~Garrus~
Garrus felt like he was in hell lately, with his constant need to either be in the office or on continuous call in case any new developments come about on their Missing Medical Research Equipment case. Detective Chellick was a good officer and clearly dedicated to his job, but just sitting around willing evidence to appear or process faster wasn't doing anything for Garrus' mood. To say he was anxious was a severe understatement.
Because he was only allowed to shadow the detective while he worked as this was technically his first case in Investigations, the most he could do was fill out forms and formal requests for evidence processing. He could watch Chellick if he found a person of interest for interrogating, but they hadn't had any damn suspects, so that was out.
He felt like he was fifteen and not even out of boot camp with the way C-Sec was using him. Sure, he could offer an idea or two in response to their situation and results of forensic reports, but they were either discounted as more detrimental to their case or when followed, they led nowhere. Chellick pointing out that it could've been a good idea whenever they didn't pan out didn't seem to be helping his mood much either.
Eventually, the day would get to a point where the only thing left was the wait for a certain piece of evidence to be processed, and its results sent to their desk, because they had already exhausted all ideas and theories. At that point, Chellick would send Garrus home because his position didn't give him the opportunity to follow any possible other leads on his own.
The chances to go home wouldn't be so bad if they didn't usually fall at odd hours of the day where Jane was either asleep or off exploring the Citadel. He could always wake her or call her home to see her, but the last thing he wanted to do was become a burden for her despite his reluctance to lose a chance to spend time with her.
He wasn't all that surprised to discover that he not only missed the company and companionship that being around her brought, but also the deeper, more intimate feelings he had developed and was slowing building stronger.
Looking back on their shared moment on the couch where they explored the alien mouth of the other, he was absolutely positive that it was one of the most exhilarating experiences he'd ever had. The same action with a female of his own kind was always more perfunctory and usually just serves as a warming up of what was to come, a chance to taste the other, to process their scent, but even that changed with her.
Those basic functions of intimate interaction were amazing with Jane, with her musky alien taste that had a small hint of citrus and that sweet smell that wafted from her skin to overcome the initial scent of her soaps.
The mix left his head spinning and he was barely able to control his body's reactions, let alone have the state of mind to question why his body was even reacting so positively in the first place to an entirely different species. He had a good guess from her moans and invigorating reciprocation of the kiss that she may be in the same predicament, and also what that sweet smell had been.
Every time after, when he would find her home, he would feel his mouth watering, his chest vibrating with that not-to-be-mentioned rumble and rhythmic purr of lust, and an uncontrollable pull towards her. He would've stopped himself to keep from looking like a virgin fledgling but for her equal reaction to his own presence.
She would press her little body against his own, often not even giving him a chance to sit in some cases, standing on the tips of her little toes to get height and he would lean as much as he could to close the gap so their tongues could tangle together in an electric kiss. It was definitely a good change from her initial unease and he was glad to see her more comfortable with him since his initiative to take the lead that first night.
Most instances, he found his whole time away from work was spent exploring her mouth and having her explore his in return. They often fell under the impeccable timing of Chellick before their actions could go much further and Garrus was somewhat thankful. He didn't want the sudden unfamiliarity of their bodies to put a damper on their growing affections.
Because they both knew absolutely nothing about the other's anatomy, or if anything would even work should they find it escalating, he had decided to spend his time without her looking up vids. The results of his research was informative, to put it lightly, but he knew that now if she wanted to take another step but was hesitant, he could confidently step up.
When they would kiss, he would test some of his new found knowledge with a stroke here, or a squeeze there, and he must have deduced right, if her gasps and speeding breath were any sign. He was pretty sure she was doing research of her own when her fingers would ghost timidly over some of his more sensitive places, not yet used to the amount of pressure needed but still causing a shift in his groin plates.
Now, four days after her first hesitant peck of a kiss, he is sent home by Chellick with the knowledge that they are close at hand to closing their case and not to be expecting any word until the morning.
Excited that for once since getting the assignment he may get a whole night to spend as he wishes, he send a message to Jane to gauge her plans for the evening. With her response to the negative he offers to bring her some food home so that they can share a dinner together. At her appreciative acceptance, he brings her her favorite dish, something called pasta, home and finds himself almost bounding with pent up excitement.
