Gifts for Shepard

Short drabbles for how all of my Ianto’s celebrate their birthdays. Shepard!Ianto, WWII!Ianto, TWGaM!Ianto

* * *

April 11, 2189

“Happy Birthday, Shepard.”

Ianto looks up from his datapad, glasses slipping low on his nose. “Is it that time of year already?”

Kaidan chuckles, sitting down beside him. “Yes. Brought you a gift. It’s contraband.” He holds out a bottle of rare Earth whiskey.

Whistling low, Ianto takes the clear bottle filled with amber liquid and holds it like breathing wrong might break it. “Where’d you find this?”

Kaidan shrugs with practiced casualness. “Best not to ask.”

It’s things like that that make Ianto wonder from time to time exactly who Kaidan dealt with in Spec Ops. He never asks, though. He likes the mystery. He turns the bottle over in his hands, studying the label. “Wow, it’s from the year I was born.”

“Forget it. I won’t tell you how much it cost,” Kaidan grins.

“In credits, or favors?”

“Both,” he answers airily.

“You’re a dangerous man, Kaidan Alenko,” Shepard says, not taking his eyes off the precious gift.

“We can’t all be famous like Commander Shepard, but some of us can be just as infamous.”

Shepard laughs and places the bottle gently on the table to free his hands for dragging Kaidan against him for a long, leisurely kiss. “I hope you keep surprising me for the rest of my life,” he murmurs.

Kaidan’s smile turns a little wistful as he traces over the well-learned scars on Ianto’s face, white and firm and stark against his tawny skin, no longer glowing with cybernetics. “I did promise you something like that.”

“Me, too,” Shepard answers, leaning forward for another kiss. “Thank you, Kaidan.”

This time Kaidan is the one to push, laying Ianto on his back. He boxes the commander in, filling his vision. “Many happy returns,” he says, pressing in for a proper celebration.

* * *

April 11, 2016

“Today is the special day.”

Ianto groans and rolls onto his back, carrying the comforter with him and not even opening his eyes. “No, it’s not,” he says, voice sleep-rough. “It’s Monday. Monday’s are never special.” A large weight drops onto his chest suddenly, making him grunt in surprise. He cracks one green eye open to see his cat on his chest, blinking languidly at him, and Vanya crouched over his knees, blinking seriously at him.

“Elvis wants you to wake up,” Vanya says.

Elvis wants no such thing. The hefty animal stretches down with a yawn and settles into a loaf on his chest, eyes closing. Ianto worms an arm out from under the sheets to scratch the cat’s head until it purrs loudly and contentedly. “The Russian is a liar,” Ianto coos at the cat.

“You will just sleep this best day away?” Vanya demands, thick eyebrow arched.

“Why not?” Ianto yawns. “This is the thirtieth time I’ve had a birthday. No reason to go crazy on all of them.” He says it because he knows how Vanya is. The Russian goes a little nuts on holiday; every one equally important to him. It’s fun to tease him about it, especially after the New Year’s celebration they’d had that had almost burned the house down.

Vanya’s scowl deepens and there’s something dangerous in his gray eyes when he says, “if you are not to get up, I will make you breakfast.”

Ianto scrambles up to his elbows, Elvis slipping down to his lap with the comforter and not caring at all. “You wouldn’t dare,” he challenges.

From behind his back, Vanya pulls out a spatula. “Eggs sound delicious,” he says threateningly.

“No.” Ianto’s eyes narrow. “The last time you tried it…”

Vanya nods. “The house smelled like burning for a week.”

They stare in a silent battle of wills for nearly a full minute. Ianto can’t challenge the Russian like this. He never wins. Ever. Vanya can’t back down no matter what. Not even on his drunk-married-husband’s 30th birthday. “You win, Огонь,” Ianto finally says.

Vanya grins widely. “I know this.” He climbs out of the bed, twirling the spatula like he used to with his gun. “Don’t worry, ‘Yanto. When you finish with food, I will bring you back to bed for dessert.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Ianto agrees, moving Elvis to Vanya’s pillow and shoving back the covers. “Happy Birthday to me.”

* * *

April 11, 1944

“Heard it was your birthday today,” Kaidan says to break the silence as he and Ianto huddle together near a small fire on the beach to ward off the evening chill.

“Huh,” Ianto answers, sitting back on his hands in the cool sand. “Is it?”

