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^ ART BY ME!
in which the group is training and are sparring in pairs, and suddenly everyone just seems to want to question what pidge's muscle looks like under the sweatshirt.
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"you ever wonder what pidge is hiding under her shirt?" lance blurts, yelping when hunk takes the chance of inattentiveness and knocks him to the ground. he groans, rubbing his abdomen where hunk mercilessly jabbed him.
"okay, one, that sounds really perverted, and two, no i have not wondered." hunk replies slowly, dusting himself off. "i'm really hoping you mean something else."
lance pauses, processing his words. when it finally loads in, he gasps.
"NO! no, oh my god, no, not like- god, that is so- no, hunk. i meant like, do you think she had muscles. not that."
hunk ignores lance's flushed sputters of embarrassment and looks at their green paladin, tilting his head in thought.
pidge and keith are going at it, movements quick and swift as they both dodge and strike at each other. they both have sweat dripping from their skin, and are so obviously in need of a break, judging from how they both gasp for air every time they lunge at one another.
hunk hums, gathering his newly gathered data.
"i mean, she's bound to have muscles with all this training we've been doing. even i have some gains." hunk makes a point of lifting up his sleeve's cloth and flexing, showing the slight definition in his arms. earning an ooh from lance.
"well technically," a voice gasps, inhaling air. "we all have muscle-" a gasp. "so your discussion is- " another. "flawed." pidge's voice finally finishes, huffing. lance mimicks her, intentionally making exaggerated gasps which earns him a whack in the head.
"i know we all have muscles, pidge, i'm just curious to know if they're like-" he gestures awkwardly. "like, if they're- curved, or whatever."
keith makes his presence known and sighs, dragging a hand through his hair. "you mean if they're toned?"
lance snaps, eyes lit in determination as he points at keith. "yes. that."
pidge gives an unimpressed look. "dude, that was like, the easiest word."
"shut up, you use jibber jabber like dimensionality and biochemicalecularism."
"okay while dimensionality is a word, what the heck is biochemicalecularism."
"i hope you four have good reasons to be slacking." allura announces, approaching the group with an expectant glare. hunk raises his palms in surrender.
"i am not slacking. lance is just slacking. i have no partner to spar. i am a victim." hunk reports, earning a slow nod of somewhat understanding from the altean.
"bro shut up! you aren't doing sh-"
"lance." an accented voice interrupts, irritated.
"allura. do you think pidge has toned muscles?" lance deadpan.
pidge slaps her forehead, wincing when her glasses frames bump uncomfortably into her nose.
allura's face melts into one of interest. "i've never thought about that. huh." she takes a second to stare at pidge, scanning over her physique . keith and lance do the same.
several beats pass by of them simply staring, and pidge is starting to get uncomfortable.
she looks at hunk pleadingly, silently requesting help.
he shrugs.
useless jerk.
"guuuys. please stop staring at me," pidge drawls, lifting her arms up to cover her torso.
seriously, these guys were relentless. they were really deep in thought, literally just- evaluating her.
"guys."
nothing.
"oh my- guys." pidge practically begged, clapping her hands. that seemed to do the trick, because all three of them blinked at the same time, snapped out of their trances.
"apologies, pidge. i was thinking a little too hard for a tick." she hums contentedly. "i do believe it's possible that pidge has refined muscles though. i think it'd be stranger if she hadn't."
"that's what i'm saying! thank you, 'lura!" lance expresses joyfully, eyes teary from gaining an ally on his side.
"hey, i literally agreed with you!" hunk whines, being brushed off with lance's stuck out tongue.
pidge cannot believe it. she is stuck lightyears away from wherever her family is; with idiots.
complete idiots.
"why are you guys even interested in my muscle's appearance." pidge grumbles, lip pouted. "it's none of your business."
lance squawks offensively. "hey! i just don't want to perform an emergency procedure on you which requires your muscles exposed and i'll be caught of guard!"
she blinks, slowly reciting what she understood.
"..if i was dying you would be focused on my muscle rather than my brink of death?"
lance scoffs, giving her the palm. "hey, if i operated on you, i'm just saying, i would probably be really caught off guard to see your abs."
pidge shakes her hand, completely unbelieving of what she was listening to.
"i would not let you operate on me." she states, matter-of-a-factly.
lance glares. "what if we were only with each other? stuck? no help?"
she gives an equally sharp glare, leaning forward and enunciating her words. "i'd. rather. die."
he gasps. "take it back."
she only leans back, a smile on her face as she whispers. "never."
at that, lance lunges at her with a yell, arm outstretched. for a moment, he is successfully blowing her off balance, hand grabbing her shoulder.
pidge's leg behind her balances and her hand flies up from her side.
without another thought, she grips his arm, twists around, and completely flips him over her with a loud thud.
immediately everyone gasps, even the cuban boy on the ground. probably from shock.
and then it erupts into noise.
lance starts yelling out a string of curses, probably manifesting a curse on pidge as he rolls on his side.
keith bursts out laughing, gasping between each pause and only laughing harder when he seens lance on the ground.
allura laughs for a moment, before starting to worriedly ask about lance, meanwhile, hunk looks like he just saw a pig fly, mouth agape and eyes wide.
lance groans loudly from the floor. "ow, what the fu-"
"holy smokes pidge! what was that?!" hunk screams excitedly, running forward to check over lance quickly before he grabs both of her shoulders, eyes twinkling.
