((It's a long one lmao))
"Happy birthday, Shiro!"
The sound of their bottles clinking was drowned out by the music coming the stereo. They were already several drinks in, and Pidge could feel buzz of the alcohol heating her chest. The rest of the former Paladins were equally influenced, the blush on their cheeks undeniable.
Even Keith.
It was Shiro's 31st birthday (Well technically his birthday was 3 days away, but nobody could meet for a drink on a Monday night) and the Paladins had gathered at Shiro's beach house. Shiro had insisted on not having a party, adamant that a small reunion with his friends would suffice. Now, the group found themselves sat around the dining room table, Keith telling a story of his humanitarian adventures.
Pidge exhaled loudly, taking a sip of her drink. She hadn't see everyone in so long, it was nice to feel their presence rather than just seeing a screen. Pidge had been sat for a while picking out all the little details the camera had missed, eyes wandering between the men. Hunk had grown a small beard, as had Shiro. Keith's ponytail had now passed his shoulders, and Lance...
Well the camera gave a sparkle to his eyes that didn't seem to be there now. He was smiling, yes. But there was something so unnatural about it. The Altean marks on his cheeks had begun to fade.. Or was that just the alcohol?
Usually the woman would only allow herself to spare him a glance, but intoxication was promoting a certain 'neglect' for her rules. Lance was listening intently to Keith's story, Hawaiian shirt blowing gently in the evening breeze. His hair moved with it, glinting orange in the fire light. A light so warm, it almost seemed to remove the markings from his fade. Although, that may have been the booze. Catching herself staring, Pidge frowned hard, shifting her gaze and attention back to Keith just in time to hear his punch line.
"They said they didn't even eat bread!" He chuckled, causing laughter to erupt from the friends. Pidge attempted a fake laugh to make it seem like she had been listening, eyes flitting down to the beer in her hand.
"You know what we should do?" Hunk piped up. "We should totally play a game of never have I ever."
Lance scoffed, taking a swig of his beer. "What are we, 15?"
"Come on, it'll be a laugh!" Hunk insisted.
There was a series of nodding and laughs of agreement, all of which led to Keith having to produce the first one. There were your usual 'inappropriate' ones, and some that simply served to target individuals. By the time Pidge's 7th turn rolled around, she felt like she had come up with a pretty decent one. Or at least... the alcohol was telling her it was a good one.
"Never have I ever... used Keith's toothbrush to clean the mice." Pidge's eyes narrowed across at Hunk as she spoke.
"Hey!"
"You did what?!" Keith hooted, almost throwing himself from the chair he was perched on. Hunk winced, holding out his hands in desperation.
"No- Keith I-" he searched hopelessly for the right words, "I'm totally getting revenge on you," Hunk pointed a finger across at Pidge, who simply met this with an indignant giggle.
Shiro went next, although both Lance and Pidge were too busy laughing at Keith's flustered face to hear what he'd said.
Hunk cleared his throat, announcing it was his turn next. The man rolled the words around his mouth, pulling a smirk onto existence as he stared at the small woman across from him. "Okay... Never have I ever been in love with Lance."
"HUNK!"
Pidge felt he gut drop along with her jaw. To her right, she heard Lance practically choking on his beer, his head whipping around to look at her.
"What?!"
Pidge stared back at him, dumbfounded. Her lips dried instantly as she tried to speak. "I- urm.. You see- Hunk..."
Both an overwhelming rush of emotions and intoxication fell over her, sending Pidge's lungs and stomach into overdrive. Tears hazed her vision, threatening to dusk her cheeks as she got to her feet.
"Pidge, I-" Hunk started apologetically. Before he could finish, the woman fled from the table, hand pressed over her mouth. Behind her she left the four men, each one as equally bemused as the next.
Hunk ran his fingers through his hair, evidently agitated as his gazed remained fixed on the back door.
"Should I go after her or-?" He asked, looking sorrowfully for any kind of help from the others. Keith and Shiro spared a glance at one another, before they collectively peered across at the Cuban man. Lance still had his beer firmly in his grasp, staring off in the direction Pidge disappeared. An odd silence fell upon them for a second, only to be interrupted by Hunk's panicked tone.
