Garrus closed his eyes.

"Wrists," he recited from memory. "Nape. There was one more... Forehead?"

Shepard nodded. "Right on point," she said as she gave him a small smile. She put away the flashcards (yet another strange human word Garrus had had to acquaint himself with lately) she'd made.

"All right. Your turn. Go."

"Fine. Nape, waist, armpits." Her answer was much faster than his, with less hesitation.

He checked the card he was holding. She was right, of course.

"Damn. If you keep this up, you'll know more about turian biology than me."

"Maybe one day. Meanwhile, you're still rusty in some areas." She crossed her arms. "Come on, Garrus. You work with humans. You have to know this stuff. What if someone has a medical emergency?"

"Then I'll call an ambulance." Garrus rolled his eyes. "We have access to medical care, you know."

Shepard opened her mouth, but she didn't get to say whatever she'd been intending to. Her omnitool lit up, emitting a buzzing sound that made Garrus's plates tingle. Ouch.

"And that's all the time I have," Shepard sighed. She gathered up all the flashcards, pushing them into her bag. "I have to go now, but thanks for paying for lunch."

"I thought you paid."

There was a moment of silence.

"...So I guess we're never coming back to that restaurant, then."

Garrus laughed.

"I can't believe we're already criminals. How long did that take? Two months since we moved to the Citadel?"

"Flattering of you to assume I wasn't a criminal before." Shepard put a hand on her waist.

"With a face like that?" He grabbed her chin. "You're too good a person, Shepard, and I'm sorry, but your good-natured face betrays that."

She swatted his hand away—though she was laughing. "You just think that because you're not used to humans. I could easily kick your ass in a firefight. Or a physical fight."

"I never doubted that." Garrus' nose twitched with anticipation. He'd been getting more comfortable with teasing her lately, settling into this casual banter now that he knew her better. He liked this new dynamic in their relationship. "All I'm saying is you wouldn't fool anyone that you're a criminal. Besides, firefights don't exactly reflect skill. You gotta have finesse with a gun..."

"Alright, Vakarian, you're going down." Shepard crossed her arms. "What are you doing after work today?"

"Nothing."

"Wrong. You're taking me to one of those shooting ranges you've been going to." She smirked and there was so much confidence in it that Garrus started to regret challenging her. "We're settling this thing."

"You came." Shepard smiled as soon as she noticed Garrus standing near the entrance to the shooting range. She hadn't even bothered any other turian she might have mistaken for him. She hadn't been for a long time. "I half-expected you to chicken out."

"I have no idea what that is, chicken." Garrus clicked his mandibles. "But from what I've heard apparently everything in the galaxy tastes like it."

"That's actually kind of true," she chuckled. "Well. Anyway... I hope you're ready to be obliterated."

Garrus rolled his eyes. "Right back at you, Commander."

She couldn't tell if there really was a mocking undertone in his voice or if she was just imagining it. Either way, he'd gotten on her nerves enough that at this pount she wanted to either just press him against a wall and do unspeakable things to him or take that ego of his down a notch. Both seemed like good options, but Shepard wasn't about to add indecent exposure to her list of crimes for the day. I'll just have to settle for a shooting contest.

Garrus had prepared for this, she noticed. He'd rented out a sharpshooting field, which made her smile even wider. He didn't know she was a sniper, did he? This was going to be ridiculously easy.

"Last chance to back out," she said, watching Garrus load a fresh thermal clip into into a regular scoped sniper rifle.

"Never."

"Your choice, Garrus. Your choice."

"It is. But, ah," he shot her a look, "I gotta warn you: I'm a pretty damn good shot." He aimed and fired. Perfect score. He handed her the rifle. "Just a heads-up so you don't feel too bad when you lose."

She yanked the gun from his hands, only mildly irritated. Mostly, she was very curious to see Garrus in a situation where he felt confident. This was the first time he'd ever spoken in this tone to her... It was as if being here made him forget how nervous he usually was around her. For the first time, she saw him filled with genuine confidence. Sniper, huh? She smiled to herself. Well... Confident is good. Cocky is bad.

