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Katie Holt was five years old when she successfully built her first computer. It was also the age when she decided that the one and only for her, the love of her life, was tech. She told her parents so and they chuckled affectionately. Her mother patted her hair and told her to keep her mind open for the future, and that it was okay if she changed her opinion later.
But Katie had made up her mind. Her future was filled with technology and there wouldn’t be space for anything else.
When she was ten years old, she was already married in her mind to her software and her codes. She had accomplished more technological advances than most adults and even her parents and brother were beginning to believe her when she reaffirmed her lack of interest in dating.
When she was fifteen years old, it wasn’t a matter of being interested or not because her father and brother went missing, and the lack of interest she felt for dating extended to everything else that wasn’t getting her family back. She was going to find them, no matter what.
When she was sixteen years old, there was a spark. There was, like she liked to call it, a distraction. It was just a hint of a small speeding of her heartbeat every time she gazed into those dark, almond-shaped eyes.
But she had to focus. She had to find her family but yet, every time she felt like crumbling, every time she felt she was going to break under the pressure, to the desperation, he was there.
Shiro held her every time she needed, and sometimes when she didn’t. After every embrace, she didn’t know if she was becoming weaker or stronger. Maybe both.
Definitely both.
When she was eighteen years old, there weren’t really any more excuses left. Her family was safe and sound. With the help of her team, she finally found them and rescued them. In a few days from now, they would be heading back to Earth. They were going home with her mother for some time but promised to come back and join team Voltron to help, at least Matt.
And she was happy, she really was, but she couldn’t help but feel a little lonely for the separation, and for not being able to return to Earth too, even for a couple of weeks. She had a duty with the universe, with her lion, with her teammates… with him.
It appeared that their destinies were tied, at least in that aspect. But seriously, what other aspect she expected her life to be tied to someone like Shiro? Regardless of the knowing smiles her father and brother gave them when they bid them goodbye and she asked them to say hi to her mom for her.
She stood there looking out the window even after the travel pod had crossed the wormhole and it closed. Shiro was by her side, of course. He put a hand on her shoulder and when she looked up at him, he was smiling gently at her like he always did. She smiled back and allowed herself a little hope.
When she was twenty years old, Pidge had to admit that thinking back on the past… well, perhaps it was still a little difficult to believe she was together with Shiro, but it wasn’t unbelievable anymore like it was when she was still a teenager.
Now that she was twenty years old, she looked at their linked fingers and smiled. The best part was that every time her eyes searched for his, he was already looking at her, and he never looked away.
When Shirogane Takashi was eight years old, he decided he wanted to be a pilot. His father and mother told him it wasn’t going to be easy. They told him he even would have to travel aboard to a special Academy, but he was certain. He wanted to explore space for himself, so taking that into consideration, studying in another country didn’t seem quite that intimidating.
When he was thirteen years old, Shiro was already on his way to the Galaxy Garrison Academy in order to fulfill his dream to become a pilot. He knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but he also knew he was going to make it.
When he was eighteen years old, he was already the top pilot that the Academy had ever prepared. If he was honest with himself, he was very proud of the fact, especially since he was selected as the only student to be part of the Kerberos Mission, a mission consisting of only three people who would be the first to travel so distantly through the solar system. So, when Shiro was eighteen years old, his dream was becoming true.
When he was nineteen years old, everything faded. There was only fear and darkness. He discovered the real meaning of desperation and hopelessness. He felt terror creeping out of his bones and emptiness got a hold of his heart. He wished every day to have amnesia, so he could forget the horrors. But at the same time, when he was nineteen years old, he was born again.
When he was nineteen years old he discovered a hero living inside of him. Still scared and very much broken, but alive. When he was nineteen years old, he became a survivor.
When he was twenty years old he felt guilty, he knew he was unworthy of looking at those honey eyes and feel. He didn’t have any right but yet he did. He felt a rush of blood dusting his face and a speeding of his pulse every time she said his name, every time she held his fake arm with fascination, every time she looked up into his eyes and straight to his soul.
The worst part was that she didn’t blame him. She even thanked him when he told her everything he remembered of her family and their captivity. She sought him when she was upset, and when she wasn’t too. He dared to think she liked to spend her time with him, and it taught him how to hope again.
When he was twenty years old, she confessed during a sleepless night in the hangar of their lions she liked when he called her by her real name, and he realized he had fallen.
When he was twenty-one, he was so deep, he couldn’t even deny it when her brother, his friend, asked him if he had feelings for his little sister. He became a stuttering mess for a few seconds and that was all the confirmation Matt needed. Surprising no one, Matt said he was glad it was him of all people who could make Katie change her mind about dating. Commander Sam Holt and his son laughed at some kind of inner joke and after saying their goodbyes and promising to come back, they boarded their travel pod and went home.
Shiro observed her while she stood by the window of the ship, her eyes glued to the spot her family went. The words of her father asking him to continue to keep an eye on her still echoed in his mind. After a few minutes, and feeling a little bit more confident, he walked to her and put a hand on her shoulder, offering her an encouraging smile. She smiled back and he felt like everything was fine with the universe for the first time since forever.
When he was twenty-three, he didn’t remember how he was able to look away from her and pretend he wasn’t in love. He discovered she was as much of a cuddler as he was, that indeed she liked when they spent time together even when they didn’t talk and were focused on completely different things, or that she liked to hold his hand. He liked it too, especially when they interlocked their fingers. He loved the way she didn’t even notice which hand she took, because she loved everything about him: flesh, blood, wires, scars, and wounds that weren’t visible, and yet she stayed.
He loved the way she always sought his face, looked into his eyes and then smiled contently.
When he was twenty-three, he realized he had found the glue to his broken pieces.