NOTES:

You guys flooded me with prompts and questions about these three, and it just so happened that there was one grawful idea that would fill them all at once. xD I love you guys. You're terrible.

(I also wrote this with these two drabbles being canon, but you don't need to have read them by any means!)

Many thanks to my beta, artful_fanfic, for her labor of love in combing through my smut.

Chapter 3 alone is explicit. Enjoy!

The Hyperion had somehow gone from a sterile research vessel to a festive affair that would have rivaled any of Earth's holiday celebrations.

The residents had utilized every available resource for decorations and skillfully transformed the space. Main lights in every bay had been dimmed to nothing, and in their place, the whole of the area designated for festivities had been lit with twinkling string lights and renders of snowfalls projected onto the huge stretches of polyplex walls. Replicas of Earth's most lush conifers lined the hallways, decorated with swaths of color and garlands. Faiths and traditions mixed in every display. Singing and food were everywhere.

Ryder wasn't sure if it was because of the events in Heleus, their recent victory, or flat-out homesickness, but it felt like the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

She sipped the wine that warmed her hands, enjoying the way it was seasoned with the closest approximation of mulling spices that they'd been able to replicate. It was enough for her memory, and the warmth spread outward from her fingertips and tongue and throat and set her neurons firing in red and green and bells and cinnamon. It tasted like the feeling of curling ribbon against scissors, like the smell of a non-synthetic fire, like the way her mom had danced to cheesy music piped through her research station. Yet for all that, it was only half of the reason she was trying to will her heart to chill the fuck down. The other reason was steadily arriving in increasing numbers via tram.

The humans had opened the celebrations to the entire Nexus, and it was the first time the Angara had been explicitly invited to take part in something cultural. Judging from their ambassador's reaction, it was a good move, and one that was a much more Angara-friendly way to bond. Indeed, Isa himself had been one of the first to arrive, marveling and asking questions in rapid-fire excitement. Those who followed seemed much the same; they especially liked the twinkling lights, the gold and silver, and the hugs — god, all the hugs.

Ryder dared anyone to stand where she was standing and watch each Angara's face as they were greeted like family and not feel like they were all that much closer to being home.

"Is it a good view?"

"Yes. I can keep an eye on things from here."

Jaal made an amused noise in his throat that he'd heard her, but wasn't convinced. "If you say so."

He was always pleased when she was openly emotional, she knew, and even more so when she acknowledged it. He was in luck; the holidays were primed for sentimental moments. She leaned against him, pressing her shoulder to his, and felt his bioelectric hum of approval through their skin.

"It is beautiful," he said as he took in their surroundings, and Ryder agreed. Whether he meant the decor or the near-seamless heartfelt melding of their peoples in one room, either would be right.

They stayed like that for a long moment, the interactions around them set to music and laughter in a dozen alien voices. The Angara seemed to be mingling well, including those recently brought on board as part of a military exchange. They had also been directly invited - though their commander's presence at the party had been a very pleasant surprise.

"Ryder. Jaal. I was told to bring this to you."

He kept a close watch on his recruits, apparently. Ryder got visceral flashbacks to Alec watching from the window while she said goodbye to every date that ever had the gall to drop her off at home as Evfra seemed to materialize from a set of bell-covered bone white trees, joining them with cups in each hand. He didn't look uncomfortable, Ryder noted, though he did seem apprehensive at being given potentially scalding beverages with no explanation.

She had learned two relevant truths: Angara enjoyed big crowds. Evfra did not enjoy surprises.

"Ah. Thank you." Intrigued, Jaal took what was being offered and stared at the contents. "What is it?"

"Let me check." Ryder plucked Evfra's from his hand, sipping at it experimentally. The unmistakable taste of chocolate - and definitely an alcoholic something else - greeted her mouth, and she ran her tongue over her bottom lip as she gave it back.

"It's called cocoa," she said. "Sweet. Traditional. Everything here is totally Angara-safe, though someone seems to have been a little heavy-handed with the booze in this batch."

Satisfied, Evfra took a testing swallow, and Ryder watched his expression change from doubt to surprise, then back to some form of a frown as he downed the rest in one go.

Chocolate.

You're fucking welcome, Heleus. Love, Earth.

"I'm getting another one," he muttered, turning back in the direction of its source.

Jaal laughed - a warm, thick sound that struck at Ryder's heart like a drum - and sampled his own. "Remarkable," he marveled. "I prefer to savor it, but agree with Evfra otherwise."

