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anaisonfireTitle: if the world is ending, let’s stay up all night (1002 words)
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Mass Effect Trilogy
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kaidan Alenko/Male Shepard
Characters: Kaidan Alenko, Male Shepard (Mass Effect)
Additional Tags: Post-Mass Effect 3 Mission - Priority: Rannoch, Established Relationship
Summary:
It’s a quarter past midnight and Kaidan can’t sleep.
Written for the 2022 round of![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
trickortreatex (AO3 collection).
It’s a quarter past midnight and Kaidan can’t sleep. It’s not that he’s not tired, because he is. He really is. He would love nothing more than to close his eyes and blissfully drift off, but his mind has refused to quiet down enough to do it for the past two hours and he doesn’t have much hope that will suddenly change.
Retaking Rannoch — and those two simple words will never, in his opinion, effectively describe the entire experience — for all that it was a much needed win, had also been exhausting, both physically and mentally. His hadn’t been the hardest part to play by far, of course. But that’s the issue plaguing him now. He can’t stop seeing it.
Every time he closes his eyes, it’s like he’s there again, watching helplessly. Shepard, usually standing tall and proud, reduced to the tiny human figure he is, facing off against the colossal Reaper all alone. Nowhere to go and unable to outrun the attacks on foot even if there was. And always those horrible, blaring horns…
He’d done it, of course. Kaidan doesn’t buy into the legend of Commander Shepard, frankly can’t afford to, because he is intimately familiar with the very real person behind the story. And he is well aware that Shepard is neither undefeatable nor indestructible, regardless of what the latest propaganda spin is. Still, there’s a part of him — the one that’s never quite managed to move past his initial star-struck impression — that whispers insidiously that maybe, just maybe, this victory means that they might have an iota of a chance to win the war. And oh, if they win…
Kaidan shakes off the creeping thought. He knows better than to plan for miracles.
He sighs and after a few moments longer of staring into the darkness, gets up. If he’s going to be awake anyway, he might as well find company.
It takes him a moment to adjust to the bright lights outside. Where before the Normandy ran on standard Alliance time, night shift included, the state of emergency and the multiple aliens on board have changed that. Now there’s always people awake, ensuring the work is uninterrupted, ready to react to threats at any time.
Kaidan makes his way to the canteen and nods to the couple crew members chatting over food, but doesn’t stop to join them. He has an objective and to accomplish it, he’ll need to arm himself.
He does his best to keep his mind clear of anything else as he takes what he came for and makes his way carefully back to the elevator.
“Kaidan,” EDI says as soon as he steps inside.
“EDI. I assume you told Shepard I’m coming up?”
“Correct.” A beat of silence. He wonders what goes on in the AI’s… processor? He has a feeling EDI might object to him saying she has a ‘mind’, like an organic. “Proceed.”
“O-kay,” he replies, bemused. The elevator goes up quickly without further conversation.
When he steps out to face a closed door, he has a second to wonder if he’s going to have to execute some complicated maneuver to knock, before it opens on its own. He nods in thanks, sure EDI can see him.
Inside, he finds Shepard sitting at his desk, instead of the comfortable leather seats right next to it. There’s no way he’s unaware Kaidan is there, so he doesn’t hesitate to lean next to him and see what he’s looking at.
“Is checking over reports really the most pressing thing for you to do in the middle of the night?” he asks as he spies the files he’s flicking through.
Shepard doesn’t reply immediately, taking his time to finish reading whatever it is. Kaidan doesn’t really care about it — they are technically, in the loosest sense possible, off duty. When he’s done, Shepard puts down the pad and sighs, running a hand over his face. He looks tired to Kaidan, like he hasn’t caught a wink either. Well. That is why he came up here.
Finally, he turns fully towards Kaidan and a small smile makes his face soften a little.
“That for me?” He gestures towards one of the two cups Kaidan is holding. When he gives it over wordlessly, Shepard immediately drinks, only to pull a face. “Tea? Really?”
“It’s decaf, too.” Kaidan grins at the even stronger look of disgust Shepard gives him, before he reluctantly takes another sip, looking like he’s being held at gunpoint to do so. “Figured you wouldn’t sleep and might want some company.”
Shepard shoots him a sharp-eyed look, but thankfully doesn’t press him on it. There’s not really any point to rehashing anxieties when they’re both excruciatingly aware of reality.
They sit like that in companionable silence for several minutes, drinking the tea before it cools off. Something wound up tight in Kaidan’s chest loosens, a little bit.
It's enough for now.
The peace of the moment is shattered by Shepard’s dry voice. “You're not going to let me go back to work now, are you?”
“What do you think?”
Shepard sighs like he's being put upon, but if he'd actually wanted to read reports all night, he wouldn't have let Kaidan in.
“Come on. If you’re staying and I'm not working, I refuse to sit in this uncomfortable chair.” So saying, Shepard moves over to the couch.
“Why were you even on it in the first— hey!” Kaidan cuts himself off with a yelp when Shepard suddenly grabs him.
He finds himself standing between Shepard’s legs, braced on his shoulders and leaning over him. The position, among other things, gives him a perfect view of Shepard’s mischievous expression.
“That,” Kaidan declares, “was entirely unnecessary.” However, he doesn’t do anything to dislodge Shepard’s hands from where they’re snaked around his waist.
“Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it?”
“You really wanna know?”
“Well—”
Kaidan doesn’t let him finish. He closes the little remaining distance between their faces and kisses him.
