#her neck gills are new! but i kinda felt like they should be added with all of the mermay/little mermaid stuff ive been seeing

[gingergari]

artem 2023 edition! :]

no water under the cut:

[blueskyheadleft010]

Altius Vocatio [P4]

[Previous Work]  [P1]  [P2]  [P3] [You are Here] [P5] [Ao3]

Hunk’s Pov

Hunk caught himself trying to eat the silverware again.

It was the third time he’d nearly swallowed a fork when he wasn’t paying attention, and it wasn’t helping his anxiety at all.

So he may have had, still has, a problem with stress eating; but Hunk would like to see someone else handle the craziness without doing something to help cope with the anxiety. Hell, even Hunk knew Shiro had his fair share of stress to deal with. (Sometimes he wondered if Shiro ever got headaches too…)

Still, that should in no way make his body betray him like this!

Sighing, Hunk put down the fork he’d been holding a little too close to his mouth, back in the cubby for their utensils and pinched the bridge of his nose. He’d been getting a lot of migraines lately, and it didn’t help that Lance wasn’t there to lift the mood.

Hunk grimaced, placing his hand on top the counter as he rubbed his forehead in deep thought. Lance was basically in a medically induced coma until they could figure out what was wrong with him, and Hunk was beginning to worry. Yellow had been trying to tell him something yesterday about a metallic sphere-like object, but he’d been too busy worrying about everything to properly process things.

That had been hours ago and Hunk still had no idea what that was even supposed to mean; let alone know what to do with the information. Asking for clarification from his lion only resulted in more confusing imagery and sounds and other foreign concepts that left his head reeling; so he’d eventually stopped trying to ask after sensing Yellow’s irritation at not being able to explain. Pidge had always been the better decipherer of their group, maybe he’d ask her later for help.

Still no word from Coran after he’d left to rest for the evening. Yesterday had been a mess, with Lance and all bleeding out in the medbay; they still weren’t sure why in the world he’d suddenly developed gills slits on his neck when he had perfectly functioning ones on the inside.

 “The lions would never allow harm to come to their Paladins if they could help it.” Allura had explained earlier as the scans reported Lance as ‘stable’ but ‘impaired, whatever the heck that meant.

“He’d said something about Blue talking to him a lot yesterday.” Keith had helpfully pitched in as he returned from his shower looking rather haggard. (Hehe, Haggard. Hunk chuckled at the pun in his head as he briefly imagined Keith walking into the room looking like a grizzly old witch.) “I don’t know specifics, but she said something about making sure Lance stayed hydrated.” Keith’s puzzled expression said it all, as Coran hummed in thought and began turning a few dials on the pod.

Afterwards it was unanimously decided that Lance would stay in the water pod until tomorrow morning when he could be properly stabilized. Since Blue had remained silent since Lance’s unfortunate accident, the team figured that an overnight stay in the hydropod would help to replenish whatever Lance needed now that he sported a pair of external gills.

 Hunk frowned as he found his hand once again in the utensil drawer while he was distracted.

He growled, pulling the offending limb away from the metal, only to find it stubbornly clinging to the metal handle next to it as if in retaliation.

“Okay… Apparently I’m going crazy.” Hunk laughed nervously, as he took his other hand and slowly pried it off; the hand going limp and resuming normal functions like he hadn’t just experienced alien hand syndrome.

“I need to get out of here.” Hunk reasoned as he began to walk away. Clearly being in the kitchen was worsening his anxiety to the point of desperate binge eating, and well… Hunk had never had an easy time saying no.

He passes Pidge on his way out, the girl carrying her laptop as she walked, and that’s when Hunk noticed something unusual.

 “Hey Pidge? What’s that on your face?” Hunk asked curious as the girl stopped to turn and look over at Hunk.

“What is what on my face?” Pidge asked confused as she ran a hand over her mouth and cheeks. “I need specifics.” She explained as Hunk couldn’t be happier to have a distraction.

“There’s these green lines under your eyes, and are they kinda glowy looking? I can’t tell with the lighting to be honest.” Hunk frowned as Pidge looked like she realized something.

“O-oh. I forgot.” She blushed embarrassed, “I think it’s got something to do with my connection to my lion and Voltron.” She explained as she started walking again down the hall and motioned for Hunk to follow. “You know how I can never get drunk because my biology literally digests poison?” She said casually, like she was simply rattling off the weather forecast. Had it been any other circumstance Hunk would’ve called the Suicide Hotline already, but knowing what he knew and how they’d already checked and double checked, then quintuple checked again, he nodded, following her line of reasoning.

“Yeah, yeah. Like how my body is like a brick wall since Yellow’s element is Earth.” Hunk replied as Pidge nodded in response.

