Reposting the only Xmas holiday fic I’ve ever finished. It’s not looking like the sequel is going to make it before New Years (never say never… but my work schedule says unlikely). Was briefly playing around with graphics this evening.
Title: All I Need For Christmas Is You
Fandom: Mass Effect Andromeda
Pairing: MReyder
Fic Summary:
Scott almost missed the fact that it’s Christmas. Luckily, his lover has friends who are willing to kindly send him reminders about how important it is to be with family during the holidays.
Death, Rebirth and the Jackal, III: A Mess is Made
Title: Death Rebirth and the Jackal, III: A Mess is Made
Fandom: Mass Effect Andromeda, The Mummy 1999
Pairing: eventual MReyder
Other tags: Egyptian mythology, mish-mash of other influences including American Gods and Moon Knight, Alternative universe, not a movie fusion but heavily influenced by The Mummy (1999). Werecreatures. Slow burn.
Fic Summary: The Jackal wakes when his Master returns.
Fandom: Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect Trilogy
Pairings: MReyder, MShenko
Other tags: sequel to Seguir. Pre-andromeda AU/set during the events of ME2. Alliance Pilot Reyes. Kaidan Alenko is a good CO.
Fic summary:
When Reyes first met Scott it was on the dance floor and he thought he was beautiful. He thought that for at least the night he could follow Scott home. Soon, he began making regular runs to Arcturus just to have a few hours of stolen time with his Vida.
Finding out that his Vida had run away to another galaxy due to events out of his control really just meant one thing. Reyes was going to follow Scott to Andromeda and make sure his Vida understood that his family’s problems didn’t matter.
Reyes didn’t plan on Andromeda. Didn’t choose it. But he’s damn well going to find Scott and make sure his lover knows he’s here for him.
Random Repost Sunday since I was talking about this fic with @tkwritesdumbassassins and I’m debating adding more in this universe
Title: A Soul’s Weight
Fandom: Mass Effect Andromeda
Pairing: MReyder
Fic Summary:
The futures he had seen taunted him, drew him, seduced him. The possibilities that Scott Ryder presented were... intriguing. The cry of the ibis called across the sands, chased by the howls of the golden wolves of Anubis that hunted this night.
So little interested him any more…
Other tags: Borrowing of Ancient Egyptian Mythology, Taking that fanon Callsign literally, one-shot, AU
Who is the Benefactor? Join Ryder and her team in uncovering the truth.
Chapter 14
Havaral.
They were going to meet the angaran contact on Havaral. The planet with all of its beauty and dangers. She still remembered the first time she saw Havarl. She gaped seining its beauty. Seeing creatures she never saw before in her life.
She was sitting on her bed, “SAM tell Jaal and Drack to get there gear. They’re coming with me to meet up with the contact.”
“Yes, Pathfinder.”
“Well, let’s just hope this isn’t a trap”, she said as she stood up from her bed. She needed to get her gear as well.
30 minutes later everyone had their gear and was walking down the Tempest ramp.
Their location wasn’t far from Pelaav, where those angaran researchers were trapped. She shifted her gaze to Drack. She didn’t need to read his mind to know what he was thinking. He didn’t approve. And every now and then he gave Sid a disapproving look.
The rest of the way they mostly walked in silence to their destination.
“Okay”, Sid started to say, “She said she would meet us here.”
“This smells funny”, Drack commented with a deep dark voice.
“She’ll be here”, Sid said nervously rubbing her talons together.
As usual all the other chapters are available on AO3 via the link in my description (that now works on mobile!)
Ch 6. Altschmerz
n. weariness with the same old issues that you’ve always had—the same boring flaws and anxieties you’ve been gnawing on for years, which leaves them soggy and tasteless and inert, with nothing interesting left to think about, nothing left to do but spit them out and wander off to the backyard, ready to dig up some fresher pain you might have buried long ago.
It was nice to wake up with Ajaa. He was slowly tracing his fingers along Julie’s back as she woke up, “Hey there sleepy head” he said softly as he realized she was awake.
“Good morning” she smiled back and nestled her face into his neck.
“More like good afternoon, you slept through the morning” his voice was a low rumble from just waking up also.
Julie liked how he sounded, the way his voice got when he was waking up. It had not been the most physically comfortable nap, but there was something very safe and comforting about Ajaa’s presence. “How are your legs?” she asked, hoping that sleeping on him had not done anything to aggravate his nerve damage.
