I hated the extra attention I got from the guys, it was like I was a child walking in a field of cacti naked. They had to protect me from everything and everyone, refusing to leave me be for one minute. Yes, I get hurt during missions too Shiro. Yes, I get queasy if I eat raw egg, Hunk and no Lance, you don't have to fight for my honor when Keith is a dick. He looks ready to die already and I don't want you to actually kill him in this state since he usually kicks your ass. Of course part of it was the age difference, I was only fourteen when I got into the Garrison and most of them were way older. Shiro had just turned twenty one (he was nineteen when the mission went south), Hunk was almost eighteen and the other two were seventeen. They fought over who was the oldest all the time, though I suspected it was Lance because he was a few inches taller than Keith and still growing. Oh, and size wise I'm tiny. So maybe I should have just talked to them instead of blowing up about it when we went to the mall.

"I don't need to hold your hand so I can't run off! You all might be older and bigger and male..." I knew it was a low blow since they all flinched, knowing I was scared they would think differently about me if they knew my secret, "but I can take care of myself! Have fun finding supplies on your own, I'm finding something I want." I spun on my heel and dashed away before they could protest. I could still hear them in my helmets intercom system, apologizing and asking me to come back, but I simply took it off and carried it with me so I could contact them when I calmed down. "Stupid boys..."

Disclaimer: I do not own Voltron or it's characters. Fauna is OC though.

AN: Hi, sorry summary sucks. Basically this is a Pidge gets a girlfriend fic! I seriously believe that Pidge is gay and you can not tell me otherwise, though I won't fight you if you think otherwise. All the loves, your favorite Author.

Shopping went pretty well for a while, I got a few things with the money Allura gave me and I was ready to go back when Keith's voice quietly told me where they were. I quickly told them where I was and how long it would take me to get back before removing the helmet again. I sighed as I walked by the space between two shops which looked suspiciously like an alley. I hurried passed it only to crash into someone's chest. "Ow! Sorry.."

When I looked up, I was met with an alien I'd never seen before. He looked kind of humanoid with dark green skin, yellow eyes and brown shaggy hair. He was only a few inches taller than me so I assumed he was around my age. "No, it's okay. Do you know the way to...?" I nodded before he could finish, blushing at my nerdiness. I knew the routes of this place easily. He laughed and asked again, grinning when I told him I was going the same way. "Thanks, I'm just trying to find my friends. You can get lost in here."

We walked together for a few minutes before he seemed to relax, even getting excited as he told me he knew a shortcut. "Come on, it's through here. You can even see that shop over there that's next to where my friends are waiting. You said they were in that area too, right?" I just nodded hesitantly before following him, only breathing once we were out of the alley. "See that wasn't so bad." I blushed sheepishly, feeling bad that I had judged him. "You know, I've never seen an earth girl before. You're so small and cute..."

"Um...thanks?" I knew aliens generally didn't really know what to say since people from earth weren't usually this far away, so I wasn't that surprised. "I have to go, my friends are waiting..." I was cut off by my breath catching in my throat as he moved closer.

He grinned and suddenly I was back on earth watching my brother running up to a guy looking at a girl like that and decking him flat, grabbing her quickly and bringing her back to us with our parents. I used to wonder why they didn't get mad that he hit someone. But I knew now and I really wished Matt was here. Or Shiro...Shiro.

I pressed the intercom button on my helmet in my hands, praying silently that they could hear me. "My friends are nearby like you said and your friends are waiting by that shop by the fountain...It was nice to meet you." I remembered back to when I was scared of the alley and tried to keep the nervousness out of my voice. Maybe it wasn't the same. God, I hope it isn't the same with aliens.

"It was nice meeting you too...so why do you want to go so fast? Do I make you nervous, is that it? You haven't really been around that many other races, have you? But I think I get earth girls now. I hear you get really nervous around males, but it's a good thing." He was talking. That was good, just keep him talking. Maybe it wasn't the same but I was still scared. I had backed myself up against a wall in fear, trying to hide my stupid expression while he just moved closer. And closer. "You don't really want to go back to your friends, do you?" He was inches from me and I could feel his breath now. I almost started crying.

"Pidge! There you are!" The voice sounded like Hunk's but I couldn't turn to see, I was rooted to the spot. His voice was relieved until he apparently took in the situation. "Shiro, guys, I found Pidge, She made a friend." On the word friend his voice slipped into a growl, making the alien boy in front of me flinch. Thank god for Hunk and all his sheer mass. Even without knowing Hunk was stronger than Shiro's mechanic arm, he was still terrifying. And I loved my adopted brother so much for it in that second.

The boy pouted but didn't move away. "Earth boys are so annoying. Till we meet again, ah Pidge?" He sent me that grin again, pressing a quick kiss to my cheek before he disappeared in the opposite direction of my friends' voices.

