Sometimes, Hunk questioned how on earth these two became his friends.
"D-I-N-O-S-A-U-R a dinosaur, D-I-N-O-S-A-U-R a dinosaur, and O-L-D M-A-N!"
"Pidge, I swear to god that if you don't stop that right now then I'll report you to the dinosaur government."
"...You're just an old man Hitting on me what? You need a cat scan!"
"Hunk, Pidge is harassing me via old Ke$ha songs!"
Hunk looked at his two friends - at Pidge with their smirk in their bright green pyjamas, and Lance with his (her, Lance was a her today Hunk reminded himself) messy hair and frown - and tried to work out just how they came together...and what dinosaurs had to do with it. He was pretty sure dinosaurs had nothing to do with space after all, which was what they were supposed to be focusing on.
They were meant to be revising for an exam that was just two weeks away, but it seemed like Pidge was bored and in the mood to bug Lance. And once Pidge was off, it was hard to make them stop. But even so, there was still a lazy air to the teasing, probably because Pidge was beginning to feel tired too. Everyone felt tired and calm and lazy... it probably wasn't the best way to be with that exam so soon, but that was a worry for the morning Hunk decided, as he put aside his textbook.
"Pidge, stop harassing Lance via old Ke$ha songs; you'll only regret it once she's got enough energy to bug you back," he warned them.
Pidge just rolled their eyes and sat up straight, not once losing the smirk.
"You wanna go, bro? I'm a fully charged Triple A battery!"
They struck a dramatic pose, one that was silly enough to get a loud laugh from Hunk and tired chuckle from Lance who looked ready to fall asleep.
"Being aroace and agender doesn't give you superpowers that would help you take me down," Hunk snickered.
Pidge slapped a hand to their heart and gasped, a look of
mock-horror on their face. It was ruined by their glasses slipping down their nose, which their pushed up with their middle finger. Hunk had a feeling that it was intentional. "That's just because you haven't opened your eyes to the possibilities! You're blind and naive, my poor Hunk!"
They patted Hunk's cheek, and Hunk questioned just how tired they were to be doing this. The last time Pidge had been this tired, they'd thought Lance's cat Blue was a pillow, and nearly sat on her. But Blue was nowhere to be seen and Pidge was trapped underneath Lance's legs, so they wouldn't be able to move and cause too much trouble at least.
"Just like everyone with regards to the dinosaurs government," Lance mumbled, "The dinosaurs were too smart, had to taken down, now no one knows the truth…"
Lance was curled up, her head by Hunk's leg and her feet in Pidge's lap, eyes closed, and Hunk was honestly impressed that Lance was still awake (apparently she hasn't slept for two days straight since she was trying to beat Keith's record of three). And worried, because Lance did not sound... okay.
"Um, am I missing something here? I thought you were all about cryptids and space, not dinosaurs," Hunk asked.
"Pff, like I'd ever give up on Nessie," Pidge scoffed, "It's just that when I found Lance's Tumblr, I thought it was called 'Dinostories' and was some weird dinosaur porn blog, so Lance is Dino now."
That surprisingly wasn't the weirdest thing that had ever come out of Pidge's mouth, so Hunk just shrugged and accepted it. Lance was dinosaur, Pidge was a pigeon and he was a teddy bear, whatever. Life was strange like that. How the dinosaur government came into that, he didn't know, and he was afraid to ask.
"I didn't think you were so blind that you mess up that badly," Hunk teased.
He knew Lance's blog name was a far stretch from 'Dinostories' and couldn't help but tease them for it. It was worth it to see them pout and stick out their tongue like they were five, like they didn't have a big exam coming up in just two weeks. For a few moments after that, they fell silent, letting an easy air settle over them. Hunk closed his eyes and hummed a little tune, feeling close to falling asleep. He didn't want to sleep just yet though, he wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet for just a bit longer. He couldn't remember the last time they'd all just hung out and done absolutely nothing; life was such a busy blur ready.
Lance began using Hunk's thigh as a pillow (taking a moment to comment on how good of a pillow it was) and Pidge leaned against Hunk's arm, one hand on Lance's ankle, gently massaging it. Everything was okay.
"...I love you guys, you know that?" Lance said quietly, eyes still shut.
Pidge scrunched up their nose in that silly way of theirs, and Hunk couldn't help but smile at the way his heart fluttered. All these little things, all those little compliment and habits and gestures that Hunk had grown fond of, made him love them both a little more. They made him fall for his friends a little harder every time, and Hunk knew that that sounded more romantic than platonic but he didn't care.
"What's with the sudden declaration of love?" Pidge asked. "You haven't got some illness that slowly killing you but you refuse to tell anyone about it so you suffer silence worrying that each day might be your last so you don't want to risk saying before you ever get to announce your true feelings, have you?"
Lance opened her eyes to properly frown at Pidge.
"...That's some shit weird Pigdeon," Lance said, "And this is coming from the girl who just talked about the dinosaur government."
"You're some weird shit," they huffed, "So why the sudden confession anyway?"
Lance shrugged as much as she could in her current position.
"I just wanted to let you guys know that I love you."
Pidge smiled softly at Lance, who returned the smile happily. It amazed Hunk that some people actually thought Lance and Pidge hated each other when he saw them like this; smiling softly and cracking jokes, helping out with each other's homework, patching the other up when they got hurt, curled up in blankets binge watching Star Wars. All he ever saw when he looked at them, where two friends who loved each so much. All he saw when all three of them together were friends who loved each other.
"I guess you aren't so bad," Pidge shrugged.
Hunk hugged them close, and played with Lance's hair.
"I love you guys so much too," he said.
Pidge pretended to vomit, but couldn't hide their grin.
"Ugh, we're reaching maximum cheese levels here; I'm talking mature cheddar messy here people!"
"I hate cheese," Lance mumbled.
Then she shifted about before closing her eyes for the last time, and falling asleep. Pidge wasn't that far behind, and soon they were both sleeping away peacefully. Hunk bit back a grin and took a couple pictures of them before reaching over to grab blanket, putting it over them all. He knew that in the morning, they'd definitely regret this – they'd all complain about their aches and pains, Lance and Pidge would whine about not taking their glasses off, Lance would be annoyed that she didn't do her usual beauty routine, and they'd probably all regret wasting time that they would be using to revise – but for now, they were happy.
Hunk looked over his friends once more before closing his eyes (grateful that he had decided to take his binder off a few hours ago), wearing a smile on his face.
They were odd people that came together to make an even odder trio in most people's eyes, but to Hunk, they were perfect. It had been a lot of work but it had been worth it because they were more than just friends, more than just best friends... Hunk couldn't think of any word to describe them but 'more'. They were all just something 'more', and he loved it. Yes, they were odd - a meme-making, sharp-shooting genderfluid bisexual dinosaur, a mischievous, genius aroace agender pigeon, and a big, cuddly and friendly trans pansexual bear - but they were odd together. Hunk didn't know how on earth these two became his friends, but he wouldn't give them up for the world.