A 'Normal' Life
This was the closest to a normal life he's ever had. A shame it just had to come under these circumstances.
An apocalyptic war of proportions far beyond biblical; he may not even come close to truly living it as this could all come to an end. It wasn't fair but nothing in life ever was.
Admiral Anderson's Apartment was given to him; it didn't feel right being forced into shore leave while people were dying. But…these were orders from Admiral Hackett. Fair enough.
To sit quietly, enjoy a quiet atmosphere was…awkward the more he dwelled on it. Most of what he had known were shipbound bunks, the one relatively cozy Captain's cabin of the SR-2 to console his night terrors and fits of anger and foxholes with mortar fire going around.
But it was refreshing, nonetheless, and enjoyable. This was the life he was fighting for: peace and domesticity. It was exactly the kind've 'better life' he had promised Jane. For a while, he couldn't keep that promise to her; but once he found love again, he found a reason to keep that promise once more.
It was terrible that only recently did he realize what he had wanted all along, only for that possibility to slowly fade the further this war was dragging on. But nonetheless, this was his taste of it, and he gets to spend it with people he considered family and friends. And best of all, the love of his life. He would've never imagined he would even have one, let alone a Quarian; but now he would fight tooth and nail to keep that.
He moved in some personal items to an apartment that was, in his opinion, excessive. What's the point of having 3 bedrooms, Admiral? 4 lounges and 2 bar areas!? He had added what would be his own spice to it. The abstract art was not to his taste; he honestly preferred environmental paintings, but he admitted they didn't harm the atmosphere. He did notice some shelf space that was unoccupied, so he moved in his physical literature: the stoic philosophers, one of the Bible, though he wasn't sure if he believed in it at that point; never was sure, but was a good read, nonetheless. His model ships, his regimented meals in the fridge and some exercise equipment that was vital to his routine, and the pain medication that Chakwas prescribed to him to deal with his cybernetic induced arthritis.
Most importantly was the VI sterilization program which needed a serious upgrade if he and Tali were going to do anything, that is. It was the same product from the SR-2 back in his Cerberus phase. It certainly needed to be recalibrated to the size of the bedroom, which was thankfully somewhat smaller. This was vital to his happiness, as it ensured her's. Pair that with the anti-bacterial soap, a hot tub bath that would ensure a more thorough clean, and her nearly 1 year of immune-therapy that was resumed the moment both she and Chakwas returned to the Normandy, and they could spend nearly two-hours every night in harmony.
It wasn't always just sexual; sometimes the intimacy of being naked and cuddling was pleasure enough. He knew just how much it meant to her to be outside of her suit and with him. Both had been touch deprived all their lives; she from her biological, and more importantly, cultural plight, and he from his depressing life path, both from superimposed ideas of selflessness to which they originally believed they had no agency over. They realized just how wrong they were, and what they wanted the whole time. Physical, skin to skin touch meant something special to them; an ecstasy of its own. It was an act of rebellion, but not for the pleasure to spite their upbringing; they couldn't care less for spiting anyone. They rebelled for each other.
On this night, Shepard…or John in his shore leave form, took to relocating the VI sterilization program to the living room. Tali wanted to watch Fleet and Flotilla; said he's 'missing out' on a classic. She apparently wrote fanfiction for it, after all. If it was a romance, and if she was hot and bothered by it, he wanted to be ready for it to quickly turn raunchy in real time.
She lay cuddled up to him as they watched the 'Vid' as Aliens would call it, her helmeted head nestling in the nape of his neck that was surrounded by the hood of his sweater, his right arm draped around her, pulling her in comfortably tight. She had at occasional intervals trickled her fingers up and down his torso, often focusing on his chest, which she became uniquely infatuated with, his abdomen a second. He would respond with receiving her three fingered hand in his 5 fingered own and kissed the palm, letting it rest on his cheek as she would then stroke at his ticklish stubble. She must've had her nerve-stim pro on; she honestly couldn't control herself touching him, everything was exhilarating; the feel of his skin, the tickle of his mammalian hair, the warmth of his breath, the beat of his heart, his lips, the taste of his tongue and his…
They had reached the scene where Shalai and Bellicus were on the balcony, and the Romeo and Juliet vibes were felt, in John's understanding of it. He also felt the real thematic reason she wanted to watch this with him. So he begged the question to his alien lover…
"Do you watch this a lot? The lovers from two different worlds?"
