AU1: The Stars That Shine The Brightest, a voltron: legendary defender fanfic

Title: AU1 - Stars That Shine The Brightest

Summary:

"I'm sorry for your-" Shiro's words were interrupted when Lance launched himself forward and attached him to his midsection tight, and began to sob into his chest, letting all the pain go, and the surprise was evident on Shiro's face, his eyes open in shock at Lance's actions and he took at second before returning Lance's hug.

"You don't have to be sorry, you idiot," Lance muttered thickly when his first round of tears had subsided, "He loved you just as much as he loved me, just in a different way. It's your loss just as much as it's my own."

They come back home, and instead of the warm welcome that they expect, they are greeted with the news that opens a door of grief.

Warnings: This will have major character death, homophobic slurs, and heavy themes of grief. You will cry.

A.N. This is related to the other fic in the series: Lance Sanchez. I know it's long, but this WILL NOT MAKE SENSE if you don't read it! This is also an AU of my AU that Lance and Adam are brothers! This is a plot idea that couldn't leave me alone since I was halfway though Lance Sanchez, and so I had to write it out. I'm sorry. It follows closer to canon events

(? Years since Adam ran away; ? decapheobs since Lance left Earth – Time was weird and non-linear in space, it seemed.)

Despite the time that they had spent from their home planet, despite all the planets that they've seen, visited, saved, despite small and puny and underdeveloped it seemed against the rest, planet Earth was just as beautiful as ever.

With a bit of quick negations from both Keith and Allura, they were able to gain permission to land their Lions in the desert near to where they found the Blue Lion, and they let Allura and Coran marvel at the carvings inside the cliff before they walk out again, hands high in the air as military men point guns at their heads.

"What is it with people and handcuff," Lance muttered as they had their hand put behind them and cuffing them there, but if the look on the alien's faces, the blank stare of Keith's and the bashful smiles of Shiro, it seemed that these cuffs would not last as long as the space cuffs.

The truck ride across the desert to the Garrison was uneventful and quiet, the soldiers having been ordered to silence and the Paladins having nothing eventful to say either, buzzing with excitement to be back home and in reach to loved ones for the first time in years.

Once they get to the building, they're escorted through a side entrance and through some security doors, away from the other working civilians and cadets, before each quietly being separated, each lead by an officer with a helmet on and each taken down different corridors. If it had been a different situation, if it had been in space and with Galra instead of on Earth with humans, then maybe Lance would have been scared, would have been worried about what would happen to him, to his team and to the friends that he had made. Now, thought, now he was more concerned about the people that would have to deal with them, and wondering if the Garrison had enough budget for the people who undoubtedly needed therapy after this.

He was quickly ushered into a small empty side office, comfortable but compact. A small window that gave enough view of the desert to know that there was nothing out there, but still too small to sneak out off. A single deck with its duel monitor computer, and as much as it was tempting to sit at it and type in Adam's password (he wouldn't have changed it, the dumbass), he still had his hands cuffed behind his back.

He slowly sat down on the chair facing the deck, and took in a deep breath. He was back on Earth! He should be happy, this is all he really wanted since he went to space, but he couldn't help but feel tense. He hadn't seen his family in years at this point (though it was barely even that for him), and it worried him. Was Mama alright without him? The house must have felt so lonely without him there. How was Veronica doing? She must be married by now if she was still with her guy. Were the twins still in that gang? Were they still doing soccer, or did they fully commit to the drugs now? Was Papa still the homophobic asshole that Lance wanted to avoid? Was Adam still at the Garrison?

Adam was going to kill him. There was no question about it.

Lance could imagine it now, in clear imagery. Adam would take him to his quarters, he wouldn't do it publicly. He was a very private person, especially after they found each other after Lance joined the Garrison. He would then take a minute to think about what he wanted to say before giving it to Lance., before yelling about his thought process, or his lack of one in this instance. About telling that he should have texted, should have called, should have thought about the feelings of others before running off in the middle of the night to join an intergalactic space war for god know how long.

