#r: mshenko

[incorrect-mass-effect-quotes]

Shepard: WHO is going to have a subtextually homoerotic sword fight with me that stems from our major unresolved sexual tension-

Kaidan: The World Health Organisation is going to what?!

[goodeveningtalos]

“kick his ass for me.” Mshenko!

I haven’t written mShenko in such a long time, it was fun to get back to it!

John slid into cover with nanoseconds to spare, a spray ofbullets grazing the top of his helmet as he slammed into the fallen concretepillar before him, his forearm taking the brunt of the force.

“Anytime now, Liara!” he yelled over the comms, casting aglance back to the pipe he knew Liara was hiding behind.

“My singularity won’t do anything until you overload theirshields, Shepard.” Liara retorted, popping out of cover to return some firefrom her SMG and shooting an irritated look in John’s direction beforereturning to the relative safety of her pipe.

John looked down at his omnitool, flickering haphazardly onhis arm, “About that… think I just broke my omnitool.” He heaved a sigh,turning the display off.

Risking the run, Liara burst out of cover and dashed to theblock John was sitting behind, gently sliding into place at his side, “So what’syour great plan now?” she snapped, blind-firing above the pillar.

Suddenly, the gunfire stopped and electricity crackled, the Cerberustroops in front of them frozen as energy chained between them, shorting theirshields. Kaidan’s voice crackled over the comms, “You’re not the only one withan omnitool, John,” he chuckled, obviously proud of himself for his little display,“Hit ‘em, Liara!”

Standing out of cover, Liara whipped a singularity acrossthe field, drawing the Centurions into the air, helpless as Shepard hurled awarp field at them, triggering an explosion that shook the earth below theirfeet.

Clear, at least for the moment, John and Liara vaulted overthe pillar to survey the damage. Kaidan sauntered over from his cover on theother side of the narrow building, trailing a few meters behind them. “Whatwould you do without me?” Kaidan smirked as John turned around and rolled hiseyes.

Closing the distance between them, John wrapped his armaround Kaidan’s waist and pressed a quick kiss to his mouth, tasting the sweatof battle on his lips. “Let’s hope I never have to find out,” John flashed acrooked smile as he locked eyes with Kaidan.

Liara rolled her eyes, clearly impatient, “You can gaze intoeach other’s eyes later, right now we have to look for the man who organized astrike that killed 200 refugees from Earth.”

The harsh reminder of their mission forced John and Kaidanto separate, taking an awkward step away from each other. John turned to faceLiara and began walking forward again, ready to move on.

“Shit,” he heard from behind and he turned to see Kaidanholding his forehead in the palm of his hand, slowly running back through hishair until it clasped the crown of his head.

“Kaidan, what’s wrong?” John’s voice stayed low but concernechoed through his shaky vowels and weak consonants as he ran back to his side.

“It’s noth-”“It’s not nothing,” John interrupted harshly, his voice raising, hardening. Heswallowed, forcing his voice to soften again, “Is it a migraine?”

Kaidan winced as he spoke, “Yeah,” he took a deep breath,mustering energy to speak his next sentence through the pain, “But I can workthrough it, I have to. This mission is too important.”

“No way. You’re going back to the Normandy,” John saidfirmly, placing a hand on Kaidan’s shoulder. Seeing Kaidan preparing arebuttal, “Now, and that’s an order.” He hated pulling the CO card on Kaidan ofall people but it was a risk to mission. At least, that’s what John was tellinghimself to stop him from thinking of Kaidan getting distracted by the pain andmissing something in a battle, getting hurt or worse.

Kaidan relented, nodding his head slightly to communicatethough it was clearly still painful to even move his head so little.

Liara called Cortez to bring in the shuttle for an evac forKaidan and to drop another squadmate to replace him as John helped lower Kaidanto the ground so he could rest his head.

“Take my omnitool,” Kaidan mumbled, careful not to move hishead or jaw too much.

John cast a quizzical glance down at Kaidan, brow knit andmouth twisted in confusion.

“You broke yours.”

“Ah,” John breathed, understanding now, “Thanks…” he mumbled,reaching down to take Kaidan’s omnitool off his wrist and attach it to his own.

Omnitool in place, John could hear the shuttle descendingoutside. He crouched beside Kaidan and reached his arms under his body, oneunder his knees, grapsing his thigh, and the other clutching his chest fromunder his armpit. “You ready? This’ll hurt.” He warns more than asks, but Kaidangrunts in response anyway, bracing for the pain in his head to intensify andshoot haywire signals all down his body. Heaving the Major off the ground, Johnsprints to the door of the compound, pushing the door open with his back andstepping out into the cool evening, relishing the breeze wicking away the heatclinging to his body and he can see Kaidan relax a little, not much though, asthe cool seems to help his pain a little. The door to the shuttle slides openas it lowers to the ground and Garrus steps out, coming to help John set Kaidandown on the gurney, already prepared in the chassis. Once he’s secured, Garrussteps outside to join Liara and wait for Shepard to join them.

John leans down and kisses Kaidan’s forehead gently,smoothing the sweaty hair clinging to his skin.

