Front Lines(Kidge) VLD

Instigators (part 3)

....... Pidge's POV.......

   Keith carried me to the front door until he set me down. And now that I've gotten a gush of fresh air, I'm not tired anymore. Poor man carried me all the way here for nothing. 

"I feel bad for saying this, but I'm not tired anymore. I'm not ready to go inside just yet", I smiled sheepishly. "Then let's just sit on the back porch and watch the stars, yeah?", he asked with a smile. I simply nodded as he grabbed my wrist and dragged me around the house to the back. We sat on the porch swing enjoying each other's company. I leaned my head on his shoulder and took a deep breath.

"Who would've thought that we would make it to this moment. During the war I was fully prepared to die out there. I always feared that I would never see Earth or my family again. I know I'm not the only one either. Lance, Hunk, and I often had therapy sessions in Hunk's room on the castle. That was one of our topics".

"I often thought that way too. But I was different than you guys. My only family was fighting the war with me. I had nobody waiting on Earth for me. I always thought the team would be better off without me. That if I died during the war, you guys would win and eventually make it back, with me out of the way. Shiro talked me out of that mindset. And when I joined the Blade of Marmora, it was every man for himself. I got in trouble a lot for sacrificing missions for my teammates. I'm glad we won, and that I'm here with you guys today. Before I found my mom and joined team Voltron, Shiro was the only family I had left. After he left, Matt died shortly after, and I spiraled out of control. I don't ever want to be that person again", Keith sighed heavily. 

"I don't think you have it in you to become that version of yourself again. The past you is nothing compared to the man I'm sitting next to right now. You've grown a lot Keith. I don't know anyone more caring than you. It's always been there; we all saw it. You just had so much pent-up rage and trauma blocking you from the light. I made be the world's youngest lead scientist, but I'm nothing compared to you. Even after everything we went through, you are willing to go back to the battlefield and help lost civilizations. That is the most admirable thing anyone could do". He looked so surprised. I wish people told him more often that he is worth it, and that he's enough. 

    Keith stared intensely into my eyes. I could see small tears forming in the corners of his eyes. He slowly turned so that we were facing each other. He cupped my cheeked and sighed. He shook his head and started chuckling softly, leaving me confused. he set his head on my shoulder and wrapped his arms around me. He squeezed me as if I would disappear. We stayed like that for what felt like hours. Eventually it got too cold, and we ended up moving to the living room. 

    When we walked inside it seemed like the others went to bed. I walked into the kitchen and began making us a hot cup of tea. Keith sat down on the stool by the counter, staring at me admiringly. He kept opening his mouth as if he was going to say something, but immediately closed it every time I looked over. Honestly, he looked like a goldfish. After our tea was finished, I took both mugs and set them down on the coffee table by the sofa. "How do you feel about a movie?", I asked him. He nodded and sat down beside me. He grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch and draped it over the both of us. 

    ............Time skip............

    I yet again woke up to a clicking noise, and a bright light. Soon after I heard what sounded like a young girl giggling, and Shiro sighing disapprovingly. "I told you to leave them be", I could just hear him giving Lance the 'Dad' look. I turned my head over, causing Lance and Hunk to scramble their way outside. Shiro smiled at me apologetically before he also went outside. Probably to scold those two. 

    When I turned my head back over, I was nose to nose with Keith. His soft breathing tickling my face. I sighed and admired him, staring lovingly at his chiseled features. I began to run my fingers through his messy hair. Which by the way, is surprisingly soft and silky, I did not expect that. Keith soon began to stir. I decided to keep my hand near his face. H groggily opened his eyes and slowly blinked at me, still waking up. 

"Well good morning pretty boy", I smirked at him. I watched as his eyes went wide before he quickly covered his face and turned red as a tomato. I chuckled and pried myself off the couch and began getting ready for the day. 

    I joined the others on the porch as we waited for Keith to start our day. A few minutes later he made his way outside, waving sheepishly and still blushing profusely. I laughed as the other looked at me confused. Keith simply gave me a small glare before turning to Lance. 

    We decide that we would visit local farmers markets to see where Lance could sell his crops. We began piling crates of crops into the backs of two pickup trucks. Lance drove one with Hunk as his passenger. Shiro drove the other with Keith and me. After hours of driving, we finally found a market with an empty space for Lance. We quickly began to set up. Lance explained that the market isn't usually very busy in the mornings, all sales start around noon. That means we had 4 hours to kill. Hunk ran off to go see what he could buy for dinner the next few nights. His eyes lit up like a kid in a toy store. 

    Shiro decided to stay with Lance to help out while Keith and I slowly began walking around. Obviously, the saviors of the universe would get strange and excited looks while walking around at a farmers' market. People seem to forget that we're normal people too. A few farmers came up asking for signatures for their grandkids. We gladly obliged. 

   As we looked around, we spotted a small area with seating logs sitting around a fire pit. Although it was very muddy, we decided to venture out there. It was a little while away, hidden by a few trees. On a hot day like today, it was the perfect spot to relax. Keith sat on the log across from me as he pulled out a sketch book. Who knew. I pulled out a book and began reading. "I didn't think you'd read any books other than scientific and sci-fi. I didn't expect you to be a fantasy girl", Keith smirked at me. "Well, I can say the same about you mister. I didn't think you had a single artistic bone in your body", I grinned right back.

"Ok, first of all, ouch. And second, I have to get my emotions out somehow". Makes sense. I walked over to look at the sketch he was working on. He quickly hid the book against his chest. I simply pouted at him and began grabbing at it. He quickly stood up, holding the book up high. 

"Ok, now that's just rude", I glared at him and began jumping to grab the notebook.  He chuckled as he stood on his tippy toes. I jumped at him before he side-stepped. Causing me to fall face first into the mud. He immediately stopped as I sat up and began cleaning off my glasses with the flannel wrapped around my waste. He held out his hand and smiled apologetically. I grabbed his hand. My smile soon turning into a smirk, and I pulled him down with me. I wrestled him into the mud as I smeared it all over his face. He looked flabbergasted. 

    He smirked as we both began smearing mud all over each other. After our laughter died down, we stopped and stared at each other. Letting out a few chuckles when we saw how ridiculous the other person looked. I grabbed his face to wipe some of the mud off, him doing the same to me.  I stopped wiping as I inched closer to his face. I heard his breath hitch as he leaned in as well. He slowly closed his eyes, and I diminished the space between us. It was a short but sweet kiss. 

    We snapped out of our thoughts as we heard more cars pulling in. It must be close to noon, we better go help Lance. We looked at each other and smiled before grabbing each other's hands and running to our station. 

"What's got you two looking so giddy?", Lance question. Keith and I looked at one another and smiled awkwardly, shrugging our shoulders at Lance. Shiro gave us a knowing look and winked before turning away. Causing us both burry our faces in our hands. 

"No matter, we've got business to take care of", Lance smiled as people began to flock to our station. We should've known we were going to sell out quickly. We are the paladins of Voltron after all.