Lance tried to think about what he would say to him. He wasn't sure yet. He would say sorry, he would explain how much he missed his older brother while he visited the stars and helped the people how needed it millions of lightyears away, even though there was no way that he would be able to explain the amount of pain that he went through while he was serve the role of 'savour of the universe'.

He might yell back too though. Adam ran away too, Adam disappeared from his life just like Lance did; he too left in the middle of the night with no prior warning, with no way to contact the people he left behind. If Adam was going to call him out for his poor decision choices, then Lance wanted to be able to call him out too.

Lance couldn't wait to see him.

The door opened, and Lance looked over to see Iverson walk in, as stiffly as ever, a wearier look in his eyes than Lance remembered from before he disappeared that fateful night. Not that Lance blamed him of course. The Galra were on the Earth's doorstep and he was supposed to be one of the 'experts' in this situation, needless to say, Earth was pretty much done for before Voltron came home.

Not to say that the rest of the fighter pilots wouldn't be able to protect Earth, but there was simply not enough properly trained to fight the Galra. They would need to use all the pilots that they would het for something like a mass defence to work and that was just someth8ing that Earth was not prepared for, not for a couple more years at least.

"Cadet Sanchez," he started, and it was the words that got Lance on edge. While the Garrison had all his information, like his proper last name and the fact that he was related to Adam, they never once actually called him 'Sanchez', not during the register, not during award ceremonies, not during disciplinaries. It was always 'Cadet McClain', 'Mister McClain, or even just 'McClain'. They never crossed the line and understood that he wanted to go by his mother's maiden name, and they stuck with that.

The fact that they broke that, now of all times, worried him.

"Commander Iverson," Lance responded guardedly. He vaguely wondered what he had done to gain Iverson to be his interrogator, out of everyone. Surely, he would be interrogating someone with far more importance than him, like Keith or Shiro, or one of the aliens, like Allura or Krolia.

"How is space?" he asked, and it really threw Lance off. This must have been the calmest that Lance had ever seen the commander. In lessons, he had always had a scowl on his face, there was always something that had angered him, and after the failure of the Kerberos mission, it only got worse. With the fact that Keith punched him in the face and left, his office had been broken into by a fourteen-year-old and just the general misbehaviour of the students that he had to deal with, he had a lot stress to deal with. He still looked stressed, there were the bag underneath his eyes, but that was probably the Galra's fault more than it was any human's.

"It was alright I guess," Lance answered with a shrug, "Depends what you want to hear about. We met a couple hundred aliens, which was pretty cool. We almost died several thousand time, which was less cool, in my opinion at least." Iverson nodded along with him, which only made Lance more anxious. The last time he had seen him, he was yelling at Lance for being a shitty pilot and how Keith was so much better than him, which yeah, even after these past couple of years, Keith was still so much better than him, but Lance was also better than Keith in somethings, like learning and feelings and all that important stuff.

"Did you need me to fill out a full report or something?" Lance asked, "Because I don't think I would be able to give out in full detail, mainly because I'm usually part of the collateral damage when it comes to battles, for some reason." At this Iverson shook his head in answer.

"No, we're going to be asking one from Shirogane, and not a full one, just until Kerberos. After that, you weren't under military orders, so we technique can't do that." At this point, Iverson squinted his eye at Lance, and suddenly he felt very, very small. "We are also ignoring how you disobeyed orders about staying in your dorms when the alarm went off and how you broke Shirogane out of the Garrison." Lance nodded, before frowning.

"Then why are you here? Like, don't get me wrong, I love the special attention I'm getting, but wouldn't it make sense for you to be with Keith or Shiro, or one of the aliens, because of your position?" Lance finally asked, twisting his wrists in the handcuffs. It wouldn't be hard to get out of them, just a lot of effort, and Lance didn't want to seem hostile just as he got back home. At his words, Iverson let out a tired sigh.

