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[pidge_out]

 


Hey, it's Pidge. Can't answer right now-- Rover quit it! --so leave a message and I'll get back to you when I can.
Rover, what did I say--?!?!

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[shiro2hero]

[Wow, even the pokemon sort of deflate. Dangit, they'd been here to embarrass their trainer and now it's feelings time. So Kuro and Haunter start shoving the others aside.]

[One more deep breath, before he nods.]

Yeah. That's what I'm saying.

[pidge_out]

[Pidge's eyes widen. Her mouth drops open just the slightest bit. Her fingers tense around their place on Shiro's shoulder.]

Oh...


Well, finally.

[And it all goes slack. Even makes way for a little smile.]

I felt like I was pulling your teeth out here.

[shiro2hero]

[You know, in the moment she pulls that little shock stunt, his blood runs cold. Like ice. He's pretty sure his heart just stopped.]

[He shouldn't panic. But so help him, he does right then.]

... finally?

[Confusion clouds over the brief string of aborted panic.]

You knew?

[pidge_out]

[She gives Shiro a truly warm smile.]

I'm also not surprised. At all.

[shiro2hero]

[Please give him a moment to process this.]

...

You're not?

[pidge_out]

Not at all.

[She says that like it should be obvious.]

[shiro2hero]

How'd --

How is it not a surprise?

[pidge_out]

[She smirks a bit.]

Have you seen yourself? I know my brother. He's probably crushed on you since way before Kerberos.

[shiro2hero]

What... really?

[That's -- new. And a little awkward.]

[pidge_out]

[She's speaking from an entirely objective standpoint.]

I wouldn't know for sure, but you could always ask.

Anyway, I'm happy for you both.

[shiro2hero]

That's not -- the kind of thing I want to get into. But --

[But then she goes and says that. And for a second, he's just staring like she revealed some big secret. The last bits of tension just bleeding away.]

[Then you know what?]

[It's hug time.]

That makes me -- I -- [Nope, hugs now.] I was worried about nothing, wasn't I?

[pidge_out]

[Oh, it's hugging time again, is it? As always, PIdge really only allows it because Shiro is one of the few people that are Allowed to do that, and she'll even hug him right back. Because she's glad that Shiro's happily in love with her brother. She's glad that he's happy. He deserves that.] You really were. [She laughs a little, the sound muffled slightly into his shirt.] It was fun to watch you flail about it, though.

[shiro2hero]

[It's absolutely hug time. Squeezing briefly. Because he really, really is happy it all worked out. That she's not angry. That she's happy, too.]

[He really doesn't know what he'd have done if she were angry.]

You were torturing me the whole time. You're something else.

[pidge_out]

Of course I was.

[She squeezes back briefly before pulling away just enough to flash an even brighter grin at him.]

But you should've seen your Pokémon. They were really trying to help you out.

[shiro2hero]

Were they really?

[He smiles at her. And then slowly turns his head to stare at his team. Who all duck down behind the porch again.]

[Except Kuro.]

[Who arches his neck over the rail to give Pidge a lick. Hope you like Aggron slobber, Pidgeon.]

[pidge_out]

[She looks so damn cheeky about this.] Emphasis on "trying."

[At least until Kuro goes and licks her, and really he gets more of her hair than her face. It makes that tangled mess look even crazier than usual while Pidge groans in complaint.] Aw-- Gross.

[shiro2hero]

[He can't help it. He just starts laughing. In the way that had been so rare back home. Like he's actually a young man and not the guy at the head of Voltron, the guy with the literal weight of the world hanging over him.]

[Kuro just looks pleased with himself.]

You're welcome, he says.

[pidge_out]

[She kind of wants to continue being annoyed with Kuro for that. But when Shiro just goes and starts laughing, the sound is so real and genuinely joyful that Pidge can't help it. She starts laughing, too.

It's just so good to see him like this.

Of course, revenge is still in order. So she starts trying to rub the saliva out of her hair and onto Shiro's shirt.]

[shiro2hero]

[Pidge starts laughing -- oh, man. That's good to hear. Good to hear any of them laugh. He almost wants to calm down and revel in it -- but -- but then she goes and smears Kuro slobber all over his shirt.]

[Which only makes him laugh harder.]

Good -- good luck! Do you know what Aggron eats? [He lifts his right hand, and, obediently, the big metal dinosaur gently clamps his jaw around it.]

I've been ... getting slobber all over me for years.