“Hey,” Kaidan mumbles, reaching a hand up to grab John’s, “Thatguy? Kick his ass for me.”

“Do you expect anything less?” John chuckles softly, kissingKaidan’s lips this time, careful to only brush them so as not to exacerbate anypain. Kaidan forces a smile in response. The corner of John’s lips pull up ashe backs away, “Take good care of him, Cortez,” John calls as he steps out ofthe shuttle.

“Will do, Commander,” Steve calls from the cockpit.

The shuttle takes off and John is left standing on thestreet of a destroyed city block on some forsaken colony world. Garrus andLiara step up behind him, waiting for orders.

“Alright. Let’s go kill this son of a bitch.”

[incorrect-mass-effect-quotes]

Tali: I really like your top.

Shepard: Thanks, his name is Kaidan.

[goodeveningtalos]

So, to prepare for LGBTQ+ Shepards week, I’m going to refamilarize myself with my LGBTQ+ Shepards, and maybe some of you will even enjoy reading about this as well, who knows. (Just to get all of them out here, I will also be posting about my straight cisgender Shepard but she won’t be tagged with any LGBTQ+ Shepard week tags) So, this is Ethan, my first protagonist in any non-Sims video game, ever and a proud pansexual. I’ve posted a brief bio before, but he’s changed since then.

Ethan has spent almost his entire life in space, only living planet-side for the first few months of his life in Montreal, while his parents were on leave. His mother, Hannah Shepard, was a hardworking marine who thrived in leadership roles, a characteristic she passed onto her only child. His father, Isaac Shepard, was an all around tech specialist who filled gaps on whichever ship he served on, from the engineering corps, to navigation, and even to special ops infiltration teams. Ethan’s parents separated when he was 9 due to disagreements on how to raise him. Only a few days after being reassigned to serve aboard a new ship, Isaac died in action after the ship was boarded by pirates. As a kid, Ethan was well known by all of his mother’s crewmates and always found himself fascinated by the engineers and the workings of the ships his mother served on. 

In school he excelled at science and math, as well as music. He enlisted in the miltary as soon as he graduated to pursue a career as a member of the Alliance Engineering Corps. While on shore leave in Elysium, visiting a man he had met on Arcturus Station, the Batarians attacked. Ethan effectively saved the colony by holding the invaders off until reinforcements arrived.

In 2183, he briefly pursued a relationship with Dr. Liara T’Soni, though he later admitted it was a grief-driven response to losing one of his closest friends, Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, during the assault on Saren Arterius’ base on Virmire. When he came back from the dead in 2185, he and Liara decided not to rekindle their relationship. After his run-in with then Commander Kaidan Alenko, Ethan was thrown for a loop and found himself unable to focus on the flirtations he had begun with Miranda Lawson. He directed his attention entirely to his suicide mission, expecting a one-way trip. When he and Kaidan met again in 2186, Ethan was determined to repair their friendship and hopefully quell the gut-twisting pain he felt at the thought of the Major. It wasn’t until Kaidan mentioned the possibility of a relationship between the two that Ethan even realized he had been in love with him for over a year. To end the war between the sapient species of the Milky Way and the Reapers, Ethan chose to destroy all Reaper encoded synthetic beings. Ethan barely survived the resulting explosion, being found by a search and rescue team 3 days later. Ethan spent 2 years in intensive physiotherapy regaining movement in his legs and acquainting himself with a prosthetic arm. Kaidan and Ethan married on Armistice Day in 2189 in memory of Ashley and settled down with 2 dogs and 3 children, all orphaned by the war. Both veterans retired from the Alliance shortly after and were immediately poached by Jon Grissom Academy to teach engineering and biotics. Ethan would only teach for a few years before being selected as the new human councillor, splitting his time between his apartment on the citadel, Kaidan’s apartment in Grissom Academy, and their beachfront home on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia.

[goodeveningtalos]

I Need You (M!Shenko Angst)

A/N: So, I wrote this almost a week ago but I was super unconfident about this so I didn’t think I would ever post it. But I got some great feedback on my writing from one of my profs, so I figured I’d polish it a little and then share it. This is my first time incorporating anything PTSD-related into my writing and I’m super unsure of it, so if anything is problematic or wrong just let me know, please.

Kaidan groaned as he rolled over in the bed, reaching out for Shepard somewhere across the great expanse of the king sized bed but finding only sheets under his hand. He slowly wrenched his eyes open and squinted at the far side of the bed, covers tossed off the opposite half revealing the depressions where Shepard’s body had laid for the last 3 months in recovery. Kaidan pulled himself up in the bed and leaned against the headboard. Distantly, through the bedroom door and down the hall, he could see the cold glow of the bathroom light leeching into the corridor. Rubbing his eyes, he leaned over the bed to the floor, fumbling around in an attempt to find a shirt. His fingers closed around the soft grey fabric. He quickly pulled it over his head and threw his legs over the side of the bed, collecting himself.

