Title/Prompt: Incentive
Rating/Warnings: M
Word count: 5587
Summary: Allura and Pidge make a deal. (F/F)
Notes: Written in May 2017 for mementoemoe as a treat for fandom5k 2017.
Originally posted on AO3.
Please, please forgive my blatant lack of science/technology knowledge. I just used words. I just used all the words and hoped it would work out.
I've loosely set this sometime after canon - Shiro is around but the Galra are still causing trouble. It is likely years after canon with characters aged up appropriately.
Pidge's nose is almost pressed right up against the console, the red lights flashing against the lenses of her glasses. She's vaguely aware of Coran shouting instructions at her over the blaring alarm, but she doesn't need instructions — she knows what to do. She's just not sure the castle is going to have enough power to succeed.
The lights dip and flicker again, and the alarm wavers before it returns to full volume.
Pidge can hear Shiro's voice in her ear. "We've got you in sight, Pidge, we're nearly there."
"It's holding," she assures him, though her fingertips are slick with sweat on the console screens and her stomach is aching because she's wound so tight.
Out of the corner of her eye, through the glass window, she sees movement — one of the Lions making it back. She thinks it's Lance, because his comms are down and there's no announcement chirping in her ear to declare a safe arrival. She's relieved he's okay, but at the same time her throat tightens, because she needs Hunk here, helping her with rerouting power around the castle, trying to keep it limping along just long enough for Shiro and Allura to make it inside.
"Hunk?" she asks desperately, opening her own comm. "What's going on?"
"Almost there," Hunk says, sounding more panicked than she does. "Did you use the X-axle crystal as a booster?"
"It didn't work," she says, frustrated. "I need another pair of hands. Coran is still down." She glances over to where he's lying prone on the floor, arms and legs quivering like jelly as the last of the inhibitor leaves his system. He's still shouting instructions at her but she thinks it'll be another ten minutes before he's able to stand.
"I'm in!" Keith says triumphantly.
"Pidge, cut power to the Red Lion's hangar," Hunk says immediately. "You know what, cut power to Yellow's too, I'll just —"
"You can't 'just', Hunk," Pidge says impatiently. "Everything is crashing and I can't start closing things down without knowing you have another way in." She wipes her hands on the front of her flight suit, cursing her sweating fingertips. "Keith, I need you to wire Red into the main console, she'll have to give us a power boost until Shiro and Allura make it in."
"Got it," Keith confirms.
Lance runs into the control room so fast the automatic doors barely have time to open for him. "Hey, I'm here," he wheezes, bending over with his hands on his knees, breathing hard. "I got Blue wired in, I did it straight away but I dunno if you need it, and her comms are down…" He heaves a breath.
Pidge can feel an uncomfortable prickle at the back of her neck as she drags her fingers over the tab for the Blue Lion's hangar. Draining power out of the Lions is a last resort. "Lance, get Coran into one of the infirmary pods," she says. "He'll only need a few ticks, just to rush the rest of the inhibitor toxins out of his system. He took a full blast when they pumped it through the control room vents."
Coran has managed to roll over onto his stomach and is trying to drag himself over to her on his elbows. He's still yelling things about the primary booster and teludav refraction. "We can't afford to waste power on that!" he protests, tugging at his mustache in frustration.
Lance glances at Pidge, unsure what to do.
"Pidge, Red's wired in," Keith says over the comms. "You can shut everything else down, I'm on my way up."
"Go!" Pidge orders Lance. "Unless you know how to stop a catastrophic engine failure."
"Come on, Coran," Lance says cheerfully, grabbing him by the ankles and dragging him across the floor. "A few ticks in one of the pods and you'll be good as new."
"You can focus the pinion laser through one of the convex lenses and charge the primary booster!" Coran shouts at Pidge, his gloves squealing against the floor as Lance drags him away.
Pidge's fingers fly over the console, but the lights all dip and waver, and the alarms drop like everything has been dunked underwater for a minute. Everything is failing and soon they're going to be adrift.
"I'm in!" Hunk shouts, and the castle rattles with the impact of Yellow's heavy landing. "Pidge, I'll wire Yellow in and then I'll come up."
