Work Text:
Pidge groaned. “I don’t want to play,” she protested as Lance and Hunk pulled her from her comfy seat on the grass. She was already hot and sweaty even though it wasn’t summer yet, and she’d been ready to go home the moment she stepped outside, so when Allura suggested a game of volleyball, she’d been content to take a seat in the shade with her tablet.
“Aw, come on, Pidge,” Lance said cheerfully as he pushed her into the sand. “We need even teams, and since Coran is taking score, you have to play. If it would help, I think I can convince Keith to take his shirt off.”
Keith looked up from his spot on the other side of the net at the sound of his name. “How exactly do you think you would get me to do that?” he asked, one eyebrow arched.
Lance shrugged. “A bottle of Gatorade or something poured down your back.”
Keith frowned, but before he could respond, Shiro interrupted. “Let’s start before Pidge sneaks away.” She’d been happy to watch them argue, and was annoyed Shiro had noticed. “Some ground rules,” he continued. “No head shots, the boundary lines are where the sand ends, and whoever reaches fifteen points first wins.” He pointed a look at Lance. “No playing dirty, which means no Gatorade down Keith’s back. Got it?”
Lance held his hands up in defense. “I was joking. I’d hardly want to get on his bad side, especially since we’re on the same team,” he said, ducking under the net to join Keith and Allura on the other side.
With a not-too-apologetic smile, Shiro directed Pidge to the middle of the court so she could set for Hunk and then he backed up to serve. She glared at Keith on the other side of the net. “I can’t believe you didn’t even try to help me. Some boyfriend you are.”
He grinned down at her. “Would it actually help if I took my shirt off?” he teased.
She stuck her tongue out at him as the ball went flying over the net to start the game.
They volleyed back and forth for a while to get the hang of things and then something shifted on the other side of the net when they got serious. Lance’s face was bent in concentration, Allura’s had gone from pleasant to determined, and though Keith’s expression hadn’t changed, she recognized the moment he was intent on winning. Pidge could see it in the way he moved.
“Tell me again why Lance got to choose the teams,” she said, exasperated, when Allura sent another one smashing down into the sand.
“Stop complaining, Pidge. You didn’t even want to play.”
Allura and Keith each spiked a couple more down on their side, and though Pidge hadn’t wanted to play at all, she found herself thinking how pathetic it was that they hadn’t gotten a single point. Every bump over the net was shot back down by long arms. When they rotated and she didn’t last long as a server with her short arms and weak hits, she called for a sidebar.
“I am not losing to them,” she said, casting a glare over her shoulder as the others watched them.
“It’s just a game, Pidge,” Shiro said, but just as quickly, she was shaking her head.
“Nope. Not anymore. You made me play, so we’re going to play. Hunk, step it up and start spiking like you mean it.”
Hunk’s eyes were pinned to the ground where he dug one toe into the sand. “I hate jumping like that and I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings.”
She snapped at him to draw his attention, pointing up at her face. “Look me in the eye, Hunk. Does it look like I care about feelings?”
“I thought we were just playing for fun.”
“Well this is war now, so start acting like it.”
“Katie,” Shiro said, ready to lecture her, but she cut in.
“If you don’t want to spike, then set for Shiro,” she said, turning to look at the other team to size them up. “Allura is their main spiker. Block what you can from her, but Lance and Keith could try it too, so watch out for any funny business.”
“Are we going to play or what?” Lance called from the other side. Keith and Allura were both waiting there with him, impatient and bored.
“Yeah, yeah,” she called back, giving Hunk and Shiro one last stern look before sending them off to their positions.
Keith served, shooting one straight past Hunk. Pidge dove for it, but only got a face full of sand. “Another point for Lance’s team!” Coran shouted from his chair on the sidelines.
“And how many is that now?” Lance asked cheekily as Hunk helped Pidge back up.
Coran looked at her, eyes wide when she glared at him. “I—I’m afraid I lost count.”
“You didn’t lose count!” he cried. “You’re just scared of Pidge. Keith! No fraternizing with the enemy.”
Keith, who had ducked under the net to apologize and see if she was okay, ignored Lance. “I’m sorry. I swear I didn’t do it on purpose.” She chucked the ball straight at his stomach and he groaned when he wasn’t fast enough to catch it. “Pidge. Please.”
But she wasn’t listening to him anymore. Instead she had turned to Hunk and was railing on him. “That was your ball. Why didn’t you go for it?”
He rubbed the back of his head. “It was coming in really fast and I figured it would be better to let it go.”
“Hunk, I swear,” she said, her hands balled into fists, “if you don’t start playing at a hundred and twelve percent, I’m going to murder you. You too, Shiro. And you,” she said, wheeling back around to face Keith. “Go. It’s your serve.”
He gave her a pleading look. “Pidge.”
