"Lance," Keith grumbled. He kept his eyes pressed shut and burrowed his face deeper into Lance's shoulder.
Lance's practically vibrating shoulder.
"Lance," Keith murmured again. "It's so early."
But Lance continued to fidget in their bed due to what Keith knew to be pure excitement. He felt Lance's fingers dive into his hair, although instead of moving in the soothing manner Keith was used to when Lance was trying to help him sleep, those long fingers were all over the place, combing through the strands before rubbing briskly over his ears and then diving back into his hair again.
The frantic movements weren't enough to keep Keith from sighing in happiness at the attention, however. And when it was clear that he wasn't budging despite the attempt to wake him up, he did his best to keep his smile to himself as he heard Lance sigh impatiently beneath him.
"Baaabe," Lance whispered in his next attempt to get Keith up and moving.
Keith finally decided to relent by lifting his head and digging his chin into Lance's shoulder as he let his eyes roam over Lance's eager face.
Lance shifted his shoulder under the pressure of Keith's punishing chin, but he didn't push him off. If anything, the arm he had slung around Keith's lower back tightened as he met Keith's eyes.
"We're going to see them today," Lance said in a continued whisper. Keith's ears flicked towards him, as much an indication that Keith was listening that Lance was likely to receive this early in the morning. "I just keep thinking about what it's going to be like to finally go home. I know I said I wanted parades before, but — really I just want to sit down at the dinner table and stare at their faces."
"I'm sure you'll get a chance to do that."
"Pidge says we've been gone a little over two years by now," Lance continued, a small frown forming on his face as he spoke. "I wouldn't think my parents or even Gabby or Mark would look that different. But Theo was just a freshman when I left, so he's probably gotten taller, right?"
When Lance glanced over at his face, Keith could only helplessly shrug before he added "Probably."
"Yeah." Lance nodded slowly.
His fingers began to slowly slide up and down Keith's bare back and Keith pressed himself even closer to the blue paladin, sure that Lance – with that faraway look in his eyes – wasn't even aware of the way Keith's skin was beginning to burn beneath those long fingers.
"And Rosie was only thirteen," Lance continued. "The rest of us were always the tallest in our classes, but Rosie was always so small. She even still had some baby fat in her face, you know?"
A small smile formed on Keith's face as he watched Lance talk about his family. And when Lance glanced at him again, he shifted himself forward so he could reach Lance's lips with his own. Lance slid his own eyes shut and stilled his fidgeting for as long as the kiss lasted.
"I'm glad you're gonna be there," Lance whispered as soon as his mouth was free.
"I'm happy you want me to meet them," Keith murmured back as he let his head fall back to rest against Lance's shoulder.
"Hey, Keith?"
Keith's eyes were shut again, but he hummed in response.
"Do you think – I mean, I know you don't know them yet, but do you think they missed me?"
Keith's eyebrows furrowed together in a confused frown before his eyes even had a chance to reopen. He lifted his head properly and met Lance's gaze directly as one of his hands slid up to cup the side of Lance's face.
"Of course they missed you, Lance. Probably even more than you missed them."
"Yeah," Lance responded softly, and it hurt Keith's chest to see that Lance didn't look entirely convinced.
"Lance, I'm certain that anyone who's ever met you is missing you right now. Hell, sometimes I miss you when you leave to go to the bathroom."
Lance huffed out a small laugh and shook his head. "How about when we're in our separate lions?" he teased back.
"Nah, I can always feel you there."
"Yeah," Lance said, squeezing his arms around Keith again. "Same."
Keith was happy to note that Lance didn't look as lost as he had a few moments before. And that being the case, he grinned wickedly down at his boyfriend.
"What?" Lance asked when he caught Keith's mischievous expression.
"I bet Pidge and Hunk are both missing you this very second."
Lance rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay," he said to his sarcastic boyfriend.
"I bet Iverson is missing you right now, too."
Lance made a face. "Stooop! I get it." He shoved Keith's shoulder and rolled away with the intention of climbing out of their bed.
But Keith lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Lance's narrow waist. He dragged Lance back to sit in the middle of the bed, ignoring Lance's flailing arms as he pressed himself against the warm skin of Lance's back.
"Don't go. I'll miss you."
Lance sort of wanted to be proud, sure that it was his influence that produced the dramatic tone of voice Keith was managing to pull off. And he even tried to stifle his chuckles, if only so he could appear indignant for a few more moments. But he knew there was actually no way he was hiding his silent laughter with the way his shoulders were shaking from the jackass who was currently melded against his back.
He tipped his head back to try to catch Keith's face, but all he could manage to see was the tip of one purple ear. "I really love you," he murmured with a happy smile on his face.
Keith began to purr. Lance's smile grew.
They were finishing a meal with Hunk, Pidge, and Matt when Coran's voice reached them through the intercom and asked that everyone meet on the bridge.
Keith could visibly see Lance freeze next to him and he grabbed his hand as they stood and began to make their way up to the main control room. Keith wasn't sure what could cause Coran to sound so tense, but he could feel the worry roll off everyone around him that their trip home today was about to be delayed due to some new universal crisis.
Still, they entered the room ready to face whatever the universe had waiting for them. And what they appeared to walk in on was a meeting between Allura, Shiro, and a holoscreen filled with a Brady Bunch-like visual of several of the leaders who had joined Voltron's alliance over the past few months.
Keith felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he saw the leaders' expressions — mixes of frustration and outright concern — and listened to their murmured grumbles. His hold on Lance's hand tightened when he realized he could practically hear Lance's brain trying to determine what was going on.
"Ah," Allura said as soon as she spotted them. "As you can see, the rest of the paladins are here and we must continue with our daily plans. We will further discuss this at our next alliance meeting in five spicolian movements."
The leaders all said their goodbyes, and Allura waited for the hologram to shut down before she breathed a sigh of relief and turned to the paladins with a bright, unconcerned smile.
"How is everyone today?" Allura asked. "Excited?"
There was a short, stunned silence from the group that had just been summoned.
"Wait, were we just called in here to be used as an excuse for you to get off the phone faster?" Hunk asked.
"Well," Allura said with a small, guilty grin.
Lance laughed next to Keith as his shoulders slumped in relief. And Keith also found himself relieved to find that the castle wasn't actually under attack, nor were they about to abort their trip to Earth due to a new distress call.
"My mom used to do that," Lance said with a grin. "She'd say the little kids were getting into trouble so she could hang up the phone, even though Theo and Rosie would be sitting quietly next to her, being perfect angels."
Keith smiled at the image Lance presented, mainly because Lance had been letting his siblings' names drop out of his mouth a lot more frequently over the past few days as his excitement bubbled forth. In fact, he'd learned more about Lance's siblings over the past two days than he had over the past two or so years of being a paladin. It made him realize just how much Lance must've been repressing these memories before he'd been given this chance to go home and reunite with his family.
"Yes, well, thank you for helping me end that transmission," Allura said, clasping her hands together. "Although, we do have something important to discuss. You see, some of these leaders have brought up a specific concern. They are wondering why Earth is not a member of the Voltron alliance."
"There haven't been any hints of Zarkon's presence near Earth," Pidge offered.
"Yeah," Hunk added. "I mean, do we really want to draw attention to Earth by bringing it into the alliance?"
"But you can consider how it looks to the alliance members for all five of Voltron's paladins to be Earthlings, and yet, your home planet is not acquainted with our mission," Allura stated gently.
"Well," Keith said, running a hand through his hair, allowing his fingertips to brush against his ears, "we also have to consider that most Earthlings don't really believe in the existence of life beyond Earth."
"Surely that disbelief would be dispelled when they meet me and also see that you are part alien, yes?" Allura asked.
