Chapter Text
"Hey, Keith?"
Keith wiped the sweat from his forehead, angling his head towards Pidge, who was a step behind him, fighting to keep up through the tight crowd packed around them. She looked just as hot and uncomfortable as he felt-- the frilly green dress Allura had coaxed her to wear was now wrinkled and crumpled from being trampled by dozens of pressing bodies, strangers too absorbed in their own struggles and entertainment to notice they were practically crushing a small, ginger-haired girl underfoot. She was huffing and puffing, her face pink, having lost her sunhat to the mob a long time ago. Light beads of sweat dotted her forehead, snaked down her face, dripped off her nose. Her hair, previously styled by Allura to poof around her head in fluffy ringlets, hung down her face in damp tendrils. In short, Pidge looked like she was about to pass out, so Keith grabbed her hand and yanked her through the crowd towards the nearest ice cream vendor. He was tall enough to be noticeable, elbowing people out of the way and growling, "Move," when they didn't. He got a few nasty looks, but it was worth it to finally escape the mass of bodies only adding heat to the already-smoldering day.
Stumbling into the shade of the overhead tarp of the ice cream vendor, Keith and Pidge got into the short line of customers, relieved to finally be able to breathe. Keith reached a hand to his back and shook out his shirt, wincing when he heard a squelching sound, accompanied by his fingers immediately growing drenched. Grumbling, he withdrew his hand, only for the fabric to stick to his back once again. Noticing, Pidge shot him an understanding grimace.
"So much for looking our best for the amusement park, right?" she said, no doubt recalling the conversation Allura had had with them before they'd left that morning. Public events were her excuse to get all of them to dress decently for once. Shiro and Lance happily obliged with her demands, Hunk was too nice to object, but she and Keith were perfectly comfortable donning a t-shirt and sweatpants. Despite their struggles, they'd lost to Allura, Pidge being fitted with a bright lime dress that actually looked very cute on her, and Keith finding himself in a freshly-ironed shirt and black jeans.
Keith snorted in agreement. He appreciated Allura's efforts, but was very sure that the sleeveless shirt he'd been planning to wear would be giving him significantly less trouble in the heat right now. The line moved up, and he and Pidge shuffled forward, eyes glued to the menu nailed to the front of the vendor. It took them both a minute to realize what was missing.
"Keith--" Pidge began.
"Where are the others?" he finished for her, swerving around to sweep his eyes through the bustling crowd. Pidge did her best to stand on her toes and look over their heads, but quickly gave up, letting Keith try to find their friends. It was quickly evident, with each face he skimmed, with every outfit he didn't recognize, that they had been separated. Keith tried one more time, before resigning himself to the reality that they had, in fact, gotten lost. He turned to Pidge, face scrunched up in a frustrated grimace. One look at his expression, and she was nodding, understanding the situation. Slumping her shoulders, Pidge hung her head and breathed out one long, drawn-out sigh.
"What now?" she asked, almost missing the advancement in the line. Keith reached out to nudge her forward, cursing their circumstances.
"Let's just... Get some ice cream, and think of what to do once we've cooled down?" he suggested, shoving his hands into his pockets. His jean pockets. In 90 degree weather. Keith was almost certain he would faint if someone didn't get him out of those pants right away. He wondered how Hunk and Lance, who both had been insane enough to think they'd need hoodies, were faring.
"Good idea," said Pidge. She hefted her bag, which was slipping off, back onto her shoulder.
It was nearly their turn. Keith checked his pockets absentmindedly for change, withdrawing a few coins and counting them in his head. He almost wasn't awake enough to notice that he only had a dollar and thirty nine cents, but jerked out of his stupor when he realized he definitely didn't have enough to pay for a single cone, let alone two. Grudgingly, he turned to Pidge, not wanting to ask for her help but knowing he didn't really have a choice.
"Uh... Pidge? Do you have some spare change I can borrow?"
Pidge, who had been looking at the menu again, glanced at the coins in his hand. An amused smile spread across her face. She plunged her hand into her bag, rummaging around. "Sure, let me just..." Withdrawing what looked like a gadget-sized robot, she shook her head, diving back into the mess that was her purse. "I know it's in here somewhere." With a frustrated huff, she yanked the bag open further, trying to find her wallet buried among the pieces of tech and junk she had picked up here and there.
