Chapter Text
He remembered watching her from the window seat, standing there in her worn leather jacket and boots. She was lost in a sea of turian families and asari bondmates who were waving goodbye to their partners. The woman was tall for a human. She loomed over the younger turians in the crowd and definitely was taller than many of the asari, but in the mass of moving bodies she seemed small and unnoticed. She was close enough to lock eyes with him, and as the ship began to drift away from port she lightly pressed herself to the observation deck’s windows, waving meekly at him. His visor began zooming images of her on its screen, capturing her eyes and the expression on her face.
Her face was wistful. He hadn't seen this on humans too often, but all his C-Sec training and interspecies emote courses had given him a good idea that it was akin to fluttering one's mandibles. A frown, they called it. It was an expression that typically came with saying goodbyes.
He watched her as she stood there quietly. He tried to capture every color, curve, and line of her face before his visor scope shut and reset itself. The device realized that the figure in his scope of vision, the human woman, had gone out of range and out of view. She became a tiny blur of brown and red. At that moment, Garrus Vakarian sunk into his seat and sighed to himself before the windows blacked out in preparation for exiting the atmosphere. His mind had ignored the typical departure protocol announcements; fasten seat beats, watch for emergency exits, smoking prohibited. An older male turian was seated next to him and noticed Garrus' line of sight, dropping a glance at the the younger. The longing sigh from Garrus caught his attention.
"Human mate, huh?" the turian said in his direction. He was maybe half a decade older than Garrus, dressed in C-Sec uniform. He had white clan markings and dark brown plating. His mandibles were wide, and his nose bridge was narrow and long. Garrus recognized that few C-Sec agents would be present on Illium, but perhaps he was simply taking a transfer back home from the Citadel.
Garrus pulled back in surprise, "Oh, no...it's not-"
His turian neighbor raised his forefinger at him, "That was definitely a lover's sigh. And the look you’re giving me now...when will you see her again?"
Garrus eyed the black window and shook his head. "I’m not sure. If I could, I would've taken her home with me. But..."
The man's mandibles angled a bit in a smile. "That serious, huh? Waiting is always a hassle...I've got my human mate waiting for me, too."
That was certainly a surprise. It was already uncommon enough that turians would consider a lifelong bond with humans. To be seated next to one was even more of a coincidence. Garrus' brow plates shifted up, "Sir?"
"Tertius Lorinian." He nodded towards Garrus in the turian way of greeting.
The younger turian nodded back,"Garrus Vakarian."
Tertius’ hand went up to his chin. "Ah, I've heard of you."
Of course he had. After Garrus helped take down Saren Arterius, he had been showered with “welcome back” banners and congratulatory drinks back at the C-Sec headquarters. But that had been short-lived as Garrus’ pressing claims of the Reaper invasion caused him to bump heads with his superiors. Soon, C-Sec reduced his credibility to the level of a raving lunatic. Once he had gotten himself into a fight with a fellow officer, Garrus’ career in law was good as gone. Everyone in C-Sec knew about it. Garrus was expecting the worst rumors to come flying out of this turian’s mouth. “All the bad things, right?"
Tertius laughed. "Believe it or not, one of my subordinates worked in the investigations unit before switching to security. He had good things to say about you. Only bad thing he's said is that you weren’t too sharp on the politics and regulations that occasionally choke each of us at one point or another in our careers.” His arms crossed, “Pfft. Regulations. Why we can't bring our ceremonial knives with us now is anyone's guess. Soon we'd probably have to get mandatory detaloning to appease the squishier races."
Garrus smiled slightly at his unexpected response. This one wasn’t going to chastise him. In fact, it sounded like Tertius was more attuned to his view of things. Garrus shook his head, "But you must at least shave them, right? Your mate's human."
"Ah...but she's a tough human. Got her some really nice skin weave a few summers back. Doesn't pierce her skin like it used to." Tertius' voice lowered and he winked, "You know what I mean?"
Garrus let out a nervous laugh and lightly scratched his cheek. He began to warm up to this stranger over their apparent commonality. "Well...mine came equipped with heavy skin weave, had a few light scratches but nothing she would bleed over."
Tertius laughed softly in response, "Is she military? Is that why she has the skin weave?"
