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A giant alien robot lion shouldn’t be able to “sneak up” on anything. Least of all another giant alien robot lion. But when Red’s head popped up suddenly in Lance’s field of vision, he very nearly fell off of his spot on Blue’s head. “What the hell, Mullet?” he sighed, a hand pressed dramatically to his chest. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
Keith paused in climbing up onto Blue, giving Lance a slightly puzzled look. “Uh. Sorry? I thought you would’ve heard me coming.”
“Ha, you’d think so. I guess I was just zoned out,” Lance shrugged. Even though there was plenty of room on top of Blue, he scooted over and patted the space next to him, just to make it clear that Keith was welcome. The red paladin carefully sat next to Lance and followed his gaze up to the sky.
They were on a planet, for the time being. Something with way too many syllables and sounds that Lance wasn’t even positive existed in English. But it was gorgeous. Lush forests, beautiful flowers, and the lake they had decided to call their base for a couple of days while they made a plan.
Lance had known that there were billions of stars. Of course he had known that. But he hadn’t realized how few he could actually see back on Earth. But here, there was absolutely nothing to dim or hide anything. It was… he didn’t really have a word for it.
“What are you thinking about?” Keith whispered, and when Lance looked over at him he saw that Keith was studying him, now, not the sky.
“Home,” Lance admitted with an embarrassed little laugh. “I know, I talk about it all the time. I just… really miss it, y’know?”
Keith frowned, confused. “If you miss home, then why do you always fight so hard and insist we stay out here? Why not try to leave and go back home?”
“Because…” That was actually a really good question. “It’s the right thing to do,” he finally decided. “Somebody’s gotta save the universe. And Blue picked me.” He ran his hand affectionately over the cool metal beneath him, and he swore he could feel a vibration—like a purr. “And heroes are supposed to be selfless. Even when things are tough, they don’t give up. They do what they have to do to save everyone. And… if we don’t stop the Galra out here, they’ll make it to Earth. And I can’t let that happen,” Lance said firmly.
Keith didn’t say anything for a minute, and then he laid on his back, hands tucked behind his head. Lance looked at him curiously and then followed suit.
“Tell me about your family.” Lance turned his head, looking surprised. “What?”
“Nothin’. Just… I dunno, never thought you’d be interested in hearing about my family. You always huff and roll your eyes when I start talking about Earth and stuff.”
Keith shrugged, looking back up at the sky to hide his little embarrass blush. “That’s because you always bring it up when we’re busy with other things. But… just because I don’t miss Earth the same way you do doesn’t mean I can’t understand why you do. So… tell me about it.”
For a moment, Lance was silent, a small smile forming on his lips. He looked back up at the sky and cleared his throat.
“So first of all, I’ve got a ton of siblings. Like—entirely too many…”