Although sleeping without a bra felt amazing, it felt weird now that she had something to support her during the day. At night when she came to her room to sleep, she shed a literal weight off her chest and felt a little bare. Pidge stood as her bra made a soft thud onto the floor, kicking it to the side and grabbing an oversized shirt and some loose shorts. Her initial intention was to sleep but after lying down for an hour she gave up.

However she, as any sensible woman, didn't want that thing back on her now that she was free. She shrugged to herself, figuring everyone was asleep and decided to go to the hanger and tinker around with Green or at least look at her specs since she had time. With no shoes or socks, glasses abounded for the night, she padded her way down the corridors as the blue lights activated along the way.

As she turned towards the hanger, she noticed that the corridor was already lit. She cocked an eyebrow and then saw Lance heading towards her. She nodded to herself, knowing they all had trouble sleeping and Lance's coping method was talking to Blue, something she was trying to copy.

"Hey." She said through a yawn.

"Hey Pidge. Can't sleep?" She shook her head and they met halfway. He stopped in front of her and laughed to himself.

"What?" She asked, her brain both slow and preoccupied with background thoughts.

"It's just… you really have no idea what to do with all that, do you?" He motioned to her hair. She reached up and felt the messy tick hair and exhaled a laugh.

"I guess not."

"I'll offer you a trade, I'll teach you to braid while you and I talk."

"Talk?" She was confused. That word held intent and a certain anxiety crept under her skin. Lance just nodded and she sighed, following him back into the hanger. He led her to the base of Green's paw and waited for her to sit down. Her bare thighs touch the cold floor, the hanger silent. He sat behind her and put a leg on either side of her, combing out tangles with his fingers.

"You know how we all deal with stress differently?"

She winced a bit, her hair being raked backwards but tried to listen.

"Yeah. You talk to Blue, Keith and Shiro train, Coran and Allura go over the ship specs and do repairs as well as talk and Hunk bakes and makes other food."

"Okay, well one of those things has been missing over the last few days." He said as he grabbed her hands and guided her to grab the strands. "Loop this one under."

She did as told and felt so odd braiding her own hair, it felt so backwards. She also had to try and keep up with the conversation. "What's missing?"

Lance's fingers guided hers and soon she was braiding her own hair, with difficulty but still doing it. "I haven't had any cookies. No one has."

Her hands paused and she was confused. She finished off the braid and Lance tied it off for her. She turned in his lap and pulled her ankles under her.

"What's wrong with Hunk?"

"I was hoping you knew. He's hasn't been himself since you were on the training deck. Hope you didn't punch the poor guy!" He laughed. Pidge looked down and tried to remember.

"No," she began. "We had a conversation where I rambled a lot about my own shortcomings as a teammate and a paladin. I told him that I'm far behind everyone. And that I'm in this super shitty situation."

"Yeah, feel that." He said and leaned back on his hands, Pidge sitting on the floor between his knees. "I felt like I wasn't fitting in as a paladin for the longest time. But you guys made me feel better about it. I felt needed. But that's beside the point. None of that would have messed up my big guy. What else did you talk about?"

She tightened her grip on her ankles and blushed.

"I made an offhand comment that everyone is pairing up out here and I don't have anyone." She paused and looked up to Lance with fear in her eyes. "You don't think he's trying to find someone for me do you? Oh man…" She raked her hands down her face. "I can't do that. I don't want to be set up. That's not how-"

"Whoa now, easy. He's not trying to play Doctor Love." He sat back up and rested his arms on his knees. "But now it makes sense."

"What does? If I made him upset, why didn't he come talk to me? We're supposed to be close." She said and there was a hint of pain in her voice. God her emotions sucked right now. She's supposed to be a strong smartass genius, not a puddle of anxiety and edging depression. Lance put a hand on her shoulder.

"Look, it's not my place. But you really need to talk to him. Soon. You can probably get it out of him if you try."

Pacing outside of his room two hours later was not her intention either. She should have been in bed. She should have resisted the urge to knock on his door. She should have done a lot of things like sleep or maybe think of a million reasons not to do this but nothing was convincing enough. Her mind was too loud and won over any other thought than one. Her hand rapped on Hunk's door, well past midnight. It took a while but eventually he came to the door, hair a mess and in just a shirt and boxers.

"Pidge?" He asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Hey. Wanna talk?" She asked in one breath, forcing it on him, pushing her anxiety out verbally. It took him a few ticks to understand and he yawned.

