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Pidge has felt lonely plenty of times in her life.
She felt it at school when the other kids wouldn't talk to her. She had felt it when Matt went to the Garrison. She had felt it when Dad and Matt disappeared into space.
But never like this.
No, she had never once before been stuck on a ship with six people she didn't know with all contact with her family completely cut off.
The most she had ever been alone was a 3-day school trip and even then her mom constantly called her on the phone.
She had never once been this alone. At least they were all in the same boat, right?
Wrong.
She had already known Hunk and Lance were best friends but she thought everyone else was more or less strangers.
Well, it turns out Coran had watched Allura grow up and was sort of a fatherly figure to her.
Ok, that was cool but then she found out that Shiro was Keith's older brother.
That wasn't fair at all. Keith had found his brother, but where was hers? They had been together, weren't they? Why didn't Shiro bring him along? Why did he leave Matt all alone?
She knew she should be happy for Keith, but every time Shiro treated him as anything more than a soldier she felt like she was going to be sick.
And she shouldn't feel bad when Coran comforted Allura. She had just lost her father it was natural. But Pidge had lost both her father and brother and she didn't have the luxury of someone comforting her cause she had to leave her only other family member on Earth.
She shouldn't feel bad when Lance and Hunk bantered like old friends and teased each other. (like she and Matt did)
She shouldn't feel bad when Shiro was the first one to notice if Keith was upset and come to cheer him up. (Like Matt did with her)
She really shouldn't feel bad.
But she did.
And God did it hurt.
She was managing to keep it together at first. After all, who would she even tell? She didn't know anyone on this stupid ship! But then one morning she woke up with a sore throat and she completely lost all composure.
She was sick and she wanted her mom. If her mom was here right now she would know what to do. She would make her soup and give her some medicine and stroke her hair until she fell asleep.
But this was space. There was no soup, no medication, and no mom.
She sobbed into her pillow and did not care to muffle the sound. This wasn't her home where Matt's room was right next to hers. The ship was gigantic with only 7 people. There wasn't a high chance somebody would hear her.
But somebody did.
„Pidge?“
The boy's eyes widened and he rushed towards her bed, still dressed in his blue pajamas.
„Pidge, what's wrong?“
„Go away, Lance.“
But Lance did not go away. He stood there for a couple of seconds unsure of what to do before he settled on placing his hand on her shoulder. As soon as he did so, he retrieved his hand as if he had been burned.
„Pidge, why are you so warm! Are you sick?“ he asked, this time properly placing his hand on her forehead to feel her temperature.
She ignored him and continued to cry. She had bigger problems right now than a little fever.
„Why are you crying, does something hurt? Please talk to me!“ Lance panicked, his voice going up an octave.
She had to admit that if she walked in on her sick teammate crying, what she thought was in pain, she would panic too. But she had no energy to explain why she was crying to Lance right now.
After more silence from her, Lance did something that caught her by surprise. He picked her up and started carrying her out of the room.
„Hold tight Pidge, Hunk will know what to do.“ He tried to comfort her but panic was still evident in his voice.
Lance half-ran down the hall where he knew Hunk's room was, trying not to jostle Pidge too much, he still didn't know what was wrong with her., after all.
„Hunk! Wake up!“ Lance all but screamed, his voice cracking in a way that Pidge would have laughed at if she wasn't in such a bad mood.
„W-what! Who's attacking?“ Hunk shot up in bed, his bandana falling over his eyes, „Why is it so dark in here?“
„No time! Help me with Pidge!“ directed Lance as he shoved Hunk out of the bed with his shoulder and placed Pidge down.
„W-what's wrong with Pidge?“ worried Hunk now that he saw her for the first time.
„I don't know! I was hoping you'd know!“
„I'm an engineer, not a doctor Lance!“ barked Hunk, „And you know I'm not very good under pressure! Maybe we should have gotten Shiro, or Coran, or...“
„Hunk, focus! I will get her a cold towel for her fever and you try to figure out what else hurts!“
„R-right!“ said Hunk as he bent down to Pidge's level, „Pidge, are you ok? What hurts?“
„Throat.“
„Is the pain really that bad? Is that why you're crying?“
„I can't tell you.“ She croaked her voice sounding rough from crying and sickness.
„Of course you can! We're friends!“
„We're not.“
„Huh?“
„I said we're not friends. You and Lance are. Shiro and Keith are. Even Coran and Allura.“ She sobbed, „I have no one.“
„Pidgee.“ sniffled Hunk, looking ready to cry himself.
„Nonsense.“ said Lance as he appeared out of nowhere and placed something cold on her forehead. „Of course we're friends. You, me, Hunk, Shiro, Allura, even Keith. You're all my friends.“
„Exactly, what Lance said!“
„But I don't even know anyone on this ship.“
„That's not true you know us.“
„Yeah, we were a team at the Garrison, and we're a team here!“
„But-„
„No buts!“ interrupted Lance, „Look, we're sorry we didn't notice you were feeling this way.“
„Yeah, we should have taken better care of you! You are the youngest here and only know us and- oh man now I feel like a jerk.“ Said Hunk guiltily as he slumped against the bed.
„You don't need to babysit me.“
„It's not babysitting, it's called taking care of our teammate and friend!“ convinced Lance, „And from now on, I promise we will spend more time with you.“
That seemed to soothe their youngest, feverish paladin and she insisted on going to sleep right then and there, but Lance and Hunk fussed on alerting Shiro and Alteans, much to her dismay. (It's bad enough she was the youngest and the smallest she didn't now want to come across as an inadequate paladin too)
After Coran gave her some altean cold medicine, Shiro and everyone left her to get some sleep. Well everyone other than Hunk- considering this was his room, and Lance who almost always spent their free time in Hunk's room anyways.
Hunk and Lance were quietly chatting on the floor next to the bed so as not to disturb her rest, but to her embarrassment, she felt her eyes start to water again. She couldn't help it, ok? She was always extra emotional when sick.
„Pidge, what's the matter?“ worried Hunk as both of them jumped to be at her side in an instant.
„I miss my mom.“ She admitted, no point in lying now, „And Matt, and Dad.“
Hunk and Lance said nothing as they gave her two equally sad faces as they thought about her own families.
Not being able to find the words to comfort her( Is there even a right thing to say in these situations?) Lance began to stroke her hair as he did with his niece and nephew.
„It's ok, go to sleep Pidge, you need rest.“
And she did. Hunk and Lance never leaving her side.