Notes: This is my first fic. I just felt in the mood for some fluffy Plance. I’m not responsible for your dentist bills if you teeth fall out from the sugary fluff.
Lance shuffled through the hallway, squinting at the dimmed lighted ahead of him.
Stupid Allura with her stupid Arusian Whiskey. Why couldn’t that stuff just give him wonderful dreams of cotton candy instead of raging headaches?
He passed what felt like hundreds of doors, until he came to one that caught his eye.
Pidge’s room. Door still open with bits of spare parts and candy wrappers threatening to spill over into the hall. Lance wondered if Pidge ate anything other than sweets and whatever day old pop tart was closest to him at the moment. He stopped to take a peek inside the dimly lit room.
There was Pidge, sitting at his desk with some blueprints or whatever, munching on what looked like a graham cracker. He had dark circles under his eyes and was slumped in a way that meant he hadn’t gotten any sleep in at least 24 hours.
Lance leaned on the doorframe. “Now I’m no expert in Baltan sleep rhythms, but I’m pretty sure you need some rest.”
Pidge jumped, so engrossed in his work he didn’t realise Lance was even there. He stared at him like a deer caught in headlights, eyes reflecting some of the light from the screen. “Oh hey Lance.” He turned back to the monitor.
Lance winced. Pidge was too tired to even come back at him with some smartass remark, clearly something was bugging him. He stepped into the room, avoiding the broken bits of projects and paper schematics that littered the floor. “Why aren’t you in bed?”
Pidge thought for a moment, clearly debating whether or not to tell Lance the whole truth or just feign restlessness. “I can’t sleep.” Lance rested his hand on Pidge’s head and ran his hand through the brown fluff before sliding his hand down to Pidge’s cheek.
Pidge sighed, knowing that wasn’t fooling Lance. He rested his hand on top of Lance’s and gave it a squeeze. “I’ve been having some... nightmares.”
Lance raised an eyebrow. “So you’re avoiding them by staying up all night?”
“Pretty much. Remember how Hunk said watching funny videos before going to bed helps keep the nightmares away? I tried to watch some funny videos of people falling off of things, but that only made me dream of falling off cliffs. I watched some videos of people modifying their childhood toys to do dumb shit, but I dreamt I was being chased by a furby.” Pidge took off his glasses and rubbed an eye. “I’m at my wits end.”
“Did you try porn?”
Pidge whacked him in the shoulder and Lance removed his hand from Pidge’s face, dangerously near biting territory. Lance chuckled and Pidge smiled, not a whole lot, but just enough to make Lance feel all warm inside.
Lance cleared his throat. “Anways, I’ve got some cheesy movies if you want to camp out in my room for the rest of the night.”
“You didn’t pay for these movies, did you?”
“Nope.”
“So you can remember me showing you how to illegally download movies but you can’t remember me teaching you how to use the new coffee machine?”
“Coffee is coffee! Not some fancy milky crap or cold bullshit! None of this ‘decaf’ nonsense either!”
Pidge laughed, a genuine laugh that once again turned Lance to mush.
Pidge suddenly gasped and grabbed Lance’s arm. “Did you get The Bestest Ringmaster? Please tell me you got it!”
“It even has that GBI warning at the beginning that warns against pirating it.”
“I’m in.” Pidge took Lance’s hand and took off.
Once they had settled, Lance turned the movie on and leaned back in the beanbag couch, an old joke gift from Keith since it practically swallowed and trapped anyone who dared sit in it. Pidge, who was also trapped by the beanbag, brought his knees to his chest and leaned forward, ready to invest himself in something that didn’t involve calibrating or coding.
By the time the movie has progressed to “A Billion Hallucinations” Pidge was leaning into Lance’s side, quietly humming the words.
Lance wasn’t paying attention to the movie, but instead kept his eyes fixed in the brown mop of hair pressing against his arm. He closed his eyes and listened to the humming. He relished in the quiet tune until it stopped.
Lance opened one eye to see Pidge fast asleep, eyelashes fluttering against freckles cheeks and glasses askew on his nose. He placed the glasses on the floor next to them and tossed the closest blanket he could reach over them.
“Goodnight, Bird.”
A faint beeping pulled Lance from his slumber. He glanced at the time his wall clock read.
8am. Keith was probably wondering where he and Pidge were, mostly Pidge since Lance wasn’t usually up this early.
Lance silenced the beeping and opened a text channel on his voltcom.
‘What do you want Keith?’
‘Where is Pidge? You haven’t kidnapped him have you? You know he has control room duty this morning and you still need to get those reports filed before noon.’
Lance pondered what his response should be. Just words probably wouldn’t get them off the hook. Then he got an idea. He switched to the camera function of his voltcom, raised his arm, and angled it to where you could see Pidge, still deep asleep, and only some of Lance, because no one needed photo evidence of his bedhead. He snapped his fingers and the camera took a picture, a handy function Pidge installed had it not just made a shutter noise.
Lance glanced down at Pidge. He shuffled slightly before going still again. Lance let out a small sigh. He opened the text channel back up and sent the photo to Keith.
‘He couldn’t sleep last night. Nightmares again.’
Lance didn’t elaborate too much, not that he needed to. He watched the typing icon appear and disappear several times on Keith’s end before he finally got a response.
‘Understood. I’ll get someone else on control room duty and you can get his reports in NO LATER than eight o’clock tonight.’
‘Can do.’
