Hunk didn't expect too much from life.
Sure, he and his Rhyperior, Ryan, had traveled all over the globe. And sure, he was probably one of the youngest engineers in his field. But at the end of the day all Hunk had ever wanted was to live a safe, peaceful life.
To spend his days designing new trainer tech, maybe help Ryan meet a cute Rhydon girl. Then retire in a cozy little cabin on some peaceful mountain somewhere.
Pure bliss.
Of course, then he'd started hanging out with Lance, and Hunk's dreams of a peaceful life flew far far away.
It wasn't that Hunk disliked Lance.
In fact the two were the best of friends. They'd had similar upbringings, had the same taste in movies and music, and shared a similar relaxed outlook on life. He couldn't count the number of times the two of them had just lain out in a pair of lawn chairs at night watching the stars.
It was just that Lance had something that people like Hunk lacked, and subsequently thought themselves better off without. And that was a sense of adventure.
Or rather what Lance defined as a sense of adventure. That usually involved getting lost in forests, caves, on mountains, and even out at sea.
It wasn't like Lance didn't have a sense of direction. He was arguably one of best navigators Hunk had had the pleasure of traveling with.
The problem was that Lance always insisted on shortcuts and detours that inevitably resulted in the two camping out for the night. Which in itself wasn't too bad. Hunk had camped out countless times in the past with his parents. It had been a regular summer thing for them.
But even he got sick and tired of having three day trips turn into week long excursions into the wilderness without warning. Hunk always erred on the side of of caution, and brought plenty of supplies to last the two long enough for them to reach a small town or city before starvation even became a passing thought. Still, the fact that his emergency rations proved to be necessary on almost every excursion had to be indicative of some kind of problem.
Recently, he and Lance had been spending more and more time together. Or rather, Lance had been showing up and hanging around the engineer much more often than before.
It wasn't a problem. Having your best friend come in unannounced is embarrassing but not really a problem. But Lance's constant intrusions on his life interfered with things. And inference was the last thing Hunk needed right now.
All his hard work over the past three years was finally paying off. He had finished the biggest engineering project he had ever undertaken and had just applied for a patent with a huge company. He'd crossed his heart prayed to whatever god would listen, and sent in the application.
Now he stalked the mailbox every morning, hoping for a response. The anticipation was killing his nerves and Lance's surprise visits weren't helping to calm him down.
There was a playful rap on the door.
Speak of the devil.
Hunk didn't even bother to get up. The knocking was mostly ceremony at this point. Both of them knew where the spare key was kept.
The door opened, and Lance sauntered in, a white box under his arm, and closed the door with his hip. He gave Hunk a huge grin before taking a seat at the table next to him.
A part of Hunk hated that grin. It was so self-assured and endearing that it made it incredibly hard to stay angry with its owner.
Especially when said owner brought donuts from Hunk's favorite bakery.
"Checked your mail yet today bud?"
Hunk hadn't. Being reminded of it didn't help the unease in his stomach.
It was the end of the expected response deadline and he had been putting off checking his mail slot all morning. Fearful that he would find it empty.
Lance seemed to read his expression.
"Oh c'mon. What's the worse that could happen?"
"I could get turned down."
"Well… yeah but that's-"
"And then I'll end up spiraling into a creative slump. I may never create a comprehensive design ever again."
"That seems a little unlikely-"
"I'll never get approved for a patent, and even if I did my designs would fail miserably! My name will be disgraced and stricken from the record! I'll end up living the rest of my life a hopeless nobody who never accomplished anything, and will probably end up living alone and forgotten in some cruddy backstreet apartment with fifty meowth's!"
Lance stared.
"Yyyyeah…. How about we dial the negativity down from an eleven to a nice cozy three, hmmkay?"
"Lance, this is serious!"
"But not THAT serious." He leaned back in his chair. "I mean c'mon Hunk! You're a genius! The youngest in your field! Any suited up bigshot would have to have mildew for brains to turn YOU down for a patent."
"Y-You really think so man?" Hunk allowed himself to sound hopeful.
It was moments like this that made Hunk remember why he and Lance were friends.
"I do buddy. Besides," Lance shrugged. "If you really do spiral into failure, there's always the post office."
The engineers face instantly fell as he groaned and buried his face in his hands. Moment ruined.
Lance had the decency to look sheepish.
"H-hey. C'mon. It was a joke. Y'know, to lighten the mood?" He stood up and leaned over to try and look his depressed friend in the face. But Hunk only buried himself further into the folds of his arms.
Biting his lower lip, Lance made his way to the door. "Look, I'll go check the mail slot right now!"
