'I'm sooooo booooored,' Lance mentally complains as everyone is walking toward the source of energy Keith sensed. The idea of Keith being an ESPer is laughable, the guy can't get out of a maze with a spiritual stone at the end. 'Bet he can't sense that, faker.'
Ignoring his displeasure of Keith—stay focused my man, you can do this. You're Lance McClain and you're a miracle worker—Lance should have expected he would be bored. It took Hunk two hours to craft his energy finding device—dismantling the dryer, washer, dishwasher, and the microwave—that they will use. He's lucky that the refrigerator escaped Hunk's appliance disembowlment.
He distracted himself by making some kind of food from the pantry and refrigerator. Cereal was not an option, which is a disappointment. He sees the ingredients for mac and cheese, plus breadcrumbs, and busied himself with making it. It took him about an hour, at least he didn't fight with his stupid s-rival; he might have complained with the amount of food left in the pantry or refrigerator. He does not want to make himself look bad with Shiro around.
After finishing that he had to mess with something before he goes crazy. There is literally nothing to do here.
"Food's done guys," Lance announces, but it looks like everyone is ignoring him in favor of making things or watching people make things.
He exhales through his nose. Fine, he can handle being ignored for now. Best to eat something piping hot, not like they can use the microwave to heat things up again.
He watches how everyone is. Hunk is tinkering with the parts on the couch, Pidge is typing away on his laptop, Keith is looking over Pidge's shoulder, and Shiro is watching Hunk with a vaguely interested expression. Great, everyone is doing something even though it is watching two people get to work.
Lance wrings his hands and taps his foot lightly against the tiles in the kitchenette. Looks like he's back to square one, before he looks at the lone table. Yeah, he can set the table. When he opened the cupboards he only saw four plates, and he tuts. Obviously mullet wasn't expecting company, but only buying one set of china. He shakes his head, for shame. He didn't even know that Keith could even sink any lower. He goes to grab the plates and a lone bowl before opening the drawer to the silverware.
"What are you doing?" A deep voice asked, and Lance turns around to see Shiro leaning over his shoulder.
"Getting the silverware for some grub I made. I mean, sort of past breakfast time ya know. Technically brunch time or maybe it's an hour before brunch. Well, important thing is that we get something in our stomachs, just in case our little 'quest' takes longer than three. We need to have something getting out." Lance rambles as he puts the silverware inside the bowl.
Shiro nods, and Lance feels his heart warm at the silent praise. He can't be any happier than at this moment. "Let me help you." Shiro takes the plates, bowl, and silverware before he could protest as he sets the table.
'Shiro would make a decent husband,' Lance thinks, 'wonder if he'd like Melony.' His older cousin Melany has always wanted a boyfriend who is considerate about household affairs, but at the same time, her tastes lie with the goth or emo looking guys. He teased her endlessly about if they wear a pastel orange shirt that she would dump them in a second. He even got his innocent brother in on it, and Melony was spouting out "betrayal from my favorite kin," while she dramatically holds her chest.
Ah, good times. Note to self, call Melony asap or send a text reminding her about how dramatic/shallow she is after brunch.
With that passing thought, Lance snapped out of it to hear Shiro calling everyone to eat. The teens look over to the pair in the kitchenette, and Lance's eyebrows twitch. 'Oh I see how it is, not responding when I say food's done, but if they here Shiro then they listen. Maybe it's because he's authoritative or he said it louder.'
Pidge started grumbling under his breath that he was almost done with a program—maybe he needs it to connect with Hunk's invention—before setting his laptop aside. Hunk's already up, but Keith was the first one from the living area to get in here. Lance's lip twitches downward before he forces himself to smile, the guy acted like a dog than a teenager. Like not even a hungry teenager, just a overly excited dog pouncing on his owner after not seeing him for long.
He winces at the comparison, berating himself for a second. God what is wrong with him? Obviously whatever the connection the two of them have suffered enough from Shiro's absence. He shouldn't let his anger toward the hermit taint whatever relationship that the ex-officer and drop out have.
"Is he okay?" Shiro directs the question to everyone as he shakes Lance's shoulder. Lance blinks rapidly.
"What?" He asks. Seriously, why did his hero touch his shoulder? Not that he's complaining, but the guy rarely touched anyone after their bout of introductions.
