Chapter Text
1. Invisible
Winning a war was the easy part. This was something Pidge had realised when she came into the real world. Defeating the Galra, rescuing Shiro, all of them almost dying, all of these things had been child's play compared to work in a high-tech organisation. Life seemed perfect at first – she had a good job, Hunk was an amazing boyfriend that treated her well, like a queen, if she was cheesy enough to admit. Then what could go wrong right?
Ezra Cain.
Her boss – but it was tricky. Because anyone who saw it from afar would think he was just appreciating her knowledge and hard work. It was what she had thought at first, after all, hadn't she? Until that one day where he had called her to his room when she was almost done with work. She hadn't thought much of it – he was her boss, and he might need her to sign some papers or something.
Walking through the corridors, she came to Ezra's room and knocked.
"You asked for me, sir?" Pidge asked and Ezra looked up from some paperwork, a smirk appearing on his face.
"Yes, yes, Miss Holt, come in," Ezra said simply. "Close the door, if you will."
Pidge frowned at this. "Is something wrong?" She did move to close the door, however. He had seemed impressed with her work for the last couple of months but calling her here and asking for the door to be closed was…odd. Was he going to fire her?
Ezra stood up and moved closer to her. "Not at all. Your work has been to a rather high standard, Miss Holt. Despite not having prior job experience, you've picked up quite well in the four months that you've been working here."
"Thank you," Pidge said softly. "What was the reason for calling me here, sir? I mean, my work hours have finished."
Ezra smiled, reaching out and grasping her by the shoulder. "You have a lot of potential, Katie. You're young, you're smart, you're beautiful. I could take you to great heights…if you do exactly as I say."
Pidge shifted a little, moving back. She couldn't explain it but her heart sunk all of a sudden at his touch and his words. There was something about the way he said it, the way he stepped closer that made her skin crawl. Her body tensed slightly.
"What do you mean?" Pidge asked, fist clenching to the side.
Ezra chuckled, grasping her by both shoulders now and pulling her close. "You know what I mean, Katie. Make me happy and I'll promote you."
Pidge froze for a moment as she stared at him. Ok, she knew creeps existed – they heard stuff like this on the news all the time but being with Hunk had made her forget that men could be this creepy. He was always so gentle even with the little things, like bringing her coffee on the weekends when she was exhausted from work. She knew she needed to move back from Ezra and run from here, but she also felt as if she couldn't move.
"Consider your options carefully, Katie," Ezra whispered, breath trickling against her ear. "Do you want to keep working this 9-5 job and earn small amounts of money? Or would you rather earn in millions if you please me?"
Pidge pushed herself away, scowling as she wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head. "There's nothing to think about. I'm not taking your disgusting offer. I'm happy with the money I earn." That was all she said before running to the door, opening it and running out of there.
Her skin still crawled from his words, but she couldn't afford to think about it right now. She needed to get out of there – she needed to get away from her office. As she ran from the building, she stumbled into someone, crying out in surprise as arms wrapped around her. The arms were familiar – safe as she relaxed into them.
"Katie," Matt's panicked voice came through to her. "Pidge, are you ok?"
Pidge shook her head. "I'm just tired." She couldn't tell Matt what happened – she couldn't tell anyone. No one might even believe her with the reputation that Ezra had and it wasn't like he had fired her. She didn't want a promotion – she was happy where she was and it had felt like it was better than working for the Garrison.
Is it though?
No one at the Garrison had ever looked at her like that even once they knew she was a girl. As much as pricks the Garrison were, she never felt unsafe there, even if she had to hear trash about some of her friends like Shiro, at least she was physically safe.
"Pidge? What's going on?" Matt asked, holding her close and it was then she realised she was trembling. She tried to force herself to stop – she couldn't let Matt become suspicious. All females probably dealt with this in the workplace at some point in their lives – it was no big deal if she had to put up with it too. She could hear Green's protests in her mind but pushed them down. She appreciated the concern but she honestly didn't need it. She could handle this.
Pidge shook her head. "Probably just the tiredness. We should go home." She pulled away from Matt, exhaling, trying to compose herself. She wasn't the best at lying to her brother but she was a better liar than most of the Paladins, save for Lance who was good enough an actor that he could fool anyone.
"Home?" Matt said blinking. "I thought we were going to have dinner at Hunk's restaurant tonight?"
Pidge flinched at the mention of Hunk, words slipping from her mouth before she could stop them. "No, we can't! He can't know! He can't know that…" Her words broke and she covered her mouth, eyes wide. Dammit, dammit, why had they planned to go for Hunk's for dinner? She pulled away from Matt, not looking at him still and moving over to their car, wrapping her arms around herself. As selfish as it was, she didn't want to lose Hunk.
He made her feel like the world was a heaven even when the war was going on – somehow, he gave her hope in more ways than one.
"Please, Matt," she finally said. "Please just take me home. I know you have questions, but I don't have answers right now." Lying wasn't working, after all but she couldn't be completely honest either – this was the best he was going to get. Because otherwise, she knew her brother. He would not stop asking – he was too curious and concerned for that.
Matt reached out, tousling Pidge's hair. "Ok, Pidge. I won't ask. Let's go home."