blast writing with @happychica and @screwyouflightlieutenant last year for St. Patrick's Day! Have a lucky day, everyone!

As Luck Would Have It

from The Town of Norman series

Summary: What do a mini-Irish invasion, a murdered leprechaun, and an old flame have in common? Joker’s not amused by any of them.

Fandom: Mass Effect

Rating: Teen and Up

Relationships: Male Shepard & Kaidan Alenko, Male Shepard & Abby Williams, Male Shepard/Kaidan Alenko, EDI/Jeff “Joker” Moreau, Steven Hackett/Karin Chakwas, Steve Cortez/James Vega, Jack|Subject Zero/Samantha Traynor

Characters: Caleb Shepard (O'Connell - OC), Tadhg Shepard (O'Connell - OC), Niamh Shepard (O'Connell - OC), Kaidan Alenko, Karin Chakwas, Steven Hackett, Samantha Traynor, Jeff “Joker” Moreau, John Shepard, EDI, Ashley Williams, Zaeed Massani, Steve Cortez, James Vega, Garrus Vakarian, Urdnot Bakara - Eve, Urdnot Grunt, Urdnot Wrex, Kasumi Goto, The Illusive Man - Jack Harper, Jacob Taylor, Kelly Chambers, Rahna, Brigit O'Halloran (OC), Jack|Subject Zero

Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Hallmark Movie AU, St. Patrick’s Day, Past Relationship(s), Green Beer, bartending, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Shenanigans

Excerpt:

“If it helps,” John said, “I’m pretty sure Joker had that planned out before the big leprechaun was sabotaged.”

Kaidan thought about it.  “...No.  I don’t think that’s gonna help.”

“Caleb is not so easily appeased?” John asked with a grin.

“Caleb might be,” came a voice from their left.  “Why does he need to be appeased?”

