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“Don’t touch that unless you want to get shocked.”
Lance pulled his finger away while Pidge continued to fiddle with the switches of the new alien tech she’d acquired.
Lance furrowed his brows. “How do you know? We don’t even know what it does yet!.”
Focused on the wiring, Pidge grinned. “Be my guest and poke at it. But if you pass out from the current I’m not helping you.”
Lance frowned and rested his head on top of Pidge’s. “Why you gotta be so mean?” Lance continued to rub his cheek against Pidge’s hair. It reminded him of the hay he used to play in with his siblings down at his abuelo’s farm, both in color and in texture. Pidge didn’t exactly take care of herself but she was the “baby” of the group. Shiro was always reminding her to sleep and Hunk brought her food. Lance sometimes worried he didn’t bring enough to the table, but he always managed to make her crack a smile. Even if it took the fifth joke to get a response other than a groan or rolling her eyes.
He also was just around her the most. Hunk came in to help with experiments sure, and Shiro and Keith would check up on her. But Hunk had to cook, Keith was always training, and Shiro—well he was busy being the head of the defenders of the universe. Lance didn’t have much responsibility other than being pulled to do chores by Coran. So he spent his days watching her, handing her the right screwdriver, holding that one wire, and sometimes lifting her up to reach something. He would always tease her about height and she would attempt to kick him in the sternum. Though she always missed, even if she had a clear shot right to his ribs.
Pidge glanced up, seeing hints of Lance’s dark hair mixing with her own. “You’ve been really touchy lately.”
Lance perked up. “We always snuggle like this!” he responded offended.
“Not just with me. With everyone. You hugged Coran the other day. And you tried to hug Allura…”
“She didn’t have to deadlift me like that…” Lance muttered under his breath. Pidge laughed, recalling Lance’s long limbs flailing in the air while Allura carried him over her head with ease. “But 'tis the season you know.”
“What?” Pidge cocked her head to look Lance in the face.
“It’s December! On Earth at least.”
“We’re in the middle of space how can you tell?”
“Most of us can keep track of the passage of time Pidge. You know, the whole sleep eight hours and awake for sixteen.”
“Alright, Shiro.”
Lance laughed, Pidge feeling his body vibrate around her. “But since you brought it up—wait here.” Lance sprung towards the door, looking like some Saturday cartoon character. He really was eighty percent leg.
A few minutes passed and Lance ran back in, holding a bundle that looked… wrapped? It was clearly just scrap paper from around the castle but it was clearly wrapped around something. Before Pidge could examine it more Lance shoved the package into her hands. “Christmas isn’t for another week but since you don’t even know what month it is…” Pidge lifted up the package. Scraps of paper with Altean writing were pieced together with tape and around something lacking a real shape. The shoddy wrapping job didn’t help, with the paper poking in all different directions threatening to poke someone’s eye out. The bundle was light. So nothing mechanic, which was a bit disappointing. “Open it!” Lance exclaimed.
He had the same glimmer in his eyes that her dad had every Christmas watching Matt and her open presents. Except her father never had such a goofy looking grin. Pidge pulled at the paper the whole wrapping job falling aside to reveal two gifts shoved together. One, a pair of slippers with lion faces, just like the ones Lance had but green. The second, Green herself in plush form, her little legs sprawled out. It might not have the structural integrity of the green lion, but it was just as cute. Pidge didn’t even have time to breath before Lance asked, “what do you think?” Though the grin on his face made it clear he thought it was a good present.
He pointed at the slippers. “Don’t tell, but I made everyone a pair. But you’re the only one who got a mini lion..” Pidge pulled her eyes away from the gifts to look at Lance. How he had such blue eyes was a mystery, but Pidge had a theory that his warm skin and shiny white teeth just enhance the ocean blue tones. She also had a theory most people didn’t notice those things about Lance.
“Um… Pidge?” She jumped, worried that she might have been staring. “Come on, don’t leave me hanging! You like it right!”
