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Lance adjusted his tie for what felt like the millionth time before leaving the crew room and heading out into the busy airport terminal. It was his first trip as a commercial pilot: no instructor holding his hand now, he was on his own. He checked the gate again and headed the right direction, dodging clueless passengers and focused business travelers alike.
He was just starting his career as a first officer for Voltron Airlines, a dream he had had since he was a boy watching the planes flying over head while he and his siblings and cousins played on the beach.
He arrived at the gate and boarded the plane, already running through what he had to check before take off. He quickly came to a stop when he almost ran into a very shapely backside.
“Woah! Sorry about that. I was distracted.”
The person belonging to the shapely backside turned to face him and Lance was struck by the crystal blue eyes and waterfall of thick white hair.
“No problem at all. I’m Allura, I’m your purser on this trip.” She held out a hand and shook his firmly.
“I’m Lance,” he gave her his best winning smile.
Her eyes sharpened, “Ah yes, our new first officer, Captain Shirogane said to expect you, I just didn’t realize you’d be so….young.” Her smile was sharp and her grip on his hand tightened slightly. He was taken back and tried to underplay how desperately he wanted his hand back just then.
“Allura, is that the new guy?” Another voice called from further on the plane and Allura let go to allow Lance to actually get on the plane and greet whoever belonged to the voice.
“Yes Romelle, this is Lance.”
Romelle turned out to be another beautiful girl with long blond hair she had styled into two ponytails. Her eyes also sharpened when they saw him, and she stood from the first class seat she had been sitting in.
“Lance, very nice to meet you. I’m Romelle.” She took his outstretched hand and shook it, also almost refusing to let go. He managed to wrestle it away when he felt a presence behind him.
“Girls, be nice. First Officer McClain isn’t used to you yet.”
The voice was a pleasant tenor, and the proximity gave Lance a small shiver. He turned slowly to take in his savior.
The captain was manliness embodied. He had a ruggedly square chin, with a soft smile. A small scar crossed his nose, but it in no way detracted from his attractiveness. His quicksilver grey eyes were warm and playful and Lance happily got lost in them for a moment.
“Aw Shiro, you spoil all the fun,” Allura’s voice broke their inadvertent staring contest.
“Yeah, we were just being friendly,” Romelle piped up, mischief obvious in her tone.
“Uh huh, I’m sure that’s all it was.”
Captain Shirogane, or Shiro brought his eyes back to Lance and he smiled, “Do you want to put your bags away before we start our preflight checks?”
Lance blinked for a moment before the words sunk in, “Oh, uh, yeah! Let me just…” He trailed off and finally pulled his suitcase onto the plane, quickly stowing them so that Shiro could do the same. The cuban man grabbed the hideous fluorescent yellow vest from his bag and darted back out onto the jet bridge.
“I’m going to do the walk around, be right back.”
He didn’t wait for an answer, just punched in the door code to the ramp a little too forcefully and walked down to inspect the exterior of the plane. The cold air outside helped cool his heated cheeks and Lance was grateful to have something else to focus on. He knew the flight attendants were going to be attractive, but he had no idea his fellow pilots could be as well. All of his captains up until then had been older men, with the occasional woman, also middle aged. He was not prepared for the Roman god he was going to be sharing a very small cockpit with for the next few days!
When the walk around was complete and Lance had no other excuse to stall, he climbed the stairs back to the plane and into the cockpit. Thankfully, boarding had begun so Allura and Romelle were too busy to flirt with him again, so Lance slid quickly into the flight deck.
“Everything good outside?” Shiro asked him from the captain’s seat, barely looking up from plugging the flight information into the flight computer.
“We have two wings and a tail, so I think we’re good to go,” Lance quipped and was pleasantly surprised when Shiro laughed. Lance decided then he needed to make this man laugh again. The sound was as beautiful as the man himself.
“I’ve got everything almost ready to go here, just waiting on Allura to let us know when they’re ready to go.”
Lance nodded and turned his attention to getting his headset ready and plugged in. Soon enough boarding was completed and Allura closed the flight deck door, locking the two of them in, together.
Once he settled in to the familiar movements for takeoff, Lance started to relax. Shiro was an excellent pilot, and it made Lance’s job very easy.
“So, Lance, how’s the first day going?” Shiro asked after they reached their cruise altitude and the autopilot took over.
Lance chuckled, “It’s good, just wasn’t expecting the flight attendants to be so...forward.”
