Chapter Text
Bloop!
James looked up from his page of equations at the notification sound. The scowl on his face shifted to a grin as he leaned forward to press a key, accepting the call. "Hey, K, what's up?"
"Vega, hey," came the answer. "I'm leveling a new consular and was gonna run through some heroics on Nar Shadaa. Thought I'd see if you wanted a break from studying."
"Shit, yeah!" James slid his papers back into the backpack on the floor next to his desk. It was only extra credit anyway, and wasn't due until the end of the week. He could finish it later. Gaming with Kaidan was definitely the preferable way to spend the evening, as far as he was concerned. "Let me just get logged in."
"Cool, thanks." Kaidan's warm chuckle came through the speakers. "Was hoping you'd be up for it."
"Hey, any time. Who do you want me to bring?"
"Um...Lola, I think?"
"Got it." James grinned. Lola was his first Jedi, and still his favorite, which Kaidan knew full well. Within moments, he was immersed in the game, running Lola through the shadowy underworld of smugglers and slavers, lightsabers humming in the background as he and Kaidan chatted while their Jedi battled foes on-screen. "So, how's the system upgrade going?"
"Slowly," Kaidan drawled.
James tried to imagine the face Kaidan was making. A bit tricky, seeing as how he'd never actually met the guy, but he suspected his friend was rolling his eyes, behind a pair of trendy looking glasses, most likely. From the tone that entered Kaidan's voice, work was exasperating at the moment. James could picture Kaidan's hair--dirty blond, he decided, curly, and a little wispy--sticking out at all angles from him running his hands through it. James grinned to himself, wondering what Kaidan thought he looked like.
There was a pause in the conversation while they finished off a boss, and then Kaidan elaborated. "Management doesn't quite seem to get that their employees can't actually use the computers while we're updating them, and no one wants to get dinged for their productivity dropping because they couldn't use their machine for a few hours."
"Huh," James grunted. Kaidan worked IT for some big company that, from what James had gathered over the course of their friendship, was actually a corporate front for the devil. But as far as he could tell, Kaidan seemed to actually enjoy his work, when he didn't have to deal with the higher ups in the company. Sometimes he wondered if he was getting a glimpse into what his life would be like once he finished up with school. But he was pretty sure that astronomy and IT were different enough fields that he could avoid the kind of office drudgery Kaidan groused about, and he didn't mind listening to Kaidan vent. Guy had to let it out sometime, right? Anyway, that's what friends were for.
On the screen, they entered another skirmish. James had Lola deflect a blaster bolt and then used the Force to throw her opponent into the nearest wall. The guy was low enough on health that the move finished him.
"Nice," Kaidan commented, and James could hear the smile in his voice. They finished up the area and moved on in the game, conversation drifting as well. "You've got finals coming up soon, right?"
"Yeah, next week. Shouldn't be too much trouble though."
"What will you do for the summer? Man," a wistful sigh, "I miss having a summer break."
"Heh," James chuckled. "Don't be too jealous, amigo, I'm not getting much of a break. I've signed up for a couple of summer courses, and I'll be working the rest of the time. If I'm lucky I can get into the undergrad program at the observatory, too. Won't get notification about if I was accepted or not for another week or so, though."
Kaidan let out a low whistle. "Huh. That's a hell of a work ethic, Vega. Good luck with the observatory thing."
"Yeah, well, I got a late start in college," James said. He'd always planned on college, but it hadn't been financially feasible when he finished high school, so he'd enlisted instead, doing a few tours to earn the tuition. He shrugged even though he knew Kaidan couldn't see the gesture. "Even if I manage to graduate next year, which would be early, I've still got a haul in front of me to get my doctorate. Anything I can do to knock a year or two off is good."
"You'll get there," Kaidan said, tone turning encouraging. "Guess you won't have much time to game this summer though, huh?"
"Oh, man, nah," James laughed. "I'll still be around. Gotta have some way to decompress, and my gym isn't open 24/7."
"I hear that." Kaidan let out a relieved chuckle. "Well, the decompressing thing, not so much the working out."
"Hey, we can't all have devastating physiques," James teased.
"Devastating, right," Kaidan snorted. "Wait and see what your metabolism decides to do in another ten years, and then come talk to me about physiques."
"Yeah, whatever man." James laughed it off, silently adding a few more notes to his mental picture of Kaidan. He revised the image to make Kaidan a little scrawny. But tall, he thought, at least as tall as himself, and with a bit of a stomach.
