Are we compatible?
Garrus and Shepard take a beauty magazine compatibility quiz to find out if they are a compatible match. Do they pass?
Shepard pushed her chest out in hopes of working out the knots in her back from being hunched over her datapad. Garrus lay beside her, nestled among the numerous pillows with one hand holding open a book about gun history and the other tangled in her russet brown hair.
A sea blue asari winked and batted her eyes from the front page of the beauty magazine. "COMPATIBILITY QUIZ.- PG 57" Curiosity struck Shepard hard. She glanced up at the turian reading. His eyes smoothly slid over the pages as he took in the words. Every once in awhile, he would make a noise that sounded like agreement. It was strange to see a paper book in his hand. Paper was all but obsolete.
"Garrus?" she asked, settling back into the pillows.
"Hm?" Yes, a man of many words.
"Will you take a quiz with me?" Shepard held the datapad, ready to stick it under his nose if he refused. No one, not even those closest to her, knew she liked-no loved-beauty magazines. She thoroughly enjoyed the shallowness of the beauty industry. It was an easy read, considering all the planning and stress connected to surviving the Omega 4 Relay. Shepard was comfortable with her slightly too thin lips and long nose, her hazel eyes beautiful, bright and large enough to draw attention away from her self-perceived flaws. Sides, Garrus believed she was beautiful and that's what mattered in the end of the day.
Shepard could fight and shoot a gun. That is what mattered to the Allegiance and Cerberus. Shepard typed 57 into the search bar above the beauty magazine's name. "Will you take a quiz with me?"
Garrus put his book down on his leg. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into his side. "Quiz? Sure." There was still tingles when he would do something romantic such as pull her to him. Garrus rarely initiated physical contact. She would spend time with him down in the gun hold and sit there for hours while he worked on his calibrations, wishing for some cuddle time or hand-holding. When he pulled her close, she could feel the warmth of him bursting against her skin like alcohol in the stomach.
Shepard felt like bouncing like a little girl. The giddiness rose like a sun over a newly born planet, warm and welcoming.
"Shepard," Garrus said hesitantly. He was staring at the pink page with a floral border.
Shepard grinned, perhaps a little too maniacally when she turned to look at him, his brow plates and mandibles low, his eyes not mirroring her passion for beauty magazine quizzes. Shepard had nothing to say about her love for beauty magazines. The endless amount of mindless beauty tips and superficial interviews with celebrities kept her entertained. "It's a really simple quiz. Please?"
Maybe Garrus would get just as curious about her answers to these questions as she was. His agreement almost had her purring with pleasure. What is your idea of a perfect date? A) Movies and a dinner. B) A quiet night in. C) A night out on the town with friends. Shepard mentally checked B. They had enough excitement with friends (her crew) shooting up the Blue Suns or some other mercenary group that threatened to take over some planet.
Garrus peered closer, shifting her off of his side. "What? No shooting range?"
"I doubt this was made for lovely men such as yourself," Shepard said with a laugh. "What's your answer?"
"A quiet night in, I guess." He looked longingly at his book.
He didn't want to do this did he? Shepard felt a little angry at his hesitance and lack of interest. She spent hours talking guns with him. Thought she didn't want to make him do something was that uncomfortable or even boring, she wished he would sacrifice his time for her. Her finger hovered the X button in the corner, ready to jam down and stalk into the bathroom.
Garrus grabbed her hand in his. "I'll take the quiz, Cheyanne."
"I don't want you to do something you aren't comfortable with. This will be our last quiz, I promise," Shepard said.
Garrus laughed, squeezing her hand. "It won't kill me to do a few more every now and again."
She smiled at him. Shepard clicked B and moved onto the next question. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring one thing, what would you choose? A) A survival guide. B)A tent and camping supplies. C) Anyone of your choosing. Garrus looked deep in thought.
Shepard knew how to survive. It was part of the ICT training. There would be times where they were stranded on a planet with no prior knowledge of what was edible and poisonous. "I would take you," Shepard said.
Needless to say, she expected the same answer. "Anyone?" came Garrus's rumble. "I'd take my rifle, Eleanor."
