A Telepathic Bond

"I don't get it," Lance said, watching Keith and Pidge high-five after handing him and Hunk a sound beating in their recent training exercise. Hunk laid sprawled on the ground near him, refusing to get up until he felt he'd gotten enough rest. "How the heck do you two do that? You don't even talk to each other!"

"It's our telepathic bond, obviously," Pidge said, sharing a conspiratorial look with Keith.

Lance frowned. "Telepathic bond? What telepathic bond?"

Clearly, the sarcasm was lost on him.

Keith looked at Pidge with a raised eyebrow, unsure of what she was talking about. They didn't have a telepathic bond, so why would she say that?

When she winked at him he started to understand. She was just messing with Lance. Well, he wasn't going to be the one to ruin her fun, that was for sure. "It's, uh, the one we got when we first bonded with our lions."

"Exactly! Red and Green were apart for so long, they had to find some way to re-establish their own bond. As the arms of Voltron, we had to be able to work in perfect sync and the lions apparently thought the way to do that was to make it so we could communicate telepathically," Pidge explained.

Lance stared at her with narrowed eyes. "So then why don't you and I have this bond?"

"Because we knew what we were doing by the time you became Red's pilot," Pidge responded without missing a beat.

Hunk slowly sat up to better watch what was going on. He cast a quick glance back at camp, wondering if anyone would get curious about what they were doing, but they all seemed content where they were.

"Prove it," Lance challenged, crossing his arms over his chest. "Keith, tell me what Pidge is thinking."

"Right now?"

Lance nodded vigorously. "Yes, right now! If you two have this bond thing, that'll be easy. And Pidge, you're going to tell Hunk what you're thinking. We can all trust him to be honest."

Hunk looked surprised to be involved.

Pidge rolled her eyes, obediently walking over to whisper something into Hunk's ear. The yellow paladin sputtered with laughter at whatever she was saying, while Pidge's cheeks colored slightly.

"Okay good. Now, Keith, what's Pidge thinking?" Lance asked, looking smug as he stared down the current Black Paladin. (Current while Shiro healed. After that, who knew? Pidge had money on co-leadership and the two swapping out.)

Keith turned his attention to Pidge, focusing hard on her for a moment before deliberately turning to examine behind himself. "Huh, you're right. My butt really does look nice in these pants."

Hunk's jaw dropped.

Pidge looked similarly stunned, her face quickly turning bright red. Luckily for her, Lance was too busy gaping at Keith to notice her reaction.

Lance sputtered for a moment. "I – You – What?! That isn't – There's no way! Now I know you're lying!"

Pidge composed herself just in time for Lance to whirl around to face her and Hunk.

"Hunk, what did she really say?" he demanded.

The yellow paladin hesitated. He didn't really want to repeat it, but there was no way Lance would let it go if he didn't, so he sighed and dutifully repeated what Pidge whispered to him. "She said 'Keith's butt looks really nice in those pants'. Man, I can't believe you made me say that," he grumbled to Pidge.

Lance made a noise like a dying whale, looking back and forth between them. Keith stood there coolly, arms crossed over his chest and one eyebrow raised, while Pidge avoided looking in his general direction in favor of soaking in Lance's reaction.

"Holy crow, you really do have a telepathic bond!"

From then on, that became the excuse every time they flawlessly executed a plan while barely speaking. Every time they seamlessly worked together with just a few hand gestures. Every time they took each others sides in a debate.

Lance took each of those moments as proof that the bond really did exist, reciting it every time someone commented on how well they worked together. It was so bad for a time that they considered breaking down and telling him the truth, even if it was more fun for them to continue on. It did give them the chance to come up with silly lines to make each other blush.

Pidge won on that front for the most part, up until Keith asked her on a date in a very roundabout way. ("Pidge is wondering when I'm going to finally ask her out on that date," Keith said, ignoring Lance and Shiro in favor of watching her reaction, which was to freeze briefly and then squeak out an awkward agreement.)

It wasn't until a year later, as they basked in the soft glow of starlight and listened to the sound of festivities from their beautiful new Castle-Ship, that Pidge thought to ask about the day it all began.

"Hey, Keith? How did you know what I was thinking? Back when we started this whole telepathic communication joke."

Keith was quiet for a moment as he stared up at the stars and shifted a little closer to her. "I saw it in a vision, actually. It was one of those glimpses of the future I got to see," he admitted. He paused to look down at her. "I still can't believe you told Hunk you thought my butt looked nice in those pants."

Pidge could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. "Yeah, well, he wouldn't stop teasing me about my crush! I mostly just wanted to shut him up."

"Aw, babe, you had a crush on me?"

"I'm going to kill Matt for introducing you to memes," Pidge grumbled. "You're not even doing it right!"

Keith chuckled and bowed down to kiss her cheek before wrapping an arm around her waist. "I'm glad I got to see this. It's what gave me the courage to ask you out."

"I'm glad too," Pidge said sincerely. She'd wanted to make a joke about how viewing the future was cheating, but it no longer felt like the right time. Instead, she snuggled closer to him, content to relax in his arms.