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Shiro was afraid to move from the corner of the kitchen he had been cleaned into.
He had come home to find the house practically spotless, and his wife in a frenzy. A green bandana held back her hair, a pair of yellow rubber gloves went all the way up to her elbows, the apron around her waist revealed the slight baby-bump she was starting to show. And she had a look on her face that said that there was a high chance of murder happening in the next hour.
Pidge had practically charged him, wielding a mop and began scolding him for dirtying up her floor. She had herded him into the corner, then began re-mopping the floor, muttering furiously under her breath.
“Um,” Shiro said. “Katie, dearest?”
“What?” Pidge growled as she scrubbed the floor in front of the oven.
“Um, is there anything I can do to help you?” He asked.
“Stay out of my way and keep your germs all over there! You will be sanitized in a moment!” Pidge snapped.
Shiro had gone through a lot as a Galra prisoner and a Paladin of Voltron. Had fought in an arena to the death, had lost his arm, had been tortured, seen horrific things.
But nothing terrified him more than his five-foot-three wife threatening to sanitize him.
“Katie-kins, darling, light of my life?” Shiro asked hesitantly. “Can you… Can you help me understand what’s going on?”
“I saw a cockroach, Takashi.” Pidge said, stamping her mop on the ground beside her, her face full of anger and determination. “A dirty, filthy cockroach!”
“Okay, I’ll call the exterminators tomorrow to come and—”
“THAT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH, TAKASHI! THE BUG WAS HERE, IT CONTAMINATED THE HOUSE, AND I AM NOT BRINGING HOME OUR CHILDREN INTO A FILTHY, COCKROACH CONTAMINATED HOUSE SO HELP ME QUIZNAK!”
With a yell of rage, Pidge turned back to her cleaning, declaring, “You’ll be much happier when it’s all nice and clean!”
But I’m miserable now… Shiro thought. Plus he had a feeling he had no choice in being happy or not.
“Are you sure there’s nothing I can do?” Shiro asked. “Maybe, I don’t know, go to the store and get some of that Reese’s ice cream you like? Or take-out for dinner, so you don’t have to clean the kitchen again or get it dirty?”
“Don’t you dare leave that corner, Takashi Shirogane, or I swear to quiznak your head will be mounted onto the top of my mop!” Pidge hissed.
Shiro licked his lips. Okay, he could do this. This was just aggressive negotiations, right? He’s done this before.
“Um, Katie-cat?” He tried again. “Um, how… how are you planning on keeping the house clean until the babies are born? Six months from now?”
Pidge stopped, her shoulders drooped. Then, to his horror, big fat tears rolled down her cheeks.
“I CAN’T!” She sobbed. “I am going to be a horrible mother, and my babies are going to grow up in squalor, and then Child Protective Services will take them away and everyone will know that I’m a horrible mother! And that’s even if the hospital lets me take them home, because I’m sure that I’ll do something stupid to prove that I’m not worthy of raising these babies, like put a diaper on backwards or, or…”
She sank to the floor, arms wrapping around her knees, sobbing.
Cautiously, Shiro approached her, getting on the floor and wrapping his arms around her, making shushing sounds. “You’re not going to be a horrible mother.”
“You don’t know that!” Pidge sniffled.
“Yes, I do. We’re in this together, remember? Neither of us are going to be horrible. Is there going to be a learning curve? Of course. Are we going to make mistakes? Definitely. But we’re going to do it together, and our kids are going to be just fine. No one’s going to take the kids, and no one is going to stop you from leaving the hospital with them.” Pidge was still making loud, wet sniffling noises. Shiro kissed the top of her head. “We’re a team here. Things are going to be okay. We’ve got each other, and your parents, and mine, and Keith, and Hunk, and Lance, and Allura and Coran and Matt and a whole bunch of people who will help us out. No one is doubting you except for you.”
Pidge turned and buried her face in his chest. Shiro rocked her back and forth.
“I’m so scared, Shiro. I was so happy at first, when we first got the results, and then when we found out it’s twins…” Pidge said. “Now they’re starting to actually be real, and I’m at the end of the first trimester, and soon I’m going to be huge. I don’t know what I will and won’t be able to do, if they get as big as the doctor is predicting. And I don’t know the first thing about being a mom.”
“I don’t think anyone knows how to be a parent until that first kid,” Shiro said, kissing her head again. “And you’re going to be an amazing mother. I just know it.”
“How?” Pidge demanded, looking up at him with big, teary eyes. “How do you know this, Shiro?”
He smiled at her and pressed a kiss to her nose. “Because you’re the smartest, most amazing woman I have ever met. Oh, and I’m kind of crazy in love with you.”
The corner of Pidge’s mouth upturned slightly. She punched him lightly in the arm. “You big sap machine.” She mumbled. “I love you, too. And, thanks. For putting up with me and all my many mood-swings and insecurities.”
“Anytime, my love,” Shiro told her, squeezing her tight.
They sat on the floor together for a moment, then Pidge said, “So… About that Reese’s ice cream?”
Shiro laughed. “How about this? I run up to the store and grab some ice cream, and you order pizza for delivery. It should all be here about the same time.”
“Quiznak, I love you,” Pidge said, pressing a kiss firmly to her mouth. Her lips still pressed to his, she asked, “And then?”
Shiro smiled. “And then, I think we ought to live happily ever after.”