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“Go out on a date with me.” Ryan Kinkade said bluntly, in front of half the employers at Galaxy Garrison.
“Eh- Wh- Wh..! Huh?” Hunk found himself flustered at the confession, unable to use words and trying to process what the other man said. He was confused at why someone would ask him out, especially in front of other people. The whispers started, along with the stares. Hunk shifted his weight for one foot to the other uncomfortable, gripping at his food plate. “Uh…”
“You don´t have to answer right away. Send me a message if you are interested or not.” Kinkade gave Hunk a small nod before walking over too his teammate, taking a seat beside them. Hunk stood there dumbfound, staring at Kinkade with open mouth until Lance snapped his fingers in front of him.
“So…” Lance smirked, leading his friend to the table with the rest of the teammates. “Date with Ryan Kinkade, huh?” Hunk took a seat beside Pidge, in front of him sat Shiro.
Hunk filtered out the sound around him, staring at Kinkade like an idiot. He still wasn’t over getting asked out. Hunk didn’t even know if he liked guys romantically. Kinkade made eye contact with Hunk, giving him a small smile.
Hunk turned around abruptly, flustered and warm. “Oh, wow the food is great!” He shouted embarrassed as he grabbed the fork and stabbed the food before hastily pushing it in his mouth.
Never had Hunk felt more like an idiot in his entire life. The next three days, Hunk tried to avoid Kinkade as much as he could possible. Lance had pestered him about sending a message to Kinkade, but Hunk didn’t know what to say. First, he thought that Kinkade asked him out as a joke, however Kinkade didn’t seem the type of person to do that. But still, why would Kinkade want to go on a date with a person like him. Hunk knew he wasn’t really that attractive as Lance or Keith. He didn’t have a god-built body like Shiro, even though he trained almost as much as him.
That is why Hunk was in the kitchen, baking like it was no tomorrow. It was a habit of him cooking when he was nervous, it made him relax and helping him clear his mind. What Hunk wondered the most was if he was attracted to guys or not. He had never really thought about this, not even when Shiro and Curtis started to date.
Speaking of Shiro, he walked in the kitchen. Shiro blinked, confused and surprised at all the food in the kitchen. “Someone is stressed.” It wasn’t a secret that Hunk cooked when he was stressed, but it still was a lot of food he had cooked. “What is bothering you and can I take one of the doughnuts?” Shiro question, walking over to the desserts when Hunk nodded. Hunk chewed inside his lips.
“Uhh.. How…” Hunk started. It wasn’t weird to ask Shiro how he knew he was gay, was it? Hunk putted the chocolate chips cookies in the oven, timing the alarm to ten minutes before turning around to face Shiro. “How did you, you know?” Hunk rubbed his neck, already feeling warm. “You… liked guys?” He chrinced at the last part, already regretting asking.
Shiro turned his attention from the doughnuts to Hunk. He swallowed it and whipped his mouth. “I don’t know…” He shrugged. “I just knew, I guess.”
“Wow thanks, that was really helpful.”
Shiro rolled his eyes, he sometimes forgot how sarcastic Hunk could be. “You are going on a date with Kinkade, right?”
Hunk shrugged. “I haven’t given him an answer yet.”
“Why not?”
“Because…” Hunk suddenly found the floor really interesting, what material was it made of? “Because…uhh.. I don’t know… you know? That I am interested… in guys?”
A small smile formed on Shiro´s lips. Hunk was confused about his sexuality, and he was happy that Hunk was talking to him about it. “That is totally fine, Hunk. Not everyone is aware of their sexual identity.” He said, as he walked over to Hunk. “It takes time for some people.”
Hunk´s started to tear up, his eyes got red and eyelid got puffy. When the tears broke out, he tried to whip them away. “I-I..” His voice cracked, and he felt a lump in his throat.
“S-S… “He sniffed, trying to hide his tears away from Shiro. “Sorry. I-I don’t know why I am getting so, so-so emotional right now.”
Shiro took a step closer to Hunk, pulling him into a hug. He gently pulled Hunk´s head in the corner of this throat and started to rub his back. “It is okay, this is nothing to be ashamed of.”
They stood there until Hunk started to calm down. Hunk pushed himself out of Shiro´s arm when he felt the tears stopping. The sniffing didn’t stop, and Hunk´s eyes was bloodshot now.
“You know…” Shiro started, as he grabbed Hunk´s hand. “You don´t have to go out with Kinkade if you don’t feel comfortable.”
“It isn’t like that…” Hunk hesitated, chewing inside his lips. “I just… I just don’t know I´m into guys or not, you know? Like, I don’t want to lead Kinkade on if he actually likes me. But, what if he didn’t ask me out because he likes me, but he did it as a- as a joke-“
“Hunk!”
“Sorry, bad habit.” Hunk had a habit rambling when he was nervous or stressed.