Chastising himself for acting like a juvenile, he casually eats his own meal and catches up with Jane. He hasn't had a chance to talk with her for almost an entire day, the only time he was able to make it home she had been deeply sleeping.
He could see a frown creasing between her brows and she mumbled syllables at some imagined being, so Garrus had sat on the bed beside her and purred soothingly into her ear. Her shoulders had slackened some at his vocal cooing, and with his soft caress to the frown, she soon fell into a more peaceful sleep.
After that, he couldn't help but to collapse on the couch and wait for the inevitable chime of an incoming call or message. Sure enough, he was gone before she even woke back up.
He is pulled out of his thoughts by Jane beginning to speak. "I had headed out to Kithoi Ward earlier today because I remember reading a flyer for a free play going on at the amphitheater." Having finished her meal, she gets up and discards of her dirty dishes, then returning back just as he finishes his own meal. "I thought I could get some cool material for some sketches, but I got all the way there and remembered that I don't have any more pages left." She shrugs with a smirk, "I guess I was too preoccupied."
He snorts and stands to remove his own mess. "I thought you had two notebooks." He looks over his should with a matching smirk. "Unless that other notebook you've been talking about doesn't exist."
She laughs, "Oh it exists, alright." She stands and walks quickly to the bedroom, gone just for a moment before returning with a sketchpad with a smooth black cover. "It wasn't that kind of show, you know."
He sits back down and relaxes against the back, crossing his arms loosely over his abdomen, and lifts one brow plate. "You're telling me that book is strictly for more intimate drawings?" He shrugs with an outward flick of one mandible, "I never knew porn had to be treated so delicately."
She scoffs at him at pushes the book across the table to rest in front of him. "Please, porn is what you see on the extranet. This," she jabs one finger onto the cover, "is much more classy. Take a look."
Startled, he sits up and blinks at her, to which she smirks. "You're actually letting me look at it?"
"Why the hell not?" She takes a drink from her beer and looks at him with mischief in her eyes. "I've been offering since the day we met. Don't tell me you don't remember."
He grabs the book slowly and pulls it closer, straightening its position. "I remember, just didn't think it was something you were open to showing just anyone."
Jane snorts and rolls her eyes. "Garrus, I've had my tongue down your throat and I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one who's interested in seeing how much further we can go with this," she motions between them, "if that doesn't qualify you to seeing what's in there, nothing will." Convinced, he nods quickly and opens the cover to the first page.
On it is a human female, much younger than Jane herself, with long light hair and slightly darker skin. She is half sitting on the sill of a window, its light the only illumination and backlighting her nude form. She has a small image on the ridge of her right hip and it almost looks like some sort of body paint, but she sits too far away in perspective for him to tell exactly. If it wasn't for Garrus' recent extranet history and time with Jane, he wouldn't have been able to see that her pose is not as entirely innocent as it would originally seem.
To Turians, who have plates covering their most vulnerable places, seeing someone in nothing but their natural plating, or in a human's case, skin, isn't actually considered revealing. It wasn't uncommon for some Turians who lived alone or with a mate to simply walk around their home with nothing on because it just felt more comfortable. It was only after Turians joined the galactic community and began to consider how other races interpreted it that began to wear clothes that hid more of their bodies.
Now, though, Garrus knows that humans do not have any natural protection and that the women in particular are, in a sense, always open. The woman capitalizes on that thought by having one leg slightly propped up onto the sill, using the other leg for support by leaning back. It opens her up to view as she cups her chest with one hand and tangles the other in her hair, her lips are slightly open and her eyes are half closed in supposed lust.
He doesn't feel the reaction that he is sure is supposed to come from the image, but then again, he knows he isn't interested in Jane for her species. Still, he is able to see that Jane spent the same amount of care and time into this drawing as her others and he always found her art beautiful. Because of that, he flips to the next page.
On the next page is a human male, and once again, he is able to agree with his earlier thought from his vid watching that humans are a very ineffectively designed species. The male, like all of his kind, is just as plateless as the female, but his penis is enlarged with blood and rigid.