“I…” She hugged the presents to her chest. Was it really December? This would be her first Christmas without her dad or Matt. She had been prepared for that, the Kerberos mission was supposed to take years. But it was also her first Christmas away from her mom, from Earth. The whole thing was bittersweet. But at least she wasn’t alone in this. Shiro missed Matt and her dad too. Hunk had a family back home too and though Keith had been alone most of his life the whole space thing was a lot. Then there was Lance, always happy and smiling, but she’d heard him talk about Earth, she felt how much he missed home.
The hardest part about being a Paladin was you couldn’t keep any secrets. “I love it,” she said finally. “Thank you, Lance.” Lance put his hands on his hips, a proud smile crossing his lips. Pidge smiled as well, but it didn’t feel like enough. Moving her gifts to the crook of her arm, she ran up to him hugging him tightly. Lance’s arms hung in the air awkwardly. Pidge wasn’t a hugger. She wasn’t really a physical person by any means. Most of their physical interaction was Lance hanging off her like a sheet on a clothesline. He thought it was cute how she continued her work even with his limbs falling over her shoulders.
This was much more cute, and made him feel warm inside. He felt like he was giving her another gift and receiving his own at the same time. Lance finally wrapped his arms around her. “Merry Christmas, Pidge.”
“Ta-da!” Lance exclaimed, his hands wide and fingers sprawled out. Hunk and Keith held their own pair of lion slippers, color matched of course. “What do you think?”
“Hey, these look nice!” Hunk dropped the pair on the floor, slipping off his shoes.
“Where did you learn to sew?” Keith asked, still examining his pair.
“Between mom, abuela, and my two sisters, I didn’t really have a choice. All McClain men know how to sew.” He crossed his arms over his chest, smiling.
“What if they don’t fit?” Keith asked.
Lance frowned. “They’ll fit.”
“Next year you should make some real slippahs,” Hunk teased.
“Sorry, I can’t knit flip-flops!” Lance exclaimed, using the mainland term just to get a rise out of Hunk. Both Hunk and Keith pouted. “Man, Pidge didn’t get like this when I gave hers. She even gave me a hug,” he announced with pride.
Hunk raised his brows. “You gave Pidge a pair?”
“Um, yeah, she is a paladin after all.”
“You think that’s a good idea? With her family missing and all?” Keith said, setting his slippers on the counter.
“Of course it was a good idea!” He pursed his lips. “Why did she tell you something?”
“Her brother and dad are captured by the Galra and are stuck in some prison camp. Don’t you think Christmas might be a sore subject?”
“Oh come on Keith,” Hunk interjected. “Pidge knows we all have people on Earth we miss, and she knows we all want to find her family. It’s not like Lance could have brought them onto the ship for Christmas.”
“But on Earth they’re safe. Who knows what the Galra are doing to her family.”
“Jeez you don’t talk about this with Pidge right?”
“No. But I’m just saying.”
As the pair bickered between them Lance hung his head in his hands. The gifts seemed like a good idea at the time, and Pidge seemed really happy with them. But what if she was just hiding how she really felt. She hid her gender for months! And everyone else knew except him! Even Keith knew! What if he was right again and he shouldn’t have given her anything—she hadn’t even realized it was Christmas. Come to think of it, she had been avoiding him. Or at least she wasn’t messing with alien tech like she used to. Was she just tired of it? Was she in her room crying? Oh God McClain what have you done!?
“Lance…” Keith bent over to try and have a look at Lance’s face.
“Lance… buddy. If you need to puke, I know some good spots where no one will judge you.”
“Pidge, come on you’ve gotta—“ Shiro stopped in his tracks as he found Pidge’s workroom empty. Well not really empty. There was an array of broken up alien tech and oil stains abound. The only thing kept in order was the open toolbox on the table where Pidge should have been standing. Shiro might have panicked if it wasn’t for the fact that they were on a ship drifting through space. She had to be somewhere around here.
His search continued, wandering through the castle halls hoping to find some sign of her, as if she were going to leave behind a trail of breadcrumbs or something. Quite the opposite, Pidge was a master of hiding. She was small enough to fit just about anywhere and always seemed to find the rooms no one but Allura and Coran knew how to find. Trouble was at this point the two Alteans were asleep. Something Shiro wished he could do. But even if he went straight to his room he would just stare up at the ceiling wondering if Pidge was resting, which would turn into wondering if she would get sick and if that would affect her in the field and what would happen if she got hurt. This spiraling panic happened anytime one of the paladins was acting strange or refusing to take care of themselves. If Hunk wasn’t in the mood to cook the stress must be getting to him. If Lance didn’t crack wise, then he must be missing his family. Keith wasn’t training, must be getting the flu.
