#thanks kaycey

[theoriginalladya]

Baking for F!Shenko

from this list put together by @wickedwitchofthewilds

On AO3 Here

Thank you for this!!!  I was hoping someone might ask for baking - one of my favorite wintery/holiday things to do in my house!!!  And the same for Shepard!  Going to fall back on my canon F!Shenko pairing - Serafina Shepard - for this one, I think!  

~~~

As Kaidan enters the apartment at the end of the day, he isn’t really surprised to hear the soft sounds of Christmas carols echoing through the rooms.  Nor do the delicious aromas wafting out of the kitchen catch him off guard.  The only concern he has – and he double checks his omni-tool to verify it – is that the holidays have crept up on him far too fast and he isn’t prepared; he’s reassured to see they still have three weeks before Christmas.  Plenty of time to finish his shopping.

Deciding to follow his nose, he turns in the direction of the kitchen where he pauses in the doorway to just watch.  Shepard, as she does in almost every situation, has everything under complete control.  A large apron wrapped around her slender form to protect her clothing, her long hair pulled back into a braid that runs down her back nearly reaching her waist, thick red oven mitts on her hands as she pulls a cookie tray from the oven. Nearby, Ashleigh, Mikhail and David each sitting at the table rolling out dough and cutting cookies while little Kaycey burbles nearby from her position in the highchair.  All of them singing along with the music while working on their individual ‘missions.’

Kaidan’s smile widens as he takes in the scene.  No one would know it to look at her now, but Councilor Shepard is, at heart, a traditionalist when it comes to the holidays. Everyone in the family takes part, even him.  He spies the bags of flour, sugar and other ingredients near the mixer just waiting for him to get home.  For years now, his job has been the brioche his grandmother taught him to make when he was young.  He pushes away from the wall and rolls up his sleeves as he enters the room.  “Couldn’t wait for me, could you?” he asks as he walks over and kisses his wife’s cheek.  Only the slightest dusting of flour on her nose indicates her afternoon’s activity.  He quickly brushes that away.

Shepard snorts softly, returns the kiss and murmurs, “Figured work went FUBAR when you didn’t get home on time.  We had to get started before certain small ones have to head to bed.”

Like chimes on a bell, three young voices sigh heavily, calling out in unison, “Aww, mom!” while the fourth continues to burble away contentedly.

Kaidan smiles, hiding his laugh from the kids, but he knows Shepard sees it in his eyes when the matching sparkle reaches hers. He kisses her one last time before straying over to the table to greet each of the kids.  Only then does he head to the sink to wash up and by then Shepard has an apron waiting for him.  “Then I guess we’d better get started,” he replies as he wraps it around his waist. “Not a moment to lose …”

[pareidoliacal]

I was tagged by @celestialfail -- thank you bro \O/. rules — answer 17 questions & tag 17 people you want to know better

nickname — kaycey. zodiac sign — virgo. height — 5′10′’. hogwarts house — ravenclaw / hufflepuff. last thing i googled — chick n dales ( don’t ask-- or maybe do ). song stuck in my head  — shifts from heartbeat by bts to moonwalk by wayv. following — 9. followers — 4. amount of sleep i get — uhhh 4-6 or 7. but i wake up a lot during the night. lucky numbers — 4, 6, 10, 13. dream job —  used to be a radio dj but now it’s just someone who can travel. wearing — jacket, shirt and shorts. favorite songs — atm heartbeat - bts ; moonwalk - wayv ; dumb litty - kard ; empty shell - nano. favorite movies — anything ghibli ; horror movies pls and thx ; south park movie ; the holiday ; train to busan ; the avengers movies. instruments — in my dreams maybe X3 random facts — uhhh it was unintentional but kenny mccormick is basically my indie mascot lmao. aesthetics — turtles ; blues and greens and greys ; memes ; dad jokes ; bad puns ; the platypus-- nature’s most awkward animal ; solitude ; butterflies ; video games ; scarlet witch ; osts and repeating songs over and over ; south park ; horror movies and spooky stories ; tvtropes ; squirtle emoji ; kawaii face when being sarcastic.

i’m tagging: @bachanaliia annnnnnnnnd that’s it cuz bro already tagged everyone else XD.

[ninety-three-million-miles]

this is the absolute best i’ve been able to articulate any of this so far so.

yeah i know exactly what you mean. like even when i was with miles it was never a question for me that i would study abroad or do italy or go live with my parents in Shanghai for as long as i could because there are some individual experiences/goals that exist outside of the relationship. and that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are incompatible with the relationship by any means, but having that space/ambition carved out for individual growth and experience is a super super healthy thing i think. 

and that’s part of why i felt like i wasn’t good to be in a relationship right now. like i feel like i’m not at an age/place in life where i can healthily sustain being accountable to another person on that level. like obligated (not that it was a chore to talk to miles every day at ALL, but it was just expected) to be accessible and to bear the responsibility of knowing that so many of my actions had a significant impact on another person. part of me felt like a relationship, even an incredible one like i had with miles, includes a sort of contract where you agree to be more or less the same person from day to day. of course there’s a standard deviation of circumstantial influences and stuff, and of course people change from day to day on an incremental level, but for me right now the scariest part about long-term commitment is committing to having a consistent identity. and yes, i think to an extent most (if not all) young people feel that way and share that apprehension to varying degrees, but i’ve come to realize that i’ve allowed myself so little identity exploration. because in some of my most formative years — age 15 onward — my goal was primarily to be one of two things: i wanted to either be no one at all, just to be invisible and occupy no space and have no needs and be of no consequence, or i wanted to be a mannequin whom other people dressed to play the role they saw fit. essentially, i spent so long wishing that i could disappear except when i was needed that i think i started to believe that other people make me real. and since starting treatment in 2012 that’s gotten much better, but in a lot of ways i’m still so behind. and I’m only just now zeroing in on the fact that a lot of my struggles with mental health either stem from or are aggravated by the fact that i have a very tenuous grasp on my identity independently of the roles i play in others’ lives. because i still don’t trust my voice or even know how to let myself speak until someone i do trust validates what i see as real — my parents, miles, my best friends, whomever. and i need to learn how to trust my experience and my voice sometimes without needing that permission/approval/validation.