John turned to look at their town’s newest temporary resident as Kaidan sat up.  Caleb, wearing a suspiciously cooperative dark green shirt under that omnipresent jacket, was walking up to them.

~~~

Spotify Playlist

What started as an offer to lend out my Irish Shepard, Caleb, for some St. Patrick’s Day shenanigans turned into a full blown collaborative effort with @happychica, and I couldn’t be more delighted! Thank you, my friend, for allowing Caleb, Tadhg, and Niamh into your sandbox to play! And huge thanks to @screwyouflightlieutenant for the fabulous commercial breaks! (I love these soooooooooo much!)

[illusivesoul]

Was tagged by @quietborderline Thank you :) I'll tag @vulpixelates @elleweird @ghostxofxartemis and @happychica . Only if you feel like doing this, of course. Bold which you prefer. painting or photography // dusk or dawn // spring or autumn // movies or tv shows // chocolate or nutella // audiobooks or podcasts // card games or board games // fiction or nonfiction // cookies or brownies // dragons or unicorns // bath or shower // blue or yellow // rollercoasters or bumper cars // iced tea or hot tea // left side of bed or right side of bed  // zip-up hoodie or pullover hoodie // straight hair or curly hair // gummy worms or gummy bears // rain or snow // sneakers or flip-flops // bowling or mini-golf // pasta or pizza

[ghostxofxartemis]

WIP WEDNESDAY

A day late, but I was tagged by @screwyouflightlieutenant. Thank you for thinking of me 🥺, it's been months since I've been tagged in one of these.

Tagging @commander-krios , @dandenbo, @miniature-space-hamster, @happychica and whoever wants to participate.

This came about during a discord chat, and it'll probably be a one shot for a pancake series cause this couple likes Pancakes.... a lot. At 2am in the morning. Or whenever.

The clattering of pots makes William jump awake. Years of nightly break-ins in their apartment or Maddie crying in the next room conditioned him to be a light sleeper. Old habits he suppose.

His heart pounds against his rib cage, and he reaches over to other side of bed to stir Reagan awake only to find the spot next to him empty.

He rubs his eyes and glances at the clock. It’s two fucking o'clock in the morning. The fuck is she doing?

“Rea?” He calls out but his voice is raspy and it’s barely over a whisper. There’s no way she heard him.

Reaching for his sweat pants at the end of the bed, he puts them on makes his way to the kitchen. “Rea, love. What are you doing?”

“Pancakes.” She stirs the batter in the bowl without looking at him.

“It’s two am.” William points out as he crosses his arms and leans against the door frame.

“I’m hungry.” Reagan looks up at him then.

Anyone else would have believed her, but they haven’t had to deal with the restless nights, the night screams, the constant rearranging of the dishes, the random outbursts and not the usual ones when she’s pissed off. All signs of PTSD. He recognizes the patterns from his father. But he also known her long enough to know this isn’t her usual behaviour.

“Hmm.” He doesn’t make any attempt to hide the doubt on face. “that’s a lie.”

"Are we the snack police and a lie detector?" Reagan's voice is dripped with full of sarcasm.

William chuckles as pushes himself off the door and pads his way around to her. He takes the bowl from her hands and gently sets it down on the island.

He takes her hand in his and twirls her around, admiring the way the she moves so lightly on her toes, the lean muscles on her thighs as his shirt raises along with her arm and exposes her skin.

“Remember when we used to come back home at two am in the morning . Pissed out of our minds, stumbling around and trying but failing miserably at being quiet as not to wake up our princess?”

Reagan’s lip curl upwards into a smile as leans in close to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head against his chest. Distraction is working.

“We always woke her up and made Pancakes and danced with her.” Reagan finishes his thought for him.

[iberiandoctor]

Happy Reaping, Part 1

Here’s the first part of my @masseffectholidaycheer sharing for the amazing and amazingly talented @happychica! I had so much fun in fandom last year with you, friend. Long may it continue <3 

A homage to @happychica‘s Crystal universe, this is a small postwar mShenko story, set in John’s and Kaidan’s Spanish period. Thanks to @screwyouflightlieutenant for the beta!

The Thousand Years of Peace, [M], 1,871 words - on AO3

As Sor Lucia mentioned, it was the town’s custom to celebrate the New Year together. As the midnight hour neared, villagers would emerge from their homes and their family dinners and gather in the main square, arming themselves with bottles of cava or cider and the traditional grapes — las doce uvas de la suerte — to ring in the new year as a community.

Kaidan hadn’t planned to join the festivities. John was still recovering, though lately he’d started stealthily helping with reconstruction efforts around the village. Also, and more importantly, they’d been enjoying this anonymous refuge from the public eye — where they’d been free to roam old cobbled streets that had stood for a thousand years, to browse makeshift stalls that were beginning to fill again with crafts and catch, and crops from a first, difficult post-war harvest, and to visit the church which had somehow remained intact after the Reapers trashed half of Europe.

