author's note: my first ever voltron fic ahhhhhh! honestly my main motivation in writing this was based off of some pidge getting her period headcannon i saw on tumblr and i couldn't help but develop my own scenario for how it all goes down! the ending is super fluffy so just a warning lol!

warnings: mention of periods/menstruation and symptoms, as well as blood

Looking back, Pidge knew she should have been prepared for this. Upon becoming a paladin of Voltron, all the stress that had come with the pressure to protect the galaxy had held up Mother Nature for a bit, but now that there was a sense of normalcy in her life (even if her new normal included flying around space in a castle-ship and piloting a robot lion) she should have anticipated that her time of the month would be returning at some point.

Pidge had not, however, expected it to return with such a fervor. Waking up to a throbbing pain in her abdomen was less than ideal, as was the realization that her sheets were heavily stained scarlet as if she had been badly injured during a fight with the Galra. "Quiznak," Pidge breathed, making quick work of scrambling out of bed, gathering her bed sheets in her hands, and promptly making her way to the bathroom connected to her room so that she could attempt to scrub the blood out of them. She was beyond grateful in that moment for Allura's insistence that Pidge have a room with her own personal bathroom upon the discovery that she was a girl. At first, Pidge thought it was silly considering that she had grown up sharing a bathroom with Matt, but the mere idea of any of the guys walking in on her as she attempted to rid her bedsheets of period blood made heat rush to Pidge's face. As soon as the sheets were clean and Pidge strung them up to dry, she made quick work of locating a set of clean clothes amidst the mess of her room so that she could follow suit on cleaning her stained bed shorts and underwear.

Cleaning up was the easy part, but attempting to form a stable, makeshift menstrual pad proved to be more difficult. Pidge cursed under her breath - why did the universe choose to strike at the most inopportune times? It wasn't as if the castle was going to have any sanitary napkins; according to Pidge's research, it was clear that female Altean cycles worked very differently and did not require the shedding of the uterine lining. The space mall would likely have something that would work, but the mere thought of announcing to the team that she needed to make a pitstop due to her period arriving unexpectedly mortified Pidge beyond words. While she had never been embarrassed by most bodily functions before due to everyone having them, a period was something that none of her fellow paladins had experienced. Why did she suddenly feel so shy about something so natural? "Get it together, Pidge," she told herself firmly as she settled with a thick pad she had constructed from the pillow-soft toilet paper her bathroom was stocked with. Another painful cramp pulsed in her abdomen, and Pidge sighed. "Okay, okay - I'll tell someone as soon as it becomes a hinderance to training and functioning normally. Now stop talking to yourself and get out there!" With that, a determined Pidge made her way to breakfast, hoping that she'd be able to hold up the illusion that nothing was different with her upon seeing the others.

Apparently, Pidge's attempt to act natural made it very clear to the others that something was up. "Everything alright, Pidge?" Hunk asked as soon as she took her usual seat across from him at the table, eyeing the purple breakfast goo that the yellow paladin had prepared. It smelled almost like french toast, and that was all the convincing Pidge needed in order to dig into the jelly substance. After swallowing a particularly large bite, Pidge offered Hunk a too-wide smile that made her look a little crazed.

"Yeah, I'm great! Everything's great - this goo, especially, is great. Why do you ask?"

Hunk blinked, looking a little taken aback by Pidge's overly enthusiastic response. Down the table, Pidge didn't notice Keith and Shiro share a suspicious glance. "Uh," Hunk continued, reaching a hand to rest on the back of his neck as if he were mildly embarrassed. Pidge felt a sudden panic in her chest - had her makeshift pad already failed her and Hunk was attempting to alert her without humiliating her too much? "Well, you just came to breakfast later than you usually do. I mean, even Lance beat you, and we all know how he is about his beauty rest and skincare routine."

"Hey!" Lance exclaimed, clearly affronted. He put down his spoon and glared at Hunk from his seat beside Pidge. "You wish you had glowy skin like mine!"

"I'm fine, Hunk," Pidge promised as relief washed over her, scooping up another spoonful of the breakfast goo. She hadn't been kidding when she said the goo was great - it tasted even better than usual, and for once Pidge didn't mind the texture. She supposed that periods and the hormones associated with them were good for something as she shoveled the goo into her mouth and continued talking through large bites. "I just slept in a little, I guess. I was up pretty late last night trying to see if I could extended Green's cloaking to last longer than thirty seconds. So far, no such luck."

"You'll figure it out, I'm sure of it - and I'm sure you'll figure it out quicker if you dedicated as much time to sleep as you do to your projects," Shiro said with a knowing smile. Pidge couldn't even be annoyed at the slightly parental dig at her messed up sleep schedule because she knew Shiro just wanted the best for the whole team. The black paladin got to his feet, sending the other paladins a look that meant business. "Since there are no signs of the Galra coming after us today, and no nearby planets in need of assistance, looks like we're going to be having a training day. As soon as breakfast is finished, meet at the training deck and we can get to work."

As Pidge swallowed the last of her breakfast (mourning the final bite and making a mental note to ask Hunk to prepare the goo the same way the following morning), she silently prayed that the rigorous exercise that came with training would make all of the cramps and aches she felt go away and take her mind off her period at least for a little while.

