Work Text:
Pidge's Point Of View
I pulled my shoulder length hair in a ridiculously short ponytail and took out my Bayard as I prepared to fight the gladiator. I wanted to start with a Level 2 to warm up and remembered just how easy Keith said the Level 2. I prepped for an easy fight but I was so wrong.
I may have misjudged Keith's skill as a fighter because I was dying. The moment the gladiator touched the floor, I knew I was in deep sh*t when it started fighting without a warning. I swung at it with my Bayard, but it blocked all my attacks with its staff and sent me stumbling to the ground. I screamed as the gladiator swung for me and I lifted my shield. It backed up slightly from the momentum of the hit and I managed to roll away before it hit me again and I jumped to my feet.
I charged at the gladiator and shot my grappling hook at it's legs. It caught on and I slid under it's legs. I released the grappling hook and jumped up, ready to slice through it with my Bayard. But before I could, I was hit by the gladiators staff. I landed with a thud and yelled when I saw the gladiator on top of me. "End training sequence."
Instantly, the gladiator dissolved into thin air and I laid there in front of Keith, "I had him." I grunted as I stood up. Keith held out his arm and swiftly picked me up to my feet, "Except for the part where you didn't."
I brushed my self off and I eyed Keith carefully. He was in his armor and I assumed he was going to train as well, but when he didn't move, I asked him myself, "Aren't you going to train?" Keith's calm face seemed annoyed when he started talking, "Shiro told me he wanted me to bond with you. Apparently, Allura says we have the weakest bond and since you suck at fighting, we might as well bond in a way that it will benefit us both."
I let out an annoyed huff and rolled my eyes, "Alright, super ninja, where do we start?"
Keith rolled his eyes and placed his Bayard at the side, "First is hand-to-hand." My eyes widened, "Without my Bayard?" Keith stayed silent and crossed his arms so I continued, "But your stronger than me!" Damn you stupid voice crack.
Keith approached me and pried my hands off my Bayard, "Fighting hand-to-hand doesn't mean you're going to rely on your strength. It's a combination between speed, balance, and reflexes. You have the capability of beating a Galran Commander, but you need to know how to use your size and strength to your advantage."
I rolled my eyes and watched him as he walked to the other side of the training deck. "Now run at me in full speed." I raised an eyebrow and he sighed, "Trust me, Pidge. Just run at me." I listened to him and began sprinting towards him. When I arrived he pulled back to punch me, which I narrowly missed, "What the hell?!"
Keith didn't say anything back, he continued to attack rapid fire. I dodged the best I could and could hear him begin to give me instructions, "Use your momentum to kick my torso." I did as told and Keith went flying. I gasped and was about to apologize when he started running at me. I came up with an idea and began running at him as well. I slid under his feet and jumped up behind him. I wrapped my legs around his neck and tightened my thighs. He gripped at my thighs, trying to breathe but I kept going. "Lean back." I barely heard him but I understood.
I leaned back and we both came tumbling down. Once we got down, I felt Keith tap my thighs three times and I let go. He started coughing the second I let go and I scrambled up next to him on the floor, "I'm so sorry! Did I press on too tight?" Keith's coughs ended up sounding like chuckles and I sat in surprise. Keith was genuinely laughing.
As if realizing what he was doing, Keith stopped and looked at me with a serious face, though it wasn't mean. "You did great but I could've easily stopped that move." I raised an eyebrow, "Oh yeah?" He nodded and I crossed my arms, "Then why didn't you?"
Keith leaned in, "I wanted you to know know what to do if your opponent didn't know how to stop that move." He backed up and took a few steps back. "Again." I ran up to him and did the same move. Once I landed on his shoulders, he grabbed my torso and threw me off of him. I landed with a hard thud and looked up to see Keith with an smug grin.