In this quiet town, there was no one to second-guess the hard choices the Savior of the Citadel, the Hero of the Battle of London and First Human Spectre had made for all their sakes. Here, no one would begin to question the cost of their victory— a luxury that only survivors got to enjoy — and to demonize the person responsible for winning it.

No one deserved that backlash. Least of all John.

Jack, who had found John for him, who had kept him hidden safe until she could get him to Kaidan, hadn’t followed the media, or at least she hadn’t told them if she had. It had been Liara who had been keeping a professional eye out, and last week she’d forwarded Kaidan some relevant extranet chatter. Nothing too alarming, but just the veiled reference to the Cult of Shepard was enough to make Kaidan’s BP rise.

Too easily could Thank God, he was there, and saved us all become He damned us all, and we weren’t even there.

Better to stay under the radar, and away from the universe’s attempts to deify and condemn.

Of course, no place was completely hidden, and no refuge permanent — at least not one on Earth. At some point, they’d need to emerge into the public glare and expose themselves to public judgment.

Shepard’s cooking skills dated back to his time with the Reds. During their months in Spain, he’d developed quite the repertoire in local cuisine. On this night, the last night of the year, he’d outdone himself with a Catalan feast: escalivada — tomatoes, peppers and aubergines, char-grilled and served with a pinch of salt — and suquet de peix, a fish stew cobbled together from parts of the catch that had been brought in that week. As always, Kaidan had helped, stirring in saffron, and dishing out the hake, monkfish, clams and mussels which had featured in the waters of the Spanish coast for a thousand years before the Reapers’ attack.

They carried the plates to their room. It tasted even more delicious than it had smelled. “New recipe?” Kaidan asked.

“An old one. But new to me,” John said, grinning. He reached over and wiped a trace of saffron stock off Kaidan’s bottom lip with his thumb.

After they’d finished eating, John followed the gesture with his mouth. Kaidan was more than happy to indulge him.

They’d been so careful with each other at first, even after the last bandages of John’s had come off. The wounds from that final battle might have faded, but the war had left its mark on both their bodies, to say nothing of the ones it had left on hearts and minds. They’d spent weeks and months in this rickety bed healing, and healing each other. In this whitewashed room, with its shuttered windows that overlooked the Catalan foothills, these veteran warriors learned to make love in a time of peace.

Afterwards, John would hold Kaidan in his arms and recite snatches of literature from memory as they drifted off to sleep — Shakespearean sonnets, poems by Emily Dickinson, lines from books John had read as a boy and never forgot. Lately John had chosen a series of poems about Britain’s fabled King Arthur, who had laid down his weapons and left his kingdom after the war was won. There had been no mistaking the weariness in John’s voice as he recited those verses about the dying king, coupled with a yearning for what came after the war — at least Kaidan hoped that was what it was.

Sex always wrecked John and made him sleepy, even in the days when he’d been at his full strength. It was one of the things most Kaidan treasured, together with the sight of John coming apart for him, painted like a canvas by the glow of the fishtank in the SR-2, or, as now, by candlelight.

But tonight, after Kaidan cleaned them up and then reached out to pinch out the candle, John put a hand on Kaidan’s wrist.

“Just a minute,” he said. In the warm, flickering light, his eyes were focused and intent, filled with the same vigor as when he used to confront hostiles on a battlefield… and yet it was somehow different.

Kaidan asked, tentatively, “What is it?”

John sat up in bed. The lines of his bare body crackled with uncharacteristic energy.

“Let’s go out into the town. Didn’t Sor Lucia say something about tonight, about Nochevieja?”

Kaidan’s pulse began to speed up. “If that’s what you want,” he said, and reached for his clothes.

After they’d wrapped up sufficiently warmly, they wandered out of the building hand in hand, heading towards the main footpath that led to the center of town. The night sky was cloudless, the moon and stars lighting their way together with the old oil lamp Kaidan had brought. A string of bobbing lights walked ahead of them — the villagers, similarly-laden, were all taking the same route towards the town square.

In the cool night air, John’s fingers were warm. His palm was callused from the long years of holding his Carnifex and dealing out death. Now, months after the last time John had touched a gun, Kaidan could feel the new, softer skin underneath, rising to the surface.