"I should really go see if she's-"
"No, no. I'll go." Lance said firmly, finally sitting upright to look at his friends. "We've obviously got something to talk about..." He got to his feet, padding towards the back door. Hunk groaned audibly, hands on hips.
"But I need to apologise," he started, turning to follow Lance. Shiro held out an arm, blocking his path as gently as he could.
"You can do that later, Hunk. For now, we should just leave them to sort it out. Okay?"
There was a sigh, followed by Hunk taking his seat once more.
"Yeah... I guess you're right."
____________
The back door swung open with ease, revealing Pidge sitting on the porch, knees pulled up to her chest as she stared into the dimmed fire pit.
"There you are." Lance remarked, taking a seat by her side. His attempt at conversation was met by an uncomfortable silence. Lance shuffled in his spot, eyes wandering around the beach before them as his brain tried to piece a sentence together. Once he had decided on his next word, Lance turned his head to look down at the woman. Pidge continued to stare at the fire, her arms crossed tightly on her chest to try and mask the fact her torso was shivering.
"Here," Lance said as he pulled his jumper over his head, offering it across to Pidge. She was hesitant at first, then outstretching her hand and taking it from him. Lance watched intently as the she adorned his old jumper, heat prickling his cheeks through the cold air.
"Why are your sleeves so long?" Pidge chortled, eyeing the long arms that surpassed her hands by quite some length. Lance blew a laugh through his nose, helping her to role up the material.
"Because I'm not ridiculously short."
Pidge almost laughed at his comment, hiding her weak smile behind her hand. The man chewed on the inside of his lip, his mind grasping at any form of words that would make a coherent sentence.
"It's a nice night isn-"
"Lance, your small talk is awful. Can't we just acknowledge the elephant in the room?"
"Not possible."
"Why?" Pidge scrunched up her nose, her brows creasing along with it. Lance kept a deadpan expression plastered on his face.
"We're outside."
"You're an idiot." Pidge sighed, resting her head in her hands. Lance shook his head, pointing a finger in her general direction.
"An idiot you loved supposedly." Lance smirked across at the woman, who upon meeting his gaze rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, yeah. I love you. So what?" Pidge spat,
"You said love that time."
"Okay... so... I still love you. There. I said it." Even Pidge could tell she was getting defensive, but her mouth was several words ahead of her brain. With an exasperated sigh, Pidge buried her head back into her hands.
Lance chewed his bottom lip awkwardly, eyes searching his surroundings before they settled on the small woman. Lance's lungs shook as he took in a breath. "I guess my only other question is... why?"
"Why what?" Pidge mumbled into her hands.
"Why do you love me?"
"You're kidding right?" Pidge huffed, pulling her head upwards and looking him up and down. "You're... so caring, and you make me laugh so much my sides hurts. You're not afraid to stand up for what you believe in and you're so genuine, I adore that. I loved the boy that helped me buy that video game, and I love the man that he's become... And to add to all that you're like hot as fuck." She laughed at her own words as her sentence came to a halt.
"Wow you really are drunk."
"What I'm tryna say is... You're like... The epitome of everything I've ever wanted from guy, Lance." Pidge continued, paying no attetion to Lance's comment.
This was met by stone silence, Lance's mind racing from every word she had said. Part of him wanted to make another sarcastic quip, but he knew by now that wasn't an efficient way of dealing with this stuff. (Especially when dealing with an emotional Pidge)
"You're being uncharacteristically calm about all this." Pidge snapped him out of his inner workings.
"I don't think the shock has hit me yet. I'll keep you updated." Lance said quietly, staring into the fire.
"I will say this... I don't want any of this to ruin our friendship. I value being your best friend more than I ever could being your girlfriend." A chuckle burst from her lips. "Listen to me saying girlfriend like it's anything other than wishful thinking." Her words slurred at little as her tongue tripped over itself. "I'll get over you eventually. At least that's what I tell myself."
"Pidge, you-" Lance turned to face her, clasping his hands around her own. He went to speak again, but his breath hitched as he lowered his head to her level. "Are you crying?"
"No." Pidge lied, refusing to admit that her own words had overwhelmed her. She wasn't going to give in to her heartache so easily. "The smoke got in my eye."
