Intimacy Prompts #30 being protective for Gabe/Kaidan
from this list
On AO3 here
Thank you so much for asking for them!!!! This started out one way and ended up something completely different, and I just... Please don’t hate me!!! *runs and ducks for cover*
~~~
Late 2183/Early 2184, Amada System
Kaidan rises to his feet, datapad in hand as he turns to leave the cabin. “I’ll get this up to Pressly and he can forward it to Command the next time we hit a comm buoy.”
Before he is halfway to the door, however, a hand grasps his shoulders and the next he knows, his back is literally against the wall, landing with a resounding ‘thunk’ – not violent enough for his head to hit, but close. Even if it isn’t just the two of them in the room, he knows who it is the moment their biotic fields intersect. “Shepard, what the hell …?”
He blinks and Gabriel is suddenly before him, a somewhat wild look in his light green eyes. The Avenging Angel of Mindoir, indeed! It’s a look Kaidan has seen only once before, but it wasn’t targeted at him then. This time, there is no doubt about it, and it his mouth goes dry.
“Just… watching out for my crew,” Ree murmurs, lips curling into a knowing smirk.
Kaidan blinks. Shepard has a unique sense of humor he’s discovered in the months since they first met. “Your… uh… crew, is it?”
One of Ree’s brows arch, but the smirk remains in place as he leans in a little closer. “You are one of my crew, Alenko, are you not?”
Kaidan nods out of habit. “Well, yes, but –”
The smirk widens as a twinkle sparkles brightly in Shepard’s eyes. Kaidan’s lungs no longer seem capable of drawing in a deep breath. “You were about to trip.”
“Trip?” He ignores the squeak at the end of the word and sighs softly, his lips curving into a small smile as the other man’s words click in his head. Oh, yes, unique sense of humor, indeed. “Ree…”
The sparkles flash brightly, appreciatively, intensely. “Say it again?”
Kaidan carefully tosses the datapad to the floor out of range of being stepped on and loops his hands around Gabriel’s waist, tugging him over until their hips touch. “You are a menace,” he murmurs, “you know that?”
“Yours now.” Ree leans in, arms braced on the wall to either side of Kaidan’s head, hovering just over his lips.
Each soft puff of air he exhales fans across Kaidan’s face. He smiles back, tugging until Ree leans fully against him. Running his tongue across his lips and watching the commander’s gaze lock onto the movement, he replies, “I can live with that.”
Gabriel chuckles before finally covering his lips with a quick but thoroughly enjoyable kiss. It isn’t enough, not by a long shot, but they’re both still on duty for a few hours yet. At least it’s a start. “Good to know.”
“You’re going to have to work on your excuses, though.” Kaidan huffs at the shocked expression that meets his as a result. “’Watching out for my crew?’ Really?”
“You are a member of my crew, are you not?”
Kaidan sighs. “But you don’t give this kind of… personalized attention to everyone on this ship.”
“Oh, no.” Shepard leans over, practically purring in Kaidan’s ear and running the tip of his finger along Kaidan’s jaw, down the side of this neck, lingering in the notch where his neck and throat meet. “That’s reserved just for you.”
Heat rises in Kaidan’s cheeks before he can fight it, and he swallows convulsively. “Ree…”
Gabriel is nothing if not prepared for his protest, and pulls the lobe of Kaidan’s ear between his teeth for a gentle tug. Kaidan cannot hide nor stop the shiver that works its way through him in response. “Is it wrong to be a little bit protective of you?” Gabriel ghosts another kiss across Kaidan’s cheek and one down the side of his neck until his lips meet the same point as his finger. “Is that such a bad thing?”
Kaidan sighs softly, looping his arms around Gabriel’s shoulders until he slides one behind his head, guiding him close enough for their lips to touch again. Still not enough, but oh so much promise for later. “No, I suppose not.”
Ree pulls away with a grin. “Good.” He retrieves the datapad and hands it back to Kaidan before turning back to his desk.
Jfkdjilgkfg I didnt see this when you posted it! If you're still answering:
For your Gabriel Shepard ♒ - cooking/food♦ - quirks/hobbies
And if you want to, for Shakarian ✿ - Sex 👀👀
Oh hell yeah. If anyone wants more of my Extensive Thoughts on Shepard, the o blessed gabriel series is like...30K of those, and also is the source of Gabriel Shepard.
