#{touch asks}

2. Hug around the waist

32. not really paying attention, both doing something else, but still holding hands

Twenty years ago, this would have been Debbie Ocean’s worst nightmare come true.

Flowers in the yard. Upstate New York. Colonial home. Two cars in the driveway. Two kids running around and screaming in the backyard.

And then there was the one thing that twenty years ago, Debbie Ocean couldn’t have imagined having forever, even in her wildest of dreams, and yet, it was real. She was real. Lou.

from this list

On AO3 here

Thank you so much for asking! This paired up so WELL with a bit of inspiration I was hit with while replaying ME3 yesterday, too, and I couldn't resist pulling it in as well! Can't decide yet whether this'll be canon for them or not, but here's the potential set up for it anyway!

Setting: SSV Normandy, Kristofer Shepard, Kaidan Alenko, set between Cronos Station and the battle for Earth right before Hackett shows up on the ship in game.

~~~

Kaidan is on duty in the CIC when Kristofer finds him. The lift doors open; Kaidan glances over out of habit, searching for the new arrival and instead finds the man crooking a finger at him. Handing off his datapad to Traynor, he murmurs, “I’ll be back in a few.”

The comms specialist glances over her shoulder then nods. “Yes, Major.”

“What’s going on?” he asks as he steps onto the lift. The doors slide shut immediately and ascends.

“Need to show you something.”

It isn’t the words that put Kaidan on edge, but the way Kristofer won’t look him in the eyes. By the time the lift opens to the loft, he’s come up with half a dozen reasons for that and none of them are good. “Kris –?”

The commander enters the loft without a word. Kaidan follows. What else can he do?

Out of habit, he glances around the cabin as he enters. Everything is as it was when he left a few hours ago. Well, a few more datapads lie haphazardly across the desk and there’s a half-full cup of coffee that hadn’t been there, but otherwise the same. The only thing that seems out of place really is Shepard himself. Kristofer isn’t the type to waste energy by pacing or fidgeting… and yet, he immediately descends to the lower level and wanders between the fish tank and Kaidan’s desk. The behavioral change this late in the game is the most worrisome thing of all to Kaidan.

“What the hell’s going on, Kris?”

A visible shudder ripples beneath the N7 hoodie Kristofer’s wrapped in, his back facing Kaidan when he replies, “Hackett will be boarding in about twenty minutes for our final briefing with Anderson before we head to Sol.”

“Okay?”

Kristofer turns so their eyes meet. Kaidan can’t quite read what’s hiding in them, but it does nothing to ease his earlier concerns. Inhaling deeply, Kristofer explains, “You’ll be transferring over to the Orizaba with him.”

T h a b k y o u ! 🦉 Why not both, at once?

One of the great terrors of life is to feel, on finishing one's toilet, a hand on the back of one's still-wet neck - in this case, the uncannily materializing hand on the nape of M. Pontmercy's neck belonged to his roommate - we must make it clear that it was not, in any way, the iron grip of M. Enjolras. In that case, the situation would have graduated from a terror to a living nightmare, and the victim should pray for his life before dropping into a dead faint.

But, after all, the current situation still sufficed for great terror. Pontmercy squawked, slipped, dropped his towel and smudged shaving soap up his nose.

At which point he realized it was merely M. de Courfeyrac, bent double in hysterics.

"Choke on your tongue and save me the trouble of yelling at you." Marius sniffled with a coldness, only to accidentally inhale a puff of soap suds. Courfeyrac flopped sideways onto his mattress and clutched his sides to avoid rolling onto the floor. Then, remembering what he scared the living daylights out of Marius for, he stood up, suppressed a giggle, and begun.

"I was going to say - Monsieur l'Abbe, you oughtn't scrub so hard at your chin. Not unless you wish to create the hair-shirt effect on your face instead of your back, at which case you are beyond help and not even Bahorel himself could bring you back."

Marius stared at him in shock and outrage.

"It wrecks havoc on your pores. See -" he pinched at the soft part of Marius's left cheek with great delicacy, and laughed aloud again. "Why, still all nice and tender! You'd better treat it gentler, or find some gentler soap -" He threw Marius's current bar of soap over his shoulder. "- or it wouldn't be anymore."

His sheer audacity had a stunning effect on Marius, in that he froze on the spot and flushed like a cooked lobster.

