#kidgefic

[merrykidgemas]

Hair Ties

"Can you see?"

Keith blinks, once, precisely.

"Uuuuh-" His unsure answer drew slowly from his mouth, only now noticing how his black hair tickled softly against his face, partially impairing his vision. "I'm okay-"

Oh.

Oh.

When her fingertips gently brushed a few large strands away from his widened eyes (very closely!! to! his! face!), it revealed two very focused purple irises. Could anyone tell how he barely had time to inhale a breath of air before he had noticed this small girl's figuring closing the distance between them, how he was now definitely holding said breath despite his mostly stony facial expression?

Pidge laughs, but it is a laugh that is unaware of the current turmoils in his thumping heart. "Dude I think you need a hair tie at least! You do tie your hair sometimes right?" She immediately draws back from him to go rummage around in the drawer of her desk. Keith misses the close proximity b u t you didn't hear that from him.

Does he lie, does he lie?? Think brain, think!!!

"I don't... really..." He quietly mutters, annoyed at the fact that he could hear Lance and Shiro's laugh in his mind for lying about such a silly matter. But depending on the outcome, it might be worth it. Keith's sitting crossed-legged on her bed, something he never thought he would be doing in a million years, but he finally gave into it after Pidge insisted after all she did painstakingly rearranged all the plushies on her bed to give him space.

His heart is still beating just as hard whilst the hoodie-clad rummager continued her search, mumbling to herself about misplacing things. Friends, Keith, they were juuuust friends. Friends planning a birthday party for a mutual friend! Good friends. Friends that should get marrie- waitwheredidthatthoughtcomefromKeith-

"Found them!" Pidge says enthusiastically. She excitedly holds up one for him to see then hands it forward to him. "Here ya go." Pidge's expression then turns into one of confusion when Keith turns slightly away from her as he rubs the back of his neck. "What's wrong?"

His ears turn red. "I kinda forgot how to tie hair so... It's okay Pidge. I'll be fine." This was silly, he was being silly. Why would he so foolishly raise his own expectations like that? It wasn't like Pidge would actually ask to-

"Pff that's alright. I can just tie your hair for you if you want!"

"......."

REALLY-??!?

Keith remembers his thoughts weren't forming actual words out loud so he stutters a bit. "I-If you want to but Pidge I haven't taken a shower yet and-"

"And what?" She chuckles, already climbing off the bed to stand behind him. "It's just you, Keith."

It's just you. God, he loves her.

The boy had to hold back from flinching when he again felt her hands begin to gather his hair to form a short ponytail. Keith hears another giggle from behind him this time. Pidge was holding back more laughter, oh man Keith was too adorable in the most unexpected moments. Keith was tense at first, awkward and rigid, but his stiff shoulders seem to relax a bit as Pidge began to speak. "Tying a ponytail is actually really easy. You just bunch up your hair into a single section then pass it through the hair tie, you see?" Though, hopefully, this wasn't too much for him. The last thing Pidge wanted to do was overwhelm the guy.

On the other hand, as Pidge continued to explain, Keith's focus was more on this new, pleasant sensation. Growing up, he didn't get that many head pats. After meeting his current friends, he had picked up a habit or two, one of them being patting the head of their resident midget.

Everyone had their own style of how they patted Pidge's head. Keith reserved his head pats for her when he noticed her green eyes blinking sleepily, a sign that she had, again, stayed up way too late again the night before. Still, he admired her hardworking nature and in his mind, that effort deserved some gentle head pats.

Him on the other hand? Keith never really struck the others as someone who might enjoy them. Shiro sometimes did, only privately after giving him a pep talk to help him get out of an emotional rut. He cherished those moments but they still felt foreign to him.

Though tying hair didn't really count, the hands on his head right now brought him an odd yet immense amount of comfort. It wasn't a playful ruffle. It was filled with deliberate care. It made him want to deliberately care for her too.

"And there, done." Pidge steps away to sit back on her bed as Keith brought a hand up to feel the finished product. Hmm. Not too loose, not too tight. Impressive attention to detail as usual. She grins when she sees him nod, noting how most of his bangs weren't in the way of his eyes.

"Thanks, Pidge. I can see better now." Keith clears his throat again. "I... like it."

Like could not even begin to describe how much he adored the whole process, how much he adored her. This was like a miracle. A once-in-a-lifetime happening. "It's really nice, thank you."

"You know," Pidge tilts her head as she began. Keith puts his hand back down to look at her. "I actually did not dislike doing that. Ah- no. I mean to say that tying your hair was oddly relaxing. It has a very different texture to my hair and Matt's hair."

Keith blinks again, not sure where her rambling would lead to this time, but he lets her continue. "Our family's hair gets tangled up real easily- to the points where it isn't funny. I can't count how many times I've gotten a hairbrush stuck in either in his hair or mine."

Nodding, Keith says, "That does sound like a lot of work when you put it that way."

"Right?? But your hair is so smooth and- un-tangly. At least, not as bad as ours. It was very satisfying!"

"......I can't believe we're having this type of conversation."

That comment earned him a light push on the arm and a soft scoff. "Hey. If you think about it, I'm complimenting you Kogane. I thought you would appreciate my honesty more but now I know!" Her tone shifted to a more dramatic one, jokingly of course.

Keith just earnestly looks down at her. He doesn't really think before he acts this time so the words slip out of his mouth. "I also liked it."

Silence.

"Th-that was a compliment too- I'm saying you're good at tying hair and... stuff. You even took the time to explain it to me." She's still looking at him oh gosh. Why is she looking surprised now? "So if you wanted to play with it," Keith can't help but mumble for the rest of the sentence, "you could... play with my hair... only if you want to...."

Wow did he sound awkward.

"Though I really don't know why you would even want to because my hair isn't even that long so-"

"Can I?"

Pidge's eyes were... sparkling? Alrighty...?

"Uuuh- yeah, sure- Whenever you want, I guess. I don't mind if it's you."

She looks so happy and Keith decides that's all that matters. But now he was curious. "Why do you like to do this?" He points to his new ponytail.

Pidge giggles again, making his cheeks warm but he loves to hear it anyway. "My mom would help with my hair when I was younger, braiding it and whatnot, and I just found it a very relaxing recreational activity to put every single strand in place because, well, it's a way I can interact with my family members without always needing to use words. Relaxing and quiet and simple. I can even braid my dad's beard now to look like a viking! Uh- Sorta-"

"I see..." Keith thought about it for a moment, looking down at the bed where their planning notes were. As he pondered more on it, the more his curiosity grew. "Do you think... Could I try?"

Pidge nods and hums a yes. "Yeah, it would be good practice for you to start tying your own hair too so I don't always have to do it from now on!"

Keith laughs along a little while hoping that what Pidge said wouldn't really come true. This was one of the rare times he felt okay to be so physically close with someone. He welcomed it, embraced it even. It was because Pidge was simply so trustworthy. It made Keith's chest bloom with warmth, knowing that she was willing to share this piece of her with him. What did he do to deserve her in his life? Every time he looks into her eyes, he cannot fathom any answer.

He was going to lift his hand up again to take off his hair-tie to redo it himself when Pidge turned her back to him on the bed. ...What?

"Here's another hair-tie." She passes it to him from behind her and he takes it, confused. Did she mean for him to tie her hair????

"O-oh, right- Thanks."

He was probably overthinking this but, applying his logic to this situation, did Pidge find him trustworthy too? Keith watches as Pidge pushes the rest of her hair back over her shoulder for him.

Marry me.

Okay w h e r e do these thoughts keep coming from??????

"I'll try my best not to tangle it," Keith says as he lifts up her hair with care, remembering what Pidge had said. Woah. What a beautiful color... and soft too. Pidge was right again, her hair did feel different from his own but that was okay. He loved that she was different from him.