"how do you do that. tell me. how."
she smirks, bringing her hands up in a shrug. "talent."
allura seems to be the only one to notice the boy on the ground, and so she walks forward. "lance? are you okay?" she squats down, poking his forehead and shrieking when his hand grabs her wrist.
"peachy," his voice rasps, distorted with pain. "help me up? please?"
keith, recovering from his laugh attack, argues to leave him there in which lance gives him the finger. keith only laughs harder.
"god, what was that, pidge?" lance blows up, exasperated. "my back is like, broken."
allura's face pales, thinking about the millions of horrible things that could happen with lance's back injured. "is it? do you need a pod?"
lance waves her off, smiling. "no, i'm just kidding. i'm just saying my back hurts."
pidge cups her hands around her mouth.
"it's cause you're a pu-"
"pidge, no." shiro's voice stops her, and her eyes widen at his presence.
"well look who decided to show up." keith teases, poking his brother in the side. shiro swats his hand away.
shiro looks between all of them, finally noticing the boy just laying on the ground. "god, i leave for a few minutes to use the bathroom.." he mumbles, face palming.
"so what happened here?" he leans over lance's crumbled body, shadow looming.
"pidge is a bully and a meanie and a horrible person. can we kick her out." lance huffs, pointing an accusatory finger in her direction.
"lance was being inappropriate and asking about my body." pidge says at the same time, watching with satisfaction as shiro's face morphs into horror and lance starts to immediately deny her words.
"NO! NOT LIKE THAT! shiro, buddy, i promise, it was not like that!" he yelps when shiro gives him a look of resignation. "I SWEAR ON MY LIFE SHIRO, PLEASE."
allura gives a sweet smile, bless her soul. "we were curious about pidge's physique is all, she covers most of her muscles often with clothing."
keith makes a sound of realization, getting their attention. "oh, except for one part," he starts, pointing at her. "pidge, may i just say, you have great calves."
she narrows her eyes at him. "if you're making fun of me-"
"i'm serious! your legs are actually good, look." he makes a point of directing their attention to her exposed calves, uncovered because of her shorts.
at the same time, everyone's eyes dart down to pidge's legs. she groans when everyone's eyes widen at the sight of her toned muscle that they never noticed before.
"wow, how do you get your legs like that?" hunk mumbles to himself , head tilting to the side.
pidge side eyes him, kicking his hand away when he tries to poke at her leg. "i climb a lot. it's what happens when you're short in a world of tall beings. are you guys done now?"
"wait, wait, can i ask something." lance probes.
pidge sighs loudly in frustration. she was never gonna escape this.
"fine. what."
"from one amigo to the other, are your arm muscles," he pauses, thinking. "are they toned."
she drags a hand down her face, tired of the subject.
"number five's biceps are impressively shaped! i can confirm!" coran's voice declares out of nowhere, making everyone jump out of their skin.
"goodness coran, when did you get here?" allura places a hand over her heart, expressing her surprise.
"just a dobosh ago, princess. not to worry. but back onto the subject, number five does have impressively nice arms, even with her size." he twists the end of his mustache with his two fingers in thought. "i do believe you had good abdomen muscle too. what do you folks on earth call it?"
"oh my gosh, why are we still talking about this." pidge complains, leaning into hunk's side. he only laughs at her, patting her shoulder in sympathy.
jerk.
"like, this area?" keith gestures his hands vaguely around his stomach, and coran nods. "um, we would call them abs. hence, abdomen."
"ah, yes, that would make most sense." coran squints his eyes at pidge. "you did have toned abs, didn't you? i'm pretty sure you did."
lance's eyebrows scrunch together. "wait, how do you even know?"
"i've had to prepare a cryo suit for her, in which ive seen how her arms-"
pidge screams loudly out of the blue, irritated. everyone flinches at the sudden noise, and she could not care less. "please, why are we still talking about this?!"
lance quips joyfully, turning over on his side. "because i'm curious to know if you have good arms, pidgey! duh!"
she grumbles to herself a line of incomprehensible words, eyes closed. "okay, you know what—"
her hands grab the bottom of her sweatshirt, lifting it up.
before she can even get past her belly button, all them scream in retaliation. hunk quickly shoves her arms back down, preventing her from going any further. everyone starts talking at the same time.
"jesus, pidge, what are you doing?!" lance shrieks, muffled with his face completely down on the floor with his hands covering his eyes.
"pidge, do not." allura's eyes are blown open in panic.
"oh my god. no. pidge, put your shirt on." keith has his back turned, hands held up like he's being arrested.
