#hidge week 2020

[queenscene2]

Day 2-  Garden/Robot

“Should we tell her?”

“Maybe one day. For now, this toy is a good start.”

[fangirl-screaming]

surprise!! for the honor of the first week i participated in and followed along, i decided to make a playlist!! i put 2 songs for the included prompts. here's the list of the songs! hope you enjoy!

Alternate Universe (i decided to go with a modern Hamilton-y theme)

Helpless ▪ The Regrettes

That Would Be Enough ▪ Alicia Keys

Midnight ⛼

The Dark ▪ SYML

Fly Me to the Moon ▪ The Macarons Project

Gardens 🍃

Something Wild ▪ Lindsey Stirling, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness

Build Me Up Buttercup ▪ Lara Anderson

Robot 🤖

Screen Love ▪ Trifect, Bien, Slylead

Electric Love ▪ BØRNS

Blankets 🧣

(They Long To Be) Close To You ▪ Carpenters

Day 1 ◑ [Brooklyn Session]▪ HONNE

Road Trips 🛣

Faster Car ▪ Loving Caliber

Adore You ▪ Harry Styles

Costumes 🎃

If We Were Vampires ▪ Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

I Love You 3000 ▪ Stephanie Poetri

Starlight 🌠

Starlight ▪ Muse

Meteor Shower ▪ Cavetown

Earth 🌱

Earth ▪ Sleeping at Last

Wilderness ▪ Sleeping at Last

Coffee ☕

Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop ▪ Landon Pigg

Riptide ▪ Vance Joy

and last but not least, here's my hidge week 2020 submission series on ao3, if anyone wants them cleanly complied!!

thank you all so so so much for keeping up with my week! i appreciate every feedback you left. special thanks to the folks over on @hidge-week for organizing the event!!

[golddustinourhands]

Hidge Week 2020 Day Two: Gardens | Robot

After they had proved themselves in the maze, the people of the strange planet accepted them without question. It had been over a thousand years since anyone had made it through the maze and the trials without dying, and for their whole party to succeed, it was a feat unheard of.

The people threw a fancy dinner in their honor, considered them gods. It was quite a different feel from the hours before in the maze.

Everyone else seemed unfazed by what they had seen in the darkness, but she could see they were all affected in small ways. Lance’s smile, as the ladies fawned over him wasn't as wide. Keith was jumpier than usual. Shiro was more observant than ever, his eyes never leading their leader. And Hunk...

Hunk tried hard to hide it, but she could see he was uneasy. He pushed his food around his plate, did his best to try and hide, but she saw him.

She wondered what the strange room had shown him. She wondered what the one thing was that would break the team apart was for him. What ultimatum had the room given him in the next seven days?

She pondered it and all the possibilities all through dinner. Once the plates were cleared away, the people were free to mingle and enjoy the large halls of the open building, and bask in the triumphs of their successes.

Shiro, Lance and Keith were enthralled by the paintings on the wall, the people’s rich history. They had succeeded so far. The orb wasn’t a short mission, but a long one, spanning seven days or more. Only the most worth of them would receive the orb and get one wish granted, whatever the cost. She wondered what her wish would be if she were given the ultimate power for that brief moment. Truth be told, she wasn’t sure what she would wish for, what she would ask for that she didn’t already have. Except perhaps—

Hunk appeared before her before she could pull herself completely from her thoughts, and she forced herself not to jump. She brushed it off, wishing the concerned look would vacate his face and he would smile again. 


She couldn’t remember the last time she had seen him truly smile, but it was before what had happened with Allura.

“It’s an effect from the maze,” She said, which wasn’t completely inaccurate. Several things had made her jump in the maze, several things had attacked them and hunted them, but those had all been physical. That room, the darkness was pure mental anguish, but she couldn’t let any of them know that.

She was the smartest of them, and she should have been able to handle anything brainy. But to see her own self staring back at her was frightening.

Hunk nodded along in agreement. “That maze was crazy, wasn’t it?” Then he simply let that conversation drop.

He seemed nervous, unable to relax, and she felt that deep inside herself. “I know you’re not big on the outdoors,” He said next, and she watched him briefly. “But one of the robot butlers told me there’s a beautiful bloom supposed to be happening in the garden tonight that only happens every 167 million years. It would be a shame to miss it.” He offered her his hand. “Would you join me?” He asked, the nerves definitely as his hand trembled before her. “Please?”

For a brief moment, she hesitated. 167 million years was a long time, but she knew what was at stake if she wasn’t patient. They needed the orb, whatever the cost, and she could still remember vividly what the darkness had shown her when she was all alone. Then, she shook the fear from her head with a brief burst of courage. “I would love to join you,” she said, taking his hand.

Nothing had to change.

Nothing had to change.

Nothing had to change, it was simply a mission for Voltron. One of the last few, according to the shadow of herself, but she would do her best to make sure the future she had seen did not come true.

Orb or not.

Outside, in the garden, everyone stood around waiting for the flower to bloom. Hunk pulled them forward, especially since she was shorter than the rest of the competition, and she stood at the front, within arms length of the rare flower.

As the moon appeared from behind the clouds and as the beams hit the petals of the flower, it opened slowly with a spinning flourish.

Inside, a small fairy, glowing under the moonlight, her arms wrapped around the orb.