Keith puts the hair-tie on his lap as he begins to gently brush the girl's hair with his fingers like she did with his hair just a while ago. He begins to understand what she had said, memorizing the feeling of his hands running through her locks, careful not to tug on any knots. It was a way to do something nice for someone you cared about and Keith was more than glad to do it for Pidge.

All the while, all Pidge could only think of one thing.

"I can't believe I actually got him to do this, YES."

Mental note to self: remember to buy more hair-ties.

"I'm beginning to understand what you mean now," Keith smiles even though Pidge can't see but she could hear it in his voice. This was very calming.

Pidge chuckles back. "I'll give you a two-for-one deal."

"Two?"

"Mhmm, tie pigtails!"

Oooh. He remembered Pidge explaining that to him before. "The cute one?"

.

Oh no.

It was too late to take back what he just said as Pidge feined a shocked gasp even though she really was surprised. Seriously, that took her off guard! "Th-the cute one??? Keith?????"

Just when this whole thing was starting to become a relaxing recreational activity!! Pidge why?!

"Please turn back,,," It's too late, Keith's heart rate shoots up again.

She laughs again and Keith turns even redder than before, now knowing his honest opinion. But he bet that she would look cuter in a wedding veil.

Why d- Nevermind. If he planned on doing this with her the rest of his life, might as well ask if he can spend the rest of his life with her while he was at it too.

But he should probably ask her to be his girlfriend first right-

(spoilers: Keith asks at the party and of course Pidge says yes hehe)

[brettanomycroft]

Swamped [Kidge Cryptid Hunt Oneshot, VLD]

“Why else do you think I would insist we come here before we started on our Swamp Ape hunt?” she asks.

“Because we needed cookies?”

She flings her hands up, and the bag of cookies nearly flies off her arm.

“Because we needed to harness Publix's mystical force to aid us in our quest!” she exclaims. Her voice deepens, heightening her drama. “Dark Publix, show me the Cryptids!”

Author’s Note: This was completely self-indulgent. I’m a 3rd or 4th generation Florida native and have spent all but a few years of my life in this lovely, strange state. All but one thing written here about Florida is fact, which is that I don’t think there are two Publix across the street from one another in Cape Canaveral, but there sure are in the town I live in now. Thank @stardusted for the inspiration and planning. She started this. Not me.

Fandom: Voltron Legendary Defender Paring: Keith x Pidge Words: 6101 Tags: Swamp Ape, gratuitous Florida, barely edited, bonding, sass, snark, more Florida, mosquitoes, kissing, cute shit, rednecks.

Read on AO3 "Flashlights?"

"Check."

"Water bottles?"

"Check."

“Camera?”

Keith turns in his seat towards Pidge and presses the button on a boxy, plastic camera. A flash goes off. She pouts, but for once keeps both hands on the steering wheel, rather than trying to retaliate.

“Digital and disposable, check,” he says with a grin.

“I can't believe they still sell those. At least if that picture is terrible, I can physically burn it.”

“It won't be,” Keith says.

Pidge’s brows raise. It takes her a moment to resume going through her mental checklist. “Bug spray?”

“Like a gallon of it. Are you sure this isn't overkill?”

"Look, Toto, we're not in the desert anymore, so unless you want the mosquitoes to turn you into a prune so you can start planning your early retirement to Boca, then we're going to need alllllll that bug spray. You've gotta trust me, I'm the expert here. Now, do we have the cookies?”

He looks down at the disposable camera. Suddenly, the process of winding it to the next picture is the most important task in the world.

“Uh…”

The clicking sound as he winds the camera bridges the silence.

"You forgot to grab the cookies?" she asks in a low voice.

"My arms were full carrying all the bug spray!" Which is how Keith finds himself in the middle of an aisle at a grocery story that is surprisingly nice considering he lost cell service thirty minutes ago and still isn't sure if Pidge sneezed in the middle of telling him the name of the "town" they were stopping in.

For an intergalactic pilot, his Earth-side travel had been limited to the desert outskirts beyond The Garrison and a few big cities he visited with his dad, cities that seem more haze than memory now. The maze of palm trees and identical ranch homes the Holts lived in mystified him, and the rural, ramshackle spots he and Pidge had stopped off at when they needed gas were downright eerie. And while he really doesn't get how peanut butter cookies are crucial to the cryptid-hunting process, he's more than willing to give Pidge credit for taking them to what seems the likeliest place for downhome folklore to become fact.

Assuming they ever get out to the site. By the time Pidge decides which brand of cookie to get, the team’s “Voltron Spring Break 2020” will be well over. He wonders how the locals would take to the sight of a massive, glowing UFO appearing over their neighborhood Publix.

“Why don't you just get the ones from the bakery?” he asks.

She looks over her shoulder and rolls her eyes as if he’s asked the most obvious question in the world. Keith gets the sense that she’d wave a dismissive hand in his direction, if both weren’t occupied with two different boxes of cookies.

“The bakery cookies come in those child-proofed plastic containers,” she says, “meaning they’ll make way too much noise to open and close any time we want to eat during the hunt.” The follow up *duh* is unspoken.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Keith leans against the shelves opposite her, careful not to disturb the rows of crackers. “You’re the expert,” he replies, voice going flat so that she could tell just *how impressed* he was.

Pidge puts one of the packages of cookies back on the shelf. She must hear his sigh of relief, though, because a moment later she locks eyes with him and makes a slow reach for another type of cookie.

“Come *on* Pidge.”

A wicked grin stretches slow across her face. “Why don't you go grab another bottle of bug spray while I finish picking out the cookies?”

Keith shakes his head and crosses to Pidge’s side of the aisle. Stretching past her, he picks the box of cookies Pidge just set down, and another box of the ones she still has in hand.

“It's a conspiracy,” he says gravely. “No one needs that much bug spray unless they've got a vested financial stake in it. I refuse to to help you serve the secret interests of Big DEET, Pidge.”

“While in most cases I'd be inclined to agree with you,” she says, “This time, your theory neglects to take into account one important variable: we're in Florida, a state that is more bug than land.”

“Sounds like something a Big DEET lackey would say to cover up their connections.” He pauses to stick out his tongue in response to hers. “Forget the extra bug spray, let’s roll.”

With a dramatic, long-suffering sigh, she sets down the cookies in her hand and follows him towards checkout. When he glances back, he can see the tell-tale tight lips of one trying their best to hold back a smile.

The two of them ignore the strange looks they get from the cashier as they unwind the secret plottings of Big DEET and the significance of OFF™. They pay, and Keith hands the plastic bag filled with cookies to Pidge. She immediately tries to push it back to him, but he sidesteps and comes in with a “You know, we're standing in the most intriguing Florida conspiracy I’ve ever witnessed, but I haven't heard anyone question it.”

Already curious, she doesn't try to hand the bag off to him again. Success.

“What are you talking about?”

The cashier stares hard at them, face still fixed in a smile, but ready for them to clear out so she can finish with the customers behind them. Keith ignores her in favor of making a wide, sweeping gesture towards the grocery store around them.

“Publix. Ever since we landed, it's all I ever hear your mom and dad and Matt talk about. Even you've started doing it. 'Keith, you haven't lived until you've had a Pub Sub,’ and 'I know we stopped at Publix earlier, but let’s go pick up this other thing.’ It goes on.” Pidge nods along, glee filling her face.

“I'm pretty sure everything in your house is Publix brand,” he continues, “and three days ago, when your dad was driving us around town, I saw two Publix across the street from one another…And both were packed. Everyone here has an unnatural obsession with this store.”

The cashier finally shoos them towards the exit. They stop once they reach the parking lot, where Pidge reaches up to cup his cheek. She shakes her head.

“Oh, poor, naive Keith,” she says, doing her best to keep a straight face. “The Publix Phenomenon isn't a conspiracy if everyone knows about it and is willingly accepting. Every Florida child grows up learning of the strange contract made between the Jenkins family and a powerful, interdimensional entity. No one cares because Publix is the best.”

