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“Is this seat taken?”Lance looked up from where he'd been trailing his fingers through the sand and shook his head. Shiro looked hale and hearty which was a far cry from where he'd been a week ago and a great relief to not only Lance, but everyone else as well. As always, Lance's eyes were drawn to Shiro's head. Even though he knew it was irrational, every time he saw Shiro’s white hair, he still couldn’t help but blame himself.Shiro sat beside him and drew his knees up to his chest. When Lance didn't say anything, he cleared his throat. “The sunset's beautiful here.”“Yeah, it reminds me of home,” Lance said. Overhead, the sky was a blazing orange streaked with purple clouds. The sound of the waves lapping at the shore made Lance's heart ache and he again reminded himself that soon they would be back home. Well, relatively soon. They still had several months left before they got back to Earth. He looked around for a stick, before he remembered that there were no trees on the planet and therefore no sticks. It was actually pretty common throughout the universe. There were entire worlds with breathable air but were otherwise devoid of complex lifeforms. They made good resting spots for everyone when the vastness of space and the close, cramped living conditions became too much. He glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw Shiro watching him expectantly. “You've been avoiding me,” Shiro said. “Did you want to talk about it?""No," Lance said. He rested his chin on his arm and looked resolutely out across the dead water hoping Shiro would take the hint and leave. "I guess I'll just sit here and enjoy the sunset with you then," Shiro said. He leaned on the same rock that Lance was sitting against and crossed his ankles. Lance narrowed his eyes and nope, Shiro was definitely ignoring the fact that he wanted to be left alone right now."Fine," Lance let out an explosive sigh and looked up at the sky. "You wrenched it out of me."Shiro smiled at him and it was so simple and so pure that Lance wondered how he could have possibly mixed up the clone and this Shiro. Even in the same body, their mannerisms were dramatically different. Though that could have been the immense amount of pain and stress that the clone had been under. They had essentially been the same person with the same memories, even if it hadn't felt like it at the end. "When I was a kid, my dream was to go to space," Lance said. "I don't know if you know how much of an inspiration you were to me. You were one of the youngest to ever graduate and when I heard that you were chosen for Kerberos, I thought if he could do it, why couldn't I? Why couldn't I make a name for myself?" Shiro just watched him silently. "When I went through some of the hardest moments of my life, you were there on TV showing me that I could be something better than what I was. I could be more than just a boy from Cuba," Lance said. He chuckled wryly. "I know you don’t remember, but the day I met you in orientation is still one of the best days of my life. They say never meet your heroes, but you didn't fit that stereotype. You shook my hand and smiled at me. You asked for my name and said that you would be sure to see me at the top. And then to top it all off, you ran a self-designed simulation where you blew up the Death Star.”Shiro chuckled at that.Lance smiled despite himself. “Iverson was so pissed.""And then you disappeared, and I don't know man, it sucked," Lance said.
A soft breeze began to blow in from the ocean and disturbed the floof on Shiro's head. Lance had to resist the urge to reach up and brush the hair back into place. "When I met you again and got to go into space with you and become part of Voltron, it was a dream come true even if I didn't know if I would ever see my family again. I got to find out that you weren't just this awesome guy, but a really good person and a huge dork as well despite what you had gone through. I found myself liking you as a person and as my friend and not just as my hero."At this, Shiro had to interrupt. "Lance, I-"Lance put his hand in front of Shiro's mouth ignoring the flash of irritation that he got for his action. "Up-pupupupup! You are. What the Galra forced you to do in the ring doesn't change that."Once he was sure that Shiro wouldn't interrupt him, he let go and clenched his fists in his lap."I feel like I failed you when it came to the clone. You reached out to me and so did he and I just - " Lance sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "The point is, you've always been there for me. Not just as a leader or as a friend, but before we met as well." "Lance, it's not your fault," Shiro said. He reached over and placed his hand on Lance's shoulder. "I don't blame you in the least. No one else does either. There's no way that you could have guessed what'd happened to me." Water splashed down onto Lance's clenched fists making him flinch. He reached up and touched his wet cheeks. He didn't even know he'd been crying. He brushed them away angrily. His mother had always encouraged him to let it out when he needed to, but he really hadn't wanted to cry in front of Shiro for the second time in less than two weeks."I guess it just sucks that I couldn't be there when you needed me," Lance said. He wiped at his face, but the tears just kept falling. "You're here now," Shiro said. He tugged Lance into his side and encouraged him to tuck his face into his shoulder. Shiro let out a shudder as Lance's face brushed bare skin and he suddenly recalled that the man hadn't had any physical contact in almost a year. He curled up and leaned further into Shiro, who melted against him. "That's what matters." Lance heaved out a few deep gasping breaths and trembled as he cried. Shiro's arm tightened around him and he felt Shiro's chin on the top of his head. Finally, the fit passed, and he took a minute to just breathe Shiro in and bask in the fact that he was warm, real and alive in front of him. He raised his head from Shiro's shoulder and looked directly into Shiro's eyes. The man gave him a smile and then released him to gently wipe the last tears from his cheeks. Lance let out a last sniffle and leaned into the touch. He guessed that he wasn't the only one a little touch starved."Thanks. I needed that," Lance said. Shiro smiled at him. "Anytime."