“You all come to seek the orb,” she said, her voice small but mighty. “But only one may truly hold it in their grasp. Step forward and meet your true fate from the oracle.”

Another test.

The first man, an alien with forty tentacles sticking out from all directions, even cockier than Lance on a bad day, stepped forward before the flower.

“Do your worst, tiny fairy.” His voice was deep and rough. “What's to stop me from tearing that orb from your tiny grasp?”

A terrible feeling surged in the pit of her stomach as Pidge watched the tiny fairy break out into a demure smile.

“Would you care to try?” The fairy asked. She held the orb out at arms length.

The alien reached out, his arm muscles thick with age and wear, toned more than even Shiro. Pure strength. As he reached out, tentacles ready to grab the orb, the flower grew in size, massive, overtaking the whole of them, its sharp fangs dripping with a shiny venom.

In a blink, the flower swallowed up the whole alien, as if he hadn't even been there, then returned to normal size, the fairy still demure and holding the orb.

“Sapiqar of the planet Trianoq is no longer in the competition,” the robot butler stated as he rolled out to meet them. “Let that be a lesson to the rest of you, this competition is a serious feat and you gamble with your life.”

The robot butler looked out through the crowd and landed on her. “You,” he said, pointing to her. “Step up to the flower of fate and see what awaits you.”

Pidge let go of Hunk’s hand and stepped forward. There was no place for fear in a competition like that.

[shortguyswag]

27 Dresses Hunk/Pidge AU

Hello fellow peanut butter cookie shippers! I am here to bring you an absolutely insane au based on a slightly older romcom, and I apologize for everything.

Also if you've seen the movie, I'm taking a few liberties. Sorry.

@hidge-week​

so first, we have our main character, 'Jane,' played by Pidge. She has been a bridesmaid in 27 weddings, and kept the dresses to all of them. She is also madly in love with her boss, Lance, but I'll get to how this is still Punk later. She absolutely loved weddings, and for her wedding, wants basically her parents' wedding. Also because her mom died when she was little, she helped take care of Matt. Also loves weddings, hopeless romantic, desperately waiting for her wedding.

next we've got Hunk, who plays the role of 'Kevin,' a slightly cynical guy on the surface who writes the section about some random weddings in the newspaper. He desperately wants an actual article though. I

Matt plays Pidge's sibling. Keith plays Hunk's friend. Allura plays Pidge's friend. Shiro plays Pidge and Matt's dad.

action!

So one night, Pidge has got two weddings to split her time between. So she's hopping between two weddings, obviously a little stressed, mostly because she's bridesmaiding for both. Yeah. Oh, and did I mention she's maid of honor for both because she did almost everything for both weddings? So anyway, at the flower toss for one of them, she almost catches the bouquet, but she gets bumped out of the way, bumped into the floor, and straight up passes out.

When she comes to, there's Hunk. Her friends, uh, Shay and Allura are there fussing over Pidge, and Hunk sends them away to do something or other to get them to give her space. Once Pidge is up and ready for war again, he helps her out to her can and rides home with her and makes sure she gets home safe and all that. Unfortunately, she forgets her planner that notes her wedding dates and stuff. He tries to get her attention, but she's already gone.

he looks through it cause he's curious, accidentally brings it up to his boss, uh, Iverson the next day, gets assigned a news article about it cause 7 weddings in 1 year? Dang, she must be devoted, that's a good story there.

hunk keeps calling Pidge so he could give back her planner, but she ignores it for one reason or another. Anyway, at the next wedding where she's bridesmaiding, Matt tags along, Allura almost convinces her to confess to Lance, as and Matt and Lance fall in love. RIP Pidge.

Pidge calls Hunk and asks if they could go out and get coffee or something, and Hunk TRIES to help Pidge learn to say no after he gave her her planner.

Hunk says he is writing an article about the Lance/Matt wedding to get info on Pidge for his article, there's a dress show off montage, they kind of slowly fall in love, Hunk finishes the article, but asks Iverson not to publish it because he knows there's more to the story, they go to get decorations, and Hunk finds out how hard she's pining for Lance, they get stuck in the rain and go to a bar to hopefully get decent service, they don't, but they sing some crazy song, go to a coffee the next morning, and first they get told good job with that song, then Pidge finds out about the article, which was in fact published. She gets super mad.

heads home, Matt's kind of annoyed, but more good spirited than the sister was in the movie. Mostly just finds it hilarious.

Matt does something to really get Pidge mad mad mad mad. She destroys the lies Matt told Lance to try and portray himself well. Wedding's called off, Hunk gives Pidge a digital planner. Shiro helps Pidge and Matt settle their arguing. Lance and Pidge end up dates to some event, Pidge realizes there's no chemistry there, but there is with Hunk, goes to find him and it's at some wedding, and because she was relatively famous in the local wedding circuit because of that article, bride helps out.  Pidge and Hunk kiss, and we day forward a year or two. Hunk works on actual articles regularly now, Keith's took over Hunk's old job, and is there to document the Punk wedding. Allura meets him, and they plan a date immediately. Lance and Matt meet and start a new relationship on truths, and Pidge has so many bridesmaids. The bride from all the weddings she bridesmaided for, plus Allura, and maybe Matt if we ignore logic. Pidge and Hunk make their vows, kiss, credits roll.

Yes, I know I missed a lot, but the post was long enough already, and I've already spent more time on this than is necessary.

