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Hunk grinned, pulling his shirt off by the collar and tossing it into the duffle bag with their towels. Finally, after years of saving the universe and weeks of arguing with butthead politicians about why Earth should get the stick out of its collective butt and join the Voltron Alliance, he was home. He’d come over a few times during short breaks, but you could only go say hi to so many relatives in an hour, and there wasn’t enough time for anything else. Like, say, introducing his brilliant life partner to said relatives. His father and the triplets had taken to Shay immediately, of course, but his grandma still had her reservations. She was kinda a traditional stick in the mud, though, so he wasn’t surprised.
“Hunk! Shay can borrow my board!” Kalie called, running down from the parking lot with her surfboard held over her head. Hunk laughed, and looked out to where his partner and mom were splashing in the waves with his cousins.
He grinned as his sister came to a sand-spraying halt in front of him. “Thanks for the offer, but I don’t think that’d work. Shay’s made of rock, remember?”
“Oh, right.” Kalie frowned. “Well then, I’ll surf with you as your personal lifeguard! That way she won’t sink.”
Hunk chuckled, and tilted her board back enough to ruffle her bangs. “Thanks, K, but first I need to teach her how to swim.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s important” Kalie nodded. “I’m gonna go surfing, though!”
“Tell your mother, too!” Dad called after her, coming down from the car with the big towel and cooler.
“Need any help with that?” Hunk asked, and his dad shook his head.
“The girls and I have this. You go teach that jewel of yours to swim, or your grandparents will never let us hear the end of it.”
Hunk nodded, and gave his other sisters a wave as he turned and headed for the surf. The beach was packed today, not surprising since it was the height of tourist season, and he deliberately kept his eyes on the water. People were staring, he knew. Staring at his scars, at the alien symbols etched in his skin, at the half inch triangular plugs which sparkled even brighter than normal in the warm summer sun. He could’ve avoided most of it by keeping his shirt on, sure, but he could finally be topless at the beach without it being considered public indecency and goddammit he was going to enjoy that freedom.
Shay was laughing as he approached, and a quick finger to his lips was enough to make his cousins not call out to him. Shay and his mom had waded out to hip-deep water, and Hunk took a deep breath before ducking under the waves. Shay’s legs were easy to spot, even if he hadn’t been facing her when he went under, and he swam towards her with a grin. There was a muffled shriek as he tugged her ankles out from under her, and when he surfaced with a laugh she was spluttering and wiping seawater from her eyes.
“Hunk!” she swatted at his arm, and he laughed as he pulled her in to kiss her forehead. “You scared me!”
“Sorry.” he grinned, pressing another kiss to her cheek. “Family tradition. First time in the ocean, you get dunked.”
“I have been in oceans before.” Shay giggled, rubbing her nose against his cheek.
“Yeah, but not this one.” Hunk pulled back, leading Shay a little deeper into the ocean. Chest height should be good, somewhere around the middle of her swim top. “Now c’mon, we don’t have to worry about gravity wonking on us here, so I’m finally gonna teach you how to swim.”
“And then ice cream?” Shay grinned, taking his hand as she waded after him.
“And then ice cream.” Hunk nodded. It wouldn’t be long before they had to leave, Voltron couldn’t afford to stay in one place for more than a few movements, but in the time they had left on Earth he would make sure to show Shay all the things he’d told her about.