I spun around and charged them when I could breathe again, when he was out of sight. I don't know who I flung myself onto but I needed to know there were there. Without the feeling of my toes scraping the ground, I knew it was either Hunk or Shiro, so I let a few tears slip by. "Thank you for looking for me."

As it turns out it was Hunk, who basically crushed me into a bear hug and refused to let go. "Hey, you did all the hard heard muffled sounds till Keith made out the word fountain and we assumed you'd be close by so we looked." He let me go as I plopped onto my feet in front of four very worried looking boys in battle armor. I was the only one who didn't want to wear it today, but Shiro made me bring the helmet. "Are you okay?"

I felt ready to break down again as I looked at them and their worried faces, but I'd already yelled at them today. I needed to apologize for that first, "I'm sorry I yelled at you all, but you do kind of baby me. Guess protectiveness won out this time, you scared him away to the other side of the mall!" I wiped away a few rogue tears before taking a shaky breath. "Castle, please let's just..." And then I glanced in the direction he went, my vision tunneling to the girl he had pinned to the side of a shop. Anger replaced my fear as I left my friends to call out for me a second time, simply throwing on a happy expression as I called out. "Babe!" It quickly caught his attention as he recognized my voice, in turn making her look at me, "I was wondering where you were! I wanted you to meet my older brothers, remember?"

She was like a female version of him, except with bark like skin and green eyes instead of yellow. "Yeah. The big guys over there?" She pointed to my friends with a pleading look. When I nodded, she relaxed and easily slipped out of his stunned grasp. Bigger guys + girl he was just pinning = protection from him. Simple girl math. "They'll like me, right?" She asked loud enough so he could hear us as we walked away, easing her hand into mine.

"Of course. Voltron's paladin's may be big and scary, but they are all teddy bears who love cuddling. Just ask Lance and Keith." I grinned at her and mentally patted myself on the back for sneakily mentioning we were the defenders of the universe. "The one in the red is Keith, blue is Lance. Hunk is yellow and Shiro is black." I could feel her relaxing next to me as I dragged her over, her facial expression turning into a smile. When he was gone and we were almost to my friends, she stopped me. "You can go..."

She gave me a quick kiss on the lips that I'm pretty sure fried my brain as a blush crawled its way up my neck and to my cheeks. "On my planet that's a show of thanks. I apologize if it is something else on yours, I'm kind of impulsive."

"It's a show of affection between a couple." Her cheeks paled, which I guess was her way of blushing. "But it's okay, just wasn't expecting my first kiss to be from a cute alien girl." She brightened and used our linked hands to drag me over to my friends. "Sorry about that, I kind of had to save her."

As it turned out, her people were weapons suppliers for the armies fighting the Galra and her father was helping out a nearby planet. She was being sent back to her mom and was waiting for transport when she met us. Oh and her name was Fauna. "Can we let her stay? Please?" I gave Allura my best puppy dog eyes.

Before she could protest, Fauna butted in. "Excuse my actions, Princess Allura, but I believe I could be of use. My father is Forest Master and my Mother is Nature's Ally, I could communicate with both of them from here." When she saw my confused expression, she looked to Allura for help as Coran beamed at her.

"Fauna has an equal standing as I do on her planet, her parents are equal to king and queen. Which means she is a princess and is offering herself as diplomat for us." Allura sighed as she looked at Coran for help. "It would help us..." When Coran and everyone agreed or just shrugged, she looked back at Fauna whose skin had gone back to it's original brownish green (the bark was a defense mechanism when their version of adrenaline kicks in). "If your parents say yes. But you go home if we go to your system."

With Fauna getting permission from her parents, the guys were quick to drag me off into the corner for questioning. "Kissing a princess, major points to you." Lance raised his hand for a high five, surprised I gave him one. "So are you gay?"

"How could you tell? The not interested in the guy who kept flirting with me or the hot girl I kissed?" I didn't even process my response till after it slipped out, making my hands fly to my mouth. At least no one guessed it this time.

They all stared at me as Lance just dropped his jaw. "I was joking! I thought you'd laugh!" I felt ready to die right then and there before Lance put himself together. "Oh well, at least I'm not the only one. Though I'm bi, so a little different." When suddenly all the stares were on him, besides Hunk's, he raised an eyebrow. "What? I literally flirt with everyone! I flirted when Hunk when I first met him!"

His best friend started laughing and broke the silence in the air. "Oh yeah, you should have seen it. He tried his, 'Is your name hunk? Because damn you look fine' line and I just kind of went, 'How'd you know my name?' before I realized he was flirting. Kind of when we became best friends."