"And, you know, giant castle spaceship." Coran waved his hands around vaguely indicating the entirety of the ship they were standing in.
"For the good of the alliance, I think we are going to have to approach Earth's officials," Shiro said slowly.
"Who would we even talk to – oh," Lance said, cutting himself off when he saw Keith's ears lower to his head and matching looks of dread appear on Shiro's and Keith's faces. "The Garrison."
"They are in charge of the government's space exploration program," Shiro stated. "They'd be the logical place to start."
"Remember when we talked about what a good diplomat you are?" Lance murmured over to Keith with a grin.
"I think we had decided on the opposite of that, actually," Keith murmured back with a small frown, earning a chuckle from his boyfriend. "Coran says punching is not a diplomatic skill."
"I can't remember the last time we encountered a planet full of individuals who were unaware of the existence of life on other planets," Coran said with a perplexed look on his face. "So, we'll just have Princess Allura and Keith front and center at the initial contact and —"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Hunk said. "We're not doing this right now?"
"Well, if we did it first —"
"No, no way. No offense guys," Lance said, shooting looks at Coran, Allura, and Shiro, "but our families deserve to see us in person first before they see us on the news or something talking about an alien war."
"I have to get Matt home so our mother can see him," Pidge said.
Matt stood slightly behind Pidge, just outside of the circle the group had unconsciously made when they entered the main control room. He didn't tend to say much when the paladins got together for official meetings like this, but he nodded slowly in agreement now and then sent a small shrug and a smile to Shiro when his friend looked over at him.
"I agree with them," Shiro said when he saw the expectant look Allura sent him. "Once we enter talks with the Garrison about the alliance, there will likely be a lot of media coverage, and I just don't think the paladins are going to have an easy time going back home with their families to relax after that, which is what they're supposed to be doing on this trip. The best we can do is plan the meeting for the end of the month. I think the alliance members will be happy as long as we fly away from here with Earth listed on the ally group."
"Everyone else agrees with this plan?" Allura asked, making eye contact with each paladin, plus Matthew. When she received affirmative nods from everyone, she smiled. "Then that is what we will do."
"Well, with that all set," Coran said, "let's get you all down to the planet surface."
"You alright bud?"
Keith turned his scowl to Shiro, unsure why his friend asked the question when he was sure Shiro already knew the answer. Probably because asking was the standard social nicety, right? But, Keith didn't know all the standard social niceties. How was he going to impress Lance's family? They were going to hate him. They were going to immediately tell Lance that he could do better than a rude, part-alien jerk who didn't know how to make small talk. Then, they'd —
"Keith," Shiro said sharply with a quick shake to one of Keith's shoulders.
Keith's ears, which had flattened to his head as he'd been thinking, flicked up in surprise at Shiro as his eyes rose to Shiro's face. "I don't know how to make small talk."
"If they're anything like Lance, they'll probably do most of the talking for you," Shiro said with a smile, easily catching up to where Keith's brain was currently focused.
"I have no idea what to do with a family, Shiro. Do you remember how many hours are in a day on Earth? What am I supposed to do with them for that long?"
"Keith —"
"And for a month? Do you know how many hours are in a month?"
"Keith," Shiro repeated.
"Takashi."
"Okay, breathe, bud." Shiro sent Keith a sympathetic smile. "And I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but it doesn't matter how many hours are in a month —"
"Seven hundred and forty-four."
"Keith —"
"Although, admittedly, I bet we'll only be awake for close to five hundred."
Shiro sighed. Loudly and in Keith's specific direction.
"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but you do in fact know what to do with a family," Shiro said, trying once again to make his previous point. "We act like a family here on the castle. You're a part of this family. And when you're with Lance's family, you'll just do what we do here."
"What we do here?"
"Yes, you'll eat meals together —"
"Fight evil aliens."
"— and share stories about your day." Shiro sent him a small glare, and Keith closed his mouth over whatever he was going to say next. "And, while keeping in mind that you don't have to share anything with them that makes you uncomfortable, they are going to be very curious about the guy who Lance is so clearly smitten with, so just be prepared that they are going to ask you questions. And be polite."
"I know to be polite," Keith grumbled as his mind thought about how easy it was to sit at the dinner table with everyone here in the castle. He'd never really thought about them as family dinners, but if that was what family dinners looked like, then yes, he could do that.
"Oh, and no fighting with any members of his family."
Keith stared flatly back at his friend. "Why would —"
"Let's make be polite rule number one and no fighting rule number two."
"I wasn't looking for rules," Keith protested with another grumble. "And why am I going to fight with anyone?"
"No, Keith. Don't fight with anyone."
"I'm not! Why —" Keith cut himself off and glared up at Shiro and Shiro's falsely innocent face.
Shiro grinned widely when it was clear Keith was onto him. Maybe Keith was irritated with him now, but Keith didn't appear to be openly panicking about his trip to Lance's family's home anymore.
Keith crossed his own arms over his chest and continued to scowl at Shiro. "Are you really going to be okay up here without us?"
"I'm sure we'll be fine. Like Pidge said before, there haven't been any hints of Galra presence anywhere near Earth so far. And if we run into trouble, I'm sure Red will scamper down and grab you by the scruff of your little neck before we even have a chance to contact you."
"You're not funny," Keith said, turning on his heel to join Lance over by the shuttle Coran was preparing for them.
"I'm very funny!" Shiro called after him.
"I totally ring the doorbell, right?"
Keith had actually expected Lance to sprint to the front door once Coran had dropped them off in a nearby secluded area. And while Lance had quickly dragged Keith down the street through this neighborhood, now that they'd reached what was apparently the McClain house, Lance appeared rooted to the sidewalk in front of it for some reason.
Keith glanced around the neighborhood while he gave Lance a minute to continue to just openly stare at his home. Lance's house sat in the middle of a cul-de-sac, and the tan paint and orange roof tiles matched all the other houses on the street in this Florida neighborhood. And while Keith couldn't see the ocean from here, he could hear it, and there was definitely the smell of salt in the air.
He turned his attention back to the house. There was only one large window facing the street, and it currently had its curtains pulled. The garage door was open, revealing one car inside, with an empty space for a second.
Keith glanced around at the other houses again and remembered what Lance had said about it being October. The surrounding houses had spider webs in trees and pumpkins on front porches. One even had orange mini lights strung around its mailbox. But he didn't find any trace of the holiday when he turned back to the McClain house. He tilted his head in thought at that. Just based on Lance alone, Keith would assume that his family would go all out on holiday decorations.
He adjusted his bag over his shoulder. They'd had next to nothing on them when they went into space so most of what was in their bags for this trip included their bayards and toothbrushes. That's what was in Keith's bag, anyway. He was sure Lance's bag had several additional bottles of lotion and face creams. Keith's final check of his belongings included thinking about the unfamiliar weight in his utility belt. They each had a cell-phone-like device now, courtesy of Hunk and Pidge, which would allow them to keep in touch with each other and the castle, especially since none of them had wanted to cart their paladin armor helmets down to Earth with them.
"Lance?" Keith finally asked with a squeeze to Lance's hand.
Lance swallowed hard as he stared up at his home. The last time he'd seen it had been when his family had surprised him and flown him home from the Garrison for a long holiday weekend. Staring at the house now, he knew that there was something slightly off about how it looked, although he wasn't sure what it was that was different. Admittedly, there was some comfort in seeing his mother's old car parked in the garage.
"I'm not sure I really believed I'd ever be here again," Lance finally responded with a small voice. Despite that, he squeezed Keith's hand in return and sent him a grin. "I'm not sure why I'm suddenly nervous, but I do know I'm glad you're here, space cat."
Keith offered a smile back before sending a meaningful glance towards the house.
