The prompt was "Scary movies", and they requested Shenko. I was happy to oblige.
"Hey Shepard, I'm glad you agreed to take a night off," Kaidan called out in lieu of a formal greeting as he entered her quarters. He was still a little uncomfortable just letting himself in, but he didn't want to face her good-natured teasing for standing outside the door and waiting patiently again. He did bunk there every night for the last two weeks, after all, but old habits were hard to break.
Salty, buttery popcorn beckoned from the table, the heavy scent filling the air and making his stomach grumble, but there was no Shepard. She'd be along soon enough, so he busied himself getting everything set up in preparation of her return. It was only a few minutes, but he was ready when the cabin doors slid open.
Shepard broke into a wide grin when she noticed Kaidan sitting on the couch surrounded by pizza, beer, and chocolate as well as the now meager-looking bowl of popcorn she'd prepared. "Wow, you really go all-out, don't you?" Shepard chuckled as she slid into the empty seat and his awaiting embrace, but her smile faltered the moment she laid eyes on the screen. "What's this?"
"An old vid Joker lent me. He said you'd love it…"
"I'm gonna kill him," Shepard muttered to herself. She turned away from the screen too fast, her eyes too wide as she focused on the man at her side. "I don't do scary movies."
Kaidan bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing; that would only result in getting hit or banished, and he really didn't want to face either option. "You?" he asked innocently, but the chuckles practically broke through with that single word, "…the person who's faced down every single big, bad, ugly thing in the universe with a sarcastic quip and a solid hit, and you can't handle a scary movie?"
"You have a problem with that?" she asked defensively, then cringed the moment she heard her own voice. "Sorry, I just don't do them. I get all twitchy and jumpy and bad things happen…"
"Hey," he soothed, pulling her close, "I'll be here to protect you from all the big, bad, scary, fake stuff. We'll snuggle up and everything will be fine. You'll see."
Shepard burrowed in to his warm embrace and chuckled. "How 'bout this: we snuggle up and you can protect me from all the dick and fart jokes of the stupid comedy we're going to watch instead, 'cause I'm not watching that."ow 'bout this: we snuggle up and you can protect me from all the dick and fart jokes of the stupid comedy we're going to watch instead, 'cause I'm not watching that."/p