Tali sighed in delight: "Every time me and my friends had a sleepover."
"Anything…else happened at those sleepovers?"
She giggled, "John…"
"Go on."
"Heh…lots of dancing."
"Oh? What kind?"
"Quarian dance."
"How do Quarians dance?"
"You know how Quarians dance."
"I've seen you dance a few ways…"
She lightly slapped his chest. "Keelah, you're such a…" She paused.
"I'm a what, Miss vas Normandy?"
"A male. Now shush, this is the best part." She placed her fingers over his mouth, dragging over his lips. She kept them there, ensuring he would keep shut so as he would not disturb her favorite moment. A real ardent fan of this, aint she?
The TV resonated with the voices of the cast: "But Shalei, we can never be together. I have my duty and you have your people."
"Not tonight…tonight I'm as free as the dust in the solar wind." Christ, what a corny line.
"Keelah, I love that line," but John chuckled. "What? It's romantic."
"It's corny."
"Honestly I don't even know what that means and I disagree with you."
"I just said its corny, not that its bad." John didn't think the Vid was bad. In fact, he related a little too terrifyingly well to the lead, Bellicus. It wasn't just romantic, it was really politicized in it's subtext, and provocative; it was even controversial.
From what he heard, the main actor who played the Turian lead was killed in an unprovoked attack by another Turian in a barfight. It was quite a famous tall tale especially when many of the Turians who worked on the film were either hurt, killed or had disappeared; not all, but many. Some said it was the 'Fleet and Flotilla curse', but if John had anything to say about it, it was Turian Nationalism rearing its ugly head. On the other hand, the film was praised in Quarian society for the sympathetic portrayal of Quarians, even if some detractors did note that there was reliance on stereotypes, but others argued it was supposed to be a deconstruction of them, with Tali insisting on the latter.
Though, he can catch the undertones of a sexually repressed individual being made to turn that energy toward killing for the sake of some 'higher cause'; such a thing was common for Turians in their highly militarized and hierarchical society. It wasn't too far off from Human military culture. Yet even then, it seemed like some Turians criticized this aspect of Palaven and didn't all just fall in line. I guess that would explain those Turians who left to go live in the Terminus Systems. To him, Bellicus felt like who he was all those years ago. Then he finds someone from another race very much like him, and they overcome this repression together. A little too much like us…
"It sure isn't bad," Tali suddenly sprung up out of her cuddle with John. "Oh! We can activate sing-along-mode!"
"…what…?" Tali pressed a button through her Omni-tool remote, and suddenly lyrics came on screen, to which John could read in good English. Sing along? What should I do, should I sing with her? I don't know these lyrics…
But suddenly her voice interrupted his thoughts as she took his hands in hers. From behind her voice amplifier, she began singing the lyrics with a rather uncontrolled chord. She had risen to her feet, prompting him to rise with her. What's going on? Help. She hit the notes, yes, but she also jittered and there were a couple of voice cracks as well. I guess I'll just stand here…staring at her. But he couldn't help but smile at this. Her willingness to be in one of the most vulnerable states imaginable: singing for a lover. As she progressed further into the ballad, she inched closer to John until they were wrapped in each other's arms. The very last line, she had raised up her mask as she finished the lyrics off, having run out of breath, then collapsed into the nape of his neck as she was catching her breath.
John couldn't help it. He loved this little xeno-muffin. He wasn't in any doubt of that, now he's even more certain, not that he needed any more proof. He tightened his embrace with her, giving her a pat on the back and a polite chuckle.
"So you always had a thing for Alien men…" Tali shifted her gaze up to him, not taking her helm off his shoulder.