"Sure, come on in." He said and she bounded inside. He let the door close and left to go back to his bed where she was sitting. He grumbled and sat next to her, keeping his lights dim.

"Sorry for waking you." She said a little softer.

"No problem. So, what's on your mind?"

She paused and looked to him.

"This isn't about me. I asked if you wanted to talk."

"Oh." He said softly and drawn out. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light she saw him look to her with an uneasy chill sliding down his spine. "I mean, I don't have a whole lot to talk about at…" he reached to his wrist and illuminated his watch, "3:20 in the morning." He yawned again.

"I know its late slash early but I can't sleep. Lance told me you have something weighing on your mind…. And that it might be my fault?" She asked, having put the pieces together while pacing outside him room. With her eyes adjusted properly she saw his cheeks darken and his eyes search anywhere but her face. He looked at her pajamas, her braided hair, that way she curled into herself when she was anxious.

"Hunk?" He looked up at the fragile note in her voice and saw the concern in her eyes. "Is it my fault?"

"It's not that easy." He said softly and looked down, putting his hands on his knees.

"It either is or it isn't my fault." She said a little less fragile and more annoyance dripping on her words. "You're my best friend. If I fucked up you are obligated to tell me. If not, you should still tell me what's wrong." She stopped and let the silence consume them, allowing it to become awkward and ebb into his own apprehension until he gave up. He lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck, trying to settle the prickling feelings he had running down his spine still.

"I'm just really bothered that you think you're alone. I don't like hearing you shut yourself down like that."

"You're upset that I'm a mess then?" She asked with a grin of dark humor.

"It's not funny Pidge." He said with a serious tone he hardly ever used. Her grin dropped with a sigh, letting her gaze fall down to the bed. This time the silence worked on her guilt and made her feel even less like herself than she had lately.

"I'm sorry." She said her voice soft and slightly broken. She waited in the silence for him to tell her how to fix it. This entire situation. Instead, she received a misplaced comment.

"You're hair is cute."

She looked back up at him and they both shared dark cheeks, her eyes wide.

"And I like your new clothes. It's a big change but it suits you." He continued. He let the hand on his neck fall into his lap ungracefully. "And… Shay and I aren't together. I know everyone thinks we are but that's not how it is." He paused and looked her in the eye. "I don't feel that way about her." His last sentence was said delicately, like he had forgotten how to speak the only language he knew for a moment. Her expression changed between embarrassed to confused.

"You're upset because I think you're with Shay?"

He debated his answer and teetered his shoulders as an answer.

"That seems too small, but if that's what's driving you crazy I'm sorry. You are officially single." She smiled softly and he echoed her. "We can be single together and watch the old married couples fight." She laughed and the thought of Lance and Keith as old grandpas arguing made him laugh with her. They sat in a comfortable silence when they had calmed down and the anxiety started to melt away for both of them. Her sleepless nights suddenly hit her like a truck and she let a yawn slip out, stretching into it.

"Maybe you should get some sleep."

She didn't feel like she had gotten a full explanation out of him but was too tired to push the issue further.

"Sit with your feet apart." She said without warning.

He raised an eyebrow and adjusted his body, sitting with his knees and feet apart like Lance had earlier.

"Like this?"

She nodded and crawled up the bed, sitting between his thighs and leaned her back against him. He froze but she melted into his warm body. Eventually he smiled and wrapped his arms around her middle in a firm but relaxed hold. She let out a soft sigh and rested her head on his chest, closing her eyes. She knew she was asking a lot from him and maybe crossing a line or two but she didn't care enough to stop. Her buried affections aside, Hunk always seemed to calm her down. He felt the same and rested his head against the wall at the head of the bed. At this point, with his own reservations, he was willing to take what she would give. He didn't feel like he crossed a line if she had initiated it. Which was why he hated the voice of reason that screamed louder than anything else in his mind.

"You shouldn't sleep here." He said while closing his eyes.

"Doesn't mean I can't." She mumbled and he exhaled a small laugh.

"Oh but what would the neighbors think?" He feigned an elderly woman's voice.

"That we had a good night." She laughed and he blushed. She turned her head to look at him through the corner of her eye. "Though, if they had to ask, they didn't hear how good it was." She said with a wicked grin. Hunk made a sound between a sputter and a choke.

