Read it here! Across Enemy Lines - Chapter 36 - DEVINEPOISON - Mass Effect - All Media Types [Archive of Our Own]
What is this? A snippet under the cut??
His palm flattened against her chest, her lack of armor letting him feel every racing beat of her heart as her back met metal and her breath was forced out of her. He stiffened his arm, towered over her as she squirmed under his unrelenting grip. “You are,” he said through gritted teeth. “No matter what gun I give you, or what armor I put on you…you’ll always be a liability.”
“And why is that?” Her heart slammed into his hand.
“Because you always get in the way.” It was a confession carried low by the rumble of his sub-harmonics. He had tried to hide it, controlled his emotions for as long as he could, but he couldn’t anymore. Not with her here, egging him on like she always did. She was nothing but a thorn in his side, embedded by the bullets that had sunk into his skin in that wet, soggy forest.
He pushed harder, drew closer to her still form. Thoughts were running a mile a minute behind her eyes as they focused on him, questioned if he was going to kill her based on the grip she had on his wrist. They both knew he was capable. Even though she had gotten stronger, she was still just a human. And this time, there was no armor to protect her slender neck. He watched the vein pulse. The red that cascaded from her chest and into her cheeks. He knew it as embarrassment, excitement — anger. He didn’t think.
His hand slid from her chest and snaked up her neck, finger under her chin to force her to look into his eyes. She didn’t fight back, didn’t push him away. It was as close to permission as he was going to get. He braced his other hand behind her, trapping her under his towering form, and leaned down close enough to where he was sure she could hear the wavering in his whisper. “I won’t watch you die again.”
Would people prefer a new chapter of Infighting or an 18,000 word oneshot about pining? I’m going to finish up one of them today, but I’m not sure which one.
Me: Wow, that's basically the next chapter done, cool!
Brain: Yeah, uh, no. What are you thinking? Putting that there? No no no no. That needs to be like five chapters from now. You can't just make them act like that so quicky, that's so out of character!
Me: Oh...okay...well....guess I have to work on that again then...