"Hey," Lance says when Keith opens up his door at the knocking, and his face goes from neutral to neutral-but-slightly-distressed, because Keith isn't as good at hiding his emotions as he thinks he is. "We should talk. About the… Thing."
Keith raises an eyebrow as he steps aside, an unspoken invitation for Lance to come in.
"The thing." he replies, leaning up against the wall next to the door. Lance stands across from him.
"Yeah. Thething."
Keith rolls his eyes. "Did you just call it a "thing"?"
"You just called it an "it"!"
"So did you! Just now!"
Lance pauses to suck in a dramatic breath. He'd watchedexactlythe right amount of daytime soap-operas to know how to handle this situation appropriately.
"You need to take responsibility." his voice is confident, unwavering, sexy. All adjectiveshejust came up with, of course.
Instead of being impressed, Keith looks like he can't believe the words that just came out of Lance's mouth.
"What-- I-- Why doIhave to take responsibility?" is what he finally decides on, after stumbling over his words a few times. Lance scoffs.
"Uh, 'cause she walks around like you and is all quiet like you and moody and broody, just like you get sometimes?Duh."
"I don't get moody and broody!" Keith argues back. Lance rolls his eyes.
"Oh, please. You can't deny she totally acts like you."
Keith's face is rapidly getting more red, and Lance doesn't know if it's out of frustration or embarrassment. "You were the one on the video for most of the time!Youtake responsibility!"
"Keith, a man can't make a child on his own."
Keith splutters. "She obviously-- We didn't-- Lance, neither of usgave birthto her."
"Weird things happen in space." he replies, levelling a very serious gaze at Keith. Keith runs his hands through his hair and groans.
"Lance."
"You should never rule out any possibilities--"
"Get out of my room--"
"Anything is possible."
"She doesn't look like either of us!" Keith throws his hands up, in a very Lance-like dramatic gesture. Lance feels a bit of pride in that. Good to know he's rubbing off on everyone. "Lance, leave."
"Fine!" Lance says, turning on his heel and moving toward the door. For extra flair, just before he exits he whips around and says, "But I'm coming after you for child-support!"
The door shuts on him.
Well, it could have gone… Worse.
At least the tension between them was broken.
Corrinne gets comfortable enough that they stop clinging to Allura all the time, and start following Pidge around sometimes.
Pidge isn't exactly sure how she feels about that, but at least the kid isn't annoying. Mostly, she's just kind of… There.
She and Hunk are making a list of the things they can pick up from the next planet when the unmistakeable sound of small footsteps approaching makes them both pause. Corrinne stops just behind the couch they're sitting on, her eyes just barely visible over the back of the couch as she stands on her tiptoes.
Hunk's eyes dart to her, and then to Pidge, trying to communicate a question with his eyes. Pidge only shrugs in response.
"... Hi," Hunk finally says, turning his full attention to the little girl peeking over the couch. She gives a small, shy wave. "Did you need something?"
She shakes her head.
Pidge's eyes meet hers, and-- Oh man, she was cute. Relenting, Pidge pats the seat next to her, and Corrinne's eyes light up, just a little bit.
What Pidge expects to happen, is that she'll walk around the couch and plant herself down, quietly. What shedoesn'texpect, is how Corrinne decides that that just must betoo much work, hoists herself up onto the back of the couch, loses her balance and promptly face-plants right into the couch cushions.
Pidge and Hunk both stare, wide-eyed, as the little girl sinks further into the cushions before lifting herself up, dazed look on her face. Pidge is afraid she might burst out into tears, or something--but before she can even get out a "are you okay,", the surprised look on Corrinne's face turns to a smile--
Which turns into a very light giggle.
Hunk and Pidge watch in stunned amazement as Corrinne's nose crinkles up, eyes squinting as she laughs at her own clumsiness. GoodLord, she even lets out a littlesnort.
"Oh myGod," Hunk whispers, as if she's not sitting right there and totally capable of hearing him anyway. "That's the most adorable thing I've ever seen."
She stops giggling to give him a little grin, fluttering her eyelashes. Pidge gapes, not even trying to hide her amusement.
"Oh no, this girl isdangerous," she says, nudging Hunk and grinning. "Look at that. Sheknowsshe's cute."
Corrinne only gives them both an innocent grin.
Caught up in the little girls antics, neither of them noticed the other footsteps growing closer--or even, somehow, the voices associated with them until Keith and Lance were standing in the entryway of the common room, bickering. Corrinne presses herself down into the cushions again, obviously trying to disappear from Lance and Keith's line of sight.
"Pidge!" Keith's voice shouts, from across the room. She almost jumps at his tone.
"What?"
