#kidgesecretsanta

Keith reacted before he could stop to think his actions through, barging through the half-open door to find the girl from the photographs sitting on the floor, rubbing her shin. She looked up at the sound of the door opening, her eyes wide.

At her side, an all-white dog stood up and fiercely wagged its tail before bounding towards him. Keith lifted his arms to protect his face from what he was sure was an attack, but all the dog did was stop in front of him and whine, pawing at his leg for attention.

“Bae Bae!” scolded the girl.

Keith slowly lowered his hands for the dog to sniff and was rewarded with a series of very wet licks from his fingertips to his wrist. He grinned at the overly affectionate dog, relieved that he wouldn't have to explain to Shiro how he got injured. He glanced up at the girl – Katie, he reminded himself – to find her staring at him, her expression unreadable.

He flushed with embarrassment. He could only imagine what it looked like to her. He was some stranger who came into her room without permission and then proceeded to ignore her in favor of her dog, who was only too happy to soak up all of the attention he was willing to give.

“Sorry,” Keith blurted out. “I, uh, thought I heard something fall, so I came to make sure everything's alright.”

She stared at him for a moment longer. “You're Shiro's friend? Kev- no, Keith?”

He relaxed a little. “Yeah. You're Matt's sister, Katie, right? Are you okay?”

Awkward.

It was all so awkward. The stilted conversation. Keith wished he could do something ridiculous like sink through the floor or transport back in time to stop himself from running into her room.

He barely heard her reply as he glanced around, almost immediately narrowing in on the telescope at her window. “Is that the Ouranos III? I didn't know you could get that outside of the Garrison.”

Katie stopped talking mid-sentence, following his gaze. There was a moment of hesitation before she answered. “Technically, I'm not supposed to have it. Dad brought it home as part of his personal research equipment a few years ago, but since he's helping test the new Ouranos IV, he let me use that one. You have a good eye.”

Keith shrugged. “I like looking at the stars. Knowing which telescopes give me the best view just felt like a natural part of that.” He paused, unsure of how much more to say, but with Katie looking up at him with a tiny smile, he pressed on. “Pops bought me an Orion growing up and we'd spend every night we could mapping out the stars. I'll never forget that.”

And that was it.

That was all it took for that awkward atmosphere to evaporate. Katie latched onto the topic and ran with it, happily bringing Keith along with her for the ride. At some point, he sat down on the floor with her and let Bae Bae sprawl across his lap, though he wasn't sure if that was before or after their discussion on whether or not the new line of SuperNova 9000's were really worth the hefty price tag.

Time slipped away from them. Keith only realized an hour had gone by when Shiro walked up behind him.

“So this is where you disappeared to,” he said fondly. “Dinner's ready, if you two are hungry.”

Keith reluctantly urged Bae Bae out of his lap before getting up. He sneaked a glance at Katie, and maybe it was just him imagining things, but he thought she looked disappointed by the interruption as well.

They all went down for dinner and Keith largely stayed quiet unless directly asked a question. Every now and then his eyes would meet Katie's and he couldn't help but wonder: had he made a new friend?

A warm feeling blossomed in his chest.

For so long it had only been Shiro, who was as much his mentor as he was a best friend, and quite a few years older as well. To have found someone near his own age who he got along with and actually enjoyed talking to...

He should say something. Add something to the conversation at the table. Ask her to pass the salt. Anything.

But Keith didn't and before he knew it, it was time to leave. He echoed Shiro's thanks for having them over for dinner and then they were out the door, heading to Shiro's car.

“Wait!”

Keith half-turned in time to catch Katie pushing past her parents to sprint over to him. There was a noticeable hue of pink across her cheeks as she thrust a piece of paper in Keith's direction. He took it, momentarily confused by the string of numbers written there, before his brain caught on. “Your phone number?”

Katie nodded, her eyes bright. “Just in case you want to talk some more. You still haven't convinced me that the Nova line peaked twenty years ago and has only gone down since then.”

“But I don't have a phone.”

Katie's face fell and Keith realized too late how that must have sounded to her. “I just mean, um, I can't text you, but the Garrison has land lines for us so use, so I could call using one of those. I'll...” He swallowed, well aware that Shiro was listening in. “I'll call tomorrow. At noon? And we'll figure out a good day for us to talk?”

She was smiling again, so he counted that as a good sign.

After a quick agreement to the plan, they went their separate ways. It wasn't until he and Shiro were well on their way back to the Garrison, that Keith had an idea.

