Garrus Vakarian (calibrates) wrote in thedoorway, @ 2012-12-01 18:09:00 |
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“...was able to get another 0.68% out of it with the tech here, which isn’t too bad,” Garrus was telling Tali. “But I keep thinking that I could do better if I just had even a few things off the Normandy.” The walk to their neighboring apartments on the third floor was a short one, although Garrus made himself step slower alongside her. He glanced over, a small, mild smile on his face. She hadn’t mentioned that today was her birthday, but that didn’t mean it was going to slip by unaccounted for. No, he’d jumped all the hoops for it -- partly because it was for Tali, but also because he wasn’t sure which hoops to jump when it came to celebrating. Hitting them all might have been overkill, but it wasn’t underkill, and that was... better. Even if twenty balloons in the main entrance hallway of her apartment, the bouquet of flowers, the imported chocolate, the card, and the necklace inside a wrapped box were more than anyone needed as a gift from one other person, Garrus was sure that he’d done justice to the day. Besides, he reasoned, they were alive and had made it through war. The occasion of being a year older? Yeah, that counted for even more. “You already know how often I’ve wished for my toolset to come through. Or thought I should add a little utility belt to my suit if we go home, so if this happens again I have everything I need.” Tali happily chattered away while they walked, oblivious to the fact that her apartment had been trapped with birthday celebrations. She’d had a few well-wishes and birthday gifts, but it wasn’t something Tali had always thought about broadcasting. Quarians never focused their attention on gift giving, or many celebrations at all, actually. The Pilgrimage was the defining moment in a quarian’s life, with everything else being for the greater good of the flotilla. So it didn’t actually occur to her that she had at least one person that was likely to go out of his way for the occasion. It also didn’t occur to her that she was going to walk into a hallway full of balloons, and was greeted with a face full of them as soon as she entered her apartment. “Ummm,” Her arm reached out to swat one away from her face and she attempted to swing her look back at Garrus. “Vakarian.” Garrus stood back, although he’d pivoted around just enough to make sure he could see her face when she opened the door. He already had a slightly more present smile locked in place when he heard his name emphasized around the other side of a stray balloon, which wafted into the hall and bumped against the ceiling. “They’re purple,” Garrus supplied, as if that made this completely all right to flood her apartment with the bobbing mass. Honestly, he hadn’t realized that twenty was this expansive. Something to remember for next year. “I made sure they were purple.” He stepped in towards her, getting bonked in the side of the head by another balloon. “Happy birthday...?” Tali yanked on one of the ribbons and brought it down a little closer to her, face breaking into a grin. They really were all purple, which earned a laugh from her. “Thank you,” She leaned up on her toes and gave him a quick kiss, swatting a balloon out of the way that floated a little too close. “You didn’t have to do this, you know. But purple balloons are a good touch.” She grabbed one of his hands and snagged a balloon as they went further into the apartment, so she could throw her stuff down and probably end up jumping him, but apparently his decorating didn’t end with the balloons. Tali lacked a dining room table - she sacrificed the space for a work area instead - but the coffee table was practically loaded with more boxes and a vase of flowers. Her tone was more amused than annoyed, but he got another emphasised name calling. “Vakarian.” Her kiss was received with a pleased hum, and Garrus let her explore a little, merely wandering behind as he was towed further in. “I didn’t have to, but I wanted to,” he replied, biting back something more akin to a grin as she got closer to the coffee table. “You know me. I don’t half-ass anything.” And then she found the motherlode, such as it was. Garrus dropped her hand there, giving her a nod to go ahead. “What? Twenty-six years is a big deal,” he returned to her calling his name once again. “Maybe to someone who’s well beyond his years...” She trailed off with a bright grin, and bounced ahead to the table. There was no way she could keep up a joke about his age when he’d gone to so much trouble for her birthday, and even accepting modestly seemed to be not enough. She went for the smallest box first, turning around to face him before she opened it. “You know, I’m not used to this sort of thing. My people and gifts...” Tali meant to finish what she was saying, but her hands gently opened up the box and she interrupted herself with a small gasp. “Garrus,” again, with his name. “It’s-” Her eyes practically lit up as she looked back up at him, not even containing the elated expression on her face. He’d started to raise a brow at her for the old age crack, but there was something completely satisfying about watching Tali move around her gifts and discover each one by one. Even if he wanted to hold down a grimace, Garrus just couldn’t. It wasn’t the materialistic slant here, it was just seeing her beaming at all the things he’d hoped she would. “Well, at least you’re off the ‘Vakarian’ pattern now,” he answered, as he walked around to stand in back of her. His own expression was easily pushing into a grin when he reached around her to prise the necklace out of the box, place it around her neck, and clasp it (with some difficulty, admittedly). “I saw it the other week, and I thought it had a certain Tali look to it.” Tali’s hand brushed over the steel necklace gently, and she glanced down to give it another look, all the while having that completely doofy look on her face. “It’s gorgeous.” Completely incapable of making the situation too lovely or comfortable, Tali slipped around and leaned against him, grinning as she ducked her head into his neck. “It’s not a N7 Crusader with a shredder mod, but we can’t all be perfect.” To soften the tease, she kissed his cheek quickly and wouldn’t have been able to wipe the grin off of her face if someone held that N7 Crusader to her head. “You’ve been doing a good job making up for the arm’s length thing, you know.” Garrus wrapped his arms around her as she leaned into him. Out of her view, he sent his eyes ceiling-ward and breathed out a relieved breath that everything was going well. It wasn’t as if turians