A/N This is for my dearest friend Syd on her birthday. Happy Birthday girl! You're amazing and awesome and I'm so glad we're friends. I'll always love ya, and I hope you have a great day and enjoy this fanfiction.

The rest of you are welcome to enjoy as well hahaha lol

The first few seconds after Shiro woke up were a little hazy. He remembered escaping a ship...and then he was laying on a table in a white room, trying to convince the technicians that something was coming...and then someone in a red jacket was dragging him along amidst gunfire. And now he was here.

He glanced around, noting the four brown walls of a small cabin, and the scratchy green couch underneath him. And then he realized that there were people in this cabin with him, and he sprang to his feet off the couch, sinking into a defensive position.

"Whoa!" a large Samoan man yelped, scooting back a little. "He moves fast…"

He quickly observed the other three, sizing them up; a lanky kid with a pointy nose, a small kid with glasses, and…

"Keith," Shiro relaxed a little, and the younger boy grinned.

"Hey Shiro," Keith patted him on the back. "Glad you're up."

Keith spent some time filling him in, and Shiro was listening. For the most part. He kept getting distracted by the small kid with glasses in the green pullover. He reminded Shiro a lot of someone, but he couldn't quite remember who. Matt maybe? Yes, of course. The kid looked a lot like Matt, except different. His eyes were much brighter and full of wonder than Matt's, even though they were so intently focused on Keith, and they were a lighter brown, much more beautiful than Matt's.

Beautiful? Shiro questioned himself, Wait, what?

Shiro was by no means a gay man; he was almost as straight as they came. But this kid seemed almost too beautiful to be a guy, and Shiro was having quite a bit of trouble wrapping his head around it.

The small kid suddenly interrupted Keith's explanation, golden eyes focused and narrowed on Shiro, "You were on the Kerberos mission, right? You're Shiro?"

Shiro was paralyzed by those eyes, pinning him in place. He managed to stammer out, "I-I was."

"What happened to the other men who were with you on the mission?" the eyes flared. "Where are they?"

Shiro's brain was struggling to make a connection, looking at this kid who looked so much like Matt, and who was asking about Matt. "I don't know," he said, confused, and the kid looked like he might attack, until Keith stepped in.

"Shiro, this is Pidge," he said, exasperated. "Pidge, Shiro. Can we get back to plans now? We have to get out of here before they find us."

That's not the right name, Shiro though, tilting his head to study the small person, who had now folded their arms and was glaring at the floor, What is the right name….

Katie, Shiro realized, a relieved and pleased smile creeping to his face, This must be Katie. Matt's little sister. He talked about her all the time.

He was immensely relieved that she was not, in fact, a guy, but he was confused as to why she was pretending to be one. He would have to ask her about it later, when they were alone.

Once they had located the cave where the energy signature was coming from, Lance, Keith, and Hunk had forged ahead, and Pidge had stayed back, slowed down by her smaller legs. Normally, Shiro would have been right at the front with Keith, striding along, but he purposely fell back to walk with her.

He considered her for a second and then said suddenly, "Hey Katie."

Her head twitched as she instinctively responded to her name, but she managed to catch herself, "Who's Katie?"

"You're good at this," he mused, grinning. "I almost didn't realize it was you."

She sighed and looked at him finally, her eyes narrowed again, "How did you know?"

"Matt talked about you all the time," Shiro smiled, tracing the walls of the cave as they continued walking. "He was so excited to get back and tell you everything."

Pidge had smiled happily when she heard of her brother talking about her, but it became bittersweet, realizing he had never made it back to tell her all about it.

"Are you sure you don't know where he is?" she whispered sadly, holding back tears, and Shiro stopped walking, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"No, I'm sorry," Shiro shook his head. "They separated us, and I haven't seen him since we were captured. But I promise you, I will do everything I can to help you find him, and your father. Don't worry. We will find them."

"Thanks Shiro," Pidge wiped away a few tears and smiled up at him, and Shiro felt his heart melt a little in his chest.

"No problem," he gave her a quick hug and they continued walking. They started to catch up with the group and Shiro said quietly, "Katie."

"Yeah Shiro?"

"Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me."

Shiro could have sworn that her small smile of appreciation could have lit the entire dark cave.

