Chapter Text
Tiberius Kryik sighs heavily and flops onto the nearest bench. His first day at a new school and he goes and misses the bus. He places his head in his hands. What is he going to do now? His aunt will be so upset with him. He smiles ruefully. That is, if she even noticed that she had him living with her.
It’s been less than a week since he came to live with his aunt on the Citadel. Less than a week since they confirmed that both his parents died in the Reaper War. Tiberius started to keen. Then he remembered that his dad told him that good soldiers didn’t keen. But his dad is dead. So he keened harder.
“Oh my. What’s wrong little turian?” A kind voice said. Tiberius looked up from his hands and took in the speaker. He saw a human female standing there looking at him with… concern maybe. It was hard to tell without subvocals.
She was short for a human. She had fiery red hair that she had tied in the back of her head. He thinks humans call it a ponytail. She had green eyes and dark smudges on her face, like the asari only the human’s were brown and asari’s markings are white or lighter blue. She was wearing a black tank top with N7 on it and short black shorts with an N7 on them as well. The most interesting thing was that she had a metal leg. She was breathing hard and had water coming off of her.
“It’s my first day of school and I missed the bus.” Tiberius told her. He didn’t tell her everything but that seemed like a good place to start.
“Oh we can’t have that.” The human said. She pulled up her omni-tool and keyed in some things. “What school do you attend?”
“Turian Technical Institute.” Tiberius answered respectfully.
“Impressive.” After a few more keystrokes she looked up. “Got the coordinates. Let’s go.” She led them to a garage and walked to a sky-car.
“I’m not supposed to get in a car with strangers.” He informed her. She stopped and walked over to him.
She put out her hand. “I’m Jane.” She said.
Tiberius grasped her forearm, “Tiberius.” he told her.
“There. Now we are not strangers. If it helps I’ll put the car on autopilot with the coordinates showing so you can see where the car is going at all times.” Jane told him.
Tiberius thought about it. One one mandible she was a stranger who might want to kill turian children. On the other he can see where he is going and he really did need to go to school. Plus, he thought looking her up and down and lingering on her metal leg, he could take a human. Especially a weak one with only one leg. He was a turian and the best hand to hand at his old school.
“Okay.” He agreed and entered the car. Jane entered too and the car drove them towards the school. At least that is what the autopilot said.
“So Tiberius, Technical Institute. That’s impressive. Are you good at math and tech?” Jane asked to make conversation.
“Yes. I really like calibrations.” Tiberius said. “I want to go into that field when I go into the military.”
“Of course there is a calibration class.” Jane whispers. “I might talk to the teachers and see if they need another professor for that class.” Jane says.
“Umm, I don’t think they will hire a human at an all turian school.” Tiberius said. He didn’t want to offend her but he had to point out the flaw in her logic.
To his surprise Jane laughs. “Not for me. For my boyfriend.” Jane corrects. “He is the best calibration expert I have ever seen.”
“You are mated to a turian?” Tiberius asks.
“That’s right.”
“Shakarian effect.” Tiberius whispers.
“What’s that?” Jane asks, clearly hearing him.
“Oh, the Shakarian effect is because there is a large number of human females dating turian males. It’s the newest dating trend. It’s named for Shepard and Vakarian. The two war heroes of the Reaper War. They are together.”
“I see.” Jane said amused.
“You must really like Shepard.” Tiberius said.
“What makes you say that? Because my boyfriend is a turian?” Jane asks.
“Yes and because you are wearing Shepard’s clan colors.” He points to her outfit.
Jane looks down. “I guess I am.” She says like she didn’t notice.
“Are you and your mate bondmates?” Tiberius asks.
“Not yet. I hope one day. Right now he is on Palaven working for the Primarch but this is his last day doing that. Then he will need something else to do. Maybe he can teach calibrations at your school.” Jane says. “How old are you Tiberius?”
“Seven. How old are you?” Tiberius wasn’t sure how to judge human ages.
“You know that is a harder question than it should be.” Jane says with humor.
“It’s not hard. You take the year it is now and you subtract the year you are born. That’s how you get your age.” Tiberius said with all the confidence of a seven year old.
“Then I guess I’m 34.” Jane answers.
