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“Come on Lance, mom and mama are making cookies and they don’t want us in the kitchen,” A recently-turned 6-year-old Hunk dragged his younger friend out of the breakfast nook and into his playroom littered with toys and stuffed animals. A well-worn stuffed lion sat atop the book shelf with Hunk’s baby shoes and his preschool graduation card. His mom’s were nothing if not proud of their son.
“Hunk, you wanna play space defenders? We can make the army men the bad guys!” Lance was already scrabbling to gather as many little army men as possible. He also grabbed a stuffed purple turtle and black cat. “and these guys can be the head evil people Varkon and Honerva” Hunk nodded vehemently.
Grabbing Bumblebee and Optimums Prime from the toy bin, Hunk explained to Lance that “we should make the Transformers the good guys because they’re already from space so it would work,” Lance nodded; it made perfect sense. “Here!” Hunk handed Lance the blue robot while he held onto the yellow one. Yellow always was his favorite color.
“DIE VARKON!!!”
“You’ll never kill me! I’m imortal because I have magic juice that Honerva makes me so there.”
The pair fought valiantly, eventually ending their great battle by catapulting the stuffed lion at the line of army men, ending with an explosion of tiny plastic men. Hunk and Lance’s giggles quickly transformed into laughter at their victory, the two lying on the floor clutching their sides.
BOOOM
Lance sat bolt upright, color drained from his face, but Hunk didn’t notice. It was thundering, and thunder storms unusually meant-
Pat
Pat
Pat pat
Pat pat pat
“Rain…” Hunk breathed. He scrambled to his feet and ran to the window just as a flash of lightning flew across the sky.
BOOOOOM!
Hunk started laughing and clapping his hands. He had always loved rainstorms, and the thunder just added to his overall happiness. It was a few more moments before he turned back to face his friend. Hunk was shocked to see Lance with his arms wrapped around his legs, head buried in his knees. Hunk ran back over to his friend and knelt by his side.
“Lance, what’s wrong? Are you feeli-” a crash of thunder cut off Hunks words and Lance whimpered at the sound. Dawning came across Hunk as Lance tried to make himself even smaller than he already was. “Lance, are you afraid of thunder?” Hunk asked quietly. Slowly, the smaller boy nodded. He was utterly terrified of it. Hunk grasped Lance’s shoulder, causing the younger to look up. Tear tracks streaked the tan face, and Hunk’s heart broke a little.
“Lance I know you’re scared, but know there’s nothing to be afraid of, right? It’s just the sound that happens when there’s lightning. Mama told me when I was younger that it was gods bowling, and that helped my get used to the sound, and mom said that there’s a way to see how far away the lightning is so you know when the thunder will happen. I can teach you if you want, so maybe you won’t be as scared?” Lance shook his head, lips still pressed together in fear. “Come on then, we have to be closer to the window,” Hunk stood and extended a hand out to Lance, helping him to his feet. The pair made their way over to the window, Lance grasping Hunk’s hand for dear life.
“Ok so next time we see the lightning, we need to start counting the seconds, and we’ll see how far away it is,” Lance nodded again, and the pair stood at the window watching the rain pour as they waited for lightning to light up the sky. A sudden flash of light drew their attention and Hunk started counting. “One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand, four one-thousand,” Lance joined in, voice barely more than a whisper, “five one-thousand, six one-thousand, seven one-thousand,” Lance got a little louder, “eight one-thousand, nine one-thousand, ten one-thousand, eleven one-thous -”
BOOM
Lance squeaked and squeezed Hunk’s hand harder, but didn’t curl back in on himself.
“It’s ok Lance, now we know how far away the thunder is. Mom says that each second is about a mile, so the thunder is eleven miles away. That’s really far!” Hunk turned his head and smiled at his friend. Lance returned the gesture weakly, but obviously grateful. They stood at the window for a while more, counting the thunder. The counting was calming Lance down and helping him add some form of control. Soon the two of them were heading to different windows throughout the house hand in hand, trying to see more of the storm. Hunk suggested that they make a game of counting the thunder, trying to run from one end of the house to another to beat the thunder. Lance was giggling by the end of it, the idea of beating the thunder helping him get over his fear of the sound. When the thundering stopped and their game came to an end, the two headed out side to play in the rain and the puddles. They splashed each other with water and tried to catch raindrops on their tongues; Lance caught eighteen and Hunk got tweently-three.
“Hunk, Lance, come inside and get warm sweeties!” Hunk’s mama held the door open while the two ran inside and right into the towel being held by Hunk’s mom. She ruffled the pair up and sent them in the kitchen for some lunch. Lance and Hunk were greeted with sandwiches, apple slices, and fresh, gooey, still-warm chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk. It was one of the best days of the boys’ lives.
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Many years after that afternoon, Hunk was crying. He was sitting in the observation deck staring down at the Similar-But-Not-Quite-Earth planet they had just liberated, crying because for the first time in almost a year, Hunk got to see rain. True, it wasn’t quite the same as the water falling on Earth, but it was close enough to bring the Samoan man to tears. He didn’t hear the lanky teen enter and sit down next to him.
“Hey big guy, how you holding up?” Lance leaned over and placed his head on Hunk’s shoulder, tilting up to look in Hunk’s eyes. It took the bigger teen a few moments to compose himself, but he sniffed and smiled at Lance.
“I’m doing good Lance. Just thinking about my moms and the day you started to like the rain. It’s a bit sad to think about them, but I’m really glad I have you with me,” Hunk grabbed Lance around his side and brought him around to face him, embracing him deeply. Lance sunk into the hug, nuzzling his face into the crook of Hunk’s neck and planting a few kisses there along the way. Hunk peppered the top of Lance’s head with kisses as they sat on the deck.
“I love you, Hunk.” Lance mumbled into the Samoan’s neck. Hunk tilted Lance’s head until they were face to face.
“I love you too Lance. More than you could ever know,” Hunk brought their lips together and Lance sighed into it. They sat there on the observation deck, intertwined in each other’s arms, kissing lazily until they both fell asleep.