"Yes, sort of. Was.” He was being careful, “Or...is again. It's complicated.” Time to change the topic. “How did you meet? Not often you see humans bonded with turians...given our, you know, history and all."
"My wife was Alliance. Met her in C-Sec. She was a demolitions specialist and just transferred over to the Citadel looking for work. Most tasks set for dexterity like office work seem natural for their five-fingered hands. But...humans have the nimblest fingers in the galaxy. The way she could disassemble a device." Tertius whistled.
"Is that how it all started for you?"
The older turian made an expression between scoffing and honesty, "Can't say I found her attractive at first. Humans have such flat teeth and their hair...” he motioned to the top of his head, “and they lack a fringe. Very strange to get used to. But for the most part, we could say that most humans have the most attractive skin tones in the galaxy. Very nice."
Garrus’ mind shifted to the smooth complexion of humans, the soft glow and beautiful color. "Agreed. That they do,” Garrus smiled, his mandibles shifting, “So what changed your mind about them?"
"She worked security detail while I stood by the doors. She was patting down a young turian kid, fresh out of training who was visiting his family and piss drunk. He started cooing at her and making rude remarks about humans. She was calm, cool, but after a comment about her funny bumps and what she should do with them, with him, I mean...whatever. Point is, she was livid. Broke the boy's arm and sent him away."
Garrus shrugged, "How did that translate to her becoming your wife?"
"It didn't happen immediately, of course. You know us, we like our women strong. Her little display of force got me a little interested, so I started glossing my fringe a little more, wore more musk, even changed my gait a bit. I tried to do everything by the book. Leaned against walls and over desks, you know, sticking my ass out for her a little more than usual. To see if she’d notice my hips and such.”
Garrus responded with a hearty chuckle.
Tertius continued, “But...after two years I finally realized that their kind doesn't traditionally chase males like we do. I thought that very strange. My human partner at the time noticed. He said he was having just as much trouble attracting his own species, but noted that I had to take initiative with their females. It took me awhile to get used to...all the human stuff that I had to do. She finally took notice of me once I stuttered lines I memorized from a terrible vid."
"'Strategies for Human Affection'?"
Tertius pointed his forefinger at him, "Exactly. That vid is 20 years old. Awful...Spirits it’s so awful. I find it hard to believe that not much has changed between our species."
Garrus’ hand went back to the base of his fringe, rubbing it lightly, "I’ve tried a few suggestions from that vid. Not much luck. Humans have so many ways to attract one another. And they always say, ‘play it naturally’ or ‘be yourself’. That’s the most convoluted advice you can give in the galaxy.”
Tertius broke into a deep laughter, “Yeah, I’ve gotten that plenty of times.”
Garrus continued, “One of our salarian crewmates told me to get her alcohol. Gave her wine on our first date but she didn’t drink much of it. She kept on suggesting that it wasn’t bad, she just wanted to be clear-minded..?"
“Why’d you take a salarian’s word for it? What’d he know?”
“He seemed to know what he was talking about...”
“Did you play music for her? Humans and turians seem to share that at the very least.”
“I played a dance beat for her.”
The older turian smiled widely, “How did that go for you?”
“She...didn’t dance at all. I was a nervous mess. But I think she knew, so she turned off the music and talked.” Garrus replied, “She was just as much in the dark a s I was, but told me she didn’t need to be put in the mood like that. Just talking, she said. And...uh...She fell asleep on my shoulder even after...our little romp. That was...unexpected. Nice.”
Tertius’ mandibles flexed, “Did she really?”
Garrus let out a outward noise, “It was...Our females just want to do the deed and make us leave right after. Humans share rooms, beds even. They sleep together. It was a little different from what I imagined. Just spent the rest of our time staring at her while she slept.”
“Yeah,” Tertius rubbed his chin again, “Humans and their need for long sleep. But watching them is nice. Does she...make that cute noise when she sleeps?”
“Snoring?”
“Yeah.”
Garrus smiled, “Very loudly. Especially if she’s more tired than usual. It’s quite endearing.”
Tertius shrugged, “I don’t understand why humans don’t like it. They have all sorts of medicine and devices to stop it. Some even undergo surgery. It’s the most adorable thing. Sounds just like a sleeping baby cooing to itself in a good dream.”
Garrus continued smiling and nodded in agreement.