If you've read my story Heart Flower, you'll note that this Heart Flower AU is . . . very much not the same, whoops (the idea was for it to be the same, but it shifted as I wrote) but it has some similarities.

"What's wrong, love?" Hunk asked quietly, sliding his hand along Lance's shoulders.

Lance turned to him, shifting uncomfortably. "Sorry, I've been distracted. It's a lot to. . ." He waved his hand, indicating the Castle around them.

Hunk frowned. "Not upset at you." he said, meeting Lance's eyes. "You're not acting like yourself, and I just wanted to check on you." he added gently, opening his arms just as Lance pressed against him, leaning into him for support.

Hunk held him tight, needing the reassurance just as much. He'd felt anxious and sick for the past three days without the slightest abatement, with the terror, the horribleness of especially the longest flight - Lance had loved the crazy loops and soaring in Blue, and Hunk didn't begrudge him that, but it was never Hunk's thing, even with his soulmate flying - and the mind-boggling changes they'd been through.

"I was. . ." Lance trailed off, and Hunk gently rubbed up and down his back, even as he eased back. "I was wondering. . . What it would do to be . . . away from a Heart Flower. Far away. And . . . for so long."

Hunk startled - but, then, of course, Lance had interrupted him to drag him out for the night, the night they had . . . really left, and had no idea what he'd been doing.

"Damn, we don't even know what the Garrison will do with them when- when we don't come back." Lance said, his face beginning to look a little ashy. "Even if they're still healthy, I mean, we're gone, our Flowers. . ."

"What flowers are you speaking of?" Allura's voice made Hunk startle, and Lance flushed, his expression twisting as he tried to switch gears from his uncertain, too-quick speech with Hunk to his usual confident mien when talking to . . . most people.

"Uh, they're. . . They're part of us." Lance said, looking uncomfortable as he turned and put his back against Hunk, almost leaning on his shoulder. Hunk shook off his surprise and opened his mouth to help.

"Everyone - well, every human, I suppose," Pidge said, sliding into the conversation with wonderful timing, "has one; for our heart." Then, to Hunk's amazement, she reached into the bag she had once more slung over her shoulder, and withdrew something small and dull green tucked in the curve of her fingers.

"Oh! And you say these are. . ." Allura hesitated, her fingers hovering a good few inches from the spiky, grey-green fronds cupped in Pidge's palm. "A representation of your hearts?"

"A manifestation." Keith corrected, folding his arms. Hunk hadn't seen him coming over either. He was also still wearing his armour, which was slightly unsettling.

"Manifestation, yes, of course." Allura didn't seem phased by the correction. "Alteans. . . We have something similar, but a plant. . ."

"Heart Flowers." Hunk said quietly, not quite meaning to.

Allura looked surprised. "It's what they're called." Pidge supplied, with a shrug. "Every one of us has one, and we keep it with us all our lives. Mostly." she added, frowning.

"Mostly?" Allura asked curiously.

Shiro was still wearing his armour as well, coming up behind Keith. He appeared to be caught up talking with Coran, but evidently he'd heard them as well. "It's common to give your Heart Flower to someone you love; your soulmate." he provided, resting a hand on Keith's shoulder. "Or for a couple to plant theirs together."

"Plant?" Allura asked, looking at the spiky ball in Pidge's hand.

"Uh, most people's are not like mine." Pidge said, laughing. "Mine is an air plant. See? It's not supposed to be in dirt, like . . . pretty much every other kind of plant. It just needs light and water sometimes. Most people have theirs in pots."

"My Mamá has hers planted in our garden." Lance said softly, surprising everyone from their planet except Hunk, who had met Lance's mother and wouldn't have been so surprised even if he hadn't already known. "Mine. . . I just- I was wondering how far . . . for how long- I don't know."

"Lance." Shiro said gently, his voice low, and Lance looked up. "You'll be okay." he offered, and Hunk could see realisation dawn on his soulmate's face at the same time it hit him. There was no way Shiro's Heart Flower had been with him while he was captured by the Galra - and he certainly hadn't had it when they had rescued him.

"I- Shiro-" Lance stumbled over his words. "Thanks." he said faintly, and Shiro looked uneasy as he nodded acknowledgement. Keith took his hand, rubbing the back lightly, comforting.

"Lance-" Hunk began, but fell silent as Shiro spoke again.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what the Garrison's policy might be in the case of someone who disappeared without their Heart Flower, though." Shiro said, frowning.

". . .uh?" Hunk began tentatively, not sure how to ask.

