Continued Reality: A Voltron Fanfiction

REUNION

So, Pidge is in love with Keith, huh? It's definitely strange to Lance. It's strange enough to him that Pidge likes anyone, let alone that person being Keith. What is it about him? Lance's own sister, Veronica, had even shown an interest in him. He just doesn't understand it.

     But, Pidge is his friend. And sometimes he'll  actually admit that Keith is his friend too. He knows what being in love feels like, how happy it can make a person. His days with Allura were some of the best of his life, despite the difficult events surrounding them. He wants nothing more than for his friends to be as happy as he was then.

     Personal mission: Get nerdy girl and emo guy together! He thinks, mentally giving himself a fist bump. I think Shiro would be happy about...

     Shiro. It's still so weird to think that none of them are ever going to see him again. In a way, he's the one who brought all of them together. He was an inspiring leader, a good friend, a big brother to them. Lance can't begin to describe how much he's going to miss the big guy.

     But he has faced loss before. He has learned how to deal with it.

     Pidge suddenly halts directly in front of him, causing him to run into her. "Hey, what gives?" He says. But when she doesn't respond, he looks ahead and sees the reason for her sudden stop. Amidst the ever-growing crowd of attendees to Shiro's funeral stands Keith, side by side with his mother and pet wolf.

     "Ahhh, I see," Lance says with a smirk. "No worries Pidge, I've got this!"

     "Lance, please don't!" But before she has even finished her sentence, Lance is already halfway towards Keith.

     "Hey man," Lance says to Keith with a small wave. The two of them shake hands and share a quick embrace. "I'm really sorry about Shiro. I know you two were super close."

     "Yeah..." Keith says, barely able to make eye contact with Lance. "It still doesn't seem real."

     "I am very thankful to Shiro for helping my son so much," Krolia says. "I only wish I had had the chance to get to know him better."

     "He was a pretty amazing guy," Lance says. "He helped me a lot too."

     Krolia suddenly points behind Lance. "Isn't that another one of your Paladin friends, Keith?"

     As Keith looks in the direction his mother is pointing, Lance turns around to see that Pidge is still standing a short distance away, watching them. Once she seems to notice that they are now staring at her, she waves quickly and begins to make her way over to them.

     "It's great to see you again, Pidge," Keith says, giving her a hug.

     Lance notices the way she tenses up at the embrace, but she returns the hug anyway. "Yeah, Pidge here is pretty upset about Shiro too," Lance says. "She might even need some extra comforting from someone...?"

     Pidge glances back and forth between Keith and Lance nervously. "No no, I'm good," she says. "I mean, not good. None of us are good after what's happened. But I'm fine. Or, I'll be fine."

     Lance shakes his head. What is she doing? She's not helping herself acting all dorky like that, he thinks. But Keith doesn't seem to notice.

     "This is hard on all of us," Keith says to Pidge. "But I think we can make it through it... together."

     Pidge actually smiles. "Yeah, together." Lance sees her take a step closer to Keith, and for a moment he is almost sure that she's about to hold Keith's hand. But when she realizes what she is about to do, she suddenly jerks her hand away and jumps back. This causes her to lose her balance, and she falls backwards —right into Hunk.

     "Whoa, good thing I showed up when I did," Hunk says as he catches her under her arms.

     "Nice catch, Hunk!" Lance says, slapping Hunk on the back.

     "Hey Lance," Hunk says with a small smile. But Lance can still see the sadness in his eyes. Hunk always was such a softy. Lance can't even imagine how hard the big teddy bear must be taking this. But they had all faced the loss of Allura together and came through it, so he knows that Hunk is strong enough.

"Thanks Hunk," Pidge says, brushing herself off. She pushes up her glasses and smooths out her hair, but she can feel that she is blushing wildly. She is completely embarrassed. Why did she do that? Was she actually about to hold Keith's hand?! And then overreacting and falling in front of him?! As if the funeral wasn't bad enough.

     "So Keith," Lance says. "You know what could help a lot with grief? Finding a special someone—"

     "Okay, I gotta go," Pidge interrupts, a little too loudly. Lance, come on! I'm embarrassed enough! She begins to walk away, but Keith stops her.

     "Are you sure you're fine, Pidge? You seem to be acting kind of strange," Keith says.

     Pidge gulps involuntarily. "Affirmative, I'm sure. Nothing strange here." She turns away again, wishing she could punch herself for acting like such a loser.