#platonic Hance

[icypantherwrites]

Fic Update: Reaching For Your Hand, Chapter Two

Chapter Snippet:

Shiro let out a breath and gave a small shake of his head. “Change of plans,” he said. “I’ll go in, sans armor. You two stay out—”

“Fuck no,” Keith cut in while Hunk let out more tame, “No way,” and Keith glared at Shiro. “Fuck no,” he repeated. 

There was no way he was staying behind. 

If anyone should stay behind it was Shiro, who could not so easily just remove his arm and was in the most danger.

“I’m going,” Hunk drew himself up, eyes narrowed and Keith was taken aback at just how… how big Hunk was and in that moment…

He looked so strong despite the fact there was still a pale, green tinge to his face, standing nearly inch for inch against Shiro.

“And you can’t stop me,” Hunk said. “Lance,” and his voice wavered then, “Lance is waiting for me.”

“He is,” Shiro agreed quietly. “I’m sorry,” he looked between them both. “We’ll all go. But I’ll still go first and you two wait just… just to make sure it’s safe. And if it’s not…” Shiro looked pained, “I’ll come back here.”

Read it here

Story Summary:

One moment Lance was there, jumping and reaching for Keith’s outstretched hand as the cavern collapsed around them. And in the next he was gone, falling into the abyss. Just like that. 

And no matter how much Keith, Hunk and Shiro desperately search through the rubble, as they descend into the unstable cave, they can’t find him. And as minutes tick to hours and they go further and further down reality tells them it’s not a search and rescue mission any longer.

It’s a body retrieval. 

[punkeropercyjackson]

This is official art and y'all STILL think they shouldn't have ended up as a canon ot4

[kukos-satellite]

what are your top five ships from Voltron

Romantic pairings:

Klance (Keith and Lance) obviously

Adashi (Adam and Shiro)

Platonic pairing:

Kallura (Keith and Allura)

Hance (Hunk and Lance)

Shidge (Shiro and Pidge)

extra platonic: Sheith (Shiro and Keith)

[ditzydisaster13]

Ask and Await.

A really silly Klance idea that i wrote really fast. This is like the original/summarized version. But I think it still works really well.

Its after a training session that it happens. Everyone is exhausted and settling down while hunk works over his left over stress and energy into making a baked dinner. A space-pie if you will.

Shiro is slumped lazily along the couch, body angled funnily and arms over the back of the rounds couch.

Coran and allura sat politely while chattering amongst each other.

Pidge is on her laptop, clicking away at her keyboard with a look of concentration.

Keith is leaned against Lance’s shoulder as he watches alien-wresting from an app on his phone. While Lance flips another page in his Altean fairytale novel.

The whole room is filled with the soft buzz of relaxation and pleasantries. Sounds aren’t loud. Actions aren’t obvious.

Until Pidge decides to make it obvious.

P: “Keith. You do realize you’re like, practically on top of Lance, right?” K: “Yeah- so?” L:“Yeah Pidge” Lance chimed in, “I dont see the problem.” P: “Didn’t you use to hate each other?” L: “Nah, he loves me now!” Lance wraps arm around Keith and Keith pushes Lance away with a chuckle. P: “Oh my god. Could you guys be any gayer?” K: “I mean. Probably?” Keith blinks sweetly at Lance. Everyone is watching by now. Lance just huffs a laugh into his book before decidedly setting it down and taking Keith’s phone too «before you break it, silly»

All Pidge can do is sigh.

P: “oh my god! Please stop. I was just joking. Can you please stop acting like you’re actually a couple? It’s kinda weird”

Keith turned to look at Pidge. K: “Who said we’re not?”

Lance’s immediate response was to pull Keith into his lap and wrap his arms around him. Keith tried to squirm. But Lance kissed his hair with a loud ‘mwah’ and that stopped everything for a moment Shiro and Allura chuckled at the display. But Pidge groaned in dismay again.

P: “no, seriously stop. If this is how you get revenge for me teasing you then I’ll stop. Just stop being weird.”

L: “No. you stop hating on our Love.” Lance told with an angry pout.

He then angled Keith and himself and kissed Keith deeply on the lips. Not letting Keith’s lips go. Lance opened one eye to see Pidge gasping and hunk walking towards them.

Lance smiled into the kiss and licked against Keith. Keith let out a little whimper.

Lance pulled away, pecked, and then settled his chin into Keith’s neck as he positioned the two of them back to facing the others.

“Finally!” Called a clearly satisfied Hunk.

