Published April 24, 2017
"Holy Laughter"
"He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy." ~ Job 8:21, New International Version
Lance and Hunk came to understand Pidge's family situation gradually, from things Shiro and Pidge said in reference to them. When he deduced that Sam and Matt Holt were Pidge's father and brother, Lance felt an uncharacteristic clash of emotions: he felt smug finding out that he had been right about Pidge having some stake in the Kerberos mission's crew, but also sad for the Holt family when he remembered Sam and Matt Holt were probably still imprisoned somewhere in the Galra Empire.
The fact that they were missing gave Lance an idea, which he shared when he found Pidge alone in the lounge, playing with the mice.
"Hey, Pidge, have you ever heard of Saint Anthony?"
"Um … I don't think so. Should I have?"
"Nah, he's not super famous. The reason I mention him is, he's the patron saint of lost things. We have this tradition of praying to him when you can't find something."
Pidge looked at him queerly. "That's a Christian tradition?"
"Yeah—I mean, not all Christians do it, but certain denominations do."
"It sounds kind of polytheistic. Isn't that breaking a commandment or something?"
Lance smiled and shook his head. "No, see, Saint Anthony doesn't actually help you find what you're looking for. What you do is ask him to pray for you, so that God will help you find it. It's called intercession—you ask a saint to intercede for you, since they're so tight with God."
"Oh." Pidge thought this over, then asked, "Why are you telling me about this?"
"Well, I was thinking about your family. Since they're missing, you could ask Saint Anthony for his intercession." Seeing Pidge's skeptical look, Lance added, "Or I could, if you don't want to."
"Yeah … if you think it'll help, go for it." Pidge paused, about to leave, but hung back and said, "Thanks for thinking of them. And for telling me. That's surprisingly nice of you."
Lance frowned at her. "'Surprisingly'? I happen to be a very nice person!"
Pidge snorted, smirking slightly. "Yeah, when you're not showing off … or stealing my headphones … or farting in closed spaces … or being mean to Keith for no reason …"
"I have reasons!" Lance exclaimed indignantly.
"Name one," Pidge challenged.
Lance summed it up as succinctly as he could before returning to the point at hand. "At the Garrison, he was always trying to knock me out of the competition. Now, let me ask you something: who saved your big mouth when you when you accused Iverson of lying? Who found the first lion? And who stopped that Galra ship from invading Earth?"
Pidge deflated somewhat. "Okay, I admit you're not a complete jerk."
"Thank you," Lance said with satisfaction.
Seeing that it was already going to his head, Pidge added, "But you're not the most altruistic guy."
"And you've officially ruined the moment."
"My original point," Pidge said doggedly, "was that when you are nice, it stands out, because you don't always act that way. So I appreciate it more. I meant it as a compliment."
"If that's a compliment, I'm scared to see your insults."
Pidge seemed slightly confused by that quip. "Why? You think they'll be really mean, or ineffective?"
Lance paused. "You know, to be honest, I don't know."
They looked at each other, and both started to laugh, giggling and chuckling at first, then releasing full-volume cackles. It was not so much that the situation was funny enough to merit that amount of laughter, but that in the midst of so much stress and uncertainty, it felt good to have something to laugh about, and someone to laugh with.
Author's Notes
I have a whole series about Pidge's family and their spiritual growth, called "The Pursuit of Truth." One chapter in it, "I'll Try," is about Pidge and Lance further discussing the Communion of Saints. The two cycles could be seen as overlapping; I chose to put this in Lance's and the other in Pidge's to keep the points of view consistent in each cycle.