(So sorry I haven't been so active with writing lately I haven't been in a good place and just couldn't find the motivation but please enjoy!💙💚)
The mid-morning sun streamed through the crack in Lance's curtains, accompanied by the soft bird song that lulled through the open window. The man stirred, rolling onto his back and stretching with an almighty groan. With as much enthusiasm as he could muster, he began to rub the sleep from his eyes.
Lance let a heavy sigh slip through his lips, outstretching his arm and feeling lazily through the duvet. When his hand failed to meet what it was looking for, Lance's head shot upwards.
"Morning," a voice lilted across to him. Lance blinked hard, and reluctantly pulled himself up onto the pillow behind him.
"Morning, Pidge." he yawned. The woman stood at the end of his bed was already dressed and ready for her day ahead, lab coat draped loosely over her arm. "How long have you been up?"
Pidge walked around the bed, and gently sat herself down next to him. "About an hour. I was going to wake you but I thought it best to let you sleep. Thought you'd be a bit tired out after last night." She teased, a grin beginning to appear on her lips. A chuckle blew from Lance's nose, slowly followed by a small smile breaking on his lips. With a tilt of his head, he gestured to the spot next to him in the bed.
"5 more minutes?"
"I've gotta go," Pidge laughed, "If I don't leave now I'll be late for my meeting and I'll have Iverson on my ass again." She rolled her eyes as she exhaled. Lance, still half asleep, groaned to himself, sliding back down into the bed. Pidge smirked at the bleary eyed man, before leaning forward and planting a kiss on Lance's forehead. The sensation drove a heat to his cheeks, bringing back several memories of the night before.
"I'll see you later."
Lance watched studiously as Pidge left, eyes following her around the room before she disappeared behind the door. The heat from his cheeks had now spread throughout his chest, awakening several butterflies that usually resided at the pit of his stomach. Forcing them back to the depths, Lance clambered out of bed and dressed himself. After throwing on an old shirt and jeans, he wandered through to his bathroom for his daily routine. He reached out for his toothbrush.
He hesitated.
There, beside his own, was the dark green toothbrush Pidge used when she stayed over. He tried to look past it as he placed toothpaste on his brush and began scrubbing furiously at his teeth. Washing off his brush, something else caught his eye. Several small hair clips were perched on the windowsill, glinting brilliantly in the sunlight.
An unusual taste rose in his throat.
It definitely wasn't the toothpaste.
This had all started two months ago. Valentines day. The Earth tradition wasn't carried out on New Altea, and Pidge had always thought of the tradition to be rather tedious. It had been her who suggested that they have a games night, just like they used to on the Castle. Lance had been thrilled at the idea, and to simulate their gaming nights as best he could, gathered several blankets and cushions. This, accompanied by an outrageous amount of snack foods, meant the night promised to be a good one.
Banter was expected.
Play fighting was inevitable. (Especially after how much Pidge had bragged about kicking Lance's butt for several minutes afterwards).
What he didn't predict, was the kiss that Pidge gave him after he'd pinned her down. At first, he suspected it was her attempt at freedom, a ploy to throw him off so she could escape. Yet, when she deepened it, all rational thought was lost.
They had labelled it as an accident the first time, and even attempted to do so after the second incident at Shiro's wedding. After the fourth time, (Which nearly lead to discovery by Hunk) they decided to talk about what was happening.
Now, another 13 times down the line, Lance could be found stood, staring at Pidge's toothbrush with a great sense of iniquity. His eyes flicked from the sink up to his own reflection in the bathroom mirror. Slowly, Lance lifted his hand up to his cheek. His fingers danced across the Altean marks on his skin, and he felt his heart drops straight through his diaphragm.
Her name rose onto his tongue, bursting on it's tip like a fizzing candy.
Allura.
When they had decided that they were only 'fooling around', Lance's sense of guilt skyrocketed, only able to convince himself that wherever she was, Allura wouldn't mind him living his life. But now he found her memory forced to the back of his mind more often than not. As he searched for her, Lance found a recollection of the night before.
Pidge had been laid on his chest, amber eyes peering up at him through dishevelled hair. She had looked so beautiful.
It had terrified him.
An ache began to build at the base of Lance's skull. He let his hand graze over the area for a moment, keeping his gaze fixed on the markings on his face.
"She's just sleeping over." Even saying it aloud didn't remove the shudder from Lance's lungs. If anything it increased it. With a heavy sigh, Lance pulled himself away from the bathroom mirror and made his way downstairs.
Again, he stopped. At the foot of the door sat a pair of Pidge's boots, mud-stained from her attempt to help him with the cows yesterday. An overwhelming sense of panic hit Lance's chest, stiffening his muscles.
"She's staying forever..." Lance heard himself say aloud. Even he was aware it was completely irrational for him to think that.
It was just a pair of boots.
The Cuban man collected himself once more, forcing himself through to the kitchen to make himself a much needed coffee. He finished it a bit too quickly, burning his tongue. The sensation seemed to ground him, reminding him of everything that he had to do to day. Things that would definitely take his mind off of a certain someone.
"Hi Kalternecker." Lance said softly as he entered the cow shed. The greeting was met by a low grunt, the cow's head reluctantly swing around in his direction. The dark eyes seemed to light up once they noticed the bucket of food next to Lance's ankles. The man gave a small chuckle, pouring the contents into the trough. He'd made his way through every pen, and as he always did, visited Kalternecker last.
He couldn't explain it, but he knew he had a special attachment to this animal. He suspected it was the way she kept him company on the castle, or the fact she had spent some time with him inside the red lion on their journey back to Earth. Or maybe it was the fact that seeing her always brought back fond memories of Pidge.