Keith watched the exchange with mild awe. "Pidge, it's our turn right now."
"I know," she grunted, biting her lip. "Just order for us, I'm sure I've almost got it. A lime Popsicle for me."
"Um." Keith turned to the vendor. A dark-haired man, skin tanned brown from years in the sun, was gazing at him and Pidge expectantly. Feeling the pressure of holding up the line, he ordered a banana split for himself and a lemon ice for Pidge, after discovering that lime Popsicles were fresh out. Meanwhile, Pidge continued frantically fishing for her wallet, so relieved and exasperated when she finally found it that she snatched the first bill she could find from its depths and slapped it on the counter.
It was a fifty dollar bill, but she didn't care. If she'd seen the surprised look Keith gave her, she gave no indication that she did. The vendor himself seemed taken off-guard as he took the bill, stashed it in the cash register, and started counting the large amount of change to return.
A few minutes later, Pidge and Keith were seated at a table. Pidge was happily enjoying her lemon ice, seeming to savor the sweet and sour juices that she was hurriedly licking. Keith hadn't realized how hungry and dehydrated he was-- he dug into his banana split like it was his last meal. Neither of them noticed the increasing number of pigeons and sparrows gathering around them until a fat grey bird snatched the cherry from Keith's ice cream and he nearly overturned five chairs trying to get it back. Pidge would have stopped him if she hadn't been fighting for her life trying to keep the rest of the birds from attacking her friend's ice cream, left defenseless and out in the open.
Thankfully, Keith soon realized that his cherry was a lost cause, and rejoined Pidge at the table, now with the wisdom to scare away the birds if too many of them decided to come hopping around for food. He startled when Pidge snorted.
"Never thought we'd be fighting birds. But it's not like we haven't done weirder things before."
Keith blinked, then grinned. "You mean that one time Hunk discovered the big seafood sale and dragged us all to the store to buy all the shrimp and fish that we could carry? And how we all collectively ended up getting sick after eating it all afterwards?"
Pidge laughed again. "I was thinking of when Shiro mistook Lance's deodorant gell for shampoo and ended up smelling really strongly of a dude's locker room for a week. And how Lance was heartbroken cause it was a limited edition supply he'd been saving for special occasions."
Keith barked out a laugh. "I wonder where they are now. Where do you think we should try searching for them?"
Pidge shrugged, gazing out at the slowly thinning crowd. It was nearing lunch time, when people would disappear to go and find food. If she and Keith didn't want to be trampled by tourists crazed by hunger and a desperation for ice cream and hot dogs, they'd have to scram soon. Running a hand through her hair, she groaned loudly when her fingers snagged on strands stuck together by sweat that had dried a long time ago. "Gross," she moaned, plopping her head onto the surface of the table. "And I forgot to bring a hairbrush..." she lamented sullenly.
"Welcome to my life." Keith stood up. "I'm about done. I'll take your trash if you're finished. BRB."
Pidge nudged her garbage over to him, peeking up from her folded arms and trying to think of a plan of action. Where would Hunk, Lance, Shiro, or Allura go? Almost immediately, her eyes landed on a roller coaster ride not too far away from them titled "Space Doom." The front was covered with pop-ups of grotesque alien creatures, clawed hands and jagged fangs extended. Within a moment, her friends were forgotten, and she sat rigid with excitement, waiting for Keith to come back. She nearly pounced on him when he arrived, pulling him forward and pointing at the ride enthusiastically.
"Keith, we have to go on that ride! I read on the website that it was ranked the scariest in this park-- heck, in this state, probably-- and we NEED to check it out!"
Keith blinked at her, before looking at the ride she was indicating. A small part of his brain, the responsible part, urged him to insist that they needed to find their group first. Allura, Shiro, Lance, and Hunk must be worried sick by now. They needed to do the sensible thing and find their friends. But the rest of him really wanted to see whether or not he'd be able to handle the scare. If Pidge was right, and this roller coaster was ranked as one of the most frightening, then there was little to no chance that he'd back down from that challenge.
And so, he turned to her, the beginnings of a mischievous grin forming on his lips. "Let's do it."
Pidge squealed loudly, and they both elbowed their way through the crowd, refreshed from their frozen treats and absolutely ready to get the daylight scared out of them.
