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“Now, I know you might make a comment, Princess,” Coran says, twisting the ends of his moustache. “But I think it would be good for you to take advantage of this opportunity.”
Pidge watches Allura raise her eyebrows, looking at Coran. “But we already have a swimming pool in the Castle.”
“Yeah, but this is more than just a pool!” Lance says, bouncing over and slinging his arm around Pidge’s shoulders.
“Even an upside down one,” Keith adds.
“Yes, it’s a geothermal pool, heated by the rocks beneath the water’s surface,” Coran says, nodding. “Much like the pools humans visit in a country called Iceland on Earth. It is supposed to be very impressive.”
“And we all deserve a break, Princess, especially you,” Shiro says.
A few minutes ago, the main diplomat on the planet the Castle is currently orbiting invited the Paladins and Coran down to meet with their members of parliament. And he also offered them all a ‘relaxing visit to our geothermic bathing pools’. Allura didn’t look impressed, but everyone else grinned.
Even now, Pidge hopes they can sway her girlfriend. Because these pools sound amazing, and she’d like to swim the right way up for a change.
Allura sighs, but her eyes focus on Pidge. She smiles, giving Pidge one of her special smiles.
“Very well,” she says.
And Hunk and Lance cheer and Coran smiles, and Shiro and Keith exchange an exasperated glance.
---
Pidge hurries back to her quarters, intent on locating her bathing costume. Originally she only owned her swimwear from back at the Garrison, a hideous pair of swimming trunks that hung down to her knees (she had to go bare chested, and, whilst she had a completely flat chest, it felt horrible to have her chest out as a closeted trans girl). And everyone who knew her knew she hated the trunks. But on their last trip to the space mall, she bought a lovely bathing costume. It is soft green and covers her entire torso, and Pidge feels far more comfortable in this.
She finds her bathing suit quickly, and changes into it. She grabs a towel and pulls her T-shirt and shorts back on. Pidge wishes she’d bought some swimming goggles at the mall too, but simply shrugs and heads off to locate the other.
She finds Hunk, Lance and Coran on the Bridge. Coran has his clothes on, presumably wearing a bathing suit underneath, but Hunk and Lance are half naked. Hunk is sporting a pair of knee-length, loose, yellow trunks. And Lance, clearly thinking they make him look cool, is wearing a pair of tight briefs. Pidge snorts with laughter.
“Hey!” he cries, offended.
Pidge tries to stop laughing, clamping her hand over her mouth. Eventually, she calms down. “Sorry. I was just… shocked. Yeah, shocked.”
Hunk puts his arm around Lance, pulling his boyfriend close. “Don’t listen to her,” he whispers, shooting Pidge a mock-angry look. “You look awesome.”
Lance blushes, but then he grins. “Yeah, I do, don’t I?”
She rolls her eyes and Coran turns away. Pidge sees his shoulders shake, and knows he’s suppressing laughter.
Keith and Shiro turn up a few minutes later, wearing exactly the same style of swimming trunks in red and black respectively; Shiro also wears a tight black T-shirt. They were holding hands, but pull away when they see the others looking at him.
“Nice trunks, Lance,” Keith says, smirking.
“Go to hell, Keith,” Lance mutters.
“Stop it, guys,” Shiro says, ever the diplomat. “Are we all ready to go?”
“Not quite,” Coran says. “Allura isn’t here yet.”
Pidge blushes slightly, imagining what Allura will look like. She always looks so elegant, whatever she wears.
“Does anyone fancy having a swimming contest?” Lance says.
“Why not?” Shiro says, and Keith raises his eyebrows. “It could be fun.”
It takes another ten minutes for Allura to arrive. She smiles bashfully, her long hair tied up in a braid (Pidge suspects that the Mice helped her braid her hair). She’s wearing a long, soft pink robe, tied with a cord, and it reminds Pidge of a dressing gown. She must have her bathing suit on underneath.
“Sorry for keeping everyone waiting,” Allura says.
“It’s not a problem, Princess,” Coran says. “Now, are you ready to leave?”
Pidge walks over to Allura and takes her hand. She gives it a comforting squeeze, and Allura smiles.
“Yes, let’s go.”
---
This place is amazing. As the sky casts everything in a soft shade of green, Pidge stares all around her. They’re stood at the edge of a vast, open air swimming pool. The water is pale purple and steam rises from its surface. Benches and changing cubicals surround the pool, and aliens from all sorts of planets file towards the pool and slide into the warm water.