Her words pick up momentum, excitement and investment in the ridiculous story growing. Her eyes crinkle at the corners and he's not entirely sure if it's her pulse or his that he feels at the point where their skin meets.

Her hand drops. Keith exhales, letting go a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.

“Why else do you think I would insist we come here before we started on our Swamp Ape hunt?” she asks.

“Because we needed cookies?”

She flings her hands up, and the bag of cookies nearly flies off her arm.

“Because we needed to harness Publix's mystical force to aid us in our quest!” she exclaims. Her voice deepens, heightening her drama. “Dark Publix, show me the Cryptids!”

She holds her pose for a few long ticks before they both dissolve into laughter. Clutching at his stomach, Keith doubles over, gasping as he tries to speak.

“And here this whole time I thought you were weird. Turns out you're just Floridian,” he manages.

“Hey! I resemble that remark!”

Pidge chases him all the way back to the car, both cackling as she tries to nail him with the wildly swinging bag of cookies.

…

It's another 30 minute’s drive out to the location Pidge has found for their Swamp Ape stakeout. The sun is low in the sky and right in their faces, but the car’s A/C is cold and conversation engaging. Pidge once again shares how she found the spot: a combination of digging through forums and coding a program that took location and environmental data from the various sightings and calculated the best possible area for spotting the cryptid. Keith's heard the story three or four times by now, but doesn't begrudge her excitement. Once she’s done, he retells his story of how his attempts at tracking down the Thunderbird ended up with him trespassing on Garrison property before he was even a cadet. Pidge always laughs at the part where he evaded Iverson by making terrible bird calls, so it’s worth the embarrassment of recreating the scene.

Between laughing at themselves and the dense forest that crowds the single lane highway they’re cruising down, Pidge misses the turn off. They’re alone on the straight, narrow road, so Pidge lets out her choicest of expletives and pulls a U-turn right in the middle of it. Both of their phones are without signal, but Keith had gone the old school route and printed out the map as well, so after a few miles going under the speed limit and another U-turn, they find their road.

Loose gravel crunches under car tires. A plume of dust rises up behind them. Keith stares out the windows, transfixed by the way the trees flit by. His eyes catch on shadows and shapes further back in the woods: trees, no doubt, but in the growing twilight he swears he sees something dart away.

Being a paladin of Voltron came with no shortage of action and excitement. They were constantly on guard, always ready for the next fight. But this is a different prickling in his stomach. This is a pick up in his pulse that he hasn’t felt since he was fourteen and scrambling under a break in the fence at The Garrison. He glances over at Pidge. Her attention is glued to the path ahead, but there’s the hint of a grin at her lips. Her hands flex and tighten on the steering wheel.

The road dead ends at a small clearing of grass. Pidge parks the car. At the far end of the clearing, a few knobbly fence posts do their best to hold back the forest. Pidge turns to him, vibrating in anticipation. Her eyes are bright, a hint of gold lit in the setting sun.

“Ready?” she asks.

“Beyond ready.”

Keith opens the passenger door, slides out, and shoulders his backpack. From the side pocket, he withdraws his knife and returns it to its proper place on his hip. Pidge had assured him that open carry was a thing in Florida, but he hadn’t wanted to take chances. The weight of his blade at his side kickstarts the pounding of his heart, sending it to his ears. He can see Pidge getting geared up on the other side. She bounces from foot to foot, tests the weight of her backpack, and consults the compass clipped to her shorts.

“Let’s roll. We’ve got an hour or so until sundown.”

They cross the clearing. Long grasses and weeds tickle and stick at Keith’s ankles. He regrets not wearing jeans, but Pidge had insisted that he’d die of heat stroke before they found the Swamp Ape if he did.

Pidge stops between two of the fence posts. Barbed wire coils between the posts, the “NO TRESPASSING” sign attached to it faded but sturdy. She doesn’t hesitate or turn towards the car. He can’t hold back a grin as she pulls a pair of thick work gloves and her bayard from the side pocket of her backpack and goes, “Care to do the honors?”

“Nah, go for it. I broke the law last time.”

She chuckles, tugs on the gloves, and dispatches the barbed wire with little effort.

“Remind me to fix that on the way out,” she says.

“Fix that on the way out,” he replies.

“You’re *so* helpful.”

With her gloves, she holds the barbed wire back, allowing him to pass. He reaches up and ruffles her hair once he’s safely past the sharp metal.

“I try,” he says.

He walks two or three yards into the forest, then turns when he doesn’t hear Pidge’s footsteps behind him. Rather than the expected look of disgust, she stares at him with an expression that falls somewhere between impish and downright devious.

“You’re forgetting something, Keith,” she says in a singsong voice.

“And what’s that?”

From the bottle holder of her backpack, she yanks out not a bottle of water, but a massive can of bug spray.

“Spray down time.”

Groaning, Keith trudges back to her.

“Repellent?” he asks. “I thought that’s why I had you and your personality here.”

And, as he deserves, Pidge hits him in the pants with a long shot of the wet, citrus-smelling stuff.

…

Their little camp is little more than a blanket laid out on the ground and their backpacks leaned up against the wide trunk of an oak. They’d walked maybe a mile or two from the clearing until Pidge had dubbed them sufficiently far enough from civilization for a Swamp Ape to appear. Settling in, they’d gotten out their individual field notebooks, water, and one of the boxes of cookies. And then, the wait began.

There’s desert hot, and then there’s *this*, and *this* is misery. Oftentimes when Pidge had talked about home, she’d referred to it as “the swamp”, but in the cool expanse of space, it had been hard to imagine. Keith ought to have figured it out as they were flying in, when he’d seen from Red’s viewscreen the long tracts of murky green, but Pidge had been chattering away over their private channel about how great it was going to be to see her family and take him out on a proper cryptid hunt, so it hadn’t really hit him.

The heat doesn’t just swelter, it clings. Walking through a wall of food goo would have been easier and more pleasant than what they’re sitting in now. The lowering sun provides as little relief from the heat as do the pines that stretch above them. If anything, the trees trap the humidity in. Pidge runs a can of soda along her forehead and cheek. The hair from her ponytail that isn’t plastered to her neck curls and frizzes.

A buzzing at his ears tells him that despite all the bug spray, he’s about to become dinner; he swats at the mosquito near his neck and lands a hit. When he pulls his hand away to look, its a mess of sweat, dirt, and a smear of blood. Keith decides then and there that the only good thing to come from Florida is Pidge, and even right now, she’s not earning many points. He should have gone to Disney with Lance, Hunk, and Allura, or stayed in Cape Canaveral and gone bar-hopping with Shiro, Matt, and Coran.

“Why did we have to choose to hunt the Swamp Ape?” he grumbles. “Why couldn’t it have been the Beach Ape, or better yet, the Indoor Air Conditioning Ape?”

“Because those aren’t legendary monsters, those are tourists,” she says. “I know the heat’s shitty, but shut it. All your complaining will scare off the Swamp Ape.”

He’s not sure if he should feel relieved to know from the sting of her words proved the heat was getting to her too, or offended by her jab. Pidge could get downright nasty when the mood struck - her sense of tact and social etiquette were about as refined as his - but most of the time he had the privilege of being the observer, not the recipient.

And maybe she realizes her harshness: a few ticks later, she pulls a chilled soda from her bag and waves it in front of him.

“Cool off?” she asks, as close to an apology as he can expect.

“Yeah, sure.”

She slides the can up his arm, giggling when he jumps at the cold contact on his skin. A trail of goosebumps follows the condensation the can leaves as she rolls it over his shoulder and up his neck.