The car stops in front of an intimidating building. Tiberius fidgets in his seat. “Are you nervous?” Jane asks him.
“A little.” Tiberius answers.
“Why don’t I walk in with you. That way I can ask if my boyfriend can be a teacher.” Jane offers.
“Okay. Since you have to go in anyway.” Tiberius says. They both exit the car and walk into the building. They walk into the administrative office.
All the adult turians look up from their work. Then they look back down at their work. Then they all looked up again with shock in their subvocals. They all stood up hastily. Jane made a motion beside him that he felt but didn’t see and all the turians sat back down but kept their eyes on them.
It was weird.
“How can I help you?” The receptionist asks. There is respect and reverence in her voice.
“This is Tiberius. He missed the bus this morning so I am taking him to class. And I had a question about staffing.” Jane said.
“Of course. Mr. Kryik, please be on time from now on.” Says a stern male turian coming from his office. “Breakfast is served for another 15 minutes then I expect to see you promptly in class.” He tells the fledgling.
“Maybe you can give Tiberius a break. He is new to the Citadel. Maybe the bus schedule needs to be revamped so it’s easier for someone to navigate.” Jane says. Her voice changes from friendly to one that someone in command would use.
The older male turian stuttered. “Yes, my apologies. I will look into that.” He hands Tiberius a datapad. “Here is your schedule. Have a good day.” He tells Tiberius and retreats back to his office.
Tiberius turns back to Jane. “Thank you for your help Jane.” Tiberius said. He turned to go to breakfast.
“Wait a second Tiberius.” Jane says. Tiberius stops and turns back to Jane. His omni-tool pings. “Here is my contact information. In case you need it or if you miss the bus again.”
Tiberius rumbles gratefully in his subvocals and turns to go get breakfast before class starts. As he shut the door he heard Jane say “So you know, my boyfriend is the best at calibrations and I heard there is a class on calibrations…”
The rest of the day was a normal first day. He had math, reading, writing, shooting, lunch, science, gun maintenance, and calibrations. He was happy with his new school but sad that he had to move in the first place.
After school he took the bus to his aunt's apartment in a building called Tiberius Towers on the Silversun Strip. Tiberius smiled, he liked that the building and him had the same name. They were both named after a famous turian captain. Some argue that he was the greatest captain while others say it was Locutus. Tiberius is pretty sure it’s Locutus regardless of his name.
He enters his aunt’s apartment to find it completely empty. No sign of his aunt anywhere. Not even a note. He wasn’t surprised. He knew what his aunt did. Everyone did, they just ignored it. His mom would hate that he was forced to live with his aunt. She called his aunt a bad influence.
Tiberius opens the fridge and notices it is empty. He sighed. He pulls out his credit chit and stares at it.
Fire and smoke cover his once beautiful world. He clings to his parents as they fight a wave of marauders. They finally reach the evacuation site. All able bodied turians that can fight are loaded into a shuttle on the right while the children and those that can’t fight are loaded to the left. He holds his mother closer. He doesn’t want to be separated. His father pulls out a credit chit and presses it into his hands. “This is everything we have left. Take it with you to the Citadel. Use it to buy whatever you need to survive. We will get it back after this fight is over.” He starts to keen. “Remember good soldiers don’t keen. We will see you again.” His father said. He enters the transport with the other kids all keening for their parents and is brought to the Citadel.
Tiberius shakes his head. His father was wrong. He didn’t see him again. Tiberius does some mental math as he wonders how much food he could buy. He doesn’t want to buy too much since he doesn’t want what he spends his family’s money on to be used for his aunt. Making up his mind on what to buy he enters the elevator and heads to the lobby.
Upon exiting the elevator he runs fringe first into an older male turian. “Oph, you okay little one?” The older turian asks.
Tiberius looks him over. He is a tall turian with grey plates, tan hide, and blue colony markings. A large scar covers his right face. He must have been injured in the Reaper War. “I’m so sorry sir. I should have been more careful.” Tiberius apologies.
“It’s fine. I’m not hurt and neither are you.” The older male said. “Where are you off to anyway?” He asks.
“To buy some dinner.” Tiberius informs him. The older turian looks at him as if he is being evaluated.