"I'm glad. It was always a favorite of mine." She stretched up to kiss him, and he lifted his mug out of the way to clear her path. "Synthesizing the flavor is easy. We could send the process to your people, if you think they'd enjoy it." She snickered. "You and Evfra can fight over who gets to present it on Aya."

Jaal chuckled and pulled back to regard her with interest. "You and he have become close."

"Have we?" She resumed drinking her wine, examining the not-unpleasant way the flavors met. "We haven't really made an effort."

"You shared a drink and neither of you thought anything of it," Jaal said. "And he now addresses you by name."

" Last name. But still better than a year ago, when he would've told me to get my Pathfinder boots off his planet and I would've told him to lick 'em first."

"Such fond memories!" Jaal laughed. "To think that you would become friends."

"Yeah, well." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye as she drank. "I didn't think that I'd fall in love with anyone he vouched for either, and look how that turned out."

She didn't need SAM to interpret the signal he was emitting. The pull of his bioelectricity at her biotics, his expression - every time she used the word 'love,' he just looked at her like it was the first time he'd ever heard it and she didn't know that it would ever stop and goddamn the things this man did to her heart.

He couldn't have left her alone to be a reticent grump in peace, no - he made her want to be better, more loving. Damn him, warrior poet and love of her life and emotional enabler.

"Come," he insisted, taking her cup and adding it to his on a nearby table. "There is dancing in the next hall, and I want to join them."

Ryder laughed, but allowed him to tug her away from the wall.

"All right, but only if we detour through Santa's Village on the way."

Hours later, the festivities were going stronger than ever, and Ryder never found herself without a drink - alcoholic or otherwise - in her hand.

On one of the observation decks, giant panel windows were draped with faux-pine garlands, and someone had very cleverly dripped industrial sealant into the shape of icicles along the top edge. A few of the Tempest's crew were lounging on the nearby sofas, having characteristically turned up around the time when parties usually started getting interesting. The conversation had turned to asking about when the non-human crew had first encountered Christmas; Peebee just cited the Asari compulsion for cataloguing other cultures ("You know Thessia, all over your business,") and as a child, Vetra had seen a performance of The Nutcracker with the first Turian prima ballerina. Ballet was badass, she'd declared, and she unironically loved it.

All it had taken was Jaal expressing an interest in seeing it sometime and Suvi scrambled to stand, nearly falling into Liam and Vetra's laps in her tipsy attempt to grab his arm. There was a Nutcracker Vid playing in the next room. She wanted to see it and they were going to go watch it right now.

As she watched Jaal get dragged off in the most wholesome way possible, Ryder stifled a laugh.

"He's too accommodating."

Evfra was leaning against one of the nearby struts between glass panels, eyeing the exchange with mild disapproval. Smiling, Ryder joined him, mimicking his posture against the opposite strut and giving his foot a playful tap. "Learning new things makes him happy. You're one to talk - look at how fast you agreed to the training exchange."

He snorted. "You've proven yourselves to be formidable. And the invitation came from you personally. Wouldn't have accepted it from anyone else."

Ryder took a long, slow sip of her drink in response. It was the closest thing to an admission of trust she'd ever heard from him, and she knew even Jaal would approve of letting such a thing go this once, with this man.

"I saw your soldiers here tonight. How's the program going?"

"Well. Everyone involved is very eager, and very skilled." The loose glow from the silicone icicles caught the blues of his skin as he shifted. "Your Turians are excellent marksmen and tacticians. Krogan are fearless. Salarians are cunning, humans are highly adaptive, and the Asari know how to work as a team." Notes of both amusement and exasperation edged his voice. "Naturally, my soldiers favor the Asari."

With a snicker, Ryder crossed her arms. "Well, I'm glad they're comfortable enough with humans to come tonight. Things like this are important with allies."

"Yes." He turned to sweep a quick look around the room. "They're getting on well. Time spent together outside of battle is just as critical for victory, and your event will probably be the talk of the Resistance chatter for weeks."

"Come for the hand-to-hand combat, stay for the bonding?"

"It's very Angara."

"I know. I love it."

Evfra smirked, and Ryder raised her glass in a mock toast before emptying the remainder -

"Mistletoe!"

- and very nearly choked on it, forearm braced over her mouth.

"What," she managed, but Liam was already gleefully pointing to the tiny cluster of foliage that hung partially camouflaged in the crease of the garland overhead.