"Move aside." She weighed the rifle in her hands, but it was only barely lighter than the ones she was used to. The scope also worked in a way she was familiar with. Perfect. She sent a charming smile in the turian's way. "This is how a professional does it."

She hit bullseye on the first shot. Good. Not only was this the first time Garrus had seen her shoot, but she was also fairly certain other people were watching. They'd probably never seen a human here before. This was good foreign policy.

She glanced at the turian accompanying her.

"So, is this a date?"

"I thought that was clear." Garrus didn't even look at her, his focus on the target ahead. He fired yet another perfect shot. "Ha! Your turn."

Oh, so it was like that?

She could take him on. She raised the rifle up to her eye level, lining up the target with the sights. Breathe in, fire, breathe out.

Bullseye.

"...I have a feeling this is going to be a boring competition," Garrus noticed.

She smirked. "If you want to give up, just say so."

He clicked his mandibles but didn't say anything and she had no idea how to read that. Nevertheless, he took up the rifle and fired yet another perfectly aimed shot.

So did she.

And he, during the next round.

Shepard pretended not to notice that most of the staff were watching them at this point. For good reason, too. Garrus was by far one of the best opponents she'd ever had in this type of competition. Her N7 designation was hard-earned—she was good—but since graduating from the program, she hadn't really found anyone who came close to her own sharpshooting skills.

Until now, apparently.

"We're tied," she noticed eventually. "Twenty for twenty."

"Good game." Garrus put the gun away. "When did you learn to shoot like that?"

"Interplanetary Combatives Training camp. Sniper specialization." She put her hands on her hips. "And you?"

"My father made me when I was a kid. And I took the sniper specialization at bootcamp." Just like her. With all the things that set them apart, it felt strange to find one they had in common.

"Well. We'll figure out some way to settle this." She smiled at him with a dangerous spark in her eye. "Because this isn't over."

That was the day Garrus discovered Shepard's competitive side.

They stumbled into Garrrus's apartment with just about as little grace as was possible. It was closer than Shepard's; and they'd already been getting mildly disgusted looks from people they'd passed, with the way they'd been casual about physical affection. That shooting contest had been hella hot. They'd barely been able to keep their hands off each other on the way. Garrus was pretty sure there was a moment in the elevator that had been more Shepard dry-humping him than it had been a kiss.

"I was the clear winner, you know," Shepard said through her teeth while her hands stroked the back of his neck.

Garrus buried his face in her hair, inhaling her scent, the alien pheromones making his own hormones go crazy.

"Sure you were," he laughed. He kissed her neck and was rewarded with a low-pitched moan from her.

"Fine, maybe it was a tie," she admitted weakly. Garrus chuckled into her ear.

He pressed his mouth plates against her lips again, his fingers tangling with her hair. He'd barely noticed they'd made it to the bedroom somewhere in the heat of the moment.

Shepard broke the kiss for a moment and moved a meter or so away.

"We're kind of overdressed for this, aren't we?"

"Oh." Garrus opened his mouth. Right now, he wasn't thinking very clearly, but even he could tell she was proposing a step forward in their relationship. "...You want to?"

"Yeah." She smiled bashfully. "Is that okay?"

Garrus nodded his head.

Shepard sat cross-legged on the floor. She began unbuttoning her jacket. "I know I'm an alien, but don't get too horrified."

"I've sort of... seen you... before..." Garrus nervously massaged his nape.

"You mean on Shanxi?" Shepard asked. A small blush spread over her cheeks. She'd probably forgotten, but he'd tried to tend to her wounds back then, when she'd been completely alien to him.

"...Yeah."

She took off her jacket, staying in just a black tank top.

"Well, this looks immeasurably better without all the blood and grime," Garrus noticed.

Shepard smirked. She ran a hand through her hair. Strangely enough, despite the underlying awkwardness of the situation, she didn't feel uncomfortable with the way he was watching her body. Any other man staring at her that hard would probably have bad intentions, but this situation was comfortable. It felt almost innocent in all of its genuineness.