[clickabletale]

hey- hey yall?? when is hidge week/month 2020??

[ao3feed-hidge]

by Queenscene2

Hunk hates being alone at a frat party on New Years Eve. Can a shy girl sitting in the corner change all of that?

For Hidge Week 2020

Words: 818, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M

Characters: Hunk (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt, Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron), Allura (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), James Griffin (Voltron)

Relationships: Hunk/Pidge | Katie Holt

Additional Tags: Hidge Week 2020, hidge, vld hidge, AU, College AU, New Years Eve Kiss, heehee, Romantic Fluff, Fluff, Alternate Universe - College/University

via AO3 works tagged 'Hunk/Pidge | Katie Holt'

[ao3feed-voltronlegendarydefender]

Meteor Shower

read it on the AO3 at Meteor Shower

by fangirl_screaming

“So, um… Did you want to talk to me about something?” “No, I didn't. I just wanted to watch the meteor shower with you.” . . . (Hidge Week 2020. Prompt: Starlight)

Words: 594, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 5 of Hidge Week 2020 [my submissions]

Fandoms: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M

Characters: Hunk (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt

Relationships: Hunk/Pidge | Katie Holt

Additional Tags: Stargazing, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Holding Hands, Love Confessions, (kind of), y'all are LUCKY i didn't make this angsty, like i had a whole different idea of crazy angst

read it on the AO3 at Meteor Shower

[queenscene2]

Midnight Kiss | AU/Midnight

Ten more minutes.

The Omega Epsilon Chi Fraternity and the Tri Rho Sorority were having their annual New Year’s Eve party, and Hunk was sitting in the corner, hunched over, sipping... whatever was in that punch.

 Perhaps this New Years Eve party was a terrible idea. He loved his brothers, sometimes these parties were too much. He wasn’t the one to go slip into the bathroom to hook up with some random girl, as the boys did. The party scene was always uncomfortable for Hunk, especially tonight.

Nine more minutes

He looked around at the scene. Shiro was talking up a storm to two very interested looking guys from the Sigma Chi Lambda fraternity. Keith was lingering in one of the dark corners of the room, silently staring at the scene before him and trying to ignore that annoying girl from Chi Delta Mu who just wanted him for his pretty face.

Eight more Minutes

Lance was trying to get the President of the Tri Rhos, Allura was it? To kiss him in eight minutes, without any luck so far. 

but that’s when he saw her.

Gorgeous short hair, glasses, and honey colored eyes, sitting on the corner of the room, crying. It was out of Hunk’s character to approach someone like this, let alone a woman. Yet, he found that his feet were disobeying and next thing he knew, he was towering over her, as she looked up at him with her eyes.

Seven more minutes

“Are you...okay?” he asked. She looked gorgeous in that green dress of hers. She sighed. “I’ve had better days.” She replied, giggling, clearly trying to hide her sadness behind a comical facade. 

Hunk crouched down beside her. “I’m Hunk, and I’m not really having a good time too.” he confessed. She smiled at him and her happiness seemed genuine this time. “Katie Holt. People call me Pidge.” 

“Ah you’re Dr. Holt’s daughter.” Hunk concluded. His Intro into Mechanical Engineering Professor’s daughter was truly beautiful. “Yes. I am.” She replied, impressed that he put the pieces together. She looked beyond him to a guy who had similar hair to her. “I’m here with my brother. Not by choice of course. He dragged me along so I can make friends or whatever, but I really hate it here. Boys just won’t stop hitting on me.”

Six more minutes

“I don’t blame you. I hate it here too.” Hunk said. “There’s just this need to kiss someone tonight that I don’t like.” Pidge smiled bigger. “You and me both.” She sighed. “Honestly, I wouldn’t mind a kiss tonight, but, these boys just want more than just a kiss.”

Hunk smiled. “Then let me be the first to show you that not all of us are here for that sort of stuff.” he said. He stood up and held out his hand. Pidge’s eyes sparkled as she laid her tiny hand in his big one.

He let go as she stood completely upright and they hit the snack table.

Five more minutes

The two had eaten all of the food on the table. They stacked their plates high with more than enough junk food to feed a small family. They received dirty looks from Allura, who had stocked that table with her own two hands.

Four more minutes

The two had wandered out into the balcony, chomping and laughing at stories of their time in college so far. Being only freshman, they didn’t have many stories to tell, but they could tell that they would have a lot more of them to tell the others together.

Three more minutes

The plates were cleaned and thrown away and the two put their mouths in the punch bowl, sneaking in slurps while the others weren’t looking. Pidge had shoved Hunk a little and found his face wet from the fruity cocktail.

Two more minutes

“So what do you think of him?” Hunk asked, pointing at his frat brother James. “He’s so pompous!” Pidge said. She started imitating him as Hunk howled in laughter.

One more minute

Everyone had gathered around the TV, watching the last 60 seconds. Hunk and Pidge made their way to the front of the crowd so that she could see when the ball dropped.

Hunk suddenly felt his heart race. This was it.

10

He started to sweat a little.

9

Is she...holding his hand?

8

He looked down at her, she looked up at him.

7

She smiled the brightest smile he’d ever seen.

6

“Thank you, Hunk...for being so nice to me tonight.”

5

Hunk blushed.

4

“Thank you for being nice to me.”  he replied.

3

He swallowed out of nervousness.

