#MerryLangstmas

[blueplanettrash]

Day 4: Nutcracker

I am late. I am sorry. Please enjoy. ❤️

When Takashi gave Lance the ugly little nutcracker, he thought that he was joking.

“Haha, what the hell is this?” He asked with a giggle as he lifted the top of the box off, revealing a blue nutcracker. He looked up at Takashi with a small smile.

“It’s for Christmas, since I won’t be here and all,” he said sadly, rubbing the back of his neck. Lance sighed and stood in front of the soldier and took his face in his hands.

“Takashi, it’s okay,” he said when Takashi sniffed slightly and directed his gaze towards the floor. He pulled his head towards him and lightly kissed his forehead with a smile. He pulled back and met Takashi’s eyes. Takashi reached out and dragged the box closer to them.

“You should really look at this nutcracker though,” he encouraged. Lance quirked a brow but decided to humour him and picked it up. His eyes widened at the box laying underneath it. Takashi picked it up with slightly trembling hands and slid to the ground in front of Lance on one knee. Lance gasped and covered his mouth with his hands as tears started welling up in his eyes.

“I don’t want to leave without having any regrets, you are the most important person in the world to me. Lance McClain, will you marry me?” Takashi asked him, voice quivering in nervousness. He looked up, trying to gauge his reaction and saw tears rolling down his boyfriend’s cheeks.

“Well?” He prompted after a few moments of silence. Lance launched himself at Takashi, wrapping his arms around his chest and burying his face in the crock of his neck with a sob.

“Yes, of course, I will,” he said, pulling back with a gasp. Takashi smiled and held Lance’s cheek in his palm, brushing away the stray tears with his thumb. Then he gently took Lance’s left hand and slid the tungsten ring on his finger, before bringing the hand to his mouth to press a kiss to it. Lance let out another happy sob and pulled Takashi into a kiss.

“I love you so much,” Lance whispered pressing their foreheads together. Tears streaked down his face, neither of them could care less though as they basked in the light of the new journey that they were about to take together.

Well, it would have to wait for now. Takashi was to be deployed overseas for the next year and a half, missing the next two Christmases at home. Lance understood though, this job was Takashi’s life and being deployed was part of being a soldier.

“Oh my God, I have to call Hunk,” Lance laughed after he pulled away from Takashi slightly. Takashi chuckled but got up and held out a hand for his now fiancé to take, easily hauling him up with the one arm. Lance smiled and kissed his cheek before turning and grabbing the phone from the counter. Takashi came up behind him and wrapped his arms around Lance from behind and rested his head on his shoulder.

“Hey Lance, whats up?” Hunk’s cheerful voice came through the phone. Lance laughed a little still tearing up slightly.

“Lance? Are you alright? Did something happen?” His voice turned worried.

“Something did happen,” he said with a smile, nuzzling his cheek into Takashi’s.

“What? Is it bad? Did something bad happen?” He wasn’t sure why Lance wasn’t telling him anything but he could hear the emotion in his voice.

“Why aren’t you saying anything? What? What happened?” He rambled.

“Hunk,” Lance breathed out trying to calm his friend down.

“I’m getting married,” he said happily with a giggle.

Absolute silence greeted him from the other side. He furrowed his brows in confusion and looked over to Takashi.

“Oh my god!” Hunk screamed into the phone. Lance flinched and pulled the phone away from his ear. He tried to calm his best friend down but hung up a few minutes later with the news that Hunk was heading over immediately.

“Well, Hunk seems excited,” Takashi laughed squeezing Lance slightly. Lance nodded and leaned back into the embrace, happiness making him feel lighter than air.

“I’m going to wait until tomorrow to tell everyone else, I don’t think I can happen everyone rushing down here tonight,” he sighed looking up at him.

“Agreed,”

It only took Hunk ten minutes to arrive on their doorstep when it would have usually taken him twenty. He was sweating, and tears were rushing down his face, even though he had an almost jaw breaking smile on his face. He gathered the two of them in a hug and lifted them off of the ground all the while crying for his friends.

The relationship between after Takashi was sent overseas was just as loving as while they were at home. They spent a lot of time video calling one another and actually sent letters to each other every once in a while. Although wedding planning was quite hard to do when you were discussing it over a Skype call. They found themselves having fun even when they couldn’t meet with the planner together or share their ideas right away.

December grew closer and closer that year and it was hard for Lance, since he knew that Takashi was most likely going to miss the next two celebrations. He looked through their decorations and remembered the homely little nutcracker that stayed in the box under the counter, forgotten after his proposal.

He carefully lifted it out of the box and placed it on the windowsill in the kitchen, where he and everyone who came into the house would be able to see it. The more he looked at it, the more he fell in love with it. Even if it was the ugliest thing he’s ever seen. He was right when he said that he would always be able to see it though, whenever he looked at it, he would remember the night that he got engaged.

That Christmas was a bit emotional for him, he didn’t have anyone to wake up with on Christmas morning. He did have all of their friends over that night for a Christmas dinner though.

“What the hell is that thing?” Pidge asked pointing to the nutcracker on the windowsill.

“It’s my nutcracker, Takashi gave it to me before he proposed,” he said fondly as he mashed potatoes on the stove.

“It’s seriously ugly Lance,” Keith said walking over to examine it.

“Well, I could say the same about your mullet but I’m actually polite,” he huffed sticking up his nose. Keith gasped dramatically and marched over to where he set his (admittedly really good) stuffing and hugged the dish to his chest.

“You get nothing this year McClain,”

“This is my house, Keith!”

Even after the holidays were over and it was time to pack everything up for next year. He looked over at the nutcracker and couldn’t bring himself to put it away until next year. So he didn’t.

“Did you miss this when you were packing everything up?” Hunk asked when Lance had him over. He was holding the blue nutcraker in and turning it around in hand.

“No, I couldn’t put it away,” Lance admitted with a blush.

“Why not?”

“It’s special, it was one of the last things that Takashi gave me before he went overseas and I didn’t want to put it away,” he said rubbing the back of his neck before looking up at Hunk. He blushed darker at the grin that Hunk was giving him.

“That's way too cute Lance,”

“Shut up, plus it goes with the kitchen anyway,” he said gesturing at the blue paint that covered the walls. Hunk only shrugged and didn’t say anything else about it the rest of the night, although the grin stayed strong the entire time.

Sometimes things got hard for him. When his work got too tiring or it started feeling like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. He couldn’t exactly curl up beside his fiancé and expect things to go away for a while, and sometimes he couldn’t even call Takashi because it would be too late or too early over there. Whenever he looked over and saw the nutcracker he would remember Takashi and remember how strong he always was.

He would hold the nutcracker tightly when he started missing his soldier, tears rolling down his cheeks and onto the painted wood. When he started feeling lonely in their house and there was no one to play with his hair until he fell asleep, or to hug him when he felt sad. Or when he found out that Takashi wouldn’t be able to contact him for the rest of his tour.

“I’m so sorry love,” he said softly. Lance could tell that he was just as upset at the news and tears were welling up in his eyes.

“Baby, I understand,” he replied just as softly. “Don’t worry, soon you’ll be back home and we’ll get married, so don’t get hung up over little things like this,” he said even as tears rolled down his face.

Takashi looked heartbroken at the state that Lance was in but sniffed and nodded his head.

“You’re right, you’re right,” he said shaking his head slightly. “I can’t wait to come home and see you, I can’t wait to get married, I love you so much,”

“I love you too,” he smiled. Takashi looked like he was about to say something else before someone knocked on his door. He got out of the camera’s range and Lance could hear mumbled conversation before Takashi came back over but didn’t sit down, he had a grimace on his face.

“I have to go, love, I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Oh, okay, I love you, baby,”

“I love you too,”

Lance was a wreak that night. Crying himself to sleep and rolling around the entire night. He could only thank the stars that the next day was Saturday and he could lay in bed the entire day without anyone knowing. The months without contact with Takashi were some of the worst that he’s had. He started going out more with his friends just so he didn’t feel as lonely in his house. The nutcracker became a constant comfort to him, the little soldier reminding him to stay strong for his fiancé. He was the one fighting and Lance had to welcome him back with open arms. He was glad that Takashi had Allura, Matt, and Coran over there with him. After he realized that, it became easier as the months slipped by and Christmas was approaching again. When Christmas was over, it would only be a couple of months before Takashi would be back at home.

It was easier to hang up the decoration and make plans for him and his friends for the holidays. On Christmas Eve, it hurt that he couldn’t call Takashi and wish him a Merry Christmas but he could understand too. He just wished that they would break radio silence for a brief two-minute call. Not even just for him, for all the people that had a member of their family overseas. He wiped his eyes as tears welled up again. He didn’t have time for that right now. They decided that they would have Christmas dinner at Hunk’s place that year since he and Shay had moved from their apartment to a house earlier that year.

He loaded up his presents for everyone and started his drive over. He cheerfully sang Christmas songs the whole way over and arrived with a kick to the door since his hands were full of presents. When he got inside, the presents were immediately snatched from him and he was pulled into a hug by Hunk and right after by Shay.

“Hey, guys!” He said cheerfully. He noticed that Keith and Pidge were carrying his presents into the living room. He looked around the kitchen and noticed that all the food was still in the process of being cooked.

“Just wanted to make sure that everything was fresh,” Hunk smiled when he looked the confused expression on Lance’s face.

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t bring anything,” he said sheepishly.

“I told you not to worry about it, I wanted to cook,” Hunk said exasperatedly. Lance had asked him everytime they talked if he was sure that he didn’t want him to bring anything.

“I know, but my mamá always said to never show up empty handed to somebody’s house,” he defended crossing his arms.

“Well, you came in with presents,” Shay cut in with a grin.

“You know I can’t argue with you,” Lance pouted looking at Shay.

“And you shouldn’t think of it either, and speaking of presents, since the food’s not ready we could start by opening presents instead,” Hunk suggested looking between Lance and Shay. They glanced at each other and shrugged their shoulders and followed Hunk to the living room where Keith and Pidge were playing a game on the living room’s TV. They turned around when they heard the three of them entering the room.

“Oh my God, I wonder which one is mine,” he laughed as he walked through the doorway and saw a large box wrapped in blue nutcracker wrapping paper. He glanced around and saw that everyone had huge smiles on their faces and were laughing slightly at his reaction. Hunk pushed him towards the box.