“Well apparently that’s not all my connection does.” She said excitedly, touching the vibrant jade green markings on her face before a thought struck her as her face lowered and she sighed, “Lance was there too when it happened.” She winced, trying not to think about where Lance was at the moment, shaking her head. “Anyways, he discovered the marks on my face and said I looked like a ‘mini-Allura’ so naturally I kicked him out of my room before I started actually processing things.” Pidge said as Hunk snorted.

“Yeah sounds like something he’d say.” He laughed as they made it to Pidge’s workstation now and the conversation settled into casual musings over what possible implications the team’s connections with their lions might have in the long run. Pidge set down her laptop on the bench and beamed up at Hunk excited.

“So when I also woke up I discovered I could do something else really cool!” Pidge grinned as her face scrunched up in concentration and Hunk looked ready to ask her if she was okay. “Check this out!” She smiled as her markings began to glow.

It was faint at first, just a small dusting of green lighting appearing near the center of her head, then the world exploded into color and Hunk found himself nearly buried in a pile of ferns now sticking out from Pidge’s hair.

“What? Huh? I don’t- “, Hunk started as Pidge just sat there and laughed as all the ferns disappeared in a flicker of light and Hunk found himself looking up at a smug Green Paladin since he’d fell to the ground in shock.

“So apparently I can summons these energy plants from my hair, and while that’s cool and I’m totally going to figure out how to weaponize it, I came down here to run some more tests.” She began rambling as Hunk was still reeling from what he’d experienced.

“But, how is this even possible?” He asks as Pidge just shrugs.

“If I knew, you’d be the first I’d tell.” She said nonchalantly. Then paused in thought to look up at Hunk, “Do you think Lance- Hey, what are you doing?!?” Pidge asked confused as Hunk followed her line of sight trailing down to meet his hand.

His hand, that was clutched around what used to be part of a wrench, that was now in his mouth. Hunk tasted metal.

Pidge looked at him shocked, her eyes huge as she looked from his hand to the wrench to his mouth that was still grinding and chewing apart metal. Hunk continued to chew, before swallowing, his face mimicking her horror as he realized what he’d just done.

“Holy… Crow.” Hunk whispered as his stomach churned and he began to tremble.

 “Hunk?” Pidge asked, but her voice sounded far away. “It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay. Just look at me. Focus on my face.” She said as Hunk felt himself coming back online. Pidge was studying him, concern showing in her furrowed brows, as he realized he’d dropped the half eaten wrench at some point during his breakdown.

“Oh my crow, I just ate solid metal like it was nothing! What is wrong with me? Humans can’t even digest metals, ohooo snap, I’m going to die aren’t I? I’m going to die, I’m going to die and Lance won’t even be there to say goodbye!” Hunk wailed as a Pidge sympathetically held him in place.

“Hunk, pick up the wrench.” Pidge all but whispered to him.

“W-What?” He said confused in between tears.

“Pick up the wrench Hunk; just trust me.” Pidge echoed as yeah, Hunk could do that. He trusted Pidge knew what she was doing…

So Hunk picked up the wrench.

“Good.” She nodded as Hunk still trembled a bit. “You see how the metal is bent here?” She pointed to the bite mark where the metal had been warped.

“Yeah?” Hunk said confused.

“Do you think an average human could do this, let alone grind up parts of metal in their mouth?” She asked as Hunk realized what she was getting at.

“No…” Hunk said dumbly as Pidge carefully grabbed the half eaten wrench and set it back down on the workbench.

“Hunk, open your mouth.”

“What?! Why do you-“

“I need to see for myself if your teeth have changed.” Pidge responded as Hunk reluctantly obeyed and Pidge shined a small compact flashlight on his face. She hummed and squinted her eyes as she gently poked and prodded Hunk’s mouth open until she was certain.

“You’ve gained three new sets of molars in the back, and a few front teeth have also changed into canines.” Pidge explained, as she turned off the flashlight and pinched the bridge of her nose in preparation for the oncoming migraine she was about to experience that was her life.

Hunk sighed as he sat down and put his hands on his forehead. “Still doesn’t help explain my sudden cravings…” He frowned as Pidge hummed in thought and began typing away on her keyboard.

“I have a theory.” She started as Hunk looked up to her laptop, “Nothing conclusive, but I suspect the bond between paladin and lions runs deeper than we thought.” She frowned as she typed away, discarding and adding new theories to her workspace at a rapid pace.

“Meaning?” Hunk asked as Pidge turned to face him.

“Meaning weird stuff like this. I’m not sure what these… Changes mean, but I think it’s leading up to something big.” She responded frowning.

“Oh, please don’t say stuff like that. I’m already freaking out as it is.” Hunk groaned as Pidge placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, it’ll be okay. The lions would never do anything to harm us.” She said simply, echoing what Allura had said earlier on.

“I need something to do…” Hunk fidgeted nervously as he stood up. “I’ll be in Yellow’s hangar if anyone asks!” Hunk waved as Pidge mimicked him and went back to her work. Absently she rubbed at the green Altean looking markings on her face and frowned. Just how deep would these changes get??