Hunk realized, maybe in his first week at the Garrison, that things between his two teammates were going to be…difficult. To put lightly, at least.
Not that he wanted to be presumptuous – that was far from his character to be. But it was evident that, one Pidge seemed to find Lance utterly intolerable and two, Lance took great pleasure in annoying the hell out of the boy.
And once he found out Pidge was not quite a 'he' but in fact, a 'she', things became all the more complicated.
Hunk wasn't sure if it was the stress of being defenders of the known universe or something else, but he noticed a change in Lance. He had become notedly subdued around Pidge – at least by Lance standards – when it came to his hobby of annoying the little genius. He took an interest in her work, asked questions and hung on to her every word despite not understanding a single thing. If Hunk didn't know better, it was almost as though Lance wanted Pidge's approval.
Pidge herself hadn't changed much and with the revelation, it became apparent why. Things weren't different for her – she was still the team's trusted tech whiz that was hell-bent on finding her family - but he wondered if she was aware of another aspect of her that Allura herself had picked up on early on.
"I'm certain that Pidge has the case of…amorous afflictions. In Altea, we call it a…smush."
Hunk snorted at that.
"A smush?"
Allura tried her hardest not to look offended.
"Well, what do humans call it then?"
"Ah…a crush?"
"How's that any better?!"
Allura sighed and sat before him.
"How did you figure it out?"
"I'm pretty sure she's been harbouring one since our days in the Garrison. Can't imagine why though. He was a pain in the behind. You?"
"Powers of observations, my friend."
Hunk raised an eyebrow.
"The mice."
"Snitches."
"Do you think she ever felt uncomfortable around us?"
Lance had asked him one day. Hunk had just pulled out a fresh batch of cookies from the oven and set it on the counter.
"Who? Allura?"
He'd looked at him with great exasperation, a hand lifted to ruffle his still-wet hair.
"No! Pidge!"
Hunk tilted his head, wondering what he had meant.
"Why'd she be uncomfortable? Did you do something to her?"
Hunk watched him squirm before he reached for a cookie. He opened his mouth to warn him but sighed as the Blue paladin yelped.
"They're still hot."
He ended up inhaling the entire tray in seconds, chewing tearfully through the pain.
"I mean…we thought she was a boy. For an entire year! I did wonder why his-her eyelashes were so long. And why she had such pretty… lips. Her giggles had always been a little too high and so cute, but I figured it's because – well you know and just…how could I have not seen it…"
Lance groaned and slammed his head on the counter top and groaned.
"She probably thinks I'm some kind of creep."
It was then and there Hunk came upon a new understanding.
Lance hadn't realized he had a smush as well.
"Well, to be fair, you can be."
He laughed as he dodged the flying baking tray.
The first time Pidge became severely injured in battle, Lance lost his collective cool.
A group of ruffians had raided their castle, looking for supplies to loot and weapons to sell. It just so happened that they were armed with stolen Galran weaponry – including the laser that tore through Pidge's left hip and arm. The armour took the brunt of the damage, but the laser had burnt into her skin leaving her screaming in pain.
Despite Allura and Coran's reassurances that she will heal, the sight of her bloodied body laid out on the examination table had sent such a surge of fury through him that Shiro and Keith had to forcibly escort him out of the room. It was a side of him no one had seen – a certain frenzy that was entirely driven by fear. Something was eating at him and he was far too distraught to say what.
Hunk would eventually coax it out of him - it was the guilt of having Pidge take a shot that was entirely for him and, even though it was not spoken out loud, the possibility that she could have died without knowing what he felt for her.
For days while Pidge was confined in a cryo-replenisher, Lance spent most of his time seated right by it. He slept leaning right against her pod, waiting quietly with a pile of blankets right next to him.
"She might be cold when she wakes up. I've been in this thing before." He'd mumbled to him when Hunk delivered him his dinner.
It was in the middle of a training session did they hear a yelp and the team rushed to the medical quarters to investigate.
Lance had wrapped a very confused, but flustered Pidge in blankets, keeping her in a vice-like grip in his arms. None missed the tears in his eyes.