Kaidan holds up a finger in a waiting gesture and keeps his eyes on his watch. He’s quiet for several seconds and then smiles triumphantly. “It is now. Happy Birthday, Shepard.”

Ianto laughs quietly. “Another year gone. I’m not sure I knew it was even April.” He looks out over the black ocean. “Hell of a time.”

“Guess we should mark the occasion. I got you something.” Kaidan digs in his pack and holds out an apple. “Best I could do.”

Ianto’s eyes widen. He reaches out slowly and curls his fingers around the shiny red fruit. For a moment he’s clenching Kaidan’s cold fingers as well, though they draw back fast. “How in the world?”

“Got it the other day,” Kaidan answers. “I know you like them, so I figured I’d hold on to it.”

He does like them. Loves them. Apples are the only thing he sees, smells, tastes, that can actually take him back home to Nebraska for a minute or two. He misses it so much it makes him ache. “I’ve got ten apple trees back home,” he says softly, bringing the apple to his nose and drawing in the sweet scent deeply through his nose.

“Ah,” Kaidan says, understanding dawning on his face. “It’s your reminder of home.”

“Yes.” He’s not watching the ocean anymore. And for once Kaidan isn’t avoiding his gaze. “Maybe when this is all over, you can come and visit. I’ll teach you how to make real cider. And apple pie.”

Kaidan smile is small and genuine. “I’d like that.”

They’re simple words that have a huge meaning neither one of them can fully understand yet. But it feels good, like biting into the apple. Familiar and comfortable. He likes it. “You ever been to Omaha?”

“No,” Kaidan answers. “I’ve been to California and Hawaii. That’s about it.”

“You’ll love it,” Ianto answers, turning back to the water. “It’s the good kind of quiet where I live.”

“Yeah,” Kaidan agrees, soft voice carried away by the breeze. “I’m sure I will love it.”

14 and/or 32, if you’re still taking prompts? I have a weakness for mShenko, any universe.

This is the last one. And you know something? I’m combining the numbers. I think I’ve been really nice and fluffy to y’all up until this point, haven’t I? Now I need to give up with true JJ style. Mild NSFW smut and angst.

#14&#32: (A whisper in the ear & In a way I can’t return)

Sometimes Kaidan worries that he says it so much, it might lose its meaning. Not to him – never to him – but maybe to Shepard hearing it too many times. He just can’t help it, though. There have already been too many times where it could be the last, that he has to say at every appropriate moment.

Before missions, after them when they’re bad, in the morning, last thing at night. Over coffee sometimes is nice. Sitting with their feet kicked up on the coffee table in the Captain’s Cabin, watching the fish.

“I love you, Shepard,” he says.

Shepard takes his hand and pulls him closer. “Love you, too.”

There’s always weight and meaning behind it, so he knows it still packs a punch. Maybe he’s just being foolish thinking it won’t. It’s not often enough that it actually starts to sound like gibberish, like when he repeats the same word over and over and over and over just to find out how strange it sounds when it becomes nothing but a jumble of consonants and vowels.

His favorite is always when they’re skin on skin, all barriers down. Shepard moves against him, slick sweat and the intermittent crackle of biotics between them. Fingers entwined, bodies entwined, not a centimeter separating them, spiking the pleasure higher and more frantic. Shepard presses warm lips against Kaidan’s damp temple. Whispers, “I love you,” into the shell of Kaidan’s ear with such force he might as well have been screaming it, right before he comes.

It’s always something. It’s always everything, and there’s nothing to take it away ever. No way for it to not be returned. Kaidan’s learning that slowly but surely. He’s positive that it will always be there when they land in London, but it scares him all the same.

He won’t – he can’t – say it here in the eye of the hurricane. It would be an excuse or a reason for Shepard to do something reckless and stupid. He’s too fond of saying it right before taking on a thresher maw or a reaper on foot. Kaidan’s relief is a physical thing when they part at the checkpoint, deep kiss and a press of their foreheads together. Shepard doesn’t say it, he doesn’t say it, and Kaidan is beyond thankful. It means they still have a chance.

Then there’s the second he knows, deep in every fiber of his being, Shepard is going to say it. It hits him just as hard as the blast from the Mako that leaves him breathless and bleeding. He can see it in Shepard’s eyes as he hustles them to the Normandy.

He really does try his best to stop it. “Don’t leave me behind,” he says, though he already knows what’s next.

