34. holding hands while driving [Cam/Liam]
(been a hot minute since I filled a hand holding prompt, but these two smacked me upside the head with this a few days ago, so there's another one down :D)
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If Eos was known for anything, it was the mesas. Also the founding Initiative colony, the acid water that could burn through even armor, Remnant ruins, and a hefty bandit presence. But mostly the mesas.
One of which rose in front of the Nomad, sides flaring out almost beyond their vision in either direction, steep sides with barely any slope rising to a crown at least twenty meters up.
"You wanna try going up and over, don't you?" Liam asked, leaning forward to get a better view out the Nomad canopy.
"What try, Kosta?" Cam snorted. "Over will be way more fun."
He laughed. "Can't argue that. What are you waiting for, Pathfinder?"
Cam rolled her eyes and examined the mesa. "Gotta determine the angle of attack.... Ah, there we go." She punched a couple buttons, smirked at the rumble of the vehicle shifting to all-terrain mode, and adjusted her grip on the gearshift. "Ready, Kosta?"
Liam covered her hand with his, fingers interlacing. "Ready, Ryder."
She gunned it, forgetting--again--about the speed difference in AT mode, and the Nomad lurched forward. Rough as the start was, it barely balked at the angle of ascent when they hit the mesa. The steepness only increased the higher they went, zigzagging a bit for purchase, until they were all but vertical.
"C'mon, buddy," Cam muttered when the Nomad started to protest the strain. "You can do it...."
Liam squeezed her hand, lacing fingers all the more tightly as they both leaned forward, as if that would help with the final third of the climb.
The wheels slipped.
No, no, we're so close, come on. Cam froze for the tiniest fraction of a second before angling the vehicle sideways. Liam's hand was tight around hers on the gearshift, his support goading her on. They slid a few more feet before the tires caught traction and the Nomad lunged upward as if eager to please its driver.
"There we go!" Liam crowded, grinning as he squeezed her hand.
"We aren't there yet," Cam pointed out, but she couldn't help grinning back as she gunned it. "But we will be."
The Nomad rocked and rumbled, up on two wheels for at least half a very harrowing minute in that last stretch. But Cam knew what it could do, knew the controls well enough to make adjustments without looking; her gaze on the road ahead and her hand twined with Liam's on the gearshift.
All four wheels left the ground as they crested the summit, the Nomad briefly airborne before landing with a triumphant bounce.
Cam whooped, letting go of the steering yoke but not Liam's hand. She sank back in her seat with a grin of contentment. "Told ya. What try?"
Liam laughed and unhooked the seat restraint so he could lean over and kiss her cheek. "Never doubted you for a second." He sat back, gaze swiveling toward the canopy. "Some view, huh?"
It was impressive, she had to agree, seeing the mesas and lakes and barren stretches laid out. "Eh, I like the view from our arch better."
He laughed again, the lilt of it making her think he was blushing even if she couldn't tell for sure. "Noted, and agreed."
They sat in silence for a few minutes to enjoy this view, regardless. Finally though, Cam had had enough of being still.
She revved the engine and pointed to a distant trio of overlapping hills. "Wanna see how long it takes us to get over there?"
Liam grinned, refastened his restraints. "I'm with you, boss. Let's do it."
She shifted into gear and goosed the Nomad forward. The AT disengaged with a clunk at the press of a button, gravity taking over barely a meter past the lip.
Not quite a third of the way down the far side, the rock bumped out, almost a natural ramp. Cam grinned and did nothing to avoid it. She and Liam both whooped as they went airborne, hands clenched tight. Her heart pounded in a giddy rush as she used the jets to slow their descent, angle them for contact higher than the absolute bottom. The Nomad rocked, fishtailed, and shot forward en route to the next goal.
"Onwards?" Cam asked, breathless with adrenaline.
"Onwards," Liam confirmed.
And they raced to the looming mesas still hand in hand.
Next to the Party, I give you @queen-scribbles‘ actual ray of sunshine Cam Ryder, who’s ready to talk your ear off about all the neat updates she has planned for her sniper rifle ;)
"Being cute cannot save you from everything." from the teasing prompts for whoever it fits best :D
THAT'S a Cam/Liam prompt if I ever heard one, so the ME:A babes are back, being entirely too cute. It's their brand, what can I say? ☺
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Liam didn’t have a specific plan in mind as he headed for Ryder’s cabin. Just general knowledge they had a couple hours free before they reached Eos, and a short list of suggestion on how to occupy that time. If she wanted. She usually came looking for him to chat or spend time together, he figured he could take the initiative for once.