"I am considered your commanding officer," he started, and Lance nodded. It had been something that Iverson had gone on and on and on about during classes, because despite there being a principle of the cadets, Iverson was the only Commander permanently on site, thus, making him the CO. "As such, only me or someone of higher rank can discuss this sort of information with you." He paused for a moment, swallowing, looking like he was searching for the right words, which only make Lance's anxieties worse.

"Last week, on Friday at 1800 hours, the Galra attacked Earth, which ultimately failed. They have not tired since. Lieutenant Commander Adam Sanchez was the officer in charge of the single fighter defence squad, and he did a fine job, however, his plane had been shot done; he was killed in action. We have not yet recovered a body, and we doubt that we will. I am sorry for your loss."

And like that, Lance's world shattered.

(There are moments that the words don't reach
There is suffering too terrible to name
You hold your child as tight as you can
And push away the unimaginable.)

Lance felt his limbs shaking when he entered the room where the rest of his team.

They were happy, loudly talking to one another with smiles on their faces and jokes on their lips, but everything seemed muted to Lance's ears. He wanted to walk in and join them, he wanted to jump on Keith's back and scare him and get him to laugh and smile as Pidge and Hunk talk about seeing their parents and their families and just living the average life on earth again, but he was rooted to his place, because Coran was smiling as Allura explained something to Romelle, and was Keith next to Krolia, talking about something that had happened that she had missed during her absence, Kosmos sleeping in his lap. Because Adam used to sit back and smile while Veronica explained something to Lance, and he and Adam had spent a lot of time just catching up when Lance started the Garrison and they were on good enough terms to spend time together without wanting to murder the other, watching the stars like they used to in the good days, when Adam was there, and when the family was together, and when there wasn't a war to think about.

Lance didn't know if he wanted if he wanted to be with his friends at the moment.

"Lance," he looked up to see Shiro in front of him, and there was a look in his eyes that Lance hadn't seen before, but he knew it anyway.

After all, despite Lance's initial anger at the man, despite the differences that the two had, they both knew Adam, and they both loved him, in their own ways at the very least. And even if they didn't really have anything in common other than being on the same team and being pilots, Adam loved the pair of them, he had wanted the pair of him in his life.

The room had gone silent apart from some muttering, Keith explaining what had happened to the others, but Lance ignored them, just leaning into Shiro's chest, and absorbing the warmth that he gave off. It reminded him of Adam, but seemed like a cheap imitation, and that thought just made him cry more. It was slightly awkward, since Shiro only had one arm and Lance was so much smaller than him, but none of that mattered, not here, not now.

Adam was dead.

There was so much they had to do. They needed to have a proper meeting, a team meeting, and then a meeting with the Garrison and other important people, have a meeting with the Blade, with the Coalition, to let them know that Voltron was alive, and kicking ass.

Adam was dead.

Someone had to tell his family, since Adam didn't have it on his records and thus Iverson hadn't been able to contact them.

Adam was dead.

There was still a war to fight.

But, Adam was dead.

His brother was dead.

Adam was dead.

The news had settled in, and Lance was still in pieces.

(He is working though the unimaginable.)

Lance had done a lot of things, been a lot of places, talked to a lot of aliens. He's done the impossible, he's been places and seen things that people could have never dreamed off. He flew not only one, but two of the Lions of Voltron, he's done trick shots with a sniper rifle that people thought would be impossible to make, he's the first Paladin to transform their Bayard into a completely new weapon. He's kicked ass, been to space, represented the human race, and now he was back home, doing something that was probably the most nerve-wrecking thing to ever do, and he had to fight in a knife fight with a gun before.

"Hello, Veronica Anderson speaking."

Lance was dumbfounded for a split second, before he started speaking down the retriever from a phone that the Garrison managed to pull out of nowhere, his voice filled with shock at his sister's apparently new last name.