“We all split on it, so you open first,” he said still grinning like a maniac. Lance huffed but stood in front of the box. It came up to about his waist.

“You guys have to stop making fun of my nutcracker eventually,” he said as he inspected the box. “There better be a fucking dog in here or something,”

He tore the paper off of the top of the box and started to pull the lids up when something burst out. He came face to chest with someone that stood up in the box. A very, very, familiar chest. He looked up and saw Takashi’s smile looking back at him. He let out a loud scream and stumbled forward, wrapping his arms around Takashi’s chest. Sobs poured out of his mouth as Takashi’s arm wrapped around his back and he pressed kisses into his hair. He allowed himself to be moved as Takashi stepped out of the box and pulled Lance closer to his chest.

“Oh my god you’re here, I can’t believe you’re here,” Lance blubbered into his uniform.

“I’m here, it’s okay, I’m here,” he chanted back to him, rubbing his back and nuzzling into his hair. He couldn’t stop bawling even as Takashi’s arm kept him firmly pressed into his chest in comfort.

He stepped back slightly and looked into Takashi’s face. There was a scar travelling over the bridge of his nose. It was reddish pink and raised slightly, meaning that it was fairly new. Under this new observation, Takashi looked fairly nervous and stepped slightly back away from Lance.

“I’ll understand if you want to leave me Lance, now that I’m like this,” he started with a small choke. What? He didn’t understand, it was just a scar, everyone has scars. Everything was the same, same night black hair and dark grey eyes. He was about to voice his confusion when he took all of him in. The right sleeve of his uniform was folded up and pinned. His arm was gone. He gasped and his hands flew over his mouth. He saw Takashi flinch slightly and wished that he could have taken the action back.

“Yeah, I expected that,” he said sadly. “I’m so sorry that I look like this now,”

“What? No, Takashi I don’t care about that!” He cried, walking forward with tears rolling down his cheeks. He clutched a handful of his uniform in his hand and leaned his forehead on his chest. “You’re home, that’s all that matters,”

He could feel the moment when Takashi broke down. His chest heaved slightly and he pulled Lance as close as he could before burying his face in Lance’s hair. He couldn’t have cared less about water that was soaking his head. He had his soldier back with him and that was all that mattered.

[blueplanettrash]

Day 6: Presents

Even when I’m not busy I’m late, sorry. I was just so tired yesterday for some reason, I’m going to catch up again by tonight though! I hope you enjoy! ❤️

When Allura announced that they would be going to the space mall, everyone was understandably excited. They calculated that it would have been December on Earth even if they couldn’t narrow down the exact date. They could celebrate Christmas whenever they wanted to though. They told Coran and Allura about the holiday and found out that they had a holiday much like it except it was on the opposite time of the year when it would have been around June on Earth; because of it, they opted to celebrate their holiday then and not Christmas with them. Although they were a bit disappointed, it was understandable that they would want to celebrate an Altean holiday.

As they searched through the stores it was easy to pick things out for each of the paladins, things on the shelf just reminded them of each other. By the time they got back to the Castle, they thought that they would be able to make each other’s Christmases with no problems.

However, there was an identical factor between four of the paladins. They all forgot to buy for one of them.

They agreed that they would meet in the lounge after they were finished getting their gifts ready for each other. They couldn’t wait an extra few days to do a Christmas morning and instead wanted to get it done and celebrate as quickly as possible. They agreed and split off to their own rooms.

As they wrapped their gifts, the realization came over them. They only had three gifts each to give to their teammates. They panicked slightly before realizing that the gift they forgot was for Lance. He wouldn’t really mind, as long as he got something for somebody else and they said that they would get something for him later. He only really cared about the money that was spent on it anyway.

It didn’t take them long before they were in the lounge with their piles waiting to start.

“Who wants to go first?” Shiro asked as he sat down. Pidge’s hand immediately shot up earning a chuckled from the rest of them. They agreed and handed over her gifts. She ripped them open quickly, not surprised at the various computer junk that she expected from the team. She stopped when Lance cleared his throat and she looked over at him. He was holding out his present for her to take.

Lance handed her over two gifts though. She ripped open the smaller box first, not sure what Lance could have gotten her. She wasn’t expecting much out of him though. Not until she unwrapped a brand new Nintendo 3DS. Her head whipped up to look at Lance in surprise.

“I found it in the Earth shop, thought you might want something you can carry around with you,” he said with a smile, thoroughly enjoying the excited look on her face. She quickly ripped into the other package, revealing a stack of games including Pokémon, Legend of Zelda, Kirby, and others.

“Lance this is awesome, thanks!” She cheered hopping up and wrapping him in a hug. He laughed and squeezed her back before she plopped herself on the floor and started up the console. They figured that she was going to see how well it worked, when actually she was trying to distract herself from the painful squeezing in her stomach. Guilt came over her like a wave when she remembered that she hadn’t picked anything out for Lance.

“Do you really like it?” Lance asked with a bashful smile directed towards her. She frantically nodded her head. He only smiled and turned his attention back to the group who was deciding who would get their gifts next. Finally, Keith huffed and just pointed to Hunk instead of arguing over it anymore. Before Hunk could try to volunteer someone else, they reached over and plopped their gifts in his lap.

“Oh. Well, okay then,” he relented before he started ripping into the packages. He smiled and thanked the paladins as he unwrapped the gifts. From Shiro, he got lion shaped oven mitts, a new apron from Keith, and a tall chief’s hat from Pidge. When he picked up the small round box from Lance, he immediately felt calm for some reason. He glanced up at Lance and saw that he was excitably wringing his hands together and staring at the box in his hands.

Before he could even open the box, he could feel the guilt rising up in his stomach. Lance was his best friend, and he had forgotten to buy for him, at Christmas no less. He popped the top off and gasped when he saw the glowing stone inside. He carefully lifted it up by the chain for the crystal to dangle in front of his eyes.

“Is-is this from a Balmara?” He asked in awe looking over at Lance who had a big smile on his face. He nodded his head excitably and clapped his hands.

“Where did you find this in the space mall?”

“Oh, I didn’t,” he admitted rubbing his neck as a blush formed on his cheeks.

“I actually got in contact with Shay a little while ago and asked if she could send a piece of a crystal through the Blade so I could make a necklace for you out of it,” he revealed. They gaped at the process that Lance went through, just to give his friend a stone on Christmas.

“Whoa, thanks, Lance,” Hunk said in disbelief looping it around his neck.

“That's not all though, Shay said that if you hold it near your heart the two of you will be able to communicate through the Balmara,” Lance said even more excited as he gestured madly at the pendant. Hunk gaped and clutched the crystal in his fist before holding it tightly to his chest and closing his eyes. His eyes snapped open when he felt a shot of warmth travel through his body.

“Oh my God Lance, thank you so much,” he whispered. Tears were beginning to well up in his eyes. A mix of happiness at beginning able to feel Shay again and the horrible shame that he knew Lance was going to be disappointed when his friend didn’t get anything for him. Although he knew that Lance wasn’t someone that would get angry over something like that, he knew that it would still hurt the blue paladin’s feelings.

They started arguing again when they were trying to decide who they wanted to decide who went next.

“Age before beauty Shiro,” Lance finally said.

“Yeah Shiro,” Keith smirked leaning back on the couch. Shiro rolled his eyes before accepting the gifts that were sent his way. He chuckled at the eyeliner and #1 dad mug from Keith and Pidge and thanked Hunk sincerely for the new boots.

“I’m really sorry I don’t know if I’m crossing a line with this one Shiro,” Lance said as he sheepishly handed over the package to the leader. He quirked his brow at the admission and heaved it onto his lap, it was a lot heavier than he initially thought. He looked up from the wrapped package to look at Lance in confusion. He was looking down at his lap instead and clenching his hands in his pant legs. He nervously tore the paper away from the box and lifted up the lid.

“What the- what the hell is this?” He whispered. The rest of the paladins peered into the box before looking up at Lance with wide eyes.

“Where did you find this?” Shiro asked, tracing his fingers over the white metal fingers of the prosthetic arm.

“Well, actually I made it myself,” he admitted looking up into Shiro’s eyes. He flinched slightly when Shiro tore his fingers away from it as if he had been burned.

“You made this?” Keith asked in awe, still looking flabbergasted down at it.

“Um, yes? I was learning about being a prosthetist instead of a cargo pilot before I was moved to fighter class, I learned all about these kinds of things, and I knew that there were only bad memories attached to your galra one so I wanted to make you this new one,” he told them. They were all shocked and Shiro started tearing up as he looked down at the new arm. The metal on it was matte black and white and shone with blue energy instead of purple.

“I hope I didn’t go too far,” he said ashamed. Shiro’s head whipped up to face him and shook his head frantically.

“No Lance, this is perfect,” he said choking up. He reached up and swiped at his eyes, trying to get rid of the water that was leaking out of them. Lance let out a loud sigh of relief and collapsed back on the couch. As tears rolled down his cheeks he could only feel the guilt well up in his chest, making more tears well up. He could see the happiness on his face, even though he hadn’t received anything and only saw how glad Shiro was for what he got from Lance.

Keith looked over to Lance for a split second before Lance opened his mouth.

“Age before beauty remember?” He said with a grin. Keith rolled his eyes but accepted his presents. He smiled though, as he opened up the presents. From Hunk he got a new pair of gloves, from Pidge a pair of sunglasses that said badass across the lenses, and a stuffed hippo from Shiro.

“I’m going to kill you for this,” he hissed at the grinning leader even as he hugged it to his chest. He took the last package and ripped it open.

“What is this?” Keith asked looking up from the tablet to look at Lance. “Did you just get me a tablet?” After all the things that he had gotten for the rest of his friends, he was kind of disappointed that Lance hadn’t gotten him something as monumental as them. Although, he really shouldn’t think like that since he hadn’t gotten the blue paladin anything either.

“Well, kind of,” he said shrugging his shoulders before getting up and sitting beside Keith instead. He took it from his hands and entered one of the folders before handing it back to him. There was now a picture of a galra facing them. It was a female from what they could tell and she had thick dark hair and bright violet eyes. He looked up at Lance in confusion, waiting for an explanation.

“I started asking Kolivan for some information and told him about you, and he gave me all the information he could on someone named Kara, we think she might be your mother,” he said. Keith’s head whipped up to look at Lance, tears already welling up in his eyes.

