Tags: Fluff, friends to lovers, first kiss, fluffy hurt/comfort, banter, lots of banter, pre-Normandy service history
Summary: Shepard is more than the N7 emblem they’re about to pin on his chest.
Have some happy Sam and Kaidan fluff for N7 Day! This wasn’t going to end in kissing, but @urrone yelled at me when I told her my idea for how it could end in kissing, so now it’s a Sam and Kaidan AU with kissing.
This started as a friends-to-lovers prompt sent to me by @shadoedseptmbr requesting Sam knowing medical stuff about Kaidan, but it grew into more than that. So just have a whole ass one-shot with medical stuff and also kissing.
The griping starts before they even get to the Myeongnyang’s airlock.
“Why do they have to make a big deal out of it?” Shepard mutters, fussing with the cuff of his dress uniform. He’s been trying to button the sleeve for the last ten minutes. They’re about to pin an N7 emblem to his chest, and yet he can’t walk and manage a button at the same time.
“You’re kidding, right?” Kaidan asks.
“I mean, they had to throw me in a hyperbaric chamber when they hauled me off that rock. Seems a little weird to throw a party about it.”
Kaidan grabs Shepard’s wrist, pulling him to a halt and doing the last button himself. He doesn’t like the reminder about the hyperbaric chamber. Just once, it would be nice if the N program didn’t try to kill him and then turn around and call his survival “admirable and effective.”
“I think if I’d put myself through everything you have for the past few years I’d be royally pissed if someone didn’t throw a party over it.”
Shepard eyes him suspiciously. “You don’t like parties.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t run around on an asteroid for a week trying not to breathe.” He pats Shepard on the chest. “Not my party.”
A pained look crosses his face. “Which means you could just fuck off and play poker with the others and no one would give you shit for it.”
“I’m not gonna fuck off and play poker.”
“Because you’d give me shit for it.”
“Yeah,” Shepard says, as if the idea had just occurred to him and he’s now wholeheartedly behind it. “And it’s my damned party. If I have to suffer, so do you.”
Kaidan gestures expectantly towards the airlock. Shepard grumbles. But before he continues walking he pats at his pockets. “Damn. Forgot something. Hang on, I’ll be right back.”
Kaidan waves a helpless arm and looks skyward as Shepard takes back off towards his cabin, then crosses his arms to wait. When Shepard returns there is nothing in his hands.
“What did you forget?” Kaidan asks with a frown.
Shepard gives him a wounded look. “It’s a…talisman, sort of, and I’m sensitive about it, so shut up and get in the airlock.”
Kaidan raises an eyebrow. “A talisman.”
“See, here we go.” Shepard walks into the airlock and smacks the haptic panel, barely giving Kaidan enough time to get in with him.
“I’ve known you for over three years, why have you kept this from me?”
The airlock hisses as the pressure equalizes.
“Because you have a tone that I don’t appreciate.”
“What tone? I don’t have a tone. Look, if all your luck is based on an inanimate object you stuff in a pocket I deserve to know about it, considering I’m usually getting shot at whenever you are. Your luck is my luck.”
Shepard jabs a triumphant finger at Kaidan’s chest. “There’s the tone.”
The airlock finishes cycling and opens up to the familiar clatter and bustle of the Arcturus docking ring. Kaidan grits his teeth against the noise. He’d forgotten how bright the damn docks are compared to the ‘Yang’s low lighting.
“How far to this place?” he asks.
“Somewhere in the hub. Don’t worry. I’ve got the lucky talisman, remember? We’ll get there safe and sound.”
Kaidan rolls his eyes. Well, Shepard’s in rare form tonight. Hope whatever gathering of important brass is waiting for them is ready for it.