"Wait a second, you actually married him?!" There was silence for a second, two seconds, three, before Veronica responded again, much louder than before.

"Lance?! Is that you?! My Lord above, Mama's going to ground your ass so bloody hard that you're never going to be able to sit down ever again! Where on Earth have you been for the last couple of years! I got a call during work from Mama that you had gone missing, and that the Garrison thought you were dead! Even Adam called me Lance! Adam!"

"Adam called you?" Lance asked, feeling his heart being crushed even more, now powder instead of shards.

"Yes! When were you going to tell us that you knew where he was, by the way? Mama was so shocked that you kept this from us, but them I told her that Adam probably told you not to tell us, didn't he? He's that sort of person, and he refused to talk to Mama when I offered him to. But honestly Lance, I don't think I heard him more scared or pained in his life, and I was the first person who knew about Shiro and him being gay!"

Lance winced at her words, her words feeling like knifes to his soul, or salt to a wound, pushing it in further. He wondered how he was supposed to break it to her. How does someone tell someone else that their eldest brother is dead anyway?

He should have researched this. He should have prepared for this.

What was he supposed to say?

What was he going to say?

"So, when are you coming home then? I know that the Galra have been attacking, it's been all over the place, but we're very lucky that we haven't been hit."

"Adam's dead." The words were whispered, but they still cut though steel like butter, and they still cause Lance to let out a couple of tears again, and he winced at how they sounded, because there's now silence down the phone. He had made his sister, someone who never stopped talking or singing or humming, even in her sleep she had something to say, lost for words.

He vaguely wondered if his heart would be able to turn his powered heart into something. Couldn't diamond be formed from high pressure. They looked ever so pretty in the light, but they were more often tough and tremendously hard to break.

"Adam didn't have us on his records, did he?"

Lance shook his head, before he realised that she wouldn't be able to see him.

"No, I was the only one, and I had to force him to put me on there after he broke up with Shiro and took him off his record." Lance replied quietly, and Veronica hummed down the line, not asking about who Shiro was, something that Lance was glad for. He didn't know where Veronica stood with homosexuals, he didn't remember (what a horrible brother he was, not knowing something as simple as an opinion that was held by his sister).

There was silence between the two of them for a minute, two minutes, three, five, ten minutes go by and they both listen to the sound of each other breathing down the hone, both certain that the other is crying now but not able to mention it to the other.

After 15 minutes of mournful silence, Veronica started to speak again, her voice shaky and wet.

"I'll tell the family about it, and I'll try and get some time off work to come out there. I take it there's going to be a funeral."

"They couldn't find the body," Lance said, and he hated the way that his voice waver and broke, "There's going to be a ceremony soon, when the Galra have finally got off our backs." Veronica hummed again, and Lance was glad. He was glad that Veronica didn't ask him to come home, he was glad that she didn't ask why he was still in America, glad that she didn't ask about his time in space, his role against the Galran Empire.

Lance hung up the phone, and then he threw it against the wall, but gained no satisfaction out of hearing it shatter against the wall, and instead stomped out of the room, thinking about how much better he would feel if he was able to slam the door on his way out.

He went to Adam's room, ignoring the dust building up on the small images of him and Shiro, kicking his boots off and jumping onto the sofa, before grabbing a cushion and hugging it tightly.

(There are moments that the words don't reach
There is a grace too powerful to name
We push away what we can never understand
We push away the unimaginable)

Lance wasn't sure what to make of his formal uniform.

It fit him perfectly, and the blue was only a shade lighter than his normal shadow, but the jacket was thinner than his (Adam's) bomber jacket, and it held no protections that his armour promises. It was made of a material that he hadn't felt in years, and it reminded him of how he wore the same thing for the past couple of years.

But maybe it wasn't his uniform. Maybe it was him, just not used to being here on Earth, feeling the gravity pulling him down, and being so close to his family, something that at some points since joining Voltron that he believed that he would never see again in his life.

