Knowledge

Crap.

A vicious left hook hit him to the stomach. He staggered backwards, trying to shrug off the damage. Two large hands grabbed the back of his neck, and started hurling knees at his midsection.

He managed to get his arms between himself and his assaulter's knees, but every shot still hurt like hell.

The assaulter's leg was pulled back again to hit him with a knee, but this time he was ready. Right before the knee landed, he grabbed the leg with both of his arms and pushed forward.

The attacker, clearly surprised, tried to remain in balance by hopping backwards with the free leg.

It failed, and the assaulter on fell to the floor.

Before the attacker could recover, he grabbed both of his assaulter's legs, lifting the assaulter's hips off the ground. Then he twisted himself, passing the attacker's legs and now was on the top of his assaulter.

He started to rain down punches, eager to return the beating he took before.

The attacker's hands tried to cover the head with both arms, but he knew that most of his shots still connected.

After every hit that connected, a sense of glee spread over him. He wondered how long his opponent could last, since he managed to land some very hard punches.

His thoughts were given an answer by a voice:

"Stop! Stop! I give up!"

He stopped after slapping his opponent to the face with a open hand a few times. A very large grin spread over his face as he got up, offering his hand to his human attacker.

Taking his hand, the human grumbled "Should have left you on Omega...", clearly annoyed with his slapping.

"Ha!", he laughed, while lifting the human up. "You couldn't even find a way out of this ship without me watching over you"

"If I remember correctly, it was some smug turian who nearly got himself killed the last time, and it was me who had to drag his ugly ass out of harm's way. Again", he retorted, with a slight grin on his face.

"I just wanted to give you a chance to play the hero for a change.", the turian shot back, shrugging, his mandibles moving in a amused fashion.

The human shook his head, still grinning "Garrus, you ass".

"You really had to slap me a couple of times after I tapped out?", he asked, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Yeah, and it felt really good", Garrus answered, mandibles still moving happily.

"Not to me", the human retorted.

"Well, your knees really took a toll on me. Don't know if I will ever look as good as I used to. Decided to return the favour."

The human mumbled something incoherent about how the turian looked like a trash can while again shaking his head, still grinning .

"I heard that..."

Ignoring the turian's remark, he continued "Whatever. But yeah, that was a good one", offering his hand to Garrus.

They shook hands and slapped each other to the back. Both men climbed out of the ring, and went to sit on a bench right next to it.

The human took a towel and buried his face in it. Garrus decided to try and catch his breath.

After a while, he started to turn his head around the room to see whether they were alone.

"What are you doing?", the human asked, looking at the turian.

After making sure they were alone, Garrus began "Shepard, I got a question..". He suddenly found the stickers in his sparring gloves to be very interesting, and also a good way to avoid eye contact. His voice held a tone of uncertainty.

"Yeah?", Shepard asked as he kept staring at the former C-Sec officer.

"There's this rumour on the ship...", Garrus kept fidgeting the stickers in his gloves.

"Yeah?", Shepard asked again, this time a little louder. His eyes started to narrow.

"I just...", the uncertainty in his voice was now very clear.

"Nah, it's none of my business", he said as he wove his hand, signalling to dismiss all he had said.

Smirking, Shepard remarked "That never stopped you before..."

Garrus thought really hard about whether to ask the question.

His curiosity got the better of him.

"I..uh..are you sleeping with Tali?", Garrus asked abruptly.

Damn. That came out wrong.

Garrus wanted to take his blunt question back, but before he could, the Commander spoke.

"Why?", Shepard asked, taking a large sip from his water bottle. He seemed to be only mildly surprised.

"I just heard this rumour that the two of you were...", Garrus paused, thinking about how to form up his question.

"...you know...", he continued, carefully pondering his next words "...easing tension in the engine room?"

Crap. Another metaphor.

Shepard started coughing, nearly choking on the water he was only seconds ago drinking. His cough faded away, and was replaced with a chuckle.

"Easing tension?", he chuckled with a large grin on his face.

Here we go.

"No, I am not testing my reach or her flexibility", Shepard continued, intentionally emphasizing the last part, much to the turian's discomfort.

He had told Shepard about his 'encounter' with the turian female scout, but the metaphor he had used to describe the situation was very cheesy and, well, embarrassing. Something Shepard had of course been very keen to remind him of.

Garrus's trail of thought was interrupted by the voice of Shepard. He was looking at the floor and all the grin had faded from his face.

"But in all seriousness"

"I think I like her...", he spoke slowly, as if he was pondering his words carefully "...maybe more than I should".

A barely noticeable smile resting upon his lips and Garrus merely nodded in response.

There was a long silence, as he tried to form his thoughts into speech.

The turian lowered his gaze to the floor before he began.

"She's not like us Shepard" he paused, slightly shaking his head "She deserves something better than this".

Both men sat there, quietly staring the floor.

The silence was ended by the voice of the Commander.

"I know", he said quietly.