Mine: a Voltron fic
Ch 2
A few weeks prior…
It had been a crazy plan. A crazy, wonderful, terrifying plan.
Step one, get recently available job at Galra Records, step two, subtly find a way to record and slip a demo to a producer, and wham-bam- yes thank you ma'am, step three, achieve dream of becoming a musical phenomenon!
"Of course you know the odds of your plan working are about mm…" Hunk stopped Pidge by popping a pastry in her mouth.
"Don't tell him the odds, he's already stressed as is." Hunk scolded her.
"Stressed? Who's stressed? Not me, I've never been less stressed in my entire life!" Lance said as he paced, voice escalating everytime he said stressed.
The three friends were in Hunk's kitchen, testing the newest menu items Hunk was going to submit to the cafe he worked at. Really the kitchen was part of the apartment Lance and Hunk shared, but it was an unstated fact that it was Hunk's domain. Lance could cook but he had nothing on Hunk's culinary masterpieces.
"Lance, calm down. You're obviously stressed." Hunk said, crossing his arms over his flour dusted apron.
"Sit down, your pacing is making me dizzy." Pidge said, catching the back of Lance's shirt and yanking him towards a chair. Caught off balance Lance sat down and nearly pitched the chair over.
"Ouch! Pidge!" Lance whined, giving the petite girl a glare.
"Come on, that didn't really hurt." She rolled her eyes and took another bite of the pastry. "Besides," She said around a mouthful, "you've already got phase one done."
"Pidge, manners." Hunk said with a meaningful look before turning to Lance, ignoring the sarcastic 'yes Dad' from Pidge, "but she's right Lance, you've been there for a few weeks now. Step one of your three step plan right?" Hunk slid a pastry over to Lance with a knowing look. Lance huffed irritatedly and accepted the treat, taking a whiff as he inspected the pastry. The sweet smell calmed him slightly. It was very pretty too. Hunk hand crafted a plated pattern around the outer edge of the pastry, baked to a perfect golden brown, which held a well of homemade blueberry filling, topped with an opaque glaze lightly drizzled on top.
"Yeah, but it's so much harder to get into the recording studio and work it by myself than I thought." Lance admitted gloomily as he took a bite of the pastry, his frown instantly melting into a smile of bliss. It was so tender and sweet. The blueberry filling and lemon crust mixed together perfectly with the light sweet glaze on top. He couldn't help the hum of appreciation as he quickly took another bite.
"So what do you think?" Hunk asked, a twinge of nerves causing his brow to wrinkle.
"Hunk, if Rordon Gamsey himself was here he'd be begging for your recipe." Lance said, taking another bite.
"Best thing you've made yet." Pidge agreed, reaching over the counter to grab another one. Hunk blushed at the praise, his worry lines smoothing out as he smiled.
"Awe, thanks guys. I was worried I put too much lemon in and made them unbalanced."
"What are these things anyway?" Lance asked, popping the last bite in his mouth, humming happily as he chewed.
"Blueberry lemon coffee cakes, my pen pal sent me her recipe. I'll have to tell her it was a success." Hunk's blush deepened slightly. Pidge and Lance shared a sly knowing glance.
"You mean your girlfriend." Pidge teased.
"She's not my girlfriend, she's my fellow culinary enthusiast who I exchange emails with." Hunk defended, picking up his own coffee cake.
"When are you going to ask her out? You already know she likes you back." Lance encouraged, also reaching for a second coffee cake.
"I don't know man… but hey what about you and that guy you always get coffee for? Lotor, wasn't it?" Hunk redirected the conversation.
"Oh yeah, isn't he like the CEO's son or something?" Pidge asked as she hopped down from her seat to grab a glass of milk.
"Yeah that's him. He's kinda cool, I guess. Some days it's like he's following me." Lance shuddered lightly.
"You do work on the same floor." Hunk pointed out.
"No man, it's like I turn around and he's just there!" Lance flung his arms out dramatically, "like a freaking ninja hiding in the shadows!"
"Whatever dude." Pidge said as she returned with her glass, taking a sip.
"You're probably just being paranoid. Like that time with that guy on the motorcycle. You were driving like a maniac when he was just trying to tell us the brake lights were out." Hunk chuckles at the memory. Pidge snorted.
