"Quit your worrying," Rubellin replied. "Now. What should this fool do? How would you go about fixing this situation with a human?"

"Why do you care?" Davidson asked.

Rubellin just looked at Myrtus, who crossed his arms. Tenax leaned back in his seat, watching the two of them.

"... You totally like her, huh? Dude," Davidson grinned. "Just because some lady screws your brains out-"

"Shut up!" Myrtus snapped.

"In his defense, Miss Wei has interested him long before last night," Tenax explained. "It's just simply baffling how he failed so completely to follow through given how long it's been. Although, to be fair, he hasn't been with a human before, so I'll hold my judgment on his complete inadequacy until further information is obtained."

Davidson leaned away as Tenax leaned forward. Trust a C-Sec officer's son to get all interrogation-y.

"How drastic is this sort of insult for a human woman?"

"...Uh, look," Davidson shrugged. "It's not great that she didn't get anything out of it, but it's no big deal to have a guy fall asleep. Guys just fall asleep, you know? And since he was a total virgin-"

Rubellin cackled.

"with humans, maybe she wasn't expecting too much?"

"Possible," Tenax allowed, while Myrtus fumed.

"You should just, I don't know, apologize? Try to make it up to her? I don't think she'd go and get you breakfast if she was really mad at you."

Myrtus looked hesitant.

"Myrtus, my man. Send her a message. Get her reply. Now."

"Now?" Myrtus fidgeted. "Really?"

"Dude, she eats lunch in her cubicle. Now."

"I don't know-"

"Shit, man, let me do this," Davidson reached out and took Myrtus's arm to activate Myrtus's omnitool.

"Davidson-"

"I got this! 'Hey, Veronica. Can we talk?' Sending. See? Easy."

A new message pinged. Rubellin and Tenax crowded in to see.

"...'Which project?' Okay, she thinks it's about work. Not too bad. 'It's about last night, is that okay?' Sending."

"Davidson, I don't-"

"...'Sexting during work hours, pretty improper, Candyman'!?" Davidson's eyes widened.

Myrtus wrenched his arm away.

"Candyman?" Tenax murmured, perplexed.

Rubellin just cackled again from the renewed flush on Myrtus's neck.

"Dude, 'Candyman'? She calls you-"

"Shut. UP!"

"She even put a smiley at the end!" Davidson made a victory punch into the air. "She still digs you. You have a second chance. Just don't fuck it up."

Davidson finished the last of his meal.

"Seriously, good luck with that. Bye," he waved before leaving.

Myrtus sighs and then notices both Rubellin and Tenax looking at him expectantly.

"I don't know why I tell either of you anything at all!" Myrtus declares as he gets up also.

Rubellin smirks and makes a rude gesture while Tenax shrugs.

"Miss Wei is correct, though. Sexting during work hours is improper," Tenax mentions.

Myrtus snorts and makes for his own cubicle. He carefully sits at an angle where people can see that he's there but not necessarily whether or not he's actually working. He brings up his messages on his omnitool and gets a proper look at Veronica's last message. Davidson's right. There's a smiley. It's a human specific one; it's winking and sticking a tongue out at him. Mischievousness. It heartens him and frightens him at the same time because it's good that she's not upset by his mistake, but now he has to come up with a reply on his own.

"I'm not doing anything improper, Veronica."

He's not sure if it is too brief. But he's sent it off before he loses his nerve.

"Are you sure? Because last night wasn't proper at all Candyman."

Myrtus's tongue is stuck to the roof of his mouth. He could just hear it, how she'd say it. How she'd look up at him, bold and impertinent.

"It wasn't. I want to apologize."

There was a pause. Myrtus drummed his fingers against his desk as he waited. The pause stretched.

"For what?"

For what? Myrtus's gizzard constricted with mortification.

"I apologize. I was selfish. You were not-" Spirits, he was actually typing this. "satisfied."

The wait was even worse this time.

"Myrtus, I think I have some explaining to do myself. How about after work today? By the way, I don't have a problem being improper. As long as the company is right."

Myrtus smiles from it; that doesn't sound dire at all. This time, the message came with an attachment and he doesn't hesitate to open it.

It's a vid file. Silent. Dimmed light. He makes out movement before the image focuses. It's a closeup of slender human hand tracing a path downward over the geography of turian abdominal plating and the thumb presses slow and sure over the seam of groin plates. Myrtus chokes and closes the vid just as the plates start their shifting. He sits stock still in his seat, his hand closed over his omitool wrist.

It's her. It's him. He's sure. In a vid!

His mind was going in circles, wondering how much footage there was. Was every single thing there? Every single unrelentingly depraved moment?

Today was going to be impossible, Myrtus knew it. He was swimming in confusion and arousal. And he had four more hours to go on shift.

tbc