#that cold weather gear Allura is wearing is GREAT

[whirlingbadger]

Pics from the EW article:

[aono-art]

“Oh Love.”

Cheating Fic: Angst, PidgexLance, LancexAllura

@lavenderlady1999 is my co-pilot.

Part 2/4 Word Count: 1714

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Based on this song 

“He did WHAT?!” Matt screeched. 

“Matt it’s--” 

“Katie don’t you DARE say it’s okay, or it’s your fault... I thought mom and dad raised you better than that.” Matt was flustered, his once amazing, confident sister reduced to victim? That wasn’t like her at all. Pidge sighed, Matt only called her Katie when he was upset.

“It’s not about how I was raised... It’s just complicated.” Pidge pinched the bridge of her nose, she looked awful. She had dark circles and her eyes were bloodshot, no doubt from the long nights of crying and not sleeping. Matt stared at one spot on the floor, for a long time. Too long... Pidge however, was too tired to break him from his trance. She knew the gears were turning in his head.

“Have you told anyone else about this?” Matt asked quietly.

“What? N-no I guess it’s just you--”

“I’m calling Hunk.” Matt said suddenly, getting up. 

“Wait, what?!” Pidge watched him, alarmed.

“I’m leaving for awhile, but I need someone to watch you.”

“Excuse me?!” Pidge growled, she hated it when he treated her like a child. “Absolutely not, and I know you don’t have anywhere to be because you said you cleared today for me-- What are you gonna do Matt.” She was standing now, her messy mop of hair pulled back in a pony-tail, swaying as Pidge clenched her fists and folded her arms-- 

“... You’re right, better call him for back-up.”

“MATT.”

Pidge was still furious with her brother, but her hair was slowly infuriating her more. Her depressive episode had made it even more unruly than usual, and it was getting in the way. She could only put it up in a pony tail for so long, her incessant crying already gave her a headache, she didn’t need tension from her hair as well.

While they waited for Hunk to arrive at the apartment, Pidge excused herself to the bathroom-- away from her tense, angry brother. When Matt explained the situation to Hunk (who also screamed “what,” into the receiver and made a point to drop what he was doing to come to the apartment), something in Pidge sobered up. She was logical, she could handle anything. And right now, her hair was getting the way. Matt was now in the kitchen, trying to make food for his sister who, he knows hasn’t eaten in a few days. Pidge looked in the mirror and sighed. She looked awful. She took her hair down from her ponytail and shook it out, it had grown so long since she first met Lance. She grew it out thinking he liked long hair, but now? Who cares. 

Pidge was very aware, as she was picking up the scissors, that this wasn’t going to convince Matt she was alright. It didn’t seem like anything would, though, and with that she chopped the first section off. She felt nothing, it often scared her how she could turn off her emotions. And with that thought, the scissors snipped the next section. She didn’t register the tears coming from her eyes until she looked in the mirror again. Snip. She didn’t know one person could cry this much. Snip. Why was she still crying? Snip. Who cares? Snip. She felt nothing, why was she crying?! Snip. Goddammit stop crying! Snipsnip. It wasn’t fair! Snipsnipsnip.

The scissors moved more quickly now, as she desperately thrashed through her hair. The sudden knock at the door broke her from her trance.

“Pidge, Hunk is here, come out?” Her brother said gently, she looked in the mirror, chunks were taken out at old angles but at least she was near the length she wanted it to be-- no, she looked crazy. She was very aware of this.

“N-no.” The tears were still spilling out, and she hated the way she looked now. There was nothing freeing about this... she wasn’t sure what exactly she wanted to get out of chopping her hair off but, it wasn’t this. 

“Pidge?! What’s going on?!” Matt asked, frantic as he had her the cracking in her voice. He tried the door, locked.

“I-I’m okay Matt, I just--” suddenly the door burst open as Hunk through his full weight against it, the small lock was no match against him. Pidge realized, in the face of their shock, she was still holding the scissors. “I-I...” She looked down at her hair, spiraling all around the sink. Hunk looked at her, up and down with his mouth slowly agape. He was stunned by the condition his best friend was in. Wordlessly, he went over and embraced the small girl, who was immediately enveloped. She cried silently in his arms.

“We can fix this, Team Punk can fix anything.” He smiled at her, and took the scissors. “How do you feel about a mohawk?” He teased as he stood behind her in the mirror, looking at her hack job. It made her giggle through her tears.

“Ooo, I like it, maybe we should dye it.” Matt quipped in the door way. “I’m thinking, purple?”

“What?! No! It obviously has to be green,” Hunk teased as he began evening out Pidge’s locks, “green has always been Pidgey’s color.”

“If you come anywhere near my head with dye, I’ll personally see that the President sees your internet search history.” She smirked at the boys now crowding in her bathroom. 

