Part II – Coffee and Donuts
The unremarkable door slid open with a low whirr, letting a wave of heat flow on the turian's face. Walking in the steps of the tan-skinned alien, he entered her appartment. It was a small and compact two-story studio, with a dull grey black linoleum floor and white steel modular-paneled walls. A big, wide glass bay dominated a whole side of the room, extending all the way from the bottom to the top of the sloped wall. A large, unusual-looking and impeccable black leather-couch was located just under the large frost-covered window alongside a small square steely coffee table surronded by a couple of large cushions. A narrow set of stairs were built on the opposite wall, covering a small packed kitchen area. As motion detectors picked up their presence, the striped metal blinds covering the grand viewing port rose and lighted up the dim room. Ominous grey clouds were quickly gathering and stretching on the horizon, carried by a distant, powerful wailing wind.
The human bounced in front of the turian before turning towards him, arms open and shoulders lowered in an exagerrated theatrical bow. "Welcome, friend !" she smiled before straightening up, "I hope you don't mind the mess. Please, make yourself at home, I'll tidy up a bit and put some music. Don't wait for me to dig in."
She set both her coffee cup and donut box down among the rest of the human's previous meals – empty takeaway boxes from asari restaurants and some garish Tupari cans – that where laying around the small steely table. A discarded pile of uniform and curious-shaped clothes was strewned around the stairs leading upward, letting the turian imagine quite easily what was the human's first reflex coming home. All in all, the human's appartment didn't looked tidier nor messier that the turian's own : it gave a vibe of a familiar well lived-in bachelor flat. Only thing missing was a pile of half-dismantled guns and uncalibrated thermal clips.
He chuckled and assured his alien friend that it was quite alright, but she simply directed him to the couch while she hurriedly cleaned the place. A muted, distrinctive leathery creaking sound whined through as he let himself fall backward lazily in the sofa, sighing heavily at the simple pleasure of being able to sit down somewhere supple and comfortable for once.
"Nice couch." he commented, already feeling relaxed.
"Thanks." he heard the human respond from afar, a hint of pride in her voice. "It's one little treasure I brought with me on Noveria. Fake leather, but it feels like the real deal. You won't find stuff like that around here."
He approved with a nod before throwing his hard back deeper against the couch, the long quills of his fringe luckily resting just over the top. Finally able to enjoy a bit of warmth, he unclasped the shoulder and forearm straps of his thermal suit before rolling up his sleeves high on his upper arms. With a long content sigh, he closed his eyes and clicked contently at the newfound feeling of the radiating heat coming from his coffee cup.
As he brought his hot beverage to his maw for another sip, he heard a short ruffling sound followed by a couple of muted thuds in the background, identified as the human discarding her bulky coat and crudely throwing around her heavy thermal boots. The softer patter of the human's feet returned shortly as the only sound breaking the comfortable silence. The turian idly opened his lax mandibles in a lethargic yawn, basking in the serene tranquility and quietness of the human's room.
The familiar thrum of an Omnitool rang, and music began filling in the silence. A quiet, cadenced, roiling beat peppered with sublter waves.
He opened one eye to watch the tan-skinned slim human hop on the other side of the couch, curling up between the leathery cushions and with her coffee cop held tight against her stomach. She had discarded her heavy jacket and uniform top, showing a form-fitting turtleneck sweater that revealed a bit more of her buxom alien silhouette.
"Don't you dare nap on me now." she told him, gently bumping the sole of her strange-looking feet against his knee.
He chuckled before raising up to escape the couch embrace. "You said to make myself at home, didn't you ? Wait until I find something to calibrate."
She feigned indignation and pushed harder against his leg, but soon enough all pretense disappeared when he went to open the food box, replaced by a very genuine racapious look.
As they began to gleefully devour the sugary-sweet chocolate-glazed treats in between playful banters, the turian felt as if the friendly exchange between them was slightly altered in some way. As if something had been either amiss or misplaced for a while that he just took notice. He'd usually feel relaxed talking to the human, but somehow a part of him was unable to slow down. It wasn't simply because the fact that he was hanging out in her appartement, dawdling on her couch, drinking hot coffee on a cold day.
Maybe it was simply something about her that he didn't dared to notice before, he thought, wondering what could be going through her mind as well. He eyed up the human discreetly, but she caught his gaze as she was already looking his way. She squinted her eyes, a hint of a smile appearing on the corner of her mouth.
"I've been thinking : It's been the first time we've hung out outside the bar, isn't it ?""
"Yeah." he nodded.
"And this time you can take your time drinking your coffee instead of rushing to go stand still and look slightly miffed for hours on end."
"Someone has to, or else the Hanar will overthrow the Hierarchy."
"It would be quite a scary perspective." she said with no hint of irony.