Twenty minutes later, Pidge sat in a compartment seat next to Keith, gripping the safety bar lowered over her legs with barely suppressed anticipation. Keith drummed his fingers on the side of the car, noting the neon green and purple paint that decorated the sides. The ride would take them through a room full of twists and turns, where cardboard depictions of purple fuzzy aliens would pop out of nowhere to jump scare the passengers. Then they would emerge into open air, where the roller coaster would take them dozens of feet into the air before just as quickly dropping them close to the ground. He knew all this from what Pidge recalled of the site she had visited, and he absolutely couldn't wait to experience it all.
A mechanical woman's voice crackled to life over the speakers, warning them to always keep their limbs inside the car and listing numerous medical issues that should be addressed before going on the ride in the first place. Keith ignored them all-- as far as he knew, he wasn't prone to panic attacks or high blood pressure. The anticipation nearly burst out of his skin when the roller coaster cars started moving forward. He felt small hands grip his shoulder tightly, and he turned his head to see Pidge looking up at him with complete and utter glee.
"Here it goes!" she whispered, her voice shaky with excitement.
The ride sped up. They were taken into a room so dark Keith couldn't even see his own arms in front of him. What he could see were dozens of stars dotting the walls around him. He looked around, momentarily distracted by the masterfully painted nebula that stretched out above their heads. And out of nowhere, a purple, fuzzy alien lunged out at them, his face twisted in a frightening grin and his clawed hands clutching a spear sparking with electricity.
The passengers in the car jumped and squealed. Pidge nearly jerked out of her seat, clutching Keith's shirt and bursting into delighted laughter. Keith chuckled lightly, hoping she hadn't notice him startle also. The ride swerved, sending them careening to the side, where they were attacked by another cardboard alien. And then... it slowed to a stop. Pidge frowned, side eyeing Keith and twisting in her seat to look at the people behind them. She turned back, furrowing her brows. "Was this... supposed to happen?" she asked, scratching her head.
Keith was about to tell her that he didn't know before the speakers crackled to life. "We are terribly sorry," the mechanical woman's voice stated, "but we are facing technical difficulties. Please, remain calm and stay in your seats. We are working to fix this problem." With that, the room fell into silence, save for the nervous shuffling noises made by the confused passengers.
Keith slumped, slightly disappointed, before noticing Pidge's narrowed eyes and pursed lips. It was the look she made when she was coming up with an idea. Or a scheme. Lifting the safety bar over their heads, she told Keith, "Wait here," before leaping out of the compartment and padding lightly over the plastic floor. Keith craned his neck, trying to keep her in sight. Whatever she was planning, he definitely wanted to be a part of it.
"Pidge, wait!" He jumped out of the car also, ignoring the startled stares of the rest of the passengers as he hurried to catch up with his friend. Pidge paused, waiting for him to get near enough before resuming her slight jog towards the entrance of the room. "What are you doing?" he asked her. "Didn't you hear the 'Don't get out of your seat' part of the announcement?"
Pidge shrugged, not breaking her pace. "I did," she said, "but if it's technical difficulties they're having, I think I can help."
Keith blinked at her. He wanted to argue, but with the way her face was set, he knew there was no point. All he could do was join her, make sure she didn't trip and break her ankle or something. They both snuck through the entrance and emerged into bright sunlight. Keith shielded his eyes, squeezing them shut and easing them open only once he felt the sting behind his retinas begin to ease up. Letting his eyes adjust, he and Pidge tiptoed along the roller coaster tracks, spotting the platform leading outside only a dozen feet away from them. Hurrying towards it, they climbed up onto its surface. By now, their eyes had accommodated the brightness, and Pidge was lively as ever as she hurried to the ticket office, knocking on the glass to get the manager's attention.
The manager, a woman who looked to be in her forties, was speaking into a phone, her eyebrows scrunched worriedly. She jumped when Pidge tapped the glass, looking utterly baffled to see someone there. She spoke a few more words into the phone, hung up, and walked over to the front of the booth, opening a door to the side and stepping out to where Pidge and Keith were waiting.
"Uh, can I help you?" she asked.
"Actually," Pidge said, straightening up, "I think I can help you. You're having technical difficulties, right? Well, I just happen to be taking several really advanced technological courses in school and--"
"Wait," the woman interrupted, frowning at both of them. "Didn't you just get onto this ride? What are you doing here?"