“Pft, who doesn’t know to use an incognito window? You take me as an amateur.” Hunk huffed, but smiled as he was happy Pidge was getting into the banter.

“The President has probably already seen it anyway.” Matt laughed. It went on like this for a few more minutes, as Hunk evened out her hair and combed it out to check for inconsistencies. 

“Looks pretty good if I do say so myself.” Hunk said with pride. “You kinda look how you did when I first met you.” Pidge had watched him cut her hair in the mirror, but only now did she really look at what he had done.

“Yeah, add the glasses and it’s almost like Pidge Gunderson is back!” Matt laughed. Pidge was very grateful for her brother and her best friend, even if they couldn’t ease the dull ache in her chest.

Matt and Hunk (begrudgingly) agreed not to go to Allura’s place (where Lance was now living) and kick his ass. Instead, the boys thought it would be best if they went to the mall and shopped for new cozy sweaters. The weather was starting to get cold, so hot cocoa from their favorite candy shop was also in order.

“Ooo, maybe we should see a movie?” Matt added.

“Yeah but what’s playing?” Hunk asked. Pidge was stuck between the two, a very small figure in between the two very tall men-- and she would be lying if she said she didn’t feel comforted by that fact. They were walking towards the large mall (with a movie theater attached) after driving there in Hunk’s Subaru. The parking lot was overcast and chilly, and suddenly Pidge was very grateful Matt made her wear a coat on top of her green sweater. They got into the mall and went straight to the candy shop for hot cocoa while they window shopped for ugly sweaters. For a fleeting moment, as the warm chocolate-and-marshmellow-y drink sat in her hands, she felt okay. Pidge smiled and it didn’t hurt, it didn’t feel forced and she felt infinitely better.

“Okay so I looked up some of the movies playing right now, and tell me you don’t want to see Final Space 3?!” Hunk’s eyes lit up.

“There are THREE of those movies?” Pidge laughed.

“Yeah! Well it’s a Trilogy Pidge, I gotta know what happens to Gary--”

“Sounds great Hunk, what time does it start?” Matt smiled, happy his sister was actually engaged.

“Ah, it starts at 3:30--” Hunk was busy looking at his phone when Pidge stopped dead in her tracks. Both boys took a moment to notice, looking back unsure why Pidge, in her oversized green sweater, new haircut, and glasses (Matt insisted on her wearing for the “lols”) stood stark still, with horror plastered on her face. It wasn’t until Hunk followed her gaze that he found it.

“Pidge, what’s wrong--” Matt began, but was quickly jabbed in the side by Hunk as he pointed towards the food court. It was there, where they saw none other than Lance. It seems that wasn’t the worst part, because sat next to him was Allura. The two didn’t seem to notice the three dumbstruck 20-somethings standing there-- and Matt, losing logic, used that to his advantage. He charged up and--

“Matt no!” Pidge managed to squeak out, alerting Lance who looked up just in time to see who’s fist connected with his jaw. Allura gasped and jumped up, as Lance fell to the floor with Matt following down. Pidge rushed to get Matt off of Lance, who was now being held down by the older Holt and repeatedly punched.

“You stupid motherfucker! You cheated on my little sister--”

“Matt stop!” Pidge pleaded, trying to get Matt off of Lance by force, not doing much as her brother was twice her size. “Hunk please--” she looked at Hunk who was stood nearby, eyes steeled.

“He deserves this Pidge!” Matt screamed, and a crowd had quickly gathered. Tears threatened the edges of Pidge’s eyes, as she looked to Hunk one last time, pleading. Hunk sighed, and quickly moved to where Pidge was to get the Holt off of Lance, who had blood from his nose smeared across his face.

“That’s enough Matt.” Hunk said gently.

“No! You sick son of a bitch, I’m gonna make you regret the day you EVER fucking thought you could hurt my little--”

“MATT!” Pidge shouted, and only then did Matt turn to look at her. Her face was flushed and tears were now streaming, snot leaking out of her nose a little.

“... Pidge?” Lance looked up, through his now swollen eyes, he thought he was seeing things. That couldn’t be her-- she looked exactly how he had met her. The concussion he got when hitting the floor made things hazy, but that was his Pidge. His Pidge. God he missed her.

Author’s Note!

Hey thanks for reading! Actual tears went into making this! This one is shorter than the last, but for pacing I thought it would be best this way~ I finally decided that this story would be best concluded in four parts (maybe an epilogue if it ends up that way.) Part 3 will be primarily from Lance’s point of view, and even though I tricked my brain into being mad at Lance, I think seeing things from his perspective will be best for everyone... it might just fix things. (Do I want to fix things? We’ll find out by the end of Part 3 I guess!)

Also, I’m contemplating uploading to Ao3, anyone else think I should?