Or maybe it was because it was his brother's funeral.

"It looks good on you," Lance looked up at Keith, in was in his own uniform, red where his was blue, before turning to look back at the mirror, making sure that it was straight, that it was not folded in places that it wasn't supposed to be, to make sure that his boots were properly polished and to make sure that his hair was perfect.

"You're worrying too much about this," Keith sighed, coming over to him and turning him away from the mirror, straightening his jacket herself before nodding, "See, you look dashing," he said with a smile, a real smile, not one of the smiles that someone puts on for someone else, though they're not in the mood themselves to smile, something that the others had taken up using when they were around him.

Lance has used those smiles at lot when they were in space, because he seemed to be the only person who could, who knew how to use them. But, since coming back to Earth, since coming home, he hadn't been able to put on that smile that the others knew so well, and he knew it. They knew it too, and they missed it. They pretended to not miss it, but Lance knew that they were hiding.

It was when Hunk said a pun and turned to Lance, expecting a pun of his own, or a laugh, but found silence. It was when Pidge expected Lance to say something stupid but funny to help relieve the tension, but found no words. It was when Keith looked sad because he couldn't find Lance's smile. It was when Allura heard something that made nothing to her and turned to him, but found no explanation. It was when a woman officer walked in and they expected him to flirt but he didn't, it was when a meme was mentioned by there was no response.

It was when they expected him to act like Lance, but he didn't.

They had been so much help as well.

He and Shiro talked a lot now, on the roof when everyone is supposed to be asleep, and they watched the stars while they shared things. It wasn't always about Adam, but he was always the starting conversation. They talk about why they were angry at him, how they annoyed and disappointed him. They mentioned how the other hurt him too, and how, sometimes, it felt like leaving him was the worst thing that they did. They talked of other things too, like why they went to the stars and things that reminded them of childhood.

Pidge and Hunk had taken to tag team him. If he wasn't with one, he was with the other. They were always talking now, something that they didn't normally do, but that really wasn't a normal situation, was it? He would be with Hunk in the morning, helping with breakfast, and eating when he could stomach it. They said their mornings to everyone, before he was handed over to Pidge. Pidge would then talk her head off about what she was doing, as if Lance would know anything about it, or about what Allura and the other aliens were up to, as they spent most of their time with officers and diplomats and strategists and scientists while they all tried to become up t date with one another. Then they would transfer, Lance would help Hunk with lunch and dinner and services to the Lions. And when he wasn't with either of them, he was with Keith.

Keith had been a godsend to Lance, because he understood.

Because, when Shire had been announced dead, unlike Pidge, he had actually believed that Shire wasn't coming back. He believed that there was nothing out there, and because of it, he became lost.

Keith knew what it was like to lose a brother and know that he wasn't coming back.

So, unlike the others with their constant fake smiles, Keith barely smiled at him at all, except for when he did, and he meant it, and it was soft and private and for Lance and Lance only.

"This is the hardest bit, but then after this, you can properly grieve," Keith said, and Lance nodded, not trusting himself to talk, so instead he smiled tightly at him, tears filling his eyes and it hadn't even started yet. Keith let out a sigh, and smiled at Lance. Lance knew that he wasn't good that this, the whole 'comforting another' thing, but he was better than people gave him credit for, so Lance let him take his hand, and he let him lead the way.

His family are going to be there, his homophobic family who were going to flip when they find out about Shiro and even Keith. The press is going to be there, watching him greave and talk about his grief. People who only know him or only know Adam are going to be there, and they're going to be shocked when they find out that they're related.

"After this is all over," Lance started, causing Keith to stop and turn to him, interest filling his face, "There's something I need to show you, in Cuba." Keith nodded, gripping Lance's hand tighter.

He had Keith leading him, and he had Pidge and Hunk filling in for him for now, and he had Shiro who knew exactly what it was like.

It was all the support that he needed.

