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Art by Georgiaflayart
His jaw flexed, Shepard could almost hear the teeth grinding together as the biotic they “rescued” from the deep space prison stood across the room and considered the commander’s offer.
He was dangerous, there was no questioning that. Shepard had witnessed it first hand, he didn’t need to read the reports from TIM. Shepard smirked, Kaidan glared, his lips tight in a sneer that wasn’t quite visible. His eyes were still focused on the commander who was leaning against the white walls of the room.
Kaidan shifted on his feet, Shepard heard the heavy step of the combat boots, a sound he was already familiar with despite the fact that the man hadn’t even been on board an hour. He watched him breathe without really understanding why, his eye wandered. The tattoos imprinted on the biotic’s skin were intricate, complicated and secretive.
His whole life wedged in inked patterns over a wide expanse of skin and moved flawlessly with the muscles. He had a million questions for him but he could tell that Kaidan had no answers to offer. It only made him more curious, only made him want to probe even more but the man would probably snap him like a twig if push came to shove.
“Are we clear on the conditions?” Kaidan broke the silence, his voice a low rumble without the edge of threat but his eyes still held a warning Shepard knew to not dismiss. The room was a bit stifling – not too hot but it still gave him a weird chill he couldn’t shake off. His nerves were shot after that “rescue” mission – he could still taste the recycled air from his space suit on the back of his throat and he attempted to clear it with no results.
Open space still made him jumpy, he couldn’t look at the stars the same way anymore.
“Yeah, we’re clear.” Shepard nodded, blue eyes meeting brown. There was no warmth there but there was an energy neither man could put their finger on. Shepard’s gaze wandered to the gold piece on Kaidan’s ear, it hugged the skin with a jealous grip – Shepard wanted to pass his fingers through the dark mass of hair that fought the very notion of gravity.
He wanted to know more.
Shepard carefully pushed himself off the wall, stepped towards Kaidan, who did the same – hand extended towards the newest member of his crew. He cleared his throat, eyes locked onto Kaidan’s in an effort to help his wandering eye to focus on the man’s face, and not other things he’d rather look at.
“Welcome aboard, Alenko.”
The biotic pressed his lips together, flexed his jaw in thought and let his eyes wander over the commander, who was still standing in front of him with his hand extended out for a shake.
Kaidan turned slightly, his glare still burning a hole through Shepard and swiftly raised his middle finger.
Baby steps, Shepard thought, as Kaidan left the room.