She kicked at him until he backed up under the net. “Save it. We’re finishing this.”
His next serve was higher, and because he was trying so hard to make it easy for Pidge—which she yelled at him for—it landed out of bounds. They rotated again and it was Hunk’s turn to serve. Unlike Pidge, he had the force to get it over the net. Keith was hesitant to bump it to Lance or Allura in a way that they could set and spike, so they were forced to hit it over the net to Pidge.
She passed it to Shiro and he spiked it with ease, earning them their first point in the game. “Ha!” she said, cackling when Lance made a face at her. “It’s not so fun when you’re losing, now is it?”
“We’re not losing,” he reminded her. “We’re still up by ten points.”
“Ten points?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re insane.”
“It’s eight to one,” Keith cut in, “our favor, so I wouldn’t get too cocky, Pidge. You’ve got seven points until you even reach us.” He put a hand on his hip and she could see he was trying not to laugh. “We’re still gonna win.”
“And you only got that one because Keith gave it to you,” Lance said.
Whatever drive she’d had to pound them all to a pulp amplified by a thousand when Keith arched his eyebrow at her. She wanted nothing more than to wipe the smug look off his face, no matter how hot she thought he was when he was cooly confident like this, so she narrowed her eyes at him for a split second before turning back to Hunk. “Give it everything you’ve got,” she said with a wave of her arm. She faced the others once more. “No need to go easy on us.”
When their team steadily grew closer to the other’s eight points, Lance became annoyed. “Since when are you athletic?” he asked her from across the sand.
She grinned at him. “I might not want to play, but that doesn’t mean I can’t. Besides,” she said, sending a glare at Keith in front of her, “I’m motivated by revenge.”
He shook his head. “I’m telling you, it wasn’t on purpose.”
“And I’m telling you I don’t believe it.”
When Hunk spiked it over and the ball bounced right in the middle of their triangle formation, tying them up at twelve-twelve, Lance shrieked. “That’s it. Keith, take your shirt off.”
“Excuse me?”
“She can’t push Hunk and Shiro around if she’s distracted!” he said, leaping over to attack him. Keith pushed him away as he pulled on his shirt, and Coran had to interfere with the blow of his whistle. Where he even got a whistle, Pidge wasn’t sure.
“No manhandling!” he cried before jumping into the fray. “Lance, you’re not supposed to assault your own teammates.”
Pidge took the time to huddle up with Hunk and Shiro while Allura watched her team crumble before her eyes. She pointed out weaknesses she’d noticed in their playing strategy—mostly it was the fact that they didn’t have one—and walked her team through her own. Hunk was grinning by the time she was done explaining, fully ready to give his all, and she could tell Shiro was feeling competitive when he asked a few clarifying questions.
“We just need to keep them against each other,” Pidge was saying when Coran finally broke up the fighting on the other side of the net. She watched as Keith firmly pulled his shirt back down and huffed. “Scared, Kogane?” she called to him.
He turned to glance at her, his annoyance falling easily into a wicked grin. “You wish, Holt.”
They were at a disadvantage when they timed back in. It was Pidge’s turn to serve, which was really the only reason the others had been able to up their points so far. She managed to get it over the net this time, but they volleyed it back easily.
Neither team won in the end. They quit out of necessity. Hunk set perfectly for Shiro and he spiked it over the net as hard as he could. It came down on Allura as she dove for it, hitting her squarely in the face.
They all stopped, watching in shock as she fell to the ground with a cry. Coran broke first, popping up to assess the damage while Lance wheeled to face Shiro. “I thought you said no head shots!”
Shiro held his hands up in surrender, but he ignored Lance altogether. “I’m so sorry, Allura. It was an accident. Are you okay?”
She nodded from where Coran was helping her stand, but she held a hand over her nose and Pidge could see the blood dripping over her lip and chin. “He’s right, Lance. It was an accident. I went for it when I knew it was a lost cause. It’s not Shiro’s fault.” Despite her soothing words, neither Lance nor Shiro looked any more at ease with the situation.
“I think we should call it a day,” Coran said, helping Allura off the sand to sit while he searched his bag for medical supplies.
Hunk eagerly agreed, promising Allura he’d make ice cream when they got back home, and they all began to file off the sand. But Pidge made an indignant sound, stamping her foot in a refusal to move. “No way! We’re not done yet and Allura’s fine. That was barely a flesh wound.”
Keith chuckled, ducking under the net to join her. “Give it a rest, Pidge. It’s going to rain soon anyway.”
She glanced up at the sky, annoyed to see he was right. Dark clouds were moving in and casting everything in gray. “Fine,” she ground out through clenched teeth. “But I’m getting my revenge one way or another.”
He draped an arm over her shoulders as they moved towards the rest of the group. “I’m sure you will.”