Pidge hums in response. “I swear, Keith, if they’ve labeled this ‘Project Kidge’ or something…”

He snorts, pulling her close and resting his chin on her shoulder. “You’re still sure that they don’t actually know we’re a couple?”

“Positive. One hundred percent.”

“Your mom and dad?”

She shrugs. “Dad’s known we’re a couple since he glanced at my phone two years ago.” At Keith’s look of surprise, she adds, “I put a heart next to your name in my phone once we started dating. He noticed. No doubt he’s mentioned it to Mom.”

“So, it’s just Shiro and Matt still trying to get us together?”

“Yup.”

“How long are we going to torture them?”

She grins, and her smile’s somewhere between malicious and playful. “Until we get caught under the mistletoe?”

A gust of wind spirals around them, sending crystalline snowflakes spiraling around them. The colorful Christmas lights on the Holt household catch in the diamond dust, illuminating the sky with dots of green and red. They both shiver as they finish up their cocoa, now barely lukewarm from the winter chill.

“Come on,” Keith says, extending a hand. “Let’s go inside.”

*

The Holt household has been the center of the holidays for over two decades, and even the decorations bring an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. The tree still has ornaments that were made during their elementary years, and remnants of old gifts have transitioned their way into festive ornamentation.

Keith and Pidge spend the better part of the evening deftly dodging ever-moving mistletoe, courtesy of Matt and Shiro. It’s almost laughable, if it weren’t for the fact that it causes them to be ever so vigilant.

It isn’t that they don’t want to be caught underneath the mistletoe. No, far from that. Pidge would actually enjoy a traditional kiss underneath mistletoe for once in their three years of a relationship.

Pidge smiles as she watches him play catch with Baebae, using a squeaky snowball toy to send the now-aging dog running up and down the hall like a puppy. Matt and Shiro have joined in, kneeling on the floor so that they can pick up Baebae and ruffle the dog’s fur. The Christmastime cold has finally seeped from her bones, a result of the thick green blanket and fireplace. Her laughter at everyone’s endearing antics has he laughter echoing through the household, and the smiles she earns from her parents have her beaming back just as broadly.

Eventually, she and Keith find themselves sitting together on the couch, limbs intertwined beneath her blanket. The conversation has turned to updates on everyone’s lives: Matt has begun work on a top-secret project involving an advanced artificial intelligence, Shiro has become one of the most esteemed flight school teachers in the world, and her parents are finishing up their final years before reaching retirement.

“So, what about you and Katie?” her dad asks Keith.

“Katie’s doing a bunch of freelance stuff—coding webpages and working on projects,” he replies. “I’m working with an aeronautics program. I started about a month ago.”

“Advantage to working for the same company,” Pidge adds, smiling, “I finally have someone who can understand what I’m talking about and tolerate my work hours.”

“You mean working until who-knows-when in the morning because you don’t know the meaning of taking a break?” The exasperation in his voice is also affectionate and teasing; they’ve been attached at the hip for years, so this is just natural progression.

Matt just rolls his eyes. “You’re like a married couple. Minus the gross PDA.”

Pidge arches an eyebrow at her brother, who stubbornly refuses to make eye contact after his comment.

Noting the change in the room, Colleen Holt calls for dinner to be served, and beckons everyone in to the dining room.

*

It’s late at night by the time the day’s exhaustion begins to catch up to everyone. Pidge is half-asleep, curled up in a blanket and tucked warmly beneath Keith’s arm. Shiro and Matt have begun to pack away their respective presents, grabbing their blankets and shuffling away to the upstairs rooms. Just like when they were children, there’s extra space in their bedrooms so Shiro’s crashing on an air mattress in Matt’s room, and Keith has been given some space in Pidge’s room. Pidge’s parents have ventured to their bedroom after cleaning the last bits of shredded wrapping paper and ribbon from the room.

They’re the last two lingering in the room, as the once-blazing fire has fizzled to a combination of ash and crackling embers. The lights have since been shut off, and the only source of illumination comes from the half-dead fire and the lights from the tree. Keith shakes her shoulder, pulling her from a half-asleep daze.

“C’mon, Pidge, we’re going to bed.”

She wraps an arm around his waist, “I don’t want to go to sleep.”

“It’s not like we’re kids, waiting for Santa.” He presses a kiss to her forehead.

“Remember the year we stayed up all night? That was before you moved to your mom’s house. Didn’t we go through almost a hundred—”

“I still can’t look at candy canes,” Keith says with a scowl. “Even two decades later. The sheer amount of mint is evil.”

