I've decided to edit and update this chapter due to possible copyright issues. Yeah, I somehow managed to overlook the lyric rule, and only saw it yesterday while publishing my other fic, so of course I had to hurry and fix it! Nevertheless, this fic is not dead, and I have a couple more interesting OCs in store for you!

The apartment was rather small, containing only a large living room-bedroom and a tiny bathroom, but that was by far enough for its two occupants. Quarians didn't need to worry about bathrooms anyway – their envirosuits, being an amazing product of microengineering, took care of absolutely everything. Even though they were necessary to keep their wearers alive and often got in the way, they made a lot of things simpler. Not being capable of physical contact had simply been an insignificant little sacrifice... or was it?

Kirah's expressionless face morphed into a sad smile. What a load of nonsense. She'd have done anything to get rid of her mask for just a single hour... then carefully remove Kenn's mask and look him in the eyes. Just one time. Then, she might gently touch his cheek and wrap her arms around his neck in a hug. What a moment it would be. And then... then, maybe...

She let out a sigh, tired of being forced to use her imagination for everything. No other species in the entire galaxy ever had a problem like this, she was sure of that. Quarians were so... unlucky. Almost none had seen the faces of their loved ones before they decided to start a family. The thought alone made her even sadder.

Her eyes scanned the room, looking for a way to overcome her loneliness. Finding nothing interesting, she brought up her omnitool and checked the extranet news. Nothing caught her eye. It was almost as if time suddenly decided to stop flowing. Out of sheer boredom, she opened the music program and tapped a button that said, "Random."

The characteristic sound of an electric guitar immediately began flowing from her mask's earpiece, soon joined by drums and... was that a harmonica? She kept listening, curious to see what's next. The music must have been old. Very old. A strong male voice began singing in a carefree fashion, as if everything about the world was perfect.

The song fit Kirah's taste, and she caught herself tapping her toes to the beat. Surprised at her find, she quickly searched for more information. Apparently, it was composed a hundred years ago by some human band she'd never heard of before.

She was going to make another extranet search about some human term she didn't know, but was soon interrupted by the doorbell ringing. She quickly bookmarked the song to look into it later and got up from the couch. The screen on the door lit up, showing Kenn standing on the other side. She was hit by a wave of relief at his long awaited arrival – a side effect of having lived on Omega. Although... he had been away for longer than usual. She tapped a few buttons on her omnitool before the door unlocked and opened.

"Hello there, young man," Kirah greeted him jokingly, stepping aside so he could come in.

"Good evening," he responded, closing the door behind him. "Everything okay in here?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you for a change?" she asked him in a playful manner. She knew how much he loved her childish behavior.

"You're right. Go ahead."

"Everything okay out there?"

He sighed. "I have nothing, Kirah. I'm sorry, but that's just it. Remember, we're quarians. Other species don't exactly like us, and however stupid their reasoning might be, we have no choice but to adapt." She snorted. All she'd ever done was adapt to the presence of every single other person, one by one.

"So what are we going to do?" she asked, consciously stopping her irritation from sneaking its way into her voice.

"I honestly have no idea." He sat on the couch where she'd been lying just a minute ago, leaning backward in exhaustion. She placed her arm around his neck in an attempt to make him feel better. And herself too, of course.

"You're doing a good job," she whispered reassuringly. "We have all the time in the world to finish our Pilgrimages. Let's make it worth it."

"I hope you're right."

She shook her head in disbelief.

"Don't tell me you're going to be the sad one here. You've done all you could, while I've been sitting around, doing absolutely nothing, listening to some crazy human music." She paused for a moment. "Plus, my comforting skills are pretty much nonexistent compared to yours."

He smiled, she was sure, even though she couldn't see through his visor.

"Well, you sure know how to make me blush."

They enjoyed the sweet silence, though it only lasted a few moments before Kenn broke it again.

"Tell me more about the music you mentioned," he said, turning to face Kirah. She did the same and cleared her throat.

"You know how I tend to get all emotional at times, right?"

"Yeah," he confirmed, waiting for her to continue.

"See, it happened again when you were away – I was thinking a bit about us, then suddenly became really bored. And here I was, searching for random music on my omnitool." She let out a soft cough, not having completely recovered from the joining of their suits yet. It only really showed when she had to speak a lot.

