Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Thank God you’re my partner, Hunk, we’re going to win this shit!” Pidge exclaimed as they burst through Hunk’s door. Every year at their school there was an annual bake sale, to save for one thing or another. The pair that raised the most money won a gift card to some random store. 

And most importantly, bragging rights.

Hunk had already set up all the ingredients, they were going to be making chocolate chip cookies, oversold yes, but Hunk had the very best recipe for them. The thing Pidge was most excited for was learning how to cook them, there was no way they would taste as good as Hunk’s, but now they wouldn’t have to wait for him to decide to bake them.

“Ok before we start, I’m going to tell you this. And you cannot tell anyone.” Hunk said solemnly, Pidge nodded in anticipation. “The secret ingredient is-”

“Love,” Pidge groaned, “Yes, yes I know.” Hunk just shook his head and scoffed.

“I was going to say cornstarch, but yeah, also love I suppose.” He shrugged, “We’re going to make three batches, two for the sale and one for us.”

“Yes!” A batch of Hunk’s cookies sounded great, and was ample reasoning to spend a couple hours in a stuffy kitchen. They started grabbing all the measuring cups needed as Hunk went to grab some aprons.  

“Hey, hey, Pidge!” Hunk giggled from the laundry room, “Do you need a step stool? I’ve got the one with two heights!” When he returned to the kitchen, laughing a lot harder than was necessary, he found it suspiciously quiet. 

That was until he received a facefull of flour. 
Oh it was on.

“Oi! Don’t get that everywhere, I only have two containers!” He exclaimed, astounded by Pidge’s nerve, ignoring the fact that he started it.

“Yeah well, what are you gonna do big guy?” They said, throwing another handful. 

Pidge was asking for it. Hunk quite easily picked them and chucked them over his shoulder.

“Revenge!” He shouted, in his very best villain voice, while Pidge squirmed in his grip.

“Put me down!” They squealed, “We have to bake the cookies!”

Damn. They did make a good point.

Chapter Text

Two people sat in Shiro’s car that afternoon. One a prisoner and the other, an evil madman. Guess who was who. 

“Shiro, unlock the door, I’ve got things to do.” Keith whined, trying to quickly open the door between Shiro locking it again. It was a game of cat and mouse which he wasn’t going to win.

“Oh, you’ve got ‘things to do’, what, like sit in your room and write in your pretty pink diary about all your failing gay disasters?” He teased while Keith flushed furiously. See, Shiro knew everything about his friends. Everything. And his one goal in life was to make sure they knew that. And that included Keith, no matter how close they were.

“Ok, one, I have zero gay disasters. And two, I do not have a diary.” He hissed, pointedly looking out of the window, or more accurately, the bars of his cell. This wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have by any means whatsoever. Shiro ignored him in favour of ruthlessly spilling secrets.

“Sure, so absolutely no feelings towards-“

“Don’t fucking say it, Shiro.” Keith interrupted with his head in his hands. Shiro took a swat at his arm and scolded him lightheartedly.

“Language. And I won’t have to say it if you just tell me, I’ll even act like I don’t already know. That way you can have the full experience about telling your older brother that you have a crush.” A great experience, no doubt, but Shiro didn’t necessarily sound enticing and Keith was nothing if he not stubborn. 

After a moment of silence, it was clear he wasn’t going to give in. Shiro sighed with a smirk and nudged him. He begrudgingly raised his head and faced Shiro. 

“Ok you can’t deny anything anymore, you’re redder than a tomato.” He snorted, yet Keith still said nothing. “Alright you’ve left me no choice.” 

Keith made no move to stop him from talking, resigned to his fate. He prepared himself for the embarrassment. 

“So… Lance, huh?” Shiro’s words didn’t seem to have too much weight. He waited for the door to unlock, feeling himself blush harder. It didn’t open. “Uh, no, we’re not done, I want to know why, I thought you hated the guy.”

“I do!” Keith exclaimed, finally making some noise. “He so-“

“Caring? Pretty? Nice?” Shiro filled in, “I’m just repeating what you’ve said about him.”

“I have never said anything like that about Lance, ever.” 

“Whatever helps you sleep at night. Oh I can’t believe it!” He cried in a mocking tone. “Keith’s first crush, I’m so proud.”