Lance leaned his head back and glanced down at Pidge, who was now clinging to his arm like a koala, then closed his eyes and let sleep overcome him.
Stupid Allura with her stupid Arusian Whiskey. Why couldn’t that stuff just give him wonderful dreams of cotton candy instead of raging headaches?
He passed what felt like hundreds of doors, until he came to one that caught his eye.
Pidge’s room. Door still open with bits of spare parts and candy wrappers threatening to spill over into the hall. Lance wondered if Pidge ate anything other than sweets and whatever day old pop tart was closest to him at the moment. He stopped to take a peek inside the dimly lit room.
There was Pidge, sitting at his desk with some blueprints or whatever, munching on what looked like a graham cracker. He had dark circles under his eyes and was slumped in a way that meant he hadn’t gotten any sleep in at least 24 hours.
Lance leaned on the doorframe. “Now I’m no expert in Baltan sleep rhythms, but I’m pretty sure you need some rest.”
Pidge jumped, so engrossed in his work he didn’t realise Lance was even there. He stared at him like a deer caught in headlights, eyes reflecting some of the light from the screen. “Oh hey Lance.” He turned back to the monitor.
Lance winced. Pidge was too tired to even come back at him with some smartass remark, clearly something was bugging him. He stepped into the room, avoiding the broken bits of projects and paper schematics that littered the floor. “Why aren’t you in bed?”
Pidge thought for a moment, clearly debating whether or not to tell Lance the whole truth or just feign restlessness. “I can’t sleep.” Lance rested his hand on Pidge’s head and ran his hand through the brown fluff before sliding his hand down to Pidge’s cheek.
Pidge sighed, knowing that wasn’t fooling Lance. He rested his hand on top of Lance’s and gave it a squeeze. “I’ve been having some... nightmares.”
Lance raised an eyebrow. “So you’re avoiding them by staying up all night?”
“Pretty much. Remember how Hunk said watching funny videos before going to bed helps keep the nightmares away? I tried to watch some funny videos of people falling off of things, but that only made me dream of falling off cliffs. I watched some videos of people modifying their childhood toys to do dumb shit, but I dreamt I was being chased by a furby.” Pidge took off his glasses and rubbed an eye. “I’m at my wits end.”
“Did you try porn?”
Pidge whacked him in the shoulder and Lance removed his hand from Pidge’s face, dangerously near biting territory. Lance chuckled and Pidge smiled, not a whole lot, but just enough to make Lance feel all warm inside.
Lance cleared his throat. “Anways, I’ve got some cheesy movies if you want to camp out in my room for the rest of the night.”
“You didn’t pay for these movies, did you?”
“Nope.”
“So you can remember me showing you how to illegally download movies but you can’t remember me teaching you how to use the new coffee machine?”
“Coffee is coffee! Not some fancy milky crap or cold bullshit! None of this ‘decaf’ nonsense either!”
Pidge laughed, a genuine laugh that once again turned Lance to mush.
Pidge suddenly gasped and grabbed Lance’s arm. “Did you get The Bestest Ringmaster? Please tell me you got it!”
“It even has that GBI warning at the beginning that warns against pirating it.”
“I’m in.” Pidge took Lance’s hand and took off.
Once they had settled, Lance turned the movie on and leaned back in the beanbag couch, an old joke gift from Keith since it practically swallowed and trapped anyone who dared sit in it. Pidge, who was also trapped by the beanbag, brought his knees to his chest and leaned forward, ready to invest himself in something that didn’t involve calibrating or coding.
By the time the movie has progressed to “A Billion Hallucinations” Pidge was leaning into Lance’s side, quietly humming the words.
Lance wasn’t paying attention to the movie, but instead kept his eyes fixed in the brown mop of hair pressing against his arm. He closed his eyes and listened to the humming. He relished in the quiet tune until it stopped.
Lance opened one eye to see Pidge fast asleep, eyelashes fluttering against freckles cheeks and glasses askew on his nose. He placed the glasses on the floor next to them and tossed the closest blanket he could reach over them.
“Goodnight, Bird.”
A faint beeping pulled Lance from his slumber. He glanced at the time his wall clock read.
8am. Keith was probably wondering where he and Pidge were, mostly Pidge since Lance wasn’t usually up this early.
Lance silenced the beeping and opened a text channel on his voltcom.
‘What do you want Keith?’
‘Where is Pidge? You haven’t kidnapped him have you? You know he has control room duty this morning and you still need to get those reports filed before noon.’
Lance pondered what his response should be. Just words probably wouldn’t get them off the hook. Then he got an idea. He switched to the camera function of his voltcom, raised his arm, and angled it to where you could see Pidge, still deep asleep, and only some of Lance, because no one needed photo evidence of his bedhead. He snapped his fingers and the camera took a picture, a handy function Pidge installed had it not just made a shutter noise.
Lance glanced down at Pidge. He shuffled slightly before going still again. Lance let out a small sigh. He opened the text channel back up and sent the photo to Keith.
‘He couldn’t sleep last night. Nightmares again.’
Lance didn’t elaborate too much, not that he needed to. He watched the typing icon appear and disappear several times on Keith’s end before he finally got a response.
‘Understood. I’ll get someone else on control room duty and you can get his reports in NO LATER than eight o’clock tonight.’
‘Can do.’
Lance leaned his head back and glanced down at Pidge, who was now clinging to his arm like a koala, then closed his eyes and let sleep overcome him.