There shouldn’t be any S4 spoilers bc this is an AU, but just a warning, I guess?
There’s a knock on her door, and Pidge forces herself to look up from her laptop screen. Her vision swims, but is quickly replaced by a heavy pounding in her head. She drags a hand down her face and then rubs at her eyes, that are burning with exhaustion.
“Come in,” she rasps, and squeezes her eyes shut at how raw her throat feels.
“Hey, Pidge,” Matt says, walking into her room. He sits on her bed, and Pidge stares bleary-eyed at her older brother.
“What are you doing here?” She breaks off coughing, and Matt raises his eyebrows.
“I heard you’re sick. Mind telling me why I’m just now finding out about this?”
“Who said I’m sick?”
“Hunk, Lance, Keith, Shiro, Allura,” he says counting them off on his fingers, "Coran, who’s my boss. I had no idea he even knew you. How do you know him, by the way?”
“He’s one of my professors.”
Matt blinks, “what? He’s a professor too?”
She nods, “yeah…drama class.”
“I always forget that you’re taking that.”
“Well I am…and I’m not sick,” Pidge mumbles, but is interrupted by a harsh coughing fit.
“Go to bed.”
“I have a test and a paper. And it’s only seven, it’s too early to sleep.”
“It’s not too early if you’re sick-“
“-Which I’m NOT.”
“Pidge, I’ve known you for twenty one years, I know when you are...and you are.”
She sniffles, “it’s not that bad.”
He presses a hand to her forehead, and then sighs in relief. No fever. “Okay, well take a break at least. Come have dinner.”
Pidge hesitates for a moment before she nods and pushes away from her desk.
She follows Matt into the kitchen, and plops down at the table. She’s been hunched over her desk for hours, and now her back and neck are aching.
Her entire body is, actually, and she suspects that has more to do with whatever the hell it is she’s coming down with than studying for so long.
“Here,”
Pidge stares at the bowl of soup tiredly, going cross-eyed as she fights to stay awake, “I hate soup.”
“Katie, eat the soup.”
She groans and presses her cheek to the table, “I’m not hungry though.”
“I know, but you still need to eat. Hunk says you’ve been holed up in your room all day.”
She sniffles, rubbing at her nose, “mmm…yeah.”
“Eat your food.”
The sound of the door opening doesn’t even register with her until Shiro and Hunk are sitting at the table.
“Pidge? You okay?” Shiro asks.
Hunk pokes her, and then looks up at Matt, “what the hell, I leave you with her for ten minutes and you kill her?”
“Shut up,” Pidge groans.
Matt sighs and crouches down next to her so that he’s in her line of vision.
“Just a few bites. I know you’re not feeling well, but you need to eat something at least. You can sleep after.”
She sighs in defeat and forces herself to sit up.
“‘Kay.”
After forcing herself to eat a few bites, Matt follows her back into her room. He gives her some medicine and then tells her he has to go to work, but tells her to text him if she needs anything. Upon leaving, he instructs Shiro and Hunk to keep an eye on her.
Pidge sleeps soundly until around two in the morning when she wakes with a start, heart pounding in her chest. Her skin is slick with sweat, making her shirt cling to her body uncomfortably. Her hair is plastered to her face as well, and she feels so sick, she’s nearly in tears.
Her head is throbbing so painfully that her stomach is churning. Everything feels wrong - she’s achey and her entire body feels heavy and tired. She’s freezing too, and it doesn’t take long for her to realize she’s shivering so much that her teeth are chattering. She’s congested too, and can feel it settled into her sinuses and rattling around her chest with each inhale.
She fumbles with her phone the moment the first sob rips from her throat.
*
An incessant ringing breaks Matt from his sleep. It takes a few minutes for him to realize that it’s his phone, and he grabs it quickly, a frown on his face.
Pidge.
“Pidge?” He says, the exhaustion he was feeling moments earlier is now replaced with a cold ball of dread in the pit of his stomach. “What’s the matter? Are you alright?”
He’s greeted by the sound of her sobbing and then coughing, and he feels his heart drop.
“I n-need y-you.”
He gets out of bed, “What’s going on? Talk to me.”
“I h-had a bad d-dream, and-“ She breaks off into another coughing fit that sounds so harsh and grating that he winces.
“And you’re not feeling well, are you?”
She bursts into fresh tears, and Matt puts on his shoes, grabs his keys, and hurries out the door.
“Pidge, what was your dream about?”
“Y-you and d-dad a-and Sh-Shiro d-dissappeared a-a-and I c-couldn’t f-find y-you,” she breaks off as she chokes on a sob, “I th-thought you d-died.”
By the time he gets to her, she’s a sobbing mess, and she immediately reaches out for him. He sits on the bed next to her, and she latches onto him.
“Pidge, you need to relax,” Matt soothes.
“I don’t want to go to sleep,” she whimpers, tears still streaming down her face. She sounds just as miserable as she looks, and Matt can feel how hot her skin is through his shirt.
She tends to overwork herself and then ends up so sick she can’t get out of bed. She’s been that way since they were kids, and even though Matt’s accustomed to it, and knows she just needs to sleep it off, he still hates it.
“You’re sick, you need it.”
“But-“
“-If I stay will that help?”
She nods, sniffling, “don’t leave.”
“I won’t. I’m going to get you some medicine though, you have a fever.”
“No, don’t leave,” Pidge cries, eyes welling up with tears again.
“I’ll be two minutes, I promise,” he soothes, “just rest, I’ll be right back.”
She lets him go, and sinks into the pillows. When Matt comes back, she’s half conscious and is staring blankly at the wall. She makes no move that she heard Matt come back in, and he crouches down in front of her.
“Pidge,” he says, putting a hand on her forehead, “look at me.”
He manages to get her to take the medicine, and then he plops himself down in her desk chair and yawns tiredly.
Not long after Pidge falls back asleep, Matt’s eyelids droop and his chin drops to his chest as he drifts into a very uncomfortable and restless sleep.