"Get Yellow hooked up, but don't come up here, go down to the engine room and make sure the hardware isn't overheating," Pidge says. "Coran says to check the primary booster, the crystals aren't cycling energy like they're supposed to."
"Got it. Did Lance get back okay?"
"Just waiting on Shiro," Pidge says, gritting her teeth. "Shiro, how far off are you?"
"I'm right here," Shiro says breathlessly, and Pidge can see the Black Lion materializing fast, heading straight for them out of the darkness. "Get a pod ready for Allura, I can't wake her."
Keith is pacing back and forth helplessly.
"Go and see if Hunk needs another pair of hands," Pidge says to him. "Stop by Black's hangar first and wire everything in, Shiro will need to bring Allura straight up."
Relieved at having a task to do, Keith heads in the direction of the Black Lion's hangar.
Coran bursts back into the console room, fully recovered from his shaking limbs. "Is the primary booster charging?"
"No," Pidge says helplessly, "I have to shut everything down. We can route power to one of the cryo-pods so we can look after Allura, the rest will have to wait until she's awake."
The console blanks out under Pidge's fingertips for a moment, and she stares at it in alarm. "What just —"
She tips weightlessly, and makes a grab for the control deck, only just managing to grasp hold of it.
"Quiznak," Coran says, floating past her.
"We're down to auxiliary power," Pidge says into the comm. "Shiro, use your jetpack to get Allura to the infirmary, we've only got the Lions left. Hunk, you've gotta get that crystal cycling again."
"Okay," Hunk says, sounding unsure. "It uh — I mean, if we have an Altean on board who can help me with that, it'd be appreciated."
Coran floats past Pidge with his arms crossed.
Pidge waves at Lance, who still has his jet pack on, and then gestures to Coran. "Deliver him down there, will you? I need to get to the infirmary to make sure…" Gravity returns with full force, slamming her back down to the floor. She manages to bite her lip as she lands, and she curses through the taste of blood.
"Wait, I got it," Hunk says. "Nobody go past the training deck airlock, I've cut power to reroute it back for the gravity, and there's no oxygen cycling through down there."
Pidge feels annoyed by this, but she doesn't say anything. It's one of the only options they've got left, but shutting down the air supply to the rest of the castle can open up a thousand complications later.
But then Shiro arrives, his jet pack glowing, his armor smeared with dark Altean blood. Allura is limp in his arms. He looks pale. "I've done what I can, but…"
Pidge can feel the blood drain from her face as she looks at Allura's unresponsive body. She's not wearing her armor, just the thin thermal suit that goes underneath. Shiro's tied a tourniquet around her thigh.
"What happened?" Coran asks. Then, without waiting for an answer, "Quickly, get her into a Cryo-Replenisher."
He leads the way. Pidge stays for a moment to make sure the lines between the Lions are holding before she follows them, Allura's blood having left a dark trail on the floor.
She can hear Shiro breathlessly explaining things to Coran as they position her gently inside one of the pods. "…out the emergency hatch, but we got ambushed," he's saying. "You know what it's like trying to tell Allura not to do something."
Pidge kneels on the floor and pulls the control hatch open, lifting the hub for the battery cells right out, drawing a mess of fuses and circuits behind it. She listens silently as she hooks Allura's pod into the path Hunk has left for her; an uninterrupted power source from the Yellow Lion.
They all give a sigh of relief as the pod glows blue, and they hear the airlock engage with a soft snick.
"How long will she need in there?" Shiro asks, shifting his weight nervously. He's left a trail of blood on the floor and if it weren't for the distinctive Altean color, Pidge would be ordering him into his own pod.
"A few quintants, by the looks of it," Coran says, looking grim. His face is still very white. "We'll need to make sure the castle is up and running — we can't risk the power cutting out."
"We'll need to hide," Shiro says. "We can't risk the Galra finding us until we're strong enough to fight back."
Coran looks down at Pidge helplessly. "Do we have enough?"
"Not at the moment," she says, impatiently swiping her hair out of her eyes. "But if Yellow holds strong, Allura will be fine. We can draw enough power from the others to repair the primary booster, and then we can figure out what to do. We'll be without the Lions for a few days, but the castle will be able to hold a particle barrier and get through a wormhole if we need it."