"The guy looked sketchy!" Lance defended, sulking over to the fridge to grab his own glass of milk. Only to find any empty carton. "Pidge did you drink the last of the milk?" He groaned.
"Whoops, did I? My bad." Pidge said in the most unapologetic tone possible.
"You know what, I don't have to take this from you! You, you, rude milk-thieving gremlin!" Lance fumed, jabbing a finger at Pidge.
"Whoa there, Lance I can't talk to you when you're like this. Are you on your period?" Pidge replied smoothly. Lance stood there gobsmacked. Hunk looked between both his friends, trying to gauge what the other was about to do next. The silence was broken by the sharp sudden laugh that escaped Lance's mouth.
"Did you really just say that?" Lance let a smile slip through.
"I've been dying to since you showed me that Twumbler post." Pidge chuckled.
"I should've known you'd use it against me!" Lance feigned hurt. Pidge stuck her tongue out at him.
"Wait? What?" Hunk asked in confusion. Both Pidge and Lance laughed at Hunk's look of confusion.
"You enlighten captain confuzzled over there, I'm running over to the store. We need eggs too, right Hunk?" Lance asked, making a note on his phone.
"And dish soap too." Hunk affirmed, still slightly confused.
"You're out of tp too." Pidge added as she scrolled through her phone.
"Seriously? Again?" Hunk grumbled.
"Right, back in a bit guys." Lance grinned as he grabbed his jacket and keys.
"Watch out for Mr Stalker now." Pidge teases as the door closed behind Lance. He rolled his eyes, making his way downstairs.
"Why is the elevator always busted?" He grumbled under his breath. At least he was only on the second floor. Soon he was in his car and off to the store a few minutes away. As he drove the short distance to the store, Lance couldn't help thinking about what was going on at work recently. A recent semi-hostile take over of an opposing record label had the company gossips a flutter.
Rumors like, "Poaching all the talented employees, and celebs," "really a scandle," "heard they…" whisper whisper whispered among the interns and assistants. The merging was a total stressor for everyone as they tried to figure out who was worth keeping. As Lance parked and locked his car, he thought back to earlier today.
"You know how it goes, last hired, first fired." An older employee, Zethrid, had said with a pointed look in Lance's direction. He shuddered at the thought as he claimed a cart. The intimidating woman-man-person made Lance nervous and stressed on the best of days, now he had the potential firing to worry about as well as avoiding a certain company heir. Nope, nope, nope, he was just paranoid like Hunk said.
"Focus Lance, just keep calm and work hard. They'll see your worth it. Especially when I finally get that recording done!" Lance giddily thought to himself as he walked down the aisle. Checking his phone notes as he walked he felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck. He glanced behind him only to see no one there. He turned around just in time to watch as he accidentally rammed his cart into someone's back.
"Sorry man, I didn't see you…" Lance started as the person he ran into turned to face him.
"How could you not see me? I was literally right in front of you." The guy growled through a black medical mask. The guy wore a red hoodie with the hood pulled up and grease spotted jeans.
"Hey I said I was sorry. It was an accident." Lance defended, "you were the one standing in the middle of the aisle." The guy looked like he was about to shout back when a hand landed on his shoulder.
"Hey chill Keith, you're not hurt right?" A tall and very handsome man asked the guy with the medical mask. The taller man was also wearing a hoodie, but black with a white dragon circling the arms. His face was somewhat obstructed by a hat and sunglasses, although the scar that ran across the bridge of his nose was very distinctive.
"I'm fine Shiro." Keith said, grumpily grabbing a random box from the shelf and ramming it into the basket he was carrying, "let's just get out of here." He walked past Lance, making it a point to clip his side with the shopping basket.
"Hey, uh rude." Lance glared at the back of Keith's head.
"Sorry, he's just been a bit upset recently." Lance turned back to face Shiro as he spoke, "But you might want to watch were you're headed next time." He finished with a friendly smile and wave as he walked to catch up with Keith.
"I'll keep that in mind." Lance said, giving a friendly wave back, mildly pacified by Shiro's polite manner. Now what had he been doing, right groceries.
AN: sorry for the wait and thanks for the kudos so far! I really appreciate that you guys take the time to read my stuff and leave kudos and/or comments. Hopefully I'll be able to post more often after the holidays. Happy holidays to you all!