Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Pidge groaned. She was feeling a lot of pressure but no biggie. She’d be fine once she finished updating this program. If she could just create this program to self adjust It would mean that when she needed a time out she could take it. That could prove to be crucial in the coming months, hell the coming year!

She thought she was pretty close but patience wasn’t her strong suit so she needed to take a deep breath and review the code step by step. She heard her phone buzz but she was in the zone so it was easy to ignore. She kept working slowly double and triple checking her work. Damn, right about now she wished Hunk was around to give her a second opinion.

Sighing she stretched and groaned. Ugh, what time was it? Finally standing she twisted side to side and looked around for her phone or tablet. There it was. Uh oh. She sees various messages from Shiro and Lance. Even Hunk…Oh crap. Please tell me they didn’t call for reinforcements. Please oh please.

Suddenly the door slams open. She looks up, oh shit. Shit shit shit! She tries to look like she was resting…in her flipping lab.

Keith Is there-looking absolutely wrecked. “Katherine Holt!! I told you”, finger pointing, “not to work too hard, eat and for all that’s holy sleep. Yet, here you are days later and you didn’t do anything I said! Did you think I was joking? That I wouldn’t check?”

“Hehehe, so hey there, how was your mission? Were you able to get the supplies? How is your M”

“No, you aren’t going to distract me?!” Keith replied crossly.

Pidge laughed, “Yeah, okay Blade.” She started to walk over when she felt a pain unlike anything she had ever felt before. She staggered and would have fallen if Keith hadn’t moved and caught her in his arms.

“Honey, what’s going on? Tell me, what can I do?”

“Ugh, I think, I think it’s time.”

‘WHAT?!? No! You have a few more weeks! Babe.”

PIdge leans against Keith, “Sorry, but I really think it’s time.”

36 hours later…

Keith looks at his son In his arms. His son. He can’t believe that he is a father and looking at his wife, he’s overcome. He has never felt like this before. He was so scared and he hated feeling helpless.

Keith leans over and softly kisses her, his lips gently clinging to hers. “Katherine Holt Kogane, please, never ever scare me like that again. Please. I love you so much, I just can’t, please, take care of yourself.”

Pidge sighs, “I’m sorry. Really, I just thought I could do it and be fine. Babe, I’m sorry.”

He smiles, “It’s okay. Just so long you two are safe, that’s all I need. Ever.”

PIdge looks down, at the start of her little boys cries. “Hey Ryder, momma’s got you.”

Chapter Text

Keith was filthy, smelly and tired. He hated going through war zones looking for supplies but some things were only located on specific planets. So he went where he was needed and got what he had to. His only goal was to get back to the ship and sleep for week. This mission should not have taken as long as it did and he was glad to have a break.

Back on the ship, he grabbed his data pad and let his messages play while showering up. Thank goodness his room had a bathroom attached and he didn’t need to use the communal showers. He wasn’t totally focused on what he was hearing as the messages played through from the last week, but that all changed when he heard Pidge’s voice. Curious he paused and stuck his head out of the shower then froze. Crap.

“Keith, I’m sorry I know you are busy, really busy. But, I, well I fucked up. I said I had this boyfriend a few months ago to keep Kyle off my case. Remember, Kyle the guy who kept asking me out. And I kept saying no…well, I lied. I felt weird saying no and so I invented this boyfriend. Cuz I’m so stupid! Sorry but you were the person whose name came to mind and well, the shit has hit the fan. IF you can, and I know you probably can’t and this Is some Hail Mary pass BUT if you can can you please please please, pretend you and I are dating and well, shit, come to Ryan’s wedding as my date. Damn it this sounds so dumb. Never mind, okay this probably was a waste of my time but “

BEEP!

Keith ran out of the bathroom after basically just turning the water off and frantically looking through his mail. Shit! He knows he was Invited but where the fuck is it? Throwing papers around he finally found the Invitation. FUCK, looking at the calendar he realizes the damn wedding is today. He Is determined to make it to Pidge’s side. He can get Cosmo to get him there. No biggie.

Luckily he needed to have some nice clothes for some ambassador thing and they basically said he could keep the tux. He throws it on and pulls his still wet hair in a pony tail and runs out of his room looking for his mom. Yelling, he bumps into Krolia in the main hall, and confusedly asks him what Is going on.

Keith hurriedly explains he needs to be at this wedding for Pidge. His mom smiles a really suss smile.

His mom states, “How nice, an earth wedding, I’d love to go.”

Frustrated Keith tried to keep his patience. “Yeah sure mom but I need to leave now. And um, you really aren’t dressed for a wedding.”

“Can’t you wait for”

“No mom! I gotta go now…Cosmo!”

“Hmm, okay Keith, but what is the rush? And what’s this have to do with the small one?”

“MOM!”

“Fine Keith, let’s go.”

Keith holds onto Cosmo’s back and says, “Cosmo-find Katie.”

At the hall, he hands over the invitations and once in, he asked the first person he saw for Pidge. He tried to push down the sense of panic he was feeling especially because his mom was finding his behavior so funny. Walking around the perimeter, he sees Mr and Mrs Holt and they point him in the right direction.

He can barely make out the top of Pidge’s hair when suddenly people move and he has a clear view. It’s like a sea parting. Damn, she looks gorgeous. She has on a red and black dress that hugs her curves and as she shifts the material looks like its shimmering. For fucks sake. Does she realize she’s wearing his colors? Does she know what that does to him, to see her in something that smacks of his? MINE. MINE. It’s like a neon light flashing in his head.

Hands shaking, he takes In the group she’s in-noticing everything, every small detail. She elected to wear some shiny sneakers instead of heels, hair twisted up yet looking like it’s about to fall and as Keith quickly approaches her from her side, he can already smell her intoxicating scent. He’s just about to tap her shoulder when Kyle trails a finger down her very bare arm.

He growls and pushes his way to her side, anchoring her to his side with his arm. And as she turns to look up at him, time stops just for a second. But that’s all it took. He’s done.

Looking down at her he pulls her even tighter to him and kisses her mouth-hard, hungry and demandingly. He sweeps his tongue into her mouth and explores every recess, kissing her as deeply as he could. He Isn’t even thinking he’s just acting on his very strong impulses. He needs her, so much. And he’s so fucking tired of pretending he doesn’t. MINE.

Chapter Text

Pidge hears from Veronica that Keith and some alien are tight. Okay, no problem. It was bound to happen right. It’s not like he would ever like her or see her in a romantic light. So as uncomfortable as that makes her feel, she accepts it. Like any other problem she analyzes it and figures out a solution. She determines her best move is distance.

It’s relatively easy to miss a phone call and just shoot off a short message. It’s easy to be busy when he’s actually back on Earth. Projects and work can take all her focus and she’s good at burying her feelings In work. HONESTLY it’s what she does.

That’s why when a few months pass she realizes she’s going to be okay. And maybe she should say yes when someone asks her out…after all James is a good guy. And for whatever reason he likes her. The real her too. He pays attention to her. Yet when Lance comes back on base ready to get back to work… she often partners with him. No big…or so she thinks.

A few months later…Lance is complaining to Keith.

“So, what’s with this dude James? You know him right? From before?”

Keith doesn’t reply right away, stopping his progress to the mess hall and takes a left to an empty room. Slowly asking, “What do you mean?”

“Well, he keeps sticking to Pidge and when we are partners he’s well salty. I don’t want to start anything but what the hell? I’m not giving up Pidge for him! She’s mine first.”

Keith frowns, immediately annoyed by Lance’s word choice. He knows it doesn’t mean what it sounds like but what the hell? And doesn’t Griffin have his own team? He retorts, “Why does he want Pidge? You mean for work?”

Lance shrugs, “I dunno, I guess. But from what I gather from Hunk and Shiro, well, a lot of guys think if they hook up with her it will lead to great things. Some guys are looking at a career angle and that’s crap. But, if I’m honest, I don’t know him well enough. I just know that he’s too…touchy with her, too comfortable. Again, I don’t know what he thinks but fuck him. Pidge is always going to be my partner not his. I’m not just stepping aside for his preppy ass.”

Keith nods but internally he is struggling to accept that James is or has been Pidge’s partner. Fuck! Being someone’s partner creates an Intimacy that he doesn’t like some other guy having with her. And while he doesn’t like James for old reasons-right now he actually hates the fact that he wants Pidge. It’s like he can’t swallow that information down. He stares at a calendar…thinking.

Another month later, Keith is back on Earth. He’s switched roles and is now an ambassador for the Blades of Mamora on Earth. This is a long term assignment and Keith is focused. He’s realizes that Pidge has missed a lot of his calls and he’s starting to think this is purposeful. And he doesn’t know what to do about it. He just knows that he misses her laugh, her rambling, her presence. Shiro keeps asking pointed questions that he knows he cannot keep avoiding. Especially since he lives with him again.

And then there’s the Issue with Lance. Lance is digging in trying to annoy Griffin which is fine. But Keith is worried that Lance has certain ideas about Pidge. And at this point Keith has decided, he’s not just going to wait in the background like usual. He’s done with giving her time and he’s done worrying about what other people will think.

So when a little later, everyone is at the base figuring out teams for their practice mission and team building exercises Keith makes sure he’s on hand as a captain and takes Pidge. He’s done being a nice guy. He’s going after what he wants and he knows it’s Katie Holt.

Chapter Text

“Ms. Holt, or um Katie, right? Are you cold, do you want my sweater?”

Pidge internally groaned but outwardly gave no indication that she heard the officer. Or so she desperately hoped. This guy was seriously calling her Ms. Holt? After working on a project with her for six freaking months? Ugh.

THIS! This is why she didn’t do after work project drinks. She didn’t do well with small talk or faking interest. Everyone else was laughing and well onto their way of getting shit faced. And here she was sitting at the end of the bar counting down the minutes till she felt she could sneak out.

Bill was starting to take his sweater off so she sighed and replied, “No! No, thanks Bill but I’m good.” Not knowing what else to say she just kept quiet hoping he’d leave her alone. Just leave already. She pulled out her data pad and jotted a few notes for her next project and saw a message from Lance bailing on her tonight. Damn. She hoped he was okay. While she hated get togethers Lance used to thrive on crowds, drinks and laughter. She was hoping he’d come out and have a little fun even if it sucked for her.

With him not coming, Pidge’s internal countdown just sped up. A cough interrupts her thoughts and she looks to see Bill is now seated at her side, but he moved the bar stool so the was literally right next to her. What the literal hell?? Pidge puts down her data pad and looks into his eyes, which are way too close.

Leaning back she tries to find Veronica or Ina who are also at the bar. Damn, those girls were supposed to be her buffer! With no incoming help, Pidge decided to stand. “So hey, I’m just going to, um, go to the bathroom! So yeah, see ya Bill.” She scrambled to the back of the bar where there was a short hall and the two restrooms. Rushing over she made sure to avoid other people. Closing the door and locking the single room Pidge looks in the mirror.

A young woman stared back, who if Pidge was honest, still was a bit of a shock whenever she caught her own reflection. She looked more like her mom than ever. While her hair was only slightly longer it was styled and cut in a what that looked like it was on purpose and not an accident. She also had some make up on, nothing like Romelle wanted but she thought her eyes looked nice and she stopped needing the disguise of the glasses so there was that. Romelle couldn’t come but she helped her pick out her outfit so she had a cute top with tight jeans on, with her favorite converse.

Ugh, maybe just maybe, Bill really liked her. Maybe some of the other guys over the years really liked her. But she still felt like the insecure girl who didn’t get asked to dance and to be completely honest, she just never felt that spark. Or lust. Or passion. So she never really pursued a relationship. She figured she’d know it if it was true.

None of the guys made her feel, well anything nice. So here she was 21 and single. Which isn’t a bad place to be but she really just wanted someone to talk to. Someone to eat a pizza with. Or watch some documentary with and fall asleep on. Instead, she had Matt, her parents, Romelle when she wasn’t on a date or work. She was tired, of being alone…even when she was with a group. Damn, maybe she should just go home now. She was seriously depressing herself.

And she had vowed to never just settle. If she wasn’t going to just hook up she needed to get out before she did something stupid.

Taking a minute to actually use the facilities, she decides, 10 minutes, she can stay 10 more minutes. Then she was out. Stepping out of the bathroom and walking, she decided to look at the jukebox. As she stood looking at her options, she heard some girl talking about some insanely hot guy. Ignoring them she continues to scroll through the music, deciding upon some Bob Marley just to switch things up. As she was punching in some numbers when she heard a familiar sounding “Hey.”

