Written for Kidge Week - Day 4: Music.

Pidge bobbed her head, tapping a fingertip against one side of her headphones as she skimmed through the bright lines of Altean code, piecing together what she already knew with some filling in from context. A warm hand brushed her arm and she jumped, looking up to find Keith not quite stifling a smile.

She stuck her tongue out at him before pausing her music and sliding her headphones down to rest around her neck. "Yeah?" she asked, tipping her head back a little.

"Are you hungry?" Keith asked, leaning on one elbow on the back of her chair, above her shoulder. "Hunk's stressing about the meeting tomorrow but I think I caught something about you skipping meals," he raised an eyebrow at her, "and it'll be time for dinner soon. Assuming it isn't already done, given how anxious Hunk's been." he added with a wry shake of his head. "He was . . . distressed when I said I wasn't sticking around."

"Oh. Not really hungry." Pidge denied, and Keith met her gaze questioningly. "I have eaten. I was busy in here though, so I didn't hang around in the kitchen." She gestured in the general direction of where she thought she'd put her plate from earlier.

"All right." Keith nodded. "I'll leave you to it then, darling." He pushed against her chair, straightening. Pidge reached up to catch the sleeve of his jacket and he stopped moving.

"What about you?" Pidge asked, tugging at his sleeve. "Where are you off to?"

"Training deck." Keith said simply - that she probably should have known; it was where Keith spent much of his downtime, claiming he found it relaxing. Pidge didn't really get it, but then, Keith didn't get thinking in binary code or her glee over the perfectly-defined, beautiful mechanics of Altean ships. "I snagged something to eat earlier."

"All right." Pidge released him. "Have fun pretend-killing-things."

Keith laughed, almost smirking. "I always do." He bent again, fingers sweeping along her jaw and pulling her hair back. Pidge cocked her head, a question on her lips, only to be silenced by a soft kiss. "Have fun," he paused, glancing at her computer screen, and raised an eyebrow as he met her gaze again, "playing." he said dryly.

"Hey!" Pidge called after him as he left. "This is work!"

"Sure it is!" Keith called back, grinning, and then he was gone, leaving her and her computers. Pidge snorted, shaking her head, a grin tugging at her lips. It was work, and it was important - not that he'd ever denied that - but Keith was right that it was also very much playtime for Pidge.

She pulled her headphones back into place and turned the music back on as her fingers found their places on the keys and her eyes tracked onto the flowing code.

"Hey Shiro. I have a question." Pidge said, perching on a chair and peering down over the back of it at Shiro as he did crunches. Pidge shuddered a little.

"Oh?" Shiro paused and looked up at her from the floor. "How can I help you?" he asked with a smile.

Pidge smiled back. "I was wondering. . ." Picking up with his exercise again, Shiro made a prompting sound. "What kind of music does Keith like?" she asked.

Shiro paused again, this folded all the way forwards.

"He doesn't really talk about it." Pidge explained. Keith didn't really talk about a lot, honestly. It was less, Pidge thought, him being secretive or not trusting people - at least with them, with her - and more that he wasn't used to having much of anyone to talk to. About anything. Which was depressing, but understandable. "And I'd ask him, but. . ."

Shiro eyed her, but didn't ask why she hadn't, only nodded and resumed moving before beginning to talk. Pidge wheedled a few more details out of Shiro as they talked - although Shiro's knowing expression made Pidge think, wheedling aside, he had freely volunteered the information on Keith, either for Keith's sake or her own.

Pidge left him with her thanks, thoughts busy as she began working out plans and also puzzled a bit at the deceptively simple ball of contradictions that made up her boyfriend.

"You have a surprise for me," Keith repeated, eyeing her somewhat warily, "in the training deck." He paused. "Is it going to kill me?"

"No." Pidge said, pouting, and tried to feel offended at her boyfriend's scepticism. She had tinkered with the training deck to not-so-great effects a few times, though, and given that it was capable of being deadly - or near it - even without tampering. . .

Not to mention the three times Keith had nearly been killed in the training deck before.

Really it was a wonder it was still his favourite place to unwind. Then again, Keith was a little . . . unusual.

"I promise, there is no chance of my upgrade setting off anything trying to kill you." Pidge said firmly. Then she paused. "Well, uh. . ." Technically speaking she didn't know how the Altean system would respond when the training deck was running a battle simulation and her upgrade, and there was no way it should do anything awful, but it was technically possible. . .

"Well, that's reassuring." Keith said, but he walked onto the deck ahead of her anyway, with no apparent hesitance.

Pidge shook her head and followed him, letting the doors close behind them. Keith crossed his arms and looked at her, waiting patiently. The training deck looked precisely as it always did, but that wouldn't be a surprise - any upgrades would, naturally, only show when the program in question was in use.

Pidge grinned and commanded the training deck to start the subroutine program she'd coded for Keith.

He gave her another curious look, then startled as a thudding beat began to rise around them, joined a few moments later by a threadier melody that wove the beats together. It was an odd combination - an odd type of music in general - and it put Pidge's teeth on edge after more than about half a varga, but as the music grew more complex, still twined around the throbbing central rhythm, a smile began to curl Keith's lips.

"You spend so much time in here," Pidge began, and Keith looked back at her, "I thought you might appreciate. . ." She trailed off. "I asked Shiro for help figuring out what kind of music you might like. I know it's not what you'd liked back home," she waved a hand, "but I did some-"

Keith caught her hand. "It's cool." he told her, smile widening. "Where's the music from?" he asked curiously.

"This is from a planet on the edge of the system we passed a couple of days ago," Pidge supplied, "there's more like this, and I picked out five other different kinds of music to add to it. If you don't like any of it- And of course we can look for more stuff you like if you want. Um." Keith was just looking at her as she rambled. "Do you like it?"

Keith blinked, then squeezed her hand. "Yes, Pidge." He grinned. "Really. Thanks. I," he paused, grin wavering for a moment, "I do kind of miss being able to play music while I'm working out." he admitted, and Pidge hummed, feeling slightly smug.

"Well. . . Good." Pidge said, tugging at the hem of her shirt. "I hoped it might be a welcome distraction from the crazy you put yourself through training all the time." she teased.

Keith laughed. "I enjoy it, remember?"

"Whatever." Pidge stuck out her tongue, then hurriedly closed her mouth and jumped back as Keith lunged for her. He still caught her, unsurprisingly - she really hadn't been expecting it - and they tumbled onto the floor, which buzzed slightly with the beat of the music - it felt strange; it had been a long time since Pidge had really listened to music not just through her headphones, let alone through such a large system.

Pidge punched Keith lightly in the shoulder for tackling her, though it hadn't hurt, and he grinned, bright and playful. She smiled back, sliding her hands over his shoulders and squeezing. "I'm glad you like it." she said honestly.

Keith nudged his nose against hers, then kissed her softly. "I really do. Show me how it works?" he asked, and Pidge agreed happily.