His skin is shaded a darker gray than the previous woman and his hair is cut in an odd fashion with the sides smooth, as if hairless, and taller in the middle, like a line from the front to the back and stopping at the crease of his neck. He can't determine the color because all of Jane's art is black, whites, and grays, but it is shaded darker that the woman's but not completely black.
The male is posed standing, with one arm hanging loosely by his side and the other bent with his hand on his hip. His head is tilted away, as if almost disinterested in his appearance or state of undress. Either he is really unconcerned or it is part of his pose because Garrus has learned that humans tend to be more timid towards the thought of being nude.
Garrus can see on the forearm of his right arm is another body painting, very similar to the woman's and at this distance from the drawer he can see it more clearly. At first it just looked like a large human 'X', but his visor showed that there was human lettering within the cross sections. Reading the translation quickly revealed that the words said 'Reds' across the top plank and '10 St' across the bottom. Jane did say the gang she ran in was named the Tenth Street Reds, this must be a marker for members, he thought. He wondered vaguely if she too had one and where.
The next page is of the two previous subjects, female seated in the male's lap, and both sitting up and staring straight into his eyes. Jane must have been drawing from beyond the foot of the bed as she was able to get a perfect view of the male buried deep into the female through their slightly parted legs.
He cups her chest in both hands, and his fingers are working their differently colored centers. Her head is thrown slightly back and she has one had at the back of his head and the other looks to be caressing their joining.
He looks to Jane to find her half watching him and half looking over towards the images with him. When she notices his stop in movement, she looks up. She smiles and points to the female in the picture, "She was my first. She was a fellow stripper and a few years older than I was." She looks up to him with a smile and then points to the male. "He was her boyfriend at the time, a dealer for the Reds, I think he was. The two of them showed me so many things, sometimes including me in their fun moments, but also being the first to let me draw them." She shrugs, "I guess it was them that made me want to draw these type of sketches." He nods, not really knowing what to add but showing her that she doesn't necessarily need to keep her thoughts to herself.
The next page is of another human male, different this time. This one is covered in the body paint, Garrus remembers that humans call them tattoos, from chest to feet. His hair is shaded dark and pulled back into a style very similar to Jane's ponytail.
He is sitting in a chair haphazardly, with one leg thrown over one arm rest, spreading himself open to view. He seems to be stroking himself lightly, working himself as Jane draws.
The next page has him with his back to her and overall is quite tame considering that there isn't much view of genitalia from the backside, but Garrus thinks that the interest is more in the coverage of the pictures on his flesh. Personally, Garrus doesn't see the appeal and actually feels a bit of a headache at the eyestrain.
Before he turns to the next page he looks up to her. "And him?" He admits that he kind of enjoys this look into another part of her life. Sure, she has shared her share of sex stories with him and he has done the same, but these pictures and the stories they portray seem like deeper look into Jane herself despite the subjects drawn.
"Oh, him," she tilts her head to look more clearly at his picture. "He was a good guy. Not actually part of the Reds, but a bartender at one of their joints. A bit vain in bed, but in a way that helped me to convince him to let me draw him." She looks up to Garrus, "not too many people out here on the Citadel with that many tattoos I take it?" He shakes his head to the negative and turns to the next page and on it is an unexpected change in models.
Soaking in a tub of water is a lightly shaded Asari, presumably maiden by the young curve to her cheeks and face, and from the angle, it looks like the Jane is either in the tub with her or sitting up on the edge. The image stops at just below the Asari's breasts for Garrus to be sure.
The maiden has a geometric swirl to her facial markings and she wears a small band around her neck that glitters in whatever light shines in the room. Her arms are braced against the lip of the small tongue and her lips curve in a sultry smile.
"She was a sweet girl," Jane says from beside him. "I had met her pretty much right out of boot camp and she was one of the few Asari who hadn't insisted on melding with me when we were together."
He looks to her in silent question and she shrugs before answering shyly, "I don't like the idea of someone getting into my head if it's just supposed to be a one night stand. Blame it on my commitment issues but I don't know enough about mind melding to know for sure they aren't going to go digging into my darkest corners."
