Sleep deprived Lance proposes to Pidge. Equally sleep deprived Pidge accepts. Moments later they realise what they've just said/agreed to.
Welp...I went a little over on this one. I did good last time so I let myself. XD Hope you enjoy it!
Lance is dosing on her shoulder again. Under any other circumstances, Pidge would welcome his closeness and the warm weight of his body against her, but if the vaguely humanoid locals guarding their pen notice…
One of them is circling back this way from their patrol of the yard; in a moment the alien will be looking straight at Lance through the gaps between the upright logs.
“Lance…” She squeezes his hand tightly. “Lance, wake up!” she hisses near his ear.
Pidge doesn’t blame him for passing out so easily. They must have been awake for nearly 36 hours now and the world is spinning a little, but her bumps and scrapes are nothing against the gashes along his legs from the aliens’ claws and what must be cracked ribs. Maybe a concussion.
He tried to keep them from taking her, too. They didn’t like that.
They also don’t seem to like the prospect of allowing their captives to sleep.
“Lance!” she calls, louder.
He stirs, but his eyes don’t flicker open in time to keep the guard from noticing. The end of a heavy staff darts between the logs before Pidge can do anything, catching Lance in the side of his chest with a blow hard enough to put her teeth on edge even before he shouts and doubles over in pain.
Pidge growls. “Hey! That wasn’t necessary!”
Yelling at them isn’t going to accomplish anything; she’s already gathered that the aliens can’t understand them. But Pidge hopes the murderous glare she focuses over her shoulder at the one that struck is getting something across as she clings to Lance to keep him from face-planting into the dirt.
Of course they aimed right for his wounds. Of course they did.
She catches a glimpse of the tears on his cheeks as she carefully helps him sit back against her side. He buries his face in her shoulder again, and she knows it isn't her he’s hiding from, but them. She’s seen him cry before. They’ve all seen each other cry.
Uneven, pained breaths puff against her neck. “What...what’s their problem…?” he grates out. “Just...tired…” He nearly sobs it, and Pidge has to gulp back the lump building in her own throat.
“‘Mmm sorry…” she trails. The worlds blurs more, spins faster. She pinches her eyes shut. “Should have let you stay on that...stupid farm.”
“-t’s not stupid.” He laughs weakly, once, biting off a groan after. “But...glad you didn’t.”
He goes quiet again, for too long. “Lance?” She nudges him carefully. “Talk to me. They’ll know we’re awake if we’re talking.”
She can’t let them hurt him again.
He groans again, a pitiful sound. “Are you gonna keep me awake when we’re married, too?” he mumbles. “Maybe I won’ ask.”
Pidge blinks, smiling fondly to herself despite wanting to pull her air out and cry for being so tired. “You should ask.”
Lance huffs a little, his face still half smushed against her shoulder. “Fine, if we get outta this, you’ll marry me, right?”
She snorts, but nods sleepily against his hair. “You’ve got to not die though.”
Later, when he’s being loaded onto a stretcher in the back of one the Atlas’s pods after their rescue, Lance looks up at her, suddenly wide-eyed in a moment of clarity that isn’t likely to last.
Pidge is barely keeping her eyes open, only on her feet thanks to Hunk holding her up. She’s also relatively sure her words are slurring just as much as Lance’s are, but the world still feels too much like a haze for her to be sure.
“Yeah, but can I marry you after we sleep?” she asks, yawning.
Lance is already drifting off again, hopefully thanks to the painkillers spreading through his system by now. “Okay...sounds good...don’ let me forget…”
Hunk is blinking quickly, and Pidge only half makes out his surprised snort. “Uh...wait, what?”
Are her knees giving out? They’re giving out, aren’t they? No amount of being held up helping anymore.
“You heard him,” she mumbles as Hunk lowers her to the bench. “Don’t let us forget.”
A quiet chuckle follows her into sleep. “Sure thing.”