“What?” He choked out weakly.

“She had a mission on Earth and didn’t report back for years, when she did they informed her that her position was compromised and she came back to the Blade but she seemed devastated and she was posted at a second base further away then their communications could reach,” he said holding onto Keith trembling hands. He stared into Lance’s eyes, tears falling freely in shock as he took in his words.

“Every Blade has a tracker on them that monitors their health though and it shows that she is still alive, you could visit her if you want to,” Lance said softly. Keith turned to him in shock before collapsing onto him with a sob.

“Thank you so much, you don’t know how much this means to me,” he said clutching onto Lance’s shoulders.

“Well, if I thought about how much I would miss my mamá if she left without an explanation, I couldn’t stand to let you feel that for much longer,” he said softly ruffling Keith hair before they broke apart. Keith couldn’t stand it any longer and threw himself down on the couch beside Lance with a cry.

“I’m sorry!” he wailed clutching onto Lance’s pants. The shame was flowing out of him in waves.

“For what?” He asked threading his fingers gently through Keith’s hair.

“I didn’t get you anything, I’m so sorry,” he wailed pressing his wet eyes into Lance’s thigh. Lance sighed but didn’t let up on his petting.

“It’s okay Keith,” he said. Inwardly he was disappointed though, maybe the other’s gifts would make up for it though. It was obvious that Keith was feeling guilty because of it and he was going through an emotional breakdown right now. It wasn’t the time for him to feel greedy.

“No, it’s not,” Keith argued. “I promise I’ll get you something later, I promise that I’ll make it up to you,” he cried. Lance looked at him sadly for a second before looking at the rest of them with a smile. It dropped quickly though, as he saw that they were all averting their eyes to the floor and various points of the room. His heart quickly sunk in realization.

“Keith wasn’t the only one was he?” They looked up to glance at each other, hoping that at least one of them had a gift for the blue paladin.

“W-we just, I mean we, ah,” they tried to defend themselves. There was visible heart ache on his face though as he looked at them.

“We’re so sorry Lance,” Hunk said looking down at the floor, his hand clutched around the pendant around his neck. He looked at them in shock before pointing his gaze to the floor.

“It’s okay,” he said quietly but it was loud in the silence of the room. They went to argue but Lance held up and hand for them to stop.

“I’m just happy that you liked what I got for you,” he said before he gently stood up away from Keith, who looked up with a devastated expression. “I’m gonna go to bed guys, please don’t come see me until breakfast tomorrow, I really want to be alone,”

With that he turned and walked out of the room. It wasn’t until he got half way there did tears start falling off of his chin and he let out a tiny sob. He tried to stop, thinking that he was being greedy and he shouldn’t be this upset that he didn’t get presents from them. It wasn’t about the gifts though, it was that they forgot about him. Out of all the people on the ship, they forgot about him.

He strode into his room, not even bothering to do his nightly routine or change into his pyjamas before he fell onto his bed. He couldn’t bring himself to get up, the hurt that welled up in his chest and stomach weighed him down.

Don’t be greedy Lance. They didn’t mean to. Don’t be greedy.

[blueplanettrash]

“No, I Do Remember” (Part 2)

Here you go guys! Hopefully, I’ll be able to get stories rolling out every day again. We had our first snow day of the year today and it’s still going strong now at 5PM. I would post a picture but you’d just be seeing a white screen. I hope you all enjoy! ❤️

Shiro carefully set his gifts on the other paladin’s plates before they arrived. It really did make him feel better, he hadn’t been able to spend Christmas at home for such a long time and he really did worry about his mother and grandfather. He had seen the decorations that lined the hallways as he made his way to the dining hall and he had to hand it to Lance, they really were beautiful. He heard the door open and he turned to the open door, smiling at Keith as he walked over the threshold. He was followed closely by Pidge, who slipped in right after him.

“Hey Shiro,” Pidge said cheerfully as she sat down in her seat. Immediately, her hands reached out to take the small rabbit off of her plate and investigate it. She looked up at Shiro curiously and opened up her mouth before she was interrupted by Hunk as he shouldered his way out of the kitchen with several dishes in his hands.

“Whoa Hunk, do you need help?” Shiro asked as he got up and quickly approached him.

“Nope, don’t worry about it,” he quickly replied, easily setting the dishes down in the centre of the table. He uncovered them with a flourish, releasing the delicious aroma trapped inside. There were loud sniffs as each of the paladin’s inhaled the scent and quickly started taking from the plates as Hunk watched them with a smile.

“This is so good!” Keith groaned stuffing a spoonful into his mouth.

“Where’s Lance? He really outdid himself,” Shiro asked Hunk, assuming that he just helped him carry out the dishes. Hunk blushed and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Actually I made this, Lance let me make another one of my family’s dishes,” he admitted with a small smile.

“Well, it’s really good Hunk!” Shiro said with a smile. He focused back on his plate. He would really have to go and find Lance afterward and thank him. It was kind of understandable if Lance let one of them take his turn but it was pushing it with letting two of them.

“Did you help Lance with these?” Pidge voice suddenly cut through his thoughts and he looked up at the girl.

“No, those are mine, Lance let me make those instead,” he said. At his words Pidge froze, almost dropping the paper figure in her hand.

“Wait, he let you take that too?” She asked. Confused Shiro nodded and waited for her to explain.

“Lance let me make one of my family’s desserts again today,” she said quietly. They all froze and stared at her. Three. He let them have three of his traditions on his day.

“He-he put up those decorations right?” Hunk asked glancing around the table at them.

“No, those are mine,” Keith said shaking his head. They gaped at one another.

“He didn’t do anything?” Pidge asked in disbelief.

“But he didn’t even complain or anything,” Keith argued in shock.

“You all know how Lance is, even if we were hurting him he wouldn’t complain,” Shiro said. They nodded their heads in agreement and looked down at the table.

“How could we have been so selfish?” Hunk asked the quiet room.

“Because we knew that Lance was too nice to say no?” Keith suggested to the room. They didn’t say anything, knowing that it was true. When they woke up that morning, they knew that Lance wouldn’t say no to them. Even though they knew that Lance was excited to share his traditions, they were only thinking of themselves and what they wanted.

“We have to make this right,” Keith stated.

“Does anybody know anything about Lance’s traditions?” Shiro asked glancing at each one of the paladins. Keith shrugged almost immediately, it wasn’t that surprising since they weren’t really friends in the Garrison. Instead, he turned his attention to Pidge and Hunk who both looked to be deep in thought.

“This might be a long shot but the few years we were at the Garrison, he always brought a new stuffed animal back after Christmas,” Hunk suggested looking up at them.

“What about food or desserts?” Shiro asked. He was ashamed to admit that he didn’t know Lance all that well. They hadn’t really talked about their families to each other, none of them have.

“Sorry, I don’t know,” Hunk said shaking his head sadly.

“Well, we’ll just have to work with the stuffed animal,” he started going towards the door, the others trailing behind him.

In was easy to come up with an idea for a stuffed animal. Lance absolutely adored Blue so they decided to make a small plush version of her. It came out soft and fluffy, perfect for someone like Lance.

“I hope he'll like it,” Hunk said anxiously, wringing his hands together.

“Of course he’ll like it Hunk, its Blue,” Pidge said coming up beside him and patting him on the back.

“I know, but it just feels like we’re not doing enough, I mean, this is his family we’re talking about, it had to be a huge punch in the gut for us to do this,” Hunk rambled. They looked down to the ground again as the realization washed over them. He was right, above everything, Lance cared about his family the most. Christmas had to be super important to him and they took that away from him.

“We’ll spend however long it takes to make it up to him,” Keith declared, determination shining in his eyes. They cheered in agreement.

“Alright guys, let's go see Lance,” Shiro said walking down the hallway to the quarters.

They stood silently in front of Lance’s door, listening for any sign of movement. Although they hoped that he was in there, at the same time they were nervous to confront him. Before they could hesitate any longer, Shiro knocked on the door.

“Lance?” He called. Only silence greeted him and he glanced over his shoulder to gauge the other’s reactions. He knocked once more. Silence. He reached over and pushed the scanner.

“Whoa,” Their mouths opened in awe as they looked around the room. The simple garland that Lance made glowed softly throughout the room. They twinkled as if there were fairies floating around. They quietly stepped over to Lance’s bed and saw him curled into his blankets fast asleep. Their stomachs clenched when they saw the obvious tear tracks on his skin.

“Lance?” Shiro quietly said, shaking his shoulder gently. Lance let out a muffled groan and opened his eyes slightly. At the sight of the others, he curled up tighter and turned around to his other side, his back now facing the paladins. He clenched his eyes shut as tears rolled over his nose and pooled by his ear. The pain he felt earlier was still raw and seeing the others didn’t help it at all.

“What do you want?” He asked bitterly. They flinched slightly at the tone, it didn’t sound like Lance at all. They glanced at each other before turning back to look at Lance.

“We’re so sorry Lance,” Pidge started quietly. Lance didn’t turn to look at them. Sure they were sorry, but that could only be saying that because they don’t know what’s wrong.

“We shouldn’t have asked to take your day, it wasn’t right and you were just as excited as all of us to do this,” Keith said. Lance tensed up. Keith’s voice was trembling like he was getting ready to cry.

“We were selfish Lance and we’re so sorry,” Hunk cried. Okay. Hunk was definitely in tears behind him. He really didn’t want to turn around now. If he did then he would start crying even harder then he was before. The longer he listened, he could hear different people crying and sniffling.

“We knew that you wouldn’t be able to say no to us and we took advantage of that, we’re so sorry,” Shiro said. Unlike the others, it seemed like Shiro was able to keep face. He never thought that they would have come to apologize to him. He didn’t think that what happened would be important in their eyes. Sure it hurt him, but he thought that they would just ignore what happened. He gave them his permission after all.

“Will you forgive us?” Shiro asked. This time his voice was smaller. Lance pushed himself up and turned to look over at them. His eyes widened at the scene before him.

Keith, Pidge, and Hunk were clutching on to the shoulders of Shiro’s shirt. They were rubbing their eyes and sniffling but trying to look determined at Lance like a bunch of children who just fell and scraped their knee and were trying to pretend it didn’t hurt. That alone made Lance’s heart squeeze, but it was Shiro that had him lunging forward to collect them in a hug. He was bowed forward, his head lowered and was holding out a plushie version of Blue to Lance in trembling hands. His head was partly hidden by the stuffed animal but Lance could still see tears dropping from his eyes. He looked like he was holding his breath to stop any sounds from coming out. The guilt on his face was as plain as day.