"I guess that's as good a reason as any." He doesn't know how to say that he is actually grateful that she has already tried to reach out of her own kind. Even if it was with an Asari that is more similar to herself, the thought that she is not against the idea of another species helps to alleviate some of the doubt about the two of them.
The next three pages are of the same Asari in different poses, one licking some candy with a stick, one from behind as she bends over with a look over her shoulder, and one with her laying on her back with one hand between her legs and the other on her breast. Jane remarks that the girl was 'definitely used to posing for others.'
The next page is of two males humans with their mouths pressed together and hands wrapped around the other's penis. One has darkly shaded skin and the other is slightly lighter, both have cropped hair and metal tags, military dog tags like Jane's he notes, hanging around their necks.
When Jane sees the drawing she snorts a laugh. "Damn, I forgot I still had this." She scoots closer and points at the tags around their necks. "These two idiots served with me and got caught 'fraternizing' while on duty, so their punishment was a reprimand and separation. They did screw up and deserve it, but even I thought it was harsh when one got a posting on a ship and the other on a colony to help set up prefabs for a year or two. They were devastated and they knew that I was able to draw them intimately. They paid me to draw them a handful of sketches of them both so they could use them to remember." She shrugs with a dismissive tilt to her lips, "I would've just taken photos, but whatever. I guess I kept one, though looking at it, I kinda like the reminder."
The next human has Garrus do a double take because of the odd additions to her pale body. Placed at various areas of her body are what seem to be small pieces of jewelry but there are no chains holding the sparkling items in place.
The woman has long, straight black hair and sits at the edge of a bed, resting her weight on her arms outstretched behind her. She has the strange beads of jewelry on the colored centers of her breasts, that little divot in her belly, her eyebrows, nose, cheeks, chin, and even one glistens from between her bare folds.
He can't hold in his curiosity and asks, "Jane, what are all those things on her body?"
She squints at the image and thinks a second. He can't understand why she seems like she can't see it and is about to clarify when she exclaims, "Oh! You're talking about her piercings." She points to the divot of her belly. "Those little things right?" He nods silently with a tilt of his head in confusion, hoping she will clarify what a piercing is. "Humans sometimes put holes in their body and put little pieces of jewelry in them." She pulls her ear lobe and points to it. He looks closely and can vaguely see a small indent in the flesh. "I had some but I lost my only pair of little stud earrings a year or so back because you can't wear them on duty."
"Why do humans want to put holes in their bodies?" He can understand the concept behind tattoos because they seem to portray messages to others, much like his own colony markings, but he can't seem to come up with a reason for such mutilation.
"It's not as bad as you seem to be making it." Mostly it's just a personal preference on looks, and also aided by social ideals, but sometimes it's done for other reasons." She points to the woman's breasts and then down to her vagina. "These are said to be more pleasurable. She certainly said they helped her."
The next page is unexpected because it contains the image of an Asari, clearly pregnant and Garrus can't stop himself before the words escape. "Please tell me that's not because of you," he points to the woman's round belly.
Jane all out guffaws and shakes her head. With that settled, he is able to look at the woman as she stands, her hands cradling the life within her body. The image is very calming and the woman has clear love for her child and that same love in shown in the way that Jane had delicately drawn her. He almost feels the need to tell Jane that this picture shouldn't belong in here when he skips to the next page and stops short.
If he was told today that Jane would find a way to nearly stop his heart with a single picture, he wouldn't have believed them and out right laughed at them, but here he was, his brain stuttering and misfiring. "Please tell me you didn't sleep with a Krogan, Jane." He turns to her with an open plea in his eyes.
The thought of tiny Jane with a huge Krogan is making him cringe and he doesn't even the same equipment with which to sympathize. It isn't that he's disgusted, it is her decision to live how she wants and he probably hadn't even met her, but thanks to his recent vid viewings, he knew the pain that must have been involved.
She smirks at Garrus and tilts her head slightly done so that she looks to him through her lashes. "Garrus, look at me. Does it look like I slept with a Krogan? Do I not walk straight or something? The answer is no, at least on the first question because I have no idea on the second. Besides, this," she points at the picture, "is a female."
