A/N: Wow okay I am so sorry for updating this so late. I honestly cannot believe that it took me months to write this.

I tried to continue the last chapter, but I just...couldn't think of anything. I started it, but it was going literally nowhere. I'm sorry for those who wanted to see a part 2 but I just had no motivation to write it.

Now, about this chapter. I've been hesitant to write this one. It's a thought that's been in my head for a while, but I wasn't sure if I should actually write it. It's kind of a gross topic but it honestly intrigues me how the heck Pidge manages puberty and everything up in space, where she's probably extremely unprepared. Also, I know this has been done before, but whatever. I wanted to write this. So, please, IF THE TOPIC OF MENSTRUATION AND SUCH MAKES YOU UNCOMFORTABLE, PLEASE SKIP THIS CHAPTER! This chapter is based off a mixture of several experiences of myself and a few of my friends.

"Damn."

The Paladins had just arrived at the castle after a long, hard-working mission trying to locate rebels and release them from their prison. The mission was a failure, much to the disappointment of the five humans and two Alteans, as the prisoners had been relocated to another location five hours before they arrived. Pidge was especially upset, for who knew if her brother or father were in that group of prisoners?

Overall, Pidge was having a pretty rough day.

The cramps she had been feeling really were not helping, either. They weren't too bad, and she was able to push her way through them during the mission. It was the nausea, though, that was bothering her the most. She tried not to let her feeling of sickness obvious to the others, but a groan or two accidentally escaped a few times over her comm.

But the instant she stepped foot on the floor of the hangar she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. She bit her lip and hugged her stomach, a curse escaping her mouth. Thankfully, nobody noticed her use of language, though Hunk saw her flinch out of the corner of his eye.

"You alright, Pidge?" He asked, cocking an eyebrow. She smiled lightly as the rest of the Paladins laid their eyes on her hunched over form.

"I'm fine." She tried to convince them, though the fact that she was hunched over and clutching her stomach made it obvious she was anything but. "I-I just feel kind of nauseous, is all."

Shiro rest a hand on her shoulder, eyes sparkling with worry. "You should go rest. Maybe you'll feel better In a few hours." Pidge snorted internally but heeded his word, stalking out of the hangar and to her room.

Her room, like the green lion's hangar, was what she liked to call an organized mess. There were mechanical parts everywhere, and although it looked like nothing but clutter, each tool had a spot in the mess designated for itself. She easily maneuvered through the scattered parts on the floor, feet stomping over the larger objects. Once she reached her bed she threw herself onto it, snuggling up in her blankets and hugging her pillow. Unfortunately, even being a defender of the whole universe couldn't spare her from the pain that was her period.

She tried not to make it too obvious what was happening, but then the worst experience of her life happened.

Getting sent into space with no preparation? Screw that. Failing every simulation back at the Garrison? Nothing.

This took the cake.

The day was fine. Nobody was suspicious of anything. She spent most of her day in her room, curled up in a fetal position, with the Altean equivalent of toilet paper stuffed in her underwear. Thankfully, she was an introvert and it was common of her to spend a lot of time in her room or in Green's hangar, so nobody showed concern. She only came out for dinner, where she ate an abnormal amount of space goo. At one point, she'd mustered the courage to ask Allura if she had anything she could use. And no, Allura did not have anything she could use, as Alteans did not have a menstruation cycle. Allura was quite horrified to find out that human females bled every month, and almost called upon the other Paladins to help her. Pidge had a miniature heart attack when Allura reached for the comm., but convinced Allura that she was fine.

So, she discovered that she really needed to go back to the space mall as soon as possible.

That thought was prominent in her head all throughout training. She had thought that Allura would let her sit this one out, as she knew (sort of) what was going on with her, but Allura reasoned that if Pidge said she was fine she can train for a little while. Pidge couldn't come up with something to counter that.

Besides, wasn't exercise supposed to help?

She found out minutes later that whoever told her that was a fat fucking liar.

She leaned against one of the walls, clutching her abdomen. The sound of the other Paladins running towards her was almost instant, and she was barraged with questions of concern. Pidge waved her hand, giving them a small smile and pushing herself off the wall. "Guys, seriously. I'm alright. I told you, I'm just feeling a little off today." She started back towards the training bots, still speaking. "Doesn't everyone have off days-"

"You're hurt!"