♒ - Cooking/Food Headcanon
I’m trying to think of a nice way to phrase this, but--
Gabriel Shepard is Not A Good Cook. She’s serviceable, in the sense that she has never once given anyone food poisoning or lit anything major on fire. If you hand her a recipe and a reasonably compelling reason to use it, she’ll probably produce something that’s perfectly fine. Exactingly correct, because she’s a perfectionist. But she has literally never cooked something more complex than pre-made spaghetti sauce heated in a pan and non-instant noodles for herself. She just doesn’t see the point.
She explains this to Joker, when he asks why the hero of the ongoing galactic war is eating Cup Noodles in a very expensive Council-funded apartment on the Citadel, and he buries his face in his hands and whispers, “I hate you so much.”
“I’m your best friend,” Shepard says as she crumbles some reserved noodles over her dinner. For the crunch, she told Joker when he asked.
“I’m demoting you. Please at least put a vegetable in that.”
“Do you want vegetables? I could get some.”
“No, I already--please focus, Shepard.” She makes a point to shove the biggest possible bite into her mouth as she blinks at him, and Joker makes a mildly aggrieved noise. “When was the last time you ate something that didn’t include the word ‘instant’ on the package?” She shrugs at him and slurps some broth. “You’re the worst person I know.”
♦ - Quirks/Hobbies Headcanon
While she’s spending six months on Earth in what she calls a glorified drunk tank, Shepard learns real fast that, apparently, almost everything she previously considered ‘a hobby’ was like...technically part of her job. And that she’s not allowed to have anything that might be classed as a weapon of any kind (she makes it an entire month before she tells a guard that he’s stupider than he looks if he thinks she couldn’t kill him with a chair just as easily as a box cutter, and honestly she thinks she should get a prize). She doesn’t have a particular gift for studying and there’s only so much time in a day that a person can spend reading up on current events and turian linguistics. No, she hasn’t been allowed to send letters, even and possibly especially to Palaven. How did you guess. Mostly she just works out a lot.
She’s hit the start of month three by the time she cracks completely and downloads some video guides on building models from scratch. She liked the models she found sometimes, filled her cabin on the Normandy with them, but they didn’t take too long to assemble and she needs to fill time so starting from scratch it is.
Apparently she’s terrorized her guards suitably into submission, because when she corners one and says “You can get me cardboard, right? That’s not considered a deadly weapon?” the rookie squeaks out a “yessir” and doesn’t ask any questions. Three hours later Shepard has a nice assortment of carboard types and some kitchen shears that she took the pin out of so that she has two loose blades. The guard walks in on Shepard sharpening one and does not say anything as she sets down the cardboard on the table and books it.
By the end of six months, Shepard wouldn’t consider herself particularly competent, but her little cardboard structures are certainly recognizable. The whole lot of them are lost in the attack, of course. She barely remembers. There are bigger fish to fry.
✿ - Sex Headcanon
I really want to be applauded for how hard I’m working not to make a “what that tongue do” joke here and leaving it at that. This is a Herculean labor.
Anyway, point is, there are Logistical Problems(TM) with turian/human relationships. It starts with “human skin is pretty delicate, compared to the turian equivalent of keratin” and goes from there, but. Just because Shepard isn’t in a rush to be cornered by her subordinates and given pro tips (she is, in fact, avoiding Mordin, thank you for asking, Jacob, don’t tell him she was here) doesn’t mean she isn’t aware of it. And Gabriel Shepard is a soldier first, a tactician second, and everything else including human and alive somewhere below, ask anyone, so she uh--
Does research?
Some of it is from what she would personally consider accredited sources, although probably not for their intended purposes. Interspecies relationships aren’t unheard of--with the asari in the mix, they’re not even particularly rare--but if there’s a human-turian guidebook, not even Spectre clearance is dredging it up. Shepard thinks (after three solid evenings dedicated to way, way more research than she’s ever put into sex before, including the first time she gave bondage a whirl in basic training) that there’s a nonzero chance that they’re the first to try it. Not a high chance! But nonzero. So--
Listen, what the Alliance doesn’t know about why a Spectre is accessing their old wartime surveillance data won’t hurt them. Shepard takes it all with a grain of salt for obvious reasons, but it’s the obvious starting place because it’s in her own language.