“You guys have no idea how long these two have made me keep this a secret.” he shook his head fondly and continued into the room with his tray.

[autisticlancemcclain]

fic rec friday 59

hello and welcome to fic rec friday! where, on friday, i rec five of my favourite fics.

Lance Denies The Feels by @bleusarcellewrites

“Hey, knock it dead, Sharpshooter.” Keith winks and Lance’s weak. ‘Thanks, I’ll be right back.’ He tries to say, to excuse himself calm and collected so he would exit the training room and go to a corner on a room with no boys with hot mullets, so he can maybe, just maybe, come to terms with the sudden events like a normal person. “You fight good!” Lance shouts instead. [In which Lance isn't aware that he has a crush and the realization hits him hard enough to screams his bi feelings out. On an empty room. Which turns out not to be emtpty. It works out for him in the ends, thanks to a Mulan reference.]

big big fan of fics where lance is so obviously crushing on keith that its just embarrassing for everyone around him. and keiths fond and quiet indulgence fucking -- well. truly gets me every time. also love the clowning he gets from the team lmao

2. See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil by galaxymilk

Lance becomes the vessel for a high-tech Galra weapon that will detonate at the mere mention of its existence. The clock is ticking, Lance, you better think fast.

i read this when i was the tender tender age of fourteen and let me tell you it FUCKED ME UP!!!!!!!!! imagine carrying a bomb in your body that might kill your friends. but if you tell anyone it detonates. that fear? that terror? it is REEKING off the fucking screen. you will read this fic breathless. your heart will make home in your throat. your muscles will cramp in their tenseness. also it features lance bragging about keith to random strangers in the beginning lol

3. When Did This Happen? by memoriesofrain

What do you mean they're together? I thought they were just really close! OR No one knew Hunk and Lance were together and Lance is homesick.

some hance!! yall know i love me some secret relationship. and i love it so much more when its not actually secret relationship and is instead 'yah weve been openly dating this whole time yall are just too dumb to notice' like that one makes me giggle

4. Space Is Cold by corvus (borrowedphrases)

Lance is a pain in the butt, but Hunk loves him and worries about him anyway.

was in my hance era when i was making these bookmarks apparently. and u know what? i was correct. hance is cute as shit. also, 2016 fics will always hold the most specialest of places in my heart. each one of them ate truly. this one is so cute and intimate.

5. Snapshots and Other Bonding Moments by @shyfoxes

Hunk and Lance are constants in each other's lives, and that will never change. Four moments between Lance & Hunk and One moment spent with Team Voltron.

four plus ones!! my beloved!!! small moments of regular life love!!! my beloved!!! 2016 fics!!! my beloved!!! god some of the tags on this thing...nostalgia. anyways. i loved this fic because i have always loved fics diving into the characters' lives prekerb, u know? i want Backstory. also the lilo and stitch references were cute. if youre not a fan of hance, this is pre relationship so can def be read as platonic!! such a cute fic fr

that’s it for today!! i’ll see y’all back next friday for the next fic rec post!!!

[verdantmeadows]

Ranking the VLD ships I know!

Warning for a "hated" tier, if you know you have a Voltron ship that upsets you to see it hated by someone, don't read this! Nothing on here is personal towards anyone and their ship tastes, this is just what I like.

I'm only on Season 2 Episode 8 and this is my first time watching Voltron! No spoilers please! Everything is romantically shipped except in the "love it nonromantically" tier.

OTP and actively ship it: Klance OTP for character: Shiro x Adam, Hunk x Shay Love: Coran x Shiro, Slav x Shiro Like: Matt x Shiro, Alfor x Coran Love it nonromantically, i.e., familially or platonically--the relationship is just important to me: Shallura (platonic), Allurance (platonic), Coran & Allura (familial), Coran & the Paladins (familial/platonic), all the Paladins with each other (familial/platonic), Sheith (familial), Shance (familial/platonic), Allura & the Paladins (familial/platonic), Hance (platonic), Shaladin (familial/platonic) Dislike: Allurance, Pidge x anyone (I headcanon him as aro)

Hate: Allura x anyone (due to her ambiguous age/I headcanon her as aroace), Shaladin, Sheith, anything I listed as familial in the "love it nonromantically" section, any ships with Keith that aren't with Lance, any ships with Lance that aren't with Keith

[ashkazora]

shance, allurance, lancelot, plance, klance, hance for ship meme if it is ok?