It was easy to panic when the fate of the universe was in the hands of four teenagers and whatever he was. Intergalactic babysitter? Space dad?
He continued wandering about the ship hearing nothing but the sound of his own feet and the constant hum of the ship’s engine. Shiro always found the noise calming as it lulled him to sleep each night. Even now the noise seemed to tug at his eyelids, making him want to just sit down and rest. He started to nod off even as he was walking, an old trick every Garrison student learned around their second round of finals.
He’d fully fallen into a sleep walk when a loud “damn it!” woke him up. Blinking away the sleep he rushed towards the sound, knowing full well it was Pidge. Opening the door to what was essentially a storage closet, he found Pidge surrounded by crumpled balls of paper and sour look on her face. She had a tired look in her eye that he never saw. It didn’t matter if she hadn’t slept in two days, Pidge never looked tired. A combination of power naps and determination kept her going. With just a pinch of spite, according to Keith at least. “What at you doing?” Shiro asked picking up a crumpled piece of paper.
Lifting up her glasses Pidge rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. “Origami.”
Shiro sat beside her. “May I ask why?”
Grabbing another piece of paper, she huffed. “Lance gave me a Christmas gift and I want to give him something in return, but I can’t exactly go out and buy him something.”
“Right,” Shiro nodded.
“And he made my gift and all I can make are little robots but--
“Please don’t give him a robot,” Shiro interjected.
Pidge blinked. “Um… I wasn’t. All the stuff I have is from broken up alien tech, most of it Galra and we don’t need it glitching out and killing all of us in our sleep.” She furrowed her brows. “Wait why do you not want me to give him robot?”
“I’m afraid of what he might do with it.”
“Fair enough.” She looked down at her piece of paper and started folding. “So the only other thing I can make is origami.”
Shiro nodded. He remembered Matt used to make origami at the garrison and even on occasion on the Kerberos mission. He made a perfect paper crane and watched it float through the air on the ship. “So, what’s the problem?”
Pidge grumbled. “I can’t actually make origami.” She folded the paper a few more times, no problem. But once she started to unfold and twist to make the wings, things started to fall apart. By the time she got to the bird’s beak it looked like a cane with two broken wings and in desperate need of a beak job. Pidge stared at her monstrosity.
“I think it’s kinda endearing.”
Pidge crumpled up the crane and threw it across the room.
“Pidge, Lance just wants to see you happy. I’m sure if he saw all the work you put into making something for him he would be happy.”
“But he deserves more than that!” She argued. “Lance does a lot for us. He saved Coran, he was the first one to fly one of the lions, he’s always trying to make us happy, he can be annoying sometimes sure—“
“But that’s part of who Lance is,” Shiro chimed, completing her sentence.
Pidge nodded. She pulled her knees up to her chest. She rested her chin on her knees. “I just want to give him everything he deserves. As a friend and a paladin and an occasional robotics assistant.”
“So he’s your assistant now? Here I was worried he was annoying you.” Pidge didn’t respond. Shiro put his hand on her shoulder. “Pidge, you and I know what Lance misses the most about Earth.”
“His family.”
“Right. So, let’s give him that.”
Pidge perked up, her head falling to the side. “Um, Shiro I don’t think Allura is going to let us drive the ship back to Earth for a human holiday she’s never heard of.”
“I wasn’t thinking that drastic.” He grabbed a wad of paper and flattened it out. “I’m guessing an engineer like yourself knows how to make paper chains, right?”
“Guys!” Lance shouted as he walked towards the castle entrance. He still held the paper he found stuck to his door that read, ‘meet us in the main hall.’ Us he presumed, was everyone else in the castle since he seemed to be all alone. “This better not be a prank!” It couldn’t be. Who would pull it? And even if Keith or Allura put a plan in motion there is no way they’d be able to get Shiro involved. Especially after he liked those slippers so much. Whatever was happening, everyone was in on it except him, which was daunting, to say the least.