"He does that sometimes. Like one time I shot grapes at him to see if he'd react, didn't even flinch until I hit him in the face seven times. Was shrieking when one splattered against his nose. Hilarious. I even got it on film." Pidge says before he takes the first seat to the right of the head of the table.
"Hey! I was thinking about how many shacks it would take to fill up the desert!" Lance lies indigently, he's used to Pidge's sass.
"It's not a shack, just a small house," Keith grumbles as he takes a seat across from the brunet.
"Keep telling yourself that." Lance rolls his eyes as he sits beside Pidge.
Hunk takes the pot of mac and cheese and divides it into portions.
"You don't have to do that Hunk, I could at least help out." Shiro says, rubbing the back of his neck.
"It's cool, need something to do when not focused on my work. You know." Hunk says.
Shiro sits down at the head of the table, and no one starts to eat until Hunk sits down.
"It's better than the last time," Hunk comments after eating a spoonful.
Lance rolls his eyes, "I figured people don't want slightly crunchy pasta."
"Who wants crunchy pasta? Are you some kind of heathen?" Pidge inquires as he raises his eyebrow at him.
"Psh you're the heathen. You just don't eat straight out of the peanut jar."
"That was one time!" Pidge protests.
Hunk and Lance stare at Pidge. "Okay, so maybe it was more than once. Like four times…all the time," Pidge amends his comment.
"You guys don't eat from the jar? It saves time to clean up any dishes." Keith asks.
'Like you clean,' Lance ruefully thought.
"Up high." Pidge said as he holds his hand halfway across the table. He's on the edge of his seat and leaning against the table
Keith looks at the hand for a second—confused, what's there to be confused about a high five—before tentatively slapping it. Just watching the exchange was painful. Lance shoveled food into his mouth, and looked anywhere but at his right side.
"I remember seeing him take a spoon and eat Nutella out of the jar." Shiro inputs, "Keith would always get some on his cheek because he took big bites."
"Hey you were the same with the marshmallow and chocolate jars."
Lance stares at Shiro in agape horror. No one should even eat that mixed up atrocity, yet perfect Shiro managed to do that. Not to mention straight from the jar. Looks like his hero can have some faults after all.
"Lance your face might get stuck like that," Hunk teasingly said as he grins.
He immediately smooth his face, and everyone at the table either chuckled, laughed, or snorted at his misfortune. He touched his face, he would never do that unless to swipe his fringe away to look at the ladies with his devilishly handsome face.
Everyone finish eating their food, and they all put their plates in the sink. Hunk went back to making the device, and it looked like its almost done. Pidge is on his laptop, but he is standing and looking at the conspiracy board next to Keith. The two of them are talking in hushed whispers, pointing at different places on the map and the pictures. Shiro is taking the role of supervisor, looking over the three of them, and asking questions.
It's weird being the one outside and looking in, he figured that the bubble wouldn't encompass the whole living room/bedroom of the shack. Normally he would go bother Hunk or Pidge, but things are getting serious, from the way that Hunk is absently muttering to himself as he tinkers with the homemade device. He is in The Zone, and bros do not interrupt bros in The Zone. Total counterproductive, and it would only hurt their bond together. Pidge on the other hand is biting the inside of his cheek. A tick he noticed when Pidge is on the verge of a breakthrough, but not quite. He isn't doing the whole mad scientist excitement look, but he figures it's only a matter of time.
Lance goes to the back of the shack and leans against the wall. He is not going to interrupt his friends just yet, maybe when things are less tense. Or whenever they are done with Keith's stupid ESP findings aka the quest because this guy thinks he's some kind of awesome sauce. He takes out his phone—mindful of the carefully folded papers inside his pocket—and unlocks his lock screen.
No new messages, no alerts, and no calls. The Garrison did not call his family just yet, the phone would be blowing up. He goes to his settings to put his phone on power saver mode, and turns on his data. He then goes to his messages and scrolls down to Mel Bear before hitting it.
Me: Guess what?! Found some bf material & he's in black but not a edgelord. So caring toooooo!
He hits send before powering off his phone. He loves leaving Melony in suspense.