Evfra frowned as he stared up at it, craning his neck to get a better look. "This plant - it isn't one of ours."

"Ooh, I know this one!" Peebee sat up like a bolt, bounding in place and waving one arm about. "Pick me, pick me!"

"Go for it," Liam agreed, and Ryder wanted to smack them both.

"Mistletoe itself is a parasite," Peebee began, "common to deciduous forests on Earth. But it has religious and spiritual importance dating back almost two thousand years . It was fully incorporated into the Christmas celebrations a few centuries ago, as a symbol of luck in the coming year. The -"

"You get caught together under it, you kiss," Liam interrupted, and Peebee knocked back another shot of something electric red.

"Yeah," she grimaced, pointing in his general direction. " Whoo . What he said."

"It's an Earth tradition, and you don't have to." Ryder raised her hands. "No offense here. I promise."

To her surprise, Evfra put down his drink and stepped closer. "The point of the evening was cultural exchange," he pointed out.

Ryder could have sworn she heard low-pitch squeals of anticipation coming from the lounge.

" Nice, " Vetra called from her seat. "But how would Jaal feel about it?"

"He'd laugh his ass off." Ryder almost wished he were here to see it, but set her empty cup to join Evfra's and offered him a half-smile. "Thank you for being a good sport about this."

"Wait, seriously? " Peebee was suddenly alert again. "Oh shi - If this is a thing we're doing, I'm going to go get Jaal and drag his perfect pink ass over here right now ."

She scramble-climbed over the back of the sofa in her haste, and Ryder sent her off with her full blessing before turning back to the Angara at hand.

"It can be a kiss on the cheek," she said, and lifted her chin.

She should've known that he didn't need the out.

Ryder felt the air leave her lungs as Evfra's mouth covered hers, full-force and with his characteristic conviction. He had a guerilla's training; he'd rid them of the space between their bodies without sound or warning and knew just the spot on her lower back to pull her center of gravity upwards to meet him. Ryder's knees threatened to buckle in surprise, and she was almost irritated when his hold immediately compensated.

Fuck, Evfra. Did he always kiss like this?

Cheers came from the peanut gallery as she closed her eyes and wrapped an arm about his neck, earning her an appreciative hum and parted lips. She paid the audience no mind; they could bring this up for years and she'd still remember the taste of his mouth and the feel of his pulse and the way he stifled a low groan when she reached out to gently drag her metaphorical fingernails at the edge of his electrical field with her biotics.

His hold only marginally relaxed as they parted, and his breathing returned to pace quickly - guerilla training - but his smug expression stayed infuriatingly put. Ryder was about to commend him on his exemplary cultural sensitivity when a pair of figures caught her eye over his shoulder.

Jaal stood frozen in place, even as Peebee insistently tugged him closer. His eyes were wide, his lips parted. And he was staring.

Frowning at her silence, Evfra followed her line of sight, and Ryder saw his face shift from confusion to surprise. Jaal's expression wasn't easy to place - not immediately - and she briefly wondered if she'd made a very, very poor assumption about the level of entertainment he'd get out of the situation.

"If you two hogs are done ," Peebee huffed, shoving the two of them apart and out from under the mistletoe, "I have some research to do."

That seemed to snap him out of it, and Jaal chuckled as he was yanked along. "Very well," he said brightly. "For science?"

"Yeah, yeah. Pucker up."

Ryder sat on the sofa, Evfra joining her amidst the roaring laughter that was coming from the comedy show the newest mistletoe victims were putting on.

"SAM," she said, "can you replay Jaal's face just now? With the filter."

"Of course," the AI's voice replied. She looked down at her omni-tool, waiting for the algorithm she and SAM had developed with the Moshae to kick in. It only brought a small fraction of signals into the visible light spectrum, but it might tell her something that she didn't -

She paused the replay at Jaal's face. A deep, rosy hue radiated from every inch of his skin.

Ryder knew that color very well.

Hel-lo.

"Evfra, did you see - "

" Stars , Jaal. I haven't seen that from him since we were barely old enough to enlist."

"Interesting." That the sight of his past and present lovers together had sparked such strong sexual desire was - " Very interesting."

"Agreed."

Evfra was looking at her now, and a sly smile wound its way onto Ryder's face.

"We should find somewhere a little more private," she murmured, leaning closer. "To talk."

He smirked.

"Lead the way."