"I'm fine. It's just... once I started thinking about going back to earth I- I started missing my mom, and my brother Marco, and my brother Luis, and my sister Veronica, and my grandma..."

Hunk rapped on the door, plate of cookies in hand. He waited patiently for an answer. Pouting, he knocked again, "Lance? Laaance!" He just made out the grunted reply through the door, "Go away."

"Lance, come on! I brought you cookies." The door slid open to reveal a disheveled, red eyed Lance. He sniffed, "fine. Come in." He threw himself down onto the bed, lying on his back. Hunk offered him a cookie and he accepted, taking a bite. Hunk set the plate on the nearby nightstand, "I'm sorry I made the comment about Jenny."

"It's fine. It wasn't that. I..." His voice cracked, "I miss Earth so much. I'd give anything to go back."

"I know." He looked over the photos on Lance's wall. There were too many to count. The selfies he took with those kids on Puig were fanned out, overlapping. One of him and Keith, not fighting for once, hung just above it. Wow, he had pictures of everyone. A particularly interesting photo caught his eye, "when did you take that?" He pointed to a snapshot of Lotor, standing in front of a computer, looking caught off guard, but still somehow photogenic. Lance sat up, chuckling as he rubbed his eyes, "That was when we first arrived at Galra HQ. I didn't have any pictures of Lotor so I tried to startle him, but he still looks good!" He huffed. Hunk's eyes travelled to one of Shiro, silhouetted against an Olkari sunset, "wow, that one's beautiful."

"The sunset or Shiro?" They shared a laugh.

"Oh look! There's the language learning program trying to kill Pidge!"

"And that's from when you almost burned down the kitchen!"

"Is that a pool on the ceiling?"

"Y'know I was going to take portraits of everyone... but I don't thing I'd be able to go through with it now that Keith's gone."

"Just get him to take one and send it to you"

"I don't think he's ever taken a picture in his life! I refuse to sacrifice quality." Hunk sighed. He loved seeing the freeze frames of all the memories they'd made since they left earth. He looked over at Lance, "you remember the first time we met?"

"In person? Yeah..."

Hunk waited at the conveyor for his suitcase to come along. The airport was crowded. How was he gonna find Lance? At least his family was here with him. He would probably die of anxiety if he had to fly by himself. He and Lance had been pen-pals for several years at this point. It started as a school project to promote learning and practicing English with another student somewhere else in the world, but they had really hit it off and just kept going after the assignment ended. They were finally going to meet in person. His parents decided that they'd spend their annual vacation in Cuba so that Hunk wouldn't be going alone. While his moms and little sister would be at a hotel in Varadero, he was staying with Lance and his family. And man, was he pumped! He spotted his orange suitcase and pulled it off the belt. He walked over to stand beside his sister, typing a message out to Lance asking where he was. He responded almost immediately with a picture of the food court. He turned to his parents, "Lance said he's at the food court, I'll message you when I find him!" He ran into the crowd, not waiting for an answer. He weaved through the strangers, suitcase in tow. He glanced around the area. Most people were standing in line or chatting in groups. A tan, lanky kid in a green jacket that was too big for him sat alone, staring at his phone. He snapped a pic of him and sent it to Lance. "That you?" He mumbled the message aloud as he typed it out. The kid abruptly looked up at him. Hunk gave a cautious wave as Lance stood and jogged over to meet him. He held out a hand. Lance grabbed it and pulled him into a hug, "It's been years! I can't believe I finally get to see you in person!" Hunk was a bit surprised at the heavy accent he spoke with. He didn't know why he was caught off guard; he knew that Lance was born and raised here in Cuba, but nonetheless, meeting someone he'd made up a very specific image and voice for was strange. Hunk's face lit up with a smile, "I'm so excited! My family's gonna be doing all the touristy stuff in Varadero, but you actual live here! Are we getting a ride from your parents?"

"Hold on a second, I've gotta meet yours before we go!"

"Sure thing, man." They weren't far. Hunk waved as the two strolled up. Lance took his moms' hands and gave them each a respectful kiss, "pleasure to meet you mrs. and mrs..."

his mom laughed, "Garrett. But you can call me Amber. This is my wife, Teuila"

"You're quite the gentleman, aren't you?" His mama placed a hand on her hip. Lance shot her a dazzling grin, "I'd like to think so." He turned to Hunk's sister, who had to crane her neck to look up at him. He lowered himself to a knee, planting a kiss on her hand as well, "and what would you're name be, lovely young lady?"