"More of these?" Garrus brushed her hair back, focused on her bare shoulders. He traced his fingers on her skin there. "Hm..." Contrary to what he'd been expecting, the little darker spots weren't different in texture from the rest of her skin.

Shepard giggled. "You're awfully fascinated by my freckles."

"Freckles..." Garrus repeated, mesmerized by the patterns he saw in the tiny dots on her skin. He exhaled slowly. "Do all humans have those?"

He knew the answer to that question and it was no. Just like her flame-colored hair, this was a feature he had seen on no human other than Shepard.

"No, but it's not so rare, I think. It's just a pigment change after too much sun exposure. I have a genetic predisposition to develop them."

She leaned back while Garrus nuzzled to the crook of her neck, inhaling the smell of her hair. Like always, her scent made his senses go completely crazy, at the same time familiar and alien. He traced his finger along the freckles on her shoulder.

"Are they sensitive?"

"Not particularly, I thin—Oh..." She rolled her eyes back, sighing softly when Garrus ran his tongue along her collarbone. "Oh, that's good..."

He purred with agreement, moving up to her face. They looked each other in the eyes for a second before he moved in to kiss her again.

She could feel his hands on her back, slipping under her shirt and touching bare skin there. She stirred.

Garrus immediately stopped, leaning away from her. "Is something wrong?"

"No, I..." Shepard laughed bashfully. "Just forgot we have different body temperatures. It caught me by surprise." She raised her arm and almost shoved it in his face, holding it close to his eyes. "See? I got goosebumps all over."

Garrus mistrustfully poked her forearm with the very tip of his talon.

"...What am I supposed to be looking at?"

"My skin, I—" She shook her head. "Nevermind. It's a human thing—when you get goosebumps, you get this strong urge to show the nearest person that you have goosebumps."

"That sounds extremely weird," Garrus admitted. "And... what are goosebumps?"

Of all the new alien words she'd lately been bombarding him with, this was one of the strangest. Maybe he should start a list.

Shepard stood up and took off her tank top. She threw it on the bed next to her jacket, and looked down at him.

"More layers?" Garrus complained. She was still wearing some clothes.

"This?" She pulled on the strap on her shoulder and laughed. "This is underwear. Don't get too impatient."

"Why on your chest..." Garrus could feel his plates tingling with embarrassment. Of course he had no way to tell what humans were like. Shepard was an alien, there was no reason for her to be anything like what he knew. He'd been assuming human genitalia were around the crotch area, but could he really know that?

Who knows if we're even compatible. He flared his nostrils. He wanted this with Shepard, but what if they were just too different? That was still a very real possibility.

"Garrus." Shepard put her hand on his. The warmth of her touch snapped him out of that spiral. "It's fine. It's just a bra. It keeps my breasts in place."

He blinked. "Um... yeah. Your, uh... breasts." Was that a fancy human word for mammary glands? Now that he thought of it, that made more sense.

"We... don't have to keep going if you're not comfortable." She squatted next to him—yet another alien use of human legs.

He put a hand on her cheek and leaned in for a quick kiss.

"I'm fine."

"Good, because you're very overdressed here."

"Prepared to run away screaming?" he asked as he began working on the clasps of his robe. Shepard's body didn't differ that much from what he'd been expecting, but he had no idea how she had imagined a nude turian.

"Very funny."

He slipped the robe off his shoulders and let it fall to the floor. Unlike Shepard's irritating three layers, he wasn't wearing anything underneath, so he was suddenly naked from the waist up.

Shepard raised her eyebrows and Garrus could feel her eyes roaming his body, staying around his waist and then his keel for a longer moment.

"Ready to run yet?" He asked.

She wrinkled her nose, smirking to herself. "Nope."

Garrus didn't move when she got closer. He respected her exploration of his body just as she'd let him get familiar with hers. She moved her hands along the edges of his exoskeleton—every now and then her fingers would brush against his skin and he'd shiver. This silent exploration of one another felt more intimate than their even most passionate makeout sessions.