2 

She tugged on his hand so he could face her.

1

She pulled down on his dress shirt collar.

“HAPPY NEW YEAR!” Everyone cried.

Except for Hunk and Pidge, whose lips were currently occupied.

[golddustinourhands]

Hidge Week 2020 Day Five: Starlight | Earth

The lights above looked like constellations, the starlight shimmering down on each and every one of them as they waited. Chairs had been assigned to them, separating each of the teams from each other. Another scare tactic, he was sure.

The quest for the orb was no joke.

The whole pageant was just as he expected it to be, shortened since there were only four contestants, one from each team. Pidge looked so small compared to the rest of the “ladies” on the stage, but he did have to say she did look like a lady in the dress they had shoved her into.

Since when had he missed her maturation into more of a woman than a girl? Knowing her, she had hid it from them, not wanting to feel like the weakest link.

Still, his heart raced as he waited for the talent portion. She was beautiful under the starlight lights over their heads and he couldn't believe he would get to dance with her sooner rather than later.

“Your granny and I met at a dance,” his grandfather had told him over and over again, to anyone in the family who would listen. “I knew it was true love as soon as she stepped on my toes.”

There had been a lot of toe stepping earlier, but Hunk had known much sooner than that. He had known before the golden doors, before Allura even.

He had known, but had also known better than to say anything.

He was running out of time and had to say something soon.

Then, as soon as she was announced, he mentally prepared himself to get ready. She had told him for the best effect to wait, it had to be her alone to start it, and he followed any direction she told him, or even suggested.

She walked out onto the center of the stage her smile large and warm, but fake. She had definitely done pageants before, by the way she held herself, she looked almost comfortable, or was it the fact that she knew how to fake it?

Pidge started to dance alone, as the music started slow and somber. The way she had done her hair, whatever make up they had been given, the way the dress held her curves and shimmered under the starlights was intoxicating.

Hunk nearly missed his cue, but made it in time.

When she turned around to face him, and they began dancing together in time, he was in awe of how beautiful she looked under the starlights up close. He forced himself to focus on the dance steps, on the music, on anything but Pidge close enough to whisper, to kiss, to dream of something he knew she would never return.

In a flash, their performance was done. They bowed and she let go of his hand.

That was it.

He would have to wait to talk to her until it was all over.

He had missed his chance.

---

“With careful deliberation, the winner is Kathryn Holt of Earth,” the acolyte said to the small crowd of them. “The goddess was very moved by your dance.”

By extension, that meant Team Voltron had won. Hunk let out a sigh of relief. He was sure losing would not be kind, if the last few trials had been any indication.

“As the winners of the pageant, you and your team may request one favor from the goddess that does not include the orb.”

It couldn't be that easy.

“Please follow my sister to the next room.”

Another acolyte beckoned them forward toward a set of double doors. He followed Pidge in and the rest of them followed him.

“The team that did the worst in the pageant is—“ the doors closed behind them and screams of anguish followed.

Hunk didn't want to know.

Sitting in the room, on a throne of gold, the goddess, the same fairy from the flower before, but larger, taking up the whole throne, the orb a mere bobble in her hand. She looked upon the five of them with a smug kind of pride.

“Congratulations on making the final three teams,” She said, spinning the orb in her palm and between her fingers, showing it off as they stared at the prize so close and so far away. “Kathryn Holt, what is your request?”

She looked right at Pidge and Hunk felt a fear surge through him. What would that beautiful brain of hers come up with as a request.

“I want to know how the chamber with the golden doors works,” Pidge said. “Does the ultimatum always come to pass or is it simply a terror tactic?”

The goddess grinned wider. “Beauty and brains, a rare combination, especially in the barren wastelands in this galaxy that were once beauty.”

At least she hadn't killed them yet.

“The double edged chamber is just that,” She said, spinning the orb in wild ways without looking at it. “It shows your greatest dream and your greatest nightmare should you not decide to take your fate into your own hands.” She looked right at each of them. “There is no place for fear in a competition such as this. The chamber removes those unworthy of even the first step of the competition.”

She stared down Pidge. “Does that answer meet your satisfaction?”

“No,” Pidge answered, staring down the goddess while looking like a goddess herself. “It wasn’t an answer at all. What happens if the ultimatum isn’t met?” She asked, refining her question.

Hunk considered pulling her back, for her own good, but the goddess just looked pleased that someone was standing up to her.

“What do you really want to know?” The goddess asked. “Surely the chamber gave you something that upsets you, a balance too great to upset. So tell me: What do you really desire?”

There were a lot of things in the chamber that had upset him, but he stayed focused on Pidge, just as the rest of them were, looking like a princess wearing the shimmering dress, her face pure determination as she looked at the goddess.

“Is there a universe out there among the multiple universes where every single one of the team is happy?” Pidge asked.

What a strange question.

“I can show you,” The goddess said with a short nod as she stood from her chair. “But I warn you, seeing something you can never have plays tricks with the mind and can be dangerous.” She kept her gaze on Pidge. “Shall that be your final challenge in the quest for the orb, seeing if you can find the harsh truth in the beautiful fiction?”

“Yes,” Pidge answered. “Do your worst.”