"What?" Pidge asked, turning around. She didn't remember getting hurt.

"There's blood dripping down your leg." Keith told her, voice steady but she could hear the slight panic. She looked down, and oh.

Oh no.

Her honey eyes slowly trailed from her leg to her friends, who were all staring at the red dripping down her leg. 'Oh my god please stop staring.'

She must've bled through her shorts. Oh, God. This is the worst. She did not need this. Nope.

"Fuck." She blurted. "Fuck fuck fuck."

"Pidge," Shiro started, stepping towards her. "I know it hurts, but-"

"Why didn't you tell us?" Keith interrupted, eyes ablaze. "If we had known you were injured, then-"

Then Hunk joined in, blubbering about how he didn't like that she wasn't telling them that she was hurt, and her head was starting to spin, and is someone trying to touch her leg?

Sure enough, Lance was bent down and reached towards her, trying to wipe away the blood with his sleeve. Pidge's nostrils flared and she kicked his arm, ignoring his yelp and using the distraction to try and scramble away from this absolute embarrassing mess.

It did not work. She couldn't even move.

"Guys, seriously, oh my god." She covered her face with her hands, attempting to hide her red cheeks. "This is actually the worst thing. Someone put me out of my misery. Holy shit, I can't believe this is happening."

"I know you're hurt, Katie, but that doesn't mean you should use such language. Let us help you."

Damn, Shiro's pulling out her real name. Things just got ten times more complicated than she would've ever preferred.

In all honesty, she kind of expected at least one of them to get what was happening. They weren't all that dense.

And unfortunately for her, Lance got it before anyone else.

His blue eyes widened and her immediately stood up. His mouth formed a straight line and he eyed her with some emotion she had no idea of. "Guys, let's just leave her alone. If she says she's fine, she's fine." Then he winkedat her. Her face heated up and she felt her heart plummet.

"But she's bleeding- oh. Oh. Wait." And now Hunk caught on. Fantastic.

"Anyone else?" She muttered more to herself than the others. Hunk's face was a bright red, and he nervously fiddled his thumbs. He looked like he wanted to get out of there.

'You and me both.'

Shiro and Keith both still looked clueless, and Pidge threw her arms up into the air. "Fuck this. I'm out. Bye." She began to shuffle backwards, hands covering the red spot on her tan shorts.

And Keith, bless his heart, finallyrealized what was happening. His jaw dropped for a quick second before he shut it, though his face was bright and eyes looking anywhere but her.

And Shiro still had no idea what was happening.

"Um, so... I'm just going to go?" Pidge moved to leave that room as fast as possible, but Lance stopped her.

"Do you want us to go to the mall to pick up some stuff for you? I mean, you probably need more things like more clothes, like underwear, and-"

"Lance." Pidge hissed. Her face felt hot as hell, and she could feel more blood dripping down her legs and holy fucking shit, why is this still going on?

"Sorry, sorry." Lance held up his hands. "It's just that I know how to handle this. I have two older sisters and the same thing has happened to them." He stuffed his hands in his pockets. Wow, he did not look or sound the least bit awkward about this. "If we get Allura to bring us to the space mall, I can run in and get you some stuff. It's fine, I've done it before back on Earth. I won't feel awkward or anything."

Pidge said nothing, but nodded thankfully.

And then, Shiro understood what was happening.

He freaked out, blushing and stammering. Pidge felt herself shrink, and suddenly her oversized sweatshirt felt ten times bigger than it already was. The blush that coated her cheeks was now covering a lot of her body, even more emphasized by its presence on her pale skin. She groaned muttering every single curse word that she had stored in her brain under her breath.

"Um... Yeah. Maybe you should- yeah."

Pidge squeaked and scurried out of the room.

'Fuck. What the fuck. That was awful. Why is this happening.'

After that mess, Pidge locked herself in her room for a few hours until she heard a knock at her door. When she opened it, she saw a box of pads, tampons, and a card that said, "didn't know ur underwear size, sorry, so i couldn't get u any new ones. i also didn't want to get u a random pair bc u might've thought i was creepy af but trust me im not. here u go! - Lance"

That gave her the first laugh she'd had all day.

And maybe the fact that the other Paladins were suddenly being a lot nicer to her also made her laugh a little.

Also on the bright side, she was finally able to say "fuck" ten thousand times without getting in too much trouble. So that was fun.