Once they had found the blue lion, huge, powerful, and incredibly terrifying, they had, of course, attempted to pilot it.

No one knew exactly why the blue lion chose Lance of all people, but somehow it allowed him to operate the controls, and the hint of daredevil in him caused him to launch them out of the cave into the air.

"Holy crap...we're flying!" Pidge yelled, looking out the cockpit window excitedly.

"Yeah I know," Hunk groaned, looking a bit green. "And I think I'm about to send something else flying."

They flew out into space at a breathtaking speed. They were only able to admire the stars for a moment, however, before a Galra cruiser arrived behind them and opened fire.

"What is that?" Lance yelled, surging the lion forward as everyone else panicked.

"I don't know, Lance, but just keep flying," Shiro yelled, assuming command of the much younger cadets. "We've got to get-"

One of the shots finally managed to hit the ship, jarring it slightly and knocking Shiro off balance. He fell into Pidge, knocking her over as well, and both of them ended up in a heap on the floor.

Shiro winced, rubbing his nose, and looked up into a pair of startled honey colored eyes. With a start, he realized he was completely laying on top of Pidge, their bodies parallel to the floor. Being so close to her face, he briefly found himself wondering what it would be like to kiss her. His cheeks immediately caught flame at the thought, and he yanked himself hastily off of her.

He helped her up and said, embarrassed, "Are you alright?" He was a little worried he might have hurt her small frame with his much heavier one.

"Fine, yeah," she muttered, her cheeks also burning.

"Shiro! What do we do?" Keith yelled and Shiro snapped back into focus.

"Keep flying," he ordered Lance. "Hank! Do we-" Seeing Hank's face, he said hastily, "Nevermind. Keith, see if you can find any weapons on this thing."

Keith was staring out the windshield and Shiro waved a hand in front of his face, "Keith?"

"What the hell is that?" Keith pointed, and Shiro looked out the windshield. A giant purple hole had torn through the space, whirling chaotically.

"What the hell is that?" Shiro repeated angrily.

"Guys…." Lance said questioningly. "I'm not sure, but...I think the lion is telling me to go through it."

"Hang on," Hunk raised an eyebrow. "The lion is speaking to you now?!"

"Well, it's not 'talking' exactly," Lance shrugged. "More like a feeling."

"I'm sorry, so since you have a 'feeling' about this-" Keith gestured to the yawning purple abyss, "this whatever it is, you expect us to go through it? We don't even know what will happen to us! We could be ripped to shreds!"

"I'm gonna throw up again," Hunk mumbled.

"Hey, I don't see you coming up with any bright ideas, pretty boy," Lance shot back. "Plus, if we don't go through it, then we'll definitely get blown up by those assholes behind us. So either we definitely die or we maybe die. Which would you prefer, Oh Wise One?"

Shiro sighed, "He's right. Go through." Lance turned back to his controls, shooting Keith a smug little look, and Keith, of course, began to protest.

"Look, Shiro-"

"Keith, it's our best option right now," Shiro sighed. "I promise if I get us all killed, you can haunt me in the afterlife."

"Fine," Keith said sourly.

They all stared anxiously through the windshield as Lance slowly guided them through the purple hole.

Once the five had stumbled upon the castle, and awoken Princess Allura and Coran, and Allura had told them all about their destinies as paladins of something called Voltron, they had all begun to realize that they were in quite over their heads. Hunks had complained about needing a decent meal before heading out to find more magical cats, and Lance had mentioned something about needing a nap after having nearly been killed.

Allura acquiesced to a brief little break before heading out in the morning, and the five had almost immediately disappeared in five different directions. Hunk went on a hunt for the kitchen, Keith wanted to use the training room, Shiro and Lance both wanted to lay down, and Pidge wanted to review the information the castle had gathered about the Galra.

Shiro tried to sleep for a few hours, but couldn't get his mind to calm. Allura telling them about Zarkon and the Galra had begun to trigger his memories, things he was beginning to remember about his time on the Galra ship.

Eventually, he gave up with a groan and decided to go see what Pidge was up to.

He found her in the command center of the castle, surrounded by a nest of papers and tablets. In the short time that he had known her, he had never seen her eyes sparkle so happily when she looked up to see him in the doorway.

"Shiro!" she waved excitedly. "Look at all this data! It's geek heaven in here!"