The next two hours pass easier with Pidge recling on her backpack next to him. They split a beer Keith nicked from Lance; not because either of them were too young to buy their own, but because watching the confused look dawn on Lance's face the next morning as he counted the drinks left and tried to compare it to what he was sure he’d drunk the night before was one of their new favorite things. In low whispers they exchange what they know about their quarry, from the accounts they’d each read about to their own pet theories. There’s an undertone of hope, as if talking about the Swamp Ape might make it appear, but instead the sun sinks below the horizon and the mosquitoes come out in full force.

Keith had the foresight to bring a deck of cards, so they flip on the lantern Pidge packed and run through their options. Egyptian Rat Screw is out of the question - too loud - but they play a few good rounds of Rummy, Crazy Eights, and a game Coran had taught them called Yarbling Yellmore. Pidge then cajoles him into a game of Go Fish, which is unfair when they both know she’s the reigning Go Fish champion back on the Castle.

“Got any… threes?” she asks.

“Go Fish,” he says, trying to keep his voice as neutral as possible.

In the fuzzy blue light of the lantern, Keith sees Pidge give him a *look*. Her eyes narrow and she purses her lips.

“You’d better not be lying,” she mutters.

“I’m not. Go Fish.”

“Keith, this isn’t Bullshit, give me your goddamned three.”

She leans in. He resists the impulse to lean back, doing everything in his power to maintain his semblance of innocence.

“I already told you, I don’t have one. Go Fish.”

As if this weren’t the first time this has happened, Keith scrambles back on his butt the moment before Pidge launches herself at him. He keeps his card hand high in the air, out of her reach as she practically crawls over him on all fours.

“You’re such a shit,” Pidge swears, trying to swipe at his cards.

“What happened to being quiet?” he teases. He stretches his arm up even higher.

Of all of the paladins, he’s the shortest second to Pidge, but every bit of extra height counts in carrying on the game of keep-away. Her knee digs into his thigh and her hand is planted on his shoulder as she continues her futile attempts to snatch his cards from him. He tilts his head up to avoid getting a mouthful of green tee-shirt, only to come to close to getting a mouthful of something else. Pidge seems not to have noticed the precarious nature of their position or the red that floods his face. She leans in closer as she tries to leverage all the height she can to reach his cards.

“What happened to h-” Pidge starts, but her voice cuts off with a sharp squeak the moment after a loud rustle comes from the dark forest.

Their heads snap towards the sound. Beyond the circle of the lantern the forest is a patchwork of black and blacker. They both jump as a deafening crack of a tree branch snapped in half echoes around them. Without looking away from the verge of light and shadow, Keith plants his hands on Pidge’s hips to keep her from tumbling on top of him. His cards hit the ground with the faintest flutter. Pidge is too occupied to notice the pair of threes.

“Swamp Ape?” Pidge breathes.

“Dunno.”

The sound of scattering leaves and shaking foliage continues. A chorus of pops and cracks surround them. Pidge tenses under his hands.

“Flashlight?”

“Closest one is in my backpack. Front pocket,” he whispers.

Pidge slides off of him and inches towards his backpack. With aching slowness she undoes the zipper, trying to make as little noise as possible. The unseen source of the rustling nears; Keith can practically taste the tang of his heart in his mouth. Whatever it is, it's almost at the edge of their makeshift camp.

“Gotcha,” Pidge hisses. She stands, Keith's flashlight in hand, and swings the beam of light towards the noise.

Three small, bulbous shapes give off a dull shine in the light. They freeze in the middle of their rooting around in the dirt. Black beady eyes peer out at them. Pidge lets out a long string of expletives that ends in “Quiznaking armadillos.”

Tension drains from Keith's body, and he falls back on the blanket. He needs a minute to get the painful pounding of his heart back to a healthy tempo. He hears Pidge stomp around and kick up leaves and twigs to chase the small creatures away; the rustling they make as they scamper back into the forest isn’t even as close to as loud as it had seemed before.

Pidge collapses on the blanket next to him with a huff. They look at one another, and burst into laughter.

...

“We’re goinna give it thirty more minutes,” Keith insists, “and then call it quits. If the Swamp Ape doesn’t show up before then, it gets to keep its ‘Elusive’ status.”

The protest Pidge offers is garbled, drowsy.

“Beg pardon?” he says.

She shifts a little to look up at him, but her head remains planted on his shoulder. Her eyelashes flutter as she fights oncoming sleep.

“But I wanted you to have the coolest cryptid hunt ever,” Pidge whines. “Instead all we’ve had swampy weather and some stupid armadillos.”

Keith eyes the watch on his wrist. After having gotten used to the ticker he wore while in space, it takes him a moment to interpret. It’s already past midnight, and they’ve got a two hour drive back to Pidge’s house that Keith suspects he’ll be in charge of. He runs a hand over her hair, consoling.

“I’m having fun,” he says. “Swamp Ape or no Swamp Ape. What else do you think I’d want to be doing? Spending my Spring Break keeping Coran and Matt from starting bar fights? Spinning around in some silly bowls at an overpriced circus until I puked?”

Pidge chuckles, and scoots closer. She adjusts until it seems she’s found a more comfortable position leaning against him.

“One,” she starts, “don’t pretend like you wouldn’t be the first to start a bar fight.” Keith shrugs the best he can without disturbing her. “And two, don’t knock the teacups ‘til you’ve tried them. Outside of the mindlessly long lines the Disney Corporation uses to optimize harnessing of human soul energy, the parks are pretty great.”

“The only way any of that could be more entertaining than what we’re doing is if the bar fight was at Disney.”

They continue chatting, doing their best to keep the other awake for the final half hour of their quest. While not as oppressive as earlier, the air is still on the warm side, and between that and the lullaby-strains of frog song and insect hum, Keith knows he’s fighting a losing battle. He can see a pocket of stars through a break in the trees above, and decides he likes how pleasantly surreal it feels to be with Pidge looking up at the stars instead of down. His fingers absently toy with the end of her ponytail as they talk.

Ten minutes remain in their hunt when it happens.

It starts with the frogs. Pidge is the first to notice. She sits up.

“Hear that?” she whispers.

“I don’t hear anything.”

“Yeah, exactly.”

The forest is cloaked in odd silence. Keith feels very, very awake.

They sit in absolute stillness, and are rewarded a few seconds later by a long, deep howling sound. It’s too far off for Keith to figure out what direction it’s coming from, but it won’t be that way for long: it’s getting louder.

When he’d imagined the Swamp Ape, he hadn’t imagined the terrible crush of underbrush like thunder rising from the earth, hadn’t imagined the inhuman, reverberating roar, unlike anything he’s ever heard before. Blurry images of a tall, loping figure flash through his mind. All reports indicated it was fast, powerful. His paladin armor would be a blessing right about now.

Pidge grabs his hand and squeezes hard. She’s gone pale, and it’s clear the same thoughts are crossing her mind. Blindly, she fumbles for her backpack and feels around until she finds her bayard.

“Keith, if we die here,” she says, voice low and serious, “I want you to know that there’s no one else in the world I’d want to go cryptid hunting with and that I’d been hoping we could do that kind of stuff together for the rest of our lives, Voltron or no.”

Something pings in his brain at her words, something some part of him feels like he would be paying a lot more attention to if the angry bellowing of a charging creature weren’t headed straight for them. He stands, muscles tensing.

“We’re not going to die, Pidge,” he snaps. “We’re both trained warriors with space weapons going up against a big monkey.”

“Okay, well, yeah,” she says as she stands up, “but the adrenaline’s talking now and I don’t have a good brain-to-mouth filter under normal circumstances and monkeys and apes aren’t the same thing.”

Whatever beast is out there isn’t slowing down. Keith estimates they have maybe another twenty seconds before it reaches their camp.