Lance studdied her, sighing hard as he saw her eyes glistening in the fire light. Silently, he shuffled closer to her, wrapping a single arm around her shoulders to pull her into a hug.
"You're gonna get even more smoke in your eyes with what I'm about to tell you." Lance joked, peering down at her. Pidge lifted her head to meet his eye, brows furrowing. She was clearly searching his face for a clue as to what his next statement would be.
Lance drew in a breath before cautiously continuing, "Over the past few months... I've had a tiny bit of a crush on you." He watched as Pidge's eyes widened, the rest of her face unmoving. "I was debating whether to ask you if you wanted to go for coffee but... I decided against it cause I wasn't sure if you felt the same."
Pidge could only blink back at him, her lips clamped shut as her intoxicated mind tried to decide if she'd heard him right.
"Now you're here saying that you love me for me..." he filled his lungs, shaking his head. "Well that's all I've ever wanted. All my life." Lance admitted with a laugh, tentatively fiddling with the hem of his shirt.
"I-I never would have guessed," Pidge chuckled through falling tears, palming at her cheeks in an attempt to catch them.
"Well I had no idea you loved me, so I guess we're both as bad as eachother." The pair of them broke out into quiet laughter, Pidge resting her head gently onto Lance's shoulder.
"So what happens now?" Pidge said quietly, staring out into the blackened waves. She felt Lance shrug, the movement making her sit upright once more.
"I'm not entirely sure... I haven't done this in a while." Lance's voice was hushed, something that stemmed from the growing lump in his throat. It was then that Pidge became aware of how little distance there was between their faces. Lance's nose could only have been a few inches from her own, and she could feel each of his stuttered breaths rolling over her cheeks.
Lance could hear the blood pumping in his ears, almost deafening the sound of the waves beside them. Pidge was gazing across at him, eyes wide with what seemed to be a mix of terror and longing.
Lance leaned in slowly, hesitating just centimetres away from her face. He wanted to kiss her so badly, he could feel it in his gut.
"No, I can't." Lance said softly, pulling away again. Pidge rubbed her arm awkwardly, shoulders dropping.
"Did I do something wrong?" She asked gently, placing a hand on top of Lance's. The Cuban man chuckled, cheeks flushing as he smiled back at her.
"No of course not... it's just we're both pretty drunk and-" he licked his lips, "And I want to remember everything about the first time I kiss you."
"You're utterly enigmatic. But I respect that." Pidge snorted, her cheeks burning furiously. Lance shook his head, a loud sigh blowing through his nose.
"Normal people don't use big words when they're drunk, Pidge."
The woman laughed in reply, her hands clasped around her mouth to prevent it from sounding so loud. Lance couldn't help but join her, a small chuckle escaping from his own lips as he peered across at her. A gentle breeze pulled at Pidge's hair, strands of which kept blowing into her face. The light of the campfire produced a burning twinkle in her eyes. A burning that seemed to spread it's was to Lance's own chest. How... he wasn't entirely sure.
A jerking motion in front of him pulled Lance rather violent back into reality. He felt his head swing in the direction of the direction of his friend, only to feel the heat in his cheeks increase tenfold.
Pidge had pulled Lance's jumper over her head and was already fumbling with the buttons on her shirt.
"Er- Pidge.. urm What-what are you doing?" Lance tried to cover his eyes and she peeled off her shirt, exposing her shoulders to the sea air.
"Going for a swim. You coming? She replied casually, pulling off her glasses and placing them carefully down onto her clumped up shirt.
Lance blinked back at her. "Pidge, people are looking at us-no wait correction. People are staring" Lance heard his voice crack, immediately drawing his hand up to his throat.
Pidge laughed so hard so almost grunted. "Come on you wuss."
"Pidge, no."
"Pidge, yes." The small woman replied, pressing her finger - a little too aggressively - into Lance's chest.
And with that, Pidge got to her feet. Granted she stumbled a bit, but she managed it. Without a second word, she began to run towards the sea, clothes being flung behind her in an awkward fashion. Lance blew hard through his nose, standing up.
Placing a hand to his temple, Lance's morals began to battle it out. One one hand, Pidge had just stripped in front of him. He couldn't see his best friend like that, especially up close! But on the other, Pidge was blind drunk and he would rather she didn't accidentally drown under his supervision.
