The group needed a break.
That was one fact that no one would contest. Pidge had fallen asleep at the wheel more than twice. Hunk had accidentally mixed sealant into the food goo. Lance had gotten stuck in his armor, while Keith had gotten beat by the training gladiator twice. Meanwhile, Allura had wormholed them into the wrong quadrant twice, leaving her drained and the castle stagnant.
Coran had been the one to suggest taking a day off. "We're nearby a resort planet, or at least what used to be one. I don't think the Galra have laid their eyes on it for a while, and it's been uninhabited for years."
Lance's head shot up from his console. "Is there a beach?"
Coran twisted his mustache. "I believe there is." He tapped on the center console and a picture blew up on the screen. It was a beach. Of that much, Pidge was sure. However, it didn't look anything like any beach Pidge had seen. The sand was pitch black, but sparkled like they were glass shards. The water was a strange red color, one that reminded her of rust. "Is this the kind of beach that you were looking for?"
Lance beamed. "It's a beach. That's good enough for me."
"Does anybody have an issue with a beach day?" Allura asked, eyeing each paladin in turn.
No one spoke up.
Now Pidge kinda wishes that she had.
She keeps her flip flops on as she walks onto the sand. It's hot, unsurprisingly (the color black attracts more heat than white sand does), and still manages to burn the bottoms of her feet as sand slides between her feet and the plastic. Lance tries his best to tiptoe to the shoreline without touching the sand more than he has to, and ends up dashing to the comfort of the water when the heat gets to be too much. Hunk carries an umbrella, as well as a whole basket of towels. Luckily, he chose to wear swim shoes, so he isn't bothered by the heat of the sand.
Pidge follows close behind him, and picks up whatever falls out of his clutch. She's holding four towels, along with her own bag by the time they reach the shoreline. Lance walks out of the water, his shins and feet wet and dripping onto the sand. As she spreads a towel out onto the sand, he pulls his shirt up in that weird, cross armed way that guys often do, and tosses it onto the towel.
It's not polite to stare. It's not polite to stare. It's not polite to stare, she recites, hoping that the repetition will make her avert her eyes. It doesn't. She just ends up sneaking looks more discreetly, looking up through the brim of her sunhat and out of the corner of her eye. Keith finally joins them, and he barely pauses except to toss the boogey boards and his shoes onto the sand. He dashes into the water with his shirt still on, and wades up to his chest.
Lance isn't far behind. He grabs a boogey board and jumps into the surf. He paddles out to sea, and turns to face the shore as he waits for a wave.
Hunk opens the umbrella and stakes it into the sand. It opens with flourish and Pidge jumps at the sound. "Don't like the water much?" Hunk asks as he unpacks another bag. He pulls out what looks like a portable grill, as well as a selection of meats and vegetables that look vaguely like sea creatures.
She shakes her head. "I love the beach actually. I just… I dunno. I'll go in in a minute."
Hunk nods and pulls out an assortment of spices. Dang. How deep is his bag? "Well, I'll call you when the food's ready."
Pidge nods back and stares back out at the water. Lance is riding a wave inland, and struggling to stay upright on the board. She giggles as he tumbles off of it and into the waves. She hasn't been boogie boarding since the year before her family went missing. Her mother hadn't been well enough to take her to the beach after that, and she had been to focused on finding the truth to even think about a trip to the beach. She stands from her towel, and kicks her flip flops to the side. She grabs one of the remaining boards and dashes across the burning sand to the refuge of the water.
It's strange, how red it is. Coran had said something about how oxidation had caused it, and how the changes in color were due to temperature. He had even shown a picture of pink water, in the northern seas. It was kind of amazing how the water wasn't opaque, but with a similar opacity to that of earth water.
"You comin' in?" Lance calls as he breaks through the surface of the water. He brushes the water from his eyes, and completely misses how Pidge's gaze first goes to his chest, and exposed abs before returning to his face.
"Yup." She says as she paddles deeper into the water. A small wave lifts her for a moment, and she rises above Lance, who choses to dive under it instead.
"You sure you can handle a sweet ride like that?" Lance teases as he backstrokes beside her.
She snorts. "Of course I can. From what I can see, you're the one who isn't up to the task."
Lance stops and pouts. Pidge stops paddling as well, and when she hands off of the side of the board, she finds that she can no longer touch the sand below her. "Wanna bet?"
"Whoever catches the most waves by lunch wins...whatever they want from the loser. Deal?"
She offers her hand. Lance doesn't hesitate to shake it.
"Deal."
He pulls the floating board back into his reach, and moves the leash from his ankle to his wrist. They both pull their boards underneath their stomachs and wait for the tell-tale pull of the water.
"Is this your favorite thing to do at the beach?" Pidge asks as the first wave gently bobs them. The water is really warm, she thinks, as a cool breeze brushes over her skin, nearly lifting her hat from her head. She reaches up and tightens the knot underneath her neck.
Lance nods. "As long as I'm in the water, I'm having fun."