His steps slowed as a muffled voice filtered out her cabin door. Sounded like she was talking to someone. There was no second voice in the pauses, but she could be on comms. Liam hesitated, not wanting to interrupt. A thud and what sounded suspiciously like cursing got him over it and he hit the door controls.
“-cute can’t save you from everything!!” Cam was standing on her bed, the words hollered seemingly toward the (empty) wall. Her gaze snapped toward him. “Kosta, close the door!!”
She lunged in his direction, and Liam’s surprise slowed his reaction enough they hit the button at the same time.
Just in time to block the chittering blue pyjack trying to make his escape. SJ let out a screech at being stymied and scrambled up a bookshelf to cling near the ceiling. He held one arm curled in protectively to his chest.
“Stole my precision welder,” Cam explained, huffing loose hair out of her eyes and glaring at the pyjack. “I need it to finish upgrading Rover, and I don’t want the little bastard to hurt himself.” She turned a pleading glance toward Liam. “Help me catch him? Please?”
He laughed and gave what remained of her ponytail a teasing tweak. “Sure, but you’ll owe me.”
“I can live with that,” Cam winked.
Even working together, it took another half hour to catch SJ, as well as several very strategic pincer moves and the destruction of a model ship Liam promised to help her fix. Cam gave a bark of triumph as she pulled the tool from SJ’s grip. She unceremoniously dumped him outside her cabin--”Go bother Vetra or something”--and closed the door. She shot Liam a grateful grin. “Thanks. That’s the last time I let the little mischief maker in here while I’m working.”
Liam chuckled as he helped her start straightening up. “Yeah, you’re welcome. But whaddid you expect, namin’ him after your brother?”
Cam paused to fix her ponytail, then tossed a pillow at him, striated blue and green like the sky over Voeld. “Shut up, Kosta.” The rest of her pillows went back on the bed without care how they landed.
Liam grinned as he caught the pillow and winged it back at her.
She dodged, snatched another off the bed, and arched a brow at him as she readied to throw. “Sure you wanna do that? Pillow fight with a sniper? I have very good aim.”
He crossed his arms and arched a brow right back. “Bring it, Ryder.”
The pillow hit him square in the face.
The second one caught his shoulder thanks to how hard she was laughing. Liam grabbed one up in each hand and charged toward her.
“Liam, no-!” Ryder’s protest dissolved into a giggle-fit as she made a half-hearted attempt to whack him again and fend off his attack. Liam bopped her once with each pillow, then wrapped her in a bear hug as they tumbled onto the bed. They lay there laughing themselves breathless, wrestling for the pillows until Cam gave up.
Liam pushed up to brace on his forearms, grinning down at her. “Just like your pyjack, being cute can’t save you from everything,” he teased.
“No?” Cam shot him a mischievous smirk, eyes dancing. She snaked an arm around the back of his neck and pulled herself up to kiss him full on the mouth. “How ‘bout that?”
Liam huffed a laugh, just managing to keep himself from falling on top of her with both the pleasant shock of the kiss and the weight of a whole-ass person hanging off his neck. “That’ll do it for me, but I dunno if you wanna try it with the kett or ahdi or anything.”
She giggled--God, he loved her laugh--and dropped back on the bed as she held his gaze. “You don’t, huh?”
“For starters, your boyfriend might get jealous,” he deadpanned, unable to hold back a snicker. She was so damn cute when she was being smug.
“Can’t have that,” Cam said playfully. She grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled him down for another kiss. “You know you’re my one and only, Kosta,” she murmured, resting one hand along his jaw.
Liam grinned and lightly bumped his nose to hers. “Ditto, Ryder.” He kissed her again, for the hell of it.
“So,” she murmured, holding him close enough their foreheads brushed, “assuming you don’t have precog abilities to know about my pyjack problems, was there a reason you were lookin’ for me?”
“Had some ideas for how t’ pass the trip to Eos if you weren’t busy-”
“Shit, Rover,” Cam muttered, but grabbed Liam‘s arm when he started to roll away. “It can wait.” Wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’d much rather do this.”
He chuckled. “Aye, aye, boss.”
She whacked him with the green and blue pillow again, both laughing as they went in for another kiss. The rest of the trip passed way too quickly.
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(Yes, Cam named her pyjack Scott Jr and is surprised he's a troublemaker. Scott is very proud of his "nephew".)
14- What outfit would you really like to see this character wear? Or what’s your favourite outfit of theirs?