Coran lingers, staring at Allura through the pod's shield.
"Go and help Hunk in the engine room," Pidge says, trying to coil all of the circuits back into the floor hatch again.
"I'll go," Lance declares.
Pidge jumps — she hadn't realized he was still there. She shouts after him. "Not that way!"
Lance stops and looks back at her in surprise.
"Hunk cut the life support to unnecessary parts of the castle," she says. "The airlocks are sealed, you need to go down through the kitchen."
Lance snaps his fingers. "Not a problem."
"Coran, you'd better go too," Pidge says, pressing one of the battery cells down with her foot until she hears it click into place.
Coran wrings his hands and looks at Allura again.
"Go," Shiro insists. "She'll be fine. We'll call you back if anything changes."
"Which it won't," Pidge says, grunting a little as she tugs the hatch back into place. "The pod is stable, even if nothing else is. Go and get the primary booster running again."
"Right," Coran says. He tugs his mustache. "Yes, yes all right." He gives the front of Allura's pod a little pat, and then he hurries after Lance, muttering to himself about teludav refraction.
Shiro unclips the chest plate of his armor with a sigh. There's a large scorch mark on the front of it.
"Are you hurt?" Pidge asks, getting to her feet and staggering a little.
"I'm fine." He glances at her. "Are you? You're bleeding."
"Oh." Pidge dabs at her lip. "No, that happened when Hunk flicked the gravity back on. I got out fine." She helps him remove his chest plate, which is still smeared with Allura's blood. Shiro stares at her through the glass of the pod.
"She'll be okay," Pidge says, though without a mess of circuits or the power cell indicators in front of her, she can feel the adrenaline wearing off, replaced with doubt. There's a lot of blood.
"She shouldn't put herself in danger like that," he says, sounding frustrated.
"Not sure you can lecture anyone on that," Pidge says, raising her eyebrows at him. She grins when he looks at her, and he gives her a tired smile and shakes his head.
She wipes her hands on the front of her shirt again, smearing cold blood there. "Go and get cleaned up," she says to Shiro. "We'll need your help with coordinates later."
They don't, really. They're all pretty good with reading coordinates now, but Shiro seems satisfied at having a task scheduled for him, so he gives Allura one last look before he heads out, his boots marking the floor.
Pidge is alone with Allura. She puts a hand on the glass of the pod and feels the warmth coming out of it. Color is distorted through the dome, but she thinks Allura looks very pale.
Pidge's fingertips squeak. She's still sweating, and she's marked a hand print on the front of the pristine glass. She tries to wipe it off with her sleeve, feeling guilty, but gives up when all she does is smear everything.
"Hang in there, Princess," she says softly. Her stomach twists at the thought of Allura not making it out of the pod alive — though there hasn't been anything the infirmary hasn't been able to heal yet. And they've thrown a lot of stuff at it. The lack of failure boosts her confidence a little. "You'll be fine," she promises.
Lance is stretching and flexing in front of Allura's pod. "I caught her the first time without expecting it," he's explaining to Keith. "I'll catch her again and one, two, three, 'Oh Lance, you're so strong and —'"
"Lance," Shiro says tiredly.
Keith has his arms folded, but his eyes have definitely rolled twice, and that was just when Pidge was looking at him to notice.
She's standing off to the side, peering under Coran's arm as he adjusts the climate inside the pod, readying it to open.
The ship is mostly back to normal. There are still a few systems down, but all the major components are back on line again, and the Lions no longer need to be utilized as auxiliary power sources. They've been stationed on a dead planet for days now, a trail of rock and dust looping through the sky above them, indicating some long-ago destruction. Nobody has come by to disturb them, and the repairs have all gone smoothly.
Coran steps aside, eager to be closer to Allura when she finally wakes up, and Pidge busies herself with the console screen, though there's not necessarily anything to be done. She watches out of the corner of her eye as the cryo-pod opens, and Allura staggers forward. Both Lance and Shiro catch her, and Pidge thinks she definitely leans on Shiro more than Lance.
