Chapter Text
"You know I can make as many pumpkin holograms as you want."
"It's not the same, babe."
"Right, it's safer."
The pumpkin patch sign loomed over Pidge, the crooked lettering an obvious foreshadowing of bad things to come. They were back on Earth for the weekend to visit with her parents and do normal Halloween things like an average family. Not a universe-protecting one. On New Altea, Halloween existed, but it wasn't nearly as big a deal as it was on Earth. Since she and Lance both loved Halloween and thought it was important that the kids experienced Earth traditions, they always dragged their family home for the holiday, even though it meant pulling the kids out of school for a few days.
However, while Pidge liked pumpkin carving, something had gone wrong every single time they tried to do it with the kids. Back when it had just been her and Lance, pre-kids, they had made the most spectacular Jack-o-Lanterns ever, but everything had changed when Kai had been born. It was like his birth had brought a pumpkin-carving curse upon them.
She stuffed her hands into her hoodie pocket and glanced over at where the kids were playing on a pile of hay bales. Ferro launched himself to the top of the bales and reached down to pull Lis up with him while Garett struggled to climb after them. Kai was watching all of them, playing the part of the dutiful older brother even though it looked like he wanted to somehow sabotage Garett, judging by the mischievous glint in his dark blue eyes.
Lance looped his arms around Pidge, leaning down to rest his chin on the top of her head. "You're being paranoid. Cease and desist. It's gonna be fine."
"You said basically the same thing last year, and we wound up in the hospital because Garett accidentally tripped and stabbed you."
Lance's weight dropped further onto her, and she had to brace herself as he used her as a leaning post. "That was an accident, like you said."
"And the year before that, Kai almost caught himself on fire—"
"Which is why he's on a permanent firestarter ban. Once we have enough kids to form Voltron, Kai's definitely not going to be the red one."
"Don't get started on that again," Pidge said, rolling her eyes. Lance had been making comments about increasing their family by one ever since he realized they almost had a complete Voltron starter pack.
"You know you want one more," he said, his hand sliding to rest over her stomach, "Katie…"
Oh, crap, nope. Whenever he said her name like that, soft and low and accented, she couldn't decide whether to punch him or make out immediately. And since they were standing in front of a pumpkin patch with a bunch of other families, she settled for jabbing him in the side. "Not now."
Lance whined and pulled back, grumbling about mistreatment. "Harsh."
"We need to focus," Pidge said, putting her hands on her hips. She looked over at her self-made horde again and waved at Kai. "Wrap it up, let's go!"
"Come on, almost-Voltron!" Lance said, smirking at Pidge and ducking out on the way as she tried to swat at him, "Daylight's wasting and pumpkins need to be picked."
The kids made their way over, Garett leading the pack as Kai and Ferro helped Lis down from the hay bales. Garett collided with Pidge's side and hugged her, which meant he wanted something. Garett just wasn't as cuddly as the other three, which was sort of ironic seeing how the guy he was named for was super affectionate. Honestly, Garett's personality was more like Keith's than Hunk's.
"They have puppies here."
"Really? Isn't that nice," Pidge said, going to mom route and feigning ignorance, "Maybe they'll let you play with them if you ask politely."
"Can we have one?" Garett said, "Please?"
"No way," Lance said, "If I can't have a fifth kid, you can't have a puppy."
Pidge made a face. "Those are two extremely different things, Lance!"
"So does that mean I get a puppy?" Garett asked.
"No, no puppies and no babies," Pidge said, shaking her head at both of them. As if they weren't busy enough. Luckily their fellow paladins didn't mind helping out with the kids sometimes, and all of them were willing to babysit. It made things easier with all of that built-in support, but still, another kid and a puppy? Not now. Besides, Garett would doubtlessly find something else to adopt, something she and Lance wouldn't be able to say no to. This was just a temporary fix.
The other three wandered over, smiles on their faces and hay in their hair. Or all over them in Ferro's case, thanks to all of that fur. Lance leaned over and plucked some hay from Ferro's head. "Wow, kiddo, are you going for the scarecrow look?"
Ferro brushed at the hay and shook his head. "It's itchy."
"We'll get it all off, but you're going to have to take a bath when we get home."
"Aw…"
Lis wrapped an arm around Lance's leg, her curly brown hair sporting almost the same amount of hay as Ferro's fur. "Daddy, I want a little pumpkin. Like this." With one hand still holding onto his jeans, she put her other hand close to the ground. "I wanna name it Uncle Coran."
"Okay, but why?" Lance asked, trying not to grin.
Lis smiled. "Because it's orange."
"Oh…Oh!"
Both Lance and Pidge laughed, imagining that the Altean would probably be proud of his little namesake once he found out. They were going to have to send him a video of the pumpkin, especially since they were now going to have to carve a mustache into it. There was no other option. He would see it on Halloween anyways since all of team Voltron was supposed to be coming to Earth for the day, but still, he would appreciate the video.
"We should go pick out pumpkins before all of the good ones are taken," Kai said. He looked at Ferro and Garett, and the three of them nodded at each other before taking off through the entrance at a run.
"Hey, slow down!" Lance yelled after them. They obeyed but kept moving forward in exaggerated slow-mo, the younger two copying Kai. Lance scooped up Lis and settled her onto his hip before taking Pidge's hand. "Come on, babe. Let's go break this pumpkin curse."
"Why did you have to mention it? I finally stopped thinking about it—"
Lance tugged her hand, dragging her into the pumpkin patch. "What could go wrong?"
Pidge groaned. "Really? Did you really just say that…"
Yep, they were doomed.