"NO!" Hunk bolted up and wrapped his arms around Lance's torso. Effortlessly lifting the skinnier man off the ground.
Lance yelped in surprise.
"What the hell are you doing, Hunk?! Put me down!"
"No! If I do, you'll open the mail slot, it'll be empty, and my entire future will be washed down the drain!"
"God dammit Hunk, no it won't!"
"You don't know that!"
"What are you gonna do then?! Just never check your mail ever again? Pretty sure after a few weeks, the neighbors would complain about the overflow of cooking magazines!"
"If I never check the mail, I can never be let down! It's like schrodinger's skitty!"
"Who-dinger?" Lance asked before shaking his head and kicking his legs to get out of Hunk's grasp. "Whatever, it doesn't matter! You'll have to put me down eventually and when you do, I'm opening that slot!"
"NEVER!"
There was the sudden sound of someone clearing their throat.
Lance looked over at the door and stopped struggled. Hunk followed his gaze.
His breath hitched when he saw Allura standing in the doorway looking at the whole scene with profound confusion.
"I, uh," she cleared her throat again. As though in some attempt to clear and steady her uneasy voice. "I knocked but there wasn't an answer. I know it was rude to just walk in uninvited but I heard shouting and-"
Hunk dropped Lance like a sack of bricks.
Lance's sneakers skidded on the hardwood floor, causing him to land on his bum.
"Gah, dangit Hunk, that hurt!"
"S-sorry."
"-and I thought I'd check to see if you were okay." Allura finished.
"Th-thanks for that Allura." Hunk shifted in place as he glanced at Lance who was giving the woman an interested look.
"Well, hello there." Lance began as he attempted to lean against a wall that wasn't there. Thankfully catching himself before falling over. After that Lance carried on as though nothing had happened. "Name's Lance."
Hunk couldn't understand where Lance got it. What reservoir of confidence did his best friend draw from?"
Unlike his skills in navigation, which Lance insisted were no big deal, his best friend had somehow convinced himself that he was the reincarnation of casanova. Despite his repeated failures to attract the attention of women, Lance remained convinced that he was some kind of expert ladies man.
The odd thing was that his pick up lines and flirtations were so bad, that some girls actually found them endearingly funny. Not enough to actually enter a relationship, but enough that every girl within a five mile radius of Lance's home knew who he was and either rolled their eyes at him or gave him a friendly hello upon meeting him in the street.
By the expression on her face, Allura appeared to belong in the former category.
However, a childhood learning proper etiquette caused Allura to repress the side of her nature that would have given someone like Lance a stern glare and an order to buzz off. Instead she nodded to him with a forced smile.
"Professor Allura. Charmed."
"So, uh, Allura," Hunk cut in before Lance could come up with some strange metaphor that compared the professor to some vague natural occurrence. "Wh-what are you doing here?"
"You haven't stopped by the lab in some time. So I came by to check in on you and see how you've been doing. Oh, and also," reaching down into her purse Allura brought out a small stack of envelopes. "I got your mail for you."
The two of them looked down at the small handful of paper.
Hunk made a break for it.
After much screaming and struggling (which mainly consisted of Lance preventing Hunk from escaping through the window whilst Allura looked on in confusion), the three sat quietly around the table as Hunk delicately opened each envelope and studied the contents.
The first was as ad for a local mattress store.
The second was a bill.
And the third-
Hunk sucked in his breath.
The envelope was a creamy ivory, and the paper felt thick and durable.
This wasn't some discount bin envelope. It wasn't a twenty-five cent piece of paper that one could use as a makeshift coaster.
It was the kind of envelope that was carefully crafted and sold in packages of ten in some high end print shop.
Turning over the envelope only confirmed Hunk's suspicions.
The address was unmistakable.
"So did ya get the letter?" Lance asked.
Allura shot him a reproachful glare before turning a gentle gaze onto Hunk.
"You should open it up. No sense in putting it off." She placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder in a silent attempt at encouragement.
Hunk stiffly nodded.
Carefully he slid a large finger under the flap and carefully began to open it along the adhesive. Lance tapped his finger on the table as the slow delicate process went on. After a few seconds the envelope was finally opened and Hunk delicately lifted the letter out and carefully unfolded it.
The reading of the letter was an experience.
Neither Lance nor Allura had ever seen someone read so slowly. Both were acquainted enough with Hunk to know that this was deliberate. Usually the engineer was an alarmingly quick reader, being able to run down a list of parts and instructions in a matter of seconds and commit them flawlessly to memory. It was one of things he was renowned for in the engineering field.