Pidge.
"Can I ask you something, Kalternecker?" Lance sighed, rubbing his temple. There was a soft grunt from the direction of the animal, the large eyes sparing him a glance before turning back to the food.
Lance took that as a reluctant yes.
"As you know, Pidge has been... staying over quite a bit recently and to be honest, I'm having a lot of fun." Lance said quietly, leaning back against the door of the pen. "But there's something that's bothering me and I can't quite figure out what it is..." He trailed off as he strode over to the cow. Kalternecker lifted her head from the empty trough, blinking up at him blissfully. Lance reached across and began to scratch behind her ear, producing a contented moo.
A snort left Lances lungs at the sight, and he would have sworn that the cow was smiling back at him.
"I'm not sure how to feel about all of it." Lance continued, "I mean, I really like her otherwise this wouldn't be happening." He placed a hand on his hip as he thought, still peering down at the cow. "She's funny, she's beautiful, she makes me feel so much better when I'm with her and she does this amazing thing with-"
Another moo from Kalternecker cut Lance's rant short, whilst also pulling him back into reality.
"But last time I felt that way about someone I..." Lance stopped, rubbing his arm awkwardly.
The cow blinked again, eyes unmoving from the man. She snorted loudly, ears flapping around as her head shook from the notion. Lance's shoulders dropped, eyebrows furrowing as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I know, I know. It's just.." a heavy breath clung to the back of his throat, "I don't want to lose her too."
***
Lance's ear pricked at the sound of his door closing, forcing his head to turn toward the entrance. His eyes were met by a warm smile, the owner of which carried in her arms a container of Hunk's famous pizza roles and a bottle of wine.
"Hunk insisted I bring some back. He made too many in his last batch so palmed them off on me. I'm not complaining though. Remember how many we'd eat at those coalition meetings?" Pidge began to talk, walking further through the door and hanging up her coat. Lance smirked at her entrance, but didn't make a sound. The woman continued into the living room, plonking herself down on the sofa. She lifted her hand, highlighting the bottle in her hand.
"Dad brought a bottle of wine for me 'cause I finished the latest defenders vehicle. I thought we could share it and watch some trashy sci-fi movies and... and... You're being unusually quiet." Pidge leant a little closer to him, concern washing over her face. "Are you all right, Lance?"
Lance shifted his weight, running his tongue across his lips as he sat forward. His elbows rested on his knees, hands wringing nervously in front of him. "I-I think we need to talk, Pidge." He said hesitantly. The woman fidgeted in order to get closer to him, her head lowering to look him in the eye.
"You don't wanna watch a sci-fi movie? That's okay you can pick this ti-"
"I'm not on about the movies, Pidge."
Pidge fell back onto the sofa, her mouth forming into the shape of a small 'o'. Lance coughed into his hand, an attempt to calm his growing nerves. "We need to talk about us." He said softly, glancing across at her. Pidge mimicked his movement, drawing herself closer to him once more.
"What's wrong? Is it getting too weird for you?" Hidden in her voice was a hint of pain, a pain that stemmed from pit of her stomach. She may not have been in a relationship before, but she knew that 'we need to talk' was never a good thing. She observed as a weak smile formed on Lance's lips.
Lance felt his chest shudder, and the words began to bubble up out of his throat.
"I've done a lot of thinking and the thing is... I love you Katie." He blurted, his head getting left behind as his lips moved. "I'm in love with you." Lance seemed to correct himself.
Pidge blinked, jaw falling slack. The blush that crept across her cheeks was in no way subtle, hiding her freckles under a deep shade of red.
Lance inhaled, chewing on his bottom lip before continuing, "It's not weird. I always thought that it would be weird with the first girl I got involved with after Allura, and I think with anyone else it would have been... but with you, it's not. It feels right."
Pidge's stunned silence continued.
"But that's what terrifies me about it. I don't want to lose you. You're my best friend Pidge, and I don't want to screw up what we have. So I'm a little unsure on what to do..." He sighed, his eyes meeting Pidge's once again. A weak smile broke on his lips as he noticed her flustered expression.
Pidge blinked a couple of times, her calm exterior in complete conflict with her inner workings. Several thoughts had fizzled up her spine, drawing her mind to a multitude of different conclusions for this particular conversation. Was he going to end it because loving her scared him? It was hard to tell from the deadpan expression that was situated on his face. Pidge swallowed the nervous bile at the back of her throat.
"Are you saying you want to stop?" Her voice was strained, even she could hear that. Lance bolted upright, holding out his hands.
"What? No-no." Lance continued, his brows upturned as he smiled weakly. "So what I'm saying is, if you wanted... it could be something more."
Air flooded Pidge's lungs as she took in a breath, desperately trying to steady her nerves.
She failed.
"I love you too, you utter moron. I have done for quite some time." Pidge snorted. In an instant she buried into his chest, arms thrown lazily around his neck before deepening the embrace. Lance blew a sigh from his nose, the weight trickling off of his shoulders. As they pulled away, Pidge threw her leg over his waist. Now straddling him, she pressed her forehead against his own. Lance's cheeks darkened quicker than she ever thought possible. He let out a nervous chuckle under his breath, arms coming to rest on her waist.
"Looking back, I don't understand why it took seeing your toothbrush and expositioning the shit out of Kalternecker to see tha-
Lance was hushed abruptly by Pidge's finger on his lip. Her face still retained the nervous blush, yet her smile held sincerity. Lance's pulse rose tenfold in anticipation.
"Will you just kiss me al- wait, did you just say my toothbrush?"
Lance's cheeks heated.
"I'll explain later..."