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Archer woke up with a yawn, raising his head from the med clinic bed he was resting it on and leant back into the chair he spent the night sleeping in.

The bed was taken up by Vask who was cured of the plague soon after they arrived but needed to sleep off the effects of it and had been for the last day.

Archer wanted to thank the doctor for the cure, but the eccentric salarian had run off with the person they had distribute the cure to the entire district.

Archer stretched in his chair and flinched when a twinge of pain shot up his still tender thigh. He refused to get his leg treated until someone saw to Vask first before him.

He looked down at the newest scar to his steadily growing collection of them. Showing through the large tear in his pants, the grouping of long streaks along his left thigh looked like he had been savaged by a varren.

He needed to change to an unruined pair of pants, but he couldn't bring himself to leave Vask's side. He put a hand on the side of Vask's face, feeling how much cooler he had gotten since the fever broke.

Vask started to stir at Archer's touch, and woke up with a groan.

"Hey," said Archer, moving his hand away from Vask's face and holding his hand. "How are you feeling?"

Vask covered his face with his other arm, and said with a groan, "Like I've been run over with a mako."

"Yeah, the plague took quite a bit out of you," Archer said with a soft laugh.

Vask looked around the room before asking, "when did we leave the apartment?"

"The day before. You were getting worse and I wasn't able to take care of you anymore," Archer told the krogan, leaving out the part where he was shot in the leg.

"You don't remember anything?" asked Archer.

Vask shook his head, "Not really, and I can't make sense of what I do."

Archer breathed a sigh of relief and stood up.

"I should go annoy the doctors about getting you discharged," Archer said, going to walk away.

He was stopped when Vask grabbed his wrist.

"What happened to your leg," he asked, looking at the large tear in Archer's pants and at the scars streaking along the human's thigh.

"Don't worry about it," Archer told him, trying to walk away again but Vask refused to let him go.

"What happened?" he asked again.

Archer was silent for a moment.

"I was shot," conceded Archer, but still not telling the krogan everything.

"Someone broke into the apartment?" Vask asked. "By who?"

"What? No," said Archer.

"On the way here?"

"No," said Archer trying to get Vask to let go of his arm.

"Then what happened?” asked Vask.

Archer was silent.

Vask tugged the human's arm and repeated, growling, "Then what happened?"

Archer stayed silent.

Vask then went pale, and slowly let go of Archer's arm. "I shot you."

Archer quickly sat back down in his chair and grabbed Vask's hand.

"It wasn't your fault," insisted Archer, "you were delirious from the fever."

Vask started to harshly breathe and Archer grabbed his head and made the krogan look at him.

"It wasn't your fault," Archer said softly.

"I guess you're right," mumbled Vask in an unbelievable tone.

Archer didn't press any further, not wanting to do so in the clinic. He stood up and said, "I'm gonna see about getting you discharged."

Vask let him go and Archer made his way to the reception, arguing for several minutes with the receptionist before he managed to get the krogan discharged.

The walk home to their apartment was quiet and uneventful, with Vask staying quiet and only occasionally grunting at a few of Archer's attempts at conversation.

When they finally returned to their apartment, Vask quietly walked past Archer and sat himself down on the couch, slumping down in it.

Archer sat down next to him, sitting silently for several moments before finally saying, "It really wasn't your fault. The fever made you delirious."

"I still shot you," said Vask.

"But I don't blame you for it. I just happened to be in the way. So, don't beat yourself up about it. Please."

Vask leaned forward and put his head in his hand and groaned, "But I broke my promise."

"Promise?" asked Archer.

"The promise I made to you back on The Citadel to convince you to come with me," Vask said into his hands. "I promised no one would hurt you. But I shot you, and I…"

Vask took a shuddering breath before continuing, "I hurt you every time we're in public together."

"Hey," Archer said, putting a hand under Vask's chin and pulling the krogan's head to face him. "I told you that I don't blame you for getting shot."

"And, besides," Archer added with a coy smile and gave him a playful nudge. "You like scars."

He continued, "And we can work on being together in public. But,"

Vask froze up.

"We can't make any progress on that if you stay in denial."

Vask growled and pulled his head away, but Archer pulled it back. Though he noticed that he shouldn't have been able to pull Vask's head back had the krogan really wanted to pull away.

"Why do you have such a problem with being gay?" asked Archer.

Vask looked at Archer before looking away and bringing his head down into the human's lap.

Vask said nothing, only resting his head on the human's lap. Archer softly stroked the krogan's headplate, patiently waiting for him to answer.

