Kidgeweek 2019 - Day 1: High School or College AU .

I'm Not Calling it a Date

"I had the most brilliant idea," Allura gushed as she sat down at a table across from Pidge.

Pidge lifted her eyes from her notes without moving her head, raising an eyebrow as Lance plopped down as well, looking much less pleased than Allura. "Am I going to like this idea?"

"No, because it's an awful idea," Lance grumbled, glaring at Allura.

Allura rolled her eyes. "You're the only one who feels that way. Even Hunk thinks it's a good idea and he never thinks things like this are a good idea!"

Pidge marked where she was in her notes and then set her notebook aside, more interested in finding out what her friends were plotting than continuing to study. The fact that Hunk thought something was a good idea, but Lance didn't was bound to be entertaining.

"Pidge," Allura began, taking her friend's hands with both of her own. "How would you feel about going on a double date with me and Shiro?"

Scratch that.

Not entertaining.

Pidge was with Lance, for once. It sounded like an awful idea.

"Don't say 'no' yet!" Allura begged.

"Maybe you've forgotten, but I'm not dating anyone and there isn't anyone I'm interested in either. I don't know if either of you remember the last time you tried to set me up on a blind date at Nadia's suggestion, but it didn't end well," Pidge reminded them. "I'm sorry, Allura, but-"

"Shiro approves of him!" Allura blurted out in a desperate last attempt.

Pidge snapped her mouth shut and narrowed her eyes. "Shiro knows about this plan and approves of it?"

"Well... I wouldn't say he approves exactly, but he did say that he thought it would be nice if you two could meet and be friends," Allura said. "You don't have to think of this as a date, if you don't want to. Just four friends seeing a movie and getting dinner."

Curse Allura for being so difficult to say no to.

Pidge swallowed her inclination to agree to Allura's plan and looked to Lance instead, hoping that he would be able to offer her the perfect excuse to stay home. "So why are you against this, Lance?"

"Because Keith's a jerk!"

Allura rolled her eyes. "Honestly, I don't understand what your problem is with him. You just up and decided that he is your rival and haven't bothered to give him a chance beyond that!"

"Wait, rival? You mean the mullet guy he's always ranting about?" Pidge asked, her gaze drifting back to Allura.

That was interesting. She'd always been a little curious about the person Lance ranted on about from time to time. Hearing that Allura wanted to set her up with the mystery rival only increased that curiosity and it was for that reason that she found herself agreeing to a movie and dinner on Friday night.

"But it's not a date! Like you said, it'll just be four friends having fun."

Allura squealed in delight. "You won't regret it, Pidge! This is going to be great!"

Lance quietly moaned in defeat, disappointed that no one else wanted to listen to him.

Pidge doubted she'd really have as much fun as Allura seemed to think, but it made her friend happy and she could hardly back out a minute after agreeing. She changed the subject before Allura could continue on, and they all sat around and talked for a while longer before Allura had to head off to class, and Lance to meet Nadia for a late lunch. Pidge stuck around to try and get a little more studying done, but found it hard to concentrate and packed up to head home to the apartment she shared with her brother, Matt.

He was friends with Shiro; maybe he could tell her more about Keith.

Sadly, Matt was nowhere to be found when she got home. After poking around in search of him, Pidge settled in at the desk in her room, leaving her bedroom door open so she could hear when he returned.

She lost herself to several rounds of solitaire on her computer, giving her brain an extended break from her studies. It wasn't like she could focus anyway.

At around four o'clock, as if guided by some unseen force, Pidge looked out her window to the park below. She could see children running around, screaming in glee. There was the old man who fed birdseed to the pigeons every Tuesday. A number of couples strolling along, hand-in-hand. An attractive man with dark hair, running with his massive wolf-like dog.

Pidge took a moment to admire him, as she always did. She wasn't sure what it was that drew her to him; if it was his carefully maintained schedule or just the way his dog stood out from all of the others.

"You know, I'm starting to think you have a crush."

Pidge jumped and flailed her arms before spectacularly falling out of her chair. She glared up at her brother as he laughed. "It's not funny! And I do not!"

"Uh huh," Matt responded, holding out a hand to help her up. "I brought pizza home, unless you'd rather sit in here and keep watching him."

Pidge grumbled at him as she accepted his help, but didn't take the bait he dangled in front of her. Instead, she resisted the urge to take one last look and marched out of her room to their tiny kitchen. "Did you bring me any bread sticks?"

"Of course," Matt said, still sounded amused.

Pidge happily gathered her food, elbowing Matt when she tried to steal a bread stick, and tried to cast aside all thoughts of double dates and attractive joggers. It didn't work very well when Matt kept casting her amused glances.

She finished off the crust of her first slice of pizza and contemplated the best way to distract him. Unfortunately, the only answer she could come up with was one that would lead to another unwanted conversation.

Although, she didn't have to tell him why she was asking about Keith. She could get her answers without revealing that Allura was trying to set her up on a date.

Pidge chomped down on a bread stick as she debated the best way to begin. "You know most of Shiro's friends, right?"

"Some of them," Matt said as he stopped to take a drink before his next slice. "Why?"

"Allura invited me to hang out with her and Shiro on Friday and apparently Shiro's bringing a friend too. Keith, I think," Pidge said.

Matt took too deep of a gulp and sputtered as he tried to collect himself. He covered his mouth and cleared his throat a few times, but that wasn't enough to hide the massive grin he was sporting.

Pidge groaned. "You're in on it too!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Matt said, and while he sounded sincere, his grin said otherwise. "I'm just surprised Keith agreed is all. He's more of a social recluse than you are, if you can believe that."

She didn't fully trust that was the reason for his amusement, but as long as he didn't tease her for her potential date, she'd ignore his shifty behavior. And though she didn't find out anything about Keith, she didn't try to ask about him any more. She was tired and frustrated with herself, and more than a little nervous about Friday night, and didn't want to deal with whatever Matt was keeping secret.

Noticing that she was done with that particular topic, Matt redirected the conversation to classes and the insanity that was trying to follow Professor Slav's lessons, which was always a hot topic in their apartment.

.

.

Over the next few days, Pidge tried to find out more about Keith from Lance (which was a Bad Choice), Hunk (who twittered on a bit about how cute they'd be), and Nadia (who didn't personally know Keith, but was fully on board with it). She found nothing but frustration from them, and Allura was especially unhelpful, as she insisted that Pidge find out first hand.

She arrived at the theater with every intention to grill Shiro for information, only to stop short when she saw who was standing with him and Allura. It took her a moment to recognize him without his dog, but he was unmistakably the man she'd spent the past year admiring from her bedroom window.

Suddenly, Matt's amusement made perfect sense.

Allura spotted her through the crowd and waved her over. Pidge lifted a hand to weakly wave back and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Praying that her cheeks weren't turning bright red, she slowly made her way over to them.

It was certainly an interesting turn of events.

But she still wasn't calling it a date.