"Let me guess," he interrupted her. "You found something you didn't want to find?"

"No, no, no, of course not!"

"Something you knew, then?"

"Nope."

"What then?"

She'd always enjoyed teasing him like that, but decided against it now.

"Uh, it's something from a century ago. Some human band. Never heard of them before, but I kind of liked the music. They have a great singer."

He snickered, leaning backward and folding his arms.

"And what exactly made it worth mentioning?"

"They're pretty damn good," she replied defensively. "I wonder what their world was like back then."

"Why do you care so much? They're just humans."

"I care about everyone in the galaxy and you know it." The memory of Kirah's mental breakdown after killing the three mercenaries flashed in front of his eyes.

"Of course you do. It's what makes you what you are."

"I'll do my best to take that as a compliment."

He paused for a while, not knowing what else to say.

"What are you doing here all day, anyway?"

"Nothing," she said, almost whispering. "Absolutely nothing. And I get bored really fast, which doesn't help either."

"We should spend more time together," he suggested.

"Yeah, but how? I'm no good at looking for jobs. Oh, and I'm a suit rat." She spat the word out with great disgust.

"We all are, Kirah. We all are."

She glanced at her hand covered by the thin dark red glove, the words keelah se'lai written on the palm in ancient Khelish symbols. She felt a sudden surge of hatred for the geth and everything that separated her people from their homeworld, their pride. Hundreds of years after the Morning War, they were still exiles, driven from Rannoch by their own creation – a powerful race of artificial intelligences. She was absolutely sure now. Whoever had the idea to build the geth was a crazy idiot.

Damn it, damn it, damn it!

"I hate this thing," she bursted, staring at the envirosuit sleeve enveloping her arm. "If only I could, I'd strip it off and rip it to pieces. Just... just knowing it's mine alone makes me feel bad."

"Why?" Kenn asked sympathetically.

"It's simply not fair." She seemed desperate for... something. Kenn didn't quite know what. "Why are we so hated for this? It's not like we've all made a vote and decided to wear these ugly... things."

"You look nice enough in it," he said sincerely, even though he knew it wouldn't help her.

"Oh, yeah? Fifty creds says I look even better without it," she retorted, slowly reaching for her mask's seals.

"Kirah, don't," Kenn tried to stop her, but to no avail. If anything, she'd throw even more of a fit. He decided to let her have her way.

"I took my immuno boosters and tried out the prototype air sterilizer you've been building," she assured him. "I'll be just fine."

"You sure?" he asked hesitantly, knowing what she was about to do next. "You haven't even recovered from connecting suits yet."

"Yeah, I am pretty sure," she said before pulling her mask away from her face. Kenn could barely hide his amazement.

She was beautiful. Her cheeks were a bright violet color, contrasting with her full, dark purple lips. The sparkling silver eyes were centered on him. She ran her own hand through her dark, wavy hair, looking somewhat satisfied about what she'd done. And then... she smiled.

"I owe you fifty credits," he said before unsealing his mask as well. "Let's see if the air cleaner really works. Worst case scenario, we both get very sick."

She helped him take off his mask and then threw them both away carelessly, leaning in towards Kenn's uncovered face. He looked exactly how she'd always pictured him.

Like an angel.

"Kirah, listen. We don't... You can still-" He couldn't finish the sentence. Kirah's lips met his, and his heart melted. Suddenly, he didn't want to finish it. He ran his hand along her spine, completely lost in her, just like she was in him.

She broke off the kiss for a short moment, saying: "I don't want to." It felt like the right thing to do. Everything did. The world disappeared around them, piece by piece, until it was just the two of them embracing each other, eyes closed.

It was the single most beautiful moment in Kirah's life.

This one turned out to be a lot more fluffy and drabble-ish than expected, but hopefully that's okay. :) New chapters might take me a longer than before due to me being busy and, most importantly, a lack of ideas, but I have a rough storyline made up.

For those of you who are preparing your emergency eye bleach – there's no need. I respect my work enough to not write smut.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it! Please review, and note that I've fixed the quotation mark issue :)