“No matter what happens, know that I love you. Always.”

I can’t. “I love you, too.”

Since he said it back, maybe this will just be something to yell at Shepard about later. When it’s over. When they’re patching themselves up and watching the fish with their feet kicked up on the coffee table in the Captain’s Cabin. Later. Later, later, later. Shepard’s saying his I’m-about-to-do-something-stupid “I love you” that’s always been fine. Just a few hours of anxiety for Kaidan.

He’s gone in the beam and Kaidan is choking on his I love you. It feels like hours. When his comm goes active again, he’s in the medbay with Chakwas cleaning him up.

He hears Shepard. He hears the tone in his voice. It’s almost all static over the private line. “Kaidan. I love you.”

The line is dead. Kaidan can’t say it back. He can’t return it this time.

Are you still taking prompts? How about 13 or 3 for the ilu meme?

Made fresh to order! #13. (In a letter)

From this list of I love you prompts.

It started when Shepard said he had a “covert supply run” to attend to on an extended stay on the Citadel. Kaidan hadn’t really questioned it, figuring it was Garrus looking for one of his only-marginally-legal sniper rifle upgrades, or some weird armor plating that wasn’t commonly used. But whatever it was, Shepard hadn’t found it. He’d returned to the Normandy with a grouchy expression, retreated to his cabin, and proceeded to make a dozen calls and send even more messages completely encrypted so that even Samantha Traynor couldn’t tell what it was about.

Kaidan knew it didn’t have anything to do with his former ties to Cerberus, or any gangs or seedy operations. Whatever it was didn’t worry Shepard or piss him off, or change any of the crew’s missions. It was just a thing of curiosity that Kaidan wondered about and then forgot about, especially after the war really reached a head.

Then, one morning, Kaidan looked up from his spot at the mess hall table where he’d been sipping his coffee before his shift, and saw Shepard saunter in looking pleased as punch. “Something good happen?” he couldn’t help asking.

“The best,” Shepard winked, pouring his own mug and leaving it all at that.

After that, Kaidan finds the oddest things everywhere. First in his armor locker stuck to his chest plate. A small square of yellow paper with an adhesive strip on the back. The note says, “fixed the cooling problem – IMS.”

Later, there’s one on the mirror in the cabin. “Found that toothpaste you prefer – IMS.”

There are more and more. “Be safe on the patrol today. – IMS.”

“Thanks for feeding the fish – IMS.”

“Recorded the show you missed on the cabin’s vidscreen – IMS.”

“Missed you at mess – IMS.”

“Your mom is texting me every 5 min. Please call her – IMS.”

Dozens. Just appearing. He never sees Shepard putting them up. He never even reacts when he finds one taken down. Kaidan saves all of them. It goes on for weeks, until one morning Kaidan wakes up to his alarm and finds one on Shepard’s pillow. It says, “I love you – Ianto.” No more follow after that.

Kaidan finds Shepard in the empty equipment bay after a week of meaning to ask about the letters, but only ever seeing the commander enough to say good night and fall asleep almost before their heads hit the pillow.

Shepard’s there now, though, taking apart his assault rifle, and for once not looking too busy to blink.

“Ianto,” Kaidan says.

He looks up smiling. “Hey.”

Kaidan holds up the stack of notes he keeps either in his bedside table or tucked into his pocket behind his chest plate for good luck.

Ianto scratches the back of his neck. “I ran out of sticky notes,” he says somewhat sadly. “Took me a month just to get that one stack and a pen. I forgot how hard it was to find actual paper and pens these days.”

Kaidan smiles. “That’s what all this was about?”

“Well… yeah. Wanted to… y’know, do something nice. We haven’t spent much time together lately, and I missed you, so…” he trails off.

Kaidan pushes the crates back that he’d been using as a makeshift table and sits himself right in Shepard’s lap. The kiss is long overdue. “I love you, too,” he says.

Shepard beams. “Then it’s all worth it.”

Can I have 19 for Ianto, Vanya, and Kaidan?

#19! (With no space left between us)

From this list of I love you prompts!

“Literally every single spot in this place smells like Vorcha shit,” Kaidan muttered.

Vanya grunted and said, “don’t know what else you were expecting on Omega.”

“Not this,” Kaidan returned in a tight voice, trying his best to shift out of the contortions his body was bent in to get just an inch of space between himself, Ianto, and Vanya.

