for pidgeâs birthday week day 3: science/technology
katie builds herself a friend.
(can also be found on ao3)
although most kids didnât start school until 5, katie, who was a solid 4 years old, desperately wished to go. it was a place she could socialize, and even though her mother argued that there were kids right in there neighborhood, it was supposed to be different at school.
at school they had to talk to you. when you went outside to play people just ignored you.
it was also at this point in her life where katie had decided that enough was enough, and that if she wasnât going to go to school to learn and make friends, she would build her own friends.
(âi thought i was your friend, pidgey.â matt would say.
âyouâre always at skĂŒl.â
âitâs school, pidge.â)
her first attempt was a lego creation named toby. he worked exceptionally well: sleeping with her, playing with her, eating with her. that is, until baebae came and ate him up.
that led to attempt 2: making a another version of toby (dubbed toby II), except this time adding that spray her mother put on the couches to keep baebae away.
sure enough, toby II lasted longerâ until she left him at the park.
god, she cried. she cried for a day, almost. fortunately it was already the beginning of summer, and that meant more matt time, and more matt time meant she could have help building toby III.
âmaybe we should not use legos this time.â matt had suggested, leaning against his bed. âwe could do something else.â
when katieâs eyes light up, matt knew he made the right choice.
with their fatherâs input, the two holt kids began to make a robot using the make-a-robot kit that had recently come in the mail and other pieces of scrap metal they could find in the garage.
âhi.â toby III said when they were done, having been the only thing they had programmed his monotonous voice to say. âhi. hi. hi. hi. hi. hi. hi. hi. hi. hi. hi. hi.â
âhi!â katie would reply each time. âhi, hi!â
with toby III she would be more careful, especially with all the trouble they had gone through to make him. she sprayed with the dog spray, she never let him out of her sight, she always plugged him in when he needed battery, and with that, toby III was still alive today.
he had been forgotten since she was six, having made a friend or two at school, but she had never thrown him out. she wasnât sure why. nostalgia, maybe?
maybe a little more than nostalgia, katie would think later on, when her father and brother were proclaimed KIA and their remains believed to be floating somewhere in space.
her room had been torn apart when sheâd heard, her bed unmade and her books thrown across the room. that night sheâd fell asleep with baebae, staring straight into the only thing in her room she hadnât thrown away: toby III.
even months later, when sheâd packed away to live a fake life at the garrison, katie had packed him in her suitcase. she wasnât sure why. for support, maybe?
who knew at this point? who knew why she had always put him in her backpack, even accidentally bringing toby III with her to space?
âout of all things you couldâve brought to space, you chose this?â matt would say when she found him, pointing at something in her room.
pidge would shrug. âitâs not like i chose to go to space when i did. he was just.. with me when i did.â
he smiled. âglad to know that you at least had one old friend to have your back.â