Looking up, she sees Keith smiling. She returns the smile only to see the girls who were talking leap into action. Pidge falters, just for a second, maybe he wasn’t talking to her. These girls were gorgeous. Tall, curvy and had some amazing hair! Maybe he…except Pidge’s mind quickly recognized that Keith just bypassed the girls and bumped her shoulder.

“I didn’t know you would be here! Acxa wanted to stop in”, lowering his voice-he whispered, “I think she likes Veronica. She always knows where she is!”

I can’t help but smile and laugh, “Well, that’s good news. Because Veronica is always asking about Acxa!”

Keith nods. “Great. So what are you doing here? I didn’t think this was your scene?”

“Yeah, we just finished a project…so.” She ends with a shrug.

Keith nods, “Us too. Well not a project but our job was done, and well Acxa needed a ride so here I am.”

I offer, “Lance was supposed to come but he bailed. I’m kinda worried about him. Have you talked to him?”

“Uh, no not recently. I talked to Shiro, I thought he was doing better?”

“I dunno. I”

Suddenly Bill was back at my side…again too close. I can feel myself stiffen up. Does he not understand personal space?!? I instinctively step back but that puts me solidly in Keith’s space. Oh well, if I had to choose.

“So uh, do you want to dance?”

“What?” I stare stupidly at Bill, trying to figure out if he has shown any interest in me before. I don’t think so but I’m really bad at reading between the lines so I’m not one hundred percent sure. I mean he walked me home but I thought all the guys just did that after late nights.

Suddenly, I feel Keith’s arms envelope me. He pulls me closer to his body, his arms wrapped tightly around my middle and suddenly I’m leaning into him, allowing him to support my weight. He feels so much more solid than a few years ago and I just feel myself relaxing. I mean it’s Keith.

Bill looks disturbed. I hope he just drops it and walks away before it gets even weirder. Of course, fate likes to fuck with me so nope.

He questions, “So who is this? Another friend?”

I can feel myself tense and open my mouth to reply when suddenly Keith interjects, “Nope. Not another friend. Try boyfriend. And who the hell are you?”

I freeze, I want to look up at Keith but I also don’t want to look like this is news to me. So I essentially do nothing.

Bill retorts, “I never heard of no ‘boyfriend’. Where have you been? I’ve been working with Katie for six months now.”

Keith growls, “I’ve been on a top secret mission to help a planet essentially move all it’s population to a planet that wasn’t going to blow up. Sorry if you didn’t know-you don’t have the clearance.’ He then wraps his hand around the scarf I’m wearing, pulling it into Bill’s line of vision.

“See this? It’s my scarf that she’s wearing.” He then shows the Blade insignia on the tag that matches his shirt. His eyes look hard and he holding me tighter than before. I can feel every muscle against my back and look up at Bill. He looks like he’s going to argue when Acxa and Veronica move over.

“Hey Keith, glad you could make it!” Veronica looks at me, eyebrow arched, silently asking if things were okay.

I nod, hoping they don’t out us. I may not be with Keith but I definitely don’t want to dance with Bill. And honestly, there is zero chance that I won’t back up Keith.

Acxa follows up Veronica’s statement with, “Hey Pidge, what time is the family dinner tomorrow? Keith’s mom forgot already.”

I reply absently, “Oh, it’s four. My parents hate to eat late and we planned a Monopoly night afterward.”

“Great, Keith, I’ll text Krolia. Oh, yeah, I’m going home with Veronica so I assume you and Pidge are good?”

“Of course.”

They leave and then the 3 of us are just standing awkwardly there. Keith then lets go and grabs hold of my hand. “C’mere.”

I follow and suddenly we are dancing, really close. But the funny thing is…I don’t mind. It feels natural and I just let my eyes close and lean my head on Keith’s shoulder. There is literally no space between us and I don’t feel uncomfortable. After a few songs, Keith pulls me to the bar and gets us both a beer.

After a few, I kinda realize that I’m all in his space and he is letting me. I’m literally leaning against him in between his legs as he sits on the stool. I absently things I should move but, I’m too comfortable and relaxed. This is the most relaxed I’ve been all night. At some point, Ina gets me on the dance floor again and I’m realize, I’m having fun. I can see Keith with his smirk, I see other Blades and Garrison officers but I can’t help enjoying myself. Finally Keith comes up to me and growls in my ear, “I think you’ve had enough, let’s get home.”

I nod, not really recognizing the words he used.

The next day, after lunch but before monopoly, Keith and I are alone. I finally work up the nerve to ask what happened since we weren’t really dating. Keith freezes for one instant, then replies. “You know that scarf you are wearing?”

Fingering it, I reply, “Yeah, you sent it to me. Right? I love it, it’s so soft and just makes me happy. Plus it’s super warm!”

“Um yeah, so it’s sort of a courtship scarf, something that was done a long, long time ago. So, the way it works, is…you give it to someone who you want to court. And um, if they like you, they accept the scarf. But it works like on a different level too, subconsciously, so even if you don’t know you like me, if you did then you’d keep it. But if you didn’t feel the same, you would, um not. So when I saw you with it on, I knew you liked me on some level.”

Silence.

“I think, um, do you? I mean, there was that Bill guy. I just reacted so should I apologize?”

I looked at Keith, who looked nervous. This is the guy who would fight anyone and would have offered his life for us without hesitating. I pause, realizing I do. I smile and lean forward kissing him on the mouth, ‘Yeah I do. But just so you know, you are never getting this scarf back! It’s officially mine…just like you.”

Chapter Text

5 | Leaves
Keith has been back on Earth for less than a week. He was staying with Shiro and Curtis because he didn’t want to live on the Garrison base. Screw them. Shiro had let slip that the Garrison was giving Pidge a hard time because she entered under a false identity and now were telling her she had to renter as a cadet. Stripping her of her rank and dismissing the fact that she fucking saved the world. Which was complete and utter crap!

Once Shiro mentioned it Keith couldn’t get it out of his head. His mom said he was useless and should just get back to Earth. After a day of being ‘crabby’ his crew said the same. Keith knew from the moment he heard the news he was pissed but more than that he figured she’d need all her friends to have her back. So Keith finally agreed and he headed to Earth with Cosmo leaving his mom in charge of things.

The new commander was sneaky and more of a bureaucrat versus soldier. He was of course offered an opportunity to stay on the base which he refused. Hence the free day at Shiro’s. With no one home, he decided to rake the leaves and do a few odd jobs around the house. He knows Shiro won’t take any money so the least he could do are some chores.

Keith was deep in thought trying to figure out how to leverage Voltron’s fame for real power to back Pidge. He knew her parents and Shiro were trying their best but he had to do something. They didn’t try to demote him or the other guys. And while they did enter under their own name, he actually got kicked out. He was getting through the yard at a brisk pace when he heard Cosmo barking excitedly. He looked up and saw Pidge striding through the back gate.

The sun was behind her so he couldn’t see her expression but he could see her strong unfaltering stride and hear the slamming of the gate. Smiling, he called out, “Hey Pidge, come to help?”

“HA, yeah right! You could always drop by my parents though if you like to rake! I thought you had an assignment?! Isn’t that what you said a few weeks ago? You didn’t need to drop everything and come save me. I don’t know if you noticed but I’m a pretty capable adult now!”

Keith nods, “Yeah I know. But that doesn’t mean having friends around is a bad thing. Right? You keep telling me that I’m not alone anymore. Rrrriiigggggtttttt? Or is that advice just for me? And not for YOU!”

Keith doesn’t want to announce that he was using whatever leverage he had to help her cause. Or threatening people to get them in line. She gets pretty prickly when people want to help her. So he’ll just keep that part to himself. He could be sneaky when he needed.

“Watch out for my leaf pile! I’m working on getting this yard cleared. Shiro was saying he wanted to do a bonfire this week so having mounds of leaves is more of a fire hazard than you might think.”

“Keith, you did not come back to Earth to rake leaves. Just stop.”

“But, Cosmo loves leaves. Right boy?”

Cosmo looks confused yet runs over to Pidge to get her attention. Keith smiles, knowing how he feels. He loves when Pidge is focused on him or when she listens so intently to what he says. It’s novel because growing up most other kids wouldn’t pay him any mind.

Keith then notices how Cosmo really dwarfs her at his point and he can’t help but think how cute they are together. She laughs as he tackles her to the ground, straight into the big leaf pile. Keith knew Shiro was worried about her, saying she’d been pretty stressed and worried. Looking at her now, he’s glad he made he decision to come back to Earth. He’s not leaving her.

He growls, pretending to be annoyed, “Damn Pidge look at the mess you made!”

Pidge laughs again and retorts, “Don’t blame me, it’s your damn space dog!! Isn’t it boy?!?”

As she stands, Keith impulsively tackles her back into the leaf pile, making sure to take her weight and spinning them around so he was on the bottom. They wrestle for a minute when suddenly their eyes meet and his breath catches in his throat. He can feel her body pressed to his and he wants nothing more than to kiss her…so he does. After a few minutes, Pidge pulls back, face flushed and heartbeat racing. He drops his head back to the ground and whispers, “Don’t leaf me alone.”

Pidge groaning and laughing she rolls off him asking “Keith, are you kidding me? A pun???”

He smiles and impulsively decides, nope, he’s not kidding. He’s keeping her. By whatever means are necessary. He’ll help her fix this problem but at the end of the day, he will make her his.

Chapter Text

Lance so owed her for helping him out. He recently came out of retirement and is teaching a pilot survival class and asked if she’d help. Yesterday. Talk about short notice! Of course she said yes, but it’s so fucking cold! And she hates the cold. Ugh and this was going to last all weekend! She’s hoping it doesn’t rain because the only thing worse than being cold is being cold AND wet.

Lance turns and arches a brow. She knows he’s judging her. They had been hiking from their ‘crash site’ for most of the day. Like early day before the sun was even out. In the cold. And dark. And now they were in a freaking forest. Of course it’s light now but not for long, the sun is setting and the temperature is going to drop even further! She frowned and opened her mouth to tell him to shut up when he stopped and announced, hands clapping, “Okay sun is going down! What do you do?”

The cadets scrambled to yell out answers some dumb some not as dumb. Pidge moves back and observes. While her job was to keep them safe she was also supposed observe and take notes. A few of them were notably scared and it was second nature to keep an eye on the assholes of the group. Just in case, because they were most likely to act dumb or mean. And Pidge has vowed those people are not hurting anyone on her watch. As they all moved to start setting up a camp there was a loud .

Cosmo and Keith appeared and the cadets freaked! Complete freak out…and Pidge couldn’t help it she laughed, long and hard. Hand on her knees, she watched as kids were dropping, running, hell one even climbed a tree. She howled but stopped abruptly when one cadet suddenly jumped in front of her with his gun out.

Oh my gosh, was he trying to protect her? And where did he get a flipping gun? Honestly she didn’t know if she should be angry or amused. Shrugging she dismissed him and was going to disarm him before someone got hurt. But the guys handled both emotions for her.

Lance started laughing stating, “My dude, you don’t really think you are going to save Pidge! Like she’s some damsel in distress, calling for help! She doesn’t need you to save her! Idiota.”

Meanwhile Keith was frowning. He walked straight towards the kid (okay, adult) without hesitating disarming him in a few seconds a little rougher than she would have. The kid ended up howling in pain and looking scared.

Shaking her head, she kneels to greet Cosmo. “Who’s a good boy?!?”

When the kid belatedly puts his hand on her shoulder Cosmo lets out a growl. Rolling her eyes, she stands. “Aren’t you supposed to be setting up camp?”

The guys nods slowly and backs away. Pidge relaxes as he moves away and recognizes that dammit she is still cold. Sighing she turns to feel Keith putting his coat over her shoulders, stating lowly, “Lance the team is ready to attack. I told them to use blanks but, well, I don’t know. They have an odd sense of humor and I’m not guaranteeing their behavior. At all. I don’t really know how this is going to end up. But it ain’t my party.”

Pidge takes a minute to nod at Keith’s statement and then turns to Keith, “I don’t need your coat I’m fine, I’m “

Keith arches a brow, “Don’t lie. You’re the first to be cold and who the hell is the schmuck who was trying to protect you from ME?”

“Keith, you jelly man? Cuz lemme tell you …the guys here are crushing hard on our Pidgeon!”

Pidge can feel her face heat up and throws a dirty look Lance’s way. “Enough! Are we ready for phase 2 or not?” I interject. Dammit Lance is annoying. Why is he trying to embarrass her? She’s doing him a favor!

Lance chuckles, “No, sorry. Let’s let them relax for a little before we do anything else. Hit them when their guard is down. You know that’s the time when things tend to go wrong. When you are full and tired.”

