There is not enough letters in the alphabet for me to tell you how much I love you
Accepting that she loved Keith the way she did was complicated for Pidge at first. She was barely starting to figure out how friendships worked and soon, she was beginning to realize there was a thing that just drew her to him more compared to the others.
The only friend she ever had before was Matt, since, according to Lance, Bae Bae and her robots don't even count. Not like he thought her brother did. It had been a long time since she stopped caring, the green paladin was getting used to her nonexistent social life.
So yeah, the idea that she had people who were interested in spending time with her and were always willing to oļ¬er her help when she needed was a new concept to the girl.
But having someone who made her heart beat faster whenever they smiled at her, who made her shy and some many other things...
Pidge couldn't fathom ever getting used to that. In her opinion, it was way too out of character for herself.
The green paladin may not be an expert at love, she still knew how it usually went. You start having a crush on someone. Then, you try finding out if they feel the same. And finally, you confess.
A universe where Keith didn't reject her seemed impossible.
Guess she had no choice but to appreciate their current friendship.
It was nice of Keith to oļ¬er her some help in improving her training techniques. Her mind may be the sharpest of the team, her fighting skills were still lacking in some areas. Mostly when it came to hand-to-hand combat.
"Come on Pidge, I know you can do it. You just need to be more confident in your movement, it is obvious you keep hesitating. We're here to learn, making mistakes is totally fine."
Lance and Hunk exaggerated when they talked about how awful it was to train with Keith. He wasn't screaming at her or calling her lazy like they said he would.
Taking a deep breath, the green paladin nodded as she stood up. She was tired, her legs felt like jelly, but her teammate was trying so hard to assist her, she couldn't let him down that easily.
Before she knew it, the red paladin was already charging in her direction. Like he instructed her, Pidge used her size as an advantage to dodge his attack more swiftly.
However, she was facing the same problem as usual; she was able to prevent getting hit, but she was still on the defensive and not the oļ¬ensive. Every time she tried, Keith would grab her and win the sparring match because she was concentrating too much on landing a hit and forgot to stay alert.
All she needed was to find an opening that wouldn't put her at a disadvantage...
The green paladin managed to duck at the last tick when he charged at her, grabbed his shirt and used her weight to throw him like Shiro taught her.
The only problem was that she was so concentrating on keeping her grip on him firm that she forgot to let go of his clothes and went down with her teammate, falling on top of him.
"Does that count as a win?" Keith stared back at her wordlessly before slowly nodding, his eyes never leaving her face.
"Yay! I won!" exclaimed the girl when a wave of exhaustion hit her.
Pidge's body immediately relaxed, using her hands as a fan. "Umm Pidge, could you..." Keith looked her up and down instead of finishing his sentence. Was his face red? Oh right, now would be an appropriate time to get oļ¬ of him. "Sorry."
She oļ¬ered a hand, which he gladly accepted. "I did good, right?"
The suddenness of the action surprised her. Keith had ruļ¬ed her hair as he smiled gently, it was most probably the softest smile she had ever seen on his face since they met, as he gazed into her eyes. "You did amazing. With more practice, I'm sure you'll become a great opponent."
Since then, anytime he could, Keith would pet her hair while never breaking eye contact for a few ticks. Pidge could swear she was going to die of a heart attack if he didn't stop soon.
And now, he wasn't only doing this when he was impressed with something she had done, any time apparently became a good opportunity for him. If he wanted to greet her in the morning, to tell her, "goodnight," to grab her attention when it was his turn to come fetch her to eat or just because he "felt like it."
Everybody noticed at some point, but no one said a word.
Maybe she was also acting strangely, usually, if anyone touched her hair without her permission, which she never gave, Pidge would tell them oļ¬.
She never asked Keith to stop.
She already had a bunch of excuses to give if anyone asked her, but secretly, she knew, seeing his cheeks turn a light shade of red when he walked away did something inside of her.
"You're truly extraordinary."
"We're so lucky to have you with us."
"You never give up on people, that has to be one of your best qualities."
"Anyone would be considered lucky to have you in their lives."
"My, your brain will never cease to amaze me, how can you know so much?"
"You should tie your hair up more often; it looks cute."
Those phrases were always said with so much emotion in his voice and she couldn't understand what exactly was that tone. She just knew she liked the diļ¬erence compared to his usual stoic one.
What could this all mean?
Space was beautiful, Pidge knew that ever since she was a little kid, staring up in delight at the starry sky with Matt.
It was even more mesmerizing with Keith sitting next to her, no one else in sight.
She hadn't expected him to speak, nor to place his hand on top of hers. At this moment, she felt as if a spell was finally broken.
"I'm grateful to have you in my life. I'll do anything to keep you here."
Maybe she did have a chance with the first boy she truly liked.
(Posted on ao3 and Wattpad)
So much has happened since I last updated this fic! My last year in secondary school is soon over, today I had my French ministry exam thatās worth 50%, so you better not fail it or no diploma. I also finally went to see a doctor because I sleep like 4h a night and Iām constantly exhausted so now Iām waiting for the results for my blood test. AND I had my last secondary school art exposition last week, in the end of the month, my brother and I are going to see Pierce the veil (canāt wait!!) And I leave for New York tomorrow morning for a school trip with a bunch of my friends (I hope weāll have no problems crossing the border).
So yeah, amongst all of that, Iām trying to rebuilt my love for art and writing and I hope I can manage!
Thank you so much for still reading!!!
https://archiveofourown.org/works/57811132/chapters/168300556