He eventually apologized for his behaviour to the Alteans The Princess only smiled reassuringly and Coran gave him a wise, knowing look.
With the Castle of Lions decimated, Shiro – the real Shiro, returned safely to them – things were serene. For a little while at least.
Upon reaching Earth, they went their separate ways with a promise to reunite within a few weeks. They'd said their goodbyes – with Lance and Pidge's hug lingering the longest.
The day they saw Pidge again, she looked almost like another person. It had been a few months since the Castle of Lions had been sacrificed – Allura, Coran and the Holts spent all their time, round the clock planning the new ship's construction alongside improvements. Hunk himself had been roped in to help and it was for that reason he made the journey to Italy after visiting his own family.
Lance invited himself.
On their bus ride from the airport to the Holt's home, Hunk put up with his usual chatter, but his ears perked up when the topic had somehow gone to Pidge's freckles and how much Lance loved to map out constellations on them.
He smirked to himself and returned his gaze to the Italian scenery.
"Ah, Hunk, Lance! How was your flight?"
Samuel Holt greeted them at the door, ushering them into his home. It was a beautiful house surrounded by lush greenery. Even indoors, ferns poked from corners or hung from the walls.
"Katie took a sudden liking to nature. I'm only surprised she hasn't turned the entire house into a terrarium yet."
Hunk chuckled and turned to see Lance scrutinising the wall of family photos by the entrance. Neither he nor Sam missed that he was transfixed on the picture of Pidge smiling happily next to her brother.
"Would you like to see pictures of her when she was a baby? Oh she had such adorable-"
"Dad! No!"
Samuel reached for his pocket just as a flustered young woman burst into the room stopping her father to save herself from a lifetime of embarrassment.
Lance blinked slowly almost as though suddenly remembering where he was. Hunk smiled to himself knowingly and turned to greet their friend only to find himself stunned to silence as well.
"Uh… hey guys! I wasn't expecting you till four."
Pidge stood awkwardly by her father, extremely self-aware that it was the first time she presented more femininely to her best friends of two years. Hunk recovered, but Lance had stood awkwardly to the side while he swept her into a bear hug.
"We managed to get on an early flight. I love the new hair. It suits you."
She flushed adorably and rubbed her cheekbone – an instinctive move from having once worn glasses.
It was still definitively Pidge – she still walked, talked the same and yammered on about her technology as she always did. She wore denim overalls over a pink, checked shirt. Her hair had grown out and she wore it in a loose plait that rested over her shoulder tied with a green ribbon. The Italian summer had given her skin a sun-kissed glow and a new smattering of freckles over her nose. Hunk couldn't help but note his bud's stunned silence and what looked like a light flush on his cheeks. Bangs framed exceptionally bright brown eyes - ones that were full of mirth.
She tilted her head to look behind him, clearly wondering as to why the usually-lively Blue paladin hadn't spoken yet. What Pidge didn't know, was that Lance's brain had short circuited and for once in his life, he hadn't made a suggestive remark when a beautiful lady – and boy, was she stunning - was within proximity.
Lance eventually collected himself and turned to face her. Only, he avoided her eyes and gave a nod.
"Hey Pidge."
Hunk didn't miss the flash of hurt in Pidge's eyes – and neither did Samuel who mercifully decided to break the tension in the room.
"Katie, why don't you show them to their room?"
The following evening, Pidge brought up freshly-baked garlic knots to their room that she'd made herself. Hunk knew for a fact that that was the day Lance fell deeply and irrevocably in love.
At some point, they started bickering again and for a while, Hunk was grateful that all was well.
But what he (and quite frankly, about half the team) had hoped was that with the rising tension between the two, the bickering would sort of melt away to flirting.
He'd pondered if he really wanted to be in the room with the two showing public displays of affection over trying to annoy the other – and eventually concluded that even if the two were married, the latter would still be inevitable.
Sometimes their bickering reached the sort of levels of intensity where Hunk felt the need to dash out before they start ripping each other's clothes off and start making out right then and there.