They finally arrived at the square, where the other villagers had already gathered. On the far side of the main street stood the church, a rectangular building with ornate stone work covering the outside, its steeple and clock tower still proudly intact.

John had spent many a solitary afternoon within the church’s stone walls and blasted-out window frames where stained glass had once stood. Apparently he’d felt the need to atone for something. Now, he stood before that place, at Kaidan’s side, together with the other townsfolk, watching the hands of the dimly-lit clock face tick down.

As the church bells struck what was known as the fourths, announcing the approach of midnight, and the murmur around them rose to an excited buzz, Kaidan asked his husband, “Is this what you were hoping to find tonight?”

“I think so,” John whispered back. “Tonight, the old year is dying. Like everyone here, I wanted to watch it end, and the new one being born.”

Kaidan’s response was eaten up by the sound of midnight striking, as the clock hands finally moved toward the witching hour.

At the first chime, an excited hubbub of noise rose around them. Older gentlemen and ladies, harried-looking younger townsfolk, a smattering of children and infants in arms, all standing shoulder to shoulder in this square, bearing witness to the dying moments of the old year and the birth of the new one. A few had brought the customary grapes, and were eating them in time with the peals of the clock.

John put his lips against Kaidan’s ear, and murmured: “The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.”

The cadences of these verses, recited in John’s deep voice on this singular night, moved Kaidan more than he could express. He wrapped his arms around his husband and pulled him close. “More Tennyson?” he hazarded, an educated guess.

“Good ear,” John said approvingly. As the bells of the church continued to chime, ringing down to twelve, he continued:

“Ring in the valiant man and free, The larger heart, the kindlier hand; Ring out the darkness of the land, Ring out the thousand wars of old, Ring in the thousand years of peace. ”

As John’s voice trailed off, the two hands of the church clock slowly formed a perfect vertical line. Cries of “¡Feliz Año Nuevo!” rang out, and the villagers hugged and kissed one another, giving thanks for the arrival of the new year, and gratitude that, unlike so many others on Earth, they had gotten to see it.

“Happy New Year,” Kaidan echoed, and kissed John softly on the mouth.

His husband tasted like saffron, the earthy flavor of this temporary refuge, and underneath it, a hint of something new. Kaidan didn’t recognize it, but was looking forward to discovering what it was.

“You too,” John said. “Is it too early to call your parents?”

Given the time difference, it was still the previous year in British Columbia, but Kaidan wasn’t sure they could stay awake for another six hours. “We can ring them when we get back,” he said. “And it’s not too early to call Jack, or Steve. Or, if you felt like showing the ‘larger heart and kindlier hand’, we could finally return Admiral Hackett’s calls.”

Kaidan was mostly joking, but John’s smile grew wry. “You know, we can’t hide from him forever. It’s a new year, and a time for new beginnings.”

“You’ve had enough of war,” Kaidan said, softly.

John nodded. “Maybe even enough of Earth. How does Rannoch sound to you? Or Thessia, or even Tuchanka?”

Kaidan thought about it: helping the quarians rebuild their homeworld, or the asaris’, or resettling on the krogans' deadly planet, with its thousands of years of lost history. “It sounds good,” he said. Then, after a beat, he added, “Home’s anywhere you are, John.”

As the sound of church bells died away, came the other sounds of celebration: cheers, conversation, the sound of corks popping. Here were sounds of life, finding its way, in a new year both John and Kaidan had lived to see.

Who knew where they’d be next year? Offworld, where the rotation around the sun might take longer, and the years would be longer?

As if reading his mind, John remarked, “Tuchanka takes 16 Earth-standard years to make a rotation around Aralakh's sun.”

“Where are they now in their cycle?” Kaidan wanted to know.

John shrugged. His eyes were a bright blaze of blue. Like the new year, this old soldier was coming back to life, brought back from war and the brink of death into this time of peace.

“Let’s find out,” he said. They had the time to do that, now — to find out when their next New Year celebration would be, and all the ones that would come after.

[ltleflrt]

Rule: tag nine people you'd like like catch up with or get to know better

Thanks for taggin' me @mayalaen

Fave color: Red or Green, but not Red&Green. Christmas themed color schemes actually hurt my brain.

Currently reading: Natural Fissures by happychica

Last song: Collide by Atomic Tom

Last movie: Gunpowder Milkshake (which was kinda bad, sadly)

Last series: Schitt's Creek (so glad I finally watched it!)

Tea or coffee: Soda. Okay if I have to pick one, I'll take tea.

Currently playing: Mass Effect Legendary Edition

I'm gonna tag @jupiterjames and anyone else who wants to play! :D

[swaps55]

WIP Wednesday

Tagged by @biotickaidan. Thank you! Tagging @happychica, @n0rmandysr1, and @miniature-space-hamster, if you are so inclined! 

