Left foot, right foot, left knee, left knee, right instep, left knee, hold.

'I miss him.' Lance tipped the sponge back onto his right foot and continued tapping it back and forth while Hunk worked. The engineer knelt with his head buried inside the bowels of a beat-up old engine. 'Don't you miss him?' No answer. 'Hunk?'

There was a solid clang! and yelp. Hunk extracted himself from the engine, rubbing at his sore head with one grimy hand. 'Huh? Who? Bi Bo Bi?' Hunk's face darkened and he muttered, 'I hate that jerk.'

Lance blustered, almost choking on his indignation, and sat forward. The sponge ball rolled off in a wide arc and was immediately set upon by the space mice. 'Him!' he threw his hand at the stars stretching beyond the window. 'Mullet. The artist formerly known as the Black Paladin formerly know as the Red Paladin formerly known as the wash-out formerly known as the garrison hot-shot.' Quieter then, 'Keith.'

Humming quietly, Hunk clipped the torque wrench back into place. He fixed Lance with a stare then issued an all-too casual: 'Makes sense.'

Lance's mouth dropped open, appalled. '"Makes sense." That's all?'

'Yeah.' Hunk shrugged, thought a moment longer, shrugged again, then climbed to his feet. The space mice tumbled past him on the sponge. He delicately stepped around them. 'Yeah, I mean, I miss him too and all but, you know: even more lion changes, all this coalition stuff, and then Matt being around…' He rolled a loose bolt under his sole. 'I honestly haven't had time to think about it much, man.'

'It!?' Lance squawked. 'Haven't! Not! Whuh- What?! Not enough time?!' He dogged Hunk, trying his best to meet his eye but getting a faceful of wire-brush or paint thinner instead. He snatched at his friend's arm. 'Any time we form Voltron? Or eat together? Or you see a terrible haircut!?' He huffed, 'Any time I pilot Red? Fly her into your flank because she's too damn fast and I'm too slow?'

Hunk clipped closed the toolkit and hummed again, thoughtful. He picked up the kit with a groan and left the defunkt engine unfinished on the floor. When he paused at the door, he spoke with no small amount of trepidation. 'Yeah, but, you guys always had that like… thing.'

Lance's eyes narrowed. 'What thing?'

Hunk chuckled. 'You know: the thing?'

Small words, dropped like heavy stones: 'We do not have a thing.'

A large hand landed on Lance's shoulder and squeezed. 'Oh, man. You have a thing. Real bad, you have a thing.' And he was gone.

'We don't have a thing,' Lance said to an empty room.

Thanks! I'm on tumblr as froldgapp.