“I'm fine, promise” he smiled as he wiggled his toes to prove it, “Though as nice as this is would you mind getting off of me? I don't think I've had anything to eat since lunch yesterday”.
Lunch sounds good, Julie thought to herself as she pushed herself up and off of him.
Ajaa got up on wobbly legs and made his way to the tiny kitchen tucked into the corner of his apartment. It was pretty bare bones like Julie’s kitchen: a few cabinets, a sink, a tiny fridge, and a small hot plate made up the entirety of the kitchen.
“Are you hungry?” he called to Julie, “Angaran foods are safe for humans, I just don't know how it would taste to you”.
The laia fruit was still pretty fresh in Julie’s mind, making her a bit unsure as to whether or not she wanted to try any angaran foods ever again.
“I promise there won't be any more laia” he said with a smirk as if he was able to read her mind.
“Maybe I should head home to eat” Julie called back, “just to be safe”.
“I'll go with you” Ajaa offered as he rummaged about, “if that's alright” he quickly added, “maybe I can show you more of the city afterwards”.
“Yeah, I’d like that” she told him. It would be nice to do something with Ajaa, well something besides sleeping.
Ajaa quickly found what he was looking for in the kitchen, a few pieces of fruit and a tube of something, and the two quickly headed out and made their way to Julie’s apartment.
The walk was pleasant and it felt nice to stretch her legs out as they made their way around the outskirts of the city. Ajaa seemed so bright and full of life as he excitedly pointed things out from various plants to places that had meaning from his childhood growing up there. There was something strangely familiar feeling about everything, as if she had known Ajaa for years and they had been on this very same walk before, but Julie found it comforting to find something so familiar in this new galaxy.
“Is your apartment much further?” asked Ajaa as they rounded a corner and entered the memorial gardens.
“It's just past the gardens actually,” Julie began, “Are your legs bothering you?”
“Oh, no it's not that, but you wouldn't happen to be in the block by the shuttle docks, would you?” he asked, looking a bit concerned.
Julie pursed her lips from the concern in Ajaa’s question, “Yeah, that's where all the Milky Way people were put”.
“Oh boy” he muttered. Ajaa had stopped walking and was now shifting his weight from foot to foot anxiously, looking like he was ready to bolt.
Something was very wrong with Ajaa’s reaction. Julie reached out and grabbed his free hand, partly to comfort him and partly to stop him from bolting if need be, “Got an issue with the dock?” she asked.
“I'm not a fan of shuttles, well ships in general” he admitted. “Didn't actually see a ship until I was 10, and that was a kett ship when they took my daar, then I was evac’d on a shuttle to Pelaav by the Resistance and then flown to Aya for medical treatment”.
“Yeah, not very good experiences with ships” Julie said as she felt Ajaa squeeze onto her hand, “While don't we just meet back up in a bit then? I can go grab lunch and we can meet back at your place” she suggested.
“I'm sorry” he said softly, going to release her hand.
Instead Julie gripped his hand tighter, trying to find a way to interlock her fingers between his, “You have nothing to be sorry for, something bothers you, that's fine” she smiled as she tried to reassure him.
It was a few moments of silence before Ajaa spoke up, “Can you check if there's any shuttles at the dock?”
“Sure, but you don’t have to come with me, we can just meet up later” she told him.
“I want to be with you” he said softly, lowering his face down to press his cheek against her’s.
Julie felt her face heat up from blushing. Ajaa was rather affectionate, even if they were just getting to know each other, which was not a bad thing but it was drawing attention. People passed by and stared at them, some with a passing curiosity, others with looks of disgust which turned the pleasant butterflies in Julie’s stomach into a sinking anxiety.
“The shuttles- I’ll go check on the shuttles” she managed to stammer out and quickly released Ajaa’s hand. She made her way to the blast doors that separated the dock from the rest of the city, hoping that people were not staring anymore.
The doors opened automatically as Julie approached them. It was relatively quiet at the dock, a few people bustled about and a single shuttle was docked on the far side but it appeared to be powered down at least. Julie was still blushing as she made her way back to the memorial gardens, a mixture of Ajaa being so close and affectionate and the disgusted looks a few people gave them was leading to mixed emotions.
Ajaa was waiting where Julie had left him, still shifting about somewhat nervously, “There’s one powered down shuttle on the far side of the dock, is that alright?” she asked.