He wrapped his arms around Shiro, snagging as much as he could of the others in his grip from behind Shiro’s back.

“It’s okay,” he soothed. And it was okay, they apologized and that’s all that he wanted out of them. For them to recognize their mistakes and learn from them.

“How can you forgive us so easily?” Pidge asked, curling her hand in the back of Lance’s shirt.

“We hurt you,” Hunk added.

“You came to make it up to me, there’s been a lot of people who haven’t even tried to do that,” Lance started, he squeezed his arms tighter around Shiro. “I know you guys, I know that you won’t try to do this again, I know that you can learn and you never meant to hurt me,”

They nodded in agreement and curled closer to him, tears still streaming down their faces. Lance couldn’t help but smile at them. Hurt and guilt can only last so long, and it helps to have people that care about you, who can make them go away even quicker.

Part 1/2

[blueplanettrash]

Day 7: “No, I Do Remember”

I hope I stay caught up this time, I’ll stop complaining about it anyway. I hope everybody enjoys! ❤️

When Pidge made the calendar to keep track of how much time has passed on Earth, they quickly realized that they were nearing Christmas. They couldn’t stop talking about all of the traditions that their families had while they were home and decided that each day leading up to Christmas they would each do a day of their family traditions. Decorations, food, desserts, and gifts. Of course, all of them were excited and wanted to be able to go sooner rather than later. They decided that it would go Pidge first, then Keith, then Hunk, then Shiro, and finally Lance since he was happy to let all of them go before him.

The plans went well too, they would set up their traditions and at the end of the day, they would all help in cleaning it up too. They laughed as Pidge and Shiro tried to cook their families traditional meals but burned them half-way through, it turned into a fun way to bond though as they tried to figure out the recipes just from the two of their heads. Surprisingly Keith as a fantastic cook and turned out a great meal, while Hunk was a no-brainer with his food.

The decorations were the same, but this time it was Shiro and Pidge who excelled. Shiro strung up elegant folded papers and finely cut homemade tinsel and Pidge made twinkling lights that lined the hallways and cast a golden glow to the ground. Keith and Hunk’s families were similar though, that they both took to threading and stringing up popcorn for decoration. They weren’t able to find a corn type planet but something came up in storage that looked like the kernels could be popped, so they tried it. It might have looked strange when it was purple with orange spots, so they decided to paint them red and roll them in red glitter. It turned out surprisingly well and it sparkled with the hallway lights whenever they walked by.

The desserts were something that they all enjoyed since after dinner they would go into the kitchen and teach each other how to bake their family’s favourite dessert for the holiday as they ate some that were already prepared. It was interesting to see what kinds of things their families liked to eat over Christmas. Panettone from Pidge, kurisumasu keiki from Shiro, gingerbread and caramel from Keith, and sugar cookies from Hunk. They were able to pull off the taste off the dishes even if they didn’t really look like the dessert itself.

It was kind of awesome that they would be getting a gift every day too. When Pidge nervously handed out the small boxes they immediately were wowed by the shiny Christmas ornaments that were carefully laid inside. Each of them were the same colour as their paladin armour and sparkled slightly with glitter. Of course, they were all grateful for them and her worries were quickly washed away by all of the thank yous she was getting. The days after were also a time of learning for the paladins. They learned that Hunk’s family made charms for each other that represented something that they had accomplished that year. So each of their charms were of their lion’s face. They weren’t exactly sure how Hunk had accomplished it but they weren’t too curious either, he had done some pretty amazing things in the past after all. When Keith passed around newly designed and fabricated pyjamas, they learned that his dad used to always design and sew new pyjamas for him every year and it was always his favourite gift out of everything he received. They weren’t going to lie, it was freakishly adorable of him. It also came to light that Shiro lived on Earth with his mother and grandfather and every Christmas his grandfather would fold him a different animal out of paper and give it to him, even though he wasn’t able to move his hands very much anymore and although he always forgot about a lot of things, he never forgot his tradition to his grandson. There were more tears shed during those times but at least they were all good memories.

Lance loved each and every one of his friend’s traditions. His desk held all of the gifts, carefully arranged so they could constantly be in his sight. Today was his turn though, and he was excited to share his traditions with them. He decided to go to the fabricator room first, it would be better to start off the day getting the gifts ready than rush through it later.

Every year his mamá would get everyone a stuffed animal in their favourite colour. What it was depended on how you acted or what you conquered during the year. During his first year of middle school he was extremely shy and withdrawn and got a deer that year, but as he worked his way out of his shell and became braver he ended his middle school career with a badger. Not the scariest thing to look at, but he as well as everyone else on Earth knows; nobody messes with a fucking badger.

He stopped at the door of the fabricator room when he saw Shiro standing at it printing out pieces of coloured paper. He turned when he heard the sound of the door sliding open.

“Hi Lance,” He said with a smile and a wave.

“Oh, um, hey Shiro, what are you doing here?” He asked looking at him with a confused head tilt.

“Oh, right, I’m making more paper so I can give everyone another animal, I just was reminded of how much I loved getting them while I was on Earth,” he said wistfully. Lance’s stomach dropped.

“You remember that it’s my day right?” He asked breaking Shiro out of his memory. He collected the papers in his hands and gathered them up.

“No, I did remember, you don’t mind though do you? There are still three other things that you can do,” he said, carefully putting the pages in an envelope that he had by his side. Lance took a step back at the answer. Although it kind of hurt to think about, Shiro was right, he did have all of the other things that he could do. He did look a bit overwhelmed last night and wasn’t able to fully enjoy giving everyone their gifts because of it.

“Yeah, you’re right, go for it, Shiro,” he said giving the leader a big thumbs up. Shiro gave him a grateful smile and patted his shoulder as he passed by him to go out the door. As he heard the door close behind him, his arm fell limp to his side. He looked solemnly around the fabricator room. He could make his animals anyway but that would just take the spotlight off of Shiro’s gifts. He couldn’t do that to him, not after how much he was hurting yesterday. He’d just have to start making his decorations then.

He set to work, creating lights, bells, and fake Christmas tree boughs before he twisted the lights and boughs together and tied the bells around them to create a simple garland. He nodded his head in approval and bundled it up in his arms, although the length of it still made it drag on the floor slightly behind him. He decided that it would be best to make his dessert before stringing up the decoration since it would take time to refrigerate and cool. He dropped his garland in his room and headed toward the kitchen instead.

Like in the fabricator room, he stopped in his track when he saw Pidge was in the middle of mixing together what looked to be cake batter in a large mixing bowl. It didn’t take long for the squeeze of his heart to happen and he moved further into the kitchen hoping that she wasn’t doing what she thought he was.

“Pidge, you did remember that it is my day today right?” He asked catching her attention. She barely looked up from her task before she continued, turning to the ingredients she had.

“No, I did remember, but I realized that my mom made pandoro for Christmas and I just had to make it for everybody, I knew you wouldn’t mind though,”

Lance quickly shoved a smile on his face before she could turn around. She looked at him with sparkling eyes and he directed his gaze to the floor. He wanted to say no so bad, but seeing the hope and happiness in her eyes, he just couldn’t do it.

“Yeah, no, I don’t mind, can’t wait to eat it,” he said sending finger guns her way before he backed himself out of the kitchen. After the doors closed in front of him, he looked down at the ground and sighed. Tears were prickling in his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away with his sleeve. He still had two things that he could do. He had wanted to make natillas for them but it would have to wait for now. At least now he could focus on making the perfect meal and setting up the garland as best as he could.

He headed back to his room ready to start putting up the garland. He wanted them to stretch down the halls so that everyone would see them when they walked by. It would be exactly like it was at home. His family loved to make their own garland instead of getting it at the store like everyone else. He smiled fondly, lost in his own memories. He was only distracted from them when he physically bumped into somebody.

“Ack, oh sorry,” he said helping Keith to his feet from where he knocked him over.

“Geez Lance, watch where you’re going,” he grumbled taking the hand.

“Hey, I said I was sor- what are you doing?” he asked finally taking in the sight before him. Keith was standing in the main hallways, a row of green and red wreath stretching down the hallways beside him. His eyes went back to Keith who was blushing and looking down at the ground.

“I remembered that my dad would always tell me that my mom liked the wreaths that he used to put up at Christmas time and I wanted to see how much somebody else would like them,”

“It's my day though,” Lance said quietly.

“I remember, I just thought that you wouldn’t have a problem with it, there are other things that you could be doing,” he argued still not looking up from the ground. Lance wanted to say that he was wrong, that he had already given away half of his traditions. That wouldn’t be fair though; he had given away two of his traditions already. It wouldn’t be fair to Keith if he didn’t give him the chance to celebrate again, because he had said yes to Shiro and Pidge.

“Okay,” is all he said before he walked away clenching his jaw. His fists were curled tight by his side but not in anger to Keith or Shiro or Pidge. He was just sad that he wouldn’t be able to share the things that were special to him with his friends because he couldn’t say no to them.

The door to his room slid open and he stared at the long garland sitting innocently on his floor, wrapped and ready for him to decorate with. He wanted to destroy it then and there but he didn’t but all the work in for nothing. He grabbed it and started lining it around his room, along the floor and arched over top of his bed. After he was done he shut off the lights and turned on the garland’s. He smiled at the result, it was like there were fairies in his room, living in the garland. It was beautiful.

He looked over at the clock and decided that Pidge probably would have left by then and that it was about time that he started making dinner. He passed the decorations in the hall without a glance, focused solely on getting to the kitchen. There were butterflies in his stomach as he made it to the door of the kitchen and he waited on the other side just taking breaths. He wanted more than anything for there to be nobody on the other side of the door but by the way that the day was going, he almost expected it.

He took a deep breath in and opened the door. Silence. He glanced around in shock and almost leaped in glee at the fact that nobody was in there. He rushed towards the counter ready to pull things out. He paused when he heard a nervous shuffle in the doorway and looked up. Hunk was standing near the entrance, looking off to the side and wringing his hands together. Immediately the butterflies were back and his heart was pounding in his chest.