It became abundantly clear to Pidge that her period was attempting to make up for those months it was missed as the cramps only worsened as training dragged on, and a dull ache began in her head. Her focus was straying from the training game Shiro had them working through - she and Keith were competing against Hunk and Lance to see which pair could protect their respective partners the longest from the drones shooting at them - and Pidge yearned a break if only to sprint to the bathroom so she could check to make sure there were no stains on her shorts beneath her armor. Alright, enough is enough, she thought in frustration as she nearly missed blocking one of the blasts that was shot at Keith due to a particularly harsh cramp coming on. After this, you need to talk to someone about your period so you can get proper stuff to manage it. The others will understand, and there's nothing wrong with needing help, especially when it comes to bleeding out of your -

"Pidge!" She jumped at Keith's gruff yell of her name, raising her shield higher as her attention was brought back to the drones, but it was already too late. While Pidge had been giving herself that mental pep talk, she had missed a particularly large blast by the drones that hit the back of Keith's shoulder and knocked him to the ground. Lance and Hunk let out a whoop of victory as the remaining drones shut off and fell to the ground. "Ha!" Lance gloated as he and Hunk hi-fived. "We beat you by a full minute! How's losing taste, guys? Man, I'm totally gonna have Coran pull up a video of Keith getting blasted later so I can watch it over and over and -"

"What the hell was that, Pidge?" Keith fumed as he got to his feet, glaring at the green paladin. Pidge frowned at him and jut her chin out in annoyance as she glared right back up at him.

"What? I missed that drone's blast, it was an accident. It's just training -"

"Yeah, but if it had been an actual battle you would have gotten us killed! We do training for a reason, not to half-ass it and hope that when we actually have to face the Galra we'll do better!" Keith let out a harsh breath, his fists clenched at his sides as his gaze continued to blaze down at Pidge. "It's obvious that you've been distracted since the moment we started training, so where the hell is your head at?!"

"Keith!" Shiro warned from somewhere behind Pidge, but she barely registered his reigning in of Keith as her lip quivered. More than anything, her rational mind wanted to kick Keith in the shin and call him an asshole for being so harsh, but Pidge found that in that moment she was consumed with the overwhelming need to cry instead. As tears welled in her eyes, she noticed an immediate change in demeanor of Keith, who softened in surprise the moment the unwanted tears spilled over the green paladin's cheeks.

"Shit," Keith breathed, taking a step forward and reaching a hesitant hand out to comfort Pidge, regret gleaming in his eyes. "Pidge, I didn't mean - "

"I'm fine," Pidge insisted with a sniffle, turning away from Keith and attempting to dry up the tears with her sleeves. Though she knew she was being overemotional, Pidge found she couldn't stop the torrent of tears that were continuing to pour down her cheeks. "Ugh, this is ridiculous!"

"Great job, Keith," Lance chided as he, Hunk, and Shiro made quick work of joining the red and green paladins where they stood in the middle of the training deck. "You made Pidge cry!"

"Keith didn't make me cry!" Pidge shouted, rounding on Lance, whose eyes widened with bewilderment. She wiped her nose, heat flooding her cheeks as she glowered him. "I'm not even that upset, I'm just - ugh!" A fresh set of tears rolled down Pidge's flushed face and before any of the other paladins could say anything she stomped off of the training deck. "I need some air."

As soon as Pidge was out of earshot, Shiro shot the three other paladins a look of concern. "Okay, I can't be the only one thinking that something's going on with Pidge that she's not telling us."

"Yeah," Hunk agreed as he glanced over his shoulder to stare after her small form as she left the training deck. "I mean, usually she'd be the first to point out that if someone wanted to "get some air" that you can't really leave the castle to do so considering the fact that we're in space where there's, like, no air at all."

"I didn't realize she'd get so upset," Keith muttered, a pout gracing his lips as he crossed his arms over his chest. Though he looked grumpy as usual, Keith's eyes still relayed the guilt he felt over lashing out at Pidge. "I mean, I figured she'd yell right back at me like she usually does, I didn't think she'd cry!"

"I'll go talk to her once she's cooled off," Shiro said decisively, running a hand through his hair. "Pidge is our friend, and if there's something that she's dealing with we need to support her through it."

The others nodded in agreement, and upon Shiro's prompting they all took up a break, each one of them wondering what could possibly be bothering the young green paladin.

Pidge was determined not to leave her room for the rest of the day, attempting to busy herself with decrypting some Galra data, but a sudden craving for any leftovers of that breakfast goo Hunk had made led her down to the kitchens, hoping beyond hope that she'd avoid running into anyone alone the way.

Naturally, as Pidge pushed open the doors of the kitchen she found Lance digging through the cabinets in search of a snack. Lance turned at the sound of the doors opening, and immediately a wide smile donned his face as Pidge pushed her glasses up her nose and shuffled awkwardly into the kitchen. "Hey," she said in a small voice, remembering the way in which she had snapped at him earlier on the training deck. "I'm sorry for shouting at you earlier, I -"

"Ah, don't sweat it," Lance interrupted, waving a dismissive hand Pidge's way as he turned back to the cabinet. "I'm just glad you emerged from your room long enough to finish off the rest of this goo with me!" Lance pulled a covered container from the cabinet which clearly contained the purple good from breakfast. "Hunk tried to hide it so it would last another day, but he should know who he's up against at this point. Paladins gotta eat!"

