Written for Kidge Week - Day 1: Shield & Sword.
"I can handle it. Stay here. Do your thing." Keith said, nudging Pidge towards the quietly-humming computer interface she'd just stepped away from.
Pidge bit her lip. "Are you sure?" she asked, glancing back at the display flashing an incursion alert under her own personal logo.
Keith smiled and kissed her, quick and hard. "Shield and sword, remember?" he told her, voice light. "You do your part, and I'll do mine." he continued more seriously. "Let me know when it's done and I'll get out."
"You had better." Pidge said firmly, her eyes flashing.
"Be right on your tail on the way out as soon as this place is cleared." Keith promised with a grin before backing off, forming his bayard and tossing a salute in her direction. He headed straight for the incursion force pouring through the ship's corridors they'd already cleared once.
Keith would chase them off again - and if he could manage it, also slip back through their lines to retrieve the innocent-looking satchel that had been left behind, and the information chip stowed inside; Pidge would work on stripping anything useful from this ship's system and bring up a shield to contain its distance weaponry from striking at their friends even once she was no longer in direct control.
As he engaged the fresh soldiers Keith was hard-pressed to keep himself in one piece, but he kept moving and kept his opponents searching for him, struggling to keep up.
"Keith, what are you doing?" Pidge demanded over their comms and Keith laughed, pressing a hand to a painful throbbing on his side that was likely to be a spectacular bruise tomorrow.
"My job." Keith said, peeking up over the small, crumpled speeder currently shielding him from view as he plotted out his next move. "And you, sweetheart?"
Pidge cursed at him rather than answer, making him laugh even as he hauled himself up and over the wreckage, driving down into the centre of the little knot of enemy soldiers.
By the time Pidge called him back in to her - job done, time to get the hell out of the area before any more reinforcements came in on patrol - Keith had picked up a couple of mild gashes to go with his bruise, evaded serious injury, and had the satchel slung over one shoulder. Pidge frowned unhappily at the blood dripping down his cheek, but said nothing as she finalised the self-destruct orders - the now-outwardly-shielded weaponry would turn on the ship itself after enough time for them to get completely out of range - and they hurried to their pod.
"Get everything?" Keith asked as he side-slipped between two laser bursts from the straggling remnants of a patrol squad. The pod responded beautifully, and it looked like Keith wouldn't have to engage Pidge's emergency booster upgrade.
"Yes. I'll have to finish the decryption back at the Castle, but we needed to get out of there more than we needed the information immediately." Pidge said distractedly, doing something that was making her tablet beep in protest. "You're bleeding, are you okay?"
"Not much." Keith shrugged, and rubbed the side of one wrist against his cheek as a drip of blood oozed down his jaw.
Pidge shifted to look at him and he glanced over. "That's helpful." she said, narrowing her eyes at him irritatedly.
Keith laughed. "I'm fine." he assured her. "Scrapes, that's it."
Pidge's fingers brushed his face near one of the small gashes - still bleeding, but only sluggishly - and she humphed unhappily, but didn't argue. She went back to her tablet as Keith evaded the outermost reaches of the Galra forces, then once they were clear, made straight for the Castle.
Keith yawned as he stepped out of the bathroom, scrubbing a towel over his hair. His eyebrows rose. "I didn't really expect to see you tonight." he said, smiling. "What with the new drive or whatever for you to break into. Figured you'd be busy."
Pidge shrugged. "It's important information, but it's not urgent." she said, stretching both arms upwards and arching her back. "I already got the only parts that we needed immediately."
"That's good." Keith said, eyeing her. He would still have expected her to keep working on the project until it was finished. That was just how Pidge was. Even if she was tired.
"And the drive was being stubborn but I hooked it in to a Castle subsystem already, it's stable now." Pidge said as she relaxed again, leaning against the wall at the head of the bed. "No rush."
"And?" Keith prompted, smirking.
Pidge huffed. "And . . . I have a transcription program running on the decrypted segment, and another program cracking the next wall. There's nothing else to be done until that finishes. Happy?" she asked, her nose wrinkling.
"Very." Keith said sincerely, bending to give her a light kiss.
Relaxing immediately, Pidge wrapped her arms around him, and Keith let her insistent tugging coax him straight into bed. "I'm tired too." Pidge said quietly, one hand smoothing up and down his ribs. "And I was worried about you."
Keith shook his head slightly as he leaned back, folding one arm behind his head. "Barely touched me today." he told her.
"When your method of engagement is always head on, charge directly into the thick of battle it makes it very difficult not to worry about you." Pidge said grouchily. She didn't take being worried well, and unfortunately she was stuck with a lot of it, given she and her entire family were in the thick of the galactic war.
Keith trailed a fingertip over her shoulder and down her arm. "I do my best." he said; the best he could offer, really. His fighting style wouldn't change, and it was best suited for his talents. Even if it was a high-risk strategy.
"I know. And you're good." Pidge said with a crooked smile. "Crazy, but good. I wish I could have backed you up out there today, though." she added, frowning unhappily.
Keith curled an arm around her waist and tugged her closer, kissing her temple. "You were." he said simply. "From the command centre. Suiting your strengths."
Pidge huffed, but nodded. "I know. Different strengths, different roles." She sounded sulky, but it didn't stop her from snuggling into his side. "Doesn't stop me from wishing you'd had someone at your back today, babe."
"And I wish someone had been watching your back while you were hacking the ship's computers." Keith admitted softly. "It just wasn't possible today."
"We did good work anyway." Pidge said finally, and Keith hugged her tighter.
"We always do." he said, and grinned when it made Pidge snort with laughter.
"Yeah, we are pretty badass, aren't we." Pidge said smugly, propping herself up on her elbows and grinning down at him. Keith smiled, reaching up and feathering a touch along her cheek. Pidge's grin softened. "Even if we couldn't work any closer together, I'm glad we were sent out together this time."
"Shield and sword, sweetheart. We work better as a pair." Keith said as Pidge settled close again, murmuring agreement.
I won't be writing for every day of this Event Week, but I have something written for Day 3, and I plan to do one or two more later prompts as well. We'll see!