There's a First Time for Everything

Jayne Shepard had never seen Garrus take off his visor. It's not like she had tried to catch him without it on, but the thought of if he ever took it off frequently crossed her mind. And she would be lying to herself if she said that she never thought about what Garrus looked like without his visor, how different his face would appear when she could see both blue eyes clearly staring at her. Plus, his visor kept him privy to small changes in her body, like heart rate and skin temperature, which Shepard wasn't fond of when she was attempting to flirt with him.

Perhaps that was going to be a goal she set for herself before this mission was over: Get Garrus to take off his visor, at least in front of her. Making her thoughts public was not something she needed right now, especially around a handful of aliens that had no prior connection to her.

Instead of using her precious free time in between missions to relax in her private cabin, Shepard pulled herself out of her bed and took the elevator down two decks to the crew deck. She could always find Garrus down at the forward batteries, probably perfecting the firing algorithms of the main guns. It was always either that or calibrations.

Garrus heard the door to the batteries open behind him and peeked over his shoulder to see who had entered. "Shepard," he said pleasantly, turning to face her. She smiled at him as she stepped in and let the door close behind her. "Need me for something?"

"Did you have a minute to talk?"

"Sure. I'm just killing time." Shepard took a seat on the crate in the right corner. "What did you need?"

"Have I ever asked you if you ever take off your visor before?"

The turian's mandibles flicked as he smirked. "Yes. Four times."

Shepard raised her eyebrows. "You've been counting?" Garrus' mandibles flicked again, this time in embarrassment, and he glanced over at the panels at his side. Shepard giggled softly. "No one's judging you, Garrus."

"Except for you, maybe," Garrus muttered.

Shepard stood and took the few steps up to the turian. She placed her small hand on top of his larger one. Her eyes met his and locked. "Garrus, no. When have I ever judged you before? On anything you've done?"

Shepard could see the hard turian face soften. She had become quite good at judging emotions on turians, or at least on Garrus. "Never," he answered softly. Shepard noted how the dual tones of his voice were accentuated by the low volume.

She gave him a small smile then and squeezed the hand she had a hold of. "Exactly. And I don't plan on starting now."

Garrus turned to take proper hold of Shepard's hand, and she reached across to take the other one without protest. "Thanks, Shepard." His blue eyes were bright.

Shepard's smile widened. "You don't have to thank me, Garrus. You're...a good friend."

She saw Garrus' brow plates rise slightly at her hesitation. He took a step closer to her, their bodies literally an inch from each other. "Just a friend?"

Shepard couldn't stop her cheeks from flaring red, but she didn't break eye contact. "Maybe." Her tone was heavy, but playful.

"Maybe?" Garrus repeated.

Shepard chuckled, a sound so soft, you wouldn't have heard it unless you were standing as close as Garrus was. "Yeah, just maybe."

Garrus smiled. "I have a hard time believing that, Shepard."

"Okay, maybe not just a good friend."

"I was waiting for you to say that." Garrus lightly leaned his forehead against hers.

Shepard grinned as she leaned back. There was a comfortable silence between the two of them for a few moments. "Does this mean I'm closer to getting you to take off your visor?"

Garrus sighed, but his mandibles flicked out in a smile. "If it helps you sleep at night, Shepard."

She giggled. "It will. Immensely."

"Glad to hear it."

Shepard dropped Garrus' hands and took a step closer to wrap her arms around his cowl. It seemed almost instinctual for Garrus to return the gesture and clasp his arms around her small waist. With his long arms, he was able to wrap his arms around her waist almost twice, and he kept her close to him as she buried her face in his cowl. He might know little about humans, but he was pretty sure he could figure it out.

++

Garrus couldn't sleep that night. He had set up a cot down in the battery, because he liked the whirring of the batteries as gentle background noise, but he was just restless. He sat up, stretching and walking over to the panels. They were quiet, waiting for him to touch them back to life for the morning's calibrations, and since there was nothing for him to occupy his time with, he snuck out of the battery and across the crew deck to the elevator. He knew Shepard would be awake. He forgot he wasn't wearing a shirt or his visor.

The door to Shepard's cabin opened and she was there, sitting up on her bed, staring down at a picture frame clutched tightly in her hands. She didn't know he was there yet, and it was then he noticed he was shirtless and visor-less. He was about to turn in the doorway, but she must have heard the door hiss open and looked up at him, her face red and now surprised. "Garrus?"

"Shepard."

"You're not wearing your visor." She wiped at her face hurriedly, but they both knew it was too late for that.

His mandibles flicked as he smirked. "That's the first thing you notice."

"That, and...you're not wearing a shirt either."

He approached her wordlessly and sat down next to her on the bed. "And they made you the first human Spectre," he joked.

She gave him a brief, sad smirk. "Yeah."

He noticed the woman in the picture that she was holding. "Who is that?"

Shepard saw him looking at the picture in her hands. She hugged it to her chest and a few fresh tears fell. "My mother," she answered, her voice barely above a whisper, her eyes closed.

Garrus placed a reassuring hand on her back and began to lightly rub his hand back and forth. "Hey," he called quietly. She didn't answer right away. His hand stopped. "Shepard." She still didn't answer. He sighed. "Jayne."

Shepard knew Garrus was really looking to get her attention when he called her by her first name. She smiled sadly and looked over at him, lowering the frame from her chest. She would say something, but she just couldn't make her mouth form words. Instead, tears continued to fall and she put the picture frame carefully aside, leaning forward against Garrus and wrapping her arms around his bare cowl.

He felt different without armor on. She liked it. She liked him much better without all his armor and his visor. The rawness of him right here in front of her made her mind's eye smile. She tightened her arms around him and scooted closer to him along the edge of her bed. His own arms wrapped around her in return and they just sat there like that for quite a while. Later, she crawled up to her pillows to finally sleep, but instead used Garrus as her pillow, half asleep.

++

When she awoke in the morning, it hurt to stretch her jaw out. Another night crying, she thought. Then she recognized the blue-gray plating surrounding her and smiled contentedly as she snuggled into the nearest side. "Good to see you're awake, Shepard." Garrus' voice rumbled underneath her ear and she giggled quietly.

"Hi," she murmured, pressing her face into the crook of his cowl. "I like you better like this."

"Like what?"

She pulled her face from his cowl and looked up at him. "Without a shirt and a visor."

He laughed softly, mandibles flicking. "Unfortunately, I can't very well walk around the ship like this, Shepard." She frowned. He laughed again, much more of a hearty chuckle than an actual laugh. "I would get awfully cold."

She smirked and shifted to peck his scarred cheek. "Oh, alright. You certainly wouldn't be effective like this on the battlefield, so I suppose it's for the better."

Garrus smirked with a small flick of his mandibles and leaned his forehead against hers. She smiled, closed her eyes, and let out a short hum of happiness. "So now you know."

Shepard pulled away from him far enough that her eyes weren't crossed when she tried to focus on him. "Know what?"

"That my visor does come off."

Shepard giggled. "That it does. And I like you without your visor. I see you differently without it."

"How so?"

"You look more..." She giggled. "I can't say human, because you're not human and wouldn't understand what I actually mean by that...So I guess..." She searched around for the right words for a good few moments. "I dunno. I can't find the right word. But it's a good different, that much I know. It's nice to see both of your eyes straight on instead of one hidden behind a visor."

Garrus smiled. "Thank you, Shepard."

She nodded. "Now let's stay here awhile, you're comfortable and I'm still tired." He just chuckled and gathered her close to him, her face resting in the crook of his cowl again.