Lance shook his head, pulling at the first button of his shirt.
He was going to kill her for this.
****
Nausea.
That was the first thing to hit Pidge when she awoke the next morning. A dull ache occupied the back of her skull and she was accutely aware of how dry her tongue was.
Diagnosis: hangover.
Pidge groaned as she shifted onto her side, taking a great deal of care not to upset her stomach unnecessarily. Her movement drew her attention to something unusual, her brows creasing as felt her bare legs in contact with the duvet.
Pidge's frown deepened as she cautiously peered under the cover. To her surprise, she discovered she wasn't wearing her pyjama bottoms, her plain knickers just visible underneath...
Lance's jumper?
A snort left Pidge's nose as she sat up, suddenly realising that she wasn't in the bed she had been assigned the night before. She was in fact laying on an air bed in Shiro's spare room, which had a surprisingly nice view of what looked to be a pile of pillows at the bottom of the bed next to her.
Much to the dismay of her head, Pidge propped herself up on her elbows, narrowing her eyes as they scanned the room. She breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing her glasses occupying the bedside table, carefully slipping them over her nose.
Giving her eyes time to adjust, Pidge was almost startled by the sound of a voice to her left.
"Morning." Lance yawned, rubbing his eyes blearily. "How's the head?"
Pidge pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to piece together what exactly had happened the night before. "My head's been better," Pidge's eyes flitted between herself and Lance, brows raised to an almost impossible place on her forehead. "We didn't..." She gestured with a wince.
"What? No, no." Lance laughed, he too sitting up in bed. "You went skinny dipping. I tried to get you to put your clothes back on but you weren't having any of it. You eventually settled for my shirt after I went in the water to get you."
"Oh god..." Pidge clutched the side of her head, barely able to look Lance in the eye. "And the pillows?"
The Cuban man snorted, shaking his head. "You wanted to build a fort."
"Ah... I'm so sorry you had to see that Lance." She said, voice cracking in the back of her throat. A gentle breeze floated in through the open window, allowing sunlight to pool as the curtains fluttered. Pidge squinted hard, the intense light making her eyes sting.
Note to self: NEVER drinking again.
"It's alright Pidge, I'd rather have seen that than let you drown." Lance added, before patting the spot on the bed next to him. "Wanna watch some TV before breakfast?"
Pidge nodded reluctantly as she clambered onto the bed, the room spinning a little bit less than it had before. Pulling the duvet over them both, Lance began to search for the TV remote.
"I swear I put it right he-" his words caught in his throat as his hand collided with Pidge's, her warm skin causing his pulse to jump to an impractical speed. The touch was held along with eye contact for a few seconds, weak smiles appearing below reddened cheeks.
"I-er," Lance spluttered, the blush now spreading up to the very tips of his ears. He couldn't fight the pull in his chest any longer.
Lance felt himself leaning into her, staring breathlessly down at Pidge's lips. With every moment they drew closer, and he was almost certain his heart was going to faulter in his chest. Pidge's body was having almost the same reaction, her lungs refusing to function. A lump of anticipation lodged itself into her throat, making every attempt to breathe fruitless.
When their lips finally met, Pidge heard herself involuntarily sigh. Hot tears settled in the corners of her eyes, but they were squeezed so tightly that there was no threat of the tears escaping. Lance's lips were so soft. Clearly his beauty routine had paid off. For a moment they remained frozen, unsure of their next move. That was until Lance lifted his hand, burring his fingers into Pidge's hair. She shuddered at his touch, her own hand clasping onto Lances outstretched arm. Lance's lips parted, deepening the kiss. Pidge accepted this gladly, feeling herself move closer to him. Her free hand wrapped itself around his neck, allowing her to close the gap between them.
They pulled away with a heavy sigh, foreheads pressed together as their chests moved in unison. Lance couldn't stop smiling, his eyes locked into the amber ones across from him. For a moment, all that could be heard was their shallow breathing. That was until Lance witnessed the blush on Pidge's face turn pale.
"Please don't take what I'm about to do as a comment on what just happened." Pidge blurted, quickly clamping her hand across her mouth before dashing in the direction of the bathroom.