Keith nods, “Well, okay, um, Pidge, here’s some hot chocolate.”

Pidge accepts and tries to look warm. “Hey so, I’m good. No worries.”

“It’s from Hunk.”

“Ohhh why didn’t you say so! He makes the best hot chocolate!!”

Keith smile and nods, “If you say so.”

Pidge grabs the canister and starts to walk away with Cosmo at her side. “Well, I’m going to check on the kids and enjoy this, Keith-don’t leave without saying bye.”

Hours later…

Lance looks at Keith, “So, I thought you were too busy this weekend with the Blades and couldn’t help out? Yet here you are bringing Pidge hot chocolate…is someone finally ready to claim his love?”

Keith stays silent. Finally offering, “What? Can’t a guy just bring his friend some hot chocolate?”

Lance laughs, “Sure, of course, my friend, so then where is mine?”

Keith frowns, “Whatever. You don’t need hot chocolate. So, um, who’s the guy who was protecting her? Shiro said some guys were trying to, well shit.” He starts rubbing his face, that is quickly turning red.

Lance smiles, “Dude, I’m glad you are finally being honest. Lemme give you a few suggestions. Cuz your delivery sucks! Hahaha!! ”

Keith rolls his eyes…but keeps his mouth shut. He’s not going to turn away help.

Chapter Text

7 | Rainy Day
Pidge is sitting inside her parents house, with her leg elevated wondering how long her ankle is going to hurt. She can’t believe she twisted it so bad. She was pretty annoyed that she couldn’t do anything fun this weekend. Especially since it’s the first weekend off in months and here she is laid up. No pumpkin picking. No shopping for Halloween stuff. No decorating. No hanging out with Hunk and Lance at their favorite pizza joint. Nope now she’s just stuck in the house. Alone.

She knows Matt is supposed to check on her later but she’s just feeling pretty down. Her parents are gone for a long weekend trip which is great. But she knows Matt is probably going to be late because her project that just finished is exactly what his team was waiting for. Sighing…she groaned and wished she could go back in time and just tie that damn shoe.

Laying down on the couch with her leg up, the only thing that is somewhat balancing out the feeling of disappointment is that it’s definitely raining out so she probably wouldn’t have been happy being out anyways. Or at lest that’s the narrative she is telling herself. She finally just decides to sleep this rainy day away. Maybe when she wakes up she’ll feel better. Maybe her ankle will miraculously feel better. She closes her eyes and grabs the nearest fuzzy blanket, praying the pain killers make her sleepy.

She absently wonders what her friends are doing when she feels her eyes get heavy. Resigning herself to being alone, she settles into the couch. Might as well sleep now.

Pidge slowly wakes realizing she is groggy, turning over to her other side. Why get up, she’s got no where to go, no one to see.

She doesn’t see anything but just as she is drifting off she senses…something. She forces herself awake and tries to focus on the surroundings. She freezes, making herself open her senses and try and figure out what has tripped her internal alarm. She sniffs and thinks she smells…Chinese food?

She blinks, what the hell? Matt doesn’t eat Chinese so it’s not him, bracing herself she opens her eyes and sees Cosmo’s panting face!
“ARGH!!” Pidge couldn’t stop the yell that emerged.

Cosmo licked her face and she groaned. “Cosmo!!”

Keith laughed, “Hey there! Heard you were laid up…thought you might like some company. So we brought some Chinese, a movie and well, ourselves. Hope you don’t mind.”

Pidge scoots up and looks in astonishment. “Keith! You were off planet! What happened?”

She looks up at Keith with her arm around Cosmo, blinking and smiling.

Keith grins and replies, “Well, I heard that you got hurt and were missing the pumpkin patch. I know you actually like that stuff and I well, I was done with my last mission…so hope you don’t mind.”

“MIND! Keith you and Cosmo probably just saved my sanity! But how did you get in?”

Keith laughed, “Um…space dog?”

Pidge laughed, “Oh yeah, duh.”

Keith motions to her leg, “So, how is your ankle?”

“It’s okay. I could go for some food.”

Keith nods, “Yeah, I got your favorites, some pepper steak and orange chicken with chicken fried rice. But before I get you that, I want to check your ankle and get you some more ice. No arguments.”

Pidge sighs, “Fine! But maybe I can eat while you check on me?” Cosmo let out a snail groan and gave him the puppy eyes.

Keith laughed, “Yeah sure, but I’m still checking you out before we watch some movies. I have your favorites, Marvel and Disney.” He leaves the room and returns with a tray of their food, an ice pack and a new ace bandage. He hands her a plate with food and very gently takes takes her ankle in his hand. He peels back her current ankle wrap, wincing at the sight of her swollen and black and blue ankle. Frowning, he gently brushes his fingers over her ankle. Rotating her ankle slowly, looking at the range of motion.

He slowly re-wraps it and carefully places the ice on her ankle. “What movie do you want to watch?”

She looks over the options and states, “Classic…the Avengers. Um, Keith…I don’t need a babysitter but. Well, thanks.”
Keith smiled, “There’s no one else we’d rather spend a rainy day with.”

Chapter Text

Tradition. Honestly, she always thought it was such a joke. Tradition. Not important to the girl who was good at math. Not to the girl who loved science and dirt. Not to the girl who’d rather be an inventor than a princess. Tradition didn’t mean crap to the girl who cut her hair and snuck into the military. She always felt like tradition was a cop out, a way to get people to fall into line. She was the girl who did not accept the truth she was being told and dug deeper…and deeper.

Tradition…noun…the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way.

Yeah she wasn’t really the traditional sort. Who cared what your parents did before you? It shouldn’t define a person. Who cared who you loved? Who cared why you didn’t like something everyone else did? Yet here she was…holding onto something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.

Because while traditions could be limiting…they could also mean something, more. So yeah, she had her nana’s hankie along with some new converse. Yes, when Coran asked if she would wear something of his she said yes. And when Lance asked her to have a wedding bouquet of blue daffodils with pink carnations…she said yes.

Because all of these people, she loved. They helped her become the woman she was, while appreciating the girl she used to be and well, they all loved her back. So maybe people didn’t think of her as traditional. But as she walked down the aisle with her dad’s arm in hers, as her eyes filled with tears thinking of all those they lost…and met those eyes of who still remained, she embraced that she viewed traditional in a non traditional way.

And as her dad put her hand in Keith’s, and saw his eyes filled with love and promise, she recognized that yeah she could be traditional. For the important things. Traditional in marrying a man who understood her and recognized her worth, traditional in vowing to stay true during the good but especially in those bad times and traditional in the sense, they were getting married and vowing before all they knew to put the other first.

It wasn’t an easy choice. Forsaking all others. Or well honestly that wasn’t what worried her, both Keith and her were faithful. What worried her was compromising. Especially when you knew that you both could be complete assholes. Often, with tempers and selfish tendencies. But, here she was. In a white dress (okay, off white if you want to be completely honest), with flowers in her hand and their friends and family surrounding them. Both alien and not.

But then she looked into Keith’s eyes and saw not just her past and present but a future.
So maybe they weren’t completely traditional but in the end, she was marrying her best friend. Keith. No one else even matters.

“You may kiss the bride.”

Traditions, yeah, some traditions are great though.

Chapter Text

9 | Bonfire
Keith Kogane was feeding the fire wishing he never agreed to come to this stupid bonfire. The guys knew he hated these things, yet they made him come. He didn’t know what was worse, the pretentious assholes acting like big men or the stupid girls fawning all over them. High school sucked. He much rather had been somewhere where he could be looking at the stars or even riding his bike.

Instead he stood around the fire, watching girls and guys alike fawn all over Shiro. Lance being his embarrassing self hitting on any girl in a mile radius. Even Hunk was busy talking to some girl from the another high school about how to create the best s’more and other fireside recipes.

He was frowning wishing he had an ax so he could at least cut the firewood into a thinner flammable object instead of dousing huge hunks of wood In lighter fluid. If he could chop them up thinner then they would light more efficiently. When he glanced up and met the eyes of a girl who was familiar yet unknown. He couldn’t help staring, she was the only girl dressed in clothes and not a bikini and shorts. Instead she stood out just by being different. At least to him. She had on some cool cargo pants, a black tank top with a green triangle on it and a dark green hoodie tied around her waist. He could tell she wasn’t really paying attention to the people either. Instead she was sitting on a log on the other side of the fire, she looked like she was trying to open a metal box??

He decided to unobtrusively observe her. Just for something to do. No harm, no foul.

He found himself slowly making his way around the fire, avoiding the others while keeping his eyes on the girl. That’s probably why he didn’t see Lance ran up to him. He asked him if he wanted a cold beer, which he took just to shut him up and keep moving. He didn’t mind drinking but he hated to be out of control so he tended to nurse his drinks. The guys knew it and would occasionally give him a cold one.

He was talking a mile a minute until he distracted by some girl. Keith looked around, damnit. Damn Lance, he lost her. He looked around trying to see if she moved to the outskirts of the fire but no. He sighed. Just his luck find someone who sparked his interest and then he lost her. He turned, deciding he was getting the hell out of dodge. He was done, he did his time. He went to find Shiro and let him know he was leaving.

He finally found him talking to whoa! It’s a boy who looked just the girl. Well not exactly but sorta. He poked Shiro, “Hey, I’m going to head out.” His eyes darted to the guy and back to Shiro.

Shiro nodded, “Yeah I figured you’d leave soon. Hey, this is Matt Holt, Matt this Is Keith. We met at space camp a few years ago and him and his family moved here just a few weeks ago. He’s going to be a senior like me.”

“Oh, hi. Um, nice to meet you. Um, do you happen to have a sister?”

The guy, Matt, looked surprised. “Yeah my little sister she’s going to be a sophomore but she’s a year head in school. Why?”

“Oh no reason, I, um saw someone who looked like you by the fire. Just curious cause she didn’t look familiar.”

“Okay, well she’ll probably be in some of your classes, maybe you can keep an eye out on her for me? We had some difficulties In the past, with bullies and such.”

Shiro replies, “Of course he will! He has a great group of friends he can introduce her to. Right?”

Keith sighs, “Yeah sure, I’m out of here man.”

He waves off Shiro’s asking him if he was good to drive, of course he is.

He decides to walk along the beach’s waves until he could make the turn to the parking area. He stops, thinking he hears something. He tries to pinpoint what he heard when he hears a loud voice yell, “I said NO!”

Keith immediately starts running to the voice, when he sees a girl right by the tree line, being pulled towards the forest. It’s HER!! Moving even faster he lands a hard blow to the guy’s bicep where his pressure point is. It caused the guy a lot of pain and luckily caused his fingers to loosen enough that the girl slipped away and dodged behind me.

Feeling much better now that I was between her and her attacker, I smirked, “So what were you saying?”

He caught sight of me in the moonlight, “Keith oh, dude, I’m sorry, seriously. I didn’t know she was with you!” He scrambled to get up and ran towards the parking lot.

The girl behind him pokes him in the back, “Keith, you made a great bonfire. The way you started with the smaller pieces really burn fast and let you set fire to those huge logs. The air flow was also very good but you should have put the lighter fluid on the bottom so it could burn up.”

“Oh yeah,” Keith turns to look at the little pixie next to him, who is actually shorter than he is and cute in the moonlight, “and thanks.”

Keith smiles, a real smile, for the first time all night. Maybe he does like bonfires.

Chapter Text

Pidge looked around the campsite. RV parked and stabilized, check. Massive tent, check. Campfire set up, check. Chairs and cooler, check.

The only thing missing…her family.

Oh well, not the first time they wandered off and left her alone. Finding a rare moment of peace, Pidge lays In the hammock and looks at her plans for MiniRover.

After a long while and much progress a fish is shoved In her face. “Ewwww, c’mon guys.”

She looks up into the face of her dear, about to be deceased husband. “Keith Kogane, what the fuck?!”

She can hear the giggles from the peanut gallery and the fish is quickly moved away.

“Sorry babe, but they dared me. You didn’t marry a guy who wusses out on a dare!” Grinning, Keith bends over and gives her a quick peck on the lips, but then their eyes meet and he dips back down for a longer and more thorough kiss. Which Pidge breaks promptly when she feels Finn pulling on the hammock. “So did you guys have fun?”

There was a lot of talking at that point and she couldn’t help but grin at her little tribe. Drew was the oldest at 8, Abby was 6 and her baby was 5 and probably the worst combination of her and Keith.

“Mom, mom!! WE FOUND THE PERFECT PLACE TO SET UP THE TELESCOOPEEEE!!!!!”