After several moments, Vask finally spoke, "We're expected, on Tuchanka, to have as many children as we can to combat the genophage. I can't do that if I'm- if"

"You don't have to say it," Archer said softly, still stroking Vask's headplate.

"I can't do what's expected if I'm like that," said Vask.

"But you said krogan don't care," replied Archer, "Hell, wouldn't other males see it as less competition?"

"They don't," said Vask.

"Then why does it matter so much what other krogan think?" Archer asked the depressed alien.

Vask stayed silent.

Archer paused his stroking as he realised. Realised why despite not being straight he still left two years ago to join Saren.

"It's not about krogan culture not accepting you," Archer said, looking down at the krogan in his lap, "Or about the Genophage. Not really."

Vask pulled Archer tightly to him, making the human slide across the couch.

"You want kids," Archer said, in which Vask gave only a small nod in response.

Archer lifted Vask's head, with some difficulty as the krogan tried to stay in the human's lap. He looked down at Vask's face and asked, "Why didn't you just tell me?"

"Why bother when we can't have any to begin with?" said Vask.

"Well," Archer said, thinking for a moment. "Adoption is always an option."

Vask looked at Archer and then sat up, looking away, lost in thought.

Archer put a hand on Vask's shoulder, who immediately stood up and walked off to the bedroom. Worried he said something wrong, Archer followed.

He found Vask getting dressed into fresh clothes.

"I didn't say anything wrong, did I?" Archer asked from the doorway.

"No, no," Vask said, walking past Archer. "I Just realised I have a couple things I need to do."

"But you just got home from the clinic. You need to-" protested Archer before being cut off with a blush inducing peck on the lips by Vask.

Vask went to walk away, but hesitated before returning for a full kiss on the lips. He broke the kiss and walked off, and out of the apartment. Leaving Archer standing in the bedroom doorway, blushing and somewhat frustrated.

***

Vask started to act strangely over the next couple of weeks. Archer would be woken up during the night to find himself being tightly hugged by the krogan. So tight that he had to slap Vask awake to get him to let go of him so he could get up. Whenever they were in public he would stand slightly closer to him than he normally did, which made many at his work think he'd hired a bodyguard to watch over him. He would also randomly pick him up from behind and give him tight hugs whenever they got home together.

"What has gotten into you lately?" laughed Archer, kicking his legs slightly as he and Vask returned home from work.

"You said you wanted me to be more affectionate," answered Vask.

Archer was about to say he meant in public, but caught himself. Thinking it best to stay with the small baby steps he'd gotten so far.

A beeping alert from Vask's omni-tool made the krogan quickly drop Archer to the ground, who landed on his rear.

"Watch it," Archer hissed in pain, "You almost broke my tailbone."

Vask said nothing as he read the message on his omni-tool.

"So much for being more affectionate," grumbled Archer as he stood up, rubbing his tailbone, "You couldn't gently put me down?"

Again, Vask said nothing. Too concerned with what he was reading on his omni-tool.

"What's wrong?" asked Archer, trying to read over Vask's shoulder.

Vask said nothing at first, re-reading the message on his omni-tool before finally saying in disbelief, "Clan Weyrloc's been absorbed by Clan Urdnot."

"Oh god, what happened?" Archer asked, shocked. He didn't understand much about the clan culture of krogan, having even mistook Vask's clan name as his given name when they first met, but he knew how much it meant to Vask.

"Some human and their squad killed most of them raiding a hospital they were guarding," Vask said before turning off his omni-tool and walking back out of the apartment.

"What's going to happen now?" Archer asked, following Vask.

"I need to leave for Tuchanka to find out what's going on." Vask said, walking down the street.

"Then I'm going with you," said Archer.

Vask stopped and turned to Archer, looking down at him and saying, "No."

"I wasn't asking," Archer said, looking back up at Vask.

Vask put a hand out and tried pushing Archer back towards their apartment. "It's too dangerous. You'll get heat stroke just from being in the shade."

Archer slapped Vask's hand away, "I know about the travel advisory, and you've told me plenty of times about how much of a hell hole it is. I'm still going."

"No, you're not." growled Vask, "I can't risk-"

Archer interrupted the krogan by grabbing him by the headplate, and pulling him down so they were face to face.

"I'm going. Whether you like it or not."

Vask glowered at Archer, growling slightly before he pulled away and stood back up at his full height. A small smirk flashed at the corner of the krogan's mouth, disappearing before Archer was even sure he saw it.

He crossed his arms and told Archer, "Fine. But you'll need armour, and a better gun."

"No, I don't." Archer said, balking at how much it would all cost. "My pistol is fine as is."

"I wasn't asking," Vask said with a leering smile.