Adult-FanFiction.org : Games

Friends With Benefits	By : The_Red_Celt Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 6229 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect or any of the characters therein, and make no money from this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Friends With Benefits
- 2-Two
- 3-Three
- 4-Four
- 5-Five
- 6-Six
- 5
- 6
The next day Garrus woke up later than usual, whether from drink or the painkillers he didn’t know, and Shepard was already gone. She’d left him a message saying she was going out to run some errands and not to expect her back until later, and it was littered with those emoticons she was so fond of using.
There were some new sniper rifle mods for his Viper that he wanted, so he went to the shops on the Presidium to see if Elkoss Arsenal had any in stock. Across the Commons he saw Shepard, Liara, and Mordin with their heads together over a collection of datapads at a table on the balcony. As Garrus approached, Mordin stood up to leave and gave him a distracted greeting as he passed. Shepard was surprised to see him and Liara began surreptitiously clearing away the datapads.
“Liara, nice to see you away from Hagalaz,” he said. “I’m not interrupting, am I?”
“Of course not, Garrus. It’s good to see you as always. I was—that is to say, we—“
“—were just catching up a bit, and Mordin wanted to talk about some ideas he had about the Collectors,” Shepard said innocently, which immediately made him suspicious. Shepard didn’t do innocent, but if she didn’t want to talk about it that was fine with him.
“I’ll see you later, Shepard. Garrus.” Liara stood and took a large case from under her seat and left.
“Sorry for ditching you,” Shepard said.
“No problem. I’m glad I caught you, though. I . . . wanted to talk to you about something.” He took the seat Liara had just vacated, his mouth suddenly too dry.
“Okay, shoot.”
“About us.”
She had to quash a sudden jolt of anxiety that coursed through her at those words. “Oh?”
“Well . . . um . . .” He rubbed the back of his neck and tried to think of where to begin. “Before all this started, I never really thought about an inter-species relationship before . . . and damn, saying it like that doesn’t make it sound any better.” He knew he was rambling, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. The expectant look Shepard was giving him wasn’t helping, either. “I know that we started sleeping together to blow off steam, but I—“ Why was it suddenly so hard to talk to her? She reached out and laced her fingers with his and that small touch reassured him. “I want more. I . . . care for you, maybe more than I should. I want something real that’s just for us, before we throw ourselves into hell for the good of the galaxy.”
Shepard leaned forward until their foreheads met and he closed his eyes, stroking her cheek. “I want that too, Garrus. You know, I’m glad you were the one to say something. I probably would have been all beet-red and fidgety.”
“Now I kinda wish I had waited. It would have been worth it to see Commander Shepard, all-around interstellar badass, tripping over herself.” She gave him a look that was supposed to be indignant but she was too happy to manage it.
“We need to go pack,” she said regretfully. “I was just about to send out the all-hands alert when you showed up.”
They stood and started toward the transit hub, and he fell into step beside her. They were nearly there when he said, “Hang on a second, I want to do something first.” He led her into a relatively secluded corner, pulled her against him, and bent down to kiss her.
It was very obvious he was inexperienced but, after a little hands-on instruction, he proved to be a quick study. His mouth was surprisingly pliant and his tongue more than made up for his lack of lips (at least, lips as Shepard knew them). And she was having a lot of fun getting to know his—the way he tasted, his hands warm and heavy on her back, the way he moaned into her mouth when she stroked his fringe. With one last lingering press of lips to plates they parted, and Shepard’s head was spinning.
“I think I can see the appeal now,” he said huskily, his sub-vocals a deep basso profundo rumble that vibrated through her body.
“You’ve never done that before?”
He shook his head. “Watched some vids, though. How’d I do?”
“Hmmm, I think we’ll have to practice a lot more. You know, to perfect your technique.” She tilted her face up to his and lightly brushed her lips against his mandible. “Is there anything turians do that you’d like me to try?”
“If I think of something, I’ll let you know.” He slipped his arm around her waist and they proceeded to his apartment for the last time. They took their time retrieving their things, drawing out these few minutes before returning to the ship and the weight of the mission closed around them once more.
__________
Two days later:
All the upgrades had been installed, the team was a well-oiled machine, and Garrus only had one more scan of the weapons systems to perform before the ship would be ready. Shepard had gone on to her cabin, and every time he thought about her it did wonderful things to his insides. He was realistic about their odds, but the fact that he had something to look forward to afterward was making him downright impatient to be off to kick the living shit out of the Collectors.
He’d considered calling Solana or his father before the jump, but he was torn. On the one hand, it would be nice to talk to them one last time if something went wrong; on the other, maybe it was better not to say anything at all. Things had been strained between them lately and he really wasn’t in the mood for another lecture from his father, especially now.