Pidge blinked, taken aback. "Well, the ride suddenly stopped, so I thought I'd come here to see if I could do any--"
The woman didn't even wait for her to finish before she rushed back inside the booth, clicking away on her computer. After a moment, she frowned, turning the screen towards Keith and Pidge so that they could see several different footage from security cameras placed at different sections of the roller coaster. It was fuzzy, and the quality wasn't the best, but he could see a repeated playback of him and Pidge getting out of the coaster car, crossing the room full of alien cutouts, and disappearing out the opening they had come through. Glancing up, Keith flinched when he saw that the woman was fixing them both with an intense glare. "That was you, wasn't it?" she huffed, turning the screen back towards herself and clicking through a few tabs, typing on her keyboard meanwhile. "Thankfully no one else was stupid enough to copy your example," she said, her voice strained with frustration. "But what were you two thinking? You both placed yourself at risk!"
"I'm... sorry," Pidge said, looking as though she was starting to regret her decision. She clutched her bag tightly, her voice dropped to a meeker volume as she suggested again, "But maybe I can help? As I said, I've taken several college courses on technology and mechanical engineering. I thought... I could do something about this."
The manager pursed her lips, before sighing and shrugging. "We have our technological team busy at several other malfunctioning rides," she finally relented, gesturing for them to follow her. "I, myself, have no idea how to fix this, so I might as well let you have a look at it."
Pidge looked as though she couldn't quite believe her luck, before a grin stretched across her face. She snatched Keith's elbow, dragging him along after the woman. Keith sighed and let himself be steered towards a section of the roller coaster he was sure he'd never get to see in his life-- the control room. Using a set of keys, the manager worked the door open, allowing Keith and Pidge to step inside. Keith frowned. It had been too bright earlier, but now it was too dark. Pidge, however, looked like she was in her own personal heaven. Which, she probably was, surrounded by so much technology and wires.
"Take a look around," the manager said, "but don't get electrocuted or anything."
Pidge nodded, spinning in place in utter awe. Keith could tell she desperately wanted to deviate from her original purpose here and spend hours checking out every bit of machinery she could find in this room, but was physically restraining herself. "Keith," she whispered, her voice an excited squeak, "have you ever been in a room such as this? This is a glorious mess of genius, the result of a century of brilliant minds coming together not only to advance significantly in science and technology, but to provide hard-earned entertainment for us tourists and consumers who merely take a glance at all this breathtaking connection of wires and hard drives and metal and continue on with our lives, blissfully unaware of the drive and creativity it would take to even come close to accomplishing such a fine work of--"
"Are you... understanding anything she's saying?" the manager whispered to Keith, crossing her arms in confusion. Keith chuckled.
"This is normal," he replied in answer to her query. More loudly, he called out to his friend, "Pidge! The customers are eagerly awaiting their hard-earned entertainment. Let's just fix this technological hiccup and find Shiro and Allura."
Pidge stood in silence for a moment, and eventually nodded. "Right," she said, walking around the room, glancing at computer screens. Keith and the manager watched, noting how she only needed a few seconds at each station, before moving to the next. She shoved aside a few wires, poked around at keyboards and buttons. Finally, she started prying a panel off of the wall.
"Keith, help me!"
Keith sighed and walked over to her, grabbing a screwdriver from a nearby box and helping her loosen the panel and set it against the wall. He was met with the sight of a whole network of wires plugged into different sections of the wall. Pidge crouched their, frowning, before she reached for a specific wire. Gingerly feeling its surface, she squinted at it before exclaiming quietly, "There you are." Turning to Keith, her lips turned upwards in a satisfied smile, she showed him the wire. "This controls the circuit of electricity that allows the ride to function," she said. "But it's probably burned out. As you can see from the slightly eroded surface, it's pretty old." Keith nodded appreciatively, impressed with how quickly she was able to determine that. All the wires looked the same to him. Pidge continued, "Luckily, I've got a wire exactly like this one in my purse."
Tilting her head back, she called to the manager, "Can you shut off the power for a second please? I need to replace a wire, and would prefer not to get electrocuted while doing so!"
The manager nodded. "Sure, give me a sec." She walked over to the wall, where Keith glimpsed an electric panel not unlike the ones he'd seen in household basements. The manager flicked all the knobs to the side, cutting off power from the entire ride. In an instant, the room felt dark, and she called to Pidge, "The power's off!"