The second wave lifts them higher, before cresting a few feet ahead of them. Pidge looks behind her at the third wave, and starts to kick, her grip tight on the edges of her board. Soon enough, the wave lifts her, and she starts to ride.
It's a similar feeling to that of flying her lion, she thinks as the wave propels her forward. Then her balance starts to get unsteady. The wave is pushing her too fast, and she falls, headfirst into the frothy water. She waits a moment for the wave to pass overhead before breaking the surface of the water. Pidge looks around, and yet, cannot find Lance. At least, not until she sees him waving at her, close to the shore.
"Did he actually ride that?" She calls to Keith, who seems to be floating on his back in the shallower end, closer to where Hunk is cooking on the sand.
He doesn't bother to turn and face her. He simply offers an thumbs up.
"Curse you." She mutters under her breath as she swims back into the surf. Lance's legs are much longer than hers, allowing him to catch up with her before she reaches their original starting point.
"One point for me." He says, beaming. He lets his board drag behind him as he floats backwards, uncaring of the water that occasionally splashes into his eyes and into his mouth.
Pidge feels the drag of a wave, and bunkers down on her board. Suddenly, the wave lifts her up, and she's gone, riding the strange red water, as easily as if she were piloting her lion. She rides it all the way until her board hits the sand, even though she'll have to bring it all the way back out there for the next wave.
"One point for Pidge!" She yells triumphantly, thrusting her fist into the air.
Hunk cups his hands around his mouth. "Lunch time!"
Pidge can smell the roasting meat, even from where she sits on the edge of the water. It makes her mouth water, and she almost stands up to go get some, when Lance finally makes it to the knee deep water. Pidge had seen them all shirtless before, or at least had been in the same room with them when they were. She'd seen Lance (although she was trying not to study him.) earlier, but this was different. The tolls of training had worked off most of the softness of Lance's body, leaving his already lean body with muscles that highlight the subtle strength of his thighs, and chest.
"Staring much?" Keith mutters as he passes by, humor laced in his voice.
"Shuddup." She mutters back as she stands, heading back to the sand. She manages to take three normal steps before thinking, fuck it, and running to the safety of the towel.
Lance doesn't make it past a single step before deciding to dash to the blanket. He collapses into the towel, which by now is covered in clots of black, shining sand. Hunk hands out plates, and they all try to huddle beneath the oversized umbrella.
"What is this?" Pidge asks, a mouthful of something that tastes like barbecue chicken that's a little too sweet.
Keith is too busy eating his third piece to notice Hunk's smug look.
"Grilled Chyvian meat. It's this really cool meat goo thing, that's grown from stem cells. Coran helped me make it." He offers another piece to Pidge, and she takes it with a smile.
"Well, this is great Hunk." Lance says, his mouth stuck. He finishes his food and sucks the remaining sauce off of his fingers. Pidge looks away. "So, Hunk, you were keeping score right?"
Hunk nods as he finishes off his own piece of meat.
"So who won?" She can hear in Lance's voice that he thinks that he won. Pidge can't exactly remember her own score, but she's pretty sure that she's the winner.
"Tie."
Pidge deadpans, and turns to look at Lance. He sighs dramatically.
"I guess no one wins the prize then, huh?"
Pidge wasn't exactly sure what she was going to ask for if she did win. A hug would be kinda weird, wouldn't it? Especially since they were both half naked. Asking for help with one of her inventions would be kind of mundane, considering that he would've helped her anyways. Or what about a-
Lance interrupts her train of thought. "What would you have asked for anyways? A kiss?" He suggests with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
Pidge can feel her face heating up, more so than it already was from the sun. "I-I, uh, um." She stutters, unable to actually form a coherent thought.
Lancce's jovial smile lessens somewhat, and he looks at her with concern. "I was just joking Pidge. I mean, that's what I'd ask for, but you could've always said no. Are you good?"
She nods. "I'm fine. I just, I didn't think that you knew."
"That you liked me?" Lance asks, laying back on the cooler sand beneath the umbrella. He's too long to fit completely under the umbrella's protective shadow, so he props his legs up, leaving his feet near Pidge's thigh. "I thought it was pretty obvious. And I thought I was pretty obvious too."
Pidge wonders if she has a sunburn with how hot her cheeks are burning.
"Oh." She says, unable to think of anything else to say. "Do you wanna build a sandcastle?"
"Sure." Lance says, dropping his plate back into Hunk's miraculously large bag. "I bet ours will be bigger than anything they can make." He says loudly.
Hunk picks up on the challenge. "You really think it's a good idea to challenge an engineer?"
Lance waves him off. "Doesn't matter, cause I've got Pidge."
"Uh-uh, nope. We each have an hour to build the best sandcastle. Come on, Keith." Hunk grabs Keith's wrist and drags him to the farthest corner of the umbrella. Keith looks utterly confused, and slightly miffed at the sand that's now mixed with the remaining sauce on his hands.
Pidge turns back to Lance, who is already heading out to gather the slightly damp sand from the shoreline. "I don't understand how this became a competition, but we're gonna win it anyways."
Lance smiles back, waves cresting behind him. "Of course we will. Cause together, we're the best."