Episodes from the MAKO
(Juuust for fun, bear with me!)
"So... tell me something, Shepard." Garrus' voice resonated below her; crisp and clean, there was a hint of humor in his rough vocals.
"... What, Garrus?" Blue eyes glared at the turian's legs. She had half a mind to kick him where it hurt, but given that he was fixing the drive shaft of her vehicle, better judgment ruled out the venomous idea. She knew where this was going...
"Do all humans drive poorly, or is it just you?" Garrus didn't wait for a pause as he accepted a wrench from Tali, that bubbly quarian. She knelt now and again to hand him specialized tools, but her primary focus was on repairing a wheel bearing. When he spoke, she held back a muffled chortle.
… Shepard wasn't laughing.
"The hell does that mean, Vakarian? I drive just fine." She sucked in her stomach and raised her posture up by an inch, arms soon crossed over her chest for an intimidating stance- pointless, he could only see her boots from underneath the MAKO.
"Just fine, Commander?" Garrus snorted lowly, which sent Tali in to a fit of laughter.
"If I want to drive over mountain tops, lava beds, and run over the occasional Geth, then damn right – just fine."
There was silence between the two of them, aside from the scraping of metal.
"I'd consider that poor-" Garrus began again in between Tali's squeaky laugh.
"I'd consider shutting your mouth if you know what's good for you. I drive, you fix. That's how this relationship works, you know." Shepard felt oddly defensive, yet under the quarian's bursting giggle, she found it evaporating; an idle poke and tease, no harm.
"If I didn't know any better, Commander, I'd say you're abusing my skills in this … relationship." He slid from underneath the MAKO to level a scrutinized stare at the human- who, provoked by this, offered a smug smile.
Sly eyes glanced to Tali; the quarian was doubled over by the tire, her small fingers clutching the rubber for support. Keeping laughter to her suit was hard when the two of them acted like adolescents!
"Tch, something tells me you like the abuse, Vakarian. Who wouldn't, from someone like me?" Shepard gave a toothy grin; she leaned over to return his stare with hands moving to grip angled hips. Ironically, Garrus' eyes tracked the movement- before rebounding up to his commander's face with twitching mandibles. No more than three feet above him, details of her face were starkly pale against the Normandy's artificial lights. Slight panic, overwhelmed with mild nervousness – he's seen vids on human behavior, but never learned anything valuable from them. Was she serious?
"That's not what I meant-"
"Oh? You don't find me attractive?" Shepard's lips forged out a twisted pout at the turian's lack of words. His jaw went slack while throat muscles forced him to take a slow gulp.
"I uh- ah, well..." Garrus' fumbling only made the quarian laugh harder. Shepard's withering gaze remained tact on his face, as if expecting response- ah, shit... "N-no-" A loud clank ensued; Tali dropped the new bearings under fleeting snorts. How the hell could she laugh at something like this? At him? "I mean, ... yes- wait, is this a trick question?"
"No tricks about it. So you do find me attractive?" The pouting lips subsided to a genuine smile.
"Ah... for a human- by... turian standards- … uhm, sure." Was he admitting to something darkly erotic and unforgivable amongst his people? Furthermore, did he honestly find her attractive? Garrus felt his intestines knot.
"Oh, Keelah! She's messing with you, Garrus!" Tali finally cracked; she cradled her stomach with shaking palms and shook her head, the giggling subsiding long enough to hear-
"What-" Equivalent to a human dropping their jaw, mandibles relaxed to give more depth to an open mouth, blank of verbal retort, his head swiveled between Tali and the commander.
"Thank you for honestly answering, Garrus." Shepard's smile turned in to a devious grin; soft wink ensued, she stood to full height and waved dismissively at the two aliens. "You two make it quick, yeah? We're running planetside in an hour." Tali managed to wave a good-bye, but her turian companion irritably glared at her faceless form.
"Why the hell did you go along with her? I don't have a fetish for humans." He snagged an offered tool out of her hand – irritated, annoyed, he couldn't express the meshing feelings overall; exhilarating, … that wasn't normal.
"No, of course not. … But you just admitted that you have a fetish for Shepard." Tali's snickers went silenced over the sound of a power drill; Garrus growled impatiently, but to his friend's surprise, he didn't make a denial.
Why did you have to die, Shepard? I saw something you didn't see.
Tali's eyes adjusted to the dim light of Freedom's Progress, the human colony. Anything human reminded her of Shepard, especially vehicles like the MAKO - reliable enough, if you had the right mechanic. Memories surfaced now and again; revisiting the past was reassuring to the quarian, it reminded her that she was alive. Those were times she honestly missed.