I started laughing as Lance looked ready to die of embarrassment. "Oh, I wish I was there!" And then my stupid brain clicked everything into place. "Wait, so when you said...?" Lance turned redder if that was possible and nodded. "And when you told Shiro that..." Lance glared at me because he knew where I was going with this. "And so that means...Do you flirt with the people you actually like more than everyone else?" I beamed as I looked at Hunk. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"I actually didn't figure that out till now. Oh my god, we're oblivious." Hunk ran a hand through his hair before wrapping an arm around Lance's shoulders, the poor boy looked like he was going to explode. "Sorry buddy."

Shiro looked confused too until his eyes widened. "Wait, what? I thought you liked Allura!" I think we broke Lance because in that second, he passed out. Probably from lack of oxygen.

"Is the blue paladin going to be okay?" Fauna asked be quietly as I walked ahead of her, way to excited to show her my lion. "As I understand it, 'passing out' isn't a good thing on your planet. It means lack of needed gases in the brain."

I snorted as I turned around with a smile. "He'll be fine, he just couldn't handle us all figuring out who he wanted to kiss really badly." Her eyes shrunk as her mouth went into an o shape. "Yeah, plus we found out that he likes both males and females so that was surprising. It's not like he hides it it's just people on our planet aren't as open about that sort of stuff because not everyone can understand that it happens and it's not a choice that's worse than war."

Fauna looked horrified as she stared at me. "Being in a relationship with the same sex is as bad as war on your planet? How awful. On my planet, it is encouraged to be with who you love. It's the most common to be with someone of your sex. It's helpful for population control and they mostly adopt because males can not have children together. Most females can't either, but there are rare occurrences. So if a parent is sick or dies in the fighting, the child always has someone to take them in." She shrugged as I opened the door, her eyes going wide as she stook in the Green Lion. "She's beautiful."

Thank you. The voice purred as Green stretched and lied down so her head was on her paws, her head titled in our direction. I see my paladin has found a companion, a princess no less. I could see the gaze Green rested on her. She was observing, storing information away to judge later. Fauna is it? Paladin is worried about you, so I can hear her think your name.

I snapped out of my thoughts for a second as I noticed Fauna do her version of blushing again. "Wait, can you hear her?" When the girl next to me nodded, I turned to Green for an explanation. I saw flashes of a dark blue planet with thick black bark that layered outwards as it grew and sprouted an array of colored leaves shaped like the different stages of the moon, stars...the galaxy. I saw through Green's eyes as she watched her paladin interact with people that looked like Fauna. The images were gone as quickly as they came. "You've been to her planet before?"

Green laughed quietly, or what felt like it was supposed to be one. I have been to many planets, many galaxies, many systems. I love to be on planets untouched by technology, Green turned her gaze to Fauna again, ones with underground cities with the most wonderful designs in the world and now I have been to one that combines both. You learned of my connection to nature there, Paladin.

I remembered that planet, the one which was overrun with Galra who wanted to enslave its people and force them to build weapon with their advanced skills. Half of the population had escaped into the surround wood and started using the nature there as weapons, connecting with the planet as a whole. I, for some reason, was really good at following their example whereas the others struggled immensely. "Yeah, I remember."

Fauna finally walked forward, her blue dress swaying at her knees. She kneeled in front of Green and reached out slowly to press a hand to her nose. When Green didn't make any objections, she finally placed her hand heavily there as she bowed her head and closed her eyes. Her hair suddenly swirled up from where it rested down her back, changing into something that appeared harder and smoother than steel as condensed into a crown around her head. "Thank you for your trust. I give you mine as well."

I watched and felt Green's surprise, her wonder, her fear. And then I felt something odd, like I'd just taken a huge gulp of some of Hunk's Chai tea or gotten hugged by Matt in front of his friends who would roll their eyes but he wouldn't care. I watched and I recognized what Green was doing. I knew she accepted me as her cub, becoming a fierce mom who would destroy anyone or anything that touched me. Now, she was accepting Fauna. On probation of course, she had to prove herself. It was something I knew no one other than a paladin had been able to achieve.

The people of your planet do not take what you have just done lightly, as I hope you understand. What I have just done should not be taken lightly either. I may only be designed to look like a lion, but my claws are very real. I will defend, protect, assist. Or I will knock, destroy, demolish. Do you understand? When Fauna nodded, Green moved away from her touch as she retracted her hand, standing back up to the original position we found her in.

Fauna changed back with her back still to me and walked back over with a weak smile. "When we are born, we do not have hair as you call it, nor do we have visible features. It's to protect us, but it also means we can not see or hear or feel. It's one of our most vulnerable states. As we grow older, we quickly develop the ability to switch between these states. Our thicker skin is useful yes, but it is not stronger than weapons. In that state, we are. It is only to be used in battle if we are protect someone or we know we are going to die before we complete a mission." She took a deep breath. "It is also supposed to be a show of trust, something between lovers, allies who need to show that they are truly on their side...Or between families. I have only seen it happen once, when my father said goodbye to us. I showed Green as a show of alliance."

