Title: Dom Night Out
Fandom: Mass Effect.
Spoilers: None really, takes place after the trilogy.
Pairing: Femshep/ Liara T'Soni, Aria / Tevos, Jack / Miranda.
Warnings: Adult language, references to sex, but mostly just humor and fluff.
Word Count: ~2.800
AN: A fill for anonymous prompt on Rae D Magdon's tumblr. Original prompt: I keep thinking about Shepard, Jack, and Aria having "bro time" but only talking about their significant others. Probably, one of several fills for this particular idea, which it certainly deserves. Mine is quite short and spontaniously written. Enjoy!
Dom Night Out
It was an annual thing. Three powerful, badass women getting together in Afterlife to get drunk, share some war time stories and maybe start a bar fight. At least that was what everyone thought it was. I mean, it was logical, straight forward, right? What would an infamously renegade Commander, psychotic biotic – even if she did turn over a new leaf – and the feared Queen of Omega be doing other that be, well, badass? Anyone would have thought there could not be a more explosive mixture or more dangerous combination. The trio could dispatch a full krogan battalion without breaking a sweat and the tales about their bad tempers had been spread around in hushed whispers.
The thing is, it started as exactly that. An excuse to get out of the houses, away from the public, irritably persistent light and blow off some steam in loose, easy-going company. No judgment, rules or kids to watch your mouth around. No regulations, ignorant politicians or stalkery in-laws. No Council members you have to respect, no assistants barging in at the wrong time and no urgent calls that could not be ignored. It was supposed to be a space and time free of the boring, grilling routine, delegated to drinking, gambling and making fun of dangerous people you really should not be making fun of. That was the idea. Riiiight. Plans of mice and men? That's the human saying, alright.
They would always meet in Afterlife. Omega was just the place for a little debauchery and the perk of having Aria's personal lodge all to themselves was a neat bonus. It would always start with drinks. The strongest salarian concoctions – the only decent intoxicants that could get past Jack and Aria's heightened metabolism and Shepard's implants. After a round or two filled with quips and jokes and catching up the conversation inevitably strayed away from their preplanned nightly activities. Night after night they swore to spend the time ogling the dancers and gambling, but one word from either one of the three would always bring up the very thing they wished to exclude form this exercise. And once brought up it was over. The battle-tested, intimidating, scary supposed-badasses would spiral the rabbit hole no one would expect them being anywhere near.
It would start innocently at the beginning of the evening. Most of the times after greetings and playful jabs, after the drinks were set up and guests situated in the lounge Shepard was the one to start the conversations. The redhead would complain about the dimwitted politicians and how they had always been a thorn in her side, she'd go on about how the military kept pushing her to take on the Admiralty Board position, show more responsibility and all that. Which inevitably lead to the almost identical exchange every night:
"...and they keep pushing me to take on that damn chair like I haven't done enough for the Alliance already!"
"Yeah, screw the higher-ups! I always knew the Alliance meatheads had their heads too far up their asses! Hypocritical fuckers."
"Look who's talking, Zero. Aren't you in bed with Alliance these days? Who's hypocritical now?"
"Hey, I'm just a fucking teacher! I'm in it for the kids, not some glorified position or a fucking paycheck. I'm doing something useful unlike the lobotomized cowards that run the whole mess. Hey, Shep how many politicians a day you are dying to punch in the face like that al-Jilani bitch?"
"Enough." grumbled the Commander to the boisterous laughter from the tattooed woman. "And it's not like it was any easier during the war. We were supposed to be united, but all they wanted to do was bicker and shift blame. I can remember only one politician who stood her ground and did the right thing."
The redhead shared a suddenly appreciative look with the hostess. Aria let out a soft chuckle and gazed in the distance, the memory had made her normally predatory features soften and a smile bloom on her face.
"Yes. I remember Thea confiding in me at the end of the war. She told the matriarchs to go fuck themselves, she told you what you needed to know and beat those spineless cowards Sparatus and Valern into submission. They were committed to the Crucible after that."
"Tevos sure has some gigantic quad on her, not a lot of useless blabbermouths do. You taped the right politician, your majesty."
"Yeah, you're pretty lucky being able to get Tevos. Though, I'm not so bad myself – I got another hot, smart and fearless asari. But, hey, not keeping score, right?"
"You're just scared that I'd win, Shepard."
"Fuck you both, by the way. Miranda is hotter and more badass than either of the blue asses you're taping!"