“You aren’t my dad!” Keith sunk further into his seat, trying to shield his face.

“You’re right,” Shiro smirked, “I’m your brother, which means I’m allowed to mercilessly tease you.”

That door wouldn’t be unlocked for a long time coming. 

Chapter Text

Ok. Don’t get them wrong, Pidge loved robotics. Building, coding, entering competitions, that was all great, when the partner they had also loved robotics. Keith’s a really smart guy, and he was helping a lot, but he was also just moping about the empty classroom, waiting for tasks rather than taking initiative. It was clear he didn’t really want to be there, and Pidge couldn’t help but feel a bit insulted at the prospect. He volunteered to be there with them, but now they just felt guilty for taking up his weekend. So yeah, Pidge loved robotics. But they still weren’t having a good time.

“Hey Keith, could you check this code for me, for some reason it won’t move more than three steps, but I did check the loop.” At the mention of his name, Keith perked up from where he was leaning on a desk, and walked over to the spot Pidge had cleared on the floor, completely covered in spare papers, sensors and prototypes. 

He knelt down beside them and grabbed the laptop, dragging it closer. He played the code and watched as the small robot rolled forward until the wheels clicked three times, and then stopped in place. He fiddled with the code, and then with the machine, and then somewhere in the robot, Pidge’s pride and joy, there was a loud crack. 

“Don’t break it!” They reached forward to grab the bot but Keith evaded them.

“Just wait, it isn’t broken.” He muttered and placed the robot down in front of the two of them and started the coded instructions. The robot just kept rolling, no clicks, no pausing, it followed the code. 

“The gears were overextending against the axis’s, that was what the clicking sound was. It only stopped because the wheels couldn’t turn anymore, all I did was pull the gears slightly off the bars, I honestly didn’t expect it to work. Nothing wrong with the code, you probably just got overexcited when building, and went too fast.” He explained softly, stopping the robot and quickly typing something else up on the laptop. He smiled as he pressed play and watched the small robot turn and come back, then do a quick spin. 

“Thanks man, I probably wouldn’t’ve caught that. I thought it was just the code.” Pidge grinned, picking up the now working robot, as Keith stood up, presumably to go back to the desk. “Wait, wanna see if we can add the colour sensor? I really want to program a colourblind robot and not just have it be an error.” 

“That sounds… strange, but interesting? I’m in.” He said and sat back down, reaching for the pile of sensors.

Just two mad scientists. Well, just two nerds.

Chapter Text

It only took a few things to turn Romelle and Allura’s bedroom into a dance floor. 

Roll down the blinds,
Turn on their fairy lights,
And pick some good music.

They did this every week or so as a way to introduce the other to new music and just have an afternoon together. With their finals coming up they hardly spent any time together not studying. Allura grabbed the cd player and plugged it in as Romelle dug through her bag for the disk she bought the other day in preparation. 

“Ok darling, be prepared to hear possibly the best thing you’ll ever listen to.” Romelle declared solemnly, and Allura smiled fondly as the disk was passed over to her. She tried to snoop at the cd as she placed it in the player, but Romelle was quick to cover her eyes. “Hey, no peeking!” 

She dragged her girlfriend up to the centre of their small room and quickly leaned over and pressed the play button before skipping the first track. (It was amazing but the second was her favourite)

Upbeat guitar filled the air and Allura’s eyes widened in recognition.

“You thought I wouldn’t know this? Romelle I’m wounded! What sort of lesbian would I be if I didn’t know this song?” She exclaimed as she spun around, grin seeming wider than possible. Romelle just stared at her, on more than one occasion she thought that Allura had to have taken dance lessons as a child due to how gracefully she moved. No matter how many times she’d seen her girlfriend dance, Romelle always fell into the same trance, watching her long hair flow and her skirt twirl around as she messily sung along to the lyrics of whatever song was playing. 

‘Ok y’all, let’s pick it up now!’

“I don’t care that you're a stoner~” Allura started, grabbing Romelle’s hand, spinning her around.

“Red wine supernova~” She continued, hugging Allura close, catching her when she dramatically swooned on the next line, “Fall right into me!” 