"Not bad," Shepard decided eventually. She left a small kiss on his keel and another one on his neck. "And just one thing..." She took off his visor and carefully held it in her hands. Garrus blinked, not used to the sensation. Not prepared that she would do this. He looked at her, probably for the first time ever seeing her without any interference, any outside data. She smiled. "Hi there."

"H—Hi," he stammered. He felt strange without all the data he was used to seeing. This was just unfiltered, raw image. (Spirits, she was beautiful.)

"You really look different now." Shepard absently toyed with the visor she was holding until eventually putting it over her eye. She laughed. "Look at me, I'm Garrus." She paused. "...Whoa. This is a lot of info. And you live like this? How do you not get a headache, like, all the time?"

Garrus didn't answer. A low growl escaped him even though he tried to keep it down.

Shepard tilted her head at him, her red hair falling in cascades down her bare shoulders. She was virtually wearing nothing but his visor. "What?"

Instead of answering, Garrus pressed his mouth against hers, quickly moving his hands up her back until he was actively holding her. He almost threw her onto the bed and she laughed.

"Okay, then!" She adjusted the visor - meant for a turian head larger than her own, it kept slipping off even with the maglocks on. "So I'm guessing this is a turn-on for you."

Garrus clicked his mandibles. "Big time," he growled.

There she was, the most beautiful woman in the universe, laid out on his bed, half-naked and watching him with a sultry smirk from behind his own visor. He wasn't maybe a particularly religious turian, but this honestly felt like a divine gift.

He straddled her hips, his mandibles flared out in a smirk of his own. He wanted to kiss her, but he took one more second, looking at her with affection.

"What are you waiting for?" Shepard sent him a cocky look.

"I want to remember this," he replied in a low voice, his subvocals trembling with desire.

"Well... If I have my way, you'll be seeing a lot more of this." She put her hand behind his mandible, touching the sensitive skin there and pulling him closer so their faces were almost touching. Shepard hooked her finger on his chin. "How's that sound?"

"Almost too good," Garrus replied honestly. He moved his head so his mouth would be immediately next to her ear. "I love you so much, Commander Shepard," he purred.

Shepard blushed. "Okay, now you have to take off your pants right now," she whispered, her breath completely irregular. "Because I don't think I've ever wanted you more."

Garrus kissed her hard and fast, making her moan again when he slipped the tip of his tongue against her upper lip.

"You... don't... play fair..." Shepard breathed out, scrambling around to get her pants off her legs while Garrus did the same, only less frantically.

"Huh." Now they were both only in their underwear. "I don't know why I assumed you wouldn't..." Shepard chuckled awkwardly. She adjusted the visor she was still wearing, looking up as Garrus walked up to her and put his hands on her hips. Now for the first time their actual height difference became apparent and Shepard blushed wildly, looking up to meet his eyes. "Wow..." She whispered. "You're... really tall."

"Easy to fix," Garrus noticed. He lifted her up, eliciting a surprised yelp from her. "There. How's now?" They were at the same eye level now.

"Hm..." Shepard hooked her legs around his waist. They fit almost perfectly resting on his hip spurs. "A benefit of interspecies relationships, huh?" She smirked.

"I'm sure we can find some more." Garrus ran his tongue over his mouth plates as he laid her down on the bed, practically lying down on top of her. He didn't protest when Shepard almost immediately rolled them over, ending up on top. She laughed.

"All right, then." She was clearly barely holding herself back from grinding against him, now that she was sitting atop his hips. "This is much more like it."

Of course she'd want to be in control. Garrus almost laughed.

"Let me just..." She grabbed his mandibles and kissed his nose. "Perfect."

"Pfleaph leth go," Garrus protested.

She smirked, tapping on the visor apprehensively. "You know I can see your vitals in this thing. I can tell what's working."