"Thanks!" Pidge nudged Keith, startling him. "Keith, there's a flashlight somewhere in my purse. Can you find it?"
Keith groaned. "But it's a jungle in there," he complained. "Literally."
"I know, but I can't see anything! It should be cylindrical, with a scratch on the surface from that one time Lance dropped it on a kitchen knife. I think it's near the left inner pocket or something."
Keith sighed and rummaged through Pidge's bag for a good five minutes, finally wrapping his hands around what he was sure was the cool metal surface of the flashlight and handing it to Pidge. Pidge took it from him, muttered a quick thanks, flicked it on, and got to work replacing the wire. It took her only a few moments. She unplugged the damaged wire, replaced it with its copy she found from her bag, and stood up to brush her hands against her dress.
"Okay, turn the power back on!" A few seconds later, the lights flickered to life. She, Keith, and the manager hurried to the screens, stepping aside for the manager to type in a few passwords and get the roller coaster to start running again. She grabbed a phone from a nearby table, flicked on the announcement channel, apologized to the passengers for the delay, reminded everyone to keep their limbs inside the ride, and to enjoy the scares coming their way. She then flicked a few knobs, and from the security camera footage, Pidge and Keith saw that the cars started moving again, fully functional. All three of them sat back in the rolling chairs scattered around the room, relieved.
It was silent for a moment, before Pidge mumbled, "I guess we're missing this ride then, huh?"
"I'm sorry," the manager said, sounding genuinely apologetic. "As thanks I could give you a refund and the next ride free, if you'd like."
"No, it's fine," Pidge sighed reluctantly. "We gotta find our friends, actually. They're probably freaking out, wondering where we are by now."
"Okay." With a heave the manager stood up, stretching her shoulders. "I'll call the tech guys and let them know the problem's fixed. You both go out and enjoy some sunlight. You've spent enough time in a dark room, I'd imagine. And again, thanks. I probably would've had to cancel the ride and lead the passengers out myself if you hadn't stepped in."
"No problem." Pidge got up, and Keith followed suit. He wiped the dust from his shirt, crusted over with dry sweat, and gazed at Pidge with admiration. Sometimes it really amazed him how brilliant she was. She only had to check the monitors a few times to determine that the problem wasn't some bug or malfunction on their part, but probably something out of place in the wiring and circuits. She was so familiar with technology he was sure she'd be able to solve the problem with her eyes closed. And at the end of it all, she was gracious enough to take nothing but the manager's gratitude as thanks and sensible enough to pass up a free ride in order to search for their friends.
Stepping forward, Keith ruffled Pidge's head in appreciation. "Let's go," he said. Pidge nodded, and they both made their way out of the control room and exited the ride after bidding the relieved manager farewell. They had passed a small distance away from the roller coaster before Pidge turned back to shield her eyes from the sun, cast one last longing look at the big alien painted at the front, and continued back into the crowd with Keith. Keith patted her shoulder. He totally got what she was feeling. He'd really wanted to ride out the rest of the coaster with her too.
After a few minutes in silence, Pidge suddenly slapped her forehead. "I forgot-- we could've used our phones to call them this whole time."
Keith stared at her. She stared back. Both of them burst out laughing, digging into their pockets to extract their devices. According to the time on their screens, it was around one in the afternoon. Unlocking her screen, Pidge discovered that she had fifty messages and ten missed calls from Allura. Keith barely had time to register that Shiro had been calling him for the past hour before his phone died. They tried to call Allura back on Pidge's phone, but they were well out of the range of cellular data, so deep into the park. Shrugging, Pidge pocketed her phone.
"There's nothing much we could do but wander around, trying to get some cell service," she muttered, shrugging. "What do you say?"
"Sure." Keith didn't care, as long as they weren't sitting around doing nothing. "We might even run into one of our friends along the way." He and Pidge shared a mutual nod and began making their way forward when his stomach suddenly emitted a loud growl. He paused, his face turning a light shade of pink in embarrassment.
Pidge laughed. "Keith, are you hun--" Her stomach growled too. Pidge heated up, turning beat red. Awkwardly, she shifted her bag, smoothed down her wrinkled dress. "So... nachos on me?"
Keith shrugged. "Sounds good."