"I'm Millie!" She squinted her eyes at him, "you're really skinny, you know that?" Lance gasped dramatically, clutching at his chest, "why must you wound my pride this way, fair Millie?" She giggled. Did Lance really just flirt up his entire family? He rose to his feet, "it was great to meet you all. As much as I'd love to stay and chat, we'd better get going before my mom starts worrying."

"Have a good time, boys. Be safe!" His mama called after him. He turned, taking a few steps backwards so he could wave as Lance pulled him along by the wrist.

After taking several escalators down they headed out of the airport onto the sidewalk. Lance looked around before his face lit up and he pulled him towards an old blue pickup truck. On the drivers side sat a petit woman with curly brown hair. Beside her a tall, fair skinned teenager- or maybe he was a young adult- had his legs crossed up on the dashboard. Was that Lance's brother? He guessed he looked a little like him, but if that was their mom than Lance probably just resembled his father more. Hunk pursed his lips as they approached the car. Lance had his mom's eyes at the very least. He knocked on the window and the young guy rolled it down. The two made a quick exchange in Spanish and the locks on the doors popped. Lance pulled the door open and gestured for Hunk to get in. He shifted uncomfortably in the hot leather seat, buckling himself in. The woman turned around to shake his hand, "you must be Hunk! I'm Lance's mom."

"Its a pleasure to meet you Mrs. McLain." Lance's brother nodded in his direction, "glad you're finally here. Lance won't shut up about you."

"Luis!" He whined. Luis shrugged and folded his arms. Mrs. McLain glared at him. He sighed and pulled his feet off the dashboard. As soon as his belt was buckled they were off. The roads were... not great. He found himself getting a bit queasy. Car rides were never his thing. Luis hit a button on the stereo with a fist and it came to life, blasting a pop song he'd never heard. It had a killer rhythm, though. For the rest of the ride he was bombarded with a stream of questions from Mrs. McLain. They weren't accusatory or suspicious, she seemed genuinely curious and friendly. At least it helped distract him from the car sickness. At last they pulled onto a dirt road, slowing to a stop in front of a big farmhouse. Lance jumped out and Hunk followed with a touch of caution. They were immediately mobbed by what he could only assume was Lance's entire family tree. He stood, stunned as he was hit with a wall of people talking over each other in excited Spanish, a language he didn't understand anyways. Lance silenced them with a yell, "Oye! English!" Thankfully they all slowed down a bit after that. After he introduced himself to Lance's massive family they all went in for dinner. He helped Lance out with his chores around the farm. They finished up as the sun set. Between the flight and the afternoon with Lance's family, he was exhausted. He plopped down onto the guest room bed, not even bothering to change into pyjamas. He blinked sleepily at a knock on the door, "come in!" Lance appeared in the doorway, "night, Hunk. I'll see you not so bright, but very early tomorrow." He shot him a wink before disappearing again. That was... weird. Oh well. He was too tired to worry about that now. Sleep overtook him in only a few seconds.

"Hunk!" He opened his eyes only to immediately shield them from the flashlight beam in his face. He sat up, rubbing his eyes, "What's going on? What time is it?"

"It's 3am. Get up we're going out."

"What?" Hunk stared at him, dumbfounded. Lance rolled his eyes, "Come on, we've only got a weekend! We can talk anytime, let's go do something!"

"You're crazy!"

"Better than boring. Hurry up. You've got swim trunks, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Get 'em on and meet me on the back porch." He turned to leave and Hunk couldn't help but notice what looked like a guitar case slung over his bare shoulder. He hastily undressed and pulled his swim shorts on. What was Lance planning? He stepped out into the mild night air, closing the screen door as quietly as possible behind him. He could barely see Lance's grin through the darkness, "you got decent shoes on?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, lets go!" He followed Lance down the back pathway, illuminated by the flashlight. A casual stroll turned into jumping between jutting stones to scale down a steep incline. Hunk balanced himself carefully on a rock, "Lance, wait up! Where are we going?"

"You'll see." They ground finally levelled out beneath their feet and Hunk relaxed a bit. They stepped out of the small strip of wooded area onto sandy beach. Lance took off his shoes, placing them on a flat stone and hunk followed suit. The pale moon was reflected across the dark water and thousand of stars spattered the sky. He gasped at the sight. It was beautiful. Lance grabbed his arm, yanking him towards the shore, "let's go for a swim!"

"In the dark?"