"Only the cute ones." The TV interrupted them.
"I want you to see behind this mask, I want you to see who I truly am."
"I already have…"
Tali took John's hand in hers again.
"Works for me."
"It's still corny," John laughed.
"Shut up."
"Let me show you," John gently cupped the mandibles of her visor and pulled her close. He placed a kiss on her visor where her forehead would be, held it for a good few seconds and gently backed out of it, looking deep into her glowing eyes. "That wasn't corny."
"That we agree." They fell back into their embrace with Tali ergonomically fitting herself into him, and they slowly swayed back and forth at the hips, a little pseudo-slow dance that was becoming second nature for them.
"You know," John went. "I sterilized this room."
"And I'm on herbal supplements and immune-boosters…" They looked into each other's eyes again, with this non-verbal nod. You obviously wanted this to happen, you little…
John reached for the clamps on the side of her mask, and she guided his hands up. There was a click, a hiss and the mask was removed, freeing her face to meet his. Her black corneas, glowing pupils, the two slits for a nose, her pale skin that was marked with discolored spotted patterns across her face, and her expression that was hidden from the world now open. It was the alien face he had come to love.
"Hi." He whispered, a warm smile and a deep gaze of his blue pupils into her glowing ones.
"Hey," she warmly replied, and gave a self-comforting giggle.
The visor was dropped with a thud on the floor, to which Tali couldn't help but feel was a symbolic gesture of her breaking free and casting aside her restraints. He brought his hand up to her cheek, caressing it in the same symbolic way they had done the first time they joined. He advanced in, tilting his head to avoid the bone structure of what would be her nasal region. There he planted a kiss on her exposed lips, and she returned it with a shutting of her eyes and a pursing of hers around his upper. They stayed like this for a moment before breaking and pressing their foreheads on each other to catch their breath.
"Captain?" She let out.
"Miss vas Normandy?"
"Get me out of this thing."
"Aye-Aye."
He reached around her, slowly un-hooking and unclamping the many belts and fastenings around her until the suit became very loose. She reciprocated by doing the same for him, helping him strip down and out of his sweater, his T-shirt, his sweat pants. He pulled back her Sehi, then helped her remove her helmet to reveal the bald, pale Quarian head of hers. Then the rest of the suit slipped off like butter, and the next thing they knew, they were embracing each other naked, their skin touching like electricity. All the while they never stopped their hips from swaying back and forth in unison, to which it actualized into the slow dance they had accumulated.
John had used his Omni-tool briefly behind her back to shut off the lights, and the TV was off. The only light that was there was from the window of the open world outside, the holo-ads that went off and the shadows of the skycars passing by. Then he set the mood music over the sound systems that ran across the whole apartment. A slow rhythmed ethereal track from some dream pop band that was a hit in Earth's 21st century.
From there they continued their slow dance, now having committed to it, their hips following the sway of the beat, one of their hands joined out and the other wrapped around the other, hers over his shoulder and his caressing the small of her back. Their warmth had transferred into one, their skins lightly gliding across, occasionally running their hands along various body parts. He could feel her breasts press against him, the rise of her hips fitting his hand beautifully. The exhilaration of the world watching them through their window as they went on shamelessly in all their nakedness, silhouetted by its light. Their dancing shadows followed them with the backdrop of the world and the skycars that they couldn't be bothered to acknowledge.
They had made love that night, right there in the living room, as slow and as gently as two souls joining wished. It felt like there was nothing and nobody else in this galaxy but them. There was no war, no Reapers, no authoritarian states propping them up and abusing them for some constructed 'greater good'. It was just them; them and a handful of orgasms.
Of course, the next morning came with the typical complications they had grown accustomed to. Complications, yes; but it was their complications, that only they had shared.
There was nothing normal about their lives, and this is the closest it has ever come to it being normal. But if it was normal, maybe they wouldn't have met. So…maybe normal wasn't something they wanted. But peace, tranquility, harmony, love: that was something for sure.
