I'd say take a shot...but I'm sure that's all many of us have been doing this year.

I don't really have excuses (I know you guys never get upset when I just ghost for a while, but I still always feel the need to say something), just that Covid Depression mixed with regular depression mixed with lack of motivation in general mixed with cutting off my family stress...a lot is going on this year.

This is not an actual blooper chapter, but I hope for it to be my slow re-entry into inevitably finishing this fic. I've never left a fic unfinished, and I don't ever want to. I make no promises (we saw how that went in *checks date* January, jesus), but fingers crossed.

Anyway, here's this lol


Lance stood in the doorway of the guest dressing room for a long moment, watching as Veronica hunched over the desk and scowled down at something she had highlighted in her script. She was chewing on the end of her pencil, gripped tightly between the pad of her thumb and her first two fingers, and her free hand was twisting a strand of hair around and around her pointer finger.

She reminded him of Marco, when he was studying for a test in school. Of his mom, when she was doing the Sunday crossword puzzle. Hell, she reminded Lance of himself when he was studying his own scripts for upcoming scenes and seasons.

They had a free day – or rather, a weekend. Bradley and Alfor were meeting with some of the script writers about the next season, and Donna was off for the week at a wedding for one of her college friends. So they'd taken Friday through Sunday off (and Alfor had promised to kick their asses when they got back on Monday), and now Lance…Lance couldn't keep holding out.

Veronica didn't live in the area, so she'd been placed in a hotel. She'd told the group earlier that week she'd probably be at the studio most of the weekend – in her words, she "felt more comfortable" there – and so when Lance had gotten no reception to his knock on her hotel room door, he'd had Keith drive them to the studio.

Keith was waiting in the lobby, reading a book and drinking a boba tea from the café down the street, and Lance…Lance was stalling. He was honestly a little amazed Veronica hadn't seen him already, but he knew how a person could lose themselves in a script.

He tapped on the door, wincing a little as she jolted in her seat. "Hi, sorry," he said with a weak smile. "Tried your hotel, figured you would be here."

Veronica shut her script and set the pencil down, twisting in her seat and leaning her elbow on the desk, eyeing Lance warily. He couldn't blame her – he'd been kind of a dick, avoiding her for almost two weeks. "Hey, Lance. What's up?"

Lance swallowed, confidence wavering. That was why Keith was here – he wouldn't let him chicken out. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Do you uh…do you have a minute? Or like…twenty? I kind of wanted to talk to you."

Veronica turned in her seat so that she was straddling it, folding her arms on the back. "Is it about why you've been kind of a jerk?"

Lance cringed, shutting an eye and the door. He crossed the room and sat down on the footstool in front of the couch, bouncing a knee. "Yeah. I'm…I'm sorry about that. I was an ass, and you definitely don't deserve it."

Veronica's frown loosened into something softer, her eyes studying him. "So? What's the reasoning? Cause I know you're not a jerk, based on literally every interaction you have with everyone else. I figured you just…" she gestured to her body. "Didn't like me personally, for some reason."

"That's not it at all," Lance promised, holding both hands up. "I swear. I just…how long have you lived in Veradero?"

Veronica's eyebrows furrowed – she clearly hadn't expected that. "Uh…like my whole life? I don't know, my family adopted me there, and my birth records show I was born there, so. Yeah. I studied in California for my degree, but I'm still technically a citizen there."

Lance nodded, clasping his hands together and circling his thumbs around each other. The carpet of this room was god-ugly; he'd have to say something to Alfor, because the guest actors deserved better than army green carpet. "My family is from Veradero," he said, and his chest was already tight.

From the outskirts of his vision, he could see Veronica perk up. "Yeah, Alfor mentioned. That's why he went there for casting, he wanted to be accurate when he picked your on screen family. Do you still live there?"

Lance managed a small smile. "No. Some of my extended family does," he said, looking up at her. "But I moved here officially right after high school."

Veronica nodded. "Makes sense, if most of your gigs are here. You miss it?"

He snorted. "All the time. But there's a lot of good stuff here, too," he noted. He paused, swallowing. "So um. The day after our first shoot together, I called my mom. And I mentioned you to her, 'cause I was like 'Oh wow, Alfor did a really good casting job!' and Allura had joked that you really do look like my sister."

Veronica grinned. "Right? My parents thought he did a great job too, they've seen the first few seasons of the show."

"That's awesome," Lance said, and he meant it. His palms were sweating. "So I jokingly told her that she had a secret child out in the universe, and I showed her your audition picture."