Then she starts hitting EDI up for help finding a turian sex ed book and it’s all pretty much an uphill slog through half-useful translations, dictionary definitions, and really questionable porn from there.
And actually, it’s not even the research that’s the problem. It’s a little embarrassing, sure, but at the end of the day, Shepard is pretty determined NOT to have this be a terrible moment of interspecies awkwardness, because--well, she doesn’t have to interrogate that thought. That’s the beauty of a probable upcoming suicide mission. She has rights, as a recently dead woman now looking at another, probably more painful death, and those rights include not having to think about her own feelings more than absolutely mandatory.
No, see, the problem comes once she’s done all the research she feasibly can and she’s walking to her door to let Garrus in and being confronted with the fact that now she will have to admit to doing that research.
She makes the tactical decision not to say anything until after she strips.
(Garrus actually doesn’t say a damn word until the next morning, when Shepard is waking up, when he bumps his jaw fondly against her head and says, “You really are the brains of the outfit.”)
(”Mmph,” Gabriel mumbles into her pillow, and adjusts his arm over her waist so that it settles a bit lower, where the edge of his plating won’t poke at her. “And don’t you forget it.”)
Still trying to sort him out, but to do so I’ve been drabbling. Here’s a bit of the drabble. Super rough, but a good start.
~~~
He is known as the Avenging Angel of Mindoir; the only survivor, the only one who knows. The man who watched as his parents were butchered by batarian slavers, the one who fought back, alone, taking as many of them down with him as he could. Only, he didn’t. By the time the Alliance found him, he’d killed a good two dozen on his own; he nearly took out the commander of the squad who found him. Batarians know him by name, some by face; those who are smart enough fear him. Most are not that smart. They view him as a trophy to be won; proof to the hegemony that the Alliance has it out for them.
He is one man, one voice, one Angel.
He is known as the Butcher of Torfan. The cold-hearted, calculating, ruthlessly efficient lieutenant who sacrificed most of his unit deep in the strongholds of that moon; the one who executed surrendering batarians rather than take them prisoner. Assigned this mission specifically because he does not flinch when duty requires it. The batarians wanted him brought up on war crimes; to reward his success, the Alliance sends him to ICT, to train as the perfect weapon, the one to send in for worst case scenarios.
He is one man, one voice, one soldier.
Gabriel “Ree” Shepard cares not what others think of him. He has a job, a duty, a purpose; that is all that matters. The happy-go-lucky kid from Mindoir, the kind-hearted soul so willingly generous with his time for those who asked of it; that person was killed when the batarians attacked, executed along with his family, his friends and everyone else who failed to make it off the colony. Ree Shepard died and Gabriel Shepard, the Avenging Angel, was born from his ashes.
WIP Folder ask: I Remember Me (both Gabriel and Kaidan)
Oh, you wonderful, delightful you! Thank you so much for asking for them both!
So, Gabriel is a Colonist Shepard. The Colonist-specific mission is “I Remember Me” with Talitha in the game, but for Gabriel it’s slightly different. These two tell that story from each of their pov. (I know it said a ‘little’ snippet, but I’m a bit generous with mine so I’m going to put it under cut)
Kaidan’s POV:
Moving around the shipping crates, they find a dark-haired young man crouched against the railing and wedged into the corner. It’s difficult to tell for certain from this angle and by the way he’s half hiding, but he looks to be in his early twenties; thin, clothes hanging loosely on him.
“Malnourished,” Kaidan murmurs immediately, but only just loud enough for Williams and Shepard to hear. He recognizes that gaunt look from Jump Zero. “Possibly biotic.”
Gabriel takes a cautious step forward. The boy’s entire body twitches and as his head pops up, light blue eyes staring at them, so does a pistol. Kaidan’s breath catches as the weapon targets Gabriel’s chest.
“I’m here to help you,” Gabriel announces in a voice that is very unlike anything Kaidan has heard before. Soft, gentle, reassuring. “Lieutenant Girard said you are from Mindoir?”
The boy nods. “S-stay away!”
Gabriel stops moving, nods, though he continues to speak. “My name’s Shepard. Mindoir was my home once, too.”
The boy’s eyes widen, mouth parting in a silent gasp. The hand holding the weapon shakes slightly, just a hint of a tremor. “Th-that’s … that’s not possible!”
Gabriel inches forward a half step. “What isn’t?”
“Everyone died!”