“And don’t do any cannonballs, Lance,” Shiro says, and Lance groans.
“Aww, but I love cannonballs,” he moans.
Allura leans close to Pidge. “What exactly is a cannonball?”
She grins. “It’s when you run up to the side of the pool, jump into the air, curl up into a ball and hit the water with a massive splash. It’s awesome. But… not exactly sophisticated.”
“I see,” Allura says. She squeezes her hand. “You should show me some time.”
“Okay, I’ll do just that,” Pidge says, smiling.
The guys are already in the pool. The water is deep, with it coming right up to Shiro’s shoulders, whilst the others have to tread water to stay above the water. But Coran isn’t in the water yet, walking out of one of the changing cubicals. He’s wearing a pair of knee length, bright orange swimming trunks, his blue Altean markings visible across his shoulders and chest.
“Hello, Princess, Number Five,” he says, walking over to the two girls. “Are you two not going to swim?”
“No, we’re gonna swim,” Pidge says. “Just give us a minute.”
Coran smiles and walks down the steps into the pool, joining the other guys. Lance splashes him, and Coran’s expression says something like ‘this means war’.
Pidge turns back to Allura, and holds her other hand. “Hey, are you okay? You’re quite… hesitant.”
Allura nods, but she doesn’t look at her. “I’m fine. I’m just a bit… self conscious about everyone seeing my swimming costume.”
“But no one’ll laugh. Well, if they do, I’m hit them.”
She laughs weakly. “Thank you.” Allura takes a deep breath. “Well, I’ll go and change now. But… can you come with me?”
Pidge smiles a sad smile. She understands what it means to be self conscious; she felt horrendously self conscious when she was in the closet. But she’s out now, and she doesn’t want to feel like that again. So, holding Allura’s hand, she leads her girlfriend into a free changing cubical.
It’s quite tight in here, and they end up squashed together. But Pidge simply smiles and pulls off her T-shirt and shorts. She hangs them on a hook and watches as Allura removes her robe. Her eyes widen.
Allura looks absolutely beautiful in a dark pink bathing suit, which has a skirt incorporated into the design, hanging in soft waves right down to her knees. She smiles, but looks embarrassed.
Without saying a thing, Pidge steps forwards and hugs her, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “You look perfect.”
And Allura squeezes her hands and kisses her lips, and they head outside. Still holding hands, they walk to the edge of the pool and find the others looking at them. The guys must have sensed Allura’s nervousness, because they don’t make any silly comments.
“You look wonderful, Allura,” Lance says, blushing slightly.
Nudging Lance, Hunk adds, “Yeah, that’s really pretty.”
Allura smiles, ducking her head. “Thank you.”
And, still holding hands, Pidge and Allura walk down the steps into the pool. The water is so warm, gently lapping against Pidge’s legs. She soon finds herself completely submerged, and, like the shorter guys, has to tread water to keep her head above the surface. She can’t even reach the bottom.
But it doesn’t matter. Because with all the swimming she plans to do, she doesn’t need to reach the bottom of the pool.
---
Finishing a swimming race against Lance and Keith, Pidge treads water in the pool. Far away, she sees Allura and Coran sat on the edge of the pool with their feet dangling in the water. Allura looks so happy, and she’s glad; they all know that Allura needs to enjoy herself more.
Pidge moves to swim back towards the others, but feels a sharp pain in her leg. She grimaces, realising that her leg muscles are cramping, pain shooting through leg. She tries to tread water, but she can barely move her cramping leg. Waving her arms to try and float, Pidge realises that she is sinking. She kicks with her good leg, crying out in pain.
“Help!” she yells, managing to wave her arms in the air before sinking again.
She sinks lower and lower, tilting her head back to try and keep her mouth above the surface. The muscles in her leg burn and she gasps, wondering if she’s going to drown.
“Help!” she cries again, splashing her hands against the surface of the purple-tinted water.
But doing this makes her sink again, submerging her completely. Pidge holds her breath, desperately trying to get her head above the water again. Her leg cramps and she kicks frantically with the other, managing to get her mouth exposed again. She heaves in the deepest breath she can manage and screams, “Someone help me!”
Before she sinks again, Pidge hears someone yell her name. She falls beneath the surface again, and her lungs start to burn as her leg cramps and her arms thrash uselessly. Unable to hold her breath any longer, Pidge is forced to breathe – and inhales a large amount of water. She chokes, her lungs clogging up with this weird water. She’s probably crying, but she can’t really tell when she’s underwater.
