#shidge

The both of them were squared off in their own corner of the living room where they (read: mostly Hunk) pushed the coffee table to serve as their workbench. 

Slav had been clear on the fact that the majority of the work in building the actual robot had to be done in the workshop, but all the other bits and pieces of the entire project itself were alright to take home. 

This however, did not stop Pidge from gritting her teeth and spitting curse after curse (after curse after curse) under her breath as she assembled what was supposed to be a mock-up of her robot’s skeletal frame. 

“Damn it, Rover.”

What possessed me to make this a tetrahedron? 

Seething to herself, Pidge set the thing that wasn’t quite Rover yet on the table’s wooden surface before letting the rest of her body fall to the ground, still grumbling to herself.  

“Stupid triangular pyramids. Stupid lofty ambitions. Stupid Rover.” 

“Rover?” 

Pidge didn’t bother meeting Shiro’s glance, only pointing to the Thing with disdain.

“You named your final project?” 

“You must really like him,” Hunk said. 

Pidge sat up. “What?”

“Rover,” Hunk gestured to her side of the coffee table. “It's him, right? Or is it a her like, how you’d refer to a ship?” 

Pidge narrowed her eyes at her friend but didn’t say much else before picking up the screwdriver once more to disassemble the Thing and as she did, her Dad’s advice rang clear in her mind. 

Sometimes you have to take things apart to put them back together the right way. Other times, there might be more pieces to put together than you initially think, or some pieces that should fit perfectly in theory might need a little more time and effort to slot together in practice. All this to say, you have to be flexible in how you deal and think when solving different problems. 

With a sigh, Pidge looked back at Hunk, who was intently focused on his work, watching until his eyes widened and his hands stopped moving mid-screw. 

He then looked up in realization and (after subtly peeking over at Shiro’s direction) mouthed a fervent Sorry. 

Katie only waved him off, mouthing back, It’s alright, before getting back to work. 

And to quiet her own worry, she also made sure to catch Shiro’s reflection on her laptop screen, just to make sure he didn’t catch on to their silent conversation. Much to her relief, he appeared to be on his phone, so Pidge turned back to the Thing before she ended up looking at Shiro for far longer than she should.

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Yawning, she blindly pawed for her phone on her bed with one hand while the other reached for her glasses, pushing them up her nose as she turned on the screen.

         Keith: @Pidge i’m at your place

         Keith: your mom let me in

The cram session.  

Right.  

Letting out one more yawn, Pidge got off her bed and headed downstairs.

Mom was absently humming in front of the stove, her song accompanied with the sizzles from the pan and the burner, to which Pidge let out a contented sigh at the smell of frying bacon.  

“Morning,” Keith greeted from the table. In front of him was a stack of pancakes from which he took three of on his own plate, along with two eggs and a few strips of bacon.

“He said he didn’t have much for breakfast,” Mom said. “Lucky for him, I already finished the batter when he arrived.”

Keith only nodded at her as he chewed, then gestured to his head before swallowing. “You might wanna fix the bedhead.”

Pidge rolled her eyes but put her hair up with the tie on her wrist as she walked into the kitchen. She greeted Mom with a kiss on the cheek and grabbed a plate and utensils from the cupboards and the peanut butter jar from the fridge.

And even with Mom busy in the kitchen, it was still oddly quiet.

“Where’s Bae-Bae?”

“Matt took him with your father to the lab.”

“Traitors,”

Mom chuckled. “You know our boys,”

“Yeah, yeah,” And it was when Pidge sat down that she realized Keith was giving her a strange look.

“What?”

“You’re wearing earrings.”

“Yeah, had to reopen the piercings for prom.” She took four pancakes from the stack. “I thought you were gonna stop at Shiro’s first?”

Keith shook his head. “He didn’t reply so I figured he was in the shower when I texted.”

Pidge opened the peanut butter and put a generous dollop on the top pancake. “Don’t you have a spare key?”

“Yeah, but I had to drop these off here anyway.” He reached down to his feet and produced a six-pack of Red Bull which he set on the table with a soft thud.

“Holy shit,”

“Language,” Mom warned before turning around. “Are you going to consume all of that?” From the look alone it was clear she was hoping the answer would be no.

Pidge glanced over at Keith. “We’ll try not to?” she offered.

Her mother sighed. “Fine. But you know the consequences if I catch you awake and making noise in the garage at three in the morning again, young lady.” Then, facing Keith, she added, “Make sure to monitor her consumption?”

Pidge snorted, thinking back to the six-pack of Quintessence Canned Coffee she kept in a cooler at the bottom of her closet that matched the one Keith kept in his locker.

The boy only blinked. “I think I’m the last person you should be asking that.” He picked up a strip of bacon before adding, “Leave it up to Shiro. He should be here in a few.”

“Oh?” Mom asked, turning to Pidge with a raised brow.

“So are Hunk and Lance,” Katie said too quickly for her liking. “Grinding before the Championship and all that.”

“I see.” If Mom was disappointed with the answer, she didn’t show it. “What time are they coming over?”

Keith rummaged into his pocket to pull out his phone. “Lance and Hunk said they’re already on the way and asking if we want anything from Sal’s.” He turned to Pidge. “I’m guessing you want an iced latte with hazelnut?”

“Yes please,”

“How about you, Doctor Holt?”

The stove turned off just as Mom turned around. “I’ll get the same as Katie but hot. Oh, and tell Lance and Hunk everyone’s drinks are on me.”  

“Thanks, Mom.”

“Thanks, Doc.”

Keith and Pidge said in unison, to which Mom only smiled. “And don’t forget to get something for Shiro. He should be over any time now, yes?”

She didn’t even bother being subtle as she glanced at Pidge with what was essentially signaling with her eyeballs.

Pidge heaved out a sigh but quickly polished off the rest of her breakfast before going upstairs.

Best friends or not, she did not want to be in her pajamas while they were over and risk any blackmail material.

(Right, like that wasn’t the only reason she wanted to get dressed for the day when all of her friends already had hundreds of blackmail worthy photos and videos from Junior Year alone.)

Pidge also hoped that by dressing for the day it would hype her up, both for the studying itself and the looks she’ll no doubt be getting from Mom while Shiro would be in their house for the first time in weeks after only showing his face to just Pidge.

         Shiro: Keith’s already there right?

Speak of the devil .

The sight of the private message notification on her screen made Pidge look out her windows and, sure enough, Shiro was standing in the middle of his room.

And, as if feeling her glance, he looked up and waved.

Pidge rolled her eyes and replied.

         Pidge: yep and he helped himself to breakfast

         Pidge: there’s plenty to go around if you want

         Shiro: sure, sure

         Shiro: just gathering my things. be at the door in five.

Pidge looked up to wave goodbye before closing her curtains and getting ready.

And without really thinking about it, Pidge ended up adding a few extra hairpins into the sides of her head as she fixed her hair, if only to avoid ending up with someone else brushing the stray locks away.

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