"They'd probably be able to weaponize politeness if we let them." he frowned, mustering the softest and kindest voice he could impersonate, "This one graciously ask the wise Council to relinquish dominion to the Enkindlers' faithful followers, or else this one will be compeled to unconditionaly and blast its goo in the blasphemous, bad-mannered Asari councilior's face... But very gently."
His joke seemingly caught her off-guard when she had her mouth full.
She let out a muffled, puffy-cheeked, choking laughter. She swallowed hard and jeered at him, swiping a few stray glazed crumbs from her sweater. He clicked absent-mindedly at her, amused by her very human reaction, always amazed by how quickly her friend's could change expression thanks to her flexible jowl muscles. She gave him a mean, angry look before running her chocolate-coatd fingers across her lips. The pink shade of her tongue slipped through, and the turian felt somehow... unsettled by the sight of her swiftly licking at each of her many fingers.
He gulped and turned his head towards his coffee, half-expecting that the warm caffeinated beverage could somehow purge the strange thoughts that were brewing in his mind. Discipline and concentration. She's an alien.
"Today has been pretty fun." he said with a sip, slightly averting her gaze.
"Mmh-hmm. But the day's still young, you know." she answered matter-of-factly, "Besides, I could always bribe you again."
"With what ? More coffee or a big angry krogan bounty hunter ?"
"Even better."
He turned his head towards her. A smug, almost regal grin across her sharp features, as if she would be able to make an offer he couldn't refuse.
"Hot. Chocolate." she punctuated slowly, pleased with herself.
Browplates frowned, he looked at her askance, skeptic about her claim.
"Chocolate."
"Hm-mh."
"That you bought."
"Yep."
"On Noveria."
"Yes."
"That's stuff is expensive."
"I know, but it's worth it."
"Dextro or levo ?"
"Both."
"You have dextro-chocolate ?" he blurted, dumbfounded.
"Well... Yes."
"Why do a human keep dextro-chocolate ?"
She fell suddenly silent, her boastful grin falling into a bothered frown. She either wasn't prepared for this question, or was reluctant to answer it. Such hesitancy about such a simple matter was odd, umbeffiting of her usual straightforwardness. The turian picked up on her hiding her mouth behind her coffee cup. Just as he did. She licked her lips for the briefest moment before answering bluntly :
"It used to belong to an old turian roommate of mine. She left Noveria a while ago, about a half a year or something, and... I simply kept all the food, be it my levo or her dextro stuff."
"Ah. I see." he simply said, averting her gaze.
He had no reason to doubt her, yet somehow he felt that there was more to that story. Her relation with that "roommate" wasn't clear cut, and even if he didn't dare to say, but he knew that the typical Noverian appartment was built to house bachelors first and foremost. Hers was no different, hence he knew that in this tight, compact flat there could be only one bed unless someone was willing to sleep on the leather couch every night. A single large bed. To be shared. Between a female human and a turian girl.
A colorful cloud of parasitic what-ifs annoyingly sprouted through his mind. Like a rolling storm of wild and vivid fantasies that he wanted shelter from. For a brief instant, his overclocking brain conjured up a bright vision of a slender turian gal pinning his coffee-skinned friend on a bed, holding the alien's waist tightly against hers as she uncoiled her long blue tongue to peck and lick at the human's vulnerable and slim neck, before moving-
He coughed and cleared his throat nervously, gulping down a large amount of burning hot coffee to drown back the disconcerting thoughts. He sang to himself the first couplet of the imperial anthem as a way to remind himself that presomptuousness and impudence were slow and insidious hunters. Discipline and concentration, order and focus. She's an... alien after all.
"That's quite intriguing."
"What is ?" she perked up, shuffling slightly on the creaking couch.
"The hot chocolate offer !" he quickly stammered, unable to fully hide his unease. "I'll hold you to that offer."
Lips slightly ajar, frowning strangely towards him, she looked at him with an undecipherable expression before settling on a gentle smile.
"Anytime." she simply stated, her deep voice regaining its soothing calm.
Soon enough, the delightful donuts were but a delicious memory, and their coffee had been more than halfway drunk. Their banter shortly resumed to more mundane and less thought-provoking matters, but the turian often caught the human staring at him willfully. She licked her lips everytime she was taking a sip from her coffee cup, he idly noticed. There was also a certain brash, untold hunger in her peeking almond-shaped eyes, as if she was patiently preying on him, waiting on his reactions and words.
He shifted and threw his back on the cushiony leather. He wasn't able to quell his curiosity. He wanted to know to get a weight off his chest, to be sure of something. With a heavy sigh, he resigned himself to ask :
"Were you two close ?" the turian asked, bluntly.
"Who ?"
"You and your... roommate."
"What about my roommate ?"
"You and her. You know... Living together ?"
"Hm."
She turned to him, fierce eyes lit up and a carnivorous smirk splayed across her face. She rose her chin up, cocking her head slightly on the side and let a pregnant pause hang in the air before slyly humming :
"Why do you ask ?"
