admittedly, john didn’t remember much of what he’d stashed into certain drawers of his cabin. but, of course, that could be partially blamed on the war… his head was focused on the mission, and not much else. there was room for kaidan and very brief bonding with the rest of the crew, but he couldn’t seem to stop his spiraling thoughts enough to simply relax. the coma they put him in was the most sleep he’d gotten in however long it had been.
❝ yeah, that’s fine, ❞ he replies, giving kaidan a small smile. there wasn’t too many things around, and besides his service medal and the picture of kaidan that sat beside his stack of datapads, there wasn’t much else he wanted to bring to earth with him. he wondered how the fish and his hamster fared during the final battle, when joker pulled off the evasive maneuver of the millennium.
❝ — how’s the hamster ? ❞ he finds himself asking… it was just a hamster, but he’d gotten quite close to the little guy.
john fixated his attention on kaidan, blue eyes shifting once to the brace on his knee, the way it itched his skin underneath, the way he couldn’t do anything about that. he wonders how long he’d be stuck in the damn thing, but imagined it would be awhile… he figured there was no use in complaining, silently or otherwise, at least he was still alive…
Kaidan smiled, relieved to know John wasn’t bothered that he had been the one going through his quarters. He had hoped it would be some sort of therapeutic action. To bring himself some kind of peace when the whole world thought that John Shepard had died saving the galaxy. But even as he cleaned, even as he brought back odds and ends to keep at his own tiny apartment he had rented for the time being, he couldn’t bring himself to believe it.
There was absolutely no way that the reapers could be the end of the man sitting beside him. John was too strong, too determined, and quite honestly too stubborn to let an enemy like that be the reason he didn’t come home.
“I brought a few other things back as well. I didn’t think you would care too much about the old data pads. I think you’ve done enough work.” Kaidan teased, scooting a bit closer to him on the bench, even reaching out to gently take his hand. He had been scared to touch John too much right away. The bruising, cuts and scrapes looked painful, and the last thing he ever wanted to do was cause the other man pain. But he was slowly getting over that worry.
And damn if he wasn’t happy that he was. He had missed John’s touch.
“Chonk is alive and well.” Kaidan chuckled as he answered, knowing it wouldn’t be long until the question was asked. “I dunno if I mentioned, but I had rented a place just to have somewhere to stash things while I was..well. Looking for you.” He gave a little smile before continuing. “Joker is there now, he’s been watching it for me. But Chonk is there, and I think I was able to save most of the fish, your model ships, and your service medals. Once I can jailbreak you, I’ll get you there so he can see that his dad is alive and mostly well.”