Pidge looks at Finn, “Honey, why are you yelling? You are right next to me.”

He starts scrambling up the hammock much to her dismay. “Keith!”

Keith scoops him up with one hand and gently places him on her stomach. “Oh! Here honey, move your legs cuz you are killing me.”

Keith asks who is going to help him clean the fish and Abby raises her hand. “Daddy, I want to but this time, I think I get to use the knife. Please!!!”

Keith grins, “C’mon Abs, let’s discuss this further away from your mom.”

Pidge sighs, she knows he’s going to let her do it she has Keith wrapped around her chubby little fingers. Drew sits on the ground and recounts how they found the best spot to see the harvest moon.

As they sit around eating their dinner, Finn asks again why it’s called a harvest moon and not just a big moon. Drew sits up straight and goes into lecture mode…striking an uncanny resemblance to his Uncle Matt. Grinning he explains the harvest moon refers to a full bright moon that only happens at the start of autumn.

I can’t help but interject, that when farmers needed the moon to harvest their crops, it really was amazing! It was so important to life. Later that night, as we were all looking at the stars in the sky, on the most perfect plateau In the forest, I can’t help but be amazed that I’m out camping (albeit in an RV with many upgrades that I personally added) with my kids and husband.

I feel like I’ve had the best harvest possible in this life! Who would’ve guessed?

Chapter Text

Lance and Hunk are in Shiro’s kitchen mixing some ingredients in a huge pot. Well Hunk is, Lance is dancing around cackling like an idiot. Hunk shakes his head, “Lance stop, it’s just an old Altean recipe for soup, it’s not a cauldron, witches brew, love potion or anything else you’ve seen on tv..”

Lance groans, “Hunk, stop ruining all my fun. It’s almost Halloween and if I say your pot is a cauldron filled with a love potion…well, then it is! Let me have my fun!”

Hunk sighs, “Whatever Lance. You are certainly in a good mood so who am I to change it.”

Hours later, Lance convinces Hunk to play some video games. They leave the soup on the stove and forget all about it. Hours later, Pidge and Keith walk in from a walk with Cosmo and BeyBey. Shrugging off their coats and placing their boots by the door, Pidge is complaining about the shift In temperature, hating that it’s colder than she’d like or feels comfortable in.

Keith retorts, “Stop! I gave you my gloves and scarf! You cannot be that cold.”

Pidge returns, “Dude, what guy wears a scarf?!? I did YOU a favor! If Lance saw you in that, he’d have a field day. So….you owe me!”

Keith sighs, “Oh, what do I owe you?”

“Well, I did save your manly pride and I missed lunch because you insisted on walking the whole path... so really you owe me two things.”

“Okay, well, it looks like soup is ready…I’ll service ya.”

PIdge can feel her face turn red but marches forward and ignores the innuendo. He’s been doing that all day and Pidge is starting to feel like he is doing it on purpose.

Hours later…

After dinner, they cleared the table and settled in for the nights entertainment. Shiro sat at the end of the table with Curtis at the opposite end. Lance and Hunk are on one side with Keith, Pidge and Matt squished in on the opposite with Pidge in the center. The group is playing their first game Uno third round when Lance notices…a lot. A lot of little things.

Keith keeps touching PIdge. Like a lot. And she hasn’t hit him. At all. They are small innocent touches, he’ll grant ya. But, he could tell. Keith’s leg keeps shifting and he can see Pidge adjusting. Then his arm was on her chair. His hand grazes hers as he goes for a card. Or he leans close like he’s cheating and sneaking a peak at her cards yet, Lance can tell he is not looking at the cards in her hands. Keith isn’t smooth typically and he is much too in tune with his body for these touches to be accidental. Then there is the shoulder bumps, when Keith usually rarely touches any of them. So what’s going on?

Then there’s the LOOKS. WTF?!? When he passes out the cards, his gaze in on hers? Like moody which is Keith but doesn’t he need to see who he’s sliding cards to? He just keeps looking at her and what the heck? Lance was sure to count his cards and they were right. But, it’s weird.

Then there’s the fact he isn’t slamming her with the draw 4’s. He’ll reverse then use them on poor Matt. Lance can’t figure it out so when Hunk goes to the kitchen to get snacks he pops up to help him. Then he corners Hunk.

“Dude, have you noticed the thing that is going on with Keith and Pidge? It’s like he’s flirting with her!!! Tell me you saw it.” He urgently whispers.

Hunk pauses in his organizing of snacks. He looks up and slowly nods. “Yeah, he’s a little more relaxed but that’s it. Why?”

“Well, I was just thinking, what if they ate the soup and, well, don’t get mad but what if it was a love potion?”

Hunk shakes his head, “No, no, no, Lance. It’s not a love potion it’s soup! Don’t let your imagination go crazy.”

Lance whispers, “I’m calling Coran I think you messed up. It has to be a love potion!”

Hunk wipes his hand down his face. “Lannncceee”

“I’ll let you know what he says.”

They go back out in the dining room and Lance pokes Hunk’s shoulder. “Mira!”

Hunk looked up to see Pidge and Matt in an intense debate about the pro’s and con’s of different fluids as combustible fuel sources. But what was interesting was how Keith’s hand was on Pidge’s lower back and his thumb was rhythmically moving up and down her back. UNDER her shirt. Hunk’s eyebrows raised.

Lance hisses, “See!”

They move to sit down when Lance abruptly asks the table loudly, “So who ate the potion that we made?”

Matt yelps, “Potion, why were you making potions? What kind of potion?”

Hunk interrupts, “It wasn’t a potion! It was soup-an old Altean soup recipe! C’mon Lance.”

Pidge looks up, “I had soup, it was good. I really liked the French bread you had to go with it. Hey do you have any more?”

As Hunk smiled and opened his mouth to reply, Lance pushes forward and practically yells, “Keith! Did you eat the potion?”

Keith leans back in his seat, facing the door, his hand now on the back of Pidge’s chair. “No, I actually didn’t why are you so interested??”

Lance drops into a chair, “Well, that was not what I was expecting.”

Pidge arches a brow, “So what kind of potion is this? Is it something that makes me super strong? Fast? Oh oh oh,” suddenly standing, “or maybe it will make me taller?!”

Lance groans, “You are way too excited to have eaten something that COULD BE A POTION!! Potions are essentially poison!”

Shiro suddenly went into full dad mode, “Wait! What are you talking about? Why would you make something dangerous…in my house?”

Hunk sighs again, “It really wasn’t a potion, it was just soup. I promise. Really Shiro.”

Lance feels a buzz, whipping his phone out, he yells “AHA! Coran just texted me…and he says, oh, yeah it’s…just…soup. Well damn.”

Hunks laughs nervously, “See just soup.”

Pidge sits down, deflated. “Damn.”

“Language, Pidge.” Both Matt and Shiro echo.

Everyone laughs, then Lance slowly speaks, “But the bread recipe is a different story.”

Silence ensures.

Chapter Text

Keith was on a mission. He and Cosmo were looking for supplies on a decimated planet. But the supplies were supposed to be underground so there was a chance they could find some that weren’t destroyed. With that in mind, they were going down a mine shaft.

On their way down, he noticed Cosmo getting twitchy which meant he needed to be ready for anything. Just because a planet was supposed to be deserted didn’t necessarily mean shit. As the doors opened he held his blade and Cosmo bolted out of the elevator.

Shit.

He chased after him, running and running when suddenly a shadow dropped down right on him. He yelled and while he would never admit It, he fell back and screamed. Only to look up right into a black cat’s face. Which had green eyes and a super inquisitive look. He felt slightly judged.

He got up and kept looking for Cosmo, when he realized the cat, well not an actual cat, but close enough like Cosmo is a dog…following him. He finds the materials he was looking for but now he’s lugging it around in a sack because he doesn’t have Cosmo to flash it back to the ship. Looking at his watch he knew he had to hurry. As he continued running around, he realized the cat was still with him. Hmm.

Finally he found Cosmo and realized they needed to go as explosions were heard elsewhere. He grabbed hold of Cosmo and they poofed back to the ship. As he deposited the supplies to their storeroom he walked back to his room. He laid down and felt something, jumping up he turned ready to react when he saw…the…flipping…cat!

A few days later he was back on Earth, recounting his adventure to Pidge, who was teasing him, “So now you have two pets?!? The guy who on Earth had…um. None!!”

Keith chuckled, “Yeah well, you found friends too!”

PIdge nods, looking into his eyes shyly,“Yeah, I did.”

Keith leans forwards, “So, um I was thinking, that maybe you’d like to share”, Keith can feel his face getting red but pushes on, “parenting duties with me. I already get shit for Cosmo, but maybe you could keep the cat and I can, um, come back and help whenever.”

Keith stops, wondering If he’s gone too far…or not enough. He knows he doesn’t need an excuse to visit but he’d like another, well, string tying them together. If they shared the cat, she’d call him, send him pictures, he could visit.

He knows this is kinda sneaky but he heard from Shiro who heard from Matt that, well guys were sniffing around. And that really didn’t make him feel…good. So he held his breath waiting for her reply.

She reaches out for the cat, who thank goodness, purred and settled in her arms. She looked up at him and smirked, “Yeah, I think I’d like that, Daddy.”

Keith felt his face flush but returned her smile, “Sure thing momma.”

Chapter Text

Keith turns to Shiro, “I’m apparently cursed now.”

Shiro groans, “Stop, whatever nonsense this is, just stop.”

“But Shiro, I am. Why fight it? It is what it is, at this point. I’m just accepting It.”

“Keith!!”

“No seriously, I broke a mirror when I was working on my hog yesterday. The bike just fell and the mirror broke. Then I went outside to grab my lunch from the diner and I walked under this ladder, and finally today I realized I just need to accept bad luck is going to follow me around. Why fight it?”

Shiro sighs, “Keith, you know that you are over exaggerating right?”

Keith stands, “Shiro stop, your look on the bright side attitude is exhausting! I’m going to class where I’m no doubt going to fail this test. Which means I may not be able to play next week.”

“Keith!” Shiro yells as Keith walks away, head down.

Later, Keith groans knowing he did not pass this test. He let his team down, his parents and himself. Shit, this fucking curse.

“Curse did you say?”

He looks to his left at the small petite girl right outside the door, who looks way too intrigued. Of course it would be Katherine Holt or as everyone called her Pidge. His best friend’s best friend’s little sister. Talk about high school being a small world.

He glances at her and keeps walking, with her quickly adjusting and almost running along side him.

“Look, I heard you muttering during class, basically all through the test and let’s just say I’m intrigued. Do curses really existed? If they do, how can they be countered? How would one know if it was countered or just worn off? Do curses even wear off? How”

“Stop!” Keith turns and she’s bumping right into him. Whoa. Instinctively grabbing her arms he stops her from falling. Looking down, he stares into her beautiful warm hazel eyes, recognizes her body soft where his is hard and takes a deep breath. Damn. She smelled like fresh air and dirt. Okay not dirt but outside?? Heavenly. Shaking his head, he releases her, stepping back.

“Um, hey, I don’t know any of that. Why are you here? Following me?”

She looks up with some mischievous look on her face, “What? Didn’t you know, beyond being a cryptographic phenomenon, I love looking into any mysterious thing. Just think of me as your own personal bodyguard.”

Keith pauses, “What if bad luck rubs off on you?”

She smirks, again, “Well, let’s find out.”

Keith pauses, looking at her again. Looking beyond the cute eyes, the crooked smirk, and he saw someone who was…interesting. Hmmm, maybe this curse was just what he needed??

Chapter Text

Ever since Keith had his blade he kept It on his person. It was always there a habit if you will. His hand always went to his blade, a ritual that he was ready for anything.

Yet, he got wind that Kolivan had a mission that he requested Pidge’s help on. And he struggled with not arguing with the choice. Why wasn’t he chosen as a member, why take PIdge?

As they were leaving, he walked up to Pidge, grabbed her and kissed her soundly, “Take this, be safe and come back to me.”

Pidge, shaken, nodded and took his blade. Yes, she was coming back and they were having a discussion.

Chapter Text

Pidge wasn’t one for superstitions. She was a girl of science. She believed in the natural order of things, proof versus the absurd idea that a connection exists between co-occurring, non-related events. Yeah right.

Yet, before her first official date with Keith…she well, a was a mess.

Matt was teasing her, her mom was trying to get her to change her clothes, and her dad was trying to convince her she shouldn’t date ‘right now’. Veronica told her not to kiss on the first date, Ina said that love is just a cocktail of hormones…which she believes to a point BUT it’s freaking KEITH!! Hunk told her not to cook because, well they’d like to see the end of the date. And Lance, well he’s still kinda quiet.