His mouth was dry, and he found that he couldn't look at her, so he looked back at the army-green rug, frowning at its blatant ugliness. "When my mom was 17, she got pregnant," he said to the carpet, because it was easier. "But she and my father were too young for kids, so they gave the baby up for adoption. Told everyone they had a miscarriage, because our family would have been outraged if they found out they didn't keep the baby."

He forced himself to look up again, found Veronica staring at him, her eyes flickering all over his face, lips parted slightly, hands tight on her elbows. He licked his lips. "It was a closed adoption, so Mom never met the adoptive parents, and they've never met her. But they kept in contact through the hospital, because the parents wanted my mom to still…I don't know, know her kid? In case she…"

Lance took a deep breath and tightened his hands. "In case you ever wanted to meet your birth family."

Veronica's mouth fell just a little further, her fingers starting to tremble. For a long moment, neither of them spoke, until she did, and her voice crackled. "S-So what, you're saying Alfor just happened to hire-?"

"My actual sister I didn't even know I had to play my on screen sister?" Lance finished weakly, cocking his head and offering a half hearted smiled. "Yeah."

Veronica stood abruptly, putting her hands over her mouth and starting to pace the room. Lance stayed quiet, let her think through the thoughts he knew were running through her head, the way they had been his for the last two weeks since he'd found out.

God, the wallpaper in here was ugly too.

Veronica finally stopped pacing, facing Lance, eyes red. The sight of it made Lance's heart lurch and a lump form in his own throat. "You're saying you're my brother," she whispered, and she said it much more calmly than Lance had expected.

He stood, feeling too tall and gangly, like he was stuck in puberty again. Spread his hands weakly and offered her the tiniest, most pathetic smile he could. "Yeah."

Veronica's breath was startled, hands clamping down over her mouth from where they'd been pressed in prayer form in front of her chin. Her fingers formed a steeple over the tip of her nose in the way that Lance's did sometimes. "How long have you known?" she asked, voice muffled by her hands.

Lance lifted a shoulder, expression shifting to guilty. "Almost the whole time you've been here. Mom knew as soon as I showed her your picture. I didn't know what to say."

Veronica huffed out a laugh, breathless, and dropped her head, fingers dragging through her hair. For a second, she studied the floor, body still. Lance waited for her to yell, to shout, to hug him, punch him, anything would be better than waiting.

"Jesus Christ, this carpet is ugly."

He burst into laughter, and after a moment, she did too.


Keith couldn't get the last of the boba up the straw.

He'd long since put down his book and was now digging around the bottom of the cup, trying to suck up the last few tapioca balls before he had to throw the cup away. It was driving him absolutely crazy that he couldn't get them.

"Come on, you absolute pieces of horse shit," he grumbled under his breath. "I'm gonna fucking destroy you."

"Talking to your boba again, babe?"

Keith jumped, nearly dropping his cup, and whipped around, dragging his straw out and pointing it accusingly at Lance. "DON'T do that," he ordered, scowling at him.

His scowl dropped the moment he saw Veronica standing next to Lance, covering her mouth to hide her laugh. "I promise this isn't normal," he said.

"It's normal," Lance countered, eyes twinkling.

Despite the red tint around his eyes that told Keith that Lance had been crying, nothing in his or Veronica's posture suggested animosity. Keith's shoulders slumped and he put the straw back in his cup, eyeing the boba once more before he set it down. "Everything good?"

Lance ducked down and settled a kiss on the top of Keith's head. "Great," he murmured into his hair before pulling back. "We had a…fun conversation."

Veronica had a serious face on. "Not nearly as fun as your boba conversation, of course."

Keith pointed at her with a fake frown. "Shush. You guys want me to head out? Or you coming back to the apartment, love?"

"I'll be back in a bit," Lance assured him. "We're going out for dinner. You're welcome to join, if you want."

Keith glanced between them and offered a gentle smile. "Nah, that's okay. Next time." He pressed a kiss to Lance's cheek as he stood, grabbing his book and his cup. "Text when you're on your way." And to Veronica – "Don't let him eat your fries."

He ducked away from Lance's swat and dropped another kiss on his cheek. "Love you, babe!"

"Aww, he called you babe," Keith heard Veronica tease as he bolted from the lobby.

"Don't you start."

"I have 22 years of teasing to make up for, Lance, you're not getting out of it that easy."


If you haven't already, watch Julie and the Phantoms. Tell your friends.