#i was an awkward greasy cat girl who hissed at people in the hall and wore a cat hat and army green jacket/ striped hoodie

[fortune-cat]

fortune but shes 12 and hisses at you in the school hallway :3c

[impfiltration-archive]

@highcmdr​ @norikiru​

I looked at all our nonsense and thought: Could I ever make a drabble out of this? Well..

She’s kneading the heel of her hand against her eye, and sniffs at herself a little, too, while making her way down the hall. The castle’s on its night cycle, meaning all the lights are either dimmed or off—giving Pidge the impression that she needs to tip-toe and keep her voice low.

Besides the minor shuffling, the girl hardly makes a peep all the way from her lap-space to Shiro’s door. Usually, she works herself into sporadic naps until comatose eats the better-half of one day—rinse and repeat—but honestly, she needs to stretch a little.

Ryner gave her an Olkarion puzzle, one where you have to wear those interface-bands, and slowly solve an encrypted cube. After vargas of concentration in binary, Pidge solved the final code: We’re All Connected. She’s never felt so drained.

She’s tired, but not enough to just lay herself down for the night, so she decided to see what Shiro was doing. He’s basically the poster-boy for insomnia; if anyone knew miscellaneous activities to hold you over for the night, then it was him.

Ever true to her little sister tendencies, she welcomes herself into Shiro’s room, and prattles right away. “Hey, Shiro, do you think--” That is, until she realized he was in bed, and someone else was laying with him.

Sendak.

She knows it’s him. No one else on the ship can form that massive of a shillouhoute, or has a glaring red, dot and yellow slit that glimmers in the dark for eyes. Pidge freezes up, hearing a distinctive clicking sound reverberate through the room. That was Sendak, too, but all the sudden, Pidge is imagining a territorial cat—back-arched and hackles raised. She’d hiss right back, or maybe laugh at the thought of Sendak being a giant, shitty cat, if she wasn’t at least a little mortified.

It was all societal convention: When you walked in on moments like these, the real tender and intimate ones, you’re suppose to turn away. She could cuddle with her parents when they were watching movies in bed, tease Shiro or Matt about their awkward crushes, then remind them that she’s supposed to be their greatest treasure; however, you’re suppose to let people have their moments, and this scene looked like one of those times. It’s what she’s learned as a child, and goes directly against her “Don’t let Shiro and Sendak date or whatever they’re doing” agenda.

If she had a head-full of wires, she’d be buffering right now—trying to figure if she should scamper off or pick a fight.

Either all the little sounds stirred Shiro awake, or he sensed the potential conflict, because he started to stir. The room is dark, Sendak’s eyes and the dim hall lights bleeding through the open door are the only form of illumination, but Pidge’s eyes are starting to adjust, and she can see that Sendak had been holding Shiro to his front. She can’t see how Sendak tenses his hold for a few ticks; just how Shiro slowly picks himself up from the sheets.

He makes some groggy sounds, like he was just waking up. Okay, now she really does feel guilty. Shiro hardly ever sleeps, and now she’s woken him up. Pidge takes a step back, trying to stammer some apology, when Shiro turns to her, and murmurs rather tiredly, “Katie?”

“Ah, um.. Nevermind. I’m sorry.” Now she figures out words. She hangs her head low; somehow, hearing him call her by her actual name just made the guilt double. “You can go back to bed.” There’s a popping sound, like someone might be stretching, and Shiro strikes a more coherent tone. “No, wait, come here.”

Pidge steps up to attention. The chagrin on her face isn’t as obvious to Shiro as it is Sendak, who chuffs rather quietly over his shoulder. The only reason he doesn’t ask what nightmares she had, or if she’s wanting to be tucked in, is because Shiro turns indignant when the child is provoked.

Shiro, meanwhile, dotes on the girl like always. “Is everything okay?” Pidge nods. “Yeah, I just didn’t know you’d be asleep. I thought maybe you’d want to.. Idunno, be with me until I could sleep.”

Shiro’s is equal parts exasperated and endeared; you can see it in his eyes and the pinch between his brows. “Pidge, you should be in bed.” For once, he’s not being hypocritical about resting—his head’s still groggy and eyes warm. “Working yourself into exhaustion isn’t good for anyone.”

He stares at her for a second, wanting a response, but Pidge neither parlays or concedes. Mostly just focus on her feet. Shiro sighs to himself, and shifts until there’s an open space on the bed. “Come on, you can sleep with us.”

Instantly, there’s a tight air in the room—Sendak and Pidge staring at Shiro before narrowing eyes at each other other. Well, Sendak was hardly as evocative, but Shiro wasn’t really looking at him; either way, he knew Sendak wasn’t enthusiastic about sharing their time with Pidge. He’s tired, though, and won’t be able to fall back asleep until he knows Pidge is at least laying down.

Press him some more when he’s less exhausted, and he might admit that seeing Pidge so prone reminded him of the baby Katie days—when she’d curl up between him and Matt for naps.

There were lots of little excuses to make up later; for now, Katie and Sendak found themselves in a sort of stalemate.

Sendak hardly wanted a greasy child wedged into his fur, but he’s not going to be cowed from nesting by some needy brat; meanwhile, Pidge didn’t want to look like she still needed to sleep with the adults, because she’s well past that age, but she didn’t want to hand Shiro over to Sendak either.

Her own spite wins in the end, and she’s crawling up into the bed. Sendak grumbles with a low growl before sinking back into his half of the bed. He doesn’t focus on any particular thing as Shiro and Pidge situate themselves; in the end, Shiro and Sendak lay facing each other while Pidge nestles between them—practically clinging to Shiro’s front. Sendak can feel the way she burrows, trying to be as close to Shiro as possible. It was probably meant as some warning, but he chuffs again—very quietly this time—because it just reminds him of anxious kit squirming for mother.

He doesn’t bother with pointing that out; rather, he leans forward, until he can nuzzle Shiro’s face. He makes a smooth purring sound (His manufactured one; not natural), too, just to make his affections that much more prominent. It seems to have the desired effect; Katie starts shuffling around, but with the way she laid herself down, mobility is limited. Not even she’s enough of a kakava to kick up a fuss right now, so she settles quickly enough with a quiet grumble. 

Shiro already has his eyes closed, and hangs an arm over Katie as he tilts into Sendak’s fur. In a handful of dobashes, his heartbeat is low and steady—like he’s fallen back asleep. Pidge follows in suit before long, losing her steel-clad grip; in fact, she starts to shift towards the lush fluff lined up against her back. Sendak noted that Earth children seemed to like mutter little things about their dream all the while. 

He never fully went to sleep himself; more suspended somewhere between conscious and not. He’d be much more rested if it was just Shiro and himself, but he does find the way the two humans’ heartbeats pulse together in tandem to be relatively soothing.