“Should be ok if we move quickly” he answered, taking a few steps closer to her, “Could I hold your hand again? It helps a bit”.
There was something very endearing about Ajaa asking to hold hands for comfort, a sort of causal openness and vulnerability that was common among the angara. Julie surrendered her hand and Ajaa quickly grabbed it and laced his fingers between her’s as best he could.
The two made their way to the docks and Julie’s apartment as quickly as possible for both of their sake. More people seemed to be watching them, though Julie was more concerned with Ajaa’s death grip on her hand and his obvious discomfort than whatever looks they were getting.
The few hundred feet or so from the doors to her apartment was one of the longest walks of her life. Every second seemed to drag on for several minutes and it felt like they were not making any progress to Julie’s apartment not matter how many steps they took.
Ajaa was walking in a near robotic state, eyes straight forward towards the apartment block and shoulders hunched forward. Everything about his body language screamed how uncomfortable he was being at the docks.
“Almost there,” she muttered, equal parts to herself and to Ajaa, “Everything is alright” people aren't staring because you're holding hands and smell like him, She tried to reassure herself internally.
The door to her apartment was a welcome relief when they finally made it there and Julie released a breath that she had not realized that she was even holding as they crossed the threshold.
“Are you alright?” she asked Ajaa who still had a tight grip on her hand.
“Yeah,” he said dryly.
It looked like he was ready to fall over at any moment or that the slightest breeze would be able to blow him over as he stood still in the doorway swaying. He did not look too great, his pupils were dilated nearly to the point of being round and Julie could practically feel the electricity crackling under his skin where their hands touched.
“Come sit down” Julie told him as she led him over to the couch, Ajaa followed without saying anything. He seemed like he was in a daze as he released Julie’s hand and sat down on the couch and continued to blankly stare forward.
“Ajaa?” she asked, though he did not respond. “Hey, are you alright?” she asked again. Julie reached out for his hand, hoping to comfort him.
Ajaa flinched and withdrew his hand as soon as Julie touched him, seemingly startled by it.
“Talk to me, what’s going on?” Julie pleaded, though Ajaa made no attempt to move or speak though Julie could see his chest rising and falling rapidly as he took shallow breaths. Julie pulled up Sivus’s contact information on her omni tool and hoped that Sivus might have some insight into Ajaa’s behavior.
There was a few seconds of silence on the line before Sivus picked up, “ Julie! What can I do for you? ” came his cheerful voice.
“Hey Sivus, I’m really worried about Ajaa. We’re at my apartment and he’s not doing so great, he said he didn’t really like the docks but he insisted on coming with me to my apartment and I live by the docks and now he’s in a daze and-” Julie blurted out, trying to explain everything to Sivus.
“ Is he holding still, or is he frantically pacing and trying to find a place to huddle? ” Sivus asked, all the cheerfulness gone from his voice. Something about hearing the concern in Sivus’s voice told Julie just how serious things were.
“Holding still, he’s sitting on my couch just staring forwards. I tried to touch his hand and he flinched and pulled away” Julie told him.
“ Yeah, don’t touch him. Where there ships at the dock when you were there? ” he asked.
“Just one, but it was the engines were off. Ajaa said it would be alright” Julie said.
“ And Ajaa tends to downplay everything” Sivus paused and Julie heard him take a deep breath, “ Just keep talking to him, keep him grounded and present. If he starts getting panicky and moving around call me immediately, Paalka and I can get to the docks quick if need be ”.
“Can you come over now? I’m worried about Ajaa” Julie asked.
“ Probably not the best idea, he doesn’t need more people around him right now, it’ll just stress him more and I don’t want him getting worse ” Sivus answered, “ Just talk to him, talk to him about where you’re from or something, just anything to keep him engaged”.
“Okay, I’ll try” Julie told him, still feeling unsure about everything and worried about Ajaa.
“ And call me if Ajaa seems like he’s getting worse, okay? I don’t want him to hurt himself or you on mistake” Sivus repeated.
“I will- wait what? Hurt himself?” Julie asked.
" He’s panicking right now, remembering the kett attack on his daar, the shuttle you saw at the dock is bringing everything up again. If he’s just remembering things he’ll be stressed but otherwise alright, but sometimes he relives it. If he’s pacing and hiding it’s because he thinks it’s going on again, he’ll run or try to find somewhere to hide from kett, especially don’t touch him then because he might lash out in defence thinking you’re a kett” Sivus explained.
