Written for Pidge Ship Week, Day 2: Space.
"Hey!" Pidge grinned as Matt waved at her from the door, and beckoned him in.
He grinned back and picked his way cautiously through the tech spread out all over her workroom. Pidge frowned for a moment, but remembered that he wasn't familiar with her projects set up here. Some of them probably did look rather alarming - and a few were actually dangerous.
"Hey Pigeon." Matt ruffled her hair when he reached her, and Pidge stuck her tongue out at him. Matt pulled at her and Pidge shoved him in return, and they scuffled - gently - for a few minutes before Matt fell into her chair, laughing, and Pidge perched on her worktable, slouching comfortably and giggling at him.
"How are you feeling?" Pidge asked, though he should be mostly healed now.
Matt shrugged one shoulder. "Physically? A bit sore, but much better than I'd have expected. Those healing pods are. . ." he trailed off, shaking his head. "Otherwise? Well. I- It's been a while but I still can't quite wrap my head around . . . all this."
Pidge frowned, but nodded understanding.
"I'm glad to have wound up with you, though." Matt said, resting a hand on her knee. "I could wish you weren't out here wrapped up in this- war. But I'm glad you found me."
Pidge squeezed his hand. "Me too." she said, swallowing down a choking feeling. "I," she paused, "I've been looking. For you and for dad."
"You came a little farther than I would have expected, trying to do that." Matt joked weakly. Pidge shrugged, clearing her throat. It hadn't all been intentional, but . . . well, here she was, indeed, and it had been willing enough. "My baby sister made it out to space after all. Even faster than I thought you would." Matt added, smiling.
Pidge nodded, smiling back, a little weakly. Then-
"That's not all." Pidge said impishly, grinning.
"Oh? I'm not sure I can take many more surprises." Matt said with a weak attempt at laughter. Pidge wavered for a moment at hearing that, because joke or not it looked more like he meant it, but really, he would have to find out soon anyway and she may as well have some fun with it.
"Yep; I made it to space, and my girlfriend is a space princess." Pidge said brightly, grinning and waiting for Matt to process that as he blinked and opened his mouth, then closed it soundlessly.
"Princess? Space princess?" Matt repeated, then frowned. "Who- How- What on Earth, Pidge?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.
"We're not on Earth." Pidge teased, cackling as Matt made a strangled sound a frustration. "We're in space, remember?" she gestured towards the window.
"Pidge." Matt said firmly, glaring.
Pidge laughed again. "Yes, my girlfriend is an alien princess." she said, her grin softening a little at the thought of Allura.
"I. . ." Matt squinted at her. "Which alien princess?"
"I really only know one." Pidge said, snickering. "Well . . . I only know one properly; I suppose we've met a few more. Including one that was a dragon, complete with fire-breathing, although I think she's back to a less . . . cursed state now."
"Of course." Matt said faintly. "Really, the fact that you know any alien princesses well enough to be dating one is a little. . ."
"Hey, I'm not the only one." Pidge said playfully. "Shiro's boyfriend is half-alien."
"I- Shiro?" Matt's eyes widened. He . . . actually looked more shocked than he had at Pidge's revelation; she wondered whether to be irritated or not. "Shiro is dating someone and it's not Keith?" he demanded, scowling.
Pidge blinked, sitting back a little on the worktable. "Uh. No? I mean, yes, it's Keith. Keith is half-alien. Or something like that; part alien, anyway. We only found out a while ago, he didn't know either. . . That's what you're surprised over?" She boggled at him.
"Oh. Okay then." Matt relaxed a little. "Wait, your girlfriend is- The Altean princess? You said this was her Castle when you brought us on board, right?"
"'Oh okay'?" Pidge repeated, amazed. "Oh Keith's half-alien whatever?"
"I knew Keith, remember?" Matt said, snorting. "Keith being an alien was hardly the weirdest thing people guessed about him."
". . .seriously?" Pidge asked, eyebrows rising. Although. . . Well. She knew Keith, too. It wasn't that much of a surprise, she supposed.
"Most popular was Keith is a robot." Matt said dryly, waving one hand. "I pointed out I've seen him bleed, but no matter what that one stuck around better than any of the other rumours."
"You've seen Keith bleed?" Pidge asked, leaning away and giving her brother a dubious look. She had, but it had happened in battle, and even then only because he'd thrown himself into the path of a blow rather than out of it - in front of Hunk, actually, who had been moving too slowly to dodge himself. And that had been almost a year after they came to the Castle of Lions. He'd apparently been in pretty bad shape after they first met the Blade of Marmora, but Pidge had only seen the bruises left on his face.
"Some idiot broke his nose in the gym. Outside of combat practise." Matt supplied, lips twisting.
"Ouch." Pidge winced.
"More ouch for him than Keith." Matt said, and Pidge looked askance at him. "Keith broke his jaw with a return punch, before Shiro even got to them to pull him off. I think Shiro was a little ticked about that, actually. He didn't get a chance to do it himself."
"I can't-" Pidge broke off, picturing Shiro's fury when Red and Keith had gone missing a few months ago, and then when Lance had suggested they had other priorities than going looking for Keith immediately. "Never mind." She could picture that, actually.
"The other cadet was expelled after that. I think Shiro had a talk with the commanders, but he didn't tell me if he did, so I can't be sure." Matt shrugged. "So the Altean princess is your girlfriend, huh?" he asked archly, grinning. "How did that happen?"
