Work Text:
The thing is, Pidge really wasn’t the type to get mad mad.
Sure, she’d get annoyed pretty easily, but it was always in a purely judgmental way, not in a ‘I’m about to smack you so hard you fly into another solar system’ way.
But man, Pidge has been testy today.
And the paladins had no idea what to make of it.
“And I’m saying we should watch this one.” Lance held up one of the many Altean movies they had available.
Hunk groaned. “Not another romance. Lance I can’t take it anymore, if I see one more Altean mating ritual I’m going to lose it.”
“What’s the matter Hunk, can’t handle the spice?” Lance retorted.
Pidge snorted, having come in just in time to hear that comment. “What spice?”
“Oh. Hunk and I are about to watch a movie. I was gonna pick one of the romances but if you want to join us I can pick one of the kids movies.” Lance offered genuinely, not thinking anything of it.
But he quickly realized he did something wrong when Pidge practically sneered at him.
“What? I’m not mature enough for some romance flick? Is that what you’re saying?”
“No! No not at all- I just-“ Lance sputtered as Hunk nearly jumped out of his seat when Pidge approached.
Pidge pointed fiercely at him. “I’ve got news for you buddy, I’m more mature than you could ever dream to be, so you can go quiznack yourself into the next solar system over and stop pissing me off or I swear I’ll take all of your damn tubs of face cream and make you eat it. Is that clear?”
Hunk and Lance stared at Pidge; mouths agape.
She didn’t even wait for a response, spinning on her heel and storming off out of the room.
A few moments of silenced passed before Lance spoke up.
“What. The. Quiznak?”
It wasn’t just Lance that Pidge lost her cool at either. Shiro said she seemed tired and she nearly bit his head off. Keith asked if she needed a break during training and she promptly kicked him.
Safe to say, everyone couldn’t help being a bit…scared.
Which was making dinner very tense. Everyone was just eating in pure silence, with Allura and Coran immensely confused at the strange ambiance.
It was Pidge who eventually broke the silence, glaring at Hunk. “Do you have to chew so loudly?”
“Sor- Sorry.” Hunk instantly shut his mouth, doing his best to chew without ever opening it, even if it was uncomfortable.
Pidge let out a frustrated breath before growing timid, glancing at Allura. “Um…Allura?”
“Yes, Pidge?” Allura asked kindly, trying to keep on Pidge’s good side.
Lance bristled. “Okay what is your deal?” He cut in.
“Not now, Lance!” Pidge all but hissed at him before turning to Allura. “A-Allura?”
Allura quirked an eyebrow, doing her best to keep smiling. “What is it?”
“No, no, no, look you can’t just yell at everybody all day for no good reason! And nobody snaps at Hunk on my watch! He made dinner and you didn’t even thank him!” Lance protested.
Pidge all but fumed at being interrupted again. “Lance would you just shut up!? I don’t have time for you!”
“Everyone let’s calm down-“ Shiro tried.
“WELL YOU SURE HAVE TIME TO BE A BITCH!” Lance exclaimed.
“LANCE!” Hunk gasped. Everyone looked at Lance, horrified.
Coran tugged on his mustache. “I believe what Lance is trying to say is that…you’ve been off today, number five! We’re just a little concerned.”
Pidge groaned. “Would everyone just stop saying I’m acting off!? I’m acting perfectly fine!”
Keith snorted. “Yeah okay.” She looked ready to punch him.
“Listen Pidge,” Allura started gently. “We’re a team. Whatever is going on…you can talk to us.”
“No. I can’t.” Pidge protested, gritting her teeth.
Shiro was quick to chime in. “Of course you can!”
“Yeah seriously, something has to be up for you to be acting like this.” Lance frowned, now growing a bit concerned.
“W-We’re here to listen you know…if you wanna talk…” Hunk added shyly.
Pidge bit down on her lip, just looking more peeved than anything.
Allura gently set a hand on her shoulder. “Pidge, what’s the matter?” She asked concernedly.
Finally, Pidge slammed her hands down on the table as she shot up from her seat. “I GOT MY PERIOD, ALRIGHT!?” She stormed off from the room.