“What a coincidence, I just got back from doing just that.” The male holds up his bag with food in it. “You know,” he says, pulling out a package, “they only sell xemina steaks in packs of two.” He shows Tiberius the double steaks. Tiberius’ mouth waters. “I can only eat one.”
“You’ll have to freeze the other one.” Tiberius says. He scowls at that. Everyone knew xemina steaks were only good fresh. When they are frozen they lose their best flavor.
The older turian laughs. “I recognize that face.” Then he seems to get an idea. “Oh I know. Why don’t you come over to my place and eat the other one.” He offers.
Tiberius wasn’t sure. On one mandible he hasn’t had xemina steak since before the Reaper War and he was really hungry. On the other he wasn’t supposed to go into a strangers house.
“I’m not allowed to go over to a stranger’s house.” He told the older turian.
The turian holds out his hand. “Garrus.” He tells him.
“Tiberius.” Tiberius says as he clasps his forearm.
“Now we are not strangers. What do you say?” Garrus asks.
It wasn’t lost on him that this was the second time today that this happened to him. The first one turned out okay so maybe this one will too. And besides those steaks looked good. “Definitely.”
Garrus led Tiberius into the elevator and pushed a button for the floor. “My girlfriend will be so surprised when she sees a guest.” Garrus chuckles.
“If you have a girlfriend why doesn’t she eat the other steak?” Tiberius asked.
“She’s levo.” Garrus answers.
“Human?”
“How did you know that?” Garrus asks.
“Shakarian effect. It’s more popular now.” Tiberius explains.
“Well that’s good. It will be easier to go dancing and get dinner and drinks without people looking at us. Actually probably not.” Garrus said.
Garrus leads them to the last door on the hall and opens it. In the kitchen there stands a familiar redheaded human female.
“Jane?” Tiberius asks.
“Tiberius?” Jane asks.
“I see you two already know each other.” Garrus says walking into the kitchen and nuzzling his girlfriend’s forehead.
“We met this morning. I gave him a ride to school when he missed his bus.” Jane explained.
“I hope you don’t mind. I bumped into him in the lobby and invited him to dinner.” Garrus states.
“I’ll set another plate while you cook your meal.” Jane says. Tiberius is surprised Jane allowed him to stay without a fuss. He is crashing their dinner and she told him Garrus was on Palaven recently. Tiberius looked at the table, two wine glasses and xemina steaks were for special occasions because they were expensive.
“I don’t want to impose. I can leave.” Tiberius says walking towards the door. This was clearly a date.
“Don’t be silly. I’m glad you are here.” Jane says gathering more plates and silverware. She takes out a wine glass then looks over at Tiberius. “Can seven year old turians drink wine?” She asks the room.
“Yes.” Tiberius answers immediately.
“No.” Garrus says rumbling with humor. Tiberius knew he wouldn’t get away with actually drinking wine so it was a joke. Garrus thought it was funny.
Jane giggles too and grabs a regular glass and some dextro juice. “I hope you like…” Jane turns the label towards her, “pitahaya juice. It’s all I have that’s dextro that isn’t alcohol. I should buy more dextro food.”
“I love pitahaya juice.” He answers.
“Of course you do.” Garrus says from the kitchen. “It’s clearly the superior of all the fruits.”
Jane just smiles and shakes her head. “One time he and my quarian friend went on for two hours about what fruit was the best.” She explained to Tiberius.
“I’ve never met a quarian.” Tiberius says taking the plate and utensils from Jane and setting his place at the table. Then he climbs into the extra chair to stay out of the way.
Jane then put a plate of vitis on the table. Vitis is a common snack food either eaten before dinner or on it’s own. Garrus walked over and grabbed a clawfull and downed it before returning to his meal prep. Tiberius eyed the plate hungerly. “Jane, may I have some vitis?”
“Of course.” She says and turns to work on her meal alongside her mate. Tiberius watched Jane and Garrus cook around each other. They moved in fluid motions each one moving around and near the other. Sometimes Jane would press her lips to his mandible or Garrus would reach out and snake his arm around her waist and press his crest to her forehead. Tiberius liked watching the pair cook. Given how they moved they must have been cooking together for a while.