"I left mine with my soulmate, not in the Garrison's hands." Shiro said softly, looking at Keith, and Hunk's eyes widened. He somehow hadn't realised. No wonder Keith had been-

"And I wasn't going to let them take charge of it." Keith said, glaring, his hands curling into fists at his sides even when Shiro patted him calmingly.

"Right, um," Hunk began again, "Lance, can I-"

"How can you entrust so much of yourself to a plant, I," Allura paused, "well, I mean no offense, but it seems like such a fragile thing to hold one's essence."

Hunk sighed, wincing a little as he tried to think how you could explain Heart Flowers to someone with zero experience of them. It was-

"Good question, Princess." Pidge said dryly, looking at the little air plant she held.

. . .fine, let her handle it. Hunk needed to-

"Lance," Hunk said urgently, drawing his soulmate away just as he had been stepping forward, "your Heart Flower isn't back at the Garrison."

". . .what?" Lance said, and then paled. "Wait, Hunk-"

"No, no, I mean- Mine- It was reflowering." Hunk said, tugging Lance a little further away from the others - he was no longer at all resisting - so they wouldn't be overheard. He didn't like to talk about the specifics of his Heart Flower's life - not quite like a mundane sunflower, but not steady and unchanging, either - with anyone else. Lance, of course, was . . . different. "So I had it in a smaller pot, but it's begun growing so I was on my way to get a bigger pot again when you found me that- that night. When we left."

". . .you brought our Heart Flowers?" Lance said faintly, and Hunk nodded slightly, flushing. "Hunk, mi cariño, you . . . you are amazing."

Hunk laughed softly, and he was about to refute it - it was hardly like he'd done it on purpose, he'd simply already had them with him and hadn't mentioned it as Lance had been quite focused - when Lance kissed him. Hunk caught him around the waist, happily losing himself in the familiar heat and headlong rush of kissing Lance.

"Ah, Hunk?" Lance asked as the kiss broke, slightly breathless.

"Mm?" Hunk stroked his cheek with absent fondness, smiling and still catching his own breath.

"Can we go see them now?" Lance asked, glancing over his shoulder at where the others . . . had been; there was no one still there now.

Hunk smiled a little, hugging Lance tight. "Of course. I'm sorry, it was- Everything was going so fast and there was so much, I didn't think that you didn't know, or to bring them to you." he apologised, stroking Lance's cheek again and kissing him softly before stepping back.

Lance strode along at his side, and Hunk led his soulmate to his room, opening the doors and nudging Lance inside ahead of him. He hesitated, only continuing when Hunk stepped up behind him, hands on his shoulders.

The bright little sunflower was sitting on the floor by Hunk's bed; a little battered from getting thrown around - along with Hunk - on this adventure, though the pot itself was more the worse for wear. The pot hadn't been in the best shape before their trip here.

The sturdier body of the sunflower had kept the delicate tendrils of his soulmate's Heart Flower safer, however, and Hunk smiled as he urged Lance towards them.

Lance sank down to the floor beside the Flowers, legs crossed, and delicately brushed his fingertips over the petals of Hunk's Heart Flower. He smiled as his heart felt warm from the inside at the touch, and moved to join his soulmate on the floor, sitting beside him.

Lance shifted, folded his legs beside him instead, and curled sideways to lean his head on Hunk's shoulder, sniffling a little. Hunk wrapped an arm around him. He trailed his fingers down the thick stem beneath the heavy sunflower, crossing over the viny tendrils and ruffled leaves of his own Flower curled snugly around Hunk's.

Hunk rubbed a hand up and down his back, holding Lance close.

"Hunk?" Lance's voice was soft. His fingers drifted back up the stem of the sunflower to caress its petals, and the pricklier centre. Hunk hummed, prompting Lance to continue, soothed by his soulmate's touch. "Can I stay in here tonight?" he asked, nuzzling a little closer to Hunk as he spoke.

Hunk startled, then smiled, leaning closer in return. "If you want . . . you can move them to your room." he offered, touching one silky, thin bloom from Lance's Heart Flower.

"No, you-" Lance shifted, shoving at Hunk lightly, then sliding into his lap. "It isn't the Flowers I want to be near - though I am very glad," he kissed Hunk lightly, "that you have them, that you brought them, somehow," he smiled as he straightened again, his back to the twined flowers in their pot, "I want to be with you, cariño."