DAMN ANON, you really be going out for all the big ones! (not that I'm complaining aha)

Anyways, since there's so many ships, I've put em all under the cut:

One thing that's really key w/ me is that I'm a multishipper at heart, so most things I would enjoy in certain situations! Like, with Plance/Hance, I'm mostly a platonic shipper of em but hey, when the right AU hits I'm all in!

Feel free to ask me anything else about these ships + or any other ships!

[varicrux]

‘Ship Bias’ ( lance )

Send ‘Ship Bias’ and I will share up to 5 Ships I have a bias for for my muse! | @dcwnrisen ♥ | accepting.

LANCE MCCLAIN:

♥ this obvious to no one but me maybe but im a huge klance shipper, thats definitely my number one!!

♥ next one is hance, bc hunk deserves all of the love and he & lance's relationship is so good and cute whether platonic or romantic

♥ i do like allurance but ONLY if it's plotted and written properly since voltron did a terrible job at their development

[coolspacequips]

trying 2 recalibrate w my tablet, drew this as a quick warmup!!! yea im watching gumball and lance and that little blue adhd cat are the same thing

[icypantherwrites]

Fic Update: Missing, Chapter Four

Chapter Snippet:

Hunk’s fingers resumed their gentle carding as Lance stirred, almost as though he’d heard that last thought, before settling at the touch.

Hunk’s lips pulled into a sad smile.

When was the last time he’d sat with Lance like this? When was the last time they’d really talked? It’d been a while, he knew that much. And maybe that was what Lance needed. It was something at least Hunk could control. He wouldn’t talk to Shiro without Lance’s permission — and Lance would never give it, he wouldn't want to call attention, would say just as he had at the market that Shiro was right and Hunk didn’t want Lance beating himself up over it — but he could talk to Lance, let Lance know he was here for him.

Telling him that outside the bridge, that Lance was important, had garnered dark cheeks and considering Lance was the most openly affectionate person Hunk knew, not shy to say ‘I love you,’ or pull someone into a hug or seek contact, it only told him how much he’d dropped the ball of late that such a simple declaration had resulted in that reaction.

It also told him how truly tired Lance was, and not just from lack of sleep.

The fact his worry had been laundry of all things made Hunk’s stomach clench because while he knew Lance did chores to help Coran, he was starting to wonder how many chores exactly Lance was doing and what his free time consisted of. There used to be movie nights and video games (Hunk watching, Pidge and Lance playing), and quiet times like this on the couch where Lance napped or played with Pidge’s hair and more team dinners that resulted in conversations afterward and stories and sometimes this Altean card game Coran was still trying to teach them but the rules seemed to change every round and none save Pidge seemed to be able to keep track.

But Hunk couldn’t remember when they last did those things.

Read it Here

(up to chapter two on AO3)

[blayzez]

It’s Lance’s 18th birthday

 As Hunk is the only one on the ship privy to Lance’s birthdate while also keeping track of the Earth days while in space, he’s the only one to realize it

 (screw canon, Hunk is the best bff)

He makes all of Lance’s favorite space dishes and even manages to make a cake from space ingredients

 He keeps everyone out of the kitchen during this time, wanting it to be a surprise

 That night, he ushers everyone into the dining hall

 Except Keith

 Because Keith can draw so Hunk wants him to decorate Lance’s cake

 Upon learning that it’s Lance’s birthday, Keith says he’ll be right back

 When he returns, he refuses to explain where he went, instead going straight to decorating the cake

 He writes ‘Happy B-Day Lance!’ then draws a decent Red Lion underneath it

 He finishes it off with dotting the rest of the empty spaces of the cake with stylized stars

 Hunk is impressed

 Gathering the food – Hunk with the meals on a large tray, Keith with the cake – they head to the dining hall

 Upon entering the dining hall, Hunk begins singing the birthday song

 Keith joins in quickly, looking straight at Lance, who is sitting in a state of shock

 Everybody else, figuring out what’s going on, begin singing to Lance, as well

 Lance is touched

 They all celebrate, digging into Hunk’s amazing cooking and ribbing on Lance good-naturedly

 When they get to the cake, Hunk makes sure to mention that Keith decorated it

 Lance just stares at Keith in surprise

 Keith, who’s looking anywhere but Lance and blushing

 With a gulp, he pulls a small wrapped object from his pocket and hands it to Lance with a mumbled, “Happy birthday”

 Stunned silent, Lance takes the gift and unwraps it to find a beautiful stone, multi-colored and lovingly cared for

 Keith: It’s uh… It’s the first thing I picked up after going to space. Like a souvenir. I-I thought you could take it back to Earth and show it to your family to show where you’ve been.

