"Feels weird to be back." Hunk muses quietly, seriously. His fingers pick at the stripes on his uniform shoulders almost severely, and the look he sends Lance--beside him in the conference room they've been huddled into--is equal parts calculating and suddenly amused. None of them are unaffected by the tension that thrums through the air, but in the small moment the group of them have alone before Sam is set to rejoin them with a slew of generals and admirals, all past instructors who now look to them for strategy and aid in defending their home despite their clear reluctance, they at least can find it in themselves to unravel from their long journey and look among one another as friends before their game faces are on again, even if the moment is only a few seconds long.
Hunk continues, his gaze not straying from Lance, "Having this on makes me feel like I'm going to sit back and have to hear all about your troubles with--"
"Kinkade." Lance blurts, his own eyes trained against the far wall where no one is and not giving Hunk the satisfaction of finishing his sentence correctly or having the opportunity to mortify him. "Ha, yeah, I used to talk so much about Kinkade, didn't I? Bet you were sick of that real quick."
Allura looks to Pidge, who shrugs, before she asks Hunk, "Is he not one of the pilots of the MFEs? Why would Lance have troubles with him? You are speaking of your time before finding the Blue Lion, yes?"
"Yeah." Hunk buries a laugh at Lance's wide-eyed gaze boring into the wall he refuses to glance from. "Why did you have so much trouble with Kinkade anyway?" Across from them, Keith sits heavily, crossing his arms over his chest and looking with a reserved curiosity between the two. "You used to talk about him for hours."
"Hunk." Lance manages to somehow sound desperate and menacing at the same time with just the beckon, and Hunk shrugs at Allura when she still looks curious. Romelle leans forward to get a better look with her latched curiosity, and she gasps loudly at the same time Lance realizes he has to confess something before somebody does for him. "I guess I just had a crush on him!" He laughs in such a high pitch Hunk flinches and regrets the topic a minute, knowing maybe they're all too stressed for it. "It's not like he noticed and it not like it matters anymore! We've got more important things to do than focus on old stuff like that! You know that, Hunk."
Hunk looks ready to relent, but Keith cuts him off in a fog of confusion by simply repeating the obvious. "You had a crush on Kinkade?"
Lance laughs again, though it's much more throaty and genuine as he meets Keith's eyes in almost a challenge. "Yeah. I did. Maybe I still do, I try not to think about it."
"Forget that. That guy didn't even know your name when we showed up, he's not worth your time." Keith rolls his eyes, sinking back in his chair and feigning an aloofness that is too tense to be genuine. He jolts as Lance slaps the table and laughs harder. "What!?"
"This is quite tense." Coran muses to Pidge, who steeples her hands and closes her eyes as Lance practically cackles. A realization seems to have drawn in her expression in the same point as her eyebrows furrowing.
"You're right, man! No, you're so right!" Lance throws his arm to Hunk, who eyes it warily as it connects to the shoulder he had just been picking at and Lance begins wiping away tears, still laughing. "Why would I get so hung up on someone who won't give me the time of day!?"
"That's what I mean!" Keith insists, serious despite his confused furrowed brows at Lance's hysterics. "You deserve someone who's going to recognize you for who you are, at least! You-you're a defender of the universe."
"This is embarrassing." Pidge murmurs to herself, still looking contemplatively from the cradle of her fingers. Hunk has a long trail of regret as Romelle seems to try and blink a communication of sorts to him excitably.
"Oh, yup! That's me!" Lance cackles on, slapping his knees as he kicks away from the table, "Maybe if I'm lucky he'll get around to seeing that--"
"And everything else!" Keith's voice is almost frantic as he swipes a hand forward to urge Lance to understand something he's spent no time articulating, and Shiro eyes him warily from the end of the conference table. "Once we save Earth, you have the chance to show him yourself even more than whatever all this heroism is going to make us look like. He'll get to see how selfless and kind and--"
Lance's laugh borders hysterical, and he stands fully from the table as half of them swivel to watch him pace restlessly. "Keith, buddy, you've got it. You're right! I've gotta show him all the goods!" He seems breathless, but he approaches the table again to make ferocious eye-contact with their Black Paladin across the table, it being wildly returned.
Keith nods on in earnest, though his expression remains stony and serious. "Like I said, though, forget it if he's not going to give you the time of day. You deserve better than that."
Lance plops back down as Hunk holds up two pacifying and gentle hands. "Yeah." He croaks through another laugh, much less enthused but still smiling almost maniacally. "Sure did miss him, though."
"Ah. This is rather sad." Allura says with insightfully to Hunk, catching on and resting a hand on Romelle's own restless one.
"Well, fuck that guy if he doesn't see it." Keith says simply, turning away as Shiro clears his throat. Lance rests his face in his folded arms and chuckles weakly again as Hunk rubs his back, something dry in his throat.