And left all of the boys besides Coran absolutely paralyzed with horror.
“I don’t understand why you’re so upset, Pidge. This sounds perfectly natural for human females.” Allura frowned as she read over the notes Pidge gave her on the menstrual cycle.
Pidge pinched the bridge of her nose tiredly as she waited for Coran to find something that could work as a pad. “You wouldn’t understand.” She muttered.
“Oh now, come on number five. Alteans have their own things when growing up.” Coran insisted kindly as he dug through a box of stuff.
Allura beamed, nodding. “That’s true! For example, when an Altean reaches a certain age-“
Pidge winced suddenly. “Allura I’m sure your version of puberty is fascinating, but I’m kind of being torn apart from the inside right now.”
“Ah! Try this. It should help with the pain.” Coran handed her a bottle of some kind of pills.
Pidge downed a few with some water.
Allura smiled warmly, setting a hand on Pidge’s shoulder as Coran continued to look for something like a pad.
“Don’t worry Pidge, you’ll get through this.”
Pidge was beginning to severely doubt her ability to get through this.
It just wasn’t that simple. The others just…didn’t get it.
And even worse, not only did they not get it, they had absolutely zero clue how to handle it.
The second Pidge entered the living room, Hunk, Lance and Keith got spooked and left.
Shiro was the only one who seemed even semi-normal.
“Hey…Pidge.” Shiro started gently. Too gently.
For God’s sake she wasn’t wounded. She didn’t need to be soothed.
Pidge briefly nodded at him. “Hey.” She went and sat down, taking out her laptop.
But Shiro followed her, standing around awkwardly like he didn’t know what to do with himself.
Finally, Pidge side-eyed him. “…Did you need something?”
“Um. Right.” Shiro let out a shaky breath, running a hand through his hair.
He finally sat down in the seat across from her. “Listen. Um. I know that…we’re away from family right now. And from Earth in general. Not really um…” Shiro swallowed hard. “A lot of information on…” His tongue struggled to work for a second. “The menstrual cycle.”
Pidge raised an eyebrow. “…Right?” She already knew that.
Did he feel bad? Because he and the boys were uneducated? She didn’t really blame them. Her mother warned her about this. About most men not even having the slightest clue.
Though she honestly didn’t expect it to be quite this bad.
Shiro nervously continued. “I like to think I’m kind of…you know, I’m older than the rest of you. Hell, Keith’s like my little brother. And Voltron, it’s…you know, it’s a family.”
“You’re our space dad.” Pidge joked.
Shiro nodded quickly. “Right. Space dad. S-So…um…you know, it’s kind of my responsibility.”
Pidge’s eyebrows furrowed. “…What’s your responsibility?”
Giving another nervous swallow, Shiro looked anywhere but at her. “Okay so…um…when a girl reaches a certain age and her body starts to-“
Pidge’s eyes shot open in absolute horror as she nearly knocked her laptop onto the floor. “SHIRO WHAT THE HELL!?”
Shiro jumped in surprise. “What!?”
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” Pidge shrieked.
“T-Trying to teach you about what’s happening!” Shiro panicked.
Pidge’s jaw dropped. “Shiro this isn’t my first period. I’m fifteen!”
“Wait- Oh.” Shiro blinked. “Wait this isn’t new?”
Pidge shook her head.
“…And you already know about s-sex?”
A nod.
“…So I don’t have to have this talk with you?”
A headshake.
Shiro bolted from the room and Pidge has never been so thankful.
It’s not that Hunk was grossed out by periods. Of course he wasn’t, it was perfectly natural. His mommy raised a gentleman.
It was really more the fear of messing up that kept Hunk at a distance from Pidge.
He’s seen his father mess up around his mother during her time, where he accidentally made her cry.
Hunk really didn’t want to make Pidge cry. He wouldn’t be able to cope.
So when Pidge entered the kitchen while he was cooking, he instantly went into on-guard mode.
“H-Hey Pidge!” He greeted with a fearful smile. “Just uh, just making dinner. Food goo, obviously, but uh, trying some special seasoning stuff so-“
Pidge promptly burst into tears.