Putting the phone back in his pocket, he goes over the couch to watch Hunk in his element. It's nice seeing him work with miniscule objects with his fingers, it's hypnotizing, not to mention the two of them like to work with their hands. Sure he can't make machines or is the best cook, but he can knit, juggle, and some made shadow puppets. He smiles, remembering the time that his friends, little brother, and Lou managed to put on a magic show for the neighborhood kids. Well Jose and Lou were young, but they made them the assistants.
Sighing at the happy memory, he looks around and taps his fingers against his thigh. Holy crow it's taking forever, but things are finally moving. Too bad he needs something to do and he is not going to be working out on the floor. It's dirty. He can't use the sheets he was sleeping on earlier because they are dirty—not to mention some of the parts are on it—and no way in hell he's going on Keith's bed to exercise.
Lance shudders at the thought. He doesn't know how long Keith showers, but even if he does it often, his locks are greasy. Not to mention how often he cleans his sheets. Sand and dirt could be in there. No way he's going to do a mini work out on there.
Lance is tempted to start pacing, but he doesn't want Shiro to get annoyed with him. Hunk and Pidge are used to it, and he doesn't care what the hermit thinks. Lance looks over to the kitchenette and immediately slaps his forehead. Of course, cleaning the dishes. God, if his mama saw his blunder she would have his hide.
Sauntering over to the kitchenette, Lance scrapes the bit of food left in the pot in a container he found after rummaging around in the cupboards. He wipes down the table before actually washing the dishes.
"What are you doing?" Keith asks from behind him.
Lance tensed up in surprise, and scathingly thinks, 'What does it look like I'm doing?' Instead of voicing his thought, he grumbles out, "Cleaning. Might as well do it."
"You don't need to do that. It's not your house." Keith points out, like he cannot fathom a practical stranger helping around in his shack.
He doesn't bother telling the male he's doing it to bypass the time. "I made the mess, I got to clean it up." He grunts out, focusing on the task at hand. He's still ridged, trying to figure out what his rival wants.
"I should at least help out," Keith argues, "you did make food."
Oh here's Keith trying to be the bigger man here, taking responsibility. Well it would have been nice if that came in around a year ago.
"Yeah but it's the least I can do for crashing at your place." He replies, trying to keep his tone even.
"You guys were kind of a handful." Keith admits, and Lance exhales through his nose counting backwards from ten.
He's had it from being nice. He can't be too irritated, and can't put up any competitions in case that agitates Shiro. He's had it even with minimum contact with his rival, and cannot wait to get back to his norm. Also, what kind of guys says that? The two of them aren't even friends, they are the furthest thing from it.
"Yes!" Hunk cheers, "It works!"
"I'll get my bike ready," Keith says, leaving Lance alone.
"Thank you Hunk." Lance mutters, his shoulders slumping from being tense the whole time.
Lance finishes up with the last dish and places it on the other side of the sink. They're already clean anyway, and his rival does not have a dishrack. He stretches before going to Hunk as he picks up his device before heading to the door.
"Might want to put the breadcrumbs on top of the mac and cheese and not in them." Hunk whispers as the two are the last to leave the shack.
"Other than that it's good right?" Lance is a bit apprehensive. His bro is a food critique who knows his shit. Nothing escapes his pallete, nothing.
One time he and Cicero bought baby food, and the guy managed to identify the smashed food. They had to make a medal of honor that soon Jose and Cicero's sister joined in on the fun. What was supposed to be a medal became a crown and sash.
"One of your best dishes yet." Hunk claps his shoulder and Lance gasps dramatically.
He wipes his eye before the two of them join the rest of the gang.
Everyone piles on Keith's hover bike and they are going to the area where Keith felt the energy spike. Obviously Keith is up front steering the thing to the pile of rocks, Shiro is right behind him, Hunk at the tail wing, Pidge and him on the other wings. At least he isn't actually griping on the wings like the night before. That was crazy even for his standards. Honestly Lance thought he would die when they fell off the cliff, not even close to what he convinces Hunk to do after hours.
That is a lot more thrill then the two are used to, and the two made the sign of the cross. He glances to the side to see Pidge grinning like a maniac when they took off. Lance shakes his head when he looks at him, and he clutches onto the sides of the wing. Some parts of the journey felt like Keith was accelerating too fast—like yesterday—and Shiro had to place his hand on his shoulder. He's thankful that the two are close, close enough to slow down the adrenaline junkie. At the end of their trip, Hunk had to regurgitate his brunch. He and Pidge are rubbing their buddy's back as he spills his guts.