Since Shepard had come out of his coma, he’d been having night terrors and his thoughts had been decidedly dark; and since he’d recovered, he’d been walking more, which, in combination, had set Kaidan permanently on edge. He sighed and heaved himself off the bed, making his way toward the door. He took a quick peak in the guest room’s ensuite and found nothing, despite the light being on. Turning it off, he made his way to the stairs and squinted down at the living room. Even from the top of the stairs he could see the silhouette of Shepard against the bustling nightlife of the Silversun Strip- neon signs flashing, shuttles speeding past, bass pumping out of clubs, and anything else that could possibly give a half asleep L2 biotic a migraine if he wasn’t careful. Shepard was sitting on the floor, looking out at the ward, legs tucked against his chest. Quietly padding down the stairs, Kaidan took care not to startle Shepard, in the event this was a night terror.

               “It’s okay. I’m awake.” His voice called out from across the room, exhausted and tinged with anguish.

               “Sorry, I just didn’t-“

               “I know. It’s fine,” he dropped his head, resting it against his knees, “I wish it wasn’t, but,” Shepard responded, taking a deep breath, “I get it.” He began wringing his hands, a nervous habit he had picked up at some point during his therapies. Kaidan reached up to touch his neck, still sore, but unmarked, from one of Shepard’s worse episodes over a week before. He could still remember Shepard’s screams as his hands threatened to close around his throat, only stopped by a biotic pulse that sent him flying across the room. Needless to say, it was not a pleasant night for anyone.

               Kaidan groaned a bit as he lowered himself to the floor a few feet away from Shepard, the wear and tear of all-out war apparent in his joints. “Couldn’t sleep?” he asked, casting a glance over to Shepard, who had turned his sad gaze toward his partner and answered only with a curt, military nod before turning his gaze back out the window, intent on observing the bustle below him, or, at least, on avoiding the possibility of a conversation. “What are we thinking about tonight?” Kaidan asked, trying to find some dark spot out on the horizon for his eyes to rest on. Finding none, he rested his head on his knees, turned to the side so he could keep his eyes on Shepard, who was still diligently avoiding eye contact.

               “Nothing really. Just couldn’t sleep.” He replied tersely, keeping his gaze steady and direct, not focusing on any one thing in particular. Kaidan could tell that Shepard had much more than the Silver Coast Casino on his mind, but he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to know what was on Shepard’s mind. Turning his head toward the window, Kaidan stared intently at the patch of space beyond the wards. They sat in silence for a bit, each just observing the scenes before them before Shepard broke the silence, turning his head to Kaidan. “Are… are you scared of me?” he asked, voice shaky and hands wringing once again.

The pain in his voice stabbed through Kaidan like a knife. His head immediately turned and his mouth hung open in shock, moving as if trying to form words but failing miserably as his mind tackled Shepard’s question. The lights of the strip glistened off the tears welling in the bottom of Shepard’s eyes. Even through his entire recovery, through every surgery and even the most painful physical and mental therapies, Kaidan had never seen the man he loved in so much pain. “How could you even ask me that, John?”

“Ever since-” Shepard swallowed, forcing back the tears threatening to pour out of his eyes, “ever since that night, you sleep on the far side of the bed; you sit on the other couch; God, you’re even sitting three feet away from me right now! How can I not ask you Kaidan? How can I not wonder if I’ve tainted the only good thing that ever fucking happened to me?” Through all his yelling, Shepard had lost the battle against his tear ducts, and the water was steadily running down his cheeks.

Kaidan quickly moved into a crawling position and scuttled across the floor, settling in front of Shepard.  He pulled himself into a low kneel and stared longingly into Shepard’s eyes, tracing the path of the tears from the ducts down this glistening cheekbones and across his square jaw to where the two trails met at his chin and dripped into his lap. He brought a hand up and gently wiped the tears on Shepard’s cheek with his thumb. “Shepard…” he started, his eyes starting to tear up as well, “John, I love you. I have for God knows how long and I will for even longer. I don’t plan on leaving your side. Ever. I’m sorry that I ever let you think otherwise. I- I thought I needed to give you space, but-“

“You forgot that I need you, Kaidan...” Shepard mumbled, hanging his head.

Kaidan gently lifted his chin and pressed his lips against Shepard’s, lingering only for a few seconds before pulling away to murmur, “I need you, too.” He rested his forehead against Shepard’s and they stayed for a while before Shepard turned his face back up and reconnected their lips.

Locked in a desperate kiss, Shepard reached up and wrapped his arms around Kaidan’s chest as Kaidan began to lean over Shepard, his arms straddling the commander’s broad shoulders. Shepard began to pull Kaidan to the ground, straightening his legs. Kaidan slowly pulled himself away and reached for the hem of his shirt, ready to pull it over his head until Shepard’s hand brushed against his wrist, giving Kaidan pause.

“Not tonight,” Shepard said, pushing himself up so he was leaning on his forearms, “Not yet. I’m sorry.”

Kaidan nodded, “Hey, it’s fine. We move as fast as you want to, love.” Kaidan flipped over so that he was lying on the ground next to Shepard, who rested his head in the nook between Kaidan’s head and shoulder and his hand on Kaidan’s chest, running lazy circles over his muscles with his finger.

“But soon. I promise.” Shepard mumbled, turning his head up to Kaidan, who smiled before placing a soft kiss on Shepard’s forehead.