(She takes his hand.)

(It's quiet uptown.)

He heard his mother before he saw her.

"This is your brother's funeral Luis! You can't go around saying that!" It was a good thing that it was already here, everyone being told where they were sitting. It was going to be a long event, as it was supposed to be for all those who had died in the attacks, soldiers and citizens. The press was here too, as this was supposed to be a live event for the world to grieve, as well as the fact that this would be the first time that aliens will be seen worldwide, something that people are excited and cautious for.

Lance ignored the looks that he was getting, the uniform was quite recognisable if the whispering meant anything, and walked towards the commotion, smiling when his eyes caught his mother in her black dress, frowning at his brothers while she grilled them. For whatever they had done wrong this time.

"He never cared about us!" Marco replied back to Mama, and it was then that he realised that his father wasn't here, before shaking the ide out of his head. It didn't matter that he didn't turn up. He didn't matter.

"Get over yourself," Veronica said, in a black dress of her own, her hand being held by another, her boyfrie- no, husband now (he had missed so much), who had also dressed smartly for the occasion. "Adam didn't come back for a reason. You're only proving it." Mama nodded with her, and the twins only huffed in response, before fiddling with their black jacket, before following their family into the sea of black, towards Sam Holt, who was helping organise the event by telling everyone where they were sitting.

"Sanchez, correct?" Sam asked, and Mama nodded. Before they could be told where they were sitting however, Lance caught up with them, waving at Sam to catch his attention.

"Don't worry, I'll show them where they're sitting. It's at the front, near Shiro right?" Lance asked, and Sam nodded, looking between the family and the Blue Paladin before letting them go, and Lance smiled at him before leading his family away from the main crowd, using the quieter hallways to make sure that they weren't going to bump into someone who wanted to talk to Lance. He didn't get as far as he wanted before Mama caught his wrist and turned him around, pulling him into hug.

"My baby," she whispered into his ear, and despite Lance's first thought of flipping the person who caught his wrist (war did things to people, and so did death), he relaxed into the hug, and you would think after the week he had he would stop crying, but no, he was crying again in his Mama's arms, silent tears of grief and happiness of seeing them again.

"I've missed you guys so much," he said as his voice cracked as he pulled out of the hug and took in his mother's face. It was older, more stressed. There were wrinkles of stress where Lance knew there should be and there were more grey hairs than he remembered. But she was still Mama, and he was glad that she was here.

"I hope you know that you are grounded when you get home," she said, but there was a smile on her face. Lance smiled back.

"As long as you know that I'm bringing my boyfriend with me," Lance replied thickly, and Veronica let out a laugh at Mama's shocked face, but she too smiled and gave Lance another hug, whispering a 'of course' into his ears, and Lance felt her beginning to cry on his shoulder too, and he hoped it wouldn't be too noticeable.

Luis didn't seem to this was funny, however.

"So, you're a fag as well then? Do the Garrison just turn everyone?" Luis said, and he and Marco started chuckling underneath their breath.

Lance didn't find it funny, and neither did anyone else, but before they could say anything to argue, they were interrupted by someone else.

"You know that his is a Garrison building, right? Well, be careful, because you might wake up tomorrow with the overwhelming feeling to suck dick, and I can tell from just looking at you that no gay man would let you go in a ten-foot radius of one," Lance smiled when Keith walked up to the, his arms crossed. The twins gawked at him when Keith walked past them, their jaws hanging with no words to say or argue, and stopped in front of Lance, straightening his jacket again.

"Lance, Sam said that you were showing them to their seats, right?" Lance nodded, before smiling at his family.

"Guys, this is Keith, and he's going to be coming home with us for a while," Lance said, and he ignored Veronica's side eyes (because she remembered Keith from when Lance complained about when he was home from the Garrison, and she was a dirty snake that would say something at the wrong time just to embarrass him).