Her head throbs with dizziness and Pidge tries to swim back to the surface, but her arms and her working leg feel heavy and wooden. Is she going to drown?
And then, out of nowhere, large arms wrap around her and pull Pidge to the surface.
She gags and coughs up a mouthful of water, tears spilling down her soaking face.
“Try to breathe, Pidge,” Shiro says, and Pidge realises that he is the one holding her. He hugs her close, helping Pidge stay above the surface. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”
She coughs and coughs, trying to get all of the water out of her lungs. She sobs desperately, so scared and weak, and she slumps against Shiro.
“Is that Pidge?”
“What the hell’s going on?!”
“Is she okay?”
Keith, Lance and Hunk swim towards them, surrounding Shiro and Pidge.
“She was drowning,” Shiro says, sounding a bit choked up.
Hunk is about to speak when Pidge gags again, coughing up a huge amount of water. It finally feels like her lungs might be empty, but, along with her throat, they feel scratched and sore.
When she finally stops coughing, Hunk doesn’t speak. Instead, he hugs Pidge. Keith pats her back and Lance strokes her soaking wet hair.
“Its okay, Pidge,” Shiro whispers.
They float there for a few seconds, silent except for Pidge’s desperate coughs and sobs. But then they hear footsteps and frantic voices, and Pidge looks up to see Allura and Coran hurrying towards them along the side of the pool.
“What happened?” Allura cries, and Pidge can’t remember a time Allura sounded so… scared.
“Pidge nearly drowned,” Keith says, his voice barely above a whisper.
Allura and Coran look at each other, horror on their faces, and jump into the pool. They swim towards the Paladins, and Allura wraps her arms around Pidge’s neck, cradling her head against her own. Something hot trickles down her face, and Pidge realises that Allura is crying. Shiro relaxes his grip on Pidge, letting Allura hug her properly whilst still holding her arm to help her float.
She rubs Pidge’s back and presses her face against Pidge’s shoulder, and Pidge hears her sob. “My poor Pidge.”
“I’ll be okay,” Pidge mumbles, her voice hoarse.
And Allura sobs, holding her close, as though she’s scared of what might happen to Pidge if she dares to let her go.
---
Shiro carries Pidge back to the Castle, eventually sitting her down on the bed in the medical bay. Allura sits beside her, putting an arm around her waist, and Pidge slumps against her girlfriend. As Coran rummages through the medical supplies, the rest of the team hover in the doorway, everyone still wearing their wet bathing suits.
“Is she going to be all right?” Allura asks.
“I think so,” Coran says. “I just need to run some checks. There may be some damage to Pidge’s lungs.”
As if on cue, Pidge starts coughing again. She doesn’t cough up any more water, but her lungs feel horrible, all sore and swollen. Allura rubs her back and presses a kiss to her cheek. Her eyes are red from crying.
And Pidge just leans against her girlfriend, hoping that Coran is right. She just wants to feel better. Why did this have to ruin everyone’s relaxing day?
---
A couple of hours later, Coran deems that it’s safe to let Pidge leave the medical bay. He was worried she might get a nasty thing called ‘secondary drowning’, when the water in her lungs might make her choke all over again. But he’s certain that she’s safe now, and lets her leave.
Allura puts her arm around Pidge and helps her to her feet. Pidge wobbles, horribly dizzy, but Allura helps her stay upright. And they take a very slow walk through the Castle corridors.
“Would you like to spend the night in my bed?” Allura asks. “It’s very comfortable. And I can look after you, just in case you feel ill.”
If she didn’t feel so ill, Pidge would blush or even crack a silly joke. Instead, she simply nods and mumbles, “I’d love that.”
So Allura steers her into her large quarters, and helps Pidge sit on the bed. Back in the medical bay, she changed out of her bathing suit and into her pyjamas, delivered by a red-eyed Hunk, so she doesn’t need to change. She just lies down, curling up in a ball, and closes her tired, aching eyes. Everything aches, and she just wants to sleep.
Allura gets into bed beside Pidge, pulling the blankets over them both. She gives Pidge a kiss on her forehead.
“Would you like a hug?” she asks.
Pidge smiles, not opening her eyes. “Yes please.”
And so Allura cuddles up to Pidge, wrapping her arms around her and holding her close. Pidge snuggles up to her, her eyes still closed. Allura brushes a hand across her still damp hair and kisses her cheek.
“I’m so glad you’re safe,” she whispers, kissing Pidge’s chapped lips. “I love you.”
Pidge smiles, resting her forehead against Allura’s shoulder. “I love you too.”