Work Text:
Shepard has never been a morning person. It’s never really been an issue either, she can run on only four hours of regular sleep just fine and has figured out how to get strong coffee out of even the shittiest coffee makers.
But recently, Shepard has to admit to herself, she has been feeling the exhaustion such a life style can bring. The war is taking everything out of her. She is on edge, always tired and haunted by her nightmares. Garrus keeps telling her to sleep more and slow down and she can’t quite find the words to explain to him that she just can’t. That there’s always something to worry about.
As a result she has nearly doubled her caffeine intake. Not by drinking more, but by messing with the coffee maker settings. She went as far as to hack the thing to get around it’s health and safety limits. Kaidan takes a careful sip from one of her super strong coffees one morning and almost spits it back in her face.
“How do you DRINK this?!”
Shepard shrugs. “Honestly at this point I barely taste it any more.”
Kaidan shoots her a concerned look and is about to say something else when he is interrupted by Garrus walking into the crew kitchen and pressing a kiss to Shepard’s temple. “Morning.”
She smiles up at him. “Mornin’”
“Garrus please tell your girlfriend she needs to slow down.”
Garrus tilts his head at Kaidan. “In what respect?”
“I’m pretty sure that thing there she calls a coffee is actually chemical waste.”
Shepard laughs “Just because you can not handle a little extra caffeine…”
Garrus takes a look at the coffee maker. “That is three times the recommended amount of caffeine, darling and...did you hack the coffee maker?”
“I might’ve”, Shepard raises her mug up to her face, partially hiding behind it. The smell alone would be enough to wake anyone up.
Her answer earns sighs of defeat. Kaidan changes the settings on the coffee maker to get himself a latte, then raises the cup to toast Garrus. “To putting up with her bullshit for three years.”
He laughs and mimes toasting back. “And to still going along with it.”
“At least I haven’t added vodka to it yet.”, Shepard frowns.
Garrus stares at her in shock, “And you will NOT start doing that!”
Shepard laughs and takes a sip of her disgusting coffee.