"You can't say stuff like that!" He said in a harsh whisper, his face redder than it had been all night. "Besides, how would you know if you were loud?"

"Oh I wasn't talking about me." She said and the shock on his face made her laugh louder than she had in days. She faced forward and bumped her head against his chest.

"Jeez, I was just kidding Hunk."

"Why do I keep you?" He asked with an exaggerated mock frustration.

"Because you love me." She said with a smug smile and a laugh.

"Yeah, I do." He said softly. Pidge was sure she was reading too much into it, but when he said those words he seemed to be anxious yet relieved to say them out loud. He was. Even if it was in a platonic context, he had always loved her. Saying it out loud was easy because he always had but only recently was it crossing the line into romantic love. And trying to figure out where that line had gone was nothing short of stressful. The silence between them was filled with each of them drowning in their own minds and Hunk's heart started to race. Pidge felt the drum reverberating in her ears and looked back to him.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I just-" He cut himself off, not wanting to say he had a lot on his mind. She would start digging again and that was the last thing he needed. He quickly lied - the first time he has ever done so successfully. "I remembered a joke Keith told me."

"Oh, this ought to be good. His jokes are horrible lay it on me." She said and turned forward.

"Okay, listen carefully. Each time you get it wrong I'm gonna ask it even slower."

"It's a riddle-joke?"

"Yeah. Okay so, there are 30 cows in a field. 28 chickens. How many didn't?"

She was quiet and he saw her cock her head to the side a bit.

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Just answer."

"I don't know? Two?" He laughed and repeated himself.

"There are 30 cows in a field." He said slower, like speaking to a child. "28 chickens. How Many didn't?"

"Hunk this makes no sense!"

They went back and forth like that a few times before he changed the pacing of his words.

"There are 30 cows in a field." He paused, laughing. "20. Ate. Chickens." He laughed again. How many didn't?"

"OH! Oh. Oh my god."

Hunk erupted in laughter and Pidge slapped his arm, resting her own hand over his and laughed with him. She looked down at her small hands on his.

"That's so dumb. I'm gonna kill Keith."

"If it's so dumb then maybe our team genius should have got it right away!"

"I'm a science and applied computer genius, not an English major!"

They fell back into a fit of giggles and they slowly slid down, Pidge shifting her weight to the side between Hunk and the wall. She adjusted herself and they found themselves almost nose to nose on the same pillow, her small frame fitting between the wall and him comfortably. Hunk had a look on his face that reminded her of the first time he got to see the engine parts of the castle's thrusters.

"What?" She asked with a laugh. He blinked and his face changed to confused.

"What?"

"You were looking at me like you look at EMG's." She smirked.

"Oh, sorry." He shut his eyes with the hint of a smile still on his lips. She scooted her face closer and bumped her nose into his. He opened his eyes and almost went cross-eyed.

"Tell me your secrets." She whispered in a fake child-like voice. He laughed and crossed his eyes at her very noticeably.

"Roll over." He whispered back. She shook her head but did so anyway, his only invitation to stay the night. He threw an arm over her middle and pulled her into him, her body fitting perfectly into the curve of his own. She smiled and reached for the blankets, his hands meeting her silent request. Under the covers they were warmed quickly thanks to Hunk's natural body heat. He rested his hand on her waist again, his hand feeling the soft curve that lead to her hips and blushed. He was about to pull away when Pidge rested on his and moved it slowly up her side, stopping at the edge of her ribs. Her shirt got caught between two of his fingers and came with it. He felt her warm, bare skin and panicked. He moved his hand forward to rest on her stomach but because of her movements, he was under her shirt. His brain screamed at him to stop moving and in response his body went rigid.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." He squeaked and cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'm good." He said a little lower.

Pidge turned under his arm and faced him.

"You're being weird."

He narrowed his eyes at her and pulled his hand do that it was resting on her back, outside of her shirt.

"You're the one shoving my hand places. Just go to sleep."

She blushed but wasn't surprised at his response. She had crossed the line between 'okay' and 'not okay' long ago. She turned back toward the wall and grabbed his hand, placing it on her stomach outside her shirt.

"Just keep your arm around me okay?" She asked softly. "I'll sleep better."

"Alright." He said and closed his eyes, unconsciously pulling her closer. She fell asleep in his arms before he did, the darkness bleeding into his mind and blending with previous worries with the added fact that Pidge was in his arms, sleeping peacefully in his bed with him.