New Year's Eve

Garrus had been expecting this. New Year's Eve was a distinctly human celebration, and a bizarre one at that, given the number of colonies whose calendars ran nothing like the one on the human homeworld. So in effect they were celebrating the movement of a planet past an arbitrary point in its orbit, on a space station far removed from said planet and populated by a vast range of species who had probably never even heard of earth.

But, on the other hand, Shepard's apartment was a great place for a party, so maybe this was simply an excuse – even an extremely flimsy one – to blow off some steam.

And, as expected, the night had turned rowdy in a hurry. Jack was currently dancing on the kitchen counter. Miranda was yelling insults at her, Jacob trying to keep between them, and from the few choice phrases he picked up on his way through the kitchen, Garrus surmised that Jack had hacked Miranda's computer terminal and uncovered some rather embarrassing information. He quickly left the room before he could find out exactly what Jack had discovered.

Traynor was drunk, and attempting to do gymnastics on the staircase. She currently had her knee trapped in the railing, and Tali was on hand, but rather than helping, she was filming the episode on her omni-tool. No doubt that would show up on the extranet later tonight.

Javik was wrestling with Grunt, so far knocking over a lamp, breaking a mirror and punching a hole in a wall. The match showed no signs of abating, Javik proving himself to be rather stronger than Garrus had expected. Either that, or Grunt was taking it easy on him.

Kaidan and Shepard had disappeared not too long ago, and a rhythmic thumping sound had started in one of the upper bedrooms soon after. The crew knew enough about their relationship to know to leave them alone, and someone discretely turned the music up until the thumping of the bass drowned out the thumping of the furniture.

Garrus was pouring himself another drink at the bar when EDI sidled up to him, a suspiciously innocent expression on her face. "Wrex has asked for your assistance in the second bedroom upstairs. He says there's a security issue that needs your attention."

It was hard to imagine what could be the problem up there. He and Zaeed had examined security from the perspective of the entry points, the massive windows, the electrical wiring, even the sound system… but a security issue in the upper bedroom?

With a philosophical shrug, Garrus headed upstairs, pretended he couldn't hear the moans and cries emanating from Shepard's room, and opened the door to the second bedroom…

Oh.

Um…

Armor strewn across the floor…

Rose petals scattered about…

Scented candles filling the room with golden light…

Wrex lay on the bed, naked, and a dim part of Garrus's brain mused that he'd never seen a naked krogan before. The sight was… interesting. From a purely intellectual perspective.

"Come in and close the door," Wrex invited him with a smile. And Garrus's mind was still lagging far enough behind his body that he did so without really understanding what that implied.

"I've had my eye on you ever since we met on the Citadel," Wrex crooned, and wow, who would have thought that a krogan was capable of that smooth, enticing, rumbling tone… "You're a fierce warrior. A loyal friend. And I want to see what you look like without all that armor…"

Garrus's brain finally caught up, and he instantly wished that he hadn't closed the door… And then had the second thought that actually, closed was better. There was no way in the world he wanted anyone else walking past and getting an eyeful… and most likely leaping to entirely the wrong conclusion. "Um… I'm flattered, Wrex. But I don't think-"

Nope. Garrus had most definitely not been expecting this.