 He says all of this without looking at Lance, only glancing at him at the end, obviously nervous

 Lance can only stare at the rock, feeling emotional at the heartfelt gift

 Without a word, he stands and hugs Keith tightly who hugs back after only a moment’s hesitation

 Years later, Lance will still call that his favorite birthday, recalling it every year with his husband

 (and he totally still has the rock)

[icymakesazine]

I’m so excited to be able to share this! <3

I commissioned @heyheroics for some cover art for “Brothers in Arms” zine and she has more than delivered my “group hug with Lance in the middle and rough them up please” prompt. Anyone who purchases a copy of this zine will get not only this beautiful artwork to cherish but you can know that a portion of the sales are also going to an artist too! Yeah for supporting other small time artists and writers!

The final image will be all in soft grayscale with their armor colors in muted tones. 

“Brothers in Arms” is a fanfiction zine chock full of platonic Hance, Klance, and Shance works by yours truly. Preorders will be opening in mid-September with zines scheduled to ship out early December. Be sure to follow @icymakesazine for all updates!

Brothers in Arms indeed, huh?

AO3 | Ko-Fi | Patreon | Bookshop

[shiros-boyfriends-are-pretty]

Hunk: Just, think happy thoughts!!

Lance: Where can I purchase these so-called "happy thoughts" of which you speak?

Hunk, thinking for a minute: hmmm... the thot store?

Lance: I don't think we'll find happy thoughts in my place of birth

[the-kittens-of-vol-tron]

Lance has been hurting lately, but hiding it under his bravo. No one notices the pain he's in even as he helps them throughout the day. Finally it's 'night' and everything crashes for him. He does his best to hold it together, but as the others come up to him again - asking for help he can't give - he breaks. Past hurts are made known and Lance doesn't know if they'll trust him to be him anymore.

Awwe :(

—

Lance opened his eyes, everything felt heavy with sleep as he attempted to blink away the grogginess that hasn’t left in a few weeks. The right side of his head pounded at the bright lights that filled his eyes as he stepped out into the constantly light hallway. He slept, but he didn’t feel like he slept. Maybe he wasn’t sleeping? Maybe he just closed his eyes and pretended to sleep? Lance leaned on the wall for support, his head filling with dizziness as he bit back a groan in pain. 

Lance was hurting, he couldn’t deny that anymore. Hurting for his family he left on Earth. Hurting for the desire to be better for the team. Hurting to find a place to call home. Hurting to just hurt. 

No he wasn’t physically hurt, he just hurt. Everything became too much for him and he was breaking under the pressure of everything. The pressure to save the universe, the pressure to be the best defender he could be. The pressure to not let anyone down. 

Lance knew that the team was proud of him, he knew that they wanted him and needed him on the team. He just couldn’t handle the idea of messing up, of being the reason someone get’s hurt, the reason of the worst happening. 

“Morning Lance!” Hunk excited spoke as he started explaining whatever concoction he had created in the time it took for Lance to roll, literally, out of bed, put on the same clothes he wore every day, make himself look presentable and stumble down to the dinning hall. 

Lance put a smile on his face, it hurt but he wasn’t going to let the team see, his best friend see. “Hunk my man, you made this all for me?” 

“Oh shush Lance, he made it for everyone,” Pidge gave him a small sibling like shove and sat down in her usual spot. 

Lance gave an empty chuckled, and cleared his throat when Keith walked in the room, already preparing their morning “fight.” Lance took a deep breath, his lungs aching and he quickly released it, stopping the pain as soon as it started. Was he going to be okay? 

-

Lance dropped his head, letting the slightly too hot water fall over him. He didn’t want to think anymore, he just wanted to sleep, or maybe just not think for a bit. 

Come on Lance, man up, you’re okay. Tears began to burn behind his eyes and Lance shook his head back n forth. Why am I like this? Lance reflected on his day, he woke up, ate, bickered with Keith, trained, ate lunch, trained more, talked to Coran, trained, chilled with Blue, trained, and now shower. 

It was a normal day, nothing out of the ordinary yet Lance still felt off. He slammed his fist into the side of the shower, ignoring the pulses of pain that exploded over his hand. A sob threatened to come out and Lance bite his lip, why why why, he sunk down onto his knees, small shivers consumed his body. 