"Yeah, okay," Lance said on an exhale. He led Keith to the front door and rang the doorbell. "Oh, by the way, we had a dog," he said a mere three ticks before barking could be heard on the other side of the door.
"Lance!" Keith said as he tried to pull his hand away from Lance's so he could move away from the door.
"He's the friendliest little guy!" Lance said, refusing to let go of Keith's hand as a corgi whipped around a corner and beelined for the door while continuing to bark. "He's never hurt a —"
Lance cut himself off as he and Keith suddenly had company on the other side of the door — other than the dog that was now growling at Keith — in the form of a tiny girl who peered up at them through the glass.
"Who is that?" Keith whispered.
Lance's eyes had widened. He shook his head, confused. "I – I don't know."
The tiny face suddenly pressed up against the glass and large blue eyes — the same shade of blue as Lance's — stared back at them. "Kitty!" the little girl exclaimed as she pointed a pudgy finger at Keith and grinned.
"I'm gonna say she's a McClain," Keith muttered. He even grinned a little as he turned towards Lance, but his smile dropped when he saw Lance's continued confused expression as he stared down at the little girl. "Lance?"
"You are not big enough to be answering the door, chiquilla!" A woman's voice reached them then, causing Lance's grip to tighten to the point of almost mangling Keith's poor fingers.
The woman appeared from around the corner, and Keith knew they'd been spotted when the glass dish she'd been drying with a dish towel immediately slipped from her hands and shattered on the tile floor at her feet. She was at the door in the next second, moving faster than Keith even thought possible. And when the door was swung open with what was surely enough force to shatter the glass, Keith grabbed it before it had a chance to slam into the wall.
Then Lance's hand was gone from his own as Lance was knocked back a few steps by the sheer force of the woman who was wrapping shaking hands around Lance's face. She was nearly as tall as Lance and Keith immediately recognized most of his boyfriend's features in the now sobbing — hopefully happy crying, Keith wasn't an expert on different types of crying — woman who had to be his mother. She was managing to get a few words out between sobs — Are you real? Tell me you're real — and Keith watched Lance nod furiously in return as Lance's own eyes welled up with tears.
Keith's attention was quickly pulled away from the mother-son reunion, however, as the small dog took advantage of the open door and charged for Keith. He quickly sank his teeth into Keith's ankle before darting away to bark at him from a distance. Keith hissed out in pain and grabbed for his ankle, while also realizing that the little girl who'd been in the doorway before had apparently zero interest in the visitors, because she was currently toddling very quickly down the driveway.
He turned on his uninjured heel and raced after her before she could reach the street. He paused for a moment when he reached her, though, unsure how he was supposed to maneuver her back to the house. He glanced back at the hugging duo on the front porch, neither of which had noticed anything other than each other so far. From this distance, he was further struck by the similarities between Lance and his mother. Lance shared her tall, lean build, and with their heads pressed so closely together, it was easy to see that Lance's pretty hair color had come from her as well.
Movement in the corner of his eye caused him to turn and once again chase after the tiny McClain-house escape artist. She was wearing pink overalls over a t-shirt, and Keith briefly wondered if it would be appropriate to pick her up using the overall straps that crossed her back. After deciding that was probably a Bad Idea, he resorted to scooping an arm around her middle from behind and lifting her up to an uncomfortable backwards hip carry as he turned and headed back towards the house. She squirmed in the awkward hold, forcing him to adjust as he walked. She seemed to know more than he did because she managed to twist herself until she was facing him, forcing him to use two hands to prevent her from falling to the ground. And by the time they reached the front door again, she was happily situated on his hip in a more comfortable hold.
The evil dog was still there, standing protectively in front of Lance's mother. His growl got louder with every step Keith took towards the house. Keith stared down at the dog and hoped that his scowl would be enough to keep the dog from biting him again.
And since Lance and his mother were still hugging, Keith glanced towards the front door and wondered if he could deposit the small child back into the house. That thought was aborted as he realized there was glass covering the floor from the broken dish.
His ears flicked suddenly when he felt tiny fingers trying to pet them. "Kitty!" the little girl squealed again as she grinned up at him and reached up with grabby hands towards his ears.
Thankfully, that got Lance's attention, and he turned his mother towards Keith while keeping his arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders.
"Mamá, this is my boyfriend, Keith."
"Your —" Lance's mother looked appropriately startled. Her breathing was still erratic as she tried to control her previous sobs. And Keith watched as her eyes moved from his face up to the ears the little girl was still trying to either pet or rip off his head — Keith honestly wasn't sure — and back down to his face again.
"He's cute, right?" Lance's eyes were still bright and shiny from his tears but he had a large grin on his face. "Also, who exactly is he holding?"
Reluctantly, Lance's mother let go of Lance and reached out to finally take the small child from Keith's arms. "It's nice to meet you, Keith," she said, the statement full of a wobbly voice and sniffles. "Please, call me Mora."
Keith glanced towards Lance quickly before looking back to Mora. "I'm happy to meet you as well," he responded.
"Mamá, there's glass! What's — Lance?"
Keith's ears flicked back against his head at the newcomer's high pitched shriek of Lance's name. Then Lance was being hugged again as a teenage girl burst through the front door and wrapped her arms tightly around Lance.
"How did you get here? Where have you been?" Her voice began high pitched but broke halfway through her second question as her own tears started.
Lance's face scrunched up in concern as the girl he was hugging began to cry, and Mora visibly clutched the toddler she was holding even tighter as fresh tears began to stream down her own face.
Without either Lance's hand or the little girl to hold, Keith stood by feeling slightly useless. So he leaned down to pick up Lance's discarded bag for him and jumped back when the corgi charged for him once again. The barking and growling was finally noticed by Lance and his family members, though, and Lance released the girl in order to swoop down and scold the small dog.
"Stop it, Gus-Gus!" Lance ordered as he took a protective step in front of Keith. The small dog cowered and took a few steps backwards towards Mora while Lance sent a nonchalant shrug towards his mother and sister. "Dogs don't really like Keith cause he's a space cat."
"Lance," Keith breathed out in a mocking sort of exasperation.
"Don't worry, babe. They can see the ears. Rosie, this is my boyfriend, Keith. Keith, this ridiculously tall and pretty girl — seriously Rosie, what the hell —"
"Language, Lance," Mora said automatically.
" — with the growth spurt and the makeup?"
Rosie launched herself at Lance once again and pulled him into another hug as more tears streamed down her face.
"Keith, this is Rosie," Lance finally finished as he adjusted them so he could see Keith over Rosie's head.
A moment later, Rosie let go of Lance and turned to Keith. Keith watched as her own wide blue eyes scanned over his ears.
"Wait, are those real?" Her voice was scratchy, likely due to the crying, and Keith's ears flattened against his head at the sound. "Holy shit —"
"Language, Rosita," Mora said.
"They moved!" Rosie continued, unphased. "How'd you do that? How do you have ears like that?" Then she waved a dramatic hand in the air and turned back to Lance. "Lance, where have you been?"
"Let's go inside," Mora said, suddenly.
"Watch the glass," Rosie said as she turned to open the door for the rest of the group.
Lance scooped up his own bag and grabbed Keith's hand as they followed the ladies into the front door of the house. They edged around the glass mess on the floor in the entryway before turning a corner that led directly into a large kitchen. It was painted a soft yellow, and the low sunlight that streamed in through what appeared to be a wall of windows along the back of the house made everything appear soft and warm.
Keith paused as he pictured little Lance sliding into the kitchen in his socks before climbing up on a stool at the island for breakfast. Cheerfully scooping in cereal while sharing jokes with his siblings, making them laugh before they all separated for the day. It was so far apart from the reality of Keith's own childhood, and yet he desperately hoped it had been true for Lance.