I growled and swung my feet under him. He landed with and hard thud. I sat on him and got ready to throw a punch at him but his legs wrapped around my chest and I fell back with him. I let go immediately and he did as well. He threw some punches but none of them ever hit my face, they all stopped millimeters before hitting my face. I used my forearms to dodge his hits and once he used that to his advantage and punched my stomach. I grunted and he somehow to managed to grab both my hands and bring them round to my back. I tumbled to the ground and he laid on top of my back.
I growled and he took that as a call for mercy and let me go. He stood and I rolled into my back to catch a breather. He offered a hand and I took it. I was lifted up onto my feet and brushed myself off. I looked back up at Keith and he stood guarded, "Again."
Next morning, I was under Green making some repairs from our last mission when I heard my bay hangar slide open. I was right in the middle of fixing one of the oxygen tubes so I didn't peek to see who came to bother me.
Right when I connected it back, the tube made a soft hiss and I turned to get out, but the sight in front of me almost made me jump, "Ah!"
There bent down was Keith. He was on one knee, his left arm balancing him as it was connected on the floor and his tight arm propped up on his bent knee, "What are you doing?"
I breathed in relief and rolled out from under green, "I was fixing my oxygen pipes. Yesterday's battle really messed them up and I want to be able breathe in my Lion. Because you know, I need oxygen to breathe. But I could always just use the helmet's supply of oxygen, though that shorten my oxygen supp- and now I'm rambling."
Keith had an amused smile and something else I couldn't recognize, "It's fine." I wiped my hands clean of some grease and turned to Keith, "What can I do for you?"
Keith shrugged and crossed his arms, "More bonding." I nodded in understanding and tried to look anywhere but at him. Then I got an idea, "You want to help me add modifications to Green?"
Keith rose an eyebrow, "Are you sure? I mean, I don't know anything having to do with the Lions' technology." I walked over to Coran' toolbox he let me borrow, "Doesn't matter. I could use a boost to reach high places. Maybe you could learn a thing or two."
I grabbed the Altean version of a wrench and motioned for Keith to follow, which he did. I climbed on top of Green's paw and so did Keith. I squinted as I tried to find the area that needs fixing. Once I found it, I turned to Keith, who was mindlessly examining my Lion, "Give me a boost."
Keith's head snapped at me, "What?" I didn't give him time to think and I jumped onto his shoulders, scaring the quiznack out of him. "Pidge! What the hell?"
"I needed to get higher."
"But couldn't you give me a warning?"
"I did."
Keith huffed out so I began working on my Lion, I could feel his hands tighten on my legs when I leaned in closer. I smirk at his worry and continue fixing Green's snapped wires.
But suddenly we heard a loud screech, "Pidgeyyyy!" I straightened up abruptly and Keith struggled to keep us balanced so we both ended up falling, but Keith made sure to cushion my fall and I landed on top of him with my face just mere centimeters in front of his own. Keith grunted with his eyes closed the moment of impact, soon he breathed and opened his eyes.
I found myself staring deep into his purple eyes. And for a second we forgot why we fell on the floor in the first place.
"Is this a bad time or...?"
I immediately prop myself off Keith on my hands and look up to find Lance smirking as he stands in front of us.
"I mean, I was gonna ask if you could take a look at Blue, but since you're busy-"
"-I'm not." I finished, immediately getting up and following Lance out of Green's bay hangar, leaving Keith behind.
Now I was sat in the lounge's couch typing away on my computer, but a certain red Paladin kept creeping in my mind. I tried to push it away and kept typing in my computer. I was searching through the memory chip of a captured Galra sentry and I was succeeding until I came across a barrier that can only be accessed by Galra.
I knew what this meant and I didn't like it. But I needed his help in order to get information off this thing. I sighed and put my computer aside and slid off the couch and made my way to Keith's room.
It was a long walk to his room and I only wished it would be longer. By the time I was at his door, I was a nervous wreck and was trying to calm my breathing. What's wrong with me? It's only Keith.