[golddustinourhands]

#Hidge Week 2020 Day Six: Flowers | Coffee

Katie Holt sighed as she flipped through a physics magazine. She could only be so patient as she waited for her acceptance letter to MIT. There was no way she wasn’t getting in. She had spent her entire life preparing for MIT, to follow in her dad’s and her brother’s footsteps and be the best scientist the world, no the universe, had ever seen.

Nothing would stop her.

Except for maybe the cute barista who always served her drink exactly how she liked it when everyone else got it wrong and gave her the first of the peanut butter cookies from their little oven when she arrived as soon as they opened. She was sure he didn’t even know her name, and he probably never would.

Once she was off to MIT there was no room for boys. There had never been room to begin with, no one was smart enough for her anyway, and no one she knew or went to high school with had seen her past her pageant days.

Even her best friend didn’t know her secret passion for physics and her mother still thought she enjoyed pageants, though she hadn’t competed in once since puberty decided to run her over like a truck. It was all a ruse to keep people from asking about her true passion.

Women in STEM were rare and she didn’t need anyone to lower her already critically low self esteem issues.

“So tell me,” The skinny barista with unmanageable brown hair said as he passed with a fresh pot of coffee for the regulars in the corner. “Just where can I get one of those huge issues of Cosmo?” She couldn’t be sure, but the way he carried himself he had to be at least a little gay.

No straight man was ever interested in Cosmo.

She closed the physics magazine and held her place with her finger. “Lance?” She said, reading his name scribbled in chalk pen on his chest. “They only send the thick ones to those of us who need extra help.”

The coffee shop was the place she could be invisible, didn’t have to be dressed up like a princess or put any kind of effort into her appearance. The fact this barista saw her made her think something was definitely up. Not even the cute barista with the killer baking skills ever approached her from behind the counter.

“What—?”

Before she could even finish her question, the bell above the door dinged and Shiro and his student walked in, still in their leathers from riding their motorbikes all over town. Shiro brushed his hands through his hair, fanning it out after wearing the helmet, and the student behind him did the same as the midmorning sun shone behind them from the door.

Lance stared, nearly dropped the full coffee pot. Katie made a mental note that her suspicion was correct.

“Hey!” She said, pulling his attention back to the coffee pot in his hand. “What are you doing over here?” She chose the corner for a reason. For anyone to come see her, they would have to go out of their way.

Shiro and Keith sat down at their usual table, they rarely ordered before they had sat for at least ten minutes, mostly more. They were always so secretive, but still knew how to command a room as soon as they walked in.

“Oh!” Lance said, bringing his attention back to her. “My buddy, you know, the one who always sneaks you peanut butter cookies and then pretends to not ever know why we’re short at the end of the day.” She hadn’t know that. “Well, see, he wants to come over here and talk to you himself, but he’s a pretty shy guy.”

She had to be dreaming.

“So I said I would come over here and break the ice for him and tell you to order another coffee if you’re interested in talking to him at all. If not, there’s no hard feelings, since he didn’t risk anything by coming over here.”

Then Lance walked away, toward Keith and Shiro to grab their orders. Lance was always so helpful to the regulars, it was like he was born to be a barista.

For a long while, Katie debated what Lance had said. She was waiting for MIT, waiting for her dream school and to try and start something before then would just be cruel.

On the other hand, she had had a crush on him since she started sneaking out to the coffee shop at barely 14. If he was truly interested in her like she was interested in him, then it could be a good thing to get it out of her system before she got stuck in physics textbooks for the rest of her life.

She took a deep breath, closed her book and moved toward the counter. Her coffee was still full and forgotten at her table, but she thought about what Lance had said.

“Hey,” He said, standing up a little taller behind the counter as she approached. “I was hoping you would come over.”

“Listen Keith,” She said, but something felt strange about it.

Keith? She thought. Something’s not right.

---

The scenario repeated several times with their roles switched. Sometimes Hunk was the barista, sometimes it was Shiro. Sometimes she was behind the counter and they were coming to her to confess, but it was never right. Something was always off.

“Wait,” She said as she walked into the cafe following Shiro. “What if reality is the universe where we’re all happy?”

Congratulations. The simulation is complete.

[golddustinourhands]

#Day Seven: Hidge Appreciation Day | Free Day

The last day of the tournament for the orb and they were the only team standing. Voltron had done it again, and the five of them stood triumphant before the crowds, waiting for the goddess to appear.

Hunk held his breath as he waited between Keith and Lance. They had taken to bickering yet again and he was the only one besides Shiro who could control them. Pidge stood on the other side of Lance and Shiro was the first of them, all waiting as patiently as they could for the goddess.

They had done it, hadn’t they?

The crowd cheered for them, screamed their names, but as soon as the goddess appeared, everything grew silent. The crowd, and all of Team Voltron in silent awe.

“Such an unprecedented victory,” The goddess said as she appeared before the five of them, her voice magnified for the crowd by magic. “Usually after such harrowing tasks and deathly victories teams are decimated, destroyed, friendships broken, brothers slaughtered, yet all five of you stand. How could it be?” She looked to Pidge. “Tell me, young one.”

“We’re a team, ma’am,” Pidge said. “We may fight and bicker and get on each other’s nerves, but we’re so close we’re like family. Nothing comes between us and nothing ever will.”

The goddess nodded in understanding. “I see,” She said. “But the orb can only go to one of you.” She looked to each of them, lingering on each of them for a fraction of a second before she moved to the next one. “You were each given a task with an ultimatum that expired on the seventh day at midnight from the chamber. Which of you dares to complete it?”