“Two Sentinels and a Vanguard trapped in an air vent sounds like the start of a bad joke,” Ianto said far too cheerfully, as he muscled his arm out of where it had been pinned between Kaidan’s chest and, what felt like, Vanya’s knee. “Could be worse.”

Vanya’s face was about an inch from his, so there was no way he could miss the snarl. “Your worst personality trait is your excessive optimism,” the Russian said.

“Hey,” Ianto returned defensively, “I’m just trying to-”

“Shut up,” Kaidan snapped. “Listen.”

“Говно,” Vanya muttered.

“どちら？” Ianto asked.

Kaidan rolled his eyes. He hated it when Vanya’s Russian always unconsciously made Ianto revert to Japanese. “Right below us,” he hissed in answer to Ianto’s question.

“We’re going to die here,” Ianto whispered. His arm was starting to fall asleep.

Vanya’s grin split his whole face. “See?” he said in a stage whisper. “There’s that beautiful pessimism. Only took you, what? Thirty-two years?”

“I will shoot you both,” Kaidan warned, voice only slightly louder now that the footsteps below them were fading.

Vanya snorted. “Good luck reaching your gun.”

Kaidan shoved him from behind and that caused Vanya to be stuffed forward with no space left between him and Ianto. He moved his head to the side as much as the small air duct would allow so they didn’t squash their noses.

Ianto’s breath was hot on his temple when he laughed a little. “Doesn’t this at all remind you of that time on Elysium in that bar-”

“You swore never to speak of that again,” Vanya said darkly against his collarbone.

“You were the one all drunk and, ‘Vanguards do it better,’” Ianto mocked.

“Стоп,” Vanya warned.

“Of course, that was the Asari after us,” Ianto continued, ignoring the warning. “But it was a good start to the Biotic Beer and Misery club.”

“I really will kill you both,” Kaidan cut in, still worming his way around to free himself from the pileup.

“It’s your fault we’re here, anyway,” Vanya answered. “I told you it was a bad idea to bother cleaning up your mess with the Vorcha mafia. Best to let it go.”

“You know,” Ianto said thoughtfully as he finally got his arm free, almost breaking Vanya’s nose by accident in the process, “I really love you two. This is the stuff the best memories are made of.”

Vanya chortled and Kaidan made a sour face over the Russian’s shoulder.

“I think I can move my arms,” Vanya said, unwedging them. He pressed them against the metal panel beneath them. “Ready?”

“Yes,” Kaidan breathed with relief.

“Do not damage my balls,” Ianto said, scooting as far away from Vanya’s glowing hands as he could. He didn’t like the way the biotic static was humming against his tender bits.

“That would be a tragedy,” Vanya grinned wolfishly before counting down from five and blasting them out of the vent. They tumbled about ten feet to the ground, landing in a heap and thankful for their armor.

“See? That wasn’t so bad!” Ianto gasped, winded.

“Again with the disgusting optimism,” Vanya grouched.

“Can we please just leave now?” Kaidan whined from the bottom of the pile.

They disentangled for the first time in an hour, stretching and letting blood back into their aching limbs. “Is this another thing we’re never supposed to mention again?” Ianto asked as he helped them all to their feet.

“Yes,” Vanya and Kaidan answered simultaneously.

“Fucking love you guys,” Ianto said forcefully.

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Vanya answered.

Oh wait, someone already asked you to write number 6. Well, if you don’t want to write that one how about 9 or 12 for shenko? I’m not picky about Shepard’s gender, I just really like fluff honestly and I think this fandom could use more of it.

I messed up posting this before! This one was for you! 12. When we lay together on the fresh spring grass

From these I love you prompts!

“When’s the next forecasted rain?” Shepard asks while Kaidan flips through the channels available of the vid screen. He’s sort of glad that Earth hasn’t recovered enough yet to have a thousand stations again. There’s local news, a few cartoons, a movie channel. Those are the only things worth seeing. Of course, Shepard only likes watching the movies he’s already seen before. It frustrates him to only be able to listen. It still might take another year before the implants in his eyes are ready to be repaired. Waiting, surgery, recovery, hope, waiting. Over and over.

“Today,” Kaidan answers as the news station flashes the ten day forecast on the screen.

“What are the chances?”

Kaidan smiles. “Actually? Pretty good this time.”

