"I can't believe you keep running around the ship in a hoody." Kaidan smiled. He stepped closer, tugging gently on the end of one of Shepard's sleeves.
Shepard shrugged, unable to come up with an explanation that he felt he could express. "It was comfortable."
Kaidan chuckled. "It makes you look..." his eyes flicked up to Shepard's, amused. "Cuddly."
Shepard couldn't help the smile that crept onto his face. Normally he'd restrain it, rib the person, tell them to back off or ignore them. But Kaidan had started this...thing between them. And he was just watching Shepard, waiting for the reaction; wanting him to smile. And the intensity of that, all the affection wrapped up in an ever weakening shell of uncertainty, was so very addicting.
"Cuddly, huh." He looked Kaidan in the eyes and stepped forward as well.
Kaidan seemed to stop breathing for a couple of seconds, then he smiled and looked away, a slight blush rising to his cheeks. "Yeah."
Shepard watched, fascinated.
He still couldn't quite believe that Kaidan felt like this, for him. And that he could make Kaidan react like that. Every time they talked Shepard could see something new, some little motion or action or expression that Shepard hadn't noticed before because he hadn't let himself look.
He reached out to jostle Kaidan, hoping to reduce the sudden tension that had built up, but as soon as he raised his arm, Kaidan looked up and then raised his arms as well, stepping in closer, pulling him in and wrapping him up in a firm hug.
Shepard reciprocated, hesitating only for a moment, not really expecting affection in the middle of one of the Normandy's hallways. But when he went to let go, Kaidan kept holding on, and it became not so much a hug, as being held, so Shepard relaxed into the warmth and let himself lean into the solid comfort Kaidan's presence created. He leant his head against Kaidan's, closing his eyes.
They just stood there for a while, breathing each other in, the sound of the Normandy echoing around them, their world reduced to just themselves.
Kaidan gently ran his hands across Shepard's back, stroking the material.
"So, you like the hoody?' Shepard murmured.
He could feel Kaidan smile against his neck. "Yeah."
Shepard pulled him closer. "I'll wear it around then.