Quick and dirty. Comparatively speaking.
It shouldn't have bothered her as much as it did. She didn't pick him for his color. Didn't even really pick him in particular. She had asked her little group of fuzzy critters if any of them would like to travel with her. He and the green one floated upward and chirped in delight and that was that.
Yet here she was fretting over a change in color that, as far as she knew, meant nothing.
Pidge let a frustrated sigh as she walked down the Garrison halls. She was heading down to the labs where they had been keeping her little trash floofs, Kaltenecker, and Keith's space wolf…Wolf. No matter how much she and the crew assured those stuffy old Suits their animals were completely safe to be around Earth life they wouldn't listen. Not even to the literal space princess and her well traveled advisor.
At least they were given full access to them whenever they wanted. They were a nice break from all the work she needed to do. Well, they were until the less then subtle comments from her father hinting at his approval of her and Hunk. As a couple.
Great as Hunk was that wasn't the sort of relationship she wanted from him. Maybe that was what bothered her. After the modulation incident her floating friend started shedding some fluff and went from a cute shade of blue to yellow.
Paired with the other one, who stayed green, they matched her and Hunk. Green and yellow space caterpillars: Green and Yellow Paladins. Almost like all it was a sign.
It seemed like a reasonable enough explanation she thought. The timing of her father's comment and her pet's sudden change in color made her see symbolism that wasn't actually there. If it only changed color she would be fascinated and try to find out why. If it were only her dad's words she'd be annoyed then forget. Together her heart sank every time she saw her little floof.
Pidge was sure that if her caterpillar had turned to literally any other color she'd be fine with it.
Then she opened the door to the lab and was greeted by her pets, the green one and the one that couldn't decide on a color. From blue, to yellow, and now red. She held her Technicolor floof close and, with a frown, stroked its fur.
There was more to this. Maybe she resented the Winds of Destiny being fickle, pushing her to Hunk then, she presumed, to Keith. Maybe she just liked blue…
Blue. If Yellow meant Hunk to her, if she associated Keith with red then blue was…
She drew in a sharp breath and shook her head. Blue was Lance's color but that didn't mean anything to her besides convenient color coding for her files.
She looked the caterpillar in the eyes and asked, "If dad talked about Lance like he does Hunk it would still bother me, right?"
All she got in response was a noncommittal chirp.
She spent the next few minutes feeding and playing with her trash floof, trying to bury those thoughts. She was about to move on to Kaltenecker when she heard the door open. She turned around and her heart skipped a beat.
Tan jeans in place of blue, a new bomber jacket, and a red turtleneck with matching…
"Sunglasses at night, Lance?" asked Pidge, an incredulous look on her face.
He titled his head just slightly to face her. "My vision been augmented." He gave her a smug grin. "Good to see you, Pidge."
"Really," she drawls out, "After being gone a whole month without some much as a goodbye I figured you didn't care that much."
"Aw," Lance smirked. "Did little Pidgey miss her Lancy Lance?"
"Yes." she said, surprised at how quickly and soft it had come out.
It seemed to have caught Lance off guard as well from the way the smugness melted away. He gave her small, more sincere smile.
"Sorry, stayed with my family. I… I need it a lot more then I realized. I'm good now though, so if you need me for anything…" Lance rubed the back of his head, a little embarrassed.
"Hey, it's alright." Pidge put her hand on his arm reassuringly. "I get what you mean. I really needed time with my mom too." She smiled at Lance.
"You look good." said Pidge. Her eyes widen. "I, uh, mean it did you good, cause, you look better. Not that you looked bad or anything! Not in an ugly way, um, just that you were kinda moody on the trip and now you're not. You look happy and that… makes me happy." She paused and broke eye contact, her cheeks flushed. "This is a nice jacket."
"Thanks," said Lance, his eyes moving to Pidge's hand on his sleeve. Something in his smile changed and shook his head. "Gift from my folks. Was going to be a graduation present but then I got drafted in this millennia old war in space and the truancy got me dropped from the program. Seasoned Paladin outranks junior officer though so I get to have it anyway."
He turned his head toward the direction the administration offices and his smile drops.
"Should outrank everyone here now that I think about it."
He moved closer to Kaltenecker and patted her on the head and was given a pleased moo in response. The two Paladins fed her together, swapping stories of the past few weeks. While listening to Lance go on about his niece and nephew's attempt at keeping him under house arrest Pidge tried in vain to keep other thoughts down. Thoughts of caterpillars, changing colors, Lance and what it all meant to her.
It turns out she was staring.
"Yo, Pidge, you've been glaring at my shirt for good few minutes. If you got a problem with it you got a problem with my Gran Gran and I won't stand for that!" said Lance.
"Nothing's wrong with it, it's just, red." said Pidge, trying to look away.
Lance looks down to his shirt then back to Pidge.
"…and? Am I not allowed to wear red?"
"No, no, it's just weird. You don't normally wear red, Lance."
"Normally I get a chance to pack more than one set of clothes for extended trips." Lance chuckled. "I won't pretend to know how that big brain of yours works but I think you might be overthinking it."
The ever changing trash bug floated toward Lance and landed on his shoulder. He turned his head and greeted it a smile. After a moment Lance was confused.
"When did you get a red one?"
"Today after the yellow one shed its fur." Pidge shrugged.
"Huh. So does the little fella have name? Something better than," Lance glances at Wolf.
The blue fluff was Blue until it wasn't. Pidge's eyes moved back and forth between her pet and Lance.
"Pike." Pidge said hesitantly.
"Really, haven't you had these guys for the longest time? I'm surprised you didn't crack a joke when I made my MnM character."
The green caterpillar landed on Pidge's head.
"Oh," Lance smiled. "Ohhh! Did you actually name your character after your bug buddy?"
"…Yes. That is what happened."
"At the risk of getting shocked again, that is super cute."
Lance started laughing and Pidge couldn't help but join in. The caterpillars happily chirped along with them before floating away and settling on Kaltenecker.
Pidge looked down for a long moment. She closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, let it out, and finally looked Lance in the eyes, a confident smile on her face.
"Hey Lance," said Pidge, "you hungry? My parents are going to be busy the rest of the night and I'd like some company if I'm going to eat out."
"Sure. What did you have in mind?"
"I'm actually not sure. I don't venture out of the Garrison too often. I was hoping you'd know some good places around town."
Lance took the time to think of something. When it came to him he snapped his fingers and formed a finger gun pointed at Pidge.
"There's this great Mexican mom and pop place by Amuro Road. They got a Gradius cabinet! You game?"
Pidge didn't say anything, only nodded and smiled at him warmly.