This Has Probably Already Been Spoken To Death About On Here, But Despite Mass Effect Being A Huge Part

this has probably already been spoken to death about on here, but despite mass effect being a huge part of my life for over a decade, I've not really yapped about it online

as much as i adore Garrus with every fibre of my being, there's a part of me that is actually glad we can't romance him in me1. If you ignore the initial reasoning behind why we can't, it works out so well for their relationship in the long run

when shepard first meets garrus, they are on uneven grounds. They fall into a form of mentor and protégé style of friendship, garrus looks up to shepard and comes to her for answers. She's been through a lot, so he wants shep's point of view that's been forged from her own experiences on the battlefield. Paragon or renegade, its safe to assume the events in shepard's chosen backstories helped push her into either direction.

Then she dies and he is left behind, then Omega happens. 2 years worth of mourning. 11 people to mourn in such a short span of time, all things considered. Shepard and his team snatched away from him without warning. That would change anyone to lose that amount of people so quickly.

Death changes people and shepard and garrus, for better or worse, are forced through that change 2 years later

So by the time shepard and garrus are reunited, they are now on equal ground. He no longer comes to shepard for answers. He's already gotten them from his own experiences. The same way she did before the hunt for saren. He doesn't need her answers anymore, he doesn't question the morality of his past missions, that's long since been cemented into his mind after shepards death and sidonis.

Back on the SR-1, garrus was lagging slightly behind her, but now on the SR-2? now they are truly side by side, on the battlefield and through this learnt experience.

imo this makes his romance even stronger than if we could romance him in the first game. because it really is strangers -> friends -> lovers in its purest form in my eyes.

I like the idea that Garrus starts really falling in love with Shepard in those post-ME2 ending scenes where you can call up your love interest to your cabin. He starts to understand that it is more than just the respect for a superior and a friend, more than just a simple crush. He feels himself falling for her while he holds her in bed or when she's talking his ear off as she sits on his lap on the couch. And he's enjoying her company so much, and he finds himself hoping that he'll get to stay up there for longer each time. And he always loves the nights where he wakes up in her bed and she's curled up in his chest and she hasn't asked him to leave. He likes to bury his head in her neck and let her talk, the vibrations of her voice so calming against his face. He asks her to practice this thing she calls kissing so that he can be better at it for her.

And to Shepard it isn't just a fun lay either. She's not calling him up just to sleep with him each time. She cares about him, she's actually always cared about him, but she's not very vocal about her feelings unless she's asked directly and that makes him slightly still hesitant to call it love. But in her mind she wants nothing more than to spend all her time with him. In her mind, reading over datapads together in bed and discussing their thoughts is romantic. In her mind, asking him to take a shower with her so they don't waste water is her way of saying she likes him. So I like to think that she's much quicker at accepting it.

And in the time he ruminates his feelings about her, she's already decided that he's the one for her.

no guys im normal about zack and cloud constantly struggling to reach each other im really really normal about it i promise

funny things ace has done/said that makes me think he might genuinely have feelings for the player character

flirts but then says it's a joke. literally goes "haha jk. unless? 👀"

suggested sharing a bed Twice

"i don't have time for dating when i have to worry about you" SIR????

"i didn't think i'd be into your type, but maybe i was wrong. just kidding! or am i?" I AM GOING TO KILL YOU

immediate first reaction to seeing yuu in danger is to protect them

legitimately worries about yuu when they're not around

gets defensive when yuu is insulted

hated the idea of having to abandon yuu to save himself during the playful land event, wanting to stick with them even when everyone was in active danger

is, to my knowledge, one of the Very few people who actually has yuu's phone number (im pretty sure he's the only one that actually asked for yuu's number?? malleus cmon step it up /j)

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED I WAS?!" him literally every time yuu was in danger but is saved by someone else and wasn't the one to save them

his first response to getting an SOS from yuu was to drop everything and run to them instead of letting anyone else know (bro probably didn't even explain what was going on to his family 😭)

do you guys think garrus ever saw a red haired woman from behind on omega and thought it was shepard? or caught a glimpse of emerald green eyes and was sent back to his time on the normandy? do you think he was ever stopped in his tracks when a female merc fought the same way she did? how many times was he cursed with the knowledge that he found her in so many people, but they would never be the woman who showed him that there was more to life than c-sec paperwork and holding onto grudges?

i imagine this is what was going through her mind when she said her last goodbye to garrus