Late Night Terrors

Space Dad Disapproves

Pidge woke up to a knock on the door, and frowned slightly as she could feel the warmth of the body next to her moving away. The body next to her? Her eyes opened as she recalled what had happened last night, and she could feel a warmth tint her cheeks.

Lance didn't notice her wake, and went over to the door with a yawn. It slid open to reveal Hunk, who greeted him with a smile. The blue paladin wished him a good morning, then inquired what the deal was.

"Well, you slept in. And have you seen Pidge? Shiro said she wasn't in her room, so she's probably off somewhere in the castle. Will you help- Oh, hey Pidge." Hunk cut off to greet the girl casually as he noticed her sit up from underneath the covers. After a double take, his eyes went wide and he spoke again. "Pidge? Why is- Wha.. Lance.." As he said the boy's name, his expression was suddenly suspicious, his eyes narrowed.

"Huh?" Lance frowned, seeming to have forgotten the girl was in his room. "Oh. Ohh." He laughed and looked back at her. "Good morning, Pidge. I guess Shiro is looking for you? And we slept in. How you feeling?"

Pidge was blushing now, the warmth spreading to her ears. "I-I feel fine.." She said, her voice quiet, then stood and stepped over after shoving on her glasses. "I'll go see what Shiro wants. A-And nothing happened, Hunk. So don't get any funny ideas!" And with that, the brunette walked in quick steps down the hallway to find their leader.

***

"Hunk, stop looking at me like that. I can feel your eyes." Pidge frowned slightly as she looked up from what she was working on, shooting the boy a glare. "I already told you it was nothing. I was showing him something on my laptop and-"

"You didn't have your laptop." He pointed out with a shrug, his head rested on his hand while his elbow was leaned on the table. "Your laptop was in your room, right? You didn't have it when you left his, and you didn't go back for it."

"Ugh, stop being so observant!" She snapped, her eye twitching in annoyance. "Fine, whatever. I had a nightmare and he was comforting me. Okay? Not stop asking." Her cheeks flushed a gentle pink and she looked away, her lips formed into a pout. It was embarrassing enough that they had been caught, and talking about it only made it worse. She was just grateful it hadn't been Shiro, or someone who would tell him. At least, she trusted that Hunk wouldn't tell.

"Hey, Hunk. Don't.. Don't say anything about it to anyone else. Okay?" The green paladin looked back to the yellow, her expression serious. When he looked uneasy, almost guilty, she stood up. "Hunk, who did you tell?" Came a growl.

"W-Well you see, I ran into Keith on the way back from Lance's room. And I think I saw the mice, so Allura probably knows, and.." He stood up as well, taking a step back as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I-I saw Allura talking to Coran earlier, and they both seemed pretty surprised. So.. I mean, but maybe it was something else?"

Pidge closed her laptop, shoving it under her arm before she stomped off. "It isn't what it looked like!" She called, exasperated. "I don't like-" As the girl bumped another, she cut off and looked up. A black shirt, a scarred face, a white streak of hair. "Shiro.."

***

For some reason, Pidge couldn't get comfortable. She tossed and turned in her bed, her tired eyes unable to keep shut. Whether it had been minutes or hours she couldn't tell, but either way it was unbearable. 'Why can't I sleep?' The girl wondered in annoyance, only able to come to the conclusion that it was because of the scolding she had received earlier in the day. No, not the scolding. She understood perfectly Shiro's protectiveness, he was like a second older brother to her. It was lance. How casual he had been.

He had simply brushed it off as a joke, as if he hadn't been helping her through the aftermath of nightmares. As if her showing up at his door in the middle of the night in tears because she was terrified he was going to leave without so much as a goodbye was no big deal. He just laughed as Shiro scolded him, saying the man shouldn't be so serious.

With a groan she flipped onto her back and threw off the covers, her light brown eyes glaring at the ceiling. "I didn't even get to say anything!" She turned onto her side with a huff, then frowned a bit sadly as she murmured to herself. "I guess I was just disrupting his sleep, anyways. I'll deal with it myself." And with that, Pidge forced her eyes shut in hopes to eventually fall asleep.

***

'Tired.' Pidge had her head on the table, her goo going untouched. The room was too bright, the table too loud. And even worse, Lance was acting perfectly normal. She knew it shouldn't bother her, he was simply doing what they both had been doing. Acting as if nothing happened. Which was true in this case, last night they had both stayed in their rooms as instructed, in fear of facing Shiro's wrath. So why was she so peeved at his casual personality?

"Hey, Pidge, are you going to eat?" Hunk spoke up from beside her, only to earn a glare from the girl. "Not hungry? O-Okay. You look tired. Maybe you should take a- Okay, okay. No nap. I'll be quiet." The startled boy hushed, going back to his goop.

She sat up and stifled a yawn, sparing a glance to the space goop before she stood. "I'm gonna go.. Science. Yeah." And with that, Pidge left the dinning room in search of a secluded one.

#Okay so first of all, holy shite I hit exactly 1000 words on this part, heh. Anyways, this is honestly already two parts more than I expected this to go. But it'll probably go on a couple more still. It's good to know I'm not the only one stuck in this rare pair hell. xD#