“Listen to me, I know that this can be stressing, but you have the choice to not go out with Kinkade if you do not want to. It is okay if you don’t know if you are attracted to guys or not, it takes time for some people. Anyway, it won´t do any harm by going out with Kinkade, would it?”
Shiro had a point. It wasn’t like Hunk needed to rush, trying to find out his sexual identity. And it wouldn’t cause any harm by going out with Kinkade. Hunk doesn’t really seem against that idea. Also, Kinkade seemed like a nice guy. He was the one person who was interested in his cooking.
“And if Kinkade asked you out as a joke, then the Yellow Lion would be the first one to kick his butt!” Shiro tried to make Hunk smile, which he succeeded. Hunk let out a small chuckle.
Hunk´s mood became more positive after the talk with Shiro. That night, he had sent a message to Kinkade, after re-reading it for the 100thtime.
Hunk Garrett: Hey, this is Hunk. Sorry for the late answer. I would like to go out with you.
He already regrets sending the message, he wonders if Kinkade even still wanted to go out with him. But before he could go deep in his negative thoughts, his phone had vibrated in his hand.
Ryan Kinkade: It is fine. Meet me tomorrow, outside Galaxy Garrison at 19.00. Wear something warm.
He couldn’t believe that this was actually going to happen. A little tickle traveled up his stomach, and he couldn’t stop from smiling. He had to let his friends know of it. He took screenshot of his chat with Kinkade and sent it a groupchat made of Team Voltron.
Hunkysent an image to Legends of Universe:
Sharpshitter:FINALLY! I HAVE WAITED OVER 84 YEARS FOR THIS!!
Hunk was smiling like a fool while staring at the phone. It seemed like Lance was as excited as him. Well, more excited than Hunk, since Lance was knocking hard at Hunk´s door the next day, at 10.
“Come on, wake up sleepyhead!” Lance didn’t wait until Hunk opened up the door, he walked in like he owned the place and turned the lights on since the room didn’t have a window. Hunk grunted, trying to shield his eyes from the light with his pillow.
“Leave me alone.”
Of course, Lance didn’t listen to Hunk. He forced Hunk to wake up. Put on facemask and gave him a manicure. He painted Hunk nails orange. After that, they went out to Hunk´s house since all of his clothes where there. Hunk´s family got as excited as Lance when he told them that Hunk had a date. Hunk didn’t stop shooting daggers at Lance around the table. The spent some hours with Hunk´s family before deciding it was time to get ready. They argued for almost an hour what Hunk was going to wear. Lance had a whole other outfit planned out, but since Kinkade said that Hunk was going to wear something warm, they settled on dark orange hoodie, black jeans and black Demin jacket.
Music was playing the background, as Lance was brushing Hunk´s hair. They had 30 mins left before they needed to leave Hunk´s house to drive to Galaxy Garrison.
“Are you nervous?” Lance asked, he laid down the hair brush. He took Hunk´s orange headband and ran his fingers through Hunk´s hair one last time before knotting the headband around Hunk´s head, the same style Hunk usually had.
“Yeah… I am excited for the date, but at the same time what if the date turns out to be awkward? I don’t know what to talk to him about, and, and what if he loses interested in-“
“Woah, Hunk, buddy relax.”
Lance made Hunk turn around, to face him. He held Hunk´s shoulders firmly, squeezing it hard enough to make Hunk look at him. “I know that you are nervous, but don’t let that ruin your date. And if the date turns out to suck, then that is fine. At least you tried, right?”
Hunk stared at with mix of emotion, before pulling him in a tight hug. “Thanks Lance, you´re the best.”
“Hey, be careful with your hair!”
The boys talked for some more time, Lance trying to give Hunk ideas to what he could talk to Kinkade about. It felt like 5 minutes had passed between them, but when they checked the clock, they saw it was already time to leave. It took 20 minutes before they arrived at Galaxy Garrison, Kinkade was already waiting outside with one of Galaxy Garrison´s vehicles. He was wearing dark blue jeans, with black shirt and red hoodie tied around his hips.
“Ok, buddy, you can do it. Remember to breath, okay?” Lance tried to reassure Hunk. Hunk nodded, inhaling before opening the car´s door. Kinkade looked up from his phone and saw Hunk walking towards him, he gave a wave to Hunk.
“Ready?” He asked, Hunk gave a nod and walked to the other side of the car.
“REMEMBER TO BE SAFE HUNK!” Had Lance shouted, before he got inside the car. Hunk grunted, already feeling embarrassed.
“I swear I´m going to kill him one day…” Hunk mumbled. It seemed like Kinkade didn’t mind, since he chuckled while he turned the car on and starting to drive afterwards.
“So…” Hunk started after couple minutes of awkward silence. “What did you have in mind for this… umm...”