He came to the last door before the main hall where months ago they held a party for the Arusians. That hadn’t gone so well, not that Lance remembered anything from that whole endeavor. He placed his palms on the door and pushed open, closing his eyes like he was about to rip off a Band-Aid.
“Merry Christmas!”
Lance jumped, his hand slipping off the door and almost slamming him in the face. He managed to catch the edge of the door as he stood in the doorframe, green light looming above him. There was a whole mess of paper chains and snowflakes hanging from the impossibly high ceiling. In the center of the hall was a table covered in food, presented in a way that had to mean it was all cooked by Hunk. Standing at the bottom of the stairs was the whole gang, Coran and Allura included. Even from the top of the steps, Lance could see everyone had on their custom slippers.
He started down the stairs, “What is—“
“Merry Christmas!” Coran shouted again, pulling out what looked like a laser gun. Lance jumped again, extending his arms forward as if that could stop an incoming laser. Instead, the gun fired out with a loud ‘pop’ and what looked like confetti flew out. “Well, would you look at that, it worked.”
“Wait,” Hunk pulled out his own confetti gun. “You weren’t sure if these would work?”
“Um, what is going on?” Lance said, arms still out as if something was about to attack him. Pidge met him up the stairs, taking his hand.
“It’s a Christmas party.” There was a pause. “You didn’t forget today is Christmas, did you?”
“What? No—I mean…” He bit his lip. “I did sort of give out everyone’s present before the date so, kinda.”
“Pidge told us Christmas is one of the grandest Earth celebrations,” Allura sang. “So we all agreed to help her throw a party.”
Lance looked up at all the decorations and the castle lights made to give the room a greenish hue. “Pidge, you came up with this?”
“Well…” She started.
“Yes,” Shiro interrupted. “She came up with it.” He winked, Lance so entranced by the room to notice.
“Wow…” Lance breathed, memories of Christmas lights and sugar cookies filling his head. Usually remembering these things would make him homesick. But it was all right here, with all the people he cared about most.
“I’ve never seen you speechless, Lance,” Pidge teased. Lance looked down at her, his smile turning into laughter.
“Um… so…” Keith looked over his shoulder back at the feast. “Do we eat now or later?”
“Wait, you humans eat all of the food?” Coran asked, scratching his head. “It isn’t sacrificed to a Christmas beast of sorts.”
“Alright we should all sit down, we’ve got a lot of explaining to do.” Hunk made his way towards the dinner table.
“And stories to tell. I bet you had really wild Christmases, Lance.” Pidge lead him down the stairs to the table.
“Oh trust me, no one does Christmas quite like the McClain clan!”
Around the table, they all shared stories of Christmas past. Lance with his big family and Keith with his makeshift Christmas trees. Hunk with fake snow at the mall and Pidge with her white Christmases.
Soon everyone was laughing and eating with Coran and Allura starting to get a grasp on this whole Christmas thing. “We should do this again next year!” Allura announced.
“Hey, New Years is a just week away,” Lance reminded everyone.
“Well, that’s a bit ridiculous to celebrate when we’re moving about like this and have nothing to orbit. And Coran and I still use a different measurement of time than you five. But Christmas is nice!” No one bothered to argue.
The night went on and Pidge excused herself, but she didn’t go far. Just up the stairs to the balcony to look out and admire her work. Shiro was the one with the idea but she had done a lot. Made most of the decorations, hung them up high with the help of her paladin suit; worked with Coran to figure out the confetti guns. Having everyone wear the lion slippers was her idea as well.
“Hey!” Lance had made his way up the balcony as well. “You can’t just bail on your own party!”
“I can literally see everything that’s going on from here. Look, Hunk told a joke and now drink is coming out of his nose.”
Lance leaned against the railing. “Hey, you’re right. Haha, nice one Hunk!” There was an odd comfort in watching from above. Seeing everyone’s smiles and knowing that the night had been a success. Not just in making Lance happy, but in making everyone feel something other than dread for the war ahead. Before either of their thoughts could go down that path, Lance poked at the tied ribbon in Pidge’s hair, making her look like a Christmas present. “I like the bow.”
“Thanks. Allura gave it to me. She offered me a dress as well but I passed.”