The weather’s been fucked since the sky was ripped apart. It had taken ages for the atmosphere to be repaired. And even here in the Middle of Nowhere, Canada, the rains had been dirty. Always warnings about air quality and staying indoors until it had ended. Though the last time there’d been a true downpour, it had lasted long enough that it hadn’t been dangerously dirty. After that, they’d only had a spring shower or two since then, nothing lasting more than ten minutes at best.

“What was the last report?”

“Tolerable. Only a moderate warning for brief exposure.”

The downpour starts while they’re eating lunch. Shepard hears it before it’s even worked up too much. Kaidan can tell the change because he straightens his shoulders and tilts his head towards the windows. “Promising,” he says.

Kaidan smiles and is just happy that they can eat salads again. “I’ll turn the news on.” He shifts and Shepard catches his hand.

“No, I like hearing the rain.”

It lasts for nearly three hours. Kaidan keeps track of the pollution level on his omni-tool. For the last half-hour, it’s clean. “We can go outside if you want,” he says.

Shepard stands and holds out his hand. Kaidan takes them out the back porch door and into the grass. The rain is starting to calm, the sky actually turning blue as the sun starts to come out. Shepard is smiling, turning his face up towards it. “Ah, the rewards of winning the war,” he grins.

“Only took three years.”

Shepard sits down on the soaked lawn, flops onto his back with a pleased sigh. Kaidan joins him a moment later. "It’s May, isn’t it?“

"Yes,” Kaidan confirms. “It’s finally getting warm.”

“You still love me the same, right?”

Kaidan takes his hand. “No. You know it’s more.”

“I know. But I can only hear it now.”

16 for mshenko:)

Order up! #16 (Over and over again, till it’s nothing but a senseless babble)

From this I love you prompt list!

“Oh, for the love of – which one of you is responsible for this?”

Wrex chuckles. Garrus makes a noncommittal noise. Liara swears she saw nothing. Tali shrugs. James looks only a little worried. Kaidan glares at them all then repeats the question. Same answer.

“Kaidan?” a barely-luid Shepard croaks from the sticky bar floor. “’s’that Kaidan Alenko? Kaidan!”

“What did you give him to drink?” Kaidan demands.

“Little bit of this and that,” Garrus answers.

“Some of it might have been illegal,” Wrex adds.

Liara at least has the decency to look chagrined. “Most of it was probably illegal.”

“Shit,” Kaidan answers. “All right. You people are officially off shore leave. Report back to the ship and just hope that the Hero of the Citadel doesn’t die.”

He doesn’t wait for any of them to respond. He bends down and hooks his arm under Shepard’s, dragging the man up to as standing a position as he can get him. Shepard sways dangerously, eyes closing.

“Don’t you dare pass out,” Kaidan says sharply. “I will leave you in a gutter somewhere. If I can find one.”

“Kaidan,” Shepard drawls. “Kaidan, y’know, you’re amazing.”

“Yeah, I know,” he says sarcastically. “Left, right, soldier. Come on, we’re almost there.”

His back is aching by the time he dumps them into a skycar to the docks and through the decontamination system that lasts much longer than necessary because Shepard is alcohol-sweating something the filters don’t like. The walk of shame to the Captain’s Cabin is worth it for Kaidan’s state of mind. It’ll take a lot for him to live this one down. Then again, he’ll probably wear the drunken shame like a badge of honor.

Kaidan’s glad that he’s been here to the cabin enough that he can maneuver it in the dark.

“Need t’feed the fish,” Shepard mutters.

Kaidan ignores it and dumps the commander on his bed. He sits down on the edge to help remove Shepard’s boots, socks, pants. “You’re plastered,” he says.

“I love you,” Shepard says. He wavers up for a sloppy kiss that Kaidan allows him because there’s no use arguing with a drunk/drugged/whatever man. “I love you,” he says again. Then his brain appears to get stuck in a feedback loop. “I love you, I love you, I love you,” a dozen or more times. A second dozen, and Kaidan starts to chuckle. Shepard is pressing kisses all over him, up his neck and over his face, probably flirting because he keeps missing his mark for the lips. The repeated mantra of love goes on until it sounds like Kaidan’s shorted out his translation implant and can’t understand the words anymore.

They’re rolling on the bed, uncoordinated and laughing and kissing and suddenly Shepard is asleep, snoring loudly. Kaidan both wants to continue laughing and punch him all at the same time. He gives up on both, worming his way out from under his weight to brush his teeth and dress down for bed. He can deal with the commander’s hangover in the morning. Or not.

