When Lance has a crush, which he always does, Pidge never takes it seriously because nothing ever happens. That's why she never thought much about his crush on Allura. Yeah, it annoyed the hell out of her like every other crush did, but she knew there was nothing she could do about it. She'd just have to let the phase take its course, while she did her usual teasing. She knew it was just another silly crush on a beautiful woman that would eventually fade until the next beautiful woman came along. It wasn't a big deal. But then...it does become a big deal and Pidge isn't sure what to make of it.
Firstly, the 'nothing' that usually happens with a 'Lance-Crush' turns into something when Allura starts to spend a lot more time with him. She's been spending more time with Lance on Earth than she ever had before in space. Then again, they were in the middle of a war and there really wasn't a lot to do in space. There was just so much...space. The point is, Allura and Lance have been inseparable since the return home. She's even staying with him and his family for the time being, and of course Lance's family absolutely adores her. Who doesn't? Even Lotor adored her at some point.
Secondly, the flirting/new crush with Romelle-the new beautiful Altean woman-never came to be. Which is so out of character for Lance. Lance has never been one to shy away from a potential flirt victim. When there's a beautiful woman around, Lance is always there working his charm, which he hasn't done at all for the past six months since he's known the new Altean. (They've been on Earth for three months). Pidge has come to the conclusion that this can only mean one thing: Lance's crush on Allura has turned into love. It never faltered or faded away. It grew into something precious. Something she knows Lance has been looking for for a long time. He's a helpless romantic after all.
And the last thing on the list that makes this even more of a big deal is that...Pidge is in love with Lance. She's found love too, but unfortunately...it's unrequited. She has hope though. It's very, very small, but it's there. After all, Allura never felt the same way about Lance until much later. Pidge selfishly hopes that it will happen to her too and she hates herself for it. Lance and Allura are happy together. It hasn't been confirmed that they're dating or that Allura even has feelings for him, but Pidge doesn't need their oral confirmation to know. Allura is at her happiest when she's with Lance. Which is funny because...so is Pidge.
Pidge isn't sure when her crush on Lance came to be, but she does know that she didn't realize she had a crush on him until last week when Hunk made her realize her feelings. By then, they've already been on earth for three months. Pidge was unaware of her jealousy towards Allura. She was, however, aware of how strange and confusing it was for her to be feeling such bitterness towards the princess; she just couldn't pinpoint the name of the exact emotion she was feeling despite how smart she is. She's a genius with technology not emotions. But she knew damn well how annoyed she felt with Lance. She became jealous of Allura for spending so much time with Lance, and annoyed with Lance for always blowing her and Hunk off to spend time with Allura. Sure, a lot of the time they would all spend time together as a team, but who would Lance be standing/sitting by most of the time? Allura. Who did Lance mainly talk to? Allura.
Allura, Allura, Allura.
And yeah, while Pidge now knows she is jealous of her, that doesn't mean she's mad at her or hates her. The only one she's mad at is Lance. So she rants about it to Hunk, he makes her realize that she has feelings for Lance, and now she's doing everything in her power to avoid her Cuban crush-FRIEND! Not crush. Friend. F.R.I.E.N.D. In a weird way, she finds it kind of amusing. There she was, complaining about Lance not spending time with her, and now, she wants nothing to do with him. She doubts Lance has even realized she's been avoiding him this past week. Or maybe he has, but she doesn't know because she's been freaking avoiding him?! Welp, that's one theory she's not going to test out.
As of right now, Pidge is currently alone in hers and Matt's old tree house, watching the sun set as her thoughts consume her. Speaking of Matt, she's surprised how easily he gave Allura up without a fight and moved on to Romelle. Pidge clearly remembers Matt and Lance bickering over the alien princess back in space. Then as soon as Matt sees Romelle, anything he thought he felt for Allura vanished. Of course, unlike Lance, Matt didn't know Allura long enough for his feelings to fully form. She's glad though that Romelle agreed to 'court' her brother. They're really cute together AND she doesn't have to worry about another girl growing a crush on Lance and him growing a crush on her...even though Lance has proved enough times that Allura is 'the one' for him.
But seriously though, Pidge still couldn't believe that her own brother pulled a 'Lance' move. Lance was the only person she knew who would be interested in a girl and then be interested in another one who was prettier. That's pretty much what Matt did and Pidge swears that if he starts to act more like Lance, she's going to kill them both.
"Care for some company?" A familiar voice says from behind her.
