Rule 2 – (Don't) Watch out for Younger Siblings
Pidge was just about done with vermin. D.O.N.E. Done.
This was the third time this week one of her tools had vanished from her tool station and she was 100% sure the little space-vermin were the cause.
Now don't get her wrong, the space mice were cute and all, and she could quite honestly say they were fun to have around… when they weren't sticking their noses into other people's business and going through her stuff.
You would think the space mice would not be the first entities she would point her finger at, Hunk and Coran would surely be the more sensible, educated guesses, right? WRONG! Pidge knew the little punks were behind this for two reasons. One, no one had been in Greens hanger besides her on the days the objects went missing, and two, the vermin were known for stealing things. Many a time Pidge would have to throw herself flush against the corridor walls to get out of the way of Coran, who would be chasing the four offenders out of the engine room whilst yelling altean profanities.
Coran usually kept his cool very well in situations like that, but the little suckers drove the moustache loving man up the wall as much as they did Pidge. Allura theorised this was partly due to the Mice refusing to make Coran a sandwich. Coran denied it.
Anyway, she was getting side tracked. Pidge's priority for right now had to be finding the space-rats and getting her tools back.
She contemplated checking the vents, knowing the mice could easily fit into them, as could Pidge, but the thought left her mind when she realised the tools the mice had stolen wouldn't fit through the vent covers and the mice sure as hell weren't strong enough to pull the covers off.
No. The little pests would have had to use the hallways. The best way to check the hallways? The security cameras.
Pidge headed for the bridge, muttering the entire way about how she wished she could trade the space mice for those floating fluffs she found when she had been separated from the other. The space fluffs didn't have hands or paws. No hands or paws meant no picking things up. No picking things up. No picking things up meant NO STEALING PIDGE'S SHIT!
As soon as Pidge entered the bridge she threw herself into the green paladin chair and pulled up the security feeds. She had no idea what time her things were stolen so she couldn't waste time trolling through hours of footage to identify where the mice took her tools. She settled instead for trying to locate where they currently were, hunting them down, grabbing the leader by the ear, and demanding they return her things. What could she say, she was a green ball of fury when pissed off.
Her eyes flew from screen to screen, searching for the little devils thee castle called pets. Her eyes froze however, on a much more unusual scene. Keith and Lance in Lance's room.
Pidge hit record instantly, grinning at the sight of Keith lying on Lance's bed, head on Lance's lap. Lance was leaning his back against the wall, hands combing through Keith's hair, occasionally pausing the repetitive movement to start braiding before continuing combing after receiving an absent-minded slap on knee from Keith. The two were clearly talking, although it seemed fairly one-sided since Lance's mouth was the one moving the most. Keith randomly chipped in and Pidge cursed the fact she couldn't lip read. That thought flew from her brain however when Lance doubled over and planted a kiss on Keith's forehead.
Pidge watched as Lance returned to his previous position and the conversation started up again, ending the recording when it was clear nothing else of interest was going to occur. She grinned to herself, quickly sending the recording to her laptop, a plan already forming in her head.
She could use this.
…
If Keith was a cat, he'd be purring right now. Alright so he probably shouldn't say "if he was a cat" because technically speaking, he was part Galra and Galra, as Lance and the rest of the team loved to remind him, were pretty damn cat like. But regardless, Keith had never been more content then he was right now.
Lance was gently combing his fingers through Keith's hair, talking quietly about how this reminded him of when he did his sister's hair on earth. Keith really didn't mind being compared to a 12-year-old girl, he had come to learn that being compared to any relative of Lance's was a big compliment. The Cuban boy really adored his family in a way Keith was only just coming to understand. It made him happy that he could provide Lance some form of reality from earth in the chaos that was their lives.
"If you want to go to sleep feel free," Lance's voice roused Keith from his thoughts, the feeling of warm breath hot against his ear as Lance bent over to whisper directly into it. Keith hadn't even realised he was drifting off "you don't have to listen to my rambling."
"I want to." Keith murmured, his voice coming out slower and more sleep-filled then he would have liked "It's just…" Keith gestured vaguely with his hand towards where Lance was combing Keith's hair with his fingers.
Lance hummed in response, planting a kiss to Keith's forehead before retreating back to his sitting position "You should sleep. You worked really hard during training today. You worry me sometimes."
"No need to be worried." Keith mumbled, eyelids drooping against his will as Lance resumed combing through his hair, using both hands this time. Lord help him.
"There is every need to be worried." Lance stated, keeping his voice soft and soothing but still firm somehow. How Lance was able to do that still baffled Keith to this day "One day you'll overdo it you know. You'll get hurt."