And that was what Pidge feared. Loving someone so much that if something happened to them, she’d never recover.

Hours later, she ended up blurting out her worst fear. “Keith, what If, “
Keith suddenly kissed her. And the world stopped…just for a moment.

“Huh?”

Keith pushed his forehead to hers, “Katie, there Is no fear, nothing, that can keep me from you. Not now. Not now that I know you return all these…feelings I have for you. Because, this is it for me.”

PIdge sighed. “Thanks, that’s what I needed to hear, right now. I feel the same but I was a little, mind you, a little nervous. But, there is nothing that we cannot handle.”

“Damn straight.”

Chapter Text

I am afraid. That is not easy to say or for me to admit. I’m lost. Wandering a planet that looks like an endless forest. And while it was pretty and he’d usually be fine in nature, it almost felt like a maze. Like each step he took just felt like he was being sucked deeper. He’d been wandering around for hours…days??? There was no sun so Keith could not be sure of how much time has passed. But he was starving so it had to be a while..

Keith finally stopped exhausted and leaned against a tree. What was he going to do? He didn’t see an exit strategy. It was times like this he really missed Pidge. She always figured out something. Even when they were on the game show, she made a play for freedom that he never thought of. Sighing he closed his eyes just for a bit.

Later, he opened his eyes, wondering how much time had passed. Was anyone looking for him? Rubbing his eyes, he squinted. Was that a light? It almost looked like a torchlight. Slowly standing, Keith almost called out but stopped himself. He didn’t know who it was, so he quietly crept closer.

But it seemed like the light kept moving. Hmmmm, this reminded him of something. It almost reminded me of that Disney movie Pidge showed me a few years ago, Brave? He didn’t think it ended well for the girl by following the lights but what did he really have to lose?

He got stuck in the mud of a bog. Frowning he moved, and found he was just getting himself more stuck. Shit. As he was slowly sinking he wished he did a few things differently. He wished he took more time to spend with his friends and what he thought of as his family. And maybe he regretted that he never spoke out, that he never took his opportunity to tell Pidge of what he saw in the quantum abyss. That they were meant to be.

As he sunk further, he remembered Pidge telling him that the lights were called wisps and led people off the path and into trouble. Shit, maybe he did have something to lose by following them. As he resigned himself to a slow death, he heard a snap.

Looking up, he saw Pidge! “Pidge, now I know I must be dreaming.”

She laughed, “Damn man, you really got yourself in some trouble! Thanks goodness I installed this tracking device in your, um, SO let’s get you out of there. I’m going to send you my hook, obviously no electricity, so grab it and I’ll get you out in a doubash.”

Keith reaches out to catch it. When he looks up, he sees Pidge and leveraged the rope part and Cosmo helped her pull him out. As he laid on the ground panting, he looked up to see Pidge pull out a…sandwich?

“I figured you must be starving by now. Your mom and Cosmo came to get me when they couldn’t locate you and your communications were down. I, um, was able to locate you and here we are. Your mom is up in the ship which Cosmo will take us to after you get your bearings.”

Keith inhales the sandwich. Looking up, he sees Pidge holding out a hand to him. He grabs it and as he stand he pulls her close and hugs her. No squeezes her tightly to him. He whispers, “Sorry I got you dirty and thanks for coming to get me.”

What surprises him is that she held him just as tightly. Maybe he should take his shot. “Pidge.”

She looks up and he very gently brushes her hair back from her eyes. “Thanks. So um, wanna watch that movie Brave with me after we clean up?”

Chapter Text

Pidge looked at Keith. “You sure? Cause there are no take backs once we start.”

Keith looked at Pidge. His partner. His love. His wife.

“I’m pretty sure I answered that question a year ago. At our wedding.”

Pidge laughed, “Okay, okay, if you are sure. Did you pick yours out?”

Blushing he nodded, “Yeah, meet you back here in an hour.” He leaned down to give her a brief kiss…that quickly got out of control and turned into a long and passionate one. His hands found their way to her hips and he pulled her closer. He felt her breath hitch, and her one hand clenched in his hair.

Finally recognizing coughing and the clearing of a throats, he lifted his head, meeting Pidge’s gaze. Smirking he takes in her own flushed face and rapid breathing. “Love you.”

Pidge leans her head on his shoulder and murmurs, “Love you too.”

An hour later…

The couple emerges from their respective rooms.

Pidge quickly asks, “Show me! Show me!”

Keith smiles glad to see she is feeling good. He pulls up his arm sleeve-pulling back the gauze-“Guess.”

Pidge peers intently, rising on her toes, “Hmmmm, it looks like…holy shit, Keith! It’s the Perseus constellation!!!” She looks into his eyes excitedly. She pulls her flannel to the side and slides her shirt down her shoulder, noticing Keith’s alarmed look. “Don’t worry, I’m not stripping or showing anything I shouldn’t! Move the gauze.”

Keith looks around, “Yeah, okay. Ohhhh, you got Andromeda! Weren’t they…in love?”

Pidge smiled and kissed him. “Yes they were. When we had this idea to get tattoos of a constellation for our first anniversary, I knew I wanted it to be a surprise. But somehow we got tattoos that match or correlate!! Lovers, spouses and yet more importantly the stars which represent how we met and how our strengths were tested and forged. The stars. Our love. It’s eternal.”

Keith gently placed the gauze back to cover her shoulder and pulled her shirt up, buttoning it up as he goes. He kissed her softly, “Happy anniversary babe.”

Chapter Text

Pidge is a cryptologist. One day she will have multiple degrees after her name as well but right now she’d like to make a name for herself as THE Cryptologist. She would love to prove or disprove a myth or story, ok she’s actually so desperate to do just that- she knows she has to calm herself. No stupid mistakes. No oversights. So, she double checks her bag, making sure she has supplies, extra supplies and her own protection device.

Matt strolls through her door, “Ready to Rock and Roll, Pidge?”

Rolling her eyes she returns, “I told you I hate that nickname. And stop getting everyone to call me that!” She kicks him behind the knees as she walks by.

Matt groans, “Aww c’mon! You can’t injure me before we go hunting!”
She hears the front door slammed open and Lance’s yelling “WHO invited KEITH??!”
Sighing she turns back, “That’s your cue to explain to my BFF’s what is going on.”

Matt sinks to the floor. “Ughhhhh.”

“And remember that we need both Hunk and Lance to record for our channel.”

She goes to the kitchen to get the cooler ready and she can hear Matt explain how he recently started dating a guy named Shiro who is friends with Keith. Apparently Lance is explaining that Keith is his arch enemy from camp. Dude.

At this point, Pidge is happy for any help with the possible sighting of a werewolf in the forest about an hour away. She’s met Shiro a number of times and really likes him even if she thinks Matt is way out of his league. He has a really strong presence and she likes the idea of him protecting Matt. Especially since she’s hoping to cover more ground and split up.

Pidge hefts up the cooler, oh damn that is heavy. Grunting she waddles into the front hall only to see Shiro and Keith are here as well. She’s focused on the door when suddenly the guy-Keith- steps forward and grabs the cooler from her.

“I got it, just show me where you want it.”

“Yeah, cool, thanks.” She opens the front door and walks through to hear Lance complaining loudly, “I was going to get that for her! We don’t need your help!”

Rolling her eyes, she directs Keith to the van and opens the back doors. “Ignore him.”

Keith looks up, “Who?”

Ummm, okay. Outloud she replies, “So do you know what we are doing today?”

Keith recounts what Shiro has told him and as they get in the back because both of them are the smallest, she explains that this sighting more than any other they’ve explored has a lot of physical clues. There are multiple accounts for decades about this werewolf as well as recordings of the howl, which are different than normal wolf howls.

Pidge herself loves wolves, so she is sooooo hopeful to get concrete evidence one way or another. Unlike other cryptologists Pidge is not opposed to debunking. She likes to think of herself as a modern day Scooby Doo or Mystery Inc. group. That remark caused a lot of discussion of who would be who.

As they park on a deserted road, she looks up to see Shiro step out of the van, all tall, dark and handsome. Honestly, how did Matt land this guy? Then her eyes move to Keith. Whoa, in the moonlight he is all bad boy. Dark hair pulled back in a low pony tail, dark jeans, dark shirt and dark coat. He’s got an amazing profile. Pidge absently wonders If he goes to their school and how she missed him. Her friend Allura usually points out the hotties. Not that this really matters to her!

Matt uses his phone to plot out the most recent sightings. With a direction, they move out. Shiro and Matt are in front, with Lance and Hunk in back recording. Pidge and Keith are in the middle, but he doesn’t say much, which suits Pidge fine.

Groaning she trips over a branch and knows she’s going to hit the ground hard when an strong arm encircles her waist, grabbing her and pulling her upright. Right into his warm body. Looking up and back, Keith is right there. “Be careful.”

Nodding, she continues on. The Forest is dark. But it’s a really dark dark. And while it’s a full moon but it feels like there is no light at all. Then she notices the howling. She stops. Holding her hand up in a fist, like she saw in some military movies.

Keith stops immediately but the dodo’s behind her do not. With Lance on her heels she whispers,, “Guys, does that sound closer than before?”

Hunk nods vigorously, “Yyyess. Oh my God. Why are we out here again?”

Matt and Shiro finally notice they stopped and back track to them.

Keith frowns, “It does sound closer but we are near the cliffs, so, it’s possible that the sound is just echoing.”

Pidge nods slowly, “Yeah that makes sense.”

Only for Lance to reply, “Pidge you don’t need to agree with him. He isn’t always right,”

“Um, okay?” Pidge shakes her head and grabs onto Keith’s arm, trying not to scream “Quuiet!”

Everyone freezes. “Do you hear that?”

Keith whispers, “I hear it. To the left.”

Pidge turns and sees a huge shadow emerge. Leaping right at Matt. She instinctively reacts, shoving Matt down and swinging her bag full force upward towards the shadow. The impact makes her stagger just long enough for something to grab her and drag her away from the group. She hears yells and tries to stop her momentum but cannot.

They are moving too fast. And while she is struggling as much as possible the thing is strong and fast. She is trying to figure out if the claws are through her jeans or not. Finally she grabs hold of a vine and pauses their movement. She tries to kick the part of whatever has her leg when she sees a blade flash by and she hears the impact.

An inhuman scream follows. Freezing her for a crucial moment.

Crap! Whatever it is, rises on two legs and Pidge’s heartbeat stutters. What the fuck??!!?? What is this?!? This is NOT a werewolf!

The forest is silent again and Pidge has no idea where she is, when suddenly a human body jumps over her and crashes into the …animal???

There is a lot of fighting and groaning and then she sees the blade again. But the beast runs off. Defeated. Hurt. Looking up, she sees…Keith?

“Are you okay? Are you hurt, shit of course, you are. Can you move? I can carry you.”

Pidge shrugs off her feelings and replies, “I’m okay, thanks. Was that?”

“Maybe.”

“Oh my GOD!”

“Well, let’s not go that far.”

“Did you throw your knife at it? Is it silver?”

“Um, I don’t actually know what it is, but yeah I had to throw it. He was moving too fast. And it was gaining ground. I wouldn’t have made it otherwise. Are you sure you sure you are okay?”

I groan, “I will be. So um, do you know where we are?”

Keith looks at me, “Yeah, I just sorta ran after you, so um, no clue.”

He holds out his hand, which has blood and dirt on it, to me. I look in his eyes and feel myself blushing. “So, I hope we got some footage.”

He grins, and whoa!!! As he pulls me close, I wonder what he’s going to do. And he hugs me. “So, you do this often?”

I laugh, I’ve been friends with guys all my life. And not one has ever made me feel, so alive…even while being lost in a dark forest!

Chapter Text

It’s a dark and windy night when five high schoolers stand at the entrance of the cemetery. All because of a dare. Lance, the instigator, dared Pidge that she wouldn’t make it across the cemetery at midnight. Pidge promptly took said dare. All the while Hunk begged Pidge to reconsider-to no avail.

Lance’s girlfriend and Pidge’s bff is currently pissed at both of her loved ones for being so stubborn. Allura had spend the 20 minute car ride arguing against this insane idea.

Unfortunately Pidge as the youngest of the group feels like she cannot say no. She needs to prove herself! Not to mention she is a woman of science. Ghosts, vampires and zombies are great scary story tools but have no place in real life.

Pidge looks at her friends and grins. “Okay guys, meet me at the back, I’ll be there, safe and sound. Or I’ll be dead. Either way, it’s been fun.”