"Tell Lance that I don't owe himchild supportfor our child, that isn't even born yet in this time!"
Pidge scrunches up her nose. "Don't bringmeinto your weird fights."
Lance rolls his eyes so hard Pidge can almost hear it. "Hunk, tell Keith that--"
"Uh-uh." Hunk shakes his head. "Nope, I don't want in on your lover-quarrels either."
"You've officially been dropped five points on my bro list."
"I'm picking up ingredients for dessert when we stop at the next planet."
"You've officially just raised five points on my bro list."
Keith scoffs, taking the opportunity to walk away while Lance is distracted with Hunk. Lance follows after him when he notices, ("Hey, I wasn't done talking yet!") and the nuisance is gone just as quickly as it arrived.
Pidge looks down at Corrinne.
"It's safe to come out now."
She sits back up, frown on her face now and pouty brown eyes look way sadder than they probably had a right to. Pidge tips her head.
"What's wrong?"
"Um," Corrinne starts, "Papa and Daddy, um… Seemed really mad at each other."
Hunk blinks. "Aw, I think Keith was just annoyed, not mad."
This does not make Corrinne any happier. Pidge frowns.
"Wait, which one is'Papa'and which one is'Daddy'?"
Corrinne picks at her nails. "Papa is Papa and Daddy is Daddy," she replies, simply. Pidge wonders if it's okay to give children sarcastic, flat stares.
"You don't know their first names?"
"Oh." she says, then nods. "Papa's name is Lance. Daddy's name is Keith."
"Well," Hunk says, in another attempt to brighten the mood, "I'm sure they won't be arguing for long. Their arguments never last!" he pauses for a moment, before tacking on, "... Would anyone like ice cream-flavored food goo?"
Corrinne makes a little gasp. Hunk grins.
"I'll just be in the kitchen…" he starts, and before he can even finish the sentence she's hopped off the couch and racing toward the kitchen.
"Good job, Uncle Hunk," Pidge teases after she exits the room. Hunk laughs.
"Hey, man, whatever. I was just craving some ice cream."
Lance is pretty surprised to see Corrinne sitting at the dining room table in the dead middle of the night, head down in her arms on the smooth surface. It isn't unusual forhimto be walking around at this time of night, but usually the only other person who's up is Pidge.
(He always appreciates that she doesn't ask questions about it.)
He thinks the little girl is asleep--maybe she snuck out of Allura's room to get something to drink and just crashed right here on her way back?--but when he attempts to sneak past her, quietly, he hears a very quiet sniffle.
He freezes, straining his ears. Sure enough, there's another faint sniff. It's hard to tell, considering how dark it is, but he thinks he sees her shift a little bit.
She isn't asleep. She'scrying.
The realization hits Lance hard. There's a little girl, not three feet away from him, up way past her bedtime and crying silently at a table. That's like a heart-break bingo right there, not even to mention the fact that she's… Apparently, his daughter from the future.
(It's still a little hard to wrap his mind around that one.)
"... Hey." he says, voice barely above a whisper so he doesn't startle her. Corrinne still jerks her head up anyway, wiping at her eyes to clear the tears as she focuses on him. He approaches her, slowly, and is almost shocked when she doesn't run away from him.
"Can I sit here?" he asks, gesturing toward the chair next to her. She blinks at him a few times, before giving him a shrug.
"That's not really an answer," Lance points out. She sniffles again, then nods.
So he pulls the chair out, and sits.
Neither of them say anything. That's not surprising on her end so much as it is his, but contrary to popular belief Lance is entirely capable of reading the mood and choosing not to say anything. He just… Doesn't, most of the time.
Corrinne rubs at her eyes, and he doesn't know if it's out of tiredness or her trying to hide more tears. He takes the opportunity to speak up.
"Sometimes I walk around here at night, when I start thinking about home. It's quiet and I always remember things better when I'm moving around." he pauses. "I miss Earth a lot."
She listens to him silently, not saying anything for a few ticks.
"... I've been to Earth."
He looks at her, grin splitting across his face. "Oh yeah? Wanna tell me about it?"
She smiles back, hesitantly, and nods. "Umm, I've been there a lot. We go back to visit, and um… We visit the beach."
Lance's happiness at her words is genuine--not just him showing interest for the sake of calming a child down, but real joy runs through him when he thinks about the implication that hedoesget to go back to Earth. Multiple times, to see his family again.
(Withhis family.)
"Are you a good swimmer?" he asks, and she nods excitedly, any sadness she had earlier seemingly gone.