"No, we'll just stay out here until the sun rises four hours from now." He ran into the water, bellyflopping in as soon as it was deep enough to submerge himself. Hunk followed him at a much slower pace. He gasped as the cold water hit waist deep. He looked around, "Lance? Lance where'd you go?" He let out a yell as Lance grabbed him from behind, flopping backwards and dunking both of them. He emerged, spluttering and spitting out salt water, but laughing, "You've done it now!" With a swipe of his arm he sent a massive wave washing over his attacker. Lance retaliated with splash directly to the face. Hunk tried chase him down, but he lured him farther from the shore. He stopped, sighing in defeat as the water level hit his chin. Lance was already in over his head, swimming literal circles around him with ease. Hunk pouted at him, "fine, be that way. I'm going back to shore before you drown me or something." Lance laughed and swam after him, floating on his back and leisurely gliding along beside him. Hunk wasn't a bad swimmer, but Lance moved through the water like a fish. In fact he seemed to just generally move with a grace that was atypical for his age and height to say the least. He walked like a dancer. Hunk stood up out of the water and walked the rest of the way to the beach. He paused, shivering as lance strolled up beside him. He turned to look at him, "we don't have towels, do we?"

"Actually, I threw a towel in the guitar case before we left!"

"One towel... for two of us."

"Its a beach towel, it's like twice the size of a normal one!" Hunk sighed. Lance walked over and grabbed their stuff, holding it away from his body to keep it all dry. He pointed to a big rock with a flat-ish surface, "can you get up there?"

"Probably" he scrambled up on top of the boulder. Lance passed him the stuff. He set it down beside him before reaching down to pull Lance up. He opened the guitar case and pulled out a large towel with palm trees on it. They took turns drying themselves off a bit before settling down and wrapping the towel over their shoulders. Luckily it was big enough to cover both of them. Hunk peered into the case, "Wait. There's an actual guitar in there?"

Lance chuckled, "yeah there is!" He beamed at him, "want me to play you something?"

"I'd like that." They shifted so that Lance could sit cross legged and hold the instrument properly. Lance thought for a moment before plucking out a melody on the strings. Hunk didn't recognize the tune. It was really pretty, though. He paused, then strummed a slow chord progression. He started singing a verse in Spanish. All he could do was stare in stunned silence. His voice was... incredible. He wasn't expecting that. Lance finished the verse with a voice crack. He chuckled nervously, "oops..." Hunk just stared at him. He cleared his throat and played a dramatic chord. He began a round of twinkle twinkle little star. Hunk started laughing uncontrollably. Lance stopped, "Hey! It's a good song!" He managed to get ahold of himself. They sung it together, loudly and badly, collapsing into a fit of laughter halfway through. After a couple of minutes Hunk wiped the tears from his eyes, "what song was that?"

"My mom wrote it. She used to sing it to me every night when I was little." They lay back on the rocks, watching the stars. Lance sighed, "I'm gonna get up there someday."

"Into space?"

"Yeah... I wanna be a fighter pilot."

"Well, the Galaxy Garrison is accepting applications for the year after this one."

"Really? I thought they wouldn't let you in until you were sixteen?"

"They have a cadets' program now."

"I am so going there."

"You'd move all the way to the States to go to a boarding school?"

"Without a second thought." He looked over at him, "What about you? Why are you so up to date on the Garrison?"

"I was thinking of applying myself. Not to be a pilot, I hate flying... but I know I'd make a good engineer."

"You? In a space exploration program?" He scoffed, "I'll believe it when I see it!"

"I could say the same for you as a pilot, ocean man."

They had headed back to the house after a long conversation about... everything and nothing. They never did get caught for sneaking out and breaking onto private property. Hunk could tell at the time that Lance had done this more than once. The rest of the weekend had been an absolutely spectacular time. He had been really sad on the way back to the airport Sunday night. He had never expected that they would both actually apply to the Garrison, let alone both get in. From there they were roommates, then teammates and now Paladins. Lance's Cuban accent had slowly faded over the years, he now spoke English in a much more American way. And Hunk spoke less and less Samoan, even with his family. He hadn't even tried speaking it since they left Earth. He drummed his fingers against his leg, turning to Lance, "do you remember that song?"

"The Spanish one?"

"Sing it for me. Please?"

"I don't have a guita-"

"It doesn't matter. I just really want to hear it again." Lance sighed. He began the verse, pausing a little ways in. Hunk stole a glance over. He was shaking. Silent tears streamed down Lance's face, "I-I don't remember it..." he buried his head in his hands, "I don't know the lyrics." As younger versions of themselves they jumped at the chance to leave everything behind. And now that they truly had, they would give their lives to get it back. But it was too late.