With the attitude from his girlfriend, Lance is seriously starting to feel bad about his dare to the youngest and smallest of them. He tries to retract his dare stating, “Look Pidge you don’t need to go through with this. I was just being dumb. Obviously you aren’t scared so let’s just end this now. Hell, it even looks like it might rain and you know you hate being out in the rain.”

Pidge shakes her head in the negative “I’ll meet you.” With that, she confidently walks into the cemetery after effortlessly picking the lock.

As the four stare at her retreating figure, Keith notices she doesn’t even turn around.

Feeling annoyed, Keith barks out a command for everyone to get back in the car. He accelerates quickly making the trip around the cemetery faster and a little more dangerous than necessary especially in this dark and moonless night. Keith made it around in 15 minutes and he feels his senses going crazy. He doesn’t have a good feeling about this but he doesn’t know if it’s the fact that she is alone or if there is something else. He has a bad feeling. And he’s learned, he needs to listen to his instincts. As the car skids to a stop, he jumps out of the car. Picking the lock of the back gate he stands alone in the wind. Eyes searching. Scanning. When Lance tries to get him to get in the car his look quickly has the tall lanky boy going back to the car.

Impatiently he figures he’ll give her ten more minutes. If she’s walking straight across is shouldn’t be longer than that. After five minutes, the storm clouds move in and he tosses his keys to Hunk, announcing, “I’m going to see if I can find her. It’s going to storm.”

He walks out into the cemetery and ignores the calls from his friends still in the car. Fucking Lance, always having to push things and Pidge always rising to the challenge. Walking quickly he makes his way to a hill to try and get a good look around. He thinks he sees something, but then Pidge comes flying and practically falls on him. What the hell? She doesn’t run.

Pidge screams and tries to wiggle away but Keith grabs her holds her close, “Pidge!!! Katie! What’s wrong? It’s me!”

She looks up and hugs him. “Ohmygod ohmygod. Keith! We gotta go. Fast!”

He jumps up, pulling her up with him, keeping his grip on her strong. He looks out and the flash of lightning hits just in time to light the area like stadium lights. He sees a group of people looking…for Pidge? “What the hell?” He grounds out pushing her in the direction of the car.

“Okay so I was right, no zombies, ghosts or ghouls but damn it, I did not think of cults or weirdos! I swear, they were going to kill this giant dog that looked very similar to a wolf and you know how I feel about wolves. So I um let it go and maybe scared them. Then when they realized I was alone…let’s just say that I’ve never been happier to see you.”

Keith frowned, looking the sad group over, “I could take them.”

“No! Can we just go?” Pidge linked her fingers with his and he let her pull him along.

Unfortunately as they turn for their escape, two men with swords appear. Keith laughs, “Swords really?”

Pidge sighs, “Okay the hard way it is.” Secretly she sends their location to their friends. Back will me here shortly.

Keith pulls his blade out because, well, it’s Keith. And he starts fighting the two guys. Pidge turns as a few of the front runners come up their six. She stand with her back to Keith, trusting him to protect her and faces the newcomers. Suddenly a wolf appears at her side, growling and protecting her. She hears the yells of her friends, with Lance yelling, “We called the cops!!!!”

Hours later, back at Allura’s house, the group look at their new dog and draw straws for who gets to keep their cemetery wolf.

Chapter Text

Pidge woke up late. She felt off, slight headache but not bad enough to stay home. But since she was late she rushed to get dressed and get to class. She’s a teacher now so she really shouldn’t be late, her brother was going to tease her so much if he had to cover for her again! This is when tomorrow me’s problem becomes today’s me problem. So again, working on projects while drinking wine was not a great habit. Oh well, she ran to class and focused on what she needed to do for the day.

As she walks in the door, she notices the class looking restless. Clearing her throat as she comes in the room, making sure to make eye contact with the students who were debating the option of leaving. “As an aside, I’d have to be at least 15 minutes late before you could safely leave without negative repercussions.”

After class, she noticed that this one male cadet hadn’t left yet. He’s been annoying, asking her out on dates, trying to get appointments with her privately. Like she would date a cadet! Walking over to the door she tried to leave, but he kept getting in the way. Finally she exclaims, “Time to go.”

He mutters something she doesn’t catch and grabs her and kisses her. Pidge immediately reacts by knocking him on his ass. Unfortunately, afterward she stumbled and hit the edge of the door and hit her head. She rolls off and continues out only to run head first into Keith. He laughs until he catches sight of her.

Disheveled, stumbling and a trickle of blood coming out of a cut on her forehead. He holds her chin In his hand, tilting her head, growling, “Who did this to you?”

Pidge shakes her head, holding him to her, “Don’t worry about it, he’s worse than I am.”

Keith frowns, “I don’t care, no one touches my girl.”

Chapter Text

Lance looks over at Hunk. “Okay, Keith has a crush on someone. I don’t know who…yet! Soooo, we are going to have us a little experiment. Just play along, Kay?”

Hunk looks unsure but nods slowly. “I hope you know what you are doing. But yes, I will play along. Mostly because I think Keith deserves to find someone to love him. But let’s not antagonize him, please. I really just want to help him if he needs it.”

Lance sighs, “But this will be more fun if we could”

“NO!”

The gang is getting together to catch up and Lance has determined that this is the perfect opportunity to see who Keith is moping over. He knows Keith can be unsure and awkward. While he knows that he’s been off the last few years after losing Allura he’s doing better now and he wants to be there for his friends like they were there for him. He wants no, needs to do this. So he is helping him whether he wants it or not.

And while Lance has reconnected with his friends, he wants to do more. He wants to rebuild the relationships that he had let fade when he was deep in grief. While he’s still sad, he also understands that Allura would want him to be present and a part of his friends lives. So he is GOING to help Keith. And while Keith had not told him anything about his love life, he had noticed that Keith has been around the Garrison a lot so that narrowed his search. He didn’t think it was his sister or someone on her team. So that still left a lot of people. But Keith seems happier and he wanted to help him find his special someone.

As they were sitting around the table, eating all the deliciousness that was Hunks cooking, Lance was observing Keith very carefully. He looked…good. Happy? Relaxed? He brought up how hot Acxa was and watched Keith’s reaction carefully. Nada. Hmm, okay. He then brought up one of the Blades new recruits that was female. Nada. Hmmm. He noticed Hunk giving him the stink eye but with his vast experience, he just ignored him.

After dinner they moved out to the backyard. While October and a little cold, with a fire, it was comfortable and it helped that they could see the stars. Keith was starting the fire so he sat by Pidge to share some of his body heat. She was shivering and looked so cute. As he sat down and pulled her in his lap he couldn’t help but notice Keith’s glare. Hmmm.

Possibilities opened up before him. He arched a brow at Hunk who looked scared. Whatever, he could handle this on his own. He arranged Pidge in his arms and mentioned the idea of scary stories, guaranteed to spark his pals interest. Pidge settled in his lap, getting herself comfortable. He was a cuddled and Pidge never minded so encircled her waist with his arms stationing her. Lance asked Hunk for a blanket which caused Keith to loudly exclaim, “You don’t need a damn blanket, the fire will suffice!”

Lance again looked at Hunk who by now looked intrigued. Smirking he replied, “Yeah well I can’t help it if we aren’t all rugged outdoors people!”

Keith’s responding growl and muttering made him smile. He looked at Hunk and arched a brow. Could it be? Was Keith interested in Pidge?

Pidge was arguing with Shiro about who could go first in telling the ghost story when Keith kicked his foot while sitting in the chair next to him, fists clenched on his knees. Hmmmmm. Pidge started her story but as she entered story telling mode she got up, with the damn blanket, and roamed around telling the scariest story he ever heard. Seriously and they’ve seen a lot. As she finished, she laughed and threw in something that made the flames jump and change color, scaring poor Hunk.

Laughing like a maniac she didn’t notice the branch and pitched forward towards the fire. Lance hopped up only to be pushed aside by Keith who grabbed Pidge. He turned as he leapt over the flames and took the brunt of the fall.

Everyone was standing at this point and Keith grabbed her face in his hands, “Are you okay? Anything hurt?”

HMMMMMMMMMM. Lance looked at Hunk who smiled. Lance nodded, well, well. This was a surprise. He needed to come up with a plan to help his friend. Cause he seriously had zero game.

Chapter Text

Drew was currently in bed, all tucked in with a small night light on. He could hear the wind blowing, see the shadows in his room and then thought he heard a creak. Scared, he wanted to yell for his dad or his mom. But they were sleeping. His sister and brother were sleeping and he was all alone.

He was afraid. And he hated it. He was the big brother who was supposed to be brave and smart. Not afraid to get out from the covers and not afraid because his closet door wasn’t closed all the way. He didn’t want to be a big baby.

He closed his eyes and tried to breathe but he was breathing too fast and he wanted to cry. Suddenly his door opened and he screamed. He looked up, sure that the monster was coming to get him!

Then he heard his dad’s voice, calling him and suddenly he was being picked up and held tightly. He took a deep breath and could smell his dad. Whatever it was that he smelled he just relaxed and held on. Crying.

His dad was telling him it was okay and he was safe. He had him. He heard footsteps and then he heard him mom and she was there too. On the other side of him, holding him too. Finally, he calmed down.

Face down, he knew he had to tell them. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry I’m not brave like you. I got scared, I thought I saw a monster and, and, I”

That’s when his mom picked him up and she walked them to their room. She laid him on the bed and both of them got in with him, and he felt himself calming down. Finally, his dad said, “Drew, there is nothing wrong with being scared. Everyone gets scared and I’ll be the first to tell you that there are monsters out there, though some are better at hiding than others.”

Then his mom hugged and he snuggled in, laying his head on her shoulder but still feeling his dad’s hand on his back.

Then mom whispers, “But the thing to remember is that you aren’t alone. EVER. Even when you feel like you are, all you have to do is call us. We’ll be there and let me tell you, me and your dad, well, we are badasses and we don’t quit. And fortunately for you, you’re pretty smart and tough too. So don’t be afraid of the monsters in the dark, or the light. Because you have a family who will always be there for you.”

She kisses his forehead and Drew can feel himself relax. She’s right. But of course his mom is always right.

Later, Keith murmurs to his wife, “Katie, should I take him back to bed?”

“No, let him sleep here with us. I want him to wake up knowing we were there for him. Besides, I have a feeling that this little guy won’t be having many more nights where we can save him so easily.”

Keith responds, “Oh definitely. Those monsters have no clue what to do with a Holt/Kogane kid!”

She laughs softly, “So true. Honestly, I’m just glad you heard him. Love you babe.”

Chapter Text

Pidge has a plan to visit Chicago, where just outside the city there is an urban legend called Resurrection Mary. Apparently a young woman was killed in a car accident on her way of going out and now it’s said she haunts the road where she died. She has been reported in the bar going so far as to dance with guys and get in the car with them before disappearing. She’s buried in the cemetery along the road and well. Pidge thinks it would be neat to see a ghost and this one seems nice so why not. She just finished a big project and needs to recharge. This is totally something in her wheel house and after some internal debate has decided to make it a road trip.

Unfortunately her brother doesn’t think it’s a great idea and wants her to either wait for him or take someone with her. Honestly, he forgets she went to space and handled herself just fine thank you very much. Pidge decided to sneak out and packed her stuff ready to leave once Matt went to work.

It was at that point she opened the front door just to walk smack dab into Keith. “What the hell man?”

“Heard you were taking a trip to look into the Resurrection Mary story. Gotta say, I’m in.”

Pidge realized she was staring at him with her mouth hanging open. “Who told you?”

Keith smirked, “Who didn’t?”

Pidge sighed, “I’ve decided to make it a road trip, are you sure you”

Keith interrupted “Yeah I know, I cleared my schedule for a month. You’re not the only one who needed a break. So what do you say? Maybe instead of ONE urban legend…what about looking into a few?”

Pidge smiled, “Well, well, well, I think that’s a fine idea. Sure you can handle me for a long car trip?”

Keith leaned forward, grabbing her backpack, while closing the door. With his hand on the doorknob still she was trapped between the door and Keith. Heart racing, she looked into his eyes and froze.

“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to handle you.”

Suddenly breathless Pidge makes no argument when he grabs her hand and leads her down the hallway.

Chapter Text

24 | Full Moon
“You’re jealous aren’t you?”

“I’m not jealous, you’re jealous.”

“Keith, that doesn’t even make sense.” Pidge sighed, seriously what was going on with him? She didn’t really believe he was jealous when she grabbed his arm and dragged him off to the side of the fall festival’s activities a few minutes ago. Lance and Hunk were grabbing hot cider and donuts while Shiro and Matt hit the rides.