Pidge shrugged, amused. "It. . ." She smiled fondly. "She's just . . . really something, you know?" she asked, and Matt shrugged. He didn't know Allura, of course, had barely met her yet and that had been when he was concussed and near collapse from the injuries he'd sustained in the battle his little rebel cell had been embroiled in when Team Voltron found them. Him.
"How do you even 'date' while you're . . . on this Castle and also in the middle of a galactic war, anyway?" Matt asked, frowning slightly.
"Ah, we find ways to spend time together." Pidge told him, then smirked.
"Oh my god, is the sex really weird?" Matt asked, then made a little moue. "Is it weird if I ask that? Are we at the point of having those kinds of sibling talks?"
Pidge cackled. "No; I mean, haha, you can ask." she said, waving a hand. "But no, the sex isn't super weird or anything." she paused, thinking of the machine she'd built and Allura had . . . happily helped her test out, in bed, not long ago. Matt probably didn't want to know about that, though, and that wasn't alien sex weirdness anyway.
"Well that's . . . good? I guess?" Matt said uncertainly, and Pidge waved a hand.
"I suppose so." Pidge snorted. "To be honest I . . . didn't even think about that before. The dates, though, are . . . really weird." she admitted, shaking her head a little.
"Like what?" Matt asked curiously.
"Well, see, for some reason the one of us - other than me - she's closest to is Keith." Pidge said, rubbing her face. "So she asked him for 'Earth dating advice' at one point."
Matt's expression did something complicated.
"Yeah. So. I mean, once she showed up at my door with some kind of special Altean spear," Pidge winced; it had been heavy, and huge, and a fucking spear, what even, "and we went down to one of the nearest planets and spent the whole day hunting Blishkrrrl, which are rampaging venomous lizards about five times Shiro's height."
"Why?" Matt asked, looking shocked.
"Right?" Pidge waved her hands. "So we could kill things together. You know. As a couple." It had been an adrenaline-fuelled, crazy day of chasing and running through a jungle Pidge was pretty sure had never been designed with someone of her stature in mind.
"That does sound . . . a bit like something Keith would suggest." Matt said faintly.
"No I think that one may have actually been all her." Pidge sighed. "Alteans are a little. . . Um." She wasn't quite sure how to explain. "Their world was very different to ours. It was very pretty, but it was . . . dangerous. And the training 'bot we fight against, its lower settings are for Altean children, Allura says - and Keith's the only one who can beat it alone, even on those settings."
Matt's eyes widened, and Pidge cocked her head. "Well, Shiro . . . might be able to, but Shiro doesn't," she paused, "he doesn't fight the Gladiator. Not alone. Anyway, I just think . . . Altea was a little rougher than we're used to." She snorted.
"It sounds like." Matt agreed. "So your actual 'dates' are all. . ."
"Our first date was sparring on the training deck," Pidge said with a sigh, "once there was that time swimming at what was really a lovely beach, but the sea there is home to giant eels - that's why Allura wanted to go, apparently." She rubbed her temples. "She also wanted to teach me to surf using carnivorous flatfish, but fortunately they only lived on a few planets, all of which are destroyed now."
"Surfing . . . on carnivorous fish." Matt repeated, his brows climbing.
"I mean, not good that the planets have been destroyed," Pidge corrected, "but I mean. Carnivorous fish. Not even just swimming with them - bad enough - but purposely going to catch them, by hand, to- No. No, no, nope." She shook her head.
"Nope, right there with you." Matt agreed, nodding fervently.
"And only a few weeks ago we went to a spa on some moon I've . . . now forgotten the name of." Pidge said, frowning slightly. The attendants had been a little too . . . helpful.
"Did the attendants have razors for hands?" Matt asked, voice pitched a little too high.
"Uh. No." Pidge said carefully. "It was just a spa. A really, really flowery one. Allura likes flowers. And sparkly things. And playing with hairstyles. I keep telling her she should try and get Keith to let her play with his hair and leave mine alone." She tugged at one of her short, wild locks. "Not like even she can do much with this. No, she's a very . . . girly princess, just her definition of ladylike things isn't what most people on Earth would expect. Or perhaps think is sane." She laughed.
"She sounds interesting." Matt said, in a tone that suggested he was refraining from saying insane.
"She's something, all right." Pidge said, lips twitching towards a grin. She actually thought Allura and Matt would get along, once they had met properly.
"You look happy about it, though. Even with all the," Matt gestured weakly, "craziness."
"Yes." Pidge smiled. "I," she paused, looking away, "really love her, Mattie." she said quietly.
"An alien space princess." Matt said, and Pidge's eyes darted back up to meet his. He was smiling. "I mean, I knew it would have to be someone really special, for my baby sister, but I admit . . . I didn't see that coming." he teased.
Pidge laughed. "No. . . No, neither did I."
Matt leaned forwards against the worktable. "I'm glad you're happy, little Pigeon." He bumped his arm against her thigh. "And I'm glad we're together again."
Pidge swallowed against the lump in her throat and bent to wrap her arms around her brother's shoulders. "Me too."
While I was writing this I got a number of snippets from Pidge's POV of actual (questionable) dates with Allura. There may be an outtakes post in the next few days featuring these snippets. (M said do it, and if I can get them out of my head I probably will.)