If you wanted a second opinion on a design, and you wanted it fast, you got Hunk as your proof-reader.
Having excused himself to get some coffee, Lance was surprised to return to find his best friend staring down at the piece of paper on the table with an unreadable expression upon his face. S
Setting down the coffee tray and grabbing the box of donuts, Lance quietly approached and asked as gently as possibly, "So… did you get rejected?"
Professor Allura looked as though she wanted to twist his ear off but providence was on Lance's side as both their attentions were caught by Hunk suddenly letting out a tired chuckle.
Hunk's chuckling gave way to laughter as he sat back in his chair and tried to stop the stream of tears that flowed from his eyes.
"Uhm," Lance began. "Look buddy, it's not the end of the world or anything. I mean… Y'know…"
Allura picked up the letter and quickly read it through herself.
A huge smile dominated her features.
"Congratulations Hunk!" She jumped up and threw her arms around the broad shouldered youth, devolving into her own set of giggles.
Lance frowned in confusion before leaning over and reading the paper for himself.
The legal jargon was honestly all greek to him, but he could gleam from the wording that Hunk had apparently got the job. Or at least that's what Lance assumed all the fancy business talk language meant.
Sighing, the young man smiled serenely at the sight of his best friend devolving into relieved tears. Even as the crying became somewhat excessive and Allura had to give him a handkerchief to keep the poor boy from dripping all over the new carpet.
Silently pouring a cup of coffee and taking a donut from the box, Lance kicked back in a chair by the window and looked out at the big open world.
He was happy for Hunk. Really happy. His best friend deserved to get this break. He'd worked hard and put his whole heart into his work.
Lance just hoped the world would let him have this.
Organizing samples? Check.
Sort through research files? Check.
Clean the lab? In progress.
Keith stared down at the shattered glass that had once been a beaker.
Thankfully it had been empty.
Sighing in frustration, Keith did his best to sweep up every shard of glass and dumped it in the outside trash for extra measure.
If he was lucky, Allura wouldn't notice that a beaker was missing. If he wasn't lucky, then he'd hear no end of the scoldings and the repeated reminders that he had to be more careful while cleaning the lab.
Honestly, working as a minor lab assistant wasn't where Keith thought his life would be at this point. Of course he'd never given much thought about where he would be at any point in time. He'd always just sort of took things as they came.
And that view point had worked for most of his life.
Up until he'd gotten booted from the rangers that is.
Keith supposed he really should be more appreciative that he had managed to get hired anywhere at all. Shiro had put in a good word for him with the professor, earning Keith a chance in the scientific community.
Honestly though, he wasn't much of a scientist. Most of the work wasn't too bad. Mainly consisting of general grunt work.
How Allura could stand sitting in a swivel chair, by herself, comparing hundreds of samples one at a time for hours on end was beyond him. If he'd tried to do something like that, Keith was sure he'd fall asleep at the microscope.
It was oddly inspiring in its own way.
Inspiring… but boring all the same.
As he walked back through the door into the lab, Keith teetered and was forced to grab the doorframe for support. Using his other free hand, he grasped at his head as another unwelcome dizzy spell came over him. Stumbling over to a nearby couch, Keith collapsed onto the cushions and waited for his world to balance itself out.
He buried his face into the stale smelling fabric in frustrations as, once again, he was rendered immobile against his will.
Thankfully he didn't have to pass it alone.
A warm breath washed over Keith's hair as a muzzle nuzzled his cheek and a long pink tongue gently wet his temple. Reaching up blindly, Keith placed a hand on the muzzle and rolled over cracking his eyes open to get a look at who was disturbing his unwanted break.
Two green eyes stared into his.
Despite himself, Keith gave a small smile.
"It's okay Redd." He patted the side of the charizards nose affectionately. "I'll be okay. Just need to take a little break."
The fire-type didn't look convinced, but reluctantly pulled her head back out the window in order to give her trainer some time to rest.
"Good girl." Keith sighed as he let his eyes close again and tilted his head back.
Allura would be returning shortly. He had, more or less, finished the work she'd given him for that morning and so was free to take a break. Hopefully he'd get ahold of himself before she returned.
The professor knew all about Keith's dizzy spells and often left plenty of leeway for the boy to take frequent short breaks so he could avoid being overwhelmed. And though he appreciated her kindness, it irritated the former ranger that people went out of their way to accommodate to him.
Regardless, he decided it'd best to take a nap. By the time he awoke Professor Allura would be back and hopefully have some more work with him.
As he let himself drift off to sleep, Keith clung to the hope that, eventually, something interesting would happen.