“Um, I was wondering if I could make another one of my family’s dishes today,” he suggested rubbing the back of his neck before he could look up to meet Lance’s eyes.

“Hunk, it's my day,” Lance almost pleaded trying to get hunk to realize how devastated he was becoming. Hunk tried not to look at his face too much though, he didn’t want to feel guilty.

“Yeah, I remember, I just miss my family, I want to remember them more,” he admitted. Lance swallowed, he knew exactly how that felt. He knew how much it hurt. He didn’t want Hunk to feel that too, no matter how much it hurt himself. He set down the tools that he had gotten for himself and walked over to Hunk. He didn’t say anything as he wrapped his arms around Hunk.

“Have fun buddy,” he said quietly before he left and headed back towards his room. He knew that it wouldn’t be long before Hunk finished dinner but he couldn’t bear the idea of showing up when he had no part in the day even though it was all meant to be his. For the first time today, he let himself clench his jaw and let the tears fall down his cheeks. It was supposed to be the day he could show everyone how much his family and Christmas meant to him. It was supposed to bring the paladins closer to him, not drive them away from him even more.

He slid open the room to his door and took in the glowing lights coming from the garland and laid down on his bed. He let the streaks fall on to the bedding as he let himself sink into his sadness. He didn’t want to feel as terrible as he did, in fact, he should be feeling proud of himself for pushing aside his feeling and letting his friends feel closer to their families. No matter what he did though, it only felt like they didn’t care about his traditions or what they meant to him. They steamrolled over him, assuming that he wouldn’t care that they took something away from him. Assuming that he wouldn’t speak up for himself and take back what they agreed was his.

He clenched his fist in the cover of his bed. He didn’t want to cry over this but he couldn’t help it. Christmas was important to him and his family. It brought them closer every year and his friends had taken a lot of it away from him. If Christmas was so important to them, why did they think it meant so little to Lance?

Part 1/2

[blueplanettrash]

Day 11: Family

Hey guys, sorry for disappearing for so long! This story is sort of a second part to Family Tragedy (my second story on Tumblr). You don’t have to read it first for it to make sense though. I hope everyone enjoys! ❤️

It would be their first Christmas home after making it back from space. Everyone was excited to spend Christmas with their families and were already discussing the plans they had made in their group chat. Unsurprisingly and unfortunately, there was a long silence from their blue paladin. Shiro was almost afraid to ask, but he wanted Lance to be included over the holiday if he had nobody to spend it with.

Space Padré: Lance, do you have any plans for the holidays?

Blue Boi: No, I don’t think so. I’ll probably just spend it in the dorm.

Uptown Hunk: What? Bro. No. You can come to my house, my parents would love to have you.

Baby Meme: Mine too!

County Fair: Dad would probably want to meet you.

Space Padré: Mom and Grandpa would be glad to have you too. You could come to any of our places for the holidays!

Blue Boi: You guys really don’t have to. I’m really not that fun…

County Fair: Shut your whore mouth, Lance.

Uptown Hunk: Yeah Lance, you’re plenty fun! You deserve to have a fun holiday!

Baby Meme: You know what we could do. We could have one big Christmas gathering with all of our families.

Uptown Hunk: That’s a great idea! Then they could all meet each other too!

After that, they rushed to coordinate with each other and their families. They made sure to include Lance in all of their plans, they didn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable. Whenever they would meet up, he would give them a small smile but wouldn’t say very much as they planned around their schedules. It worried them but they understood. They wouldn’t want to spend their Christmases without their families after all. Even when they spent time together without planning, he would sit quietly out of their circle, minding his own business or talking lowly to whoever was sitting beside him.

On the night of their party, however, he was all smiles. He introduced himself to every single member of their families and gave the parents their own little gift from him. Of course, they were all warned beforehand to not ask about his family since they didn’t want to bring up any painful memories for him.

It seemed like he was having a grand time while he danced with Matt in the middle of the room, surrounded by the family’s various cousins. They laughed as Matt spun him around and dipped him low to the ground. As the music came to an end they dramatically parted from each other to go their separate ways. Lance walked over to them, throwing an arm around Shiro and Hunk.

“Great party guys!” He commented.

“Yeah, it came out much better than I was expecting honestly,” Shiro said looking around the room.

“Right? Who knew that Pidge had so many cousins!” Hunk laughed. It was true, they weren’t expecting the Holts to walk in with a train of people following behind them.

“They’re Italian,”

“That is true,”

“What are you guys doing?” Keith’s voice drawled from behind them. They turned and saw him standing, holding a cup, but what really drew their attention was the sweater he was wearing.

“What the fuck,” Hunk breathed out before he cupped a hand over his mouth and wheezed loudly. His sweater was a knit bright red sweater that had “Merry Christmas Y’all” stitched on it with two long horns positioned under the lettering. Shiro and Lance clutched to each other as they stared at the sweater, laughter pouring out of their mouths. Keith’s face lit up with a blush and his cup crumpled in his hand. Thankfully it looked like he finished his drink because nothing poured over the side.

“Shut the hell up,” he growled, glaring at the three of them. They vainly tried to stop laughing, Lance coughing and choking with the effort. They stood straight as they stared at Keith’s face, not daring to glance lower.

“It’s a tradition,” he said before they could ask any questions. He gestured with his head and they looked over to where Keith’s dad was talking with Colleen. He was turned just enough that they could see the words “Happy Yall-idays,” stretched across his chest.

“This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Hunk said doubling over.

Even as Ken came over to them to greet them, they kept a straight face. It was only after he turned his back again that they burst into laughter, this time dragging Keith along with them.

It wasn’t long before Pidge joined them as well. As much as she missed spending the holidays with her family, it was a bit overwhelming to suddenly go from seven people to over twenty in a small space.

As their night drew to a close, with aunts and uncles carrying their younger cousins out; they noticed that Lance was fidgeting slightly and sneaking glances towards them.

“Whats wrong Lance?” Hunk asked putting his hand on his shoulder. He nervously looked at all of them.

“I have something I do every Christmas and I wondering if maybe, you don’t have to, but if you don’t have anything to do if you guys would come with me,” he offered quickly looking down at the ground.

“Of course we’ll go with you Lance,” Shiro said gently, reaching forward to ruffle his hair.

“Really?” He asked. Shiro was confused to see how glassy his eyes were. Whatever it was, it really meant a lot to Lance and they wanted to be there for him.

“Yeah man!” Hunk said slapping him on the back with a smile. Lance rubbed his arm, smiling up at them bashfully.

They helped send off their families and load up their cars before waving as they drove away. Then they were piling into Lance’s car with the promise that he would drive them back after they were finished. They watched from the windows as houses strung with Christmas lights passed by them.

“Are you going to tell us where we’re going?” Keith asked, breaking the comfortable silence that permeated the car.

“Nah, I’ll tell you when we get there,” Lance said after a moment.

“Aww, why?” Pidge asked, poking the back of Lance’s head through the gap in the headrest.

“One, because it’s fun and gets on Keith’s nerves; two, I don’t know if you’d still want to go with me if I told you,” he admitted in a quiet voice. They sat, unsure of their decision to go with him. But Lance would never try to hurt them. Right?

“It’s nothing dangerous,” he said as if he heard their thoughts.

“What then? Why don’t you think we would want to go?” Keith asked crossing his arms.

“I don’t know, I guess it’s just kind of a weird thing to bring you to,” he said, his hands were tense on the steering wheel.

“Well whatever it is, I’m sure we’ll enjoy ourselves,” Shiro tried to comfort him. Lance looked sideways at him for a second before his eyes slid back to the road.

“I don’t think so Shiro, I’ll probably be snotting on one of you by the end of it,” he said. They glanced at each other in confusion but decided not to ask questions. They would soon find out what was happening anyway.

“We’re here,” Lance said, his voice suddenly becoming solemn. He flicked on his left blinker and turned into a long driveway. As they climbed up the hill, they could see tombstones on either side of them. Shiro looked over at Lance and stared. In the short time between the party and now, it seemed like Lance had aged years. It was easy to tell why Lance had taken them there now. He pulled the car slowly to the side of the drive and stopped the car, breathing out slowly before opening his door, prompting the rest of them to do the same.

“I always visit my parent’s graves during Christmas, it makes them feel closer to me,” he explained as he pulled a bag out of his trunk and started down the cobblestone pathway between the headstones.

It wasn’t long before they stopped and Lance led them down a row. They huddled together as Lance got to work, dusting the afternoon’s snow off of the headstones revealing his family’s names. They glanced at each other uncertainly. They had no idea how they could help in this situation. It seemed that they were there for emotional support, but Lance had been visiting by himself for years prior to that. If he needed them though, they would be there for him in a heartbeat.

Shiro was about to open his mouth and say just that to the small group when he was cut off by a gentle glow coming from Lance’s direction. They looked over and gasped quietly at the sight.

He had slightly cleaned off the tombstones and in the time that they were thinking to themselves, he had strung small lights across the tombstones. From the glow, they could see his silhouette lightly shaking as he looked down the row.

“These are my parents,” he said quietly not looking back at them. They stepped forward to stand at Lance’s sides. They could see the engraved Rosa McClain and Cortez McClain on the stones.

“My siblings passed away while we were still in Cuba and were buried there but my parents died here, I wanted to get them back to Cuba to joined the rest of the family but it didn’t happen,”

“I’m so sorry Lance,” Shiro said grabbing Lance’s hand in support. Lance gave him a sad smile in return but clutched his hand tighter.

“It’s okay, I’ve had time to heal,” he said. He shook his head slightly. “I don’t think it will ever be completely okay but I can try,”

“Mamá, Papá,” he said looking back to the headstones with a grin. “This is my team,”

“Pidge is our amazing green paladin, she’s the smartest out of all of us even though she is the youngest. She’s so strong. Even though her family was lost in space, she never left us. She's like a little sister to me, just like Sophia was. I’ll always look out for her, just like she will for me,” he said softly. Pidge looked up at him in awe. She knew that Lance was like a brother to her but she was always afraid that telling him that would upset him since he lost his family.

“Hunk is my best friend in the entire world, he would give up anything in order to make somebody happy. He’s helped me so much, he helped me feel happy again after everything that happened and I can never thank him enough for that. I would do anything to make sure that he’s happy, he’s my brother,” his voice was a bit warped this time. Hunk clutched his other hand with a sniffle. His eyes looked down at Lance, but Lance’s stayed firmly planted on his parent’s tombstones.

