Little Believer {Pidge Gunderson VLD fan fiction}

Chapter 5: Those Tears Aren't Mine

Two days had passed, Pidge's homemade laptop had died hours ago and her tears had finally worn out. She knew she couldn't procrastinate any longer otherwise she'd die of dehydration.

It really was a miracle that there hadn't been any galra attacks during those days, everything was quiet. Not that Pidge was complaining, had anything had of happened it most likely would have shattered her.

Everyone was eating dinner when she dropped into the kitchen, literally dropped. She fell from the air vent and crashed onto the kitchen floor, conveniently she fell directly in front of the sink.

"Nice of you to drop in." Lace smirked, causing Hunk to almost snort food goo out his nose.

Pidge nodded in their direction but didn't speak, instead she filled up a drying cup with water and drained the cup. Then climbed onto the counter and reached for her homemade computer and brought it down from the vent.

"My computer died." She said in a croaky voice and jumped from the counter like a spider monkey.

"You've been up there the whole time?" Shiro asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I needed to clear my head." Pidge frowned and tucked her computer under her arm and sighed. "I'm going to my room."

The paladins at the dining table all looked at each other nervously. Then everyone looked at Hunk.

"And you call yourselves her friends." Hunk rolled his eyes jokingly but knew what they had meant.

Allura's grip on her spoon tightened, she couldn't understand how humans could act as selfish and childish as Pidge was at the moment.

Hunk ate the last of his food as quickly as possible, he got up and went to Pidge's room.

Without hesitation, he knocked on the door.

"Hold on a second." Pidge called through the door, finishing getting changed into her usual outfit before opening the door. Her hair was still wet from the quick shower she'd just had and her face blank, no smile rested on her lips like usual. "Hey Hunk."

"Can I come in?" Hunk asked, not really knowing what else to say yet.

"Uh, sure?" She nervously sidestepped and allowed the yellow paladin to enter.

The inside of the room was still a mess, even messier than it had been the last time Hunk had seen it. With a sigh he closed the door, turning to Pidge with a sad expression. "I know something's going on, don't say it's nothing because I know you enough to be able to tell when you're lying."

She crossed her arms and looked at the wall behind him, trying to stop any tears from doing so much as sting the corners of her eyes. "It's nothing, it really is. You all need to stop worrying so much."

"Pidge..." Hunk sighed sadly and pulled her into a hug, knowing that she needed one without knowing why. "You need to tell someone, it's not going to change how we see you."

Pidge let out a shaky breath and clung to Hunk, her arms too short to reach all the way around him. "My arms are too short..." she mumbled.

"Yeah I hate those tiny things," Hunk chuckled, recalling when the gravity had been switched off. "Wait, that's not what this is about is it?"

Pidge just shook her head.

"Come on buddy, I won't tell anyone without your permission."

She shook her head again, biting her lip harshly to try and avoid tears that were beginning to once again sting the back of her eyes.

"Pidge, I won't tell the others until you're ready to." Hunk said softly, like he was talking to an injured animal. "It's just me."

Pidge sighed into her friends shirt and let the tears fall, giving up, there was no way she could say no to Hunk. "On the mission I was doing a face scan, you know, to find my f-family..."

Hunk nodded, listening closely because that's just what he does when his friends need someone to talk to (who else wants to be Hunks friend, this guy is amazing).

"It found a video from a week ago, M-Matt was in the arena and got hurt. My dad... my dad went out to save him but got shot down by the galra." Pidge whispered in an uneven voice, Hunk's hold on her tightened at the last part. "Then the monster M-Matt was fighting pulled out a knife... Hunk, I'm an orphan, I don't have any family anymore..."

Pidge broke down in sobs once again, gripping onto the material of her friends shirt tightly.

It took a while for him to process the words, thinking that for sure he'd heard her wrong. But letting out a shaky breath, Hunk hugged Pidge close and fought back tears of his own.

He didn't have to of known Matt or Sam to be upset by their deaths. If they'd raised Pidge to be the amazing person she was, he had no doubt that they were good people.

"You still have a family." Hunk said quietly in order to keep his voice from breaking. "You have us, we can be like your family."

Pidge sniffed and moved away from him, rubbing her face harshly to get rid of the sticky feeling her tears had left behind. "T-thanks, Hunk."

Hunk gave her a sad smile and wiped his eyes as well to get rid of the tears that'd managed to fall. "You don't have to hid that stuff from us, we won't treat you any different."

Pidge simply shrugged, keeping her head down.

Her stomach broke to silence, growling angrily at the two teens for food.

"Time for breakfast, you have to be starving." Hunk said to lighten the mood and turned to leave, however a small tug on the fabric of his shirt stoped him. "Huh?"

Pidge looked up at him with big watery eyes, looking more like a child then ever. Hunk suddenly realised how young she was, only fourteen, she was not old enough for this amount of stress. "Can you p-please not tell anyone? I don't want them to worry or anything..."

"I won't but you need to tell them at some point, and by some point I don't mean next lifetime." Hunk clapped a hand on her back. "But for now, food."