Observations of Chance

"You should be asleep."

A loud dual toned voice echoing through the cargo hold roused Vega from his sleeping state. He'd been exhausted from the last few days, he'd just sat down for a second - and must have gone to sleep. Damn Esteban was going to give him shit about it later.

"Already giving me orders, huh?" Shepard said. He could just see the work bench from where he was, not daring to move a muscle and draw attention to himself.

"Someone has to." Vakarian replied, the drawl in his voice almost sounding like amusement. Vega's eyes widened as the turian stepped behind the Commander, wrapping his arms around her waist and leaning his head against hers as she continued to pack away the mods she'd been working with.

Vega was almost waiting for her to turn around and clock him in the face (like he'd seen her do to the last person who had inappropriately touched her, the look on that marines face when he'd realised who she was though, that was priceless) Instead, she just leaned back, covering his hands with her own.

"So you did miss me." Shepard commented, a grin across her face before she loosened the turians grip to turn around and face him.

The looks Shepard and Liara had exchanged in the shuttle to Menae were starting to make a lot more sense. 'An old friend on Palavan.' Bull-fucking-shit.

Vega didn't know if he'd missed something said as he finally shifted himself further out of view, but in the next moment Shepard wrapped her arms around the other man's neck and was pressing her lips against Vakarians mouth.

That was when awkward turned into morbid curiosity.

James had never thought about how turians kissed, or if they could kiss - and he wasn't quite sure how it was working, but damn they were both getting into it.

Oh. Tongue. That explained a lot.

Shepard let out a yelp of surprise as the turian placed his hands on the back of her thighs, lifting her up onto the cleared work bench.

"I'm kinda liking your new take charge approach." The Commander said as she hooked her legs on his hips, pulling him closer. "Six months, Garrus."

The next words were lost to Vega as the turian leant his head forehead against hers and murmured a response, her hands moving to his face, slowly tracing his faceplates with her fingertips.

Vakarian leant forward kissing her briefly before turning his attention to her jaw, face disappearing from sight as he started nipping at her neck, a three fingered hand brushing over her breast as he moved a hand to support her waist. A soft moan from Shepard rang out across the cargo hold as her back arched, hands gripping his shoulders as she steadied herself.

Vega bit back a groan as the turian let out a low laugh in response, his next words still unclear but the tones in his voice sounded… fuck. He was never going to be able to look either of them in the face again.

"Ok. Garrus. This has to stop." Shepard told him as she pushed herself back, gently motioning for him to pay attention.

"Problem?"

Jesus Christ, was she doing that for no fucking reason? James began to wonder if she'd been reciprocating his flirting for her own personal amusement.

"Big problem." She said. "Steve is defiantly going to notice if we mess up his beautiful new cargo hold."

"The shuttle pilot right?" Vakarian confirmed.

"That's him." Shepard replied. "So, how about we move this upstairs?"

The turians mandibles clicked out to the side a few times, into what James was sure was a smile. "Just like old times." He said, taking her hands as she dropped down off the bench.

"Better than old times." Shepard grinned, gripping Vakarian's hands, pulling him along as she walked backwards towards the elevator. Her eyes not leaving him once until he kissed her again as the doors shut.

James finally let out breath he'd been holding.

This ship really was fucking loco.

"Morning James." Shepard greeted him hours later, a biotic sized plate of food in one hand and a coffee in the other as she approached the table in the mess.

"Mornin' Lola." He replied before turning his attention back to his breakfast. You saw nothing, you heard nothing.

"Is 'Lola' a name or another word my translator just doesn't pick up?" Vakarian asked as he joined them, with his own, kind of weird looking food.

"Name." Vega answered.

"Nickname, he only gets away with it because he's cute." Shepard clarified, getting an amused raise of the brow plates from the turian. "Ok, and he didn't treat me like scum while he was playing bodyguard back on Earth."

"Do you give everyone 'nicknames' or just your charges?" Garrus asked, that last comment from Shepard seeming to warm him up a bit.

"Not everyone, but most." Vega said with a shrug. "Makes people easier to remember."

"Have you got one for Garrus yet?" Shepard prodded.

Vega looked at the two of them momentarily. "Scars."

That made the turian laugh. "I like it." He commented.

"It's always interesting taking a trip to Tuchanka with Garrus." Shepard told him. "Apparently krogan women find the facial scars attractive."

"Apparently some human women do as well." Fuck. Vegas entire thought process stopped as the words left his mouth. Fuckfuckfuck.

Shepard just started at him for a second, the rare look of surprise on her face being replaced with a smug grin. Better than rage, I guess.

"Nice to see some things never change." Vakarian commented with a laugh. "Is two days a new record?"

"I don't think so." Shepard frowned. "Everyone was making bets for ages, I don't think there's a record to beat."

Oh thank fuck. Vega thought to himself as the two continued to on.

"They were what?"

"You seriously didn't hear about it?" Shepard continued. "Kelly and Kasumi started it I think. I can't remember whether Tali or Jack ended up winning everyone's credits though."

"Jack and Tali had the closest scenarios, they split the winnings." Vega jumped slightly as the AIs voice came out of nowhere. He still hadn't gotten used it being… everywhere.

"I'm surprised you didn't win EDI." Garrus remarked, nodding at one of the small cameras in the mess she was probably viewing them from.

"I had no use for the monetary gain, and was deemed to have an 'unfair advantage'." EDI explained. "So I moderated and eventually decided the winner."

"Nice to know that not-so-secret surveillance was put to good use." Shepard replied back to EDI, flashing the camera a cheeky grin.

"I thought so." EDI simply said back.

Vega raised an eyebrow at the camera, did the AI just-

"That was a joke."

It made jokes.

Vega's attention was drawn back to his two superiors across the table as the turians omni-tool flashed briefly, leading him to excuse himself.

"Hey." Shepard cut in before he turned to leave, picking up his plate of food and holding it out to him. "Eat and work, Vakarian or you'll forget about it."

He raised a brow plate at her but took it anyway; James didn't miss the brush of their fingers as he took it from her. "I believe the phrase I should use here is – the pot calling the kettle black?"

"Don't you have a message to answer?" Shepard deflected, turning back to her food.

Vakarian shook his head and looked back towards him. "That means I'm right."

"Go." Shepard half yelled back at him through a mouthful of toast, the turians low laugh sending just the smallest shiver down Vega's spine.

"So it takes a man to bust up his face to get your attention huh, Lola?" He asked once the turian had disappeared into the main battery.

Every one of Shepard's 'old' team mates , friends – they were like Shepard herself, they came back onto the ship like a whirlwind, not actually changing how the ship was run, but they changed everything and sent the Alliance crew for a spin.

Shepard just snorted a laugh. "You wish it was that easy, Vega."

And in that moment James realised that even after tailing Jane Shepard for six months on Earth - nothing about her was going to be easy to understand.

"Just a warning though." Shepard said, her fork waving in his direction as she chose her next words carefully. "You might want to keep that smart mouth of yours in check when I'm in a bad mood, or I will kick your arse from one side of the ship to the other. Are we clear?"

"As crystal, Commander."

As you can see, I focused more on the voyeurism/envy part of the prompt, because it just ended up being the most fun part to write.

Prompt: Vega flirts with Shepard, but he is confused when on Menae Shepard passionately kisses with some scarred turian. Envy, jealous, maybe some voyeurism after on Normandy. He tries to understand why Shepard prefers Garrus, why this alien is better than Vega himself is.