“So Ajaa has PTSD from the attack then?” asked Julie.
“ PTSD? ” Sivus asked back, his accent thicker than normal as he tried to pronounce the unfamiliar letters.
“Post-traumatic stress disorder, flashbacks, anxiety, all sorts of physical responses to things that remind someone of a past trauma” Julie said, “He’d probably need to be professionally diagnosed if he hasn’t been already, but that’s what it sounds like”.
“ Maybe, I don’t know. We can worry about that later, for now just talk to him, keep him calm” Sivus said.
“Yeah, will do. I’ll talk to you later, thanks” Julie said as she ended the call. She took a deep breath as she turned her attention back to Ajaa. He had not moved or said anything since he had sat down and Julie was not sure if he had heard her and Sivus talking. “So Earth,” Julie began, “I don’t really know what to say, but I think you’d like it there”.
Ajaa still had made no indication that he could hear her.
Julie began again, struggling to find something to talk about, “There was actually a really nice botanical garden close to where I used to live. They had this one plant that only bloomed every few years and it smelled like death when it did, but I get the feeling that it’s one of those things you’d like to study.
No changes with Ajaa, he still sat like a statue.
“It was especially pretty there in the spring when all the flowers were in bloom, well not the one that smelled bad, but they keep that one separate though. And they had an amazing orchid collection, they’re my favorite flowers. There’s a lot of different types and so many colors, I think you’d like them too, it would have been nice to have shown you” she said a bit sadly, the reality of never being able to see Earth again was hitting her.
She felt Ajaa shift how he was sitting a bit, starting to slouch a bit from his rigid posture.
“Though I suppose the Nexus is pretty in it’s own way too,” she began again, “I have an apartment there close to the hydroponics garden and it’s pretty nice there. They’ve got a big tree in the middle, which it was pretty cool to see in the middle of a space station. I don’t know, I’m just babbling, but I hope you’re alright and that maybe I’m helping”.
Julie sat in silence, picking her brain for anything else to talk about. Why is this so hard? I can literally talk about anything, she grumbled to herself.
Without looking over Ajaa reached over and placed his hand on top of her’s. He was finally leaning back on the couch and his breathing seemed to be leveling out somewhat.
“Doing better?” she asked.
Ajaa didn’t speak, but he looked over and gave Julie a weak smile.
“You should probably eat your lunch, you’ve had quite a grip on that tube and fruit for a while now” Julie said gently, “Here, I’ll get you some water, looks like you need it”. Julie felt Ajaa’s hand linger on her’s as she stood up. He was looking up at her, his stare was still somewhat blank, but he seemed unwilling to release her hand. Julie went to move though Ajaa tugged on her hand, motioning for her to sit back down with him. “It’s alright, I’ll be right back, I promise”.
Ajaa released her hand, but he tracked her movement around the apartment as she went to go get him some water.
“See? Coming right back” she told him as she sat back down on the couch and handed him the glass of water.
He took it from her and immediately sat in down on the table in front of the couch before leaning against her and resting his head on her lap.
“I’m here” Julie murmured as she began to absentmindedly run her fingers along his cowl like how he had showed her earlier. He did not flinch away this time, instead he gently nuzzled his face into her lap. It left a sinking feeling in her heart seeing Ajaa like this, shaken up and still not speaking, but at least he seemed to be relaxing a bit.
There was a lot going through Ajaa’s thoughts, Julie watched his face as his eyes darted from her face to around the room and then back to her again. It almost seemed as if he was trying to gather his thoughts and say something but instead he just wrapped his arms around her the best he could.
“Are you feeling any better?” Julie asked.
Ajaa remained silent for a moment before answering in a soft voice, “Yeah, a bit,” he paused, taking a few breaths, “Sorry”.
“Sorry?” Julie questioned, her heart sinking farther down in her chest from Ajaa’s apology, “Why are you sorry?”
“You shouldn’t have to deal with this,” he muttered and looked away, “I shouldn’t have come with you, it was stupid and selfish and I knew it was probably a bad idea and I came anyways. I could have hurt you! I know you know that, Sivus told you”. The electricity cracking under the skin of his cowl was getting stronger as Ajaa got himself more worked up and annoyed with himself. He started to sit up and pull away, “I should just get going, I don’t want you to have to deal with this”.
