The war was over, the battle won. It was time for them all to go home.
But where was that, for her?
For some, it was obvious. Lance’s family had missed him almost—almost—as much as he had missed them, Pidge had returned with their father and brother, victoriously reunited with their mother as well, and Hunk’s mother had barely let him from her sight since their ship had touched down on Earth again.
For some, home was a person, not a place, a feeling and a want, rather than a structure. So Shiro and Keith interlocked their hands and swore to navigate the stars until Shiro had seen all he could ever hope to see, and Keith could keep within his orbit.
What home did she have to go to?
Coran was her only remaining family, and the only remaining Altean, beside herself. The mice were her friends and shared some piece of her soul. But the castle was gone, the place where she had been raised among the stars and stardust, crushed forever into a diamond.
“Hunk!” she said, startling out of her ruminations. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Yeah, you seemed pretty deep in thought there,” Hunk set down a glass of water on the table next to the couch she was artfully draped over the back of, and sat down next to her. She turned to him, smiling in spite of her earlier mood. Hunk could always brighten her day, just by the merit of being there. “You okay?”
“Just…” Allura sighed and took the water, sipping it as an excuse not to talk a moment. She leaned on him, his steady, warm shoulder firm and solid underneath her. He made her feel so safe, like the universe wasn’t a shifting, unfeeling thing that would swallow her whole and not think it more than consuming a particle of dust.
“Thinking about the future,” she decided on.
“Yeah?” he prodded gently, asking for more but never demanding.
“Just.” Allura rubbed at her face, fatigue in her bones so much harder to ignore, now, when there wasn’t a war to be won. “You’ve all got places to be. People to be with. Homes. Even Keith and Shiro, who have no family to speak of, with the exception of Krolia, and nowhere to live, feel at home as long as they’re together. And I… don’t. Have anything like that.” She held up a hand and quickly amended, “Not that Coran isn’t deeply important to me. I have always meant it when I have said he is like a second father to me. Just…”
“I get it,” Hunk said softly. “It’s alright, I understand.”
Hunk was so fucking gentle.
“I want to go home,” Allura said, throat tight, tears pricking at her stubborn eyes. “I want to go back to Altea, and climb the mountains and pick flowers there. I want to go to sleep in my bed, I want to bother my father about his latest project and heckle my mother about her day. I want to go home.” Her chin was wobbling fiercely, the awful, loathsome sensation of tears she couldn’t prevent but was too mulish to allow reddening her face.
“Allura,” Hunk said, large arms wrapping around her while she rapidly set down the glass so she wouldn’t spill. She wrapped her arms around him, too, the size of him a comforting mass that was too big to hold all the way around. She pressed her face into the warm and earthy softness of his shoulder and felt those first few horrible, heinous hiccups weasel out of her. “Shhh, it’s gonna be okay,” Hunk promised, large palm stroking the back of her head. She whined, a pathetic and childish noise, choking on the sobs that she couldn’t keep holding back.
There was no bursting of a dam, not with Allura, just a slow loss of the battle with her own body as the tears came faster and the sobs and hiccups ripped themselves out of her louder and louder. Hunk held her and shushed her all the way through, her anchor, the only thing holding her tight enough to keep her from falling entirely to pieces.
“Sorry,” she sniffled at what she damn well would make be the end of it. “Probably not what you expected when you came in here.”
Hunk shrugged, arms still wrapped around her. “Eh. We’ve all been… having an adjustment period.” He kissed her hairline. “It makes sense. And Allura, you don’t have to apologize. Not ever, not for crying okay? I’m here for you, we all are.”
Allura wiped at her eyes and dug a tissue out of her pocket. “Thank you,” she said before blowing hard. “I know, Hunk. You—all of you, you’re my family now. More than just a team.”
“Absolutely,” Hunk agreed encouragingly. “And… If you want, you could make your new home with me, and my family?” Hunk suggested. “Coran could take my aunt’s old room, and you could bunk with me.” He blushed, then rushed to add, “If you want! Or I could take the couch, whatever works! Just, you’re my family too, and my family is their family. You will always be welcome.”
Allura smiled, and went for teasing. As best she could, around the stuffy nose and reddened eyes. “Bunk with you, mm?”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“You could mean it like that. I certainly don’t mind the idea.”
“Oh… oh.” Hunk was easy to fluster, always had been, but for some reason it absolutely never failed to delight Allura. “Oh, yeah, uh, okay yeah. Yeah. Yes.”
Allura smiled, and then flopped back into his side, curling into him and wrapping her arms around the bulk of him. His hand came to rest on her shoulder, safe, warm, comforting.
“Does that make us boyfriend and girlfriend?”
“Absolutely,” Allura said decisively, her own face warming pleasantly at the thought.
“Hunk? Hun—oh there you are,” Hunk’s mother called as she opened the door. “Don’t wander off like that. Come back to the common area, we still haven’t heard everything about your trip!”
“In a minute, mom,” Hunk said, hand smoothing a slow up and down on Allura’s back.
“Hunk,” his mother said warningly.
“Private conversation, mom,” Hunk said, unruffled but respectful. Fortunately, either his mother took him at his word, or took notice of the position he and Allura were in, and gave them their privacy for a few moments longer.
“Fair warning, though, living with me means that will probably happen a lot.”
“Mm,” Allura hummed, wiping at her face again in vain hope she could make herself look presentable by the time they left the room. “I think I’ll manage.”
dailybridgerton
ellievsbear
turnnoffyourmind
blakekathryn
areudirty
yousharknotpass
romaincrisis
