His Rival

Conflicting Feelings

Hey guys, Jess here!

I haven't had a chapter this short in a long while (15 pages/ 5,041 words), which explains how I've got it out so early. But as always, please take breaks as needed.

If you have any questions or comments about this chapter, let me know; I'd like to hear from you!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

"(Y/n), what are you wearing?" Pidge asked, her lips curled in a faint smirk as you entered the green lion's hangar.

"All black, again?" Lance scoffed, noting your shirt and pants that matched your gloves. "And we thought Keith was emo..."

"I'm not emo" you quickly fired back, crossing your arms against your chest as you faced them. "It's just comfy, and for the record, my jacket isn't black, it's grey." But no one seemed to buy your excuses.

"(Y/n), you've been wearing nothing but dark colors for the last three weeks!" Pidge exclaimed. "It's been an entire month now since that explosion."

"So what, I don't think there's nothing wrong with it" you retorted, throwing your hands up in the air. "Besides, I'm not the perfect cadet from the Garrison anymore. I've changed, so I might as well own it. This is the new me now." In a month's time, you've learned how to live with the new burden on your soul. Your new way of life mainly involved throwing yourself into any work you could lay your hands on, anything that could keep your dangerous thoughts subdued.

But none of them involved Shiro since your suspicions of him were what had spurred this whole mess in the first place. Your concerns regarding him had taken a bit of a backseat after you had proven to be far more unstable than he had ever been. "Anyways, what are we working on today?"

"Hmm..." Pidge trailed off, taking a hard look at her holographic dashboard. "I'm not sure actually."

"Yeah, I can't think of anything that needs to be repaired" Hunk commented. You had ran them dry in the last month, even Coran was running out of projects for you. "Do you have any ideas (Y/n)?"

"Actually, I do" you remembered, your eyes lighting up as a previous plan of yours popped in your head, sending you jogging off to the pod room with the others fast on your heels.

"The healing pods?" Hunk inquired, raising a brow at the crystalline tubes circling the four of you. "What's wrong with them?"

"Oh, nothing's wrong with them" you remarked, pressing your hand against one of their clear teal covers. "I was just thinking of how we constantly get injured on missions."

"You mean how you've constantly gotten yourself injured on missions?" Pidge quipped.

"No, it's not just me" you corrected, your expression falling as you remembered why you thought of this plan in the first place. "Lance, remember when you got knocked out by that bomb drone Sendak sent into the castle? We couldn't get you into a pod since the castle's power was taken out. And when Keith got impaled by that spear, we couldn't do that either since the castle was infected by that crystal venom."

"Yeah, but what's your point?" Lance probed.

"My point is that this castle's over 10,000 years old" you explained. "We can't always rely on it, so we need to have some other option. And what could be better than using our lions to power an emergency pod or two?"

"Wait, that's a really good idea actually now that you mention it" Pidge remarked, holding her chin as she caught onto the same wavelength.

"Thanks, over time my lion's hull has turned into more and more of a medical center" you went on, briefing them on the steps you had already taken. "I've put a bench or two in there along with quite a lot of supplies; all it needs left is a bed like the one in the med bay and a healing pod."