“OH GOD I’M SORRY I’M SORRY I’M SORRY-“ Hunk freaked, the meal he was preparing instantly forgotten as he looked at Pidge in terror.
Pidge practically sobbed. “Hunk…” She ran forward and suddenly hugged him, sobbing harder.
“I-It’s okay. It’s okay! P-Please don’t cry…” Hunk hugged her back tightly, desperate to make it better before he started crying.
“I-I-I-I really want brownies!” She exclaimed.
Hunk blinked, suddenly thrown off. “Wait what?”
Pidge cried harder. “I WANT BROWNIES AND NOTHING IS EVER GOING TO BE OKAY AGAIN UNTIL I GET THEM!” She let go of him in favor of covering her face with her hands so she could keep crying.
Hunk stared at her for a moment, unsure of what to do or say.
But then he gasped. “Oooooh, this is one of those cravings, isn’t it?” His mom used to get wild cravings during her period, and would absolutely lose it if she couldn’t get whatever it was.
Apparently it was even worse when she was pregnant. His father always joked and would say he almost didn’t make it out alive.
“YES HUNK IT’S A STUPID CRAVING AND I CAN’T GET RID OF IT AND I MIGHT AS WELL FLING MYSELF INTO SPACE!” Pidge sobbed angrily.
Hunk’s eyes widened in panic. Right. Back to the problem at hand. “Okay, okay, let’s just calm down, um…”
Quickly, Hunk looked around at his ingredients, then briefly in the cabinets, before gasping as he remembered something. “Wait a second!”
Hunk dug through a bottom cabinet and pulled out some different packets with various sweets on the cover. They weren’t quite like the food from Earth, but they were very close. “I found these at one of the shops during one of our mall trips. I was saving it for a special occasion but…” He showed it to Pidge.
Pidge’s eyes widened, watery and soft as she looked at Hunk with pure awe. “…You’d do that for me?”
“Pidge I’d do anything for you. Or any of the paladins.” Hunk told her sincerely.
Because of course he would. The paladins were his second family.
Pidge continued to cry, but it was far softer now. She suddenly hugged him again. “Thanks Hunk…” Her voice was muffled by his clothes.
Hunk smiled warmly, hugging her back. “You’re welcome, Pidgey.”
Then she suddenly broke the hug, tears fading away. “Now hurry up and bake them.” She snapped before storming out of the room. Good old mood swings.
And Hunk quickly did as he was told.
In Keith’s defense, it’s not like anyone ever taught him about periods. Or really much about girls in general.
The one time he even tried to ask about it, the other people at the home made fun and called him queer for caring so much, like actually wanting to learn about what women go through growing up somehow made him less of a man or something.
So he didn’t ask anymore. And he didn’t learn.
And now because he wanted to avoid some teasing, he had no idea how to help his friend.
All he could do was hope he said the right thing.
Keith’s never been good at saying the right thing.
But as Pidge came in to do her routine training, it felt like the appropriate time to say something.
He couldn’t keep avoiding her for God’s sake.
“Hey, Pidge?” He started distantly, struggling to really look directly at her as she started her workout.
Pidge glanced over curiously as she lifted some weights. “Yeah?”
Keith rubbed the back of his neck. “Um…you know you don’t have to train if you don’t want to. I mean, none of us will judge you for taking a few days off.”
She raised an eyebrow behind her glasses. “I know.”
“…Right, right.” Keith nodded awkwardly. He paced around a little before looking over at Pidge again. “Okay look, Pidge.” He took a deep breath, kneeling down onto the floor in front of her.
Pidge watched him warily, already scarred from her conversation with Shiro the other day.
“When I was…a little younger than you, I had- I had questions…” God what Keith wouldn’t give for a Galra invasion right about now. “About g-girls. But I wasn’t- I mean- Being at the home and-“ He ran a hand through his hair as he let out a frustrated breath. “If you ever have questions about guys you can- you can ask- if you want.”
Pidge’s face morphed into realization as she processed Keith’s words, and to his relief she smiled. “Thanks Keith.”
He nodded, quickly getting up to get back to his own training. He grabbed his own set of weights.
