disclaimer: I do not own VLD.
If there was ever a harder question in the world, he totally doesn't ever hope to hear it. (Or see it on one of the multiple choice tests he occasionally still has nightmares about.)
It's enough to make him shake - from nerves or excitement or maybe just the wide learning curve it takes getting used to zero gravity, he's not sure, but it does. The fact that if someone had asked him to detail the sky to them a week (heck, 72 hours or 4,320 ticks) ago, he knows his answer would be analytical.
The systematic coding of his known universe at the time would fit like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle where degrees of latitude and longitude would slowly reveal the picture of a night sky flecked with stars calculatingly placed.
Now, he's scrabbling for words to wax poetic on something he no longer really understood to begin with.
Hunk rubs the back of his neck and chuckles nervously, the sound breaking off into a sad whistle as Shay waits for his answer, tipping her head to the side patiently.
"That's sorta a loaded question." His mouth twists with thought and he wracks his brain for something - anything - to remotely satisfy her question.
Shiro and Allura would say something hopeful, with a casual simplicity that would knock someone off of their feet.
Coran would wax poetic for days (ticks?) in a way that would put the moon to shame. And he's figured out pretty quickly that it's not his style.
He definitely wouldn't think about how Lance would answer. (Something ridiculously, bad flirty like "It's got nothing on your eyes, girl." Dang it, Hunk, you're not helping yourself.)
"I've got it!" Hunk snaps his fingers and tugs his helmet off before gently setting it off to the side. "Y'know how in the caves, it's just darkness?"
"No? Balmerans have evolved over thousands of years to-"
"Ah, crud." He sighs and tries to steady his thoughts. "Okay, so humans kind of suck at seeing in the dark. It's just black and intimidating. Coran and I were able to spot you and Rax by your eyes. They kinda glow in the dark and it's really cool."
"Cool?"
Right, aliens obviously can't keep up with Earth slang-speak, even if it's a phrase generations old. He shakes his head and motions his hands in front of him, to reign back in both of their focus. "Anyways, that's all we see - just these big lights we don't understand, but turned out to be safe and comforting. The stars are like that, we even use them to guide us places. The most familiar, commonly known star seen from my planet was called the North Star, we used it to find our way home."
"It sounds lovely..." She smiles and he thinks for a split second he's managed some form of verbal communication that's precise, nice, and makes sense. But Shay looks down as she folds her arms in front of her. "It is hard to imagine though, but I thank you for trying."
"Shay."
"Yes, Hunk?"
"You will see the sky one day soon, I promise."
Defender of the universe would have been a quirky job description he would choose for Career Day in grade school, but ironically, he's been thrust into the real deal and it's been nothing like he imagined - he misses home and grass (believe it or not) and the smell of fall campfires - and not one moment has he 100% felt cut for the job.
Sure, Shiro and Keith.
Lance and Pidge, given some time and maturing, yes.
But him?
He was just Hunk.
The happenstance sidekick that's better on the ground in a tech lab or salvage hangar.
Only now there are wide, wide eyes that still hold a luminescence in the dawning rays of light turning to him in wonder. "You were wrong, Hunk. It is so much more."
He makes a note in his shortening list of faults - crummy sky describer - and confidently checks that recent descriptor he's feeling a little fit for - universe defender.
"Hey, Shay?"
"Yes?" Her voice is an awestruck whisper and her eyes don't stray from the space above her where the stars slowly fade as the sun streaks the deep, navy sky with purples and pinks and light blue and gold.
Hunk waits for the Balmeran's eyes to flick to his momentarily and he grins. "You are now officially a skyling. Welcome to the club."
a/n: I sorta just wrote this strictly as a friendship fic, but if you ship it romantically, it's cool to read it as that as well!