Beyond the kitchen was a comfortable living room with two plush couches facing each other, which immediately made Keith think that the house's occupants spent more time interacting with each other rather than watch the television that hung over the fireplace between the seating. And among the back wall of windows was a sliding glass door that Lance currently had open as he banished Gus-Gus out of the house and away from Keith.
Mora handed the little girl to Rosie before going directly to a closet in order to pull out a broom and dustpan. However, when she turned back around and saw Lance standing there in the middle of the kitchen, she dropped both items and wrapped her arms back around him for another hug as her sobs began all over again.
Keith watched Lance, because he wasn't sure what else to do in this situation. Lance didn't appear shocked by this behavior. He just wrapped his arms back around his mother and squeezed his own eyes shut. A sniffle from next to him drew his eyes over to Rosie, only to witness her own tears begin all over again as well. She lowered the little girl to the ground before moving across the kitchen where she was pulled into the hug by one of Lance's long arms.
Keith stared at the group hug, at least until the little girl began to toddle out of the kitchen. He acted quickly, picking up the broom and dustpan from where they'd been discarded and racing after the little girl. He narrowly beat her to the dangerous glass mess by the front door and slid a leg out in front of her to try to keep her back while he began to sweep the glass into a pile. The little one took this as a challenge and immediately tried scaling his leg. With his hands busy, he also used his leg to scoot her back a few feet as he swept as fast as possible. He had to repeat this maneuver a few times but was finally sweeping the glass onto the dustpan when the others seemed to realize that he and the little girl were missing from the kitchen.
"Keith — Keith, dear, we'll do that," Mora said. "Rosie, take that from him."
"Its okay —" Keith's protest was cut off as a still-teary eyed Rosie pulled the broom from him anyway.
"You're our guest," Mora said with a sniffle. "I appreciate it, though."
Lance sidled up next to Keith and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. And when Keith turned to look at him, he couldn't help but to reach up and drag his thumbs across both sides of Lance's face, doing his best to dry some of the wetness there.
"Keith, dear," Mora said, watching the soft moment between the two boys, "have you been missing as well? Is there someone we should call for you?"
Keith simply shook his head as he was pulled tighter into Lance's side.
Mora accepted that with a nod and then turned to Rosie. "Rosie, I want you to text — not call with your crying voice or you'll worry them — text Gabby and Theo and tell them to come here right away."
"Kitty!"
The little girl was attached to Keith's leg once again. This time Lance leaned down and scooped her up. Once he had her on his hip, she stared up at Lance's face with a curious expression. She even reached a hand up and touched Lance's cheek and then his nose.
"Mamá, who's this?"
Mora looked away from her own phone, her shaking hands making it almost impossible to dial the number she wanted. Then fresh new tears started as she stood watching Lance hold the little girl for the first time.
"That's Laney, Tío Lance," she finally managed to say.
"Uncle?" Lance repeated back as he shot wide eyes to the little girl again. "Who?"
"Markos."
"Mark had a daughter while I was gone?" His tone was barely above a whisper, and then Mora was there, hugging Lance again because Lance had his own fresh tears streaming down his face.
Laney fussed as she was squeezed between them and reached her arms out towards Keith to save her. Keith had no idea what he was doing, but he reached out and gently took her from Lance's arms. He waited for her to go after his ears again, but this time she only cuddled against his chest and stuck a thumb in her mouth.
"Okay, I texted them both," Rosie said, reappearing next to them. "They're already texting back asking why they have to come here immediately. I'm just going to ignore them, though."
Lance pulled out of the hug and turned to look at Laney once again. "She really likes you, space cat."
Keith's eyes lifted up to Lance's eyes and he stilled for a moment, because the fond look on Lance's face as he eyed Keith holding the little girl was doing something funny to Keith's chest.
"She really does," Mora said, tilting her head towards Keith and Laney, and thankfully pulling Keith's attention away from Lance before he physically began to blush in front of Lance's family over one small look.
"Why aren't you also texting papá and Mark?" Lance asked, suddenly aware that Rosie hadn't been instructed to text everyone who wasn't already here.
Mora sent Rosie a look, and Rosie stared solemnly back at her mother.
"Coño," Lance cursed, his eyes darting back and forth between them. "What? What happened to them?"
"Language," Mora managed to say yet again. But then she was waving her hands about and shaking her head when she realized how worried Lance was by their silence. "No, no, no, they're fine. They're just not here. In town."
Rosie folded her arms across her chest and was suddenly frowning in Lance's direction. "Papá left about a year ago, Lance. To look for you."
"What?"
Mora nodded. "You were last spotted with a few others on some sort of cruiser heading out towards the desert? It took us nearly a year to get that information out of the people at the Galaxy Garrison. But, once we learned that, your papá set off to look for you."
Lance had gone pale, and Keith shifted Laney so he could hold her with only one arm, allowing him a free arm to wrap a hand around Lance's upper arm to help keep him steady.
"They're not here?"
"Mark goes out to help him every few months, and we watch Laney while he's gone," Rosie added harshly as she reached forward and pulled Laney into her own arms.
Rosie was obviously upset, but Keith kind of wished she'd soften her tone since Laney looked startled by the sudden shift in who was holding her, and Lance was obviously not taking this well. Keith tried to remember the symptoms of shock that Coran had taught them when he decided to teach the paladins the basics of first aid. He was worriedly sure Lance was currently exhibiting about three or four of the signs and had a sudden urge to take Lance away to a quieter, dark place to recover.
"They're looking for me in the desert?" Lance's voice was flat, and Keith squeezed his arm.
Mora nodded slowly.
A choked noise came from Lance that ended just as soon as it began. "They'd never find me there."
Lance's voice had a new frantic edge to it, and Keith shot a look towards Mora. She responded by stepping forward and cupping Lance's face within her hands again, forcing him to focus on her face.
"Where have you been?" she whispered up to her son.
Lance's eyes slipped shut. Mora's eyes shifted to Keith.
"Space," Keith said softly.
Mora's hands fell from Lance's face so she could press them to her chest as she turned away from him. Rosie reached forward and pulled her mother into a hug.
"I need to sit," Lance murmured.
Keith required no further provocation. He pulled on Lance's arm and led him down the closest hallway. He ignored the brief thought that maybe Lance's family wouldn't want him out of their sight and focused only on the louder voice that said get Lance somewhere quiet pronto. Besides, Lance wasn't protesting and he didn't hear any protests from behind them. He led Lance into the first room they came to and then promptly sat Lance down on a bed.
Lance looked up at him with dull blue eyes. "Keith."
Keith dropped onto the mattress beside him and pulled Lance into him for a hug. Lance tucked his face into Keith's neck, which was honestly usually what Keith did when the two of them hugged, so Keith did what Lance would normally do for him. He lifted a hand to Lance's hair and began to run his fingers through it in what he hoped was a soothing manner. He could feel Lance's breaths coming out in haggard exhales against his neck, and he squeezed him harder, tucking him closer into his chest.
"Keith," Lance repeated after a few moments.
"Everyone's okay," Keith said.
"But they're not here. My father and brother left home."
"They'll come back as soon as they know you're here."
"My mother not only had to deal with my disappearance, but she's been living without my father for a year, Keith."
Keith nodded and continued to card his fingers through Lance's hair.
"And my brother —"
Lance's nose rubbed against Keith's skin as he shook his head almost violently against Keith's neck. Keith could hear him swallowing hard now, likely trying to fight off another round of tears. Keith's fingers tightened around some of Lance's hair, forcing him to stop shaking his head before he hurt himself.