"Ruining a face this delicious should be a sin. In fact, I absolutely forbid it! From now on you are to use my soap," he produces an indulgent little bar smelling faintly of lavender and chamomile. "-and my soap only. Is that understood?"

"I- what!" Marius spluttered with great indignance.

"Does Monsieur l'Abbe find it too hedonistic?"

"Monsieur DE Courfeyrac!" Marius burst forth, splattering cheap soap everywhere. "First you decide to prey upon me at an unholy hour, when I'm not quite awake enough to deal with your likes... and then you insult my skin!"

"Particle, Monsieur de Pontmercy." Courfeyrac wagged a finger, quite insolently. "Secondly, it was hardly an insult. I said you had d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s skin. Delicious. Since when was that an insult?"

Marius, speechless, attempted to assume a suitably annoyed expression. He ended up with a little pout. Courfeyrac, never particularly good at self control, took the chance to poke his puffed cheeks in.

The result was explosive. Cheap soap speckled Courfeyrac's forehead, and perfectly curled hair.

"Now this is an insult!" He cried, wiping the suds off with disgust. "How very abominable! You ought to rinse this thing off at once! And after that, let me show you how to rub in the right soap - small circles, always..."

I need better friends. Marius thought as Courfeyrac splashed him with relish.

**********

And then of course, Courfeyrac would vanish in a puff of sparkles and lavender blossoms into a bar of PROFESSIONAL SHAVING SOAP because this is AN AD! EVERYTHING IS AN AD AND WE SHALL NEVER BE FREE FROM THE SHADOW OF ADS

nay

but this is still highly inspired off this ad (sorry for the cantonese: but you don't have to understand cantonese to understand the vid):

👍 what (if any) is a good, safe touch for your character?

Tool... doesn’t have boundaries anymore. They don’t want to be touched by anyone, but they won’t stop you. There isn’t really any safe touch atm. 

(JJ was pretty open. Don’t get creepy, but other than that it didn’t bug them).

🤲 - is your character better at receiving touch or giving it? under what circumstances?

Tool is much better at giving touch. He’s rather clinical, and it’s rare that he actually has to touch someone, but he prefers that lol. (JJ was either.) 

🖖 - if your character needed to communicate peaceful or helpful intentions to someone else through touch, how would they go about doing that?

Tool would not. They would keep their hands open and visible, and then slowly start. No other touch. 

Send me touch asks!

28. feeling for each other in the dark

"Beloved?"

🤛 - how does your character react to being hit? are they likely to continue a fight if someone else starts it, or try to de-escalate or get away?

👍 - what (if any) is a good, safe touch for your character?

(I tried to cover -being touched by a general person and -being touched by their significant other)

Unless your name is Charlie and you own a lot of hoodies, I would advise against touching Shayne at all. If you do happen to be a certain Charlie, then Shayne is almost always good with hand-holding and back/neck touches. Everything else (cuddling, kissing, belly rubs, etc.) depends on the situation and his mood, which Charlie struggles with at first because his love language is touch and he hates accidentally making Shayne uncomfortable or tense because that’s the exact opposite of what he wants to do.

Charlie really enjoys hugs. There's rarely an occasion where he won't accept and appreciate a good, long hug from someone. And he’ll take literally anything he can get from Shayne, who, when left to his own devices, likes to play with Charlie’s hair, rub/touch his belly, or put an arm around his shoulders.

Felix is good with hugs and arm/shoulder touching (in fact, it’s sometimes important to tap or rub his arm to get his attention if he’s spaced out/daydreaming, so he’s used to and very comfortable with it, and will probably respond by touching the other person’s arm instinctively). He particularly likes it when Elliott touches or pats his head, plays with his hair, or lays a hand on his thigh, either to just let him know he’s there or to get his attention or quietly reassure him that everything’s okay.

Elliott doesn’t really care about being touched as long as it’s not violent or sudden, because if he’s taken by surprise he sometimes reverts to a time when he didn’t have a very safe living situation and needed to fight for his life. He can usually bottle any ill feelings towards the person who sets him off though. Felix returns a lot of the same touches that Elliott deals out, such as the hand-on-the-thigh (though Felix is too tiny to easily play with Elliott’s hair lol).