Hunk swallowed hard. He had been doing his best to try to find a way to tell Pidge of his feelings before the seven days were up, but the words had always gotten stuck in his throat, or the timing wasn’t right, or they were distracted. He wasn’t sure how much time he had left, but he knew it had to be him.

“I will,” Pidge said from the end of the line.

Hunk tried to look confident, but on the inside fear had rooted deep. What had the chamber told her? She had refused to tell them, refused to reveal what she had been given. It was the one thing none of them had shared, something so dark, so personal that it had felt wrong to share.

Yet Pidge, the smallest of them, was the most bold and dared to complete her ultimatum.

“Do as you must, young one,” The Goddess said. “Complete the task given to you, and the orb and all your wildest dreams are yours.”

Hunk nearly shouted as she broke from their line and came right to him. The way she looked at him, he wished it could just be the two of them. “The chamber told me that no matter what I had to wait, that if I waited until after midnight on the seventh day whatever happened would still keep Voltron together, but I can’t wait any more.”

Hunk stared at her, her armor caked with mud and blood and whatever else they had encountered over the last few days, her hair was a mess, but in her eyes, there was hope. He wondered what she was waiting for.

“The chamber told me if I waited for you, then everything would all turn out the way it was supposed to, and Voltron wouldn’t face it’s brutal end, but as a team right now, as Voltron right now, we need that orb.” She wasn’t wrong at all. “So Hunk, the chamber told me to wait for you, but I can’t wait any more.”

In that split second, his hopes sank, his heart plunged up into his throat and his lip trembled. Now he understood what his ultimatum from the chamber had been. Voltron couldn’t survive if they hated each other, and from Pidge’s words, he was too late. He swallowed hard, but it didn’t help.

“This whole week I’ve been waiting,” She said, brushing her hair back from her cheek and smiling nervously. “I’ve been waiting as patiently as I can, and every opportunity I thought you would do it, something else happened, so now it’s my turn.” She looked up at him and smiled. “Hunk, we’ve been traveling through space for nearly three years now, and we’ve been through enough wormholes for me to know that there’s no one else in this universe or any other universe that I would rather spend my days with than you.”

Wait… What? That was not what he was expecting at all.

“I enjoy spending time arguing over modulations and working on the next best things for the Voltron lions with you. I enjoy seeing flowers that only bloom every 100 million years, and dancing with you even though I hate my previous pageant days and we’re in a tournament to the death. This tournament has absolutely sucked, but you.” She looked directly at him with a gentle smile. “You make it not so bad.”

He couldn’t help but smile back.

“I know my ultimatum was to wait, wait until after midnight on the seventh day to make sure that Voltron stayed together and it didn’t ruin our friendship, but I can’t wait any more.”

She had calculated the risk and calculated it well. She knew what was at stake, their relationship or lack of one vs Voltron as a team staying together and she had risked it anyway.

“I love you, Hunk, even if it means that Voltron will be no more after we get the orb, and even if our relationship goes down in flames, or you reject me right here, I will never stop loving you.”

He stared at her for much longer than he should have. He knew he had to form words, but they simply wouldn’t come. Then, in a matter of seconds, it all seemed to catch up with him. She loved him, and he felt the same. It wasn’t exactly how he had imagined them revealing their feelings for each other, but there they were.

“I love you too,” he forced out, hoping they came out as English and not some gibberish. “I would really like to kiss you when we’re not facing certain death.”

All around the arena, the fans were cheering “Kiss her!” Over and over again.

Pidge saw the opportunity and took it. She turned back toward the goddess. “Your fans want us to kiss. The orb for a kiss.”

The Goddess seemed pleased, her soft and gentle smile evidence they had done well. “Very Well,” She said. “Thank you for finally bringing love and light back into the tournament where once only death ruled.”

Pidge kissed him, and then just like that, the orb didn’t matter anymore.

They had succeeded.

[golddustinourhands]

Hidge Week 2020 Day One: Alternate Universe | Midnight

They’ve been through enough wormholes and gaps in the universe to know when things weren't quite right. Hunk wished they were in an alternate universe then, but unfortunately, he knew it wasn't the case.

He knew when he wasn't himself. As they sat there waiting, he felt completely himself, nervous and afraid. All alone.

The others had gone before him and hadn't come back through the single door. He hadn't heard screaming, but their lack of reappearance troubled him.

It had all started with a mission to retrieve an orb of great magical power that had sent them to the planet Zydus.

The orb was an urban legend, but the great leaders sent them into the maze, which they had gotten through as a team with a few nicks and scratches, which had ended at a golden door. They had tried to enter together, but it spit the rest of them out and kept one.

Pidge.

The rest of them tried to fight the door, but it remained locked. Ten minutes after they had begun fighting it, it clicked open with a gentle click. They all scrambled to go, fight for Pidge, but it only took Shiro and spit the rest of them out again.

Again, the door clicked unlocked about ten minutes later. Keith went in on his own, Hunk panicking about losing their team, Lance with a hand on his shoulder, but he shook too.

The door clicked again and Lance entered on shaking legs. Hunk begged him not to go, but Lance entered the door and it clicked locked behind him.

Hunk was alone.