Sometimes he thought it was pretty fucking weird that his best friend was a guy he'd never even met. Hell, he didn't even know where Kaidan lived, although he was at least sure they were in the same time zone, given the way their schedules usually seemed to mesh. For all he knew Kaidan lived on the other side of the world and just kept strange hours. Not for the first time, it was on the tip of his tongue to just come out and ask. To suggest maybe they could meet up at a convention or something--Kaidan had mentioned he liked cons, and James had always wanted to go to one--or if they lived close enough, maybe get dinner and some beers. It'd be nice to hang out without worrying about the internet connection dropping out on them for once. The crappy service provided by his landlord was more or less reliable to a point, but it had a bad habit of slowing down or disconnecting on him for no apparent reason. If he could upgrade, he would, but it wasn’t an option at the moment.
But once more he didn't ask. Before he could do it, there was a loud buzzing on the other side of the call, followed by a muffled curse from Kaidan. "Shit, it's work." He grumbled and then sighed. "Hey, Vega, I've got to go, they're calling me in. Emergency issue with the servers."
James glanced at the clock and winced on Kaidan's behalf. Looked like the guy was in for a long night. "Hey, yeah, sure. Thanks for the break. I hope the issue isn't anything too bad."
"Well it's possible somebody just unplugged something they shouldn't have, but I kind of doubt it." He let out a heavy sigh. "Wanna try again tomorrow? Same time?"
"Sounds good," James agreed. "Good luck."
"Thanks." Kaidan disconnected from the voice chat, and his character disappeared from the screen.
James logged out as well and glanced down at his backpack, considering diving back into his assignment. He wasn't really feeling it at the moment though. A knock on his doorframe drew his attention back up and he saw his roommate leaning into the room. "Hey, Doc," he greeted her, "what's up?"
Liara rolled her eyes at the nickname, though she had long ago given up reminding him that she hadn't earned the title of Doctor yet. "Sam just got home from her late class, and she brought pizza. I didn't think you'd eaten yet, so I figured I'd let you know."
James' stomach growled loudly at the mention of food, and he realized that he'd totally skipped dinner while he and Kaidan were playing. He'd meant to eat after he finished his homework. "Thanks," he said with a sheepish grin.
Liara offered him a warm smile, her lipstick almost the same shade of blue as her eyes. And her hair. It should look ridiculous, but she managed to pull it off somehow. People were always surprised to learn she was a doctoral candidate in archaeology when first meeting her, but five minutes of conversation usually had most of them forgetting all about her unorthodox style. "How was your game?" she asked as James pushed himself out of his chair and lumbered into the kitchen behind her.
"It was good. Was helping K level up a new character."
"I see. And your...friend is well?"
"Yeah, he's good. Busy with work, but good." James resisted the urge to roll his own eyes. Liara didn't quite understand how James could consider someone he only knew online as a friend. Colleague, she could grasp, but friend? Not so much. Sam, on the other hand, got it. She was a communications major though, and practically lived in the internet--she'd sprung for a mobile hotspot from her phone provider, which made that a lot easier to do. James was thankful that she got it, because she helped balance out Liara's worry that James should make more friends in the real world. Or try something even wilder, like dating.
As if picking up on his train of thought, Liara glanced back at him and offered a knowing smile. "I was planning on visiting the farmers' market this weekend, did you want to come with?"
James narrowed his eyes, picking up on her ulterior motive. "I am not gonna ask that guy out."
"What guy?" Sam piped up, catching the tail end of their conversation as they reached the kitchen. She handed James a plate piled with pizza and pulled out a stool from the counter. Settling down on it, she tucked a strand of sleek black hair behind one ear and leaned back, wide brown eyes filled with curiosity.
"The one from the market," Liara chimed in with a wide smile. "You know, that nice gentleman that works the orchard stall. With the eyes, and the shoulders."
"Oh!" Sam drew the word out, recollection glittering in her eyes. She turned back to James, fixing him with a hard stare. "You like him, I know you do. You've mentioned him a few times. Why won't you ask him out?"
"Oh, for--" James dropped down onto his own stool, dividing a glare between his roommates. "I don't even know him," he protested. "He's there to work, not to mention he's older than me. I'm sure he doesn't want some random college kid hitting on him. Besides, he might not even be into guys."
"You never know until you ask," Liara pointed out with a shrug.
"I don't have time for dating," James tried again. Liara opened her mouth to say something--probably to point out that he had time for gaming--but he cut her off. "Look, can we not have this conversation right now? Yes, I'll go to the market with you, but to shop, not to pick up guys, okay?"
"Oh fine. If you insist on being like that." Liara heaved a dramatic sigh and then tucked into her pizza.
James watched her for a few long moments. He glanced over at Sam and found her watching him. She offered him a lopsided smile and shrugged, as if to say, You know how she is when she gets her mind set on something. James sighed and nodded before turning his attention to his own pizza. He did know. There was a reason she was so close to her doctorate at twenty-one. Once she set a goal...he sighed and shook his head. He suspected he hadn't heard the last about the guy from the market.