ever bothered with these things, but that was generally the case when you came from a race of people who valued contributing to the common good more than a year passing. Shepard’s insight had helped, but Garrus had counted on something going wrong. So far, though? Perfect. “I figured I had some ground to cover, but that particular ground I’m saving for later.” He gave her a sly smile as he pulled back enough to look at her face again. “How do you feel about going out to dinner? I would have tried to cook, but that’s more or less the opposite of a good idea. I’m not too proud to admit it.” Tali laughed and reached up to rub her fingers against her eyes, fitting a grimace in there. “I love you, but we’ll pass on cooking. For our own sanity.” She still attempted regularly, but cooking was just a no go for them. She left that to restaurants and Kaylee, and knew he preferred the same. She slid an arm around his waist, grinning up at him. “So I guess that means I should just um.. agree to dinner, instead of saying we should order in and have our own private party? I don’t want to ruin your plans.” She tilted her head toward the coffee table with a smirk, “I think I spotted some chocolate that I’d be willing to share...” Garrus nodded. “Your birthday, your choice,” he told her, narrowing his eyes and still faintly grinning. Up on the thirteenth floor was a decorated room just waiting to be filled with her friends, but they still had some time before then. “There’s that raw food place, if you wanted. No cheeseburgers, I promise.” He held his arms up from where they were looped around her, awkwardly pleading innocence on that one. “Or you can just have the chocolate.” “Really?” Her stance immediately perked up when her favorite place was mentioned, but a second of doubt held her from getting too excited. Her eyes narrowed in his direction, “But you hate that place.” Maybe hate was a strong word, but he usually had the same thoughts and feelings toward it that she did about cheeseburgers. Which wasn’t that they were necessarily bad, just not a preferred food preference. “I’d be happy with Thai, Garrus.” She slid a hand up his back and rose up on her toes, “Ordering it in, too. Or chocolate. Really, I’m not picky and I’m happy with just having Garrus-time.” “I don’t mind the sushi,” Garrus insisted, knowing she still had a solid point about his lack of love for the place. “But we can do Thai, and I’m not going anywhere...” His voice slipped down into a lower register as he leaned down towards her. There was a nuzzle against her neck before he kissed her temple. “I do have to break away if I’m going to order, though. Just thought I’d mention.” “Mmmmm, fine.” Tali let him break away, and couldn’t resist reaching out to squeeze his behind when he moved away from her. There was no point in doing anything other than chuckle at his claim of liking sushi, because she at least appreciated the effort. But teasing him about the expressions he was able to pull these days wasn’t on the agenda for her birthday, so she was more than happy to go with Thai. “I’m just going to...” Tali waved to her table of flowers and chocolate, goofy grin in place. “Eat chocolate. And smell my flowers. Which... you did a very good job on.” She lifted one out of the vase and held it up to her nose, closing her eyes with pleasure as she smelled it. “Did you have help?” Leave it to Tali to get that last bit of mischief in, although Garrus flashed her a brow-raised side glance, with a brief grin attached, for it. He had his omni-tool pulled up, the command to call the Thai restaurant waiting for confirmation. “Help? Not on those, no,” he answered, before sending through the call. “I actually pay attention to what you like, believe it or not.” His answer had her grinning from ear to ear, with that typical warm-fuzzy feeling in the pit of her stomach. “I know. Sniper eyes.” She snagged one of the delicious looking chocolate and raspberry bars and walked over to him while he started in on the call, unwrapping the package as quietly as she could while Garrus made their order. Tali took a small bite of the chocolate, closing it and savoring the taste as Garrus finished up ordering what she assumed was their usual - she blanked out almost the moment the chocolate hit her tongue. When he was finished, she held out the chocolate bar for him to take a bite. “It’s like stepping on the homeworld for the first time. Amazing.” The omni-tool faded back down to standby mode, and Garrus swiveled around, down and onto her sofa. “If that’s that you get out of one bite of chocolate, I really have to wonder what the whole bar means to you.” He reached out, past the bar for now, gently clasping her wrist to tug her down beside him. “Come on. We have a little time before food gets here.” “A chocolate bar like this means everything.” Tali confirmed, settling in close to him and leaning up to pull him in for a kiss. After a second, she broke away and leaned her forehead against his. “But it doesn’t mean nearly as much to me as the guy who gave it to me does.” Their conversations had been serious at times before, and Tali had gotten to the point where she just didn’t care if it made him squirm at all when she got a little deep, because it had become apparent over the months that Garrus was comfortable with them. Garrus slipped a slight laugh around her lips. “Sorry -- just appreciating the second-hand chocolate right now,” he explained when they settled back against the cushions, and he hooked his arm around her waist. A hand was raised to brush a strand of dark hair away from Tali’s face. “Yeah, I love you, too.” It was a choice phrase that came easily now. Garrus smiled over at her. “Happy birthday, Tali.” “Thank you, Vakarian.” She shifted and settled herself across his lap, arms looping around his neck. The ‘love’ word sat unsaid from her end, but the two had never been the kind of couple that needed to say it regularly to know it. Usually, gestures were just as important, and the way Tali was staring down at him was almost sickeningly sweet. “We um.. still have a little while before the food is here and people come looking for us, right?” She kissed him again, briefly. “Because I think there’s a birthday present you forgot.” “Hmm.” There was a glance spared to the main entrance door to her apartment -- around the balloons still clogging the hallway -- after which Garrus towed his narrowed eyes back to rest on Tali herself. “I’ll see what I can do,” he replied, tone level and flat, although the corner of his mouth curled up and in just before he tugged in back in, cutting off the verbal part conversation with a certain determination. |