The door clicked open. Gently swinging out. If he focused hard enough, he could hear familiar chatter from his family at home, the familiar scents of all the foods he missed from home. He took trembling steps forward, even though he knew what waited behind the golden door was dangerous.

He bit back a scream as the door clicked shut behind him, plunging everything around him into a darkness that reached further into him than any ever had.

Something lurked in the room with him.

“Hello?” He asked, swallowing down his fear. He hoped it was one of his friends.

“You find yourself looking deep into your own self,” His own voice came to him in the darkness, confident and strong. “Any man can face his enemies, but can you face yourself?”

All at once all around him, memories appeared. Ones from the team, ones from before Voltron and the garrison. Every success and every mistake hit him at once as he traveled through the darkness.

“You’re close to the team, aren't you?” His voice asked from the shadows, confident, dark, is if it knew where to hurt him most. “But you know it won't last forever, don't you?” He couldn't see anything, but he was sure his dark self was smiling a wide grin. “What will you do when they leave and you’re all alone?”

In one of the memories, Allura, and how she had left them.

“The team is already cracking. Splitting right at the seams. Did you think you could avoid the inevitable?”

“No,” Hunk answered. “We might not always be a team, but we’ll always stay friends.”

“But there will always be one you want more from, isn't there?”

Pidge appeared, a light in the darkness, a brief snapshot. Her nose crinkled up in a deep laugh, her mouth open wide in a howl. He had told her a joke as they worked on the lions after the final battle against Zarkon and she had laughed so hard she cried.

He'd been fighting feelings for her for months.

“Even if it meant disbanding the team?”

Instead of Pidge laughing, the image turned to the five of them going their separate ways.

“You will bring the end to Voltron.”

“No!” He shouted into the void. The darkness lightened around him. “You're wrong!”

“Prove it!”

The darkness got darker.

“If you want the orb, you’re going to have to prove it. You have seven days. If you can't get her to return your feelings by midnight on the seventh day, the orb will never be yours and the team will disband.”

Hunk trembled. They needed to get that orb no matter what the cost. Shiro and Slav were sure it was absolutely essential.

“I'll do it.”

“Even if it means losing everything?”

“Yes,” Hunk answered. “Even if it means losing everything.”

In an instant, the darkness faded and a door appeared on the opposite side of the room. He rushed through it and found the others there waiting for him.

“What did it ask from you?” Lance asked, playing it off as if it were nothing.

He snuck a look to Pidge and just shook his head, trying to calm his breath.

He had seven days.

[golddustinourhands]

Hidge Week 2020 Day Three: Blankets | Road Trip

“For your next challenge,” The robot butler stated the next morning once they were all gathered in the main hall after breakfast. “A treacherous race through the mountains toward the Temple of Shadoq where your next challenge awaits.”

“A race?” Lance just happened to shout out.

Hunk put his hand to his face as Lance continued to boast. He should have known. He should have told him to keep his mouth shut.

“That'll be a piece of cake for us with Voltron.”

He was too far away for Hunk to effectively shut him up. The rest of the team didn't seem too up to the task either, especially as the rest of the competitors stared them down.

“You may take one lion of Voltron, but I warn you, for your quest for the orb to continue, you must all make it across the finish line and into the temple.

Could the five of them fit in one lion?

“The race begins in an hour,” The robot butler said, turning over a large hourglass. “Prepare yourselves and don't be late to the starting line.”

It took them nearly an hour to determine which lion to take. The red lion was the fastest, but the green lion had the most chance of sneaking through tight spaces. The black lion was able to fly higher with wings, but the yellow lion could take the most damage. Eventually, it settled on the black lion, due to Shiro’s connection, even after his time away from the leader of Voltron.

“You're sure you can make it the whole way?” Pidge asked as they all packed what little they could into the lion. “We don't know how long this race is, or what awaits us. Even you can't go for days without sleep.”

Of course Pidge would fawn over Shiro. He was every teen girl’s fantasy, especially after they had saved earth. Why should Pidge be any different? Hunk shoved down his jealousy and forced himself to focus on packing as many emergency supplies into the black lion as possible with Lance and Keith.

“If we need to switch, Keith can pilot for a while,” Shiro answered with his perfect smile. It didn't matter that he wasn't interested in women, women still fawned over him.

“Of course!” Pidge answered with a smile of her own. “I had nearly forgotten.”

“Jealousy doesn't look good on you, man,” Lance whispered loudly with a slight shove. “Just go talk to her!”

Hunk righted himself before he ran right into Pidge and Shiro. Pidge turned toward him, looked right up at him, as if she expected him to say something.

When had it become so difficult to speak to her?

“Um,” He forced out as she stood there looking at him expectantly. “—We should make sure everything is packed.”

She seemed to know he wanted to say something else. “Yeah, we should—“

“Alright, gang,” Shiro said, cutting her off, but not meaning to. They were running out of time. “We’re going to need to pack as light as we can. We’ve never had to fit in one lion before.”

Lance appeared behind him, wrapping his arm around his shoulders. “It's all good. I'm sure Hunk and Pidge would love to share a blanket, and snacks.” He looked to Pidge. “She can tell him all about what the creepy flower lady told her in secret.”

“Lance!” Hunk turned to his friend beside him and found himself surprised that Pidge had admonished him in the same tone.

Was she blushing?