I mustered up enough courage to knock on his door but the moment I heard shuffling from his room, I started panicking again. What if I woke him up? He barely slept enough as it is and then I just come to wake him up?! Oh my gosh, if I did wake him up he'll hate me. And then he'll --
The door slid open abruptly, almost making me jump in surprise. Keith was standing there wide awake and without his jacket. He only wore his navy blue t-shirt and regular pants, "Hey, Pidge. Did you need something?"
Keith lifted a hand to brush his bangs away from his face and I couldn't help but stare at how soft his hair looked. Although Lance made fun of his appearance 24/7 back at the garrison and occasionally here too, Keith still managed to look attractive despite his "bad fashion sense".
I only realized I was staring at Keith for too long when he cleared his throat, "Oh! Right- um... I was wondering if you could help me with the Galra bot. It's asking me for identification and-"
"- it only works with Galras." Keith gave a small smile at the end and I had to do everything in my power to not make a fool of myself, so I nodded. Keith nodded in agreement to help me, "Yeah, sure. I wasn't even sleeping yet."
"Great." With that I turned around and led the way back to the lounge room.
The morning after I woke up with nothing but Keith in my mind. I groaned and kept hitting my head, even though I knew that it wasn't going to get him out of there.
I surprisingly woke up early so I headed to the kitchen for something to eat and saw Shiro eating a plate of space goo. "Good morning, Pidge. You're up early." I only groaned a response and opened the Altean equivalent of a fridge and grabbed a cup of Kaltenecker's, Lance's cow, milk.
Shiro chuckled and patted the seat next to him for me to sit, "What's got you so angry?" I groaned at the reminder and pointed at him madly, "You! You and your stupid orders to 'bond'."
Shiro rose an eyebrow, "What?" I dropped her fist to the table, causing a loud thump and Shiro to back up a bit, "You told him that we had to bond because we hand the weakest connection! And because of that I can't form a stupid sentence around him now without noticing his stupid eyes!"
Shiro shook his head in confusion, "Pidge, I never told Keith to bond with you."
I narrowed my eyes, "What do you mean you never-? Oh. Oohh. Wait then what does that mean?!" Shiro chuckled as he ate another spoonful, "I don't know, maybe you can ask him."
At that very moment, Keith walked in with a tired look in his eye, making him seem so freaking adorable, but I couldn't think about that right now because I was mad at him. Well, at least I tried to not think about it.
"Good morn-"
"You're coming with me, Mullet!"
I cut Keith's greeting was cut short when as I forcefully pulled him by the shirt by an angry Pidge and dragged him away with me. Keith seemed surprised because he yelped and tripped over his feet as he tried to keep up with my fast pace.
I brought him into the lounge and locked all the entrances, making Keith slightly nervous. I looked back at Keith and narrowed my eyes, "Why did you want to bond?" Keith froze, and he seemed like he wanted to run away.
But Keith couldn't give up so easily, "Shiro told me to-"
"No he didn't because I just asked him."
Quiznak. I could have sworn I heard him mutter under his breath.
Caught red handed. Keith sat on the couch and put his elbows on his knees, his hands covering his face as he groaned. "I might have a small crush on you." The words were muffled, but I understood them perfectly. And I was terrified.
Not because I didn't return the feelings, because hell yea did I return the feelings, but because I don't know what to do. Do I confess my feelings too and stand there awkwardly? Do I walk away? Do I run away? Do I kiss him?
I decided to go with the last one. I knelt down so my face could be at level with his. I removed his hands from his face and grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him closer to me gently so we don't clash our teeth.
Keith immediately responded by grabbing my right cheek with his left hand and the other one grabbed my free hand. We stayed there for a few seconds, then a few more, and a few more. Finally, I pulled away for air and pressed my forehead to his, "I guess I like you too." Keith chuckled and kissed my nose.
He then wrapped his arms around me and we cuddled till we fell asleep on the couch.