Work Text:
1.
"Okay, I have peanut butter cookies, courtesy of Hunk, extra blankets and Mario Kart." Katie announced, barging into Lance's room, her arms full of goods. Who ever said a twenty four year old couldn't stay up late playing video games and eating junk food with her best friend was wrong. "Now get ready to get your butt whooped."
As her eyes adjusted to the dark room, she focused on Lance, who was standing near the back of his room. With no shirt on.
"Holy quiznack Lance!" she cried, turning back around, but not before she caught a glimpse of glorious tones abs. Her face felt like it was on fire. "Put a shirt on!"
"What?" he asked confused, staring down at his chest. "It's not like I'm completely in the nude!"
She let out a huff, and wondered why it was such a big deal. She'd seen Matt shirtless more times than she could count, but he was Matt. Her lanky, awkward brother who was basically a sack of skin and bones. But Lance... from the brief glance she got, he was all tone, lean muscle.
"Okay, don't worry I'm decent now."
Katie turned and to her slight disappointment Lance was standing there, fully clothed. "Great. Now I can fully concentrate on kicking your ass in Mario Kart."
"Oh, so me being shirtless was a distraction?" He cocked an eyebrow, and to her horror, she felt her heart stutter a beat. How could one man be so sexy ? Oh quiznack. She thought Lance was sexy. What was wrong with her? He was her best friend!
Her face must have betrayed her distress because Lance's hand was on her shoulder comfortingly, the contact making her brain malfunction. "Relax Pidge. I'm just joking with you."
Oh Lance, she thought miserably. If only you were. Instead she laughed, wincing at how fake it sounded. "Whatever Lance. You're going to wish you kept your shirt off when you're crying because of how hard I'm beating you."
Lance smirked before racing to the make-shift couch. "Oh you're on."
2.
Katie loved working in the Garrison, absolutely loved it. The only thing she would change was the location of her lab. It was so far within the inner bowels of the Garrison that it took her at least fifteen minutes to speed walk, on a good day. If she wanted exercise, she would have taken Keith up on his offer--
Her face slammed into a wall.
A wall that smelt like a vaguely familiar cologne.
Nope, she realized as she peeled her face from the wall and strong hands were on her shoulders, a concerned voice asking if she was alright.
Not a wall.
A chest.
A very, very nice chest.
Slowly her eyes dragged upwards, admiring lean muscles covered by smooth tan skin. Her face reddened as she met the eyes of the owner.
“Lance?!” She squeaked, jumping away from the half-nude man. A small part of her brain registered that man he had a nice chest but she quickly pushed that away. "What are you doing here? And where's your shirt?"
Lance looked down confused as if he had forgotten he was half naked. Then he smiled sheepishly, raising one arm to scratch the back of his neck, his muscles flexing under the action. Katie swallowed dryly.
"Oh yeah, my shirt!" He face palmed and Pidge let out an exasperated sigh. "I knew I was forgetting something!"
"How do you forget a shirt?" she asked, still slightly distracted by the sight in front of her.
"I had my physical just now," he explained. "And I was in such a hurry to get to the hanger, I must have forgotten."
That made sense. She nodded slowly before awkwardly patting his shoulder. "Okay then. I'll see you around."
"Yeah, see ya."
She missed his longing gaze as she scurried down the halls, seeking refuge in her lab.
3.
"I gotta say Pidge, your focus today has been surprising."
Katie looked at Keith, her head tilted to one side. "What do you mean?"
"I mean when you asked for a training buddy at this time of the day, I was worried you were using training as an excuse to oogle."
"Oogle? Why would you say that?"
"Well for one Lance is over there about to strip and go for a swim." Keith said smugly. Katie whirled around.
"For the love of god, you have got to be kidding--"
She never finished her sentence as her mouth went dry at the sight before her. Lance, pealing off the his sweaty workout gear in what seemed to be slow motion, the taught ridges of his stomach exposing themselves to her. The shirt was carelessly tossed aside and he strode towards the pool, having already discarded his footwear. Leaning back, he did a quick stretch, doing nothing to quell the blood rushing to Katie's face.
As if he sensed her stare, Lance stopped stretching and looked around, their eyes locking. Almost immediately his face lit up in a familiar grin and he waved.
"This is the part where you close your mouth and wave back," Keith whispered in her ear, clearly enjoying himself.
"Shut up," she grit through her teeth, but waved back anyways.
Lance turned back to the pool and dove in, cleanly slicing through the water, before surfacing, taking long strokes that had his back muscles flexing.
Without another word Katie turned her back on the pool and marched to the showers.
"Where are you going?" Keith called, grabbing their water bottles and jogging to catch up with her. "We still need to do--"
"I'm going to take a very, very cold shower." she muttered before disappearing into the change room, Keith's laugh following her down the halls.
4.
The one day she decided to wear a white shirt, someone decides to spill water on her. Typical.