Once they piled in, there wasn't much room for private conversations like the thousands that were playing in his head. He was running out of time, there were only a few days before the ultimatum took effect and it made him sick to think about, but she was so warm against him under the blanket in the freezing cold lion that he found himself falling asleep in the safety of it all.

He wished he hadn't.

He dreamed of things he could never have. Of road trips, actual road trips across the country, the deserts of Earth with more snacks than they could ever eat and old music playing across the radio. He dreamed of stopping and kissing her at every state monument, because that’s what boyfriends do.

He dreamed of all the things he could never have, because Pidge would never feel the same way about him.

[golddustinourhands]

Hidge Week 2020 Day Four: Music | Costumes

The temple was spectacular to look at, even as she rubbed her eyes. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, especially with all of the treacherous dangers during the race, but they had all been kept on edge for so long that she couldn't fight the exhaustion. The ice and snow didn't help either, but under the few blankets, Hunk was warm and safe.

She and Hunk hadn’t talked about it, but she had woken up next to him under the blankets Lance had joked about before. They needed to talk about it, work something out, like they always did. But this was different, this was life changing.

Three days left until the ultimatum the darkness gave her came to light.

She chose to focus on the next task she knew was waiting.

“Congratulations!” An acolyte of the temple said once all the teams that could arrive had arrived. Several hadn't been so lucky. “You are the four teams remaining. Please come in and enjoy food and drink as we wait for the goddess to tell you of your next challenge.”

As they entered, weary and exhausted, a bad feeling surged through her. Something about the way the circular center of the floor was decorated, the chairs facing the center, the glitter and streamers and the bright colors. It didn't seem violent, like the rest of the competition had been, but Pidge still felt deeply uneasy. She couldn't eat, the same prickly feeling in her stomach from her childhood before a—

Oh.

Oh no.

She must have said it out loud because the rest of the team looked at her like she'd just dropped the loudest Quiznack known to man, or she had died, which she felt like she had at that moment.

“Pidge?” Shiro asked, but she couldn't look at him. He and her family were close, he knew the torment of her childhood.

“It's a-“

Before she could continue, the goddess appeared before the rest of the teams, human sized now, the orb still in her hand and much smaller. “Welcome everyone,” she said. Her smile held warmth, but Pidge’s stomach still turned. “All of this violence has made me disgusted by the ruthlessness of this quest. The violence and murder in men’s eyes has turned me cold to plights for my orb. Today, we do something different.” She looked out to all of them and landed on Pidge. “Today, we throw a pageant.”

Pidge hated when she was right.

“A pageant to show there is more to each of you and your teams than just bloodshed.”

“Pageants are for the weaker sex!” A large alien from the back with his deep grumbly voice like gravel shouted over them.

The goddess turned to look at him, magic surging through her free hand and as it hit the large creature, he changed. His jagged features became more feminine, his scream more shrill as the magic hit him. Once it all dissolved, he was the weaker sex according to his species, dressed in a frilly smock.

“You’ve chosen the delegate for your team.”

The rest of his team members laughed. Pidge sighed under her breath.

“Impress me, gentlemen and ladies.” Then the goddess was gone in a flash of light, leaving the rest of the teams to squabble.

“Obviously, I'm going to look the best in a dress,” Lance said. Pidge couldn't be sure if he was doing his best to break the tension, or if he was being genuine.

“No,” Pidge said, quelling the nervous energy in her stomach before she tried to speak again. “It has to be me.”

Surprisingly, no one argued. She wished someone had.

“But my talent is dancing, so I need one of you.” She couldn't quite look at Hunk after what had happened in the black lion, but if there was anyone she wanted to dance with when their lives weren't at stake, it was Hunk.

“Give is a few minutes to deliberate,” Lance suggested. “Let us find the perfect frame for your dramatic painting!” He said with a flourish, quoting the eccentric dance teacher at the garrison.

It seemed like such a lifetime ago.

“I'll do it,” Hunk said, practically before he was even finished. “I'll dance with you, but you’ll have to teach me exactly what you need.”

She knew better than to argue. She knew what she had seen in that darkness and she had been told the quest for the orb would test her, nearly break her.

But they were still a team.

“Ok,” she answered. “Let's get started.”

The first few minutes, he was too stiff of a dancer.

“You're too stiff!” She said, forcing his shoulders from his ears and the tension from his hands. “You need to relax!”

“That's never been a problem before, am I right?” Lance said from where the rest of them sat in the corner. “Ladies usually like it—“

From the sounds of it, Keith had smacked him, hard.

“Look,” Pidge said, knowing he had to be just as nervous as she was about the whole thing. “I get you're nervous. I am too, but I used to do this as a kid. I know the orb is at stake and a wish on a magical orb is a big deal. I know science can't help us now, but we’re Team Punk, let's just go out there and have fun.”

“Even if we’re stuck in hilarious costumes?” Hunk asked. “See I have this recurring nightmare where I'm dressed as a giant banana like I was in 3rd grade for this nutrition performance and I—“ he paused, “Well, it's me, so you can guess how that went.”

“You puked.”

Hunk nodded, his shame all over his face.

Pidge gently grabbed his hand. “Even if we are in hilarious costumes,” she said. “But please try not to puke on me this time.”

He laughed, but it wasn't genuine. She aimed to fix that sooner rather than later.

[fangirl-screaming]

you guys are going to hate me for this

@hidge-week

[fangirl-screaming]

it is what it is

@hidge-week