"You still need to rest," Coran says, hovering nervously, pacing back and forth as Allura tries to steady herself on her feet. "I mean it! Bed rest, and lots of it, Princess. No more missions for at least a year." His mustache bristles.
"Hey, I think you just got grounded," Hunk says to Allura with a grin.
Allura looks around, taking in their faces, checking that everyone is okay. Her eyes settle on Pidge, and Pidge can feel her stomach drop a little. She's not sure why — she's never been quite so relieved than she is to see Allura stepping out of the pod. Her palms are sweating again.
"Come on, let me help you," Coran says. He gestures at Pidge. "Gentlelady, your assistance please."
Pidge's legs feel like lead as she wedges herself under Allura's arm. Allura doesn't use her for support as much as she just drapes her arm around Pidge's shoulders like an embrace.
Pidge notes Lance's pout as they leave the room.
"How's your leg?" Coran asks Allura anxiously. "It looked bad when you went in. We kept you in stasis an extra two quintants just to make sure you healed up all right…"
"I'm fine," Allura says, though she sounds tired. "Just a little stiff."
"A case of the old sleep-chamber knees, eh?" Coran asks. "I know all about that."
Pidge tries to be reassuring. "Well, a couple more days rest and you'll be right as rain," she says.
"Ah, yes," Coran says knowledgeably. "As pointy-sharp as ever."
Allura gives Pidge a tired smile, and leans into Coran a little. "Thank you," she says gratefully. "I'll be fine, really. I'm just glad nobody else was hurt."
"We're all fine," Pidge says.
They reach Allura's bed chamber. It smells nice, like Allura usually does. Pidge breathes in the smell deeply. Right now, Allura smells like the sterile pod.
They help her into sitting on the side of her bed.
"Thank you, Coran," Allura says.
Coran's mustache twitches again with a gentle smile, and he squeezes her shoulder affectionately. "How about I whip up a hot cup of Nunvill?" he asks. "That'll set you right."
Allura keeps a grip on Pidge's arm, like she's holding onto her for support. Pidge obediently stays at her side.
"I don't think that's necessary, thank you," Allura says with a kind smile. "Right now I'd just like a bath."
"Right then!" Coran says, straightening up, a new mission clearly on his mind. "Well, even if you don't want any, Nunvill is required for any celebration." He rubs his hands together gleefully. "Actually, if Hunk is serious about learning Altean cuisine, this is the perfect place to start." He marches out, still talking to himself, leaving Pidge and Allura behind.
"Um," Pidge says nervously, "so are you okay?"
"Oh, yes, I'm fine," Allura says, trying to ease her arms out of her thermal suit, which is still stained with blood.
"Oh," Pidge says dumbly. "Oh! Oh, let me help. Um…" She can feel her cheeks burning as she eases the material down, but there's no need for it, really. It is what it is. Allura just needs help, and it's better for Pidge to do it than anyone else.
This is gonna drive Lance absolutely crazy, she thinks to herself, wondering if there's any way to let it slip without compromising Allura's dignity.
"How long have we been stationed here?" Allura asks, grimacing as Pidge helps her peel out of the suit.
Pidge does a quick calculation in her head. "Four quintants?" she guesses. "It's hard to tell, a lot of the castle's systems have been down, and we don't have any external indicators for time here."
"Meanwhile, the Galra are busy rebuilding what we managed to tear down," Allura grumbles.
Pidge is trying very hard to avert her eyes from Allura's bare skin. "Well, we made a lot of progress," she says, trying to be comforting.
"If I hadn't been hurt, we'd have made a lot more."
"Sure," Pidge agrees with a shrug. "But what can you do? These things happen."
Allura pushes her hair back off her shoulders and wrinkles her nose. "Do you think you could assist me with washing my hair?" she asks Pidge. "I still feel rather weak."
"Um, sure," Pidge says uncertainly. She surreptitiously sniffs her shirt as she helps Allura towards her bathroom. She doesn't smell bad, but she doesn't smell great either.
We've kinda had other priorities, is the excuse Pidge tells herself.