"Mark was my best friend," Lance finally continued. "And he had a baby while I was gone." Lance slipped from Keith's grip as he pushed himself to stand so he could begin to pace. "I'm an uncle? I mean, how old is that kid?" Lance stared at the bedroom door as if it had the answer. "I've been an uncle for how long and I didn't even know it?"
Lance ran his own fingers through his hair before turning slowly and looking around the room.
"Ay por dios," Lance murmured.
"What?" Keith jumped to his feet, slightly alarmed by the new look of shock on Lance's face.
"My room. You brought me to my room."
Keith began to turn slowly himself then in order to take in the bedroom. There were two twin beds, one on each side of the room. And Keith watched Lance walk back to the bed they'd been sitting on and softly touch the blanket covering it. Then he turned to the desk next to the bed and picked up a half empty bag of M&Ms. He stared hard down at it and then turned back to Keith.
"This is from my last visit home," Lance said quietly. "They haven't touched anything."
His eyes moved past Keith to the dresser behind him, and one of his eyebrows quirked up. He picked up the large cardboard box that sat there and dropped it on his bed before he began digging through it.
"Keith," he said softly. "Keith, it's my stuff from my room at the Garrison."
Keith moved forward to glance down into the box. There were some notebooks and some clothes, but also a few more personal items. Keith picked up a small spaceship and looked at Lance with a question on his face.
Lance's lips quirked up. "It's from Star Trek? A replica of the U.S.S. Enterprise?"
"Nerd," Keith muttered as he dropped the small replica back into the box and received an elbow from Lance.
But Lance was smiling at him again. So Keith leaned into him and tilted his head up. He practically sighed in relief when Lance's mouth not only met his for a kiss, but Lance's fingers bunched in Keith's shirt to pull him closer. Lance broke the kiss a few moments later and rested his forehead against Keith's.
"It's not supposed to be like this," Lance whispered, his eyes still shut tight.
Keith pulled him into another hug, wishing he could magically make this reunion turn out the way Lance had seen it in his head. His turned his own head and glanced back down into Lance's Garrison box. "What are those?"
Lance shifted his head, nuzzling his face against Keith's on his way to turn and look down at the box. Keith lifted a small stack of photos and handed them to Lance.
"These were on my bulletin board in my room," Lance murmured.
Keith rested his chin on Lance's shoulder and pressed himself up against his boyfriend's side so he could look at each photo as Lance shuffled through them. He watched a small smile pull at Lance's lips again and thought about how smiles just belonged on Lance's face.
There were several pictures of Lance's family, people that Keith was now beginning to recognize. But Lance stalled when he got to a picture of all five McClain siblings piled together in the sand at the beach. Lance took a shaky breath and then told Keith how it had been taken the summer before he'd left for the Garrison. And how, after much pleading from their baby sister, Theo had finally agreed to let Rosie bury him in sand. But as soon as he was good and trapped, Lance and Mark had dogpiled on top of him, despite Rosie's protests that she was "actually creating sand art here, guys!" Theo had called for their big sister to help, but Gabby's definition of help had apparently been to just sit on top of her pile of brothers, which had led Rosie to give up once and for all and flop on top of all of them.
"Mamá was there and managed to get this picture," Lance said. "This one is definitely coming with us when we go back. I can't tell you the number of times I wished I'd had it on me when we left."
"Maybe we can get a frame for it," Keith murmured.
Lance nodded and finally began to flip through the rest of the pictures. After the family photos came shots of Lance and Hunk around campus. Followed by what appeared to be silly selfies.
"Did you actually have pictures of yourself up in your room?" Keith teased.
"Uh, yup. All selfies of me," Lance said quickly as he tried to stuff the pictures back in the box.
But Keith recognized Lance's trying to hide something tone of voice and he swiped the pictures out of Lance's hand and spun around, giving him exactly one tick to look at the pictures before Lance's long arms were wrapping around him in an attempt to swipe them back. Two pictures into the selfie stack and Keith froze when he saw what Lance had most likely been trying to hide. He let Lance take the other photos away from him, but managed to keep this one out of his reach so he could continue to stare.
It was a selfie of Lance — Lance's smile was as bright as ever as he grinned up at the camera — but Lance's face was off-centered in the frame, as if the sole purpose of the photo was not to capture Lance's face, but to capture the scenery behind Lance instead. Which immediately drew Keith's eyes away from that dazzling smile in order to focus on something in the background. Or rather a black-haired someone who was sitting on the front steps of the main building, elbows resting on his knees as he stared solemnly up at the sky.
Keith finally spun back around to face Lance with a surprised expression and Lance's pink-tinged face practically gave him away before Keith could even open his mouth.
"This picture was up in your room?"
Lance gently took the picture away from Keith and glanced down at it. "Yes. That is one good-looking dude, Keith. He deserved to be on my wall."
"Are you talking about you or me?"
Lance huffed out a breath and avoided Keith's eyes as he placed the photo back in the box where it was safe with the others.
"You knew I was sitting there when you took that picture?"
He watched Lance shrug and shift some of the other items around in the box. But Lance wasn't fooling him. Not only was Lance's face an almost alarming shade of red, the color had reached the tips of his ears now too.
Keith's arms wrapped around Lance's neck and he jerked the slightly taller boy in quickly so he could proceed to kiss the living daylights out of him. Lance flailed slightly at the shock of it but then he smoothly fell into Keith's idea, landing hands on Keith's hips so he could lightly run his fingers up the back of Keith's shirt and feel Keith shudder against him.
"I think —" Keith struggled to say between kisses, "— that's really — cute."
"Not creepy?"
"Am I supposed — to think — it's creepy?"
"Nope. Uh uh. You're supposed — to think it's cute."
"Good."
"Pretty," Lance whispered. Then he pulled his mouth away only so he could get a better look at Keith's face, and Keith allowed it only because he was pleased to see Lance's blue eyes shining happily again. "You were just so damn pretty."
Lance complimented him often. And while Keith loved him for it, especially due to the way he was filled with warmth at every softly spoken fond word, none of the things Lance said to him heated his insides the way Lance calling him pretty did. He thought it ridiculously unfair, really. And he liked to retaliate with his lips against Lance's skin. There was a small grunt from Lance's throat now, in fact, as Keith's mouth went after his neck. Then Lance's fingers were pressing into the skin of Keith's back and for a lingering, blissful moment, they both forgot about the stress happening outside of this bedroom.
Which is exactly when there was a knock on the door, followed by Mora's voice saying Lance's name.
The two took a forced step away from each other, and Lance's hand shot to his neck where Keith's mouth had just been working.
"Keith, tell me there's not a mark on my neck," Lance whispered.
Keith's first response was a devilish grin, but he couldn't lie to Lance, so he simply shook his head no. He wasn't so out of sorts with social norms to think that giving Lance a hickey in the middle of his family reunion was a good idea.
"We'll be right out, Mamá," Lance called back as he readjusted the things in the Garrison box and moved to place it where it had been before.
"You shared this room?" Keith asked, taking a moment to glance at the other twin bed. It was strange, because Keith could actually smell the faint scent of Lance in here. But there was also a distant hint of someone else, all covered in a layer of dust.
"Yeah, Mark and I shared this room growing up. Though, I was in high school when he went off to college, so I finally got my own room for a while." Lance glanced around the room once more before he reached a hand out for Keith. He definitely looked more relaxed as he sent Keith a bright grin. "Okay, space cat, let's keep going."
"Hey Pidge," Keith said in a low voice from where he stood in the main room off the kitchen.
He was doing his best to hide from the tiny toddler who kept attaching herself to his leg. From this spot he could see not only Lance sitting with his mother and Rosie at the island in the kitchen, but also out into the backyard. The sliding glass doors actually led out to an inground pool which was surrounded by a lanai. Beyond that was a stretch of green grass, which is where Gus-Gus was currently sitting, glaring back at him. The yard backed up to a wooded area, which provided a feeling of privacy.