Pidge jumps out of her skin and yelps in surprise, making the person who's been causing her so much trouble lately laugh. Speak of the devil. "What the hell, Lance?!" She said when she whirled around to see who it was. She placed a hand over her rapidly beating heart, and was left unsure if it was because he scared her or if it was because he was simply there. "Don't scare me like that again. I could have beaten the hell out of you with Old ElizaBat." She gestures to the old baseball bat in the corner.
Lance, who was sticking his head out through the floor door of the treehouse, laughs again. "Do you even remember how to hold a baseball bat? Old ElizaBat looks like she hasn't been handled in years! Plus, a bat is completely different from our Voltron weapons. You wouldn't know what to do with it."
Pidge rolls her eyes and suppresses a smile. "Maybe we should test that out. Now what do you want, Lance? I'm busy."
"Oh forgive me," he sarcastically says, "I forgot how busy sitting down and doing nothing can get."
"Watching the sunset is not nothing, Lance. It's a big deal for me," Pidge responded in a serious manner as she turned back around to watch the sight. "I've been doing this ever since we came back."
"Every day for the past three months?" Lance asked, surprised.
She nods. "Yep," Pidge popped the 'p' and pauses for a brief moment before she hesitantly says her next words. "I tried many times to get you to come watch it with me. Alone. Just the two of us like we used to do before Voltron at the Garrison, but...you were always busy showing Allura around. Which, I honestly don't blame you for-" And despite her jealousy, she really, truly doesn't; she just wishes that he'd at least make time for her- "I mean, after all, she's a very curious alien, and you're the best tour guide ever. So...yeah. Speaking of which, where is she?" Pidge turns back around to look at Lance, and watches as he brings the rest of his body inside of the treehouse.
"She's with Keith right now." Lance answered, sitting on his butt as he gently shut the door. He then hangs his head low and sighs. At first, Pidge thought it was because he wasn't with Allura, that Keith was, but then he says: "Despite what you may be thinking, I'm not with her all the time. Believe it or not, she spends more time with Keith than me. I also wish you'd stop avoiding me."
Pidge's eyes go wide and she stammers out her response."W-What?! I-I haven't been avoiding you, you idiot." She then scoffs and turns back around so she wouldn't have to face him. She could feel her cheeks begin to heat up in embarrassment, but then...then she realizes. Lance noticed that she had been avoiding him. He actually noticed her not being there. Dare she even think that he...missed her? "What on earth gave you such an idea?"
Lance doesn't say anything for awhile, and at first Pidge thought he silently left, but then she hears the old boards creak, followed by the sound of soft footsteps, and sees Lance's body settled down in the empty chair next to hers. She didn't realize until he sat down and felt his thigh touching hers how incredibly close the chair had been to her. And due to them both wearing shorts, her face became hot again at the warmth she felt from his skin touching hers.
God, it felt nice, even in the hot summer weather.
They sat in silence for a long moment, watching the sky change from one color to another, and while Pidge had wanted to look at Lance, to admire his beauty in the lighting that surrounded them, she couldn't bring herself to do it. If she did, she'd end up in a trance (funny how that rhymes with Lance), and then embarrass herself. She kinda hates Hunk for making her realize her feelings. She hates herself for having these feelings. She'd rather face the battles of war than the battle of her heart.
Her heart jolts when he speaks. "Hunk told me how you felt."
And just like that, Pidge's eyes pop out of their sockets, her jaw drops to the floor, and her insides explode. "HE WHAT?! OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!"
Lance, surprised by her outburst, winced at her loudness. "Jesus, calm down, dude. I don't want to go deaf."
"Calm down?!" Pidge screeched, horrified beyond belief. "Hunk tells you that I love you and you're the one telling me to calm down?! Why aren't you freaking-"
"WAIT WHAT?! HOLY QUIZNACK, YOU LOVE ME?!"
It was Pidge's turn to wince at Lance's loudness, and his sudden incredulous outburst silenced her for a moment. "W-Wait," she says, confused. "You...you don't know that I-? Hunk didn't-"
"All Hunk told me," Lance explained, his voice higher than hers, but his heart pounding as equally fast as hers was, "is that you've been feeling neglected. He never said anything about you...about you...being in love with me." The last five words came out much softer than the rest of his words, and as his ocean blue eyes stared into her hazel ones in utter disbelief, he couldn't help but feel...happy.
He doesn't have a crush on Pidge, nor does he romantically love her, but that doesn't mean he never will. Having no feelings for her now doesn't mean they won't ever form later. Real love takes time, and Pidge has already taken her time to fall in love with Lance. Now it's his turn. He's lately actually been very attentive to the idea of her being his girlfriend. Ever since they've been home, he's noticed things about her that he's never noticed before. Things that he finds pretty damn adorable. He's begun to take a strong interest in her.