Shiro laughed again, “Yeah, they don’t see many younger pilots. But they’re harmless, their bark is much worse than their bite.”
They laughed together for a moment.
“So, why did you want to start flying?” Shiro asked him curiously. Lance looked at him for a moment, but all he could see was honest curiosity and interest.
“I used to watch the planes fly overhead while my family spent the summers at Varadero Beach in Cuba. They just seemed so magical as these huge metal machines left the ground and flew to anywhere in the world and I dreamed about piloting them someday.”
Shiro smiled, “And now that day is today.”
Lance blushed softly, “What about you? Why did you start flying?”
Shiro chuckled, “Well, I’m a military brat. My dad and grandfather were both in the Air Force, and it was almost a no brainer that I would fly.” He raised his right hand and Lance could see a high tech prosthetic, “I was injured in combat, so I was discharged from the Air Force. But I couldn’t stop flying, so I’ve been flying commercially ever since.”
Lance was about to apologize, but Shiro just turned to smile at him, “Nothing beats it, am I right?”
Lance smiled back at him, “Yeah, best office view ever!”
Shiro laughed, “You got that right.”
The spent the rest of the flight talking about various things, different places they had visited, and stories of their childhood and families. When they landed in Boston, they seamlessly moved through their arrival checklist and quickly had their bags ready to go.
“It’s a shame you guys don’t get to stay downtown with us, we could find some real trouble,” Romelle waved as they parted away at the hotel shuttle pick up.
Shiro rested his hand on Lance’s shoulder and leaned in close to his ear, “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Lance chuckled and just waved as the van drove off.
“Well, hey, if you don’t have anything planned for the layover, I can show you around if you like?” Shiro tipped his head curiously, and Lance couldn’t help but think the action was adorable.
“Sure! I was just going to get dinner at the hotel, so your idea sounds like more fun.”
The smile he got in response was radiant.
“Great! Meet back here in a half hour?”
“I’ll see you then.”
They quickly got their room keys and split up. Lance started to panic. He’d only packed jeans and a comfortable tshirt. He hadn’t been planning on going out. Especially not with someone as hot as Shiro! But it was either that or not go at all, and that certainly wasn’t an option, so he sucked it up and went back downstairs to meet Shiro.
The captain was waiting for him when he got to the lobby. He was also dressed casually in close fitting jeans and a henley. He smiled when he saw Lance.
“Ready to go?”
“Yup! Lead on!”
Shiro took them a few blocks away from the hotel, and into what looked more like a residential area. The started up their easy conversation again, and Lance soon had Shiro laughing as he told a story about one of his cousins getting locked in at school.
“He was so panicked! He thought he was being punished and had to stay all night, when really we’d been looking for him for hours!”
Shiro was laughing so hard, tears were forming in his eyes, “Oh my God, I can only imagine.”
Lance smiled as he watched Shiro laugh, thinking the man was incredibly beautiful when he did. Shiro caught Lance staring and smiled back at him before clearing his throat and pointing at something over Lance’s shoulder.
“This is my favorite hot dog place. They have a cream cheese and fruit salsa topping that’s to die for.”
Lance had turned to look where Shiro was pointing and was startled when the man grabbed his hand to pull him across the street and into line. He didn’t let go while they waited in line and only reluctantly parted when their order came up.
“Alright, now this the best part.” Shiro announced and took Lance’s free hand again and led them around the corner, only to come face to face with a beach!
“What? I had no idea this was here!” He looked at Shiro, pleasantly surprised by the man’s gesture.
“I thought you might like it. It’s a little cold to go swimming now, but if you ever get a layover here in the summer, it’ll be perfect. Not Varadero Beach, but maybe close.”
Lance couldn’t help it, he leaned in and gently kissed Shiro’s cheek, “Thank you. This really means a lot to me.”
The captain blushed softly, “You just sounded so happy while you were talking about it, and I knew this place was here, I really hoped you’d like it.”
Lance squeezed Shiro’s hand, “I love it. Thank you Shiro.”
“You’re welcome Lance,” Shiro pulled him a bit closer and looked at his lips before looking back into his eyes. Lance smiled and nodded, leaning a little closer. Shiro closed the distance and they kissed softly. Lance sighed into the kiss and smiled when Shiro gently placed a hand on his cheek.
The captain pulled back after a moment, “Want to go for a walk along the beach before we head back?”
Lance nodded and took Shiro’s hand this time as they happily strolled along the water. As they walked Lance couldn’t help but notice that they were walking into the sunset. It seemed like a pretty good omen to him.