The tub is quick to fill, and Allura directs Pidge to empty a small bottle of oil into the steaming water. It foams immediately, forming soft peaks of bubbles. Pidge recognizes the scent as the one Allura usually has trailing behind her. She squints at the Altean print on the label, but it's not familiar.
"Juniberry extract," Allura says, watching her. "Altea had fields of Juniberry flowers." She takes the empty bottle from Pidge and rolls it in her fingers. "Sometimes I think I should ration what I have left, but…" She trails off, looking sad.
"It smells nice," Pidge offers. "I always wondered what it was." She plucks at the front of her shirt self-consciously, more aware than ever of the fact she's not changed her shirt for at least two days.
"You should take a few bottles," Allura says, drawing her knees up and leaning her head against them tiredly, arms circled around herself. "There's no reason you can't indulge in things sometimes."
Pidge looks at Allura sitting in the foamy water, her silvery hair gleaming through the steam. She pushes her glasses up to the top of her head once they start fogging up. "What was it like, being a Princess on Altea?" she asks suddenly. "I mean, I'll bet it was a lot different to your life now."
Allura gives her a smile. "It was." She leans back against the lip of the tub, and Pidge averts her eyes again. "There's a jug there, if you don't mind," Allura says, pointing. "Though I could probably manage myself if you'd rather go back to the others."
"No, it's okay," Pidge says, imagining what might happen if she had to explain to Coran that Allura escaped the Galra only to drown when Pidge left her in the bath in a weakened state. She dips the jug into the bath to fill it, and then gently pours it over Allura's hair. It turns silvery-dark, like steely storm clouds. Pidge watches the color change with fascination.
Allura sighs and closes her eyes. "There were a lot of lessons on Altea," she says. "All of our history to learn, and skills in fighting, and shape shifting and diplomacy."
"In that order?" Pidge asks with a grin. She runs her fingers through Allura's hair and pours another jug gently over her. Allura's pointed ears seem more pronounced, and Pidge has to resist the temptation to trace her fingertip around the edge of one.
"Diplomacy always came first, but fighting was my favorite," Allura admits. "Do you have any idea how frustrating it was, watching the five of you try to wield your bayards for the first time?" A small crease appears over her nose as she frowns.
"I have some idea," Pidge says, remembering Allura berating them for failing all of the training exercises. "We're better now."
"Oh, yes," Allura agrees, though she doesn't offer any praise.
"Um, should I just…" Pidge scoops up a handful of foam and looks at Allura uncertainly.
"Yes please," Allura says. She keeps her eyes open, watching Pidge intently as Pidge massages the foam gently into Allura's hair. It doesn't feel like Pidge's hair — it's much softer, even when it's wet, and it slides and slips through her fingers like silk, not tangling at all.
Pidge thinks about how much of her own hair is probably knotted around the rubber band she's using to hold it back, and almost winces at the thought of having to cut it out. (Again.)
Allura closes her eyes and stretches her legs out, looking extremely contented as Pidge gently soaps her hair. "I've missed this," she admits, and her cheeks go a little darker, like she's embarrassed. "It feels selfish to admit so."
"What?" Pidge asks, feeling stupid.
"Having someone to help," Allura says fretfully. "Or not help, exactly, but… I had someone who would help me dress, and it was… it was nice, talking about the day's schedule or achievements." She drags her fingers through the soapy bubbles. "All I talk about now is strategy or war. I suppose I just miss the companionship." She glances at Pidge. "What do you like to talk about when we're not preparing to fight the Galra?"
"I dunno," she says with a shrug. "I used to like to talk to Matt about the Garrison. Though I think he liked it there more than I did. By the time I got there I'd lost interest in learning how to be a good Comms Specialist. All I wanted to do was hack into their systems."
Allura looks at her blankly, and Pidge feels self-conscious. She fills the jug again. "I like learning new things," she says eventually. "Computers give me a chance to do that all the time. Technology changes fast, and alien technology means there's always something new to do." She pauses, and lowers her voice a little. "I would give anything to pull Shiro's arm apart."
Allura snorts, and then covers her mouth with alarm, her eyes looking very wide.