Shepard grimaces, shakes his head. “Not everyone. I managed to hold them off until the Alliance came. I survived, and I’m here to help you.” He moves a few more inches. “What’s your name?”
The gun hand wavers a frightening amount now. Kaidan keeps it in his sight at all times. While he doesn’t reach for his own weapon, he is prepared if necessary; there is a comfort in knowing that dark energy is readily available if he needs a backup weapon. All it takes is a flick of his wrist.
“You can’t be alive!” the boy shouts.
Kaidan bites his lip. “Shepard, maybe you should –!”
“I’m the only Shepard left! Ree Shepard is dead!”
The cry, more a plaintive wail as it echoes through the docks, hits them like a shotgun blast, but Shepard actually staggers backwards two steps. Kaidan lunges forward, at first fearing the gun has gone off, but it remains aimed at them, still wavering, no sign of spent ammunition. He catches hold of Gabriel. “You okay, sir?”
Gabriel’s POV:
He’s prepared to take the hit. Gabriel Shepard; Avenging Angel of Mindoir, the Butcher of Torfan, N7, Council Spectre. The hit he takes, though, is not the one he expects.
He lands face down on the deck, anger fueling him even before he turns. He knows what happened; the sensation of Alenko’s biotics taking form tickling through his own biotic field is familiar now and the shoulder shove a quick answer to the otherwise nasty surprise headed his way. Dammit! How many times does he have to explain to this man the reasons for what he does? To not interfere? That the Butcher of Torfan actually does know what he is doing?
The anger floods through him, his corona igniting around him, wickedly flashing shades of blue-white energy … until his gaze falls upon the lieutenant collapsed onto the deck, a too-large gaping hole in his chest plate from a shot at close range. In the matter of a lone heartbeat, Gabriel’s veins fill with ice and it is all he can do to react.
“Sh-Shepard?”
Alenko’s rasp does little to help the situation. “Lie still!” Over his shoulder, he shouts, “Williams!” He gestures her toward the boy; whether he is truly Rafael or not does not matter at this point. One of his people is down. Crouching over Alenko and guided by training rather than active thought, his hands move. In the background, he hears Williams talking to the boy, a far gentler tone than he used for certain. Pushing that out of his head, he focuses on Alenko instead. “Lieutenant?”
“Can’t ….”
“Kaidan!” He does not care that it comes out as a rough bark, an order. Whatever it takes to keep the man with him, conscious, he will do. “Stay with me, Alenko! That’s an order!” He continues to do what he can, hands moving of their own accord. Triggering his comms, he calls the Normandy. “Joker! I need Chakwas and a medical team to Docking Bay 428 ASAP! Marine down!”
“On the way, commander!”
Alenko moves; Gabriel glances over, meets the whiskey-colored gaze when his lids finally open, notes the pain that fills them … but, surprisingly, there is no fear. The wound is bad, he knows that. Alenko has to know it too. And yet, this kind of a reaction?
“H-hurts …”
One of Kaidan’s hands starts moving toward the injured area; Gabriel takes it in his, holds it tight. “I know. Medic’s on the way. Hang tight, lieutenant. We’ll have you under Chakwas’ care in a minute.”
“Gabe –.”
“Hush!”
Dread fills him the moment Alenko’s eyes close and his body goes lax. “Dammit! Where the hell are the medics?” Behind him, he is only vaguely aware of Ashley’s voice; calm, soothing, reassuring. “Williams?” he barks, half glancing over his shoulder.
“I’ve got this, Skipper,” she replies calmly.
Gabriel extends his arm in her direction. She is not too far away and reaches toward him, slowly. His teeth grind together at how long it takes. Just before he drops the pill into her hand, his eyes connect with the boy’s again. For one, long minute, they simply stare at one another. And then the connection breaks.
@scarletthalloran asked for a prompt for Gabriel “Ree” Shepard and Kaidan, so here we go! The Avenging Angel of Mindoir does have a softer side after all! ;)
Setting: Vancouver HQ, five months after Shepard’s return to Earth. 2186
Physical Affection Prompt: #3: smiling into a kiss
from this prompt list
On AO3 here
~~~
Vega leads Gabriel through the winding halls of Vancouver HQ with a purposeful stride and more than a little enthusiasm, and even Gabriel, who cannot in the remotest sense be considered ‘out of shape,’ finds it a challenge to keep up with him. “Where are we going?” he asks for the third time since Vega pulls him from his quarters in the Detention Center.