Katie's face burned as she tried in vain to hold the now translucent material away from her body. People were starting to stare and a few wolf whistled. There goes the rest of my dignity , she thought bitterly.
Suddenly, a second shirt was on her shoulders, a strong arm keeping it in place. She looked up in shock and registered Lance's face, a mask of cool rage as he glared, threatening the spectators to stay. One by one the crowd dispersed, leaving her alone with Lance.
A Lance, she now realized, that was not wearing a shirt. That meant--
Her fingers tightened on the shirt-- his shirt--and pulled it tighter over her body. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it," he muttered, his arm still wrapped protectively around her. "Someone had to do something."
Her face fell as his words hit her. He only helped her because no one else was going it. She began to pull away from his grasp, but his arms tightened, pulling her flush against his bare chest. She was suddenly glad their height difference made it impossible for him to see her cheeks redden--well that and the fact that her face was being smushed into his peck.
"I didn't mean it like that," he whispered into her hair, and her heart quickened. "I would do it again in a heart beat. Anything for you Katie."
Katie. Her blood sang at him using her real name. His scent was wrapped around her and she closed her eyes, enjoying the moment.
But then the moment was over, and he was pulling away, walking away, telling her to keep the shirt. Her heart was beating out of her chest, and a million questions raced through her mind. Katie decided not to dwell on anything, for if she did she would lose her mind.
5.
Beach day was something Allura had created, insisting that everyone was working themselves too hard. Katie had been hesitant to agree at first, but had come to the conclusion that some R and R wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.
But standing here on the beach, her feet on the burning sand, she was suddenly struck with the thought that Lance would be there, sans shirt.
She was pondering turning back when Allura called her name and she knew she had been spotted. Smiling, she waved at her friends, noticing Lance was not among them. Maybe he was busy?
Her eyes caught movement in the water, and Katie decided that the universe must hate her.
For out of the water emerged a wet, and very shirtless Lance. He flipped his hair back, so it fell back effortlessly, only adding to the growing blush on her cheeks. Her mouth watered as she traced the water droplets gliding down the planes of his toned chest with her eyes. Her mind wandered to studying Greek gods in social class, but Lance... he was on another level.
"Pidge?"
She dragged her eyes back up to his face, registering his trademark smirk. "Huh?"
"Like what you see?" He teased, purposefully flexing his muscles. "I do work out you know."
Oh she knew. Memories of swimming pools and a laughing Keith drifted into her head. Instead she swallowed and said, "I don't doubt it."
His chest seemed to deflate, but he recovered quickly, slinging an arm around her shoulders and leading her to the water. The feeling of his bare skin on hers made her heart beat even faster. "Let's go meet the others!"
Katie nodded meekly trying to ignore how close he was. They had been close before, but it had never been like this . The last time they’d been like this was the shirt incident, and she didn’t want a repeat of what happened. Katie was hyper conscious of every little movement he made, from the tapping of his fingers on her shoulder to his breathing . Quizanck what was wrong with her?
Lance didn't seem to notice, and instead started to talk about his week, boring meetings, the cool new flight simulations he got to test, even the food Hunk got him to try. She could feel his voice rumble through his chest, and leaned into his side.
She didn't notice the way he stammered with his next words, nor the way his face reddened. His arm moved from across her shoulders to her waist, and Katie nearly died.
By no means was it unpleasant, but her brain was overloading at the sudden realization that she liked Lance Mcclain. Not just his body, although it was beautiful, no, she liked him for all the little things he does; cracking jokes, midnight calls, cookie runs, carrying her home after she's pulled several all-nighters at the lab. Everything just added up, piling and piling until she could do nothing but accept the fact that she was hopelessly in love with her best friend.
"Pidge? You alright?" His eyes shone with concern. "You're looking a little red."
"Yeah," she choked out a little too quickly. "Its the sun. You know, darn pale skin and all, nothing but freckles and sunburn." She pointed to were the others had set up camp. "I'll just go lay in the shade for a while."
And then she was off, sprinting to the umbrella-protected sand.
"I think your freckles are cute," Lance muttered under his breath before heading back for the water.
Bonus:
"Admiring the view?"
"You're my boyfriend, I'm allowed to admire." Katie defended, sitting up. "Besides, what would you expect just walking out in that?"
The that she was referring to was a towel, slung low on his hips, leaving almost nothing to the imagination. His hair was tousled just so, giving off I just woke up like this vibes. No matter how many times she saw him like this, he still managed to get her blood pumping.
" Touché .” He agreed, moving to their dresser to grab some clothes. “But we both know you were admiring long before I asked you out."
"What? No! I was not--I would never--" Katie sputtered, the comment catching her off guard.
"Please Katie, I'm not blind."
"Oh really? Name one time." She challenged.
"That time were were going to play video games, after that one physical, when you were at the gym with Keith." He cocked a brow. "Need I go on?"
He narrowly avoided the pillow thrown at his face.