Keith glanced back towards Lance. He had his mother's phone pressed to his ear, but then shook his head in frustration and disconnected the call. They'd been calling both Lance's father and Mark, but so far no one was picking up on the other ends.
"I'm sorry to be calling already," Keith said in a halting tone, suddenly aware that he was probably interrupting Pidge's family bonding time. "How's it going on your end?"
Pidge sighed through the line. "Good? But, also —" Pidge paused to sigh again. "I mean, mom is happy, but" — there was a fumbling noise on the other end as if Pidge was moving through her own house — "she had been under the impression that Matt was dead, you know? I mean, I told her I was going to look for Dad and Matt, so she kind of expected me to break contact, but, um, to see her reaction to Matt standing in front of her has actually been —"
"Hard to watch?" Keith supplied.
"Yeah. Same over there?"
"Lance's mom is crying again. It's been like — three vargas? I just keep handing her glasses of water. She's gonna dehydrate otherwise, right?"
Pidge's laugh was so sudden it sounded like it escaped without her permission. Keith let his own small smile slip as he pictured her shaking her head and trying to contain additional laughter, especially when she failed and full on giggling filled the line between them. Pidge cleared her throat and tried to rein in the laughter, although admittedly her chest felt a little lighter than it had been before the phone call.
"Wait, here comes a new McClain," Keith murmured into the phone when he spotted a slightly shorter, skinnier version of Lance suddenly appear around the corner from the front door and call out to everyone as he pushed off his shoes.
"Mamá! I'm home! Why'd I have to leave soccer prac—"
"Did he just spot Lance?" Pidge whispered through the phone when she heard the new voice in the room suddenly stop, followed by pure silence.
"Yup," Keith whispered back.
The younger brother, Theo — Keith assumed — stood frozen in place, his face paling and his mouth dropped open in shock. But Keith's own eyes softened as he watched the way Lance's eyes lit up when he spotted Theo. Then Lance was up out of his seat and barreling into the little brother before lifting him off the ground in a hug.
"L-Lance?" Theo finally said, lifting his arms finally in order to pat at Lance's back a few times.
"Ay por dios, you got taller!" Lance exclaimed before smooshing Theo's cheeks together while he beamed down at him. "And is this stubble? Wait, are you wearing my old soccer practice jersey? And what's with the longer hair? You're not letting Gabby cut it?"
"Lance!" Theo swatted half-heartedly at Lance's hands. But then he laughed, even while tears streamed down his face, he laughed and launched himself back at Lance in order to really hug him.
Even Keith smiled as Theo's laugher seemed to ease the tension in the house. Mora and Rosie seemed to relax in their seats out in the kitchen. Laney even wandered over to her two uncles and stared up at them, seemingly aware that they were the sudden source of happiness in the home.
"That sounds nice," Pidge murmured and Keith almost jumped because he forgot he was still on the phone with her. "Anyway, did you call for something specific?"
"Uh, yeah," Keith said, turning his back to the McClains behind him. "If I give you a phone number, can you track down coordinates for the phone and send it to Coran with a message?"
"You want to subject some members of Lance's family to an alien abduction?" Pidge responded without hesitation.
"Yeah. Pretty much."
"No problem. Send me the number."
"Rosie!"
The door from the garage to the kitchen swung open harshly. Keith was thankful he hadn't physically jumped at the surprise, although Lance definitely dropped his mother's phone.
"I was two towns over today!" the young woman barging through the door exclaimed. "You do not text me that I need to come over immediately and then not answer your phone when I call back to see what's wrong!"
Then the woman's eyes moved from Rosie, who stood at the fridge, over to the movement that was Lance jumping to his feet. Keith prepared his ears for more screeching, but thankfully this sibling's reaction was quiet and her words came out in a near whisper.
"Lancito."
"Hey, Gabby, Lance is home," Rosie said dryly, clearly unappreciative of Gabby's previous yelly lecture.
Keith wasn't sure who moved first between the two of them, but soon Lance and Gabby met in the middle of the kitchen in a tight hug. Gabby's tears began soon after, although — and Keith was maybe becoming an expert on different types of crying, wait till he told Shiro — Gabby's tears didn't have sobs or heaving breaths like Mora's or Rosie's. In fact, Gabby's tears, like Theo's, seemed happy, especially when she let a laugh bubble up from her chest.
Gabby pulled back and squeezed Lance's shoulders as she stared up at him. "I don't think I've ever been this happy in my entire life. I'm even going to ignore the fact that you're so much taller than me now, you jerk!" Then she pulled him into another hug with another laugh.
Keith glanced at the others. Theo looked ready to jump in on the hug. Rosie did too, which was promising, since she was clearly still angry and had been keeping a few feet between her and Lance since telling him about their father's actions over the past year.
And other than encouraging Lance to keep trying to get through to his father or brother on the phone, Mora had been quiet since Keith's earlier revelation that Lance had been in space all this time. It worried him, actually, since Lance being in space was one of the smaller details of the entire Voltron story Lance still had to tell.
"Gabs, this is my boyfriend, Keith," Lance finally said, pulling away slightly to point Gabby in Keith's direction.
"Ay por dios," Gabby's own blue eyes widened at the sight of Keith. "You have cat ears and that's important and we will come back to it, but I'm just going to hug you right now."
And then Keith was pulled into a tight hug by Lance's big sister and remarkably felt entirely comfortable — although he'd appreciated the fist bump Theo had offered him earlier — because this was the first McClain family member who reacted as Keith, and probably Lance, had hoped.
"Does papá know?" Gabby asked, spinning around to the others. "Is he on his way?"
Rosie scowled and was about to answer when Mora's phone began ringing on the island countertop.
Keith was currently closest to it, so he picked it up and gingerly handed it to Lance. Lance fumbled with the connect button for a moment but then he quickly began speaking as soon as the phone was to his ear.
"Papá, es Lance. He regresado."
Keith's ears flicked up — quickly drawing the attention of every other person in the room — as he heard a man's voice repeating Lance's name on the other end.
Lance turned his back to the others as he began to run his fingers through his hair.
"Yes, papá —" Lance's voice cracked on the last word and Keith could hear crying on the other end of the line as well.
Keith chewed on his lower lip and kept his eyes on Lance's back as he once again wondered if there was something he could do to help make this entire process easier for Lance. For everyone, really. Had he been expecting so many tears on this trip? Seeing all of their reactions in person made Keith realize a smooth and happy reunion as Lance returned to his family two years after disappearing — literally off the face of the Earth — had been completely unrealistic.
Keith thought about how he'd felt when he'd first laid eyes on Shiro after Shiro had been missing and presumed dead for over a year. He'd been relieved, although not enough to actually cry. While he thought of Shiro as an older brother, he hadn't actually grown up with Shiro. Plus, Pidge seemed to indicate that this same sort of deal was going on in her house right now, too, which also made him wonder how Hunk was faring at his own house.
So, likely, these reactions weren't specific to the McClain family, but maybe just to families in general? Either way, it was clear enough to Keith that without Lance, this family had fractured.
Laney toddled over to where he sat on a stool at the kitchen island then and he resigned himself to her stubborn insistence that she be allowed full access to his lap. He lifted her up and helped her settle before his attention went back to Lance.
"No, no, I haven't been hurt — well, I mean, I have, but — no, no I'm perfectly fine now." Lance ran his hand through his hair again and let out a deep sigh.
Laney's little hands reached up for his ears again and Keith had to wrap his hand around her back to keep her from unbalancing herself enough to fall off his lap. He found it slightly amusing that he was forced to keep the tiny creature, who was intent on pulling on his ears repeatedly, safe and unhurt. His ears flicked free repeatedly from her tiny fists while Keith continued to do his best to prevent her from plummeting to the floor.
