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theherocomplex · 4 years

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Amorevolous and/or Lubency for shakarian for the lost words meme? 😁

Amorevolous: affectionate; loving

Hi hello my happy place is the Normandy crew taking care of each other, and also the Eliza Shepard/Miranda friendship, and also Garrus being the best boyfriend ever, thank you!

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Garrus could count on one hand the turians he knew who would fight an order to take a clearly-needed break. Shepard, on the other hand, looked ready to declare open mutiny.

“I can’t believe Hackett wants me to take a vacation,” she snarled, slamming drawers as she stalked around their cabin. “A vacation, Garrus.”

“I was in the room when he said it,” Garrus said mildly, holding her gaze without blinking when she whirled on him, eyes bright. “Tell me, how many times did you say with all due respect? Was it five?”

“Six,” said Liara, over the comms. Shepard’s glare immediately fastened on the ceiling. “Oh, right, I was listening. Sorry?”

Shepard lifted both hands, clenched into fists, and for an eternal second, Garrus wondered if he and Liara might not end up smeared across the bulkhead in the next five minutes. It had gotten a hell of a lot harder to help Shepard burn out her temper over the past few weeks; usually, she’d go off like a flashbang grenade, more light and noise than heat, and a little teasing would chase that edgy, hunted look out of her eyes, but lately —

Since Despoina, he thought, as Shepard drove her hands into her hair and yanked her braids loose, scattering pins to the floor, and then stormed into the head. Since the Leviathan.

Since Despoina, she’d never really uncoiled. Thessia had been bad, and it had taken nearly two weeks for Shepard and Liara to be in the same room, but at least Shepard had slept, once the first surge of fury and grief was over. She’d eaten. Now she looked about two breaths and a ration bar away from dead, and that was one way he never wanted to see her again.

The door to the head closed. A second later, Liara’s voice rose from his personal comms.

“She needs this.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” Garrus snapped — he was the one in this cabin every night, the one on every mission. Of course he knew. “Sorry. You’re not telling me anything new, Liara.”

A slight pause on Liara’s end — just long enough to let him know she was thinking about closing the channel and letting him stew, and no longer — and then: “Do you think she’ll listen to Hackett?”

“He was pretty emphatic.” A non-answer, and Liara’s little sigh said she hadn’t missed it. “She won’t have a choice. Joker’s already laid in a course for the Citadel, and he’s more scared of losing Shepard than he is of Shepard. She won’t like it, but…”

“No, she won’t. But what about you, Garrus?”

He frowned at empty space as he settled back onto the couch. The sound of running water came from the head, and he started a mental countdown from five minutes. After that, he’d force the door open if she didn’t answer. “What about me, what?”

“Will you like this? A vacation? Taking leave?”

Garrus shrugged out of habit. Liara couldn’t see him, but by now they knew the rhythms of each other’s conversation by heart. She didn’t need to see him. “It’ll be good to check in on the camps. They’ve got a steady stream of supplies coming in, but everyone who turned back after Sanctuary is —”

The greenery, the fresh air. The husks swarming down from the ceiling.

“Of course,” said Liara, into his silence. “Is there anything I can do?”

“See if there’s any way to stock this apartment with cheese?” he said, standing up. Thirty seconds to go. “Might be the only way we can get Shepard to actually agree to this.”

“I’ll see what I can arrange,” said Liara, a smile creeping into her voice. “But I’ll tell Chakwas to have sedatives ready, just in case. Good night, Garrus. Call me if you need anything.”

He huffed a laugh as he climbed the stairs toward the head, a fresh wave of weariness settling into his bones when he saw the new-message light flashing on Shepard’s terminal. Well, it wouldn’t be the first thing she saw when she walked out. He could guarantee that, at least.

“Shepard?” he called, and rapped on the door with his knuckles. “Are you —”

The door slid open, and billows of citrus-scented steam wreathed themselves around his legs. When he slipped inside, turning off the shower as he went, he found Shepard sitting on the counter, stripped down to her underwear and staring at her omnitool display.

She might take his head off if he reminded her of their agreement to leave all non-urgent messages for the morning, but it’d be worth a try if she’d just come to bed and get a few hours’ sleep. “Shepard, come on.”

“It’s not work,” she said, without looking up. Her mouth turned up at one corner, her pale lips soft with surprise. “It’s a message from Miranda. She’s on the Citadel.”

“That's…unexpected.” The last Garrus had heard, Miranda was raining merry hell — her phrase, surprisingly — on any Cerberus facilities she could find. “What’s she doing there?”

Shepard shrugged one-shouldered, chewing at a finger. Garrus caught sight of red fingertips, and gently tugged her hand away to cradle it in both of his. If Shepard noticed, she didn’t show it. “She asked to meet up, for…dinner?” A frown nicked the skin between Shepard’s brows, then vanished, replaced by a growing smile. “Girls’ night, she said. Girls’ night.”

She rubbed at her mouth, blinking fast. Garrus kept hold of her other hand, waiting, watching.

“I didn’t think I’d see her again,” she said. “Not for – not for a while. But…”

“Hell of a coincidence she’ll be there when we are,” Garrus said, and tried to look innocent when Shepard gave him a dubious look through her omnitool display. “I’m only saying, it’s been a while, and you deserve this girls’ night –”

“Oh, shut up, Garrus, and just say told you so.” She pushed off the counter, and pressed a quick kiss to his mandible. “Smug is a better look for you than innocent.”

“Everything’s a good look on me,” he said, pulling her back against his keel, for a real kiss this time. “You know it.”

She laughed, and a knot in his gut loosened. “I do,” she said. “I do.”

#Mass Effect #Shakarian #Garrus Vakarian #Commander Eliza Shepard #beefic #thank you! <3 #wafflesrock16 #long post

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