There was a short burst of laughter at the playful jab and then... abrupt silence intermingled with grans and irritated huffing. Clinging of the glasses and two more rounds were shared without a word. They always did that. Tried to come up with a topic far removed from their love life, yet it inevitably would veer back to the very same subject.
A discussion on mercenary gangs railing up in Terminus ended up with Jack recalling how she was attracted to Miranda before the Collector base, but was too proud to admit it even to herself. Arguing about new regulations within the Alliance lead to Shepard remembering how she was secretly elated at being a Spectre, which allowed her to keep Liara on the Normandy. Trying to get a good poker game going resulted in Jack recalling her first casino outing as a teacher that was particularly embarrassing for Miranda. Another attempt by the worn out instructor at talking about new Omni-tools only resulted in both other woman arguing how the straps of the new devices do not go with their bonding bracelets. The trio valiantly tried not to bring up their respected loved ones, but as always it was absolutely useless. Each time they failed there was a pause, angry mumbling and another round of the terrible Salarian intoxicant. Suffice to say, getting drunker by the hour was not helping their stubborn abstinence in any way.
Exactly on schedule after many hours of drinking and tirelessly trying to avoid the subject the severely inebriated trio had to admit defeat.
Right now the three of the most feared women in the galaxy gushed and swooned to each other over the loves of their lives.
"...and then she just smiled at me like it was nothing, you know?" blabbed on Shepard with a dreamy smile and only a slightest slur to her words. "I mean she was offering to write my name among the stars! Who does that?! And then she had described me like I was, I dunno, a real hero? Me?! Pfft!" she snorted loudly.
"Shut it, Shep! You are a fucking hero! Blue had the right idea, even if she's too damned adorable for her own good." Jack took a swig of the yellow liquid and suddenly spluttered. "Don't you dare tell 'Randa I called Blue adorable! She'd bloody kill me! Or cut me off, which is way worse. Shit. Why the fuck did I even say it?"
"Relax, no one here is going to tell your precious princess you got the hots for Shepard's bondmate. Though, I can relate to that myself."
"Screw you, your majesty! You're off the hook, Tevos knows about your drooling already! How long have you been fucking each other anyways?"
"A couple of years." drawled the redhead enjoying the buzz and the back and forth teasing. "Having Aria around drives Liara crazy and I'm only too eager to oblige. As long as she's happy with our arrangement, I don't see any reason to stop. Plus," she gave Aria a sly smirk. "Thea is a hot piece of ass I love to attend to from time to time."
Aria chuckled at the feeble in her mind jab. "You mean, when I allow you to, Shepard? She's mine bondmate, mine in every sense of the word." Aria sighed suddenly looking like she was trying to suppress the next words out of her mouth, but she couldn't. "Sometimes I'm still flabbergasted that she is with me. The asari Councilor from one of the most renowned families on Thessia! Brilliant, beautiful, strong-willed, and somehow she ended up with the Pirate Queen?" the asari let out a strained laughed while shaking her head.
"Come on, Aria. What does it matter that you are running Omega and she's herding the moronic politicians? Thea loves you, that's the important part."
"Yeah, I know."
"Ew, quit being all mushy! Are we gonna play or not?" Jack tried to reach for the remote to activate the terminal with extranet gambling sites, but a loud snort from the Queen stopped her in her tracks.
"You're just jealous. Wanna have a foursome sometime? I'm sure I can persuade Thea to accommodate. I saw how she was eyeing your tattoos and that juicy princess of yours at the party."
"Fuck you!" shot back Jack, then she shuffled the glasses in an uncharacteristically sheepish manner. "I can't. Miranda wants to try being exclusive. I think she's testing me. Ya know, to see if I get scared and bolt or something. Not gonna fucking happen."
"Well, aren't you two precious? And I can remember a time when you wanted to... What it was? 'Smear the walls with her brain matter?'" the redhead was giving her friend an amused look over the edge of her glass.
Jack snuffled uncomfortably keeping her eyes glued to her drink. "I just wanna make it work, you know?" confessed the biotic quietly. "Randa... I have never felt like that about anyone before. Fuck, that bitch totally messed with my head!"
"Isn't that what supposed to happen when you fall for someone?" drawled Shepard sharing a knowing look with Aria.
"Definitely."
"Ew, gross! You asari and your freaky alien mind fucking! Leave me outta it! Okay, I'm thankful Miranda doesn't have tentacles on her head and won't screw my brains out!" she shuddered, but retorted with a devilish grin. "Though I might screw hers."
The trio burst into infectious laughter. They laughed easily with each other now, so very much unlike how it would have been before the war, before the years of friendship since it ended.