"I'm good," Hunk coughs out before wiping his hand with the back of his hand.
He and Pidge looked at each other before shrugging. Hey, the big man thinks he can handle it, and usually he can.
Lance spends his time walking in the heat by staring at his hero. He compares Shiro with the pictures he taken before the incident. It was no accident that he lost his arm, and the scar on the bridge of his nose. He's happy though, Shiro looks better than earlier in the morning. He's elated that the pilot managed to seem less fatigue than usual. Maybe it has something to do with him cooking his gourmet mac and cheese.
Breadcrumbs are the shit, and he got the Hunk seal of approval. That's like the Guinness World Record material right there.
He theorizes that because Shiro managed to get some Earth food in his stomach—along with being in a safe environment for a long time when he's awake—means he's more comfortable around them. It has nothing to do with a familiar face, but it could help. It doesn't mean that Keith should be a jerk about spending most of his time around Shiro and only acting interested around Pidge.
Apparently they are at the rock formations from the picture, and that Hunk's device is getting some wonky readings coming from one direction. He isn't sure if it is southeast or northeast, but whatever it is they are lead into a cave that Keith mentioned before.
The lion carvings are more amazing than the pictures his rival took before, and he's fascinated that something stayed here for at least a few centuries. He sees some moss covering up one carving, and he brushes it aside, and the markings glow blue.
He's startled at the strange color, but then the ground underneath them shifts. Water is pouring out of nowhere, and everyone is screaming as they hit to a lower part of the cave, or should he say cavern. He's going to be honest, he's screaming, but it's from the sudden thrill. Everyone manages to land on the ground safe and sound albeit wet, but that doesn't matter.
"Whoa," he breathes out as he sees a blue lion standing up elegantly.
Everyone is chattering around him, and he ignores them. They all get up to investigate the lion, and there is some kind of force field—particle barrier—around it.
Lance feels a pair of eyes on him, a constant steady stare. He looks at the lion to see that it's eyes following him. He moves around side to side and continues to see/feel the eyes on him. He voices his concern, but as usual, they ignore him.
Maybe it's because he says that the lion's eyes are following him, and the mechanical being is like a statue. Keith is wondering how to get through the barrier, and he makes a snappy comment.
"Maybe you need to knock?" He suggests as he actually knocks on the force field and it goes down.
That wasn't all. He felt his whole body warm up, not like fire in his veins, but more like the warmth from the sun when you sleep outside. His whole body is tingling slightly, like he's a battery fully charged instead of running on his reserves.
Is this what people say when they hear their mutual soulmate talk to them for the first time? It's as magical as his mama made it out to be. Fuck his stupid one-way bond with Keith, he's bonded to a freaking mechanical lion.
He hears something, like a suggestion or an idea. To go inside. The problem is, he doesn't know where he should go to get inside.
The lion open's its jaw, and he races inside, with the others trailing behind them. He goes into a pilot seat, and realizes that the lion is a ship. Everyone's inside, and he feels the gentle prodding again. Instead of feeling a gentle—but powerful—voice, he sees an image. The blue lion he's in is the Blue Lion, one part to a robot named Voltron. The very Voltron that Pidge has been getting transmissions about.
There are a few things he's certain about. One, he loves the high he's riding. Two, he found his new favorite color, and that is the shade of blue on Blue.
A/N: Lance needs to something with his hands when nervous/stressed and he doesn't want to work out with Keith's dirty floor. Also, those legs man need some space to spread them out. Said space needs to be clean, and you can bet that Keith doesn't own a hover.
I fell in love with the idea Lance knits, and that comes from a fanfic. I forgot the name, but the Lions can become real cats, allowing their paladins/paladins they trust to see them. Lance was knitting little sweaters for the mice as part of a bonding experience so he'd understand them like the others on the Castle. It was brilliant because the mice were in there, along with other character interactions. (on AO3 for sure, don't know if it's here)
So yeah, you guys found out why Lance wasn't throwing a hissy fit last chapter when he spotted Keith. He's pretty tame now, but only when soon-to-be Space Dad is around.
This was actually the first part of chapter 5, but I'm going to post the second part later. If you guys spot any grammar issues, contact me please. Posting this past midnight, and I'm a bit exhausted from reading a textbook before taking a quiz.
