The pillow he’s hugging is absolutely not cutting it. Aside from the travesty that it’s his only one (the fact that all the paladin rooms only have one pillow is beyond horrifying, and something Lance as been frantically trying to remedy, but first has to scour the castle for some kind of suitable stuffing. It’s been an arduous journey), it’s just not it. He huffs, flipping over and bunching up his (ridiculously thin) blanket and stuffing that in his arms, too. That works for a few minutes, until he starts to feel restless again and then he’s back at square one.
Hunk sighs again. He sits up. He stares at the wall for a bit. He shifts and then stares at the ceiling. He swings around and places his feet on the floor — it’s cold, it takes conscious effort to keep his bare feet on the tile. (When Lance is done with the pillows, if he’s bored, Hunk should ask if he can help him make a rug, or something.) He taps his fingers on the golden yellow, silk-like fabric of his new pajama pants. He hums. It’s a nice break in the silence, the humming.
Hunk straightens. Oh! Oh. That’s a great idea. He should go sleep with Lance; he’s the noisiest sleeper Hunk knows. Also, Hunk misses sharing a room with him.
He stands, sliding his feet into the awesome Yellow Lion slippers Lance made for everyone (even Keith, which he refuses to acknowledge. Hunk thinks it’s cute. So does literally everyone else. Lance also made pink and orange lion slippers for Allura and Coran respectively, and Hunk knows for a fact that anyone’s reluctance towards Lance melted immediately upon receiving them).
He walks carefully over to Lance’s room, tiptoeing especially carefully past Keith’s room (in case Keith really does have cool Galran hearing). He doesn’t bother knocking, figuring Lance is both unconscious and willing to let him in. The faint blue light in the hallway bleeds into the room, gently illuminating Lance’s lax, sleeping face. Hunk steps all the way in and closes the door behind him. The soft light in the room doesn’t fade, the glow from the red Balmeran crystal pushing the shadows away.
Thinking of Balmera makes Hunk smile. He shakes it away — they’ll get there soon.
“Lance,” he whispers, “get up.”
Lance mumbles something about cheese and starshine.
“Lance.”
“Keithmhph. Hair. Mm.”
Hunk grins. He wishes he was recording, but it’s not like anyone will have a hard time believing him. The Klance Pining is as visible as the Great Lakes are from the moon.
“What about Keith’s hair?”
To Hunk’s endless joy, that is the thing that wakes Lance up. He blinks a few times, groggy and distorted.
“—eith —” he blinks one more time, and big brown eyes finally focus on Hunk, widening a little when it really clinks.
“Hunk!” he says brightly. Hunk’s chest warms. There’s nothing like your mere presence literally and genuinely lighting someone up. It’s nearly impossibly to feel horrible about yourself when someone immediately feels joy just by seeing you.
“Hey, Lance.”
Lance grins at him again. It’s so wide and happy that his eyes crinkle. He pats the space beside him. “What’s up?”
Hunk doesn’t need any more of an invitation, and crawls onto Lance’s bed. He settles with his back to the wall, and Lance doesn’t hesitate to flop on top of him, long uncoordinated limbs going everywhere (including Hunk’s face, for which Lance shoots him a sheepish smile, but Hunk isn’t mad. He knows Lance and, by extension, his falling arms).
Once Lance has wiggled around enough to make himself comfortable, he blindly reaches up to pat Hunk on the cheek. “What’s wrong? You have a nightmare?”
“Nah, just couldn’t sleep.”
“…Was it because of the shitty pillows.”
Hunk snorts. Lance knows him, alright. “Yes.”
“Well, I’m workin on ‘em, Hunky-Bear. Ily.”
“Saying the words has the same amount of syllables as the acronym, you know.”
“Yes, but I’m fun and quirky.”
“That you are, dude.”
“Hm.”
They lie there for long enough that Hunk thinks Lance has maybe fallen back asleep, but then his legs kick out in the air and he resumes fidgeting around.
“Can you tell me something fun and gossipy?”
Something gossipy, during a sleepover with his best friend. Hunk bites his lip. An image comes to mind immediately, but it will come with a lot of teasing, that’s for sure.
But, huh. It’s not like Hunk doesn’t have a laundry list of things he can tease Lance about, so.
“There’s the slightest possibility,” Hunk starts, and Lance squeals immediately, shooting upright and shaking Hunk’s shoulders.
“Shay! Shay! You have a crush on Shay! Oh my God, tell me every single detail!”
Hunk laughs, because of course that’s what Lance was waiting to hear.
“Yeah, yeah, you got me.”
“Of course I gotcha, moon eyes!”
“Who are you calling moon eyes?” Hunk asks, eyebrow raised. “I’m not the one who sighs Keith’s name in my sleep.”
Lance’s face flames. “I do not do that!”
“Dude, I literally just watched you do it.”
“Nuh-uh!”
“Yeah-huh!”
“Nope!”
“Yeah — Jesus, do you want to hear about Shay or not?”
Lance’s mouth clamps shut so hard his jaw clicks, a little. He mimes zipping his mouth shut. Hunk rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling.
“She’s just… she’s so bright. She’s lived underground her whole life, but she shines brighter than anything. Her smile is breathtaking, Lance, seriously. She’s so kind. And she’s funny! God, and she’s beautiful, Lance, holy shit. She sparkles. I’m just… I really like her, Lance. I really do.”
Lance smiles softly at him. He scrambles to his knees, leaning over and pressing a kiss to Hunk’s forehead, making a loud ‘mwah’ noise. “I’m so happy for you!” he says. “Yay Hunk and Shay!”
Hunk laughs, knocking his head gently onto Lance’s. “Thanks, dude.”
Lance hums again and scooches back down, throwing his half-dozen blankets (originally he only had one like the rest of them, but he was coming to every morning briefing absolutely shivering, so Hunk talked to Coran so Lance didn’t freeze to death in the night) over their shoulders and settling in.
“Feel free to tell me more,” he says though a yawn, “but full disclosure my eyelids are pulling themselves together, so I might fall asleep. In case I do: I love you lots and lots and I’ll see you in the morning.”
Hunk smiles softly. “I love you lots and lots too, dude.”
He accepts Lance’s manhandling of his limbs until he’s in a comfy position, then talks quietly about Shay and all the reasons she’s amazing until he feels the small puddle of drool on his shoulder, telling him Lance is totally out. (Which. Is gross. But Hunk loves Lance, so.)
He smiles again as his own eyes start to close, finally comfortable with the soft noises of the room and the koala hold of his best friend.
Maybe he can get used to space after all.