31 In awe, the first time you realised it

Here we see another #31, and I’m going with the Burn Down the Sky for it this time.

From this I love you prompt list!

Kaidan doesn’t even bother counting the days anymore. He tried to at first, but then it seemed like an exercise in futility. He’s not even sure how “together” he and Shepard actually are anymore. Truly, he understands Ianto’s need for time. He and Miranda were married for a long time, so hooking up on the 4th of July probably hadn’t been the smartest idea. Then there was the whole fiasco with the trial where he’d dumped the man with barely a second thought before they’d been able to define anything.

Kaidan’s face twists as he stares at himself in his bathroom mirror, clenching his razor tightly for a moment, halfway through his shave. It had been the right decision. It had. He knew that, but still. The ache in his chest wouldn’t go away, and he had no idea how to stop it.

And Shepard has been quiet about the whole thing. He hears things from his coworkers. Things that make him heartsick. They don’t mean anything to anyone else, but Kaidan knows it’s all to apologize. Be the better man. Give him his space and the ability to open the lines of communication again on his own time.

Recently Shepard’s taken up all of Kaidan’s paperwork while Kaidan rides out his suspension. He’s even taken charge of his rig, doing the work of two lieutenants by himself. They don’t talk, they don’t text, but occasionally, an email will pop up in his inbox.

Ianto Shepard [shepard.i@virmirefire.com]
To: Kaidan Alenko [kaidanalenko@virmirelocalrepairs.com]

Subject: Rec

Hey. Family stopped by the station the other day for car seat check. Installed wrong, as always. They mentioned needing some roofing repairs done. Gave them your card, said you were the best in town. Just a heads up.

-IMS

He needs the extra money since he’s on an unpaid leave from the station, and sometimes he wonders if Shepard’s been hitting up everyone at their sites to send them Kaidan’s way. Looking out for him in any way he can without breathing down his neck.

Kaidan finishes shaving and rinses the stray cream off of his face. He’s thinking about all those calls, all the recommendations, all the absent care. Ianto cared. Deeply. He wanted to make things right any way that he could.

“Shit,” Kaidan mutters to his mirror. He throws the hand towel down and goes to his room where his dress uniform is hanging on his door ready for the Firefighters Ball tonight. He puts it on carefully, piece by piece, watching himself now in the full length mirror.

He knows he needs to take Ashley’s advice and just talk to the man for once. Even if nothing comes of it, he can’t hide his head in the sand forever.

It’s just a lot more complicated now, and he can lie to everyone, but he’s never been good at lying to himself. He just wished it didn’t feel like a bolt out of the blue. How had he convinced himself otherwise? “I love him,” he says to his mirror, voice shaking only a bit in its surety. Saying it out loud makes it real, the feeling blooming in his chest and tightening his throat. It hurts and it feels amazing and it’s the most awe-inspiring emotion he’s ever had. “I love him,” he says again. It’s stronger now. Kaidan Alenko is in love and he’s never been so scared in his entire life.

Love You Prompt: Mshenko 22

Have a #22. (Muffled, from the other side of the door)

From this list of I love you prompts!

“Hey, Shepard,” Kaidan says as lightly as he can, taking his seat in front of the thick paneled glass.

Shepard sits down in the chair on the opposite side of the glass, looking drawn and tired in the bright, fluorescent lighting. He picks at the POW uniform he’s wearing with a wan smile. “Suppose I have you to thank for this?” his tone is exhausted, but friendly, voice muffled through the glass.

“Yeah. I’ve arranged to have you moved to Vancouver on Earth. You’ll have your own private room, amenities, a door that opens…”

“… and twenty-four-seven surveillance.”

Kaidan winces. “Ianto…”

He waves a hand dismissively. “I deserve it. Thanks for being the one to take me in when I surrendered. It couldn’t have been easy for you.”

“I’m glad you called,” Kaidan answers. “Someone else might have tried to make an example out of you.”

“I knew it would have come to this if that suicide mission hadn’t done what the name suggested.” He grins and Kaidan frowns. “Look, I know what I did, all right? And I was ready for all of this.” He gestures around to the sterile white visiting room. “But if the information and resources I collected can help convince the Alliance and the Council to move on this damn reaper threat, I’ll sit here and rot in jail for as long as it takes.”