“Keith may be hot-headed and unpredictable, and we might not get along all the time but he’s one of the most loyal and selfless people I’ve ever met in my life. He looks out of everyone and he cares so much about helping people, even though he has so much about himself that he has to deal with. I am proud to call him my brother, no matter how he sees it,” Keith stared over at him in shocked silence. He had no idea that Lance felt that way.

“You know who Shiro is. I never stopped talking about him while you were alive; he’s my hero but there’s so much that I learned about him. He always puts us before himself even when he’s really hurting. He’s not as serious as I thought and is actually a big goof. I’m honoured to have met him and to call him my brother,” his chin sank to his chest as his eyes squeezed closed. Shiro bit his lip and clutched tighter to Lance’s hand. He knew how much this would be hurting Lance but refused to interrupt him.

It took a moment but Lance brought his gaze back up to look at his parents. By then, there were visible tear marks down his cheeks and he was gasping back small sobs.

“You don’t have to worry about me anymore. I found a family that will take care of me and I can take care of and I love them so much,” he choked bringing a fist up to wipe away the quickly falling tears. The rest of them swallowed back their tears, trying to be strong for the blue paladin.

“I love you guys so so much,” he cried, dropping to his knees, his hands still grasping tightly to Shiro and Hunk. They fell beside him and quickly wrapped their arms around him as he broke down. Keith and Pidge squeezed in the gaps and attached themselves to him as well.

They kneeled on the cold hard dirt as Lance fell apart, quietly giving words of comfort to him. One of the most painful things in life is losing someone held dear to you. Although a loved one can never be replaced, finding the people that are special to you can help fill the gap.

[blueplanettrash]

Day 8: Snow

Guys this is literally the worst thing I have ever written in my life, and I’m sorry about that. At least I’m keeping on time now.

When Lance looked at pictures of snow in magazines and books, he always thought that it looked so fluffy and warm. He never had the opportunity on Earth to go and visit somewhere cold enough to get snow, so when they landed on a planet that was completely covered with the stuff, he was understandably excited for it. When he got outside and found himself in the blistering cold, destroying any previous expectations he had of the stuff he wasn’t disappointed like the others thought he might be. Instead, he scooped some up and threw it back at them, starting their first team snowball fight. At the time he couldn’t imagine why people complained about the snow, it was so much fun!

At least it was until they all went back inside hours later when it was time to get ready for bed. They headed off to their separate rooms to change into their normal clothes again. His hands felt unbearably itchy and hot as he started to peel the black body suit off. The same going for the rest of his body; although it was cold to the touch and shivering it felt like he was burning from the inside out. He changed into his robe and pants quickly and curled up under his covers, trying to generate warmth under his covers. He hoped that he would be able to fall asleep even though he was still shivering violently. He thought that maybe he should go ask the others if it was normal to be cold for a little while after, but he didn’t want to seem dumb in front of them if it was something that happened often. He tugged the blankets tighter around his body and clenched his eyes shut, hoping for sleep. It wouldn’t come for several fitful hours.

The paladins waited around the breakfast table waiting for Lance to appear. They just knew that he would spend the morning talking about the fun they had in the snow the previous day and couldn’t wait for him to show up and see how happy he was. He should have been to the dining hall by now though and they were starting to worry about him.

“I’ll go check on him,” Shiro decided standing up from his spot at the table. As he made his way to the quarters he couldn’t help but worry about the paladin. It wasn’t like him to be late to breakfast nowadays. He knocked lightly on the door and waited for a reply. He didn’t get one. He knocked again and pressed his ear to the door, hoping to hear some sort of muffled snort or panicked response from him but there was only silence.

“Lance?” He called once last time. Again silence. He pressed his hand to the scanner and the door slid open. He could clearly see Lance laying curled up on the bed, but it didn’t explain why he didn’t open the door. He knew for a fact that Lance was a light sleeper. He quietly walked over and gently shook his shoulder. There was a low groan from the teen and he quickly did it again, making Lance turn over and open his eyes slightly. He furrowed his eyebrows up at Shiro, as if he was confused why he was there.

“Hey Lance, you coming to breakfast?” He asked with a smile. Silence once again greeted him, and he finally noticed the flush on his cheeks and that his shirt was soaking through with sweat.

“Oh my god Lance,” he said panicked as he pressed his hand on to Lance’s forehead.

“Mark? Is that you?” Lance’s weak voice asked. His hands came up and wrapped around Shiro’s wrist, keeping it pressed against his forehead. Shiro’s eyes widened, he recognized the name from Lance’s stories from home. It was his older brother; if Lance thought that Shiro was Mark then his fever was high enough that he was hallucinating. He had to get him to the med bay immediately.

“I’ve got to get you to see Coran, okay Lance?” He asked coming closer ready to scoop up him up. Lance hesitated for a second before nodding his head slightly. He didn’t need any other indication before he had Lance in his arms and began heading towards the med bay.

He laid him down before he sprinted back to the dining hall and burst into the room.

“Lance is sick, he’s hallucinating, he needs help now!” He called frantically into the room. Immediately everyone jumped up and followed him back to the med bay where Lance was blearily looking around the ceiling, sweating and wheezing the entire time. Coran got to work instantly, hooking up machines and readying medicine around him. Lance looked back over to the group and his eyes caught on Shiro again. He flung his arm out towards him, tears welling up in his eyes.

“Mark!” He cried out brokenly, tears rolling down his flushed cheeks. Shiro could almost hear his heart break before he rushed over to his bedside, taking Lance’s hand in his. He may not Lance’s blood brother but he was just as close. If he needed Mark to be here for him right now, then he would be Mark. Lance’s arms came around Shiro’s waist and he shoved his head on his stomach with a cry.

“I missed you so much!” He cried nuzzling into his stomach. Shiro shallowed and pushed his fingers through Lance’s damp hair. He knew how homesick he was for Earth, and how much he tried to hide his feelings.

“I missed you too buddy,” he said leaning down to press a kiss to the crown of his head.

“I’m sorry, it took so long for me to come home, I wanted to come back sooner but people needed me up there,” Lance admitted quietly squeezing around Shiro’s waist. “They actually needed me up there Mark,” he said in amazement, looking up at Shiro with a smile on his face. Shiro’s heart dropped.

“Of course they needed you up there, you’re strong and brave why wouldn’t they need you?” Shiro tried. Lance let out a little laugh.

“That’s not me Mark, that’s Hunk, he’s the bravest guy I know,” he said. Hunk’s head perked up at the mention of his name.

“He was so scared so many times but no matter what he always pushed through, did you know that he’s my best friend too?” He asked clenching his hands in the back of Shiro’s shirt.

“Of course I knew that Lance,” Shiro chuckled looking over to Hunk who had a blush staining his face along with a small smile.

“Keith and Pidge were there too though; Pidge is the smartest person I’ve ever seen and Keith is just so cool, I wish I could be more like him sometimes,” he admitted softly into the fabric of Shiro’s shirt. The two of them still heard him though. Keith looked floored by the revelation while Pidge seemed to preen at the compliments.

“We met aliens up there too!” He said excitedly with a wide grin. “Allura and Coran, they are the last Alteans but that didn’t stop them from trying to defeat Zarkon or anything! Coran is so loyal and nice and he spends a lot of time with me when no one else is around and Allura is super strong and can get along with anybody!” He took one arm from where it was around Shiro and waved it around above him as he tried to describe the two of them. They were watching him in interest now. Although Coran was still trying to gather up supplies for Lance, he now had a fond smile on his face. Allura looked stunned at Lance, she expected him to have said something about her looks instead of her diplomacy. Shiro was broken away from his observation when Lance excitably hit him on the chest. When he looked down at him again, his eyes were also glittering in excitement.

“I met my hero up there Mark!” He whispered.

“And who is that?” He asked, genuinely curious. He hadn’t seen Lance act differently towards anybody that would have suggested that he looked up to them.

“You know! Takashi Shirogane! I met him! He knows who I am!” He smiled ear to ear, shaking Shiro’s arm in excitement. Shiro’s eyes widened. He was Lance’s hero? He would’ve never guessed.

“Well, will I ever meet this Shirogane?” He asked still playing the part of Lance’s brother, ignoring the other paladin’s snickers. His brows furrowed when Lance’s smile dropped and he looked down at the bed sheets.

“I don’t think so, he doesn’t like me very much,” he said quietly.

“What? Why would you think that?” He asked in shock, leaning down to meet eyes with Lance. He was devastated to see tears collecting in his eyes.

“I’m not strong Mark! I’m not smart, I’m not brave, I’m not talented, I’m not anything! I’m nothing compared to them!” He cried, his hands going up to clutch at his hair. Shiro’s chin quivered at Lance’s admission and he quickly gathered him up in a hug, letting the teen sob into his shoulder. He could feel the heat radiating off of him and his heart squeezed in pity. It was obvious to see that he wasn’t crying just out of emotional pain.

“Please don’t think that way, I promise you that your friends think the entire universe of you Lance,” he pleaded rubbing Lance’s back in comfort. Lance gripped onto the front of Shiro’s shirt, hanging on for dear life even as he fell asleep. The team gathered around the two of them, they were in various states of breaking down at Lance’s confessions. It was true what Shiro said, they thought everything of him. He was the only one that didn’t see it.  

[blueplanettrash]

Day 1: Black Friday

Sorry I’m late starting, I’ve been really busy over the last few days. I have my final exam tomorrow though so I’ll get day 2 and 3 done tomorrow! Also I know that this isn’t very langsty, but it is the least langsty out of all of them, so it will get better. I hope everyone enjoys! ❤️

Normally Lance tried to avoid Black Friday and all of the sales. He heard all of the horror stories and they scared the absolute shit out of him. This year, however, he had to get the perfect gifts for his friends. All of them have finally graduated and joined Allura at her company Voltron. She was the CEO of the company Voltron, inheriting it from her father, alongside Coran who worked as a COO. Voltron was a space exploration company that was working on trying to explore the further reaches of space.

Shiro worked as Allura’s contracted bodyguard and it didn’t hurt that they were also dating. Keith, Hunk, and Pidge all graduated last year but he wanted to stay an extra few years to make sure he was as qualified as he could be before he joined them. Keith worked as Allura personal pilot, Hunk as an aeronautical engineer and Pidge as an ethical hacker.