She was in line for the hayride with the MFE pilots when Keith bumped her shoulder. She invited him to the hayride not really thinking he’d ever accept. Yet that is exactly what he did and as they moved up in the line and onto the wagon his mood had rapidly declined. Honestly he was being pretty shitty if she was going to be honest. Short terse answers to questions, frowning and just being an old version of himself.

She wasn’t sure what it was exactly. Perhaps he was annoyed by Nadia’s teasing or Ina’s lecture about hayrides in the dark. She knows for a fact he didn’t like Ryan’s ploys to get him to record an interview for his archives. But she had a feeling it was more due to James. Or maybe that is just what she hoped. Because while she thought they had put away all of their hard feelings it seemed like they were glaring at each other the whole wagon ride. She also noticed that when James held her hand up the stairs to help up on the wagon Keith made some remark about how she could walk on her own. Or when James asked if she was cold and put his arm around her shoulders she felt Keith move closer to her on the hay bale. She thinks Keith even kicked James’ foot as he passed by as they were disembarking.

So her foolish heart started up again. Her and Keith had started…something over six months ago but then he had a few missions with the Blades and he stopped sending her messages. She figured he had moved on. So she pushed herself to do the same. At that time Veronica was going through a breakup with Acxa and so they were hanging out a lot, which put her in the company of the MFE pilots.

Somewhere along the line, James and her were being paired off and she found, she didn’t really mind his company. So, while she wouldn’t say they were dating per se, there was something there, something unspoken. But that didn’t give Keith any excuses. HE LEFT. HE didn’t call. HE needed the space. And while it hurt her feelings she dealt with it so he could darn well do the same.

Unfortunately standing under moonlight of a full moon, with Keith in close proximity, is causing all kinds of…feelings. She can’t help but think how incredibly fit he is. While he’s not that tall of a guy somehow his presence is larger than his actual size. His black t-shirt is fitted and he’s wearing another beat up leather jacket. And of course his jeans are slim fitting and distracting too! Then there’s that low pony tail that drives her crazy and makes her want to pull out the rubber band and run her fingers through it. Looking up her gaze gets trapped by his. His eyes look so intense and when he focuses on her like he’s doing right now, she feels warmer.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Shaking her head, she refocuses on her friend, and tries again, “Keith, if you don’t like James you don’t have to hang around him. You could find the others and enjoy your night home. You”

“I don’t like seeing you with him.”

Okay. What the quiznack is she supposed to do with that??? Rubbing her face with her hands she sighs. Lowly she whispers, “What do you want from me?”

He grabs hold of her shoulders and pulls her close. They are standing toe to toe, the heat of his hands are spreading through her sweater and she so badly wants to experience another one of his toe curling kisses. But she doesn’t move. She can’t.

Keith’s one hand drags down her arm taking her hand firmly in his, linking their fingers.. His other hand moved up to her neck and she can feel his thumb brushing her jaw. Her stomach is in knots. Her heart is racing. She starts to take a step back but his hands hold her in place.

“Katie”

Thump. Hearing him call her by her real name, makes her throat dry and fills her eyes with tears. Blinking she takes a deep breath to try and center herself. She is not letting him do this to her. Full moon, crazy behavior. This isn’t real and by tomorrow he’d have changed his mind, again. Shaking her head she opens her mouth to tell him stop when suddenly his mouth covers hers and the world freezes.

Seconds, minutes, hours later, who could keep track when Keith was kissing her, murmuring how sorry he was, telling her how stupid he was. Finally he presses his forehead to hers, “Katie, please say you will give me just one more shot. That’s all I need, I swear.”

Fuck it, full moon or not, he has it.

Chapter Text

An loud explosion sounded shaking the buildings of the Garrison. The result was alarms blaring, debris littered over the ground and smoke plumes in the air. Everyone was orderly filing out of the classes and onto the common areas looking up in the sky.

A huge outline of a jack o lantern lit up the dark and cloudy sky. Pidge grinned. This was amazing, laughing she stared up, surprised at how long the outline was lasting. It was scary accurate.

She looked around at her friends who had all met at their lunch table outside. She met the incredulous faces of her friends who were all looking at her. “I didn’t do it.”

Keith arches a brow, “Then why are you laughing?”

“Because whoever did do it is a freaking genius! I love it!”

She turns and sees her dad jogging towards her, frowning. “What?!? I didn’t do it!”

Sam Holt looks at his daughter, who looks completely diabolical, laughing uncontrollably and grinning. He shakes his head, “We will find out.”

Pidge smiles, “I wonder. Some mysteries are better left unexplained.”

Her dad shook his head and walked on, secretly thinking this was just up his daughter’s alley and hoping she covered her tracks well enough. He did glance up at the skin and recognized the ingenuity behind this prank.

Later that night, her and Keith were on the rooftop looking at the stars with some hot cocoa. He maneuvered behind her wrapping a big blanket around the two of them with Pidge sitting in between his legs.

“So you going to fess up?”

Pidge just grinned, and shyly looked up at his face, whispering, “A girl is entitled to some secrets.”

Keith huffed a laugh and started kissing her ear moving down her neck to the one spot that was guaranteed to make her weak in the knees, right where her neck and shoulder meets. He murmurs, “Okay, be like that. I have ways of getting you to talk.”

Chapter Text

26 | Haunted House

Pidge has always wanted to work at a haunted house. This was like a dream job for her during the fall. She could tinker with electronics to her hearts content while getting paid to scare people. Perfect!

Her brother got her in and she knew that they would have an amazing time working together. Since he worked here for a few years and she just turned 16 she followed his lead. He had some cool friends here and they were really nice to her(probably) because she was his sister. But after a week she felt like she was actually making friends on her own. Real friends.

It was so nice to hang out with people who didn’t care that she was super smart and on the young side. No one made fun of her ideas or her size. They even got her sense of humor! The appreciated that she was tech savvy! Pidge ended up picking up extra hours since she was enjoying herself so much. Who knew a job could be so much fun?!

It was finally a few days before Halloween which meant she was pretty much working every day. She was in the control booth for the haunted house while Matt was working the lighting and sound for the haunted hayride. But it was cool because she knew what she was doing and the staff trusted her. In fact, they actually were happy she was working because they got her full attention. She took her break and was on her way back to the haunted house when she tripped over someone’s leg, stumbling and trying but not quite catching her balance. Pidge braced herself for impact.

Before that could happen, she felt a strong arm wrap around her waist and pull her abruptly up and back. Looking up she found herself in Keith’s arms. Whoa.

While she feels like she made friends, Keith was an enigma. He’s always been more aloof and less of what she would term a friend. He was more of a loner, even more so than herself! But they talked and he seemed nice. Her brother told her that he liked to fight so maybe that was why she watched him from a distance. Or it could be that he was really hot and he made her feel self conscious. He didn’t fit in the just friend category. He was more like a crush from afar category.

Which is a valid reason for her heart rate to accelerate and her breath to catch. She expected him to let her go but instead he kept his arm around her and lowly asked if she was okay. Nodding wordlessly her attention was caught by a loud voice to her right.

Lotor stood there, looking like the ass he was. Of course. Sighing she looked down, wishing that she could have kept this a secret, or at least separate from where she was making so many good memories. Instead her two lives are colliding in front of her. Shit. In front of Keith no less. Shit!

Keith kept a hold of her and when Lotor took an aggressive step forward he quickly maneuvered her behind him, keeping hold of her arm. Which was kinda sweet. The only person who ever protected her was Matt. And well he had to because he was her big brother. But Keith is a different story. He didn’t need to get involved. Actually she would have thought he would have wanted to leave.

Lotor loudly exclaimed, “Oh look it’s clumsy baby Holt. What are you doing here. You don’t have any friends, you loser.”

Pidge sucked In a breath wanting to disappear. She didn’t want to be the loser. She was so tired of this bullshit.

Keith murmured, “Who’s the asshole?”

Pidge sighed, “He’s the popular rich guy from my School. I’m sorry, you don’t need to get involved. But, um, could you not tell my brother? He tries but ”

PIdge assumed he’d back off but instead he grinned and whispered, “Let’s have some fun then. I hate assholes.”

Louder Keith replied, “Touch my girl again and I’ll end you.”

I blinked, girl? OhMYGOD! No one was going to believe Keith was my boyfriend. I’m like LEVELS behind him! Then…

Lotor laughed, “Don’t lie. I know Katherine, she isn’t the dating kind.”

Keith instantly replied, ““Well, of course she wouldn’t date an asshole like you but me, well that’s a different story. Obviously.”

I grip Keith’s shirt tighter, how does he know? I just never could feel comfortable around Lotor. I think Keith recognizes my sharp Intake of breath for confirmation because he smirks.

“But I’m not you. And I won’t stand for you hurting my girl.”

Lotor steps forward, “Fuck you.”

Keith laughs, “Yeah, I’ll pass. Wanna prove how tough you are? Let’s go in the haunted house and see who is tougher. Or I could kick you’re ass right here. You’re choice, I’m actually good with either option. But pick quickly otherwise i will just kick you’re ass.”

I freeze, thinking we know all the jump scares etc. I whisper, “What are you doing?”

Keith grins, looking down at me, “Look, It’s a win-win. We go thru the house and don’t get scared, we win. I kick his ass, we win. This is a slam dunk. Don’t worry. We will beat him.”

Lotor grins, “Let’s go thru the haunted house. Don’t worry if you’re scared PIdgey, you could always come by me for protection.”

Keith growls, “Touch her and the deals off. I’ll just kick you’re ass and be done with it.”

My heart is pounding and I’m feeling strange. I’m not used to others defending me. I look at Keith and gently he kisses my forehead, “Don’t worry babe.”’

We all head to the haunted house where the guys argue who will go first. Rock, paper scissors it is. We go first. They have to follow.

Keith stands in front of me but then Lotor comes up quick behind. I’m suddenly pushed in front of Keith, Shit. I hate going first. He wraps an arm around me and whispers, “Sorry, I don’t trust that asshole. I’ll be close just don’t scream. You know what’s coming, just think of all the tech you could improve upon to make it scarier next year.” He drops a kiss to the back of my neck and I actually shiver.

Nodding I start moving forward. Around dark corners, through fog and stepping on well, actually they aren’t bugs but a mix of chips. Keith has kept his arm around me and has gently maneuvered me so I don’t walk into anything.

He’s actually one of the jump scare folks so he’s really good. I don’t know now how he can see because I can’t but neither of us scream. Some of Lotor’s friends do but so far he hasn’t.

It’s the final spot where we have to almost crawl through the opening and Lance is supposed to come out with a bucket of spiders. They really aren’t but I did generate some really good fakes, they move towards heat soooooo it is scary. As we crawl, I try to hype myself up because I really don’t like spiders. As I go through Keith is suddenly hovering over me, protecting me from the first batch. Lotor squeezes through and gets a bowlful which caused him to start screaming and dancing around.

Keith stood, pulling me up and out of their way. As we got outside, he was grinning and pulled me towards him, kissing me soundly.

After a few minutes, Lotor shoved him. He picked his head up and looked over, “Dude, I can still kick you’re ass If you want. I know I’d have fun.”

Lotor looked over to me, “Why you would choose this neanderthal is beyond me. Katherine, this is your last chance.” He moves closer and even goes to touch my cheek.

I step back and Keith steps forward in sync with me. Keith doesn’t stop however and he moves forward, stepping right in Lotor’s space. “You touch her once and that’s it.”

Lotor steps back after seeing that I’m not going towards him. He states, “See you Monday, loser.”

I look down and bite my lip. I hate school.

Keith grins, “Yeah you will. The districts board re-drew the school borders, you’re looking at one of your new classmates-dick.”

My gaze snaps to Keith, breath indrawn. Lotor frowns and stops alway with his lackeys.

AFter a few moments, Keith laughs, “Damn those spiders really felt real. That was amazing!”

I smile, “Thanks, and well, thanks for pretending you were my boyfriend.”

Keith turns and pulls me to the rear of the haunted house. “So, um about that. I am transferring and I um, I’ve kinda been watching you. Not like crazy like him, but I, um, would you like to go get a burger after work tonight?”

I look up, “Huh?”

Keith looks a little red, “Um so, I’ve kinda…well I wanted, to um, ask you out but I didn’t know if you’d be open to that soooo I’ve just been quiet. No pressure though - I’m not like that ass.”

I smile, “You know, I’d really like that. What time does your shift end?”

“Whatever time yours does.”

I smirk, wow, this Is insane but I’m going with it!