“Can’t say, commander,” the lieutenant replies as he jumps onto a just emptied elevator and holds the door. Gabriel follows. “All I know is I’m to take you to the conference rooms ASAP.”
The conference rooms. Gabriel sighs as the elevator starts to descend. Probably another meeting with his defense team, then. Maybe there’s been an update on his proceedings or something. The trip down is short, and upon arrival, Vega is quick to lead the way out. Instead of turning to their right, however, they go to the left. That startles Shepard more than just a little. “I thought you said the conference rooms?”
Vega chuckles and winks. “I did say that, didn’t I? Must’ve gotten lost.”
The hall they head down is long, narrow, and has over a dozen doors branching off both sides to smaller rooms. This isn’t the conference center, but part of the administrative wing; various clerk offices and the like. About halfway down, Vega makes a sharp right into a shorter corridor, this one containing a half dozen doors, all on the right side. To the left is a wall of windows. The come to a stop just outside of the second to last door. “Here you go, sir,” the lieutenant says, scanning his palm over the lockpad to open the door. “I’ll be out here when you’re done.”
Years of taking orders without question are about the only thing that moves Gabriel forward in that moment. As soon as he is a foot clear of the doorway, it shuts behind him, leaving him in the dark. There is a window on the far side of the room, but the shades are drawn to block the sun. The room itself is dark, surprisingly so for a meeting, but Gabriel has no idea where the switch is, and has no omni-tool available to throw a bit of light on the subject, so he is stuck.
Throw …
The thought triggers another, and his right hand flexes absently. As always, without his amp it is more difficult to draw the dark energy to him, to control it the way he is used to. Still, if it gives him a way to see better, it’s worth a shot, as crude and rudimentary as it is. Focusing his thoughts as he was trained is easy enough, but not having his amp takes longer. After a moment or two, he manages to wrap just enough around his right hand. The help it provides is negligible in the end, but it’s worth it simply for the satisfaction of knowing he can do it in an emergency, if necessary.
To his left and about halfway across the room, the soft chirrup of an omni-tool stirring to life, followed by the orangish-amber glow, catches his attention, followed by a voice, strikingly familiar and completely unexpected. “You’re going to give yourself a migraine if you aren’t careful, Ree.”
Gabriel’s breath catches in his chest. “Kaidan?” he breathes, releasing his hold on the energy and plunging himself back into near complete darkness.
Kaidan steps closer, out of the shadows, the glow of his omni-tool framing his face and a hint of a smile on his lips in its eerie light. “Hey, there.”
Gabriel sighs softly, unexpectedly content for the first time since … Well, since Cerberus brought him back, really. Still, this isn’t exactly protocol for a man in his position, and if anyone knows that, it’s Kaidan Alenko. Frowning, he folds his arms casually across his chest, asking, “You now part of my defense team?”
Kaidan chuckles softly, lips curling into a full smile. “Not exactly.”
“Then why are you here?”
There is a moment of silent hesitation before he replies, “Anderson owed me a favor.”
Gabriel blinks. Owed you a favor? How the hell did you manage that? He opens his mouth to ask, even starts to form the words, then slams it shut once more, muttering, “Forget that, I don’t want to know.”
Another laugh. “Safer for you that way,” Kaidan agrees and moves a couple more steps closer.
Gabriel follows his every step, eyes locked onto the amber-brown that look more yellow-orange in this light. He thinks back to the last time he saw them, the grief and sorrow that mirrored his own for those brief moments after the Omega-4 Relay run and his journey back to Earth. But when they parted that day, the situation between them had been on better terms. He has no idea if that is still the case. “Is there a reason for your visit?”
The corner of Kaidan’s lips twitch. “Thought you might like to see a friendly face for a few minutes.”
The Butcher of Torfan’s eyebrow arches. “How few?”
“No more than fifteen.”
Gabriel breaks eye contact first, his head dropping toward his chest and arms falling to his sides. “Better than I expected.”
“Like I said, Anderson owed me.” Kaidan takes another step forward until there are barely a handful of inches separating them. “How are you, Ree? Really?”
Gabriel is half tempted to simply say fine and be done with it, but there is a sincerity in the plea that reaches deep inside and wraps around his heart, refusing to let go. Memories of better times, of realizing there is far more between them than either cold have ever guessed, of risking it all for just one moment.
