Sometimes, when they had been traveling through space, they'd been so far from earth that Lance had felt that they'd never be able to return. Now, even as he's standing in his mother's kitchen, the light from the setting sun painting the room in shades of red and orange, it seems too good to be real, like a dream come true.

His mother's voice interrupts his thoughts. "I'm going to serve dinner soon. Do you want to go get your friend from the docks?" She puts a particular emphasis on "friend" that Lance is unfortunately very familiar with.

"It's not like that, mom," Lance protests, sliding off the counter and heading over to the back door. "She's just a friend."

"Ah, just a friend. I understand," his mom replies cheekily, winking at him. "That must be why you look at her like she holds all the stars in your universe."

Lance rolls his eyes and lets the door slam behind him in response. His mom is just being ridiculous, as usual.

Unfortunately, she's right. Lance has always had a knack for falling for girls way out of his league, and Allura is no exception. A beautiful space princess, witty and charming and beautiful? Yeah, he is SO screwed.

The setting sun is reflected on the water; Lance drinks it in as he makes his way towards the docks. It's hard to remember that only a couple weeks he had thought he'd never see this place.

He rounds the corner to the docks, and finally Allura comes into view. She's sitting about halfway down the dock with her feet in the water. She's tugged the end of her dress up so that it doesn't get wet.

Ever since she arrived here, Allura has been fascinated with the ocean.

Wearing his sister's old dress, her long hair pulled into a loose bun, and gazing dreamily into the distance, Allura almost looks like an ordinary girl. Almost.

Lance is pretty sure she could be dressed in nothing but rags and still look like a queen. She never looks ordinary to him.

"Hey, Allura," he calls out as he approaches her spot on the dock.

She seems to snap out of her trance and finally glances away from the water, looking up at him. "Lance. The sunset is beautiful tonight, isn't it?"

"Not as beautiful as you." The words roll off of his tongue before he can even think.

Allura just laughs, a sound like tinkling bells. Lance loves when she laughs.

He realizes that he's staring and looks away hastily, clearing his throat. "Anyway, my mom wanted to know if you're coming in for dinner."

"Oh, yes," Allura stands up carefully, shaking the water off her feet. "Sorry, I lost track of time."

"It's no big deal, she's just trying to fatten you up a bit."

"Her cooking is always excellent. Your family is so kind to have me," Allura says, joining Lance to walk back to the house.

"They love having you around." I love having you around.

Allura smiles brightly, a pure happiness radiating off of her. "Well, I'm grateful. It's been a long time since I've had a family."

"You know that you're always welcome here, right?" Lance asks, his voice taking on an unusually serious tone. He needs to be sure that she knows this.

"I-yes," Allura nods, meeting his gaze. Lance tries not to get lost in her eyes. "Thank you, Lance."

They make the rest of the way back to the house in comfortable silence.

One of these days Lance is going to tell her exactly how much she means to him.

But for now, he'll just enjoy her company and watch the sunset, trying to think of the words he wants to say.


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