I did not realize how attached to a romance with Garrus Vakarian I was until he showed up on Menae in Mass Effect 3 and I suddenly started bouncing up and down like a giddy school girl. I knew that he was my favorite romance option of ME2, but I just didn’t have the same feeling when FemShep and Kaiden resolved their differences and got back together (despite this, Kaiden is my second fave of FemShep sexytime options, with Traynor as a third).

And I’m not alone in this. Like … there are a lot of people who are super into Garrus as FemShep’s end game. There’s porn of it, and yes, I have seen it. Others find the pairing weird because Garrus is the least human-appearing, and there’s that whole dextro-amino acid thing that could cause violent vomiting if FemShep should ingest any turian … parts. But the sex? That’s not what I’m interested in. It’s the non-sexual part of their relationship that has me rooting for them. In the first game, he sees her as a mentor, and in the second, she’s a comrade and an equal … and maybe someone to love. She is definitely the more level-headed of the two: she approaches him about the concept and even gives him a chance to decline if he’s uncomfortable with the idea.

But then you get to ME3. They respect each other’s abilities, both on and off the battlefield, and can be playful and/or tender when the situation calls for it. They are true equals now, with FemShep prepping the entire galaxy for war and Garrus being saluted by turian generals. I just love seeing them together, fighting for their homes. And the Citadel DLC was just so perfect:

Is it silly? Sure. Is it fan service? Indubitably. But I loved every single minute of it. It’s like the developers read my mind and created perfection. And it kept me happy long enough before I realized that I needed to go ahead and just finish the game, which meant Shepard was going to leave Archangel behind to mourn her.

God, this makes me so sad. As if I needed a reason to, what with this trash heap of a year. I’m gonna go watch happy puppy videos now.

Art Credit: eTeknix, Nerdlush