He brought up his omnitool twice before reconsidering and stowing it again. The third time, he noticed the message icon blinking; it was from Helos Medical Institute. His heart dropped through the floor as he brought it up, fearing the worst.
Then he read the message again, and it didn’t make any more sense the second time. Who could have done this? There wasn’t anyone outside his family who knew about his mother—only someone with access to his own personal messages would have any—
Oh.
Someone like the Shadow Broker.
Oh.
He caught himself against the console just before his knees gave out from under him and he pushed his knuckles against his mouth to muffle the sounds he was making as he read the message a third time.
Oh, Shepard.
He made his way toward the elevator on shaky legs, and he barely registered the eerily quiet halls as he punched in the code that would take him up to her cabin. The doors hissed open and he heard music coming from the bathroom, then Shepard singing. She managed to stay on-key most of the time, but her enthusiasm made up for any lack of ability.
“There’s a fire in the courtyard, blazing ‘cross the sky, bullets flying over, sound the battle cry . . . ”
He paced around a bit, waiting for her to finish, and when she cut the music off he called through the door, “Hey, Shepard.”
“Oh, hey! I was just getting myself psyched up forohmygod what happened?” She’d just opened the door, a hairbrush-mic in her hand, and saw the expression on his face. He looked shell-shocked, like he had no idea what to do.
“I just got a message from the hospital where my mother’s been staying. They said that they wanted to thank me for my generous donation and for the sample of Collector tissue.” He paused to gauge her reaction, but she kept her face blank. That right there went a long way toward confirming his suspicions. “They also wanted to thank Doctor Solus for calling the STG, and for the several dozen pages of research he sent. They’re ‘cautiously optimistic’ about her—their words—for the first time in a very long time. I think they assumed the credit transfer was from me, since it wasn’t from Solana or my father and no one else was supposed to know about this.”
“I, uh, tried to keep it anonymous,” she said, and he had to choke down the lump that was building up in his throat. Shepard touched his arm but he didn’t react, and she started to wonder if he was upset about breaching his privacy. “I swear, I didn’t go digging through your files. Liara came across the information and forwarded it to me, and I asked Mordin if he could call in his contacts and maybe work on it in his spare time—you know, instead of inventing new bio-weapons and all the other crazy shit he usually does. I didn’t want to tell you because you never mentioned it, so I thought maybe you were—“ She was abruptly cut off when Garrus wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tight.
“I . . . I can’t begin to thank you for this, Shepard.” He pulled away so he could see her face. “Why did it take me so long to find you?” he whispered.
“I’ve been right here the whole time,” she said confusedly, thinking he was talking about her location on the ship for a moment before he tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and gently touched his cheek to hers.
“You really have, haven’t you?” He made a trilling purr that she’d never heard from him before and his arms went around her waist as he turned his head to catch her lower lip and run his tongue across it. Her breath hitched and she kissed him hard, trying to fit as much of her body against his as she could.
There was something different about this, and she didn’t know what it was—they’d been intimate before, but now her stomach was full of butterflies and she was unsure of what to do next. When she broke the kiss to tell him so, she saw the same uncertainty on his face.
“Garrus, I—“ she began hesitantly, “—I don’t want to fuck this up.”
“I know what you mean,” he said, threading his fingers into her hair while his other hand stroked her lower back. “It seems like both of us are always getting the short end of the stick and that so much has gone wrong in the past—my work with C-Sec, what happened with Sidonis. I want something to go right . . . just once. Just—“ She stopped him with a hand to his cheek and smiled up at him, her mind made up.
“We’ve made a career out of doing the impossible. I think we can manage this.” Her arms went around his neck and she grinned. “So I guess this makes you my boyfriend.”
He grimaced and rolled his eyes. “That word sounds so adolescent for some reason.”
“You like it.”
“Yeah,” he said, nuzzling her neck, “I do.”
“Softie.”
“Tease.”
“Closet romantic.”
“Crazy human . . . but I wouldn’t have you any other way.”
“Silly turian.” She started to back toward the bed and pulled him with her. “Ditto.”
This time when they came together it was like they were doing it all for the first time and every touch held a new meaning. It was less about the act itself, more about seeking out that missing part of themselves and finding it in the other. Afterwards, they lay together, hoping that time would slow for just a little while before reality came crashing back in the form of Joker’s voice on the intercom. For now, though, they were content with the knowledge that this would be the moment they remembered, when they told the tale later, as the place where their love story truly began.
- 5
- 6
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Friends With Benefits