“Date.” Kinkade finished for him, which caused Hunk to blush. “There is this place, that takes one hour to drive to, that I thought we could go. It has a nice view and I made some foods for us.”
“Oh…”
“Are you disappointed?”
Hunk´s eyes widen. He saw how Kinkade´s hand tighten around the car wheel. “Oh no, of course not! I just didn’t except this. Your plan sounds really nice!” That seemed to calm Kinkade down a little.
Another silence fell. From what Hunk knew, Kinkade wasn’t really a talker, and when he talked, he was always blunt and honest. Which Hunk liked, but not really now since he wasn’t sure what to talk about. Unknown to him, he had started to fidget with his hands.
“Can I put on some music?” Kinkade gave Hunk a nod, and Hunk turned on the radio. It took him some minutes, but he found a radio channel which had sent out good enough songs.
“I have missed listening to music. I never got to listen to it so much in space.” Hunk didn’t know the name of the song, but it was catchy. It was times Hunk wished he could listen to songs while he was in space, like the times he was cooking or flying around with Yellow. “But that is okay I guess, we were already busy enough fighting Zarkon.”
“How was it in space?” Kinkade asked, as he took a left turn. It seemed like he was driving to the city.
“It was stressful, hard but funny sometimes. At the beginning, I wanted to go home. It sounded cool to be a paladin and save the universe, yet I never asked for it. But then I meet Shay, she made me realize what was important.”
Hunk spent the rest of the time talking about his life in space, with a few questions from Kinkade. They had drove past the city and the forest. They drove 20 minutes in the desert, until they came to up to a mountain that gave them a bird-view at the forest and the city. Kinkade had taken out a picnic basket and a bag from the back at the car. He laid them close to the edge, then took out blankets from the bag. After that, he took out foods from the picnic basket, along with two glasses and a bottle of drink.
Hunk stared at Kinkade with awe, recognized the food as tapas. “Wow.” Kinkade rubbed his neck, staring the ground.
“This may not be your ideal date, but I hope you will like it.”
“Don’t say that, I already love this!” Hunk rushed over Kinkade, taking a seat beside him. Kinkade took out two plates and handed over one to Hunk. He pointed out the different food he had made. Hunk had tasted them all which had tasted heavenly amazing.
“The food taste so good!” Hunk couldn’t stop praising him. “You have to teach me this Kinkade.”
Kinkade smiled shyly, trying to hide it behind his glass. “Call me Ryan.”
Hunk blinked, not excepting that. He lowered his plate to the ground and brushed the hair strains away from his eyes as he shyly stared at Ki- Ryan.
The boys talked for that seemed like hours. It got easier to talk to Ryan and he was starting to talk more and open up. Ryan had an easygoing and down-to-earth type of personality, he talked about his love for photography and even showed Hunk some pictures he had taken. Hunk felt the same tickling feeling in his stomach when the other man moved closer to show him the pictures. Goosebumps started to show up when he felt Ryan´s breath. After finishing their food, they cleaned it up and Ryan putted it take into the basket.
“Want to watch the sunset before heading back?” Ryan asked, Hunk didn´t notice it had gotten darker.
“Yeah, that sounds nice.” It sounds really romantic. Hunk could never get enough of being in the presence of Ryan. He felt butterflies in his stomach every time they made eye contact.
Ryan had tied loose his hoodie from his hips and putted it on before moving closer to Hunk. They sat there for what seemed like eternity in silence. Hunk stole glances at Ryan before hastily looking at the sunset. It was starting to get cold, yet Hunk felt warm sitting beside the other man.
“The sunset is stunning” Hunk broke the pleasant silence. Ryan hummed in agreement.
“I love the sunset.” Ryan started off. Hunk felt a sense of pride knowing that Ryan was more comfortable talking more. “I used to watch it with my grandmother all the time until she died.”
Hunk couldn’t help but stare at Ryan. He could see the sorrowful and glomming looks in Ryan´s eyes. The sun was now barely above the horizon, the bright orange and reddish hues gave him a golden glow.
“One day, I will show the sunset in Balmera. It is breathtaking.” Hunk babbled out. Another bad habit of him. Ryan jerked his head towards Hunk.
“Really?”
“Yeah, we could take Yellow and fly out to Balmera. You could even meet Shay and her family. It could be our second date.”
Hunk really needed to learn to shut up sometimes. He wasn’t able to keep eye contact with Ryan now. “Well, that is if you want, you know. You don’t really have to if you don’t wan-“
A hand touching his own made Hunk stop from babbling. Ryan squeezed his hand in comfort. “I would like that very much.”
Not trusting himself for babbling, Hunk nodded as he shyly looked at Ryan. He had gotten a captive and hopeful smile in return, which made Hunk smile in return.
They spent the rest of the time staring at the sunset, not letting go of each other hands.