Shine

Chapter 2-Pride and joy

{photo by Elentori}

Silence.

After Lance and his Papa climbed into their old, yet trusty pickup truck, everything went quiet.

While the rest of Lances family, even his old fashioned Abuelita, supported his dream in joining the circus, his Papa was a little iffy on the subject.

Number one, Lance's femininity was something he didn't truly approve of, but allowed. Mama bargained him into that one.

Lance liked makeup and skin care and dressing up and wearing frilly things. While he did sometimes settle for casual clothes like shirts and jeans and his favorite old jacket, Lance liked dressing in typical feminine wear.

Lance had a feminine body. He was tall and lean and rather than being built and strong like his Papa and Abuelo in his younger years, he was skinny and flexible, taking on his Mama's traits.

Second, was the college. Papa wanted Lance to go to a good school and make good grades so he could be some sort of smarty pants businessman or something. Lance was never good at math or science, he barely remembered history, and he only scathed by English because he enjoyed writing quirky little stories.

Lance wasn't fit for the smarty world, so he decided to be in the entertainment world.

At a young young age, Lance began taking gymnastics, learning that he could use his impressive flexibility in many different ways. He almost became a contortionist. But acrobatics and ribbon dancing seemed so much more alive to him than just pretzeling his body again and again.

Lance craved the adrenaline rush. It felt amazing to be up soaring in the sky, swinging from a trapeze and doing amazing tricks. So he began to learn how to do it. Before he was 16, Lance became a master, and he was finally ready to join the circus he'd been idolizing since childhood: Team Voltron.

His Papa said okay, but mostly because His own mother, Abuelita, would beat the living shit out of him if he didn't let her "precioso pequeño nieto." Achieve his dream.

Mama persuaded him by saying about how hard Lance had been training. To shut him down after years upon years of work was like a slap in the face, so he said yes.

Lance looked out the window, looking at the trees and farmland. It was a nice quiet day and the cows were grazing the field like usual.

"Good luck today, Lance."

Papa broke the silence, wishing Luck to his son. He knew he hadn't been the nicest about Lance's dream, but he had to show some support. Lance was his son.

And he loved his son.

"You're gonna do amazing out there. I'm 100% sure you're gonna blow the other guys out of the water." He smiled, chuckling that deep, dadly chuckle.

Lance looked up at his father, and for the first time in a while, realized how much he looked like him.

Tanned skin, pretty blue eyes, handsome face. Lance was the spitting image of his Papa.

"Thanks, Papa." He smiles, focusing on the outside again.

~

When the two arrived at the gymnasium, Lance stepped out, and then his nerves really began to settle in.

"Oh mierda.." Lance cussed quietly to himself, taking a deep breath and counting to ten, remembering what his Abuelita said about controlling anxiety.

He smiled his cocky, all knowing smile and walked proudly down the concrete parking lot with his Papa, arching his back and puffing out his chest, adding a little bit of swagger to how he was walking.