Pidge couldn't help but grin back at Lance, who graciously retrieved a spoon for her so that they could dig into the goo. The sat on either side of the island in the middle of the kitchen, and a comfortable silence filled the air as they enjoyed the goo, Pidge savoring every bite. "You know," Lance mused after a few minutes, "I didn't realize you liked this stuff so much. I mean, Hunk made some last week and you kind of just pushed it around."

Pidge shrugged, knowing full well that her skewed hormones were to thank for her newfound appreciation of Hunk's cooking. "It's a new week, and like you said, paladins gotta eat."

Lance nodded in agreement, but was still watching Pidge carefully, clearly mulling over some thought in his brain. After a moment, sudden recognition gleamed in his eyes, but at what Pidge wasn't quite sure. "By the way," Lance started casually, "Keith feels really bad about what happened earlier. Shiro told him to wait a bit to apologize because he figured you needed to regroup and stuff."

"It wasn't Keith's fault," Pidge said firmly, scooping up the last blob of the purple goo. "Yeah, he was being a bit jerky, but I overreacted. I don't usually cry over stuff like that -"

"Unless you're on your period?" Lance finished, the corners of his mouth twitching with the threat of an awkward smile. Pidge froze in the act of bringing the spoonful of goo to her mouth. Seeing that there was no convincing Lance otherwise, she sighed in defeat.

"How'd you know?"

"I have a sister, and me, being the wonderful brother that I am, do my best to make sure that she's as comfortable as possible during her time of the month." As he talked, Pidge noticed the shift in Lance from her goofball friend to the mature, caring brother he was quickly growing to be for her. Though his words held humor, Pidge could tell that Lance was doing his best not to make her feel uncomfortable about his knowledge of her being on her period and had genuine care for her wellbeing. "You could have said something, you know. I mean, I get that we're all guys and we're the last people you want to talk to about periods, but there's Allura -"

"Female Alteans have different biology."

"Right, never mind. Well, you have me, and while I may not get a period I know more than I probably should about them and - wait, if Allura doesn't get a period that's got to mean that there's no tampons or whatever in this castle!" Lance looked utterly scandalized. "You mean to tell me that you've spent all day dealing with this by yourself and you don't even have the right stuff to feel comfortable? Oh, hell no." Lance suddenly got up from his seat, a determined look in his eye as he glanced down at Pidge. "Meet me in Blue's hangar in like ten minutes. I'm gonna go wrangle some space money off of Coran."

"Where are we going?" Pidge asked as she stood up, mildly surprised by the resoluteness in Lance's voice. The blue paladin grinned at her over his shoulder as he moved to leave the kitchen.

"Space mall! They'll probably have stuff you can use, right? And hopefully some form of alien painkiller - my sister always needs painkiller. And chocolate - do aliens like chocolate? Whatever, we'll find something similar and get you all set!"

Pidge felt overwhelmed with the need to cry again, but this time they were happy tears. She held back the urge as she shot Lance a smile so bright it could rival the sun. "Thank you, Lance."

Lance's face softened, and he winked at Pidge before exiting the kitchen. Soon after Pidge left the kitchen as well, heading towards the Blue Lion's hangar with a happy heart. She made a mental note to figure out a way to set up that video game she and Lance had purchased at their last excursion at the space mall, by way of showing Lance how truly grateful she was for the brotherly kindness he was sending her way. And maybe, just maybe, once she figured out how to set it up she'd let him win the first time they played.

But only the first time.

As Shiro made his way towards Pidge's room, the last thing he had been expecting was to run a smug Lance. "Hey, Shiro!" he said cheerfully, saluting the black paladin as he swaggered by. Shiro smiled by way of greeting, continuing his route to Pidge's room so he could chat with her and figure out what was wrong. He was caught off guard when Lance's voice called him back.

"Oh, if you're going to talk to Pidge, don't bother. I already figured out what was up with her and I'm taking care of it."

Shiro turned around, raising a surprised eyebrow. Lance was grinning wide, looking incredibly proud of himself for beating Shiro to the punch. Shiro couldn't help but grin a little at the younger paladin's obvious pride, and he approached Lance to place a hand on his shoulder. "That's great, Lance. Mind filling me in?"

"She's on her period," Lance informed him, his tone so casual that for a moment his words didn't even register in Shiro's brain. The black paladin's face colored with understanding.

"Ah. I, um…how did you - ?"

"Older brother instincts," Lance smirked, pointing to his temple and waggling his eyebrows. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Pidge and I are going on a quick but important mission to the space mall to get some supplies for her. We'll be back before dinner, promise!" With those words, Lance turned on his heel and continued his stroll down the hall, humming to himself all the while. Shiro couldn't help but watch after him for a moment, admiring the blue paladin's sense of responsibility to his teammates, particularly in times of need.