"Oh." Hunk looked away shyly, feeling his face warm. They hadn't ever really. . . At the Garrison, they had - rarely - fallen asleep together after spending time together, but they had never shared quarters properly. "I would like to have you close." he agreed, catching one of Lance's hands and twining their fingers together.

Lance wrapped his other arm around Hunk's shoulders, sliding closer, legs splaying a little wider around Hunk's waist, and kissed him needily. Hunk squeezed his hand and hugged him tight around the waist, tipping his head up and welcoming Lance's kiss with pleasure. Lance was warm and clingy, leaning into him and hanging off his shoulders, and Hunk felt more grounded and steady - for the first time in days - with him there.

Like the beautiful blue flowers and slender vines of Lance's Heart Flower wrapped around the steady, straight spine of his own. Hunk smiled, biting gently at Lance's lower lip and hugging him a little closer still.

Pidge tapped the button by Hunk's door, not surprised when it slid open immediately.

She leaned in with a smile, waving as Hunk looked up. "Hey! Just wanted to check on you after that last training session. Oh, and bring you this!" Pidge held out the mini Altean tablet she'd been screwing around with earlier, with Hunk's help, but then something else drew her eye and she paused.

"Is that your. . ." Pidge caught herself and trailed off, looking at the huge sunflower resting in a heavy green pot nearby and resisting the impulse to touch its petals.

Hunk looked at it himself and grinned, stepping back to let Pidge into his room fully, which didn't do anything to quash the feeling. Heart Flowers were not usually so . . . welcoming. But then, Hunk was a very welcoming person.

Pidge's own Heart Flower was spiky and- and she kept it hidden away, mostly, but it hardly invited touch. Even before her family had been split and gone missing, after which her Flower had grown even spikier and the plant itself had curled inwards, smaller and . . . tougher, though its grey-green colour was stronger now than ever.

"Yeah. . . I wondered, a little, if being up here would be too hard on them, but it looks like the light the Alteans used has the right qualities to support them." Hunk smiled, and Pidge blinked, then winced.

Pidge had kept her Heart Flower in a drawer, back at the Garrison barracks, and she hadn't even considered being worried about it here. It was still alive, wasn't it? And she misted it every so often, as it needed. It was fine.

Pidge tilted her head, looking at the thin, viny tendrils curling around the sunflower's stem. She didn't know a lot about flowers - meh - but that looked like another kind. . .

A brilliant blue-purple bloom, large and trumpet-shaped, nodded into view from behind one of the sunflower's large leaves, and Pidge cocked her head. "That. . . You have another flower potted with your Heart Flower?" she said without thinking, and then-

Hunk's cheeks were shaded a dull red and he was looking at the floor, fidgeting. Pidge coughed and stepped back. Couples sometimes planted their flowers together, she remembered suddenly. Obvious. It just wasn't something Pidge exactly thought of normally. "Uh, sorry, none of my business." she said, glancing again at the bright blue flower - there were several blooms, she saw now, dotted along the trailing vine that wrapped around the sunflower from base to flower.

And-

Pidge remembered Lance draping around Hunk's back, chin on his shoulder, arms alternately flailing in broad, loud gestures or clinging close to Hunk. Hunk laughing and smiling fondly at Lance as he drew Lance in close to himself and Lance falling into his hugs or bending under his touch.

"Ah. Right. Um. Tablet! I brought it back to you," Pidge said abruptly, shoving the tablet towards Hunk again, "I'm pretty sure I didn't break anything and I managed to install a basic translation program for . . . well, just about everything, hopefully. It's just a test right now, but it might help with a few of the basic functions? Let me know if you figure out anything further though, right?"

"Yeah, sure!" Hunk said, accepting the tablet. "You sure you don't want. . ?"

Pidge grinned. "I've got my laptop. And a sweet bunch of tech Coran hasn't noticed I found yet." She winked. "Going to see if I can get something easier to use put together, but I didn't want to mess that up for you with my experiments." She nodded towards his newly-returned tablet. "I'll let you know if I find anything else awesome to implement."

Hunk laughed. "Thanks!" he replied, tapping its screen, and Pidge stepped back and slipped away, leaving Hunk alone in his room with only a last glance at his Heart Flower. Or . . . theirs, all curled together almost as smoothly as though the two very different plants were truly one.

Soulmates, Pidge thought.

Hunk's Heart Flower is of course a sunflower, and Lance's is a blue morning glory. (Pidge's POV was actually the first bit I wrote of this, the rest was added weeks later. XD I also have a prequel partially drafted that is set back at the Garrison when Hunk and Lance first get together, which I hope to finish at some point.)