He's not sure why he was just now starting to notice these little things-maybe he's always noticed, but he's for some reason seeing them in a new light-but in general he's not complaining. Pidge is the whole freaking package. He's always had the best time with Pidge, and he honestly sees himself being happy with her in a romantic way. He sometimes wondered if the reason he's seeing her differently is because he's no longer interested in Allura.
Unbeknownst to Pidge and everyone else, Lance hasn't had any romantic feelings for Allura for months. It was a couple of days after Allura had brought Shiro back to life and they were on their way home that Allura and Keith had a heart to heart talk, which then resulted in Allura talking things over with Lance afterwards.
"I just…" Allura had said, "I don't want to unintentionally lead you on or use you as a distraction. I don't want you to be my...what do you earthlings say? Rebound? Ugh it doesn't matter what it's called. My point is, Lotor used me for his own selfish needs and I don't want to do the same. I don't want to use you, Lance, and with me being so vulnerable right now, I'm afraid that I accidentally will. Or worse...I'll do it on purpose. So I have to say it now to prevent that. I do love you Lance, but-"
"It'll never be the way I want it," Lance had interrupted, finishing her sentence with a sad smile. He had known, despite how close they had become, that they would be nothing more than friends. And Lance was honestly very okay with that. "I understand, Princess. Believe me, I really do. I've had my heart broken before, and I've been the one to break hearts too. Romance and dating...the whole thing is a whole mess."
Allura had nodded in agreement, chuckling a bit too. "Yes, it is. But when you meet the right person, it's worth it. I'm sorry that that person isn't me."
"And I'm sorry your person wasn't Lotor." Lance had said. He hated that Allura had fallen for the Half-Galra prince, but he had never wished for things to turn out the way they did between the two royals. The only thing he ever wished for was for Allura to love him back. He never wished for Lotor to betray them, thus ruining the relationship he had with the Altean Princess.
"We'll find our special person someday though," Allura had smiled as bright as the stars that surrounded them. "They may be closer than we think. Thank you for being so understanding by the way. You're an incredible person and your future mate is tremendously lucky."
Lance had mimicked her bright smile. "Ditto to you."
"I know we all consider each other family," Allura had continued, "but...how would you feel if I officially dubbed you to be my brother?"
"Wait, what? You can do that? Like...officially?" Lance had questioned.
Allura had giggled. "I'm a princess. Anything I say goes."
Lance had happily thrown his hands up in the air. "Heck yeah! I'm getting another sister! So how does this 'dubbing' thing work?"
Allura's giggling had turned into full-hearted laughter. "Well, I've never done it before so I'll just have to make something up. I'll stand while you kneel, okay?" Lance had done as she said and kneeled before her. Allura had then cleared her throat before speaking again. "I, Princess Allura of Altea, dub you, Lance of Earth and Paladin of Voltron, to be my chosen brother from this lifetime into the next. You may rise."
Lance had stood up and was not at all prepared to feel her lips on his forehead. When she pulled away, she said: "You are now forevermore my brother. May our bond never break."
Lance's smile had never faltered. "May it never break...dear sister."
Calling her sister had a much better ring to it than girlfriend ever did.
Pidge whimpered, completely mortified, and buried her red face in her hands. "Oh my god," she said, wanting to cry, but not wanting to embarrass herself even more. She was slightly shaking and wished to God that he would strike her down right that instance. To just wipe her clean out of existence. "I cannot believe this is happening right now. Leave it to me to jump to conclusions." Her voice was muffled and her throat and chest and stomach and pretty much everything felt tight.
And Lance had the audacity to laugh. Hard. So hard that Pidge's mild shaking stops, and her embarrassment turns into so much more. It turns into confusion, annoyance, and even hurt. How does he find this laughable? She removes her hands from her face to look at him, her face already glaring. "What in the actual fiery depths of hell are you laughing about?! Nothing about this is freaking funny! Do you think this is some kind of joke? Because it's not, Lance! It's-"
She was cut off when Lance suddenly cups both of her cheeks, holding them gently in his soft hands. They were surprisingly cold against her warm cheeks, and his touch sends goosebumps all over her body. "Katie," he said, saying her real name, which he only does when he'd being dead serious. She both loved and hated how he made it sound like the most prettiest word to ever exist. "I don't think this is a joke. I only find this hilarious because the one person who I thought would never fall for my charm," he pauses to move his thumbs up and down on her cheeks, "ends up doing exactly just that. And here I thought, stealing your heart would be impossible. I'm surprised."