But most times, it usually ended with them turning to him demanding that he pick a side.
During an especially intense episode of one of their arguments that he had to admit, were kind of adorable, he quipped.
"I bet when you reconnect in your thirties, you guys will get married."
They'd stopped bickering since then.
Well, for two days at most.
Hunk was glad for the sweet lull however short-lived it was and was left with the most comical memory of their flustered faces that he'd probably mention in his wedding speech to them.
The first time another man showed interest in Pidge, Lance lost his collective mind – and that's to put mildly.
He was a friend of Matt's, another brilliant scientist. While the rest of the crew were subjected to interrogations from the Garrison, Pidge had a man fawning over her technological prowess and few new inventions that integrated alien tech.
"Really, it's not like I invented it. I just improved upon it is all."
"Still, that's mighty impressive. Matt sung praises about you but I never thought I'd be floored!"
The man had rested his hand on her shoulder as she typed away – clearly ignoring the look of discomfort that crossed her features. Before she could even open her mouth to express it, Lance spoke.
"You'll be on the damn floor if you don't remove that hand."
Hunk was pretty sure that if the Garrison hadn't confiscated their gear, Lance would have been pointing his Bayard straight at his head.
When the castle was finally rebuilt, Allura and Coran decided to throw a party to commemorate the occasion and to celebrate the new Voltron. Rather than their armour, Coran had told them to wear his best, as though a Rigdigia Ceremony – whatever that was - was to occur.
Allura walked into the ballroom, dressed in her Altean gown looking the ethereal Princess she was. Already, Lance stepped towards her no doubt ready to charm – only Pidge followed her only a few steps behind.
Lance looked like he had the wind knocked out of his lungs. He'd stop midway, blue eyes transfixed on only on one lady.
She wore a flowing green gown, her hair Allura masterfully coaxed into soft waves that fell elegantly around her face.
And then Lance was nowhere to be found.
Hunk sighed in annoyance and looked over to Pidge, who was already headed his way. He decided then that if these two were going to tip-toe around the other any longer, he'd go insane.
"Pidge…I think you need to find Lance. He'd probably be in his room."
A look of concern crossed the young woman's face and Hunk prayed his interference won't end in heart break.
He didn't know what exactly was going to happen then, but he only hoped for the best.
When the duo re-emerged, Pidge had Lance's jacket around her shoulders and her small hand firmly enveloped in his. The team pretended not to notice, but Hunk saw what looked like money being exchanged underneath the tables.
The only individual in the room that didn't seem too pleased was Matt. Hunk wondered if he should intervene before a scene occurred, but it looked like Pidge – all shyness gone - looked ready to throw down to protect her man. Matt's hand stretched out in a handshake and Lance's hesitantly accepted.
Matt's grip on his hand didn't go unnoticed and Hunk watched Lance turn pale beneath his natural caramel tone.
"You break her heart, I'll break your neck."
"Matt."
Later that night, Hunk put up with Lance's gushes of how perfectly her tiny hands fit in his.
"I think you can go shorter, but the current length is cute as it is."
"But it gets in the way!"
"Then put it up in a bun!"
"I don't know how!"
"Well that's what I'm here for!"
Lance pulled Pidge down to his lap, a determined pout on his and his fingers worked their magic in her hair. When he was done, he pulled a mirror and handed it to her.
Pidge's cheeks were pink as she admired his handiwork – intricate braids coiled around and met at the top of her head in an elegant but neat up-do.
"See? You're gorgeous and badass. Any bastard would kill to be slayed by this paladin."
None of the team missed the secret kiss to the nape of her neck.
As he watched his two best buds battle it out on some vintage game or another in Lance's room, Hunk knew now that things had changed drastically. It was true that he was sort of a third-wheel, but he realized he had been one for a while now.
Pidge pinched Lance's cheek, laughing at his pout upon being defeated only to stop when Lance turned his head and pressed a kiss to her wrist.
Ordinarily, he would have made a loud remark at that - just to see them get flustered. But instead, he smiled and returned his gaze to his comic.
Maybe he just didn't mind love.