Chapter Text

Katie was standing outside the front of the house just waiting for those damn pumpkin smashers. This is the year. The year she catches them. For the last three years some creep has been throwing their pumpkins off the porch and smashing them. Pidge tried cameras but they must have knows they were there so they avoided their face showing.

Keith was located outside on the other side of the porch, waiting in the darkness. Ready to pounce once the culprits make their move. She knows they brought reinforcements but no matter. She was getting the little brats this time.

She heard them but cannot see them. No matter, they don’t know who they are messing with! She is the trap queen and if they don’t want a treat she will definitely give them a trick!

Chapter Text

Pidge looked at Lance. She looked at the costume. She took a step back, “No.”

Lance cajoled, “C’moon PIdgey, it’s a group theme, you have to!”

Pidge closed her eyes, this is what she deserved, not what she wanted but deserved. She was going to get the costumes but she got busy with her project and well…Lance took over. Now she knows why.

Closing her eyes, she sighed, “Fine.”

Lance went to leave then stopped, “Seriously, it’s not that bad. BUT, just remember, It’s a costume so no one will no you are well, you. Just have fun, Kay?”

Hours later at the Halloween party…

Pidge has realized that Lance was…surprisingly right. No one recognized her. Maybe because of the mask, maybe because she’d never willingly pick this out.

Guys were talking to her, asking her to dance, which she politely declined. Moving around the perimeter, she observed. She saw Shiro who was most definitely Batman. He actually looked really good too! And while he had the mask, there was no mistaking him. Funny enough, Hunk was Alfred!! She could totally see It but it was funny to see him in a mustache!!!

Lance was Tim Drake or Robin but the adult version. She could see Keith was Nightwing and he really fit the part. Smiling she kept moving with the crowd until she decided she deserved a little quiet. Escaping to the patio, she sat on the bench and looked at the stars. A man dressed as the Joker was circling her and she sighed. Seriously? He needed to back away. She was tired and just wanted her space. As the Joker slid to sit next to her on the bench she looked at him and frowned.

He looked at her and stated, “Is It me or is It getting crazier out there?”

Rolling her eyes, she replied, “Look, despite appearances, I’m actually more of a Marvel girl. So adios!”

He unfortunately didn’t take the hint and slid his hand down her back. She stiffened and was about to put him in his place when Nightwing slapped his escrima stick down on the Jokers hand, nicely missing hitting her. She looked up and Nightwing replied, “Hands off!”

The Joker guy turned and replied, “Find your own girl, boy wonder.”

Keith smirked, “Yeah well, this is MY girl, didn’t you know NIghtwing and Batgirl were a thing?”

The guy paused looking between us and when Keith took a step forward he stood up and backed off. Keith sat In the Jokers place, “Batgirl, you so owe me. I just saved you from kicking that guys ass and bringing down Batman’s anger down on you.”

Laughing, I replied, “Oh really, what do you want in return then Nightwing?”

He looked at me, stating clearly, “A date.”

I looked blankly at him, shit does he not recognize me? “Keith, um, do you know who I am?”

Again that smirk, nodding, he replies, “Pidge, or I guess officially Katie, you so owe me. I want a date. Just one guaranteed date.”

Chapter Text

29 | Trick or Treat
Keith looked at his girlfriend, “Why Is Halloween is your favorite holiday?”

She shrugs, “It just is.”

Keith shakes his head “No, not good enough. I need more.”

Pidge sighs, “Well, you know I love free candy, LOVE scary stories and myths, and I love cryptids. Then there is the appeal of tricking and/or scaring people. What’s not to love. There’s no pressure for the day-it’s not a family obligation. And there are pumpkins, haunted hay rides, oh-oh, those donuts I like, it’s just fun.”

Keith smiles and gets down on one knee, “Will you marry me?”

Pidge’s mouth drops open, looking into Keith’s eyes. If she didn’t know him so well, she’d think he wasn’t nervous but she knows this boy, no man too well. She could tell he was tense. He was holding his breath, his body tense and she could see his hand shaking. OMG! In his hand is a gorgeous emerald ring with a vine wrapped around it with these two small garnets on the side. The garnets were red or black shade depending on the light.

She took a deep breath and smiles, “Yes!” She launches herself at him with complete faith that he’d absorb her weight and stay steady. Steady, funny but that word really described him now. He was her rock. Eyes filling with tears, she kisses him soundly. “Really, you ask me when I’m dressed like a witch and you my black cat!”

He laughed, “I wanted it to be us. I thought about Christmas in front of everyone but this is your favorite holiday and well, I’m selfish enough to want our engagement to be on it.”

Pidge smiled and kissed him again. “Well, this was the best treat I’ve ever gotten!”

Chapter Text

30 | Cozy Night In
Keith was back on Earth. Maybe for a while. With a broken leg he was more of a liability than an asset with the Blades. Plus his mom wanted him to ‘recharge’ or something. So here he was on earth he decided to rent a small house. He wasn’t too keen on neighbored and most apartments would not allow a space dog in residence.

Shiro and everyone was going out to celebrate Halloween but he told Shiro he was fine and wanted to stay home. He didn’t want to hobble along his friends. He’d rather stay home alone than be the person dragging everyone down.

He sat on the couch, remote in hand. He didn’t know where Cosmo went off to but he’d be back. Eventually. He looked to the kitchen thinking of getting a beer but he didn’t feel like moving so he just kept flipping the channels. Ugh, even with cable there was nothing on. He leaned his head back, sighing. He was bored. He hated not being able to train and just lying on the couch wasn’t any fun.

He looked to the fireplace, wishing he had the energy for a fire. Oh well, he closed his eyes and sighed again. He knew Shiro planned on staying but he didn’t’ want to ruin his and Curtis’ date night. He’d imposed enough already.

Suddenly heard a pop and knew Cosmo was back. He yelled, “Cosmo, come here!:”

Keeping his eyes closed, he felt the couch sink. He grinned and slid his arm up and over only to encounter a very different form than what he was expecting. His eyes snapped open and he turned his head to encounter Pidge?!?

Feeling his face turn red he quickly moved his hand from along her side. Shit! He was suddenly acutely aware, of the fact that he was sitting in his crappy black nike shorts, holey sock, and his old T-shirt that was too small but was one of his favorites. He tried to unobtrusively pull the blanket up to cover up but she laughed calling out “Cosmo!”

Cosmo popped up licking his hand, looking as proud as a space dog could be. Keith couldn’t help but smile relaxing finally. Looking at Cosmo, he grinned, “Thanks boy.”

Pidge leaned forward, grinning, “I got a pizza, your fav, of course, all the stuff to make popcorn and movies! So, it’s kinda chilly in here, let me start a fire and bring in some pizza and beer. Wait, can you have beer? Are you taking any”

Laughing, Keith stopped her, pressing his finger to her lips. “Yes I can have beer, I’m not taking any pain meds and thanks. For coming.” Keith could feel his heart rate pick up, for some reason the minute he touched Pidge he felt…odd.

Pidge smiled and impulsively hugged him, “Keith, you know I’d rather do a night in versus the bar scene. Let me get everything set up and I’ll be right back in. Just yell if you need anything.”

An hour later, Keith was sitting on the couch with his leg up, and Pidge snuggled into his side. He knew she was always cold which is why she was probably next to him with the blanket. And while he knows that she’s always been there, this night really meant something special to him. The fire was going and he was watching some cartoon about kids training to be heroes. This was perfect. He didn’t expect anyone to come by and sit with him. And he didn’t know why he was surprised that Cosmo got the one person guaranteed to help him relax.

Hours later, Keith shifted and realized that both him and Pidge were laying on the couch together, arms wrapped around each other and Cosmo at the floor besides them. He shifted slightly and Pidge just settled more into him, moaning and squirming. In her sleep she kissed his neck and Keith froze. Smiling he absently thought, I could get used to this. Maybe this injury was a good thing. A cozy night in with this girl…was something that he wanted more of.

Chapter Text

“You love her don’t you?”

I froze. Closed my eyes and took a measured breath, replying, “Was it that obvious?”

“No, not really. It’s not obvious but I KNOW you. Anyway, when it started, I couldn’t be sure. You guys have always had your own weird dynamic, close and similar in ways that just didn’t happen with anyone else. But, it’s been slowly growing. And it’s burning in your gaze when you look at her now.” Shiro frowned, “It’s just you seem to come to life when she’s around, in way that I’ve never seen before.”

Keith nodded. He couldn’t argue that. He has felt his feelings growing even though he was keeping it under the guise of just friendship. Keith knew what he was feeling was more. And it was akin to what Shiro said. They’ve always been close. They always stayed in touch. But slowly, her calls just meant more. They caused a smile, his heart beat faster, and he made an effort to be in touch with her.

He scheduled visits. He invited her to ‘help’ upgrade things on his ship or tools they had. He made sure to attend family and group events that he knew she’d be at. But, it wasn’t enough. He wanted to see more. Daily. He wanted to hold her hand and hug and kiss her. He wanted a real relationship.

Fear. Rejection. That’s what was stopping him. He valued her friendship too much to just throw it all away on a game of chance. He studied Pidge from the shadows. They were at Matt’s first house, his first party-for Halloween.

Everyone was dressed up. He knew Pidge was going as witch so he chose to go as a wizard. Earlier when they took pictures, he enjoyed standing next to her and imagining they were a couple.

Shiro bumped his shoulder causing him to refocus. “Huh?”

Shiro pulled him further into the the shadows. “I said, what are you going to do about it? You aren’t a coward. And you both deserve a chance to explore this.”

I sighed, “There is no this.”

Shiro groaned “Keith, don’t do this. Don’t run. You deserve happiness and I think you need to take a calculated risk.”

Keith nods.

“Now.”

“Um, now-now?”

Shiro smiles, “PIDGEEEEEEE”

Keith feels his heart stop. “NO! Shut up!” He pushes Shiro who just grins and steps away giving him a thumbs up behind his back.

Pidge, laughing, boops Shiro on the nose with her wand. She looks at him with a wide infectious grin. “I’m so glad you were able to come! Hunk said you were supposed to be off planet.”

Keith nods, “Yeah, I’m glad I could make it too.”

Pidge comes even closer to him and trips over a crack in the patio. She stumbles into him, where he automatically holds and steadies her. Except he doesn’t let go right away and she doesn’t move away. She snuggles into him and he pulls her closer, and she sighs, “You are so warm.”

He grins, softly stating, “Is that the only reason you like to be by me?”
Pidge shakes her head and looks up at him earnestly “Of course not! Don’t be dense.”

Keith arched his brow, “Dense? Are you insulting me Holt?”

Pidge giggled, “Noooo. Stop being so sensitive.”

Keith tilts her head up with a finger to her chin. “How much have you had to drink?”

He can actually feel her sigh. “Okay, Keith, here’s the thing. I have a couple of drinks so I can do this.”

Keith is instantly concerned, “Do what? Is everything okay? What “

Suddenly Pidge’s lips latch onto him. Holy shit. He hasn’t had anything to drink but he feels like he’s drunk. Her lips kissed him but more than that, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, fingers clenched in his hair, body pressed to his body.

He groans, holding her close, maneuvering her against the house and dragging his hands down her sides, this was a dream. It had to be. There was no other explanation for it but he wasn’t going to stop.

His hands gripped her hips and pulled and like magic her legs wrapped around his hips, causing a growl to erupt. He groaned and she moaned and he was interrupted.

“Keith,… OH SHIT, KEITH!! What the hell?!”

Fucking Lance. Keith moves back, keeping his focus on Pidge and hoping that Shiro grabs fucking Lance. “Katie, please tell me I’m not dreaming. Please tell me, you…me…shit, I like you a lot. I want you and a me…to be real. I want us but a different version of us that”

Pidge laughs, “Keith, that kiss was me telling you that. I like you. A lot. And I just hope that this was just the beginning. What do you think?’

Keith smiles, “Honey, you are so smart and I don’t know how I forget that. Yes. I like you and I want to be yours. So desperately even though apparently you are so much more brave than me.”

Keith looks down, suddenly serious, “Katie, I just want you to know, if we do this, I’m not going back. I don’t want to lose your friendship, it means the world to me. But I want so much more. I want it all.”

He holds his breath, waiting, fearing her response. He looks up and then he feels her cold tiny hand on his face, pulling his gaze down. Looking at her, he holds her gaze.

“Keith, you’ve always been it for me. I was just waiting for you to catch up.”

He laughed. “Pidge, I’m here.”

Behind them they heard cheers, he looked over, and saw the gang smiling and cheering. Smiling he grabbed her and kissed her again. He knew he loved her, he just needed her to catch up…