Pidge and Keith turn to each other as one. And maybe the adrenaline has hit his bloodstream, or maybe her words catch up with him, or maybe this was going to happen the entire time and both of them were too wrapped up in the hunt to even notice, but it happens now: Keith slings his free arm around her waist and Pidge grabs his shoulder and their teeth click painfully as their lips collide once, twice, three times. He tastes peanut butter and mint gum when his tongue slides into her mouth. A soft whine rises from the back of her throat when they part for air, a sound he mimics when she sucks his bottom lip between her teeth a moment later. The roaring in his ears is either his heart or the Swamp Ape less than ten feet away, probably both.

Hand on his blade, he pulls away from her and turns to the source of the roar. Every muscle tenses, each nerve fires off with the command to defend: now that he's kissed Pidge, he's not about to let either of them get mauled by Redneck Sasquatch. Next to him, Pidge crouches low. Her bayard sparks to life, glow illuminating flushed cheeks and kiss-plush lips.

They’re hit with a bright blast of light. Keith throws up his arm but it’s too late, and he’s blinded. He holds his defensive stance and tries to blink his vision back.

“What the hell are ya’ll doin’ out here? This is my private property!”

As his eyes adjust to the light, it clarifies into two points - headlights. A loud motor revs and growls. Keith can just make out the darker outline of what looks like a 4-wheeler with a man atop it. He can’t see the expression on the man’s face, but the anger in his shout and the slender shadow of a shotgun make his facial features pretty unnecessary.

Pidge gets her words back first, but he swears he hears a slight twang to her voice that, should they make it out of this alive, he was definitely going to tease her for.

“Sir, we are so sorry, we did not mean any harm, you see, it’s just that we were out here lookin’ for, ah, uh…”

The man gives a contemptuous snort. “Lookin’ for what? Ain’t nothin’ but pine and cattle for a’hunnerd acres.” He turns his head towards Keith. “Nah, the only thing ya’ll’re lookin’ for was a real private place. Thinkin’ you could get some all the way out in the woods, huh boy?”

Keith tries to stammer out some sort of response, but he’s completely blindsided. He looks from the rancher, to the wrinkled blanket below his feet, to Pidge, wild hair mussed from a long night of humidity. It does look a lot like what the rancher was suggesting.

“No, that’s not-” Keith starts. “We weren’t doing anything!” He clenches his fists to keep himself from reaching for his knife. He’s been launched from one potential fight into another, and his body is still ready to go. Reason tells him that the last thing he needs to do is beat up some stranger in the deep woods of Florida, but instinct doesn’t like the way the man is staring the two of them down.

“We were looking for the Swamp Ape!” Pidge shouts.

Just like before, the entire forest goes quiet. Even the thrum of the 4-wheeler’s motor seems muted.

“The what?”

“The Swamp Ape,” Pidge repeats, sounding defensive.

A bark of laughter echoes around them. The rancher lowers his gun.

“Where you two from?” he asks.

“Cape Canaveral,” she says.

“You two came all the way out here from Canaveral lookin’ for that damn ape?” The man hoots and dissolves into great gasping bouts of laughter.

Keith takes a breath, stance relaxing. They were going to be all right. He sees Pidge deactivate her bayard.

“Yes Sir, we did.”

It takes three or four more staggering breaths before the man can speak again. “Girl, there ain’t been a sightin’ this far north in years. You gotta go down to the Everglades if you wanna catch a whiff a’ him.”

Pidge visibly deflates, shoulders sagging. The expression on her face as she turns to Keith is pure apology. He shrugs.

The rancher lets them pack up their things and escorts them back to the property line. He watches with an appreciative eye as Pidge uses her bayard to mend the cut barbed wire, then issues about as stern of a warning as he can muster.

“I figure ya’ll wastin’ your time out here for nothin’ is punishment enough.”

…

The drive back is quiet. Despite the chug of the A/C, the air feels thick. Keith stares out the window, but sneaks glances at Pidge when he thinks her attention is fixed on the road. He’d kissed her. She’d kissed him. Somehow, that discovery feels more monumental than 1,000 confirmed conspiracy theories.

He takes another chance at a glance, and finds her looking at him.

“I’d understand if you don’t want to go on anymore cryptid hunts,” she says in a quiet voice. “This was a total bust.”

He swallows hard and reaches out to fiddle with the air vent. It’s suddenly hotter than an afternoon in July. He shakes his head.

“I thought you said you wanted to do this kind of stuff together forever. I was starting to get pretty set on the idea.”

Pidge’s smile is soft. Keith assembles every last bit of courage that hasn’t been drained from the night’s events, and leans over to take the hand resting in her lap. Her fingers curl around his.

“You’re by far the best thing to come out of Florida,” he says.

If she thinks she can cover up how wide her eyes get, or the color that rushes to her cheeks with a sarcastic sounding, “Keith Kogane, that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me,” well, she’s wrong.

She holds his hand the rest of the drive home, not even letting go when she has to swerve around a pack of armadillos crossing the middle of the road.

…

3 AM has come and gone by the time Pidge navigates the car into the driveway. The Holt family home is dark but for a single stove top light in the kitchen, which allows Matt, the only one still awake, to give them a once-over. He sets aside the jar of peanut butter and spoon in hand and lets out a low whistle.

“No luck, huh?” he says.

Keith feels the mirth radiating from Matt as he takes in their matching sweat-drenched clothes and mud-flaked faces. He circles the kitchen island and plucks a small twig out of Pidge's hair.

“Three armadillos, an annoyed rancher, and a flock of mosquitoes,” Pidge mumbles.

“Not exactly the monsters you were looking for, then,” Matt says. “You’da had better luck coming out to the bar with me and Shiro and Coran. We ran into something inhuman tonight - dunno what it was, but Coran swore up and down that it wasn't an alien.”

Matt launches into a descriptive but somewhat slurred story about, from what Keith could gather in between the large clumps of peanut butter Matt starts eating again, Coran’s close encounter of the Texan kind. Keith's too tired to protest or be offended at Matt's descriptions of the tourist.

Keith and Pidge yawn in unison. He can feel sleep creeping up on him, and if he doesn’t go upstairs and shower soon, he’s going to fall asleep in the middle of the kitchen, coated in a thick layer of sweat and bug spray.

“Eh, well, you’ll have better luck next time,” Matt says. He tries to twirl his peanut butter spoon between his fingers, but it drops with a loud clunk. His eyes narrow as he shoots the spoon an accusing glare, then shrugs and scoops out some peanut butter with his finger instead.

“But just think,” Matt continues. “Maybe the real cryptid was the friends you made along the way”

Pidge glances at Keith. She bites her bottom lip, then looks away. Keith feels warm again. He, too, suddenly finds it hard to look at her.

Matt laughs. He looks like he’s about to pat Keith on the back, but reconsiders a moment later. Keith is pretty sure the stench coming from him and Pidge is potent enough to put the Swamp Ape to shame.

“I call first dibs on the shower,” Pidge announces.

She wraps his hand in hers and gives it a quick squeeze, then hurries upstairs before he can protest her shower dibs. He watches her climb up until she’s out of sight.

When Keith turns back, he meets Matt’s piercing stare. For all that Matt had been acting like he’d had a bit too much at the bars that night, the look he gives Keith now is both sober and sobering.

“Any theories on why you guys didn’t manage to find the Swamp Ape?” he asks. “Maybe a little too occupied with something else?”

After everything Keith has faced that night - mosquitoes, wild armadillos, unpredictable property owners - nothing chills his blood so much as the very Big Brother expression on Matt’s face.

“Apparently we were too far north for a good sighting,” Keith says quickly, “and if we wanted to actually track it down we’d have to go to the Everglades.”

“Next time, then,” Matt says. Keith shivers.

“Yeah, hopefully.”

“Maybe I’ll come along.”

“Yeah, sure thing, definitely,” Keith hedges. “Well, I’m exhausted soooo I’m just going to go upstairs now.”