Pidge laughs. "Don't tell him," she clarifies quickly.
"Your secret is safe with me," Allura says with a smile. She closes her eyes as Pidge pours the jug of water over her head again, washing the suds out of her hair.
"You expressed interest in learning Altean," Allura says casually.
"Oh, I still want to," Pidge says. "But the learning program here in the castle almost killed me when I tried. I keep meaning to rewrite the punishment triggers, but I haven't had time."
"You must have been pronouncing things wrong," Allura declares. "Enunciation is important. You and Keith both have a tendency to mumble."
Pidge pours more water gently over Allura's head, running her fingers through her hair to make sure the suds have run clear. "Maybe you could teach me," she says hesitantly. Allura isn't exactly a patient teacher, but Pidge doesn't think she'd ever actually kill her.
"Oh, I'd like that," Allura says, beaming so widely that Pidge thinks she brought the subject up just so she'd be asked. "I can remember some of my dreams from being in the cryo-pod this time, and…" She trails off, looking uncertain.
Pidge has never been in one of the pods, but she's watched Lance a couple of times, Keith a handful of times, and Shiro so many times she's just about lost count. It never looks restful. "What is it?" she asks.
"I suppose it bothers me that if anything happens to myself or Coran, everything about Altea will be forgotten." Allura gives her a grim sort of smile, and then reaches for Pidge's hand. "Will you help me up?"
Pidge does, and the tub starts to drain. She helps Allura into a pink robe, though Allura doesn't seem to be as weak or shaky as she was when she first emerged out of the pod. Still, when Allura asks if Pidge will comb her hair for her, Pidge doesn't say no.
She sits behind Allura on the bed, which has the same pleasant scent of Juniberry hanging over it, and gently combs Allura's hair out over her shoulders. It still doesn't tangle, but it smooths out under the comb's teeth, gently curling as it dries, turning bright silvery white again. Pidge has never really felt envious of another woman's hair before, but she thinks life would be a lot easier if she had hair that combed out so easily.
"This has been nice," Allura says quietly. She sounds tired. "I'll have to repay the favor for you sometime, Pidge."
Pidge thinks about Allura helping her wash her hair, and she goes warm all over. "Sure," she says, relieved Allura can't see her face.
"Or is that not…" Allura trails off. "I admit I'm unfamiliar with Earthling rituals."
"No, it'd be… I mean it's not really something that I'm personally familiar with," Pidge says. "But it'd be nice. If you wanted to." She draws her fingers slowly through Allura's hair. "Maybe we could do our Altean lessons at the same time."
"Excellent idea," Allura agrees. "Multitasking is important when we're so short on time."
"Don't tell Coran," Allura says, looking down into her glass, "but I think I prefer Hunk's recipe for Nunvill."
"It tastes nicer, but it's not as potent," Pidge says, leaning back in the bath. Steam swirls lazily in the air. "Szobo plann…" She frowns, thinking. "Uhhh…"
Allura folds her arms, looking stern, which would work better if she weren't naked. Pidge has seen her enough times now to be bold enough to look, and almost bold enough to touch. She brushes her foot against Allura's hip experimentally, prepared to claim it as an accident if Allura moves away.
"Szobo plann kirr Nunvill," she says eventually.
"Your inflection is off," Allura says. "Are you asking me a question, or telling me I'd like a glass of Nunvill?"
"Telling you," Pidge says. "I know you're not going to say no."
"That's beside the point!" Allura splutters, and Pidge laughs.
Pidge dunks her head under the water, rinsing away the Juniberry soap. Her hair still isn't as soft as Allura's, but it smells a lot nicer now. (Even Lance has noticed, leaning over her suspiciously and telling her she smells like a girl. Then he'd recognized it as Allura's shampoo and he'd gone a little starry-eyed, and Pidge had spent the rest of the day hiding down in the engine room with Hunk, getting increasingly covered in grease and grime.)
"Are you ready for tomorrow?" Allura asks, looking at Pidge with a hint of concern on her face.
"I guess so." Pidge shrugs. "As ready as we'll ever be."
