Crazy Christmas.
Part 1
The crew sat around the hat, staring warily at it's contents. None of them dared to pick first, and they all eyed each other to see if anyone else would do it. Even Joker was uncharacteristically quiet, and this had been his idea. Shepard somehow knew they were all looking to her to draw first (she was the Commander after all) but in this circumstance she was just going to pretend she didn't know that. It wasn't as if this was a mission to stop the reapers (in that case, she would jump head first screaming some sort of insulting curses).
A groan escaped someone suddenly, and all sets of eyes shot up to look at Zaeed as he stood up and promptly stuffed his hand in the hat. Moments later he produced a slip of paper, which he shoved in one of his pockets, an expression of utter indifference on his face. Honestly though, it was good enough that the man was even participating in the first place.
"There. Go crazy everyone." Without another word the aged mercenary walked out, and it was at least three seconds before anyone else made a move for the simple black hat. The way they were all looking at it you would have thought Harbinger was sitting in it's place.
Shepard eventually grabbed a slip from the hat, surreptitiously opening it so no one could see what was written on it - or who. Her expression dropped as her eyes laid rest on the small piece of paper, and she hurriedly ran out of the room, seemingly on some sort of self-appointed mission.
From there; the rest of those assembled took it in nervous turns to take a slip of paper from the hat. Each time a slip was opened, an expression turned to either dread or confusion.
Well, except for Joker.
"Hell YES!" They all looked up to stare at the pilot, who looked so happy he might even dance. "This is like a freaking dream come true! I now officially love Christmas!" Apparently having a lot to plan; Joker promptly hobbled away, leaving everyone even more confused then they had been before.
Hey, no one said that doing a secret Santa was going to be easy.
Garrus looked up from (yes, yet more) calibrations of the Normandy guns to see a gift bearing Mordin staring curiously at him. Not liking how the scientist was so thoroughly scrutinising him; he ceased all his work to see what the salarian wanted. Hopefully the guns wouldn't shoot on their own accord while he was gone.
"Need something?" Mordin blinked just once before handing him over the box (that seemed to be covered in something that was probably supposed to be wrapping paper) in his hands. Garrus looked down at the present, before looking back dubiously at the scientist.
"Customary human tradition to wrap gifts for their secret Santa's-" Hold up - Mordin was his secret Santa. Oh no, this couldn't possible be good. "-Couldn't find wrapping paper in time, so had to use anti-flammable aluminium metal strips."
"…You used kitchen foil?" Mordin nodded.
"Precisely. Merry Christmas." He had turned and left before Garrus could say anything else and - having let his curiosity get the better of him - the turian promptly tore the kitchen foil wrapping from off of his present.
What the…? Garrus pulled two books out, reading the titles with equal horror. This was just a nightmare right? 'Helpful Advice of the human body' along with 'Human mating customs; an explanation for the other species.' were what he stood staring at. When the salarian had mentioned helping earlier in the year, he hadn't thought the scientist had meant it seriously. Worse still, slipped underneath the book was some sort of video, with writing scribbled on it that called said item an 'Explanatory' information guide. If he needed videos of this genre, then he would have went to Joker for his private stash.
Garrus found himself blushing, which was weird, considering he had never done that before. He wasn't even aware that turian's were even capable of blushing. But of course Mordin would be the one to find a way to defy nature, even if it was with embarrassing gifts rather than breakthrough technology.
How was he going to explain this to Shepard? Because - inevitably - she would find out. And that would be awkward when she did, so he knew he had to find her and confront her sooner rather than later.
However, after locking the door Garrus cautiously opened up to the first page of the book. Mordin had given this as a gift after all, and there was no harm in just taking a little peak.
…right?
Author's Note.
So here is my (not so) long awaited Christmas story! I've been dying to do something like this since starting my first account (this is my second, or maybe even my third..oops). Using my amazing maths skills I have written a piece for each day. Since I completely messed up my calculations, christmas day and christmas eve will have extra chapters published.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy this. At the very least I hope it puts you in a christmassy mood.
Thank you for reading! Please tell me what you think for future reference.
:))