Matt wishes him a ‘good night’ that sounds a lot like ‘I’d better not catch you doing anything with my sister’. Keith does his best to walk upstairs in a calm, collected manner. He’s so focused on avoiding a premature death that he nearly jumps out of his skin when Pidge swings up the door to her room and steps into the hallway.

She’s bundled in a towel, pajamas in hand, and her hair cascades down across her bare shoulders. All thoughts of Matt and dying vacate.

“I’m going to hop in the shower,” she says quietly.

“Don’t take too long. The only cryptid rarer than a Clean Pidge is a Pidge Shower that’s less than 45 minutes.”

Rolling her eyes, Pidge leans in and presses a light kiss on his lips.

“You’re lucky that Blushing Keith is my favorite cryptid,” she shoots back.

Stunned, he doesn’t manage his reply until she’s almost shut the bathroom door behind her.

“Well, you’re mine!” he says.

Keith counts it as a success when he hears a soft yelp and a drawn out “Stoooooop,” from the other side of the door.

[merrykidgemas]

Under Wraps Ch. 5

James breathed a sigh of relief as the whirs of the engine died down and the simulation came to a stop. He knew that he would pass above average but he was a bit wary of the commander with the one closed eye who seemed to look at most people in the building with disdain, despite having only one eye.

"Mr. Griffin, you can exit down the hall now."

He nodded at the monitor and unbuckled his seatbelt. The testing center, which belonged to the Galaxy Garrison, was placed near the university campus in town. It was an impressive piece of architecture surrounded by trees. Though easy to find, the inside was much more difficult to navigate. James nodded at an officer in the hall and took a left turn when he saw the right side was blocked off, hoping he seemed casual enough. There must have been an exit different from the way he came in. Just when he thought he was really lost, he heard a shout.

"Why?! Come on, you have to tell me!" The voice begged.

"You're still following me?" Another voice replied, quite familiar in fact–

[Read the rest on AO3]

[merrykidgemas]

Great.

This was just what she needed.

Rain.

Of all days, it just had to be this one.

Katie stood at the edge of the steps at the back of the school, shifting through her backpack and hoping her dumb luck would grant her wish to make it as if her past self had slipped in an umbrella this morning. Of course not. Matt would be in a seminar right now and both her parents were out on a date they had been planning for weeks which both she and her brother had sworn not to interfere unless a life or death situation were to arise. She really didn't want to go back into the building, Ash and his gang were probably in there waiting for their next victims but it seems that the pouring grey skies didn't give her much of a choice... Letting out a defeated sigh, Katie turned around to go back into the building but was suddenly halted when a bright red umbrella was handed towards her by an unfamiliar hand. She straightened up her back to see who had the gall to offer the school's biggest nerd a helping hand in broad daylight. The stranger... Keith Kogane. Well, he wasn't really a stranger since they were in the same class but had never spoken a word to each other since the beginning of the school year. There were a few times when Katie did try to strike up a small conversation or have him greet her back at least because despite his unfriendly expression, he never looked down on anyone. Not once was Katie able to get a word out of him. But here he was, staring right at her and holding out his own umbrella. He was looking down at her with slight curiosity written across his face. Shaking her head, Katie refused the stranger's sudden offer. "Oh no, I couldn't take it. You would get wet!" She was met with silence, an awkward one. The other students passing by stared at the odd duo for one would never imagine them being friends if you attended this school. It only made the girl squirm uncomfortably. Just when Katie was about to refuse another time, the umbrella was thrown at her and while she tried to catch it, the boy rushed into the rain as he held his school bag over his head. Strands of his hair clung to his face as he turned around to give the flustered girl one last look. "H-hey wait! What about-" Her eyes widened at his response. Sign language? He waved goodbye after he signed to her, leaving Katie with her mouth hanging open as she could only stare at his retreating back. The girl looked down apprehensively at the umbrella then slowly opened it, her grip on the handle tightened. Why didn't he tell her? Katie imagined all the times where she tried talking to the boy. She must have looked so stupid to him. A piece of paper fell from the umbrella as it was opened; Katie picked it up and turned it around when she spotted something scribbled onto the other side. "You owe me now. How about ice cream?"

[merrykidgemas]

sdhffhdadf I wrote this last night so i’m still in the process of “did just write that-” bUT hERe, foR yOu gUyS *shoves fic into your hand and runs away blushing like an anime girl*

“Do you think they noticed yet?” Pidge raised a brow in amusement at Keith whose feet were crossed on the floor near the hem of her dress.

“No way!” the male chuckled as he loosened his bow-tie before taking another bite of pizza. “No one’s going to find us out here.”

As to appease a grand-aunt that Pidge had on her father’s side of the family, an engagement party had been added into the complicated equation of life after Keith had proposed a few months prior. It was not as if debates has not been made but it was her “dying wish” just in case she didn’t make it to the real wedding day. Even Krolia took pity on the woman; Keith never could really say no when she beamed so proudly at her son for “partaking in Earth customs” like a parent at “Bring-a-Parent-to-School-Day”. Unfortunately the hours of smiling, standing up and sitting down, shaking hands, and draining small talk that made walking on eggshells seem like a breeze made the couple stop and think.

Was it really worth it?

Somewhere between tearful speeches and games, the two had slipped away. Pidge practically threw the keys at Keith who was sprinting down to their car at lightning speeds. No words were said. They knew where to go.

Neither of them didn’t really fit into the current scene like the previous one. Fancy tables with white tablecloth were replaced with plastic round ones and instead of a velvet carpet were beige floor tiles. Not your usual hideout but the pizza was heavenly.

“You know,” Pidge sighed as she grabbed another slice, “They’ll never let us get away with this on our real wedding day. My mom is dead set on having a whole album.”

Keith stopped mid-munch. “You’re letting your mom take pictures?”

“That or she was going to call cousin Meryl to plan the wedding,” she winced.

“Who is that again?”

“The big-haired on-”

“No wait, actually stop right there. I’d much rather take pictures than wear a flamingo-patterned tux while cutting a neon pink cake,” he shuddered as Pidge struggled to breathe and she chortled with a bite of pizza in her mouth.

“Maybe we should just elope? We still have the lions so we could just find a nice planet to spend a few weeks until everyone forgets about us. Okay maybe not the guys but they’ll understand right?”

Pidge didn’t expect her fiance to stay quiet but she knew those slightly creased brows meant he was thinking seriously so she resumed to taking another bite. It was until a few moments later she heard him speak up again.

“My mom, she uh, she found my father’s sister from oversees.” His tone was so neutral like he was reading from an instruction manual that it made Pidge sit up a little more and nodded quietly for him to proceed.

Picking an olive from the plate he continued except this time his voice lowered and he started wringing his hands. “Her family hasn’t seen my dad in years and they probably don’t know that he’d passed away either… So my mom was thinking we could invite them so they could visit him, attend the wedding, and have a long discussion about the past decade. Point is, it’s weird.”

“What’s weird?”

“The fact that I’m technically an uncle to three kids? "Keith jested as he suddenly broke into a smile that made Pidge’s heart flutter. Sometimes he did that out of nowhere, making her wonder even more what he was smiling about. It was probably a tactic to keep him on her mind all day.

"I thought this was a serious conversation!” she pouted, earning a laugh from Keith.

“I am being serious! It’s just that ever since dad died I thought– I believed I was destined to be alone.”

Suddenly everything became silent. The same buzz of conversation from other customers and kitchen noises was still there but the two didn’t hear it.

“But that isn’t true anymore,” Pidge whispered as she broke the silence. Again that smile.

“Yeah I know,” Keith whispered back as he slid his hands over the table and folded them over hers, brushing over the ring on her finger. “I have my space family, I have my comrades, I have your giant crazy family, I have family that I have yet to meet, and I even the Garrison of all people.” He paused and lifted his head to look into her eyes which were tearing up a bit.

“Pizza makes us so emotional, I swear,” Pidge laughed as she squeezed her hands back.