Lifting his head again, he straightens to his full height. When their eyes meet this time, there is a flicker of some kind of emotion behind Kaidan’s, or maybe it is simply a fluctuation of light dispensed by the omni-tool. The hidden, romantic side of Ree Shepard wants to believe what they once had is still there, just waiting for the right moment.
“I –.” He sighs and runs a hand through his hair, huffing softly, and muttering, “Why the hell are you making small talk at a time like this? You know I’m no good at it.”
Kaidan’s lips curve into a full-fledged, knowing grin. “Just testing to see how far gone you really are after six months of house arrest.”
An expectant look fills his eyes as Gabriel sorts. “And, doctor?” he quips. “What is your diagnosis?”
Kaidan lifts his free hand to slide over Gabriel’s shoulder and cup the back of his head, gently urging him closer. Gabriel moves without hesitation. As they angle their heads, lips touching lightly, Kaidan’s grin does not diminish. “Insufficient data,” he murmurs.
Gabriel’s lips twitch and he huffs softly just as Kaidan kisses him. Closing his eyes, he leans into the touch, relishing it, savoring it. God knows how long it will have to sustain him …
@nightmarestudio606 asked about Gabriel “Ree” Shepard for the OTP Asks questions found here. Here you go, m’dear! You know I’ll talk about my boys with you all day long!!! Thank you so much for asking!!!!!
~~~~
3. If they complimented each other, what would they say?
HAH! Okay, so given the circumstances under which they meet, I find it giggle-worthy that they would even be ABLE to compliment one another! lol However, as we both know, their relationship evolves and changes and ... well...
So ... Gabriel would probably say that once you get past the boy-scout, marine-poster image Kaidan presents, deep down he’s a kind, caring person who wants to leave the world a better place than he finds it.
Kaidan would probably say that The Butcher of Torfan is a more complex person than the reputation suggests.
5. What activities do they enjoy together?
Play volleyball in Ree’s cabin or apartment using their biotics and a pillow. Don’t ask - turns out it started as a pillow fight, but when you get two biotics together trying to have a pillow fight tends to lead to other ... things? It’s a toss up as to which was most startled when it happened.... (there’s a story in there somewhere I’ll need to sort out ...). Then again, biotic pillow fights are quite entertaining, too. ;)
Outside of the idiocy that the stresses of a Reaper War can bring with it, they like to go running together. Back in the ME1 days, Ree (on a dare by Ashley) led them Parkouring through the Presidium, something he continues frequently. More than once he’s been stopped by C-Sec only to have the Spectre card thrown back in their faces. (note: Jack takes him up on the challenge during the ME2 era and between the two of them, there isn’t an area of the Citadel that hasn’t been Parkoured) Kaidan tolerates it, mostly because later on during the war, it at least is a form of stress relief and he knows Gabriel enjoys it (as well as enjoys irritating C-Sec).
11. What causes them to fight?
Um ... Torfan. No, really. Their first mission together, pre-ME1 they have to head back to Torfan. Things go about as well as you expect for the Butcher of Torfan and ... well ... yeah. So, once they’re on the Normandy together, they agree not to bring it up. Kaidan does a lot of cringing whenever someone calls him the Butcher of Torfan, but he lets it go.
13. Name something they would never do for the other person.
It takes Ree time to figure it out, but he will never ask Kaidan to go against his more paragon nature, despite the fact it occasionally causes tension between the two of them. He loves how Kaidan will stand up for what he believes in and won’t back down because it differs from Ree’s.
Kaidan will never ask Ree or expect him to change himself for Kaidan. If change occurs, he’ll gladly accept it, but he won’t ask it of him.
16. If they broke up, what would be their opinions of each other?
That depends on the circumstances, but I think they could probably find a way to walk away from each other and still respect them. Unless, of course, one was with Cerberus and the other wasn’t ... >.> Or something to that effect.
18. What would be their love motto?
The most important thing in love is trust.
21. How have they changed each other for the better/for the worse?
The moment Kaidan literally takes a bullet for Ree, he starts seeing his situation, the world around him, completely differently. It’s a process that takes a long time to fully evolve, but Ree would say Kaidan literally changes his view on everything. He’s still the Butcher of Torfan and doesn’t ever lose that mentality completely, but by the end of the Reaper War, he’s a completely different person than he was back when they first run into Sovereign.