-

Lance doesn’t remember getting out of the shower, he doesn’t remember drying himself off, he doesn’t remember getting dressed and climbing into his bed. He only remembers hearing pounding on his door. “What the he-” Lance missed dinner, he never misses dinner. Shit. 

“Lance, buddy, pal? Are you awake? I brought you some food.” Hunk’s voice was too energetic for Lance right now and he could make out the faint whispers of the team. 

Maybe he could pretend he was asleep, maybe if he laid still enough and didn’t talk they would just leave him alone. Lance knew he didn’t have the energy, the energy to keep a smile on his face, to convince his team that he was okay. Please go away, please go away.

“He’s probably asleep, he did give it his all today,” Pidge’s voice was small behind the metal door and Lance couldn’t help but give a small smile at her. Like a genuine smile, he couldn’t help it she reminded him of his little cousins he would babysit back on Earth. 

“Come on, let’s at least check,” the door slide open and Lance quickly shoved his head further into his pillow. Jesus Keith, why do you always have to go the extra mile. 

Lance attempted to control his breathing as he vaguely listened to Hunk and Shiro attempt to reason with Keith and Pidge, Coran randomly filling the room with his laugh and his footsteps into the room. 

“Come on my boy! You must eat your goo, or else you won’t be strong enough to defend yourself against a wild Vortextaur in an ice storm.” Coran placed his hand on Lance’s back and Lance bite back a groan. 

“I’m not hungry,” Lance knew his voice was muffled but he didn’t car and he hugged his pillow closer to his face, ignored hos hard breathing was getting. The bed sunk under some weight and a familiar hand began rubbing circles. Thank goodness for Hunk. 

“You feeling okay buddy?” Hunk’s voice was soft and quiet. 

Lance nodded his head, praying everyone would leave. Tears began to form behind his eyes and Lance bit his lips, he couldn’t cry in front of the team, he didn’t want them to think any less on him. 

“COME ON LANCE!” Pidge jumped on top of him, a nice attempt at getting Lance to react but even Lance didn’t have the energy to respond. 

He knew he shifted the mood he could feel the concern from his team rolling over him like a fog in the night. Fuck, he knew he had to fix it, but how? He pushed himself up, “I’m okay everyone, I promise”  

No one believed him. Hunk gave him a small smile, Pidge a sympathetic look, Keith a unbelieving stare, Coran a supporting dad look, and Shiro a slight frown. The tears came back, Lance hated when the team was unhappy with him. 

“Lance,” 

Why was Shiro’s voice so powerful, even at a whisper? 

“You can tell us if something isn’t okay. You know that right?” He kept his eyes on Lance, even making his face look slightly sympathetic. 

“Look,” Lance’s voice crack and the tears burned even more, “I’m okay. I know I haven’t been on top of my game because I want to make sure Keith can get some attention for his improvements.” Lance released an empty laugh. 

Hunk pulled Lance into him and ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s okay to not be okay Lance, its just not okay to not ask for help.” 

Lance swallowed, his throat began to swell, he needed to keep it together, he wasn’t going to break, he wasn’t going to cry. “Guys, I’m fin-” 

Hunks fingers swept against Lance’s cheek, “you’re crying.” 

Lance pulled himself away from Hunk, wiping his eyes quickly, attempting to find the words to make everyone leave. “I’m okay,” he could barely whisper two words before the hiccups formed and Lance was full on bawling into Hunk’s arm. 

The room stayed quiet except for Lance’s whimpers and everyone’s occasional “it’s okay” and “just breath.” 

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Pidge mumbled from her spot perched by Lance’s right leg, everyone had found a place next to Lance, giving comfort in their own ways. 

“Not much to talk about, it’s just…..it’s just too much.” Lance despised how small his voice sounded, he hated being seen as less than what he already was.

“What’s too much my boy?” Coran moved his right hand up to his face and began twisting his mustache. 

“All of this. The fighting, the training, the constant stress of being on the possibility of a battle, the fear of dying at any moment, my fa…my family, and I could be a lot better than what I already am.” Lance felt more tears fall down his face, he hated being weak, he knew he was done on the team. 

“Lance you’re already a great team member already, I know you’ve always gotten easily stresses over these things but you are already a great team member.” 

Lance wanted to believe what Hunk was saying, after all that’s his best friend but Lance couldn’t convince himself to believe him. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

The team didn’t know what to do and they all moved themselves closer to Lance and gave him as much comfort as they could.  