“That doesn’t make it easier,” Kaidan says. “I’m… you know I’m sorry, right? About Horizon. It was just too much to take in at the time. After two years…”

Shepard leans as close to the glass as he can without being shouted at by the guard. “I get it, Kaidan. You didn’t say or do anything that didn’t make sense. I would have been the same way. But I’m still glad it happened. That we ran into each other. Being with Cerberus… fuck, it was awful. Didn’t know what I was living for half the time without you there.”

Kaidan ducks his head slightly and rubs the back of his neck. Shepard always liked that move. He’s quiet for a minute, and Shepard lets him have it, even though their time is limited. The man’s head comes back up. “There’s a lot there, Shepard. I promise I’ll think about it, though. We won’t be able to see each other after this, probably for a long time. You’ll be on lockdown.”

“I know,” he confirms. “I know you had to pull a lot of strings for just this much, and they only let you because you were the one to bring me in.” It’s almost time. “I need to tell you something, though.”

“Shoot,” Kaidan says, probably too recklessly.

“I love you,” Ianto says, and it sounds strange through the wall. “I always will, no matter how long it takes to get your trust back. I’ll do anything, Kaidan.”

Kaidan’s shock lasts a beat too long before the guard is back hauling Shepard to his feet and escorting him out and he’s lost his chance to answer. At first he thinks it’s completely unfair, but then he’s glad he didn’t say anything. It wouldn’t have been true if he’d said anything back automatically. He would think about about it and it would be better. He hoped. One day.

31 for Ianto/Kaidan (I MISS THEM A LOT OK??)

Next order for the I love you prompts: #31 (In awe, the first time you realised it)!

Send me a prompt from this list, any pairing, and I’ll fill it!

Ianto Shepard is not above admitting that some things just don’t come easy to him. He’s taken down reapers and thresher maws and a few handsy fans, but he still knows where he lags. And one of those areas is being willing to use his biotics more often to save his own ass. During his time at the Villa, one of the N7 instructors had said, “restraint is the better part of valor.” Shepard was fairly certain that wasn’t how the saying went, but it had stuck. Nowadays he was more likely to use his biotics as a last ditch effort – he was a sentinel, after all – though with the war heating up every day, he saw the immediate need for more power.

And when he’d seen what Kaidan Alenko did on the field and in the launch bay to keep up his own training, well… there was a poetry to it that Shepard craved for himself. Thus began the weekly training sessions, and Kaidan has kept to his word that he won’t hold back anymore.

It’s been a year, and Shepard thinks he’s doing so much better at it. Less bruises and shocks to his fingers thanks to Kaidan, once again, dislodging his weapon from his hands effortlessly. He’s gotta say though, he kind of likes it when Kaidan gets that dangerous grin on his face before blowing the commander off his feet with a new tactic he knows will work.

They read each other almost too well now, and the major certainly likes to take advantage.

Thus it continues. They’re in the battle area on the Citadel today. It’s a luxury spot for them to train, and Shepard adores it. The two of them against the world, it seems sometimes. But today, it’s the two of them against each other and Ianto is winning as he ducks behind a stack of crates, sweating and grinning and up another fifty points for the, frankly, beautiful stasis field he’d trapped his lover in just moments before.

“Where did that come from?” Kaidan calls from somewhere to his six. He sounds impressed.

Shepard knows he’s trying to discern his location by talking, but he can’t help shouting back, “a desire for payback after yesterday!” His shoulder still hurts from that particularly brutal round where they’d picked each other off for a scramble of points during the last minute of the simulation when they’d been neck and neck for the win. Kaidan had really earned it that time.

Suddenly, Shepard’s blindsided by an explosion of bright blue biotics that send him, the crates, and what he thinks might be a potted plant, flying. Before he can even register what happened, he’s flat on his back, winded, and Kaidan’s above him, assault rifle raised, hip cocked because he knows he’s won. “Where did that come from?” Shepard echoes, dumbfounded.

The buzzer calls time and Ianto doesn’t even care who won. He accepts Kaidan’s offered hand to pull him to his feet. The major’s satisfied smirk tells quite a story. “Told you I could Reave.”