"A toast!" exclaimed Shepard. "To our ladies, may they keep brightening our lives!"
She was greeted by a simultaneous roll of two sets of eyes.
"Yeah, drop the act, you two! I know, you liked it, now drink up!"
"I suppose, only the bravest warriors can openly admit being a romantic deep down."
"Pfffft, ha-ha-hah, you say it every time you get drunk, Aria! But, yeah, fuck it. I love Miranda and whoever says it's wrong or weak, I will fucking break their face!"
"Here, here!" roared the redhead emptying her glass.
The night turned out like every other. Not at all what outsiders would expect, not what was planned, not the way each of the three promised it to be before slipping up all over again. The golden eyes watched discretely as they laughed and teased and downed more and more of the disgusting looking yellow liqueur. Salarians, right? The only clever bastards crafty enough to figure out booze that could knock out all three. And, boy, did it do it's job that night!
. . .
There were three bodies sprawled on Aria's imperial couch by the end of the festivities. One might even think them long dead if not for the full-blown snoring coming form both humans. The table was littered with empty glasses, bottles, unopened containers of that vile Salarian booze and datapads with gambling sites open.
On the other side of the lodge with hands on their hips stood another pair.
Neither was amused, they looked positively annoyed with the evidence of another drunken night before them. The freckled asari shared an exasperated look with the gorgeous human brunette.
"Do we wake them?"
"I don't think ice water or bloody sirens will be enough to wake them now. I'm going to kill Kirrahe for letting Shepard know about that yellow poison. I have not spend two years putting her back together and then another after the war for your bondmate to ruin all that work by drinking herself into a stupor!"
"Wait, now it's Shepard's fault? Who suggested having separate nights out? Jack!"
"Oh, please, nothing would have worked out if Aria did not agree to host us all here."
"Like they could not have gotten drunk on Thessia or Earth? Uh-huh."
"Honestly, I don't care of they drink. I wanted to have breakfast together. That obviously isn't happening now."
"Really, breakfast? What happened to the Ice Queen? Was there another clone, not of Shepard, but of the cold and detached Miss Lawson?"
"Perhaps, you're rubbing off on me, T'Soni. Maybe one day I'd even be moved to tears by a dusty prothean fossil."
"Hey, that's not fair! That was my job! And in any case we still need to decide what to do with them."
"The only way to stop them from getting drunk on this couch would be to lock them up and I'm pretty sure that's still illegal."
Another asari that was lazily leaning against the wall close to the stairs let out a melodic laugh. She seemed completely unperturbed by the drunken trio or the mess of evidence of their night. She was more amused by the antics of the other two woman, who for some reason were pretending like this conversation did not happen every time Shepard and Jack came to visit Aria. The asari pushed herself off the wall with regal grace and put a hand on her hip.
"However amusing this is, I am leaving and you will come with me."
"Tevos, this is not right. We can't leave them like this." argued Liara glancing at her bondmate with something in-between worry and pity.
"Oh, it's not like they haven't done this before. Shepard will be fine. I haven't spared any expenses on her." waved off the raven haired beauty dismissively. "And both Aria and Jack have their biotic metabolism to flush their systems of this vile concoction. They will have a killer headache, but that's the price of partying all night."
"Precisely. Let them sleep it off. In the mean time, I suggest we take care of ourselves."
The other two looked at Tevos expectantly. The councilor smiled.
"I was thinking that we could use the jacuzzi. We still have another bottle of that Earth wine you brought last time, Miranda. And I'm sure we can find something to watch to pass the time."
They changed looks debating something and glancing at the lost to the world mess of limbs on the couch. Suddenly smirking Liara linked her arm with Miranda's and pulled the other woman along after already leaving Tevos. They descended the steps heading towards the hidden door to the loft upstairs. Leaving her worry behind Liara restarted a conversation they apparently were having before.
"Thea, so have you heard about the new remake of Vaenia? It is going to open next year, I have been following the shooting, and it's looking really good."
"Yes, I was following that as well. They cast Amara for the leading role. I have very high hopes for that rendition."
"Hmm, I haven't actually seen the original. Is it any good?"
"Really, Miranda? You never seen Vaenia? We have to rectify that!"
The exited voices dwindled down as the trio moved to the secret passage up to Aria's personal loft above the establishment. From the shadows they were watched by an alert turian. Once the door shut and security locks whizzed into place, he turned around to give his undivided attention to the sleeping woman on the couch.
Grizz bared his sharp teeth in a knowing smile.
It was an annual thing after all.