Ah, Shiro realized, a bit let down and embarrassed. She's excited about the data.

She waved him over, and for a moment Shiro imagined again what it would be like to kiss her, to walk over and have her reach up and kiss him lovingly. A happy sigh escaped his lips and Pidge yelled, "Well? Are you gonna stand there daydreaming all day or are you gonna come check it out?" effectively knocking the sense back into him.

He laughed and walked over, settling for plopping down beside her in the nest instead of kissing her. She quickly showed him everything she had gathered so far about the Kerberos mission and potential places where the Galra might keep prisoners.

He stayed to help her search for more information for a while, but they didn't get much research done because they kept goofing off and talking. Pidge tried to help him figure out how much he could remember of the Galra ship, and Shiro found out why Pidge was pretending to be a guy. She had to sneak into the base to find out what they knew about what had happened on the Kerberos mission. Hunk, Lance, and Keith had met her as a guy, and she felt no need to let them know who she actually was at the moment.

As they continued to talk, they unconsciously scooted closer and closer together until their heads were almost touching. Shiro suddenly noticed how close together their heads were, and they were drawing closer still. Their lips were mere inches apart now, and they were so close that they could feel each other's breath on their skin.

"Hey guys!" a friendly voice called, and they jerked their heads apart quickly.

Shiro glanced, exasperated, at Hunk in the doorway and said a bit sourly, "Hey Hunk."

Pidge had gone back to looking at papers again, her face tinted a slight pink.

Shiro was usually a very tranquil person, but when Hunk invited himself in and plopped down in the nest of paper with the two of them, he had to restrain himself from going on a cursing tirade.

The next day, Allura told them she had located two of the other lions; the yellow lion and the green lion. Lance and Hunk were assigned to retrieve the yellow lion on a hostile planet, and (with some finagling on Shiro's part) Shiro and Pidge were going to retrive the green lion from a peaceful jungle planet.

They set off on their separate journeys, and Shiro felt a thrill of excitement, realizing that he was finally going to be alone with Katie. No interrupting Hunks. No suspicious Corans lurking about. Just him and Katie. He was very nervous and excited for what might happen, but he forced himself to remain calm. After all, he could have completely misinterpreted the signals yesterday. He wasn't exactly sure if she liked him that way, but he had a feeling he'd find out today.

They arrived at the jungle planet, and stepped onto the soft, green grass. The planet was so beautiful, thriving and full of life. There was green everywhere; green moss grew happily on the trees, crisp jade leaves sprung out of trees and bushes, and ivy vines spindled up and draped everything in elegance. Flowers of all lovely shades lightly decorated everything, and many animals rolled around in the bushes or chittered cheerfully from the trees. It was almost beautiful enough to be compared to Paradise.

Shiro thought he had seen Pidge excited about the data, but in this place she was absolutely enchanted. Her eyes shone, trying to take everything in, and she couldn't even speak, awestruck with wonder.

They came to a river, and a sleepy looking sloth-man paddled up to them in a canoe, silently offering them a ride. They stepped in quickly, and he paddled them down the river.

"Shiro…" Pidge finally spoke, still looking around at everything, awed. "This place….it's so...it's so…"

"I know," Shiro said, smiling quietly. "I know, Katie."

He was bold enough to place a hand on hers, and she turned to look at him, the corners of her mouth twitching up in a grin.

They drew close together again, but this time there were no interruptions. No bumbling Hunks, or wary Corans, or any other separations.

Well, just a sloth-man. But he won't mind, I'm sure, Shiro thought, just before their lips met. It was the sweetest and briefest of kisses, and when they pulled apart, Shiro's mind had become dizzy again, as it had when he had first woken up. She tastes like honey...

Pidge grinned and punched him in the arm, once again knocking him out of his daze, "I was wondering how long it would take for you to work up the courage to do that."

"You were-" Shiro was still slightly dazed. "You knew I was gonna do that? How-?"

She laughed, "You're pretty easy to read, Shiro. But that's a good thing," she reached up and gave him another sweet kiss on the cheek. "That's how I knew you liked me."

Shiro blushed, touching where she had kissed him tenderly, and sighed happily. He looked at her, smiling up at him, and thought to himself happily, This could be the start of something amazing.