“Sheesh Pidge, let me finish will ya? Or else you’ll ruin my once-in-a-blue-moon corniness. I was going to say that I have you too, forever. Which is unbelievable. Okay now I’m really done,” he mange to dodge before she could whack him.

“Ugh what are we going to do if our true corny selves are caught on camera for all the world to see?”

“Great! Then the whole world will know that we’re together until we die.”

“Oh no he’s back!”

Both burst into laughter, practically hanging onto each other across the table if that was even possible. There was a certain magic to them. To other people passing by, they were just two dorks in way too fancy clothing in a corner of a restaurant. But if anyone knew any better, they’d know just how absolutely in awe they were to find someone who could make them that happy. Of course no one said this out loud but there was no need to. They could feel it anyway.  

Breaking the silence was Pidge’s ringtone and just like that the magical moment was gone as both paled in horror when Shiro’s name was displayed on the screen. She answered the call and put it on speaker mode so both she and Keith could hear.

“–Hold on Mrs. Holt. Yes. Alright I’m giving you guys ten seconds to explain. WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?!”

The two grimaced at the tone of the voice. Pidge was the first to recovered so she chuckled sheepishly over the receiver.

“Haha uh hey Allura–”

“Don’t ‘hey Allura’ me. Answer the question.”

It was Keith’s turn to respond as he cleared his throat and leaned closer to the phone. “The pizzeria downtown?

"You guys are so dead,” she huffed as the two heard the sound of keys jingling and a car door slamming before the call ended.

Keith and Pidge turned to each other with a knowing look and nodded. They didn’t make a elope plan for nothing.

[merrykidgemas]

Under Wraps 2/?

Omg a second part???? I never thought I’d see the day lolol. But I’m glad I persevered and wrote this (it has been over two darn weeks) because I really really enjoy how it’s coming along! I hope you enjoy this next part~

Part 1

Setting: Pre-Garrison AU - Winter break is right around the corner! People are praying for Christmas miracles or not expecting one at all. A mistake for Katie, who’ll soon see not all gifts can be wrapped under paper and bows.

After a good distance was made from the school gate and her clamoring classmates, Katie felt the moped slow down a bit and swallowed the lump in her throat. She racked her brain for something to say, noting the air of discomfort that was growing.

"Thank you... for earlier," she managed to utter just loud enough for him to hear over the engine. "You shouldn't have gone through all that trouble, I'm so-"

"Don't apologize for things that aren't your fault," he answered curtly, keeping his eyes on the road though the way his grip on the handles tightened didn't go unnoticed by Katie. She still felt sorry but decided to let it go; no need to make things even more awkward between them. 

She tilted her head just a fraction enough to see his face clearer, determined to at least get an introduction across. "By the way, my name's Katie. What's yours?"

"Keith. And I already know your name."

"You do?" That was a surprise. How come her mom didn't bother to tell her beforehand? Katie quickly figured that Shiro may have mentioned her name once or twice to him, all the while oblivious to the small tinge of pink that was growing on his cheek.

Keith cleared his throat as he adjusted his posture, taking note of the fact that the girl was still hanging onto his jacket. "Yeah, Shiro told me." He thought back to yesterday when he got a text from his friend. Thinking back it was a strange conversation especially when Shiro didn't say much except that he should wait outside of the middle school for Katie which was stupid because he had no idea what she looked like. Instead of a picture or a simple description, all Keith got was the "read" sign.

Frankly, he half expected her not to show up. It wasn't like he was going to enter the school and start calling out her name just to be caught by authorities. What if she had after school activities? He had somewhat of a notorious reputation and if she was anything of a goodie-two-shoes like James, she'd probably thought she was too good for him. When the crowd started to gather commenting his appearance and ride, he really hoped it wasn't the girl with sparkly nails that was giving him goo-goo eyes that he was supposed to spend the rest of the day with.

It was when a familiar face popped up from the crowd. It was probably the hair that gave it away but the girl did look an awful lot like her older brother. Before he could register it, Keith gave her a small wave. That seemed to surprise her but she didn't immediately make a move despite all eyes were on him and she was hidden in between the rows of people.

Keith understood; even he wouldn't want to be caught up in a crowd like that. It was true he wasn't really a people person but he was surprisingly more perceptive than what his peers thought. That's why he slightly panicked when Katie, who finally decided to might as well get things over with, started her journey across the street. Whoever came up with this idea, Keith had some questions for them.

"Hey um," Katie's voice interrupted his thoughts. He waited for her to continue but since she stayed quiet, Keith figured she was waiting for him to answer so he nodded for her to speak. "Do you know the way back to my house?"

Really, Shiro? All this for what, a casserole?

Katie heard a groan followed by a sigh. Apparently not. "It's not far. You know the repair place at the corner right? It's a right then a left after." She felt the vehicle accelerate after the directions were given and smiled to her self. After relaxing, Katie could get a clearer view of the usual bus route back home whereas a window pane would be in between her and the outside world. The wind brushing past her face and leaning side to side on every turn, it felt nice. She couldn't completely relax though. Her arms were still stiffly around the waist of her escort, awkwardly placed and ever-so-gently holding onto the red jacket. She might as well have been just hovering her arms around him because her muscles were starting to ache.

Suddenly the whole vehicle jerked up and shook, forcing Katie to grab on tighter to whatever was closest and squeezed her eyes shut. The bumpy road lasted a couple small blocks and during those few meters she felt as if she was clinging for her dear life lest she fall from the speeding moped. That was way too close to the ground.

It didn't seem to affect Keith much as he still looked ahead without batting an eye, contrast to her rather disheveled appearance. Before long, they were on a familiar street that brought a smile to Katie's face. Finally home. Practically skipping, Katie headed towards the front door with keys in hand and Keith trailing close behind after parking. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary when Keith stepped through the door until a blur zipped right past him and knocked Katie onto the floor. "Katie!?"

Instead of cries for help, gales of laughter bubbled from her lips. "Bae-Bae stop! Yes I missed you too girl!" Right on top of the petite girl was a creature of medium size, tail wagging back and forth amiably and slobbering her owner's face with affectionate kisses. Keith let his hands fall back to his sides, a little speechless but nonetheless glad that fists weren’t needed.

"So is this normal?" he crouched down near the two and stared curiously at the dog who had now turned her attention to their young guest.

Katie sprung up and pushed her bangs out of her eyes. "Right! I forgot to tell you. Bae-Bae meet Keith. Keith meet Bae-Bae. Now shake hands."

"You introduce her like she's part of the family," Keith commented as he held out a hand for Bae-Bae's paw while trying to hide a small smile.

"That's because she is! Isn't that right girl?" The dog barked in agreement, tail still wagging like when they just came in.

For once Keith found the situation to be somewhat amusing. The Katie he first met was quiet, someone who took two minutes to start walking across the street. Now as all three sat on the tile floor, he watched her cooing at her pet like if she was some sort of infant without a care in the world. It was sort of... adorable– Wait just a second.

He did not just think that thought, did he?

[brettanomycroft]

Preview: Swamped (Kidge oneshot)

You all can thank @stardusted for this "Flashlights?" "Check." "Water bottles?" "Check." “Camera?” “Digital and disposable, check.” “I can't believe they still sell those. Bug spray?” “Like a gallon of it. Are you sure this isn't overkill?” "Look, Toto, we're not in the desert anymore, so unless you want the mosquitoes to turn you into a prune so you can start planning your early retirement to Boca, then we're going to need alllllll that bug spray. You've gotta trust me, I'm the expert here. Now, do we have the cookies?” “Uh…” "You forgot to grab the cookies?" "My arms were full carrying all the bug spray!" Which is how Keith finds himself in the middle of an aisle at a grocery story that is surprisingly nice considering he lost cell service thirty minutes ago and still isn't sure if Pidge sneezed in the middle of telling him the name of the "town" they were stopping in. For an intergalactic pilot, his Earth-side travel had been limited to the desert outskirts beyond The Garrison and a few big cities he visited with his dad that seem more haze than memory, now. The maze of palm trees and identical ranch homes the Holts lived in mystified him, and rural, ramshackle spots he and Pidge had stopped off at when they needed gas were downright eerie. And while he really doesn't get how peanut butter cookies are crucial to the cryptid-hunting process, he's more than willing to give Pidge credit for taking them to what seems like the likeliest place for downhome folklore to become fact. Assuming they ever get out to the site. By the time Pidge decides which brand of cookie to get, the team’s “Voltron Spring Break 2020” will be well over. He wonders how the locals would take to the sight of a massive, glowing UFO appearing over their neighborhood Publix. “Why don't you just get the ones from the bakery?” he asks.