Kaidan would say that Ree is a reminder to him that there are times when it’s good to have someone who doesn’t allow sentiment and emotion get in the way of making a major decision around you. But that said, he’s also a reminder of what Kaidan hopes he never becomes. (The fact that he, too, sees Ree change by the end of the war is reassurance for him as well.)
26. What are their favorite parts about physical affection/sex?
For Ree, it’s one of the ways he is comfortable expressing himself and his emotions. For all the ruthlessness he shows on the battlefield, once they’re alone, Kaidan brings him out of that shell and he doesn’t have to think about being ‘a weapon’ for the Alliance or the decisions he’s had to make over the years to that end. He can just be Ree Shepard, showing his partner how much he loves and cares about him. Kaidan is a tactile person when you get right down to it, so the physical parts of their relationship are always his favorite.
28. Write a ~300 fantasy one of them has about the other.
Really????? Okay, here you go - not quite a ‘fantasy’ I suppose, but it’ll have to do. And sometimes, reality is better than fantasy, right? ;)
Okay, so maybe, just maybe, the biotic pillow fight begins as an idea in that hazy stage between sleep and wakefulness. With as much stress as Ree deals with during the war, it isn’t inconceivable, right? And they are scheduled for some down time on the Citadel and he has this brand new apartment to break in, sooooooo …
After a few beers and several shots of whiskey between them, Ree teases Kaidan into issuing a challenge to see who has better fine control over their biotics. In the process, Ree discovers that not only is he able to unbutton the major’s shirt but remove his belt and unbutton his pants. It is also at this time Ree discovers that Kaidan is ridiculously, hilariously, adorably ticklish around his waist and hips. Ree may let the biotics linger just a tad bit too long for the fun of it …
Of course, he notices the pillow within easy reach of Kaidan but ignores it until he becomes its target. Laughing so hard when it comes flying at him, he bats it back at Kaidan out of instinct and just like that, the game ensues. Ducking, dodging, taking shelter behind furniture and tripping over their own clothing (Ree is not the only one who can manage buttons and zippers, after all) results in the both of them laughing so hard they end up crying, and that leads to other delightful antics, some of which may or may not include the biotics as well.
Shepard Asks: Moon, Black Hole, and Galaxy for Gabriel?
from this list
Of course! Thank you so much for asking about him!
Moon: Did your Shepard have any dreams as a child? (dream job, plans for future etc)
Oooooooo, good one! Gabriel was your typical, happy go lucky boy growing up on Mindoir. He was the second oldest of four boys and, like his older brother, wanted to keep the family tradition of being an agriculturist. When the batarian attack happens, that all changes and forever there after, he actually has difficulty going back to colonies, especially ones like Mindoir.
Black Hole: What is your Shepard’s greatest fear?
There is a time where he would say he had none, but then people started working their way past the walls he has built - Kaidan, the return of his younger brothers, a couple of others - and his greatest fear after that is that he will not be able to protect them from the Reaper threat. He is more than willing to sacrifice his own life at the end of the war if it means they all will be able to live peacefully afterward.
Galaxy: Under what circumstances do they find killing to be acceptable or unacceptable?
The Alliance basically takes Gabriel after Mindoir and trains him to become a weapon for them. The one person they know they can rely on to do whatever needs doing in the Alliance’s name. (think along the lines of how Thane describes his relationship with the hanar after his training as an assassin) Gabriel becomes a weapon. That is why he is sent in to Torfan. He has a way of disconnecting himself from the situation and making the call that needs to be made. It isn’t a matter of acceptable/unacceptable so much as it is necessary/unnecessary. Over time, however, cracks develop in that shell he has (due to Kaidan’s influence, Gabriel fully believes this) which pare away at that ability to disconnect. Certain events in ME2 help with this as well. By the time ME3 rolls around, it’s much harder for him to just go into a situation (outside of a wartime battle vs. Reapers, of course), make the call no matter the situation. I guess you could say, he ‘reconnects’ to his conscience, in a manner of speaking? He has to put more thought into his decision making, it’s more of a challenge, I guess? There are times he will agonize after certain situations about whether he made the right choice or not. (ex: leaving Earth instead of staying to fight, the decision in Omega DLC involving the life support for the rest of the station)