“No” Julie said firmly as he caught his hand and pulled him back down, “You don’t need to go back out to the docks right now, that’s really the last thing you need. And I’m not dealing with this, I want to be here for you, I want to help. Let me help, is there anything I can do?”
He seemed conflicted as he let Julie tug him back down to her lap, but ultimately allowed her to do so, “This is just nice,” he said as he laid his head back down though he still was not making eye contact, “It feels safe”.
“Good, I’m glad” she smiled.
It seemed like Ajaa was nodding off, or maybe just taking a moment to close his eyes and gather his thoughts a bit more, either way he looked more at peace. Julie traced her fingertips along his cowl just barely touching him, causing him shiver a bit and finally smile.
“Sure you haven’t been around angara before” he said with his eyes still closed, enjoying how Julie was touching him.
“Just good intuition” she told him, “You should probably eat though, you were hungry when we left your apartment and you’ve got to be starving by now, and you’ve probably crushed whatever you brought with you”.
“Yeah” he answered quietly.
“Up up” Julie nudged as she helped him up, “We can have lunch together, how does that sound?”
“I’d like that” he smiled.
Julie made her way back into the kitchen and rummaged about, not that there was much to chose from to eat anyways. Meal bar it is, she decided, not that she had options. She snached one of the bars out of the box and grabbed a glass of water before joining Ajaa back on the couch.
“What’s that?” he asked as he was unscrewing the top of the tube he brought with him.
“Meal bar, not the best, but it’s food” Julie shrugged.
“But what is it?” he asked again.
Julie thought for a moment and then flipped the bar over to read the packaging on the back, “Soy protein, palm kernel oil, sucralose, salt, natural and artificial flavors, vitamin mix” Julie started to list off, though Ajaa did not seem to be following, “It’s plant protein, plant oils, sugar, salt, a bunch of flavorings they don’t specify, a lot of vitamins, and then there’s a bunch of preservatives and stabilizers”.
“Ahh, about the same with this” he said holding up the tube, “It’s nutrient paste, plant proteins, oils so it doesn’t solidify, a lot of ground up fruits and vegetables for vitamins”.
“How does it taste?” ask Julie.
Ajaa shrugged, “Bland, it’s not really bad, but it’s a bit like wet grass and perfume. What about yours?”
“Better than wet grass, but pretty bland too. Soy doesn’t have much flavor, and I think this one might have supposed to be peanut butter” she said.
“What’s peanut butter?” Ajaa asked.
“It’s ground up peanuts, they’re a little bean thing and they’re pretty oily so you can make a spread out of them pretty easily, pretty popular flavor for things” she explained.
“Can I try it?” Ajaa asked.
“Do you think it would be safe?” Julie asked back.
“Should be. Medical teams have been analyzing Milky Way stuff since you guys showed up and so far so good” he said.
Julie unwrapped the bar and handed it to him, “Go for it, I hope it tastes as bad to you as laia did to me”.
Ajaa gave the bar a tentative sniff before biting off the corner of it. “Well the texture is better than nutrient paste” he noted as he continued to chew, “Oh, oh no. No no no. That is revolting” his nose was scrunched up as he forced himself to swallow the bar, “Peanut butter is disgusting” he finished.
“Not so fun to be on the receiving end of strange food, is it?” Julie chided.
“No, it’s terrible” he couched as he reached for the water that Julie had gotten for him earlier and took a drink, “Maybe swapping food isn’t the best idea. Here try this” he said handing her his tube of nutrient paste.
“No way, you even agree that’s it’s not a great idea” she said.
“Yeah, but you react so much, it’s really cute” he smiled, “Please?’ he asked.”
“Fine” Julie sighed as she took the tube from and uncapped it the rest of the way, “How am I supposed to even eat this? Do you spread it on something, or just out of the tube, or…?”
“Just out of the tube normally. But if you’d prefer,” he took the tube back from Julie and took one of his gloves off and squeezed a small amount onto his finger.
“I’m not licking that off your finger” Julie told him.
“What? You should try it on it’s own instead of on something so you can actually taste it” he shrugged.
Julie was giving him quite a look, trying to figure out his intentions. If this was the same as when he insisted on holding the laia fruit the other day or if this was Ajaa’s somewhat awkward way of flirting. “Fine” she conceded.
