Kidge Secret Santa 2018 – for all27g who asked for "Anything Kidge (But I have a special love towards any AUs where Pidge and Keith knew each other before the Kerberos Misson or fall heads over heels in love without realizing it.)"

Star Searching

The last time Keith felt that out of place was during his first day at the Galaxy Garrison. And just like then, he knew the only reason he was there was thanks to Shiro. He hanged back as Commander Holt's wife welcomed Shiro into their home, saying how good it was to finally meet the pilot who would be traveling with her husband and son to a moon of the furthest planet in their solar system.

Matt was at her elbow, teasing her for making such a big fuss about it. "Oh, come on, mom. He's only the best and brightest to have ever graduated the Garrison."

Shiro turned pink at the attention.

"And you must be Keith," Mrs. Holt said warmly, turning to him next. "Matt tells me you're in the piloting program as well. It must be wonderful to have a mentor with such experience around to guide you!"

"Um, well, yeah. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Shiro," Keith answered honestly. He could feel his anxiety rise from her unexpected interest in him. His heartbeat quickened and he found himself having difficulty properly breathing. "Do you have a bathroom I could use?"

Mrs. Holt nodded and gestured to the nearby stairs. "It's just upstairs and across the hall. You can't miss it."

Keith thanked her before fleeing upstairs, only able to relax once he shut the bathroom door behind him. He just needed a moment to compose himself. Then he would be able to go back and make it through dinner like a normal person.

"Why did I agree to this?" he asked his reflection.

He knew why.

All it had taken was one pleading look from Shiro and the sadness in his voice when he said that Adam had to oversee a detention and couldn't make it like they originally planned. After that, he'd hunted down the nicest clothing he owned (a red button down shirt and a pair of jeans) in order to join him for a celebratory dinner with the Holt family.

Keith took a few more minutes to get his breathing under control and prepare himself for how overwhelmingly nice Mrs. Holt was (just like Matt and Commander Holt, actually), then he left the bathroom. And while he had every intention of going straight downstairs, he found himself drawn to a wall of framed photographs instead.

It was the perfect display of a happy family. Or mostly happy, Keith corrected himself, noting one of the group photo's included a girl with long brown hair who was pouting. He assumed it was Matt's famed little sister, Katie.

Not for the first time, Keith wished he'd had a chance to save the photo albums his dad kept, before he was sent to the Home.

A faint sound drew his attention down the hall. It wasn't anything strange, except he was sure everyone else was downstairs. Weren't they? Keith furrowed his brow as he tried to recall. He was about to go down and find out, when he heard the sound of something falling and a pained groan.

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.

"Hey, Shiro, do you think I could get a phone?"