I have so many Sam and Kaidan first kiss AUs at this point, I now actually have one on the scrap pile. 

The late night walk under the stars is the first scene I wrote for the orchard trip, and as I was drafting it I did a quick first kiss scribble. As the rest of the chapter took shape, I found a first kiss AU I liked better, but I still have this, so figured I’d share. 

~

The leaves crunch under their feet as they walk. A breeze wafts through the trees, sending a whisper through the branches. The air is crisp and cool, but not unpleasant, strong with the scent of spring. No other planet he’s ever been to smells anything like it.

No matter where Kaidan goes, his roots are here. He glances over at Shepard, who comes from the stars, light years from the birthplace of humanity and claims no roots at all.

Shepard wanders off the path towards one of the trees and runs his bare fingers across the bark, deep in thought.

“It was the book,” he says, so quietly Kaidan almost doesn’t hear him.

Kaidan comes to stand beside him. “Green Eggs and Ham.”      

“I do not like green eggs and ham,” Shepard recites softly. “I do not like them, Sam-I-Am.” He glances over at Kaidan. “My dad read it to me when I was little. It was my favorite story.”

“You were the main character,” Kaidan says, smile spreading over his lips.

Shepard nods. “The asshole who coerced that poor fucker into shoving his face full of green eggs and ham. My dad used to joke that he named me Sam because I didn’t know how to take no for an answer.” A wistful look crosses his face. “He still called me Sam-I-Am right up until the day the Alliance shipped me off to Ares. It was the last time I saw him.”

“Shepard,” Kaidan says softly.

He taps the branch with his fingers. “He wanted to take me to Earth. Show me where humanity came from. I wasn’t interested. Couldn’t understand why he wanted to look back when everything was out there.” He gestures up at the sky. “So we never went. There was so much he wanted to teach me, and I blew him off because he worked a desk job while my mom flew a starship, and what could I possibly learn from him?”

The bitterness in his voice cuts like a knife. He scrubs the back of his hand across the corner of his eye.

“I always saw him as an anchor. I wanted to be like my mother, not like him. My mother was the hero, the person everyone looked up to and respected. Including me. Took me too long to realize that respect and love were two very different things.”

“She’s your mother. It’s not something you should have had to learn from her.”

He shakes his head. “She’s not my mother. She’s a superior officer. Always has been, and nothing I do will ever change it. It took losing my father to figure that out. I was so stupid.”

“No, you weren’t,” Kaidan insists. “You were a kid.”

Shepard huffs. “I thought so much of her, and so little of him. Until Anderson gave me a copy of his service record after he disappeared. I’d never even thought to look at it before. Do you know what I found?”

Kaidan shakes his head, heart aching.

“He was N1. He and Anderson did ICT together. His proficiency scores were better than Anderson’s. He had an invitation to go back to the Villa for N2.”

“Why didn’t he take it?”

“Because of me,” Shepard says, voice breaking. “He gave up spec ops and requested a posting on Arcturus to raise me. I took that from him.”

“Doesn’t sound to me like you took anything. He chose you.”

And your mother didn’t.

“And look how I repaid him.”

Kaidan takes a step closer. Their biotic fields mingle with a hum. “I’m willing to bet he didn’t see it as a debt.”

“I guess I’ll never know, will I?”

And you’ve spent over ten years trying to repay it anyway, haven’t you? To Shepard, everything comes down to what pieces of himself he can carve off for others. You are more than a transaction. 

Shepard turns away to head back towards the path, but Kaidan reaches out and grabs for his hand. Later, he’ll think about how seamlessly their fingers lace, like they’ve done it their whole lives instead of for the first time. But now, there’s no time to think. He pulls Shepard to him, hooks his other hand around Shepard’s neck and kisses him.

It’s easy. Effortless. Just like breathing. Not something he has to think about, control, figure out. His lips on Shepard’s just is, soft and warm and full of hope, like some crucial missing part of him has just snapped into place.

When they part, Shepard blinks, an almost curious look in his eyes. Curious, but not surprised, not dismayed, even though Kaidan’s heart is beating so loud Shepard has to hear it. Kaidan doesn’t let go of his hand and still cups the back of his neck, and Shepard doesn’t pull away.

“I wish you could see yourself the way I see you,” Kaidan murmurs.

Shepard searches his face some more, like he’s looking at Kaidan for the first time, before reaching up with the hand not clasped in Kaidan’s to stroke his cheek, curiosity melting into wonder.

“What do you see?” he asks, voice soft.

The answer falls out of his mouth before his brain has time to think about it. “Infinity.”

Shepard’s thumb strokes his jaw, and then nothing else matters because Shepard kisses him back.