i published this on ao3 like a year and a half ago. i forgot fanfiction dot net existed. my bad

"Do you think there's anyone else out there?"

Slender fingers reached out towards the midnight sky, a small fist opening and closing as if grasping for the stars themselves. Hunk tilted his head to look at his companion, his hair nearly catching between the rooftop tiles; Lance's gaze remained locked onto the glowing moonlight shining between his fingers.

"What, you mean like… in space?" Afraid to shatter the silence that blanketed the neighborhood, Hunk spoke in no more than a murmur.

"Mhm." Lance's brow furrowed. "I mean… there has to be, right? We can't be the only ones."

Hunk hummed thoughtfully. "Yeah, I… yeah. I guess so." He glanced suspiciously at the satellite blinking its way across the horizon before turning to look back up at the moon. "How will we ever know, though?"

An absentminded hand fell back to the rooftop, and Hunk felt Lance's pinky finger curl around his own. Lance liked the reassurance that he was not alone, Hunk had learned, especially when it was dark like this. Hunk didn't mind.

"I'm gonna find out."

Lance spoke with such confidence that it took a moment for Hunk to tie what he said together with what he meant.

"You… sorry, what?"

Lance turned to look at him, close enough that he could see the eager grin and dancing blue eyes even in the darkness. "I'm gonna find out," Lance repeated, voice hardly more than a breath, "if there are aliens."

Hunk blinked. "How are you going to do that?"

Waving his free hand vaguely eastward, Lance leaned in even closer. "I'm going to join the Galaxy Garrison," he declared proudly, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards in self-satisfaction. "Fighter pilots get to fly the fastest ships in the world, basically. I'm gonna join, and I'm gonna be the best there is so that they'll have to send me all over the solar system. Then I'll definitely find aliens."

For some reason, he sounded sad. Hunk gripped Lance's hand that much tighter, thinking.

"I'll go with you."

Lance's eyes widened imperceptibly in the moonlight. "Huh?" he croaked, studying Hunk's face with an intensity Hunk had never seen before.

"I'll go with you," Hunk repeated slowly, as if he didn't quite believe it himself. "I'll help you look for aliens. Besides," he gave Lance a fond smile, "somebody has to be there to keep you in line."

"B-But," Lance spluttered, sitting upright and leaning over him, "you can't! You'll puke everywhere, buddy!"

"My motion sickness isn't that bad – "

"Spiral staircases make you queasy, Hunk!"

Hunk propped himself up on his elbows, ignoring the roof tiles digging uncomfortably into his forearms. "I'm not gonna let you wander off into space by yourself, man. I mean, if you really don't want me there then I'll just stay here, but if I study really hard and really improve my engineering skills and also somehow convince my mom, then maybe we could go out there togeth – "

He groaned as Lance abruptly barreled into him, knocking him onto his back. One hand shot up to cradle the back of his own head from where it had cracked against the rooftop, the other reaching out to rest on Lance's back. Lance buried his face in Hunk's shoulder, his legs sprawled out behind him.

"You just can't stand the thought of being away from me," Lance mumbled, voice muffled by the thick flannel of Hunk's pajama top.

Hunk laughed, his other hand falling to hold Lance tighter. "Yeah," he sighed, resting his cheek on Lance's hair.

"Yeah, that's exactly it."

hmu at prospitiangoose dot tumblr dot com, i like bnha and yelling about naruto. peace