Chapter Text
Shepard stumbled into the shuttle bay, fingers ripping at clasps to remove her gear as quickly as she could manage. Haestrom's sun had made short work of her barriers, leaving only her armor as protection against the deadly rays. In those final moments of taking down the geth armature, the searing heat had almost become too much, and Posey had been able to feel the softer parts of the material melting and molding against each other. A few seconds more in that sun, and she was sure that her skin might have begun to melt along with it.
While Garrus had certainly taken the situation seriously, especially since they were helping Tali of all people, he couldn't help making a few wise comments to her every so often about how balmy the weather was here, when you'd been raised in the middle of the scorching plains of Palaven. Shepard had rolled her eyes at every remark, but made sure to let him see the good-natured smirk that accompanied it. If she'd been able to see his face behind his darkly-tinted helmet, she was sure his mandibles would've twitched in a smart-ass grin right back.
With all of the new recent additions to the crew, Shepard had become more and more overwhelmed by the day with the sheer amount of personal issues that everyone on this ship seemed to have. She understood that they each had a life of their own, but it weighed on her heavily to know that, in order to have this crew in the best condition possible, all of these things would need to be wrapped up. And that was going to take a lot of time.
Time they didn't really have, at this point. At every turn, Shepard could feel the influence of the Collectors breathing down her neck, and when it wasn't them it was geth causing problems. Or even the Illusive Man, her own fucking boss. She was certainly grateful for being brought back from the dead and all, but would it kill him to give them a nice, simple mission? Nothing was ever easy these days.
But at least they had Tali, now. It had taken Posey a record three seconds to punch in a course on the galaxy map when she saw the dossier for her best friend appear in her files. She hadn't even stopped to read the overview of the situation, which is probably why things had gone so haywire since the moment they stepped foot on this planet.
Posey grunted as she tugged on a stubborn clasp at the back of her shoulder, which had nearly melted into the pieces surrounding it. It was proving nearly impossible for her to remove it by herself, and finally she gave up and moved down to the armor at her legs. After a few brief moments, all that remained of her outer gear was her shoulder and upper arm coverings and her helmet - which had also, unfortunately, melded into the same piece as the shoulder guard.
Suddenly, there was a warm, three-fingered hand at her back, and she jumped at the unexpected contact.
"It's just me, Shepard," Tali teased gently. "Do you need some help?" Shepard nodded, surrendering to Tali's deft fingers which instantly set to work. From one of her ridiculously numerous suit pockets, the quarian pulled out a small handheld lasering device, steadying Shepard's shoulder with her hand. "Don't move," she said quietly. "You don't want a laser to the neck, that's for sure."
Shepard had to fight hard not to chuckle at that - she'd survived worse after all, but she'd rather not feel any more sore and tired than she already did. There was a small whirring sound, a harsh buzz that reverberated through her armor and up into her jaw, and then the cool air of the shuttle bay rushed under the uplifted pieces of armor and Shepard breathed a sigh of relief. After she managed to tug her helmet off, Shepard looked up at Miranda, who stepped out of the elevator just in time to see Shepard's armor falling to pieces in Tali's hands. The raven-haired commanding officer was not at all impressed, muttering just loud enough for them to hear,
"Guess I'll be sending in a requisitions order for brand new environmental gear." Shepard flashed an unapologetic smile and shrugged, looking back at Tali.
Someone else chimed in from behind them. "Her armor wouldn't be in such bad shape if she'd take the time to read the damn files." The dual tones of the speaker's voice were unmistakable, just like the smart-aleck grin that spread its way across Garrus's face as he gently set aside the last of his gear - somehow still in no worse condition than before.
Posey couldn't tell if she was blushing so furiously because it had been stupid of her not to fully read over the files, or if it was because of the way that her eyes darted back and forth over Garrus's skin-tight undersuit, hugging every alien curve and angle.
In all reality, it was most definitely the latter. He didn't seem to notice though, or at least didn't comment on it as he walked past her towards the elevator. Just before the doors slid shut, she caught a glimpse of him waving a goodnight to them all. She had every intention of doing the same as quickly as she could manage, after she found somewhere to stow what few pieces of gear she could manage to salvage from the wreck of her suit. As she began to pick up pieces off the floor, Tali bent down beside her and helped her out. They had just set down the still-useful parts on the armory bench for later, when Tali broke the friendly silence between them.
"So, Garrus, huh?"
Shepard's head whipped towards her friend. "What are you talking about?"
A short, barking laugh and a soft shoulder-smack later, Tali was staring her down intently. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. You've got the hots for bird-boy, don't you?"
Posey's mouth fell open, horrified. "I - No, I mean - Tali, why would you think that - ? No, no. Absolutely not. How could you suggest such a - Wait. Bird boy?"
Tali's glowing violet eyes crinkled up mirthfully behind her mask, and Shepard could feel the embarrassed scowl settling into the corners of her mouth. The young quarian absolutely squealed with delight, nearly prancing around Shepard as they walked to the elevator. Thank God it was completely empty by this point, otherwise this would've been even more mortifying than it already was.
She hadn't even completely voiced her feelings to herself, yet, much less anyone else. Leave it to Tali to catch on immediately to whatever this stupid schoolgirl crush was. Posey had started to try to convince herself that it was just curiosity, wondering what it would feel like to hold three fingers between her five. Or to wrap her arms around a waist even more slender than hers, full of sharp angles. The idea was strange and foreign, and most of all awkward. That's why she'd kept it completely to herself up until now.
"We're not talking about this right now, Tali," Shepard muttered as the elevator door hissed shut behind them. Tali shrugged and crossed her arms, leaning up against the wall with a smirk.
"If you say so. But hey, Shepard?" The sudden drop of pitch in Tali's voice made her sound much more serious as her eyes met Posey's through foggy purple glass. "I would totally approve of that. You guys would be great." Shepard was about to open her mouth to attempt some sort of comment that No, that would be a terrible idea, but the elevator opened and Tali half-skipped out towards her quarters. With the boundless energy of her best friend gone from her side, Shepard felt her own energy beginning to quickly fade. She fought the yawn in her throat, knowing that there was a lot of work to be done still before she could retire to her bed to attempt to rest. Their next course was to Illium, and Shepard had a lot of reading to do for those dossiers. Not to mention steeling herself for finally getting to see Liara again - no telling how that was going to go.
Work could wait, though - Shepard needed a shower above all else. As she waited for the water to heat up, she crossed back to her desk and began to pull off her sweaty undersuit, peeling the thin protective layer back and gasping at the rush of cold air that flushed against her skin. After quickly changing into a black sports bra and a pair of comfortable shorts, she decided to do a quick check of her messages, just to get an idea of the issues that would need her attention tomorrow. She scrolled through aimlessly, sifting through spam and pointless messages until one caught her eye, and her heart leapt up in her throat.
About Horizon. . .