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Hunk and Lance were in detention again, which was not surprising. However, the circumstances were more that what were expected of two teenagers left to their own devices. Lance and Hunk were sat on opposite sides of the same, blank room, though the distance didn’t stop them from starting up a friendly debate between the two of them.
“You started it,” Lance hissed from his side.
Hunk glared and whispered back, “Well you’re the genius who lit our room on fire!”
The detention monitor briefly stared at the two of them and shushed them with minimal effort before focusing back on his book. Hunk sighed and started to daydream until he felt the chair beside him move from its spot, letting Lance slide in right next to Hunk. The monitor noticed, but made no attempt to separate them. Lance turned to Hunk and began whispering about how it was his fault they were in detention. Hunk retorted quietly as well. The detention monitor coughed not-so-subtly at them.
“Fine, I started it,” Hunk said defeatedly, “But this was your fault.”
“No it isn’t!” protested Lance. “But alright! If that’s what you wanna believe-”
“You’re wrong. Lemme clear it up for you,” Hunk said, though he barely remembered it but the idea of telling the story that lead to this point intrigued him. Hunk began the story.
It all started a few weeks ago. For the past three months, Hunk and Lance had been dating- secretly, of course, as it was against Garrison policy. But by their fourth anniversary, they were getting bored. After all, there are only so many times you can sneak a few candies out of the cafeteria before someone catches on. Hunk wanted to do something extraordinary special for his boyfriend.
He got the idea during one of the flight simulations they were in together. Lance had made an offhand comment about how much he liked the night sky. Reasonably, Hunk thought it a good idea to recreate that experience, especially being under the clearest part of sky in the whole country, though it proved more difficult than he had originally imagined. Policy at the Galaxy Garrison left only two places to be after lights out- the bathroom and the infirmary. Eventually, Hunk devised a plan for Lance and him to sneak out together later that week on the night of their anniversary.
“Lance,” Hunk whispered, “Wake up!”
Lance stirred slightly in his sleep. Hunk shook him gently. Lance rolled over to him and spoke groggily. “Is the room on fire?”
“No, but-”
“Then I don’t wanna hear ‘bout it, Hunk”
“ Pero mi cariño... ”
Lance shot up from bed. “Alright, so where are we going?”
Hunk chuckled and quietly lead him down the hall to a vent, where they just so happened to find a basket full of things just right for a date under the stars, one which Hunk had, “no idea about”. They crawled silently through the vents until they reached a snag in their plans- literally.
Lance’s pants got stuck in the vent, which caused a loud disturbance. A guard came by to check it out. Hunk slid a spare sandwich down the other side of the vent, grateful that he packed extras. The pair exited the vent hastily, but before they emerged, Hunk blindfolded Lance. He pulled him out of the vent.
“You can take it off now,” Hunk said proudly.
“It’s… a tree?” said a very confused Lance. Hunk sighed and spun his boyfriend to face the desert sky. “Ohhhhhh!”
They knew they couldn’t stay long, but the time they did have seemed to be just enough for them. Hunk, who had been planning this for weeks, had brought food, a blanket, and even a few sparklers to light in celebration. Lance, who had been dragged along on this adventure, brought himself. That was all that Hunk needed.
Sneaking back in was the hard part. They dumped the picnic festivities in a vacant courtyard, so that when they inevitably got caught, they could at least call it “midnight wandering” instead of “an anniversary surprise”. Luckily, Hunk had planned things out to a tee, so when they were caught, they only got a warning.
It was only days later that Lance began putting notes in Hunk’s private flight cabin in “retaliation”. At the Galaxy Garrison, each student had their own simulated ship that they were to practice in. Despite the expectation of anonymity, Lance managed to find Hunk’s cabin in a matter of minutes. He pulled out a notepad and scribbled a few lovey-dovey messages to post around.