Pidge chuckles. “We crashed so hard after that sugar rush.”

“Despite the fact that it ruined candy canes for the rest of my life, it’s still one of my favorite holiday memories.”

Pidge laughs, finally standing up. She tugs on Keith’s hand, slowly leading them towards her bedroom. She pauses at the bottom of the stairs, grinning up at him.

“What, Pidge? Why are you smiling like that?”

She points up at the mistletoe above their heads.

“Oh.”

Pidge stands on her tiptoes, wrapping her arms around his neck, as Keith leans down to press a kiss to her lips.

“Merry Christmas, Keith.”

“Merry Christmas, Pidge.”

“You know what?” Pidge says, “I think this is my favorite memory.”

 There’s a low whistle from the top of the stairs. “Sure took you two long enough!”

“Shut up, Matt, I’m allowed to kiss my boyfriend!”

The look on her brother’s face is priceless.

The long hours were always exhausting in the beginning, but once she got invested in what she was doing, it was easy to lose herself to the calculations and configurations. She shifted a bit, arching with a quiet whine until she heard her back pop and settled back in against her chair. She’d been working for a little over two hours and barely moved, but the small release of tension was enough. Her eyes gleamed bright as she looked again at the long string of equations accurately worked out before. With just another two or three hours, she surmised, she’d be done with all the computing and be able to start actual constructing a prototype engine.

The front door opened, welcoming in a cold gust of wind as it did, followed by the soft click of little nails on tile. Then, the soft clink of metal on metal as a wiggly, furry form charged for her.

She turned her chair and laughed as the small form jump up, catching the creature’s front paws in her hands. “Welcome home, Bae Bae! Did you have a nice walk with Keith and Cosmo? Did you?” She cooed, leaning forward to press a quick kiss to the hound’s snout.

Her precious pooch answered with excited whines and eager, slobbery kisses.

“She nearly choked herself out, like, three times try to keep up with Cosmo, though,” He mused as he paused to remove the collar and leash from the shimmering space wolf beside him. Making Cosmo wear the two pieces was only due to warning about having to follow the legal leash laws. He found it strange how, of all the things that his position as a Paladin of Voltron allowed him to get away with, he couldn’t skate by on something as trivial as leash laws. Especially considering Cosmo could just teleport out of the silly things if he so desired.

“Well, that tends to happen a lot to stout ladies like us, huh, girl?” She mused, reaching up to gently scratching behind one of Bae Bae’s ears.

“Doesn’t help when he kept warping out of the collar and leash,” He said, pinning the glittery hound beside him with a look.

Cosmo lifted his head and stared back at his master, golden eyes slowly blinking, one back leg kicked up in the air as he prepared to clean himself.

Pidge snorted, gently nudging her own dog down so she could move back to her work. “Well, she always gets super antsy when he jumps around however he wants,”

Keith chuckled a bit. “Well, she may have also been excited about this,” He said, shifting a bit and allowing the distinct crinkle of a plastic bag.

“You didn’t,” She laughed, lifting her head and looking over as he carefully revealed a large bag of treats.

“I did. I also got these,” He said, plucking two over-the-chest harnesses from the bag as well. One was a bright green while the other was a bright red. “I figured it’d be better to have a harness with how often she ends up getting gagged on walks. Plus, I figure I’ll use the treats as a form of positive reinforcement for Cosmo to leave his on.” He commented, heading over and setting the treats down on her desk.

The wrinkling of the bag was all it took before both dogs were right in front of him, matching sets of pleading eyes and wagging tails and giddy whimpers.

Bae Bae, bolder than her companion, hopped up and licked at his hand, clearly hoping to coerce him into giving her a treat. “Aw, are you trying bribery?” He crooned, reaching out and lightly scratching behind one of her ears.

Cosmo, not to be outdone, reached up with one paw and tapped at Keith’s other knee curiously. “It seems Cosmo is jealous,” She teased, turning back to her assignment. A part of her felt a bit more focused at the quiet and pleasant atmosphere. Long ago, she’d thought that peace and quiet was the only way she could stay focused on her work. Through the years, though, she learned that having a little bit of background noise helpd her stay grounded, stay aware of her surroundings and what she needed to complete. It was one of the things she admittedly loved the most about her developing relationship with Keith, how they could have companionable silences filled with flittering background noise.

“He just wants a treat,” He laughed, grabbing the green harness and kneeling down. He carefully clicked it into place, readjusting the straps until it was snug but not to an uncomfortable degree, then picked up the bag of treats. “Good girl, Bae Bae.” He crooned as he offered it to her, then gave her some good pats along her head as she scarfed it down.