Favorite in-game is the casual outfit with the leather jacket, it looks so good on her idk how Liam concentrates I'd love to see her in fancy dress, her life has not allowed many opportunities to just get dolled up and watch people's jaws hit the floor.
18- What’s something you associate this character with? E.g. a certain colour, object or scenery?
Purple for color, her sniper rifle/omnitool(TECH NERD /cough), and the mesas on Eos, to give one of each. Also, an adrenaline rush. Girl loves her adrenaline rush(hence Eos. The number of times she's yeeted either the Nomad or herself with just a jump jet off one of the mesas/cliffs is too high to count)
Everybody's tryna be a billionaire
But every time I look at you I just don't care
'Cause all I wanna be, yeah all I ever wanna be,
Is somebody to you
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Art of my Cam Ryder and Liam by @sssamsondraws that just absolutely captures this gigantic pair of sappy dorks.
(edit: no idea why my caption vanished, thank tumblr)
15. loosely holding onto each other’s hands, laying in one’s lap [Cam/Liam]
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The vid was done, credits scrolling up the screen, but neither of them felt like moving to turn it off. The couch was too comfy, they’d found the perfect position, and moving would jostle free their hands, loosely tangled together in Cam’s lap.
“This was nice,” she mumbled, head leaned back on Liam’s shoulder and eyes closed. She sounded more than halfway asleep and he couldn’t really blame her. The Initiative asked a lot of its Pathfinders, even now that things were settling down.
“Yeah, it was,” he agreed lazily, brushing his thumb along the edge of her hand. “Glad you got to take a break.”
“I may’ve threatened to quit if they didn’t give me at least one night this week to hang out with my boyfriend,” Cam deadpanned, eyes still closed.
Liam laughed. “Oh, great, so now Addison and Tann will be blaming me for you shirking.”
“If they do, I’ll kick their asses.” She snuggled closer, almost defiantly. “It’s not shirking to want a night off once in a while.”
“True.” He tilted his head to kiss her temple. “Thanks for spendin’ it with me.”
“Anytime, Kosta.” She really was falling asleep. And the weight of her head on his shoulder was making him drowsy, too. Not that he minded in the slightest. “Nowhere else I wanna be, you’re good comp’ny.”
“Thanks, Ryder, so’re you.” He squeezed her hand. She squeezed back and they lapsed into silence. It lasted long enough Liam wondered if she’d fallen asleep on the couch and was resigned to doing the same rather than risk waking her.
“...This is nice,” Cam mumbled. Not asleep after all.
“You said that already,” Liam pointed out with a smile.
“It bears repeating,” she retorted, a note of indignation under the words and sounded a little more awake when she added, “Wish we could stay like this forever...”
“...What if we could?” The comfortable drowsiness had his filter letting thoughts become spoken.
Cam snorted. “Don’t think anyone would appreciate us stayin’ on this couch forever, Kosta.”
“Not that part,” Liam chuckled, waggling their joined hands. “The together bit.”
She rubbed her thumb over his. “You really think I have any plans for changes to that part?”
“No.” I might... “Cam?”
“Mm?” she grunted, still lazily tracing his thumb with hers.
He was too content, too happy (too in love) to measure the words before they tumbled out. “Marry me?”
Cam instantly stilled. Not even breathing.
And in that terrifying, too-honest moment of silence, Liam had just enough time to start kicking himself for jumping the gun and doing it wrong before she twisted around and sat up.
“What?!” she demanded, hands and knees braced against the weathered couch and face less than a foot from his. He could’ve counted her freckles. Or the small flecks of brown in her eyes. If he wasn’t distracted.
Shit. Shit. He hadn’t been planning to do that now. He didn’t have the ring on him(hidden deep in his stuff), he hadn’t even properly finished writing the question(nothing was good enough for her). But he’d said it.
And he’d meant it.
And sure, this hadn’t been the plan, but the two of them rarely stuck with plans, anyway. So Liam tilted his head to meet Cam’s eye and asked again, more deliberately, “Marry me?”
Cam stared at him for a moment that seemed longer than it was with The Question hanging between them. Then she launched herself forward with a whooped “YES!!!” just before she crashed into him, arms around his neck as she kissed him repeatedly, an enthusiastically mumbled ‘yes!’ punctuating each one.
Liam laughed, giddy with relief, and wrapped an arm around her waist to keep her from falling off the couch as he kissed her back. Again and again and again.
She finished with one last emphatic kiss, her hands bracketing his face, and pulled back tip the tips of their noses just barely touched. “Yes.”
“Good,” Liam chuckled sheepishly, tipping his chin up to kiss the tip of her nose. “Knocks out any worry with this being sooner than planned.”