—

I know I kept in a more “open ended” style but I related to much to Lance in this and I have a very hard time believing people when they tell me things like this. 

I hope you like it!!!!

[thesunshine-hunk]

Woah finally posted a fic after ages. This is part of day 3 of Gentron week im so late for (it was for like two weeks ago or so) it was really a mess tbh...but I hope people enjoyed it.

[greatgreengremlin]

can you put your bag things bingo fills on tumblr? it would probably be easier for requesters to see and the mods to keep track of. and, i just want to reblog your fem!hance, cause that was cute.

Actually I meant to do that, I just forgot. Oops. 

Sure I can!

(VLD) Space: Anger Born of Worry

AO3

Something Lana will never tell anyone is that during their first meeting, Huihana scared the crap out of her. Only for the first thirty seconds or so, sure, but in those thirty seconds the fear was real. She took two steps into the room the Garrison assigned her, took one look at her roommate, and felt her blood turn to ice.

That chick was freaking huge. Biceps like boulders, fists like frozen turkeys. She could probably take Lana’s head off with one punch. Nervously, Lana gulped, trying to think of something suave to say, straining to shape her mouth into a confident smirk so this Amazonian stranger wouldn’t smell her fear. Then the giantess advanced and before Lana could escape, those brawny arms encircled her, deftly lifted her right off the floor…and pulled her into a hug.

“Mmph!” Lana found herself pressed up against the soft, plentiful pudge of her roommate’s round midsection, and her face smushed into the pillows of her even softer, coconut sized breasts.

“Nice to meet you, new roomie!” chirped a voice of pure sunshine.

She gave Lana a hearty squeeze and returned her to the floor.

“So I’m Huihana, most people call me Hana for short,” she paused, amusement squiggling over her features as she blinked at Lana’s name tag. “Guess that means we’re Hana and Lana, huh? Pfft, Hana and Lana. We could totally headline a sitcom.”

“Heh, yeah.” Lana gave a chuckle, feeling herself melt in relief.

“I’ll help you put away your stuff, but let’s eat the muffins first. They’re best while they’re still warm.”

“You made muffins?”

“Uh-huh.”

Hana showed her the small oven she’d hidden in the closet. It was about the size of one of those toy ones, but Lana could tell it was made of spare parts. The metals didn’t match and the screws were different sizes.

“Let me guess, you’re here to be an engineer.”

“Yep.” Hana smiled and pulled a small muffin pan out of her makeshift oven and if the tantalizing aroma of apple cinnamon was anything to go by, mismatched metal didn’t prevent it from working.

Lana took a muffin and shook her head. Hana was a freaking teddy bear. No hecking way could she ever scare Lana again.

“You’re supposed to be in bed,” Lana scolds, crossing her arms over her chest.

Hana rolls her eyes and keeps rolling the orange dough in front of her. “As if you always do what you’re supposed to do.”

“This isn’t about me!” Lana barks, still too shaken to keep herself from snapping. “You’re a mess, you can hardly stand up!”

Hana shoots her a look that might’ve been dangerous if she were actually standing steady. But she isn’t steady at all, she’s tottering like a butterfly could knock her over and Lana isn’t sure if it’s making her nervous or furious.

“What I am is sore and stressed, and not in the mood,” she warns irritably.

“Oh, you’re not in the mood?” Lana scoffs. “Don’t even. I’m the one who gets to be mad! You almost got yourself killed!”

“We almost get ourselves killed all the time,” Hana grumbles bitterly, flipping the dough and rolling some more.

“This was different! You know we’re supposed to be extra careful since the pods got hacked, but you ran back into a Galra infested tunnel for no reason!”

“No reason my ass, I was checking for civilians.” Hana pauses to wipe the sweat from her brow.

“Civilians who weren’t there!” Lana huffs, grasping at her hair in frustration. “BLIP tech told us the tunnel was clear!”

“And like I already explained to you and everybody else, the dust storms on that planet were interfering with our tech. Our comms were screwy, our scanners were screwy, we had no reason to trust in the BLIP tech!” Hana gives the dough an exasperated whack with the rolling pin and Lana can see the immediate regret in her eyes as the movement sends repercussions through her battered body. Recoiling, she hisses through her teeth.

“Damn it! Ugh, just come off it. I clearly did the right thing.”

“How? No one was down there!”“But someone could’ve been down there,” Hana insists hotly. “We couldn’t rely on the tech to tell us one way or the other, so I checked for myself. It’s what a paladin would do.”