He and Keith showed them the way to where they were sitting, and they quickly introduced them to Shiro and Pidge and Hunk, before sitting down.

Lance had been offered to say something, but he refused. He didn't need to go up there and tell everyone what he went through, not when Shiro could do that perfectly. He didn't need to talk to a crowd of people who knew his brother as an outlet for his grief, because he had Keith's hand in his own, and that was enough.

(If you see him in the street, walking by her
Side, talking by her side, have pity
They are going through the unimaginable)

After being with the stars for years, one would think that they would lose their wonder.

Lance has lived with the stars. He's been close enough to feel their pull, to touch the heat that they radiate. He's flown through their gravity, he's seen so many explode in front of eyes that it's not a regular occurrence. He knows their true size, he knows that they're never merely the white dot in the sky but rather the vast fireball that can be more of a threat than the biggest asteroid shower the universe had to offer.

But here, on the beach that he grew up on, the beach that his brother showed him, the beach that showed him the stars and the beauty that hey held, the beach that made him fall in love with space so much that he wanted to see it in person, wanted to chase it to infinity and beyond, wanted to lay down his life for it, the stars twinkled and shone for him, and were as wonderful to look at as the night that Adam showed him.

Grabbing Keith's hand, Lance took him further out into the sea, their shorts beginning to get wet from the soft waves that slowed into the shore. The night was the clearest Lance had ever seen it, and the full moon shone down at them like a mother looking down at her baby with all the care that they were able to give.

It wasn't until that got waist deep into the sea that Lance stopped in his tracks, and they waited until the water surrounding them calmed down, getting used to having two lovesick humans in its waters, before becoming a mirror for the sky, showing it all the stars that it had and how beautiful the moon looked that.

"Wow," Keith breathed, almost afraid to talk and break the atmosphere that had been created by them. Lance held his hand tighter.

"Adam showed this to me when I was young, I must have been seven," he said, "And he said that he was going to space, he was going to touch the stars." Keith grabbed onto his hand tighter, causing Lance to take his eyes off the moon and look into Keith's eyes, and he smiled at the way that they were mesmerised by the way that the stars surrounded them without leaving their home planet.

"Back in the desert, you could see the stars for miles upon miles, the milky way coming out to say hello every night," Keith started, before turning to look Lance in the eye, and Lance could only gasp at the way that his boyfriend's deep purple eyes reflected the starlight around them.

"Dad always said to me that mum was with the stars," Keith let out a small chuckle at this point, "I always thought that he meant that she was dead, as that's something that people say, isn't it? I didn't think that he meant it so literally."

"Adam's with the stars," Lance said, which seemed stupid, completely so, but Keith nodded with him, because he understood.

Adam is with the stars.

Lance has lived with the stars. He's flown though their gravity, he's seen so many explode in front of eyes that it's not a regular occurrence. He knows their true size, he knows that they're never merely the white dot in the sky but rather the vast fireball that can be more of a threat than the biggest asteroid shower the universe had to offer.

But he lived with Adam longer. He remembered the confidence that he gave off, even when he didn't have any at all. He remembered what it was like to be close with him, to hug him tight and never wanted to let go.

After being with the stars for years, one would think that they would lose their wonder.

Lance had lived with Adam for ten years, and had known him for 7 more years on top.

Adam never lost his wonder, so he knew that the stars would never lose theirs.

End Notes:

Well, did you cry? I have free tissues if you did. Some good news is that I've started on a really long fic from Adam's PoV for this series, and I'm about 20% done with it. Doesn't sound a lot, but trust me, it's getting there XD. Next on my list to update is 'A Well-Known Nobody' and 'Lance is a Killer', so watch out for those. I am also partaking in the Allura reverse bang (My fic is being released on December 25th), the Primary Big Bang and a Hunk one, so I have some good fics lined up that are nice and long for you to indulge in when they get dropped!

But, back to this fic, what did you think of it? Do you want to kill me? Yell at me in the comments below!