Pidge typed furiously on her keyboard, she was so close to finishing her universal translator but there was always the annoying discrepancy between English and Lymrn that she couldn't seem to be able to work around. Her head snapped up as she heard a knock, moments later the door opened to reveal Lance.
"Hey, can I talk to you about something?" Lance asked. Pidge sighed and moved her computer away; she could use a break anyway.
"Sure, what's on your mind?" Pidge asked. Lance walked in and sat next to her.
"Well, I've been keeping something a secret from everyone and I really need to come clean to at least someone," Lance explained.
"Ok, but out of curiosity, why are you deciding to tell me this?" Pidge asked, "I'd assume Hunk or Shiro would be your first choice."
"Hunk's great, but I can't trust him to keep it a secret," Lance replied, "and Shiro, well, I just don't know him as well as I know you." Pidge nodded, it was a reasonable explanation. Lance took a deep breath before continuing. "Look, I flirt with girls all the time, but the truth is, it's not just girls that I'm into."
"You're Bi," Pidge stated, rather definitively.
"Um, yeah," Lance confirmed, "you don't sound surprised."
"Oh, I had a pretty good idea," Pidge informed, adjusting her glasses, "though you did keep it well hidden, I doubt the others could notice the signs."
"Wait, the signs?" Lance asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"Yeah, the small changes in your stance and expression when Keith's in the room," Pidge explained.
"Hold up, I am not attracted to Keith," Lance defended. Pidge glanced over at her friend, unamused.
"You can't be serious," Pidge replied, "Every time he enters the room you start smiling."
"Do not," Lance protested, blushing somewhat.
"You seem to talk about his mullet as often as you can and you didn't leave your room for an entire day after he left. Not to mention you were the only person who noticed he had aged two years just by seeing him through a screen." Lance put on his best interpretation of a tomato as Pidge listed off the signs. "And I'm sorry, 'he's like, the future'?" Lance buried his face in his hands.
"Crap, I do like him," Lance exclaimed.
"Told ya," Pidge replied with contempt.
"But does he like me?" Lance asked, "have you seen him show any signs?"
"Not my place to say," Pidge replied. "Why don't you ask him?"
"Are you kidding me?" Lance asked, "he'll be disgusted if he doesn't feel the same way." Pidge sighed; things could never be simple with Lance could they?
"Ok, try this," Pidge suggested, "ask him what he thinks about a boy named Taylor from the Garrison."
"Taylor?" Lance asked, scrunching up his nose. "Who the heck is Taylor?"
"Just ask him ok," Pidge responded.
"Ok, but how will it help me find out if he likes me?" Lance asked.
"Just trust me, it will," Pidge replied. "Now get out, I've got work to do." Pidge shoved Lance out of her room before returning to her computer. Lance stumbled before falling into the mullet-donning paladin.
"Lance, what are you doing?" Keith asked, holding the boy up so he doesn't fall.
"Oh, um, Keith, Hey!" Lance cheered awkwardly, jumping to his feet and looking away while laughing nervously. Keith cocked an eyebrow, Lance was acting weird, well, weirder.
"Are you feeling ok?" Keith asked.
"Yeah…um, can I talk to you?" Lance asked, trying to regain his composure.
"You are right now," Keith pointed out, still confused.
"I mean like, actually sit down and talk," Lance clarified, "in private." Keith seemed to consider his options for a moment before nodding.
"Ok, is talking in my room ok?" Keith asked, "that's where I was headed." Lance's face flashed red at the thought of being in Keith's bedroom; he quickly turned around so Keith couldn't see how red he had become.
"Your room's fine," he practically squeaked. Keith shrugged and led the way down the hall. Once they entered the room Keith hung up his jacket and sat down on the bed.
"Well, aren't you going to sit?" he asked after noticing Lance standing awkwardly in the center of the room. Lance nodded and sat down on the bed next to Keith. "So, what do you want to talk about?"
"Keith, do you know Taylor? From the Garrison," Lance asked. Keith's eyes seemed to grow wider.
"So you do know him?" Keith asked, "I thought you might but I didn't want to ask." Lance watched Keith cover his face in his hands. "I had the biggest crush on him." Lance could hear his heart break into a million pieces; Pidge was a quiznaking asshole for suggesting he bring up this Taylor person. "I mean, he was always really friendly with everyone and had this laugh that just seemed to make everything better. He was super hard working as well, not to mention hot!" Lance's breath hitched, Keith thought this highly about someone Lance couldn't even remember? Lance turned to see Keith blushing slightly. "Actually, he looks a lot like…you."
"Really?" Lance asked. Surely he would remember someone who looked like himself.
"Yeah, you're cousins or something right? That's what I thought when we met while saving Shiro," Keith admitted. Lance really started to freak out now. There was no way this Taylor guy was his cousin; forgetting some random Garrison student was fine but forgetting his own cousin? He would never. Silently, Lance listed off all his cousins, none of them were named Taylor, it must have just been a coincidence that they looked alike.
"He was a cargo pilot like you wasn't he?" Keith asked for clarification. "That's one of the reasons I never talked to him, we were in too many different classes. But I guess I was also intimidated by him, I was afraid he wouldn't like me." Lance didn't think he could feel any worse, he had just found out he liked Keith and now thanks to a certain gremlin Keith was telling him all about how he loved another boy. "I was intimidated by his skill as well, I don't understand why he only became a cargo pilot, he was one of the best flier at the Garrison in my opinion. Like that phrase he always used, 'time to thread the needle'." Lance stopped breathing for a moment. What did he just hear Keith say?
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Lance asked.
"Thread the needle," Keith confirmed, "it's what he always said since he could maneuver through even really tight spaces." Realization struck Lance like a freight train; this kid Keith was in love with wasn't called Taylor, he was called The Tailor, the kid Keith had a crush on was actually called Lance, Keith had a crush on him. Lance froze for a moment, unable to register anything other than the secret he had just discovered; Keith has had a crush on him for years. Lance's face turned so red he could have sworn it was glowing.
"S-Sorry, I-I have t-to go!" Lance shouted before running out of Keith's room, not noticing Pidge snickering by the doorframe. Pidge had seen Lance's feelings towards Keith grow gradually during their time in space, she decided to find out if Keith had any feelings for Lance. When she found out Keith liked a kid named Taylor from the Garrison she was racking her brain to try and remember a Taylor. It wasn't until Lance announced himself as the team's best sharpshooter that it hit her, because that reminded her of the time that Lance told her about being called the Tailor. From that moment on she made it her personal goal to get the two paladins together, but boy did they make it difficult. She. Tried. EVERYTHING! When Keith walked into the black lion for the first time she asked Allura and Hunk not to react when he was inevitably chosen, knowing Lance would try comforting him if Keith started doubting himself. She was also the one who made sure Lance overheard her making an off remark about there being one extra paladin when Shiro returned, prompting Lance to talk to Keith about it. She even asked Allura to act like she was attracted to Lance in hopes of making Lance realise it wasn't what he wanted. But nothing worked, and so she was left with the only card she had left.
"Hey Pidge, do you know where Lance went?" Keith asked. "He just ran off."
"Oh, he's been like that ever since he figured out the guy he liked likes him back," Pidge explained.
"Really? Keith asked, "who does he like?"
"Not my place to say," Pidge responded. "Though I think you should know, there was never a kid called Taylor in the Garrison, that was just the person's nickname. And Lance didn't have any lookalikes either." Keith seemed to process the information for a while before his face turned as red as Lance's had.
"Wait," he responded, "you don't mean…?"