Lana chews her lip. She understands where her friend is coming from, but she doesn’t have any forthcoming fuzzy feelings for her decision either. It was too reckless. Lana doesn’t like to see any of her team in danger, but this was the kind of stunt she would at least expect from Keith or Shiro. Not Hana. It was a stunt that blindsided her coming from cautious, nervous Huihana.

“You should have at least called one of us for backup.”

And what she means is, you should have called me for backup.

“I didn’t think I had enough time.” Hana gripes, maneuvering her way around the kitchen. “It’s over and done with, so just lay off.”

Lana feels the worst of her fury dying away, but she still isn’t happy. This was too much, too close a call. She can’t just swallow it with a smile and pretend she wasn’t terrified to her core. Not with the echoes of Hana’s scream still rattling around like vengeful wraiths inside her head.

“Oh crap…I’m bleeding,” Hana mutters, yanking Lana out of her thoughts.

The red stain spreads through her robe and Lana gasps, scrambling over.

“Don’t want to say I told you so, but this is exactly why you should be in bed,” she says tersely, hiking Hana’s arm over her shoulder.

Hana is still the bigger of the two, but Lana is tougher than she looks and more than strong enough to offer her support. Hana accepts it wearily, and Lana becomes increasingly worried when she fails to fire back some retort. Lana studies her more closely and frowns.

Drops of sweat sprinkle Hana’s face, headband practically drenched with it. The pain is naked in her eyes, glistening with the mist of unshed tears. Her jaw tightens, teeth clenching as she fails to bite back a whine.

“Come on,” Lana encourages. “Just a little farther.”

“A little?” Hana shoots her an exhausted look. “The med bay’s on the other side of the castle.”

“But your room is right around the corner, and Coran helped me stock it with all the right aftercare supplies while you were out being a bad patient.”

“I wasn’t trying to be a bad patient,” she mumbles. “Today just caught up with me and sitting still in silence wasn’t exactly doing wonders for my anxiety.”

“Yeah, well you bleeding through your clothes isn’t exactly doing wonders for my mental health, either,” Lana retorts.

Hana must be too spent to keep arguing because all she does is glower.

When they reach her bedroom, Lana parks her down on the bed and slides the robe off her shoulders. The bandages encasing her torso are soaked scarlet and it sends chills up Lana’s spine. Even so, she tries to keep herself together. She opens the impressive supply kit Coran prepared and paws through until she finds the sutures.

“So you’re gonna patch me up even though you’re pissed?”

“Of course I am, jerk face.”

Lana gets the packet of numbing gel and the scissors, kneels down, eye level with the wound. She snips through the layers of gauze and they fall loosely to the bed. A wide absorbent pad remains, taped over her side. It’s sodden with blood that smears onto Lana’s fingertips as she removes it as gently as possibly.

What lurks beneath is like something out of a slasher flick. Lana is a tad nervous about tending to it because it’s such a gruesome injury, but she doesn’t want to admit that aloud. The blast from the sentry’s gun shaved off a good hunk of flesh. The aperture of the wound is irritated where Coran had to trim away ruined skin. The layer of fat beneath the remaining skin peeks out a bit, bumpy and glazed in blood. The open meat in the middle is this sickening, moist, melon pink.

“Congratulations,” Lana offers sarcastically. “You managed to pop all of your stitches.”

Hana grimaces. “I don’t wanna know the graphic details.”

“No,” she agrees grimly. “You don’t.”

Lana pinches the tip of the scissors over the broken thread of the old stitches and carefully pulls them through. Hana’s fist clenches into the blankets, a tight look of discomfort twisting her features.

Some of Lana’s frustration ebbs.

“This is the worst part and it’s almost over, okay?”

Hana nods tensely.

Lana removes the long, thin thread and discards it. She opens the numbing gel and carefully spreads it along the in tact skin around the wound.

“I’m sorry, okay?” she says softly. “I know I shouldn’t be mad at you, you did what you felt was right—“

“You mean what was right,” Hana breaks in stubbornly.

“…I thought you died,” Lana admits somberly.

“What?” Hana’s jaw drops.

Lana purses her lips as she opens the suture set. “It was the way you screamed. You’re super jumpy, so I’ve heard you scream a thousand times before, but never like that. That scream chilled me to the bone, I could just hear the hurt in it…and then when we started screaming back for you to answer, you didn’t. We— I was begging you to answer me but all I got was radio silence.”

“I scared you,” Hana concludes quietly.