Hard.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Mass Effect Trilogy
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kaidan Alenko/Male Shepard
Characters: Kaidan Alenko, Male Shepard (Mass Effect)
Additional Tags: Post-Mass Effect 3 Mission - Priority: Rannoch, Established Relationship
Summary:
It’s a quarter past midnight and Kaidan can’t sleep.
Written for the 2022 round of
trickortreatex (AO3 collection).It’s a quarter past midnight and Kaidan can’t sleep. It’s not that he’s not tired, because he is. He really is. He would love nothing more than to close his eyes and blissfully drift off, but his mind has refused to quiet down enough to do it for the past two hours and he doesn’t have much hope that will suddenly change.
Retaking Rannoch — and those two simple words will never, in his opinion, effectively describe the entire experience — for all that it was a much needed win, had also been exhausting, both physically and mentally. His hadn’t been the hardest part to play by far, of course. But that’s the issue plaguing him now. He can’t stop seeing it.
Every time he closes his eyes, it’s like he’s there again, watching helplessly. Shepard, usually standing tall and proud, reduced to the tiny human figure he is, facing off against the colossal Reaper all alone. Nowhere to go and unable to outrun the attacks on foot even if there was. And always those horrible, blaring horns…
He’d done it, of course. Kaidan doesn’t buy into the legend of Commander Shepard, frankly can’t afford to, because he is intimately familiar with the very real person behind the story. And he is well aware that Shepard is neither undefeatable nor indestructible, regardless of what the latest propaganda spin is. Still, there’s a part of him — the one that’s never quite managed to move past his initial star-struck impression — that whispers insidiously that maybe, just maybe, this victory means that they might have an iota of a chance to win the war. And oh, if they win…
Kaidan shakes off the creeping thought. He knows better than to plan for miracles.
He sighs and after a few moments longer of staring into the darkness, gets up. If he’s going to be awake anyway, he might as well find company.
It takes him a moment to adjust to the bright lights outside. Where before the Normandy ran on standard Alliance time, night shift included, the state of emergency and the multiple aliens on board have changed that. Now there’s always people awake, ensuring the work is uninterrupted, ready to react to threats at any time.
Kaidan makes his way to the canteen and nods to the couple crew members chatting over food, but doesn’t stop to join them. He has an objective and to accomplish it, he’ll need to arm himself.
He does his best to keep his mind clear of anything else as he takes what he came for and makes his way carefully back to the elevator.
“Kaidan,” EDI says as soon as he steps inside.
“EDI. I assume you told Shepard I’m coming up?”
“Correct.” A beat of silence. He wonders what goes on in the AI’s… processor? He has a feeling EDI might object to him saying she has a ‘mind’, like an organic. “Proceed.”
“O-kay,” he replies, bemused. The elevator goes up quickly without further conversation.
When he steps out to face a closed door, he has a second to wonder if he’s going to have to execute some complicated maneuver to knock, before it opens on its own. He nods in thanks, sure EDI can see him.
Inside, he finds Shepard sitting at his desk, instead of the comfortable leather seats right next to it. There’s no way he’s unaware Kaidan is there, so he doesn’t hesitate to lean next to him and see what he’s looking at.
“Is checking over reports really the most pressing thing for you to do in the middle of the night?” he asks as he spies the files he’s flicking through.
Shepard doesn’t reply immediately, taking his time to finish reading whatever it is. Kaidan doesn’t really care about it — they are technically, in the loosest sense possible, off duty. When he’s done, Shepard puts down the pad and sighs, running a hand over his face. He looks tired to Kaidan, like he hasn’t caught a wink either. Well. That is why he came up here.
Finally, he turns fully towards Kaidan and a small smile makes his face soften a little.
“That for me?” He gestures towards one of the two cups Kaidan is holding. When he gives it over wordlessly, Shepard immediately drinks, only to pull a face. “Tea? Really?”
“It’s decaf, too.” Kaidan grins at the even stronger look of disgust Shepard gives him, before he reluctantly takes another sip, looking like he’s being held at gunpoint to do so. “Figured you wouldn’t sleep and might want some company.”
Shepard shoots him a sharp-eyed look, but thankfully doesn’t press him on it. There’s not really any point to rehashing anxieties when they’re both excruciatingly aware of reality.
They sit like that in companionable silence for several minutes, drinking the tea before it cools off. Something wound up tight in Kaidan’s chest loosens, a little bit.
It's enough for now.
The peace of the moment is shattered by Shepard’s dry voice. “You're not going to let me go back to work now, are you?”
“What do you think?”
Shepard sighs like he's being put upon, but if he'd actually wanted to read reports all night, he wouldn't have let Kaidan in.
“Come on. If you’re staying and I'm not working, I refuse to sit in this uncomfortable chair.” So saying, Shepard moves over to the couch.
“Why were you even on it in the first— hey!” Kaidan cuts himself off with a yelp when Shepard suddenly grabs him.
He finds himself standing between Shepard’s legs, braced on his shoulders and leaning over him. The position, among other things, gives him a perfect view of Shepard’s mischievous expression.
“That,” Kaidan declares, “was entirely unnecessary.” However, he doesn’t do anything to dislodge Shepard’s hands from where they’re snaked around his waist.
“Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it?”
“You really wanna know?”
“Well—”
Kaidan doesn’t let him finish. He closes the little remaining distance between their faces and kisses him.
Hard.