"You always say I'm like a fish! Umm, but you're a good swimmer too, so that makes you a fish too. A bigger fish! We go surfing while Daddy watches, and then we get to bury him in the sand and make a sand castle on top of him." she pauses for a moment, and Lance is kind of surprised that she's opening up so easy. Just ten minutes ago, he'd never heard her say more than five words at a time.
"Sounds like a lot of fun," he says, and tries not to sound too wistful-- at least he knows he has something to look forward to. She looks at him, tipping her head.
"Don't worry. You'll get to see someday too." she reaches over, and pats the side of his arm. It's oddly comforting, even if he has to bite back a laugh when she does it.
"Pff.. Thank you Corrinne."
"Cora. You always call me Cora."
Lance blinks. "Okay then, Cora. Thanks."
She gives him a little thumbs-up and a lopsided grin, before pausing for a moment. She looks like she's contemplating--before she extends her arm out toward him, right hand balled into a fist.
It takes a minute to process, before he realizes that she's trying to give him a fistbump.Holy crap, this is the coolest kid ever.
Her face lights up again when he bumps his fist against her outstretched one, and hecannot believehis future self taught his kid to fistbump. Well, hecan, but it's still awesome.
She yawns and rubs at her eyes again, and Lance is feeling it too this time. He reaches over to ruffle her hair.
"Ready to go back to bed, kiddo? I can walk you to Allura's room." he props his head up on the palm of his hand, frowning when her previous smile faltered a bit. "What's up?"
"Um," she says.
And then she mumbles something so quietly he can't even hear it in the silence of the abandoned dining room.
"Huh?" he asks, and she rubs at her cheeks. He thinks maybe they're turning red.
"Um," she says, a little louder this time. "Um. When I, um. Can't sleep, you sometimes would… Um… Let me sleep with you and Daddy…"
Lance's mouth opens--then closes--then opens again. He could do that. He used to sleep with his younger siblings all the time-- to be honest, he kind of missed the companionship.
"Okay," he says, nodding. Hopping off of the chair, he holds out his hand toward her. "Would thelovelyCora grace my hand by allowing me to help her up and lead her to the proper room, then?"
Giggling, she takes his hand and follows him down the hall.
Lance is woken up by a very loud banging at his door, and as soon as he opens his eyes he knows it iswaytoo early to be up. A glance at the clock next to his bed confirms this; it isn't evencloseto time for breakfast yet.
He has half a mind to ignore the banging, but then he hears Keith on the other side yell "Lance, wake up!". Being mindful of the six year old in his bed, he carefully gets up and answers the door, blinking blearily.
"Lance--!"
"Shh." Lance interrupts him, putting his finger to his lips becauseseriously. Who's even that loud at this hour. Keith scowls.
"Don't shh me, Allura's waking everyone up-- Corrinne is missing--!"
"Shh!" he says, a little louder this time, stepping aside and gesturing toward his bed. Keith's eyebrows furrow in confusion, but he steps inside and follows Lance's gaze to--
Corrinne, safe and sound and very much asleep. In Lance's bed.
"Oh," he says, voice lowered. "Why is she inhere?"
"Because last night we bonded, and she couldn't sleep so she asked if she could sleep with me." Lance answers, looking smug. "What,jealous?"
"No!" Keith bristles, crossing his arms in front of him. "You should have said something to Allura, she's got everyone freaking out--"
"Including you, I see." Lance grins. "Well, I'll have you know she is safe and sound, and she came tomefor her problems."
Okay, not really. More like Lance just happened to find her. But still, he got her to open up to him and that has to count forsomething.
Keith scowls. "So?"
"So,I'mthe better par--"
He's cutting off by a groaning noise, coming from his bed. Keith and Lance turn their attention onto Corrinne, who's sitting up, hair wild and pillow held in front of her.
"Neither of you is better!" she whines, sounding exasperated--and Lance wonders if that's an argument that comes up a lot. "We all said no more arguing over that! Not even as a joke!"
They blink at her as she rubs sleep from her eyes, watching as the realization of where she is slowly dawns over her. Turning red, she hops off the bed and shuffles past them.
"Cora--" Lance starts, but she shakes her head.
"Gonna go find 'Lura. Bye."
And she's gone. Keith and Lance stare at the door after it shuts.
Lance is the first to break the silence. "... Do you really think we argue about that?"
Keith gives him a flat stare.
Corrinne is surprisingly more animated than she first seems.
A lot in the same way Keith is, actually, Lance realizes as he watches them over breakfast. His eyes flick back and forth, watching the way their facial expressions seem to mirror each others.
At some point, he just settles on watching Keith react as he talks to Shiro, until Pidge kicks his leg under the table.
"Ow!"
"If you're going to stare at him like that, at least take a picture. It'd last longer." she snorts.