"i didn't even take it off!" she argued, rolling her eyes. "not like hunk over here would've let me."
hunk's eyes are wide with.. what looks to be fear, and is gripping her hands for dear life.
shiro pinches his nose bridge, clearly tired. "guys, please."
he is very tired.
how is he stuck with several teenagers in space and the only adult is coran.
"pidge," hunk starts slowly. "what the hell."
she throws her head back with an annoyed groan.
"guys, oh my god, i have an undershirt on!" she shouts, slapping hunk's hands away. everyone visibly relaxed at that, albeit still tensed.
again, she lifts her shirt up, and everyone subconsciously looks away. but true to her word, she wears a tank top underneath, so they all relax and let her remove the top layer.
and man.
she successfully takes off the shirt, holding it in her hand as the group gapes.
everyone gasps at her arms, biceps toned perfectly. they looked exactly like those influencers back on earth that did healthy workout routines and promoted protein shakes in gyms. it was everything you would imagine with a perfectly nice bicep.
man, they almost cried.
this is what she's been hiding from them this whole time.
lance whispers. "dude. they're literally glowing."
"it's because i'm white and these lights are bright, lance." she joked, crossing her arms. "are you guys satisfied?"
everyone is admiring in silence, before hunk speaks up.
"..are your abs actually toned?" he inquires. she sighs.
"god, might aswell strip me too while you're freaking at it," she grumbles, reaching a hand to lift her shirt.
hunk squeaks, panicked, but pidge tsks at him, putting a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.
she lifts it up and admiration washes over the group.
her abs are perfectly shaped. like, scarily shaped. they're practically shining. keith's jaw drops, and he starts to pat down his own abdomen.
"what the hell, why aren't mine like that?" he says out loud, which makes lance look at his ab area too.
pidge snorts, pulling her shirt down and brushing it off. "maybe because you dont have to climb through the smallest places imaginable just to do work."
hunk huffs, patting his stomach. "no thanks man, i'm good with my tummy how it is."
pidge laughs, shoving him away, when she looks up,
keith is in front of her, eyes shining. she cringes, sensing something strange about to happen.
"can you train with me-" he grabs her shoulders, pausing because of the bare skin contact that he has never done before. he looks down at where his hand is placed, eyebrows raised.
"woah."
lance stands up too, speed walking over. "hey! i wanna see too!" pidge grumbles, but begrudgingly holds her arm out for him to touch. she doesn't have the energy to run away from him if he's determined.
"guys, stop treating pidge like a statue," shiro's voice falls on deaf ears, as lance oohs to himself when he pokes her arm. he sighs, rubbing his temples. he so needs advil. but alas, alteans never invented that, and it's definitely not on the ship.
"ah there's no use, they're all entranced in number five's arms." coran assures, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"i guess." shiro sighs. coran pats his shoulder and gives him a smile. "don't worry lad, i'm interested in your arms too."
shiro gives him a resigned stare. "i need a drink."
coran agrees.
"wait. are you flexing your arm right now?" allura's voice pops up behind pidge.
"no?" she replies casually, and allura's eyes become big, blue eyes staring at her.
"wait, if you're not flexing, what does it look like flexed?" hunk questions, eyebrows scrunched together.
pidge rolls her eyes, lifting her arm up in a pose and flexing, immediately, everyone's jaws are slack again, and allura gasps.
"oh my gosh, that's so cool!" allura says. grabbing her wrist to look at her arm more clearly.
"bro what the hell, why haven't we ever seen your arms?" lance pleads, making a strangled noise when pidge only shrugs.
"i never..saw the point?" she tries questionably, laughing at their dissatisfied expressions. well, except allura. she is still staring at her flexed arm like a child seeing snow on earth for the first time. "i mean, there wasn't really any shape until recently, if that's what you're wondering."
"geez, can you do ab training with me?" keith offhandedly questions, still looking at her arms.
pidge relaxes her arm, tired from flexing. blissfully ignoring allura's disappointed look, she rolls her shoulder.
"by the way, that shoulder throw was awesome." keith mentions, and gives a thumbs up. lance falters, making offended sounds.
"hey! not awesome! i almost got killed!" he cried, crossing his arms. pidge gave him a look.
"we've fought advanced aliens that've been in war for 10,000 years and are still alive but i'm the one that almost kills you?" she deadpans, holding back a smile at hunk's laughter next to her and lance's stupid face.
"okay you know what, yes." lance decides, nodding his head contentedly.
pidge allows herself the joy of laughing, punching him lightly in the shoulder. "shut up, you're so dumb." she pulls her sweatshirt over her head, putting it over herself again. when she fixes her glasses she notices the disappearance of the only adults on the ship.
"hey, where's coran and shiro?" she asked, fluffing out her hair from her sweatshirt. the rest of the teens turn around, noticing the disappearance as well. lance is the first to turn back around.
"don't know, don't care. wanna play kill bot?" lance grins widely.
pidge smiles, eyes glinting. "you know it."
END
2858 words
3/20/23