[merrykidgemas]

Under Wraps 1/?

So season 8 has me dead, I’ve been completely swamped by performances and parties, and the halls are the only thing that has been “decked”. However, I still bring forth my humble gift (very late into the holidays) in hopes to not only bring  cheer to myself but to all of you lovely people as well! Happy New Years!

Setting: Pre-Garrison AU - Winter break is right around the corner! People are praying for Christmas miracles or not expecting one at all. A mistake for Katie, who’ll soon see not all gifts can be wrapped under paper and bows.

Soft lights, the scent of Christmas dinner, and family around the fireplace. It seemed as if Katie could have stayed in that world forever... but her alarm had to go off right at the part where she was about to receive her present. She groggily lifted the covers and and turned off the ringing phone, a routine she knew all too well. Christmas break was so close she could taste it.

It didn't take long to sift through her wardrobe to get dressed then tying her hair into her signature side pony-tail. Just as Katie was putting the last few things into her backpack, she heard her mother knock at the frame of her door and hummed for the woman to come in.

Colleen smiled as she slightly fixed her daughter's bangs, "Almost ready?"

"Pretty much." Zipping her backpack, she gave it a small pat. "What's breakfast?"

"Cold if you don't come down soon," she chuckled making Katie roll her eyes. Quippy remarks were a norm in her household but it regularly brought a few laughs here and there. Both started their journey downstairs into the dining table where her mother continued the chatter. "But there is something I do want to tell you. You know that Shiro is coming over today right?"

"Mhm and don't worry about the decorations. I'll handle them after school," Katie assured her as she made herself comfortable on the seat and picked up a fork. Usually the decorations would wait till relatives announced that they were coming over but the preparation had begun to start at an earlier date ever since Matt moved into the dorms, leaving Katie to make all the festive decisions but a little more difficulty with top shelf items.

"Well Shiro has invited one of his friends, a boy around your age-"

Katie's eye's widened in surprise, mouth mid-munch, and let out a sound of confusion only a mother could decipher.

Colleen only playfully scolded her without even missing a beat. "Chew with your mouth closed dear. As I was saying, I told Shiro he could tell the young man to wait for you outside after school so you didn't need to take the bus this time-"

Her mind started racing. One memory surfaced of a normal luncheon where the young cadet was talking about a boy stealing his vehicle during one of his school visits. Something about...

The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them. "Crazy hover bike kid???"

It was the silent nickname both her brother and her had coined after hearing the stories of mishaps from their friend. Sure, she has gotten in trouble for being rash before, but not to the point where she was a needle point away from death itself.

The expression her mother gave her was a true look of disapproval. "Now that wasn't very nice of you. He's just a misunderstood boy so you shouldn't be so quick to judge him especially if you haven't met him."

Katie wasn't really sure she wanted to at all but she kept quiet instead and continued to chew as to not get anymore disapproving looks from her mother. The situation posed a few problems. Firstly, people would question as to why someone who wasn't from her school was waiting for her outside. It wasn't like she needed any other attention drawn to her; being known as a brainiac was enough. Secondly, from what she can gather from those stories she heard from Shiro, this boy meant bad company.

She'd probably be run over by his hover bike.

But there was no argument and the plans were already made. More like Katie was to tired to bargain with her mother that morning since time was short. School that day was a little less boring than usual. Katie spent empty moments during classes and breaks conjuring up ideas of what the mystery boy looked like through the process of elimination and a little too much imagination. All that the girl knew was that he was younger than her brother. He wasn't in middle school so that must meant he went to the neighboring high school.

Somehow the image of a gangster-like senior popped into her head, complete with piercings and tattoos, definitely someone who wouldn't mind running civilians over with a hover-bike. Katie shuddered at the thought and tried to shake it away to concentrate on what the teacher was saying.

As the day progressed, the more appealing escaping through the play field was. It was one thing that she had no idea who this person was but she had no idea what to do, how to act, or even talk. If there was one thing Katie couldn't stand, it was awkward silences. It was like the feeling of dancing but the constant fear of stepping on someone's toes. The final bell rang and soon the sound of chairs screeching back and the chatter of students began flooding out the voice of the teacher, all eager to go home after a long day.

Except Katie.

She did not want to even go out of the classroom much less the front gate. Slinging the backpack over her shoulder, the girl got up from her chair with a sigh. She might as well get this over with. Before long, Katie finally reached the front doors of the school and surveyed the grounds of the campus. Only some students were still hanging around with no stranger in sight. Walking into the courtyard, she noticed a small crowd outside right next to the gate.

"What's wrong?" Katie turned to ask Rachel, a girl in her Geo class who regularly asked for her to help with math problems. Quite the gossip queen so no wonder she was with the growing crowd. If anyone needed to know anything about anyone, she was the one. To her surprise Rachel gave her a girlish giggle, her perfectly manicured nails meeting her pink lips, that sent a cold shiver down her spine. "There's a super cute guy from the high school and he started waiting out here a minute ago. I wonder who he's waiting for?"

So much for being discreet like she planned.

Sure enough, after Katie finally pushed her way through the crowd without causing too much dispute, she saw a boy leaning next to his moped. He was very different from the description inside her head. In fact he was dressed quite plainly, black shirt under a red and white hoodie and some khaki pants with a pair of goggles sitting on his tousled raven hair, both his hands were stuffed into his pockets as he wore a blank expression on his face.

That is when he spotted Katie in the crowd of students and gave her a shy wave which revealed his finger-less gloves. Katie could practically hear Rachel swoon. His expression changed from a more stoic one to a confused frown when she didn't respond so she started to panic. If she walked over then she would made it clear to Rachel that she knew that person and knowing that girl she would cause a bigger commotion. Some people were just a little too invested in other people's relationships.

But she couldn't just not walk over! After all he did take the time to wait for her outside even if it was just for a few minutes and she didn’t at all agree to do this on the fly.

Taking one last glance at Rachel and letting out a shaky breath, Katie tentatively took a step forward while tightly grasping on to the straps of her backpack. Seeing that she was walking towards him, the boy went to grab a helmet.

Not even a few seconds after crossing the street, she heard one thing she had dread would happen.

"Hey Holt! Is that your boyfriend?"

Like the boy, she froze; shock evident on their faces. And of course, to her utmost agony, the announcement was followed by a chorus of shouts and hoots even a few snickers. Katie could only look away in shame but not before giving a look of apology at him. He didn’t deserve it. If anything, this was probably last minute news to him just like it was to her. Thinking back, she felt selfish for only worrying about her self throughout the day. She thought the taunting wouldn't end until a voice interrupted the mob of students.

"Look," almost immediately the boy's voice deepened into a growl, his eyes not sparing a single drop of mercy. "I don't care if you think I'm a liar but I'm only here because of a favor. Now drop it." And as if that wasn't enough, he grabbed her hand and dragged her to the moped where she was basically tossed onto as he placed not-so-gently the helmet on her head, leaving seconds for Katie to realize she should grab onto him before he sped off.

She was not going to survive school tomorrow.