However staying as a student meant that he wasn’t able to get a lot of the money that he needed or wanted. This year whenever one of his friends saw them, they got a very excited and happy smile on their face. Not that they weren’t always happy to see him but since it was growing closer and closer to Christmas, it probably had something to do with their gifts for him. Considering all of them were making over $100,000 a year now. That’s why he had to get the best deal possible, it might be the only opportunity he has to get a decently expensive product in his price range.

“Excuse me,” he said meekly as he tried to push through the crowd. People were pushing and shoving trying to snatch up the best deals. Every time Lance would reach his hand out to try and pick up a product off the shelf, it was either snatched off of the shelf or even directly from his hand. He would have tried to defend himself against the other shoppers but they were almost foaming at the mouth and he wasn’t sure about his own safety.

“Damn it,” he muttered when another shopper pushed past him to grab the leather jacket he wanted to get for Shiro. This was a lot more frustrating then he thought it would be, he just really wanted to go home right now. He sighed and glanced at his side and gasped. That was Killbot Phantasm Re-Mastered. Pidge would love that, she never had the time to go out and but it, and wasn’t being offered online. He had to get it for her. He started forward, if he didn’t get this for her, he would never forgive himself.

He got his hand on the very last copy and pulled it off of the shelf. He didn’t get to put it in his basket though before someone tried to grab it from his hand. He didn’t get the chance to look up at the person’s face before he was punched in the face and he fell to the ground in a heap. He quickly pressed a hand over his nose as he felt blood starting to slip down his face. He struggled to his feet and started towards the exit. This was too much for him. He walked through the parking lot, tears and blood rolling down his face. What was he going to do now?

He quietly closed the door to his apartment, Blue walked up and rubbed her head on his leg.

“Hey beautiful,” he said fondly before moving into the kitchen to rip off a piece of paper towel and wet it to try and clean the blood off of his chin. He sighed and leaned back onto the counter.

“God what am I going to get them now?” he asked himself, staring up at the ceiling. He looked back into his living room, his eyes catching the rolls of yarn and his knitting needles sticking up from the basket.

“Maybe…” he trailed off before looking over at the entrance way. His hat and mitten sat there innocently but they immediately shot Lance into action. They wouldn’t be as expensive or nice as what his friends were going to get him, he was sure but at least they would have a use. He would definitely be cutting it close with a month and six hats and six pairs of mittens, but he would be able to do it.

He wasn’t exaggerating when he thought that his friends were going to spoil him this year. They decided to meet at his place, the comfortable area familiar to all of them. Lance’s roommates had already gone home to their families and wouldn’t be back until school started again. When they sat down around Lance’s Charlie Brown Christmas tree after their meal, they decided to ignore the gifts to and from each other and started handing their gifts over to Lance.

He gaped in awe at the presents that he unwrapped. A round trip voucher from Coran so he could go visit his family, a drone from Keith, a brand new laptop from Shiro, an Xbox One from Pidge, an Apple watch from Hunk, and a fucking Louis Vuitton peacoat from Allura. They looked at him with sparkling eyes as he unwrapped his gifts and stuttered out grateful thank you’s and let out a few tears.

His eyes caught his own wrapped gifts sitting under his small plastic tree. He walked over and picked them up handing them over to everyone, each one wrapped in color-coded wrapping paper.

“Don’t open them yet,” he said when he saw Keith about to tear into the package. He stopped and looked up at him expectingly.

“Okay, so I couldn’t get you guys really good stuff, but I’ll be able to get you guys something when I get enough money, so please don’t be disappointed,” he rushed out.

“We won’t be disappointed,” Shiro comforted him. Lance shook his head but waved his hand for them to go ahead. Immediately he heard the sound of ripping paper and decided to look down at the ground instead.

“Are these?” Pidge started, but as soon as she started talking she ripped the rest of the package open with an excited squeal. Lance blinked and looked up at the cheer and his eyes widened seeing Keith and Pidge had already pulled the cat-eared knit hats over their heads and the rest of them were pulling on the paw mittens with excited grins.

“These are just like yours!” Hunk cheered with a smile. Lance faintly nodded his head still confused at their reactions.

“You actually like them?” He asked. They stared at him blankly.

“Lance, I’ve been jealous of those things for like, two years,” Shiro deadpanned. The eared hat on his head ruined the image though.

“Oh,” he trailed off. They got off of the couch and gathered around him in a group hug, many words of gratitude falling from their mouths.

He looked at each of them, smiles on their faces and small laughs coming out of their mouths. Christmas had always been important to Lance and his family and now he had another family to share new memories with.

[blueplanettrash]

Day 12: Christmas

Here’s the last day finally. I’ll start writing the next parts to day 6 and 7 tomorrow after class! I hope you all enjoy! ❤️

Christmas in a hospital wasn’t as bad as it seemed. Not if you had the kind of friends that Lance did. He had been admitted years ago with a disease that was very slowly killing him. You would think that that would have a very sobering effect on him but Lance was one of the happiest and most grateful people you would ever meet. Every day he tried to live to the fullest, even if his schedule was crammed with tests and therapy. He used to live in black and white but that changed when he started meeting people as they were admitted to the hospital. First, it was Hunk, then Pidge, Keith, and finally Shiro. He also made good friends with his doctor Coran and a nurse in training Allura who started working at the hospital when she finished her schooling. It warmed his heart when she told him that she chose that hospital because he would be there for a long time. They became like brother and sister after she told him that.

They huddled in Lance’s room since he was put on bedrest a few days earlier and hooked up to several machines. Smiles lit up their faces and laughter poured out of their mouths even as they dodged around wires and tubes that connected to Lance’s body. They shared stories of Christmas Eve’s before and passed around snacks that Allura gave to them as a treat. Soon enough, she herself walked into the room and started ushering them out.

“Merry Christmas,” Lance called out to them as they filed out, joyfully waving at them as they turned back to him. As soon as the door was closed behind Allura, he flopped down on his pillow and looked blankly up at the ceiling. Even as Alura checked his vitals and took simple tests he didn’t pay attention to her. Not until she stood by the side of his bed and laid her cool hand against his forehead.

“Allura,” he said simply, waiting for her to look into his eyes.

“Yes, Lance?” she replied biting her lip. He wasn’t usually this quiet while she was here.  They would laugh and talk and she would have to hurry to make up the time on her other rounds.

“Merry Christmas,” he said softly. She smiled and leaned down to kiss his forehead.

“Merry Christmas, Lance,” she quietly left the room, shutting the door behind her and made her way around the floor.

Lance’s head tilted towards the door, a small smile on his face before he shut his eyes. He knew that it would be the last time he ever did.

Hunk and Pidge slipped into Keith’s room. The boy still snoozing in his bed. They knew not to startle the boy badly and softly shook his shoulder. His eyes blinked open as a loud groan came out of his mouth. He glared up at the two figures and rubbed at his eyes as they quietly laughed.

“Come on Keith, we promised that we would meet Lance this morning,” Pidge whined. Keith huffed but obediently sat up and slid off of his bed, shivering at the touch of the cold floor. He slipped into his slippers as they headed out the door and down the hall towards Shiro’s room. As they opened the door, they saw that he was already up and holding a magazine in his hand. He looked over at them with a smile and stood, following behind them without a word.

“Merry Christmas Lance!” They cheered opening the door. Only to pause in confusion when they saw that his bed was empty, with no equipment to be found around it.

“What?” Keith asked in confusion, eyes darting around the room trying to find even a trace of the boy. They backed out of the room, panic clear in their stances and rushed to the nurse’s station. The nurses already familiar with them asked them what was wrong.

“Do you know where Lance went? He wasn’t in his room,” Hunk cried, clutching to the hem of his shirt. Their eyes widened and they stood up.

“Come with me,” she said leading them down the hallway away from the other patient’s rooms. She led them to one of the lounges, this one was especially for patients and was rarely used by anyone. They walked in and saw Allura and Coran standing by the window, quietly conversing.

“Dr. Smythe, Allura, I brought them,” the nurse said, ushering them inside and shutting the door behind them. They looked back at the door before turning to face them.

“What’s going on?” Shiro asked coming forward slightly as if to protect the ones behind him. They looked determined at the two of them, they often had small meetings like this one. Usually when Lance declined and he would be in bad shape for a while, or they wouldn’t be able to see him. It wasn’t unusual for this to happen.

Coran stepped forward with a frown on his face. It was strange, even if there was bad news, he usually kept a happy face for them.

“You may want to sit down for this,” he said motioning for them to move to the couches. They did so and sat at rapt attention for Coran to start talking. They were itching to be told where Lance was staying for his treatment so they could get on with their Christmas morning.

It never came.

“At 3:28AM this morning, Lance passed away, he is no longer with us,” Coran choked out. His head fell forward as his shoulders started shaking slightly. They stared at the man in shock, not completely processing the situation. Allura reached over and rubbed Coran’s shoulder, even as tears started rolling down her face.

“We did everything we could to keep him here and he fought so hard but it wasn’t enough,” Allura said shaking her head, tears flinging off of her cheeks.

“He told me a few days earlier that he felt it coming,” Coran admitted looking up at them with watery eyes. At that, the memories of last night flew through their head. He had smiled and laughed with them as they played around in his room. He wished them a Merry Christmas because he knew that he wouldn’t be around to say it the next day. As memories upon memories of the boy shot through their mind, tears trekked down their faces and a sad whine made its way out of Pidge's mouth. Like a chain reaction, the others started crying around him. Their hands reached out to each other, gripping on to each other’s pants and shirts. They huddled close together, sobs ripping out of their throats, and eyes burning with salt.

They stared blankly as the casket was lowered into the ground. They stood behind Lance’s family, peeking between their arms. Even as others turned and left while they buried the casket, they stayed behind the family, not ready to leave their friend. As the last shovel full was patted down on the grave, they backed away. They saw Coran and Allura standing beside one of the hospital vans and they headed towards it.

“Wait,” they heard behind them. Lance’s mother stopped in front of them.

“He left these for you,” she said holding out four envelopes. Slightly shocked, Shiro reached out and took them from her hand.

“Thank you,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry for your loss,” he said looking up at her.

“Thank you,” she said gratefully, swallowing back her tears. She could see the obvious puffy red eyes on each one of them.