“Is it true a lot of guys wake up hard?” Keith dropped the weight, almost on his own foot.
Pidge wheezed uncontrollably, struggling for air as she managed to just barely get out an, “I’m joking.” Between her laughs.
Keith decided that was enough training for one day.
Lance knew how periods worked.
He had multiple sisters, not to mention just a big family in general with a lot of females in it. He was no stranger to the concept.
In his house, periods weren’t seen as gross or taboo like they were in most places. Lance honestly couldn’t care less about them (except for the fact that his mother in particular could become absolutely terrifying for a couple days).
But it was…weird, with Pidge.
Ever since they first formed Voltron, Pidge has been like a little sister.
And she still was. But it was times like this that reminded Lance he didn’t grow up with her.
And he had no clue how to help her.
Sure, he could offer her food or blankets or a back rub, all fairly standard things. But he didn’t know her personally enough to know what else brought her comfort.
And of course, he handed this like a champ. Basically just avoiding her whenever he could.
Good going, Lance.
Lance let out a loud yawn as he stepped out of his room, intending to head to the kitchen for some water, only to pause when he noticed a door open down the hall.
It was just to one of the other rooms, not used very often. It had a large window to look out of though. When they had first arrived in space, it had been incredible to look out of. Now it almost felt dull.
But it was weird to see the door opened. Curiosity piqued, Lance headed in.
He found Pidge curled up, hugging her knees on one of the couches, looking out the window out into the abyss of space.
He couldn’t see her face very clearly, with the lights being off and all, but from what he could see, she looked…sad.
“Hey Pidge,” He made his presence known, noting the way she jumped a little. “How’s it going?”
Pidge glanced at him briefly, looking just as down as he thought. She looked back out the window. “…Hey.”
Lance came over and sat down next to her. “What’s up? It’s pretty late. I mean, in theory.”
“I wasn’t tired.”
Lance frowned. “Was it cramps? Do you need more meds or-“
“No, it’s got nothing to do with cramps.” She huffed.
“Do you have a food craving? I’m sure Hunk wouldn’t mind if you woke him up-“
Pidge looked at him irritably. “It’s not cramps, it’s not a craving, it has nothing to do with you, Lance, okay? You wouldn’t understand.” She snapped before looking away.
Lance’s shoulders slumped. “…Sorry.” He muttered. “I um…I can go…if you want.”
But then Pidge’s shoulders began to tremble, and Lance saw tears bubbling in her eyes.
“Pidge, talk to me.” Lance pleaded worriedly.
“…When I first got my period…I was…devastated.” She started softly. “It was gross and totally freaked me out. I was…inconsolable.”
Lance smiled weakly. “One of my sister’s was like that.”
Pidge shoved her face into her knees she was still hugging. “During the night, Matt came into my room and set up a blanket fort. He said we were gonna have a movie marathon.” A smile crossed her face. “He even baked brownies for me.”
“Sounds nice.” Lance commented gently.
Pidge’s bottom lip wobbled. “He made it…he made it okay. He made it better. But then he disappeared and…and my mom tried, and it wasn’t the same but…but it was something. She made it bearable…” Tears ran down her cheeks. “This isn’t the first period I’ve had since we got to space…but I ran out of stuff for it and had to ask Allura and Coran if they had any supplies I could use and it just…made it so much more real. That I’m like, alone now.”
“Hey, you’re not alone.” Lance told her firmly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “We’re a family. Yeah, we might not be your family by blood, but I like to think we’re a pretty damn good second family.”
Pidge looked at him tearfully. “Lance…what if I never find them?”
“You will.”
“How do you know?”
Lance smiled a little. “Because if there’s one thing I know about you, Pidge? It’s that you just don’t know how to give up.”
That finally got a smile out of Pidge, despite her tears. She leaned against him. “…Thanks Lance.”
Lance held her close, gently rocking her in his arms as the two looked out into space. It didn’t take long for Pidge to fall asleep after that.
Carefully, Lance carried her back to her bed before beginning his search around the castle for extra blankets.
Pidge was waking up to the best damn blanket fort ever created along with plates of space-goo brownies, Lance would make sure of it.