Shepard dug her elbow into his carapace. He grunted softly. "That's a human name, Garrus," she said, on the verge of laughter.
"But it's pretty," he pointed out. Shepard let out a laugh that shook her entire body. It clenched in her stomach, tears rolling down her face. As she recovered, she looked back at him, his body language serious.
Garrus put one leg on each side of her. her back against his keel. Slightly uncomfortable, she shifted to the left, falling into the valley of his shoulder and keel. "I'd take you, of course," he said into her ear.
Shivers ran down her neck and settled into her stomach. Would there be time for playing around after this?
She clicked C.
"Only three more questions, Vakarian. If you want to stop, we can." Shepard grinned, a challenge hanging in the air between them. Garrus tightened his hand in her hair.
"No, I think we should push forward. We've gotten this far."
If you have zero credits in your account, what is the most romantic thing you can get your S.O. in this list? A) Freshly picked flowers. B) A love letter. C) Unconditional love and support.
Shepard laughed at the choices. She couldn't begin to imagine Garrus handing her flowers or writing her a love letter. He was a man of few words.
"Unconditional love and support right?" she asked, looking up at him. This was something they never talked about. A subject that wasn't dared broached for fear of stepping over some invisible boundary.
Garrus let go of her hair to choose C for her. He rubbed his mandible across the outer shell of her ear. "I will follow you to the end of the galaxy, Commander," he said, softly.
His voice echoed through her soul. Something for her to anchor down on, tie her to the physical world while chaos reigned in her head. Something that hooked her to the Normandy. His presence and voice, speaking to her was the thing that got her through nightmares that plagued her sleep. It rumbled through his chest, vibrating through her being.
Shepard shut off her datapad and turned on the bed to face Garrus. "Are you serious about that Garrus? The mission in front of us, we may never come back from it."
"You can't think like that, Shepard. You have to look at the positive." Garrus caressed her face gently. Two talons hooked underneath her jaw and stayed there while the third talon rubbed her cheek in a circular motion. His skin was bare, warming up hers. It felt like she was running soft tanned leather along her skin. "We'll be planning a vacation for Palaven for you to meet my family in no time. You'll see."
Shepard honestly hoped he was right. Fear had made a home in the back of her mind. It nested, tangles of thoughts, dreams and fallen stars. Black, silver, white, a loss of words and colors that would never see the light of day. Nightmares flourished from it and fed into her sleep. Each night was filled with shadows and death: the mission somehow going wrong and it killing Garrus and their crewmates.
"Garrus, we could die. We could die in the Omega 4 Relay and no one but the Illusive Man will know what happened. This is a possibility. I can't…" Shepard launched from the bed, pacing in front it. It was a short journey. From wall to dresser, she went back in forth, hands waving as she spoke fast. "I don't want to die. Not just as I've found you. I just came back. I want to live and explore. Live and love. I want to visit Liara and gossip. I want to talk to Tali and spar with Thane. I want to go out to drinks with Joker and make fun of how uptight Miranda is. I can't do that if I die for a second time. There will be no Cerberus to bring me back. There will only be the darkness."
Garrus got up, catching her in mid-step. "Calm. Breathe." It was all he had to say. Shepard took a deep breath in, keeping her eyes trained on him. A calming aura washed over her. Garrus brought her close to him, crushing her into him as if attempting to make them one. "Don't we have a quiz to finish?"
The turian pointed to the datapad on her bed. She grinned up at him, knowing she got him hooked. Her grin faltered when she realized he was only trying to distract her from the inevitable. Living in denial was not something Shepard wanted to do, but for the night, she supposed she could. If he truly wanted her distracted, it would take more than a quiz. "Some things are best left unfinished," Shepard said, looking up at him suggestively.
Shepard freed her arms from his hold and wrapped them around his neck, her arms fitting perfectly in the curves of his cowl. Garrus's skin shuddered under her touch, a pleased rumble sound coming from his chest. "I have another idea to see if we are compatible. I think we may just pass," she whispered as she reached up to kiss him.
Well. That's finished. A fluffy one-shot with angst in the middle. Who doesn't love a little angst? Thanks for read and thank you to my beta, MizDirected for helping me with turian body parts and other normal writing things.