Pidge's glare doesn't go away, but neither does she. She doesn't want to move away from his touch. She's not sure she can anyway; she's still too frozen in shock that he's touching her in such a way. "Trust me," she says, scoffing as her eyes look at everything that isn't him, "I'm surprised too."
She brings her hands up to grasp Lance's wrists, and at first Lance thought it was so she could remove them, but instead she just keeps them there. "However," she went on, her gaze sadly looking to the floor, "I'm not surprised that you don't feel the same way." That was when she removed his hands, and that was when Lance was hit with his own sadness.
"Wait," he asked, confused, "what do you mean? You don't know what I feel."
Pidge boldly looks up at him, releasing a bitter laugh. "I don't? Lance, you're so obvious! So much, in fact, that a blind man can see the love you have for Allura."
Lance shook his head. "Dude, believe it or not, I haven't had any romantic feelings towards Allura in months."
For a moment, Pidge was quiet, processing his words. Then she says the first word that comes to mind: "Bullshit."
Lance laughs again. "I'm telling you the truth. We had a talk probably a week after we left for Earth," he explained, "and she said that since she was emotionally unstable after Lotor, she didn't want to accidentally use me as her rebound-love since she was well aware of how I felt for her. She was afraid she'd take advantage of it, that she'd lead me on, and made sure to tell me in hopes it would prevent it from happening. She then officially dubbed me to be her brother, which I accepted. Surprisingly, it didn't take long at all for my romantic feelings for her to die. I guess knowing that she adopted me as her brother just...turned me off. Incest is gross."
"But you're not related though."
"Are you defending non-biological incest? That's messed up, Pidge."
Pidge punches him in the arm as she stifled her laughter. "You know what I meant."
Lance chuckles before continuing, "So yeah, after my royal dubbing, my feelings went away. I'm glad too. I'd hate myself if I still romantically loved her after becoming her brother." He shudders in disgust. "Now that I think about it though, if she really was my true love, my feelings never would have gone away as fast as they did. Even after being declared her bro. It simply wasn't meant to be, I guess."
"Hmm" Pidge says, shrugging as she carefully thought out her words, "Well, things like that happen for a reason." She couldn't think of anything else to say, so she stops at that.
"Maybe…" Lance started, suddenly feeling shy. He looked down at his hands, which he tried not to nervously fiddle with, and felt his face grow warm. "Maybe you're the reason. Maybe it was always meant to be you." His voice was so soft, just barely above a whisper, but Pidge heard it perfectly clear. It made her eyes go wide and her face grow red again, along with making her heart skip a beat.
She couldn't find any words again, so instead she turns her attention back to the sky, not saying anything at all. She didn't even know what to think. One part of her was swooning, another part was disgusted with her swooning, and another part was skeptical. She knows Lance doesn't feel anything for her. Sure, she was wrong about him still having feelings for Allura, but she knows that she's not Lance's type. There's no way in hell that he would ever reciprocate her feelings. Pidge hates thinking this, but...she can't help but think he only said that because he's so desperate for romantic love. She knows that Lance isn't that kind of person, but can she be blamed for being weary?
Lance, who had felt her eyes on him, also felt her turn her gaze away, and when she doesn't say anything, his nervousness grew and he finally looks over at her. She was tense and looked upset. Did his words make her uncomfortable? He didn't mean to do that; he had only meant to make her happy because surely...surely they were the right words to do that. Should he have said something else? Maybe she wasn't ready to hear such a strong statement. Hell, judging from her mortified reaction from earlier, Lance knows she wasn't ready to confess her love for him. Lord knows he wasn't ready to hear that either. Pidge would never have blurted out her feelings if Lance had never mentioned Hunk; she never would have misinterpreted, and it makes Lance wonder: Would she have ever confessed her feelings to him? If so, then when? On his deathbed? On her deathbed?
"I'm sorry if that was...weird." Lance spoke, breaking the silence as he carefully observed her. She still doesn't say anything, so he goes on. "Are you-"
"You can't just say things like that," Pidge interrupts in a whisper, "You can't just...say things that you don't mean."
"How do you know that I don't mean it?"
"Because I just do!" Pidge suddenly exclaimed, her need to cry increasing. "I know you don't really feel the same about me-"
"There you go again assuming what I feel," Lance interrupted, annoyed.