In the days that followed, Lance snuck in at night to plant more. Each morning that Hunk entered his cabin, he was greeted with another round of notes. It was a sweet gesture, especially to see after the fight simulator training kicked his butt. That was until inspections.
At the end of the week, every flight cabin was boarded by an officer to make sure that the cadet was keeping everything in working order. Hunk rushed to clear away all the sticky-notes, but much to his dismay, a few, luckily less incriminating, notes remained in the hold. Hunk claimed he had no idea where they came from, stuffing the evidence in his pockets and shuffling away in the most inconspicuous way he could manage, silently cursing Lance as he did.
No more shenanigans ensued until the phone call. In the middle of one of the most boring lessons Lance had ever sat through, Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie” began blaring through the speaker on his phone. He searched wildly through his bag and pulled it out, blushing profusely at the sight of the name on the phone. Why now, Hunk?!?
He rushed to the bathroom to answer the call. “Hunk, you can’t do this.”
“Can’t you say you have a stomach bug?” his boyfriend protested.
“No, Hunk! They’ll send me to the infirmary!”
“But won’t that be fun? No class!”
“Yeah, until they realize I’m lying,” half-laughed Lance. He’d been caught in that lie one too many times.
“Well who’s to say I didn’t poison your breakf-”
“Not funny!”
Hunk sighed. “Bye, Lover-boy Lance.”
“Goodbye, meanie-head.” Lance hung up the phone and rushed back into his class, head down. The teacher mocked him briefly, but only sentenced him and his accomplice to an hour of detention. As much as Lance scolded him, Hunk continued the calls- just at a better time.
It was no secret that the entire thing had become a competition. Between the picnic, the notes, and the phone calls, every gesture became a challenge. Which was why it came as no surprise that on the date of their sixth-month anniversary, Hunk walked into the room he shared with Lance to be met with a pile of flower petals.
“Uh...”
“Happy anniversary, darling!” Lance cooed. He gestured to the desk he’d pulled into the center of their room. On either end, Hunk’s beanbags had been moved to face it. A makeshift tablecloth (really just a spare bed sheet) and some plastic cutlery (painted silver with edible glitter) finished off the romantic table setting. Hunk burst into laughter.
“Thank you… so much,” Hunk said sweetly as Lance pulled out the beanbag for him. “All of this is so...”
“Cheesy? Corny? Goof-ball-y?” Lance offered. Hunk shook his head with a warm smile growing across his face.
“Perfect. Just perfect,” he grinned, reaching across the “table” to kiss his boyfriend. Lance leaned over to meet his lips in a perfect kiss. Lance’s eyes- a deep, rich blue met Hunk’s warm hazel eyes in a harmonious union. Something clattered to the floor, but neither of them cared. They were too busy looking into each other’s eyes. It was beautiful.
Beautiful until the fire started. Hunk was the first to notice. “Is something burning?”
“Just the flames of love in my heart for you.”
“That’s nice, babe, but the carpet’s on fire fyi,” Hunk said as he pointed towards the floor.
“Yeah. I guess it’s kinda my fault,” Lance sighed, leaning back in his seat. “It was totally worth it though, you gotta admit.”
“No it wasn’t! We’re stuck in here for the next three hours !” Hunk sighed. Lance could practically taste the bitterness coming from Hunk. He scooted his chair away. Hunk whispered something under his breath before pulling Lance back towards him, wrapping his arms around his lover’s shoulders. He mumbled reluctantly, “I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry I got you stuck here.”
“No,” Hunk corrected, sneaking a quick peck on Lance’s cheek, “You got us stuck here.”
The room got quiet, aside from the occasional turn of a page from the detention monitor. Lance and Hunk sat at the back of the room by the window, entertwined in their arms, and whispering sweet nothings to each other. The detention monitor chuckled slightly, catching their attention.
“You guys are adorable. Remind me a bit of me and my boyfriend.”
“Did your boyfriend ever light your room on fire?”
“No, but…”