Lance nodded. “Probably for the best. It would be weird to see you in a dress.”
Pidge frowned. “I use to wear dresses all the time.”
“Yeah…” He pointed at her, winking. “But that was before you were a bad-ass paladin of Voltron. Sure you could wear a dress,” he struggled. “But you’ve got to be ready to spring into action at any moment to kick Zarkon’s butt!”
Pidge grinned. “And save yours when you’re being cocky.”
Lance frowned. “A guy almost crashes into an asteroid one time.” Pidge snorted, knowing full well it was a couple of times and not just asteroids he flew into. “Thanks for this Pidge.” He gestured at the streamers above. “All of this. It’s really nice. Reminds me of the Christmas parties I had back home. Except, less screaming children and drunk relatives. Though Coran was going pretty hard on that nunvill…”
Pidge laughed. “I’m glad you like it.”
“I really do…” He looked over the balcony at Hunk and Keith dancing and Shiro and Allura laughing at a stumbling Coran. “You know the best part about it,” he slipped his hand into hers. “Is that you’re here with me.” He gave her a smile unlike any she’d ever seen from him. Soft with his mouth closed and eyes on her like she was a painting at a museum.
“That’s such a cheesy line,” she told him but didn’t pull her hand away.
The night eventually winded down with Coran half passed out from all the nunvill and the rest of the gang tired from all the laughing and dancing. Everyone ended up dancing at some point. Most everyone got pulled in by Coran to learn some classic Altean dance moves. Pidge and Lance shared a couple dances as well, which didn't go unnoticed by the group. "Goodnight everyone!" Hunk waved as he headed back to his room.
"Sleep well... yellow paladin... master chief..." Coran muttered. His arm was wrapped around Allura's shoulder, who was carrying him through the castle.
Keith turned to leave. "Night." He started down the hallway that led to his room.
"Goodnight... angry one..." Keith was too far away to hear Coran's mutters. He did hear Lance stifle a laugh but ignored it like he always did.
Shiro, Pidge, and Lanced looked at each other, waiting for a certain someone to leave. "Shiro," Allura chimed. "Could you help me with Coran? He's calm now but nunvill can have surprising effects."
"Oh, um..." He looked at Lance and Pidge, who were standing close together. As much as Shiro wanted to stay with the two of them, he knew it would make an awkward ending to a very good night. "Alright then." He walked over to Coran's other arm and carried him as well.
"Good luck you two," Pidge sang as they wandered off, Coran still mumbling between them. Finally, it was just Lance and Pidge. "I should go back to my room," she said.
"I'll walk you there, gotta make sure you actually go to sleep." He nudged her with his elbow.
Pidge yawned. "Nah I'm going to sleep. That party wore me out." They walked silently back to her room. Lance thought about taking her hand again but instead opted to lock his arm in her's, the two walking like Dorthy and the Scarecrow. They reached her room quicker than Lance would have liked, but that was the nature of the castle.
Hiding her face Pidge quickly opened the door. "Night, Lance."
"Hey--" He poked his head in, never really seeing her room before. Though there wasn't much to see. All the paladin's rooms were exactly the same, but Pidge did have one thing that grabbed his eye. "Little Green!" The green plush he had given her was resting on top of her messy bed from the night before. "Glad to see you use her."
"Yeah well..." Pidge looked down at the ground. "I miss my stuffed animals at home." She felt her cheeks grow warm in front of Lance for the first time. Even with all his bafoonery, he'd never managed to embarrass her quite like this. Though it wasn't just embarrassment that tinted her lips.
"Well, I'm glad she gives you some comfort. That is why I made her. Even my oldest sister still sleeps with stuffed animals." Pidge looked up, her cheeks still pink. "I was worried after I gave you the gift that it reminded you..." he rubbed the back of his neck. "Too much of home." He gave her a shy smile. "I'm glad to see that's not the case."
Pidge blinked, wondering if that was really red she saw on his cheeks or just the sleep getting to her. "I'm glad too." She stood up on her toes and gave Lance a goodnight kiss on the cheek. When she rocked back on her heels, she was sure she saw red across his cheeks and nose. "See you tomorrow in the workshop right? I need my assistant."
"O-of course!" he stammered.