Garrus wrinkled his nose. He hadn't told Shepard about it, but he'd synced up her vitals with his visor—only as a precaution, of course, not because he was expecting her life to be in danger anytime soon. Nonetheless, he'd gotten used to seeing that data in the corner of his vision. Right now, he was hoping she wouldn't notice it.

He sat up.

"This is working," he said. He could feel her wrapping her legs around him on his back. He hoped Shepard knew what he was talking about.

"It is." She kissed his nose. "Heh. I can't believe... Fuck, Garrus, you're beautiful."

He could physically feel his throat tighten. Jane Shepard had called him beautiful. Not 'cute'. Not 'handsome'. Beautiful.

He gently stroked her cheek.

"Shepard..." He purred, letting his subvocals roam free, speaking out the emotions he couldn't put into words.

She was the one who moved first this time. She closed the distance between them, her arms closing around his carapace as she kissed him again.

Garrus closed his eyes, letting himself fall into her.

They fell back on the bed together, and he nearly couldn't cope with how amazing that word sounded in his mind. Together.

He'd never felt this complete.

Shepard was lying on her back, her entire face significantly redder than usually.

She put her hand on her forehead. Her breathing was completely irregular.

"Can I assume you enjoyed that?" Garrus grinned down at her. He didn't really need an answer.

"Come here," she laughed. She grabbed his hand and pulled him closer to herself. She put her hands on his waist and kissed his keel. "That was amazing."

"Oh, no complaints here." He buried his face in her hair. Maybe it was the hormones, but her exhilaratingly alien scent was even stronger now.

He kissed her on the forehead.

"I love you," he said softly.

He was hoping she could tell how serious it was this time, how much he meant it. That she could feel the love radiating through his subvocals.

Shepard looked him in the eyes.

"I love you too."

Her hand reached for his and after awkwardly fumbling around for a while, she managed to intertwine their fingers around each other.

They lay like that for a while, Garrus idly humming something while Shepard stared at the ceiling.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Garrus exhaled, amused. "Of course." Asking a question would be by far the most innocent thing she'd done to him that night.

"...Why so interested in the freckles?"

He shrugged. "They're your second sexiest feature."

"Right after the hair?" she guessed.

"Right after the hair. Just before the eyes."

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "And what's so special about my eyes?"

"The colour." He sat up. "It's not the green you expect from eye colour... Not among turians, at least. Much darker. And there's this... blend of different shades in them. There's a part of your iris that's almost yellow, but then there's also parts where the green is so deep it's almost... black? I don't know. They're mesmerizing to look at. I could just sit for hours on end looking into your eyes and still have new things to discover."

"That's beautiful..." She smiled absently. "I thought you said you're just a soldier."

"I get expressive after I've been intimate with someone," Garrus chuckled. "There, now you know my deepest shame. Which means... My turn."

"Fine..." Shepard pretended to think. "For one? Your voice.

"Hm." He didn't pretend to be surprised by that. She'd been saying it since day one. "Of course. What else?"

"Hmm... I really like your tongue." She gave him a sultry smirk and Garrus laughed.

"Okay. I see where this is going."

"I'm just saying!" She pulled him back onto the bed. She lay down on his chest, effectively preventing him from getting up.

"Alright," Garrus gave in. "Fine, my voice is sexy, my tongue is sexy. Whatever you say."

"Okay... The next thing would have to be... Your nose." She booped him.

"My nose?" This was the one that really surprised him.

"Yeah. Extremely cute. Absolutely, deliciously kissable. Honestly, just begging to be kissed most of the time." She kissed him on the nose and laughed when he reflexively wiggled it. "You're way too cutesy. Honestly. And bonus points for your nose, it really betrays your emotions. I can tell whenever you're excited if only because you start looking like a flustered bunny."

She laughed as she rolled off of him and fell back on the bed. Garrus lay beside her, chuckling along to her laughter. He closed his eyes.

This must be what heaven feels like. He couldn't imagine anything going wrong at this point.

"...Shepard?"

"Yeah?"

"What's a bunny?"