.

.

Hunk has never seen Lance so freaked out about addressing a distress signal to the Castle of Lions.

Upon Allura's mindful, stern command to Coran, they all surge through a wormhole, barely able to keep the central-core of the bridge from rupturing.

The ice planet, glimmering and spectacularly blue, seems vaguely familiar to Hunk. Lance has already vanished for the lion bay, piloting Red to blast open a portion of the frozen ocean. "Oh, oh shoot! It's the mermaid village!" Hunk shouts, pointing a finger gleefully.

Pidge stares around at him, blinking.

"Excuse me? The WHAT village?" she yells.

When the castleship rumbles and threatens to send them sideways, Hunk grabs for Pidge's outstretched wrist, tugging her in and keeping an arm firmly wrapped around her shoulders.

They approach too-slow in the water and land on the ocean-floor with their thrusters spurting gigantic, smoke-dark bubbles while fully submerged and pressurized. A horde of royal mer-guards display their weapons as the now armored paladins charge the mer-village's front illuminated gates, activating their bayards.

"We got your distress signal!" Shiro yells.

Queen Luxia emerges from around the guards, looking befuddled.

"Distress…?" she calls out.

An awkward, heavy silence follows.

The humongous, imposing mer-guards lower their spears when Shiro frowns and nods heedfully to the other paladins, dropping their arms and remaining skeptical. "Your Majesty," Plaxum says benevolently, slipping her arm around Queen Luxia's and nuzzling their cheeks. "I told you we should have personally invited them… …"

That's when Hunk notices the decorative, colorful undersea-flowers and garlands all above them, and looped in necklaces floating around everybody's collars, including the guards.

"Holy crow," he mutters, awestruck.

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.

The sacred rites to the blessed, marital unity of Queen Lucia and Plaxum are performed within the center of the village — for all curious, admiring eyes to witness.

Hunk catches himself sniffling tearfully and applauding, when both mer-women giggle quietly and touch webbed-hands. They share a tender, happy kiss as the mer-folk and Voltron's paladins cheer. The rest of the wild, dancing celebration opens up to the innermost kingdom as well, and to Hunk's delight, invites all guests to the varieties of dishes and cuisine.

"I should have been a mermaid," Hunk bemoans, stuffing his mouth with an algae pastry-puff, and then a juicy, ripe codfish with the aid of the invisible bubble-coral helmet.

Lance snorts faintly, staring dreamy-eyed towards the ballroom floor. "Tell me about it."

The other boy grunts and follows Lance's eyes to the mer-couple, gently hovering and swaying along to the loud, upbeat music. "You missed out your chance, huh?" Hunk asks, knowingly.

"Hey now… there's plenty more mermaids, er, mer-people in the sea," Lance says, perking up and giving him a defiantly cheerful smile. As if on cue, he winks exaggerated to a passing, strongly built mer-man who flushes and glides away. "What about you, dude?"

In the distance, Pidge and Keith seem to be involved in a dancing lesson with Swirn, mimicking her arm movements as stiffly and determinedly as possible.

"I'm good," Hunk announces, smiling widely and putting down his food, swimming across the floor. More aquatic, joyous dancers crowd together. He taps on Pidge's shoulder, getting her attention and pulling lightly on her wrist.

There's no way to hear each other, not over the music or the warble of the celebration.

Hunk shows Pidge how to gracefully move her fingers and hands, demonstrating with his own, lifting and circling his arms. It reminds him of home — just for the briefest of moments. Pidge's eyebrows furrow, but she gains a sense of rhythm, following Hunk's lead.

At the end of the song, Hunk slaps their palms together, entangling their fingers and grinning.

It's lovely how Pidge grins back, toothy and exhilarated.

.

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Voltron isn't mine. One last thing for Pidge Ship Week (Day 7: Free Day) on Tumblr! I never really think about or write about Hidge/Punk and they're one of those cutesy pairings to me if they were gonna be shipped so I tried to create something with that! I really really really hope the Hidge/Punk fans out there get a chance to see this and as always, thoughts/comments are my lifeblood. It means a lot to hear even one nice word from you guys! :)