Shocked at that fact he takes a moment to process before asking, "How did you meet a Krogan female? And you convinced her to pose naked?"
The Krogan in question doesn't look any different from any one that he has seen and he wouldn't have been able to tell if it was female or not without her explanation, but he knew for certain from his experience here on the Citadel that the Krogan tend to keep their females in their home system on Tuchanka.
The Krogan is the only other species to have plates besides his own, but whereas his own plates seem to have different thickness to ease with movement and have a smooth look and feel, a Krogan's plates are rough and solid. To make of for their limited movability, their plates are sparser on their body and, from this angle in the picture, only seem to cover the tops of their heads, their humps, along their stomachs, with large gaps for maneuverability, and their thighs, everything else is not within the depiction.
The, presumably, female Krogan has, what has to be the first ever, look of calm and peace. She is looking out of a large window while she leans against the wall next to it. Jane must be looking to her from the side because she only gets a small glimpse of the Krogan's arm opposite of her position.
When she answer his questions, Jane smiles and joins him in looking at the Krogan. "There was a posting I had where we were on Illium for a couple of day's shore leave while we were transferred to another ship. We were technically still on duty so we were restricted to just the hotel we were staying at and its bar.
"It was there that I met her," she points to the image, "and the Asari from the page before. They were bondmates, but at the time I had no idea. I just saw this pregnant, Asari having a Krogan help her carry some boxes of glass bottles and I was curious. First, I hadn't seen a pregnant Asari just walking around willy nilly and second, I had never really seen a Krogan at the time. At least not one that I wasn't drunkenly trying to get into a fight with." He chuckles slightly at that thought, knowing that that was probably true. "I went up to them and introduced myself. I ended up finding out about the whole being females and bondmates."
"Usually female Krogan don't stray far from home, let alone bond with someone outside of their species," he responds, coughing as he says the next part, "the genophage makes Krogan protective of their females."
She nods in agreement. "I actually brought that up and that's when Shara, the Krogan, told me her history.
"When she was very young a rival clan attacks her own clan, wiping out the adults and kidnapping the children. Supposedly, the clan leader lived off world and was having his people trying to take females so that he could take them off world too to try and breed. It was some stupid idea that the atmosphere of Tuchanka was making the effects of the genophage more effective, so she was sent off world in hopes that when she came of age she could give him kids.
"Fast forward to her trying to have a baby, and it can out still born. Upset with the failure, the clan leader abandoned her. She was without a clan so she didn't have a clue about her people or their ways and she was afraid to just show back up on her home planet, especially now that she knew she couldn't even have kids. She had taken a job as a mercenary and that's where she met and Asari maiden and over the years they fell in love, I guess." She shrugs and turns to the next page.
On it are the two aforementioned women and they are laying in a bed together, the Krogan behind her bondmate with the Asari pulled up close to her plated chest. He can see that the Krogan's arm in wrapped below the Asari, stroking her breast, as the other reaches around and sits below the large belly, caressing her blue folds. She licks her lover's neck and the Asari has a look of absolute bliss and pleasure on her face.
"When I talked to them, I asked if they'd let me draw them together," Jane says. "At first, Shara was hesitant, but her mate, Teenala I think it was, told her how she had posed for much worse after hearing my explanation. I also promised them that if they didn't like the drawings they could destroy them if they wanted. I think they turned out pretty good, and they must have too because they actually took one of the two of them together." She smiles, "those two were actually really sweet. I've never met two people so happy before."
As he turns to what looks to be the last page, Jane says vaguely, "And here's my most unique, by far."
On the page stands a slender Drell male, his hand around himself and his dark eyes looking straight up from the page. He has dark markings that run down over his shoulders and come to a swirl right above his circle penis.
Garrus is surprised that Jane ever knew a Drell, let alone slept with one and got to draw his photo. He is ashamed to find that he is feeling a bit insecure over his position with Jane at the thought of her seemingly so at ease with those out of her species but still with those so similar in shape of body. He can't help but wonder what that means for him once she gets the chance to see what lies beneath his armor and civvies.