She skillfully evaded the question by deflecting it towards him. The irony of the echoing question wasn't lost on the turian, and with a grumbling snarl he realized that he probably walked right into the trap that she laid out for him. He swatted the air in front of him,
"Apologies. I am simply curious. That's all."
"It's alright, you're cute when you get flustered." she assured, her tone betraying no sarcasm or derision. "If you want, I can tell you about it later tonight. Maybe around a big cup of good hot chocolate, what do you say ?"
"You're really not going to that party, huh ?"
"What are you talking about ? You are my party."
There was no use denying it anymore. Just like that, he knew that those few words hit their mark harder than he could admit. With a defeated sigh, he fanned his mandible outward in a deeply moved smile and humbly bowed his head. A frightening, exciting and definitive thought chilled his spine solid. He felled for her, for an alien, with just a few simple words.
Self-realization brought back the sense of serene tranquility in his heart. An inner calmness that was no use fighting against. He put down his empty coffee cup before relaxing and stretching over the cozy couch, enjoying the way the tough leather creaked at the pressure. He inspired deeply and closed his eyes.
"It's... good... to have you around." he simply said.
With a warm and kind smile, she nodded. "Same to you."
A comfortable silence hang in the air for a moment before the ting of her steely cup broke it. Opening one eye, he watched the human shuffle and turn her back from him. Then, slowly, carefully, she reclined towards him, laying down on the sofa and softly resting her head on his thigh. The weigh of her head felt somehow appropriate for him. She looked at him from her downward angle, her expression looking a bit wary and cautious, as if she was expecting a negative reaction from her bold move. He clicked absent-mindedly and relaxed his mandibles in a lazy yawn, throwing his head and fringe back over the couch in silent approval.
As if naturally magnetized, his hand was attracted to her head. She didn't jolt as his palm and fingers patted the alien-feeling, fluffy and soft fur that adorned her scalp. It was pleasant to the touch, a bit coarser than what he expected, and a unique sensation. He rubbed and stroke thoroughly through the human's short black hair, taking great care around his elongated talons, letting his hand run from her forehead to the nape of her neck in long and and slow spirals. The fuzzy and silky feel of her hair was intoxicating in its own right, and he peppered his exploratory pettings with hooked fingers just behind her ears, gently scratching around the complex cartilaginous auricle with the very tip of his claw. Flabby, as he thought.
He didn't know how long he spent softly caressing and gently scratching at the human's head, absorbed by the hypnotic feel of her strange mane and drifting away listening to the background music. He slowly opened his eyes to see that the room dimmed slightly. Outside, the late afternoon sky was darkening bit by bit, and snowflakes were twisting and twirling in the wind.
He suddenly felt the human shift slightly below him. Looking down, he crossed her heavy eyes, watching him with a strange combination of wishful yearning, dire excitation and accusatorial fierceness.
"Hey." she sternly called out, gulping hard and nervously licking her lips.
"Hm ?"
She stayed silent a few second. "What are you waiting for ?" she murmured, her low voice quivering slightly.
She grabbed his hard collar and firmly pushed him downard, propping herself up on a raised elbow at the same time. Before he realized it, her lips gently pushed against his own, and the room came crashing down on itself, engulfed whole by the taste of her kiss. A dizzying vertigo robbed him away from his sense of self as he could only close his eyes and shut his mandibles tight to keep his mind inside. She delicately thrusted her mouth against him in a minuscule movement, her warm breath escaping from her flexible lips through the tiny triangular hole of his ajar mouth. He breathed in and exhaled loudly, pinching her dewy lips between the hard edge of his own.
They weren't soft or delicate, he briefly thought, but firm. Strong. Supple.
She recoiled, a short gasping breath intterupted by a light gulp, relenting on her grip around his heavy collar. Her deep brown, wide eyes were looking up at him expecteddly, unbridled want mixing with a shimmer of fear. Was she afraid of his reaction or begging for his answer ?
The turian felt that the human claimed him already, and that he would happily drown in the wave she rose inside him. A dam broken. Sliding his arm under the scruff of her neck, he pushed her head toward his own. Their lips collided again in a muffled squish, gently parting themselves over each others. She exhaled sharply, blowing hot air against his palate, the tip of her tongue shyly snaking its way between her slightly parted lips. He went to meet the short, flat and wet intruder with his own, slowly uncoiling himself in her warm mouth. She gave a soft, almost inaudible moan that vanished in her throat as he slid his tongue underneath her own. With a gentle and slow caress, he coaxed and guided her tongue between the edge of his lips.
He slid his arm just under her armpit to bring her closer, and she hooked her supporting arm over his shoulder, her hand coming to rest just underneath his bony fringe to press his angular face into her. With the slightest twist of their neck, they parted and met again, deeper and bolder than before. His mind already mesmerized by the salty and fierce taste of her kiss, it was as if Noveria itself curled up down to the size of her lips.
She called, and he followed.