They both dissolved into giggles, harshly crashing into the wall. Allura started them in a messy waltz when they stood back up, laughing again when neither could keep a straight face.

“Well back at my house, I’ve got a California king!” They shouted along, “Well maybe it’s a twin bed, and some roommates!”

‘Don’t worry we’re cool!’ 

“I heard you like magic? I’ve got a wand and a rabbit! So baby, let’s get freaky- get kinky- let’s make this bed get squeaky!” 

Allura smiled and pulled Romelle on top of her and she fell onto their bed, who squealed at the hand around her waist. 

“Love you,” She murmured as the song finished in the background, and how she did. 

Chapter Text

Whose bright fucking idea was it to play Twister.

It was around nine pm at Hunk’s place when he searched through his cupboards and pulled out Twister. Everyone was over at his place for his birthday, hopped up on maltesers and homemade pizza, choosing whether they should play a boardgame or put on a movie. They ultimately decided to have a look through the games. 

“Yes. Yes Hunk I can see it. Do not deny me this.” Pidge chirped when they spotted the brightly coloured box. 

“Dude, I thought you threw that out!” Matt chimed in, and Hunk’s face dropped. 

“Me too, man. I definitely meant to after last time.” He grimaced.

Last time had ended with Matt’s arm in a cast, but he seemed ecstatic at the thought of playing again, much to Hunks dismay. 

“Ok, well now we have to play.” Pidge exclaimed, turning to Keith. “A. It’s basically fate. The game is still here, and B.  I’ve never seen Keith play twister, and that is something I need to see.” 

“I’m happy to try, if everyone else wants to play?” He said, looking around the room. Allura, Matt, Pidge, Romelle, and even Hunk (although begrudgingly) volunteered, so the mat was quickly set up. 

“I can be the gamemaster,” Lance carefully grabbed the spinner, “We need one, and besides, I’m still waiting for my nails to dry. And honestly, someone needs to take videos of this.” 

“Ohh I cannot wait to beat you all.” Grinning wildly, Pidge lent a chair over the mat so it would stay. “I’m easily the most flexible of all of you. Y’all are going down.”

Keith snorted and folded himself into a backbend and twisted himself out of it. The cracks that came alongside the move were slightly concerning, but he stood back up with ease and a gameface. 

“You sure about that?”

Five rounds later and Keith had only lost once, when Allura shoved everyone over yet miraculously managed to keep herself balanced, and he and Pidge were in a battle to the death. Well, fall. 

“Come on guys, I wanna play a sixth round.” Matt whined, “This has been going on for ages.”

“Six minutes.” Romelle stated, flicking the spinner. An evil grin appeared on her face. “This one means I get to choose, does it not?” 

“Nooooo!” Pidge called out, and then after a beat, “Wait, it’s Keith’s turn, nevermind.” 

“Ok, Keith, right foot….. in the air.” She announced.

“Romelle, do you hate me?” But he raised his leg nonetheless, wincing at the pull of muscle. 

“Holy cow, is your leg okay?” Lance questioned with concern. Keith’s leg was shaking like a newborn calf under his weight, and yeah it might’ve hurt, and been exhausting, but it didn’t matter.

“Yeah, this is normal, don’t worry. I could stay here all night.” Oh, and his voice was shaking too. Hopefully no one noticed.

“You better not.” Hunk said. “At this point I say just flip a coin.” 

“NO.” Came the unanimous voice from the duo. “Just hurry up with Pidge’s turn.” 

“Ok, ok, left foot red.” Romelle said, and watched as they stretched like a gremlin to reach it while keeping both their hands on the green spots. 

“I'm calling it, this is impossible, they’re just gonna go forever!” Matt slammed his hands on the table, and as he spoke those fated words, Keith finally crumbled. 

“Alright, alright! I’m done. I’m so done. I’ll master the next one, already proved my dominance in Twister.” He sighed as he sat down heavily next to Lance. 

“You gonna play the next round, in my honour? Wounded soldier and all that.” He added quietly. 

“Yeah maybe. What’s your heart rate?” God, Lance was always fussing over him, how he loved him.

“It’s fine!” He said a bit too quickly, and rolled his eyes at Lance’s raised brow. “175, but don’t worry for me. Let me get photos of you looking like an idiot.”

And so he did.