"And she returned the favor as accepting you as her cub." When Fauna nodded, I quickly wrapped her up in a hug. "This is a show of affection on our planet, family, friends. Anyone." She hesitantly wrapped her arms around me too and leaned her cheek on my shoulder. It was then that I realized she was an inch shorter than me and for some reason it was the best thing in the world.

When we finally made it back to the main room, we were nudging each other and giggling like children. I'd found out she was my age from Allura so it was nice to have someone to relate to. I squealed, which I will deny if ever mentioned again, as she reached out to tickle me. "Not fair!" I'd tried it on her and as it turns out it didn't work. Then she'd tried it on me and found out I was extremely ticklish. "Shiro, save me!" I sprinted away from her as she ran after me, quickly catching up. I made a split second decision as I shouted, "Hunk! Catch!" I watched him brace himself as I flung myself onto his back and scrambled up to his shoulders. I grinned down at Fauna who was glaring at me from the ground. All she could reach were my feet and those were protected by sneakers. "I win!"

"And you're the one that complains about me not being fair..." She hooked her finger in her mouth and pulled to make a popping sound, her version of sticking her tongue out. Allura laughed with Coran while the boys all looked at us confused, Fauna suddenly getting a devilish smirk in her eyes. "Allura, help a fellow princess out?"

Hunk laughed as Allura quickly scooped her up, but no one seemed to notice that it made her skirt ride up to her thighs but me. I think I almost fell off because suddenly I was being held up by Keith and no one was laughing. They were looking at me concerned, but all I could process was oh my god she has a crescent moon birthmark on her upper thigh...she HAS A MOON BIRTHMARK AND I SAW HER UPPER THIGHS!

Fauna had finally noticed that her skirt rode up. She fixed it as we tried not to make eye contact, her skin paling again as she muttered to herself quietly. "I do believe that Green will not need to use her claws if this continues." She smiled shyly before brightening as she remembered what we were doing as she turned her eyes on me.

I grinned as lurched forward slightly, making her fall backwards whereas Hunk was expecting it and saved me. "Ha!" Though joking around and her chasing us was fun, I eventually grew bored. "Come on, I wanna show you around."

I don't know how long she stayed with us when it started, but we were almost never apart and when we were together we were touching. Hand holding, pinkies crossed, arms across each other's shoulders or waists, and even curling up with each other on the couch. So I guess it was only natural for it to be made rule that we weren't allowed to be alone together. The only place we really got some space was when we sat in Green's hanger and talked about our planets. "What do you mean you haven't explored 70% of your planet? Don't you want to know?"

"Well I'm pretty sure a bunch of smart people do know and that's why we were trying to leave our planet. Not the safest place." I grinned at her cheekily while she just whacked my arm. "You know how when we first met you kissed me? And I said it meant different things? Well it does. It's usually between couples, like your parents or people who want to be parents with each other someday. If it's here, it could be anyone. It's just a strong show of affection, love. Parents do it to children, families to it do each other etcetera. If you do it here," I pressed a hand to my forehead as I tried to process what I was saying and why, "it's similar. Usually from an older person or someone taller than you." She was watching me as I spoke, trying to figure out my meaning. "And...I like you so can I kiss you?" It was out before I could stop it.

Fauna was blushing again as she leaned forward and touched her fingers lightly to my cheek. "You want to kiss me here?" When I shook my head she trailed them up to my forehead. "Here?" She dragged one down slighty till it was poking my nose. "Here?" She was smirking now, like the overly confident princess she was. I didn't even have to shake my head as her fingers ghosted over my lips. "Here?" I had barely whispered a yes before she was kissing me. I think my brain short circuited because the next thing I knew I was pulling her onto my lap and she had her fingers tangled into my hair.

"Hey, Shiro wants to do...PIDGE!" We flew apart as we looked over to find Lance and Keith standing there. Keith was covering his eyes and muttering while Lance was laughing and declaring how he knew this was going to happen. It was an awkward movie night.

But as time rang on, it became a sort of game between us. We got no time alone because it was clear none of the lions cared if we cuddled by their feet even if the boys begged them, so we made alone time for ourselves by using our size to it's max potential. AKA, finding spots to make out where the boys couldn't reach us. Allura thought it was hilarious.

It was an afternoon where Shiro wanted us out of the castle so we were visiting an allied planet that Hunk finally commented on us as we strolled down the streets hand in hand while Fauna kept kissing my cheek or something to make people stop staring. "Why do you like being protected by her and not us?"

"Because you guys are overbearing. And besides," I kissed her forehead lightly to remind her I was taller, "I always like her attention."