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Lance McClain wasn’t gay.
He still liked girls, that he knew for a fact.
And he wouldn’t call what he felt for Pidge Gunderson a crush, exactly, but…
It would explain why Lance was nervous to approach him on their first night in the Castle of Lions.
“Pidge, can I talk to you for a second?”
Pidge looked slightly annoyed - he was just about to turn down a hallway that Lance was pretty sure led to the lab - but stopped anyway. Rover chirped softly, hovering just behind Pidge’s left shoulder.
“What’s up?” Lance had expected an exasperated response - he could tell Pidge was exhausted. But Pidge's tone was unexpectedly soft. His heart seized up.
He had finally learned why Pidge had been so cagey and distant at the Garrison. And if Pidge felt anything like he felt now, missing his own (alive and well, last he knew) family back home, then they were really going to need to lean on each other to get through this.
It was rare that Pidge looked Lance directly in the eyes for more than a second, but he was doing so now, and Lance could see the months of exhaustion and heartbreak behind them.
To ask him for anything more suddenly felt like a crime.
And Pidge’s eyes were ridiculously pretty.
“You still have your backpack, right? With everything you had when you were up on the roof at the Garrison?”
Pidge’s thick eyebrows slanted together slightly. “Yeah, everything should still be in there. Why?”
“Could I borrow your headphones? Just for tonight.”
To his surprise, Pidge immediately put down his backpack and began searching for them.
“I don’t know how much good they’ll do you, I haven’t noticed anything that resembles a typical electrical outlet, American, European or otherwise.”
Lance gave a lopsided smile as Pidge handed over his headphones and straightened up. “My phone’s still got some juice left, and I sleep better when I’m stressed out if I have music on…”
Pidge nodded. “I’m just… not going to sleep, probably.”
“You should try to, at least, today was a long day… and a weird one, too…”
“Sleeping’s hard when you miss your family. As you’re about to find out.”
Lance sighed and tried to smile. “Yeah, I guess I am.”