Work Text:
“Psst – Simon!”
Simon jerked awake, the deep black of the room startling them for a moment.
“S’goin’ on?” they asked groggily, rubbing at their eyes as they sat up, their nerves humming.
“C’mere, you gotta see this!” Simon now recognized Pidge’s voice.
“Is everything okay?” They were half out of bed now, loose pajama pants and a tank top far too large for them serving as nightwear. They, like all the others, hadn’t had much with them when they’d left Earth.
“Would you just follow me?” Pidge demanded with a frustrated sigh.
“I’m comin’, I’m comin’…” stumbling a little, Simon followed after the girl, fighting sleep from their mind.
The two hadn’t talked much, though not for lack of trying on Pidge’s part. She often approached Simon to discuss tech and mechanics, and in fact the older mechanic was much like an older sibling to Pidge – a lot like Shiro in fact – but sometimes the girl felt like Simon didn’t want her around very much. It was fine when they were talking science or tech, but anything else and seemed to get a little awkward around her.
“Where are we going?” Simon asked with a yawn, ruffling their extremely untidy hair.
“Nowhere Shiro can see you, that’s for sure,” Pidge remarked. She laughed as Simon’s ears turned pink.
“Pidge.”
Pidge sighed. “We’re going to the hangar, alright?” She turned to face Simon, hands on her hips. “Why do you have to ask so many questions?”
Simon blinked, slightly taken aback. “Sorry – I’m just trying to let my brain catch up.” They bit their lip and looked down at their bare feet, grimacing a little.
“Now what did I say?” Pidge threw up her hands in exasperation. “You’re never this shy around the others!”
Simon was becoming more awake by the second, the frustration in Pidge’s voice sending a shiver of adrenaline down their spine, causing them to straighten. Pidge’s eyes widened a little at the sudden change in demeanor.
“Look,” Simon said, a bit more snappish than they meant to, “you woke me up in the middle of the night, I’m not at my best when I’m tired, and you have yet to tell me why. I’m not like this around the others because they’re not ki – ” they broke off and looked away again.
Pidge, one hand in the air, an angry retort on her lips, stilled. “It’s my age?” she exclaimed. “What’s that got to do with anything?”
Simon sighed, pinching the bridge of their nose as a headache began to set in and moved past Pidge. The girl followed. “It’s nothing to do with you, I’m just…people younger than me, I don’t get. It’s hard to talk to them.” Pidge frowned. “I get nervous if I’m asked to watch over them because what do I know about child care? And if I’m not asked to watch them ‘cause they’re old enough to watch themselves, but not adults, then I have no idea how to communicate with them.” Pidge stared. “It’s stupid. Trust me, I know.”
“What’s stupid isn’t that you don’t know how to talk to them,” Pidge said, “it’s that you consider me a kid.”
Simon raised an eyebrow, their shame subsiding for a moment of incredulity.
“Simon, I may only be fourteen, but look at where we are! Look at what we do! I’m a paladin that fights for the freedom of the universe from an alien race that wants to destroy planets! Even if I was a kid before I got into all of this, I am not one now.” Pidge was breathing hard, genuine anger on her face now.
Simon sighed, tucking their hands into the giant pockets of their pajama pants. “You’re right,” they conceded. “I’m sorry. That was unfair of me.” They looked up, edges of their mouth quirking in a soft smile.
Pidge’s anger wilted a little. “Didn’t have any younger siblings, did you?”
Simon snorted, “Oh, no. Most definitely not. Although there were times I wondered if I was the oldest of my brothers and me. But, no. Youngest of the family, that’s me.” Simon’s smile disappeared and they looked back at their feet. “So, what did you want to show me?”
Pidge grinned, “Check this out.” Palming open the side door to the hangar, she motioned for Simon to look inside.
Simon’s gasped as they took in the sight.
It looked as if there was some sort of game being played with a scrap piece of cloth, and a garbage bin. Blue was standing on top of Yellow, roaring at Red, who was holding the cloth in his mouth and running for the bin, while Black dive bombed from above and Green slinked around the outskirts, tail flicking as he watched. Simon winced at the crash as Black landed on top of Red, snatching the cloth from its paw and bounding away with a rumbled laugh. Blue shot off after him, while Green continued to prowl.
“What in the world,” Simon breathed. Pidge giggled as she watched Green finally launch into an attack – against his own teammate Blue. Yellow started to roll around on his back, paws flailing in the air. “I mean, I always wondered exactly how sentient they are – Shiro told me his understands when I speak to him, and Black and Green came after the two of you when you were under attack before…but I never expected this.”
Pidge smiled at the awe in Simon’s voice. With a start, the young girl realized Simon’s eyes were shining a little.
“Are you crying?”
Simon blushed, silently cursing that they did so extremely often.
“Do you think we could - ?”
“Go in?” Pidge shrugged. “I don’t see why not. Although I don’t fancy being stepped on, so let’s make sure they see us.”
Simon nodded, then followed as Pidge entered the hangar, calling out and waving her arms at Green.
The lions froze.
“What - ?” Simon cringed as something very large, and very heavy, landed with a resounding BOOM behind them. Turning slowly, they came face to face with Black. “I – I’m sorry I….” Simon trailed off, trembling from head to toe. Closing their eyes, Simon focused on their breathing, trying to calm themself.
They took a deep breath in and opened their eyes, staring straight into Black’s gaze – and suddenly found themself thinking of Shiro. Black’s eyes reminded them of him, and Simon found themself lost in that gaze. Something seemed to whisper in the back of their mind, and their eyes widened as something akin to Shiro’s smile warmed their thoughts, before fading. Carefully, Simon raised a hand and touched Black’s nose – and nearly jumped out of their skin as Black nudged their hand, and turned and padded away, tail flicking.
“Hey, Simon?”
“Augh?”
“I think you’d better start breathing again.”
Simon’s breath rushed out and they gasped, suddenly realizing they were shaking. They looked over at Pidge, gaping as the girl laughed at them.
“That was insane!” Simon ran a hand through their hair, causing it to stick up in every direction.
“I think he likes you,” Pidge commented, flopping down underneath Green and tossing a ball up and down in front of his eyes. Green watched the ball attentively, occasionally snatching it out of the air and nuzzling Pidge in the stomach with it. Pidge giggled and squirmed, swatting at the lion as she laughed with pure glee.
Simon felt their heart lifting at the sound, and smiled. They looked up, spotting Black up in the rafters, watching the pair as well. There was a slight tilt to his head that Simon recognized and laughed softly, then turned back to Pidge. The girl was having a fit of laughter as she chased after Green, and Simon bit their lip, deep in thought.
Pidge was still a child. Maybe not in the sense of a kid who always needed someone watching over her shoulder, but in a good way. There was still some wonder left in those eyes, still hope in that laugh. Simon looked up at Black, their own shoulders squaring as the feeing settled into place.
That was something to protect.