There is not enough letters in the alphabet to tell you how much I love you

Cute

Team Voltron spends the day at the beach and Keith can't stop thinking about how cute Pidge looks.

*******

Keith has no idea why the realization even surprised him in the first place. But now, as he looked at her eating some sort of space watermelon on a beach situated on Étoilistia, wearing a two-piece swimsuit, he wondered how this wasn't his initial thought concerning the girl.

Pidge was adorable, pretty, gorgeous, mesmerizing. Whatever you want to call her kind of beauty.

Hell! He was sure even Lance would be able to agree with him. Maybe she wasn't as hot as the girls the blue paladin crushed on, she still had a lot going on.

Maybe it was her big eyes, or the way she carried herself, or how she stared at things that interested and fascinated her.

Maybe it was the way she would pout when something wasn't going how she wanted or the smile on her face when she had the last word.

As usual.

Maybe it was her cheeks, freckles adoring them that he now realized seemed to have gotten even more visible ever since they landed on this sunny planet.

Often, Keith thought he was the only one to notice the green paladin's adorableness. They were all too busy being blown away by her intelligence, like he was when they first met. He was proven wrong today, to his displeasure.

Upon seeing the sunlit beach when they arrived, Lance and Hunk had begged Allura to let them spend at least a complete quintant enjoying it. In need of a relaxed day off duty as much as the teenagers, the princess easily accepted.

Originally, Keith was enthusiastic about it too, but after witnessing more than one étoilistians fail at trying to flirt with Pidge, he just wanted to leave this place, as beautiful as it is.

Couldn't they realize she was very obviously uncomfortable with their wandering eyes!? Like seriously, who could think that someone as smart as Pdige would fall for cheesy and honestly bad pick lines. He heard a few that were so horrible that even Lance wouldn't be able to come up with. Some people truly had no manners.

The red paladin had managed to scare a few of them by standing protectively by Pidge's side, glaring at anyone who observed her the wrong way.

Maybe he was acting a bit jealous, or perhaps possessive, but did they really need to see more of her skin exposed to find her somewhat attractive? Creeps.

Thankfully, she hadn't told him off. Yet.

Keith hoped deep down that she'd let him protect her. She was already aware he thought of her as a strong person, which didn't mean he never felt the urge to keep her safe from perverts in a mostly unknown environment.

By the end of the day, everyone in team Voltron had complimented Pidge, all except one.

*******

It wasn't bugging her at all. That's what the girl kept repeating in her brain, over and over again.

Why should she care?

Upon stepping out of Allura's bathroom, the princess exclaimed how pretty she looked. Once they met up outside the castle with the rest of the team, the older girl hadn't wasted a tick before showing off her excellent choice in picking an outfit for the genius of the group. Dramatically explaining how she knew this was going to be the one from the start, ignoring the many failed tries before Pidge found one she liked and felt comfortable wearing.

They all said she looked beautiful. Except Keith, who only stared at her silently. Was he judging how she was dressed? The green paladin was aware that at some point in their life, people began wanting approval from others, regarding how they were perceived by their entourage. She just never thought she would be one of them. Was he disagreeing with the others in his brain? Once more, Pidge cursed his poked face.

So no, she wasn't disappointed in the slightest. It didn't bother her at all- Yeah, this strategy wasn't working. Who could have guessed telling herself she didn't mind would fail? If her twelve-year-old self saw how much she cared about some boy's opinion on how she looked, Pidge is sure she would get kicked in the knees. Hell, even the version of her when this whole adventure started would be disappointed. This wasn't what she was in space for.

"But it's Keith, not just any boy." That's what her brain kept repeating . Maybe he was planning on saying something later, when they were alone? She could only wish he would.

No matter how much Pidge tried ignoring how fast her heart was beating during the entire day.

Hope rose in her when he spent vargas staying by her side, driving away anyone who disturbed her. She prayed he did that in an "I like you and I don't want other people to eye you up and down way" and not "I care for you like an older brother would way."

Yep, she officially sounded insane.

Katie "Pidge" Holt was losing it because she had a stupid crush on her teammate and not because of how emotionally and physically battling against the Galra while simultaneously searching for her father and Matt was.

Currently, they were both seated a few metres away from their friends, appreciating the scenery by watching the impressive sunset.

She could feel his eyes on her. Should she ask him what was troubling him? What if it pissed him off? Would that be too intrusive? But what if it concerned her? What if he said the swimsuit didn't fit her? What if-

"Pidge." She turned her head to the side to be able to stare at him in the eyes, humming in response.

God, why did he have to observe her so intensely, her heart was about to tear itself out of her skin.

"You look cute today, but so do you most of the time."

Oh, she'd never recover from that one anytime soon, that was for sure.

If only she knew he wouldn't either, after seeing how her face flushed a pretty shade of red. Saying those few words had taken all the courage Keith had in store for the day.

"Thanks, uhm... so do you?"

If his face wasn't rosy before, it was now for certain, possibly even more than hers. But she was smiling and so was her.

Maybe he might actually have a chance after all.

*******

1065 words

For the name of the planet, I wanted something to do with space so I chose the word étoile which means star in French!

Hope you liked it and sorry if there's any mistakes <3