"I'll be fine Lance. Training bots don't kill." His voice was going slow and groggy again, he hated it. How could one boy do this to him with something as simple as running his hands through Keith's hair?
"They might not kill but they can hurt if you set the level too high. What if one day you push it too far? Or you overdo it on a day that the Galra attack and you're already exhausted? I worry."
"I know you do." Keith mumbled "I worry about you as well. That's part of being in a relationship."
Lance hummed again, more thoughtfully this time, hands pausing their work on Keith's hair for a second or two before they continued "Enough talk for now. Sleepy time."
Keith couldn't bring himself to do more than hum in acknowledgement as he felt his consciousness drift again.
And all too suddenly the tranquillity of the moment was lost and the doors flew open. Wait… hadn't they locked those?!
Pidge stormed in and suddenly it made sense, damn that girl could hack anything! Keith sat up as he observed the girl, covering her eyes with one hand and holding a laptop with the other.
"Stop all the lovey-dovey stuff, you have been caught purple handed!" The girl demanded the second the doors were closed and some of the privacy was restored.
"Purple handed?" Lance asked, voice clearing giving away distress at being caught despite his attempt at deflecting Pidge's attention. Or maybe Keith had just become really good at reading Lance.
Pidge cracked her fingers apart to allow herself to peek out of one eye, she scanned the two momentarily before letting the hand drop from her face all together "Yeah. Purple handed. Red and blue make purple? I spent the entire walk here coming up with that. I was proud of it!"
"It sucked." Lance deadpanned, the tinge of colour on his cheeks making the words a little less effective.
"Cut me some slack, the walk is like 5 minutes." Pidge snapped.
"What are you doing here Pidge?" Keith asked, glad that his voice lacked the sleepy tone it had earlier.
"I saw you~" the girl sing-songed, smiling at the two boys in front of her.
"Saw what exactly? We've been here talking." Lance stated. Keith caught on quickly.
"A lot more then just talking if you ask me and the security camera." Pidge beamed, eyes practically glinting as she opened her laptop and turned the screen to face the two boys.
"You recorded it?!" Lance squeaked, eyes widening. Keith felt a stone drop into his stomach.
"I sure did!" Pidge stated, closing the laptop "It'll be a nice one to play at your wedding." Keith felt his stomach flip.
Lance observed the girl for a minute, calculating look his eye before he leant back against the wall "What'll it cost?"
"For me to lose the recording? Or for me to keep quiet?" Pidge brought her free hand up to her face to examine her nails, running her thumb over the fingernails.
"For you to keep your mouth shut and delete the recording." Lance stated, keeping his eyes locked on the girl in front of them.
Pidge seemed to contemplate it for a while, eyes leaving her nails, her index finger coming to rest on her chin. Scratch that, she was mocking them "Both of your servings of cookies and puddings for however long you bozos decide to keep this quite."
Keith had to fight back a laugh, it was times like this he was reminded that Pidge was a 14-year-old girl used to doing deals with her older brother about chores and not just some super genius hacker.
"Deal." Lance stated.
"I'm not done." Pidge stated, shifting her weight onto one foot and planting her hand on her hip "I will require your help on future projects, no ifs, ands or buts."
"Done."
"Ah ah ah." Pidge warned, waving her finger at him, Keith clearly forgotten about now.
"You can't want more!" Lance exclaimed.
"If you don't want to agree to it I can hit a few buttons and have the video playing on loop on the giant screen on the bridge until everyone else has seen it." Pidge threatened.
Lance was silent for a moment before leaning forward to put his elbows onto his knees "I'm listening."
"You have to promise whatever this is," she vaguely waved her hand between the two "it won't get in the way of game night." Pidge stated before adding as an afterthought "Which you are now formally invited to Keith, so long as the love-bird stuff stays U rated."
"Deal." Lance stated.
"Say the words." Pidge warned.
"I promise Mine and Keith's relationship will not get in the way of our weekly game night. But honestly Pidgey you didn't need me to promise that. I love game night with you and Hunk!"
"Alright then." Pidge mumbled, before snapping back to her previous demeanour and holding her hand out to Lance who stood up and took the hand. Lance gave the girl a firm handshake before using said hand to pull her into a hug. Keith watched as Lance whispered something into the girl's ear that caused her face to light up with a smile before she was released.
"Don't have too much fun you two~" she sang as she practically skipped out of the door.
Lance flopped back onto the bed and the two boys resumed their positions.
"What did you say to her?" Keith asked cautiously.
"Nothing." Lance answered a little too quickly, but Keith couldn't bring himself to care because his hair was gently being combed again.
Keith would forever be thankful his boyfriend knew how to deal with younger siblings.