He lifted his hand up to her mouth, though Julie grabbed onto his wrist to keep in control of the situation. She guided his finger to her lips and gently licked off some of the paste though the texture was a lot thicker than she was expecting and she was having some difficulty actually getting it off of his finger. Well, it’s already odd enough as is , she sighed internally before running her tongue along his finger a bit more aggressively to actually get some of the paste off. It was not terrible, there was an earthiness to it that definitely not as bad as “wet grass” as Ajaa described, and it was more savory than sweet, honestly is was not bad.
“Any thoughts?” asked Ajaa, breaking the odd silence.
“Not bad, it’s more savory to me but still pretty bland” she remarked.
“I think you missed some” he said.
“You’re not even trying to be subtle, are you?” she asked, half teasing and half serious.
“What? You left like half on my finger, and I don’t think you even got enough to really taste it” he feigned innocence.
“You are a terrible liar” she smirked, now very sure of Ajaa’s intentions, but not opposed to his attempt at flirting. She lifted his finger back up to her lips and gently sucked on the tip of his finger to lick off the rest of the paste.
Ajaa had a shy smile plastered across his face, clearly enjoying everything.
“Happy now?” she teased as she removed his finger from her mouth.
“What? I just wanted you to try some more angaran food” he smirked back.
Julie rolled her eyes at him, but smiled. He was openly affectionate, and a bit forward, but neither was a bad thing, at least she felt like she really knew where she stood with him, ‘Well as interesting as that was it really is time for lunch, despite whatever you were trying to accomplish with that”.
“I have no clue what you’re talking about” he said, same smile still lingering on his lips before he busied himself peeling one of the fruits he brought.
Julie turned her attention back to her meal bar, nibbling on it as she sorted out whatever just happened. She remembered reading something in the files that Avela had given her about angaran flirting being pretty direct, angara were not the type to mince words or drop subtle hints but would much rather just say how they felt about someone.
They finished their lunches in relative silence, but Ajaa’s reaction earlier was still weighing on her. Sivus didn’t know what PTSD was, echoed in her mind, do angara not have a word for it or did Sivus just not happen to know about it? Has Ajaa ever done anything about it? Surely, but Sivus didn’t know what it was. “Hey Ajaa?” she began, not knowing if it was a good idea to bring it up.
“Yeah?” he answered, he seemed exhausted even though he had only been awake for a few hours and he was slowly leaning over and onto Julie’s shoulder.
“Nap time again?” Julie asked instead as she crumpled up the wrapper from the bar and sat it down on the table, Ajaa seemed to drained to talk about anything that happened right now.
“Maybe. Sorry, the adrenaline wore off and I’m just feeling drained” Ajaa said though a yawn.
“That’s alright, you can go lay down in my room if you need to” Julie told him.
“Will you come lay down with me?” he asked, the playfulness from the paste incident was gone, instead replaced with a soft gentleness.
“Would you be able to rest and relax better that way?” she asked.
“Yeah” he said softly, “There’s something comforting about you”.
Julie sighed, “Alright, just give me a moment to tidy up in here. Just go lay down, I’ll be right there”.
Ajaa nuzzled his face into her neck before pulling away and making his way back to Julie’s room. Julie could not help wondering what he was playing at as she picked up the glasses, bar wrapper, and empty paste tube and brought them to the kitchen. What is it that he wants? She questioned.
It looked like Ajaa had wasted no time in making himself comfortable taking off his shoes and gloves and Julie could not help but smile as she saw him cuddled up under the blankets. He turned his head when he heard her enter the room and out stretched his arms signaling her to come lay with him. 3 days, she thought to herself, it’s been 3 days and I’m cuddling up in bed with him and alright with this. Ajaa pulled her against his chest his chest immediately so her back was to him and he buried his face into the back of her neck.
Despite only being awake for a few hours Julie felt herself getting tired too. Maybe it was from the stress earlier, maybe it was just how comforting it was laying with Ajaa. Everything felt different though, he did not give off much body heat, and the protrusions on his chest were poking her in the back ever so slightly, a reminder just how different they still were from each other.
“Ajaa?” Julie began, her voice a bit unsure, “What is it that you expect? What do you want from all this?”
He remained silent, though Julie felt his grip around her tighten, “I don’t have any expectations for any of this, and I only want what you’re willing to give me” he paused, seeming to steady himself and gather his thoughts, “ I like spending time with you, you’re interesting and different from anyone else I know. You’ve been very kind to me, you don’t think less of me even after seeing me get stuck on my back in the lab or after everything that happened earlier and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping that maybe this would go past just friends, but if that’s all you’re willing to give me I’d still be happy to have you in my life however you feel comfortable”.
