saints and soldiers » klance

24: (BONUS) Map of the Problematique

And no one thinks they are to blame
Why can't we see
That when we bleed we bleed the same?

Hunk must be magic.

That was the only explanation Lance could come up with as he ate all the leftover cake he could get his hands on. Dinner had been insanely, mind-blowingly good, and dessert was just as amazing. He knew he would regret having eaten all this cake, but he couldn't bring himself to care as he dropped his head back and moaned around a mouthful, "Oh my god Hunk, this is so good."

Lance was perched one of the stainless-steel-topped counters in the kitchen. A lot of the volunteers who had been on staff for tonight's dinner were already gone. Hunk was at one of the massive sinks, diligently scrubbing dishes with a faint smile on his face. Shiro and Pidge were sitting opposite each other on a table in the middle of the banks of counters, criss-cross and sharing half of a leftover cake between them while poking cautiously at a small project of Pidge's that she swore up and down had tried to kill her earlier.

"Thanks, buddy," Hunk said, slight smile growing as he listened to Pidge and Shiro discuss the possibility of her latest pocket robot becoming sentient. The adorable thing was that they were both serious, or at least it really looked like they were. Lance almost laughed and choked on his last bite of cake- almost. He bit it back. No sense in wasting some really freaking amazing cake because his friends were dorks who were horribleabout following the skin care regimens he had painstakingly written out for each of them, the ungrateful nerds.

He cracked up as Shiro yelped and almost fell off the table when Pidge threw a plastic fork at his face.

God, he loved his friends.

The sound of something heavy falling and muffled cursing sounded from the hallway beyond the kitchen. Lance turned his head as the sound of several sets of footsteps and the scuffling sounds of a large group of people trying to navigate the cramped downstairs passageway all at once filled his ears. The voices that accompanied the movement sounded urgent. He strained his ears, trying to hear what they were saying, but he couldn't make it out.

"Hey Hunk, buddy, I'll be right back," he said, abandoning his plate and jumping off the counter, making for the door out to the hall.

Scuffling and footsteps sounded behind him. Lance stopped and turned to see all three of his friends following behind him, crowded up in a close huddle a few feet away, like cartoon characters all trying to stop suddenly at once.

Lance grinned and shook his head fondly. Such. Dorks. Turning, he twisted the knob on the door and stepped out just in time to see the flurry of people he'd heard turning the corner to climb the stairs.

"Hey," he called, half-jogging after him. The back half of the group stopped to regard him as the rest continued up the stairs like Hell was on their heels. Or a rabid squirrel. He'd always thought it would be rather frightening to be chased by a rabid squirrel.

"What's going on?" he asked, slowing to a stop at the base of the stairs. He felt his friends come to a stop beside him.

"Police are going on a raid tonight," one guy explained hurriedly as the rest of the people who'd stopped started going again. "There's this house a little bit outside the city. A neighbor called in a few minutes ago, said she'd been living there a year and she was pretty sure the guy had a slave in there, or something like that. We didn't get a lot of specifics, but they want Allura to send some people. We're going up for an emergency meeting."

With that, he hurried after the rest of his group.

Lance looked back at his friends. As soon as their eyes met, he knew they'd reached an agreement.