Cam grinned and sat back on her heels. “Oh, so there was a plan that didn’t involve springing it out of the blue and almost givin’ me a heart attack?” she asked playfully.
“I don’t think you wanna go there,” he shot back just as playfully, arching a brow at her. “Giving the love of my life a heart attack isn’t really a category where you have a leg to stand on, Camille.”
“Point,” she laughed, settling back in her previous position against his shoulder. “So, did you? Have a plan?”
“Yeah,” Liam said with a smile as he draped that arm around her and she linked their hands again, loosely tangled and resting on her stomach. “Dinner, a picnic but nice, somewhere with a good view. Meridian, or Aya. Or that arch on Eos.”
“Our arch?” There was a smile in her voice.
“You know it,” he confirmed with a small smile of his own. “At sunset, for the colors. And I was workin’ on the question, planning to ask it prettier, like you deserve. More words-”
“Get choked up halfway through askin’?” Cam asked mischievously, toying with his fingers in her lap.
Liam huffed another laugh. “Prob’ly, yeah. You know me.”
“And I love ya.” There was a pause, and when he looked down in the silence she was staring at her hand, the one not tangled with his. “...Is there a ring?”
“Mmhm. With my stuff. Third drawer, in the Nellis Prime OSD case. I’ll get it when we go to bed.”
“Aw, babe.” Cam gave a happy little wiggle as she snuggled even closer. “That sounds really beautiful, Liam.” She tilted her head up to shoot a glance at him. “The answer woulda been the same there, too.”
“We can still do the dinner part, if you want,” Liam said. “To celebrate.”
“I like the sound of that.” She sighed contentedly. “For now, I think I wanna fall asleep on top of my fiancé” --a massive grin at him-- “s’long as he’s okay with that.”
Liam kissed the top of her head. “Beyond okay with it, but won’t we be more comfortable doing it in your bed than here?”
“You’re just full of good ideas tonight,” Cam teased.
“I was due eventually,” Liam joked, and her snort of laughter in response was one of the best sounds in this or any galaxy. They untangled themselves and stood, and she pulled him down into another kiss almost immediately.
“I love you, Liam Kosta,” she murmured against his lips, hands clasped behind his neck.
“I love you, too, Cam Ryder,” he replied, hands settled on her hips.
Cam stole another kiss as he turned off the vidscreen then stepped back, slipping her hand in his to tug him after her. Liam grinned and followed, like he had since the day they met.
There was nowhere he’d rather be.
---
(look if it hadn’t gone down like this, it woulda been like that guy who photobombed his gf with the ring for six months or whatever before actually proposing bc that’s bigtime Liam Kosta energy right there)
44. holding hands while jumping down from somewhere together [Cam/Liam]
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“It’s a really long way down.”
Liam laughed and looked to the foot of the mesa. “That’s the point, isn’t it?”
Cam rolled her eyes and studied the distance again. “Really long.”
“Gettin’ scared?” It was part joke, part gentle teasing, and he grinned at her inelegant snort of a response.
“No.” She whacked his arm for emphasis. “It’s gonna be great. Just figuring when we should trigger our jump jets so they have time to catch us before we wind up a smear at the bottom.”
“Ah, SAM’ll take care of that. And it’s part of the fun,” Liam said, holding out his hand. “Right?”
Cam laughed and intertwined her fingers with his. “Right.” She took a last, deep breath--it was a long way down--and grinned at him. “Ready, Kosta?”
He grinned back, squeezed her hand. “Ready, Ryder.”
They counted down from three, knees bent, pushed off...
And then they were falling.
Cam could hear Liam laughing over the adrenaline rushing in her ears and it made her heart beat faster. She was sure her giddy whoop nearly deafened him in those few glorious moments of free fall before their jump jets kicked on. (SAM knew what he was doing.)
They coasted, hit the ground, tumbled. They came to a stop on their backs, breathless from laughing under a star-speckled sky.
Still holding hands.
Cm reached up with her free hand and popped off her helmet. She couldn’t stop grinning. “That was fun.”
Liam laughed as his helmet came off too. “Safe to say we’ll be doing that again?”
“Oh, yeah,” she said giddily, shifting closer so their shoulders were squished together. “If that’s alright with you?”
He squeezed her hand again and leaned over to kiss her cheek. “Absolutely, yeah, anytime you want.”
“Careful, I’ll take you up on that,” Cam laughed, then grinned even wider when he whispered I hope you do before laying back so they could enjoy the magnificent view, hands still intertwined.
