Mass Effect: Element of Kindness

by CommanderApplejack


Confession?

Chapter 41

Confession?

Confess to Garrus,maybe? 69%

Looking over at the doctor one last time, Fluttershy stepped forward hesitantly, her heart beating in her throat as she felt a cold layer of sweat forming on her coat.

He's not even your species, so why would you think he even thinks of you as anything other than just a friend?

The pegasus took only a couple of steps before halting again, every possible 'what if' doom scenario running through her head in an instant. The anxiety that had been relatively absent while on the Normandy returned with a vengeance as Fluttershy froze up and felt her stomach turn upside down.

This was a horrible idea. Why am I doing this? I should just leave now and go to sleep.

She turned to go do just that.

"Hey, Fluttershy. Can't sleep?" Garrus' voice abruptly cut off the pegasus' escape. The half-turned pegasus faced back towards the turian while her eyes shrunk to pinpricks.

"N-no, not really. I-I..." Fluttershy stuttered, her voice just above a whisper as she cut herself off. She wanted to tell the turian her feelings for him, but even thinking about it made her seize up with anxiety.

"If you want, I can stay over for the night again?" he offered as he took a sip from the drink he held. Fluttershy weakly nodded in response as she was too flustered to make a coherent sentence. "All right, you go ahead, I'll be right there," Garrus told Fluttershy.

The pegasus quickly made her exit and rushed past doctor Chakwas – who was shaking her head – and into the medbay's storage room where her sleeping spot was located.

SLAP

"What the hell are you doing, Garrus?!" Tali said as she rubbed her hand. The bony shell which comprised Garrus' face was much harder than she had anticipated. The turian rubbed the side of his face as he looked back at Tali with a confused expression.

"What I'm doing? I just offered to help her sleep. It seemed to help her the last few times, so I guessed that she could use the company," Garrus replied. Tali just stared blankly at him, the expression more visible in her unmoving posture than her masked face.

What the hell did she just slap me for? I'm only trying to help Fluttershy to get some sleep, something she'll need.

"Are you really that oblivious?!" Tali exclaimed as she couldn't believe what she had just heard. "Please tell me you're pretending!" Garrus only got more confused at this as he didn't have a clue as to what the quarian in front of him was talking about. Tali couldn't help but groan at the completely ignorant turian. "Okay, I'm going to put this really bluntly. That pegasus totally has the hots for you, and you essentially just shot her down."

The can in Garrus' hand crumpled inward, the fluid it contained flying out as he put way too much pressure on it. "What?! I... How do you mean has the hots?!"

"She likes you..." Tali clarified while covering part of her visor with a hand, "How you haven't noticed is beyond me, but it's something you're going to have to deal with sooner rather than later."

Garrus stared at the entrance of the med-bay, the simple act of helping Fluttershy now having taken on a whole other meaning. "I'll figure something out."

"Good, but if you break her heart, I'll break you." Garrus felt a slight chill go up his spine. The smaller quarian could really be scary when she wanted. "I'll be down in engineering. Good luck," Tali said as she walked past the turian towards the elevator. Garrus, after cleaning up his spilled drink, made his way to the medbay where he found Chakwas sitting behind her desk. She looked up at the turian with a knowing smile.

"Hello, Garrus." The turian grimaced as he looked at the doctor who clearly knew about what was happening. "Fluttershy?" she asked to confirm they were on the same page.

Garrus nodded.

"Look, Garrus, I won't hold it against you if you don't want to be with her, but at least let her down softly if you don’t," Chakwas told him.

"I would, I'm just not sure how I feel about this. I've never really given it much thought to begin with," Garrus admitted. "I've always been too busy with work to think about it."

"You don't have to make your decision right now. Think about it for a while." Chakwas smiled at him. "Now go ahead. You made a promise, and you have to keep it."

"I will. Thank you, doctor," Garrus said as he continued on to the back of the medbay, into the storage room where Fluttershy had just finished laying out her armor.

"Are you ready to get some sleep?" he asked, Fluttershy letting out a startled eep and jumping around to face him.

"Uhm, y-yes." Garrus chuckled and lay down on the mattress, Fluttershy snuggling up to him. Unlike other times, Fluttershy was the first to fall asleep while Garrus couldn't help but stare at the ceiling.

Do I want this?

"THEY'RE ALL INCOMPETENT FOOLS!" Shepard raged as he stormed into the mess, startling the present crewmembers. They had arrived at the Citadel after getting a message from the council that they would finally be receiving the support from the fleets they had requested. Obviously, something hadn't gone completely according to plan.

"Commander, what's wrong? Did we not get our reinforcements?" Liara asked as she was the first person to recover from the commander's sudden entrance.

"No, we got our reinforcements. They're just stationed at the mass relays that lead to the Citadel, and no-one is going to stop Saren at Ilos," Shepard explained glumly as he sat down at the table with the others.

"We're still going after him, aren’t we?" Garrus asked but quickly realized what the council had probably done. "They locked down the Normandy, didn't they?"

"Yeah, she's not going anywhere."

The intercom buzzed to life as Joker also mixed himself into the conversation. "Commander, I just got a message from Anderson. He wants to meet you at Flux nightclub."

"Understood, I'll be there. Not like I've got anything else to do," Shepard growled before turning to the others, "Feel free to come along. Drinks are on me."

Fluttershy wasn’t sure if she would enjoy going to a nightclub. Then again, she was trying a lot of new things lately. I could go with him, or I could go explore the Citadel some more. It's not like I can't get back to the Normandy on a moment’s notice with a shuttle.

1. Go with Shepard

2. Explore the Citadel

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