"Wait, what?" Lance said suddenly, spinning around with wide eyes that he pinned directly on Keith. "You called because a space ship just found you?"
Mora stood and quickly approached Lance with concern written all over her face.
"Apparently McClains are cursed in that desert," Theo murmured.
"Don't joke, this is serious," Rose said, elbowing him as she spoke. She stood as well and approached Lance. "Aliens want papá and Mark now too?"
Lance's eyes moved over his stressed family members and then shot back to Keith before he spoke again. "An alien with an orange moustache is asking you to get in his spaceship?" Lance said with a frown at Keith.
"I thought it would be faster," Keith murmured.
"Papá, put Coran on the phone. Yes, yes I know his name."
Mark and Lance's father, Ray, had been dropped off by Coran about half an hour ago. Laney had happily run up for a hug from her own father while Keith watched Lance's father openly weep as soon as he crossed the threshold and Lance charged into his arms for a fierce hug. Ray was also quite tall, and Keith thought about how there had just been zero chance for Lance to have not ended up with those long limbs Keith liked so much.
Mark's hug was noticeably different than the others Lance had received that day. For one, there weren't tears from Mark, although Keith would've preferred tears over the harsh way Mark's fingers were squeezing Lance's arms. And considering his face really just looked like an older and slightly more haggard version of Lance's face, Keith found it unsettling to see such a deep frown etched into Mark's expression.
Finally, Mark pulled back from Lance and just stared at him. There was hostility directed towards Lance there, despite the fact that the two had just been hugging. It made Keith's eyes narrow, but he knew there wasn't much he could do. This was Lance's older brother, after all. Lance had even called him his best friend earlier. Keith was going to have to overlook the way Mark's fingers appeared to be trying to bruise Lance's arms. For now.
"You're taller than me now," Mark finally murmured as he finally released Lance and held his arms out for Laney again.
Lance chuckled nervously, his eyes still on Mark even though Mark was no longer looking at him. "Yeah, uh, there's some deal about the way gravity affects the bone's growth plates in space. Or something."
"Space," Mark repeated. He turned a glare in Lance's direction and Lance's eyes widened in surprise. "Let me guess, the man with the orange moustache asked if you wanted a ride in his space craft and you just jumped in without a thought about how you were being abducted? Or how our parents would react to your disappearance?"
"What? No." Lance was shaking his head as Keith finally gave into the urge to go stand next to him.
"Who is this?" Mark asked, finally noticing the extra person in their home. "Did you actually bring home an alien?"
Keith's ears immediately flattened and he cringed slightly as Mark took a deliberate step away from him, although he felt slightly better when Laney's arms reached out to him and she happily squeaked out a "Kitty!"
"Mamá!" Mark spun around towards Mora. "Has my daughter been playing with an alien?"
"Mark," Mora said, slowly, "this is Keith."
"Keith is my boyfriend," Lance interjected, bristling already at Mark's behavior. "I brought him with me so you could all meet him, and because I wanted him to meet all of you."
"And Laney happens to love him," Gabby added.
Mark continued to stare at the rest of them as if they'd lost their minds. He huffed out a breath and began to walk off towards the bedrooms. "I have to put Laney in bed," he called over his shoulder. "But then you're telling us about space, Lance."
Lance, in turn, grabbed Keith's hand and headed for the closest exit, which was the sliding door that led out to the lanai. He pulled Keith outside and quickly slid the door shut behind them before pressing his back up against the glass and just allowing himself to stand there and breathe.
Keith eyed the rest of the family inside. They'd all moved as if to follow, but stopped when Lance's back hit the glass. Now they stood still, as if completely unsure what to do.
"Are they coming out here?" Lance asked in a quiet voice.
"No," Keith answered. He turned his full attention to Lance and moved to plant himself in front of him. "Are you okay?"
"Are you okay?" Lance quickly responded. He pulled himself off the door in order to stand properly as his eyes shot to Keith's face. "I'm sorry Mark was being a jerk." He lifted a hand to cup Keith's face and smiled when Keith not only leaned into it, but those flattened ears lifted happily away from his hair.
"You don't have to apologize, Lance." He pulled Lance's hand away from his face only so he could hold it within his own. "You've been missing. And then to turn up suddenly after two years?"
Lance could only nod in agreement, still in the middle of trying to process everyone's reactions himself.
"Lance, are you still sure I should be here? I mean, honestly, I won't be offended if you think I should go back to the castle while you —"
"What? No. No way," Lance said with a shake of his head.
"I can always come back later, Lance. Maybe after they've had some time to adjust? I'm sure they'd really rather spend time with just you."
Lance shook his head again and reached out to pull Keith into a hug. A fuzzy ear flickered against Lance' cheek as Keith went willingly into the embrace, fitting perfectly as always curled into Lance's chest.
"I need you here, space cat," Lance whispered. "They're hurt and mad and upset and this is so much harder than I thought it was going to be. Please stay with me."
Keith nodded into Lance's neck. "Whatever you want," he whispered back.
"Hmm, whatever, huh?" Lance let his lips pull up into a slow grin as he pulled his head back enough to see Keith's face again. He let himself fall into the familiar teasing because he needed a moment to forget about the stress and anger and sadness waiting for him on the other side of this door. And while that was the family he'd been missing desperately in there, the fact that he hadn't seen them in over two years — the unfamiliar qualities of each of them he was picking up on — was hitting him hard.
He tightened his arms around Keith. Keith, who was his safe spot, even if said safe spot was rolling his eyes at Lance's teasing right now.
"None of that," Keith chided. "We're doing none of that in your parents' house."
"What?!" Lance's mouth dropped open in shock.
A fist knocked sharply on the glass behind Lance's head, and Lance turned with a forced smile and nod of acknowledgement to Mark. Mark didn't smile back, only turned and headed back towards the rest of the family.
"Mark isn't a frowner," Lance murmured as he watched his big brother walk away. "Like, even if I beat him in video games or knocked him into the pool fully clothed, he'd still have a smile."
Keith watched Mark walk away as well. Mark's anger was clearly a defense mechanism, and he was willing to give the big brother the benefit of the doubt. "He's been worried about you."
"Well, maybe after I explain everything, he'll go back to being Mark?"
Keith didn't know how to answer that. So he pressed his lips against Lance's briefly and then slid the door behind Lance open.
Lance had pulled Keith down on the couch next to him when they joined the others in the main room. Keith sat close to Lance, slightly out of necessity since Theo had seated himself on Keith's other side and was crowding him in an effort to be closer to Lance. Keith was surprised Theo was over here, actually, since the rest of the family had opted to sit somewhere in front of Lance — with his parents and Gabby on the opposite couch, Mark sitting on the edge of the fireplace, and Rosie in a chair she'd dragged over from the kitchen table — all positions which kept Lance in their direct line of sight. Theo was admittedly sitting on the edge of the couch to do the same and Keith did his best to press himself against the back of his seat, giving Theo a better chance to watch Lance.
"Lance," Ray said calmly, "where have you been?"
"Did this Coran guy kidnap you or not?" Mark asked harshly.
"No, Coran wouldn't kidnap anyone," Lance said. "He's like our weird space uncle."
"Our?" Mora asked.
"Yeah, uh, when I left Earth, I was with —"
"So you're saying you went with him willingly?" Mark asked. "Just jumped in his spaceship?"
"And didn't think maybe you should call your family first?" Rosie asked.
"Or — I don't know — not go into space?" Mark added.
"We didn't know where you were," Theo murmured in a tone that was different from Mark's or Rosie's in that it was slightly more hurt than angry.