“Thank you for taking care of my son when we weren’t there,” she warbled out, quickly covering her mouth as tears leaked out of her eyes.

“He helped us a lot more than we helped him,” Keith said quietly staring at the ground. The rest of them nodded in agreement.

“I see,” she said simply before giving them a watery smile and turning back to her family. The others doing the same and heading towards the van.

As they made their way back to the hospital, it was quiet except for a few sniffles that wriggled their way out of someone’s mouth.

They were met with silent stares and pitying glances as they made their way back up to their wing. It seemed like everyone knew about Lance and how it affected them. They walked back to the lounge and curled up on the couches, basking in the silence of the room.

“Here,” Shiro said holding the bundle of envelopes out to Keith. His was sitting on his lap in front of him. He shuffled them in his hand and passed them to Hunk and then to Pidge. They all glanced at each other before flipping them over to open them. They laughed at the sparkly lion stickers that were holding the envelopes closed.

It wasn’t long before they were holding their letters to their faces. Tears coursing down their faces and bawls coming from their mouths. It wasn’t fair. Why did it have to be him that was taken away? It was so unfair. Why did these things have to happen to him?

They curled around each other, clutching their letters in their hands. Even when nurses peeked in on them, they didn’t wake them up or try to move them. They deserved to grieve.

The Letters

[blueplanettrash]

Day 9: Christmas Tree

I promise that I will catch up soon. I had a lot of things going on the past few days and I did something to my shoulder and it really hurts to move it certain ways, so I couldn’t really concentrate on writing (so if something seems strange in this story, its honestly because of that). Anyway, I will be doing all of the days over the next two-ish days I hope, if it doesn’t get too busy. So, sorry and I hope you enjoy! ❤️

He was a bit disappointed when it got around to a few days before Christmas and his family still hadn’t gotten a Christmas tree. Really, he couldn’t blame them, they were extremely busy that year. So many things, good and bad had happened and they didn’t really have time to go that year.

“Mamá, I can go by myself if you want,” he suggested that morning as his mother raced around the kitchen trying to get everything ready for the holiday. His Papá, Mark, and Marie were all busy working during the days leading up to Christmas and Caleb and Sophie were spending a lot of their time at school and with their friends before the hustle and bustle of Christmas overwhelmed them.

“Are you sure?” She asked as she pulled a tray out of the oven. She turned to him and pulled him closer, planting a kiss on his forehead.

“Yeah mamá, its the least I can do,” he insisted walking over to the closet and pulling his coat, hat, and gloves out. It had snowed the night before and the temperature had dropped, preserving the blanket of snow outside.

“Should you really be going all alone though?” She asked with a worried tone. Lance laughed, waving off her worries.

“It’s only a tree, what could possibly happen?”

Someone must hate him somewhere. That is the only explanation for what happened. He was currently laying trapped underneath the tree that he just cut down. It wasn’t a very big tree, small enough that he could drag it back to his car and strap it on, but he fell into deep enough snow that he didn’t have any leverage to push himself up again. If that wasn’t bad enough, he fell on top of a frozen creek and cracked the ice, now his entire back was soaked. He couldn’t even move his arms enough to reach for his phone since they were sticking straight up.

“Help! Can anybody hear me!?” He called out, only hearing his voice echo out slightly from where he was trapped. He didn’t have much hope of someone hearing him since the tree farm he went to was practically abandoned when he got there. He struggled trying to get up as frustrated tears welled up in his eyes. He needed to get out of there, if he didn’t it was entirely possible that he was going to die there. He didn’t tell his mamá where he was going, or anybody really.

“HELP!” He screamed out louder as the panic fully set in. As he squirmed in his makeshift prison, snow fell off of the tree’s branch and landed on his face. He let out a small whimper as tears rolled down his cheeks melting the snow. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do. He was scared. He was alone, and he felt so stupid.

Hunk laughed with his mom while they watched Ellen on TV. Their focus shifted to the doorway when his father walked in holding the cordless phone.

“Phone for you Hunk,” he said holding it out to him. Hunk furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, if any of his friends were trying to contact him they would have texted him. He got up from the couch and took the phone from his dad and walked out of the living room.

“Hello?”

“Hunk?”

“Mrs. McClain?” He asked in confusion. He had never gotten a call from Lance’s mom before.

“Hunk, have you seen Lance, he went out to get a tree around 11 today and he still hasn’t come home,” she said, her voice obviously panicked. Hunk’s eyes widened and he looked at the clock on the oven. It read 4:23.

“No, Mrs. McClain I haven’t, I can get everyone and we can go look for him,” he said determinedly. He knew that Lance wasn’t someone to worry his friends and family on purpose, so something must have happened.

“Thank you so much Hunk, we’re looking around the house and neighbourhood to see if anyone has seen him,” she informed him, he could hear the slight warble in her voice.

“I’ll call you immediately if we find Lance,” he said before saying goodbye and hanging up. He took out his phone and started texting the group chat telling them that they had to meet up somewhere and that it was an emergency. They decided to meet at Pidge’s since her parents weren’t going to be home for a while.

Everybody got there before Hunk and immediately started questions when he got through the door.

“They can’t find Lance, he went out to get a Christmas tree about five hours ago and haven’t seen him since,” they stood in shocked silence before Pidge whipped out her laptop.

“I’m going to track his phone, it won’t be exact but we’ll have a basic area to work with,” she said before anyone could ask any questions. As soon as she had a location she flipped the screen around showing everyone the address.

“A tree farm? He could be anywhere in there,” Keith said worriedly.

“At least we know where he is, let’s go,” Shiro said, picking his coat up from where he flung it over the couch and grabbed his keys on his way out the door. The rest of them following close behind him. As they walked out the door towards Shiro’s car, they noticed that it had started to snow again and they hoped that Lance at least a little protected from the elements where ever he was.

If it wasn’t for the water that was soaking into his back, the snow around him would have kept him at least a bit warm. He had been shivering violently for the past couple of hours at least. Since he had become trapped he hadn’t stopped crying, the feeling of panic had yet to cease. At least it gave him something to concentrate on, rather than the overwhelming urge to fall asleep. He had no idea whether anyone had even noticed that he hadn’t come home yet. Sure, he knew that his mamá would eventually notice but sometimes it felt like he was the most unimportant one in the house.

Obviously, it was an awful thing to think since there shouldn’t really be a ranking for that in a family but you can’t help but think about where you stand in relation to your siblings in your parent’s eyes.

He didn’t even know what he was thinking about anymore. The numbing chill was finally starting to go to his brain. A hysterical laugh bubbled out of his mouth before he clamped his mouth shut. He noticed a little bit ago that it had started snowing again, the tree that was covering him kept most of the new flakes out but they also started to pile on top, making the boughs lean down close to his face. He really hoped that it wouldn’t fall on his face, he would actually start bawling if it did. Not that he hadn’t already that day but still.

His eyes started fluttering shut slightly as the thoughts continued to fly through his head. He was so tired. He was really sick of trying to stay awake. It was like trying to stay awake after pulling an all-nighter when you really didn’t need to stay away.

“Just a little snooze,” he mumbled to himself as he eyes slipped shut and his body started to relax in the snow.

They shot open again when he heard a faint call in the distance. He strained to hear, hoping that it wasn’t a howl of wind that he heard. He waited in tense silence, head tilted to the side so it wasn’t blocked by the snow.

He could barely hear it over the rushing wind, and natural blockade of the tree.

“Lance!” He heard a voice yell out from far away. Tears of relief welled up in his eyes and he sucked in a breath before screaming out.

“HELP!”

He and the voice continued their yells as they got closer and closer to him until finally, he saw the beam of a flashlight roam over the branches of the tree and stop on where his gloved hand was sticking up of the snow.

“Oh my god Lance!” The voice he now recognized as Shiro cried out. He could hear him plowing through the deep snow towards him. He sobbed in complete happiness and relief when he pulled the tree off of him and pulled him up. Even as he was put on solid ground, his legs buckled beneath him and he clutched onto Shiro’s jacket desperately so he wouldn’t fall to the ground.

As Shiro’s eyes roved over Lance, he noticed that he was violently shivering, his teeth were chattering against each other, his cheeks were bright red, but his lips were slightly blue. He scooped him up in his arms and started rushing back to the car, fishing his phone out of his pocket in order to call everybody back to the car.

“Sorry Lance,” Shiro said as he started stripping him out of his wet clothes and wrapped him in the spare blankets he had in the trunk of his car. He picked him up again and laid him in the passenger seat and cranked the heat up, directing the warm flow over to him. He called each of them to let them know that he had found Lance and that he was resting in the car. It took less than a minute for Hunk to come sprinting out of the forest and slide into the car behind Lance and wrap his arms around the seat to hug him.

“Are you okay man?” He asked tearfully, pressing his head into the headrest in front of him.

“I’m cold,” Lance rasped, his lips no longer chattering but exhaustion was starting to creep over him. Hunk and Shiro both nodded in understanding.

After a few minutes, Pidge and Keith jogged out of the woods and climbed into the car, both asking him the same question and receiving the same answer. As they drove back to Lance’s house, after Keith and Pidge switched to Lance’s car so it wouldn’t be left behind, Hunk called Lance’s mom assuring her that he was safe and they were on their way back. Before Hunk could hang up, Lance reached out a trembling hand for the phone.

“Mamá?” He asked. There was a loud sigh of relief on the other end.

“Lance? Are you okay? Are you hurt?” She asked calmly. On the inside, though she was frantic. She couldn’t imagine what had happened to her little boy that he wasn’t able to come home for hours.

“I’m fine mamá,” He said quietly before tearing up slightly. “I’m sorry,” he warbled.

“What? For what?” She asked in confusion.

“I’m sorry for worrying you I didn’t mean to, and I’m sorry I didn’t get the tree,” he cried, clutching the phone to his cheek. Rosa’s heart broke, that's what he was worried about?

“It’s okay honey, it’s all okay,” she soothed. She could hear him sniffling through the phone and wanted more than anything to be cradling him in her arms at that moment. At least he would be home soon and she would be able to do just that.

“Tomorrow, we’ll all go out together to get a Christmas tree, okay Lance?” She asked.

“Okay,” he agreed quietly, wiping his eyes. He couldn’t wait to get home. All he wanted right now was one of his mamá’s warm hugs.

“I’ll see you soon, I love you,”

“I love you too, mamá,”