"Then tell me, Lance! What the hell do you feel then? Tell me what I already know." Pidge asked as she turned her body completely around in the chair to face him. She didn't want to look at him when he rejected her, but she kept telling herself that she's a warrior and can handle anything life throws at her. Lance's rejection will be no different than a blast from the Galra. She wants to be brave; she has to be. So she stared him down, and fought with all her might not to get lost in his damn eyes; she fought with all her might not to cry. She's tired, frustrated, embarrassed, and already heartbroken. She wants it to be over with.
Lance took no hesitation in his response. He sent her a challenging glare and says in a determined voice, "No, I'll tell you what I know, and what I know is that I adore and admire the hell out of you. I know that when you geek out over something, it's the cutest damn thing ever. I know that when you're angry, I need to be scared for my life. I know that when you're sad, my heart will break more than yours and I will do everything in my power to make you feel better. Or destroy whatever it was that made you sad. I know that when we're apart, I miss you like crazy. I know that when you're happy, I'm happy too, simply because you are. I know that your smile is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, and that your laughter is the most beautiful sound to ever be heard. I know that-" and just like that realization hit him like a truck and his breath gets stuck in his throat.
"H-Holy shit," he breathed out, eyes wide, and lips curled up into a wide smile, "Now that I'm really thinking about it, I know that I like you a lot. Wait, that doesn't feel right. I know that I...that I love you. Yeah, that sounds right. I-I mean...I think I do? Wait. Oh god, I've never been in love before. I don't know what it feels like, but...but I'm sure this is what it is. Saying that I like you just doesn't feel right. I never felt this way with Allura or any other girl. I-" He nervously rambled on, unaware of the happiness he just ignited in his Green Paladin.
Pidge was already breathless when he first started talking, but his last few sentences really took her breath away. Despite knowing that Lance isn't that kind of person, she had originally thought that he would lie and say he felt the same because he's just that desperate for love, so desperate that he'd actually go to her, but she saw the honesty in his eyes. She heard the honesty in his words. She saw and heard...the love.
"Lance," she started, but he kept going. "Lance." Still he went. "LANCE!"
"What?" He finally says and freezes when he sees the tears the trailed down Pidge's cheeks. His eyes widen in horror. "Wait, why are you crying? What's wrong? Ugh it's me obviously. I'm sorry, I-"
She wasn't even aware that she was crying, but she didn't care. They were happy tears. Nothing to be ashamed of. "It feels like the worst pain ever-"
"What?! What does? What hurts? Where are you hurt at-"
"But it's also the best pleasure."
"Wait, what? Are you talking about sex? Jesus, Pidge, we haven't even had our first kiss or date yet."
Pidge laughs again and continues. "Shut up and let me speak. It's painful, but it's also the best feeling in the world. That's what love feels like, and I mean that in a non-sexual way, so get your head out of the gutter. It's...there's no true way to really explain it, I guess. The only way to understand it is to-"
"To experience it." Lance finished, then looked at her lips. "You know," he said, glancing back into her eyes, "this is not how I expected this conversation to go."
"I wasn't expecting any conversation at all," Pidge replied, chuckling. She had noticed when Lance looked at her lips, and she noticed him do it again just now. And of course, she glanced at his.
Her heart was already pounding so fast, but when she saw him lean closer, its speed increased to the point where she honestly thought she was going to have a heart attack. Unbeknownst to her, Lance's heart was doing the same. She found herself leaning in too, her face getting the closest it has ever been to Lance's. Lance closed his eyes, and Pidge nearly did too before she suddenly realized that she was about to have her first kiss in her childhood treehouse.
Hell no was she going to kiss him here. She loves her treehouse, but it's definitely not a worthy enough place to have her first kiss at. They didn't even have their first date yet. She doesn't want to rush into it. She wants them to take their time. To really work. Plus...playing hard to get sounds kind of fun.
So as soon as their lips became an inch away, rather than suddenly jerk back, she remains where she's at and puts her index finger on Lance's lips. His eyes open in surprise, and she says, "Did you really think it was going to be that easy?"
"Um...yes?" He says against her finger. Pidge giggles and gently pushes his face away from hers.
"That's too bad," Pidge said, then realized that the sun was gone and the dark night sky was now watching then. "I missed my sunset, so you miss your kiss."
Lance chuckles as he brought his hand up to push her hair behind her ear. He then cupped her cheek again, but his other hand was now holding one of hers. "Then I guess we'll have to do this another time."
"Is that your way of asking me out on a date?"
"Yes. If you accept...do you?"
Pidge grins and before Lance even knew it she kissed his cheek. "I do."
Little did either of them know, that in ten years from now, she'd be saying to same words to him again on their wedding.