Keith watched Lance flash Theo an apologetic look before waving his hands in front of him to try to stop the others. "No, no, we didn't just —"
"It figures he'd just jump into an alien spaceship," Mark muttered, dropping his forehead to his hands. "How many times did we have to explain why candy from strangers was bad?"
Lance pulled a face before saying, "Mark, this is hardly the same situation, dude. When I left it was —"
"So you're saying you didn't just jump into an alien spaceship?" Mark countered.
"Well —"
"Ay por dios."
Now Ray was dropping his face into his own hands, and Mora appeared to be on the verge of tears again.
"Can we just let Lance talk?" Gabby asked. She rubbed Mora's shoulder in a comforting manner while shooting Mark a look before pointedly glancing back at their mother.
Keith watched Mora's eyes shine with tears and wondered if he should ask if she wanted to switch seats so she could sit next to Lance, except that Lance's shoulders were drooping lower and lower and Keith needed to comfort Lance more than he wanted to comfort his mother. He wanted to grab hold of one of Lance's hands in support, but Lance's hands were busy repeatedly raking through his hair again in worry. So instead, Keith scooted closer to his boyfriend, pressing himself against Lance's side so that their legs were touching. Lance took a deep breath and glanced at Keith before turning back to his family.
"Well, uh, the night I left the Garrison, I was being a good teammate, you know, trying to bond with Hunk and Pidge. We saw something crash land nearby —"
"Did you alert your superiors when you saw the crash?" Mark asked.
Keith narrowed his eyes at Mark when he felt Lance shift nervously in his seat next to him. This was going to take all night if Mark interrupted with snarky questions after every one of Lance's sentences.
"No, we went to investigate ourselves."
"Yeah, that makes total sense," Mark deadpanned.
Keith could physically feel Lance shrink next to him and he silently repeated Shiro's rule number two. Don't fight. Don't fight. Don't fight.
Thankfully, Ray and Mora both jumped in.
"Markos," Ray said, sharply.
"I want to hear Lance's story," Mora added. After all, Keith had said Lance had been in space. She needed to know how one of her babies have ended up so far from home. So she looked back to Markos and sent him another pleading look to let Lance speak. Mark responded by dropping his face back to his hands, blocking them all from his vision. She hated that he was so upset. But for the moment he was being quiet, so she looked back to Lance to encourage him to continue.
Lance was watching Mark with a hurt expression on his face. But a slight press of Keith's leg against his own seemed to bring him back to the rest of the group. He cleared his throat and began talking again. He spent the next few minutes explaining how they'd seen Takashi Shirogane on a security feed at the crash site, about Keith's diversion, and how he'd run into the tent once he'd seen Keith sneaking in. He made it all the way to explaining that they needed to get Shiro somewhere safe before he was interrupted again.
"You went with a stranger to his shack in the middle of the desert —"
"Keith may not have remembered me —"
"I did too," Keith muttered.
"— but he wasn't a stranger, Mark," Lance answered.
"So when did the aliens show up?" Rosie asked.
"They didn't," Lance said in a softer tone. "We went to them."
"Coño," Mark muttered into his hands.
"Mark!" Gabby snapped before their mother could even complain about his language.
"Oh, come on, Gabs!" Mark yelled back. "Does any of this surprise you when it comes to Lance? Oh, oh! And now, this stranger who dragged him out into the desert? Is now his boyfriend? His alien boyfriend? You're so fucking naive, Lance!" Mark jumped to his feet and paced to the other side of the room before turning to glare at Lance again. "That laid back attitude everyone loves about you? Just leads you to go along with any fucking thing that anyone suggests to you!"
Lance jumped to his feet as well and Keith resisted the urge to do the same.
Don't fight. Don't fight. Don't fight.
"I didn't just go along with it, Mark! My lion chose me!"
"Your what?"
"He's a defender of the universe!" Keith suddenly interjected in a loud voice, which he softened slightly before speaking again. "He's been away at war."
Too blunt, too fucking blunt, Keith thought as immediate tears began to stream down Mora's face, Ray's grimace grew deeper, Gabby gasped, and Theo and Rosie's mouths dropped open in horror.
"Markos sit down and be quiet," Ray said in a low voice.
Mark did as his father asked while Keith turned his attention back to Lance, now the only one standing in the room. He took in Lance's heaving chest and tightened fists. He quietly switched to the Altean language before he spoke again.
"Please sit back down, baby."
There were confused looks from everyone when they heard the foreign language. But Mora watched as Lance's eyes flew to Keith's face as a range of emotions ran across Lance's face, including shock, fondness, and then frustration as Lance shot a finger out to point accusingly at Keith before replying, also in a language none of them understood.
"That's not fair!" Lance said suddenly with his finger pointed accusingly at Keith. "You don't get to pull out your first proper pet name for me when I can't even respond correctly!"
"How do you want to respond?"
"With kisses, you jackass!" Lance watched Keith smirk at him as he finally sat back down next to him and slid his hand into Keith's hand. "Not cool, Keith. Not cool."
Keith smiled in response. Because Lance's smile was a little shaky, but it was there.
And to Mora, it didn't matter that she didn't understand any of the words exchanged between the two. Her hand had flown up to her own mouth as she had watched the outrageous posture, heard the mock indignation in his tone of voice, and saw the genuine smile that crossed her son's face. This was Lance. This was the boy they'd all missed. She glanced around the room and noticed that everyone else, including Mark, had stilled to stare as well.
Mora turned to consider Keith again. Other than the furry ears, which she hadn't been sure were real earlier, she hadn't given the other boy much consideration in her overwhelming relief to see Lance alive in front of her. But she could feel herself growing fonder of Keith as she watched him not only calm Lance, but bring him back to himself so easily with a few words and a smirk of his own.
"Tell them the rest of the story." Keith spoke again in English now that Lance was calmer and even openly smiling. Keith turned back to the rest of the family and caught a soft look passed between Mora and Ray before their own hands met and clasped together.
Mora then did her best to send an understanding look to her eldest son. She had been there, after all, to see Mark fall apart as the days went by and they had no word from or about Lance. She'd seen him when he lost his job because he'd been unable to get out of bed and go to work. She'd helped him when he moved back in with them — into the guest room because there was no way he could stay in his and Lance's old room. She'd heard him cry and rage and punch the walls. She'd stayed up late worrying about yet another son when he'd begun to stay out all night. And she'd tried to remain calm when he came home and told them that he was going to have a baby with a girl he'd only just met.
And then when he had brought Laney home, an event that should've been joyous but was actually heartbreaking because Mark's best friend — the person he'd named his daughter after — wasn't there to meet Mark's firstborn.
And as Lance tried to explain to them about a cave with lion drawings and a seemingly magical blue lion space craft, all she really heard was Lance telling them he'd been hurtling through space for the past two years. So far out of their reach that it was making her chest hurt again.
Author notes:
I hope I've done my job in all those words up there explaining why this reunion just can't be all fluff.
I'd like to say a special thank you to mytay and suitboxers, both of whom sent positive feedback after reading this first part. I've been writing this entire story for the past month solid and their encouragement has kept me going. Big hugs to you both!
I do not speak Spanish, but I have a friend who not only speaks Spanish and offered to let me run some phrases by them, but who also helped me find some Cuban Spanish references. However, I still take full responsibility for any misused/inappropriate words in the story.
Here are a couple translations (or feelings) that were meant to be expressed above:
Chiquilla – term of endearment for a little girl
Coño – shock and anger
Ay por dios – oh my God
"Papá, es Lance. He regresado." – "Papa, its Lance. I'm back."
I'm basically just basing the McClain family home on my own uncle's house in Florida. I can't write about what it's actually like in space, but I can write about what its actually like in his part of Florida ;)
