Kaidan arranged himself on the couch, settling in comfortably for a several-hour stretch. This was going to be good. Hockey heaven.
He almost never had the opportunity to catch a game; he usually settled for watching the highlights on the extranet. Assuming nothing went terribly wrong, he'd get to see the whole thing, and it was even a playoff game on home ice. He couldn't help feeling a little thrill of anticipation.
"Hey."
He looked up to see Shepard silhouetted in the doorway, a small crowd behind her. In her hands she held two bags of potato chips, edible for any species. She quickly claimed the spot beside him, budging up close to make room for Tali.
"Hey," he replied, trying to hide his surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Are you kidding? We couldn't let you go through this alone."
She tossed the bag marked dextro to Garrus, who caught it one-handed and plopped himself down on Kaidan's other side.
"Is this game important?" asked Liara, who was wearing the look she got when something piqued her scholarly interest.
"It's the Stanley Cup playoffs, the end of the season. I think we finally have a shot," Kaidan replied with modest pride.
"How long have they been trying?"
"About two hundred years," he admitted sheepishly. "But it's gonna happen this year. I can feel it."
"I assume it's harder than it looks."
"Yeah." He grinned. "I haven't played since I was a kid. I didn't have as good a grasp on my biotics then. Too bad. You could probably get some good speed that way."
Liara gave a hmmm of interest and moved closer, dislodging Tali, who was focused intently on the screen. "So they strap knives to their feet and hit each other with sticks?" she said, unimpressed.
Shepard choked on a chip. "There's a little more to it than that," she began, but was interrupted by Wrex, who snorted, "Humans need that much armor for a game?"
"It can get pretty rough."
"Hmph. If anybody tried that with me, I'd-"
"-eat them," said Shepard and Tali in gleeful unison. Wrex grunted approval. Kaidan shook his head. Krogan on skates. The mind boggled.
On the screen, the players took the ice, and Kaidan turned his attention to the game. He reached absently for the chip bag. Shepard gave his hand a quick squeeze before relinquishing it, and he turned to look at her with raised brows. She was giving him his favorite look, the one that said she was enjoying his surprise, and wanted to know what he was going to do about it. It was the look he'd never seen her give anyone else, the one that made everyone else in the room melt away.
He smiled back and took a chip. Did it get better than this? He didn't think so. This year was definitely going to be a winner.