It felt like her face was on fire after hearing Ajaa’s very honest confession. Truthfully none of it was anything new after how he had flirted today, but the openness of everything caught her off guard. It was also forcing her to really evaluate how she felt about everything. He was friendly, and gentle, and playful. She really did enjoy spending time with him, and plenty of people from the Milky Way pursued relationships outside of their species, though Julie had never been one of them. The asari were pretty enough, but the mind melding had always freaked her out. The turians were striking, but the levo/dextro difference was daunting and everything about turians seemed too sharp. The krogan were well, just too much everything. She could go on about each species and while the angara were much more approachable that the Milky way species in her opinion she was not sure how she really felt about anything more than cuddling up with Ajaa still.
“You don’t have so answer or say anything now,” Ajaa broke the silence, “I just thought you deserved an honest answer”.
Julie did not say anything, she did not know what to say, how to phrase ‘I like spending time with you and do find you attractive but the thought of sex with an alien is still really bizarre to me, no offense’ without it coming off as a complete shutdown.
“Everything is at your pace, well from here on out at least. I don’t really know how humans handle any of this, but I want you to be comfortable and happy” he added.
Never had Julie been happier to be spooning instead of facing someone. She did not think she would be able to handle Ajaa seeing how much she was blushing, well if angara blushed too or knew what it meant. “I just want to see how things go, I think” Julie answered.
“Then we continue on as we were” Ajaa said into the back of her neck. His breath was warm and tickled the back of her neck pleasantly, sending a shiver down her spine.
oooh, getting ready for a date for the Gil romance prompts?
I’m going to tie this into my fic No Pressure just for some context :)
Gil twisted around, pivoting on the balls of his feet as he turned back to look in the mirror behind him. His eyes scanned over his body, second-guessing his outfit. He pulled the edges of his jacket together on his front, tightening the loose leather around his back and accentuating the curve of his spine, continuing down into his jeans which clung rather tightly to his legs.
“Do you think the jeans are trying too hard?” Gil asks, casting a glance to Vetra and Suvi sitting in the chairs off to the side of the crew quarters. Vetra shrugs without sparing much of a glance in Gil’s direction.
“Like, to contain your legs? Do you think they’re too small?” Suvi responds, her head tilting to the side as she squints at Gil’s legs.
Gil sighs and turns to face them, arms crossed over his chest, “No, I meant does it look like I’m trying too hard by wearing them.”
“You’ve already got him, Gil, why are you so worried about this?” Vetra looks up from her datapad for a few seconds, her eyes looking more concerned than the joking tone of her voice would have led Gil to believe.
“It’s our first real date. You have to dress to impress. If I show up there in my jumpsuit he’ll think I’m a buffoon who can’t wear normal clothes.” he admits, releasing a huge breath, “And I can definitely wear normal clothes,” he chuckles with a quick glance in the mirror.
Suvi stands up and walks to Gil, “Well if you’re worried about trying too hard then you need to lose the scarf. You can’t be trying to make him look at your legs and your face.” She suggests reaching for the big flowing piece of cotton around his neck. He tenses as her hands touch it but he relents, waving her on and she pulls it off his shoulders.
“I didn’t take you for someone with advice on drawing attention to your body,” Vetra giggles from her seat, flicking through her datapad before she finds that Suvi has thrown the scarf in her face.
“I’m a scientist, not a computer,” Suvi retorts, false offense dripping off her voice, “I’ll have you know I was a big hit at the Religious Lesbian Scientist conventions back in the Milky Way,” she giggles, throwing herself back down into her chair.
Gil’s brow furrows, “Wait... they had those?”
Suvi and Vetra let the science awkwardly hang for a second before Gil catches on, “Right, joking. Got it,” he breathes through his teeth and drums his hands against his thighs, “I think I’m just nervous.”
“You think?” Vetra chortles, her manidbles twitching with glee.
“I should go,” Gil decides, making his way toward the door before pausing and turning to Suvi with a crooked smile, “Let me know if you do want to start a Gay Science Club, I’d be in.”
And with a few vague wishes for luck, Gil made his way down the hall to the cargo bay, ready to meet his maker. Well, his boyfriend, but it felt just as terrifying in that moment.