Cosmo let out a small whine, pawing at Keith’s knee again, a bit more insistent this time.

He grinned and turned to the space wolf, picking up the red harness. “You need to keep this on for a while if you want a treat, buddy,” He said.

For a moment, Cosmo’s ears tipped down and a faint glimmer started to ruffle the edges of his fur. Keith knew and understood why his wolf friend didn’t like the confines of the leash and collar, but he just needed him to tolerate it just long enough for walks and visits to the pet store. Then, after a moment’s deliberation, the wolf stepped forward and sat down to allow Keith to get him set up. Keith made it a little more slack on Cosmo than Bae Bae, based solely upon the fact he wanted to ease him into it, while Bae Bae was more comfortable with being walked on a leash.

Once it was set up, he scratched behind one of Cosmo’s ears as he handed over the treat. “That’s a good boy,” He hummed happily before getting up and approaching the small bin they kept the dog toys in. He pulled out the Santa-clad squeaky pig that had quickly become the duo’s favorite, as well as the tug-of-war rope that they were also fond of. He gave it one quick squeeze, the rumbling oink-like noise filling the room, then tossed it into the center of the room.

The dogs rushed at it, playfully nip and bumping each other in their frantic scramble to get the toy in their maw. Bae Bae won, throwing her head back and filling the room with the frantic wheezing of the toys, her tail going absolutely mad. Keith laughed as he tossed the edge of the rope toy towards Cosmo, catching his eye, and giving it a tug once the wolf in question chomped down on it. He made quiet growling noises as he pulled back on it, grinning at the delighted playful gleam in Cosmo’s eyes, before Bae Bae tried to leap over the other canine and instead topped over with him.

Watching the dogs play was always an entertaining spectacle, like some kind of strange foreign dance. Bae Bae was an energetic type, with a love for exploration and outgoing nature typical of most dogs. She was, however, as graceless as a two-legged goose. Keith had watched her trip over absolutely nothing, tumble on the ground, and then get back up just as quick as she’d fallen. Something about that kind of mirthful gumption was incredibly charming.

Meanwhile, Cosmo was more reserved and quiet, only ever making noise or taking action when he felt it was absolutely necessary. However, in the time since he’d started spending time with the Earth dog, he’d started to become a bit more outgoing. He was picking up on tricks by watching and imitating her. As he warmed up to her, he began to do more things with more people. He started using his teleportation during he and Bae Bae’s playful games of tag. He started to bark and howl along with the other neighborhood dogs; which, admittedly, could be seen as a blessing or a curse depending on the day and time. Cosmo also seemed to enjoy when Bae Bae would snuggle up with him in the large dog bed the two shared, commonly lifting his head long enough to give her head an affectionate lick before settling back down.

He saw it as an odd but charming parallel between he and Pidge, really. Being around her helped him to come out of his shell in a way that felt natural. There was no need to put up walls or barriers around her. Pidge, who was always authentically herself, only expected the same from others. And this allowed Keith to experiment more with who, exactly, it was he wanted to be as well.

He looked over at her as he released his hold on the toy, watching as Bae Bae scooped the abandoned end up and resumed the game with Cosmo. “I was thinking about making some hot cocoa in a bit. Want a glass?” He offered.

“Oh,” She hummed, “that sounds good. It’s been a lot chillier than it was last year, huh?”

“Yeah, it has. Maybe it’ll snow soon?”

“That could be fun. Bae Bae and Cosmo got a kick out of that last year,” She looked at him briefly over her shoulder, smiling affectionately as he returned to working with the dogs. They’d started to play-wrestle and, upon having it grabbed by Bae Bae to keep him in place, Cosmo had teleported himself out of his harness. She watched as Keith lightly patted his thigh while taking the harness from the mouth of the still-giddy pooch. Cosmo walked back over and flopped over, rolling into lap and eagerly taking the belly rubs he was given in exchange.

With renewed fervor, Pidge turned her attention back to her computer screen and finished up with the next bracket of problems, feeling herself remain relaxed at the quiet scuffle of Keith and the dogs behind her. It was comforting, being able co-exist without needing to constantly be interacting directly, and a part of her knew there'd be no one else she could have this kind of relationship with.

No one else could help her feel just comfortable being in her own skin.

No one else could enjoy moments like this so easily with her.

No one else could pick up on the subtle, subconscious things she did when she had something on her mind. And then find subtle ways to help reassure her like he could.