Ianto’s eyes widen. “I really… I dunno…” Something profound pounds in his chest at that. Kaidan’s smile, the sweat dampened curls sticking to his forehead as he pulls off his helmet. The fucking Reave that had set Shepard on his ass. The endless hours patiently training him. The care and consideration. The sex. Damn, it was all so… so much. He’s barely earned it, but Kaidan gives him everything without complaint or a second-thought. “I love you,” he says breathlessly, bowled over so fully that he can’t hold the words back. They have to leave him. They’re something that needs to be given away. “I don’t know what… I really can’t… I love you, Kaidan.”

Kaidan’s helmet and rifle hit the ground. His mouth is on Ianto’s a second later. It’s deep and frantic and not at all the poetry of movement and control he’s used to on the battlefield. When he pulls back, Kaidan actually looks angry. “You had to say it when we’re so far away from the apartment? Fuck you.”

“Worst timing ever?”

“I love you, too, you dumb son of a bitch.” He pounds his fist into Ianto’s sore shoulder, smiling when Shepard reaches up to rub the abused spot over his pressure suit between the armor plates. “I’m gonna remember this,” he says, picking up his rifle and helmet and trudging towards the exit.

“Which part?” Ianto asks with trepidation, following him out.

“The ‘I love you’ part tonight, and the bad timing part tomorrow when we’re back here again.”

Couldn’t decide on a prompt, but either 15, 20, or 29 for Shenko maybe? (Give me fShenko, and you will have my undying love ;) But I’ll be happy with any mShenko you write, too!)

Order up a #15 (Loud, so everyone can hear) for the “I love you” prompts. fShenko!

Send me a prompt from this list, any pairing, and I’ll fill it!

Kaidan knows how much Shepard hates banner waving ceremonies. The pomp and circumstance doesn’t suit her, and she really can’t stand hearing everyone always saying, “wow, I thought you’d be taller.” She hates politics, and posturing, and she hates accepting awards for what she calls, “doing my damn job when no one else would step up.”

This ceremony is going to put Shepard’s teeth on edge. Kaidan can already see it happening as soon as the skycar drops them off at the opulent Citadel banquet hall. Everyone’s congratulating themselves for ending the war, and both the metaphorical and literal dust is finally starting to settle. Now people of every race are getting comfortable enough to start pointing fingers.

Shepard’s used to being a target, though she protests darkly to Kaidan in the privacy of their home that she knows all of these events are just setups. She was the hero and now they don’t need one anymore. They need someone to blame. It’s part of the healing process; the most unfair part, but necessary all the same. Once again, the Council and Alliance have decided that Commander Shepard should be on the poster.

Kaidan squeezes her shoulder as she stands from their front table in the dining hall after being announced. She brushes the wrinkles out of her dress uniform and walks, resigned up to the stage’s podium to give her speech to politely rapturous applause.

Kaidan leans back in his chair, only half listening to her and studying the people around him. They’re quiet during the actual speech, and only start buzzing once she’s finished and shaking hands with the council members and Alliance brass on stage to accept the newest trophy that she’ll just throw into the recycler when they get home.

Now it starts. He knows he should let it all roll off of him because none of it matters, but he can’t help it. He catches tiny whiffs of conversation. “Well, if she’d just been there quicker, it wouldn’t have…”

“… I know. She just hung up on them? Can you believe that?”

“I’m sure she did as well as she could. They had no one else to throw into the fire…”

“… all those donations to the charity. I think she suffers a guilty conscience..”

“… inspectors said there would have been so much less damage if she’d only…”

“… millions of credits to her for what? All that…”

Shepard returns to the table as Kaidan anger-drinks the rest of his cocktail. “You know something, Shepard?” he says loudly as she takes her seat again. Heads at all of the nearby tables swivel towards them.

For the first time since the evening began, he sees a light in her smile because she recognizes he’s about to make everyone quite uncomfortable. The rest of the crew cocooning them in the other seats, lean forward with interest. “Yes, Kaidan?” She answers, taking his hand.

“I fucking love you. Everything you did for the galaxy was damn incredible, and we’d all be worse for not having you. You’re the finest soldier in existence and the best damn wife a man could ask for.”

He winks and she beams. Everyone else looks properly scandalized. “I agree, Major Alenko,” Shepard says just as loudly. “I think we should go home so you can get me out of this stuffy uniform, don’t you agree?”

They’re laughing then and the room is silent until James Vega starts pounding the table in applause. It swells into a cacophony as the rest of the Normandy’s crew takes up the cheer.

“Who’s like us?!” Vega crows at top volume.

A whoop rises as the rest of them shout, “damn few, and they’re all dead!”