Soon Garrus and Jane returned to the table and Garrus placed the xemina steak along with sides on Tiberius’ plate. Tiberius looked at his food and keened a little. He hasn’t had a home cooked meal eaten with an actual family in almost a year. He missed his parents.
If Garrus or Jane heard his keen they didn’t comment on it.
“How’s the food?” Garrus asked.
“It’s amazing!” Tiberius answers. Garrus was a good cook.
“How was your first day of school Tiberius?” Jane asked.
“It was good.” Tiberius answered.
“What classes do turians have?” Jane asked.
“The usual. Reading, writing, math, shooting, calibrations, weapon maintenance.” He listed off. Jane smiles and shakes her head.
“What’s your weapon of choice?” Garrus asked him.
“I don’t have one I’m good with.” Tiberius admitted. “I’m good at hand to hand though.” Tiberius had a thought. “Jane said you were the best at calibrations.” Tiberius mentions.
“I did keep Thanix cannons perfectly calibrated throughout two tours.” Garrus brags.
“Wow!” Tiberius says. “Those are notorious for always being off by two degrees on any ship. Even the teachers say that it’s impossible to calibrate them perfectly.”
“Your teachers never met me.” Garrus says.
“Can you take a look at my calibration homework and tell me what I am doing wrong? My codes keep producing errors.” Tiberius asks. “That is if you want to. I know getting a ride and a wonderful dinner is more than you should do for a stranger.” He doesn’t want to push his luck.
“We covered this this morning. We are not strangers anymore.” Jane said, smiling.
“I would love to help you with your homework.” Garrus says. “It’s been a while since I got to calibrate anything.”
“Careful or Garrus will do all your homework for you.” Jane teases.
The rest of the dinner Jane and Garrus ask him questions. Tiberius notices that they stayed away from difficult topics like family or the war. It was just light getting to know you questions like favorite color and things like that.
After dinner Garrus looked over his homework while Jane did the dishes. He found the problem with the calibration and was able to explain it better than the teachers were. Tiberius was invited to stay a few more hours to do his homework and snack on vitis. After his homework and with a full belly he left Jane and Garrus’ place to return back home. Jane offered to walk him home but he declined since it was only a few floors away. He bid them good night and left.
~~~
After the door shut behind Tiberius Jane and Garrus turned to each other. “After I dropped him off at school I asked Bailey about him.” Jane explained.
“And what did the Executor say?” Garrus asked.
“His parents died in the war and he was sent to live with his aunt Sitha Kryik. Nihlus Kryik’s youngest sister. When Nihlus died he left his apartment and most of his money to her. Bailey told me that she has been arrested several times for drug use. Red sand and Helix were the most common. She parties every night. Garrus, I’m worried about Tiberius.” Jane says walking into the outstretched arms of her boyfriend.
“I know Jane. But we agreed that Commander Shepard retired. You can’t save everyone. You already did that.” Garrus reminded her lightly pressing his mouth plates on her head.
“Maybe Commander Shepard retired but Jane Shepard can fix this.” Jane said.
“The most we can do right now is to be a safe and welcoming place for him to turn to when he needs it. We can’t adopt him. He’s got a family.” Garrus told her.
“A bad one.” Jane pouted.
“But a family just the same.” Garrus soothed. “We can help him by being there for him.”
“Thanks for inviting him to dinner.” Jane said.
“I had to. When I saw how thin he was I knew he was malnourished. His plates are dull so he is lacking basic care. He had a credit chit that was worth enough to buy a small apartment, it must be everything he has. I couldn’t let a kid like that spend his remaining money on food that adults should be providing for him.” Jane hugged Garrus tightly.
“You have a good heart. You would have made a wonderful father.” Jane said sadly.
“None of that. I told you even if I can’t have biological kids with you it doesn’t mean anything to me. I can adopt a krogan if I want to. So long as I do it with you that is all I want in this world.” Garrus pauses and drops his voice into his sexy register. “That doesn’t mean we can’t try for turian/human hybrids.”
“We better keep trying.” Jane said, pulling him down into a smoldering kiss. “I haven’t seen my boyfriend in three days. You’ll be lucky if you can walk tomorrow.” She walks backwards towards the stairs towards their room.
Garrus growls and picks her up to carry her the rest of the way.