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Lance stood in front of Pidge’s bedroom door, trying to muster up the courage to knock. His plan of action was to first return the headphones as a show of good faith, and then get into his apology. He curled his hand into a hesitant fist, and gave 3 timid but firm knocks. No answer. Before giving the door another set of knocks, he announced who was knocking.
“Hey Pidge, it’s me. I um, I got your headphones, was hoping we can talk things out maybe.”
Again, no answer. Lance let out a sigh and knocked a few more times.
“Pidge for real, I just want to talk. I know you’re mad but I’m not leaving until we set things straight.”
A brief moment passed before the door slid open. Pidge was seated at her desk working on her laptop, her back faced Lance.
“I’m just gonna… Put the headphones on your bed, that cool? Cool.”
Pidge gave no reaction, but internally she was completely conflicted. She was still mad at Lance, but he sounded genuine so she let him in. At the same time, she still didn’t want to talk to him. Just the idea of turning around to face him mad her angry. Deep down she knew she didn’t want to stay mad at him, hopefully whatever is about to fall out of Lance’s mouth is worthy of forgiveness.
Meanwhile Lance was falling apart. Pidge was totally unresponsive, which was only adding to his guilt. The only thing that was keeping him afloat was that Pidge let him in in the first place. That must mean she’s open to talk, or so he hoped.
“OK, here it goes. Pidge, I’m sorry. You said something super nice to me, and I just turned it into a dumb pick up line. That was something I really needed to hear, and I shouldn’t have brushed it off like I did. I have a bad habit of trying to turn everything into a joke, but that was the last thing I should have done. So, there. Sorry Pidge, can we call it even?”
Pidge swiveled her chair around to face Lance. She looked at him for what felt like forever, before finally speaking up.
“For someone who’s really bad at reading people, I think you said everything I wanted to hear. I accept your apology Lance.”
Lance collapsed onto Pidge’s bed, letting out a huge sigh of relief.
“Alright good, I seriously thought I might have lost you there for a tick. Besides being part of a team and all that, I was really worried about losing my video game buddy. I could play with Hunk but, he’s nowhere near as good as you.”
Pidge smirked as the tension left the room.
“But wait, what do you mean I can’t read people? I can read people just fine!”
“Did you read how that girl was trying to trick you before or after she tied you up?”
“Awwww c’monnnn, I just went through this with Hunk.”
Pidge giggled at Lance’s whining. It’s too fun and too easy to tease him.
“Just went through this with Hunk? You were talking to Hunk before?”
“Yeah, I went to talk to him about this whole mess before I came over here. He helped me figure things out. I guess I do have trouble reading people sometimes.”
“I’ll give you credit though, you really helped me out that one night in the hangar bay. So you’re not too bad, just oblivious about certain things.”
“Certain things, eh?”
Lance thought back to what Hunk said before he left. What did she mean by “Oblivious?” Was Pidge trying to say something here? He still had no idea what to make of Hunk’s theory, but at the same time he didn’t want to let this go.
“Wanna hear something crazy that Hunk said?”
“Sure.”
“When we were trying to figure out why you got so mad, Hunk said the dumbest thing. He said that the reason you didn’t like my pick up line was ‘cause you got jealous.”
Pidge’s eyes widened for half a tick before nervously responding.
“Hah, yeah, that was a real shot in the dark.”
Pidge felt her voice shake as she talked and cursed herself for it. She didn’t want to complicate things, but there was also a part of her that wanted to let it slip. She looked to see if Lance was going to call her bluff, but he seemed more dejected than anything else.
“Pretty…. Pretty stupid. I said you’d build yourself a boyfriend before anything else.”
Usually, Pidge would snipe back at Lance for a remark like that, but he seemed almost disappointed by her reply. There was a bit of an awkward silence, before Pidge chose her words and broke it.
“Are… Did you want me to say I was jealous?”
“Agh, No? I don’t know, maybe a little?”
“Lance, are you asking because you like me?”
Half of Pidge regretted what she just said, but the other half felt relieved. She’d been harboring a crush on Lance for a while, but at the same time she was always trying to bury it deep. There were way more pressing matters to attend to, like finding her family and saving the universe. But no matter how hard she tried, thoughts like “I’m not his type” or “It would make things awkward” never made her feelings go away. She didn’t have to hide her feelings anymore, but she was already thinking of ways to keep their relationship from straining if he rejected her.
“Whoa whoa whoa, alright. I was gonna ask you that first. No fair.”
“I wasn’t gonna say anything until you brought up that weird jealously stuff. I asked first so you answer.”
“Okay okay. The answer is… I don’t know. When Hunk brought it up, it confused the heck outta me. I flirt with a lot of girls but, I never thought of you like that. Maybe it’s because I knew you as a guy first, but I will say this: I think you’re awesome. I love hanging out with you, and you’re one of my closest friends. I still need time to work all this stuff out… But I think I can see us together. Alright, your turn.”
“If… If anything isn’t fair, it’s that I have to follow that up. Give me a tick.”
Pidge lowered her head into the neck of her shirt to cover up the blush on her pale skin. She didn’t exactly get the yes that she wanted to hear, but Lance was open to the idea and their friendship didn’t seem to be in jeopardy. She could feel herself starting to sweat at the thought of everything she was about to say.
“Yes, I like you, and yes, I did get jealous. It feels really scary to say that, but I’m happy it’s off my chest. I don’t know when I started to like you, but it feels like I have for so long. I’ll admit, it hurt to see you flirt with other girls but never me. It made me wonder if there was something wrong with me. I’m glad that’s not the case. I know this is a lot to take in. You’ve barely had any time to process how you feel, it never even occurred to you until an hour ago. So, take your time. I thought I could wait until after this war was over to tell you, but I guess not. Though I think I can wait just a little longer for your response.”
“Pidge…”
“Sorry… That was too much, right? I kinda let it all out there…”
“No, that was a good thing. That was probably the most emotion I’ve seen out of you, since, ever. I know you’re not the emotional type, but it’s good to let it out. Can you come over here for a tick?”
Pidge got up out of her chair and walked up to Lance who was still sitting on her bed. Lance stood up and wrapped his arms around her, bringing her in for a hug. It lasted a bit longer than a normal hug between two friends, as neither of them really wanted to break it. Pidge was the first to back off, she could feel her ears burning up and her heart beating out of her chest.
“Well, this has been something, huh?”
Lance let out a slightly nervous laugh.
“I’m glad we worked everything out. Didn’t exactly go where I thought it would, but yeah. I’ll see you around, okay Pidge?”
“Yeah, I’ll see you, bye Lance.”
Lance left Pidge’s room and walked a good way down the hall before stopping and leaning up against the wall. He couldn’t believe what just happened. It was supposed to be a semi simple apology, but turned into something way more than what he bargained for. He concluded that he had feelings for Pidge as more than a friend, but his mind was reeling at all the implications that held. Lance hurried back to his room for some much needed rest, it had been a long day.