Chapter Text
It was late at night and the only Paladins left in the lounge were Hunk and Lance. Pidge usually was awake too at that time, but she probably used the silence of her room to work at some of her tech-stuff. The two guys already sat there for hours and talked about everything that came to their mind, which in Hunk's case, was mostly Shay. He knew the alien girl for quite some time now and they had a crush on eachother since the beginning. Only Hunk couldn't wrap his huge genius head around the fact that she liked him just as much as he did her.
"I mean, why would she? Girls never liked me. Especially around you, I am the fat sidekick, the wingman." Lance looked at his friend in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? First of all, you're not fat, you're cuddly and loving. You just needed to meet the right kind of girl. Literally. Next time you see her, you just try to get something going. Talk to her, tell her how you truly feel. Girls love that", he said, trying to cheer him up. It seemed to work, judging from the red cheeks and the smile on his face. "Lance...we all know you have a crush on every girl that crosses your path, but..have you ever been in love? Like really in love?"
Wow, Lance really didn't expect a question so deep. He really had to think, but he had to admit, there was someone. It wasn't Allura, although everyone who knew him would think that. Of course, she was pretty and he tried to hit on her everytime he saw her. But he realized that this kind of behaviour wasn't the way to treat her. She was the heart of Voltron, without her nobody of the Paladins would be here right now. Even though Shiro was the official Leader and flew the black lion, she was a natural and could fly the blue lion better than he ever could. He respected her in every way possible. But did he love her? No. When he thought of love, he saw a pair of amber eyes before him. He loved the way they lit up when she talked about technology or Video Games. He loved the way she wiggled her glasses when she explained one of her ideas. He loved her cute little smile...It took him a long time to realize, but he loved her.
Hunk noticed the dreamy expression on his face and poked his shoulder to bring him back to reality. "Uh, Lance? Are you okay? Was the question too much? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Lance ran a hand through his dark brown hair and looked down to his feet. "Pidge...", he whispered, too quiet for his friend to hear. "What?"
"Pidge", he said again, a little louder this time. Hunk's eyes widened. He didn't expect that, but was even happier about that answer. "Wow. Really? Please explain." Lance raised his head to look at him and let out a deep sigh. Here they were, talking about their feelings. Not that it didn't feel nice, Hunk was his best friend after all. And it felt good not talking about the war going on and the evil forces they had to fight, even just for a few moments. And he knew he had to talk about it at some point.
"I know it's strange, especially for me. But...I think I just developed feelings bigger than friendship for her. Way bigger. I think it just took me a very long time to notice. I'm not as smart as you or..Pidge." He blushed as he spoke out her name, thinking of her cute smile again. Before totally glancing off, he continued: "We spent so much time together and it was always so much fun talking and joking with her, playing video games together, fighting with her against the Galra...gosh she is good at fighting. And so smart. Without her, we would have already died ten times. Anyway, at some point, I also realized how...cute she is. When she talks about technology for example, her eyes light up and she smiles that cute smile that makes my heart bounce. I know what falling in love feels like and I know, that is it. I've fallen. Hard. A crush is something different. You see the person and you're like 'Oh yeah I like that person, they're hot, I wouldn't be mad if they would kiss me', but falling in love is much more geniune. You want to be with the person. You want to hold and protect them forever.You want them to be yours."
Hunk could do nothing but stare at his friend, who just spilled his heart. He never heard Lance, Loverboy Lance speaking so fondly of someone. He knew he said the truth. He drew him into a tight hug, being happy that he opened himself. On top of that, he knew that his feelings were returned.
"So...you gonna tell her?", he asked after releasing and earned a sad look on Lance's face. "No. I can't. I have the feeling I already messed up. You know, being me, flirting with other girls...She must think I'm a stupid goofball who isn't able to have real feelings for someone, who never wants something solid." Hunk understood. Everybody knew how he used to flirt with every girl he saw. "Why did you do it so much when you love her then?", he asked and Lance's expression grew even more sad. "I don't know...I guess I've always done it when I liked someone. I guess it's just my way of saving myself from getting rejected or hurt. If I think I don't have any chances, I just flirt with other girls. I know it doens't make any sense, but running away just seemed easier than being confronted with feelings and possible rejection. I'm nothing more than a quiznaking coward, Hunk!“ He rolled himself into a ball on the couch and covered his eyes with his hands. Then he felt a big hand on his shoulder, comforting him. "You're not a coward. I guess these kind of feelings are just a lot. Especially for someone like you, no offence. I think you should just talk to her. You said it yourself, girls like that. You'll be okay, trust me. I know it."
Lance took his hands from his face and looked at him. "How do you know it will work out? Did you two already talk about this?", he asked, already knowing the answer. Hunk and Pidge were best friends too, Hunk was just great to talk to. But that would mean... "She likes me too?", Lance asked with an excited, squeaking voice. Dang it, Hunk gave it away. "Well, yeah, she came to me like last week and we talked about it. At that point I didn't know that it's possible you return her feelings. But that is awesome! So you have to talk to her, right now. She is probably awake anyway, so go ahead. It will work." Lance didn't hear half of what Hunk just said. She loved him too? How? After all he had done, he thought there was no way. But if you're in love with someone, really in love, you somehow ignore that. He knew what that felt like. "What did she say about me?“", he asked, feeling his cheeks blushing and his heart bouncing.
"Well, I don't want to give away too much, since it's a thing between you two, but I'll just give you a hint that will reassure you that she likes you. Just remember her reactions everytime you talked about Allura or just did your thing with other girls. What did she say or do?"
Dang. He remembered. One time, as he still had a crush on Allura, he asked Hunk if she ever talked about him when he wasn't in the room. While Hunk just made a sarcastic response, Pidge slapped him with the robot she was working on. Back then, he thought it was an accident, but knowing what he knew now, it just made perfect sense. At other times, she was one of the first to call him out in annoyance. She was..jealous.
"I'm such an idiot", he mumbled and stood up, ready to talk to the girl he was in love with. "I'm going to talk to her", he said with determination and looked down at Hunk with a smile. "Thank you Hunk...You're the best."“ He nodded in response and made an expression that meant 'go'.