Huge thanks to impsy for the encouragement to write this down and share it in the first place, and credit goes to her for coming up with the folder name =)
Shepard had always known Kaidan had a bit of a thing for asari. It came from the little comments he made, back on the original Normandy during their first tour together, the admiring glances he couldn't quite hide when they passed asari dancers in any number of bars throughout the galaxy. He'd practically confessed as much to her in the early days of their flirtation all those years ago, when insecurity had driven her to ask him if he was interested in Liara.
So it shouldn't have come as a surprise that he was in possession of such materials.
She hadn't meant to find it, hadn't really been snooping. When she returned to their quarters to find Kaidan stretched out and snoring gently on the couch, sweatpants slung low, one hand resting lightly on his shirtless abdomen, the light from the fish tank and the screen of his terminal on the coffee table beside him painting his sleeping form in blues and oranges, she'd only been curious to see what he'd been doing.
So she perched on the edge of the couch and reached out to the terminal, intending on saving his progress in whatever report he'd writing before drifting off, or the rosters for his students.
But that wasn't quite what she found.
The screen flickered to life, revealing not reports or duty rosters, but the end frames of a vid.
Nothing too out of the ordinary about that, it wasn't unheard of for him to watch vids on his terminal. Just the other night they'd curled up on the couch for a Blasto marathon. Shepard exited out of it, not thinking anything much about what it might have been, until the folder behind it was revealed. The list of files named in the folder 'omnitool specs' was rather suggestive. She doubted, somehow, that 'azure pounding' and '3 hot asari, 1 wild night' had much of anything to do with omnitools. Intrigued to see just what kind of thing Kaidan liked to watch during his alone time, she opened one of the vids. So engrossed was she in the (decidedly explicit) proceedings unfolding on the screen in front of her, she failed to notice the absence of Kaidan's snoring until she heard him swear behind her.
Kaidan was propping himself up with one arm, the other moving to rub the back of his neck worriedly, as Shepard turned to regard him over her shoulder.
"Interesting viewing material you have here, Alenko,"
"I can explain! I mean, it's not..."
Shepard arched a brow at him.
"Look, uh..." Kaidan's eyebrows drew together in a frown, worry creasing his forehead. "I'm sorry, it's just that you've been working so much, and... and that's ok, really, but uh... I don't often, not anymore..." he shook his head, then met her eyes, concern evident.
"Uh huh,"
"They're from before we... before." He looked between her and the terminal a few times. "I'll get rid of them, if it bothers you. I swear,"
She couldn't keep the grin from her face any longer, or the laugh from escaping. Kaidan just looked perplexed.
"Kaidan, I don't mind!"
"You... don't?" His bewilderment was really quite endearing.
"Of course not. In fact," she looked back at the screen, where the vid continued to play, "this is actually kinda hot."
Shepard wasn't sure what she enjoyed more, the relief evident on his face, or the sexy little smile that was now pulling at his lips. She leaned in for a slow, teasing kiss.
"Did you expect me to be shocked? Outraged?" she asked, trailing kisses along the line of his jaw and up towards his ear. He barely had time to groan in response before she lowered her voice to whisper, "You should see some of the kinky shit on my terminal."