"Now, this guy," she starts, not knowing the internal battle going on in his head. "Was great fun to draw, what with all his shiny scales and details, but damn, was he a great disappointment. First of all," she holds up one finger, "he had no sense of humor and just plain no sense of any emotion. Second," she holds up another finger, "he was so narcissistic I was afraid he only agreed to pose because he thought he was going to get all of the drawings. Third," she raises a third finger, "he didn't tell me beforehand that he had absolutely no desire to sleep with me. He was an asexual, I think it's called, but it was more like he just didn't find pleasure in anyone but himself. And last," she holds up her fourth finger, "he had spit that left me high as a kite the rest of the night. Another thing I wasn't too happy about because I had no idea that would happen, and I certainly didn't like the feeling of falling back into a habit. Been there, done the drugs, kicked the shit, definitely didn't want to feel it again." She huffs, "to top it all off, it wasn't even that good of a kiss. It felt dry and his tongue was scratchy like sandpaper. You have a rough tongue, but hell, you at least have enough saliva to feel good."
His mandibles flicker in silent embarrassment, somehow she must have felt that he was feeling that small bit of self-consciousness but her statement didn't feel anything like a form of appeasement, just Jane saying whatever came to mind like she tended to do. He felt that she should at least know the facts of their kiss. "Usually, a Turian's mouth is dry." She looks to him with interest in her eyes. "It's an evolutionary thing, because when don't have lips to create a perfect seal and thus have these open sides," he points to the gap above his mandible where his teeth are visible, "we can't keep our saliva from evaporating in Palaven's heat. We have a bit at the back of our throats to aid in food going down when we swallow, but usually it stays that way. If we are at a point where we are really hot, almost overheating, our bodies produce saliva in hopes that when we pant, the evaporating liquid will help cool. When we are in a more intimate setting," she leans a bit closer in anticipation, some of her natural curiosity still shining in her eyes, "our mouths water for other reasons."
"And what reasons are those?" He can't help the quick hum of a flirt at her taking the bait.
"When our tongues are wet, they pick up scents easier, making us able to scent the air and tell when someone is aroused." He catches a small hint of a smile on her lips, he leans close to her and lowers his voice with a deep purr. "It also helps for opening up a female's plates." If she hasn't looked at her share of porn of his species or even checked an anatomy diagram, she won't know what he's talking about, but from her quick intake of breath she has. He can't help himself from smirking at her reaction.
She moves the next few centimeters closer to him and rubs her forehead against his. His chest vibrates in a low rumble and he reciprocates the gesture she has caught onto so quickly. He would have been perfectly fine is she hadn't caught onto the sign of affection and instead stuck with the lip kisses she was used to because any sign she used would still portray her intentions. The fact that she actually used both in equal amounts just made him feel more connected to her, so he always tries his best to mimic the movements of her lips.
It was as he was tilting his head to do just that that she pulled back with an excited look on her features. "Can I draw you?"
"Me?" Garrus is thrown off by the request because he didn't find himself particularly vain enough to pose for her. He did have his times where he made sure to check the width of his waist, the shine of his fringe, the resonance of his voice, the crispness of his fringe, and other aspects of his body, but that was mostly in intentions of impressing a woman. Any of his work at self-improvement was to gain the attentions of others and it was work because he was the last one to think that it was good enough, he even had bad problems because he tried to maintain his waist size. To have her ask to draw him was almost funny, but he had to make sure she was serious before he started laughing. "Don't you usually want to draw beautiful things in that book?"
She opens her mouth in shock, before slamming it shut and glaring at him. "Garrus Vakarian. I don't have to be a Turian, Krogan, Asari, Volus, Hanar, or whatever to know that each species is beautiful, whether it just be from an artistic stand point or a more personal stand point." She stands and pulls forcefully on his clothes to get him up too. "I have seen some vids of Turians and I have to tell you that I want this," she places her hands against his chest on either side of his keel bone. "I want to see you. If you decide you don't want to be drawn then that's okay. Not everyone I've known has had the confidence or want to be drawn." She smiles up to him and he looks into her beautiful green eyes. "I just want to be able to see you, to touch you. We can both take turns. What do you say, Garrus?"