Tomorrow they're planning to infiltrate a rebel Galra base. Given how badly their last mission ended, everyone is a little on edge, though Pidge has found bathing with Allura a nice way to take some of the tension out of her shoulders.
"Be careful," Allura says anxiously. "I don't wish to show favoritism, but I really will be upset if you get hurt."
"I'll push one of the others into the path of any danger to save myself," she jokes.
Allura tuts at her, and runs her hand up Pidge's calf to behind her knee. Pidge goes rigid, though that doesn't stop the waves of excited pleasure rolling through all of her nerves.
"I have great affection for all of my paladins," Allura says, sounding like she's recited this a couple of times in front of the mice for practice. "But my affection for you is different, and a different part of my heart will be hurt if you don't come home."
"Oh," Pidge says in surprise. She stares at Allura, and Allura stares back. "I mean," Pidge adds, "no, I know what you mean. I feel — I feel that way too. It was different when you got hurt. And my affection…" She rolls the word around in her mouth like it's an unfamiliar Altean word. She thinks for a moment Allura might chide her on her enunciation.
"If I could keep you here and safe at all times I would," Allura blurts. Her hand has tightened on Pidge's leg. "I feel completely out of my depth whenever I think about sending you out to fight my war for me."
"It's not just your war," Pidge says, feeling slightly offended. "The Galra took my father and my brother. I'm fighting for them as much as I'm fighting for you."
Allura's expression softens. "I know, I didn't mean that. I'm sorry. I just mean… it feels like it's my fault you're here."
"It's not," Pidge says bluntly. She swirls her fingers in the water, avoiding Allura's gaze for a moment. "I like being here," she says eventually, and she can feel her face going red. She gestures between them. "This kind of makes up for all the other stuff," she says. "Being with you like this. I never planned for it to happen. But it did, and I like it. And if I can come home after fighting a war…" She glances up at Allura. "If I can come home after fighting, and I can have this with you… let's just say washing your hair and learning Altean in the bath has given me a lot of extra incentive to come home."
Allura's fingers slide under Pidge's knee, tickling. Pidge desperately wants her hand to slide higher.
"Incentive," Allura says thoughtfully. "I thought you didn't like incentive?"
"I like it when it's not punishment," Pidge explains, feeling exasperated. "That Altean language program? Yeah, it tried to offer incentive to get things right, but the incentive was not getting killed. That's a little extreme."
"Oh," Allura says understandingly. Her palm slides over Pidge's knee to her thigh. "Well, I'm sure I can think of something to encourage you home."
Pidge's throat is dry. "You could kiss me," she suggests, not sure where the thought came from. "That'd… I'd probably like that."
Allura glances at her mouth, and smiles. "I see."
"I mean, I think I would," Pidge says. She feels like her face is very red. "I haven't really had much practice."
"Well, we could try it," Allura says. She leans forward, and Pidge leans in to meet her, eyes closed.
Allura's mouth is soft and warm. Her wet hands cup Pidge's face gently, her thumbs stroking her cheeks, drawing curious circles over the skin where Altean people have smooth colored marks. "Does it still feel nice when I do that?" Allura asks curiously, her voice quiet.
"Yeah," Pidge sighs. She lifts her hand to cup Allura's cheek, strokes her thumb over the pink mark on her face, and Allura gives a soft moan into Pidge's mouth.
Oh, Pidge thinks with delight. "This is excellent incentive," she whispers breathlessly.
Allura draws back a little and smiles at her. "Well," she says, "it's a start."
Pidge thinks her heart literally skips a beat. "You had something else in mind?" she asks hopefully.
Allura raises her eyebrows. "Ex chardis el gilda," she says.
"After toil comes reward," Pidge says with a sigh. She leans in for another kiss. "Okay, but this reward had better be really worth it."
Allura smiles indulgently. "It will be, but you need to come back in once piece."
"Guaranteed," Pidge promises. "And, you know. Likewise. For any future missions and anytime you think you can just throw yourself in the path of danger."
"I'll try to be more careful," Allura says.
Pidge kisses her again. "Ex chardis el gilda," she whispers, her heart pounding in her chest. Her hands twine with Allura's, fingers lacing intimately.
After toil comes reward.