“Yeah.” Lana huffs, poking the needle into the flesh. Evidently the gel is doing its job, because her friend doesn’t even flinch. “Scared me more than anything else ever has. You’re in front of me right now in one piece, talking to me, and I’m still kinda shook up over it.”

“Aw, Lana…”

Lana sews quietly, occasionally glancing up to make sure Hana’s tolerating it okay. She’s fiddling with her fingers, gaze pointedly fixed on the wall.

“Look, I’m sorry. Not for what I did, but for scaring you.”

“I don’t really blame you,” Lana says, finishing off the stitches. “This is war, we get hurt. But can you at least be a good patient for the rest of the day?”

“I will if you stick around to distract me.”

“I’m supposed to let you rest,” Lana mutters, distracted as she fishes through the supplies.

Hana groans quietly and shakes her head. “I can’t. You don’t think I got scared too? It’s so quiet in here, all I can do is relive getting blasted. It’s freaking me out.”

She takes another absorbent pad and thick roll of gauze, wincing sympathetically. “Alright. I’ll stay. Maybe I can get Pidge to bring us a projector so we can watch a movie or something.”

Hana lets out a sigh of relief. Lana returns to her bedside and strips the sterile packaging off the pad. She plasters it over the freshly stitched wound and gingerly pats it down. Hana gives a wince and she stops short.

“Too rough?”

“Nah. The gel wore off, that’s all. It’s sore.”

“I’ll bet.” It’s a hell of a wound, after all. Wide, deep, and butt ugly.

Lana unwinds a length of gauze and makes an effort to be especially gentle as she bandages her, starting from the bottom and moving upward. She smooths out as many of the wrinkles as she can and tries to secure the gauze around Hana’s torso without pulling too tight.

“Alright, almost there. Just hold your tits.”

“Huh? I’m not rushing you.” Hana puzzles, brow furrowing.

“I meant literally, my busty bestie,” Lana chuckles. “They’re in the way.”

“My bad.” Grimacing, Hana sheepishly hefts them up and Lana wraps the last layer around. She finishes up with small adhesive strips to keep the bandage in place and gives it the slightest of tugs to make sure they’re effective.

“All done,” she says brightly, pulling back. “That should keep it clean and safe. Just try not to bump into anything and don’t abuse the rolling pin anymore.”

“Thanks. I’d hug you if I could.” Hana sighs and slides her arms back into the sleeves of her robe. She raises her shoulders to get it all the way on— at least, she attempts to. Pain crosses her face halfway through the motion and the fabric slides back down.

“And I can’t do that either.”

She tucks her head down like a grumpy turtle sulking in its shell. Lana wordlessly pulls the garment up for her.

“Gonna do everything for me?” Hana lifts a tired brow.

“If I have to,” Lana says, crossing her arms. “As long as you promise not to scare me like that again.”

“If it were a promise I could keep, I would,” she says wistfully.

They gaze at each other a moment, an understanding passed. Lana deflates and tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear, leaning forward to pull back Hana’s blanket.

“Go on, climb in.”

“Could’ve done that much myself,” Hana mutters, sounding more weary than offended.

Lana studies her as she draws herself up, stiffly braced back on her elbows. Pain speaks in every movement, from her legs’ halting stretch, to the low breath hissed between her teeth as she carefully reclines to the pillows. Lana lightly drapes the blanket over her.

“Lemme get you something for the pain—“ Lana turns to go and stops short as Hana’s hand encircles hers.

She tugs with surprising strength for somebody who looks two seconds away from passing out, and Lana’s eyes pop wide as she gracelessly flounders to the bed.

Lacing their fingers together, Hana gives her a tender look. “This is enough. I feel better already.”

“Liar,” Lana huffs, crinkling her nose.

“No, really. Holding hands has the potential to reduce pain. Several studies suggest it produces an analgesic effect.”

Lana pauses, studying her face for any trace of deceit. Normally having genius friends is pretty cool because they can explain complicated stuff to you and help you ace your homework. But sometimes genius friends can mess with you by rewording bullshit to sound all science-y and smart. One time Hana and Pidge nearly convinced her that the moon was indeed made of some form of petrified cheese.

“For real?”

“Yeah, for real,” Hana insists, smiling gently. “When we hold hands our brainwaves begin to synchronize. It’s like communicating empathy through touch and it makes people feel better.”

“Huh.” Lana looks down at their hands and squeezes Hana’s a little tighter.

With Hana’s hand in hers, solid and warm, Lana is beginning to feel better too.